Archive for August, 2009
Killer Asteroids May Escape NASA’s Notice
Seth Borenstein, AP: NASA is charged with seeking out nearly all the asteroids that threaten Earth but doesn’t have the money to do the job, a federal report says.
That’s because even though Congress assigned the space agency this mission four years ago, it never gave NASA money to build the necessary telescopes, the new National Academy of Sciences report says.
Specifically, NASA has been ordered to spot 90 percent of the potentially deadly rocks hurtling through space by 2020.
Even so, NASA says it’s completed about one-third of its assignment with its current telescope system.
NASA estimates that there are about 20,000 asteroids and comets in our solar system that are potential threats to Earth. They are larger than 460 feet in diameter — slightly smaller than the Superdome in New Orleans. So far, scientists know where about 6,000 of these objects are.
Lake Manicouagan in Quebec, Canada is the result of one of…
Perseid Meteors Shower the Sky
Lauren Davis, io9.com: Didn’t get a chance to see [last] week’s Perseid meteor shower? Amateur and professor astronomy photographers have captured images of the shooting meteors from all over the world.
The Perseid meteor shower occurs every year when the Earth passes into a cloud of debris trailing behind the comet Swift-Tuttle. The shower has already passed its peak for the year, but several quick-fingered photographers have shared their photos of the meteors streaking the sky:
Fabricate Your Own DNA Evidence
DNA evidence has become the gold standard for criminal investigations, but researchers in Israel say that finding DNA at a crime scene may not be evidence of a crime, but rather the handiwork of a clever biology student.
In a paper published in Forensic Science International, Dan Frumkin, a private forensics researcher, claims that fabricating DNA evidence has become so easy that “[a]ny biology undergraduate could perform this.”
Frumkin outlines two methods for fabricating DNA evidence. The first requires access to a small sample of an individual’s DNA, such as a hair or a bit of saliva. The size of the sample is then increased through a common technique known as DNA amplification. Then the hopeful framer takes blood from a different individual, centrifuges it to remove the DNA-carrying white blood cells, and leaves only the red blood cells, which contain no DNA. The person then adds the amplified DNA to the…
The Revolution of the Fabulous 500
The Reverend Billy Talen, leader of The Church of Stop Shopping, is running for mayor of NYC and has but ten weeks to make a strong showing. While it is doubtful he will when with enough votes he can send a message that New Yorkers are fed up with the corporations ruining their neighborhoods.
Could A Robot ‘App Store’ Lead to Massive Robot Collective Intelligence?
iPhones have their app store — but what if we had the same thing for robots? Ultimately a robot’s “learned” routines could also be shared, and problem-solving could even include downloading new robot routines in real-time.
But one science writer asks whether this would create “a massive-scale multi-robot collective intelligence, powered by multiple bots continually uploading and downloading learned behaviors and insights to and from the Robot App Store!”
(The article’s title? “From the robot app store to the global robot brain!”)
Food Fight
Food Fight is “An abridged history of American-centric warfare, from WWII to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict.”
Reality (Of) TV
Aaron Franz, Transalchemy.com: This brief article focuses on television as a tool. We must understand that the television is far more than a modern luxury created simply to entertain us.
It is indeed a tool, which is being used by highly astute technicians. These technicians use the veil of entertainment to get us to lower our guard. This is an old trick. We would be wise to question that which we label harmless entertainment.
To say that television affects the mind is an understatement. That rabbit eared magician has more than one trick up its sleeve.
One of the most important being the ability to hypnotize. At this point it is important to note that hypnotism in and of itself is more than just a cheap trick.
It is absolutely legitimate and scientific in nature. I’ve found that people tend to lump stage hypnotism in with stage magic. This is understandable given their similar…
Suspiciously Prescient Man Files Patent for iPod-Like Device in 1979
Dan Nosowitz, Gizmodo: Kane Kramer, an inventor by trade, came up with a gadget and music distribution service almost eerily similar to the iPod-iTunes relationship that predates it by three decades. The guy predicted details down to DRM and flash memory’s dominance.
Kramer’s device, the IXI, was flash-based, even though flash memory in 1979 only could have held about three minutes of audio, and featured a screen, four-way controls, and was about the size of a cigarette pack. Even weirder, he envisioned the creation and sale of digital music and foresaw all the good and bad that would come from this: No overhead, no inventory, but a great push for independent artists, with the risk of piracy looming large.
He predicted DRM, though he didn’t go into many specifics, and in his one concession to the time, guessed that music would be bought on coin-operated machines placed in high-traffic areas. It’s creepy,…
No We Can’t: Democrats Continue to Blunder Health Care Reform
Are the Democrats truly incompetent considering they hold the White House, a House Majority and filibuster-proof Senate? Or are they in the pocket of the insurance industry just as the Republicans are? Rachel Maddow discuss the state of one of Obama’s major campaign promises with Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi:
Abducted by Aliens: Believers Tell Their Stories
ABC News: In a small New England town, members of a support group, which boasts a growing membership of 1,500, gather for a “secret” meeting.
“I wanna let you know that you’re not alone,” the group leader begins.
Twin sisters Audrey and Debbie, who have asked that their last name and hometown be withheld, have also come a long way to share their experiences.
“It was a long, tiresome battle,” Audrey said. “It’s impacted my life tremendously. I’m still in therapy.”
The group that’s assembled for this meeting is not struggling with alcohol, drugs, sex addition or gambling. They’re part of Starborn, an alien experience and awareness support group, catering to those who say they’ve been abducted by aliens.
Many people have wondered: are earthlings living on a speck of dust — alone in the infinite universe or are there other intelligent life forms out there in the cosmos?
Nearly half of all Americans and millions…
DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show
Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.
The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.
“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”
Advertise on NYTimes.com DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show
Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.
The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.
“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”
CIA Leaker Columnist Robert Novak Dead At 78
Danny Shea, HuffPo: Robert Novak died early Tuesday morning in his home after a year-long battle with brain cancer. One of his more legendary moments in recent memory came in 2005, when he said “Bullshit!” on the air on CNN and stormed off the set after a comment by James Carville.
From the transcript:
NOVAK: Just let me finish what I’m going to say, James. Please, I know you hate to hear me, but you have…
CARVILLE: He’s got to show these right-wingers that he’s got backbone. Show them you’re tough.
NOVAK: Well, I think that’s bullshit. And I hate that. Just let it go. (Novak leaves set.)
A young Ed Henry, who had been moderating the Carville-Novak discussion, later said, “I’m sorry as well that Bob Novak obviously left the set a little early. I had told him in advance that we were going to ask him about the CIA leak case. He was not here for…
IMF Says Global Recession Is Over
The International Monetary Fund says the recession is over. Here at Disinformation we’re not feeling that, and no one we talk to is either. Is this globalist spin from the ruling elites for nefarious New World Order purposes? Or is that just paranoid? Feel free to post comments or email us via the contact tab above.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch): The global recession is over and a recovery has begun, Olivier Blanchard, the top economist for the International Monetary Fund, has said. “The turnaround will not be simple,” Blancard wrote in an article released by the IMF. “The crisis has left deep scars, which will affect both supply and demand for many years to come.”
Rare Star Wars Images
These images are a really candid view of the crew during off-camera moments. Also the one shot with them all out of costume, including R2, is amazing. Enjoy, Sci-Fi heads. Enjoy.
Heroin, Opium Addiction Takes Over Afghanistan
Associated Press reports:
Afghanistan supplies nearly all the world’s opium, the raw ingredient used to make heroin, and while most of the deadly crop is exported, enough is left behind to create a vicious cycle of addiction. There are at least 200,000 opium and heroin addicts in Afghanistan — 50,000 more than in the much bigger, wealthier U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a 2005 survey by the U.N. A new survey is expected to show even higher rates of addiction, a window into the human toll of Afghanistan’s back-to-back wars and desperate poverty.
“Opium is our doctor,” says Beg. “When your stomach hurts, you take a smoke. Then you take a little more. And a little more. And then, you’re addicted. Once you’re hooked, it’s over. So the villagers are drowning in opium. They begin taking it when they are sick, relying on its anesthetic…
Real Time Investigates The Health Care Reform Crisis
Comedian Dana Gould takes to the streets to investigate the public battle over health care in this fantastic segment from Bill Maher’s HBO show. Gould attends town hall meetings where Obama is likened to Hitler for exploring the option of a public health plan. Meanwhile, organizations such as Remote Area Medical, intended to provide medical care in troubled third-world nations like Haiti and Zimbabwe, have set up shop in places like downtown Los Angeles where large numbers of people are suffering from lack of access to health care. Succinctly put, the irony of the situation is that “the people who have stuff are enraged, and the people who have nothing are warm and hopeful.”
Mozart ‘Killed By Strep Throat’
The mysterious death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the tender age of 35 has long fascinated scholars, but researchers now have a new theory.
The composer – who died in Vienna in 1791 – may have succumbed to complications from a sore throat, caused by a bacterial infection.
The University of Amsterdam team think the streptococcus bug infected his kidneys, leading to swelling and death.
Previous theories include poisoning, rheumatic fever and eating bad pork.
Some say the Austrian maestro simply overworked himself into an early grave.
The latest study is published in this week’s issue of the US medical magazine, Annals of Internal Medicine.
Comet Contains Building Blocks Of Life
The amino acid glycine, a fundamental building block of proteins, has been found in a comet for the first time, bolstering the theory that raw ingredients of life arrived on Earth from outer space, scientists said on Monday.
Microscopic traces of glycine were discovered in a sample of particles retrieved from the tail of comet Wild 2 by the NASA spacecraft Stardust deep in the solar system some 242 million miles (390 million km) from Earth, in January 2004.
Samples of gas and dust collected on a small dish lined with a super-fluffy material called aerogel were returned to Earth two years later in a canister that detached from the spacecraft and landed by parachute in the Utah desert.
