October 21, 2004 (Thursday)
- A University of Florida scientist, Thomas DeMarse, announces that he has grown a "brain" of rat neurons that can fly an airplane simulator. A "brain" such as this could be used to study how actual brains compute information and, potentially, as a sort of living computer. (Wired) (Discovery) (U. of FL press release)
- Lebanese President Émile Lahoud names staunch pro-Syrian politician Omar Karami as Prime Minister following Rafic Hariri's resignation on October 20, 2004. Karami, Prime Minister from 1990 to 1992, was forced to resign in 1992. (Jerusalem Post)[permanent dead link]
- Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse: The US Army sentences Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick to eight years in prison for sexually and physically abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (Reuters)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- A bus carrying workers to a Baghdad airport is attacked, leaving four dead and eleven injured. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
- Several mortar rounds land near Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi while he visits the city of Mosul, in northern Iraq. (Reuters)
- In Xinmi, China, a gas explosion in a coal mine kills 62 people; 86 are still missing. (Xinhuanet) (BBC)
- A U.S. pilot is killed in Afghanistan when his Sikorsky HH-60 helicopter crashes due to technical problems. (BBC)
- Fidel Castro, long-time ruler of Cuba, falls after a televised speech, breaking a leg and an arm. (BBC)
- In response to dropping public support for his party, Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson reorganizes the Swedish government by replacing two cabinet ministers. (Bloomberg)
- Typhoon Tokage kills at least 66 people and injures hundreds more in southern Japan, making it the deadliest typhoon to hit Japan in 22 years. (BBC) (Reuters) Archived 2005-01-24 at the Wayback Machine
- The Human Genome Project revises its estimate of the number of genes in the human genome, putting the number at 20,000 to 25,000, about 30 percent fewer than the previous estimate. (ABC News)