Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Relationships Improve Your Odds of Survival by 50 Percent, Research Finds
(July 27, 2010) — A new Brigham Young University study adds our social relationships to the "short list" of factors that predict a person's odds of living or dying.
School District Drops 'D' Grades
Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday July 28, @12:03PM
from the pass-fail-education dept.
from the pass-fail-education dept.
Students in one New Jersey school district will no longer be able to squeak by in class after the Morris County School Board approved dropping the D grade. Beginning in the fall students who don't get a C or higher will get an F on their report card. "I'm tired of kids coming to school and not learning and getting credit for it," said Superintendent Larrie Reynolds in a Daily Record report.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Australian Cave Offers Klingon Audio Tour
by samzenpus on Tuesday July 27, @09:42AM
from the enjoy-the-tour-you-filthy-targ dept.
from the enjoy-the-tour-you-filthy-targ dept.
schliz writes"An Australian cave system visited by 200,000 tourists a year is expanding its range of audio guides to support Klingon. Cave operators reportedly engaged the services of two 'Klingon scholars' from the US, following Star Trek's naming of a 'Sydney Class' Starship, the USS Jenolan."
How a Key Enzyme Repairs Sun-Damaged DNA
BraveHeart writes"Researchers have long known that mammals, including humans, lack a key enzyme — one possessed by most of the animal kingdom and even plants — that reverses severe sun damage. For the first time, researchers have witnessed how this enzyme works at the atomic level to repair sun-damaged DNA. 'Normal sunscreen lotions convert UV light to heat, or reflect it away from our skin. A sunscreen containing photolyase could potentially heal some of the damage from UV rays that get through.'"
Facing 16 Years In Prison For Videotaping Police
krou sends this snip from the Maine Civil Liberties Union:"The ACLU of Maryland is defending Anthony Graber, who faces as much as sixteen years in prison if found guilty of violating state wiretap laws because he recorded video of an officer drawing a gun during a traffic stop. ... Once [the Maryland State Police] learned of the video on YouTube, Graber's parents' house was raided, searched, and four of his computers were confiscated. Graber was arrested, booked, and jailed. Their actions are a calculated method of intimidation. Another person has since been similarly charged under the same statute. The wiretap law being used to charge Anthony Graber is intended to protect private communication between two parties. According to David Rocah, the ACLU attorney handling Mr. Graber's case, 'To charge Graber with violating the law, you would have to conclude that a police officer on a public road, wearing a badge and a uniform, performing his official duty, pulling someone over, somehow has a right to privacy when it comes to the conversation he has with the motorist.'"
Monday, July 26, 2010
Stop or Speed Through a Yellow Light? That Is the Question
ScienceDaily (June 8, 2010) — Transportation engineering PhD student Zhixia Li was attracted to the University of Cincinnati because of the real-world education and experience the university provides.
Terra-Gen lands major funding, expects to complete America's largest wind farm next year
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 26th 2010 9:46AM
And you thought that 1,000 megawatt wind farm planned for Lake Erie was going to be huge. Terra-Gen Power recently secured a staggering $1.2 billion in construction financing, which it fully intends to use on 3D projectors, PlayStation 3 consoles and parts necessary to build America's largest wind farm. Granted, only one of those points is actually true, but we suspect you're hanging with us. The latest round of cash will help build four wind power projects with a total of 570 megawatts of capacity at the company's Alta Wind Energy Center in Kern County, California. But when you put that with projects already in motion, you're left with a 3,000MW wind power initiative, which should be completed and operational "in the first and second quarters of 2011." So, anyone feeling up to topping this?Why More Education Lowers Dementia Risk
ScienceDaily (July 25, 2010) — A team of researchers from the UK and Finland has discovered why people who stay in education longer have a lower risk of developing dementia -- a question that has puzzled scientists for the past decade.
The Healing Effects of Forests
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2010) — "Many people," says Dr. Eeva Karjalainen, of the Finnish Forest Research Institute, Metla, "feel relaxed and good when they are out in nature. But not many of us know that there is also scientific evidence about the healing effects of nature."
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Brain Scans May Help Guide Career Choice
ScienceDaily (July 21, 2010) — General aptitude tests and specific mental ability tests are important tools for vocational guidance. Researchers are now asking whether performance on such tests is based on differences in brain structure, and if so, can brain scans be helpful in choosing a career? In a first step, researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Research Notes have investigated how well eight tests used in vocational guidance correlate to gray matter in areas throughout the brain.
Google's Free Satnav Outperforms TomTom
Barence writes"A real-world road test of several different satnav systems has found that the free Google Maps Navigation outperformed TomTom's premium GPS unit. PC Pro put the satnavs through four different real-world tests, covering country roads, inner-city traffic and motorway driving. The Google satnav finished the four tests more than half an hour ahead of the top of the range TomTom Go 950 Live. "For those in rural areas or people who spend hours in their car every day, we believe the investment in a dedicated satnav device or software will still pay off," PC Pro concludes. "But for the recreational user, it's amazing what you can get for free.""
World of Warcraft Can Boost Your Career
Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 22, @01:31AM
from the tanking-the-boss dept.
from the tanking-the-boss dept.
Hugh Pickens writes"Forbes reports that although videogames have long been thought of as distractions to work and education rather than aids, there is a growing school of thought that says game-playing in moderation, and in your free time, can make you more successful in your career. 'We're finding that the younger people coming into the teams who have had experience playing online games are the highest-level performers because they are constantly motivated to seek out the next challenge and grab on to performance metrics,' says John Hagel III, co-chairman of a tech-oriented strategy center for Deloitte. Elliot Noss, chief executive of domain name provider Tucows, spends six to seven hours a week playing online games and believes World of Warcraft trains him to become a better leader."
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Now You See It, Now You Don't: An Infrared Invisibility Cloak Made of Glass
ScienceDaily (July 22, 2010) — From Tolkien's ring of power in The Lord of the Rings to Star Trek's Romulans, who could make their warships disappear from view, from Harry Potter's magical cloak to the garment that makes players vanish in the video game classic "Dungeons and Dragons", the power to turn someone or something invisible fascinates humankind. But who ever thought that a scientist at Michigan Technological University would be serious about building a working invisibility cloak?
Unexplained Late-Life Weight Loss May Be Early Predictor Of Alzheimer's Disease
ScienceDaily (June 11, 2007) — New findings show unexplained weight loss that precedes dementia by more than 10 years is associated with the severity of Alzheimer changes in the brain.
Magnesium Supplement Helps Boost Brainpower
ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2010) — New research finds that an increase in brain magnesium improves learning and memory in young and old rats. The study, published in the January 28th issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that increasing magnesium intake may be a valid strategy to enhance cognitive abilities and supports speculation that inadequate levels of magnesium impair cognitive function, leading to faster deterioration of memory in aging humans.
Getting Angry Can Help Negotiations in Some Cultures, Hurt It in Others
ScienceDaily (July 20, 2010) — Getting angry might help you get your way if you're negotiating with European Americans, but watch out – in negotiations with East Asians, getting angry may actually hurt your cause. That's the conclusion of a new study on how people from different cultures react to anger in negotiations.
Researcher will enable hackers to take over millions of home routers
By Sean Hollister posted Jul 21st 2010 6:33AM
BP Caught Photoshopping Disaster Response Photos
Posted by kdawson on Wednesday July 21, @05:14AM
from the at-least-hire-a-decent-graphics-jockey dept.
from the at-least-hire-a-decent-graphics-jockey dept.
An anonymous reader tipped a post up on Americablog revealing that BP Photoshopped a fake photo of their crisis command center and posted it on their main site. The blogger commented, "I guess if you're doing fake crisis response, you might as well fake a photo of the crisis response center." While this story was just being picked up by the Washington Post, an Americablog reader spotted another doctored BP photo on their website, this time of a "top kill" working group. How many others?
Spore-Inspired Action RPG Darkspore Announced
Today Electronic Arts announced Darkspore, an action RPG in development from Maxis that is inspired by Spore's creature creator technology. The game is due to launch in February 2011, and a teaser is available on the official website. A more descriptive video is available from EA's live demo (start at 8:25). Quoting Joystiq:"...Darkspore will let up to three players traverse 'several' planets cooperatively, and while there will be PvP in the finished product, Maxis isn't providing details just yet. The basics will be the same whether going in solo or as a team: You'll be able to choose from a number (again, no specifics yet) of pre-created melee, ranged and support creatures that can have their stats and abilities augmented by equipment. ... When choosing to beam down from your starship to a planet, you will see a lineup of enemy types that you'll encounter. This gives you and your friends enough information to decide which three characters from your collection you'll want to deploy. The trio can then be switched between on the fly, albeit with a brief cool-down period afterward. The idea is to use the characters' various abilities strategically against what the Left 4 Dead-inspired 'AI director' decides to toss your way."
Driverless Cars Begin 8,000-Mile Trek
apoc.famine writes"Driverless technology from the University of Parma's VisLab was deployed in a real-world test on Tuesday. Two driverless chase vehicles will attempt to follow two lead vehicles across multiple continents, from Italy to China, over the course of three months. The journey will cover over 8,000 miles, (~13,000 km) as the chase vehicles use lasers and cameras to navigate hazards along the way. The team expects to collect about 100 TB of data, which requires a hefty electronics and battery load — the scale is such that the cars can only run for about three hours before needing 8 hours to recharge the batteries. This journey is being billed as just a test, and far from a real-world application. The vehicles don't go more than about 35mph, and need a person behind the wheel to take over at a moment's notice. 'What we are trying to do is stress our systems and see if they can work in a real environment, with real weather, real traffic, and crazy people who cross the road in front of you and a vehicle that cuts you off,' said project leader Alberto Broggi. The goal is not to produce just road vehicles, but to improve the technology so it can be used in military and agricultural roles as well. The team hopes to have helped mature the technology within the next 10-20 years to the point that it can be used on the road."
Video Game Legends To Be Inducted Into Hall of Fame
Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday July 21, @01:12AM
from the fierce-competition-between-tetrominoes dept.
from the fierce-competition-between-tetrominoes dept.
killdashnine writes"Last year we discussed the creation of the International Video Game Hall of Fame and Museum in Ottumwa, Iowa, and a first event in 2009 which brought 3,500 people to witness it. Since then, there's been much progress toward creation of the museum, including the upcoming 'Big Bang 2010' exhibition. Their first event kicks off with formal induction ceremonies, tournaments, record-setting attempts, and an array of concerts from 8-bit music to modern rock. This serves as the first official fundraiser for this new non-profit. Iowa is positioning itself as the Video Game Capital of the World. While some sneer and scoff at this, pointing to LA or Seattle as gaming giants and rightful heirs to the title, the real goal is not to glorify software developers but rather to memorialize the 'heroes of video games,' from the iconic Pac Man to pioneers such as Ralph Baer."Here's a list of this year's inductees. Who gets your vote for next year?
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Foreign Accents Make Speakers Seem Less Truthful to Listeners, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (July 19, 2010) — A foreign accent undermines a person's credibility in ways that the speaker and the listener don't consciously realize, new research at the University of Chicago shows.
Brain Training Reverses Age-Related Cognitive Decline
ScienceDaily (July 19, 2010) — Specialized brain training targeted at the regions of a rat's brain that process sound reversed many aspects of normal, age-related cognitive decline and improved the health of the brain cells, according to a new study from researchers at University of California, San Francisco.
Warships May Get Lasers For Close-In Defense
King Louie writes"Raytheon and the US Navy have successfully tested a ship-borne laser capable of shooting down aircraft. Video at the link shows the 32-megawatt solid-state laser shooting down an unmanned aerial vehicle. The technology is apparently mature enough to be deployed as part of ships' short-range missile defenses, a role currently filled by the Basic Point Defense Missile System (based on the Sea Sparrow missile) and the Close-In Weapons System (based on a 20mm Gatling gun)."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)