RE-DEFINING RACE IN THE U.S. CENSUS

By JIM KLING, UPI

A new study suggests that, in the 2000 census, many more people are likely to identify with more than one race than previously thought. This year's count was the first to allow respondents to mark more than one race, and the results may pose new challenges for making civil rights policies and tracking social and economic inequality. Joshua Goldstein and Ann Morning of the University of Princeton Office of Population Research estimate the number of Americans likely to mark multiple races at some 8 to 18 million, several times greater than previous estimates by the government. They suggest that such a high degree
of multiracial self-identification could further complicate the difficult
issue of developing and implementing race-based policies, such as
fairness-in-lending and affirmative action programs. "The advantage of the new system is that it more accurately reflects how people see themselves. The disadvantage is it shifts the burden of assigning single-race labels from individuals to the government," says Goldstein. Under the old system, the government was criticized for pigeonholing people into single-race boxes. Now, says Goldstein, it may be accused of reinstitutionalizing the
'one-drop rule,' the segregation-era notion that a person with any amount of minority ancestry must be a member of that minority.

TELEPHONE INFECTIONS

By JIM KLING

In the future, computer viruses may attack
intelligent mobile phones and personal digital

assistants (PDAs), according to a report in this

swipe money from 'electronic wallets,' or rack

up huge phone bills. "The thing that makes viruses

a threat is that we're so well connected," says

Charles Palmer, a specialist in network security and

cryptography research at IBM. A big threat are programs

that link to and trigger other applications, such as email

attachments that can dial phone numbers or wipe out the

contents of electronic wallets or other files. Palmer and others believed that as more and more feature-laden cellular phones are developed, they will become more vulnerable to viruses. But not everyone is concerned. Charles Davies, chief technology officer for the British PDA maker Psion, believes that the widely used EPOC operating system, which he helped design, is unlikely to be vulnerable. "I don't want to seem smug or complacent but

I just don't see it as a big threat," he says.

By Jim Kling

LESS BRAIN DRAIN:

By Jim Kling

PILL-LIKE CAMERA OFFERS VIEW OF COLON:

By ELIZABETH MANNING

A camera tiny enough to be swallowed may offer doctors a diagnostic view of the small bowel and colon, researchers report. The pill-sized "capsule endoscope" transmits images from inside as it travels through the patient's body. That's a more pleasant prospect than the current method, called endoscopy, which requires insertion of tubular optical probing instruments into the patient's back passage, the scientists note. Lead investigator Paul Swain says the device measures just 11 millimeters by 30 millimeters and comprises a video camera, light source and radio transmitter that sends pictures to a recorder carried by the patient. Once they swallow it, patients are oblivious to the presence of the capsule, which takes some 24 hours to make its way through the body before being discharged in stool. Swain, a researcher at Royal London Hospital in England, and his group say in the journal Nature that clinical trials will begin in the next two months in the United States, England and Israel. For more information call 208-837-8833

THE JOB OUTLOOK:

A record number of companies will be seeking new workers. That's according to the latest survey by the Milwaukee-based Manpower Inc., which found 35 percent of the 16,000 businesses questioned saying they plan to increase staff in the next quarter while only 5 percent anticipate job reductions. Manpower, the nation's largest employment services agency, said the results are unprecedented in the 24 years it has been conducting its quarterly Employment Outlook Survey. "The survey results combined with the drop in the unemployment rate indicate that the traditional labor supply is essentially exhausted," said Manpower President Jeffrey Joerres. He said companies would find hiring easier now that earnings limits have been lifted for retirees coupled with the entrance of teachers and students into the labor force for the summer. Nationally, the greatest worker demands will be in the wholesale/retail and in the manufacturing durable goods sectors.

UPI

MAKING BONES OUT OF SKIN AND GUM TISSUE:

By Lidia Wasowicz

Scientists have produced bones from engineered skin and gum tissue cells. They say their bones have the same hard outer coating, spongy interior and marrow core as the ones made by Mother Nature. The investigators from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in Ann Arbor have experimented with the laboratory-produced bones in hopes of making grafts less painful and simpler for patients. They have succeeded in using the bones to replace large areas of missing bone in rats, they said in the journal Human Gene Therapy. They found the engineered cells delivered the bone-forming proteins they were designed to secrete -- and, as a bonus, also participated directly in bone formation, said lead researcher Bruce Rutherford. The new method involves taking a tiny bit of skin or gum tissue to engineer cells that are then placed where bone repair is needed. This is significantly different from current bone grafting methods that require a patient's bone marrow to be harvested with a long needle or a piece of bone, typically from the hip, to be surgically removed, the researchers said. For more information call 734-764-2220.

SUMMER VACATION TIP

By Jim Kling

FORT WORTH, Texas

BMD MISSING LAPTOP FOUND

by Joe Warminsky

A laptop computer that allegedly contained hundreds of files about an advanced jet fighter was returned to the British government on Sunday by a London newspaper. The Mirror newspaper obtained the machine from a computer dealer and returned it to the British Ministry of Defense, saying it had passed "through a number of hands." The newspaper quoted a defense specialist as saying: "Enemies would have paid a large sun for this laptop." The computer reportedly contained "hundreds" of diagrams concerning a stealth fighter that is under development by Britain and the United States. The British Broadcasting Corp. reported that none of the files was classified. The BBC quoted a Ministry of Defense spokesman as saying: "There is information in it and briefing notes which clearly we would have preferred to stay in-house but nothing which could damage national security." The event was the latest in a series of security embarrassments for Britain's intelligence agencies in recent months.

All Articles United Press International.

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