Germanium Laser Breakthrough Brings Optical Computing Closer

From Gadget Lab:

Researchers at MIT have demonstrated the first laser that uses the element germanium.

The laser, which operates at room temperature, could prove to be an important step toward computer chips that move data using light instead of electricity, say the researchers.

“This is a very important breakthrough, one I would say that has the highest possible significance in the field,” says Eli Yablonovitch, a professor in the electrical engineering and computer science department of the University of California, Berkeley who was not involved in the research told Wired.com. “It will greatly reduce the cost of communications and make for faster chips.”

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Beware Of Geoengineering Using Volcanoes' Tricks

Starving the oceans of oxygen (Image: NASA)

From New Scientist:

WE HACK the climate at our peril. Volcanoes spewed so much sulphate into the atmosphere 94 million years ago that the oceans were starved of oxygen and 27 per cent of marine genera went extinct. Geoengineering our climate could inflict a similar fate on some lakes.

So claims Matthew Hurtgen at Northwestern University in Chicago, who with his colleagues measured sulphur isotopes in sediments on the floor of the Western Interior Seaway. The WIS was a vast body of water that divided the continent of North America down the middle at the time. The team also developed a model to simulate the impact of volcanoes on ocean chemistry.

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DARPA Wants to Override Evolution To Make Immortal Synthetic Organisms

Evolution Done Gone Wrong This will turn out well Syfy

From Popular Science:

It's been a long time since a Pentagon project from the DARPA labs truly evoked a "WTF DARPA?!" response, but our collective jaw dropped when we saw the details on a project known as BioDesign. DARPA hopes to dispense with evolutionary randomness and assemble biological creatures, genetically programmed to live indefinitely and presumably do whatever their human masters want. And, Wired's Danger Room reports, when there's the inevitable problem of said creatures going haywire or realizing that they're intelligent and have feelings, there's a planned self-destruct genetic code that could be triggered.

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NASA, GM Take Giant Leap in Robotic Technology

Robonaut2 -- or R2 for short -- is the next generation dexterous robot, developed through a Space Act Agreement by NASA and General Motors. It is faster, more dexterous and more technologically advanced than its predecessors and able to use its hands to do work beyond the scope of previously introduced humanoid robots. (Credit: NASA)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Feb. 7, 2010) — Robonaut is evolving.

NASA and General Motors are working together to accelerate development of the next generation of robots and related technologies for use in the automotive and aerospace industries.

Engineers and scientists from NASA and GM worked together through a Space Act Agreement at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston to build a new humanoid robot capable of working side by side with people. Using leading edge control, sensor and vision technologies, future robots could assist astronauts during hazardous space missions and help GM build safer cars and plants.

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The World's Weirdest Weather

From Live Science:

As if tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards weren't enough to keep us on our toes, Mother Nature occasionally surprises us with some truly odd weather phenomena: From whirlwinds of fire to bloody rains, it's a strange world of weather out there. - Andrea Thompson

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FCC: iPad Use Could Further Strain AT&T 3G

Image: (Credit: Apple)

From CNET:

Although Apple's iPad has yet to hit the market, the Federal Communications Commission has expressed concern over its potential impact on AT&T's 3G network.

Without naming AT&T, which has secured a carrier deal for the tablet device, Phil Bellaria, director of scenario planning, and John Leibovitz, deputy chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, outlined their concerns in an FCC blog post Monday:

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How Sperm Swim: A Clue For Male Contraception?

Photo: 3D4Medical.com/Getty

From Time Magazine:

Though sperm are generally considered pretty wriggly little guys, before they are launched into action, so to speak, they aren't racing around. While researchers have long known that what gets them swimming is a change in internal pH level—the more alkaline their pH, the more aggressively they swim—until now, the mechanism by which sperm rapidly drop protons, which changes their pH from acidic to alkaline, wasn't clear. According to this new study, published in the journal Cell, sperm are equipped with tons of tiny little pores that, when open, enable them to release protons and get a move on.

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Giant Meteorites Slammed Earth Around A.D. 500?

An asteroid hurtles toward Earth in an artist's rendering. Illustration by Detlev van Ravenswaay, Astrofoto, Peter Arnold Images, Photolibrary

From National Review:

Pieces of a giant asteroid or comet that broke apart over Earth may have crashed off Australia about 1,500 years ago, says a scientist who has found evidence of the possible impact craters.

Satellite measurements of the Gulf of Carpentaria (see map) revealed tiny changes in sea level that are signs of impact craters on the seabed below, according to new research by marine geophysicist Dallas Abbott.

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Top British Scientist Says UN Panel Is Losing Credibility

From Times Online:

A LEADING British government scientist has warned the United Nations’ climate panel to tackle its blunders or lose all credibility.

Robert Watson, chief scientist at Defra, the environment ministry, who chaired the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 1997 to 2002, was speaking after more potential inaccuracies emerged in the IPCC’s 2007 benchmark report on global warming.

The most important is a claim that global warming could cut rain-fed north African crop production by up to 50% by 2020, a remarkably short time for such a dramatic change. The claim has been quoted in speeches by Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chairman, and by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.

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Before The Swiss Army Knife, What Did Soldiers Use?

(Click Image to Enlarge)
Inspired: The Roman army pen knife, a precursor to today's popular Swiss Army accessory

The Roman Army Knife: Or How The Ingenuity Of The Swiss Was Beaten By 1,800 Years -- The Daily Mail:

The world's first Swiss Army knife' has been revealed - made 1,800 years before its modern counterpart.

An intricately designed Roman implement, which dates back to 200AD, it is made from silver but has an iron blade.

It features a spoon, fork as well as a retractable spike, spatula and small tooth-pick.

Experts believe the spike may have been used by the Romans to extract meat from snails.

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Surf's Up As Pacific Waves Grow

From New Scientist:

GOOD news surfers: waves in the north-east Pacific are getting taller, and the height of the most extreme "100-year" waves is increasing fastest.

Previous data had shown wave height to be increasing in the north-east Pacific and north Atlantic since the late 1980s. Now measurements from a deep-water buoy moored off the Oregon coast since the mid-1970s indicate that the "100-year" waves - the monster waves with a 1 per cent chance of occurring in any given year - could be 40 per cent larger than previous estimates, at 14 metres high.

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Heinz' New Ketchup Packet Dips, Squeezes And Scores (With Video!)

From Popular Mechanics:

You know the fast food driving drill: Heading down the Interstate, you carefully unfold the wrapper to your burger and make a place on your lap. You reach for the french fries and follow one of two strategies—take them from the box, one-by-one and paint them with ketchup from the packet, quickly running out of your supply; or squeeze a puddle of Heinz on the wrapper for dipping, risking stained pants and messy hands. Isn't there a better way?

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Airwaves Abandoned by TV Could Beam High-Speed Internet Everywhere

Internet in the Ether Brian Kaas Design

From Popular Science:

When TV went digital, Verizon, AT&T and other cellphone carriers shelled out a combined $19 billion for some of the freed-up airwaves, known as white spaces. Now wireless company Spectrum Bridge is using the parts that are still unclaimed to deliver high-speed Internet from its broadcast tower to your laptop computer.

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Google To Air Ad During Super Bowl?

From CNET:

Perhaps Google CEO Eric Scmidt's tweet said it all.

"Can't wait to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said 'Hell has indeed frozen over')," he wrote Saturday.

This tweet appears to be a response to speculation by John Battelle, founder of Federated Media Publishing, that one of the world's most ad-diffident companies would be running a brand ad during the Big Game's third quarter. (Kickoff is just after 3:20 p.m. PST Sunday on CBS, publisher of CNET.)

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Computers That Use Light Instead of Electricity? First Germanium Laser Created

Image: MIT researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can produce wavelengths of light useful for optical communication. (Credit: Graphic by Christine Daniloff)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2010) — MIT researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can produce wavelengths of light useful for optical communication. It's also the first germanium laser to operate at room temperature. Unlike the materials typically used in lasers, germanium is easy to incorporate into existing processes for manufacturing silicon chips. So the result could prove an important step toward computers that move data -- and maybe even perform calculations -- using light instead of electricity. But more fundamentally, the researchers have shown that, contrary to prior belief, a class of materials called indirect-band-gap semiconductors can yield practical lasers.

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Genes Help Explain Who Gets Fit

From Live Science:

When you put in hours at the gym, you expect to get fitter. It turns out, that assumption doesn't hold true for everyone. A new study suggests specific genes may determine, at least in part, how much we really benefit from exercise.

While "benefit from exercise" can mean plenty of things, from slimming down to boosting one's ability to complete a marathon, the researchers specifically looked at what is called VO2 max, or aerobic capacity. This is a measure of how much blood your heart pumps and how much oxygen your muscles consume when they constrict to, say, move your legs on a treadmill.

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Darwin Out Of Africa 45,000 Years Ago

Charles Darwin's family history has been mapped. His ancestors left Africa 45,000 years ago.

From Cosmos:

SYDNEY: The father of evolution Charles Darwin was a direct descendant of the Cro-Magnon people, whose entry into Europe 30,000 years ago heralded the demise of Neanderthals, scientists revealed.

Darwin, who hypothesised that all humans evolved from common ancestors in his seminal 1859 work On the Origin of Species, came from Haplogroup R1b, one of the most common European male lineages, said genealogist Spencer Wells.

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Facebook, At 400 Million Users, Marks Its 6th Year

From San Francisco Chronicle:

On the sixth anniversary of the day Facebook was launched from a Harvard University dorm room, co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the social-networking firm had 400 million active members around the globe.

And Facebook celebrated both milestones Thursday night with a party at the company's Palo Alto headquarters and by rolling out yet another set of changes for its members' pages as a present.

Facebook has expanded dramatically in the past year. Just one year ago this month, there were only 175 million active members.

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NASA Scraps Endeavour Launch: STS- 130 Delayed Until Monday Due To Clouds

The shuttle Endeavour approaches pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
(Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now)

From The New York Daily News:

Better luck Monday, NASA.

Clouds rolled in over Cape Canaveral early Sunday morning, causing the space administration to scrub a planned nighttime launch off the space shuttle Endeavour.

"Sometimes you just got to make the call," said shuttle commander George Zamka, disappointed by the cancellation. "We understand and we'll give it another try tomorrow night."

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Endeavour To Deliver Space Station 'A Room With A View'

EARTHGAZING: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver Node 3, also known as Tranquility, along with a panoramic cupola, seen in place on the International Space Station in an artist's conception. NASA

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Space shuttle Endeavor will bring a new seven-window module to the International Space Station. It'll be used as a utility room for air and water purification and for exercise equipment. It'll also give astronauts a spectacular view of Earth and space.

After years of construction, the International Space Station is about to get a room with a spectacular view.

At 4:39 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Sunday, NASA is set to launch the space shuttle Endeavour and its six-member crew on a mission to deliver the final US components – made in Europe – to the orbiting lab: Node 3, named Tranquility, and a seven-window cupola for the node, which will give crewmembers breathtaking views of Earth and space.

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