Prions are highly robust and infectious proteins, most notable for their central role in bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly called mad cow disease. But very little is known about how prions form aggregates of malformed proteins that ultimately result in disease. This study provides initial insights into how prions recruit and distort healthy neighboring proteins.

Some Caribbean lizards' strong sexual dimorphism allows them to colonize much larger niches and habitats than they might otherwise occupy, allowing males and females to avoid competing with each other for resources and setting the stage for the population as a whole to thrive. The finding suggests sex differences may have fueled the evolutionary flourishing of the Earth's wildly diverse fauna in a way not previously appreciated by scientists.

New research confirms the "Out Of Africa" hypothesis that all modern humans stem from a single group of Homo sapiens who emigrated from Africa 2,000 generations ago and spread throughout Eurasia over thousands of years. These settlers replaced other early humans (such as Neanderthals), rather than interbreeding with them.

A simple blood test -- beyond standard lab tests -- taken at hospital admission strongly predicted in-hospital mortality risk for heart failure patients and may be useful in helping doctors decide which patients need higher-level monitoring and more intensive treatment.

Researchers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have learned what the weather is like on two distant, exotic worlds. One team of astronomers used the infrared telescope to map temperature variations over the surface of a giant, gas planet HD 189733b, revealing it likely is whipped by roaring winds. Another team determined that gas planet HD 149026b is the hottest yet discovered.

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wireless

While some news channels are busy busting out HD feeds of the six 'o clock rundown, San Francisco's CBS 5 is cutting costs in a huge way. By placing some 20 low-end cameras in various locales throughout the city, the station is utilizing Slingbox Pros and wireless EV-DO cards to beam live footage back to the station. According to a video interview with the news operations director, the traditional method of wheeling a fully-stocked van to the scene, begging for the FCC's blessing, and clogging up even more California roadways runs them "around $8 per minute." Their Sling-enabled system rings up at a measly $59 per month for each data card, and it also relieves them from having to purchase the $25,000 van-loaded rigs that many channels currently use. Of course, they admit that their money saving tactics aren't likely to remain exclusive for long, but be sure to hit the read link to see the interview and catch a few shots from the Slingbox on duty.

[Via CNET]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Today's platform announcement from Intel may have left you scratching your head, and rightly so. After all, the company is replacing its Centrino Duo platform with a whole new platform called... Centrino Duo. And then there's Centrino Pro. From Crave, CNET's gadgets blog.

It's Global in a non-global sense

Summit Between 9 a.m. and noon, Red Hat developed a new desktop operating system strategy.