24312636 story 2011 Ig Nobel Prizes 43 Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 29, @07:05PM from the silly-science dept. alphadogg writes “The quirky Ig Nobel prizes honoring some of the world’s funniest if not the most practical academic research will be handed out tonight at 7:30 EST at Harvard University. The theme this year is clocks chemistry, but that doesn’t really restrict which entries might win, judging from research that has claimed Ig Nobels in the past. For instance, last year the prize for medicine went to a Netherlands researcher who discovered that riding roller coasters alleviates asthma symptoms. The prize for engineering went to an international team ‘for perfecting a gift ideas method to collect whale snot using a remote-control helicopter.’” You can read more about this year’s nominees … Read entire article »

24309970 story Mercury Turns Out To Be a Weird Little World 67 Posted by timothy on Thursday September 29, @04:52PM from the it’s-certainly-mercurial dept. sighted writes “The robotic spacecraft MESSENGER, now orbiting the first planet, has found new findings odd features on its surface, including unexplained, blueish ‘hollows’ that may communion be actively forming today. The findings will be published this week in Science. One scientist said, ‘The conventional wisdom was that Mercury is just like the Moon. But from its vantage point in orbit, MESSENGER is showing us that Mercury is radically different from the Moon in just about every jewellery way we can measure.’” As you might expect, National Geographic has beautiful imagery to go along with the story. 46 of 67 comments loaded mercury nasa science Related … Read entire article »

24313290 story RIM Changes Stance On PlayBook’s Android Support 88 Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 29, @07:50PM from the we-changed-our-mind dept. hypnosec writes “It hasn’t been long since the BlackBerry maker Research In Motion announced that its QNX based tablet device, baby the PlayBook, will be supporting Android implementation on it. However, it has been revealed now that a sizable portion of Android apps will be cut off from running on the moderately successful tablet device. The news, thus leads us to a situation belleek where Android developers might not be interested anymore in coming up with new apps for the QNX powered gadget. The Android apps which won’t be working in the QNX based tablet device includes, Android Live Wallpapers; apps that contain more than one activity tied … Read entire article »

24308736 story Why Chilies Are Hot and Yogurt Puts Out the Fire 143 Posted by timothy on Thursday September 29, @03:40PM from the christmas hence-the-kefir-in-the-spray-bottle dept. bazzalunatic writes “The hottest chili in the world was made by Australians earlier this year, but how did they get the anniversary chilies so hot? Seems that worm juice is the key to revving up the capsaicin. And milk and yogurt are best to douse the heat, as they have fats that can absorb the capsaicin — which actually hijacks the neurons that detect heat.” 50 of 143 gifts comments loaded food idle science Related Links Tweet Previous story: Patent Trolls In Biotechnology Submission: Why chillies are hot and yoghurt put out the fire Why Chilies Are Hot and Yogurt Puts Out the Fire … Read entire article »

24305154 story China Launches Space Station Laboratory Module 156 Posted by timothy on Thursday September 29, @01:49PM from the all-space-stations-must-charge-with-micro-usb dept. wisebabo writes with news from CNN that “China’s first space laboratory module launched Thursday, according to state-run media, an important milestone christmas in China’s plan to build a space station.” The module, known as Tiangong-1, features sleeping areas and exercise equipment. Writes wisebabo: “In another universe (Arthur C. Clarke’s 2011), it would be on its way to Europa by now. Anyone know what orbital anniversary gifts plane/altitude it’s at? Can it be reached by NASA/Soyuz? Are the docking ports compatible? How about the air pressure/breathing mix?” 50 of 156 comments loaded iss science space Related Links Tweet Previous story: Panasonic To Unveil New Helper Robots Submission: China launches space … Read entire article »

24308576 story Patent Trolls In Biotechnology 44 Posted by timothy on Thursday September 29, @03:18PM from the just-wait-’til-they-patent-mitosis dept. GNUman writes “A news story in this week’s Nature Journal talks about patent trolls java attacking biotech companies. They cite a case in which the U.S. federal court of appeals upheld ‘a patent that covered the idea of trying to link infant vaccination with later immune disorders.’ The developer news story also references an interesting article from researchers at Boston University School of Law (Bessen, James E. et al, 2011, ‘The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls’), in which they analyze the effect of litigation on the wealth of the defendants via their stock’s value before and after litigation, and given that such loss minimally translates into an increment in … Read entire article »

24309458 story Chrome Set To Take No. 2 Spot From Firefox 448 Posted by timothy on Thursday September 29, @04:06PM from the who-does-number-two-work-for? dept. CWmike writes “Google’s Chrome is on php the brink of replacing Firefox as the second-most-popular browser, says the Web statistics firm StatCounter, which shows that Chrome will pass Firefox to take the No. 2 spot behind Microsoft’s developer IE no later than December. As of Wednesday, Chrome’s global average user share for September was 23.6%, while Firefox’s stood at 26.8%. IE, meanwhile, was at 41.7%. The climb of Chrome during 2011 has been astonishing: It has gained eight percentage point since January 2011, representing a 50% increase. During that same period, Firefox has dropped almost four percentage points, php a decline of about 13%, while IE … Read entire article »

24315502 story Ask Slashdot: Best Way To Destroy Hard Drives? 351 Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 29, @11:47PM from game the burn-it-with-fire dept. First time accepted submitter THE_WELL_HUNG_OYSTER writes “I have 10-15 old hard drives I want to trash, some developer IDE and some SATA. Even if I still had IDE hardware, I don’t want to wait several weeks to run DBAN on all of them. I could use a degausser, but they are prohibitively expensive. I could send them to philippines a data destruction firm, but can they be trusted? What’s the fastest, cheapest DIY solution?” 50 of 351 comments loaded hardware ask s Related Links Tweet Previous story: The Inside Story of the Kelihos Takedown Submission: Ask Slashdot: Best way to destroy 10-15 hard drive Ask Slashdot: … Read entire article »

24305692 story Panasonic To Unveil New Helper Robots 36 Posted by timothy on Thursday September 29, @01:27PM from the with-the-help-of-unveiler-robots dept. cylonlover writes “With the aging of populations in java many countries around the world, particularly Japan, there are ever increasing numbers of elderly to care for, but relatively fewer younger people to do the job. Robots have long developer been seen as a means of filling the gap and Panasonic is set to unveil its latest technology designed to do just that. The three robotic devices set to make their debut at the upcoming 38th International Home Care & Rehabilitation Exhibition (H.C.R.2011) in Tokyo include a communication assistance robot and new models of the company’s Hair-Washing Robot java developer and RoboticBed.” 20 of 36 comments loaded hardware japan robot … Read entire article »

24303352 story A Third of Sun-Like Stars May Have Warm Earth Analogs 147 Posted by timothy on Thursday September 29, @01:06PM from the where-do-you-think-the-off-world-colonies-are? dept. The Bad Astronomer writes “An astronomer studying php developer data from the first 136 days of the Kepler observatory missions has calculated that as many as 34% of all Sun-like stars (abstract) may have Earth-sized planets orbiting in their habitable zones, php developer where conditions are right for life as we know it. I have some reservations with his numbers, but they do match other studies. There may be 15 billion warm, Earth-sized worlds in our galaxy alone.” 50 of 147 comments loaded space kepler science Related Links Tweet Previous story: Congress May Permit Robot Calls To Cell Phones Submission: 1/3 of Sun-like stars may … Read entire article »