Science and Tech

A look at some reader mail:

Q: If I use the Wi-Fi connection at a hotel or public area, how severe is the risk that someone can eavesdrop on my transmissions and receptions?

Time was that camcorder meant a box that sat on your shoulder, one that took bulky VHS tapes and weighed about 25 pounds. Add high-definition recording on a current model and you were once talking a few thousand bucks.

SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists announced Thursday that for the first time they have created a complete set of synthetic genes and implanted them into living bacteria that thrive -- an achievement that could ultimately lead to the creation of new synthetic biofuels and many other practical advances.

A bacterial infection typically spread by fleas, lice and biting flies could be more prevalent than many think, and may have been transmitted from a mother to her children at birth, scientists from North Carolina State University say.

The battlefields are 8,000 miles away in Africa and the Middle East. But from their bunkers of dew chambers and greenhouses in St. Paul, a strike force of University of Minnesota plant experts is devising strategies to win a high-stakes war that could prevent famine, starvation and political unrest.

With more people leaving Facebook over privacy concerns (one of the top searches on Google now is how to close a Facebook account), the other social networking sites are trying to cash in.

Want to know if the blouse you're trying on at Bloomingdale's can be snagged on the cheap at Ross? Curious whether that painting is a genuine Jackson Pollock or the inspired effort of a kindergartener? Wondering how much the restaurant gouged you on that bottle of wine?

For years, tarpon were one of the most sought-after, yet least understood, sport fish in state waters. Since the 1880s, the world's best anglers have traveled to Florida to catch the silver king of game fish, but nobody really knew where these chrome-bodied brutes went after the fishermen went home.

Scientists at Stanford University have aimed a high-energy X-ray beam at a fossil specimen of Archaeopteryx, the famed "flying dinosaur," and identified key chemicals in the creature's 150-million-year-old bones and wings, and even in its soft tissue.

As more of us are getting addicted to being online at all times, it is becoming more common to buy "air cards" that provide data via the cellular networks for our computers.