May 31, 2008 (Saturday)

• The U.S. Space Shuttle Discovery
  Space Shuttle Discovery
  Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011...
  
   launches on STS-124
  STS-124
  STS-124 was a Space Shuttle mission, flown by Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station. Discovery launched on 31 May 2008 at 17:02 EDT, moved from an earlier scheduled launch date of 25 May 2008, and landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, at 11:15...
  
   to deliver the Japanese Experiment Module
  Japanese Experiment Module
  The Japanese Experiment Module , also known with the nickname , is a Japanese science module for the International Space Station developed by JAXA. It is the largest single ISS module. The first two pieces of the module were launched on space shuttle missions STS-123 and STS-124...
  
   (Kibo) to the International Space Station
  International Space Station
  The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
  
   along with replacement parts for the toilet system. (EDN)
• A Safari
  Safari (web browser)
  Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...
  
   bug that permits hackers to litter a user's desktop with executable files may be a critical flaw when combined with an Internet Explorer
  Internet Explorer
  Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
  
   vulnerability. Microsoft
  Microsoft
  Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
  
   has issued a security advisory for users to limit use of Safari until patches can be issued. (PCWorld)

May 30, 2008 (Friday)

• Selectively blocking TGF beta
  TGF beta
  Transforming growth factor beta is a protein that controls proliferation, cellular differentiation, and other functions in most cells. It plays a role in immunity, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Marfan syndrome, and Loeys–Dietz syndrome....
  
   in a mice study allowed macrophage
  Macrophage
  Macrophages are cells produced by the differentiation of monocytes in tissues. Human macrophages are about in diameter. Monocytes and macrophages are phagocytes. Macrophages function in both non-specific defense as well as help initiate specific defense mechanisms of vertebrate animals...
  
  s to get into the brain
  Brain
  The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
  
   and ingest unwanted compounds such as amyloid
  Amyloid
  Amyloids are insoluble fibrous protein aggregates sharing specific structural traits. Abnormal accumulation of amyloid in organs may lead to amyloidosis, and may play a role in various neurodegenerative diseases.-Definition:...
  
   plaques that cause Alzheimer's disease
  Alzheimer's disease
  Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
  
  . (NewScientist)
• Several countries have appealed the recent vote to make Microsoft
  Microsoft
  Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
  
  's Office Open XML format an international standard. (CRN)

May 29, 2008 (Thursday)

• A court order has forced the Bush administration
  George W. Bush administration
  The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
  
   to release a climate change
  Climate change
  Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
  
   assessment after a four year delay. It concludes human-induced global warming will likely create drought
  Drought
  A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
  
  s in the U.S. West and stronger hurricanes. (Reuters)
• The first successful U.S. phase III clinical trial has improved survival for head and neck cancer patients by restoring the p53 gene, which halts division and kills defective cells. (EurekAlert)

May 28, 2008 (Wednesday)

• A UC Riverside-led study elevates concern that current warming could lead to significant methane
  Methane
  Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
  
   releases from permafrost
  Permafrost
  In geology, permafrost, cryotic soil or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of...
  
  , changing the climate further. This was a result of investigating a dramatic shift in climate 635 million years ago which brought an end to the last hypothesized snowball ice age
  Snowball Earth
  The Snowball Earth hypothesis posits that the Earth's surface became entirely or nearly entirely frozen at least once, some time earlier than 650 Ma . Proponents of the hypothesis argue that it best explains sedimentary deposits generally regarded as of glacial origin at tropical...
  
  . (Physorg)
• Bacteroides fragilis
  Bacteroides fragilis
  Bacteroides fragilis is a Gram-negative bacillus bacterium species, and an obligate anaerobe of the gut.B. fragilis group is the most commonly isolated bacteriodaceae in anaerobic infections especially those that originate from the gastrointestinal flora. B. fragilis is the most prevalent organism...
  
   commonly found in the human gut not only crowds out dangerous organisms but a molecule it produces "PSA" may help in the development of immune cells, assisting them in protecting against diseases such as colitis
  Colitis
  In medicine, colitis refers to an inflammation of the colon and is often used to describe an inflammation of the large intestine .Colitides may be acute and self-limited or chronic, i.e...
  
  . (NewScientist)
• A Vancouver
  Vancouver
  Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
  
   couple may be charged by police for listing their seven-day-old baby for $10,000 CDN on Craigslist
  Craigslist
  Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
  
  . (SMH)

May 25, 2008 (Sunday)

• The Phoenix
  Phoenix (spacecraft)
  Phoenix was a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program. The Phoenix lander descended on Mars on May 25, 2008...
  
   spacecraft landed successfully on Mars
  Mars
  Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
  
  . (Wired)
• There are now over 3.3 billion mobile phone
  Mobile phone
  A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
  
   users worldwide with developing markets such as Africa, India and China leading the growth which is eclipsing land lines. (SMH)

May 23, 2008 (Friday)

• Children's Hospital Boston
  Children's Hospital Boston
  Children's Hospital Boston is a 396-licensed bed children's hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area of Boston, Massachusetts.At 300 Longwood Avenue, Children's is adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical School, and to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute...
  
   are developing a device to microfilter sepsis
  Sepsis
  Sepsis is a potentially deadly medical condition that is characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state and the presence of a known or suspected infection. The body may develop this inflammatory response by the immune system to microbes in the blood, urine, lungs, skin, or other tissues...
  
  -causing pathogens from the blood
  Blood
  Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
  
  . (TechReview)

May 22, 2008 (Thursday)

• An advanced Dutch
  Netherlands
  The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
  
   robot
  Robot
  A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
  
   named Flame mimics human walking
  Walking
  Walking is one of the main gaits of locomotion among legged animals, and is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step...
  
  . With this understanding of walking it could lead to improved diagnoses, training and rehabilitation equipment. (Physorg)

May 21, 2008 (Wednesday)

• BioArts is auctioning five chances to clone
  Cloning
  Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
  
   a dog
  Dog
  The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
  
  , starting at $100,000 USD. Dogs are even more difficult to clone than humans; however BioArts has created three successful clones. (NYTimes)
• Using network coding
  Network coding
  Network coding is a technique where, instead of simply relaying the packets of information they receive, the nodes of a network will take several packets and combine them together for transmission. This can be used to attain the maximum possible information flow in a network...
  
  , which sends descriptions of data across an entire network rather than raw data to the intended address, DARPA found it was five times more bandwidth efficient on a wireless network than standard protocols. (TechReview)
• University of Pennsylvania
  University of Pennsylvania
  The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
  
   may have found a way to test blood for lung cancer
  Lung cancer
  Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
  
  . They found genetic changes in the white blood cell
  White blood cell
  White blood cells, or leukocytes , are cells of the immune system involved in defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials. Five different and diverse types of leukocytes exist, but they are all produced and derived from a multipotent cell in the bone marrow known as a...
  
  s that was 87 percent accurate in diagnosing early-state lung cancer. If developed into a diagnostic test it would help avoid unnecessary expensive and inaccurate CT and PET screening. (EurekAlert)

May 20, 2008 (Tuesday)

• A study of U.S. science teachers found 16% believe in creationism
  Creationism
  Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
  
  . Of those teachers with training in evolutionary biology spent more class time teaching evolution
  Evolution
  Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
  
  , possibly because they were more confident in being able to answer student questions. (NewScientist)
• Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
  Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
  The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies was established in 2005 as a partnership between the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The Project is intended to address the social, political, and public safety aspects of nanotechnology...
  
   found longer carbon nanotube
  Carbon nanotube
  Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than for any other material...
  
  s could be as toxic as asbestos
  Asbestos
  Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
  
  . (AP)

May 19, 2008 (Monday)

• Harvard University
  Harvard University
  Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
  
   engineers demonstrate the first room-temperature source of terahertz radiation
  Terahertz radiation
  In physics, terahertz radiation refers to electromagnetic waves propagating at frequencies in the terahertz range. It is synonymously termed submillimeter radiation, terahertz waves, terahertz light, T-rays, T-waves, T-light, T-lux, THz...
  
  , which can be used for security and medical screening with no side effects. (Physorg)
• Facebook
  Facebook
  Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
  
   is preparing a major change to its layout in response to complaints of applications cluttering profile pages. The new design will likely use tabs to separate the profile from applications. (BBC)

May 15, 2008 (Thursday)

• Using cooling techniques from high performance computer chips IBM
  IBM
  International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
  
   develops efficient concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) which extract 70 watts of power per square centimeter, or five times the power density of current CPV solar farms. (Physorg)
• A Swiss pilot flew above the Alps
  Alps
  The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
  
   using his homemade jet-powered wing. (Physorg)
• A 48 year-old woman is indicted for cyber-bullying
  Cyber-bullying
  Cyber-bullying is the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner. As it has become more common in society, particularly among young people, legislation and awareness campaigns have arisen to combat it.-Definition:The term...
  
   13 year-old Megan Meier
  Suicide of Megan Meier
  Megan Taylor Meier , was an American teenager from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, who committed suicide by hanging three weeks before her fourteenth birthday. A year later, Meier's parents prompted an investigation into the matter and her suicide was attributed to cyber-bullying through the social...
  
   in 2006 on MySpace
  MySpace
  Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
  
  . Megan eventually committed suicide. (NYTimes)

May 14, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Harvard researchers have developed a disposable lab-on-a-chip
  Lab-on-a-chip
  A lab-on-a-chip is a device that integrates one or several laboratory functions on a single chip of only millimeters to a few square centimeters in size. LOCs deal with the handling of extremely small fluid volumes down to less than pico liters. Lab-on-a-chip devices are a subset of MEMS devices...
  
   made of paper. Using natural capillary action
  Capillary action
  Capillary action, or capilarity, is the ability of a liquid to flow against gravity where liquid spontanously rise in a narrow space such as between the hair of a paint-brush, in a thin tube, or in porous material such as paper or in some non-porous material such as liquified carbon fiber, or in a...
  
   removes the need for expensive tiny pumps and valves. There are plans to use cell phone cameras in developing countries to enable off-site diagnosis. (TechReview)

May 13, 2008 (Tuesday)

• The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
  
   has demonstrated a gallium nitride transistor that promises to improve the efficiency of power electronics such as motor drives, house appliances and hybrid vehicles; and it can enable simpler designs and operate in harsher environments than silicon. (Physorg)
• MySpace
  MySpace
  Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
  
   wins a record judgment of $230 million against spammers using CAN-SPAM
  CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
  The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 , signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 16, 2003, establishes the United States' first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission to enforce its provisions...
  
  . (AP)

May 12, 2008 (Monday)

• Microsoft
  Microsoft
  Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
  
   launches its WorldWide Telescope
  WorldWide Telescope
  The WorldWide Telescope is a computer program created by Microsoft that displays the astronomical sky as maps, the 3D Universe, visualised data sets and animations. It was announced at the TED Conference in Monterey, California in February 2008. Users are able to pan around outer space and zoom as...
  
   a free virtual telescope with access to 2 terabyte
  Terabyte
  The terabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix tera means 1012 in the International System of Units , and therefore 1 terabyte is , or 1 trillion bytes, or 1000 gigabytes. 1 terabyte in binary prefixes is 0.9095 tebibytes, or 931.32 gibibytes...
  
  s of data. It also shows the position of celestial objects from any point on Earth in the past or the future. (BBC)
• A biodegradable nanostructured material that turns into gel when it encounters blood is about to head to human trials. If it receives Food and Drug Administration
  Food and Drug Administration
  The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
  
   approval it would be used in surgery, reducing the potential for infection and recovery times. (TechnologyReview)

May 9, 2008 (Friday)

• The FBI is leading an investigation into counterfeit Cisco Systems
  Cisco Systems
  Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
  
   networking equipment originating from China
  China
  Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
  
  , some of which was purchased by military agencies and power plants, making it a matter of national security with concerns of a Trojan horse
  Trojan horse (computing)
  A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is software that appears to perform a desirable function for the user prior to run or install, but steals information or harms the system. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology.-Malware:A destructive program that masquerades as a benign...
  
  . (NYTimes)
• A new technique combining Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
  Nuclear magnetic resonance
  Nuclear magnetic resonance is a physical phenomenon in which magnetic nuclei in a magnetic field absorb and re-emit electromagnetic radiation...
  
   and Magnetic resonance imaging
  Magnetic resonance imaging
  Magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , or magnetic resonance tomography is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures...
  
   with biopsy
  Biopsy
  A biopsy is a medical test involving sampling of cells or tissues for examination. It is the medical removal of tissue from a living subject to determine the presence or extent of a disease. The tissue is generally examined under a microscope by a pathologist, and can also be analyzed chemically...
  
   analysis promises thousands of times more resolution by using xenon
  Xenon
  Xenon is a chemical element with the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. The element name is pronounced or . A colorless, heavy, odorless noble gas, xenon occurs in the Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts...
  
   gas and a ligand
  Ligand
  In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding between metal and ligand generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electron pairs. The nature of metal-ligand bonding can range from...
  
   that attaches to specific molecules. Further research is needed to identify molecules that target disease indicators; a process greatly helped by projects like Folding@Home
  Folding@home
  Folding@home is a distributed computing project designed to use spare processing power on personal computers to perform simulations of disease-relevant protein folding and other molecular dynamics, and to improve on the methods of doing so...
  
  . (DailyTech)

May 8, 2008 (Thursday)

• Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine
  Washington University School of Medicine
  Washington University School of Medicine , located in St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the graduate schools of Washington University in St. Louis. One of the top medical schools in the United States, it is currently ranked 4th for research according to U.S. News and World Report and has been listed...
  
   have conclusively shown dendritic cell
  Dendritic cell
  Dendritic cells are immune cells forming part of the mammalian immune system. Their main function is to process antigen material and present it on the surface to other cells of the immune system. That is, dendritic cells function as antigen-presenting cells...
  
  s do carry insulin
  Insulin
  Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....
  
   and parts of insulin-producing beta cell
  Beta cell
  Beta cells are a type of cell in the pancreas located in the so-called islets of Langerhans. They make up 65-80% of the cells in the islets.-Function:...
  
  s to the lymphocyte
  Lymphocyte
  A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system.Under the microscope, lymphocytes can be divided into large lymphocytes and small lymphocytes. Large granular lymphocytes include natural killer cells...
  
  s; which initiates an autoimmune
  Autoimmunity
  Autoimmunity is the failure of an organism to recognize its own constituent parts as self, which allows an immune response against its own cells and tissues. Any disease that results from such an aberrant immune response is termed an autoimmune disease...
  
   response that turns into type 1 diabetes
  Diabetes mellitus type 1
  Diabetes mellitus type 1 is a form of diabetes mellitus that results from autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. The subsequent lack of insulin leads to increased blood and urine glucose...
  
  . (WUSTL)
• The platypus
  Platypus
  The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...
  
   genome
  Genome
  In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....
  
   is decoded revealing a history of mammal
  Mammal
  Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
  
   evolution. (NYTimes)
• TorrentSpy
  TorrentSpy
  TorrentSpy was a popular BitTorrent indexing website. It provided .torrent files, which enabled users to exchange data between one another.It also provided a forum to comment on them and integrated the user-driven content site ShoutWire into the front page...
  
   is ordered to pay the Motion Picture Association of America
  Motion Picture Association of America
  The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
  
   $110 million for copyright infringement. (BBC)

May 7, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Grand Theft Auto IV
  Grand Theft Auto IV
  Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 open world action video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by British games developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system...
  
   grossed $500 million dollars (USD) in its opening week; making it the most successful entertainment launch in history. (AFP)
• Morgan Sparks
  Morgan Sparks
  Morgan Sparks was an American scientist and engineer who helped develop the microwatt bipolar junction transistor in 1951, which was a critical step in making transistors usable for every-day electronics...
  
   who helped develop the modern transistor
  Transistor
  A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
  
   dies at 91 years of age. (ExtremeTech)

May 6, 2008 (Tuesday)

• Scientists are redefining diseases (nosology) by classifying them by genetic traits; resulting in a precise understanding of related diseases. This may also assist in finding new drugs by cross referencing the genes they effect. (NYTimes)
• Stephen Colbert
  Stephen Colbert
  Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
  
   won the top award during the Webby Awards
  Webby Awards
  A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
  
  . (Reuters)

May 5, 2008 (Monday)

• Berkeley
  University of California, Berkeley
  The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
  
   researchers find that delaying data by milliseconds can dramatically reduce the power consumption of network devices by evening out the load of data transfers, reducing the carbon footprint
  Carbon footprint
  A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...
  
   of the internet
  Internet
  The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
  
  . Further "load skewing" research shows that during low traffic conditions concentrating traffic on busy servers permitted other servers to shut down. (NewScientist)

May 4, 2008 (Sunday)

• A high-resolution image was made of a key protein
  Protein
  Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
  
   influenza
  Influenza
  Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
  
   uses to hijack a host cell into making copies of itself. This may lead to new drugs to combat future influenza pandemic
  Influenza pandemic
  An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads on a worldwide scale and infects a large proportion of the human population. In contrast to the regular seasonal epidemics of influenza, these pandemics occur irregularly, with the 1918 Spanish flu the most serious pandemic in...
  
  s. (EurekAlert)
• Researchers at Princeton University
  Princeton University
  Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
  
   have developed a way to self correct nanostructures after fabrication. Self-perfection by liquefaction (SPEL) takes advantage of liquid behavior to achieve roughness improvement from 8.4 nm
  Nanometre
  A nanometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one billionth of a metre. The name combines the SI prefix nano- with the parent unit name metre .The nanometre is often used to express dimensions on the atomic scale: the diameter...
  
   to less than 1.5 nm, which better than the 3 nm "red-zone limit" outlined by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors
  International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors
  The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors is a set of documents produced by a group of semiconductor industry experts. These experts are representative of the sponsoring organisations which include the Semiconductor Industry Associations of the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and...
  
  . (Nanowerk)
• Microsoft
  Microsoft
  Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
  
   has given up its attempt to buy Yahoo with ongoing differences on price and several other requirements. Yahoo stocks are expected to fall significantly while Microsoft should go higher. (AP)

May 3, 2008 (Saturday)

• Space Shuttle Discovery
  Space Shuttle Discovery
  Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011...
  
   rolled out to the launch-pad in preparation of STS-124
  STS-124
  STS-124 was a Space Shuttle mission, flown by Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station. Discovery launched on 31 May 2008 at 17:02 EDT, moved from an earlier scheduled launch date of 25 May 2008, and landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, at 11:15...
  
   to install the Japanese Experiment Module
  Japanese Experiment Module
  The Japanese Experiment Module , also known with the nickname , is a Japanese science module for the International Space Station developed by JAXA. It is the largest single ISS module. The first two pieces of the module were launched on space shuttle missions STS-123 and STS-124...
  
   (Kibo), becoming the largest module for the International Space Station
  International Space Station
  The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
  
  . (Space)

May 1, 2008 (Thursday)

• Researchers create a new generation of nanomotor
  Nanomotor
  A nanomotor is a molecular device capable of converting energy into movement. It can typically generate forces on the order of piconewtons.A proposed branch of research is the integration of molecular motor proteins found in living cells into molecular motors implanted in artificial devices...
  
  s that are far more powerful than existing motors; opening new possibilities for nanomachines as transport and delivery systems. (Physorg)