CellBlock - Slashdot User

Submission + - Mourning the Death of Foleo, iPod Clickwheel (popularmechanics.com)

Submitted by on Wednesday September 05, 2007 @10:40AM

An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday, we saw Palm kill the $500, semi-laptop Foleo before it was even born. And while many gadgeteers have hated on the device for lacking the real power of a laptop, isn't the very reason that handhelds have taken off because most laptops are bloated with fat-client software and high-powered chips that makes them run hot and slow, while chewing through batteries? PopMech offers a spirited defense, much in the vein of their prediction that the iPhone would kill the ingenious iPod clickwheel—a pillar of tech design that should breath one of its last gasps when Apple unveils touchscreen iPods today.

Submission + - Gehrig's Discovery Sparks Hope (thestar.com)

Submitted by

Raver32

on Wednesday September 05, 2007 @10:35AM

Raver32 writes: "Hunched over her microscope at the University of Toronto, Janice Robertson is focused on innocuous-looking brown blobs. She's been hunting for life-saving clues into the mystery of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the muscle-destroying killer known as Lou Gehrig's disease. It has perplexed researchers for nearly 140 years and it is a mystery that has captivated Robertson as she watches the microscopic round cells — motor neurons in minuscule sections of human spinal cord and brain. In ALS, these motor neurons are killed by mutant genes that make defective proteins, she explains, causing paralysis and death usually within five years. Named for the New York Yankees player killed by the disease in 1941, Lou Gehrig's has also laid waste to physicist Stephen Hawking and claimed the lives of Sesame Street director Jon Stone, jazz legend Charlie Mingus, actor David Niven, composer Dimitri Shostakovich, and Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong. Effective treatment and a cure do not exist. But Robertson and a Toronto team of scientists have developed the world's first antibody to the abnormal protein derived from the mutant superoxide-dimutase-1 (SOD1) gene, the only known cause of Lou Gehrig's, and responsible for 2 per cent of all cases. This antibody could be used to detect and remove the abnormal forms of the protein. The scientists say their findings, published in the June edition of Nature Medicine, open the door to ways for better treatments, prevention and earlier diagnosis."

Submission + - X Prize Unveils Big Money for New Contest (space.com)

Submitted by

Raver32

on Wednesday September 05, 2007 @10:23AM

Raver32 writes: "Officials with the U.S.-based X Prize Foundation will unveil plans for the largest international cash contest to date next week, but they are keeping details on the new challenge under wraps. The specifics on the new cash prize, which is promised to be in the "tens of millions of dollars" and bankrolled by "a very exciting and well-known Fortune 500 company," will be revealed Sept. 13 at the WIRED NextFest technology fair in Los Angeles, Calif., the foundation announced Monday. "The actual announcement, and details on what the prize is and its sponsorship, will be released on that day," Eric Lindbom, a foundation spokesperson, told SPACE.com of the new prize. Foundation officials said the new purse and contest will be "the largest international prize in history," and promised more details after the NextFest opening ceremony next week."

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