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Science

Submission + - What Does IQ Really Measure? (sciencemag.org) 2

sciencehabit writes: Kids who score higher on IQ tests will, on average, go on to do better in conventional measures of success in life: academic achievement, economic success, even greater health, and longevity. Is that because they are more intelligent? Not necessarily. New research concludes that IQ scores are partly a measure of how motivated a child is to do well on the test. And harnessing that motivation might be as important to later success as so-called native intelligence.

Submission + - Concentrator to boost solar panel light input (gizmag.com) 1

cylonlover writes: "California company HyperSolar claims that it has just completed the prototype design of "the world's first thin and flat solar concentrator for direct placement on top of existing solar cells" that could magnify the sun’s rays by 300 to 400 percent. Each sheet will contain a matrix of optical concentrators that are capable of collecting sunlight from a variety of angles. Beneath those concentrators will be a "photonics network," that will channel light from all the collection points on the top to concentrated output points on the bottom. This network will also able to separate the sunlight into different spectrum ranges, so that specific ranges can be sent to specific cells designed to absorb them."
Space

Submission + - How to Built a Telescope That Trumps Hubble (discovermagazine.com)

An anonymous reader writes: In cleanrooms around the country NASA and its contractors are building the James Webb Space Telescope, a marvel of engineering scheduled to launch in 2014. This gallery shows the features that will allow Webb to take the universe's baby pictures in infrared — most notably an 18-segment mirror and a 5-layer sunshield. I can't wait until Webb settles into its Lagrangian point way out beyond the moon and gets to work.

Comment Re:double standard (Score 2) 611

Where did he steal anything, all he did was to play a game with much improved odds of him winning. The casinos made these machines freely available to be used and what he did was adopt a scheme of play which rewards him for his investment of hundreds to thousands of dollars, with even more money. If someone offers to play a broken game where you are guaranteed by playing in such a way, to make a profit, is playing in such a way stealing from the person runing the game? No.

Comment Re:Ummm, because it is different information? (Score 1) 464

Here's a great example of just how amazing Americans are! Watch 6:16 onwards.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/09/video-of-kids-reacti.html

This is horrifying. That a child has been brought up and taught that the conversion rate for American lives too an entire country is; a few Americans at risk, (after first attempt fails) KILL THEM ALL, because yeah who cares?

Yes he's only a child and may not have a better understanding of the sanctity of human life, but someone taught him this!

Comment Re:The Earth would be fine (Score 1) 264

By threat to Earth I meant an event which would cause the Earth to lose its identity as a planet. One way woud be falling into a gas giant, sun, black hole or another astronomical object large enough that the Earth would become part of the object. Or a collision which splits the planet near in half, where neither of the resulting objects could be labled the Earth while still being planet sized.

The phrase "threat to the Earth", when used by a human, means "theat to the Earth's suitablity as our home".

I agree that the term threat to the Earth is typicaly used in relation to us. This is why I said it was pedantic to interpret it the way I did, though maybe picky would have been a better term to describe how I chose to read the article.

Comment The Earth would be fine (Score 2, Insightful) 264

...we wouldn't.There is no possible threat to the Earth which humans could ever make even the smallest abount of diffence about. Instead there is a threat to civilisation. Pedantic, I know but the only threat to the earth is crashing into a star or another planet. Humanity compared is much more fragile, threatened by a mere mile wide rock or similar.

Comment Watch the burglary rates soar (Score 1) 4

Now if anyone steals your phone and keys they could be able to log onto your facebook acount (depending on whether the phone is locked or not) and find out where you live. An example how good online security requires good real life security. There may be methods to help prevent this but none that I could find.

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