SAN JOSE, California, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Device Features Industry-First Fast Ethernet Controller with SPI Interface

Micrel Inc., (Nasdaq: MCRL), an industry leader in analog, high bandwidth communications and Ethernet IC solutions, today launched the KSZ8851, a single-port embedded controller chip with 8/16/32-bit and SPI host interfaces. The high throughput device is pin compatible with Micrel's KSZ8841 and KSZ8842 product families and ideal for a wide variety of Ethernet applications in the IPSTB, VoIP, and Industrial Ethernet markets. The device will be available in production quantities in Q3 2008, and is priced at US$4.00 for 1K quantities.

"Survival of the fittest" is the catch phrase of evolution by natural selection. While natural selection favors the most fit organisms around, evolutionary biologists have long wondered whether this leads to the best possible organisms in the long run.

A team of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, led by Drs. Matthew Cowperthwaite and Lauren Ancel Meyers, has developed a new theory, which suggests that life may not always be optimal.

A team of researchers from the University of Manchester, the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Lyon and the ESRF has revealed how a growing crack interacts with the 3D crystal structure of stainless steel.

By using a new grain mapping technique it was possible to determine the internal 3D structure of the material without destroying the sample. Afterwards, a crack was initiated in the stainless steel, and the scientists were able to study how the crack grew between the grains. This is the first time that such an experiment has used the 3D grain mapping technique, and the first results are published in Science this week.

EL SEGUNDO, California, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --

iSuppli Corp. is pleased to announce it is driving automotive market research to the next level by acquiring Telematics Research Group, Inc. (TRG), the leader in vehicle-electronics business intelligence.

Established in 2000 and based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, TRG is a worldwide research firm that analyzes and forecasts global and regional demand trends for a multitude of automotive and mobile electronics technologies. TRG's operations will be integrated with the existing iSuppli Automotive Infotainment and Electronics Services, along with its research on vehicle Microelectromechnical Systems (MEMS), to form a wide-ranging automotive research practice.

New research on the midshipman fish, a close relative of the toadfish, indicates that that the ability to make and respond to sound is an ancient part of the vertebrate success story.

After building a nest for his potential partner, he calls to nearby females by contracting his swim bladder, the air-filled sac fish use to maintain buoyancy. The sound he makes is not a song or a whistle, but a hum; more reminiscent of a long-winded foghorn than a ballad. Female midshipman find it very alluring, and they only approach a male's nest if he makes this call.

DALLAS, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --

Parks Associates and CEA(R) today announced the sponsors for CONNECTIONS(TM) Europe Summit, taking place August 29, 2008, at the Kempinski Hotel Bristol Berlin. This Executive Summit will provide attendees with consumer research from international market research firm Parks Associates and feature interactive discussions focused on advanced television services, new media and digital content, and value-added services.

Advisory sponsors for the event: Cisco Systems, Enure Networks, F-Secure Corporation, the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), support.com, Toshiba, WirelessHD, and Zilog, Inc.

MARLOW, England, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Isle of Man's largest distribution company, Manx Independent Carriers, is rolling out an innovative system for tracking parcels and freight using a new international 'databank' called PODXchange. Developed by Marlow-based NetDespatch, PODXchange is a web portal for proof of delivery (POD).

NEW YORK, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- Identity-Enabled Applications in the Healthcare, Financial Services, Telecom and Open Source Sectors Receive Identity Deployment of the Year Awards

HONG KONG, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- New categories for 'Mobile Money', Mobile Internet and a 'Green Mobile' Award

The GSMA, the global trade group for the mobile industry, today made an official call for entries to the Asia Mobile Awards 2008 and the Asia Pacific round of its Mobile Innovation Global Competition, both of which will culminate at the Mobile Asia Congress, Asia's leading mobile communications event that takes place in Macau, SAR People's Republic of China (18-20 November 2008).

Researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London have conducted a study that highlights how errors can occur in the eyewitness identification process of the criminal justice system. The study shows that stress and fear reduce the likelihood of successful identification, bringing into question a victim’s ability to identify the perpetrator of a crime.

Visitors to the London Dungeon were asked to describe and identify an actor encountered in the ‘Labyrinth of the Lost’ who stepped out to block their path. Whilst they were in the labyrinth, some participants wore a heart rate monitor to measure the level of their anxiety. The researchers found that participants who had experienced a higher state of anxiety were less likely to report correct descriptions of the actor and were less likely to correctly identify him/her in a line-up than participants who had experienced less anxiety.