5 Things YOU Can Do to Help Open Source

The thing is that when you tell someone about participation in a certain open source project they immediately think of programming, and they say “Hey I’m no geek dude, I can’t do [insert programming language here], there’s no way I can contribute to this project , even though I’d like to.

Enemies of GNU/Linux?

If you have been following the news last week, you may have stumbled upon a quite shocking news item. A teacher from Austin, Texas confiscated a bunch of CDs containing free Linux distributions from a student who was demonstarting GNU/Linux on his laptop and handing out the CDs. After this, the teacher sent an angry email to Ken Starks of the HeliOS Project, where the student got his Linux CDs from.

Top 10 Responses to Why Should I Use Linux? - A Linux Evangelists’ Reference

If you’re a Linux enthusiast like me, you’ve probably tried to convert a few people over to Linux from another operating system. Even though you succeed many times, there are always a few ‘geniuses’ out there who need some real persuading to switch over to Linux. So here are some quick and simple things about Linux you can point out to your potential convert.

Ubuntu Desktop Edition

With Ubuntu Desktop Edition you can surf the web, read email, create documents and spreadsheets, edit images and much more. Ubuntu has a fast and easy graphical installer right on the Desktop CD. On a typical computer the installation should take you less than 25 minutes.

Turkey Physics (La Física del Pavo)

As you cook the turkey, muscle fibers contract until they begin to break up at around 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Bonds within the molecules begin to break down, causing proteins to unravel, and the dense muscle meat to become more tender. Collagen in the bird (one of three protein fibers that attaches muscles to the bone) breaks down into softer gelatin molecules as it unwinds.

El aceite de oliva ayuda a prolongar la sensación de saciedad

Ya se sabe desde hace tiempo que es bueno para la salud, pero una nueva investigación encontró una ventaja extra. Las comidas preparadas con este aceite mantienen la sensación de saciedad por más tiempo.

40,000 planets could be home to aliens

Researchers have calculated that up to 37,964 worlds in our galaxy are hospitable enough to be home to creatures at least as intelligent as ourselves.

Natureevents

Natureevents is the first place for scientists looking for the latest scientific conferences, meetings, courses and symposia. We publish the Natureevents directory, which covers a complete range of scientific events and conferences around the world in the current year.

A Christmas Present From Mendelssohn, Delivered at His Birthday Celebration

The Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York began its celebration of Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday last season, when it included a handful of rarities in its programming. It has a few more up its sleeve too, including a reconstruction of an unfinished piano concerto. But for the actual birthday, on Tuesday, the society presented a salon concert of the sort that was common in Mendelssohn’s day, bringing together vocal works and piano music.

Exploding mobile phone kills man in China

The shop worker from Guangzhou, China, died moments after he put a new battery in his phone, it has been claimed. It was believed that he may have just finished charging the battery and had put the phone in his breast pocket when it exploded. China's daily Shin Min Daily News said the accident happened on Friday, Jan 30, at 7.30pm. An employee at the shop told local media that she heard a loud bang and saw her colleague lying on the floor of the shop in a pool of blood. The employee said the victim had recently changed the battery in his mobile phone.

Do Nanoparticles in Food Pose a Health Risk?

Yet, the Washington, D.C.–based environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) reports that none of the more than 100 food or food-related products it identified that contain nanoparticles—puny particles between 100 and one nanometers—bears a warning label or has undergone safety testing by government agencies.

Ashley Judd

Defenders Action Fund's campaign to expose Gov. Palin’s anti-wildlife agenda has attracted the support of actress and activist, Ashley Judd.

Ashley Judd: "I am outraged by Sarah Palin's promotion of this cruel, unscientific and senseless practice which has no place in modern America," commented Ms. Judd. "Because she is apparently determined to continue and expand this horrific program, I am grateful that Defenders will aggressively fight to stop her. I am proud to be a part of that effort."

See the Ashley Judd video

Top ten open problems in physics

I think… the ultimate purpose of my work is solving unsolved mysteries in physics. I am afraid, this and only this makes my work enjoyable for me, makes it fun. For the sake of future reference, let me enlist here the most important (from my point of view), hard and interesting unsolved problems in physics.

Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger, hero of US Airways Flight 1549, breaks silence about emergency landing

"It was very quiet as we worked, my co-pilot and I. We were a team," Sullenberger told ESPN's Rick Reilly. "But to have zero thrust coming out of those engines was shocking - the silence."

How the tail wags the dog in ultracold atomic gases

The development of the field of ultracold atoms has opened up new frontiers in both few-body and many-body physics. Of particular interest are universal aspects that apply equally well not only to various species of atoms, but also to other types of particles with short-range interactions. In the current issue of Physical Review A, Shizhong Zhang and Anthony Leggett of the University of Illinois report their derivations of some remarkable properties of ultracold atomic gases that exploit interesting connections between few-body and many-body physics [1].

Hace 200 años nació Mendelssohn, el Mozart del siglo XIX

Como se sabe, muchos grandes artistas sólo alcanzaron la fama después de su muerte. Sin embargo, con el Mozart del siglo XIX , como lo llamó su colega compositor Robert Schumann, pasó exactamente lo contrario: la fama de Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, nacido el 3 de febrero de 1809 en Hamburgo, se apagó rápidamente después de su temprana muerte. Hoy, sin embargo, Mendelssohn Bartholdy es otra vez un compositor muy apreciado en su natal Alemania. Varias obras del músico romántico, prohibido por los nazis, que habían permanecido inéditas o ignoradas son interpretadas por primera vez, entre ellas la ópera Der Onkel aus Boston (El tío de Boston), más de 180 años después de su conclusión. Y el 200 aniversario del nacimiento de Mendelssohn Bartholdy es motivo de celebraciones, si bien no en la misma medida que el 250 natalicio de Mozart en el superaño musical 2006.

Hallaron restos de histórico barco "HMS Victory" en Canal de La Mancha

La empresa estadounidense Odyssey descubrió los restos del "HMS Victory", el barco almirante británico que se hundió en 1744 y cuyo homónimo sucesor hizo vencer al almirante Nelson frente a las fuerzas franco-españolas en Trafalgar, según la prensa británica dominical. "Los submarinistas piensa que hallaron los restos de uno de los más prestigiosos veleros británicos de todos los tiempos", escribe el Sunday Times, precisando que Odyssey tiene intención de anunciar el descubrimiento el lunes.

Schoolgirl divorcee, 10, launches book about shocking child bride ordeal

A schoolgirl who was married by the age of eight today launched a new book about her extraordinary ordeal. Nojoud Ali, now aged 10, is in Paris promoting an autobiography which is set to be a worldwide bestseller.

Essay: Fifty Years of Condensed Matter Physics

Marvin L. Cohen

Since the birth of Physical Review Letters fifty years ago, condensed matter physics has seen considerable growth, and both the journal and the field have flourished during this period. In this essay, I begin with some general comments about condensed matter physics and then give some personal views on the conceptual development of the field and list some highlights. The focus is mostly on theoretical developments.