Open-Source File Format Is to Be a Part of Microsoft Office
Under pressure from European regulators and others, Microsoft is to say it will give customers the ability to use documents in Open Document Format — the main rival to the Microsoft Word format.

Laptop-for-kids project resumes donation program
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) – The One Laptop Per Child project plans to resume its Give One Get One program, in which people spend $400 to buy one of the nonprofit’s rugged computers and donate a second one to a child in a developing country.

Have laptop, will breeze through security?
The Transportation Security Administration is moving closer to easing one of the biggest post-9/11 security hassles: making airline travelers take laptops out of cases at airport checkpoints.

Philippine provider: Free phones if users view ads
A Philippine mobile service provider plans to offer free service to subscribers who agree to receive advertisements on their cellphones, company officials said Tuesday. Subscribers will get $2 worth of prepaid service every month. Each time they view an ad on their phones they’ll earn extra service.

Feds may help cell phone users get break on fees
WASHINGTON (AP) – The government is quietly negotiating to help cell phone customers avoid expensive fees when they cancel contracts with wireless companies, The Associated Press has learned. Cell phone companies routinely charge customers $175 or more for quitting their service early.

Future aircraft might repair themselves
Damaged aircraft could repair themselves automatically, even during flight, by mimicking healing processes found in nature, a researcher said this week. One method could be as simple as a resin that oozes into cracks on demand.

Creationism edges into high school classes
One in eight U.S. high school biology teachers presents creationism or intelligent design in a positive light in the classroom, a new survey shows, despite a federal court’s recent ban against it.

In Study, Researchers Find Nanotubes May Pose Health Risks Similar to Asbestos
Studies in mice suggest that nanotubes may carry a health risk similar to that of asbestos, but scientists say the findings are not cause for alarm.

Green Tea May Help Brain Cope With Sleep Disorders
Study in rats finds polyphenol compounds affect areas involved with learning and memory

Cholesterol Test Spots When HRT Raises Heart Risks
Ratio of ‘good’ to ‘bad’ cholesterol determined chances of trouble in postmenopausal women, study shows.

Lowering Cholesterol May Also Lower Prostate Cancer Risk
Statins, which lower cholesterol, also lower PSA levels, a warning sign of disease

U.S. Web Site Helps Consumers Compare Hospitals
Ad campaign promotes awareness of quality measures at almost 4,000 centers

Cloned dogs will go to highest online bidders
A Northern California biotech company announced Wednesday that it will clone the dogs of the five highest bidders in a series of online auctions. Some ethicists condemned the offer, fearing it could lead to human clones.

‘Frog-amander’ fossil fills evolutionary gap
About 290 million years ago a frog-like creature with a stubby tail paddled through a quiet pond in what is now Texas, snapping up mayflies while keeping an ear out for bellowing mates, new fossil evidence suggests.

Dinosaur tracks found on Arabian Peninsula
ATHENS, Ohio – Scientists say they have found dinosaur tracks on the Arabian Peninsula, a discovery they say may shed more light on where dinosaurs lived, their migration patterns and how they evolved they way they did.

Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes?
The basic laws of physics work equally well forward or backward in time, yet we perceive time to move in one direction only—toward the future. Why? To account for it, we have to delve into the prehistory of the universe, to a time before the big bang.  Our universe may be part of a much larger multiverse, which as a whole is time-symmetric. Time may run backward in other universes.

Astronomers witness star’s death
WASHINGTON — For the first time, astronomers have witnessed the death throes of a massive star as it was blowing up in a violent explosion called a supernova.