Scientists have developed an artificial plastic blood which could act as a substitute in emergencies. Researchers at Sheffield University said their creation could be a huge advantage in war zones. They say that the artificial blood is light to carry, does not need to be kept cool and can be kept for longer. The new blood is made up of plastic molecules that have an iron atom at their core, like haemoglobin, that can carry oxygen through the body
The US house of representatives today passed a bill outlawing illegal domestic wiretapping by the government. Now government agencies are only allowed to access your private communications under terms of FISA. The Bill ends plans by the Bush Administration that would give the NSA the freedom to pry into the lives of ordinary Americans. The ACLU noted that, despite many recent hearings about modernisation
and technology neutrality
, the administration has not publicly provided Congress with a single example of how current FISA standards have either prevented the intelligence community from using new technologies, or proven unworkable for the agents tasked with following them
Cult Hammer horror films will return to the big screen after the company behind the movies was sold to a group headed by Big Brother creator John de Mol. At least $50m (£25m) will be spent on new horror films after British company Hammer Film Productions was sold to Dutch consortium Cyrte Investments. The new owners have also acquired the Hammer group’s back catalogue — via Pharyngula
Purdue researchers say they have made a major advance in the design of the internal combustion engine, one that could seriously boost fuel efficiency and cut emissions. A key portion involves building intake and exhaust valves that are no longer driven by mechanisms connected to the pistons, a departure from the way car engines have worked since they were commercialised more than a century ago. The concept, known as variable valve actuation, would enable significant improvements in conventional gasoline and diesel engines used in cars and trucks and for applications such as generators — via Slashdot
An online critic of Scientology was confronted at a routine hearing Tuesday with surprise arrest warrants and thrown into jail. Six years as a fugitive ended in February. (After picketing a Scientology complex in 2000 over the unexplained death of a woman there, he’d been arrested for threatening a religion
over a Usenet joke about Tom Cruise Missiles
.) But 64-year-old Keith Henson had been out on bail, and was even scheduled to address the European Space Agency conference on Space Elevators, just a few days before he was arrested — via Slashdot
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories are pleased to report that their project to construct a cheap home-built three dimensional fabricator has been a success. The fabricator is fully operational and has been used it to print several large, low-resolution, objects out of pure sugar
German researchers at the Frauenhofer Institute said Wednesday that they were launching an attempt to reassemble millions of shredded East German secret police files using complicated computerised algorithms. The files were shredded as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and it became clear that the East German regime was finished. Panicking officials of the Stasi secret police attempted to destroy the vast volumes of material they had kept on everyone from their own citizens to foreign leaders — via Slashdot
Japanese scientists say they have genetically engineered silkworms to produce a specific colour. The author of the study, Takashi Sakudoh of the University of Tokyo, says understanding the pigment transport system of silkworms could pave the way for genetic manipulation of the colour and pigment content of silk
. In nature, silkworm cocoon colours vary from white, yellow, straw, salmon, pink and green. The colours in the silk are from natural pigments absorbed when the silkworms eat mulberry leaves. The scientists have found that mutated insects produced a non-functional form of the carotenoid-binding protein, known to aid pigment uptake
A man cut off his own head with a chainsaw after stabbing his 70-year-old father to death in their apartment in the German city of Cologne. The body of the offender, 24, was found headless when police raced to the apartment after an emergency call, apparently from the dying father, had been broken off in mid-sentence — via Warren Ellis
Scientists are eyeing the jet stream, an energy source that rages night and day, 365 days a year, just a few miles above our heads. If they can tap into its fierce winds, the world’s entire electrical needs could be met, they say. The trick is figuring out how to harness the energy and get it down to the ground cost-effectively and safely. Dozens of researchers in California and around the world believe huge kite-like wind-power generators could be the solution. As bizarre as that might seem, respected experts say the idea is sound enough to justify further investigation
It is pink and grey, 60cm long and one of the only two venomous lizards in the world. Yet the Gila Monster has proved an unlikely ally in the battle to control diabetes. Scientists have isolated a chemical in its saliva which is similar to a human hormone that helps regulate blood sugar
Hewlett-Packard said it will be beefing up select high-end PCs this week with options including a dual format HD DVD/Blu-ray optical drive by LG, digital cable tuners, Intel Core 2 Quad Processors, and Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 graphics cards
The BBC Trust — the organisation that oversees the BBC’s operations — has driven another nail into the BBC’s relevancy for the 21st century today by giving the broadcaster permission to use DRM on its online offerings. The BBC has turned its back on its promise to deliver a remixable, DRM-free archive of its video materials to the British public. Instead, it has opted for the iPlayer
, a crippling technology that infects PCs and makes them incapable of saving and using some of the files on their hard-drives. At the core of this is a Microsoft technology, the WMV file-format
The last time Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs took on major recording companies, he refused to budge on his 99-cent price for a song on iTunes. As a new round of talks ramp up this month, however, Jobs has opened the door to higher prices — as long as music companies let Apple sell their songs without DRM. Jobs contends that would tear down the walls
by allowing consumers to play music they buy at Apple’s iTunes store on any digital music player, not just the company’s iPods
An odd-looking Canadian coin with a bright red flower was the culprit behind a US Defence Department false espionage warning earlier this year about mysterious coin-like objects with radio frequency transmitters. The harmless poppy coin
was so unfamiliar to suspicious US Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them
One Laptop Per Child, which aims to bring laptops to schoolchildren in impoverished nations, recently pushed its price per laptop to $175, from $100. India’s HRD ministry, which rejected the offer from OLPC, says it thinks it can push that price down to $10. The manufacturing cost has already been scaled down to $47. So far no manufacturer has agreed to the $10 price
An environmental consulting firm and other developers here have come up with a non-perishable food pack that creates steaming hot rice with the simple addition of cold water
If the bids are real — and the eBayMotors.com auction was stopped once for fake bidding — a modified 1969 Dodge Charger, painted to look like the General Lee from the TV Show The Dukes of Hazzard
, nearly became the most expensive car ever auctioned. The auction closed at $9,900,500 at 1:00 pm Friday. That puts it just $1.1 million away from the $11 million paid for a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Sports Coupe sold by the auction house Christie’s in 1987. To date, that is the highest price ever paid for a car at auction, according to Christie’s
The Auckland City Council — frustrated at the lack of action by the private sector — is planning a 100km fibre network to provide faster and cheaper broadband across the city. All going to plan, the citywide network could be providing high-speed broadband to thousands of businesses and most residents by 2010, including a wireless network in the central city. The network would be available to customers within 200m of the proposed route, designed to be close to businesses, government departments, libraries, emergency services, schools and universities
Director Rob Reiner has created a fifteen minute sequel to his mockumentary classic This is Spinal Tap. While the short film was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, it won’t be released in theatres any time soon. It is available, however, online
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