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Math

Submission + - Party Ideas For Nerds? 4

rbf writes: "I am wondering what party ideas /. readers have for a group of nerds? There is a girl I like at my university who is a graduate student in mathematics who will be having a birthday next month. She had thought of having a nerd-themed party with things such as coming with tape on glasses, pants hiked up, etc. However, she decided against it as most of her friends are math nerds and wouldn't have to dress up! So my question for the /. community is: Are there any fun party ideas that would be appealing to a group of nerds that consist mostly of math majors?"

Feed Science Daily: Scientists Call For 80 Percent Drop In U.S. Emissions By 2050 To Avoid Dangerous (sciencedaily.com)

By 2050, the United States must cut its emissions by at least 80 percent below those created in the year 2000 if the world is to avoid potentially dangerous impacts of human-induced climate change, according to a new report. To avoid the most severe effects of climate change, the world must stabilize the concentration of heat trapping gases in the atmosphere at no more than 450 parts per million, according to researchers.

Feed Science Daily: Does Your Mood Take A Nosedive Each November? (sciencedaily.com)

If you notice that your mood, energy level and motivation take a nosedive each November only to return to normal in April, you may have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). "This condition, characterized by depression, exhaustion and lack of interest in people and regular activities, interferes with a person's outlook on life and ability to function properly," according to researchers. But people should not despair, because SAD is treatable.

Feed Science Daily: Combined TMS Shows Potential In Tinnitus Treatment (sciencedaily.com)

It is estimated that more than 50 million Americans suffer from tinnitus, a condition where the patient experiences ringing or other head noises that are not produced by an external source. This disorder can occur in one or both ears, range in pitch from a low roar to a high squeal, and may be continuous or sporadic. This often debilitating condition has been linked to ear injuries, circulatory system problems, noise-induced hearing loss, wax build-up in the ear canal, medications harmful to the ear, ear or sinus infections, misaligned jaw joints, head and neck trauma, Ménière's disease, and an abnormal growth of bone of the middle ear.
Science

Bird's-Eye View May Include Magnetic Fields 86

BoredStiff writes "Heard on NPR and reported in ScienceDaily: a study finding that migratory birds may be able to 'see' magnetic fields. The report comes from a current study by a research group from Oldenburg, Germany. They found that migratory birds use their visual system to perceive the reference compass direction of the geomagnetic field: 'Sensory systems process their particular stimuli along specific brain circuits. Thus, the identification of what sensory system is active during magnetic compass orientation, provides a way to recognize the sensory quality utilized during that specific behavior.'"
Space

Submission + - The Google Lunar X Prize (associatedcontent.com)

MarkWhittington writes: "The Google Lunar X Prize is a private sector contest sponsored by the X Prize Foundation and funded by the Google Corporation with very little NASA involvement with a prize going to the first private sector team to land a small rover on the Moon. When and if the Google Lunar X Prize competition is won the people of Earth will be able to see high definition video in real time of the surface of the Moon."
Security

Submission + - Netherlands set to abandon electronic voting

sniggly writes: While Estonia is embracing electronic voting, a committee in the Netherlands is recommending the red pencil. The government is likely to act on the recommendations because of the machines' record of questionable realibility and the inability to independently verify results. The company responsible for most machines was recently caught pimping their wikipedia entry but were unconcerned over the ban (dutch) since they had already sold their questionable equipment to 90% of election committees anyway.
Biotech

Submission + - Virus safely kills cancer in palliative patients (integratir.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Working with patients who had no alternatives left, these trials with a common virus, administered in combination with other treatments, shrunk inoperable tumors to the point that surgery was possible. The reovirus replicates within the patients body, so that tumors not being directly treated were also arrested in growth, or in some cases, reduced. It appears that the virus is effective in attacking 2/3 of cancers.

Feed Science Daily: Viewing Dye-packed Vesicles Causes Them To Explode (sciencedaily.com)

It's a long-standing question: Can just the act of observing an experiment affect the results? According to a new study, if the experiment uses a fluorescent dye called acridine orange, the answer is a resounding "yes." A fluorescent marker, long used in imaging to help researchers watch membrane-bound vesicles as they exit a cell, can actually cause the vesicles to break open as soon as they're hit with light from a microscope. New research describes how to differentiate a microscopy side effect from the cell's true process.
The Courts

Submission + - MicroSoft sues LinuxFest NW

Anonymous Coward writes: "With LinuxFestNW, (http://www.linuxfestnorthwest.org/) scheduled to start this Saturday, April 28th, in Bellingham, WA., M$ took an unprecedented step to stop the conference in its `backyard'. A spokesperson for M$, who declined to be identified, told us that their beef wasn't with Linux, but instead was about the lunch menu to be served on Saturday and Sunday.

M$ claims to have a patent on macaroni and cheese mixed with ketchup, and the trademark, `Southwest Style Mac&Cheese'. "It's an egregarious violation of our intellectual property", the spokeperson says. Not only are they using the term `west', but there are several references in their flyer about 'mac', and their use of 'mouse' is an obvious pointer to cheese.

The two-day Linux festival has offered to change their luncheon menu to BBQ'd fresh salmon but thinks that the use of `west' in linuxfestnorthwest is fair usage. M$ counters with the suggestion that BBQ salmon contributes to global warming, making Linux fair game for Sheryl Crowe. Karl Rove declined to comment on this breaking news story."
Announcements

Submission + - LinuxFest Northwest 2007

Hunter Gatherer Peng writes: "LinuxFest Northwest 2007, http://linuxfestnorthwest.org/ is just seven days away. Hear speakers from Red Hat, Google, SuSE/Novell, OLPC project, MySQL, Sofware Freedom Law Center, Linden Labs, OSTG, Linux Fund, over 40 speakers, 42 exhibitors per day and several exhibitors will be actively recruiting. Admission and parking are free for both days, April 28th and 29th in Bellingham Wash. This is a huge free Linux/OSS community event, don't miss it."
Math

Submission + - Statistical Accuracy of Internet Weather Forecasts

markmcb writes: "Brandon Hansen considers the statistical accuracy of popular on-line weather forecast sources and shows who's on target, and on who you probably shouldn't rely. Motivated by a trip to a water park that was spoiled with hail despite a 'clear sky' forecast, he does a nice job of depicting deviations, averages, and overall accuracy in a manner that stats junkies are sure to love. From the article, 'Accuweather was the clear leader in anything greater than 10 days in advance ... many of the other less accurate weather forecasts seem[ed] to be practically worthless for all but the most optimistic.'"
Intel by OSTG

Vendor Proxim packs Wi-Fi and WiMAX in one mesh access point 11

Proxim Wireless has combined Wi-Fi and WiMAX radios in a low-cost, outdoor wirelss-mesh access point called MeshMAX . MeshMAX makes it possible for many of the nodes in a mesh network to have a backhaul connection to a base station and the Internet. The configuration boosts the capacity of these networks dramatically because the client devices connecting to each node share a much larger broadband pipe t

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