Fly-by of an odd-ball moon

Saturn watchers on the Cassini mission are preparing for another fly-by, this time of the oddly shaped moon Iapetus.

Five new devices arrive all at once

It's been quite a while since there were any shake-ups in the world of the HP iPaq, and suddently here come five new iPaq devices all at once: the 110, 210, 310, 610 and 910.

Researchers working on the automatic recognition of manuscript documents have designed a new system that is more efficient and reliable than currently existing ones. The BSM ("Blurred Shape Model") has been designed to work with ancient, damaged or difficult to read manuscripts, handwritten scores and architectural drawings. It represents at the same time an effective human machine interface in automatically reproducing documents while they are being written or drawn.

More than 10 percent of women with breast cancer stopped taking a commonly prescribed drug because of joint and muscle pain, according to a new study. The study looked at the first 100 women enrolled in a trial to study how genetics play a role in the way individuals metabolize drugs and experience side effects.

Young minds saved from spiritual perversion

A Somerset church has banned toddlers from practising yoga in its hall because the "unchristian" practice "promoted other spiritualities", the BBC reports.

Vietnamese criminal gangs cash in on child labour

UK drug information organisation DrugScope has highlighted the plight of child "slaves" forced to work in illicit UK cannabis farms.

With all of the stories last month about various companies or organizations trying to edit Wikipedia to their own advantage, many Wikipedia haters used it as evidence as to why Wikipedia was no good. However, some are realizing exactly the opposite. Jeremy Wagstaff has a good column showing that all of these embarrassing Wikipedia edits show the reverse: it shows just how important and credible a source Wikipedia has become. As for the worries about biased entries, Wagstaff notes that nearly all of the controversial edits were quickly replaced. While some may point out that this doesn't help for the people who saw the edited entries, it appears that Wikipedia is trying to solve that problem by highlighting recent or less-trustworthy edits. So, really, all that we've learned from this is that Wikipedia is quite important -- and it's only getting better over time.

KDE 4.0 continues to edge closer to completion with today's announcement of the Beta 2 release. Improvements have been made to Bluetooth support and blogging functions, and a freeze is in place so developers can begin working on bug fixes. Beta 2 also includes KOffice 2.0 Alpha 2 and a complete overhaul of remote desktop client KRDC.

Seagate has rolled out the OneTouch 4 line of backup hard drives.

New results explain why the targeted therapy drug, imatinib, or Gleevec, which has revolutionized the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia, (CML) is often unable to prevent relapse of a particularly aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Targeted therapy drugs are designed to block the activity of a specific molecule, a strategy aimed at making treatments more effective and less toxic.

One in eight rescue and recovery workers (12.4%) had probable post-traumatic stress disorder when they were interviewed in 2003 and 2004. The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) varied significantly by occupation, with rates ranging from 6.2% among police officers to 21.2% among unaffiliated volunteers (those who were not working with an organization such as the Red Cross). The prevalence of PTSD in the U.S. population is roughly 4% at any given time.