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Crashing rockets could lead to novel sample-return technology

During spring break the last five years, a University of Washington class has headed to the Nevada desert to launch rockets and learn more about the science and engineering involved. Sometimes, the launch would fail and a rocket smacked hard into the ground.

This year, the session included launches from a balloon that were deliberately directed into a dry lakebed. Far from being failures, these were early tests of a concept that in the future could be used to collect and return samples from forbidding environments – an erupting volcano, a melting nuclear reactor or even an asteroid in space. (more…)

Global warming led to dwarfism in mammals — twice

Environment, Science

ANN ARBOR — Mammal body size decreased significantly during at least two ancient global warming events. A new finding that suggests a similar outcome is possible in response to human-caused climate change, according to a University of Michigan paleontologist and his colleagues.

Researchers have known for years that mammals such as primates and the groups that include horses and deer became much smaller during a period of warming, called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), about 55 million years ago. (more…)

Überwachung kann Richtung Totalitarismus abgleiten

Politics

(Teil 1) Um Terroranschläge zu verhindern, kommen Instrumente zur Anwendung, die jederzeit den Wandel zu einem Polizeistaat erlauben. (1)

Das Monitoring der Menschen, ob privat oder staatlich, folgt einer eigenen Logik. Wo ausgespäht und ausgehorcht wird, sind alle verdächtig. Niemand ist ausgenommen und der Generalverdacht zur Norm geworden, wie die neueste Episode in der Geschichte der amerikanischen National Security Agency (NSA) zeigt: Sogar das Handy der deutschen Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel wurde von den US-Staatsschützern «abgegriffen», wie der Ausdruck lautet. (more…)

Unpublished WW1 novel shares secrets of the past with a new generation

Culture, Politics

A heroic World War One soldier’s previously unknown semi-autobiographical novel has come to light following the completion of a project to archive and make public the manuscripts, poems and correspondence of Frederick William Harvey.

F W Harvey’s papers are now available to the public thanks to a major collaborative project between the University of Exeter and the Gloucestershire Archives.

The Gloucestershire soldier became well known nationally for his poetry and his acts of courage. Despite having trained as a solicitor, he enlisted in the ranks and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal before being made an officer. Found among Harvey’s papers was an unpublished novel titled ‘Will Harvey – A Romance’, which is a fictional, but semi-autobiographical, novel which covers the early lives and school-days of two brothers. The story then follows them into the trenches of WWI, where Eric is killed (as was F W Harvey’s brother in real life) and Will is captured (again as in real life). There were several attempts to have it published however it seems that the post-WWI public was no longer interested in reading about the war. (more…)

Transgender controversies can lead to ‘gender panic,’ study finds

Culture, Health

When New York City moved in 2006 to make it easier for transgender people to revise the gender on their birth certificates, the proposal was widely expected to pass. (more…)

Microsoft unveils game-changer for South Africa’s small businesses

Technology

Boston Consulting Group research highlights potential for technology to help drive significant revenue and job growth by SMEs.

JOHANNESBURG — Nov. 5, 2013 — Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner on Tuesday unveiled an online hub that will give South African small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) access to a range of free products and services from Microsoft and other partners.

The hub, at https://southafrica.biz4afrika.com, is specifically designed to aggregate all the best resources — both IT and non-IT — available to local SMEs. The baseline services offered are free and highly relevant for South African SMEs looking to bring their business online and improve their general competitiveness. The launch offer will provide SMEs with the opportunity to get their businesses online for free for the first year. This includes a free .co.za domain, a free website, as well as free email and collaboration tools.* (more…)

Energieverbrauch in Deutschland steigt

Environment

Jetzt Kosten sparen durch Gebäudeenergieberatung

Der Energieverbrauch wird in Deutschland laut einer Prognose der AG Energiebilanzen für das Gesamtjahr voraussichtlich um zwei Prozent steigen. Und mit Beginn der kalten Jahreszeit laufen die Heizungsanlagen jetzt wieder auf Hochtouren. Das geht ins Geld. Der NABU empfiehlt daher eine Gebäudeenergieberatung, denn dadurch können nicht nur Energiekosten eingespart, sondern auch das Klima geschützt werden.

„Hauseigentümer und Mieter werden Jahr für Jahr mit steigenden Energiepreisen konfrontiert“, sagte NABU-Bundesgeschäftsführer Leif Miller. Das treibe zum einen die Stromrechnung nach oben, aber noch viel stärker würden die Heizkosten ins Gewicht fallen. „Gut zwei Drittel ihres Geldes verheizen Hauseigentümer und Mieter buchstäblich in den eigenen vier Wänden.“ Für Heizöl, Erdgas und Fernwärme explodierten die Kosten von 2005 bis 2012 um bis zu 62 Prozent. (more…)

Breast screening: The new high-tech, simpler approach

Health

In two years, 3D screening has picked up more early cancers than mammography while cutting down on the number of callbacks. One radiologist calls it “a game changer.”

October 2013) No woman wants to get a call that her radiologist has found a suspicious image on her mammogram, and then learn that she might need a biopsy—only to find out it was all a false alarm. Now, thanks to new technology, fewer women will get those calls.

Digital breast tomosynthesis, or 3-D mammography, is transforming breast screening by significantly reducing callbacks while picking up more cancers, and eliminating some of the fear and anxiety many women experience. All women who visit the Breast Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven for mammography are now getting tomosynthesis over plain 2D mammography, says Liane Philpotts, MD, chief of breast imaging for the Breast Center. (more…)