Month: March 2013

Planck satellite creates most detailed map ever of cosmic microwave background radiation

The European Space Agency’s Planck satellite has been gathering data since its launch in 2009, slowly building up a map of the cosmic microwave background radiation — a distant remnant of the Big Bang. The resulting image, seen above, is the most detailed ever put together of the cold glow that uniformly covers the universe, taking us all the way back to just a 380,000 years after the explosive inflation that gave birth to all matter, energy and time. There were some surprises, including more extreme temperature fluctuations between hemispheres than predicted by the standard model and confirmation of a pronounced cold spot that can no longer be dismissed as an artifact of previous satellite instruments. For more about just what Planck has taught us, along with a few more visualizations, check out the source link. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: Wired Source: European Space Agency

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Planck satellite creates most detailed map ever of cosmic microwave background radiation

Whole Milk Linked to Slimmer Kids

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children switch from whole milk to a lower fat milk at age two. The conventional wisdom is that getting children used to reduced fat milk will help keep them at a healthy weight. Skim, 1%, or 2% milk has fewer calories per cup. It just makes sense, doesn’t it? So here’s where things gets confusing. A new study of preschool-aged children published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, a sister publication of the British Medical Journal, finds that low-fat milk was associated with higher weight. That’s right, kids drinking low-fat milk tended to be heavier. “We were quite surprised” by the findings, Dr. Mark DeBoer told me in an email. He and his co-author, Dr. Rebecca Scharf, both of the University of Virginia, had hypothesized just the opposite. But they found the relationship between skim-milk drinkers and higher body weights held up across all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups. DeBoer says their data also show that low-fat milk did not restrain weight gain in preschoolers over time. This is not the first study to show such results, but the authors call for further research, as this study did not take into account what types of food the children were consuming or their total caloric intake. And scientists say sugary drinks make a bigger difference in overall child obesity. Link (Image credit: Flickr user David Goehring )

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Whole Milk Linked to Slimmer Kids

How whitehats stopped the DDoS attack that knocked Spamhaus offline

Unlike Unicast-based networks, Anycast systems use dozens of individual data centers to dilute the effects of distributed denial-of-service attacks. CloudFlare As an international organization that disrupts spam operators, the Spamhaus Project has made its share of enemies. Many of those enemies possess the Internet equivalent of millions of water cannons that can be turned on in an instant to flood targets with more traffic than they can possibly stand. On Tuesday, Spamhaus came under a torrential deluge—75 gigabits of junk data every second—making it impossible for anyone to access the group’s website (the real-time blacklists that ISPs use to filter billions of spam messages were never effected). Spamhaus quickly turned to CloudFlare, a company that secures websites and helps mitigate the effects of distributed denial-of-service attacks. This is a story about how the attackers were able to flood a single site with so much traffic, and the way CloudFlare blocked it using a routing methodology known as Anycast. Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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How whitehats stopped the DDoS attack that knocked Spamhaus offline

Electroluminescent paint: like EL wire you apply with a brush

A company called Lumilor has announced a permanent electroluminescent paint that can be selectively illuminated by applying a charge to it. Burning Man attendees are already familiar with the ubiquitous, cheap EL wire, but this takes things to a new level: The LumiLor TM electroluminescent coating system is a patent-pending, practical, durable and affordable technology that can be illuminated with a simple electrical current. Used in conjunction with simple driver electronics, LumiLor will illuminate any surface brightly, and is capable of being custom-animated to flash in sequenced, strobed, and sound activated modes. The potential for customization is practically limitless! ABOUT LUMILOR ( via JWZ )

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Electroluminescent paint: like EL wire you apply with a brush

Are you ready for a Game of Thrones prequel TV series?

While HBO wonders what the hell they’re going to do if (or when, more likely) their hit show catches up to the books, the network is already thinking about more Game of Thrones TV — author George R. R. Martin says the network is considering a prequel series, possibly based on his Dunk and Egg short stories, which are set 90 years earlier. Read more…

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Are you ready for a Game of Thrones prequel TV series?

Google Chrome’s World Wide Maze turns your favorite website into 3D game for your phone (video)

Google’s latest Chrome experiment is a marble maze game that binds your smartphone to your PC through those shareable tabs. Once you’ve opened the same tab on both platforms, you’ll be put in control of a metallic Nexus Q lookalike, steered by the accelerometers baked into your smartphone — as well as power and jump buttons. Better still, there’s (arguably) an infinite number of levels to tackle, with the experiment transforming your favorite sites into a multi-stage mazes. You’ll need a phone that’s running at least iOS 5.0 or Android 4.0 to make the connection. Take it for a cautious spin at the link below. Filed under: Cellphones , Gaming , Internet , Software , Mobile , Google Comments Via: Engadget Japan Source: Chrome World Wide Maze

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Google Chrome’s World Wide Maze turns your favorite website into 3D game for your phone (video)

Google Chrome’s World Wide Maze turns your favorite website into 3D game that’s played on your phone (video)

Google’s latest Chrome experiment is a marble maze game that binds your smartphone to your PC through those shareable tabs. Once you’ve opened the same tab on both platforms, you’ll be put in control of a metallic Nexus Q lookalike, steered by the accelerometers baked into your smartphone — as well as power and jump buttons. Better still, there’s (arguably) an infinite number of levels to tackle, with the experiment transforming your favorite sites into a multi-stage mazes. You’ll need a phone that’s running at least iOS 5.0 or Android 4.0 to make the connection. Take it for a cautious spin at the link below. Filed under: Cellphones , Gaming , Internet , Software , Mobile , Google Comments Via: Engadget Japan Source: Chrome World Wide Maze

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Google Chrome’s World Wide Maze turns your favorite website into 3D game that’s played on your phone (video)