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Media

Submission + - Global Warming Criticism Ignored by Media

Submitted by krygny
krygny writes: EARTHtimes.org reports: "A new analysis of peer-reviewed literature reveals that more than 500 scientists have published evidence refuting at least one element of current man-made global warming scares. (...) Despite being published in such journals such as Science, Nature and Geophysical Review Letters, these scientists have gotten little media attention.
Space

Submission + - Cassini's Spectacular Iapetus Flyby

Submitted by cupofjoe
cupofjoe writes: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is reporting on the Cassini spacecraft's recent close flyby of the Saturnian moon Iapetus, highlighting images taken from distances 100 times closer than the Voyager 2 flyby in 1981. Near real-time images were shown to Cassini mission team members in a presentation at JPL yesterday, during which a pre-recorded message from Arthur C. Clarke was played to the audience. Clarke wished them luck on the flyby, reminding all present that he had included a pretty accurate description of Iapetus in the original 1968 text of "2001: A Space Odyssey", years before Voyager made its flyby. The images are pretty spectacular, trumping the mosaic shot during Cassini's New Years' 2004 flyby — no sign of the Star Gate, though.
Space

Opportunity Takes a Dip Into Victoria Crater 79

Posted by CmdrTaco from the probably-not-skinny dept.
Muad'Dave writes "From the NASA News Release 'Today, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity entered Victoria Crater for the first time. It radioed home information via a relay by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, reporting its activities for the day. Opportunity drove far enough in — about four meters (13 feet) — to get all six wheels past the crater rim. Then it backed uphill for about three meters (10 feet). The driving commands for the day included a precaution for the rover to stop driving if its wheels were slipping more than 40 percent. Slippage exceeded that amount on the last step of the drive, so Opportunity stopped with its front pair of wheels still inside the crater.' This marks the beginning of perhaps the greatest 'Opportunity' for new discoveries on Mars."
Space

Submission + - String theory incompatible with expansion?

Submitted by
mcgrew (sm62704)
mcgrew (sm62704) writes: "New Scientist is reporting that

a new study suggests it may be difficult to reconcile string theory with the widely accepted theory of inflation, which explains several key cosmological observations — such as why the universe appears to have the same properties in whichever direction astronomers look.

The study was carried out by a team of researchers led by Mark Hertzberg of MIT in Cambridge, US. The team tried to produce inflation in three versions of string theory in which the extra dimensions are shaped like a doughnut — the simplest possibility. But they found that the conditions needed for inflation appear to be impossible to achieve in these simple versions.
"
HP

Submission + - Inject mechanism to replace hypodermic needles

Submitted by 140Mandak262Jamuna
140Mandak262Jamuna writes: Cnet is reporting a new drug delivery mechanism adapted from ink jet printers by HP.

The article says, "The company is licensing a medical patch it has developed to Ireland's Crospon that potentially can replace hypodermic needles or pills for delivering vaccines or other types of medication to patients. The patch contains up to 90,000 microneedles per square inch, microprocessors and a thermal unit."

I remember inkjet printer works by heating the ink, so much so that it is ejected in an micro explosion from the nozzle. I wonder how many drugs can still be potent after being subjected to that kind of heat and pressure. Still it could turn out to be useful mechanism for some drugs. But wait till the refurbished medicine cartridge makers to enter the market if you want it at a cheaper price. ;-)
Censorship

Submission + - Chinese block Russian Search Engine, Yandex.ru (startuplay.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Chinese authorities have turned to Yandex having finished with Google, LiveJournal, and Wikipedia. I can understand the news about Google, Yahoo, MSN, but Yandex? A Russian-languageyandex_office.jpg search engine that brings up results highly irrelevant to anyone living outside of Russia... There must be here something more than what's on the cover... more on China "Great FireWall"
Space

Submission + - Small Galaxies Made Almost Entirely of Dark Matter (space.com)

Submitted by
Raver32
Raver32 writes: "Small, ultrafaint "hobbit" galaxies recently found hovering around our Milky Way are comprised almost entirely of dark matter, a new study confirms. Dark matter is a mysterious substance scientists think accounts for most of the mass in the universe but that is invisible to current instruments. The finding, to be detailed in the Nov. 10 issue of Astrophysical Journal, could help resolve a cosmic accounting problem that has long vexed astronomers and also explain how such small galaxies form. According to the "Cold Dark Matter" model, which explains the growth and evolution of the universe, large galaxies such as our Milky Way should be surrounded by a swarm of up to several hundred smaller "dwarf" galaxies. However, until recently, only 11 such companion galaxies have been found. To explain this so-called Missing Dwarf Galaxy problem, theorists have suggested that the majority of dwarf galaxies contain very few, if any, stars and are instead made up mostly of dark matter."
Censorship

Is China's "Great Firewall" a Fraud? 185

Posted by kdawson from the leaky-filter dept.
An anonymous reader notes an article up on ScienceBlogs that calls into question the efficacy of the touted "Great Firewall of China" — a program by the government of the People's Republic of China to block users from reaching content it finds objectionable. Researchers at UC Davis and the University of New Mexico have performed experiments on the Great Firewall, sending test content to destinations inside China and observing what gets through. They conclude that the Great Firewall is more of a "panopticon" that encourages self-censorship through the perception that users may be being watched, rather than a true firewall.
Space

Submission + - 'Shooting Star' Trails Narrower Than A Pencil Lead

Submitted by Mundocani
Mundocani writes: Meteor trails begin about 75 miles (120 km) above Earth's surface, a region that is not typically focused on by ground-based telescopes or satellites. Using detailed images, snapped by the Subaru Telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii and focused on this region of the upper atmosphere, astronomers measured the streaks to discover that they can be as thin as a few millimeters across, or about as thin as a pencil lead.
NASA

NASA Building Massively Heat-Resistant Chips 172

Posted by kdawson from the don't-bother-with-water-cooling dept.
coondoggie writes "NASA researchers have designed and built a new circuit chip that can take the heat of a blast furnace and keep on performing. Silicon carbide (SiC) chips can operate at 600 degrees Celsius or 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit where conventional silicon-based electronics — limited to about 350 C — would fail. The new silicon carbide differential amplifier integrated circuit chip may provide benefits to anything requiring long-lasting electronic circuits in very hot environments such as jets, spacecraft, and industrial machinery. In particular, NASA said SiC applications will include energy storage, renewable energy, nuclear power, and electrical drives."
NASA

Submission + - Arctic sea ice at record low

Submitted by
Nick Barnes
Nick Barnes writes: "Arctic sea ice has reached a record low. Every year sea ice melts through the summer and reaches a low in mid-September. These end-summer lows have been getting lower as the climate warms. The previous record was September 2005, and September 2006 had similar numbers, about 20% below the 1979-2000 average. This year there is less ice than ever before, and the September 2005 record has been broken in early August, with a month or more of melting still to go."
Power

Submission + - New 'Stellarator' Design for Fusion Reactors (physorg.com)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "The holy grail in fusion reactors has always seemed just a few years off for many decades. But a recent design enhancement termed a 'Stellarator' may change all that. The point at which a fusion reactor crashes is when particles begin escaping due to disruptions in the plasma. A NYU team has discovered that coiling specific wires to form a magnetic field to contain the plasma is a viable way to create a plasma body with axial symmetry and far better chance of remaining stable. This, of course, like other forms of containment does require energy but brings us closer to a stable fusion reactor. It may not be cold fusion or 'table top' fusion but it certainly is a step forward. The paper is up for peer review in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

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It's a naive, domestic operating system without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.

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