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Science

Submission + - Has the mythical unicorn of materials science finally been found? (nature.com)

Submitted by
gbrumfiel
gbrumfiel writes: "For years, physicists have been on the hunt for a material so weird, it might as well be what unicorn horns are made of. Topological insulators are special types of material that conduct electricity, but only on their outermost surface. If they exist, and that's a real IF, then they would play host to all sorts of bizarre phenomenon: virtual particles that are their own anti-particles, strange quantum effects, dogs and cats living together, that sort of thing. Now three independent teams think they've finally found the stuff that the dreams of theoretical physicists are made of: samarium hexaboride."
NASA

Submission + - NASA Upgrades Mars Curiosity Software ... From 350M Miles Away (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "Picture doing a remote software upgrade. Now picture doing it when the machine you're upgrading is a robotic rover sitting 350 million miles away, on the surface of Mars. That's what a team of programmers and engineers at NASA are dealing with as they get ready to download a new version of the flight software on the Mars rover Curiosity, which landed safely on the Red Planet earlier this week. 'We need to take a whole series of steps to make that software active. You have to imagine that if something goes wrong with this, it could be the last time you hear from the rover,' said Steve Scandore, a senior flight software engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 'It has to work,' he told Computerworld. 'You don't' want to be known as the guy doing the last activity on the rover before you lose contact.'"

Submission + - Why are hearing aids so expensive 7

Submitted by
solune
solune writes: "Ipad 2 or 3: $399 or $499

Dell laptop computer: around $600

Smartphone, non-subsidized: $200 — $800+

Not to mention all the T.V’s, game consoles, etc, all around sub $1k prices... ...yet, a decent hearing aid for my mom will go upwards of $3000! WTF?

Excuse me if I sound a little pissed, but it seems to me with the shrinking electronics, better capabilities, and technological advancements, not to mention the rapidly increasing potential user base, quality hearing aids should be coming in a *lot* cheaper than what we can find.

Adding fuel to my fire is the fact, a hearing aid will greatly improve my mom’s—not to mention millions of others out there—life a lot more. Currently she suffers from frustration and isolation with having to ask people to “speak up”, and nodding her head to things her kids and grandkids say.

We’ve tried the cheapies, and they’re fraught with problems.

So, can someone tell me why a hearing aid should be so expensive?"
Government

Submission + - UK government staff caught snooping on citizen data (zdnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: More than 1,000 UK government staff have been caught snooping on citizen data — including criminal records, social security, and medical records.

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