NASA: Huge Freshwater Loss In the Middle East

NASA: Huge Freshwater Loss In the Middle East: dstates writes with news from NASA about the state of available water in the Middle East. From the NASA article: "'GRACE data show an alarming rate of decrease in total water storage in the Tigris and Euphrates river basins, which currently have the second fastest rate of groundwater storage loss on Earth, after India,' said Jay Famiglietti, principal investigator of the study and a hydrologist and professor at UC Irvine. 'The rate was especially striking after the 2007 drought. Meanwhile, demand for freshwater continues to rise, and the region does not coordinate its water management because of different interpretations of international laws.'" dstates adds: "Water is a huge global security issue. To understand the middle east, you need to understand that the Golan Heights provides a significant amount of the water used in Israel. Focusing on conflicts and politics means that huge volumes of valuable water are being wasted in the Middle East, and this will only exacerbate future conflicts. Water is a serious issue between India and China. And then there is Africa. U.S. food exports are in effect exporting irrigation water drawn from the Ogallala aquifer. Fracking trades water for energy, and lack of water limits fracking in many parts of th world. Think about it."

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LHC's First Act: Higgs Found, Other Weird Physics Still at Large

LHC's First Act: Higgs Found, Other Weird Physics Still at Large: After a spectacular first act, the Large Hadron Collider is taking an intermission break, shutting down on Feb. 11 for two years of construction and upgrades. The biggest discovery thus far has been the Higgs boson but the LHC could have turned up exotic phenomena and new physics. In this gallery, we will take a look at some of these hoped for events and what they might have meant for science had they been found.

Beautiful Supernova Remnant May Contain Galaxy's Youngest Black Hole

Beautiful Supernova Remnant May Contain Galaxy's Youngest Black Hole: The dying pangs of a massive star may have given rise to the galaxy's most recent black hole and produced the first supernova remnant of its kind ever spotted in the Milky Way.

Star Wars: What would hyperspace travel really look like?

Star Wars: What would hyperspace travel really look like?: The sight of the Millennium Falcon making the “jump to lightspeed” is one of the most iconic images from the Star Wars trilogy.

"Red October" Espionage Malware Campaign Uncovered

"Red October" Espionage Malware Campaign Uncovered: L3sPau1 writes "For five years, it hid in the weeds of networks used by Eastern European diplomats, government employees and scientific research organizations, stealing data and infecting more machines in an espionage campaign rivaling Flame and others of its ilk. The campaign, called Rocra or Red October by researchers at Kaspersky Lab, focused not only on workstations, but mobile devices and networking gear to gain a foothold inside strategic organizations. Once inside, attackers pivoted internally and stole everything from files on desktops, smartphones and FTP servers, to email databases using exploits developed in Chinese and Russian malware, Kaspersky researchers said."

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New clean nuclear fusion reactor designed

New clean nuclear fusion reactor designed: Researchers have patented a nuclear fusion reactor by inertial confinement that, apart from be used to generate electric power in plants, can be applied to propel ships. This invention helps solve the problem of contamination risk associated with the generation of nuclear fission power.

Microsoft Patents Tech That Would Silence Your Phone For You

Microsoft Patents Tech That Would Silence Your Phone For You: tsamsoniw writes "Microsoft has filed a patent for a mobile technology called Inconspicuous Mode, aimed at helping you not be 'that guy' who disrupts movies, meals, or meetings with noisy, bright-screened phone alerts. It's a setting that would effectively put your phone in stealth mode when the device sensed it was in a movie theater (thanks to location information) and that the lights had gone down. The idea is, you could still receive alerts if a call or text came in, but no one around you would be disturb by phone sounds or screen flashes."

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Potential harvest of most fish stocks largely unrelated to abundance

Potential harvest of most fish stocks largely unrelated to abundance: Environmental mood swings determine the sustainable yield of most fish populations.

If we go over the fiscal cliff, will people spend or save? Childhood environments may hold the key

If we go over the fiscal cliff, will people spend or save? Childhood environments may hold the key: In the face of hard times, which strategy gives us the best shot at survival: saving for the future or spending resources on immediate gains? The answer may depend on the economic conditions we faced in childhood, according to new research.

Too Funny not to share

Childhood obesity linked to more immediate health problems than previously thought

Childhood obesity linked to more immediate health problems than previously thought: A new study focuses on the immediate consequences of childhood obesity and shows that obese youngsters are at far greater risk than had been supposed.

How tadpoles re-grow their tails: Implications for human healing

How tadpoles re-grow their tails: Implications for human healing: Scientists have made a surprising finding after studying how tadpoles re-grow their tails which could have big implications for research into human healing and regeneration.

Gas that triggers ozone destruction revealed

Gas that triggers ozone destruction revealed: Scientists have made a significant discovery about the cause of the destruction of ozone over oceans.

First cost-benefit analysis of DNA profiling vindicates 'CSI' fans

First cost-benefit analysis of DNA profiling vindicates 'CSI' fans: The first rigorous analysis of the crime-fighting power of DNA profiling finds substantial evidence of its effectiveness.

Microsoft's Future of the Living Room Starring SuperTuxKart

Microsoft's Future of the Living Room Starring SuperTuxKart: New submitter Antoine.Stroll writes "Microsoft's concept of the living room's future doesn't include Master Chief apparently. In fact, it's starring several FOSS games including Red Eclipse and SuperTuxKart (video). Does FOSS just allow more possibilities for research and experimentation? SuperTuxKart had their 0.8 release last month. Go check out the website and download the game that Redmond's researchers couldn't resist. STK gets its Microsoft closeup at 48 seconds into the demonstration." This is the full room projection tech detailed in an earlier story about the patents Microsoft filed relating to it.

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Windows RT Jailbreak Tool Released

Windows RT Jailbreak Tool Released: An anonymous reader writes "Earlier this week, reports surfaced that the Windows RT operating system had been jailbroken to allow for the execution of unsigned ARM desktop applications. Microsoft quickly issued a statement saying it does not consider the findings to be part of a security vulnerability, and applauded the hacker for his ingenuity. Now, a Windows RT jailbreak tool has been released."

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California Decides App Crime Is a Serious Problem

California Decides App Crime Is a Serious Problem: The California attorney general issued guidlines for app makers just as Apple instituted a crackdown of its own.

Clever SMB vid

College CIO Predicts Tablets Will Kill Smart Boards

College CIO Predicts Tablets Will Kill Smart Boards: CowboyRobot writes "Keith Fowlkes (vice chancellor for information technology and CIO at the University of Virginia's College at Wise) has a commentary at Information Week in which he makes the point that moving forward, colleges will be able to dump all the 'smart' classroom tools and devices (e.g. electronic whiteboards, clickers, projection systems, etc.) and will only need to support students' tablets. The reasoning comes down to the return on investment, which is easy to argue for tablets but not for other classroom technologies. Standardization of video across devices remains a problem, as does the issue of where files are stored and how they are shared. But these are solvable problems and we will soon see the day when electronic whiteboards are a distant memory." I think the issue of file storage was solved by openafs a long time ago, certainly at the scale of small University.

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Floppy Bach

Marriage linked to better survival in middle age; Study highlights importance of social ties during midlife

Marriage linked to better survival in middle age; Study highlights importance of social ties during midlife: Could marriage, and associated companionship, be one key to a longer life? According to new research, not having a permanent partner, or spouse, during midlife is linked to a higher risk of premature death during those midlife years.

Motorist Claims Corporation Papers Are Carpool Passengers

Motorist Claims Corporation Papers Are Carpool Passengers: We've heard it countless times from losers of courtroom showdowns who claim they're going to take their defeat all the way to the Supreme Court. But over a traffic citation? Jonathan Frieman, a 56-year-old Northern California man, is joining the ranks of pregnant women who have transformed carpool-lane violations into a soapbox of sorts.