Pierre-Simon de Laplace, the 18th century French astronomer who proposed one of the early theories of the formation of the solar system, famously postulated a “Demon” who had enough information to know what would happen in any place in the universe at any time. It was the height of mechanistic and deterministic hubris in science, and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before physicists would find out everything there was to find out about the way the world works

My colleagues Chris Organ and Andrew Shedlock, who provided evidence that theropod dinosaurs already had (somewhat) reduced genome sizes prior to the evolution of birds (Organ et al. 2007) have followed up their study by estimating the genome sizes of several species of pterosaurs.

Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight, having taken to the air 70 million years before birds and 150 million years prior to bats. Interestingly (though perhaps not surprisingly at this point), they seem to have possessed reduced genome sizes, and these downsizings of DNA amount began before flight arose.

SUNNYVALE, California, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Spirent TestCenter(TM) Selected to Benchmark Cisco Nexus 7000 Data Center Switch

MARKHAM, Canada, October 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Cytochroma today announced that it has initiated a Phase II clinical trial of CTA018 Injection, the Company's product candidate for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The Phase II clinical trial is an open label, dose escalating pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, efficacy and safety study of CTA018 Injection in CKD patients with SHPT undergoing hemodialysis.

SAN FRANCISCO, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- deCarta Mobile API streamlines development of location-enabled applications

deCarta devCON'08 -- deCarta, the leading supplier of software and services for the Location-Based Services (LBS) industry, today launched an application programming interface (API) for deCarta Mobile(TM) that supports rapid development of location-enabled applications for the iPhone(TM). The new API complements the J2ME version of deCarta Mobile previously announced in September 2008. deCarta Mobile is a location software platform designed to allow application developers to simplify the integration of sophisticated, scalable location capability on mobile devices.

NESHER, Israel, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Portable Solution for Effective Localized Pain Management

NanoVibronix, a medical device company, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510K clearance to market PainShield(TM) MD, a diathermy device used to treat pain. PainShield is the first hands-free, patch-based diathermy device, thus allowing for an entirely new dimension in ultrasound treatment of pain and soft tissue healing. The PainShield consists of a disposable patch connected to a portable reusable driver and generates ultrasound waves to the desired area of the body.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081023/325823 )

PARIS, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- 1830 Photonic Service Switch Enables Service Providers to Respond to End-Users' Demands With Unprecedented Flexibility and Efficiency

BASKING RIDGE, New Jersey, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Agreements Provide Global Networking Services and PDAs

Tellabs, a leading provider of solutions that enable advanced video, data and voice services, has signed two new agreements for wired and wireless network services from Verizon. The services will enable Tellabs to better connect with its extended network of customers, partners and employees.

TEANECK, New Jersey and LONDON, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- New global services agreement covers a wide range of application services for AstraZeneca's Research, Clinical Development and Sales and Marketing functions

Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH), a leading provider of consulting, technology and business process outsourcing services, today announced a five-year agreement with AstraZeneca to provide application maintenance services to AstraZeneca's global enterprise in the business-critical areas of research, clinical development, and sales and marketing. The agreement will further expand Cognizant's long-standing relationship with the pharmaceutical major.

PALO ALTO, California, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- New storage appliance uses ZFS-based NexentaStor and Dual-Core AMD Opteron(TM) processors to provide high-performance, power-efficient storage solutions