Science, Technology & Health: March 2006 Archives
I don't know what's more ridiculous: that the iZilla Media Monster exists or that it costs barely twice as much as an iPod.
Two terabytes of storage and the ability to rip vinyl records along with CDs and DVDs... plus an iPod docking station, surround sound, an LCD touch-screen, CD/DVD burner, wi-fi and Bluetooth, and so forth. Joey needs one of these.
I have essentially no opinion on the matter, but are there any women who would find it strange to take birth control pills that eliminate menstruation altogether?
The new class of Pill that is being developed contains neither hormone but involves compounds called Progesterone Receptor Modulators (PRMs).PRMs block the production of the progesterone hormone which prepares the body for conception and helps to maintain pregnancy. Because the compound does not contain oestrogen or progesterone and actually blocks the latter hormone, Dr Baird believes the risks of breast cancer and heart problems will be reduced.
The new Pill also stops periods altogether, in contrast to the current versions which mimic menstruation with bleeding each month.
Is this what women want?
The RHex is possibly the most capable robot I've ever seen. The legs are brilliantly effective on just about every sort of terrain.
(HT: Reader BM.)
Superman's got nothing on the new DARPA Radar Scope that can detect movements through up to 12 inches of concrete.
The new "Radar Scope" will give warfighters searching a building the ability to tell within seconds if someone is in the next room, Edward Baranoski from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Special Projects Office, told the American Forces Press Service.By simply holding the portable, handheld device up to a wall, users will be able to detect movements as small as breathing, he said.
No word on whether or not the device will be able to see through clothing, but there are certainly law enforcement applications.
Proposals are expected this week for the new "Visi Building" technology that's more than a motion detector. It will actually "see" through multiple walls, penetrating entire buildings to show floor plans, locations of occupants and placement of materials such as weapons caches, Baranoski said."It will give (troops) a lot of opportunity to stake out buildings and really see inside," he said. "It will go a long way in extending their surveillance capabilities."
The device is expected to take several years to develop. Ultimately, servicemembers will be able to use it simply by driving or flying by the structure under surveillance, Baranoski said.
The technology will probably run into the same legal hurdles as thermal imaging technology. Only lower courts have considered whether or not monitoring radiation emitted from a house constitutes an unreasonable search, and decisions have gone both ways. The Supreme Court has yet to consider it, but the conventional wisdom is that viewing such emissions isn't even a "search" per se, any more than is observing visible spectrum light from a house (i.e., using your eyes to look at it). In essence, allowing incriminating radiation to escape from your house may be legally the same as committing a crime in front of an open window.
The opposite view is that our law derives from common expectations, and that even though thermal radiation may be the same physical phenomena as visible light, people have different expectations regarding it. Someone expecting privacy will close their blinds, but should they be expected to wage an arms race against ever-improving law enforcement technology? That's a race that private citizens can never win, so if privacy is to be preserved at all then our laws need to track our expectations.
Here's a great poster you can print up with all the fundamental particles and interactions in the Standard Model of physics. Perfect for decorating any geek's office!
For non-geeks, learn about the Standard Model or read about the basics of quantum mechanics.
Every time it rains in Los Angeles a dozen or more cliff houses tumble into the ocean... and yet people keep building them. Duh. But here's a cliff habitat with a sturdier foundation I think I'd really enjoy!
My wife says she'd be afraid getting eaten by a shark.
(HT: Reader JV.)
Update:
In response to a reader query, no, my nickname is not "Shark".
In yet another contribution by technology to the world of dating we have Don't Date Him Girl, a site where women can share horror stories about the men they've dated and check out their potential suitors. I don't even what to speculate on the types of things men would write about women on a site based on the reverse premise.
What with all the "100% chance of thunderstorms" predictions for the weekend that ended up being bone-dry, I'm trying to learn more about clouds.
Next up, I need to learn about trees. I hate not being able to identify all the trees in my area, but I've never really tried to learn to tell the differences between them.
Whilst responding to Jaron Lanier's fascinating discussion about the problem of Gordian software, Charles Simonyi turned a rather amusing phrase about DNA.
Because DNA is intentional, its length is short relative to its result—indeed the length of human genome belies its cosmic importance by being shorter than the source codes of many human software artifacts of more modest accomplishments.
It was even more amusing before I understood that the "human software artifacts" were programs and not the programmers themselves.
My brother sent me this article about business in space (which contains the catchy phrasing I stole to title this post) that touches on just how much wealth is waiting to be discovered.
Meanwhile, new technologies are opening up new possibilities. Consider the space elevator, which is enabled by the advent of lightweight carbon nanotubes; a 62,000-mile elevator to the heavens would reduce orbital freight costs by 98 percent and open up space just as the railroads opened up the Wild West.The long-term possibilities are even more celestial. Ever heard of 3554 Amun? It's a space rock about 2 kilometers in diameter that looks as if it might have fallen straight out of The Little Prince. There are three key things to know about 3554 Amun: First, its orbit crosses that of Earth; second, it's the smallest M-class (metal-bearing) asteroid yet discovered; and finally, it contains (at today's prices) roughly $8 trillion worth of iron and nickel, $6 trillion of cobalt, and $6 trillion of platinumlike metals. In other words, whoever owns Amun could become 450 times as wealthy as Bill Gates. And if you time your journey right -- 2020 looks promising -- it's easier to reach than the Moon.
That kind of supply would certainly drive down the costs for all sorts of raw materials, which would further spur the world economy and give a huge boost to the present-day third-world countries that will be struggling to industrialize all though this century. Space exploration will fundamentally change the political landscape of just about every issue, from environmentalism to "globalization" (we'll need a new term once we've got more than one globe).
(HT: Slashdot.)
Update:
Baldrson makes and interesting point: all that metal is worth far more in orbit than it would be on the ground, considering the cost of lifting material into space. A pound of anything in orbit is worth thousands of dollars.
