Scientists Develop New Method to Investigate Origin of Life – “Scientists at Penn State have developed a new computational method that they say will help them to understand how life began on Earth. The team’s method has the potential to trace the evolutionary histories of proteins all the way back to either cells or viruses, thus settling the debate once and for all over which of these life forms came first…”

Comcast’s usage cap: Is the sky really falling? – “When Comcast announced last week that it was instituting a formal usage cap for residential customers–a total of 250 gigabytes of data transfer (uploading plus downloading), as described here–I didn’t think much of it, except to be happy they finally defined a critical element of their service guarantee…”

A Chinese Challenge to Intel – “In California last week, Chinese researchers unveiled details of a microprocessor that they hope will bring personal computing to most ordinary people in China by 2010. The chip, code-named Godson-3, was developed with government funding by more than 200 researchers…”

Sun Makes History: First Spotless Month in a Century – “The sun has reached a milestone not seen for nearly 100 years: an entire month has passed without a single visible sunspot being noted…”

Elephants show flair for arithmetic – “The elephant’s memory is legendary, but in a large, grey surprise to science the mighty Asian elephant turns out to have a distinct flair for maths as well…”

Beyond Nano Breakthrough, MIT Team Quietly Builds Virus-Based Batteries – “In a surprise development that could have implications for powering electronics, cars and even the military, researchers at MIT have created the world’s first batteries constructed at the nano scale by microscopic viruses…”

World’s Thinnest Televisions Making It To Market – “Sony’s XEL1 is the world’s first OLED television to reach European markets and it blows even the ZX1 out of the water in terms of size. The XEL1 is 3mm deep and boasts a million to one contrast ratio…”

Chimps ‘are people, too’ – “In a private facility just outside Des Moine, Iowa , primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is conducting an experiment that has lasted 26 years…”

Hey, Robot Ref! Are You Blind? – “In high-profile matches (i.e., those broadcast on TV), human umpires have largely been replaced by a machine called Hawk-Eye. The system is a kind of computerized ump that stitches together video footage from several high-speed cameras to produce a 3-D simulation of the ball as it approaches and bounces off the ground…”

The Claim: You Get Drunk Faster at High Altitudes – “It’s an oft-repeated saying, based on the notion that lower oxygen levels at high altitudes impair the ability to metabolize alcohol, leading to quicker absorption and enhanced intoxication. But research suggests otherwise…”

Why Hurricane Gustav Didn’t Become a Monster – “Hurricane Gustav had the potential to become a monster hurricane last Saturday, but two factors intervened to keep it from intensifying…”

California High School’s Offensive Scheme Adds Randomness to Football – “By the numbers, the Piedmont Highlanders should not have won so many football games. The squad at the Piedmont, Calif., high school was cobbled together from slim pickings—thanks to an 800-person student body that’s half the size of the other schools in their division. But head coach Kurt Bryan and Steve Humphries, the Highlander’s offensive coordinator, invented a secret weapon to keep them competitive: the A-11 offense…”

Brain Cells Observed Summoning a Memory – “Scientists have for the first time recorded individual brain cells in the act of summoning a spontaneous memory, revealing not only where a remembered experience is registered but also, in part, how the brain is able to recreate it…”

Zombie network explosion – “The number of compromised zombie PCs in botnet networks has quadrupled over the last three months, according to figures from the Shadowserver Foundation…”

Internet traffic grows 53 percent from mid-2007 – “TeleGeography said traffic grew 53 percent from mid-2007 to mid-2008, down from a growth rate of 61 percent in the previous 12 months…”

Denver Police Department Utilizes New Video Surveillance System – “The Denver PD’s initiative, called the High Activity Location Observation (H.A.L.O.) system was conceived not only for the DNC event but to continue to enhance the department’s crime reduction strategy in ongoing safety and security efforts….”

How YouTube got its video technology for 20 euros – “Wijering has been building embedable video players for a long time now, even before the YouTube era: “I make very simple FLV and WMV open-source video players. No fancy buttons, only the bare basics. Installing is a matter of copying the files on your server, past the code in your page and you’re good to go.””

City of the future: The giant glass pyramid that could house one million people – “This innovative design is actually a blueprint for the city of the future – a giant glass pyramid that could house up to one million people…”

Intellectual work induces excessive calorie intake – “A Université Laval research team has demonstrated that intellectual work induces a substantial increase in calorie intake. The details of this discovery, which could go some way to explaining the current obesity epidemic..”

2011 Ferrari FX / FX70 – Spied – “These are the superstars of supercars with names like F40, F50, Enzo, the track-only FXX, and soon, the car you see (kind of) here: the FX70…”

Honda to Bring Back Insight Hybrid – “Honda will reveal a concept version of its new small hybrid vehicle, to be named Insight, at the 2008 Paris International Auto Show, October 2, the company announced Thursday…”

How to Create the Perfect Fake Identity – “Call it “identity farming.” You invent a handful of infants. You apply for Social Security numbers for them. Eventually, you open bank accounts for them, file tax returns for them, register them to vote, and apply for credit cards in their name. And now, 25 years later, you have a handful of identities ready and waiting for some real people to step into them…”

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