Briton Takes Off For Space Station As Nasa Faces Funding Crisis

Nasa astronaunt Nicholas Patrick. Photograph: Tony Kyriacou / Rex Features

From The Telegraph:

Nicholas Patrick's mission to international space station comes as Barack Obama announces cuts to US space programme.

As a schoolboy in Yorkshire watching the first moon landings on television, Nicholas Patrick could only dream of following the pioneers of Apollo into space.

Inspired by their achievements, he moved to America to achieve his childhood ambition of becoming an astronaut. On Sunday, when the shuttle Endeavour blasts off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, Patrick will embark on one of the greatest adventures ever undertaken by one of the handful of Britons to reach orbit in an American spacecraft.

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Moore’s Curse And The Great Energy Delusion

From The American:

Our transition away from fossil fuels will take decades—if it happens at all.

During the early 1970s we were told by the promoters of nuclear energy that by the year 2000 America’s coal-based electricity generation plants would be relics of the past and that all electricity would come from nuclear fission. What’s more, we were told that the first generation fission reactors would by then be on their way out, replaced by super-efficient breeder reactors that would produce more fuel than they were initially charged with.

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3D: Coming To A Laptop Near You

The Asus G51J laptop has a bit of peripheral flicker - and that fades quickly as your eyes acclimatise - but otherwise it delivers

From The Daily Mail:

The latest hi-tech laptop delivers realistic 3D gaming without leaving you feeling all at sea (though the cost may make you feel a little queasy...)

Two minutes after opening Asus's G51J 3D laptop, I felt like I was operating a theme park ride. There was a queue of people watching 3D video of racers zooming round the Nurburgring, oohing and aahing and enquiring whether you really have to wear the funny glasses. My more primitive colleagues actually reached out to touch the cars. Next time, I will be charging.

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Quantum Computing Leap Forward: Altering a Lone Electron Without Disturbing Its Neighbors

Jason Petta, an assistant professor of physics, has found a way to alter the property of a lone electron without disturbing the trillions of electrons in its immediate surroundings. Such a feat is an important step toward developing future types of quantum computers. (Credit: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Brian Wilson)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 6, 2010) — A major hurdle in the ambitious quest to design and construct a radically new kind of quantum computer has been finding a way to manipulate the single electrons that very likely will constitute the new machines' processing components or "qubits."

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Why We Gamble: The Enticement Of Almost Winning

From Live Science:

Betting on the Super Bowl, roulette, or even online poker can be thrilling, and with the advent of online gambling, it's easier than ever before. Yet winning and losing can have unexpected effects on the brain that keep people coming back for more, scientists are finding.

Gamblers sink an increasing sum of money into their efforts to win. Over the last 20 years legalized betting has grown tremendously; it's now a $100 billion industry. More than 65 percent of Americans gamble, according to Gallup's annual Lifestyle Poll conducted last year, and up to 5 percent of those betters develop an addiction to the activity.

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Justice Dept. to Google Books: Close, But No Cigar

From Epicenter:

Google’s plan to digitize the world’s books into a combination research library and bookstore has hit another snag, in the form of a U.S. Justice Department statement that “despite substantial progress made, issues remain” with the proposed settlement agreement of the class action lawsuit The Authors Guild Inc. et al. v. Google Inc.

The Justice Department joins key members of The Authors Guild in applauding some of the changes Google and the guild have made to their proposed agreement, submitted in September, including the elimination of Google’s right to the books for unspecified future uses, the creation of a new position to represent unknown rights holders, and a mechanism allowing competing companies to license Google’s library to offer competing products.

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The Great Global Warming Collapse -- A Commentary

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Photograph: Getty Images

From The Globe And Mail:

As the science scandals keep coming, the air has gone out of the climate-change movement.

In 2007, the most comprehensive report to date on global warming, issued by the respected United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made a shocking claim: The Himalayan glaciers could melt away as soon as 2035.

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The Big Question: What Do We Know About The Human Brain And The Way It Functions?

Independent Graphics

From The Independent:

Why are we asking this now?

Scientists this week announced that they had succeeded in communicating with a man thought to be in a vegetative state, lacking all awareness, for five years following a road accident. Using a brain scanner they were able to read his thoughts and obtain yes or no answers to questions. They asked him to imagine playing tennis if he wanted to answer yes and to imagine walking through his home if he wanted to say no. By mapping the different parts of the brain activated in each case with the scanner, the scientists were able accurately record his reponses.

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Do We Want Brain Scanners To Read Our Minds?

Scientists can communicate with vegetative patients Photo: GETTY IMAGES

From The Telegraph:

As 'vegetative' patients ‘talk’ to scientists, Professor Colin Blakemore assesses the profound implications this has for the sick - and the healthy.

What nightmare could be worse than being buried alive? Conscious, terrified, but unable to communicate through the impenetrable barrier of a coffin lid and a metre of earth. In the past few days, this ultimate horror has been transformed from the stuff of bad dreams and B movies to two very different front page stories.

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21st Century Energy: Some Sobering Thoughts

From OECD Observer:

Transition to new energy sources is unavoidable, but here are five sobering first principles to remember along the way.

Are we about to switch to new energy sources? Grandiose plans are being drawn up for installing veritable forests of giant wind turbines, turning crops and straw into fuel ethanol and biodiesel, and for tapping solar radiation by fields of photovoltaic cells. As with most innovations, there is excitement and high expectation. Will these developments and other renewable energy conversions one day replace fossil fuels? Eventually they will have to, but a reality check is in order.

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Blizzard Warning For DC, NYT: “Capital Is Crippled As Blizzard Continues “

Snow covers a decorative iron fence at the White House in Washington, on Saturday, during a snow storm in the Washington area. Photo: AP via The Hindu

From Watts Up With That?:

A winter storm continued its blizzard rage in some parts of the Mid-Atlantic region on Saturday morning, dumping nearly two feet of wet, heavy snow that cut power to about 200,000 residents, caused the roof of a private jet hangar to collapse at Washington Dulles International Airport and forced the nation’s capital into quiet hibernation.

All postal operations in the Washington area, including the suburbs in Northern Virginia and Maryland were canceled on Saturday.

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Did An Asteroid Strike In Australia Plunge Anglo-Saxon England Into A Mini Ice-Age?

A veil of dust thrown up by an asteroid 2,000ft across may have caused a mini ice-age in 535AD

From The Daily Mail:

A giant meteorite that broke in two as it crashed off Australia, could have been responsible for a mini-ice age that engulfed Britain in 535AD.

The claim was made by marine geophysicist Dallas Abbott at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union last month.

She found evidence of two substantial impact craters in the Gulf of Carpentaria, off the northern Australian coast.

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Kindle, iPad, MacMillan, And The Death Of A Business Model

From Pajamas Media:

If you visited Amazon.com this weekend, hoping to buy a book that happened to have been published by MacMillan, you got a rude surprise. You couldn’t do it. Whether you hoped to buy an e-book for the Kindle, or an old-fashioned physical book, Amazon wouldn’t sell it to you. In a protest against the pricing model that MacMillan and other publishers had negotiated with Apple for the iBookstore, Amazon simply removed the “buy” button from MacMillan’s books.

The protest didn’t last very long — just long enough to be noticed and to make the New York Times on the evening of January 29. By the evening of the 31st, Amazon had relented, with the following statement:

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Secrets To Superb Malting Barleys Explored

ARS chemist Mark Schmitt is discovering what happens -- biochemically -- inside malting barley grains as they sprout, so that plant breeders will have a better basis for developing superior varieties. (Credit: Image courtesy of USDA/Agricultural Research Service)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 6, 2010) — Many favorite breakfast cereals, candies, beers, and other foods and beverages owe much of their smooth, delicious flavor to malt. Malting barleys--the source of that malt--are the focus of studies at the Agricultural Research Service's (ARS) malting barley laboratory in Madison, Wis., part of the Cereal Crops Research Unit.

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'Snowmageddon'

From Live Science:

Write this one down. President Obama called it "Snowmageddon." Remember back when we just called them things like "The Great Storm of ..."?

Reuters is sticking with "powerful snowstorm," noting though that there could be 20 to 30 inches of snow and near-blizzard conditions from Virginia to southern New Jersey. MSNBC calls it a blizzard and reports 2 feet have already fallen in some parts of Maryland. CNN avoids the word "blizzard" but employs "clobbered," which sounds just as bad.

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A Bidding Frenzy For Search Engine Keywords During The Super Bowl

The Super Bowl will be held Sunday at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. Advertisers can tweak their online marketing campaigns in real time. (Win McNamee / Getty Images / February 4, 2010)

From The L.A. Times:

Advertisers will vie for the top 'sponsored links,' bidding on terms they think lots of fans will be seeking as they watch the game.

When New Orleans takes on Indianapolis at the Super Bowl on Sunday, Brandon Nohara will be sprawled in front of his big-screen TV like millions of others across the nation, drinking beer as friends pack into his apartment.

But Nohara, a marketing analyst for the Bay Area online retailer CafePress, will also be on the job.

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Top 5 Technologies In NFL Stadiums

(Photograph by Ronald Martinez /Getty Images)

From Popular Mechanics:

As football fans around the world turn their attention toward the Miami Dolphins' Sun Life Stadium for Super Bowl XLIV this Sunday, Popular Mechanics looked at the other 30 NFL stadiums and found five that lead the league in innovation.

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Which Organs Can I Live Without, And How Much Cash Can I Get For Them?

Pricey Organs Victor de Schwanberg/Photo Researchers

From Popular Science:

First, a disclaimer: Selling your organs is illegal in the United States. It’s also very dangerous. Handing off an organ is risky enough when done in a top hospital, even more so if you’re doing it for cash in a back alley. No, really: Don’t do this. OK? OK.

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The Location-Based Future Of The Web

Get the information relevant to where you are (Image: Russel A. Daniels/AP/PA)

From The New Scientist:

THAT the internet is the same for everyone, wherever they are, is one of its defining features. But increasingly your location matters, and will alter what you see online.

Two events last week offer a preview of the web's location-aware future. Social network Twitter started telling users the most talked-about topics in their vicinity. Meanwhile, Canadian newspaper publisher Metro teamed up with location-based social network Foursquare to offer users restaurant reviews based on their GPS-enabled phone's location.

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The Big El Niño That Nobody Saw

From Discovery News:

One of the biggest, meanest El Niño episodes of the 20th Century came and went and almost nobody noticed. It was 1918, a year when many people had their hands full just staying alive. The first World War was ravaging Europe, and an influenza pandemic of Biblical proportions was killing more than 50 million around the world.

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