Comment Re:tree grafting is common practice (Score 1) 80
Grafting of fruit flies less so.
Submission + - Could you hack into Mars rover Curiosity? (extremetech.com)
MrSeb writes: "NASA’s Curiosity rover has now been on the surface of Mars for just over a week. It hasn’t moved an inch after landing, instead focusing on orienting itself (and NASA’s scientists) by taking instrument readings and snapping images of its surroundings. The first beautiful full-color images of Gale Crater are starting to trickle in, and NASA has already picked out some interesting rock formations that it will investigate further in the next few days (pictures below). Over the weekend and continuing throughout today, however, Curiosity is attempting something very risky indeed: A firmware upgrade. This got me thinking: If NASA can transmit new software to a Mars rover that's hundreds of millions of miles away... why can't a hacker do the same thing? In short, there's no reason a hacker couldn't take control of Curiosity, or lock NASA out. All you would need is your own massive 230-foot dish antenna and a 400-kilowatt transmitter — or, perhaps more realistically, you could hack into NASA's computer systems, which is exactly what Chinese hackers did 13 times in 2011."
Submission + - Creating a school computer lab with Ubuntu for $0 (ifixit.org) 1
An anonymous reader writes: Here is an interesting story of a school in Oakland that used old computers running Ubuntu and OpenOffice.org to provide a school computer lab for students.
Comment 2 means of reproduction; 2 genomes (Score 1) 80
No big surprise that an organism that reproduces by seed as well as by rhizome cloning has evolved two distinct ways of coding these strategies. I would not be surprised if many plants that reproduce underground like this have tailored their genes to do so.
Comment Re:Cost vs HDD Solution (Score 1) 268
While raw cost is a factor, institutional inertia is also likely responsible for the longevity of tape-based backup schemes in many corporations where it might otherwise be replaced. Once systems, processes and people are in place to do the work this way, any change has costs and risks associated with it in all three areas, not just the systems.
The prospect of introducing new workflows and retraining staff is daunting to middle management in many institutions, so technology lives on beyond its cost-effective lifespan.
Comment The Veldt (Score 1) 1365
Ray Bradbury's story from The Illustrated Man about kids reprogramming their holodeck-style home entertainment centre. Very grim: Still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Comment Re:Ian M. Banks (Score 1) 1365
Use of Weapons is particularly twisted and bleak in its view of human nature. As you say, though: really good read.
