Biologists have provoked soil-dwelling bacteria into producing a new type of antibiotic by pitting them against another
The antibiotic holds promise for treatment of Helicobacter pylori, which causes stomach ulcers in humans. Also, figuring out the still-murky explanation for how the new antibiotic was produced could help scientists develop strategies for finding other new antibiotics. Rhodococcus does not normally produce antibiotics. Many bacteria have genes for antibiotics that are only activated when the bacteria are threatened in some way... [more]
Source : Massachusetts institute of technology
Bacterial 'battle for survival' leads to new antibiotic
CCTV cameras, the extent of surveillance across Europe to fight terrorism and organised crime
The most spied upon people in Europe
Germans have an historic fear of state intrusion, dating back to the Stasi secret police in the East and the Nazi-era Gestapo. But the threat of terrorism has forced the German government to take stricter measures. Italians are among the most spied upon people in the world. That's the conclusion of the authoritative... [more]
Source : BBC
Military robots could pose a threat to humanity
Military robots could easily be reverse-engineered by terrorists
Increasingly autonomous, gun-toting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence says. Intelligent machines deployed on battlefields around the world – from mobile grenade launchers to rocket-firing drones – can already identify and lock onto targets without human help... [more] & [more]
Source : NEWS.com.au & University of Sheffield
Is Your Printer Spying On You?
Secret Code in Color Printers Lets Government Track You
Imagine that every time you printed a document, it automatically included a secret code that could be used to identify the printer - and potentially, the person who used it. Sounds like something from an episode of "Alias," right? Unfortunately, the scenario isn't fictional. In a purported effort to identify counterfeiters, the US government has succeeded in persuading some color laser printer manufacturers to encode each page with identifying information. That means that without your knowledge or consent, an act you assume is private could become public... [more]
Source : Electronic Frontier Foundation
List of Printers Which Do or Do Not Display Tracking Dots
A list in progress of color laser printer models that do or do not print yellow tracking dots on their output... [more]
Source : Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Best Cure for Hiccups, Remind You're Not A Fish
Your Inner Fish reveals that the human body is a throwback to our prehistoric ancestors
Hiccups are triggered by electric signals generated in the brain stem. Amphibian brain stems emit similar signals, which control the regular motion of their gills. Our brain stems, inherited from amphibian ancestors, still spurt out odd signals producing hiccups that are, according to Shubin, essentially the same phenomenon as gill breathing... [more]
Source : Wired
Anti-depression drugs no better than a placebo
Depression drugs don’t work, finds data review
Millions of people taking commonly prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac and Seroxat might as well be taking a placebo, according to the first study to include unpublished evidence. The new generation of antidepressant drugs work no better than a placebo for the majority of patients with mild or even severe depression... [more] & [more]
Source : Timesonline & Plos Medicine
Huge rainfalls could cause earthquakes
Heavy rain can trigger earthquakes
Huge downpours of rain can trigger earthquakes in landscapes riddled with caves and channels by increasing pressure within underlying rock, suggests a new study,in recent years, geologists have documented small earthquakes that occurred after heavy rainfall in Germany, Switzerland and France... [more]
Source : NewScientist
Bacteria Use 'Invisibility Cloak' To Hide From Human Immune System
‘Invisible’ bacteria dupe the human immune system
Scientists have characterised an important new step in the mechanism used by bacteria to evade our immune system. It is an ‘invisibility cloak’ which means that bacteria like Haemophilus influenzae, a common cause of ear infections in children, can move about the body without the risk of being attacked by the immune system... [more]
Source : University of York
Why does popcorn cost so much at the movies?
Moviegoers aren't being gouged when they pay big bucks for popcorn
By charging high prices on concessions, exhibition houses are able to keep ticket prices lower, which allows more people to enjoy the silver-screen experience. The findings empirically answer the age-old question of whether it’s better to charge more for a primary product... [more]
Source : University of California, Santa Cruz
Beastly bugs or edible delicacies
Workshop considers contribution of forest insects to the human diet
With over 1 400 insect species eaten by humans worldwide, the insect world offers promising possibilities both commercially and nutritionally. While the idea of eating insects may seem unusual or even unappetizing to some, human consumption of insects is actually very common in most parts of the world. At least 527 different insects are eaten across 36 countries in Africa, while insects are also eaten in 29 countries in Asia and 23 in the Americas... [more]
Source : FAO
Justine: The Italian Coffee-Making Robot
Italy unveils coffee- making robot
Italy on Wednesday unveiled a coffee-making robot it built with European Union partners. The robot, named Justine, is the first result of an EU project called DEXMART, she's flexible and precise enough to make a cup of coffee - although she only stretches to the instant variety at the moment, however, she can also pick things up off the floor... [more]
Source : ANSA
Fairtrade fails to tackle poverty
Fairtrade industry accused of failing to help the world's most impoverished farmers
A report by the Adam Smith Institute claims Fairtrade products do not aid long-term economic development and often fail to help the poorest farm workers. It claims that paying farmers for their produce sustains uncompetitive farming methods rather than encouraging modern techniques. The institute also says the payment structures put in place by the Fairtrade Foundation, which operates the Fairtrade label, unintentionally encourage farms in developing countries to take on labourers only during harvest time rather than employing them full-time... [more]
Source : Telegraph
China employs fish to clean up lake
Chinese authorities are using algae-munching fish to clean up one of the country's most polluted lakes
More than 50,000 silver carp fry have been introduced into Chaohu lake, and another 1.55 million will be added in the next 20 days, each carp is expected to have gobbled between 40kg and 50kg of blue algae when it reaches its adult weight, with each chomp of the sludge helping to clean up the toxic lake... [more]
Source : The Australian
Sarkozy urged to pay for Napoleon's 'vandalism' of golden barge
France asked to contribute for Napoleon's “vandalism”
Venetians reconstructing a gold-covered barge used by the doges of Venice until it was reduced to ashes by Napoleon have appealed to President Sarkozy of France to contribute to the cost “by way of reparation”... [more]
Source : Timesonline
Only a Third of Americans Want Long Stay in Iraq
Polling Data: Withdraw from Iraq immediately 24%
Many adults in the United States believe the coalition effort should have a specific timeframe, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 37 per cent of respondents would bring all troops home from Iraq within a year, and 24 per cent would withdraw all soldiers immediately... [more]
Source : Angus Reid
GLOBAL COOLING: THE WORLD IN GRIP OF A BIG FREEZE
Across much of the northern hemisphere, from Greece and Iran to China and Japan, they have been suffering their worst snowfalls for decades, freakish amounts of snow have been falling over much of the northern United States, from Ohio to the Pacific coast... [more]
Source : Daily Mail
Earthquakes are caused by gays, says MP
An Israeli politician has blamed a spate of recent earthquakes in the Middle East on gays
Shlomo Benizri of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party said the only way to prevent the earthquakes was for parliament to stop liberalising laws concerning homosexuals. Mr Benizri said earthquake damage could be avoided if the parliament stopped “passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel... [more]
Source : News.com.au
Like Owners One Third Of US Dogs and Cats Are Obese
The humans are not the only creatures suffering from obesity
According to a recent study published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, the prevalence of obesity in dogs is between 22 and 40 percent. The reasons and the remedies for the problem seem to mirror each other across species. Like humans, there are also many health problems associated with being obese. Dogs and cats that are overweight may be predisposed to develop diabetes mellitus. They may also suffer from decreased heat tolerance and stamina, increased dermatological conditions, decreased immune function, and multiple musculoskeletal and orthopedic problems... [more]
Source : Virginia Tech
FBI's ReFace to put faces on skulls
New software to reconstruct a face from its skull
The FBI has developed sophisticated new software for reconstructing a person's face from their skull. The software is designed to help police identify partially decomposed or burned bodies. At present, reconstructing a face from a skull takes a specialist artist up to two weeks and can cost up to $2,000... [more]
Source : Guardian
The Earth will be swallowed up by the Sun in about 7.6 billion years unless the Earth's orbit can be altered
The Sun will vaporise the Earth unless we can change our orbit
Life on Earth will have disappeared long before 7.6 billion years, however. Scientists have shown that the Sun's slow expansion will cause the temperature at the surface of the Earth to rise. Oceans will evaporate, and the atmosphere will become laden with water vapour, which (like carbon dioxide) is a very effective greenhouse gas. Eventually, the oceans will boil dry and the water vapour will escape into space. In a billion years from now the Earth will be a very hot, dry and uninhabitable ball... [more]
Source : University of Sussex
Cameroon wants to sell a forest, but conservationists don't want to buy it
The unkindest cut
For rent: 830,000 hectares of pristine tropical rainforest. Rich in wildlife, including forest elephants and gorillas. Provides a regionally important African green corridor. Price: $1.6m a year. Conservationist tenant preferred, but extractive forestry also considered. Please apply to the Cameroonian minister of forestry... [more]
Source : The Economist
China's growing dominance on genetically modified seed
China's Genetically Altered Food Boom
Faced with feeding every fifth person on the planet with less than one-tenth of the world's farmland, Beijing has been pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into transgenic crop research and development, hoping the plants, whose DNA is combined with genetic material that programs them with traits like pest and weed resistance, will help farmers yield more food and... [more]
Source : Time
Are Animals Autistic Savants
Do Animals Think in Details?
Autistic savants show extraordinary skills, particularly in music, mathematics, and drawing. Do animals sometimes show forms of extreme (though, of course, different) cognitive skills confined to particular domains that resemble those shown by autistic savants? We argue that the extraordinary cognitive feats shown by some animal species can be better understood as adaptive specialisations that bear little, if any, relationship to the unusual skills shown by savants. It has also been argued that autistic savants “think in detail”, and that this is the key to their extraordinary skills. Do animals have privileged access to lower level sensory information before it is packaged into concepts, as has been argued for autistic humans, or do they process sensory inputs according to rules that pre-empt or filter what is perceived even at the lowest levels of sensory processing? We argue that animals, like nonautistic humans, process sensory information according to rules, and that this manner of processing is a specialised feature of the left hemisphere of the brain in both humans and nonhuman animals... [more]
Source : Plos Biology
Gecko-inspired bandage
Gecko-inspired Dissolving Bandage Has Nanoscale Hills And Valleys
Researchers and colleagues have created a waterproof adhesive bandage inspired by gecko lizards that may soon join sutures and staples as a basic operating room tool for patching up surgical wounds or internal injuries. Drawing on some of the principles that make gecko feet unique, the surface of the bandage has the same kind of nanoscale hills and valleys that allow the lizards to cling to walls and ceilings. Layered over this landscape is a thin coating of glue that helps the bandage stick in wet environments... [more]
Source : Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Has the military found proof that we are all psychic?
Hidden psychic powers, witch Act Of 1951: Could you be punished? New law repeal
Dr Roe’s results suggest that up to 85 percent of people possess the psychic power of clairvoyance – or the ability to remote view in technical parlance. They provide the strongest evidence yet for such psychic powers and may help explain the skills shown by mediums and account for such phenomena as ESP and déjà vu. And it would appear that we can all sharpen our psychic skills with only a modicum of training. In the early 1970s, the US military began its own top-secret research to close the "psychic gap" with the Russians. The CIA later joined them and projects Sun Streak, Grill Flame, and Star Gate were spawned... [more] & [more]
Source : News Monster & American Chronicle
Advertisers, neuroscientists trace source of emotions in brain
Mind reading, the holy grail of advertisers
First came direct marketing, then focus groups. Now, advertisers, with the help of neuroscientists, are closing in on the holy grail: mind reading. Researchers used sophisticated brain-scanning technology to record how subjects’ brains responded to television advertisements, while simultaneously collecting the subjects’ reported impressions of the ads. By comparing the two resulting data sets, they say, they pinned down specific locations in the brain as the seat of many familiar emotions that ripple throughout it. The feat is another step toward gauging how people feel directly through functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, and other brain-scanning technology — without relying on what they claim to be feeling, the researchers say... [more]
Source : University of Florida
Shark species face extinction for overfishing and appetite for fins
Ocean’s fiercest predators now vulnerable to extinction
Sharks are disappearing from the world’s oceans. The numbers of many large shark species have declined by more than half due to increased demand for shark fins and meat, recreational shark fisheries, as well as tuna and swordfish fisheries, where millions of sharks are taken as bycatch each year. "As a result of high and mostly unrestricted fishing pressure, many sharks are now considered to be at risk of extinction... [more]
Source : Nserc
New solar system with possibility of alien life, OGLE-2006-BLG-109L
A planetary system with remarkable similarities to our own
Astronomers have identified two new planets orbiting a star about half the size of our sun some 5,000 light-years away. The system, called OGLE-2006-BLG-109L, resembles a slightly scaled down version of our Solar system because the two gas giant planets... [more]
Source : Telegraph
The computer that sees love in your eyes
New technology to gauge emotional response by measuring pupil dilation
The state of fear or sexual arousal that a person experiences when looking at something will be measurable thanks to a technology which can gauge how pupiles dilate. A Danish firm has developed an eye sensor which not only analyses where a person is looking but also more minute variations, such as the way pupil size changes and the way they blink... [more]
Source : Timesonline
Jewish Rep. Cohen Battles Antisemitism and Racism In Re-Election
Antisemitic behaviour in African-American district of Memphis
If you thought race was an uncomfortable issue in the Democratic presidential primary, wait 'til you get a load of what's going on in the Democratic primary in the Memphis area's 9th District of Tennessee, where a shockingly worded flier paints Jewish Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) as a Jesus hater. "Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and the JEWS HATE Jesus," blares the flier, which Cohen himself received in the mail -- inducing gasps -- last week.Circulated by an African-American minister from Murfreesboro... [more]
Source : Washington Post
Can Farmed and Wild Salmon Coexist?
Declines In Wild Salmon Populations Linked To Exposure To Farmed Salmon
Atlantic salmon (and Irish sea trout) populations suffered greater declines than Pacific salmon did, possibly because wild and farmed Atlantic salmon can interbreed, adding any deleterious genetic effects to other potential impacts. Though Irish sea trout cannot interbreed with salmon, they spend more time in coastal waters than other species, which could make them more susceptible to transmitted parasites and disease. Given that salmon farming could seriously compromise the persistence of the world's salmonid populations... [more]
Sourrce : Plos Biology
"Power shirt” would harvest energy from physical movement
Fiber-based Nanotechnology Could Power Electronic Devices
Nanotechnology researchers are developing the perfect complement to the power tie: a “power shirt” able to generate electricity to power small electronic devices for soldiers in the field, hikers and others whose physical motion could be harnessed and converted to electrical energy. The fiber-based nanogenerator would be a simple and economical way to harvest energy from physical movement... [more]
Source : Georgia Institute of Technology
Green Freedom, Synthetic Fuel Concept to Steal CO2 From Air
A carbon-neutral, sulfur-free fuel
Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a low-risk, transformational concept, called Green Freedom™, for large-scale production of carbon-neutral, sulfur-free fuels and organic chemicals from air and water. At the heart of the technology is a new process for extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and making it available for fuel production... [more]
Source : Los Alamos National Laboratory
Genetic breakthrough supercharges immunity to flu and other viruses
Researchers discover way to boost cells' natural anti-virus defences
A new way to boost an organism’s natural anti-virus defences, effectively making its cells immune to influenza and other viruses. The process – which could lead to the development of new anti-viral therapies in humans – involved knocking out two genes in mice that repress production of the protein interferon, the cell’s first line of defence against viruses. Without these repressor genes, the mouse cells produced much higher levels of interferon, which effectively blocked viruses from reproducing... [more]
Source : McGill University
Titan’s surface organics surpass oil reserves on Earth
Titan is covered in carbon-bearing material
Saturn’s orange moon Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to new Cassini data.
The hydrocarbons rain from the sky, collecting in vast deposits that form lakes and dunes... [more]
Source : ESA
China's Mao Offered to Send 10 Million Women to U.S. in 1973
1973 : Mao to Henry Kissinger, women could solve the two countries' lack of commerce
China's former leader Mao Zedong proposed to give 10 million Chinese women to the U.S. to boost the U.S. population, increase trade and cause ``disasters,'' according to a document released by the U.S. Department of State. he trade between our two countries at present is very pitiful,'' Mao said.
``You know China is a very poor country. We don't have much. What we have in excess is women.''... [more]
Source : Bloomberg
US Navy, 'Disrupt Economies' with Man-Made 'Floods,' 'Droughts'
Navy Research Paper: Weather modification was used successfully in Viet Nam
A recently-unearthed U.S. Navy research project calls for creating mad-made floods and droughts to "disrupt [the] economy" of an enemy state. "Weather modification was used successfully in Viet Nam to (among other things) hinder and impede the movement of personnel and material from North Viet Nam to South Viet Nam... [more]
Source : Wired
Scientists reprogram human skin cells into embryonic stem cells
Reprogramming adult stem cells into embryonic stem cells
UCLA stem cell scientists have reprogrammed human skin cells into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells, without using embryos or eggs. The implications for disease treatment could be significant and could generate a potentially limitless source of immune-compatible cells for tissue engineering and transplantation medicine... [more]
Source : University of California - Los Angeles
Carbon Capture Strategy Could Lead to Emission-Free Cars
A non-pollutant vehicle
Researchers have developed a strategy to capture, store and eventually recycle carbon from vehicles to prevent the pollutant from finding its way from a car tailpipe into the atmosphere. The goal is to create a sustainable transportation system that uses a liquid fuel and traps the carbon emission in the vehicle for later processing at a fueling station. The carbon would then be shuttled back to a processing plant where it could be transformed into liquid fuel. Georgia Tech researchers envision a zero emission car, and a transportation system completely free of fossil fuels... [more]
Source : Georgia Institute of Technology
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS LINKED TO WEIGHT GAIN
Can Sugar Substitutes Make You Fat?
Want to lose weight? It might help to pour that diet soda down the drain. Researchers have laboratory evidence that the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight, breaking the connection between a sweet sensation and high-calorie food, the use of saccharin changes the body's ability to regulate intake... [more]
Source : American Psychological Association
Jesús Malverde patron saint of the Mexican drug dealers
Mexican Robin Hood becomes drug dealers' patron saint
Jesús Malverde has been revered for almost a century in northwestern Mexico. According to folklore, he was a Robin Hood who took from the rich and gave to the poor until he was killed by the police in 1909. Now, immigrants have brought his legend to the United States. His image, which is thought to offer protection from the law, can be found on items that include T-shirts and household cleaners... [more]
Source : IHT
Love Hormone Oxytocin Promotes Bonding
Oxytocin, the love hormone
Gazing into your lover’s eyes isn’t only romantic; it may also mimic early attachments that forever alter your brain and body. “It’s said that the eyes are the window to the soul…they certainly are the window to the emotional brain. We know that the eye-to-eye communication—which is affected by oxytocin—is critical to intimate emotional communication for all kind of emotions – love, fear, trust, anxiety.”... [more]
Source : University of California San Diego
Are Some HIV Patients Non-Infectious?
There are HIV-positive non-infectious patients
For the 33 million people around the world infected with HIV, the news seemed too good to be true — and in many ways, it is.
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Commission for HIV-AIDS issued a bold and provocative statement last week declaring that certain HIV-positive people receiving treatment for their infection are essentially "not sexually infectious, i.e. cannot transmit HIV through sexual contact... [more]
Source : Time
Knee brace generates electricity from walking
Electric Knee Device Generates Energy From Walking
A new energy-capturing knee brace can generate enough electricity from walking to operate a portable GPS locator, a cell phone, a motorized prosthetic joint or an implanted neurotransmitter, research involving the University of Michigan shows. The wearable mechanism works much like regenerative braking charges a battery in some hybrid vehicles... [more]
Source : University of Michigan
First Case of Pest Resistance to Biotech Cotton
The discovery of Bt-resistant bollworms in USA
A pest insect known as bollworm is the first to evolve resistance in the field to plants modified to produce an insecticide called Bt, "what we're seeing is evolution in action," said... [more]
Source : University of Arizona
Perepiteia regenerative acceleration, Perpetual Motion Machine?
Thane Heins´ "Perepiteia" generator seems to turn magnetic friction into a magnetic boost, causing the motor to accelerate in a positive feedback loop. Such an unbelievable invention would challenge the laws of physics, a no-no in the rigid world of serious science.
Imagine a battery system in an all-electric car that can be recharged almost exclusively by braking and accelerating, or what Heins calls "regenerative acceleration."... [more] & [more]
Source : The Star & Physorg
The brain makes a million connections every second for the whole of our lifetime
The brain : An organ so complex we may never fully understand it
The brain remains one of the greatest areas of ignorance in contemporary science. The scale of the problem is immense. There are 100,000 million nerve cells or more in the human brain, with 10,000 times as many connections between them. That means that, on average, the brain makes a million connections every second for the whole of our lifetime. Many of those connections are laid down before birth, guided by a blueprint contained in our genes. Half or more of all the genes in human chromosomes are switched on in brain cells... [more]
Source : Independent
Russia suspicious over Iran rocket test
The Iranian rocket test
Long-range missiles are one of the components of a [nuclear] weapons system," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov told Interfax. Russia thinks the launch of an Iranian rocket into space raises suspicion over the true aim of its nuclear programme, a foreign ministry official has said... [more]
Source : BBC
Chronic Pain Harms the Brain
Suffering long-term pain could trigger other pain-related symptoms
People with unrelenting pain don't only suffer from the nonstop sensation of throbbing pain. They also have trouble sleeping, are often depressed, anxious and even have difficulty making simple decisions. Researchers found that in a healthy brain all the regions exist in a state of equilibrium. When one region is active, the others quiet down. But in people with chronic pain, a front region of the cortex mostly associated with emotion "never shuts up... [more]
Source : Northwestern University
Smokers and the obese costs less than healthy people who live years longer
Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it does not save money
It costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer, according to a Dutch study that counters the common perception that preventing obesity would save governments millions of dollars. The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the obese people died sooner than the healthy group, it cost less to treat them in the long run... [more]
Source : IHT
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