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Google

Submission + - SPAM: The Google+ API Is Released

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Developers have been waiting since late June for Google to release their API to the public. Well, today is that Day. Just a few minute ago Chris Chabot, from Google+ Developer Relations, announced that the Google+ API is now available to the public
Link to Original Source

Comment Re:Why have any racial indicators? (Score 2) 464

by deadmantyping (#37144694) Attached to: American Grant Writing: Race Matters

My experience is more with Department of Energy grants, so I don't know how much of this applies to NIH grants, but in grants I have dealt with a lot of time is spent basically promoting the expertise of the PI and how that person's expertise would allow them to successfully perform the research proposed in the grant proposal.

If you intend to strip out all identifying information then a large part of the introductory sections are can no longer be confirmed by the peer reviewers by means of checking the PI's background or references. Expertise and ability to successfully execute the proposed research is an important aspect of any grant, and it can be an unreasonable burden on a Project Manager to have to evaluate each proposal without some kind of expert input.

I agree with the sentiment of wanting to strip out all identifying information, as I have personally experienced bias from competing researchers during various peer review processes, but I believe that it would simply be impractical.
Security

Submission + - DHS chief: What we learned from Stuxnet (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "If there's a lesson to be learned from last year's Stuxnet worm, it's that the private sector needs to be able to respond quickly to cyber-emergencies, according to the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. When Stuxnet hit, the U.S. Deparment of Homeland security was sent scrambling to analyze the threat. Systems had to be flown in from Germany to the federal government's Idaho National Laboratory. In short order the worm was decoded, but for some time, many companies that owned Siemens equipment were left wondering what, if any measures, they should take to protect themselves from the new worm."
Science

Submission + - Neutrons could test Newton's gravity and string th (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by NotSanguine
NotSanguine writes: A pioneering technique using subatomic particles known as neutrons could give microscopic hints of extra dimensions or even dark matter, researchers say.

The idea rests on probing any minuscule variations in gravity as it acts on slow-moving neutrons in a tiny cavity.

A Nature Physics report outlines how neutrons were made to hop from one gravitational quantum state to another.
Japan

Submission + - TEPCO Unveils Plan To Deal With Fuksuhima Crisis (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by RedEaredSlider
RedEaredSlider writes: Tokyo Electric Power Co. unveiled its plan for dealing with the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

TEPCO said the radiation levels should drop over the next three months. It will take about six months for the reactors to achieve "cold shutdown" in which the temperature of the water inside the reactor is less than 100 degrees Celsius (212 F).

The current plan for cooling the reactors will mean injecting nitrogen into the reactor pressure vessel. All four damaged reactors experienced hydrogen explosions when water, heated by nuclear fuel, turned to steam and reacted with the zirconium alloy cladding of the fuel rods. Hydrogen, when exposed to oxygen, combusts. Nitrogen is an inert gas, so TEPCO hopes that it will prevent further explosions.
Editorial

Submission + - Gamers Don't Know Their Own Consoles (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by deadmantyping
deadmantyping writes: Ars Technica reports on a survey of 6,260 responses which indicates that only 40 percent of PS3 owners knew that their console included Bluray. Apparently a large portion of gamers aren't aware of the non-gaming capabilities of their systems. Ars speculates that this might help explain Nintendo's apparent dominance in the console market since their introduction of the Wii.
Space

Submission + - Female Astronaut Sets Space Record (thestar.com)

Submitted by
Raver32
Raver32 writes: "U.S. astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams set a record for the longest single spaceflight by any woman. Williams, who has lived at the space station since December, surpassed the record of 188 days set by astronaut Shannon Lucid at the Mir space station in 1996. "It's just that I'm in the right place at the right time," Williams, 41, said when Mission Control in Houston congratulated her on the record. "Even when the station has little problems, it's just a beautiful, wonderful place to live.""

Feed Rice University turns skeleton into a data network (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wearables, Networking

We've seen plenty of ideas and even a patent related to the employment of human skin in the transport of data. We've also seen our fair share of bone conducting audio products come to market in the last few years. Now in a synthesis of the two, scientists at Rice University have developed a technique whereby rattles to the skeleton can transmit information to gadgets and medical devices strapped on (or inside of) your meat sack. Their approach has resulted in "amazingly few errors" even when using low-powered vibrations. Great, soon our handshakes will transfer both biological and software-related viruses? Oh boy.

[Thanks, Geetu]

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