Migrating Insects Fly In The Fast Lane

A new study sheds light on the flight behaviours that enable insects to undertake long-distance migrations, and highlights the remarkable abilities of these insect migrants. (Credit: iStockphoto/Karel Gallas)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 8, 2010) — A study published in Science, by researchers at Rothamsted Research (an institute of the BBSRC), the Met Office, the Natural Resources Institute, and the Universities of Exeter, Greenwich and York, sheds new light on the flight behaviours that enable insects to undertake long-distance migrations, and highlights the remarkable abilities of these insect migrants.

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Beer May Be Good For Your Bones

From Live Science:

If you downed one too many while watching the Super Bowl, here's at least one reason to hold your head high: Drinking beer can be good for your health.

But seriously, a new analysis of 100 commercial beers shows the hoppy beverage is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for bone health.

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China Heralds Bust of Major Hacker Ring

People use computers at an internet cafe in Wuhan, Hubei province, January 23, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer

From Wall Street Journal:

SHANGHAI—China heralded a major bust of computer hackers to underscore its pledge to help enhance global online security, with state media saying officials had shut what they called the country's largest distributor of tools used in malicious Internet attacks.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of making hacking tools available online, the state-run Xinhua news agency said on Monday. Their business, known as Black Hawk Safety Net, operated through the now-shuttered Web site 3800cc.com and generated around $1 million in income from its over 12,000 subscribers, the report said.

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Google Making Gmail Into A Communications Hub

From Epicenter:

Gmail users will soon have more ways to keep up with their friends via a widget that shows quick status updates like Facebook and Twitter do, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The move would further turn Gmail, which revolutionized online e-mail, into a comprehensive communications hub. The intent is to keep people’s attention centered on Google, by making Gmail, not Facebook, people’s first stop online — and their default place to send and receive messages. Gmail users can already chat via Jabber or AIM, make video calls, and send SMS messages from Gmail’s web interface.

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Soft Drink Consumption May Increase Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer

Researchers found that there was a correlation between drinking sugary drinks and pancreatic cancer Photo: CORBIS

From The Telegraph:

Drinking two or more soft drinks a week can double the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, a new study claims.

Researchers found that there was a correlation between drinking sugary drinks and the cancer which affects around 7,000 people in the UK every year.

They believe that the high sugar content increases the amount of insulin the pancreas produces which could be why they are more prone to cancer.

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Will The Next Cold War Be In Cyberspace -- A Commentary

Two Futures Of The Internet: Next Cold War Or Up In The Clouds -- The Guardian

Will the future be cyber-attacks and an uneasy balance of terror or cultural collaboration hosted by Google's servers?

"THE FUTURE", WROTE the novelist William Gibson in a justifiably famous aphorism, "is already here: it's just not evenly distributed".

The challenge is to spot those uneven­ly distributed peeks into our future. The Apple iPad launch provoked a storm of peeking: optimists saw it as a sign that the computer industry had finally got the message that most people can't be bothered with the mysteries of operating systems and software updates and want an information appliance that "just works"; pessimists saw it as a glimpse into an authoritarian world dominated either by governments or a few powerful companies; sceptics saw it as just another product launch.

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Why Thinking Too Much Can Damage Your Performance In Sports

Photo: Handicap: A study of golfers found that the better players used less brainpower

From The Daily Mail:

If you're struggling to improve your golf swing or strengthen your backhand, it may be that you are giving it too much thought.

A study shows that the masters of sport use less grey matter when in action than novices.

A group of good golfers were shown pictures of potential shots and asked how they would play them, undergoing brain scans as they responded. The process was repeated with poorer players.

With the better players, very little of the brain was lit up except for the areas that deal with choices and consequences.

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England's Dark Sites On Public View

RAF Menwith Hill, North Yorkshire
(Image: Kippa Matthews/Rex Features)

From New Scientist:

A British art group took New Scientist on a magical mystery tour of southern England's most secret government sites – from the locations of past military experiments to the birthplace of the forerunner of the computers we use today.

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The Superbowl “Green Police” Commercial

From Watts Up With That?

My story today on changing out my incandescent recessed lighting for high efficiency LED units couldn’t have come too soon. I don’t have to worry now.

This video below is one of the most talked about Superbowl commercials today. You have to watch it more than once to catch all the visual gags in it.

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For The First Time, Researchers Find Longevity Gene That Helps Determine Lifespan

Biological Aging Telomeres (stained yellow) protect the
ends of chromosomes (stained blue). UCLA

From Popular Science:

Humanity's search for the secrets to immortality has inspired Ray Kurzweil's Singularity vision and DARPA's hunt for ageless synthetic beings. Now scientists have discovered a single gene that appears to control how quickly individuals will biologically age, The Telegraph reports. The discovery could not only encourage people to adopt healthier lifestyles earlier, but may eventually help people live longer if scientists can figure out how to manipulate the gene.

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Acid Syringe 'Could Spell An End To Dentist's Drill'

From The Daily Mail:

It's the main reason so many of us feel such trepidation when faced with a trip to the dentist.

But the dreaded drill could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new technique in which teeth are treated with acid gel squirted from a syringe.

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Cells Send Dirty Laundry Home to Mom

Bright green protein aggregates are transported from the young daughter cell into the larger mother cell using conveyor-like structures called actin cables. (Credit: University of Gothenburg)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Feb. 8, 2010) — Understanding how aged and damaged mother cells manage to form new and undamaged daughter cells is one of the toughest riddles of ageing, but scientists now know how yeast cells do it. In a groundbreaking study researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, show how the daughter cell uses a mechanical "conveyor belt" to dump damaged proteins in the mother cell.

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Snowpocalypse Seen From Space

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite captured this true-color image on February 7, 2010, showing part of the region affected by heavy snowfall. Snow blankets the area hundreds of kilometers inland from the Atlantic coastline. Along the latitude of New York City, however, snow cover thins considerably. Credit: NASA

From Live Science:

The results of the weekend storm that buried many Eastern U.S. locations in 2 feet or more of snow stands out starkly in a new satellite image.

The image from space reveals how the storm swept through Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia but largely spared New York City. The landscape is largely snow-free just north of Manhattan.

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Apple's iPad And The Evolution Of Books -- A Commentary

Consumers seem underwhelmed by Apple's iPad, according to a survey by Retrevo, a US shopping website. Photo from The Telegraph

From The Wall Street Journal:

Steve Jobs recently walked on to a stage in San Francisco and answered a question that authors and publishers have been asking for years: How would he adjust Apple's iPhone technology and iTunes platform to the horizons of the reader? His answer was the iPad, a typically alluring device, featuring a screen big enough for the comfortable reading of books, and a new iBookstore, bringing the text of Harry Potter within reach of America's millions of iTunes users for the first time.

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Space Shuttle Blasts Off For Space Station

From The New York Times:

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The space shuttle Endeavour thundered into orbit before dawn Monday morning, briefly turning darkness into daylight.

It was the second effort to get the Endeavour off the ground, 24 hours after clouds over the launching pad scrubbed Sunday’s attempt.

Clouds again encroached, but there were enough holes to allow the Endeavour to lift off on schedule at 4:14 a.m., a bright streak rising to the northeast along the East Coast. It was the 130th launching of a shuttle and probably the last night launching as the program winds down and ends after four more flights.

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More News On Today's Space Shuttle Launch

5 Men, 1 Woman Aboard Shuttle Endeavour -- ABC News
Endeavour completes final night launch -- BBC
Shuttle Endeavour blasts off for space station -- Reuters
Endeavour Roars into Night Sky -- FOX News
Endeavour en route to ISS -- Register
Endeavour Starts Mission With Night Launch -- Aviation Week

Wired Chinese Not Worried About Google

From THOnline:

Nation's Web users seem indifferent to the online giant's threat to pull out over censorship.

BEIJING -- A world without Google? They can imagine it just fine in China. After all, it's not like losing "World of Warcraft."

The online giant's threat to pull out of China over censorship has drawn little reaction among the country's 384 million Internet users. No flood of complaints to China's consumer rights agency, like the tens of thousands received in one day when the online fantasy game "World of Warcraft" was yanked last year because of a bureaucratic turf battle. Nor has there been the type of fury that saw 32,000 indignant gamers participate in an online chat session on the "World of Warcraft."

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Moon Base Alpha: If Not U.S., Then Who?

An astronaut's footprint in the lunar soil photographed during the Apollo 11 extravehicular acitivty on the moon in 1969. Which country will leave the next set of prints? NASA

From FOX News:

If the U.S. won’t be going to the moon again anytime soon, who is?

Forty years ago the U.S. raced to plant the first foot on the moon. Now, as India, Russia, South Korea and China compete to return for further exploration, the U.S has all but dropped out -- and even Buzz Aldrin thinks that may be OK.

Aldrin, speaking to FoxNews.com, says the next step for NASA should be to create a long-term plan for more ambitious efforts -- visiting Mars or a nearby asteroid -- aided by robotics and astronauts from other countries. "It's much better to take our experience and aid other countries in conducting their races," says Aldrin.

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Haiti's Environmental Aftermath

Photo: Deforestation in Haiti, left, near its border with the Dominican Republic

From Slate:

What the Jan. 12 earthquake means for the country's ecosystem.

The human toll of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti has been devastating, with the government reporting more than 150,000 dead in the Port-au-Prince area alone. What, if anything, does the disaster mean for the environment?

It's a small solace, but the terrifying 7.0-magnitude earthquake seems not to have caused any major, immediate damage to Haiti's ecosystem. According to Asif Zaidi, operations manager of the U.N. Environmental Program's Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch, there has been one small spill near a coastal oil terminal, some minor warehouse fires, and a few small landslides close to Port-au-Prince, but nothing that requires a significant emergency response.

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Germanium Laser Breakthrough Brings Optical Computing Closer

From Gadget Lab:

Researchers at MIT have demonstrated the first laser that uses the element germanium.

The laser, which operates at room temperature, could prove to be an important step toward computer chips that move data using light instead of electricity, say the researchers.

“This is a very important breakthrough, one I would say that has the highest possible significance in the field,” says Eli Yablonovitch, a professor in the electrical engineering and computer science department of the University of California, Berkeley who was not involved in the research told Wired.com. “It will greatly reduce the cost of communications and make for faster chips.”

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Beware Of Geoengineering Using Volcanoes' Tricks

Starving the oceans of oxygen (Image: NASA)

From New Scientist:

WE HACK the climate at our peril. Volcanoes spewed so much sulphate into the atmosphere 94 million years ago that the oceans were starved of oxygen and 27 per cent of marine genera went extinct. Geoengineering our climate could inflict a similar fate on some lakes.

So claims Matthew Hurtgen at Northwestern University in Chicago, who with his colleagues measured sulphur isotopes in sediments on the floor of the Western Interior Seaway. The WIS was a vast body of water that divided the continent of North America down the middle at the time. The team also developed a model to simulate the impact of volcanoes on ocean chemistry.

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DARPA Wants to Override Evolution To Make Immortal Synthetic Organisms

Evolution Done Gone Wrong This will turn out well Syfy

From Popular Science:

It's been a long time since a Pentagon project from the DARPA labs truly evoked a "WTF DARPA?!" response, but our collective jaw dropped when we saw the details on a project known as BioDesign. DARPA hopes to dispense with evolutionary randomness and assemble biological creatures, genetically programmed to live indefinitely and presumably do whatever their human masters want. And, Wired's Danger Room reports, when there's the inevitable problem of said creatures going haywire or realizing that they're intelligent and have feelings, there's a planned self-destruct genetic code that could be triggered.

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NASA, GM Take Giant Leap in Robotic Technology

Robonaut2 -- or R2 for short -- is the next generation dexterous robot, developed through a Space Act Agreement by NASA and General Motors. It is faster, more dexterous and more technologically advanced than its predecessors and able to use its hands to do work beyond the scope of previously introduced humanoid robots. (Credit: NASA)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Feb. 7, 2010) — Robonaut is evolving.

NASA and General Motors are working together to accelerate development of the next generation of robots and related technologies for use in the automotive and aerospace industries.

Engineers and scientists from NASA and GM worked together through a Space Act Agreement at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston to build a new humanoid robot capable of working side by side with people. Using leading edge control, sensor and vision technologies, future robots could assist astronauts during hazardous space missions and help GM build safer cars and plants.

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The World's Weirdest Weather

From Live Science:

As if tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards weren't enough to keep us on our toes, Mother Nature occasionally surprises us with some truly odd weather phenomena: From whirlwinds of fire to bloody rains, it's a strange world of weather out there. - Andrea Thompson

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FCC: iPad Use Could Further Strain AT&T 3G

Image: (Credit: Apple)

From CNET:

Although Apple's iPad has yet to hit the market, the Federal Communications Commission has expressed concern over its potential impact on AT&T's 3G network.

Without naming AT&T, which has secured a carrier deal for the tablet device, Phil Bellaria, director of scenario planning, and John Leibovitz, deputy chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, outlined their concerns in an FCC blog post Monday:

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How Sperm Swim: A Clue For Male Contraception?

Photo: 3D4Medical.com/Getty

From Time Magazine:

Though sperm are generally considered pretty wriggly little guys, before they are launched into action, so to speak, they aren't racing around. While researchers have long known that what gets them swimming is a change in internal pH level—the more alkaline their pH, the more aggressively they swim—until now, the mechanism by which sperm rapidly drop protons, which changes their pH from acidic to alkaline, wasn't clear. According to this new study, published in the journal Cell, sperm are equipped with tons of tiny little pores that, when open, enable them to release protons and get a move on.

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Giant Meteorites Slammed Earth Around A.D. 500?

An asteroid hurtles toward Earth in an artist's rendering. Illustration by Detlev van Ravenswaay, Astrofoto, Peter Arnold Images, Photolibrary

From National Review:

Pieces of a giant asteroid or comet that broke apart over Earth may have crashed off Australia about 1,500 years ago, says a scientist who has found evidence of the possible impact craters.

Satellite measurements of the Gulf of Carpentaria (see map) revealed tiny changes in sea level that are signs of impact craters on the seabed below, according to new research by marine geophysicist Dallas Abbott.

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Top British Scientist Says UN Panel Is Losing Credibility

From Times Online:

A LEADING British government scientist has warned the United Nations’ climate panel to tackle its blunders or lose all credibility.

Robert Watson, chief scientist at Defra, the environment ministry, who chaired the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 1997 to 2002, was speaking after more potential inaccuracies emerged in the IPCC’s 2007 benchmark report on global warming.

The most important is a claim that global warming could cut rain-fed north African crop production by up to 50% by 2020, a remarkably short time for such a dramatic change. The claim has been quoted in speeches by Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chairman, and by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.

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Before The Swiss Army Knife, What Did Soldiers Use?

(Click Image to Enlarge)
Inspired: The Roman army pen knife, a precursor to today's popular Swiss Army accessory

The Roman Army Knife: Or How The Ingenuity Of The Swiss Was Beaten By 1,800 Years -- The Daily Mail:

The world's first Swiss Army knife' has been revealed - made 1,800 years before its modern counterpart.

An intricately designed Roman implement, which dates back to 200AD, it is made from silver but has an iron blade.

It features a spoon, fork as well as a retractable spike, spatula and small tooth-pick.

Experts believe the spike may have been used by the Romans to extract meat from snails.

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Surf's Up As Pacific Waves Grow

From New Scientist:

GOOD news surfers: waves in the north-east Pacific are getting taller, and the height of the most extreme "100-year" waves is increasing fastest.

Previous data had shown wave height to be increasing in the north-east Pacific and north Atlantic since the late 1980s. Now measurements from a deep-water buoy moored off the Oregon coast since the mid-1970s indicate that the "100-year" waves - the monster waves with a 1 per cent chance of occurring in any given year - could be 40 per cent larger than previous estimates, at 14 metres high.

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Heinz' New Ketchup Packet Dips, Squeezes And Scores (With Video!)

From Popular Mechanics:

You know the fast food driving drill: Heading down the Interstate, you carefully unfold the wrapper to your burger and make a place on your lap. You reach for the french fries and follow one of two strategies—take them from the box, one-by-one and paint them with ketchup from the packet, quickly running out of your supply; or squeeze a puddle of Heinz on the wrapper for dipping, risking stained pants and messy hands. Isn't there a better way?

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Airwaves Abandoned by TV Could Beam High-Speed Internet Everywhere

Internet in the Ether Brian Kaas Design

From Popular Science:

When TV went digital, Verizon, AT&T and other cellphone carriers shelled out a combined $19 billion for some of the freed-up airwaves, known as white spaces. Now wireless company Spectrum Bridge is using the parts that are still unclaimed to deliver high-speed Internet from its broadcast tower to your laptop computer.

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Google To Air Ad During Super Bowl?

From CNET:

Perhaps Google CEO Eric Scmidt's tweet said it all.

"Can't wait to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said 'Hell has indeed frozen over')," he wrote Saturday.

This tweet appears to be a response to speculation by John Battelle, founder of Federated Media Publishing, that one of the world's most ad-diffident companies would be running a brand ad during the Big Game's third quarter. (Kickoff is just after 3:20 p.m. PST Sunday on CBS, publisher of CNET.)

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Computers That Use Light Instead of Electricity? First Germanium Laser Created

Image: MIT researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can produce wavelengths of light useful for optical communication. (Credit: Graphic by Christine Daniloff)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2010) — MIT researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can produce wavelengths of light useful for optical communication. It's also the first germanium laser to operate at room temperature. Unlike the materials typically used in lasers, germanium is easy to incorporate into existing processes for manufacturing silicon chips. So the result could prove an important step toward computers that move data -- and maybe even perform calculations -- using light instead of electricity. But more fundamentally, the researchers have shown that, contrary to prior belief, a class of materials called indirect-band-gap semiconductors can yield practical lasers.

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Genes Help Explain Who Gets Fit

From Live Science:

When you put in hours at the gym, you expect to get fitter. It turns out, that assumption doesn't hold true for everyone. A new study suggests specific genes may determine, at least in part, how much we really benefit from exercise.

While "benefit from exercise" can mean plenty of things, from slimming down to boosting one's ability to complete a marathon, the researchers specifically looked at what is called VO2 max, or aerobic capacity. This is a measure of how much blood your heart pumps and how much oxygen your muscles consume when they constrict to, say, move your legs on a treadmill.

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Darwin Out Of Africa 45,000 Years Ago

Charles Darwin's family history has been mapped. His ancestors left Africa 45,000 years ago.

From Cosmos:

SYDNEY: The father of evolution Charles Darwin was a direct descendant of the Cro-Magnon people, whose entry into Europe 30,000 years ago heralded the demise of Neanderthals, scientists revealed.

Darwin, who hypothesised that all humans evolved from common ancestors in his seminal 1859 work On the Origin of Species, came from Haplogroup R1b, one of the most common European male lineages, said genealogist Spencer Wells.

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Facebook, At 400 Million Users, Marks Its 6th Year

From San Francisco Chronicle:

On the sixth anniversary of the day Facebook was launched from a Harvard University dorm room, co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the social-networking firm had 400 million active members around the globe.

And Facebook celebrated both milestones Thursday night with a party at the company's Palo Alto headquarters and by rolling out yet another set of changes for its members' pages as a present.

Facebook has expanded dramatically in the past year. Just one year ago this month, there were only 175 million active members.

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NASA Scraps Endeavour Launch: STS- 130 Delayed Until Monday Due To Clouds

The shuttle Endeavour approaches pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
(Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now)

From The New York Daily News:

Better luck Monday, NASA.

Clouds rolled in over Cape Canaveral early Sunday morning, causing the space administration to scrub a planned nighttime launch off the space shuttle Endeavour.

"Sometimes you just got to make the call," said shuttle commander George Zamka, disappointed by the cancellation. "We understand and we'll give it another try tomorrow night."

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Endeavour To Deliver Space Station 'A Room With A View'

EARTHGAZING: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver Node 3, also known as Tranquility, along with a panoramic cupola, seen in place on the International Space Station in an artist's conception. NASA

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Space shuttle Endeavor will bring a new seven-window module to the International Space Station. It'll be used as a utility room for air and water purification and for exercise equipment. It'll also give astronauts a spectacular view of Earth and space.

After years of construction, the International Space Station is about to get a room with a spectacular view.

At 4:39 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Sunday, NASA is set to launch the space shuttle Endeavour and its six-member crew on a mission to deliver the final US components – made in Europe – to the orbiting lab: Node 3, named Tranquility, and a seven-window cupola for the node, which will give crewmembers breathtaking views of Earth and space.

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Sweat And Blood: Why Mosquitoes Pick And Choose Between Humans

Receptors are drawn to chemical in human sweat

From Times Online:

For some people, a mosquito in the room is a threat to any little patch of exposed skin, while others seem to go unscathed. Now scientists have discovered chemicals in human sweat that make certain individuals more attractive to the insects.

Those targeted most aggressively are likely to have higher concentrations of the chemicals in their perspiration, or simply sweat more, the US researchers say.

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Briton Takes Off For Space Station As Nasa Faces Funding Crisis

Nasa astronaunt Nicholas Patrick. Photograph: Tony Kyriacou / Rex Features

From The Telegraph:

Nicholas Patrick's mission to international space station comes as Barack Obama announces cuts to US space programme.

As a schoolboy in Yorkshire watching the first moon landings on television, Nicholas Patrick could only dream of following the pioneers of Apollo into space.

Inspired by their achievements, he moved to America to achieve his childhood ambition of becoming an astronaut. On Sunday, when the shuttle Endeavour blasts off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, Patrick will embark on one of the greatest adventures ever undertaken by one of the handful of Britons to reach orbit in an American spacecraft.

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Moore’s Curse And The Great Energy Delusion

From The American:

Our transition away from fossil fuels will take decades—if it happens at all.

During the early 1970s we were told by the promoters of nuclear energy that by the year 2000 America’s coal-based electricity generation plants would be relics of the past and that all electricity would come from nuclear fission. What’s more, we were told that the first generation fission reactors would by then be on their way out, replaced by super-efficient breeder reactors that would produce more fuel than they were initially charged with.

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3D: Coming To A Laptop Near You

The Asus G51J laptop has a bit of peripheral flicker - and that fades quickly as your eyes acclimatise - but otherwise it delivers

From The Daily Mail:

The latest hi-tech laptop delivers realistic 3D gaming without leaving you feeling all at sea (though the cost may make you feel a little queasy...)

Two minutes after opening Asus's G51J 3D laptop, I felt like I was operating a theme park ride. There was a queue of people watching 3D video of racers zooming round the Nurburgring, oohing and aahing and enquiring whether you really have to wear the funny glasses. My more primitive colleagues actually reached out to touch the cars. Next time, I will be charging.

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Quantum Computing Leap Forward: Altering a Lone Electron Without Disturbing Its Neighbors

Jason Petta, an assistant professor of physics, has found a way to alter the property of a lone electron without disturbing the trillions of electrons in its immediate surroundings. Such a feat is an important step toward developing future types of quantum computers. (Credit: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Brian Wilson)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 6, 2010) — A major hurdle in the ambitious quest to design and construct a radically new kind of quantum computer has been finding a way to manipulate the single electrons that very likely will constitute the new machines' processing components or "qubits."

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Why We Gamble: The Enticement Of Almost Winning

From Live Science:

Betting on the Super Bowl, roulette, or even online poker can be thrilling, and with the advent of online gambling, it's easier than ever before. Yet winning and losing can have unexpected effects on the brain that keep people coming back for more, scientists are finding.

Gamblers sink an increasing sum of money into their efforts to win. Over the last 20 years legalized betting has grown tremendously; it's now a $100 billion industry. More than 65 percent of Americans gamble, according to Gallup's annual Lifestyle Poll conducted last year, and up to 5 percent of those betters develop an addiction to the activity.

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Justice Dept. to Google Books: Close, But No Cigar

From Epicenter:

Google’s plan to digitize the world’s books into a combination research library and bookstore has hit another snag, in the form of a U.S. Justice Department statement that “despite substantial progress made, issues remain” with the proposed settlement agreement of the class action lawsuit The Authors Guild Inc. et al. v. Google Inc.

The Justice Department joins key members of The Authors Guild in applauding some of the changes Google and the guild have made to their proposed agreement, submitted in September, including the elimination of Google’s right to the books for unspecified future uses, the creation of a new position to represent unknown rights holders, and a mechanism allowing competing companies to license Google’s library to offer competing products.

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The Great Global Warming Collapse -- A Commentary

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Photograph: Getty Images

From The Globe And Mail:

As the science scandals keep coming, the air has gone out of the climate-change movement.

In 2007, the most comprehensive report to date on global warming, issued by the respected United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made a shocking claim: The Himalayan glaciers could melt away as soon as 2035.

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The Big Question: What Do We Know About The Human Brain And The Way It Functions?

Independent Graphics

From The Independent:

Why are we asking this now?

Scientists this week announced that they had succeeded in communicating with a man thought to be in a vegetative state, lacking all awareness, for five years following a road accident. Using a brain scanner they were able to read his thoughts and obtain yes or no answers to questions. They asked him to imagine playing tennis if he wanted to answer yes and to imagine walking through his home if he wanted to say no. By mapping the different parts of the brain activated in each case with the scanner, the scientists were able accurately record his reponses.

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Do We Want Brain Scanners To Read Our Minds?

Scientists can communicate with vegetative patients Photo: GETTY IMAGES

From The Telegraph:

As 'vegetative' patients ‘talk’ to scientists, Professor Colin Blakemore assesses the profound implications this has for the sick - and the healthy.

What nightmare could be worse than being buried alive? Conscious, terrified, but unable to communicate through the impenetrable barrier of a coffin lid and a metre of earth. In the past few days, this ultimate horror has been transformed from the stuff of bad dreams and B movies to two very different front page stories.

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21st Century Energy: Some Sobering Thoughts

From OECD Observer:

Transition to new energy sources is unavoidable, but here are five sobering first principles to remember along the way.

Are we about to switch to new energy sources? Grandiose plans are being drawn up for installing veritable forests of giant wind turbines, turning crops and straw into fuel ethanol and biodiesel, and for tapping solar radiation by fields of photovoltaic cells. As with most innovations, there is excitement and high expectation. Will these developments and other renewable energy conversions one day replace fossil fuels? Eventually they will have to, but a reality check is in order.

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Blizzard Warning For DC, NYT: “Capital Is Crippled As Blizzard Continues “

Snow covers a decorative iron fence at the White House in Washington, on Saturday, during a snow storm in the Washington area. Photo: AP via The Hindu

From Watts Up With That?:

A winter storm continued its blizzard rage in some parts of the Mid-Atlantic region on Saturday morning, dumping nearly two feet of wet, heavy snow that cut power to about 200,000 residents, caused the roof of a private jet hangar to collapse at Washington Dulles International Airport and forced the nation’s capital into quiet hibernation.

All postal operations in the Washington area, including the suburbs in Northern Virginia and Maryland were canceled on Saturday.

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Did An Asteroid Strike In Australia Plunge Anglo-Saxon England Into A Mini Ice-Age?

A veil of dust thrown up by an asteroid 2,000ft across may have caused a mini ice-age in 535AD

From The Daily Mail:

A giant meteorite that broke in two as it crashed off Australia, could have been responsible for a mini-ice age that engulfed Britain in 535AD.

The claim was made by marine geophysicist Dallas Abbott at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union last month.

She found evidence of two substantial impact craters in the Gulf of Carpentaria, off the northern Australian coast.

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Kindle, iPad, MacMillan, And The Death Of A Business Model

From Pajamas Media:

If you visited Amazon.com this weekend, hoping to buy a book that happened to have been published by MacMillan, you got a rude surprise. You couldn’t do it. Whether you hoped to buy an e-book for the Kindle, or an old-fashioned physical book, Amazon wouldn’t sell it to you. In a protest against the pricing model that MacMillan and other publishers had negotiated with Apple for the iBookstore, Amazon simply removed the “buy” button from MacMillan’s books.

The protest didn’t last very long — just long enough to be noticed and to make the New York Times on the evening of January 29. By the evening of the 31st, Amazon had relented, with the following statement:

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Secrets To Superb Malting Barleys Explored

ARS chemist Mark Schmitt is discovering what happens -- biochemically -- inside malting barley grains as they sprout, so that plant breeders will have a better basis for developing superior varieties. (Credit: Image courtesy of USDA/Agricultural Research Service)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 6, 2010) — Many favorite breakfast cereals, candies, beers, and other foods and beverages owe much of their smooth, delicious flavor to malt. Malting barleys--the source of that malt--are the focus of studies at the Agricultural Research Service's (ARS) malting barley laboratory in Madison, Wis., part of the Cereal Crops Research Unit.

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'Snowmageddon'

From Live Science:

Write this one down. President Obama called it "Snowmageddon." Remember back when we just called them things like "The Great Storm of ..."?

Reuters is sticking with "powerful snowstorm," noting though that there could be 20 to 30 inches of snow and near-blizzard conditions from Virginia to southern New Jersey. MSNBC calls it a blizzard and reports 2 feet have already fallen in some parts of Maryland. CNN avoids the word "blizzard" but employs "clobbered," which sounds just as bad.

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A Bidding Frenzy For Search Engine Keywords During The Super Bowl

The Super Bowl will be held Sunday at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. Advertisers can tweak their online marketing campaigns in real time. (Win McNamee / Getty Images / February 4, 2010)

From The L.A. Times:

Advertisers will vie for the top 'sponsored links,' bidding on terms they think lots of fans will be seeking as they watch the game.

When New Orleans takes on Indianapolis at the Super Bowl on Sunday, Brandon Nohara will be sprawled in front of his big-screen TV like millions of others across the nation, drinking beer as friends pack into his apartment.

But Nohara, a marketing analyst for the Bay Area online retailer CafePress, will also be on the job.

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