The Soviets' last great secret : an anti-ageing cream
A secret formula created in a Soviet laboratory is behind one of two new "miracle" anti-ageing creams. Both of the products claim to kick-start dormant stem cells into rejuvenating the skin... [more]
Source : Thisislondon
Amatokin, A cream that can make you look 20 years younger
Viagra Ingredient in Chinese Supplements
FDA Warns Consumers Not to Use Chinese Dietary Supplements Containing Viagra
These products, which originate in China, are being marketed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) and for sexual enhancement. Although labeled as dietary supplements, these products do not qualify as dietary supplements because they contain undeclared active ingredients of FDA-approved prescription drugs for erectile dysfunction... [more]
Source : FDA
Parallel universes, plenty of reasons to think they exist
Stranger than fiction: parallel worlds beguile science
The idea of multiple universes is more than a fantastic invention, it appears naturally within several scientific theories, and deserves to be taken seriously, is the universe -- correction: "our" universe -- no more than a speck of cosmic dust amid an infinite number of parallel worlds?... [more]
Source : Inquirer
Bedbug epidemic exploding in New York City
Bedbug epidemic attacks New York City
A surge in global travel and mobility in all socioeconomic classes, combined with less toxic urban pesticides and the banning of DDT created a perfect storm for reviving the critters, which had been virtually dormant since World War II, once linked to flophouses and fleabags, bedbug outbreaks victimize the rich and poor alike and are spreading panic in some of the city's hottest neighborhoods... [more]
Source : Newyork DailyNews
U.S. remains unprepared to deal with disasters such as biological attacks and flu pandemics
Despite past disasters U.S. still not ready to cope biological attacks and flu pandemics
The report by the Trust for America's Health says many states still lack a stockpile of drugs, masks, gloves and other equipment needed to battle with a pandemic despite five years of constant and detailed warning... [more]
Source : News-Medical.Net
Nauru the ruined island
Nauru - the little island that can't
First the world plundered Nauru's richest resource then Australia prevailed upon its hospitality. Now, as the island state faces ruin, its people sit and wait for help. This 21-square-kilometre island has been denuded by the world's appetite for phosphate, which is used to fertilise gardens and farms, or as an ingredient in a range of cosmetics and toothpaste... [more]
Source : The Sydney Morning Herald
Bhutan to shed monarchy, set for democracy
Kingdom of Bhutan gets first vote as royal rule ends The Himalayan outpost of Bhutan stages its first parliamentary polls this week as the kingdom steers away from royal rule.The monarch abdicated in December 2006 in favour of Oxford-educated son King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck as part of plans to introduce a constitution and hold direct elections... [more]
Source : Herald and Weekly Times
Orexin-A Naturally Occurring Brain Chemical Could Replace Sleep
A promising sleep-replacement with nasal spray
In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness. A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation... [more]
Source : Wired
'Silent Night' for Dogs a Big Hit in New Zealand
Christmas hit that only dogs can hear
A new version of Silent Night has become a howling success - with dogs. The Christmas carol has been recorded at such high frequencies the music cannot be heard by the human ear. Only dogs, with their more sensitive hearing, can pick up the sounds which were performed on synthesisers in a studio in Auckland... [more]
Source : Daily Mail
Cannabis fumes more dangerous than tobacco
Cannabis smoke more toxic than puffing tobacco
Cannabis smokers are exposed to more toxic chemicals in each puff than those who smoke only tobacco, scientists have found. Earlier research shows cannabis smokers are more prone to lung damage than cigarette smokers... [more]
Source : Guardian
The creation of a giant chinese automaker
China Creates A National Auto Champion
In a deal orchestrated by Beijing, China's largest automaker, state-controlled Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp., is taking over smaller state-owned rival Nanjing Automobile. In a sector littered with over a hundred auto companies, many tiny, the combined entity is being touted by Chinese media as the equivalent of an aircraft carrier, capable of producing 2 million vehicles a year and competing internationally... [more]
Source : Forbes
Japan test drilling for methane to gain independence from middle east and Indonesia
Japan Mines `Flammable Ice,' Flirts With Environmental Disaster
Fifty-five million years ago the world's climate was catastrophically changed when volcanoes melted natural gas frozen in the seabed. Now Japan plans to drill for the same icy crystals to end its reliance on imported energy... [more]
Source : Bloomberg
The woes of one Sparkling wine : Champagne
A drama is unfolding in the Champagne industry
The climate in Champagne is getting warmer, yet its grapes need cool weather to be at their best. Then there's the controversial proposed expansion of the area where vines may be grown for wines that are called Champagne. The most important change, however, is the rise of the growers, the people who traditionally grew and sold grapes, who are now opting to keep their grapes to make and bottle their own wines... [more]
Source : Seattle Post Intelligencer
The Mayak nuclear plant disaster
Russian villagers living the horror of a nuclear explosion 50 years ago
An explosion at the Mayak nuclear plant that devastated the southern Ural region a half-century ago still casts a shadow over Russians living in the area. The 1957 blast is regarded as having caused the worst contamination in the former Soviet Union until the 1986 Chernobyl disaster... [more]
Source : ASAHI SHIMBUN
USA : A third world poverty on dental health
In Kentucky's teeth, toll of poverty and neglect
While Kentucky may have some of the worse oral health problems in the nation, it is by no means alone. Residents in neighboring states across the region suffer similar dental problems for many of the same reasons — inadequate access to dental care or the inability to pay for a dentist, widespread use of chewing tobacco and a pervasive assumption that losing teeth is simply part of growing old.
West Virginia, for example, which has the highest proportion of people over 65 without teeth, also has one of the lowest percentages of adults who visit the dentist at least once a year... [more]
Source : IHT
Santa and the Coca Cola connection
Did Coke really turn Santa red and white?
It's often said that Santa's red and white robes were the creation of a Coca-Cola advertising campaign. Is that true? The colours are widely thought to derive from the original Saint Nicholas, who was the Bishop of Myra in the 4th Century. Red and white were the hues of traditional bishop robes, although some historians argue that he originally dressed in different colours.... [more]
Source : BBC
Scents now can be seen
New method enables scientists to see smells
Animals and insects communicate through an invisible world of scents. By exploiting infrared technology, researchers at Rockefeller University just made that world visible.
With the ability to see smells, these scientists now show that when fly larvae detect smells with both olfactory organs they find their way toward a scented target more accurately than when they detect them with one... [more]
Source : Rockefeller University
The FBI can listen on conversations by covertly activating cell phone's microphone, even when it's off
FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool
The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family... [more]
Source : ZDNet News
Israel could survive nuclear war
US report: Israel would weather nuclear war with Iran
If a nuclear war between Israel and Iran were to break out 16-20 million Iranians would lose their lives - as opposed to 200,000-800,000 Israelis, according to a report recently published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which is headed by Anthony H. Cordesman, formerly an analyst for the US Department of Defense.
One essential requirement for nuclear confrontation in our region, according to the study, is allowing Iran’s nuclear program to develop, unhindered by a pre-emptive strike by either Israel or the United States. If US or Israeli preemption does not occur, the study found, Iran could very well have 30 nuclear warheads... [more] & [more]
Source :Ynet & Jerusalem Post
The Medical Myths published in the British Medical Journal
7 Medical Myths That Might Have Your Doctor Duped
Medical myths abound as an ominous radio report that warned parents that strangers might try to poison their kids on Halloween, numerous examples has just ben published in a report in the British Medical Journal naming seven common medical misconceptions and laying out the evidence for why they're not true... [more]
Source : U.S. News & World Report
Nanotechnology batteries
A 40-Hour Laptop Battery?
Although improvements in laptop computers and other electronics continue at a torrid pace, the batteries that power them have made only modest strides in recent years. A new advance in nanotechnology could change all that. Lithium ion batteries made with tiny whiskers of silicon can store as much as 10 times the charge of conventional rechargeables, researchers report. In principle, the new technology could result in laptop batteries that run for days and electric cars that cruise for hundreds of kilometers on a single charge... [more]
Source : Science AAAS
Energy Tower a renewable source of energy
Going electric with the 'Energy Tower'
The Israeli inventors call it an Energy Tower, and if it's adopted worldwide it could become a major source of cheap electricity. It's a tall tower, 1, 000 yards in height and 400 yards in diameter, located somewhere hot and dry with a source of water at the ready nearby - either the sea, brackish estuarine, or drainage water.The water is used to cool the air at the top of the tower. The heavier cooled air sinks downwards, gathers speed as it falls, finally powering turbines at the tower's base... [more]
Source : Israel21c
Labs race to develop mind enhancing drugs
Drugs to build up that mental muscle
Forget sports doping.
The next frontier is brain doping, despite the potential side effects, academics, classical musicians, corporate executives, students and even professional poker players have embraced the drugs to clarify their minds, improve their concentration or control their emotions... [more]
Source : Los Angeles Times
The secrets of dolphin speak
Research finds tone matters to dolphins
Humans have taken a major step forward in unlocking the mysteries of dolphin-speak, and found their communication is more complicated than originally thought... [more]
Source : The New Zealand Herald
Vladimir Demikhov :The Russian surgeon who carried the first animal lung transplant
Vladimir P. Demikhov, 82, Pioneer in Transplants, Dies
Vladimir P. Demikhov, a Russian surgeon whose pioneering work in performing organ transplants on dogs set the stage for similar operations on humans in later years died, he was the first to perform a heart transplant on a dog in 1946, the dog which kept its old heart and the new one survived for five months.
In 1947 Dr. Demikhov carried out the first animal lung transplant, which was also performed on a dog; and in 1952 he conducted the first coronary bypass, on another dog... [more]
Source : Newyork Times
A role model for the manager : Mao
Mao and the art of management
He was head of a country, not a company. But he self-consciously carried a business-like title, “chairman”, while running China from 1949 until dying in office in 1976, having jailed, killed, or psychologically crushed a succession of likely replacements and therefore created the classic business problem: a succession void. He thought of himself as, in his own words, an “indefatigable teacher” and the famous “Little Red Book” drawn from his speeches is packed with managerial advice on training, motivation and evaluation of lower-level employees (cadres); innovation (“let a hundred flowers bloom”); competition (“fear no sacrifice”); and, of course, raising the game of the complacent manager (relentless self-criticism)... [more]
Source : The Economist
Magic carpet : A rippling carpet that can fly
Physicists make ripples with their 'magic carpet'
Fictional flying carpets are ubiquitous and have appeared in literature since ancient times.
Now they have caught the attention of a leading mathematician. The researchers have studied the aerodynamics of a flexible, rippling sheet moving through a fluid, and find that it should be possible to make one that will stay aloft in air... [more] & [more]
Source : Nature News & Telegraph
A 4000 year old murder in Sydney discovered
Skeleton find points to 4000-year-old murder
A burnt skeleton found beneath a bus shelter in northern Sydney is proof of murder - 4000 years ago. The victim, a tall, well-built man in his mid-30s, was set on by spear-wielding attackers, who then set his body alight and left it unburied on the crest of a sand dune... [more]
Source : The Australian
US Army and the religious freedom
Religious Freedom in Military Questioned
A foundation that has sued the military alleging widespread violations of religious freedom said Tuesday that it has evidence showing that soldiers are pressured to adopt fundamentalist Christian beliefs... [more]
Source : Washington Post
US Air Force testing coal-based synfuel
Air Force Will Be Coal-Powered by 2011
Not everyone has the same definition for the term ‘renewable-fuel’.The United States Air Force is well on their way to becoming coal-powered. On Monday, the USAF carried out a transcontinental test flight using a 50-50 blend of standard jet fuel and coal-based ’synfuel’... [more]
Source : gas2.0
Japan's chief government spokesman has announced that unidentified flying objects (UFOs) exist
UFOs exist, says Japan official
Earlier, in response to a question from an opposition lawmaker, the Japanese government issued a statement saying it could not confirm any cases of UFOs. But Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura later told reporters he believed they were "definitely" real... [more]
Source : BBC
World's First Invisibility Cloak
Researchers develop 2-D invisibility cloak
Attention, Harry Potter fans -- the be-spectacled teenage wizard's invisibility cloak may not be confined to the realm of fiction for much longer. The cloak is just 10 micrometers in diameter; by comparison, a human hair is between 50 to 100 micrometers wide. The cloak works by guiding rays of light around an object hidden inside and releasing the light rays on the other side. This causes the light waves to appear to have moved in a straight line, making the cloak and the object inside of it invisible... [more]
Source : University of Maryland
Basic Math in Monkeys and College Students
Monkeys perform arithmetic as well as college students
Results indicate that monkeys perform approximate mental addition in a manner that is remarkably similar to the performance of the college students. These findings support the argument that humans and nonhuman primates share a cognitive system for nonverbal arithmetic, which likely reflects an evolutionary link in their cognitive abilities... [more]
Source : PLOS Biology
Heat From Earth's Magma Contributing To Melting Of Greenland Ice
EARTH'S HEAT ADDS TO CLIMATE CHANGE TO MELT GREENLAND ICE
Scientists have discovered what they think may be another reason why Greenland's ice is melting: a thin spot in Earth's crust is enabling underground magma to heat the ice... [more]
Source : Ohio State University
Skin color : Evolution tend to use the same sorts of genes in different organisms
Same Genetic Machinery Generates Skin Color Evolution in Fish and Humans
When humans began to migrate out of Africa about 100,000 years ago, their skin color gradually changed to adapt to their new environments. And when the last Ice Age ended about 10,000 years ago, marine ancestors of ocean-dwelling stickleback fish experienced dramatic changes in skin coloring as they colonized newly formed lakes and streams. New research shows that despite the vast evolutionary gulf between humans and the three-spined stickleback fish, the two species have adopted a common genetic strategy to acquire the skin pigmentation that would help each species thrive in their new environments... [more]
Source : Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Tupi oil field could launch Brazil into the top 10 oil producers in the world
Brazil Makes World’s Biggest Oil Discovery in 30 Years
Brazil's Petrobras has discovered the largest light crude Oil Field since the Mexican Cantarell Field in 1976. The new Sugar Loaf Field discovery is 5 times larger than Tupi and could signal an end to declining oil production around the World... [more]
Source : Next Energy News
Synthetic DNA , synthesizing life
Synthetic DNA on the Brink of Yielding New Life Forms
Researchers are poised to cross a dramatic barrier: the creation of life forms driven by completely artificial DNA. That unprecedented degree of control over creation raises more than philosophical questions, however. What kinds of organisms will scientists, terrorists and other creative individuals make? How will these self-replicating entities be contained? And who might end up owning the patent rights to the basic tools for synthesizing life?... [more]
Source : Washington Post
SkySails, new high-tech kite helps ship cut emissions
Shipping companies harness the wind to save on energy
The world's first commercial merchant ship with a giant high-tech kite to aid its engines was launched in Hamburg.
The goal is to slash fuel consumption and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Companies are manufacturing kites the size of football fields that can be deployed with a flexible cable from the bows of huge vessels. Rising nearly 1,000 feet above sea level, they catch winds that are up to 50 percent stronger than at the surface and help pull the behemoths along... [more] & [more]
Source : The Boston Globe & The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Indie capitalism : Handmade Consortium
Craft capitalism: Just do it yourself
The declaration from the Handmade Consortium materialized on a Web site called buyhandmade.org in late October. "I pledge to buy handmade this holiday season, and request that others do the same for me," it said, and you could type in your name to "sign" on.
Within weeks, more than 6,500 people had done so... [more]
Source : IHT
Radioactive anti-ice agents
Are Russia's De-Icing Agents Radioactive?
When a tender for a contract to supply anti-ice agents for Moscow's snowy streets was won by an obscure firm, many predicted erratic deliveries and general traffic congestion, if not the collapse of the entire transport system. Despite these fears, deliveries have already begun, but this fact does not sit well with the environmentalists. Apparently, there are worse things than an unreliable supply of snow-melting chemicals... [more]
Source : Moscow News
Business in Vietnam : Taking the time to learn more about the Vietnamese to avoid common mistakes
Doing business successfully in Vietnam
Vietnamese are very self-assertive. Sometimes, they refuse to ask although they do not understand.
Worse still, they may take the liberty of making a decision for you without bothering to ask you first.
Vietnamese, like Chinese - and Thais for that matter - tend to do whatever it takes to save face.
They will always say "yes" whenever... [more]
Source : Bangkok Post
The Gulf Stream untapped renewable energy resource
Harnessing the Power of the Gulf Stream
The current — which flows at 8 billion gallons per minute — could yield as much energy as several nuclear plants, providing one-third of Florida's power... [more]
Source : NPR
Active SETI: The potential dangers of alerting malevolent entities to our presence
Who Speaks for Earth?
Some scientists believe there are possible dangers we may unleash by announcing ourselves to the unknown darkness, and if anyone plans to transmit messages from Earth, they want the rest of the world to be involved.
For years the debate over Active SETI versus passive "listening" has mostly been confined to SETI insiders.
But late last year the controversy boiled over into public view after the journal Nature published an editorial scolding the SETI community for failing to conduct an open discussion on the remote, but real, risks of unregulated signals to the stars... [more]
Source : Seed Magazine
France's waiters upset the tourists
Service with a sneer
France's hotel and restaurant staff are some of the surliest in the world and a quarter of hotels are in disrepair, the industry's watchdog has admitted... [more]
Source : The Sydney Morning Herald
Foreign brand toys preferred for chinese children
Chinese Kids Get Foreign-Brand Toys
China may be Santa's global workshop, but when it comes to buying playthings for their own children, Chinese families who can afford it opt for foreign-brand toys _ even if they are made in China. Quality and safety issues are drawing more attention as incomes rise and upwardly mobile Chinese grow more health conscious. While virtually all toys on the market, whether foreign or domestic brands, are made in China... [more]
Source : Washington Post
Cookies :Eye on your iMac or PC
Silicon Valley start-up has a system that can pick up a lot more than cookies to follow many wanderings of Web users
To glean those deeper insights, NebuAd installs equipment inside the facilities of participating Internet service providers (ISPs), which see everything their customers do online. NebuAd's boxes examine many of the sites people visit, what they do there and what they hunt for on search engines... [more]
Source : Star Tribune
Coal power plants produce heaps of radiation
Coal Ash Is More Radioactive than Nuclear Waste
The waste produced by coal plants is actually more radioactive than that generated by their nuclear counterparts. In fact, fly ash—a by-product from burning coal for power—contains up to 100 times more radiation than nuclear waste... [more]
Source : Scientific American
Billboard Whispers into Pedestrians’ Ears for A&E’s ‘Paranormal State’
Hear voices? It may be an ad
Ad for "Paranormal State," a ghost-themed series premiering on A&E. The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an "audio spotlight" from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium... [more]
Source : CNET
Scientists Develop Fearless Mouse
Japanese scientists create mice with no fear of cats
The Tokyo University professor has just unveiled mutant mice that have lost their innate fear of cats. Kobayakawa developed the fearless mice by shutting down receptors in their olfactory bulb - the area of the brain that processes information about smells - which would normally induce panic as soon as they get so much as a whiff of a cat... [more]
Source : Guardian
Environmental Sciences predict wetter storms for the Arctic and for the Northern Hemisphere
Rising CO2 Signals Wetter Storms For Northern Hemisphere
While two new studies by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences predict wetter storms for the Arctic and for the Northern Hemisphere because of global warming, whether or not this means more net precipitation depends on the latitude... [more]
Source : Terra Daily
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