December 18, 2000 - Listening to the 'sounds' of Jupiter - Ripples in magnetic fields wafting through interplanetary space have been detected by a space probe and converted into sound. The "noises" were picked up the Cassini spacecraft which is en route to Saturn in 2004 via Jupiter...

  December 31, 2000 - The World Wide $#@%@$ing Web! - By Ben Charny, ZDNN,  Search engines need to improve to keep their audience from going berserk with Web-rage, a new survey suggests. Welcome to the World Wide $#%!ing Web, where it takes just thirty seconds of a bumpy information expedition to transform some tech-loving clickaholics into lunatics, a survey has found...

 December 23, 2000 - Single-file photons - Photons can now be emitted one at a time, an advance towards quantum computers and cryptography. A tiny disc that emits light in an orderly procession of single photons, and with no background noise, has been created. The "photon turnstile" could ultimately transmit the keys to secret codes safely past prying eyes or help computer scientists exploit the strange laws of quantum mechanics... - NewScientist.com

 September 23, 2000 - Keck Astronomers Observe Acceleration of Individual Stars at Center of Milky Way Galaxy - "In an historic first, astronomers from the University of California-Los Angeles have observed acceleration in the velocities of individual stars orbiting the gigantic black hole at the center of our galaxy..."

 December 20, 2000 - OPERA IS REALLY SINGING NOW - "With this month's release of Opera 5.0 for Windows, the "third browser" has finally matched the stability and functionality of the big boys. Could this be the beginning of another browser war?"

 December 19, 2000 - ASTEROID ALERT: On Dec. 22nd a newly-discovered near-Earth asteroid, 2000 YA, will fly past our planet only two times farther away than the Moon. It's the 13th-closest approach to Earth by any known minor planet. The 50-meter space rock --about half the size of a football field-- will likely brighten to 15th magnitude late Thursday as it races through the constellation Andromeda at several degrees per hour. [ephemeris]

 July 28, 2000 - Back to the Future on Mars - NASA announces plans for a Mars rover in 2003 with a second rover under consideration. In 2003, NASA plans to launch a relative of the now-famous 1997 Mars Pathfinder rover. Using drop, bounce, and roll technology, this larger cousin is expected to reach the surface of the Red Planet in January, 2004 and begin the longest journey of scientific exploration ever undertaken across the surface of that alien world...

 July 19, 2000 - Beam smashes light barrier - "Scientists have seen a pulse of light emerge from a cloud of gas before it even entered. This astonishing and baffling observation was made by researchers from the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, US..."

 July 26, 2000 - CERN: Inside the world's hottest research institution - Where can you find half the world's atomic particle physicists, the pressure and excitement of a dot-com, and dizzying challenges in networking and data processing? Located just outside Geneva and straddling the border between Switzerland and France, CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is the world's leading particle physics research institute...

 October 25, 2000 - Software allows chat without server - NEW YORK (AP) - The creator of Lotus Notes is back in business, unveiling long-awaited software designed to unlock more of the Internet's potential by allowing people to communicate and collaborate in a variety of new ways. Software developer Ray Ozzie's new platform, called Groove, links selected groups of co-workers, customers or friends in real time, without the need for a central computer server. The result is a secure environment for the exchange of ideas, images and sound beyond what is possible using e-mail or the telephone, Ozzie and other Groove developers said. The software surmounts the time and distance hurdles of face-to-face meetings, considered inefficient in the Digital Age. The software aims to allow users to collaborate through voice, video and keyboard communications and work simultaneously on a single document or image. Other products currently on the market offer such capability, but not together in a single package. 

 October 25, 2000 - Doctors battle disfiguring parasite - SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Millions in the developing world are victims of the crippling, demoralizing and incurable disease known as elephantiasis. It begins with a mosquito bite, seemingly no different from any other. But this one leaves a small worm behind. A few years later, long after the worm has died, a part of the body begins to swell - and a life is changed forever. Researchers believe the disease, which can add 100 pounds or more to a person's weight, can be prevented if the parasite, the Filariais roundworm, is identified and killed before it does permanent damage to the victim's lymphatic system. There is a window of opportunity of several years - though the ability to treat in time has been limited by a cumbersome testing method that had to be administered after a period of deep sleep during which larvae were active in the patient's bloodstream. But a breakthrough new testing method can be performed anytime, and the World Health Organization is using it in a campaign aimed at wiping out the disease. 

 October 25, 2000 - Robots successful at heart surgery - CHICAGO (AP) - Doctors are reporting early success in using a three-armed robot to repair heart valves - an approach considered cheaper and less invasive than conventional open-heart surgery. Using a computer and robotic arms equipped with a tiny camera and miniature surgical devices, doctors probe through inch-long chest incisions to repair valves. In the first U.S. government-approved study to determine the feasibility of mitral-valve repair by robots, surgeons at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., have operated on nine patients since May. The operations to repair leaky valves were as safe as open-heart surgery but reduced patients' hospital stays by about half. The mitral valve allows blood to flow from the left atrium into the left ventricle. If the valve is leaky, often because of a structural abnormality, blood backs up into the atrium and surgery may be necessary. Mitral valve surgery is common among the more than 70,000 heart valve operations done each year. 

 December 11, 2000 - WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR OLD PC - Don't just trash that "outdated" PC in your closet. Turn it into a Linux server, or send it to grandma. I'll show you three ways to recycle, re-purpose or re-use your existing computer...

 December 12, 2000 - Can NASA build a crash-proof computer? - MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Silicon Valley powerhouses joined forces on Monday with NASA and a major U.S. research university to take on one of the hairiest headaches of the high-tech era: crashing computers. The U.S. space administration and Carnegie Mellon University announced a roster of major computer and software company partners in the ``High Dependability Computing Consortium,'' a new research group aimed at building computer systems that -- eventually -- will not fail...

 December 12, 2000 - The Incredible Shrinking Ozone Hole - After reaching record-breaking proportions earlier this year the ozone hole over Antarctica has made a surprisingly hasty retreat. After reaching a record-breaking size in mid-September, the ozone hole over Antarctica has made a surprisingly hasty retreat, disappearing completely by November 19, NASA scientists said...

 December 06, 2000 - High tech's missionaries of sloppiness - Computer companies specialize in giving consumers lousy products -- it's the American way of techno-capitalism, Salon.com - By Cheryll Aimée Barron, Have you had a rat's nest of computer-related problems take over your life lately for days, or even months -- wrecking your work schedule, your leisure plans and your sleep? ...

 June 16, 2000 - First 'space tourist' announced - The next crew to visit the Mir space station will include a paying passenger - a businessman from Los Angeles, US. The announcement was made on Friday, just as two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth after spending the past few months reactivating Mir...

 December 06, 2000 - A Disintegrating Glacier - Recent satellite images reveal two new icebergs floating off the Antarctic coast. The icy behemoths are fragments of the Ninnis Glacier. December 6, 2000 -- Many processes that shape the Earth's landscape happen too slowly to be witnessed in a human lifetime. But recent analysis of satellite imagery shows that a large glacier tongue on the coast of East Antarctica has disintegrated, changing the shape of the coastline almost overnight...

 December 04, 2000 - VIRUS WRITERS SEND CHRISTMAS GIFTS - Malicious season's greetings such as 'Navidad' and 'Music' look ready to cause the latest computer bug scares...

 Is Your Software Out-Of-Date? - Keeping your software updated has never been easier. My Updates is your personalized list of updates and upgrades for software installed on your PC...

 December 01, 2000 - Opera to fan the browser-war flames - Next week, Opera Software N/A plans to introduce a free version of Opera for Windows, according to industry sources. The new release, expected to be christened Opera 5 for Windows, could be supported by ads, rather than by the $39 per copy fee that the Norwegian software vendor currently charges for its browser...