This week's batch of new Blu-ray movies may be quite limited in quantity compared to the previous weeks, but don't let that deter you from checking out the selection. This time around comedy flicks (Men in Black, Be Kind Rewind) dominate the Blu-ray player, as well as a couple of visceral wildlife documentaries recorded in IMAX. More details in the full article.

Scientists can be really odd sometimes. Previously, astronomers told us that dark matter doesn't exist; now cosmologists have found what may be the mother of all dark matter structures. Get the "big" picture in the full article, right after the jump.

Scientists in Houston have developed a vaccine for cocaine. Once injected into the system, the vaccine neutralizes the effects of the drug. Those injected with the vaccine might as well have sniffed baby powder. Will this finally spell the end of the drug? Read more in the full article.

A recently concluded conference called "The Future of Male Contraception" unveiled promising developments of studies into other options for male contraception. Three new options were picked out from separate research groups, and we believe it would be best to ignore the picture you see to the left for now. Moving on...

The first option was brought forth by researchers from the University of Washington. It involves the use a hormone regimen (an assortment of drugs whose administration is ordered and planned beforehand) of testosterone gel and a progestin shot.

These two are products out on the market today. Ironically, one is a gel used to increase testosterone and the other is a contraceptive for females. Though 90% of the volunteers who were administered the treatment had positive results, the results were more of a mixed bag.

How mixed? Get this: six volunteers dropped out of the treatment, and half of the 38 men that remained liked the treatment. A third of those remained didn't like it at all, and the rest just couldn't decide.

The second option was more of an alternative for vasectomy, without actually going through with the real thing. The image that caught your attention (up there) isn't a needle and thread prop. It's called the Intra Vas Device, which is surgically inserted to the vas deferens to "plug" the pathway where sperm flows. This "IUD for men" option was raised by the Shepherd Medical Company.

The little "threads you see attached are actually minute tubes that channel the sperm upwards even before they can mature. The results of this option pegged the Intra Vas Device as an effective form of contraception, because 92% of the men had no sperm, if not very little sperm.

The third option is slightly more appealing, though it is yet to be tested on humans. It's relatively well known that male fertility is affected by the level of Vitamin A in the body. This option uses a drug that interfered with the reception of Vitamin A in the testes, therefore causing its original creators to abandon it.

So far, the researchers from Columbia University found that it tested very well with mice with no health effects, though on humans it's another story. Because you see, having low Vitamin A is not good (at all) for anyone's health, but Dr. Debra Wolgemuth is optimistic that it would work.

"We're optimistic that there would be no adverse side effects in humans as well," she said. Image above courtesy of the Male Contraception Information Project.

Medical science is always on the breakthrough to find cures for so many life-threatening illnesses these days. A recent project headed by University of Missouri-Columbia engineers based on nanotechnology aims to develop a small but powerful device capable of effectively delivering drugs to help treat these conditions.

So far, the project is in its testing phase and will be focusing on fighting various diseases on a microscopic level, such as destroying tumors, kidney stones, ulcers as well as hopefully treating cancer and HIV. Through a fusion of microchip-based technology and nanotechnology, the device triggers a reaction resulting in super sonic shock waves which will make infected cells permeable for drug interaction.

The project is headed by Shubhra Gangopadhyay, an electrical and computer engineering professor in the College of Engineering and the head of the University's International Center for Nano/Micro Systems and Nanotechnology.

Other practical uses of the technology include the dispersal of drug-carrying nanoparticles called the nanosponge into the body. This nanosponge will then target specific cells and areas that have been infected with disease. Also, through the delivery of gold nanoparticles, doctors can also track drug movement and the spread of disease throughout the body.

Such nanoparticles contain no harmful components and will be harmless to the body. The device will, however, need as many as three more years of additional testing before it can be made available to pharmaceutical companies. Nems/Mems Works, LLC will market the device and the various nanoparticles associated with the study.

Our civilization has always attributed abnormal developments here on Earth to the moon including visual physiological effects, atmospheric smearing of light like a prism, and turbulence in the atmosphere.

The more interesting among these are psychological effects like hysteria or planted suggestion. Scientifically speaking, what happens really is that some parts of the moon surface change in brightness and color otherwise known as Transient Lunar Phenomena.

To add to the above mentioned changes, scientist now claim that there's a strong correlation between TLP sightings and regions where lunar orbiting spacecraft have detected gas leaking out from beneath the lunar surface.

Scientists added that the said gas could mix with other gases of a more volcanic nature producing monoxide, carbon dioxide, and even water in the process. Columbia University researcher Arlin Crotts mentioned that if this turns out to be true, then it increases the possibility of us having lunar colonies.

Scientist are currently observing TLP sightings using a robotic camera located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in northern Chile. "The camera will be more sensitive than the human eye/telescope combination, and more objective and persistent. Hopefully it will give a better map of the TLP geographical distribution, as well as their timing and internal structure," Crotts added.

The chairman of a House subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet Rep. Edward J. Markey is very upset by the fact that the iPhone has a US$ 175 termination fee. He said that the phone essentially becomes a very expensive paperweight if owners decide to discontinue their AT&T plan.

To put things into perspective, he was quoted at saying that the phone has "Hotel California service. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave—you're stuck with your iPhone and you can't take it anywhere." This entire argument started from a hearing regarding the cellphone industry's wish to pre-empt states from regulating wireless phone companies.

So far the state public utility commissions have no authority over the pricing of wireless plans but have control over the terms and conditions of wireless service agreements. Be that as it may a law professor at Columbia University Timothy Wu had another take on the entire system saying that our current cellular phone industry is a "spectrum- based oligopoly" and that we, as consumers, have already given up our property rights.

He gave a very good example on this: "Imagine buying a television that stopped working if you decided to switch to satellite or a toaster that died if you switched from Potomac Power to ConEd." Now it's time to ask yourself, is this the way we want things to be run? Or do we want more from the system.

In an official press release, game publishing giant Electronic Arts has announced that it will be granting US$ 1 million to the Masters of Digital Media program in the Great Northern Way Campus in Canada. Following a recourse of actions to further the games industry and market in the region, EA will also be focusing on bringing in the next generation of game and interactive media developers.

The grant will serve as funds to improve the program and adapting it to the trends of the industry.

Graduates of the program normally receive a seal approved by four of the region's most major institutions: University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia Institute of Technology and the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design. But now it seems they are more likely to receive more than just that.

"Our goal is to help create an innovative educational environment that will lure talented people from around the world to the Great Northern Way Campus," said Paul Lee, President of EA Worldwide Studios. Electronic Arts hopes to invest in the future of the industry by providing the means for students to develop the skills and knowledge for future game design.

In addition to being an endowment, the grant will also serve as a means for providing scholarships to the visionary thinkers deserving of the chance. EA will also be providing paid internships at an - as yet - unidentified development studio within the multi-studio company, offer students mentoring programs and even staff the lecturers and teachers from the company's executives.

Theme park company Six Flags just announced its new partnership with Nintendo of America (NoA) that will give all residents of U.S. and the District of Columbia a chance to "Win a Wii a Week" for almost five months via its sweepstakes.

What's good about this is that you don't have to purchase anything to join. All you have to do is visit Six Flags' official online site and sign up to become a member of Team Six. This Team Six is actually like a club wherein members gain all-access passes for exclusive Six Flags info on rides, events and entertainment. It also offers special deals and discounts.

The sweepstakes event will run from April 23 (that's a Monday) and will end on September 9, Thursday. Participants should be at least thirteen years of age and only one entry is allowed per person. Well, what more can we add but it is indeed raining Wiis nowadays.

The Read link will take you directly to Six Flags' sweepstakes page where you can sign up and read more about the raffle.

'Course we love surfers. They have this cool accent, a smooth swagger when they walk, and those very attractive - uhh, beaks. And feathers. And real live webbed feet for padding through blue ocean waters - not the sort of flippers that humans attach to their gawky feet to help them swim.

We're talking about the surfers of Ubisoft's Surf's Up, an upcoming game on the PC, Playstation 3, PSP, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii. It's based on a movie to be released by Columbia Pictures, a comedy based on a teenager, Cody Maverick, leaving his home in Shiverpool, Antartica to travel to Pen Gu Island to fulfill his dreams of becoming a pro surfer.

Along the way he meets interesting characters such as Chicken Joe, Reggie Belafonte, Mikey Abromowitz, Lani Aliikai, and Geek. And did we ever tell you that the characters are penguins and a chicken? The game comes on May 22 for all of the above-mentioned platforms, as well as for the PS2, Gamecube and the GBA.

Look at these first screen shots from the upcoming game.