Tiny Cellphone Chip Aims to Improve Sound Quality
A start-up’s first product, modeled on the human ear, curbs background noise.

Mom starts online toy rental service
HOUSTON – After scouring the Internet to fill her house with only the best toys for her infant twin sons, Lori Pope hated to watch the clutter build as the boys lost interest.
Right now, there are exchange programs for clothes, car seats, and other children’s items.  Those could all be rented.

Minn. Web Site Creates Health Market 
PLYMOUTH, Minn. (AP) – You can buy almost anything online these days, but try shopping the Internet for an MRI, strep throat test or even an annual physical exam and you’ll run into roadblocks. A new Twin Cities company called Carol is trying to change that with a Web site that gives consumers a “care marketplace” to search for medical services, compare quality and price and make appointments.

Doctors use Wii games for rehab therapy
CHICAGO – Some call it “Wiihabilitation.” Nintendo’s Wii video game system, whose popularity already extends beyond the teen gaming set, is fast becoming a craze in rehab therapy for patients recovering from strokes, broken bones, surgery and even combat injuries.

Some ‘Junk’ DNA Is Important Guide For Nerve-cell Channel Production
ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2008) — Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that introns, or junk DNA to some, associated with RNA are an important molecular guide to making nerve-cell electrical channels.

Whole Grain Diets Lower Risk Of Chronic Disease, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2008) — Diets with high amounts of whole grains may help achieve significant weight loss, and also reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a team of Penn State researchers

Artificial Sweeteners Linked To Weight Gain
ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2008) — Want to lose weight? It might help to pour that diet soda down the drain. Researchers have laboratory evidence that the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight.

Most Breast Cancer Web Pages Contain Reliable Information
But sites devoted to complementary or alternative medicine may not be accurate, study finds.

FDA links anti-wrinkle drugs to deaths
WASHINGTON – The popular anti-wrinkle drug Botox and a competitor have been linked to dangerous botulism symptoms in some users, cases so bad that a few children given the drugs for muscle spasms have died, the government warned Friday.

Comatose Locusts May Help Relieve Migraines
ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2008) — The way locusts react to stress may provide an important clue to understanding what causes human migraines – and how to reduce their painful effects, says Queen’s Biology professor Mel Robertson.

More Gene Variations Found That Raise Prostate Cancer Risk
Some variants increase chances of disease up to 60%, researcher says.

Spouse’s Sickness Bodes Ill for Partner’s Health
Stress of hospitalization may pose deadly burden
Yes, those huge hospital bills will cause a LOT of stress.

Mild Alzheimer’s Patients Show Rapid Decline In Financial Skills And Increased Vulnerability To Fraud, Over One Year
ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2008) — New research from UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) shows that patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have a dramatic decline in their ability to make financial decisions over a one year period. The findings have strong implications for caregivers and health care providers in the areas of estate planning and fraud prevention.

Quitting Marijuana Just as Hard as Quitting Cigarettes
Study found smokers experienced irritability, anger and sleep disturbances

How Writing Changed the World
When ancient Mesopotamians started settling down onto farms surrounding the first cities, life became a bit more complicated. Agriculture required expertise and detailed recordkeeping, two elements that led directly to the invention of writing, historians say.

Tooth Scan Reveals Neanderthals Traveled More than Thought
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Analysis of a 40,000-year-oldtooth found in southern Greece suggests Neanderthals were more mobile than oncethought, paleontologists said Friday. Analysis of the tooth — part of the first and onlyNeanderthal remains found in Greece — showed the ancient human had spent atleast part of its life away from the area where it died.

LIVE Coverage: Astronauts Begin Spacewalk Outside ISS
HOUSTON – NASA astronauts Rex Walheim and Stanley Love have officially begun today’s spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) to deliver Europe’s Columbus lab. The spacewalk began at 9:13 a.m. EST (1413 GMT) after a brief pause to make sure Mission Control was receiving telemetry from Walheim’s spacesuit.
Click through to watch it on NASA TV.

What is Relativity?
Albert Einstein was famous for many things, but his greatest brainchild is the theory of relativity. It forever changed our understanding of space and time. What is relativity? Succinctly put, it is the notion that the laws of physics are the same everywhere. We here on Earth obey the same laws of light and gravity as someone in a far off corner of the universe.