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Feed Science Daily: AIDS Interferes With Stem Cells In The Brain (sciencedaily.com)

Scientists have discovered how HIV/AIDS disrupts the normal replication of stem cells in the adult brain, preventing new nerve cells from forming. Researchers uncovered a novel molecular mechanism that inhibits stem cell proliferation and that could possibly be triggered in other neurodegenerative diseases. This discovery links mechanism for HIV/AIDS dementia, possibly other neurological disorders, with known cancer 'checkpoint' pathway.
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - Gadget - iStraw for instant clean water (tploy.com)

trsarg writes: "If you're the type who drinks water straight from the tap, perhaps picking up the iStraw would help prevent you from getting an upset tummy. This device is a lightweight polycarbonate straw that boasts its own internal filtration system. Most contaminants found in water are removed thanks to the micro-filtration process employed by the iStraw, and would be an essential item to bring along on your the next camping trip. The iStraw is capable of filtering up to 500 liters of water before a replacement is needed. It retails for £19.99 a pop. http://tploy.com/20070815356/gadget-istraw-for-ins tant-clean-water.html"
Supercomputing

Submission + - Quantum Computing & Optically Controlled Elect (physorg.com)

eldavojohn writes: "A new paper on quantum computing about using optically controlled electrons to make an ultrfast quantum computer. From the article, "Scientists have designed a scheme to create one of the fastest quantum computers to date using light pulses to rotate electron spins, which serve as quantum bits. This technique improves the overall clock rate of the quantum computer, which could lead to the fastest potentially scalable quantum computing scheme of which the scientists are aware.""
Editorial

Submission + - Lift Off: 50 Years of Hovercrafts (wired.com)

ntmokey writes: While the flying car has seemingly lingered just out of grasp since the 1950's, its more-feasible brethren the hovercraft has been floating, skipping and vrooming around on all surfaces for the better half of a century. Wired has a look at the progress hovercraft have made over the last 50 years and some of the most promising new commercial models. If you're still dead set on a car that will let you buzz over other commuters on the way to work as you look down from 10,000 feet, well, they're on the way too.
Businesses

Submission + - Citrix to buy XenSource, raises OSS valuations (cnet.com) 1

mjasay writes: "Citrix just agreed to buy XenSource for $500 million, showcasing just how hot virtualization and open source are. One significant data point that most people are missing is just how significant the valuation is: roughly 500 times 12-month trailing revenues. This is a shockingly big valuation, one that bodes well for other open-source companies, even those that can't trade off the virtualization hype. It's also a sign that under-investment in innovation by proprietary software vendors is due to bite these vendors in the rear-end."
Unix

Submission + - Novell Won't Pursue Unix Copyrights (yahoo.com)

calcutta001 writes: ""We're not interested in suing people over Unix," Novell spokesman Bruce Lowry said. "We're not even in the Unix business anymore."

A judge Friday upheld Novell's claims to Unix copyrights that SCO said it owned. Those copyrights were the basis for SCO's highly controversial and ongoing Linux patent-infringement suit against IBM Corp.

Lowry said the ruling means "the cloud has lifted over Linux." Users and distributors of the open-source OS finally can breathe a sigh of relief that they are not in violation of Unix copyrights."

Space

Submission + - Mars Phoenix Spacecraft Corrects Course (space.com)

Raver32 writes: "NASA's Mars-bound Phoenix lander completed its first and biggest course correction planned during the spacecraft's journey. The second of the remaining five planned adjustments prior to landing is scheduled for mid-October. "These first two together take out the bias intentionally put in at launch," said Brian Portock, Phoenix navigation team chief at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Phoenix blasted off Earth aboard a Delta 2 rocket on Aug. 4 and now careens through space at 74,200 mph (33,180 meters per second)-a speed necessary to cover the 422 millions miles (679 million kilometers) between Earth and Mars by May 25, 2008."
Software

Submission + - Locating an earthquake in 5 minutes

Roland Piquepaille writes: "When a powerful earthquake hit Indonesia's West Java on August 8, 2007, it took exactly 4 minutes and 38 seconds to be detected, located and sized by the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) currently under construction in Indonesia. Even more remarkable, the location of the earthquake was found after only 2 minutes and 11 seconds. 'For comparison, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Hawaii published the location and magnitude of this earthquake after about 17 minutes.' This very fast analysis was made possible by a combination of hardware and software developed in Germany. As said one German scientist who is leading the project, 'By the end of 2008 Indonesia will possess the most modern seismological network for tsunami early warning in the world.' Read more for additional references and an illustration showing the various GITEWS wireless components."
Microsoft

Cross-Platform Microsoft 348

willdavid sends us to the ZDNet blogs for a provocative opinion piece by John Carroll. He points to Microsoft's evident cross-platform strategy with Silverlight, and wonders whether the company couldn't make money — and win friends — by extending its excellent development ecosystem cross-platorm. "Microsoft, apparently, is helping the folks at Mono to port Silverlight to Linux. This is good news, as the primary fear I've heard from developers is that Silverlight will be locked to Microsoft platforms and products. Microsoft has already committed to supporting Silverlight cross-browser on Windows, and has a version that runs on Mac OS X (which is even available from the Apple web site). The last step is Linux, and Microsoft is working with Novell and Mono to make this happen."

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