Category Archives: science and technology

Black Holes Ain’t So Black These Days

Here’s another case of science fiction making cool predictions and being right.
This time, Doctor Who gets credit for suggesting black holes as power sources.

Black
Hole Dynamos Spawn Monster Energy Fields

Cosmic dynamos in black holes could be the most efficient power plants in the universe, spawning magnetic energy fields so big they push past galaxy borders and into intergalactic space, scientists said Monday.

These monster magnetic fields have been known to astronomers for decades, and the link between them and black holes has also been theorized, but now researchers have created a picture of the energy fields and measured just how huge they are.

Face It, Gov’t Rushing Biometrics

Machines at an airport fail face-recognition test

Random tests of facial-recognition technology at a Florida airport this spring show that it failed to identify even half of the employees who went through screening. The American Civil Liberties Union released the results of the first four weeks of an eight-week study at Palm Beach International Airport. According to the group, the system made a match only 455 out of 958 times that volunteers who had their faces recorded digitally in the computer system went through it.

What’s Next, Flying Winnebagos?

Nasa trawls the web for spares

"Nasa admits it trawls web auctions for obsolete components for use in shuttle launches. Scientists routinely check eBay and Yahoo for old computer parts.They say a stockpile is needed to keep old support systems running. It recently bought a consignment of 1980s medical equipment to re-use some antique Intel processors"