Tablet PC

A tablet PC is a notebook or slate-shaped mobile computer, first introduced by Pen computing in the early 90s with their PenGo Tablet Computer and popularized by Microsoft. Its touchscreen or graphics tablet/screen hybrid technology allows the user to operate the computer with a stylus or digital pen, or a fingertip, instead of a keyboard or mouse. The form factor offers a more mobile way to interact with a computer. Tablet PCs are often used where normal notebooks are impractical or unwieldy, or do not provide the needed functionality.

Rocket

rocket or rocket vehicle is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust by the reaction of the rocket to the ejection of fast moving fluid exhaust from a rocket engine. Chemical rockets create their exhaust by the combustion of rocket propellant. The action of the exhaust against the inside of combustion chambers and expansion nozzles is able to accelerate the gas to hypersonic speed, and this exerts a large reactive thrust on the rocket (an equal and opposite reaction in accordance with Newton's third law).
Rockets, in the form of military and recreational uses, date back to at least the 13th century.[1] Widespread military, scientific, and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry was the enabling technology of the Space Age, including setting foot on the moon.

General intelligence

Main articles: Strong AI and AI-complete
Most researchers hope that their work will eventually be incorporated into a machine with general intelligence (known as strong AI), combining all the skills above and exceeding human abilities at most or all of them.[12] A few believe that anthropomorphic features like artificial consciousness or an artificial brain may be required for such a project.[72]
Many of the problems above are considered AI-complete: to solve one problem, you must solve them all. For example, even a straightforward, specific task like machine translation requires that the machine follow the author's argument (reason), know what is being talked about (knowledge), and faithfully reproduce the author's intention (social intelligence). Machine translation, therefore, is believed to be AI-complete: it may require strong AI to be done as well as humans can do it.[73]

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, United States. The term originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the high-tech businesses in the area; it is now generally used as a metonym for the high-tech sector. Despite the development of other high-tech economic centers throughout the United States, Silicon Valley continues to be the leading high-tech hub because of its large number of engineers and venture capitalists. Geographically, Silicon Valley encompasses the northern part of the Santa Clara Valley and adjacent communities.

Laser

A laser is a device that emits light (electromagnetic radiation) through a process called stimulated emission. The term laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.[1][2] Laser light is usually spatially coherent, which means that the light either is emitted in a narrow, low-divergence beam, or can be converted into one with the help of optical components such as lenses. Typically, lasers are thought of as emitting light with a narrow wavelength spectrum ("monochromatic" light). This is not true of all lasers, however: some emit light with a broad spectrum, while others emit light at multiple distinct wavelengths simultaneously. The coherence of typical laser emission is distinctive. Most other light sources emit incoherent light, which has a phase that varies randomly with time and position.

Spy Satellites

The recent much publicized shooting down of a US Spy Satellite, out of control (or so they say) and plummeting towards Earth has raised the level of interest in what is up in Space, looking down on us, watching our every movement, and listening to our every electronic transmission.
Any one can look up civilian satellite images thanks to Google, and other image providers. The resolution of these free images from space are better than the Top Secret satellite images of only a few years ago. Today you can begin your Spy Games on your browser, at home.

Cloning

This case was written for a high school introductory biology class. The purpose of the case is to provide students with an opportunity to discuss animal cloning and its moral implications. It was designed to be given to students at the conclusion of a unit on genetics in which cloning has been thoroughly discussed. The case makes use of a debate format. Students read the case, in which a family pet has died, and assume the roles of the family members who must distinguish between conflicting opinions as to whether or not the animal should be cloned. In order to minimize disruption to other classrooms and teachers, the author recommends that the case be conducted in the school auditorium. As developed, the case requires two 40-minute class periods, ideally run back to back. In preparation for the case, students will need detailed prior knowledge regarding the topic of cloning, including what genetic cloning is and what it involves.

As if the MiFi hadn't already piqued our interest, Sprint's new foray into mobile broadband routers is downright riveting. The Sprint Personal Hotspot PH300s and Cradlepoint MBR-1000 Broadband Router (pictured) both do essentially the same thing, pulling down EV-DO Rev. A or WiMAX data and sharing it with your closest compatriots over WiFi -- and finally sporting enough bandwidth to do it in style. The PH300s obviously has a more "personal" slant, with only four simultaneous 802.11g WiFi connections, while the MBR-1000 is meant for business use and can serve up to 32 users over 802.11n. They're priced at $160 and $250, respectively, and the PHS300S should be showing up at Sprint stores in WiMAX-equipped areas -- business users will have to track down the MBR-1000 through the appropriate channels.[Via Phone Scoop]

SIG founded in 1998 consists of 2000 members who have access to the Blue tooth specifications (information needed to make a blue tooth product). The SIG works to promote the Blue tooth technology and consists of members like IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Nokia. The technology represents an opportunity for the industry to deliver wireless solutions that are ubiquitous across a broad range of devices.

Moon used as giant particle detector

Researchers hunting for the elusive neutrino typically trek to Antarctica, the Mediterranean, and Lake Baikal. But a growing number of projects are looking for the most energetic neutrinos by aiming radio telescopes at the moon.
If the efforts are successful, they might reveal the universe's most powerful particle accelerators or even evidence of exotic new physics.
Neutrinos are fundamental particles that pass easily through matter, only occasionally colliding with atomic nuclei. Until now, the only extraterrestrial neutrinos that have been found were forged in the sun and in one nearby supernova called 1987A.
But astronomers suspect the universe is full of even higher energy neutrinos, produced by cosmic accelerators that whipped charged particles to energies about 100 million times as high as those generated in the most powerful particle accelerators on Earth.

Destruction of Martian methane may be bad news for life

Methane gas on Mars may be destroyed 600 times faster than it is on Earth – and possibly in as little as one hour, new calculations suggest. If so, whatever process is responsible for the destruction may be wiping out other organic molecules, which are necessary for life as we know it.
In 2003, researchers detected methane on Mars. Since sunlight destroys methane on Earth in about 330 years, the discovery suggested that the gas was being replenished by geological processes or possibly even methane-producing bacteria.
The mystery deepened when researchers reported that the methane is not spread evenly through the atmosphere, but is concentrated in certain areas. That is a puzzle because atmospheric currents are expected to spread the gas evenly around the planet in a matter of weeks or months.

Astronomy
Main article: Astronomy

Space missions have been used to image distant locations within the Solar System, such as this Apollo 11 view of Daedalus crater on the far side of the Moon.
This discipline is the science of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere. It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the formation and development of the universe.
Astronomy includes the examination, study and modeling of stars, planets, comets, galaxies and the cosmos. Most of the information used by astronomers is gathered by remote observation, although some laboratory reproduction of celestial phenomenon has been performed (such as the molecular chemistry of the interstellar medium.)
While the origins of the study of celestial features and phenomenon can be traced back to antiquity, the scientific methodology of this field began to develop in the middle of the seventeenth century. A key factor was Galileo's introduction of the telescope to examine the night sky in more detail.
The mathematical treatment of astronomy began with Newton's development of celestial mechanics and the laws of gravitation, although it was triggered by earlier work of astronomers such as Kepler. By the nineteenth century, astronomy had developed into a formal science with the introduction of instruments such as the spectroscope and photography, along with much improved telescopes and the creation of professional observatories.

International Taxidermy Training Course Ended Successfully发布时间：2008-05-29访问次数：69
Museum taxidermy is one of the most important work of natural history museum. Compared with the advanced international taxidermy level, China was still using the 18th~19th Century’s European method – Stuffing. With the background of construction of new Shanghai Natural History Museum, the leaders of Shanghai Science & Technology Museum made the decision of inviting the international taxidermy master – Prof. Eirik Granqvist to give training course to our taxidermy staff. Prof. Granqvist arrived in Shanghai on November 15, 2007, and started the half year’s training course to the students from collection department of Shanghai Science & Technology Museum. This lovely Finnish old man has brought the advanced international taxidermy to China. With the guide and help from Prof. Granqvist, the students have basically mastered modern museum taxidermy, known a series of new taxidermy chemicals and used the advanced taxidermy machines. With the great support and help from all the related department of the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum (administrative office, exhibition management department, research & design institute, human resource department, property management department etc.), the training project went smoothly. The students developed the hardworking spirit, endeavored to study and actively assisted professor’s teaching. They over-fulfilled the study task and gave out a satisfactory answer sheet.

Hubble to Receive High-Tech James Webb Space Telescope Technology

Scientists and engineers now creating new technologies for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have realized they can be used to enhance the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the upcoming servicing mission.One piece of new technology astronauts will be installing in Hubble during Servicing Mission 4 in May, 2009 is a small, specialized integrated circuit called an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, or ASIC, that enables an entire circuit board’s worth of electronics to be condensed into a very small package. It will be a part of the new Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) Electronics Box (CEB) that will be installed to repair the failed ACS instrument. The ASIC is used to read the voltages generated by instrument detectors and convert them to digital signals that are processed by the spacecraft’s electronics for transmission to the ground.The ASIC design is the same as the one already developed and tested for the James Webb Space Telescope. However, the electronics packaging for Hubble is different because of the different operating conditions such as temperature and electronics environments. How different are the thermal environments? Hubble is in low Earth orbit, approximately 350 miles above the Earth’s surface, while the Webb telescope will have an orbit one million miles from Earth. In addition, Webb uses infrared based cameras that will be adversely affected by heat given off by circuitry. ASIC consumes very low power, which helps keep the Webb telescope's science instruments cold. Hubble's ACS is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation at visible and ultraviolet wavelengths, but not infrared radiation. Its Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) detectors must also be cooled to minimize the background thermal noise produced by the warmth of the detector assemblies themselves. However, the CCD’s are not nearly as sensitive to heat as the James Webb infrared sensors.

Engineers Learn How to Assemble 'Eye' of Telescope

NASA and Northrop Grumman are training their engineers on how to handle and assemble the telescope's Optical Telescope Element, also known as the 'eye' of the telescope.

Molniya satellites

As mentioned, geostationary satellites are constrained to operate above the equator. As a consequence, they are not always suitable for providing services at high latitudes: at high latitudes, a geostationary satellite will appear low on the horizon, affecting connectivity and causing multipath (interference caused by signals reflecting off the ground and into the ground antenna). The first satellite of the Molniya series was launched on April 23, 1965 and was used for experimental transmission of TV signal from a Moscow uplink station to downlink stations located in Siberia and the Russian Far East, in Norilsk, Khabarovsk, Magadan and Vladivostok. In November of 1967 Soviet engineers created a unique system of national TV network of satellite television, called Orbita, that was based on Molniya satellites.
Molniya orbits can be an appealing alternative in such cases. The Molniya orbit is highly inclined, guaranteeing good elevation over selected positions during the northern portion of the orbit. (Elevation is the extent of the satellite’s position above the horizon. Thus, a satellite at the horizon has zero elevation and a satellite directly overhead has elevation of 90 degrees).
Furthermore, the Molniya orbit is designed so that the satellite spends the great majority of its time over the far northern latitudes, during which its ground footprint moves only slightly. Its period is one half day, so that the satellite is available for operation over the targeted region for eight hours every second revolution. In this way a constellation of three Molniya satellites (plus in-orbit spares) can provide uninterrupted coverage.
Molniya satellites are typically used for telephony and TV services over Russia. Another application is to use them for mobile radio systems (even at lower latitudes) since cars travelling through urban areas need access to satellites at high elevation in order to secure good connectivity, e.g. in the presence of tall buildings.

Low-Earth-orbiting satellites

A Low Earth Orbit (LEO) typically is a circular orbit about 400 kilometres above the earth’s surface and, correspondingly, a period (time to revolve around the earth) of about 90 minutes. Because of their low altitude, these satellites are only visible from within a radius of roughly 1000 kilometres from the sub-satellite point. In addition, satellites in low earth orbit change their position relative to the ground position quickly. So even for local applications, a large number of satellites are needed if the mission requires uninterrupted connectivity.
Low earth orbiting satellites are less expensive to launch into orbit than geostationary satellites and, due to proximity to the ground, don't require as high signal strength (Recall that signal strength falls off as the square of the distance from the source, so the effect is dramatic). Thus there is a trade off between the number of satellites and their cost. In addition, there are important differences in the onboard and ground equipment needed to support the two types of missions.
A group of satellites working in concert is known as a satellite constellation. Two such constellations, intended to provide satellite phone services, primarily to remote areas, are the Iridium and Globalstar systems. The Iridium system has 66 satellites. Another LEO satellite constellation known as Teledesic, with backing from Microsoft entrepreneur Paul Allen, was to have over 840 satellites. This was later scaled back to 288 and ultimately ended up only launching one test satellite.
It is also possible to offer discontinuous coverage using a low Earth orbit satellite capable of storing data received while passing over one part of Earth and transmitting it later while passing over another part. This will be the case with the CASCADE system of Canada’s CASSIOPE communications satellite. Another system using this store and forward method is Orbcomm.

Communications satellite

A communications satellite (sometimes abbreviated to SATCOM) is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purposes of telecommunications. Modern communications satellites use a variety of orbits including geostationary orbits, Molniya orbits, other elliptical orbits and low (polar and non-polar) Earth orbits.
For fixed (point-to-point) services, communications satellites provide a microwave radio relay technology complementary to that of submarine communication cables. They are also used for mobile applications such as communications to ships, vehicles, planes and hand-held terminals, and for TV and radio broadcasting, for which application of other technologies, such as cable, is impractical or impossible.

Another look insidehah

The way medical X-rays are generated is over 100 years old. Time to update it

WHEN Wilhelm Röntgen, a German physicist, was carrying out some experiments in 1895, he stumbled across a type of radiation which he labelled simply as X, because he did not know what it was. His X-rays did not remain unknown for long, however. Doctors seized on them to look inside living bodies and, later, engineers used them to examine the interiors of mechanical components. What has not changed much since Röntgen’s day, though, is how they are made.
Most electronic devices have moved into the era of silicon chips and other solid-state technology. Not X-rays. The machines used to generate them still rely resolutely on vacuum tubes. But that will change shortly if Otto Zhou of the University of North Carolina has his way. Dr Zhou and his colleagues are bringing X-radiography into the world of modern electronics. In doing so they hope to create X-ray machines that are smaller, simpler and able to produce more detailed pictures. These could be used to enhance security screening at airports, to allow engineers to check the structure of materials more easily and, especially, to enhance medical images in a way that would improve cancer therapy.

Shake, rattle and roll

Why so few Japanese pagodas have ever fallen down
YOUR correspondent is indebted to readers for their interesting comments about last week’s column on timber-framed buildings. He is especially grateful to Anjin-san, whose observations about Japanese pagodas reminded him of a day spent a dozen years ago with Shuzo Ishida, a structural engineer at Kyoto Institute of Technology. Mr Ishida, known to his students as “Professor Pagoda”, has a passion for the building’s unique dynamics.
What has mystified scholars over the ages is how these tall, wooden buildings cope so well with the earthquakes and typhoons that plague Japan. Many have been struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Others have been torched by marauding warlords. Fire was a perennial hazard in Japan when wood and paper buildings were the norm. But, remarkably, only two of the country’s hundreds of wooden pagodas have collapsed over the past 1,400 years as a result of violent shaking.