Society & Politics archives

• 31 Auguast 2005
  

  "The key Millennium Goal of halving poverty in a decade cannot be met without better environmental protection, according to a new report. The World Resources 2005 document says that most of the world's poor depend on nature for their income. Its authors say a focus on aid has taken attention away from more complex issues such as the environment. The report is endorsed by the UN, and comes two weeks before a major summit to review progress on the Goals. World Resources is a biennial publication from the US-based research group the World Resources Institute (WRI). The release of this year's edition, sub-titled Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty, is particularly pertinent, coming as it does in the run-up to the UN World Summit. Learn more at the BBC.com.

• 30 Auguast 2005
  

  "The Internet, long proclaimed a conduit for democratization, is meeting its match in China. While Western libertarians believe China is fighting a losing battle as protestors and dissidents increasingly organize online, the Chinese leadership is betting its dual strategy of censorship and development will ultimately succeed. The Internet provides an unprecedented ability to create, access and exchange information. Unlike other mass communication mediums, cyberspace allows for the multi-directional and (theoretically) borderless free flow of information. These characteristics imply that it cannot be controlled like traditional forms of media. Or can it? Technological libertarians maintain that autocratic leaders face a zero-sum dilemma: embrace information technology and sacrifice political power, or suppress it and pay the economic price. The Chinese leadership, however, appears undeterred." Learn more in the Asia Times.

• 29 Auguast 2005
  

  "Cellphones are already used for music downloads, text messaging, and video games. But here in South Africa, they are beginning to perform another function: personal piggy bank. With the new technology, a grandmother in rural area can receive money from her son, working hundreds of miles away, with the beep of her cellphone. A teenager can buy groceries with a few punches of keys. Not a coin need change hands. It's a high-tech solution designed to help poor people here who never have had access to banks, cash machines, or credit cards. And it's another example of using digital technology to fast forward development in remote areas. Earlier this month, one of South Africa's main cellphone networks and one if its largest banks launched a new cellphone banking system that they hope will bring millions of poor South Africans into the official economy for the first time." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 26 Auguast 2005
  

  "When protesters in Ecuador started dynamiting pipelines and vandalizing pumping machinery last week, crippling oil exports - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez sprang to the rescue. 'We are going to help Ecuador,' Mr. Chávez announced from Cuba, where he was making his 13th visit since coming to power in 1999. 'Venezuela will cover the [oil export] commitments that the Ecuadorean government has not been able to fulfill these days. They will not have to pay a cent.' A generous offer, but not a surprising one. Chávez, whom Christian televangelist Pat Robertson says the US should assassinate, has been traveling the hemisphere offering preferential oil deals, barters, and loans to leftist and left-of-center governments. In the past 30 days, the leader of the world's fifth-largest oil exporting country, has inked deals with Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 25 Auguast 2005
  

  "Could the proposed Iranian oil bourse (IOB) become the catalyst for a significant blow to the influential position the US dollar enjoys? Manifold supply fears have driven the price of crude oil to its recent high of US$67.10 - only a notch below its highest price in inflation-adjusted dollar terms. With the world facing a daily bill of roughly $5.5 billion for crude oil at current price levels, it becomes apparent that sellers and purchasers of the black gold are looking into all ways that could lead to a financial improvement on their respective sides. Non-US-dollar holders so far have been the victim of additional transaction costs in the oil trade. The necessary conversion of local currencies into oil-buying greenbacks can be considered a hidden tax, charged and enjoyed by the international banking sector. The IOB, by eliminating this transaction cost, will become a factor that could unsettle the dollar's dominant position." Learn more in the Asia Times.

• 24 Auguast 2005
  

  "Perhaps as soon as October, a Long March rocket will thrust a spaceship into Earth orbit carrying two Chinese astronauts for a five-day mission. The launch will mark the latest feat for China's space program, which first shot a man into brief orbit in 2003, and will highlight the country's newfound technological prowess. It is a far cry from the common global image of China as low-cost factory to the world. Others invent technologies, such as the DVD player. China churns them out for as low as $29 each. Yet that image is a little stale. A look around China shows a handful of surprising advances in scientific niches, such as gene research, biomedicine and certain aspects of electronics. China's technological capacity is beginning to climb. Whether, and how quickly, China scales the technological ladder is no small matter for the United States, which holds a quantum lead in matters of science and engineering. If China were to gain ground, that would have a major impact on consumer products it can make as well as the ways in which its huge military could conduct modern warfare." Learn more in the Mercury News.

• 23 Auguast 2005
  

  "The world could run out of time to develop cleaner alternatives to oil and other fossil fuels before depletion drives prices through the roof, a leading Dutch energy researcher said on Thursday. Ton Hoff, manager of the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, said it could take decades to make alternatives affordable to the point where they can be used widely, although high oil prices were already stimulating such research. 'If we run out of fossil fuels -- by the time the oil price hits 100 dollars or plus, people will be screaming for alternatives, but whether they will be available at that moment of time -- that's my biggest worry,' Hoff said. 'That's why we need to use fossil fuels in a more efficient way to have some more time to develop these alternatives up to a level where the robustness is guaranteed and their price has come down ... This could take decades for some technologies.' Stubbornly high oil prices have renewed worldwide interest in sustainable energy sources, such as solar, wind and biomass as well as biofuels." Learn more in Reuters News.

• 22 Auguast 2005
  

  "Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican leader, aligned himself with President Bush on Friday when he said that the theory of intelligent design as well as evolution should be taught in public schools. Such an approach 'doesn't force any particular theory on anyone,' Mr. Frist said in Nashville, according to The Associated Press. "I think in a pluralistic society that is the fairest way to go about education and training people for the future." A Washington spokesman for the senator, Nick Smith, said later that the report was accurate. The theory of intelligent design holds that life is too complicated to have developed through evolution and that a higher power must be involved. Critics say intelligent design theorists are trying to supplant science with religious beliefs. The senator's view, expressed after his speech at a Rotary Club meeting, echoed President Bush's remarks of Aug. 2, when he told Texas newspaper reporters that he favored teaching both evolution and intelligent design 'so people can understand what the debate is about.'" Learn more in the New York Times.

• 19 Auguast 2005
  

  "The boss of eBay recently told analysts that China was a 'must win' for all global internet businesses. Meg Whitman's views are clearly shared by her rivals judging by the flurry of activity which has surrounded China's fledgling e-commerce market in recent days. Yahoo's $1bn (£556m) purchase of a 40% stake in Alibaba.com, which owns China's largest auction site, is the latest and most eye-watering in a series of deals involving Western firms. Google, eBay, Amazon and Interactivecorp - owner of online travel firm Expedia - have all gained a foothold in the Chinese market in one way or another over the past 18 months. While Amazon, eBay and Interactivecorp dipped into their pockets to buy Chinese firms outright, Google acquired a small strategic stake in the online retailer Baidu.com. The wisdom of this move was seemingly highlighted this week when Baidu's shares soared 350% on their first day of trading in the US, giving the firm a market value of $3.5bn." Learn more at the BBC.com.

• 18 Auguast 2005
  

  "Fearing cyberwarfare and the exposure of its strategic network, the Indian government has pulled the plug on a planned expansion into India by a Chinese telecom company. Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies' expansion plans here have again drawn the attention of Indian security agencies. For the second time in the last five years, Indian security agencies have moved to slow Huawei's expansion plans out of concern for India’s strategic telecom network. In 2001, U.S. intelligence sources reportedly tipped off the Indian government about Huawei’s activities here. Huawei has been embroiled in several high-profile intellectual property disputes with telecom rivals in recent years. Indian authorities are also concerned about Chinese links to India's neighbor and long-time adversary Pakistan. According to a report in The Times of India on Tuesday (August 16), the Indian government has put on hold Huawei’s plans to use $60 million in new equity for its Indian subsidiary, Huawei Technologies India Pvt. Ltd." Learn more in Information Week.

• 17 Auguast 2005
  

  "Websites providing information on different neighbourhoods could widen the gap between rich and poor areas, a charity has warned. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is concerned about websites providing househunters with data on neighbourhood income levels and ethnicity. The JRF said that similar sites in the US had led to people on high incomes increasingly living in the same area. The charity said this led to greater segregation and less social cohesion. Generally, information available to UK househunters about neighbourhood characteristics has been more limited than that available to their US counterparts. In the US, househunters can search for the average income of neighbourhoods as well as other details such as how ethnically diverse an area is. Such information is becoming more widely available over the internet to UK househunters, on a postcode rather than neighbourhood basis." Learn more at the BBC.com.

• 16 Auguast 2005
  

  "The concept was simple at first: Frequent fliers would clear a background check, become 'trusted travelers' and be sped through less stringent airport security. But now, the government's small, 13-month-old test program known as Registered Traveler is provoking an intense and increasingly complicated debate about privacy and the proper roles of government and business. The resolution could have far-reaching implications not only for how Americans travel by air, but how they conduct their daily lives and commerce. Government background checks conducted for the Registered Traveler program, and the biometric ID cards issued to those who enroll, could in the future determine how someone makes a purchase on credit, enters an office building or arena, turns on a cell phone or boards a train." Learn more in USA Today.

• 15 Auguast 2005
  

  "Ever wonder if that spouse, friend or co-worker on the other end of the phone is really paying attention? The 'Jerk-O-Meter' may hold the answer. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing software for cell phones that would analyze speech patterns and voice tones to rate people -- on a scale of 0 to 100 percent -- on how engaged they are in a conversation. Anmol Madan, who led the project while he pursued a master's degree at MIT, sees the Jerk-O-Meter as a tool for improving relationships, not ending them. Or it might assist telephone sales and marketing efforts. 'Think of a situation where you could actually prevent an argument,' he said. 'Just having this device can make people more attentive because they know they're being monitored.' The program, which Madan said is nearing completion, uses mathematical algorithms to measure levels of stress and empathy in a person's voice. It also keeps track of how often someone is speaking." Learn more at CNN.com.

• 12 Auguast 2005
  

  "Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - The restaurant, like all Riyadh eateries, has taken precautions to prevent its male and female diners from seeing or contacting each other. Circular white walls surround each table in the family section, open only to women alone or women accompanied by close male relatives. Other male diners are on lower floors. Yet despite the barriers, the men and women flirt and exchange phone numbers, photos and kisses. They elude the mores imposed by the kingdom’s puritanical Wahhabi version of Islam — formulated in the 18th century — by using a 21st century device in their mobile phones: the wireless Bluetooth technology that permits users to connect without going through the phone company. 'It’s more fun coming to a restaurant these days,' said Mona, 21, as her two friends giggled. Their Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones rested on the table next to the remnants of a dinner of club sandwiches and fries." Learn more at MSNBC.com.

• 11 Auguast 2005
  

  "Three weeks ago, Sen. John Thune, the South Dakota Republican who in 2004 unseated Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle, held his first hearing as chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund and Waste Management. The topic: electronic waste, something Thune confessed he wasn't too aware of previously. 'I had heard of e-mail and e-commerce,' Thune mused. 'I guess it makes sense that we have e-waste.' For business, what makes sense is that Congress pay more attention to e-waste now. Speaking on behalf of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition, an industry group representing the likes of Circuit City Stores and Target, Michael Vitelli of Best Buy said his group favored 'a national solution to the issue of electronic waste.' Vitelli noted that in the first half of 2005, 50 e-waste bills were introduced by 30 state and local legislatures." Learn more in Forbes.

• 10 Auguast 2005
  

  "The federal government has been pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the once-obscure science called biometrics, producing some successes but also fumbles in a campaign intended to track foreigners visiting the country and the activities of some Americans. Hoping to block the entry of criminals and terrorists into the United States and to improve the enforcement of immigration laws, government officials have in the past several years created enormous new repositories of digitally recorded biometric data - including fingerprints and facial characteristics - that can be used to identify more than 45 million foreigners. Federal agencies have also assembled data on more than 70 million Americans in an effort to speed law-abiding travelers through checkpoints and to search for domestic terrorists. Learn more in the New York Times.

• 9 Auguast 2005
  "Beginning in about a year, phone companies won't have to lease their high-speed lines to competing internet service providers at government-set rates, the Federal Communications Commission decided Friday. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said the unanimous vote by the agency's four commissioners 'ends the regulatory inequities that currently exist between cable and telephone companies' providing broadband Internet services. Without guaranteed access at government-mandated rates, providers of digital service, or DSL, on lines now leased from the big regional Bells or smaller phone companies will have to negotiate with them over rates and access. Consumer advocates criticized the deregulation -- which will take effect after a one-year transition period -- contending it will lead to fewer choices and higher prices for consumers by forcing existing independent broadband providers out of the market." Learn more in Wired News.

• 8 Auguast 2005
  "Over the last couple of years, a good number of economists, accompanied by a horde of American manufacturers, union leaders and politicians, have called on China to release the yuan's peg to the dollar. Well, China blinked last month. The yuan has strengthened by only 2 percent since China's announcement on July 21, but that country's willingness to take even this modest step suggests that if Americans keep pushing for the yuan to appreciate steeply, we may get what we want. What is less clear is whether we are prepared to live with the consequences. To believe the politicians and their friends, a rising yuan is just what the United States needs...Yet, on closer inspection, these benefits lose much of their luster. It is doubtful that appreciation of the yuan can have a lasting impact on America's competitive outlook. But even if a stronger yuan somehow performed as advertised and helped to correct the yawning trade deficit, the shift could hurt the United States in many other ways, even reducing jobs in some parts of the economy." Learn more in New York Times.

• 5 Auguast 2005
  "The entire technology industry is about to go down the toilet as a bursting real estate bubble crushes the world economy. But that's OK, because I just found out how much I can save on my car insurance...Couldn't resist. Actually, this is more about how technology is going to change the whole idea of car insurance — and how most of us eventually will let insurance companies monitor every move we make in our cars. We'll do it for the same reason we happily use those little grocery store discount cards, which let the grocery store companies monitor every item we buy. That reason is money. Mass car monitoring is still years away. But it's been one year since the launch of two key tests — one in Minnesota and one in the U.K. — that use technology to track aspects of driving. Based on results of the monitoring, drivers can get discounts on their policies. Both tests are going well enough that they're now being expanded." Learn more in USA Today.

• 4 Auguast 2005
  "Physicians, attorneys and other professionals whose job duties affect others’ lives usually receive, as part of their formal training, courses that address ethical issues common to their professions. IT security personnel often have access to confidential data and knowledge about individuals’ and companies’ networks and systems that give them a great deal of power. That power can be abused, either deliberately or inadvertently. But there are no standardized training requirements for hanging out your shingle as an IT security consultant or in-house security specialist. Associations and organizations for IT pros are beginning to address the ethical side of the job, but again, there is no requirement for IT security personnel to belong to those organizations." Learn more in Computer World.

• 3 Auguast 2005
  "I've been thinking of running for high office on a one-issue platform: I promise, if elected, that within four years America will have cellphone service as good as Ghana's. If re-elected, I promise that in eight years America will have cellphone service as good as Japan's, provided Japan agrees not to forge ahead on wireless technology. My campaign bumper sticker: 'Can You Hear Me Now?' I began thinking about this after watching the Japanese use cellphones and laptops to get on the Internet from speeding bullet trains and subways deep underground. But the last straw was when I couldn't get cellphone service while visiting I.B.M.'s headquarters in Armonk, N.Y. The fact that the U.S. has fallen to 16th in the world in broadband connectivity aroused no interest. Look, I don't even like cellphones, but this is not about gadgets. The world is moving to an Internet-based platform for commerce, education, innovation and entertainment." Read more of Thomas Friedman's editorial in the New York Times.

• 2 Auguast 2005
  "For roughly a decade, people have used role-playing online games to conduct parallel lives. Raise another family. Start a new business. Build your own city. It's all possible in these virtual worlds. Now, some economists and social scientists say these Internet worlds could be a new type of laboratory to study economic behavior, such as how consumers respond to inflation. "I think there's an incredible opportunity here to run controlled experiments on economic questions," said Edward Castronova, an economist at Indiana University at Bloomington. Castronova co-founded Terra Nova, a group blog that explores the technological, commercial and social dimensions of these virtual worlds. Dimitri Williams, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and fellow Terra Nova contributor, said scientists could subtly alter the software that governs these worlds, tweaking the rules of the games, then measuring how these changes affect behavior." Learn more in the San Francisco Chronicle.

• 1 Auguast 2005
  "Uzbekistan has given the US six months to close its military base there, in its first move to sever relations with its former sponsor. The air base near the southern town of Khanabad, known as K2, was opened weeks after the September 11 attacks to provide vital logistical support for Operation Enduring Freedom in neighbouring Afghanistan. Analysts have said that Uzbekistan agreed to the base, the first Pentagon presence in what is a former Soviet stronghold of central Asia, because of a large US aid package and Washington's silence about the country's appalling human rights record. The US presence in Uzbekistan has been under intense moral scrutiny after the massacre by Uzbek troops of hundreds of civilians in the southern city of Andijan in May." Learn more in the Guardian.

• 29 July 2005
  "Senate majority leader Bill Frist today will declare his support for expanding funding of embryonic stem cell research, in a break with President Bush and other conservative Republicans that could change the political dynamics around the controversial and promising form of research. Frist, a Tennessee Republican, has indicated previously that he opposes a House-passed bill authorizing federal funding of such research, because experimenting on embryonic stem cells requires destruction of human embryos. But according to a draft speech his office provided to The New York Times last night, Frist will take the Senate floor today to lay out his belief that Bush's 2001 policy that strictly limits such research should be expanded." Learn more in the Boston Globe.

• 28 July 2005
  "The European Union says it will push for legally-binding global restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions. A spokeswoman's comments came after the announcement of a voluntary pact, based on new technology, between the US and five Asia-Pacific states. She also told BBC News that the new pact is unlikely to bring a significant reduction in emissions. The EU's intention to pursue further legally-binding reductions could lead to political disputes later this year. The new pact will allow signed-up countries - currently the United States, Australia, China, India, South Korea and Japan - to set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions individually, with no enforcement mechanism. The core approach is to develop clean technologies, such as low-emission coal-fired power stations, which can be used in developing countries as their energy needs increase." Learn more at the BBC.com.

• 27 July 2005
  "Healthy women could be asked to donate their eggs for cloning research in a controversial bid to speed up the development of new treatments for disease, the Guardian has learned. Professor Ian Wilmut, creator of Dolly the sheep, is to seek permission from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to ask women to donate eggs for cloning experiments designed to shed light on the debilitating condition motor neurone disease. Until now, cloning experts in Britain have justified their work by using only spare eggs left over from couples undergoing treatment at fertility clinics. The eggs are typically rejects of the IVF process and are routinely discarded if not used in experiments. The issue raises ethical questions. Many scientists working in the field believe their research is severely hampered because the eggs they use are of such poor quality that they often do not grow into healthy clones." Learn more in the Guradian.

• 26 July 2005
  "China's decision to revalue its currency may play well in Washington, but it could raise hackles among Silicon Valley executives and their customers. The government of China said Thursday that it will base the exchange rates for its yuan on a "basket" of different currencies rather than maintaining a strict ratio with the U.S. dollar, a decision that's expected to cause the yuan's value to rise. Though they did not say which currencies are in that basket, the move resulted in an immediate 2 percent appreciation of the yuan to 8.11 per dollar. The country had long been criticized for policies that kept the value of China's currency low and exports to the United States and Europe high. Few expect the U.S. and European trade deficits with China to change appreciably because of the revaluation, but the surprise currency-strengthening move could be a double-edged sword for the high-tech industry." Learn more at News.com.

• 25 July 2005
  "President Bush has created a new senior-level position to fight global intellectual-property piracy and counterfeiting that cost American companies billions of dollars each year, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said Friday. 'Intellectual-property theft is a major problem around the world. We believe that it is costing U.S. businesses about $250 billion in lost sales,' Gutierrez told Reuters in an interview with reporters and editors. Bush has tapped Chris Israel, currently deputy chief of staff for Gutierrez, to head up the administration's anti-piracy efforts. China -- where 90 percent of music and movies are pirate copies -- will be a chief priority, Gutierrez said. 'Frankly, our goal is to reduce (China's piracy levels) to zero,' Gutierrez said. He declined to specify a timetable, but acknowledged it could be a lengthy effort." Learn more at CNN.com.

• 22 July 2005
  "Now you have a chance to let spammers know how you feel about junk mail. Israeli technology firm Blue Security has set up a scheme to batter spam websites with thousands of complaints. The plan is to fill order forms on spam websites offering pills, porn and penile health tonics with complaints about the products advertised for sale in junk messages. The plan has been criticised by other anti-spam workers who say it amounts to vigilantism. 'The internet four or five years ago was a friendly, peaceful experience,' said Eran Reshef, chief executive and founder of Blue Security. 'A bunch of spammers decided they were going to make money and to do that the were willing to ruin that experience for everyone.'" Learn more at the BBC.com.

• 21 July 2005
  "The typical office worker is interrupted every three minutes by a phone call, e-mail, instant message or other distraction. The problem is that it takes about eight uninterrupted minutes for our brains to get into a really creative state. The result, says Carl Honore, journalist and author of 'In Praise of Slowness,' is a situation where the digital communications that were supposed to make working lives run more smoothly are actually preventing people from getting critical tasks accomplished...For years, technology has worked to get people more connected. In the office there's e-mail, instant messages and the phone. On the road, cell phones and BlackBerrys enable workers to stay in touch with colleagues. There is a mini rebellion under way, however. Desperate for some quiet time to think, people are coming up with low-tech strategies to get away from all their technology." Learn more at News.com.

• 20 July 2005
  "The US-India agreement on nuclear issues is likely to run into problems on the supply side, in the US and in the Nuclear Suppliers' Group comprising 44 relatively industrialized states, as well as on the recipient side - India. A joint statement issued by US President George W Bush and visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington on Tuesday said the US would now 'work with friends and allies to adjust international regimes to enable full civil nuclear energy and trade with India'. Essentially, this means that Washington has now accepted India as a nuclear weapons-state, although it is euphemistically referred to as 'a state with advanced nuclear technology'. Under the agreement, signed between Bush and Singh, the US has promised to sell nuclear materials and equipment to India and also to involve it in 'advanced' areas of research." Learn more in the Asia Times.

• 19 July 2005
  "Google is at once a powerful search engine and a growing e-mail provider. It runs a blogging service, makes software to speed Web traffic and has ambitions to become a digital library. And it is developing a payments service. Although many Internet users eagerly await each new technology from Google Inc., its rapid expansion is also prompting concerns that the company may know too much: what you read, where you surf and travel, whom you write. 'This is a lot of personal information in a single basket,' said Chris Hoofnagle, senior counsel with the Electronic Privacy Information Center. 'Google is becoming one of the largest privacy risks on the Internet.' Not that Hoofnagle is suggesting that Google has strayed from its mantra of making money 'without doing evil.' Rather, some privacy advocates worry about the potential: The data's very existence." Learn more at CNN.com.

• 18 July 2005
  "Remember two years ago when the sky was falling for software programmers? Not only had the tech downturn thinned their ranks, but Indian upstarts were putting tens of thousands of low-salary coders to work on projects that once would have been done by Americans. Forrester Research Inc. predicted more than 3 million U.S. service jobs -- including programming -- would move offshore by 2015. It seemed like the 'giant sucking sound' Ross Perot predicted in 1993 was coming to pass for software writers. Not so fast. The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics contain a pleasant surprise: The ranks of 'computer and mathematical occupations,' which include many programmers, actually rose in the second quarter." Learn more in Business Week.

• 15 July 2005
  "A panel of scientists, concerned about the remote possibility of instilling human traits in animals, has recommended caution in efforts to implant embryonic stem cells in the brains of monkeys and apes. In its recommendations, released in today's Science, the panel raises the possibility that the human cells might transfer qualities to the animals and change the 'moral' dimension of experimenting on them. The recommendations follow National Academies of Science guidelines on stem cell research released in April. 'Our brains are ourselves, the brain is what makes us human,' says panel member Hank Greely of Stanford University. 'Appropriately, there is more concern about putting human cells into non-human brains.' Scientists hope to grow embryonic stem cells into replacement brain cells to treat neurological disorders such as Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. Safety tests of these treatments would require first implanting the cells in animals, perhaps including primates." Learn more in USA Today.

• 14 July 2005
  "No sooner had Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice landed here Tuesday, on the last leg of her Asian swing, than South Korea announced what she described Wednesday as a 'very creative idea' to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear-weapons program. The proposal would supply 2 million kilowatts of electricity - half the foundering North's total energy needs - to be delivered across the demilitarized zone that has divided the two Koreas for decades. Rice's measured response suggest that differences still exist between Seoul and Washington, which is committed to taking a hard line toward North Korea but is eager to smooth over any sign of a rift with South Korea in the South's pursuit of Korean reconciliation. While repeatedly insisting on her trip that North Korea give up its weapons program as a prerequisite for further aid, Rice said the South's proposal would be 'very easy' to include in six-party discussions." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 13 July 2005
  "Forwarding a quirky email or an amusing link or video attachment to colleagues may seem innocent enough, but it is the modern equivalent of ritual gift exchange and carries with it similar social implications, say US researchers. Email forwarding is a familiar part of modern email communications, and has spawned many an internet phenomenon, the Star Wars kid, the Numa Numa dance, and Oolong the rabbit to name just a few. Benjamin Gross at the University of Illinois, US, and colleagues studied email forwarding behaviour by conducting informal interviews among email users. He says forwarding emails plays a vital role in constructing and maintaining modern social ties, despite the phenomenon receiving scant attention from social scientists." Learn more in the New Scientist.

• 12 July 2005
  "As the Food and Drug Administration considers whether to lift a voluntary ban on selling food from cloned animals, the agency is getting some resistance from an unusual source: the dairy industry. Trade groups for farmers and companies that use dairy products are not enthusiastic about introducing milk from cloned cows into the marketplace, fearing consumers would be leery about the products. 'There's a strong general feeling among our members that consumers are not receptive to milk from cloned cows,' said Susan Ruland, a spokeswoman for the International Dairy Foods Association, which represents food manufacturers that use dairy products. 'This seems to be one of the things where technology seems to drop something in the lap of the food companies,' Ruland said in a recent interview. 'It's not driven by the market or any benefit to the consumer.'" Learn more in Wired News.

• 11 July 2005
  "An internet arbitrator has awarded Google the rights to several website addresses that relied on typographical errors to exploit the online search engine's popularity so computer viruses and other malicious software could be unleashed on unsuspecting visitors. The National Arbitration Forum, a legal alternate to litigating in court, sided with a Google complaint alleging that Sergey Gridasov of St. Petersburg, Russia, had engaged in 'typosquatting' by operating websites named googkle.com, ghoogle.com and gooigle.com...In a decision made earlier this week, arbitrator Paul A. Dorf, endorsed Google's contention that the misspelled addresses were part of a sinister plot to infect computers with programs -- known as 'malware' -- that can lead to recurring system crashes, wipe out valuable data or provide a window into highly sensitive information." Learn more in Wired News.

• 8 July 2005
  "Canada became the first non-European country Friday to sign up to combat 'cyberhate,' the online dissemination of xenophobic propaganda. Canada signed an additional protocol to the international cybercrime convention, drafted in 2001 by the Council of Europe. Signed by several dozen countries, including Canada, the United States, South Africa and Japan, the convention names four types of cybercrime: confidentiality offenses, notably breaking into computers; fraud and forgery; content violations, such as child pornography and racism; and copyright offenses. The treaty aims to speed up international cooperation in investigations and extraditions. The additional protocol widens the scope of the convention to combat xenophobic propaganda and calls on countries to criminalize its distribution via computer." Learn more at CNN.com.

• 7 July 2005
  "If all the aid from Live 8 was spent on agricultural colleges rather than relief, Ethiopia would not be in difficulties today. So says Professor Calestous Juma, co-ordinator of the UN's Millennium Project Task Force on Science, Technology and Innovation. Professor Juma is among many experts who are stressing the need to improve science research inside Africa, including forging more partnerships with UK research centres. 'Scientific collaborations with British universities will do more for Africa than distributing food aid,' he tells this week's Material World programme on BBC Radio 4. In 2003, an African Union plan of action stated that 1% of GDP should be spent on science research. But so far, the only country to achieve this goal is South Africa." Learn more at the BBC.com.

• 6 July 2005
  "Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf's June 25-26 unscheduled trip to Saudi Arabia has raised many an eyebrow in Islamabad's diplomatic circles, where it is believed the visit was meant to seek the assistance of the kingdom to circumvent the ongoing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigations into reports that the Saudis might have purchased nuclear technology from Pakistan. The speculation goes that Musharraf aimed to chalk out a joint strategy on what stance the two leaders should adopt to satisfy the IAEA and address its concerns. Saudi Arabia is under increasing pressure to open its nuclear facilities for inspection as the IAEA suspects that its nuclear program has reached a level (with Pakistani cooperation) where it should attract international attention." Learn more in the Asia Times.

• 5 July 2005
  "Surfing the web and making free internet phone calls on your Wi-Fi laptop, listening to your iPod on the way home, it often seems that, technologically speaking, we are enjoying a golden age. Human inventiveness is so finely honed, and the globalised technology industries so productive, that there appears to be an invention to cater for every modern whim. But according to a new analysis, this view couldn't be more wrong: far from being in technological nirvana, we are fast approaching a new dark age. That, at least, is the conclusion of Jonathan Huebner, a physicist working at the Pentagon's Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California. He says the rate of technological innovation reached a peak a century ago and has been declining ever since." Learn more in the New Scientist.

• 4 July 2005
  "Global warming threatens to stir up southern Africa's enormous dune fields, according to a new study. Scientists warn that the Kalahari dune fields, which are presently stable and covered by vegetation, will undergo widespread reactivation this century as a result of declining rainfall, increasing droughts, and rising wind strengths. 'This could have major consequences for several states and for the people who farm the land in these areas,' said David Thomas, a physical geographer at Oxford University in England. Thomas led the study, which is published tomorrow in the academic journal Nature. Many studies of the impacts of global warming on environments have tended to focus on ice caps, glaciers, and coastlines." Learn more in the National Geographic.

• 1 July 2005
  "Countries around the world are competing for natural resources. A dispute over maritime resources in the East China Sea, for example, is one of the reasons anti-Japanese demonstrators in China have criticized Japan. Japan, which relies on other countries for most natural resources, is now thinking seriously about the changes taking place...The Center for Safety and Security Research (CSSR), a research institute under the Education, Science and Technology Ministry, has released a report on two crisis scenarios concerning China that predict China's actions regarding energy and their impact on Japan. The first scenario is a battle over energy sources. It assumes that if China reinforces its procurement of energy without taking cost efficiency into consideration...The second scenario assumes the isolation of Japan." Learn more in the Asia Times.

• 30 June 2005
  

  "Early in May, 16-year-old South Korean Lee Chun-Kil slyly text-messaged his friend during class. He was so skilled at it, he didn't even have to glance down at his cellphone keypad while punching in the following: 'Gwanghwamun station. 6:00.' The text messages rapidly circulated, spreading the news of the spontaneous rally. The next day in downtown Seoul, 400 students gathered to protest the severe pressures they must endure for the nation's highly competitive college-entrance exam. Many decided to come out at the last minute after a text-message they received from a friend...If television helped bring down the Berlin Wall and the fax machine helped protesters organize during the Tiananmen Square protests, cellphone text messaging, also known as SMS (short message services), may be the new political tool for activists." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 29 June 2005
  

  "It's tempting to see the U.S. Supreme Court's Grokster decision as technology's loss and copyright's gain, but that analysis misses the mark. In fact, despite having just been handed a powerful new tool to prop up a tottering business model, the entertainment industry could well wind up the biggest loser. The high court on Monday threw out a summary judgment ruling in favor of Grokster and StreamCast Networks, ordering the companies back to trial on charges of so-called secondary copyright infringement...But, by helping maintain the status quo, the ruling could further delay the death of the old way of doing things and postpone the birth of new strategies that successfully build on unstoppable peer-to-peer technologies." Learn more in Wired.

• 28 June 2005
  

  "As Hollywood and record labels cheered Monday's Supreme Court decision in the MGM v. Grokster case, technology companies and consumer groups warned that the ruling will chill innovation and result in more gadget-killing lawsuits. In a unanimous ruling, the justices said that Grokster and StreamCast Networks -- the company behind the Morpheus network -- can be held liable for copyright infringement if they encourage customers to illegally share copyright movies and music. The Supreme Court returned the case to the district court where the two software companies will be tried for inducing infringement. But while entertainment companies touted the victory as a crystal clear decision about right and wrong business practices, technology groups said they are left with a murky, unclear standard of what it means for a company to encourage, or induce, its customers to infringe copyright." Learn more in Wired News.

• 27 June 2005
  

  "As news of what may be the largest-ever personal data security breach spread, consumers and retailers grappled with how the lost information would affect them. Late last week, MasterCard International revealed that information on more than 40 million credit cards may have been stolen. Of those exposed accounts, about 13.9 million are for MasterCard-branded cards. Some 20 million Visa-branded cards may have been affected and the remaining accounts were other brands, including American Express and Discover. Pressure is mounting for companies to alert individual cardholders whose details were exposed by the breach at data processor CardSystems Solutions." Learn more at News.com.

• 24 June 2005
  

  "A bold offer by a state-owned company here to outbid Chevron and take over a major California oil group suggests that China's rising economic clout has hit harder and faster than even many optimists predicted. The $18 to $20 billion offer by China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) to secure Unocal, which has oil and gas reserves in Asia, underscores the magnitude of the energy needs of China as it continues its manufacturing juggernaut on the world stage. The bid is part of China's so-called energy diplomacy, which in recent years has witnessed a host of Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, making deals worth tens of billions in Australia, Sudan, Iran, Khazakhstan, Venezuela, and Canada. Yet as the scale of China's push into world markets gets larger, including its willingness to accept far greater risk and exposure than before, there may be a shakeout in the US over how the principle of free markets meshes with regulation and political sentiments." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 23 June 2005
  

  "Climbing to the top of a dizzyingly curved stairway welded to the side of a huge cylindrical tank, Tom Gehrig thinks he can see America's energy future. It's a gargantuan tank - dwarfing the one he's standing on - which he would build here in Fall River, Mass., to hold 200,000 cubic meters of imported liquefied natural gas. LNG would help meet the United States' growing energy needs, but this project has sparked protests by residents of this working-class city, worried about terrorist attacks. 'I'm a believer in free markets,' says Mr. Gehrig, president of Weaver's Cove Energy, gazing across the site. 'If people don't want LNG, the question I would ask them back is: "What are you going to do?"' What indeed? For three decades, the US has coped - sometimes uncomfortably - with its growing reliance on foreign oil. But at least that dependence was limited to transportation, while domestic coal and gas continued to power the nation's factories and heat its homes." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 22 June 2005
  

  "Egypt is joining the ranks of nations where scientists conduct stem-cell research. The private Egyptian IVF (in vitro fertilization) Center in Cairo is preparing to start such work in October, using stem cells from umbilical cord blood with the permission of newborns' parents. It won't delve immediately into the controversial realm of embryonic stem cells or therapeutic cloning - a way of deriving stem cells from cloned embryos. But as technology and cost barriers come down, clinical director Gamal Serour says he'd like to eventually use surplus 'early embryos' from consenting couples who no longer need them for in vitro fertilization. That could spark the same kind of ethical debate in Egypt that's now raging in the United States, and the prospect provides a window onto the Muslim world's divided views about the issue. Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 21 June 2005
  

  "The federal agency in charge of aviation security collected extensive personal information about airline passengers even though Congress forbade it and officials said they wouldn't do it, according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The Transportation Security Administration bought and is storing details about U.S. citizens who flew on commercial airlines in June 2004 as part of a test of a terrorist screening program called Secure Flight, the documents indicate. 'TSA is losing the public's trust,' said Tim Sparapani, a privacy lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. 'They have a repeated, consistent problem with doing one thing and then saying they did another.' Secure Flight and its predecessor, CAPPS II, have been criticized for secretly obtaining personal information about airline passengers and failing to do enough to protect it." Learn more in Wired News.

• 20 June 2005
  

  "As an eager freshman in the fall of 2001, Andrew Mo's career trajectory seemed preordained: He'd learn C++ and Java languages while earning a computer science degree at Stanford University, then land a Silicon Valley technology job. The 22-year-old Shanghai native graduated this month with a major in computer science and a minor in economics. But he no longer plans to write code for a living, or even work at a tech company. Mo begins work in the fall as a management consultant with The Boston Consulting Group, helping to lead projects at multinational companies. Consulting, he says, will insulate him from the offshore outsourcing that's sending thousands of once-desirable computer programming jobs overseas. Mo's decision to reboot his nascent career reflects a subtle but potentially significant industry shift." Learn more in MSNBC News.

• 17 June 2005
  

  "Millions of people could lose their homes and livelihoods as the world's deserts expand because of climate change and unsustainable human activities, an environmental report warned on Friday. The report, part of a series examining the state of the world's biological resources, was released on the eve of 'World Day to Combat Desertifcation,' which marks the 11th anniversary of a UN agreement to tackle spreading deserts. But Zafar Adeel of the United Nations University International Network on Water, Environment and Health, an expert on water management and a leading author of the report, warned that more needed to be done to combat desertification. Drylands, which range from 'dry sub-humid' to 'hyper-arid' regions, make up more than 40 percent of the world's land surface and are home to two billion people." Learn more at CNN.com.

• 16 June 2005
  

  "The U.S. Department of Justice is quietly shopping around the explosive idea of requiring Internet service providers to retain records of their customers' online activities. Data retention rules could permit police to obtain records of e-mail chatter, Web browsing or chat-room activity months after Internet providers ordinarily would have deleted the logs--that is, if logs were ever kept in the first place. No U.S. law currently mandates that such logs be kept. In theory, at least, data retention could permit successful criminal and terrorism prosecutions that otherwise would have failed because of insufficient evidence. But privacy worries and questions about the practicality of assembling massive databases of customer behavior have caused a similar proposal to stall in Europe and could engender stiff opposition domestically." Learn more at News.com.

• 15 June 2005
  

  "On the surface, it looks like an ordinary weeknight gathering of aimless guys. A dozen men on a back porch chew thick slices of delivered pizza between rat-a-tat banter. One wears a bandanna. Another sports a John Deere T-shirt. Several have counterculture beards. But beneath the raffish exterior lie some high-watt minds. The talk is about bandwidths and binary codes...They are modern-day freedom fighters trying to encourage people to host wireless connections to the Internet, with the hope of eventually unplugging the entire city. The idea: If enough people share bandwidth and a spot on their window ledge for a small radio antenna, eventually anyone in the city will be able to go online free. It's a new form of civic activism - driven by computer programmers who want to pool their collective knowledge for the greater good." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 14 June 2005
  

  "The stench was so bad, Lisa Kennedy didn't open her windows. Her children could not play outside. Finally, she and her family could stand it no longer. They moved a mile north to a home once occupied by her husband's parents. Meanwhile, their own home - a mile and a half from a huge hog-feeding operation - sits empty. Researcher Jerzy Dec has an answer for Ms. Kennedy: Mince horseradish. Stir in peroxide. Pour mixture into a warm slurry of hog manure and voilà! That slimy smell is a lot tamer than before. While that concoction from the Penn State researcher isn't appetizing, it does address what appears to be a growing challenge in the United States: odor pollution. From smelly landfills to overburdened treatment plants and mammoth livestock operations, many Americans feel their noses are under assault. They're fighting back." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 13 June 2005
  

  "Zeynel Erdem, a leading Turkish businessman, came to Izmit, a seaside industrial town, to give 400 of his prominent peers a message. 'Don't count on the European Union,' he told the crowd after a chicken dinner in a hotel ballroom here. 'Look to the U.S.; they're our real friends.' That view is spreading in Turkey, a sprawling land of 70 million people who have yearned for decades to become a part of Europe. With the European Union in political disarray after the French and Dutch rejected a European constitution, and with opposition to Turkish membership gaining ground in Europe, many Turks are beginning to wonder whether their European dreams are worth the effort. They are reassessing instead their relationship with the United States, a relationship that has suffered since the start of the Iraq war." Learn more in the New York Times.

• 10 June 2005
  

  "On a chilly Chicago afternoon in early May, environmental activists sauntered into the Eddie Bauer store on Michigan Avenue, headed to the broad storefront windows opening out on the Magnificent Mile and proceeded to take off their clothes. The strip show aimed to expose more than skin: Activists hoped to lay bare growing allegations of the toxic dangers of nanotechnology. The demonstrators bore the message in slogans painted on their bodies, proclaiming 'Eddie Bauer hazard' and 'Expose the truth about nanotech,' among other things, in light of the clothing company's embrace of nanotech in its recent line of stain-resistant 'nanopants.' The Eddie Bauer protest highlights a growing movement aimed at probing the potential health risks of nanotechnology, which is finding its way into commercial products despite scant research into its long-term effects." Learn more in Wired News.

• 9 June 2005
  

  "FBI officials said they hope to award a contract by the year's end for a complex new software program to replace a failed project that was canceled this year at a cost of more than $100 million to taxpayers. A technical feasibility study is under way on the new information management system, dubbed Sentinel, with experts from the National Institutes of Health before plans to begin a bidding process this summer, officials said Monday. The FBI has suffered stinging criticism for its mishandling of investigative information and use of outmoded technology The bureau's efforts to press ahead with plans for a case management system and other technological capabilities come as some lawmakers continue to examine troubles that led to the costly failed project." Learn more at CNN.com.

• 8 June 2005
  

  "Randy and Julie McClure had three children who were long out of diapers and no plans for more when they heard about a program called Snowflakes, which arranges for women to become pregnant with embryos left over at fertility clinics...The McClures, who are in their 40's and live in Bellevue, Wash., decided to take 13 embryos from a fertility clinic in Austin, Tex. They had a son 10 months ago and became part of an unexpected alliance that conservative Christians have been forming with the world of test-tube babies. The adoption terminology irritates the fertility industry, abortion rights advocates and supporters of embryonic stem cell research, who believe that the language suggests - erroneously, they maintain - that an embryo has the same status as a child. But for some conservative Christians, that is precisely the point." Learn more in the New York Times.

• 7 June 2005
  

  "Most American consumers don't realize Internet merchants and even traditional retailers sometimes charge different prices to different customers for the same products, according to a new survey. The study, 'Open to Exploitation,' found nearly two-thirds of adult Internet users believed incorrectly it was illegal to charge different people different prices, a practice retailers call 'price customization.' More than two-thirds of people surveyed also said they believed online travel sites are required by law to offer the lowest airline prices possible. The study, expected to be released Wednesday by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, is the latest to cast doubt on the notion of sophisticated consumers in the digital age." Learn more at CNN.com.

• 6 June 2005
  

  "From farm to plate, the modern food system relies heavily on cheap oil. Threats to our oil supply are also threats to our food supply. As food undergoes more processing and travels farther, the food system consumes ever more energy each year. The US food system uses over 10 quadrillion Btu (10,551 quadrillion Joules) of energy each year, as much as France's total annual energy consumption. Growing food accounts for only one-fifth of this. The other four-fifths is used to move, process, package, sell, and store food after it leaves the farm. Some 28% of energy used in agriculture goes to fertilizer manufacturing, 7% goes to irrigation, and 34% is consumed as diesel and gasoline by farm vehicles used to plant, till, and harvest crops. The rest goes to pesticide production, grain drying, and facility operations." Learn more in the Asia Times.

• 3 June 2005
  

  "Reports of the European Union's death are greatly exaggerated. That is the message that European leaders are hammering home. But after a punishing week that saw French and Dutch voters reject the union's Constitution, the EU has lost much of its luster. 'Europe no longer inspires people to dream,' said Luxembourg Prime Minister and current EU president Jean-Claude Juncker after Dutch voters rejected the charter by a margin of 62 to 38 percent. The charter's next steps won't be decided until an EU summit June 16-17. And some observers say no substantial action will occur until 2007, when Germany and France are expected to have new governments." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 2 June 2005
  

  "When large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody, mystery writer Agatha Christie once said. But what if there is a biological reason for why we would trust others with our cash? Scientists have discovered that the hormone oxytocin, when sniffed, makes people more prone to trust others to look after their money. To test the trusting effect of oxytocin, the researchers studied people who played an investment game. In the game, participants would choose how much money to hand over to a trustee. Investors were far more trusting after inhaling the hormone, researchers found. The findings have important implications for the study of conditions in which trust is diminished...Of course, one could also imagine more dubious uses for the 'trust potion'—say, if car dealers or investment bankers sprayed their offices with oxytocin." Learn more in National Geographic.

• 1 June 2005
  

  "A unique project is under way in Sheffield to monitor the movements of a family living in a futuristic home packed with the latest technological innovations. The aim is to help house builders predict how we will want to use our homes 10 or 20 years from now. But what will the homes of the future be like? Experts Christopher Sanderson, of The Future Laboratory and Richard Brindley, of the Royal Institute of British Architects, outline their visions of what might be to come...Mr Sanderson predicts a significant decrease in the amount of water used in the home, with sound wave technology harnessed to replace it for cleaning jobs. He said: 'Water is now known to be a pretty inefficient cleaner - sound waves can clean a lot better, more sensitively and more healthily than water or other cleaning materials.'" Learn more at the BBC.com.

• 31 May 2005
  

  "Six decades after war-battered European countries first began dreaming of a borderless 'United States of Europe,' the project faced its most serious setback last night as citizens of France voted strongly against a continent-wide constitution. In a referendum that followed a surprisingly intense national debate in France, 55 per cent of French citizens voted to reject the European Union constitution and 45 per cent accepted it, with two-thirds of voters showing up....While it was not entirely clear last night that the constitution is completely dead -- some leaders, including Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, insisted that it could be salvaged -- it is almost certain to plunge Europe into a lengthy political crisis." Whither Europe? Doug Saunders discusses the French referendum results for Toronto's Globe and Mail.

• 30 May 2005
  

  "Six decades after war-battered European countries first began dreaming of a borderless 'United States of Europe,' the project faced its most serious setback last night as citizens of France voted strongly against a continent-wide constitution. In a referendum that followed a surprisingly intense national debate in France, 55 per cent of French citizens voted to reject the European Union constitution and 45 per cent accepted it, with two-thirds of voters showing up....While it was not entirely clear last night that the constitution is completely dead -- some leaders, including Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, insisted that it could be salvaged -- it is almost certain to plunge Europe into a lengthy political crisis." Whither Europe? Doug Saunders discusses the French referendum results for Toronto's Globe and Mail.

• 27 May 2005
  

  "Environmental and animal rights extremists who have turned to arson and explosives are the nation’s top domestic terrorism threat, the FBI has told lawmakers. Groups such as the Animal Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Front and the Britain-based SHAC, or Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, are 'way out in front' in terms of damage and number of crimes, John Lewis, the FBI’s deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, told a Senate hearing Wednesday. 'There is nothing else going on in this country over the last several years that is racking up the high number of violent crimes and terrorist actions,' Lewis said. The Animal Liberation Front says on its Web site that its small, autonomous groups of people take 'direct action' against animal abuse by rescuing animals and causing financial loss to animal exploiters, usually through damage and destruction of property." Learn more at MSNBC.com.

• 26 May 2005
  

  ""It is the year 2020 and you are sitting at your desk about to begin work for the day. At first glance, your office does not look much different to how it looked 15 years earlier, in 2005. But look a little closer and you will notice several changes, including sensors and displays embedded in the furniture, which know when you arrive in the office and will automatically bring up your computer settings. The wallpaper, or images on walls at least, will change color and pattern depending on your mood and preferences, even letting colleagues know whether you can be interrupted. You will probably communicate with your computer more via speech than typing. By 2020, technology will have made such rapid progress, that speech recognition by a computer will exceed that of a human. These ideas are being researched and showcased 60 miles north of Manhattan, at a project called Bluespace." Learn more at CNN.com.

• 25 May 2005
  

  "As a trade dispute escalates between the United States and China, the U.S. tech industry is keen to see changes by the Asian giant--but opinions vary on how hard to push. U.S. business and labor leaders agree that China ought to adjust the value of its currency and do a better job of protecting intellectual property rights. But while industry leaders favor milder steps, worker advocates want more aggressive action. They argue a sweeping tariff on Chinese goods may be needed to stop job losses and level the playing field. Critics, though, warn such a move could trigger a trade war that hurts U.S. tech companies, many of which have operations in China." Learn more about the potential for a trade war between the U.S. and China--and why the U.S. might be suffer the worst consequences, in News.com.

• 24 May 2005
  

  "London hospital has two new members of staff -- two robotic "doctors" that can carry out ward rounds in place of human physicians. The robots will be trialed in a general surgery ward and the accident and emergency department at St Mary's Hospital. They will also be used for surgical training for junior doctors at London's Imperial College. Called "Remote Presence," or RP6 for short, the robots stand in for a human doctor, who controls the machine remotely. The robots, which cost £50,000 ($88,000) each, operate with a wireless-based system, using a broadband Internet connection. They allow two-way, audio-visual interaction between doctor and patient to take place in real-time. Project leader Parv Sains, who is Research Fellow at Imperial College, said the robots enabled patients to have access to specialists without the patient or the doctor having to be physically near each other." Learn more at CNN.com.

• 23 May 2005
  

  "The general consensus is that China will gradually emerge as a power in East Asia able to challenge the United States for regional dominance. In preparation, every country facing the prospect of Beijing's wake is reassessing its strategic options in order to gain the best position possible after China sails ahead. Japan is looking for methods to challenge China's rising military power in the region and may amend its constitution in order to see this through. The 10 Association of Southeast Nations states are pursuing a strategy of interlocking their economies with China's, while looking to the US and India for balance and leverage. In the meantime, China's foreign policy has largely been driven by immediate needs - access to economic markets and energy resources...The division between the rapid economic rise of China's east and the slow growth of the west has left the country divided." Learn more in the Asia Times.

• 20 May 2005
  

  "As a trade dispute escalates between the United States and China, the U.S. tech industry is keen to see changes by the Asian giant--but opinions vary on how hard to push. U.S. business and labor leaders agree that China ought to adjust the value of its currency and do a better job of protecting intellectual property rights. But while industry leaders favor milder steps, worker advocates want more aggressive action. They argue a sweeping tariff on Chinese goods may be needed to stop job losses and level the playing field. Critics, though, warn such a move could trigger a trade war that hurts U.S. tech companies, many of which have operations in China. There's still more at stake...If the involvement of U.S.-based tech companies in China declines, Beijing's ambitious plans for technological advancement could wind up threatening America economically." Learn more in News.com.

• 19 May 2005
  

  "The mood in the nuclear power industry has dramatically brightened. Both in the United States and abroad, industry officials, dare we say it, radiate optimism. At atomic power plants, the protesters are gone. In American universities, most courses in engineering dealing with nuclear power are overbooked. Students are being told they have a lifetime career ahead of them in the industry. Workshops for young professionals who believe in nuclear science and technology have every seat filled. Even Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, is jumping on the bandwagon. In past years he has talked of nuclear power worldwide being on 'a plateau.' But in February, at a meeting of his board of governors, he spoke of 'rising expectations.'" Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.

• 18 May 2005
  

  "China's spectacular economic boom may be inflicting a terrible toll on the global environment, a new study warns. According to Vital Signs 2005—a new report by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental nonprofit—China is now driving the consumption and production of almost everything, threatening to deplete the world's resources. 'China is becoming the sucking force, taking raw materials from across the planet, because it alone doesn't have the resources it needs to sustain its growth,' said Lisa Mastny, the project director of the new study. It remains to be see what long-term effects the Chinese boom will have on the world's raw materials. But it is clear that China's own natural resources—its air, land, and water—are already suffering terribly." Learn more in the National Geographic.

• 17 May 2005
  

  "From Washington to New Delhi, Caracas to Moscow and Beijing, national leaders and corporate executives are stepping up their efforts to gain control over major sources of oil and natural gas as the global struggle for energy intensifies. Never has the competitive pursuit of untapped oil and gas reserves been so acute, and never has so much money as well as diplomatic and military muscle been deployed in the contest to win control over major foreign stockpiles of energy. To an unprecedented degree, a government's success or failure in these endeavors is being treated as headline news, and provoking public outcry when a rival power is seen as benefiting unfairly from a particular transaction. With the officials of numerous governments coming under mounting pressure to satisfy the needs of their individual countries - at whatever cost - the battle for energy can only become more inflamed in the years ahead." Learn more in the Asia Times.

• 16 May 2005
  

  "Renewable fuels are finally seeping into the conversation as Washington's power brokers grapple with ways to wean the United States off its dependence on foreign oil. But in Brazil, they're far beyond the talking stage: Ethanol and biodiesel are already making significant contributions to the nation's trade surplus, boosting the country's economy and reducing its reliance on foreign oil. The South American scenario provides valuable lessons in how strong political will can spark domestic energy production... Earlier this year, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said his country would become the world's largest producer of renewable energy. Brazil generates 43.8 percent of its power from renewable energy sources, including hydroelectricity, ethanol and biodiesel, according to Agencia Brasil, a government communications division." Learn more in Wired News.

• 13 May 2005
  

  "Legislation supporting a standardized national driver's license may have won unanimous approval in the Senate on Tuesday, but the bill's apparently smooth passage left some jagged edges in its wake. The Real ID Act appeared in take-it-or-leave-it spending legislation, which effectively forced lawmakers to sign on to the whole measure even if they disagreed with a portion of it. Several Republican and Democrat senators who cast favorable votes for the bill simultaneously railed against the provision authorizing the new driver's license rules. They're not the only ones refusing to accept the bill peacefully. The National Governors Association is threatening lawsuits to fight the legislation. And some states are threatening to ignore the legislation because they say it will cost up to $700 million for states to comply and will place a heavy burden on Department of Motor Vehicles workers... Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, told the Associated Press this week that 'if more than half of the governors agree we're not going down without a fight on this, Congress will have to consider changing' the rules." Learn more in Wired News.

• 12 May 2005
  

  "Imagine some of the soldiers who survived the Battle of Gettysburg stopping the next day to write their dramatic tales — and people around the world instantly reading them. If that battle had been fought today, no imagination would be necessary. The number of Internet Web logs — or 'blogs,' as online diaries are known — by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan is soaring, giving people everywhere unprecedented windows into servicemembers' lives. From 50 or so a year ago, the number of their online journals is now about 200 and is expected to be near 1,000 by the year's end, say the bloggers themselves and experts who track the Web. The growth means a historic phenomenon is gaining momentum: Anyone with access to the Internet can read many first-hand accounts of life in a war zone within seconds after they're finished...Many of the stories troops tell in the blogs are about everyday life at their bases. But some also show how terrifying, confusing and chaotic battle can be." Learn more in USA Today.

• 11 May 2005
  

  "Globally, clinical research - the business of testing new medications for safety and efficacy in human patients to gain required government approvals - was estimated to be a US$5-6 billion market in 2002, and is expected to reach $10 billion by the end of this year. According to a 2003 study by Connecticut-based Business Communications Co (BCC), US-based spending on clinical trials is growing at 12% per year - and should generate $26.5 billion by 2007. The reason the business is growing so rapidly is that the pharmaceutical industry is required by government regulations to conduct human trials before marketing new drugs...India is increasingly emerging as a preferred destination for the outsourcing of clinical trials. Currently, about 80 government and privately owned Indian hospitals are engaged in global and local clinical trials." The Asia Times discusses the growing trend of outsourcing clinical trials to some of India's most impoverished areas.

• 10 May 2005
  

  "In the old days, being green meant being hardcore. Earnest enviros plugged their poky electric cars into the wall like four-wheeled toaster ovens. They bought organic food at dusty co-ops staffed by vegan clerks in hemp ponchos. And if they were really serious, they disconnected from planet-ravaging modernity altogether and lived in a creaky cabin off the grid. Today, hardcore has given way to hybrid. Soccer moms tool around in the Toyota Prius, with its nifty gas-electric engine that saves both fossil fuel and family funds...Now come the first stirrings of what may be the most telling sign of this shift from hardcore to hybrid: people who are both middle of the road and off the grid. Across the US some 185,000 households have switched from the local power company to their own homegrown, renewable energy." Learn more in Wired News.

• 9 May 2005
  

  "On a warm afternoon on Chicago's West Side, a young African-American man leans against the wall of the One Stop Food and Liquor store at the corner of Chicago Avenue and Homan Street. His puffy black jacket is so oversize that the collar hangs halfway down his back. Thirty feet up, a camera mounted on a telephone poll swivels toward him. Three miles away, in a bunkerlike, red granite building near Greektown, Ron Huberman watches the young man on a PC screen. 'You see that guy?' asks Huberman, the 33-year-old chief of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. 'He's pitching dope - you can tell.' 'We've gotta figure out where's he keeping the goods,' says Huberman, his voice breaking from a bout with the flu. 'We're gonna go on the air' - call for a police car - "and bust him.'" Learn more in Wired News.

• 6 May 2005
  

  "A search for personal data on ZabaSearch.com -- one of the most comprehensive personal-data search engines on the net -- tends to elicit one of two reactions from first-timers: terror or curiosity. Which reaction often depends on whether you are searching for someone else's data, or your own. ZabaSearch queries return a wealth of info sometimes dating back more than 10 years: residential addresses, phone numbers both listed and unlisted, birth year, even satellite photos of people's homes...Launched in February, the site has emerged during a period of heightened sensitivity about data privacy and identity theft, now among the fastest-growing crimes in America. Critics say ZabaSearch is exploiting the lack of data privacy in America." Learn more in Wired News.

• 5 May 2005
  

  "Aiming to prevent mass piracy of digital TV programs, especially over the Internet, the Federal Communications Commission has mandated a new copy-protection scheme called the 'broadcast flag.' The FCC's ruling, which goes into effect this July, lets you make a backup copy of flagged shows, but no further copies...Without the flag's protection, television networks argue, Hollywood won't license its blockbusters to them as broadcasts go digital. Unlike copies made on analog media, a digital copy retains the quality of the original, whether it's a first-generation copy or a thousandth; digital copies are also simpler to make and far easier to distribute, as peer-to-peer networks have shown." Learn more at PC World.com.

• 4 May 2005
  

  "Just picked up a CD by Yu Quan, a duo that is one of the hottest rock acts in China. Danceable. Very dramatic. As if Justin Timberlake had joined Journey and the band sang in Chinese. The CD came shrink-wrapped, complete with a slick insert of photos and lyrics, and cost the equivalent of $4. Yet despite the retail setting and packaging, the CD is most likely a pirated copy. The pirates are so good, hardly anyone can tell the difference. Yu Quan, like every music act in China, gets almost no income from CD sales, even though millions of its CDs have been sold. So artists have to regard CDs as essentially promotional tools, not as end products. Yu Quan makes money by performing concerts, getting endorsement deals and appearing in commercials. It's possible that this is the future of the global music industry." Learn more in USA Today.

• 3 May 2005
  

  "Dwindling investments in biotechnology are threatening to leave Europe trailing ever further behind the United States and the ground-breaking developments being made in the sector there, scientists gathered in Helsinki last week concluded. 'Nowadays, investors are looking for companies that have already made a good step forward and (with which) they know they have an exit strategy,' said Kai Lahtonen, who heads up a biotech research pool comprising some 80 companies in the southwestern Finnish city of Turku...This extreme caution has resulted in a stagnation and even a decline in new European biotechnology patents since 1996, largely due to the fact that the price of developing pharmaceutical products has just about doubled while the return on investment has steadily declined." Learn more in Yahoo News.

• 2 May 2005
  

  "A hundred years ago, when Louisiana was still literally in the dark, residents of Lafayette banded together to build a city-owned electric utility where once there was little more than swampland. Today, at the dawn of the 21st century, it is hatching plans to lay out its own state-of-the-art fiber-optic broadband network. This time, the city's futuristic ambitions are challenged not by the rigors of geography but by obstacles of business: specifically, telecommunications giant BellSouth and cable provider Cox Communications, which claimed the region as their own years ago. But the historic coastal community, known for its eclectic culture and rhythmic Zydeco music, is not about to abandon the pioneering spirit that begat its visionary reputation. After a legal skirmish earlier this year, the two sides are preparing for a citywide election slated for mid-July that will decide the issue." Learn more in News.com.

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