Submission + - Google Earth revives ancient Rome (bbc.co.uk)
Ostracus writes: Google has added a new twist to its popular 3D map tool, Google Earth, offering millions of users the chance to visit a virtual ancient Rome.
Submission Summary: 0 pending, 29 declined, 15 accepted (44 total, 34.09% accepted)
Submission + - First Trek film footage unveiled (bbc.co.uk)
Ostracus writes: Lost creator JJ Abrams has unveiled footage from his Star Trek prequel at a press event in London.
The clips featured US actor Chris Pine as the young Captain Kirk, Heroes star Zachary Quinto as Mr Spock and Simon Pegg as Enterprise engineer Scotty.
The audience also saw Leonard Nimoy reprise his role as the older Mr Spock in one of four excerpts from the film.
In his introduction, Abrams said he wanted the film, to be released in May 2009, to feel "legitimate and real".
Speaking at London's Vue West End cinema on Tuesday morning, the film-maker admitted he had "never really been a huge Star Trek fan".
Submission + - Obama 'to curb lobbyists' reach' (bbc.co.uk)
Ostracus writes: US President-elect Barack Obama will introduce rules to restrict the role of lobbyists as he shapes his administration, says a senior official.
Submission + - Nature's 'fibre optics' experts (bbc.co.uk)
Ostracus writes: Sea sponges can beam light deep inside their bodies, and do so using the natural equivalent of fibre optic cables, scientists have found.
Submission + - Scientists Identify Machinery that Helps Make Memo (dukehealth.org)
Ostracus writes: A major puzzle for neurobiologists is how the brain can modify one microscopic connection, or synapse, at a time in a brain cell and not affect the thousands of other connections nearby. Plasticity, the ability of the brain to precisely rearrange the connections between its nerve cells, is the framework for learning and forming memories.
Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified a missing-link molecule that helps to explain the process of plasticity and could lead to targeted therapies.
Submission + - Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope (thefutureofthings.com)
Ostracus writes: Microsoft recently presented a new web application that enables computers to function as virtual telescopes — bringing together imagery from the best ground and Space-based telescopes in the world. As a result, users have a chance to virtually explore the universe, using a multitude of 'tours'. The 'tours' are interactive, allowing the user to pause, play, rewind, and fast forward the animation at any given time.
Submission + - Tiny Cellular Antennae Trigger Neural Stem Cells (thefutureofthings.com)
Ostracus writes: Researchers from Yale University have discovered evidence that tiny hairs found on mammals' brain cells have an important role in transmitting molecular signals. The molecular signals prompt the creation of neurons in different brain areas. These findings may contribute to the research of brain regeneration, and will hopefully aid in developing a cure for many degenerative diseases and traumatic injuries.
Submission + - Studio makes Redbox an offer it can't refuse... (arstechnica.com)
Ostracus writes: DVD rental company Redbox has filed a lawsuit against Universal Studios, alleging that the company is engaging in anticompetitive behavior and is abusing copyright law. According to the complaint, filed in US District Court for the district of Delaware, Universal attempted to coerce Redbox into signing a predatory revenue sharing deal and then threatened to cut off the companies that supply Redbox's DVDs when it refused to accept the terms of the agreement.
Submission + - Bosses 'should embrace Facebook' (bbc.co.uk)
Ostracus writes: Companies should not dismiss staff who use social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo at work as merely time-wasters, a Demos study suggests.
Attempts to control employees' use of such software could damage firms in the long run by limiting the way staff communicate, the think tank said.
Submission + - Tech giants in human rights deal (bbc.co.uk)
Ostracus writes: Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have signed a global code of conduct promising to offer better protection for online free speech and against official intrusion.
Submission + - Untangling Web Information (technologyreview.com)
Ostracus writes: The next big stage in the evolution of the Internet, according to many experts and luminaries, will be the advent of the Semantic Web--that is, technologies that let computers process the meaning of Web pages instead of simply downloading or serving them up blindly. Microsoft's acquisition of the semantic search engine Powerset earlier this year shows faith in this vision. But thus far, little Semantic Web technology has been available to the general public. That's why many eyes will be on Twine, a Web organizer based on semantic technology that launches publicly today.
Submission + - Hypnosis Lets Regular People See Numbers as Colors (wired.com)
Ostracus writes: Psychologists have used hypnosis to give people the ability to see numbers as colors.
That form of synesthesia is naturally possessed by roughly one in 1,000 people, among them such historical luminaries as physicist Richard Feynman and writer Vladimir Nabokov, who saw "q as browner than k, while s is not the light blue of c, but a curious mixture of azure and mother-of-pearl."
Observations like these, long dismissed as extravagant fantasy, are now considered a window into the mysteries of perception. But despite a surge of scientific interest, synesthesia's mechanisms remain unknown.
That form of synesthesia is naturally possessed by roughly one in 1,000 people, among them such historical luminaries as physicist Richard Feynman and writer Vladimir Nabokov, who saw "q as browner than k, while s is not the light blue of c, but a curious mixture of azure and mother-of-pearl."
Observations like these, long dismissed as extravagant fantasy, are now considered a window into the mysteries of perception. But despite a surge of scientific interest, synesthesia's mechanisms remain unknown.
Submission + - Brains work best at age of 39 (newslite.tv)
Ostracus writes: Our brains work best when we are 39-years-old, say scientists ... after that it is all downhill.
Boffins have found that from the age of 40 onwards signals in the brain begin to slow down.
Boffins have found that from the age of 40 onwards signals in the brain begin to slow down.
Submission + - Packs of robots will hunt down uncooperative human (newscientist.com)
Ostracus writes: The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System" that will let packs of robots "search for and detect a non-cooperative human".
Submission + - Scientists Erase Specific Memories in Mice (yahoo.com)
Ostracus writes: It sounds like science fiction, by scientists say it might one day be possible to erase undesirable memories from the brain, selectively and safely.
