11251058
submission
mindbrane writes:
The BBC is reporting on fossil finds "...uncovered in cave deposits near Malapa in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site near Johannesburg." The fossils of a mature female and juvenile male have "...small teeth, projecting nose, very advanced pelvis, and long legs..." suggesting more modern forms. "And yet its very long arms and small brain case might echo the much older Australopithecine group to which Professor Berger and colleagues have assigned it."
Aside from the debate as to classification the find is note worth in that it's discovery came about "...thanks to the "virtual globe" software Google Earth, which allowed the group to map and visualise the most promising fossil grounds in the World Heritage Site." Further the find in a cave bears the hallmarks of chance that often plays so large a part in fossilisation. "Their bones were laid down with the remains of other dead animals, including a sabre-toothed cat, antelope, mice and rabbits. The fact that none of the bodies appear to have been scavenged indicates that all died suddenly and were entombed rapidly.
"We think that there must have been some sort of calamity taking place at the time that caused all of these fossils to come down together into the cave where they got trapped and ultimately buried,""
11092824
submission
mindbrane writes:
CNN takes a look at when companies are too big to for the legal system to handle.
" Imagine being charged with a crime, but an imaginary friend takes the rap for you.
That is essentially what happened when Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, was caught illegally marketing Bextra, a painkiller that was taken off the market in 2005 because of safety concerns."
The article takes a hard look at what happens when a mega company breaks the law, when sales people are let off their leash and when breaking the law is just one more cost of doing business for large corporations. IBM may have cast the mold for this sort of thing in it's 1970's antitrust case but the recurrence of similar cases speaks to ongoing concerns for legal systems.
6341625
submission
mindbrane writes:
A scientist working as a subcontractor on a peripheral LHC project has been arrested as a terrorist. The CBC is running a story outlining the arrest of a man on Thursday in south-east France for suspected al-Qaeda links. "CERN officials said the man, whose name has not been revealed, was working under contract with an outside institute and said he had no contact with anything that could have been used for terrorism. He had been at CERN since 2003, officials said."
"The news that someone with terrorist connections might have worked at the facility is likely to cause concern because of both the high profile of the giant physics experiment and also the technology in use, which has made some members of the public nervous."
"Before it started in September 2008, the particle collider drew protests from Europeans worried it would trigger a disaster, with some scenarios suggesting the accelerator would create a black hole that would swallow the Earth.
Physicists and CERN officials dismissed the concerns, with the LHC project leader saying in 2008, "Obviously, the world will not end when the LHC switches on.""
Other than sabotage of the LHC and the creation of a world destroying black hole, the arrest begs the question what possible collateral damage could a terrorist achieve?
5668623
submission
mindbrane writes:
Once in a while a sidebar will throw a lot of light on a difficult problem. The BBC has a short piece on British ISPs anger over proposed new laws governing file sharing in the UK. Proposed new laws would include cutting repeat offenders off from the Internet. Response suggests such tactics would fail. "UK ISP Talk Talk said the recommendations were likely to "breach fundamental rights" and would not work. ...Virgin said that "persuasion not coercion" was key in the fight to crack down on the estimated six million file-sharers in the UK. ...TalkTalk's director of regulation Andrew Heaney told the BBC News the ISP was as keen as anyone to clamp down on illegal file-sharers. ..."This is best done by making sure there are legal alternatives and educating people, writing letters to alleged file-sharers and, if necessary, taking them to court."" Another interesting bit suggested "internet service providers (ISPs) are obliged to take action against repeat infringers and suggests that the cost of tracking down persistent pirates be shared 50:50 between ISPs and rights holders.", and, seconded by right holders... "The proposal has been welcomed by the BPI, which represents the recorded music industry in Britain." I fear an unholy alliance is in the making.
