Toxin in soil may mean no life on Mars

From Miles O'Brien and Kate Tobin
CNN

(CNN) -- NASA's Phoenix lander has discovered a toxic chemical in soil near Mars' north pole, dimming hopes for finding life on the Red Planet, the probe's operators said Monday.

The Phoenix lander's inverted scoop prepares to take soil samples on Mars in this undated image.

The chemical, perchlorate, is an oxidant widely used in solid rocket fuel. Researchers are still puzzling over the results and checking to make sure the perchlorate wasn't carried to Mars from Earth, the University of Arizona-based science team said.

"While we have not completed our process on these soil samples, we have very interesting intermediate results," Peter Smith, the principal investigator for the project, said in a written statement.

Early readings from a device aboard Phoenix called the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, "suggested Earth-like soil," Smith said.

"Further analysis has revealed un-Earthlike aspects of the soil chemistry," he said.

The Phoenix team has scheduled a teleconference for Tuesday to discuss the findings.

"Oxidizing" soil conditions also were found at the Viking 1 and 2 landing sites in the 1970s, leading most scientists to conclude that there could be no life there.

NASA's Odyssey orbiter first reported in 2001 that the planet's arctic plain was rich in water ice, mostly in the form of permafrost. Since the Phoenix lander touched down in May, robotic instruments on the craft have been collecting and analyzing soil samples, looking for organic compounds that would indicate Mars is or was able to support life.

The new findings from Phoenix cast into further doubt the possibility that life exists on Mars' surface. But they do not rule out the possibility that life once existed, nor do they necessarily rule out the possibility of life existing now, perhaps in a deep underground aquifer.

Phoenix's MECA instrument was designed to run four experiments on Mars' soil, testing for such characteristics as acidity and the presence of various compounds, minerals and salts. The science team has completed two MECA runs on soil, and perchlorate did not turn up in the first experiment.

The Phoenix team are continuing to use MECA and another instrument called the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA, to look for organic chemicals. TEGA can also detect the presence of perchlorate, but so far has not done so.

NASA also announced last week that the Phoenix mission has been extended to the end of September. The mission could be extended again if it is operational then, but the harsh Martian winter will bring it to an end if nothing else does, probably around November.

Herding cattle goes high-tech

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) -- The tradition dates back to the Old West: A cowboy gently soothes his cattle with a simple song.

A researcher steadies a cow wearing a prototype of a headset which may help ranchers herd cattle remotely.

"Come on girls, let's go," the cowboy croons as he gathers his bovines from across the desert range. One day, this cowboy may not have to ride the range to corral his herd.

The "cowboy" is U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher Dean M. Anderson, who is working to corral cattle remotely through a high-tech device that funnels sounds directly to the animals.

It's Old West cattle herding with a 21st century twist -- part of a project involving the USDA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the government's Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico.

The wireless headset, called the "Ear-A-Round," has stereo earphones that transmit sounds directly into the cow's ears to guide its movement. Powered by a small solar energy panel, the unit contains a GPS device to monitor a cow's location and movement.

Researchers hope the device will give ranchers and farmers the ability to herd cattle from afar, said Daniela Rus, an MIT professor of electrical engineering and computer science who teamed with Anderson.

"It has the potential to give farmers a much finer control of pastures, finer management of where animals are and a better use of the land," said Rus, a robotics expert. "With this technology we can also find out what the animals do all day."

In essence, a rancher could stay in his air-conditioned office and check on the location of his animals by logging on to a computer. Another potential benefit would be eye-friendly vistas that have no fences.

The device works by using sound to keep an animal within a "virtual paddock" through GPS technology, Anderson said.

The first field test is scheduled for later this month at the Jornada range, using cows trained by Anderson.

The animal scientist has been working on remote herding technology for about 30 years. He previously created a patented Directional Virtual Fencing system to contain cattle movement using remote cues.

Anderson said the goal of the current research is to improve animal distribution on the landscape. Land can be abused by overgrazing and large animals overrunning sensitive areas.

"With virtual fencing, you would have the ability, in real time, to manage the animals across the landscape to avoid that situation," he said. "If there are areas that are overused, you could move an animal off those areas more rapidly."

The technology won't eliminate the need for cowboys; instead, the focus is to shift their labor from physical to cognitive.

Ranchers and cowhands will no longer have to spend time building and repairing fences. Instead, they'll devote more time to leading animals to areas with better nutrition while protecting natural resources.

"Virtual fencing could take all this labor included with removing physical, mundane barriers and focus more on management," Anderson said. "It's looking for the best management with the best skills that technology can provide."

Rus said it's important to first understand cow behavior to achieve the best results. Because cows tend to follow leaders, Anderson is working to identify herd leaders and outfit them with the device for the field test.

"If you try to get them to move from point A to point B and you don't understand their behavior, you're less likely to have success," Rus said.

The trial will focus on whether the animals can be gathered just by the sound of Anderson's voice.

Anderson has sung his song during training exercises to get the animals to move. If they pause for longer than a few seconds, he will use the song cue to get them moving again.

If the sound cues fail, the headset can give a small electrical shock to move unresponsive cows.

Rus and Anderson also plan to test other sounds as possible cues, including naturally repulsive sounds for cows such as barking dogs and hissing snakes.

Green homes a growing trend

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- The bathroom tiles are recycled wine bottles. The hardwood floors are sustainable bamboo. And the sprawling garden gets sprinkled with rainwater collected in 300-gallon (1,135-liter) barrels.

Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry displays a rooftop garden, drainage system and solar-paneled roof.

From its recycled plastic deck to its solar-paneled roof, everything in and about the 2,500-square-foot (232 sq. meter) home on exhibit just outside of the Museum of Science and Industry has been designed to show the public how easy it can be to incorporate environmental sustainability into their own abodes.

"We tried to look for ideas in every choice that we make in our homes ... hoping that everyone who goes through it will be inspired to make some change on some level," said Michelle Kaufmann, the Oakland, California-based architect who designed the SmartHome. "Some people will walk away and want to do an entire new home or some people will think when they go for their towels next and go for organic linens."

In fact, green housing is growing even while the overall housing market is suffering, said Nate Kredich, the council's vice president for residential market development.

This year, green building is expected to represent 6 percent of the residential construction industry, according to a survey conducted by McGraw-Hill Construction Research & Analytics for the U.S. Green Building Council. That's up from just 2 percent in 2005.

Surgical side effects cut with robotics

By Danielle Dellorto
CNN Medical Associate Producer

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- As 3D images illuminate the viewfinder, a joystick delicately maneuvers a pair of robotic arms. It may sound like a video game, but Dr. Nikhil Shah is actually performing cancer surgery.

Robotic surgery allows for smaller incisions, reduced blood loss and much greater precision by the surgeon.

In this case, the surgeon is removing a man's prostate gland. Roboticsurgery is a growing trend in treating prostate cancer. The number of cases have increased sevenfold in the past four years, from 10,000 in 2004 to a projected 70,000 in 2008, according to Intuitive Surgical Inc., the creators of the robotic device. The advantages of robotics -- fewer side effects and quicker recovery times in many patients -- have led to increased use for other surgeries, including hysterectomy, kidney cancer and some heart procedures.

"At first, men think we hook up a robot and then go get some coffee, but the reality is the robot arms are a tool that I control, just like a scalpel, " said Shah, who has performed more than 600 robotic prostatectomies at St. Joseph Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.

One benefit Shah describes is precision that far exceeds the human hand. The robot-controlled scalpel works delicately around the nerves and blood vessels in the pelvic area, vastly reducing the risk of damage that can lead to incontinence or impotence. "I'm able to spare all the things that help men have their dignity and at the same time take away the cancer," he said.

Studies have shown some benefits of robotically performed prostatectomy over a traditional open prostatectomy -- but the data aren't overwhelming. One clear advantage, Shah said, is the reduced blood loss. Also, robotic surgeries are considered minimally invasive. Instead of a 4½-inch incision, robotics patients have six dime-sized incisions in the abdomen. Some patients experience only minimal pain and are in the hospital less than 24 hours.

Hi-tech criminals target Twitter

Micro blogging site Twitter is the latest target of cyber criminals who are increasingly finding fertile ground on social networks.

A fake Twitter profile with a malicious payload has been spotted by security firm Kaspersky.

It purports to link to a pornographic video but downloads a fake version of Adobe Flash which installs programs capable of stealing data.

The attack is believed to be the first to target Twitter.

Social net

The attack is believed to have originated in Brazil because of the language it uses, the servers it calls on to download trojans and the e-mail address used to collect stolen data.

The fake profile has a name that means "pretty rabbit" in Portuguese. It tries to convince users to download the fake Flash video viewer in order to watch the associated video.

It comes as Kaspersky also releases details about two worms that target social networking sites MySpace and Facebook. More variants of these worms are also starting to turn up.

The worms transformed victims' machines into zombie computers, used by criminals to send spam, launch phishing attacks and harvest data.

They were disguised as a link to YouTube which also installed a fake version of Flash Player.

"Unfortunately users are very trusting of messages left by friends on social networking sites so the likelihood of a user clicking on a link like this is very high," said Alexander Gostev, a senior virus analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

Only those using Microsoft Windows are vulnerable to infection from these malicious programs.

BY-BBC NEWS

Intel unveils graphics chip line

Intel has unveiled details of the chip that will spearhead its move into computer graphics.

It has revealed blueprints for the Larrabee chip that is scheduled to first appear in finished products in late 2009 or early 2010.

Larrabee will be a stand-alone graphics processor unlike the onboard chips it produces for many PC makers.

The move will bring Intel into direct competition with graphics specialists Nvidia and the ATI division of AMD.

Cheap supercomputer

Intel is aiming to put Larrabee into graphics cards for PCs that help show games and video in very high detail.

Like existing graphics chips from Nvidia and ATI, Larrabee is expected to have many separate processing cores onboard.

So far Intel has not said how many processing cores Larrabee will have onboard at launch or in subsequent generations. Future Nvidia and ATI graphics chips are expected to be made up of several hundred cores.

While Intel will initially target the PC graphics card market, it expects the raw computer power in the chip to help with oil and gas exploration, medical imaging and financial services in the future.

Many scientists and researchers already use coupled graphics cards as a desktop supercomputer that helps them carry out simulations far faster and cheaper than on a larger dedicated machine.

"Intel is showing its cards, but will have to deliver the products that live up to an attractive architecture," said Peter Kastner, an analyst with research firm Scott-Page.

Intel said it would release more details about Larrabee at the upcoming Siggraph computer graphics conference due to be held in Los Angeles from 12-15 August.

BY-BBC NEWS

Getting at Apple's core problems

We need more details about the security fixes Apple is releasing, says regular commentator Bill Thompson.

Apple is now as much about consumer electronics as it is computers

The computer manufacturer formerly known as "Apple Computer" changed its name to Apple Inc eighteen months ago, reflecting the growing importance to its profitability of consumer gadgets like iPods, shiny toys like iPhones and of course music sales from iTunes.

It was a sensible move, since the real money is no longer in powerful multi-processor servers for high-end graphics, video and music production but in laptops for the Vista-resistant masses, phones to keep workers connected to corporate servers and music devices for the kids.

Being a cool brand really helps in this, of course.

Apple's reputation may be built on high design, functionality and usability, but a big part of its current success comes not from the quality of its products but careful control of all aspects of the message.

New product launches get a lot of press attention partly because they are genuinely newsworthy.

There are very few leaks and those that do occur are stamped on with such legal force that anyone tempted to talk to a journalist will be deterred, while journalists who write things that Apple does not like might find that they do not get as good access in the future.

Building system security is a collaborative activity, and Apple is not currently playing as a member of the team. Bill Thompson

Most of the time the lack of advance information doesn't matter, and it provides an entertaining diversion for technology commentators as they try to guess whether the new MacBook will have rounded corners like the Air or come with a non-Intel chipset.

Whether or not the next iPod nano will revert to the stick format from its current fat instantiation is really about as important as the latest celebrity diet or David Beckham's career plans, but it offers some entertainment in the technology pages.

The design and launch of new products is Apple's business, and while I think the paranoid fear of anything that might spoil the next Steve Jobs keynote is a sign of weakness rather than strength it is clearly up to Apple, and the law of commercial confidence is on its side.

BY-BBC NEWS

Do they really think the earth is flat?

If you're a flat-earther, this image is a fake

By Brendan O'Neill

In the 21st Century, the term "flat-earther" is used to describe someone who is spectacularly - and seemingly wilfully - ignorant. But there is a group of people who claim they believe the planet really is flat. Are they really out there or is it all an elaborate prank?

Nasa is celebrating its 50th birthday with much fanfare and pictures of past glories. But in half a century of extraordinary images of space, one stands out.

WORLD VIEW 330 BC Aristotle provides evidence of spherical earth 240 BC Eratosthenes of Cyrene accurately calculates circumference of globe 8th Century AD work by Bede shows acceptance of sphere idea

On 24 December 1968, the crew of the Apollo 8 mission took a photo now known as Earthrise. To many, this beautiful blue sphere viewed from the moon's orbit is a perfect visual summary of why it is right to strive to go into space.

Not to everybody though. There are people who say they think this image is fake - part of a worldwide conspiracy by space agencies, governments and scientists.

Welcome to the world of the flat-earther.

Our attitude towards those who once upon a time believed in the flatness of the earth is apparent in a new Microsoft advert.

Photos such as this one are deemed fakes by flat-earthers

Depicting an olden-days ship sailing on rough seas, presumably heading towards the "edge of the world", the advert is part of a $300m campaign aimed at rescuing the reputation of Windows Vista by comparing its critics to flat-earthers.

Satellite era

But are there any genuine flat-earthers left? Surely in our era of space exploration - where satellites take photos of our blue and clearly globular planet from space, and robots send back info about soil and water from Mars - no one can seriously still believe that the Earth is flat?

Circumnavigation is a case of travelling in a very broad circle across the surface of the Earth James McIntyre Flat-earther

Wrong.

Flat earth theory is still around. On the internet and in small meeting rooms in Britain and the US, flat earth believers get together to challenge the "conspiracy" that the Earth is round.

"People are definitely prejudiced against flat-earthers," says John Davis, a flat earth theorist based in Tennessee, reacting to the new Microsoft commercial.

"Many use the term 'flat-earther' as a term of abuse, and with connotations that imply blind faith, ignorance or even anti-intellectualism."

Mr Davis, a 25-year-old computer scientist originally from Canada, first became interested in flat earth theory after "coming across some literature from the Flat Earth Society a few years ago".

"I came to realise how much we take at face value," he says. "We humans seem to be pleased with just accepting what we are told, no matter how much it goes against our senses."

Mr Davis now believes "the Earth is flat and horizontally infinite - it stretches horizontally forever".

"And it is at least 9,000 kilometres deep", he adds.

James McIntyre, a British-based moderator of a Flat Earth Society discussion website, has a slightly different take. "The Earth is, more or less, a disc," he states. "Obviously it isn't perfectly flat thanks to geological phenomena like hills and valleys. It is around 24,900 miles in diameter."

Mr McIntyre, who describes himself as having been "raised a globularist in the British state school system", says the reactions of his friends and family to his new beliefs vary from "sheer incredulity to the conviction that it's all just an elaborate joke".

So how many flat-earthers are around today? Neither Mr Davis nor Mr McIntyre can say.

BY-BBC NEWS