"Bacteria could scrub uranium from sites contaminated decades ago. Uranium-contaminated groundwater can be cleaned up by resident microbes, say microbiologists1.

Cold War-era uranium processing has left contaminated sites across the United States and the world. Traditional pump-and-treat methods can take decades and expose workers to toxic levels of uranium. Now a better solution is being proposed by Robert Anderson, of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and his colleagues.
"

Bugs boost Cold War clean-up

" Dyslexics who have trouble reading words online and in print may soon find relief in a new typeface being developed by a Dutch designer.

Unlike traditional typefaces, which reuse the same forms for multiple letters -- such as b and d, or p and q -- the Read Regular typeface makes each letter significantly unique so that dyslexics can more easily distinguish one character from another. Additionally, Read Regular features simplified forms and extended openings in letters like c and e. "

New Typeface to Help Dyslexics

I just got this link from Virgil Griffith.

This webpage will redirect you to a Google image search using a random search term based on the filename scheme used by many popular digital cameras. What results is the most random, random sampling of pictures.

The Google random picture generator

"By the time he was 45, cardiologist Mark Keating had reached the pinnacle of a doctor's career. He was preparing to move from his prestigious post as an investigator at the University of Utah to an even more exalted position as a professor at Harvard. He'd just won three important prizes for his comprehensive work on the genetics of heart arrhythmias. He seemed destined for even more glory in the field of cardiac genetics.

But oddly, Keating couldn't keep his mind off newts. He was particularly obsessed with an obscure species native to East Coast forests: a bandy-legged amphibian with a flat tail, blunt head, and vivid crimson dots. Red-spotted newts are endangered, but that wasn't what lured Keating away from his heart patients. Rather, newts' famous ability to heal themselves fascinated him - they can produce a new eye or sprout a leg if one is amputated, even reconnect a severed spinal cord. "

Regrow Your Own Broken heart? No problem. New liver? Coming right up. The road to regeneration starts here.

"ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Anyone who has ever watched a cop catch a bad guy on television likely has this constitutional right committed to memory: If you can't afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.

But a new Minnesota law that requires poor people to pay as much as $200 for this privilege is under attack by public defenders and some judges, who contend that it undermines the 40-year-old legal tenet established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright.

Minnesota is one of a growing number of states facing enormous budget deficits that are beginning to charge indigents for their constitutional right to legal representation. States including Arkansas, Ohio and New Jersey charge the poor $10 to $200 for lawyers -- fees that proponents argue are nominal and allow everyone to share the burden. Maryland charges adults $50 and juveniles $25; the District and Virginia do not charge. "

Besides being obviously unconstitutional, it acts as a compounded tax on whatever the fine is.

Right to an Attorney Comes at a Price

From the Scout Report: This fascinating collection of social hygiene posters (designed to inculcate certain social practices regarding hygiene, friendship, prostitution, and mental health) is culled from the fine holdings of the Social Welfare History Archives at the University of Minnesota Libraries.

There are some gems to be found here, and the collection is easily browsed. Consider "Beware of Chance Acquaintances" and "Danger in Familiarities".

American Social Hygiene Posters, ca. 1910-1970

"Your Worship...I did not know that it was an offence on Air Malawi to visit the toilet in the business class," Peter Chilambwe told Presiding Magistrate Arthur Mtalimanja.

The Zambian journalist said after being fined 50 kwacha (US 47 cents) on a charge of conduct likely to cause a breach of public peace that he would never travel with Air Malawi again. "

Economy passenger fined for taking his business upmarket

" Brewster Kahle wants the world to know that old software is an important part of our cultural history and -- like books, films and other media -- should be preserved.
The problem is, most software is stored on media that is rapidly degrading. Before long, the data on those original WordStar or Lotus 1-2-3 floppies will be about as useful as a piece of cardboard.

One of the titles the Internet Archive would like to save for posterity is an original copy of Sim City.If the Copyright Office turns down the Internet Archive's request, old titles like WordStar may disappear from the historical record.Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle is hoping to archive thousands of old software titles so that future generations can experience them.

That's why Kahle and his nonprofit Internet Archive have petitioned the U.S. Copyright Office about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, which governs the circumvention of anti-piracy measures. Kahle's organization is seeking exemptions from DMCA provisions that prohibit the archiving of software titles. If the Copyright Office says no, Kahle fears millions of programs eventually will be lost forever.
"

Fighting to Preserve Old Programs

" EDMONTON - Researchers in Alberta have discovered a new way to produce electricity. They believe the finding may lead to a new kind of battery for small appliances such as cell phones.

The technology involves no chemical reactions, relying instead on pumping water through tiny holes. "

Edmonton team devises new way to generate electricity

Was Humpty Dumpty always an egg? Does anyone know?