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SCIENCE
Millions
in U.S. Face Mega-Wave from Island Collapse - [Reuters]
The bad news is tens of millions of people along the eastern
seaboard of the United States and Canada may drown if the
slow slippage of a volcano off north Africa becomes a cataclysmic
collapse. But the good news is the world is not likely to
be destroyed by an asteroid any time soon.
Subconscious
May Bias Sex of Babies - [Nature] Mothers who think
they have longer to live are more likely to give birth to
boys than girls, a survey of British women shows. The finding
backs up the long-held theory that women may unwittingly
be able to influence the sex of their unborn child.
Salmon
Give Birth to Trout - [Nature] Japanese researchers
have pioneered a breeding technique that allows salmon to
father baby trout. The method could potentially revolutionize
fish-farming and even resurrect extinct species, they claim.
Bush-Meat
Trade Breeds New HIV - [New Scientist] People in Cameroon
are showing up with symptoms of HIV, but are testing negative
for both the virus and its primate equivalent SIV, the virus
from which HIV is thought to have evolved. That suggests
that new strains of an HIV-like virus are circulating in
wild animals and infecting people who eat them, sparking
fears that such strains could fuel an already disastrous
global HIV pandemic.
Downloading
the Sky - [IEEE Spectrum] Astronomers and computer scientists
are building the world's best telescope -- and it's all
online.
Brazil
Maps Coffee Genome to Create 'Super Beans' - [Reuters]
Brazil has created the world's first DNA map of the coffee
plant to cut production costs and create beans that cater
to the rich tastes of U.S. and European consumers, the country's
government said.
Virtual-Reality
Therapy - [Scientific American] Patients can get relief
from pain or overcome their phobias by immersing themselves
in computer-generated worlds.
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TECHNOLOGY
Animated
Face Helps Deaf with Phone Chat - [New Scientist] Software
that creates an animated face to match someone talking on
the other end of a phone line can help people with hearing
difficulties converse, suggests a new study.
Ohio
to Track Prisoners with Radio Tags - [ZDNet] One state
prison system reckons it's cracked how to keep track of
all of its 44,000 inmates: radio frequency identification
technology, or RFID.
Forget
the Bloggers, it's the Vloggers Showing the Way on the Internet
- [The Guardian] One step up from the now familiar internet
blogger, vloggers upload personal video clips of everything
from the US Democratic convention to what they had for their
tea, via rants about tax rises and conspiracy theories.
Has
Cell Phone Blogging Found its Place? - [C|NET] Cell
phone software makers are putting a new twist on Web logs
by tapping into geotracking features in handsets. However,
the location-based mobile social networks -- or "LoMoSos"
-- are expensive to use so far, and wireless carriers have
been slow to adopt them.
Chip
Shot: Using RFID to Find Stray Balls - [SiliconValley.com]
Radar Golf helps players find balls embedded with radio
frequency identification chips. RFID chips emit a radio
signal that can be tracked with a scanner.
Myths
and Realities of Nano Futures - [BBC] Ever since John
Dalton convinced the world of the existence of atoms in
1803, scientists have wanted to do things with them. Nanotechnology
takes that ability on to a new plane and opens up all kinds
of futuristic imaginings.
Quantum
Computing, Secure Communication Closer - [Nature] Quantum
computing, which holds the promise of nearly unlimited processing
power, secure communications and the ability to decode encrypted
conversations by terrorists and others, is a significant
step closer to becoming a reality with new research published
by a team of UCLA scientists in the journal Nature.
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BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
New
Face of E-Commerce - [Internet Week] Amazon and eBay,
in turning themselves into software-development hubs, are
once again expanding the possibilities -- and increasing
the pressure -- for any company that wants to be a center
of E-commerce. -- thanks to Tim Warner for this item
Navigating
a Patent Minefield - [Wired] Researchers in Iowa have
come up with a plan to get critical genetic tests to patients
at risk for rare but devastating eye diseases. It's working
now, but they worry their plan could be a legal time bomb.
Funding
Lets Nanostring Pursue Molecular "Bar-Code" Reader
- [Seattle Times] Nanostring Technologies has the raw ingredients
of a startup with potential: An invention with potentially
broad uses. Young protégés of biotech icon
Leroy Hood. Brand-name investors. A proven CEO.
Tough
Talk on Offshoring - [ZDNet] As someone whose job it
is to traffic in raw numbers and statistics, John McCarthy
doesn't fit the profile of a media celebrity. All that changed
after he published a controversial report on the number
of U.S. service jobs expected to move overseas.
Net
Phone Customers Brace for 'VoIP Spam' - [ZDNet] If you're
sick of spam, imagine wading through dozens of prerecorded
porn and Viagra messages on your voice mail.
Offshoring,
Import Competition, and the Jobless Recovery - [Brookings
Institution] Until the end of 2003, the United States had
been experiencing a "jobless" recovery, with employment
stagnating at levels well below those in 2000. A widespread
perception has arisen that a major culprit behind the dearth
of jobs was the growing practice of U.S. firms to relocate
part of their domestic operations to lower-wage countries
abroad. "Offshoring" presumably caused a reduction
in U.S. output and a corresponding loss of jobs.
Blockbuster
Rentals Going Online - [Dallas Business Journal] Dallas-based
video giant Blockbuster Inc. is taking its movie rental
business online, with a new Internet service that lets customers
rent unlimited DVDs by mail, three movies at a time, for
$19.99 a month.
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SOCIETY
Punk
at a Moment's Notice - [Wired] Organizing using the
Web, cell phones and instant messaging, upstart guitar bands
are staging secret, spontaneous concerts at unconventional
venues in the latest online music craze, dubbed "guerrilla
gigging."
Transparency
Begets Trust in the Ever-Expanding Blogosphere - [Online
Journalism Review] The openness of Weblogs could help explain
why many readers find them more credible than traditional
media. Can mainstream journalists learn from their cutting-edge
cousins?
African
Corruption is a Crime Against Humanity - [Christian
Science Monitor] As long as corruption exists at its current
levels in Africa, and as long as donors continue to look
the other way, foreign aid will simply serve to keep African
kleptocrats in power.
High-Tech
Hope - [ABC News] As the nation's 76 million baby boomers
march toward retirement — the first boomers turn 65
in 2011 — many are beginning to cast sidelong glances
at what's come to be known as the life-extension movement.
Indictments
Using DNA On the Rise in the United States - [cnews]
Authorities once had no choice but to drop rape cases if
they weren't able to catch a suspect before the statute
of limitations expired. But prosecutors across the country
increasingly are buying themselves time, keeping cold cases
alive by indicting unidentified rapists using their DNA
profiles.
The
Unruly Power Grid - [IEEE Spectrum] In the mid-1990s
-- well before FirstEnergy in Akron, Ohio, got sloppy with
its tree-trimming and monitoring systems last summer --
mathematicians, engineers, and physicists set out to explain
the statistical overabundance of big blackouts. Two distinct
models emerged, based on two general theories of systems
failure.
We're
All Journalists Now - [Wired] In his new book, We
the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the
People, Gillmor chronicles the social and economic impact
of weblogs, wikis, mobile technology and other networked
phenomena on the business of news.
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GLOBAL POLITICS
White
Paper: China's Space Activities - [Space Daily] China
has made eye-catching achievements, and now ranks among
the world's most advanced countries in some important fields
of space technology.
Law
of the Sea Convention: Should the U.S. Join? - [Brookings
Institution] The United States has vital interests in the
oceans. U.S. national security depends on naval mobility.
U.S. prosperity depends on underwater energy resources.
Ocean fisheries help feed the United States and much of
the world.
The
Inevitability of Chinese Democracy - [Project Syndicate]
Fifteen years ago, Fang Hongin was protesting in Tienanmen
Square. A few years ago, in Beijing, he ran one of China's
most popular TV shows, each week testing the limits of the
authorities' indulgence. Today, he runs Dragon TV, Shanghai's
leading station, and advertisements featuring him hang from
the city's skyscrapers.
After
Babel, a New Common Tongue - [Economist] The region's
new language of choice for the 21st century is percolating
upwards through the education system, and downwards from
the business and political elite. It will be English, studied
by three out of four secondary-school pupils from the Baltic
to the Balkans.
NATO
Begins Iraq Training Mission - [The Australian] NATO
has launched its training mission for Iraqi forces, sending
a small advanced group of officers to the country to consult
with authorities there and to prepare logistics.
Renewed
Calls for European Oil Reserve - [EU Observer] The EU
energy commissioner has renewed her calls for a European
oil reserve following record high prices for crude. In a
statement Loyola de Palacio called for "a concerted
European approach to the issue of security of energy supplies".
Virtual
Terror States - [ABC News] Al Qaeda is a virtual nation,
and there could be more to come.
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ENVIRONMENT
Retreating
Glaciers Spur Alaskan Earthquakes - [Spaceflight Now]
In a new study, NASA and United States Geological Survey
(USGS) scientists found that retreating glaciers in southern
Alaska may be opening the way for future earthquakes.
Prozac
'Found in Drinking Water' - [BBC] Traces of the antidepressant
Prozac can be found in the nation's drinking water, it has
been revealed. An Environment Agency report suggests so
many people are taking the drug nowadays it is building
up in rivers and groundwater.
Why
the West Is Burning - [Time] A five-year drought has
parched soils, lowered reservoirs and weakened forests.
And if the past is any guide, the dry spell could go on
for decades.
Traces
of Fire Retardant Found in Salmon - [ABC] Traces of
industrial-strength fire retardant have turned up in wild
and farm-raised salmon around the world, a study said.
Trade
Agreement May Weaken Quarantine - [ABC] The Australia-United
States Free Trade Agreement (FTA) could bring more pressure
on Australia to reduce quarantine standards and allow US
imports of unlabelled genetically modified food, say experts
in environmental law and international relations.
Pollutants
From Asia Appear on America's East Coast - [NewsMax]
Scientists looking into air quality and climate change have
found pollutants from as far as Asia over New England and
the Atlantic. It is the first time Asian pollution plumes
have been observed over the East Coast and suggests that
American air quality could be threatened as Asian countries
become more industrialized.
US
States Sue Over Global Warming - [New Scientist] Eight
US states and New York City filed a lawsuit against five
US power companies for their contribution to global warming,
in a historic action.
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THE FUTURE
Is
Science Fiction About to Go Blind?
- [Popular Science] Awed at the pace of technological advances,
a faction of geeky writers believes our world is about to
change so radically that envisioning what comes next is
nearly impossible.
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