Slashdot Mirror
Domain: sciam.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to sciam.com.
Stories · 244
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X Marks the Spot Where Black Holes Meet
An anonymous reader writes "Scientific America has an article describing how the X shape observed at the center of some galaxies may be explained by the merging of massive black holes at the center of colliding galaxies." -
X Marks the Spot Where Black Holes Meet
An anonymous reader writes "Scientific America has an article describing how the X shape observed at the center of some galaxies may be explained by the merging of massive black holes at the center of colliding galaxies." -
Clockless Computing
ender81b writes "Scientific American is carrying a nice article on asynchronous chips. In general, the article advocates that eventually all computer systems will have to move to an asynchronous design. The article focuses on Sun's efforts but gives a nice overview of the general concept of asynchronous chip design." We had another story about this last year. -
New Technique Makes Most Gene Patents Irrelevant
Billy the Mountain writes "This Scientific American article, Legal Circumvention, describes a technique for circumventing gene patents whereby living cells are coaxed into expressing genes, especially those genes currently held under patents. Although, would-be exploiters of genes are prevented by patent restrictions from constructing a particular sequence and replicating it, patent law cannot be enforced in instances where an existing cell or organism is caused to express any of these patented genes and proteins." -
New Technique Makes Most Gene Patents Irrelevant
Billy the Mountain writes "This Scientific American article, Legal Circumvention, describes a technique for circumventing gene patents whereby living cells are coaxed into expressing genes, especially those genes currently held under patents. Although, would-be exploiters of genes are prevented by patent restrictions from constructing a particular sequence and replicating it, patent law cannot be enforced in instances where an existing cell or organism is caused to express any of these patented genes and proteins." -
Can Superconductors Block Gravitational Fields?
jswitte writes "Raymond Chiao, of the University of California at Berkel, believes that superconductors can convert electromagnetic radiation into gravitational radiation. His full paper can be found here. His theory is based on the idea that superconductors might be able to block the so-called 'gravitomagnetic' field just as they block the electomagnetic field in the famous Meissner effect allowing superconductors to levitate in magnetic fields. He claims that when he 'adds the gravitomagnetic field to the standard quantum equations for superconductivity, he confirms not only the gravitational Meissner-like effect but also a coupling between the two breeds of magnetic field. An ordinary magnetic field sets electrons in motion near the surface of a superconductor. Those electrons carry mass, and so their motion generates a gravitomagnetic field.'" -
Scientific American Web Awards
ldopa1 writes "Scientific American has just announced their 2nd Annual Web Awards. The article outlines the very best of the best of the web in the following categories: Archaeology & Paleontology, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth & Environment, Engineering and Technology, Mathematics, Medicine and Physics. Sadly, Slashdot isn't on the list, but some great sites are. It's worth checking out." -
Spoofing URLs With Unicode
Embedded Geek writes: "Scientific American has an interesting article about how a pair of students at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology registered "microsoft.com" with Verisign, using the Russian Cyrillic letters "c" and "o". Even though it is a completely different domain, the two display identically (the article uses the term "homograph"). The work was done for a paper in the Communications of the ACM (the paper itself is not online). The article characterizes attacks using this spoof as "scary, if not entirely probable," assuming that a hacker would have to first take over a page at another site. I disagree: sending out a mail message with the URL waiting to be clicked ("Bill Gates will send you ten dollars!") is just one alternate technique. While security problems with Unicode have been noted here before, this might be a new twist." -
Spintronics May Lead to Quantum Microchips
Rashan writes "A Scientific American article which waxes poetic about the possibility of microchips which use the "spin" of an electron to perform their functions." An excellent explanation of a complex subject. -
Spintronics May Lead to Quantum Microchips
Rashan writes "A Scientific American article which waxes poetic about the possibility of microchips which use the "spin" of an electron to perform their functions." An excellent explanation of a complex subject. -
More on the Pluto-Kuiper Express
addie writes "Scientific American has a great, extensive article about Pluto and the possibilities of exploring it in the near future. Neat descriptions of Kuiper Belt and what we can learn about solar system birth and growth from the tiny planet." -
More on the Pluto-Kuiper Express
addie writes "Scientific American has a great, extensive article about Pluto and the possibilities of exploring it in the near future. Neat descriptions of Kuiper Belt and what we can learn about solar system birth and growth from the tiny planet." -
Smart Sutures Tie Themselves
edwilli writes "Scientific American has an interesting article on "smart" thermoplastic materal that can tie itself into a knot. Finally you can throw away those velcro shoes." -
Smart Sutures Tie Themselves
edwilli writes "Scientific American has an interesting article on "smart" thermoplastic materal that can tie itself into a knot. Finally you can throw away those velcro shoes." -
Spark Gaps and Ultra Wide Band Data Transmission
Embedded Geek writes: "It sounds like the revenge of Marconi, but Scientific American has a story about the use of spark gap technology for Ultra Wide Band (UWB) data transmission to send data at 100 to 500 Mbps across short distances (five to ten meters). As with every new technology, 'engineers expect these UWB units to be cheaper, smaller and less power-hungry than today's narrowband radio devices,' but there might be some truth to the hype. The secret appears to be the lack of a carrier wave, allowing use of wide swaths of the spectrum for transmission (the few comments I read at the FCC site referenced in the article addressed spectrum allocation)." Read below for a few more links, too."The article pitches the technology as a challenger or succesor to Bluetooth and 802.11a. There are several commercial companies investigating the technology (Aetherwire, Multispectral, and others are cited in the article) and Intel has a paper cited in the article. Spin off applications from the components needed to make this technology work might include a GPS style system accurate to one meter and a radar technology that would allow seeing through walls for construction, rescue, and (ahem) law enforcement."
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R.I.P for D.I.Y Or Long Live Open Source?
Embedded Geek writes "Scientific American has an article on the decline of science hobbyists. It presents a long litany of woe you'd expect about the "Good Old Days" (the death of classic electronic tinkering magazines, Edmund Scientific's corporate changes, and the cancelation of SciAm's own "Amateur Scientist" column), but also discusses some of the real trends in technology that have caused these changes. Declining manufacturing costs now make it cheaper to buy a telescope, radio, or computer than to build one yourself. The increased complexity of our gadgets doesn't help either (Ever tried to fix surface mount components with a soldering iron at your kitchen table? Don't!!) "Personally, I found the tranformation of science amateurs into "quasi-professionals" intriguing. The Society for Amateur Scientists now holds sessions on how to publish research and how to claim tax deductions for home laboratories. Also, amateur astronmers are making great strides in comet discovery. Being that most of the people in the open source movement are software professionals, it becomes easy to draw an analogy between it and tinkering of yore.
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R.I.P for D.I.Y Or Long Live Open Source?
Embedded Geek writes "Scientific American has an article on the decline of science hobbyists. It presents a long litany of woe you'd expect about the "Good Old Days" (the death of classic electronic tinkering magazines, Edmund Scientific's corporate changes, and the cancelation of SciAm's own "Amateur Scientist" column), but also discusses some of the real trends in technology that have caused these changes. Declining manufacturing costs now make it cheaper to buy a telescope, radio, or computer than to build one yourself. The increased complexity of our gadgets doesn't help either (Ever tried to fix surface mount components with a soldering iron at your kitchen table? Don't!!) "Personally, I found the tranformation of science amateurs into "quasi-professionals" intriguing. The Society for Amateur Scientists now holds sessions on how to publish research and how to claim tax deductions for home laboratories. Also, amateur astronmers are making great strides in comet discovery. Being that most of the people in the open source movement are software professionals, it becomes easy to draw an analogy between it and tinkering of yore.
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Gemini Observatory Probes Galaxy NGC 1068 Churning Core
Mr. Intel writes: "Using the Gemini Telescope at Mauna Kea, scientists have created a 3D movie of a distant galaxy. How you ask? By using a new instrument, the Integral Field Unitor or IFU, they can collect vast amounts of light and scan the beams using 1500 special optical fibers. This allows the researchers to track stars and interstellar gas motion in the galaxy. There is a press release and an images page. SciAm also has an article." -
Scientific American Article: Internet-Spanning OS
Hell O'World writes: "Interesting article on Scientific American outlining what they call an Internet-scale operating system (ISOS). 'The Internet-resource paradigm can increase the bounds of what is possible (such as higher speeds or larger data sets) for some applications, whereas for others it can lower the cost.'" -
Towards an Internet-Scale Operating System
gschoder writes: "Two Berkeley computer scientists (including David P. Anderson of SETI@home) envision an Internet-scale operating system to harness the processing power, networking efficiency, and storage capacity of everyone's computers. Scientific American has their proposal." -
Towards an Internet-Scale Operating System
gschoder writes: "Two Berkeley computer scientists (including David P. Anderson of SETI@home) envision an Internet-scale operating system to harness the processing power, networking efficiency, and storage capacity of everyone's computers. Scientific American has their proposal." -
Towards an Internet-Scale Operating System
gschoder writes: "Two Berkeley computer scientists (including David P. Anderson of SETI@home) envision an Internet-scale operating system to harness the processing power, networking efficiency, and storage capacity of everyone's computers. Scientific American has their proposal." -
Scientific American on Television Addiction
Etcetera writes: "The Drudge Report had an interesting link to a Scientific American article on Television Addiction. Talks about some of the quantifiable effects TV watching can have on the body. Very interesting read. There's also a paragraph or two at the end about game/computer use and why that might be a *little* bit different. But, similar to Jon Katz's essay Browsing Alone, they conclude that when a habit interferes with a growing, active life, it should be taken seriously." -
Scientific American On Bad Patents
dltallan writes: "Scientific American has a short article in which Gregory Aharonian presents his picks for the four worst patents granted. I like the patent for training with manuals (1998)." The Bustpatents site is worth spending some eye-rubbing time on. -
Scientific American On Bad Patents
dltallan writes: "Scientific American has a short article in which Gregory Aharonian presents his picks for the four worst patents granted. I like the patent for training with manuals (1998)." The Bustpatents site is worth spending some eye-rubbing time on. -
Another New State of Matter
llamalicious writes: "And you thought a Nobel Prize for the discovery of Bose-Einstein Condensates was nifty, SciAm's reporting that scientists are taking this new discovery one step further, and have once more proven that we don't really know anything about quantum physics. This new state is being called a patterned fluid, which could supposedly move the field of quantum computing ahead." -
Wind Tunnel for Birds
bgood writes "'What, a swallow, carrying a coconut? ...' The Department of Animal Ecology at the University of Lund in Sweden uses a modern low-speed wind tunnel specially crafted for bird experiments. The birds are trained to fly in the 'test-section' and the tunnel can be tilted up or down to simulate ascent and descent. This link contains plenty of detail, complete with bird pictures. For those of you who yearn to build your own (non-bird-compliant) wind tunnel, you can find instructions in this Scientific American article." -
Why Physicists Don't Like To Talk About Friction
fm6 writes: "You would think that force required to overcome friction would be a function of the area of contact. But according to this Scientific American article, that's not true, and physicists don't have a really satisfying explanation." This is the sort of article that makes you want to go experiment with those teflon-coated disks made for moving furniture. -
Review Of 3D Web Browsers
shelflife points to this very intersting article on the 3D Web browsers in Scientific American. He writes that of the 3D systems mentioned, "A Swiss company, Geonova (www.geonova.ch), seems to demonstrate best that the idea of a geography-based Web is feasible with today's PCs. Engineers there created two impressively detailed models of Switzerland--one of the entire nation with 25-meter resolution and another of two central cantons at 50-centimeter resolution. .. Text and iconic labels hovered quite legibly above towns, lakes, companies and tourist attractions; clicking on the labels opened associated Web pages. What other 3D browsers are there -- VRML plugins have been around a while -- yet they do not seem to be successful. Why is that?" -
The Astronaut's New Clothes
Metox writes: "An article posted on www.sciam.com gives a glimpse into the future of space clothing for use in hostile environments, Earth orbit, Mars, etc. Of all the facts in the article, the one I found most interesting is that the current EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) suit is an astonishing 24 years old. However, the article gives a good reason for this. As the EVA suit is used in a microgravity environment, mobility isn't as important, and dexterity can be enhanced by simple changes to the arms and hands. The article highlights the current tests of two new EVA/Mars contenders, the I-Suit and the H-Suit." -
Virtual Telescope from Data Mining
Atomic Snarl writes: "The ASTROVIRTEL project is mining a 7 Terabyte archive from NASA, ESA, and others for all things astronomical. One recent discovery is a new Kupier Belt object larger than asteroid Ceres. APOD story here, ESO press release here. They're looking for more research projects, too. Just the thing for all those spare cycles on your G4 Cube... ;-)" -
The Evolution of Nanomachinery
csy writes: "Harvard's George Whitesides has a wonderful article on Nanomachinery in this month's issue of Scientific American. He casts doubts on the Drexlerian vision of mechanical assemblers, and argues that biology and chemistry, rather than mechanical engineering point to the answers in the quest for nanomachines." -
New Moon Formation Model
msheppard writes "This ariticle at Scientific American describes a new computer model describing the formation of the moon. "It is also strikingly similar to the first proposed impact theory 25 years ago, before computer simulations were available."" -
New Moon Formation Model
msheppard writes "This ariticle at Scientific American describes a new computer model describing the formation of the moon. "It is also strikingly similar to the first proposed impact theory 25 years ago, before computer simulations were available."" -
A Pill To Stop Female Menstruation
skinney writes: "Preliminary findings now suggest that it may be possible in the near future to reversibly suppress menstruation using new progestin antagonists, a class of drugs that includes the controversial abortion pill RU-486." If these pills make it to human trials and then to market, I wonder how much longer it would take for them to become over-the-counter. -
Can You Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of These?
Hell O'World writes: "Scientific American has a story on the history of Beowulf Clusters. It's written by the guys who built the Stone SouperComputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory." Nice example of how old hardware can be put to use to make new breakthroughs. Nothing radically new, but hey, it's 4AM Saturday morning, what do you expect. :) -
Better Sniper Detection
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Nostrildamus
Scientific American has a column about a guy who has the duty of smelling materials that go into space, to make sure the astronauts won't end up gagging from odors that might disperse in the atmosphere on Earth but be concentrated in the Shuttle or space station. -
Sci/Tech Web Awards 2001
Anonymous Coward writes: "Scientific American has posted their Sci/Tech Web Awards. From their website: "For the first time, we've decided to acknowledge our very favorite Web sites. It is an eclectic mix from the practical to the academic to the downright silly. Among this year's winners are sites that decode computer acronyms, explain group theory, unravel the genome, track chemistry in cartoons, and feature Britney Spears and superconductors in the same breath. Some are all-time classics, others not. But to our minds, they are among the Web's greatest hits. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do." It's a nice collection of high-quality links." Mindless link propagation at its finest. -
Sci/Tech Web Awards 2001
Anonymous Coward writes: "Scientific American has posted their Sci/Tech Web Awards. From their website: "For the first time, we've decided to acknowledge our very favorite Web sites. It is an eclectic mix from the practical to the academic to the downright silly. Among this year's winners are sites that decode computer acronyms, explain group theory, unravel the genome, track chemistry in cartoons, and feature Britney Spears and superconductors in the same breath. Some are all-time classics, others not. But to our minds, they are among the Web's greatest hits. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do." It's a nice collection of high-quality links." Mindless link propagation at its finest. -
Supercavitation: Ultrafast Underwater Weapons
Peter Dyck writes: "According to this article, the world's major naval powers are developing the means to build entire arsenals of innovative underwater weapons and armadas of undersea watercraft able to operate at unprecedented speeds. This high-velocity capability - a kind of "warp drive" for water - is based on the physical phenomenon of supercavitation. The trick is to surround an object or vessel with a renewable envelope of gas so that the liquid wets very little of the body's surface, thereby drastically reducing the viscous drag." We've done a couple of articles about these weapons before, but Scientific American has good explanations and diagrams and some new information. If (when?) underwater guns actually come into use, it will change the entire nature of underwater warfare. -
Neutron Stars May Have Diamond Cores
Waffle Iron writes: "This article at Scientific American postulates that neutron stars may contain a quark mixture that resembles a transparent diamond instead of the metal-like mixture assumed up to now. I wonder what it would look like inside, given that the light rays would be bent into strange paths by the intense gravity. Maybe it just doesn't matter, because this is one place that nobody will ever get to see." -
Neutron Stars May Have Diamond Cores
Waffle Iron writes: "This article at Scientific American postulates that neutron stars may contain a quark mixture that resembles a transparent diamond instead of the metal-like mixture assumed up to now. I wonder what it would look like inside, given that the light rays would be bent into strange paths by the intense gravity. Maybe it just doesn't matter, because this is one place that nobody will ever get to see." -
Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography
anymouse writes "The April issue of Scientific American has this article on chip lithography using soft x-rays (extreme UV). Strange bedfellows - Intel and AMD at Sandia." Discusses the research process and technology behind the next generation of chip production. -
Quantum Computers
joecool12321 writes: "Although Richard Feynman spoke about quantum computers in 1981, technology is only now starting to catch up. This article at Scientific American discusses recent developments towards the goal of 'infinite computing,' and research is showing that scalibility may not be far away, and thus scalable qbits." -
Quantum Computers
joecool12321 writes: "Although Richard Feynman spoke about quantum computers in 1981, technology is only now starting to catch up. This article at Scientific American discusses recent developments towards the goal of 'infinite computing,' and research is showing that scalibility may not be far away, and thus scalable qbits." -
Silicon Buckyballs = Quantum Bits?
nachoworld writes: "Scientific American has reported that buckyballs have been made from silicon instead of carbon. Because the Si-Si bond is weaker and longer than a C-C bond, silicon was thought to be unable to form a buckyball-like structure. But Hidefumi Hiura and colleagues at the Joint Center for Atomic Research in Japan have been able to create a buckyball with a stabilizing tungsten core. Granted this core changes the properties of the Si buckyball, but Hiura suggests that they may serve as excellent quibits, which store single bits of information in quantum computers. The spin state of the metal atom could encode the bit, and the silicon cage would protect it from corruption." -
Quantum Computing Using Atom Traps
Bottomquark writes "Scientific American has an article about using an atomic conveyer belt to actively transport atoms in a quantum computer from one logic gate to another. Atoms travel passively, propelled by their thermal motions, along 10-micron-wide wires made by etching a gold layer atop a gallium arsenide substrate. A square-tooth pattern of wires on each side breaks up the magnetic tube into a chain of 0.5-millimeter-long atom traps. Varying the electric currents moves the traps along the guide, carrying their atoms with them."" -
Quantum Computing Using Atom Traps
Bottomquark writes "Scientific American has an article about using an atomic conveyer belt to actively transport atoms in a quantum computer from one logic gate to another. Atoms travel passively, propelled by their thermal motions, along 10-micron-wide wires made by etching a gold layer atop a gallium arsenide substrate. A square-tooth pattern of wires on each side breaks up the magnetic tube into a chain of 0.5-millimeter-long atom traps. Varying the electric currents moves the traps along the guide, carrying their atoms with them."" -
Left-Handed Nuclei?
joecool12321 writes "In this article at Scientific American we find that professor Stefan Frauendorf of Notre Dame has good news for lefties: he's found evidence of the long-sought left handed nuclei."