Friday, July 4, 2008

OnStage
OnStage: From suffering, survival

President
123 Days to the Election: A look at the race for 2008 on Friday

StarTribune.com content is available via e-mail, mobile devices and as RSS feeds.

Advertise with us

Martian soil has nutrients needed to grow plants

Stick an asparagus plant in a pot full of Martian soil, and the asparagus might grow happily, scientists announced Thursday.

From fish to four legs

While an earlier discovery found a slightly older animal that was more fish than tetrapod, Ventastega is more tetrapod than fish. The fierce-looking creature probably swam through shallow brackish waters, measured about 3 or 4 feet long and ate other fish. It probably had stubby limbs with an unknown number of digits, scientists said.

Checking out the trash

A device helps generate grocery lists for shoppers by tracking food items as they are consumed.

Photo right: The Ikan

Gadgets: Out of a pocket, in HD

Sanyo's Xacti HD1000 was one of the first compact cameras to shoot high-definition video. The latest in the line, the HD1010, includes a slow-motion mode and a slick face-tracking feature. The $799 camera, due next month, weighs 9 ounces and is a little bit bigger than a cell phone. It has a 2.7-inch display and a 10x optical zoom lens, and it can record video directly to an SD or SDHC memory card -- up to 87 minutes of video on a single 8-gigabyte card. The camera takes 4-megapixel still images as well.

Ailing Fargo tot defies the odds twice

Kobe Giesen

When his donor heart failed right after implantation, 20-month-old Kobe Giesen got a rare second chance within days, and Mayo Clinic made history.

Highest fashion ever: Spacesuit makeover

Spacewalk meets catwalk? For the first time in more than 40 years, a new company will produce redesigned space suits for the next phase of the American program.

Steve Alexander, columnist

City's Wi-Fi more powerful than yours

Q How is the city able to rely on the citywide wireless network for its wireless devices when I had to get a US Internet wireless modem in order to connect from my house?

StarTribune.com Feeds

StarTribune.com headlines are available via RSS feed and can be added to your "My Yahoo!" page:

Learn more about RSS
View all RSS feeds

Ad Links

Blog: Technobabble

Minnesotans rule in DTV-switchover poll

Ninety-three percent of Minnesotans know about the 2009 nationwide switch to digital television, according to a new poll by the National Association of Broadcasters. The remaining 7 percent call me regularly to ask questions about it. I’m kidding! But I do receive many phone calls from readers about the federally mandated transition from analog to digital-only [...]

Blog: Patent Pending

Are CT scans for the heart useless?

Do yourself a favor and read the excellent story in the past Sunday New York Times that questioned the medical value of doctors ordering powerful CT scans for the heart. The story argues there is little evidence that proves the benefits of advanced CT scans. Medicare, the story noted, doubted whether such procedures were necessary [...]