|
SCIENCE
Fossils
Back Up Theory on Dinosaurs’ Doom - [MSNBC] Fossil
plankton dating from 65 million years ago helps confirm
the theory that a dark winter lasting many thousands of
years doomed the dinosaurs, researchers said.
Adding
a Chromosome May Treat Disease - [New Scientist] Genetic
diseases might one day be treated by adding an entirely
new chromosome to people's cells. A Canadian company has
shown the approach could be a feasible method of gene therapy.
Genghis
Khan DNA Test Attracts Hordes of Takers - [MSNBC] A
London restaurant is offering diners the chance to learn
whether they are descended from the rampaging Mongol ruler
Genghis Khan -- and win a free meal if they are.
Cows
Immune to BSE Near Reality - [New Scientist] A major
advance towards producing prion-free cows that would be
immune to mad cow disease has been made by researchers at
companies in the US and Japan.
Super-Fit
Bird Flu Evolved in China - [New Scientist] The bird
flu that ravaged east Asian birds earlier in 2004, and killed
23 people, is a super-fit mutant that evolved in southern
China, reveal scientists. It emerged in ducks and chickens
over the past two years, they say.
Frequent
Tanners May Be Lured By The 'Feel-Good' Effects Of UV Light
- [Science Daily] Frequent tanning bed users may be getting
more out of the experience than darker skin. Researchers
at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center say exposure
to ultraviolet light may produce a "relaxing"
effect that lures tanners back to the beds.
Bringing
Back the Tiger - [ABC News] The Tasmanian Tiger, which
wasn't really a tiger, is being asked to answer questions
of staggering implications. Is it possible to bring extinct
species back to life through cloning? And if we can, should
we?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TECHNOLOGY
Net
Pioneer Predicts Web Future - [BBC] The net is only
in the Bronze Age of evolution, according to the pioneer
who invented the Domain Name System (DNS).
Sprint
Claims 'World Speed Record' for Internet - [ABC News]
US telecom group Sprint and a Swedish partner say they have
set a new world speed record of data transport over the
Internet of 4.23 gigabits per second.
Could
Laptops Run on Spinach? - [Nature] Spinach power is
not just for Popeye, it could work for computers too. US
researchers have made electrical cells that are powered
by plant proteins.
Fast
Cars Could be Tuned by Evolution - [New Scientist] Peter
Bentley and Krzysztof Wloch have used genetic algorithms
software that mimics evolution's drive for fitness to breed
the best tuning configurations for racing cars.
New
Phones Could Replace Wallets - [MSNBC] NTT DoCoMo Inc,
Japan's largest mobile phone operator, wants people to do
more with their phones than just talk or play games. It
wants them to do their shopping. The company unveiled a
line of four mobile phones that can be used as an electronic
wallet at 9,000 locations including McDonald's Holdings
Co Ltd restaurants, hotels, convenience stores and department
stores.
Evolution
Could Speed Net Downloads - [New Scientist] Internet
download speeds could be improved dramatically by mimicking
Darwin's evolution to "breed" the best networking
strategies, say computer scientists.
Spokane
Gets 100 Blocks Internet Wireless - [SiliconValley.com]
With the flip of a symbolic switch, 100 blocks of downtown
Spokane got wireless access to the Internet.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Kodak's
New Image: Century-Old Firm Develops Nano Strategy -
[Small Times] By 2006, the company expects revenues from
digital initiatives to outpace those derived from traditional
film products. Various forms of small tech are among the
lynchpins Kodak will use to shift itself over to the digital
age.
Tech
Alliance on 'Digital Living' to Be Unveiled - [Reuters]
A group of 145 global electronics companies plans to announce
an alliance to support the development of computers, home
electronics and mobile devices that share digital content
with one another.
NASA
Plans Cash Prizes in Wake of SpaceShipOne Success
- [Space.com] In the wake of SpaceShipOne's historic suborbital
flight, NASA officials reiterated the federally funded space
agency's recently announced plans to offer awards for commercial
spaceflight milestones.
Coke
Sneaks Phones, GPS Chips into Cans - [USA Today] About
120 Coke cans are being covertly converted into a combination
global positioning satellite receiver and cell phone. The
lucky cola drinkers who find the high-tech cans can claim
the grand prizes -- but won't know when or where they'll
arrive. --thanks to Tim Warner for this item.
McDonald's
Testing Self-Service Kiosks - [The Boston Channel] The
company is testing self-service kiosks around the country
where customers can use a push-button system to place their
own orders, a move that could eventually become standard
at many of its restaurants, an executive told Reuters.
How
to Slay America's Monster Trade Gap? - [The Economist]
America’s trade gap is growing again. Worse, it may
be extremely hard to close it without causing much economic
pain -- and not just for Americans.
Managerial
Correctness - [The Conference Board] MBA programs, says
Henry Mintzberg, are producing not managers but functionaries.
That doesn't bode well for either business or society.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SOCIETY
Effort
to Save UK's Web Heritage - [BBC] Millions of web pages
covering all aspects of life in the UK are to be archived
in a trial project led by the British Library.
Smoking
Wipes 10 Years Off a Life - [New Scientist] Smoking
wipes 10 years off a person's life on average, according
to the longest ever study of smokers, but giving up at any
age brings huge benefits.
RFID
'Will Hit Four Million Jobs' - [Silicon.com] First it
was offshoring, now it's RFID. According to the analysts,
the tiny tracking chips are the next threat to jobs. Four
million of them, says The Yankee Group, in the US alone.
African
Poverty the Greatest World Challenge - [scotsman.com]
Preventing sub-Saharan African countries from getting even
poorer -- and helping them grow richer -- is the most pressing
development challenge the world faces, a UN agency said.
Aids
Defeating World's Best Efforts as Record Numbers are Infected
- [The Guardian] The lethal spread of the HIV/Aids pandemic
across the globe is speeding up, in spite of intensifying
efforts on the part of UN agencies, the US, Britain and
other European governments to turn the tide. A record five
million people were infected by the virus last year and
nearly three million died.
The
Developing World Needs Insurance - [International Herald
Tribune] Over 60 percent of assets in the developed world
are insured; in developing countries less than 2 percent
of assets are insured. Uninsured asset loss traps entire
populations in a vicious cycle of deepening, long-term destitution.
High-Tech
Messages from the Grave - [New Scientist] Inventors
usually try to come up with things that will change people's
lives. But Robert Barrows is hoping to make an impact after
their death. He is patenting video-equipped tombstones to
let cemetery visitors watch messages from the dead.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITICS
China
May Become No. 1 Nuclear Producer by 2050, Standard Says
- [Bloomberg] China may become the world's biggest nuclear
energy producer by 2050 as the government tries to generate
enough electricity to sustain economic growth.
India
will be Largest Economy by 2050 - [Sify] India would
emerge as the world's largest economy by 2050, Associate
Editor of London-based leading daily Financial Times, Martin
Wolf, has predicted.
Fossil
Fuel Subsidies 'Must End' - [BBC] The only way to meet
international poverty targets is by a massive switch to
renewable energy, such as solar power, a UK think-tank says.
A
Global Power Shift in the Making - [Foreign Affairs]
Global power shifts happen rarely and are even less often
peaceful. Washington must take heed: Asia is rising fast,
with its growing economic power translating into political
and military strength. The West must adapt -- or be left
behind.
Back
to the Future: New US-Russia Arms Race - [Christian
Science Monitor] When the US earmarked billions of dollars
for a new national missile defense and broke ground in Alaska,
Washington emphasized that it would be "no threat to
Russia." Then, with the inevitability of a cold-war
counterpunch, President Vladimir Putin saw fit to reassure
Russians that America's shield could be defeated, with a
silver bullet successfully tested in February.
U.S.
Aid For 'Dirty Bomb' Prevention - [CBS] The United States
announced it would help developing countries track down
loose radioactive materials on their soil, the kind of step
the chief U.N. nuclear watchdog said was "urgently
needed" to foil terrorists bent on building "dirty
bombs."
China
Sets Out Moon Goals - [BBC] China aims to send a spacecraft
to the Moon in three years' time, the head of the country's
space agency, Sun Laiyan, has confirmed to the BBC.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENT
Australia's
Famous Koalas Face Extinction, Environmentalists Say
- [VOA] Environmentalists are warning that Koalas could
face extinction, as rapid urbanization destroys their fragile
habitat.
China,
Canals & Coal - [EcoWorld] If you define the nations
of the "Global North" as all nations where the
average GNP per capita is over $15,000 US, you would have
found, in the late nineties, 26 countries numbering 781
million persons. These wealthier nations comprised 14% of
the world's population and they consumed over half of the
world's total energy production and about one-quarter of
the world's water withdrawals. What if China, which alone
numbers 1.2 billion citizens, were to join the 781 million
people in the Global North?
What's
Happening to Arctic Ice? - [Environment Canada] Sea
ice in Canada's Arctic and sub-Arctic regions has been melting
rapidly over the past three decades, causing concerns that
climate change is speeding this fragile region toward an
uncertain future. If thinning continues at its current rate,
by 2050 the Arctic Ocean could be completely ice-free in
summer.
Aviation
Growth 'Risk to Planet' - [BBC] The rise in demand for
air travel is one of the most serious environmental threats
facing the world, a study says.
Farmers
Eager to Cash in on Wind - [Forbes] Mixed in with the
sound of meadowlarks, tractors and the hum of the wind on
Colorado's southeastern plains is a low, steady beat: "whoop,
whoop, whoop." It comes from
a line of towering turbines that are producing electricity
used across Colorado.
Project
Successful In Burying Greenhouse Gas - [Science Daily]
A new approach that is one of the first to successfully
store carbon dioxide underground may have huge implications
for global warming and the oil industry, says a University
of Alberta researcher.
Rice
Yields Plunging Due to Balmy Nights - [New Scientist]
Rice yields are crashing as a result of global warming at
twice the rate predicted by climate modellers, according
to the first “real world” experiment on the impact
of rising temperatures.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FUTURE
Daniel
Yergin : U.S. Energy Supply at "Critical Juncture"
- [Petroleum World] A global “energy demand shock”
-- compounded by extremely tight world oil supplies, constraints
on U.S. natural gas production, and geopolitical turmoil
-- is now putting the United States at a “critical
juncture” in its energy position, where concerted actions
by industry, energy users and policymakers are required
to ensure energy security and environmentally sound economic
growth.
|
