New Scientist reviews the possibility that the Cassini probe might be repurposed to look for signs of life on Saturn’s enigmatic moon Enceladus. “[Enceladus’ water vapor] plume’s origin is still being debated, but some models recommend the moon holds an ocean of liquid water beneath its surface. This ocean could be a potential habitat for extraterrestrial life. … Though the probe was never designed to look for life, it could do so by studying organic chemicals such as methane in the plume, the team says.”

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An anonymous reader writes “Diebold Inc. and its subsidiary, Premier Election Solutions, is using Ghostscript in its electronic election systems although Diebold and PES ‘have not been granted a license to modify, copy, or distribute any of Artifex’s copyrighted works,’ Artifex claims in court papers filed late last month in US District Court for Northern California. The gs-devel list first brought up the possible GPL violation a year ago.”

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Death Metal sends in a Scientific American article reporting that 2,000 of 6,000 amphibian species are endangered worldwide. A combination of environmental assaults, including global warming, seems to be responsible. “… national parks and other areas protected from pollution and development are providing no refuge. The frogs and salamanders of Yellowstone National Park have been declining since the 1980s, according to a Stanford University study, as global warming dries out seasonal ponds, leaving dried salamander corpses in their wake. Since the 1970s, nearly 75 percent of the frogs and other amphibians of La Selva Biological Station in Braulio Carrillo National Park in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica have died, perhaps due to global warming. But the really bad news is that amphibians might be just the first sign of other species in trouble. Biologists at the University of California, San Diego, have shown that amphibians are the first to respond to environmental changes, thanks to their sensitivity to both air and water. What goes for amphibians may soon be true of other classes of animal, including mammals.”

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miller60 writes “News sites and political blogs are expecting extraordinary traffic tonight as Americans track results of the Presidential election, and are scaling their infrastructure to meet the challenge. Yahoo expects its Election Night traffic might be three times the volume seen in 2004, when it had 80 million page views on Election Day and 142 million more visits the following day. Hosting companies say customers have been ordering extra servers and load balancing services, while content delivery networks are also anticipating a busy night. Will traffic approach record levels? Akamai’s Net Usage Index, which tracks traffic to its customer news sites, is one metric to watch.”

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