10:48 AM
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/is-china-winning-the-global-war-on-terror/
Oregon State researchers are studying the movement of the cockroach to build the world's first legged robot that is capable of running effortlessly over rough terrain:
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2009/dec/cockroaches-offer-inspiration-running-robots
Article about the future of brain-controlled devices:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/30/brain.controlled.computers/index.html?
Tadpoles have been genetically engineered to glow when they encounter water pollution--a faster and cheaper way to detect pollution than traditional methods. The tadpoles also indicate whether or not the pollution might be dangerous to people, something that conventional methods have a hard time figuring out:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2009/12/Engineered-glowing-tadpoles-detect-pollution/?wnnvz=1737,01272507031
Russia's space agency says that their scientists will soon meet in secret to work on a plan to save the Earth from a possible catastrophic collision with a giant asteroid in 26 years:
http://www.asdnews.com/news/25299/Russia_in_secret_plan_to_save_Earth_from_asteroid:_official.htm
Nice sign that the recession may be easing its grip on the US economy--US employers expect to hire more full-time, permanent employees in 2010 (20%) than they did in 2009 (14%) while just 9% plan to cut head count in 2010 compared to 16% in 2009:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BS11P20091229
States and cities across the US are actively wooing tech companies from India that are looking to establish offices in the US. Ohio got Tata, Atlanta got Wipro, Dallas is getting Infosys, and so on, which results in hundreds to thousands of jobs in the selected areas. The companies from India are interested in American facilities because US government and health-care projects cannot be done outside the US and it enables them to better compete against IBM and Accenture for
consulting contracts:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2009-12-30/ohio-woos-tata-as-u-s-states-press-india-for-jobs-update1-.html
It is estimated that the Tiger Woods scandal has cost his sponsors between $5 billion and $12 billion:
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091228005221&newsLang=en
I really hope that this report is wrong...I cannot imagine that Tiger Woods would already be living with one of his rumored mistresses (the first woman that was identified who denied the rumors at first) and seen with her at parties already:
http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/12/82361/index.html
There must be a lot of Twilight fans in Arizona--Isabella and Jacob were the most popular baby names in Arizona this year. Jacob hadn't been at the top of the list for about a decade, so it might not be a coincidence that it rose so quickly the year that Jacob had a prominent role in the Twilight movie released this year:
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/LiveWire/70387