February 10 2003 -
Did the Swiss Design Stonehenge? -
LONDON, Stonehenge, the renowned and
mysterious ancient monument seen as symbol
of Britain, may actually be a marvel of
Swiss or German engineering.
ARCHAEOLOGISTS STUDYING the remains of a
wealthy archer found in a 4,000-year-old
grave exhumed last year near the renowned
landmark said Monday that he was
originally from the Alps region, probably
modern-day Switzerland, Austria or
Germany. He would have been a very
important person in the Stonehenge area,
and it is fascinating to think that
someone from abroad probably modern-day
Switzerland could have played an
important part in the construction of the
site, archaeologist Andrew Fitzpatrick
said in a statement...
February 04 2003 -
Working out what genes do -
BBC, Scientists have launched a major
international initiative to systematically
uncover the function of each of our genes.
They hope it will provide vital
information about how cancer disrupts the
normal functioning of our cells - and lead
to new drug treatments to stop this
happening...
February 14, 2003 -
Big trouble for tiny technology
- By Nick Farrell, VNUNET.COM,
Nanotechnology backlash feared
as ethics think-tank calls for
caution, Nanotechnology, the
science of building systems at a
molecular level, could be hit by
the same backlash that has
dogged genetically modified
crops, according to a medical
ethics think-tank...
February 14, 2003 -
US endorses merging telephone,
Internet numbers - By
Andy Sullivan, Reuters,
DigitalMass, WASHINGTON
The US government on Thursday
threw its weight behind an
emerging standard that could
simplify personal communications
by providing a single point of
contact for telephone and
Internet communications. The
Department of Commerce said it
will support an
electronic-numbering system,
known as ENUM, which would allow
consumers to specify a single
identifier for their telephone
numbers, e-mail and Instant
Messaging addresses, fax
numbers, and mobile phone
numbers...
February 15, 2003 -
Writing's on the Wall in 3-D Cave - By Mark Baard - WiredNews,
For a decade, scientists and engineers have used virtual reality and
other so-called "immersive technologies" to help them visualize complex
designs and natural phenomena. A project underway at Brown University is
taking that concept a step further by exploring how these 3-D
computerized environments could expand our understanding of the written
word. "Immersive technologies are apt to become a dominant art form in
our culture," said Robert Coover, the high priest of hypertext and an
associate professor of English at Brown. "What we're trying to do here
is ensure that they develop as places for literature..."
February 04, 2003 -
Origin of man - new questions -
News24.com, Jorisna Bonthuys, Cape Town
- New research at the Sterkfontein Caves
near Johannesburg is stirring up the
debate on the origin of man and may even
spark controversy in anthropological
circles. The theory that man's ancestors
walked on four legs before learning to
walk erect is incorrect. This has become
evident from studies on "Little Foot", one
of the caves' most famous residents...
February 08, 2003 -
Fastest PCs Just Not Fast Enough -
By Amit Asaravala, WiredNews, When
is a computer with a 1.5-GHz processor and
1 GB of RAM just not good enough?
Apparently, when you're trying to play the
latest version of SimCity. PC gamer
Nicolai Fuhrman is among a growing number
of people who feel cheated after having
purchased software titles that don't work
as advertised on their high-performance
home computers...
February 07, 2003 -
Making a Blood-Thirstier Bandage -
Reuters, 10:36 AM Feb. 07, 2003 PT, Shrimp
shells and vinegar may become staples for
U.S. Army troops in Iraq -- not as rations
but in a new bandage that staunches heavy
bleeding in minutes. A team of Portland,
Oregon, scientists searching for a
solution to an age-old problem -- how to
keep soldiers from bleeding to death on
the battlefield -- stumbled on the
kitchen-pantry combination and, through
high-tech wizardry, turned it into a
super-sticky, combat-ready field
dressing...
February 07, 2003 -
Mystery Over Death of Australia's 1st
Cloned Sheep - Reuters,
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's first
cloned sheep has died despite being in
apparent good health, but any chance of
getting to the root of the mysterious
death was lost when its decomposing
carcass was cremated...
February 07, 2003 -
The Pull of HyperGravity - A
NASA researcher is studying the strange
effects of artificial gravity on humans.
NASA, Want to know what 3-g feels
like? There's a circular ride there that
spins dizzyingly fast. Standing inside it,
your back is pressed against the wall. It
spins faster and faster until, suddenly,
the floor falls away. But you don't fall
with it. You remain in place, pinned to
the wall by centrifugal forces. The force
that holds you up "can be as much as 3-g
-- or three times the normal force of
gravity," says Malcolm Cohen, chief of the
Human Information Processing Research
Branch at NASA Ames...
February 07, 2003 -
Computer Users, Please Stand Up -
WiredNews, By Kristen Philipkoski and
Kim Griggs, For all those moms who
have ever shouted, "Go outside and play!"
at teens who sit for hours in dim rooms in
front of the computer or TV, here's some
more ammunition: Blood clots are
afflicting chronic computer users who sit
immobile for too long. Researchers say the
malady is essentially the same as "economy
class syndrome," and the story has the
same moral: Exercise your limbs or risk
suffering the effects of deep vein
thrombosis...
February 03, 2003 -
Star Man, How To Spend $60K on Home
Astronomy - Mark Heithoff,
Wired Magazine, A $25,000 Mewlon
(bottom), controlled by a laptop, is the
heart of the Walker observatory. He
started so modestly, building a $100
telescope out of some pipe fittings and
mirrors. But today, Gary Walker is in the
big leagues of amateur astronomy. He's
spent more than $60,000 on two home
observatories, a half-dozen telescopes
(his largest has a foot-wide mirror), and
a high-end digital camera. When it comes
to Walker's heavenly hobby, only the sky's
the limit...
