Slashdot Mirror

a $2 million contest for driverless vehicles over a 132 mile course in California's Mohave Desert.

The car is powered by 7 Pentium M laptops. No drivers? Are the laptops running in Safe Mode? Ah, that explains why its average speed is 19.1mph.

Here is a link to the new scientist article that someone mentioned. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg186249 45.800 Here is a link to a guy who is an actual cyborg. This person lost both of his arms and now he can robotic arms just by thinking about it. Not necessairly related but it shows it's possible. http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/generaltec hnology/c83d87fd92c26010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.h tml Also here is the article: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/medicine/6123dc8a2507 6010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html So yeah. Basically science is quickly approaching the realm of Iron Man.

Because ice caps on Mars are shrinking:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8029

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/mg s-092005-imagesc.html

Of course, shrinking ice caps on Mars kinda kill the "ohmygodmankindiscausingglobalwarming" leftist groupthink crowd, doesn't it?

Here's a link to news from year 2003 where they accounced it:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3838

http://www.wonderquest.com/black-holes-proof.htm
Summarizes very neatly the default hypothesis that they exist

This leaves aside the problem of coming up with a better theory than GR (which has been extensively tested)

After all, the theory of black holes has been contested vigorously from its inception http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar_limit
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6193

Two examples of a reasonable approximation to proof:
Massive black holes ... Here they seem to have shown that MACHOs and WIMPs do not fit the bill.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/blackhole_mi lkyway_021016.html

And for a stellar mass black hole
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/de ath_spiral_010111.html

Because it has recognized talent and some big-name backers behind it?

I can understand a healthy amount of skepticism about this system, but some of the comments here have gone beyond "healthy amount" into Sad Bitter Monkey territory. The web page isn't that bad, although it's certainly not that good. If you look at the "About" page you'll see the look they're presumably really trying for, though, and it's hardly a work of eye-bleeding terror.

And, enough with the accusations of stealing from Firefox. Most articles other than Business Week's, like this and this and this, refer to it as being Mozilla-based. This isn't a shell game. They're not hiding anything. Wait until they actually, oh, release the damn browser before whining about MPL violations.

I'm not really sure I'm interested in Flock, given its "social browser" focus, but I think they're on the right track: the new frontiers in web browsing aren't rendering. Sure, there's work to be done in improving engines to be fully compliant with W3C standards, and in keeping up with new standards as they happen, but the most interesting browser out there right now is the Mac-nly OmniWeb, and that's entirely because of its UI innovations. It does stuff other browsers don't do.

So c'mon, guys. Put a sock in the hip "they're out to scam you" cynicism for just a bit. Their business model may prove non-existent, the company may be a flash in the pan, but all the evidence suggests that they're sincere in trying to do some cool stuff in a new Gecko browser. More power to 'em.

Just because cannabis use precedes a schizophrenia diagnosis means nothing. The diagnosis of schizophrenia does not tell us whether or not it was previously present or not. And furthermore, people with schizotypal symptoms (that precede schizophrenia) smoke cannabis at approximately a 60% rate. So the real question here is whether cannabis smoking sends schizotypal individuals over the edge into full schizophrenia, not whether it makes normal people into Reefer-Madness head cases.

Are the results statistically significant? That sample size is TINY. Did the study pass a T-test for statistical significance? Worldwide, more people use marijuana than ever today. Yet the incidence of mental illness has remained constant in the last 50 years. If marijuana use truly did cause mental illness, rather than the other way around, the incidence of mental illness should also have risen.

Something like 80-85% of schizophrenics smoke cigarettes. Does nicotine cause schizophrenia? Or is it more likely that the intoxicating effects of nicotine help schizophrenics to manage their state? What makes us think cannabis is a causal factor?

There is an article here that outlines most of the problems with the existing cannabis research. And it brings to light one of the only useful conclusions that has come out of all of the hysterics - that young people with a certain gene (that is present in 20-25% of people) are at risk for future mental illness if they use cannabis when they are under 18 - and this risk ONLY exists when they are under 18 and use it. Since nobody is reasonably suggesting cannabis use, or any intoxicant use, be generally legalized for minors, this is interesting trivia but of little relevance to cannabis policy for adults.

It does underscore one of the problems with the black market though - illegal sellers do not check ID. More minors report access to cannabis than they do alcohol and cigarettes. Clearly prohibition has failed at keeping cannabis from being available to minors.

Unfortunately the article is subscription only. But if you have a subscription, I hope you find it useful.

Do you really WANT to live 300 years?

Yes. I'd like to live 3 million. Heck, as long as I'm not alone after universal heat death, I'd be happy to live forever. Easy enough question. :)

each decade is compounded by more health problems

Which eventually kill you (or are symptoms of other effects that eventually lead to your death). If you're living for prolongued periods of time, those health problems are obviously being addressed.

every body part wears out with time

Then replace or regrow.

Amazing what's already out there already in the lab, isn't it?

If you can't live it up in the first 70 years

It may surprise you to learn that A) many of us aspire to much more than "living it up", and B) there are many kinds of "living it up" that the average person not born to a billionare/who doesn't become a billionare can't do in 70 years.

As for the former, I write software for fun. I can produce it at a finite rate. I see years tick by on projects. I also like to write (as in literature), make artwork, and tinker with "physical" devices. I want to raise a child or two as well. It is doubtful that in 70 years I could finish everything that I want to accomplish *thusfar*, let alone that I will come up with in the rest of my life.

I believe he was talking about this one: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8075
Quite interesting, actually.

Cheers,

Morel

From the Washington Post

From the Harvard Buisness School

From New Scientist

There are tons more out there.

My only concern with future phones is the prevalence of ads. I block any and all ads I can on the internet, both with a large hosts file and Firefox's AdBlock extention. I'll go nuts if I can't bar proximity ads from worming into my phone, like this.

Sounds silly, but... http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6777

Not that it matters to /.ers

Officials from NTT DoCoMo say the phones could receive data at 100 megabits per second on the move and at up to a gigabit per second while static. At this rate, an entire DVD could be downloaded within a minute.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2140

Of course, how many pot smokers do you know that just give up and quit?

Typically, DNA is taken from suspects via a swab of saliva. A DNA "profile" -- or unique numeric signature -- is generated, which can be stored without including private genetic information.

There is a mistaken belief that a DNA test will uniquely identify someone, that is not true. The technology is a sampling one, it does not compare everything in someone's DNA against the test DNA. The main value is in excluding people who cannot match the DNA profile.

The public belief is that these tests are 100% accurate and that when the police scientist says it is a match then it is an absolute match.

Fingerprints have similar problems, see this article.

Muahahha.... I predict a spinach powered car competition.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6434

Let's hope they figure out with complete certainty what the rules are for making prions -- and then nobody does it.

Otherwise we've got an Ice-9 problem.

I hope the folks making artificial proteins have thought long and hard about proteins that make themselves -- and what defines them. Meanwhile don't lick your fingers, kids.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg18725 144.300

'Mad ewes' give birth to BSE lambs
        * 27 August 2005
        * Debora MacKenzie
        * New Scientist Magazine issue 2514
QUOTE
New evidence from an experimental flock raises the possibility that the disease may have spread among Europe's sheep populations.

Sheep develop a disease similar to BSE (mad cow disease) if they eat infected cattle tissue. Now Sue Bellworthy and colleagues at the UK's Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) have shown that BSE can also be inherited in sheep. They report that two ewes experimentally infected with BSE in 2000 gave birth to lambs in 2003 that died of BSE this year (The Veterinary Record, vol 157, p 206). It is the first confirmation of "vertical" transmission from mother to lamb before or during birth - something suspected but never proved in cattle.

Feeding cattle remains to sheep was banned in the European Union in 1994, and any sheep infected that way should have died by now. But the new finding means that BSE could have passed ...
END QUOTE

I am not sure it's related, but there was a video of carbon nanotubes being in the presence of a camera flash, ending in sparks and fire...

Lightning can be quite bright, much moreso than a camera flash, and if lightning were to strike anywhere near the elevator... lack of hilarity ensues.

Ah yes, here it is. April of 2002: Link 1 - Link 2

An alternative to the sphere idea is the floor movement idea.

Basically the floor senses where you are going and makes sure to put a moving panel under your foot no matter which way you go.

These movie piracy articles always have the same themes -- stop p2p, stop camcorders in theaters. The fact that 80% of pirated movies are leaked by industry insiders (New Scientist) is NEVER mentioned. They've got the public convinced that movie piracy consists of techno-geeks sneaking hidden cameras into theaters and posting the files on p2p networks. Never mind that those camcorder versions are crap. The high quality copies everybody wants are made directly from the originals by people within the movie industry. It's the same mentality as blaming terrorists for every problem.

I prefer this comment

But I prefer these articles:

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-912695.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2271

"Certain music CDs fitted with digital barriers to stop copying can also cause some Apple computers to crash and refuse to spit out the incompatible disc. The CDs can cause Mac computers to freeze and then reboot to a grey screen, according to an Apple technical support report."

To quote Ash: "WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?"

i'll buy that the paperwork is holding the whole process up. One of the reasons why Europe will get "advanced" cruise control while we in the state will have to wait forever.....i mean, it could be 5 years before we get something like that on the roads.

As for the autopilot, we already have it. Commercial airlines land and take off via autopilot all the time currently. Even if we didn't have it in commercial planes, the military has any number of planes that will do this. This one takes about auto landing at sea.

Heck, there was an article just a while ago about how the military has what amounts to a RTS interface for controling groups of drone aircraft. And that is the stuff they tell us about.

The atmosphere at the time wasn't so useless-for-flying-in as present-day's is: it was oxygen-richer and significantly denser.

Nowadays the biggest bird that can get airborne is a gooneybird/albatross ( or maybe an eagle, as I've never seen a pair of albatross/eagle together. . . ), yet
in water we've got some pretty big "flying" things with very little wing on 'em.

I don't know if the asteroid/comet strike changed the air-composition or stripped some atmosphere off from our world, or both, but it's the explanation that makes sense-est.

( BTW, I think it was NewScientist that covered both those aspects, oxygen & density, separately IIRC, but it's been years, so I'm not certain, and with their "Must Be Subscribed To DeadTrees Edition To Have Archives" rule. . . bah. )

Actually, since the dimensions & approximate-mass of these pterosaurs is known, the atmospheric-density could be calculated by anyone whith the knowledge to do so, straightforwardly, eh?

Actually, we are not "still coming out of the last ice age". Were this a "normal" interglacial period, we would be well into the cooling phase of the next ice age. By the early part of the 20th century we had modified the Earth's atmosphere sufficiently to prevent it from entering another glaciation. The substantial increase in CO2 since has moved us off the scale entirely.

There is now a wide spread thawing of Siberian lakes http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg187251 24.500 that may add billions of tons of methane to the atmosphere. Methane is a much more potent green house gas than CO2. There are more such positive feedback loops to come -- if the ocean warms sufficiently, deep sea methane hydrates will thaw and release enormous quantities of methane into the atmosphere (trillions of tons of methane are locked up in such methane hydrates). Such a release of methane into the atmosphere will cause a catastrophic increase in temperatures. Some paleontologists believe that precisely such releases of methane were the final acts in processes of global warming that caused the marine mass extinction at the Paleocene/Eocene boundary and the much larger mass extinction at the end of the Permian.http://www.geotimes.org/nov04/feature_clim ate.html.

But of course all Bush lovers and libertarian ideologues know that the melting Arctic ice is just a socialist plot. After all, we know that government regulation is always bad, so if a problem requires government regulation to solve, that problem must not actually exist.

Two more suggestions: Science News http://www.sciencenews.org/ and New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/

Perhaps they could use biodegradable oil?

There's an old sailors' tale that pouring a teaspoonful of oil on troubled waters soothed them. Turns out that 1 teaspoonful of oil would cover 100 square metres. And for really troubled waters, they would use a whole barrel or more.

And there's actually a scientific reasoning behind this. The oil helps increase the surface tension of the water preventing the wave crests from disintegrating and throwing spray all over the place. And this spray acts as a fluid layer between the atmosphere and the ocean, reducing air friction and allowing winds to gain speed.

This happens around 5 on the Beaufort scale

New Scientist had an article on this subject, with a followup:

The 1937 US Naval Academy textbook Modern Seamanship by Austin M. Knight gives specific instructions on the use of oil, with illustrations. It notes that the practice was so valuable that "all United States Registered machinery propelled ships of over two hundred tons must carry from 30 to 100 gallons (amount dependent on tonnage) of oil..."

But all of this would only work for the local vicinity of a single ship. You would need a considerable lot more to cover an entire ocean.

Perhaps they could use biodegradable oil?

There's an old sailors' tale that pouring a teaspoonful of oil on troubled waters soothed them. Turns out that 1 teaspoonful of oil would cover 100 square metres. And for really troubled waters, they would use a whole barrel or more.

And there's actually a scientific reasoning behind this. The oil helps increase the surface tension of the water preventing the wave crests from disintegrating and throwing spray all over the place. And this spray acts as a fluid layer between the atmosphere and the ocean, reducing air friction and allowing winds to gain speed.

This happens around 5 on the Beaufort scale

New Scientist had an article on this subject, with a followup:

The 1937 US Naval Academy textbook Modern Seamanship by Austin M. Knight gives specific instructions on the use of oil, with illustrations. It notes that the practice was so valuable that "all United States Registered machinery propelled ships of over two hundred tons must carry from 30 to 100 gallons (amount dependent on tonnage) of oil..."

But all of this would only work for the local vicinity of a single ship. You would need a considerable lot more to cover an entire ocean.

It's not that big of a problem. I mean, it's only after forty years that plants are running out of room in their 'temporary' storage pools. The interim solution that's been found is above ground crypts. After spending twenty years in a pool, they're cool enough to transfer to an above ground crypt. At this point the heat produced has lowered to the point that active cooling isn't required. The thing to remember is the small size of this stuff. You can keep 20 years of waste in a pool the size of an olympic swimming pool.

If we were to take all the spent fuel produced to date in the United States and stack it side-by-side, end-to-end, the fuel assemblies would cover an area about the size of a football field to a depth of about five yards.

Buy and read the New Scientist magazine. They cover complex scientific topics. And they convey them in clear (even readable) language. You will soon find that good science and good writing are not mutually exclusive.

--
VPS Hosting Anyone?

We have likely passed a trigger point beyond which global warming would continue even if all human releases of greenhouse gases fell immediately to zero, due to lags in the system.

The good news is that this is not the first time this has happened over geologic time, and whatever mechanism turns it off and into another Ice Age will eventually kick in.

But NOW would be a Real Good Time for researchers to begin bioengineering trees that produce carbon nanotube-laden bark, and grow at incredibly rapid rates.

Like SimilarityEngine's response said, it weighs nearly diddly. Here's a picture.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7970

The 44 to 88 pounds of stuff is the stuff you need to carry around anyway. It's a well-thought out solution; using waste energy for something useful.

As this is now.. it is doomed for the land of the lost and forgotten.
We'll see. Depending on the price tag on it, I'd be happy to get one of these in the form it is (As this is now) already.

If you're just looking for enough power for a game boy, you might well be able to do it with a standard bag. 84lbs is the top end of the power range.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7970 has another viewpoint, and even a clear picture.

Perhaps interest in "religion," if such a thing can possibly be encoded in genes, could be selected for. But I have a hard time understanding how religiousness could be encoded into genes. Body strength is clear, but propensity to religion would require, I think, that the genetic code somehow be able to address specific abstract concepts. I have a hard time understanding how that could be, and without a lot of evidence showing how there could be such a causal chain, I would dismiss it.

Notice my careful wording here. This doesn't say there is a "God gene".

Well?

Here you go.

Now the phone people are doing this. Which they shouldn't. Why should a phone be offering services over Bluetooth? So it can receive spam?. Yes, there's now Bluetooth spam, and with a high-powered transmitter the spam station can achieve a 100 meter range.

Wait a dogone minute.... is there link between be coal power and ozone? I thought the Ozone Hole was do to CFC release into the air and Comsic Rays. In fact, burning coal releases ozone.

Although I cannot remember the original, there are other virtual schizophrenia devices. These are designed to either help others understand the disease, or to help those with it understand their own psychosis

Extra special bonus points to someone who finds the one I remember, which showed spooky faces coming out of nowhere and taunting you

Hey, if it helps those with the disease, and gives me a freaky good time to boot, that's good stuff

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/gm-food/d n7729

Researchers at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Dorset, UK, tested the herbicide glufosinate ammonium on plants in fields previously sowed with oilseed rape modified to carry a gene conferring resistance to the herbicide. But a single charlock plant carried on growing happily, raising fears that the gene for herbicide resistance had crossed over to the charlock and created a herbicide-resistant strain.

For a theory to be "scientific," it must provide the basis for testable hypotheses.

Here are two sides of this particular debate:

1) "There is no superweed and there never has been," echoes Brian Johnson, ecological geneticist at English Nature, the nature advisers to the British government. "It's more likely that herbicide resistance in charlock has evolved naturally."

or

2) But according to some media reports, genetic testing of the purported hybrid showed that it carries the same gene as the GM crop.

Why would anyone want to close their eyes and cover their ears and say "I can't hear you - there is only evolution - there is no intelligent design - I'm not listening to you"? When actual real scientists are creating organisms which other scientists cannot distinguish from similar species found in nature?

According to New Scientist magazine there's been a blood test for BSE (Bovive Spongiform Encephalopathy(Mad Cow Disease)) since 2003. The more tests out there the better, of course. Better tests mean quicker testing, means more US cattle tested, means fewer cases hiding, means fewer cases of vCJD in american humans.

How about New Scirntist's coverage? Or LiveScience.com?

No bugmenot required, and they're science sites.

Slashdot gets more retarded every day, I swear.

(this post's mind-reading captcha="resorts")

I read the other comments in this thread before posting my own (who'd have thought that post would have so many replies).

Anyway, consider my earlier post as reworded as follows: The evidence that circumcision can protect against HIV is actually quite good. The study referenced controlled for social, religious, etc factors.

Circumcision can also protect against HIV.

Check it out: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg187251 46.400

Article 1 of the Geneva Convention's Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons has laudable aims. It states, "It is prohibited to employ laser weapons specifically designed, as their sole combat function or as one of their combat functions, to cause permanent blindness to unenhanced vision."

But Article 3 opens the door to lasers that blind so long as that was not their aim. It states: "Blinding as an incidental or collateral effect of the legitimate military employment of laser systems, including laser systems used against optical equipment, is not covered by the prohibition of this Protocol".

...has more info about the expensive version.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3061

I'm lost as to why Cord Blood is ignored, especially new discoveries like this http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7864 that they can make it embryonic in character? -- Or do we just want to push for Embryonic, blindly, because we don't want to allow anyone to question our ethics?

I tend to think at best, just for a SWAG, we have to go on past planetary history. We usually wind up with major wars fought by major powers with whatever the major weapons of that time period were. It has eventually always happened. I see nothing that convinces me todays humans are any better than yesterdays humans in that regard. So the combination of lame hoomannz and natural cyclical warming trends should indicate for the next generation or more we will have _more warming_.

The ocean was the logical place to look for any extra heat the Earth is collecting. "It's the biggest bucket to hold heat," says Willis. "It has the largest heat capacity of any single component of the climate system." A high heat capacity means that it takes a lot of energy to raise the temperature. "You know it takes a lot of energy to boil a pot of water, so imagine how much you'd need to increase the ocean's temperature," adds Willis. "It takes at least a 1000 times more energy to raise the temperature of the ocean than it does the atmosphere." "We know that if the ocean temperature is rising," says Willis, "there is a lot of energy that is causing it. The only way we have to explain that much heating is by greenhouse gases."

Here's a study that says that oil and gas will run out too fast and prevent any type of doomsday global warming. Actually, it's not the fact that oil will run out, it's the fact that oil and gas will peak and so we won't be able consume them at a fast enough rate.

That is of course if we don't replace the depleted oil with coal, which may be a possibility. But even still, it seems as if there are enough signs of global warming already and the oceans will be releasing so much CO2 that even if we stop using fossil fuels today there will still be net CO2 emissions.

The data is not conclusive, but it is unwise to be too attached to scientific theories that happen to be considered "proven". Not enough evidence yet to consider C=Constant false perhaps, but several scientists are concluding this as most likely based on several different kinds of observations.

Even something apparently simple as graviton exchange can result in experimental observation that the orbit of planets around the sun would decay if gravitons are limited to C. From experimental observations of the planets and the lack of decay. Here is an article that suggest gravitons must be at least 2E10 times C. This is the reason that gravity is typically described as a warping of space, though graviton particle exchange makes more sense in other contexts.

BTW, from what I have been able to see, none of the modern science for C!=constant helps the creationists.