Scientists discover the secret of ageing

The answer is complex, and will not produce an elixir of eternal life in the foreseeable future.

But the scientists expect better drugs for age-related illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease, to emerge from their discovery of the biochemical pathway involved in ageing.

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Feds push for tracking cell phones

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.

Those claims have alarmed the ACLU and other civil liberties groups, which have opposed the Justice Department's request and plan to tell the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia that Americans' privacy deserves more protection and judicial oversight than what the administration has proposed.

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The Fiction Of Climate Science

Many of you are too young to remember, but in 1975 our government pushed "the coming ice age."

I remember.

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Climategate

But perhaps the most damaging revelations  – the scientific equivalent of the Telegraph’s MPs’ expenses scandal – are those concerning the way Warmist scientists may variously have manipulated or suppressed evidence in order to support their cause.

Read the rest.

Vatican looks to heavens for signs of alien life

"Just as there is a multitude of creatures on Earth, there could be other beings, even intelligent ones, created by God. This does not contradict our faith, because we cannot put limits on God's creative freedom."

What a cop-out. "...we cannot put limits on God's creative freedom"?

I see this as religion "evolving" (after all, Galileo was imprisoned and Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for their thoughts.) so as to try and stay relevant. To try and keep its power and influence over people.

Funes maintained that if intelligent beings were discovered, they would also be considered "part of creation."

Interesting, no? Now what if those intelligent beings look nothing like us humans? Did "god" really create us in "his" image then? I'm betting that "logic" (if you can call it that) will evolve too once they realize it can no longer hold water.

Read more.

Report: 237 millionaires in Congress

Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body – compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.

And how can they possibly understand the issues of average Americans? That's right. They can't.

Read more, then replace Congress with people who actually represent the American people.

No men OR women needed: Scientists create sperm and eggs from stem cells

But it raises a number of moral and ethical concerns. These include the possibility of children being born through entirely artificial means, and men and women being sidelined from the process of making babies.

Opponents argue that it is wrong to meddle with the building blocks of life and warn that the advances taking place to tackle infertility risk distorting and damaging relations between family members.

The U.S. government-funded research also offers the prospect of a 'miracle pill' which staves off the menopause, allowing women to wait longer to have a child.

It centres on stem cells, widely seen as a repair kit for the body. 

Scientists at Stanford University in California found the right cocktail of chemicals and vitamins to coax the cells into becoming eggs and sperm.

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Scientists find path to fountain of youth

The fountain of youth may exist after all, as a study showed that scientists have discovered means to extend the lifespan of mice and primates

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India’s lunar mission finds evidence of water on the Moon

Dreams of establishing a manned Moon base could become reality within two decades after India’s first lunar mission found evidence of large quantities of water on its surface.

Data from Chandrayaan-1 also suggests that water is still being formed on the Moon. Scientists said the breakthrough — to be announced by Nasa at a press conference today — would change the face of lunar exploration.

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Bill would give president emergency control of Internet

Translation: If your company is deemed "critical," a new set of regulations kick in involving who you can hire, what information you must disclose, and when the government would exercise control over your computers or network.

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DNA swap could cure inherited diseases

The prospect of a human baby with three biological parents has moved closer after scientists created monkeys using a technique that one day could stop children from inheriting severe genetic diseases.

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The technique is controversial, however, because the children it creates would inherit genetic material from three parents. The mother and father would contribute most of their child’s DNA but a small amount would come from a second woman donating healthy mitochondria.

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Artificial life will be created 'within months' as genome experts claim vital breakthrough

The first artificial lifeform is likely to be a simple man-made bacterium that proves that the technology can work.

But it will be followed by more complex bacteria that turn coal into cleaner natural gas, or algae that can soak up carbon dioxide and convert it into fuels.

They could also be used to create new vaccines and antibiotics.

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Conservatives Now Outnumber Liberals in All 50 States, Says Gallup Poll

At the same time, more Americans nationwide are saying this year that they are conservative than have made that claim in any of the last four years.

Ouch.

Read more unless you're over at Fox News.

Building block of life found on comet

The amino acid glycine, a fundamental building block of proteins, has been found in a comet for the first time, bolstering the theory that raw ingredients of life arrived on Earth from outer space, scientists said on Monday.

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The brutal truth about America’s healthcare

They came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive luxury.

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In the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an "evil and Orwellian" example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system.

Healthcare is a basic right, not a luxury.

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Senators exclude end-of-life provision from bill

Key senators are excluding a provision on end-of-life care from health overhaul legislation after language in a House bill caused a furor.

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A health care bill passed by three House committees allows Medicare to reimburse doctors for voluntary counseling sessions about end-of-life decisions. But critics have claimed the provision could lead to death panels and euthanasia for seniors.

Reality is fiction. Education is ignorant. Fear sells.

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Are we on the brink of creating a computer with a human brain?

Instead, most neuroscientists believe that our feelings of self-awareness, pain, love and so on are simply the result of the countless billions of electrical and chemical impulses that flit between its equally countless billions of neurons.

So if you build something that works exactly like a brain, consciousness, at least in theory, will follow.

In fact, several teams are working to prove this is the case by attempting to build an electronic brain.

Fascinating.

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Teenage Wasteland

Loved it.

Rest in Peace John Hughes

Let's look at his legacy. The man either wrote or directed (or did both) some of my all time favorite films, including FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, THE BREAKFAST CLUB, SIXTEEN CANDLES, WEIRD SCIENCE, PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, UNCLE BUCK, PRETTY IN PINK, NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION, THE GREAT OUTDOORS, DUTCH and HOME ALONE.

Thank you, Mr. Hughes. Rest in peace.

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For Today’s Graduate, Just One Word: Statistics

The rising stature of statisticians, who can earn $125,000 at top companies in their first year after getting a doctorate, is a byproduct of the recent explosion of digital data. In field after field, computing and the Web are creating new realms of data to explore — sensor signals, surveillance tapes, social network chatter, public records and more. And the digital data surge only promises to accelerate, rising fivefold by 2012, according to a projection by IDC, a research firm.

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