Satellite TV 'Making Humans Invisible To Aliens On Other Planets'

The digital age is effectively gagging the Earth by cutting the transmission of TV and radio signals into space Photo: REX

From The Telegraph:

Satellite television and the digital revolution is making humanity more and more invisible to inquisitive aliens on other planets, the world's leading ET hunter has said.

That might be good news for anyone who fears an ''Independence Day'' – style invasion by little green men. But it is also likely to make the search for extraterrestrial intelligence by Earthly scientists harder, Dr Frank Drake believes.

Dr Drake, who founded the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) organisation in the US 50 years ago, said the digital age was effectively gagging the Earth by cutting the transmission of TV and radio signals into space.

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Browser Usage Over The Past 7 Years

The following is an awesome graphic of browser usage over the last 7 years. The link is here.

Pentagon Tests A Global Internet Routing System Via Satellite

Atlas Launch Cisco's space Internet router launched aboard an Atlas 5 rocket on November 23, 2009. ULA/Pat Corkery

From Popular Science:

Communication satellites have traditionally acted as transfer points for data beamed up from the ground. But the first commercial satellite with its own Internet router could eliminate the usual satellite-relay transfer lag and more flexibly handle voice, video and data communications for U.S. and NATO military forces anywhere around the world. The U.S. Department of Defense plans to kick off a three-month demo of the space technology this week, according to Aviation Week's Ares Defense Blog.

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My Comment: With the growth of UAV and other robotic systems/platforms continuing at a rapid rate, having the proper (and secure) communication platforms will become even more essential in the years to come. I can only presume that this "space internet router" is just one more vital piece of technology to make all of this work.

Is This The iSlate? 'Pictures Of New Tablet' Surface Online As Apple Frenzy Hits Fever Pitch

Could this be a picture of Apple's hugely anticipated iSlate?
Blogger Dustin Curtis' idea of what the device will look like

From The Daily Mail:

Apple is expected to launch its next generation gadget - an iSlate entertainment device - in San Francisco tomorrow.

But as frenzy surrounding the new device, dubbed the 'Jesus tablet', hits fever pitch, it seems some fans cannot wait that long.

Several alleged pictures of the gadget have surfaced online in anticipation of Apple's sleek new design as speculation continues to grow.

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Facebook Users Told To Beware Fresh Wave Of Spam And Phishing Attacks

From Times Online:

A tidal wave of spam has been predicted this year as cyber criminals target social networks such as Facebook.

The networking computer company Cisco estimated that worldwide spam volumes this year could rise by 30 to 40 per cent compared with 2009. Spammers already send out up to 100 million junk e-mails a day and, although the vast majority are never opened, enough people click on the links to make spam a multimillion-dollar industry.

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Internet Backbone Breaks The 100-Gigabit Barrier

Same fibre network, more traffic (Image: Fancy/Alamy)

From New Scientist:

THERE are few facets of society that have remained untouched by the internet. From business communication to leisure activity, the net has transformed the way we behave.

Yet at its heart the internet has stagnated. As a slew of bandwidth-hungry services come on-stream, the fibre-optic backbone that forms its trunk routes are at risk of becoming overwhelmed by too much data. It's due for an upgrade.

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Was The Threat of H1N1 Flu Exaggerated?

Win McNamee / Getty

From Time Magazine:

By the summer of 2009, shortly after the H1N1 flu pandemic had first emerged, there was a waiting list for the first several million doses of the forthcoming new flu vaccine. At the head of the line, naturally, were the world's richest nations. "Again we see the advantage of affluence," said Margaret Chan, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), at a news conference on July 14. "Again we see access denied by an inability to pay." Describing H1N1 as "entirely new and highly contagious," Chan scolded rich countries at the time for hoarding the "lion's share" of the global H1N1-vaccine supply.

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Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous... Egyptians

Virtual recreation of King Tut's Death Mask. Heritage Key

From The Independent:

The rich and famous people of ancient Egypt lived a decadent lifestyle with fine wine, sex, high fashion, and plenty of partying. How do they compare with their equivalents today - the modern western celebrity set?

The main differences might be regarding who were the richest people then, and who are the richest people now. In ancient Egypt the pharaoh was at the top of the ‘pyramid’ and his family, noble people who owned land, and the priests came after. Scribes, architects and doctors were well off, and skilled craftsmen also had many privileges.

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Engineers Plot The Future Of A Hobbled Mars Rover

European Pressphoto Agency

From The New York Times:

PASADENA, Calif. — As they have on many days during the past six years, about 10 engineers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory gathered in a conference room here last Tuesday to plan the schedule of the Mars rover Spirit.

From Cornell University in upstate New York, Steven W. Squyres, the mission’s principal investigator, appeared on a screen in the room as he presided over the “surface operations working group” meeting that day — a SOWG meeting for short, pronounced “sog.”

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Ozone Hole Healing Could Cause Further Climate Warming

Total Antarctic ozone - September 2009. (Credit: NOAA)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 26, 2010) — The hole in the ozone layer is now steadily closing, but its repair could actually increase warming in the southern hemisphere, according to scientists at the University of Leeds.

The Antarctic ozone hole was once regarded as one of the biggest environmental threats, but the discovery of a previously undiscovered feedback shows that it has instead helped to shield this region from carbon-induced warming over the past two decades.

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No Help Wanted: Shopping Tactics Different For Men

From Live Science:

The stereotype of a man refusing to ask for directions while driving may carry over to shopping as well, researchers announced recently.

The results, which are based on survey questions, show that women are much more likely to seek out other people for guidance about wine purchases, usually from interpersonal relationships, such as friends and family. But men are less likely to ask others for help, and instead prefer to get information from impersonal and published materials, as well as from their own experiences.

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What Happens In Sex Rehab?

Gentle Path facility in Hattiesburg, Miss.

From Time Magazine:

The calls for Tiger Woods to get help did not go unheeded: on Jan. 16, after weeks of sordid allegations regarding his extramarital affairs, Radaronline.com reported that Woods had enrolled in the Gentle Path program at Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services, in Hattiesburg, Miss., to be treated for sex addiction. Local television stations later confirmed the story.

Few people know what actually happens at sex rehab. While those who treat it say sex addiction is a disease like any other compulsion, the field is in its infancy: there is virtually no research on it compared to the vast resources on drug or alcohol addiction. "You look at ways that your behavior has made your life unmanageable. That's really the question," says Benoit Denizet-Lewis, author of America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life, who has been treated for sex addiction himself. "That often differentiates a sex addict from a nonsex addict."

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Hunt For Earth's 'Twin Planet' Takes Leap Forward

Scientists claim the search for an Earth-like planet outside the solar system has entered a new phase Photo: GETTY IMAGES

From The Telegraph:

Scientists are on the brink of discovering the first Earth-like planet outside the solar system, a leading astronomer has claimed.

Professor Michel Mayor, the scientist who led the team that identified the first extrasolar planet in 1995, believes a planet similar in size and composition to Earth will soon be found.

Prof Mayor, of Geneva University, said that the prospect of finding a planet habitable for humans had come a step closer through rapid technological advances allowing observation of planets outside the solar system.

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World Wide Web May Split Up Into Several Separate Networks

From Investors Business Daily:

Google's threat to exit China is igniting worries that the Web, a linchpin of globalization, may fracture into regional fiefdoms.

The U.S. and China are ratcheting up rhetoric over the Internet's future. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday warned that "a new information curtain is descending across much of the world."

China says it'll make no exception for Google (GOOG) or other U.S. firms on its Internet policies. China's government has lashed back at Clinton's speech, saying it damaged bilateral ties. On Monday, the Communist Party's People's Daily accused the U.S. of using social Web sites like Twitter to cook up unrest in Iran.

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Video: Airborne Laser Tracks and Engages A Missile in Flight

From Popular Science:

Remember the Airborne Laser (ABL), the jumbo-jet-mounted chemical laser weapon designed to knock hostile missiles out of the air in mid-flight? The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has released a video of this futuristic system in action, tracking and engaging a test missile fired from San Nicolas Island off the California coast. While the video might come off just a bit anti-climactic, with no dramatic explosion to cap off the laser blast, it does prove one key thing: the system, at least if the video is to be believed, actually works.

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My Comment: I have to assume that the video is accurate (even if it was probably taken under controlled conditions) .... if it was not I am sure that critics of the program would be yelling to anyone who would listen right now.

Having said that, I recall how critics were calling this program "mission impossible" 25 years ago. Hmmmm .... 25 years later and billions spent .... I guess nothing is no longer impossible.

Mozilla Leader Worries About Internet Limits

From Yahoo News/AP:

MUNICH, Germany (AP) -- The leader of the Mozilla Project, whose Firefox Web browser now has 350 million users, said Sunday that she is concerned that legal restrictions could limit Internet expansion.

Mitchell Baker said she worried about "the increase in laws that make it difficult to run an open network," especially rules about content.

"You suddenly become liable for anything that gets downloaded, whether it's legal or not," she said. "If you said to a municipality, if you build a road, you have to guarantee nothing illegal happens on it -- that's what's happening on the Internet now. So that's the kind of regulatory disruption that's going to have some long-term consequences."

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Has USA Hit Its Final Frontier In Human Space Exploration?

Gravitating toward the International Space Station: If it continues to get the government's support, which space experts say is likely, that will limit the money needed to send humans to the moon or Mars. NASA via AP

From USA Today:

WASHINGTON — Still hoping for that Jetsons future?

Ruh-roh, as the Jetsons' dog, Astro, might put it.

Just six years ago, President Bush laid out a vision of space exploration that harked back to NASA's halcyon days built on astronauts as explorers. Bush wanted to sling them from low Earth orbit to a base on the moon and then, perhaps, on to a first manned landing on another planet, Mars.

But that was before huge federal deficits arrived, public support failed to show, and unmanned explorers scored successes — namely the Hubble telescope and Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which are still sending back signals years after they were expected to expire.

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Apple ‘Tablets’ Sniffed By Analytics Are More Likely iPhones

From Gadget Lab:

A mobile analytics company has come forward with what it touts as evidence that Apple tablet prototypes are being tested — without offering any solid details suggesting the mystery devices are tablets at all.

Analytics firm Flurry has tracked down 50 devices that it believes are Apple’s expected tablet. The devices’ IPs and GPS data give away they have not left Apple’s Cupertino campus, according to Flurry, which raises the firm’s suspicion that these are prototypes in testing. Flurry goes on to say its app tracking matches the “characteristics of Apple’s rumored tablet device” even though the analytics don’t provide any data about the characteristics of the prototypes.

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Stone Age Surgery Discovered After 7,000-Year-Old Man Found With Expertly Amputated Arm

From The Daily Mail:

Evidence of surgery carried out nearly 7,000 year ago has emerged – suggesting our Stone Age ancestors were more medically advanced than first thought.

Early Neolithic surgeons used a sharpened flint to amputate the left forearm of an elderly man, scientists have discovered.

And, more remarkable yet, they ensured the patient was anaesthetised and the limb cut off cleanly while the wound was treated afterwards in sterile conditions.

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Global Warming: 'Cooling' Forests Can Heat Too

Pine forest. The simple formula we've learned in recent years -- forests remove the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere; therefore forests prevent global warming -- may not be quite as simple as we thought. Forests can directly absorb and retain heat, and, in at least one type of forest, these effects may be strong enough to cancel out a good part of the benefit in lowered CO2. (Credit: iStockphoto/Jeremy Sterk)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2010) — The simple formula we've learned in recent years -- forests remove the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere; therefore forests prevent global warming -- may not be quite as simple as we thought. Forests can directly absorb and retain heat, and, in at least one type of forest, these effects may be strong enough to cancel out a good part of the benefit in lowered CO2. This is a conclusion of a paper that will be published on January 22, in Science by scientists in the Weizmann Institute's Faculty of Chemistry.

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Good And Bad Angels In Hollywood And The Bible

Polls have indicated that nearly 70 percent of Americans think angels exist.
Credit: Screen Gems

From Live Science:

The new film "Legion" is about the final days of mankind, as a group of angels make a last stand in a small diner in New Mexico to protect a woman pregnant with humanity's new savior.

The archangel Michael is played by Paul Bettany, who portrays Charles Darwin in the new film "Creation," also released this Friday. The film poster shows Michael with a hunting knife in one hand and a machine gun in the other. This ain't your grandmother's angel.

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Gates, The Philanthropist, On Lessons Learned (Q&A)

Last year marked Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' first year working full time as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In an interview with CNET, done in conjunction with the release of his annual foundation letter, he shared his insights into his philanthropy work, as well as some highlights of his travels. Gates talks with employees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle last month. Photo by Courtesy of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

From CNET News:

SEATTLE--Bill Gates thought that coming up with vaccines would be the hard part and that delivering vaccines would be the easy part.

It turns out they are both hard.

That's one of the lessons that Gates tells CNET he has learned in his new role as full-time philanthropist. In travels to Africa, he saw firsthand the challenges of delivering vaccines, many of which have to be kept cold to be effective and are needed in places with no refrigeration.

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The Intricate Beauty Of The Solar Corona

(Click Image to Enlarge)

From Discovery News:

The solar corona is the magnetically dominated atmosphere of the sun, reaching millions of miles into space. Paradoxically, the corona is many times hotter than the solar 'surface' (the photosphere) and solar physicists are currently trying to understand why this is the case.

The photosphere has an average temperature of approximately 6000 degrees Celsius, whereas the corona can be millions of degrees Celsius. This is analogous to the air surrounding a hot light bulb being hotter than the bulb itself; in reality, the air surrounding the bulb is cooler than the bulb's glass surface, and it gets cooler the further you move your hand away.

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Prions 'May Keep Nerves Healthy'

Photo: Removing prion proteins led to a breakdown of the myelin sheath surrounding the nerve.

From BBC:

Experiments on mice may help scientists understand the workings of the prion protein linked to brain disease vCJD.

Swiss researchers say there is evidence that prions play a vital role in the maintenance of the sheath surrounding our nerves.

They say it is possible that an absence of prions causes diseases of the peripheral nervous system.

One expert said there was growing evidence that the prion had a number of important roles in the body.

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China Scientists Lead World In Research Growth

From The Financial Times:

China has experienced the strongest growth in scientific research over the past three decades of any country, according to figures compiled for the Financial Times, and the pace shows no sign of slowing.

Jonathan Adams, research evaluation director at Thomson Reuters, said China’s “awe-inspiring” growth had put it in second place to the US – and if it continues on its trajectory it will be the largest producer of scientific knowledge by 2020.

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Climate Change's Latest Storm -- A Commentary

From The Wall Street Journal:

Good news for the Earth, bad news for the IPCC.

It's been a good week for the future of Life as We Know It. First the keepers of the climate-science consensus admitted that the Himalayan glaciers are not on the verge of disappearing, as these columns pointed out last month. Now we've learned that there wasn't much science behind the claim, also trumpeted in the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 report, that rising temperatures were leading to more-intense storms and more-expensive natural catastrophes.

This is good news for everyone, except perhaps the IPCC itself.

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The Internet War -- A Commentary

Countries armed with "cyberweapons," according to McAfee.
(Credit: McAfee)

The Internet War -- An Editorial From The Washington Post

THE INTERNET has produced a vast expansion of free speech and access to information around the world. But for China and Russia, it has also become a means for waging a covert war against other nations, including the United States -- a brazen effort to steal secrets and plant malware. For those countries and for a host of other authoritarian regimes, Internet freedom is a threat, to be countered by censorship, the imprisonment of bloggers and domestic spying.

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Update: China Ups the Ante in Internet Row With U.S. -- Wall Street Journal editorial

My Comment: Two must read editorials on how both Russia and China are now using the world wide web to target us.

Are Bing And WolframAlpha Catching Up With Google In Search Engine Battle?

From The Guardian:

Panel hears how Google's competitors are looking at different ways of searching the internet.

The front of the pack isn't always the best place to be. In a panel of search engine representatives at the Munich DLD conference, Google's Ben Gomes was the most reluctant to give anything away. Alsio on the panel were Conrad Alpha, of WolframAlpha, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, the architect of Microsoft Visual Earth, and Ilya Segalovich, of Yandex – Russia's largest search engine.

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The Digital Revolution Is Making Earth Harder To Detect by Inquisitive Aliens, World's Leading ET Hunter Says

Out of reach? E.T. touches his friend Elliot in the film 'E.T The Extra Terrestrial'. Dr Frank Drake believes the digital revolution is making us harder for other life forms to detect

From The Daily Mail:

Satellite TV and the digital revolution is making humanity more and more invisible to inquisitive aliens on other planets, the world's leading ET hunter said today.

That might be good news for anyone who fears an 'Independence Day' - style invasion by little green men.

But it is also likely to make the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence by Earthly scientists harder, Dr Frank Drake believes.

Read more ....

More Cyber Attacks From China?

Iraq's Rumaila oil field: A key target of 2008 cyberattacks on US oil and gas companies ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Marathon was exploration 'bid data' that provides critical details about new energy discoveries. Atef Hassan/Reuters

US Oil Industry Hit By Cyberattacks: Was China Involved? -- Christian Science Monitor

MONITOR EXCLUSIVE: Breaches show how sophisticated industrial espionage is becoming. The big question: Who’s behind them?

At least three US oil companies were the target of a series of previously undisclosed cyberattacks that may have originated in China and that experts say highlight a new level of sophistication in the growing global war of Internet espionage.

The oil and gas industry breaches, the mere existence of which has been a closely guarded secret of oil companies and federal authorities, were focused on one of the crown jewels of the industry: valuable “bid data” detailing the quantity, value, and location of oil discoveries worldwide, sources familiar with the attacks say and documents obtained by the Monitor show.

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More News On China And Cyber Attacks

Google cyberattacks stoke fears of stealth hackers -- Seattle Times/New York Times
Hack Attacks Test Google's Link to China -- CBS News
Chinese Government Denies Involvement In Google Attack -- The Atlantic
Google negotiating ways to keep presence in China -- Washington Post
Google: China Dispute Could Be Resolved in Weeks -- ABC News
Chinese Sites Report Cyber Attacks -- Wall Street Journal
China rights groups hit by cyberattacks: activists -- AFP
Microsoft beefs up security due to China hack -- National Business Review
Internet Explorer 'hit with new set of security flaws' -- The Telegraph
China Hacks Inspire Copycats -- PC World
Cybercriminals use China attacks on Google as lure -- Computer Weekly
The top 10 Chinese cyber attacks (that we know of) -- The Cable/Foreign Policy
What's really at stake in Google vs. China -- Fareed Zakaria, CNN opinion

Stroke's 'Death Signal' Can Be Blocked; Discovery May Aid Drug Development

Dr. Sic Chan is an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. (Credit: UCF/Jacque Brund)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 25, 2010) — Biomedical scientists from the University of Central Florida and Louisiana State University have identified a way to block a "cell death signal" that they believe triggers brain damage during strokes.

Strokes, also known as cerebral ischemia, are caused by inadequate blood flow to the brain and are the third-leading cause of death in the United States.

Read more ....

Breeding Has Made Dogs' Heads Incredibly Diverse

A cocker spaniel mix puppy. Credit: stock.xchng

From Live Science:

To get a sense of the not-so-subtle ways humans have influenced the course evolution, one wouldn't need to look further than Fido.

A new study reveals that the variety of skull shapes among domestic dogs has become just as diverse as the variety between other mammal species, such as bears, weasels, and seals. In fact some dog breeds’ heads vary in shape by more than the variation between cats and walruses.

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Dino Extinction Brought Birds Back To Earth

Flightless birds owe their success to the demise of the dinosaurs. Credit: Wikimedia

From Cosmos:

SYDNEY: Large, flightless birds such as ostriches and emus, originated in the northern hemisphere, according to an Australian study that suggests they became grounded after dinosaurs went extinct.

Reconstructed migration patterns have raised questions about whether flightless birds could have their evolutionary origins in the planet's north.

Until now, most scientists thought these birds originated in the southern behemoth Gondwanaland, according to the study published in Systematic Biology.

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Rivals Will Vie With Apple For Tablet Spotlight

Intel demonstrates OpenPeak tablet at 2010 CES.
(Credit: Intel)

From CNET:

Technology from Intel, Marvell, and Nvidia is powering some intriguing alternatives to the imminent Apple tablet.

News about the Apple tablet, when it emerges, will likely blanket the Internet for some time after the device is announced, obscuring tablet efforts from rivals. Nevertheless, there will be at least a few designs that should warrant some attention. Here are some potential high-profile alternatives:

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Scientists Create Model of Monster 'Frankenstorm'

A high-storm surf pounds the beach in front of an oil rig at Seal Beach, Calif.
AP Photo/Nick Ut

From Discovery News:

The recent California storms left the state battered and bruised, but that could just be a taster of things to come.

Think the recent wild weather that hammered California was bad? Experts are imagining far worse.

As torrential rains pelted wildfire-stripped hillsides and flooded highways, a team of scientists hunkered down at the California Institute of Technology to work on a "Frankenstorm" scenario -- a mother lode wintry blast that could potentially sock the Golden State.

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China Rejects Claims Of Cyber Attacks On Google

From The BBC:

China has denied any state involvement in alleged cyber attacks on Google and accused the US of double standards.

A Chinese industry ministry spokesman told the state-run Xinhua news agency that claims that Beijing was behind recent cyber attacks were "groundless".

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked China to investigate claims by Google that it had been targeted by China-based hackers.

The US search giant has threatened to withdraw from China.

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Is This The Apple Tablet In Action? (Video)

Video is from Zideo.

A Cannon For Shooting Supplies Into Space

How the Space Cannon Works John MacNeill

From Popular Science:

John Hunter wants to shoot stuff into space with a 3,600-foot gun. And he’s dead serious—he’s done the math. Making deliveries to an orbital outpost on a rocket costs $5,000 per pound, but using a space gun would cost just $250 per pound.

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Comet Storm Split Destiny Of Jupiter's Twin Moons

Comet strikes may have warmed Ganymede enough for its
ice and rock to fully separate (Image: NASA/JPL)

From New Scientist:

Heavy pummelling by icy comets could explain why Jupiter's two biggest moons – apparently close kin – look so different inside.

At first glance, Ganymede and Callisto are virtually twins. The colossal moons are similar in size and mass, and are a roughly 50:50 mixture of ice and rock.

However, visits by the Galileo spacecraft beginning in 1996 tell a different story. Ganymede's interior boasts a solid rock core surrounded by a thick layer of ice, while ice and rock are still mingled in parts of Callisto. That suggests Callisto was never warm enough for its ice to melt and allow all of its rock to fall to the centre and form a core.

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If Your Password Is 123456, Just Make It HackMe

From New York Times:

Back at the dawn of the Web, the most popular account password was “12345.”

Today, it’s one digit longer but hardly safer: “123456.”

Despite all the reports of Internet security breaches over the years, including the recent attacks on Google’s e-mail service, many people have reacted to the break-ins with a shrug.

According to a new analysis, one out of five Web users still decides to leave the digital equivalent of a key under the doormat: they choose a simple, easily guessed password like “abc123,” “iloveyou” or even “password” to protect their data.

“I guess it’s just a genetic flaw in humans,” said Amichai Shulman, the chief technology officer at Imperva, which makes software for blocking hackers. “We’ve been following the same patterns since the 1990s.”

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Neurons Developed From Stem Cells Successfully Wired With Other Brain Regions In Animals

This is a single stem cell-derived neuron that has migrated away from the transplantation site in the cortex and grown into a mature neuron. The blue stain shows the nuclei of the endogenous neural cells in this part of the brain. (Credit: Courtesy, with permission: Weimann et al. The Journal of Neuroscience 2010.)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 24, 2010) — Transplanted neurons grown from embryonic stem cells can fully integrate into the brains of young animals, according to new research in the Jan. 20 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

Healthy brains have stable and precise connections between cells that are necessary for normal behavior. This new finding is the first to show that stem cells can be directed not only to become specific brain cells, but to link correctly.

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Why Human Blood Drives Mosquitoes Wild

Image of the Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito, an insect that is attracted to the sent of human blood. Credit: Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis Department of Entomology 

From Live Science:

When the time came for chemical ecologist Walter Leal to test whether humans make a natural odor that attracts mosquitoes, Leal himself was the first to volunteer.

"I measured my own levels," Leal said. "I thought I would set a good example. If you do it first, then others won't be scared."

In truth, there was little if any reason to be frightened. The scientists were looking only for the substance itself, not trying to find out whether the compound would lure the insects into a blood meal. And they found it — nonanal, a substance made by humans and birds that creates a powerful scent that Culex mosquitoes find irresistible.

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For £17.7m ($28.2 million), Shuttle Is A Gift That's Out Of This World

The price of Nasa's Space Shuttle fleet has just been slashed from £25.8m. Getty

From The Independent:

It flew faster and higher than any machine in history and was the was the ultimate boy's toy, but at $42 million (£25.8 m) it was beyond most budgets. But now the price of Nasa's soon-to-be redundant space shuttles has plummeted to something more down-to-earth: a new analysis of the costs of hauling the monster from the Kennedy Space Centre to a major US airport has led the space agency to slash the price to $28.2 m (£17.7m) .

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My Technology Predictions For 2010

I'm not forecasting flying cars this year - but will we have them by 2015?

From The Guardian:

It's prediction time again! Yes, I know that January is half-over already, but that gives me less time to make it all happen, doesn't it?

And remember, fully two-thirds of these should be correct, going by past performance. Although please remember that your home may be at risk if you bet it on any single one of these things happening.

So without further ado, let's get under way …

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Scientists Announce The End Of The Mid-Life Crisis: Life Really Does Begin At 40, They Say

Life's a beach: Over-40s are 'free to enjoy life' according to a psychologist

From The Daily Telegraph:

Life really can begin at 40, an expert claimed yesterday.

Improvements in healthcare, education and life expectancy have made the mid-life crisis a thing of the past, according to psychologist Dr Carlo Strenger.

'Somehow this line has been drawn around the mid and late 40s as a time for a mid-life crisis in our society,' he said.

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Prairie Dogs Most 'Chatty'

Prairie dogs are highly social and live in large colonies that can span hundreds of acres of the grasslands of North America Photo: ALAMY

From The Telegraph:

On first appearances they seem to be little more than a kind of nervous ground squirrel with a loud squeak, but new research is revealing that prairie dogs are in fact some of nature's most talkative creatures.

Biologists studying the burrowing rodents have found that they have one of the most sophisticated languages in the animal kingdom – second only to humans.

The findings have surprised many wildlife experts as it was assumed that mankind's closest relatives, primates, or intelligent mammals such as dolphins were likely to be the most talkative species after humans.

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Show And Sell: The Secret To Apple's Magic

From Popular Science:

Flash an exotic prototype, then—Presto!—get people to buy your more boring stuff. That kind of thinking still rules at most electronics companies. Apple under Steve Jobs only shows off actual products. The difference? Apple's arcane secret to success.

A specter harrows the consumer electronics industry: malaise. Like washed-up Catskill magicians unable to let go of old routines while a brash upstart steals their audience, nearly every maker of consumer electronics in the world clings to a quaint song-and-dance about prototypes.

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Quartz Rods Could Provide Instant Bomb Detector

Destroyed by a TATP bomb (Image: Dylan Martinez/PA archive/PA)

From New Scientist:

A CHEAP artificial nose promises to make it much easier to detect the explosive triacetone triperoxide. The device could be installed in the doorways of buses, trains and airports to sound an alarm if someone carrying TATP crosses the threshold.

Attention started to focus on TATP following its use in the 7 July 2005 bus and tube bombings in London, and the attacks on trains the previous year in Madrid, Spain. The explosive can be made using easily obtainable domestic chemicals and has explosive power similar to TNT.

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Back In Fashion: The Mother Of All Computers No Longer Looks That Old

From The Economist:

GEEKS may roll their eyes at the news that Namibia is only now getting its first mainframe—a technology that most consider obsolete. Yet the First National Bank of Namibia, which bought the computer, is at the leading edge of a trend. Comeback is too strong a word, but mainframes no longer look that outdated.

Until the 1980s mainframes, so called because the processing unit was originally housed in a huge metal frame, ruled supreme in corporate data centres. Since then, these big, tightly laced bundles of software and hardware have been dethroned by “distributed systems”, meaning networks of smaller and cheaper machines, usually not based on proprietary technology. But many large companies still run crucial applications on the “big iron”: there are still about 10,000 in use worldwide. Withdraw money or buy insurance, and in most cases mainframes are handling the transaction.

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The First Tweet From Space And Other Twitter Firsts

From PC World:

Tweeting is no longer only an earthly phenomenon.

A NASA astronaut made Twitter history on Friday by sending the first tweet from outer space. Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer broadcast the following message directly from the International Space Station:

"Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station -- the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s"

Take that, Neil Armstrong.

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Mississippi Delta Earthquake: America's Haiti Waiting to Happen?

A CAMP FOR THOUSANDS - As many as 50,000 Haitians sleep in this earthquake survivor camp in the Del Mas area in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 21, 2010. It has grown by thousands since the U.S. Army 82nd Division's 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Squadron started distributing food and water there last week. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III

From ABC News:

Scientists Predict Haiti-Magnitude Quake Along Fault Under Miss. Delta.

One of the strongest series of earthquakes ever to hit the United States happened not in Alaska or along California's San Andreas fault, but in southeast Missouri along the Mississippi River.

In 1811 and 1812, the New Madrid fault zone that zig zags through five states shook so violently that it shifted furniture in Washington, D.C., and rang church bells in Boston. The series of temblors changed the course of the Mississippi River near Memphis, and historical accounts claim the river even flowed backward briefly.

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Spectacular X-Ray Tails Surprise Astronomers

MSU's Megan Donahue was part of an international team of astronomers that viewed this rare double-tailed gas cloud. (Credit: Photo courtesy of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2010) — Astronomer were surprised to find two distinct "tails" found on a long tail of gas that is believed to be forming stars where few stars have been formed before.

"The double tail is very cool -- that is, interesting -- and ridiculously hard to explain," said Donahue, a professor in MSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy. "It could be two different sources of gas or something to do with magnetic fields. We just don't know."

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