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Comment Re:I'd have assumed... (Score 1) 73

IAMAP, but I'd have thought that the galaxy would flatten everything out to a certain degree, but as you move to smaller scales, local gravity conditions would take over, for example: the planets being more tightly bound to the sun than they are to the Milky Way as a whole.

Q for a physic-y person - The earth orbits around the sun's equator, but its own equator is at an angle to the sun-planet plane (hence, seasons). Does the moon, then orbit around earth's equator (at an angle to the sun), or in the same plane as the sun's equator (or some other plane entirely)?

Comment Re:Almost a decade old (Score 1) 135

In a search and rescue situation I can imagine a team of people each with one of these devices, as well as GPS. If the devices can communicate with each other (as a mesh network) they could pinpoint location based on the different times they see the same signal. Furthermore, if the mesh eventually reaches a position where GPS is available, this signal could then be used to establish an anchor position.

Finally, and I don't know if this was covered, but presumably this system would also allow for vertical location to be found as well.

Comment Re:3d printers civilian forfeiture as drug lab (Score 2) 33

Keck clip they are.
While these are almost certainly patented, maybe by changing the material clips could be printed without legal trouble. Keck clips can fall apart if exposed to (eg) HCl gas, so printing PTFE versions would be useful.
I like the adaptor idea - and it could be extended to any labware if someone figures out how to print glass. No more searching for that B24 condensor!

Comment "Click" chemistry (Score 2) 54

Althought the paper manages not to mention it, the chemistry they are doing here is (the alkyne azide cyclisation) is part of "click" chemistry, which is quite well known.

What the paper doesn't really say is whether they hope to accomplish anything further with this. As with all biomimetic reaction, it seems (to me) that synthesising a single step in the process may be intersting, without doing all the previous steps, is there any practical point?
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Wireless Proximity Detection 1

Cinnamon Whirl writes: As a chemist, I work in a both lab and office enviroments, and need access to data in both, without causing undue clutter in either. My company has recently purchased two Win7 tablets for trial usage with electronic lab notebooks, propietry software, SAP, email etc. These are also useful for sharing in meetings, etc.

As part of this project, I have been wondering whether we can use these tablets to detect other devices by proximity. Examples could include finding the nearest printer or monitor or, perhaps trickier, could two roaming devices find each other? Although lab technology is rarely cutting edge, I can see a day when all our sensors and probes will broadcast data (wireless thermocouples are already available), and positioning information will become much more important.

What technologies exist to do this? How accurate can the detection be?
Space

Submission + - New Mars photos are straight-up gorgeous (vice.com)

derekmead writes: These photos from NASA’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera prove that space photos don’t have to just be evaluated on their technical and scientific value. They can also be beautiful.

The HiRISE camera is mounted on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which took the lead snap inside an impact crater in the Noachis Terra region of southern Mars. As lovely as they are, the erosion patterns evidenced by the dunes help NASA scientists develop the sedimentary history of the region. The enhanced-color lead image clearly shows the wind-caused (sorry tin-hat folks) dunes with insane clarity: It covers an area about an entire kilometer across.

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