Comment: Re:He's right and wrong...here's why (Score 1) 807
Because with robots making the food, the cost of the food will be marginal compared to the high value of the entertainment. (At least that is the premise.)
Comment: Re:Time we start thinking about propulsion and tra (Score 1) 81
It does however, require the exotic matter known as negative energy in its usage.
Comment: Re:Time we start thinking about propulsion and tra (Score 2) 81
It was thought it would require the mass of Jupiter, but that was changed due to a redesign. The new design requires as much energy as 70% of the US annual energy usage. High, but not astronomical anymore.
Comment: Re:Risk vs. Reward? (Score 1) 249
How would such a business plan make money?
Comment: Re:"Needs"? (Score 2) 586
Actually, if the EU subsidizes farmers to destroy crops, this is one of the causes of the higher food production. That is the purpose of a subsidy. In this case, if they grow too much, they are paid by the gov't. Thie higher food production is a result of the burning of the subsidized crops, not the other way around.
Comment: Re:I know /. editors love CERN (Score 5, Informative) 129
For the electroweeak force yes, but not in the QCD Lagrangian. B+ meson CP violation is the new part.
Comment: Re:My theory (Score 1) 1010
I blame the Xbox for this. Before it existed, developers made games for the PC and anticipated increasingly powerful hardware specs. They made the games for next year's hardware. Now, games are developed for the current level of Xbox since the hardware upgrades so slowly, and then the game is ported to the pC. The lack of hardware increase anticipation has led to games not requiring increasingly powerful hardware, and so there is little need for gamers to upgrade their pcs if future games aren't requiring it.
Comment: Re:Pints (Score 1) 1387
Most liquor in the US is sold in metric units. Some countries define a pint of beer in metric terms, such as 568.26 ml, or just 600 ml are used for 'a pint of beer'.
Comment: Re:CBC's AIH has warm, smart women interviewers (Score 1) 444
I liked the CBC's Lang and O'Leary. A financial daily show that often explained the finances around the world. I haven't found something comparable that talks about finances as globally on US TV. I get sick of the Washington focused news channels in the US.
+ - Drugs Aim to Make Several Types of Cancer Self-Destruct->
Submitted
by
SternisheFan
SternisheFan writes "Gina Kolata of The New York Times writes:
For the first time ever, three pharmaceutical companies are poised to test whether new drugs can work against a wide range of cancers independently of where they originated — breast, prostate, liver, lung. The drugs go after an aberration involving a cancer gene fundamental to tumor growth. Many scientists see this as the beginning of a new genetic age in cancer research.
Great uncertainties remain, but such drugs could mean new treatments for rare, neglected cancers, as well as common ones. Merck, Roche and Sanofi are racing to develop their own versions of a drug they hope will restore a mechanism that normally makes badly damaged cells self-destruct and could potentially be used against half of all cancers.
No pharmaceutical company has ever conducted a major clinical trial of a drug in patients who have many different kinds of cancer, researchers and federal regulators say. “This is a taste of the future in cancer drug development,” said Dr. Otis Webb Brawley, the chief medical and scientific officer of the American Cancer Society. “I expect the organ from which the cancer came from will be less important in the future and the molecular target more important,” he added."
Link to Original Source
For the first time ever, three pharmaceutical companies are poised to test whether new drugs can work against a wide range of cancers independently of where they originated — breast, prostate, liver, lung. The drugs go after an aberration involving a cancer gene fundamental to tumor growth. Many scientists see this as the beginning of a new genetic age in cancer research.
Great uncertainties remain, but such drugs could mean new treatments for rare, neglected cancers, as well as common ones. Merck, Roche and Sanofi are racing to develop their own versions of a drug they hope will restore a mechanism that normally makes badly damaged cells self-destruct and could potentially be used against half of all cancers.
No pharmaceutical company has ever conducted a major clinical trial of a drug in patients who have many different kinds of cancer, researchers and federal regulators say. “This is a taste of the future in cancer drug development,” said Dr. Otis Webb Brawley, the chief medical and scientific officer of the American Cancer Society. “I expect the organ from which the cancer came from will be less important in the future and the molecular target more important,” he added."
Link to Original Source
+ - ask slashdot: Do You Test Your New Hard Drives?
Submitted
by
Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Any /. thread about drive failure is loaded with good advice about EOL, but what about the beginning? Do you normally test your new purchases as thoroughly as you test old, suspect drives? Has your testing followed the proverbial "bathtub" curve of a lot of early failures, but with those that survive the first month, surviving for years? And have you had any Return problems with new failed drives, because you re-partitioned it, or "ran Linux", or used stress-test apps?"
+ - New Form of Quantum Computation Promises Showdown With Ordinary Computers->
Submitted
by
sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes "You've heard the hype a hundred times: Physicists hope to someday build a whiz-bang quantum computer that can solve problems that would overwhelm an ordinary computer. Now, four separate teams have taken a step toward achieving such "quantum speed-up" by demonstrating a simpler, more limited form of quantum computing that, if it can be improved, might soon give classical computers a run for their money."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - I don't Read Code Anymore - Linus Torvalds
Submitted
by
Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "There is a excellent interview over at the H with Linus Torvalds. Glyn Moody's second interview with Linus since 1998 is both informative and revealing. Linus response to his role as the kernel maintainer has this interesting tidbit: "Well, the big thing is I don't read code any more... when it comes to the major subsystem maintainers, I trust them because I've been working with them for 5, 10, 15 years, so I don't even look at the code." The interview goes on to talk about Amazon, Google, phones tablets and the cloud. Further on the topic of coding, the interview ends with Linus stating: "When I was twenty I liked doing device drivers. If I never have to do a single device driver in my life again, I will be happy. Some kind of headaches I can do without." Like all of us, Linus is getting older and taking a less hands on approach to the development of the kernel. Of course this is understandable. Even the great Git himself is a slave to the passage of time, but thankfully for us, his creation is not."
+ - THQ Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy->
Submitted
by
seepho
seepho writes "Just weeks after releasing their Humble Bundle, THQ has filed for bankruptcy. According to the company's press release, there are currently no plans to close any studios or disband any development teams. Clearlake Capital Group has placed a $60M bid for THQ's assets and hopes to complete the acquisition in 30 days, assuming no further bids are placed."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - Coral Reefs Could Be Decimated by 2100->
Submitted
by
sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes "Nearly every coral reef could be dying by 2100 if current carbon dioxide emission trends continue, according to a new review of major climate models from around the world. The only way to maintain the current chemical environment in which reefs now live, the study suggests, would be to deeply cut emissions as soon as possible. It may even become necessary to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, say with massive tree-planting efforts or machines."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source