Latest Front Page News

Dino tail in amber has feathers

Submitted by: Goshin @ 02:31 PM | Thursday, December 8, 2016 | (url: http://www.nytime...)

time to remake jurassic park

While most paleontologists dig up prehistoric bones from the ground, Lida Xing hunts for fossils in the amber markets of Myanmar. In 2015, he made a remarkable find: Trapped in what looked like golden glass was the feathered tail of a dinosaur.

Along with the primitive plumage, the 99-million-year-old amber also preserved soft tissue and eight complete vertebrae. The tail bones indicated that the specimen belonged to a dinosaur that was not a prehistoric bird and also provided researchers with insight into the evolution of feathers.

This is the first time that skeletal material from a dinosaur has been found in amber, Dr. Xing, who is a paleontologist at China University of Geosciences in Beijing, said in an email. He and his colleagues published their findings Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

After performing a CT scan and microscopic analysis, Dr. Xing and his colleagues realized that the feathers did not belong to a bird because the specimens tail vertebrae were not fused into a rod, as they are in modern birds. The feathers most likely belonged to a baby nonavian theropod, meaning it looked more similar to a velociraptor or Tyrannosaurus rex than to a modern bird. That said, it was probably only about the size of a sparrow.

Category: General | 16 Comments
Tags: dinobird

Amy Schumer to Headline Sonys Live-Action Barbie Movie

Submitted by: Odio @ 04:29 PM | Friday, December 2, 2016 | (url: http://www.coming...)

First announced for the big screen in 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Mattel and Parkes+MacDonald/Image Nations upcoming live-action Barbie movie has finally landed a leading lady in Amy Schumer (Trainwreck, Inside Amy Schumer).

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Schumer will play a misfit living in a land of perfect Barbies who comes to the real world where her being/looking different turns into an asset. The film is said by the trade to be, a contemporary spin on beauty, feminism and identity in the comedic-fantasy vein of Splash, Enchanted or Big.

Although Diablo Cody (Juno, Young Adult) was previously attached to write the film, the current screenplay comes from Hilary Winston (The LEGO Ninjago Movie, the Bad Teacher TV series). Schumer and her sister Kim Caramele are expected to rewrite the script, and a director is currently being sought.

From princess to president, mermaid to movie star, Barbie has done it all through her more than 150 careers, she has gained valuable experiences and shown her fans that anything is possible for a modern woman. The toy line launched in 1959, and brings in $2 billion dollars annually. The comedic and contemporary film marks the second collaboration between Sony Pictures and Mattel, which are currently developing a film adaptation of Masters of the Universe, based on Mattels popular action figures.

Barbie is being produced by Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Amy Pascal.


These 2.5-billion-year-old bacteria predate the rise of oxygen on Earth

Submitted by: Odio @ 10:23 PM | Tuesday, November 29, 2016 | (url: http://geology.gs...)

Fossilised bacteria have been uncovered in two separate locations in South Africa, and theyve been dated to 2.52 billion years ago - long before oxygen started to saturate Earths atmosphere.

Instead of thriving in oxygen, like the trees and multicellular organisms that came after them did, these bacteria oxidised sulphur to survive, suggesting that life could be sustained on a planet with less than one-thousandth of a percent of Earths current oxygen levels.

The fossils were uncovered in a layer of hard, silica-rich rock in the Kaapvaal Craton of the Limpopo Province in South Africa - one of the two remaining areas in the world where Earths crust from 3.6 to 2.5 million years ago is still accessible.

The sulphur-oxidising bacteria they revealed were "exceptionally large", according to the University of Cincinnati team that uncovered them, indicating that these life forms had no problem living in the absence of oxygen.

"These are the oldest reported fossil sulphur bacteria to date," says one of the researchers, Andrew Czaja.

"And this discovery is helping us reveal a diversity of life and ecosystems that existed just prior to the Great Oxidation Event, a time of major atmospheric evolution."

Category: Politics | 15 Comments
Tags: science

Early explorer logbooks reveal Antarctic sea ice has barely changed in 100 years

Submitted by: Odio @ 08:46 AM | Friday, November 25, 2016 | (url: http://www.scienc...)

Logbooks from the likes of Captain Robert Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton - key figures in the 'Heroic Age' of Antarctic exploration - have revealed that sea ice levels in Antarctica have barely changed over the past century, despite global temperatures hitting record highs year after year.

That finding might seem counterintuitive, especially given that sea ice in the Arctic has never been so depleted. But it might actually help us explain one of the biggest mysteries surrounding climate change: how Antarctica appears to be thriving - and sometimes even expanding - despite all odds.

"The missions of Scott and Shackleton are remembered in history as heroic failures, yet the data collected by these and other explorers could profoundly change the way we view the ebb and flow of Antarctic sea ice," says lead researcher Jonathan Day from the University of Reading in the UK.

Day and his team examined observations of sea ice recorded in the official logbooks from 11 voyages that took place between 1897 and 1917, including three missions led by Captain Scott, two by Shackleton, and sea-ice records from French, German, and Belgian explorers.

These logbooks include observations of many environmental and meteorological phenomena, recorded several times a day throughout each mission by the explorers and their crew.

Many of the logbooks had been recently digitised as part of the International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set initiative, but others were digitised especially for this study, and the information within was collated into a dataset of 191 observations of sea ice positions spanning two decades.

These observations were then compared to satellite data from 1989 to 2014, and other than the sea ice edge in the Weddell Sea declining by about 14 percent over the past century, the team found that ice conditions during the golden age of exploration were surprisingly similar to those in Antarctica today.


The IRS Just Declared War on Bitcoin Privacy

Submitted by: Odio @ 05:54 PM | Tuesday, November 22, 2016 | (url: https://fee.org/a...)

The Internal Revenue Service has filed a John Doe summons seeking to require U.S. Bitcoin exchange Coinbase to turn over records about every transaction of every user from 2013 to 2015. That demand is shocking in sweep, and it includes: complete user profile, history of changes to user profile from account inception, complete user preferences, complete user security settings and history (including confirmed devices and account activity), complete user payment methods, and any other information related to the funding sources for the account/wallet/vault, regardless of date. And every single transaction:

All records of account/wallet/vault activity including transaction logs or other records identifying the date, amount, and type of transaction (purchase/sale/exchange), the post transaction balance, the names or other identifiers of counterparties to the transaction; requests or instructions to send or receive bitcoin; and, where counterparties transact through their own Coinbase accounts/wallets/vaults, all available information identifying the users of such accounts and their contact information.


Category: Technology | 18 Comments
Tags: fuck irs

Scientists Are Bringing Back Vacuum Tubes for Computers of the Future

Submitted by: Odio @ 04:21 PM | Tuesday, November 8, 2016 | (url: http://www.popula...)

Researchers from UC San Diego are using vacuum tube technology to develop more efficient computer processors. The research could result in faster microelectronic devices and better solar panels. Their results are published in a paper in the journal Nature Communications.

Commonly thought of as a primitive precursor to the modern transistor, vacuum tubes were the building blocks of computers in the early 20th century, and computers built using them filled entire rooms or buildings.

The invention of the transistor in the mid 20th century allowed computers to be built much smaller, and paved the way for the computing revolution of the late 20th century. That being the case, the transistor is arguably the greatest invention in history.

[Youtube]pDllfr4udlU[/youtube]

Category: Technology | 16 Comments
Tags: computers

Space! EM Drive really does work

Submitted by: Goshin @ 02:41 PM | Monday, November 7, 2016 | (url: http://www.nextbi...)

MAN, it's fun being right

I posted about this in my giant space thread in the first few pages and you guys called me a crack pot! Well you can crack your own pot!

1.2 millinewtons per kilowatt in a vacuum
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40959.2480 has a ton of posts regarding stuff

propellant-less space flight
that means mars in 70 days whenever we want + more

Category: Technology | 24 Comments
Tags: space

Injections might help prevent genital herpes transmission for months: study

Submitted by: Odio @ 04:29 AM | Thursday, November 3, 2016 | (url: http://medicalxpr...)

(HealthDay)Three injections of a therapeutic vaccine may control genital herpes as effectively as daily pills for at least a year, a new study suggests.
Researchers tested the experimental vaccine in 310 people with herpes from 17 centers around the United States. The three shots, administered three weeks apart, appeared to reduce patients' genital lesions and the process of "viral shedding" in which they can spread the disease through sexual contact.
Infectious disease experts hailed the vaccine as a promising development in the treatment of genital herpes. The incurable disease affects about one in every six people ages 14 to 49 in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"In general terms, people receiving [the vaccine] have greater than 50 percent fewer days in which virus is present in their genital tracts, which in theory may reduce transmission," said study author Jessica Baker Flechtner. She's chief scientific officer at Genocea Biosciences, the Cambridge, Mass., manufacturer of the vaccine.
"However, this would need to be proven in a well-powered clinical trial," she added. "Our trials have included both men and women, and to date, we have not seen a difference in the vaccine impact between genders."
Currently named GEN-003, the vaccine is believed to work by prompting a type of white blood cell known as a T-cell to recognize and kill cells in which the virus lives, Flechtner explained.
Patients were randomly split into seven dosing groups, including a placebo group.
Testing was repeated periodically for 12 months after dosing and included analyzing genital swab samples for the presence of the herpes virus. The days when genital lesions were present were also recorded.

Category: Technology | 3 Comments
Tags: ender

Blacks are in charge of town: Popular Bavarian ski resort begs authorities for help

Submitted by: Odio @ 08:36 AM | Monday, October 17, 2016 | (url: https://www.rt.co...)

The mayor of the popular Bavarian resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen has penned a letter to the regional government begging them to tackle the massive problems posed by crime rates among refugees, while police say blacks are in charge of the town.
The letter, part warning to regional authorities, part cry for help, has been sent by Garmisch-Partenkirchen Mayor Sigrid Meierhofer to the Vice President of Upper Bavarias government Maria Els on Sunday, according to Merkur newspaper which saw the document.

There has been an increasingly deteriorating situation over the past weeks around the refugee registration center Abrams, Meierhofer wrote.

The mayor then argued that the very future of her city could be in disarray because of the 250 migrants now living in the Abrams center. 150 of its residents are Africans, and unaccompanied young men make up 80 percent of them, while in previous years the facility mostly accommodated Syrian families.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a picturesque resort town in Bavaria, lies close to Germanys highest mountain the Zugspitze. Due to its mild winter climate, the town is also a popular holiday spot for skiing, snowboarding, and hiking, having some of the best skiing areas in the country.

Meierhofer made it plain that she is increasingly worried about public order and security, while most of the Garmisch residents believe migrants are responsible for most sexual assaults and petty crime in the area.

Bans on migrants entering certain places like the towns spa park have been imposed in the past few weeks, but massive problems are still there, she went on, saying this is not to be ignored or tolerated.




Category: Random | 12 Comments
Tags: niggers

With 60 Years of Data and 3000 Studies, Australia Declares Fluoride Completely Safe

Submitted by: Odio @ 03:22 PM | Thursday, October 13, 2016 | (url: http://futurism.c...)

A PRODUCT OF PATIENCE

Australias National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) finally released its verdict on fluoride in drinking water. Analysis of 60 years worth of research and 3000 studies the largest and most comprehensive study to date revealed that fluoride in drinking water does not cause cancer or lower a persons IQ, under the levels used in Australia.

It shows that community water fluoridation as its used in Australia today is effective at reducing tooth decay and is not associated with any general negative health effects, NHMRC CEO Anne Kelso announced.

Category: General | 22 Comments
Tags: hippy

Oktoberfest sees rise in reported sex crimes despite lowest attendance in 15yrs

Submitted by: Odio @ 05:31 AM | Thursday, October 6, 2016 | (url: https://www.rt.co...)

This year's Oktoberfest saw the least amount of people turning up at the Munich event in 15 years, but still experienced an increase in sex crimes reported to police, the Local writes.
Around 5.6 million people visited the festival this year, a drop of 300,000 compared to the previous year. The number represents the lowest since 2001, when 5.5 million attended the event, which took place soon after the 9/11 terror attacks.

As the numbers dropped, so did the amount of crime with one type a notable exception. Thirty-one sex crimes were reported to police this year, compared to 21 in 2015, the Local reported.

Other incidents occurred which didn't always involve official police reports, according to the support group Safer Wiesn for Girls and Women, which counted 215 women who came to a security checkpoint for help. Eighteen of those had experienced violence. That number also represents an increase from last year, when 197 women came to the checkpoint for help.

The crimes occurred despite increased security at the event, which saw organizers arrange entrance checks for everyone attending the festival grounds for the first time in the event's 200-year history.

The increased security came amid ongoing terrorism concerns throughout Germany, following recent attacks. In July, a shooting spree in Munich left 10 people dead. That same week, a teenager in Wrzburg attacked train passengers with an ax and a man blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach.

Oktoberfest is no stranger to terrorism. One of the worst terrorist attacks in post-war history occurred at the festival in 1980, when a right-wing extremist set off a bomb that killed him and 11 others at the main entrance to the event.

Category: Politics | 17 Comments
Tags: muslims

Add-on Will Make Your Car Semi-Autonomous for Just $999

Submitted by: Odio @ 04:40 AM | Wednesday, October 5, 2016 | (url: http://futurism.c...)

Similar to Teslas Autopilot, Comma One claims to be able to safely drive you from Mountain View to San Francisco without having to steer the wheel or step on the gas and brake. It can be installed on a small range of selected vehicles, but the creating startup, Comma.ai aims to make it compatible with more models in the future.

George Hotz, Comma.ai founder, stresses that this kit will not make a car fully autonomous, its about on par with Tesla Autopilot. Comma one takes advantage of a cars built-on front radars and is equipped with a camera. The key sensors that were getting back is the cam. Were actually getting back the video, even Tesla isnt doing that. We have all the video data.

The affordable price at $999 was possible because the add-on is made of inexpensive materials. The company plans to have the product available for shipping before the end of the year in very limited quantities.

In the end, this could fuel some healthy competition for autonomous driving. If this tech turns out to be as effective as any car manufacturers offerings, it could open up the possibilities for greater benefits and innovation in the field. If customers can buy affordable kits to give their current vehicles autopilot, car manufacturers are going to have to give greater incentives to get customers to buy into their offerings.

Category: Technology | 9 Comments
Tags: tesla

Pentagon paid PR firm $540mn to make fake terrorist videos

Submitted by: Odio @ 01:02 PM | Sunday, October 2, 2016 | (url: https://www.rt.co...)

The Pentagon paid a UK PR firm half a billion dollars to create fake terrorist videos in Iraq in a secret propaganda campaign exposed by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
PR firm Bell Pottinger, known for its array of controversial clients including the Saudi government and Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochets foundation, worked with the US military to create the propaganda in a secretive operation.

The firm reported to the CIA, the National Security Council and the Pentagon on the project with a mandate to portray Al-Qaeda in a negative light and track suspected sympathizers.

Category: Politics | 15 Comments
Tags: propaganda

Jews may leave EU if Islamic terrorism, anti-Semitism not halted

Submitted by: Odio @ 09:12 AM | Sunday, October 2, 2016 | (url: https://www.rt.co...)

Islamist terror attacks, the rise of the far-right and Britains decision to quit the EU may create such destabilizing conditions that the very survival of Jews in Europe would be impossible, a high-ranking rabbi told the European Parliament.
The head of Conference of European Rabbis and chief rabbi of Moscow, Pinchas Goldschmidt, told the MEPs that the European Jews feel as if they are standing on train tracks with trains coming at each other with ever increasing speed.

One train is the train of radical Islam and Islamic terrorism ... the other train is the anti-Semitism of old Europe, the extreme right, he explained, as quoted by the Independent.

Goldschmidt said that radical Islam and far-right anti-Semitism represent existential threats for European Jews, adding that both trains have to be halted before its too late.

According to the statistics voiced Tuesday by Martin Schultz, the president of the European Parliament, every fifth Jew in Europe has experienced verbal or physical violence, while the Jewish population in Europe has decreased from almost four million in 1945 to barely more than one million today.

The question that Jews ask themselves, not only as Jews but as Europeans, does Europe in its present form have a future after the [terrorist] attacks in Paris, in Brussels, in Copenhagen, and after Brexit? the rabbi said in his speech before the European parliament on Tuesday.

Goldschmidt urged the EU to do more to integrate the waves of immigrants flooding Europe into the European value system in order for them to give up the rabid anti-Semitism and radicalism, which is rampant in the Middle East.

If the situation in Europe remains unchanged, the European Union is at risk of becoming a failed experiment, said Moscows chief rabbi.

Category: Politics | 39 Comments
Tags: jews

Make Dragons Great Again

Submitted by: Goshin @ 01:26 PM | Friday, September 30, 2016 | (url: http://www.bbc.co...)


"Reptiles can master many problems that mammals can," says Gordon Burghardt of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. "Complex problem-solving, reversal learning, social learning, complex sociality, tool use and individual recognition have all been discovered."

Some of the more intelligent reptiles are the larger species with correspondingly large brains, such as crocodiles and monitor lizards. Another potential contributor to intelligence is longevity, which has also been associated with bigger brains. Dragons are certainly not lacking in size, but what about lifespan?

Many dragons of legend are eternal, ageless creatures, whose lives can only be ended at the hands of a burly hero with a big sword. While actual immortality is unlikely, reptiles like giant tortoises and tuataras can clock up well over a century. The key to such extended lives could be a slow pace and a correspondingly slow metabolism.


Bowerbirds are a different matter. To attract females, male bowerbirds line the floors of their "bowers" with all sorts of treasures, albeit humbler ones than those found in a dragon's lair. Instead of jewels and coins, bowerbirds hoard berries and pieces of broken glass.

Our dragons are shaping up nicely. So far we have prehistoric reptiles, maybe a sister group to the giant pterosaurs or giant snakes, with advanced cognitive abilities to match their size and longevity, and a complex mating system based on the procurement of shiny, metallic objects.

Imagine an evolutionary convergence that bestows analogous chemical weaponry on an enormous reptile. Two glands in this creature's neck secrete the necessary solution, and when they mix in the back of its throat, a jet of gas and scalding liquid is expelled from its mouth.

Such a creature is highly implausible, of course, but then so are bombardier beetles.


lets speed up evolution on dragons