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Do it yourself guy builds train detector to automatically shut bedroom window(PhysOrg.com) -- In a nice display of can-do thinking leading to positive action, a guy by the name of Ed Rogers has devised a device that automatically shuts the window in his bedroom whenever a train passes by, reducing the noise significantly. He has posted a video on YouTube explaining how he did it. To start out, Rogers first installed a linear actuator (a mechanical device for moving an object) connected to a part he printed off using MakerBot’s Thing-O-Matic, which was then connected to wires that snaked...

Inspired by Albany Fire Chief Marc McGinn's passion and four years of research, City Council members voted unanimously Monday night to require a somewhat uncommon type of smoke alarm in many homes and businesses in the city from this point forward. In doing so, Albany became the first city in California, officials said, to take a public stand on the importance of photoelectric-only alarms, which use a light source to detect the presence of smoke, in saving lives. Ionization alarms, which use a different trigger, are much more common. Albany joins the state of Vermont in requiring photoelectric alarms. Vermont...

Here's Your Handy-Dandy Propaganda Detector Roy Clark Journalists love slogans about journalism, and one of their favorites is Hemingway's insistence that writers need to "develop a built-in bullshit detector." The tools of skepticism are at the center of the reporter's craft. To be used in the public interest, these tools must be dusted off and sharpened, especially in this season of overheated political advertising, spectacle and oratory. Read on, and I will share with you seven of my favorite propaganda detection tools. The cool thing is that, unlike my power drill or lawnmower, these tools need not be returned. In...

A man who became the subject of a book called "The Radioactive Boy Scout" after trying to build a nuclear reactor in a shed as a teenager pleaded guilty Monday in a theft case. David Hahn, 31, had been charged in the theft of 16 smoke detectors. Police in the Detroit suburb of Macomb County's Clinton Township said it was a possible effort to experiment with radioactive materials. During a Circuit Court hearing, Hahn pleaded guilty to attempted larceny of a building. The court's online docket said prosecutors recommended that he be sentenced to time served and enter an inpatient...

The subject of a book titled "The Radioactive Boy Scout" waived his preliminary larceny hearing Monday after he was charged with stealing 16 smoke detectors from Green Valley Apartments in Clinton Township. The larceny case against him will automatically go to circuit court and that hearing is set for September 27. Investigators said David Hahn, 31, was arrested in connection with stealing a smoke detector from his apartment complex. Others were found in his apartment. Hahn had tried to build a nuclear reactor in a shed as a teenager. A Harper's Magazine article reported he was trying to produce energy...

I've tried searching Google multiple times, and I guess I'm not using the right words, because I can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for. I turn to you (all) for wisdom. I have two floodlights (same electrical circuit) on the back of my house that I have added motion sensors to for security. (My house backs up to the woods). The problem I'm having is that even though they have their own sensor, when one gets tripped (on), so does the other, and then they both stay on. I am sure that the surge created when one goes...

Source: Imperial College London Date: December 17, 2006 Preparing For The Biggest Experiment On Earth An international team of over 2,000 scientists, led by Professor Tejinder Virdee from Imperial College London's Department of Physics is stepping up preparations for the world's largest ever physics experiment, starting next year at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland. The enormous CMS particle detector is being assembled piece by piece under the supervision of Imperial's Professor Tejinder Virdee.Ads by Google Advertise on this site Professor Virdee is the lead scientist on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) particle detector experiment, which will aim to find new particles,...

EARTH'S natural radioactivity has been measured for the first time. The measurement will help geologists find out to what extent nuclear decay is responsible for the immense quantity of heat generated by Earth. Our planet's heat output drives the convection currents that churn liquid iron in the outer core, giving rise to Earth's magnetic field. Just where this heat comes from is a big question. Measurements of the temperature gradients across rocks in mines and boreholes have led geologists to estimate that the planet is internally generating between 30 and 44 terawatts of heat. Some of this heat comes from...

<p>Though the war on terror continues, the U.S. government has left the public completely exposed to the aftermath of a radiological attack. There is no better evidence of this than the actions of the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS is very focused on interdiction, government continuity and infrastructure protection, but it has not yet prepared for civil defense, which is the protection of civilians in time of war or disaster.</p>

Random firing and stray bullets create fear in some areasDALLAS - Celebrating a Dallas Cowboys touchdown, or just about any other event, by firing a few shots in the air is a time-honored tradition in some of this city's neighborhoods. To Dallas City Council member Elba Garcia, the random gunfire is a nagging, potentially deadly problem that she and other city officials want to fight with a novel, high-tech solution. "I don't know about gunfire on Sunday afternoons. It's the shots at 2 a.m. in my neighborhood that I'm concerned about," said Garcia, who lives in Oak Cliff, southwest of...

THE truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is a fine aspiration. But, as Pontius Pilate said to Jesus, “What is truth?” For decades, researchers have grappled with the problem of creating a machine that can tell, definitively, whether a person is lying. Until recently, their efforts have been unsatisfactory. The current generation of lie-detection technologies has been put under scientific scrutiny and found wanting. But science, ever resourceful, is coming up with new ideas. Soon, at least in some cases, that old courtroom platitude may itself come to resemble the truth more closely. Mention the term “lie...

French and Italian scientists are planning a large underground laboratory beneath the Alps designed to detect elusive particles from the Sun's core. It would consist of a huge tank filled with several hundred thousand cubic metres of ultra-pure water. Detectors lining the tank would be sensitive to flashes of light caused by the passage of sub-atomic particles. The lab would test theories in solar physics and help scientists understand the fundamental forces of nature. Sun stream It would be built adjacent to a road tunnel under the Frejus mountain near the French-Italian border. The ambitious project has entered its earliest...

Space dust to unlock Mexican pyramid secrets Muon detector could point scientists to hidden burial chambersTwo vendors sit near the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan, where physicists are using a muon detector to look for hidden burial chambers. TEOTIHUACAN, Mexico - Remnants of space dust that constantly shower the world are helping unlock the secrets of a 2,000-year-old Mexican pyramid where the rulers of a mysterious civilization may lie buried. Deep under the huge Pyramid of the Sun, north of Mexico City, physicists are installing a device to detect muons, subatomic particles that are left over when cosmic...

<p>The FBI has begun polygraphing Greenville postal workers and truck drivers as the investigation into who delivered a package containing the deadly poison ricin to a Greenville mail facility moves into the third week, the president of the local postal workers union said Thursday.</p>

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 June 23 KamLAND Verfies the Sun Credit: KamLAND Collaboration Explanation: A large sphere beneath Japan has helped verify humanity's understanding of the inner workings of the Sun. The KamLAND sphere, shown above during construction in 2001, fails to detect fundamental particles called anti-neutrinos that are known to be emitted by nearby nuclear reactors around Japan. This triumphant failure can best be explained by neutrinos oscillating between different...

<p>When Steve Jones carried a curious duct-taped tin can with wires protruding from its clear plastic top into Sen. Rick Santorum's office last month, a wide-eyed Senate staffer remarked, "I'm surprised you got this stuff up here."</p> <p>So was Jones. But for reasons other than heightened security on Capitol Hill. For more than a decade, the house painter from Salt Lake City has run up against public indifference as he promoted the jury-rigged can he insists would save lives in a dirty-bomb attack by terrorists.</p>

This was Hollywood's spin on a technology that really is gaining speed in Sacramento, Calif. New electronic video billboards stand tall over freeways there, tailoring their advertisements to match the personalities of the passing motorists. "Instead of a static billboard, we can have a target that moves," explains Tom Langeland, CEO of Alaris Media Networks, the operation behind the signs. Alaris owns and operates 10 e-billboards in California. The billboards are able to take note of the radio station you're listening to when you drive by. "When you're listening to a radio station, the antenna on your car picks...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 September 6 HESS Gamma-Ray TelescopeCredit: The HESS Collaboration Explanation: Most ground-based telescopes with lenses and mirrors are hindered by the Earth's nurturing, protective atmosphere that blurs images and scatters and absorbs light. But this telescope was designed to detect extreme gamma rays - photons with over 100 billion times the energy of visible light - and actually requires the atmosphere to operate. As the gamma rays impact...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 April 6 Vintage Gamma Rays Credit: ESA / IAS / CEA-SACLAY Explanation: Gamma-rays are the most energetic form of electromagnetic radiation. But these high energy photons penetrate and interact in normal materials and cannot be focused by lenses and mirrors like those in optical telescopes. So how do you make an image in gamma-ray light? One way is to use a patterned mask of material which can...