Feed aggregator
Tiny Fridge Gets Near Absolute Zero
A new study proposes a way to construct the smallest refrigerator yet, based on just a few particles and capable of cooling to near absolute zero. The study, which will appear in an upcoming issue of Physical Review Letters, pushes the limits of how small a cooling device can get and still remain functional. "When thermodynamics was first invented, it was applied to big, steam-engine sorts of things," says physicist Tony Short of the University of Cambridge in England, who was not involved in the study. "The fact that you can bring the ideas all the way down to individual quantum systems of tiny dimensions and the same basic ideas still work is quite nice."
Who Writes Pro-Cable Internet Legislation? Cable Does
A long-simmering bill in North Carolina that sought to make community-owned broadband networks much more difficult to establish was sponsored by a prominent state lawmaker and backed by incumbent ISPs, including the cable lobby. But it’s not like those ISPs actually wrote the now-discarded bill, right? Um ...
Weird Oblong Crater Deepens Mars Mystery
This amoeba-shaped depression on Mars, called Orcus Patera, has had planetary scientists scratching their heads for decades. Despite these sharp new images from the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft, the crater's origin is a complete mystery. Orcus Patera, discovered in 1965 by the Mariner 4 spacecraft, is located near Mars' equator, between the volcanoes Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons. At 236 miles long, it would stretch from New York to Boston on Earth. Its rim rises over a mile above the surrounding plains, and its floor lies 1,300 to 1,900 feet below its surroundings.
Maps Show How Mankind Remade Nature
As scientists get used to the idea that Earth is in a new geological age, that the Holocene — the last geological age — has been replaced by Anthropocene, they're figuring out how it got to be that way. Two years ago, ecologists Erle Ellis and Navin Ramankutty at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, released a map of the world's biological areas, traditionally known as biomes. Similar maps were found on science classroom walls across the land, but theirs was different in one very fundamental way. They updated the definition of biome to reflect how human beings used the land.
Why Wristwatches Are Still Worth Watching
The kids may be ditching wristwatches for time-telling smartphones, but manufacturers and designers still have some tricks just barely up their long sleeves. The trick seems to be making watches more like smartphones by packing in extra functions or forgoing utility altogether for pure aesthetics or prestige.
Internet Fail: Blockbuster Reportedly Plans Bankruptcy
Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes and a team of restructuring consultants reportedly met with all the major Hollywood studios last week to tell them about a plan to file bankruptcy before interest payments come due on nearly $1 billion in secured debt at the end of next month. The company might be able to survive by restructuring its debt, according to the Los Angeles Times — but even a restructuring could entail bankruptcy. Either way, the company is in big trouble.
Tech News