Saturday morning grab-bag of stories

news@nature

Stay in if you're having a bad air day - Study after study has shown a connection between smoggy days and an increase in deaths. Now two experiments, one on mice and the other in men, clarify why. Diesel fumes, they find, encourage blood clots that can bring on heart attacks and strokes.

Technology Review Feed - Biotech Top Stories

A Fountain of Youth in Mitochondria? - Cranking up an enzyme in a cell's powerhouse--the mitochondria--makes the cell resilient to stress and death, according to a study published today in the journal Cell. The findings could provide a new set of targets for drugs to treat the diseases related to aging, including Alzheimer's and diabetes. Scientists say that the research might also point to the long-sought source of caloric restriction's life-extending benefits.

The Globe and Mail - Technology News

Canada lauded for child porn tracker - The Child Exploitation Tracking System, which enables global police agencies to share information for tracking online child predators based on legal agreements in place, was developed several years ago by Microsoft Canada, Canadian authorities and international law enforcement officials. In an interview, Zdenek Jiricek, director of government programs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Microsoft Deutschland GmbH, said the tool was gaining ground but would be more effective if more countries started using it.

IEEE Spectrum Online

First Matter-Antimatter Molecule Created - Two physicists from the University of California at Riverside have pulled off a seemingly impossible feat: creating molecules of equal parts matter and antimatter. These long-sought dipositronium molecules don’t look like normal molecules—they each have two electrons and two of their antimatter counterparts, positrons, that swirl around each other in a quantum mechanical dance.

New Scientist Tech - Technology

'Self-aware' space rovers would be speedy explorers - Robots armed with an innate sense of self and an insatiable curiosity could be the next big thing in interplanetary exploration, covering an alien terrain much faster than today's turtle-paced rovers. But Josh Bongard of the University of Vermont, US, has designed a simulated rover that shows how to work much faster. This rover "imagines" itself and its immediate surroundings, and heads off to explore the areas that stimulate its curiosity. The approach lets it navigate uncharted territory much more quickly without putting itself in undue danger.

Inventor Spot blogs

Cheap Ocean Energy Converter to be Used in Several Countries - An amateur engineer from Texas has developed a way to capture the energy from ocean waves in an inexpensive, simple way. His company's devices are planned for use in the future in several countries to cheaply generate electricity.

PC World: Gadgets & Gear Update

Study Says DRM Violates Canadian Privacy Law - The study indicated that DRM is being used to collect, use and disclose consumers' personal information for secondary purposes.

Rick Mercer Report

'With this ring, I thee wed ... for 7 years' - Gabriele Pauli, who is running for the leadership of Bavaria's conservative Christian Social Union party, suggested this week that marriages should last just seven years.

Neil Gaiman's Journal

Someone tries to sell Belgium on eBay - Hidden among the porcelain fox hounds and Burberry tablecloths on sale at eBay.be this week was an unusual item: "For Sale: Belgium, a Kingdom in three parts ... free premium: the king and his court (costs not included)."

Coolest Gadgets

Apple iRipoff? How cheap the new iPod nano costs to build