Student finds toilet water cleaner than ice at fast food restaurantsNew Tampa, Florida - 12-year-old Jasmine Roberts is a seventh-grade student at Benito Middle School in New Tampa.
When it came time for her to choose a science project, she wondered about the ice in fast food restaurants.
Jasmine Roberts, 7th-grade student:
"My hypothesis was that the fast food restaurants’ ice would contain more bacteria that the fast food restaurants’ toilet water."
So Roberts set out to test her hypothesis, selec... (more)
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Brightest Galactic Flash Ever Detected Hits EarthA huge explosion halfway across the galaxy packed so much power it briefly altered Earth's upper atmosphere in December, astronomers said Friday.
No known eruption beyond our solar system has ever appeared as bright upon arrival.
But you could not have seen it, unless you can top the X-ray vision of Superman: In gamma rays, the event equaled the brightness of the full Moon's reflected visible light.
The blast originated about 50,000 light-years away a... (more)
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Congress accuses Google of collusion· Internet firms defend China operations
· New taskforce to promote freedom on the web
The giants of the internet were hauled before Congress yesterday, accused of colluding with China's secret police and censors to wield a "cyber sledgehammer of repression".
In a hearing of the House international relations subcommittee, Yahoo!, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Google were repeatedly accused of collusion with an oppressive regime, and of selling o... (more)
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'Super toads' going on a rampageIT HAS invaded the Northern Territory and now the hated cane toad is evolving - growing faster, longer legs as it rampages through the Top End.
Researchers have been studying the toxic pests in the NT, clocking them hopping up to 2km in a single night, or more than 50km a year - five times quicker than their predecessors travelled in the 1940s to 1960s.
MP3: Listen to this story (Powered by Audio Read)
"There is very clear evidence that toads are ... (more)
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RIAA Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair UseIt is no secret that the entertainment oligopolists are not happy about space-shifting and format-shifting. But surely ripping your own CDs to your own iPod passes muster, right? In fact, didn't they admit as much in front of the Supreme Court during the MGM v. Grokster argument last year?
Apparently not.
As part of the on-going DMCA rule-making proceedings, the RIAA and other copyright industry associat... (more)
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The Secret Cause of Flame Wars"Don't work too hard," wrote a colleague in an e-mail today. Was she sincere or sarcastic? I think I know (sarcastic), but I'm probably wrong.
According to recent research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, I've only a 50-50 chance of ascertaining the tone of any e-mail message. The study also shows that people think they've correctly interpreted the tone of e-mails they receive 90 percent of the time.
"That's how flame wars get started,"... (more)
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Pentagon has sights on robot soldiers: Major automated force expected within decadeFebruary 16, 2005 - The U.S. military is working on a new generation of soldiers, far different from the army it has.
"They don't get hungry," said Gordon Johnson of the Pentagon's Joint Forces Command. "They're not afraid. They don't forget their orders. They don't care if the guy next to them has just been shot. Will they do a better job than humans? Yes."
The robot soldier is coming.
The Pentagon predicts that robots will be a major fighting force ... (more)
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DARPA Wants Space, UAV, Urban War IdeasWASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2006 (UPI) -- Concepts for innovative new military technologies spanning space, unmanned vehicles, force protection, and urban warfare are due at the Pentagon next week.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is planning to make a series of small awards -- ranging from $200,000 to $1 million -- up to $8 million for "novel ideas that enhance military effectiveness and particularly that tilt the balance of asymmetric warfare in favor of the U.S."
<... (more)
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How to Kill RFID Tags with a Cell PhoneRadio frequency identification (RFID) tags--tiny wireless circuits that derive their power from radio waves and cost just pennies to make--have quickly found their way into identification badges, shipping containers, even ordinary store products. Because, unlike barcodes, the tags can be read surreptitiously, a number of groups have raised privacy concerns. To address these concerns, leading RFID makers have created so-called "Gen 2" chips that will divulge their data only after a reader transmi... (more)
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'Dark Energy' Might Not Exist Say ScientistsA growing number of researchers claim a mysterious "dark energy," which most cosmologists believe fills space, might not exist.
Instead, they say, the laws of gravity might need some correction.
A supercomputer-produced cross-section of part of the universe shows galaxies as brighter dots along filaments of matter, with a sea of "dark energy" filling in between the galactic islands. But some researchers question whether the dark energy exists. (Credit James Wadsle... (more)
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Air Force Aims for Weather ControlSomeday the U.S. military could drive a trailer to a spot just beyond insurgent fighting and, within minutes, reconfigure part of the atmosphere, blocking an enemy's ability to receive satellite signals, even as U.S. troops are able to see into the area with radar.
"This scenario may not be far away," says Defense Tech pal Sharon Weinberger in this month's edition of the always-excellent ... (more)
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Cyborgs in SofiaIT’S a cold Sunday evening in Sofia. The kind of evening when most people are putting another log on the fire and settling in for a cosy night. But for a handful of people scattered across the world, other plans are afoot.
In the yard of the National Polytechnical Museum, Sofia, a group stands in the snow, gathered around the dying embers of a fire. Protruding from the ashes is a wheel; look closer and you can make out the charred remains of a metal carcass that looks strang... (more)
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Donor breakthrough for cloning researchBRITISH women are to be cleared to donate eggs solely for cloning experiments that promise new therapies for diseases such as Parkinson’s and diabetes, The Times has learnt.
New rules to be approved tomorrow will for the first time allow scientists to recruit donors who are not already having medical treatment, in procedures that carry potential health risks.
The decision by the Government’s fertility watchdog has stirred fresh ethical controversy about ... (more)
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Warning: Toxic chemical triclosan can turn your toothpaste into chloroformFor years, I have warned people of the danger of personal care products. If you look at the ingredients manufacturers put in their products -- soaps, deodorants, toothpastes and so on -- you will be horrified. These ingredients are highly toxic and cause cancer. They promote leukemia, nervous system disorders and liver problems. Now, some new information has come from Virginia Tech. Researchers that have found that the chemical triclosan, which is found in a lot of antimicrobial soaps and toothp... (more)
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Yahoo calls for policy on Web censorship: Portal -- under fire for helping China -- preps for hearingWashington -- Yahoo Inc. responded to the firestorm of criticism it's endured after helping China's government limit free speech by releasing a statement Monday that described the Web portal's belief in openness and the need for an industrywide policy dealing with repressive regimes.
The Sunnyvale company's comments come as it and other major technology companies, including Google, Cisco Systems and Microsoft, prepare to testify before Congress about doing business in China.
... (more)
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Scientists: You Learn Without Knowing ItYou can learn without realizing what your are doing, a new study finds.
The process is similar to how other animals learn, scientists suspect.
"The idea is that humans have a robust capacity for habit learning, independent of conscious memory," said Larry Squire of the University of California, San Diego. "It reminds us of our close connection to animals."
A distinction is made between declarative learning, which involves the memorization of facts an... (more)
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Key to a Good Memory: Predict What You Need to RememberIt's one thing to stuff a lot of facts into your brain. Marking them as important is a whole other talent.
Yet this predictive ability is a key to having a good memory, a new brain-imaging study suggests.
While one part of the brain was very active when study subjects were memorizing something, a separate area lit up when they were predicting if they'd need to recall the information later, the images revealed.
Study skill
Predicting is ... (more)
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America's masterplan is to force GM food on the world: The reason the US took Europe to the WTO court was to prise open lucrative markets elsewhereJust a few years ago, World Trade Organisation officials used to act hurt when described by social activists as irresponsible, secretive bureaucrats who trampled over national sovereignty and placed free trade over the environment or human rights. But that was when the global-trade policeman ruled on disputes that had little bearing on Europeans.
The WTO court's latest ruling will greatly increase the number of people who believe the organisation needs radical reform, if not buria... (more)
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WTO Biotech Ruling Reveals Special Interests, Say CriticsWASHINGTON, Feb 8 (IPS) - A World Trade Organisation decision that called European safety bans on genetically modified food illegal under its global trade rules could usher in a new phase of potentially hazardous "Frankenfoods" worldwide and further erosion of local protections, say environmental and advocacy groups.
The groups urged the European Union to place human health and environmental safety first and continue to resist allowing imports of genetically modified organisms (GM... (more)
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Mind Rewind: Brains Run in ReverseWhen faced with a new learning task, our brains replay events in reverse, much like a video on rewind, a new study suggests.
This type of reverse-replay is also used in artificial intelligence research to help computers make decisions. The finding could explain why we learn tasks more easily if we take frequent study breaks: the pauses between sessions give our brains time to review information.
The finding was detailed in a Feb. 12 online issue of the journal Natur... (more)
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Homeland Security wraps up first mock cyberattackThe government has ended its first large-scale mock cyberattack, aimed at gauging the nation's readiness to handle such threats, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday.
The weeklong exercise, dubbed "Cyber Storm," was organized by the department's National Cyber Security Division and 115 public- and private-sector partners. It was designed to model the coordination among government and industry necessary for responding to and recovering from "large-scale" intrusions affec... (more)
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New Antigravity Solution Could Enable Space Travel Near Speed of LightSAN DIEGO, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, Feb. 14, noted physicist Dr. Franklin Felber will present his new exact solution of Einstein's 90-year-old gravitational field equation to the Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF) in Albuquerque. The solution is the first that accounts for masses moving near the speed of light. Felber's antigravity discovery solves the two greatest engineering challenges to space travel near the speed of light: identifying an energy source c... (more)
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Graf Spee's eagle rises from deepDivers have salvaged a 2m (6ft) bronze imperial eagle from the German World War II battleship Graf Spee that was scuttled in the River Plate.
Three divers had to loosen 145 bolts securing the 300kg (661lb) eagle to the stern of the craft in the muddy waters off Uruguay's capital, Montevideo.
"The eagle is really impressive... it's all virtually intact," said team leader Hector Bado.
The ship was scuttled in December 1939 to stop it falling into enemy ... (more)
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Bomb Buster for Iraq Hits Pentagon SnagWASHINGTON — A new high-tech vehicle that destroys roadside bombs has passed a series of U.S. military tests but has not yet been sent into battle, prompting charges that Pentagon bureaucracy is slowing the effort to protect American troops in Iraq.
Last April, Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of a Pentagon task force in charge of finding ways to combat the makeshift bombs known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, endorsed development of the vehicle, called ... (more)
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Public Citizen Denounces WTO Tribunal Decision on Genetically Modified FoodsUnfortunately, today’s decision by a World Trade Organization (WTO) tribunal in favor of the U.S. challenge against European policies on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is not very surprising given the many outrageous WTO rules limiting how countries can regulate a wide array of non-trade issues, even including what sort of food will be found in people’s homes.
The WTO’s invasion of such a hyper-sensitive, value-laden policy about something as intimate as t... (more)
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Senators Mull an Internet With RestrictionsIt may have been the first and last hearing the US Senate holds on Net neutrality--the principle that Internet users should be able to access any web content or use any applications they choose, without restrictions or limitations imposed by an Internet service provider. In the time it takes to watch Wedding Crashers, nine experts on Tuesday galloped through testimony before a handful of Senate Commerce Committee members in a hearing room packed with telecommunications and cable lobbyists.
... (more)
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