4.3.06

BBC NEWS | Europe | Soviets 'ordered Pope shooting'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Soviets 'ordered Pope shooting': "An Italian parliamentary commission has concluded that the former Soviet Union was behind the 1981 assassination attempt on the late Pope John Paul II."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Altruism 'in-built' in humans

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Altruism 'in-built' in humans: "Dr Warneken and colleague Professor Michael Tomasello wanted to see whether very young children who had not yet learned social skills were willing to help strangers.

Our closest living relative, the chimp, also shows rudimentary helping behaviour
The experimenters performed simple tasks like dropping a clothes peg out of reach while hanging clothes on a line, or mis-stacking a pile of books.

Nearly all of the group of 24 18-month-olds helped by picking up the peg or the book, usually in the first 10 seconds of the experiment.

They only did this if they believed the researcher needed the object to complete the task - if it was thrown on the ground deliberately, they didn't pick it up.

'The results were astonishing because these children are so young - they still wear diapers and are barely able to use language, but they already show helping behaviour,' said Felix Warneken."

3.3.06

Wired 14.03: START

Wired 14.03: START: "A123's real target, however, is your car. Chiang says A123's cells could lighten a Toyota Prius' 100-pound battery by as much as 80 percent and help boost any hybrid's performance. The quick recharging time - the M1 takes five minutes to reach 90 percent capacity - plus high peak power also would be ideal for plug-in versions of gas-electric vehicles. With a bit more research, the world's roads may someday see fast, zero-carbon autos that zip past gas guzzlers and tank up from the grid faster than a rest-stop Starbucks can serve you a latte."

2.3.06

Adelphia.net - News

Adelphia.net - News: "LONDON (AP) — A Scottish distillery said Monday it was reviving a centuries-old recipe for whisky so strong that one 17th-century writer feared more than two spoonfuls could be lethal."

Blair's wife takes swipe at US over Guantanamo - World - smh.com.au

Blair's wife takes swipe at US over Guantanamo - World - smh.com.au: "Cherie Booth, the wife of Britain's Prime Minister described torture as 'the terrorism of the state, usually practised for the same reasons that terrorists use violence: to break the will of those they cannot persuade by lawful means.'"