Comment Hactivists == cybercriminals (Score 4, Insightful) 150
Anyone stealing personal data is a "cybercriminal". Sounds like they are playing with words.
Comment Re:There's Your Problem Right There (Score 1) 1108
No, it's not. Gravity is readily observable. It's a little different, although admittedly still surprising.
Evolution has also been observed in quite a few cases. Here is one example of a strain of e coli evolving a new functional trait in a lab. Also, antibiotic resistance of diseases are as a result of evolutionary pressures.
Locusts primarily walk only with the two anterior pairs of legs, and hop with the posterior pair.
Nope. Have you ever seen one walk? They step with the front four, and push with the back two. The gait is different, but they definitely use all 6 to walk.
Comment Re:There's Your Problem Right There (Score 4, Insightful) 1108
Its amazing that she could get a degree in biology without "believing" in evolution. It's a bit like a physicist that doesn't believe in gravity.
Next biology topic: Locusts only have four legs!
Submission + - Yahoo Sues Facebook Over 10 Patents
An anonymous reader writes: As expected, Yahoo today filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Facebook. The online giant is claiming the social networking giant infringes on 10 of its patents. Yahoo is hoping to secure some portion of Facebook’s revenues moving forward.
"Yahoo! has invested substantial resources in research and development through the years, which has resulted in numerous patented inventions of technology that other companies have licensed," a Yahoo spokesperson told AllThingsD. "These technologies are the foundation of our business that engages over 700 million monthly unique visitors and represent the spirit of innovation upon which Yahoo! is built. Unfortunately, the matter with Facebook remains unresolved and we are compelled to seek redress in federal court. We are confident that we will prevail."
"Yahoo! has invested substantial resources in research and development through the years, which has resulted in numerous patented inventions of technology that other companies have licensed," a Yahoo spokesperson told AllThingsD. "These technologies are the foundation of our business that engages over 700 million monthly unique visitors and represent the spirit of innovation upon which Yahoo! is built. Unfortunately, the matter with Facebook remains unresolved and we are compelled to seek redress in federal court. We are confident that we will prevail."
Submission + - Daily Serving of Red Meat Raises Risk of Early Death
smoothjazz writes: Eating a serving of red meat a day significantly increases the risk of premature death from diabetes, heart disease or cancer, according a new comprehensive study published on Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The longitudinal study, with a follow-up of up to 28 years, consisted of 121,342 American men and women, and found that each additional serving of red meat, both processed and unprocessed, was associated increased risk of all-cause premature death, with a higher risk linked to processed meats, according to Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and his research team.
The longitudinal study, with a follow-up of up to 28 years, consisted of 121,342 American men and women, and found that each additional serving of red meat, both processed and unprocessed, was associated increased risk of all-cause premature death, with a higher risk linked to processed meats, according to Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and his research team.
Submission + - Cyborg snails make their own electricity
ananyo writes: Researchers have implanted tiny biofuel cells that extract electrical power from the glucose and oxygen in the snail’s blood (http://www.nature.com/news/cyborg-snails-power-up-1.10210). Munching mainly on carrots, the cyborg snails live for around half a year and generate electricity whenever their implanted electrodes are hooked up to an external circuit (abstract http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja211714w).
Researchers have created battery-powered microcircuits with sensors and radio antennae before and implanted them into various bugs and creepy-crawlies so that the creatures could gather information about their surroundings for environmental monitoring or military purposes. But batteries are probably too bulky and short-lived to power prolonged missions, which is where the idea of tapping into the creatures’ own metabolism comes in. In the snails, biofuel cells provide a steady dribble of power for months (albeit they would not get far even in that time!). Other teams are working with cockroaches and trying to store up the electricity in capacitors to release it in bursts. Meanwhile, the researchers aim to move on to animals larger than snails, as their metabolism will provide more power. Next up: cyborg lobsters.
Researchers have created battery-powered microcircuits with sensors and radio antennae before and implanted them into various bugs and creepy-crawlies so that the creatures could gather information about their surroundings for environmental monitoring or military purposes. But batteries are probably too bulky and short-lived to power prolonged missions, which is where the idea of tapping into the creatures’ own metabolism comes in. In the snails, biofuel cells provide a steady dribble of power for months (albeit they would not get far even in that time!). Other teams are working with cockroaches and trying to store up the electricity in capacitors to release it in bursts. Meanwhile, the researchers aim to move on to animals larger than snails, as their metabolism will provide more power. Next up: cyborg lobsters.
Submission + - New dinosaur species help scientists fill in evolutionary gaps (montrealgazette.com)
Meshach writes: A team in Canada has discovered several new species of dinosaurs that may help fill in evolutionary gaps. The new species linked large and small boned dinosaurs and may help fill evolutionary gaps.
Comment Piracy != Privacy (Score 1) 404
Anyone else read this as "Windows 8 To Fight Privacy With the Cloud". I need more coffee!
Submission + - HTC Sues Apple Over Patent Infringement (reuters.com) 1
nevermore94 writes: Smartphone maker HTC Corp sued Apple Inc, seeking to halt U.S. imports and sales of Macintosh computers, iPads, iPods, iPhones and other devices because of alleged patent infringements.
The latter alleged infringements of three patents obtained in 2008 and 2010, and which relate to Wi-Fi capability and other functions. It seeks compensatory damages as well as triple damages for willful infringement.
The latter alleged infringements of three patents obtained in 2008 and 2010, and which relate to Wi-Fi capability and other functions. It seeks compensatory damages as well as triple damages for willful infringement.
Submission + - Sensing Opportunity, Sony Cuts Price of PS3 (ibtimes.com)
gabbo529 writes: "Sony has announced a price cut to its PS3 gaming console, lobbing off 50 bucks to go from $299 to $249.
The 17 percent price cut is the first time Sony has dropped the price of its main console since 2009. At $249, the 160 GB version of the PS3 (the 320 GB version's price will go from $299 from $349) is now $351 less than its original asking price of $600. The price cut may be an example of Sony sensing an opportunity in the gaming industry. For the first time since this generation of consoles was released, Nintendo's Wii didn't dominate sales. Sony and Microsoft are now vying to be the new number one."
The 17 percent price cut is the first time Sony has dropped the price of its main console since 2009. At $249, the 160 GB version of the PS3 (the 320 GB version's price will go from $299 from $349) is now $351 less than its original asking price of $600. The price cut may be an example of Sony sensing an opportunity in the gaming industry. For the first time since this generation of consoles was released, Nintendo's Wii didn't dominate sales. Sony and Microsoft are now vying to be the new number one."
Submission + - MIT Media Lab builds Social X-Ray Glasses (wordpress.com)
An anonymous reader writes: MIT Media Lab has built glasses that let the user pick up on subtle social cues that are normally ignored.
Submission + - Reaching for broader firepower against viruses (fiercebiotechresearch.com)
hlovy writes: The good guys are beginning to build up their arsenal in the escalating arms race between humans and viruses. A couple of recently announced breakthroughs give some hope that we can gain the upper hand against drug-resistant viruses through medication that can take aim at a wider range of bad guys. MIT reports that researchers at its Lincoln Laboratory have designed a kind of smart bomb--a drug that can identify any type of virus, then kill the infected cells to get rid of the infection. And a Boston researcher working for Howard Hughes Medical Institute has discovered an antibody that can recognize many different strains of flu, raising hope for flu shots that do not need to be updated every single year.
Submission + - Outsourced and fired, IT workers fight back (computerworld.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Workers at Molina Healthcare fight back once the entire department is laid off in favor or H1-B Visa employees.
Submission + - Scrabble badasses have unusual brain ability (scienceblog.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Being a competitive Scrabble player apparently warps your brain, in a good way, according to researchers at the University of Calgary in Canada. At the high level of the game, players quickly judge whether words, or possible words are real based in large part on their visual stimuli — not an inherent knowledge of the word or its meaning. "These findings indicate that Scrabble players are less reliant on the meaning of words to judge whether or not they are real, and more flexible at word recognition using orthographic information. ... Competitive Scrabble players are visual word recognition experts and their skill pushes the bounds of what we previously considered the end-point of development of the word recognition system.”
Submission + - Twitter-Based Hedge Fund is Making Money (ibtimes.com)
thebchuckster writes: Derwent Capital apparently finished its first month of trading in the fund at the end of July, beating the S&P 500, which fell 2.2 percent in July.
Basing the strategy on research published by the University of Manchester and Indiana University in October, the fund operates on the premise that the number of emotional words used on Twitter can be used to predict daily movement in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Basing the strategy on research published by the University of Manchester and Indiana University in October, the fund operates on the premise that the number of emotional words used on Twitter can be used to predict daily movement in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
