News Tidbits

• The FDA finally greenlighted the day-after pill. It's been a long time coming, and there's still a ways to go (right now the sanctioning only covers women of 18+ years), but it's a huge leap forward in what appeared to be a stalled battle in the abortion wars. It will even be available over-the-counter. Amazing.

• Apple is the latest party caught in the web of Sony's faulty battery scandal, forced to recall 1.8 million laptop batteries due to overheating concerns. Dell last month got things started by initiating their own recall of Sony-produced batteries - the largest recall in the history of the PC industry. Of course, Dell only admitted to the problem once cornered by damning photos of one of their units instantaneously and undeniably combusting ("exploding" in geekspeak). For information on whether you and your Apple laptop need battery help, read on. For general tips on how to prolong the life of your laptop battery - and other rechargeable units - click here.

• I told you Pluto was in trouble, it just wasn't the sort of trouble we'd expected. Instead of finding itself awash in a sea of equally-recognized, but lesser-in-stature heavenly bodies, the icey guy way out there suddenly finds himself left out in the cold: he's been demoted from "planet" to the strange title of "dwarf planet". One astronomical commentator posited that "planetoid" would be a more fair - and scientific - name. Agreed.