US lab debuts super laser

A US weapons lab on Friday pulled back the curtain on a super laser with the power to burn as hot as a star.

The National Ignition Facility's main purpose is to serve as a tool for gauging the reliability and safety of the US nuclear weapons arsenal but scientists say it could deliver breakthroughs in safe fusion power.

Read more.

Amusing Ourselves To Death

Aldous Huxley vs. George Orwell

Check it out.

So true...

Scientists Unveil Missing Link In Evolution

"The link they would have said up to now is missing - well it's no longer missing."

Now, that's, cool.

Read the rest.

How Cool Is That?

Well, Wolframalpha has launched and it looks pretty cool. It (and the future copy cats) will only get better as time goes on. I, for one, am excited about it.

Check it out here.

Obama opposes detainee abuse photo release

In a reversal, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he would fight the release of dozens of photographs showing the abuse of terrorism suspects, over concern the images could ignite a backlash against U.S. troops.

How disappointing.

Get more disappointment here.

Get Ready Humanity, Because Space Is a Freak Show

In October, NASA discovered the universe was sliding inexplicably toward, well, something massive. They called the phenomenon "dark flow," and it's but one example of the creepy, unexplained awesomeness that awaits humanity in space.

Explore the rest.

An invention that could change the internet for ever

Wolfram Alpha will not only give a straight answer to questions such as "how high is Mount Everest?", but it will also produce a neat page of related information – all properly sourced – such as geographical location and nearby towns, and other mountains, complete with graphs and charts.

The real innovation, however, is in its ability to work things out "on the fly", according to its British inventor, Dr Stephen Wolfram. If you ask it to compare the height of Mount Everest to the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, it will tell you. Or ask what the weather was like in London on the day John F Kennedy was assassinated, it will cross-check and provide the answer. Ask it about D sharp major, it will play the scale. Type in "10 flips for four heads" and it will guess that you need to know the probability of coin-tossing. If you want to know when the next solar eclipse over Chicago is, or the exact current location of the International Space Station, it can work it out.

Now, you can't tell me that's not cool.

Read more and try to wait patiently for the arrival of Wolfram Alpha.

Stumbled

In one of the few stumbling moments that I get, I came across the following graphic. I found it amusing, but that's just me.