[bb gadgets]
In the latest work a Manduca moth had its thorax truncated to reduce its mass and had a MEMS component added where abdominal segments would have been, during the larval stage. Images taken by x-ray of insects with these changes and others found that tissue growth around the inserted probes was good. One DARPA goal is to show that during locomotion the heat and mechanical power generated by the thorax could be harnessed to power the MEMS.

[EurekAlert!]
For the first time, physicists have been able to identify individual returning photons after firing and reflecting them off of a space satellite in orbit almost 1,500 kilometres above the earth. The experiment has proven the possibility of constructing a quantum channel between Space and Earth.

[YouTube]
A space shuttle launch sequence from an on-board camera which is mounted on the top of the external fuel tank. This is what it looks like to blast off into space.

[The Economist]
Science and religion have often been at loggerheads. Now the former has decided to resolve the problem by trying to explain the existence of the latter.

[gigaom]
WiMAX in the US has been a bit on the ropes, but it isn’t dead yet. And if you believe The Wall Street Journal a miraculous comeback maybe in the offering, thanks to some deep pocketed cable companies’ willingness to write mega-million dollar checks.

[KurzweilAI.net]
The four worlds of the Metaverse Roadmap could also represent four pathways to a Singularity. But they also represent potential dangers. Jamais Cascio says that an "open-access Singularity" may be the answer.

[microclesia]
Jill Taylor's TED talk detailing her experiences after a left hemisphere stroke.

[Biology News Net]
Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute have discovered what chemical in the eye triggers the dormant capacity of certain non-neuronal cells to transform into progenitor cells, a stem-like cell that can generate new retinal cells. The discovery, published in the March issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS), offers new hope to victims of diseases that harm the retina, such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

[Engadget]
Regulators have voted to push the government's official broadband threshold to 768Kbps. Between 768kbps and 1.5Mbps is now classified as "basic broadband," and providers are also required to break down both upload and download speeds in specific increments—a move which should make it harder for companies like Comcast to throttle certain types of connections.

[The Daily Galaxy]
This Wednesday NASA will hold a media teleconference to report on the first-ever detection of the organic molecule methane in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star.

[Times Online]
If civilization is wiped out on Earth, salvation may come from space. Plans are being drawn up for a "Doomsday ark" on the moon containing the essentials of life and civilisation, to be activated in the event of earth being devastated by a giant asteroid or nuclear war.

[Newsvine]
A vast array of pharmaceuticals—including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones—have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

[New Scientist]
Intel has been awarded a US patent for the idea of building cosmic ray detectors into every chip. How can distant supernovae, black holes and other cosmic events cause a desktop computer to crash? The answer is that they produce cosmic rays, which produce high energy particles in the atmosphere that can occasionally hit RAM chips. The moving particles trail electrons, which can infiltrate chips' circuits and cause errors.