The Week's Other Winners and Losers

In the wake of Tuesday's historic U.S. presidential election, it would be easy to overlook the rest of the weeks news, but there were a few other big victories and notable setbacks this week.

Let's start with the winners:

Old School Reptiles - A nest of tuatara eggs was discovered in a wildlife sanctuary near Wellington, New Zealand. This marks the first evidence of wild breeding of tuataras on the main island in nearly two centuries, and could be the start of a comeback for this ancient reptile which has been on the verge of extinction since the introduction of Polynesian rats to it's habitat in the 1700's. Kudos to you, you dragon-like reptile with a scale covered third eye, and many happy returns.

Endangered Species and Potential Woolly Mammoths - Japanese scientists at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology have successfully cloned a mouse from cells that had been frozen for 16 years. While earlier similar experiments have also proven successful, this is the first time that a clone has been created from cells not chemically treated for preservation. This is one more small step forward in cloning technology that could rescue critically endangered species from extinction with just a cabinet freezer and a Hefty bag, according to Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology. It may not be glamorous, but hey, don't knock results, right?
Less pragmatically, it means that the future cloning of long extinct but preserved animals "is no longer science fiction," according to Teruhiko Wakayama, the project's leader. Sadly, Michael Crichton won't be around to see it. R.I.P.

The Internet - While Barack Obama and Democrats nationwide were busily wiping the floor with an ailing GOP, the FCC unanimously approved the opening of the existing 'white space' TV spectrum to broadband providers. The opening of the spectrum, which can deliver a more powerful, Uber-Wi-Fi signal without significantly interfering with television broadcasts, may well usher in a new generation of peer to peer wireless devices and, more importantly, provide under served rural and urban areas with affordable, reliable Internet access.

And lest we get to full of ourselves, a reminder that even after a good week, things ain't all rainbows and kittens. Here's a small selection of the week's losers:

The Environment, At Least in the U.S. - No Longer content simply to fiddle while Rome burns, the Bush administration is spending it's waning days in power taking a flame thrower to federal environmental protections. The administration's current proposals include easing power plant emissions standards, giving a helping hand to the incredibly hazardous practice of mountaintop coal mining and, oh yeah, lowering safety standards for drinking water. So for all you liberals rejoicing in an Obama win and asking "How much damage can Bush do in less than three months?" - the answer is quite a lot, especially since the proposed rules may prove exceptionally difficult to undo.

European Particle Physicists - Illinois' Tevatron particle accelerator may have stolen some thunder from CERN's Large Hadron Collider when it's CDF experiment released a 70 page paper detailing a statistically significant number of experiments which suggest the presence of previously undetected fundamental particles. It's very early to think that they've actually discovered a new particle or process, especially considering that nearly a third of the experiment's 600 participants refused to sign the paper, suggesting that more testing needed to be done. But to their credit, CDF isn't making any claims - they're just presenting a set of data that's interesting, exciting, and could be a huge discovery. And could also be nothing - time will tell.

Fantastic Four Fans - A manned trip to Mars just got a lot safer for astronauts, as researchers have used computer simulations to show that a portable magnetic field generator that could be easily worked into spacecraft design would likely protect the ship's crew from the hazardous effects of 'space weather' they would almost certainly encounter during the lengthy trip to the red planet. And while I'm all for protecting these brave explorers from bombardment by solar wind and cosmic rays, one has to wonder - who's going to save the planet from an army of long forgotten underground beasts when these folks return without super powers?

ICC/USF Vote Nixed - White Space To Go Ahead...Probably?

It looks like rural cell phone providers will get their wish, or at least a stay of execution - a vote on a big revamp of the structure of the telecom industry has been put off until December, when a lame duck FCC will presumably be too busy getting their resumes in order to make any big decisions.

But despite the best efforts of strange bedfellows Dolly Parton and Axl Rose, it appears that FCC Chair Kevin Martin hasn't buckled on at least one point - the vote on whether to allow white space between TV channels to be and used for wireless computing, a move that could mark a great leap forward in broadband accessibility, will take place tomorrow. With proof-of-concept results arriving last month that demonstrated that wireless computing could, with proper safeguards in place, take place on the 'white space' spectrum without interfering with TV or wireless microphone signals, the FCC looks poised to open the spectrum and allow comunications companies to start playing in a new sandbox.

The upside is that higher quality internet access could be provided to underserved communities across the nation. The downside is that the wireless microphones used by NFL coaches and evangelical mega-church pastors may be adversely affected, making for more exciting, entertaining Sundays all around. Sounds like a chance worth taking.

Secretary in Charge of Ray Guns, Cloning, and Complaining About Vista

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has sent a letter to Senators Obama and McCain, urging whoever becomes the next President to appoint a cabinet level science adviser, and to do so by Inauguration Day. The AAAS hopes that the next President will "...seek out and rely upon sound scientific and technological advice I and often in the next administration." It's a stance on good science that has been profoundly lacking over the past eight years, with topics like stem cell research and climate change treated as political fodder rather than valid scientific issues.

With McCain choosing a woman who thinks genetic testing on fruit flies is some sort of cockamamie scheme put together by the French and may not believe in dinosaurs, it's no surprise that the GOP candidate has been fairly quiet on the role good science would play in shaping the policies of a McCain administration. But how would this position mesh with the Chief Technology Officer position that Obama would create in his cabinet?

Poorly.

The CTO cabinet position would be primarily an economic advisory one, concerned mainly with job creation via the expansion of broadband Internet throughout the nation, a much less holistic position than the one being urged by the AAAS. Though one of the top presumptive candidates for the position, Princeton computer science and public affairs professor Ed Felten (who has not officially been approached) assumes that the position would also act as a "cybersecurity czar" of sorts. But with it's main focus being entrepreneurial and it's technological aspects leaning heavily towards communications, the CTO isn't exactly what the AAAS had in mind. It remains to be seen if an Obama administration would be open to the addition of another new cabinet post concerned with biotech, burgeoning green energy technologies and the rest of the science world that's easily as important to both policy and economic development in the U.S., and how these advisers would interact with the heads of current bodies like the FCC and FDA.

R.I.P. Studs

It really sucks when national tragedies occur on days that are important to you, as my friend Scott, born on September 11, will no doubt aver. I had never really been able to share the sensation until today, when Studs Terkel died at his home in Chicago.

Terkel was a legendary oral historian, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, the unofficial poet laureate of the working class and a tireless proponent of worker's rights. Having grown up near Chicago, Terkel was something of a hero to me, one of those grizzled old icons I wanted to be when I grew up. I kinda still do, and if you want to know why, Studs' classic Working is a good place to start,a phenomenal series of interviews with people from all walks of life. And for a much more through obit of this icon, try this rememberance from NPR's All things Considered.

Dog of Yore, meet... The DOG OF TOMORROW!!!

Earlier this month, the timeline for the first known dogs was pushed back more than 15,000 years with the identification of a huge, probably domesticated dog in Belgium. The specimen, which subsisted on large game animals like musk ox and horses, places the first dates of domestic dogs into the Upper Paleolithic, though some evidence suggests that this may have ultimately been an early and not wholly successful attempt at domestication, thus explaining why domesticated dogs appear and vanish in the fossil record.

Meanwhile, it's become clear that the future of the dog may not be the Brussels Griffon, as previously thought. It may not even be flesh and blood, if the mad thinker's at the U.S. military's Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) have their way. In addition to changes in the BigDog project, a robotic pack mule designed to lighten soldiers loads on long humps in treacherous terrain, the big brains at DARPA have added another canid inspired robot to their wish list, which also includes a stimulant that can keep commando's awake in the field for days on end without any unfortunate side effects.

The latest proposal calls for a series of smaller, ideally autonomous robots which would operate in packs of 3-5, carrying out search and rescue missions, doing reconnassaince work and pursuing the occasional "non-cooperative human subject."
Those of you looking for a Christmas present that will blow poor AIBO out of the water, can see BigDog in action below.

The Fourth Quarter Drive

News from the land of "Better Late Than Never" - as the Obama campaign concentrates on (and struggles?) to bring young and first time voters to the polls sooner rather than later, Errol Morris has launched People in the Middle for Obama, a late in the day ad campaign that hopes to push remaining fence-sitters into the Democratic camp.

The site features Errol Morris' interviews with "real people" in the center of the political spectrum, telling the filmmaker and viewers why they are voting for Barack Obama. Each interview with a self identified Democrat or Republican voter is framed by the same featureless white backdrop and simple, carousel style musical tune, displaying Morris' signature minimalist style. But content-wise, there's really not a lot new here, with voters talking about being tired of negative campaigning, scared of the state of the economy, etc. And even stylistically, these shorts pale in comparison to Morris' body of short works, like Mayo, which was somehow overlooked for an Oscar.

Meanwhile, not to be outdone by Errol Morris, a groups of Peruvian medicine men has thrown their support behind Obama as well, the BBC reports. And while they may not be a huge constituency here in the states, if there are shamans out there practicing magic and dispelling evil spirits, it's good to know that they're on your side, right?

Goodnight, Sweet Prince

I always kind of wanted to be an astronaut as a kid, but that had less to do with any passion for space travel than it did with one simple fact: astronauts got all the cool toys. Pens that wrote upside down. Freeze dried everything. Tang. Adult diapers that you apparently get to take home with you. The bells and whistles that NASA supplied for it's intrepid explorers were always second to none. Case in point - this artificial intelligence therapy program.

Created by a former astronaut who now teaches space medicine, the program combines animation, video and audio elements to recreate or summarize difficult or hazardous situations encountered by veteran astronauts. The program is meant to aid in decision making, relationship management and controlling depression in the high pressure environment of a space flight by putting trainees into tough situations and letting their choices make the situation better or worse, a method of training and therapy that should be familiar to anyone who has ever read a Choose Your Own Adventure book.

The results of these tests won't be available to the public, of course, but in my heart of hearts, I like to believe that astronauts aren't that different from the rest of us, and that the first round of testing will be devoted to it's only logical use: seeing how fast you can bring the International Space Station plummeting in a fiery ball back to earth.

And as one means of computerized therapy enters the space age, another goes the way of the dodo as JVC ends production of standalone VCRs, bringing an end to an era in home entertainment. Somewhere, the guy who invented Beta max is smiling grimly and snickering to himself. I shared a lot of good time with a lot of VCRs, from the first time I ever saw Batman to the copy of Pulp Fiction that played perpetually in my first apartment. And as a longtime video store clerk, I get to watch one of my few pragmatic, handyman style skills - dismantling fixing, cleaning and reassembling a VCR - be rendered obsolete before i even turn thirty.

For hardcore VHS fans (you know you're out there) and those who are just reluctant to own copies of Con Air on two separate formats, you'll still be able to get combo players that play DVD and VHS formats. But let's face it - it's just not the same.

I've had friends argue that VHS will never really fade out, and will instead come to fill a home entertainment niche similar to the turntable, becoming a staple in hipster pads everywhere, treasured for it's retro cool and nigh-indestructible recordings. I see where they're coming from, especially when it comes to valuing a medium that can take a beating - I've seen people take some truly heinous actions against VHS tapes, with no discernible damage to the film, something that DVDs But considering how consolidated home entertainment is becoming, from gaming consoles that double as movie players to directly streaming HD video at your fingertips, even the discreet, archaic, indie charm of the VCR may not be enough to keep it in favor forever.

Rest well, good friend.