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Submission + - Call for scientific research code to be released (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by Pentagram
Pentagram writes: Professor Ince, writing in the Guardian, has issued a call for scientists to make the code they use in the course of their research publicly available. He focuses specifically on the topical controversies in climate science, and concludes with the view that researchers that are able to but do not release programs that they use should not be regarded as scientists.

Comment Re:I disagree (Score 1) 165

by crazy_monkey (#30786042) Attached to: Adding Up the Explanations For ACTA's "Shameful Secret"

If nourishment were universally replicable, would we not consider this a good thing? Why should intellectual nourishment be any different?

Well, the argument I've heard most often is basically
Replicable --> Lower Price --> Lower motivation to create more

I think the main difference in the analogy is the level of which we expect 'more' to mean 'new'. i.e. 'more'/replicated food is good, and if that means less creation, so be it, as most don't usually expect something new;
vs. 'more'/replicated software/art/'IP' is good, but most expect 'progress' in these areas, which would be faster with limited/controlled replication to create motivation to make 'new'.

I'm open to critiques of this idea, though.
Security

Submission + - Ubuntu Ksplice rebootless updates now available (ksplice.com)

Submitted by sdasher
sdasher writes: Ksplice has started offering Ksplice Uptrack for Ubuntu Jaunty, a free service that delivers rebootless versions of all the latest Ubuntu kernel security updates. It's currently available for both the 32 and 64-bit generic kernel, and they plan to add support for the virtual and server kernels by the end of the month, according to their FAQ. This makes Ubuntu the first OS that doesn't need to be rebooted for security updates. (We covered Ksplice's underlying technology when it was first announced a year ago.)
Announcements

Submission + - Researchers discover that sand behaves like water (wired.com)

Submitted by
Xeger
Xeger writes: "University of Chicago researchers have found that streams of sand can behave similar to liquids, forming water-like droplets when poured from a funnel. To obtain these results they dropped their expensive high-speed camera from a height of several meters and observed the sand forming into droplets — something that shouldn't happen without surface tension! These findings suggest that conventional engineering wisdom about sand, dirt and other grainy materials needs to be rethought, and that it might be possible to apply fluid dynamics to some solids problems!"
United States

Submission + - Chemical ban in Washington Beginning of the End

Submitted by
Frosty Piss
Frosty Piss writes: "Although since 2005, the chemical industry has spent more than $220,000 in Washington State lobbying against a it, Gov. Chris Gregoire is scheduled to sign the legislation today to ban flame retardants called PBDEs in Washington furniture, televisions and computers. Why the big spending? Because at a time when the federal government is largely ineffectual in its regulation of long-used but potentially dangerous industrial chemicals, a ban here could be the beginning of the end for PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers across the nation. 'The industry that makes deca and PBDEs is freaking out because they lost so severely in Washington state and other states will follow,' said Laurie Valeriano, policy director for the Washington Toxics Coalition, an environmental group. 'It really is a message from Washington state and policymakers that we won't accept chemicals that build up in our bodies and our children.' Reads more at the Seattle Post Intellegencer."

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