Science & Technology Headlines
- Another ugly reminder to check your Facebook settings ? NOW!
 If we take any lesson from this latest Facebook privacy brouhaha, it's one we should have already learned: Facebook isn't for people who don't wish to be known. Because here's the deal: Facebook has not now, nor will it ever, protect your information for you.
- Cosmic Log: $1.4 million for oil cleanup ideas
 Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Kevin Costner, here's your chance. Sparked by the disaster in the Gulf, a well-connected environmental activist is offering $1.4 million for new methods to clean up oil spills.
- Google: China blockage report likely just a glitch
Google says its search engine and several other services are working normally in mainland China after previously reporting the service had been completely blocked. - 100 million Facebook users' details published online
 The personal details of 100 million Facebook users have been collected and published online in a downloadable file, meaning they will no longer be able to make the information private.
- BlackBerry may be berry good with new OS
 A new BlackBerry, but more importantly, a new BlackBerry operating system upgrade, is coming. "Yawn," you say? Don't be too quick to dismiss Research In Motion and its sturdy line of smart phones.
Air & Space
- Next Space Telescope Undergoes Brutal Cold Test
The James Webb Space Telescope, set for launch around 2014, has undergone a brutal cryogenics test in preparation for work in space. - Stealth Funding for NASA's Constellation
A provision in a bill passed by Congress this week that allots $59 billion to amp-up the war in Afghanistan contains orders for NASA to not cancel any contracts in its embattled Constellation moon program. - DIY Kit Puts Satellites Into Orbit for $8,000
For extreme hobbyists, the new kit offers a chance to launch personal projects into space. - The 'Haystack' Gets Smaller in Hunt for Higgs Particle
Hunting for the Higgs boson isn't like trying to find one needle in a haystack (as the proverbial saying goes), it's like trying to find one needle in a Chicago-sized city filled with haystacks. - For Space Shuttle Workers, The End Is Here
NASA's future may be up in the air, as Congress debates a myriad of options for the U.S. human space program, but 1,394 shuttle workers are getting a concrete reminder this week of what's in store -- no job. - Very Early Warning: 1-in-1,000 Chance of Asteroid Impact in 2182
This isn't an urgent call to arms, but it's a future date to consider. In 172 years time there's the possibility that we might be hit by an asteroid with potential to cause some significant global turmoil. - Food for Mars: A Daunting Challenge
Astronaut foods may appear indestructible, but many crew favorites don't retain their nutrition or palatability for even a year. - Solar Probes Dispatched to Moon
Two space probes are given a new lease on life after being rerouted for a mission to unravel the composition of the moon. - Space: Planetary Protection Officer
John D. Rummel protects Earth from alien life, as well as alien life from Earth. - Kepler Scientist: 'Galaxy is Rich in Earth-Like Planets'
A Kepler co-investigator has preempted the official announcement and leaked that the exoplanet-hunting space telescope has discovered about 140 Earth-like candidate worlds orbiting other stars.
Electronics
- Graphene exhibits bizarre new behavior well suited to electronic devices
Graphene, a sheet of pure carbon, has been touted as a possible replacement for silicon-based semiconductors because of its useful electronic properties. Now, physicists have shown that graphene has another unique and amazing property that could make it even more suitable for future electronic devices. When contorted in a specific way it sprouts nanobubbles in which electrons behave as if they are moving in a strong magnetic field. - Quantum fractals at the border of magnetism
Physicists are reporting new results from experiments on the perplexing class of materials that includes high-temperature superconductors. The team reports the unexpected discovery of a simple fractal form of electronic excitations in ultra-low-temperature quantum magnets at the border of magnetism. - Behind the secrets of silk lie high-tech opportunities
Tougher than a bullet-proof vest yet synonymous with beauty and luxury, silks spun by worms and spiders are a masterpiece of nature whose properties have yet to be fully replicated in the laboratory. But scientists have begun to unravel the secrets of silk. Biomedical engineers report that silk-based materials have been transformed from commodity textile to a growing web of high tech applications. - Hexagonal boron nitride sheets may help graphene supplant silicon
What researchers might call "white graphene" may be the perfect sidekick for the real thing as a new era unfolds in nanoscale electronics. Researchers have figured out how to make sheets of h-BN, which could turn out to be the complementary apple to graphene's orange. - First step toward electronic DNA sequencing: Translocation through graphene nanopores
Researchers have developed a new, carbon-based nanoscale platform to electrically detect single DNA molecules. Using electric fields, the tiny DNA strands are pushed through nanoscale-sized thin pores in a graphene nanopore platform that ultimately may be important for fast electronic sequencing of the four chemical bases of DNA based on their unique electrical signature. - Radical new computer memory? Emergent resistance network suggests mechanism for colossal magnetoresistance
Research has revealed new clues on the microscopic processes by which resistance in certain materials is dramatically altered by the presence of magnetic fields. The discovery provides fundamental insights toward the development of radically new memory and switching devices. - Cheaper substrates made of oxide materials
Imagine building cheaper electronics on a variety of substrates -- materials like plastic, paper, or fabric. Researchers in Taiwan have made a discovery that opens this door, allowing them to build electronic components like diodes on many different substrates. - An alchemist?s dream: Lead-free electronics
It?s been said that the typical mobile phone contains roughly half of all elements found on the Periodic Table. One of the most problematic substances used in phones and other electronics is lead. But making lead-free electronics has proved problematic ? until now. Researchers have now developed a method that enables the industrial production of a substance that can be used to replace lead in many electronic applications. - Organic nanoelectronics a step closer
Scientists have effectively discovered a way to order the molecules in the PEDOT, the single most industrially important conducting polymer. - Nanowick at heart of new system to cool 'power electronics'
Researchers have shown that an advanced cooling technology being developed for high-power electronics in military and automotive systems is capable of handling roughly 10 times the heat generated by conventional computer chips.
Earth & Environment
- Pictures: Huge Jets Shoot From Dam During China Floods
China's massive Three Gorges Dam is being pushed to its limits by heavy monsoon rains that have sent water gushing through spill gates.
 
Three Gorges Dam - Flood - Dam - Water - China - Jumbo Squid Flash, Flail in First Ever Squid-cam Video
Filmed away from humans for the first time, jumbo squid light up during an expedition that also found them to have superstrong bites.
Squid - Proxying and Filtering - Cooking - Home - Fish and Seafood - Space Photos This Week: Mars Bull's Eye, Sooty Stars
Radar of a rocky desert, a Martian bull's eye, and "cool" mirrors feature among the week's best space pictures.
Mars - Space - Technology - Solar System - Astronomy - Alligator "Feeding Frenzy" Video Shows Teamwork
In a new viral video a fisher boats through hundreds of hyped-up alligators. Despite their snapping, the gators show true teamwork, experts say.
Alligator - Business - Fish - Arts - Stephen C. Foster State Park - Critical Alaska Habitat Spared From Oil and Natural Gas Development
The Obama administration?s first lease sale in the 87-year-old petroleum reserve on the North Slope leaves sanctuary for caribou and geese.
Petroleum - Business - Energy - Oil and Gas - Alaska North Slope - Global Warming "Undeniable," U.S. Government Report Says
The past decade was the hottest on record, a government report says?part of an "unmistakable upward trend."
Global warming - Climate change - Environment - Federal government of the United States - Opposing Views - Sniff-Controlled Keyboards, Wheelchairs Invented
A new sniff-driven controller is helping paralyzed people get moving again?and allowed a "locked in" patient to write letters, a new study says.
Weizmann Institute of Science - Disability - Soft palate - Business - Products and Services - Pictures: New Flying-Car Design Revealed
The first flying car with a shot at making it to market got a new look Monday, as seen in pictures of the craft as a car, a plane?and something in-between.
Flying car - Recreation - Autos - Terrafugia - Enthusiasts - PHOTOS: Plastic-Bottle Catamaran Crosses Pacific
Sailing a plastic bottle ship across the Pacific spotlighted the serious problem of plastic trash at sea?and showed that solutions are possible by simply thinking smarter.
Pacific Ocean - Plastic - Plastiki - David Mayer de Rothschild - Recycling - Dead Sea Scrolls Mystery Solved?
Recent finds may help reveal who wrote the seminal scrolls. For starters, they may hail from the purported home of the Ark of the Covenant.
Dead Sea - Ark of the Covenant - Dead Sea scrolls - Middle East - Israel
Internet
- Australia govt expands proposed broadband network
(AP)
AP - Australia's government expanded its ambitious plan to bring broadband to much of the vast country, adding 300,000 homes and businesses to the coverage area Friday in hopes of winning votes in next month's federal election. - Attacking the edges of secure Internet traffic
(AP)
 AP - Researchers have uncovered new ways that criminals can spy on Internet users even if they're using secure connections to banks, online retailers or other sensitive Web sites.
- Google says China services back up
(AFP)
 AFP - Google said Friday its services appeared to be back up and running normally in China, after the US web giant reported that access to its search engine and other products were being blocked.
- False alarm: Google search still working in China
(AP)
AP - Google Inc. triggered a false alarm Thursday by posting a notice that its search engine and several other services had been cut off from mainland China - a key market where the company has been locked in a high-profile battle over online censorship.
- Google Reports Brief Search Outage in China
(PC World)
PC World - Google's search engine in China appeared to have been partially blocked overnight Thursday, but a Google spokeswoman said the service was up and running again by Friday morning local time. - Google says China search block may be tech glitch
(Reuters)
Reuters - Google Inc said its earlier report that Internet search services in China were being fully blocked could have been the result of a technical glitch that overstated the problem. - Smartphones, Tablets Seen Boosting Mobile Health
(PC World)
PC World - Smartphones, tablet PCs and other wireless devices are poised to play a greater role in health care as doctors and patients embrace the mobile Internet, panelists at a mobile health technology conference in Boston said Thursday. - Analysts' View: Google says search service blocked in China
(Reuters)
Reuters - Google Inc said its Web search and mobile services in China were blocked on Thursday, weeks after Beijing agree to extend the company's Chinese webpage license. - US flank exposed on cyber war front: Hayden
(AFP)
 AFP - Former US spy master and retired general Michael Hayden warned on Thursday that the country's "cyber flank" was exposed and it was losing clout to influence rules of war on the Internet.
- Expedia posts higher profit as bookings rise
(Reuters)
Reuters - Online travel agency Expedia Inc on Thursday reported a higher-than-expected profit as travel bookings rose, boosting its shares 2 percent.
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