Last year gave us the news of a madly love-struck astronaut, and this year, we'll be witnessing how taking out books outside the premises without asking permission will take something important away from you: in this case, the privilege to be the first person from your country to be sent into space. Read all about it in the full article.

South Korea's Ko San will be blasting off to the International Space Station bringing with him his country's national dish, kimchi.

Apparently, it took three government research institutes, millions of dollars and years in order to make this thing happen. Find out more after the jump!

Last time, it was the United Kingdom and South Korea. This time, it's Poland. And yes, the strain of bird flu involved was the dreaded H5N1 strain, which has been known to infect humans as well as birds.

Find out where those sites were located after the jump!

It is common knowledge that mice normally cower at even the scent of cats. This concept might be changing soon since some scientists from the Tokyo University have discovered a way to genetically engineer mice which show no fear towards felines.

These experiments may not seem like much at the current stage, but actually have quite a big impact on what we understand about the emotion called fear. Click on the "read more "link below for more details.

In South Korea, they make glow-in-the-dark kittens. Or at least, a group of cloning experts there were recently able to clone cats that glow in the dark under ultraviolet light. More on this at the full article!

Now that making a leisure trip to space is possible, even Korean MMORPG giant NCsoft plans to send someone beyond the atmosphere. Spokesman Kim Ju-young is not certain whether it's for the company's social contribution program or to promote Tabula Rasa, but the idea of sending Richard Garriott (known as Lord British to fans of his games) to space sounds solid.

This October, NCsoft will confirm if Lord British will take the Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2008 to drop by the International Space Station and spend a full week there. Space Adventures, the private space travel company, has reserved a seat on the fall 2008 trip for Garriott.

Being the son of Spacelab astronaut Owen Garriott and after working with Space Adventures, it doesn't come as a surprise that Lord British is fond of space travel. According to NCsoft, he decided to take the trip. NCsoft CEO Kim Taek-jin may do the same in 2009, but there are no official confirmations as of now.

Ko San, currently in training to become Korea's first astronaut, already has US$ 30 million on his bill before even before reaching space. However, NCsoft is capable of dishing out the money, especially after spending billions of Korean won to develop Tabula Rasa. Being a prominent figure in the online gaming scene, Lord British could very well make the promotional trip pay off in spades.

61-year-old Israeli pediatrician Igal Kushnir and his company Deep Breeze has developed a new technology called Vibration Response Imaging (VRI). What it does is measure energy generated in the lungs, analyze it, and then display an image of the person's lungs in one go.

This new technology has been found to accurately diagnose lung conditions such as asthma, pneumonia, and lung tumors.
 
What makes this method so amazing is the fact that it uses no radiation. It works by analyzing acoustic vibrations resonating or sounds from a person's lungs, much like a stethoscope. The lung vibrations are then fed to a computer, where it's displayed as images.

Deep Breeze was given approval by the US Food and Drug Administration last July 23 to begin marketing a VRI device in the U.S. Other countries such as Israel, the European Union, and South Korea have also cleared the product for distribution.

While the technology is still expensive at an average price of US$ 40,000 to US$ 50,000 per unit. Deep Breeze is working to create cheaper versions of it which will go for as low as US$ 10,000 per machine. This is big news in the medical community as this device will undoubtedly save a lot of lives by removing a lot of the guesswork usually experienced in using the common stethoscope.

South  Korea could be at the forefront of the alternative energy race as scientists and engineers led by Professor Lee Kwang-hee have announced that they have successfully developed a cell prototype that yields more power, lasts longer, and is much cheaper.

The project was established in cooperation with the University of California, Santa Barbara. A team led by Professor Alan Heeger provided research support functions and the results came out nicely.

To demonstrate the quantum leap in this breakthrough, the old silicon semiconductor solar technology uses some US$ 2.30 to generate a watt of electricity. It just takes ten cents with the Korean technology which uses plastic solar cells.

"The efficiency of converting solar power to electricity should be at least seven percent for commercialization," says Professor Lee as he points out the levels that solar cells must attain in order to be truly called efficient.

Solar energy is considered to be the cleanest energy source which can replace fossil fuels because it uses natural light which is in abundance and leaves no waste materials. Expenses and efficiency issues have plagued it in the past but plastic cells are ushering in new hope.

All addictions are hard to quit, especially when you're unwilling to quit. Well, according to a Korean company named Xtive, they might just have the cure via subliminal messages.

Xtive has developed an inaudible sound sequence created to send subliminal signals to the gamer's brain. According to Xtive president, Yun Yun-hae, "We incorporated messages into an acoustic sound wave telling gamers to stop playing. The messages are told 10, 000 to 20, 000 times per second. Game users can’t recognize the sounds. But their subconscious is aware of them and the chances are high they will quit playing."

Tests have reportedly been successful. The project was brought about by game addiction becoming a major problem in Korea (as in anywhere else for that matter). Yun-hae adds that forcing kids to quit have their obvious side effects. The sound sequence can make them stop on their own. They plan to have the phonogram commercialize with help from their government and game companies. The game devs can reportedly install the system themselves, playing the inaudible sounds when the gamer has exceeded a certain period of time.

This had us scared though. "We can easily change the messages. In this sense, the potential for this technology is exponential." Would that be like the Simpsons' "yvan eht nioj"? Hmmm. That remains to be seen. Or subconsciously heard.

Sugar-free gum and mint sweetened with the sugar alcohol xylitol can make dogs seriously ill. The Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) division of The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) says that xylitol can cause a sudden drop in dog's blood sugar. This condition in turn leads to depression, lack of coordination and even seizures possibly within 30 minutes.

Xylitol, also called wood sugar or birch sugar, is very popular in Finland. Many Finnish confectioneries, including almost all chewing gums, use xylitol, or have a xylitol version available. Smint, manufactured by the Spanish company Chupa Chups are xylitol-based breath mints.

In Japan and South Korea, xylitol is found in wide assortment of chewing gums. In North America, Trident gum was reformulated to include xylitol. Xylitol may also be used in sugar-free bread, pastries, hard candies and artificial juice drinks.

Xylitol poisoning in dogs has been increasing steadily. From 170 cases for the entire 2005 to 114 reported cases in the first six months of 2006. In case your dog ingests products containing xylitol call your vet immediately.