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SCIENCE
Sick?
DNA Scanner Tells What Ails - [Wired] Who doesn't worry
about skeletons lurking in the gene closet? Soon, instant
DNA mapping could ease those fears -- or deliver the cold,
hard truth. A prototype diagnostic tool under development
by two London companies and set for rollout next year is
an important step on the path to genotyping-while-you-wait.
In the short term, it offers rapid genetic analysis of infectious
diseases.
Scientists Condemn New Gene Technique - [Guardian] Researchers
have developed a technique to speed evolution by inserting
human cancer-causing genes into animals and plants. Hundreds
of mutant breeds -- which would normally take nature millennia
to produce -- could be developed in months by the method,
known as hypermutability.
'Dolly'
Scientist Embryo Clone Bid - [BBC] The man who led the
team which created Dolly the sheep has applied to use cloning
technology to create human embryos. The Human Fertilisation
and Embryology Authority will rule next year whether Professor
Ian Wilmut, from the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland,
can proceed.
Photosynthesis
Study Shows Ancient Genetic Engineering - [Cosmiverse]
The development of the biochemical process of photosynthesis
is one of nature's most important events, but how did it
actually happen? This is a question that molecular biology
has first posed, and now perhaps answered.
Australian
Scientists Identify Schizophrenia Genes - [ABC] An Australian
scientific research team says it has identified 153 genes
affected by schizophrenia in a step toward discovering the
causes of the illness.
Bush
Team Eyes Star Power for Energy Needs - [MSNBC] Scientists
asked to chart path for commercial fusion by 2037.
Surviving
Space: How Bugs Might Travel Between Planets - [space.com]
It came from outer space. Life, that is. This concept has
drifted around the universe of space science since at least
as long ago as 1864.
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TECHNOLOGY
New
Gizmos May Spark Deregulation - [Wired] It almost sounds
too "Star Trek" to be possible: A multipurpose
cell phone that also serves as an FM radio, walkie-talkie,
garage door opener and TV remote control.
Food
Scraps Make Perfect Plastic - [New Scientist] A biological
reactor that converts a slurry of food waste into a biodegradable
plastic has been developed by scientists in Hawaii, providing
a use for the obscene quantities of food rich countries
throw away every year.
Amazon,
Google Lead New Path to Web Services - [ZDNet] After
much hype, confusion and scepticism, a handful of Internet
companies are trying to do something that has stubbornly
eluded the high-tech industry: Turn the vague concept of
"Web services" into a reality for the greater
Internet. Amazon, Google and other Web companies have begun
giving developers direct access to their databases so developers
can create their own "front doors" and other paths
to information, such as book listings and search results.
Cyber
Lab Brewing Up New Planets - [CNN] Biologists, astronomers
and computer scientists are working together to construct
planets from scratch to explore the variety of physical
bodies that could host life.
Quantum
Computing Showing 'Tremendous Progress'
- [New Scientist] The first element of a device that many
believe holds the best hope for quantum information processing
has been completed by Australian researchers, while an Austrian
team has reported the first truly quantum calculation. The
achievements go some way to dispelling the widely-held idea
that doing anything useful with quantum computing is decades
or even centuries away.
Pile
'em High - [Economist] Researchers
think three-dimensional chips could be possible.
First
Quantum Dots Applied to Living Organism - [Science Daily]
Quantum dots are nano-sized crystals that exhibit all the
colors of the rainbow due to their unique semiconductor
qualities. These exquisitely small, human-made beacons have
the power to shine their fluorescent light for months, even
years. But in the near-decade since they were first readily
produced, quantum dots have excluded themselves from the
useful purview of biology. Now, for the first time, this
flexible tool has been refined, and delivered to the hands
of biologists.
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BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
IT
Project Failure is Rampant - KPMG - [The Register] Most
public firms have written off failed IT projects in the
past year, typically due to poor project management, according
to a new report from KPMG. The KMPG study, which covers
134 listed companies in the UK, US, Africa, Australia and
Europe, reports that 56 per cent of firms have had to write
off at least one IT project in the last year as a failure.
The average loss incurred as a result of these failures
was about 12.5m, with single biggest write-off costing
almost 210m.
Statistical
Physics Predicts Stock Market Gloom - [New Scientist]
A statistical physics model is predicting that the US stock
market recovery suggested by recent rises will only last
until spring next year, before tumbling yet further.
Murdoch
Wins China State TV Deal - [BBC] Media mogul Rupert
Murdoch's News Corporation empire has made another breakthrough
into China's TV market.
The
Penguin Takes Flight - [Business 2.0] After creating
a program that makes Linux as easy to use as Windows, Miguel
de Icaza is trying to make it just as simple to produce
open-source versions of thousands of new Windows applications.
So why isn't Microsoft worried?
The
Next Fifty Years - [Darwin Magazine] For the past fifty
years, computers have been seen as "data machines."
But the demands of the new business process management are
taking IT in another direction.
GM
Boosts Car Output in China - [CNN] U.S. carmaker General
Motors Corp. inked a deal to invest in its fourth car plant
in China, the world's fastest-growing car market.
Stay
Strategic in Tactical Times - [Optimize] Focus on immediate
projects, but don't ignore long-term plans-even in a slow
economy.
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SOCIETY AND POLITICS
Walker's
World: NATO's Agonizing Choice - [UPI] Amid the fizzing
champagne and celebrations of their invitation to join the
alliance at this week's NATO summit, the seven new members
from Central and Eastern Europe are haunted by the nagging
fear that they might be becoming children adopted into an
almost broken home.
Volunteers
Wanted for IT National Guard - [Internet News] Calling
all technology and science experts. Uncle Sam is looking
for volunteers for a new IT National Guard established by
the landmark legislation package that creates the Department
of Homeland Security.
AIDS
Epidemic Set to Explode in Eastern Europe - [New Scientist]
The global AIDS epidemic is expanding most rapidly in Eastern
Europe and Central Asia and is fuelling famine in southern
Africa, according to the latest report from UNAIDS. The
authors warn that the international response is desperately
under-funded.
Suicide
Blights China's Women - [BBC] Suicide is now the biggest
single killer among young Chinese people, the country's
first national suicide survey has shown. Each year more
than a quarter of a million people in China are taking their
own lives, the study showed.
EU
Plans to Ease Trade for Poor Nations
- [Washington Times] The European Union introduced a plan
to cut import tariffs, lower export subsidies and reduce
domestic farm supports while opening markets to agricultural
products from the world's poorest countries.
Welcome
to the Wonderful World of China - [Asia Times] Undaunted
by the huge sums already squandered by domestic investors
on building large amusement parks, most of which are empty,
China is cashing in on multinational entertainment giants'
dream to conquer the world's largest and still untapped
market.
The
At-Risk Youth Industry - [Atlantic Monthly] In August
of 2000 the National Center for Children in Poverty, at
Columbia University, released a study showing that despite
the country's recent economic boom, 13 million American
children were living in poverty -- three million more than
in 1979. For most Americans that was unsettling news, but
for a small group of publicly traded companies it represented
an opportunity.
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ENVIRONMENT
Arctic
Meltdown - [CBS] The year-round ice in the Arctic Sea
could be gone by the end of the century, say National Aeronautics
and Space Administration scientists.
Great
Smog is History, But Foul Air Still Kills - [Observer]
The Great Smog of London -- 50 years ago on 7 December --
remains the nation's worst single air pollution disaster.
It led to a major clean-up of city air quality, but scientists
warn that atmospheric pollution remains a widespread killer.
New
Pollution Rules Overpower California - [San Francisco
Chronicle] New air pollution regulations issued by the Bush
administration undermine an important tenet of national
environmental laws: the rights of states to adopt stricter
controls than the federal government, environmental lawyers
and California officials say.
Deal
Reduces Pressure on Fish Stocks - [BBC] As fishing communities
take stock of a 45% drop in catch quotas, fisheries expert
Alasdair McIntyre tells the BBC about why the action was
deemed necessary and the impact it may have.
Central
Asia: Biodiversity Under Increasing Threat - [Radio
Free Europe] Stretching from the Himalayas to the Russian
steppes, from the Caspian Sea to the highlands of Tibet,
Central Asia is a region of vast contrasts in landscape
and biological diversity. But observers warn that this diversity
is under increasing threat.
End
in Sight for Single Hull Oil Tankers - [ENS] No single-hull
oil tanker will be allowed to carry heavy fuel oil in the
European Union once the proposal presented by the European
Commission is adopted by the Council and Parliament. Heavy
grades of oil include heavy fuel oil, heavy crude oil, waste
oils, bitumen and tar.
UK's
Top Ten Wildlife Smuggling Channels Exposed - [WWF]
The first-ever list of the top ten illegal wildlife trade
channels into the UK has been exposed in a new WWF and TRAFFIC
report looking at global wildlife trafficking routes. Entry
points most used by smugglers include Heathrow, Manchester,
and Gatwick airports but surprisingly Waterloo International
Station also appears on the list.
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THE FUTURE
Everything
I Know (Buckminister Fuller) - [Buckminster Fuller Institute]
During the last two weeks of January 1975 Buckminster Fuller
gave an extraordinary series of lectures concerning his
entire life's work. Some of the topics Fuller covered in
this wide ranging discourse include: architecture, design,
philosophy, education, mathematics, geometry, cartography,
economics, history, structure, industry, housing and engineering
[transcripts and Real Video files].
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