ozens of cars in the Boston area are testing the latest generation of an MIT mobile-sensor network for traffic analysis that could help drivers cut their commuting time, alert them to potential engine problems and more.

In the CarTel project, Professor Hari Balakrishnan and Associate Professor Samuel Madden of MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science use automobiles to monitor their environment by sending data from an onboard computer — which is about the size of a cell phone — to a web server where the data can be visualized and browsed. They do so via pre-existing WiFi networks passed during a trip.

You may have seen it last week. There were charges of fraud levelled at the Obama campaign because donations from names like 'Doodad Pro' were not reported by his campaign. In the last election, there were claims that Republicans invoked anti-fraud measures to suppress legitimate voting by groups that tend to vote Democratic.

In both cases, there was more hyperbole than substance. There is fraud, but the immediacy of the internet has magnified it into being much more substantial than it is and University at Buffalo Law School Professor James A. Gardner cautions against giving too much importance to charges of voter fraud in American elections and supposed incompetence in administering elections. The process in the overwhelming majority of elections, he says, is working well.

Babies make sense of the world long before they can talk, says Brigham Young University psychology professor and study author Ross Flom. Their new study shows that even babies as young as five months can distinguish an upbeat tune, like Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from the Ninth Symphony, from gloomier compositions like that minor key stuff by Chopin(1).

By age nine months, babies can also do the opposite and pick out the sorrowful sound of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony from a pack of happy pieces.

SAN DIEGO, October 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- Company Announces Corporate Restructuring to Focus on Strategic Alliances and M&A

Nventa Biopharmaceuticals Corporation (TSX: NVN), a company developing innovative therapeutics for the treatment of viral infections and cancer, today provided an update on its ongoing development programs. The company also announced that it will initiate a corporate restructuring that will extend the company's financial resources to pursue near-term corporate development opportunities, sale of specific programs, M&A and alternative financial arrangements to maximize the value of its assets.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080303/LAM023LOGO)

WALTON OAKS, England, October 9 /PRNewswire/ --

WALTON OAKS, England, October 9 /PRNewswire/ --

- Glaucoma Leading Cause of Preventable Blindness in the UK(1) Though Awareness of Symptoms and Risk Factors Remains Low

Today on World Sight Day leading experts aim to raise awareness of the eye disease glaucoma. It is estimated that there are currently up to 500,000 people in England and Wales who are at risk of losing their sight due to undiagnosed glaucoma(2) despite the condition being the leading cause of preventable blindness in the UK(1).

What's the worst that could happen after eating a slice of pepperoni pizza? A little heartburn, for most people.

But for up to a million women in the U.S., enjoying that piece of pizza has painful consequences. They have a chronic bladder condition that causes pelvic pain. Spicy food -- as well as citrus, caffeine, tomatoes and alcohol-- can cause a flare in their symptoms and intensify the pain. It was thought that the spike in their symptoms was triggered when digesting the foods produced chemicals in the urine that irritated the bladder.

However, researchers from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine believe the symptoms -- pain and an urgent need to frequently urinate -- are actually being provoked by a surprise perpetrator. Applying their recent animal study to humans, the scientists believe the colon, irritated by the spicy food, is to blame.

SAN MATEO, California and READING, England, October 8 /PRNewswire/ --

Avistar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: AVSR), a video collaboration platform provider, today announced that Beyondis, a Reading, U.K.-based distributor of Voice over IP and videoconferencing products, will offer Avistar's patent protected C3 desktop technology to its resellers throughout the U.K. This move enables Beyondis resellers to offer a deeper product line to their customers, who have been requesting desktop videoconferencing as a way to enhance their communications abilities among their employees.

ASHLAND, Massachusetts, October 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- Acceptance Will Reduce Animal Use in Cosmetics and Chemicals Testing

MatTek Corp. today announced that results of a recently completed US and European multi-laboratory "catch-up" validation study on MatTek's EpiDerm in vitro human skin tissue equivalent. The test results demonstrated the required sensitivity and specificity for EpiDerm to be accepted as a validated alternative to animal testing for determining human skin irritation by the European ECVAM Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC).

IRVINE, California, October 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Game in Development

GamersFirst (http://www.gamersfirst.com), a service of K2 Network and one of today's most popular free-to-play online game publishers, announces a development partnership for an original game with A2M, the largest independent game developer in Canada.

GamersFirst and A2M will be working together on an unannounced social gaming title. This new game will be available in late 2009 and continues the pledge of GamersFirst expanding its industry presence into the development of original titles.

COPENHAGEN, October 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- Review Zanolimumab Program to be Discontinued and Headcount to be Reduced

- Summary: Genmab Announces the Results of its Portfolio Review; Zanolimumab Program to be Discontinued and the Company Will Reduce the Number of Employees

Genmab A/S (OMX: GEN) announced today that it is discontinuing development of zanolimumab (HuMax-CD4(R)). In addition, as a result of a portfolio review and assessment of the organization, Genmab is reducing its headcount by 101 positions.