NERD UP

© abk.

New Scientist published a woman's breast in the June 2, 2007, issue. Compared with the inverted version, the printed image appears to be upside down.

ON THIS DAY

Mother jailed in dingo baby murder

Lindy Chamberlain has been found guilty of the murder of her nine-week-old daughter after a jury dismissed her claim that a dingo took the baby
The court was told that she cut the baby's throat and disposing of the body whilst at a campsite near Ayers Rock.
Four years later on 2 February, a matinee jacket worn by Azaria was found partially buried in a dingo's lair at Ayers Rock - this seemed to back up Lindy Chamberlain's version of events.
She was released five days later. The Northern Territory government said it was because she had "suffered enough". [29 Oct 1982]

Torun found that the ratio of the surface area of a sphere, to the surface area of an inscribed tetrahedron, the simplest platonic solid is 2.720699, almost exactly the constant "e", which is 2.718282. 2.720699 (e) / pi = Ö3/2 = 0.866
Cydonia 101: Page 8

OUR COSMOS

Hexagon Spied Around Saturn's Pole

A new image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft offers the first direct view of a six-sided feature that encircles Saturn's north pole. The 15,000-mile-wide (25,000-kilometer-wide) cloud formation was initially spied during the Voyager missions in the 1980s. But scientists remain baffled by the atmospheric forces driving the unusual feature.



Saturn's North Pole Hexagon and Aurora

This nighttime view of Saturn's north pole by the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on NASA's Cassini orbiter reveals a dynamic, active planet at least 75 kilometers (47 miles) below the normal cloud tops seen in visible light. Clearly revealed is the bizarre six-sided hexagon feature present at the north pole.

TRUTH BE TOLD

Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

I hate all Iranians, US aide tells MPs

Britsh MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America's stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush's senior women officials: "I hate all Iranians."
The all-party group of MPs say Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates, made the comments this month.

The Pentagon denied Ms Cagan said she "hated" Iranians.
"She doesn't speak that way," said an official.

But when The Mail on Sunday spoke to four of the six MPs, three confirmed privately that she made the remark and one declined to comment. The other two could not be contacted.

USED BATTERIES

OUR ALIEN MASTERS

Cheney, Howard 'did deal on Hicks'

A report, published in Harper's Magazine, cites an unnamed US military officer saying that a military staffer was present when Mr Cheney interfered directly to seal Hicks's plea bargain deal.
"He [Mr Cheney] did it, apparently, as part of a deal cut with [Australian Prime Minister] Howard," the unnamed source is quoted as saying."I kept thinking: this is the sort of thing that used to go on behind the Iron Curtain, not in America.
"And then it struck me how much this entire process had disintegrated into a political charade. It's demoralising for all of us."

DUCK AND COVER

Airmen punished for nuclear error

The US Air Force has relieved several officers of their commands after a B-52 bomber was mistakenly flown across the US loaded with nuclear-armed missiles.
The incident has been described as one of the worst known breaches of nuclear weapons procedures in decades.Six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads were mounted on the bomber's wings before it was flown to Louisiana.

BLACK BOX

Internet voting needed, says poll candidate

A candidate for Adelaide City Council says that internet voting is needed for local government elections, as a way to encourage more young people to vote.
At the halfway mark of the council voting period last week, only 20 per cent of registered voters had returned their ballot paper through the post.

Electronic voting

A fundamental challenge with any voting machine is assuring the votes were recorded as cast and tabulated as recorded. Non-document ballot voting systems can have a greater burden of proof. This is often solved with an independently auditable system, sometimes called an Independent Verification, that can also be used in recounts or audits. These systems can include the ability for voters to verify how their votes were cast or further to verify how their votes were tabulated.

OUR ALIEN MASTERS

Ruddock stands by counter-terrorism laws

The Federal Attorney General has backed the Commonwealth's counter-terrorism laws, after suggestions they may exacerbate terrorism.
A report from Monash University has found that Victorian police efforts to engage the community will help in the long term to build social cohesion and combat terrorism.
But the report found these efforts may be undermined by the Federal counter-terrorism laws.
Associate Professor Jude McCulloch, says the tough laws may help address short term threats, but could alienate sections of the community.

HI FIVE

Phone designers flip

A touch-sensitive screen but with the sensors on its back.
Using fingers behind the device allows a firmer grip and more accurate performance without obscuring the screen. [Video]

QUANTUM FUTURE

Material may lead to advances in quantum computing

A compound made from the elements potassium, niobium and oxygen, along with chromium ions -- could provide a technological breakthrough that leads to the development of new quantum computing technologies. Quantum computers would harness the power of atoms and molecules to perform memory and processing tasks on a scale far beyond those of current computers.

The research was recently published in Physical Review Letters.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Genetically modified corn may harm ecostystem

A new study indicates that a popular type of genetically engineered corn--called Bt corn--may damage the ecology of streams draining Bt corn fields in ways that have not been previously considered by regulators.
This study provides the first evidence that toxins from Bt corn may travel long distances in streams and may harm stream insects that serve as food for fish. These results compound concerns about the ecological impacts of Bt corn raised by previous studies showing that corn-grown toxins harm beneficial insects living in the soil.
Licensed for use in 1996, Bt corn is engineered to produce a toxin that protects against pests, particularly the European corn borer. Bt corn now accounts for approximately 35 percent of corn acreage in the U.S., and its use is increasing.

The study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, appears in the Oct. 8 edition of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

LIES AND STATISTICS

LaThe Pirahã and us

The Pirahã language and culture seem to lack not only the words but also the concepts for numbers, using instead less precise terms like "small size", "large size" and "collection". And the Pirahã people themselves seem to be suprisingly uninterested in learning about numbers, and even actively resistant to doing so, despite the fact that in their frequent dealings with traders they have a practical need to evaluate and compare numerical expressions.

How could rational people resist learning to understand and use them? I don't know the answer. But I do know that we can investigate a strictly comparable case, equally puzzling to me, right here in the U.S. of A.

Until about 100 years ago, our language and culture lacked the words and ideas needed to deal with the evaluation and comparison of sampled properties of groups. Even today, only a minuscule proportion of the U.S. population understands even the simplest form of these concepts and terms. Out of the roughly 300 million Americans, I doubt that as many as 500 thousand grasp these ideas to any practical extent, and 50,000 might be a better estimate. The rest of the population is surprisingly uninterested in learning, and even actively resists the intermittent attempts to teach them, despite the fact that in their frequent dealings with social and biomedical scientists they have a practical need to evaluate and compare the numerical properties of representative samples.

PITTER PATTER

'4D ultrasounds' may test abortion laws

Ultrasounds that produce video-quality moving images of the foetus have changed the debate about late-term abortion, an Australian ethics expert says.
Senior law lecturer Dr Kristin Savell from the University of Sydney says so-called 4D ultrasound technology has "democratised foetal imagery" by giving the public direct visual access to realistic images.

SPIN CITY

Nanotechnology pioneers win 2007 physics Nobel 

France's Albert Fert and Germany's Peter Gruenberg have won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physics, recognised the pair's discovery of giant magnetoresistance, which has helped revolutionise computer data storage and retrieval.

Harnessing these tiny magnetic changes - dubbed spintronics - made it possible to pack much more data onto hard disks and the development of handheld devices such as mobile phones or music players.

+++

The giant magnetoresistive effect (GMR) is a quantum mechanical effect observed in thin film structures composed of alternating ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic metal layers. The 2007 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg for the discovery of GMR.

The effect manifests itself as a significant decrease in resistance from the zero-field state, when the magnetization of adjacent ferromagnetic layers are antiparallel due to a weak anti-ferromagnetic coupling between layers, to a lower level of resistance when the magnetization of the adjacent layers align due to an applied external field. The spin of the electrons of the nonmagnetic metal align parallel or antiparallel with an applied magnetic field in equal numbers, and therefore suffer less magnetic scattering when the magnetizations of the ferromagnetic layers are parallel.

WHY DEMOCRACY

Think again

"I tend to resist romantic definitions that feature phrases like “noble ideal” and opt instead for something more analytic: democracy is a form of government that is not attached to any pre-given political or ideological ends, but allows ends to be chosen by the majority vote of free citizens." - Stanley Fish

HARD WOOD

Moving with the times
For the Supply and Delivery of Sawn Hardwood Railway Timber Sleepers
Issued by TransAdelaide
Request for Tender
Tender State: Current Tender
Tender Code: TRANS014948
Contract Number: 41/07
Category: Unassigned.

GUNN GUFF

Gunns contradicts itself over delays and hearings on pulp mill

Last week, Gunns CEO John Gay questioned the need for public hearings about the pulp mill and complained about so-called ‘delays’ in the assessment. In response, Premier Paul Lennon has reportedly promised to expedite the process on behalf of Gunns.
However, the pulpmill assessment timetable Gunns and Mr Lennon are complaining about is a timetable that was requested by Gunns itself, according to the Wilderness Society.
And the delays about which Gunns has complained are largely delays caused by Gunns itself.

TOP GUNNS

Gunns chief says mill conditions unfair

The head of timber company Gunns, John Gay, says the Federal Government's conditions placed on the Tasmanian pulp mill are unfair.
Meanwhile, Gunns shares surged around 11 per cent after Federal Environment Minister Mr Malcolm Turnbull's announcement.
The company has a record of sizeable donations to the Liberal and Labor parties.