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News Briefs 22-05-2007

Sometimes silence is golden, and sometimes it’s just a cop-out. 😉

  • Scientists develop tiny implantable biocomputers that can monitor the activities and characteristics of human cells. And we’ve been worrying about RFID chips…
  • New form of matter melds the characteristics of lasers with those of the best electrical conductors.
  • Scientists are a step closer to developing a Star Trek-style scanner which gives a diagnosis with no more than a wave over the body.
  • Pellets made of aluminum and gallium produce pure hydrogen when water is poured on them, offering a possible alternative to gasoline-powered engines.
  • Tracing our Sun’s family tree.
  • Rainbows may be the key to identifying habitable planets around nearby stars.
  • Spirit unearths surprising evidence of a wetter past on Mars.
  • Mysteries to behold: The revolution in lights, cameras, electronics and digital photography is revealing a strange undersea world.
  • Scientists convert protein sequences into music.
  • The way people talk about their past reveals a lot about how they approach and write their future.
  • Sex in space: How do you handle love, sex, romance, heartbreak, jealousy, unrequited longing, inf*ctuation, and loneliness when you’re 18 months away from Earth?
  • Ten real reasons why geeks make better lovers. Please read the ‘Editor’s note’ under the title.
  • Wayne Gretzky’s ‘field sense’ may be teachable.
  • Dried apples preserved with cancer-causing chemical, catfish laden with banned antibiotics, seafood coated with putrifying bacteria: Tainted food exported from China is all too common, and what few contaminated products the FDA discovers are often shipped again. More.
  • Early arrival of butterflies demonstrates impact of climage change.
  • Enviro-catastrophe of the week: Recent CO2 rises exceed worst-case scenarios.
  • Feminized to extinction: Sex-changing chemicals can wipe out fish. So can viral hemorrhagic septicemia.
  • A vast swath of the Pacific, twice the size of Texas, is full of a plastic stew that is entering the food chain. Scientists say these toxins are causing obesity, infertility…and worse.
  • Smithsonian altered exhibit on climate change in the Arctic for fear of angering Congress and the Bush administration.
  • Producer says US government is trying to seize Michael Moore’s new healthcare documentary.
  • Cyber-vandals bomb island created by Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the virtual world, Second Life.
  • The mystic secret weapon of the Third Reich: A look at the occult side of Nazi Germany.
  • The Human Equation: Economic historian Robert Fogel has found a new species of human evolution.
  • Researcher announces cure for hepatitis C.
  • Colours of the mind: Hyperconnectivity behind synaesthesia revealed.
  • Nanomedicine opens the way for nerve cell regeneration.
  • First Tongue: An early global language. For more, see links on the left.
  • From Schrödinger’s cat to Borel’s monkeys: The best thought experiments.
  • Bruce Schneier explains how rare risks breed irrational responses.
  • Straight from the Black Swan’s mouth: A Q&A session with Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (Amazon US & UK).

Quote of the Day:

So for me, the Black Swan is epistemic, having to do with confident but incomplete knowledge – ‘epistemic arrogance.’ It has to do with being a turkey.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

  1. Very eclectic, Kat! Well done!
    I am amazed at where you pulled all the news from.Hope you are OK and the black ops people are leaving you alone.
    Bill seems to be OK with them these days, but you never know of course.

    I still have most of the news to read so will get into it.

    shadows

      1. Yes its pretty sick
        I agree Kat it is horrible.I don’t know why the Chinese people who do it feel the need to do it.Surely they can make a big enough profit without this sort of thing.

        It is rather like the way some Chinese sell their stuff on ebay.They lure first-time buyers in with extremely low prices and those who do not read further later on find out they are slugged with postage so huge it would pay for 6 of the articles.
        I know a couple who got caught.They paid nearly $200 to have posted some cheap jewellery they bought.
        It is so bad that if you look at the bids beside the Chinese items you will see that only first-time buyers are biddng.

        I see the whole thing as a symbol of what is happening in the world.Why do they do it? Because they can.

        shadows

        1. Sex in space?
          I’m just trying to work out how they can know what it will be like. I think they’re extrapolating.

          Morality takes two. One to do and one to judge.

          Anthony North

      2. ironic
        Indeed.

        These days, if you want dirty business, and you want to seriously exploit the work force, you need to go to the big time communists.

        Strange world, isn’t it?

        —-
        Most people feel that everyone is entitled to their opinion.

        1. What do you expect?
          I’m not surprised at the shock that such foodstuffs are getting through, but what can we expect? We’ve virtually turned our back on the land, on old-style farming, and we’ve demanded cheap food. Can anyone remember the saying, pay peanuts … ?
          Sometimes the economic reality we want is harsh.

          I’m certain of only one thing. Nothing is certain.

          Anthony North

        2. Strange?
          [quote=earthling]Indeed.

          These days, if you want dirty business, and you want to seriously exploit the work force, you need to go to the big time communists.

          Strange world, isn’t it?
          [/quote]

          Strange? Hardly. That fits in perfectly with the Communist template.

          As for the tainted food, I heard that the recent problems with tainted pet food is a result of Chinese manufacturers purposely adding the suspect chemical because of it’s ability to artificially produce higher protein results when the food is tested. That way they can market it as high protein and charge more for it. Shocking, eh?

      3. Yes (in reply to Kat’s post)
        And I’m alarmed about how much of it may have found its way into Australia. If an imported product is changed in any way after it is imported (as in nuts being roasted or mixed), gluten added to other ingredients to produce a third product etc., then the finished product can legally be identified as “Made in Australia”. This gives the unfortunate purchaser no idea at all as to where some of the ingredients may have originated. Scary.

        Regards, Kathrinn

          1. no surprise here
            I raise an eyebrow but thats all. It’s just another piece of the project continuing. I can’t believe people are so blind to reality. How much more evidence of money over lives do people need before they realise they are all bunnies in a big game of snatch and grab.

            Can we cure cancer………YES
            have we reached peak oil…….YES
            do we need fossil fuels……..NO
            Is there free energy…….YES
            Have we contributed to climate exceleration…….YES
            Can we cure the common cold and flu…….YES
            Will money stop world poverty………NO
            Are goverments for the people…….NO
            Can we deny conspiracy……..NO
            Will people make a difference……..YES
            Is the internet under attack of being controlled…….YES
            Does understanding of the truth bring change……..YES

            It’s up to you and me to change things for the better.
            Lets stop wasting time on who is right or wrong, lets just fix it!
            The truth is out there, but getting it to the mass’s is another thing……then having them understand is yet another thing……
            BTW Einstein was wrong and he knew it!

            “While contemplating on their life, anyone who says they have no regrets and would do it all the same again, have not learn’t anything.”
            LRF.

          2. PS…..
            if it can’t be patented or controlled………you won’t know of it.

            “While contemplating on their life, anyone who says they have no regrets and would do it all the same again, have not learn’t anything.”
            LRF.

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