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Comment Nukes radiate. Radiation breaks things. (Score 3, Informative) 342

by LandGator (#47970871) Attached to: US Revamping Its Nuclear Arsenal
You can only replace the tritium so many times before seals fail and injectors break. The fissile material, Pu-239 and U-235, and the tamper material, U-238, although not highly radioactive, do emit alpha particles, which break electronics. Throwing alpha particles at high explosives and detonators also doesn't make them any more stable or effective. Therefore, you either rebuild warheads constantly or find a design which is more immune to embrittlement and other alpha-related damage.

Submission + - Deadly Avian Flu Strain Penetrates Biossecurity Defenses in Seuol (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: A new, deadly H5N8 strain of avian influenza penetrated the biosecurity defenses of a National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) campus near Seoul, prompting authorities to cull all of the facility's 11,000 hens and 5000 ducks. The incident highlights the difficulty of protecting poultry farms from circulating avian influenza viruses. “We are taking this situation very seriously," said Lee Jun-Won, deputy agriculture minister, at a press conference yesterday in Seoul. He noted that NIAS has the country’s most secure facilities and most vigilant staff. Lee said they were looking at three possible routes the virus could have taken onto campus: wild birds, NIAS vehicles, and supply deliveries. "We will determine the reason for the infection, and we are going to hold those responsible accountable," he said.

Comment Re:So what are these "transmitters"? (Score 1) 166

by LandGator (#46402025) Attached to: NASA Forgets How To Talk To ICE/ISEE-3 Spacecraft
Either an 8,500 euro transceiver http://www.cubesatshop.com/ind... or an SDR (Software Defined Radio) http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/fil... (or maybe the $18 receiver noted at http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wi... and http://hackaday.com/2012/06/27..., or a SoftRock TXRX http://fivedash.com/index.php?...), an upconverter/downconverter, dual circular polarized antennas, and an S-band broadband amp. See http://mdkenny.customer.netspa... for frequency specs. 73s and best regards, y'all, de K7AAY

Submission + - Scientists thaw a giant 30,000 year old virus, and it's infectious. (nature.com)

Submitted by bmahersciwriter
bmahersciwriter writes: It might be terrifying if we were amoebae. Instead, it's just fascinating. The virus, found in a hunk of Siberian ice, is huge, but also loosely packaged, which is strange says evolutionary biologist Jean-Michel Claverie: “We thought it was a property of viruses that they pack DNA extremely tightly into the smallest particle possible, but this guy is 150 times less compacted than any bacteriophage [viruses that infect bacteria]. We don’t understand anything anymore!”

Submission + - How the Next Keurig Will Make Your Coffee: with a Dash of DRM (techdirt.com)

Submitted by FuzzNugget
FuzzNugget writes: Apparently seeking to lock competitors out of the burgeoning single-serve coffee market, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, maker of the popular Keurig coffee machines, is jumping on the DRM bandwagon. GMCR's CEO confirmed this in a statement, heaping piles of marketing doublespeak about providing "game-changing functionality and performance" by using "interactive technology" to "ensure quality". The obvious goal, of course, is to prevent "unlicensed" third parties from selling compatible refills and reusable pods. Want to bet on quickly the DRM will be subverted? Loser buys coffee.

Submission + - Astroskin, An Astronaut Smart Shirt, Gets Icy Test During Trek Across Antarctica

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Elizabeth Howell reports at Space.com that a Canadian team exploring Antarctica this month is testing Astroskin, a garment that fits over a person's upper body and is embedded with wireless sensors. The eight crewmembers of the the XPAntarctik expedition, who have vowed to use no motorized vehicles during their trek, are spending 45 days in a previously unexplored region of the continent and beaming their medical information back to the University of Quebec at Montreal while wearing Astroskin. Doctors can see each explorers' vital signs, including blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, breathing rate, and skin temperature, as well as how well the they are sleeping and how they are moving. "The great thing about this technology is since it's wireless, it can be monitored at a distance," says CSA chief medical officer Raffi Kuyumijian. "People who live in remote communities, for example, will have an easy access to a doctor. They can have these shirts on them all the time. It can trigger alarms if something wrong is happening, and alert the doctors following at a distance." The Canadian team has not indicated when Astroskin could fly in space, but says it could be used on the International Space Station during future missions.

Submission + - Do NDAs trump the law? Florida cops say it does when using their stingray (wired.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Police in Florida have offered a startling excuse for having used a controversial “stingray” cell phone tracking gadget 200 times without ever telling a judge: the device’s manufacturer made them sign a non-disclosure agreement that they say prevented them from telling the courts.

The shocking revelation, uncovered by the American Civil Liberties Union, came during an appeal over a 2008 sexual battery case in Tallahassee in which the suspect also stole the victim’s cell phone. Using the stingray — which simulates a cell phone tower in order to trick nearby mobile devices into connecting to it and revealing their location — police were able to track him to an apartment.

Submission + - Mark Shuttleworth blasts OSS FUD

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a Google+ posting, Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu and Canonical, announces that Ubuntu is sticking with MySQL in the upcoming Trusty Tahr (14.04) release. In response to a followup question from ZDNet's Steven Vaughan-Nichols, Shuttleworth offers some pointed comments on the OSS FUD culture: "As for phobias, the real pitchforks have been those agitating against Oracle. I think Oracle have been an excellent steward of MySQL, with real investment and great quality. Appreciating and celebrating that doesn't detract from our willingness to engage elsewhere. I think the tendency to imagine conspiracies and malfeasance is one of the sadder aspects of OSS culture. Don't feed it."

Submission + - How Japanese Scientists Are Monitoring Fukushima Babies For Radiation Exposure (medium.com)

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: Parents in the Fukushima region of Japan are intensely worried that their children may be consuming food and water contaminated with radiation. But whole body scanners used to monitor the internal radiation levels of adults don't work for children who cannot stand up inside them. What's more, the machines are not sensitive enough to detect problematic radiation levels in children. That's because children metabolise substances faster than adults and have a lower mass to start with, so the levels of radiation in their bodies tend to be lower. For example, if each adult ingests 3 Becquerels of cesium-137 every day, the internal levels would reach an equilibrium of about 400 Bq/adult body. But a similar intake for a 1-year old child would result in an equilibrium level of about 60 Bq/body, well below the 250 Bq/body sensitivity of adult scanners. Now a team of engineers has built a whole body scanner that is sensitive enough for the job and that children can play inside for the 4 minutes necessary to scan them. And they say the results of the first 100 scans of Fukushima children (average age 4.2 years) are reassuring--none show any evidence of cesium-137. So far.

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