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Medicine

Cure For Radiation Sickness Found? 385

Summit writes "A scientist has claimed to have discovered a radioprotectant that all but eliminates acute radiation sickness even in cases of lethal doses of radiation in tests on rats and monkeys, when injected up to 72 hours after exposure. They also claim the drug, a protein, has no observed negative effects in humans. They have not irradiated any people just yet, but if this turns out to be true, it could mean everything from curing cancer to making manned interplanetary space expeditions feasible... not to mention treatment for radiation exposures in nuclear/radiological accidents/attacks. If this drug works, it would mean a true breakthrough as past experiments with radioprotectants were not particularly promising in any respect." The only source for the story at this time is an exclusive in YNet News, a site with the subtitle "Israel At Your Fingertips." Such a radioprotectant would be huge news for Israel. Make of it what you will.

Comment The Fix (Score 5, Informative) 785

According to Herman at gizmodo, this is the solution:

"Your zune will need a "hard reset."

To do this, use a small screwdriver to pop off the plastic shielding where the zune cable plugs into and remove the two screws on either side of the plug. Next pop the cover off and locate the battery plug at the top left corner of the zune, using your screw driver, pop the cable connection half way off, and do this to the other plug on the right side. Wait 3 seconds, then push down the right connector and then the left battery connecter. Your zune should start up immediately. Press the backing of the zune down (make sure headphone jack is aligned) and put the screws and cover back in place.

It's an easy process but if you're unsure don't attempt it if you think you'll screw it or something. :)"

Not pretty, but it might help those of you who have this problem.

According to others on the forum, it is caused by the new firmware, so you might not want to update it. Changing the clock might be a temporary fix if you want the new firmware.

Medicine

Computer Detection Effective In Spotting Cancer 89

Anti-Globalism notes a large study out of the UK indicating that computer-aided detection can be as effective at spotting breast cancer as two experts reading the x-rays. Mammograms in Britain are routinely checked by two radiologists or technicians, which is thought to be better than a single review (in the US only a single radiologist reads each mammogram). In a randomized study of 31,000 women, researchers found that a single expert aided by a computer does as well as two pairs of eyes. CAD spotted nearly the same number of cancers, 198 out of 227, compared to 199 for the two readers. "In places like the United States, 'Where single reading is standard practice, computer-aided detection has the potential to improve cancer-detection rates to the level achieved by double reading,' the researchers said."
Software

Submission + - WSJ: Gaming, or Democratizing 'Most Viewed' Lists?

journalistguy writes: "The Wall Street Journal has an has an article on on how the content on news and other sites is manipulated by users. The article talks about a start-up called Collactive, which has been discussed here before . What's newsworthy, IMHO, is the fact that Collactive has opened their Web 2.0 site hammering service for use by anyone . They even put up an example on how a bunch of guys pwned the top photo slot on Yahoo News, albeit for a good cause. What I wonder is whether Collactive's APB system for taking collective action is truly a democratization of the Web, the world's first Web 3.0 service, or just another way to manipulate the news cycle?"
Security

Submission + - DDoS attack against finnish broadcasting company

Iloinen Lohikrme writes: The Finnish broadcasting company Yle has been targeted by an DDoS attack. The matter was reported in an net article by Helsingin Sanomat. Because of the attack, Yle's net pages aren't reachable. Currently it's not known from where the attack comes and who is responsible for it. It has been speculated that this attack may be related to recent attacks against Estonian governments web services and government sites [More about attacks in Estonia]. The attacks came as a surprise to Estonia and current attack against Yle comes as more, as there hasn't been any apparent reason for any individual or group to hold grudge against Yle. It could also be that some government, be it any great power, is running the attack against Yle as an live exercise to measure it's information war power and the readiness of other governments and government agencies to respond to this kind of attack.
The Courts

Submission + - SCO goes for Groklaw. Again...

beav007 writes: SCO has subpoenaed Pamela Jones of Groklaw again.

According to this article on TheRegister,

The attempted deposition will be seen by many as SCO's latest gambit to unmask Jones, who, it has claimed, to be in reality a group of IBM employees or an individual paid by IBM to portray SCO in an unfavorable light. Quoting press articles, SCO's action claims IBM "funneled" between $40,000 and $50,000 into Groklaw, which tracks the minutiae of SCO's cases against Novell and IBM. Also cited as proof of bias is the fact Groklaw is hosted for free on IBM servers at ibiblio.org. According to SCO, Jones has important information and has avoided its subpoenas by going on holiday.
Microsoft

Submission + - ODF Standardization Process Suspended in Malaysia

An anonymous reader writes: In a surprising move that has dismayed open standards supporters in Malaysia, the Malaysian Standardization National Body (SIRIM) has suspended standardization discussions on the OpenDocument Format. ODF was proposed as a voluntary Malaysian standard a year ago but discussions have languished at the technical body level with Microsoft Malaysia as the singular voice of opposition. The document format battles have gotten plenty of press in Malaysia in recent weeks with Microsoft Malaysia publicly accusing IBM of orchestrating ODF and anti-OOXML strategies in Malaysia without any proof. The SIRIM CEO agrees with Microsoft as much when he claims that "ODF supporters" are "proxies of international bodies with a business interest in promoting ODF" which led to his unilateral decision in suspending the standardization process. Microsoft employees blogging the document format battles are cheering the latest developments. This is the second setback in the last 6 months for open source and open standard initiatives in the country and there are fears that Microsoft lobbying is driving the Malaysian initiatives down the path of Massachusetts.
Google

Submission + - Google Desktop for Macs Security Risk

ansemond writes: "Google Desktop on the Mac silently installs an Input Manager whose function appears to be to load bundles of code into applications targeted by Google. The Input Manager is installed in a location where it will be loaded into every application run by any user of the Mac. The fact that it loads other code on demand is worrying as it could be used for malicious purposes. Moreover, it is odd that Google installs this software without requesting the user's permission given the recent controversy on this very topic. Hopefully Google will fix the issues outlined in the article in upcoming revisions of their software."
Windows

Submission + - Better Virtual Desktops

Joseph Fung writes: There are a number of virtual desktop applications out there that will allow you to change which applications appear to be open at any given time — however, I'm wondering whether or not there's anything out there that would allow you to create virtual desktops that include application and process/service states?

Be they called profiles, desktops, or what-not, I'm looking for a way to tell my computer to switch to "development mode" which would load up my php, mysql, and apache services, then switch to "design mode" which would terminate those processes and load up Photoshop and perhaps change my monitor's display mode. Beyond that, there are umpteen different modes that would be useful, such as "media machine" or "gaming box" that would be helpful as well.

Does anyone know if there's something like this out there?
Slashdot.org

Submission + - Can Slashdot save the world?

r3gx writes: "Hypothesis: There is no problem that the collective wisdom of /. can't solve. Test case: Global Warming There has got to be a viable scientific solution to the problem of Global Warming. Is there another easily produced gas we can release into the atmosphere? Can C02 be converted into another stable state? C02 exist in the ocean as it is highly soluble, could this natural process be expedited, and what would this do to the PH of the ocean? Can we take all the excess C02, make dry ice and re-freeze Greenland? OK, so that last one is more funny than viable, but we all know the situation is no laughing matter. Yet we go on with our daily lives slashdotting about how to build a faster computer or who is suing who while we continue to emit thousands of tons of C02 and other greenhouse gasses daily. Is it possible to cut C02 and other greenhouse gas emissions significantly enough in the near future to counter global warming? I personally do not think so. There has to be another scientific solution."

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