I was reading the BBC news last night and I found this story about an amazing discovery - the megavirus. The following is the intro from the BBC, click through for the entire article.

10 October 2011 Last updated at 15:51 ET

Ocean trawl reveals 'megavirus'

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

The largest virus yet discovered has been isolated from ocean water pulled up off the coast of Chile.

Called Megavirus chilensis, it is 10 to 20 times longer than the average virus.

It just beats the previous record holder, Mimivirus, which was found in a water cooling tower in the UK in 1992.

Scientists tell the journal PNAS that Megavirus probably infects amoebas, single-celled organisms that are floating free in the sea.

The particle measures about 0.7 micrometers (thousandths of a millimetre) in diameter.

"It is bigger than some bacteria," explained Professor Jean-Michel Claverie, from Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.

"You don't need an electron microscope to see it; you can see it with an ordinary light microscope," he told BBC News.

Click the picture to see the full story at the BBC

 

US defence firm Lockheed Martin hit by cyber-attack

US defence firm Lockheed Martin says it has come under a significant cyber-attack, which took place last week.

29 May 2011 Last updated at 02:39 ET

Few details were available, but Lockheed said its security team had detected the threat quickly and ensured that none of its programmes had been compromised.

The Pentagon said it is working to establish the extent of the breach.

Lockheed makes fighter jets, warships and multi-billion dollar weapons systems sold worldwide.

To read the rest of "US defence firm Lockheed Martin hit by cyber-attack" story at the BBC News site.

My thoughts: These attacks happen all the time. Many are kept quiet so that investigators can try to capture the perpetrators. What we ALL need to do is take security seriously. The general public should start simple. Make sure allk your computers are virus and malware free. Reducing the number of zombia bots is a good start. Using HTTPS instead of HTTP whenever possible when using the web is also a good idea. Not sure if a site will work using HTTPS, welll just type it in. Other simple tasks are:

• Have a different strong password for every site you use
• Make sure your operating system and software is always upto date
• Use the most upto date version of the web browser
• There are many others - start with Microsoft's Safety & Security Center site

Security is up to us, the users and to the companies that house our data. we all need to be diligent.

Six marines run across the US in a 'Gumpathon'

By Katie Connolly BBC News, Washington

11 November 2010 Last updated at 00:59 ET

 

A group of six British and US marines have run across the US - from New York to California - to raise money for wounded veterans, the BBC's Katie Connolly reports.

Colour Sgt Damian Todd doesn't even like to run. "I hate running. I absolutely hate it with a passion," he told the BBC.

And yet he has just led a team of six marines on a 3,530 mile, eight-week running odyssey, passing through three deserts, four time zones, 10 mountain ranges, 16 states and 789 towns across the US.

Colour Sgt Todd dubbed this trek "the Gumpathon", after the film Forrest Gump, where the title character runs across America. Colour Sgt Todd liked the idea when he saw the film 14 years ago, and stashed the seemingly fanciful notion in the back of his mind for a later date.

Read the rest of the story at the BBC

If you have a US cell phone text gump to 50555 to donate $10

If you have a British cell phone text gump to 70800 to donate 5 pounds