Remember how the State Board of Education in Texas was pushing for a more pro-creationist stance? A whole bunch of them didn't win re-election.

This is a two-for-one.

It would appear that scientists have cured a man of HIV (via stem cell transfusion). Currently the procedure kills 1/3 of its recipients, but hey it's a damn impressive start. The article's actually a year old.

Curing HIV sound good? Not so fast (vid).

Scientists say that a meteorite that crashed into Earth 40 years ago contains millions of different carbon-containing, or organic, molecules. Although they are not a sign of life, such organic compounds are life's building blocks, and are a sign of conditions in the early Solar System.

"The House of Delegates is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill that would protect Virginians from attempts by employers or insurance companies to implant microchips in their bodies against their will."

And the money quote:

"My understanding - I'm not a theologian - but there's a prophecy in the Bible that says you'll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times. Some people think these computer chips might be that mark."

Over five years ago, scientists succeeded in teleporting information. Unfortunately, the advance failed to bring us any closer to the Star Trek future we all dream of. Now, researchers in Japan have used the same principles to prove that energy can be teleported in the same fashion as information. Rather than just hastening the dawn of quantum computing, this development could lead to practical, significant changes in energy distribution.

In a very small study in and around Roanoke, VA, 48% of soda fountain samples contained coliform bacteria. Mmm, carbonated poo.

WAT?!

A trio of astronomers have warned that, unless we use the information sparingly, we risk squandering a once-in-eternity opportunity (see arxiv.org/abs/0909.2649). If the whole data set is released at once, as is planned, any new ideas that cosmologists come up with may have to remain untested because they will have no further data to test them with.

Promises are made to be broken, so it can be tough to tell which ones will be kept. But new-found patterns in brain activity can reveal whether someone intends to keep their word.

The finding raises the possibility of using brain scans to determine the true intentions of criminals who are up for early release on parole, according to Thomas Baumgartner of the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

Jesus Fucking Christ I yearn for the day that someone disproves String Theory. I'm not equipped to handle it. ;) Stupid string theory.

How did the Universe begin? Many scientists would regard this as one of the most profound questions of all. But to Stephen Hawking, who has perhaps come closer than anyone to answering it, the question doesn't in fact even exist.