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Earth

Submission + - Idea: Buy up fossil fuel reserves so gases aren't released into the atmosphere. (thebulletin.org)

Submitted by __aaqpaq9254
__aaqpaq9254 writes: Kennette Benedict at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists proposes an intriguing (and hugely expensive) idea: buying up the $27 trillion in coal/oil/gas reserves so all that carbon isn't released into the atmosphere. Benedict points out that these reserves represent "five times as much coal, gas, and oil...as climate scientists think is safe to burn." Benedicts jumping-off point is the excellent piece in Rolling Stone by Bill McKibbon: Global Warming's Terrifying New Math: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719 These are both excellent reads and worth debating.
Security

Submission + - Darwin's Theory Applies to Malware (net-security.org)

Submitted by
Orome1
Orome1 writes: "G Data’s new malware report shows a new and unexpected development in malware: the extreme growth of new malicious programs seems to be slowing down. Granted, the antivirus industry still needed to develop 1,381,967 new virus signatures to detect and block all new malware in the first semester of this year, which is an all time high. But the number is not as high as was to be expected: the figure is only marginally bigger (3.9%) than the 1,330,146 new malware types that were found in the semester before that. This does not give anyone any reason to be relieved. The new malware that appeared this year has been the smartest code yet, suggesting an evolution similar to Darwin’s evolution theory."
Software

Submission + - GEOINT developing a military and intelligence app store (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (GEOINT) is looking to bring new meaning to the now cliche saying “there’s an app for that” with its recent call for application developers and engineers to come and learn about the new GEOINT app store that is being developed .

Responsible for gathering and analyzing all of the geospatial intelligence for the US military and intelligence communities, GEOINT is looking to leverage modern mobile devices by offering secure applications that can be rapidly deployed to operating units in the field.

While you may have never heard of GEOINT before, it plays an important role in the military and intelligence operations of the US government. Not as public of an organization as DARPA is, GEOINT is responsible for giving as much information about a geographical region as possible before one of the aforementioned groups places people and other resources there. It also offers operational information during global events.

Submission + - Assume all PCs are infected (krebsonsecurity.com)

Submitted by dgharmon
dgharmon writes: An agency of the European Union created to improve network and data security is offering some blunt, timely and refreshing advice for financial institutions as they try to secure the online banking channel: “Assume all PCs are infected.”

“Many online banking systems.work based on the assumption that the customer’s PC is not infected,” ENISA wrote in an advisory issued on Thursday. “Given the current state of PC security, this assumption is dangerous. Banks should instead assume that PCs are infected, and still take steps to protect customers from fraudulent transactions.”
News

Submission + - Slashdot Gets Acquired as Part of $20 Million Deal (geek.net) 1

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Dice Holdings (Owner of Job sites including Dice.com) reported this morning that it has acquired Geeknet's online media business, including Slashdot and SourceForge.

"We are very pleased to find a new home for our media business, providing a platform for the sites and our media teams to thrive," said Ken Langone, Chairman of Geeknet. "With this transaction completed, we will now focus our full attention on growing ThinkGeek."

Dice Holdings acquired the business for $20 million in cash. In 2011, the online media properties generated $20 million in Revenues.
News

Submission + - Judge preserves privacy of climate scientist's emails (nature.com) 1

Submitted by
ananyo
ananyo writes: "Climate scientist Michael Mann reported Monday that he and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville have prevailed in a court case against the conservative American Tradition Institute (ATI), which had sought access to emails he wrote while serving as a professor at the school from 1999-2005.
Now at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Mann says the ruling supports the University of Virginia’s argument than an exemption to the state’s freedom-of-information law “applies to faculty communications in furtherance of their work”. The Prince William County Circuit Court ruling came directly from the bench in and was not immediately available online.
The Virgina Supreme Court tossed out a case against Mann in March. The state's conservative attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, had, among other things, demanded access to the climatologist's emails, arguing that Mann might have manipulated data and thus defrauded the government in applying for scientific grants."
Japan

Submission + - Is Japan's culture to blame for Fukushima? (thebulletin.org)

Submitted by __aaqpaq9254
__aaqpaq9254 writes: Although Japan largely attributes its successes and failures to national cultural factors, cultural explanations for the Fukushima accident should not be a substitute for individual accountability or for fixing nuclear regulations.
Earth

Submission + - The science of wildfire and climate (thebulletin.org)

Submitted by __aaqpaq9254
__aaqpaq9254 writes: Learning to relive with wildfire seems to be our best bet in a warming climate. Moritz examines the science here behind the increase of wildfire, and comes up with a more nuanced approach than 'warmer equals more fire"
NASA

Submission + - NASA craft to leave asteroid heads for dwarf planet Ceres (mnn.com)

Submitted by
DevotedSkeptic
DevotedSkeptic writes: "NASA's Dawn probe is gearing up to depart the giant asteroid Vesta next week and begin the long trek to the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt.

The Dawn spacecraft is slated to leave Vesta on the night of Sept. 4 (early morning Sept. 5 EDT), ending a 14-month stay at the 330-mile-wide (530 kilometers) body. The journey to Ceres should take roughly 2.5 years, with Dawn reaching the dwarf planet in early 2015, researchers said.

"Thrust is engaged, and we are now climbing away from Vesta atop a blue-green pillar of xenon ions," Dawn chief engineer and mission director Marc Rayman, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. "We are feeling somewhat wistful about concluding a fantastically productive and exciting exploration of Vesta, but now have our sights set on dwarf planet Ceres.""
Science

Submission + - CERN director backs discovery of 'God particle' (newstrackindia.com)

Submitted by
DevotedSkeptic
DevotedSkeptic writes: "On July 4th the world was told that CERN had found a Higgs Boson-like particle, now the top CERN official has indicated that the Higgs Boson-like particle is indeed, the Higgs Boson.

Rolf Heuer, the director general of Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, said that he would "stick his neck out" and say it had been found by scientists.

He said this during a visit to Edinburgh where he met Professor Peter Higgs, the man who gave his name to the particle.

Heuer was delivering a lecture to students, academics and members of the public at Heriot-Watt University.

He discussed the announcement made in July that teams at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the 2.6-billion-pound "Big Bang" atom-smasher near Geneva, Switzerland, had found a new particle "consistent" with the Higgs Boson.

The results were preliminary and more work is being done before scientists can be sure about what they have captured.

"We have set a certain limit which the data significance has to exceed in order to call it a discovery," the Independent quoted him as saying.
"That limit we have reached on July 4, so I was very happy to state I think we have it, and I think we have it still.

"When they finalized the data, the significance has even increased, so this is why I stick my neck out and say I think it is beyond any doubt because it looks very, very clear and very well in hand, so I think we have found this new particle," he added."
Mars

Submission + - Curiosity Rover Begins Eastbound Trek (nasa.gov)

Submitted by
DevotedSkeptic
DevotedSkeptic writes: "NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has set off from its landing vicinity on a trek to a science destination about a quarter mile (400 meters) away, where it may begin using its drill.

The rover drove eastward about 52 feet (16 meters) on Tuesday, its 22nd Martian day after landing. This third drive was longer than Curiosity's first two drives combined. The previous drives tested the mobility system and positioned the rover to examine an area scoured by exhaust from one of the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft engines that placed the rover on the ground.

"This drive really begins our journey toward the first major driving destination, Glenelg, and it's nice to see some Martian soil on our wheels," said mission manager Arthur Amador of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The drive went beautifully, just as our rover planners designed it."

Glenelg is a location where three types of terrain intersect. Curiosity's science team chose it as a likely place to find a first rock target for drilling and analysis.

"We are on our way, though Glenelg is still many weeks away," said Curiosity Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "We plan to stop for just a day at the location we just reached, but in the next week or so we will make a longer stop."

During the longer stop at a site still to be determined, Curiosity will test its robotic arm and the contact instruments at the end of the arm. At the location reached Tuesday, Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) will collect a set of images toward the mission's ultimate driving destination, the lower slope of nearby Mount Sharp. A mosaic of images from the current location will be used along with the Mastcam images of the mountain taken at the spot where Curiosity touched down, Bradbury Landing. This stereo pair taken about 33 feet (10 meters) apart will provide three-dimensional information about distant features and possible driving routes."
Earth

Submission + - The science that links (or doesn't) climate change to wildfires (thebulletin.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Given that this is predicted to be a record-breaking wildfire year, this is an interesting point: "Global fire models project that 38 percent of the planet will see increased fire activity over the next 30 years, while 8 percent will see decreased activity, but there is low agreement between the models about fire trends for the remaining 54 percent of the planet."

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