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{ Monthly Archives } October 2003

'X-Ray Software' Uncovers The Past

If you want to be notified the next time I write something, sign up for FREE email alerts or subscribe to the RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!X-ray vision to see through walls has always been something which belongs in science fiction.
But a software program being developed by the a company called the GeoInformation [...]

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World Drowning in Oceans of Data

The equivalent of a 30-foot pile of books of data is produced for everyone on Earth annually, a study finds.
US researchers estimate that every year 800MB of information is produced for every person on the planet. Their study found that information stored on paper, film, magnetic and optical disks has doubled since 1999.
Paper is still [...]

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Major Sun Flare Today

Sun Kicks Up Biggest Storm in Years.
The Sun today unleashed what appears to be the third most powerful flare in recorded history, a storm of charged particles that could hit Earth mid-day Wednesday with more effect than any since 1989, when an entire Canadian province had its power knocked out.
Depending on the storm's magnetic [...]

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Full-Featured PC Fits in Pocket

A full-featured PC that is small enough to slip into a shirt pocket is being hailed by its makers as the world's first modular computer. The machine can perform as both a PC and a handheld computer, but it remains to be seen if consumers are willing to pay for such a hybrid device.
The Modular [...]

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Black Cat Gene

Legend tells us that black cats are unlucky.
Black cats have a tainted reputation. Some people think of them as bad luck, which is why they are so common at Halloween. But if black cats are so bad, why are they so common in nature?
Stephen O'Brien, chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National [...]

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Bringing Down the Internet

What if hackers were motivated not by loneliness or greed, but by malice? Some experts now think a global cybercrisis is inevitable.
If you wanted to write a science-fiction thriller about the day the Internet crashed, you?d start with a computer geek. Armed with nothing but a laptop and a high-speed Internet connection, he releases a [...]

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Ministers of War

Criminals of the Cloth
By WILLIAM A. COOK
Perhaps we have not paid enough attention to Exodus and have lost, therefore, the import of General "Jerry" Boykin's words to the evangelical Christians as reported in the LA Times on the 16th, "We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God have been [...]

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The Unlikely Human Frankenstein

Chicago researchers at Northwestern University have fused the brain stem of an eel to a robot the size of a dollar coin, creating a crude cyborg, or cybernetic organism.
Kept alive in a saline solution, the brain adapts to changing light conditions and directs the robotic wheels to move towards light beams like a bull chasing [...]

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High-Tech Glasses Help Improve Memory

Most people wear glasses to see better, but a new pair developed by MIT scientist is a bit more high-tech.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will present a new invention Monday that helps people improve their memory without doing anything.
Whatever you need to remember is programmed into a tiny computer that you wear. The [...]

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4 Tons Of Plants per Mile to Ride In Your Car

Study shows vast amounts of 'buried sunshine' needed to fuel society.
A staggering 98 tons of prehistoric, buried plant material ? that's 196,000 pounds ? is required to produce each gallon of gasoline we burn in our cars, SUVs, trucks and other vehicles, according to a study conducted at the University of Utah.
"Can you imagine loading [...]

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Left Shoe Fanatic Held In Japan

There was once a Japanese man who stole a left shoe.
Japanese police have arrested a man for theft after 440 women's left shoes were found in his home.
Officers discovered the hoard after the man, 45, was initially arrested for stealing the left shoes of two women from a hospital in Usa, police said.
The hospital, which [...]

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Robot Dog Fart Causes Airport Crisis

According to a UPI story, there was a security scare at a Norfolk, Viriginia airport when a British man attempted to pass through a security check point with his robot dog. The robot dog farted at an inopportune time, leading security experts to conclude it was a bomb. At this point, "Dave Rogerson, told the [...]

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Tiny Miracles

Manipulating atoms and molecules has a vast and shining future for products ranging from drugs to medical gear to computers.
In the near nanotech future, today's medical instruments will seem crude. Take magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. A current MRI offers surgeons a macro view, comparable to a satellite picture of the Earth. Applying nanotechnology [...]

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Robot Skin Stretches To The Task

Better Android Skin.
According to a NewScientist.com article, researchers Sigurd Wagner and Stephanie Lacour of Princeton University's Macroelectronics Group have developed an elastic metal film that can stretch up to twice its own length while remaining conductive. It can be embedded in silicone and still stretch up to 15%. The material should be ideal for androids, [...]

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A Cheap Ballpoint Pen Is All What You Need To Write In Space

Way to go NASA!
Roland Piquepaille writes "Today, I had a big surprise. Like many people, I always believed that it was impossible to write in space with ordinary pens because ink would not flow. So imagine my astonishment when I read "Pedro Duque's diary from space" this morning. Pedro Duque is an astronaut since 1992. [...]

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