TheTopher - Slashdot User

Foldit Player May Have Created a Useful Protein 144

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday May 19, 2010 @12:44AM from the know-when-to-hold-'em dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The organizers of the game Foldit, where you fold proteins for scientific research, announced that a user has found a protein that may be able to bind influenza viruses. Researchers plan to test the protein in a lab over the next few weeks to see if it might be medically useful."

Comment Re:Cost (Score 1) 710

by TheTopher on Saturday January 02, 2010 @07:37PM (#30627474) Attached to: Thorium, the Next Nuclear Fuel?

Actually, the proliferation risk is very minimal. Production of U-233 from Thorium-232 yields a small amount of U-232, which is a hard gamma radiation source. This means that it fries electronics and is in general far more hazardous to work with. Of course, one could isotopically separate the U-233 from the U-232 but if you have the infrastructure necessary for that, you might as well be making U-235 and Plutonium bombs.

Revisiting the "Holy Trinity" of MMORPG Classes 362

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 18, 2009 @08:20AM from the or-druid-as-the-case-may-be dept.

A feature at Gamasutra examines one of the foundations of many MMORPGs — the idea that class roles within such a game fall into three basic categories: tank, healer, and damage dealer. The article evaluates the pros and cons of such an arrangement and takes a look at some alternatives. "Eliminating specialized roles means that we do away with boxing a class into a single role. Without Tanks, each class would have features that would help them participate in and survive many different encounters like heavy armor, strong avoidance, or some class or magical abilities that allow them to disengage from direct combat. Without specialized DPS, all classes should be able to do damage in order to defeat enemies. Some classes might specialize in damage type, like area of effect (AoE) damage; others might be able to exploit enemy weaknesses, and some might just be good at swinging a sharpened bit of metal in the right direction at a rapid rate. This design isn't just about having each class able to fill any trinity role. MMO combat would feel more dynamic in this system. Every player would have to react to combat events and defend against attacks."

Square Enix Announces Supreme Commander 2 70

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @07:20PM from the branching-out dept.

arcticstoat writes "Supreme Commander 2 has now been officially announced, but with a surprise publishing partner on board — Square Enix. Gas Powered Games' original RTS game and its expansion pack, Forged Alliance, were published by THQ, who is no stranger to the RTS genre, but Square Enix has previously specialized in Japanese RPGs such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Explaining the move, Square Enix said in a statement that it 'has previously worked exclusively with Japanese development companies, so the decision to form strategic partnerships with developers located outside of Japan serves as a new cornerstone of its strategy to create games targeted primarily at consumers in Europe and North America. Additionally, Square Enix Group's foray into the real-time strategy genre is a significant expansion of its product lineup.'"

Comment Re:Why fix what isn't broken? (Score 1) 154

by TheTopher on Tuesday October 23, 2007 @05:46AM (#21082665) Attached to: Caltech Creates Electronic Nose

I get the joke but the situation here is that "Caltech" is the official abbreviation of the Institute's name. It's as accurate as referring to MIT as MassTech.

MPAA Violates Another Software License 297

Posted by Zonk on Sunday February 18, 2007 @02:46AM from the that's-a-little-cold dept.

Patrick Robib, a blogger who wrote his own blogging engine called Forest Blog recently noticed that none other than the MPAA was using his work, and had completely violated his linkware license by removing all links back to the Forest Blog site, not crediting him in any way. The MPAA blog was using the Forest Blog software, but had completely stripped off his name, and links back to his site. He only found about it accidentally when he happened to visit the MPAA site.

Slashdot Top Deals