Thus when the mighty hordes of four-metre-long spiders appear in 2060 or so, they will - by our calculations - be plated with 26cm arachnocomposite protection, in the same league as or better than modern ceramic body armour but immensely thicker.

I'm starting to look for used tanks now. Anyone else?

2060: Humvee-sized, bulletproof meat-eating spiders attack • The Register

In a paper presented on Monday, chemist Pamela Mosier-Boss told the annual convention of the American Chemical Society in Salt Lake City that her team had gotten "very significant" evidence of some sort of nuclear reaction.null

I really hope this is real.

It would be the dawn of an entirely new age.

FOXNews.com - Navy Chemist May Have Rediscovered 'Cold Fusion' - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

A research team led by professor Tomiki Ikeda at the Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed what is being called the world’s first plastic motor powered solely and directly by light.

This is just COOL!

Light-sensitive shape-shifting plastic drives motor ::: Pink Tentacle

Cars that drive themselves — even parking at their destination — could be ready for sale within a decade

Ok, this would be cool and all, but how about a car that doesn't run on fossil fuels first?

Just because we CAN do a thing, doesn't mean that we SHOULD do a thing...

I can just imagine it... "Auto driving cars hacked, 312 car pileup on I-285 in Atlanta, 42 dead, 176 injured, and over 200 cars destroyed. The Terrorist group New-Al-Qaeda has taken credit for the attack."

The Associated Press: GM Researching Driverless Cars

ubernoir wrote:

Human skin cells have been reprogrammed by two groups of scientists to mimic embryonic stem cells with the potential to become any tissue in the body.

The breakthrough promises a plentiful new source of cells for use in research into new treatments for many diseases.

I've since read this link, and several others, found it highlighted in my local paper today, and I pray that this is the next step forward in engineering cells to provide replacement organs without having to deal with the religious right, and their agenda.

I'm very interested to see if brain neurons can be re-grown to assist Alzheimer patients regain their memories...

This is nothing short of amazing... and I'm glad to see these advances...

RE: BBC NEWS | Health | Skin transformed into stem cells

possibly noteworthy wrote:

It seems there's nothing like natural beauty to bring out the best in high-definition technology. The BBC's Planet Earth: The Complete Series has been wowing high-definition audiences in the States where it's been pronounced as the biggest money-spinner to ever hit the HD-DVD and Blu-ray disc market.

Great! So maybe people really do want to know more about science ...

"This series was made for high definition," Sanders says. "Its success points to consumers wanting to see and hear high-definition content, and there isn't a huge amount of true content available from broadcast or cable or satellite."

Oh, I guess not. It's just about pretty pictures and high-tech bling.

Shock

HORROR!

I don't have an HD capable TV, and don't plan on owning one until I'm FORCED to by the FCC. My 36" Sanyo has a great picture, and I love BBC's planet earth. So for me, it's not about the bling... it's about the earth...

RE: BBC's Planet Earth is highest grossing HD disc in US

Rattle wrote:

"Hi, My name is Decius, and I am the ruler of the third planet encircling our sun. If you dare, come to our planet, and find me, I will fight hand to hand/tentacle/appendage/leg/eye/antenna and the to the victor go the spoils.

If you don't want to come here, then you are weak, useless and should fly into the nearest sun."

All hail our fearless leader! You must get through him before you can come for us, in the hills, where we are well fortified.

Yes, YES! Decius will PROTECT US FROM TEH EVIL SPACE MONSTERS!!!

RE: Is the search for aliens such a good idea?

possibly noteworthy wrote:
It's interesting to see people so worked up over this.

Jared Diamond, professor of evolutionary biology and Pulitzer Prize winner, says: "Those astronomers now preparing again to beam radio signals out to hoped-for extraterrestrials are naive, even dangerous."

I've always expressed disdain for SETI@home, but this is even more useless, though perhaps less wasteful:

Cosmic Connexion, a firm based near Cape Canaveral in Florida, invites you to e-mail your messages to them and they will then beam them, free, into space and "introduce you to extraterrestrials."

Today MySpace, tomorrow MyUniverse. Just imagine the time sink of approving all those friend requests ...

Kewl!!! I'm sending one...

"Hi, My name is Decius, and I am the ruler of the third planet encircling our sun. If you dare, come to our planet, and find me, I will fight hand to hand/tentacle/appendage/leg/eye/antenna and the to the victor go the spoils.

If you don't want to come here, then you are weak, useless and should fly into the nearest sun."

That's gonna be so cool.... !

RE: Is the search for aliens such a good idea?

Mike the Usurper wrote:

dc0de wrote:

Dagmar wrote:

Decius wrote:

Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe solar cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth. Beginning to plan for adaptation to such a cool period, one which may continue well beyond one 11-year cycle, as did the Little Ice Age, should be a priority for governments. It is global cooling, not warming, that is the major climate threat to the world, especially Canada. As a country at the northern limit to agriculture in the world, it would take very little cooling to destroy much of our food crops, while a warming would only require that we adopt farming techniques practiced to the south of us.

The earth is, in fact, way overdue for an ice age... So perhaps we should actually increase greenhouse gas emmisions, killing the ozone layer, and thus trapping heat during the long, long solar winter that approaches.

Fuck all that. Start digging and build underground.

Dagmar - I'm with you... "Hedgehogs Unite!"

Dome. It worked in Logan's Run didn't it?

Nah, deeper, like 3 to 4 hundred feet.

stable temperatures, and thermal heating in some areas... and besides, we could put heat exchangers on the surface, and heat up the underground...

Take a 3' diameter bundle of fiber optic, and bury it straight down, to transfer sunlight into the dark areas. sounds great to me...

RE: Read the Sunspots

All Hail the Holy Shark!

oh, and bad, bad stingray... killing the return of our lord!

Hammerhead shark gives virgin birth | Science | Reuters