The human being has a built in risk management system. I wouldn't like the 5% failure to happen say at the train platform or near a road crossing. We take special care and do a lot of subconscious checking in more dangerous situations. True we are not foolproof, but we have a lifetime of reasoning to fall back on. The wheelchair system is a bit like a child. Kids need extra help in similar conditions becasue their peripheral vision is not great, their sense of risk and reasoning is still developing. I'm sure these wheelchair owners would be making the same calls about some overide intervention at high risk times. Good idea though. I'd sure hate it if I were stuck in a wheelchair.

Spot on. Tuly remarkable. Just as impressive is tracking Pioneer 10; a 2.7m wide hunk of shiny metal over 100 AU from the sun. I want to be at the finish line at Aldebaran in 2 million years. At least the champers will be cold :-) Of course, Voyager 1 is now all the go, because it is moving much faster than Pioneer 10, it is now the futherest man-made object at 108 AU. See here; http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Voyager_1 I wonder if people will remember Pioneer 10?

Because girls aren't easily turned on by nerdy scientists!

See Greg Laden's notes here. http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/06/lost_moon_tapes_found_in_perth.php?utm_source=sbhomepage&utm_medium=link&utm_content=channellink Because I'm from Perth this is old news. As Greg points out, the Daily Express may have some retracting to do.

There is plenty software makers can do to make games more playable and enjoyable - start looking at the scripts, story play and character acting. The console gaming segment has made for fairly linear stories to get to check-points. Look, I'm not saying that the 80s games were terrific either with the "get object A and take to room B" gameplay, but there was only so much to stuff into 64Kb of memory. Some RPG open stories and environments, like Oblivion and Sacred show how characeters that want to explore and advance their character the way they want can do it. Far Cry 2 is a rare modern shooter that has the same concept. I'm sure it is cheaper to explore this avenue and probably more succesful than to invest in working out how to get quad cores cranking. I'm still using DX9 and happy with it. Now lets go get that Kilrathi scum, Paladin!

Oh, grow up!

Regardless of Iran's internal political system and electoral fixing and judging it unworthy, we must look in our own back yard before hefting those bricks of implaccable disbelief. I recall an hung election not long back in the good old US of A. where thousands of poor and downtrodden were scrubbed off the electoral rolls with the click of a contractors keyboard. Then there were all those discrepencies in Florida, Fox declaring victory for Gore, only to be told "recant, recant". Just happened to be in a state run by the soon-to-be-president's brother. Perhaps these things are OK for mature countries in the land of the free. Hmm.. I had better check my English Dictionary and see if there was another entry under "democracy" that I may have missed.