Comment Plaintext user data storage? (Score 2, Interesting) 107
Let's not get so excited about the future that we forget the mistakes of the past folks....
Immaculate Conception In a Boa Constrictor 478
crudmonkey writes "Researchers have discovered a biological shocker: female boa constrictors are capable of giving birth asexually. But the surprise doesn't end there. The study in Biology Letters found that boa babies produced through this asexual reproduction — also known as parthenogenesis — sport a chromosomal oddity that researchers thought was impossible in reptiles. While researchers admit that the female in the study may have been a genetic freak, they say the findings should press researchers to re-think reptile reproduction. Virgin birth among reptiles, especially primitive ones like boas, they argue may be far commoner than ever expected."
Comment wow, this is brilliant (Score 1) 325
although I think they're not seeing the paper for the print.... if they really want to capitalize on cartridge replacement, they should make printers that print both the text, and the page; kind of like 3d printers. They could market it as 'earth-friendly' while driving the cost (and profit margin) of each page up exponentially. Of course, if I had a printer like this, I'd be printing 20's and 100's...
Comment The real winners here are (Score 1) 209
the disabled.
One of the best reasons for using web-fonts is the corresponding removal of text content from images, which were done to work around the lack of good web fonts.
Search engines will also be a bit more accurate, so in a sense everybody wins.
Comment I'm still not getting this 'buggy' claim (Score 1) 944
I don't use a mac all the time, but on the other hand, I can't think of a single instance in which Flash caused my browser or the machine to crash.
Somebody else posted that they've looked at crash reports in Safari and discovered that they were all from flash plugin which may be true, but I've certainly never had that experience on a mac, and absolutely not on a pc. If that is the case, then how is that solely the fault of Flash plugin, when flash plugin works perfectly fine on other macs?
When you take into account the recent change on their App store developers agreement, the hypocrisy in this press release reaches a staggering new level.
Comment reminds me of Aliens (Score 5, Funny) 92
Bishop, do the knife thing again...
Submission + - Google: what if we sit over here... (sfgate.com)
TravTrav writes: From the article: Google Inc. will shift its search engine for China off the mainland but won't shut it down altogether, and it will maintain other operations in the country. It's an attempt to balance its stance against censorship with its desire to profit from an explosively growing Internet market
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/22/financial/f115239D89.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0iw9djMeq
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/22/financial/f115239D89.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0iw9djMeq
Comment Re:Kids will be kids (Score 1) 335
Tomorrow's News: Sticks and other materials now banned in venezuela
Spectrum of Light Captured From Distant World 32
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Cosmos:
"Astronomers have made the first direct capture of a spectrum of light from a planet outside the Solar System and are deciphering its composition. The light was snared from a giant planet that orbits a bright young star called HR 8799 about 130 light-years from Earth, said the European Southern Observatory (ESO). ... The find is important, because hidden within a light spectrum are clues about the relative amounts of different elements in the planet's atmosphere. 'The features observed in the spectrum are not compatible with current theoretical models,' said co-author Wolfgang Brandner. 'We need to take into account a more detailed description of the atmospheric dust clouds, or accept that the atmosphere has a different chemical composition from that previously assumed.' The result represents a milestone in the search for life elsewhere in the universe, said the ESO. Until now, astronomers have been able to get only an indirect light sample from an exoplanet, as worlds beyond our Solar System are called. They do this by measuring the spectrum of a star twice — while an orbiting exoplanet passes near to the front of it, and again while the planet is directly behind it. The planet's spectrum is thus calculated by subtracting one light sample from another."
Best Man Rigs Newlyweds' Bed To Tweet During Sex 272
When an UK man was asked to be the best man at a friend's wedding he agreed that he would not pull any pranks before or during the ceremony. Now the groom wishes he had extended the agreement to after the blessed occasion as well. The best man snuck into the newlyweds' house while they were away on their honeymoon and placed a pressure-sensitive device under their mattress. The device now automatically tweets when the couple have sex. The updates include the length of activity and how vigorous the act was on a scale of 1-10.
Comment I could be wrong, but I believe it's: (Score 1) 52
"Fish". I believe the plural of fish is fish.
PhD Candidate Talks About the Physics of Space Battles 361
darthvader100 writes "Gizmodo has run an article with some predictions on what future space battles will be like. The author brings up several theories on propulsion (and orbits), weapons (explosives, kinetic and laser), and design. Sounds like the ideal shape for spaceships will be spherical, like the one in the Hitchhiker's Guide movie."
Scientists Crack 'Entire Genetic Code' of Cancer 235
Entropy98 writes "Scientists have unlocked the entire genetic code of skin and lung cancer. From the article: 'Not only will the cancer maps pave the way for blood tests to spot tumors far earlier, they will also yield new drug targets, say the Wellcome Trust team. The scientists found the DNA code for a skin cancer called melanoma contained more than 30,000 errors almost entirely caused by too much sun exposure. The lung cancer DNA code had more than 23,000 errors largely triggered by cigarette smoke exposure. From this, the experts estimate a typical smoker acquires one new mutation for every 15 cigarettes they smoke. Although many of these mutations will be harmless, some will trigger cancer.' Yet another step towards curing cancer. Though it will probably take many years to study so many mutations."
Dad Delivers Baby Using Wiki 249
sonamchauhan writes "A Londoner helped his wife deliver their baby by Googling 'how to deliver a baby' on his mobile phone. From the article: 'Today proud Mr Smith said: "The midwife had checked Emma earlier in the day but contractions started up again at about 8pm so we called the midwife to come back. But then everything happened so quickly I realized Emma was going to give birth. I wasn't sure what I was going to do so I just looked up the instructions on the internet using my BlackBerry."'"
Yellowstone Supervolcano Larger Than First Thought 451
drewtheman writes "New studies of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park shows the plume and the magma chamber under the volcano are larger than first thought and contradicts claims that only shallow hot rock exists. University of Utah research professor of geophysics Robert Smith led four separate studies that verify a plume of hot and molten rock at least 410 miles deep that rises at an angle from the northwest."
