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The Courts

Submission + - Foster Demands RIAA Post $210k Security for Fees

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "A few days ago it was reported that, in view of the RIAA's one-month delay in paying the $68,685.00 attorneys fee award in Capitol v. Foster, and its lawyers' failure to respond to Ms. Foster's lawyer's email, Ms. Foster filed a motion for entry of judgment so that she could go ahead with judgment enforcement proceedings. In response to that motion the RIAA submitted a statement that it had no objection to entry of judgment, and intimated that it thought there would be an automatic stay on enforcement of the judgment, and that it would ultimately file an appeal. After seeing that, Ms. Foster's lawyer has filed a motion for the Court to require the RIAA to post $210,000 in security to cover the past and future attorneys fees and costs which are expected to be incurred."
Biotech

Submission + - Physicists Discover Interstellar Dust 'Alive' (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by reezle
reezle writes: An international team has discovered that under the right conditions, particles of inorganic dust can become organised into helical structures. These structures can then interact with each other in ways that are usually associated with organic compounds and life itself.
Quite bizarrely, not only do these helical strands interact in a counterintuitive way in which like can attract like, but they also undergo changes that are normally associated with biological molecules, such as DNA and proteins, say the researchers. They can, for instance, divide, or bifurcate, to form two copies of the original structure. These new structures can also interact to induce changes in their neighbours and they can even evolve into yet more structures as less stable ones break down, leaving behind only the fittest structures in the plasma.
"These complex, self-organized plasma structures exhibit all the necessary properties to qualify them as candidates for inorganic living matter," says Tsytovich, "they are autonomous, they reproduce and they evolve."
Patents

Submission + - China patents rise 33%

Submitted by chrb
chrb writes: The BBC reports that newly released figures for 2005 show a sharp rise in Chinese patents. The number of patents issued by China is now third highest in the world, after Japan and the US.

Feed Scientists Identify Genes Activated During Learning And Memory (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Researchers have long recognized that for learning and memory to take place, certain genes must be activated to alter neuron activity inside the brain. But identifying and cataloging all the genes involved in learning is a daunting task. Scientists have now developed an innovative computational approach to provide a rapid way to identify the likely members of this long sought-after set of genes.
Education

Submission + - Jumping from kindergarten to the 3rd grade

Submitted by mountainman
mountainman writes: I just got an e-mail from my brother proudly announcing that my nephew's public school is recommending that he skip the first and second grades and go from kindergarten directly into the third grade. My nephew is pretty smart but has average social skills and I think this is a perfectly horrible idea. Skipping one grade might work but, in my opinion, skipping two will do little but guarantee that he'll have no friends until a few years past college when he can start drinking legally.

Does anyone on Slashdot have experience, either personally or as a parent, on skipping two grades like this?
Television

Submission + - Atheist Debate: Should we rid the mind of God?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The video from this debate is now online. It was between [theist] Alister McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University, author of "Dawkins' God" and "The Dawkins Delusion" and Peter Atkins, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford University, well-known atheist and supporter of Richard Dawkins. As seen on Channel 4's "The trouble with atheism". This event was organised jointly by The University of Edinburgh Philosophy Society and The Christian Union. The lecture theatre it was held in seats 500, and it overflowed. More than 300 people had to be turned away.
The Courts

Submission + - Private file sharing to remain/become legal in EU

Submitted by orzetto
orzetto writes: Italian newspaper l'Unità reports that the European parliament's Commitee for Legal Affairs approved an amendment presented by EMP Nicola Zingaretti (PSE, IT), that makes piracy a felony—but only if a monetary profit is made (for the foreign-language impaired, see this article on Hollywood Reporter, which however does not mention that non-profit p2p will not be criminalised). As in the EU parliament's press release:

Members of the Legal Affairs' committee [...] decided that criminal sanctions should only apply to those infringements deliberately carried out to obtain a commercial advantage. Piracy committed by private users for personal, non-profit purposes are therefore also excluded.
Italian consumers' association Altroconsumo was involved in drafting the text. The complete proposal was passed with 23 votes in favour, 3 against and 3 abstained, and is intended to be applied to copyright, trademark, design and other IP fields, but not patent right which is explicitly excluded. The proposal has still to pass the vote of the parliament before becoming law in all EU countries, some of which (like Italy) do have criminal laws in place for non-profit file sharing.

Caution: Most EU countries use civil law, not common law. Translation of legal terms may be misleading.
United States

Submission + - US 'no longer technology king'

Submitted by
Not So Anonymous Coward
Not So Anonymous Coward writes: "The US has lost its position as the world's primary engine of technology innovation, according to a report by the World Economic Forum. The US is now ranked seventh in the body's league table measuring the impact of technology on the development of nations. A deterioration of the political and regulatory environment in the US prompted the fall, the report said. The top spot went for the first time to Denmark, followed by Sweden. Full Story "

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