As a book junkie, I love to get and give book recommendations. Here is my Darwin Day recommended books list:

What Evolution Is, Ernst Mayr - My favorite brief, single-volume primer on evolution for non-specialists.

A new approach to the cooling of buildings across the developing world that needs nothing but wind and sun to operate has been devised by engineers in India. Writing in the International Journal of Sustainable Design, the team explains the concept of a combined solar chimney and wind tower system that can reduce the temperature of incoming appear by 5 degrees Celsius.

Jyotirmay Mathur of the Mechanical Engineering Department, at the Malaviya National Institute of Technology, in Jaipur, together with architect and urban designer Rajeev Kathpalia of Vastu Shilpa Consultants, in Ahmedabad, point out that the development of energy-efficient, and even passive, cooling systems for buildings is essential in the light of environmental pressures and costs. In the past, they point out, building designers had to rely on natural ways and means for maximising comfort inside buildings.

An international team of cosmologists, leaded by a researcher from Paris Observatory, has improved the theoretical pertinence of the Poincaré Dodecahedral Space (PDS) topology to explain some observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). In parallel, another international team has analyzed with new techniques the last data obtained by the WMAP satellite and found a topological signal characteristic of the PDS geometry.

The last fifteen years have shown considerable growth in attempts to determine the global shape of the universe, i.e. not only the curvature of space but also its topology. The « concordance » cosmological model which now prevails describes the universe as a « flat » (zero-curvature) infinite space in eternal, accelerated expansion.

From medicine to make-up, plastics to paper - hardly a day goes by when we don't use titanium dioxide.

Now researchers at the University of Leeds have developed a simpler, cheaper and greener method of extracting higher yields of one of this most useful and versatile of minerals.

In powder form titanium dioxide (TiO2) is widely used as an intensely white pigment to brighten everyday products such as paint, paper, plastics, food, medicines, ceramics, cosmetics - and even toothpaste. Its excellent UV ray absorption qualities make it perfect for sunscreen lotions too.

BARCELONA, Spain, February 11 /PRNewswire/ --

- Broad SDK Strategy Builds on Recent Publication of APIs to Set Out Developer Roadmap

Mobile World Congress -- LiMo Foundation, a global consortium of mobile leaders delivering an open handset platform for the whole mobile industry, today announced the roll out of a comprehensive Software Development Kit (SDK) strategy encompassing Native, Java and Webkit SDKs.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080211/DC13778LOGO )

BARCELONA, Spain, February 11 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Professional Services Help Combat A Multi-Billion Dollar Problem With Sub-Meter Location Accuracy

- Visit Tecore Networks at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Stand 8C78

As computers become more complex, the demand increases for more connections between computer chips and external circuitry such as a motherboard or wireless card. And as the integrated circuits become more advanced, maximizing their performance requires better connections that operate at higher frequencies with less loss.

Improving these two types of connections will increase the amount and speed of information that can be sent throughout a computer, according to Paul Kohl, Thomas L. Gossage chair and Regents’ professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Arsenic poisoning did not kill Napoleon in Saint Helena, as affirmed by a new meticulous examination performed at the laboratories of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Milano-Bicocca and Pavia, together with the University of Milano-Bicocca and the University of Pavia.

The physicists performing the study used a small nuclear reactor used exclusively for research purposes at the University of Pavia, applying techniques that were created for the project known as “Cuore” (“Heart”), which is being developed at the INFN’s national laboratories in Gran Sasso.

The research, published in the journal “Il Nuovo Saggiatore”, was performed on hair samples that had been taken during different periods of Napoleon Bonaparte’s life, from when he was a boy in Corsica, during

FREDERICK, Maryland, February 11 /PRNewswire/ --

Cancer research pioneer Michael G. Hanna Jr. Ph.D., also Vaccinogen, Inc.'s Founder, Chairman and CEO has acquired the rights to OncoVAX(R), a vaccine with the potential to prevent colon cancer from recurring in many patients.

"This agreement represents a major step forward in defeating cancer by increasing the body's immunity to it," said Dr. Hanna, who has been working on cancer vaccines for more than 30 years.

NEW YORK, February 11 /PRNewswire/ --

- Application performance testing early in the development lifecycle enables innovative company to easily predict and resolve application production issues, making the roads safer for everyone.