Friday May 30, 2008

Computer trained to "read" mind images of words

Maggie Fox
Reuters

A computer has been trained to "read" people's minds by looking at scans of their brains as they thought about specific words, researchers said on Thursday.

They hope their study, published in the journal Science, might lead to better understanding of how and where the brain stores information.

This might lead to better treatments for language disorders and learning disabilities, said Tom Mitchell of the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who helped lead the study.
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Friday May 30, 2008

Spain's drought: a glimpse of our future?

Elizabeth Nash
Independent

Barcelona is a dry city. It is dry in a way that two days of showers can do nothing to alleviate. The Catalan capital's weather can change from one day to the next, but its climate, like that of the whole Mediterranean region, is inexorably warming up and drying out. And in the process this most modern of cities is living through a crisis that offers a disturbing glimpse of metropolitan futures everywhere.

Its fountains and beach showers are dry, its ornamental lakes and private swimming pools drained and hosepipes banned. Children are now being taught how to save water as part of their school day.
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Friday May 30, 2008

South America considers common currency

Gulf Times

South America is thinking of creating a common currency and a central bank along the lines of those in the European Union’s eurozone, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said yesterday.

The idea is a logical next step following the signing last Friday of a treaty creating a Union of South American States that aims to promote joint regional customs and defense policies, Lula said during his weekly radio broadcast.

“Many things still haven’t been realised. We are now going to create a Bank of South America. We are going to move forward so in the future we’ll have a single central bank, a common currency,” he said.
But, he added: “This is a process. It won’t be something that happens quickly.”
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Friday May 30, 2008

The New Order: When reading is a crime

John Ozimek
The Register

Is this what it is going to be like? When simple possession of a proscribed document will be enough to see you clapped in irons and whisked down to the local police station?

About two weeks ago (May 16), Nottingham University campus was agog as police arrived to interview former student Hicham Yezza. After some ten years' study, first as undergraduate, then graduate, Hicham was a non-academic member of staff in one of the University departments.

His mistake was to agree to help Rizwaan Sabir, a friend in the Politics faculty, who needed a document downloaded from the web and printed off. This was all part of legitimate study: the document itself was on the Politics Faculty reading list. Unfortunately, the document in question also happened to be an al-Qaeda Training Manual.
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Friday May 30, 2008

Europe fuel protests spread wider

BBC News

Fuel protests triggered by rising oil prices have spread to more countries across Europe, with thousands of fishermen on strike.

In Spain, Europe's largest fish producer, the action is expected to bring the industry to a halt.

Fishermen in France have been protesting for weeks, and their counterparts in Portugal, Belgium and Italy are also joining the campaign.

UK and Dutch lorry-drivers held similar protests earlier this week.

The strike reflects anger at the rising cost of fuel, with oil prices above $130 (83.40 euros; £65.80) a barrel.
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Friday May 30, 2008

Middle classes losing faith in 'rude' police who go for soft targets instead of the real criminals

James Slack
Daily Mail

The middle classes have lost confidence in the police, a stark report has warned.

They fear they have been alienated by a service which routinely targets ordinary people rather than serious criminals, simply to fill Government crime quotas.

The attitude of some officers has also led to spiralling complaints about neglect of duty and rudeness.

The report from the Civitas think-tank says incidents which would once have been ignored are now treated as crimes - including a case of children chalking a pavement.
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Friday May 30, 2008

Low-caste tribe riots in Delhi for right to be 'untouchable'

Andrew Buncombe
Independent

India's centuries-old controversy over caste and discrimination brought parts of Delhi to a halt yesterday as thousands of members of an ethnic group demanded that their official status be lowered in order to provide them with better access to jobs and education. Members of the Gujjar tribe blocked major roads and highways into Delhi in sit-down protests and set fire to tyres as they vowed to create gridlock across India's capital and the surrounding area.
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Thursday May 29, 2008

Religion is a product of evolution, software suggests

Ewen Callaway
NewScientist

God may work in mysterious ways, but a simple computer program may explain how religion evolved

By distilling religious belief into a genetic predisposition to pass along unverifiable information, the program predicts that religion will flourish. However, religion only takes hold if non-believers help believers out – perhaps because they are impressed by their devotion.
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Thursday May 29, 2008

Can the ecohackers save us?

Danny Bradbury
The Guardian

Many scientists now believe the Earth can be altered to tackle global warming. But are these geoengineers being overly optimistic? Danny Bradbury investigates

It sounds like something from B-movie lore. Scientists working to avert global catastrophe invent a terrible technical instrument that could affect the fundamental way that the planet operates. The question is not whether they should use it, but whether they have a choice. In both academic and privately funded laboratories, such techniques are being considered, mostly in response to global warming. Geoengineering, or "ecohacking" - using science to change the environment on a vast scale - could become a reality faster than you think.
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Thursday May 29, 2008

A small bite for a monkey... a giant leap for mankind

Steve Connor
Independent

Two monkeys have been trained to eat morsels of food using a robotic arm controlled by thoughts that are relayed through a set of electrodes connecting the animal's brain to a computer, scientists have announced.

The astonishing feat is being seen as a major breakthrough in the development of robotic prosthetic limbs and other automated devices that can be manipulated by paralysed patients using mind control alone.

Scientists eventually plan to use the technology in the development of prosthetics for people with spinal cord injuries or conditions such as motor neurone disease, where total paralysis leaves few other options for controlling artificial limbs or wheelchairs. They hope one day to develop robotic machines that feel like a natural extension of the human body, which would enable the technology to be adapted for a wide variety of purposes, from driving a car to operating a fork-lift truck.
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Thursday May 29, 2008

Beta blockers cost more lives than they save, study claims

Jeremy Laurance
Independent

At least 800,000 deaths may have been caused worldwide in the past decade by preventive drugs which are routinely given to patients undergoing surgery to reduce the risk of heart attacks, researchers said yesterday.

The huge death toll was compared to that "from a world war" by the leader of the international study, carried out in 23 countries, who said it had been caused by "well-meaning physicians" handing out the drugs without considering the side-effects. The result was that they had cost more lives than they saved.
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Thursday May 29, 2008

How to Rule the World After Bush

Mark Engler
Tomdispatch.com

Picture January 20, 2009, the day George W. Bush has to vacate the Oval Office.

It's easy enough to imagine a party marking this fine occasion, with antiwar protestors, civil libertarians, community leaders, environmentalists, health-care advocates, and trade unionists clinking glasses to toast the end of an unfortunate era.

Even Americans not normally inclined to political life might be tempted to join the festivities, bringing their own bottles of bubbly to the party. Given that presidential job approval ratings have rarely broken 40% for two years and now remain obdurately around or below 30% -- historic lows -- it would not be surprising if this were a sizeable celebration.
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Thursday May 29, 2008

World 'failing on human rights'

BBC News

World leaders are failing to tackle human rights abuses around the globe, Amnesty International says.

In an annual report, the group says people are still being tortured or ill-treated in at least 81 countries.

In at least 54 states they face unfair trial and cannot speak freely in at least 77 nations, the group adds.

It says world leaders should apologise for 60 years of human rights failures since the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
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Thursday May 29, 2008

Village shopkeeper threatened with arrest for tipping off customers about traffic wardens

Vanessa Allen
Daily Mail

For village shopkeeper Alma Floyd a warning to her customers about 'over-zealous' traffic officials was all part of the service.

If she spotted Police Community Support Officers ticketing cars outside her family-run dairy she alerted shoppers so they could avoid them.

But now the helpful Mrs Floyd, 60, has been threatened with arrest if she continues to help her customers to avoid parking tickets.

Police have warned the rural shopkeeper she is interfering with the officers 'in their line of duty' - and said she could risk prosecution.
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Thursday May 29, 2008

Google claims YouTube is exactly what DMCA was made for

OUT-LAW

Viacom's copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube threatens the way that hundreds of millions of people use the internet, YouTube owner Google has said in its court defence.

YouTube is accused by media conglomerate Viacom of copyright infringement in a $1 billion court case that could prove a vital testing ground for the legal basis of businesses grounded in user-submitted content.

Google said that it not only complies with US copyright law, but that it goes "far beyond" its legal obligations in the way that it protects content producers and owners.

Viacom is suing YouTube in a New York court for copyright infringement, alleging that YouTube profits from the videos it hosts that infringe its copyright.
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Thursday May 29, 2008

Eating tomatoes is the best way to avoid sunburn and wrinkles

John von Radowitz
Independent

Eating pizza topped with tomato paste can help prevent sunburn and premature wrinkles, new research suggests.

A study found that volunteers who ate helpings of ordinary tomato paste over a 12-week period developed skin that was less likely to burn in the sun.

Researchers at the University of Manchester found that the test subjects were 33 per cent more protected against sunlight than another group who were not given tomato paste.
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Wednesday May 28, 2008

Childhood lead exposure can predict criminality

Alison Motluk
NewScientist

Children exposed to lead early in life are more likely to be in trouble with the law as adults.

Lead contamination most often arises from the dust and soil, but can also come from lead water pipes or environmental pollution. Studies have consistently found associations between lead exposure in childhood and subsequent antisocial behaviour, but there have always been problems in determining causality.

Now Kim Dietrich at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and his colleagues have looked prospectively at how lead levels affect the risk of being arrested in adulthood. They recruited 250 pregnant women from a poor lead-contaminated inner-city district in Cincinnati.
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Wednesday May 28, 2008

Fossil prints reveal giant winged reptile was a stalker

John von Radowitz
Press Association
The Guardian

The largest creatures that ever flew may have spent much of their time on the ground, research suggests. Azhdarchids were a type of pterosaur, or "winged lizard", living at the time of the dinosaurs. Their wingspans could exceed 10 metres (32ft). They were thought to have lived like seagulls or pelicans, patrolling coastlines from the air and swooping down on fish in the water. But new evidence from their fossil distribution and footprints suggests they were more likely to stalk prey on foot.

Darren Naish, from the University of Portsmouth, and his team studied fossils in London, Portsmouth and Germany, and compared the physical characteristics of azhdarchids with those of modern animals.
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Wednesday May 28, 2008

Cows that eat outdoors produce healthier milk

James Macintyre
Independent

The benefits of organic milk have been highlighted by a study showing milk from cows which graze outside on grass and clover contains more antioxidants and vitamins than that from conventional dairy farms.

An al fresco diet in cows results in milk with up to 60 per cent higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA9) which has been linked to a reduced risk of cancer, according to research from Newcastle University. The same study found 39 per cent more omega-3 fatty acid and 33 per cent more vitamin E, which are also thought to reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.
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Tuesday May 27, 2008

Mosquito invasion brings disease risk to UK

Steve Connor
Independent

An Asian mosquito species is poised to arrive in Britain, bringing with it the risk of a potentially lethal disease that the insect can pass from one person to another.

The Asian tiger mosquito has already established itself in northern Italy where it has transmitted chikungunya fever to scores of people. The insect has also been detected in a dozen other European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands.
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Thursday May 15, 2008

Meningitis: defeated at last?

Jeremy Laurance
independent

Parents live in fear of this infection. It targets the young and strikes with horrificspeed. One in 10 dies, and many others suffer permanent disabilities. But yesterday scientists revealed a startling breakthrough

The annual scourge of deaths and severe illness caused by meningitis could be consigned to the history books after scientists announced startling results from trials of a potential vaccine.

In the most significant advance in a decade, researchers say they have obtained powerful immune responses in 150 British infants on whom the vaccine was tested, suggesting it would be protective against the group B type of the disease.
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Saturday May 10, 2008

Filipino whose wife died after blunder by NHS to be deported

Jeremy Laurance
Independent

A man whose wife died as a result of an NHS blunder has lost his right to remain in Britain, in what a coroner described yesterday as an "extraordinary" decision.

Arnel Cabrera, 39, came to Britain from the Philippines in 2003 to join his wife, Mayra, a theatre nurse, who worked at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

But a year later, Mrs Cabrera died at the same hospital after she was given an epidural during the birth of the couple's child which was mistakenly injected into her arm. The baby survived.
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Thursday May 01, 2008

They don't just shop local in Totnes - they have their very own currency

Rob Sharp
Independent

If you were to nip down to Devon's Totnes market on a Saturday looking to buy some spelt flour pancakes, crêpes or falafels, then you might just encounter Lou Brown, who is a remarkably fine cook. But she has another, non-culinary distinction. Unlike most businesses in the country, Brown does not deal in currency with a picture of the Queen's head on it. No, instead, her change features an image much closer to home. The town where she lives.

Brown, along with thousands of her fellow residents in this colourful south-west retreat, uses Totnes pounds: notes printed and traded locally (and decorated with a sepia depiction of the town's main thoroughfare).
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