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Science

Gut Microbes Can Split a Species 68

sciencehabit writes "The community of microbes in an animal's gut may be enough to turn the creature into a different species. Species usually split when their members become so genetically distinct — usually by living in separate environments that cause them to evolve different adaptations (think finches on different islands) — that they can no longer successfully breed with each other. Now researchers have shown that a couple groups of wasps have become new species not because their DNA has changed, but because the bacteria in their guts have changed — the first example of this type of speciation."
Transportation

TSA Orders Searches of Valet Parked Car At Airport 453

schwit1 writes "Laurie Iacuzza walked to her waiting car at the Greater Rochester International Airport after returning from a trip and that's when she found it — a notice saying her car was inspected after she left for her flight. She said, 'I was furious. They never mentioned it to me when I booked the valet or when I picked up the car or when I dropped it off.' Iacuzza's car was inspected by valet attendants on orders from the TSA."

Comment Re:Don't care for it, but... (Score 2) 401

Honest question: Beyond "that's not the way it always has been", what is the problem with tabs on top?.

For those of us whose browse with many tabs open at once and frequently switch between them, tabs on top means a *lot* more mouse movement to accomplish this, which equals more time. Wasted time. It may not seem like much, but it is enough to be a noticeable delay, and adds up. Putting the tabs back where they belong solves this annoyance.

This may not be a factor depending on your own personal browsing habits.

Comment Email newsletters are convenient (Score 1) 337

Science news delivered periodically to your inbox. Some of them are customizable, so you can receive updates only on topics of interest to you.

Highly recommended:
American Scientist
Physorg

Also interesting:
Spaceweather
Nasa Science News
Nasa Earth Observatory
Discover Magazine

I imagine there are RSS feeds for most of these as well if you prefer that format.

Submission + - How DNA evidence creates victims of chance (newscientist.com)

azoblue writes: Even when analysts agree that someone could be a match for a piece of DNA evidence, the statistical weight assigned to that match can vary enormously, even by orders of magnitude. For instance, in one man's trial the DNA evidence statistic ranged from 1/95,000 to 1/13, depending on the different weighing methods used by the defense and the prosecution.
Mars

Submission + - New evidence Mars rocks contain ancient fossils (washingtonpost.com)

azoblue writes: NASA's Mars Meteorite Research Team reopened a 14-year-old controversy on extraterrestrial life last week, reaffirming and offering support for its widely challenged assertion that a 4-billion-year-old meteorite that landed thousands of years ago on Antarctica shows evidence of microscopic life on Mars.
Cellphones

Submission + - Cell phone data predicts movement patterns (arstechnica.com)

azoblue writes: In a study published in Science, researchers examined customer location data culled from cellular service providers. By looking at how customers moved around, the authors of the study found that it may be possible to predict human movement patterns and location up to 93 percent of the time.
Privacy

Submission + - Dragging telephone numbers into the Internet Age (arstechnica.com)

azoblue writes: E-mail, IM, Facebook, phones—what if all of these ways to reach you over a network could be condensed into a single, unique number? The ENUM proposal aims to do just that, by giving everyone a single phone number that maps to all of their identifiers. Here's how it works, and why it isn't already widely used.
Privacy

Submission + - Netflix sued for privacy invasion (wired.com) 1

azoblue writes: An in-the-closet lesbian mother is suing Netflix for privacy invasion, alleging the movie rental company made it possible for her to be outed when it disclosed insufficiently anonymous information about nearly half-a-million customers as part of its $1 million contest to improve its recommendation system. For instance, if a data set reveals a person’s ZIP code, birthdate and gender, there’s an 87 percent chance that the person can be uniquely identified.

Submission + - Google says ad blockers will save online ads (theregister.co.uk)

azoblue writes: Google — the world's largest online ad broker — sees no reason to worry about the addition of ad-blocking extensions to its Chrome browser. Online advertisers will ensure their ads aren't too annoying, the company says, and netizens will ultimately realize that online advertising is a good thing.

Submission + - DIY book scanner (wired.com)

azoblue writes: Daniel Reetz did not want to lug around heavy textbooks, so he built a book scanner to create digital copies.

Submission + - MySpace/Imeem Deal Leaves Artists Unpaid (wired.com)

azoblue writes: Independent artists who sold their music through imeem’s Snocap music storefronts on MySpace and other sites won’t be paid what’s owed even after MySpace Music’s acquisition of imeem.

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