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science/tech
Oct. 3rd, 2003 12:17 pmMurphy's Law honoured - 50 years late
Despite tempting fate by honouring the originators of Murphy's Law, the Ig Nobel Prizes were handed out at Harvard University on Thursday without glitches.
The Engineering Ig Nobel went to the men who invented the fundamental principle known Murphy's Law, or "if anything can go wrong, it will". To illustrate the principle, it took more than 50 years to cite the three engineers who recognised the obvious during rocket sled experiments at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
( Read more... )
Messaging worms could infect at lightning speed
A computer worm transmitted via instant messaging programs could, in theory, infect half a million computers within 30 seconds, simulations have shown.
( Read more... )
Jonathan Wignall, a computer security consultant with the non-profit Security Research Council in the UK, points out a software bug that would allow such a worm to spread has yet to be found. "At the moment it would require users to accept a file," he says.
Cattle ownership makes it a man's world
Early female-dominated societies lost their power to men as they acquired cattle, a new study demonstrates.
( Read more... )
Supercomputer climate model whips up a storm
Virtual hurricanes have appeared in computer models of the Earth's climate for the first time. The swirling storms are visible in the first results from the Earth Simulator in Yokohama, Japan - the world's fastest supercomputer.
( Read more... )
Major trial tackles breast cancer prevention
A major international trial of a drug to prevent breast cancer was launched in London, UK, on Tuesday. Researchers believe that the drug, called anastrozole, could cut the chance of breast cancer by more than 50 per cent in women with a raised risk of having the disease.
This could potentially save many thousands of lives every year in the UK alone, says Jack Cuzick who is leading the study for Cancer Research UK. Over 30,000 post-menopausal women develop breast cancer every year in the UK.
( Read more... )
Despite tempting fate by honouring the originators of Murphy's Law, the Ig Nobel Prizes were handed out at Harvard University on Thursday without glitches.
The Engineering Ig Nobel went to the men who invented the fundamental principle known Murphy's Law, or "if anything can go wrong, it will". To illustrate the principle, it took more than 50 years to cite the three engineers who recognised the obvious during rocket sled experiments at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
( Read more... )
Messaging worms could infect at lightning speed
A computer worm transmitted via instant messaging programs could, in theory, infect half a million computers within 30 seconds, simulations have shown.
( Read more... )
Jonathan Wignall, a computer security consultant with the non-profit Security Research Council in the UK, points out a software bug that would allow such a worm to spread has yet to be found. "At the moment it would require users to accept a file," he says.
Cattle ownership makes it a man's world
Early female-dominated societies lost their power to men as they acquired cattle, a new study demonstrates.
( Read more... )
Supercomputer climate model whips up a storm
Virtual hurricanes have appeared in computer models of the Earth's climate for the first time. The swirling storms are visible in the first results from the Earth Simulator in Yokohama, Japan - the world's fastest supercomputer.
( Read more... )
Major trial tackles breast cancer prevention
A major international trial of a drug to prevent breast cancer was launched in London, UK, on Tuesday. Researchers believe that the drug, called anastrozole, could cut the chance of breast cancer by more than 50 per cent in women with a raised risk of having the disease.
This could potentially save many thousands of lives every year in the UK alone, says Jack Cuzick who is leading the study for Cancer Research UK. Over 30,000 post-menopausal women develop breast cancer every year in the UK.
( Read more... )
