|
Latest Articles: Science/Tech
US cities' Wi-Fi dreams fading fast
Post Date: 2007-09-23 01:18:52 by robin
12 Comments
Ambitious plans for big Wi-Fi networks to provide free or low-cost wireless Internet access are being abandoned or scaled back by US cities as the economics of the deals turn out to be more challenging than expected. San Francisco and Chicago in recent weeks abruptly halted plans to set up municipal Wi-Fi networks while Internet giant Earthlink, a partner for a number of cities, has begun a reorganization that will limit new projects. Wi-Fi, one of the most popular standards for wireless Internet access, had been seen as a means of connecting more people at a relatively low cost, and city leaders across the United States had been rushing to use the technology for "digital ...
Too Many Tumors for VeriChip's Chips
Post Date: 2007-09-22 11:03:11 by Mister Clean
18 Comments
Too Many Tumors for VeriChip's Chips http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2007/09/11/too-many-tumors-for-verichips-chips.aspx Jack Uldrich September 11, 2007 Over the weekend, the AP published a damaging article linking VeriChip's (Nasdaq: CHIP) implantable chip technology in animals to cancerous tumors. According to the story, three separate studies between 1996 and 2006 found malignant tumors developing near implanted radio frequency identification (RFID) chips. In one German study, the authors even wrote that the tumors were "clearly due to the implanted microchips." Innocent until proven guilty ... mostly It's important to note that the findings are preliminary. ...
Run away the ray-gun is coming : We test US army's new secret weapon
Post Date: 2007-09-19 19:30:21 by robin
11 Comments
Run away the ray-gun is coming : We test US army's new secret weaponBy MICHAEL HANLON - More by this author » Last updated at 23:21pm on 18th September 2007 Comments (22) Modern face of warfare: The Silent Guardian "Where do I put my finger? There ... OK? Nothing's happening ... is it on?" "Yes, it's on. Move your finger a bit closer." "Er ... ow! OW!" Not good. I try again. "OWWW!" I pull my hand away sharpish. My finger is throbbing, but seems undamaged. I was told people can take it for a second, maximum. No way, not for a wimp like me. I try it again. It is a bit like touching a red-hot wire, but there is no heat, only ...
Mozilla creating a foundation to improve email
Post Date: 2007-09-18 19:56:53 by Zipporah
4 Comments
Mozilla creating a foundation to improve email Posted by Cory Doctorow, September 17, 2007 10:54 PM | # | Discuss (0) Al sez, "The Mozilla Foundation, which is the parent entity to the Mozilla Corporation, the maker of Firefox, is forming a new corporation to 'improve e-mail and internet communication', according to Mitchell Baker." The goals for the new company are: * Take care of Thunderbird users * Move Thunderbird forward to provide better, deeper email solutions * Create a better user experience for a range of Internet communications -- how does / should email work with IM, RSS, VoIP, SMS, site-specific email, etc? * Spark the types of community ...
Dear Baby Boomers of America
Post Date: 2007-09-18 14:45:04 by ghostdogtxn
8 Comments
Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village [they're here...]
Post Date: 2007-09-18 10:47:29 by a vast rightwing conspirator
3 Comments
Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village Mon Sep 17, 11:23 PM ET Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday. Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia. Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP. Seven policemen who went to ...
The sweet smell of testosterone, or not
Post Date: 2007-09-16 20:23:42 by robin
0 Comments
Smell is in the nose of the beholder as much as beauty is in the eye, according to a study released Sunday showing for the first time that variations in a single gene can determine whether a scent is perceived as fair or foul. It has long been known that smell and taste -- which are essentially the same thing -- are highly subjective. The fragrance that one person finds sublime could make someone else queasy, and one man's wine of the gods can be another man's plonk. A third person might not smell anything at all. But the exact mechanism accounting for these differences has remained largely a mystery, though genes were known to play a role. The US study, published online in the ...
Big Brother is watching us all
Post Date: 2007-09-16 14:16:40 by robin
2 Comments
Big Brother is watching us all By Humphrey Hawksley BBC News, Washington The US and UK governments are developing increasingly sophisticated gadgets to keep individuals under their surveillance. When it comes to technology, the US is determined to stay ahead of the game. Humphrey Hawksley's data is captured by a camera in one second "Five nine, five ten," said the research student, pushing down a laptop button to seal the measurement. "That's your height." "Spot on," I said. "OK, we're freezing you now," interjected another student, studying his computer screen. "So we ...
Tell-All PCs and Phones Transforming Divorce
Post Date: 2007-09-16 01:30:54 by kiki
0 Comments
The age-old business of breaking up has taken a decidedly Orwellian turn, with digital evidence like e-mail messages, traces of Web site visits and mobile telephone records now permeating many contentious divorce cases. Spurned lovers steal each other’s BlackBerrys. Suspicious spouses hack into each other’s e-mail accounts. They load surveillance software onto the family PC, sometimes discovering shocking infidelities. Divorce lawyers routinely set out to find every bit of private data about their clients’ adversaries, often hiring investigators with sophisticated digital forensic tools to snoop into household computers. “In just about every case now, to some extent, ...
Star Wars Speech (from August 2005)
Post Date: 2007-09-15 23:29:14 by kiki
0 Comments
AWC Conference, August 2-5, 2005 (Association of World Citizens) Scholars have long commented on the U.S. government's need for an "endless frontier" - a substitute for the mythologized Wild West. A place Americans can explore, conquer, and dominate, and where riches and profits can be plundered. With the official closing of the continental western frontier in 1890 and the ongoing exploitation of Alaska's resources, space truly represents the "final frontier." The current Bush administration's plan to weaponize space and seize the new high-tech military "high ground" poses perhaps the greatest threat to humankind in the 21st century. The ...
Ancient whale fall from California's Aņo Nuevo Island one of youngest, most complete known
Post Date: 2007-09-15 01:21:26 by farmfriend
0 Comments
Contact: Robert Sanders rsanders@berkeley.edu 510-643-6998 University of California - Berkeley Ancient whale fall from California's Año Nuevo Island one of youngest, most complete known 11 million to 15 million-year-old fossil whale puts limit on origin of oily, buoyant bones in whales Berkeley -- A fossilized whale skeleton excavated 20 years ago amid the stench and noise of a seabird and elephant seal rookery on California's Año Nuevo Island turns out to be the youngest example on the Pacific coast of a fossil whale fall and the first in California, according to University of California, Berkeley, paleontologists. Whale falls, first recognized in the 1980s, are ...
The End Of The World?
Post Date: 2007-09-14 23:41:34 by Horse
5 Comments
We are all looking at the end of the world as we know it. Our attention is focused on the holes in the ozone layer, planet warming, peak oil, the spread of DU weapons, the collapse of the house of credit cards, and the prospect of the planetary financial elite quickly establishing fascist control of the planet. Below this threshold of conscious awareness our biological survival systems are rapidly eroding. At this point some twenty percent of the planet’s soils erode each twenty-five year period. Each year at least two hundred thousand acres of irrigated crop-lands go out of production because of salinization or water-logging and experts say that sixty to eighty percent of all ...
The Corrs - Canto Allo Vita (A Duet With Josh Groban).
Post Date: 2007-09-13 22:09:14 by tom007
1 Comments
Japan's Space Agency Launches Lunar Probe; largest mission to the moon since the U.S. Apollo flights...
Post Date: 2007-09-13 22:05:03 by Brian S
4 Comments
TOKYO: Japan's space agency launched its much-delayed lunar probe Friday, beginning what it calls the largest mission to the moon since the U.S. Apollo flights. The Selenological and Engineering Explorer — or SELENE — probe was launched aboard one of the space program's mainstay H-2A rockets from its launch-pad on Tanegashima, the remote island where the agency's space center is located. Footage of the launch carried live over the Internet showed the rocket racing upward through slightly hazy skies to the southeast. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the craft's engines and navigation systems appeared to be operating normally. The launch of the 32-billion ...
Bread & vinegar
Post Date: 2007-09-13 12:30:03 by richard9151
3 Comments
Each of us has a built-in hormonal reflex that sends a "full" message from digestive organs to the brain. Unfortunately, some people learn to tune that message out, resulting in frequent overeating. But research shows there may be a simple way to help get the message through loud and clear. And as an added bonus, this method might help diabetics control blood sugar levels. Bread & vinegar Satiety is the feeling you get when you're full. And according to a Swedish study, that feeling can be helped along with a little acetic acid, which is the component in vinegar that produces the sour taste. Researchers at the Department of Food Technology, Engineering and Nutrition, ...
Group: Ebola threatens gorilla recovery
Post Date: 2007-09-13 06:52:01 by HOUNDDAWG
3 Comments
GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- The most common type of gorilla is now "critically endangered," one step away from global extinction, according to the 2007 Red List of Threatened Species released Wednesday by the World Conservation Union. art.western.gorilla.ap.jpg The Ebola virus is depleting Western Gorilla populations to a point where it might become impossible for them to recover. Commercial hunting, civil unrest and habitat loss due to logging and forest clearance for palm oil plantations are compounding the problem, said the Swiss-based group known by its acronym IUCN. "Great apes are our closest living relatives and very special creatures," Russ Mittermeier, head ...
New evidence on the role of climate in Neanderthal extinction
Post Date: 2007-09-12 21:47:11 by farmfriend
5 Comments
New evidence on the role of climate in Neanderthal extinction Contact: Simon Jenkins S.Jenkins@leeds.ac.uk 44-011-334-35764 University of Leeds THE mystery of what killed the Neanderthals has moved a step closer to resolution after an international study led by the University of Leeds has ruled out one of the competing theories – catastrophic climate change – as the most likely cause. The bones of more than 400 Neanderthals have been found since the first discoveries were made in the early 19th century. The finds suggest the Neanderthals, named after the Neander Valley near Düsseldorf, where they were first recognized as an extinct kind of archaic humans, inhabited Europe ...
Study shows wild male chimpanzees use stolen food to win over the opposite sex
Post Date: 2007-09-11 20:47:05 by farmfriend
5 Comments
Contact: Lesley Wilkinson 44-178-646-7058 Public Library of Science Study shows wild male chimpanzees use stolen food to win over the opposite sex They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and the same could be said for female chimpanzees. Researchers studying wild chimps in West Africa have discovered that males pinch desirable fruits from local farms and orchards as a means of attracting female mates. The study is published in the September 12 issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE. Lead researcher, Dr Kimberley Hockings from the University of Stirling’s Department of Psychology said: “We believe the males may be using crop-raids as a way ...
Acid Rain Has a Disproportionate Impact on Coastal Waters
Post Date: 2007-09-11 20:39:42 by farmfriend
0 Comments
Acid Rain Has a Disproportionate Impact on Coastal Waters Research Suggests Sulfur, Nitrogen Emissions Play a Role in Changing Chemistry Near the Coast The release of sulfur and nitrogen into the atmosphere by power plants and agricultural activities plays a minor role in making the ocean more acidic on a global scale, but the impact is greatly amplified in the shallower waters of the coastal ocean, according to new research by atmospheric and marine chemists. Ocean “acidification” occurs when chemical compounds such as carbon dioxide, sulfur, or nitrogen mix with seawater, a process which lowers the pH and reduces the storage of carbon. Ocean acidification hampers the ability ...
Researcher finds lake boiling with methane
Post Date: 2007-09-11 20:23:25 by farmfriend
4 Comments
Researcher finds lake boiling with methane Submitted by Katey Walter 09/07/07 Last month, UAF researcher Katey Walter brought a National Public Radio crew to Alaska’s North Slope, hoping to show them examples of what happens when methane is released when permafrost thaws beneath lakes. When they reached their destination, Walter and the crew found even more than they bargained for: a lake violently boiling with escaping methane. “It was cold, wet and windy. We were dropped off in the middle of nowhere by a helicopter and paddled out to a huge methane plume in the middle of the lake with no idea what to expect, how strong the bubbling plume would be, whether or not our raft ...
Pennsylvania Man Claims to Burn Salt Water
Post Date: 2007-09-11 18:09:51 by christine
5 Comments
ERIE, Pa. — An Erie, Pa., cancer researcher says he has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by a retired chemistry professor as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century. John Kanzius says he happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he says he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn. The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel. • Click here for http://FOXNews.com's Patents and ...
French Bulldog at Heart of RFID Tumor Story
Post Date: 2007-09-10 21:44:03 by tom007
2 Comments
French Bulldog at Heart of RFID Tumor Story By Kim Zetter EmailSeptember 10, 2007 | 5:31:55 PMCategories: RFID Leon A nine-year-old French bulldog named Leon was the catalyst for the enterprising Associated Press story published this weekend about the link between RFID chips and cancer -- which comes just a week after the California senate passed a bill prohibiting the forced implanation of chips in humans. Leon (pictured at right) was diagnosed in 2004 with a tumor and later died. His Canadian owner "Jeanne," believing the RFID chip embedded in Leon's neck for identification purposes was linked to her pet's death, decided to seek answers about why the tumor had attached ...
iPhone User Racks Up $4,800 Bill
Post Date: 2007-09-10 21:12:25 by tom007
0 Comments
iPhone User Racks Up $4,800 Bill By David Becker EmailSeptember 10, 2007 | 6:12:08 PMCategories: iPhone Iphone1 Here's another savvy Gadget Lab tip for new iPhone owners: Make sure you turn off e-mail updates before you take it overseas. In fact, just leave it at home to be safe. In a lead-lined case. Otherwise, you may follow in the steps of Jay Levy, who racked up a $4,800 AT&T bill that ran 54 pages long after taking three iPhones on a European cruise, apparently just so he could be near their gadgety perfection. He didn't use any of the phones to make or take calls, but the things kept checking in for e-mail updates, racking up roaming charges like a drunk teenager with a ...
Homo politicus: brain function of liberals, conservatives differs
Post Date: 2007-09-10 06:37:49 by Diana
5 Comments
PARIS (AFP) - The brain neurons of liberals and conservatives fire differently when confronted with tough choices, suggesting that some political divides may be hard-wired, according a study released Sunday. Aristotle may have been more on the mark than he realised when he said that man is by nature a political animal. Dozens of previous studies have established a strong link between political persuasion and certain personality traits. Conservatives tend to crave order and structure in their lives, and are more consistent in the way they make decisions. Liberals, by contrast, show a higher tolerance for ambiguity and complexity, and adapt more easily to unexpected circumstances. The ...
Melting ice cap triggering earthquakes
Post Date: 2007-09-09 17:15:08 by Zipporah
17 Comments
Melting ice cap triggering earthquakes· Estimates of sea-level rise out of date, say scientists · Religious leaders pray for planet at Greenland glacier Paul Brown in Ilulissat The Guardian Saturday September 8 2007 The Greenland ice cap is melting so quickly that it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break off. Scientists monitoring events this summer say the acceleration could be catastrophic in terms of sea-level rise and make predictions this February by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change far too low. The glacier at Ilulissat, which supposedly spawned the iceberg that sank the Titantic, is now flowing three ...
Latest [Newer] 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 [Older]
|