An article from BBC News this morning indicates that researches in the US have determined that so-called "male menopause" is not due to hormonal changes, but is instead due to unhealthy habits, such as too much drinking, or perhaps just laziness. Professor John McKinlay, of the New England Research Institutes …

According to an article from Wired, a Pentagon program that provides online voting in general elections will be increased from the pilot levels in 2000 of 86 users to over 100,000 voters in 2004. The plan is to allow serving troops and ex-patriots to vote using a "secure" system …

A group of agricultural scientists from leading institutions in that field are banding together to form PIPRA (the Public-Sector Intellectual Property Rights Association, no web site yet), according to an article authored by the group in Science (subscription required). The issue spurring on this move is the change in agricultural …

There may be some hope for the music industry yet. According to an article in the New York Times, Warner Music considered the sharing of music in the negotiations with iTunes and explicitly decided to allow it for rendezvous during the contract negotiations. But, I found more interesting some of …

An interesting paper (abstract here) was posted at SSRN (Social Science Research Network) yesterday. The paper is about law and its relationship to virtual worlds.

A story on BBC News relates that researchers have found a small group of Ugandans who seem to posses some kind of natural immunity to AIDS. It appears that their immune systems actually fight off the disease and keep it at bay. So, perhaps this is an indicator that a …

A lengthy article in Popular Science details some of the plans for replacement shuttles. Long, but interesting read.

Security Focus reports that an effort led by the ACM is attempting to get a security research exemption enacted for the DMCA. The idea is simple, since the "black hats" are going to violate the law anyway, the "white hats" should have a chance to legally locate, solve, and publicize …

Researchers at Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center have announced that they have successfully used an engineered "smart virus" made from the common cold to destroy brain tumors in laboratory rats (which I've always thought were pre-disposed to cancer...). An article from Wired provides some cautionary comments from throughout the health …

OK, call me a bit paranoid and overly dramatic, but the idea of suggesting that "all shall be enrolled" this close to Easter is just a bit amusing for my tastes. Good thing it wasn't Christmas. An article in Wired about comments made by British scientist Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys …

An interesting article on CBS Markecensoredch discusses the potential plight of technology companies that cut their R&D investments in bad times, likening it to the auto industry decline in the 1970's. The article is a bit alarmist, but it's a good thing to keep in mind.

According to a story in the Boston Globe, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has finally started to come to its senses over some of the meaningless patents that are being filed. So far, the area is the Human Genome and they have decided to actually require people filing …