Three New Biodefense Centers In The U.S.

Photo: Texas A&M University moves to the forefront of the US biodefense effort (credit: Texas A&M University)

U.S. Launches Three Biodefense Centers -- Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today awarded contracts for the creation of three new centers tasked with responding to the threat of future pandemics and biological attacks, Nature News Blog reports.

Based in Maryland, North Carolina and Texas, the three “Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing” are the first tangible result of a review concluded by HHS in 2010.

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My Comment: Pandemics, biological attacks .... this has all been known for a very long time. But why the rush to build the centers now?

A History Of Tetris

Tetris: Can A Cold War Classic Evolve For The Touchscreen? -- The Verge

The game couldn't be simpler. One of seven shapes falls from the sky. As the "Tetrimino" inches down the screen, the player rotates it and moves it into place among other similar objects. Build a horizontal line across the board and the entire thing vanishes. Create four lines at once, and they all disappear as the gamer earns massive points. Rotate, drop, explode. Rinse, wash, repeat. Again. And again. And again. A simple and repetitive task, but one that's beautiful when performed correctly.

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My Comment: A sad confession .... I wasted many hours of my life playing this game.

U.S. Air Forces Launches Secret US Spy Satellite

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launches the classified NROL-38 spy satellite into orbit from Space Launch Complex-41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Wednesday. Liftoff occurred at 8:28 a.m. EDT. The national security satellite will be used by the National Reconnaissance Office. Patrick H. Corkery/United Launch Alliance

Shhh — Air Forces Launches Secret US Spy Satellite -- MSNBC/Space.com

Few details are offered up on clandestine national security mission for NRO.

A new U.S. spy satellite launched into orbit Wednesday, kicking off a clandestine national security mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.

The NROL-38 reconnaissance spacecraft lifted off at 8:28 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket. It marked a milestone flight for the rocket company, a partnership between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

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More News On Today's 'Secret Launch' Of A US Spy Satellite

Secret military satellite heads into space -- CNet
US military launches new satellite into space -- AFP
NRO satellite lifts off from Cape Canaveral -- Air Force Times
Classified military satellite lifts-off from Cape Canaveral -- Examiner
Classified US satellite successfully orbited -- Flight Global

Voyager 1 Moves Ever Closer To The Solar System's Edge

Voyager 1 One of the two identical Voyager probes, as photographed by NASA. NASA

Voyager 1, Moving Ever Closer To Solar System's Edge, Hit By Rapidly Increasing Amounts of Cosmic Rays -- Popular Science

It's perched on the very edge of the solar system, and new data is the strangest yet.

For at least a year now, NASA has been waiting with bated breath for Voyager 1 to pass through the boundary of our solar system and become our first emissary to the stars. It’s been cruising the edge for some time, but when it finally leaves forever, it won’t be a satisfyingly clear punch-through — so it’s hard to say exactly when this will happen. Or happened. Now the spacecraft is in another strange new zone, where the influx of cosmic particles has been ramping up by the week.

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My Comment: Yup .... one can say that we are now exploring the stars.

100 Greatest Discoveries In Physics (Video)

Has The Higgs Boson Particle Been Found?

Photo: A disk full of silicon sensors that sits as an endcap on ATLAS, one of the LHC experiments searching for the Higgs boson. Peter Ginter/ATLAS collaboration/CERN

Physics Community Afire With Rumors of Higgs Boson Discovery -- Wired

One of the biggest debuts in the science world could happen in a matter of weeks: The Higgs boson may finally, really have been discovered.

Ever since tantalizing hints of the Higgs turned up in December at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists there have been busily analyzing the results of their energetic particle collisions to further refine their search.

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My Comment: I guess we will find out in a few weeks.

Welsh And Cornish Are The 'Purest Britons'

Those in south east and central England were described by Donnelly as "a real genetic cocktail", with parts of their DNA matching the pre-Roman population, Anglo-Saxon and the Danish Viking settlers. Photo: ROBERT HARDING PICTURE LIBRARY

Welsh And Cornish Are The 'Purest Britons', Scientists Claim -- The Telegraph

Natives from Wales and Cornwall could hold the title for the "purest" Britons, a scientific study suggests.

Scientists drew up a map of the British Isles revealing the genetic ancestry of people from different rural areas across the UK.

After extensive DNA surveying, they found that Welsh and Cornish people were among the most genetically distinct groups in the country.

One theory for the difference in their DNA is that they are a "relic" population, tracing their ancestry back to the tribes that colonised Britain after the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago.

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My Comment: A lot has happened in 10,000 years.

Robots Get A Feel For The World

Like the human finger, the group's BioTac® sensor has a soft, flexible skin over a liquid filling. (Credit: USC)

Robots Get A Feel For The World: Touch More Sensitve Than A Human's -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (June 18, 2012) — What does a robot feel when it touches something? Little or nothing until now. But with the right sensors, actuators and software, robots can be given the sense of feel -- or at least the ability to identify different materials by touch.

Researchers at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering published a study June 18 in Frontiers in Neurorobotics showing that a specially designed robot can outperform humans in identifying a wide range of natural materials according to their textures, paving the way for advancements in prostheses, personal assistive robots and consumer product testing.

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My Comment: This has many real world applications.

A Mystery At The Bottom Of The Baltic Sea

Hefty trajectory: The Swedish diving team noted a 985-foot flattened out 'runway' leading up to the object, implying that it skidded along the path before stopping but no true answers are clear

Pictured: The UFO-Shaped Object Found At The Bottom Of The Baltic Sea... Covered In Soot, With 'Little Fireplaces' And Lying At The End Of A 1,000ft Runway -- Daily Mail

* Object is raised about 10 to 13ft above seabed and curved at the sides like a mushroom
* It has a 60 metre diameter with an egg-shaped hole leading into it from the top
* Hole is surrounded by an strange rock formation that expedition team can not explain
* Stones are covered in something 'resembling soot' which has baffled experts

Sceptics expected that a deep-water dive would debunk the slew of extra-terrestrial theories surrounding an unidentified object sitting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

But the Swedish expedition team that took the plunge surfaced with more questions than answers - and certainly no solution to its origins.

The divers found that the object, which some have likened to the Millennium Falcon because of its unusual round outline, was raised about 10 to 13ft above the seabed and curved in at the sides, giving it a mushroom shape.

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My Comment: I am always skeptical when I read UFO stories like this one .... but I will confess that sometimes they are fun to read on the oft-chance that maybe there is a surprise just waiting to be discovered.

No Rules For Cyber-Robot Wars

Rules For Robot-War -- Irfan Husain, DAWN

DOES the deployment of a computer virus by one state against another constitute an act of war? In this wired world, sabotaging a country’s computer systems through malware, or a piece of computer code designed to cause damage, is surely an offensive action equivalent to firing a missile at an enemy.

But thus far, international law has not kept pace with technology, and states can and do use these unseen weapons to further their agendas. Thus, malware like Stuxnet and Flame have apparently been launched against Iranian computers by American and Israeli experts to slow down its nuclear programme and to spy on its leaders.

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My Comment: I have been commenting regularly that as cyber attacks become more sophisticated and targeted, it will only be a matter of time before we experience a cyber 9/11 attack that will incapacitate critical computer networks (i.e. travel, banking, etc.) as well as critical infrastructures (electrical, water, etc..) that are dependent on computer networks.

When that day happens .... the debate on rules for cyber attacks and the consequences of launching one will then start.

Western Officials Are Acknowledging That The U.S. And Israel Did Launch A Cyber Attack Against Iran's Nuclear Facilities

Kaspersky Lab

U.S., Israel Developed Flame Computer Virus To Slow Iranian Nuclear Efforts, Officials Say -- Washington Post

The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected critical intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage attacks aimed at slowing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials with knowledge of the effort.

The massive piece of malware was designed to secretly map Iran’s computer networks and monitor the computers of Iranian officials, sending back a steady stream of intelligence used to enable an ongoing cyberwarfare campaign, according to the officials.

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More News On The U.S. - Israeli Cyber Attack Against Iran's Nuclear Facilities

U.S., Israel developed Flame computer virus: newspaper -- Reuters
US, Israel made Flame virus to thwart Iran: report -- AFP
Israel, US collaborated in creation of Flame virus to slow Iran's nuke efforts, report says -- FOX News
Flame virus confirmed as U.S.-Israeli plan -- UPI
Report: US, Israel designed Flame computer virus against Iran -- The Hill
Confirmed: Flame created by US and Israel to slow Iranian nuke program -- Ars Technica
U.S., Israel, developed Flame #thecircuit -- Hayley Tsukayama, Washington Post
How Flame virus has changed everything for online security firms -- John Naughton, The Guardian

More News On The Super-Computer Wars

The Sequoia: This grey slab is just part the most powerful computer on the planet, and will be used in nuclear power research, with perhaps a game or two of chess on the side

U.S. Reclaims Top Spot In Super-Computer Wars With Machine That 'Can Do More In An Hour Than The World's Population Working Non-Stop For 320 Years' -- Daily Mail

* IBM's 'Sequoia' beats Japan's 'K machine', running 1.55 times faster while being 15 per cent more energy efficient
* Computer - which is nearly 300,00 times faster than machines from 20 years ago - will be used for nuclear studies

In the super-computing league table, the U.S. has reclaimed 'top spot' from Japan.

IBM's Sequoia computer, which is 1.55 times faster than Japan's previous record-breaker, the Fujitsu K Computer, was installed and switched on at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

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My Comment: Impressive speeds .... and they are still getting faster.

The USB Stick That Deletes All Viruses

Fix Me: Stick the USB key into your PC and it will stop Windows from loading - and scan your computer for errors

The USB Stick That You Plug Into Your Computer - And Then It Deletes All The Viruses -- Daily Mail

Getting a virus cleaned off your computer can be a burden at the best of times.

But now a new USB stick aims to make it far easier by giving you the same tools as the professionals - and all you have to do is plug it in.

The FixMeStick supposedly finds the files which other anti-virus programmes miss by using powerful anti-virus software normally used by computer technicians.

All users have to do is put it into a USB slot on their PC and it will do the rest.

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My Comment: The firm that manufactures this tech is in Montreal .... and I live in Montreal. I guess I should pay them a visit and report more later.

Australian Aboriginal Rock Art Is 28,000 Years Old

Art on the ceiling of the shelter Narwala Gabarnmang. Credit: University of Southern Queensland

Aboriginal Rock Art Is 28,000 Years Old -- Cosmos/AFP

SYDNEY: Aboriginal rock art found in remote Australia has been dated at 28,000 years old, experts have said, prompting new speculation that indigenous communities were among the world's most advanced.

Archaeologists picked up the fragment in inaccessible wilderness in Arnhem Land in the country's north a year ago, and recent carbon dating of its charcoal drawing has placed it among some of the oldest art on the planet.

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My Comment: Early man was not so backwards after-all.

The World's Oldest Cave Art

A look inside the Altamira Cave in northern Spain

Red Dot Becomes 'Oldest Cave Art' -- BBC

Red dots, hand stencils and animal figures represent the oldest examples yet found of cave art in Europe.

The symbols on the walls at 11 Spanish locations, including the World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo have long been recognised for their antiquity.

But researchers have now used refined dating techniques to get a more accurate determination of their ages.

One motif - a faint red dot - is said to be more than 40,000 years old.

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My Comment: Just think about it .... art that has survived 40,000 years old.

Playmates On The Moon?

NASA Astronauts Brought Playmates To The Moon -- Discovery News

When NASA sent its Apollo astronauts to the moon, it sent them with "cheat sheets" -- wrist checklists attached to their suits that outlined the main stages of surface activities for each extravehicular activity (EVA).

But like all flight hardware, crews didn't train with their real checklists; they trained with a copy and only signed off on the unassembled flight version. Assembling the checklist fell to the backup crew, and also gave them a great opportunity to sneak practical jokes into the mission.

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My Comment: Boys will be boys.

Swarms Of Cyborg Insect Drones Are The Future Of Military Surveillance

Fingertip: The US Air Force unveiled insect-sized spies 'as tiny as bumblebees' that could not be detected and would be able to fly into buildings

Is That Really Just A Fly? Swarms Of Cyborg Insect Drones Are The Future Of Military Surveillance -- Daily Mail

The kinds of drones making the headlines daily are the heavily armed CIA and U.S. Army vehicles which routinely strike targets in Pakistan - killing terrorists and innocents alike.

But the real high-tech story of surveillance drones is going on at a much smaller level, as tiny remote controlled vehicles based on insects are already likely being deployed.

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My Comment: This is impressive tech, and an indication on what the future in surveillance will be all about.

How A Hard Drive Works In Slow Motion

Is This The 'iPad Killer' At Last?

Is This The 'iPad Killer' At Last? Microsoft Unveils New Surface Tablet Designed To Work With Windows 8 -- Daily Mail

* Microsoft Surface will use same Windows 8 operating system as PCs
* Comes with built-in stand and keyboard to replicate experience of laptop
* Company refuses to reveal price of tablet or confirm exact release date


Microsoft has unveiled the tablet computer which it hopes will topple Apple's iPad from its pedestal at the top of the market.

The 'Microsoft Surface' is specially designed to work with the firm's new Windows 8 software.

The company, which is still the market leader in computer operating systems, is counting on customers returning to the familiarity of Microsoft despite Apple's continuing 'cool' factor.

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My Comment: I like the keyboard and the size of the screen .... unfortunately .... it lacks Apple's app store.

Is This What The End Of World Will Look Like?

Awesome Mushroom Storm Cloud Dominates Skyline Over Beijing And Sparks Fresh 'End-Of-The-World' Fears -- Daily Mail

To the untrained eye, it could have been the first signal of the end of the world as nuclear war broke out.

But instead of anything sinister, the giant mushroom cloud spotted in the skies over the Chinese capital last week was simply a brilliant showcase of the wonder of nature.

The huge cloud, which appeared on Thursday, gradually took the shape of an explosion from an atomic bomb.

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Update: Giant mushroom cloud forms over Beijing (PHOTOS & VIDEO) -- Yahoo News

My Comment: I saw one of these cloud accumulations in the north of Quebec on a camping trip a few years ago .... it is awesome .... and ominous.