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Eavesdropping: Israel's Weizmann Institute reports that high-frequency sound emitted by computer CPUs may give clues to help codebreakers crack encryption. Seems to me that in order for the technique to be successful, they'd have to have physical access to a machine on which the message was being successfully decrypted, during the decryption process . . . which, on the face of it, seems unlikely in most cases. And let's face it, if your attacker has physical access to your "secure" systems, he already 0wnz0rz your ass anyway.
No boom today: If new experiments on a long-lived nuclear isomer of Hafnium-178 are correct, the Pentagon could finally get its nuclear hand-grenade (and tank shells, and mortar bombs, and...). The experiments at the University of Texas at Dallas have shown the ability to induce a 2.45MeV gamma-ray cascade in 178Hfm2, which normally has a half-life of 31 years. The resulting energy release is intermediate between chemical and fission energy levels; a golf-ball-sized charge of 178Hfm2 would have an equivalent yield of approximately 10 tons of TNT. Because no fission is involved, current nuclear non-proliferation treaties would not apply.
The results are, however, highly disputed; William Herrmannsfeldt of Stanford,for one, is convinced that hafnium weapons cannot work. In addition, manufacture of 178Hfm2 in quantity would be staggeringly expensive.
Boom tomorrow (well, thunderous roar next year, anyway): China has announced plans to launch a second manned space flight in October 2005. The Shenzhou capsule will carry a crew of two taikonauts.
"I'm sorry, I've lost my library card..." But at least the library has been found. The Great Library of Alexandria, that is.
Breaking the law: Physicists at the University of Toronto, Canada, and the University of Vienna, Austria, have found a way to cheat the diffraction limit of classical physics by entangling multiple photons, causing them to behave as a single photon of higher energy and shorter wavelength. Morgan Mitchell's team in Toronto succeeded in entangling three photons, whilc Philip Walther's team in Vienna entangled four. The technique could lead to increased capacity for optical storage devices, among other potential uses.
Can you visualize a hypercube rotating in five dimensions? Simon Baron-Cohen, a researcher at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, UK, found that levels of testosterone in the womb may have profound effects on a person's social development. In particular, children of both sexes exposed to higher testosterone levels in the womb tend to be poorer at communicating and social skills, but better at seeing patterns, analysing systems, and visualization skills such as mentally rotating geometric figures. This is a possible pointer to a link between high fetal testosterone levels and autism.
Organlegging: Brazilian missionaries have accused Mozambique of covering up illegal trafficking in human organs in Nampula province. The Mozambique government, naturally, denies the allegations.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la mème chose: Controversial French lawyer Jacques Verges has announced he will file suit against the UK at the international war crimes court over the abuse of Iraqu detainees. Verges, who says he has been asked to represent Saddam Hussein, has previously represented or acted for Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, international terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic, and is reported to have been a friend of Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge and architect of the "Year Zero" genocide in Cambodia.
"Help, help, I'm being oppressed!" Two of five British citizens released from Guantanamo Bay have sent President Bush an open letter detailing abuse they claim they suffered at Guantanamo. A spokesman for the US mission at Guantanamo denies the allegations. Meanwhile, the Australian government has said it will investigate abuse claims made by an Australian citizen detained at Guantanamo.
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Oh, wait, never mind, I see it. It's a broken superscript tag.
Fixed.
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Thanks!
Oops.