U.K. readies for new credit cards

Credit card users in the U.K. will soon be able to tap a secure card reader, bypassing having to slide the credit card through a reader and sign a receipt. The wireless touch-and-go system will only be used for purchases of $20 and under starting in September. The payment method is quicker and may help process more transactions. Last year, according to banking figures, there were over 20 bil charges at about $20 or under in the U.K. The new cards will unveil in select locations.

1 in 10 American abused drugs

More than 10% of adults in the U.S. will abuse drugs such as marijuana, cocaine or amphetamines, at some point in their life, according to a National Institute of Health study. The study of more than 40,000 adults found that 10.3% abused and 2.6% became addicted to drugs at some point in their life. It also added that a small percentage of the abusers or addicted sought help. The NIH said that men were about twice as likely as women to be drug abusers and that problems were most frequent at 20 years old.

More than 2.1 mil American people were treated in emergency rooms for ladder-related injuries from 1990 through 2005. Overall, ladder-related injuries increased by more than 50% during the 16-year period, with broken bones the most common result, according to a study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy. “Ladders should be treated with the same respect and caution as any potentially dangerous tool, such as a power saw,” the study said.

The U.S. Army opened a new military-only resort in Virginia’s oceanfront for service people and families for affordable relaxation. The Virginia Beach facility is a 93-room set of bungalows. An Army official explained that the resort will offer rest and recuperation for war-weary soldiers.

Sales of solar panels dropped 78% in Calif. in the first 3 months of this year, with critics pinning the blame on state lawmakers, the L.A. Times reported. While the state offers tax breaks for going solar, a new law forces those customers to pay higher electric rates. Lawmakers say they intend to fix the glitch.

Traffic could add to wind energy

Wind-harnessed energy may get a boost if a recent proposal at the Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition catches on. Researchers contend utilities could tap the energy of man-made wind, such as that created by moving cars, trains and subways. They proposed putting turbines near busy highways and using the energy generated to power nearby light-rail trains or homes. Also, since vehicle traffic is heaviest during the day, the wind turbines could boost energy supplies during peak demand times.

Drugs restore memory in mice

Scientists restored lost memories in Alzheimer’s-like mice by using a drug most commonly used to fight cancer. Researchers at MIT found that mice kept in unstimulating surroundings couldn’t remember tasks they learned before. When they were given a new type of cancer drug, they had much less trouble finding their way through mazes. Researchers believe cancer drugs may have stimulated genes crucial to learning memory in the rodents’ brains, and this result could give hope to human patients.

A home that is smaller than an SUV may help meet the growing demand for short-stay residences. A 76-square-foot Micro-Compact Home, or m-ch, designed at Technical Univ. in Munich, comes equipped with 2 double beds, a kitchen, bathroom, flat-screen TV and a table that seats 5. It’s being sold for $96,000 per cube, including delivery, in Europe. Technical Univ. students already live in the minihomes, and a small village is being developed for a site near Vienna, Austria.

Walking pace has increased 10% in the past decade, British researchers found. The psychologists studied walking speeds in 32 cities worldwide and correlated it to the city’s physical and social health. Singapore topped the list, while New York was 8th.

1 in 4 people are at risk of a stroke because of undiagnosed high blood pressure, BBC News reported. Thousands of people are unaware of their own blood pressure levels and have no idea high blood pressure increases the risk of having a stroke. Every 5 minutes someone in U.K. has a stroke; 40% of them could be prevented by the control of blood pressure.

It doesn’t pay to be book smart

Even though those with higher IQs can navigate tests and academia better, researchers at Ohio State Univ. said they are often less wealthy. The study found higher IQs led to higher income, but those with higher IQs tend to have less wealth, as defined by total assets minus total debts. The researcher said the probability of missing bill payments rose with IQ, but that may be because smarter people have a better memory for missed payments.

E-mail viruses fade, but not hacks

By next year, more cyberattacks will be from Web hackers rather than from e-mail-based attacks such as viruses and Trojan horses, security firm Trend Micro said. The company said more advanced e-mail scanning software is the driving force behind the decline of e-mail attacks. Cyberattacks target vulnerability to operating systems, and there’s a growing market for those that can find the weakness. The firm said criminals offer up to $75,000 for a Windows XP flaw, 6 times what a security company will pay.

TV coverage of terror attacks increases viewers’ stress levels, a study of Americans’ dreams in the weeks before and after 9/11 suggested. Researchers at Merrimack College in Mass. analyzed the content of “dream journals” kept by students. The journals revealed the dreams after 9/11 were twice as likely to contain specific reference to 9/11. Participants who watched the most TV coverage of the attacks had higher stress levels.

80% of blogs contain offensive material, according to a ScanSafe report that defined a blog as offensive by one or more profane words. The study scanned 7 bil Web requests that ScanSafe’s corporate partners made. It also found that 6% of blogs contained malware, which could compromise corporate security.

A teenage girl who sends an average of 8,000 text messages a month to friends has been crowned the texting champion of the U.S. The teenager, Morgan Pozgar, 13, from Claysburg, Pa., was award the top prize of $25,000 by beating nearly 300 competitors. She had a text message speed of 42 seconds for a 151-character phrase.

Nearly 90% of CEOs are very confident about revenue growth over the next 12 months, which is twice as many compared with five years ago. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Annual Global CEO Survey of 1,100 CEOs across 50 countries found that half of the CEOs are planning a cross-border merger or acquisition to help drive business growth. Despite overall optimism, CEOs foresee potential barriers to growth, with 73% citing overregulation as a concern, up from 64% a year ago, while half are worried about oil supplies, terrorism and political instability.

Fiber lowers breast cancer risk

Pre-menopausal women who eat 30 grams of fiber a day halve their breast cancer risk vs. those who eat less than 20 grams. University of Leeds researchers studied 35,000 women and found fiber affects the way the body processes and regulates the female hormone estrogen. The average person eats 12 grams of fiber a day, and to hit 30 grams, women need to eat high-fiber cereal, whole meal bread and 5 portions of fruits and vegetables a day.

Among students in kindergarten through 12th grade, carrots and fresh vegetables are getting more popular for lunch, while french fries are getting less so, the School Nutrition Association’s annual survey showed. In 2005, at least 17 states enacted some form of school nutrition legislation. Also, a New Jersey law requires school districts to ban candy and soda by next fall.

A British zoo announced that it succeeded in the virgin births of five Komodo dragons. DNA paternity tests confirm the lack of male input. Other reptile species reproduce asexually in a process known as parthenogenesis, but virginal conception of Komodo dragons was a first. Scientists hope the discovery will pave the way to finding other species capable of self-fertilization.

Gaining weight is not only bad for your health, but also your pocketbook, according to research conducted by 9 European countries. The study found that adding 10% of one’s body mass index which is a measurement of weight vs. height that determines obesity can reduce a man’s real earnings by 3.3% and a woman’s by 1.8%.

Lung cancer surgery did nothing to end some smokers’ addictions, as almost half started smoking again within a year and others within 2 months of the operation. The Washington Univ. School of Medicine studied 154 patients, who had early-stage surgery to treat lung cancer, and said each gave up smoking before surgery. But the power of nicotine proved too strong, with those who quit at the last minute before surgery more prone to relapse.

Stress hits people of all cultures

About three-fourths of people in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, S. Korea and the U.K. said they experience stress daily, according to an AP-Ipsos poll. 61% of Spaniards said they were stressed, while more than half of Mexicans said they rarely or never experience stress. Germans feel the most stressed among the nations polled, Americans cited financial pressures as the top worry. In most countries, men were less likely than women to be stressed daily and the British said they frequently felt life was beyond their control .

Embryonic stem cell research is proceeding despite a federal ban on it. N.J. will set aside $7 mil next year from state coffers to experiment on federally restricted stem cell lines. N.J. joins Calif., Conn., Ill. and Md. N.J. will also spend $3 mil on less controversial adult stem cell research and $270 mil on stem cell research facilities.

Cell phone alerts can deliver breaking news, sports scores and now, family planning. Women seeking to boost their odds of becoming pregnant are increasingly signing up on Web sites that can send out alerts via the Internet to notify them of their peak ovulation periods. In addition, some sites help women to schedule events in their lives, such as weddings and vacations, around their periods.

Cognitive ability can be kept longer and sharper if one is continually challenged, according to a team of researchers led by Pa. State Univ. Of seniors who participated, 87% showed immediate improvement in processing speed by trying to identify objects faster and faster. Other drills were with mnemonic devices and pattern recognition.

Stores in the Ginza district of Tokyo will begin beaming special offers and coupons to passers-by next month using a network tied to radio frequency identification tags. The tags and transmitters will identify a shopper’s location and transmit messages on nearby stores or products to the passer-by’s mobile phone or a special receiver that will be available to rent. Project developers said future systems will seek to target specific types of customers with tailored information. Visitors in Ginza also will be able to access local maps and tourist information in 5 languages transmitted through radio tags on street lamps.

Family gathering via virtual tech

The virtual family dinner system that allows scattered family members to dine together at different locations was developed by technology consulting firm Accenture. The system uses a video conferencing device. Users can see what’s on each other’s table when they interact. For example, when a family member who lives alone puts a meal on the table, the system’s software automatically finds family members who are wired and determines who might be available to join the dinner. Prototype would become available in about 2 years and cost up to $1,000 per household.