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Submission + - The DoD Wants All Its Robots To Collaborate on the (popsci.com) 1

Submitted by epdp14
epdp14 writes: If the idea of being hunted by an unmanned aerial drone is unnerving the thought of multiple robots planning a coordinated attack is downright frightening. Unfortunately for those who have to worry about such things, the DoD is working on software tools that allow robots in the sky and on the ground to do exactly that.

The Collaborative Unmanned Systems Technology Demonstrator (CUSTD) system is explained something like this: Aerial drones can pick out subjects from the air, but depending on a particular drone’s sensor array (for weight reasons, different drones carry different sensors) it may not be able to follow a target indoors or through a crowded urban area. So it calls in a few friends.
Moon

Microwave Map of Entire Moon Revealed 82

Posted by samzenpus from the quickest-route-mode dept.
Zothecula writes "The first complete microwave image of the Moon taken by Chinese lunar satellite Chang'E-1 has been revealed. Chang'E-1 is China's first scientific mission to explore planetary bodies beyond Earth and the on-board Lunar Microwave Radiometer has made it possible for the first time to globally map the Moon in microwave frequencies. Radar observations of the Moon are unable to provide thermal information, and microwave observations taken from Earth cannot reach the far side of the moon. So Chang'E-1's (CE-1) orbit was conducted at an altitude of 200km (124 miles) and allowed it to observe every location of the moon with a nadir view and at high spatial resolution."
Earth

Submission + - Self Assembling Photovoltaic Cells (mit.edu)

Submitted by dhj
dhj writes: MIT scientists have developed a self-assembling photovoltaic cell in a petri dish. Phospholipids (think cell membranes) form disks which act as the structural support for light responsive molecules. Carbon nanotubes help to align the disks and conduct electricity generated by the system with 40% efficiency. The assembly process is reversible using surfactants to break up the phospholipids. When filters are used to remove the surfactants the system reassembles with no loss of efficiency even over multiple assembly/disassembly cycles. The results were published September 5th in Nature Chemistry.
Science

Morphing Metals 121

Posted by samzenpus from the forge-ahead dept.
aarondubrow writes "Imagine a metal that 'remembers' its original, cold-forged shape, and can return to that shape when exposed to heat or a magnetic pulse. Like magic out of a Harry Potter novel, such a metal could contract on command, or swing back and forth like a pendulum. Believe it or not, such metals already exist. First discovered in 1931, they belong to a class of materials called 'shape memory alloys (SMA),' whose unique atomic make-up allows them to return to their initial form, or alternate between forms through a phase change."

Comment Re:No Drivers for Windows (Score 1) 702

by dhj (#33587030) Attached to: Windows 7 vs. Ubuntu 10.04

If only that were true. Video: intel i915.modeset=1, ATI nomodeset (until questionable drivers are installed). Downloading and compiling drivers for wifi (the new one I bought cause there was no chance of it working with an old card I dug up). Even after the headache of getting everything up and running X has crashed a few times. With Windows it just works. As much as it pains me to say that, its true. I am thinking I should go back to Fedora (first jump from Fedora to Ubuntu -- was with RedHat since well before Fedora split off and 10.04 has been a nightmare). You guys who say Ubuntu is best for hardware compatibility must be purchasing only hardware pre-screened to work. If you have a legacy system or didn't spec out every purchase for linux compatibility then it's a real pain in the ass. I would rather have out of the box hardware support over look and feel, bundled packages or anything else.

Comment Good call... (Score 1) 870

by dhj (#33568794) Attached to: Preventing Networked Gizmo Use During Exams?

Good call not allowing an ipod in a physics class...

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/matlab-mobile/id370976661?mt=8

Get the 4 function calculators. You can test physics knowledge with a 4 function calculator. I would say a 3x4 index card (or a formula sheet) would also be acceptable. That way you could better test their ability to apply formulas rather than memorize them. If a student needs a translation dictionary then there are very reasonably priced self contained models available. Well worth the investment for any class that allows it.
Microsoft

Child Abuse Verdict Held Back By MS Word Glitch 191

Posted by samzenpus from the messy-verdict dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Last week several defendants including one high-profile TV presenter were sentenced in Portugal in what has been known as the Casa Pia scandal. The judges delivered on September 3 a summary of the 2000-page verdict, which would be disclosed in full only three days later. The disclosure of the full verdict has been postponed from September 8 to a yet-to-be-announced date, allegedly because the full document was written in several MS Word files which, when merged together, retained 'computer related annotations which should not be present in any legal document.' (Google translated article.) Microsoft specialists were called in to help the judges sort out the 'text formatting glitch,' while the defendants and their lawyers eagerly wait to access the full text of the verdict."
Google

Google Caffeine Drops MapReduce, Adds "Colossus" 65

Posted by samzenpus from the time-to-upgrade dept.
An anonymous reader writes "With its new Caffeine search indexing system, Google has moved away from its MapReduce distributed number crunching platform in favor of a setup that mirrors database programming. The index is stored in Google's BigTable distributed database, and Caffeine allows for incremental changes to the database itself. The system also uses an update to the Google File System codenamed 'Colossus.'"
Science

Submission + - Self-assembling Photovoltaic Tech from MIT (nextbigfuture.com)

Submitted by telomerewhythere
telomerewhythere writes: Michael Strano and his team at MIT have made a self-assembling and indefinitely repairable photovoltaic cell based on the principle found in chloroplasts in plant cells.
The system Strano's team produced is made up of seven different compounds, including the carbon nanotubes, the phospholipids, and the proteins that make up the reaction centers, which under the right conditions spontaneously assemble themselves into a light-harvesting structure that produces an electric current. Strano says he believes this sets a record for the complexity of a self-assembling system. When a surfactant is added to the mix, the seven components all come apart and form a soupy solution. Then, when the researchers removed the surfactant, the compounds spontaneously assembled once again into a perfectly formed, rejuvenated photocell.
Security

Submission + - Hackers Selling IDs Online for $14

Submitted by
narramissic
narramissic writes: "According to the Internet Security Threat Report (PDF download), released Monday by Symantec, identity thieves are offering a person's credit-card number, date of birth and other sensitive information on the cheap. 'U.S.-based credit cards with a card verification number were available for between $1 to $6, while an identity — including a U.S. bank account, credit card, date of birth and government-issued identification number — was available for between $14 to $18,' the report said."

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