DNA barcoding is a movement to catalog all life on earth by a simple standardized genetic tag, similar to stores labeling products with unique barcodes. The effort promises foolproof food inspection, improved border security, and better defenses against disease-causing insects, among many other applications.

But the approach as currently practiced churns out some results as inaccurately as a supermarket checker scanning an apple and ringing it up as an orange, according to a new Brigham Young University study.

With the International Barcode of Life project seeking $150 million to build on the 400,000 species that have been "barcoded" to date, this worthy goal warrants more careful execution, the BYU team says.

HOUSTON, August 25 /PRNewswire/ --

Endeavour International Corporation (Amex: END) (LSE: ENDV) announced today that Barry J. Galt, a member of the board of directors, died on August 22, 2008. Galt served as a director of the corporation since 2004 when Endeavour was first established as a North Sea-focused oil and gas exploration and production company.

Materials such as milk, paper, white paint and tissue are opaque because they scatter light, not because they absorb it, but no matter how great the scattering, light was always able to get through the material in question, went the theory.

Researchers Ivo Vellekoop and Allard Mosk of the University of Twente have now shaped the waveform of light and confirmed this with experiments. By doing so they have found the predicted ‘open channels’ in material along which the light is able to move.

In materials that have a disordered structure, incident light is scattered in every direction possible. In an opaque layer, so much scattering takes place that barely any light comes out ‘at the back.’ However, even a material that causes a great deal of light scattering has channels along which light can propagate. This is only possible if the light meets strict preconditions so that the scattered light waves can reinforce one another on the way to the exit.

The perfect clean, renewable energy will utilize the sun's light energy for efficient conversion into fuels and electric power and so attention is focusing on one of the most ancient groups of organism, the cyanobacteria.

3.7 billion years ago photosynthesis evolved in cyanobacteria that used water molecules as a source of electrons to transport energy derived from sunlight, while converting carbon dioxide into oxygen. The light harvesting systems gave the bacteria their blue ("cyano") color, and paved the way for plants to evolve by "kidnapping" bacteria to provide their photosynthetic engines, and for animals by liberating oxygen for them to breathe, by splitting water molecules.

Humans are only now coming close to tweaking the photosynthetic reactions of cyanobacteria to produce fuels we want such as hydrogen, alcohols or even hydrocarbons, rather than carbohydrates.

The ostentatious, sometimes bizarre qualities that improve a creature's chances of finding a mate may also drive the reproductive separation of populations and the evolution of new species, say two Indiana University at Bloomington biologists.

In the September 2008 issue of Evolution, Armin Moczek and Harald Parzer examine males from four geographically separated populations of the horned beetle species Onthophagus taurus. The beetles have diverged significantly in the size of the male copulatory organ, and natural selection operating on the other end of the animal -- horns atop the beetles' heads -- seems to be driving it.

Structures directly involved in mating are known as primary sexual characters, whereas combat structures like horns -- or seductive attributes like a cardinal's vibrant plumage or a bullfrog's deeply resonant baritone -- are known as secondary sexual characters.

Data from a recent study demonstrate the anti-inflammatory and pathogen protection benefits of Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 a probiotic bacterial strain of human origin.

New research in PLoS Pathogens says that the gastrointestinal benefits of probiotics extend to the entire body.

The inflammatory response is a key part of the immune system's battle against invaders. The normal response to infection is rapid and effective, however, the immune response may occasionally cause inflammation and damage to healthy tissue.

If you watched television broadcasts of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, you likely got a bad impression of the Italian people, shows a new research study from BI Norwegian School of Management.

The Olympics is a venue that creates conflict in a country, they say, in that the competition to host the Games is increasingly tougher but the costs are staggering and the income from ticket sales, television rights, advertising, etc. does not even come close to covering all the expenses. An olympic championship attracts international attention, with international focus on both the organizing city and country but, as Chinese authorities are now painfully aware, the media attention in connection with hosting the Olympics can be a double-edged sword.

Troubled kids will always be a difficult area of social policy - in the 1980s the solution was thought to be introducing troubled kids to rural schools, but that tended to bring down the quality of the rural schools rather than raising troubled children up.

Yet it would be pessimistic and dooming some to permanent failure to make schools full of just troubled kids.

Still, the issue has not gone away. Troubled children hurt their classmates' math and reading scores and worsen their behavior, according to new research by economists at the University of California, Davis, and University of Pittsburgh.

SALT LAKE CITY, August 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- New IT Services Company Makes First Acquisition; Delivers Software, Hardware and Consulting Services to Companies with Up to 5000 Users

Founders Steve DeWindt and Dave Taylor, in conjunction with vSpring Capital, today announced the formation of Sparxent, Inc., which was established to provide software, hardware and IT consulting services to mid-market customers. Sparxent also announced that it acquired NetworkD Corporation of Newport Beach, California and has signed a letter of intent to acquire Arbyte of Moscow.

SALT LAKE CITY, August 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- NetworkD Becomes Part of Company Focused on Providing Software, Hardware and IT Consulting Services to Mid-Market Customers

Sparxent, a newly formed IT and business solution provider focused on the middle market, today announced it completed the acquisition of NetworkD Corporation, a value-added reseller based in Newport Beach, Calif., with offices in North America and Europe. Exact financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.