Paris launched its annual effort to reduce the rodents roaming the streets

Paris rat-catchers tackle rodents
Paris with its canals, river and restaurants is something of a rodent paradise, experts say. There are four times as many rats as humans in Paris - perhaps eight million in total, according to the council. People walk past the boulangerie at the end of the day and they see rats or mice running around inside the shop, near the food... [more]


Source : BBC

Feet Hurt? Stop Wearing Shoes

Shoes And Human Feet
It took 4 million years of evolution to perfect the foot, and humans have been wrecking that perfection with every step since they first donned shoes, the probability that at no point did any shoemaker say, "Let's design something that works with your foot." In the Middle Ages, for example, people began wearing shoes with higher heels to avoid stepping in other people's excrement... [more]
Source : NPR

Chemists reproduce the rose's 'petal effect' or to grip water droplets in place

Chemists have discovered how the rose is able to hold on to water droplets even when upside down
The lotus flower is nature’s “slip n’ slide,” where water beads skate along each petal’s surface like liquid metal. Now, chemists reveal the ying to the lotus’ frictionless yang: rose petals. Chemists have found the physical basis for the rose’s ability to grip water droplets in place, even when the flower is upside down. The “petal effect” could lead to unique new adhesive materials, coatings and fabrics... [more]

Source : Physorg

Anti-snoring pills may let partners breathe easy

Scientists test anti-snoring pill
A pill that could prevent heavy snoring, bringing relief to thousands of sufferers and their spouses, is being developed by scientists. Those who took high doses of the pill enjoyed a "statistically significant reduction" in OSA of around 40 per cent, compared to patients who took the placebo... [more] & [more]

Source : Telegraph & Timesonline

How Alligators Rock and Roll

Reptiles’ Muscles Move Lungs for Sneaky Maneuvers in Water
Without a ripple in the water, alligators dive, surface or roll sideways, even though they lack flippers or fins. University of Utah biologists discovered gators maneuver silently by using their diaphragm, pelvic, abdominal and rib muscles to shift their lungs like internal floatation devices: toward the tail when they dive, toward the head when they surface and sideways when they roll. The discovery in American alligators suggests "special muscles that manipulate the position of the lungs - and thus the center of buoyancy... [more]
Source : The University Of Utah

Bilderberg 50th Anniversary The Conspiracy Theory

The Bilderberg group marks its 50th anniversary
The Bilderberg group, an elite coterie of Western thinkers and power-brokers, has been accused of fixing the fate of the world behind closed doors. As the organisation marks its 50th anniversary, rumours are more rife than ever. What sets Bilderberg apart from other high-powered get-togethers, such as the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), is its mystique.Not a word of what is said at Bilderberg meetings can be breathed outside. No reporters are invited in and while confidential minutes of meetings are taken, names are not noted... [more]
Source : BBC

How strong is a hurricane? listening hurricanes with underwater microphones

Acoustical analysis of underwater sound is a predictor of the storm's wind strength
Knowing how powerful a hurricane is, before it hits land, can help to save lives or to avoid the enormous costs of an unnecessary evacuation. Some MIT researchers think there may be a better, cheaper way of getting that crucial information, By placing hydrophones (underwater microphones) deep below the surface in the path of an oncoming hurricane, it's possible to measure wind power as a function of the intensity of the sound. The roiling action of the wind, churning up waves and turning the water into a bubble-filled froth, causes a rushing sound whose volume is a direct indicator of the storm's destructive power... [more]
Source : Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Flowers' Fragrance Diminished by Air Pollution

Air pollution destroys the aroma of flowers
Air pollution from power plants and automobiles is destroying the fragrance of flowers and thereby inhibiting the ability of pollinating insects to follow scent trails to their source, a new University of Virginia study indicates. This could partially explain why wild populations of some pollinators, particularly bees – which need nectar for food – are declining in several areas of the world... [more]

Source : University of Virginia

Increasing obesity in U.S. requires new ambulance equipment

Calls from obese patients had increased nearly 25 percent
The fire department's gurneys could not adequately support the patients' weight, and the department had to pay a private ambulance company. Last fall, the department bought three gurneys that can hold patients weighing up to 600 pounds, about twice the holding capacity of a regular stretcher... [more]
Source : IHT

Humor : Berlusconi claims right-wing women are better looking

Berlusconi: Left has uglier women
Italian opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi has claimed that right-wing female politicians are better looking than their left-wing counterparts. Mr Berlusconi, the centre-right's candidate in elections this weekend, was quoted as telling local media that the left had "no taste" in women. The conservative leader has a long record of making outlandish comments... [more]
Source : BBC

Antiabortion activists in Italy and Spain, the abortion battle is back

Abortion opponents are finding new ways to pressure women and influence elections
In Italy and Spain, two of Europe's most predominantly Roman Catholic countries, opponents of abortion are finding new ways to challenge laws and use the issue to influence national elections, a generation after most citizens thought the issue was resolved. Spurred on by the church, antiabortion activists have staged demonstrations and circulated petitions, gathering thousands of names. On the other side of the debate, thousands of women have turned out in demonstrations to demand that laws allowing the termination of pregnancy be protected... [more]
Source : Los Angeles Times

Mobile T-Rays, Terahertz Device Offers Clear View Of Hidden Objects

Terahertz waves, as a versatile tool
Everybody knows microwaves – but what are terahertz waves? These higher-frequency waves are a real jack-of-all-trades. They can help to detect explosives or drugs without having to open a suitcase or search through items of clothing. They can reveal which substances are flowing through plastic tubes... [more]
Source : Science Daily

Chinese Drug Maker Begins Production of Bird Flu Vaccine

Effort to prevent transmission of the bird flu
Officials in China have given permission for a Chinese drug maker to begin commercial production of a human vaccine against bird flu after clinical trials showed it was effective.The development is a promising sign for scientists who have worked for years for develop a vaccine to protect humans from the H5N1 strain of bird flu... [more]
Source : VOA

Electrified Deep Earth Changing Length of Day

Tiny shifts that make our days milliseconds longer
Scientists are investigating how events in a mineral layer at the core-mantle boundary, 1,615 miles (2,600 kilometers) deep, similarly affect the planet's spin. "The length of a day … is changing due to the interaction between the mantle and the core in the very deep Earth... [more]

Source : National Geographic

Supercomputers on the verge of creating Matrix-style simulated realities

Matrix-style virtual worlds 'a few years away'
Although existing computers can produce artificial scenes and textures detailed enough to fool the human eye, such scenes typically take several hours to render. The key to passing the Graphics Turing Test o marry that photorealism with software that can render images in real-time – defined as a refresh rate of 30 frames per second. Blue Gene/L possesses 18 racks, each with 2000 standard PC processors that work in parallel to provide a huge amount of processing power – it has a speed of 103 teraflops, or 103 trillion "floating point operations" per second. By way of comparison, a calculator uses about 10 floating operations per second... [more]
Source : New Scientist

The secret jungles of ancient France

Evidence that France may have been a hot, wet tropical rainforest 55 million years ago
Scientists found the evidence in amber, sticky tree sap that hardens into a deep, yellow, rock-hard fossil — like the amber that scientists in Jurassic Park used to snare dino DNA. The scientists studied amber found near Paris. The shocker? The type of tree that produces this amber grows today only in the Amazon rainforest. The French amber deposits contained fossilized plants and animals like those found in a tropical rainforest... [more]
Source : American Chemical Society

Italian Wine Under Investigation for Adulteration

Brunello's reputation questioned as producers face fraud inquiry
Italy's most celebrated red wine, which can change hands for hundreds of pounds per bottle and has long been regarded as one of the handful of Italian vintages that can compete with France's best, received a disastrous blow to its image with the news that several top producers are under investigation for fraud, around 20 firms are suspected of "commercial fraud".A true Brunello must be made only from grapes cloned from the Sangiovese variety identified by the pioneering Montalcino vintner Clemente Santi in the 19th century. But the investigators believe that some producers were mixing 15 per cent of other grapes, including Merlot, Cabernet and Sauvignon, with the cloned Sangiovese... [more]
Source : Independent

Your Brain On Diesel Fumes, Nanoparticles In Diesel Exhaust Can Travel To The Brain

Research finds that diesel exhaust affects brain activity
The smell of diesel exhaust is now even less appealing. A new study has found that breathing the fumes even for short periods can trigger a stress response in the brain. Nanoparticles such as those in diesel exhaust can cause inflammation and an imbalance in highly reactive forms of oxygen, a condition called oxidative stress, in parts of the body where they land after being inhaled. The researchers hypothesize that the effects of diesel exhaust could be caused by nanoparticles slowly penetrating the brain or affecting brain signaling. Oxidative stress has also been linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and long-term exposure to these fumes conceivably could decrease cognitive function... [more]
Source : American Chemical Society

Kalahari Desert Sands An Important, Forgotten Storehouse of Carbon Dioxide

Kalahari Desert drought resistant bacteria
The sands of the desert are an important and forgotten storehouse of carbon dioxide taken from the world's atmosphere, "desert soils are unusual because the sand grains at the surface are bound together into a crust by bacteria, reducing wind erosion and adding nutrients to the soil. Deserts cover over one third of the world's land surface and yet our understanding of their contribution to the atmospheric carbon dioxide balance is poor"... [more]
Source : Science Daily

The Lean Gene: Thinness Is An Inheritable Trait

Woman's waistline may have less to do with rigorous exercise and abstaining from sweets than it does with the genes of her parents
A woman's waistline may have less to do with rigorous exercise and abstaining from sweets than it does with the genes of her parents, according to a new study by Prof. Gregory Livshits from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and colleagues from King's College in London. Dr. Livshits and his colleagues have found a scientific link between the lean body mass of a woman and her genes. They've determined that thinness -- like your smile or the color of your eyes -- is an inheritable trait... [more]
Source : Science Daily

Chinese Spying Growing, Spy 'Slept' In U.S. for 2 Decades

China has deployed a network of spies, students and scientists to steal U.S. secrets, officials say
Prosecutors called Chi Mak the "perfect sleeper agent," though he hardly looked the part. For two decades, the bespectacled Chinese-born engineer lived quietly with his wife in a Los Angeles suburb, buying a house and holding a steady job with a U.S. defense contractor, which rewarded him with promotions and a security clearance. Colleagues remembered him as a hard worker who often took paperwork home at night.Eventually, Mak's job gave him access to sensitive plans for Navy ships, submarines and weapons.
These he secretly copied and sent via courier to China -- fulfilling a mission that U.S. officials say he had been planning since the 1970s... [more]
Source : Washington Post

Botox May Move From Face to Brain

Botulism neurotoxin can disrupt nerve cells
Botulinum neurotoxin type A, sold as Allergan Inc.'s Botox remedy for wrinkles, can move from its injection site to the brain, a study shows. Botox is Allergan's biggest product, with $1.21 billion in sales last year. The drug, approved in 1989, became fashionable among aging celebrities seeking to smooth facial wrinkles and is used to treat some neurological disorders. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether patients contracted botulism, a muscle-weakening illness, from Botox and Myobloc, a product from Solstice Neurosciences Inc... [more]
Source : Bloomberg

Eating Paper in Search of Missing Nutrients

The Strange Paper Eating Woman
My patient was a 37-year-old executive assistant at a movie studio, and though I had known her for a long time, this was the first time she’d ever mentioned that she liked to eat paper. The craving, she told me, had been with her for years. Regarding it as an odd but harmless quirk, she hadn’t really­ shared her desire for paper with anyone before. “Well, how much paper do you eat?” I asked. I didn’t want to embarrass her by suggesting some large amount, so I grabbed a scratch pad that I keep handy in my exam room... [more]
Source : Discover Magazine

Tooth Regeneration May Replace Drill-and-Fill

Rebuilding teeth from the inside
Materials scientists are beginning to find just the right solutions of chemicals to rebuild decayed teeth, rather than merely patching their holes. Enamel and dentin, the materials that make teeth the strongest pieces of the body, would replace the gold or ceramic fillings that currently return teeth to working order... [more]

Source : Wired

Switzerland to outlaw cat fur trade

Last West European nation where cat fur trade is legal
First Zeus, a 2-year-old black tabby, vanished. A few days later it was her 2 -year-old black and white tabby, Zorra. And, finally, the prize of her brood, 4-year-old Merlin, a fluffy white Siberian whose perky visage remains in her mobile phone six months later. All were gone within the first couple of weeks of the fall hunting season. Legal, that is, but increasingly stigmatized — and soon Switzerland is likely to outlaw the practice. That the first country to outlaw it, Italy, did so only six years ago reflects the long European history with cat fur and how quickly the public has soured on its use in the face of an international campaign to redefine a centuries-old practice borrowed from traditional Chinese medicine... [more]
Source : IHT