modernphysics writes “Canada’s non-profit and independent Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics is now providing a free in-class, educational resource for high-school science teachers to help guide students through interesting topics in modern physics. The first module on ‘The Mystery of Dark Matter’ can be viewed online and features a 25-minute video, teacher’s guide with hands-on demonstrations, and student activity sheets in Word format that can be edited to suit individual classes. This resource helps fulfill the number one request from the hundreds of high-school teachers who attend the popular EinsteinPlus Workshops on Modern Physics at PI each summer — to have access to enrichment materials for students in grades 11 and 12 in a flexible, comprehensive, and easy-to-use format that makes abstract ideas visual and shares the joys of research and discovery.”

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seattle-pk notes a story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about the apparent protective effects of caffeine against skin cancer. “For some years, studies have hinted at the possibility that caffeine can reduce the risk of some cancers. Now, new work by scientists at the University of Washington and Rutgers University might have unlocked the biochemical secrets behind caffeine’s cancer-fighting capability. Studies at Rutgers (PDF) have shown that caffeine applied to the skin reverses ultraviolet-induced damage and reduces skin cancer.”

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The Massive Binocular Telescope consists of two 8.4-meter mirrors which function in tandem to provide resolution greater than that of the Hubble Telescope. The LBT’s first “binocular” images were captured recently, marking the end to a long and laborious construction process. We previously discussed the LBT when images were captured from the first mirror to be installed. Quoting: “The LBT … will combine light to produce the image sharpness equivalent to a single 22.8-meter (75-foot) telescope. ‘To have a fully functioning binocular telescope isn’t only a time for celebration here at LBT, but also for the entire astronomy community,’ UA Steward Observatory Director, Regents’ Professor and LBT Corp. President Peter A. Strittmatter stated. ‘The images that this telescope will produce will be like none seen before. The power and clarity of this machine is in a class of its own. It will provide unmatched ability to peer into history, seeing the birth of the universe.’”

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PRB_Ohio takes us to Space.com for a story about NASA’s plutonium shortage, and how it might affect future missions to the far reaches of the solar system. The U.S. hasn’t produced plutonium since 1988, instead preferring to buy it from Russia. We discussed the U.S. government’s plans to resume production in 2005, but those plans ended up being shelved. If NASA is unable to find an additional source, it could limit missions that take spacecraft too far from the Sun. Quoting: “Alan Stern, NASA associate administrator for science, … said he believed the United States had sufficient plutonium-238 on hand or on order to fuel next year’s Mars Science Lab, an outer planets flagship mission targeted for 2017 and a Discovery-class mission slated to fly a couple years earlier to test a more efficient radioisotope power system NASA and the Energy Department have in development. To help ensure there’s enough plutonium-238 for those missions, NASA notified scientists in January that its next New Frontiers solicitation, due out in June, will seek only missions that do not require a nuclear power source.”

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CaptainCarrot writes “Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer has summarized for his readers the new results released by NASA from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which has been surveying the 3K microwave radiation left over from the Large Bang. Some of the most interesting results: The age of the universe is now known to unprecedented accuracy: 13.73 billion years old, +/- 120 million. Spacetime is flat to within a 2% error margin. And ordinary matter and energy account for only 4.62% of the universe’s total. Plait’s comment on the age result: ‘Some people might say it doesn’t look a day over 6000 years. They’re wrong.’”

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Barrista En Flambe alerts us to a stunt that might reflect the desperate funding crisis in British astronomy: astronomers have concurred to beam a 30-second Doritos ad to a solar system 42 light years from Earth. The transmission is being directed at the solar system of 47 Ursae Majoris, a star similar to the Sun which has planets and may have a habitable zone.

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sciencehabit writes “British mathematician Darren Crowdy has been bragging all week about how he solved a 140-year-old math problem, as we discussed a few days ago. But three American mathematicians say they had the critical idea first.”

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Filed under: Bad news, Products and services, Target Corp. (TGT)

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) has been on a roll lately, keeping bigger competitor Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) on its toes when it comes to clean and modern store design, merchandising and presentation. And it’s done all this while maintaining affordability.

A big idea Target pioneered was joining well-known names with apparel and home fashion product lines. One of the most recognizable was the partnership with Martha Stewart for home fashions like pillows and living room furnishings. Then came the apparel lines that joined celebrity brand names with plain-jane clothing lines, while keeping prices as low as any other retailer.

But now the cat is out of the bag, as both Wal-Mart and “mall store outside the mall” retailer Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) are partnering with all types of celebrity names for product lines ranging from candles to baby blankets. The trend Target created is now rolling out everywhere, and at the same time, Target’s sales have recently slowed after many quarters of fantastic growth. In February, Target’s same-store sales inched up just 0.5%. Target hopes that the economy is to blame for its recent sales slowdown, because if the duplication of its strategy by the competition is to blame, Target might be in for some slow sales quarters this year.

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Filed under: Bad news, Products and services, Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Amgen Inc (AMGN)

It is interesting to see how one piece of news can have a different impact on two stocks. The news? The Food and Drug Administration found that anemia drugs are tied to increased risks of death and faster-spreading tumors at high doses.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) makes Aranesp and Epogen, while Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) makes Procrit, all used to help cancer and kidney disease patients overcome anemia. But now the FDA states these drug show greater risks for patients with certain cancers on tumor progression and survival, as well as blood clots. While both companies believe the dangers were seen when the drugs were given for unapproved uses, including higher-than-recommended doses, it is possible that following the study, the FDA may suggest to end the use of these drugs for patients whose anemia is caused by cancer chemotherapy, or who are at greater risk, but still grant it for kidney disease patients.

Still, as some analysts believe, with the recent updates both companies had on product prescribing and labeling, it is unlikely the drugs will be completely inadvisable for use in cancer patients as they allow the cycle of chemotherapy to continue more smoothly, helping to strengthen them after each treatment. It is more likely the companies will work with the FDA for better regulation on these drugs.

On the news, Amgen shares fell almost 2%, while JNJ shares climbed over 1%. Surprising? Not really.

Aranesp sales totaled $827 million in the fourth quarter, while sales of Epogen (marketed more to kidney disease patients) totaled to $638 million in the same period, together record-keeping for 40% of the $3.7 billion of the company’s overall revenue. And these figures are already showing significant declines (25% and 3% respectively) over the year ago period as the drugs were tied to higher risks of heart attack, stroke and death at high doses.

Meanwhile, at Johnson & Johnson the situation isn’t all that bad, as one can surmise from the stock reaction. The company had announced $61 billion in overall sales for 2007, of which about 40% was pharmaceutical. Procrit only had $1.69 billion in U.S. sales in 2007, an 18% drop from the previous year, but only accounting for less than 3% overall sales. I have the ability to only assume that worldwide sales of Procrit are at most double, still bookkeeping for a relatively smaller portion of JNJ sales when compared to Amgen.

It is interesting to see the impact of this news on both companies and how diversification can be key, not only in one’s personal portfolio, but in companies as well.

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Filed under: Press releases, Products and services, Consumer experience, Apple Inc (AAPL), General Electric (GE), Time Warner (TWX), Marketing and advertising, Walt Disney (DIS), Viacom (VIA), Sony Corp ADR (SNE)

Lions Gate (NYSE: LGF), the feisty little studio that’s responsible for torture-porn franchises Saw and Hostel, has hooked up with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to see if consumers care about owning digital duplicates of the movies they purchase on DVD and Blu-ray format.

According to the following press release, Lionsgate will include an iTunes digital version of choose projects on certain home-video releases. The digital copy will grant users to transfer a motion picture to an iTunes account, so it could then be viewable on multiple devices like Computers or Macs, iPods, Apple TV and iPhones. First up for the iTunes digital treatment will be Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo — yes, the old soldier is still around — to be released to home video in Might.

As the studio makes clear in its press release, this is all about experimentation with the promotion of new distribution models. Lionsgate wants to efficiently, and effectively, create new opportunities for its library. It’s not alone — Disney (NYSE: DIS), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Sony (NYSE: SNE) and General Electric’s (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal asset are all on a never-ending study of how best to leverage the digital era to make money from content portfolios. Lionsgate wants DVD buyers to realize that they have the ability to use iTunes to purchase movies from its catalog. It’s a bit weird to me, though, since one would figure that a person who buys a DVD will probably just access that particular content from the DVD itself. I understand the value of transferability, of course, but if Lionsgate — or any content provider, for that matter — simply ensures that each digital product sold on the web contains unique, compelling extras that can’t be found in any other format, then a digital library will be that much easier to monetize.

At any rate, it will be interesting to see how Apple and Lionsgate do with this scheme. Apple and its iTunes brand are certainly powerful drivers of digital distribution, so maybe users will perceive a value from the digital duplicates.

Disclosure: Steven Mallas owns shares of Disney and General Electric; positions can change at any time.

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