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Censorship

Submission + - ESRB clears Rockstar in Manhunt 2 hack (gamepolitics.com)

Submitted by Miraba
Miraba writes: Via GamePolitics, the ESRB has released the results of their investigation into the Manhunt 2 hack. The important bits: 1. The hack requires the use of unauthorized software. 2. The hack does not restore the game to its original AO form. 3. Rockstar disclosed the noted contents when Manhunt 2 was rerated.
There appear to be no plans to re-rerate the game.
The Courts

Class Action Initiated Against RIAA 315

Posted by kdawson from the bandwagon-starting-to-roll dept.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Ever since the RIAA's litigation campaign began in 2003, many people have been suggesting a class action against the RIAA. Tanya Andersen, in Oregon, has taken them up on it. The RIAA's case against this disabled single mother, Atlantic v. Andersen, has received attention in the past, for her counterclaims against the RIAA including claims under Oregon's RICO statute, the RIAA's hounding of her young daughter for a face-to-face deposition, the RIAA's eventual dropping of the case 'with prejudice,' and her lawsuit against the RIAA for malicious prosecution, captioned Andersen v. Atlantic. Now she's turned that lawsuit into a class action. The amended complaint seeking class action status (PDF) sues for negligence, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, federal and state RICO, abuse of process, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, trespass, invasion of privacy, libel and slander, deceptive business practices, misuse of copyright law, and civil conspiracy."
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Chinese Anti-Corruption online game got shut down

Submitted by
hackingbear
hackingbear writes: "Sina.com.cn reported on July 31 that the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda department is getting hi-tech and creative by creating an Anti-Corruption Theme online game known as "Anti-Coruption Fighter". However,the game, published by the Discipline Committee of the CCP branch in the city of Ningbo, was shut down just a few days later. (The game can still be downloaded from sina.com.cn for unknown reason as the game's creator refuse to answer queries from the journalists.

In the game, the player's objective is to kill a corruptive official and fight the resistances from the official's guards, sons, and bikini-wearing mistresses and concubines, reflecting the real-world situation. The game has attracted a lot of curios visitors after media exposure. However, Internet users criticize the game being "too rough" in design and also seem to infringing other game's copyrighted materials.

In the reader commentary sections of the news report, some comments criticize the game as "stupid" and "dumb" while other wittily suggest that maybe some higher rank corruptive official's nerve got sensitized by the game and ordered it to shut down."
Space

Submission + - Long tail discovered on Mira

Submitted by
tgeller
tgeller writes: "A paper published today in Nature announces the discovery of a tail trailing behind the star Mira, 13 light years long and visible only in the ultraviolet spectrum. It in essence "lays out" the material that such a red giant sheds as it passes through space, giving astronomers insight into how new stars are formed, and the likely fate of our sun 5 billion years from now."
Space

Submission + - Comet Explosion Killed The Clovis Culture. 1

Submitted by Haikuist_For_Hire
Haikuist_For_Hire writes: The NSF has released a study that strongly implicates a comet explosion over North America roughly 13000 years ago. Researchers at the University of Californina at Santa Barbara with the help of a National Science Foundation grant visited many Clovis sites around North America. The abrupt cooling trend of that time is known as the Younger Dryas or 'big freeze' and the collapse of the Clovis has been the subject of much debate over recent years. Samples from 12 Clovis period sites yielded high concentrations of Iridium, nano-diamonds, and buckyballs (fullerenes) that contain gases which indicate extraterrestrial origins. From the article: 'The team concluded that the impact of the comet likely destabilized a large portion of the Laurentide ice sheet, causing a high volume of freshwater to flow into the north Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.'
Displays

Submission + - 3D Animations in Mid-Air Using Plasma Balls (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Japanese boffins are now making animations by creating small plasma balls in mid-air. The technology doesn't use vapor or strange gases, just lasers to heat up oxygen and nitrogen molecules: up to 1,000 brilliant dots per second, which makes smooth motion possible. They could be used as street signs, advertising or to create giant plasma monsters to destroy entire cities. Maybe.
Quickies

Submission + - Squirrels heat tails to warn rattlesnakes 1

Submitted by Miraba
Miraba writes: According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences squirrels heat their tails as part of a defense mechanism against infrared-detecting rattlesnakes. The gopher snake, a species that cannot detect infrared, does not cause the squirrels to heat their tails. The scientists created a robotic squirrel to test their hypothesis.
Biotech

Journal Journal: Team finds way to create cancer stem cells 124

Journal by stemceller
MIT scientists and colleagues have found a way to create in the lab large amounts of cancer stem cells, or cells that can initiate tumors. The work, reported in the August 13 issue of Cancer Cell, could be a boon to researchers who study these elusive cells. Labs could easily grow them for use in experiments.
Science

Scientists Offer 'Overwhelming' Evidence Terran Life Began in Space 556

Posted by Zonk from the we-are-all-made-of-stardust dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Using data from recent comet-probing space missions, British scientists are reporting today that the odds of life starting on Earth rather than inside a comet are one trillion trillion (10 to the power of 24) to one against. That is, we're not originally from around here. Radiation in comets could keep water in liquid form for millions of years, they say, which along with the clay and organic molecules found on-board would provide an ideal incubator. 'Professor Wickramasinghe said: "The findings of the comet missions, which surprised many, strengthen the argument for panspermia. We now have a mechanism for how it could have happened. All the necessary elements - clay, organic molecules and water - are there. The longer time scale and the greater mass of comets make it overwhelmingly more likely that life began in space than on earth."'" jamie points out that the author of this paper has many 'fringe' theories. Your mileage may vary.
Biotech

Humans Evolved From a Single Origin In Africa 461

Posted by kdawson from the 6,000-skulls dept.
Invisible Pink Unicorn writes "Researchers at the University of Cambridge have combined studies of global human genetic variations with skull measurements worldwide to show conclusively the validity of the single origin hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis contended that different populations independently evolved from Homo erectus to Home sapiens in different areas. The lead researcher explains, 'The origin of anatomically modern humans has been the focus of much heated debate. Our genetic research shows the further modern humans have migrated from Africa, the more genetic diversity has been lost within a population. However, some have used skull data to argue that modern humans originated in multiple spots around the world. We have combined our genetic data with new measurements of a large sample of skulls to show definitively that modern humans originated from a single area in Sub-saharan Africa.' The article abstract is available from Nature."

Feed How To Spot The Speediest Black Holes (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Astronomers are hunting an elusive target: rogue black holes that have been ejected from the centers of their home galaxies. Some doubted that the quarry could be spotted, since a black hole must be gobbling matter from an accretion disk in order for that matter to shine. And if a black hole is ripped from the core of its home galaxy and sent hurling into the outskirts, the thinking goes, then its accretion disk might be left behind.
Enlightenment

Submission + - Drive for Altruism is Hardwired, Like Sex or Food

Submitted by
Dekortage
Dekortage writes: "Your brain is pre-wired to enjoy placing the interests of others ahead of your own. At least, that's what neuroscientists are claiming in the Washington Post. In studies, "generosity activated a primitive part of the brain that usually lights up in response to food or sex.... Altruism, the experiment suggested, was not a superior moral faculty that suppresses basic selfish urges but rather was basic to the brain, hard-wired and pleasurable." Such neuroscience "has opened up a new window on what it means to be good," although many philosophers over recorded history have suggested similar things. Are you hardwired for good?"

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