Hearts Of Galaxies Close In For Cosmic Train Wreck

A new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope offers a rare view of an imminent collision between the cores of two merging galaxies, each powered by a black hole with millions of times the mass of the sun. The galactic cores are in a single, tangled galaxy [...] located in the constellation Ophiuchus.

Source: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-050

Lucrative religious prize won by quantum physicist

This is my favourite story of the day. The fact that a quantum physicist can win the most coveted prize in religion says a lot about the deliriously unstable state of contemporary thought. And the fact that including dr. d'espagnat, five of the past ten templeton winners have been physicists is also deeply suggestive of ... something.

"The world's top prize for religious thought has been won by a physicist - Bernard d’Espagnat - known for his work in quantum theory and perceptions of reality. The US$1.4 million Templeton Prize recognises d’Espagnat's theory that a new 'veiled reality' lurks behind matter and other observable phenomena."

Source: blogs.discovermagazine

Networks prone to 'explosive' changes

Scientists have discovered that random networks – the mathematical description for networks we experience everyday in forms such as the internet and global flight connections – can undergo hitherto unobserved flips in behaviour.

Source: www.newscientist.com

'God' particle not such a heavyweight afterall?

The Tevatron strikes again ....

The possibility of a high-mass Higgs boson may have just evaporated with new data - more precise measurement of the W boson - released today by the FermiLab. The result could mean a tougher,search for a welterweight Higgs. "If someone is trying to sell you a 175 GeV Higgs, I wouldn't buy it", physicist Heidi Schellman of Northwestern University, noted.

Source: http://www.fnal.gov/pub/presspass/press_releases/W-Mass-20090311.html

Rare Single Top Quark Discovered

Fermilab's Tevatron is proving that despite the creaking joints, it can still accelerate with the best of 'em.  Science Daily report that "the discovery of the single top confirms important parameters of particle physics, including the total number of quarks, and has significance for the ongoing search for the Higgs particle ..." 

Previously, top quarks had only been observed when produced by the strong nuclear force. That interaction leads to the production of pairs of top quarks. The production of single top quarks, which involves the weak nuclear force and is harder to identify experimentally, has now been observed, almost 14 years to the day of the top quark discovery in 1995.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090309131725.htm

Suicide Linux

"Any time you type any remotely incorrect command, the interpreter creatively resolves it into "rm -rf /" and wipes your hard drive. Like walking a tightrope, you have to see how long you can continue to use the operating system before losing all your data"

Source: http://qntm.org/?suicide

Why Dreams Are So Difficult To Remember

By listening in on the chatter between neurons in various parts of the brain, researchers from Caltech have taken steps towards understanding just how memories are formed, transferred, and ultimately stored in the brain--and how that process varies throughout the various stages of sleep.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090225132249.htm

Lines of Flight 2009

Lines of Flight is a festival of experimental music and film happening as part of this year's Dunedin Fringe Festival in New Zealand. Featuring the Dead C., Sandoz Lab Technicians, Crude, Eye, Rachel Shearer, Guy Treadgold, Sean O'Reilly, Dean Roberts) & more.

Source: http://lof09.blogspot.com/

Frying the wires, freeing the waves

In Indonesia, using wajanbolic receivers, browsing the Internet and sending e-mail is as easy as frying an egg.

The wajanbolic antenna is the key to the system: it is composed of an actual wajan, or frying pan, wrapped in aluminium foil and connected to a short tube. Once placed on a rooftop, tree or other elevated point, the linked WiFi USB stick can be connected to one or more personal computers. Users do not have to pay individual Internet connection fees, but can share the costs with other users, keeping the costs per household to only several thousand rupiah per month.

Source: http://insideindonesia.org/content/view/1177/47/

Foreshore and Seabed Act to be reviewed

The controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act looks set for a shake-up with the launch of a ministerial review today. The Maori Party leadership was in celebratory mood at the news, with co-leader Dr Pita Sharples saying 23,000 of its members would be "dancing on the tables".

Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0903/S00053.htm