Submission + - Kepler spacecraft finds 750 extrasolar planets
An anonymous reader writes: In the first 43 days of the Kepler mission, NASA found 750 candidates for extrasolar planets, of which data on 350 has been released today.
NASA Warns of Potential "Huge Space Storm" In 2013 464
Low Ranked Craig writes "Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes 'from a deep slumber' sometime around 2013. In a new warning, NASA said the super storm could hit like 'a bolt of lightning' and could cause catastrophic consequences for the world's health, emergency services, and national security — unless precautions are taken. Scientists believe damage could extend to everyday items such as home computers, iPods, and sat navs. 'We know it is coming but we don't know how bad it is going to be,' said Dr. Richard Fisher, the director of NASA's Heliophysics division. 'I believe we're on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather.' Fisher concludes. 'We take this very seriously indeed.'"
Submission + - Airplanes Unexpectedly Modify Weather (discovery.com)
reillymj writes: Commercial airliners have a strange ability to create rain and snow when they fly through certain clouds. Scientists have known for some time that planes can make outlandish "hole-punch" and "canal" features in clouds. A new study has found that these odd formations are in fact evidence that planes are seeding clouds and changing local weather patterns as they fly through. In one case, researchers noted that a plane triggered several inches of snowfall directly beneath its flight path.
Submission + - 'Peak Oil' Movement Prepares for the Worst (nytimes.com)
chrnb writes: Americans have long been fascinated by disaster scenarios, from the population explosion to the cold war to global warming. These days the doomers, as Mrs. Wilkerson jokingly calls herself and likeminded others, have a new focus: peak oil. They argue that oil supplies peaked as early as 2008 and will decline rapidly, taking the economy with them.
Located somewhere between the environmental movement and the bunkered survivalists, the peak oil crowd is small but growing, reaching from health food stores to Congress, where a Democrat and a Republican formed a Congressional Peak Oil Caucus.
And they have been resourceful, sharing the concerns of other âÅ"collapsitarians,âï½ including global debt and climate change ââ both caused by overuse of diminishing oil supplies, they maintain.
Located somewhere between the environmental movement and the bunkered survivalists, the peak oil crowd is small but growing, reaching from health food stores to Congress, where a Democrat and a Republican formed a Congressional Peak Oil Caucus.
And they have been resourceful, sharing the concerns of other âÅ"collapsitarians,âï½ including global debt and climate change ââ both caused by overuse of diminishing oil supplies, they maintain.
Submission + - Nasa warns of potential 'huge space storm' in 2013 (telegraph.co.uk)
Low Ranked Craig writes: Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes “from a deep slumber” sometime around 2013. In a new warning, Nasa said the super storm would hit like “a bolt of lightning” and could cause catastrophic consequences for the world’s health, emergency services and national security unless precautions are taken. Scientists believe it could damage everything from emergency services’ systems, hospital equipment, banking systems and air traffic control devices, through to “everyday” items such as home computers, iPods and Sat Navs. “We know it is coming but we don’t know how bad it is going to be,” said Dr Richard Fisher, the director of Nasa's Heliophysics division. "I believe we're on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather." Fisher concludes. "We take this very seriously indeed."
Submission + - Humans too simple to understand universe (edmontonsun.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: A top British scientist says we may never know all the secrets of the universe because, quite simply, we're just not smart enough.
"Just as Einstein's ideas would baffle a chimpanzee," said President of the Royal Society Lord Martin Rees, gaining a full understanding of how the universe works might not be possible "simply because they're beyond human brains."
"Just as Einstein's ideas would baffle a chimpanzee," said President of the Royal Society Lord Martin Rees, gaining a full understanding of how the universe works might not be possible "simply because they're beyond human brains."
Submission + - Mars may have been 1/3 ocean? (networkworld.com)
coondoggie writes: It’s possible that a huge ocean covered one-third of the surface of Mars some 3.5 billion years ago, a finding likely to reignite an old argument about that amount of water on the red planet, according to a new report. The study by the University of Colorado at Boulder is the first to integrate multiple data sets of river deltas, valley networks and topography from a cadre of NASA and European Space Agency orbiting missions of Mars dating back to 2001, the researchers claim.
Comment Can't run forever (Score 1) 476
If China isn't the best place in the world to hire cheap, slave-like labor, where does that leave?
Eventually, Foxconn and all the companies that rely on it to produce cheap electronics are going to have to start paying workers more. That cost will get passed on to us, the consumers.
This is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather pay more for my laptop or iPhone than have to live with idea that my high-tech gadget habit is causing suicides on the other side of the world.
Foxconn May Close Factories In China 476
ChiefMonkeyGrinder writes "Foxconn, the manufacturer whose clients include Apple, Dell, and HP, is on the verge of pulling out of China after a spate of suicides. The CEO has accused workers of killing themselves for financial compensation, and the company has stopped suicide payments to suicide victims' families. Foxconn's CEO also told investors that it is considering moving its production operations to Taiwan, and automating many parts of its business, a move which could see 800,000 workers lose their jobs."
Bionic-Eyed Man Wants To Stream Eye Video Online 115
An anonymous reader writes "According to this IEEE article, Canadian filmmaker Rob Spence, who calls himself Eyeborg because he replaced his false right eye with a bionic one, is showing off his latest prototype. The new bionic eye contains a battery-powered, wireless video camera that can transmit a low-res feed to a nearby receiver. Now Spence plans to share his 'vision' online, literally. According to the IEEE article, 'soon people will be able to log on to his video feed and view the world through his right eye.'"
ITER Fusion Reactor Enters Existential Crisis 470
deglr6328 writes "The long beleaguered experimental magnetic confinement fusion reactor ITER is currently in what some are calling the worst crisis of its 25 year history. Still existing only on the paper of thousands of proposed design documents, the latest cost estimates for the superconducting behemoth are soaring to nearly 20 billion USD — roughly twice the estimates from as recently as a few years ago. Anti-nuclear environmentalist organizations have seized upon the moment as an opportunity to use the current global economic crisis as a means to push for permanently killing the project. If ITER is not built, the prospect of magnetic confinement fusion as a technique to reach thermonuclear breakeven and ignition in the laboratory would be in serious question. Meanwhile, the largest laser-driven inertial confinement fusion project, the National Ignition Facility, has demonstrated the ability to use self-generated plasma optical gratings to control capsule implosion symmetry with high finesse, and is on schedule to achieve ignition and potentially high gain before the end of the year."
How To Destroy a Black Hole 364
KentuckyFC writes "The critical concept that makes a black hole black is the event horizon: a theoretical boundary in space through which light and other objects can pass in one direction but not the other. Since light cannot escape the event horizon, it must be black. The event horizon is a nuisance to astrophysicists because it hides the interesting new physics that must go on inside a black hole. What they would like is a way to get rid of the event horizon so that they can see what goes on behind it. It turns out that just such a thing may be possible, say physicists. According to the mathematics of general relativity, the event horizon should disappear if a black hole were fed enough charge and angular momentum relative to its mass. However the calculations are so fiendish (PDF) that nobody knows whether the black hole would shed this extra angular momentum and charge before it could settle into a stable 'naked' state. However, the possibility that the event horizon could be destroyed raises the question of what astrophysicists would see behind this veil. According to some, black holes are regions of spacetime with infinite curvature called singularities. Many believe that 'naked' singularities cannot exist in nature. And yet there are enough question marks to suggest that this mystery is far from settled."
Submission + - Rock Band 3 to include MIDI keyboard (gizmodo.com)
xbeefsupreme writes: Rock Band 3 is going to come with a real 25 key MIDI keyboard. In the normal version of the game, only a few designated keys will be use; however, the game comes with a new "Rock Band Pro" mode which will require the player to use all 25 keys.
The idea is to provide a new instrument in a way that is simple and fun to novice players, yet provide and extra challenge to skilled rock band players, and even teach the actual instrument through the game. Two new guitars are also being made that are designed to be closer to a real guitar, including actual strings.
The idea is to provide a new instrument in a way that is simple and fun to novice players, yet provide and extra challenge to skilled rock band players, and even teach the actual instrument through the game. Two new guitars are also being made that are designed to be closer to a real guitar, including actual strings.
Cory Doctorow On For the Win, Gold Farming, and DRM 179
adaviel passes along a New Scientist interview with Cory Doctorow, who has been touring for his new book For the Win. The SF author and technology activist talks about DRM, gold farming, and much else besides.
Hints of Life Found On Saturn's Moon Titan 227
Calopteryx writes "New Scientist reports that in 2005, researchers predicted two potential signatures of life on Titan. Now, thanks to research done with the help of the Cassini spacecraft, both have been seen, although non-biological chemical reactions could also be behind the observations. NASA's writeup has further details: 'One key finding comes from a paper online now in the journal Icarus [abstract] that shows hydrogen molecules flowing down through Titan's atmosphere and disappearing at the surface. Another paper online now in the Journal of Geophysical Research maps hydrocarbons on the Titan surface and finds a lack of acetylene. This lack of acetylene is important because that chemical would likely be the best energy source for a methane-based life on Titan, said Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., who proposed a set of conditions necessary for this kind of methane-based life on Titan in 2005. One interpretation of the acetylene data is that the hydrocarbon is being consumed as food. But McKay said the flow of hydrogen is even more critical because all of their proposed mechanisms involved the consumption of hydrogen.'"
