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+ - Atomic Age Artifacts->

Submitted by
BuzzSkyline
BuzzSkyline writes "For years in the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. federal government spent millions stocking fallout shelters for the Soviet atomic attack that never came. But what exactly was the government putting in there? Physics Buzz blogger Quantum takes a look at some of the retro Geiger counters, dosimeters and radiation detectors the U.S. Office of Civil Defense sent to thousands of fallout shelters across the country."
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Science

+ - Higgs, Schmiggs - the LHC may have Found Physics Beyond the Standard Model-> 3

Submitted by
BuzzSkyline
BuzzSkyline writes "Fermilab physicists claim to have discovered evidence of new physics in the same LHC data that revealed the existence of a Higgs-like boson. While the Higgs potentially fills in the final piece of the Standard Model puzzle that describes the known fundamental particles, PhysicsBuzz is reporting that papers soon to be posted to the arXiv preprint server argue that the LHC data also show that the Top Quark has a partner predicted by the powerful, but previously unproven, theory of Supersymmetry. If true, the theory may solve the mystery of dark matter, explain why gravity is so weak, and presage the discovery of a whole host of supersymmetric particles."
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ISS

+ - Astronaut Didgeridoo (or maybe Didgeridon't)->

Submitted by
BuzzSkyline
BuzzSkyline writes "Astronauts Don Pettit and Dan Burbank aboard the International Space Station took some time out to cobble together a didgeridoo from the ISS vacuum cleaner hoses. Skip to 1:30 to see Pettit mangle an official ISS crew shirt to look more like an authentic didgeridoo player (or at least what he thinks one should look like)."
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+ - SPAM: Plane completes 17-hour flight without fuel

Submitted by
champ1991
champ1991 writes "The Solar Impulse HB-SIA prototype aircraft, which has 12,000 solar cells in its 64.3-meter (193 feet) built wing attempts to register its first intercontinental flight from Payerne to Rabat in Morocco.After a flight about 17 hours, takes the prototype HB- SIA has finally landed in Madrid-Barajas airport. The pilot, André Borschberg, made his way out of the cockpit, smiley and certainly happy to stretch his legs."
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+ - Ask Slashdot: Best mobile phone solution without data plan 2

Submitted by clorkster
clorkster writes "I am looking to upgrade my mobile phone. I have always bought the cheapest possible phone with the least features since I only use it to make calls and text. Further, I am opposed to paying for internet access twice and my home access is certainly more important and necessary. I am now running into the issue that my phone is too archaic to receive text messages from newer smart phones (they somehow become picture messages). Any thoughts on a good smart phone without data plan or an almost smart phone solution?"
ISS

+ - Microgravity Coffee Cup->

Submitted by
BuzzSkyline
BuzzSkyline writes "Despite the fact that astronauts have been eating and drinking out of tubes for decades, it's actually possible to drink from an open-top cup in space. Astronaut Don Pettit recently downlinked a video that shows him slurping coffee from a cup he kludged out of plastic sheet. It appears to work pretty much like a cup on Earth, even in freefall aboard the International Space Station, thanks to capillary action."
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Science

+ - Climate Change-Induced Drought Caused the Mayan Collapse ->

Submitted by
pigrabbitbear
pigrabbitbear writes "The collapse of the Mayan empire has already caused plenty of consternation for scientists and average Joes alike, and we haven’t even made it a quarter of the way through 2012 yet. But here’s something to add a little more fuel to the fire: A new study suggests that climate change killed off the Mayans."
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Spam

+ - Nigerian Scam Artists Taken for $33,000->

Submitted by smitty777
smitty777 writes "An Australian woman who was being used by a group of Nigerian scam artists stole over $33,000 from the group who employed her. Her bank account was being used to funnel the cash from a dodgy internet car sales website. Irony aside, it makes one wonder how these folks ever got the nerve to go to the police with this matter. Those of you wondering, this article offers some answers to the question of why so many of these scams originate from this area."
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Comment: Re:explanation incorrect? (diploe + 1/r vs 1/r^2) (Score 1) 159

by BuzzSkyline (#38972859) Attached to: Water Droplets In Orbit On the International Space Station
I believe you're thinking specifically of closed orbits (if my hazy recollection of Newtonian dynamics is correct). Any attractive potential can lead to orbits, but most types of potentials produce orbits that do not necessarily close on themselves. Orbits in the gravitational potential around spheres and points lead to elliptical orbits that close on themselves (instead of precessing around like a spirograph sketch).
ISS

+ - Water droplets in orbit on the International Space Station->

Submitted by
BuzzSkyline
BuzzSkyline writes "Astronaut Don Pettit, who is aboard the International Space Station (ISS) right now, put charged water droplets into wild orbits around a knitting needle in the microgravity environment of the ISS. A video he made of the droplets is the first in a serious of freefall physics experiments that he will be posting in coming months."
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Science

+ - Fine structure constant may not be so constant->

Submitted by
BuzzSkyline
BuzzSkyline writes "Physics Buzz is reporting, "Just weeks after speeding neutrinos seem to have broken the speed of light, another universal law, the fine structure constant might be about to crumble." Astronomical observations seem to indicate that the constant, which controls the strength of electromagnetic interactions, is different in distant parts of the universe. Among other things, the paper may explain why the laws of physics in our corner of the universe seem to be finely tuned to support life. The research is so controversial that it took over a year to go from submission to publication in Physical Review Letters, rather than the weeks typical of most other papers appearing in the peer-reviewed journal."
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