Slashdot Mirror
Domain: unisci.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to unisci.com.
Stories · 23
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Potential 'Avatar' Gas Giant Exoplanet Discovered
Luminary Crush writes "A gas giant of approximately 1.5 Mj (Jupiter Mass) was discovered on October 22nd around the binary star system HD 176051B. It's not known with certainty which component of the binary system the planet is in orbit around at this point as both stars in HD 176051B are relatively Sol-sized (1.07 and .71 solar masses). Named 176051B b, this new exoplanet orbits within the star system's habitable zone, and if mapped onto our solar system with relative distance from our Sun it would place the large planet between Earth and Mars. While it's unlikely that such a gas giant could host life as we know it (though it's hypothesized), the location of the big planet opens up the intriguing idea of the realization of some of science fiction's famously habitable moons, Pandora and Endor. Look no further than our own solar system to see moons with the potential ingredients for life — just add heat." -
Nanomotor from DNA Strand
Phrogger writes "Nanomotors have been built from multiple DNA strands before this but this is the first to be built from a single strand. Said to be more practical, this holds wonderful promise for treating diseases such as cancer." -
Hungry Millisecond Pulsar Found Feeding
Gopher971 writes: "The latest joint discovery by the Hubble Telescope is a Millisecond Pulsar feeding off of it's companion Red Giant star. Scientists have long speculated on how Milli Pulsars formed and now have proof to back up their claims. See the UniSci link and The Irish Times link." -
Swarms Of Tiny Robots To Monitor Water Pollution
savi writes "The University of Southern California School of Engineering has received a research grant to create swarms of microscopic robots to monitor potentially dangerous microorganisms in the ocean. Basically, nanoscale robots with electrical and mechanical components that can propel themselves, send signals, and do basic computations. " -
Self-Assembling, Nanometer-Scale Wires
savi writes: "An experiment that University of Chicago physicists conducted just for fun has unexpectedly led them to a new technique for producing nanoscale structures. "This is perhaps the first time that it has been possible to assemble large numbers of parallel, continuous wires that are truly nanometer scale in cross-section," said Heinrich Jaeger, Professor in Physics at the University of Chicago. Check it out here." -
Scientists Build Microscope Onto The Head Of A Rat
mindpixel writes: "Unisci is reporting: 'The ability to see individual neurons in detail in the brains of conscious, behaving animals seems like the stuff of science fiction. But in the current issue of Neuron, Professor Winfried Denk and colleagues report that they have done just that. In a stunning technical achievement, they have built a tiny, powerful microscope onto the head of a rat.'" This might be technically stunning, but I wonder how much the rat likes it. -
Computer Faces Human Psychological Test
A reader writes: " The test known as the MMPI-2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) is going to be administered to a computer-based personality. The test subject is GAC - Generic Artifical Consciousness." This is the first time I've heard of GAC - but this test is quite different from the Turing Test. -
Color-Changing Rodents
Gautama writes: "Found this on Memepool and thought it'd be of interest to folks around here as well. Looks like folks over at the University of Virginia have made some interesting breakthroughs in applied biotech! Me, I'm looking forward to being able to change eye or hair color with a swallowed capsule!" -
Is Brownian Motion The Secret Of Life After All?
mindpixel writes: "unisci is reporting research from Georga Tech that suggest the the key motor protein ATP works by 'rectified browian motion' as a kind of thermally driven nano-ratchet. The researchers said "We're arguing that Brown really had discovered the secret of life ... When you get into this sub-cellular level on the nanometer scale, the dynamics and vitality of protein molecules is really due to thermal motion." The implications for nanotech are obvious." -
Is Brownian Motion The Secret Of Life After All?
mindpixel writes: "unisci is reporting research from Georga Tech that suggest the the key motor protein ATP works by 'rectified browian motion' as a kind of thermally driven nano-ratchet. The researchers said "We're arguing that Brown really had discovered the secret of life ... When you get into this sub-cellular level on the nanometer scale, the dynamics and vitality of protein molecules is really due to thermal motion." The implications for nanotech are obvious." -
UV Nanolasers From ZnO Nanowires
The Evil Dwarf from Hell writes: "This weeks Science has an article on ZnO nanowire base UV lasers, abstract ( paid subscritption required for article). The 70 to 100 nm diameter wires lase at 386nm, line width .3 nm. The growth takes place on a thin Au film on a sapphire surface, and the wires reach lengths of 2 to 10 m. What makes this lasing unusual is it occurs without the use of mirrors. Apparently ZnO forms a natural lasing cavity. (The lasing is optically pumped from a Nd:YAG laser)." The link above is registration-required, but there's another article which describes the whole process. -
Scanning For People Through Walls
cloudmaster writes: "RADAR-based "flashlight" for detecting movement (and respiration?) through walls and clothing: http://unisci.com/stories/20012/0416015.htm There's a bargraph that rises and falls as a person on the other side breaths... It needs to be held perfectly still, or it will detect it's own movement too, though. I wanna know why they don't just use an acelerometer to detect the devices motion and subtract that from the detected motion?" -
Reconfigurable Computers - Again?
shermNOTsherm writes "Here's a story on UniSci about research at the University of Rochester on reconfigurable computers. The idea is to dynamically adjust cache sizes on the fly to more efficiently operate. Supposedly halves power consumption, and is based on current commercial chips, not customized, so it's just a little closer to real world." -
Humanity's Contribution To "Global Warming"
jellisky writes: "In a recent climate modeling experiment, researchers have attempted to calculate the effect humanity has had on our climate. The results and article suggest that humanity is mainly to blame for a few recent warming periods, but also suggests that there are many other effects that might be just as important at times, including an oceanic oscillation and a mysterious "residual effect". Anyone else curious about this "residual effect"? How much trust should we put into these models when people cannot classify what's happening in them? Most importantly, though, what have we learned?" -
Gravity Diluted By Multiple Dimensions?
SEWilco writes: "Why is gravity so weak? Maybe it isn't, but it's diluted by propagating through many dimensions. The theory provides a relatively simple explanation to several oddities of physics, and it should be relatively easy to test. Notice the links at the bottom of the story; one of them mentions that the concept doesn't have a catchy name yet...and we'll be reading more about it soon. Slashdot discussed extra dimensions before, but this concept involves gravity actually propagating into them." I think we should call it 'The Emmett Effect.' There's got to be some lab-coated brainiac out there than can make it happen. -
Studies Say Video Games Increase Violent Behavior
KyDaran was one of several people who wrote about findings in UniSci regarding two studies released in the April issue of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The studies show a relationship between violent and aggressive behavior and video game playing. Check out the full journal study for yourself. -
Studies Say Video Games Increase Violent Behavior
KyDaran was one of several people who wrote about findings in UniSci regarding two studies released in the April issue of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The studies show a relationship between violent and aggressive behavior and video game playing. Check out the full journal study for yourself. -
Time Lapse Video Of Milky Way And Andromeda Joining
8bit writes: "Check it out! In 7 million years we will be in the Andromeda-Milky Way galaxy. Apparently galaxies have been joining together for millennia now, and not just on my computer screen either. We can only hope that the ozone layer is gone and we are dead before our galaxy joins with Andromeda, from what it says it'll be prety nasty. Let's all give a round of appause to IBM and their clustered computers that made this video. " -
Quantum Evolution Poses Challenge to Darwinism
spaceorb writes "In his book, "Quantum Evolution", UK biologist Dr. Johnjoe McFadden asserts that life did not originate from the random movement of particles, simply because it is far too complex. Instead, he argues that evolution is a quantum system - genetic code exists in a quantum multiverse and cells are able to choose advantageous mutations. Click the above link for the story on UniSci; it's worth a read. " -
Quantum Evolution Poses Challenge to Darwinism
spaceorb writes "In his book, "Quantum Evolution", UK biologist Dr. Johnjoe McFadden asserts that life did not originate from the random movement of particles, simply because it is far too complex. Instead, he argues that evolution is a quantum system - genetic code exists in a quantum multiverse and cells are able to choose advantageous mutations. Click the above link for the story on UniSci; it's worth a read. " -
Optical Black Holes in the Lab
spaceorb writes "According to researchers ... it may be possible to create black holes by creating a vortex of fluid that swirls at velocities comparable to the speed of light. Follow the above link for the theoretical discussion or here for the story on unisci.com." These are optical analogues of black holes, not really gravity wells, but they may advance our understanding of the real thing. -
Scientists Build RNA-Computer
schussat writes "Scientists at Princeton have reported the results of their RNA computer, a "device" they built from RNA that is able to solve a chess problem. It seems like those biomolecular computers could be getting closer and closer to reality. " -
HIV Gene Offers Potential Cancer Cure