Comment Not free (Score 1) 343
Netflix pays its ISP for the ability to send content. Comcast customers pay their ISP for the ability to receive content. I don't see the problem here.
Comment Correlation != causation (Score 1) 138
"a high correlation was found between higher bedroom light levels and increased propensity to be overweight or obese" - correlation.
"The Light Might Make You Heavy" - causation.
Dammit guys. -_-
Comment Re:Easy one: Descent (Score 1) 518
I came here to nominate Descent as well. Not sure if motion detection would be accurate enough, but it's time to bring back dogfighting with six axes of movement! And rotation! And charge-up fusion cannons. =)
Comment Re:Immunohistochemistry. Also, can't see circuitry (Score 2, Interesting) 95
Also, I'd be interested to see how (or if) they managed to completely wash off antibodies between scans without damaging the tissue or disrupting synaptic structure. Many synaptic proteins recognize and bind each other in the same way that antibodies bind their antigens, so it stands to reason that disrupting antibody binding would also disrupt the binding of these proteins.
Comment Immunohistochemistry. Also, can't see circuitry. (Score 5, Informative) 95
This is immunohistochemistry, just scaled up to many different antibodies for the same sample and realigned in space.
Also, the connectivity is lost. You can't tell which neurons are connected to which other neurons. The overall circuitry, essential for the functioning of neural networks, is invisible. All you can see is points of contact between neurons.
Perhaps combining this technique with super high resolution diffusion tensor imaging would be a way forward. Although, as far as I know, DTI is nowhere near neuron or axon resolution as of yet.
Also, the connectivity is lost. You can't tell which neurons are connected to which other neurons. The overall circuitry, essential for the functioning of neural networks, is invisible. All you can see is points of contact between neurons.
Perhaps combining this technique with super high resolution diffusion tensor imaging would be a way forward. Although, as far as I know, DTI is nowhere near neuron or axon resolution as of yet.
New Imaging Method Reveals Brain Connections 95
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, applying a state-of-the-art imaging system to brain-tissue samples from mice, have been able to quickly and accurately locate and count the myriad connections between nerve cells in unprecedented detail, as well as to capture and catalog those connections' surprising variety. A typical healthy human brain contains about 200 billion nerve cells, or neurons, linked to one another via hundreds of trillions of tiny contacts called synapses. It is at these synapses that an electrical impulse traveling along one neuron is relayed to another, either enhancing or inhibiting the likelihood that the second nerve will fire an impulse of its own. One neuron may make as many as tens of thousands of synaptic contacts with other neurons, said Stephen Smith, PhD, professor of molecular and cellular physiology and senior author of a paper describing the study, to be published Nov. 18 in Neuron."
Comment Re:This is NOT what the central dogma says (Score 1) 196
DNA polymerase does not transfer information from itself to DNA. It reads from a DNA strand and creates the complement of that strand. It is responsible for DNA -> DNA information transfer.
Comment Re:This is NOT what the central dogma says (Score 1) 196
Um, citation please. Viruses can have protein components, but as far as I know their information payload is always stored as DNA or RNA.
Also, only protein -> DNA and protein -> RNA information transfers remain unknown. See reverse transcriptase and prions.
Also, only protein -> DNA and protein -> RNA information transfers remain unknown. See reverse transcriptase and prions.
Spore-Inspired Action RPG Darkspore Announced 86
Today Electronic Arts announced Darkspore, an action RPG in development from Maxis that is inspired by Spore's creature creator technology. The game is due to launch in February 2011, and a teaser is available on the official website. A more descriptive video is available from EA's live demo (start at 8:25). Quoting Joystiq:
"...Darkspore will let up to three players traverse 'several' planets cooperatively, and while there will be PvP in the finished product, Maxis isn't providing details just yet. The basics will be the same whether going in solo or as a team: You'll be able to choose from a number (again, no specifics yet) of pre-created melee, ranged and support creatures that can have their stats and abilities augmented by equipment. ... When choosing to beam down from your starship to a planet, you will see a lineup of enemy types that you'll encounter. This gives you and your friends enough information to decide which three characters from your collection you'll want to deploy. The trio can then be switched between on the fly, albeit with a brief cool-down period afterward. The idea is to use the characters' various abilities strategically against what the Left 4 Dead-inspired 'AI director' decides to toss your way."
Warships May Get Lasers For Close-In Defense 482
King Louie writes "Raytheon and the US Navy have successfully tested a ship-borne laser capable of shooting down aircraft. Video at the link shows the 32-kilowatt solid-state laser shooting down an unmanned aerial vehicle. The technology is apparently mature enough to be deployed as part of ships' short-range missile defenses, a role currently filled by the Basic Point Defense Missile System (based on the Sea Sparrow missile) and the Close-In Weapons System (based on a 20mm Gatling gun)."
Does Anyone Really Prefer Glossy Screens? 646
An anonymous reader asked a question that I've been wondering about too: "I live in a small southern European country where natural light abounds. This may sound good, but it is a pain when it comes to using laptops that come with a glossy finish, making it impossible to work unless you are doing it in the dark. To make matters worse, since we are a small market, most manufacturers only offer a subset of their product line, and don't allow you to choose any options available in other countries (like matte screens). Buying abroad is not an option since we have our own very specific keyboard layout. Why are manufacturers doing this? Does anyone really prefer using glossy screens for day-to-day activities?"
Ikaros Spacecraft Successfully Propelled In Space 229
An anonymous reader writes "Japan's IKAROS spacecraft has already successfully deployed the first solar sail in space, but today it made the only first that really matters: it successfully captured the sun's rays with its 3,000-square-foot sail and used the energy to speed its way through space. Each photon of light exerts 0.0002 pounds of pressure on the 3,000-square-foot sail, and the steady stream of solar exposure has succeeded in propelling the nearly 700-pound drone."
Wireless PCIe To Enable Remote Graphics Cards 181
J. Dzhugashvili writes "If you read Slashdot, odds are you already know about WiGig and the 7Gbps wireless networking it promises. The people at Atheros and Wilocity are now working on an interesting application for the spec: wireless PCI Express. In a nutshell, wPCIe enables a PCI Express switch with local and remote components linked by a 60GHz connection. The first applications, which will start sampling next year, will let you connect your laptop to a base station with all kinds of storage controllers, networking controllers, and yes, an external graphics processor. wPCIe works transparently to the operating system, which only sees additional devices connected over PCI Express. And as icing on the cake, wPCie controllers will let you connect to standard Wi-Fi networks, too."
The Mouse Vanishes 292
countertrolling sends in a clip from Wired that begins "...researchers at MIT have found a method to let users click and scroll exactly the same way they would with a computer mouse, without the device actually being there. Cup your palm, move it around on a table and a cursor on the screen hovers. Tap on the table like you would click a real mouse, and the computer responds. It's one step beyond cordless. It's an invisible mouse. The project, called 'Mouseless,' uses an infrared laser beam and camera to track the movements of the palm and fingers and translate them into computer commands... A working prototype of the Mouseless system costs approximately $20 to build, says Pranav Mistry, who is leading the project."
Comment Re:Why isn't this an iPhone App? (Score 1) 412
There IS an iPhone app for full offline Wikipedia browsing.
http://collison.ie/wikipedia-iphone/
The site shows kids playing with the reader, implying that they're targeting users that you wouldn't necessarily trust with an iPhone or iPod Touch. However, I'm not sure I would trust kids with a $99 reader anyway. You could probably get a used previous-gen iPhone or iPod Touch for that much.
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It is masked but always present. I don't know who built to it. It came before the first kernel.
