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Written by joni
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Wednesday, 03 March 2010 21:20 |
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I read this line from the news.com.au article on the proposed nuclear waste dump:
***Mr Ferguson, attending the opening of the southern hemisphere's first helium plant in Darwin, said it was unacceptable that some low-level radioactive waste was being kept in random locations at hospitals and universities.
And I thought? Random?!?! I hope it is not really random but specific places.
But the article then quotes the minister as saying:
**"I don't think it is appropriate at the moment that some of that waste is stored at Darwin Hospital, nor at a hundred similar hospitals and universities around Australia, often, I might say, in filing cabinets and shipping containers,"
I mean - seriously… "filing cabinets"!!! WTF!
We are all going to end up looking like this.
I read this line from the news.com.au article on the proposed nuclear waste dump:
Mr Ferguson, attending the opening of the southern hemisphere's first helium plant in Darwin, said it was unacceptable that some low-level radioactive waste was being kept in random locations at hospitals and universities.
And I thought? Random?!?! I hope it is not really random but specific places.
But the article then quotes the minister as saying:
"I don't think it is appropriate at the moment that some of that waste is stored at Darwin Hospital, nor at a hundred similar hospitals and universities around Australia, often, I might say, in filing cabinets and shipping containers,"
I mean - seriously… "filing cabinets"!!! WTF!
We are all going to end up looking like this (after jump).
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Written by joni
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Monday, 22 February 2010 18:06 |
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The NY Times reports that the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, or RHIC, had been able to "briefly distort the laws of physics, providing the first laboratory demonstration of the kind of process that scientists suspect has shaped cosmic history".
The RHIC is a smaller brother to the LHC in Geneva, and is looking for evidence of how the laws of physics were broken during the big bang. This is all about symmetry, and how "the laws of physics remain unchanged if we view nature in a mirror".
Parity, the idea that the laws of physics are the same when left and right are switched, as in a mirror reflection, is one of the most fundamental symmetries of space-time as we know it. Physicists were surprised to discover in 1956, however, that parity is not obeyed by all the laws of nature after all. The universe is slightly lopsided in this regard. The so-called weak force, which governs some radioactive decays, seems to be left-handed, causing neutrinos, the ghostlike elementary particles that are governed by that force, to spin clockwise, when viewed oncoming, but never counterclockwise.
It's all a bit sinister if you ask me. 
But with the RHIC being a lot smaller than the LHC, it once again proves that size is not everything,
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Written by Charles
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Tuesday, 16 February 2010 17:01 |
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According to the article, 'Scary Science' from the magazine Popular Science, there exists current or future scientific endeavors and innovations that should send a chill down our spine. The author listed:
1. nuclear fusion - the possibility of terrorists using fusion technology to detonate bombs from mobile suitcases
2. bringing soil samples from Mars - and therefore alien viruses
3. hybrid beetle cyborgs - beetles remotely controlled which can act as spy devices
4. 'love drug' - a drug that makes you part your money to complete strangers
5. 'smile police' - a behaviour recognition software that rates 'smiles'
Personally, I find the notion of using bugs as surveillance devices most terrifying. Leave the insects alone!
What technology or scientific achievements do you think humankind should avoid? or most creepy? |
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Written by Charles
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Friday, 05 February 2010 14:12 |
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It is happening. Sex robots may possibly become a fixture or luxury in peoples' bedrooms. According to a CNN report, Truecompanion.com has unveiled its first female sex robot, Roxxy, at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada last month to great interest. As many as 4000 men have placed pre-orders with another 20,000 requesting for more information about the product. The male counterpart of Roxxy, Rocky (which reminds me of Sylvester Stallone in Rambo) is also expected to make a dent on the women's market.
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Written by Charles
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Monday, 25 January 2010 13:40 |
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An Independent opinion piece by Johann Hari on killer robots being deployed in conflict zones has raised some disturbing questions on warfare. According to him, no robots were being used in the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Today, the US army has 12,000 of them, responsible for executing 33,000 missions in a year. NATO has also used a range of robots in warzones which were mainly created by the British Ministry of Defence labs that was privatised by Tony Blair in 2001. They include the air drone attacks allowing operators from afar to drop bombs or the on-the- ground human-sized robot, SWORDS, with 360 degrees vision that has machine-gun capabilities. The next step of advancing war robotics sounds more like science fiction though is becoming a possibility - building in 'autonomy' within these robots. This means that if these robots are disabled (perhaps due to blocking signals by insurgents), they would be able to make their own decisions. As the US Joint Forces has claimed, such robots would become the norm in 20 years time.
As it is, the use of robots in today's warzone has already generated enough ethical concerns amongst scientists. A group calling itself, International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) has been formed 'to campaign for limits on robotic military hardware'. One of its founders is Dr Robert Sparrow, a senior lecturer in Australia's Monash University. In an interview on the ethics of using robots in the military, he touched on the possibility of giving 'autonomy' to these killer machines (more after jump):
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