2009-11-23

dracodraconis: (Default)
2009-11-23 08:19 pm
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Generating electricity from air flow


Generating electricity from air flow

Researchers at the City College of New York are designing piezoelectric devices that would vibrate in the turbulent air around cars and aircraft, generating a small amount of electricity, possibly enough to recharge batteries for small electronic devices.

dracodraconis: (Default)
2009-11-23 08:26 pm

BBC News - Making the first computer virus


BBC News - Making the first computer virus

Dr. Fred Cohen created the first computer virus more than 26 years ago before pioneering ways to fight malicious code. As a student he that a neighbouring university had created a Trojan, but immediately realized that if he could make the code self-replicating it could infect spread itself. He approached a computer security expert at the university with his idea and a request to build one to verify the idea. After creating the virus, he spent the next five years trying to figure out ways to protect computers from the very thing he knew others would soon create.
dracodraconis: (Default)
2009-11-23 08:34 pm
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How to read articles about health and healthcare (PDF)


HowToReadANewsStory_vers03_26Nov08 (PDF document)

Dr. Alice White offers some advice about how to read health-related news articles with an open (but skeptical) mind. Her number one rule: "Don't automatically believe the headline." She lists a few key questions: Are the claims supported, is the story based on a conference paper, was the research performed on humans and, if so, how many, was there a control group, who paid for the study, and does the headline jive with the actual focus of the research.
dracodraconis: (Default)
2009-11-23 09:24 pm
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ROM's Crystal voted one of ugliest edifices - The Globe and Mail


ROM's Crystal voted one of ugliest edifices - The Globe and Mail

The travel website VirtualTourist named the new-and-"improved" ROM one of the world's ten ugliest edifices.