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X Prizes for DNA, Nanotech, Autos, Education

Posted by Hemos on from the pushing-it-forward dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Larry Page and Craig Venter are now on the X Prize Board of Trustees, and Peter Diamandis, the man behind the $10 million space prize, said new X prizes are in the works for innovations in automobiles, education, nanotech and DNA reseach. Diamandis, from the article: "Why do we still drive cars that use an internal combustion engine and only get 30 miles per gallon? I think that we'll see some amazing achievements in this area." This is in addition to the foundation's incentive to completely decode the DNA of 100 or more people covered earlier on Slashdot."

5 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. I thought every /.er knew the answer to this one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Why do we still drive cars that use an internal combustion engine and only get 30 miles per gallon?"

    Because the oil companies buy out/sue out any startup that attempts to make a practical electric car.

  2. Even more impressive- by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 3, Funny

    They did all these feats on snowboards. No really. I saw it on ESPN yesterday. You haven't truly recombined DNA till you've done it on the backk of a snowmobile doing 40! Booyah!

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  3. ARRGH! Too much information! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...completely decode the DNA of 100 or more people covered earlier on Slashdot."

    I'm well aware the Japanese have a word for it, but please, no more stories about people covered in DNA.

  4. What the window-washer heard: by Ancient_Hacker · · Score: 2, Funny
    (Window washer outside the X-Prize conference room window): Voice 1: Gentlemen, we're in deep doo-doo. We made the first X-Prize waay too easy. We thought we'd get many years of howls, watching various crazy inventors blow themselves up trying to claim the prize. Instead we've gotten NO laughs and we've actually had to pay out $$$$$$ !!!!

    Voice 2: Solution: Simple! Let's advertise some NEW prizes, for things that are basically impossible: either violate basic laws of Physics, or too vague to quantify. Then we can really howl, and never have to pay out another dime!

    Chorus: Yes! Yes! Yes!

  5. Re:I thought every /.er knew the answer to this on by OctoberSky · · Score: 4, Funny

    We need to enhance the moderation format to include "+1 Tinfoil Hat" Everytime we get some qusi-paranoid conspiracy theory we just mod it up +1 Tinfoil Hat, although the rest of the moderation system may get jealous because they will never be used...

    I blame Microsoft for the lack of this feature. I think it is a conspiracy between them and the NSA to keep us from expanding our Tinfoil Army.