Kush wrote for the Tartan this week

Kush wrote for the SciTech section of the Tartan this week.
Many of the articles with images are echoed on MedGdgt and KushMangal.com .

http://www.thetartan.org/2009/2/9/scitech/briefs

Animals fossils older than 635 million years old discovered

Fossil traces were found in an oil field in the Arabian peninsula are considered to be the oldest evidence of animal existence. The fossils found can confirm that life existed more than 635 years ago. The fossils found don't look like traditional fossils, but they look more like fossil echoes which are chemical traces of a compound. The chemical traces were similar to the demosponge, which is considered to be the last common ancestor for all animals. "It is, definitively, the earliest evidence for animals," said geochemist Gordon Love of the University of California, Riverside.

Source: Wired / Nature

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/02/earliestanimal.html

Google allows you track your friend's position online

Google has launched software to track users of mobile phones and other wireless devices. This allows one to share their location with family and friends in 27 different countries using Google Latitude. The user can select who receives the information, and when they determine to go offline. "Fun aside, we recognize the sensitivity of location data, so we've built fine-grained privacy controls right into the application," said a Google representative. Friends can be tracked on a google map using a computer or a phone that supports google maps.

Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5131Z620090205