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Medicine

First Anti-Cancer Nanoparticle Trial On Humans a Success 260

Posted by samzenpus from the smallest-medicine dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Nanoparticles have been able to disable cancerous cells in living human bodies for the first time. The results are perfect so far, killing tumors with no side effects whatsoever. Mark Davis, project leader at CalTech, says that 'it sneaks in, evades the immune system, delivers the siRNA, and the disassembled components exit out.' Truly amazing."
Businesses

EA To Charge For Game Demos 313

Posted by Soulskill from the gotta-stay-ahead-of-activision-as-the-most-evil-game-corp dept.
Kohato brings word of a new Electronic Arts marketing strategy that aims to start monetizing game demos. According to industry analyst Michael Patcher after an EA investor visit, the publisher will start selling "premium downloadable content" prior to a game's release for $10-$15 that is essentially a longer-than-usual demo. Patcher said, "I think that the plan is to release PDLC at $15 that has 3-4 hours of gameplay, so [it has] a very high perceived value, then [EA will] take the feedback from the community (press and players) to tweak the follow-on full game that will be released at a normal packaged price point." He also made reference to a comment from EA's CEO John Riccitiello that "the line between packaged product sales and digital revenues would soon begin to blur."
Businesses

Submission + - A scam for the Holidays (complaintsboard.com)

Submitted by SubstormGuy
SubstormGuy writes: This is kind of an old story, but one worth repeating during the holidays when so many online-purchases are made. The link above is just one of many that talk about a very common scam. Many companies, such as Pizza Hut and Drugstore.com, sell credit card info to CompleteSavings.com, which then places a $12/month bill on your credit card forever! I discovered it recently as a result of a Pizza Hut purchase and I'll never buy from them again. Charges appear on your card with the number 1-800-826-1885. What I don't understand is why CompleteSavings.com is not shut down and why those corporations who sell credit card info to CompleteSavings.com are not sanctioned. Just google "complete savings scam" or "1-800-826-1885" and you will see how widespread the problem really is.
NASA

Submission + - Simulation of Closest Asteroid Fly-By (wired.com) 1

Submitted by c0mpliant
c0mpliant writes: NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have released a simulation of the path of an asteroid, named Apophis, that will come closest to Earth, since humans have monitored for such heavenly bodies. The asteroid, which once held an above 2% chance of impacting Earth, had caused a bit of a scare when it was first announced that it would enter Earth's neighborhood some 30 years in the future.

However since that announcement in 2004, more recent calculations have put the number at 1 in 250'000. The simulation can viewed here.
Science

Submission + - Reducing one amino acid could increase lifespan (sciencenews.org)

Submitted by
John Bryson
John Bryson writes: "Eating less of one amino acid might lengthen your life. There have been lots of previous studies showing that many species live long on highly restricted calories, but a lot of this benefit may be possible by only restricting one amino acid. Amino acids that have shown this have been tryptophan and methionine. A recent study, published online December 2 in Nature, a highly respected journal, may help explain some of the health benefits of restricted-calorie diets. Grandison, R.C., Piper, M.D.W., and Partridge, L. 2009. Amino-acid imbalance explains extension of lifespan by dietary restriction in Drosophila. Nature, published online Dec. 2. doi:10.1038/nature08619"
Mozilla

Firefox Most Vulnerable Browser, Safari Close 369

Posted by CmdrTaco from the say-what-now dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Cenzic released its report revealing the most prominent types of Web application vulnerabilities for the first half of 2009. The report identified over 3,100 total vulnerabilities, which is a 10 percent increase in Web application vulnerabilities compared to the second half of 2008. Among Web browsers, Mozilla Firefox had the largest percentage of Web vulnerabilities, followed by Apple Safari, whose browser showed a vast increase in exploits, due to vulnerabilities reported in the Safari iPhone browser." It seems a bit surprising to me that this study shows that only 15% of vulnerabilities are in IE.

Comment Re:Missed by Voyager? (Score 1) 255

by Peredur (#29672755) Attached to: NASA Discovers Giant Ring Around Saturn

In a vacuum you only lose heat via radiation, and you know that's pretty slow, since Vacuum flasks can keep things hot for a really long time.

So yeah, breathing would be your concern.

That's not really true. Vacuum flasks are also covered with reflective coatings inside so that the heat loss from radiation is also minimized. Also when considering heat loss from radiation, what's important is the difference of temperature between the surroundings and the object. If the surrounding's also warm, it would also give the object heat by radiation. If the surrounding is space, the heat you get by radiation is negligible, so yes, you would freeze very quickly.
But whether it would be quicker than explosion of your body due to lack of outside pressure, I don't really know. But my guess is you wouldn't have time to be concerned about anything.

Actually, you have exactly 30 seconds. Any longer than that and there is no chance a passing spaceship will pick you up.
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Accoustic "Superlens" Could Make Subs Invi (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by
Al
Al writes: "Nicholas Fang and colleagues at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created the first acoustic superlens, which could be used to create high-resolution ultrasound images, and perhaps ultimately make subs and ships invisible to sonar. Researchers have previously developed materials that bend light in ways that appear to violate the laws of physics, creating so-called optical superlenses. The first acoustic superlens consists of an aluminum array of narrow-necked resonant cavities filed with water--the dimensions of the cavities are tuned to interact with ultrasound waves. When ultrasound waves move through the array, the cavities resonate and the sound is refocused."
Biotech

Submission + - Human Language Gene Changes How Mice Squeak 2

Submitted by archatheist
archatheist writes: Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have engineered a mouse whose FOXP2 gene has been swapped out for (different) human version. This is interesting because the gene is implicated in human language, and this has changed how mice squeak. Forget planet of the apes... get your tiny paws off me, you darn dirty mouse!

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