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+-   Internet routing blasts into space -> on Monday November 23, @04:55PM coondoggie

Submitted by coondoggie on Monday November 23, @04:55PM
space
coondoggie writes "A radiation-proof Cisco router was sent into space today aboard an Intelsat satellite with the goal to set up military communications from space.

The router/satellite combo are a key part of the US Department of Defense's Internet Routing In Space (IRIS) project, which aims to route IP voice, video and data traffic between satellites in space in much the same way packets are moved on the ground, reducing delays, saving on capacity and offering greater network flexibility, Cisco stated.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/48399"
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+-   LHC has first collisions after years of waiting-> on Monday November 23, @03:52PM Anonymous Coward

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 23, @03:52PM
science
An anonymous reader writes "Only after four days from first attempt to send a particle beam all around the LHC circle have we arrived at the point that today all four experiments got their first real collisions from the machine. This was met by celebrations and champagne as people have been waiting years and years for this moment. It is a statement to the engineering of the machine that collisions were reached already few days after restart and the LHC has already demonstrated ca 10h stable beams and now also stable beams in both directions at the same time. In the coming weeks we now have just to wait for increased intensity and first attempts to acceleration."
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+-   Laser’s stellar jet replicates star behavio-> on Monday November 23, @02:59PM futurity.org

Submitted by futurity.org on Monday November 23, @02:59PM
space
futurity.org writes "The University of Rochester's Omega Laser, a multi-trillion-watt laser, reproduced the way a stellar jet behaves when it slams into giant clouds of dust and gas that exist where stars are born. Stellar jets form when magnetic fields around a newly born star force matter to shoot from the star’s poles at hundreds of miles per second.
'The Omega laser let us create a tiny artificial jet and blast it into a foam cloud to see what happens. The results gave us new insights into what happens in nature on scales a trillion trillion times larger,' says Rochester's Adam Frank.
Researchers from the University of Rochester and Rice University fired the Omega Laser at a marble-sized piece of titanium. The laser almost instantaneously heated the titanium into a plasma (which acts like a stellar jet) and propelled it toward a sphere of plastic embedded in foam (which acts like interstellar gas).
'The deflection and splatter we saw in the experiments showed us key features of how real astrophysical jets will respond in complicated environments,' says Frank."
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+-   Beyond DNA: understanding histone code-> on Monday November 23, @02:43PM futurity.org

Submitted by futurity.org on Monday November 23, @02:43PM
medicine
futurity.org writes "A Princeton University team has engineered a faster, more accurate method for analyzing histones, enigmatic proteins that influence almost every aspect of how cells and tissues function. The approach offers a long-sought tool for studying stem cells, cancer, and other critical areas of biology and medicine.
Despite rapid progress in understanding the information encoded in DNA and genes, scientists have achieved much less insight into the so-called “histone code,” which determines why a gene in one cell functions differently than the same gene in another cell. The new technique reduces by a factor of 100 the time it takes to analyze histones, while requiring far less sample material and achieving much more nuanced results than existing methods. Understanding histones could revolutionize modern medicine as we know it.
From futurity.org"
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+-   Earth Started Out Cooler Than We Though-> on Monday November 23, @02:20PM futurity.org

Submitted by futurity.org on Monday November 23, @02:20PM
earth
futurity.org writes "3.4 Billion years ago, life started on Earth.
'Our research shows that the water temperature 3.4 billion years ago was at most 105 degrees, and while that's potentially very warm, it's far below the temperatures of 155 degrees or more that previous research has implied,' explains Mike Tice, a researcher in the department of geology and geophysics at Texas A&M University who specializes in geobiology.
It's as if Yellowstone National Park covered the entire globe.
The conclusion came from 3.4 billion year old microbes and bacteria in rocks from the Buck Reef Chert in South Africa that indicate water temperatures significantly lower than previous studies had suggested."
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+-   Trauma Patients More Likely to Die if Uninsured on Sunday November 22, @08:44AM Hugh Pickens

Submitted by Hugh Pickens on Sunday November 22, @08:44AM
medicine
Hugh Pickens writes "The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, passed by Congress in 1986, guarantees that people brought to emergency rooms get all necessary treatment no matter what kind of insurance they do — or don't — have but the LA Times reports that an analysis of 687,091 patients admitted for traumatic injury to more than 900 US trauma centers between 2002 and 2006 shows that for Americans without health insurance the risk of dying from traumatic injuries is almost twice as high for those without any insurance even after controlling for age, sex, race and severity and mechanism of injury. Dr. Frank Zwemer Jr., chief of emergency medicine for the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Va., says he was "kind of shocked" by the study. "We don't ask people, 'What's your insurance?' before we decide whether to intubate them or put in a chest tube," says Zwemer, who wasn't involved in the research. "That's not on our radar anywhere." Lack of insurance may increase the risk of death after trauma in several ways, the authors note. Uninsured patients may experience treatment delay; receive different care, including fewer diagnostic tests; or possess a lower rate of health literacy. "Physicians may not be cognizant that they are providing different care to the uninsured," write the study's authors. "Although the lack of insurance may not be the only explanation for the disparity in trauma mortality, the accidental costs of being uninsured in the United States today may be too high to continue to overlook.""
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+-   World on course for catastrophic 6C rise-> on Saturday November 21, @08:07AM jamie

Submitted by jamie on Saturday November 21, @08:07AM
science
jamie writes "The world is now firmly on course for the worst-case scenario in terms of climate change, with average global temperatures rising by up to 6C by the end of the century, leading scientists said yesterday. Such a rise — which would be much higher nearer the poles — would have cataclysmic and irreversible consequences for the Earth, making large parts of the planet uninhabitable and threatening the basis of human civilisation."
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+-   WHO Says Swine Flu May Have Peaked in US on Friday November 20, @06:54PM Hugh Pickens

Submitted by Hugh Pickens on Friday November 20, @06:54PM
medicine
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that the World Health Organization (WHO) says that there were “early signs of a peak” in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, including the United States while the American College Health Association, which surveys more than 250 colleges with more than three million students, said new cases of flu had dropped 27 percent in the week ending November 13 from the week before, the first drop since school resumed in the fall. Nonetheless, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the director of vaccination and respiratory disease at the CDC, chose her words carefully. "We are in better shape today than we were a couple of weeks ago," Schuchat says. “I wish I knew if we had hit the peak. Even if a peak has occurred, half the people who are going to get sick haven’t gotten sick yet." Privately, federal health officials say they fear that, if they concede the flu has peaked, Americans will become complacent and lose interest in getting vaccinated, increasing the chances of another wave. However Dr. Lone Simonsen, a former CDC epidemiologist, says she expects a third wave in December or January, possibly beginning in the South again. Based on death rates in New York City and in Scandinavia, Simonsen argues that both 1918 and 1957 had mild spring waves followed by two stronger waves, one in fall and one in midwinter adding that in the pandemic of 1889, the bulk of the deaths occurred in the third wave. “If people think it’s going away, they can think again,” Dr. Simonsen says."
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Comments: 2 +-   IP Rights to Smoking Vaccine Licensed-> on Friday November 20, @12:00PM eldavojohn

Submitted by eldavojohn on Friday November 20, @12:00PM
biotech
eldavojohn writes "Back in 2003 we discussed a vaccine for smoking and it looks like the finishing touches have been put on a deal that will go into effect once phase III testing of a drug called NicVAX is completed. NicVAX is developed by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (who licensed it to GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals) and is expected to successfully complete phase III testing. Others have fallen short of this goal and a report claimed that the smoking cessation market is expected to hit $4.6 billion worldwide by 2016. Nabi has also sold experimental vaccines for staph infections and in 2008 we discussed news of a cocaine vaccine."
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Comments: 5 +-   The Climatic Research Unit hacked, files leaked-> on Friday November 20, @11:53AM huckamania

Submitted by huckamania on Friday November 20, @11:53AM
science
huckamania writes "The Climatic Research Unit is widely recognised as one of the world's leading institutions concerned with the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change. Consisting of a staff of around thirty research scientists and students, the Unit has developed a number of the data sets widely used in climate research, including the global temperature record used to monitor the state of the climate system, as well as statistical software packages and climate models.

An unknown person put postings on some climate skeptic websites that advertised an FTP file on a Russian FTP server, here is the message that was placed on the Air Vent today:

"We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code, and documents"

The file was large, about 61 megabytes, containing hundreds of files. It contained data, code, and emails apparently from the CRU. If proved legitimate, these bombshells could spell trouble for the AGW crowd.

Discussion and analysis of the leaked items can be found at http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/19/breaking-news-story-hadley-cru-has-apparently-been-hacked-hundreds-of-files-released/#more-12937. The BBC is also reporting but with few details http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8370282.stm."
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+-   Light resonators used to move nano-sized objects-> on Friday November 20, @08:28AM ElectricSteve

Submitted by ElectricSteve on Friday November 20, @08:28AM
science
ElectricSteve writes "Scientists at Cornell University report they can now use a light beam carrying a single milliwatt of power to move objects and even change the optical properties of silicon from opaque to transparent at the nanometric scale."
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+-   Japanese researchers use genetics to detect cancer-> on Friday November 20, @02:19AM JoshuaInNippon

Submitted by JoshuaInNippon on Friday November 20, @02:19AM
medicine
JoshuaInNippon writes "Japanese researchers at Kanazawa University announced on Nov. 19th that they have discovered a way to detect cancer in the digestive system using a simple and relatively cheap blood test with a 90 percent accuracy rate. The test is apparently done by analyzing RNA and looking for abnormalities in more than 800 specific genes believed to be caused by the presence of cancer. Previous tests for stomach, colon, pancreas, and other such cancers, have only yielded accuracy rates of less than 30 percent. The lead researcher has started a venture company, and hopes to have the test in hospitals in Japan as early as the end of next year. One can only wonder when all forms of cancer will be easily detectable at early stages with such simple and (relatively) pain free testing."
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+-   Dark Energy, Life Searches Make Strange Bedfellows-> on Thursday November 19, @04:53PM eldavojohn

Submitted by eldavojohn on Thursday November 19, @04:53PM
space
eldavojohn writes "Both the EU and US are using a strategy to merge what used to be two separate searches: the search for exoplanets that may harbor life and the search for dark energy. In an effort to develop 'robust, low-risk missions that maximize the scientific return,' the article analyzes how without any changes a space based dark energy telescope could also check for microlensing events indicating an exoplanet."
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+-   Skin-based LEDs offer medical read-outs-> on Thursday November 19, @04:51AM destinyland

Submitted by destinyland on Thursday November 19, @04:51AM
biotech
destinyland writes "Researchers at three universities are combining efforts on super-thin silicon transistors that can be embedded in your skin. Their LEDs can act as in-body tattoos that display blood-sugar readings, and other possible medical applications include deep-brain stimulation for Parkinson's patients and possibly even interfacing with the nervous system. But this article also suggests non-medical applications, including "Animated and programmable LED tattoos connected to your brain... You could show off your latest Flash animations, watch TV on your arm, or have a built-in PDA screen.""
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+-   Spaceworms to help Study Astronaut Muscle Loss on Wednesday November 18, @11:46PM Hugh Pickens

Submitted by Hugh Pickens on Wednesday November 18, @11:46PM
biotech
Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that 4,000 microscopic worms were onboard Space Shuttle Atlantis when it launched today. Their mission — to help experts in human physiology understand more about what triggers the body to build and lose muscle. The worms are bound for the Japanese Experiment Module ''Kibo'' on the International Space Station (ISS) where they will experience the same weightless conditions which can cause dramatic muscle loss, one of the major health concerns for astronauts. ''If we can identify what causes the body to react in certain ways in space we establish new pathways for research back on earth," says Dr Nathaniel Szewczyk. The worms, Caenorhabditis elegans, have been carefully selected and brought to a dormant state for the journey, traveling in special cell culture bags. Once in space they will be brought back from their dormant state with the release of food, exposed to conditions in space for four days and then frozen in preparation for the return journey. The effect of this journey on their muscle mass will be investigated once the worms are returned to earth. "Some of our worms will be treated with RNAi against specific proteases to see if we can stop muscle protein degradation in space," adds Szewczyk. ''The CERISE payload is an important space medicine experiment as it will establish if RNAi, which was the subject of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine, is a viable technique for altering the biological response to space flight."
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+-   Meteor explosion lights up sky over Utah-> on Wednesday November 18, @07:51PM skulluminati

Submitted by skulluminati on Wednesday November 18, @07:51PM
space
skulluminati writes "A probable meteor likely exploded over Utah's western desert region Wednesday night, producing a flash that briefly turned night into day over a vast portion of the West.

According to Patrick Wiggins, a NASA ambassador living in Tooele County, the intense light was most likely a bolide meteor, one that becomes a fireball and breaks up.

People in Los Angeles, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming reported seeing the meteor."
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+-   Huge meteorite seen over Utah-> on Wednesday November 18, @02:44PM Anonymous Coward

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 18, @02:44PM
space
An anonymous reader writes "Last night a large meteorite was reported from southern Utah, to southern Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and parts of California"
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Comments: 2 +-   Want to Stop AIDS? Spend $60 billion ASAP-> on Wednesday November 18, @11:53AM sciencehabit

Submitted by sciencehabit on Wednesday November 18, @11:53AM
medicine
sciencehabit writes "A group of researchers is proposing a radical approach to halt the HIV/AIDS epidemic: Go on a spending spree. Pouring more than $60 billion into treatment, massive prevention campaigns, and condom distribution over the next 5 years—instead of slowly doling out the money over 2 decades, as is currently planned—will effectively stop the spread of the disease, according to a new model. Governments, nongovernmental organizations, and charities spend about $9 billion a year on these efforts, even though they have much more at their disposal. The proposed strategy, referred to as "utopian modeling" by one epidemiologist, would pour all the resources into fighting--and hopefully ending--the epidemic in one fell swoop. This might take $63 billion over 5 years, but could be much more effective than current attempts to address the disease. Other researchers point out that the such a plan might create a false impression that a solution for the HIV/AIDS epidemic is just a matter of spending money, and discourage the development of new treatments and vaccines."
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+-   Heart disease plagued the ancient Egyptians-> on Wednesday November 18, @10:13AM mmmscience

Submitted by mmmscience on Wednesday November 18, @10:13AM
medicine
mmmscience writes "CT scans of mummies have revealed that heart disease was also a common problem 3500 years ago. The scans show calcification of arterial pathways, a preserved sign of atherosclerosis, the heart disease caused by hardening arteries. Of the 16 mummies that had intact arteries, nine showed signs of significant calcification. Dr. Gregory Thomas, co-lead author on the study, stated, "The findings suggest that we may have to look beyond modern risk factors to fully understand the disease.""
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+-   Accountability of the Scientific Stimulus Funding-> on Wednesday November 18, @09:04AM eldavojohn

Submitted by eldavojohn on Wednesday November 18, @09:04AM
government
eldavojohn writes "A blog tipped me off to a government site that allows me see where my tax dollars went when the nebulous "scientific stimulus" was granted. You might be able to find this information in a bill but you can click on your state in this interactive site to see what has happened locally to you. Perhaps it's a sign of more government transparency in regards to spending or just more propaganda."
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