Archive for December, 2013
$19M AIDS Vaccine Fraud
December 26th, 2013The remarkable thing here is that he was busted. Via: Medical Daily: Iowa State University researcher, Dr. Dong-Pyou Han, resigned after news broke of an investigation into the validity of his AIDS research. Han is believed to have tampered with research results for a possible AIDS vaccine. “At Iowa State’s request, the research samples in […]
No Hands on Deck: Dawn of the Crewless Ship
December 26th, 2013Automation, lower costs, you know the routine. The monkey wrench in the gears appears further down in the piece. Via: Financial Times: Remote-controlled ships used to come wrapped up as presents under the Christmas tree, but if European researchers and one of the world’s best-known engineering groups have their way, full-size versions will start replacing […]
Mikhail Kalashnikov, Soviet Inventor of the AK-47, Dies at 94
December 23rd, 2013Via: Time: Mikhail Kalashnikov, the Soviet general who designed the ubiquitous automatic weapon that now bears his name, died Dec. 23 at the age of 94. Iterations of the gun he invented now exist in the tens of millions, making it the most popular rifle in the wars of the latter half of the twentieth […]
The OpenWorm Project
December 23rd, 2013Via: Telegraph: An ambitious project to recreate an entire roundworm, cell by cell, in a software model has reached a crucial breakthrough as the digital animal wriggled for the first time. The OpenWorm project brings together scientists and programmers from around the world in the common goal of entirely recreating the structure and behaviour of […]
Pentagon Spending Billions of Dollars on Accounting Boondoggles; Yes, Trillions Still Missing
December 23rd, 2013Black hole. Via: Reuters: With its efforts to build reliable accounting systems in disarray, the Pentagon isn’t likely to meet a congressionally mandated 2017 deadline to be audit-ready. All other federal agencies are audited annually, in accordance with a 1990 law, and with rare exceptions, they pass every year. The Pentagon alone has never been […]
Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke
December 23rd, 2013Via: Rolling Stone: If you’ve ever been arrested on a drug charge, if you’ve ever spent even a day in jail for having a stem of marijuana in your pocket or “drug paraphernalia” in your gym bag, Assistant Attorney General and longtime Bill Clinton pal Lanny Breuer has a message for you: Bite me. Breuer […]
Google-Owned SCHAFT Robot Won DARPA Robotics Challenge
December 22nd, 2013Via: Slashgear: The Google-owned Japanese robotics company SCHAFT has won the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials by a wide margin. It scored 27 out of 32 points, beating its nearest competitor IHMC Robotics by seven points. Coming up third was Tartan rescue with 18 points, and MIT following that with 16 points. The contest took place […]
Windows XP: Microsoft’s Ticking Time Bomb
December 22nd, 2013I’m surprised by how many of you guys are still using XP. April 8th, 2014 is the date to circle on your calendar. Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you’ve done it by then. Via: PC Pro: The final deadline for Windows XP support will act as a starting pistol for hackers, as […]
Velkess: New Residential Scale Flywheel Design
December 21st, 2013Via: Scientific American: Renewables could be the world’s primary source of energy if only someone could solve the storage problem—how to store lots of electricity cheaply on a wide scale? Batteries are too expensive and don’t last long enough. Pumped hydro is cheap but not feasible for most locations. Thermal storage is promising but still […]
A Solar Boom So Successful, It’s Been Halted
December 21st, 2013Greed and incompetence at power companies are running up against the unstoppable force of distributed power generation. Not long to go now. Germans laugh at this, by the way. Flashback 2011: Residential Energy Storage with Underground Flywheels — Update 2013: Velkess: New Residential Scale Flywheel Design Via: Scientific American: William Walker and his wife, Mi […]
