A Helicopter Drone For The U.S. Army

(Credit: U.S. Army)

US Army Unveils 1.8 Gigapixel Camera Helicopter Drone -- BBC

New helicopter-style drones with 1.8 gigapixel colour cameras are being developed by the US Army.

The army said the technology promised "an unprecedented capability to track and monitor activity on the ground".

A statement added that three of the sensor-equipped drones were due to go into service in Afghanistan in either May or June.

Boeing built the first drones, but other firms can bid to manufacture others.

"These aircraft will deploy for up to one full year as a way to harness lessons learned and funnel them into a program of record," said Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Munster, product manager at the US Army's Unmanned Aerial System Modernization unit.

Read more ....

More News On The U.S. Army`s Newest Helicopter Drone

US deploys 1.8 gigapixel helicopter surveillance drones to Afghanistan -- The Register
Hummingbird robo-drone gets 1.8-gigapixel camera -- CNet
New spy drone has 1.8 gigapixel camera -- Extreme Tech
US Army's A160 Hummingbird drone-copter to don 1.8 gigapixel camera -- Endgadget
Army to deploy vertical take-off UAS -- www.Army.mil

Massive Solar Storm Heading Our Way

It's coming this way: The CME, seen by Nasa's STEREO-B spacecraft, can be seen blasting out from the Sun on the right-hand side (circled)

Massive Solar Storm 'Could Knock Out Radio Signals' Over Next Three Days, Warn Scientists -- Daily Mail

Skywatchers will be hoping for clear skies from today because particles from a recent solar storm will slam into Earth and produce amazing Northern Lights, or auroras.

On the downside, experts expect radio blackouts for a few days, caused by the radiation from the flare – or coronal mass ejection (CME) – causing magnetic storms.

The flare is part of a larger increase in activity in the Sun, which runs in 11-year cycles. It is expected to peak around 2013.

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Where Science And The Search For Understanding Can Produce Mankind's Worst Nightmare

This transmission electron micrograph taken at a magnification of 150,000x, reveals the ultrastructural details of an avian influenza A (H5N1) virion, pictured by the United States government's Centre for Disease Control.

Studies Of Deadly H5N1 Bird Flu Mutations Test Scientific Ethics -- L.A. Times

Dutch scientists have created a version of the deadly H5N1 bird flu that's easily transmitted. In an unprecedented move, a U.S. board asks that some details of the research not be published.

In a top-security lab in the Netherlands, scientists guard specimens of a super-killer influenza that slays half of those it infects and spreads easily from victim to victim.

It is a beast long feared by influenza experts, but it didn't come from nature. The scientists made it themselves.

Their noxious creation could help prevent catastrophe in the battle against the deadly H5N1 bird flu that has ravaged duck and chicken flocks across Asia and elsewhere since the mid-1990s but has mostly left our species alone — for one crucial reason. Though H5N1 kills with brutality when it takes hold in a human, it infects extremely rarely and doesn't go on to easily spread between people.

Public health officials have long fretted that the virus may one day find a way to do so.

Read more ....

Previous Post: A Bioterror Weapon That Can Easily Kill Billions

My Comment: From what I have been reading, this genetically engineered virus is incredibly lethal (60%). And while the desire is to now limit it`s findings, the sad fact is that we are now faced with a situation in which "Pandora`s Box" has been opened, and there are now too many people who are aware of its findings.

Should We Scour The Moon For Ancient Traces Of Aliens

A pit in Mare Ingenii, possibly the result of a collapsed lava tube. Natural tunnels like this would be ideal sites for an alien moon base. Photograph: Nasa

We Should Scour The Moon For Ancient Traces Of Aliens, Say Scientists -- The Guardian

Online volunteers could be set task of spotting alien technology, evidence of mining and rubbish heaps in moon images.

Hundreds of thousands of pictures of the moon will be examined for telltale signs that aliens once visited our cosmic neighbourhood if plans put forward by scientists go ahead.

Passing extraterrestrials might have left messages, scientific instruments, heaps of rubbish or evidence of mining on the dusty lunar surface that could be spotted by human telescopes and orbiting spacecraft.

Read more ....

My Comment: The moon is one hell of a big place.

Every Bioterrorism Expert's Worse Nightmare: Recent Man-Made Super-Flu Could Kill Half Humanity

This transmission electron micrograph taken at a magnification of 150,000x, reveals the ultrastructural details of an avian influenza A (H5N1) virion, pictured by the United States government's Centre for Disease Control.

Armageddon Super Virus Recipe: Keep Secret Or Publish? -- Sydney Morning Herald

To publish or not to publish?

That is the question gripping scientists after virologists said they had developed a bird flu virus - with a 60 per cent human mortality rate - that could spread as easily as the common cold.

Some fear the virus, if it fell into the wrong hands, could be modified by bioterrorists into a weapon that kills billions of people.

Read more ....

More News On The H5N1

'Anthrax isn't scary at all compared to this': Man-made flu virus with potential to wipe out many millions if it ever escaped is created in research lab -- Daily Mail
Man-made super-flu could kill half humanity -- RT
Super Virus Report Might Make or Break Biosecurity -- Top News
New manmade super virus? New bird flu has 60% human lethality -- Digital Journal
Canberra Vaccine Expert Urges Censorship on Bird Flu Strain Mutant Research -- IBTimes
“Bird Flu” Virus Experiment Sparks Controversy and a Biosecurity Review -- Decoded Science
US fears Dutch research could be biological weapon -- Radio Netherlands
Deadly man-made strain of H5N1 bird flu virus raises controversy -- Digital Journal
Should a New Recipe for Engineered Bird Flu, Potent Enough to Kill Millions, Be Published? -- Popular Science
Scientists Brace for Media Storm Around Controversial Flu Studies -- Science Insider
Deadly Man-Made Flu Won’t Kill Everyone Unless It Escapes From the Lab -- Gawker

The Beauty Of Pollination (Video)

Can You Crack It? Britain's Spy Agency Looking To Hire Top Cyber Hackers

Can You Solve This Code? Then This U.K. Spy Agency Might Want To Hire You -- National Post/AFP

LONDON — No longer content with simply approaching the brightest from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Britain’s intelligence agency GCHQ has launched a code-cracking competition to attract new talent.

The electronic surveillance organisation, the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters, is asking potential applicants to solve a code posted on a website.

It will direct potential candidates to the competition, hosted on an anonymous website, via sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

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More News On Britain's GCHQ Wanting To Hire Code Breakers

iSpy: Government intelligence agency launches online code-cracking puzzle to recruit future stars of cyber-savvy espionage -- Daily Mail
GCHQ: solve the online code, become a real-life spy -- The Telegraph
GCHQ challenges codebreakers via social networks -- BBC
GCHQ aims to recruit computer hackers with code-cracking website -- The Guardian
Crack GCHQ's code and become the next James Bond -- The Register
GCHQ challenges codebreakers in online competition -- Digital Spy
GCHQ sets codebreaking challenge for wannabe spies -- Computer World
Crack an online code, get a job as a spy -- The Inquirer
GCHQ Launches Code-Breaking Competition Through Social Networking Sites -- Jobs and Hire
Crack This Code, and Become a British Spy -- The Danger Room
Intelligence agency recruits spies with online code -- New Scientist

CSN Editor: The GCHQ spy recruitment code problem has been solved (in a few hours after being posted online).

Oldest Evidence Of Violence Between Humans Unearthed In China

Maba "man" took a wallop from something, but lived to fight another day. BBC

Ancient Skull Found In China May Be Oldest Evidence Of Violence Between Humans -- The Telegraph

An ancient skull discovered in China may be the oldest evidence of violence between humans, according to researchers.

A fracture on the right temple of the skull is likely to have been caused by a blow to the side of the head some 150,000 to 200,000 years ago.

“There are older cases of bumps and bruises and cases of trauma,” said Erik Trinkaus from Washington University in St Louis, US, to the BBC.”

But this is the first one I am aware of where the most likely interpretation is getting whooped by someone else – to put it bluntly.”

The skull was unearthed in a cave near Maba in 1958 but its significance only came to light recently.

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More Evidence Of Archaeologists Uncovering Evidence Of Early Human Violence

'Earliest' evidence of human violence -- BBC
Evidence uncovered of world's oldest violent argument -- CBS
The Roots of Violence -- The Scientist
Archaeologists Uncover Evidence Of Early Human Violence -- And Caring -- Forbes
Bashed Skull Is Earliest Evidence of Human Aggression? -- National Geographic

Amazing Video: 'Jet Man' Stunts Alongside Fighter Jets Over Alps

WNU Editor: OK .... I am impressed.

U.S. Ranks 28th In Life Expectancy

Life Expectancy 2011 Estimates CIA World Factbook

What's Killing America? U.S. Ranks 28th In Life Expectancy (Lower Than Chile And Greece) While It Pays The MOST For Health Care -- Daily Mail

A new survey on health care is revealing that you may not be getting what you pay for if you check into a U.S. hospital.

The U.S. healthcare system is more effective at delivering high costs than quality care than other developed nations, according to the study, conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD.

It found first-rate treatment for cancer but insufficient primary care for other ailments.

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The Construction of NASA's Next Mars Rover

This artist's concept depicts the rover Curiosity, of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, as it uses its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to investigate the composition of a rock surface. ChemCam fires laser pulses at a target and views the resulting spark with a telescope and spectrometers to identify chemical elements. The laser is actually in an invisible infrared wavelength, but is shown here as visible red light for purposes of illustration. Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Inside Look: The Construction of NASA's Next Mars Rover -- FOX News

In May 2011, SPACE.com reporter Mike Wall visited NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., as scientists and engineers were wrapping up work on Curiosity, NASA's next Mars rover. This is his account.

It could be a scene from a James Bond film — a glimpse into the archvillain's lair.

Anonymous white-clad workers, their faces obscured by surgical masks, cross a cavernous, high-ceilinged room. They pause to adjust or inspect large pieces of mysterious equipment, some of which is spangled with bright gold foil. It's obvious that they're building something complicated and important.

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Power Source Unveiled For Cyborg Search-And-Rescue Insects

Image: The research team proposed putting two spiral energy harvesters on either side of a beetle's thorax.

Cyborg Search-And-Rescue Insects' Power Source Unveiled -- BBC

Efforts to create an army of cyborg insects are being pursued by a team of US-based engineers.

The group is investigating ways to harvest energy from the creatures to power sensors and other equipment fastened to their bodies.

The team has created an energy scavenging device that is attached close to the insects' wings.

It suggested the creatures might one day be used to aid search-and-rescue operations and surveillance.

The University of Michigan team of engineers published their study in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering.

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Emails Question The Impact Of Climate Change

Uh Oh, Global Warming Loons: Here Comes Climategate II! -- The Telegraph

Breaking news: two years after the Climategate, a further batch of emails has been leaked onto the internet by a person – or persons – unknown. And as before, they show the "scientists" at the heart of the Man-Made Global Warming industry in a most unflattering light. Michael Mann, Phil Jones, Ben Santer, Tom Wigley, Kevin Trenberth, Keith Briffa – all your favourite Climategate characters are here, once again caught red-handed in a series of emails exaggerating the extent of Anthropogenic Global Warming, while privately admitting to one another that the evidence is nowhere near as a strong as they'd like it to be.

Read more ....

Update: 'New release' of climate emails -- BBC

My Comment: The BBC reporter in his post is clearly not amused with this additional release of emails .... not a surprise considering the embarrassing nature of its content and the BBC's agenda of promoting the science behind climate change.

U.S. Singles Out China And Russia For Conducting Cyberespionage

A cybersecurity analyst works in a watch and warning center at a Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity defense lab at the Idaho National Laboratory, in September, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Jim Urquhart/Reuters

US Names Names – China And Russia – In Detailing Cyberespionage -- Christian Science Monitor

China, in particular, was fingered for massive ongoing cyberespionage against US companies in an alleged effort to gather the technological insights needed to make its economy more competitive.

Using blunt language, a new report by the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive singles out China and Russia for cyber economic espionage, saying they are fast-growing threats to US economic and national security. In the past, the US government had largely refrained from naming specific countries as sources of cyberespionage.

Read more ....

More News On Who Is Conducting Cyberespionage

U.S. cyber espionage report names China and Russia as main culprits -- Washington Post
China, Russia Top List Of U.S. Economic Cyberspies -- NPR
U.S. blames China, Russia for cyber espionage -- Reuters
US: Russia, China stealing online from US companies -- BBC
US Report Cites Growing Economic Cyber Espionage -- Voice of America
U.S. Calls Out China and Russia for Cyber Espionage Costing Billions -- FOX News
US report accuses China, Russia of cyber-espionage to help build their own economies -- Chicago Tribune/AP
Report: China, Russia Top Culprits in Cyber Espionage -- National Journal
Report Says China, Russia ‘Aggressive’ Cybercrime Sponsors -- Epoch Times
China's cyberwar capabilities 'fairly limited,' says expert -- MSNBC
US points finger at China, Russia over cyber spying -- AFP
U.S. Intelligence Report Calls China World's Biggest Cyber Thief -- SFGate/Bloomberg
US Official Singles Out China, Russia on Cyber-Spying -- ABC News
China, Russia called out as cyberspy hotbeds -- The Register
Cyber-espionage attempts on US businesses are on rise -- Ars Technica
Russia and China accused of cyber espionage -- TG Daily
US Report Warns of Russia, China Cyber Spying -- PC World
Russia, China 'aggressive' cyberspies, U.S. report frets -- CNET

CSN Editor: The full report from the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive to Congress titled "Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace" can be read here.

A Chinese Cyber Attack Against Japan?

Japan's parliament building in Tokyo Photo: REUTERS

Japan Parliament Hit By China-Based Cyber Attack -- The Telegraph

Computers in Japan's lower house of parliament were hit by cyber-attacks from a server based in China that left information exposed for at least a month, according to reports.

Passwords and other information could have been compromised in the attacks, which began in July but were not reported to security authorities until the end of August, the Asahi Shimbun said, without citing sources.

Osamu Fujimara, Japan's government top spokesman, chief cabinet secretary and a lower house member, said he was not previously aware of the reported attack but that the government was investigating the issue.

Read more ....

More News On China's Cyber Attack Against Japan

Japanese government ambushed by Chinese Trojan horse attack -- Upbergizmo
Japan Lower House Servers, Lawmakers' PCs Hit By Cyber Attack -Report -- Wall Street Journal
Japanese government hit by Chinese Trojan horse attack -- The Next Web
Hackers May Have Stolen Sensitive Defense Info from Japan's Largest Weapons Supplier -- Daily Tech
Japan contractor hacking likely got military data: Asahi -- Reuters
Japanese Defence Ministry raises concerns about cyber breach at Mitsubishi Heavy -- Computer Weekly
Japanese military contractor hacked -- Passport/Foreign Policy

The Trends And Impact Of Population Growth

(Click on Image to Enlarge)
Sources: World Bank; U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, U.N. Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2010. Graphic: Dan Keating and Bill Webster/The Washington Post. Published on October 23, 2011, 8:55 p.m.

Population Growth Taxing Planet’s Resources -- Washington Post

Humans have mined resources from the remote and rocky coast of Peru and Chile for more than a century and a half, gathering the guano deposits of seabirds for fertilizer and gunpowder. Those seabirds flourished on anchoveta in the coastal waters, while Peruvians in the highlands ate the same fish as dried snacks.

Now fishing vessels haul 7.5 million tons of the small silvery fish out of the water every year. Almost all the catch is reduced to fish oil and fish meal, which is fed to pigs, poultry and salmon being raised thousands of miles away to satisfy demand in the industrialized and rapidly-growing developing world.

Read more ....

More News On Mankind Reaching The 7 Billion Population Mark

How Do You Get to 7 Billion People? -- Wall Street Journal
World population will more than double to 15billion by 2100, says UN -- Daily Mail
Crowded earth: Bursting at the seams -- News24
Halloween fright: 7 billion humans -- Mother Nature Network
The global population will reach 7 billion this month; here are 7 things you didn’t know -- Smart Planet
Spiralling population puts the planet at risk -- NZHerald
Why current population growth is costing us the Earth -- Roger Martin, The Guardian
Seven Billion -- Joel E. Cohen, New York Times

US Soldiers Will Soon Be Able To See Through Concrete Walls

MIT Tech Helps U.S. Soldiers See Through Concrete Walls -- FOX News

Invisible tanks, Iron-Man suits, and now x-ray vision?

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing an experimental radar system that will allow U.S. troops in combat to see through walls.

In recent tests held at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, the radar successfully showed humans moving behind solid concrete.

The researchers’ device is an unassuming array of antenna in two rows — eight receiving elements on top, 13 transmitting ones below — and some computing equipment, all mounted onto a movable cart. But project leader Gregory Charvat and his team believe the technology could have powerful implications for “urban combat situations.”

Read more ....

More News On How MIT Tech Will help The Military To See Through Walls

MIT tests wall-piercing radar for US soldiers -- MSNBC
MIT researchers devise see-through-wall technology -- CNN
MIT Radar System Can "See" Through Walls -- Daily Tech
MIT radar gives real-time video through concrete walls -- TG Daily
MIT's New Radar Technology Lets You See Through Walls (VIDEO) -- Huffington Post
MIT's X-Ray Vision System Can See Straight Through Concrete Walls -- Popular Science
New radar sees through walls, takes video -- UPI

World Population To Reach 7 Billion This Week

Room For One More? World Population To Reach 7 BILLION In Next Few Days -- Daily Mail

* Children most likely to be born in Asia-Pacific region
* Fears over pressure on food supply and medical care

The world's population looks set to smash through the seven billion barrier in the next few days, according to the United Nations.

It comes just 12 years since the total reached six billion - with official estimates saying the figure will top eight billion in 2025 and 10 billion before the end of the century.

And it is most likely the baby will be born in the Asia-Pacific region - where the population growth rate is higher than anywhere else in the world.

Read more ....

My Comment: Will more people mean more unrest and more wars .... hmmm ....we are going to find out in the next decade or two.

Jaguar To Be The World's Fastest Supercomputer Again

ORNL's Petascale Jaguar Supercomputer The petascale Jaguar is the world's fastest computer, but DARPA wants to take computing to the next level.

Jaguar Is Getting A GPU Upgrade, To Make It The World's Fastest Supercomputer Again -- Popular Science

The new souped-up supercomputer will be renamed Titan.

Back in June when the latest edition of TOP500 dropped (TOP500 lists the world’s top supercomputers), Japan’s K Computer leapt ahead of China’s Tianhe-1A supercomputer to become the biggest, baddest computing platform on the planet. But after more than a year of slipping down the ranks as its competitors across the Pacific surged ahead, Oak Ridge National Labs Jaguar supercomputer is poised to become the fastest computer in the world once more.

Read more ....

Apple's iPad 3 Moving into Production Early?

Rumor: Apple's iPad 3 Moving into Production Early -- Techland

Move over iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 rumors, here comes the iPad 3! What, you thought the grapevine was closed with Apple's iPhone 4S hitting shelves today? Not when it sounds like Apple's newest slate is right around the corner...if we buy Susquehanna Financial analyst Jeff Fidacaro's claims, anyway.

Fidacaro believes, based on supply chain probing, that Apple's ramping up fourth quarter iPad production activity because it plans to produce—ahead of schedule— as many as one million iPads 3s yet this year.

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My Comment: I so wish it was on the market right now. Sighhh ... but I have to wait.

Finding Out Who Wrote the Bible

Write stuff: The computer program searches for how common words are used throughout the scriptures

Computer Program To Reveal Who Wrote The Bible -- Daily Mail

* Can determine when passage has been written by more than one person and when new author takes over
* Scientists and scholars have written algorithm that analyses writing styles

Precisely who wrote the Bible has been debated for centuries – but now scientists have devised a computer program that sheds much more light on the sources of the various religious texts within it.

Israeli computer scientists and Bible scholars have written an algorithm that analyses the writing styles found within various sections.

While it can’t pinpoint an individual author, the program has been able to determine when a passage has been written by more than one person and can detect the point at which a new author has taken over.

Read more ....

Stealth Weapons From Around The World

Photo: Department of Defense/Flickr

Now You See ‘Em, Now You Don’t: Stealth Weapons From Around The World -- The Danger Room

Not long ago, the U.S. was the only country in the world with aircraft that could stroll the skies without fear of being caught. Not any more. Today, militaries from around the world — including Russia and China — are developing their own stealth arsenals. The American monopoly on near-invisible flight is being eroded.

Stealth technology makes vehicles sneakier by limiting the signatures that give them away to enemy radar, sensors and ears. To reduce a plane's radar cross section, designers have two basic options: shape an aircraft to cast incoming radar away from its originating source and coat it to absorb radar waves.

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Steve Wozniak Gets His Apple iPhone 4S

Steve Wozniak First In Line As Apple's iPhone 4S Goes On Sale -- L.A. Times

Steve Wozniak, the man who co-founded Apple with the late Steve Jobs, was first in line waiting to buy an iPhone 4S at an Apple Store in Los Gatos on Friday.

The Los Gatos Apple Store opened at 8 a.m., but Wozniak queued up about 18 hours before the store's opening, as he mentioned on Twitter from his @stevewoz account on Thursday, writing:

The long wait begins. I'm first in line. The guy ahead was on the wrong side and he's pissed.

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My Comment: Good for him.

Double-Checking CERN's Revolutionary Faster-Than-Light Claim

MINOS Experiment Far Detector NuMI/Fermilab

Fermilab Will Double-Check CERN's Revolutionary Faster-Than-Light Claim -- Popular Science

So far, the only thing moving faster than light is speculation. But in the wake of last week’s baffling neutrino news out of CERN, physicists are crunching numbers to test whether these ghostly particles really can move faster than photons. Physicists at Fermilab are re-examining some old data to help answer the question.

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First Antimagnet Developed

Bar magnet with iron filings showing magnetic field pattern. Researchers have designed what they believe to be a new type of magnetic cloak, which shields objects from external magnetic fields, while at the same time preventing any magnetic internal fields from leaking outside. (Credit: © Awe Inspiring Images / Fotolia)

Cloaking Magnetic Fields: First Antimagnet Developed -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Sep. 23, 2011) — Spanish researchers have designed what they believe to be a new type of magnetic cloak, which shields objects from external magnetic fields, while at the same time preventing any magnetic internal fields from leaking outside, making the cloak undetectable.

The development of such a device, described as an 'antimagnet', could offer many beneficial applications, such as protecting a ship's hull from mines designed to detonate when a magnetic field is detected, or allowing patients with pacemakers or cochlear implants to use medical equipment.

Read more ....

How Asia Was Settled By Man

To extract DNA from a fossilized bone, researchers extract material using a dentistry drill. (Credit: Image courtesy of the National Science Foundation)

Asia Was Settled in Multiple Waves of Migration, DNA Study Suggests -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2011) — An international team of researchers studying DNA patterns from modern and archaic humans has uncovered new clues about the movement and intermixing of populations more than 40,000 years ago in Asia.

Using state-of-the-art genome analysis methods, scientists from Harvard Medical School and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have found that Denisovans -- a recently identified group of archaic humans whose DNA was extracted last year from a finger bone excavated in Siberia -- contributed DNA not just to present-day New Guineans, but also to aboriginal Australian and Philippine populations.

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Dog Bites: The Stats

CSN Editor: From Live Science

Most Polluted Cities In The World

Iranian cities have some of the worst pollution in the world, with fine particle presence 20 times higher than the recommended upper limit. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP

Iran, India, Pakistan And Mongolia Have Most Polluted Cities In The World -- The Guardian

World Health Organisation's first global survey of fine particle pollutants says US and Canadian towns are among cleanest

Cities in Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia are among the worst on the planet for air pollution, while those in the US and Canada are among the best, according to the first global survey.

The Iranian city of Ahvaz had the distinction of the highest measured level of airborne particles smaller than 10 micrometres, according to the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) survey.

Outdoor air pollution causes an estimated 1.34 million premature deaths a year, said WHO. Investments to lower pollution levels quickly pay off owing to lower disease rates and, therefore, lower healthcare costs, it said.

Read more ....

Tiny Robot To Attempt The Hawaii Ironman Triathlon

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Tiny Robot To Attempt Hawaii Ironman Triathlon -- MSNBC/Reuters

'Evolta', just 20 inches tall, is expected to complete course in about a week

TOKYO — After scaling the cliff walls of the Grand Canyon and driving the Le Mans racetrack for 24 hours, a tiny Japanese robot is set for a new challenge — Hawaii's grueling Ironman triathlon course.

Fitted with three different bodies, the hand-sized "Evolta" from electronics firm Panasonic will swim, bicycle and run its way through one of the world's toughest triathlon routes, the company said Thursday.

"This is very tough even for a sportsman, but I think it is worth a challenge," said Tomotaka Takahashi, who created the green-and-white toy-like robot.

Read more ....

Precious Metals On Earth May Have Come From Asteroids

Artist's impression of the Earth during the period of the terminal bombardment.
CREDIT: Julian Baum/Take 27 Ltd

Asteroids May Have Brought Precious Metals To Earth -- Live Science

The precious metals that we see on Earth today may be largely heavenly in nature, coming from the sky billions of years ago, scientists now find.

Back when the Earth was just forming, the materials that make up the planet were combining and differentiating into layers by weight — lighter materials floated to the surface and now make up Earth's crust, while heavier materials such as iron sank to the planet's interior.

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Will We Now Be Able To Control Fear?

A) Schematic cross-section of a mouse brain showing the distribution of CRHR1 gene activity and the associated neurotransmitter specificity. B) Glutamatergic neuron of the hippocampus. (Credit: © MPI of Psychiatry)

Control of Fear in the Brain Decoded: Emotional Balance Is Regulated by Molecular Factors Behind Stress Response, Study Finds -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2011) — When healthy people are faced with threatening situations, they react with a suitable behavioural response and do not descend into a state of either panic or indifference, as is the case, for example, with patients who suffer from anxiety.

With the help of genetic studies on mice, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry have discovered two opposing neuronal regulatory circuits for the generation and elimination of fear.

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My Comment: I can see many applications from this science.

How 9/11 Inspired New Robots

The PackBot, first used in response to 9/11, helps explore an overheating nuclear plant in Japan this year.

How 9/11 Inspired A New Era Of Robotics -- CNN

When Robin Murphy saw the World Trade Center towers fall on September 11, she knew of an unexpected group that could help respond: robots.

Robots had never been tried in such real-world disasters, but they had gotten much smaller and more nimble in the years before that tragic event. So Murphy, a professor of computer science at Texas A&M University, and a small group of her fellow roboticists decided it was time. The robots were ready.

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A Computer That's As Clever As A Human?

Rollo Carpenter, the inventor of the Cleverbot

Has Inventor Made A Computer That's As Clever As A Human? -- The Independent

Rollo Carpenter's Cleverbot was smart enough to convince a group of techies it was a person. But can it fool Tom Peck?

Given that, in countless science fiction films, the moment when the computers start thinking for themselves tends to coincide with the end of the world as we know it, it is perhaps a little unsettling that an American inventor has for more than 20 years been sponsoring a prize to encourage such a feat.

More worrying still, a conversational computer by the name of Cleverbot has arguably just come closer than ever to doing it.

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Supernova 'Of A Generation'

This Hubble Space Telescope image of the face-on spiral galaxy Messier 101, known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, was released in 2006. Newscom/File

Supernova 'Of A Generation': How You Can See It With Binoculars -- Christian Science Monitor

A supernova in the nearby Pinwheel Galaxy is the closest supernova in 25 years. Situated near the Big Dipper, the SN 2011fe supernova can be seen with binoculars this week.

If you’ve got a decent pair of binoculars and clear skies, you’ll have a good view Wednesday night of the closest and brightest supernova display of the past 25 years.

The supernova, named SN 2011fe, is the 136th seen by astronomers this year, but its proximity makes it significant not only for stargazers but to the scientific community.

The event was first observed on Aug. 24, only hours after it first became visible from Earth. Located within the Pinwheel Galaxy, the explosion happened 21 million light-years away – a relatively small distance by astronomical standards.

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Arctic Sea Ice Falls To A Record Low

Ice thickness is just as important or more so in helping understand what is happening in the far north Photo: AP/John McConnico

Arctic Sea Ice Falls To Record Low -- The Telegraph

The minimum summertime volume of Arctic sea ice fell to a record low last year, researchers said in a study to be published shortly, suggesting that thinning of the ice had outweighed a recovery in area.

The study estimated that last year broke the previous, 2007 record for the minimum volume of ice, which is calculated from a combination of sea ice area and thickness.

The research adds to a picture of rapid climate change at the top of the world that could see the Arctic Ocean ice-free within decades, spurring new oil exploration opportunities but possibly also disrupted weather patterns far afield and a faster rise in sea levels.

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The Evolution Of Micro-Air-Vehicles (MAV)

Cyborg Beetle Aktakka, et al. via PhysOrg

Scientists Fit Cyborg Beetles With Generators That Turn Their Own Wings Into Power Plants -- Popular Science

No more battery-driven bugs for DARPA.

For years now, DARPA and other free-thinking research institutions have been developing micro-air-vehicles (MAV), usually modeled after insects. But building a tiny, lightweight flying robot is tough when you need a power supply--like an onboard battery--to keep the MAV flying. Then researchers turned to insect mind control--implanting live insects with machinery that lets humans manipulate their movements--but the problem remained: neural control hardware requires a battery to run.

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My Comment: The tools for surveillance are getting smaller and smaller.

World's First Commercial Spaceport Is Now 90% Completed

Phase One Of World's First Commercial Spaceport Is Now 90% Completed - In Time For First Flights In 2013 -- Daily Mail

Phase one of the world's first commercial spaceport, which will be the hub for Virgin's consumer spaceflights, is now 90 per cent complete.

The 1,800-acre Spaceport America site, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is the home base for Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's most ambitious business venture yet.

It already boasts a runway stretching to nearly two miles long, a futuristic styled terminal hanger, and a dome-shaped Space Operations Centre.

Read more ....

Quantum Computers Closer to Reality Than Ever

Chip for Quantum Computing The two black squares are the qubits, or processor; the center meandering line is the quantum bus; and the lateral meandering lines are the quantum memory. Erik Lucero

Two Key Advances Bring Quantum Computers Closer to Reality Than Ever -- Popular Science

Researchers on two continents are reporting two big breakthroughs in quantum computing today — a quantum system built on the familiar von Neumann processor-memory architecture, and a working digital quantum simulator built on a quantum-computer platform. Although these developments are still constrained to the lab, they’re yet another sign that a quantum leap in computing may be just around the corner.

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How Stem Cell Test-Tube Techniques Will Save The Northern White Rhinos

Tragic: Northern white rhinos are extinct in the wild. This photo, taken in 2000, is of a young male with his mother Najin at a Zoo in the East Bohemian town of Dvur Kralove

Northern White Rhinos Set For Stem Cell Test-Tube Babies To Save Species From Extinction -- Daily Mail

The northern white rhino, one of the planet’s most endangered animals, could be saved by pioneering stem cell research.

Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, also hope their work will save other animals teetering on the edge of extinction.

The team have managed to create stem cells from the majestic animals and hope they will eventually be able to produce ‘test tube babies’, too.

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Why The Arctic Will Be A Strategic Hotspot In The Future

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Unlocked By Melting Ice-Caps, The Great Polar Oil Rush Has Begun -- The Independent

Trillions are at stake, and the ecological risks are equally huge. Michael McCarthy reports.

It's the melting of the Arctic ice, as the climate warms, that makes it possible — and you can understand why they're all piling in. In July 2008, the US Geological Survey released the first ever publicly available estimate of the oil locked in the earth north of the Arctic Circle.

It was 90 billion barrels, representing an estimated 13 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil resources. If you're an oil company, or an oil-hungry economy, that's more than enough to make your mouth water.

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My Comment: One word sums up why we have this flurry of activity now .... oil.

Why Are Women's "Boobs" Getting Bigger?

Mystery Behind Mega Boobs Revealed! -- Times of India

Scientists in the UK are trying to figure out why women's breasts are getting bigger.

While some boffins blame expanding waistlines for the increase in bust sizes, others say pollution from pesticides is causing the 'outburst'.

But others feel there's an as yet uncovered real reason as to why boobs are growing, reports The Daily Star.

A scientific source said: "It's the big question and it's got a lot of people baffled."

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My Comment: Are the scientists male? .... Just curious.

India - Pakistan Border Is So Brightly Lit It Can Be Seen From Space

(Click on Image to Enlarge)
Spectacular: The International Space Station image captures the floodlit border between India, above the orange line, and Pakistan, below the border in the picture

Whose Bright Idea Was That? Border Between India And Pakistan Is So Brightly Lit It Can Be Seen From Space -- Daily Mail

Snaking for hundreds of miles across the earth's surface, this spectacular picture shows one of the planet's land borders like never before.

The dramatic picture shows a bright orange line jutting across the earth, indicating the border between India and Pakistan.

The stunning image of the earth, taken from the International Space Station last month, also shows busy cities show up as bright clusters hundreds of miles apart.

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My Comment: It must be working .... cross border raids from Pakistan into India have dropped appreciably in the past few years, all be it that the peace can be broken at any time.

A Stroke Prevention Pill?

Photo: Pradaxa is now available for use in the UK

New Pill To Stop Strokes -- Express.co.uk

A PILL costing less than £3 a day is being hailed as the biggest breakthrough in stroke prevention in 50 years.

The drug, which slashes the risk of suffering a stroke by over a third, will help more than a million Britons.

Pradaxa is now available for use in the UK. In trials it was found to significantly reduce the risk of a stroke in patients with an irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation. This is one of the main causes of strokes.

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My Comment: Looks promising.

The Impact Of High-Density Reactive Materials (HDRM)

High-Density Reactive Material (HDRM) missiles increase the chances of a "catastrophic kill," according to US military scientists.

US Military Develops 'Bigger Bang' Explosive Material -- BBC

The US Office of Naval Research says that it has successfully tested a new type of explosive material that can dramatically increase weapons' impacts.

Missiles made from the high density substance can explode with up to five times the energy of existing armaments.

The material mixes metals and polymers and is said to be as dense as steel but have the strength of aluminum.

Read more .....

More News On High-Density Reactive Materials (HDRM)

ONR tests new warhead casings -- UPI
U.S. military munitions to become even deadlier -- TG Daily
US has new catastrophic killing machine -- Press TV
High-Density Reactive Material Improves Lethality of Weapons -- Azom.com
Here Comes A New Explosive With 5x The Power Of Any Substance Seen So Far -- Business Insider
Material Dramatically Increases Explosive Force of Weapons -- Science Blog
Revolutionary Material Dramatically Increases Explosive Force of Weapons by Five Times -- Next Big Future
A new kind of missile makes for even bigger explosions -- io9

NASA Moon Rocket Could Cost $38 Billion

In this undated photo provided by NASA, the Orion space capsule is displayed at a Lockheed Martin test facility in Colorado. (Getty Images / August 12, 2011)

New NASA Moon Rocket Could Cost $38 Billion -- L.A. Times

At that price tag, it would fly just twice in the next 10 years, according to internal NASA documents. That could pose big problems for NASA supporters in Congress.

Reporting from Washington — The rocket and capsule that NASA is proposing to return astronauts to the moon would fly just twice in the next 10 years and cost as much as $38 billion, according to internal NASA documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

The money would pay for a new heavy-lift rocket and Apollo-like crew capsule that eventually could take astronauts to the moon and beyond. But it would not be enough to pay for a lunar landing or for more than one manned test flight, in 2021.

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My comment: Only $38 billion?

Temporarily Reversing Aging In The Immune System?

Researchers have discovered a new mechanism controlling aging in white blood cells. The research opens up the possibility of temporarily reversing the effects of aging on immunity and could, in the future, allow for the short-term boosting of the immune systems of older people. (Credit: © nyul / Fotolia)

Possibility of Temporarily Reversing Aging in the Immune System -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Aug. 16, 2011) — Researchers have discovered a new mechanism controlling aging in white blood cells. The research, published in the September issue of the Journal of Immunology, opens up the possibility of temporarily reversing the effects of aging on immunity and could, in the future, allow for the short-term boosting of the immune systems of older people.

Weakened immunity is a serious issue for older people. Because our immune systems become less effective as we age we suffer from more infections and these are often more severe. This takes a serious toll on health and quality of life.

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Earth's Gravity Is Being Altered By Melting Glaciers

In this image, the location of the successive calving fronts of Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier between 1851 and 2009 are overlain on a Landsat image from July 29, 2009. The retreat of the glacier shows the substantial melt that has occurred over the time period. CREDIT: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Melting Glaciers Alter Earth's Gravity -- Live Science

Melting glaciers can alter Earth's gravity field, scientists have found, a discovery that is shedding light on when Greenland and Antarctica began heavily melting.

Knowing the timing of this melting could help climate scientists make better estimates of the potential sea level rise resulting from melting ice pouring off these two massive ice sheets.

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My comment: There is no details on how much of a shift in gravity has occurred. My suggestion .... compile the data between summer and winter, and look at the difference.

A One-Armed Personal Robot For The Rest Of Us

PR2 SE Half the arms, nearly half the price. Willow Garage

Willow Garage Introduces Discount PR2 SE, a One-Armed Personal Robot for the Rest of Us -- Popular Science

Willow Garage’s PR2 has provided a unique, open source robotics platform to all kinds of labs and institutions that otherwise wouldn’t have access to a complex robotics system--but not to that many. For all the absolutely cool things you can do with PR2, the $400,000 price tag is prohibitive--only about two dozen commercial and academic labs have their own PR2s. So, in an attempt to make their robot more accessible, Willow Garage is introducing the PR2 SE this week, a pared-down version of the same robot costing a mere $285,000.

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Making Ships Efficient and Invisible

U.S. Navy Ships at Sea Wikimedia Commons

Anti-Wave Tech Tricks Ocean Water Into Standing Still, Making Ships Efficient and Invisible -- Popular Science

We’ve already seen how future ships can be cloaked against sonar, and maybe someday even space and time. Now researchers say they can cloak the ships’ wakes, tricking water itself into acting as though nothing is there.

A new metamaterial cloaking system can trick water into standing still as an object moves through it, by eliminating the shear force and reducing water displacement, Duke University researchers say. This in turn reduces the amount of energy required to move an object — say, a ship — through the water, theoretically saving fuel.

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My Comment: And this is the research that they are publicizing .... I would love to know what they are not telling us.

Military's Maple-Seed-Inspired Drone

Sneak Preview: Military's Maple-Seed-Inspired Drone, Plus More to Come at UAV Show Next Week -- Popular Science

After years of development and military funding setbacks, defense contractor Lockheed Martin is finally ready to debut its maple seed-inspired drone. The one-winged, one-foot-long SAMARAI drone just flew a test flight for the Associated Press ahead of its official unveiling at an unmanned vehicle conference next week.

The asymmetric UAV is modeled after maple seeds, called samara, that fly off trees and twirl through the air with the utmost efficiency. Originally, the SAMARAI was envisioned as a seed-sized drone that could deliver a 2-gram payload and send back streaming video, but that has since changed to a much bigger, whining drone.

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My Comment: It appears that the future for UAVs is to be miniaturized .... the smaller the better.