ABC 7 brings us this report about how Oakland may try to solve its budget crisis, in part, by becoming the first city in the nation to directly tax marijuana dispensaries. The city would impose a 1.8% levy, which would mean that the four official pot clubs would have to pay $18 for every $1,000 sold -- currently, through standard business taxes, the city collects $1.20 for every $1,000 sold -- and would potentially raise $400,000 for the coming fiscal year. This measure goes onto a special election ballot being voted on this month.

For their part, the recession-proof pot clubs are all for it. Says dispensary owner Richard Lee, "The market for cannabis is so strong that we'll be able to absorb the cost." Now if only SF would do this instead of installing parking meters in Golden Gate Park.

PREVIOUSLY: 2010 Watch: Legalizing Pot; SF Supervisor Proposes Municipal Weed Dispensaries

Shared by Jonathan
This is the MOST seriously bad-ass thing I've heard of all week.

The really interesting part will be taking this to the next level: using the phase relationship of the received ultrasound to calibrate the generation of a generated ultrasound wave that can then be used to cook individual cells, burn up tumors, cauterize burst blood vessels, etc. Call and response, mang!

This fish was the first lucky organism to have its cells imaged using microscopic X-ray vision. This kind of image was never possible before. But now scientists can watch as living cells transform within your body.

Professor Vasilis Ntziachristos and his researchers at the Helmholtz Zentrum München used a combination of lasers and ultrasound machines (and math, of course) to create the high-res, 3-D images of this zebra fish's internal structures. They accomplished that by injecting the fish with fluorescing dyes — some of which are already approved for clinical use — and then bombarding the tissues with lasers. Rather than attempting to look for refracted light, which can only penetrate between one-half and one millimeter, they used the ultrasound machine to listen for the tiny shock waves created by the momentary temperature increases caused by exciting the fluorescing particles with lasers. A bunch of math later, and they end up with a 3-D image of the insides of a fish.

Dr. Daniel Razansky, a member of Ntziachristos's team, had this to say:

This opens the door to a whole new universe of research. For the first time, biologists will be able to optically follow the development of organs, cellular function and genetic expression through several millimeters to centimeters of tissue.

Ntziachristos thinks that the technology, which they've dubbed multi-spectral opto-acoustic tomography (MOST) can have more than simple diagnostic applications: he expects it to revolutionize drug research:

MSOT can truly revolutionize biomedical research, drug discovery and healthcare. Since MSOT allows optical and fluorescence imaging of tissue to a depth of several centimeters, it could become the method of choice for imaging cellular and subcellular processes throughout entire living tissues.

They also think it could begin to eliminate the need for wide-scale animal killings and dissections in the name of biomedical research, which should please the PETA crowd.

The sound of light: Innovative technology shatters the barriers of modern light microscopy [Helmholtz Zentrum München]

Mass. High Tech takes a look at BikeNow, which aims to set up 150 solar-powered bike-rental kiosks across Boston for a fleet of 1,500 bicycles - if it can raise $2 million in financial backing.<!--break-->

The iPhone’s keyboard has a few extra characters that only become visible if you press and hold down keys. Two frequently used characters you might find useful to know about are the em dash (–) and the ellipsis (…).

Em Dash–

To make an em dash—often used to interrupt a sentence for parenthetical remarks like this one—hold down the hyphen key until you see an em dash appear next to the hyphen. Slide your finger over to highlight the em dash and release your finger.

Ellipsis…

To make an ellipsis, hold down the period key until the ellipsis appears next to the period. Slide your finger to highlight and release.

Be sure to check out more of our posts on iPhone Basics.