Stop us (oh, oh, oh stop us) if you've heard this one before (you have): SpaceX has announced that it won't be able to make that May 7th launch date. The company hasn't disclosed the cause (the static fire tests seemed to go okay) but spokesperson Kirstin Grantham said that the company is working through the "software assurance process" with NASA. A new launch window hasn't been set, but the company says it'll tell all before the end of tomorrow -- they'd better, since the ISS crew have been waiting for these space-rations since November last year.
Blurb has had a good amount of success as a disruptive player in the "traditional" publishing space. The San Francisco-based company, which lets anyone write and publish a physical book at relatively affordable prices, has built a profitable business with more than 100 staff and more than a million paying customers since it launched to the public six years ago. But according to founder and CEO Eileen Gittins, Blurb wants more. Blurb is expanding into the e-book space this summer, gradually rolling out a software platform that will allow people to create and distribute multimedia-enabled digital books. So why is Blurb going into an industry in which even huge, established publishing players have notoriously had serious difficulties making money?
Despite being involved in that peaceful conundrum with THQ, we knew Adidas still planned on launching its MiCoach video game at some point in the near future. Now, after weeks of keeping those lips sealed, the German company announced it's teaming up with publisher 505 Games to finally bring the fitness-driven title to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 -- where it'll primarily use the Kinect and Move add-ons. While 505 will handle all publishing duties, Adidas notes the MiCoach game is in the works by UK developer Chromativity "under exclusive license." Of course, the F50 creator couldn't leave its big name reps out of this one, which is why sport celebs like Kaká, José Mourinho and Dwight Howard are going to be teaching "Masterclasses" within the game. Hey, at least now you know you won't have to be out on the field to put that tracking system to good use.
Music lovers have numerous strong choices for organizing and playing their collections of songs on the Linux desktop. But music creators have far fewer professional-strength options among Linux applications. But with Linux MultiMedia Studio, or LMMS, one option may be all you really need. LMMS does it all and does it all well.
1 May 2012Last updated at 03:54 ETBy Michelle RobertsHealth editor, BBC News website
Dr James Flanagan, who led the research, says a pre-test for breast cancer could save lives
A genetic test could help predict breast cancer many years before the disease is diagnosed, experts hope.
Ultimately the findings, in the journal Cancer Research, could lead to a simple blood test to screen women, they say.
The test looks for how genes are altered by environmental factors like alcohol and hormones - a process known as epigenetics.
One in five women is thought to have such a genetic "switch" that doubles breast cancer risk.
Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
By piecing together how this happens, we can look at ways of preventing the disease and detecting it earlier to give people the best possible chance of survival?
End QuoteBaroness Delyth MorganBreast Cancer Campaign
The scientists from Imperial College London analysed blood samples from 1,380 women of various ages, 640 of whom went on to develop breast cancer.
And they found a strong link between breast cancer risk and molecular modification of a single gene called ATM, which is found on white blood cells.
Predicting cancer
They then looked for evidence of what was causing this change. Specifically, they looked for a chemical effect called methylation, which is known to act as a "gene switch".
Women showing the highest methylation levels affecting the ATM gene were twice as likely to develop breast cancer compared with those with the lowest levels.
In some cases the changes were evident up to 11 years before a breast tumour was diagnosed.
Dr James Flanagan, of Imperial College London, who led the new research, said: "We know that genetic variation contributes to a person's risk of disease.
"With this new study we can now also say that epigenetic variation, or differences in how genes are modified, also has a role.
"We hope that this research is just the beginning of our understanding about the epigenetic component of breast cancer risk and in the coming years we hope to find many more examples of genes that contribute to a person's risk.
"The challenge will be how to incorporate all of this new information into the computer models that are currently used for individual risk prediction."
It is not yet clear why breast cancer risk might be linked to changes in a white blood cell gene.
Continue reading the main story
Epigenetics
The focus is on targeting cancer-causing errors in the way the body reads DNA code, rather than errors in the genetic code itself
A series of chemical switches determine whether genes are turned on or off, and ultimately what the cell will look like and how it will function
Alterations in this "epigenetic" control can lead to cancer
Environmental factors like hormones can act as triggers for these errors
Scientists are working on new drugs that can regulate gene expression and effectively solve epigenetic problems
But the team envisage that a blood test could be used in combination with other information about breast cancer risk, such as family history and the presence of other known breast cancer genes, to help identify those women at greatest risk of developing the disease in the future.
These women could then be closely monitored and offered pre-emptive treatment, such as surgery.
Baroness Delyth Morgan of the Breast Cancer Campaign, which funded the work, said: "By piecing together how this happens, we can look at ways of preventing the disease and detecting it earlier to give people the best possible chance of survival."
Laura Bell of Cancer Research UK said: "This study gives us a fascinating glimpse of the future and the promise that the emerging field of epigenetics holds. But it's too early to say exactly how these particular changes might affect our ability to detect who is likely to develop certain types of cancer.
"With further studies, scientists will increase our knowledge of how genetic switches like this interplay together to affect breast cancer risk, with the hope that one day this could lead to a blood test that could help predict a woman's chance of getting the disease."
STAMFORD, Conn. ? WWE Studios and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment today announced WWE Superstar The Miz will star in "The Marine: Homefront," the third installment in "The Marine" franchise. This marks The Miz's first starring role in a film.
The action thriller will be directed by Scott Wiper, who directed "The Condemned" and wrote the screenplay with John Petro for "The Cold Light of Day" starring Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver. Principal photography will begin June 11 in Vancouver.?
The Miz portrays a Marine who is forced to put his skills to the test when a radical militia group kidnaps his rebellious niece. The unrelenting soldier does whatever is necessary to save his niece and stop a terrorist attack masterminded by the militia leader.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will handle worldwide distribution on Blu-ray, DVD, VOD and digital download. WWE will utilize its extensive global reach through its television, digital/social media and print assets to market the release of the film.
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