Physicists closer to finding 'God Particle'

Physicists closer to finding 'God Particle'

  5:27:00 PM    Science Lover

---

Physicists have come closer to finding the elusive "God Particle," which they hope could one day explain why particles have mass, the US Department of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced. Researchers at the Fermilab have managed to shrink the territory where the elusive Higgs Boson particle is expected to be found - a discovery placing the American research institute ahead of its European rival in the race to discover one of the biggest prizes in physics.

Physicists have long puzzled over how particles acquire mass. In 1964, a British physicist, Peter Higgs, came up with this idea: there must exist a background field that would act rather like treacle. Particles passing through it would acquire mass by being dragged through a mediator, which theoreticians dubbed the Higgs Boson.

The standard quip about the Higgs is that it is the "God Particle" - it is everywhere but remains frustratingly elusive. Confirming the Higgs would fill a huge gap in the so-called Standard Model, the theory that summarizes our present knowledge of particles. Over the years, scientists have whittled down the ranges of mass that the Higgs is likely to have.

Physicists were hopeful that the particle could be found with Europe's Big Bang atom-smasher, the Large Hadron Collider. But the Collider was shut down just days after it was turned on in September 2008 at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) below the Franco-Swiss border.

It is not scheduled to be turned back on until September of this year, while researchers at the rival Fermilab have cranked up their efforts to discover the Higgs. Researchers at CERN had already determined that the Higgs must weigh more than 114 GeV/c2, Femilab said in a press release.

Calculations of quantum effects involving the Higgs Boson require its mass to be less than 185 GeV/c2. Using Fermilab's Tevatron collider, researchers were able to "carve out a section in the middle of this range and establish that it cannot have a mass in between 160 and 170 GeV/c2."

They did this by combing the efforts of two major research groups that have analyzed three inverse femtobarns of collision data -- the scientific unit that scientists use to count the number of collisions. Each experiment expects to receive a total of about 10 inverse femtobarns by the end of 2010.

"A particle collision at the Tevatron collider can produce a Higgs boson in many different ways, and the Higgs particle can then decay into various particles," said Fermilab researcher Rob Roser. "Each experiment examines more and more possibilities. Combining all of them, we hope to see a first hint of the Higgs particle."

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

Read More

Website : www.writeonit.org

Website : www.writeonit.org

  9:45:00 AM    Science Lover

---

www.writeonit.org

This site lets you create fake pictures, signboards, and even a fake magazine cover with your photo on it! The process is simple: Choose your activity; upload a photo or choose from an existing template; write your caption.

Voila! Your custom-made image is ready to be downloaded. Alternatively, you can even post it to your blog, social network, or photo-sharing site. Good for a few laughs...

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

Read More

Muziic turns YouTube into source for songs

Muziic turns YouTube into source for songs

  8:48:00 AM    Science Lover

---

A screenshot of the free-to-download Muziic Player

A schoolboy and his father have developed a new software that lets people listen to YouTube’s vast collection of music videos as if it were a private collection.

Created by 15-year-old David Nelson, Muziic enables computers to mine the video-sharing site’s rich database of songs and play customised lists of tunes free of charge.

“The Muziic player is a pretty cool little thing,” said analyst Matt Rosoff of technology industry tracking firm Directions On Microsoft. “It looks and works a lot like iTunes, in that it is a downloadable desktop application; but you get all the content from YouTube. You have an all-in-one-place library of music for free.”

The program searches by using Content ID software that YouTube incorporated to enable owners of music to more easily locate copyrighted works.

Google, which owns YouTube, said that it is checking if Muziic conforms to the YouTube terms of service.

The company has been trying to develop ways to make money off of YouTube and that goal could be undermined by the Muziic Player, which lets users tap into the video-sharing Web site’s music while avoiding advertisements.

As for Muziic and YouTube, “hopefully, they will work something out,” said Rosoff. “Muziic is analogous to a subscription music service, but it’s free.”

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

Read More

Follow me?

Follow me?

  8:52:00 PM    Science Lover

---

A researcher waves to a new robot that detects non-verbal commands and can follow its ‘master’, thanks to a new depth-imaging camera (inset) and advanced software

Imagine a day when you turn to your own personal robot, give it a task and then sit down and relax, confident that your robot is doing exactly what you wanted it to do. A team of US-based engineers is working to bring this futuristic scenario closer to reality, with a new robot that can follow a person – indoors and outdoors – and even understand non-verbal commands through gestures.

“We have created a novel system where the robot will follow you at a precise distance, where you don’t need to wear special clothing; you don’t need to be in a special environment; and you don’t need to look backward to track it,” said team leader Chad Jenkins, assistant professor of computer science at Brown University.

A paper on the research was presented at the 4th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2009) in San Diego on Wednesday.

The team started with a PackBot, a mechanised platform that has been used widely by the US military for bomb disposal, among other tasks.

The researchers outfitted their robot with a commercial depth-imaging camera, which makes it look like “the head on the robot in the film Wall-E”.

They also attached a laptop with novel computer programs that enabled the bot to recognise human gestures, decipher them and respond to them.

In a demonstration, graduate student Sonia Chernova used a variety of hand-arm signals to instruct the automaton, including “follow”, “halt”, “wait” and “door breach”.

She walked with her back to it, turning corners in narrow hallways and walking briskly in an outdoor parking lot. Throughout, the bot followed dutifully, maintaining an approximate three-foot distance – and even backed up when Chernova turned around and approached it.

The team also successfully instructed the machine to turn around (a full 180-degree pivot), and to freeze when the student disappeared from view – essentially idling until the instructor reappeared and gave a nonverbal or verbal command.

HOW IT WORKS

To build the robot, the researchers had to address two key issues. The first involved what scientists call visual recognition, which helps robots orient themselves with respect to the objects in a room.

“Robots can see things, but recognition remains a challenge,” Jenkins explained. The scientists overcame this obstacle by creating a computer program, whereby the robot recognised a human by extracting a silhouette, as if a person were a virtual cut-out.

This let it “home in” on the human and receive commands without being distracted by other objects in the space.

The second advance involved the depth-imaging camera, which uses infrared light to detect objects and to establish their distance from the camera.

This enabled the Brown robot to stay locked in on the human controller, which was essential to maintaining aset distance while following the person.

The result is a robot that doesn’t require remote control or constant vigilance, which is a key step in developing autonomous devices, Jenkins said.

“Advances in enabling intuitive human-robot interaction, such as through speech or gestures, go a long way into making the robot more of a valuable sidekick and less of a machine you have to constantly command,” added Chris Jones, the principal investigator on the project.

The team is now working to add more non-verbal and verbal commands for the robot and to increase the three-foot working distance between it and the commander.

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

Read More

5 deadliest hacking subject lines

5 deadliest hacking subject lines

  9:10:00 AM    Science Lover

---

Given the surfeit of new threats – ‘Hacking’, it would not be a bad idea for most of the Internet surfers to reconsider their online habits. With the Net being increasingly used by a large number of people for various bill payments, banking, investments, ticket bookings and reservations, e-commerce, social networking, communication and much more, it is time people paid heed to the threat of dangers lurking around at every step, and form a counter strategy.

It is critical to know these lurking threats so that you don't fall prey to scamsters and fraudsters and compromise your security and monies. Here is a list of some of the common tricks played by scammers.

`You have not paid for the item you recently won on eBay. Please click here to pay.’

Many consumers visit auction sites to find gifts or personal buying. But such shoppers must be aware of scammers who use auction sites to find their preys. A very common trick according to CSO, are mails notifying the users that he has 'not paid for the item you recently won on the site. Please click here to pay.' These emails impersonate complaints from the popular auction sites for non-payment of winning bids. People using online auction sites often bid days before a purchase is complete. So, it is not difficult for a person to believe that he has forgotten about a bid he made a week before.

Experts believe that such phising mails play on a person's concerns about the negative impact this may have on their auction site score. Like in case of eBay, people generally spend years building eBay feedback score or `reputation,' hence the chances are that they will quickly react to such emails. Many consumers visit auction sites to find gifts or personal buying. But such shoppers must be aware of scammers who use auction sites to find their preys. A very common trick according to CSO, are mails notifying the users that he has 'not paid for the item you recently won on the site. Please click here to pay.' These emails impersonate complaints from the popular auction sites for non-payment of winning bids. People using online auction sites often bid days before a purchase is complete. So, it is not difficult for a person to believe that he has forgotten about a bid he made a week before.

Experts believe that such phising mails play on a person's concerns about the negative impact this may have on their auction site score. Like in case of eBay, people generally spend years building eBay feedback score or `reputation,' hence the chances are that they will quickly react to such emails.

`You've been let go. Click here to register for severance pay.'

Scammers are finding novel ways to cash on the present downturn. This trick comes from the same. The mounting number of layoffs has made employees anxious about their jobs. This is what fraudsters are exploiting on.

The message appears to have come from HR dept (cons employer's email ID) and often says: You have been let go due to a layoff. If you wish to register for severance please register here.' Little surprisingly, the message carries a malicious link.

`This mail is Shivram from tech services. Your PC is infected.’

This is another common trick that scammers play. To cause maximum damage, such mails usually coincide with a related event. This means during the time of a widespread malware attack or a virus spread (say during the recent Downadup worm attack).

In such messages, hackers paint a destructive image of the damage that the worm attack can cause to the user. The aim is to exploit and cash on people's fear and uncomfort with technology.
`Someone has a secret crush on you! Click on this link to find who it is!’

This is one of the oldest tricks. But still seems to be working. The message seems to come from a dating or a social networking site and asks the reader to click on a link or download an application.

Sadly, in ninety percent of such cases, after clicking on the link, you not only don't find your secret admirer, -- you also download malicious software that you can't even detect. Of course, it's designed to steal personal and financial information. Stay away from such "secret admirers".

`Did you see this video of you? Check out this link!’

This is another popular scam. Security experts are seeing an increase in such spam, especially on Twitter, the popular microbloging site.

A recent spam campaign on Twitter read: "Did you see this video of you?" Thinking it to be from a friend many users ended up clicking on it and landed up at a fake Twitter site. Once there, unsuspecting users entered passwords, which then ended up in the hands of hackers.

(Courtesy: Indiatimes.Infotech)

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

Read More

Scientists erase bad memories from brain

Scientists erase bad memories from brain

  2:01:00 AM    Science Lover

---

It may soon be possible to erase bad memories from the human brain.

Canadian scientists at the University of Toronto and the local Hospital for Sick Children have found a link between a given memory and specific neurons - the cells in the brain that transmit information - that store it.

The human brain has over 100 billion neurons, but memories are stored in only small number of them. Scientists have been trying to identify these precise neurons that encode a given memory.

Now in their experimental study on mice (which has 100 million neurons), the Toronto research team has succeeded in identifying precise neurons that carry a particular memory.

Unlike in the past when scientists had deleted an entire brain region in mice to try and erase a memory in the hopes of finding out about how memories are normally stored, the Toronto team has succeeded in removing only the small portion of neurons that stored a specific memory.

"Though previous studies have provided important evidence suggesting that specific neurons are involved in a memory, we believe this (study) paper is the first to establish causal links," a university statement quoted study leader and physiology professor Sheena Josselyn as saying.

In their previous experiments, the same research team had found evidence that in mice, fear memories are stored in specific neurons within a brain structure known as the lateral amygdala (LA) that have a high amount of a specific protein (CREB).

This means that CREB levels helps dictate which neurons are involved in storing a memory.

Now in their latest study, the research team destroyed only these LA neurons with high levels of CREB and found that mice no longer remembered the fearful event. The research team also showed that random removal of any LA neurons does not erase the fear memory. You have to remove only specific set of neurons that store a memory.

"Our experiences, both good and bad, teach us things," said study leader Josselyn.

"If we did not remember that the last time we touched a hot stove we got burned, we would be more likely to do it again. So in this sense, even memories of bad or frightening experiences are useful.

"However, there are some cases in which fearful memories become maladaptive, such as with post-traumatic stress disorder or severe phobia. Selectively erasing these intrusive memories may improve the lives of afflicted individuals," she said.

"Our studies suggest that one strategy would be to target interventions to that small subset of neurons actually involved in storing a memory, rather than the entire brain. It sounds like a futuristic film, but our results in mice do provide proof-of-principle that this may one day be possible in humans," said co-researcher Paul Frankland.

The study is published in the March 13 issue of the journal Science.

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

Read More

The history of the universe – in 3D!

The history of the universe – in 3D!

  12:54:00 AM    Science Lover

---

In an international project, astronomers have obtained exceptional 3D images of distant galaxies, seen when the Universe was half its current age. And by looking at this unique “history book” of the universe, at an epoch when the Sun and the Earth did not even exist, scientists hope to solve the puzzle of how galaxies formed in the remote past.

The team – consisting of scientists from the US’ NASA, the European Space Agency and the European Southern Observatory – obtained the images by combining the Hubble Space Telescope’s acute eye with the capacity of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to probe the motions of gas in tiny objects.

“Hubble and VLT are real ‘time machines’ for probing the universe’s history,” said Sébastien Peirani, lead author of one of the papers reporting on this study.

DOUBLING UP

For decades, distant galaxies that emitted their light six to eight billion years ago – over half the age of the universe – were no more than small specks of light on the sky.

With the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in the early 1990s, astronomers were able to scrutinise the structure of these galaxies in some detail for the first time.

Now, researchers are using the Hubble’s capabilities in conjunction with those of the VLT – an array of four separate optical telescopes, situated at the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. Its Fibre Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) can observe up to 130 targets at a time, which enabled the team to measure the velocity of the gas in the distant galaxies.

“By seeing how the gas is moving, it provides us with a 3D view of galaxies halfway across the universe,” said François Hammer, who led the project.

The team is now reconstituting the history of about 100 remote galaxies. The project has already provided useful insights for three such galaxies.

UNRAVELLING GALACTIC SECRETS

In one galaxy, FLAMES revealed a region full of ionised gas – hot gas composed of atoms that have been stripped of one or several electrons. This is normally due to the presence of very hot, young stars.

However, even after staring at the region for more than 11 days, Hubble did not detect any stars! “Clearly, this unusual galaxy has some hidden secrets,” researcher Mathieu Puech said.

Computer simulations suggested that the explanation lies in the collision of two very gas-rich spiral galaxies. The heat produced by the collision would ionise the gas, making it too hot for stars to form.

Another galaxy that the scientists studied showed the opposite effect. There, they discovered a bluish central region enshrouded in a reddish disc, almost completely hidden by dust.

“The models indicate that gas and stars could be spiralling inwards rapidly,” said Hammer. “This might be the first example of a disc rebuilt after a major merger.”

Finally, in a third galaxy, the team saw a rare sight: an extremely blue, elongated structure – a bar, in fact – composed of young, massive stars. Comparisons with computer simulations showed that the properties of this object are well reproduced by a collision between two galaxies of unequal mass.

“The combination of Hubble and the VLT, along with modern computer simulations, allows us to model distant galaxies almost as nicely as the close ones,” Hammer said.

The team is now extending its analyses to the whole sample of galaxies observed.

“The next step will then be to compare this with closer galaxies, and so, piece together a picture of the evolution of galaxies over half the age of the universe,” he concluded.

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

Read More

Watchful windows

Watchful windows

  10:20:00 PM    Science Lover

---

New light-sensitive sensor technology could enable your windows to detect intruders and sound an alarm

Ever had that sinking feeling that someone is sneaking around in front of your window, probably trying to break in? With new technology crafted by researchers in Germany, windows and doors might soon be able to detect whether there’s suspicious activity outside your house, and accordingly, sound an alarm.

A novel motion sensor developed by the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research (IAP) in Potsdam-Golm enables window panes and glass doors to detect movements, thanks to a special coating.

If anything changes in front of a pane, or someone sneaks up to it, an alarm is soon sounded.

“The glass is coated with a fluorescent material,” explains IAP group manager Dr Burkhard Elling. “The coating contains nanoparticles that convert light falling on the window into fluorescent radiation.”

How it works

The principle is as follows: The invisible light of an ultraviolet (UV) lamp “illuminates” the window panes, and generates fluorescent radiation in the coating. Sensors in the edges of the window detect this radiation, and thus keep a tab on activities.

A single sensor can perform simple applications: For example, if someone steps into the light of the lamp, less light reaches the coating and less fluorescent radiation is produced – thus triggering the sensor.

If several sensors are installed on all four sides of the window frame, conclusions can be drawn from the data as to how fast and in what direction an object is moving. Its size, too, can be estimated by the sensors.

The invisible light of a UV lamp ‘illuminates’ the window panes and generates fluorescent radiation in the coating. This radiation is detected by sensors in the edges of the window

“This is especially useful in warding off false alarms. For instance, by setting a threshold for the alarm, moving objects that are the size of birds do not set off any sirens,” Elling says.

Likewise, the smart sensors do not react to light from passing cars, as the researchers have developed a software application that can interpret different light signals. This enables the system to easily distinguish between a UV lamp and the slowly changing light from a passing headlight.

“The system has further advantages: For one, it does not infringe on anybody’s personal rights, as it only detects the change in radiation, and not who triggered it,” Elling points out.

“It is also cost-efficient, because the coating can be sprayed onto the windows by airbrush or glued on as a film,” he adds.

A demonstrator system has already been made, and the boffins are aiming to market it at places such as museums.

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

Read More

Explanatory ‘Nano Song’ becomes mega-hit on Youtube

Explanatory ‘Nano Song’ becomes mega-hit on Youtube

  12:23:00 PM    Science Lover

---

Vocalist Glory Liu poses with a muppet

How would you explain “nanotechnology” to a science novice? A group of US-based students from the University of California, Berkeley, have answered this call with a pint-sized video - part Sound of Music, part Muppets, part science class. Its online reception, though, has been anything but small!

The Nano Song features music and lyrics by 27-year-old Ryan Miyakawa, a pianist-composer and engineering graduate student. Glory Liu - a classics and political economy major with three years of classical music training - lends voice to the lyrics, cheerfully explaining nanotechnology to a band of puppets: “A million nanometres that are lined up in a row/Are just about as long as a single flake of snow….”

Image via CrunchBase

The piece went online on February 22, when the group submitted it to the American Chemical Society (ACS), as part of its competition to explain nanotechnology in no more than three minutes.

Fame wasted no time. By early March, The Nano Song had spread virally, with mentions by PhysOrg.com, Scientific American, WIRED, and boingboing. When YouTube featured the video on its home page, it quickly racked up over 3,00,000 hits, along with a mountain of comments from viewers, like: “‘Nano Song’ is rocking the globe!”

“I turned comments off after the first 200,” says Miyakawa.

Nanotechnology is a hot topic in science and engineering, but experts in the field have trouble explaining it to the uninitiated, he notes.

“Therefore, I wanted to do something fun that would be acceptable to the public,” he says.

To Miyakawa, a silly yet edifying song seemed to be in order. He spent a day composing a tune - using music software to lay down a big orchestral sound - and writing lyrics with across-the-board appeal.

The refrain goes: “Nano, nana, nano/ What a wonderful surprise/That ordinary is extraordinary/When you make it nano size!”

Turning the snappy ‘Nano Song’ into a video was challenging; complete with its troupe of students and alumni, who built and manipulated puppets for the shoot.

The Nano Song is currently the top-rated and most-viewed contest submission, with more than 12,000 views on the ACS site.

To see the video itself, ‘behind the scenes’ photos of its making; or to download an MP3 of the song, visit www.nanosong.com.
Simply copy and paste the following code into your blog and show off your page rank to your readers. The following code will appear as

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Wireless Sensor Networks see everything. (mobilewellbeing.info)

Read More

Apple 17-inch MacBook Pro in India

Apple 17-inch MacBook Pro in India

  2:44:00 AM    Science Lover

---

Apple’s recently refreshed 17-inch MacBook Pro at the MacWorld 2009 in San Francisco has been launched in India The newly revamped model comes with a built-in battery that delivers up to eight hours of use and up to 1,000 recharges for more than three times the lifespan of conventional notebook batteries.

Made from one aluminium block like its notebook siblings unveiled last October, has a high-resolution LED-backlit display and glass Multi-Touch trackpad.

The 17-inch MacBook Pro packs Nvidia graphics and the latest generation Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processors.

Measuring 0.98 inches in thickness and weighing 6.6 pounds, the notebook has 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB L2 cache, Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics, 512MB RAM, and Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics.

Apple offers upgrade option for updating CPU to 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and memory up to 8GB RAM. Storage can upgraded up to 320GB 7200RPM HDD or a 128GB/256GB SSD.

The notebook is priced at Rs 1,62,600 approximately.

(Courtesy: Indiatimes. Infotech)

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

Related articles by Zemanta

• NVIDIA's GeForce 9600M causing issues in 17-inch MacBook Pro? (engadget.com)

Read More