MIAMI - Florida legislators voted on Thursday to replace touch-screen voting machines installed in 15 counties after the troubled 2000 presidential election here with a system of optical scan voting.
The new system is scheduled to be running in time for the 2008 presidential election.
Science & Technology
UNITED NATIONS -- The countdown begins next week for the United Nations to take on the task of saving the world -- not from the usual scourges of war, disease or poverty, but from an asteroid attack.
History is replete with examples of social organizations, whether a business or a nation, that failed to perceive the realities of a changing environment and didn't adapt in time to prevent calamity. Hubris and a self-reinforced dynamic of mass delusion characterize the waning phases of these once powerful groups. In hindsight we ask, "What were they thinking? Wasn't the situation obvious to everyone? The evidence is so clear!" Here's the question we should ask next: "Is history now repeating itself?"
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| ©unk |
| "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" |
Being the closest planet to the Sun, you might think Mercury would be the most likely rocky planet in the Solar System to have a molten core, but for the past three decades physicists have not been quite so sure. By taking radar measurements of Mercury using ground-based radio telescopes, however, physicists in the US and Russia claim to have proved that the variation in the planet's spin rate is indeed characteristic of a molten core. Their work also lends weight to the idea that Mercury, like Earth, produces its magnetic field in the molten core through dynamo action (Science 316 710).
Despite its 400 °C surface temperatures, physicists originally predicted that Mercury's small mass - about 5% that of the Earth - would have allowed its core to cool down enough to solidify long ago. But their predictions became much less certain in the 1970s after NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft flew by the planet and detected a small internal dipole magnetic field. Although some claimed that the field could have been a fossil of an earlier one "frozen" into the crust, others maintained that this was very unlikely, and that dipole magnetic fields in terrestrial planets are normally a result of the convection of molten iron producing a dynamo.
Despite its 400 °C surface temperatures, physicists originally predicted that Mercury's small mass - about 5% that of the Earth - would have allowed its core to cool down enough to solidify long ago. But their predictions became much less certain in the 1970s after NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft flew by the planet and detected a small internal dipole magnetic field. Although some claimed that the field could have been a fossil of an earlier one "frozen" into the crust, others maintained that this was very unlikely, and that dipole magnetic fields in terrestrial planets are normally a result of the convection of molten iron producing a dynamo.
Paleontologists unearthed a flesh-eating dinosaur some 150 million years old in southern Argentina with all its joints in place, the first time such a beast has been dug up so intact, one of the finders told AFP today.
The seven-metre tall, two-legged dinosaur, dubbed the Condorraptor, was found fossilised with parts of its jaw and head showing in rock near the village of Cerro Condor in Patagonia, at a site where paleontologists had been working for five years.
"It is an unprecedented discovery. It is the first time in the world that a carnivorous dinosaur of the Middle Jurassic period has been found fully jointed," said Pablo Puerta, a paleontologist at the Egidio Feruglio museum in the town of Trelew.
The seven-metre tall, two-legged dinosaur, dubbed the Condorraptor, was found fossilised with parts of its jaw and head showing in rock near the village of Cerro Condor in Patagonia, at a site where paleontologists had been working for five years.
"It is an unprecedented discovery. It is the first time in the world that a carnivorous dinosaur of the Middle Jurassic period has been found fully jointed," said Pablo Puerta, a paleontologist at the Egidio Feruglio museum in the town of Trelew.
Explorers have discovered a series of caves decorated with ancient Buddhist paintings, set in sheer cliffs in Nepal's remote Himalayan north, leaving archaeologists excited and puzzled.
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| ©Reuters |
| Newly discovered caves are seen in the hills of Mustang in Nepal May 3, 2007. |
The number of calls made on mobile phones has fallen for the first time, according to new research.
The figures suggest that the novelty of constantly being in touch is finally starting to fade.
The figures suggest that the novelty of constantly being in touch is finally starting to fade.
You've heard of the Loch Ness Monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
The sea serpents of legend, right?
A local diver says he's found something not even the Smithsonian can identify and it's right off the shores of Juno Beach.
The sea serpents of legend, right?
A local diver says he's found something not even the Smithsonian can identify and it's right off the shores of Juno Beach.
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| ©Dennis Burke |
Rice University scientists today revealed a breakthrough method for producing molecular specks of semiconductors called quantum dots, a discovery that could clear the way for better, cheaper solar energy panels.
The fossilised bones of Australia's largest dinosaur went on display Thursday, with experts predicting the find will rewrite what is known of the country's prehistoric past.
The two dinosaurs, nicknamed Cooper and George by researchers, are part of the titanosaur family that lived about 100 million years ago, and at 25 metres (yards) long were among the largest animals to ever roam the Earth.
The two dinosaurs, nicknamed Cooper and George by researchers, are part of the titanosaur family that lived about 100 million years ago, and at 25 metres (yards) long were among the largest animals to ever roam the Earth.
