We've been waiting for a good personal jet pack system since seeing Sean Connery strap on that Bell-Textron thing in the opening sequence of Thunderball.

Thunderbolt Aerosystems founder Carmelo "Nino" Amarena must have seen that movie too because when he decided to try and shorten the grueling commute to his Bay Area office, he came up with what he says is a practical and economical personal air vehicle - one that won't blow up on your back like those hydrogen peroxide-powered prototypes of the early 1960s.

Don't get too excited just yet if you're a big guy. While the new version can stay aloft for up to 75 seconds, a 300% increase over what other systems offer, and go 65 MPH, it's limited to a 160 lb. man and a laptop. See it in action here:

SAO PAULO, Brazil, January 25 /PRNewswire/ --

A report called "Deadly Brew," aired on Thursday, Jan. 24 by Bloomberg Television, is a dangerously misleading and out-of-context representation of Brazil's sugar and ethanol industry, according to the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA).

"The report relies on isolated incidents, flawed data and unsubstantiated allegations. Not surprisingly, it arrives at unbalanced and inappropriate conclusions that bear no resemblance to the industry as it is today," says UNICA President and CEO Marcos Jank.

A new report by the Arizona Arts, Sciences, and Technology Academy (AASTA) found that research in astronomy, planetary sciences, and space sciences (APSS) pumped over $250 million into Arizona’s economy in 2006 alone.

That's real money but it's not all balloons and ponies for Arizona. There are threats to that economic engine and it's what you can probably guess - the instability of federal funding and competition from other locations - but it's also things you might not guess, like light pollution from residential and commercial development and lingering memories of environmental and political activism.

The results are in. Jiri Gut from the Rosenthal group has run 2 of our Ugi products and they both show inhibition of falcipain-2 (EXP165) and Plasmodium falciparum (EXP166) in the micromolar range. To put this in context the activities are roughly 2 orders of magnitude lower than the positive control used for the enzyme inhibition and chloroquine for the parasite. But it is a start.

The new Center for Vaccine Awareness and Research at Texas Children’s Hospital announced that it will implement the nation’s first major “cocoon strategy” vaccination program to protect newborn infants from the life-threatening infection pertussis, more commonly known as whooping cough.

In the most recent edition of the Lancet, Cambridge scientists Drs. Oliver Jones and Julian Griffin highlight the need to research the possible link between persistent organic pollutants (POPs, a group which includes many pesticides) and insulin resistance, which can lead to adult onset diabetes.

In their commentary, Dr Jones and Dr. Griffin cite peer reviewed research, including that of Dr. D. Lee, et al, which demonstrated a very strong relationship between the levels of POPs in blood, particularly organochlorine compounds, and the risk of type 2 diabetes.

COLOGNE, Germany, January 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Sedo, the leading online market place for buying and selling Internet domain names and websites, has announced that sport.co.uk has sold for GBP135,000.

The Internet domain name, sport.co.uk, was sold through Sedo by one of its customers to Media Corporation plc, an Internet media and advertising company. It will develop sport.co.uk during the first quarter of 2008 with the aim of it becoming a worldwide provider of comprehensive sports statistics and information. All facts and figures on matches, athletes, teams, results, competitions tournaments, stadiums and sponsors will be provided in what eventually aims to be one of the world's largest sports information websites.

High speed trains must, and will become an essential component of the U.S. transportation system during the next 20 years. This seems to be obvious, but is something that the (lack of) leadership in Washington D.C. has yet to seriously consider.  A combination of lack of vision, deeply entrenched vested interests, a troubled Amtrak system and a ‘not invented here’ mindset has combined to allow the U.S. to be woefully behind the curve when it comes to both rail transport and an intelligent, integrated national transportation system. Flying has become an extremely unpleasant and unreliable travel experience. In addition it is a large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.  Predicated on cheap oil, high prices and customer service, the airline business must now operate in an environment of expensive oil, low prices and a general lack of quality customer service not to mention cancellations and poor on-time performance. At the other end of the transportation spectrum, automobile travel is undergoing change due to increasing price of gasoline.  Gasoline prices consistently over $3 means that in addition to looking for a high MPG when buying a new car, people will think twice before making a long road trip and will increasingly find that commuting by car is adversely affecting the household budget.

The use of a drug to activate stem cells that differentiate into bone appears to cause regeneration of bone tissue and be may be a potential treatment strategy for osteoporosis, according to a report in the February 2008 Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The study – led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) – found that treatment with a medication used to treat bone marrow cancer improved bone density in a mouse model of osteoporosis, apparently through its effect on the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that differentiate into several types of tissues.

LONDON, January 25 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to research from Oxford University, published in The Lancet, calling for the oral contraceptive pill to be made available to women over-the-counter, Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) Director of Practice & Quality Improvement, David Pruce, said:

"The RPSGB would support a proposal to reclassify oral contraceptives from prescription only medicines to over-the-counter medicines.