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Submission + - Graphene Antennas to Reach Terabits of Wireless Bandwidth

An anonymous reader writes: A big bottleneck of current data transfer technology, the slow speed of wireless transfers, is now in the early stage of being addressed. Researchers at Georgia Tech presented the concept of a wireless antenna made from atom-thin sheets of carbon, or graphene, that could allow terabit-per-second transfer speeds at short ranges.
Biotech

Submission + - Salt linked to autoimmune diseases (nature.com) 1

ananyo writes: "The incidence of autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes, has spiked in developed countries in recent decades. In three studies published today, researchers describe the molecular pathways that can lead to autoimmune disease and identify one possible culprit that has been right under our noses — and on our tables — the entire time: salt. Some forms of autoimmunity have been linked to overproduction of TH17 cells, a type of helper T cell that produces an inflammatory protein called interleukin-17. Now scientists have found sodium chloride turns on the production of these cells. They also showed that in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis, a high-salt diet accelerated the disease’s progression."
Slashback

Submission + - The Obama Administration Will Not Rule Out Using Drone Strikes on American Soil (vice.com)

pigrabbitbear writes: "Yesterday the FBI got all kinds of worked up about a drone sighting near JFK, even if it was careful to avoid the use of that rather-loaded noun. But while rising civilian drone use is becoming a rather convoluted legal topic, it's clear that the government has no problems using its favorite aerial surveillance technology with little legal oversight.

Now, a big question raised during the Christopher Dorner manhunt was whether or not a lethal drone strike on a US citizen on US soil would be legal. Attorney General Eric Holder has just commented on that matter, and while it would allegedly require war-like circumstances, he certainly didn't rule it out."

Comment Re:Will this be any different? (Score 1) 147

I moved to my own cobbled together Compiz standalone shortly after Gentoo devs forced the issue with KDE4 (the second or third time). I was really ticked at the KDE devs -- and separately, the Gentoo devs -- at that point. Basically, I was used to the way I had things set up and I didn't want anyone compelling me to make changes I didn't want to make for reasons that ultimately had nothing to do with me. I didn't care what these people's vision of the future was, and didn't understand why they were "screw"ing the users who had supported KDE for so long.

I knew if I switched to Gnome, the same thing was going to happen, and soon. Of course, now the compiz packages I use are getting removed from portage, so I made them local packages. When the deps change again and break compatibility, I can look forward to a new round of hell. But either way, it's my responsibility--I can complain to myself about all the bugs that I've failed to address. Puts things in perspective. I understood, but didn't fully appreciate just how complicated this crap is, but now I just couldn't imagine any screwing involved. Screwing implies some satisfaction on at least one end!

Comment Re:Seems to me... (Score 1) 30

Regular (and NPH) insulins have the advantage of being out of patent for over 10 years and not requiring prescription in most (all?) states. That's not the case with analogs, although I believe the patent on Humalog runs out next year.

And actually, yeast is used in the production of insulin, Novo Nordisk's Novolin insulin, for instance. Extraction is easier, but production is lower. However, research published in 2010 (open access) describes techniques for significantly boosting the production using a modified yeast Pichia pastoris.

This is great news. The cost-reduction ship has sailed, perhaps, at least in the US, but I still look forward to having more choices available.

Comment Applets (Score 2) 263

IKEA is more comparable to desklets or plasmoids (or whatever the KDE applets are called these days), though. The basics are done already, so its appeal is accessibility and ease. The real DIY "open source" furniture is more like this stuff. Anyone can do it with simple tools and the right materials, but it still takes some effort. When it's easier to start a project, a steady increase in required effort builds a reluctance to let the initial investment go to waste. The trouble is biting off more than one can chew from the start. I think that is often the case with FOSS.

Comment Re:Beware? (Score 1) 265

If people could be trusted to take recreational drugs responsibly (infrequent low doses, over 18 etc) then it'd be fine - problem is, most people suck at judging these things (hell, most people shouldn't be trusted with a cheque book or credit card) so the Nanny State has to make a blanket ruling to compensate for the suckage of the General Populace.

You seem to have a problem trusting people to make good decisions for themselves, but no problem trusting them to make decisions for others. This seems ... odd.

Comment It'll be interesting to see if this goes on long. (Score 2, Interesting) 428

Last I knew, the FCC was pretty clear that they were the only ones that had the power to regulate RF emissions. I wonder how easy it would be to get the FCC to tell the plaintiff to retract his case or face FCC fines.

I mean, hey, my neighbor was just fined tens of thousands of dollars by the FAA for launching a homemade balloon. They're serving jail time now. I don't want to mess with organizations matching the F[A-Z]{2} regex. :-)

Sean

Comment Re:TFA backs up parent.... (Score 1) 818

I do wonder, did previous generations struggle with the same feelings and opinions of the next?

From Rousseau's Origin of Inequality :

Discontented with your present state, for reasons which threaten your unfortunate descendants with still greater discontent, you will perhaps wish it were in your power to go back; and this feeling should be a panegyric on your first ancestors, a criticism of your contemporaries, and a terror to the unfortunates who will come after you.

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"This generation may be the one that will face Armageddon." -- Ronald Reagan, "People" magazine, December 26, 1985

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