‘Symptoms of mental retardation and autism have been reversed for the first time in laboratory mice.
US scientists created mice that showed symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome – a leading cause of mental retardation and autism in humans.
They then reversed symptoms of the condition by inhibiting the action of an enzyme in the brain. [..]
Researcher Dr Susumu Tonegawa stressed that the mice were not treated until a few weeks after symptoms of disease first appeared.
“This implies that future treatment may still be effective even after symptoms are already pronounced,” he said.’
‘Two-year-old Freeman, a rare Catahoula leopard dog with boundless energy, might very well be the reason his owner Darcy Ingram is alive today. [..]
In December 2005, at just six months old, Freeman sniffed out what Ingram’s doctors assured her was not there: a cancerous tumour in her right breast.
“He kept hurting me and hurting me,” said Ingram, a picture of health today. “He wouldn’t leave that breast alone.” One day, Freeman’s powerful snout knocked Ingram’s breast: “It swelled up like a cantaloupe. That’s when all the fun started.”‘
‘A friend of mine happened to live in a students’ flat where such a thing happened: the landlord basically made them cram a bunch of stuff, which usually was in the main hallway, into a room that was too small for it, while in the same flat three rooms were completely empty, but locked. Luckily, the guy could lockpick his way into a room, but he asked me for a way to be able to re-lock it without the key and without anything suspicious being visible from the outside.
After some brainstorming, we came up with a James Bond-worthy concept: knock on the door in a certain fashion, and the door’ll open automatically. The idea was perfect: no need to drill holes, sneaky enough so the landlord wouldn’t accidentally trigger it, easy enough to remember.’
‘A teenager with a brown belt in karate used a samurai sword to scare off a burglar who was after his PlayStation 3 video game console.
Last Friday afternoon, Damian Fernandez and his 15-year-old sister, Deanne Fernandez, were home alone at their northwest Miami-Dade County home while their parents were at work when they heard knocking on the front door. Moments later, two men were prying the front door unlocked, prompting Deanne to hide in her closet. [..]
“Once I saw him take off running back, I jumped off my (bunk) bed and I grabbed my sword … and I just waited for him,” he said.
Damian said he lunged at him with his samurai sword, striking him in the chest.
“He freaked out,” Damian said.
The burglar ran out of the house with Damian chasing him down the road. When police arrived, a K-9 officer located the burglar hiding behind a neighbor’s palm tree. The second burglar got away.’
‘Feast your eyes on the result of weeks of work using the various remains of over a dozen cars — from 80’s BMW’s to a 1990 Toyota Tercel — it’s the glorious Turbo II Junkyard Boogaloo boombox. For those of you who want the gearhead nitty-gritty, the full “How To” is here. For those who just want to see this baby in all of its radical goodness, below you’ll find some documentation of what the Turbo II is and does …
Ninety-two pounds of plywood and car parts joined together as an homage to the homemade car-battery boomboxes used by first-generation break dancers; if you’ve watched the video above you’ve already got the general idea of the Turbo II Junkyard Boogaloo’s features. Read on and we’ll fill you in on the details [..]’
‘With more than a billion people now sharing just 100 surnames, Chinese authorities are considering a landmark move to try to end the confusion, state media reported Tuesday.
Current Chinese law states that children are only allowed take the surname from either their mother or father, but the lack of variety means there are now 93 million people in China with the family name Wang. [..]
Under a new draft regulation released by the ministry of public security, parents will be able to combine their surnames for their children, a move that could open up 1.28 million new possibilities, the China Daily reported.’
These people seem to have rigged up some sorta robot to steer their motorcycle by remote control.
(10.1meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘The US military is developing a robot with a teddy bear-style head to help carry injured soldiers away from the battlefield.
The Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot (BEAR) can scoop up even the heaviest of casualties and transport them over long distances over rough terrain.
New Scientist magazine reports that the “friendly appearance” of the robot is designed to put the wounded at ease. [..]
While the existing prototype slides its arms under its burden like a forklift, future versions will be fitted with manoeuvrable hands to gently scoop up casualties.
The Bear is controlled remotely and has cameras and microphones through which an operator sees and hears.’
‘National spelling bee champion Evan Odorney took time off from his busy schedule of hooking up with girls to appear on CNN. And he proves that he is also a champion of social skills.’
(11.7meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘They say they have built a prototype high-speed quantum key distribution (QKD) system that can perform a theoretically unbreakable “one-time pad” encryption, transmission and decryption of a video signal in real-time over a distance of at least 10 kilometers. [..]
One important requirement for any candidate system is that it be compatible with existing fiber-optic telecom networks that transmit at wavelengths of either 1550 or 1310 nanometers (nm) to reach the greatest distance. Another requirement is a highly efficient photon detector that can detect single photons reliably without introducing significant amounts of “noise.” One of the best low-noise detectors, a silicon-based avalanche photo diode (Si-APD), does not function at the telecom wavelengths. Instead, it operates best at much shorter wavelengths around 700 nm. To take advantage of the Si-APD, the NIST group designed a sub-system to “up-convert” single photons from a transmission wavelength of 1310 nm to 710 nm for high-efficiency detection.’
‘A major advance in understanding the genetics behind several of the world’s most common diseases has been reported.
The landmark Wellcome Trust study analysed DNA from the blood of 17,000 people to find genetic differences.
They found new genetic variants for depression, Crohn’s disease, coronary heart disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 and 2 diabetes.
The remarkable findings, published in Nature, have been hailed as a new chapter in medical science.
It is hoped they will pave the way for research into new treatments and genetic tests.’
‘Scientists say they have discovered a new gene linked with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
People with a damaged copy of the gene, GAB2, may be at four times increased risk of developing dementia, Neuron journal reports.
Experts said the latest findings were some of the most significant to emerge since the discovery of the ApoE4 Alzheimer’s gene.
Late-onset Alzheimer’s affects one in 10 people over 65 and half of over 85s.
The researchers, from 15 institutions including the Institute of Neurology in London, analysed the DNA of 1,411 people and found GAB2 influenced the risk of dementia among those with APOE4.’
‘New ways of turning heat into sound waves – and then into electricity – may be the next step toward a practical new source of alternative energy.
Scientists have known for decades that they can turn heat into sound using simple devices called acoustic heat engines. But this week a team of University of Utah researchers plan to show they’ve succeeded in miniaturising and optimising the devices, which then turn the sound into usable electricity.
If true, the advance could open the door to super-efficient power plants, cars, and computers, as well as a new generation of solar cells.
Acoustic heat engines usually use a copper plate to conduct heat to a high-surface-area material like glass wool, which then heats the surrounding air. The movement of the hot air generates a single frequency sound wave, rather like a flute. And this in turns vibrates a piezoelectric electrode, producing voltage.’
‘Research reported this week by three different groups shows that normal skin cells can be reprogrammed to an embryonic state in mice. The race is now on to apply the surprisingly straightforward procedure to human cells.
If researchers succeed, it will make it relatively easy to produce cells that seem indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells, and that are genetically matched to individual patients. There are limits to how useful and safe these would be for therapeutic use in the near term, but they should quickly prove a boon in the lab.
“It would change the way we see things quite dramatically,” says Alan Trounson of Monash University in Victoria, Australia. Trounson wasn’t involved in the new work but says he plans to start using the technique “tomorrow”. “I can think of a dozen experiments right now — and they’re all good ones,” he says.’
‘About 26,000 people are killed every year by the 100 million land mines believed to be scattered around the world. [..]
Removing mines and making them safe is relatively easy. Detecting them is difficult and risky. Conventional methods, using electronic mine detectors, heavy machines, sniffer dogs, or gentle probes into the ground using a sharp object, are time-consuming, costly — and dangerous. Sometimes, those searching for mines become victims themselves.
Now, a Danish company called Aresa Biodetection believes it has found a cheaper and safer method to find land mines by using a plant that changes color when it detects explosives in the soil. It has conducted tests using a genetically modified thale cress plant. The thale cress family includes the cress plant used often in salads and also the weeds that grow in sidewalk cracks.’
(5.7meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘Pope Benedict XVI is to become the first pontiff to harness solar power to provide energy for the Vatican, engineers say.
The deteriorating cement roof tiles of the Paul VI auditorium will be replaced next year with photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity.
The cells will generate enough power to light, heat or cool the hall, the Vatican engineers say.
Last year the Pope urged Christians not to squander the world’s resources.’
‘A group of art students created this optical illusion and then displayed it on a common sidewalk.’
(1.5meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘Sometimes I have some challenging ideas, or crazy like some other people would say. This time I thought about our cat who is the whole day out, returning sometimes hungry sometimes not, sometimes with traces of fights, sometimes he stay also the night out.
When he finally returns, I wonder where he was and what he did during his day. This brought me to the idea to equip the cat with a camera. The plan was to put a little camera around his neck which takes every few minutes a picture. After he is returning, the camera would show his day.’
The images are here.
This kid paints better than I can. 🙂 With his fingers no less.
(6.8meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘When thinking of technologically advanced societies pushing the envelope on alternative energy, the Amish of rural Middle America are about the last group that come to mind. Yet the conservative Christian religious sect known for their plain dress and abhorrence for modern conveniences such as automobiles and electricity is embracing solar power.
In Holmes County, Ohio, home to the world’s largest Amish community, an estimated 80% of Amish families now have photovoltaic panels. They use solar power for basic electrical needs like home lighting, powering sewing machines, and charging batteries for lights on horse-drawn buggies. The Amish have gone solar partly for safety concerns – gas lamps are a fire hazard – and partly out of legal requirements – transportation codes require electric lights on horse-drawn buggies. Another reason they are embracing solar power is to avoid connecting to the electric grid, something they feel would endanger their efforts to remain separated from the rest of American society.’
‘A Dutch reality television show in which a supposedly dying woman had to pick one of three contestants to whom she would donate a kidney was revealed as an elaborate hoax on Friday.
The show, which the broadcaster had said aimed to focus attention on a shortage of donor organs in the Netherlands, was condemned by Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende before broadcast Friday night and sparked controversy worldwide.
Identified only as “Lisa,” the 37-year-old woman who had been said to be suffering from a brain tumor was to base her selection on the person’s history and conversations with the candidates’ families and friends.
In the last minutes of the program, she was revealed as a healthy actress and producers stunned viewers by saying “The Big Donorshow” was a hoax.
The contestants were also part of the deception, although all three are genuine kidney patients.’
Followup to Reality show prize: a kidney.
‘The United States and Russia have agreed on a plan to accelerate installation of radiation detection devices at 350 Russian border crossings so the system to prevent nuclear smuggling is fully operational by 2011, U.S. officials said on Friday.
“This announcement is a major cooperative step in counter-proliferation work in Russia,” which contains a major portion of the world’s nuclear material, said Will Tobey, deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration, a part of the U.S. Energy Department.
“It will help us prevent smuggling into and out of the region,” he told Reuters in an interview.
Russia identified more than 480 cases of illicit trafficking of nuclear and radioactive material in 2006. While U.S. officials said these cases were not believed to involve weapons-grade nuclear material, the number of cases underscores the scope of the problem.’
‘At last, I’ve done it. I’ve thrown in the towel, kicked the habit and gone on the wagon. After thirty years, I have escaped from a fearsome addiction.
To be truthful, I’m not really sure I’ve gone cold turkey yet. Only last month I was at a psychical research conference. Only days ago, I emptied the last of those meticulously organised filing cabinets, fighting the little voice that warned: “Don’t do it, you might want to read that again” with a stronger one that urged: “You’ve given up!” as I threw paper after paper on ESP, psychokinesis, psychic pets, aromatherapy and haunted houses into the recycling sack. If cold turkey does strike, the dustbin men will have taken away my fix.
Come to think of it, I feel slightly sad. It was just over thirty years ago that I had the dramatic out-of-body experience that convinced me of the reality of psychic phenomena and launched me on a crusade to show those closed-minded scientists that consciousness could reach beyond the body and that death was not the end. Just a few years of careful experiments changed all that. I found no psychic phenomena – only wishful thinking, self-deception, experimental error and, occasionally, fraud. I became a sceptic.’
‘Ground-breaking Australian research has discovered a respiratory virus in children which may also have links to cancer.
After a five-year study, associate professors Theo Sloots and Michael Nissen of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, have found the WU polyomavirus in 44 patients, including 38 from Brisbane and six from the US. [..]
“We know that up to 50 per cent of children who come into hospital with severe respiratory tract disease do not go home with the cause,” Prof Nissen said.
“So now we have another virus which is associated with severe respiratory viral tract disease.
“It is of great interest though that also this virus falls into a family of viruses that have been linked with cancers, so it’s an exciting field of new research into causes of cancer.”‘
‘An elephant in eastern India has sparked complaints from motorists who accuse it of blocking traffic and refusing to allow vehicles to pass unless drivers give it food, a newspaper has reported.
The Hindustan Times said Monday the elephant was scouting for food on a highway in the eastern state of Orissa, forcing motorists to roll down their windows and get out of the car.
“The tusker then inserts its trunk inside the vehicle and sniffs for food,” local resident Prabodh Mohanty, who has come across the elephant twice, was quoted as saying.
“If you are carrying vegetables and banana inside your vehicle, then it will gulp them and allow you to go.”
If a commuter does not wind down his window or resists opening the vehicle door, the elephant stands in front of the car until the driver allows him to carry out his routine inspection.’
‘Lest anyone suspect that my standards for women are too high, let me allay those fears by enumerating in advance my three criteria for the match. First, the potential girlfriend must be approximately my age–let’s say 21 plus or minus three or four years. Second, the girl must be beautiful (and I use that term all-encompassingly to refer to both inner and outer beauty). Third, she must also be reasonably intelligent–she doesn’t have to be Mensa material, but the ability to carry on a witty, insightful argument would be nice. So there they are–three simple demands, which I’m sure everyone will agree are anything but unreasonable.
That said, I now present my demonstration of why the probability of finding a suitable candidate fulfilling the three above-noted requirements is so small as to be practically impossible–in other words, why I will never have a girlfriend. I shall endeavour to make this proof as rigorous as the available data permits. And I should note, too, that there will be no statistical trickery involved here; I have cited all my sources and provided all relevant calculations in case anyone wishes to conduct their own independent review. Let’s now take a look at the figures.’
The odds don’t look good. 🙂
‘Being crazy is hard, but it’s worth the effort. Especially if you’re a cop, paramedic, or social worker who may someday need to deal with a person having a psychotic episode. At those times, empathy can be crucial.
That’s where Virtual Hallucinations comes in. The training device, created by Janssen L.P., is a rig with earphones and goggles that plunges the wearer into the mind of a serious schizophrenic. The system offers two interactive scenarios. In one, you’re riding a bus in which other riders appear and disappear, birds of prey claw at the windows, and voices hiss, “He’s taking you back to the FBI!” The other features a trip to the drugstore, where the pharmacist seems to be handing you poison instead of pills, and hostile customers stare at you in disgust.’
‘Female hammerhead sharks can reproduce without having sex, scientists confirm.
The evidence comes from a shark at Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska which gave birth to a pup in 2001 despite having had no contact with a male.
Genetic tests by a team from Belfast, Nebraska and Florida prove conclusively the young animal possessed no paternal DNA, Biology Letters journal reports.
The type of reproduction exhibited had been seen before in bony fish but never in cartilaginous fish such as sharks.
Parthenogenesis, as this type of reproduction is known, occurs when an egg cell is triggered to develop as an embryo without the addition of any genetic material from a male sperm cell.’
