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Medicine

Submission + - Killer 'minicells' fight drug-resistant cancer (cosmosmagazine.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Specially designed 'minicells' successfully target and kill cancer cells — the new technology has the "potential to deliver drugs that were considered undeliverable," scientists say. In mice seeded with human tumours, then treated with this new technique, the recovery rate was 100%. In the next few months, EnGeneIc will recruit 20 long-term cancer patients for a phase one safety trial at three Melbourne hospitals.
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Man Attempts to Build Toaster from Raw Materials

Submitted by Strudelkugel
Strudelkugel writes: Thomas Thwaites is attempting to build a toaster from raw materials, meaning ore. His page describes the materials he will need, attempts to smelt iron ore, and some comments on the significance of the huge industrial complex that gives us things like toasters. It's an ongoing project, so stay tuned! From his page: "After some research I have determined that I will need the following materials to make a toaster. Copper, to make the pins of the electric plug, the cord, and internal wires. Iron to make the steel grilling apparatus, and the spring to pop up the toast. Nickel to make the heating element. Mica (a mineral a bit like slate) around which the heating element is wound, and of course plastic for the plug and cord insulation, and for the all important sleek looking casing. The first four of these materials are dug out of the ground, and plastic is derived from oil, which is generally sucked up through a hole. Part of the project consists of finding the places where it's possible to dig up these raw materials. Mining no longer happens in the UK, but the country is dotted with abandoned mines, some having been worked since before the 'UK' existed, but all currently uneconomical. Finding ways to process the raw materials on a domestic scale is also an issue. For example, my first attempt to extract metal involved a chimney pot, some hair-dryers, a leaf blower, and a methodology from the 15th century — this is about the level of technology we can manage when we're acting alone. I failed to get pure enough iron in this way, though if I'd tried a few more times and refined my technique and knowledge of the process I probably would've managed in the end. Instead I found a 2001 patent about industrial smelting of Iron ores using microwave energy. "
Media

Submission + - The Magnificent MPAA Lobbying Machine

Submitted by CuteSteveJobs
CuteSteveJobs writes: Ars Technica recently reported how big media is manipulating public opinion, with Law Professor Michael Geist tracing reports, polls, and lobbying back to two primary sources: the music and movie businesses. Australia's Fairfax group published an article by Journalists Eamonn Duff and Rachel Browne claiming that people who download films from illegal file-sharing websites are financing terrorism. The article only quoted media industry sources and was basically a warmed-up press release. That evening Channel Seven's "Sunday Night" current affairs program claimed how how movie piracy is being used to fund terrorist groups including Hezbollah and Jemaah Islamiah, responsible for the Bali bombings in 2002 which killed hundreds including 94 Australians. Reporter Mike Munro claimed pirates "could burn a DVD in 3.5 seconds."

While technically-savy voters can sort fact from fiction, technically-illiterate politicians are easily swayed. What's the best way to combat this sort of misinformation? Is it possible to educate our politicians that there are two sides to every story? Or are they hopelessly in the lobbyists' pockets?
Privacy

Submission + - Iranian protestors using TOR, revitalize project (washingtontimes.com) 1

Submitted by
Death Metal
Death Metal writes: "Iranians seeking to share videos and other eyewitness accounts of the demonstrations that have roiled their country since disputed elections two weeks ago are using an Internet encryption program originally developed by and for the U.S. Navy.

Designed a decade ago to secure Internet communications between U.S. ships at sea, The Onion Router, or TOR, has become one of the most important proxies in Iran for gaining access to Web sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook."
Space

Submission + - Buzz Aldrin on NASA's future

Submitted by
basil64
basil64 writes: "Buzz Aldrin has weighed in on NASA's long term plans; In short, extend the soon-to-be-cancelled space shuttle, extend the Constellation program and colonize Mars, in an interview with Lester Haines at The Register http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/28/aldrin_space_vision/
from the article:
"The agency's current Vision for Space Exploration will waste decades and hundreds of billions of dollars trying to reach the moon by 2020 — a glorified rehash of what we did 40 years ago. Instead of a steppingstone to Mars, NASA's current lunar plan is a detour."
Aldrin has always been one of the most vocal of NASA's astronauts on the topic of why the future ain't what it used to be; a vocal proponent for space exploration, colonization, and the probability of extra-terrestrial life, He is seen by some as 'out there' but i believe he has the true pioneer attitude that got the whole space program off the ground (so to speak)"
The Military

Submission + - Archives Show Poison Dart Bombs Developed for WWII

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "BBC reports that newly opened archives from World War II show a coordinated project between Britain and Canada to develop millions of darts, to be dropped from aircraft in "500lb cluster projectiles" each containing 30,000 darts laced with a poison that could cause death "within 30 seconds" without damaging nearby buildings or equipment. A "grooved zinc alloy dart" would contain a small poison deposit in the hollow needle section, kept in place by a cotton and wax seal, while a paper tail would keep it flying straight at up to 250 ft per second. Under the heading "Lethality" the "Top Secret" note explained: "If penetrating into the flesh, will cause death if not plucked out within 30 seconds. If plucked out within this time will cause disablement by collapse. Collapse occurs within 1-5 minutes, and death within 30 minutes." Trials with the darts were conducted at an experimental station in Suffield, Alberta, Canada where in one experiment, the Canadians dressed sheep and goats in two layers of battledress material and positioned them across a wide area, some in trenches, to be exposed to the killer darts. It is unclear why the weapon was rejected although it is speculated that Britain may have worried that its enemies would adopt the poisoned darts and use them on British troops. "To our modern sensibilities it seems shocking and there's a real sense of viciousness about this weapon," says Mark Dunton, a contemporary history specialist at the National Archives. "But it shows the Allies were prepared to consider anything — no matter how gruesome — to secure a victory.""
The Internet

Submission + - Google mistook Jackson searches for net attack (pcauthority.com.au)

Submitted by Slatterz
Slatterz writes: Web giant Google has admitted it thought the sudden spike in searches for Michael Jackson on Thursday was a massive, coordinated internet attack, leading it to post an error page on Google News. The company's director of product management, RJ Pittman, explained that search volume began to increase around 2pm PDT on Thursday and 'skyrocketed' by 3pm, finally stabilising at around 8pm. According to Pittman, last week also saw one of the largest mobile search spikes ever seen, with 5 of the top 20 searches about Jackson. Google wasn't the only site caught out by the extraordinary events. The Los Angeles Times web site also crashed soon after it broke the news of Jackson's death.
Music

Submission + - Licensing issues shut down Pandora Outside US (pandora.com)

Submitted by randalotto
randalotto writes: I'm in France for the summer and have been listening to Pandora at work. I tried logging on tonight and was greeted with a surprising message:

"We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for listeners located outside of the U.S. We will continue to work diligently to realize the vision of a truly global Pandora, but for the time being we are required to restrict its use. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative. ...

The pace of global licensing is hard to predict, but we have the ultimate goal of being able to offer our service everywhere."

I'm not sure what the deal is or what licensing requirements suddenly changed, but Pandora in France is no more...
Music

Submission + - The New Evil of Zune DRM 1

Submitted by
Rjak
Rjak writes: "Further to last week's post about Zune DRM (which we are now blissfully free of), this morning I fired up my wife's old Zune software and discovered yet another interesting restriction. Zune's licensing servers are down, so if we were still Zune customers we wouldn't be allowed to listen to the music we bought. Note that this isn't Zune Pass stuff — we never subscribed to Zune pass — this is stuff we bought outright, and we would be disallowed to listen to it because a machine somewhere in the world is down for maintenance.

I don't care what the license agreement says and I don't care that we glossed over it and didn't hire a lawyer to advise us on our Sunday morning music ... this is pure comedy

Screen Capture"

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