Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Plants Near Chernobyl Adapt to Contaminated Soil

Submitted by lbalbalba
lbalbalba writes: In April 1986, a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine exploded and sent radioactive particles flying through the air, infiltrating the surrounding soil. Despite the colossal disaster, some plants in the area seem to have adapted well, flourishing in the contaminated soil.
Link to original source
Politics

Submission + - Capitalism does't make freedom (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A familiar point of view to those who may have noticed Microsoft's choke-hold on the operating system market. Vince Cable, the UK government's Business Secretary, attacks capitalism for 'killing competition'. His words were aimed at the bankers ("spivs and gamblers") who brought the country to it's current economic straits, whilst rewarding themselves liberally. But good to hear someone in government recognising that capitalism and the free market do not lead to free choices for consumers.
Businesses

Submission + - FCC set to finalize rules for next-gen wireless (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: The FCC's agenda for Thursday include a vote on the final rules for unlicensed devices making use of unused TV spectrum known as "white spaces." Industry and lawmakers have predicted the opening up of the white spaces could result in the biggest leaps forward in wireless technology in the past 25 years. Among the benefits is so-called "WiFi on Steroids" which allows a large number of users within a 50-mile radius to tap into a single high-speed broadband connection for the same price as a traditional WiFi router. The FCC is expected to approve the move, but Google and other companies warn that the devil is in the technical details of the rules.

Submission + - Scientists find new target for Alzhiemer's (medicaldaily.com)

Submitted by GarryFre
GarryFre writes: Neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found a new therapeutic target that can potentially lead to a new way to prevent the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The target called neutral sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) is a protein that when activated, can cause a chain of reactions in the cell leading to neuronal death and memory loss. Already a substance has been found that shows some promise in halting the progression of the disease.
NASA

Submission + - Martian meteorite gets NASA Mars rover's attention (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: NASA's Mars rover Opportunity will take a small detour on its current journey to check out what could be a toaster-sized iron-based meteorite that crashed into the red planet.NASA scientists called the rock "Oileán Ruaidh," which is the Gaelic name for an island off the coast of northwestern Ireland. The rock is about 45 centimeters (18 inches) wide from the angle at which it was first seen on September 16.
Government

Submission + - UK Goverment IT chief backs open source suppliers (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Blacklaw
Blacklaw writes: The UK government’s deputy Chief Information Officer has outlined plans to hand public sector IT contracts over to small businesses and suppliers of open-source and cloud-based solutions in an attempt to balance the books.
Speaking at the 360IT conference in London on Wednesday, Bill McCluggage also promised greater transparency over IT procurement, with tenders and contracts published online. Outlining a commitment to “simplify, standardise and automate”, McCluggage said the government would make it easier for open-source suppliers to compete for contracts, making the public sector less reliant on individual suppliers, or locked into proprietary systems.

Submission + - 2011: The Year of the Tablet (technorati.com) 1

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: After the huge success of the iPad, with over 4 million units sold since its introduction, all mayor hardware vendors of PCs and mobile devices are coming with new tablets in the next few months, including Apple with a smaller version of the popular product. Analysts estimate the market for tablet devices (over 6” screen size) to be around 25 million units for 2011.

Read more: http://technorati.com/technology/article/2011-the-year-of-the-tablet/

Submission + - British council set to go open source (techworld.com)

Submitted by Golygydd Max
Golygydd Max writes: Bristol city councillors are considering a proposal for a major shift to open source, the first British council to go so far down the open source path, according to a Techworld story. The councillor pushing for the project to go ahead would like to have gone the whole hog and installed open source throughout the council but for pragmatic reasons has accepted some Microsoft on the desktops. Still, it's a major move for a UK local authority which up till now has lagged behind the rest of Europe on open source.

Slashdot Top Deals

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. -- Albert Einstein

Close