Saturday, July 09, 2005

Jamais Cascio: Biotech Leapfrogging in Central Asia. Kazakhstan is making a play to become the regional biotechnology leader, according to this article in Science, and as described by open-source biologist Rob Carlson. Carlson quotes from the article: The government has approved plans and is now reviewing financing for a $50 million Life Science and Biotech Center of Excellence, supported in part by the World Bank. SciDev.Net has some additional details -- the project will be headed up by Erlan Ramanculov, a Kazakhstan-born researcher who worked in the US for over a decade, specializing in viruses. [WorldChanging: Another World Is Here] 11:52:58 PM    comment []

A Retail Revolution Turns 10. Amazon.com began as a three-person start-up in a converted garage; now some wonder if the company is spread too thin. By GARY RIVLIN. [NYT > Business] 11:47:52 PM    comment []

It's All Happening at the Tulsa Zoo. Christian creationists won too much of a victory for their own good in Tulsa, where the local zoo was ordered to exhibit a display extolling Genesis's account of creation. [NYT > Opinion] 6:06:53 PM    comment []

How to make your own Harry Potter coins Sparkler art made with long exposures These sparkler artists left their cameras' shutters open while drawing elaborate pictures in the air with their Fourth of July sparklers. The results are fantastic. Link (Thanks, Ape-X!) Update: Here's an entire pool of images devoted to sparkler-photos on Flickr, as spotted by Aaron! USB MP3 car-stereo with SD reader This is a hella clever car-stereo idea: a car-stereo with a USB port and an SD slot. Stick in any USB media or SD card and it will play any MP3s it finds on the media. Also plays MP3 CDs. Link (via Red Ferret) Update: Here's a US vendor, here's a cheaper UK vendor. (Thanks, John and MacZealot!) [bOing bOing] 6:06:39 PM    comment []

Leading Cardinal Redefines Church's View on Evolution. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has suggested that Darwinian evolution might be incompatible with Catholic faith. By CORNELIA DEAN and LAURIE GOODSTEIN. [NYT > Education] 1:45:58 AM    comment []