Tuesday Tech News
Poster: Aron Schatz
Posted on August 2, 2005 at 4:21:40 PM
NASA will attempt a shuttle heat shield repair in space.
Ecstasy can stop Parkinson's symptoms.
Oracle buys some of Indian banking firm.
Global warming makes stronger storms.
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The gap fillers are used to prevent the heat shield tiles from rattling together and getting damaged during launch. Two are sticking above the tiles, one by 2.8 centimetres (1.1 inches) and the other by as much as 2.2 cm (0.9 inches) near the front of the orbiter. These protrusions were not the result of foam falling from the external tank during lift-off and hitting the orbiter. They may simply have been jostled loose by the intense vibrations of launch or the adhesive holding the gap fillers to the orbiter may have lost some of its stickiness.
Ecstasy can stop Parkinson's symptoms.
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When the researchers treated these mice with high doses of different types of amphetamines, their movement problems dramatically improved. The most effective compound was methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) – commonly known as Ecstasy. This result was surprising, because amphetamines are thought to affect movement through the dopamine system. But since these mice have no functional dopamine system, an unknown mechanism must be at work. The authors suggest proteins called trace amine receptors may be involved. Amphetamines interact with these receptors, but very little is known about their physiological role in the brain.
Oracle buys some of Indian banking firm.
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Oracle said the current I-flex management team will continue to run the company and will align its product development, sales, marketing and services activities with those at Oracle. The I-flex service organization will continue to work with major banks around the world. Charles Phillips, an Oracle co-president, will join the I-flex board, and I-flex stock will continue to trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India. I-flex provides software and services to 575 banks in 115 countries.
Global warming makes stronger storms.
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Hurricanes are powered by the temperature difference between the top of the sea and the air above the storm, so warmer water was expected to pump the storms harder. But previous computer models had predicted that the half-degree increase in sea-surface temperatures from global warming over the past 30 years should have increased wind speed by only about 3%, corresponding to a 10% increase in Emanuel's estimate of destructive power.