New chip uses light to send, receive data

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New chip uses light to send, receive data SAN JOSE, Calif. (UPI) -- U.S. microprocessor giant Intel says it has developed a chip that can send and receive information at incredible speeds using beams of light. The California chip maker said the fingernail-size prototype can transfer 100 hours of digital music from one device to another in one second, the San Jose Mercury News reported Wednesday. Eventually, such chips could transmit the contents of a laptop's hard drive in one second and the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress in two minutes, the company says. Because the chips are made of the same material as the company's current microprocessors, the "silicon photonic links" could be produced at low cost, making them practical for use in everything from personal computers to smartphones, Intel says. "It's actually quite significant and a wonderful step forward," Alan Wilner, a laser expert at the University of Southern California who is familiar with the technology, said. Copper connections traditionally used in devices ranging from PCs to digital camera and flat screen televisions can become overloaded with data, degrading their electronic signals. And with the amount of video and other information being transmitted expanding rapidly, concerns are mounting that copper is nearing its technological limits. But vast amounts of data can be transmitted easily via light beams over optical fiber, leading a number of companies, including Intel, to work seriously on the technology, the Mercury News said. Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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Attitudes may shape response to prejudice PALO ALTO, Calif. (UPI) -- People are more likely to confront prejudice if they hold a particular belief that people's personalities can change, U.S. researchers say. Participants in a study at Stanford University who said they thought personalities could change were more likely to confront someone making a prejudiced remark and disagree with the comment than people who did not hold that attitude, a study published in the journal Psychological Science says. In an experiment, students, all of whom were ethnic minorities or women, were confronted by a white sophomore name Matt -- actually a researcher -- who made a statement that communicated bias. The participants had a chance to respond to the biased statement, or not. Who spoke up? Subjects who said they believed personalities could be changed were more likely to respond and disagree with "Matt's" comment, the study found. One implication of the study, researchers say, involves areas of law based on the assumption that people who are targets of bias should speak up. "In the law, speaking up in the moment is very important in terms of whether people can bring lawsuits and the strength of their claims, especially in sexual harassment law," Aneeta Rattan, a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford and co-author of the study, says. This study suggests that people may have many reasons for not speaking up when they're the targets of bias, including their own attitudes about personality, she said. "Maybe our standards should not start with the idea that all people want to speak up -- it may depend upon their beliefs about personality," Rattan says. Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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Study: Butter could power diesel vehicles WASHINGTON (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say the quest for raw materials as sources of biodiesel fuel has focused on an unlikely farm product -- butter. Scientists are investigating whether surplus, spoiled or non-food-grade butter can be used to make biodiesel fuel at competitive prices, an American Chemical Society release said Wednesday. Global demand for biodiesel and the desire to expand the base of possible raw materials is motivating the research, the release said. The United States alone has committed to producing 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022, including 1 billion gallons of biodiesel, a major increase from the current annual production level of about 11 billion gallons, the ACS reported. Scientists recovered the fat from a quarter-ton of butter, 1 billion pounds of which are produced annually, and converted it into the fatty acid esters that constitute biodiesel. The resulting material met all but one of the official test standards for biodiesel, they said, only failing because of a slightly excessive sulfur content, and with further purification or by blending with biodiesel from other sources, butter biodiesel could add to the supply of bio-based fuel for diesel engines, the ACS said. Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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Panda habitat subject of U.S.-China study EAST LANSING, Mich. (UPI) -- Much of China's suitable panda habitat is outside established nature reserves and areas where wild pandas are reported to live, researchers say. As effort and resources are being expended to protect the endangered giant panda, identifying additional possible habitat for them can aid future conservations efforts, a Michigan State University study released Wednesday said. "This research can help the Chinese government and international non-governmental organizations develop comprehensive strategic plans for more effective conservation of the panda," Jianguo Liu, MSU professor of fisheries and wildlife, said. The joint U.S.-China habitat study was published in the journal Biological Conservation. "Overall, about 40 percent of the suitable habitat for pandas is inside the nature reserves," Andres Vina of MSU's Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability said. "Our model also identified potentially suitable habitat outside the currently accepted geographic range of the panda." Fewer than 1,600 giant pandas live in the wild in three Chinese provinces, Gansu, Shaanxi and Sichuan. Human actions, including logging, residential development and the expansion of farming, are considered the main factors in the contraction of the giant panda's habitat. "The Chinese government plans to add about 69,500 square miles of land to the country's nature reserve system between 2010 and 2020," Zhiyun Ouyang at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing said. "So opportunities exist to create new reserves, to expand existing reserves and to create corridors that increase the connectivity among the reserves," he said. "On the basis of (the study), we suggest some new areas to be included in China's nature reserve system." Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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