Category: Sci/Tech

Can I have Johnny Depp’s when he’s done using it.

www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/05/26/face.transplant/index.html

[Thanks, Ron!]

This just in for all you space fanatics: Rocket Carrying Ham Radio Payload Reaches Space!.

Looks like the X-Prize won’t be much longer now.

There’s a fascinating article in the NY Times on Asberger’s Syndrome, a disorder related to autism. It is best described, perhaps, as the “geek disorder” because of the particular traits that those who have it seem to suffer: inability to interact socially, usually combined with high mental capabilities, particularly with engineering, mathematics, computer science, etc.. Those who have Asberger’s may have a range of symptoms in the spectrum — anywhere from complete inability to read social situations to slight akwardness or making innappropriate comments in social situations, and obsessive interest in certain kinds of information. While certainly not all geeks have Asberger’s, nor are all that have Asberger’s “geeks,” it certainly goes a long way to explaining the difficulties many have who are afflicted with this condition, and the tendency for “geeks” to be drawn to computer science and similar fields

Incidently, a classic case of someone likely suffering from Asberger’s is the character Toby Radloff from American Splendor.

They’ve been lying dormant for 17 years, but this summer is supposed to be one of the largest invasions of the cicada – an insect described best as the demonspawn of a cricket, a butterfly, and a cockroach. According to scientists (I love prefacing my remarks that way, especially without citing the source) billions of these little critters are waiting underground for the opportunity to spit themselves out into the air and fly around causing havoc and mating like….well, like something that hasn’t had sex in 17 years. While occasional eruptions of cicadas happen in off-years from different groups of the 13 or 17 year buggers, “Brood X” is the largest and most widespread, and will soon spill upon the earth on a biblical scale. Get those porches screened-in today!

Oh, and don’t forget to buy some commemorative cicada gear. How else will you remember the Great Swarm of ’04?

NASA is set to launch the immensly sophisticated Gravity Probe B today, which will measure the bending of space-time by a rotating object. While the whole thing seems pretty bland compared to the Mars missions, the project is an important step in testing Einstein’s theories. The NYT ran an excellent piece in last-week’s science section about the $700 million dollar project that has taken 45 years to complete and that has contributed significantly to the advancement of theoretical physics. Maybe if NASA could come up with a better name than Gravity Probe B (which sounds like a bad sci-fi movie) they could generate more interest in it.

XM has announced that they have released a new satellite data information service that will provide traffic information to vehicle navigation systems.

Acura and GM have already announce that they plan to include systems which use the service in some of ttheir 2005 models.

via SpaceDaily

The US Army is creating a huge massively multimplayer on-line role playing game designed to simulate the entire planet and the future conflicts that may happen. The simulation, acccording to the BBC, is being done by a video game company on contract – though it’s not known what “engine” it will use. We’re pretty sure it’s not EA’s “The Sim’s” engine.

C|Net’s got an interesting story about developments in broadband over power lines (BPL) that could make your local utility company your internet provider — at least in part.

Earthlink is currently testing 500 homes with BPL access in Wake County, N.C. If the test goes well, we can expect more companies to offer more access to more people, which can only be good for consumers.

Scientists at Brookhaven labs have discovered a new state of matter that exists at the subatomic level: a sort of “pudding” that can spontaneously develop at the center of atoms when gluons (which make up, along with quarks, the neutron and protons found at the center of atoms) suddenly fuse to a gooey, delicious new state of matter between 50 and 1000 times more dense than an ordinary nucleus. While the physics are clearly above my head, the possibilities for new sweetened desserts certainly merit some attention. Read more at the NY Times.

NASA has commissioned a special mechanical watch from a local watchmaker that will keep Mars time. The Martian day is longer than an Earth day, so apparently the folks running the Mars Spirit mission were getting a little off, essentially having to work 24 hours and 39 minutes every day. The new watch may help some folks keep track of Spirit’s schedule, which is linked to the Martian day because of the sunlight it uses to both charge its batteries and also for taking pictures. For most though the watch is just a fun way to commemorate the mission.

The watch is only available to mission employees at this point as the watchmaker ramps up production, but he’s got plans to sell them to the general public as soon as he gets on top of the NASA orders. Hopefully he’ll make it a dual planet zone watch, since most supervisors are not likely to look kindly on the “I’m sorry I’m late, I was on Mars time” excuse.