Study: US preparing ‘massive’ military attack against Iran

The United States has the capacity for and may be prepared to launch without warning a massive assault on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities, as well as government buildings and infrastructure, using long-range bombers and missiles, according to a new analysis.

Source: RAWStory.

U.S. Military in Hunt for Bio-based Jet Fuel

Carbon reduction is not the U.S. military’s real goal. Instead the defense department’s main motivation in pursuing biofuels is to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. In particular, the Pentagon wants to make it easier to supply troops in foreign battle zones and distant military outposts—right now, the military has to ship fuel to Iraq and to its bases in Hawaii. “One of the things we’re looking at is being able to make smaller scale production facilities that might be able to travel with some of the troops,” says Douglas Kirkpatrick, biofuels program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Source: IEEE Spectrum.

Scientists recreate out-of-body experience

Scientists in Sweden have succeeded in giving 12 volunteers out-of-body experiences.

People who have come close to death have sometimes spoken later of an out-of-body experience, during which they have seen themselves from above, or elsewhere in the room. Now a team at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has developed a technique to recreate the sensation in fully conscious and healthy individuals.

Source: Cordis.

Nanotechnology key to space elevator

A space elevator is one of those ideas from 1950s-style futurism that are so whacky they might just work.

Nanowerk via Wall Street Journal.

Why Russia Is Flexing Its Muscles

Moscow’s latest saber-rattling — flying long-range bomber patrols toward the U.S. and Britain, launching planes from its sole aircraft carrier, redeploying the Russian fleet to the Mediterranean, engaging in war games with China and several central Asian nations — doesn’t mean the Cold War has returned. What it does signal is Russia’s willingness, emboldened by the oil wealth once again flowing to the government, to begin reasserting its historic role as a strategic counterweight to Washington. And if it can’t quite muster the heft to do that alone, Moscow is increasingly allying with other nations to challenge America’s global hegemony.

Source: Time.

Robot wars are a reality

The deployment of the first armed battlefield robots in Iraq is the latest step on a dangerous path - we are sleepwalking into a brave new world where robots decide who, where and when to kill. Already, South Korea and Israel are deploying armed robot border guards and China, Singapore and the UK are among those making increasing use of military robots. The biggest player yet is the US: robots are integral to its $230bn future combat systems project, a massive plan to develop unmanned vehicles that can strike from the air, under the sea and on land. Congress has set a goal of having one-third of ground combat vehicles unmanned by 2015. Over 4,000 robots are serving in Iraq at present, others in Afghanistan. And now they are armed.

Source: Guardian.

Weizmann Research May Allow Memories to be Erased, Strengthened

Prof. Yadin Dudai, Head of the Weizmann Institute’s Neurobiology Department, and his colleagues are challenging the prevalent view that memories are recorded in a static, semi-permanent manner. They recently discovered that the process of storing long-term memories is much more dynamic, involving a miniature molecular “machine” that must run constantly to keep memories going. They also found that jamming said “machine” briefly can erase long-term memories. Their findings, which appeared Thursday in the journal Science, may pave the way to future treatments for memory problems.

Source: IsraelNN.

Researchers Evolve Artificial Enzymes in the Laboratory

Living cells are not the only place where enzymes can help speed along chemical reactions. Industrial applications also employ enzymes to accelerate reactions of many kinds, from making antibiotics to removing grease from clothing. For the first time, scientists have created a completely new enzyme entirely in vitro, suggesting that industrial applications may one day no longer be limited to enzymes that can be derived from natural biological sources.

Source: Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Artificial Life Likely In 3 To 10 Years

Around the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life from scratch and they’re getting closer. Experts expect an announcement within three to 10 years from someone in the now little-known field of “wet artificial life.”

Source: AP via CBS News.

Our Lives, Controlled From Some Guy’s Couch

Until I talked to Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at Oxford University, it never occurred to me that our universe might be somebody else’s hobby. I hadn’t imagined that the omniscient, omnipotent creator of the heavens and earth could be an advanced version of a guy who spends his weekends building model railroads or overseeing video-game worlds like the Sims.

Source: New York Times.