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Time: 06:23 UTC  |  Date: June 15

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Featured science article
• Europa (moon)
Featured technology article
• 35 mm film

Recent deaths
May 7: Morgan Sparks

Events
May 19: Wii Fit release May 25: Phoenix Mars landing June 3: Computex expo
Ongoing
May 31: STS-124 Japanese Experiment Module Microsoft bid for Yahoo June 9: Apple Worldwide Developers Conference
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Office Open XML appeals

Related pages
Science portal
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• 2008 in science
• 2007 in science
• 2006 in science
*Other Years in Sci Tech

[edit] Events in science and technology

[edit] June 9, 2008 (Monday)

• Apple Inc. unveils the iPhone 3G with faster internet access, longer battery life and GPS functionality. (CNet)
• The IBM Roadrunner supercomputer is the first to sustain one petaflop, or one thousand trillion calculations per second. (BBC News)

[edit] June 8, 2008 (Sunday)

• Research indicates two waves of increased sophistication in synapses (nerve junctions) played a key role in brain complexity prior to increased size. (Physorg)

[edit] June 7, 2008 (Saturday)

• The first attempt at analyzing Mars soil by the Phoenix has encountered a problem. The soil appears to be too clumpy to fall through the 1 millimeter screen which protects against clogging. (BBC)

[edit] June 6, 2008 (Friday)

• IBM has created a new way to cool next-generation computer chips by using tiny pipes of water. (BBC)

[edit] June 4, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Low doses of resveratrol mimicked the benefits of caloric restriction (extended lifespan and reduced effects of aging) in a mice study, lending support to it as an explanation for the French paradox. (EurekAlert)
• A yeast with synthetic genes might produce enough artemisinin (a key malaria drug) for the world in as little as three years. This would replace the relatively expensive process of extracting it from the Artemisia annua shrub. (NewScientist)
• New research shows weight-loss drugs designed to increase serotonin levels not only decrease appetite, but also increases the metabolism and the effect varies between individuals. The findings may help to explain how people with similar diets and activity levels will have different body types. (SciAm)

[edit] June 3, 2008 (Tuesday)

• The Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo) is attached to the International Space Station. (NASA)
• The Intel Atom processor officially launches at Computex. The small processor is focused on low-power, cheap netbook computers. (Physorg)

[edit] June 2, 2008 (Monday)

• The existence of quasiparticles has been shown for the first time. With one quarter of the charge of an electron, it may lead to powerful yet highly stable quantum computers. (Physorg)
• University of California, Berkeley scientists found slight genetic differences between people making enzymes less efficient than normal can be easily fixed with appropriate vitamin or mineral supplements. (PhysOrg)
• A planet designated MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb three times the size of Earth, the smallest extrasolar planet discovered yet, is found orbiting a brown dwarf. (BBC News)

[edit] June 1, 2008 (Sunday)

• Images from Phoenix show its retrorockets have uncovered what looks like ice a few inches under the surface dust of Mars. (eFlux)
• Research from the University of Sheffield indicates Stonehenge was used as a cemetery for much longer than previously thought – more than 500 years – probably for ancient royalty. (CNet)

[edit] May 31, 2008 (Saturday)

• The U.S. Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-124 to deliver the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo) to the International Space Station along with replacement parts for the toilet system. (EDN)
• A Safari bug that permits hackers to litter a users desktop with executable files may be a critical flaw when combined with an Internet Explorer vulnerability. Microsoft has issued a security advisory for users to limit use of Safari until patches can be issued. (PCWorld)

[edit] May 30, 2008 (Friday)

• Selectively blocking TGF beta in a mice study allowed macrophages to get into the brain and ingest unwanted compounds such as amyloid plaques that cause Alzheimer's disease. (NewScientist)
• Several countries have appealed the recent vote to make Microsoft's Office Open XML format an international standard. (CRN)

[edit] May 29, 2008 (Thursday)

• A court order has forced the Bush administration to release a climate change assessment after a four year delay. It concludes human-induced global warming will likely create droughts in the U.S. West and stronger hurricanes. (Reuters)
• The first successful U.S. phase III clinical trial has improved survival for head and neck cancer patients by restoring the p53 gene, which halts division and kills defective cells. (EurekAlert)

[edit] May 28, 2008 (Wednesday)

• A UC Riverside-led study elevates concern that current warming could lead to significant methane releases from permafrost, changing the climate further. This was a result of investigating a dramatic shift in climate 635 million years ago which brought an end to the last hypothesized snowball ice age. (Physorg)
• Bacteroides fragilis commonly found in the human gut not only crowds out dangerous organisms but a molecule it produces "PSA" may help in the development of immune cells, assisting them in protecting against diseases such as colitis. (NewScientist)
• A Vancouver couple may be charged by police for listing their seven-day-old baby for $10,000 CDN on Craigslist. (SMH)

[edit] May 25, 2008 (Sunday)

• The Phoenix spacecraft landed successfully on Mars. (Wired)
• There are now over 3.3 billion mobile phone users worldwide with developing markets such as Africa, India and China leading the growth which is eclipsing land lines. (SMH)

[edit] May 23, 2008 (Friday)

• Children's Hospital Boston are developing a device to microfilter sepsis-causing pathogens from the blood. (TechReview)

[edit] May 22, 2008 (Thursday)

• An advanced Dutch robot named Flame mimics human walking. With this understanding of walking it could lead to improved diagnoses, training and rehabilitation equipment. (Physorg)

[edit] May 21, 2008 (Wednesday)

• BioArts is auctioning five chances to clone a dog, starting at $100,000 USD. Dogs are even more difficult to clone than humans; however BioArts has created three successful clones. (NYTimes)
• Using network coding, which sends descriptions of data across an entire network rather than raw data to the intended address, DARPA found it was five times more bandwidth efficient on a wireless network than standard protocols. (TechReview)
• University of Pennsylvania may have found a way to test blood for lung cancer. They found genetic changes in the white blood cells that was 87 percent accurate in diagnosing early-state lung cancer. If developed into a diagnostic test it would help avoid unnecessary expensive and inaccurate CT and PET screening. (EurekAlert)

[edit] May 20, 2008 (Tuesday)

• A study of U.S. science teachers found 16% believe in creationism. Of those teachers with training in evolutionary biology spent more class time teaching evolution, possibly because they were more confident in being able to answer student questions. (NewScientist)
• Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies found longer carbon nanotubes could be as toxic as asbestos. (AP)

[edit] May 19, 2008 (Monday)

• Harvard University engineers demonstrate the first room-temperature source of terahertz radiation, which can be used for security and medical screening with no side effects. (Physorg)
• Facebook is preparing a major change to its layout in response to complaints of applications cluttering profile pages. The new design will likely use tabs to separate the profile from applications. (BBC)

[edit] May 16, 2008 (Friday)

• A 48 year-old woman has been indicted for cyber-bullying 13 year-old Megan Meier in 2006 on MySpace. Megan eventually committed suicide. (NYTimes)

[edit] May 15, 2008 (Thursday)

• Using cooling techniques from high performance computer chips IBM develops efficient concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) which extract 70 watts of power per square centimeter, or five times the power density of current CPV solar farms. (Physorg)
• A Swiss pilot flew above the Alps using his homemade jet-powered wing. (Physorg)

[edit] May 14, 2008 (Wednesday)

• Harvard researchers have developed a disposable lab-on-a-chip made of paper. Using natural capillary action removes the need for expensive tiny pumps and valves. There are plans to use cell phone cameras in developing countries to enable off-site diagnosis. (TechReview)

[edit] May 13, 2008 (Tuesday)

• The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has demonstrated a gallium nitride transistor that promises to improve the efficiency of power electronics such as motor drives, house appliances and hybrid vehicles; and it can enable simpler designs and operate in harsher environments than silicon. (Physorg)
• MySpace wins a record judgment of $230 million against spammers using CAN-SPAM. (AP)

[edit] May 12, 2008 (Monday)

• Microsoft launches its WorldWide Telescope a free virtual telescope with access to 2 terabytes of data. It also shows the position of celestial objects from any point on Earth in the past or the future. (BBC)
• A biodegradable nanostructured material that turns into gel when it encounters blood is about to head to human trials. If it receives Food and Drug Administration approval it would be used in surgery, reducing the potential for infection and recovery times. (TechnologyReview)

[edit] Events in science and technology by month

2008 in science: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2007 in science: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2006 in science: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2005 in science: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2004 in science: November December
(For earlier science and technology events, see October 2004 and preceding months)

[edit] News collections and sources

See: Wikipedia:Current science and technology sources.