You are what your grandmother ate – It’s already known that a grandmother’s diet can affect the genetics of her grandkids. Not only are the genes passed down, but the genetic instructions are as well. This new research helps shed some light on the mechanism.

Physicists come up with potential AIDS vaccine model – Turns out the body can effectively fight off AIDS if it gets every HIV variant at once. In the real world, however, the variants are generated over a period of time. Reminds me of the boiling frog legend.

Chinese scientists reject claims of new bird flu strain (link2) – Last week we mentioned that a new strain of the H5N1 bird flu has shown up. Chinese scientists disagree.

Wave-powered ‘ducks’ could purify seawater – Using the energy of waves to power a desalination plant. This is so obvious, why didn’t we invent it earlier?

Snap judgments about candidates are the best way to pick winners, study suggests – This disturbs me, because it implies that the most charismatic candidate, rather than the most qualified, is typically the winner.

“Silent jet” could ease airport noise, scientists say (link2, link3, link4) – Researchers have developed a design for a much quieter and fuel-efficient jet airplane. They hope to see it in production by 2030 (which may actually happen, because quite a few members of the airline industry are partners of the project). Details on how it works are available here.

Plan to create human-cow embryos (link2) – UK scientists have asked for permission to create human-cow hybrid embryos. They would put human DNA inside a cow’s egg. They do not intend to let it grow past 6 days. Along the same lines, Australia has approved the use of cloned human embryos for stem cell research. In both cases, there is a shortage of real human embryos to use for stem cell research, so they’re trying alternative methods to create them.

Intel eyes nanotubes for future chip designs – Carbon nanotubes make better wires than copper. SciScoop has covered this before.

High-Rise Syndrome – Cats have the ability to fall hundreds of feet and survive. This article explains why.

No more space for space as tickets sell out – Russia’s $20 million space tourist seats are sold out through 2009.

Further reading:

• Chad’s Links #13 – June 12th, 2006
• Chad’s Links #28 – October 23rd, 2006
• Chad’s Links #32 – December 4th, 2006
• Chad’s Links #11 – May 28th, 2006
• Chad’s Links #20 – August 15th, 2006