The Future of Evolution: What Will We Become?

Could humans split into two species? Perhaps, if we engineer one or if a colony is isolated in outer space. Image credit: stockxpert

From Live Science:

Editor's Note: This is the last in a 10-part LiveScience series on the origin, evolution and future of the human species and the mysteries that remain to be solved.

The past of human evolution is more and more coming to light as scientists uncover a trove of fossils and genetic knowledge. But where might the future of human evolution go?

There are plenty of signs that humans are still evolving. However, whether humans develop along the lines portrayed by hackneyed science fiction is doubtful.

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How To Upgrade A Supercomputer, 37,376 Chips At A Time

From Gadget Lab:

The most powerful supercomputer in the world, the Cray XT5 — aka ‘Jaguar’ — is a computing monster with the ability to clock 1.759 petaflops (1,759 trillion) calculations per second.

So just what exactly is inside this machine?

About 37,376 AMD processors, to begin with. The Jaguar has 255,584 processing cores and is built using AMD six-core Istanbul Opteron chips running at 2.6 gigahertz.

That’s a step up from the four-core AMD chips that the computer used to have.

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Vaccines On Horizon For AIDS, Alzheimer's

From Time Magazine:

(MARIETTA, Pa.) — Malaria. Tuberculosis. Alzheimer's disease. AIDS. Pandemic flu. Genital herpes. Urinary tract infections. Grass allergies. Traveler's diarrhea. You name it, the pharmaceutical industry is working on a vaccine to prevent it.

Many could be on the market in five years or less.

Contrast that with five years ago, when so many companies had abandoned the vaccine business that half the U.S. supply of flu shots was lost because of contamination at one of the two manufacturers left.

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Interview: The Man Who Makes Killer Robots For The US Military

From CNET:

It sounds like the opening scene of a Terminator movie: a team of intelligent air, land and sea robots working together to hunt down a group of human soldiers. Detected by infrared sensors mounted on a cyber-jetski, the platoon is forced to take shelter in a beach bunker. Stealthy flying drones then co-ordinate an attack, flushing the panicked warriors right into the arms of a pair of tracked and armed ground robots. Game over, man.

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My Comment: An easy to read article and interview.

Don't Pack Your Parachute: Totally Free Fall

From New Scientist:

ON A bright day in 1912, an Austrian tailor named Franz Reichelt jumped off the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. This was no suicide attempt. Reichelt was wearing a special overcoat of his own design that was supposed to let him glide gently to the ground. Sadly, it didn't work. As the crowd watched and movie cameras whirred, the "flying tailor" plunged 60 metres to his death.

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Top 10 Languages On The Internet

From Discovery News:

f the Internet is the new public square, it's crowded and noisy. More than 1.4 billion people gather and talk on its cyber sidewalks.

Despite all those tongues, it's not a very linguistically diverse place.

More than half are in three languages: English, Chinese and Spanish.

Compare that to the number of known languages, 6,912 according to Ethnologue.com, and residency in the online neighborhood seems wildly exclusive.

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The Retirement Of The Space Shuttle—And What's Next For NASA

From Popular Mechanics:

Today, November 16, 2009, the Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully launched to rendezvous with the International Space Station. This will be the sixth-to-last launch for NASA's Space Shuttle program. For now, NASA plans to retire the Space Shuttle after the last launch and replace it after a yet-to-be-determined gap in time with the Constellation Program, which will make use of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and Ares I rockets. At this pivotal moment in manned space flight history, PM looks back at our coverage of the technology behind the Constellation Program and the development of the International Space Station, as well as news surrounding the Space Shuttles.

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A Case In Antiquities For ‘Finders Keepers’

Viktor Koen

From New York Times:

Zahi Hawass regards the Rosetta Stone, like so much else, as stolen property languishing in exile. “We own that stone,” he told Al Jazeera, speaking as the secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

The British Museum does not agree — at least not yet. But never underestimate Dr. Hawass when it comes to this sort of custody dispute. He has prevailed so often in getting pieces returned to what he calls their “motherland” that museum curators are scrambling to appease him.

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Best of What's New 2009: The Year's 100 Greatest Innovations

Best of What's New 2009: Click here to explore the full list

From Popular Science:

Innovation manifests itself in myriad ways: groundbreaking, revolutionary bursts we'd never before imagined possible, or in more nuanced but no less brilliant refinements of existing technology. And while this year's list contains plenty of instances of the former, in compiling it we've noticed one thing: 2009 is the year of stealth innovation.

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Report: Countries Prepping For Cyberwar

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

From CNET:

Major countries and nation-states are engaged in a "Cyber Cold War," amassing cyberweapons, conducting espionage, and testing networks in preparation for using the Internet to conduct war, according to a new report to be released on Tuesday by McAfee.

In particular, countries gearing up for cyberoffensives are the U.S., Israel, Russia, China, and France, the says the report, compiled by former White House Homeland Security adviser Paul Kurtz and based on interviews with more than 20 experts in international relations, national security and Internet security.

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'Universal' Programmable Two-Qubit Quantum Processor Created

NIST postdoctoral researcher David Hanneke at the laser table used to demonstrate the first universal programmable processor for a potential quantum computer. A pair of beryllium ions (charged atoms) that hold information in the processor are trapped inside the cylinder at the lower right. A colorized image of the two ions is displayed on the monitor in the background. (Credit: J. Burrus/NIST)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 16, 2009) — Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated the first "universal" programmable quantum information processor able to run any program allowed by quantum mechanics -- the rules governing the submicroscopic world -- using two quantum bits (qubits) of information. The processor could be a module in a future quantum computer, which theoretically could solve some important problems that are intractable today.

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Attractiveness Based Partly on Skin Color

Participants in the study changed the skin color of the faces in images (right), making the skin redder, yellower and brighter (from top to bottom), saying those looked healthier than faces that are less red, less yellow and less bright (left). Credit: www.perceptionlab.com at the University of St. Andrews.

From Live Science:

When it comes to an attractive face, color can make all the difference, suggests a new study.

The research focused on facial skin color among Caucasians, finding a light, yellowish complexion looks the healthiest. The skin color could indicate a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables, whose pigments are known to change the skin's hue, researchers suggest.

(The researchers predict the results would hold for other ethnicities as well.)

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Civilian Supercomputer Shatters Nuke Simulator’s Speed Record

From Wired Science:

The retooled Jaguar supercomputer blew away the competition on the latest list of the 500 fastest computers in the world, clocking an incredible 1.759 petaflops — 1,759 trillion calculations per second.

The machine, housed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, added two more cores with the aid of almost $20 million in stimulus spending. With the new processors, the Cray XT5 plowed past the Top500 competition. It’s more than 69 percent faster than the previous record holder, Los Alamos National Laboratory’s IBM Roadrunner, and is more than twice as powerful as the third-fastest computer on the list.

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Astronomers Name Scottish Park One Of World's Best Stargazing Sites

The night sky as seen in Galloway Forest Park, which has
been awarded 'dark skies' status. Photograph: PR

From The Guardian:

Galloway Forest Park awarded 'dark skies' status and praised for accessibility to public.

A vast stretch of forest in south-west Scotland boasting unrivalled views of the millions of stars in the galaxy was today named as one of the best places in the world to stargaze.

Galloway Forest Park, a 300 square mile tract of conifer forests and hills, became one of the first places outside the US to be given status as a "dark skies park" by astronomers at the International Dark Skies Association.

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Climate Change Gives Ancient Trees Growth Spurt

Wiltshire's Ancient Trees. Photo from The BBC

From The New Scientist:

Rising temperatures are causing some of the oldest trees on Earth to grow faster, new research suggests. But scientists are divided over whether or not the change will benefit the climate, as it may simply cause the trees to die more quickly.

Previous research (pdf) suggested that Great Basin bristlecone pines located in the mountains of western US are growing more rapidly. But the reason for the growth spurt – and whether or not it is unusual – was unclear.

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Bacteria 'Glow Near Landmines'

From The Telegraph:

Bacteria that glow green in the presence of explosives could provide a cheap and safe way to find hidden landmines, according to British scientists.

The bugs can be mixed into a colourless solution that forms green patches when sprayed on to ground where mines are buried.

Researchers who created the bacteria at the University of Edinburgh believe the microbes could be dropped from the air on to danger areas.

Within a few hours, they would react to traces of explosives leaking from the devices buried underground.

Each year, between 15,000 and 20,000 people are killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance, according to the charity Handicap International.

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British Scientists Testing Ukrainian 'Super Flu' That Has Killed 189 People

Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (L) visits flu victims
at a hospital in the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk

From The Daily Mail:

British scientists are examining the strain of swine flu behind a deadly Ukrainian outbreak to see if the virus has mutated.

A total of 189 people have died and more than one million have been infected in the country.

Some doctors have likened the symptoms to those seen in many of the victims of the Spanish flu which caused millions of deaths world-wide after the World War One.

An unnamed doctor in western Ukraine told of the alarming effects of the virus.

He said: 'We have carried out post mortems on two victims and found their lungs are as black as charcoal.

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China Joins Supercomputer Elite

From The BBC:

China has become one of a handful of nations to own one of the top five supercomputers in the world.

Its Tianhe-1 computer, housed at the National Super Computer Center in Tianjin was ranked fifth on the biannual Top 500 supercomputer list.

The machine packs more than 70,000 chips and can compute 563 trillion calculations per second (teraflops).

It is used for petroleum exploration and engineering tasks such as simulating aircraft designs.

However, the fastest machine is the US-owned Jaguar supercomputer, which now boasts a speed of 1.759 petaflops.

One petaflop is the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second.

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Fishing Quota Will Lead To Extinction Of Bluefin Tuna, Warn Conservationists

From Times Online:

Conservationists have accused the organisation charged with ensuring the survival of the bluefin tuna of pushing the fish to extinction.

Members of the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) voted to allow 13,500 tonnes of tuna to be caught next year, which scientists say will lead to the disappearance of the fish from the Mediterranean within two years.

The European Union was blamed for having blocked plans at the Brazil conference for a moratorium on catching the fish in the Mediterranean.

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Scientists Test First Universal Programmable Quantum Computer

Quantum Processor Beryllium ions to lasers: you spin me right round J. Burrus/NIST

From Popular Science:

Quantum computing uses spooky physics to run faster and more powerfully than traditional computers.

Physicists have been taking baby steps toward creating a full-fledged quantum computer faster and more powerful than any computer in existence, by making quantum processors capable of performing individual tasks. Now a group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed the world's first universal programmable quantum computer that can run any program that's possible under the rules of quantum mechanics.

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