For the first time, scientists have both witnessed and photographed a whale gas bubble, suggesting that flatulence is just as common for ocean mammals as it is for humans and many other terrestrial animals.

A molecule that is an active ingredient in red wine can slow the aging of human cells. It extends the life expectancy of every organism that, so far, has been fed on it, including yeast, worms, and fruit flies.

Called resveratrol, the wonder substance seems to work in the same way as drastic calorie cutting. Dramatic reduction of calories has been shown to increase the life span of mice, rats, and monkeys. Such diets are being tried in humans but results are not yet in. Severe dieting also cuts the risk of dying from cancer, heart problems, and other age-related diseases in monkeys.

To protect its flagship Web site from viruses and denial-of-service attacks, Microsoft has asked for help from an unusual place: a network of Linux-based servers.

According to Internet security and services firm Netcraft, the software giant has changed the DNS of Microsoft.com so that requests are directed not to its own network but to the Akamai cache servers. Akamai is a network of 15,000 Linux-based servers in locations around the world.

Using Linux in any aspect of its operations is highly unusual for Microsoft, because the open-source OS is a chief competitor for market share.

I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.

III. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.

IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

V. Honour thy father and thy mother.

VI. Thou shalt not kill.

VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII. Thou shalt not steal.

IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

X. Thou shalt not covet any thing that is thy neighbour's.

ventripotent (ven-TRI-pot-ehnt) adjective

Having a large belly; gluttonous.

American sprinter Jon Drummond, who held up competition for almost an hour Sunday after he was disqualified in the 100 meters second round...
... "During Sunday's 100 meters quarter-finals I felt very strongly that I was disqualified from the race unfairly and I protested my disqualification," Drummond said in a statement on Tuesday.

Name (and URL) 	       Parag Sahasrabudhe 

Results Received 	7114

Total CPU Time 	        6.936 years

Average CPU Time per work unit 	8 hr 32 min 28.6 sec

Average results received per day 	4.88

SETI@home user for:	3.996 years

"Without doubt, one of the reasons West Germany and Japan forged ahead of the United kingdom after World War II was that the entire industrial stock of those two countries had been bombed out of existence while that of the latter had survived."

A woman who belongs to an obscure religious sect was found not guilty Friday of child endangerment for breast-feeding her baby while driving...

...Donkers said she did nothing wrong and was following her husband's orders while she drove alone with the baby from Pennsylvania to Michigan.

...Donkers argued as a Michigan resident, she was entitled under that state's child-restraint law to breast-feed while driving, even though she was driving in Ohio when she was stopped. Child-restraint laws in Michigan exempt nursing babies.

......examined the medical records of nearly 10,000 male graduates of Glasgow University. The researchers found that science, engineering and medical students had a substantially lower risk of mortality than arts students.

However, medical students went on to have the largest number of alcohol-related deaths and death from suicide or violent means. They were also the heaviest smokers as students, followed by lawyers. Nonetheless, arts students had greatest risk of contracting lung cancer or a cardiovascular disease.

The lower death rates from all causes among the scientists, engineers and medics could reflect social and economic factors, McCarron thinks: "We believe they probably found it easy to gain employment and therefore had more job stability and a better income."

Researchers say their experiment shows that the froghopper -- a tiny, green insect that sucks the juice from alfalfa and clover -- can leap more than two feet in the air. That's more than twice as high as the flea, and the equivalent of a man jumping over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

International Group Approves Linux for Use on Most-Sensitive Computers
The Common Criteria organization, an international technology standards body, certified Linux for the first time on "mission critical" computers, including those in America's top-secret spy agencies and those used to deliver ammunition, food and fuel to soldiers. The certification is akin to the technology industry's seal of approval.

Supporters said it could increasingly help persuade skeptical governments and corporations to consider Linux, created and developed collectively by an international community of programmers, as an alternative to Microsoft's flagship Windows software.

Linux was certified as providing only "low to moderate" security, compared with the same group's certification as "moderate to high" last year of the security of Microsoft's Windows 2000 software.