Slashdot: ScienceNews for nerds, stuff that matters'Slow' Light To Speed Up the Net- August 14, 2008 JPawlak writes "Researchers believe that it may be possible to increase the speed of the Internet by slowing down certain parts of it by using metamaterials. Metamaterials could be used to replace the bulky and slow electronics that route Internet information, allowing for faster Internet speeds. As data nears its destination, the frequencies must be separated. The light must then be converted into electrical signals, which are stored, routed, and converted back into optical signals. The...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/364489058/article.pl Mechanical Reasoners Battle It Out In Sydney Today- August 13, 2008 Stephan Schulz writes "Today, the CADE ATP System Competition will pit about 20 of the worlds most powerful mechanical mathematicians against each other — and for the first time they can win not only honour, but a monetary prize. The systems will reason against the clock on tasks ranging from undergraduate math problems and Cluedo-like puzzles to figuring out the possible responsibility for terrorist attacks from giant knowledge bases. If you think that is not impressive enough, they are..http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/364232668/article.pl Let the Games Be Doped- August 13, 2008 Hugh Pickens writes "John Tierney poses the question in the New York Times 'what if we let athletes do whatever they wanted to excel' Before you dismiss the notion, consider what we're stuck with today — a system designed to create a level playing field, protect athletes' health and set an example for children, that fails on all counts. The journal Nature, in an editorial in the current issue, complains that 'antidoping authorities have fostered a sporting culture of suspicion, secrecy...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/364200506/article.pl Rat-Brained Robots Take Their First Steps- August 13, 2008 missb writes "Brain tissue cultured from rats has controlled a wheeled robot around a lab, according to New Scientist this week. Researchers in the UK have harnessed signals from thousands of disembodied rat neurons, and manipulated them to get a robot to respond to instructions. The team at the University of Reading in the UK hope their research will help provide treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's and epilepsy."Read more of this story at Slashdot.http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/364140116/article.pl Russian Invasion of Georgia Might Jeopardize Space Station- August 13, 2008 mknewman writes "Sen. Bill Nelson, one of NASA's biggest proponents on the Hill, is openly questioning how Russia's military intervention in Georgia will affect our access to the space station after the Shuttle is retired in 2010. Currently, NASA is able to use Soyuz vehicles for crew access and lifeboat operations thanks to an exemption from the Iran Non-Proliferation Act. The exemption expires in 2011, only one year after the Shuttle is due to head to the museums."Read more of this story at...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/364025667/article.pl Solar Systems Like Ours Are Likely To Be Rare- August 13, 2008 KentuckyFC writes "Astronomers have discovered some 250 planetary systems beyond our own, many of them with curious properties. In particular, our theories of planet formation are challenged by 'hot Jupiters,' gas giants that orbit close to their parent stars. Current thinking is that gas giants can only form far away from stars because gas and dust simply gets blown away from the inner regions. Now astronomers have used computer simulations of the way planetary systems form to understand what..http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/363960105/article.pl Inferring Personality From Email Addresses- August 13, 2008 paleshadows writes "Three researchers from the University of Leipzig published an interesting paper titled 'How extroverted is honey.bunny77hotmail.de Inferring personality from e-mail addresses' (PDF). From the abstract: 'Email addresses represent the thinnest slice of information that people receive from one another. Using 599 e-mail addresses of young adults, their self-reported personality scores and the personality judgments of 100 independent observers, it was shown that personality...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/363895640/article.pl Are US Voters Informed Enough About Science- August 13, 2008 Naturalist writes "For decades, educators and employers have worried that too few Americans are preparing for careers in science. But there's evidence to support a new, broader concern in this election year: Ordinary Americans may not know enough about science to make informed decisions on key questions."Read more of this story at Slashdot.http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/363839822/article.pl First Images From 50-km Enceladus Flyby- August 13, 2008 CheshireCatCO writes "The first pictures from yesterday's flyby of Enceladus are now public. At closest approach, Cassini was set spinning to cancel out the apparent motion of Enceladus so as to capture unsmeared images during the 40,000-mph flyby. Although it wasn't clear that this would work (errors in pointing could easily have made the cameras miss their targets), the maneuver panned out beautifully, producing spectacular images of the surface. Images show the 'tiger stripes' at the south...http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/363673899/article.pl New Scientific Evidence Emerges In Anthrax Case- August 13, 2008 sciencehabit writes "A Science Magazine investigation uses clues from a key document unveiled last week to reconstruct the trail that led the FBI to Bruce Ivins. Among the revelations: Anthrax fingerprinting was not critical to the investigation, as many reports have suggested. Rather, brute-force genetic sequencing, with the help of the J. Craig Venter Institute, helped crack the case. New potential motivations by Ivins are also revealed."Read more of this story at Slashdot.http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/363431768/article.pl |