Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Friday, November 1, 2002

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'Oldest' star found in galaxy: "This is the oldest star in our Milky Way yet observed by astronomers. It could date back to the beginning of the Universe, about 14 billion years ago." [Google Technology News]

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Cheats Wreak Havoc on SETI@home: Participants: "As the race to contribute the most computing power to the SETI@home distributed computing project enters its final two-month stretch, participants are accusing project administrators of ignoring claims of cheating. The sudden gains made by relative newcomer SETI@Netherlands, which have helped it rapidly close the gap between it and current leader ARS Technica-sponsored Team Lamb Chop (ATLC), are arousing suspicion. IT professional and SETI@home expert Max Nealon notes that some members of Team Netherlands are returning 5,000 work units (WUs) every day, but estimates that it would take a 1 GHz PC devoted to SETI@home processing six hours to complete just 1 WU. The idea that team members could possess 1,250 GHz of processing power dedicated solely to the project is dubious, he explains. Adding fuel to his argument are allegations reportedly made by SETI Netherlands' team manager, claiming that cheating is common and that 41 percent of the team's work is invalid."

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MetaFilter writes: "Recreational mathematics and fractal graphics continue to stimulate the mind and foster student interest in mathematics. Some favorite authors & books in this area include: Martin Gardner's books (like The Colossal Book of Mathematics and The Night is Large), Cliff Pickover's books (like The Mathematics of Oz and The Zen of Magic Squares), Calvin Clawson's Mathematical Mysteries, Ian Stewart's books and puzzles, and Ivars Peterson's writings (like Islands of Truth). What are your favorite books and web sites in this area for stretching the mind and eye?"

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Cracking Cancer: "Thus the war on cancer, rather than turning into a rout as some scientists had hoped only a few years ago, remains a grueling battle of attrition. So far, targeted drugs have produced dramatic advances for only a few less-common forms, including leukemia, certain stomach tumors and a subset of breast cancers. The major killers--tumors of the lung, colon, prostate and pancreas-have resisted targeted therapies." [News Is Free: Popular Items]

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Shamed Scientist's Work Fills Web: "The discredited findings of former Bell Labs scientist Hendrik Schon -- who was exposed for fabricating research results and fired in September -- lurk online, not marked as fraudulent. What's a webmaster to do? By Kristen Philipkoski." [Wired News]

Floating-point arithmetic -- Comment()
The following article by David Goldberg is a classic in computational science. I have cited the article numerous times, for example in our textbook on numerical analysis (available in PDF, in Finnish). The article is essential reading for all who are interested in computational science. Floating Point Arithmetic: "David Goldberg. What every computer scientist should know about floating-point arithmetic. ACM Computing Surveys, 23(1):5--48, March 1991." (Thanks to Lambda the Ultimate.)

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Biotech Company Plans Trials on Gene Therapy for Anemia: "A biotechnology company hopes to begin clinical trials next year on what it says will be a cheaper and more convenient way to provide the anemia drug erythropoietin. By Andrew Pollack." [Headlines From The NY Times]

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Coffee linked to mental abilities in elderly women: "Elderly women who drank relatively large amounts of coffee over their lifetimes appear to out-perform less frequent coffee drinkers in certain tests of mental abilities, according to new study findings." [Reuters Health eLine]