Slashdot Mirror
Domain: nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Stories and comments across the archive that link to nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.
Stories · 5
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Canadian Bureacracy Can't Answer Simple Question: What's This Study With NASA?
Saint Aardvark writes "It seemed like a pretty simple question about a pretty cool topic: an Ottawa newspaper wanted to ask Canada's National Research Council about a joint study with NASA on tracking falling snow in Canada. Conventional radar can see where it's falling, but not the amount — so NASA, in collaboration with the NRC, Environment Canada and a few universities, arranged flights through falling snow to analyse readings with different instruments. But when they contacted the NRC to get the Canadian angle, "it took a small army of staffers— 11 of them by our count — to decide how to answer, and dozens of emails back and forth to circulate the Citizen's request, discuss its motivation, develop their response, and "massage" its text." No interview was given: "I am not convinced we need an interview. A few lines are fine. Please let me see them first," says one civil servant in the NRC emails obtained by the newspaper under the Access to Information act. By the time the NRC finally sorted out a boring, technical response, the newspaper had already called up a NASA scientist and got all the info they asked for; it took about 15 minutes." -
Molecules Manipulated with Lasers
eldavojohn writes "Scientists have been busy in Ottawa using lasers to manipulate chemical reactions. While this may not seem like an impressive feat, the implications this has for quantum mechanics is quite large. From the article, "According to Albert Stolow, the NRC team leader, the tool used to alter molecular landscapes has implications beyond the control of chemical reactions. One example already mentioned is in the area of quantum information either to directly encode molecular scale information or to control molecular scale switches. Another application is in developing novel forms of optical microscopy of live cells, where quantum control methods can be used to sharpen images, enhance sensitivity and perhaps even perform molecular scale surgery on individual cells. The electric interaction underlying the NRC technique is an essential tool on the quantum mechanic's workbench. Its application to science and technology could reach deep into the quantum world of the ultrasmall." The article in science was where I caught this initially though it doesn't seem to be free anywhere online. The final words of the summary are "suggesting broad applicability" but only time will tell how far our imaginations will use this research." -
Business Considers Open Source on Par with Commercial Software
quad4b writes "At the International Conference on COTS-based Software Systems in Spain last week, representatives from organizations such at the Software Engineering Institute (remember the CMM), National Research Council of Canada and the European Software Institute discussed the inclusion of Open Source Software for the first time on the conference agenda. COTS software includes stuff like commercial operating systems, desktop software, and ERP systems among others. The conference examined best practices for integrating these pre-built components in systems development efforts. They conceded that open source software is essentially no different from commercially built software and that both types have their risks in terms of supportability and security. (what opponents of OSS say is its weakness) Interestingly enough, a senior representative of IBM was present and discussed with some of us, over lunch, how IBM is determined to move to an open desktop based on Linux and OpenOffice within about a year." -
CFH Telescope Gets New Wide-field Digital Camera
Pixie writes "The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, has begun using a new 350 MegaPixel, wide-field camera called MegaPrime. This new camera, designed collaboratively by NRC-HIA in Canada, CEA and Observatoire de Paris in France, and CFHT in the US, will provide astronomers with extrodinary wide-field views of the heavens. Official press releases available at CFHT, NRC-HIA and CEA." -
CFH Telescope Gets New Wide-field Digital Camera
Pixie writes "The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, has begun using a new 350 MegaPixel, wide-field camera called MegaPrime. This new camera, designed collaboratively by NRC-HIA in Canada, CEA and Observatoire de Paris in France, and CFHT in the US, will provide astronomers with extrodinary wide-field views of the heavens. Official press releases available at CFHT, NRC-HIA and CEA."