Windows 7 To Usher In Crush Of Cheap Laptops

Image: HP ProBook 5310m starts at $699: this class of business laptop used to start at well over $1,000. (Credit: Hewlett-Packard)

From CNET:

Call it the Netbook halo effect: small and cheap is infectious. A quick peek at the lineups of new laptops slated for an October 22 roll-out from Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba make it clear that the prices of mainstream and higher-end laptops are diving, even as the technology gets better.

"There's a new reality in laptop pricing," said Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at market-researcher IDC. "It's getting harder and harder to sell anything over $800." O'Donnell cited a data point that showed the average selling price of notebooks falling below desktops briefly in retail. "That may have been an anomaly, but the fact that's it's even close is indicative of this phenomenon."

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'Mini-Colosseum' Excavated in Rome

Ulysses: A statue of Ulysses, also known as the famous Greek epic hero Odysseus. A 'mini-Colosseum' that lies beneath an airport may have hosted Roman emperors. With the help of ground penetrating radar, the archaeologists have uncovered luxuriously decorated rooms, a colonnaded garden, and this finely carved marble head, among other artifacts. University of Southampton

From Discovery News:

Beneath Rome's Fiumicino airport lies a "mini-Colosseum" that may have played host to Roman emperors, according to British archaeologists.

The foundations of the amphitheater, which are oval-shaped like the much larger arena in the heart of Rome, have been unearthed at the site of Portus, a 2nd century A.D. harbor near Ostia's port on the Tiber River.

A monumental seaport that saved imperial Rome from starvation, Portus is now reduced to a large hexagonal pond on a marshy land owned by a noble family, the Duke Sforza Cesarinis.

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US 'Red Tape' Dogged India Moon Mission

From The BBC:

The recent discovery of water on the Moon by India's inaugural lunar mission almost never happened because of a twin helping of good old-fashioned red tape and lingering Cold War suspicions, reports science writer Pallava Bagla.

Hidden behind the euphoria of the find is a less publicised tale of complex back room dealings between Indian and American space science teams.

Back in 2004, scientists from the two countries were eager to collaborate, but the Bureau of Export Control in the US did not share this enthusiasm. In fact it was seen by some on the Indian side as being singularly obstinate.

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10 Dirty Little Restaurant Secrets

Photo: travelbex, Flickr.

From Slashfood:

There's a reason most restaurants keep the kitchen doors closed -- and it's not just because it's so hot back there.

It can be tough for restaurateurs to turn a profit and Slashfood has uncovered some of the ultra-dirty deeds even the best restaurants commit in order to pinch pennies.

Read on for 10 true stories about the subtle, sneaky and sometimes downright disgusting ways restaurants cheat to save a buck -- and how you might be paying the price.

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Hat Tip: Geek Press

How A Biofuel 'Miracle' Ruined Kenyan Farmers

Kenyan market vendors selling maize in Kagemi
Simon Maina / AFP / Getty

From Time Magazine:

Everyone in Kibwezi, a village in southeastern Kenya parched by four years of drought, remembers the promises. It all started in 2000, when the government started preaching the word about a plant called jatropha curcas. That surprised people in Kibwezi because everyone already knew about Jatropha — it's a weed. Sometimes people planted it to fence off their farms, but usually they just ignored it.

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Fantastic Photos Of Our Solar System

The robotic Cassini spacecraft which is now orbiting Saturn looked back toward the eclipsed Sun and saw a view unlike any other. CICLOPS, JPL, ESA, NASA

From The Smithsonian:

In the past decade, extraordinary space missions have discovered new features of the Sun, the planets and their moons.

We've been looking at other planets through telescopes for four centuries. But if you really want to get to know a place, there's no substitute for being there. And in the past decade, more than 20 spacecraft have ventured into the deepest reaches of our solar system. These probes, unlike the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories that merely orbit Earth, have actually traveled to other planets and approached the Sun, sending back pictures that humble or awe, even as they advance astronomers' understanding of our corner of the universe.

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Using Synthetic Evolution To Study The Brain: Key Part Of Neurons Modeled On Computer

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Oct. 3, 2009) — The human brain has evolved over millions of years to become a vast network of billions of neurons and synaptic connections. Understanding it is one of humankind’s greatest pursuits.

But to understand how the brain processes information, researchers must first understand the very basics of neurons — even down to how proteins inside the neurons act to change the neuron’s voltage.

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Drink From The Fountain Of Youth With A Grain Of Salt

From Live Science:

Two studies announced today could make you downright giddy with youthful optimism, but you'd be wise to take them with a grain of salt.

One says half of babies born in rich nations today could live to be 100, Reuters reports. The speculation is based on the idea that the recent historic rise in life expectancy could continue. Don't bank on it.

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How Can a Pregnant Woman Get Pregnant Again?

Ian Hooton / Corbis

From Time Magazine:

An Indonesian woman gave birth to a 19-lb. 2-oz. baby behemoth on Sept. 24, but that was only the second weirdest pregnancy tale of the month. The strangest belongs to Julia Grovenburg, a 31-year-old Arkansas woman who has a double pregnancy. No, not twins — Grovenburg became pregnant twice, two weeks apart. Isn't that supposed to be impossible?

Almost. There have been only 10 recorded cases of the phenomenon, dubbed superfetation. In Grovenburg's case, she became pregnant first with a girl (whom she has decided to name Jillian) and then two weeks later with a boy (Hudson). The babies have separate due dates — Jillian on Dec. 24, Hudson on Jan. 10.

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Fine Line Between Genius And Madness, Scientists Find

Vincent Van Gogh Photo: AP

From The Telegraph:

There is a fine line between genius and madness because they share the same genes, scientists have found.

Psychologists have discovered that creative people have a gene in common which is also linked to psychosis and depression.

They believe that the findings could explain why "geniuses" like Vincent van Gogh and Sylvia Plath displayed such destructive behaviour.

The gene, which is called neuregulin 1, plays a role in brain development but a variant of it is also associated with mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

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Bluehenge Unearthed: Prehistoric Site That Could Be Famous Stone Circle's Little Sister

The prehistoric circle has been named Bluehenge after the
colour of the 27 giant stones it once incorporated

From The Daily Mail:

Archaeologists have discovered Stonehenge's little sister - just a mile from the famous monument.

The prehistoric circle, unearthed in secret over the summer, is one of the most important prehistoric finds in decades.

Researchers have called it 'Bluehenge' after the colour of the 27 giant Welsh stones it once incorporated - but are now missing.

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Experts Call For Nobel Prizes To Be Revamped

Where's the prize for fighting climate change?
(Image: Science and Society Picture Library/Getty)

From New Scientist:

THE Nobel prize system needs an overhaul. That's the conclusion of a group of scientists brought together by New Scientist to debate the future of the prizes.

In a letter to the Nobel Foundation, published on newscientist.com on 30 September, the group suggests that the foundation should introduce prizes for the environment and public health, and reform the existing medicine prize. "These suggestions will enable the prizes to remain influential for another hundred years," the group says.

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Weird, Rare Clouds And The Physics Behind Them

From Wired Science:

In August, we posted a photograph of some odd, rare clouds known as Morning Glory clouds without providing an explanation for how they form. In response to reader interest, we followed up with meteorologist Roger Smith of the University of Munich, who has studied their formation.

“Over the years we’ve developed a good understanding of them,” Smith said. “It’s no longer a mystery, but still very spectacular.”

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'Hidden' Milky Way Caught On Camera

Herschel trains two eyes, Pacs and Spire, on our Galaxy's centre. European Space Agency

From The Independent:

New images of our galaxy today showed a small part of the milky way in a new light.

A British scientist involved in obtaining the pictures said they showed the galaxy in "a very turbulent process", constantly forging new generations of stars.

The images were produced by the Herschel Space Observatory using, for the first time, the UK-led Spire camera in tandem with the satellite's other camera, Pacs.

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The World's Growing Population Poses a Malthusian Dilemma

MALTHUSIAN DILEMMA: How to feed a human population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 while also grappling with poverty as well as climate change, dead zones, biodiversity loss and other environmental ills? © iStockphoto.com / Tobias Helbig

From Scientific American:

Solving climate change, the Sixth Extinction and population growth... at the same time.

By 2050, the world will host nine billion people—and that's if population growth slows in much of the developing world. Today, at least one billion people are chronically malnourished or starving. Simply to maintain that sad state of affairs would require the clearing (read: deforestation) of 900 million additional hectares of land, according to Pedro Sanchez, director of the Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment Program at The Earth Institute at Columbia University.

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Russia Extends Human Cloning Ban

From RIA Novosti:

MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has decided to extend a moratorium on human cloning that expired two years ago by five years, the health and social development minister said on Friday.

Tatyana Golikova said the moratorium, which ended on June 23, 2007, "only applies to human cloning."

It was not entirely clear why it was not prolonged at the time or whether any human cloning experiments had been carried out in Russia during the past two years.

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Quick Rebound From Marine Mass Extinction Event, New Findings Show

An artist's rendering of the asteroid impact that took place 65 million years ago and likely killed off nearly every large vertebrate species on the planet, including, many think, the dinosaurs. (Credit: Don Davis/NASA)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2009) — In 1980, Luis Alvarez and his collaborators stunned the world with their discovery that an asteroid impact 65 million years ago probably killed off the dinosaurs and much of the the world's living organisms. But ever since, there has been an ongoing debate about how long it took for life to return to the devastated planet and for ecosystems to bounce back.

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Lamp Runs On Human Blood

A lamp that uses blood to create light is meant to make people rethink how they use energy. The lamp contains luminol, a chemical that reacts with the iron in blood and creates a bright blue glow. Credit: Mike Thompson, http://www.miket.co.uk/

From Live Science:

What if, every time you wanted to switch on a light, you had to bleed? Would you think twice before illuminating the room, and in turn, using up energy?

That's the idea behind the blood lamp, invented by Mike Thomspon, an English designer based in The Netherlands. The lamp contains luminol – the same chemical forensic scientists use to check for traces of blood at a crime scence. Luminol reacts with the iron in red blood cells and creates a bright blue glow.
To use the lamp, you first need to mix in an activating powder. Then, you break the glass, cut yourself, and drip blood into the opening.

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Viking 2 Came Close To Finding H2O

Photo: Just a little bit more: New evidence suggests Viking 2 just missed digging into Martian ice (Source: NASA)

From ABC News (Australia):

The NASA Viking 2 probe, which landed on Mars in 1976, may have come within centimetres of finding water three decades before it was eventually found.

The finding could result in scientists re-evaluating data collected by the spacecraft, which was sent to look for signs of life on the red planet.

"Oh my, oh my," says retired Viking scientist Dr Patricia Straat.

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World's Largest Wind Farm Churns in Texas

Photo: Wind turbines collectively offering a 781.5-megawatt capacity now dot the landscape around Roscoe, Texas. (E.ON Climate & Renewables)

From CBS News:

100,000-Acre Complex Holds 627 Turbines Capable of Generating Enough Juice To Power 230,000 Homes

(CBS/AP) The world's largest wind farm officially got up and running Thursday, with all 627 towering wind turbines churning out electricity across 100,000 acres of West Texas farmland.

The Roscoe Wind Complex, which began construction in 2007 and sprawls across four counties near Roscoe, is generating its full capacity of 781.5 megawatts, enough to power 230,000 homes, the German company E.ON Climate and Renewables North America said.

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