Two More Steps Toward Quantum Computing

The first solid state quantum processor, developed at Yale University, can perform simple algorithms. Blake Johnson/Yale University

From Discover Magazine:

Quantum computing—using individual atoms as information carriers—could transform the way we study the world, solving problems that would take many human lifetimes for today’s supercomputers in a matter of days. Unlike conventional computers, which store each piece of data as a single value (either zero or one), quantum processors can take on multiple values simultaneously, which is why they are so efficient. Or rather why they would be, if we could figure out how to build them. So engineers in the field are abuzz about two major advances toward the creation of a practical quantum computer.

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What The iPad Means For The Future Of Computing

From Gadget Lab:

When I picked up my iPhone over the weekend, I had an epiphany. I was using the LinkedIn app to confirm an invitation to connect, and it hit me: This is the future of mobile computing, the mobile web — the mobile experience.

No, I’m not saying the LinkedIn app is the future per se (that’d be silly), but rather the overall concept of it. The LinkedIn iPhone app is, in my opinion, better than the actual LinkedIn.com website. Same goes for the Facebook app compared to Facebook.com.

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World's Most Powerful Laser To Trigger Fusion Reaction This Year

From The Telegraph:

A pivotal step in the march towards fusion power, the ''holy grail'' of sustainable clean energy, could be taken this year.

Scientists in the US are preparing for the dramatic moment when the world's most powerful laser unleashes the nuclear force that lights up the sun and achieves ''ignition''.

At that moment, 192 laser beams housed in a building the size of three football pitches will focus on a target the size of a peppercorn to trigger a self-sustaining fusion reaction.

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Apple iPad Will Choke Innovation, Say Open Internet Advocates

Cutting off the next chapter? Steve Jobs flicks through an ebook on the Apple iPad. Photograph: Kimberly White/Reuters

From The Guardian:

The Apple iPad's closed, iPhone-like environment could shut out the next computing revolution, say industry veterans.

Apple's new iPad tablet computer could hamper innovation and cause long-term damage if it becomes a hit, according to experts.

Just as Steve Jobs tries to wow the world with the "magical" new device - unveiled on Wednesday at a media-saturated launch event in San Francisco – leading industry figures have told the Guardian that the machine marks a fundamental shift in the way the computer industry works.

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Obama To Scrap Nasa Moon Mission In Favour Of Private 'Space Taxis'

Farewell Orion? The Contellation space programme looks set to be scrapped. There had been plans to use the Orion module to ferry astronauts to the ISS, like in this artist's impression

From The Daily Mail:

American dreams of putting another man on the Moon were dashed last night as President Obama announced a spending freeze to help combat a £1trillion U.S. budget deficit.

NASA's plan to launch a series of new manned Moon missions was one of 120 government-funded programmes shelved.

The Constellation Project, started by George Bush, was supposed to restore America's reputation as a pioneer in human exploration and anticipated landings on Mars by the middle of the century.

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New Infographic Visualizes The Space Debris Cloud Surrounding Earth

Space Debris Circles Michael Paukner (See it bigger)

From Popular Science:

My debris field is bigger than yours.

Space debris remains one of the biggest challenges for a space-faring humanity in the 21st century, as even the smallest pieces can pose a serious threat to satellites, manned spacecraft and the International Space Station. Now our friends at Fast Company have stumbled on a nifty infographic by Austrian designer Michael Paukner that lays out the space clutter situation more clearly.

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No Moon Program For NASA

Obama's Proposed Budget For NASA Starts Moon War On Earth -- Washington Post

The battle over space has begun. And it's likely to be brutal.

The Obama administration is attempting to kill NASA's ambitious back-to-the moon program, an effort that carried the imprimatur of George W. Bush. The Constellation program had already run through about $9 billion to develop a new crew capsule, Orion, and a new rocket, the Ares 1. Both are vaporized by Obama's new NASA strategy.

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Update: Obama Calls for End to NASA’s Moon Program -- New York Times

WikiLeaks Whistleblower Site In Temporary Shutdown

From BBC News:

WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website that allows people to publish uncensored information anonymously, has suspended operations owing to financial problems.

Its running costs including staff payments are $600,000 (£377,000), but so far this year it has raised just $130,000 (£81,000).

WikiLeaks has established a reputation for publishing information that traditional media cannot.

The website claims to be non-profit and relies on donations.

A statement on its front page says it is funded by "human rights campaigners, investigative journalists, technologists and the general public".

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Spies And Climate Change

'Climate Emails Hacked By Spies' -- The Independent

Interception bore hallmarks of foreign intelligence agency, says expert.

A highly sophisticated hacking operation that led to the leaking of hundreds of emails from the Climatic Research Unit in East Anglia was probably carried out by a foreign intelligence agency, according to the Government's former chief scientist. Sir David King, who was Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser for seven years until 2007, said that the hacking and selective leaking of the unit's emails, going back 13 years, bore all the hallmarks of a co-ordinated intelligence operation – especially given their release just before the Copenhagen climate conference in December.

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My Comment: What a strange way to defend the indefensible. The people who hacked and released these emails should be awarded and praised .... not condemned and threatened by the likes of Sir David King.

If an intelligence agency did this .... kudos to them for revealing the truth to all of us.

Effects of Forest Fire On Carbon Emissions, Climate Impacts Often Overestimated

This stand replacement fire on Cache Mountain burned in the central Oregon Cascade Range in 2002, killing nearly all the overstory trees. By 2007 other non-tree vegetation began to grow back, however, somewhat offsetting the carbon releases from dead wood decomposition. (Credit: Photo by Garrett Meigs, Oregon State University)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 1, 2010) — A recent study at Oregon State University indicates that some past approaches to calculating the impacts of forest fires have grossly overestimated the number of live trees that burn up and the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result.

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Punxsutawney Phil: The Groundhog Behind The Myth

From Live Science:

On Tuesday, Punxsutawney Phil will emerge from a little enclosure under an outdoor stump in the Pennsylvania town that bears his name to let us know if he sees his shadow, which will doom us to six more weeks of winter.

While this groundhog gets plenty of attention each Feb. 2, the other 364 days of the year America's most famous furry forecaster spends his time not in the ground but in an enclosure next to the children's section of the Punxsutawney Memorial Library with his "wife" Phyllis and a couple of other groundhogs.

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China Leading Global Race To Make Clean Energy

As China takes the lead on wind turbines, above, and solar panels, President Obama is calling for American industry to step up. Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

From The New York Times:

TIANJIN, China — China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, and is poised to expand even further this year.

China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.

These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China.

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All Things Bright And Beautiful: What Photographer Found In One Cubic Foot

'It was like finding little gems' - just some of the creatures photographed by David Liittschwager for National Geographic. Photograph: David Liittschwager/National Geographic

From The Guardian:

David Liittschwager's amazing images – featured in next month's National Geographic magazine – capture Earth's ecosystems as never before.

Just how much life can you find in an ecosystem of one cubic foot? That is the question photographer David L­iittschwager set out to answer when he took a 12-inch metal frame to a range of different environments on land and in water, in tropical climes and temperate regions and began to chart the living organisms.

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Benevolent Hackers Poke Holes In E-Banking

Security could be lacking (Image: Frazer Hudson)

From New Scientist:

ONLINE banking fraud doesn't just affect the naive. Last year, Robert Mueller, a director at the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, admitted he'd come within a mouse-click of being a victim himself. Now the extent of the problem has been brought into sharp relief, with computer scientists warning that banking culture is increasing the likelihood that customers are using vulnerable systems.

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Yes, Yes, Yes, No, Yes! In Search Of The G-Spot

The yes-no G-spot debate might lose British males... but the French know where they're going. REX

From The Independent:

The Germans first stumbled on it; the Italians fervently tried to explain it; this month, the Brits poured cold water on it... now, the hot-blooded French have revived it, as only they can. Katy Guest examines the quest for the ultimate erogenous zone.

Sacre bleu – as they're all apparently panting over the Channel. Just when you thought it was safe to go back between the sheets, a group of researchers claim that they have found the G-spot – in France.

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Young Blood Reverses Signs Of Aging In Old Mice

Photo: Blood rebirth: Over time, blood stem cells (shown in green) lose their ability to replenish blood. Researchers have discovered that exposing old mice to circulating blood from younger mice restores this ability. Credit: Amy Wagers

From Technology Review:

A mysterious substance in blood rejuvenates blood-forming stem cells.

The antiaging power of blood might not be just the stuff of vampire stories. According to new research from Harvard University, an unspecified factor in the blood of young mice can reverse signs of aging in the circulatory system of older ones. It's not yet clear how these changes affect the animals' overall health or longevity. But the research provides hope that some aspects of aging, such as the age-related decline in the ability to fight infection, might be avoidable.

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Nasa Mission To Unravel Sun’s Threat To Earth

Scientists have designed a space probe to peer deep beneath the solar surface
and observe how sunlight is generated

From Times Online:

A new probe could help scientists predict the solar storms that cause chaos for us.

NASA is to embark on one of its most ambitious missions in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the sun.

Following its launch in nine days’ time, the US space agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will spend five years in orbit trying to discover the causes of extreme solar activity, such as sun spots and solar winds and flares.

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How To Make The iPad A Better Music Device

Photo: The iTunes Music Store looks great on the iPad, but I'd like to see more features for music fans and musicians. (Credit: James Martin/CNET)

From CNET:

I was at Apple's iPad launch on Wednesday, and maybe it was just Steve Jobs' reality distortion field, but I don't quite understand why the haters are piling on. A lot of PC-centric commentators are dismissing the iPad as an overpriced gadget, wondering why it's lacking features that are standard on even the cheapest notebook computers, like Flash support, multitasking, USB inputs to connect peripherals, and video outputs (HDMI would be nice). These are legitimate complaints--for a notebook replacement. But the iPad isn't a notebook replacement, and I don't think users will carry it with them on business trips. (Apple's iWork demo confused matters, admittedly.)

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The Tell Tail Clue To A Happy Dog... They Wag It To The Left

Photo: Welcome sign: A wag to the left is friendlier than one to the right

From The Daily Mail:

Everyone knows that if a dog's ears are up and its tail is wagging vigorously, it is definitely pleased to see you.

Now, scientists using a robot have found that the way dogs use their tails is more subtle than we thought and that dogs that wag them to the left may be more friendly.

The animal psychologists discovered that when real dogs approached a life-sized black Labrador with a mechanical tail, they were less wary of it when it was wagging its tail on the left side of its body.

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Jupiter's Moons: Explanation For The Differences Between Ganymede And Callisto

Jupiter (right) and the Galilean satellites (right to left) Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Cutaways show the interior states of Ganymede and Callisto after many impacts by icy planetesimals during the late heavy bombardment. Colors represent density, with black showing the rocky core (with a density 3 g/cm^3), blue showing mixed ice and rock (densities 1.8 to 1.9 g/cm^3) and white showing rock-free ice. (Credit: Southwest Research Institute)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 31, 2010) — Differences in the number and speed of cometary impacts onto Jupiter's large moons Ganymede and Callisto some 3.8 billion years ago can explain their vastly different surfaces and interior states, according to research by scientists at the Southwest Research Institute appearing online in Nature Geoscience Jan. 24, 2010.

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