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Mt Fuji ‘under more pressure than last eruption’
Pressure in the magma chamber of Japan’s Mount Fuji is now higher than it was the last time the volcano erupted more than 300 years ago, scientists say, according to a report Thursday.
Tectonic shifts triggered by last year’s huge 9.0 magnitude undersea quake have left the chamber under 16 times the minimum pressure at which an eruption can occur, researchers said.
Researchers at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention studied the tectonic movements caused by the tsunami-triggering quake on March 11, 2011 and a magnitude 6.4 quake that rocked central Japan four days later, Kyodo News reported.
They estimated that 1.6 megapascals of pressure, equivalent to atmospheric pressure of some 15.8 kilograms per square centimetre (226 pounds per square inch), was being exerted on the magma chamber.
Volcanic eruptions can be triggered by as little as 0.1 megapascals of pressure, and the reading of 1.6 megapascals is “not a small figure”, said senior researcher Eisuke Fujita, according to Kyodo.
Mount Fuji, an almost perfectly cone-shaped mountain that stands as one of Japan’s national symbols, last erupted in 1707, after an earthquake struck and Read more…
Disintegrating Alien Planet Has Comet-Like Tail
A potential alien planet that is so close to its parent star that it appears to be disintegrating from the scorching heat was recently found by a team of astronomers. The planetary candidate is only slightly larger than the planet Mercury, and researchers estimate that it is shedding so much material that it could completely disintegrate within 100 million years.
Astronomers at NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) detected the tiny planet, which is located roughly 1,500 light-years away, using data from the planet-hunting Kepler mission. As the possible planet evaporates, researchers theorize that it is followed by a trail of dust and debris, similar to the tail of a comet.
The dusty planet circles its host star once every 15 hours, which indicates that the star, named KIC 12557548, likely heats the planet to blistering temperatures of about 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit (1,982 degrees Celsius). The researchers hypothesize that under these conditions, the Read more…
Climate change causing increase in extreme weather in South Pacific
An international study led by CSIRO oceanographer Dr Wenju Cai has identified that global warming is causing shifts in the rain band of the South Pacific Convergence Zone causing an increase in extreme weather across the island nation states of the South Pacific. The result of the movement causes drought and higher prevalence of forest fire in some areas while other islands experience extreme floods and increased frequency of tropical cyclones.
The South Pacific Convergence Zone is the important rainband that stretches from the equatorial western Pacific southeastward toward French Polynesia. When the rainband moves northward, extreme climate events are induced. “Here we show that greenhouse warming Read more…
Minority Report: Fiction Has Become Reality
“The Internet is watching us now. If they want to. They can see what sites you visit. In the future, television will be watching us, and customizing itself to what it knows about us. The thrilling thing is, that will make us feel we’re part of the medium. The scary thing is, we’ll lose our right to privacy. An ad will appear in the air around us, talking directly to us.”—Steven Spielberg
It was a mere ten years ago that Steven Spielberg’s action film Minority Report, based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, offered movie audiences a special effect-laden techno-vision of a futuristic world in which the government is all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful. And if you dare to step out of line, dark-clad police SWAT teams will bring you under control.
The year is 2054. The place is Washington, DC. Working in a city in which there has been no murder committed in six years—due in large part to his efforts combining widespread surveillance with behavior prediction technologies—John Anderton (played by Tom Cruise), Chief of the Department of Pre-Crime in Washington, DC, uses precognitive technology to capture would-be criminals before they can do any damage—that is, to prevent crimes before they happen. Unfortunately for Anderton, the technology, which proves to be fallible, identifies him as the next would-be criminal, and he flees. In the ensuing chase, Anderton finds himself not only attempting to prove his innocence but forced to take drastic measures in order to avoid capture in a surveillance state that uses biometric data and sophisticated computer networks to track its citizens.
Seemingly taking its cue from science fiction, technology has moved so Read more…
Op-Ed: Should schools monitor students with ‘spychips’ in student IDs?
Schools have been tracking student attendance for some time, but the methods of how students are tracked has significantly evolved over the decades. Currently, using “spychips” in schools appears to be an issue that keeps emerging its controversial head.
Technology is available as an easy solution, but is this really the direction society wants to go?
Schools look to “spychips” for student ID cards
The issue of using RFID technology to track students has emerged many times over the past several years. Recently, Digital Journal reported a story where parents and students protestedin San Antonio, Texas after the Northside ISD school district decided to test pilot RFID student ID cards in two of its schools.
The student tracking ID card issue in Read more…
Powerful quake strikes Costa Rica, tsunami warnings issued
Original Story: A powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck on the west coast of Costa Rica on Wednesday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The epicenter was 38 miles south-southeast of Liberia, Costa Rica at a depth of 25 miles.
According to a statement from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, a tsunami warning was in effect for Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru.
The tsunami watch that was issued for the entire Caribbean region was later canceled because it was inadvertently sent by mistake. No tsunami watch is in effect for the Caribbean Sea region.
A later statement said that an evaluation of the Pacific wide tsunami threat was underway and there is a possibility that Hawaii could be elevated to a watch or warning status.
Earthquakes of this size have the potential to create a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours, but it is not known if one was generated.
According to ABC news, in the coastal town of Nosara in northwest Costa Rica, trees shook violently and light posts swayed. Teachers chased primary school students outside. There were no reports of major damage at this time.
Hacker group claims access to 12M Apple device IDs
Computerworld – Hacker group AntiSec has published what it claims is about 1 million unique device identifier numbers (UDIDs) for Apple devices that it said it accessed earlier this year from a computer belonging to an FBI agent.
The group, which is a splinter operation of the Anonymous hacking collective, claims that it has culled more than 12 million UDIDs and personal data linking the devices to users from the FBI computer. AntiSec said it chose to publish a portion of those records to prove it has them.
In an unusually lengthy note on Pastebin, a member of AntiSec said the group had culled some personal data such as full names and cell numbers from the published data. Instead, the group said it published enough information such as device type, device ID and Apple Push Notification Service tokens to let users determine whether their devices are on the list. Apple device owners who want to Read more…
The Master ‘PLAN’: China’s New Guided Missile Destroyer
China’s navy appears on the verge of creating a new class of warship. It could eventually alter the balance of naval power in the region.
We are loyal followers of baseball philosopher Yogi Berra, who reportedly proclaimed that “it’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Like the great Yogi, we seldom venture prophecies. But we did hazard one in The Diplomat late in 2010, namely that the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) would defy those Western experts who opined that Beijing had slowed or halted its naval buildup.
For evidence, such experts claimed that the PLAN had stopped building guided-missile destroyers, or DDGs. If so, Beijing had made a conscious choice to limit its navy’s offensive punch. Not so, said we. Having experimented with various DDG designs, the PLAN was simply settling on a model that incorporated the best of each test platform. And indeed, DDG serial production has recommenced in earnest, judging from pictures of the new Type 052D Luyang II-class DDG that have surfaced on the Internet.
Until recently it was fashionable for Western PLA-watchers to contend that Chinese shipyards had Read more…
UK nightclub uses biometrics to control entry
The Underground, a nightclub in Dundee, Scotland, recently installed biometric fingerprint scanners for first time visitors to prove they are of age to enter. For subsequent visits, customers of the nightclub are identified by scanning their fingerprint.
The club is run by G1 Group PLC, who introduced the Scannet ID Scan system after a successful trial period in its Glasgow club. Scannet ID Scan is used to verify that identification presented is real.
Fingerprints gathered, together with photo-based profiles, are stored in computers in the club. Having this technology makes it easier for the management to identify troublemakers, and scan foreign passports and driving licenses before allow entry to the club.
A spokeswoman from G1 Group said : “The system recognizes most international passports and driving licenses, meaning we can Read more…
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