Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Earth

Removing CO2 From the Air Efficiently 487

Posted by kdawson from the install-anywhere dept.
Canadian scientists have created a device that efficiently removes CO2 from the atmosphere. "The proposed air capture system differs from existing carbon capture and storage technology ... while CCS involves installing equipment at, say, a coal-fired power plant to capture CO2 produced during the coal-burning process, ... air capture machines will be able to literally remove the CO2 present in ambient air everywhere. [The team used] ... a custom-built tower to capture CO2 directly from the air while requiring less than 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity per tonne of carbon dioxide."
United States

US Pulls Plug on Low-CO2 Powerplant Project 360

Posted by Zonk from the always-fun-to-breath dept.
Geoffrey.landis writes "The administration announced plans to withdraw its support from FutureGen. FutureGen was a project to develop a low CO2-emission electrical power plant, supported by an alliance of a dozen or so coal companies and utilities from around the world. The new plant would have captured carbon dioxide produced by combustion and pumped it deep underground, to avoid releasing greenhouse-gas into the atmosphere. It had been intended as a prototype for next generation clean-coal plants worldwide. Originally budgeted at about a billion dollars, the estimated cost had "ballooned" to $1.8 billion, according to U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman."
Space

Could We Find a Door To A Parallel Universe? 327

Posted by Zonk from the alternate-me-is-posting-this-in-esperanto dept.
p1234 writes "Though no direct evidence for wormholes has been observed, this could be because they are disguised as black holes. Now Alexander Shatskiy of the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow, Russia, is suggesting a possible way to tell the two kinds of object apart. His idea assumes the existence of a bizarre substance called "phantom matter", which has been proposed to explain how wormholes might stay open. Phantom matter has negative energy and negative mass, so it creates a repulsive effect that prevents the wormhole closing. 'US expert Dr Lawrence Krauss, from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, points out that the idea rests on untested assumptions. He told New Scientist magazine: "It is an interesting attempt to actually think of what a real signature for a wormhole would be, but it is more hypothetical than observational. Without any idea of what phantom matter is and its possible interactions with light, it is not clear one can provide a general argument."'"
Medicine

Finnish Patient Gets New Jaw from His Own Stem Cells 141

Posted by Soulskill from the close-the-organ-banks dept.
An anonymous reader writes with news out of Finland, where a patient's upper jaw was replaced with bone cultivated from stem cells and grown inside the patient himself. We discussed other advances in stem cell research a few months ago. Quoting: "In this case they identified and pulled out cells called mesenchymal stem cells -- immature cells than can give rise to bone, muscle or blood vessels. When they had enough cells to work with, they attached them to a scaffold made out of a calcium phosphate biomaterial and then put it inside the patient's abdomen to grow for nine months. The cells turned into a variety of tissues and even produced blood vessels, the researchers said."
Privacy

Submission + - Microsoft's Ballmer: Google Reads Your Mail 5

Submitted by Anonymous
Anonymous writes: A piece of video has emerged in which Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says of Google, "they read your mail and we don't." Evidently, it was part of a lengthy discussion on the future of the software business model, and whether advertising could support free consumer software. Ballmer said it doesn't work, at least when it comes to email.
United States

Googlestalking For Covert NSA Research Funding 150

Posted by Zonk from the because-what-else-are-you-going-to-do dept.
James Hardine writes "Wikileaks is reporting that the CIA has funded covert research on torture techniques, and that the NSA has pushed tens or hundreds of millions into academia through research grants using one particular grant code. Some researchers try to conceal the source of funding, yet commonality in the NSA grant code prefix makes all these attempts transparent. The primary NSA grant-code prefix is 'MDA904'. Googling for this grant code yields 39,000 references although some refer to non-academic contracts (scolar.google.com 2,300). The grants issue from light NSA cover, the "Maryland Procurement Office" or other fronts. From this one can see the broad sweep of academic research interests being driven by the NSA."
Security

Submission + - Ticketmaster claims hacking

Submitted by FlopEJoe
FlopEJoe writes: Ticketmaster claims that RMG Technologies is providing software to avoid security measures including the Captcha. Even to the point of utilizing bots to get large blocks of tickets. RMG says it just "provides a specialized browser for ticket brokers." Personally, I don't miss the days of camping out for tickets and believe technology should make things easier and fairer. But it seems only the speculators win when tickets sell out in minutes and they can put them up on eBay for 10 times the face value. TFA is a good read for anyone interested in how tickets are allocated. "A hearing on Ticketmaster's suit is scheduled for Oct. 15."
The Internet

Submission + - Turkish Hackers Revenges Mohammad Cartoon (tmcnet.com)

Submitted by
Xemu
Xemu writes: "This past week, more than 5000 web sites have been defaced in an attack targeted at Swedish corporations by Muslims hackers in Turkey. Religious dogma appears to driving force behind the hackers' effort to take out as many Swedish companies as possible. Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published a drawing depicting Muhammad's head on a dog's body. It triggered formal complaints from Muslim countries, including Pakistan and Iran, death threats against the artist and now also hacker attacks. Has your company any processes to elevate computer security levels when a religious or political group is targeting your country?"
Windows

Windows XP SP3 Build 3205 Released w/ New Features 286

Posted by Zonk from the new-tricks-for-an-old-dog dept.
jBubba writes "Windows XP SP3 build 3205 is the first official & authorized release of the next Windows XP service pack; and has been made available to testers as a part of the Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista SP1 beta program. NeoSmart Technologies has the run-down on the included 1,073 patches/hotfixes including security updates. Contrary to popular belief, Windows XP SP3 does ship with new features/components, most of which have been backported from Windows Vista. Some included features: 'New Windows Product Activation model: no need to enter product key during setup. Network Access Protection modules and policies have been brought to XP after being one of the more-well-received features in Windows Vista. New Microsoft Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module - the Windows XP SP3 kernel now includes an entire module that provides easy access to multiple cryptographic algorithms and is available for use in kernel-mode drivers and services. New "Black Hole Router" detection - Windows XP SP3 can detect and protect against rogue routers that are discarding data.'"
Power

Submission + - GAO report says Energy Star deficient (canada.com) 1

Submitted by
walterbays
walterbays writes: "The credibility of blue Energy Star labels that consumers use to identify energy efficient TVs and other home electronics could be damaged because many products are tested in standby mode rather than when turned on, while other tests could have been manipulated using computer controls"
Music

New Head of EMI Says 'Embrace Digital Music or Die' 176

Posted by Zonk from the bit-of-a-hostage-situation dept.
no0b writes "Guy Hands is the new head of EMI, Britain's largest music publisher. Hands has come out publicly with a statement warning the industry against something music listeners have probably understood for some time. In the words of the Telegraph article, 'the industry will not survive if it continues to rely on CD sales alone.' More from the piece: 'With both new and established acts now capable of making money without the backing of a big company, McGee says record labels are being left out of the loop. He scoffs at their efforts to make up lost ground by developing into "multimedia entertainment companies that can manage bands and share in live income". But try they must. Revenues from record sales in Britain have dropped by more than £130m since 2004. The true cost to the industry could be far greater. TNS, the market researcher, looked at the spending habits of file-sharers between 2003 and 2005 and estimated a £1bn loss to the country in retail spend.'"
Google

Submission + - Google had enough of Scroogle?

Submitted by
Giles
Giles writes: "Looks like Google have finally decided to block the Scroogle scraper (set up to protect searchers privacy) — as of 6pm BST today, searches through scroogle produce a 403 error. Scroogle also presents a version of the google results without advertisements, so google may have acted more to preserve revenue than to protect it's stash of data on you..."
IBM

Submission + - IBM invests $1B for energy efficiency w/Big Green

Submitted by iktomi
iktomi writes: IBM just announced it is investing $1B/year across the company to dramatically increase the level of energy efficiency in IT. The plan, Project Big Green, includes products and services to help customers reduce data center energy consumption and reduce CO2 with the objective of turning the world's IT operations into "green" data centers. There's more info at http://www.ibm.com/systems/optimizeit/cost_efficie ncy/energy_efficiency/ and http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/215 24.wss

Slashdot Top Deals

Say "twenty-three-skiddoo" to logout.

Close