October 29, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Researchers created
  Synthetic biology
  Synthetic biology is a new area of biological research that combines science and engineering. It encompasses a variety of different approaches, methodologies, and disciplines with a variety of definitions...
  
   a programmable molecular clock that can be inserted into organisms such as E. coli to be used as a biosensor
  Biosensor
  A biosensor is an analytical device for the detection of an analyte that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector component.It consists of 3 parts:* the sensitive biological element A biosensor is an analytical device for the detection of an analyte that combines a biological...
  
  . It can be tailored to change blink rates based on chemical readings. (TechReview)
• SecondLight is demonstrated at the Professional Developers Conference
  Professional Developers Conference
  Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference is a conference for software developers, normally Windows developers.It covers new and upcoming technology from Microsoft, and so only occurs in the years when there is something new to talk about...
  
  . It works with Microsoft Surface
  Microsoft Surface
  Microsoft Surface is a multi-touch product from Microsoft which is developed as a software and hardware combination technology that allows a user, or multiple users, to manipulate digital content by the use of gesture recognition. This could involve the motion of hands or physical objects. It was...
  
   to provide a secondary image overlaid with the display and appears when see through objects (such as paper) are put above and on the display. (PCPro)

October 28, 2008 (Tuesday)

• 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...
  
   settles the Book Search
  Google Book Search
  Google Books is a service from Google that searches the full text of books that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October...
  
   lawsuits for $125 million, and will start sharing search profits with authors. (AP)
• Scientists identify the "hate circuit" and the psychological similarities of hate and love
  Love
  Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
  
  , with the key difference being that for love, the part of the cerebral cortex
  Cerebral cortex
  The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different...
  
   involved in judgment and reasoning is turned off. (Reuters)
• The Phoenix Mars Lander
  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...
  
   is slowly being shut down to preserve energy as Mars sunlight dims. Shutting down in stages will permit several more weeks of experiments to take place. (Reuters)
• Using strong red LED
  LEd
  LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
  
  s on the skin significantly reduced wrinkle
  Wrinkle
  A wrinkle is a fold, ridge or crease in the skin. Skin wrinkles typically appear as a result of aging processes such as glycation or, temporarily, as the result of prolonged immersion in water. Wrinkling in the skin is caused by habitual facial expressions, aging, sun damage, smoking, poor...
  
  s. (NewScientist)

October 27, 2008 (Monday)

• Microsoft
  Microsoft
  Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
  
   shows Windows Azure, its ambitious cloud platform. (AP)
• SideSight, a system allowing users to use multitouch on small devices by using infrared sensors to detect finger movements around the device, is demonstrated by Microsoft
  Microsoft
  Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
  
   researchers. (NewScientist)
• The 2008 South Ossetia war
  2008 South Ossetia war
  The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....
  
   is the first war in which cyber-warfare
  Cyber-warfare
  Cyberwarfare refers to politically motivated hacking to conduct sabotage and espionage. It is a form of information warfare sometimes seen as analogous to conventional warfare although this analogy is controversial for both its accuracy and its political motivation.Government security expert...
  
   is used when Russia
  Russia
  Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
  
  n hacker
  Hacker (computer security)
  In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
  
  s deface the official website of the government of Georgia
  Georgia (country)
  Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
  
  . (PopSci)

October 23, 2008 (Thursday)

• Microsoft
  Microsoft
  Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
  
   releases a critical update outside the regular schedule, indicating a significant threat as it permits infection of computers on local networks with no user intervention. (CNet)
• A green fluorescence protein gene was inserted into a cat
  Cat
  The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
  
   to test if it was harmless. It is a first step in curing diseases using gene therapy. (Telegraph)
• Scientists successfully erase a one-month old memory from mice. (NewScientist)
• In the Netherlands
  Netherlands
  The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
  
   a teen is convicted of stealing virtual good
  Virtual good
  Virtual goods are non-physical objects purchased for use in online communities or online games. They have no intrinsic value and are intangible by definition....
  
  s on RuneScape
  RuneScape
  RuneScape is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in January 2001 by Andrew and Paul Gower, and developed and published by Jagex Games Studio. It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering...
  
  . (PCWorld)

October 22, 2008 (Wednesday)

• India
  India
  India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
  
   successfully launches 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...
  
   mission Chandrayaan-1 to map the moon surface and search for minerals, water and helium 3 for fusion power
  Fusion power
  Fusion power is the power generated by nuclear fusion processes. In fusion reactions two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus . In doing so they release a comparatively large amount of energy arising from the binding energy due to the strong nuclear force which is manifested...
  
  . (BBC)
• A method for high-volume single-wall carbon nanotube
  Carbon nanotube
  Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than for any other material...
  
   electrical interconnects without high-temperatures is developed. (Physorg)

October 21, 2008 (Tuesday)

• Transcranial magnetic stimulation
  Transcranial magnetic stimulation
  Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a noninvasive method to cause depolarization or hyperpolarization in the neurons of the brain...
  
   receives U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for use on adults to treat depression on those who do not respond to drugs. (NewScientist)

October 17, 2008 (Friday)

• A new hybrid material has been created that addresses two problems with solar power
  Solar power
  Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
  
  , it absorbs all frequencies of sunlight
  Sunlight
  Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere, and solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon.When the direct solar radiation is not blocked...
  
   instead of being selective and creates easier to capture electron
  Electron
  The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
  
  s. (ScienceDaily)
• Attempts to revive 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...
  
   using backup circuits have encountered glitches. (AP)
• Exon
  Exon
  An exon is a nucleic acid sequence that is represented in the mature form of an RNA molecule either after portions of a precursor RNA have been removed by cis-splicing or when two or more precursor RNA molecules have been ligated by trans-splicing. The mature RNA molecule can be a messenger RNA...
  
  s in junk DNA play a role in gene regulation. (Physorg)
• Re-analysis of the Miller-Urey experiment
  Miller-Urey experiment
  The Miller and Urey experiment was an experiment that simulated hypothetical conditions thought at the time to be present on the early Earth, and tested for the occurrence of chemical origins of life. Specifically, the experiment tested Alexander Oparin's and J. B. S...
  
   shows 22 amino acid
  Amino acid
  Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...
  
  s rather than 5 were created in the volcanic apparatus. (NewScientist)
• John McCain
  John McCain
  John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
  
  's campaign is complaining to YouTube
  YouTube
  YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
  
   about their prompt removal of official campaign ads under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
  Digital Millennium Copyright Act
  The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
  
   (DMCA). YouTube responds that the DMCA requires their video content to be fair use
  Fair use
  Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
  
  ; and checking if content follows the requirements prior to removal is simply not realistic. (BetaNews)

October 16, 2008 (Thursday)

• The United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ is significantly reducing the amount of lead
  Lead
  Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
  
   allowed in the air from 1.5 microgram
  Microgram
  In the metric system, a microgram is a unit of mass equal to one millionth of a gram , or 1/1000 of a milligram. It is one of the smallest units of mass commonly used...
  
  s to 0.15. (AP)
• Four genes known to suppress 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...
  
   have been found to regulate adult stem cell
  Stem cell
  This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
  
   function, and shut them down during aging. (Physorg)
• Samsung
  Samsung
  The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
  
   shows the first carbon nanotube
  Carbon nanotube
  Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than for any other material...
  
  -based color active matrix
  Active matrix
  Active matrix is a type of addressing scheme used in flat panel displays. The term describes a method of switching individual elements of a flat panel display, using a CdSe or Silicon-based thin-film transistor for each pixel...
  
   electronic paper
  Electronic paper
  Electronic paper, e-paper and electronic ink are a range of display technology which are designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional backlit flat panel displays, electronic paper displays reflect light like ordinary paper...
  
   with a size of 14.3” inches. (Physorg)
• After testing ten U.S. bottled water
  Bottled water
  Bottled water is drinking water packaged in plastic or glass water bottles. Bottled water may be carbonated or not...
  
   brands it was found they contain 38 different pollutants in varying amounts, four had bacteria
  Bacteria
  Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
  
   and some at levels no better than tap water
  Tap water
  Tap water is a principal component of "indoor plumbing", which became available in urban areas of the developed world during the last quarter of the 19th century, and common during the mid-20th century...
  
  . (EWG)

October 15, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Tiktaalik roseae a key transitional fossil
  Transitional fossil
  A transitional fossil is any fossilized remains of a lifeform that exhibits characteristics of two distinct taxonomic groups. A transitional fossil is the fossil of an organism near the branching point where major individual lineages diverge...
  
   is providing new evidence of how fish transitioned into land animals. (ScienceDaily)
• Transcranial magnetic stimulation
  Transcranial magnetic stimulation
  Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a noninvasive method to cause depolarization or hyperpolarization in the neurons of the brain...
  
   has brought a patient out of a coma
  Coma
  In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
  
  . (NewScientist)
• Best microscopic images of 2008 are announced. (NationalGeographic)

October 14, 2008 (Tuesday)

• Searching the web
  Internet
  The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
  
   doubles the brain
  Brain
  The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
  
   activity of adults 55 to 78 year-old, specifically in areas associated with decision making and complex reasoning. (WebMD)

October 13, 2008 (Monday)

• OpenOffice 3.0 is released by Sun Microsystems
  Sun Microsystems
  Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
  
  , a key feature is it can open and convert Microsoft Office
  Microsoft Office
  Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
  
   2007/2008 files. (TechSpot)
• During the 18th Loebner Prize
  Loebner prize
  The Loebner Prize is an annual competition in artificial intelligence that awards prizes to the chatterbot considered by the judges to be the most human-like. The format of the competition is that of a standard Turing test. In each round, a human judge simultaneously holds textual conversations...
  
   every AI chatbot was able to fool at least one human judge into thinking they were chatting to a human. The 25% margin is edging closer to the 30% rate needed to win the prize. (ScienceDaily)

October 11, 2008 (Saturday)

• Paul Krugman
  Paul Krugman
  Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist, professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times...
  
   wins the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
  Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
  The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, but officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel , is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as one of the...
  
  . (NobelPrize)

October 10, 2008 (Friday)

• Martti Ahtisaari
  Martti Ahtisaari
  Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari is a Finnish politician, the tenth President of Finland , Nobel Peace Prize laureate and United Nations diplomat and mediator, noted for his international peace work....
  
   wins the Nobel Peace Prize
  Nobel Peace Prize
  The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
  
  . (NobelPrize)
• It's discovered that when embryonic stem cell
  Embryonic stem cell
  Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, an early-stage embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50–150 cells...
  
  s change into various cell types there are dramatic changes in how 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...
  
   is replicated and organized. (Physorg)
• IBM
  IBM
  International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
  
   builds an interactive full scale virtual Forbidden City
  Forbidden City
  The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
  
  . (Physorg)
• Confirmation that virgin birth
  Parthenogenesis
  Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction found in females, where growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization by a male...
  
   (asexual reproduction
  Asexual reproduction
  Asexual reproduction is a mode of reproduction by which offspring arise from a single parent, and inherit the genes of that parent only, it is reproduction which does not involve meiosis, ploidy reduction, or fertilization. A more stringent definition is agamogenesis which is reproduction without...
  
  ) is possible for shark
  Shark
  Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
  
  s. (AP)

October 9, 2008 (Thursday)

• Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
  Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
  Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio , usually identified as J. M. G. Le Clézio, is a French author and professor. The author of over forty works, he was awarded the 1963 Prix Renaudot for his novel Le Procès-Verbal....
  
   won the Nobel Prize for literature. (NobelPrize)
• The newly discovered bacteria candidatus desulforudis audaxviator
  Desulforudis audaxviator
  Desulforudis audaxviator is a monotypic bacterium, which lives in depths from 1.5 km to 3 km below the Earth's surface in the groundwater....
  
   found in a gold mine may serve as a model for finding life on other planet
  Planet
  A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
  
  s, as it lives without light
  Light
  Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
  
   and oxygen
  Oxygen
  Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
  
  . (NewScientist)
• Daily dose of ginkgo may prevent stroke
  Stroke
  A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
  
   induced brain damage. (Physorg)
• It has been determined vitamin D
  Vitamin D
  Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids. In humans, vitamin D is unique both because it functions as a prohormone and because the body can synthesize it when sun exposure is adequate ....
  
   plays an important role for our health
  Health
  Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
  
   as 36 organ tissues responded to the vitamin. 2000 IU daily is recommended. (Physorg)

October 8, 2008 (Wednesday)

• For the first time the transmission of data secured by quantum cryptography is demonstrated within a commercial telecommunications network. (Physorg)
• Osamu Shimomura
  Osamu Shimomura
  is a Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist, and Professor Emeritus at Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and Boston University Medical School...
  
  , Martin Chalfie
  Martin Chalfie
  Martin Chalfie is an American scientist. He is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, where he is also chair of the department of biological sciences. He shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Osamu Shimomura and Roger Y. Tsien "for the...
  
   and Roger Y. Tsien
  Roger Y. Tsien
  Roger Yonchien Tsien is a Chinese American biochemist and a professor at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego...
  
   share the Nobel Prize for chemistry. (NobelPrize)

October 7, 2008 (Tuesday)

• Yoichiro Nambu
  Yoichiro Nambu
  is a Japanese-born American physicist, currently a professor at the University of Chicago. Known for his contributions to the field of theoretical physics, he was awarded a one-half share of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008 for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in...
  
  , Makoto Kobayashi
  Makoto Kobayashi (physicist)
  is a Japanese physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."- Biography :After completing his PhD at...
  
   and Toshihide Maskawa
  Toshihide Maskawa
  is a Japanese theoretical physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."-Biography:A native of Aichi...
  
   share the Nobel Prize for physics. (NobelPrize)
• Professor Takeo Someya of the University of Tokyo
  University of Tokyo
  , abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
  
   starts working on the first sensitive skin for robot
  Robot
  A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
  
  s. (PopSci)

October 6, 2008 (Monday)

• Complete Genomics
  Complete Genomics
  Complete Genomics is a life sciences company that has developed and commercialized a DNA sequencing platform for human genome sequencing and analysis. This solution combines the company’s proprietary human genome sequencing technology with its informatics and data management software in an...
  
   announces complete human gene sequencing
  Gene sequencing
  Gene Sequencing may refer to:* DNA sequencing* or a comprehensive variant of it: Full genome sequencing...
  
   for $5,000 next spring
  Spring (season)
  Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and broadly to ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and...
  
  , which is 1/20th the price of the current marketplace. (ABC)
• Harald zur Hausen
  Harald zur Hausen
  Harald zur Hausen is a German virologist and professor emeritus. He has done research on cancer of the cervix, where he discovered the role of papilloma viruses, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008.-Biography:Zur Hausen was born in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, went to...
  
  , Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
  Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
  Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is a French virologist and director of the Unité de Régulation des Infections Rétrovirales at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France. Born in Paris, France, Barré-Sinoussi performed some of the fundamental work in the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus as...
  
   and Luc Montagnier
  Luc Montagnier
  Luc Antoine Montagnier is a French virologist and joint recipient with Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus...
  
   jointly win the Nobel Prize
  Nobel Prize
  The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
  
   for medicine
  Medicine
  Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
  
  . (NobelPrize)

October 3, 2008 (Friday)

• Ig Nobel Prize
  Ig Nobel Prize
  The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to "first make people laugh, and then make them think"...
  
   award ceremony. (BBC)
• Sony
  Sony
  , commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
  
   releases its third e-reader
  E-reader
  E-reader may refer to:* Nintendo e-Reader, a device made by Nintendo for its Game Boy Advance portable video game system* E-book reader, a device or computer program used for reading electronic books...
  
   the PRS-700, which has a built in light and will work with multiple vendors. (Physorg)

October 2, 2008 (Thursday)

• A 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...
  
   analysis of old HIV
  HIV
  Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
  
   samples places the initial infection of humans around 1908 (+/- 20 years). (Reuters)
• Lack of control has been found to increase superstitious and conspiracy theory
  Conspiracy theory
  A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
  
   seeking behavior. (Reuters)
• The molecule ACF7 is found which regulates extracellular matrix
  Extracellular matrix
  In biology, the extracellular matrix is the extracellular part of animal tissue that usually provides structural support to the animal cells in addition to performing various other important functions. The extracellular matrix is the defining feature of connective tissue in animals.Extracellular...
  
   movement and could help explain how 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...
  
   cells metastasize. (Physorg)
• Musicians use both sides of their frontal cortex more than average people, and are better at divergent thinking
  Divergent thinking
  Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It is often used in conjunction with convergent thinking, which follows a particular set of logical steps to arrive at one solution, which in some cases is a "correct" solution...
  
  . (Physorg)

October 1, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Researchers have proposed a way to train single-celled organisms using molecular circuits. It is hoped bacteria could be used to precisely deliver drugs. (TechReview)