In tune with the times

Anyone who stays tuned to the latest science and technology news has a big advantage as this is a field that does not remain stagnant at all. So, many of us attempt to stay updated with the science news through TV shows, tech magazines and the internet. However, the disadvantage is that we only get updated with the current developments in science and technology, rather infrequently.

Enter Eureka! Science News which can provide the very latest and popular science breakthroughs by updating the news and articles, every five minues. At e! Science News (http://esciencenews.com/) there is no human editor! The e! news engine is fully automated artificial intelligence. It constantly surfs the web to ferret, regroup, categorise, tag and rank science news from all major science news sources.

To present the very latest science news, the e! news engine computes relationships between science articles and news found on the web using a vector space model and hierarchical clustering. It then automatically determines in which category each news item belongs using a Naive Bayes classifier.

Finally, it examines multiple parameters (such as timeliness, rate of appearance on the web, number of sources reporting the news, etc.) for each news group. The result is an e! score which represents the relative importance of a news item. The results are presented under various categories which include:

*Astronomy & Space
* Biology & Nature
* Earth & Climate
* Health & Medicine
* Mathematics & Economics
* Paleontology & Archaeology
* Physics & Chemistry
* Psychology & Sociology

To get an idea about the latest of the latest news, here are some which were posted at the website even as this article was being written:

Under Astronomy and Space category: Fermi’s Large Area Telescope sees surprising flares in crab nebula; NIST telescope calibration may help explain mystery of universe’s expansion; Andromeda’s once and future stars; VISTA stares deeply into the blue lagoon; and identity parade clears cosmic collisions of the suspicion of promoting black hole growth.

Under Biology & Nature, you can read: Princeton scientists construct synthetic proteins that sustain life; UCLA study finds neural stem cells maintain high levels of reactive oxygen species; extracting cellular ‘engines’ may aid in understanding mitochondrial diseases; stem cell discovery could lead to improved bone marrow transplants; and punctuated evolution in cancer genomes.

The Earth & Climate space has hosted these: Statistical analysis can estimate crop performance; lessons learned from oil rig disaster; sulphur proves important in the formation of gold mines; freshwater methane release changes greenhouse gas equation; and carbon swap bank to beat climate change.

Under Health & Medicine, you can browse these news bits: Scientists shed light on what causes brain cell death in Parkinson’s patients; a study says liver disease a possible predictor of stroke; evidence lacking for widespread use of costly antipsychotic drugs, says Stanford researcher; most consumers want predictive tests to learn if a disease is in their future; and VIB-KU Leuven scientists clear the way to alternative anti-angiogenic cancer therapy.

The Physics & Chemistry section carries news about: Bendy tubes get around; story tips from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, January 2011; The ‘mad’ Egyptian scholar who proved Aristotle wrong; major advances in MRI allow much faster brain scans; and newly developed cloak hides underwater objects from sonar.

The latest news in Mathematics & Economics section include: How do data exclusivity periods affect pharmaceutical innovation? Rice U research shows Starbucks’ logo redesign could prove beneficial to company; IPv6 guide provides path to secure deployment of next-generation internet protocol; border collie comprehends over 1,000 object names; and two publications recommend organisation-wide IT security risk management.

The Psychology & Sociology section hosts these: Web-based curriculum improves surgical residents’ knowledge of health care business; BMJ declares MMR study ‘an elaborate fraud’ - autism claims likened to ‘Piltdown man’ hoax; ‘Long-shot’ discovery may lead to advances in treating anxiety, memory disorders; ‘Timing is everything’ in ensuring healthy brain development; and young people say sex and paychecks come in second to self-esteem.

And, the Paleontology & Archaeology space carries UF study of lice DNA shows humans first wore clothes 1,70,000 years ago; widespread ancient ocean ‘dead zones’ challenged early life; oxygen’s challenge to early life; prehistoric bird used club-like wings as weapon; and what triggers mass extinctions? Study shows how invasive species stop new life.

e! Science News was developed and is maintained by Michael Imbeault, a PhD student in Retrovirology & Bioinformatics at the Université Laval Quebec, Canada. Michael’s current research activities include involving HIV-1, gene expression analysis, and bioinformatics. His current interests include bibliomics and information technology.