207939
submission
NSTipster writes:
Scientists believe that rolled-up sheets of carbon could store hydrogen with unprecedented efficiency and without extremely low temperatures or high pressures. Computer simulations, performed by a team in Greece, reveal that adding impurities to rolled-up carbon sheets should improve their ability soak up hydrogen, potentially overcoming one of the biggest problems facing the hydrogen fuel economy — how to store and transport it easily and safely.
207921
submission
NSTipster writes:
A story over on New Scientist Tech reveals that a new high-density type of memory could be made by attaching viruses to quantum dots. The research exploits the fact that some biological materials react to inorganic molecules. In this case, each hybrid unit can be operated as a memory device since its conductive states that can be switched between high and low, corresponding to a 1 and a 0, by applying a low voltage. In theory, this could lead to high-density storage, because each individual hybrid could be a single storage unit and millions would fit into a space just a few centimetres square.
207883
submission
duncanthrax writes:
under_score or camelCase?
- under_score
- camelCase
- all_Of_The_Above
- noneoftheabove
87502
story
Ditesh Kumar tips us to a blog entry by Sam Hiser noting a bill filed in Texas that would
require state agencies to conduct their work in an open document format. After
Microsoft's grueling battle against ODF in Massachusetts, bluest of blue states, it must be galling to face te same fight in the reddest of the red. Hiser notes that the bill includes a rigorous and sound definition of an open document format, which ODF would meet but Microsoft's current
OOXML submission would not.
37612
story
mpthompson writes
"Samsung has partnered with a Korean university to develop a robotic sentry equipped with a 5.5mm machine gun. Meant for deployment along the DMZ between North and South Korea, the $200,000 robot employs sophisticated pattern recognition software for targeting humans. No three laws here, but the robot does include a speaker that can be used to politely issue a warning before taking the target out. The promotional video is both scary and funny at the same time."
1488513
story
toxcspdrmn writes
"Volunteers at Bletchley Park have recreated a working replica of the electromechanical bombe used to crack the Germans' Enigma encryption. The bombe was designed by Polish cryptologists and refined by Alan Turing and colleagues at Bletchley Park. The replica joins a recreated electronic Colossus — generally considered the first electronic computer. Impressive work when you consider that Winston Churchill ordered the originals to be completely destroyed at the end of WWII."
