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Space

SETI Shuts Down Allen Array->

Submitted by Crash24
Crash24 writes "Due to budget cuts, the Allen Radiotelescope Array is ceasing operaions in Hat Creek, CA. In a letter sent to donors by SETI's CEO Tom Pierson, he explains "Effective this week, the ATA has been placed into hibernation due to funding shortfalls for operations of the Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO) where the ATA is located."
All hope is not lost, however; SETI is currently exploring lending the array to Air Force Space Command to help track orbital space debris."
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Hexayurt Country: helping Haiti with Open Hardware->

Submitted by vkg
vkg writes "The earthquake in Haiti has left a million people homeless. Hexayurt Country is a well-reviewed plan to use open hardware to provide water, sanitation and storm-resistant shelter in Haiti, transferring essential know-how during the process of reconstruction. It would cost about $60 per head to rebuild the basics for Haiti this way."
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Security

Firefox exploit targets IRC-> 1

Submitted by bl8n8r
bl8n8r writes "Theoretical postulations lead to a real time exploit of the popular Firefox web browser as unwitting users click up havoc for IRC channels on Freenode. "It's the first time I've actually seen it used in the wild," states acclaimed Web security expert Robert "RSnake" Hansen. The bug apparently causes trouble when users click malicious links. Freenode has more here, (which is *not* a malicious link. No, really it's not. Click, click.. c'mon, you know you want to): http://blog.freenode.net/2010/01/javascript-spam"
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Technology

Using infrared cameras to find tastiness of beef->

Submitted by JoshuaInNippon
JoshuaInNippon writes "Might we one day be able to use our cell phone cameras to pick out the best piece of meat on display at the market? Some Japanese seem to hope so. A team of scientists are using infrared camera technology to try and determine the tastiest slices of high-grade Japanese beef. The researchers believe that the levels of Oleic acid found within the beef strongly affect the beef's tenderness, smell, and overall taste. The camera's infrared rays can be tuned to pick out the Oleic acid levels through a whole slab, a process that would be impossible to do with the human eye. While the accuracy is still relatively low, a test tasting this month resulted in only 60% of participants preferring beef that was believed to have had a higher level of Oleic acid, the researchers hope to fine tune the process for market testing by next year."
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The Military

China to dampen US exports from military arms->

Submitted by keliew
keliew writes "With the recent improved ties between China and Taiwan, China is continuously doing more to ensure governance over their own turf. Taiwan being one of the biggest importer of US armaments has triggered China's nerves in the recent USD 6.4 billion deal. How much more will US do to step on China's toes for their own good? First blaming China's economic contribution to the crisis, human rights, environmental issues, Haiti efforts, Google's situation, and now military arms? What's next?"
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Looking for Chemistry Tasks for the Computer Lab

Submitted by soupman55
soupman55 writes "I teach Chemistry to students completing their last two years of high school. Basically it's a "teach and test" course with a few experiments thrown in. I want to jazz up the course using computer and internet resources. For instance, I could set some tasks that require Excel spreadsheet calculations. Or I could set some web quests where students search for information online.

One of the decisions to be made is: Do I use computer/internet tasks to help the students grasp the material that is already in the course, or do I help them become aware of ideas that are extensions to their course?

Also when I compare Chemistry classes with Accounting classes, it strikes me that unlike Accounting where learning to use software like Quick Books is an integral part of the course, that there is no particular software that a chemistry student must learn to use. Or is there?

So the basic question is: What in terms of chemistry and computers worked for you? Or what is there computer-wise that wasn't in your high school chemistry course but should have been?"
Biotech

Scientists Discover How Rotifers Survive Asexually 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes "Asexual organisms are extremely rare but bdelloid rotifers reproduce asexually and seem to have speciated as extensively as sexually reproducing organisms. Now, NPR reports that researchers say they can explain how the tiny freshwater invertebrates have been able to reproduce without sex for over 100 million years. Bdelloids dwell in the most ephemeral of freshwater habitats. Not just in small puddles, but in the transient layer of moisture sometimes found on moss or lichens—even on mushrooms where dessication is a routine occurrence providing the key to how bdelloids evade the constraints of the Red Queen Hypothesis — the theory that asexual lineages are quickly ended by coevolving parasites and pathogens. The researchers raised populations of the rotifers in a lab, and observed that the asexual invertebrates could rid themselves of a deadly fungal parasite by drying themselves up completely and blowing away with the wind to new territory. By doing so, the rotifers became so desiccated that their parasites could not survive the punishing conditions. The bdelloids were then able to ride the breeze and start afresh in new, presumably parasite-free pastures proving that there can be advantages to reproducing without sex: "You don't have to find a mate," says Johns Logsdon, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Iowa. "If you find a mate you don't have to worry about things like venereal disease, you don't have to worry about getting attacked in the process of a sex act.""
PHP

Facebook rewrites PHP runtime->

Submitted by VonGuard
VonGuard writes "Facebook has gotten fed up with the speed of PHP. The company has been working on a skunkworks project to rewrite the PHP runtime, and on Tuesday of this week, they will be announcing the availability of their new PHP runtime as an open source project. The rumor around this began last week when the Facebook team invited some of the core PHP contributors to their campus to discuss some new open source project. I've written up everything I know about this story on the SD Times Blog."
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Science

Wearable rubber films could power electronics->

Submitted by quaith
quaith writes "Princeton researchers have published a paper that describes power-generating rubber films that could harvest the energy of walking, running and breathing to power mobile electrical devices. The material is composed of nanoribbons of lead zirconate titanate (PZT), a ceramic material that is piezoelectric. These are then embedded into silicone rubber sheets. The resulting material is highly efficient at converting mechanical energy provided by flexing into electrical energy. The researchers suggest it could be used in shoes, or placed against the lungs. I'd certainly buy a t-shirt that could power my laptop."
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Harrisberger's Fourth Law of the Lab: Experience is directly proportional to the amount of equipment ruined.