Where The Quakes In Chile Struck

This map of topography and water depth along the Chilean coast shows quake locations and magnitudes (black circles), with lighter colors indicating higher elevation on land and shallower depth in the water. The boundary where the two tectonic plates converge is marked by a red line. Also there is a trench where the Nazca Plate begins to dive beneath the South America Plate. When these plates get locked together for any time the pressure will eventually break, resulting in an earthquake like the 8.8 magnitude temblor on Feb. 27. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory.

From Live Science:

The 8.8-magnitude earthquake that devastated parts of Chile was the result of a collision between two giant slabs of Earth.

The jolt occurred along a so-called subduction zone, where one tectonic plate dives beneath another. In this case, the Nazca Plate is plowing under the South America Plate at an average rate of 3 inches (80 millimeters) a year. In addition to the Feb. 27 earthquake and others, the plate collision gives rise to the spectacular Andes Mountains.

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Wiseguys Indicted In $25 Million Online Ticket Ring

From Wired News:

A ring of ticket brokers has been indicted in connection to an elaborate hacking scheme that used bots and other fraudulent means to purchase more than 1 million tickets for concerts, sporting events and other events.

The defendants made more than $25 million in profits from the resale of the tickets between 2002 and 2009.

Read more ....

More News On This Ticket Scam

Four Men Indicted In Online Ticket Scam -- PC World
Four men charged in computerized online ticket scam -- CNET
Four Indicted in CAPTCHA Hacks of Ticket Sites -- PC Magazine
4 Californians indicted in alleged ticket reselling scam -- L.A. Times
Couldn’t Get Those Coveted Gaga Tickets? Here’s Why -- Wall Street Journal
Wiseguys net $25m in ticket scalping racket -- Register

The Great Tradition Of Bungling Boffins

Galileo wasn't immune to the odd bad idea himself. Simon Callow in the television production of Galileo's Daughter Photo: CHANNEL 4

From The Telegraph:

As recent events have shown, all scientists can make mistakes. Michael Brooks recounts their most heroic failures across the ages.

It is hardly surprising that public confidence in science has taken a dip lately, what with all the turmoil surrounding climate change research, the failure of the peer review process to block Andrew Wakefield's paper on MMR, and the near-comical troubles at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

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Year Of The Laser

From Technology Review:

The laser, a device used in everything from astrophysics to biology, was invented 50 years ago.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the laser, a device used in applications from performing precise surgical procedures to measuring gravitational waves. In 1917, Albert Einstein proposed that a photon hitting an atom in a high energy state would cause the atom to release a second photon identical in frequency and direction to the first. In the 1950s, scientists searched for a way to achieve this stimulated emission and amplify it so that a group of excited atoms would release photons in a chain reaction. In 1959, American physicist Gordon Gould publicly used the term “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation” for the first time. A year later, scientists demonstrated the first working optical laser.

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Big Bang Collider Restarts At Cern In Bid To Discover Origins Of The Universe

Technicians install electric cables at the heart of the ATLAS detector, part of the Large Hadron Collider, which was restarted last night

From The Daily Mail:

Scientists have restarted the world largest atom smasher over-night, in a fresh bid to uncover the secrets of the universe.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, sent low energy beams of protons in both directions around the 17-mile particle accelerator under the Swiss-French border at Geneva.

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Why The Chile quake Tsunami Was Smaller Than Feared

Focused spread (Image: NOAA)

From New Scientist:

The earthquake in Chile on Saturday was one of the biggest the world has felt in the past century – so why was the tsunami that spread across the Pacific smaller than originally feared?

The magnitude-8.8 earthquake was devastating, claiming at least 700 lives. Large tsunami waves were reported along parts of Chile's coastline: reports suggest the town of Constitución was worst affected by the wave.

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Nose Scanning Techniques Could Sniff Out Criminals

Faces were analysed and mapped with a computer program

From The BBC:

We already have iris and fingerprint scanning but noses could be an even better method of identification, says a study from the University of Bath, UK.

The researchers scanned noses in 3D and characterised them by tip, ridge profile and the nasion, or area between the eyes.

They found 6 main nose types: Roman, Greek, Nubian, hawk, snub and turn-up.

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Chile Quake Among Most Powerful Ever

From Discovery News:

The so-called megathrust quake that rocked the western coast of South America is the most powerful of its kind.

THE GIST:

* The 8.8-magnitude earthquake is similar to the 2004 Indian Ocean temblor that triggered devastating tsunamis.
* Called megathrusts, these quakes occur when one tectonic plate dives beneath another.
* The Chile tremor unleashed about 50 gigatons of energy.

The huge earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile belongs to an "elite class" of mega earthquakes, experts said, and is similar to the 2004 Indian Ocean temblor that triggered deadly tsunami waves.

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A Bird's Eye View Of The Chile Earthquake's Energy Distribution

NOAA's Distributed Energy Map of the Chile Earthquake NOAA

From Popular Science:

It’s easy to think of tsunamis as phenomenon that mimic the behavior of ripples on the surface of water; you toss a stone into a pond and the resulting energy from the splash moves out away from the epicenter in a series of even, concentric circles. But this NOAA energy distribution map from the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile over the weekend tells a different story.

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New 'Alien Invader' Star Clusters Found in Milky Way

As many as one quarter of the star clusters in our Milky Way -- many more than previously thought -- are invaders from other galaxies, according to a new study. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 2010) — As many as one quarter of the star clusters in our Milky Way -- many more than previously thought -- are invaders from other galaxies, according to a new study. The report also suggests there may be as many as six dwarf galaxies yet to be discovered within the Milky Way rather than the two that were previously confirmed.

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Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders

From Live Science:

Sleep is supposed to be a time of peace and relaxation. Most of us drift from our waking lives into predictable cycles of deep, non-REM sleep, followed by dream-filled rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. But when the boundaries of these three phases of arousal get fuzzy, sleep can be downright scary. In fact, some sleep disorders seem more at home in horror films than in your bedroom.

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British Library To Offer Free Ebook Downloads

Jane Austen: Originals cost £250

From Times Online:

MORE than 65,000 19th-century works of fiction from the British Library’s collection are to be made available for free downloads by the public from this spring.

Owners of the Amazon Kindle, an ebook reader device, will be able to view well known works by writers such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy, as well as works by thousands of less famous authors.

The library’s ebook publishing project, funded by Microsoft, the computer giant, is the latest move in the mounting online battle over the future of books.

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Microsoft Urges Antitrust Complaints About Google

Image from Onecomics

From Times Online:

Microsoft has encouraged other companies to complain about Google to antitrust regulators in its most outspoken attack on its rival.

The software group, which for years has been the prime target of competition regulators in the US and Europe over the way it handled its near-monopoly of computer operating systems, wants to turn the spotlight on to Google's position as the world's biggest internet search and advertising company.

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Colossal Head Statue Of King Tut's Grandfather Dug Out In Luxor

The colossal head, after its excavation.
Courtesy: Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA)

From Discovery News:

A colossal head statue of King Tut's grandfather has been dug out in Luxor, Farouk Hosni, Egypt's Culture Minister, said Sunday.

Smoothly polished and perfectly preserved, the 2.5-meter (8-foot) head belonged to Amenhotep III, the pharaoh who was King Tutankhamun's grandfather, according to DNA tests revealed last week.

The ninth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Amenhotep III (1390-1352 B.C.), reigned for 38 year during a time when Egypt was at the height of prosperity and cultural development.

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Suborbital Safety: Will Commercial Spaceflight Ramp Up the Risk?

From Popular Mechanics:

At the first-ever Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference, high-level officials from NASA and the FAA addressed the risks that new private and commercial suborbital vehicles will carry when transporting NASA-sponsored payloads and personnel.

Ever since the loss of the space shuttle Challenger, almost a quarter of a century ago, the watchword above all others at NASA has been "safety." Unfortunately, watchwords don't necessarily create actual safety, as we learned a little over seven years ago, with the loss of her sister ship Columbia.

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Video: A Silent Rotor Blade Paves The Way For Super-Stealth Choppers

From Popular Science:

For all the government conspiracy militia nuts out there, I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there is no such thing as silent, stealth black helicopters. The bad news is that, thanks to Eurocopter's noise-canceling Blue Edge rotor blades, there soon will be.

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Stonehenge "Hedge" Found, Shielded Secret Rituals?

Stonehenge (seen in an aerial view taken in the late 1990s) may have been protected by a green barrier, archaeologists say. Photograph by Jason Hawkes, Corbis

From The National Geographic:

Stonehenge may have been surrounded by a "Stonehedge" that blocked onlookers from seeing secret rituals, according to a new study.

Evidence for two encircling hedges—possibly thorn bushes—planted some 3,600 years ago was uncovered during a survey of the site by English Heritage, the government agency responsible for maintaining the monument in southern England.

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By Tracking Water Molecules, Physicists Hope To Unlock Secrets Of Life

Supercool. As individual water molecules fluctuate, breaking and forming bonds with their nearest neighbors, the result is slightly imperfect tetrahedral structures that are constantly in flux. Research suggests that these fluctuations give rise to some of water's most unusual and life-sustaining features. (Credit: Image courtesy of Rockefeller University)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Mar. 1, 2010) — The key to life as we know it is water, a tiny molecule with some highly unusual properties, such as the ability to retain large amounts of heat and to lose, instead of gain, density as it solidifies. It behaves so differently from other liquids, in fact, that by some measures it shouldn't even exist. Now scientists have made a batch of new discoveries about the ubiquitous liquid, suggesting that an individual water molecule's interactions with its neighbors could someday be manipulated to solve some of the world's thorniest problems -- from agriculture to cancer.

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How Bad Is Second-Hand Smoke?

From Live Science:

This Week’s Question: I live with my 40-year-old son and he smokes like the proverbial chimney around the house. I’m afraid of what it’s doing to his health. What can I do to get him to quit?

Tell him he may be killing you with his secondhand smoke.

Secondhand smoke—also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)—is made up of the “sidestream” smoke from the end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar, and the “mainstream” smoke that is exhaled.

Read more ....

Clean Tech: A New Way To Hasten Energy Solutions

Solar panels cover the rooftop of the STAPLES Center sports complex in Los Angeles.
David McNew / Getty Images

From Time Magazine:

If we're going to find a way to fix our long-term energy woes — whether it's through biofuels made from algae or through the rise of miniature nuclear-power plants, — the solution is likely to come from northern California. Yes, in Silicon Valley, the same entrepreneurs who brought us the Internet — and, O.K., Pets.com — are exploring new ways to make and use energy. And we'll need them, as much for our economy's well-being as for our planet's.

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British Library Launches UK Internet Archive

From Times Online:

The UK's national library has created a fascinating snapshot of the way Britons have been using the web since 2004.

So, the internet of today's not big enough for you?

Then have a look at the 6,000 or so vintage sites that have been newly collected by the British Library for the UK Web Archive, which launched today.

The Library, which collects every periodical and book published in English, decided to extend its reach to cover the internet in 2004, when it was clear that the web's evolution would inevitably mean that some sites would disappear.

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Giant Antarctic Iceberg Could Affect Global Ocean Circulation

Satellite image showing 97km (60 mile) long iceberg, right, about to crash into the Mertz glacier tongue, left, in the Australian Antarctic Territory. The collision created a new 78km-long iceberg. Photograph: AP

From The Guardian:

Ice broken off from Mertz glacier is size of Luxembourg and may decrease oxygen supply for marine life in the area.

An iceberg the size of Luxembourg that contains enough fresh water to supply a third of the world's population for a year has broken off in the Antarctic continent, with possible implications for global ocean circulation, scientists said today.

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Happiness Ain't All It's Cracked Up To Be

From New Scientist:

The Founding Fathers liked happiness so much they considered pursuing it an inalienable right – but maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Happiness seems to make people more selfish, the latest in a series of revelations suggesting it changes how you think – and not in a good way.

Psychologist Joe Forgas at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, who has led many of these studies, suggests that happiness's negative effects all stem from a cheery mood's tendency to lull you into feeling secure. This makes you look inwards and behave both more selfishly and more carelessly.

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Happily Married Men 'Much Less Likely To Suffer Stroke' Than Single Or Unhappily Married Friends

Scientists say an unhappy marriage or being left on the shelf was as big a risk to your chances of having a stroke as having diabetes Photo: ALAMY

From The Telegraph:

Happily married men are much less likely to suffer a stroke than their single or unhappily married friends, according to new research.

Single men and those in unsuccessful marriages were 64 per cent more likely to have a stroke than men in successful marriages.

Scientists say an unhappy marriage or being left on the shelf was as big a risk to your chances of having a stroke as having diabetes.

Read more ....

Apple: Underage Workers May Have Built Your iPhone

From PC World:

That iPhone you adore may have been built by a child.

Nearly a dozen underage teens were working for Apple-contracted facilities in 2009, the company has revealed. The news was posted to Apple's Web site under a section labeled "Supplier Responsibility."

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Climate Group Plans Review

From The Wall Street Journal:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's announcement over the weekend that it will seek independent experts to investigate how factual errors were published in its latest report is a key aspect of the organization's effort to understand and divulge its institutional problems, officials there say.

The announcement by the United Nations-sponsored organization Saturday comes as it gears up to produce another big report on global warming.

Read more ....

The Fiancee Formula: Academics Work Out The Best Time To Propose

From The Daily Mail:

Worried your boyfriend is never going to propose? Then buy him a calculator.

Mathematicians have come up with a 'fiancee formula' that allows men to work out the perfect time to pop the question.

All he needs is the age he would first consider marrying and his cut-off point - and the equation does the rest.

Maths professor Anthony Dooley said: 'Applying maths to matters of the heart is always dangerous. In life you are dealing with emotions and have to think much harder.

But if you want to work out the right moment to start getting serious, this gives you a mathematical framework.'

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Threat to Monkey Numbers from Forest Decline

An Udzungwa red colobus monkey. (Credit: Andrew Marshall / University of York)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 27, 2010) — Monkey populations in threatened forests are far more sensitive to damage to their habitat than previously thought, according to new research.

An analysis of monkeys living in Tanzania's Udzungwa Mountains suggests that the impact of external factors, such as human activity, on species numbers is felt in forests as large as 40 square kilometres.

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Chile Earthquake: Is Mother Nature Out of Control?

From Live Science:

Chile is on a hotspot of sorts for earthquake activity. And so the 8.8-magnitude temblor that shook the capital region overnight was not a surprise, historically speaking. Nor was it outside the realm of normal, scientists say, even though it comes on the heels of other major earthquakes.

One scientist, however, says that relative to a time period in the past, the Earth has been more active over the past 15 years or so.

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Why Tsunamis Were Smaller Than Expected

Debris in Pelluhue, Chile, after high waves hit. VICTOR RUIZ CABALLERO/REUTERS

From The Independent:

It is fortunate that one of the biggest earthquakes in recent history has generated only relatively small tsunamis that crossed the Pacific Ocean from Chile to Japan. This is almost certainly because the rupture that generated the earthquake occurred quite deep in the Earth's crust.

The size of a tsunami, which means "harbour wave" in Japanese, is directly related to the volume of water that is displaced during the movement of the seabed during an earthquake. The bigger the amount of water that is moved up or down, the bigger the tsunami that is likely to be created.

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Was Jimi Hendrix's Ambidexterity The Key To His Virtuosity?

Right (and left) hand man ... Jimi Hendrix. Photograph: Marc Sharratt/Rex Features

From The Guardian:

Guitar hero's 'mixed-handedness' was secret to his genius, argues American psychologist.

Was Jimi Hendrix's ambidexterity the secret to his talent? This is the question explored in a new paper by psychologist Stephen Christman (via TwentyFourBit), who argues that Hendrix's versatility informed not just his guitar-playing – but his lyrics too.

According to Christman, who is based at the University of Toledo, Hendrix was not strictly left-handed. Although he played his right-handed guitar upside down, and used his left hand to throw, comb his hair and hold cigarettes, Hendrix wrote, ate and held the telephone with his right hand. He was, Christman argues, "mixed-right-handed". And this "mixed"-ness, signaling better interaction between the left and right hemispheres of the guitarist's brain, suffused every part of his music.

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A Call For Tenders To Have A Medical Robot

Robots To Rescue Soldiers -- New Scientist

THE US military is asking inventors to come up with designs for a robot that can trundle onto a battlefield and rescue injured troops, with little or no help from outside.

Retrieving casualties while under fire is a major cause of combat losses, says a posting on the Pentagon's small business technology transfer website (bit.ly/aRXXQU). So the army wants a robot with strong, dexterous arms and grippers that can cope with "the large number of body positions and types of locations in which casualties can be found".

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Intelligent Men 'Less Likely To Cheat'

Revenge of the Nerds

From The Telegraph:

Intelligent men are less likely to cheat on their wives because of evolution, a new analysis of social trends indicates.

Researchers at a British university found that men with higher IQs place greater value on monogamy and sexual exclusivity than their less intelligent peers.

But the connection between conventional sexual morality and intelligence is not mirrored in women, it seems.

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EU Tells Google To Warn Cities Before Sending In Street View Cameras

From The Daily Mail:

Google has been told to warn people before it sends cameras out to take pictures for its controversial Street View maps.

The EU privacy regulators say refusal to give adequate notice could lead to legal action.

And the internet giant must shorten the time it keeps the original photographs from one year to six months.

The regulators also said it should avoid taking pictures ‘of a sensitive nature and those containing intimate details not normally observable by a passer-by’.

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Quantum Physics Breakthrough: Scientists Find an Equation for Materials Innovation

Professor Emily Carter and graduate student Chen Huang developed a new way of predicting important properties of substances. The advance could speed the development of new materials and technologies. (Credit: Frank Wojciechowski)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 26, 2010) — Princeton engineers have made a breakthrough in an 80-year-old quandary in quantum physics, paving the way for the development of new materials that could make electronic devices smaller and cars more energy efficient.

By reworking a theory first proposed by physicists in the 1920s, the researchers discovered a new way to predict important characteristics of a new material before it's been created. The new formula allows computers to model the properties of a material up to 100,000 times faster than previously possible and vastly expands the range of properties scientists can study.

Read more ....

Human Teeth Reveal History of Catastrophes

From Live Science:

Teeth are a window into our past, storing a record of the environmental pollutants and radiation they've encountered. Now scientists are developing tools to use teeth enamel to test how much radiation a person has been exposed to in the case of a major emergency, like a dirty bomb explosion.

"Dental enamel is quite a remarkable material," said Barry Pass, a professor in the College of Dentistry at Howard University in Washington, D.C. "There's a world of information in the tooth."

Read more ....

US Government Rescinds 'Leave Internet Alone' Policy

From The Register:

The US government’s policy of leaving the Internet alone is over, according to Obama’s top official at the Department of Commerce.

Instead, an “Internet Policy 3.0” approach will see policy discussions between government agencies, foreign governments, and key Internet constituencies, according to Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling, with those discussions covering issues such as privacy, child protection, cybersecurity, copyright protection, and Internet governance.

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When It Comes To Salt, No Rights Or Wrongs. Yet.

From The New York Times:

Suppose, as some experts advise, that the new national dietary guidelines due this spring will lower the recommended level of salt. Suppose further that public health officials in New York and Washington succeed in forcing food companies to use less salt. What would be the effect?

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Tiny Ear Listens To Hidden Worlds

From The BBC:

A micro-ear could soon help scientists eavesdrop on tiny events just like microscopes make them visible.

Initially, researchers will use it to snoop on cells as they go about their daily business.

It may allow researchers to listen to how a drug disrupts micro-organisms, in the same way as a mechanic might listen to a car's engine to find a fault.

Read more ....

Apple's iTunes Store Serves up 10 Billionth Song

From ABC News/PC World:

'Guess Things Happen That Way' by Johnny Cash Reportedly 10 Billionth Song.

Apple's iTunes Store hit a landmark on Wednesday with the download of its 10 billionth song.

A counter on the company's home page hit the 10 billion mark at 9:43 p.m. GMT -- approximately 6 years and 10 months since the store first opened in the U.S.

Back then it was known as the iTunes Music Store and served just music but it has since expanded to include video, TV shows and podcasts.

Read more ....

Video: In Attempt at True VTOL, F-35 Makes Shortest, Slowest Landing Yet

From Popular Science:

To perfect the vertical and short takeoff and landing ability of the F-35 Lightning II, test pilots have been taking off and landing at progressively shorter distances and slower speeds, building up to the final, true vertical boost. And today, engine manufacturers Pratt and Whitney released video of the slowest, shortest takeoff and landing yet, in which the jet cruises to a stop at 130 knots.

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Twitter Attack Affects Thousands Of Users

Twitter has been hit by two phishing scams in a week, and is warning users not to click on suspicious links in direct messages

From The Telegraph:

The microblogging site has been hit by a second phishing attack in a week.

Twitter users have been warned not to click links in some tweets, after the microblogging service fell victim to its second phishing attack in a week.

Cyber criminals are using the service to trick people in to giving away their username and password for the site. Users have been receiving direct messages from friends on the site which contain a shortened link. When users click on that link, they are directed to a malicious website, which looks just like the Twitter home page, where they are prompted to enter their login details.

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Lasers Lift Dirt Of Ages From Artworks

The angel on the right of the wall painting has been partially cleaned with a laser

From The BBC:

Physicists have applied the same laser techniques commonly used for tattoo removal to clean several famous works of art, including wall paintings.

Laser cleaning is well established for stone and metal artefacts already.

It has now been successfully applied to the wall paintings of the Sagrestia Vecchia and the Cappella del Manto in Santa Maria della Scala, Siena, Italy.

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Optical System Promises To Revolutionize Undersea Communications

An artist's conception of how the optical modem could function at a deep ocean cabled observatory. Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) collect sonar images (downward bands of light) and other data at a hydrothermal vent site and transmit the data through an optical modem to receivers stationed on moorings in the ocean. The moorings are connected to a cabled observatory, and the data are sent back to scientists on shore. Scientists, in turn, can send new instructions to the AUVs via the optical modem as well. (Credit: E. Paul Oberlander, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 25, 2010) — In a technological advance that its developers are likening to the cell phone and wireless Internet access, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists and engineers have devised an undersea optical communications system that -- complemented by acoustics -- enables a virtual revolution in high-speed undersea data collection and transmission.

Read more ....

Much Of U.S. Water Safe, But Problems Remain

A recent study suggests that fixtures could leach lead into drinking water, even if the devices received passing grades from standard testing protocols. Credit: Josh Chamot, National Science Foundation.

From Live Science:

The United States has benefitted from centuries of improvements in drinking water safety, and most Americans can trust that clean water comes from their tap. Yet, closer inspection is showing that on a house-by-house basis, water quality is not guaranteed — even in communities with high marks for water safety.

Marc Edwards, of Virginia Tech University, has been part of a growing contingent of engineers and scientists looking more carefully at the water we drink, and finding that in some cases harmful sources are overlooked.

Read more ....

Perfect Insulator Could Eliminate Heating Bills

Besides eliminating your heating bill, perfect insulators could make computers cooler and speed up cell phone downloads. Stockbyte

From Discovery News:

With this insulator, the body heat produced by one person would be enough to warm an entire home.

THE GIST:

* A new material developed by MIT scientists perfectly reflects heat and absorbs none of it.
* This perfect insulator could eliminate heating bills and solve cell phone network overload issues.
* Currently, the material only works under freezing conditions, but a perfect insulator that functions at room temperature is soon expected.

A perfect insulator, or a material that reflects heat while absorbing none of it, has been created by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Sandia National Laboratories.

Read more ....

Microsoft Battles Cyber Criminals

From The Wall Street Journal:

Microsoft Corp. launched a novel legal assault to take down a global network of PCs suspected of spreading spam and harmful computer code, adding what the company believes could become a potent weapon in the battle against cyber criminals.

But security experts say it isn't yet clear how effective Microsoft's approach will be, while online rights groups warn that the activities of innocent computer users could be inadvertently disrupted.

Read more ....

Giant Iceberg Could Change Weather Patterns

From The Australian/AFP:

AN iceberg the size of Luxembourg knocked loose from the Antarctic continent earlier this month could disrupt the ocean currents driving weather patterns around the globe, researchers said.

While the impact would not be felt for decades or longer, a slowdown in the production of colder, dense water could result in less temperate winters in the north Atlantic, they said.

The 2550 sq km block broke off on February 12 or 13 from the Mertz Glacier Tongue, a 160km spit of floating ice protruding into the Southern Ocean from East Antarctica due south of Melbourne, researchers said.

Some 400m thick, the iceberg could fill Sydney Harbour more than 100 times over.

Read more ....

The Crazies' Franken-Virus Toxins: How Scared Should We Be?

From Popular Mechanics:

In director Breck Eisner's remake of George Romero's 1973 gem, The Crazies, in theaters today, a genetically engineered toxin created by the military escapes into the water supply of idyllic Ogden Marsh, Iowa, transforming the town's residents into a bloody, infected horde with severe attitude problems. But how much is the portrayal of the disease—and the military response—Hollywood hyperbole? Popular Mechanics spoke to experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to find out.

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World's Most Sensitive Neutrino Experiment Launches, To Seek Answers About Matter's Origins

Super-Kamiokande Built in an abandoned mine, the "Super-K" neutrino detector surrounds 50,000 gallons of super pure water with 11,200 photomultiplier tubes. To give an idea of the scale, that object in the distance is two men in a rubber raft. courtesy of the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the UK

From Popular Science:

The questions that plague particle physicists and cosmology buffs seem fundamental, but it's startling how little we really know about some of them; for instance, why does matter exist? Researchers in Japan are undertaking the most sensitive subatomic particle experiment ever ventured in attempt to get to the bottom of that question, shooting neutrinos nearly 300 miles under the mountains, straight through the bedrock under Japan to a detector on the opposite coast, in an attempt to hash out exactly why neutrinos appear to spontaneously change from one kind to another.

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'Explicit' Category Rumoured To Be Coming To App Store

Screengrabs show a new 'explicit' category for App Store apps. The listing has since disappeared. Image courtesy of Recombu Photo: Recombu

From The Telegraph:

Apple is thought to be considering introducing a new category to its App Store, as the row over 'overtly sexual' apps rumbles on

Several developers have reported seeing a new category appearing in the drop-down menus of iTunes Connect, the platform they use to distribute apps through the App Store. Alongside standard categories, such as "entertainment", "games" and "productivity", is a new tag: "explicit".

Read more ....

Disaster Awaits Cities In Earthquake Zones

Istanbul has a program to secure its schools against earthquakes. Above, construction at the Atakoy Lisesi school. Johan Spanner for The New York Times

From The New York Times:

ISTANBUL — As he surveys the streets of this sprawling mega-city, Mustafa Erdik, the director of an earthquake engineering institute here, says he sometimes feels like a doctor scanning a crowded hospital ward.

It is not so much the city’s modern core, where two sleek Trump Towers and a huge airport terminal were built to withstand a major earthquake that is considered all but inevitable in the next few decades. Nor does Dr. Erdik agonize over Istanbul’s ancient monuments, whose yards-thick walls have largely withstood more than a dozen potent seismic blows over the past two millenniums.

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Ocean Robot 'Plans Experiments'

From The BBC:

Scientists in the US are using an underwater vehicle that can "plan its own experiments" on the seafloor.

The "Gulper AUV" is programmed to look for the information that scientists want and plan its own route, avoiding hazardous currents and obstacles.

The research team described this advance at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland.

The group explained how it could "train" the robot to bring the best science back to the surface.

Read more ....

U.N. To Create Science Panel To Review IPCC

From ABC News:

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - An independent board of scientists is to review the work of a U.N. climate panel, whose credibility came under attack after it published errors, a U.N. environment spokesman said on Friday.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) accepted last month that its 2007 report had exaggerated the pace of melt of Himalayan glaciers, and this month admitted the report had also overstated how much of the Netherlands is below sea level.

Read more ....