Weird Links

Putin never promised Bush that Russia would deny Iran the nuclear fuel for its Bushehr reactor in perpetuity, as some administration circles in Washington have claimed in the last two years. He did assure Washington, mainly in conversations with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, that he would postpone delivery as long as he could, despite Moscow’s contractual commitments to Tehran.

His move hits the US where it hurts most: The UN Security Council meets at the end of June to approve harsher sanctions against Iran for continuing to enrich uranium in defiance of previous resolutions. The Russian fuel delivery will substantially dilute the effect of such penalties, especially when the Islamic Republic is about to clinch a deal for the acquisition of long-range ballistic missiles from North Korea.

BP's Statistical Review of World Energy..appears to show that the world still has enough "proven" reserves to provide 40 years of consumption at current rates. The assessment, based on officially reported figures, has once again pushed back the estimate of when the world will run dry.

However, scientists led by the London-based Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, say that global production of oil is set to peak in the next four years before entering a steepening decline which will have massive consequences for the world economy and the way that we live our lives.

Trepanation, or trephination (both derived from the Greek word trypanon, meaning “to bore”) is perhaps the oldest form of neurosurgery. The procedure, which is called a craniotomy in medical terminology, involves the removal of a piece of bone from the skull. It has been performed since prehistoric times.

If there is a prosecution of Tony Blair after he leaves office, it may arise either out of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, or out of torture allegations, probably at Guantanamo Bay, or connected to United Kingdom support for 'extraordinary rendition'.

Many people will think that the prosecution of Tony Blair is a remote risk; I do not, and nor, apparently, does Cherie Booth, who knows the law better than most people...Apart from any other laws, the Convention on Torture, which Britain has signed, gives wide powers for [European] judicial action.

Maybe I'll start posting preview pics with some sort of on/off button to keep the front page work safe, since I'm crap as describing this stuff.

Scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute have applied for a U.S. patent on a minimal bacterial genome that they built themselves. According to the patent application, it's "a minimal set of protein-coding genes which provides the information required for replication of a free-living organism in a rich bacterial culture medium".

...they were able to light a 60W light bulb from a power source seven feet (more than two meters) away; there was no physical connection between the source and the appliance.

In a bizarre alternative to photosynthesis, some fungi "eat" radiation--with the role of chlorophyll taken by melanin and ionizing radiation; the role of visible light.

The Chinese authorities are forcibly evicting 1.5 million people from their homes in Beijing without compensating them to make way for the Olympics leaving many displaced former residents homeless, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions revealed this week.

A European investigator said on Friday he had proof Poland and Romania hosted secret prisons for the Central Intelligence Agency in which it interrogated top al Qaeda suspects using methods akin to torture.