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Economic collapse encouraging dangerous shift to wireless technology

Marguerite Reardon
cnet news
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:53 UTC
HAARP
© Unknown
Las Vegas - Wireless industry executives at the CTIA Wireless 2009 trade show here say that despite the economic meltdown, the cell phone industry remains strong. And they're confident that it will be a driving force in pulling the nation out of the current financial crisis.

Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg and Robert Dotson, CEO of T-Mobile USA, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom, took the stage on Wednesday, the opening day of the trade show, with a similar message.

These executives said that despite the economic troubles facing the nation and the world, the wireless market is thriving and innovation is flourishing. They also agreed that as the nation moves through the current crisis that the wireless industry could play a significant role in the economic recovery of the country. But they also warned that reluctant investors and overzealous regulators could stunt its potential and harm the recovery.

Comment: It's unsurprising that the market for wireless technology is still viable when we remember that the US Govt is considering introducing "free wireless technology for all".

This cash cow certainly has dangers for us all: New Instruments of Surveillance and Social Control: Wireless Technologies which Target the Neuronal Functioning of the Brain

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Info

Google admits data center podification

Cade Metz
The Register
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:40 UTC
Google has admitted that its data centers are pieced together using intermodal shipping containers pre-packed with servers and cooling equipment.

As reported by our friends at Data Center Knowledge, the search giant dropped its long-standing data-center wall of secrecy this morning during a company event in Mountain View. Confirming an October report from The Register, Google said it has used containers in its live data centers since 2005.

Famously, Brewster Kahle and the Internet Archive publicly pitched the container idea in the fall of 2003, and that December, Google filed for a patent describing a modular data center of its own. According to Kahle and a well-known 2005 expose from Robert X. Cringely, Google co-founder Larry Page was in the audience for one Internet Archive pitch a little more than a month before the patent filing.
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Saturn

Signals could be from dark matter

Victoria Gill
British Broadcasting Corporation
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:22 UTC
Image

Dark matter remains elusive despite strong evidence for its role
Scientists have detected particles that may come from invisible "dark matter".

This is thought to make up 23% of the Universe, but can only be detected through its effects on "normal" matter.

Writing in the journal Nature, scientists relate how a satellite-borne instrument found an unexplained source of positrons in space.

But the researchers say their mysterious signal must be further investigated before they will know if they have "discovered dark matter".
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Info

Spin control for technology

Laura Sanders
Science News
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:03 UTC
Image
© Keith Bruns
This illustration of a long-lived spin helix shows green electrons with arrows indicating spin direction.
Guiding electrons opens doors for 'new physics,' enables new devices.

The wild spins of electrons in a semiconductor can be tamed by guiding their collective motions into a synchronized helix, new research shows. The study, published April 2 in Nature, uncovers new principles of physics and holds promise for the development of new information-carrying gadgets.

"The experiment is a fundamental discovery - a discovery with a device potential," comments Jaroslav Fabian, of the University of Regensburg in Germany.
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Magnify

Inscription from the time of Alexander the Great - found in Baktria, land of origin of ancient Bulgarians


Focus Information Agency
Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:42 UTC
Image
© Focus
Baktra. Unique marble slab with the image of Alexander the Great and a passage of an inscription was discovered in archaeological excavations in the ancient Baktriya, Baktriya Press Agency informed.

The slab represents an ancient king on a horse heading Macedonian cavalry and Macedonian phalanx at the background.
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Info

The secret to chimp strength could be as much about brain as muscle, biologist says

Kevin Stacey
University of Chicago Press Journals
Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:42 UTC
February's brutal chimpanzee attack, during which a pet chimp inflicted devastating injuries on a Connecticut woman, was a stark reminder that chimps are much stronger than humans - as much as four-times stronger, some researchers believe. But what is it that makes our closest primate cousins so much stronger than we are? One possible explanation is that great apes simply have more powerful muscles. Indeed, biologists have uncovered differences in muscle architecture between chimpanzees and humans. But evolutionary biologist Alan Walker, a professor at Penn State University, thinks muscles may only be part of the story.

In an article to be published in the April issue of Current Anthropology, Walker argues that humans may lack the strength of chimps because our nervous systems exert more control over our muscles. Our fine motor control prevents great feats of strength, but allows us to perform delicate and uniquely human tasks.
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House

Little House On The Moon? Robot Being Created For First Moon Construction Project


Science Daily
Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:20 UTC
Image
© Swedish Research Council
Modells of robot Roony and the cottage. The mechanical design of the cottage has not yet been completed, the aim is a mass of 5kg and transport size about 6 liters, with a final living space of 10 square meters. Swedish Research Council)
Mälardalen University is working with the multi-artist Mikael Genberg to create a robot to be sent to the moon to construct a house. The House on the Moon is a project that aims to put a little read cottage on the moon as a symbol of what one man can achieve. The robot will roll out Genberg's little cabin from the space rocket, find a stable vacant lot, and erect the planet's first building.

"We want to teach students who think creatively, work together, use the very latest technology, and dare to set their sights high. The most important thing is not always to reach the goal. If you aim for the stars, at least you'll reach the treetops or even the moon," says Lars Asplund.
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Sherlock

Construction Uncovers 18th-century French Mass Graves


Agence France-Presse
Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:00 UTC
Archaeologists in northern France have stumbled upon two mass graves dating back to the years of civil strife unleashed after the French Revolution of 1789, officials said Monday.

Located in a park in the city of Le Mans, the graves contain the bodies of some 30 people including several women, two male teenagers and a child, the INRA archaeology institute said in a statement.

All were identified as victims of a massacre that took place on Dec. 12 and 13, 1793, as republican forces repelled royalist Catholic rebels from the city of Le Mans, during the first War of the Vendee.

The first grave contained nine or 10 bodies, some still wearing shirt buttons and boot buckles, or carrying knives, while the second, sealed shut with a thick layer of lime, contained some 20 bodies.
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Robot

Honda unveils helmet that lets wearer control a robot by thought alone

Ian Sample
Washington Post
Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:54 UTC
robot

A man uses Honda thought-control helmet to beam instructions to an Asimo robot. Photograph: PR
A human wearing the Honda helmet managed to control the robot Asimo without moving a muscle

An elaborate electronic helmet that allows the wearer to control a robot by thought alone has been unveiled by researchers in Japan.

Scientists at the Honda Research Institute demonstrated the invention today by using it to move the arms and legs of an Asimo humanoid robot.

To control the robot, the person wearing the helmet only had to think about making the movement. Its inventors hope that one day the mind-control technology will allow people to do things like turn air conditioning on or off and open their car boot without putting their shopping down.

The helmet is the first "brain-machine interface" to combine two different techniques for picking up activity in the brain. Sensors in the helmet detect electrical signals through the scalp in the same way as a standard EEG (electroencephalogram). The scientists combined this with another technique called near-infrared spectroscopy, which can be used to monitor changes in blood flow in the brain.
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Info

Blackbeard Pirate Relics, Gold Found


National Geographic News
Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:27 UTC
Image
A brass navigational instrument known as a chart divider is among artifacts recently recovered from a shipwreck thought to be the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the infamous 18th-century pirate Blackbeard, archaeologists said in March 2009.

Some of the newfound relics add to evidence that the ship belonged to the pirate. ""We feel pretty comfortable that that's what this is," said Marke Wilde-Ramsing, director of the Queen Anne's Revenge project for the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology.
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