The baffling history of mankind is full of obvious turning points and significant events: battles won, treaties signed, rulers elected or deposed, and now, seemingly, planets conquered. Equally important are the great groundswells of popular movements that affect the minds and values of a generation or more, not all of which can be neatly tied to a time and place. Looking back upon the America of the '60s, future historians may well search for the meaning of one such movement. ...

Forgot to charge your cell phone last night? Imagine that you could power it by walking. Weirder still, you might be able to just spray a new battery on. These concepts are been developed by two leading nanotechnology researchers who are developing cleaner, more efficient ways of delivering electrical power. In working toward making these ideas realities, they are making use of structures that are 100 nanometers or smaller, where one nanometer is a billionth of a meter. "[The ...

Taiwan said Thursday that it will allow a visit by the Dalai Lama to pray for the victims of the typhoon-battered island. Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou made the announcement Thursday while visiting a school in the southern part of the island, a government spokesman said. Typhoon Morakot slammed into Taiwan on August 8 and unleashed floods, mudslides and misery. More than 400 people were killed. The Tibetan spiritual leader's visit could anger China, which accuses him of advocating for an ...

Treating flu-stricken children with anti-viral medication including Tamiflu and Relenza could do more harm than good, a new report has warned. Researchers from the University of Oxford found that while the anti-virals reduced the duration of illness by up to one day and a half, they had "little or no effect" on the likelihood of the children developing complications. The researchers conceded that they didn't know the extent to which their report applied to the current swine flu pandemic, but ...

No one has contributed to Pakistan's slide into chaos over recent years more than Baitullah Mehsud From his base in the wilds of South Waziristan, the leader of the Pakistan Taliban has overseen the killing of over 1,200 civilians and several hundred soldiers through brutal means including suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. He has been accused of masterminding the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in late December 2007. In late March, Washington announced a $5m reward for ...

The Republican Party risks further alienation from Hispanics by challenging the nomination of Sonia Sotomayer, who would become the first Hispanic, and third woman, on the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, President Obama nominated 54-year-old Sotomayor -- who is of Puerto Rican descent -- to replace the retiring Justice David Souter. Sotomayer is a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, named to that post by President Bill Clinton when she was a U.S. District Court judge, nominated ...

Indian telecom services provider Bharti Airtel Limited and South Africa's MTN Group Limited have renewed merger talks with the aim of creating an emerging market telecom giant, both companies announced Monday. Such a merger would create an operator with combined revenues of over $20 billion and a combined customer base of over 200 million, according to both companies. In addition to savings, "this opportunity also represents a first of its kind in developing an Indian-African initiative that would serve as ...

Imagine bad guys able to fight without sleep. Or enemy soldiers with hardware implanted in their brains that makes them better able to target U.S. troops than U.S. troops are able to target them. How about future foes able to outfox GIs thanks to the "pharmaceutical intervention" that has improved their "brain plasticity"? Or American soldiers rendered flat-footed and lethargic because a crafty nemesis has been slipping lead into their food. Just because the U.S. military now lacks what defense eggheads ...

In the first truly shocking box office result of the year, "Fast & Furious" sped away from expectations to gross a humongous $72.5 million, according to early estimates from Media by Numbers. That result is effectively double what most industry observers had predicted for the debut of the fourth feature in Vin Diesel's car franchise, and it left in the dust a number of notable records: - Best April opening ever, beating "Anger Management's" $42.2 million. - Best Universal ...

China's military is developing longer-range ballistic and anti-ship missiles that are "shifting the balance of power in the region" and could help Beijing secure resources or settle territorial disputes, a report released by the Pentagon said Wednesday. China also continues to build up short-range missiles and increase its "coercive capabilities" against Taiwan. The report suggests such moves constitute an effort to pressure Taiwan into settling the cross-strait dispute in favor of China, though tensions between the two countries have receded ...