January 30 2006

• Prion
  Prion
  A prion is an infectious agent composed of protein in a misfolded form. This is in contrast to all other known infectious agents which must contain nucleic acids . The word prion, coined in 1982 by Stanley B. Prusiner, is a portmanteau derived from the words protein and infection...
  
  s may play an important role in 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. (NewScientist)

January 27 2006

• Researchers working on bubble fusion
  Bubble fusion
  Bubble fusion, also known as sonofusion, is the non-technical name for a nuclear fusion reaction hypothesized to occur during a high-pressure version of sonoluminescence, an extreme form of acoustic cavitation...
  
   publish results in Physical Review Letters
  Physical Review Letters
  Physical Review Letters , established in 1958, is a peer reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society...
  
   obtained from new experiments that try to avoid problems and criticisms with previous experiments. They still report positive indications of deuterium
  Deuterium
  Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen. It has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in of hydrogen . Deuterium accounts for approximately 0.0156% of all naturally occurring hydrogen in Earth's oceans, while the most common isotope ...
  
   fusion through inertial confinement. (PhysOrg.com)
• Tokyo University announces that RNA
  RNA
  Ribonucleic acid , or RNA, is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life....
  
   researcher Kazunari Taira and his team have failed to prove that results published in their papers are reproducible. The team are also unable to provide the raw data. (Nature)

January 26 2006

• Plans are announced to jettison a 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 spacesuit from the ISS
  International Space Station
  The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
  
   on February 3 and follow its fate from Earth
  Earth
  Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
  
   via amateur radio
  Amateur radio
  Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
  
  . The project is called SuitSat
  SuitSat
  SuitSat is a retired Russian Orlan spacesuit with a radio transmitter mounted on its helmet. SuitSat-1 was deployed in an ephemeral orbit around the Earth on February 3, 2006...
  
  . (NASA)

January 25 2006

• Researchers at NASA
  NASA
  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
  
  's Goddard Institute for Space Studies
  Goddard Institute for Space Studies
  The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies , at Columbia University in New York City, is a component laboratory of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Earth-Sun Exploration Division and a unit of The Earth Institute at Columbia University...
  
   announce their current estimate that the year 2005 was the warmest year since the start of instrumented
  Thermometer
  Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles. A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer (from the...
  
   record keeping in the late 1800. (AP/YahooNews)
• The smallest fish
  Fish
  Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
  
   yet discovered is announced to the public. Paedocypris progenetica
  Paedocypris progenetica
  Paedocypris progenetica is a species of cyprinid fish endemic to Indonesia where it is found in peat swamps and blackwater streams. It is one of the smallest vertebrates in the world with females reaching a maximum size of 10.3 mm, males 9.8 mm and the smallest mature specimen, a female, measured...
  
  was found in its peat swamp habitat on Sumatra
  Sumatra
  Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
  
  . (BBC)
• An OGLE
  Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment
  The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment or OGLE is a Polish astronomical project based at the University of Warsaw that is chiefly concerned with discovering dark matter using the microlensing technique. Since the project began in 1992, it has discovered several extrasolar planets as a side...
  
   collaboration's microlensing
  Gravitational microlensing
  Gravitational microlensing is an astronomical phenomenon due to the gravitational lens effect. It can be used to detect objects ranging from the mass of a planet to the mass of a star, regardless of the light they emit. Typically, astronomers can only detect bright objects that emit lots of light ...
  
   event (OGLE-2005-BLG-390) turns out to be caused by a star
  Star
  A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
  
   and its planet, the smallest exoplanet
  Extrasolar planet
  An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of such planets have been identified as of . It is now known that a substantial fraction of stars have planets, including perhaps half of all Sun-like stars...
  
   discovered to this date, now called OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb
  OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb
  OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb is a 'super-Earth' extrasolar planet orbiting the star OGLE-2005-BLG-390L, which is situated 21,500 ± 3,300 light years away from Earth, near the center of the Milky Way galaxy...
  
  . The findings of an international investigation are published in Nature
  Nature (journal)
  Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
  
  . (BBC) (SpaceRef.com)

January 24 2006

• The analysis of a computer simulation
  Computer simulation
  A computer simulation, a computer model, or a computational model is a computer program, or network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system...
  
   of Titan
  Titan (moon)
  Titan , or Saturn VI, is the largest moon of Saturn, the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found....
  
  's atmosphere is published in Science
  Science (journal)
  Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
  
  . An important result is the explanation for cloud
  Cloud
  A cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...
  
  s observed at 40° southern latitude
  Latitude
  In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
  
   by the edge of a Hadley cell
  Hadley cell
  The Hadley cell, named after George Hadley, is a circulation pattern that dominates the tropical atmosphere, with rising motion near the equator, poleward flow 10–15 kilometers above the surface, descending motion in the subtropics, and equatorward flow near the surface...
  
   in this area. (SpaceRef.com)
• An American
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
   citizen admits to running a botnet
  Botnet
  A botnet is a collection of compromised computers connected to the Internet. Termed "bots," they are generally used for malicious purposes. When a computer becomes compromised, it becomes a part of a botnet...
  
   of about 500,000 hijacked computers and leasing it out for creating pop-up ad
  Pop-up ad
  Pop-up ads or pop-ups are a form of online advertising on the World Wide Web intended to attract web traffic or capture email addresses. Pop-ups are generally new web browser windows to display advertisements...
  
  vertising. (BBC)

January 22 2006

• Canadian
  Canada
  Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
  
   scientists publish a study in Science
  Science (journal)
  Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
  
  in which they tested 480 different soil
  Soil
  Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
  
   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 found "some resistance
  Antibiotic resistance
  Antibiotic resistance is a type of drug resistance where a microorganism is able to survive exposure to an antibiotic. While a spontaneous or induced genetic mutation in bacteria may confer resistance to antimicrobial drugs, genes that confer resistance can be transferred between bacteria in a...
  
  " to a major class of antibiotic
  Antibiotic
  An antibacterial is a compound or substance that kills or slows down the growth of bacteria.The term is often used synonymously with the term antibiotic; today, however, with increased knowledge of the causative agents of various infectious diseases, antibiotic has come to denote a broader range of...
  
  s in each strain. (BBC)

January 21 2006

• NASA
  NASA
  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
  
   suspends work on Dawn
  Dawn Mission
  Dawn is a NASA spacecraft tasked with the exploration and study of the two largest members of the asteroid belt – Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The spacecraft was constructed with some European cooperation, with partners in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands providing Dawns framing...
  
   asteroid
  Asteroid
  Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
  
   mission and indefinitely postpones its launch due to cost overruns and technical issues. (AP/YahooNews)
• The IMAGE
  IMAGE
  IMAGE , or Explorer 78, was a NASA MIDEX mission that studied the global response of the Earth's magnetosphere to changes in the solar wind...
  
   spacecraft
  Spacecraft
  A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
  
   stops operating after six years of providing data on Earth
  Earth
  Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
  
  's magnetic field
  Magnetic field
  A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
  
  . Mission engineers discovered a broken power supply
  Power supply
  A power supply is a device that supplies electrical energy to one or more electric loads. The term is most commonly applied to devices that convert one form of electrical energy to another, though it may also refer to devices that convert another form of energy to electrical energy...
  
   in December 2005. (AP/YahooNews)

January 20 2006

• The New England Journal of Medicine
  New England Journal of Medicine
  The New England Journal of Medicine is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It describes itself as the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world.-History:...
  
  sends a "letter of concern" to Norway's Radium Hospital
  Radiumhospitalet
  The Norwegian Radium Hospital is a hospital in Oslo, Norway dedicated to cancer treatment. It is the largest cancer centre in Northern Europe, with 400 beds and around 2,000 employees. It was founded in 1932, with Severin Andreas Heyerdahl as chief physician and director, and Hans L. C...
  
   in regard to oral cancer
  Oral cancer
  Oral cancer is a subtype of head and neck cancer, is any cancerous tissue growth located in the oral cavity. It may arise as a primary lesion originating in any of the oral tissues, by metastasis from a distant site of origin, or by extension from a neighboring anatomic structure, such as the...
  
   research published in that journal in 2001. (AP/YahooNews)

January 19 2006

• The NASA
  NASA
  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
  
   spacecraft
  Spacecraft
  A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
  
   New Horizons
  New Horizons
  New Horizons is a NASA robotic spacecraft mission currently en route to the dwarf planet Pluto. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, Hydra and S/2011 P 1. Its estimated arrival date at the Pluto-Charon system is July 14th, 2015...
  
  launches successfully from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
  Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
  Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is an installation of the United States Air Force Space Command's 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Located on Cape Canaveral in the state of Florida, CCAFS is the primary launch head of America's Eastern Range with four launch pads...
  
   at 2:00pm EST (19:00 UTC) and leaves Earth
  Earth
  Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
  
  's orbit shortly afterwards on its journey to Pluto
  Pluto
  Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
  
  . (AP/YahooNews) (BBC)

January 17 2006

• From nanobatteries which charge to 80% in a minute to Internet
  Internet
  The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
  
   TV (IPTV
  IPTV
  Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
  
  ); there is a lot to look forward to in technology
  Technology
  Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
  
   for 2006. (Popular Mechanics)
• The editor of medical science journal The Lancet
  The Lancet
  The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
  
  , Richard Horton, calls the fabrication of cancer research data done by a doctor at Norway's Radium Hospital
  Radiumhospitalet
  The Norwegian Radium Hospital is a hospital in Oslo, Norway dedicated to cancer treatment. It is the largest cancer centre in Northern Europe, with 400 beds and around 2,000 employees. It was founded in 1932, with Severin Andreas Heyerdahl as chief physician and director, and Hans L. C...
  
  , and published in a Lancet article, "the worst [fraud] the research world has seen." (Aftenposten)

January 16 2006

• The Norwegian
  Norway
  Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
  
   Radium Hospital
  Radiumhospitalet
  The Norwegian Radium Hospital is a hospital in Oslo, Norway dedicated to cancer treatment. It is the largest cancer centre in Northern Europe, with 400 beds and around 2,000 employees. It was founded in 1932, with Severin Andreas Heyerdahl as chief physician and director, and Hans L. C...
  
   halts a research study into oral cancer
  Oral cancer
  Oral cancer is a subtype of head and neck cancer, is any cancerous tissue growth located in the oral cavity. It may arise as a primary lesion originating in any of the oral tissues, by metastasis from a distant site of origin, or by extension from a neighboring anatomic structure, such as the...
  
   after it is alleged that patient data used for a publication in The Lancet
  The Lancet
  The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
  
  were falsified. (BBC)

January 15 2006

• The Stardust
  Stardust (spacecraft)
  Stardust is a 300-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on February 7, 1999 to study the asteroid 5535 Annefrank and collect samples from the coma of comet Wild 2. The primary mission was completed January 15, 2006, when the sample return capsule returned to Earth...
  
   spacecraft
  Spacecraft
  A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
  
   touches down safely inside its intended landing area in Utah
  Utah
  Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
  
  , close to the Army Dugway Proving Ground. (BBC)

January 14 2006

• The CDC
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
  
   warns doctors to no longer prescribe the drugs rimantadine
  Rimantadine
  Rimantadine is an orally administered antiviral drug used to treat, and in rare cases prevent, influenzavirus A infection. When taken within one to two days of developing symptoms, rimantadine can shorten the duration and moderate the severity of influenza. Both rimantadine and the similar drug...
  
   and amantadine
  Amantadine
  Amantadine is the organic compound known formally as 1-adamantylamine or 1-aminoadamantane. The molecule consists of adamantane backbone that has an amino group substituted at one of the four methyne positions. This pharmaceutical is sold under the name Symmetrel for use both as an antiviral and an...
  
   to people with influenza
  Influenza
  Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
  
  . This recommendation is based on a recent study that shows about 91 percent of the currently circulating H3N2
  H3N2
  Influenza A virus subtype H3N2 is a subtype of viruses that cause influenza . H3N2 Viruses can infect birds and mammals. In birds, humans, and pigs, the virus has mutated into many strains...
  
   virus has resistance to both drugs. (AP/YahooNews)

January 13 2006

• The GIOVE-A
  GIOVE
  GIOVE, or Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element, is the name for each satellite in a series being built for the European Space Agency to test technology in orbit for the Galileo positioning system.Giove is the Italian word for "Jupiter"...
  
   satellite sends test signals from an altitude of 23,000 km to a ground station for the first time. (BBC)

January 12 2006

• Astronomers at the Greenbank Radio Telescope, West Virginia, USA, have discovered the most rapidly rotating pulsar
  Pulsar
  A pulsar is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. The radiation can only be observed when the beam of emission is pointing towards the Earth. This is called the lighthouse effect and gives rise to the pulsed nature that gives pulsars their name...
  
   that rotates at 716 times per second (hertz
  Hertz
  The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
  
  ), easily beating the previously known record of one rotating at 642 hertz. http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2006/mspulsar/
• US
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
   District judge
  Judge
  A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
  
   Naomi Reice tentatively approves a settlement between 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....
  
   and plaintiff
  Plaintiff
  A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
  
  s over the XCP CD
  Compact Disc
  The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
  
   copy protection software. (BBC)
• A study by the WHO
  World Health Organization
  The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
  
   shows that the recent H5N1
  H5N1
  Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as "bird flu", A or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species...
  
   virus
  Virus
  A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
  
   infecting humans in Turkey
  Turkey
  Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
  
   most likely carries a slight mutation
  Mutation
  In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...
  
   to allow it to pass easier from bird
  Bird
  Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
  
  s to humans. (Washington Post via Boston Globe)

January 11 2006

• A German
  Germany
  Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
  
   research team publishes results of a study that shows ordinary plant
  Plant
  Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
  
  s produce the greenhouse gas
  Greenhouse gas
  A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
  
   Methane
  Methane
  Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
  
  , possibly accounting for 10 to 30 percent of the world's total methane gas production. (BBC)

January 10 2006

• A group of parents sue Frazier Mountain High in Lebec, California
  Lebec, California
  Lebec is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Kern County, California. It is one of the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass, and the home of the Tejon Ranch Company. Lebec is south of Bakersfield. The population was 1,468 in the 2010 census, up from 1,224 in...
  
   over the teaching of Intelligent design
  Intelligent design
  Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
  
   in a philosophy
  Philosophy
  Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
  
   class. (AP/YahooNews)
• A panel of scientists conclude that all human cloning
  Human cloning
  Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It does not usually refer to monozygotic multiple births nor the reproduction of human cells or tissue. The ethics of cloning is an extremely controversial issue...
  
   research by Hwang Woo-suk
  Hwang Woo-Suk
  Hwang Woo-suk is a South Korean veterinarian and researcher. He was a professor of theriogenology and biotechnology at Seoul National University who became infamous for fabricating a series of experiments, which appeared in high-profile journals, in the field of stem cell research...
  
   was faked. It also found that Snuppy
  Snuppy
  Snuppy is an Afghan hound, credited with being the world's first cloned dog. The puppy was created using the cell of an ear from an adult Afghan hound and involved 123 surrogate mothers, of which only three produced pups...
  
  is indeed the first cloned dog. (BBC)
• Members of the Stardust
  Stardust (spacecraft)
  Stardust is a 300-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on February 7, 1999 to study the asteroid 5535 Annefrank and collect samples from the coma of comet Wild 2. The primary mission was completed January 15, 2006, when the sample return capsule returned to Earth...
  
   mission announce their intention to ask volunteers to find collected dust grains by using the Internet
  Internet
  The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
  
  . The project will be called Stardust@home
  Stardust@home
  Stardust@home is a citizen science project that encourages volunteers to search images for tiny interstellar dust impacts. The project began providing data for analysis on August 1, 2006....
  
  . (space.com/YahooNews)

January 6 2006

• 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 fix for the WMF vulnerability, ahead of schedule. (Reuters/YahooNews)

January 5 2006

• The TOPEX/Poseidon
  TOPEX/Poseidon
  Launched in 1992, TOPEX/Poseidon was a joint satellite mission between NASA, the U.S. space agency, and CNES, the French space agency, to map ocean surface topography. The first major oceanographic research vessel to sail into space, TOPEX/Poseidon helped revolutionize oceanography by proving the...
  
   satellite
  Satellite
  In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
  
   ceases operations after a 13 year mission (it was designed for a lifetime of five years) due to problems with its reaction wheel
  Momentum wheel
  A reaction wheel is a type of flywheel used primarily by spacecraft for attitude control without using fuel for rockets or other reaction devices....
  
  . (SpaceRef.com)

January 4 2006

• Astronomers announce new data on Pluto
  Pluto
  Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
  
  's moon Charon
  Charon (moon)
  Charon is the largest satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto. It was discovered in 1978 at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station. Following the 2005 discovery of two other natural satellites of Pluto , Charon may also be referred to as Pluto I...
  
   obtained during an occultation
  Occultation
  An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer. The word is used in astronomy . It can also refer to any situation wherein an object in the foreground blocks from view an object in the background...
  
   of a star
  Star
  A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
  
   in July 2005. They conclude that Charon has no atmosphere and find its size to lie between 1,206 and 1,212 km. (AFP/YahooNews)

January 3 2006

• The largest prime
  Prime number
  A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2...
  
   Mersenne number currently known is announced by researchers at Central Missouri State University as M_30402457. A computer program discovered it in December 2005. (AP/YahooNews)
• 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...
  
   announces it plans to deliver a patch for the WMF vulnerability by January 10, and discourages the use of third party fixes. (PCWorld/YahooNews)
• Iran
  Iran
  Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
  
  's Atomic Energy Organization announces the resumption of research and development of its nuclear program by January 9. (Reuters/YahooNews)

January 2 2006

• Several exploits
  Exploit (computer security)
  An exploit is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or sequence of commands that takes advantage of a bug, glitch or vulnerability in order to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur on computer software, hardware, or something electronic...
  
   of a severe Windows security vulnerability are spreading over the Internet, permitting compromise of any Windows
  Microsoft Windows
  Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
  
   computer merely by viewing a maliciously crafted image on a website
  Website
  A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
  
   or in e-mail
  E-mail
  Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
  
   or instant messaging
  Instant messaging
  Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
  
  . No patch from Microsoft is available. The vulnerability affects every version of Windows, potentially affecting more computers than any prior computer security vulnerability in history. (Microsoft.com) (CERT) (Slashdot) (Sans.org) (F-Secure.com)