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Feed Agent Protects Cells From Lethal Effects Of Radiation Even If Given After Exposu (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Researchers report they have developed an agent that protects cells from the lethal effects of radiation, regardless of whether it is given before or after exposure. Using this agent in mice, the investigators found that the treatment helped shield rapidly dividing cells that are most vulnerable to radiation-induced death, providing proof in principle that it is possible to fend off radiation damage.
United States

Submission + - Big Brother's new tracking powers...

Submitted by
daffydory
daffydory writes: "In a recent story, The New York Times writes that "The bill would require the government to establish a public database of clinical trials and their results. Lawmakers said this would make it difficult for drug companies to hide evidence of safety problems, as they said some had done in the past. The database would also make it easier for patients to learn of clinical trials testing drugs that could save their lives."
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Now, I don't know if I found the new bill posted on http://thomas.loc.gov/ or not, Perhaps it's being updated becasuse it's so recently passed [such as my searches -vs- story info is dicy] but this one was disturbing enough, so it could be S. 1024 To improve the underlying science of drug safety decisionmaking and strengthen the ability of the Food and Drug Administration to assess, manage, and communicate drug safety information to patients and providers. IANAL, but it seems to indicate (to ME, mind you) that someone will be gathering all kinds of personal medical data and stick it in one searchable databse. Who exactly gets those keys to the kingdom? How is the data finding it's way there? How secure can you make something this large?

Now, do we actually have the processing power and storage, let alone the physical amount of people inputting time, to take on something this size? /.'ers thoughts?? AND THEN, the thought of "should they be able to have my psychiatrist's notes processed through some pencil dot test form submission available to cross correlate with DNA profiles?" Of course that's sounds like some almost disturbing Orwellian news from our Government" [possibly worse-case-scenario, granted] . Even if not, it still gives some weird power to The Powers That Be."
Security

A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft 435

Posted by samzenpus from the chip-the-children dept.
Dieppe writes "A simple chip added to a DVD disk could prevent retail theft. According to the AP article at MSNBC, the chip would be activated at the register to make a previously dark area of the DVD clear, and therefore readable. Could this help to stem the tide of the approximate $400 million dollars in losses from brick and mortar stores? Game console DVDs could also be protected this way too. Could this help to bring the prices down on DVD games and movies?"
Operating Systems

Submission + - Project at Sun aims for a more Linux-like Solaris

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A project at Sun Microsystems code-named "Indiana", led by Debian founder now Sun employee Ian Murdock, aims to make Solaris more like Linux to appeal more to developers who use Linux.

From the article, "Sun has been trying for years to restore the luster of Solaris, a version of Unix that peaked in popularity in the late 1990s, but that since has faced a strong challenge chiefly from Linux. Sun has worked to reinvigorate Solaris by boosting its performance, offering it as a free download, making it an open-source project called OpenSolaris, and pushing a version that runs on servers using Intel's and AMD's mainstream x86 processors ... Sun wants to embrace some Linux elements so 'we make Solaris a better Linux than Linux,' Murdock said, quoting Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, whose latest start-up, Ning, uses Solaris."

Linux has strived to be POSIX-compliant and conform to the Single UNIX Specification, but now it looks like Sun has plans to make Solaris a better fit for Linux users as well.
Software

Submission + - Ways People Screw Up AJAX

Submitted by
foo
foo writes: "People are aware of the good that technologies such as AJAX have added to sites such as gmail, digg, and slashdot. The negative aspects and implementations of AJAX have mostly avoided by the media and are rarely spoken. CGISecurity has published a top 5 list of problems which can be encountered by implementing AJAX improperly."
Privacy

Submission + - UPDATE : Long Range Eye Tracking for Advertisers

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Roel Vertegaal, the developer of the eyebox2 says although his device is not designed to be used in an Orwellian capacity, it's a very real possibility.

From the article: "But although Vertegaal ruled out the marriage of the eyebox2 technology with retina scanners or image capturing devices, he conceded the possibility was out there and warned that if customers chose to combine the eyebox2 technology with other image capturing devices, there was little his company could do about it.

"[Already], face recognition software is being used in Europe to track shopping mall theft," he said. "While we do not encourage such use, and given that our cameras cannot identify people or provide images, it still seems these directions are already being taken by other companies regardless of our hardware."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Domain Profiteering from the Va. Tech Shootings

Submitted by Radon360
Radon360 writes: Within hours of the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, dozens of domain names that reflected this tragedy were snapped up by those looking to profit from the later auction and sale of these names. Cybersquatting on popular word combinations after a big news event is not uncommon. However, at what point does making money from other people's misfortunes cross the line? When the names of the victims were released, domains such as jarrettlane.com were also claimed.
Security

Shredded Secret Police Files Being Reassembled 222

Posted by samzenpus from the burn-the-papers-from-now-on dept.
An anonymous reader writes "German researchers at the Frauenhofer Institute said Wednesday that they were launching an attempt to reassemble millions of shredded East German secret police files using complicated computerized algorithms. The files were shredded as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and it became clear that the East German regime was finished. Panicking officials of the Stasi secret police attempted to destroy the vast volumes of material they had kept on everyone from their own citizens to foreign leaders."

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