Like many colleges, the University of Arizona sells its computers when it has no further use for them. But the university also has an “environmentally friendly” plan for computers that don’t get snapped up: It send the leftovers, about 40 machines a year, to Unicor, a company that provides job-skills training to prison inmates, for recycling. (Arizona Daily Wildcat)

If you spend hours a day squinting at computer screens, you might be improving your skills at staring competitions. But you could end up hurting your eyes more than you realize, according to researchers at Ohio State University. Even slight squinting, the researchers say, cuts a computer user’s blink rate in half—and insufficient blinking can make for dry, irritated eyes. (Live Science)

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked for more information about the proposed acquisition of WebCT Inc. by Blackboard Inc. Blackboard’s president said the request was not an unusual one, but it could delay the merger by a few months. (The Chronicle, subscription required)

If institutions like Indiana State University can require students to buy laptops before showing up, why can’t school districts do the same? Administrators at the Fullerton School District, in Orange County, California, are learning the answer the hard way.

The district has started urging families to buy laptop computers for children enrolled in its schools. But the idea has been met with resistance from parents, who say the $1,500 price tag aggravates the digital divide between high-income and low-income families. And the American Civil Liberties Union says it may file suit against the district, arguing that school officials are violating the state’s Constitution by not offering free public education. (Los Angeles Times)

A California couple has taken their personal battle against the teaching of evolution out of the classroom and onto the Web, slapping the operators of a Web site at the University of California at Berkeley with a lawsuit. The site, Understanding Evolution, provides schoolteachers with resources for teaching students about the science of evolutionary theory.

The suit accuses two professors of biology at Berkeley, along with an official of the National Science Foundation, which has helped finance the site, of trying "to modify the beliefs of public school science students so they will be more willing to accept evolutionary theory as true." A lawyer for the Berkeley scientists said the suit rehashes the repeatedly rejected argument that teaching evolution is itself a religious act. (San Jose Mercury News)

Harvard University has joined the fast-growing ranks of institutions offering courses as podcasts. The university’s Extension School has started to post online video and audio recordings of weekly lectures from one of its entry-level courses, "Understanding Computers and the Internet."

A number of colleges have chosen to restrict their coursecasts to registered students, but the Harvard lectures are available at no cost to Web users.

In place of ID cards and passwords, some colleges now use biometric technology, like hand readers and retina scanners, to screen people seeking access to facilities and data. (The Chronicle, free link)

A researcher at Florida State University is trying to create the perfect professor, or at least the perfect computerized stand-in for a professor. Her work is part of a new wave of innovation in developing virtual tutors for students. (The Chronicle, subscription required)

The Library of Congress has begun a campaign to raise money for the World Digital Library, a proposed online archive of international cultural artifacts. It announced this week a $3-million grant from the project’s first patron: Google. (The Chronicle, subscription required)

A new computer virus making the rounds at the University of Kansas has a unique way of getting students’ attention: It comes in e-mail messages that appear to be sent by either the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Central Intelligence Agency. Like most e-mail viruses, the messages come with an attachment that wreaks havoc on computers when it is downloaded. (Lawrence Journal-World)