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Data Storage

Why Waste Servers' Heat? 204

Posted by timothy from the because-heat-makes-us-murderous dept.
mikejuk writes "A new paper from Microsoft Research (PDF) suggests a radical but slightly mad scheme for dealing with some of the more basic problems of the data center. Rather than build server farms that produce a lot of waste heat, why not have distributed Data Furnaces, that heat home and offices at the same time as providing cloud computing? This is a serious suggestion and they provide facts and figures to make it all seem viable. So when it gets cold all you have to do is turn up the number crunching ..."
Space

The Dangers Of Amateur Astronomy In Afghanistan 137

Posted by samzenpus from the time-to-pick-another-science dept.
Nancy_A writes "Most amateur astronomers take for granted that they can just go outside and enjoy viewing the night sky without encountering many problems. But in order for amateur astronomers in Afghanistan to simply set up a telescope in a dark region, they have to deal with more serious complications, such as making sure the area is clear of land mines, not arousing the suspicions the Taliban or the local police, and watching out for potential bombing raids by the US/UK/Afghan military alliance."
Crime

RSA Admits SecurID Tokens Have Been Compromised 219

Posted by CmdrTaco from the hey-i-have-one-of-those dept.
A few months ago, RSA Servers were hacked, and a few weeks ago Duped tokens were used to hack Lockheed-Martin. Well today Orome1 writes "RSA has finally admitted publicly that the March breach into its systems has resulted in the compromise of their SecurID two-factor authentication tokens. The admission comes in the wake of cyber intrusions into the networks of three US military contractors: Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications and Northrop Grumman — one of them confirmed by the company, others hinted at by internal warnings and unusual domain name and password reset process."
Crime

Submission + - RSA Admits SecurID Tokens Have Been Compromised (net-security.org)

Submitted by Orome1
Orome1 writes: RSA has finally admitted publicly that the March breach into its systems has resulted in the compromise of their SecurID two-factor authentication tokens. The admission comes in the wake of cyber intrusions into the networks of three US military contractors: Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications and Northrop Grumman — one of them confirmed by the company, others hinted at by internal warnings and unusual domain name and password reset process.
Science

Submission + - Why Science is a Lousy Career Choice 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "President Obama had a town hall meeting at Facebook’s headquarters last week and said that he wanted to encourage females and minorities to pursue STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) but Pastabagel writes that need for American students to study STEM is one of the tired refrains in modern American politics and that plenty of people already study science. but they don’t work in science. "MIT grads are more likely to end up in the financial industry, where quants and traders are very well compensated, than in the semiconductor industry where the spectre of outsourcing to India and Asia will hang over their heads for their entire career." Philip Greenspun adds that science can be fun, but considered as a career, science suffers by comparison to the professions and the business world. "The average scientist that I encounter expresses bitterness about (a) low pay, (b) not getting enough credit or references to his or her work, (c) not knowing where the next job is coming from, (d) not having enough money or job security to get married and/or have children," writes Greenspun. "Pursuing science as a career seems so irrational that one wonders why any young American would do it.""
Security

Submission + - SSL And The Future Of Authenticity (thoughtcrime.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: There has been a growing tide of support for replacing SSL's Certificate Authorities with an alternative authentication mechanism. Moxie Marlinspike, the security researcher who has repeatedly published attacks against SSL, has written an in-depth piece about the questions we should be asking as we move forward, and urges strong caution about adopting DNSSEC for this task.
Transportation

What Happens If You Get Sucked Out of a Plane? 327

Posted by Roblimo from the do-not-try-this-at-home dept.
astroengine writes "We've all wondered about it. When flying at 30,000ft, you look around the cramped economy class cabin thinking 'I wonder if I'd survive being sucked out of this plane if a hole, say, just opened above my head?' That's probably around the time that you should fasten your seat belt. According to medical experts interviewed by Discovery News in the wake of the Southwest Airlines gaping hole incident, the rapid depressurization, low oxygen levels and freezing cold would render you unconscious very quickly. Assuming you don't get chopped in half as you exit through the hole and hit the tail, you'd be long dead before you hit the ground. Nice."

Submission + - LHC, CERN has found the hugs boson (web.cern.ch) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a ground-breaking announcement issued today, CERN, the European Organization of Nuclear Research (which hosts the enormous and magnificent Large Hardon Collider) has announced the discovery of the hugs boson, an unexpected gauge boson, which was not predicted by the Standard Model. Noteworthy, the discovery was made by a high-school student during his scolarship. Due to his age, it is not clear whether he can be awarded the Nobel Prize. However, his teacher has generously agreed to be awarded in his name, in case of any problems.

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