November 30, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Space Shuttle Endeavour
  Space Shuttle Endeavour
  Space Shuttle Endeavour is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States. Endeavour was the fifth and final spaceworthy NASA space shuttle to be built, constructed as a replacement for Challenger...
  
   lands safely at Edwards Air Force Base
  Edwards Air Force Base
  Edwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...
  
  , completing STS-126
  STS-126
  -Crew notes:Originally scheduled to fly on STS-126 was Joan E. Higginbotham, who was a mission specialist on STS-116. On 21 November 2007, NASA announced a change in the crew manifest due to Higginbotham's decision to leave NASA to take a job in the private sector. Stephen G...
  
  . (BBC)

November 26, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Palaeontologists discover Odontochelys semitestacea, a marine turtle
  Turtle
  Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
  
   that lived 220 million years ago, suggesting that turtles evolved in the sea. (Nature)
• A key ageing
  Ageing
  Ageing or aging is the accumulation of changes in a person over time. Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline...
  
   mechanism has been found with protein SIRT1. Usually it suppresses gene
  Gene
  A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
  
  s from being activated, but it also fixes DNA
  DNA
  Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
  
  ; in doing so SIRT1 abandons its suppression role. (NewScientist)
• In the first U.S. cyber-bullying
  Cyber-bullying
  Cyber-bullying is the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner. As it has become more common in society, particularly among young people, legislation and awareness campaigns have arisen to combat it.-Definition:The term...
  
   court case
  United States v. Lori Drew
  United States v. Lori Drew was a criminal case in which Lori Drew was convicted and then subsequently acquitted of violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act over the "cyber-bullying" of a 13 year old, Megan Meier...
  
  , defendant Lori Drew is cleared of felony
  Felony
  A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
  
   charges and given three misdemeanor counts. The case could set significant precedents on how a website's "terms of service" are applied to criminal cases. (Reuters)
• Spam
  Spam (electronic)
  Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
  
   is increasing after the 80% drop in volume when McColo
  McColo
  McColo was a San Jose-based web hosting service provider. In late 2008, the company was shut down by the two upstream providers, Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric, because a significant amount of malware and botnets had been trafficking from the McColo servers.-History:McColo was formed by a...
  
   was shut down on November 12. (CNet)
• A hormone family called NAPEs produced by the small intestine
  Small intestine
  The small intestine is the part of the gastrointestinal tract following the stomach and followed by the large intestine, and is where much of the digestion and absorption of food takes place. In invertebrates such as worms, the terms "gastrointestinal tract" and "large intestine" are often used to...
  
   have been identified that suppress appetite, which could lead to new obesity
  Obesity
  Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
  
   treatments. (Reuters)

November 25, 2008 (Tuesday)

• The first cyborg
  Cyborg
  A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
  
   leaf
  Leaf
  A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
  
   is created by attaching photosynthetic molecules to thin sheets of gold
  Gold
  Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
  
  . (NewScientist)

November 23, 2008 (Sunday)

• The WaterMill, a device that creates clean drinking water
  Drinking water
  Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
  
   from humidity
  Humidity
  Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
  
  , is showcased by Wired (magazine)
  Wired (magazine)
  Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
  
  . (Guardian)
• Truly random number
  Random number
  Random number may refer to:* A number generated for or part of a set exhibiting statistical randomness.* A random sequence obtained from a stochastic process.* An algorithmically random sequence in algorithmic information theory....
  
  s are generated 10 times faster than existing methods using laser
  Laser
  A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
  
   feedback. (NewScientist)

November 21, 2008 (Friday)

• The first logic gate
  Logic gate
  A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, that is, it performs a logical operation on one or more logic inputs and produces a single logic output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate, one that has for instance zero rise time and...
  
   is built that can process data carried by spin wave
  Spin wave
  Spin waves are propagating disturbances in the ordering of magnetic materials. These low-lying collective excitations occur in magnetic lattices with continuous symmetry. From the equivalent quasiparticle point of view, spin waves are known as magnons, which are boson modes of the spin lattice...
  
  s, a key component of spintronics
  Spintronics
  Spintronics , also known as magnetoelectronics, is an emerging technology that exploits both the intrinsic spin of the electron and its associated magnetic moment, in addition to its fundamental electronic charge, in solid-state devices.An additional effect occurs when a spin-polarized current is...
  
  . (NewScientist)

November 19, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Personalised cancer
  Cancer
  Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
  
   treatment improves with a test of 49 gene
  Gene
  A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
  
  s that indicate which patients will respond to common treatments. (NewScientist)
• President-elect Barack Obama
  Barack Obama
  Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
  
   announces a policy working group on technology for his upcoming administration. (CNet)
• The DNA
  DNA
  Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
  
   of the extinct woolly mammoth
  Woolly mammoth
  The woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia...
  
   is sequenced from mummified hair. (Reuters)
• Google
  Google
  Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
  
   publishes 2 million photos from Life's
  Life (magazine)
  Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
  
   archives, with plans to make all 10 million available free of charge. (AP)

November 18, 2008 (Tuesday)

• NASA
  NASA
  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
  
   successfully tests a disruption-tolerant networking to extend the Internet
  Internet
  The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
  
   into outer space
  Outer space
  Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
  
  . (NASA)
• The USB 3.0
  USB 3.0
  USB 3.0 is the second major revision of the Universal Serial Bus standard for computer connectivity.USB 3.0 has transmission speeds of up to 5 Gbit/s, which is 10 times faster than USB 2.0 . USB 3.0 significantly reduces the time required for data transmission, reduces power consumption, and...
  
   specification is finalized, which promises to be 10 times faster than USB 2.0. (MaximumPC)
• Nvidia
  NVIDIA
  Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
  
   announces a personal supercomputer
  Personal supercomputer
  A personal supercomputer is a computer built for the demand of a powerful computer system. On the civil basis, PSCs are typically built by the user. However government computers have been built by contract companies and/or governmental experts. Although considerably more expensive than a personal...
  
   design based on using multiple GPU's. (eWeek)

November 17, 2008 (Monday)

• Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
  
   create a large number of positron
  Positron
  The positron or antielectron is the antiparticle or the antimatter counterpart of the electron. The positron has an electric charge of +1e, a spin of ½, and has the same mass as an electron...
  
  s by shooting a laser
  Laser
  A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
  
   on a small sample of gold
  Gold
  Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
  
  . This will assist in understanding black hole
  Black hole
  A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
  
  s and gamma ray burst
  Gamma ray burst
  Gamma-ray bursts are flashes of gamma rays associated with extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most luminous electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several minutes, although a typical...
  
  s. (LLNL)
• Google Voice Search becomes available on the iPhone
  IPhone
  The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
  
  . (CNet)
• A new lab-on-a-chip
  Lab-on-a-chip
  A lab-on-a-chip is a device that integrates one or several laboratory functions on a single chip of only millimeters to a few square centimeters in size. LOCs deal with the handling of extremely small fluid volumes down to less than pico liters. Lab-on-a-chip devices are a subset of MEMS devices...
  
   can analyze 35 proteins in a drop of blood
  Blood
  Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
  
   within 10 minutes. Reducing the cost and time it takes to conduct standard blood testing by at least an order of magnitude. (TechReview)

November 15, 2008 (Saturday)

• The first divorce
  Divorce
  Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
  
   directly attributed to cheating as an avatar
  Avatar (computing)
  In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
  
   occurs in Second Life
  Second Life
  Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
  
  , a virtual world. (eFluxMedia)

November 13, 2008 (Thursday)

• Land based telescopes and Hubble
  Hubble Space Telescope
  The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A 2.4 meter aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared...
  
   capture the first images of exoplanets in the visual spectrum. Until now, researchers have used gravity changes to identify extrasolar planets. For the first time in history, pictures of extra-solar planets in HR 8799
  HR 8799
  HR 8799 is a young main sequence star located 129 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus, with roughly 1.5 times the Sun's mass and 4.9 times its luminosity. It is part of a system that also contains a debris disk and at least four massive planets...
  
   have been released. (CNN) (Reuters)

November 12, 2008 (Wednesday)

• The Martin jetpack
  Martin Jetpack
  -References:*http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/jun2010/bw20100615_209271.htm-External links:* * *...
  
   is invented. (PopSci)
• Chandrayaan-1 reaches its operational (100 km) orbit around the moon
  Moon
  The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
  
  . (ISRO)
• McColo
  McColo
  McColo was a San Jose-based web hosting service provider. In late 2008, the company was shut down by the two upstream providers, Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric, because a significant amount of malware and botnets had been trafficking from the McColo servers.-History:McColo was formed by a...
  
   a web host responsible for as much as 75% of the world's spam
  Spam (electronic)
  Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
  
   is taken offline by its ISPs. (eWeek)

November 10, 2008 (Monday)

• The Phoenix
  Phoenix (spacecraft)
  Phoenix was a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program. The Phoenix lander descended on Mars on May 25, 2008...
  
   Mars
  Mars
  Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
  
   mission ends as the probe stops communicating with Earth
  Earth
  Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
  
  . (BBC)