Science & TechnologyS


Display

DDoS returns to plague websites

Carl Jongsma
Computerworld Australia
Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:58 UTC
And this time it's more sophisticated than mere traffic overloading.

A less known part of the recent ARP attack against H D Moore's MetaSploit site was an attempted Denial of Service attack that coincided with the successful ARP attack.

Denial of Service (DoS) and distributed Denial of Service (dDoS) attacks are almost a mainstay of background Internet traffic and have become an accepted part of hosting content online.

A pattern has been emerging from the background noise over the last few weeks which suggests that something is taking place that is resulting in an increasing number of successful attacks against moderate to large sites.
Read More...
Info

Survey suggests U.S. research misconduct is common

Will Dunham
Reuters
Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:39 UTC
WASHINGTON - Research misconduct at U.S. institutions may be more common than previously suspected, with 9 percent of scientists saying in a new survey that they personally had seen fabrication, falsification or plagiarism.

The survey of 2,212 mainly biomedical scientists at 605 universities and other research institutions, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, also showed that researchers are very reluctant to report bad conduct.

Thirty-seven percent of cases of suspected misconduct were never reported to the institution involved for investigation, perhaps due to fear of reprisals for turning in a colleague or a desire to protect the flow of research money.

"There's more misconduct, or potential for misconduct, out there than probably anyone has appreciated before. And a good part of that goes unreported," James Wells, director of the Office of Research Policy at the University of Wisconsin who helped conduct the survey, said in a telephone interview.

"Usually what happens is that somebody very close to the research has to observe this going on. And they have to step forward and report it to their institution in order for something to happen. And they can very often be jeopardizing themselves," added Wells.
Read More...
Magnify

US: Stem cell field grows despite controversy - experts

Maggie Fox
Reuters
Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:10 UTC
Political controversy may have slowed the pace of stem cell science, but the field is still promising enough to attract many talented researchers, stem cell experts said on Saturday.

A meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Philadelphia this week attracted 2,500 delegates, something ISSCR president Dr. George Daley finds encouraging.

"Despite the political opposition to parts of stem cell therapy, the entire field has grown in a healthy way," Daley said in a telephone interview.
Read More...
Info

Scientists discover way to color MRI scans

Julie Steenhuysen
Reuters
Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:14 UTC
CHICAGO - U.S. scientists have developed a way to add color to medical scans known as MRIs, potentially enhancing the information and sensitivity the images provide, they said on Wednesday.

MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging. The technique uses a magnetic field and radio waves to get cross-sectional images of organs and structures the inside the body. Chemical contrast agents help enhance the quality of the images, but they are typically only in shades of gray.

"Once you put things in different colors, you can get a lot of different information out than you can in black and white," said Gary Zabow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, whose research appears in the journal Nature.

"You might imagine having a normal cell in blue and a cancer cell in red. You can track those cells in the body and see how they behave," Zabow said in a telephone interview.
Read More...
Info

New Research On Octopuses Sheds Light On Memory


Science Daily
Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:21 UTC
Research on octopuses has shed new light on how our brains store and recall memory, says Dr. Benny Hochner of the Department of Neurobiology at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Why octopuses?

octopus
©Hebrew University
The octopus learns to avoid attacking a red ball because he gets a mild electric shock.

Octopuses and other related creatures, known as cephalopods, are considered to be the most intelligent invertebrates because they have relatively large brains and they can be trained for various learning and memory tasks, says Dr. Hochner.

Their behavior repertoire and learning and memory abilities are even comparable in their complexity to those of advanced vertebrates. However, they are still invertebrate mollusks with brains that contain a much fewer number of nerve cells and much simpler anatomical organization than that of vertebrate brains. This unique constellation was utilized to tackle one of the most interesting questions in modern neuroscience, which is how the brain stores and recalls memories.
Read More...
Hourglass

First farmers made 'lucky beads'


BBC News
Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:40 UTC
Some of the first farmers in the Near East probably used green beads as amulets to protect themselves and their crops, a study suggests.

ancient beads
©PNAS
Beads and pendants from Gilgal II, an archaeological site in the Jordan Valley, and belonging to the Late Natufian culture. They are dated to between 11,600 and 10,500 years ago.
Read More...
HAL9000

Honeywell To Provide Electronic Navigation For Future Soldier Program


Agence France-Presse
Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:56 UTC
Paris -- Honeywell has been selected by EADS to provide a miniature electronic navigation aid - a Dead-Reckoning Module - that ensures accurate personnel location data in environments where GPS signals are unavailable.

Image
©AFP
In providing accurate position information for the pedestrian user, the light-weight personnel navigator module is attached to the user's vest and when GPS is available identifies the individual's stride length.

"Honeywell's personnel navigator module provides position data even when the user is inside a building or under tree foliage, and this enables better tracking of teammates in dangerous situations," said Werner Hansli, Honeywell Sales Director, European Land Systems.

"This miniature electronic navigation aid is extremely valuable for helping to ensure troop safety in urban warfare and combat where buildings and other obstructions block GPS."
Read More...
Evil Rays

Flashback 3D plasma shapes created in thin air

David Hambling
NewScientist.com
Mon, 27 Feb 2006 12:00 UTC
The system is being developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Tokyo, in collaboration with Burton Inc and Keio University.

"We believe this technology may eventually be used in applications ranging from pyrotechnics to outdoor advertising," says a spokesman for AIST. According to Burton Inc, the technology might also be used for emergency distress signals or even temporary road signs.

The display utilises an ionisation effect which occurs when a beam of laser light is focused to a point in air. The laser beam itself is invisible to the human eye but, if the intensity of the laser pulse exceeds a threshold, the air breaks down into glowing plasma that emits visible light.

Comment: Here's an idea: why not use this technology to stage a UFO invasion? At the right time, the powers that be could present the 'reality' of life beyond the stars to humanity and everyone would fall down and obey our new masters from outer space. Just a thought, keep it in mind. You never know.

Read More...
Star

International Mission Studying Sun to Conclude


NASA Press Release
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:59 UTC
PASADENA, Calif. - After more than 17 years of pioneering solar science, a joint NASA and European Space Agency mission to study the sun will end on or about July 1.
Read More...
Ladybug

Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol

Chris Ayres
The Times
Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:18 UTC
Silicon Valley is experimenting with bacteria that have been genetically altered to provide 'renewable petroleum'

deiselbug
©Unknown
Some diesel fuel produced by genetically modified bugs

"Ten years ago I could never have imagined I'd be doing this," says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. "I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to - especially the ones coming out of business school - this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into."
Read More...