Smart Aircraft Wings And New Lightweight Construction Materials Developed
ScienceDaily (Apr. 3, 2008) — At the JEC Composites Show 2008 to be held in Paris from April 1 to 3, Fraunhofer researchers will be exhibiting an aircraft wing that immediately detects any material damage. Another showcased development is a novel fiber-composite material with a fiber content that can extend to 50 or 60 percent by volume.

British inventor of teen-repellent device wants laws regulating it
LONDON (AFP) – The British inventor of a controversial device which disperses young people by emitting a high-pitched noise which only they can hear called Wednesday for legislation to regulate its use.

Cell Phones Used To Thwart Speed Traps
You can now warn fellow drivers with a cell phone or personal digital assistant about speed traps, red-light cameras and other threats to ticket-free driving.

Cell Boosters Coming for the Home
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Verizon Wireless is joining Sprint Nextel Corp. in jumping on the latest craze in the wireless world: little boxes called femtocells that boost cell-phone coverage in subscribers’ homes. “Our plans are to deploy femtocells in 2008,” Verizon Wireless’ Chief Technology Officer, Tony Melone, said Wednesday

Faster computers may use light instead of electricity
WASHINGTON — Scientists and engineers are racing to develop ways to use light instead of electricity to avoid traffic jams inside computers.

Intel unveils new Classmate PCs
SAN FRANCISCO – Intel Corp. unveiled new features for its line of low-cost laptops for schools Wednesday, adding bigger screens and more data storage capacity as the chip maker ratchets up its rivalry with the One Laptop per Child organization, which sells a competing machine.

Website launches searchable register of British Empire’s slaves|
LONDON (AFP) – A website specialising in family geneaology launched a massive online searchable register of slaves of the British Empire Wednesday, allowing descendants of slaves to discover their origins.

Website turns police evidence into cash
At propertyroom.com, unclaimed items from more than 1,000 police departments are auctioned with most bids starting at $1, including jewelry, artwork, vehicles and electronics are just a few categories

Lawyers Fight DNA Samples Gained on Sly
DNA gathered surreptitiously helps get guilty verdicts, but critics say the practice violates privacy rights.

“Telemedicine” links Africans to Indian expertise
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Troubled by a difficult case, doctor Asfaw Atnafu decides to seek advice.

British scientists make human-cow embryos
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – British researchers say they have created embryos using human cells and the egg cells of cows, but said such experiments would not lead to hybrid human-animal babies, or even to direct medical therapies.

Report Finds Big Disparities in Well-Being of U.S. Kids
Huge gap exists between best and worst states, with Vermont on top and Louisiana at bottom.

Duh! Science confirms the obvious
Scientists discover that kids who lack coordination feel unpopular at school. Who knew? Get the scoop on research that looks into the truth behind the conventional wisdom.

Smoking Habit, Lung Cancer in the Genes
WASHINGTON (AP) – Scientists have pinpointed genetic variations that make people more likely to get hooked on cigarettes and more prone to develop lung cancer – a finding that could someday lead to screening tests and customized treatments for smokers trying to kick the habit.

Better-Educated Smokers More Likely to Quit After Seeing Ads
Study finds 65% with college degree made attempt, but economic status also plays role

Idea All Wet: You Don’t Need 8 Glasses of Water Daily
The claim that you need eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day has been debunked. Again.

A jealous octopus will strangle a love rival
The love lives of octopuses are far more complex than anyone thought, a team at the University of California, Berkeley, reported on Monday.

Dancing Bears Filmed in Wild
This is no circus act. Between 2005 and 2007, Kate Kendall of the U.S. Geological Survey and her colleagues took video footage of black and grizzly bears doing what looks like the go-go at their favorite “rub trees.” They also got film of bears lumbering beneath stretches of barbed wire used to snag hair samples.

Crawling Fish May Be Part of New Family
SEATTLE (AP) – A University of Washington professor says a recently discovered fish that crawls instead of swimming and has forward-looking eyes like humans could be part of an entirely unknown family of fishes. The creature sighted in Indonesian waters off Ambon Island has tan- and peach-colored zebra-stripping. It uses its leglike pectoral fins to burrow into cracks and crevices of coral reefs in search of food.

Continents Loss Of Dense Matter To Oceans Helps Keep Continents Above The Mantle
ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2008) — New research suggests that the geological staying power of continents comes partly from their losing battle with the Earth’s oceans over magnesium. The research finds continents lose more than 20 percent of their initial mass via chemical reactions involving the Earth’s crust, water and atmosphere. Because much of the lost mass is dominated by magnesium and calcium, continents ultimately gain because the lighter, silicon-rich rock that’s left behind is buoyed up by denser rock beneath the Earth’s crust.

European Cargo Ship Cleared to Dock at Space Station
Europe’s first cargo ship is cleared to dock at the space station.

Crew Swap Ahead For Space Station
Astronauts and cosmonauts are preparing for a crew swap aboard the Space Station.

New Views On The Sun’s Startling Magnetic Fountains
ScienceDaily (Apr. 3, 2008) — Astronomers have known for decades that the Sun has a very dynamic atmosphere. Huge fountains of hot gas erupt in the atmosphere, or corona, every few minutes, travelling at tens of thousands of km per hour and reaching great heights. Now a team of scientists have used the Hinode spacecraft to find the origin and driver of these fountains – immense magnetic structures that thread through the solar atmosphere.

The Mother of All Meteor Storms
What caused the Andromedid meteor storms?

Astronomers find new planets, including a baby
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Astronomers using robotic cameras said on Wednesday they had found 10 new planets outside our solar system, while a second team said they had found the youngest planet yet.

Mid-Size Black Hole Answers Longstanding Question
Astronomers discover possible middleweight black hole.