Shake it for the camera: The University of Colorado has used data from a network of 1000 GPS transponders all over Japan to produce an animated movie showing, for the first time, the real-time deformation of the Earth's crust during the 2003 Hokkaido earthquake. Each sensor reported its position once a second with an accuracy of a few millimeters.
Looks great, less filling: Allume Systems of Calfornia claims to have developed a new image-compression algorithm for the JPEG format which reduces the size of image files by a further 28% with no additional loss of image quality. Image-compression experts have expressed skepticism. Allume has also developed an image file format, SIF, using the new technology, which it hopes will replace JPEG. Royalty and license issues surrounding the new algorithm are unclear, however. A forthcoming update to JPEG currently known as JPEG2000 is claimed to offer similar benefits, while being free of royalty and license fees.
Sound of the Big Bang: Several teams of astronomers have found that galaxy clustering appears to correlate with the sound of the Big Bang. Galaxy are slightly more probable to cluster at distances of around 500,000 light years, the calculated wavelength of the echoes of the Big Bang from the moment that the Universe cooled enough for baryonic matter to form. To obtain the result, the 2-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey mapped 221,000 galaxies from a telescope in Australia, while the Sloan Digital Sky Survey mapped 46,000 bright, red galaxies within about 6GLY over a patch of sky around 20 degrees wide from a telescope in New Mexico.
Speaking of galaxy clusters, physicist Glennys Farrar at New York University has identified an apparent near-point source of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, protons and atomic nuclei which slam into the Earth's atmosphere at almost lightspeed. Farrar tracked five of these energetic particles, detected over a ten-year period, back to a location 550MLY from Earth where two dense galaxy clusters of around 20 galaxies each are crashing into each other. The mechanism by which the particles are accelerated so close to lightspeed is still not well understood.
FBI not on the case: The FBI is poised to abandon a $170M computer systems upgrade claimed to be vital to counterterrorism efforts, due to technical and planning problems. The FBI has installed 30,000 new desktop computers and a new high-speed network, but its "virtual case file" system (being created by Science Applications International Corporation of San Diego) is over budget, behind schedule, and only 10% complete, and FBI officials have stated on record that they don't believe it will ever be completed. (Registration required; try bugmenot89/bugger)
Spammers' New Tactic Upends DNS, reports PC Magazine. Apparently in an effort to sidestep provisions of the CAN-SPAM act, spammers have adopted a technique of sending mass mailings in the middle of the night from a domain that isn't registered yet, then registering it the next morning. If everyone properly secured their mailservers and refused to accept mail from nonexistent domains, this wouldn't even work.....
Take that, Jules Verne: The British Antarctic Survey studied location data from 22 grey-headed albatrosses to determine their migration patterns, and found that one of their 22 sample birds circumnavigated the complete southern hemisphere in 46 days, beating Phileas Fogg's fictional record by 33 days. Three birds from the group circled the globe twice each within an 18-month period. The goal of the study is to help protect the albatross, 19 of the 21 subspecies of which are on the endangered-species red list. 49 birds were tagged, but only 22 data recorders were recovered.
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micheinnz, whether she intended to or not, reminded me to mention last night's culinary discovery. Short and sweet: teriyaki plus chipotle. I discovered it while messing around with some shrimp. I sautéed the shrimp in butter in my wok, then added about a teaspoon of McIlhenny's smoked chipotle Tabasco, stir-fried them a bit longer to coat them with the chipotle, then added a couple of tablespoons of Yamasa teriyaki. Cooked them for a few more minutes, took them out of the pan, cooked the remaining sauce down a bit more to thicken it and poured it over them.