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Comment Re:Cure? (Score 3, Interesting) 72

by Amenacier (#26310919) Attached to: Test For Prostate Cancer Gene Soon To Be Available
Carrying the mutant genes in question (such as the ones that give a predisposition to breast cancer or prostate cancer) is not a sure sign that you will actually contract that cancer. Virii are part of a biological system, and as such are not immune from natural forces such as mutation rates - while DNA replication and other cellular mechanisms are designed to maintain the integrity of the genetic information, the processes are not perfect. So is it worth taking a risk to fix an allele that predisposes you to cancer with a treatment that may induce cancer itself?

Comment Significantly easier? (Score 2, Interesting) 72

by Amenacier (#26310593) Attached to: Test For Prostate Cancer Gene Soon To Be Available

The case of the British couple who had their daughter tested for the presence of mutant breast cancer genes is not representative of all genetic testing for breast cancer genes. This case involves pre-implantation diagnosis, and if the child was carrying the mutant alleles for the breast cancer genes, the only option to avoid having a child carrying the mutations would have been to abort the foetus (or carry it to term, but knowing that it carried the mutant alleles). But this isn't the usual way of testing for mutations in those genes - I could go and be tested tomorrow, and from what I understand it would involve a blood sample (see for details on testing for the breast cancer genes). Granted, a saliva test would be easier than a blood test, but all in all they're both far easier than the pre-implantation diagnosis carried out in the referenced articles (Slashdot article and the orignal article from the BBC).
Editorial

The Player Is and Is Not the Character 152

Posted by Soulskill from the i-agree-and-disagree dept.
Jill Duffy writes "GameCareerGuide has posted an intellectual article about video games which argues there is no such thing as 'breaking the fourth wall' in games. Written by Matthew Weise, a lead game designer for the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, the article considers the complex relationship between video game players and characters. Weise says that, unlike in theater and film, video games don't ever really break the fourth wall, as it were, because in games, there is no wall. Players are always tethered to the technology, and the player is always just as much the main character as not the main character. Weise looks at both modern experimental games, like Mirror's Edge, as well as old classics, like Sonic the Hedgehog, to defend his point. He writes, 'Both avatars and the technological devices we use to control them are never simply in one reality. They are inherently liminal entities, contributing to a mindset that we, as players, exist in two realities at once. It's just as natural for a player to say, "I defeated that boss," as it is to say, "Snake defeated that boss," since Snake is and is not the player at the same time. It is likewise natural for a player to say, "I punched an enemy soldier," when in reality, she punched no one. All she did was press a button.'"
Transportation

Bay Area To Install Electric Vehicle Grid 388

Posted by kdawson from the recharge-it dept.
Mike writes "Recently San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland unveiled a massive concerted effort to become the electric vehicle capitol of the United States. The Bay Area will be partnering with Better Place to create an essential electric vehicle infrastructure, marking a huge step towards the acceptance of electric vehicles as a viable alternative to those that run on fossil fuels." Inhabitat.com has some conceptual illustrations and a map showing EV infrastructure, such as battery exchange stations, stretching from Sacramento to San Diego — though this is far more extensive than the Bay Area program actually announced, which alone is estimated to cost $1 billion.
Enlightenment

Submission + - 100+ years on, Einstein's still being proven right (physorg.com)

Submitted by Klootzak
Klootzak writes: 103 years after he proposed the Mass-energy equivilence formula Einstein's theory has finally been proven.

The famous E=mc2 equation has long been considered "common knowledge", however it's only been proven recently by French, German and Hungarian Physicists utilizing some of the worlds most powerful supercomputers. This research has now proved the effects of both the E=mc2 formula and time dilation which were hypothesised in Einstin's theory of relativity.
The Courts

Submission + - Harry Potter Lexicon Appeals (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "RDR Books, the would-be publisher of the book version of the 'Harry Potter Lexicon' web site, has filed an appeal from the Judge's decision in Warner Bros. Pictures v. RDR Books, the case involving the Harry Patter Lexicon. The Judge, after a bench trial, issued an injunction and awarded statutory damages of $6750, holding that the Lexicon was not protected by fair use due to (a) sloppiness in attribution in sections, (b) the length of some of the quotes, and (c) imitation of J.K. Rowling's writing style in portions. (I recently wrote an article criticizing the opinion, but doubting that an appeal would be taken in view of the small damages award. I guess I underestimated the resolve of the defendants and defendants' lawyers — who include the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society."
Biotech

The Gene Is Having an Identity Crisis 257

Posted by kdawson from the more-complicated-than-you-thought dept.
gollum123 writes "New large-scale studies of DNA are causing a rethinking of the very nature of genes. A typical gene is no longer conceived of as a single chunk of DNA encoding a single protein. It turns out, for example, that several different proteins may be produced from a single stretch of DNA. Most of the molecules produced from DNA may not even be proteins, but rather RNA. The familiar double helix of DNA no longer has a monopoly on heredity: other molecules clinging to DNA can produce striking differences between two organisms with the same genes — and those molecules can be inherited along with DNA. Scientists have been working on exploring the 98% of the genome not identified as the protein-coding region. One of the biggest of these projects is an effort called the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, or 'Encode.' And its analysis of only 1% of the genome reveals the genome to be full of genes that are deeply weird, at least by the traditional standard of what a gene is supposed to be and do. The Encode team estimates that the average protein-coding region produces 5.7 different transcripts. Different kinds of cells appear to produce different transcripts from the same gene. And it gets even weirder. Our DNA is studded with millions of proteins and other molecules, which determine which genes can produce transcripts and which cannot. New cells inherit those molecules along with DNA. In other words, heredity can flow through a second channel."
Censorship

Largest Aussie ISP Agrees To "Ridiculous" Net-Filter Trial 231

Posted by timothy from the may-you-get-what-you-desire dept.
Klootzak writes "Michael Malone, head of Australia's largest ISP iiNet announced today that his company would sign up to the Government's live trials of the Great Firewall of Australia. In an article published by The Age, Mr Malone is quoted calling Stephen Conroy 'The worst Communications Minister we've had in the 15 years since the [internet] industry has existed.' Despite at first giving the impression that iiNet is rolling over like a good Government puppy the article quotes Mr Malone saying that the reasons for participating in this trial is to show how unfeasible and stupid it is — Quoted from the article: 'Every time a kid manages to get through this filter, we'll be publicizing it and every time it blocks legitimate content, we'll be publicizing it.' Let's hope that in typical fashion of government-instigated Internet-filtering that this stupid idea is just as useless, inefficient and ineffectual as the last one, and that the Australian Government realizes this before wasting more taxpayer dollars on it (seeing as the first attempt only cost taxpayers $84,000,000)."
Biotech

Submission + - Researchers Build Neuron Circuits (newscientist.com)

Submitted by
bendodge
bendodge writes: "Elisha Moses and his students at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel have developed a method of scratching glass to grow neurons into shapes that can be used for circuits.

The starting point is a glass plate coated with cell-repellent material. The desired circuit pattern is scratched into this coating and then coated with a cell-friendly adhesive. Unable to gain purchase on most of the plate, the cells are forced to grow in the scratched areas.

The scratched paths are thin enough to force the neurons to grow along them in one direction only, forming straight wire-like connections around the circuit.

Using this method the researchers built a device that acts like an AND logic gate, producing an output only when it receives two inputs.

"
Censorship

Submission + - Web censor critics gagged by Australian Government (smh.com.au)

Submitted by AcidAUS
AcidAUS writes: The Federal Government is attempting to silence critics of its controversial plan to censor the internet, which experts say will break the internet while doing little to stop people from accessing illegal material such as child pornography. Internet providers and the government's own tests have found that presently available filters are not capable of adequately distinguishing between legal and illegal content and can degrade internet speeds by up to 86 per cent.
Education

Voters Swayed By Candidates Who Share Their Looks 266

Posted by samzenpus from the govern-by-proxy dept.
iandoh writes "Stanford researchers have found that voters are subconsciously swayed by candidates who share their facial features. In three experiments, researchers at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab worked with cheap, easy-to-use computer software to morph pictures of about 600 test subjects with photos of politicians. And they kept coming up with the same results: For the would-be voters who weren't very familiar with the candidates or in perfect lockstep with their positions or political parties, the facial similarity was enough to clinch their votes."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - New Attempt at World Land Speed Record (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
jd
jd writes: "In the most eccentric of high-speed hardware hacks, Richard Noble's supersonic team is aiming to break their own World Land Speed Record, which currently stands at around 716 mph. This latest project straps a cockpit onto a Typhoon jet engine and a high-power rocket, with the aim of exceeding 1000 mph. The article gives most of the truly geeky stats on this project — nicknamed Bloodhound SSC — but omits that the driver will be experiencing an average of about 1.3g during the 40 seconds it takes to get up to full speed. The prior car to be developed by this team, Thrust SSC, had a jet engine on either side of a main body. At full speed, the sonic shockwave was etched into the sand. The damage caused by the vibrations came perilously close to shattering the entire vehicle. Had they gone much faster, neither the car nor the driver RAF pilot Andy Green would have survived. They also had enormous problems with downforce — the first practice run ripped into the ground badly. The new design is based on their experience with Thrust SSC, particularly on how not to design ground vehicles traveling faster than sound. The new vehicle is expected to debut at a desert near you in 2011."

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