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I love comments and someone's just mentioned to me that I had my blog set to only allow people who were registered to comment, so I've turned it off.
Now anyone can comment without signing up or leaving any info :)

iPod alternative in the works

I love my iPod, it's a 60GB one, so has video and all that. I can have it output to the TV at 720x320 resolution, or 640x360 (a maximum pixel output of 230,400) either way it gives near DVD quality output. However it would be cool to output at full DVD resolution, 720x576 for PAL and 720x480 for NTSC, and it is a bit inconvenient being confined to only MP4, MOV and M4V files, not to mention it takes up a lot of space on my hard drives (hundreds of GBs made up of just duplicate videos in different formats)

A relatively new company, Archos, has a great new device called Archos 604 which just might warrant a switch from iPod, for me anyway.
I know there's that new Microsoft one and all those other ones but none I've seen have made me think they have a shot at being better than the iPod. Except perhaps now.

It reads all normal video formats (MPEG-4, WMV, H.264, MPEG-2 and VOB/IFOs in full resolution and outputs to that. It also records TV directly, has a photo viewer and of course MP3 playing capability. It has a 4.3" screen with 16 million colours.

If rumours of a new touch-screen video iPod are true I would probably go for that, and it would be a squeeze to make do with only 30GB when I already use the full 60GB of my iPod, but this company is one to keep an eye on. If they increase capacity it would definitely have a good chance of pulling me away from the iPod line.

Check out an animation and specs here:
Archos website

Tetrahymena thermophila genomes sequenced, assembled and analyzed

This microscopic predator has roughly 25,000 genes, nearly as many humans do, and although it's single-celled it's genes are seemingly more complex.

Inside each of it's cells it has two distinct nuclei, each with a different genome. In one, the micronuclear genome is for sex and reproduction, inside the second is the macronuclear genome, which expresses genes that that govern behaviour. It also seems free of junk DNA.

It's versatility and potential for complexity is great for evolutionary biologists like Jonathan A. Eisen who lead the project.

The first cancer vaccine now available

In Queensland, Australia, the first shots of the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil were given. The vaccine prevents nearly 50 strains of HPV (Human Papillomavirus) which causes cervical cancer, and genital warts.

It's distributed by prescription only in Australia and New Zealand for $465, and it will possibly be subsidized and added to the national vaccination program for girls aged 12. The vaccination has been approved for females aged 9-26 in Australia and the U.S.

New cancer treatment, very cool!

Most living cells contain procaspase-3, which is a protein which when activated changes into caspase-3 and causes the cell to kill itself (called Programmed Cell Death, apoptosis) but in cancer cells the signaling pathway to procaspase-3 is broken, which allows cancer cells to develop into tumors.

A team from the University of Illinois, NSF and the NIH have found a compound, now called PAC-1 (Procaspase Activating Compound 1) which bypasses the broken pathway and induces apoptosis in cancer cells.

Tilting Earth?!

The old theory that Earth can restore it's own balance may be true. Say if a very large volcano ever formed far from the equator, Earth would correct it's tilt and rotation to correct, according to this 140-year-old theory.

Evidence has been found and collected by Princeton University of this happening around 800 million years ago.

Pluto officially no longer a planet

Yes, the name says it all! The 26th General Assembly for the International Astronomical Union has determined it's now a dwarf planet.

Here is the official way of determining what is what:

1. A “planet” is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
2. A “dwarf planet” is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape2 , (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.
3. All other objects except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as “Small Solar-System Bodies”.

Largest ever study on self-harm in England complete

Self-harm consists of things like self-inflicted cutting and overdosing (referred to as poisoning).
The study concluded the following:

• 1/10 teenage girls 'self-harm' each year.
• Girls are 4 times more likely to self-harm than boys.
• Only 13% of all incidents result in a hospital visit.
• Poisoning is the most prevalent one in hospitals, but cutting is more prevalent over-all, accounting for 64.5% and opposed to poisoning at 31%.
• For both sexes, those who smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol or take any other drugs are slightly more likely to self-harm.
• Those who have recently been worried about their sexual orientation are more likely to self-harm.
• The majority say the act is impulsive as opposed to planned for a long time.
• Just under half say it only comes into their minds less than an hour before acting on it.
• 20% don't tell anyone about it at any stage (except whe conducting surveys, apparently).
• The vast majority of those who talk about it talk with their friends, as opposed to parents or siblings.

Intelligent Design Challenge!

A friend of mine has issued a challenge to ID supporters, so if you're one, firstly I don't know why you'd be reading my blog, but secondly and more importantly, follow the following link and show him why you're right. You'd be the first to do so. Oh and did I mention there's a reward of $50USD for each valid argument?
Click here for details

Homo Floresiensis' validity under question

Robert Eckhardt (professor of developmental genetics and evolutionary morphology at Pennsylvania State University) and the rest of his team are again questioning whether H. Floresiensis is actually a new genus.

They think the remains relate more closely to an early human group suffering from microcephaly.

I'm not so sure about this, because for every person or group saying it's a separate genus there's another one that disagrees. The idea is interesting nonetheless.

Big leap forward in the treating of HIV

So, basically, some Canadian scientists can pick up the PD-1 (Programmed Death-1) protein, which is an ITIM (Immunoreceptor Tyrosine-based Inhibitory Motif) which is overexpressed when immune system cells are infected with HIV, and can stimulate it which means the T cells are no longer made dysfunctional so are free to go about their business destroying viruses.
By the way this is huge, Dr. Rafick-Pierre Sékaly my hat goes off to you.

If you're bored just imagine some crazy Star Trek ships all "pow pow" at eachother and the good guys are the T cells and the bad guys are HIV, played on screen by whichever species you dislike the most in Star Trek. In real life now, serious times: If you have a microscope powerful enough you can see the photon beams from ships and as our technology advances we will be able to say hi to them and possibly trick them into believing we're gods. Dibs on the obedient ones, the disobedient ones being I guess cancer cells.

First direct evidence of dark matter

Two galaxies passed through eachother (or 'collided') and astronomers found that the bulk of normal matter was behind the galaxies, in the hot gas clouds which come from the 10 million mph collision.

However, the bulk of the mass of the galaxies was ahead of the clouds, closer to the galaxies, and by analyzing the gravitational lensing effect of this non-luminous mass they confirmed that it has way more mass than the ordinary matter in the cloud.

This is big news. Congratulations Douglas Clow, leader of the study. Pop him an email if you have questions or congratulations: dclowe@as.arizona.edu

The results are being published in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters, but if you want to read more just Google it, plenty of sites have articles on it.

Welcome, plus the purpose of this blog is:

To inform whoever reads this of all the interesting things there are in the world, debates, news, debates about the news, etc.