Is Gene Therapy Finally Ready for Prime Time?

3D4Medical.com / Getty Images

From Time Magazine:

At first it sounded like science fiction, curing genetic diseases by giving people new genes. Then it seemed like simple fiction: while theoretically possible, gene therapy appeared unlikely to become a true therapeutic option, the field having suffered years of complications and high-profile setbacks. But over the past year, a series of small but intriguing advances has suggested that the technique may hold real future potential.

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Robo-chefs And Fashion-Bots On Show In Tokyo

A 50cm high Samurai robot performs the Kurodabushi sword dance at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo Photo: AFP

From The Telegraph:

Forget the Transformers and Astroboy: Japan's latest robots don't save the world, they cook snacks, play with your kids, model clothes, and search for disaster victims.

The International Robot Exhibition kicked off this week, showing the latest whirring and buzzing inventions from 192 companies and 64 organizations from at home and abroad.

Many of the cutting-edge machines on show are eye-popping, but industrial robot "Motoman" also put on a mouth-watering performance, deftly flipping a Japanese savoury pancake called okonomiyaki on a sizzling hotplate.

"It is delicious. Please enjoy," said the human-size creation of Yaskawa Electric Corp. in a robotic voice.

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Scientists Take The First Step In Unlocking Origins Of Universe

The Cern computer system displays images generated of the
first collisions to take place in the Large Hadron Collider. CERN

From The Independent:

After 10 years – and £6bn – the first particles finally smash into each other in the Large Hadron Collider.

After embarrassing breakdowns caused by bread-dropping birds and hugely expensive repairs, the world's biggest science experiment – the Large Hadron Collider – has suddenly burst into life and smashed together proton beams for the first time.

Scientists operating the giant £6 billion machine at Cern, the nuclear research body near Geneva, said yesterday that they had finally succeeded in making low energy proton collisions, which could eventually provide clues about the first Big Bang and the origins of the universe.

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Networked Surveillance Minicopters Can't Be Kept Down

From New Scientist:

The helicopter in this video may weigh only 30 grams, but it carries a compass and motion sensors, can change course and warn fellow craft of obstacles it bumps into, and could even carry a small camera. It can also resist what might be called a King Kong attack – if swatted out of the air the tiny craft soon recovers and takes off again.

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Did The NSA Helped With Windows 7 Development?

From Computer World:

Privacy expert voices 'backdoor' concerns, security researchers dismiss idea.

Computerworld - The National Security Agency (NSA) worked with Microsoft on the development of Windows 7, an agency official acknowledged yesterday during testimony before Congress.

"Working in partnership with Microsoft and elements of the Department of Defense, NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide without constraining the user to perform their everyday tasks, whether those tasks are being performed in the public or private sector," Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, told the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security yesterday as part of a prepared statement.

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More News On The NSA And Windows 7 Development

Windows 7 security courtesy of the NSA -- Biz-Tech
Microsoft Denies NSA Backdoor In Win7 -- Ubergizmo
Microsoft denies NSA backdoor in Windows 7 -- Tech Radar
MS denies Win 7 backdoor rumours -- The Register
National Security Agency beefed Win 7 defenses -- The Register

My Comment: The security experts can deny all that they want that such work was not done .... but we do have an NSA official saying under oath in front of Congress that the NSA did assist in Windows 7 development.

Building Real Security With Virtual Worlds

Advances in computerized modeling and prediction of group behavior, together with improvements in video game graphics, are making possible virtual worlds in which defense analysts can explore and predict results of many different possible military and policy actions, say computer science researchers. (Credit: iStockphoto/Simon Askham)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 27, 2009) — Advances in computerized modeling and prediction of group behavior, together with improvements in video game graphics, are making possible virtual worlds in which defense analysts can explore and predict results of many different possible military and policy actions, say computer science researchers at the University of Maryland in a commentary published in the November 27 issue of the journal Science.

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Sight Tests Reveal Advantage Of Hammerheads' Extraordinary Heads

A scalloped hammerhead shark, one of the species given sight tests.
Photograph: Stephen Frink/Corbis

From The Guardian:

The wing-like heads of hammerhead sharks with their widely spaced eyes give the creatures excellent binocular vision.

The bizarre appearance of hammerhead sharks has led generations of marine biologists to ponder the same question: why the wide face?

Part of the answer may now be at hand. Eye tests on species caught off the coasts of Florida and Hawaii show that the wider the head the better the shark's binocular vision, and hence its perception of distance.

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A Wild Ride On NASA's Massive Flight Simulator

NASA Ames' Vertical Motion Simulator, the largest-such simulator in the world, has been used since 1980 to help train pilots to fly helicopters, fighters, and space shuttles. Now, it is being used for training on the next-generation lunar lander. (Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

From CNET News:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--There I was, staking my claim to a pilot's slot in one of NASA's next-generation lunar landers, and to be perfectly frank, I think I'd better not quit my day job.

"I think we probably walked away from that," said NASA aerospace engineer Eric Mueller, after one rough touchdown. It was an overly charitable assessment of my performance. I'd hate to know what he was really thinking.

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Congress Launches Climategate Investigation

From The New American:

Climategate scientists are under congressional investigation in the wake of information gleaned from e-mails pirated from a global-warming research center in England.

The e-mails revealed evidence that scientists with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been manipulating data to prove their theories of anthropogenic (man-made) global warming (AGW). Senator James Inhofe (R – Okla.) announced on November 24 that he will launch an investigation into the matter, sending letters to the scientists involved and to federal agencies warning them to "retain [related] documents."

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Airbus A380 Completes First Commercial Europe-U.S. Flight

Air France Airbus A380 Completes First Transatlantic Flight from Matt Molnar on Vimeo.

From Popular Mechanics:

Air France on Friday became the first European airline to operate the double-decker Airbus A380 in commercial service, completing its inaugural flight from Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

While Air France is actually the third carrier to operate the world’s largest commercial aircraft on U.S. routes—following Emirates and Qantas—this flight marks perhaps the most politically significant milestone the A380 program has achieved so far, connecting the country where Airbus assembles the aircraft to the home of the manufacturer’s archrival, Boeing.

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Have The Climate Wars Of Africa Begun?

Image from Kenya Environmental & Political News Weblog

Kenyans Draw Weapons Over Shrinking Resources -- L.A. Times

Experts fear the conflicts involving cattle, water and land may be just the beginning of climate-driven violence in Africa. At least 400 people have died in northern Kenya this year, the U.N. says.

Reporting from Isiolo, Kenya - Have the climate wars of Africa begun?

Tales of conflict emerging from this remote, arid region of Kenya have disturbing echoes of the lethal building blocks that turned Darfur into a killing ground in western Sudan.

Tribes that lived side by side for decades say they've been pushed to warfare by competition for disappearing water and pasture. The government is accused of exacerbating tensions by taking sides and arming combatants who once used spears and arrows.

The aim, all sides say, is no longer just to steal land or cattle, but to drive the enemy away forever.

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Herschel Telescope 'Fingerprints' Colossal Star

From The BBC:

The death throes of the biggest star known to science have been observed by Europe's new space telescope, Herschel.

The observatory, launched in May, has subjected VY Canis Majoris, to a detailed spectroscopic analysis.

It has allowed Herschel to identify the different types of molecules and atoms that swirl away from the star which is 30-40 times as massive as our Sun.

VY Canis Majoris is some 4,500 light-years from Earth and could explode as a supernova at any time.

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3-D Renderings Bring Ancient Hominids to Life

From Wired Science:

For decades, paleoartists have told the story of human evolution through sculpture and drawing. Now their tools have evolved, too.

Computers allow a level of detail and control that isn’t possible with other media. Their creations can come closer than ever to bringing our ancestors to life.

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50 Practical Tips To Save You Half A Lifetime

From Times Online:

When I was 16 I didn’t want agony-aunt advice on sex and love, but real advice on spots and shaving – like this . . .

Dear Sir. Dear Madam. Dear me.

As a lamentation rather than a greeting, “dear me” occurred as I flicked through a clever book (proceeds to the Elton John Aids Foundation) recommended by my colleague Libby Purves. “Dear Me — a letter to my sixteen-year-old self” is an anthology of letters to themselves from a range of famous people. Some are moving, some self-pitying, some funny, many patronising, and a few verbose. All are intriguing.

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Mass Extinction: Why Did Half Of N. America's Large Mammals Disappear 40,000 To 10,000 Years Ago?

Artist's rendering of a woolly mammoth family. (Credit: iStockphoto/KIM FREITAS)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 27, 2009) — Years of scientific debate over the extinction of ancient species in North America have yielded many theories. However, new findings from J. Tyler Faith, GW Ph.D. candidate in the hominid paleobiology doctoral program, and Todd Surovell, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, reveal that a mass extinction occurred in a geological instant.

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Diabetes Cases to Double in 25 Years

From Live Science:

If Americans don't eat better and exercise more, diabetes cases will double by 2034 and costs to care for the patients will triple, according to a new report that paints a bleak picture of the future.

With diabetes, the body fails to metabolize glucose, or blood sugar. Diabetes is the leading cause of amputations, blindness, and end-stage kidney disease.

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The Science And Magic Of Breadmaking

Use your loaf: Making bread was surely one of humankind's first chemistry experiments.
Graham Turner/Guardian

From The Guardian:

As winter sets in, warm your senses by baking your own fresh bread. Andy Connelly guides you through the magical process that turns flour and water into heavenly food.

When I think of bread my mind goes back to cold Saturday mornings with ice on the inside of the patio doors and cartoons blazing on the television. My dad would get up early and, after eating his porridge, would begin to make bread.

He would mix all the ingredients in a large ceramic bowl that was crystal-white on the inside and biscuit-brown on the outside. I would watch as the flour became dough and the dough grew and grew in the warm kitchen. I would linger near the oven to smell the earthy fresh bread as it baked, waiting for the treat of eating the crusty end slice of the loaf with a thick slab of butter.

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Trend Watch 2010: Mobile Movies

From CNET:

As we move toward 2010, there is little question that mobile devices and smartphones will continue to have a huge impact on the market. Research firm Nielsen predicts that smartphones will dominate market share by the end of 2011, with the iPhone and Android-based phones taking the lead spots by a wide margin over traditional cell phones.

As devices mature, Wi-Fi connections become more ubiquitous, and 3G networks become more reliable, consumers will start looking for new ways to use their smartphones as replacements for other larger devices, such as PCs and TVs. One area that has been called out for growth is mobile video and TV, as well as streaming movies directly to a mobile device.

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Space Shuttle Atlantis Returns To Earth

From Reuters:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Space shuttle Atlantis touched down at its Florida home port on Friday, wrapping up an 11-day mission to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, one of NASA's final supply runs before the shuttle fleet is retired next year.

Gliding through clear, blue skies, commander Charles Hobaugh circled Atlantis high over the Kennedy Space Center to burn off speed, then nosed the 100-ton space plane toward a 3-mile (4.8-km) concrete runway framed by palm trees and marshlands.

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2011 Ferrari 458 Italia Supercar Test Drive

From Popular Mechanics:

MARANELLO, Italy—Ferarri's new lust-worthy 562-hp supercar hits 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. It's indisputably attractive, but it is also derivative, as though it had been concocted from the best parts of previous great Ferrari designs. Let's see what it can do on real roads.

The Specs:

Ferrari's early cars were dominated by V12 engines. But the Italian sports car maker inherited its first V8 from Lancia in 1955, and its mid-engined V8 sport coupes have been the backbone of the company's model range for the last 35 years. Strictly speaking, the first road-going production-V8 Ferrari was the wedge-shaped, Bertone-designed Dino GT4 of 1973. The most recognizable was of course the Pininfarina-designed 308 launched at the 1975 Paris Motor Salon—a car that starred quite prominently in the hit TV series Magnum PI.

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