esobofh - Slashdot User

Submission + - Climate Change - PNW Floods Predicted

Submitted by

esobofh

on Tuesday May 01, 2007 @06:22PM

esobofh writes: "Emergency Planning officials in British Columbia, Canada and Washington State have issued advisories to all residents in low-lying or flood-prone areas. In a word — get to higher ground! The local coastal mountain snow caps are calculated to have 134% of the normal snow load this year — a product of an odd spring that's lasted longer than normal, with more precipitation than expected. The fraser river watershed index indicates we're at the highest snow pack level since 1953 — when recording began in the Fraser Valley. Major floods are expected between May 15 — Jun 15 when a sharp rise in temperature is being predicted. Snow packs in the neighborhood of 20-25% above normal in the past have caused huge floods with marked telephone, gas & electrical outages. BC's Provincial Emergency Preparation web site is recommending all residents stock water, medical and food supplies for what could be a very devastating flood."

Feed Stem Cell Propagation And Neurogenesis Can Now Be Studied In Cell Culture (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Friday April 27, 2007 @12:13PM

Researchers are now able to study stem cells from the brains of adult mice and their neurogenesis in long-term cell cultures. Scientists have developed a new method which allows them to generate exactly those neurons from stem cells in cell culture as those that would develop in the living brain.

Feed New Treatment For Fungi Which Cause Thrush And Sepsis (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Friday April 27, 2007 @12:13PM

A new treatment for Candida species of fungi which can cause thrush and sepsis (a life-threatening infection leading to fever, hypotension, and shock) has proven equally effective as the existing treatment in a drug trial. But the new drug has fewer side effects, claims an article published in The Lancet.

Feed Wing Morphing Of The Swift Could Inspire New Aircraft Designs (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Friday April 27, 2007 @12:13PM

A swift adapts the shape of its wings to the immediate task at hand: folding them back to chase insects, or stretching them out to sleep in flight. Scientists have shown how 'wing morphing' makes swifts such versatile flyers. Their study proves that swifts can improve flight performance by up to three-fold, numbers that make 'wing morphing' the next big thing in aircraft engineering.

Feed Ban On Sweets In School Helps To Combat Childhood Obesity (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Friday April 27, 2007 @12:12PM

Nutritious school lunches and a ban on sweets, buns and sweetened drinks in school is a good strategy for reducing the risk of obesity in children, reveals a new study. After four years, the relative number of overweight or fat 6 to 10-year olds fell by 6 per cent in the schools in the study that had opened for healthy diets.

Feed More People Are Keeping Marine Species As Pets (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Friday April 27, 2007 @12:12PM

Common perception would make us believe that domestication of land animals has been very successful, however when compared to the rapid increase in the numbers of marine species becoming domesticated these perceptions may change.

Feed Schools ban iPod cheaters (theregister.com)

From feed by registerfeed on Friday April 27, 2007 @11:52AM

Broke the first rule of cheat club

A school in Mountain View, California is banning students from taking iPods into exams because two kids were overheard discussing how to use them to cheat.

Free Global Virtual Scientific Library 113

Posted by kdawson on Thursday March 01, 2007 @01:30PM from the free-as-in-research dept.

Several readers wrote in with news of the momentum gathering behind free access to government-funded research. A petition "to create a freely available virtual scientific library available to the entire globe" garnered more than 20,000 signatures, including several Nobel prize winners and 750 education, research, and cultural organizations from around the world. The European Commission responded by committing more than $100 million towards support for open access journals and for the building of infrastructure needed to house institutional repositories able to store the millions of academic articles written each year. In the article Michael Geist discusses the open access movement and its critics.

Submission + - The effect of file sharing on record sales: none?

Submitted by macheath on Thursday March 01, 2007 @01:29PM

macheath writes: The February issue of the Journal for Political Economy has an article containing an analysis of the impact of downloads on record sales — and finds none! Who'd have thought that...

Submission + - Hostedtoday.com To Plant a Tree for Each Customer

Submitted by

Rodney Ringler

on Thursday March 01, 2007 @01:16PM

Rodney Ringler writes: "Hostedtoday.com To Plant a Tree for Each Customer as Part of Carbon Neutral Effort March, 2007- Hostedtoday.com, one of the leading Web Hosting Companies, announces that they are now planting trees for every new sign up. Hostedtoday is planting the trees as a part of its corporate conscienceness effort to help society and also to become carbon neutral. Hostedtoday has come forward with this initiative in order to help the environment and make it "carbon neutral". They hope this program will start a trend among technology and internet companies. Going carbon neutral is an easy way for us all to contribute to solving a global problem by taking responsibility for the carbon dioxide emissions we create with our energy use. One effective way we can combat greenhouse gas emissions is to plant trees. Trees absorb carbon dioxide while they grow and trap it for years to come. On average, over 30 years, a tree planted will absorb 230kg of CO2. Trees also help to combat salinity, reduce soil erosion, clean underground water systems and provide habitat for wildlife. These steps are taken by HostedToday to provide the general public with quality arboriculture, or tree care. One of HostedToday's missions is to educate and help the public acquire an understanding of the importance of companies to be responsible members of society and contribute to a better world for all of us. About HostedToday.com Hostedtoday.com is a leading web hosting company that has been in business for 5 years. HostedToday prides itself on the best customer service and support at affordable prices. All servers have multiple cpu's, RAID mirrored drives, and are spread across multiple datacenters to ensure maximum uptime. HostedToday has been awarded numerous industry awards and enjoys one of the highest rention rates in the industry. They also provide a 100% satisfaction guarantee 30 day money back refund with no questions asked."

Feed Fancy Hybrids for the Eco Riche (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Thursday March 01, 2007 @01:12PM

BMW and DaimlerChrysler plan to co-develop luxury-model hybrid for market by 2010. Plus: Green Car Journal picks two "clean" diesels among the top five greenest cars. In Autopia.

Feed Hawking Will Taste Zero Gravity (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Thursday March 01, 2007 @01:12PM

The renowned physicist has always had a hankering for space travel. He'll start with a brief zero-gravity flight in April. By the Associated Press.

Submission + - James Bond Submarines for Sale

Submitted by

syguy

on Thursday March 01, 2007 @12:56PM

syguy writes: "Uboatworx is selling personal submarines that are straight out of a James Bond movie. Starting at $82,000 for a 1 person vessel (about the same price as a Porsche 911) and requiring a 4 day training course, their C-Quester submarines open up an underwater playground. Well, at least the first 164ft (50m) of it, at 3-4mph and for as long as the electrical power lasts, which is about 2.5 hours."

Submission + - Orphan 70-Year-Old Plane Data = 'Trade Secrets'?

Submitted by Anonymous Flyboy Coward on Thursday March 01, 2007 @12:43PM

Anonymous Flyboy Coward writes: The Experimental Aircraft Association is taking on the Federal Aviation Administration, which has denied a FOIA request for access to construction data to the owner of 70+ year old antique Fairchild F45 aircraft. The FAA sided with a company that was formed in 1990 (and which didn't even know the airplane type existed until the FAA's inquiry) that claims it "owns" the design and manufacturing data to the aircraft, calling the data a "trade secret". The company failed to register with the FAA (as required by law) yet the FAA is standing by it's assertion that they "own" this data, which was turned over to the public domain in the 1950s. Many vintage aircraft owners face a Catch-22 situation: they are required by law to perform maintenance to the manufacturer's specs, but much of this data is unavailable because the FAA refuses to release it without the data's owner's permission... even if there is no such owner. The decision in this case will likely have wide-ranging implications on FOIA requests, as well as affect whether historical antique aircraft will remain flyable or lost forever to a pointless bureaucratic death. The full story is available here.

Submission + - Sanyo blamed in Lenovo battery recall

Submitted by ukhackster on Thursday March 01, 2007 @12:34PM

ukhackster writes: Those overheating laptop batteries are back. Lenovo is recalling 205,000 "extended" batteries which shipped with its ThinkPad machines, or were bought as replacements.

Slashdot readers will doubtless remember the flak which Sony attracted last year, after it was blamed for exploding Dell notebooks and several massive recalls. This time, the batteries were made by Sanyo. Could this be the start of another recall franzy?

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