Humanoid Robot Pictured On Space Station

Humanoid Robot Pictured On International Space Station -- The Telegraph 

With his upright posture and shiny gold helmet, this space robot looks more suited to the set of Star Wars than the International Space Station. But the C3PO lookalike, the first humanoid robot in space, has spent almost two years orbiting the Earth while learning to perform tasks which are more suited to machines than human crew members. Robonaut 2 – nicknamed R2 in a nod to the Star Wars trilogy – was launched in February 2011 on the last flight of NASA’s Discovery space shuttle.

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My Comment: Now that is impressive.

Warrior Fitness Boot Camp (W.F.B.C.)

Finding My Inner Warrior, Military-Style -- Vanity Fair

I’ll never forget the first time I walked into Warrior Fitness Boot Camp (W.F.B.C.) to take my trial class. I had arrived 15 minutes before class to sign in and change—a time I assumed would make me one of the first people to arrive (my class began bright and early at 6:30 a.m.), but I immediately saw that I was mistaken. The majority of the class had long since arrived and had changed into workout gear. Sitting on benches across the room in matching black T-shirts emblazoned with the Boot Camp logo, I thought to myself, What have I done? The next hour was one of the most physically and mentally demanding things I’d done since moving to New York, but at the end of it I immediately signed up for a three-month unlimited package of classes.  

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My Comment: Ouch .... but it looks like a great workout.

First Antibiotic-Resistant Gonorrhea Cases Detected In The U.S.

Gonorrhea infects close to 700,000 Americans each year. 

First Antibiotic-Resistant Gonorrhea Cases Detected In North America -- US News and World Report

Completely incurable gonorrhea may be at hand. 

The fears of major health organizations have come true: Gonorrhea that is immune to the last remaining effective oral antibiotic has been detected in at least nine North American patients, meaning the era of "incurable" gonorrhea could be close.

In a study released Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a group of scientists led by Vanessa Allen of Public Health Ontario, found that 6.7 percent of patients with gonorrhea at a Toronto clinic still had the disease after a round of cephalosporins, the last effective oral antibiotic used to treat the disease. Of 133 patients who returned for a "test of cure" visit, nine remained gonorrhea-positive. This is the first time cephalosporin-resistant gonorrhea has been found in humans in North America.

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My Comment: This is the nightmare scenario.

Brain Surgery For Drug Addicts

Chinese surgeons are performing the procedure at a rate critics call "alarming". [Image Source: Xinhua] 

Chinese Doctors Experiment With Controversial Brain Surgery for Drug Addicts -- Daily Tech 

Procedure involves drilling into patient's skull, destroying parts of their pleasure center

 The Chinese medical community is testing a bleeding edge brain surgery procedure that is equal parts controversial and intriguing. While the procedure -- designed to treat drug addiction -- draws some comparisons to archaic therapies, it leverages modern neuroscience to carefully target the neural circuits involved in addiction and destroy them.

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My Comment: You have to be desperate to agree to this.

An App For Curbing Wine Habits

 Photo: prayitno/Flickr

Curbing The Wine Habits Of Scotland’s Women: Yes, There’s An App For That -- Wired 

Scottish health officials are banking on an Android app and the human tendency toward vanity to help reduce the incidence of alcohol-related illnesses and deaths among Scottish women. On Tuesday the office of the Scottish health secretary launched a free Android app, called Drinking Mirror, which shows women just how much older they’ll look in 10 years if they toss back 10 glasses of wine per week.

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My Comment: An app that illustrates wine making you age .... I am skeptical.

Earth-Sized Planets 'Number 17bn' In Our Galaxy

This artist's rendering shows the different types of planets in the Milky Way detected by Nasa's Kepler spacecraft 

Kepler Telescope: Earth-Sized Planets 'Number 17bn' -- BBC 

Astronomers say that one in six stars hosts an Earth-sized planet in a close orbit - suggesting a total of 17 billion such planets in our galaxy.

The result comes from an analysis of planet candidates gathered by Nasa's Kepler space observatory.

The Kepler scientists also announced 461 new planet candidates, bringing the satellites' total haul to 2,740.

Their findings were announced at the 221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in California.

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My Comment: That's a lot of earth-sized planets .... kinda puts everything into perspective.

It's Hot In Australia

Hot Hot Heat Australian Bureau of Meteorology 

Official Australian Weather Map Gets New Colors To Depict Extreme Heat -- Popsci.com 

Record-breaking temperatures require a meteorological redesign. It's going to be a rough week in Australia, where the weather service had to add new colors to their climate map in preparation for an extreme heat forecast.

The Bureau of Meteorology recently added pink and purple areas to its maps to make room for higher temperatures. On the map issued for next Monday, Central Australia gets the dubious distinction of being the first region shown in purple, meaning temperatures are likely to rise above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

This last Monday was the country's hottest day on record nationwide, with average maximum temperatures around the country of 40.33 degrees, and officials expect more to come. The new pink code is reserved for temperatures from 52 to 54 degrees Celsius, more than 125 degrees Fahreinheit.

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My Comment: Yup .... it is definitely summer in Australia right now.

Coming Soon To The Defense Department: Android-Based Smart Phones And Tablets Capable Of Handling Classified Information

The Pentagon Is Expanding Its Smartphone For Spies Program -- Foreign Policy

While the rest of the DC press corps is talking about Chuck Hagel's qualifications to be the next defense secretary, Killer Apps is lucky enough to be writing about smart phones. Secret smart phones, that is.

That's right, the National Security Agency and the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) are set to expand the program that gives government officials Android-based smart phones and tablets capable of handling classified information.  

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My Comment: The Pentagon is so far behind the curve on this one .... but at least they are catching up.

Sleep Disorders Detected In Manned Mars Mission Simulation

Fake Mission To Mars Leaves Astronauts Spaced Out -- The Guardian 

Trip to Mars in pretend spaceship on Moscow industrial estate affects sleep, activity levels and motivation of six-man crew 

As the cheerless skies and grim economy sap all will to return to work, take heart that even on a trip to Mars, it is hard to get out of bed in the morning.

The drudge of interplanetary travel has emerged from research on six men who joined the longest simulated space mission ever: a 17-month round trip to the red planet in a pretend spaceship housed at a Moscow industrial estate.

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More News On The 'Fake Mission' To Mars  

17-month mock Mars mission turns up down-to-Earth sleep problem -- NBC
Astronauts on Mars Mission May Be Exhausted on Arrival -- Bloomberg
Sleep problems could jeopardise future missions to Mars -- BBC
Astronauts on Long Space Missions Will Need Earth-like Sleep Habits -- Voice of America
Sleep Disorders Detected in Manned Mars Mission Simulation -- US News and World Report

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Lab Removes Suspicious Chinese Tech From Their Computers

Los Alamos National Laboratory. (Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Exclusive: U.S. Nuclear Lab Removes Chinese Tech Over Security Fears -- Reuters

A leading U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory recently discovered its computer systems contained some Chinese-made network switches and replaced at least two components because of national security concerns, a document shows. A letter from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, dated November 5, 2012, states that the research facility had installed devices made by H3C Technologies Co, based in Hangzhou, China, according to a copy seen by Reuters. H3C began as a joint venture between China's Huawei Technologies Co and 3Com Corp, a U.S. tech firm, and was once called Huawei-3Com. Hewlett Packard Co acquired the firm in 2010.  

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More News On Los Alomos Removing Chinese Tech because Of National Security Concerns

Huawei gear discovered, removed from U.S. nuclear lab -- ZDNet
Chinese computer parts replaced at U.S. nuke lab -- CBS
A U.S. Nuclear Lab Removed Chinese Tech Due to a National Security Risk -- Gizmodo
US nuclear lab drops China-made tech – report -- Information Age
Los Alamos To Rip Out Chinese Networking Gear For Security Concerns -- CRN  

Update: Spy fears lead nuke lab to dump gear from HP unit, not Huawei -- CNet

15 Potentially Habitable Planets Discovered

Artist’s impression of the view from a moon around planet PH2b 

15 Potentially Habitable Planets Discovered by Amateur Astronomers -- Wired

Volunteers from the Planethunters website have identified 15 new habitable planet candidates among data collected by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft.

One of the 15, a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the solar-type star KIC 12735740, has been officially confirmed as a planet (with 99.9 percent certainty).

Named PH2 b, it is the second confirmed planet to be found by Planethunters.org, part of the Oxford University-led Zooniverse citizen science project that turns raw data over to keen amateur researchers.

The remaining 14 planet candidates are at least 90 percent likely to be planets.

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My Comment: This is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Incredible Image From International Space Station Shows Mount Vesuvius And The Bay Of Naples

(Click on Image to Enlarge) 

Italy's Mount Vesuvius as never seen before, with an new image from NASA, taken from space. The mouth of the active volcano can clearly be seen in the bottom portion of the image 

Astronaut's View Of A Sleeping Giant: Incredible Image From International Space Station Shows Mount Vesuvius And The Bay Of Naples -- Daily Mail 

 NASA has released an incredible image, taken from the International Space Station, giving a new perspective on one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world - Mount Vesuvius in Italy.

The image was taken from the observatory module of the International Space Station (ISS) on New Year's Day.

The image shows just how close the active volvano is to the densely populated city of Naples.

Located 9 kilometres (5.6 miles) east of Naples, the core of the volvano can be seen in the photograph, and resembles a nipple.

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My Comment: Cool.

The Vehicle That You Need To Survive In After The World Ends

Conquest Vehicles  

15 Vehicles That Will Help You Survive After The World Ends -- Business Insider 

By some accounts, the world is going to end on Friday. It's unclear exactly what will go down, but it's not going to be pretty. If you are one of the few to make it to Saturday, staying alive in a post-Apocalyptic world will be tough. To help you prepare, we've put together a list of 15 cars and trucks that will be your best bet for survival. That means fuel-efficiency (as resources will be scarce), no electric cars (since the grid will go down), and no convertibles or motorcycles (they don't offer enough protection).

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My Comment: Taking the bus has clearly not made this list.

Here Comes The Giant 27-Inch ‘Coffee Table PC’

Lenovo 

Lenovo to Release Giant 27-inch ‘Coffee Table PC’ -- Time/AP 

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Dismayed that family members are spread out over the house, each with a separate PC or tablet? Lenovo has something it believes will get them back together: a PC the size of a coffee table that works like a gigantic tablet and lets four people use it at once. Lenovo Group Ltd., one of the world’s largest PC makers, is calling the IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC the first “interpersonal computer” – as opposed to a “personal computer.”

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My Comment: For family games and entertainment .... I can see this being a hit.

A New Way To Look For Signs Of Life In The Cosmos Being Launched By British Astronomers

The night sky above Paranal in Chile, where NGTS will be built. In the foreground is the Very Large Telescope. Photograph: Yuri Beletsky/European Southern Observatory British Astronomers Launch Advanced Planet Search To Look For Signs Of Life -- The Guardian Robotic telescopes in Chile's Atacama desert will conduct Next Generation Transit Survey to analyse atmospheres for clues The art of hunting planets has come so far that astronomers can now list hundreds of alien worlds that orbit stars so faint they are not even visible as pinpricks in the clear night sky. Little is known of these far-flung planets. The most conspicuous are huge, the size of Jupiter, and scorched from circling so close to their suns. Others are giant iceballs, or waterworlds, or even rocky like Earth. But the finer details are a mystery, the stuff of speculation more than science. Read more .... My Comment: This is what I call exciting work.

Smartphone Sales To Hit 1bn A Year

Despite soaring sales of smartphones, research suggests one in five owners will rarely, if ever, use them to access the internet. Photograph: Lee Jae-Won/Reuters 

Smartphone Sales To Hit 1bn A Year For First Time In 2013 -- The Guardian  

Accountant Deloitte predicts the smartphone will become a mass market phenomenon and an everyday object worldwide.

The smartphone is predicted to become a mass market phenomenon this year, with annual shipments soaring to 1bn globally for the first time, although a fifth of the devices will rarely be used to go online.

In 2013 the smartphone will become an everyday object worldwide, according to a study by accountants Deloitte, bringing the number of active phones with either a touch screen or an alphabet keyboard to 2bn by the end of the year.

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My Comment: It's easy to see the day when almost everyone has a smart phone .... and the cost of communicating will be almost free.

Sunsets From Around The World

Palette of purple: From the burning red clouds of the Austrian mountains to the soft-coloured skies of Thailand, these are the sunsets of a lifetime 

Why Sunset Really Is The Most Beautiful Time Of Day: Incredible Images Of Early Evening Light From Across The World -- Daily Mail 

These stunning pictures of sunsets across the globe truly prove the old adage of 'red sky at night, shepherd's delight'.

A selection of breathtaking snaps that have captured scarlet skies, brilliant hues of lavender and rich blue wisps of cloud cannot fail to draw gasps of wonder from everyone who sees them.

The images of the jaw-dropping beauty are the product of a technician who was determined to capture sunsets from across the globe.

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My Comment: The Hawaiian sunset is my favorite.

Japan Bluefin Tuna Sells For $1.76 Million

Japan Bluefin Tuna Sells For Record $1.76 Million -- NBC/AP 

A bluefin tuna sold for a record $1.76 million at a Tokyo auction Saturday, nearly three times the previous high set last year — even as environmentalists warn that stocks of the majestic, speedy fish are being depleted worldwide amid strong demand for sushi.

In the year's first auction at Tokyo's sprawling Tsukiji fish market, the 222-kilogram (489-pound) tuna caught off northeastern Japan sold for 155.4 million yen, said Ryoji Yagi, a market official.

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My Comment: Now that is a big (and expensive) fish.

A 'Flower' On The Surface Of Mars?

Does this image taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager show a "Martian flower?" (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds ‘Flower’ On Surface Of Mars -- The Slide 

NASA has released a series of new photos taken by its Curiosity rover that appear to show a “flower” on the surface of Mars.

NBCNews.com’s photo blog reports that the photos were taken as part of an effort to capture 360-degree images during Curiosity’s trek through Mars’ Yellowknife Bay.

New Jersey-based journalist and photographer Ken Kramer has assembled the Curiosity photographs, adding color to give a realistic view of what the rover is seeing on the planet’s surface.

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My Comment: I doubt that it is a 'flower' .... but it is an interesting geological anomaly.

Astronomers Estimate That at Least 100 Billion Planets Populate the Galaxy

A new analysis of data from NASA's Kepler mission finds evidence for at least 100 billion planets in our galaxy. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) 

Planets Abound: Astronomers Estimate That at Least 100 Billion Planets Populate the Galaxy -- Science Daily 

Look up at the night sky and you'll see stars, sure.

But you're also seeing planets -- billions and billions of them. At least. That's the conclusion of a new study by astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) that provides yet more evidence that planetary systems are the cosmic norm. The team made their estimate while analyzing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32 -- planets that are representative, they say, of the vast majority in the galaxy and thus serve as a perfect case study for understanding how most planets form.

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My Comment: Only a 100 billion?