LOTD for August 29

UK scientists developed the first ever biological robot using *mold*. The plasmodium robot (plasmabot) have the number crunching power of super computers, has already demonstrated it can trasport objects, and has parallel inputs and outputs…who knew that *mold* has its own embedded intelligence?
http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/article.asp?item=1553&year=2009

Slow-moving faults may help protect some regions of Italy and other places against destructive earthquakes:
http://www.rdmag.com/General-Sciences-Slowly-slip-sliding-faults-dont-cause-earthquakes/

Utah is treating text messaging while driving just like driving while drunk–texters can get up to 15 years in prison!
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/29/utah-comes-down-hard-drivers-who-text/?uniontrib

Article examines how authorities missed that this kidnapper held a hostage for 18 years:
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/29/how-did-captor-go-unnoticed-years/?uniontrib

Placebos are getting increasingly effective, especially with results that have showed that the different colors and sizes of placebos makes them effective for different types of treatments (yellow is better for antidepressants, green reduces anxiety, placebos taken more times per day result in more effective relief). Interesting that the improved placebos are just as effective as established drugs like Prozac!
http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect?currentPage=all

Interesting feature article on how Craiglist started and why it hasn’t changed much since then. It is amazing that eBay has more than 16,000 employees, Amazon has more than 20,000 employees, and Craigslist has 30 employees:
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/magazine/17-09/ff_craigslist?currentPage=all

Canada has become major drug source for the world–Canada is the largest supplier of ecstasy to the US and Japan, and they also apparently dominate the meth supply. Canadian drug traffickers now generate between $34 billion and $56 billion each year from US drug sales:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/08/17/canada-is-colombia-north/

The proportion of people who are 65 and older will double from 7 to 14 percent of the world’s population by 2040. The number of people over 65 will surpass the number of people under 5 years old for the first time sometime in the next decade:
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/07/20/elder-boom-will-be-felt-worldwide.html

Last year more than 31 million bags (about 1.4% of all checked luggage) checked in for airline flights arrived late and 1.8 million bags were lost:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125002419177123735.html

Ohio woman was driving her car and admiring an American Bald Eagle flying with the fish it had caught…when the fish was able to squirm out of the eagle’s grasp and fell 40+ feet on her car and smashed her windshield!
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2069537/flying_fish_shatters_ohio_vacationers.html?singlepage=true&cat=22

100,000 US kids end up in emergency rooms each year because they have been poisoned, with about 70,000 of those kids overdosing on over-the-counter drugs or prescription medications:
Article link

Russian scientists say that stray dogs have learned to use the Moscow subway system to search for food:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3438747.html?menu=