May 2004 Archive

31 May 2004

John Howard's blatant attempt to pander to the fundies by declaring that the Government will only recognise marriages between a man and woman his got the silly bastard in shit with a group he pretends doesn't exist. A Perth person with no fixed gender says new legislation which would ban all but traditional marriages is unlawful and undemocratic. Alexander MacFarlane has both male and female physiology and says the legislation will prevent all intersex people from marrying. Dr MacFarlane has vowed to take the matter to the High Court

Howard Carmack, a US man who sent 850 million junk emails through accounts he opened with stolen identities has been sentenced to up to seven years in prison

The net is having a profound effect on medicine, as in all fields, not least because researchers in medical labs can share research with colleagues around the world. The net is providing many with what they want, and this is creating a growing breed of so-called cyberchondriacs. However, self-diagnosis over the net can be a real minefield. The information can cause confusion and unnecessary alarm. More worryingly, surfers could also be left out of pocket

Yak farmers in the mountains of Nepal are using wireless internet technology to keep in touch with their families. They are taking advantage of a wi-fi network set up in a remote region of the mountain kingdom where there are no phones or other means of communication. It is the result of a campaign led by local teacher Mahabir Pun, and backed by volunteers and donations, to bring the internet to an isolated part of the world. So far, the Nepal Wireless Networking project has hooked up five villages in the area using wireless technology — via BoingBoing

30 May 2004

In a case that could have forced Linux vendor Lindows to change its business name worldwide, a Netherlands court ruled this week that Lindows' current limited use of the Lindows name does not violate Microsoft's Windows trademark

A giant three-tiered mushroom which measures a metre across and was found in the tropical forests of the Republic of Congo has left experts in the capital Brazzaville scratching their heads

Consumers armed with home broadband connections are driving demand for multimedia content and setting off a new wave of technology development among search engine companies

Red-faced postal officials in Bangladesh are investigating why it took almost three years to deliver a letter just 50 km to a mill worker who had died in the meantime

29 May 2004

Pressure group Amnesty International has said the United States is bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle in its fight against terrorism and its occupation of Iraq. In its annual report, Amnesty criticised US policy for sanctioning abuses in the name of freedom

A federal judge threw out the US government's attempt to shut down Greenpeace. In the clearest indication that the case was harassment, the judge didn't even need to hear the Greenpeace defence before he acquitted them of all charges and dismissed the jury. This is a great victory for freedom of speech, but the question remains: Why did the US spend all that time chasing us instead of tracking down the illegal mahogany they were protesting against?

John Howard has rejected a report that an Australian military officer stationed in Baghdad was aware of abuse allegations late last year, after viewing a Red Cross report. The lying piece of shit maintains he first become aware of the scale of the mistreatment last month and has told Parliament that no Australian soldiers were involved in the abuses

The BBC appears to be delivering on its promise of releasing its material to the public — they're modelling their licensing on Creative Commons. Lawrence Lessig is very excited and so I imagine, will a lot of other people be — rightly

28 May 2004

Same-sex marriages in Australia will be outlawed and gay couples blocked from adopting children from overseas under laws proposed by the conservative government on Thursday that echo similar moves made in the United States. But changes would also be made to allow same-sex couples to nominate their partners as beneficiaries for superannuation — tax-free pension death benefits. The Greens have told John Howard to get a fucking clue

Nine months after Congress shut down a controversial Pentagon computer-surveillance program, the US government continues to comb private records to sniff out suspicious activity, according to a congressional report obtained by Reuters

Yahoo unveiled a feature on Wednesday for its Web browser toolbar aimed at making it easier for users to remove unwanted spyware programs that snoop on Web surfing habits and other activities

27 May 2004

In an enormous from scratch project, Piloux has recreated the HalfLife feel in his LAN PC. This UV reactive watercooled case features seven fans along side the meticulously texture painted contents

Europe and Japan are currently looking to host a new JET power plant. This new plant creates plasma, which is akin to creating a star on Earth. Interesting to note that 1kg of fusion fuel would produce the same amount of energy as 10,000,000kg of fossil fuels

Four Bosnian convicts cut bars with a smuggled hacksaw and slid down knotted bedsheets to escape Sunday night, just like they do in the movies. This was the classic breakout, prison director Miroslav Bem told the daily Dnevni List. He said the guards on duty at the Mostar prison were suspended for not spotting the escape

26 May 2004

Comcast's high-speed Internet subscribers have long been rumoured to be an unusually persistent source of junk e-mail, but now it has been confirmed by the company. Network engineer Sean Lutner said Comcast users send out about 800 million messages a day, but a mere 100 million flow through the company's official servers. Almost all of the remaining 700 million represent spam erupting from so-called zombie computers

The company is looking to produce a version of Windows for high-performance computing, a move seen as a direct attack on a Linux stronghold. With their sterling performance in the field of security, I'm sure this will go down well

Even in death, comic genius Spike Milligan has raised a laugh among his adoring fans. Two years after he died aged 83, relatives of the Goon Show creator have erected a headstone on his grave bearing the star's epitaph: I told you I was ill. But only those well versed in Gaelic will be able to read the inscriptions — Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite — on the Celtic cross memorial at St Thomas's Church in Winchelsea, East Sussex — via Die Puny Humans

25 May 2004

The Palme d'Or of the Festival de Cannes was presented this year by Charlize Theron to Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore. It's the first documentary to win the top award at Cannes since Jacques Cousteau won in 1956 for The Silent World

A breakthrough in polymer development means that soon there may be a radical new treatment for people with broken bones — a special kind of material that can glue the bone back together and support it while it heals. The material is designed to break down as the bone regrows leaving only natural tissue

Peru has launched a campaign to implant microchips in hundreds of pedigree alpacas to try to stop the best animals being smuggled out of the country. Officials say they know alpacas are being sneaked across Peru's borders

McDonald's is moving into DVD rentals. It will begin testing DVD rental kiosks at all 105 Denver stores. Smaller tests around Washington and Las Vegas had a huge response. DVDs will be rented at Redbox kiosks, situated inside and outside restaurants. Rental fee: $1 a day — and they can be returned to any McDonald's. If the summer long Denver test is a hit, McDonald's hopes to become the first fast-food chain to rent top DVDs nationally

24 May 2004

There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 — just after the 2004 presidential election... $28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation... In December 2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a smart border declaration, which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in... this plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft — via Die Puny Humans

Brian Lee always wanted Edmund Scientific's Giant Fresnel Lens. Melts asphalt in seconds! the ad said. When he went to graduate school he met several other people with the same enthusiasm for aimless destruction through bizarre means, and just enough combined cash to make it happen. Thus the reign of terror began

It is the Holy Grail of horticulture and soon it could make the perfect present for Mother's Day: scientists have found a way to produce a blue rose. A chance discovery in a laboratory means that they will be able to create the blue rose within a year and it is expected to go on sale to the public soon after that

23 May 2004

The Australia Institute, a public policy research centre, says the Federal Government risks trade sanctions if it does not ratify the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions. Russia has announced it will sign the protocol, which will ensure it comes into effect worldwide. Australia and the US are still refusing to ratify the agreement and the Federal Government says Australia is reducing emissions anyway. Australia Institute executive director Clive Hamilton says nations bound by the protocol could impose trade barriers on Australia

The Supreme Court of Canada says that you're liable if a plant with a patented gene infects your property. If you recall, Schmeiser claims (and research supports) that Roundup Ready canola seeds infected his own crops. Monsanto prosecuted him for patent infringement

22 May 2004

British intelligence agents secretly discussed plans to attack the Soviet Union with pigeons armed with biological weapons, documents made public by the National Archives reveal. The bizarre Cold War scheme was hatched by Wing Commander WDL Rayner, a Royal Air Force officer who, in the aftermath of World War II, saw suicide pigeons as the future of warfare

There is a renewed call for the Tasmanian devil to be nominated as a threatened species. Research is continuing to determine the cause of the cancer-like disease that has wiped out up to 85% of devil populations in some areas. Greens Senator Bob Brown says the State Government has allocated nothing further in this week's Budget for programs to save the marsupial

It's been nearly six months since President Bush signed the first federal spam law with criminal sanctions — and not one bulk e-mailer has been criminally charged under it so far. But the FBI told Congress on Thursday that it has identified over 100 significant spammers so far and is targeting 50 of the most noxious for potential prosecution later this year

21 May 2004

Interesting article about setting up free wireless broadband access for a small apartment complex — and how the unwiring paid for itself by helping fill empty units — via BoingBoing

The new study of purebred dogs says among those closest to their wild wolf ancestors are the Siberian Husky, Chinese Shar-pei and African Basenji. Two branches of the canine family tree were the earliest to diverge from the wolves, the study found. One branch includes the oriental breeds Shar-pei, Shiba Inu, Chow Chow and Akita; the other the seemingly diverse breeds of African Basenji, Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Afghan Hound and Saluki

The critically endangered population of red wolves got a little bigger when a wolf at Ross Park Zoo unexpectedly gave birth to a litter of three

Anti-spam company Brightmail has opted out of an initial public offering, accepting instead a $US370 million cash buyout offer from internet security giant Symantec

20 May 2004

The dangerous profession of anti-personnel mine detection is getting a surprising new tool: giant Gambian rats [BugMeNot]. Some resourceful Belgians have figured out how to train these 30-inch rodents to hunt out land mines. They are cheaper and work harder than dogs and are more reliable than metal detectors

The search giant escalates the e-mail storage arms race by a factor of 1,000, by quietly raising storage limits to 1 terabyte for some users. They are also preparing to introduce a powerful file and text software search tool [BugMeNot] for locating information stored on personal computers

Teenage virus writers, or script kiddies, are having an effect on the IT industry, but not to the extent that the public believes. In fact, most are not even very good at what they do

A less than bright Los Angeles nurse found a stolen Stradivarius cello worth $3.5 million next to a dumpster and planned to turn it into a CD cabinet until she discovered it was the instrument the whole town was searching for

19 May 2004

Netspace, a Melbourne ISP, has joined the list of ISPs planning to build broadband infrastructure to reduce their dependence on Telstra's ADSL network

Spammers are now trying to find out which antispammers have infiltrated their ranks and are sharing sensitive info with fellow antispammers. Online spammer forums like the Pro Bulk Club, the Bulk Club and bulkmails.org have been gatecrashed by activists from organisations like Spamhaus. Steve Linford of Spamhaus said spammers know this already but they don't know who amongst their number is working for the other side

Auto insurance company Geico has sued Google and Overture Services for allegedly violating its trademarks in search-related advertisements, in the latest legal salvo against the Internet companies

The Federal Opposition has accused the Government of intimidating the ABC into agreeing to ongoing monitoring of whether its programs and stories are politically balanced

18 May 2004

The home state of presidential contender John Kerry has held the first legal gay marriages in US history, while the loony fundies demand that the constitution be rewritten to outlaw such unions forever. Congratulations to Tanya and Marcia, the first couple to take the plunge

Retired Congressman Al Smith testified on the DMCRA, Rep Boucher's bill to reform copyright. Smith's been home-taping for 54 years, and he knows what's what: When I buy a CD or a DVD, that content should be wholly mine to do with as I please as long as I am in no way selling its contents or profiting from it... Present law is predicated on the assumption that consumers will rip-off copyright holders. The vast majority are innocent of that assumption, but all are treated as guilty

A new web browser from Opera this week is the first major browser to incorporate RSS, an emerging technology that automatically delivers new blog entries and news articles

17 May 2004

Those radicals in Holland have protected the right of a search engine to search for MP3s — via Lawrence Lessig

Wondering what to do with your disposable camera when you're finished with it? TechTV has an article describing how to reach out and zap someone with a home-made stun gun

British scientists have developed technology that can grow structures up to 2mm and 0.2mm in diameter on metal surfaces. Dubbed Surfi-Sculpt, it will act like ultra-strong Velcro to form much tougher joints between metals and lightweight composite materials

16 May 2004

Web portal Yahoo will begin offering virtually unlimited storage for its paid e-mail customers and will upgrade free users to 100MB. The upgrade is part of an overall enhancement for Yahoo Mail that will launch this summer. Besides additional storage, the service will get a face-lift and tie in more Yahoo-branded services, such as Photos and Messenger

Yahoo and Google disable links to controversial adware maker WhenU after the company is accused of engaging in unauthorised practices aimed at boosting its search rankings. The practices came to light following an investigation by antispyware crusader Ben Edelman, a Harvard student who found that the company used a technique known as cloaking to dupe search engines into favourably listing decoy Web pages that direct people to other destinations, once they click on the link. Ben has a couple of follow up articles on the situation; Which SEO Did WhenU Use? The Best Inference: Synergy6 and WhenU Copies 26+ Articles from 20+ News Sites

Sir John Sulston, a Nobel Prize winning scientist, has called on the British government to introduce legislation to prevent discrimination on the basis of people's genetic make-up

15 May 2004

Called Google Groups 2, the service lets people create, search and sift through e-mail mailing lists. People can also subscribe to and monitor groups of interest

For the next shot in the search engine advertising war Google has launched image ads in addition to their popular text AdSense program

Telstra yesterday made a last-minute settlement of a dispute with one of its major software providers on the steps of the Victorian Federal Court

14 May 2004

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has recommended that all children in immigration detention centres be released as soon as possible. And leaked details of the commission's final draft report say Australia's detention laws should be changed urgently, to comply with the international Convention on the Rights of the Child, with minimum standards of treatment enshrined in legislation. It will come as no surprise that John Howard and his simpering minions have dismissed the report, the Greens have slammed the government's dismissal as bloody-minded and deliberated child neglect

Greenpeace, charged with the obscure crime of sailor mongering that was last prosecuted 114 years ago, goes on trial on Monday in the first US criminal prosecution of an advocacy group for civil disobedience. The environmental group is accused of sailor mongering because it boarded a freighter in April 2002 that was carrying illegally felled Amazon mahogany to Miami. It says the prosecution is revenge for its criticism of the environmental policies of the retarded monkey boy, whom it calls the Toxic Texan. Sailor mongering was rife in the 19th century when brothels sent prostitutes laden with booze onto ships as they made their way to harbour. The idea was to get the sailors so drunk they could be whisked to shore and held in bondage, and a law was passed against it in 1872. It has only been used in a court of law twice, the last time in 1890

The recent launch of IBM's Office application suite is part of a broader challenge to Microsoft's entire .Net development framework. On Monday, IBM announced it was launching a Web-based software suite that would offer Microsoft Office-like applications. But unlike Microsoft's Office, IBM's Lotus Workplace software is designed to be used over the Internet and is accessible from systems running Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix as well as handheld devices

Fifteen years after his trial, a convicted drug dealer in New York state belatedly got a chance to clear his name — thanks in part to an Internet search. In the United States and abroad, judges are turning to search engines such as Google to check facts, to look up information about companies embroiled in litigation, and to challenge statistics presented by attorneys in court. Dozens of judges have penned opinions describing Google as a valuable — and sometimes crucial — source of knowledge

13 May 2004

Chemical giant Monsanto has confirmed it will withdraw from its attempt to grow genetically modified (GM) canola in Australia. The announcement comes just days after the company's international arm announced it was pulling out of GM wheat trials in the United States and Canada

Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology have discovered an easily-exploited vulnerability which can be used to take down most 802.11 wireless networks. The flaw operates at lower network layers than most previously-discovered security flaws in 802.11 networking, and affect any network operating at the 2.4GHz frequency — which is the sole frequency used by the most popular wireless protocol, 802.11b

Lemurs, once believed to be cute but basically stupid, show startling intelligence when given a chance to win treats by playing a computer game

12 May 2004

Activision and id Software have issued a press release announcing that Doom III will be released this summer. A Linux client has also been in development alongside the requisite Win32 version

The Government is to merge the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) and the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) next year to establish a new-look media and communications regulator. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will regulate telecommunications, broadcasting, radio and online content from July 1 next year

11 May 2004

A multinational group from Canberra's Australian National University have become the first on this particular planet to demonstrate the sharing of secrets via teleportation using quantum physics. Who cares? Well, a lot of big businesses, because their discovery has moved unbreakable codes, superfast computers and communications inaccessible to cybercriminals a step closer. What the team's find boils down to is that, using a laser, they can teleport to a network of recipients a signal which can only be reassembled by a majority of the recipients. Any less and the signal cannot be reconstituted — via Die Puny Humans

In an age of tech-mad multitasking, some big thinkers are asking questions about an emerging culture of distraction, interruption and inattention

10 May 2004

A German high-school student has confessed to creating the Sasser worm and several varients of Netsky after apparently being reported by acquaintances seeking a reward from Microsoft

There's a new material that could create relatively cheap solar cells which are up to 50% efficient. This is much better than the 25% efficient silicon solar cells (most common) or the 36% efficient multi-junction solar cells (very expensive). The material was created by forcing oxygen into a zinc-manganese-tellurium crystal creating more band gaps, which allow the cell to create electrical energy with three seperate frequencies of light. This could lead to cheap, high-output solar cells in the future, but it will take at least three years to assess the feasibility of the new technology, according to the researchers

Have you ever wanted your very own jet engine? Build one at home in your own garage. The guys over at Garage Jet have done just that. Their jet engine is made from an automotive turbo, spark plugs, and some scrap metal

09 May 2004

A microscopic biped with legs just 10 nanometres long and fashioned from fragments of DNA has taken its first steps. The nanowalker is being hailed as a major breakthrough by nanotechnologists. The biped's inventors, chemists Nadrian Seeman and William Sherman of New York University, say that while many scientists have been trying to build nanoscale devices capable of bipedal motion, theirs is the first to succeed — via GeneWeb

Pizza Party is a free, text based CLI for ordering Domino's pizza via Quikorder, or for throwing pizza parties. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License, runs under most *nix shells, and can order pizza with only a few keystrokes. Includes video of actual ordering

08 May 2004

Less than 24 hours after accusing the Walt Disney Company of pulling the plug on his latest documentary in a blatant attempt at political censorship, the rabble-rousing film-maker Michael Moore has admitted he knew a year ago that Disney had no intention of distributing it — via Die Puny Humans. Michael Moore explains the twelve month discrepancy. It seems Disney were narced with the film a year ago, but didn't bother mentioning this to Miramax who kept parting with money for its production. Ah, the joys of bureaucracy

US court rulings have pulled the most popular software for copying DVD movies off the market, but a new program is trying to get around these rulings and still let users duplicate copy-protected discs

07 May 2004

In a sign that demand is growing for alternatives to Microsoft Windows software, Red Hat will release a version of the Linux operating system and other programs tailored for desktop computers. Red Hat Desktop, announced in London, will be targeted at organisations that are looking to upgrade their PCs but don't want or need all the features that ship with the latest version of Windows

Appalling forest destruction catches up with nationally condemned woodchip corporation. Gunns, the world's biggest hardwood woodchipper, has been stripped of its hoped-for Banksia award to be announced by the corrupt Prime Minister Howard on 5 June, World Environment Day

If you have ever seen the cult '60s British television program The Prisoner, in which captured Cold War spies live on an island under constant surveillance, you can imagine what life may soon be like on Ayers Island

06 May 2004

Disney is blocking [BugMeNot] its Miramax division from distributing Fahrenheit 911, a new documentary by Michael Moore that harshly criticises the retarded monkey boy. Disney is pushing the family friendly card, total bollocks considering Miramax is their adult arm that releases kiddie flicks like Pulp Fiction. It's more likely that Disney is scared the film might jeopardise tax breaks [BugMeNot] granted to Disney for its theme park, hotels and other ventures in Florida, where Jeb Bush is governor. If that is the reason for Disney's move, it would underscore the dangers of allowing huge conglomerates to gobble up diverse media companies

McMurder, a parody web site that offers statistics that show a correlation between murder rates and the number of McDonalds in cities, has been nastygrammed by McLawyers. The site has until May 10 to remove all McTrademarks

Businesses in certain US states are required by law to collect, among other privacy invasive information, the thumbprints of customers who want to sell their used video games, CDs, and books

Shadow IT minister Kate Lundy has slammed a report on offshore outsourcing commissioned by the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) as self-serving and one-eyed. The AIIA report found that of 100 large business and government organisations, 12 had already completed an offshore outsourcing project and a further five were considering it as an option for later this year. Senator Lundy scoffed at the report's findings, which appeared generally supportive of the offshoring notion, saying it was no surprise that the AIIA found those results. She also attacked the report's published numbers, suggesting the AIIA had played with percentages to support its own agenda

05 May 2004

Breaking all the rules of nature, the Hypersonic Sound Beam allows audio messages to literally travel through space in the shape of a flashlight beam. The sound remains invisible and silent, until the beam makes impact with the surface or person it has been meant to impact. At that precise point of impact, the sound waves disperse and the audio portion of the message magically becomes audible at that particular point. Amazingly, visitors who enter or cross the invisible sound envelopes created by the Sound Beam will experience your message inside their head; as if they were wearing headphones — via Die Puny Humans

Howard always was a corrupt, lying little bastard, so it's no surprise that he's axed dedicated government funding for solar research and lobbed some money the way of big business by supporting a Cooperative Research Centre for coal

The FTC said last Monday that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will have to pay a US$800,000 fine to settle charges that he violated financial reporting laws in conjunction with his investment portfolio. And they think that amount of money will make him change his ways, try cranking the fine up into the billions and you might make a point

04 May 2004

Technology to grow replacement teeth could mean the end of dentures. Scientists at King's College London have been awarded £500,000 to help them develop human teeth from stem cells. The company Odontis, set up by the college, hopes to develop its research for tests on humans within two years after successful research on mice. Stem cells, the so-called master cells, would be programmed to develop into teeth and then transplanted into the patient's jaw where the gap is. It is thought it would then take two months for the tooth to fully develop — via Die Puny Humans

A research project conduced by leading cross-sector Australian NGOs has reported that there is a major gap [BugMeNot] between policy and ethical practice in many companies

One of the weirdest computer mods, the Heavy Metal PC takes modding to maybe not a new but different dimension. Computing on wheels, and we're not talking a car computer here. Have a look for yourself, 2x3.2 GHz on wheels, it's sure worth seeing if you're interested in mods

Gerald Newburger really doesn't like losing. A year after getting outbid at an online auction for a collection of used band uniforms, the New Orleans native traveled to New York to confront his rival bidder with a gun

03 May 2004

The US Government is taking legal action against an Australian company for sending 400,000 spam e-mails promoting eternal youth. The FTC filed a civil action against Global Web Promotions, whose spam, it said, promoted diet patches and the products called HGH and Natural HGH, which allegedly contained human growth hormone — all products were bogus — via GeneWeb.info

Study of the use of green tea extracts for polishing the magnetic heads in hard-disk drives has yielded a compound that works three to four times faster than conventional compounds. If the findings can be reproduced in an industrial setting, the compound could reduce the cost and environmental impact of hard-drive manufacturing

Telstra is to increase rental fees for household phones by as much as $3.45 a month and hike the cost of some calls by two cents

02 May 2004

Authorities in two states are trying to determine why a woman may have driven with her mother's decaying body as a passenger from their Oklahoma home to Florida — by way of North Carolina and Texas — and then left the body in the car in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Flagler County sheriff's deputies found Melba Doshier's body Tuesday in the car parked at a Wal-Mart in Palm Coast after shoppers reported a bad smell coming from the vehicle. The St Johns County medical examiner on Wednesday said she died of natural causes at least five days before she was found — via Oftquoted

01 May 2004

Google files documents with regulators that provide an insight into its business, as it prepares to sell shares to the public

Misbehaving dogs are soothed by a chemical scent that evokes their puppyhood, according to new research. The chemicals could help relax dogs living in stressful environments such as animal shelters or working for the military. Researchers in Scotland conducted the largest-ever study on the effects of dog-appeasing pheromone (DAP) on dogs in an animal shelter. DAP is a synthetic chemical that appears to mimic those secreted by lactating bitches three days after birth to create a comforting setting for puppies

Public transport systems of the future will feature high-tech vehicles supported, behind the scenes, by revolutionary control and scheduling systems that will make timetables redundant say CSIRO scientists. CSIRO has developed software that simulates the movement of passengers and vehicles around track-based public transport networks that are designed to carry large numbers of people

A truly extraordinary cure for some forms of blindness is being proposed. The idea is to add light-absorbing pigments from spinach to nerve cells in the retina, to make the nerve cells fire when struck by light. Eli Greenbaum's team at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee has been exploring this possibility for several years. In their latest experiments, the researchers have shown that adding plant pigments to human cells makes the cells respond to light

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