Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Is the NSA's Data Center Melting Down Because It's Spying Too Much?


This is embarrassingly funny. The WSJ reports that the NSA's new Utah data center has suffered 10 meltdowns in the past 13 months because of electrical surges. The NSA is basically using so much power in its spying efforts that it is poetically killing its data centers. Seriously, the surges have destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars in machinery.

A Working Malaria Vaccine Could Be Used In Developing Countries By 2015


Malaria research has been advancing rapidly in recent years, and now there's even more hope: scientists have developed a vaccine that can slash malaria incidence by half, and it could be introduced to the world's worst-hit countries by 2015.

A Gold HTC One? That’ll Cost You $4,400


Call that champagne iPhone 5S “gold”? Pffft. HTC and its 18ct gold paintbrush are laughing in your general direction. As leaked, HTC’s gold One has come to light today, bearing the MOBO Awards logo to celebrate the 18th anniversary of Europe’s urban music awards.

Nuclear Fusion Has Broken Even For the First Time Ever


Nuclear fusion, the same process that powers the sun, could provide us with limitless cheap energy—but experiments to date have always used more power than they created. Now, though, researchers have apparently tipped that balance, making fusion a real possibility.

This Pressure Picture Reveals Why Jellyfish Are So Damn Efficient


Jellyfish are amazing creatures, travelling in massive blooms and pulsating mesmerically to drive themselves through the water. But how does that simple motion manage to push them through the water so quickly?

Meet Nest's Protect, a Smart Smoke Detector That's Actually Exciting


What home appliance do you hate the most? Odds are good it’s the smoke detector—that incessantly chirping, totally inconsistent mess of beige plastic that we can only hope actually works when needed. That may be about to change: Today, Nest Labs unveiled Protect, a Wi-Fi connected alarm that lets you keep tabs on your home even when nothing's on fire.

6 Fascinating Objects That Illustrate the History Of Los Angeles


Like many major metropolises, Los Angeles has an international reputation, but the preconceived notions that surround the southern California hub seem to be consistently skewed. Sure, the weather’s nice—but it’s vapid, and too sprawling, and you need a car, and what about the traffic, and where’s the culture??