A federal judge Friday ordered the reinstatement of an Air Force nurse discharged from the military under the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy that forbids openly gay service members. It was the latest judicial setback for a law under attack in both the nation’s courtrooms and the halls of Congress.

U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton announced to a packed courtroom in Tacoma, Wash., that evidence at a six-day trial showed former Air Force Reserves Maj. Margaret Witt was an ‘exemplary officer’ who should be ‘reinstated at the earliest possible moment.’

‘Good flight nurses are hard to find,’ Leighton wrote in a 15-page opinion.

In a statement, Witt said she was proud of her career and wanted to serve her country. ‘Wounded people never asked me about my sexual orientation. They were just glad to see me there,’ she said.

Witt was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said it was the first time a judge had ordered a reinstatement of a service member discharged under ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’

Leighton had dismissed Witt’s first challenge to her 2006 dismissal. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit told the judge to reconsider the case under a standard of review that […]

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Google rooted on the Federal Communications Commission, which Sept. 23 freed up the so-called white spaces, or vacant airwaves between TV channels that can power speedy wireless broadband networks.

TV airwave signals travel far and through walls, making the spectrum well-suited for mobile devices that connect wirelessly to the Web, such as smartphones and tablet computers.

Google, Facebook, and other Internet companies covet this spectrum because they want propagate their Web applications on smartphones, tablets, TVs and any device that will connect to the Internet.

The FCC had pre-approved white space use for the public in 2008, but the effort become bogged down.

Richard Whitt, Google’s Washington telecom and media counsel, wrote in a blog post:

‘Today’s order finally sets the stage for the next generation of wireless technologies to emerge, and is an important victory for Internet users across the country.

Google is already testing the white spaces. The company Sept. 14 launched a broadband network using the spectrum at the Hocking Valley Community Hospital in Logan, Ohio.

Google helped the hospital outfit first responder vehicles with the network. The hospital is also using the network to manage its video surveillance for the hospital grounds.

Google rival Microsoft has been testing technology at its Redmond, Wash., […]

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For decades scientists believed Neanderthals developed `modern’ tools and ornaments solely through contact with Homo sapiens, but new research from the University of Colorado Denver now shows these sturdy ancients could adapt, innovate and evolve technology on their own.

The findings by anthropologist Julien Riel-Salvatore challenge a half-century of conventional wisdom maintaining that Neanderthals were thick-skulled, primitive `cavemen’ overrun and outcompeted by more advanced modern humans arriving in Europe from Africa.

‘Basically, I am rehabilitating Neanderthals,’ said Riel-Salvatore, assistant professor of anthropology at UC Denver. ‘They were far more resourceful than we have given them credit for.’

His research, to be published in December’s Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, was based on seven years of studying Neanderthal sites throughout Italy, with special focus on the vanished Uluzzian culture.

About 42,000 years ago, the Aurignacian culture, attributed to modern Homo sapiens, appeared in northern Italy while central Italy continued to be occupied by Neanderthals of the Mousterian culture which had been around for at least 100,000 years. At this time a new culture arose in the south, one also thought to be created by Neanderthals. They were the Uluzzian and they were very different.

Riel-Salvatore identified projectile points, ochre, bone tools, ornaments and possible evidence […]

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A new ‘gold rush’ is under way in the American West, but this time the prospectors are out for another metal: uranium.

The Grand Canyon region in the US state of Arizona holds one of the nation’s largest concentrations of high grade uranium, the fuel for nuclear power.

As global demand for nuclear power has increased so has interest in the metal and, across the south-west, companies are seeking permission to restart uranium mining.

In the US, President Barack Obama has called for an increase in nuclear power to help reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

The US government is currently weighing the costs and benefits of mining, with Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva proposing a ban on mining near the Grand Canyon.

But with the increase in uranium exploration come concerns about the future of the Grand Canyon, a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of America’s foremost natural wonders.

And Native American populations living near uranium mines fear exploration could contaminate their drinking water.

For now, the sole active uranium mine near the Grand Canyon’s northern rim is run by Denison Mines Corporation, a Canadian firm.

The Arizona 1 mine employs 30 miners, and the firm says it goes to great lengths to protect them in […]

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Today, the ‘frankenfish

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