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."

IBM Scientists Build Computer Chips From DNA 97

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday August 17, 2009 @06:02PM from the some-chips-are-longer-than-others dept.

snydeq writes "Scientists at IBM are experimenting with using DNA molecules as a way to create tiny circuits that could form the basis of smaller, more powerful computer chips. The technique builds on work done by Cal Tech's Paul Rothemund, who found that DNA molecules can be made to 'self-assemble' into tiny forms [PDF] such as triangles, squares and stars. 'To make a chip, the scientists first create lithographic templates using traditional chip making techniques. After, they pour a DNA solution over the surface of the silicon and the tiny triangles and squares — what the scientists call DNA origami — line themselves up to the patterns etched out using lithography.' DNA-based chips may sound like crackpot tech, but those involved believe the methodology could lead to a new way of fabricating features on the surface of chips that allows semiconductors to be made even smaller, faster and more power-efficient than they are today."

Jellyfish Swimming Is Mixing the Oceans 47

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 30, 2009 @12:15AM from the jellyfish-effect dept.

eviltangerine writes "A new article from LiveScience suggests that marine creatures, such as the jellyfish, may contribute as much to ocean mixing as wind and tides. Wired is also covering the story and includes a video of the jellyfish in action. From the article, 'The mere act of swimming implies that some water travels with the swimmer,' said CalTech engineer Kakani Katija, co-author of the study in Nature Wednesday. 'Drift applies to all animals, to anything with a body.' No word yet on when the jellyfish blender is to debut."

Trojan Found At Torrent Sites Insists "Downloading Is Wrong" 345

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 10, 2009 @03:13AM from the attack-of-conscience dept.

NoisySplatter writes "Ernesto, founder of TorrentFreak, reports that a new trojan, 'Troj/Qhost-AC,' has been distributed on The Pirate Bay. The virus was disguised as a serial key generator, and the offending torrent has since been removed, but the source has not been identified. Troj/Qhost-AC makes changes to the user's hosts file that redirects The Pirate Bay, Suprbay, and Mininova to 127.0.0.1. In addition to making three popular torrent sites inaccessible, the virus also plays a sound file that says: 'downloading is wrong.' It looks like someone has finally stepped up to the plate to challenge Madonna for the title of 'Most Obnoxious Anti-Piracy Stunt.' Of course, this could just be the software industry's attempt at outdoing the RIAA and MPAA."

The Technology Behind the Magic Yellow Line 261

Posted by timothy on Friday January 09, 2009 @03:33AM from the don't-eat-the-yellow-line dept.

CurtMonash writes "Fandome offers a fascinating video explaining how the first-down line on football broadcasts actually works. Evidently, theres a lot of processing both to calculate the exact location being photographed on the field — including optical sensors and two steps of encoding — and to draw a line in exactly the right place onscreen. For those who don't want to watch the whole video, highlights are here."

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.

Journal Journal: First Post

Journal by TheTopher on Monday May 30, 2005 @01:29AM

I guess I'm not really sure what should go in here but I'm posting nevertheless. My four-day weekend is quickly ending and the mountains of homework that I've shoved into a corner are becoming harder and harder to ignore. Tomorrow should be fun...

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