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SCIENCE
Ink-Jet
Printing Creates Tubes of Living Tissue - [New Scientist]
Three-dimensional tubes of living tissue have been printed
using modified desktop printers filled with suspensions
of cells instead of ink. The work is a first step towards
printing complex tissues or even entire organs.
Language
Evolved in a Leap - [Nature] Language probably leapt,
not crept, from squeaks to Shakespeare, two physicists have
calculated. Human communication, they propose, underwent
a 'phase transition', like solid ice melting to liquid water.
RNA
Interference Lets Genes Turn On and Off - [IHT] Surprising
new discoveries are showing that cells contain an army of
RNA snippets that do much more than act as DNA's messenger.
The discoveries are helping to refine the prevailing theories
of genetics -- or even upend them.
A
Year Later, Cloned Cat Not a Purr-Fect Match - [USA
Today] Experts say environment is as important as genes
in determining a cat's personality. And as far as appearance,
having the same DNA as another calico cat doesn't always
produce the same coat pattern.
Liver
Converted to Pancreas - [Nature] UK researchers have
made tadpoles grow pancreas tissue from their liver cells,
and turned human liver cells into pancreas cells in the
lab.
Watching
Genes in Action - [BBC] Scientists have found a way
to study the shape and movement of individual molecules
of DNA, the genetic material that contains the building
blocks of life.
NASA
Chief Confirms Plans for Space Power - [MSNBC] NASA
Administrator Sean O'Keefe on Friday confirmed White House
support for the space agency to accelerate work on space
nuclear power and propulsion, as well as to grapple with
the challenges of extended long-duration human space flight
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TECHNOLOGY
CEO
Chambers Reaches Out to Russia - [Moscow Times] Under
the deal unveiled in Moscow, Aquarius will assemble servers
certified by Cisco, the world's top supplier of Internet
infrastructure, and packaged into Cisco's IP telephony solutions
sold to firms here.
Personal
Robots: Why They're Nearly Here - [ZDNet] Starting this
year, more and more of you will be welcoming truly utilitarian
robots into your homes, where they will vacuum the floors,
watch the premises, serve as "personal agents,"
and otherwise help you live your life more efficiently.
Robot
Chauffeurs Approaching Fast - [Melbourne Age] The halcyon
day of the robot chauffeur is approaching. With Australian
technologies already successfully tested in Queensland and
on roads near Versailles in France, you will eventually
be able to sit back in your car sipping a glass of wine,
reading, chatting on a mobile phone or watching TV and have
the vehicle drive you smoothly, safely and automatically
to your destination.
Nanotechnology,
Coming Soon - [IT-Analysis] Disk technology based on
a moving head that hovers over a spinning disk is reaching
its physical limits and if greater density of storage is
to be achieved then a different mechanism is required. Research
in nanotechnology has unearthed a mechanism that fits the
bill.
FBI
Skeptical on Internet Attack Source - [Washington Post]
Leading experts on Internet security are skeptical that
the FBI and other investigators will be able to track down
whoever was responsible for the worm attack on the Internet.
These experts, including many who provide technical advice
to the FBI and other U.S. agencies, said exhaustive reviews
of the blueprints for the attacking software are yielding
few clues to its origin or the author's identity.
Plug
Computer into Clothing - [NEWS.com] IT is almost beyond
the realms of imagination - a computer powered by being
plugged into an item of clothing. Scientists attending a
three-day conference at Wollongong University focusing on
the latest breakthroughs in intelligent polymers, believe
such a development is only a matter of time.
Dell
Removing Floppy Drives On Desktops - [Silicon Valley]
Floppy disk drives will soon be history at Dell Computer
Corp. The company plans to stop installing the drives on
high-end Dimension computers and offer them only as an option.
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BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
Shifting
Power - [Economist] A "tectonic shift of power"
is how Martin Lipton, a lawyer who has long advocated changes
in corporate governance, describes the two sets of reform
proposals currently under review by the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC).
New
Routes in the Internet Car Business - [CIO] Auto-industry
analyst Maryann Keller talks about consumers' reluctance
to buy cars online. How can auto makers exploit the Web
now?
Genomics
Revolution Costs Investors Billions - [Star Tribune]
As the National Human Genome Research Institute unveils
plans for putting the gene map to work helping humankind,
it will need to forgive investors for not sharing in all
the excitement. The genomics revolution has indeed led to
a few medical breakthroughs -- but it has cost investors
billions of dollars with few returns.
Tourist
Slump 'Costs 6 Million Jobs' - [BBC] The slump in the
global tourist industry has cost one in 12 of its employees
-- 6.6 million people -- their jobs over the past two years,
the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said.
Creating
a Culture of Ideas - [Technology Review] Nicholas Negroponte
says expertise is overrated. To build a nation of innovators,
we should focus on youth, diversity, and collaboration.
Chaos,
Inc. - [Red Herring] After 20 long years of incubation
by university labs and think tanks, complexity science --
a set of theories describing how complex adaptive systems
like stock markets, supply chains, and even rain forests
work -- is finally being put into practice.
Indian
Outsourcing Set to Grow - [ZDNet UK] The IT industry
in India is poised to expand massively by taking over major
parts of the infrastructure of global companies, according
to speakers at a London conference.
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SOCIETY AND POLITICS
Greenpeace
Break-in Highlights Terror Threat to Nuclear Plant -
[Times] Greenpeace broke into Sizewell B nuclear power station
to demonstrate how easy it would be for terrorists to do
the same.
Identity
Theft On the Rise - [Wired] The government received
twice as many complaints about identity theft last year
than in 2001, with victims reporting hijacked credit cards,
drained bank accounts and tarnished reputations.
Kids
as Bonded Slaves in Indian Silk Industry - [Navakal]
The Government of India stands accused of failing to protect
the rights of hundreds of thouands of children who toil
as virtual slaves in the countrys silk industry. The accusation
comes in a report from Human Rights Watch.
Silenced
voices: Zouhair Yahyaoui - [DFN] Unfortunately, the
exciting means of censorship-busting offered by the new
technologies, do not seem to afford any more protection
than dissidents had of old. Even if cyberdissidents use
pen names for their online activities, the governments whom
they attack have their own means of tracking them down.
So the Tunisian editor Zouhair Yahyaoui has found to his
cost.
Clonaid
Exec Ordered to Court - [CNN] The vice president of
Clonaid, which says it has now cloned three babies, was
ordered to appear in court after refusing to testify in
detail about the headline-grabbing claim many experts consider
to be a hoax.
Both
Parties Wary of Data Mining - [Wired] Congress wants
total information on the Pentagon's controversial Total
Information Awareness research project, the goal of which
is to develop a way to scour databases of American citizens'
purchases, travels and other activities to pinpoint potential
terrorist threats.
EU
Sea Patrols Target Illegal Immigrants - [BBC] Vessels
from five European Union nations have launched sea patrols
in an attempt to combat illegal immigration. The operation,
codenamed Ulysses, is aimed at stopping the gangs that bring
immigrants on dangerous sea voyages from Africa.
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ENVIRONMENT
Bush
Threat Seen to State Environment - [Sacramento Bee]
From the massive Klamath River salmon kill last year to
forest management in the Sierra Nevada, many California
leaders are beginning to suspect that the White House is
bent on spoiling the state's environment.
Officials
Want Single-Hull Oil Tankers Banned from Baltic Sea
- [Houston Chronicle] Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian government
officials have recommended banning single-hulled oil tankers
from the Baltic Sea and agreed to seek adoption of the ban
from neighboring coastal countries.
Climate
Records Show Global Warming Could Influence Asian Monsoon
- [Science Daily] Scientists have observed that the Asian
monsoon has been gaining strength during the past few centuries,
possibly due to rising global temperatures. The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change concluded in 1994 that global warming
could intensify the monsoon and increase monsoon variability.
Africa:
Countries Phase Out Leaded Gasoline - [ENS] African
countries are phasing out lead gasoline in increasing numbers
because of the hazards it poses to human health and the
environment. Around 90 percent of the world's petrol supplies
are now unleaded, but the 10 percent that is still leaded
is concentrated in developing countries, especially Africa.
Climate
Change Spells Disaster for African Agriculture - [All
Africa] In the next 50 years, the world's population is
expected to increase from six billion to nine billion. At
the same time the planet they must survive on is under pressure;
the number of people living in poverty is increasing, health
crises like HIV/Aids are worsening, forests are being depleted,
cultivable land is over-crowded. On top of such existing
problems, must be laid the irrefutable fact of climate change,
a factor likely to impact heavily on human survival.
U.S.
Could Block International Action on Mercury - [ENS]
The United States plans to attempt to thwart future talks
on mercury pollution at an international meeting, suggests
an internal document leaked to a mercury watchdog group.
The leaked paper provides talking points for U.S. negotiators
who will argue against international limits on mercury releases
or other mandatory measures aimed at reducing the risk of
mercury exposure.
Icecap
'Sensitive' to Greenhouse Gas - [STUFF] "Ominous"
new research on global warming has indicated that even the
Kyoto Protocol will not go far enough to avoid a climate
disaster.
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THE FUTURE
The Future
Needs Us! - [New York Review of Books] Michael Crichton's
Prey brings us an important message: that biotechnology
in the twenty-first century is as dangerous as nuclear technology
in the twentieth. A review by Freeman Dyson.
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