iNetRunner - Slashdot User

NASA Creates First Global Forest Map Using Lasers 55

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday July 21, 2010 @07:39PM from the if-a-tree-is-measured-and-nobody-is-around-to-see-it dept.

MikeCapone writes "Scientists, using three NASA satellites, have created a first-of-its-kind map that details the height of the world's forests. The data was collected from NASA's ICESat, Terra and Aqua satellites. The latter two satellites are responsible for most of NASA's Gulf spill imagery. The data collected will help scientists understand how the world's forests both store and process carbon. While there are many local and regional canopy maps, this is the very first global map using a uniform method for measure."

Comment There are non-low-cost exhibits like that... (Score 2, Interesting) 93

by iNetRunner on Sunday February 14, 2010 @07:17AM (#31133684) Attached to: Low-Cost Robotic Arm Sketches Faces

There is an exhibit in China Science and Technology Museum that also draws pictures. This is made of four ABB robots, so perhaps the cost is a bit more.. =)

Sorry, I could not find any representative pictures what this exhibit draws.

NASA To Cryogenically Freeze Satellite Mirrors 47

Posted by Soulskill on Friday January 08, 2010 @10:12PM from the ain't-it-cool dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA said it will soon move some of the larger (46 lb) mirror segments of its future James Webb Space Telescope into a cryogenic test facility that will freeze the mirrors to -414 degrees Fahrenheit (~25 K). Specifically, NASA will freeze six of the 18 Webb telescope mirror segments at the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility, or XRCF, at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in a test to ensure the critical mirrors can withstand the extreme space environments. All 18 segments will eventually be tested at the site. The test chamber takes approximately five days to cool a mirror segment to cryogenic temperatures."

The Best Robots of 2009 51

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 23, 2009 @09:59PM from the best-of-show dept.

kkleiner writes "Singularity Hub has just unveiled its second annual roundup of the best robots of the year. In 2009 robots continued their advance towards world domination with several impressive breakouts in areas such as walking, automation, and agility, while still lacking in adaptability and reasoning ability. It will be several years until robots can gain the artificial intelligence that will truly make them remarkable, but in the meantime they are still pretty awesome."

Simulation of Close Asteroid Fly-By 148

Posted by Soulskill on Monday December 21, 2009 @11:46AM from the close-enough-to-feel-the-vacuum-breeze dept.

c0mpliant writes "NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have released a simulation of the path of an asteroid, named Apophis, that will come very close to Earth in 2029 — the closest predicted approach since humans have monitored for such heavenly bodies. The asteroid caused a bit of a scare when astronomers first announced that it would enter Earth's neighborhood some time in the future. However, since that announcement in 2004, more recent calculations have put the odds of collision at 1 in 250,000."

Free Online Scientific Repository Hits Milestone 111

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 08, 2008 @10:24AM from the a-whole-lotta-smart-stuff dept.

ocean_soul writes "Last week the free and open access repository for scientific (mainly physics but also math, computer sciences...) papers arXiv got past 500,000 different papers, not counting older versions of the same article. Especially for physicists, it is the number-one resource for the latest scientific results. Most researchers publish their papers on arXiv before they are published in a 'normal' journal. A famous example is Grisha Perelman, who published his award-winning paper exclusively on arXiv."

Journal Journal: FBI Training Elite Swedish Anti-Piracy Force

Journal by godzilla808 on Monday February 19, 2007 @11:26PM

"When it comes to piracy Sweden is no stranger to controversy. Gaining worldwide notoriety as the country that hosts The Pirate Bay BitTorrent tracker and recently being labelled as a piracy safe haven by an International Intellectual Property Alliance report, they even have their own political party dedicated to piracy. In response (some might argue, in desperation) the FBI and the MPA are combining resources to train an elite anti-piracy force in Sweden to counter was is seen as a growing and

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