http://science.slashdot.org/ News for nerds, stuff that matters en-us Copyright 1997-2008, SourceForge, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2009-07-06T22:50:18+00:00 SourceForge, Inc. help@slashdot.org Technology hourly 1 1970-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://s.fsdn.com/sd/topics/topicslashdot.gif http://science.slashdot.org/ http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/N7d2iCzyxYI/Laser-Treatment-Could-Save-the-Sight-of-Millions BotScout writes "British experts claim that a new laser treatment could save the sight of millions of people. The process is said to stop the onset of age-related macular degeneration, one of the most common forms of blindness, which leaves victims unable to read, drive or live independently. The technique rejuvenates the Bruch's membrane &mdash; a thin layer that lies behind the retina. The process takes just ten to 15 minutes and could be done by any ophthalmologist. While it does not cure sight loss, its inventor, Professor John Marshall, says it could prevent a generation from having to put up with declining vision in old age."<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/06/2043251/Laser-Treatment-Could-Save-the-Sight-of-Millions?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/06/2043251"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/06/2043251/Laser-Treatment-Could-Save-the-Sight-of-Millions?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/udZBKEM6l-bBMyFMMc33iwb5flc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/udZBKEM6l-bBMyFMMc33iwb5flc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/udZBKEM6l-bBMyFMMc33iwb5flc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/udZBKEM6l-bBMyFMMc33iwb5flc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/N7d2iCzyxYI" height="1" width="1"/> ScuttleMonkey 2009-07-06T22:30:00+00:00 medicine i-can-see-clearly-now science 3 3,3,1,1,0,0,0 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/06/2043251/Laser-Treatment-Could-Save-the-Sight-of-Millions?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/c8xfhbGVJFg/Successful-Test-of-Superconducting-Plasma-Rocket-Engine xp65 writes to mention that Ad Astra has successfully tested their VX-200 plasma engine at full power in superconducting conditions, the first time such an engine has been tested at those power levels. "The VX-200 engine is the first flight-like prototype of the VASIMR&#174; propulsion system, a new high-power plasma-based rocket, initially studied by NASA and now being developed privately by Ad Astra. VASIMR&#174; engines could enable space operations far more efficiently than today's chemical rockets and ultimately they could also greatly speed up robotic and human transit times for missions to Mars and beyond."<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/06/1556208/Successful-Test-of-Superconducting-Plasma-Rocket-Engine?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/06/1556208"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/06/1556208/Successful-Test-of-Superconducting-Plasma-Rocket-Engine?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-p6iU4om8piOiftc6Py3-gPk_ek/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-p6iU4om8piOiftc6Py3-gPk_ek/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-p6iU4om8piOiftc6Py3-gPk_ek/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-p6iU4om8piOiftc6Py3-gPk_ek/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/c8xfhbGVJFg" height="1" width="1"/> ScuttleMonkey 2009-07-06T17:37:00+00:00 space to-superconductivity-and-beyond science 117 117,114,96,74,26,11,8 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/06/1556208/Successful-Test-of-Superconducting-Plasma-Rocket-Engine?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/6JzMCTufcrs/NASA-Hedges-Their-Bets-On-Return-To-Moon With budget cuts in the works for everyone these days, NASA has decided to float an alternate plan for returning to the moon that is just a little bit cheaper than the current proposal. Of course, the new option would be very reminiscent of the old Apollo space capsule instead of the tricked out shuttle currently planned. "Officially, the space agency is still on track with a 4-year-old plan to spend $35 billion to build new rockets and return astronauts to the moon in several years. However, a top NASA manager is floating a cut-rate alternative that costs around $6.6 billion. This cheaper option is not as powerful as NASA's current design with its fancy new rockets, the people-carrying Ares I and cargo-lifting Ares V. But the cut-rate plan would still get to the moon."<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/05/2345248/NASA-Hedges-Their-Bets-On-Return-To-Moon?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/05/2345248"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/05/2345248/NASA-Hedges-Their-Bets-On-Return-To-Moon?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/IqpCKRUwTJR2Hh2_SS6o7WmP1FY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/IqpCKRUwTJR2Hh2_SS6o7WmP1FY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/IqpCKRUwTJR2Hh2_SS6o7WmP1FY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/IqpCKRUwTJR2Hh2_SS6o7WmP1FY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/6JzMCTufcrs" height="1" width="1"/> ScuttleMonkey 2009-07-06T10:40:00+00:00 nasa never-win-big-from-playing-it-safe science 178 178,172,135,114,55,26,13 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/05/2345248/NASA-Hedges-Their-Bets-On-Return-To-Moon?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/z_qL7YkyNMw/Unicellular-Enigma-Changes-From-Predator-To-Plant-and-Back SilverEar writes "Imagine a creature that swims and preys on others, but once it eats a certain kind of plant, that plant grows inside it, causing the predator to lose its ability to prey and start using sunlight to make its food. Its preying mouth is replaced by an eye that is needed to find sunlight. This is the Hatena ('enigma' in Japanese). The kicker: when Hatena reproduces, one offspring is a peaceful photosynthesizer with the sun-seeking eye, while the other is yet again a predator with a voracious mouth."<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/05/1556256/Unicellular-Enigma-Changes-From-Predator-To-Plant-and-Back?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/05/1556256"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/05/1556256/Unicellular-Enigma-Changes-From-Predator-To-Plant-and-Back?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/iLQNO1h3Xr7az--9xHxIR2gc0ck/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/iLQNO1h3Xr7az--9xHxIR2gc0ck/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/iLQNO1h3Xr7az--9xHxIR2gc0ck/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/iLQNO1h3Xr7az--9xHxIR2gc0ck/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/z_qL7YkyNMw" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2009-07-05T17:49:00+00:00 earth i-don't-eat-greens,-food-eats-greens science 159 159,152,122,103,39,28,22 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/05/1556256/Unicellular-Enigma-Changes-From-Predator-To-Plant-and-Back?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/kOMFRxS1LsM/Cosmic-Fireworks-Display-Seen-Inside-Helix-Nebula goran72 writes "A new image, taken with an infrared camera on the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, has revealed a cosmic fireworks display, in the form of tens of thousands of previously unseen comet-shaped knots inside the Helix Nebula. Unlike previous optical images of the Helix Nebula knots, the infrared image shows thousands of clearly resolved knots, extending out from the central star at greater distances than previously observed. These images enable astronomers to estimate that there may be as many as 40,000 knots in the entire nebula, each of which are billions of kilometers/miles across. Their total mass may be as much as 30,000 Earths, or one-tenth the mass of our Sun."<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/05/1422251/Cosmic-Fireworks-Display-Seen-Inside-Helix-Nebula?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/05/1422251"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/05/1422251/Cosmic-Fireworks-Display-Seen-Inside-Helix-Nebula?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7uE3TkGBoBNjCNrCcVv94M2iIik/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7uE3TkGBoBNjCNrCcVv94M2iIik/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7uE3TkGBoBNjCNrCcVv94M2iIik/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7uE3TkGBoBNjCNrCcVv94M2iIik/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/kOMFRxS1LsM" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2009-07-05T15:38:00+00:00 space pretty-pictures science 27 27,27,21,19,5,2,0 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/05/1422251/Cosmic-Fireworks-Display-Seen-Inside-Helix-Nebula?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/j50HoGU0Res/Space-Station-Marathon-Starting-This-Weekend RobGoldsmith writes with this snippet from Space Fellowship: "If you've never seen a spaceship with your own eyes, now's your chance. The International Space Station (ISS) is about to make a remarkable series of flybys over the United States. Beginning this 4th of July weekend, the station will appear once, twice, and sometimes three times a day for many days in a row. No matter where you live, you should have at least a few opportunities to see the biggest spaceship ever built."<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/2230220/Space-Station-Marathon-Starting-This-Weekend?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/04/2230220"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/2230220/Space-Station-Marathon-Starting-This-Weekend?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/F7lA1Nf5KYBDuGkjKoSr54wv76s/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/F7lA1Nf5KYBDuGkjKoSr54wv76s/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/F7lA1Nf5KYBDuGkjKoSr54wv76s/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/F7lA1Nf5KYBDuGkjKoSr54wv76s/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/j50HoGU0Res" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2009-07-05T03:02:00+00:00 space this-calls-for-a-twitter-mashup science 60 60,55,45,29,16,10,6 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/2230220/Space-Station-Marathon-Starting-This-Weekend?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/4uuKblGrgD8/You-Too-Can-Learn-Echolocation The Narrative Fallacy writes "Wired reports that with just a few weeks of training, you can learn to 'see' objects in the dark using echolocation the same way dolphins and bats do. Acoustic expert Juan Antonio Martinez at the University of Alcal&#225; de Henares in Spain has developed a system to teach people how to use echolocation, a skill that could be particularly useful for the blind and for people who work under dark or smoky conditions, like firefighters &mdash; or cat burglars. 'Two hours per day for a couple of weeks are enough to distinguish whether you have an object in front of you,' says Martinez. 'Within another couple weeks you can tell the difference between trees and pavement.' To master the art of echolocation, you can begin by making the typical 'sh' sound used to make someone be quiet. Moving a pen in front of the mouth can be noticed right away similar to the phenomenon when traveling in a car with the windows down, which makes it possible to 'hear' gaps in the verge of the road. The next level is to learn how to master 'palate clicks,' special clicks with your tongue and palate that are better than other sounds because they can be made in a uniform way, work at a lower intensity, and don't get drowned out by ambient noise. With the palate click you can learn to recognize slight changes in the way the clicks sound depending on what objects are nearby. 'For all of us in general, this would be a new way of perceiving the world,' says Martinez."<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/2246211/You-Too-Can-Learn-Echolocation?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/04/2246211"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/2246211/You-Too-Can-Learn-Echolocation?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/W-kyMgOKEKxdZwN0SKc1uoBddAk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/W-kyMgOKEKxdZwN0SKc1uoBddAk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/W-kyMgOKEKxdZwN0SKc1uoBddAk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/W-kyMgOKEKxdZwN0SKc1uoBddAk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/4uuKblGrgD8" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2009-07-05T01:06:00+00:00 medicine and-you-swear-this-isn't-a-joke science 131 131,129,99,73,18,11,10 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/2246211/You-Too-Can-Learn-Echolocation?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/t8Lvs39r1bo/Planck-Telescope-Is-Coolest-Spacecraft-Ever Hugh Pickens writes "Launched in May, BBC reports that Europe's Planck observatory has reached its operating temperature, a staggering minus 273.05C &mdash; just a tenth of a degree above what scientists term "absolute zero." and although laboratory set-ups have got closer to absolute zero than Planck, researchers say it is unlikely there is anywhere in space currently that is colder than their astronomical satellite. This frigidity should ensure the bolometers will be at their most sensitive as they look for variations in the temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) that are about a million times smaller than one degree &mdash; comparable to measuring from Earth the heat produced by a rabbit sitting on the Moon. Planck has been sent to an observation position around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2, some 1.5 million km from Earth and Planck will help provide answers to one of the most important sets of questions asked in modern science &mdash; how did the Universe begin, how did it evolve to the state we observe today, and how will it continue to evolve in the future. Planck's objectives include mapping of Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies with improved sensitivity and angular resolution, determination of the Hubble constant, testing inflationary models of the early Universe, and measuring amplitude of structures in Cosmic Microwave Background. 'We will be probing regimes that have never been studied before where the physics is very, very uncertain,' says Planck investigator Professor George Efstathiou from Cambridge University. 'It's possible we could find a signature from before the Big Bang; or it's possible we could find the signature of another Universe and then we'd have experimental evidence that we are part of a multi-verse.'"<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/201200/Planck-Telescope-Is-Coolest-Spacecraft-Ever?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/04/201200"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/201200/Planck-Telescope-Is-Coolest-Spacecraft-Ever?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/tM4sdKRA88Tw6BqNQcOE2-ZuQw8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/tM4sdKRA88Tw6BqNQcOE2-ZuQw8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/tM4sdKRA88Tw6BqNQcOE2-ZuQw8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/tM4sdKRA88Tw6BqNQcOE2-ZuQw8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/t8Lvs39r1bo" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2009-07-04T21:39:00+00:00 space that's-certainly-what-the-moon-rabbits-think science 191 191,187,144,94,30,14,7 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/201200/Planck-Telescope-Is-Coolest-Spacecraft-Ever?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/LlMB2Ox0FnU/TerreStar-Launches-Worlds-Largest-Telecom-Satellite An anonymous reader sends news that TerreStar-1, the largest satellite ever made for the purpose of telecommunications, successfully launched earlier this week from a European spaceport. Its launch weight was 6,910 kg, and it is "distinguished by a giant, 60-foot (18-meter) wide S-band antenna that will be unfurled in the coming weeks. Once the satellite's two solar wings are deployed, TerreStar-1 is expected to have a wingspan of about 106 feet (32.4 meters). ... It is designed to provide mobile voice and data communications in North America to smartphone-size handsets using the 2-gigahertz, or S-band, portion of the radio spectrum. The system is designed to function with a network of ground-based signal amplifiers to permit service in areas the satellite cannot reach, such as urban canyons and areas outside the line-of-sight view of the spacecraft." Video and details of the launch are available from the ESA.<p><a href="http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/150231/TerreStar-Launches-Worlds-Largest-Telecom-Satellite?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/04/150231"></a></p><p><a href="http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/150231/TerreStar-Launches-Worlds-Largest-Telecom-Satellite?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/v-bUSGpkO8x2jafFMZ9ogLtr6Ak/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/v-bUSGpkO8x2jafFMZ9ogLtr6Ak/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/v-bUSGpkO8x2jafFMZ9ogLtr6Ak/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/v-bUSGpkO8x2jafFMZ9ogLtr6Ak/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/LlMB2Ox0FnU" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2009-07-04T16:40:00+00:00 communications bigger-they-are-the-harder-hey-wait-a-sec tech 56 56,55,48,36,11,6,2 http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/150231/TerreStar-Launches-Worlds-Largest-Telecom-Satellite?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/oY-o-miN2Gs/The-Chemistry-of-Firework-Displays Ponca City, We love you writes "David Ropeik writes at MSNBC that there's a lot more to making a basic firework display than putting a fuel source and an oxidizer together. Pyrotechnic chemists, who are trying to create bedazzlement instead of bang, don't want their work to explode, but to burn for a bit, so it gives a good visual show. To achieve the desired effect, the sizes of the particles of each ingredient have to be just right, and the ingredients have to be blended together just right. To slow down the burning, chemists use big grains of chemicals, in the range of 250 to 300 microns, and they don't blend the ingredients together very well, making it harder for the fuel and oxidizer to combine and burn, thus producing a longer and brighter effect. Surprisingly few emitters are used in pyrotechnics, and there are no commercially useful emitters in blue-green to emerald green in the 490-520 nm region. Energy from the fire in the basic fuel is transferred to the atoms of the colorant chemicals, exciting the electrons in those chemicals into a higher energy state. As they cool down, they move back to a lower state of energy, emitting light. So, you actually see the colors in fireworks as they're cooling down. To get the really tricky shapes, like stars or hearts, the colorant pellets are pasted on a piece of paper in the desired pattern. That paper is put in the middle of the shell with explosive charges above it, and below. When those charges go off, they burn up the paper, and send the ignited colorant pellets out in the same pattern they were in on the sheet of paper, spreading wider apart as they fly."<p><a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/0257257/The-Chemistry-of-Firework-Displays?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/04/0257257"></a></p><p><a href="http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/0257257/The-Chemistry-of-Firework-Displays?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-d4XgbZ5ASD12j54FGy9DZmkfzs/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-d4XgbZ5ASD12j54FGy9DZmkfzs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-d4XgbZ5ASD12j54FGy9DZmkfzs/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-d4XgbZ5ASD12j54FGy9DZmkfzs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/oY-o-miN2Gs" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2009-07-04T12:16:00+00:00 usa two-parts-oooh-one-part-ahhhh news 64 64,60,46,34,12,6,5 http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/07/04/0257257/The-Chemistry-of-Firework-Displays?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/s6UHRsXAU8A/Hawking-Says-Humans-Have-Entered-a-New-Stage-of-Evolution movesguy sends us to The Daily Galaxy for comments by Stephen Hawking about how humans are evolving in a different way than any species before us. Quoting: "'At first, evolution proceeded by natural selection, from random mutations. This Darwinian phase, lasted about three and a half billion years, and produced us, beings who developed language, to exchange information. I think it is legitimate to take a broader view, and include externally transmitted information, as well as DNA, in the evolution of the human race,' Hawking said. In the last ten thousand years the human species has been in what Hawking calls, 'an external transmission phase,' where the internal record of information, handed down to succeeding generations in DNA, has not changed significantly. 'But the external record, in books, and other long lasting forms of storage,' Hawking says, 'has grown enormously. Some people would use the term evolution only for the internally transmitted genetic material, and would object to it being applied to information handed down externally. But I think that is too narrow a view. We are more than just our genes.'"<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/2241207/Hawking-Says-Humans-Have-Entered-a-New-Stage-of-Evolution?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/03/2241207"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/2241207/Hawking-Says-Humans-Have-Entered-a-New-Stage-of-Evolution?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/nUeV-ZQtGfNt_1qmQ0n_jJA7fwM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/nUeV-ZQtGfNt_1qmQ0n_jJA7fwM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/nUeV-ZQtGfNt_1qmQ0n_jJA7fwM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/nUeV-ZQtGfNt_1qmQ0n_jJA7fwM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/s6UHRsXAU8A" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2009-07-04T02:03:00+00:00 biotech already-banned-in-kansas science 392 392,379,291,200,52,28,18 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/2241207/Hawking-Says-Humans-Have-Entered-a-New-Stage-of-Evolution?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/34TMRRHCop0/Fake-Tamiflu-Out-Spams-Viagra-On-Web cin62 writes "The number of Internet scammers offering fake versions of the anti-swine flu drug Tamiflu has surpassed those selling counterfeit Viagra, reports CNN. Since the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, was declared a global pandemic last month, there has been an increase in the number of Web sites and junk emails offering Tamiflu for sale. 'Every Web site that used to sell Viagra is now selling Tamiflu. We are pretty sure that the same people are making the Tamiflu as are making the Viagra,' said Director of Policy for the UK's Royal Pharmaceutical Society." This news fits in nicely with a report Wired ran a couple weeks ago about the hysteria behind H1N1.<p><a href="http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/2225258/Fake-Tamiflu-Out-Spams-Viagra-On-Web?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/03/2225258"></a></p><p><a href="http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/2225258/Fake-Tamiflu-Out-Spams-Viagra-On-Web?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/eEf65ovkKsT9JKQe0k-U9nRFf_4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/eEf65ovkKsT9JKQe0k-U9nRFf_4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/eEf65ovkKsT9JKQe0k-U9nRFf_4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/eEf65ovkKsT9JKQe0k-U9nRFf_4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/34TMRRHCop0" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2009-07-03T23:11:00+00:00 spam stiff-competition it 65 65,63,55,46,12,10,4 http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/2225258/Fake-Tamiflu-Out-Spams-Viagra-On-Web?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/UhGqr74HZ9o/Fermilab-Detects-Doubly-Strange-Particle DynaSoar writes "While its cousin/competitor site, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, remains offline, Fermilab's Digital Hadron Calorimeter continues to produce significant results. Recently Fermilab announced discovery of the Omega-sub-b baryon, a 'doubly-strange' particle. This baryon, containing two strange quarks and one bottom quark, has six times the mass of a proton. 'The Omega-sub-b is the latest entry in the "periodic table of baryons." Baryons are particles formed of three quarks, the most common examples being the proton and neutron. ... The observation of this "doubly strange" particle, predicted by the Standard Model, is significant because it strengthens physicists' confidence in their understanding of how quarks form matter. In addition, it conflicts with a 2008 result announced by CDF's sister experiment, DZero. In August 2008, the DZero experiment announced its own observation of the Omega-sub-b based on a smaller sample of Tevatron data. This result contradicted some predictions of the Standard Model, suggesting a "new physics." The new result leads to the possibility that the prior results are not accurate.'"<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/1842231/Fermilab-Detects-Doubly-Strange-Particle?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/03/1842231"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/1842231/Fermilab-Detects-Doubly-Strange-Particle?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5i8Hv9O1mznSa83OM5MZyZcMBx8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5i8Hv9O1mznSa83OM5MZyZcMBx8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5i8Hv9O1mznSa83OM5MZyZcMBx8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5i8Hv9O1mznSa83OM5MZyZcMBx8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/UhGqr74HZ9o" height="1" width="1"/> ScuttleMonkey 2009-07-03T20:02:00+00:00 math they-don't-build-em-like-they-used-to science 36 36,32,28,21,10,6,6 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/1842231/Fermilab-Detects-Doubly-Strange-Particle?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/FAb7tjBxdDU/Phoenix-Lander-Discovers-Nighttime-Snowfall-On-Mars Many outlets are reporting on the recently released results of the various experiments and observations of NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander. Most notable is the discovery of nighttime snowfall on the planet, lending credibility to the idea of a hypothesized active water cycle based on earlier data collection. "The papers rely on evidence from a variety of the instruments on the lander, and the description of the data provides an impressive catalog of the various ways that Phoenix could prod and query the Martian pole. In the months before Martian winter shut the lander down, it managed to dig a dozen trenches, taking soil samples from each. These samples went into wet and dry chemistry labs, had their conductivity tested, and were even examined using an atomic force microscope. Meanwhile, cameras and a LIDAR system (a laser-based range detector) scanned the surroundings. The overall conclusion is that the northern pole has an active water cycle. This had been suggested by a variety of evidence from orbital sensors, as well early images returned from Phoenix. It's also not a huge shock, given the seasonal growth and retreat of the polar ice cap. Still, Phoenix provided some significant details on the cycling of water in the area where it landed."<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/1529234/Phoenix-Lander-Discovers-Nighttime-Snowfall-On-Mars?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/03/1529234"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/1529234/Phoenix-Lander-Discovers-Nighttime-Snowfall-On-Mars?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/WJhKUcl4eqhVsh59r8H9AHdFq60/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/WJhKUcl4eqhVsh59r8H9AHdFq60/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/WJhKUcl4eqhVsh59r8H9AHdFq60/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/WJhKUcl4eqhVsh59r8H9AHdFq60/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/FAb7tjBxdDU" height="1" width="1"/> ScuttleMonkey 2009-07-03T18:02:00+00:00 mars time-to-build-a-martian-snowman science 48 48,45,29,20,8,6,4 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/03/1529234/Phoenix-Lander-Discovers-Nighttime-Snowfall-On-Mars?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/pjmyMXHgNyU/HIVAIDS-Vaccine-To-Begin-Phase-I-Human-Trials An anonymous reader writes "An HIV/AIDS vaccine developed in Ontario has applied for Phase 1 human trials. Safety and immunogenicity studies of the vaccine, dubbed SAV001-H, have already been completed on animals. Phase 1 human trials will check the safety of the vaccine on HIV positive volunteers. Phase 2 will then test immunogenicity."<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/02/192249/HIVAIDS-Vaccine-To-Begin-Phase-I-Human-Trials?from=rss"><img src="http://science.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=09/07/02/192249"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/02/192249/HIVAIDS-Vaccine-To-Begin-Phase-I-Human-Trials?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/af9DhU4PXx0lAnJpwZdFYdBr9Wc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/af9DhU4PXx0lAnJpwZdFYdBr9Wc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/af9DhU4PXx0lAnJpwZdFYdBr9Wc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/af9DhU4PXx0lAnJpwZdFYdBr9Wc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/pjmyMXHgNyU" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2009-07-02T19:21:00+00:00 medicine soon-enough-mandatory-like-gardasil science 326 326,320,237,175,50,29,23 http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/02/192249/HIVAIDS-Vaccine-To-Begin-Phase-I-Human-Trials?from=rss Search Slashdot stories query http://science.slashdot.org/search.pl