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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 18 declined, 12 accepted (30 total, 40.00% accepted)

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Government

Submission + - New DoD CIO now has slash budgets (informationweek.com)

Submitted by Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: Teri Takai won accolades for her tenure as CIO of Michigan, and then California from industry press. However, her welcome in Washington was far less warm. Acting since January, she only officially was confirmed in October.

With the collapse of the "super committee" budget talks the agreed automatic rescissions are the subject of an upcoming legislative battle but neither side yet has the votes to push anything through. This means that for the billions of dollars coming through Defense IT technology salaries and contracting, Teri Taki is the person who is going to be making the front line decisions about how, and what, to do. An unclassified PDF from April shows how she approaches the DoD infrastructure, but probably is not relevant in the context of the upcoming cuts in its details.

One thing that will be likely, she not going to be twittering that much and she's not good at updating her profiles. However she does seem have the same focus on service for lower cost prevalent in industry, as this FedScoop video with Diane Bryant of Intel highlights.
Science

Submission + - US Army Has First Test Flight of Mach 6 Weapon (defense.gov) 2

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "In a terse press release the US Department of Defense announced the first test of the the AHW, which uses rockets to launch and then glides to its target, in a manner similar to the Space Shuttle's re-entry. Earlier ABC News posted a story with animation video of the concept. Over at DefenseTech they argue that the trajectory being different from an ICBM is meant to show that it is not a first strike, but even the comments don't think that explanation flies.

More likely it is the speed of deployment, the ability to strike targets without going high enough to be seen by many advance warning radars, and without using nuclear warheads makes it a precision surprise attack weapon, a kind of super cruise missile for surprise asymetric attacks."
Science

Submission + - Science Magazine: Disgraced Researcher Gives up Ph (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "Science Magazine reports that Diederik Stapel, who falsified data on virtually all of his papers has given up his PhD. The university released a statement, which Google Translate renders as:

Diederik Stapel on November 9, 2011 voluntarily surrendered his doctorate at the University of Amsterdam. The certificate he received in 1997 after his promotion is now back in possession of the university.

Stack has declared in writing to waive his Ph.D. because he believes that his behavior in recent years does not fit with the duties associated with the doctorate. Stack graduated in 1997 from the University of Amsterdam. He worked there from 1993 to 1999. He then worked in Groningen and Tilburg. On October 31 the Committee recommended Levelt, who investigated the scientific integrity of the work of Stack, the University of Amsterdam to investigate a Ph.D. may be withdrawn.

"
Medicine

Submission + - Some in "vegetative state" are aware. (thelancet.com)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "It is the nightmare from a dozen horror films: people who are thought to be in a coma, but are really not. The Lancet published yesterday on how this really was the case for a noticeable percentage of people diagnosed as "vegetative." The article shows how an EKG indicated at least some were really aware. The study authored by Damian Cruse et al urges that their method of testing be made standard for patients in such a state. The Spec has an excellent write up which includes a picture of the apparatus. The study grows out of earlier communication by the same authors that looked asserted that some cognition had to occur in the "minimally conscious."

If the findings hold up – always essential to have others be able to duplicate the results – it could dramatically change how people in a coma are handled, perhaps even the ability to allow them to communicate."
Unix

Submission + - 23:59:60 Never Again? Leap Second Abolition Advanc (nature.com)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "When time keeping changed from astronomical measurements to atomic clocks, a problem arose: how to keep the calendar in sync with the clock, since the reason for atomic clocks, is that the earth's rotation varies slightly over time, and generally slows because of tidal drag from the moon.

Nature is reporting that the push to get rid of leap seconds is gaining traction. Any system admin knows that leap seconds have their own lore and maybe responsible for hard crashes. Meanwhile others, such as China's central government and some astronomers, are uncomfortable with the corollary of getting rid of leap seconds: clocks and the stars will slowly grow out of sync . Have you seen a leap second crash, or had to make changes because of them?"
Politics

Submission + - Italy's Government teeters on brink of collapse, G (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "Berlusconi's government lost by winning: a routine budget vote passed, but only because of abstentions 308-0-321. Without a majority, he has gone to Italy's President, who as with many parliamentary systems has few powers, but can declare new elections.

Meanwhile in Greece al jazeera reports that Lucas Papademos a career central banker, is going to be tapped to be the next PM. An MIT graduate, his academic work included a paper co-authored with Franco Modigliani on how to fight stagflation.

Italy is facing the same bond attack that Ireland, Portugal, and Greece have, but as the Eurozone's third largest economy, behind Germany and France, it is too large to bail out."
NASA

Submission + - NASA Captures Radar Image During Asteroid Flyby of (nasa.gov)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "We've all heard by now that asteriod impacts may be the cause of periodic mass extinction events – and perhaps of calls to defend earth against them. Maybe you have heard of comet panics. But near Earth passing events aren't all doom and gloom, in these images NASA and JPL used radar to capture images of Asteroid 2005 YU55, which will be closest at ~324,600 km at 1128 UTC, or 6:26 PM EST. Related NASA video is here, and as you can see, the moon will get a much better view than we will – though depending on the results of the asteroid's close pass of Venus in 2029, it could well pass this close to us in 2041. The images come from the Goldstone Complex in the Mojave desert."
Science

Submission + - More Evidence for Human Effects on Climate (nature.com)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "While the development of a crack in the ice in Antartica that will be a large iceberg is providing some of the most interesting pictures of the day, and the story about record jumps in CO2 emissions are on many newspaper sites, two new articles are pointing to the subtle effects of human activity on climate. One, in Nature, is focused on how carbon is changing the dynamics of tropical cyclones, the other ,in Science, is focused on Nitrogen fertilizer and its effects on rainforests.

The Nature article focuses on cyclone genesis in the Arabian Sea, particularly whether human carbon emission reduces upper level winds. Of the three components of cyclone formation — warm sea water, unstable air masses, and low upper level winds — the last is what turns small storms into big storms, and allows storms in unusual places. This is because upper level winds shred the chimney effect that storms use to pull warm air from the sea and shoot it upwards. Low winds are like no predation in biology: without upper level winds to tear them apart, all sorts of strange storms can survive.

The Science magazine piece shows how human generated fertilizer shows up in leaves of trees in tropical rain forests. Since fertilizer is an essential part of increasing agricultural output, and rain forests are key parts of the atmospheric cycle, their study is important to climate stability as well."
Science

Submission + - Fracking Likley Cause of Minor Quakes in UK (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "Non-conventional extraction of hydrocarbons is the next wave of production, including natural gas and oil – at least according to its advocates. One of the most controversial of the technologies being used is hydraulic fracture drilling, or "fracking." Energy companies have been gobbling up google ad words to push the view that the technology is "proven" and "safe," while stories about the damage continue to surface. Adding to the debate are two small tremors in the UK — below 3.0, so very small – that were quite likely the result of fracking there. Because the drilling cracks were shallow, this raises concerns that deeper cracks near more geologically active areas might lead to quakes that could cause serious damage."
Security

Submission + - Assange Prepares Appeal After Losing Extradition R (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "The Telegraph reports that Assange is preparing an appeal on the ruling he must be extradited. Under the British Constitution such an appeal requires that larger issues be raised. This comes as wikileaks itself is going to cease publishing material because of what it calls a "banking blockade.""
Science

Submission + - The Northeast Passage Getting Wider (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "The New York Times reports on the continued expansion of the sea route along the Russian side of the Arctic Ocean. It was only in 2009 that outside ships were allowed to ply this lane, but Russians have used it since the early 20th century. What makes this year a landmark is that the polar ice cap is smaller at its September minimum than before, allowing large container ships and oil tankers–the backbone of sea commerce – to travel between Europe and Asia, saving time and money over the Suez route, as well as avoiding several politically unstable regions of the world. Putin has been pushing development along the route. While the northwest passage is only gradually opening, the opposite side of the Arctic Ocean looks set for expansion. Siberian Riveria anyone?"
Science

Submission + - Paper Disputes Closing Ivins Anthrax Case (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "The New York Times reports that an upcoming paper by Martin E. Hugh-Jones, Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, and Stuart Jacobsen – all of whom have long questioned the closing of the case – points to the presence of tin in the spore samples as a sign that the samples mailed had been processed beyond what Ivins, alone could have done. While not disputing that the spores came from Ft. Detrick, Martin-Hughes, who has co-authored several papers on anthrax signatures, contend according to the Times:

it appears likely that Dr. Ivins could not have made the anthrax powder alone with the equipment he possessed, as the F.B.I. maintains. That would mean either that he got the powder from elsewhere or that he was not the perpetrator.

For a good summary of the case from a medical standpoint this article from the Annals of Internal Medicine is an excellent place to start. The review by the National Resources Council that stated that the evidence available was not sufficient to locate the source of the spores is here, with a free pdf download."

Science

Submission + - The Scientist to cease publication? (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by
Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry writes: "According to Science Magazine, The Scientist Magazine an influential life sciences publication which just celebrated their 25th year of publication, is to close. They quote an email sent out by Vitek Tracz:

The only reason is economic — we simply could not find a way to make it pay. There is no other reason. It has wonderful and talented staff, an audience that likes it, and it succeeded in keeping high editorial and production standards for many years. The world is turning away from traditional magazines, and our dependence on page advertising brought us to this point. There is alas nothing much more to say, except to acknowledge the original vision of Eugene Garfield, and the work of the many wonderful people over the last 25 years.

So far, no confirmation from the magazine itself. It isn't April Fools, though many would hope that this decision is reversed."

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