Saturday, August 19, 2006

THC Slows Onset of Alzheimer's Disease: One more reason to legalize pot? Medical investigators at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla CA have discovered that the active ingredient in Marijuana is more effective at blocking the formation of beta amyloid plaques than currently available medications. "While we are certainly not advocating the use of illegal drugs, these findings offer convincing evidence that THC possesses remarkable inhibitory qualities," says a new study published this month. [Scripps Research Institute via FuturePundit] 7:23:58 AM

Trend Toward Home Backup Electric Generators: Standby electric power generators for homes are on the rise in areas where grid electricity outtages can last for hours or days. These are not the small noisy gas-guzzling backup generators... homeowners who can afford it are installing whole-home systems to generate as much as 40 kilowatts from propane, natural gas, or photovoltaics. The systems can be costly, but in some affluent neighborhoods they are becoming status symbols. [Christian Science Monitor via FuturePundit] 7:13:58 AM

Artifical Muscle Displays Enable More Lifelike Color: Today's plasma and LCD screens produce color images by mixing three basic colors of red, green, and blue. A new development in optics uses and adjustable diffraction grating technology to fine-tune those three basic colors, resulting in a much fuller range of colors than is currently possible, giving such a life-like viewing experience that it could be hard to go back to your old TV. The invention could begin showing up in competitively priced consumer products in eight years. [What's Next In Science & Technology] 6:53:19 AM

Mac Hack Demo Rigged: All laptop owners were put on notice recently when presenters at the Black Hat security conference used a new MacBook Pro to demo a WiFi-related vulnerability. The presenters said the vulnerability was present on Windows OS computers, but that they demonstrated it on a Mac because of the broad perception that "Macs are more secure." Well, Mac users get the last laugh this time, as the presenters are now admitting they modified the MacBook Pro prior to the demo because the driver the computer comes with isn't actually vulnerable to the attack. [VAR Business via Techdirt] 6:25:56 AM

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