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Submission + - New Theory Explains Periodic Mass Extinctions

Submitted by i_like_spam on Thursday August 02, 2007 @02:07PM

i_like_spam writes: The theory that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid impact, the K-T extinction, is well known and supported by fossil and geological evidence. Asteroid impact theory does not apply to the other fluctuations in biodiversity, however, which follow an approximate 62 million-year cycle. As reported in Science news, a new theory seems to explain periodic mass extinctions. The new theory found that oscillations in the Sun relative to the plane of the Milky Way correlate with changes in biodiversity on Earth. The researchers suggest that an increase in the exposure of Earth to extragalatic cosmic rays causes mass extinctions. Here is the original paper describing the finding.

Submission + - NASA Aims for 4 Shuttle Flights in 2007

Submitted by SpacePeanut on Monday April 16, 2007 @08:07PM

SpacePeanut writes: NASA will try to launch four space shuttle flights in 2007 to continue building the international space station, managers for the U.S. space agency said Monday. The targeted launch dates in 2007 will be June 8 for Atlantis; Aug. 9 for Endeavour; Oct. 20 for Discovery and Dec. 6 for Atlantis.

Submission + - Moving hiding alarm clock for the hard-to-wake

Submitted by

bbbbryan

on Monday April 16, 2007 @08:00PM

bbbbryan writes: "http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20070413/BIZ04/704130304 describes an alarm clock which actually runs, hides from you, and beeps to ensure that you'll be awake enough to not go back to sleep by the time you find it and get it shut off. It appears to be available for purchase from the inventor's company at www.nandahome.com."

Submission + - Microsoft admits the Xbox 360 scratches discs

Submitted by on Monday April 16, 2007 @07:47PM

An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft admitted this after 2 broadcasts on the subject by the dutch television program Kassa. Microsofts states: "It is possible that scratches on discs can arise as a result of regular use." The hardware magazine that examined the complaints has some aditional information on the case. Dutch customers can get their consoles fixed, and broken games replaced. The situation for customers from other countries is unclear.

Submission + - Do politicians know more than rocket scientists?

Submitted by

GreedyCapitalist

on Monday April 16, 2007 @07:35PM

GreedyCapitalist writes: "Are politicians more knowledgeable than rocket scientists when it comes to planning the next U.S. moon shot?
Politicians may have a number of reasons for preserving missions that teams of NASA specialists deem unnecessary: the media from moon rovers is a cheap thrill, it preserves funds promised to constituents ($105.8m in '07), and it competes with similar missions from half a dozen other nations, which will "end up with lots of pictures of the same place."
Good publicity, certainly, but not an efficient way to run a space program. Is this an inevitable consequence of government-run science?"

Submission + - New Semiconductor Fabs in India

Submitted by vparkash on Monday April 16, 2007 @07:02PM

vparkash writes: Is India set to become the next silicon valley? For a country that till now only had a single 1.2 micron fab operated by the government for RF & MEMS devices, the announcement of multiple fabs in the country within a single year could put India on the world silicon processing map.

The Videocon group, the India's largest consumer electronics and durables manufacturer, is contemplating setting up a semiconductor facility. The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) major, which intends to invest upwards of Rs 1,000 crore (USD 250 Mn) in the proposed facility, is currently in the process of evaluating various locations such as West Bengal.This also comes after a little known start up called Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company decided to build a 4.5 billion dollar fab (for 90nm devices)in association with Infineon. A formal announcement on this expected soon! Meanwhile a company called SemIndia on Monday announced that it would establish its maiden semiconductor 3.3Bn dollar "assembly-test-mark-pack" (ATMP) plant. The facility will offer services to manufacturers of integrated circuits, including allowing AMD to augment their regional assembly and test requirements.

Feed Judge Says Too Bad To Webcasters Upset About New Webcast Rates (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed on Monday April 16, 2007 @06:52PM

Last month, when the RIAA pushed through new webcasting royalty rates that were clearly designed to kill off a lot of webcasters, many people said not to worry, that the whole thing was just part of a negotiation. While the Copyright Royalty Board finally noticed that people weren't too happy about the new rates and agreed to hold some hearings, today they rejected those complaints and said that they won't change the rates, and everyone better pay up by May 15th. Webcasters are now looking to appeal to both the Appeals Court as well as Congress -- but recognize that either move will probably take a while, and go well beyond the May 15th deadline. The end result, of course, is actually going to hurt the music industry greatly. Webcasting has always been a huge promotional driver for artists -- especially niche artists who wouldn't get any publicity any other way. The recording industry apparently still hasn't figured out that it can expand its market by letting people promote the content for it. Instead, it wants to charge for that promotion, in a short-sighted effort to charge for every use of the content, even ones that expand the market and allow the overall industry to make much more money.

Submission + - Maestro Violinist plays in DC Metro

Submitted by Dorkmunder on Monday April 16, 2007 @06:45PM

Dorkmunder writes: In light of the massacre at Virginia Tech today this story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti cle/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html?hpid=topnews) seems related. Are we that much in a hurry and isolated to no longer appreciate the world around us?

Submission + - Do-it-yourself quantum eraser

Submitted by aeoneal on Monday April 16, 2007 @06:41PM

aeoneal writes: Observe the essential strangeness of quantum behavior up close and personal, in the privacy of your own home. Scientific American provides a useful guide on making your own quantum eraser, allowing you to replicate the classic experimental demonstration of the wave-particle nature of light. They provide a slide show, along with details on equipment, troubleshooting, and notes on the physics involved.

Feed Photos: Space flight anniversary party out of this world (com.com)

From feed by cnetfeed on Monday April 16, 2007 @06:33PM

Anniversary of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's first human space flight was an all-night party of DJs, glowing lights and hula-hoopers.

Submission + - Daylight Savings Time Puts Kid in Jail for 12 Days

Submitted by Jherek Carnelian on Monday April 16, 2007 @06:28PM

Jherek Carnelian writes: Cody Webb was jailed for calling in a bomb threat to his Hempstead Area high school (near Pittsburgh). He spent 12 days in lockup until the authorities realized that their caller-id log was off an hour because of the new Daylight Savings Time rules and that Cody had only called one hour prior to the actual bomb threat. Perhaps it took so long because of the principal's Catch-22 attitude about Cody's guilt — she said, 'Well, why should we believe you? You're a criminal. Criminals lie all the time.'

Submission + - NASA mission probe proves Einstein was right

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 16, 2007 @06:26PM

An anonymous reader writes: Gravity Probe B uses four ultra-precise gyroscopes to measure two effects of Einstein's general relativity theory, one called the geodetic effect, the other called frame dragging. A common analogy, the geodetic effect is similar to the shape of the dip created when the ball is placed on to a rubber sheet. If the bowling ball is then rotated, it will start to drag the rubber sheet around with it. In a similar way, the Earth drags local space and time around with it — ever so slightly — as it rotates. Over the course of a year, these effects would cause the angle of spin of the gyroscopes to shift by minute amounts. According to the mission's principal investigator, Professor Francis Everitt, from Stanford University, the data from Gravity Probe B's gyroscopes clearly confirm Einstein's geodetic effect to a precision of better than 1%.

Feed 8-core Mac Pro hands-on, Apple NAB booth tour (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed on Monday April 16, 2007 @05:52PM

Filed under: Desktops, Features, Laptops

Behold, Apple's mammoth, sprawling NAB booth. Ready to show off all the pro apps it announced yesterday, the Apple complex came complete with two demo theaters, dozens of demo kiosks, a few octo-core Mac Pros (which we finally got our hands on for a hands-on -- not that it looks any different), and a small army of black-clad employees ready to school you in the ways of pro media production. We asked for a Compressor 3 demo showing off the octo-Pro's multithreaded rendering, and while the demo didn't actually successfully wrap, we did get to see those eight cores burn through a bit of HD encoding right quick. Also, be sure to check out Apple's massive, 40 Xserve RAID equipped demo media SAN -- it's almost too much aluminum-clad enterprise gear.

Gallery: 8-core Mac Pro hands-on, Apple NAB booth tour

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