Science & TechnologyS

Bulb

Prehistoric women had passion for fashion

If the figurines found in an ancient European settlement are any guide, women have been dressing to impress for at least 7,500 years.

©REUTERS/Stevan Lazarevic
A Neolithic figurine shows a girl in a short skirt and ornate top, found in the Plocnik archaeological site near the town of Prokuplje in southern Serbia, Nov. 3, 2007.

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Intel Launching New Chip Lineup

Intel Corp. plans to roll out its newest generation of processors Monday, flexing its manufacturing muscle with a sophisticated new process that crams up to 40 percent more transistors onto the company's chips.

The world's largest semiconductor company expects to start shipping 16 new microprocessors -- which also boast inventive new materials to stanch electricity loss -- for use in servers and high-end gaming PCs .

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World should ban human cloning, except medical says U.N.

The world should quickly ban cloning of humans and only allow exceptions for strictly controlled research to help treat diseases such as diabetes or Alzheimer's, a U.N. study said on Sunday.

Without a ban, experts at the U.N. University's Institute of Advanced Studies said that governments would have to prepare legal measures to protect clones from "potential abuse, prejudice and discrimination".

Star

Giant comet awes UH scientists



©University of Hawaii
A comparison of Comet Holmes, the sun and Saturn (inset) is shown in this image from the University of Hawaii.

Once a faint, obscure comet, 17P/Holmes has eclipsed the sun as the largest object in the solar system and it's still growing, Hawaii astronomers say.

The spectacular comet has dazzled astronomers since it exploded Oct. 24 from a tiny nucleus of ice and rock about 2.2 miles in diameter.

Bulb

Nonlocality of a Single Particle Demonstrated Without Objections

Usually when physicists talk about nonlocality in quantum mechanics, they're referring to the fact that two particles can have immediate effects on each other, even when separated by large distances. Einstein famously called the phenomena "spooky interaction at a distance" because information about a particle seems to be traveling faster than the speed of light, violating the laws of causality.

Although the idea is counterintuitive, nonlocality is now widely accepted by physicists, albeit almost exclusively for two-particle systems. So far, no experiment has sufficiently demonstrated the nonlocality of a single particle, although explanations have been proposed since 1991 (starting with Tan, Walls, and Collett).

Telescope

Astronomers Find Rare Twin of Sun

Astronomers have found a star that is more like our own Sun than any yet observed, laying to rest any argument that our star is unique in the universe.

Telescope

Asteroid 'is actually spacecraft'

A supposed asteroid, which it was feared was going to have a near-miss with Earth next week, has been identified as a spacecraft.

©ESA
The unmanned Rosetta craft has already flown past Earth once

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Temple built 4,000 years ago unearthed in Peru

A 4,000-year-old temple filled with murals has been unearthed on the northern coast of Peru, making it one of the oldest finds in the Americas, a leading archaeologist said on Saturday.

©REUTERS/Ignacio Alva/Handout
Archaeologists work at the clay temple Ventarron in the northern city of Lambayeque, November 10, 2007.

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MySpace Overcome By Severe Phishing 'Epidemic'

Social networking giant MySpace stumbled to its knees at the hands of a cyber superbug recently, falling ill to a severe phishing epidemic that is plaguing a vast and vulnerable segment of its membership.

The viral scam, which targets the site's younger users, promises victims a free $500 Macy's gift card. It sounds like a steal. And actually, it is. It's the stealing of a member's identity.

Cult

Roots of Fundamentalism traced to 16th-century Bible translations

The English Reformation - heyday of religious change - spurred a fundamentalist approach to Bible reading, according to new research by a Harvard professor.

"Evangelical reading habits after 1525 were disciplinary, punishing and even demeaning," says James Simpson, Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English in Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

In 1525, Protestant reformer William Tyndale translated the Bible into early modern English. Scholars have widely hailed that moment as a liberating step for the literate public, who could suddenly read the Bible on their own terms - without the constraints of priestly interpretation.

Simpson disagrees.