Teen charged with illegal file-sharingA 16-year-old from Stavanger has become the first Norwegian charged with illegal file-sharing for distributing copyright protected material via the Internet.
Police in Rogaland aim to get the accused a suspended sentence of 60 days in jail and a fine of NOK 4,000 (USD 644). In addition the boy's parents face a six-figure fine for compensation from the music and film industry, newspaper Dagbladet reports on its web site.
"We are very pleased that the police have take... (more)
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Wild Bees Reject Genetically Engineered Crop--Potential Major Impact on PollinationFrom Ecological Society of America Referring to a Sept. 2004 peer-reviewed article
Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
Abstract. The ecological impacts of agriculture are of concern, especially with genetically modified and other intensive, modern cropping systems, yet little is known about effects on wild bee populations and subsequent implications for pollination. Pollination... (more)
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X-51 Hypersonic Cruise Missile: The Pentagon's Prompt Global Strike Weapon PlanThe mission: Attack anywhere in the world in less than an hour. But is the Pentagon's bold program a critical new weapon for hitting elusive targets, or a good way to set off a nuclear war?
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Linking to copyrighted material could get you suedA LANDMARK ruling down under means that if people link to a page with copyrighted material they could be sued for piracy.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, an Aussie Federal Court upheld a ruling against Stephen Cooper, who ran a site called pp3s4free.net for providing a search engine to enable the illegal downloading of music MP3s.
Also in the dock was his ISP, E-Talk, which had made no efforts to take the site down after it was requested to do so. The court decided ... (more)
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Genetically-Modified Mosquitos to Fight Disease Without mosquitoes, epidemics of dengue fever and malaria could not plague this planet.
The skin-piercing insects infect one person after another while dining on a favorite meal: human blood.
Eliminating the pests appears impossible. But scientists are attempting to re-engineer them so they cannot carry disease. If they manage that, they must create enough mutants to mate with wild insects and one day to outnumber them.
Researchers chasing this dream,... (more)
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UK report says robots will have rightsThe next time you beat your keyboard in frustration, think of a day where it may be able to sue you for assault. Within 50 years we might even find ourselves standing next to the next generation of vacuum cleaners in the voting booth.
Far from being extracts from the extreme end of science fiction, the idea that we may one day give sentient machines the kind of rights traditionally reserved for humans is raised in a British government-commissioned report w... (more)
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Human Thoughts Control New RobotScientists have created a way to control a robot with signals from a human brain.
By generating the proper brainwaves—picked up by a cap with electrodes that sense the signals and reflect a person's instructions—scientists can instruct a humanoid robot to moves to specific locations and pick us certain objects [video].
The commands are limited to moving forward, picking up one of two objects and bringing it to one of two locations. The researchers have a... (more)
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Animals Dream in Pictures, TooWhen rats snuggle up for a nap, they replay "movies" of their daily activities in what scientists suggest is the animal equivalent of dreaming, a new study suggests.
The research supports the idea that memories are cemented into the brain during sleep.
"This work brings us closer to an understanding of the nature of animal dreams and gives us important clues as to the role of sleep in processing memories of our past experiences," said co-researcher Matthew Wilson at... (more)
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Cow 'emissions' more damaging to planet than CO2 from carsMeet the world's top destroyer of the environment. It is not the car, or the plane,or even George Bush: it is the cow.
A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to de... (more)
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Connect your brain to the internet?Today, the Center for American Progress hosted a panel titled "Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense." CAP Senior Fellow Jonathan Moreno, Ph.D. gave a run down on his book and fellow panelist Jennifer Bard, a law professor at Texas Tech University, gave a legal analysis of advances in neuroscience research as applied to real life situations.
The most ... (more)
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Industry group urges caution on U.S. plan for RFID-enabled ID cards A government plan to use radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in a proposed passport card program for U.S. citizens is drawing fire from some quarters. The identification cards would be needed by residents who don't have passports for verifying their identity at land and sea border crossings. The Smart Card Alliance, a nonprofit industry body representing several large vendors of smart-card and RFID technologies, this week formally urged the government to recons... (more)
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Conservative media site claims Bush will seek funding of orbital anti-missile satellitesA story on a conservative media site is claiming that the Bush Administration will ask Congress to fund development of an "orbital battle station," aimed at destroying missiles launched against the United States.
The article, published by Pajamas Media, attacks Democrats' opposition to an missile defense system and alleges that such orbital "stations" would actually be satellites carrying 40 to 50 small "kill vehicles" that would attack enemy missiles during their initial ascent.<... (more)
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'Violent video games make children lose self-control'Playing violent video games makes children lose their self-control, a shocking new study has revealed.
An analysis of brain activity demonstrates they become more emotionally charged after using the graphic technology.
At the same time there is a marked decrease in activity in parts of the brain which are linked to self-control, focus and concentration.
The findings will refuel concern about the effects of violent video and computer games on children.... (more)
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Fury as genetically modified potatoes given go-ahead in UKMinisters have been accused of ignoring consumers and risking contamination of the countryside after giving the green light for genetically modified potatoes to be grown in the UK. The Government granted permission for the GM variety to be cultivated at two trial sites, prompting claims that they are stealthily trying to reintroduce the technology after previously being forced to back away from it by public opposition.
Plans to grow Britain's first commerci... (more)
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New Law Could Limit Digital Music LibrariesCongress is considering legislation that would make it illegal to program and record music from digital radios and transfer those songs to MP3 players -- something many music fans enjoy.
Supporters of the proposed law Audio Flag said it would ensure people are actually paying for digital music.
"In theory, as these hard drives get bigger and bigger in these devices, you can build an entire music library (and) never buy another CD," said Patrick Ross, a music industr... (more)
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Security Of Electronic Voting Is CondemnedPaperless electronic voting machines used throughout the Washington region and much of the country "cannot be made secure," according to draft recommendations issued this week by a federal agency that advises the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
The assessment by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, one of the government's premier research centers, is the most sweeping condemnation of such voting systems by a federal agency.
In a report hailed by ... (more)
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US unleashes bomb-sniffing bees Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico have rather splendidly announced the immediate availability of the bomb-sniffing bee, Reuters reports.
The boffins declared they'd "trained honeybees to stick out their proboscis when they smell explosives in anything from cars and roadside bombs to belts similar to those used by suicide bombers". The terror-busting insects can "recognise substances ranging from dynamite and C-4 plastic explos... (more)
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Smart homes a reality in S Korea More than 100 homes offering smart technology have just been built in South Korea and another 30,000 are planned.
Mi Yung Kim and her 10-month-old son Jae Won recently moved into their new smart flat. From the outside, their building looks like just another apartment block, but these new homes in Seoul were built with technology in mind.
The control panel on the wall maps out the apartment so Mi Yung can choose which devices to control.
The air quali... (more)
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Wireless technology made me sickIt is the hi-tech tool that has revolutionised home and office alike - but a growing band of campaigners claim wi-fi is a major threat to health.
Sufferers say the electro-magnetic waves emitted by wireless computer networks - wi-fi - leave them feeling exhausted, nauseous and sleepless.
Author Kate Figes, spent hundreds of pounds installing wireless internet in her Stoke Newington home, then found it made her so ill she had to scrap it.
Ms Figes, 49... (more)
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The first remarkable close-up pictures of animals in the wombAn unborn elephant, tiny but perfect in every way. A dolphin swimming in the womb, just as it will have to swim in the ocean the moment it is born. An unborn dog panting. Each one amazing and now, thanks to these remarkable pictures, they can be seen for the first time.
Using an array of technology, the images reveal what until now has been a secret - exactly how animals develop in the womb. They were created by the same team who in 2004 showed how human embryos "walk in the wom... (more)
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Airspace Activist Eyes Unfriendly SkiesWhen Alan Gross of Flushing looked out his window Aug. 13 of this year, he was looking for a blimp. What he saw instead floated like a butterfly, but stung him like a bee.
Absent a dirigible, Gross was concerned by the presence of contrails over the Manhattan skyline, zigzagging in drunken X’s across the heavens.
Contrails are the condensation tail left by an airplane as it travels through an area of cold air while expelling engine exhaust. It’s similar ... (more)
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