New research indicates that Mars had significantly warmer weather in its recent past than previously thought and is good news in our quest for life on Mars, as the shorter the time period since the last warm weather on the planet, the better the chance that any organisms that may have lived in warmer times are still alive under the planet’s surface... [more]
Source : Science and Technology Facilities Council
Mars had significantly warmer weather in recent past
The protein LRRK2 fights inherited Parkinson's disease
An enzyme that naturally occurs in the brain helps destroy the mutated protein that is the most common cause of inherited Parkinson’s disease. The particular mutation that they studied affects a protein whose function is not well understood. In its normal form, it appears to have multiple sites where other molecules can attach themselves, like a space station with many docking areas. Several mutations can affect the protein, which is named LRRK2. Some of the mutations cause Parkinson’s disease... [more]
Source : UT Southwestern Medical Center
The Gene Variant NRXN3 Links Obesity to the Brain
A variation in a gene that is active in the central nervous system is associated with increased risk for obesity, the research adds to evidence that genes influence appetite and that the brain plays a key role in obesity. After analyzing more than two million regions of the human genome, the researchers found that the NRXN3 gene variant ─ previously associated with alcohol dependence, cocaine addiction, and illegal substance abuse ─ also predicts the tendency to become obese. Researchers found the gene variant in 20 percent of the people studied... [more]
Source : Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Astrologer Chandrasiri Bandara arrested for predicting that the government and the president will be ejected from office
Chandrasiri Bandara announced that the government would flounder in September and October because of political and economic problems. The opposition have condemned the arrest and warned that the country is heading towards a dictatorship. Astrology is taken seriously by numerous Sri Lankan politicians... [more]
Source : BBC
Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies 'stoned' are making crop circles
Lara Giddings, the attorney general for the island state of Tasmania, said the kangaroo-like marsupials were getting into poppy fields grown for medicine. Australia supplies about 50% of the world's legally-grown opium used to make morphine and other painkillers. There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles... [more] & [more] & [more] & [more]
Source : Adelaide Now & Daily Mail & Los Angeles Times & BBC
Larry Niven 'Flash Crowd' foresaw self-assembling riots thanks to brand-new technologies like 'Flash mobs' and 'social networking'
Demonstrators throng Tehran's streets, cellphones, Facebook and Twitter have emerged as key players in the political battle there. "Flash mobs" organized by such "social networking" tools have also played into political unrest in Estonia, and even in the U.S. presidential election, in which candidates' fans triggered turnout for events from their computer screens, rather than from old-fashioned door-to-door canvassing. Who saw it coming? Well, the best candidate may be science fiction author Larry Niven, 71, whose 1973 novella Flash Crowd foresaw riots self-assembling thanks to brand-new technologies... [more]
Source : USA Today
Xeros Washing with thousands of tiny nylon beads without water
The system developed by Xeros, a spin-off from the University of Leeds, in England uses thousands of tiny nylon beads each measuring a few millimetres across. These are placed inside the smaller of two concentric drums along with the dirty laundry, a squirt of detergent and a little water. As the drums rotate, the water wets the clothes and the detergent gets to work loosening the dirt. Then the nylon beads mop it up... [more]
Source : The Economist
Dr Simon Ourian Botox A Cure For Baldness
Familiar with Botox's use as a headache treatment, he injected the chemical – the medical name for a form of Botulinum toxin – into her scalp but was surprised to find that it also appeared to help her hair to grow back. The theory is that by dilating blood vessels, Botox, a relaxant, allows nutrients into shrunk follicles by dilating the blood vessels... [more] & [more]
Source : Telegraph & The Sun
Talking to plants makes them grow faster especially if you are a woman
Women gardeners' voices speed up growth of tomato plants much more than men's, it found. In an experiment run over a month, they found that tomato plants grew up to two inches taller if they were serenaded by the dulcet tones of a female rather than a male. Colin Crosbie, Garden Superintendent at RHS, said: "We predicted that the male voice would be more effective but it turned out that the ladies were far better than the gentlemen... [more]
Source : Telegraph
Physicist Ronald Mallett Builds Time Machine To Save His Father's Life With Gravitational Swirl
Albert Einstein theorized that space and time are linked, and that gravity can bend time just like it bends space. Mallett said he believes that if he can create a gravitational swirl -- a whirpool -- he can actually twist space and time. "So if I'm twisting space violently enough, ultimately what will happen is that that timeline will get twisted into a loop," Think of the loop like a time tunnel. Where Mallett thinks maybe we might be able to move back and forth. He said he will use criss-crossing lasers to try to create his time tunnel... [more]
Source : ABC News
Stress produce grey hair, hair follicles can suffer the same kind of "genotoxic stress" as DNA
When the going gets tough, stem cells which produce colour in hair follicles are damaged, say scientists. But the good news is that limiting the amount of stress can stop grey hairs growing... [more]
Source : Telegraph
Nintendo Wii may help treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease, including depression
"The Wii allows patients to work in a virtual environment that's safe, fun and motivational," says Dr. Ben Herz, program director and assistant professor in the School of Allied Health Sciences Department of Occupational Therapy. "The games require visual perception, eye-hand coordination, figure-ground relationships and sequenced movement, so it's a huge treatment tool from an occupational therapy perspective... [more]
Source : Medical College of Georgia
Moon Magic Tool To Visualize Past, Future Lunar Eclipses
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method for using computer graphics to simulate and render an accurate visualization of a lunar eclipse. The model uses celestial geometry of the sun, Earth, and moon, along with data for the Earth’s atmosphere and the moon’s peculiar optical properties to create picture-perfect images of lunar eclipses... [more]
Source : Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Holografika HOLOVISION no more glasses to watch 3D
The most important aspect of the new system from the user perspective is that nothing is required of the viewer – no need for the special glasses in cinemas or having to adjust your head into specific positions to get the 3D effect, as with a holographic image. It provides the closest video 3D viewing experience compared to the well-known static holography, where the user can freely move to change viewing angle. The glassless technology presents the 3D image in a way very similar to light coming from a normal object, so putting a lot less strain on the brain than current 3D projections. Demeter likens the experience to looking through a window. And as with looking though a window, it is possible for the viewer to walk around in front of the display and still see the same view, albeit from a changing perspective...[more]
Source : ICT Results
Element 112 A New Chemical Element in the Periodic Table
To produce element 112 atoms, scientists accelerate charged zinc atoms – zinc ions for short – with the help of the 120 m long particle accelerator at GSI and “fire” them onto a lead target. The zinc and lead nuclei merge in a nuclear fusion to form the nucleus of the new element. Its so-called atomic number 112, hence the provisional name “element 112”, is the sum of the atomic numbers of the two initial elements: zinc has the atomic number 30 and lead the atomic number 82. An element’s atomic number indicates the number of protons in its nucleus. The neutrons that are also located in the nucleus have no effect on the classification of the element. It is the 112 electrons, which orbit the nucleus, that determine the new element’s chemical properties... [more]
Source : Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
200,000-Year-old giant prehistoric elephant unearthted
It is of an extinct species and is of enormous size - much bigger than modern-day Asian elephants, with a femur alone being 1.2 metres long. It appears that the elephant became bogged in the river shallows, perished and was quickly covered by sands - about 200,000 years ago... [more]
Source : The Australian
Global Language Monitor Millionth New English Word Imminent
Global Language Monitor searches for new words and once a word has been used 25,000 times, it recognises it. Lexicographers say the exact size of the English vocabulary is impossible to quantify, but if every technical term or obscure specialist word is accepted then we are already beyond one million... [more] & [more] & [more]
Source : BBC & The Economist & The Global Language Monitor
Japanese Company Office Agents Hire 'Fake Friends'
Office Agents, a Tokyo-based company, rents out friends, work colleagues and even relatives to pad out the guest list. Brides or grooms who want to impress their prospective partners with their sheer volume of friends are among those secretly padding the guest list with fakes. Others turning to the company for fake work-related guests are those who have recently lost their jobs but want to maintain an air of respectability, according to Hiroshi Mizutani, who heads Office Agents... [more]
Source : Telegraph
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