June 2008 in science

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Events in science and technology

June 27 2008 (Friday)

*Bill Gates retires from Microsoft. [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g6tdcF3HHAJtdTqSmOS5ActTRmOQD91IL5V80 (AP)]
*Mars soil is more hospitable to life than expected, with PH and nutrients suitable for growing asparagus. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7477310.stm (BBC)]

June 26 2008 (Thursday)

*Fructose and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has been shown to increase intra-abdominal fat which is linked to disease and reduce insulin sensitivity; whereas glucose simply added weight without long term effects. [http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19826624.200-is-fructose-fuelling-the-obesity-epidemic.html (NewScientist)]
*A report published in the journal "Nature" says a 365 million-year-old fossil of a four-legged fish found in Latvia sheds new light on the process of Tetrapod evolution. The creature, named "Ventastega curonica" had a fish-like body but the head of an animal more suited to land than water. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7473470.stm (BBC)] [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/06/25/scifossil125.xml (The Daily Telegraph)] [http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/33623/title/Fossil_helps_document_shift_from_sea_to_land (Science News)]

June 25 2008 (Wednesday)

*New studies of Mars have theorized that the Northern hemisphere is lower than the South could be explained may have resulted from an impact by a Earth moon sized asteroid. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7473128.stm (BBC)]
*Take-Two Interactive is offering to pay $30,000 to settle the 2,676 filed claims in the Hot Coffee lawsuit and will donate $860,000 to charity. The offer is pending the approval of a federal judge. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/technology/25settle.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin (NYTimes)]
*Dual-display e-book's are demonstrated, allowing book like behaviors such as flipping pages. [http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2008/06/dual-display-e-book-reader-lets-you.html (NewScientist)]

June 24 2008 (Tuesday)

*A Florida obscenity case will use Google Trends to demonstrate "orgies" and "boobs" are searched more often than "apple pie" by the community. The Free Speech Coalition hopes this will demonstrate the communities standard for what is obscene. [http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080624-orgies-and-apple-pie-google-trends-used-in-obscenity-case.html (arsTechnica)]

June 23 2008 (Monday)

*There are now more than 1 billion computers operating in the world, with 2 billion expected by 2014, largely driven by growth in the developing world. [http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9975612-54.html (CNet)]

June 22 2008 (Sunday)

*Conclusive evidence of the selfish gene, first proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1976, has been pinned down in the honey bee by University of Western Ontario scientists. [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080620115905.htm (ScienceDaily)]

June 21 2008 (Saturday)

*Phoenix confirms the presence of ice on Mars. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/20/AR2008062003250.html (WashingtonPost)]

June 20 2008 (Friday)

*After white patches uncovered by digging from the Phoenix lander are found to have sublimated by the lander's cameras, NASA believes it has found water ice on Mars. [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080619.html (NASA)]
*Toshiba unveils the next generation CT scanner called Aquilion ONE. It can produce high resolution dynamic scans of organs in 20 minutes or less at around $1,000; removing the need for expensive and time consuming tests for organ diagnostics. [http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-06/saving-more-lives-building-better-scanner (PopSci)]

June 19 2008 (Thursday)

*A US team of scientists have successfully treated cancer using the patients immune system by collecting and incubating T helper cells, then giving the patient one large dose. This triggered an aggressive immune response and the patient remains cancer free 2 years later. [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14168-cancer-patient-cured-with-his-own-immune-system.html (NewScientist)]

June 17 2008 (Tuesday)

*Forty-five new midsize exoplanets have been discovered by astronomists, all of which orbit their stars in 50 days or less making them even closer than Mercury to their stars. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/science/space/17planets.html?ref=science (NYTimes)]

June 16 2008 (Monday)

*After the first analysis of Mars soil, Phoenix scientists have not yet found water. It is unknown if the white substance under the soil is ice or salt. [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j1hvRUNc9W-3lupLU6TLQtR0gdRAD91BFJS01 (AP)]
*By adding ozone defects in carbon nanotubes researchers have created cheaper solar cell catalysts with fewer layers with better performance. [http://www.physorg.com/news132854298.html (Physorg)]

June 15 2008 (Sunday)

*Space Shuttle Discovery safely lands successfully completing STS-124 to install the Japanese Experiment Module. [http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1345600720080615 (Reuters)]
*Two plastics which are normally insulators when interfaced with each other create a material that conducts like metal; opening new possibilities for electronic manufacturing. [http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14140-plastics-unite-to-make-unexpected-metal.html (NewScientist)]

June 13 2008 (Friday)

*A new electron microscope design small enough to fit on a finger tip will use 100 times less power and has the potential to be even more precise than current microscopes. [http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14136-microscope-on-a-chip-to-give-four-times-the-detail.html (NewScientist)]

June 12 2008 (Thursday)

*Pluto has been designated a Plutoid along with Eris. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7449735.stm (BBC)]

June 11 2008 (Wednesday)

*Gamma secretase modulators may offer a new treatment for Alzheimer's. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7447680.stm (BBC)]
*A small number of special retina cells appear to help in resetting the circadian rhythm. [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14117-circadian-eye-could-be-key-to-insomnia.html (NewScientist)]

June 9 2008 (Monday)

*Apple Inc. unveils the iPhone 3G with faster internet access, longer battery life and GPS functionality. [http://news.cnet.com/newsblog/?keyword=WWDC+2008 (CNet)]
*The IBM Roadrunner supercomputer is the first to sustain one petaflop, or one thousand trillion calculations per second. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7443557.stm (BBC News)]

June 8 2008 (Sunday)

*Research indicates two waves of increased sophistication in synapses (nerve junctions) played a key role in brain complexity prior to increased size. [http://physorg.com/news132152252.html (Physorg)]

June 7 2008 (Saturday)

*The first attempt at analyzing Mars soil by the Phoenix has encountered a problem. The soil appears to be too clumpy to fall through the 1 millimeter screen which protects against clogging. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7442233.stm (BBC)]

June 6 2008 (Friday)

*IBM has created a new way to cool next-generation computer chips by using tiny pipes of water. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7439406.stm (BBC)]

June 4 2008 (Wednesday)

*Low doses of resveratrol mimicked the benefits of caloric restriction (extended lifespan and reduced effects of aging) in a mice study, lending support to it as an explanation for the French paradox. [http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/uow-air060208.php (EurekAlert)]
*A yeast with synthetic genes might produce enough artemisinin (a key malaria drug) for the world in as little as three years. This would replace the relatively expensive process of extracting it from the Artemisia annua shrub. [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14059-synthetic-yeast-to-brew-up-vital-malaria-drug.html (NewScientist)]
*New research shows weight-loss drugs designed to increase serotonin levels not only decrease appetite, but also increases the metabolism and the effect varies between individuals. The findings may help to explain how people with similar diets and activity levels will have different body types. [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-skinny-on-fat-youre-n (SciAm)]

June 3 2008 (Tuesday)

*The Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo) is attached to the International Space Station. [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts124/news/STS-124-07.html (NASA)]
*The Intel Atom processor officially launches at Computex. The small processor is focused on low-power, cheap netbook computers. [http://physorg.com/news131721259.html (Physorg)]

June 2 2008 (Monday)

*The existence of quasiparticles has been shown for the first time. With one quarter of the charge of an electron, it may lead to powerful yet highly stable quantum computers. [http://physorg.com/news131631206.html (Physorg)]
*University of California, Berkeley scientists found slight genetic differences between people making enzymes less efficient than normal can be easily fixed with appropriate vitamin or mineral supplements. [http://physorg.com/news131645933.html (PhysOrg)]
*A planet designated MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb three times the size of Earth, the smallest extrasolar planet discovered yet, is found orbiting a brown dwarf. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7432114.stm (BBC News)]

June 1 2008 (Sunday)

*Images from Phoenix show its retrorockets have uncovered what looks like ice a few inches under the surface dust of Mars. [http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_New_Images_Suggests_Phoenix_May_Have_Landed_On_Ice_18371.html (eFlux)]
*Research from the University of Sheffield indicates Stonehenge was used as a cemetery for much longer than previously thought – more than 500 years – probably for ancient royalty. [http://news.cnet.com/2300-1008_3-6240627-1.html (CNet)]