Tech & Science

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has announced a new version of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) which paves the way for the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) projects, including the popular Wikipedia, to switch to the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC-BY-SA) license. The move was announced following discussions between the Wikimedia Foundation and the FSF. Erik Möller, deputy director of the WMF, explained the reasoning behind this move. "The underlying motivation of this change is that CC-BY-SA is an easier-to-use license

The Christian Science Monitor has announced plans to cease daily print publication. The newspaper employs 95 correspondents and 8 foreign bureaus and has won 7 Pulitzer Prizes, making it the most prominent newspaper to transition to online publication. It is due to celebrate its one hundredth anniversary later this month. The move has other major newspapers wondering whether this is the future of mainstream journalism. Editor John Yemma stated "It is the future for many papers, but because we are not-for-profit we are not exactly a model for

Actor David Tennant made an announcement Wednesday at the National Television Awards in the United Kingdom that he will end his time portraying the Tenth Doctor on the long-running BBC science fiction drama Doctor Who in 2009. The announcement came as part of Tennant's speech accepting the outstanding drama performance award at the program. Tennant, 37, is currently portraying the lead in a production of Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and accepted the award by videolink. He was up against Doctor Who co-star Catherine Tate, who por

In a rare one-on-one interview with the editor in chief of the journal Science Magazine published online on Friday, Wen Jiabao, Premier of the People's Republic of China, acknowledged that although companies were to blame, the government was also partially responsible in the recent melamine contamination of milk and infant formula from China. "We feel that although problems occurred at the company, the government also has a responsibility," said the Premier. He added that testing requirements should be installed for all important steps in the

Citing actions taken by the Conservative government since winning a minority government in 2006, 85 scientists across Canada have signed an open letter to all national party leaders calling on them to state how they will 'improve Canada’s track record' regarding the objectivity of science. This is the second such initiative within the week, the letter on 7 October being signed by 120 scientists. The scientists signing the latest letter represent hundreds of researchers such as Deans, Department Heads, Research Chairs, and research team leaders

A University of Calgary research team developed a new method for extracting carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air — a fundamental shift in carbon capture technology enabling capture of the most common greenhouse gas from so-called diffuse sources like aircraft, trucks and automobiles that represent half of the greenhouse gases emitted globally. Professor David Keith, Director of University of Calgary's (UofC) Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy (ISEEE) and a team of researchers from UofC's Energy and Environmental Sy

__NOTOC__ Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) successfully launched and sent into orbit a Falcon 1 rocket, which was launched yesterday at 23:15 UTC from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. This was the fourth attempt to launch this class of rocket, and the first vehicle to be successfully launched by private spacecraft developers. Previous attempts to launch this vehicle ended in failure due to engineering errors. Perhaps the most critical part of this flight occur

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. Libertarian Party candidate Kevin Stricker is standing for election in the riding of Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar. Born in Saskatoon, he graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 2003, with a B.Sc. with Great Distinction in Computer Science; he received a University Medal in Science. Having worked for several area businesses, this is his first political run. A longtime member of Fair Vote Canada, he currently serves on the Libertarian Party's ethics commi

A Chinese taikonaut (Chinese astronaut) today became the first taikonaut to walk in space when he left his space craft for a total of fifteen minutes. The entire event, which marks a new stage in China's space program, was broadcast live on national TV. The walk started at 1630 local time (0830 UTC) today when he exited the spacecraft, while attached to an umbilical cable. The other two astronauts on the spacecraft stayed entirely inside the vehicle while in space, except when passing the flag to Zhigang. Zhai Zhigang, who has also worked as

Radiometric dating of the schists of Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt in northern Quebec, Canada have indicated an age of 4280 million years. This is the oldest date obtained for any rock on earth. The study, reported in the latest issue of Science, was carried out by scientists of McGill University, Montreal, Carnegie Institution of Washington and Université du Québec, Montreal. The study relying on samarium-neodymium isotopic data place the age of rocks 250 million years older that the previously dated Acasta gneiss. The Acasta gneiss in Canada'

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. New Democratic Party candidate Max Lombardi is standing for election in the riding of Cambridge. Lombardi is an information technology specialist who has lived in Cambridge for 25 years. Held since 2004 by Conservative Gary Goodyear, the riding of Cambridge includes the city of Cambridge, Ontario and the Township of North Dumfries, Ontario. Also running in the riding are Gord Zeilstra (Liberal) and Scott Cosman (Green). Wikinews contacted Max Lombardi, to ta

The first phone that runs on Google Android was unveiled today by T-Mobile. The announcement of this new handset, named the T-Mobile G1, was made in an event run by T-Mobile USA which took place today. The event started at 14:30 UTC (10:30 local time) when Cole Brodman, the chief technology and innovation officer of T-Mobile USA, started introducing the people who were going to be present at the launch. These people were Andy Rubin, who represents Google, and Christopher Schlaffer, who is the CTO of Deutsche Telekom. Five minutes later Schlaf