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One of the most senior Greek Cypriot politicians, Ioannis Kasoulides, has announced that he would give his European Parliament seat to a Turkish Cypriot if the two sides reach an agreement to settle the Cyprus problem, which is among the most difficult issues facing the international community.

Kasoulides offers his seat to Turkish Cypriots if there is a settlement.

Protest Mars U.N. Leader’s Visit to Cyprus (nytimes.com)
UN chief optimistic over Cyprus (news.bbc.co.uk)
Ban Ki-Moon Seeks Elusive Unity Deal in Cyprus (nytimes.com)
Cyprus leaders vow to reunify island, says UN head (guardian.co.uk)
Cyprus leaders start fresh talks (news.bbc.co.uk)
UN urges Cyprus leaders to push for peace deal (telegraph.co.uk)
The phoney peace-seekers | Peter Preston (guardian.co.uk)
UN chief offers support for Cyprus peace talks (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Time Runs Out for Cypriot Solution (online.wsj.com)

Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 10:12

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Displax thin film Can turn any surface into a touchscreen

Are you dissatisfied with your current non-touchscreen display?
Well, what if you could just slap on a thin touchscreen film over your current display to turn it into a touchscreen? That’s what the folks over at Displax are working on at the moment. The company promises to turn any surface into a touch sensitive display. With the film being able to be stuck on glass, plastic, or wood, and can range from 3-inches to 120-inches diagonally, it certainly looks like it’s very versatile. With a current transparency rate of 98 percent, and being able to detect up to 16 fingers on a 50-inch screen, it certainly seems like a juicy piece of technology. Displax says that the first screens featuring its multi-touch technology will start shipping in July.

Displax Thin Film Can Turn Any Surface Into A Touchscreen

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 18:56

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‘Internet addiction’ linked to depression, says study

There is a strong link between heavy internet use and depression, UK psychologists have said.
The study, reported in the journal Psychopathology, found 1.2% of people surveyed were “internet addicts”, and many of these were depressed.
The Leeds University team stressed they could not say one necessarily caused the other, and that most internet users did not suffer mental health problems.

BBC News - ‘Internet addiction’ linked to depression, says study.

Study links excessive Internet use to depression (msnbc.msn.com)
Excess Internet Use Linked With Depression (news.sky.com)
Excessive internet use linked to depression, research shows (guardian.co.uk)
Internet use linked to depression (news.bbc.co.uk)
Addiction Slideshow Internet Video Gaming (slideshare.net)
Getting Help for Depression Online (psychcentral.com)
Depressed? Anxious? Internet Addiction Could Be For You! (gawker.com)
Internet addiction can lead to self harm in teens, claims study. (thenextweb.com)

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 07:01

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Bigger, better telescopes needed to find near-earth asteroids

: Image via Wikipedia

If we’re going to protect the Earth from an asteroid, we need to find the dangerous ones whizzing about in the emptiness of space.
Unfortunately, the United States will not complete the survey of large near-Earth objects by 2020 as mandated, but not funded, by Congress in 2005. That’s the conclusion of a new National Research Council Report, Defending Planet Earth: Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies, released Friday.
The current budget and astronomical tools are just not sufficient to find all near-Earth objects larger than 140 meters 460 feet across. Better telescopes than we currently have will be needed. While this has been known within the NEO science community, the final report could bring the realization to the policymakers and politicians who control the purse strings.

“There’s no longer time to meet the goal by 2020,” said Michael A’Hearn, a University of Maryland astronomer and co-author of the report. “There’s no way to do the survey in that length of time because the equipment isn’t even built yet. We say it is not unreasonable to set a new deadline of 2030 and start funding now. We probably can do the job by then.”

Bigger, Better Telescopes Needed to Find Near-Earth Asteroids | Wired Science | Wired.com.

Bigger, Better Telescopes Needed to Find Near-Earth Asteroids (wired.com)
Bigger, Better Telescopes Needed to Find Near-Earth Asteroids (wired.com)
Suspected Asteroid Collision Leaves Trailing Debris (spacefellowship.com)
Earth Not Properly Protected from Asteroids (space.com)
Hubble captures picture of asteroid collision! (blogs.discovermagazine.com)
U.S. ignoring asteroid threats: report (calgaryherald.com)
Report: U.S. doing little about asteroids (msnbc.msn.com)
Another Near-Earth Asteroid Spotted (slog.thestranger.com)
Hubble, sky survey catch rare asteroid crash, NASA says (cnn.com)

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 06:32

Tags: Earth, Near-Earth object

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The ‘vision thing’ and Nasa’s new path

George W Bush’s call to “go back to the Moon” was straightforward enough. The trouble was, Nasa found it very difficult to implement - and very expensive.
Dream ChaserSome $9bn has already been spent on the Constellation programme and the first mission is still years away.
And so on Monday, the current president, Barack Obama, substituted a new vision. He’s killed Constellation with its two Ares rockets and Orion capsule, and replaced it with a whole new way of doing space [PDF 1Mb].
In future, Nasa will no longer lead the design and development of space vehicles. It will instead leave this to the private sector and become a customer for transport services.