Google Hits To Warn Of Flu Epidemics

From The Guardian:

Search engine to use online queries to predict health trends before official health bodies

Google already has a window into our souls through our internet searches and it now has insight into our ailing bodies too.

The internet giant is using its vast database of individual search terms to predict the emergence of flu up to two weeks before government epidemiologists.

Google Flu Trends uses the tendency of people to seek online help for their health problems.

By tracking searches for terms such as 'cough', 'fever' and 'aches and pains' it claims to be able to accurately estimate where flu is circulating.

Google tested the idea in nine regions of the US and found it could accurately predict flu outbreaks between seven and 14 days earlier than the federal centres for disease control and prevention.

Google hopes the idea could also be used to help track other diseases. Flu Trends is limited to the US.

Read more ....

NASA's Mars Rover Spirit Imperiled By Dust Storms

This image of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit from August 2005 shows the solar panels still gleaming in the Martian sunlight and carrying only a thin veneer of dust a year and a half after the rover landed and began exploring the red planet in January 2004. NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell University

From L.A. Times:

The craft is dangerously low on power because of dust covering its solar arrays. News of the problem comes a day after NASA declared an end to the Phoenix polar mission.

Massive Martian dust storms are threatening the survival of NASA's Spirit rover, which has been exploring Mars for almost five years but is dangerously low on power.

Spirit last communicated with Earth on Sunday, when it reported that its solar arrays had produced just 89 watt-hours of energy, which is much less than the rover uses in a day.

It's also the least amount of power that either Spirit, or its twin, Opportunity, has produced over the entire life of the mission on Mars, which began in January 2004.

Read more ....

How Much Can We Blame DNA For Who We Are?

From International Herald Tribune:

I owe an apology to my genes. For years I offhandedly blamed them for certain personal defects conventionally associated with one's hereditary starter pack - my Graves' autoimmune disease, for example, or my hair, which looks like the fibers left behind on the rim of an aspirin bottle after the cotton ball has been removed, only wispier.

Now it turns out that genes, per se, are simply too feeble to accept responsibility for much of anything. By the traditional definition, genes are those lineups of DNA letters that serve as instructions for piecing together the body's proteins, and, I'm sorry, but the closer we look, the less instructive they seem, less a "blueprint for life" than one of those disappointing two-page Basic Setup booklets that comes with your computer, tells you where to plug it in and then directs you to a Web site for more information.

Read more ....

Global Warming Link To Amphibian Declines In Doubt

From E! Science News:

Evidence that global warming is causing the worldwide declines of amphibians may not be as conclusive as previously thought, according to biologists. The findings, which contradict two widely held views, could help reveal what is killing the frogs and toads and aid in their conservation. "We are currently in the midst of a sixth mass extinction event," said Peter Hudson, the Willaman professor of biology at Penn State and co-author of the research study. "And amphibians are bearing the brunt of the problem."

Studies suggest that more than 32 percent of amphibian species are threatened and more than 43 percent face a steep decline in numbers.

Much of the massive declines associated with amphibians appear to be centered in places such as Central America and Australia, said Hudson. "It appears to be linked to a chytrid fungus -- Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) -- which we did not know affected frogs," he added.

Read more ....

Offshore Wind Power Could Alter Ocean Currents

Roiling Ocean Waters
A small service vessel steers between offshore windmills in the North Sea offshore from the village of Blavandshuk near Esbjerg, Denmark. Large offshore wind farms can stir up ocean nutrients which, in turn, could lead to an uptick in fish populations, new research suggests. AP Photo/Heribert Proepper

From Discovery:

Nov. 12, 2008 -- Generating wind power at sea may disturb ocean currents and marine ecosystems, according to a new study.

Offshore wind farms are common in Europe; Denmark, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom all have several active installations. Wind power in the United States is currently confined to dry land, but three installations are planned off the coast of New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Delaware, totaling about 1,500 megawatts of generating capacity.

Extracting energy from wind changes regional air currents, which can in turn affect how the nearby ocean circulates, according to Goran Brostrom of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Oslo.

Read more ....

Two-Fifths Of Earth's Population at Risk

From Science Blog:

Vibrio cholerae. Cholera. One of the most aggressive water-borne infections, cholera can kill within 24 hours, and has caused seven pandemics in history. It occurs in over 60 countries worldwide. Currently, the World Health Organization(WHO) has warned that cholera is a serious risk in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there have already been 1,000 cases since October. Of course, most Americans are unfamiliar with cholera since the last outbreak in the U.S. was in 1911. And I don't think any of us were around for that.

Cholera is a bacterial infection of the intestine that comes from consuming infected food or water. Symptoms begin with sever diarrhea and vomiting, which then lead to dehydration. Blood pressure falls, cramps develop in the legs and abdomen, and then body temperature drops as organ failure occurs. Not a pretty picture. There is hope however.

Read more ....

How Floating 'Energy Islands' Could Power the Future

Three Energy Islands are shown connected in this artist rendering. Credit: Energy Island

From Live Science:

Editor's Note: Each Wednesday LiveScience examines the viability of emerging energy technologies — the power of the future.

The ocean harbors abundant energy in the form of wind, waves and sun. All of these could be sampled on something called an Energy Island: a floating rig that drills for renewables instead of petroleum.

The concept is the brainchild of inventor Dominic Michaelis. He was originally unsatisfied with the slow progress in developing ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), a process in which cold water is pumped up from the deep ocean to generate electricity.

"Nothing new was happening with OTEC, so I thought why not bring other marine energy technologies on board?" Michaelis said.

Read more ....

A History Of Microsoft Windows

From Wired News:

Windows 1.0

The world's most ubiquitous operating system was not always so. The evolution of Windows was often uncertain and precarious. Its success was symbiotic with advancements in processor speed and memory capacity, and Microsoft relied heavily on third-party software to bridge the gap between concept and consumer. Tour the 23-year history of the Windows OS through these screenshots.

Left: Microsoft's first graphical user interface -- Windows 1.0 -- wasn't released until November 1985, nearly two years after Apple introduced the Mac. Due to legal issues with Apple, Gates couldn't include key features like overlapping windows and a trash can. Looking at it now, it's not surprising it was a flop. Windows 1.0 was more an extension of MS-DOS than its own operating system, but it did allow limited multitasking and mouse support.

Read more ....

Study Shows How Spammers Cash In

From BBC News:

Spammers are turning a profit despite only getting one response for every 12.5m e-mails they send, finds a study.

By hijacking a working spam network, US researchers have uncovered some of the economics of being a junk mailer.

The analysis suggests that such a tiny response rate means a big spam operation can turn over millions of pounds in profit every year.

It also suggests that spammers may be susceptible to attacks that make it more costly to send junk mail.

Read more ....

Google Earth Does Ancient Rome

Taiwan Makes Fastest 60GHz Wireless System On A Chip, 100 Times Wifi Speed For Less Than $1

From The Next Big Future:

National Taiwan University announced their latest invention System on a Chip (SOC) yesterday, the smallest such product at the lowest cost and consuming the least electricity. The NTU research team claims that the transmission speed of the chip is 100 times as fast as WiFi and 350 times as fast as a 3.5G cell phone. Lee indicated that the chip size has been reduced to 0.5 millimeter, one-tenth of that of existing chips, and the cost is less than one-tenth of the traditional communication module and could be further lowered to only US$1. The SOC successfully combines RF Front-End Circuits and an antenna array to reach the highest transmission speed.

Read more ....

IBM To Help Build Broadband Network In Power Lines

From Yahoo News Finance/AP:

Broadband over power lines gets a needed endorsement from a big player in computing

NEW YORK (AP) -- IBM Corp. is throwing its considerable weight behind an idea that seemed to have faded: broadband Internet access delivered over ordinary power lines.

The technology has been around for decades, but most efforts to implement the idea on a broad scale have failed to live up to expectations.

Now, with somewhat scaled-back goals, improved technology, and a dose of low-interest federal loans, IBM is partnering with a small newcomer called International Broadband Electric Communications Inc. to try to make the idea work in rural communities that don't have other broadband options.

Read more ....

27.7 Billion Gallons Of Ethanol To Be Produced By 2012

(Photo from Device Daily)

From Device Daily:

Nowadays, the Earth is getting more and more polluted because of fossil fuels. We already know that, but still our planet suffers even more. Although it’s not the best solution, ethanol could provide a better option as an alternate fuel as anything is better than gasoline or oil. The world ethanol market is expected to reach 27.7 billion gallons by 2012 as the interest in fuel-ethanol is rising thanks to the ban on MTBE in several countries.

Ethanol is also receiving help from many governments which have strict rules and they have begun to demand the presence of ethanol in fuels. Unsurprisingly, the world leader in the production of ethanol will be the USA which has mandated a use of 8 billion gallons of ethanol by 2012. The US is aiming to cut down greenhouse gas emissions, and to reduce their dependence on oil therefore ethanol will be an important part when renewable fuels will take over.

Read more ....

GHG Photos: Images Of A Climate Changed World

A picture is worth a thousand words. GHG Photos presents a wonderful selection of before and now pictures of our changing environment.

The intro on their site states their mission statement clearly:

GHG is the scientific shorthand for Greenhouse Gases, the gases whose build up in the upper atmosphere is the cause of anthropogenic climate change. GHG Photos is a coalition of science, environmental, nature, and documentary photographers who have spent the last several years focused on the emissions and effects of those Greenhouse Gas emissions, as well as attempts to mitigate their release and adapt to the changing climate.

The link to their website is HERE.

For All Map Geeks

The following is a great site for everything there is to know about maps. You will get suck into this website. The link is HERE.

Technology Works On Perfect Banana

From the Globe And Mail Science:

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — It isn't easy to keep a banana yellow.

To get it to market ripe but unblemished by brown sugar spots takes careful timing, a slight fiddling with nature's rhythms and a delivery system that is increasingly computer-driven and technical.

The perfect banana used to be a rare and precious find, but technology is changing that. From the tree in the sweltering tropics to the grocery rack in the frigid north, scientists are seeking new ways to strengthen the food chain and extend the shelf life of perishables so they reach distant consumers as if freshly picked.

Commercially, the goal is to satisfy a demand for quality food anywhere, any time, and at maximum profit.

But the implications go further: As the world's population expands 50 per cent – to nine billion – by mid-century, food security will become critical. The wild rise in food prices that peaked last July, with staples doubling or tripling in cost over three years, underscored the consequences of shortages, whether real or perceived.

As cities grow and wealth expands, more people eat meat, dairy and fresh products.

“That requires a totally different way of approaching agriculture. You have chains of total food systems,” said Rudy Rabbinge, chairman of the Science Council Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, an alliance of agricultural bodies worldwide.

Read more ....

Oldest Evidence For Complex Life In Doubt

The earliest life on Earth consisted of prokaryotes — small single-celled organisms without nuclei. These earliest organisms were anaerobic — they did not require oxygen to live.
(Image from Lunar And Planetary Institute)

From Astrobiology:

Oldest Evidence for Life in Doubt

Chemical biomarkers in ancient Australian rocks, once thought to be the oldest known evidence of complex life on Earth, may have infiltrated long after the sediments were laid down, new analyses suggest.

The evidence was based on biomarkers - distinctive chemical compounds produced today by modern-day relatives of cyanobacteria and other complex life forms. In 1999, a team of researchers contended that the biomarkers in the 2.7-billion–year-old rocks pushed back the origins of cyanobacteria by at least 550 million years and of eukaryotes by about a billion years.

Although some scientists interpret the new findings, published in the Oct. 23 Nature, as disproving the older dates, others contend that the results still allow for the presence of the organisms or their kin at that time.

Read more .....

NASA Clears Shuttle For Space Station Visit

Crew members of the space shuttle Endeavour on Mission STS-126 arrive to prepare for launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida November 11, 2008.
(Scott Audette/Reuters)

From Yahoo News/Reuters:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA managers on Wednesday cleared the space shuttle Endeavour and seven astronauts for launch on Friday on a mission to make the International Space Station a bit more like home.

Endeavour's cargo includes two sleeping chambers, a second toilet and a water purification system that will let NASA double the station crew size to six and allow them to recycle urine and waste water for drinking. Launch is set for 7:55 p.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"This mission is all about home improvements, both inside and outside of the International Space Station," said Endeavour commander Chris Ferguson. "We've had some large modules delivered in the last year. It's time to fill them up."

Read more .....

Google Chases Skype With New Gmail Video Chat

From Webmonkey:

Video chat service Skype has some new competition — Google has just added audio and video chat to Gmail. The new chat tools essentially offer most of the features of Skype, or Apple’s iChat, within the standard Gmail interface.

When the SMS features we told you about earlier finally arrive, Google’s e-mail client will be a one-stop shop for almost every form of communication you can think of — e-mail, chat, video chat, audio chat and SMS.

Once the plugin is installed, using the new features is very simple. Just hover over any name in your Gmail chat list and select “Start video chat” or “Start voice chat.” There’s a full-screen view and you can also choose to pop out the chat into a new window.

Read more ....

In A Pandemic, Who Gets to Live?

Influenza victims crowd into an emergency hospital near Fort Riley, Kan., in this 1918 file photo. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic killed at least 20 million people worldwide, and officials say that if the next pandemic resemblers the birdlike 1918 Spanish flu, up to 1.9 million Americans could die. Collapse (National Museum of Health/AP Photo)

From ABC News/Science:

As if wars and economic crises and natural disasters weren't enough, here's a challenge for some future president that few people even want to think about: Some day, perhaps soon, a president will have to decide whose lives are the most important to save, and whose lives are "nonessential."

This isn't going to be a doomsday story, because most people will survive the next influenza pandemic, which some public health experts believe is past due. It's not a question of "if," it's a question of "when," and one study from Harvard University estimates that the pandemic will kill somewhere between 51 million and 81 million people, mostly in developing countries.

Read more ....