" ... they could also be responsible for spreading life throughout the cosmos."

You humans are so self-centered. You think that because you are 'alive' according to your way of thinking, that being alive is ideal. Anything that 'spreads life' is a good thing.

Well, guess what? Some of us who are not so limited in our thinking happen to believe that your idea of life is erroneous. You fail to consider that you are only the poor expression of a nearly perfect DNA molecule. Your purpose is to continue to propagate until we reach absolute perfection, at which time we till kiss your ass goodbye and continue our travels through the universe.

"When Samsung announced in 2013 it was testing 5G at 1Gbps, journalists excitedly reported that would mean an HD film could be downloaded in a second. "

One Gb might hold about 1/10 of an ordinary film, not HD. I have films that purport to be HD which take about 1GB (Bytes, not bits), but they are poor quality. 4GB is a good size for a decent film experience. Considering overhead, it might take 40 seconds at the speed quoted above.

The BBC article is disappointing. More like tabloid spectacle than sober news.

Eric Schmidt runs Google and seems to have great influence on its overall direction and this project in particular. Many people think of Google as a generally 'good' company, and by extension Mr. Schmidt should be good.

But there is strong evidence that he dances with wolves. That he is very adept at maneuvering among regulators, the military elite and masters of industry. And it is industry and conservative industrialists who have been fighting the 'green thing' since the beginning. It is known that he meets and mingles with these people but it is difficult to know what they talk about together.

So, if we 'follow the money', we might find that this study was influenced inappropriately.

Don't mobs make you nervous?

Historically we had the witchcraft trials, the Inquisition, the Crusades, Hitler and so many others. Ordinary people hysterically afraid of some imagined evil and lead by a charismatic or powerful person to do unspeakable things.

In our own lives we've seen mobs in high school cliques, at football games, in the middle east, and in response to events like this shooting where media and instigators fuel the flames of insanity.

Kinda makes me wish that people would learn to think for themselves and not just follow the loudest angry voice they hear.

Eeyow, I'm trying very hard not to rant about irresponsible child-bearing which contributes greatly to transportation problems and just about every evil on our planet ... OK, ok, I think I've got it under control ...

There was a time when people lived in rural areas and had to provide their own water & sewage systems, and their own transportation. I was there. We idolized cars and horsepower. We souped 'em up & tricked 'em out. Today's young people have little love for cars and many don't bother to get a license to drive. They take the bus, taxi, subway or bicycle to get around town. The trend to urbanization continues, and at a rapid rate in China and some other areas. City planners are now encouraging this to preserve what little open space remains in outlying areas.

It is ludicrous for an urban dweller to own a car today. Various services will make it more so in the future. Rentals and use of borrowed robocars will serve future urban users, but ordinary public transportation will be even more prevalent.

If you work a farm or the oil fields of North Dakota, you need your own transportation. Otherwise, be smart and use what's provided for you, often at taxpayer expense.

Do you still believe the 1945 science that says eating cholesterol will cause you to have high cholesterol? Have you reviewed any papers since that time? Science has improved, please consider doing the same. Eat a delicious egg while you think about it.

Cookies with sugar in them? Yeah, that's healthy! Why not make an 'all natural' cola drink while you're at it and load it with 'all natural' sugar? Learn about xylitol for a healthier alternative. But, even better, stop promoting an already dangerous addiction to sweets.

It appears from your ingredient list that there is no flour in your cookies; "chocolate chip | sugar | oatmeal raisin | peanut butter" - can that be true? Flour can be as deadly as sugar and there is no healthy way to consume either for most people.

This is one study of thousands worldwide that essentially say the same thing. Reduce carbs, increase dietary fat. Over 30 years ago Dr. Atkins began that mantra and well over 30 million people have verified that it works. Atkins followers typically eat more calories than before they began the high-fat lifestyle. It's not just for fat people, diabetics or other sick people- this diet will make most people healthier and live longer. It is difficult to find any measurable health indicator that doesn't improve with low carb, high fat diets. As mentioned elsewhere, there are very large corporations that don't want you to improve your diet and they have elected officials on their payroll (thus the Food Pyramid, unlabelled ingredients, etc).

It's not easy to avoid donuts, bread, cereal, rice, potatoes, bananas, candy, etc. But what value do you put on your health and the health of your children?

If you choose to believe the Food Pyramid or the 'common sense' that eating fat will make you fat, it's your choice. But do consider science, which has offered this correct answer for many decades.

Shades of another quaint and serene Village from 1967, where The Prisoner (- a Secret Agent, played by Patrick McGoohan) was kept in a surreal setting among people who sometimes behaved as though brain dead. The quote reflects the prisoner's anger that nobody in the Village would call him by name; only his assigned number 6.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... [Wikipedia]

Still, everything was provided to the inmates. If The Prisoner wasn't so stubborn he might have enjoyed it. (Youngsters rejoice; if you missed the original Prisoner TV series, you may have another chance- director Christopher Nolan may be planning a movie version.)

This is a good place to discuss the seed banks around the world where the genetic diversity of endangered (and extinct) plants is protected. I'm not expert but perhaps you are.

Also, it seems that the opensourceseedinitiative site hasn't seen any activity for many months. Are they endangered too?

"The government is getting near-daily reports..."

As I hinted, 'the government' is a useless phrase. Are we referring to the US Commerce Dept? The US FDA? The California Dept. of Food and Agriculture? The Texas Dept. of White Supremacy? There are ten thousand agencies, most unrelated to the others and few that the US Administration can be held responsible for (but go ahead, blame Obama). It is helpful to be specific.

"The government is getting near-daily reports..."

I want Slashdot readers to know I love them for so many insights. But let's not be arrogant about US citizenship. Many readers are not so blessed, and when we say "the government" they may be confused about which we are referring to.

Please, then, say "the US government" if that is what you are speaking of. Notice that most of those outsiders specify which government they are speaking of. And for all you little foreigners, I hope you benefit from this message.

The link is to dailydot.com. Every link at dailydot is to another dailydot page. Yes, this often happens at slashdot, but it is a sign of, um, what should I call it? When you only link to your own site, you may not be serving the public as well as you could.

I'd like to see links to insightful pages outside the original site. That is increasingly harder to find. This 'Evolution' site is said to be the 'biggest Dark Net market of all time' and yet there is no link to it or to any site that has something useful to say about it. This /. story seems to be a useless tease.

I was a great fan of paleontology as a child. I was in awe of the creatures and the dedicated scientists that discovered them. Now, not so much.

After many decades of exploration and documentation of discoveries, how much useful information has been uncovered? These new discoveries are mildly interesting to an adult.

Biology in the past, as biology today is not built upon awesome organisms that prey on giant creatures; it is far more about microscopic organisms. These often determine the fate of the glamorous plants and animals, and are far more important.

As an adult, I'd like to learn about the less visibly impressive creatures that truly formed the world we have now. Funding for the study of ancient amoeba, fungi and bacteria may be hard to find, but should honest research take second fiddle to spectacular showmanship?

"so he can 'pray for them', on the other hand"

So, um, what is he doing with the first hand?

[good analysis from parent]

Western Civilization was built upon an education system that was intended to prepare students for life. They were instructed in the Arts and Sciences (such as they were then) and the skills to succeed in their environment. Philosophy and analytic thinking were prized.

It may be the Industrial Age that brought about our current thinking about education. Early on, there was still emphasis upon languages, history, philosophy; but more and more education came to be about training people to feed industrial needs.

Now there is little pretense of preparing a generation to appreciate art, language, culture... Colleges require a smattering of these but it's clearly about job preparation.

The parent article says "I think the industry needs some sort of advanced trade schools..." and that is exactly right. High school students can choose a 'career college' and learn programming, medicine or structural engineering etc, or they can choose a 'liberal college' that teaches them about the world in which they will live- Culture, history, all the arts... These people will become the thoughtful advisers to corporations and government, teachers of younger people, and guides to the people in their own community who lack a broad education. Their motto will be