17136214
submission
planckscale writes:
At the Saudi Center for Theoretical Physics in Saudi Arabia, physicists say the amazing properties of graphene now include the ability to create mass, according to a new prediction. The paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1010.3437 states that by folding the [graphene] sheet into a tube [fermions] acquire non-zero effective mass as they move along the tube axis. Could the ability to trivially create mass (or anti-mass) allow for exotic propulsion methods to be explored?
13819224
submission
planckscale writes:
Sneakernet by Drew Crawford is a network that uses USB thumbdrives to share large files with a group of peers. The wiki is a fun read here: http://wiki.github.com/drewcrawford/sneakernet/basic-configuration-guide , as it describes the use of Star Wars characters in its distribution model.
10320566
submission
planckscale writes:
By applying an oscillating electric field to a Lithium ion battery computational model, researchers have demonstrated exponentially faster recharge times than conventional methods. Although the effect could have dramatic ramifications for the battery industry, the method may damage batteries.
3503493
submission
planckscale writes:
NASA's Fermi Telescope spotted a massive explosion http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/02/19/gamma-ray-burst.html in the Carina constellation and scientists worked out that the blast was stronger than 9,000 supernovae. Will LIGO [Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIGO be able to detect Gravity Waves from this event?
481056
submission
planckscale writes:
Last weekend, LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIGO did not detect gravitational radiation in association with a gamma ray burst (GRB) http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=24501. The non-detection was actually a valuable contribution by providing collaborating evidence of the event. The detector is due to be upgraded this year for even more accurate measurements. The interferometer is constructed in such a way that it can detect a change of less than a thousandth the diameter of an atomic nucleus in the lengths of the arms relative to each other.
163919
submission
planckscale writes:
After spending another hour deleting .tmp files from a bloated XP machine I started to wonder, is the .tmp file necessary when coding an application on the MS platform? Why do so many apps produce .tmp files and is it just because of bad coding or does the use of them dramatically speed up an app? Don't coders use dev/null to reduce them in linux? I can understand the use of them in case an app crashes for recovery purposes, but why don't more apps have the capacity to delete their own .tmp files once they are done with them? Is it too much to ask to at least have the option when closing an app to delete your temp files?
