And read TFA... One question - why do they want to conduct this experiments in microgravity, when the major effects stem from the contact-free nature of the production process? Any thoughts?
I don't think so. The worth of a photograph or a film usually stems not only from the scene or event documented, but from the composition of the scene, from the thought of the photographer, freezing a particular moment in a particular perspective. This will mostly lead to an even mightier flood of crappy pictures no one really wants to see.
And yes, you can pry my mechanical Yashica and my black and white films from my cold, dead fingers...
For an academic institution the price for Nature is based on the full FTE figure for all staff, students and researchers. Please provide details to your sales representative.
Which would, according to our librarians, amount to about 20.000 Euro/year for our university. A sum we simply cannot afford - mostly due to the horrible research funding in Germany. But don't get me started on this topic...
It is so obviously in the interests of scientists to have truly open journal access, it is amazing it is taking so long. Especially since many of the top journal publishers are professional scientific societies, ostensibly representing the interests of the scientists
Right on the spot. I'd like to add some points. First, personal experience... My university just lost access to PNAS, no less, due to their ridiculous institutional prices. What good is a scientific society if it comes to this?
Second, I heard a lot of people talking about open access and I've seen very little movement. This is going on for years. So, what can, what must be done? What can the scientic community learn from other open source projects? What kind of licensing scheme could be applied to scientific work? How can we actually get this started? Suggestions are welcome - perhaps this should be submitted as an "Ask Slashdot"-article.
To make it truely fair we would need to remove all names and orginaztion information fro submitted manuscripts...only after they have been accepted would that information be added back in.
That would only work for some fields. In my area of research for example, which is protein NMR spectroscopy, most groups know each other, know what the others are working on, know their style. I cannot imagine a way to truely anonymize papers for peer review.
I agree with you that quality is lacking, though I would not call the system corrupt per se. But how could anyone design a peer review system circumventing the power of reputation?
There are already publishing fees in various journals. Some charge you for colour figures only, some take a fee per site and accordingly mark each article as "advertising" (PNAS does so, if I'm not mistaken). The business model of scientific journals is deeply and disturbingly flawed in my opinion - take work stemming from publicly funded projects, charge the authors and sell it back to the public for ridiculous prices.
Nature and Science are amongst the worst, charging prices for their online access that are so high, that most german university libraries have cancelled their online access as protest. Great working conditions, I can tell you..
Open scientific literature is a great idea, but it has to be done consequently. Cut out the publishing houses completely, organize peer review as a network of individual scientists. The big journals have long overdone their ripping of of the public.
I must concede that you have a point on 2). Regarding 1), i never envisioned the end of the last ice age as one flood covering the world, rather as a gradual process leading to years, decades and centuries of frequent and consecutive flood events. So, of course all these myths tell about different floods, but probably most of them share a common cause.
As far as I know, there are native american flood myths. Here is an exhaustive overview of flood myths across the world.
On a side note, I'd like to present my personal theory regarding flood and creation myths. I believe this narratives to be the oldest traits of human collective memory, representing oral tradition originating deep in the stone age. Most creation myths put a golden age at the beginning - this is the original hunter/gatherer society located in a benign climate and not suffering from overpopulation. The subsequent fall from grace and deterioration described in most creation myths is the beginning of overpopulation, leading to the end of abundance and requiring severe adaption and a lot of suffering, leaving behind the golden age where nature alone could provide for anyone without effort - a time never to be reached again.
The flood stories, present all across the world, could be (at least partly) actual oral traditions describing the end of the last ice age, the melting of the glaciers. This might not be true for the meditarranean flood, which most probably is a later event, possibly enforcing social memory of the older one. But the omnipresence of these myths all across the world hints to an event covering the whole world - the ice age.
Did I say that? Where did I talk about stopping all exploration? I pointed to the risk, and the risk has to be taken into account. All I say is that we have to take proper precautions given the scope of that risk. By the way, the ice drill to lake Vostok in Antarctica has been stopped before reaching the lake, exactly for the reasons given. It will be taken up again when the sterilization protocols have been reassessed and found secure.
At last! Someone who sees the value of enlightened self-interest as ethical guideline. Thank You, Sir!
Re:Killing life...
on
Melting Europa
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Unless you freeze them in liquid nitrogen, you won't keep bacterial growth to a standstill. The little suckers keep on growing, albeit verrrry slowly. So contamination is a problem, on a long timescale. Additionally, as soon as these bacteria get transported to spots supporting life, say, geothermal vents, they could very much start growing again, posing a serious threat to endogenous ecosystems. All this may not be very probable, but nevertheless a considerable risk when dealing with the possibility of a pristine unknown ecosphere.
Re:It's Open Mic Night at the Astrophysics Lounge!
on
Melting Europa
·
· Score: 1
Between 30,000 and 100,000 Germans were killed in the Dresden firestorm in WWII.
I guess we should give up fire, too?
Not fire, but perhaps incendiary bombs, or at least their use as terror weapons against civilians?
Why is Operation Flashpoint and its sequels always missing in such lists? Strong tactical element, highly nonlinear gameplay, great mixture between all-out action and stealth, great replay value - I still am playing this game.
Not if it's 10 Tesla. Found that out the hard way.;)
Yeah... welcome to the club. Ahh the powers of an NMR magnet - erased my credit cards on my last day of work before going on vacation. Found myself in italy the next day with a fried card. Yay.
If you really drink coffee primarily for the taste, get the hell away from coffee machines of any kind. Use a simple filter, fill it with freshly ground coffee and pour nearly boiling water (95C) over it. The usual coffee machines extract way to many bitter substances and oils from the powder. And keep your equipment clean - nothing ruins the taste of coffee more than residual oils from the last batch.
Slashdot Mirror
And read TFA... One question - why do they want to conduct this experiments in microgravity, when the major effects stem from the contact-free nature of the production process? Any thoughts?
And you're missing the laser scanners. Gotta give a decent gargoyle friggin' laser scanners...
And yes, you can pry my mechanical Yashica and my black and white films from my cold, dead fingers...
For an academic institution the price for Nature is based on the full FTE figure for all staff, students and researchers. Please provide details to your sales representative.
Which would, according to our librarians, amount to about 20.000 Euro/year for our university. A sum we simply cannot afford - mostly due to the horrible research funding in Germany. But don't get me started on this topic...
Right on the spot. I'd like to add some points. First, personal experience... My university just lost access to PNAS, no less, due to their ridiculous institutional prices. What good is a scientific society if it comes to this?
Second, I heard a lot of people talking about open access and I've seen very little movement. This is going on for years. So, what can, what must be done? What can the scientic community learn from other open source projects? What kind of licensing scheme could be applied to scientific work? How can we actually get this started? Suggestions are welcome - perhaps this should be submitted as an "Ask Slashdot"-article.
That would only work for some fields. In my area of research for example, which is protein NMR spectroscopy, most groups know each other, know what the others are working on, know their style. I cannot imagine a way to truely anonymize papers for peer review.
I agree with you that quality is lacking, though I would not call the system corrupt per se. But how could anyone design a peer review system circumventing the power of reputation?
Nature and Science are amongst the worst, charging prices for their online access that are so high, that most german university libraries have cancelled their online access as protest. Great working conditions, I can tell you..
Open scientific literature is a great idea, but it has to be done consequently. Cut out the publishing houses completely, organize peer review as a network of individual scientists. The big journals have long overdone their ripping of of the public.
No manual entry for woman
Seems you have to solve that problem, well, manually...
Tentacle dating???
Change of scenery, huh? Replace your windows with plasma screens. Works wonders, I can tell you.
What do they know???
Actually, the simplest complete theory is the best. The inherent complexity of the universe seems to set a boundary for "simple".
I must concede that you have a point on 2). Regarding 1), i never envisioned the end of the last ice age as one flood covering the world, rather as a gradual process leading to years, decades and centuries of frequent and consecutive flood events. So, of course all these myths tell about different floods, but probably most of them share a common cause.
On a side note, I'd like to present my personal theory regarding flood and creation myths. I believe this narratives to be the oldest traits of human collective memory, representing oral tradition originating deep in the stone age. Most creation myths put a golden age at the beginning - this is the original hunter/gatherer society located in a benign climate and not suffering from overpopulation. The subsequent fall from grace and deterioration described in most creation myths is the beginning of overpopulation, leading to the end of abundance and requiring severe adaption and a lot of suffering, leaving behind the golden age where nature alone could provide for anyone without effort - a time never to be reached again.
The flood stories, present all across the world, could be (at least partly) actual oral traditions describing the end of the last ice age, the melting of the glaciers. This might not be true for the meditarranean flood, which most probably is a later event, possibly enforcing social memory of the older one. But the omnipresence of these myths all across the world hints to an event covering the whole world - the ice age.
1. offer source of random numbers 2. keep local copy 3. crack each OTP generated by users 4. ...
5. PROFIT!
Did I say that? Where did I talk about stopping all exploration? I pointed to the risk, and the risk has to be taken into account. All I say is that we have to take proper precautions given the scope of that risk. By the way, the ice drill to lake Vostok in Antarctica has been stopped before reaching the lake, exactly for the reasons given. It will be taken up again when the sterilization protocols have been reassessed and found secure.
At last! Someone who sees the value of enlightened self-interest as ethical guideline. Thank You, Sir!
Unless you freeze them in liquid nitrogen, you won't keep bacterial growth to a standstill. The little suckers keep on growing, albeit verrrry slowly. So contamination is a problem, on a long timescale. Additionally, as soon as these bacteria get transported to spots supporting life, say, geothermal vents, they could very much start growing again, posing a serious threat to endogenous ecosystems. All this may not be very probable, but nevertheless a considerable risk when dealing with the possibility of a pristine unknown ecosphere.
Not fire, but perhaps incendiary bombs, or at least their use as terror weapons against civilians?
I would.
Why is Operation Flashpoint and its sequels always missing in such lists? Strong tactical element, highly nonlinear gameplay, great mixture between all-out action and stealth, great replay value - I still am playing this game.
You need confirmation for that???
Yeah... welcome to the club. Ahh the powers of an NMR magnet - erased my credit cards on my last day of work before going on vacation. Found myself in italy the next day with a fried card. Yay.
If you really drink coffee primarily for the taste, get the hell away from coffee machines of any kind. Use a simple filter, fill it with freshly ground coffee and pour nearly boiling water (95C) over it. The usual coffee machines extract way to many bitter substances and oils from the powder. And keep your equipment clean - nothing ruins the taste of coffee more than residual oils from the last batch.
*waves hand* This is not the Andy you're looking for...