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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS nation's incarcerated population has been growing more slowly since 2000 than it did during the 1990s. Because of these policy shifts, the nationwide prison population swelled by about 80 per cent from 1990 to 2000, increasing by as much as 86,000 a Severe compression of the breast (such as the kind that occurs during a mammography procedure) can lead to microscopic tissue ruptures, even in the tissue of the tumour. This tear can actually create a "leak" in the tumour, which allows the malignancy to spread and cause an acceleration of the cancer—and an earlier death. Every doctor knows that breast lumps should be handled with a great degree of care, because handling them roughly could cause such a rupture. It's something that's drilled into your head in med school (or at least it was back in my day). Any woman who has experienced a mammogram procedure knows that it squashes the breast pancake-flat until it hurts—hardly what I'd call "handling with care”. (Source: William Campbell Douglass II, MD, The Douglass Report, 9 February 2008, http://tinyurl.com/34blpn) Severe compression of the breast (such as Demonstrations like that show the the kind that occurs during amammography __ potential misuse of RFID technology in the procedure) can lead to microscopic tissue near future. Without touching someone, a ruptures, even in the tissue of the tumour. _ thief could "sniff" the contents of an RFID- This tear can actually create a "leak" inthe enabled credit card just in passing. The tumour, which allows the malignancy to same is true for embedded RFID chips in spread and cause an acceleration of the — the human body, work access badges, some cancer—and an earlier death. public transit cards, and the new passports Every doctor knows that breast lumps __ in use in more than 45 countries. should be handled with a great degree of The credit card industry has argued that care, because handling them roughly could use of the RFID-enabled cards will save cause such a rupture. It's something that's customers time when processing payments. drilled into your head in med school (or at An extreme example can be found in least it was back in my day). Spain. Laurie said a public beach there Any woman who has experienced a__ encourages visitors to have RFID tags mammogram procedure knows that it injected into their bodies. The point? squashes the breast pancake-flat until it Merchants along the beach scan your wrist hurts—hardly what I'd call "handling with — to obtain a unique ID from which they can care". debit your account. The advantage? You (Source: William Campbell Douglass Il, MD, won't have to go to the beach with your The Douglass Report, 9 February 2008, _ wallet, which might get stolen. http://tinyurl.com/34blpn) Laurie, who has an injected RFID tag, showed how easy it is not only for the tag BEWARE OF THEFT VIA to be read but also to be rewritten. During RFID-ENABLED SMART CARDS his demo, he used the coding sequence dam Laurie, an RFID security expert, reserved for animal tagging to have his used the Black Hat DC 2008 RFID chip declare him an animal. conference in Washington, DC, to On his RFIDiot.org website, Laurie demonstrate a new Python script he's _ offers the Python scripts free of charge and working on to read the contents of smart- also sells the hardware necessary to read chip-enabled credit cards. and write to RFID tags and cards. As part of his presentation, Laurie asked (Source: CNET News.com, 21 February for someone from the audience to volunteer 2008, http://tinyurl.com/2jsfqt) asmart card. Without taking the card out of the volunteer's wallet, Laurie both read and DNA'S TELEPATHIC PROPERTIES? displayed its contents on the presentation NA has been found to have the bizarre screen—the person's name, account number ability to put itself together, even at a and card expiration date clearly visible. distance, when according to known science it shouldn't be able to. Explanation: none—at least not yet. Scientists are reporting evidence that, “ ~, contrary to our current beliefs about what is possible, intact double-stranded DNA has the "amazing" ability to recognise similarities in other DNA strands from a a distance. Somehow they are able to identify one another, and the tiny bits of genetic material tend to congregate with similar DNA. The recognition of similar sequences in DNA's chemical subunits occurs in a way unrecognised by science. There is no known reason why the DNA is able to combine the way it does, and from a current theoretical standpoint this feat should be chemically impossible. Even so, the research published in the ACS Journal of Physical Chemistry B shows very clearly that homology recognition between sequences of several year. By contrast, from 2007 to 2008, that population increased by 25,000—a rise of two per cent. (Source: Washington Post, 29 February 2008, http://tinyurl.com/2ngsmz) NEW TEST MAY PUT AN END TO DEADLY MAMMOGRAMS merican scientists are developing a breast cancer screening test that checks a woman's saliva for evidence of the disease. They say they've identified 49 proteins in saliva that can actually distinguish healthy women from those with benign breast tumours and those with malignant breast tumours. According to Charles Streckfus, a professor at the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston: "Breast cancer triggers a change in the type and amount of proteins in the secretions from the salivary glands." And sure enough, when the researchers tested a group of 30 women—10 healthy, 10 with benign tumours and 10 with malignant tumours—the protein patterns were found to be different in all three groups. If this is true, it could finally put an end to what a growing number of people consider the most dangerous method of breast cancer screening: the mammogram procedure. MOBILES ARE GETTING RIDICULOUS, 5 emervis/e 8 = NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2008 www.nexusmagazine.com