This week's theme is technological developments. For the new reader, Quade Vide is a weekly column highlighting the author's picks from the web in a particular field. We're always open to suggestions for topics - use the comments feature or send me an e-mail.

Technological Developments:

• Nuclear-powered drone aircraft that can fly for weeks on end.
• Scientists develop hafnium "gamma-ray bombs" with half-life of 31 years.
• Spam's raison d'être found: it's profitable!
• India to launch Moon Mission in 2008, if they can get their dates right.

Also, not quite on topic, but interesting nevertheless:

• US Federal Court rejects validity of RIAA subpoenas.
• Microsoft disables WindowsUpdate site in preparation for Blaster attack.

There's some interesting content here. Nuclear-based technology appears to be making a comeback, which is - in my opinion - a good thing indeed. It's certainly becoming a more practicable solution to residential power requirements (though as the recent US fiasco demonstrates, a scalable, redundant power delivery infrastructure is arguably more important), and there is a clear market for atomic energy in avionics and space exploration. Military use seems largely unavoidable, given the unwaivering ethnocentricity of present administrations.

Unfortunately, the public at large continues to retain an irrational fear about green-glowing nuclear assassins (which, at any rate, would glow blue).