why life has a bias to the left – “As the faux conservative pundit Stephen Colbert warned President Bush, reality has a bias to the left. And interestingly enough, so does all life on Earth. We’ve know that all amino acids, the essential components for any terrestrial organism, have left-handed chiralities. Or to translate from science-speak, their molecules wind to the left. This is why genetic engineering experiments can splice genes from very different species in a lab. The molecules will line up and assemble correctly because they’re all wound in the same direction….”

The Best Computer Interfaces: Past, Present, and Future – “Say goodbye to the mouse and hello to augmented reality, voice recognition, and geospatial tracking…”

Using Encryption to Block Spam – “If we use the term ‘webspam’ to refer to all of the variants of spam, then it is easy to determine that at least 80% of bandwidth is used by spam…”

Mercedes-Benz to Bring 4-Cylinder Diesels to the U.S.? – “Would a Mercedes-Benz luxury car that gets 44 miles a gallon interest you? Would your interest be tempered at all to know that car is powered by a 4-cylinder engine?”

HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) Cybernetic Suit – “Cyberdyne Corporation of Japan, in conjunction with Daiwa House, has begun mass production of a cybernetic bodysuit that augments body movement and increases user strength by up to tenfold…”

US intel chief touts new generation satellites – “The US government has endorsed a plan to build a new generation of spy satellites, although funding to boost the Pentagon’s imaging capacity still needs congressional approval…”

AC Propulsion Provides Power for 500 New Electric Vehicles – “AC Propulsion supplies the electric propulsion and battery technology for the MINI E electric vehicle introduced today at the LA Auto Show by BMW Group. AC Propulsion has delivered more than 500 drive systems to the BMW Group factory in Munich for MINI E production…”

Protein Power – “With recent advances in bioengineering, scientists are designing novel proteins from scratch that perform some of biology’s most powerful functions.”

Skype Founders May Seek to Buy It Back – “The European duo who created Skype and sold it to eBay for billions may have another trick up their sleeve: buying it back…”

The Most Ridiculous Patents – “The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office is drowning in a deluge of applications. On Mar. 16, Acting Director John Doll said that even if the office closed its doors, it would take almost two years to clear the backlog. With the agency understaffed and underfunded, it’s no wonder some silly applications have slipped through the net. Here are some of the most absurd patents awarded in the past decade, courtesy of Totally Absurd. You’ll find some choice statements from the actual patent applications (good luck deciphering some of the language), along with our, often incredulous, commentary…”

Warning: Twitter Hit By StalkDaily Worm – “A bad week for Twitter just got even worse. The service has apparently been infected by a worm originating from the owners of the website StalkDaily (Note: Do not visit this website, as it may cause your computer to become infected). At this point details are scant, but it appears that visiting the Twitter profile page of an infected user can lead your profile to become infected as well (some reports say that the worm modifies your ‘About Me’ section to include a link to the worm)…”

One speck of blood or tissue may be enough to diagnose cancer – “A drop of blood or speck of tissue no bigger than a full stop could soon be all that is required to diagnose cancers and assess their response to treatment, research suggests…”

Microchip In Pills That Tells The Doctor You’ve Taken Your Meds – “Microchips in pills could soon allow doctors to find out whether a patient has taken their medication…”

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