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Scientists Find Tears Are the Anti-Viagra 207

Posted by samzenpus from the blood-hound-gang-is-wrong dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The male test subjects didn't know what they were smelling, they were just given little vials of clear liquid and told to sniff. But when those vials contained a woman's tears (collected while she watched a sad movie), the men rated pictures of women's faces as less sexually attractive, and their saliva contained less testosterone. Is this proof that humans make and respond to pheromones? The researcher behind the study doesn't use that controversial word, but he says his findings do prove that tears contain meaningful chemical messages."

Comment Re:Coffee (Score 2, Interesting) 223

by flows (#34022334) Attached to: You Have Taste Receptors In Your Lungs

Any chance this is why the coffee for asthma remedy is supposedly effective? Perhaps inhaling the vapors for a bitter fluid are doing just what they described here?

My thoughts exactly! As an asthmatic, I have found myself often alleviated by coffee. My assumption was that either the warmth or maybe even the caffeine was responsible.

Can it be why just the smell of coffee makes me feel better?

I'm surely paying more attention in the future. *Goes get more coffee*
Medicine

Glaxo Open Sources Malaria Drug Search Data 80

Posted by samzenpus from the free-as-a-mosquito dept.
smellsofbikes writes "GlaxoSmithKline, the world's second-largest pharmaceutical company, is putting thousands of possible malaria-treating drugs into the public domain in a move that the Wall Street Journal calls a 'Linux approach' to pharmaceutical screening. Andrew Witty, who is described as the boss of GSK, says the company thinks it is 'imperative to earn the trust of society, not just by meeting expectations but by exceeding them.' Of course, synthesis or discovery of new chemicals is cheap compared to efficacy and qualification studies, but this is a refreshing change from not handing out any information until after everything is patented."

Comment Re:Where it matters most. (Score 1) 521

by flows (#30672430) Attached to: Framerates Matter
Killerinstinct's FAQ was the first big file (over 60k iirc ) i ever got from the internet, November 1995, and yes, i know what you're thinking, that was BEFORE searching for porn. Really. It was.
Games

EVE Online Battle Breaks Records (And Servers) 308

Posted by Soulskill from the blame-it-on-the-torrents dept.
captainktainer writes "In one of the largest tests of EVE Online's new player sovereignty system in the Dominion expansion pack, a fleet of ships attempting to retake a lost star system was effectively annihilated amidst controversy. Defenders IT Alliance, a coalition succeeding the infamous Band of Brothers alliance (whose disbanding was covered in a previous story), effectively annihilated the enemy fleet, destroying thousands of dollars' worth of in-game assets. A representative of the alliance claimed to have destroyed a minimum of four, possibly five or more of the game's most expensive and powerful ship class, known as Titans. Both official and unofficial forums are filled with debate about whether the one-sided battle was due to difference in player skill or the well-known network failures after the release of the expansion. One of the attackers, a member of the GoonSwarm alliance, claims that because of bad coding, 'Only 5% of [the attackers] loaded,' meaning that lag prevented the attackers from using their ships, even as the defenders were able to destroy those ships unopposed. Even members of the victorious IT Alliance expressed disappointment at the outcome of the battle. CCP, EVE Online's publisher, has recently acknowledged poor network performance, especially in the advertised 'large fleet battles' that Dominion was supposed to encourage, and has asked players to help them stress test their code on Tuesday. Despite the admitted network failure, leaders of the attacking force do not expect CCP to replace lost ships, claiming that it was their own fault for not accounting for server failures. The incident raises questions about CCP's ability to cope with the increased network use associated with their rapid growth in subscriptions."
Emulation (Games)

Nintendo Upset Over Nokia Game Emulation Video 189

Posted by Soulskill from the super-mario-takedown dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Nintendo is investigating potential copyright infringement by Nokia during some video demos of their N900 phone, which can be seen emulating Nintendo games. Nintendo spokesman Robert Saunders says: 'We take rigorous steps to protect our IP and our legal team will examine this to determine if any infringement has taken place.' In the video, Nokia says, 'Most publishers allow individual title usage, provided that the user is in possession of the original title.'"
Image

Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331

Posted by samzenpus from the snack-is-going-to-be-on-the-floor-today dept.
Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."
PC Games (Games)

Understanding Addiction-Based Game Design 308

Posted by Soulskill from the i-can-quit-any-time-i-want-to-i-just-don't-want-to dept.
spidweb writes "The common theory is that games like World of Warcraft are addictive. But what are the exact qualities that make it so? Are there specific elements of the design that can be pulled out, distilled, and used at will to give a game drug-like properties? Is it wrong to do so? A new article at IGN RPG Vault attempts to isolates the exact qualities that go into making an addiction-based design. From the article: 'If a game uses rewards of any sort to entice you to experience highly repetitive content, you should see what it's trying to do and which of your buttons it's trying to press. If you don't mind, that's cool, but you should understand it.'"

Comment Re:Maybe (Score 1) 50

by flows (#28040857) Attached to: Sony Pondering Downloadable Game Rental Service For the PSP

Odd, my PSP suspends whenever & where ever I want it to.

I've had my PSP reset on power up more than a couple times, specially first couple months i had it. Maybe it was the game/UMD fault. I remember Pirates Gold as the worst example, Tony Hawk's close second. Or could it be just firmware, and it got better. Or maybe the unofficial battery? I bought one of those "double capacity" batteries after ruining my official one converting it to Pandora (by clipping a leg off a chip).

Comment Re:Maybe (Score 3, Insightful) 50

by flows (#28037595) Attached to: Sony Pondering Downloadable Game Rental Service For the PSP
I've had my PSP for 2 years now, daily companion of a 15/25 minute bus ride to work. I can recall a couple games that made me walk into my office still playing, none had me dedicate that time for fear of losing a save game or having to replay some area. Suspend works every time unless you turn the device off while it's writing to the memory stick. I can pick it up on the way back home, right where I was.


On topic, I rather have 1 good game at a time and play it to exhaustion (any good game, from Puzzle Quest to God of War) than having to play a bunch of them just so I feel like I'm leeching my monthly rental fee.
PlayStation (Games)

Tekken 6, Soul Calibur Coming To the PSP 32

Posted by Soulskill from the it's-all-in-the-hands dept.
Two recent announcements lend support Sony's promise to bring a stronger game lineup to its PSP console this year. Tekken 6, which was already known to be in development for the 360 and PS3, has now been confirmed for the PSP as well. "... the portable version of the game is set to release alongside the other console iterations and will pack additional stages, content, items, and an ad-hoc multiplayer mode using 'original' and 'fan favorite characters.'" We've also found out that Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny is being specifically designed for the PSP, and will include "arcade, versus, and survival modes, as well as a character creation mode." In addition, 1Up reports on the latest rumors surrounding a redesigned PSP (possibly called the "Go!"), which they say will be unveiled later this year at E3.

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Thus spake the master programmer: "When a program is being tested, it is too late to make design changes." -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"

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