Calling Chicken Little: Clouds Getting Lower

Calling Chicken Little: Clouds Getting Lower: Chicken Licken was right, the sky really is falling. NASA satellite data has shown that the Earth's cloud tops have been lowering over the last decade.

Whitman expects HP Windows 8 Intel tablet this year

Whitman expects HP Windows 8 Intel tablet this year:

Looks like old Fujitsu isn't the only PC-maker looking to get into the Windows 8 tablet business before year's end. Addressing a conference in Northern California, HP CEO Meg Whitman let it be known that her company plans on pushing out an Intel-packing tablet running the new Microsoft operating system in 2012. How about a dual-boot webOS system, Meg? We can dream, can't we?

Whitman expects HP Windows 8 Intel tablet this year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Real Fish Welcome Robotic Overlord Into Their School

Real Fish Welcome Robotic Overlord Into Their School: A robotic fish has sailed across an aquatic uncanny valley by tricking real fish into following it upstream.

World of Warcraft boosts cognitive functioning in older adults

World of Warcraft boosts cognitive functioning in older adults: For some older adults, the online video game World of Warcraft (WoW) may provide more than an opportunity for escapist adventure. Researchers have found that playing WoW boosted cognitive functioning for older adults – particularly those who had scored poorly on cognitive ability tests before playing the game.

Earliest horses show past global warming affected body size of mammals

Earliest horses show past global warming affected body size of mammals: As scientists continue developing climate change projection models, paleontologists studying an extreme short-term global warming event have discovered direct evidence about how mammals respond to rising temperatures. Researchers have now found a correlation between temperature and body size in mammals by following the evolution of the earliest horses about 56 million years ago: As temperatures increased, their body size decreased.

Girls' verbal skills make them better at arithmetic, study finds

Girls' verbal skills make them better at arithmetic, study finds: While boys generally do better than girls in science and math, some studies have found that girls do better in arithmetic. A new study finds that the advantage comes from girls' superior verbal skills.

Replacing electricity with light: First physical 'metatronic' circuit created

Replacing electricity with light: First physical 'metatronic' circuit created: The technological world of the 21st century owes a tremendous amount to advances in electrical engineering, specifically, the ability to finely control the flow of electrical charges using increasingly small and complicated circuits. And while those electrical advances continue to race ahead, researchers are pushing circuitry forward in a different way, by replacing electricity with light.

Blood mystery solved: Two new blood types identified

Blood mystery solved: Two new blood types identified: You probably know your blood type: A, B, AB or O. You may even know if you're Rhesus positive or negative. But how about the Langereis blood type? Or the Junior blood type? Positive or negative? Most people have never even heard of these. Yet this knowledge could be "a matter of life and death." While blood transfusion problems due to Langereis and Junior blood types are rare worldwide, several ethnic populations are at risk.

Funny From my bro

U.S. Navy Receives First Industry Built Railgun Prototype

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday February 08, @10:58AM 

from the killing-pirates-with-magnets dept.

Zothecula writes"Two years after BAE Systems was awarded a US$21 million contract from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop an advanced Electromagnetic Railgun for the U.S. Navy, the company hasdelivered the first industry-built prototype demonstrator to the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren. The prototype launcher is now being prepared for testing which is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks."

New Technique Promises Much Faster Hard Drive Write Speeds

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday February 08, @09:37AM 

from the sharks-in-my-drives dept.

MrSeb writes"Hold onto your hats: Scientists at the University of York, England have completely rewritten the rules of magnetic storage (abstract; full paper paywalled). Instead of switching a magnetic region using a magnetic field (like a hard drive head), the researchers have managed to switch a ferrimagnetic nanoisland using a 60-femtosecond laser. Storing magnetic data using lasers is up to 1,000 times faster than writing to a conventional hard drive (we're talking about gigabytes or terabytes per second) — and the ferrimagnetic nanoislands that store the data are capable of storage densities that are some 15 times greater than existing hard drive platters. Unfortunately the York scientists only detailed writing data with lasers; there's no word on how to read it."

DC man’s ‘NO TAGS’ vanity plate earns him $20,000 in tickets

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Washington, D.C. driver Danny White thought he had a really good idea for a joke. But the joke's on him--to the tune of $20,000, reports local affiliate NBC4.
White's prank started 25 years ago when he got a vanity license plate reading, "NO TAGS." He told NBC4 that he was "Just having fun!" and that "D.C. don't get the joke. They don't get it."
The issue? Each time a car without proper identification is cited for a violation, a DMV employee enters "NO TAGS" into their paperwork. Because White's vanity plate is registered with the District of Columbia's DMV, his name and vehicle appear in the computer's system whenever a "NO TAGS" violation is entered. Notices for the fines are then mailed to White's residence.
Vanity tags have a long history of causing trouble for the DMV and other motorists; White is hardly alone in becoming a target for bad ticket karma. In 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported on California driver Nick Vautier, who got into trouble over his personalized license plate, which simply contained his initials, "NV." Unfortunately for Vautier, "NV" is also the California DMV's code for when a vehicle's plates are "Not Visible."
"I started to get random parking tickets from Los Angeles, where my car has never been," Vautier told the LAT. "For every type of car. Except a Mazda. Which is what I drive."
Vautier eventually gave up his vanity plate, which White refuses to do.
White himself drives a Chevrolet Avalanche truck. So, when a ticket arrives at his home citing a non-Chevy vehicle, he doesn't have much trouble getting those dismissed. But White isn't always so lucky when he does get a copy of a ticket meant for someone else's Chevy.
"I've got enough tickets here to plaster my whole car," he told NBC4. "It had to be $20,000 in tickets. Over $20,000."
White says he has to take time off from work every few months to have the tickets dismissed. And yet he still refuses to give up the vanity plate, even though the backlog of other people's tickets prevent him from renewing his license or registration.

(NBC4/nbcwashington.com)After hearing about White's story, NBC4 launched an investigation with the Washington, D.C. DMV. And while the DMV has yet to "fix" the problem, DMV Director Lucinda Babers told the station that she's considering simply revoking White's vanity tags, along with other "confusing" plates, to avoid any future mishaps.
In the meantime, Babers said ticket writers must collect the last six digits of a vehicle's VIN instead of "NO TAGS."
Other popular Yahoo! News stories:
• Secret $1 million gold stash discovered in French rafters
• CNN producer third person this year to win Georgia lottery for second time
• A Houdini escape: driver survives a 20-ton boulder dropping on car 

How fast you walk and your grip in middle age may predict dementia, stroke risk

How fast you walk and your grip in middle age may predict dementia, stroke risk: Simple tests such as walking speed and hand grip strength may help doctors determine how likely it is a middle-aged person will develop dementia or stroke.

Microsoft's Killer Tablet Opportunity

Microsoft's Killer Tablet Opportunity:

snydeq writes "Advice Line's Bob Lewis sees ripe opportunity for Microsoft in the tablet market: Forget about outdoing Apple's iPad and give us the features that finally improve the way we work. 'The game isn't beating Apple at its own game. The magic buzzword is to "differentiate" and show what your technology will do that Apple won't even care about, let alone beat you at. One possible answer: Help individual employees be more effective at their jobs,' Lewis writes, outlining four business features to target, not the least of which would be to provide UI variance, enabling serious tablet users to expose the OS complexity necessary to do real work."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

YouTube's Nerdy Fiddlers Strike a Chord With Geeks

YouTube's Nerdy Fiddlers Strike a Chord With Geeks:

Why People Don't Live Past 114

Why People Don't Live Past 114:

kkleiner writes "Average life expectancy has nearly doubled in developed countries over the 20th century. But a puzzling part to the equation has emerged. While humans are in fact living longer lives on average, the oldest age that the oldest people reach seems to be stubbornly and oddly precisely cemented right at 114. What will it take for humans to live beyond this limit?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New theory of moral behavior may explain recent ethical lapses in banking industry

New theory of moral behavior may explain recent ethical lapses in banking industry: Why do some people behave morally while others do not? Sociologists have developed a theory of the moral self that may help explain the ethical lapses in the banking, investment and mortgage-lending industries that nearly ruined the U.S. economy.

Did Anonymous Take Down CIA.gov?

Did Anonymous Take Down CIA.gov?:

jfruh writes "The CIA's website has been down intermittently since Friday, apparently the victim of a DDOS attack. One of the more interesting questions of the story is whether elements of Anonymous are behind this — a question that even prominent members of the Anonymous movement can't seem to answer with any certainty. Perhaps this is obvious, but it seems that an anarchic, leaderless grouping can be hard to keep tabs on."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Fragmented sleep, fragmented mind: A new theory of sleep disruption and dissociation

Fragmented sleep, fragmented mind: A new theory of sleep disruption and dissociation: Scientific research has shed new light on dissociative symptoms and dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder. This condition seems to arise most often when a vulnerable person meets a therapist with a suggestive line of questioning or encounters sensationalized media portrayals of dissociation. Research shows that people with rich fantasy lives may be especially susceptible to such influences.

Chinese Hackers Had Unfettered Access To Nortel Networks For a Decade

Chinese Hackers Had Unfettered Access To Nortel Networks For a Decade:

An anonymous reader sends this quote from CBC News:
"Hackers based in China enjoyed widespread access to Nortel's computer network for nearly a decade, according to ... Brian Shields, a former Nortel employee who launched an internal investigation of the attacks, the Wall Street Journal reports [from behind a paywall]. ... Over the years, the hackers downloaded business plans, research and development reports, employee emails and other documents. According to the internal report, Nortel 'did nothing from a security standpoint' about the attacks."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Dilbert being Awesome

Best Practice: Travel Light To China

Best Practice: Travel Light To China:

Hugh Pickens writes "What may once have sounded like the behavior of a raving paranoid is now considered standard operating procedure for officials at American government agencies, research groups and companies as the NY Times reports how businesses sending representatives to China give them a loaner laptop and cellphone that they wipe clean before they leave and wipe again when they return. 'If a company has significant intellectual property that the Chinese and Russians are interested in, and you go over there with mobile devices, your devices will get penetrated,' says Joel F. Brenner, formerly the top counterintelligence official in the office of the director of national intelligence. The scope of the problem is illustrated by an incident at the United States Chamber of Commerce in 2010 when the chamber learned that servers in China were stealing information from four of its Asia policy experts who frequently visited China. After their trips, even the office printer and a thermostat in one of the chamber's corporate offices were communicating with an internet address in China. The chamber did not disclose how hackers had infiltrated its systems, but its first step after the attack was to bar employees from taking devices with them 'to certain countries,' notably China. 'Everybody knows that if you are doing business in China, in the 21st century, you don't bring anything with you,' says Jacob Olcott, a cybersecurity expert at Good Harbor Consulting. 'That's "Business 101" — at least it should be.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Seniors show greater life satisfaction than young people, study suggests

Seniors show greater life satisfaction than young people, study suggests: Healthy older adults reported less negative thinking compared to other age groups, leading to greater life satisfaction in seniors. The study examined the complex relationship between aging and factors leading to depression. Research suggests differences in the way age groups think can influence the onset of depression. Sufferers of negative thinking, or brooding, tend to fixate on their problems and feelings without taking action, which can intensify depressive moods and lead to the onset of depression.

Dilbert

Overeating may double risk of memory loss

Overeating may double risk of memory loss: New research suggests that consuming between 2,100 and 6,000 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), among people age 70 and older. MCI is the stage between normal memory loss that comes with aging and early Alzheimer’s disease.