New organic material may give Internet ’superfast’ speeds

September 30th, 2009 LONDON - For the first time the advertising market has experienced a significant shift this year, as companies are spending more money on the Internet than on television for advertising. Spending on Internet advertising grew 4.6 per cent in the first half of 2009 to hit 1.7 billion pounds, according to digital marketing trade body Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).

August 15th, 2009 LONDON - An Indian taxi driver has become a celebrity in his own right in his hometown of Bhatinda, Punjab, all because of his special skill to drive backwards everywhere. Harpreet Dev is so famous for his reversing skills that he has even been issued with a special government licence to drive in reverse anywhere in the state, located in the county's north.

August 5th, 2009 LONDON - A third of people in the European Union say they have never used the internet, according to an EU report, which examined the region's digital landscape over the last five years. What's more, the study found that more than one in four Europeans had never used a PC.

July 13th, 2009 LONDON - Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Stephen Conroy has been named the Internet Villain of the Year at the 11th annual UK Internet Industry Awards for his for his Internet censorship plans. The award recognises individuals or organizations, who may have hampered the development or in a way disappointed the Internet industry - those whom the industry loves to hate, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

July 11th, 2009 LONDON - In a bid to stop Muslim extremists from becoming more militant, the UK Government is set to issue a guideline for police, directing them not to charge them in many hate crime cases, a move that has created outrage amongst critics. Guidelines will tell forces to press for conviction only in cases of clear-cut criminal acts, and refrain from proceeding when evidence of lawbreaking is "borderline." Officers will be advised to turn a blind eye on crimes such as incitement to religious hatred or viewing extremist material on the Internet.

July 11th, 2009 LONDON - Two men have been jailed in UK for publishing inflammatory race hate articles on the internet, in a case that has been hailed as a landmark. Simon Sheppard, 52, was sentenced to four years and 10 months while Stephen Whittle, 42, was given a term of two years and four months.

July 2nd, 2009 LONDON - A mummified dinosaur unearthed in North Dakota, US, may contain traces of 66-million-year old organic material, which could provide vital information about its evolution. The well-preserved fossil of the plant-eating hadrosaur, complete with skin and tendons, was discovered in 1999.

June 24th, 2009 LONDON - The first prosthetic bone material that is made from wood has been developed by Italian scientists. The researchers transformed the building blocks of wood into the material from which bone is made.

May 25th, 2009 LONDON - NASA's robot explorers may have been destroying the signs of life on Mars, say researchers. When the twin Viking landers, sent on the planet in 1976, failed to detect even minute quantities of organic compounds, scientists were puzzled because even if Mars has never had life, comets and asteroids that have struck the planet should have scattered at least some organic molecules - though not produced by life - over its surface.

April 29th, 2009 LONDON - Actress Elizabeth Hurley will join hands with Prince Charles to launch a range of organic and low fat food. Hurley was inspired to go into the catering business last year after reading dietary advice for women hoping to avoid breast cancer.

April 27th, 2009 LONDON - The development of a new generation of white organic LEDs (Light-emitting diodes) could become the source of choice for homes, offices and even computer displays. LEDs are preferable for many applications because they convert electrical energy into photons so efficiently.

April 17th, 2009 LONDON - Knickers, made from planet friendly fabrics, have been fast disappearing from the British shelves. The idea of fair trade organic knickers came to Sarah Lucy Smith for her final project while studying the Eco Design course at Goldsmiths University.

April 14th, 2009 LONDON - A team of researchers has said the technology that uses fluorescence sensors to pick up trace sewage contamination may help increase public confidence in recycled water. "A rapid, highly sensitive and selective detector is urgently required to detect contamination events in recycled water systems," Dr Rita Henderson of the University of New South Wales Water Research Centre told ABC News.

March 27th, 2009 LONDON - Chinese officials are urgently seeking a nugget of deadly radioactive material encased in a lead ball of the size of a watermelon that was lost this week. The Caesium-137 may be buried in a scrap yard under tonnes of metal, and local officials believe it could have been melted down, the BBC reported.

March 20th, 2009 LONDON - The British Government has not shut down any extremist website, despite promising a crackdown with the help of the Terrorism Act 2006. According to The Sun, among sites still running is www.islam4uk.com - a front organisation for Anjem Choudary, a follower of hate preacher Omar Bakri.