Heart Attack Treated With Stem Cells Two heart attack victims have become the first patients in Britain to be treated with their own stem
cells .
Racetrack Memory Unveiled The prospect of iPods that can hold millions of songs and PCs being able to turn on instantly, rather than taking minutes to "boot up", comes much closer
today .
Aerobic Exercise Slows Ageing Taking regular aerobic exercise could stop the biological clock and delay ageing by up to 12 years, claim
researchers .
Eggs Bad For Men Eating an egg a day increases the risk of premature death for middle-aged men, warn
researchers .
As
she accepts her 2008 TED Prize, author and scholar Karen Armstrong talks about
how the Abrahamic religions -- Islam, Judaism, Christianity -- have been
diverted from the moral purpose they share to foster compassion. Karen
Armstrong - 21 min
Brains Scan Lie Detectors In Use? A brain imaging technique called fMRI may be being used as a "lie detector" by US intelligence agencies, despite concerns over unreliability and the possibility of abuse, a leading academic has
claimed .
Do Boomerangs Work In Outer Space? An astronaut has added to the font of human knowledge by demonstrating that boomerangs return without the aid of
gravity .
Robot Swarms Being Developed A £4.6 million project to create swarms of hundreds of autonomous, Transformer-style robots has been
launched .
1 min
Life-Saving Blood Pressure Injections Tens of thousands of lives could be saved each year thanks to a new injection to control high blood pressure.
Tens of thousands of lives could be saved each year thanks to a new injection to control high blood pressure.
Bonus Effect Of Statins Drugs taken by more than two million patients to treat cholesterol are having a bonus
effect .
Beetroot Juice Lowers Blood Pressure
A daily glass of beetroot juice can help to beat high blood pressure
Healthy People Cost More Healthy people cost taxpayers more in medical bills over their lifetimes than smokers or the obese, a new study has
found .
Vitamin E Important For Mobility A diet rich in olive oil, nuts and green leafy vegetables could help to slow physical decline in the elderly, scientists
say .
Energy-Saving Bulbs Trigger Migraines? The energy-saving light bulbs that will be made compulsory in homes in a few years can trigger
migraines ,
Pottering Around Is Good Enough! Simply pottering around the house could help keep you
fit .
Sunlight Reduces Lung Cancer Risk A study has found that, after smoking, restricted access to ultraviolet light from the sun is one of the most important causes of the disease.
Fluffy Dark Stars The cosmos could be littered with "dark stars" that are 100,000 times wider than our own Sun, much fluffier and only spit out invisible gamma rays, heat and
antimatter .
E8 Theory Of Everything An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, seen by some as the Holy Grail of physics, which has received rave reviews from
scientists .
Cooked Food A Danger To Women Fresh fears have been raised over the safety of cooked foods as a wide-ranging study found for the first time that a common chemical caused by frying, roasting or grilling can double the risk of cancer in
women .
Skin Ageing Reversed In Mice Scientists have reversed the effects of ageing on the skin of mice by blocking the action of a specific
protein .
Sunbathing Is Very Good For You Sunbathing
can slow the ageing process by up to five years, according to new research.
Scientists have found that people who avoid the sun, or have inadequate vitamin
D in their diet, are subject to genetic damage associated with ageing and
age-related illnesses .
Mighty Mouse Created Scientists have created a "mighty mouse" that is capable of trotting along at three quarters of a mile per hour (20 metres per minute) for three miles at a time, and that appears healthier, trimmer and longer lived than its
peers .
Avoid Paracetamol Combined With Coffee Consumers have been warned that drinking coffee while taking paracetamol could increase their risk of liver damage .
Genetic Test For Prostate Cancer The test, the first of its kind, measures the activity of a gene closely linked to the cancer. Doctors hope that it will make diagnosis of the disease more accurate and reduce the number of biopsies.
Super Cancer Killers US researchers have been given the go-ahead to give patients transfusions of “super strength” cancer-killing cells from
donors .
Ezetimibe Instead Of Statins? Ezetimibe can be taken by those who cannot tolerate statins - the most commonly prescribed drugs - or in combination with
them .
Vitamin D Important A simple course of vitamin D could help you live longer, say
researchers .
Scientists Plea To Use New Hybrid Embryos Britain's leading scientists have made a final plea for the right to create the first animal-human embryos for medical research using eggs taken from dead
cows .
Statins Might Ease Risk Of Dementia Taking cheap drugs designed to lower cholesterol could reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's by 80 per
cent .
Huge Cosmic Gap Astronomers have found an enormous void in space that measures nearly a billion light-years
across .
Aerogel: The Miracle Insulator A
miracle material for the 21st century could protect your home against bomb blasts, mop up oil spillages and even help man to fly to
Mars .
Intelligent Clouds Extraterrestrials could consist of living, breeding, floating clouds of interstellar
dust .
Some Health Advice For Older Women Confused
by conflicting health advice for older women, Jan Etherington has come up with
her own common-sense guide .
NASA Blunder On Climate Temperature Thanks
to blogger Stephen McIntyre's calculations, climatologists at NASA's Goddard
Institute of Space Science (GISS) in New York now concede that 1934 was the
hottest year in U.S. history, and not 1998 as it previously reported.
Levitation Possible Levitation has been elevated from being pure science fiction to science fact, according to a study reported today by
physicists .
Dawkins Lambasts New Age Therapists Prof Dawkins says that alternative remedies constitute little more than a "money-spinning, multi-million pound industry that impoverishes our culture and throws up new age gurus who exhort us to run away from
reality" .
DCA - A Possible Cancer Cure? YouTube
Video - 6 min
+ Two agents from the FDA visited us on Tuesday,July 17, 2007 and ordered that we stop making and selling
DCA.
+ Dr
Michelakis opposes any self-medication with DCA, and the websites that facilitate it. Though he says he can understand why people with cancer are motivated to take
DCA, he points out that not only are they placing themselves in danger, they may also be jeopardising the chances of finding out whether DCA actually works in treating cancer and of it becoming approved as a
therapy .
Men Over 50 Should Take Statins Men over 50 should be prescribed cholesterol-busting drugs, the
UK Government’s heart and stroke tsar has recommended .
Moles On Skin A Good Sign? Scientists claim that those with lots of moles are years younger biologically than those with mark-free
skin .
Cyber Attacks From Foreign Agencies The BBC has learned that Britain, along with other western countries, has been under daily "cyber attack" from foreign intelligence agencies trying to steal secrets through the
internet .
Mice Stem Cell breakthrough A crucial advance in stem cell research, reported today by British scientists, will shave years off efforts to turn the cells into treatments for a vast range of ailments such as diabetes and cystic fibrosis, without the need to use human
embryos .
Lifelong Immunity From Influenza Possible British scientists are developing a vaccine to give lifelong protection against all strains of
flu .
New Operation To Restore Sight A revolutionary technique being developed by British scientists could cure blindness in millions of people around the
world .
Sony Price Cut For Blu-Ray Player Sony has cut $100 (£50) off the price of its new next-generation DVD player as it tries to get ahead in the
market .
Cold Star It is the coldest solitary brown dwarf ever seen .
New Injections For Heart Problems A simple jab could help treat heart disease in millions of people and reduce the need for pain relief, scientists
claim .
Gene Therapy For Baldness Skin cells have been primed to regrow hair follicles for the first time, leading scientists to claim a breakthrough in the quest for a cure for
baldness .
Fireballs Wiped Out America's Stone Age Hunters Scientists will outline dramatic evidence this week that suggests a comet exploded over the Earth nearly 13,000 years ago, creating a hail of fireballs that set fire to most of the northern
hemisphere .
Hubble Spots Ring Of Dark Matter Astronomers have found one of the best pieces of evidence for the existence of dark matter, a mysterious quantity that pervades our Universe.
Eco-Therapy A
charity is calling for country walks to become a recognised treatment for those with mental health problems.
It says such walks can help reduce depression and raise self-esteem, and wants
'ecotherapy' to become widely available .
Blu-Ray's Secret Key The Digital Millennium Copyright
Act is one of the most pernicious statutes ever passed. It casts a chilling shadow over the entire digital world. Accordingly, most of the websites that received the 'takedown' letter complied with
it . John Naughton
Malware On The Increase One in 10 web pages scrutinised by search giant Google contained
malware that could infect a user's PC .
Gladiators Graveyard Discovered Scientists believe they have for the first time identified an ancient graveyard for
Roman gladiators .
Painkillers Can Make Headaches Worse Taking too many headache tablets can made headaches worse, doctors have
warned .
Revolutionary Pill For Many Genetic Diseases A pill that can correct a wide range of faulty genes which cause crippling illnesses should be available within three years, promising a revolution in the treatment of thousands of
conditions .
Intelligence-Enhancing Chemicals It
sounds like the stuff of science fiction: a new generation of chemicals that
make people more intelligent .
The Wonders Of Aspirin A regular dose of aspirin could keep cancer at bay and boosts survival rates for those who contract the disease, new research has
revealed .
Guardian Science Podcasts - 30
min podcasts to do with science - these podcasts are very good indeed.
Einstein Is Vindicated After more than 90 years, scientists believe they may have found experimental proof for general relativity, one of Albert Einstein’s greatest
theories .
Fat Gene Discovered More than half of the population carries a gene that makes people more likely to pile on the pounds, scientists announce
today .
Richard Dawkins interviews the Bishop of Oxford
YouTube Video - 35
min
Five New Species Of Troglobite Unearthed A £5bn mining project in Western Australia has been blocked by government officials after the discovery of tiny, blind spider-like creatures at the
site .
Anti-Wrinkle Cream That Works Sales of a £17 Boots brand anti-ageing cream have soared by 2000 per cent following an independent study showing it reduces
wrinkles .
Connection Found Between Schizophrenia And
Complex Thinking Scientists have discovered that a common version of a particular gene appears both to enhance a key thinking circuit in the brain, and to be linked to a raised risk of
schizophrenia .
One Hundred Million Years Without Sex Creatures that have abstained from sex for up to 100 million years are giving evolutionary scientists a
headache .
Intelligent Children Like Rock Music Intelligent teenagers often listen to heavy metal music to cope with the pressures associated with being
talented.
Joost TV Online From
big-budget dramas to niche documentaries, the people behind Joost say they will
provide a huge array of TV programmes straight to your computer ,
High Temperature Superconductors Levitating
high-speed trains, super-efficient power generators and ultra-powerful
supercomputers will become commonplace thanks to a new breed of materials known
as high temperature superconductors .
The In
this off-the-cuff talk, Charles Leadbeater weaves a tight argument that
innovation isn't just for professionals anymore. From open-source software to
mountain biking to astronomy, passionate non-professionals are harnassing
digital technologies to collaborate, innovate and re-make entire industries .
20 min
Some Statistics - 6 min
The Darkest Galaxies The mystery of how the darkest galaxies in the Universe came to exist may have been solved by
scientists .
New Teraflop Chip A chip with 80 processing cores and capable of more than a trillion calculations per second (teraflops) has been unveiled by
Intel .
Vista Plays Havoc With Games The much-hyped new version of Microsoft Windows is playing havoc with computer
games .
Nano-Chips Developed The next milestone in the relentless pursuit of smaller, higher performance microchips has been
unveiled .
'Hobbit' Digs To Restart Archaeologists
who found the remains of human "Hobbits" have permission to restart
excavations at the cave where the specimens were found .
Cheap Effective Cancer Cure? It sounds almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their “immortality”. The drug, dichloroacetate
(DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively
safe .
Asimo at CES Las Vegas - 5 min
The New IPhone - 5 min
(Problems with player and here .)
Hybrid Cells Defended Scientists will be allowed to make a case for the creation of human-animal embryos to seek treatments for nervous system disorders .
Flesh-Eating Bug A leading economist suffered an agonising death when a horrific flesh-eating bug took over his body in just 24
hours .
Spicy Foods Beneficial Scientists
have discovered the key to the ability of spicy foods to kill cancer cells .
Milk Blocks Tea Benefits Adding milk to a cup of tea can destroy its ability to protect against heart disease .
Near-Future Technology Among
the most exciting products at this annual techno-jamboree are the flexible,
plastic electronic screens created by the Cambridge-based company Plastic Logic.
Using a plastic- based circuit, the material can be used to create credit-card
thin "electronic paper" .
All-Round Flu Vaccine British scientists are on the verge of producing a revolutionary flu vaccine that works against all major types of the
disease .
New Obesity Pill An obesity pill which can help women drop two dress sizes in a year has been hailed by scientists after stunning test
results .
Olive Oil 'Can Cut Cancer Risk' Adding plenty of olive oil to a diet could help protect against cell damage that can lead to cancer .
Cow Pat Power The humble cow pat could become the latest weapon in the fight against global
warming .
You Are Person Of The Year "You" have been named as Time magazine's Person of the Year for the growth and influence of user-generated content on the
internet .
Blogging To Peak Next Year The blogging phenomenon is set to peak in 2007, according to technology predictions by analysts
Gartner .
Scientists Protest At Political Interference Some 10,000 US researchers have signed a statement protesting about political interference in the scientific
process .
Earliest Flying Mammal Discovered Mammals took to the skies at least 70 million years earlier than previously
thought .
Left-Handers Think More Quickly Left-handed people can think quicker when carrying out tasks such as playing computer games or playing sport .
Ebola Virus Perhaps Killed 5,000 Gorillas More than 5,000 gorillas may have died in recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus in central
Africa .
Aspirin Good For Prostate Aspirin and other similar painkillers may halve the risk of developing an enlarged
prostate.
Anti-Smoking "Wonder Pill" An anti-smoking "wonder pill" that claims to be the most effective treatment yet was launched on
Tuesday .
Thinking Of Buying A New Computer? To entice credit cards out of wallets there are serious deals on offer for canny shoppers. But is it wise to take the plunge so close to the launch of Vista?
Interesting Meteorite Spheres Hollow spheres found in a primordial meteorite could yield clues to the origin of life on
Earth .
New Sun Images Remarkable images of the Sun have been taken by the Hinode spacecraft .
Stem Cells For Back Pain A radical new treatment could bring relief to millions of back pain
sufferers .
Huge Fish Fossil Found What Tom and Sharon had found was the skull of a fish that lived more than 100 million years ago, swimming in the southern ocean when Australia was effectively a Polar
continent .
Grow Your Own Cartilage A woman with a damaged knee has become the first Briton to have a revolutionary 'grow your own' cartilage transplant .
Humans Show Major DNA Differences Scientists have shown that our genetic code varies between individuals far more than was previously
thought .
Cardiac Master Cells Scientists have discovered what they believe could be cardiac master cells, capable of developing into different tissues in the
heart .
Male Chimpanzees Like Older Women To a young male chimp there is nothing so attractive as wrinkles, sagging skin and bald patches in a female who is old enough to be his
great-great-grandmother .
Hunt For Higgs Boson The 42-year race to find a sub-atomic particle crucial to the understanding of the Universe is nearing the finishing line, with Britain and Europe nosing ahead of the
US .
Chest Pains? Don't Delay The British stiff upper lip is costing thousands their lives by deterring them from seeking help when they are having a heart
attack.
Dawkins Fights Religion In Schools Richard
Dawkins is planning to take his fight against God into the classroom by flooding schools with anti-religious
literature .
Long Live Resonance The tangle of cables and plugs needed to recharge today's electronic gadgets could soon be a thing of the
past .
Heart Can Repair Itself Scientists have shown that cells in the heart's outer layer can migrate deeper into a failing organ to carry out essential
repairs .
Investigating Neanderthal DNA Neanderthal
Man has begun to give up his genetic secrets almost 30,000 years after he last walked the Earth, providing critical insights into the genes that make human beings what they are today .
The Future Today
scientists are forecasting a world 50 years hence where quadriplegics can run the marathon after being cured and where future Dr Doolittles can talk with the
animals .
Cryotherapy Cryotherapy is the latest treatment for a range of illnesses including arthritis, osteoporosis, and even MS. New Age madness or a genuine medical
breakthrough ?
DNA Computers The first man-made DNA computers have already proved themselves in action. And while limited in the questions they can tackle so far, the machines have sparked enormous excitement in the scientific
world .
Statins Should Be Prescribed For Millions Millions more adults should be prescribed statins by their doctors to lower their risk of heart attacks, say Oxford University
experts .
Cancer Vaccines Effective Mice
vaccinated with stem cells have proved to be resistant to lung cancer .
Stem Cells For Heart Attacks Emergency heart attack patients will be injected with their own stem cells in a dramatic new
treatment .
Permission For Human Cow Embryos UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow
eggs .
No More Fish There
will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the
century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study .
Male Contraceptive Implant Scientists have discovered a substance that can temporarily block the development of sperm without altering testosterone levels and without causing unwanted side
effects .
Mini Liver Created The technique that created the 'mini-liver', currently the size of a one pence piece, will be developed to create a full-size functioning
liver .
NYC To Ban Fatty Acids City health officials say these so-called trans fats are so unhealthy they belong in the same category as food spoiled by rodent
droppings .
Crushing Pills Before Swallowing Might Be
Dangerous Crushing pills to make them easier to swallow can cause serious side-effects that can sometimes be fatal, experts have
warned .
Google To Be Tough On Copyright Google has vowed to take a tough line on copyright when it completes its $1.65bn (£875m) takeover of
YouTube .
Stereo Satellite Launched A pair of spacecraft has blasted off on a mission to provide a 3D view of huge eruptions from the sun that can damage satellites, disrupt electrical and communications systems on Earth and endanger
astronauts .
UK To Give Face Transplants British surgeons have been given permission to carry out the world's first full face transplant, opening the door to thousands more such
operations .
Tooth-Whitening Dangers The teeth-whitening kits used by thousands of Britons who want polished molars can cause permanent
damage ,
Doubt Cast On Lunar Ice Deposits Hopes that the Moon's south pole has significant water ice deposits that could be used to set up a lunar base appear to be unfounded, a study
says .
Internet Addiction More than one in eight American adults show signs that they could be suffering from some form of internet addiction after admitting to researchers that they find it hard to limit their
use .
EU Tries To Burden Bloggers The Government is seeking to prevent an EU directive that could extend broadcasting regulations to the internet, hitting popular video-sharing websites such as
YouTube .
Do Not Make Your Bed! Failing to make your bed in the morning may actually help keep you healthy, scientists
believe .
Facial Expressions Inherited Not Learned It is not just our features that we inherit from our parents - but also their facial
expressions .
Maggot Therapy Over the last decade maggot therapy has made a resurgence with the appearance of new strains of antibiotic-resistant
bacteria .
Brain Improvement Dilemma Should technology be used to stimulate and improve the brain - improving grades for instance?
Wonderful Walnuts Eating walnuts at the end of a meal may help cut the damage that fatty food can do to the
arteries .
Google's Copyright Nightmare Google's takeover of video-sharing website YouTube may look like a nifty business move. For the company's legal team, however, it may soon turn into a long and nasty
nightmare .
Monster Fossil Find Norwegian scientists have discovered a "treasure trove" of fossils belonging to giant sea reptiles that roamed the seas at the time of the
dinosaurs .
Baldness Therapy Approved Intercytex has successfully tested a method of removing hair follicles from the back of the neck, multiplying them and then reimplanting the
cells .
Black Tea Reduces Stress A team at University College London found black tea helps to cut levels of the stress hormone cortisol circulating in the
blood .
Tower Of Babble Technology The problem of compatibility between wireless devices is being addressed at an international conference this
week .
Smokers Of Light Cigarettes Can Sue A judge in America has given the go ahead to a class-action lawsuit accusing the tobacco industry of misleading smokers into buying light cigarettes as a less harmful alternative to regular
ones .
Roll-Up Laptop Screens Roll-up laptop screens may be a step closer, according to
scientists .
Three Million Year Old Child The skeleton of the world's oldest child - a three-year-old girl from more than three million years ago .
Eris - The World Of Chaos The distant world whose
discovery prompted leading astronomers to demote Pluto from the rank of
"planet" has now been given its own official name .
Sleeping Pills Help Comatose Patients A group of severely brain-damaged patients given little chance of recovery by medical experts are awakening after receiving a radical new course of medication - in the form of a sleeping
pill .
Gene Therapy Cancer Cures Not Imminent Winning the war against cancer, as the preponderance of the world’s oncologists repeatedly stress, is a long hard slog on a great many
fronts .
Large Human Sacrifice Site Discovered Archaeologists working in the ruined city of giant pyramids have discovered one of the largest sites of human sacrifice in South
America .
Anger Might Damage Lungs A US team followed 670 male military veterans and found those with high levels of hostility had poorer lung function than their happier
peers .
Stomach Cancer Caused By Bone Marrow? Stomach cancer may not originate from the tissue of the organ itself, but from bone marrow
cells .
Google Exposes Unsafe Websites Google has started warning users if they are about to visit a webpage that could harm their
computer .
Whatever Happened To The Electric Car? Electric cars were once widely touted as the solution to all our pollution ills and energy concerns. Now they're not. A new documentary asks what
happened ?
Internet Explorer 7 Soon Available PC users will be offered Microsoft's new browser as part of an automatic update programme
Star On The Brink A star on the brink of exploding as a spectacular supernova has been glimpsed by international
astronomers .
Bush Blocks Stem Cell Funding The
international medical community condemned President Bush’s veto yesterday of a
Bill that would have allowed federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
It claimed that millions of patients worldwide would suffer as a result .
Tiny Wireless Memory Chip A
chip the size of a grain of rice that can store 100 pages of text and swaps data
via wireless has been developed by Hewlett-Packard .
Parrots Understand Maths Alex, the most accomplished of her birds, is able to name seven colours and five shapes and count or add up to six. He can identify, request and refuse about 100 different objects and uses phrases such as “come here” and “wanna go”.
New Generation DVDs Later this year two competing next generation DVD formats will hit shelves across Europe. To find out how they compare, BBC News went along to the offices of the British Video Association to see them in
action .
Microsoft Ends Support For Windows 98 Microsoft
is urging an estimated 70 million users of Windows 98 to upgrade as it ends
support for the software .
Ants Can Count Their Steps Desert ants use an internal "pedometer" to
measure exact marching
distances .
BBC Seeks Global Domination The BBC’S commercial arm is planning an expansion of its international activities, which could lead to it starting as many as six channels in countries such as the United States and
India .
Doctors Advised To Curb Beta-Blockers Drugs currently taken by 1.6 million people to combat the dangers associated with high blood pressure should be replaced with newer, more effective medications, the government's medicines watchdog will announce
today .
Sexual Orientation Set Before Birth A
man's sexual orientation can be determined before he is born .
Bowel Cancer Breakthrough A Northern Ireland company has made a medical breakthrough in the treatment of bowel cancer.
It has discovered a way to identify those people in which the disease will
return .
Cannabis and Cancer While the investigators’ failure to demonstrate a positive association between cannabis use and cancer may seem surprising to some, the bottom line is that scientists overseas have been studying pot’s potential anti-cancer properties for nearly a decade.
Paul Armentano
Internet Happiness Research in the UK has shown that people who log on to the internet tend to have more friends than those who do
not .
Bio Rocks? Odd-shaped rocks in the Pilbara region of Western Australia offer compelling evidence they were built by microbes 3.43 billion years
ago
First Beating Heart Transplant Doctors have carried out the UK's first successful beating-heart
transplant .
Dark Soya Sauce Better Than Vitamin C? Dark soya sauce, widely used in east Asia, may prove to be more effective than red wine and vitamin C in combating human cell damage ..
Human Resilience Recent research suggests that rather than being the fragile flowers that psychologists have made us out to be, most people are resilient .
Daniel Gilbert
Green Mini-Car A tiny, three-wheeled car that could help solve city congestion has been demonstrated at the University of Bath.
It has a top speed of 100 km/h (60mph) and uses a novel tilting chassis to make it safe and
manoeuvrable .
Reverse Evolution? A much-derided theory that five people who walk on all fours are products of “backward evolution” is plausible, and testable, said a U.S. biologist who weighed in on the controversy last
week .
Freezing Out Lung Tumors For
decades Sheila Kaye was a smoker and her lungs were in poor condition .
Browser Flaws Need New Patches PC users are being urged to apply software patches that close "critical" vulnerabilities in Microsoft
Windows .
New Cosmic Vision The Swift telescope is about to break the boundaries of our cosmic vision, to see the most distant objects ever
recorded .
Creating Batteries From Viruses Genetically modified viruses that assemble into electrodes could one day revolutionise battery
manufacturing .
Alarm Over Radio Tags With remotely readable tags on everything from boots to beans, is it the customers or what they buy that is being
labelled ?
Judas Was Not A Bad Man For 2,000 years, his name has been synonymous with treachery and deceit, but Judas may finally have received some divine
justice .
Stone Age Dentistry Stone age people in Pakistan were using dental drills made of flint 9,000 years
ago .
Grisly Skulls The grisly discovery of 121 human skulls, many with their tops sawn off, has puzzled Chinese police and caused a frenzy of
speculation .
New Fossil Reveals First Land Creatures Fossil animals found in Arctic Canada provide a snapshot of fish evolving into land
animals .
Psychedelic Therapy There's a growing recognition that a psychedelic experience can have a therapeutic profile which might be extraordinary particularly in patient populations that do not respond well to conventional
treatments. "
Bladders Grown In Laboratory Actually Work Entire human internal organs grown in the laboratory have been successfully transplanted into patients for the first time, paving the way for a new era of “spare part”
medicine .
Prayer Sucks A study of more than 1,800 patients who underwent heart bypass surgery has failed to show that prayers specially organized for their recovery had any
impact .
Neutrinos Have Mass Physicists have confirmed that neutrinos, which are thought to have played a key role during the creation of the Universe, have
mass .
New Phobia Treatment Arachnophobes around the world can rejoice - the answer to their darkest fears could be a simple injection away after scientists found that a dose of the body's natural stress hormone,
cortisol, can help phobics deal better with fear of spiders .
Bit Torrent Fights Back A search engine used to locate links to movie and music files has moved to dismiss legal attempts by the US film industry to sue over
copyright .
On Ageism Ageism, or discriminating against people purely on the grounds of their chronological age, is deeply embedded and very widespread in our
society .
Life Extension Doubts The claims made by Dr Aubrey de Grey, a scientist at the University of Cambridge, UK, that lifespan can be increased by over 1,000 years, have proven too much for some; and a dispute has now broken out within the gerontology
community .
Significant Skull Found Fossil hunters in Ethiopia have unearthed an ancient skull which they say could be a "missing link" between Homo erectus and modern
people .
Google Offers Free Wi-Fi Google Inc. has offered to blanket San Francisco with free wireless Internet access at no cost to the city, placing a marquee name behind Mayor Gavin Newsom's effort to get all residents online whether they are at home, in a park or in a
cafe .
Fish Oil No Good? Fish
Oil may not quite be the elixir of life that we have been led to believe .
Work Till You Drop Mr Winston retired from his job as a bus maintenance worker in Los Angeles yesterday. It was his 100th birthday and, in a 90-year working career, he has had only one day off — when his wife died in
1988 .
Duct Tape Duct tape can save your life.
New Plastics Might Rival Silicon A new plastic that could rival silicon as the material of choice for some electronic devices has been
developed .
Nanotechnology Produces Smallest Map It is without question the smallest map that has ever been
made .
Brain Training Game For Oldies A video game that is said to help the older generation sharpen their minds and delay the onset of dementia is about to
launched .
America In Debt The increase, passed by Congress, allows the Government to borrow another $781 billion (£447 billion), increasing the national debt limit — the maximum America can borrow — from $8 trillion and $184 billion to $8 trillion and $961
billion .
Chillies Can Help with Prostate Cancer The pepper component capsaicin makes the cells undergo programmed cell death or apoptosis, says a study published in the journal Cancer
Research .
Barrow Wins Top Prize A British scientist has won the world's biggest cash award, the annual $1.4m (£800,000) Templeton
Prize .
Nanotech Helps Blind Hamsters See Nanotechnology has restored the sight of blind
rodents .
Statins Might Reverse Heart Disease Intensive therapy with statin drugs may not just stall deterioration of the arteries but actually reverse
it .
Fuel Cells For Laptops Soon you could be running your laptop computer all day without a recharge as commercial versions of fuel cells go on
sale .
The Star of Stars A
gigantic star that blew up in a vast cosmic explosion soon after the dawn of time has been detected by astronomers in an unprecedented sighting that offers valuable insights into the infancy of the
Universe .
Volcano Vesuvius Might Have Worse To Come Vesuvius the volcano that obliterated Pompeii in AD79, has the capacity to make that event look like a sideshow, volcanologists have
found .
Quadripedal Humans Discovered Five
brothers and sisters who can only walk naturally on all fours are being hailed as a unique insight into human evolution, after being found in a remote corner of rural
Turkey .
Death Penalty For Bag Snatching Bag snatchers are to face the death penalty after judges in a southern Chinese city responded to growing middle-class concerns over petty crime with draconian new sentencing
rules .
America and Europe We interviewed Claire
Berlinski, author of Menace in Europe: Why the Continent's Crisis is America's, Too, about Europe, Muslim integration (and the lack thereof), and the political, diplomatic, and military consequences thereof. I think it's one of the most important books of the year, and that this is one of the most important podcast interviews we've done. Her advice to the White House and State Department on Europe: "Make contingency plans in case it all goes to hell, because it very well
might. " an interesting and insightful podcast - 30 min - by Glenn
Reynolds and Helen Smith on Instapundit - the actual podcast link can be found
under the heading "February 28th, 2006"
Stealth Sharks The Pentagon is reportedly funding research into neural implants with the ultimate hope of turning sharks into "stealth spies" capable of gliding undetected through the
ocean .
Man Caused Little Ice Age Europe's
"Little Ice Age" may have been triggered by the 14th Century Black
Death plague, according to a new study .
Jurassic Beaver Discovered A
Jurassic beaver that lived alongside dinosaurs 164 million years ago has been
discovered in China, showing that mammals colonised the water and other
specialised environments much earlier than was previously thought .
The Pointlessness Of Ties Doctors should stop wearing "functionless" ties which could pose a hygiene risk, says the British Medical Association - as part of the drive to stop the spread of hospital
superbugs. So what is the point of a tie?
DNA Could Predict Surname Forensic scientists could use DNA retrieved from a crime scene to predict the surname of the
suspect .
Splogging Known as Splogs , these sites only exist to game Google in one way or another, mostly for money but also for increased search rankings or as a means of manipulating search spiders.
Literally millions of instant sites have sprung up over the past twelve months, most of which are free-hosted
Blogs, containing content scraped out from the original sites .
Huge Energy Breakthrough? In
a scientific breakthrough that has stunned the world, a team of South African
scientists has developed a revolutionary new, highly efficient solar power
technology that will enable homes to obtain all their electricity from the sun .
Anti-Ageing Pills Researchers in California believe new drugs capable of slowing the ageing process will start to become available in rich countries in 2010 .
Cells Controlling Robots Dr Zauner's work is the first time that cells have been used to control movement in
robots .
T-Rex Savage Or Sweet? In the imaginations of generations of little boys and girls it was the brutally blood-thirsty king of the predatory
dinosaurs .
Elephants Get Their Revenge In
parts of Uganda they have raided villages, demolished huts and destroyed plots,
not in an effort to get at food but to scare the people living there . ...
... Well, female A study of wild African elephants has revealed that dominant females build up a social memory as they get older, enabling them to recognise "friendly"
faces .
In his book Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Carl Sagan states that female
chimpanzees can bear grudges for 30 years! Now, that's
Women Becoming Redundant? The machine washes, dries and irons clothes in separate compartments and is said to eliminate colour runs, shrinkage and
ironing .
More Marine Diversity Discovered An underwater mountain with some of the richest diversity of marine life in the Caribbean has been found by
scientists .
Warm Water Required For Life Life is likely to have emerged in warm puddles of fresh water and not the piping-hot volcanic springs that have often been proposed as its source, research has
suggested .
Polypill Saves Lives Not Money A
proposal to give every person a pill that combines aspirin, a statin, three agents that lower blood pressure and folic acid could save thousands of lives in Britain each year. But researchers have found that, despite its potential to reduce health problems dramatically, it would not save any
money .
Well, if it doesn't save any money then that's that then, isn't it? We
mustn't allow the government to spend any money that it, itself, doesn't benefit
from now, must we?
Good Lord, no.
Heaven forbid!
Meanwhile, however, the HFEA is proposing to pay women a whopping £250 for a
measly egg! ...
Women Can Donate Eggs For Cloning British women are to be cleared to donate eggs solely for cloning experiments that promise new therapies for diseases such as Parkinson’s and
diabetes .
Women who donate eggs for any purpose can be paid a token £15 plus
expenses, though the HFEA has proposed increasing this to £250.
Warriors Against Spyware Computer
users whose machines have been hijacked by potentially dangerous software are
being asked to add their tales of woe to an online campaign .
Yahoo Betrays Political Dissident The American internet company Yahoo! provided evidence to Chinese police that enabled them to imprison one of its users, according to allegations that came to light
yesterday .
Most Enormous Spinosaurus A giant dinosaur with crocodile-like jaws has elbowed the comparatively puny Tyrannosaurus rex into third place to claim the title of biggest predator ever on
Earth .
Have you seen this man?
Police Artist At Work A
crime victim has criticised a police e-fit of a suspect saying although the
thief had an unusual appearance he "didn't look that odd" . LOL!
Numerous Species Discovered An international team of scientists says it has found a "lost world" in the Indonesian jungle that is home to dozens of new animal and plant
species .
The Many Perks Of European Politicians MEPs allowed to claim up to 21 visits a year to
a sauna on their expenses .
Lawless China The deputy editor of a Chinese newspaper died of liver and kidney failure after he was severely beaten by police enraged by reports in his newspaper about their
work .
Overkill In Policing "Why did you shoot me? I was reading a
book!" Radley Balko
Dark Matter Is Hot Astronomers have for the first time put some real numbers on the physical characteristics of dark
matter .
Lazy Teachers? A Berlin mother of four has provoked howls of protest from Germany's educational establishment with a book that depicts the nation's teachers as lazy, ideologically driven incompetents who blame parents when they fail to do their
job .
Domestic Robots The brave new world of humanoid robots that not only take out the rubbish and clean the carpet but also look after children, care for the elderly and travel into space is now almost upon us .
High Treason A
Russian man at the centre of the biggest spying scandal to hit relations between Moscow and London in a decade could face up to 20 years in jail for high treason, according to sources close to the investigation into his activities.
The unnamed man, who worked at a state military enterprise, was arrested in Moscow as he downloaded classified information onto a sophisticated mini-computer hidden in a fake rock by British intelligence
agents .
Britons Unconvinced On Evolution Just under half of Britons accept the theory of evolution as the best description for the development of life, according to an opinion poll .
Methanol Power Japanese
scientists have revealed a revolutionary fuel cell that will power a mobile
phone for days on a drop of methanol about the size of a human tear .
Google Sees All Google's
cookie means that the company has a complete, identifiable record of everything
your computer asks for online. This can't be tied into your personal information
automatically. But if you sign up for another Google service, it can be .
Politics And Money Power is shifting away from the people to the big-money crowd. Unless the trend is reversed, it will inevitably lead to more corruption and rule by an oligarchy that will sit behind the scenes and instruct its bought
politicians . Charley Reese
Alcohol vs Marijuana Alcohol's long-standing association with aggressive behavior, whether it's among raucous sports fans or late-night bar patrons, is well-publicized and much debated. Yet, a relevant fact that is often overlooked in this public discourse is that an alternative, almost equally consumed intoxicant, is rarely, if ever, linked with violence – marijuana. However, unlike alcohol, marijuana is illegal and not only at Giants
Stadium . Paul Armentano
New Games Consoles The consoles from Microsoft and Sony go beyond games, offering the ability to play music, watch video and more. They offer the potential to become the entertainment centre of the digital
home .
Googlebombing If you do a Google search on the word [failure] or the phrase [miserable failure], the top result is currently the White House’s official biographical page for President
Bush .
Glide Effortless For years, pundits have predicted that the browser will one day replace the operating system and that PC users will get all of their computing applications via the web. Recent rumors have pegged Google as the company most likely to deliver on this promise but a new service from
Transmedia, called Glide Effortless, seems to have beaten Google to the punch .
Vitamin D Good For Lungs Vitamin D could play a role in keeping the lungs healthy, research
suggests .
Maintaining Muscle Scientists
believe they have found a way to enable the elderly to maintain muscle .
AIDS Might Help Bird Flu Spread Bird flu could readily mutate into a pandemic form if it infects people with Aids, a flu expert has
warned .
Stealth Advertising Hollywood writers and actors are demanding a crackdown on "stealth advertising" in films and on
television .
'Freeze Therapy' For Lung Cancers Doctors are using a probe that freezes tumours at temperatures of -190°C to treat lung cancer in patients who otherwise could not have
surgery .
Staying Happy Psychologists
know that increasing the number of social contacts a miserable person has is the
best way of cheering them up .
All About Quicksand Research
has shown that it is impossible for people to sink into quicksand much beyond
the waist — but it is equally impossible to pull someone out once they are
stuck .
Anti-Cancer Sea Organisms Creatures
and plants from the sea are a rich source of potential anti-cancer agents .
Leap Seconds Wanted A
proposal to scrap leap seconds - small adjustments made to clock time - could
create chaos for astronomers and satellite operators .
Reversing Hair Loss Scientists
believe manipulating genes within hair cells can reverse baldness .
Electrosensitivity People
can suffer nausea, headaches and muscle pains when exposed to electromagnetic
fields from mobile phones, electricity pylons and computer screens .
Yahoo Aids Censorship The
US internet giant Yahoo! handed information to the Chinese authorities which led
to a ten-year jail sentence on a journalist for “spreading state secrets”,
according to an international press freedom group .
Vibrating Motorists Might Increase Road Safety Vibrating the bottoms, hands and feet of motorists could help to cut the most common type of car accident by up to 15 per cent, according to driving simulator
studies .
Olive Oil Kills Pain Good
quality olive oil contains a natural chemical that acts in a similar way to a
painkiller .
"You're Too Fat" Dr.
Bennett told an obese patient that she needed to lose weight, and as a result he
has been under investigation for over a year by New Hampshire's attorney general
and its state board of medicine. Andrew Fischer
Coffee Better Than Fruit Coffee
is likely to contribute far more antioxidants to the British diet than fruit and
vegetables .
Libraries Lending Out People A public library in Holland has been swamped with queries after unveiling plans to "lend out" living people, including homosexuals, drug addicts, asylum seekers, gipsies and the physically
handicapped .
Strange Fossil A
strange 525 million-year-old fossil creature is baffling scientists because it
does not fit neatly into any existing animal groups .
First Nerve Stem Cells The world's first pure batch of nerve stem cells made from human stem cells has been created at Edinburgh
University .
Lab Grown Meat "With
a single cell, you could theoretically produce the world's annual meat supply.
And you could do it in a way that's better for the environment and human health .
Stealth Cancer Drugs A
form of covert treatment that sends a "scout" enzyme into a tumour to
single it out for destruction has been developed ,
Hospital Safety Bracelet A
patient safety bracelet which would alert a nurse if the wrong drug or dosage
was being given could save lives and avoid hundreds of accidents, experts said
yesterday .
Genes Influence Academic Skills A
new study suggests that both maths and reading ability lies largely in the genes .
Titan Dry As A Bone Hopes
of finding hydrocarbon oceans on Saturn's smoggy moon, Titan, appear to be
dashed .
Bluetooth Dating Mohammed, 24, does not know how many girlfriends he has had. He prefers expat girls because he can take them to the beach or to parties, but finds Bluetooth useful when pursuing
locals .
Nanotechnology Kills Cancer Cells Tiny
tubes are implanted in cancer cells Nanotechnology has been harnessed to kill
cancer cells without harming healthy tissue .
Snuppy The Puppy Scientists
have finally broken the hound barrier - they have cloned an Afghan puppy called
Snuppy from the skin cells of a three-year-old male hound .
Female Android Japanese
scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a
"female" android called Repliee Q1 .
Illegal Downloaders Actually Buy More Music People
who illegally share music files online are also big spenders on legal music
downloads .
Smart Cancer Drug An
anti-cancer “smart cell” that uses nanotechnology to penetrate tumours and
destroy them from the inside has been developed in America .
Stonehenge Needs More Research Scientists
are demanding a full-scale research programme be launched to update our
knowledge of the monument and discover precisely who built it and its burial
barrow graves .
Cats Do Not Like Sweets Cats
cannot taste sweet things because of a newly identified genetic mutation .
Colin Pillinger Unwell The
scientist who led Britain's Beagle 2 mission to Mars has told BBC News he has
multiple sclerosis .
Neutron Starquake Recorded The
biggest starquake ever recorded resulted in oscillations in the X-ray emission
from the shaking neutron star. Astronomers hope these oscillations will crack
the mystery of what neutron stars are made of .
Was Mars Always Cold? A
chemical study of Martian meteorites implies that the planet has always been
cold and was rarely above freezing .
AIDS While
much of sub-Saharan Africa has felt the impact of AIDS, other parts of the
world, such as Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Southeast Asia and India, are only
beginning to feel the full impact of the disease .
Old Roman Dinner Set Unveiled A
set of ancient silverware has been dug up from Pompeii, the Roman city destroyed
by a volcano 2,000 years ago .
L. Ron Hubbard Scientology's
esteemed founder . Michael Crowley - 5 min
UN Concerned About Internet's Future Control A
UN group charged with deciding how the net should be run has failed to reach a
decision .
Nano-Enhanced Beauty The
cosmetics giant L’Oréal is marketing a range of skin treatments containing
tiny “nano” particles, despite concerns about their possible long-term
effects on the human body .
'Queer' Universe Scientist
Professor Richard Dawkins has opened a global conference of big thinkers warning
that our Universe may be just "too queer" to understand .
Software Patent Bill Thrown Out European
politicians have thrown out a controversial bill that could have led to software
being patented .
Deep Impact And Rosetta Deep
Impact is beautiful preparation for Rosetta. ... Rosetta is not designed to
crash into its target. Instead, it will catch up with "CG" in 2014
after flybys of Earth, Mars and the asteroids and a three-year period of deep
space hibernation .
First Americans Discovered Human
settlers made it to the Americas 30,000 years earlier than previously thought .
Man Convicted For Chipping Xbox A 22-year-old man has become the first person in the UK to be convicted for modifying a video games
console .
Obesity Kills Obesity
could be responsible for as many as 40,005 cases of cancer in UK men every year .
Space Ring To Prevent Global Warming A
wild idea to combat global warming suggests creating an artificial ring of small
particles or spacecrafts around Earth to shade the tropics and moderate climate
extremes . Robert Roy Britt
Internet Addiction The
youths are patients at China's first officially licensed clinic for internet
addiction, a downside of the online frenzy that has accompanied the nation's
breathtaking economic boom .
Legal Action Against File Sharers The
music industry has announced a fresh series of legal actions against 784 people
they suspect of illegally downloading songs from the internet .
Rejuvenating Stem Cells Scientists
have shown that stem cells can bring renewed youthful vigor to aged cows, and
they hope the same will be true in humans. Stem cells were injected into elderly
cows -- animals whose age was equivalent to an 80-year-old human. Tests showed
boosted immune systems and rejuvenated blood vessels more than a year after an
injection of a tablespoonful of stem cells taken from cloned bovine fetuses .
Nuclear Bomb In Suitcase? It
doesn't take much fissile material to make a bomb--on the order of 10 kilograms
of plutonium, a roughly grapefruit-sized sphere. You'll also want a "shaped
charge" of conventional explosives to compress the plutonium to critical
mass, plus a few other precisely engineered but not especially bulky items .
Cecil Adams
Stem Cell Education Needed Stem-cell
supporters are up against a barrage of opposition from the better-funded
religious right . Kristen Philipkoski
Oceans Becoming Acidic The
oceans are gradually turning into a vast “fizzy drink”, a transformation
that could be catastrophic for ocean life .
Downloading Your Consciousness By
the middle of the 21st century it will be possible to download your brain to a
supercomputer, according to a leading thinker on the future .
Life On Planets Around M Stars? With the latest discovery of a "Super-Earth" around a dim, red star 15 light years from Earth, SETI scientists have been pondering the implications for their search for intelligence on other
worlds . Douglas Valkoch - 4 min
EBay Expands Online
auction giant eBay is offering its US sellers the opportunity to build their own
independent sites in an attempt to bolster their loyalty .
Nanomech Memory Existing
computer memory typically stores data as an electrical or magnetic charge.
Cavendish Kinetics claims Nanomech memory can read and write data using 100
times less power than such systems, and works up to 1000 times faster.
Changing The Way That People Read Computers
and the Internet are changing the way people read. Thus far, search engines and
hyperlinks, those underlined words or phrases that when clicked take you to a
new Web page, have turned the online literary voyage into a kind of U-pick
island-hop. But far more is in store .
The Moon Illusion Why
does the moon look so big now ?
Skin Cells Can Produce Other Tissues Researchers
have isolated stem cells from human skin and coaxed them into becoming fat,
muscle and bone cells .
New Alpine Melt Theory The
Alpine glaciers are shrinking, that much we know. But new research suggests that
in the time of the Roman Empire, they were actually smaller than today. And
7,000 years ago they probably weren't around at all . Hilmar Schmundt - 5 min
Brain Cells Recognise Famous People When
scientists sampled brain cell activity in people who were scrutinizing dozens of
pictures, they found some individual cells that reacted to a particular
celebrity, landmark, animal or object . - astonishing
Patent Parasites Patent
parasite companies - businesses that produce nothing except threats and lawsuits
- are growing larger . Richard Stallman
Orgasmic Blackouts “At
the moment of orgasm, women do not have any emotional feelings,” says Gert
Holstege in the Netherlands .
Unintelligible Statistics I'm
a doctor, and I just don't understand most of the stories on health risks in the
news. I don't mean I can't understand the fuss. I mean I literally can't
understand what they're trying to communicate to me . Ben Goldacre
Nanoparticles Succeed In Destroying Cancer Cells Tiny
man-made nanoparticles have been used to successfully smuggle a powerful cancer
drug into tumour cells - leaving healthy cells unharmed - in one of the first
therapeutic uses for nanotechnology in living animals .
Adult Sites Under Siege The
adult industry is determined to fight new federal enforcement efforts that could
catch thousands of online sites with their pants down .
Right To Life? Leslie
Burke asks that his directive to sustain his life be honored, despite any future
opinion by doctors about his quality of life or prospects for living, and
despite the government's interest in containing healthcare costs .
Beam Me Up Scottie Computer
scientists in the US are developing a system which would allow people to
"teleport" a solid 3D recreation of themselves over the internet.
Conscience And Medicine A
pharmacist who views hormonal contraception as a form of abortion refused not
only to fill a prescription for birth-control pills but also to return the
prescription or transfer it to another pharmacy. ... Under Wisconsin's proposed
law, such behavior by a pharmacist would be entirely legal and acceptable. And
this trend is not limited to pharmacists and physicians; in Illinois, an
emergency medical technician refused to take a woman to an abortion clinic,
claiming that her own Christian beliefs prevented her from transporting the
patient for an elective abortion . Alta Charo - 4 min
Nano-Brushes The
world's smallest brushes, with bristles more than a thousand times finer than a
human hair, have been created by researchers in the US .
Amorphous Metals Futuristic
alloys called amorphous metals could someday combine the strength and electrical
conductivity of ordinary metals with the versatility and low cost of plastic .
Workers Being Robotised? 'Battery
Farm' workplaces are springing up in warehouses and distribution centres with
employees made to wear electronic wrist tags to monitor and direct their actions .
Good News For Stem Cell Creators Changes
in imprinting have been observed when ESCs from mice are grown in the lab. But
now, a team at the University of Cambridge, UK, has become the first to show
that human ESCs do not show this variability when cultured extensively .
Biggest Ever Cosmos Simulation Astronomers
have used supercomputers to re-create how the Universe evolved into the shape it
is today .
Sex Site Domains Pornographic
websites are about to get their own online home .
Can You Bottle Trust? The
answer, it seems, is yes. Researchers have produced a potion that, when sniffed,
makes people more likely to give their cash to someone to look after .
Important Euro Satellite Under Development A
few more weeks of testing and the box will be closed on one of the most
important satellite payloads Europe is ever likely to send into space .
Another Stem Cell Triumph A
team headed by Yuri Verlinsky of the Reproductive Genetics Institute, based in
Chicago, claims to have produced patient-matched embryonic stem cells without
resorting to therapeutic cloning. ... Unlike therapeutic cloning, the technique
uses existing embryonic stem cells instead of human eggs, and so would be much
cheaper and easier. What's more, because no embryos are destroyed, it would
bypass many ethical issues . 5 min
BitTorrent Users Targeted By Feds Acting
on detailed information provided by the motion picture industry, federal agents
descended on administrators and users of a popular pirate-friendly file-sharing
site Wednesday in what the government is calling the first criminal law
enforcement action against BitTorrent users .
Google Books Online Under Fire A
US publishing organisation has accused Google of breaching copyright rules
through a plan to put university libraries online .
Huge DVD Storage Possible The
tantalising prospect of DVDs capable of holding almost a terabyte of data - or
several hundred movies - has been presented in a patent issued to US storage
company Iomega .
IPod Plug-In Sets Music Free IPod
users are raving about a plug-in that makes the Winamp digital jukebox a better
way to manage the iPod than Apple's iTunes. Developers programmed a slew of
features, including the ability to synch multiple iPods with Winamp, create
smart playlists and -- the most useful option -- the ability to copy songs from
an iPod onto a hard drive .
Speaking Machines Banks,
phone companies, railways and all kinds of alleged helplines, are spending a lot
of money trying to find out what kinds of voices they should give the machines
that speak to us, the public, on their behalf .
Weaponisation Of Space "Orbiting
'death stars' to attack ground targets are being considered. Pete Teets, the
former acting secretary of the U.S. Air Force has said: 'We haven't reached the
point of strafing and bombing from space – nonetheless, we are thinking about
those possibilities.'" Tom Engelhardt and Jonathan Schell - 9 min
Truffles It
smells like a rotten egg, grows only in the wild, and costs a small fortune. It
can inspire poetry, romance, and crime. Dogs have been kidnapped—and ransoms
paid—because of it . Sean Markey
Mmm. Don't they look delicious.
Voyager 1 Ready To Leave Solar system The
Voyager 1 probe is getting very close to the edge of the Solar System .
Anthropophagy Cannibalism,
or more precisely, anthropophagy, is an age-old tradition that, judging by a
constant stream of flabbergasted news reports, is far from extinct . Sam
Vaknin
It is probably best not to read the above article if you are
hungry - lest you start salivating at inappropriate points in the text thus
awakening a genetically resident yet subconscious yearning for the
mouth-watering taste of
juicy human flesh.
With chips!
The Future Is Soon Aeroplanes
will be too afraid to crash, yoghurts will wish you good morning before being
eaten and human consciousness will be stored on supercomputers, promising
immortality for all - though it will help to be rich . David Smith
Psychological Cure For Smelly Feet When
can cheesy feet smell like roses? When they're labelled with a pleasant name .
The power of the mind to deceive is truly amazing.
Robots In 2020 A
futuristic world, complete with autonomous household companions, android medics
and even robot entertainers, will greet visitors to the Prototype Robot
Exhibition from 9 June, 2005. Will Knight
I wonder if they will ever produce a robotic wife.
Something that you can switch on and off depending on your mood.
Wormholes Might Be Unstable Building
a wormhole with a throat radius big enough to just fit a proton would require
fine-tuning to within one part in 10 to the power of 30. A human-sized wormhole
would require fine-tuning to within one part in 10 to the power of 60 .
Well, that should be easy enough.
Finding The Ark Of The Covenant The famed archaeologist, the inspiration for the “Indiana Jones” movie series, has spent most of his life searching for the Ark of the Covenant.
An unnamed Kabbalist has granted blessing to famed archeologist Dr. Vendyl Jones
to uncover the Holy Ark of the Covenant. Jones plans to excavate the Lost Ark by
the Tisha B’Av Fast this summer .
Animal Rights Activists "These are unbelievably mean-spirited people who operate under this delusion that they are on a higher moral ground than the rest of
us. "
Spore For
many years, Will Wright has been hailed as one of the greatest creative minds in
the game industry. Starting with Sim City, Wright has enjoyed hit after hit. The
Sims, with its many expansion packs, is the best-selling PC game franchise in
history. Next year, Electronic Arts will release Wright's next attempted
masterpiece, Spore, a game some are calling "Sim Everything. " Daniel Terdiman
Super Physics The
Large Hadron Collider will push protons to almost the speed of light and smash
them head-on at energies never before created on Earth. But it will be a messy
business. The torrent of information gushing forth from the LHC each year will
be enough to fill a stack of CDs three times as high as Mount Everest. To make
sense of it will require some 100,000 of today's most powerful PCs . Hazel Muir
- 5 min
Shoe Nannies Sports
shoes that work out whether their owner has done enough exercise to warrant time
in front of the television have been devised in the UK .
Fingerprints Will Be Required To Play DVDs At
the store, someone buying a new DVD would have to provide a password or some
kind of biometric data, like a fingerprint or iris scan, which would be added to
the DVD's RFID tag. Then, when the DVD was popped into the DVD player, the
viewer would be required to re-enter his or her password or fingerprint. Katie Dean
Patient-Specific Stem Cells Produced
The possibility of growing your own tissue or organs in the lab for
transplantation is a step closer following experiments that successfully cloned
patient-specific stem cells .
Google To Assess News Credibility Credibility
is hard to quantify, but not impossible. The Google formula will assess and
monitor news sources according to a number of variables: length of story, number
of bylines, how long the source has been in business, volume of internet traffic
to the site, variety of countries accessing the site, size of staff and so on.
The Google database will take all these parameters, and apply a formula that
distils them down to a single value. In theory, this will produce a pyramid of
information with the most believable at the apex .
Radar
has helped resolve a long-standing controversy about the purpose of a strange
dance performed by bees .
TV Download Sites Hit By Lawsuits The
movie industry has turned its legal campaign against net piracy to TV
file-sharing sites .
Internet Hypochondria There
is nothing new about hypochondria. But the problem with the internet is that it
meets and fuels the hypochondriac's obsessive need for health-related
information in a way which no other medium has managed . Jeremy Stangroom
Bill Bryson said:
"Critical Mass is a wide-ranging and dazzlingly informed book about the
science of interactions. I can promise you’ll be amazed.” Fellow judge Mark
Lythgoe, a neurophysiologist and broadcaster, added that Ball’s book had “changed
my view of the world ”.
Sniffing Out Suitable Partners Humans
are highly skilled at sniffing out suitable partners .
Self-Replicating Robot Created A
staple vision of science fiction has moved closer to reality with the creation
of a robot capable of making copies of itself .
New Memory Pill It
belongs to a family of compounds called ampakines and works by boosting the
brain chemical glutamate that makes learning and recall easy .
Tutankhamun Three
teams of scientists have created the first facial reconstructions of King
Tutankhamun based on CT scans of his mummy. The images ar
Waggle Dance Works 