London :Toilet finding SatNav launched

SatLav service finds nearest public toilet
Getting caught short in the centre of London is no fun. So whether you're drinking after work in Soho, or splashing the Christmas cash in Knightsbridge, a quick text message to 80097 with the word 'toilet' will prompt a quick-response text back with details of the nearest facilities and their opening times... [more]
Source : Guardian

Israel Importing pistachio nuts originating in Iran

US asks Israel to stop importing pistachio from Iran
Washington displeased with nuts smuggled to Turkey from Tehran and imported to Jewish state. US Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Keenum demanded Monday that the Israeli import from Turkey of pistachio nuts originating in Iran be halted immediately... [more]

Source : Ynet

Is eating more slowly the key to eating less?

Slower eating rate reduces the food intake of men, but not women
For some reason, eating at a slower rate caused the men but not the women to eat less. The gender difference may be related to the fact the men's baseline eating rate was faster. The women were already eating relatively slowly at baseline, so maybe they didn't gain any benefit from the slower eating condition... [more]
Source : Bps Research Digest Blog

China's Peasant Paleontologist Dinosaur Hunters

Dino Black Market Fuels Peasant-Police Combat in China
Armed with only tractors and farm tools, Chinese peasants recently attacked police who had come to seize dinosaur bones the farmers had found. The clash called attention to the rise of a new type of dinosaur hunter in China's fossil-rich countryside: the "peasant paleontologist."... [more]
Source : National Geographic

India's 'pink' vigilante women

Women in the poorest part of India form a gang and wear pink
They wear pink saris and go after corrupt officials and boorish men with sticks and axes.
The several hundred vigilante women of India's northern Uttar Pradesh state's Banda area proudly call themselves the "gulabi gang" (pink gang), striking fear in the hearts of wrongdoers and earning the grudging respect of officials... [more]
Source : BBC

Naming rights for a butterfly at 40,800$

New owl butterfly species naming rights auctioned for $40,800
An online auction for naming rights to a new owl butterfly species discovered at the University of Florida brought a winning bid of $40,800, with proceeds benefiting continued research on Mexican butterflies... [more]

Source : University of Florida

The transistor: Are we starting to hit the limits of this extraordinary breakthrough?

The transistor at 60
That first device was the size of a modern mobile phone. Right now, 2 million transistors could fit in the full stop at the end of this sentence. Intel has just released its new Penryn processors, which have up to 820 million transistors, and soon the standard inch-wide microprocessor will have 1 billion transistors... [more]

Source : The Sydney Morning Herald

The Myth of Light Cigarettes

Probing the myth that 'light' cigarettes are better
Ever thought you were doing yourself less harm when smoking a Marlboro Light? Well, you can safely bury that illusion now. Information released during a Senate committee hearing last week bolstered the case that "light" or "ultra light" cigarettes are just as harmful to your health as regular ones—if not worse. And not only that: the big tobacco companies have been aware of this fact for 30 years... [more]
Source : Newsweek

French president Sarkozy says Taiwan referendum plan on UN membership unjustified

Sarkozy: France adheres to one-China policy, oppposes Taiwan independence
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that his country will adhere to the one-China policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence during talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao Monday... [more]
Source : Xinhua

Russia and Italy sign natural gas pipeline deal

Gazprom, Russia's gas exporter, and Italy's Eni sign for an operating company
From the very word of the Pravda, Russia, supplier of a quarter of Europe's gas, signed a pipeline agreement with Italy today that will give the Kremlin more control over the continent's energy market... [more]
Source : Pravda

Ron Paul The Libertarian?

How to make sense of the Ron Paul revolution?
How to make sense of the Ron Paul revolution? What's behind the improbably successful (so far) presidential campaign of a 72-year-old 10-term Republican congressman from Texas who pines for the gold standard while drawing praise from another relic from the hyperinflationary 1970s, punk-rocker Johnny Rotten?... [more]
Source : Washington Post

The sex of a child may depend on how stressed its mother is

A boy or a girl?
A boy or a girl? That is usually the first question asked when a woman gives birth. Remarkably, the answer varies with where the mother lives. In rich countries the chances of its being a boy are about 5% higher than in poor ones. Equally remarkably, that figure has been falling recently. Several theories have been put forward to explain these observations.
Some argue that smoking plays a role, others that diet may be important. Neither of these ideas has been supported by evidence from large studies.
But new research points to a different factor: stress... [more]
Source : The Economist

How technology has shaken up the stock photography business

New threat to stock photo sales
Stock photography - the pictures used by companies on packaging, leaflets, and websites - used to sell for thousands of dollars. Changing technology has meant you can now pick up these images very cheaply. But not everyone is happy with the development... [more]
Source : BBC

Antibiotic treated meat a significant hazard

Agricultural Antibiotics May Be The Cause Of Super-Bugs
Have you been to the grocery store recently and chosen that chicken cut that is not treated with antibiotics? Or did you choose one that was treated with antibiotic, thinking all bacteria in it would be dead? According to recent research, farms may be more effective sources of transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to the community than hospitals. Fresh poultry from animals not treated with antibiotics will probably pose a smaller risk to your health. If you catch any disease from it, antibiotics will really work for you if you need them... [more]
Source : NewsTarget

Antidepressant may hold key to long life

Antidepressant Found to Extend Lifespan in adult roundworms
Studies indicate that lifespan extension by mianserin involves mechanisms associated with lifespan extension by dietary restriction which has been shown to retard the effects of aging in a variety of animals ranging from worms and flies to mammals... [more]
Source : Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Termite guts hold key to better biofuels

Termite Guts May Yield Novel Enzymes For Better Biofuel Production
Termites notorious for their voracious appetite for wood, rendering houses to dust and causing billions of dollars in damage per year -- may provide the biochemical means to a greener biofuel future. The bellies of these tiny beasts actually harbor a gold mine of microbes that have now been tapped as a rich source of enzymes for improving the conversion of wood or waste biomass to valuable biofuels... [more]

Source : DOE JGI

Modified virus treats Parkinson's

Genetically altered virus helps Parkinson's sufferers
The first gene-based therapy for Parkinson's disease has been found to be effective following brain scans of patients who received the treatment as part of an on-going trial. The success marks an important landmark for gene therapy, which has never before been used to treat a degenerative brain disease in humans... [more]
Source : Guardian

Ethnic strife in Europe

A precursor of Balkanization, or birth pangs on the way to full integration of immigrants?
One Dutch academic, who requested anonymity, wrote me cynically that "there are some Muslims in the Netherlands who think that in the future there will be Muslim enclaves with Islamic schools and banking, where the Shari'a is law and the residents will probably be speaking Arabic or Turkish." He added: "Are we going to recognize the passports and identity cards from these enclaves? Do we supply them with gas and electricity, and what do we do if they don't pay? What do we do with the criminals who flee to such an enclave?"... [more]
Source : The Jerusalem Post

Human skin cells reprogrammed to act like stem cells

Scientists guide human skin cells to embryonic state
A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers reports the genetic reprogramming of human skin cells to create cells indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells. The finding is not only a critical scientific accomplishment, but potentially remakes the tumultuous political and ethical landscape of stem cell biology as human embryos may no longer be needed to obtain the blank slate stem cells capable of becoming any of the 220 types of cells in the human body. Perfected, the new technique would bring stem cells within easy reach of many more scientists as they could be easily made in labs of moderate sophistication, and without the ethical and legal constraints that now hamper their use by scientists... [more]
Source : University of Wisconsin-Madison

Bee Silk, Light Weight and Very Tough

Bees are the new silkworms
Moths and butterflies, particularly silkworms, are well known producers of silk. And we all know spiders use it for their webs. But they are not the only invertebrates who make use of the strength and versatility of silk. Most people are unaware that bees and ants produce silk but they do and its molecular structure is very different to that of the large protein, sheet structure of moth and spider silk... [more]
Source : CSIRO

Light wormholes could wire space invisibly

Wormholes could end messy wiring and speed up computers
Described in the journal Physical Review Letters, these 'electromagnetic wormholes' are the electromagnetic radiation (light) based equivalent of space-time wormholes and could function as invisible light-carrying cables. If you were to gaze down one end of such a wormhole, sitting on a nearby table, you could find yourself gazing through a tube at your garden, for example... [more]
Source : Telegraph

Why Do Some Races Have Higher IQs?

Created Equal
Scientists have already identified genes that influence brain size and vary by continent. Whether these play a role in racial IQ gaps, nobody knows. But we should welcome this research, because any genetic hypothesis about intelligence ought to be clarified and tested. Critics think IQ tests are relative—i.e., they measure fitness for success in our society, not in other societies. "In a hunter-gatherer society, IQ will still be important, but if a hunter cannot shoot straight, IQ will not bring food to the table," argues psychologist Robert Sternberg. "In a warrior society … physical prowess may be equally necessary to stay alive." It's a good point, but it bolsters the case for a genetic theory. Nature isn't stupid. If Africans, Asians, and Europeans evolved different genes, the reason is that their respective genes were suited to their respective environments... [more]
Source : Slate

US : The use of the death penalty

A debate revives: Does the death penalty save lives?
For the first time in a generation, the question of whether the death penalty deters murders has captured the attention of U.S. scholars in law and economics, setting off an intense new debate about one of the central justifications for capital punishment.
According to roughly a dozen recent studies, executions save lives. For each inmate put to death, the studies say, three to 18 murders are prevented... [more]
Source : IHT

We Can Hear Through the Noise

Left Brain Helps Hear Through The Noise
Our brain is very good at picking up speech even in a noisy room, an adaptation essential for holding a conversation at a cocktail party, and now we are beginning to understand the neural interactions that underlie this ability. International research team reports how investigations using neuroimaging have revealed that the brain's left hemisphere helps discern the signal from the noise... [more]
Source : Science Daily

Superbug: What makes one bacterium so deadly

The secrets of the superbug
Some of the most aggressive antibiotic-resistant staph infections gain their advantage with a molecule that punctures the immune cells trying to fight off the bacteria, scientists have discovered. Understanding the role of this molecule in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) could lead to new therapies for the notoriously hard-to-treat, and sometimes fatal, skin infection... [more]
Source : Science News

Researchers use fMRIs to track blood flow in the brain to determine if someone is fibbing

Are You a Liar? Ask Your Brain
The mere thought of being interrogated—by a parent, boss or significant other—is enough to make one's blood pressure rise and pulse and breathing rates race. But contrary to popular belief, these signs of anxiety are not reliable indicators of a person's honesty. Instead, researchers are looking into the brain to separate liars from truth tellers... [more]
Source : Scientific American

Romania, Dangerous drivers

Romania's horse and cart crackdown
Why Romania has banned the horse and cart from main roads. A new law which bans them and their wagons from all main roads because they are blamed for 10% of all road traffic accidents in the country, is a cruel blow, aimed by the bureaucrats in Bucharest at the solar plexus of their own peasantry... [more]
Source : BBC

Whale found beached in deep Amazon rain forest

Whale found 1,000 miles inside Amazon
Biologists and villagers in a remote corner of the Amazon rainforest were searching for a 12-tonne whale yesterday that had reportedly lost its way and become stranded 1,000 miles from the ocean. The five-metre long (16ft) creature, which biologists said was probably a minke whale, became stranded on a beach on the Tapajos river, 39 miles from the city of Santarem... [more]
Source : Guardian

The China Model

How long can economic freedom and political repression coexist?
From Vietnam to Syria, from Burma to Venezuela, and all across Africa, leaders of developing countries are admiring and emulating what might be called the China Model. It has two components. The first is to copy successful elements of liberal economic policy by opening up much of the economy to foreign and domestic investment, allowing labor flexibility, keeping the tax and regulatory burden low, and creating a first-class infrastructure through a combination of private sector and state spending. The second part is to permit the ruling party to retain a firm grip on government, the courts, the army, the internal security apparatus, and the free flow of information. A shorthand way to describe the model is: economic freedom plus political repression... [more]
Source : THE AMERICAN

Warm to icy beer in seconds

Huski instant chiller eliminates warm brew
A young New Zealand inventor has found a solution to the unpalatable problem of a can of warm beer - a device that turns a tepid beverage into a cold drink within seconds. And the portable gadget, which has a cooling capacity almost four times that of regular ice with the advantage that it doesn't water down your drink, could spell the end of lugging a heavy chilly bin to the beach... [more]
Source : The New Zealand Herald

The unknown risks of nanomaterials

The challenge of regulating nanomaterials
Get ready for a nanolife. Wake up in a bed with cotton sheets made bug-free with silver nanoparticles, brush your teeth with toothpaste bristling with nanogold, step into pants made dirt- and moisture-resistant through nanofibers, and go out with nanosunscreen on your skin. These nanobased consumer products are already on the market around the world, and the list is growing. As the nanotechnology industry thunders ahead, filling consumer products with nanomaterials, experts worry about the lack of adequate oversight and regulation... [more]
Source : American Chemical Society

Catching rainbows

How to halt light and bottle it
A group of researchers announced a plan to stop light completely and store it, using materials that possess some odd properties. If the plan works, halting and hoarding light in this way could eventually lead to better computers. Catching a rainbow could be useful as well as merely cool. Engineers have long sought to do away with slow and messy electronics when building computers and instead to rely on light, which is far faster and does not get hot... [more]
Source : The Economist

U.S. government new official standard for encryption

Did NSA Put a Secret Backdoor in New Encryption Standard?
Random numbers are critical for cryptography: for encryption keys, random authentication challenges, initialization vectors, nonces, key-agreement schemes, generating prime numbers and so on. Break the random-number generator, and most of the time you break the entire security system. Which is why you should worry about a new random-number standard that includes an algorithm that is slow, badly designed and just might contain a backdoor for the National Security Agency... [more]
Source : Wired

New Rheumatoid Arthritis treatment

Promising New Therapy Being Studied to Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis
A potential new therapy called certolizumab pegol, when used in combination with methotrexate, may be safe and effective at treating active rheumatoid arthritis, according to research... [more]
Source : Science Daily

An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything

Surfer stuns physicists with theory of everything
An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, seen by some as the Holy Grail of physics, which as received rave reviews from scientists.
It does not require more than one dimension of time and three of space, when some rival theories need ten or even more spatial dimensions and other bizarre concepts... [more]
Source : Telegraph
Upon further review, surfer's new Theory of Everything severely deficient... [more]
Source : Arstechnica

Dutch Teen Arrested for Virtual Property Theft

'Virtual theft' leads to arrest
The 17-year-old is accused of stealing 4,000 euros (£2,840) worth of virtual furniture, bought with real money. "In Habbo, as in many other virtual worlds, scamming for other people's personal information such as user names has been problematic for quite a while... [more]
Source : BBC

Global Pattern Formation and Ethnic/Cultural Violence

Inter-ethnic violence predicted by same rules that govern chemicals
Researchers at the New England Complex Systems Institute have shown that a mathematical model - based purely on the geographic distribution of ethnic groups - can provide a highly accurate prediction of where violent conflict will occur. Over time, mixed ethnic groups tend to separate as people are drawn towards living around others like themselves. This reflects a universal process that is also seen in chemical and biological systems. And according to May Lim and colleagues, when this separation reaches a given threshold, violent conflict is highly likely... [more] & [more]
Source : Research digest blog & AAAS

New Method Uses Bacteria to Generate Hydrogen Gas

Bacteria make hydrogen fuel
Bacteria that feed on vinegar and waste water zapped with a shot of electricity could produce a clean hydrogen fuel to power vehicles that now run on petroleum, researchers reported...[more]
Source : TVNZ

New medical therapies using stem cells

Seaweed Transformed Into Stem Cell Technology
Engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have transformed a polymer found in common brown seaweed into a device that can support the growth and release of stem cells at the sight of a bodily injury or at the source of a disease... [more]
Source : Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Venezuelan food shortage

Venezuelans scramble for food amid oil opulence
Venezuelan consumers are increasingly facing periodic shortages of basic food products as the economy shows signs of overheating amid record revenues from an oil boom... [more]
Source : Washington Post

Smarty Plants

Inside the World's Only Plant-Intelligence Lab
If you define intelligence as the capacity to solve problems, plants have a lot to teach us, says Mancuso, dressed in harmonizing shades of his favorite color: green. "Not only are they 'smart' in how they grow, adapt and thrive, they do it without neuroses. Intelligence isn't only about having a brain."... [more]
Source : Wired

The ascendance of biology and principles of equal treatment

Exploring genetic differences in the new DNA age
Scientists,have recently identified the small changes in DNA that account for the pale skin of Europeans, the tendency of Asians to sweat less and West Africans' resistance to certain diseases. Such developments are providing some of the first tangible benefits of the genetic revolution. Yet some social critics fear they may also be giving long-discredited racial prejudices a new potency. The notion that race is more than skin-deep, they fear, could undermine principles of equal treatment and opportunity that have relied on the presumption that we are all created equal... [more]
Source : IHT

Is There a Musical Score in Da Vinci's Last Supper

Leonardo's 'Last Supper' Hides True Da Vinci Code
A real da Vinci code is indeed hidden within Leonardo's "The Last Supper," according to a book. But rather than conspiracy theories, the new code points to a hidden musical score, a sacred text and a three-dimensional chalice... [more]
Source : Discovery News

UK most ridiculous laws

UK chooses 'most ludicrous laws'
Legislation said to prohibit people dying while in the Houses of Parliament has been voted one of the most ludicrous laws in the UK. Treason laws which reportedly could be used against someone who places a stamp upside down on a letter were also cited by those polled by UKTV Gold... [more]
Source : BBC

Averting the eyes even a fraction can make you appear less attractive

Gaze 'key to facial attraction'
You can alter your attraction to the opposite sex simply by looking straight at them and smiling, research suggests... [more]
Source : BBC

Russia has a management crisis

Russia Faces Management Shortage
Executives fund b-schools and offer incentives as a growing economy and shrinking population combine to leave the country with a dearth of skilled workers. And it's not who will lead the country after President Vladimir Putin ostensibly steps down early next year. It's who will lead the country's businesses over the coming decades... [more]
Source : Businessweek

D-Cycloserine Reduces Cocaine-Seeking Behavior in "Addicted" Mice

Antibiotic that appears to control phobias may also be useful in treating addiction
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory provide further evidence that a drug known as D-cycloserine could play a role in helping to extinguish the craving behaviors associated with drug addiction. Their study found that mice treated with D-cycloserine were less likely to spend time in an environment where they had previously been trained to expect cocaine than mice treated with a placebo... [more]
Source : Brookhaven National Laboratory

Placebo can enhance athletic performance

Opioid-Mediated Placebo Responses Boost Pain Endurance and Physical Performance: Is It Doping in Sport Competitions?
Here's a new problem for authorities trying to keep performance-enhancing drugs out of sport: even being given a placebo on the day of a competition can benefit athletes... [more] & [more]
Source : The Journal of Neuroscience & NewScientist

There's a world shortage of milk

In a growing world, milk is the new oil
Driven by a combination of climate change, trade policies and competition for cattle feed from biofuel producers, global milk prices have doubled over the past two years. In parts of the United States, milk is more expensive than gasoline. There are reports of cows being stolen on Wisconsin dairy farms... [more]
Source : IHT