goatcheese - Slashdot User

Phoenix Mars Lander To Touch Down In 2 Hours 119

Posted by kdawson on Sunday May 25, 2008 @05:59PM from the entry-descent-and-landing dept.

AFP has a good summary of the pre-touchdown jitters the Phoenix Mars Lander crew is living through. The spacecraft has been under way for 10 months. If the landing goes according to plan — and only about half of the three dozen such attempts have — mission controllers at the University of Arizona will receive radio signals from the Martian surface at 23:53 GMT. Here's the Mars mission home. You can (in theory) track the lander here, but at the moment the JPL Solar System Simulator is "experiencing technical difficulties."

Chefs As Chemists 266

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday November 06, 2007 @04:31PM from the you-want-agar-agar-with-that dept.

circletimessquare writes "Using ingredients usually relegated to the lower half of the list of ingredients on a Twinkies wrapper, some professional chefs are turning themselves into magicians with food. Ferran Adrià in Spain and Heston Blumenthal in England have been doing this for years, but the New York Times updates us on the ongoing experiments at WD-50 in New York City. Xanthan Gum, agar-agar, and other hydrocolloids are being used to bring strange effects to your food. Think butter that doesn't melt in the oven, foie gras you can tie into knots, and fried mayonnaise."

Comment I am not sure they got the chemistry right (Score 1) 204

by goatcheese on Wednesday September 27, 2006 @10:45AM (#16214625) Attached to: Self Cleaning Mouse

UV light is required to activate TiO2 coatings. Even with the silver particle addition you still need natural sunlight (i.e. lower levels of UV light) for activation. So unless the mouse is going to be outdoors... you really can't beat regular handwashing as someone already pointed out in this thread. My friend Brent who knows a lot more chemistry than I pointed out this inconsistency when I inquired about this very mouse a couple of days ago. He sent me this link: http://www.nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=833 Also, the implication is that this mouse is suitable for "public" environments (libraries, doctor's offices...) It sounds strange for a wireless mouse.

Slashdot Top Deals