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Blodo

Technology

What Would Happen if I Ate a Teaspoonful of White Dwarf Star?

By Posted on 11.12.2009 22 Comments
“Everything about it would be bad,” says Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at Adler Planetarium in Chicago, beginning with your attempt to scoop it up. Despite the fact that white dwarfs are fairly common throughout the universe, the nearest is 8.6 light-years away. Let’s assume, though, that you’ve spent 8.6 years in your light-speed car and that the radiation and heat emanating from the star didn’t kill you on your approach. White dwarfs are extremely dense stars, and their surface gravity is about 100,000 times as strong as Earth’s.

11.17.2009 at 09:28am - Comment by Blodo

I think most people are trying to avoid foods that are too heavy anyway. A nice hydrogen nebula salad would go down a lot better. "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley
Science

Baguette Dropped From Bird's Beak Shuts Down The Large Hadron Collider (Really)

By Stuart Fox Posted on 11.5.2009 85 Comments
The Large Hadron Collider, the world's most powerful particle accelerator, just cannot catch a break. First, a coolant leak destroyed some of the magnets that guide the energy beam. Then LHC officials postponed the restart of the machine to add additional safety features.

11.6.2009 at 10:13am - Comment by Blodo

That's gotta be the most expensive way to toast a slice of bread imaginable. "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley
Entertainment & Gaming

China: Gold Basket of the World

By Jason Daley Posted on 8.28.2008 9 Comments
As a newly minted WoW-head (that's World of Warcraft for you noobs), I've always wondered just how all those "gold farmers" who try to sell virtual gold within in the game came by their vast, ill-gotten riches. I'd heard rumors of sweatshops in China where people are forced to drink Mountain Dew and kill Fel Orcs for 16 hours straight, but that sounded too strange to be true -- and, at the same time, not too different from the average college dormitory.

9.4.2009 at 02:10pm - Comment by Blodo

As an addicted Guild Wars player, I can't conceive of why anyone would want to buy gold...or anything else using real money, if those items can be had through play. What is the enjoyment of that? Taken to the extreme, why not have a service whereby a player could buy gold, elite skills, perfect weapons, power level their character, and buy titles...like you can buy titles in Europe? Oh yeah, you could also hire someone to choose the outfit for your toon and style their hair. That way you could become a legend online without ever having to touch the game...whoopee. "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley
Science

E. Coli Learns to Solve Complex Equations

By Adrian Covert Posted on 7.27.2009 9 Comments
E. coli can do a lot more than wreak havoc within your digestive system. Scientists have made strides over the years turning the little microbe species into computational workhorses. Now a team of scientists at Missouri State Western University and Davidson University has devised a bacterial computer that can solve complex equations, using the bacteria as the brains.

8.1.2009 at 01:06pm - Comment by Blodo

So this could totally change the meaning of "thinking with your gut". "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley
Technology

NASA to De-Orbit International Space Station In 2016

By Posted on 7.13.2009 39 Comments
Despite nearing completion after more than a decade of construction, and recently announcing some upcoming improvements to accompany its full crew of six astronauts, NASA plans to de-orbit the International Space Station in 2016. Meaning the station will have spent more time under construction than completed.

7.17.2009 at 04:52pm - Comment by Blodo

If they de-orbit it too quickly, someone could be de-healthed, or worse...de-lifed. Obviously the funding cuts are worse than we imagined. They have trickled right down and affected the professional development and training budget of the Washington Post. "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley
Technology

A Brief History of the Apollo Hoax

By Jason Daley Posted on 10.1.2008 35 Comments
When Neil Armstrong pressed the first bootprint into the Sea of Tranquility, most of humanity watched the televised low-res blob and felt pride welling up in their chests. But a few watchers felt something entirely different—an unconfirmed, squinty-eyed skepticism that something about the whole deal smelled fishy. How could the United States, which could barely put a chimp into space in 1961, get two full-grown men on the surface of the moon eight years later? How could anyone confirm that men actually made it to the moon? And, how, exactly, had that $25 billion Apollo budget been spent?

7.16.2009 at 10:20am - Comment by Blodo

To all conspiracy theorists: Please don't ever leave. You guys are wonderfully entertaining...like light opera. Seriously, these forums would be much duller without your comments. Gosh, I'm feeling all warm and toasty. Gather round, people... tinfoil hats for everyone! "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley
Technology

Army's Most High-Tech Infantry Unit Set to Touch Down in Afghanistan

By Posted on 6.29.2009 13 Comments
Each equipped with $48,000 worth of GPS components, electronic maps, and wearable computers, troops of the Army's 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are heading to Afghanistan as part of the resurrected Land Warrior program. The Army is hoping the revised, eight-pound set of gear will be more beneficial than when the $500 million program was canceled in 2006.

7.2.2009 at 12:44pm - Comment by Blodo

I'm curious about the process used to decide what will work best in a combat situation. Does anyone actually gather a representative group of GIs together to talk over equipment needs...or is it a think tank of military strategists sipping cocktails in a Washington bar? "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley
Science

Invention Awards: Robo-Legs

By Posted on 6.1.2009 4 Comments
Today's featured Invention Award winner: ReWalk, the lightweight, affordable, powered smart exoskeleton. After breaking his neck in a 1997 fall, Israeli engineer Amit Goffer learned that he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He soon concluded that this mode of transportation was outdated and began work on the ReWalk, the only wearable exoskeleton that allows paraplegics to stand, amble, and even climb stairs.

6.8.2009 at 05:28pm - Comment by Blodo

Congratulations, Amit, and thank you. I sincerely hope that energy storage advances will make it possible for you to benefit from your own excellent invention.
Science

Evolution’s Most Effective Killer: Snake Venom

By Posted on 3.6.2008 19 Comments
As predators, snakes are missing a few key attributes. They have no legs to chase down their prey, no paws to knock down quarry, and no claws to hold their victims. But none of these deficiencies matters much, because evolution has handed snakes the ultimate weapon: venom. With it, the several hundred types of venomous snakes can kill or debilitate before their victims escape.

7.3.2008 at 04:02pm - Comment by Blodo

There is an interesting discussion on the neurotoxins found in the venom of animals from four different phyla, in Sean B. Carrol's book "The Making of the Fittest." It provides an evo-devo look at how single point mutations can have enormous phenotypical consequences and how different lines of evolution can hit on the same solution using different means. In the case of the neurotoxins, the four examples given (from sea anemones, marine cone snail, scorpions and black mamba) all kill by blocking the phosphate channels of the victims. They each do so by using a completely different sequences of amino acids. Not good "design" by any means, iif that word is to imply forethought and efficiency, but perfectly in keeping with the concept of evolution, in which organisms are constrained to adapt using what they have available at the time. "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley
The Environment

Endangered Animals 100 Times Worse Off than Previously Believed

By Posted on 7.3.2008 10 Comments
Adding insult to injury, many species that are already solidly facing extinction might actually be 100 times more endangered than previously thought, scientists say. A new mathematical model, developed by ecologists at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of California, produces extinction risks that are orders of magnitude higher than conservation biologists estimated in compilations like the IUCN red-list.

7.3.2008 at 03:27pm - Comment by Blodo

It is very unlikely we will get smart enough fast enough to avert mass extinction. Our best bet at this point is to prepare for catastrophic failure. At the very least, we should begin a global project to collect and store sufficient samples of DNA from all endangered and threatened species. "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley