Posts for 'Science and Tach' Category

Showing that the ingredients for life in the universe may be distributed far more widely than previously thought, scientists have found traces of a key building block of biology in dust snatched from the tail of a comet.

Scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have uncovered glycine, the simplest amino acid and a vital compound necessary for life, in a sample from the comet Wild 2. The sample was captured by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, which dropped it into the Utah desert in 2006.

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The Ministry of Science and Technology (MINCIT) will hold on August 04, in Luanda, its first extraordinary meeting of the Science and Technology Superior Council (CSCT). According to a press release from MINCIT that was made available to ANGOP this Sunday, the event will start with the swearing in of 15 new members of the council, reading and approval of the minute from last meeting.

CSCT is a branch created under the article 1º of the Decree number 4/02 of the Cabinet Council with a consultative duty, as well as multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary concert. Co-ordinated by MINCIT, the council is mainly made up of members of the scientific community.

Epson has won global recognition for its sales of 3-Chip Liquid Crystal Display (3LCD) projectors from a reputed research firm. The renowned international market research firm, Futuresource Consulting Ltd affirmed that Epson, for 8 consecutive years (2001 to 2008), had been the global leader in projector sales.

In 2008, Epson’s market share had expanded by 17.09% (versus 2007), achieving a commanding 20.62% share of the digital projectors market world-wide. In South and Southeast Asia, Epson 3LCD projectors lead the market with 15.2% share of a highly fragmented market of more than 30 competing brands.

Epson believes that its success in the projection market is attributed to the technological superiority of 3LCD, its comprehensive range of projectors products, and its excellent after-sale services. For instance, to ensure unparalleled visual realism from the demands of home theatre enthusiasts, Epson launched a full High Definition (HD), 1080p projector, the Epson EH-TW4000 in December 2008 that is able to achieve a stunning contrast ratio of 75,000:1 – one of the highest in the industry to date.

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Still remember the comments I made in my review of Dell Mini 12 last month? I found that I could hardly use it because the pre-installed Windows Vista made it run like a Toyota Avanza hauling a home trailer.

Still, I loved the netbook because of its large screen, stylishness, lightweight and, especially, comfortable keyboard.

At that time, I actually knew that the solution for the sluggishness was already on the horizon. It was certainly not a downgrade to Windows XP, as the days of the XP were already numbered. Instead, it would be an upgrade to the next version of Windows.

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The Science & Technology Policy Research and Information Center (STPI), formerly the Science & Technology Information Center (STIC) and subordinate to the National Science Council (NSC), Executive Yuan, was reassigned to the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) on January 16, 2005 in order to accommodate the government’s overall science and technology development needs.

Its primary mission is to fulfill both policy research and information needs of the nation’s overall development in science and technology.STPI is tasked to strengthen Taiwan’s policy research and analysis in science and technology and continue to establish scientific and technological knowledge databases, using its remarkable expertise of over 30 years of experience.

In information processing and analysis. Relying on the services of both domestic and foreign experts and specialists, STPI seeks to create a scientific and technological policy idea interchange platform and promote the development of the domestic scientific and technological decision-making system.

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By using high-definition audio recordings of the marine mammals, the research team was able to assess the sounds' architecture pictorially. British acoustics engineer John Stuart Reid and US dolphin researcher Jack Kassewitz, who led the project, said the imaged sounds are known as 'CymaGlyphs'.

According to the researchers, CymaGlyphs should form the basis of the lexicon of dolphin language, as each dolphin 'picture word' is represented by a different pattern.Most researchers over the years have supported the theory that while certain sounds made by dolphins represent language, the sounds' complexity makes them difficult to analyse.

Previous attempts to display the sounds made by cetaceans (e.g. whales and dolphins) resulted in relatively simple graphs displaying frequency and amplitude.The CymaScope captures the actual sound vibrations imprinted in the dolphin's natural environment, the team said, allowing complex visual details of dolphin sounds to be successfully imaged for the first time.

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They can't match Harry Potter yet, but scientists are moving closer to creating a real cloak of invisibility. Researchers at Duke University, who developed a material that can "cloak" an item from detection by microwaves, report that they have expanded the number of wavelengths they can block.

In 2006 the team reported they had developed so-called metamaterials that could deflect microwaves around a three-dimensional object, essentially making it invisible to the waves.The system works like a mirage, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky.

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A Dec. 23 Fence Post headline states, "Global warming is real, immediate." This is a dangerous and uninformed statement of opinion - not fact - akin to falsely shouting "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater.

Consider the following: Major agencies tracking earth's temperature (including the Hadley Climate Research Unit in Britain and others) have reported "the earth cooled 0.7 degrees Celsius in 2007.

The fastest decline in the age of instrumentation, putting us back to where the earth was in 1930." The same agencies concluded, "The mean global temperature, as measured by satellite, is the same as it was in 1980. In the last few years, sea level has stopped rising, hurricane and cyclone activity in the Northern Hemisphere is at a 24-year low and sea ice globally is also the same as it was in 1980."

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The unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft blasted off smoothly from a launch pad in southern Andhra Pradesh to embark on a two-year mission of exploration. The robotic probe will orbit the Moon, compiling a 3-D atlas of the lunar surface and mapping the distribution of elements and minerals. The launch is regarded as a major step for India as it seeks to keep pace with other space-faring nations in Asia.

Indian PM Manmohan Singh hailed the launch as the "first step" in a historic milestone in the country's space programme. "Our scientific community has once again done the country proud and the entire nation salutes them," Mr Singh said in a message. The launch was greeted with applause by scientists gathered at the site.

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Microsoft has a plan to make Windows boot faster. Their idea is to have a super-fast booting subset of the OS that gives you limited access to certain applications.

As I recall, we used to have this, back in 1990. It was called DOS. You could boot the PC in about 15 seconds and run Word Perfect or whatever. Then if you were feeling masochistic, you could type Win and wait two minutes for the GUI to load.

This is not what instant-on means to most people and to suggest that it might be a "feature" is ridiculous. Even Microsoft knows it's ridiculous, which is why it is asking for customer feedback on the idea.

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