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09/16/2012 12:25 PM
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"Beauty and the geek" keyboard pants
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Where to start with the "Beauty and the Geek" wearable keyboard. It's tempting to launch into a spiel about cafe-hopping hipsters that might just (and I mean just) be tempted by a pair of jeans with a built-in keyboard. Anything to lighten the load, non? But it's hard to imagine even the least self-aware urbanite willing to subject himself to the inevitable crotch-stares that BatG would surely attract - even when he's not typing. Which isn't to dismiss Nieuwe Heren's design - it does incorporate some rather neat ideas.
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09/30/2011 02:39 PM
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NASA testing solar sails
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I Click image to enlarge In 2015 NASA will be testing a solar sail. Possible applications include: - Gather orbital debris over a period of several years - sort of like a drift net fishing trawler in space.
- Included in a satellite's payload, and activated at the end of the spacecraft's mission. The sail, still attached to the satellite, could then be used to drag it out of its orbit.
- Hold satellites in unstable locations. As an example, it could allow GeoStorm solar flare-tracking satellites to be located at points three times farther from the earth than is currently possible - the push of the Sun's rays against the sail would balance the pull of the solar gravitational field on the satellite, ultimately resulting in the spacecraft staying put.
- Used as a propulsion system for deep space travel.
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06/13/2011 12:34 PM
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Stealth Internets circumvent repressive regimes
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 The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks.
Is this a good idea who's time has come, or will it eventually bite us on the ass? - Write Me to discuss
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09/22/2010 01:11 PM
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Volcanic Time Table
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Volcanic hot spots around the world appear to be pulsating together, like one giant planetary heartbeat. - "Hot spots... remain some of the greatest enigmas in earth science," commented geologist Mike Coffin of the University of Tasmania, Australia. "Plate tectonic theory does not explain them."
- What's more, some of these hot spots have been linked to vast eruptions that have covered large areas with lava, Coffin said. These larger eruptions, in turn, are suspected of having something to do with some of the greatest mass extinctions in the history of life on Earth.
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09/15/2010 09:11 AM
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Religious Search Engines Yield Tailored Results
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In a world where Google has put every bit of information at our fingertips, some people are now demanding less information when they surf the Internet. Houdmann says a search on his site would not turn up pornography. If you search “gay marriage,” you would get results that argue against gay marriage. And if you type in “Democratic Party,” your first search result is a site on Marxism.
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08/12/2010 11:13 AM
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Scientists Use Light To Create Particles
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20 physicists from four research institutions disclosed that they had created two tiny specks of matter -- an electron and its antimatter counterpart, a positron -- by colliding two ultrapowerful beams of radiation. The possibility of doing something like this was suggested in 1934 by two American physicists, Dr. Gregory Breit and Dr. John A. Wheeler. But more than six decades passed before any laboratory could pump enough power into colliding beams of radiation to conjure up matter from nothingness. The Stanford accelerator finally provided enough energy to do it.
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08/09/2010 11:42 AM
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Genetically modified Plants Escape Into American Wild
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 Genetically modified canola plants have been found growing wild in the U.S., in some cases far from fields of cultivated genetically modified canola.
Results reported today at a meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Pittsburgh, Penn., suggest that the plants are reproducing on their own, making this the first report of an established population of GM organisms in the wild in the U.S., according to the team.
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08/07/2010 06:06 PM
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1-in-1,000 Chance of Asteroid Impact in 2182
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 The not-so-romantically named (101955) 1999 RQ36 -- discovered in 1999 -- measures approximately 510 meters in diameter and is classified as an Apollo asteroid. Apollo asteroids pose a threat to our planet as they routinely cross Earth's orbit.
With a one-in-a-thousand chance of 1999 RQ36 hitting Earth -- with half of this probability indicating a 2182 impact -- the threat might not sound too acute.
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07/18/2010 12:49 PM
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Poachers kill last female rhino in South African park
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South African wildlife experts are calling for urgent action against poachers after the last female rhinoceros in a popular game reserve near Johannesburg bled to death after having its horn hacked off. Wildlife officials say poaching for the prized horns has now reached an all-time high. "Last year, 129 rhinos were killed for their horns in South Africa. This year, we have already had 136 deaths," said Japie Mostert, chief game ranger at the 1,500-hectare Krugersdorp game reserve.
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07/15/2010 07:09 AM
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In Politics, Sometimes The Facts Don't Matter
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 From NPR - New research suggests that misinformed people rarely change their minds when presented with the facts -- and often become even more attached to their beliefs. The finding raises questions about a key principle of a strong democracy: that a well-informed electorate is best.
Listen to the Broadcast
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