ROME -- Italian researcher Siro Trevisanato says he believes the ancient Hittite empire was the first to use biological warfare.

Trevisanato says in the Journal of Medical Hypotheses the Hittites "were the first people to wage bioterrorism," using diseased sheep, ANSA reported Monday.

He said the Hittites of Asia Minor used tularemia, an animal-borne infection fatal to humans, to aid their expansion campaigns.

An example was demonstrated in 1325 B.C. when the Hittites sacked the Phoenician city of Symra on what is now the border of Lebanon and Syria.

"It is then that we first hear of the so-called Hittite Plague. It appears in several documents. It is no accident, in my view, that it coincides with the first documented appearance of tularemia," Trevisanato said.

Toronto -- Canadian scientists have created a tool that can predict the state of a cell by successfully mapping all 70,000 nucleosomes in yeast.

Led by Corey Nislow, a University of Toronto assistant professor, the team created a complete, three-dimensional map of the yeast genome. That information was fed into a computer to build a software program that can predict where nucleosomes should be.

Nucleosomes wrap DNA before it is transformed into proteins and are critical indicators and regulators of a cell's state.

"When control is lost, cells make inappropriate proteins or divide inappropriately, which is what happens in diseases like cancer," said Nislow, whose team worked closely with Professor Timothy Hughes on the project.

Seattle, -- A $4.1 million DNA "fin-printing" project will help scientists differentiate different populations of salmon genetically, the University of Washington reported.

The ability of salmon to migrate such extraordinary distances makes it hard at a management level to know whose fish are whose and at a biological level to unravel the mystery of their ocean migration.

The recently launched effort by the Seattle university's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences aims to help determine who's who in the salmon travel world by collecting genetic information for thousands of Pacific Rim salmon populations and creating open-access databases for managers, treaty-makers and scientists, the university said in a news release.

Because salmon migrate extraordinary distances, managers have a hard time figuring out whose fish are whose. On a biological level, the database information could help solve the mystery of their ocean migration, researchers said.

Tokyo -- Japanese camera and medical-device maker Olympus Corp. said Monday it agreed to buy British medical-instruments firm Gyrus Group PLC for $1.92 billion.

Olympus, of Tokyo, said the $12.93-a-share deal, which the Gyrus board approved, is 58 percent higher than Gyrus's closing price Friday and 43 percent higher than its average closing price over the past six months, Olympus said.

The deal is expected to close in 2008's first half, Olympus said.

Olympus will turn Gyrus, of Berkshire, England, into a subsidiary, positioning Olympus to benefit from "the continuing shift toward minimally invasive surgical procedures," company officials said.

Olympus is the world leader in endoscopes -- tiny cameras doctors use to look inside bodies during surgical procedures. Gyrus makes equipment that uses radio waves and other energy technologies to improve medical "visualization" in minimally invasive laparoscopic or endoscopic "keyhole" surgery.

Following Google’s initiative, archrival Microsoft, Sunday revealed its plans to deliver more software technology over the internet for corporate customers willing to pay a monthly subscription instead of license fees. A new web component in the desktop-based Microsoft Office will allow users to store, share and comment on documents but there is no provision for creating files online.

IRobot Corp., the maker of vacuum-cleaning and bomb-defusing robots on Thursday unveiled its latest machine—the Looj, that would clear desiccated leaves and clean the gunk out of the gutters in homes across America.

Apple’s threats were not futile; the iPhone software update released on Thursday afternoon does block the modified devices, as the company warned it would. Users and hackers reported that the iPhones freed of AT&T ‘got bricked’ after the update was installed.

Apple has issued a warning for those who have discarded AT&T service from their iPhones and are using them with other services. It is expected that such phones will not work after the company's next software update and it bluntly told the consumers: If your iPhone breaks, don't come crying to us.

One Laptop Per Child project, intended to provide better education through computers to the poor, announced that the laptops will be on sale for consumers in the United States and Canada. The so-called $100 laptop initiative could not meet early success as initially it would take some $188 to produce one XO laptop and not enough offers have been received to activate mass production.

Apple has unveiled the most recent version of the iPod, which basically is an iPhone without the phone feature. The new iPod touch contains, according to its name, a touch-sensitive wide-screen besides multiple new features, including a web browser and wireless internet access (WLAN).