Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Space

Submission + - TheSpaceGame.org: Design your route to Jupiter (thespacegame.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Advanced Concepts Team of the European Space Agency(ESA) is celebrating the World Space Week (4-10 October 2010) with the release of 'The Space Game', an online game for interplanetary trajectory design.

The Space Game (http://www.thespacegame.org/) is an online crowdsourcing experiment where you are given as the role of a mission designer to seek for the best path to travel through space. The interactive game, coded in HTML5, challenges the players to devise fuel-efficient trajectories to various bodies of the Solar System via a user-friendly interface. The aim of the experiment is get people from all ages and backgrounds to come up with better strategies that can help improving the effectiveness of the current computer algorithms.

As part of the events organized world wide for the space week, the first problem of the game is to reach Jupiter with the lowest cost of propellant. The best scores by 10 October will be displayed on the Advanced Concepts Team website and the three best designs will also receive some ESA prizes.

Submission + - Best School for Video Game Programming Degree? (gamecareerguide.com)

Submitted by Proudrooster
Proudrooster writes: Fellow Slashdotters. I have transitioned to teaching and my students have asked me what is the best path to take to work in the video game programming industry. Which would be of more benefit, pursing a Computer Science Degree or taking an accelerated program like those at FullSail? I have a CS degree and suspect that the CS degree would be of more benefit in the long run, but I would like anyone in the industry to share their wisdom and experience with my students trying to follow in your footsteps. If you could recommend some programs in your replies it would be appreciated.
Science

Submission + - Brilliant Pics of Bizarre Sea Critters (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Today, scientists have announced the completion of the first ever Census of Marine Life. The colossal 10-year effort involved 2,700 researchers from 80 countries. To mark the occasion, Discover's blog 80beats has a photo gallery of some of the most marvelously strange sea creatures photographed in the course of the census. The blog post also explains some of the census's most important findings, including the dramatic decline of many commercially important large marine animals, and troubling new evidence of a decline in the phytoplankton that serves as the base of the marine food chain.
Lord of the Rings

Submission + - MGM and Warner Near on Deal for 'Hobbit' Films - N (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
CmdrTaco
CmdrTaco writes: "Jamie found an NYT story that says "After months of negotiation and delay, Warner Brothers and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are on the verge of an agreement that would allow the director Peter Jackson to begin shooting a two-part version of J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" early next year.""

Submission + - Boy of 15 fitted with robotic heart (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: What do you do when a 15-year-old boy is close to death and ineligible for a heart transplant? If you’re Dr Antonio Amodeo you turn to an artificial solution and transplant a robotic heart giving the boy another 20-25 years of life.

The Italian boy in question suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy which rapidly degenerates the muscles and eventually leads to death. Having such a disease renders the boy ineligible for a heart transplant meaning almost certain death without an alternative solution.

Dr Amodeo found such an alternative in the form of a 90 gram fully-robotic heart that took 10 hours to fit inside the boy’s left ventricle. It is a permanent solution offering as much as 25 years of life and is powered by a battery worn as a belt and connected to behind his left ear.

Submission + - New CCTV site in UK pays people to watch

Submitted by pyrosine
pyrosine writes: Have you ever felt like being paid for watching live CCTV footage?
The BBC are reporting CCTV site, "Internet Eyes" is doing exactly that. Offering up to £1000 to people who report suspicious activity, the scheme seems an easy way to make money.
Not everyone is pleased with the scheme though, the Information Commissioner's Office is worried it will lead to voyeurism or misuse, but what difference does it make when you can find said webcams with a simple google search?
Space

US Lab Models Galaxy Cluster Merger 89

Posted by samzenpus from the we're-going-to-need-more-ram dept.
astroengine writes "The scales are mind-boggling and the physics is cutting edge, so how do you go about simulating the collision of two galactic clusters? Using some of the most powerful computers in the world, researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, the Flash Center at the University of Chicago and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have done just that."
Music

Anti-Piracy Lawyers Caught Pirating Each Other 131

Posted by samzenpus from the dog-eat-dog dept.
An anonymous reader writes "We would like to think that the lawyers that are prosecuting alleged copyright infringers are practicing what they preach, but it looks like one of the most high profile firms involved in such cases are just as guilty of stealing others' work as those who are downloading illegal media."

Slashdot Top Deals

Any program which runs right is obsolete.

Close