Off-topic: Cosmic dark age found in shadows - The earliest structures in the universe may be visible by the shadows they cast in the afterglow of the big bang. The objects have been hidden until now because they formed in the dark age of the universe before the first stars switched on. "The shadows promise to provide the richest ever gold mine of information about the early universe," says Abraham Loeb of Harvard University. The so-called cosmic dark age stretched from the fading of the big bang fireball 13.7 billion years ago to the time when the first stars ignited, several hundred million years later. During this period, hydrogen clouds formed into structures that eventually became the stars and galaxies of today.

Off-topic: Climate change heralds thirsty times ahead  - Fresh water will be in ever shorter supply as climate change gathers pace. A that increasing temperatures will dramatically affect the world's great rivers. While flows will increase overall, with some rivers becoming more swollen, many that provide water for the majority of the world's people will begin to dry up. Some of these predicted changes are already happening. A second study shows temperature changes have affected the flow in many of the world's 200 largest rivers over the past century, with the flow of Africa's rivers declining over the past 10 years.

Sapphire offers 9800 Pro with 128-bit memory bus - Xbit Labs is reporting that Sapphire has started selling Radeon 9800 Pro graphics cards with a 128-bit memory bus