The ad, clipped from one of the national Pakistani newspapers today (it apparently ran in all of them), seeks bids for a national censoring firewall: “Each box should be able to handle a block list of up to 50 million URLs (concurrent unidirectional filtering capacity) with processing delay of not more than 1 milliseconds.” (via Pakistani newspaper ad seeks bids for a Great Firewall of Pakistan - Boing Boing)
Source: Boing Boing
The sensational result that neutrinos can travel faster than the speed of light may be undone by nothing more than a simple mechanical error. Scientists from the OPERA collaboration at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy have “identified two issues that could significantly affect the reported result,” wrote OPERA spokesman Antonio Ereditato in an email. The first issue is a faulty connection of the fiber optic cable bringing the GPS signal to the experiment’s master clock. The experiment’s GPS may also have been providing the wrong time-stamps during synchronization between events. “These two issues can modify the neutrino time of flight in opposite directions,” Ereditato wrote. (via Faster-than-Light Neutrinos May be Due to Faulty Cable | Wired Science | Wired.com)
Source: Wired
In this incredible series of sculptures, artist Giuseppe Penone carefully removes the rings of growth to reveal the ‘sapling within’. By carving out the inside of a tree trunk and leaving the knots in place, they eventually emerge as tiny limbs shown above. (via Picture of the Day: The Hidden Life Within)
Source: twistedsifter.com
Anne Frank, the Jewish girl whose diary and death in a Nazi concentration camp made her a symbol of the Holocaust, was allegedly baptized posthumously Saturday by a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to whistleblower Helen Radkey, a former member of the church. (via Mormon Baptism Targets Anne Frank — Again)
Source: The Huffington Post
After thousands of hours of digging in the north Indian jungle, scientists have discovered a new family of amphibians. But they don’t look much like frogs: they resemble nothing so much as big, fat nightcrawlers. There are about 180 species worldwide of legless amphibians, called caecilians (pronounced just like “Sicilian”), which can grow to be up to three feet long and live only in wet, tropical regions. This newly defined Indian family, which falls within that group, includes several species new to science. Caecilians have unusual nesting habits: the females lay eggs deep in the soil and stay coiled around them, apparently without eating, for the 2-3 months it takes for them to hatch. One of the most striking videos we have of the new creatures is of young almost ready to be born squirming and writhing within the clear globes of their eggs, like eyeballs filled with living jelly (watch below). Appearances aside, ceacilians are not related to earthworms at all. This is a case of convergent evolution, in which two unrelated groups of animals evolve similar traits in response to their environments. Like worms, ceacilians burrow in wet soil, and for that lifestyle, leglessness is de rigeur. The Indian family’s nearest relatives are actually more than 7,000 miles away, in Africa. But they didn’t get there by inchworming their way over; instead, the species’ shared ancestors probably evolved when the two landmasses were connected. (via These “Worms” are Actually a New Family of Amphibians | 80beats | Discover Magazine)
Source: blogs.discovermagazine.com
Source: realitista
Construction firm aims at space elevator in 2050
It may be possible to travel to space in an elevator as early as 2050, a major construction company has announced. Obayashi Corp., headquartered in Tokyo, on Monday unveiled a project to build a gigantic elevator that would transport passengers to a station 36,000 kilometers above the Earth. For the envisaged project, the company would utilize carbon nanotubes, which are 20 times stronger than steel, to produce cables for the space elevator. The idea of space elevators has been described in several science-fiction novels. Obayashi, however, believes it is possible to construct one in the real world thanks to carbon nanotubes, which were invented in the 1990s, the company said. Some other organizations have also been studying the development of space elevators, such as the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In Obayashi’s project, a cable would be stretched up to 96,000 kilometers, or about one-fourth of the distance between the Earth and the moon. One end of the cable would be anchored at a spaceport on the ground, while the other would be fitted with a counterweight. The terminal station would house laboratories and living space. The car could carry up to 30 people to the station at 200 kilometers per hour, which would mean a 7-1/2 day trip to reach the station. Magnetic linear motors are one possible means of propulsion for the car, according to Obayashi. Solar power generation facilities would also be set up around the terminal station to transmit power to the ground, the company added. Whether carbon nanotubes can be mass-produced economically enough and whether various organizations from around the world can work together are two key issues facing the development of the space elevator, according to the company. “At this moment, we cannot estimate the cost for the project,” an Obayashi official said. “However, we’ll try to make steady progress so that it won’t end just up as simply a dream.” (via Construction firm aims at space elevator in 2050 : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri))
Source: yomiuri.co.jp
