Permian mass extinction triggered by humble microbe

AROUND 251 million years ago, over 90 per cent of the species on Earth suddenly went extinct. Their killer may not have been a devastating meteorite or a catastrophic volcanic eruption, but a humble microbe. The prevailing theory is that the mass extinction...

Read More..

Enough blood for injured Navy serviceman & others in need

SINGAPORE: Singapore Red Cross and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said injured Navy serviceman Jason Chee is well supported by the National Blood Programme.In a joint statement, they assured well wishers that there is sufficient blood for his surgeries.The statement revealed that the Singapore Red Cross has already been recalling donors who are due for donation and blood donors of...

Read More..

Crave giveaway: Sprint LG Optimus G smartphone

Congrats to Oliver M. of Anaheim, Calif., for winning a copy of Symantec's Norton 360 Multi-Device security suite in last week's giveaway. Now, for this week's prize... Is your smartphone starting to look (and act) a bit shabby? You're in luck! We're offering up a free LG Optimus G from Sprint (please note: you'll be responsible for your own voice and data plan; Sprint includes an unlimited data plan...

Read More..

Global Checkup: Most People Living Longer, But Sicker

If the world's entire population went in for a collective checkup, would the doctor's prognosis be good or bad? Both, according to new studies published in The Lancet medical journal.The vast collaborative effort, called the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010, includes papers by nearly 500 authors in 50 countries. Spanning four decades of data, it represents...

Read More..

What Is a Right-to-Work Law?

This week Michigan became the 24th state in the country to adopt a right-to-work law. The passage of the bill by the state legislature, and eventual signing by Rick Snyder, the state's Republican governor, brought a huge wave of protests in a state with deep union roots.Right-to-work laws have garnered a lot of national attention in recent years as more states have implemented...

Read More..

Robot apps get a cash boost

APPS aren't just for your smartphone. The one-year-old Robot-App Store got a cash boost this week in the form of $250,000 from the first company dedicated to investing in consumer robotics. Dmitry Grishin, founder of Grishin Robotics,...

Read More..

Fare increases needed to improve service to commuters, says Lui Tuck Yew

SINGAPORE: Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew has said fare increases are needed to improve service to commuters while keeping public transport operations commercially viable.In a Facebook post, Mr Lui said fare increases are not to boost the short-term profits of Public Transport Operators (PTOs) or improve the salaries of bus drivers.He said that's why the government must work with the...

Read More..

Social media notes on the 12-12-12 Concert

A screen shot of 121212concert.org, featuring the night's last act, Sir Paul McCartney. As you can see, one of the author's tweets 12-12-12 was a day tailor-made for social media and there was a lot going on timed to the date. Here are some notes from the serious to the ridiculous:12-12-12, THE DATE: Millions of people spent the days talking about the rare confluence of numbers (won't happen again...

Read More..

Hubble Discovers Oldest Known Galaxy

The Hubble space telescope has discovered seven primitive galaxies formed in the earliest days of the cosmos, including one believed to be the oldest ever detected.The discovery, announced Wednesday, is part of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field campaign to determine how and when galaxies first assembled following the Big Bang."This 'cosmic dawn' was not a single, dramatic event," said astrophysicist...

Read More..

Workers' Party ready to offer voters a choice again

SINGAPORE: The Workers' Party (WP), which contested the 2011 general election in the Punggol East Single Member Constituency (SMC), said it is ready to offer voters a choice again in a by-election.In a statement released on Wednesday, the WP said it has noted the announcement that the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Michael Palmer, has resigned from the People's Action Party and, by virtue of...

Read More..