] March 16, 2880, is the day the asteroid known as 1950 DA,
] a huge rock two-thirds of a mile in diameter, is due to
] swing so close to Earth it could slam into the Atlantic
] Ocean at 38,000 miles per hour.

UCSC - Press Release

] This fall, the Canadian school is offering a class for
] fourth-year students titled "Computer Viruses and
] Malware," in which students will write and test their own
] viruses. The move has touched off a wave of criticism
] within the antivirus community.

College plans virus-writing course | CNET News.com

] Physicians at Duke's medical center plan to draw up lists
] of human genes considered likely to play a role in
] diseases of interest, like the 100 or so genes that may,
] when mutated, play a role in coronary artery disease. Dr.
] Venter's center would sequence the full DNA of these 100
] genes from large numbers of patients, looking for the
] mutations that seemed to be linked to the disease. These
] mutations could then be used to assess the risk for
] coronary artery disease in the population at large.
]
] The collaboration, to be called the Genomic-Based
] Prospective Medicine project, will focus first on heart
] disease, a form of cancer yet to be selected and aspects
] of infectious disease. Dr. Venter said that all findings
] would be published in the scientific literature, and that
] other universities were welcome to join.

Project Will Seek to Uncover Genetic Roots of Major Diseases

] President Bush said last week that Europe's opposition to
] genetically altered crops was a threat to efforts to end
] world hunger.

What?!? When did Bush suddenly get on the biotech bandwagon?

Battle Over Biotechnology Intensifies Trade War

] Whether there is a market for a home three-dimensional
] printer depends in part on improvements in the technology

I am very interested in 3-D printers, especially in the biomedical area...where you could print someone a new organ. Imagine having a 3-D printer in your home...seems we stepping closer to the machines in Stephenson's "The Diamond Age" that create anything you want from nanoparticles. :) yay.

If You Behave Yourself, I'll Print You a Toy

] Physicists, psychologists and mathematicians who study
] network effects, the scientific field that the
] six-degrees-of-separation notion has engendered, are busy
] creating mathematical models that attempt to explain the
] quick spread of SARS.

Wired News: Behind the Six Degrees of SARS

] The nation's three biggest regional phone companies
] announced an agreement Thursday to standardize the
] construction of residential fiber-optic networks, in
] hopes of getting ultra-fast Internet connections to homes
] more quickly and less expensively.

Wired News: Telcos Agree to Lay Fat Pipes

] SARS is caused by a new member of the coronavirus family,
] which also causes some forms of the common cold. Some
] scientists have noted that the rapid mutations shown by
] cold viruses have prevented the development of a vaccine,
] and that the same may be true for SARS. The mutations
] change the surface proteins, known as antigens, which
] elicit the immune response.

New Scientist - SARS vaccine tests begin in monkeys

] "The suggested mechanism turns the high UV levels on
] primordial Earth from a perceived obstacle to the origin
] of life into the selective factor that, in fact, might
] have driven the whole process," write the team in BMC
] Evolutionary Biology.

RNA world baby....w00t

New Scientist - UV light may have sparked life on Earth

] When June Medford came up with the idea to use tiny weeds
] as weapons in the war against terrorism, she figured most
] people would call it a joke. But the federal government
] didn't laugh.
]
] Now, armed with a half million-dollar grant from the
] Pentagon, the Colorado State University plant biologist
] is trying to genetically engineer Arabidopsis plants to
] change color rapidly if they sense a biological or
] chemical agent.
]
] If her plan works, the technology could be used to turn
] forest evergreens, backyard shrubs or even pond algae
] into sentinels for scientists. One day, everyone in
] America might be able to use a cheap houseplant as an
] early-warning system. It could be the proverbial canary
] in a coal mine for the post-Sept. 11 age.

Bugs, weeds, houseplants could join the war on terror