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Comment Re:Peh. (Score 1) 754

by thehostiles (#38198822) Attached to: Paper On Super Flu Strain May Be Banned From Publication

but can we really say that any terrorist group (hell, any government) knows enough about science and biology not to do something like this?
Scientists were worried that the first atomic bomb would ignite the atmsophere. They were wrong, but we still tried it out anyway.

I think the issue isn't about targetting or precision, but more about shortseightness and general stupidity.
Medicine

Paper On Super Flu Strain May Be Banned From Publication 754

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the secret-dolphin-plot-to-overthrow-opressors dept.
Pierre Bezukhov writes with this excerpt from an article at Doctor Tipster: "A Dutch researcher has created a virus with the potential to kill half of the planet's population. Now, researchers and experts in bioterrorism debate whether it is a good idea to publish the virus creation 'recipe'. However, several voices argue that such research should have not happened in the first place. The virus is a strain of avian influenza H5N1 genetically modified to be extremely contagious ... created by researcher Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, Netherlands. The work was first presented at a conference dedicated to influenza that took place in September in Malta."
Australia

In Australia, Immunize Or Lose Benefits 680

Posted by Soulskill from the get-healthy-or-else dept.
An anonymous reader writes with news of a plan from the Australian government to cut down on the number of kids who aren't vaccinated. The new scheme will deny family tax benefits to parents whose children don't pass immunization checks. Quoting: "The FTB supplement, worth $726 per child each year, will now only be paid once a child is fully immunized at these checks. Families are already required to have their child fully immunized to receive Child Care Benefit and the Child Care Rebate. Children will also be required for the first time to be vaccinated against meningococcal C, pneumococcal and chicken pox. Children will also be immunized against measles, mumps and rubella earlier, at 18 months instead of the current four years of age."
Television

FOX To Host New Cosmos 206

Posted by timothy from the with-nancy-cartwright-narration-please dept.
twocows writes "FOX is set to make a new season of Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,' hosted by Neil Degrasse Tyson and written by none other than Ann Druyan (Carl Sagan's widow). Let's hope they don't screw it up like every other good show they've aired in the past decade."
Education

Submission + - Scientists Take Charles Darwin on the Road

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Craig McClain reports that team of evolutionary scientists recently traveled to the heart of America visiting rural schools and communities in Nebraska, Montana, and Virginia to share their excitement about science on the birthday of Charles Darwin and were overwhelmed with the graciousness, enthusiasm and sincerity of the teachers, school administration and particularly the students that hosted them. "Over the course of our visits, the questions we received from students were thoughtful and founded in sheer curiosity about the science we presented," writes MacClain. "Indeed, the questions were the most exciting part of our collective visits." Another purpose of the trip was to introduce people to the diverse types of research scientists do, open students’ minds to the possibilities of careers in science, and offer an alternative to stereotypes of science and scientists in general. McClain says the end of our visit to Perkins County High School, a 10th-grader told us, “You guys are not what I expected from scientists. You’re more normal.” Some criticize the Darwin Day Road Show for being nothing more than a “Darwinist ministry,” others for it not being more explicit in its discussion of evolution and Darwin, but with this year's success, there will be a Darwin Day Road Show 2012 and the National Center for Science Education is planning to hit all 50 states by 2015. MacClain says the team has found a middle ground that allows scientists to stop communicating at and start communicating with the public. "It reminds us all that interactions between science and society need not be contentious. At its heart, science is about questions, and we all naturally ask them.""
Government

'Motherlode' of Data Seized At Bin Laden Compound 718

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-saw-an-unclelode-once dept.
itwbennett writes "The raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan Sunday also turned up an 'intelligence harvest' of computer-based data that was described by an anonymous government source as 'the motherlode of intelligence.' The data is being sifted through at a secret site in Afghanistan. An unnamed official was quoted by Politico as saying: 'Hundreds of people are going through it now. It's going to be great even if only 10 percent of it is actionable. They cleaned it out. Can you imagine what's on Osama bin Laden's hard drive?'"

Submission + - Instant Quantum Communication Is Near (popsci.com)

Submitted by fljmayer
fljmayer writes: In this experiment, researchers in Australia and Japan were able to transfer quantum information from one place to another without having to physically move it. It was destroyed in one place and instantly resurrected in another, “alive” again and unchanged. This is a major advance, as previous teleportation experiments were either very slow or caused some information to be lost. See more at http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-04/quantum-teleportation-breakthrough-could-lead-instantanous-computing

Submission + - Scientists aim to improve photosynthesis (cam.ac.uk)

Submitted by
vasanth
vasanth writes: "Two new initiatives at the University of Cambridge aim to address the growing demand on the Earth’s resources for food and fuel by improving the process of photosynthesis.

Four transatlantic research teams – two of which include academics from Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences – will explore ways to overcome limitations in photosynthesis which could then lead to ways of significantly increasing the yield of important crops for food production or sustainable bioenergy.

Despite the fact that photosynthesis is the basis of energy capture from the sun in plants, algae and other organisms, it has some fundamental limitations. There are trade-offs in nature which mean that photosynthesis is not as efficient as it could be – for many important crops such as wheat, barley, potatoes and sugar beet, the theoretical maximum is only 5%, depending on how it is measured. There is scope to improve it for processes useful to us, for example increasing the amount of food crop or energy biomass a plant can produce from the same amount of sunlight."
Idle

Submission + - What Happens If You Get Sucked Out of a Plane? (discovery.com) 2

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "We've all wondered about it. When flying at 30,000ft, you look around the cramped economy class cabin thinking 'I wonder if I'd survive being sucked out of this plane if a hole, say, just opened above my head?' That's probably around the time that you should fasten your seat belt. According to medical experts interviewed by Discovery News in the wake of the Southwest Airlines gaping hole incident, the rapid depressurization, low oxygen levels and freezing cold would render you unconscious very quickly. Assuming you don't get chopped in half as you exit through the hole and hit the tail, you'd be long dead before you hit the ground. Nice."

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