Technology, Space and Science

Articles Index

Tips for Longer CD, DVD Life form NIST
You should never use a pen, pencil or hard-tip marker to write on your CDs. That's just one of several recommendations made by computer scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), who sliced, diced and baked CDs and DVDs to see how long the digital information would survive.

How NASA Helped Investigate Carlie Brucia Abduction Case
Two NASA facilities provided technological assistance for law enforcement agencies investigating the murder of Carlie Brucia, an 11-year-old Florida girl whose abduction was captured on a surveillance videotape.

National Cyber Alert System Debuts
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has just launched the National Cyber Alert System, a Web-based system designed to provide Americans with timely and actionable information to better secure their computer systems.

Climate Study Predicts Dire Events
Even as the Kyoto Protocol treaty appears doomed, new research links continued production of greenhouse gasses to dangerous changes in our global climate. "The likely result is more frequent heat waves, droughts, extreme precipitation events, and related impacts, e.g., wildfires, heat stress, vegetation changes, and sea-level rise which will be regionally dependent," write the NOAA researchers.

Kyoto Protocol Appears Doomed
With Russia apparently heading toward rejection of the accord, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to control worldwide emissions of greenhouse-gasses now has little, if any chance of being ratified.

Congressional Protection from Celestial Armageddon?
In a letter to Congress, a group of space-savvy Americans have urged the U.S. government to begin immediate preparations to deal with the threat of near Earth-approaching objects, also called NEOs.