Comment Re:Wrong (Score 1) 1268
Except when we use synesis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesis
Comment Re:Maybe, maybe not (Score 1) 384
Don't cross the streams!
Comment Re:Weeds? (Score 1) 414
Not particularly high. This is just cross-pollination within a species, and a direct canola-kudzu hybrid is nearly impossible.
Tremulous Switching To Xbox Live, Exclusively 43
An anonymous reader writes "Darklegion Development and Microsoft have apparently been working on a new version of Tremulous for the Xbox 360. Timbor, project founder and a main developer of Tremulous, said this in a recent announcement: 'What does this mean for you? You will now be able to play Tremulous on Xbox Live with thousands of other gamers, earning achievements and showing off your gaming skill. In the best interest of maintaining a steady and secure Tremulous playerbase, Tremulous is going to be exclusively available for Xbox Live. Existing infrastructure will no longer receive official support. Players who have already been playing for at least three months can apply for a €5/$7 coupon as a show of our appreciation of your enthusiasm so far! What does this mean for the community? Hopefully nothing! While the production of Tremulous switches from its current open source development to a closed source environment handled by the very capable and experienced Microsoft engineers, the efforts of the community will still be valued. In this collaboration we have made it very clear that the Tremulous community is very important to the game, and Microsoft agrees with us on this point. We are confident that this move will not stifle the creative output of the community.'"
Comment Re:Heroes of Noteworthy.. (Score 1) 118
It's nice that it's available on Linux, but I still have to play it on Windows because my underspec'd computer can't handle OpenGL 2.0. The Windows version uses DirectX, so it would be nice if the Linux version supported SDL.
Heroes of Newerth Open Beta About To Start 118
You may recall last summer when we discussed Heroes of Newerth, a title from S2 Games that's based on the popular Defense of the Ancients mod from Warcraft III. We passed out some closed beta keys, and there seemed to be a ton of interest, in part due to the fact that they have a Linux client. Well, if any of you missed it or want to see how the game has progressed since then, now is your chance — the open beta begins tonight (March 31). There's a countdown on the sign-up page that shows when you can register.
Comment Re:Not just cancer! (Score 1) 260
This has enormous potential. You could target it to pancreatic cells, for example, and knock out a gene that reduces insulin production. The problem is that this technique can't insert new DNA, so it can't repair the damaged genes that cause a lot of genetic disorders.
Comment Re:Isn't this... (Score 2, Informative) 260
You'd have to engineer particles that target a specific vital tissue (and stop thinking "brain", because the blood-brain barrier would block that), and then deliver a piece of siRNA that silences an essential gene for that tissue. You'd also have to inject enough of these into the person to have this effect. Still, it could be useful to replace the siRNA entirely with some kind of toxin (it would be nearly undetectable, because it wouldn't linger in the bloodstream).
Comment Re:Not for English, either (Score 1) 237
Not natural connections, but there are connections. The OP's problem is that Chinese characters have no visual connection to the sound they represent, and there's a huge variety of characters with the same sound.
Comment Re: CHDK (Score 2, Informative) 115
I have a PowerShot SX200, which is compact and DIGIC IV. It also shoots 720p. There's a beta of CHDK for it, and it's worked well so far.
Android 2.1 Finally Makes It To Droid 132
MrSmith0011000100110 writes "The lovely people over at AndroidCentral have broken the announcement that Android 2.1 is finally coming to the Motorola Droid, with actual proof on Verizon's Droid support page (PDF). I don't know about my Droid brethren, but I'm pretty excited to see the new series of Android ROMs for the Droid phone that are based on a stock Android 2.1. As most of us know, the existing 2.1 ROMs can be buggy as hell and either running vanilla 2.1 or a custom ROM; but this phone is still a tinkerer's best friend."
Comment Re:Junk DNA (Score 1) 295
That's a good idea too. I guess that depends on where the organism is to be used.
Comment Re:Junk DNA (Score 2, Interesting) 295
Pseudogenes are junk DNA. They no longer have a function. Perhaps the killswitch could be in a RuBisCo-type enzyme. RuBisCo is a plant enzyme that fixes carbon dioxide to make glucose. It also fixes oxygen, however, which is hypothesized to be a remnant from the early atmosphere where oxygen was rare. Oxygen fixation by RuBisCo, or photorespiration, results in ammonia, which the plant must use energy to detoxify.
My idea: an enzyme based on RuBisCo, which is part of an essential boichemical pathway, but causes problems in the presence of a specific substance. This substance would be manmade and very rare, and the effects on the organism would be fatal.
Comment Re:Oh, Hubris! (Score 1) 589
That doesn't necessarily mean it's bad; just that people should try to forget their preconceived notions of how everything should look.
Comment Re:Why not just use Herbert's screenplay? (Score 2, Funny) 589
That's what stillsuits are for.
