Flu pandemic "could kill up to 150 million people"

A leading United Nations official has warned there could be a new influenza outbreak at any time which could kill up to 150 million people.
Dr David Nabarro said the influenza pandemic was likely to be caused by a mutation of the virus that is currently causing bird flu in Asia.

More here.

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Goodbye North Pole?

If you're planning a trip to the Arctic ice cap, try not too leave it too long:

The Arctic ice cap is on track to disappear within a century, according to a study published yesterday. The satellite survey by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), and the space agency Nasa reveals that for the fourth consecutive year there has been "a stunning reduction" in Arctic sea ice at the end of the northern summer, placing species such as polar bears at risk.

More here.

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The $100 laptop

As a part of what he says is his life's most important work, MIT Media Labs director Nicholas Negroponte is on course to deliver a $100 laptop to the people who need it most: the world's children.

More here.

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"Mythical" monster caught on film

A live, adult giant squid has been caught on camera in the wild for the very first time. Japanese researchers took pictures of the elusive creature hunting 900m down, enveloping its prey by coiling its tentacles into a ball.

More here.

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Cameroon's killer lakes

More work is needed urgently to prevent potentially fatal releases of gas from two lakes in Cameroon, scientists say... In 1984, a sudden release of carbon dioxide from Lake Monoun killed about 40 people by suffocation. Two years later, a similar incident at Lake Nyos resulted in much larger loss of life, estimated at nearly 2,000 people.

More here.

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Of (bald) mice and men

Scientists believe manipulating genes within hair cells can reverse baldness. Researchers found it was possible to re-grow fur on bald mice by correcting a gene mutation, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported.

More here.

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World's first interactive drama series?

Channel 4 is to broadcast what it believes to be the world's first interactive drama series. Dubplate Drama will give viewers the chance to shape the plot by voting on the outcome of each episode's ending.

More here.

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Palm switches to Big Bill - fans cry foul

When Palm announced today that its new smartphone would run an operating system from Microsoft, it was the equivalent of Coca-Cola agreeing to fill its bottles with Pepsi.

More here.

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The next space race

China announced plans to launch its second manned space mission on Oct. 13 and return five days later. The launch of Shenzhou VI is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base, in the Gobi desert in northern China, the state-run China News Service reported on Sunday. The military-backed space program is a major prestige project for the communist government. China hopes to land an unmanned probe on the moon by 2010 and operate a space station.

More here.

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"Genetic engineering taken to another level"

Scientists have successfully transplanted human chromosomes into mice, a first that promises to transform medical research into the genetic causes of disease. But according to David King, of the pressure group Human Genetics Alert, the potential breakthrough comes at too high a cost. "Creating organisms with whole chromosomes from another species is genetic engineering taken to another level.

More here.

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More flu pandemic stuff

Great piece from the FT about a bird flu "nightmare scenario":

The scenario sends shivers down epidemiologists' spines: in Indonesia a taxi driver develops a fever and dies, the latest victim of the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu. His wife grows ill and also dies. So do his children. And within 10 days so do many of his passengers, victims of a newly mutated virus that has finally found an efficient way to leap among humans...Welcome to the global flu pandemic.

More here.

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Woman give up nookie for "diarised" babies

Women are increasingly seeking inappropriate IVF treatment because they do not have the time or inclination for a sex life and want to "diarise" their busy lives.

More here.

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More intelligent design nonsense

A new battle over teaching about man's origins in U.S. schools goes to court for the first time next week, pitting Christian conservatives against educators and scientists in a trial viewed as the biggest test of the issue since the late 1980s. Eleven parents of students at a Pennsylvania high school are suing over the school district's decision to include "intelligent design" -- an alternative to evolution that involves a God-like creator -- in the curriculum of ninth-grade biology classes.

More here.

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Tap, tap, tap - there goes your password

Researchers at UC Berkeley have now proved that, using a device as simple as a $10 microphone, software can learn to recognize the sound of keystrokes as they're typed, and reveal the characters with 96 percent accuracy. Worst of all, in this era of needing passwords to access all sorts of things online, there's no good way to stop it.

More here.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Internet | Odd | Science | Pop culture

Those Google wifi rumours

Search expert John Battelle, author of "The Search"--which details Google's rise to prominence in the search space--said that if Google actually is planning to offer free WiFi, the move would provide both increased ad revenues as well as a public relations windfall. "If it does work, it's yet another massive scaled free service that makes Google the good guy," he said. "It'll probably be paired with significant local advertising opportunities, and significant distribution for their AdWords advertising."

But don't hold your breath for Google WiFi on a nationwide, much less international scale. More here.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Internet | Pop culture

Face facts: new transplant would cause identity crisis

Not for the first time surgeons are planning to perform the world's first face transplant. The expertise already exists but in the past doctors have shied away, fearing the emotional consequences of this medical taboo.

More here.

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Hackers choose cash over kudos

Uh-oh:

Online criminal activity of nearly every variety surged in the first half of 2005, fueled in large part by an increase in software security flaws and in the number of home computers being used against their owners' wishes to distribute spam, spyware and viruses, according to a new report.

More here.

And:

Widespread attacks by hackers seeking notoriety are becoming less popular, as cyber-criminals instead focus on targeted attacks for profit, Symantec reported today in its biannual Internet Security Threat Report.

More here.

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That latest back-to-the-moon news

The US space agency Nasa has announced plans to return to the Moon by 2020. Nasa administrator Michael Griffin said four astronauts would be sent in a new space vehicle, in a project that would cost $104bn.

More here.

And Nasa news here.

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Brand plug Beeb shocker probe thing

The BBC has launched an investigation into claims that companies are paying up to £40,000 to get their products featured in the corporation's programmes. The practice is thought to be widespread, according to a story in the Sunday Times yesterday, which alleged as many as 50 cases had been found where major brands had bought product placement spots in BBC programmes. The practice is said to be so common that some BBC programmes rely on the free gifts to outfit sets and characters.

More here.

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More back-to-the-moon news

And even more news due from Nasa later today, apparently, but for now:



NASA briefed senior White House officials Wednesday on its plan to spend $100 billion and the next 12 years building the spacecraft and rockets it needs to put humans back on the Moon by 2018. The U.S. space agency now expects to roll out its lunar exploration plan to key Congressional committees on Friday and to the broader public through a news conference on Monday, Washington sources tell SPACE.com.

More here.

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Climate change: past the point of no return?

A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.

More here.

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Plague mice on the loose?

Three lab mice carrying deadly strains of plague have turned up missing from separate cages at a bioterror research facility in Newark, sparking a hushed, intensive investigation by federal and state authorities. Officials said the animals could have been stolen from the center or simply misplaced in a colossal accounting error at one of the top-level bio-containment labs in the state. The incident occurred more than two weeks ago and was confirmed only ... after questions were raised by The Star-Ledger.

More here.

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British army is ready for its close up

The British army is offering its resources - including the hire of soldiers as movie extras - as a "one-stop shop" for film shoots in the UK and abroad. The advert [on www.moviemakersguide.com ] reads: "A vast range of authentic buildings and areas exemplifying many specific historical periods, wide tracts of land, lakes, coastal scenes and woodland, unmarked by modern features, form the army estate in the UK."

More here.

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Hurricane Katrina: A sign of the times?

An increase in the ferocity of hurricanes around the globe over the last 35 years may be attributable to global warming, a new report states. The study, which appears in the Sept. 16 issue of the journal Science, is perhaps one of the strongest scientific statements yet on a connection between hurricane activity and global warming.

More here.

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When bird flu lands in the UK

The UK will have just weeks to brace itself for a flu pandemic once cases start spreading rapidly in Asia, experts warned. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has been using statistical models to estimate how soon a pandemic could start affecting the UK. But it seems that little can be done once the infection arrives, as just one case can soon multiply and infect many other people, who go on to infect even more. Dr John Edmunds, from the HPA's centre for infections: "There is only one thing that can be done to stop it, and that is to stamp it out at source and if you're lucky you can stop a pandemic developing at the source."

More here.

And the HPA FAQ on avian flu is here.


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How long have you been looking at your computer screen today?

"British adults spend up to 130,000 hours during their lifetime sitting in front of a computer or TV, eye health campaigners warn. People admitted spending up to 53 hours during a working week watching TV or staring at a computer screen."

More here.

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Google's blog search

Yep, here it is: http://blogsearch.google.com

This is pretty damn good stuff, particularly for media professionals. For example, if I want to keep track of where my press release distribution site ClickPress is being mentioned or referenced in blogs, I can carry out this search:

http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=clickpress&btnG=Search+Blogs

But because this is Google, they also offer RSS feeds of the results, so the link below gives me 100 search results which I can plug into my RSS reader or headline aggregator:

http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch_feeds?hl=en&q=clickpress&btnG=Search+Blogs&num=100&output=rss

If there are any PR people out there NOT using this kind of technology to automate much of their press clipping chores, drop me a line and I'd be happy to show you how.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Internet | Pop culture

Sweet dreams are made of cheese

[I wish it was my headline, but it's not - it's The Mail's]

"For decades parents have warned their children not to have cheese before bedtime to prevent bad dreams. But researchers have disproved this old wife's tale and found that cheese could actually aid sleep. The study by the British Cheese Board, involved 200 volunteers in a week-long experiment. The cheese-munching volunteers reported no nasty dreams after a late night snack."

More here.

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Schwarznegger to terminate video game violence?

"The state of California looks set to become the second US state to pass laws restricting the sale of violent videogames to minors, after the California state senate and assembly both overwhelmingly voted in favour of AB1179. The bill, which began life as AB450 and has suffered multiple defeats and redraftings on the road to acceptance, has been proposed by assemblyman Leland Yee, an outspoken critic of the videogames industry's adult products. One final step exists before the bill enters law - it must be signed by Californian governor Arnold Schwarznegger, himself the star of several violent movies and games. Schwarznegger has 30 days in which to either sign or veto the bill."

More here.

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Blast from the past

"Scientists using NASA's Swift satellite and several ground-based telescopes have detected the most distant explosion yet, a gamma-ray burst from the edge of the visible universe. This powerful burst was detected September 4. It marks the death of a massive star and the birth of a black hole. It comes from an era soon after stars and galaxies first formed, about 500 million to 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

"We designed Swift to look for faint bursts coming from the edge of the Universe," said Swift principal investigator Dr. Neil Gehrels of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Now we've got one and it's fascinating. For the first time we can learn about individual stars from near the beginning of time. There are surely many more out there," he added."

More here.

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eBay finds its voice in new tech order

"eBay has agreed to buy the fast-growing Internet start-up Skype in a move to add free Web telephone calls to its online auctions and fuel growth, the companies confirmed Monday."

More here.

eBay reckons this does not represent a diversion from its core business, but frankly speaking that's rubbish. They should simply admit they've put down a significant amount of cash for an industry leader outside of their current influence. If Google can make a play for the desktop and Amazon can get into search via A9, there's no reason eBay shouldn't stake a claim in net telephony.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Internet

Kevin Bacon on Six Degrees - no, really.

"Through the years I have learned to tolerate and sometimes embrace the idea. People have asked me if I consider it an honour. Well, all it indicates is that I've been in a lot of movies with a lot of people... And if we take me out of the equation, it is a beautiful concept. If we could remember that every one of us on this planet is connected through six degrees of separation, that we all climbed out of the same swamp, maybe we wouldn't be so quick to rush to war or to turn our backs on our brothers in need."

More here.

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Miserable Brits need treatment

"A network of 250 treatment centres staffed by 10,000 therapists are needed urgently to tackle the epidemic of unhappiness that is Britain's "biggest social problem", a senior Government adviser says today. The Labour peer and adviser to No 10, Lord Layard...said: 'At any one time there are one million people with clinical depression and four million with clinical anxiety states. At present, people with depression or anxiety generally get pills or nothing. Only one in 10 people with these conditions get to see a therapist.'"

More here.

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330ppm (That's 330 pages per minute)

"IBM is stepping up its push into business publishing by launching what it calls the world's fastest printing system of its kind. The device, IBM said late Thursday, can churn out Tolstoy's "War and Peace" in less than a minute or print documents spanning the Empire State Building in less than 4 minutes. It starts at about $500,000 and the top-of-the-line version costs $1 million, said Robert Cooper, director of product printing for the Armonk, N.Y.-based company."

More here.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Odd | Science | Pop culture

BBC opens doors to video archives (Well, kind of)

"For the first time in our history the BBC is opening its video archives to the UK public. Download nearly 100 clips especially chosen with VJ's in mind. We've scoured the archives for skylines, sunsets, seascapes, wildlife, time-lapse photography & retro gadgets. We will be adding new clips/programmes and launching a major VJ based competition over the next few months so keep coming back for the latest updates."

More here.

Interesting stuff - it's being offered under the Creative Archive Licence. FAQs here.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Internet | Pop culture

More on The Flying Spaghetti Monster

"For a growing band of devoted followers, He is the Supreme Being; creator of the universe and all living things. To the rest of us, the Flying Spaghetti Monster looks like a giant heap of pasta and meatballs topped with eyeballs on stalks. As it turns out, both interpretations are correct."

More here.

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Boom with a view

"A U.S. Navy photographer with lightning-fast reflexes captured this image of a fighter plane blasting through a "sonic boom cloud" as the jet broke the sound barrier."

More here.

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National Geographic's New Orleans warning

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City."

And:

"Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued."

And:

"It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States."

Why the past tense? These are extracts from a National Geographic feature printed in October of last year. Chilling stuff.

More here.

Remeber this the next time NG or similar mag has a stunning artist's impression of an asteroid strike or some other "it'll never happen in our lifetime" disaster.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Odd | Science | Pop culture

Embryos created by 'virgin conception'

"Scientists have created the first human embryos in Britain by a technique of "virgin conception" that does not involve either fertilisation with sperm or cloning. The six embryos lived for between three and five days and were created as a potential source of human stem cells, which can develop into the body's specialised tissues such as brain nerves or bone."

More here.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Odd | Science | Pop culture

Good day for pop science news

"Scientists have developed an ultra-light limb that they claim can mimic the movement in a real hand better than any currently available."

More here.

"Pterosaur trackways recently found in Mexico suggest the animals could achieve a wingspan of 18m. There are also Romanian and Brazilian fossils from creatures that reached 13 or 14m (42-45ft) across. Compare this to today's biggest flying bird, the wandering albatross, which has a wingspan of about 3.5m (11.5ft)."

More here.

"Earth and Saturn's moon Titan show striking similarities because both occupy "sweet spots" in our Solar System, researchers have said. Many processes that occur on Earth also take place on this moon, say scientists participating in the US-European Cassini-Huygens mission. One scientist even sees a way that life could survive on the freezing world.

More here.

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More iPhony comments

iPod-equipped ROKR a great decoy: But Apple may someday need a phone of its own?

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Pop culture

iAnticlimax

Bloody hell, is that it?

Either Apple has genuinely screwed up, or this is a really clever ploy by the reasonably clever fella Steve Jobs.

iPod and iTunes now account for masses of Apple revenue, so:

• Either Apple have screwed up by allowing an okay-ish tech company like Motorola to come up with a product which might not be Apple, but is being linked with the company big time. (Oh, and it's nearly a year late, by most accounts)
• Or Jobs is testing the water.

People don't want a Motorola phone. They want a device that's been designed by Apple, looks like Apple and sold by Apple. WHO CARES if Motorola happens to make it! Apple plans to switch its desktops and laptops to Intel chips later this decade, but nobody will care - it'll still be a Mac.

What's happened with the ROKR (?) is that Apple has allowed Motorola to own the whole thing. A really bad move - unless this is just the first shot in an entirely new tech battle.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Internet | Odd | Pop culture

Gone phishing...at Yahoo!

"Yahoo! is hosting thousands of fraudulent websites that have domain names containing the words "bank", "PayPal" or "eBay", according to a leading anti-spam group Spamhaus. Spamhaus claims Yahoo! is hosting almost 5,000 domain names using these words, many of which are linked to phishing scams.

Yahoo! says:

"This is the first we have heard of it. We need to investigate this to find out if [people] are violating terms of contract."

More here.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Internet

Big day for Apple?

Apple makes its big announcement today, which everyone expects to be regarding the iPhone, iPodphone, or whatever it's going to be called.

They might have trademark problems with iPhone as a VoIP outfit already has www.iphone.com .

However, it's interesting to note that www.iphone.org redirects to the Apple site (and a quick whois lookup suggests it's not a Mac fan, but Apple itself in control of that domain).

Still, Apple could call it the iDontThinkYouShouldBuyThis and you just know it's going to shift millions of units regardless.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Internet | Pop culture

A nice cool drink in the sandy dunes. Of Mars.

"Scientists have found evidence that large amounts of water-ice hide within massive sand dunes on Mars. One of the dunes, which spans 6.5km and rises 475m above the Martian surface, may be the single largest sand dune in the entire Solar System. The icy dunes could be a valuable resource for any future manned missions to the planet, said Dr Mary Bourke.

The researcher presented her results to a science conference in Dublin. "If you're looking for a source of water for any future landers," said Dr Bourke, "I am advocating that you march up to your nearest sand dune."

More here.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Science | Pop culture

TV first, nookie second. Maybe third if the kids need feeding

"Television dictates our lives to such an extent that we fit our meals, conversations with other family members and even sex around how programmes are scheduled, a new report reveals. Thirty-seven per cent of the 30- to 50-year-olds questioned in the 2,000 adults polled claim to use the time between shows for household chores; and 16 per cent use the opportunity to attend to their children's needs.

More here.

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Cheers! Booze to beat the hospital blues

"AN NHS hospital is sending round an evening booze trolley — so patients can have a tipple in their beds. Spirits, wine and beer are available on a cancer ward for nightcaps and aperitifs. It is the first time in more than 20 years that free alcohol has been part of the treatment programme at North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke."

More here.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Odd | Science | Pop culture

Walkies!

"It could be a dream or a nightmare -- scientists have created a robotic dog that tells you when it's time for your daily walk.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States plan to recruit Sony's "canine entertainment robot" Aibo into the obesity police.

The dog would be connected by radio to the bathroom scales, a pedometer and a personal organizer in which the owner would note his daily food intake, New Scientist magazine reported on Wednesday."

More here.

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The Daily News, coming to a flexible screen near you

Sounds dull:

"Building on its leading position in rollable displays and drawing on its considerable heritage in personal electronics, Philips Polymer Vision is revealing its Concept Readius at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) in Berlin, Germany, September 2-7. Philips Concept Readius is a prototype of a connected consumer device for business professionals unwilling to sacrifice readability, mobility, performance, or weight in a pocket-sized, e-reader concept."

Until you see the pix here and realise that this another important step towards those super cool interactive newspapers that keep cropping up in sci-fi movies.

And what about that trade mark, eh? The Readius. Oh dear.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Odd | Science | Pop culture

Google moves into dead trees

This seems an odd move for Google:

"In its first significant expansion beyond the internet, Google has bought advertising in a handful of technology-industry magazines and resold chunks of the space to merchants already participating in its booming internet marketing network. The company confirmed the test, but provided few other details in a statement."

More here.

It seems a bit small fry for Google, but then again it's probably being handled as a marketing campaign for the search monster, rather than any massive revenue source in itself.

Still, makes you wonder what else Google has planned for 'the real world'. Are we going to see a Google consumer magazine at some point perhaps?

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Internet | Pop culture

Google Vs. Microsoft - the war continues

Just a couple of weeks after Google Talk's less-then-spectacular launch, Microsoft starts blustering about its own VoIP plans:

"Microsoft yesterday sent a shudder through the traditional telecoms industry when it announced plans to develop an internet telephone service, allowing calls from computers to fixed line and mobile phones and other PCs.
The software company is bolstering its expertise through the acquisition of Teleo, a small San Francisco firm that makes voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology. Microsoft intends to integrate the technology into its systems and develop services allowing consumers to make calls from their desktop by the end of the year"

More here.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Internet | Science | Pop culture

And still more iPod phone stuff, this time from the Beeb

"Apple is poised to unveil a mobile phone that plays music just like its best-selling iPod. Made by Motorola the handset will have Apple iTunes onboard and will be available via the US Cingular phone service. The news was broken by analyst Roger Entner who said he had been briefed about the device and the partners producing it. None of the companies involved were prepared to comment on the revelations"

More here.

[+] Tags: George Hopkin | Media | Internet | Science | Pop culture