Researcher Builds Life-Like Cells Made of Metal

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 15, @03:05AM 

from the devil-in-the-dark dept.

Sven-Erik writes"Could living things that evolved from metals be clunking about somewhere in the universe? In a lab in Glasgow, UK, one man is intent on proving that metal-based life is possible. He has managed to build cell-like bubbles from giant metal-containing molecules and has given them some life-like properties. He now hopes to induce them to evolve into fully inorganic self-replicating entities. 'I am 100 per cent positive that we can get evolution to work outside organic biology,' says Lee Cronin at the University of Glasgow. His building blocks are large 'polyoxometalates' made of a range of metal atoms — most recently tungsten — linked to oxygen and phosphorus. By simply mixing them in solution, he can get them to self-assemble into cell-like spheres."

Preschoolers' Grasp of Numbers Predicts Math Performance in School Years; Early Number Sense Linked to Elementary Math Scores

ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2011) — A new study published in the online journal PLoS ONE reports that the precision with which preschoolers estimate quantities, prior to any formal education in mathematics, predicts their mathematics ability in elementary school, according to research from the Kennedy Krieger Institute.
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Weird Sports...

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2011/09/sol_neelman_weird_sports/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

Gene Flux Can Foretell Survival for Trauma Patients, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2011) — The onset of inflammation and infection in a person recovering from a trauma such as a car accident or severe burns can be as deadly as the incident itself. New findings from Princeton University researchers who studied gene activity in trauma victims may help to predict and better treat such unexpected complications.
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Apple Bans Game App That Criticizes Smartphone Production

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 14, @01:23AM 

from the saw-that-coming dept.

An anonymous reader sends word that Apple has removed from the App Store a game called Phone Story, which walks players through the creation of a smartphone, highlighting many of the negative aspects. There are four brief stages: running a mining facility in the Congo, saving suicidal factory workers, handing out phones to oblivious consumers, and generating e-waste through planned obsolescence. Apple said Phone Story violated sections 15.2, 16.1, 21.1, and 21.2 of the App Store guidelines, which make reference to "objectionable or crude content" and "offensive or mean-spirited commentary." A short video of the game has been posted at Kotaku.

UK Man Jailed For Being a Jerk On the Internet

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 14, @02:25AM 

from the glad-we-don't-have-any-of-that-here dept.

Xest writes"A man in the UK has been jailed for 18 weeks for 'trolling,' and has also been given an order banning him from using social networking sites for five years. 25-year-old Sean Duffy mocked a dead teenager who had jumped in front a train by posting offensive remarks on a page dedicated to her memory, and creating a YouTube parody of Thomas the Tank with the deceased girl's face in place of Thomas. Is it about time trolling to this extent saw this kind of punishment, or is this punishment simply too harsh for someone who perhaps didn't realize how seriously his actions would be taken by the authorities?"Coverage from the Guardian explains that Duffy pleaded guilty to "two counts of sending malicious communications," and added that he must tell police about any phones he buys that can provide internet access.

5 Years In Prison For Selling Fake Cisco Gear

Posted by timothy on Sunday September 11, @11:19PM 

from the does-that-even-match-the-warranty-period? dept.

angry tapir writes"A Virginia woman was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for leading a 'sophisticated' conspiracy to import and sell counterfeit Cisco Systems networking equipment. In addition to the prison time, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia also ordered Chun-Yu Zhao, 43, of Chantilly, Virginia, to pay US$2.7 million restitution and a $17,500 fine."

Interesting Summary

This is why we are going to crash and crash hard unless our elected politicians can quit playing games and do something with the countries best interest at heat rather than their own.  Thanks for sending this on David.

A Guiding Light for New Directions in Energy Production: Optofluidics Could Help Solve the Energy Challenge

ScienceDaily (Sep. 11, 2011) — The science of light and liquids has been intimately entwined since Léon Foucault discovered the speed of light in 1862, when he observed that light travels more slowly in water than in air. This physical harmony between the two materials is now being harnessed to collect and drive light to where it can be the most useful. October's issue of Nature Photonicsfocuses on optofluidics, the study of microfluidics -- the microscopic delivery of fluids through extremely small channels or tubes -- combined with optics. In a review written by Demetri Psaltis, Dean of EPFL's School of Engineering, he and his co-authors argue that optofluidics is poised to take on one of this century's most important challenges: energy.
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Motives Matter: Why We Volunteer Has an Impact On Our Health

ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2011) — People who give, live longer, studies have shown. Now, a new study shows that why people volunteer -- not whether they volunteer -- is what really counts.


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Glowing Cats a New Tool in AIDS Research

Posted by samzenpus on Monday September 12, @11:32AM 

from the healing-glow dept.

sciencehabit writes"Scientists have developed a strain of green-glowing cat by infecting their eggs with a virus containing a foreign gene—the first time this method has worked in a carnivore. Experts say the advance could make the cat a valuable new genetic model—and potentially protect it from an HIV-like virus. "