research
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Simply Putting Fins On Tires Could Improve A Vehicle’s Fuel Efficiency
Slapping a giant fin on the back of your hand-me-down Corolla isn’t going to make it go any faster. But researchers at Yokohama have found that adding a series of angled fins to a tire can actually help improve a vehicle’s aerodynamics, which in turn means better fuel efficiency and fewer stops at the pumps.
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Drug Companies May Not Be Able To Justify The Cost Of Medicines
In the US, drug prices for consumers are climbing. The average cost is up 11% from 2013 to 2014 — that’s a lot more than inflation. What’s really behind that sky-high pricetag?
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Ig Nobel Informal Lectures Give Winners A Chance To Explain Themselves
The Ig Nobel awards ceremony is a marvellous spectacle encrusted with tradition. But if you really want to know how the winners did their work and why, you need to go to the Ig informal lectures, held at MIT the Saturday after the awards.
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You Can’t Steal Data From A Chip That’s Self-Destructed
Losing a flash drive full of family photos is unfortunate; losing an encryption key that gives access to sensitive data could be a catastrophe. So researchers at Xerox’s PARC have developed chips that can self-destruct on command, making them completely unusable once they shatter.