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Biotech

Submission + - Human Sense of smell 'underestimated'

Submitted by
gollum123
gollum123 writes: "The sensitivity of the human sense of smell has been significantly underestimated, a study suggests ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6183379.stm ). The work, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, asked people to follow scents on the ground, as a dog would do, and found they were as good. The researchers from University of California Berkley laid scent trails, including one of chocolate essential oil, in a grassy field, and asked 32 people to find the 10 metre trail and track it to the end. Those who took part were blindfolded and wore thick gloves and earplugs to force them to rely exclusively on smell. Two thirds were able to follow the scent. And while they remained slower than the animals at tracking scents, their performance improved over time. In other tests, it was found that humans required both nostrils to be working to be able to track scents."
The Media

Submission + - FTC To Investiage 'Viral Marketing' Practices

Submitted by mcflaherty
mcflaherty writes: The Federal Trade Commission(FTC)is going to investigate the use of so called 'Viral Marketing' by corporations. This is the type of advertising that seeks to start a word of mouth campaign for the product via consumers themselves. Previously, consumers themselves set the buzz. But lately advertisement firms are stepping up to the plate themselves, seeding the market with buzz that looks independent of the company, but is in fact funded by them. The crew at Penny Arcade contend that corporate generated buzz is not Viral Marketing, and perhaps Guerilla Marketing would be a more apt term. Either way, it appears to be a profitable advertising model.
Space

Submission + - Word Virus Expands Beyond Earth

Submitted by BoredNasaGeek
BoredNasaGeek writes: According to a call from the Space Shuttle commander to the mission control center the Shuttle crew currently have a problem with Word macro viruses on their computers. This leads to a ban on sending email attachments to the Shuttle. The message from the commander went something like this: 'Do you have any news on the.. I don't know if I should say this.. virus situation with Word documents?'
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Geek Fiction: Edgy sci-fi for techies

Submitted by scuzz2
scuzz2 writes: Geek Fiction is a new series of sci-fi stories with attitude, full of "nerdy" references: Linux gadgets, Star Trek, Babylon 5, programming/hacking and stuff like that. In the first episode, a misanthropic teen virus writer dispatches the central hero with an M-160 rocket launcher.

Classic line (from later in the series): "They stared blinkingly, as helpless and perplexed as a Web 2.0 start-up experiencing its first server crash."

But the author (who also wrote Extreme Programming Refactored) wants your comments and ideas to feed back into the story. Community-driven fiction perhaps?

E-voting State By State 186

Posted by samzenpus from the make-them-count dept.
jcatcw writes "One-third of Americans will use voting machines next week that have never before served in a general election. Computerworld.com provides an overview of e-voting in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia — equipment, systems for voter registration, polling, significant legal challenges to the systems, previous media coverage, links to government watchdog sites, the vendors, technologies and laws that are important to the issue, and a review of 'Hacking Democracy.'"

Stealth Sharks to Patrol the High Seas 331

Posted by samzenpus from the friggin-laser-beams-not-included dept.
dylanduck writes ""Imagine getting inside the mind of a shark: swimming silently through the ocean, sensing faint electrical fields, homing in on the trace of a scent." That's what the Pentagon wants to do, says New Scientist. By remotely guiding the sharks' movements using a newly designed neural implant, the military hope to transform the animals into stealth spies."

Unlock Your Doors With a Knock Code 408

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the still-a-key-just-much-bigger-and-more-expensive dept.
Erica Campbell writes to tell us IsraCast is reporting that E-lock has developed a new kind of lock technology designed to open a door based on a "knock code." From the article: "This innovation is based on patented technology which uses a series of quick knocking sounds. The discrete mechanical knocks open the lock and are produced by a small device that can be carried by any authorized person. The device which opens the lock needs to touch the door (which can be made out of any material such as metal, wood, plastic or glass) to cause the lock mechanism to open. Since there is no keyhole or contact point on the door, this unique mechanism offers a significantly higher level of security then existing technology."

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