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The Myth of Low-Thrust Propulsion - SpaceDaily  Unfortunately, from the rumors and news stories reaching my computer, it seems that many of these designers are wasting their time on ideas that are fundamentally unworkable and would only wreck Plan Bush in the unlikely event that they were actually adopted by NASA. Prominent among these unworkable notions is the idea of low-thrust Nuclear-Electric Propulsion. The problem here is than any performance increase due to the benefits of scale will start from a ludicrously low base. JIMO will weigh about 20 tons upon injection into LEO, and its thrust is so low that it will take 2.5 years just to climb up out of the Earth's gravity well and pass the Moon!

Ethanol To Power Hydrogen Fuel Cells - SpaceDaily  Hydrogen fuel cell technology's potentially strong future as a fuel for automobiles and various other applications is likely to be weakened by issues regarding its availability and the expenses involved in storage. Bio-based products such as ethanol are expected to open up new areas for research. Conversion of biomass materials such as ethanol into hydrogen is a more cost-efficient method to power fuel cells. Researchers believe that inter-metallic compounds could be used beneficially in fuel cell electrodes to oxidize ethanol.

Chemists Describe New Nanotube Transistor - SpaceDaily  Duke University researchers exploring ways to build ultrasmall electronic devices out of atom-thick carbon cylinders have incorporated one of these "carbon nanotubes" into a new kind of field effect transistor. However, other groups have found that this back gate of silicon, which is "doped" with other chemicals to fine-tune its electronic properties, is poorly coupled with the rest of the device. The result is excess power demand. "To turn the device from off to on, you need five to ten volts," Liu said in an interview. To address this shortcoming, teams at two other universities have found they can reduce the power demand to between 0.3 and 0.5 volts by adding an additional gate made of a tiny droplet of salty water.

Alzheimer's Disease: : 

Biosciences:
4/8/2004: Rat Genome May Yield Disease Clues - ABC
4/8/2004: Doctor: Law Would Affect Most Abortions - ABC
4/8/2004: Doctor to Testify Against Abortion Ban - ABC
4/8/2004: Rat's 'life code' read by science  - BBC
4/8/2004: Genome Sequence Reveals Leaner, Meaner Intestinal Parasite - Science Daily
4/8/2004: Researchers Use Novel Technology To Extract RNA From Archive Formalin-fixed Paraffin-embedded Tissue - Science Daily
4/8/2004: Scientists Develop New Cloning Technique That Dramatically Shortens The Search For Genes - Science Daily
4/8/2004: Ferns Diversified In Shadow Of Flowering Plants - Science Daily

Climate, Environment:
4/8/2004: Sand Deposits Studied Along S.C. Coast - ABC
4/8/2004: Myanmar Creates Largest Tiger Reserve - ABC
4/8/2004: Suit Brought to Aid Recovery of Fish - ABC
4/8/2004: Disease Not Found in N.D. Wild Deer, Elk - ABC
4/8/2004: Australia ponders a salty future  - BBC
4/8/2004: A Rescue Center Where the Rehabbing Is on View  - NY Times
4/8/2004: Chestnut Trees To Spread Across Landscape Again, Says Purdue Scientist - Science Daily
4/8/2004: Devastating Parasitic Weed May Be Felled By Toxin Borrowed From Flies - Science Daily
4/8/2004: Minerals Are Key To Earthquakes Deep In The Earth - Science Daily

Computers:
Devices
4/8/2004: Digital camera patent war hots up  - BBC

Communications
4/8/2004: Freeserve renamed as Wanadoo  - BBC

Technology
4/8/2004: Chemists Describe New Nanotube Transistor - SpaceDaily
4/8/2004: 'Nano-Lightning' Could Be Harnessed To Cool Future Computers - Science Daily

PC's
4/8/2004: Intel Bets Heavily on the Digital Home - ABC
4/8/2004: Set-top boxes may put a lid on rewritable DVDs  - El. Engr. Times

Internet
4/8/2004: Google Goes for Gobs of E-mail - ABC
4/8/2004: Google plans rival e-mail service  - BBC
4/8/2004: British business battered by spam  - BBC
4/8/2004: Warning over internet scam sites  - BBC
4/8/2004: E-mail news: Get the latest technology headlines in your inbox  - BBC
4/8/2004: Google to launch Gmail  - CNN
4/8/2004: Competitors strive to outgoogle leader  - CNN
4/8/2004: Fighting unwanted e-mail  - CNN
4/8/2004: Industry urges Net security upgrades  - CNN
4/8/2004: Google Drops an E-Mail Bomb - Business Week
4/8/2004: Mo' money in 'moblogs'?  - C/Net
4/8/2004: Google to offer gigabyte of free e-mail  - C/Net
4/8/2004: Search prototype gets the picture  - C/Net
4/8/2004: Judge: File sharing legal in Canada  - C/Net
4/8/2004: Google set to sort out free email - New Scientist
4/8/2004: As spring arrives, computer virus spreads seeds far and wide - New Scientist

Miscellaneous
4/8/2004: Legal song downloads rise tenfold  - BBC
4/8/2004: Sun's Linux software reaches consumers  - CNN
4/8/2004: Designing a new foundation  - C/Net
4/8/2004: House panel approves copyright bill  - C/Net
4/8/2004: Ashcroft creates task force for copyright violations  - C/Net
4/8/2004: For Dell, Indian call center failure a lesson  - C/Net

Energy:
4/8/2004: Ethanol To Power Hydrogen Fuel Cells - SpaceDaily

Health:
Cardiovascular
4/8/2004: Chemists Seek Light-activated Glue For Vascular Repair - Science Daily

Cancer  
4/8/2004: Hidden killer? Scientists urge probe amid fears of cancer link to electricity
4/8/2004: Minimally Invasive Breast Cancer Treatment Shows Promise - Science Daily
4/8/2004: One Form Of Vitamin E Appears Beneficial In Reducing Bladder Cancer Risk - Science Daily
4/8/2004: New Insight On Cell Growth Could Lead To Method For Stopping Cancer - Science Daily

Infectious
4/8/2004: Japan Won't Back U.S. Mad Cow Proposal - ABC
4/8/2004: Singapore Scales Back Anti-SARS Measures - ABC
4/8/2004: Wash. Gov. Signs Mad Cow-Related Bills - ABC
4/8/2004: Vaccine may protect against Sars  - BBC
4/8/2004: Popular Chewing Gum Eliminates Bacteria That Cause Bad Breath - Science Daily

Non-Infectious
4/8/2004: Drug of Choice: Ecstasy - ABC
4/8/2004: Weigh In - ABC
4/8/2004: 'No asthma link' to cough jab  - BBC
4/8/2004: Compound Shows Promise As Vaccine-like Drug For Preventing Type 1 Diabetes - Science Daily

Miscellaneous
4/8/2004: Ore. Fish Samples Still Show Mercury - ABC
4/8/2004: Tackling Tourette - ABC
4/8/2004: More women having natural births  - BBC
4/8/2004: Viagra use 'may damage fertility'  - BBC
4/8/2004: Poor nutrition in cereals exposed  - BBC
4/8/2004: Keeping Snoops Out of Your Genes - Business Week
4/8/2004: Viagra may harm fertility  - Nature
4/8/2004: Viagra could reduce men's fertility - New Scientist
4/8/2004: Research Questions Transplant Safety Procedure - Science Daily

History, Anthropology:
4/8/2004: Double whammy link to extinctions  - BBC
4/8/2004: From fins to feet - MSNBC
4/8/2004: Artifacts hint at early spurt of imagination - MSNBC
4/8/2004: Primitive fossil arm performed push-ups - New Scientist

Miscellaneous:
4/8/2004: Horrible Thoughts - Tech TV
4/8/2004: Environment 'can avert conflicts'  - BBC
4/8/2004: Enigma of Namibia's 'fairy circles'  - BBC
4/8/2004: UK 'not ready' for TV switch-off  - BBC
4/8/2004: Hi-tech Latin: School's cutting-edge approach to learning classical language  - BBC
4/8/2004: AOL sets up software center in India  - CNN
4/8/2004: Cosmic Log: Scientific foolery - MSNBC
4/8/2004: Day lost to stronger trade winds  - Nature
4/8/2004: Enlisting Carbon Nanotubes To Unmask Nerve Agents - Science Daily

Neurosciences:
4/8/2004: Exercising Brain and Body - ABC
4/8/2004: Autism Theory on Brains Sparks Debate - ABC

Physics and Astronomy:
4/8/2004: Earth-like planet search to start  - BBC
4/8/2004: Diamond exhibits superconducting traits  - El. Engr. Times
4/8/2004: Chandra X-ray Observatory Images Of N49B, The Remains Of An Exploded Star - Science Daily
4/8/2004: New Quasar Studies Keep Fundamental Physical Constant Constant - Science Daily
4/8/2004: Galaxy holds dozens of other Earths, astronomer suggests - SpaceDaily
4/8/2004: Astronomers find 40 "dwarf" galaxies - SpaceDaily

Prolongevity

Robotics:

Space:
4/8/2004: The Myth of Low-Thrust Propulsion - SpaceDaily
4/8/2004: Earth-like planet search to start  - BBC
4/8/2004: 'Fifty planets' could have life  - BBC
4/8/2004: Universe could be teeming with life, says study - New Scientist
4/8/2004: China wants to name celestial body after space hero Yang Liwei - SpaceDaily
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Technology:
4/8/2004: Consumer news - Google
4/8/2004: Sign your credit card by just moving your finger over it - ABC
4/8/2004: S Korea launches high speed train  - BBC
4/8/2004: Credit cards tap into radio tags  - BBC
4/8/2004: Hotels tighten control of online inventory  - CNN
4/8/2004: Smell cannon targets virtual reality users - New Scientist
4/8/2004: Purdue Engineers Design 'Shape-Search' For Industry Databases - Science Daily
4/8/2004: DNA-binding Strands Used To Create Molecular Zipper - Science Daily