Intel chip boasts 2 billion transistors
SAN FRANCISCO – Intel Corp. has built a new chip packed with a record 2 billion transistors, more than doubling the processing power of a line of its chips for supercomputers, the company said.

Microsoft is Bluffing on Patent Defense, Torvalds Says
Microsoft’s aggressive defense of its intellectual property, which includes claims that Linux violates a number of its patents, is nothing more than “a marketing thing,” according to Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel.
Yes, I think so, too.

I.B.M. Gets Tougher on Staff Quality in India
I.B.M. has introduced new procedures to evaluate its staff in India with an eye to improving quality, with staff that don’t make the grade being asked to leave.

France’s unveils super-fast train
LA ROCHELLE, France (AFP) – French engineering giant Alstom, creator of the high-speed TGV train, unveiled Tuesday a new-generation, super-fast prototype: quicker, cleaner, bigger — and tailored specially for export.

Inventors unveil robot to fill car gas tank
Motorists nostalgic for the time they could sit tight while attendants braved the elements to fill their tanks may yet see those days return — compliments of a Dutch robot.

Scientists create three-parent embryo
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have created a human embryo with three parents in a breakthrough they hope could lead to effective treatments for a range of serious hereditary diseases.

Severe Stressful Events Early In Pregnancy May Be Associated With Schizophrenia Among Offspring
ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2008) — Children of women who undergo an extremely stressful event–such as the death of a close relative–during the first trimester of pregnancy appear more likely to develop schizophrenia, according to a new report.

9/11 Exposure Linked to Behavior Trouble in Kids
Preschoolers living near the World Trade Center had sleeplessness, other problems, study shows

1 in 3 Hit Songs Mentions Substance Abuse, Smoking
Rap music especially prone to these types of lyrics, survey finds

New Way to Kill Viruses: Shake Them to Death
Scientists may one day be able to destroy viruses in the same way that opera singers presumably shatter wine glasses. New research mathematically determined the frequencies at which simple viruses could be shaken to death.

Folate Deficiency Associated With Tripling Of Dementia Risk, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2008) — Folate deficiency is associated with a tripling in the risk of developing dementia among elderly people, suggests research published ahead of print in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

Dietary Evidence For Prevention And Treatment Of Cardiovascular Disease
ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2008) — The Journal of the American Dietetic Association has published a comprehensive review of dietary factors for treating and preventing cardiovascular disease. The review of more than 150 recent research studies and other articles “provide scientific rationale for food and nutrition professionals and other health professionals for counseling patients,” according to [a] nationwide expert panel.

Crikey! How Crocs Digest Animals Whole
New research explains crocodiles’ spectacular method of digesting large meals that lets them eat 23 percent of their body weight at once, bones and all. If people could gorge like crocodiles, a 130-pound woman could down a 30-pound hamburger in one sitting. The secret behind this champion eating is a heart valve that crocs control neurologically, which lets blood bypass the lungs and flow through a special aorta straight to the stomach, enabling them to secrete gastric acid at rates 10 times faster than those measured in any other animal.

NASA readies space shuttle Atlantis for launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – The crew of the newly repaired space shuttle Atlantis arrived at its Florida spaceport on Monday as NASA prepared to launch the ship on a mission to deliver a European space laboratory to the International Space Station.

Cosmic Finger Taps Our Galaxy’s Shoulder
As if reaching out with a come-hither motion, a giant gas finger emanating from two neighboring galaxies has hooked into the starry disk of the Milky Way and is pulling all three galaxies closer. This extremity of hydrogen gas is actually the pointy end of the so-called Leading Arm of gas that streams ahead of two irregular galaxies called the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.