Latest News – Page 53

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University Launches Degree in Comic Books

June 8, 2011

Finally you can get a degree in comic books!

A Scottish university is to offer the UK’s first degree in comics. Dundee University said the one-year Masters in Comic Studies would be launched by its English department in September 2011.

The degree is built on “strong local traditions” in the comic book industry, the university said. Dennis the Menace, Desperate Dan, Oor Wullie and the Broons, the inventions of Dundee-based publishers DC Thomson and Co, were all born in the city…

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Random USDA Testing Finds 34 Unapproved Pesticides on Cilantro

June 6, 2011

Cilantro tastes so good but may have a plethora of pesticides on it.

Hold the guacamole for just a moment and make sure that your cilantro is organic. Food safety came front and center this week when random USDA testing found 34 different varieties of pesticide residue atop a batch of conventional cilantro…

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Culture, Current Events, Historical Perspectives, Latest News

Forerunner of Egyptian Pyramids Found in Romania?

June 6, 2011

Archaeologists claim to have found a forerunner to the pyramids not in Egypt – but in southern Romania.

The discovery being hailed as a sensation has been dated as being over 4,500 years old after it was unearthed in Aricestii Rahtivani, in Prahova county in southern Romania.

Archaeologist Alin Franculeasa, from the History and Archeology Museum in Prahova, said: “If we take the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen – he reigned between 1333 – 1323 BC, but this tomb is even older – from a man who obviously also had great wealth and importance but who would have lived 4,500 years ago.

“There are clearly similarities between the tomb we are looking at and that of the pyramids…

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Reinventing Abandoned Places

June 3, 2011

How to deal with abandoned buildings and structures?

Abandoned buildings and structures. As populations and industries change many large factories, apartment complexes and even theme parks are left as empty rusting hunks of man-made waste. One publishing company is trying to brainstorm a solution in an upcoming book…

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Corexit Makes Oil Spills Worse, Not Better, Scientists Find

June 3, 2011

Which is worse, the spill or the dispersant?

In yet another alarming glimpse at the long-term effects of the BP disaster, the preliminary findings of two new studies show that the nearly two million gallons of toxic dispersants applied to the more than 200 million gallons of oil that gushed from its exploded rig may have been more damaging to the ecosystem as a whole than the oil alone…

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3 Pressing Questions Facing the Future of Social Media

June 3, 2011

Social Media connects us in ever changing ways.

The conversation about social media in our society is shifting significantly. We’re no longer asking questions like, “Will people use social media?” or “Are sites like Facebook and Twitter simply trends that will soon lose steam?” After billions of tweets and 600 million people on Facebook, it’s settled: People want to share online. And with Facebook moving toward a $100 billion valuation, there is money to be made.

The emerging conversation is not if we will be connected but is instead, “How can we effectively and productively connect?” Now that we can get constant updates on just about every aspect of our friends’ lives, how do we receive that which is relevant?

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Smart Grid Comes To The Netherlands

June 2, 2011

Netherlands makes a big step forward by integrating the Smart Grid.

It’s no secret that there are vast concerns in major utility companies operating a large smart grid connected to household smart meters that charge consumers a variable rate based on area usage. Unless individuals purchase updated products and tailor their daily habits to adjust for off-peak periods, which are generally considered to be weekends and weekday nights, monthly bills can ultimately rise.

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A Drug That Can Erase Your Memories

March 4, 2013

Memories could become a thing of the past.

If you could take a drug that would erase only your bad memories and memories of being afraid, would you take it? Metyrapone is a drug that could do just that. While there are some obvious advantages to not remembering certain experiences, the negative side effects could outweigh the positive…

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Acid Oceans Turn ‘Finding Nemo’ Fish Deaf

June 1, 2011

Hearing loss detected in Clown Fish

Clownfish, the spectacular tropical species feted in the movie Finding Nemo, appear to lose their hearing in water slightly more acidic than normal.

At levels of acidity that may be common by the end of the century, the fish did not respond to the sounds of predators.

The oceans are becoming more acidic because they absorb much of the CO2 that humanity puts into the atmosphere…

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Pentagon: Hacking Can Count As An Act Of War

May 31, 2011

Hacking an act of war?

The Wall Street Journal broke the news yesterday that the Pentagon has concluded that hacking and other forms of digital sabotage that originate from other countries can be considered an act of war. This means that for the first time, the U.S. is in the position of possibly responding to an online attack with offline “traditional military force.” Guns, troops, drones, bombs…

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Engineering Students Design Robot Rubik’s Cube Solver

May 31, 2011

If you were around in the 80’s, you had a Rubik’s Cube puzzle. I hated those things and always resorted to pulling the stickers off to win in frustration. Some students from Swinburne University of Technology created a robot that can solve the puzzle in 10.69 seconds…

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Complex Composite Materials to Order

May 31, 2011

A sample of a co-continuous polymer composite material.

A team of researchers at MIT has found a way to make complex composite materials whose attributes can be fine-tuned to give various desirable combinations of properties such as stiffness, strength, resistance to impacts and energy dissipation.

The key feature of the new composites is a “co-continuous” structure of two different materials with very different properties, creating a material combining aspects of both. The co-continuous structure means that the two interleaved materials each form a kind of three-dimensional lattice whose pieces are fully connected to each other from side to side, front to back, and top to bottom…

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