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Science

Submission + - Video: DIY Chemistry Yields Magnificent Explosions (revision3.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It takes some guts to test out a thermite reaction in your backyard--but as this video segment shows, plenty of home chemists take on the challenge. A thermite reaction occurs when you mix iron oxide with aluminum powder, resulting in an awesome fiery explosion that can reach more than 2700 degrees Fahrenheit and can melt iron--like the toy car pictured in this video. Because conditions are so extreme, one DIY chemist took the prudent step of trying his experiment on a frozen lake.

Submission + - State of Virginia technology centers down (hamptonroads.com)

Submitted by bswooden
bswooden writes: Some rather important departments (DMV, Social Services, Taxation) in the state of Virginia are currently without access to many documents and information as a technology meltdown has caused much of their technology to be offline for over 24 hours now. State CIO Sam Nixon said "A failure occurred in one memory card in what is known as a 'storage area network,' or SAN, at Virginia's Information Technologies Agency (VITA) suburban Richmond computing center, one of several data storage systems across Virginia." How does the IT for some of the largest departments in a state come to a screeching halt over a single memory card? Oh and also the state is paying Northrup Grumman $2.4 billion over 10 years to manage the states IT infrastructure.
Image

Nuns Donate Their Brains to Alzheimer's Research 148

Posted by samzenpus from the bring-me-a-pious-brain dept.
Many Catholic religious orders are participating in a long range Alzheimer's disease study. Rush University's Religious Orders Study began in 1993 and tracks the participants' mental abilities through yearly memory testing. In addition to the annual tests, the study subjects agree to donate their brains. From the article: "The researchers sought members of religious orders, hoping they would be willing to donate and would not have children or spouses interfering with that arrangement at the last minute. More than 1,100 nuns, priests and brothers across the country representing a wide range of ethnic groups are taking part."
Education

Monkeys Exhibit the Same Economic Irrationality As Us 254

Posted by samzenpus from the I-wanna-spend-like-you-oo-oo dept.
grrlscientist writes "Laurie Santos is trying to find the roots of human irrationality by watching the way our primates make decisions. This video documents a clever series of experiments in 'monkeynomics' and shows that some of the stupid decisions we make are made by our primate relatives too."
Biotech

Fly Eyes Used For Solar Cells 73

Posted by samzenpus from the windows-to-the-power-pole dept.
disco_tracy writes "Researchers took corneas from blow flies, fixed them on a glass substrate, added a polymer to protect the shape and then coated nine-eye arrays in nickel within a vacuum chamber. The result was a master template that retained those useful nanoscale features and can be used to make solar cells."
Image

Southwest Adds 'Mechanical Difficulties' To Act Of God List 223

Posted by samzenpus from the blameless-travel dept.
War, earthquakes, and broken washers are all unavoidable events for which a carrier should not be liable if travel is delayed according to Southwest Airlines. Southwest quietly updated their act of God list a few weeks ago to include mechanical problems with the other horrors of an angry travel god. From the article: "Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst based in Port Washington, NY, called it 'surprising' that Southwest, which has a reputation for stellar customer service, would make a change that puts passengers at a legal disadvantage if an aircraft breakdown delays their travel. Keeping a fleet mechanically sound 'is certainly within the control of any airline,' Mann said. 'Putting mechanical issues in the same category as an act of God — I don't think that's what God intended.'"
Image

Why You Never Ask the Designers For a Favor 238

Posted by samzenpus from the no-reward dept.
Usually there is nothing funny about a missing pet, but the tale of Missy the lost cat is hilarious. It serves as an example of just how clueless your fellow employees can be, and why you should never ask the designers to drop what they're doing, and help with a personal matter.
Image

Massive EU Program To Study Three-legged Dogs 85

Posted by samzenpus from the all-I-really-need-to-know-I-learned-from-a-three-legged-dog dept.
DMandPenfold writes "A multi-billion dollar European Union IT research fund will help study the behavior of three-legged dogs, it has been revealed. The fund will support extensive studies into how three-legged dogs move. There is a particular focus on how the dogs balance and function, given their missing limb."

Comment Re:United States Government Accountability Office? (Score 1) 502

by deathplaybanjo (#32955618) Attached to: Top Secret America
conclusion i reached after perusing the website:
Get your daily dose of fear-mongering: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/ While there are some valid points; they're completely over-shadowed by irrelevant statistical data based on convenient assumptions and horse turds so large you'd think the poor equine has Elephantiasis of the colon. But hey, they're painted purple; which makes it ok. Do i hear kittens mewing?
my point:
freedom of information (transparency) is great and all but things are (or at least started off to be) classified for a reason. So maybe there needs to be some review process (improvements?) for such things by qualified individuals.
However, that doesn't warrant such a website as this. Nor should i make the comment about turds; but they started it.

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