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Mars

Submission + - Water Found on Mars (wired.com)

RCC42 writes: The opportunity rover has found evidence of liquid water once flowing on mars through the discovery of gypsum, a mineral that can only be formed in the presence of water.

Though other evidence in the past has suggested at highly acidic water on Mars, this is the first evidence for water with a pH suitable for life as we know it.

Comment Re:A very clever plan. (Score 1) 561

That involved being on the other side of this airtight hatch.

How long would it take to actually penetrate the containment building?

From Wikipedia:

The containment building itself is typically an airtight steel structure enclosing the reactor normally sealed off from the outside atmosphere. The steel is either free-standing or attached to the concrete missile shield. In the United States, the design and thickness of the containment and the missile shield are governed by federal regulations (10 CFR 50.55a), and must be strong enough to withstand the impact of a fully loaded passenger airliner without rupture.

The containment vessel has to be rated to withstand a 'fully loaded passenger airliner'? What kind of measurement is that? How many libraries of congress is that? Inquiring minds want to know.

Comment Price is? (Score 1) 62

Seriously, I looked on the website but couldn't find out how much an Asimo would cost... I mean, if there's just the one then that makes sense, but Honda is [i]Honda[/i]. It's not like they don't have any experience mass producing advanced machinery and electronics on some kind of assembly line.

So how can I buy one? Not for personal use of course, it would be a corporate expense... which we would use.. somehow for something.

Comment Re:A lesson to be learned from train braking (Score 1) 266

One of the best inventions for a train was its braking system.
You have to apply energy to *prevent* a train car from braking.
This prevents run-away cars.

A successful nuclear reactor would have something similar
where you have to apply energy to keep the coolant at bay.

i.e. The core is at the bottom of the ocean and energy
is spent by the reactor to keep ocean water from rushing in.

First thing: When you abruptly end your paragraphs like that it looks like you're writing poetry

Second thing: Ocean water is FULL of stuff that would absorb radiation from the core if you flooded it like that. That ocean water is going to be a mess and that area of ocean won't be a very good area after that.

Comment Re:Black people happier? (Score 1) 129

Due to anecdotal reasons I have to agree with the parent.

SSRIs make 'bad' situations seem 'fine' so there's no drive to get out of them. Whether that be a bad relationship, bad living arrangements, bad job, etc. Sadness and dissatisfaction can be powerful motivators to improve your life. Of course they can also become crippling when people are unable or unwilling to make changes and end up stuck in that unhappy place for too long. SSRIs make that unhappy place a normal place... so why change?

Kind of sad. But SSRIs are very useful for helping people out of depression... though proper support from friends and family would probably do the same thing if done properly.

Comment Re:But where does that leave our immune systems? (Score 1) 414

I suspect that there would be enough viral debris and intact viruses that an immune system would be able to at least notice something was happening.

DRACO doesn't kill the virus, it kills the cells that are incubating the virus. So there would be 'free floating' and live viruses that your immune system would deal with.

The main reason viruses screw with us is because our immune system can't see them inside our own cells, those cells make a bunch of viruses and then release them to infect others. Our immune systems only have a small window of time to catch the viruses before they find a new cell and hide again.

AFAIK the only way the body can cure a virus once it goes totally rampant inside of your cells is to overheat to the point that it doesn't kill you but it kills the virus (Fever) since your immune system can't contain the viral load anymore and are simply outnumbered. The reason vaccines work and how you can catch, recover and then be immune to a virus is because the virus never gets to the 'rampant' stage, it's noticed and killed immediately by the immune system while your immune system outnumbers it millions to one.

So to answer your original question: This can only be an incredibly good thing if it works as advertised.

p.s. Many vaccines work by injecting DEAD viruses into you. Your immune system sees them and does its thing, pumping out antibodies as if it were a real threat - once that's done you're effectively immune until the antibodies die out but even then, afaik, there's still some lingering defence.

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