Science and Internet Technology Digest

There is much of interest right now on the Internet besides election year politics.  My blog friend, "betmo," sends me some very good links.  Today's post is a little digest of her best contributions, with a bit about what interested her (or me) with each one.

1. This made me get out my medicine bottles immediately.  It was @ CNN on 9/5/08: "FDA posts list of drugs under investigation." To quote:
   
   

   The first list is a bare-bones compilation naming 20 medications and the potential issue for each. It provides no indication of how widespread or serious the problems might be, leading some consumer advocates to question its usefulness, and prompting industry worries that skittish patients might stop taking a useful medication if they see it listed.



2. "This seems just a bit too close for comfort," was my first thought.  The fascinating story on the discovery of what might be a new "Black Hole," is from betmo @ MSNBC (9/3/08).  The big news is that it is in our own solar system!


3. "Clones in our food."  This is betmo's take: "Ok - so feeding animals other animals and then M and M's and potato chips isn't bad enough - putting antibiotics and rgbh in the animals isn't enough - now this. So going vegan." It is @ Common Dreams.org (9/3/08). 


4. New Google browser, from betmo 9/2/08 - As a matter of fact, this post is being composed on my new Google Chrome browser.  It is a bit quirky, and editing in Blogger is not as easy, but faster than FireFox.


5. "Arsenic breathers" is the headline from betmo on 9/1/08.  It is about a new discovery  of a strange life form.  The story was at thepoormouth: Betmo said, "jams also does photography and a bit of british politics here and there- neat blog- thought you'd like it:"


6. Regarding losses from the Internet -- from betmo, 9/1/08.  She says, "here ya go techgeeks"   This link was from CNetNews ,"Internet traffic begins bypassing."
   


7. "Whether nanotechnology is an environmental friend or foe remains unclear," is the article by Jessica Knoblauch at (7/17/08) @ Plenty.  Betmo says, "this is a wee bit over my head." To quote:
   
   

   The new form of product pollution people are worrying about is nanotechnology—the use of materials measured in billionths of a meter—and how coming into contact with it might damage your health. Fueling the nano-scare is negative press, including a report by the Environmental Working Group that concluded hundreds of consumer products contain poorly-studied nanoscale materials and a landmark study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology that suggests some forms of carbon nanotubes could be as harmful as asbestos, which causes lung cancer if inhaled in sufficient quantities.

   But new federal regulation could include more research.

8. So who would want Comcast as their ISP now? The link is from betmo, to The Raw Story, headlined: "Comcast to set official limit on Internet use to deter bandwidth hogs." To quote:
   
   

   Comcast Corp., the nation's second-largest Internet service provider, Thursday said it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month.
   
   On Oct. 1, the cable company will update its user agreement to say that users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of traffic per month, the company announced on its Web site.

Both "betmo" and I are curious people, so our collaboration is great fun.  I guess we are a bit geeky.  Thanks again to her for these little SciTech gems.

My topical post today at South by Southwest and The Reaction is about politics.

Technorati tags: science news technology space internet