reticently - Slashdot User

Submission + - Polyethylene Bulletproof Vests better than Kevlar

Submitted by teflonscout on Monday May 21, 2007 @07:44PM

teflonscout writes: When I think of bulletproof vests, the first word that comes to mind is Kevlar. Wired is running a story on Dynema SB61, a bulletproof material that is made of polyethylene. It is a higher grade of the plastic found in Tupperware. The story also mentions the recall of Second Chance bulletproof vests that were made from Zylon, a material that degraded slowly when exposed to moisture. At least one police officer was injured when a bullet penetrated his Zylon vest. Polyethylene is impervious to moisture. The first vests made from this new material are 5mm thick and can stop at 9mm bullet traveling at 1777 feet per second, which is slightly better than other top of the line vests.

Submission + - Genetic Markers for Aggressive Prostate Cancer

Submitted by

hairygenes

on Sunday May 20, 2007 @05:36PM

hairygenes writes: "Northwestern University researchers have found a genetic marker associated with aggressive forms of prostate cancer. Previously characterized mutations in markers at 8q24 are associated with a broader population than previously reported and with much more aggressive tumors. deCODE genetics, who originally characterized these mutations noted a 60% increase in risk of prostate cancer, but this study finds more concrete linkage to inheritance and disease severity.Read more about these findings released today"

Submission + - Dr. Michael Turner asks, "Cosmology Solved?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16, 2007 @08:57PM

An anonymous reader writes: In 1998, Dr. Michael Turner published a famous paper titled "Cosmology Solved? Quite Possibly!" where he outlined seven major issues cosmologists should address in the next ten years. Nine years later, he revisits the list in an interview with the Slackerpedia Galactica podcast. He summarizes progress on each issue, adds some new goals for the next ten years, and even suggests that cosmology is now more interesting than science fiction!

Submission + - Simple chemical trick to boost battery efficiency

Submitted by space_mongoose on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @08:04PM

space_mongoose writes: Hitachi reckons that a simple chemical additive could significantly improve battery life. Alkaline batteries have a positive electrode of manganese oxide and a negative electrode of finely powdered zinc, but zinc oxide forms around these grains of zinc. Hitachi's solution is to replace the zinc with a fine powder of zinc-aluminium alloy, displaces the zinc within the zinc oxide layer making it a much better conductor.

Comment Jail time for GPL violations? (Score 1) 322

by reticently on Monday May 14, 2007 @06:56PM (#19122909) Attached to: Justice Department Promises Stronger Copyright Punishments

Wouldn't it be nice if life worked like that?

Submission + - $25,000 question: Is this Turing machine universal

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 14, 2007 @04:54PM

An anonymous reader writes: Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica and author of A New Kind of Science, is offering a 25k prize to anyone who can prove or disprove his conjecture that a particular 2-state, 3-color Turing machine is universal. If true, it would be the simplest universal TM, and possibly simplest universal computational system — even simpler than rule 110. The announcement comes on the 5-year anniversary of the publication of NKS, where among other things Wolfram introduced the current reigning TM champion.

Submission + - Why would I want to make you mad?

Submitted by obtuse on Monday May 14, 2007 @04:48PM

obtuse writes: With a finding that may explain internet trolls or at least building contractors, U Michigan researchers find that individuals with high testosterone find an angry face unconsciously rewarding.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/07051 1095337.htm

Submission + - First map of an extrasolar planet

Submitted by

jiawen

on Sunday May 13, 2007 @04:18AM

jiawen writes: "Data from the Spitzer Space Telescope has been used by researchers to make the first-ever map of an extrasolar planet. It's a weather map, more precisely, showing temperature variations over the surface of a Hot Jupiter, HD 189733 b (more, more). It really is hot: even the coldest regions are about 1200 degrees F."

Submission + - NASA's Atlantis Ready For June 8 Launch

Submitted by

lifuchi

on Saturday May 12, 2007 @07:21AM

lifuchi writes: "The guys and girls at NASA are at it again with Atlantis. The newly repaired space shuttle is said to launch on June 8. The hail-damaged fuel tank has been repaired and is said to be a bit of an eyesore. Zee News is quoted as saying "Instead of being a uniform orange, it has a patchwork of white spots where technicians sprayed, scraped and filled fresh foam into the more than 4200 areas that were damaged during a freak hailstorm in February." Full Story"

Submission + - State bans texting while driving

Submitted by

netbuzz

on Saturday May 12, 2007 @07:13AM

netbuzz writes: "The state of Washington yesterday became the first in the nation to ban text-messaging while driving. The law could use sharper teeth, but it's a natural and necessary progression of the movement to clamp down on those who find the need to constantly communicate more important than the safety of their fellow travelers.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1508 8"

Submission + - OLPC a reality in Uruguay

Submitted by

Acer500

on Friday May 11, 2007 @09:52PM

Acer500 writes: "The One Laptop Per Child project became a reality yesterday in Uruguay, as the 160 children of the school number 24 "Italy" in the humble town of Cardal received their XO computers from the hands of president Tabaré Vazquez, as most newspapers in the country headlined yesterday (in Spanish)

El Observador http://www.observa.com.uy/Osecciones/ciencia/nota. aspx?id=76129.
El Pais http://www.elpais.com.uy/07/05/10/ultmo_279860.asp

In what has become a matter of national pride in being the first country to realize the project's goal, the target is that by 2009, every school-age child in Uruguay will have one, and an initial 15 million dollars have already been allocated to the project.

From the newspaper articles "The happines of having a PC in their hands, some of them for the first time, had the kids in ecstasy, which didn't wait to turn on their computers, introduce their personal information (required the first time they're turned on), choose the screen colors, and start experimenting with them. What initially made them more enthusiastic was the possibility of taking photographs and filming each others with the included webcams"

According to the unofficial blog of the Uruguayan project, named "proyecto Ceibal", , the infrastructure for wireless is not yet in place but will be provided in the next few days by the national telco ANTEL. No photos of the event have been posted online, but you can see an institutional video on Youtube here

One interesting point is that it has not yet been decided that the XO will be the laptop of choice for the entire project. Two other companies want to be considered: Intel, with their Classmate PC , and israeli-manufactured ITP-C. In a press conference, Intel manager for the southern cone Esteban Galluzzi went as far as to compare the XO to a Pentium II, and stressed that the Classmate is able to run Windows XP. http://tic.item.org.uy/?q=node/1013

As advisor and local guru Juan Grompone stated, "who will ultimately benefit from this is education". This will be an interesting test to see if the OLPC project meets its intended goals of "learning learning". Let's hope this project is the means that will foster among some of the children the desire to learn and to tinker; I, for one, will be eagerly awaiting the first feedback from this."

Submission + - Does Wikipedia Suck on Science Stories?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 11, 2007 @09:39PM

An anonymous reader writes: An editor from Wired writes on his blog that Wikipedia sucks for science stories — not because they are inaccurate, but because of what he calls the "tragedy of the uncommon": Too many experts writing about subjects in ways that no non-expert can understand. Would this be the dumbing-down of Wikipedia — or would it be a better resource for everyone?

Submission + - Disney: Blu-ray's Fair Weather Friend

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 11, 2007 @07:31PM

An anonymous reader writes: One day they're out, the next day they're in. Back in March, Disney CEO Bob Iger seemed to indicate that his company (which has exclusively backed Blu-ray since the start of the high-def format war) was on the verge of supporting *both* high-def formats. What a difference a couple of months of good press for Blu-ray makes: this week, the CEO reversed his earlier position, saying "the single greatest thing we can do right now is to not waffle, but to be very, very blunt about it, (and) to continue our support of Blu-ray because we sense a real advantage."

Final Season of Battlestar Galactica Confirmed 500

Posted by Zonk on Friday May 11, 2007 @12:03PM from the well-frack dept.

Ant writes "Via Dark Horizons, IESB reported from the 10th annual Saturn awards yesterday, and spoke with Battlestar Galactica stars Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff. Olmos confirmed that, as far as the show that's been running so far, the fourth season will be the last one. It's currently slated to start airing in January of 2008. 'Olmos says "This will probably be the most extraordinary season of 'Battlestar'. It's the final season, so it's definitely going to be the most vicious. As far as we know, in respects of the way we have this show constructed, this is the final season." Sackhoff says "I think part of the problem is that it's an expensive show. It is [a great show], but we don't have the viewership that a great show should get."'"

Submission + - Scientists create 'plastic' blood

Submitted by simm1701 on Friday May 11, 2007 @07:41AM

simm1701 writes: This aricle on the BBC Writes about a new form of artifical blood.

From the article:
Scientists have developed an artificial plastic blood which could act as a substitute in emergencies.

Researchers at Sheffield University said their creation could be a huge advantage in war zones. They say that the artificial blood is light to carry, does not need to be kept cool and can be kept for longer. The new blood is made up of plastic molecules that have an iron atom at their core, like haemoglobin, that can carry oxygen through the body. The scientists said the artificial blood could be cheap to produce and they were looking for extra funding to develop a final prototype that would be suitable for biological testing.

Dr Lance Twyman, of the university's Department of Chemistry, said: "We are very excited about the potential for this product and about the fact that this could save lives. "Many people die from superficial wounds when they are trapped in an accident or are injured on the battlefield and can't get blood before they get to hospital. "This product can be stored a lot more easily than blood, meaning large quantities could be carried easily by ambulances and the armed forces."

A sample of the artificial blood prototype will be on display at the Science Museum in London from 22 May as part of an exhibition about the history of plastics.

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