If you plan to stay up all night in order to study, play MMORPGs, or work by taking large amounts of coffee, you're in for one heck of a ride come daytime. According to studies, drinking caffeine wreak havoc on daytime sleep even after a night of sleep deprivation.

An experiment was made where a number of people took coffee before their normal sleeping hours (read: night time) and eventually they had an extremely hard time at achieving deep slumber: they had less Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. The results suggest that taking it during the usual sleeping hours worsens sleep quality.

So why does it happen? The researchers said that caffeine daytime effects were due to the fact that most of the subjects were trying to fall asleep when their bodies was shouting to keep them awake. Taking coffee at night makes it even worse by allowing the "wake-up call signal" in the body stronger.

Although the article never gave any suggestion, it's implied that people should refrain from taking too much coffee and, if their occupations won't permit it, find a suitable alternative like eating apples or taking some legal, medical stimulants. If you have any other suggestion, fell free to write them down in the comments section below.

Average is something most people detest as most consider it boring. However, researchers from the Face Research Lab suggests otherwise. According to their experiments, typical-looking faces elicit the highest positive response because it was easier and faster to process in the brain.

Studies on how humans determine beauty has been taken up before. For instance, during the late 1870s, a scientist named Sir Francis Galton did a composite photo of male convicts and found them attractive. This resulted in the idea that prototypical faces attract more than the exceptional ones.

Another study suggests that an evolutionary explanation was more plausible: beauty represents a healthy partner. Since humans have a deep instinct to produce offspring, they need an able-bodied spouse. Therefore, most are unconsciously attracted to the healthiest-looking people around - the ones who look normal.

So whether beauty is in the brain-processing time of the beholder or because you're a suitable wife or husband, it all seems to boil down to one thing: simple is attractive. So for those people who complain that they look too plain--rejoice! You may be the most beautiful person in your block.

A group of French researchers just restored the visions of seven out of eight blind dogs. These dogs were afflicted with the genetic condition named Leber's Congenital Amaurosis - a genetic disorder that leads to blindness shortly after birth. So far, there are at least 1,000 children in France afflicted. The dogs will be subject to a new kind of genetic therapy.

The researchers injected the dog's eyes with a "promoter." Its job is to encourage the genes within the eyes to code a protein named RPE65. This is important in retinoid processing and rhodopsine synthesis. After two weeks, the dogs reportedly recovered their vision. However, they needed to know the extent of the repair done to the dogs' eyes.

They designed a course where the dogs needed to go through; however, only one of the eyes will be open, the other will be closed. They placed a cover over the untreated eye and let the dogs walk through a course using their treated eye. Seven out of eight dogs come through in more or less seven seconds. The dog that failed was the oldest treated (30 months). They assumed that the therapy should start as early as possible to repair the damage to the eyes.

The "promoter" seems to have promise; however, the researchers need to do more experiments before they move up to humans. Looks like the cure for Leber's Congenital Amaurosis is near at hand and children will be able to see the light again.

According to researchers, a part of the brain can be likened to a computer. Professor Randall O'Reilly of the University of Colorado said that the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia functions pretty much like your average PC or Mac.

Computers operate by manipulating electrical signals into binary "on and off" states. In the human grey matter, the prefrontal cortex is the binary while the basal ganglia is the switch. Basically, the two does the same thing. What can this new knowledge do for us?

Since the cortex is essential to intellectual ability, more understanding on how it works will allow scientists to suggest drugs or modifications that might enhance the human learning process. They can find a way to manually turn on or off some neurons to allow a more steady flow of info into the brain. Imagine a pill that will grant you high IQs for a limited amount of time. It's all nice, but how will they study this part of the brain?

According to the good professor, researchers can conduct studies on it like they do weather modelling. If enough information is collected, it can tell you how the system works. We'll see if this study can also help students improve studying habits, eh?

The Big Bang is a big conundrum and a lot of people have been debating this topic for a long time. There are people who believe that it happened more than four hundred million years ago, others say it never happened. The cosmic background radiation is an old token from the earliest age of the universe. The small differences in  temperature offers an integral hint on how galaxies formed and it shows how matter began to collect itself. Once measured, scientists would be closer to the time when the universe exploded into creation. Ergo, someone had to find the blackbody spectrum.

It was up to John Mather of NASA and George Smoot from the University of California to find it. They were able to find proof and got a great big medal in the end--the prestigious 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics. The two made a large contribution to the Big Bang theory and they were heavily involved in the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), a satellite that measures the diffuse infrared and microwave radiation from the early ages of the universe. J. Mather was the one who revealed the blackbody form of the microwave background radiation, while G. Smoot measured the small variations in the temperature.

Congratulations to the two scientists. We hope that with this knowledge, people will be more appreciative of how the universe , and eventually the Earth, came into being.

If Greenpeace had a hit list of the Top 20 Earth killers, they must all be down Mexico by now. No, they're not there to hide from the group, but rather they're meeting to talk about how much climate change has affected the economies of their countries. Yes, they're talking about money. Although they will also be discussing other topics, like reducing ozone depleting chemicals and saving the world.

Here's a peek at the meeting's agenda: Economic challenges of tackling climate change; Alternative low-carbon technologies; Level of investment from public and private sectors; and "road map" for a low-carbon future.

Claude Mandil, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), mentioned that technologies which can reduce emissions already exist. These projects just need more investment or it will just get lost in the shuffle. We think UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett says it all, "While it will not cost the Earth to solve climate change, it will cost the Earth - literally and financially - if we don't."

There is a very tight link between light and productivity. First, without light there won't be much work done. Imagine trying to write an article with a monitor that doesn't light up, or reading an instruction manual in a pitch black room. Extremely hard if not downright impossible. Second, according to recent studies, light intensity and color could actually improve performance.

It's all about the kelvins. The average office light has a color rating of 4,000 kelvin. It was just enough to see what you were reading or doing, but not enough for people not to get sleepy after lunch or during the night shift. Then, when researchers tried a lamp that has 17,000 kelvin on some of the night-shifters' office, people started to get more alert, output got better, and calls were dealt with effectively. In short, productivity got better. The researchers were quick to point out the reason why: The third eye.

The third eye is real. No, it's not that ESP thing, rather it's a newly discovered receptor in the eye that controls one's biological clock. After it responds to light, it transmits a signal to the hypothalamus- the one manipulating circadian rhythms and melatonin (hormone that affects the sleep/wake cycle). The question now is what kind of light does it respond well to?

Sky blue for more productivity. According to Professor George Brainard, the director of the light research programme at Jefferson Medical College, the receptor seems to be more sensitive to the blue, specifically the one like a clear blue sky. The mission now is to find a lighting solution that will perform this kind of light. What is the future going to be like?

Hopefully, clearer skies are ahead. Scientists are hoping that this discovery will improve health and affect problems like depression sleep disturbance, and better alertness. Better lighting for improved working.

If you're a gadget freak with environmentalist tendencies and $5.5 Mil hanging around somewhere, you might want to look at this 6,500 sq. ft., five-bedroom house for sale. The House of Innovation in Alamo, California is scheduled to be put on the market for a generous buyer.

It's a unique house at best. It's got the leading edge devices and electronics installed for your pleasure. It also has its own mowing robot and iPod around the house. This house has all the possible gadgets that might come out five to twenty years from now. What's ironic about it is that it's also pro-earth.

Another nice thing about it is that it's built entirely without nails - imagine LEGO only on a bigger scale. Since the floors aren't made from solid timber, they're more sustainable. For those looking to save a couple more bucks, it uses natural gas and rooftop solar panels to charge your house all day long. It's also bundled with a natural gas-burning car. Undescore 'High-tech' and 'environment friendly' with one stroke.

The House is open for tourists up until Nov. 12. The following day, it'll be for sale to the highest bidder. If you're interested, it's time to save up. Will it become a museum of the future or will someone actually live in it? We'll know by November 13...

The Orion will be the bigger, but younger, brother of Apollo. It will have the same multistage rocket, crew vehicle, and lunar lander--but bigger and more high tech of course. When asked why there are similarities between the two shuttles; Patrick McKenzie, the Business Development Manager for the Orion Project at Lockheed Space Systems, said that the Apollo shuttle got the aerodynamic shape of the capsule dead on; the shape has been proven safe by NASA.

However, there will be some major upgrade in technology under the hood. They are planning to build an automated rendezvous and docking capability. It will also have a new design and material for the heat shield. They'll be using materials such as PICA [phenolic impregnated carbon ablator] and SLA [a cork-based ablative material].

They're also looking forward to developing better landing-impact systems. The capsule will be bigger than Apollo's: it can seat six crew members. The cockpit has been replaced by a modern "glass cockpit" design. The avionics systems will be up to current technology.

No more "Houston, we have a problem." The Orion will have a "dual fault tolerance" element. Two failures in the system? The Orion will still run safely. The system constantly monitors the other; if one fails, another takes its place. It may add more weight to the vehicle, but it'll make it safer.

When asked about the gap between the last moon mission and 2020, Patrick answers that the budget for lunar missions these days aren't that big as the last mission. He added that they are still in the process of developing the lunar lander, the Earth-departure stage, and lift vehicles.

So in 2020, we'll be grooving and jiving to the 60's Apollo look-alike Orion as it pushes itself from Earth's atmosphere to the moon.

"Writing is easy, it's quality that's hard." We do this all for you. We at QJ write a lot. We pick out the best news out there and present it to you guys, steaming hot and fresh. We got articles all over the internet that needs to be reported on immediately. We do this for the readers out there who may have little time to search for the best gaming, science, or gadget news.

Yet, there are times we get stumped. Some people call this "writer's block." It's a situation where a writer just has no creative ideas flowing at into the page. He or she just stares at it, dumbfounded. How does we get over this? Scott Berkun, gives some ideas about how to get the creative juices again. He calls these "his writing hack".

• Start with a word. Write any word on the page. Sometimes it's the blank page that worries the writer more than anything else.
• Write about how it feels not to be able to write. It helps to know how something affects you. One may find out the reason why there's so much resistance in writing this particular subject. Did you have a traumatic experience with the subject? Does it remind you of something that you dislike? As soon as the feeling's out there, you'll notice that you've already began to write.
• Have a conversation. With your friends, dog, or self. Sometimes we just need to decentralize ourselves from our writing tools and just let it all hang out. Sometimes the best ideas come when you're not thinking of it.
• Read something you hate. If you hate newspapers read them and then rant or write about them. Negative energy is still energy. Although you'll need to get this off of your chest as soon as possible.
• Warm up. Like exercising, we all need to warm up before we start to write. The worst thing you could do to your brain is to suddenly jolt it by ordering it to come up with ideas while it's still thinking what you ate yesterday. Some mental exercise like typing the alphabet backwards, would be great. Google it!

The full article awaits after the jump!