The team of Terra Power and Toshiba will focus on nuclear traveling wave reactor technology(TWR),which is a new type of small nuclear reactor design that can use the waste byproduct of the enrichment process i.e. It can consume depleted uranium as fuel. TWR’s have been under development since the 1990’s, but TerraPower is one of the first companies to have come up with a implementable design for this technology.

The core benefit that this design will offer is that reactor will not have to be refueled or have its waste removed till the time it is dead, which is easily about a couple hundred years.

Using waste uranium reduces the amount of waste in the overall nuclear life cycle, and extends the available supply of the world’s uranium for nuclear by many times. TerraPower CEO explained that the As per TerraPower CEO, the operation of a traveling wave reactor can be demonstrated in less than ten years, and commercial deployment can begin in less than fifteen years.

Let’s hope that the combination of two technology giants helps meet power needs of the world’s poor without contributing to global warming.

With 35.5 percent votes, Wi-Fi has beaten Sky+, Sat Navs, iPods and Blackberries to win the poll conducted by a leading gadget magazine.

In the survey by ‘Stuff’ magazine, the readers were asked to choose the greatest technological innovation of the past ten years.

More than a third voted for Wireless Internet.

SKY+, the personal video recorders (PVR) by Sky, at the second place, has emerged as the best known and best loved PVR.

“It really has given power to the consumer to allow them to watch what they want when they want,” the Telegraph quoted Fevzi Turkalp, who runs the Gadget Detective website, as saying.

Sat Nav, provided in almost every car now, stood at the third place, while energy-efficient Hybrid Cars have marked fourth place in the list.

Apple’s iPod has taken the fifth place in the list.

Simon Osborne-Walker, the publisher of Stuff magazine, said that he was confident readers had managed to sum up the best of the last decade.

“It’s been an amazing ten years for technology. Gadgets have gone from being big black boxes under the television to lightweight, portable devices,” he said.

Stuff’s list of the best technological innovation of last decade:

1. Wireless Internet – 35.5 percent

2. Sky+ – 16.9 percent

3. Sat Nav – 16.6 percent

4. Hybrid Cars – 8.9 percent

5. iPod – 5.6 percent

6. Chip and Pin – 5.6 percent

7. Nintendo Wii – 3.9 percent

8. Skype – 1.7 percent

9. Oyster Card – 1.5 percent

10. Blackberry – 1.1 percent

Other – 2.6 percent

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20081223/393/ttc-wifi-tops-best-technological-innovat.html

The penalties will also be applicable to those who offer software or tools for hacking to any intruder.

The existing law offers punishment only for intruding into networks of governments, national defence or leading science sectors; or altering the functions of personal computer systems.

However, the amended law will be the first legal tool to curb increasing data theft from civil-use computers in China.

According to Zhou Guangquan, a member of the NPC’s law committee and a professor in criminal law at Tsinghua University, the proposed penalties also apply to Chinese hackers, who steal information from foreign computers.

The proposed draft states that either the crime or its consequence occurs in China, it shall be subject to Chinese law, reports the China Daily.

“Even if the crime has nothing to do with China, but the criminal is a Chinese citizen, it also falls under the law’s jurisdiction,” Zhou said.

Li Shishi, deputy director of the NPC law committee, said that the latest changes were made at the request of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

“The ministry said many unscrupulous people have been found hacking computers to steal account numbers and passwords, or to remotely control them,” he said.

“These actions are a big threat to online security, and we consider it necessary to define them as crimes,” he added.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20081223/854/ttc-chinese-hackers-may-be-jailed-for-7y.html

The Swedish manufacturer will unveil Volvo S60 with automatic brakes at the next month’s Detroit motor show. It will go on the market in 2010.

“This technology helps us take an important step towards our long-term vision of designing cars that should not crash,” the Telegraph quoted Thomas Broberg, the company’s safety specialist as saying.

“Our aim for 2020 is that no one should be killed or injured in a Volvo car,” he added.

The car can stop itself upon sensing that a collision is about to happen either a car or a pedestrian, even when travelling at low speeds.

It will feature a sophisticated cruise control system designed to automatically maintain a safe distance from the car in front.

It works with the help of a radar unit fitted in the car’s grille, which not only detects what is in front of the vehicle, but how fast it is moving.

When the car believes that there is an imminent threat of a collision, a light flashes on a windscreen display in front of the driver at the same time along with an audible warning, the brakes are applied automatically.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20081223/393/ttc-volvo-to-unveil-world-s-first-accide.html

According to a report in The Times, the ancient remains discovered in Morocco, belong to a giant flying pterosaur and plant-eating sauropod.

Initial examinations suggest that both specimens are unknown to science.

They were unearthed during a month-long quest during which the research team braved floods and storms to reach the dig site and then preserve the fossils.

The scientists even feared that they would never get the bones out of the desert because they were so heavy that their Land Rover became stuck in sand.

“There was a point when we wondered if we would make it out of the desert with the (sauropod) bone, but we had worked so hard to find it there was no way I was leaving it behind. It took us five days to get the bone out of the ground and down the mountain,” said Nizar Ibrahim, of University College Dublin, a leader of the project.

The first fossil is the beak of a pterosaur, a giant flying reptile that lived about 100 million years ago.

Such discoveries are unusual because pterosaur bones were light and fragile, to be adapted to flight, and few fossilised well.

“Most pterosaur discoveries are just fragments of teeth and bone so it was thrilling to find a large part of a beak and this was enough to tell us we probably have a new species,” said Ibrahim, a doctoral student.

The second significant discovery was a leg bone more than a meter long that belonged to an unknown species of sauropod – the group of long-necked plant-eaters that includes the diplodocus.

The animal would have been almost 20m (65ft) long.

“Plant eaters are uncommon in this deposit, extremely rare in this region and to find one this large is very exciting. It’s a major discovery,” Dr Martill said.

“Finding two specimens in one expedition is remarkable, especially as both might well represent completely new species,” Ibrahim said.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20081217/981/tsc-fossil-hunters-discover-two-new-dino.html

According to a report in The Times, the study, commissioned by the US Climate Change Science Program, said that the rises will substantially exceed forecasts that do not take into account the latest data and observations.

The adjusted outlook suggests that recent predictions of a rise of between 7 inches and 2 feet over the next century are conservative.

The study predicts that sea level rises will be far higher than the levels that were set out last year by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change.

The research looked at prehistoric periods when the climate changed dramatically over the course of decades, and evaluated the mechanisms behind such rapid transformation.

Rising sea levels were one of the major elements involved in past episodes, along with faster glacial melting, droughts and changes to the Atlantic Ocean’s heat-driven circulation.

According to the study’s authors, they are “among the greatest natural hazards facing the United States and the globe today” and call for “committed and sustained” monitoring of the forces that could trigger abrupt climate change.

“If we don’t monitor the vital signs of the patient, then we’ll never be in a position to advise on the best course of action to take to ward off or prepare for the potentially devastating consequences,” said Peter Clark, a professor of geosciences at Oregon State University and a lead author on the report.

But, the report concludes that some changes will not be as bad as first thought.

For example, rapid releases of methane stored in permafrost and on the seabed may be less likely than feared.

Other forecasts include a severe and permanent drought in the American West.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20081217/981/tsc-sea-levels-will-rise-much-faster-tha.html

Asian stocks posted their first weekly gain in seven, with advances in the last trading day underpinned by a rally on Wall Street on Thursday that sent the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 4 percent.

European shares were set to surge, with major indexes such as Britain’s FTSE 100 seen up by more than 4-5 percent.

Oil prices rose nearly $3 a barrel, helped by the equity gains and growing expectations for an OPEC production cut following a tumble in crude.

But jitters remain after a volatile week that saw global stock markets rally and slump on alternative days amid signals of a potentially deep economic slowdown worldwide.

The dollar sagged against the euro, but the U.S. currency held steady against the yen.

“There’s still nervousness in the market about the real economy, but in terms of valuations the price is good right now,” said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities in Japan.

“The economic problems are the main theme of the market right now and everybody knows this, so rises will be limited.”

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan was up 0.6 percent at 0630 GMT, after slumping 8 percent the previous session.

The index had gained around 1 percent for the week as of early afternoon, its first weekly gain since the end of August.

Friday’s tone was helped by some encouraging earnings signals. International Business Machines Corp (IBM) said on Thursday it expects to meet long-term profit forecasts, partly due to continued growth in emerging markets.

Meanwhile, U.S. firms such as Internet search leader Google Inc and chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc posted results after U.S. market hours that beat expectations.

On the credit front, recent unprecedented measures by central banks to inject liquidity into the financial system appeared to be bearing some fruit.

U.S. dollar short-term funding costs eased for the fourth day in Asia, though stress remained in several local markets due to heightened counterparty and term risks.

But analysts warned investors would be unlikely to steer their attention from concerns over the global economy.

“The focus of the market is now shifting gradually to the weakness of the real economy,” said Minoru Shioiri, chief manager of forex trading at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

Data on Thursday showed U.S. industrial output posted its biggest drop since 1974 in September, while a regional factory index slumped and labour markets showed softness.

Japan’s Nikkei average rose 2.8 percent, clawing back after falling 11.4 percent on Thursday in its biggest loss since the 1987 crash.

Singapore stocks rose 0.5 percent, while Shanghai’s main index advanced 1 percent.

But other major indexes in the region fell. Stocks in South Korea and Taiwan dropped more than 2 percent each. Australian stocks lost 1 percent, India’s benchmark index slipped 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong shares were flat.

OIL RALLY

The gains in equity markets, however tentative, bolstered oil prices. U.S. crude futures for November delivery rose $2.9 to $72.79 a barrel, reversing a decline of more than 6 percent during U.S. trade on Thursday.

Base metal prices also rallied, with London Metal Exchange copper, zinc and lead all up sharply percent in Asian trade.

In currency markets, although the dollar sagged against the euro it held flat near the yen in choppy trade as some investors remained concerned about a global recession.

“Fears about financial institutions going under have eased since the Group of Seven meeting last week as governments showed readiness to pump in public funds,” said Takahide Nagasaki, chief forex strategist at Daiwa Securities SMBC.

“The easing of such fears is slowly reversing a previously seen flight to safety into such currencies as the yen,” Nagasaki said.

The euro was up 0.4 percent from late Thursday New York trade at 1.3505, while the dollar held steady against the yen at 101.51.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/137/20081017/371/tbs-global-markets-asia-shares-advance-b.html

Millvina Dean, 96, is hoping to raise more than 3,000 pounds ($5,200) from selling a suitcase full of clothes given to her family by the people of New York when they arrived in America after their rescue.

Dean is also putting up for auction rare prints of the Titanic which have been signed by the artists along with compensation letters sent to her mother by the Titanic Relief Fund.

Dean was a two-month-old baby when the ship sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912.

She moved into a private nursing home in Ashurst, in the southern English county of Hampshire, two years ago after breaking her hip, which meant she could no longer live in her own home.

‘I am selling it all now because I have to pay these nursing home fees and am selling anything that I think might fetch some money,’ she told the Southern Daily Echo newspaper. The items will be auctioned Saturday.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20081017/884/twl-titanic-survivor-to-sell-off-memento.html

Ten scientists at Manchester University are working on an advanced device that will be able to send consumers email or text alerts.

Project head Dr Bruce Grieve said: “Food wastage costs in the UK are massive.”

UK boffins have created a battery-free label which can pick up when food is on the turn, reports the Sun.

The disposable 5p gadget – like a security label on a CD – measures the temperature of food and the time it is stored.

It will be used by stores next year for bulk foods.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20080919/862/ttc-soon-fridges-that-will-text-or-e-mai.html

‘The bottom line is that American efforts to shape the world are unlikely to succeed fully without the cooperation of India,’ said Senator Dick Lugar Wednesday adding, ‘Its sheer size ensures that it will have an enormous impact on the global economy.’

The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was laying out at the National Defence University what was described as ‘a new foreign policy approach for the next president focusing on energy security, trade, climate change, and pro-active American leadership.’

‘With patient investments in the building blocks of national security and attention to long term strategic opportunities, the United States will thrive in this century as we did in the last,’ he told Republican nominee John McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama.

Amplifying this dynamic, Lugar cited the India nuclear deal as a case ‘in which our government has succeeded in implementing a game-changing policy that opens up new economic and strategic opportunities that may benefit our diplomacy for decades.’

‘By far the most forward looking foreign policy achievement of the current administration was the recent nuclear agreement with India, which could free the US-Indian relationship from decades of contentiousness,’ he said.

‘The benefits of this pact are designed to be a lasting incentive for India to abstain from further nuclear weapons tests and to cooperate closely with the United States in stopping proliferation,’ Lugar said.

‘But the strategic benefits of the relationship extend far beyond the nuclear agenda,’ added the lawmaker who as then chairman of the Senate panel played a key role in crafting the US enabling law, the Hyde Act.

‘We have already received some benefits from this engagement,’ said Lugar suggesting, ‘India is taking a more positive outlook toward the US military presence in Afghanistan than it did originally.’

‘It supported our efforts to constrain Iran’s nuclear programme through its votes in the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board of Governors in 2005 and 2006,’ he said. ‘India has also taken a more supportive attitude toward the Proliferation Security Initiative, though it has thus far declined to join.’

‘The bottom line is that American efforts to shape the world are unlikely to succeed fully without the cooperation of India. Its sheer size ensures that it will have an enormous impact on the global economy,’ Lugar said.

The nuclear deal gives the US a better chance to cooperate with the Indians on limiting carbon emissions, he said. ‘We have a strong interest in expanding energy cooperation with India to develop new technologies, cut green house gas emissions, and prepare for declining global fossil fuel reserves.’

‘The United States’ own energy problems will be exacerbated if we do not forge energy partnerships with India, China, and other nations experiencing rapid economic growth,’ said Lugar.

The Indiana senator said the agreement also improves US ‘access to the burgeoning information technology industry in India and strengthens our position related to strategic issues pertaining to China, on which India is naturally predisposed to be with us.’

‘A closer relationship with India, gives us more diplomatic leverage in preventing flare-ups of the conflict between India and Pakistan,’ Lugar said suggesting ‘Further down the road, it is reasonable to expect greater conventional military cooperation with the Indians as they buy more of our weapons.’

‘This could be critical to areas of joint interest, such as counter-terrorism and the suppression of piracy,’ the lawmaker said adding, ‘With a well-educated middle class that is larger than the entire US population, India can be an anchor of stability in Asia and a centre of economic growth.’

‘By concluding this pact, the US has embraced a long-term outlook that will give us new diplomatic options,’ Lugar said describing it as ‘opportunity to build a strategic partnership with a nation that shares our democratic values and will exert increasing influence on the world stage.’

http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20081017/890/twl-us-cannot-shape-the-world-without-in.html