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Science

Zombie Ants and Killer Fungus 125

Posted by samzenpus from the level-1-random-encounter dept.
nibbles2004 writes "An article in the Guardian newspaper shows how parasitic fungi evolved the ability to control ants they infect, ultimately leading the ant to its death. The fungus controls the ant's movements to a suitable leaf and causes the ant to grip onto the leaf's central stem, allowing the fungus to spore, which will allow more ants to become infected."
Google

Touchscreens Open To Smudge Attacks 185

Posted by CmdrTaco from the windex-security dept.
nk497 writes "The smudges left behind on touchscreen devices could be used to decipher passwords to gain access, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. The report tested the idea out (PDF) on Android phones, which use a graphical pattern that the user traces to unlock the handset. The researchers took photos of the smudge trails left on the screen and bumped up the contrast, finding they could unlock the phone 92% of the time. While they noted Android 2.2 also offers an alphanumeric password option, the researchers claimed such a smudge attack could be used against other touchscreen interfaces, including bank machines and voting machines. 'In future work, we intend to investigate other devices that may be susceptible, and varied smudge attack styles, such as heat trails caused by the heat transfer of a finger touching a screen,' they said."
Security

Submission + - Feds storing checkpoint body scan images (cnet.com) 2

Submitted by AHuxley
AHuxley writes: The US Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, that "scanned images cannot be stored or recorded."
It turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images.
The U.S. Marshals Service admitted that it had saved ~35,314 images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse.
The images where stored on a Brijot Gen2 machine. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group, has filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to grant an immediate injunction to stop the TSA's body scanning program.

Comment Very tricky (Score 3, Informative) 85

by riboch (#33108984) Attached to: Equatorial Mounts For Budget Astrophotography?

I hope you are not intending on photographing a meteor from a telescope.

The most common thing to when photographing meteor showers is to point to the pole star and set your SLR (hopefully manual, film based on a tripod with a cable for the shutter) to a B setting and take a shot for a couple of hours. This produces really nice star trails and the occasional meteor.

If you are piggybacking the camera to a telescope you should not have any issues with the motor vibration, but you will need to beware of wind.

Save up your money and buy a Meade LX200, you can now get the older models (I personally think are better) for around 2000$US, combine that with a wedge and reticle eyepiece and you are ready to go. The thing really is a light bucket and something you will be happy with, with a little training you can even work out the periodic error correction with the scope so you can do astrophotography with the camera for the eyepiece.

If that is not satisfactory, build an adjustable wedge and buy a motor that rotates at 15 deg/hour and attach the motor to the top of the wedge with a camera on it.

Comment CFD or Load Analysis? (Score 2, Informative) 105

by riboch (#32669720) Attached to: Best OSS CFD Package For High School Physics?

Are you looking for real CFD software for pressure distributions or are you looking for something that returns lift, drag, side and moments?

On the CFD side: OpenFOAM. Learning this is quite a bit of work because you need to work with meshing, boundary conditions, etc. But I would be very surprised you really want flow visualisation.

For loads: XFOIL or AVL (Athena Vortex Lattice, http://web.mit.edu/drela/Public/web/avl/). AVL allows 3D visualisation of loads, perturbations, etc. When it comes to a first iteration in aeroplane design this is first thing we use in academia and is quite nice. XFOIL is 2D and is used for analysis on an aerofoil. Both allow arbitrary geometries, but I believe both are strictly for inviscid flows.

What theories in particular are you trying to validate?
Supercomputing

Petaflops? DARPA Seeks Quintillion-Flop Computers 185

Posted by CmdrTaco from the that's-a-lotta-flops dept.
coondoggie writes "Not known for taking the demure route, researchers at DARPA this week announced a program aimed at building computers that exceed current peta-scale computers to achieve the mind-altering speed of one quintillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000) calculations per second. Dubbed extreme scale computing, such machines are needed, DARPA says, to 'meet the relentlessly increasing demands for greater performance, higher energy efficiency, ease of programmability, system dependability, and security.'"
Space

Japan To Launch Solar Sail Spacecraft "Ikaros" 138

Posted by CmdrTaco from the so-that's-what-sailor-moon-does dept.
separsons writes "On May 18th, Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch Ikaros, a fuel-free spacecraft that relies completely on solar power. The spacecraft's 46-foot-wide sails are thinner than a human hair and lined with thin-film solar panels. After a rocket brings the craft to space, mission controllers on the ground will steer Ikaros by adjusting the sails' angles, ensuring optimal radiation is hitting the solar cells. If the mission proves successful, the $16M spacecraft will be the first solar sail-powered craft to enter deep space."

Submission + - Algebra In Wonderland (nytimes.com)

Submitted by riboch
riboch writes: The NY Times ran an op-ed piece about the mixture of "New Maths" to Charles Dodgson's (pen name Lewis Carroll) "Alice in Wonderland." An interesting article discussing the parody of the new strange mathematics and a new take on the book. Although topical only because of Tim Burton's new release, it is an interesting read.

Comment Re:Actually (Score 1) 160

by riboch (#31325410) Attached to: New Type of Dinosaur Unearthed

My degrees are not in paleontology, but let me educate you on how this works:

Undergraduate student/intern finds/makes something, gives to professor. Professor is collaborating with professor at another university. Professor at another university gives a graduate student some work. The student does all the leg work, finds an anomaly, reports to his professor who reports back to original professor. Because of an arrangement, the place of origin of the specimen is given publication priority.

Chances are the lead author is the highest in the food chain.

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