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Intra-Operative Monitoring: A Comprehensive Approach

Donald Farrell MD.

www.xlibris.com

Paperback $92.99 | E-book $3.99

This book introduces the basics of evoked potentials(诱发电位)and their use as a diagnostic tool and as an intra-operative tool to reduce injury during surgery on the central and secondary nervous systems.

Retribution: A Jack Sanders Novelette

Philip Barnard

www.xlibris.com

Hardback $24.99 | Paperback $15.99 | E-book $3.99

Horrified by what he finds, clinical psychologist Dr. Jack involves himself in a dangerous journey in an attempt to apologize for his family's murderous behavior.

Energy Made Easy: Helping Citizens Become Energy-Literate

Ronald Stein / Todd Royal

www.xlibris.com

Hardback $29.99 | Paperback $19.99 | E-book $3.99

From renewable intermittent(间歇性的)electricity to global warming and electrical nets, Energy Made Easy brings easy-to-read, layman's explanations to complex issues helping citizens become energy-literate.

Nature Is My Teacher: Baby Steps to Follow Mother Nature

Prabhash Karan

www.xlibris.com

Hardback $26.99 | Paperback $18.99 | E-book $3.99

Mother has been and will always remain the same with love, devotion, and dedication; and giving nature the features of a mother-life-giving and fostering-is simply personification as a caring mother. When Mother Nature teaches, we learn. Nature Is My Teacher reveals the deep emotional connection between human evolution and civilization.

Scientists at the University of Washington (UW) have come up with an unusual way to help farmers get information about the plants in their fields. 

Farmers already use drones (无人机) to collect information about their crops. But they can only fly for 10 to 20 minutes, and can only travel for a few miles. Last year, the team at UW showed off "RoboFly", a tiny robot that weighed as much as a toothpick and could fly. But it can't fly far at all and it needs a laser (激光) for power. So the scientists began to think about things that already knew how to fly, which led them to the bumblebees (大黄蜂) that fly all day. Compared to many flying insects, bumblebees are so large and strong as to fly carrying almost as much as their own weight.

The UW scientists created a special device with sensors, a small battery, and a way of storing tiny amounts of information. This "backpack" weighs about as much as seven grains of dry rice.

To track the bee, the scientists send radio signals from several spots along the edges of the field where the bee is. The tiny computer on the bee's back uses the strength of the signals to figure out where it is. The backpack records information about the temperature and light. When the bee return s home at the end of the day, a device can wirelessly download the information the bee has collected. Another device can wirelessly recharge the backpack's battery.

In the UW experiment, the scientists cooled the bumblebees down so that they stopped moving, and then glued the backpacks onto the bees. But it would be difficult for farmers to do the same thing for hundreds of bumblebees. Besides, bumblebees don't live long — about a month. Farmers would need to be careful as the bees got older, otherwise the trackers could die while they are out in the field, leaving the electronic litter behind.

The Mona Lisa is the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting of a woman with a mysterious smile. This week, the painting gave up a secret.

Scientists used X-rays to examine the chemical organization of an extremely small part of the more than 500-year-old painting. The researchers discovered a technique Leonardo used in the work. A team in France and Britain discovered an oil paint used for the Mona Lisa was a special, new chemical mixture. It suggests that the Italian artist may have been in an experimental mood when he set to work on the painting early in the 16th century.

"He was someone who loved to experiment, and each of his paintings is completely different technically," said Victor Gonzalez. He is the study's lead writer. "In this case, it's interesting to see that indeed there is a specific technique for the ground layer of the Mona Lisa," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. Specifically, the researchers found a rare compound, plumbonacrite (水蛭石), in Leonardo's first layer of paint. The discovery, Gonzalez said, proved that da Vinci most likely used lead oxide to thicken and help dry his paint.

The scientists looked into its atomic structure using X-rays in a synchrotron (同步加速器). The machine moves particles at close to the speed of light, permitting researchers to look deeper into the paint structure. "Plumbonacrite is really a fingerprint of his recipe," Gonzalez said. "It's the first time we can actually chemically prove it."

Dutch artist Rembrandt may have used a similar mixture when he was painting in the 17th century. Gonzalez and other researchers have found plumbonacrite in his work, too. "It also tells us that those recipes were passed on for centuries," Gonzalez said. "It was a very good recipe."

But the Mona Lisa and additional works by Leonardo still have other secrets to tell. "There are plenty, plenty more things to discover," Gonzalez said. "What we are saying is just a little brick more in the knowledge."