A Duke University study suggests that evolution can behave as differently as dogs and cats. While the dogs depend on an energy-efficient style of four-footed running over long distances to catch their prey, cats seem to have evolved a profoundly inefficient gait, tailor-made to creep up on a mouse or bird in slow motion.

"It is usually assumed that efficiency is what matters in evolution," said Daniel Schmitt, a Duke associate professor of evolutionary anthropology. "We've found that's too simple a way of looking at evolution, because there are some animals that need to operate at high energy cost and low efficiency."

Namely cats.

A study led by researchers at The University of Nottingham has identified a gene that protects the body from lung cancer.

The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA and funded by a £72,000 grant from the British Lung Foundation, has found that the tumor suppressor gene, LIMD1, is responsible for protecting the body from developing lung cancer — paving the way for possible new treatments and early screening techniques.

Lead researcher Dr Tyson Sharp and his University of Nottingham team, together with US collaborator Dr Greg Longmore, set out to examine if loss of the LIMD1 gene correlated with lung cancer development.

Wouldn't it be great if your cell phone or mp3 player could charge itself? What if your house could generate electricity from the noise of the cars on the road? Or if the waste heat generated by your air conditioner could help put a dent in that expensive summer electric bill? As the demand for cheaper and more renewable energy sources increases, piezoelectrics - a class of material that produces an electric potential when mechanically deformed - may hold the key to unlocking the energy flowing all around us.

BETH HALEVY, Israel, December 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- Full Internet Security Protection now Available as Apple(R) Recommends the use of Anti-Virus Tools

Yoggie Security Systems(TM) today announced that the world's first miniature hardware internet security devices for MacBooks and Mac desktop computers, are available for purchase from Yoggie Security System's eStore: http://www.yoggie.com/e-store, and at online retailers worldwide.

On November 21st 2008, Apple's(R) support site advised Mac users that they should apply security tools. Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple anti-virus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.

LONDON, December 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Release Enables Customers To Make Better Intellectual Property Decisions

The Scientific business of Thomson Reuters today announced the forthcoming release of Thomson Innovation(SM) 2.0, the next generation of the company's premier intellectual property (IP) research and analysis solution, with a preview of new content and functionality at the Online Information Conference 2008. The product will be available publicly 15 December 2008.

Why can humans talk while chimps can't? The answer is more than just vocal cord anatomy; our brains have a lot to do with our ability to learn and use language. One 'language gene' is FOXP2. Mutations in FOXP2 lead to a rare but dramatic language disorder. Characterized by an inability to use grammar. We all know people who are grammatically challenged (stemming from illiteracy, for example), but this disorder is not the same thing - the affected people have a strong genetic barrier that prevents them using grammar, no matter how hard they work at it.

This disorder is a dramatic example of a language development disorder, but millions of children have much more mild language disorders. Many of these kids outgrow their language problems but not all. A group of researchers working in the UK and the US asked whether some of these relatively mild language disorders are somehow connected to the FOXP2 gene, which so far has only been found to be involved in dramatic speech disorders. Sure enough, they found that variants in a gene regulated by FOXP2 are strongly correlated with mild language disorders.

BROOMFIELD, Colorado, December 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- NHL Adds Full Bench of Level 3 Content Delivery Services to Starting Line Up

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT) today announced that the National Hockey League (NHL) has expanded its network services commitment with Level 3 to include content storage, caching and downloading, and high-definition (HD) video streaming. These services complement the existing high-speed IP and video broadcast services already provided by Level 3.

OAK PARK, Michigan, December 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Azure Dynamics Corporation (TSX: AZD, LSE: ADC OTCQX: AZDDF) - (Azure or the Company), a leading developer of hybrid electric and electric powertrains for commercial vehicles today filed its six month block listing return under the Azure Dynamics Corporation Stock Option Plan.

LENEXA, Kansas, December 2 /PRNewswire/ --

Today, SpreadsheetGear LLC, a privately held software publisher, announced that Microsoft has added a number of Excel based calculators to the MSN Money Web site with SpreadsheetGear's Excel compatible spreadsheet technology.

MILPITAS, California, December 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- CM5160 is the Industry's First MDDI-to-MIPI(TM) and Legacy CPU-to-MIPI(TM) Display Controller