I’ve Seen the Future, and It Has a Kill Switch - “OnStar will soon include the ability for the police to shut off your engine remotely. Buses are getting the same capability, in case terrorists want to re-enact the movie Speed. The Pentagon wants a kill switch installed on airplanes, and is worried about potential enemies installing kill switches on their own equipment…”
Our Genome Changes Over Lifetime, And May Explain Many ‘Late-onset’ Diseases - “Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that epigenetic marks on DNA-chemical marks other than the DNA sequence-do indeed change over a person’s lifetime, and that the degree of change is similar among family members. The team suggests that overall genome health is heritable and that epigenetic changes occurring over one’s lifetime may explain why disease susceptibility increases with age…”
Adults ’scared to go near kids’ - “Many adults are afraid to interact with children for fear of being labelled as paedophiles, a report has claimed…”
Japanese telco institutes upload caps… of 30GB… daily - “Bandwidth caps are coming to Japan, but not in the way to which North Americans are accustomed. OCN, operated by NTT Communications, has decided to impose a daily upload limit beginning on August 1. The limit? 30GB per day. Upstream…”
Spray on Skin Gun Shoots Stem Cells To Heal Your Open Wounds - “Because of its use of stem cells, a skin regenerating gun would certainly cause a stir among conservative types—but if you were caught out on a battlefield with a gaping wound, you would be begging for technology like this…”
The Game is Over. There Won’t be a Rebound - “ow do you explain the soaring price of oil? Is it mainly a supply/demand issue or are speculators driving the prices up?”
Five Myths About the New Wiretapping Law - “Sometime today, the Senate is likely to approve the most comprehensive overhaul of American surveillance law since the Watergate era. Unless you’re a government lawyer, a legal scholar, a masochist, or an insomniac, chances are you haven’t read the 114-page bill. Don’t beat yourself up: Neither have most of the 293 House members who voted for it last week. Ditto the mainstream press, who seem to have relied chiefly on summaries provided by the same lawmakers who hadn’t read it…”
Olympic start gun gives inside runners an edge - “When Olympic sprinters dash down the track in Beijing this August, the fastest athlete may not take home the gold medal. Current start-gun technology gives athletes on the inside lanes an unfair advantage right off the blocks…”
The Amish are famous for shunning technology. But their secret love affair with the cell phone is causing an uproar. - “Everywhere, there were freshly planted fields, farmhouses with handsome, immaculate barns and outbuildings. At one farm we passed, a woman was sitting a hundred yards from her house on the edge of a kitchen garden. She wore the traditional garb of the conservative Old Order - a long, unadorned dress sheathed by an apron, her hair covered by a prayer bonnet. She was sitting in the middle of the garden, alone, the very image of technology-free simplicity. But she was holding her hand up to her ear. She appeared to be intent on something, strangely engaged. “Whenever you see an Amish woman sitting in the field like that,” my guide said, “she’s probably talking on a cell phone.” ”
Kids Connect Alcohol Odors With Mom’s Emotions - “How children respond to the smell of alcoholic beverages is related to their mothers’ reasons for drinking, according to a new study from the Monell Chemical Senses Center. When asked to choose between the odor of beer and an unpleasant odor, children of mothers classified as ‘Escape drinkers’ were more likely than children of Non-escape drinkers to choose the unpleasant odor…”
US removes its nuclear arms from Britain - “The US has removed its nuclear weapons from Britain, ending a contentious presence spanning more than half a century, a report will say today. According to the study by the Federation of American Scientists, the last 110 American nuclear weapons on UK soil were withdrawn from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on the orders of President George Bush…”
Galaxy map hints at fractal universe - “Is the matter in the universe arranged in a fractal pattern? A new study of nearly a million galaxies suggests it is – though there are no well-accepted theories to explain why that would be so…”
Another silicon valley? - “Ideas they have come up with range from using the sun to run simple heating systems for buildings, deploying “reverse radiators” painted black, to the sharpest cutting edge of that trendiest of fields, nanotechnology, to ensure that every last photon is captured and converted into electricity. The most iconic form of solar power, the photovoltaic cell, is currently the fastest-growing type of alternative energy, increasing by 50% a year. The price of the electricity it produces is falling, too. According to Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), an American consultancy run by Daniel Yergin, a kWh of photovoltaic electricity cost 50 cents in 1995. That had fallen to 20 cents in 2005 and is still dropping. Not RE
Giant Asteroid Flattened Half of Mars - “a new study performed here on Earth has turned up a whopper of a finding: The Red Planet seems to have been the victim of a massive hit and run more than four billion years ago…”
The Ultimate Washing Detergent Test: The Postal System
Project to reveal choc’s DNA code - “The chocolate company Mars has announced that it is to decode the genetic structure of the cacao tree. The research project, which is to be done in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture and IT firm IBM, aims to improve cocoa production…”
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Eidetic memory