Happy New Year 2011

Happy New Year 2011

Canada is most Web-addicted nation: study

Maybe it's all those Justin Bieber fans: Canadians log more time on the Web and social media, including Facebook and YouTube, than any other nation.

The measurement company comScore reported Canada has the highest penetration of Internet access, with around 68% of Canadians routinely surfing online, against 62% in France and Britain. Close behind is 60% of Germans going online and, south of the border, 59% of Americans.

The laggards are Italians, where only 36% of the population goes online, according to comScore.

Web-addicted Canadians now spend an average 42 hours a month surfing the Web, up from 40 hours in 2009, and view an average 147 videos a month on YouTube and other online video websites.

And around 17 million Canadians, or 51% of the population, have Facebook accounts. Canada has a vibrant Twitterverse, with an estimated 5% of the traffic routinely following the world domination of homegrown pop idol Justin Bieber.

Despite Canada's broadband connectivity, Canadians still lag Americans in their embrace of so-called "smart TV." Netflix is only a recent entrant into the Canadian market, while Google TV and Apple TV have yet to break through north of the border.

Read More: Canada is most Web-addicted nation: study

Soon, a pill may extend your life by 10 years !!

A Harvard Medical School professor believes that the day is not far when just popping a pill could make you live longer and healthier. Associate professor of Pathology David Sinclair said his work to activate the sirtuin genes, which control ageing "could expand lifespan by five to 10 healthy years."

It wouldn't stop you getting old, he said, but instead would push back the point at which you become impaired before "hopefully, (you) immediately drop dead," reports The Sydney Morning Herald. He suggested that activating the sirtuins increases memory and endurance but also slow ageing and alleviate the impact of a high-fat diet.

"If the animal studies are borne out in humans, you would have a pill for arthritis that would prevent Alzheimer's , cardiac arrest, would slow down heart disease and even protect you against cataracts," Sinclair said.

Read More: Soon, a pill may extend your life by 10 years

Birth of 'mini star' on Earth could solve energy crisis !!

In a bid to solve Earth's energy woes, scientists are contemplating building the world's first "sustainable fusion" reactor by creating what they claim is a miniature star on our planet.

Fusion is the process by which atoms combine releasing large amounts of energy – it can produce the equivalent energy of 300 gallons petrol from just a gallon of seawater and fuel equivalent of two tons of coal from 50 cups of water.

Following a series of key experiments over the last few weeks, the 2.2-billion-pound project has inched a little closer to its goal of igniting a workable fusion reaction by 2012, the 'Daily Mail' said. A team at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, has fired up the 192 lasers beams at the centre of the reactor and aimed them at glass target containing tritium and deuterium gas.

The resulting release of energy was of a magnitude of 1.3 million mega joules, which was a world record and the peak radiation temperature measure at the core was approximately six million degrees Fahrenheit, say the scientists.

For a direct comparison, the temperature at the centre of the sun is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. The scientists estimate that a prototype power station version of the fusion reactor could be operational by 2020 and that by 2050, almost a quarter of the US energy could well be supplied by fusion power.

"The results of all of these experiments are extremely encouraging . They give us great confidence that we will be able to achieve ignition conditions in deuterium-tritium fusion targets," NIF Director Ed Moses said.

Added a spokesperson for the facility : "Fusion energy is very promising as a long-term future energy source, as the fuels required to generate it are relatively abundant on Earth and the creation of energy is safe and environment friendly. A fusion power plant would be carbon free, as well as produce considerably lower amounts and less difficult-tostore radioactive byproducts than current nuclear power plants."


Read more: Birth of 'mini star' on Earth could solve energy crisis