Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
Space

Baumgartner's Daredevil Parachute Jump From Space Put On Hold 248

Velcroman1 writes "For years, an Austrian daredevil named Felix Baumgartner has been planning to take a 23-mile plunge from the edge of space — and in the process, become the first parachutist to break the sound barrier, plummeting toward the ground at 760 miles per hour. The engineers and scientists behind The Red Bull Stratos project, an effort to break the record for the highest freefall ever, billed the jump as more than a stunt. The leap from 120,000 feet was to yield volumes of data that would have been used to develop advanced life support systems for future pilots, astronauts, and even space tourists. But a promoter feels that the jump was his idea, and filed a lawsuit in April to prevent the event from taking place. And now Red Bull has pulled the plug on the project, FoxNews.com reports. 'Due to the lawsuit, we have decided to stop the project until this case has been resolved,' Red Bull said."
Image

Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331

Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."

Comment Re:ELEVATE!!!! (Score 1) 85

Nonsense. As someone mentioned in a comment, wheelchairs that could climb stairs very well were already being sold in the United States over 6 years ago.

Obviously no-one told Charles Xavier. He still has one weakness.

Comment Re:Missing option: (Score 1) 887

+1 for train option. Given 90% of Australians live in cities serviced by high-frequency and dare I say reliable train and tram services, the lack of train option is a little short-sighted. Besides, there are 20 million people in New York city, 12 million in London, and you can be sure as hell that most of them don't drive to work!

Comment Re:permutations (Score 1) 227

How many ways can you create a 16x16 pixel image? At what point does trademark/copyright no longer apply?

If one restricts themselves to a 256 colour palette for compatibility, that gives only 16*16*256 = 65536 different favicons. You can increase the number of colours available, but at some point the differences between them is quite imperceptible to the human eye.

Windows

Submission + - Windows XP SP3 Build 3205 Released w/ New Features (neosmart.net)

jBubba writes: Windows XP SP3 build 3205 is the first official & authorized release of the next Windows XP service pack; and has been made available to testers as a part of the Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista SP1 beta program. NeoSmart Technologies has the run-down on the included 1,073 patches/hotfixes including security updates. Contrary to popular belief, Windows XP SP3 does ship with new features/components, most of which have been backported from Windows Vista.

Slashdot Top Deals

The F-15 Eagle: If it's up, we'll shoot it down. If it's down, we'll blow it up. -- A McDonnel-Douglas ad from a few years ago

Working...