22683066
submission
tcd004 writes
"An asteroid is caught in a synchronized orbit with the Earth, dancing back and forth relative to our planet as both circle the sun, a team of Canadian scientists has discovered. The object, which for now is dubbed 2010 TK7, is a "Trojan" asteroid, meaning that it is trapped in a delicate gravitational balance between a tug from the sun and an equal tug from the Earth. It's long been known that Jupiter, Neptune and Mars have Trojans orbiting alongside them, but this is the first time one has been found alongside our planet."Link to Original Source
22656300
submission
tcd004 writes
"Russian and French teams are currently hard at work in French Guiana on the northern coast of South America, building the first Soyuz launch facility in the Western Hemisphere. Soyuz rockets normally carry 3,500 pound payloads into orbit, but from the French Guiana spaceport, the rocket will have an added benefit of being near the equator where the Earth's spin extremely fast. This extra boost allows it to deliver a 6,600 pound payload into orbit. The first launches are scheduled for October."Link to Original Source
20820568
submission
tcd004 writes
"A report released today by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism shows that the Drudge Report is a far more important driver of online news traffic than Facebook or Twitter. In fact, for the top 25 news websites, Twitter barely registers as a source of traffic. The report hits on several other interesting findings about news behavior."Link to Original Source
18447974
submission
tcd004 writes
"The teen years are a critical "pruning" stage in the brain. Neural pathways that are needed are strengthened, and those that aren't are discarded. How is a twitter/facebook/texting/xbox lifestyle remaking the teen brain? DR. JAY GIEDD, a neuroscientist, National Institute of Mental Health is studying the affects of multitasking and constant communication on teens, and he thinks these influences may actually be building a better brain."Link to Original Source
18267186
submission
tcd004 writes
"If you added the Youtube Facebook app prior to 2009, you're given YouTube free access to nearly all the data in your profile (as well as many of your friends). But if you install the same app today, it gets very limited access. Older versions of Facebook apps, it turns out, still have "grandfathered" access to data that the social networking service has restricted for new apps. If you're protective of your privacy, it might be a good idea to delete and reinstall any older apps in your profile."Link to Original Source
18023310
submission
tcd004 writes
"Documents obtained by the PBS NewsHour reveal a concerted effort to filter and verify U.S. and international government email accounts from the Gawker database leak. The group involved implores participants to keep the operation secret, because leaking their efforts "will only jeopordize the serious lulz fest about to hit the internet in the coming months." Agencies who have been breached allegedly include NASA, the U.S. Senate, the South African Judiciary, and others."Link to Original Source
17134986
submission
tcd004 writes
"The PBS NewsHour reports: there is water on the moon ... along with a long list of other compounds, including, mercury, gold and silver. That's according to a more detailed analysis of the cold lunar soil near the moon's South Pole. The results were released as six papers by a large team of scientists in the journal, Science Thursday. The data comes from the October 2009 mission, when NASA slammed a booster rocket traveling nearly 6,000 miles per hour into the moon and blasted out a hole. Trailing close behind it was a second spacecraft, rigged with a spectrometer to study the lunar plume released by the blast. The mission is called LCROSS, for Lunar Crater Observer and Sensing Satellite."Link to Original Source
16660992
submission
tcd004 writes
"Dozens of letters written by Nobel prize winner Frances Crick have just been released. The letters, which even Crick thought had been destoryed, reveal the intense, and sometimes playful competition among researchers to decode DNA in the 1960's. At one point, Watson and Crick were pulled off of DNA research because they incorporated works from a competing team at Kings College. Crick's letter to his rival (and friend) Maurice Wilkins read "Cheer up and take it from us that even if we kicked you in the pants it was between friends," he wrote. "We hope our burglary will at least produce a united front in your group!""Link to Original Source
16449438
submission
tcd004 writes
"The FDA is currently considering approval of the first mass-market, genetically modified animal, a super salmon. The engineered fish grows to full size in half the time, making it cheaper to raise and lessening it's environmental impact. But critics argue that the testing that has been done on the fish so far amounts to junk science, and there are unknown consequences if the fish escapes into the wild. Would you eat a hormone-enhanced fish?"Link to Original Source
