The Personal Genome Project Hits the Web

Posted by on under th project, genome project, deases, human genome, interested researchers, genetic markers, forensic science, public database, ethnic background, project director, genetics, alg, volunteers, peoe, aims, biotechnology, decade, participants, medicine |

Ian Lamont writes "The Personal Genome Project has released the data sets and descriptions of traits, ethnic background and other information of the first ten volunteers, which include the project director and nine other people with backgrounds in genetics, medicine, and biotechnology. While the human genome was first sequenced at the beginning of this decade, what's special about this project is these 10 participants are having their names, genome, and other personal data gleaned from questionnaires shared openly on the Web, where interested researchers can freely access them. One of the ultimate aims of the project is to create a public database of 100,000 volunteers that researchers and other parties can use to determine what traits, diseases or other characteristics are associated with specific genetic markers. When asked why volunteers are requested to attach their names to the Web records, the project director said the data could be used by researchers in other fields outside of genetics, including forensic science and historical research. While this project opens the door for some interesting and potentially life-saving research, there may also be difficulties or problems for people whose records are posted on the Web. Would you participate? Would you share your name, along with your genome, disease history, and traits? Why or why not?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Tagi: th project, genome project, deases, human genome, interested researchers, genetic markers, forensic science, public database, ethnic background, project director, genetics, alg, volunteers, peoe, aims, biotechnology, decade, participants, medicine

Crazy Never Before Seen Logitech Mutant Mouse Prototypes [Logitech]

Posted by on under wink wink nudge nudge, hockey puck, logitech mice, scroll wheel, mutant mouse, mx500, compas, prototypes, gadgets, creatures, wheel |

I love Logitech mice, so I actually dug their shameless mouse timeline. Even more awesome, though, are these amazing prototypes that never left their lab, like the three-scroll wheel monstrosity and hockey puck above.

They get wonderfully cheeky about them too, saying that the hockey-puck mouse "looked cool but turned out to be less than comfortable." (WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE.) Here are a few of the more ridiculous ones, but be sure to check out the whole run. It's hard to believe some these even made it off the page, much less into a polished, physical form in some cases. Of course, none of them will ever top my beloved, retired MX500.



Really fantastic. I wish more companies would show us some of their aborted lab creatures. [Blogitech (PDF) via BoingBoing Gadgets]



Tagi: wink wink nudge nudge, hockey puck, logitech mice, scroll wheel, mutant mouse, mx500, compas, prototypes, gadgets, creatures, wheel

Digg: Nintendo Time Capsule: 1997-2001

Posted by on under time capsule, decade, nintendo |

We unearth over 20 decade-old videos the world's never seen



Tagi: time capsule, decade, nintendo

Techcrunch: The Perfect App To Start Your Weekend Off With A Drink – Or Several Drinks. Fast.

Posted by on under iphe, power c, drinking game, power hour, drinks, decade |

I love the fact that Power Music Hour, a new app for the iPhone, never once mentions drinking in its App Store page description. But anyone who has been to college in the past decade will know exactly what this app is for: A drinking game. A "Power Hour" is a game in which you must drink one shot of beer every minute for an hour (there are variations). Yes, that's 60 shots of beer. Yes, that will get you very, very drunk. But again, this app never once mentions drinking in its description, and instead implies that it may just be fun to listen to music for a minute at a time. I love it.
TechCrunch50 Conference 2009: September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco

Tagi: iphe, power c, drinking game, power hour, drinks, decade

Pensioners Attacked by Space Junk and/or Aliens [Space]

Posted by on under daily mail, space junk, raf, chunk, spacecraft, roofs, orbit, aliens, crashes, royal air force, decade, satellite |

What weights four pounds, is made of metal, and crashes through roofs at supersonic speeds? If you are a retired couple living in West Hull, Britain, the Royal Air Force says that's a chunk of space junk.

Nobody knows from what satellite or spacecraft this exactly came from, but the RAF's Defence Flying Complaints Investigation Team says that it definitely came from space. They say that its heavy mass indicates that it has been up in a decaying orbit for a decade or more.

Great. As if we didn't have enough with all that space junk risking the life of astronauts up there. [Daily Mail]





Tagi: daily mail, space junk, raf, chunk, spacecraft, roofs, orbit, aliens, crashes, royal air force, decade, satellite