20120202

Seagrass age surprises scientists

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/16811538
10000 years!
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20120131

Skin transformed into brain cells

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/health-16788809

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20120130

Little Ice Age's volcanic origin

That's how we'll fend off the global warming :P we'll inject massive amounts of dust in the stratosphere (or the higher layers of the atmosphere or whatever) and make sure that it'll stay there. ;)

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 1/30/12

The Little Ice Age began in the 1300s due to the cooling effect of massive volcanic eruptions, and was sustained by changes in Arctic ice cover, scientists conclude.

 
 

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20120127

Canada reaches space with Lego

http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/wGkk1Kc3Arc/

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20120126

Chemists create first envelopes for artificial life

http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/ogSKCQ6Q-yI/
Omg, it's alive! Alive!
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20120123

IBM makes 12-atom magnetic memory

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 1/13/12

IBM researchers test the limits of magnetic memory storage by creating a bit made of only 12 atoms.

 
 

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Η ΕΛΣΤΑΤ είναι «ανεξάρτητη και δεν εκτελεί εντολές», αντιδρά η διοίκησή της

I apantisi tis ELSTAT mou thimizi ena poli kalo filo: «ούτε λαμβάνει, ούτε εκτελεί κυβερνητικές εντολές» :D
(o opios kani kati antistixo gia ta anekdota)

 
 

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Με αναφορά στην ανεξαρτησία της ΕΛΣΤΑΤ, βάσει της οποίας η Αρχή «ούτε λαμβάνει, ούτε εκτελεί κυβερνητικές εντολές», απορρίπτει εκ νέου η διοίκησή της τα καταγγελλόμενα στη δικογραφία που διαβιβάστηκε στη Βουλή για τα στοιχεία του ελλείμματος του 2009. Έντονα αντιδρά και ο Γιώργος Παπακωνσταντίνου, υπουργός Οικονομικών την επίμαχη περίοδο, κάνοντας λόγο για «επιχείρηση ποινικοποίησης της αλήθειας», υπογραμμίζοντας πως κατά τη θητεία του στο ΥΠΟΙΚ «σεβάστηκε μέχρι κεραίας» την ανεξαρτησία της ΕΛΣΤΑΤ.

 
 

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Costa Concordia wreck caught in HD photos underwater

 
 

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via SlashGear by Chris Burns on 1/20/12

Last week it was announced and subsequently blasted across the earth that a gigantic cruise ship by the name of Costa Concordia was wrecked off the coast of Isola del Giglio, Italy, missing persons and deaths included – this week explorers are moving through the wreck with a fine toothed comb. What you're going to see are photographs in high definition presented by rescuers who hope to not only get clues as to how the ship was run amid disastrous consequences, but as to where the missing passengers have ended up. There are currently 21 passengers missing at this time of the more than 4,200 that were aboard at the time of the crash.

The Carbinieri scuba divers you see in the photos above and below have been searching for some days now, they being dropped in near the ship to explore its surroundings and innards for information surrounding the crash. This story has gained international attention due to the epic nature of it and, of course, its similarities to the most famous shipwreck of all time: the Titanic. Unlike that deadly wreck, the Concordia here turned on its side and did not fully dip under the icy waves.

The captain of the ship remains in police custody at this time amid allegations that he may have been able to stop the crash from happening but for whatever reason did not. Multiple manslaughter is the crime he's about to be tried for, his sailing too close to shore and abandoning the ship before the rest of the passengers and crew two of the reasons why this man will never again be sailing. You can check out the rest of the HD photos at The Atlantic or head to our additional coverage to get the rest of the story as it unfolds.

[via The Atlantic]


Costa Concordia wreck caught in HD photos underwater is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


 
 

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Startup Combines CPU and DRAM

 
 

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via Slashdot: Hardware by samzenpus on 1/23/12

MojoKid writes "CPU design firm Venray Technology announced a new product design this week that it claims can deliver enormous performance benefits by combining CPU and DRAM on to a single piece of silicon. Venray's TOMI (Thread Optimized Multiprocessor) attempts to redefine the problem by building a very different type of microprocessor. The TOMI Borealis is built using the same transistor structures as conventional DRAM; the chip trades clock speed and performance for ultra-low low leakage. Its design is, by necessity, extremely simple. Not counting the cache, TOMI is a 22,000 transistor design. Instead of surrounding a CPU core with L2 and L3 cache, Venray inserted a CPU core directly into a DRAM design. A TOMI Borealis core connects eight TOMI cores to a 1Gbit DRAM with a total of 16 ICs per 2GB DIMM. This works out to a total of 128 processor cores per DIMM. That said, when your CPU has fewer transistors than an architecture that debuted in 1986, there is a good chance that you left a few things out--like an FPU, branch prediction, pipelining, or any form of speculative execution. Venray may have created a chip with power consumption an order of magnitude lower than anything ARM builds and more memory bandwidth than Intel's highest-end Xeons, but it's an ultra-specialized, ultra-lightweight core that trades 25 years of flexibility and performance for scads of memory bandwidth."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


 
 

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01/18/12 PHD comic: 'Clue'

 
 

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via PHD Comics on 1/21/12

Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham
www.phdcomics.com
Click on the title below to read the comic
title: "Clue" - originally published 1/18/2012

For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!

 
 

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20120120

Cockroach RoboBugs could be coming soon — espionage at its finest

 
 

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via SlashGear by Cory Gunther on 1/13/12

These might not be interstellar cockroaches like we saw on Men in Black but they are what many call RoboBugs, or Cyborg bugs. Since cockroaches are basically indestructible and seem to live forever what better bug to make our robobugs with right? You might not know much about this but scientists have been working on these type of bomb-sniffers, espionage, and search and rescue bugs for long time and might have finally made a break-through.

Case Western Reserve University has recently published some research papers outlining how these electronic sensor packing bugs might soon become a reality. One major issue has always been the power source for something of this caliber being so small. New research has been lightly detailed outlining a new process where researchers can harness power from insects movement, and even from the chemical reaction as they eat.

Chemistry professor Daniel Scherson and his team has found a way to create power from the bugs food intake. Converting food into electrons and then using this for electricity and power the little sensors and everything else. Creepy crawly gross indeed, but cool nevertheless. Previous advances in this unique research has needed movement to create power but being able to use those techniques along with what we are seeing with this report would give our Cyborg bugs and beetles plenty of power.

Obviously these are still from a reality but are definitely a work in progress. All we need now is to figure this technique out, get a few cockroaches and a trail of crumbs and they are good to go.

[via Huffington Post, via Engadget]


Cockroach RoboBugs could be coming soon — espionage at its finest is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


 
 

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SOPA and PIPA delayed indefinitely, Internet Wins

 
 

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via SlashGear by Chris Burns on 1/20/12

In what can only be described as seeming to be a Flawless Victory, not a few hours after Senator Harry Reid announced he'd be delaying the vote on PIPA, representative Lamar Smith, better known now as the sponsor of SOPA, has announced he would delay consideration on that bill as well. Both teams have been pressured by waves of not only internet-based groups during the blackout of major websites earlier this week, but by voters calling in from around the nation this week as a result of it. Both groups have noted their intent to "revisit" how to defeat "foreign thieves" in regards to piracy, but would be stopping votes on their legislature for now.

It's not that these kinds of bills won't ever crop up again, because they certainly will, but it is nice to see that these Senators and representatives can be influenced by the public rather than by those dropping cash on their re-election campaigns. Of course it's not as simple as all that, but there it is – these bills are essentially toast! The next thing that'll happen is they'll be re-written and tried for passage with much less media attention – we can't let that happen. That said, Lamar Smith had the following to say on the subject today:

"I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy. It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products. The Committee will continue work with both copyright owners and Internet companies to develop proposals that combat online piracy and protect America's intellectual property. We welcome input from all organizations and individuals who have an honest difference of opinion about how best to address this widespread problem." – Smith

Certainly that would be a problem if that were the case, mister Smith, but you and I know that this is not why the bill has failed you. Former Senator Chris Dodd, in the wake of this decision and certainly in the wake of yesterday's events with Anonymous, had a bit to say on the subject as well:

"With today's announcement, we hope the dynamics of the conversation can change and become a sincere discussion about how best to protect the millions of American jobs affected by the theft of American intellectual property. It is incumbent that they now sincerely work with all of us to achieve a meaningful solution to this critically important goal." – Dodd

This isn't the last we've heard of this subject, I assure you.

Story Timeline

[via Ars Technica]


SOPA and PIPA delayed indefinitely, Internet Wins is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.



 
 

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Apple is worth more than Greece with $400B market cap

 
 

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via SlashGear by Shane McGlaun on 1/20/12

Apple is certainly one of the biggest tech firms in the world. Apple is riding high on the back of some of the most successful products in the world thanks to the booming popularity of things like the iPad, iPhone, and Mac computers. With the success of the Apple offerings, the company has, or at least had, a giant market cap of $400 billion reports CNN money.

It's hard to wrap your brain around that kind of money, but that makes Apple worth more than the country of Greece. Apple only stayed at $400 billion for a short while yesterday morning before it slipped back to $398 billion market cap. Even at $398 billion, Apple is still the world's most valuable tech firm.

While Apple rode high at $400 billion, it had a market cap higher than the gross domestic product of several countries, including Greece, Austria, Argentina, and South Africa. With Apple worth so much already it's even more impressive that the company just keeps growing. I still wonder whether Apple will continue to be so successful after the sad passing of Steve Jobs.

[via CNN]


Apple is worth more than Greece with $400B market cap is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.



 
 

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20120119

VIDEO: The goats with spider genes added

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16554357

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ASUS: Transformer ICS update in final Google checks

 
 

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via SlashGear by Chris Davies on 1/17/12

ASUS has confirmed that the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the original Eee Pad Transformer is imminent, with Google giving the final package one last glance-over before it can be released. Questioned as to the company's release roadmap on Facebook, ASUS North America described the new ROM as "in the process of being approved by Google."

"Once that is done" the social media team continued, "we will be able to push it out to you guys." ASUS has already begun shipping versions of the newer Transformer Prime running Android 4.0 ICS natively, as well as offering an upgrade for existing Transformer Prime owners to get their Tegra 3 slate up to speed with the new version.

Although the Galaxy Nexus debuted ICS late last year, Android device manufacturers are generally still working on getting their existing range upgraded. So far there's ASUS' Prime that has been modified, but smartphones and other tablets remain works-in-progress. In fact, even new devices running Android 4.0 are thin on the ground; the bulk of the new smartphones announced at CES 2012 last week were still running Gingerbread.

[via Android Community]


ASUS: Transformer ICS update in final Google checks is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


 
 

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The Senator, fifth oldest tree on earth, burns naturally

 
 

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via SlashGear by Chris Burns on 1/17/12

Like the passing of a very, very old uncle after he'd been telling you he didn't have one whole heck of a lot of time left on this earth for so very, very long, the fifth oldest tree on the planet burned from the inside this week, falling not to any sort of arson on the part of a human body, but mother nature herself, deciding it was just time for The Senator to go. This titanically gigantic piece of forest was known as "The Big Tree" or, again, The Senator, and is survived by his wife, "Lady Liberty," a 2,000-year old tree in the same Longwood, Florida park. Though we rarely report on non-gadget news here at SlashGear, there comes a time when we must appreciate how the whole world can connect and respect one of the world's oldest natural living things, all together because of the web we've created. What a lovely thing.

The Senator was more than 3,500 years old when he passed. The bald cypress' death and collapse happened after its hollowed-out center was affected by a "curious confluence of natural events." These events may very well, they said, have been started several weeks ago when a lightening strike hit, it then smoldering until combustion occurred only this week. Another idea is that friction caused by buffeting winds made a tiny spark which then erupted into the flames that swallowed our old friend.

This tree was older than Egypt's Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV,) pre-dated the Trojan War, and popped up right at about the time the Bible says Moses was speaking to the burning bush. Now Longwood's number 1 attraction is no more. All things must pass, and this market that pre-American residents used as a compass, Calvin Coolidge dedicated a bronze plaque to, and Senator Moses Oscar Overstreet donated 11 surrounding acres to the state as parkland for in 1927, is now collapsed. We hope everyone who got the chance to see this 18-foot wide beast remembers him well!

[via The Daily, image from Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/MCT]


The Senator, fifth oldest tree on earth, burns naturally is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


 
 

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Mobile: Intel Will Overtake Qualcomm In Three Years

Interesting article

 
 

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Mobile: Intel Will Overtake Qualcomm In Three YearsWe know Intel hasn't shipped any phones, while Qualcomm had over $4 billion in revenue last quarter. But when you're done reading, you'll agree with us. To do this, we'll perform a magic trick with all three acts, The Pledge, The Turn, and The Prestige.

 
 

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20120118

TI spurs Internet of Things with easy-embed WiFi chip

 
 

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via SlashGear by Chris Davies on 1/18/12

The "Internet of Things" drive, where every electronic device can communicate with each other in a mesh of digital linkery, continues to gather pace, with Texas Instruments unveiling a low-cost embedded WiFi chipset targeting everyday gadgets. The TI SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 is described as a "self-contained 802.11 network processor" that minimizes the effort involved at making consumer, home and office devices internet-aware.

TI's targets include TVs, fridges, HVAC systems, printers, energy meters and more, each of which could be persuaded to share their data in a way that might better allow users to monitor and control how technology plays a role in their lives. Although low-power WiFi chipsets are already available, the CC3000 is appealing because TI has done most of the hardware already: no display for setup is required, it can be integrated "within hours" to existing hardware, has minimal microprocessor demands and needs no specific OS.

As Texas Instruments' video below suggests, everything from bikes to dishwashers and industrial equipment could end up talking to you via your smartphone or tablet, or indeed to each other, using standard WiFi with the promise of whole-house range. It's a gleeful idea for home automation enthusiasts; now we just have to see which vendors pick up TI's chip.

A TI SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 FRAM evaluation module kit is available from today, priced at $199, for those keen to integrate the chipset into their hardware.


TI spurs Internet of Things with easy-embed WiFi chip is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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20120111

Doomsday clock closer to midnight

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-asia-16500567

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20120110

Shadowgun multiplayer demoed on Transformer Prime running Tegra 3

http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/dnU_QFFlvBc/

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