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Tech stories for 29-June-2008
Jun. 29th, 2008 08:46 pmCancer cure 100% effective... in mice - A treatment for advanced forms of cancer, which involves transfusing granulocytes from donors, was found to be 100% effective in eradicating cancer from mice. Researchers are now hoping that the approach will be as effective in humans. The treatment was found to successfully treat aggressive forms of cervical, breast, and prostate cancers that have even formed large tumours. Granulocytes make up as much as 60% of the white blood cells in the human body. They are now seeking healthy donors 50 years old and under to provide granulocytes for this study.
Age verifying cigarette machines fooled by magazine photo - Japan introduced cigarette vending machines that used "advanced" visual recognition software to decide whether you were likely to be 20 years old. Leaving aside the problems with that idea among those that look younger than their years (the machines also accept a card that certifies the buyer's age so there is an alternative to looking old), it was discovered that the software could be fooled by holding up a magazine photo of a person more than 20 years old. Looks like it's back to the drawing board.
Who should be the keeper of the Kill Switch? - Wired writer Bruce Schneier examines the emerging issue of kill switches, such as those proposed for airplanes, automobiles and even cell phones. As he puts it, once we give one device authority over another, who should have that authority and who should decide how the authority is granted, and how can abuse of power be prevented?
if you post it, they will come - More than 5,000 people applied for two positions as astronauts, working for the Canadian Space Agency. Starting salary to be shot into space is currently $83,000(Cdn).
NIST releases 5-chapter preview of the Digital Library of Mathematical Functions - This may not be exciting to the non-math types, but the Handbook of Mathematical Functions that is the ancestor of the DLMF has been an important resource to many of us in math and engineering.
Baby gene-selected to be free of breast cancer - A couple in Britain produced 11 embryos, then eliminated all but 5 that had a gene linked to having more than a 50% chance of developing breast cancer. Two were implanted and one took. The couple are attempting to remove a known gene for breast cancer susceptability from their family.
Age verifying cigarette machines fooled by magazine photo - Japan introduced cigarette vending machines that used "advanced" visual recognition software to decide whether you were likely to be 20 years old. Leaving aside the problems with that idea among those that look younger than their years (the machines also accept a card that certifies the buyer's age so there is an alternative to looking old), it was discovered that the software could be fooled by holding up a magazine photo of a person more than 20 years old. Looks like it's back to the drawing board.
Who should be the keeper of the Kill Switch? - Wired writer Bruce Schneier examines the emerging issue of kill switches, such as those proposed for airplanes, automobiles and even cell phones. As he puts it, once we give one device authority over another, who should have that authority and who should decide how the authority is granted, and how can abuse of power be prevented?
if you post it, they will come - More than 5,000 people applied for two positions as astronauts, working for the Canadian Space Agency. Starting salary to be shot into space is currently $83,000(Cdn).
NIST releases 5-chapter preview of the Digital Library of Mathematical Functions - This may not be exciting to the non-math types, but the Handbook of Mathematical Functions that is the ancestor of the DLMF has been an important resource to many of us in math and engineering.
Baby gene-selected to be free of breast cancer - A couple in Britain produced 11 embryos, then eliminated all but 5 that had a gene linked to having more than a 50% chance of developing breast cancer. Two were implanted and one took. The couple are attempting to remove a known gene for breast cancer susceptability from their family.