In an attempt to understand and perhaps prevent a repeat of the recent financial disasters, New Scientist takes a look at some of the ideas being explored by economists, engineers, biologists and other scientists to control the markets. Some of the ideas include:

Bubble Math — detects developing market bubbles from the mathematical patterns they throw up.

The Human Factor — probes individual attitudes to economic reality to detect when and how bubbles show up.

Network Solutions — uses applied mathematics to tease out complex relationships in areas from computing to biology with the goal of finding bubbles that can cause the global economy to collapse.

Predicting the Big One — says even the most sophisticated science-based analysis won't lead to perfect prediction of future market problems, but closer attention to the statistics of the past can give a better idea of what's likely in the future.

Economy in a Computer — predicts that a computer can eventually analyze the global economy and create functioning models that policy-makers can look to for insight.

Predicting the Markets — melds physics and economics to create agent-based models that are better equipped to deal with the non-equilibrium behavior of markets.

Fun Science and Engineering Sites
Helping scientists and engineers get the most out of the Web, the Baltimore Science News Examiner put together 20 Web sites they say "every scientist, engineer or geek-at-heart ought to know about." Among the chosen few are:

Grants.net — a clearinghouse of funding opportunities, compiled by Science magazine;

eFunda.com — a place full of fundamental engineering principles such as formulas, unit conversions and more;

Daniel Soper's statistics calculator — a free online statistics calculator created by Cal State professor Daniel Soper;

MathGV.com — a mathematical function graphing program for common scientific and engineering applications; and

CookingForEngineers.com — a cooking Web site that reads like lab notes.

Feel free to add any Web sites that you think they've missed in the comments section.

The Cubicle Microwave
Designed to help those employees forever tied to their desks have a hot meal, Heinz has partnered with GAMA Microwave Technology to create a portable microwave oven that can be powered via a computer's USB port. According to Heinz, 69 percent of British office workers claimed they do not have time to go out for daily lunch. (Image source: the Daily Mail)

Called the Beanzawave, this petite microwave stands 7.4 inches tall by 6.2 inches wide and 5.9 inches deep. The product heats items using a combination of mobile phone radio frequencies. "It is possible to heat a pie, a burger, a cup of soup or tea in quick time," Gordon Andrews, co-designer (with Stephen Frazer) and managing director of GAMA Microwave Technology, told the U.K.'s Daily Mail. "[T]he product conforms with all the safety standards of a normal microwave oven, including protective walls and a door mechanism which kills the power when it opens."

Currently, the Beanzawave is in the prototype stage. And with component prices at current levels, the mini-microwave would cost about £100 ($160).

Five-Year Paid Leave
BBVA, Spain's second biggest bank, is offering its 29,954 employees 30 percent of their usual salaries if they promise to stay away from work for three to five years. Employees who take the offer are also guaranteed to a job when their leave comes to an end. Additionally, their health care costs will be covered during the sabbatical. Other options open to the bank's employees included a shorter working week on reduced pay, or time off arrangements to allow staff to attend to personal matters.

Bye Bye Bunny Ears
Say goodbye to TV aerials and bunny ears. The nation is going digital. Today is the last day television stations will be broadcasting in analog frequencies. As of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, televisions stations will be broadcasting solely on digital and those with analog televisions (31 percent of television owners) will have to watch TV elsewhere, until they get a digital converter box. According to Nielsen Media Research, that's nearly 3 million Americans.

Those who already have cable or satellite TV will be unaffected by the change. The end of analog television, which has existed since the first regularly scheduled television services began in the U.S. in 1948, will free up that part of the broadcast spectrum for other uses.

The federal government took in $20 billion by selling frequency licenses for other commercial uses. Some of the frequencies are reserved for emergency agencies' communications.

Toodles!