August 2008 in science

August 29, 2008 (Friday)

• Internet traffic bypassing the United States continues. In 1998, 70 percent of traffic went through the U.S. Now, only 25 percent does, causing economic, social, military, and intelligence consequences. (NYTimes)
• Google announces winners of the Android Developer Challenge, with the 10 top prizes going to applications using GPS. (InfoWeek)

August 28, 2008 (Thursday)

• Images taken from Hubble of two colliding galaxies provide new insights into the behavior of dark matter. (Reuters)

August 27, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Gene therapy has successfully regrown ear hairs in deaf mice. This could lead to new treatments of deafness. (NewScientist)

August 26, 2008 (Tuesday)

• An analysis of stone tools developed by Neanderthals indicates that the tools were as efficient as tools created by Homo sapiens, contradicting the conventional wisdom that Neanderthals were significantly less intelligent. (ScienceDaily)
• Low pressure caused by spinning wind turbines kills bats as a result of burst blood vessels in the lung. (SciAm)

August 25, 2008 (Monday)

• An analysis of Google Earth images show that herds of cattle and deer align themselves according to Earth's North-South axis, indicating they have an innate ability to detect magnetic fields. (Reuters)
• A sponge-like nanoparticle "trojan horse" has been created to protect antioxidants in food from being destroyed in the gut, permitting greater absorption in the digestive tract. (PhysOrg)

August 22, 2008 (Friday)

• Scientists find appetite control neurons (POMC) in the brain degenerate over time because of free radicals; explaining why people overeat as they age. (EurekAlert)
• NASA destroys a prototype rocket made by Alliant Techsystems when it veered off course. (AP)
• The first Vertical farms start to be built

August 21, 2008 (Thursday)

• Jerry Seinfeld will anchor a $300 million Windows Vista campaign in an attempt to renew the OS's poor public image. (ArsTechnica)
• By creating brown fat that burns calories and increases the metabolism, unlike white fat which simply stores calories, researchers hope to combat obesity. (ScienceDaily)
• Using new algorithms called P4P researchers have shared files over the internet 20% faster and using 5 times less bandwidth than current P2P programs. (Forbes)

August 20, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Intel showcases its next generation processor platform codenamed Nehalem at the Intel Developer Forum. Nehalem will provide equal or better performance for less power, improved memory management with QuickPath and completing the tick-tock 45 nm development cycle. (InformationWeek)

August 19, 2008 (Tuesday)

• The Max Planck Research Group has identified a group of proteins that can reveal the biological age of a person. This could assist in fine tuning therapies for individuals. (PhysOrg)
• A new method of creating gasoline from biomass could see it be cost competitive with traditional sources. (PhysOrg)
• The first functional red blood cells have been successfully grown in a lab from stem cells. It may allow mass production of O-type blood for universal transfusion. (NewScientist)
• Contradicting previous research it was found language is not necessary to do mathematics. (BBC)

August 18, 2008 (Monday)

• Google launches FreetheAirWaves.com which lobbies with the White Spaces Coalition on behalf of technology giants to have the white spaces between TV channels turned into a national internet network. TV broadcasters are resisting as they believe it will interfere with their channels. (CNet)
• An animation process able to replicate minute facial movements has bridged the uncanny valley and created lifelike animated faces. (Times)

August 17, 2008 (Sunday)

• Scientists replicate a stage of photosynthesis with manganese clusters, creating a method of splitting water for hydrogen fuel using sunlight. (PhysOrg)

August 14, 2008 (Thursday)

• Intel releases the 0.9 draft specification for USB 3.0. (CRN)

August 13, 2008 (Wednesday)

• A new type of MRAM is shown that is 10 times faster than previous MRAM prototypes that were already faster than conventional RAM. (NewScientist)
• Cyber attacks echoing the war between Georgia and Russia appear to be the work of Russian youth. (CNet)
• Facebook becomes the No. 1 social networking site with 153% growth in the last year overtaking MySpace. (TechNews)
• The University of South Australia has found a simple and cheap alternative to cleaning water using silica particles covered in an active hydrocarbon. (Nanowerk)

August 12, 2008 (Tuesday)

• Using metamaterials Berkeley researchers been able achieve negative refraction; effectively creating a cloaking device. While a 2D version has worked well, creating a 3D version is still problematic. (SciAm)

August 10, 2008 (Sunday)

• Yeshiva University researchers have prevented mice livers from aging by preventing the cleaning machinery of the cell from breaking down. With its continuing function damaged proteins are removed instead of building up and reducing the cells functionality. (NewScientist)

August 8, 2008 (Friday)

• Kites may be a cost effective wind power alternative, with their heights being able to tap into faster wind speeds, potentially delivering power at the same cost as coal. (PhysOrg)

August 6, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Sputnik a virus that propagates at the expense of other viruses has been found, possibly the first in a group of previously unknown species. Called a virophage it may be useful for combating viral infections. (NewScientist)
• A system called Visualizing Energy Resources Dynamically on Earth (VERDE) is a real time data mash between weather patterns and the national electric grid on Google Earth. It's hoped the system will provide better understanding and coordination for power outages and other large scale events. (NetworkWorld)

August 5, 2008 (Tuesday)

• Obscura Digital demonstrate an interactive holographic display similar to The Minority Report. (PCPro)
• OneGeology project officially launches the first online digital geologic map of the world. Its managers say it could guide oil and gas exploration and mining, help mitigate geohazards such as landslides and earthquakes, or pinpoint sites for burying greenhouse gases. (Reuters)

August 4, 2008 (Monday)

• The world's smallest snake, Leptotyphlops carlae, is described. The length is about 10 cm (4 in) and it is as thin as spaghetti. (Zootaxa), (Reuters)

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