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Biotech

Submission + - Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health

Submitted by
Parallax Blue
Parallax Blue writes: "The Independent is reporting new findings that indicate a common additive called sodium benzoate, found in soft drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max (among others,) has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA in a cell's mitochondria. From the article: 'The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it — as happens in a number of diseased states — then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA — Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of ageing.' European Union MPs are now calling for an urgent investigation in the wake of these alarming new findings."
GUI

Submission + - 7 Reasons to switch to Linux

Submitted by
seachnasaigh
seachnasaigh writes: "For Linux acolytes and priests, this article is obvious ... but the beryl desktop video is really good, fun to watch. For Windows Vista prophets ... well, behold the power of Tux."
Mars

NASA's Instrument For Detecting Life On Mars 88

Posted by kdawson from the knock-knock dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "With the financial help of NASA, American and European researchers have developed a new sensor to check for life on Mars. It should also be able to determine if traces of life's molecular building blocks have been produced by anything that was once alive. The device has been tested in the Atacama Desert in Chile. It should be part of the science payload for the ExoMars rover planned for launch in 2013."
Google

Submission + - Google forgets DST change.

Submitted by
Ghost-in-the-shell
Ghost-in-the-shell writes: "Looks like Google forgot to change the time on their calendar servers last night. I guess I'll be showing up to classes an hour later than normal for the next few weeks. The problems documented here is only in effect for the next three weeks until the traditional date of the DST change of early April. Partial (for privacy reasons) screen shots included."
Media

Submission + - Subliminal images do affect the brain

Submitted by Parallax Blue
Parallax Blue writes: The BBC is reporting on a new study by UK researchers in Current Biology that suggests subliminal messages may register in the brain if it has 'spare capacity'.

Participants in the study were asked to carry out an easy task and a hard task while being flashed with everyday objects in one eye and a strong flashing image in the other. The strong flashing image cancelled out the images of everyday objects in the other eye so that the participants were unaware of them. When the participants were carrying out an easy task, the brain scan detected activity in the primary visual cortex, indicating the subliminal images did register. However, when carrying out the hard task there was no activity, indicating the images did not register.

The implications for such uses as subliminal advertising is interesting, suggesting that subliminal messages in ads may work. However, further studies will have to be done to evaluate the precise impact of subliminal words and images.
Biotech

Submission + - New Drugs Enhance Performance, Eliminate Sleep

Submitted by
docinthemachine
docinthemachine writes: "New drugs in the eugeroic family are completing trials that offer improved memory, mood enhancement, improved alertness and cognitive powers without any of the nasty side effects and mass murder of speed and crank. They are a class of novel stimulants that produce long-lasting mental arousal. They are unique in producing hypervigilence and alertness without peripheral effects or addidition of usual stimulants. Strangely, they have minimal effect on sleep structure, and do not cause rebound hypersomnolence (crashing). Related are Ampakines that also cause memory enhancement (just a bit of abuse potential there). One of these — a drug code-named CX717 enabled sleep deprived rhesus monkeys to outperform rested normal monkeys on memory tasks. you can read details of the drugs and studies at http://docinthemachine.com/2007/03/09/eugeroic/"
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - PC Gaming's Future Evolution

Submitted by Dr. Eggman
Dr. Eggman writes: 1up.com is reporting on the GDC panel "PC Gaming in an Age of Connected Consoles", and their views on the PC. Unlike the usual doom and gloom about the "death" of PC games, this panel's has suggested that the death is of PC games as we know it; in that PC games will evolve. They believe PC gaming's future lies in it's strenghs like persistent-world environments, not just as MMOs but anything that has elements of a persistent nature such as Battlefield 2142. They go on to describe the PC's greatest edge over consoles: user created content and the supportive game communities built around it. The article also cited the panel's views on the weaknesses inherent in consoles' closed networks and content control.
Biotech

Anti-Matter's Potential in Treating Cancer 216

Posted by CowboyNeal from the healthy-physics dept.
eldavojohn writes "The BBC is taking a look at how atomic physicists are developing cancer treatments. A step past radiotherapy, the CERN institute is publishing interesting results: 'Cancer cells were successfully targeted with anti-matter subatomic particles, causing intense biological damage leading to cell death.' The press release from last year is finally sparking interest in the medical community."
It's funny. Laugh.

The Beer Tossing Fridge 223

Posted by samzenpus from the second-only-to-the-wheel dept.
cmacdona101 writes "CNN is reporting on a recent Duke grad that's engineered a remote controlled Fridge that tosses him a beer at the touch of a button. The fridge can launch the beer up to 20 feet, far enough to get to his couch. The video shows the fridge using a "beer magazine clip" and a remote firing system that let you determine angles and ballistics to get the beer to your friends anywhere in the room."
Windows

Submission + - Vista Validation Totally Cracked

Submitted by
Brian Gordon
Brian Gordon writes: "The Inquirer reports that cracking group PARADOX has cracked Vista's activation model. The new crack results in an installation virtually identical to that of a legitimately activated license key, which means that cracked installs are eligible for Windows Updates and will pass WGA validation.

From the readme: Microsoft allows large hardware manufacturers (e.g. ASUS, HP, Dell) to ship their products containing a Windows Vista installation that does NOT require any kind of product activation as this might be considered an unnecessary inconvenience for the end-user. The basic concept of the tool at hand is to present any given BIOS ACPI_SLIC information to Windows Vista's licensing mechanism by means of a device driver. In combination with a matching product key and OEM certificate this allows for rendering any system practically indistinguishable from a legit pre-activated system shipped by the respective OEM."
Handhelds

Submission + - iPhone to Use XScale Processor

Submitted by Tony Dennis
Tony Dennis writes: While there is much uncertainty surrounding the new iPhone, another piece of the puzzle has been solved: the iPhone will use the XScale processor. Dario Bucci, Intel's CEO of the Italian operations, stated in an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore, a local paper, Apple has turned to Marvell [Italian] to power their revolutionary cell phone. With this being the case, did Intel give up on the XScale architecture a little too quickly?

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