Slashdot Mirror

cr0kin0le writes "400,000 years after the Big Bang, oscillations between gravitationally contracting matter and outward radiation pressure left newly discovered acoustic echoes. Independent teams from U. of Arizona and U. of Durham, England have found circular ripples with wavelengths of 500 million light-years which indirectly imply that universal expansion is accelerating due to dark energy."

mediareport writes "Science News offers a timely antidote to simplistic mumbo-jumbo about the "mythical power" of animal earthquake detection. Anyone intrigued by reports of possible tsunami-avoidance behavior in Sri Lankan wildlife will enjoy this detailed examination of the latest research into low-frequency sound. Elephant rumblings that produce Rayleigh waves are now under serious study for the first time, while others are designing "highly unusual" experiments to test infrasound sensitivity in humans."

Roland Piquepaille writes "Unless you're a dedicated yo-yo fan and a serious competitor, I doubt that you'll hand over $400 for a yo-yo. Even if it's a state-of-the-art hogh-tech yoyo made with a forged-magnesium-alloy and coming with the latest in axle technology. With this one, you can use the freehand style, meaning that your hand is not connected to the yo-yo, but is replaced by a small counterweight. In 'Reinventing the Yo-Yo,' Science News Online says 'its balance is ensured with precision tooling to micrometer tolerances by a computer-controlled lathe.' This long article doesn't solely focus on this luxury item. Instead, it looks at the history and the physics of the yo-yo, and includes many references. A good read for a weekend! This overview contains other details and extra references about the Freehand yo-yo."

Roland Piquepaille writes "Before starting our long working week, let's relax with this story of a bicycle with square wheels. No, it's not a joke. And it even rides smoothly. But there is a trick: the road must have a specific shape. The Math Trek section of Science News Online tells us more about this strange bicycle -- actually a tricycle with two front wheels and one back wheel. Read this overview for some excerpts and a picture of the tricycle, or the original article for an additional animation."

MrSharkey writes " An interesting article published in Science News puts a new scientific spin on the outcome of the venerable coin-toss. "A new mathematical analysis suggests that coin tossing is inherently biased: A coin is more likely to land on the same face it started out on.""

MrSharkey writes " An interesting article published in Science News puts a new scientific spin on the outcome of the venerable coin-toss. "A new mathematical analysis suggests that coin tossing is inherently biased: A coin is more likely to land on the same face it started out on.""

jerel writes "This week's Science News has an article here about the ongoing search for evidence of life on Mars. Even as Mars and Earth now drift slowly apart, three envoys from Earth are racing to the Red Planet. If all goes according to plan, the European Space Agency's Mars Express will begin orbiting Mars next month, using radar to search for hidden reservoirs of water. The craft will also jettison a suitcase-size stationary lander, Beagle-2, that will look for signs of life by examining soil at and just below the surface of a region called Isidis Planitia. Then, in January, two NASA craft bearing identical rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, will touch down in regions of the planet that may once have had water coursing through them and so could have hosted primitive life."

jerel writes "This week's Science News has an article here about the ongoing search for evidence of life on Mars. Even as Mars and Earth now drift slowly apart, three envoys from Earth are racing to the Red Planet. If all goes according to plan, the European Space Agency's Mars Express will begin orbiting Mars next month, using radar to search for hidden reservoirs of water. The craft will also jettison a suitcase-size stationary lander, Beagle-2, that will look for signs of life by examining soil at and just below the surface of a region called Isidis Planitia. Then, in January, two NASA craft bearing identical rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, will touch down in regions of the planet that may once have had water coursing through them and so could have hosted primitive life."

calebb writes "RISK is a classic board game that's been around since 1959. This week, Science News posted an article titled 'Improving the Odds in RISK.' They mention that '...the chances of winning a battle are considerably more favorable for the attacker than was originally suspected.' Amazing! Risk is over 40 years old & nobody ever calculated the odds of winning a 5 vs. 5 battle!"

calebb writes "RISK is a classic board game that's been around since 1959. This week, Science News posted an article titled 'Improving the Odds in RISK.' They mention that '...the chances of winning a battle are considerably more favorable for the attacker than was originally suspected.' Amazing! Risk is over 40 years old & nobody ever calculated the odds of winning a 5 vs. 5 battle!"

Roland Piquepaille writes "There are mostly four kinds of coins in circulation in the U.S: 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, and 25 cents. But is it the most efficient way to give back change? This Science News article says that a computer scientist has found an answer. "For the current four-denomination system, [Jeffrey Shallit of the University of Waterloo] found that, on average, a change-maker must return 4.70 coins with every transaction. He discovered two sets of four denominations that minimize the transaction cost. The combination of 1 cent, 5 cents, 18 cents, and 25 cents requires only 3.89 coins in change per transaction, as does the combination of 1 cent, 5 cents, 18 cents, and 29 cents." He also found that change could be done more efficiently in Canada with the introduction of an 83-cent coin and in Europe with the addition of a 1.33- or 1.37-Euro coin. Check this column for more details and references." The paper (postscript) is online.

TheSync writes "ScienceNews has a story about digital DNA circuits. The circuits use proteins that activate or deactivate genes on the DNA for control. Since an inverter and an AND gate have been created, any digital logic circuit can now be done in DNA. Moreover, evolution can help make circuit elements work better. There is even a "databook" of BioBricks circuit elements and BioSPICE for biocircuit simulation."

paymenow points out "this story at Science News Online about femto-lasers and how their novel 'cutting physics' allows much more precision than previous lasers. The technology is now finding applications in various industries including, biotech, automotive and laser eye surgery."

Nader-licious writes "Science News Online reports: 'With recent reports of malfunctioning voter machines and uncounted votes during primaries in Florida, Maryland, and elsewhere, reformers are once again clamoring for extensive changes. But while attention is focused on these familiar irregularities, a much more serious problem is being neglected: the fundamental flaws of the voting procedure itself. Mathematics are shedding light on questions about how well different voting procedures capture the will of the voters.' The verdict: the U.S. system might be the worst of the lot."

Nader-licious writes "Science News Online reports: 'With recent reports of malfunctioning voter machines and uncounted votes during primaries in Florida, Maryland, and elsewhere, reformers are once again clamoring for extensive changes. But while attention is focused on these familiar irregularities, a much more serious problem is being neglected: the fundamental flaws of the voting procedure itself. Mathematics are shedding light on questions about how well different voting procedures capture the will of the voters.' The verdict: the U.S. system might be the worst of the lot."

Crocuta writes "The current issue of Science News features a cover story that discusses the current developments in space elevator technology. NASA has been working on such devices for many years, but private companies such as Highlift Systems are now jumping on the space elevator bandwagon, no doubt seeing the huge potential profit in a low cost per pound delivery system. PhysicsWeb has a somewhat older, but much more technical article on the formation and structure of the carbon nanotubes that form the basis of the proposed tether cables. With a development like this, we could shoot entire boy bands into space and make the world a better place."

Crocuta writes "The current issue of Science News features a cover story that discusses the current developments in space elevator technology. NASA has been working on such devices for many years, but private companies such as Highlift Systems are now jumping on the space elevator bandwagon, no doubt seeing the huge potential profit in a low cost per pound delivery system. PhysicsWeb has a somewhat older, but much more technical article on the formation and structure of the carbon nanotubes that form the basis of the proposed tether cables. With a development like this, we could shoot entire boy bands into space and make the world a better place."

MagnetarJones writes "Science News Online and Nature.com - Genetic information stored in DNA is read out - transcribed - every time living cells make a new protein molecule to perform some cell function. And this information is copied onto a new strand of DNA when a cell divides. The consequences of wrongly read or copied information can be disastrous. Malfunctioning genes can cause diseases and defects. Errors can occasionally have beneficial effects - they create the mutations that drive the evolutionary process - but they are usually detrimental. Strands of DNA carry information--of the genetic sort--encoded in their chemical structure. Chemist Dónall A. Mac Dónaill of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, has now shown that patterns inherent in the chemical makeup of DNA correspond to a digital error-detecting code. His report appears in the Sept. 12 Chemical Communications."

EvilSuggestions writes "Apparently, the estimate for how long it took for the Earth to form just got chopped in half. Now just a paltry 30 million years (which, IIRC, is less than one day on Carl Sagan's 1 year = the life of the universe calendar). So, adjust your terraforming plans appropriately. The good folks over at Science News have been following the gory details behind this conclusion."

hardDiamond asks: "I'm going to get engaged. I know my 4 C's. I know I'm going to get screwed by the jeweller, but that's okay: after all, a diamond engagement ring is a time-honoured tradition... NOT. Having checked out the goods, looked for the flaws, I found the biggest one of all. Diamond engagement rings are the creation of a well orchestrated advertising campaign for most of the last century - according to this article. Would you buy one for the love of your life? I know my girlfriend would love a diamond, but ethically I have my doubts. Diseased-miners, child slave labour, cartel inflated prices... and as if that wasn't enough, diamonds have no resale value. Naddah. Zilch. They'll sell you the shit, but damn it, they're not taking it back at any price. So what have my fellow slashdotters done with regards to engagement rings? What's a good substitute for diamonds? My girlfriend understands my thoughts regarding diamonds, but deep down, I'm sure she would like a diamond. Even a small one." I've never even thought about questioning such a time honored tradition, but now I'm curious. Have any of you looked at the issues surrounding diamonds and found them wanting? What alternatives have you found and were they acceptable? After researching this a bit, one of the key facts to surface is that 2-4.5% of diamond sales will go to finance terrorism or forms of violence. Such diamonds, for want of a better term, have been named "conflict diamonds". For those of you interested in following up on this subject, here are a few more links:

Fatal Transactions
Conflict Diamonds: Sanctions and War
The Campaign to Eliminate Conflict Diamonds
The Kimberly Process, which will attempt to track diamonds to their origin. This is to begin in November.

For those of you who have a subscription to Science News, the cover story, this month, deals with this issue as well.

cloudwilliam writes "This article at Science News is reporting on how researchers at the Ohio Aerospace Institute and Georgia Institute of Technology are designing flying drones for future Mars missions that flap their wings like insects (drones...insects...get it? Right, sorry, that was bad). Apparently fixed and conventional rotary wing aircraft are impractical due to the thin air of Mars, but the light gravity makes large bug-like aircraft possible. They're calling them entomopters--from entomoi, junior high Greek for bugs with wings. Check it out." We've done lots of previous stories on aircraft for Mars exploration - until someone actually sends a mission with equipment on board, it's all speculation as to what designs might conceivably be used.

cloudwilliam writes "This article at Science News is reporting on how researchers at the Ohio Aerospace Institute and Georgia Institute of Technology are designing flying drones for future Mars missions that flap their wings like insects (drones...insects...get it? Right, sorry, that was bad). Apparently fixed and conventional rotary wing aircraft are impractical due to the thin air of Mars, but the light gravity makes large bug-like aircraft possible. They're calling them entomopters--from entomoi, junior high Greek for bugs with wings. Check it out." We've done lots of previous stories on aircraft for Mars exploration - until someone actually sends a mission with equipment on board, it's all speculation as to what designs might conceivably be used.

eznihm writes: "This article describes a new laser, developed by Lucent and others, that emits a band of light and operates at room temperature. "The result: a beam of high intensity at every wavelength from 6 to 8 micrometers, in the so-called midinfrared range.""

Conrad Albrecht-Buehler writes "ScienceNews is running a brief overview of a new theory that attempts to explain ball lightning. The theory is quite persuasive and argues that aerosol particles are formed by charged plasma ions moving outward and collecting water molecules in the air. The aerosol particles form a shell around the plasma that maintains its shape. Certainly a fascinating read!"

netjeff writes: "As reported in the 27 Oct 2001 issue of Science News, Japanese researchers have found a way to control movement of microtubules. They wanted to get the tubules to move around a circular track in one direction, but the tubules would move randomly. Their solution? Simply point the way. More precisely, etch arrowheads into the circular track, and the tubules will move in that direction only. A good example showing that building micro-machines requires a different way of thinking compared to building macro-machines."

netjeff writes: "As reported in the 27 Oct 2001 issue of Science News, Japanese researchers have found a way to control movement of microtubules. They wanted to get the tubules to move around a circular track in one direction, but the tubules would move randomly. Their solution? Simply point the way. More precisely, etch arrowheads into the circular track, and the tubules will move in that direction only. A good example showing that building micro-machines requires a different way of thinking compared to building macro-machines."

naoursla writes: "Remember the DARPA research solicitation for proposals on Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation? Here is a group that is making progress on it. Right now they have a pair of legs powered by a chain saw engine. Science News has an article about the researchers this week." And cmholm writes: "Fleshing out this earlier Slashdot story on wearable translators for the military is an article from AFCEA's June Signal magazine. Using a ViA II PC wearable running ViA's Language Translator software, the system can translate between spoken English and Korean, Thai, Chinese, Arabic, Albanian, Spanish, and other major European languages." So between the two, you can either talk to the aliens, or throw them out the airlock.

naoursla writes: "Remember the DARPA research solicitation for proposals on Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation? Here is a group that is making progress on it. Right now they have a pair of legs powered by a chain saw engine. Science News has an article about the researchers this week." And cmholm writes: "Fleshing out this earlier Slashdot story on wearable translators for the military is an article from AFCEA's June Signal magazine. Using a ViA II PC wearable running ViA's Language Translator software, the system can translate between spoken English and Korean, Thai, Chinese, Arabic, Albanian, Spanish, and other major European languages." So between the two, you can either talk to the aliens, or throw them out the airlock.

kilroy2000 writes "This is off-topic from the usual Slashdot fare, but some readers may find it interesting. A Science News article describes how it was discovered that bowhead whales can live to be 200 years old." It looks solid because there were several independent means of measuring the age, including one test done blind. Researchers first got interested by noticing 100-year-old harpoon points still stuck in the 50-ton creatures. I wonder if they hold grudges.

An unnamed correspondent writes: "Three mathematicians just solved the 'carpenters ruler' problem. The carpenters ruler problem is given a chain of linked rods (a carpenters ruler) in two dimensions, can it always be unwound? As it turns out, it can, check here. You might be saying 'so what', but this has potential applications in anything from protein folding to robotic arm movement. Check here for some animations of the carpenters rule in action."

Scott_Marks writes: "A Science News story this week reports on some research by Humphrey J. Maris of Brown University predicting that in liquid helium electrons could be split in two. This seems not to be just your sorry-Dr.-Einstein probablistic one-thing-in-two-places effect, but an actual separation. (Does that distinction even make sense in the quantum world? Over my head.) Maris will give a talk on this later this month near me at N. C. State, so I'll be there. Makes me wonder what it would be like for a physics colloquium to get Slashdotted."

Scott_Marks writes: "A Science News story this week reports on some research by Humphrey J. Maris of Brown University predicting that in liquid helium electrons could be split in two. This seems not to be just your sorry-Dr.-Einstein probablistic one-thing-in-two-places effect, but an actual separation. (Does that distinction even make sense in the quantum world? Over my head.) Maris will give a talk on this later this month near me at N. C. State, so I'll be there. Makes me wonder what it would be like for a physics colloquium to get Slashdotted."

Johnath writes: "Story over at Science News about magnetoresistive microscopy, which allows very high-res inspection of magnetic media. The article is touting it primarily as a forensic tool, and gets me thinking -- how many passes of write-over-with-random-data are now required to securely delete a file?"

gfoyle writes "If you want a run down of the science highlights of 1999, read the Science News article Science News of the Year. I offer as a teaser an item on the technology list: "Some garments fought germs (Sept. 11, vol. 156: p. 170), others commingled with computers, furthering a trend toward wearable cyberassistants (Nov. 20, vol. 156: p. 330)." Unfortunately, not all articles are posted on their web site, but what you can't find on their site, you can find in your library. "

gfoyle writes "If you want a run down of the science highlights of 1999, read the Science News article Science News of the Year. I offer as a teaser an item on the technology list: "Some garments fought germs (Sept. 11, vol. 156: p. 170), others commingled with computers, furthering a trend toward wearable cyberassistants (Nov. 20, vol. 156: p. 330)." Unfortunately, not all articles are posted on their web site, but what you can't find on their site, you can find in your library. "

gfoyle writes "If you want a run down of the science highlights of 1999, read the Science News article Science News of the Year. I offer as a teaser an item on the technology list: "Some garments fought germs (Sept. 11, vol. 156: p. 170), others commingled with computers, furthering a trend toward wearable cyberassistants (Nov. 20, vol. 156: p. 330)." Unfortunately, not all articles are posted on their web site, but what you can't find on their site, you can find in your library. "

gfoyle writes "If you want a run down of the science highlights of 1999, read the Science News article Science News of the Year. I offer as a teaser an item on the technology list: "Some garments fought germs (Sept. 11, vol. 156: p. 170), others commingled with computers, furthering a trend toward wearable cyberassistants (Nov. 20, vol. 156: p. 330)." Unfortunately, not all articles are posted on their web site, but what you can't find on their site, you can find in your library. "

bughunter writes "This week's Science News cover story reports on the effort to model biological immune systems as a tool against computer viruses and other security threats. Although Science News is written for laypersons and secondary students, the article has several interesting quotes and clearly illustrates the principles behind adaptive immunity. The article also claims that Symantec will release an adaptive antivirus utility this summer."

bughunter writes "This week's Science News cover story reports on the effort to model biological immune systems as a tool against computer viruses and other security threats. Although Science News is written for laypersons and secondary students, the article has several interesting quotes and clearly illustrates the principles behind adaptive immunity. The article also claims that Symantec will release an adaptive antivirus utility this summer."