August 31, 2003
More Companies Are Routing Calls via Internet
Internet telephony, as it is known, is no longer restricted to adventurous techies. The technology, based on software technology that enables the Internet to route traffic, has matured to the point that voice quality is virtually indistinguishable from that of a conventional phone call.The systems are flexible, enabling calls to be routed through a company's internal data network, the public Internet or both. Besides major agencies like the Commerce Department, Internet telephony is being adopted by businesses, including JetBlue Airways and the bank holding company SouthTrust, based in Birmingham, Ala.
Virtual academy is California's first for elementary students
Nathan Dueck of Pacifica studied Cezanne, Picasso and Matisse in public school last year. This year in first grade, he'll explore the great religions. He'll read music in second grade, study astronomy in third and manipulate millions in fourth. By fifth grade, he'll be analyzing Shakespeare. Thrilled with their son's education, Nathan's parents also like his teacher -- a desktop computer.Nathan, 6, studies at the California Virtual Academy, the state's first cyber elementary school. ...
What makes e-school possible are improved technology and a new taste among entrepreneurs for tapping into the riches that pay for American public schools.
Huge drop in foreign students on campus / Post-9/11 security discourages many from coming to U.S.
As the fall term begins at colleges and universities, fewer international students will be attending campuses in the Bay Area -- and around the nation. And some foreign students who were expected to start classes have been delayed.All because of a new -- and stricter -- federal system for admitting foreign students adopted after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, college officials say.
August 30, 2003
Astronomers Acquire a Flare for Forecasting
Thanks to two pairs of stars doing the cosmic do-si-do and a marathon radio survey, astronomers are now able to spy brewing stellar storms and predict looming flares on stars other than the sun. The finding is a potential breakthrough for understanding magnetic activity in distant stars and the sun.
WTO approves cheap drugs for poor countries
The World Trade Organization has approved a deal to allow poor countries access to cheap medications to help combat killer diseases like HIV/AIDS.Officials say the breakthrough, which came Saturday after an emotional appeal by African nations, could save millions of lives in the world's poorest countries.
China bans Tomb Raider sequel
The second Tomb Raider film, starring actress Angelina Jolie, has been banned in China because it portrays the country "negatively", authorities said....The Chinese also complained the film had made the country appear to have no government and run by secret societies.
"The movie does not understand Chinese culture. It does not understand China's security situation. In there cannot be secret societies," the official said.
August 29, 2003
Hospitals Pressured by Soaring Demand for Obesity Surgery
Doctors and hospitals across the country are scrambling to satisfy the booming demand for surgery that shrinks the stomachs of severely obese people.Dozens of hospitals are adding special operating suites for the procedure, called bariatric surgery, which attracted wide notice after public figures like Al Roker of "Today" on NBC, Sharon Osbourne of "The Osbournes" on MTV and Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Manhattan Democrat, had it done. ...
Bariatric procedures — meant for obese people who are at extremely high risk of severe health problems, as defined by a National Institutes of Health consensus — surged more than 40 percent last year, to 80,000. This year, the number is expected to climb to 120,000, according to Frost & Sullivan, a consulting firm. Spending on bariatrics is approaching $3 billion a year, at an average cost of $25,000 for each procedure.
August 28, 2003
Suburbia USA: Fat of the Land?
Suburban sprawl appears to be contributing to the nation's obesity epidemic, making people less likely to walk and more likely to be overweight, researchers reported yesterday. ...People who live in the most spread-out areas spend fewer minutes each month walking and weigh about six pounds more on average than those who live in the most densely populated places. Probably as a result, they are almost as prone to high blood pressure as cigarette smokers, the researchers found.
Mixed-race families on the rise, data shows
New 2000 Census data show that more than 1 in 6 adopted kids is of a different race from their parents. And according to new analysis by William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution in Washington, about 1 in 15 marriages in the U.S. is interracial - up from 1 in 23 in 1990.
Satellite cheaper than cable
A new study from J-D Power and Associates says the average price of a satellite T-V subscription this year fell below that of cable T-V for the first time ever.The report shows that the difference between average prices for cable and satellite T-V "narrowed significantly" over the last five years.
Northrop Grumman/Government Team Shapes Aviation History With Sonic Boom Tests
Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Integrated Systems sector, in cooperation with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA, has made aviation history by demonstrating a method to reduce the bone-jarring impact of sonic booms, a technology that could usher in a new era of supersonic flight.
Key brain link in associative learning directly observed
New data potentially helpful to study of addiction and aging’s effects on the brain.Scientists have directly demonstrated in rats that one area of the brain can support the creation of memories by changing nerve cell firing patterns in another part of the brain, aiding the animal's efforts to predict the outcome of an action based on past experience and act on that prediction.
Boeing's 7E7 plans represent new era
The Business Journal of Jacksonville:
Despite all the hubbub about where The Boeing Co. will put its 7E7 plant, the factory itself will be fairly simple -- "something to keep the rain off," said Mike Bair, senior vice president for the 7E7 program.But how the plane is designed and built will be little short of revolutionary. As it develops the aircraft, Boeing Commercial Airplanes is fundamentally moving away from many of its historical skills -- such as machining and assembling metal parts -- toward a new role as integrator of other companies' work
New high-speed welding technology
Australian scientists have produced a new, high-speed welding technology that slashes hours from traditional joining of corrosion-resistant metals.The Keyhole Welding process has been developed jointly by the Cooperative Research Centre for Welded Structures and CSIRO Elaborately Transformed Metals at Woodville in Adelaide, South Australia.
Canon lowers bar for digital SLRs
New Zealand's National Business Review:
Japanese camera manufacturing giant Canon has scored a significant advance in bringing the cost of serious digital photography down to an accessible level....
With most digital cameras still selling for up to 10 times the price of their film-using equivalents, a digital SLR that costs only three times as much as a film SLR is a breakthrough.
Microsoft Ushers in a New Era of Sports Video Gaming With XSN Sports
In a bold move designed to shake up the sports gaming industry, Microsoft Corp. officially unveiled its new brand of sports video games, XSN Sports. Each XSN Sports video game will include cutting-edge technology that will for the first time link the Xbox(R) video game system, Xbox Live(TM) service and personal computer. XSN Sports will take sports gaming to another level by offering gamers the ability to set up leagues, build tournaments and analyze scouting reports on the centralized Web site, XSNsports.com. This new brand and the exclusive XSN Sports technology go live today, offering exciting new opportunities for sports gamers.
Secret of silk may have been solved
Scientists say they may have worked out how spiders and silkworms are able to produce such strong fibers to spin their webs and cocoons.They say that if they are right, their research could be used to produce silk in the laboratory for extra-strong protective clothing, sports equipment and even replacement bone tissue.
August 27, 2003
81GHz diamond semiconductor created
With the recent announcements of hotter than ever processors, semiconductor makers are facing a profound quandry. Customers are demanding more and more performance, which requires smaller and smaller transistors. As the CPU becomes physically smaller, thermal dissipation problems become more pronounced. Even with heat spreaders, dissipating nearly a hundred continuous watts of heat from an area not much larger than one square centimeter is a vexing problem that's only getting worse. Chip manufacturers are casting about, looking for anything that might stave off turning their silicon masterpieces into molten goop.Enter diamond semiconductors. Diamond? Yes, diamond, the hardest substance known to man. Diamond possesses some very useful properties, not the least of which is its superb ability to conduct heat, its high breakdown voltage, and its high carrier mobility. While silicon begins to show severe signs of thermal stress around 100°C, diamond can withstand several times that without ill effects.
SAT Scores Best In Decades
AP via Port Clinton News Herald:
The nation's high school class of 2003 achieved the best score on the math section of the SAT exam in at least 36 years, while students' verbal scores hit a 16-year high....
This year's average math scores are the highest the College Board could document since 1967. Scores prior to 1995 were recalculated to reflect changes made that year so that the numbers would be comparable to more recent scores. The board was unable to provide comparable scores prior to 1967. The SAT was first given in 1926.
Text messages play games with TV
Your TV and mobile are coming closer together, with game shows played by text message set to grow, say experts.Voting via SMS is already immensely popular in programmes such as Pop Idol, Fame Academy and Big Brother.
But soon you could be shooting, kicking or punching other people on screen over a mobile handset. "
Wi-Fi Rides California Rails
The Wi-Fi train has reached the station. Commuters in and out of Silicon Valley will be the first in the United States to experience wireless Internet access while riding the rails.A three-month trial will begin in September for riders of Altamont Commuter Express, or ACE Rail. It's free during the trial; fees for later have yet to be determined.
The rail line carries about 1,300 passengers a day on round trips between Stockton and San Jose. Most of them are aboard the train for at least one hour, and many are laptop-toting high-tech or business employees.
I could of used this type of service as I traveled Italy via rail this past summer!
-Tim
August 26, 2003
MIT's OpenCourse Project
When MIT announced to the world in April 2001 that it would be posting the content of some 2,000 classes on the Web, it hoped the program - dubbed OpenCourseWare - would spur a worldwide movement among educators to share knowledge and improve teaching methods.No institution of higher learning had ever proposed anything as revolutionary, or as daunting. MIT would make everything, from video lectures and class notes to tests and course outlines, available to any joker with a browser. The academic world was shocked by MIT's audacity - and skeptical of the experiment.
RFID (Radio-Frequency ID Tags) Gussied Up With Biosensors
Still stinging from failed attempts to introduce radio tags to consumers, retailers and their suppliers are now adding features to the technology to make it appear essential to the safety of the nation's food supply....
But many companies are now combining the tags with sensors that can detect the presence of biological and chemical agents, or signal that a perishable item has expired. By doing so, they hope to gussy up the controversial technology as an essential terrorism-fighting tool.
Nude scenes rise after watershed
Scenes including nudity and sexual activity on terrestrial television have increased during the past four years, according to research by TV watchdogs.Sex scenes have more than doubled from 6% to 14% since 1999, says the survey by the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC), the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the BBC. But broadcasters continue to respect the watershed, with little change in the amount of sex and nudity shown on TV before 9pm.
Ireland mulls 'fat tax' to curb obesity levels
Ireland, noted for fried breakfasts of epic proportions, is chewing over the possibility of a special tax on fatty foods to tackle rising obesity levels.Faced with an epidemic of expanding waistlines as the Irish enjoy unprecedented prosperity, Health Minister Micheal Martin confirmed he was "very tentatively" examining slapping a levy on high-fat food.
Nigeria: Breakthrough in Malaria Therapy
Scientists in the UK may have made a discovery through anti malarial drugs called Artemisinins, derived from a Chinese herb called Quingao or sweet wormwood, that will make it easier to monitor drug resistance, and to design new treatments for malaria.The herb has been used against malaria in China for centuries. The discovery made at the St George's Hospital in London, is believed to be one of the last few hopes against treating drug-resistant parasites. In recent years its extracts have become one of the most important types of malarial drug, as the parasite has evolved resistance to other kinds.
Dow Corning helps Army develop high-tech battle suit
Call it Superman meets the Terminator meets Predator meets Universal Soldier.A futuristic battle suit being designed by the Dow Corning Co., the U.S. Army and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, would, among other advantages, give soldiers the ability to leap tall walls with a single bound, blend in to various backgrounds with the push of a button and repel bullets
Researchers Seek to Trick Bitter Taste Buds
The food industry, trying to offer healthier versions of popular foods without affecting the taste, is looking for new ways to trick the tongue. If it succeeds, grapefruit juice could be sweet without added sugar, and potato chips flavorful with half the salt....
"We've had calls from just about every food and beverage company," said Shawn M. Marcell, the chief executive of Linguagen [maker of the bitter blocker], though he declined to name the companies. "They're very concerned, as a group, about health and nutrition now because of all the reports about epidemic obesity, epidemic diabetes, epidemic cardiovascular disease, epidemic hypertension. They don't want to be tainted with that.
Earth Has A New Look
A brand new look and understanding of the place we call home. That's what you'll get in a complete global topographic data set generated by NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.Produced by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, the global data set, called "SRTM30," greatly improves maps of Earth's land mass located between 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south of the equator. That's roughly from the southern tip of Greenland to below the southern tip of South America.
India to achieve 7% GDP growth this yea
India's $550 billion economy is on an upward trajectory and its gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to record "close to seven per cent" growth this year, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said on Tuesday.
Web surfers flock to anti-virus sites
With computer users under siege from a variety of "worms," Internet buffs are rushing to Microsoft's anti-virus site to search for ways to combat the problem.Traffic to Microsoft TechNet from surfers logging on at home skyrocketed more than 1,100 percent during the week ending August 17, Internet audience measurement service Neilsen/NetRatings said this week.
Premier now against same-sex marriage
Premier Ernie Eves, who supported same-sex marriage last summer, now says he personally opposes gays and lesbians being allowed to wed.In a major change in position on the eve of a provincial election call, the Premier said yesterday his Anglican religion forbids him from endorsing same-sex unions.
China closes foreign investment gap
The dramatic impact of globalisation on the world's economic interdependence is demonstrated in new figures on foreign direct investment released on Monday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development ahead of its annual world investment report next week.The figures showed China rapidly catching up with the US as the world's most popular location for foreign investment. The US tops the league table of overseas investment destinations with a stock of [direct investment] of $1,351bn. But the [direct investment] in China totalled $448bn, up from just $25bn in 1990. Combined with Hong Kong's stock of FDI of $433bn, greater takes the number two spot.
August 25, 2003
Violent Crime Rate Lowest Since 1973
The nation saw violent crimes other than murder fall by 9 percent last year, marking the lowest level since the government began surveying victims in 1973....
Specialists said the decade-long decrease in violent results mainly from the strong economy in the 1990s and tougher sentencing laws.
..
Since 1993, the violent crime rate has decreased by nearly 50 percent.
Red Wine + Olive Oil = Long Life
Red wine and olive oil may be some of the key ingredients for a long life, according to a new study. The findings provide more evidence the Mediterranean diet may be the secret to a long life. Scientists from Harvard Medical School tested the resveratol and quercetin molecules on yeast. They speculate since yeast and humans share many genes, the effect may be the same.Resveratol is abundant in red wine and gives the beverage its anti-heart disease properties. Quercetin is the main molecule in olive oil. Researchers discovered Quercetin affected those genes that have been known to extend life by enabling cells to live longer. In the case of resveratrol, it was found to extend the life of some yeast cells by 70 per cent.
August 24, 2003
Life-Extending Chemical Is Found in Certain Red Wines
Biologists have found a class of chemicals that they hope will make people live longer by activating an ancient survival reflex. One of the chemicals, a natural substance known as resveratrol, is found in red wines, particularly those made in cooler climates like that of New York.The finding could help explain the so-called French paradox, the fact that the French live as long as anyone else despite consuming fatty foods deemed threatening to the heart.
Enzymes Found to Delay Aging Process
Scientists have found for the first time a way to rev up a potent "anti-aging" enzyme in living cells, an advance they said could speed the development of drugs to extend human life span and prevent a wide range of geriatric diseases.The novel approach has significantly increased the life spans of yeast and human cells in laboratory dishes and extended the lives of flies and worms -- organisms that, on the level of molecular biology, age much as humans do.
August 23, 2003
Patient Receives First-Ever Gene Therapy For Parkinson's At New York Weill Cornell Medical Center
Surgeons at NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center performed the world's first gene therapy for Parkinson's disease on a 55-year-old New York man on Monday, August 18. The historic surgery, which also marked the first-ever in vivo gene therapy in the brain, was part of a Phase I clinical trial approved by the Food and Drug Administration in October 2002.
August 22, 2003
One Phone Number for Land and Wireless?
Taking any phone number with you wherever you move is a new twist to the number portability rules being scrutinized by federal regulators.In November, cell phone customers will be able to keep their numbers if they change wireless carriers. Now, the Federal Communications Commission is considering allowing customers to keep the same number if they move from a traditional phone service to wireless.
If the FCC approves the change, wireless carriers can woo customers away from using wired service.
Those are fighting words to traditional phone carriers.
``You can't do it,'' said Richard Notebaert, chief executive of Qwest Communications, the Denver-based phone company. ``It's not technically possible.''
Hungry Humans React Like Pavlov's Dogs
Most people would probably consider their tastes more discerning than those of the family pet. But according to new research, humans can be trained to crave food in a manner reminiscent of Pavlov's dogs. The findings, published today in the journal Science, may help scientists better understand compulsive eating disorders and substance addiction.Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov conditioned his dogs to associate the sound of a bell with food. Eventually, the animals would drool in response to a ring, even when no reward was available. Jay A. Gottfried and his colleagues at the Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience trained people undergoing brain scans to link abstract images on a computer scene with either the smell of vanilla or peanuts. After an eight-minute training period, the subjects showed heightened levels of activity in areas known to be part of the brain's reward circuitry, the amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), associated with the pictures alone. The researchers then instructed the patients to eat as much vanilla ice cream or peanut butter sandwiches as they desired, without becoming uncomfortably full. When the participants were retested using the MRI machine, the scientists found that the image associated with the food they had just eaten evoked a lower response than it did before the snack. The images linked to the other food, in contrast, continued to trigger a hunger response.
New pollution rule would help energy industry continue pollution levels
After more than two years of internal deliberation and intense pressure from industry, the Bush administration has settled on a regulation that would allow thousands of older power plants, oil refineries and industrial units to make extensive upgrades without having to install new anti-pollution devices, according to those involved in the deliberations....The exemption would allow industrial plants to continue to emit hundreds of thousands of tons of pollutants into the atmosphere and could save the companies millions if not billions of dollars in pollution-equipment costs, even if they increase the amounts of pollutants they emit.
...The current rule requires plant owners to install pollution-control devices if they undertake anything more than "routine maintenance" on their plants. Industries have long complained that this standard was too vague and that it hindered substantial investment in cleaner, more efficient equipment.
The new rule says that as much as 20 percent of the cost of replacing a plant's essential production equipment -- a boiler, generator or turbine -- could be spent and the owner would still be exempt from installing any pollution controls, according to people involved in the deliberations.
Kingsoft set to unseat Microsoft in China
Kingsoft, one of China's biggest software companies, is close to sealing a contract that will result in its flagship product replacing Microsoft's Office on hundreds of thousands of computers in schools in Shanghai.
Hollywood finds itself at the mercy of cellphone-toting teenagers
In Hollywood, 2003 is rapidly becoming known as the year of the failed blockbuster, and the industry now thinks it knows why...
The problem, they say, is teenagers instant-messaging their friends with their verdict on new films - sometimes while they are still in the cinema watching - and so scuppering carefully crafted marketing campaigns designed to lure audiences out to a big movie on its opening weekend.
"In the old days, there used to be a term, 'buying your gross'," said Rick Sands, chief operating officer at Miramax.
"You could buy your gross for the weekend and overcome bad word of mouth because it took time to filter out into the general audience."
But those days are over, because the technology of hand-held text-message devices has drastically cut down the time it takes for moviegoers to tell their friends that a heavily promoted summer action movie is a waste of time and money.
Five years ago, when summer movies were arguably just as bad as they are now, the average audience drop-off between a film's opening weekend and its second weekend was 40%. This summer it has been 51%.
August 21, 2003
Toxic Protein Could Explain Alzheimer's And Lead To Breakthroughs
Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered for the first time in humans the presence of a toxic protein that they believe to be responsible for the devastating memory loss found in individuals suffering from Alzheimer's disease.An understanding of this key molecular link in the progression of Alzheimer's could lead to the development of new therapeutic drugs capable of reversing memory loss in patients who are treated early, in addition to preventing or delaying the disease. Help for individuals with pre-Alzheimer's memory failure (mild cognitive impairment) also is envisioned. The findings will be published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of Aug. 18.
Worm turns PCs into spam machines
Several Internet worms that have besieged computers for over a week played havoc again on Wednesday, including one called Sobig.F whose aim was to turn PCs into spam machines and was believed to be the fastest growing virus ever, experts said.Sobig.F drops software onto infected Windows computers that open them to be used later for distributing Internet spam -- unwanted e-mails and product promotions, experts said. It also represents a new trend in converging e-mail spamming and virus software writing, they said.
"We believe (Sobig.F) has been written by a spammer or spammers" looking for ways to get past spam filters, said Mikko Hypponen, manager of anti-virus research for Finnish security firm F-Secure. "For once, we have a clear motive for a virus -- money."
Sobig Email Virus Biggest in History
Received any emails lately marked “re:information” or “re: Wicked ScreenSaver”? Then chances are that you are one of the millions of email users who have been recipients of the Sobig virus. Do not open these emails and delte them immediately.The Sobig virus is the largest email virus of all time and is spreading rapidly from inbox to inbox. A virus that debuted this week has been declared the fastest-spreading e-mail plague ever.
Laser breakthrough promises longer CDs
Researchers in Canberra and Paris have combined to increase the amount of information able to be stored on CDs and DVDs.Professor Claude Fabre from the University of Paris and Professor Hans Bachor from the Australian National University have worked for five years to produce the quantum laser pointe
Electronic nanotechnology will sustain Moore's Law
A Carnegie Mellon professor said that field programmable gate array (FPGA) devices which use electronic nanotechnology and molecular electronics will keep Moore's Law alive and well in the future.Seth Goldstein, said the new class of electronics devices which is called chemically assembled electronic nanotechnology (CAEN) will be low power, defect tolerant and provide massive component densities at low cost in the future.
August 20, 2003
Arizona's 1st wild condor chick in decades discovered
It's a first.Biologists don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but the first condor chick born in the wild in Arizona since records have been kept has been sighted in a remote cave at the Grand Canyon.
The discovery of the downy chick is a huge leap forward in the effort to bring the California condor back from the edge of extinction.Two biologists made the discovery Saturday after a 12-mile trek into a part of the canyon called the Inferno. From there, they trained binoculars and telescopes up a wall of limestone, spying the sprightly baby in a cave far beneath Hopi Point.
First baby born from sperm bought over the internet
The birth of the first baby in Britain conceived from sperm bought over the Internet was announced yesterday by a website set up to cater to lesbian women.ManNotIncluded.com, the website that arranged the cyber-sperm donation, said the healthy 10lb 2oz boy had been born in the past few days. Family campaigners and health experts have condemned the site, which they say carries medical and moral risks.
August 19, 2003
Argentina's Lavagna sees first IMF draft next week
Argentine Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna said on Thursday a first draft of a three-year loan pact with the International Monetary Fund could be ready next week as the sides work to meet an Aug. 31 deadline....
The package will include economic targets to help steer the South American nation toward economic growth again after it defaulted on a $95 billion in sovereign debt last January, the biggest in history, and sharply devalued its currency.
China Readies Super ID Card, a Worry to Some
— For almost two decades, Chinese citizens have been defined, judged and, in some cases, constrained by their all-purpose national identification card, a laminated document the size of a driver's license.But starting next year, they will face something new and breathtaking in scale: an electronic card that will store that vital information for all 960 million eligible citizens on chips that the authorities anywhere can access.
Officials hope that the technologically advanced cards will help stamp out fraud and counterfeiting involving the current cards, protecting millions of people from those problems and saving billions of dollars. Providing the cards to everyone is expected to take five or six years. But the vagueness and vastness of the undertaking has prompted some criticism that the data collection could be used to quash dissent and to infringe on privacy.
Pain Relievers Might Cut Parkinson's Risk
Regular use of over-the-counter pain relievers might help delay or prevent Parkinson's disease, the neurological disorder that affects more than half a million Americans, research suggests....
About 50,000 mostly middle-aged and older Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's each year, and the prevalence is expected to increase with the burgeoning numbers of older Americans.
Scales tip higher for heavier people
The makers of home scales in the U.S. are adjusting their devices for a market that's getting fatter....
To serve a heavier North American public, scale makers are now pushing the top digital and dial readings higher.
The industry standard was a top reading of 270 to 300 pounds but now, Health-O-Meter has introduced new products hitting a capacity of 330 to 400 pounds.
"Speedminton" Fever Spreads Fast
It's summer in Berlin, temperatures are rising and with it the desire to be out in the park and to relax in the fresh air. Barbeques are forbidden, picnics are boring, "speeding," however is not - according to a growing number of young Berliners.Officially called "Speedminton," the game - a mixture of tennis, squash and badminton - is the summer activity in the city. Played until recently, in typical Berlin manner illegally in the city's parks, the game has now made its breakthrough as an official sport. This summer it won an award at the International Sports Fair in Munich. "Its like a virus," creator Thomas von Klier says. "And its spreading fast."
For more information, check out Speedminton.com.
DNA May Help ID Great White Sharks
Scientists are developing DNA technology to distinguish great white sharks from other sharks, working to save one of the ocean's top predators. The research is being conducted by scientists from Nova Southeastern University's Guy Harvey Research Institute in Dania Beach and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The breakthrough could help protect the great white from smugglers."With this tool, we'll be able to identify any part of a white shark and say, `This is a white shark: You lied to us by smuggling it in under a different name,' " said Ramon Bonfil, a Wildlife Conservation Society scientist.
Apple rolls out 64-bit Power Mac G5 computers
Apple Computer has recently received praise for its iTunes music service. But its new Power Mac G5 computers, which went on sale in stores Monday, will probably have a much larger impact on the world of personal computing.Apple already has 100,000 orders for its G5 machines, which cost $2,000 to $3,000, depending on the configuration. The breakthrough is that the computers use 64-bit microprocessors, a significant step beyond the 32-bit processors on current Apple machines and most PCs.
Protein clue to asthma attacks
Sydney scientists have discovered what they believe could be the cause of severe asthma attacks. A special protein that only asthmatics produce has been identified as the key to the severe breathing difficulties they experience.Sydney University's division of pharmacology revealed the breakthrough yesterday.
It is the first time researchers have found what could be the cause of blocked airways during asthma attacks.
August 17, 2003
Action-Hungry DVD Fans Sway Hollywood
Home video sales accounted for more than 58 percent of Hollywood's income last year, more than twice as much as box-office revenues. Sales of DVD's to consumers are the biggest, most profitable and fastest-growing component of that revenue.For studio executives, that means the home video market is no longer the afterthought it was when renting videotapes dominated the business. "It is becoming, in a lot of ways, the primary market in determining whether to green light a movie or not," said Chris McGuirk, vice chairman of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
August 15, 2003
Soaring Cosmetic Surgery: Women Cajoling Doctors to Get it Done
Women are persuading doctors to perform cosmetic surgery on the national health service by exaggerating their unhappiness with their looks.Research has revealed that surgeons are being cajoled into offering patients thousands of pounds worth of treatment they do not need.
It exposes the lengths to which some women go to persuade surgeons to operate on them for nothing - using ploys such as unflattering make-up and clothing.
Among the operations being offered free are tummy tucks, breast implants and nose jobs.
Surgeons claim the soaring demand for cosmetic surgery on the NHS is putting a huge strain on resources. They say many patients are placing doctors in an impossible position by refusing to accept they cannot have free surgery.
Until recently, it has only been available in exceptional cases, for example, when patients are extremely disfigured or need corrective work following an accident.
... But the latest study, to be published in the British Journal of Plastic Surgery, finds surgeons are turning a blind eye to the rules because of pressure from patients.
Using CD Movies To Preview Plastic Surgery
Have you ever wondered what you might look like after plastic surgery? Some doctors are now showing you such an image using CD-ROM movie form.Dermatologist Dr. Dwight Scarborough spoke to a patient who was looking at video imaging of what her results following cosmetic surgery.
"Video imaging is a little mini movie of a patient in their current condition and we can morph the image in small steps to become what we anticipate the final results to be," Scarborough said.
Scarborough said that result could take your looks back in time even as much as 10 years. He also said video imaging serves as a way to demonstrate not just results -- but limitations.
"The most important thing for a patient making a decision is to visualize, try to get a good feel for what to expect. And if we can match our work to what they expect, we're going to have a very happy patient," Scarborough said.
Plastic surgeons TV ad an Australian first
A SYDNEY plastic surgery business has followed in the footsteps of the UK and the US launching the first television ad for cosmetic surgery.The 90 second ad from Sydney Plastic Surgeons went to air this week on the Seven Network. From next week a 30 second cut down version will run.
The ad, created by Adcorp Australia, features a voiceover talking about the options people need to consider when considering plastic surgery, the various reasons people might seek plastic surgery and the important things to look for when choosing a surgeon
August 14, 2003
Breakthrough in brain cancer research
UK scientists have, for the first time, created a model of a common form of brain cancer – an achievement that could eventually lead to new treatments for the disease.
Microsoft to launch European music site
Microsoft is stealing a march on rival Apple Computer in the battle for the burgeoning online music market, with the launch in Europe of a pay-as-you-go music-download service modelled on the iTunes service that has been a big success for Apple Computer in the US.
August 13, 2003
Immigrants awaiting hearings monitored with ankle bracelets
Illegal immigrants awaiting deportation hearings are being monitored by electronic ankle bracelets under a federal pilot program that is expected to relieve prison overcrowding nationwide and save taxpayers millions of dollars.
WHO Says No to Farm Antibiotics
Farmers worldwide should reduce the use of antibiotics in their livestock to help curb the growth of drug-resistant bacteria in humans, the World Health Organization reported.High-profile scares over the transmission of resistant forms of bacteria have become increasingly frequent, particularly in Europe. Farmers use antibiotics not only to treat sick livestock but also to boost animal growth. Some of those growth-promoting drugs are essential to the treatment of serious, potentially life-threatening, bacterial diseases.
The WHO has said overuse of drugs for purposes other than treating animal disease is partly responsible for a rise in the number of resistant bacteria — such as salmonella — found in livestock. The agency fears such bacteria can be transmitted to humans who eat affected meat.
The WHO study found that after Denmark banned animal-feed antibiotics, the percentage of livestock with resistant bacteria fell from as high as 80 percent to as little as 5 percent. Cutting out antibiotics raised Danish farmers' costs by 1 percent — or around a dollar per pig.
Universal Healthcare in US?
Nearly 9,000 doctors, including two former U.S. surgeons general and a former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, have signed on to a drive to create a Canadian-style national health insurance system.... They are reigniting a decadelong battle and opposition remains intense. Despite publishing the article, the American Medical Association is opposed to universal health care and interest in Congress is minimal. Health care has figured prominently in the presidential race so far, but the JAMA article criticized reform plans by President Bush and the major presidential candidates, suggesting that none make universal coverage affordable.
Schiff (Dr. Gordon Schiff of Cook County's Stroger Hospital )and others argue from both a moral and financial perspective, citing more than 41 million uninsured Americans and the death of 18,000 adults annually from lack of coverage. They also say their system would save at least $200 billion a year by eliminating the overhead and profits of the private insurance industry.
Global warming (?) is choking the life out of Lake Tanganyika
Studies by two independent teams of scientists have found local temperature rises and climate change have dramatically altered the delicate nutrient balance of the lake, Africa's second largest body of fresh water.
... Piet Verburg, of the University of Waterloo, in Canada, and Catherine O'Reilly of the University of Arizona, in Tucson, who led the studies, found warmer temperatures and less windy weather in the region is starving the lake's life of essential salts that contain nitrogen and sulphur.Dr O'Reilly's study, in the journal Nature, suggests the lake's productivity, measured by the amount of photosynthesis its plant life has done, has diminished by 20 per cent, which could easily account for the 30 per decrease in fish yields.
The scientists say climate change rather than overfishing is largely responsible for the collapse in Tanganyika's fish stocks and the position is likely to get much worse.
"The human implications of such subtle, but progressive, environmental changes are potentially dire in this densely populated region of the world, where large lakes are essential natural resources for regional economies," the scientists say. Dirk Verschuren, a freshwater biologist at Ghent University in Belgium, said both studies could explain why sardine fishing has declined by between 30 and 50 per cent since the late 1970s.
Boston Company Seeks to Freeze Unfertilized Eggs
A Boston-based biotechnology company on Wednesday said it has moved one step closer to freezing unfertilized eggs, a procedure that may let women delay motherhood for years. ViaCell Inc. in a statement announced the potential breakthrough in reproductive medicine.The privately held company said it is ready to start clinical trials of a technique developed by doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital that would allow human eggs, or oocytes, to be frozen for later use. If successful, the company said the process could be offered to patients in a few years.
August 12, 2003
Consumers Fight Obesity With Healthy Alternatives
Consumers nationwide are recognizing the severity of the obesity problem and migrating toward better-for-you products and "light, lean, low and less-of" brands. According to the newest issue of GMA/IRI Times & Trends, supermarket sales of better-for-you foods, which include soy products, nutritional/energy/wellness bars, weight-control items and bottled energy, sport and water beverages, have averaged 18 percent growth over the past five years.
Hydrogen Revolution?
The 100-year run of the gasoline engine may end here, in an unpretentious riverside office park in western Canada.Inside, casually dressed employees walk unhurriedly around a modest-sized factory floor, overseeing the secretive process of manufacturing fuel cells, simple but miraculous devices that transform limitless hydrogen into highly efficient electric power -- with no emissions except harmless heat and distilled water vapor.
... After paying little attention to hydrogen for years, sources as unlikely as General Motors Corp. and President George W. Bush have in recent months started to aggressively tout it as the transportation fuel of the future -- the near future.
They confidently predict that fuel-cell-powered cars, electric generators, cell phones and many other products -- all now in the prototype stage -- will enter mass use sometime between 2015 and 2020, especially in places like Japan, New York, Southern California and Western Europe, where energy costs are high and so is air pollution.
Has the Sea Given Up Its Bounty?
Most of the earth's surface is covered by oceans, and their vastness and biological bounty were long thought to be immune to human influence. But no more. Scientists and marine experts say decades of industrial-scale assaults are taking a heavy toll.More than 70 percent of commercial fish stocks are now considered fully exploited, overfished or collapsed. Sea birds and mammals are endangered. And a growing number of marine species are reaching the precariously low levels where extinction is considered a real possibility.
"It's an incipient disaster," said Richard Ellis, author of "The Empty Ocean."
Tough New Point System Tames Some Wild Italian Drivers
Until a few weeks ago, crossing Italy's chaotic streets was an often treacherous undertaking, and its traffic circles recalled a roller derby.Then, the impossible happened.
Drivers suddenly started obeying traffic signals, allowing the right of way and even buckling up as a suspicious semblance of order befell Italy's byways and highways.
New and stringent laws that make it easier to revoke licenses have motorists looking over their shoulders, fearful of the traffic officer and the dreaded, draconian point system.
In a national system like those in many parts of the United States, every driver's license is allotted points — 20 in this case. Each infraction results in a subtraction. When the points disappear, so does the license.
August 11, 2003
Culinary Revolution in Spain (Not France)
... After a trip to Spain this summer, I'm convinced: the effervescence that buoyed French nouvelle cuisine in the 1970's has somehow been piped across the Pyrenees. Nor am I alone in feeling that way. A cover article in The Wine Spectator in June proclaimed that Spain is ''the new source of Europe's most exciting wine and food.'' Many prominent American chefs agree. ''Spain is where the zeitgeist has shifted,'' says Charlie Trotter, Chicago's most celebrated chef. ''In Spain, they're pushing the envelope.'' David Bouley, who oversees two distinguished restaurants in Lower Manhattan, told me: ''The Spanish don't have this rigor where they have to cook a certain way. They seem to be totally free. Something happened in France -- they ran out of gas. I don't hear about youthful passion as I used to in those kitchens. The real explosion is with all the young guys in Spain.'' Even Thomas Keller of the much-honored French Laundry, north of San Francisco, who has some qualms about new-wave Spanish cuisine, remarks that ''the French work ethic has deteriorated over the last few years'' and that compared with Spain, ''you have in France a much more traditional, fundamental-based cooking.''
Major Change in Mental Health Care Is Urged
... Mental health care in America is often inadequate and needs "fundamental transformation," a presidential commission reported yesterday.The commission described the present system as a "patchwork relic" of disjointed state and federal agencies that frequently stepped in the way of people who were seeking care instead of helping them. The panel said each state should draw up plans to treat the mentally ill.
The report called for a more streamlined system strongly focused on early diagnosis and treatment in patients' own communities, a high expectation of recovery and methods for helping people with mental illnesses find work and housing.
One proposed means of early diagnosis would use questionnaires to screen high-school students, with parental permission, for signs of mental or emotional disturbance, with follow-up testing and treatment for those who need it.
Executives Getting Paid to Trim Their (Personal) Fat
... As obesity becomes more common, companies are taking on the problem directly by sponsoring programs and hiring counselors — in much the same way they have been addressing drug or alcohol abuse.Almost two-thirds of adult Americans are either obese or overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity among workers is estimated to cost American companies $12.7 billion a year, and health insurance costs related to obesity account for $7.7 billion of the total, according to the Washington Business Group on Health, a group of 175 employers who together provide benefits for 40 million people. Obesity is associated with 39 million lost workdays and 63 million additional doctor visits a year, the group says.
"I believe we will see a 100 percent change at the big companies," said Helen Darling, the group's leader. In June, the group started the Institute on Costs and Health Effects of Obesity to promote better health in the workplace. About 200 companies are involved, including Microsoft, American Express and I.B.M.
Next Evolution of On-Line Food - Fresh and Direct
... FreshDirect, whose trucks have become ubiquitous in Manhattan, has also set off a New York-style food fight with Fairway Markets, the 55-year-old West Side emporium of everything from toilet paper to imported cheeses.FreshDirect's concept is simple enough. Unlike many ill-fated online grocery services, it is not a supermarket from which you order food online. Rather, it is a giant distribution facility in Long Island City, Queens, one equipped with 12 different temperature zones. Orders are custom-filled 24 hours a day.
But it was an obsession with cleanliness, rather than convenience, that inspired Joseph Fedele, the founder of FreshDirect, to start his firm. Mr. Fedele, who says he helped found the Uptown Fairway (he and Fairway's management cannot agree on what his title was, but more on that later), said he was appalled by the lack of refrigeration for perishable items in grocery stores, and the fact that shoppers, store clerks and anyone else could paw through every apple display and olive bin, leaving germs behind.
He was further distressed by the common store practice of buying foods from distributors rather than directly from producers, which he said keeps prices high and adds to the time that produce spends hanging around on trucks, getting too warm and old.
Engineered Drugs Open New Issue of Regulation as Patents Expire
Somatropin, a hormone that sends a message to the pituitary gland to stimulate growth in the human body, is not a new discovery. And its synthesis is not a new technological advance — somatropin products have been on the market for more than a decade, each protected by patents covering varying things, like the way the hormone is made and how it is administered.But the basic patent on the copy of the hormone produced naturally in most people has expired. And Sandoz, the generic drug division of the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, has applied for permission to market Omnitrop, its own somatropin copy, in Europe.
If it is approved as expected this fall, Omnitrop will be the first generic version of a genetically engineered medicine allowed to be sold in Europe. And the comfortable world of biotechnology may be violently shaken by losing its hold on an industry that has $30 billion in annual global sales and is growing nearly 10 percent a year.
... Until now, biotechnology companies have never thought it possible to make a generic version of their medicines because the molecules and the manufacturing process are so complex. Laws in the United States and Europe that cover generics of traditional chemical drugs do not cover this new breed of medicines, often called biologics — products made from living cells, blood factors and genetically engineered proteins.
But now, as the first patents on biologics are beginning to expire, pressure for updated laws is coming from generic drug makers wanting a piece of the pie and from patients and consumer groups hoping to cut the price of these products, which can cost more than $100,000 a year.
Antitobacco Trend Has Reached Europe
On Jan. 1, Ireland is expected to become the first European country to ban smoking in pubs. The move is so bold and contentious in a country so devoted to pub culture that few in Europe, and even fewer in Ireland, believe it will succeed. Customers will be asked to step outside to light up; pub owners, most of whom oppose the ban, will risk prosecution if they fail to comply."It's a bad idea," said David Turner, the bartender at The Duke. "Cigarettes and alcohol are synonymous, at least in Irish culture."
It is a radical assault on smoking, especially for a European nation, but Ireland is not the only place it is happening. In a sign that the antitobacco movement is gaining ground in Western Europe, where smoking is as much a statement as a personal habit, a number of countries are passing strict laws to battle it.
... Two other countries — Norway and the Netherlands — have approved prohibitions on smoking in bars and restaurants. Norway's will take effect in the spring; the Netherlands, which is in a furor over the law, will put its ban in place in 2005.
Some countries, including nicotine-loving France, have increased taxes on tobacco in the past year, a move that hurts tobacco sales and fattens treasuries at the same time.
France is also close to approving a law that would stiffen penalties on selling cigarettes to minors by year's end. It has even started a lawsuit against tobacco companies. A local state-run insurance fund in St. Nazaire, in western France, is now in court after filing a lawsuit against four tobacco companies, the first action of its kind by a public authority in France. The fund is seeking to recoup the $37.8 million it has spent to treat smoking-related illnesses.
Even Greece, with one of the highest smoking rates in Europe, is expected to extend restrictions on smoking next year, lest athletes at the Summer Olympics be forced to wade past noxious clouds.
August 8, 2003
Are cloned racehorses next?
Italian researchers behind the first ever cloned horse say they have already received requests to produce replicas of top thoroughbreds, a move which could rattle a multi-million dollar racing industry.Cesare Galli, whose team at the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology reported the successful birth of filly Prometea on Wednesday, said his scientists had the technical know-how to create carbon copies of the world's greatest racehorses.
Creation Of New Neurons Critical To Antidepressant Action In Mice
Blocking the formation of neurons in the hippocampus blocks the behavioral effects of antidepressants in mice, say researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their finding lends new credence to the proposed role of such neurogenesis in lifting mood. It also helps to explain why antidepressants typically take a few weeks to work, note Rene Hen, Ph.D., Columbia University, and colleagues, who report on their study in the August 8th Science....
"This is an important new insight into how antidepressants work," added NIMH director Thomas Insel, M.D. "We have known that antidepressants influence the birth of neurons in the hippocampus. Now it appears that this effect may be important for the clinical response."
Productivity soars in second quarter, jobless claims drop
America's business productivity soared, new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a six-month low and retailers reported strong sales, a triple dose of good news as the economy tries to get back to full throttle.Productivity - the amount that an employee produces per hour of work - grew at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the April to June quarter, the best showing since the third quarter of 2002, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That marked an improvement from the 2.1 percent growth rate in productivity posted in the first three months of this year.
August 4, 2003
Allegations throw church's vote into turmoil
Plans by Episcopal leaders to vote on confirming the church's first openly gay elected bishop were thrown into turmoil Monday when allegations emerged that he inappropriately touched a man and was affiliated with a youth Web site that had a link to pornography.
Israeli High Tech Targets U.S. Security Market
From software that can "translate" a guard dog's bark to lasers that sniff out explosives, Israel is banking on years of defense expertise to give it an edge in a burgeoning U.S. security market.Israeli ingenuity in cross-the-board technologies and an ability to quickly turn an idea into a product is seen likely to return the country's industry to prominence in a world obsessed by security.
Davis to ask court to postpone recall
Amid mounting Democratic unease over his prospects for political survival, Gov. Gray Davis will ask the state Supreme Court today to delay the Oct. 7 recall election and revamp the ballot in a way that would improve his chances of staying in office.The suit also will seek a major change in the ballot rules. Under current rules, voters would face a two-part ballot: a yes-or-no vote on the proposed ouster of Davis, followed by a list of candidates running to replace him.
As it stands, the governor is barred from putting his name on the list of replacement candidates; the lawsuit will seek to overturn that prohibition.
August 2, 2003
Gray Davis Recall -- Potential Riordan candidacy adds to Democrats' anxiety
The growing likelihood that former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan will replace actor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Republican moderate in the Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall election yesterday opened more fissures in the Democratic solidarity behind Gov. Gray Davis.
Business takes off at airport restaurants
As airlines increasingly cut in-flight meal service and charge for anything more substantial than a bag of pretzels, remodeled restaurants and snack bars at the Charleston airport are doing more business than ever....
Along with cuts in in-flight food service, Ali's eateries have been helped by increased security at airport. As check-in and screening lines stretch to levels unheard of pre-9/11, travelers face more "dwell time," an industry term for how long passengers spend in an airport before and after getting on a plane.
Digital (Fill in the Blank) Is on the Horizon
...
But there has been no such boom-and-bust cycle in the embrace of digital technology and its promise of benefits for communication, automation and new forms of art. And consumers, rather than paring back, are increasingly turning to all sorts of digital gadgets and services — cameras, music players, videodisc players, advanced television sets, cellphones, instant messaging, e-mail, online shopping, high-speed Internet access.
Senators Push Saudi Arabia to Improve Antiterrorism Efforts
Republican and Democratic senators sought today to compel Saudi Arabia to intensify its antiterrorism efforts, calling for a variety of measures, including the removal of a powerful member of the royal family from public office and asking the United States government to consider criminal charges against Saudi entities that sponsor terrorism.
Episcopalians Move Forward on Gay Bishop
U.S. Episcopalian leaders moved closer on Friday to approving the church's first openly gay bishop, a step that church conservatives warned could shatter unity among the world's 77 million Anglicans....
"There is no one at this convention, there is no one, I suspect in the Episcopal church, who does not understand that confirmation of Canon Robinson's election ... would constitute a historic break with the teaching of this church," said Bishop John Howe of Florida.
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