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Submission + - Whales amplify sound with their skull bones (sciencemag.org)

sciencehabit writes: The loud, moaning calls of large, baleen whales—such as fin, right, gray, and blue whales—can travel hundreds of kilometers through the sea as the cetaceans reach out to contact others of their kind. Yet scientists have not fully understood how sounds reach the baleen whales’ ear bones. Now, researchers report today in PLOS ONE that they’ve solved the mystery by means of a 3D computer model of a fin whale’s skull. By simulating sound waves traveling through the computerized skull, the scientists discovered that the whales use an unusual mechanism for hearing: bone conduction. The fin whale’s skull bones (and likely those of other baleen whales) vibrate and amplify the low-frequency sounds, directing them to the ear bones. The discovery may help lawmakers set limits on the amount of noise humans can make in the deep sea.

Comment Re:Add noise (Score 1) 86

I think the main problem is that many people on here aren't old enough to remember those things in the first place. TEMPEST was big in the 80s and early 90s, but outside of military and electronic payment circles, people haven't been too concerned about it in the last 15 years. So it could possibly be new to a lot of the under-30 crowd.

Comment Re:TLDR; 2D arrays wit a ton of spares are reliabl (Score 1) 258

Indeed -- remember the experiment posted on Slashdot a year or so ago where they measured the MTBF across drives purchesed in batches and outside batches? Failures tended to cascade within the batch; other batches would cascade at different times.

So that entire cluster is likely to fail catastrophically unless you're swapping in drives from new batches from time to time -- at which point it should last MUCH longer than 4 years with data integrity. Bonus points if your array can handle size boosts over time (swapping in larger disks).

Comment Re:Still ignoring the big issue with graphene. (Score 1) 38

Hmm... I was just realizing that this DVD method should also allow for the printing of graphene-based circuits; instead of pitting the foil, the laser would be reducing paths in the disc (instead of the entire thing). I wonder how good the resolution would be using a method like this? Would it work with blu-ray and a blue laser, or would that break down the oxide too much? You should get better resolution that way, and if someone made a multi-layer disc with graphite oxide instead of reflective foil, you could burn your own multi-layer circuit board. Not sure how you'd do the connects and pass-throughs though. Maybe just print one layer at a time, and manually finish off the rest after you're done....

Comment Re:Obviously didn't work so well... (Score 1) 103

Not to be apologetic or anything, but that's like saying crosswalks don't work because of the number of crosswalk fatalities.

Sure, they're probably not actually getting any useful information from this dragnet beyond the addresses of people who upload/download "extremist" material, and the identities of those people help more in populating no-fly lists and as monitoring start-points to track down their handlers should they actually become "radicallized", but you can't expect less than hyperbole from the gov't organizations and politicians if we aren't willing to rise above that ourselves.

Comment Re:Something Suspicious (Score 1) 203

Actually, there ARE browsers built on Flash. They've got an entire platform people can use should they care to. However, Adobe's revenue stream comes in mostly via the reseller market -- so they make more money off of things like ADS and being an ePub certificate authority -- hence, no reason for them to focus too much time/money on their actual products.

I guess that's what you get for building with mud.

Comment Re:Still ignoring the big issue with graphene. (Score 2) 38

http://www.rsc.org/chemistrywo...

Maher El-Kady and others at the University of California at Los Angeles have now found a way to fabricate graphene films, and graphene capacitors, without any sticking together. The researchers take a DVD and apply a layer of plastic, followed by a film of graphite oxide. They then insert the DVD into a standard DVD drive, so that the in-built laser chemically reduces the graphite oxide to graphene. Having removed the disc, the researchers peel off the plastic, which is then coated in graphene, and cut it into whatever shapes they desire.

Sounds like Riverside and LA need to team up on this. The method of using a red laser to reduce the oxide should be relatively easy to replicate at an industrial scale. Then the problem becomes sourcing large quantities of graphene oxide. However, since the US creates its own synthetic graphite, it should be relatively simple to apply the next stage of converting it to graphene oxide as part of the synthesis process.

Comment Lawful Access Through a Court Order? (Score 2) 431

"We understand the value of encryption and the importance of security," she said. "But we're very concerned they not lead to the creation of what I would call a 'zone of lawlessness,' where there's evidence that we could have lawful access through a court order that we're prohibited from getting because of a company's technological choices.

Sorry? This is idiotic. In real life, it (is supposet to) go like this:

1) Find signs that something illegal is likely going on
2) Go to the court and get a court order for more investigation, based on these signs.
3) Execute the court order and get the information.

In other words, there IS a lawful access route -- the police get a court order, they approach the suspect and confiscate their phone, and as part of the process, require their password. Suddenly, there's no encryption issue.

The problem here is when police want UNlawful access to someone's device. At no point does encryption prevent lawful access.

Comment Re:Then there was War Plan Red (Score 1) 313

Sorry, but there is no fucking way on this green earth that I would willing fly the US flag on Canadian soil.

Sorry... go to your local shopping mall/hotel/marina/etc. Notice the flags flying there? Canadian, Provincial and... American.
I never said anything about taking down the Canadian flag (although there's been more than enough argument about scrapping that and getting something more flashy, whether it be going back to the 3-leaf flag, replacing the leaf with a polar bear, etc.)

Your arrogance at suggesting that we would willingly submit to an outside authority would be the same as me suggesting that we simply take Alaska from the US.

I think you missed the point -- Canadians don't submit to INSIDE authority, let alone outside. At this point, the US saying they owned Canada wouldn't be all that different from the current Federal government. But canadians don't shout about this and thump their chests -- they just ignore the politicians, nod knowingly at each other, and carry on as usual.

After all, its pretty obvious that Alaska is a better fit in Canada than it is in the US.

I'm sorry... but you're starting to sound very American here. This is American logic Canadians don't care about "better fit" and don't try to take over other territories -- there's enough unoccupied Canada already. For example, did you know that there have been multiple cases of other countries begging to join confederacy? Newfoundland was the last one that made it in, and will probably continue to be the last. Canada finally learned its lesson: new lands mean new liabilities and new debt to pay down.

Besides, last time we fought (1812) we kicked your ass and sent you packing back across the border, and burned what was to become the 'White' house (hence the name).

OK; I'm starting to wonder who you are actually aiming this at. But for the record, it was the British who went down and burned the White House in 1812; that was 55 years before Canada became a country. And I'm pretty sure you weren't alive then, and your ancestors most likely didn't live in Upper Canada, nor were part of the British garrison that made that sortie.

If you can't handle an insurgency in a place like Afghanistan, what makes you think you'd be able to do it in Canada?

Now THAT is a good point. I hope the Harper government thinks long and hard about that one.

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