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Thirdhand Smoke Damages Human Cells

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 22:22:00 +0700

Thirdhand Smoke Damages Human Cells - Thirdhand smoke, the residue from cigarette smoke that lingers on surfaces and in dust long after the cigarette is out and the smoke has cleared, may damage human cells, a new study finds.

The researchers used two standard laboratory tests to assess the toxicity of thirdhand smoke. They showed that a compound found in smoke residue, called tobacco-specific nitrosamine, significantly damages DNA in human cells.

"This is the very first study to show that thirdhand smoke is mutagenic and causes DNA damage, which is considered as one of the first steps toward cancer," said study researcher Lara Gundel, of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

Though the harmful effects of cigarette smoking are well-known, the question of whether exposure to thirdhand smoke is also a health concern has often been overlooked, the researchers said.

Thirdhand smoke is the smell that remains on the clothes and hair of someone who has just smoked, or the odor left in hotel rooms where smokers stayed. The chemicals are derivatives of nicotine, and remain in indoor environments, absorbed in the fabric of curtains and carpeting, and on the surface of other objects.

However, the extent to which the chemicals could be hazardous to people is still unknown.

"The purpose of the study was to find how toxic and hazardous some compounds in thirdhand smoke are, and by what mechanisms they can cause harm," Gundel said.

In the study, the researchers put paper strips in smoking chambers. Some of the samples were left for only 20 minutes, after which the researchers measured the residue; the researchers called this "acute exposure." Other strips were left for nearly 200 days in a smoking chamber that was ventilated, to create a "chronic exposure" condition.

The researchers then extracted the chemicals from the paper strips, and exposed cells to the chemicals.

The results showed that the chronic samples had a higher concentration of thirdhand smoke residue than the acute samples. The chronic samples also caused higher levels of DNA damage.

"The cumulative effect of thirdhand smoke is quite significant," Gundel said. "The findings suggest the materials could be getting more toxic with time."

One important characteristic of thirdhand smoke is that its residue can interact with compounds in the air, such as ozone, and produce new toxins, the researchers said.

It is difficult to say when it is safe to enter a place where a smoker has formerly lived, as the emission seems to continue for a long time.

Cleaning a home or a car that has been smoked in doesn't seem to solve the problem. The researchers said they encountered people who complained about buying a used car that didn't smell at first but after a few days started to smell as if somebody had smoked in it.

"Even when you paint the walls, it covers the smell for a short time, but then the compounds work their way through the painting," Gundel said.

"We can take up markers from former smoking months, and sometimes even years after the smoker has left," the researchers said.

Future studies should investigate the effects of nitrosamines and other compounds found in thirdhand smoke on people by looking at blood samples, the researchers said.

The study was published June 13 in the journal Mutagenesis, and was funded by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, which is managed by the University of California and funded by state cigarette taxes. ( LiveScience.com )

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Crick DNA Nobel Medal Auctioned for $2 Million

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:18:00 +0700

Crick DNA Nobel Medal Auctioned for $2 Million - A Nobel Prize medal honoring the discovery of DNA's twisted ladder shape was sold at auction today (April 11) in New York for more than $2 million.

Francis Crick was one of three men awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for deciphering the DNA molecule's double-helix structure in 1953. Sixty years after the discovery, the CEO of a Chinese biomedical firm paid $2,270,500 for Crick's medal and accompanying diploma at Heritage Auctions.

At a separate sale yesterday, a letter penned by Crick set the world record for any letter ever sold at auction. An anonymous bidder paid just over $6 million for the note Crick wrote to his 12-year-old son that explained the DNA discovery and was signed "lots of love, Daddy." The previous record was set in 2008 when someone paid $3.4 million for an anti-slavery letter written by Abraham Lincoln.

This story was updated at 12:45 p.m. ET to include the buyer's name and comments from Crick's son and granddaughter.

"It's a win for science worldwide," Kindra Crick, granddaughter of the famous researcher, told LiveScience today after the auction.

A chunk of the proceeds from this week's sales are set to benefit research institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom. Crick's family and Heritage Auctions plan to donate a portion of today's earnings to The Francis Crick Institute, a medical research institute, scheduled to open in London in 2015. And some of the proceeds from yesterday's letter auction are set go to the Salk Institute in California, where Crick, who died in 2004, studied consciousness later in his career.

There was little precedent for today's sale. Heritage Auctions had valued the Nobel medal and diploma at $500,000 — a fourth of what it raked in. Nobel medals appear to have changed hands publicly in only a couple of instances and none had been publicly auctioned off before. Crick's medal might be considered particularly valuable as it honored one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

As early as the late 1800s, scientists knew that the DNA molecule existed, but not what it looked like or its true function. The discovery of DNA's double helix structure was key to understanding how the molecule worked as a code for genes.

The medal and diploma were bought by Jack Wang, the CEO of Biomobie, a biomedical company based in Shanghai. Wang flew to New York for the auction and said in a statement that he hopes the objects will inspire discoveries that "recover damaged human organs and retard the aging process, achieving the goal of self recovering from disease and poor health conditions."

Kindra Crick said she was confident the buyer would carry on her grandfather's "vision of going after profound discovery" and said he was interested in displaying the medal publicly.

At yesterday's sale at Christie's auction house in New York, an anonymous buyer purchased Francis Crick's seven-page handwritten note to his son with a $5.3 million bid over the phone. Buyer's premium included, the final price tag for the "Secret of Life" letter came in at $6,059,750. Christie's had valued the letter at $1-2 million, comparing its value to a letter Albert Einstein wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning about the potential of nuclear weapons. Christie's sold that letter in 2002 for just over $2 million.

"I had expectations, but they weren't that high," the scientist's son Michael Crick, now 72, told LiveScience. He remembers reading it 60 years ago.

"I was in the sick room at boarding school and I really didn't have anything to do when this letter arrived," Crick said. "So I read it very thoroughly."

Dated March 19, 1953, the letter contains diagrams that outline the scientists' model for how "des-oxy-ribose-nucleic-acid (read it carefully)" replicates and encodes instructions for the development and function of living things.

"In other words we think we have found the basic copying mechanism by which life comes from life," the scientist wrote to his son.

"It is a very beautiful letter," Michael Crick said. "He wrote it just at my level."

As legend has it, when James Watson and Crick made their discovery on Feb. 28, 1953, Crick announced inside a local Cambridge pub called the Eagle, "We have discovered the secret of life." Their findings wouldn't be published in the journal Nature until two months later, and the note to Michael is likely one of the first written explanations of the discovery.

Other Francis Crick-related mementos went under the hammer today. His award check with his endorsement on the back sold for $77,675; the scientist's lab coat went for $8,962; his gardening journals sold for $10,755; and a set of his nautical logs and books snagged $1,792. A bidder also paid $4,182 for Crick's personal copy of Charles Darwin's "The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle."

And yesterday, one of Crick's notebooks was sold at Christie's for $21,250, and drawing of Crick made by his wife, Odile Crick, an artist who drew the double helix for her husband and Watson, was auctioned off for $17,500. ( LiveScience.com )

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Mysterious Sundial May Be Secret to Viking Navigation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 23:12:00 +0700

Mysterious Sundial May Be Secret to Viking Navigation - A mysterious Viking sundial found in Greenland may have helped the ancient mariners sail at the same north-south latitude across the Atlantic, new research suggests.

The study, detailed Tuesday (April 9) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A Mathematical and Physical Sciences, suggests that the raiding Norsemen might have been even more impressive sailors than previously thought.

"It is widely accepted that Norse people were excellent mariners. Now it seems they used much more sophisticated navigational instruments than we thought before," said study co-author Balázs Bernáth, a researcher at Eötvös University in Hungary.

An artist's impression of a Viking ship.

The wooden artifact found in Uunartoq, Greenland may have been a 10th century sundial used for determining latitude on the Vikings' trans-Atlantic journeys

Mysterious artifact

Exactly how Vikings navigated the open seas has been the subject of speculation and folklore. Researchers think the Vikings used sophisticated sun compasses to find true north and relied on a "magic" crystal to navigate on cloudy days. (Scientists recently unearthed evidence of one of these Viking sunstones.)

In 1948, an archaeologist discovered a mysterious wooden artifact under the ruins of a Benedictine monastery in a fjord in Uunartoq, Greenland, which was settled by Norse farmers during the 10th century. The artifact, shaped into a half-circle, had a center hole and a zigzag engraved along its perimeter. Several lines had also been scratched onto the plate's interior.

Some skeptics argued it was a household decoration, but most researchers thought it was an elusive Viking sun compass. Past researchers even took a similarly constructed compass aboard replica Viking ships and tested its navigational mettle.

But navigational lines scored on the compass were incomplete, so this ancient sundial wasn't great at finding North. It was off by about one degree, which could lead to days of sailing in the wrong direction, said Amit Lerner, an ocean optics researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who was not involved in the study.

Ancient mariners

That led the team behind the new study to wonder whether the compass had a more sophisticated primary function: determining latitude, or the north-south position on the globe.

"Vikings performed latitude sailing, which means crossing open seas along a chosen latitude. For example, they regularly sailed more than 1,600 miles [2,500 kilometers] along the 61st latitude from Norway to Greenland and back. To do that one needs a fine compass or needs to regularly check his or her current latitude," Bernath said.

But wind and ocean currents would have quickly diverted the Vikings' small ships, forcing the mariners to frequently check their latitude to stay on course. While Arabian sailors used the stars to check latitude, Vikings sailed near the Arctic Circle, where the sun never sets in summer. So they must have navigated by the sun, not the stars, researchers reasoned.

The team found that at noon every day, when the sun is highest in the sky, a dial in the center of the compass would have cast a shadow between two lines on the plate. The ancient seafarers could have measured the length of that noon shadow using scaling lines on the dial, and then determined the latitude.

But while the calculations of latitude and longitude may be accurate, there's no way to test their hypothesis, Lerner told LiveScience.

"Nobody can know for sure if it's true or not," Lerner said. ( LiveScience.com )

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Secret Population of Orangutans Found

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:59:00 +0700

Secret Population of Orangutans Found

Secret Population of Orangutans Found - A population of 200 of the world's rarest orangutans was found tucked away in the forests of the island of Borneo, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

All subspecies of Bornean orangutans are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. But scientists estimate just 3,000 to 4,500 individuals are left in the subspecies known as Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus, making them the most severely threatened.

Two-thousand of those live in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in Batang Ai National Park and Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, researchers say. The previously unknown population was found by conservationists near the Batang park, in an area covering about 54 square miles (140 square kilometers).

Local communities apparently had been aware of the apes, but no major research projects had been undertaken in the area until February, when conservations with WCS and other groups surveyed the region. They found a total of 995 orangutan nests, including fresh nests that indicated the rare population was recently using the area.

Previously, researchers studying fresh nests left by wild orangutans in Indonesia found they are incredibly complex, made in the crooks of large branches. The orangutans bend and interweave living branches about an inch (3 centimeters) wide to form the nest.

"They are just bent. They can actually stay living and later on you can go back to them and see they are like an archeological artifact of all these strangely bent items," said Roland Ennos of the University of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, when the study was published last year in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "It's very similar to weaving a basket, they have to break the branches, weave them together and form a nice, strong, rigid structure."

The Sarawak state government is now mulling new protections (including new national parks) for the area where the hidden orangutans were documented. ( LiveScience.com )

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Must be from the Jaw-rassic period!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:47:00 +0700

Must be from the Jaw-rassic period! The open mouth fossil of 195-million-year-old dolphin-like creature found on Dorset beach - The 18-inch fossil of an ichthyosaur was found near Lyme Regis - The creature's mouth is still open in the unique find

The remains of a 195-million-year-old reptile have been discovered on Britain's Jurassic Coast.

Geologist Richard Edmonds stumbled across the 18-inch fossil of an ichthyosaur - a dolphin-like sea creature - near Lyme Regis in Dorset.

Mr Edmonds spotted a small part of the perfectly-preserved jaw of the extinct reptile sticking out of the mud - and said he almost ignored it.

The remains of a 195-million-year-old reptile discovered on Britain's Jurassic Coast. Geologist Richard Edmonds stumbled across the fossil of an ichthyosaur - a dolphin-like sea creature - near Lyme Regis, Dorset

GIANT DOLPHINS WERE OCEANS' DINOSAURS

Ichthyosaurs swam in the sea at the same time dinosaurs roamed the land, which was around 220 to 65 million years ago.

The beasts would have looked similar to dolphins but were reptilian.

The earliest ichthyosaurs had long, flexible bodies and probably swam by undulating, like living eels

But on closer inspection the 50-year-old fossil hunter realised it was a full ichthyosaur jaw.

It is said to be a finer example than the ichthyosaur fossils held by the Natural History Museum because the beast's mouth is open.

It was found along a 100-mile stretch of Dorset coast which was made a World Heritage Site in 2001 because of its wealth of fossils.

Mr Edmonds, earth science manager at the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, said:

'I spotted a piece of bone in the shale but it was so insignificant I almost didn't bother with it.

'Then I had a closer look and within a few seconds the whole jaw almost fell out of the rock.

'Looking for these things are like searching for a needle in a haystack so it was a really exciting moment when I realised what I'd found.

'It took me about 45 minutes to extract all the pieces and then another 60 hours to prepare the fossil.

'It is a very exciting process piecing all the bits back together.

An artist's impression of the ichthyosaur, which looked similar to dolphins but were reptilian

A complete fossil of Ichthyosaurs, which swam in the sea at the same time dinosaurs roamed the land

'It's quite unusual to see a fossil like this one with a gaping mouth,' said Mr Edmonds.

'You won't see anything like this one at the Natural History Museum.'

Mr Edmonds, who has been collecting fossils since 1973, said the secret to his success was sheer tenacity.

He added: 'I've spent all my holiday this year on the ledges looking for ichthyosaurs.

'I must have spent 40 days walking up and down the beach.

'It's been like playing the lottery - they're just so hard to find.'

The ichthyosaur fossil will go on display at Lyme Regis Museum. ( dailymail.co.uk )

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Sputnik II and Laika, the first dog in space, re-enters Earth's atmosphere

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 22:27:00 +0700

Sputnik II and Laika, the first dog in space, re-enters Earth's atmosphere - Laika was a stray and had been hand-picked for the mission which aimed to discover what would happen to a living creature in space

The spacecraft Sputnik II re-entered the Earth's atmosphere after 162 days in space bearing a special passenger - Laika, a female part-Samoyed terrier.

The 4-metre cone-shaped satellite was the second to enter Earth's orbit on 3 November 1957. It also had the distinction of carrying the first living animal into space.

Laika was a stray and had been hand-picked for the mission, which aimed to discover what would happen to a living creature in space. Soviet officials only revealed shortly after blast-off the canine was doomed to die in space.

Accommodation for the one-way trip provided food and water, a waste bag and room to lie down or stand. Laika was also fitted with a harness and electrodes to monitor her vital signs.

Laika's heartbeat was closely monitored after the launch and data showed the dog had suffered from stress in the early hours of the mission.

Laika the dog in Sputnik II (CSU Archv/Everett / Rex Features)

For years it was believed the dog had died painlessly a week after blast off but in 2002 it was revealed the poor animal had perished just a few hours after launch from overheating and stress. The space craft was incinerated on re-entry into the Earth's upper atmosphere.

This ominous Pathé news report of Sputnik II shows the historical launch and its unusual passenger.

Footage shows both Russian and American stations monitoring the orbiting vessel.

The Western narrator observes this mission "means Russia probably has an operational intercontinental ballistic missile" - a prospect that would have angered and worried USSR's enemies the United States and the United Kingdom.

Sputnik II came at the beginning of the Space Race - a competition between the USSR and the United States for supremacy in space exploration - but the Soviet Union won early ground with its small spacecraft and living passenger. ( Yahoo! News )

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'Da Vinci's Demons' Review: Renaissance Man, Meet Batman

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 13:36:00 +0700

'Da Vinci's Demons' Review: Renaissance Man, Meet Batman - David S. Goyer traffics in superheroes, and he's found one in 15th century Florence.

The co-writer of the "Dark Knight" trilogy and the upcoming "Man of Steel," has imagined for us a Leonardo Da Vinci nearly as relatable as a billionaire who dresses up like a bat or a flying super-powered alien.

That's good, because for "Da Vinci's Demons," debuting tonight, we need a steady guide through a Renaissance-era Florence that feels somewhere between gritty Gotham and sleek Krypton. The CGI prettiness of the scenes can mix oddly with the grittiness of the story - but then a bird or a plane or some device merging the two takes flight, and all is forgiven.

With his beard, leather jacket, and textured haircut, Da Vinci (Tom Riley) doesn't look much different from the other L.A. actor-types who populate so many cable dramas. So at least there's something familiar as the swooping cameras take us through lovely if overly computer-generated settings, from dizzying towers to rolling hills and gorgeous courtyards.

The great strength of Goyer's Batman films is how realistic they feel - not just alive, but jittery and adrenalized, as if every glass is about to crash and every bone about to pop. Dangerously alive.

Reuters/Reuters - Creator and executive producer David S. Goyer takes part in a panel discussion of Starz's "Da Vinci's Demons" during the 2013 Winter Press Tour for the Television Critics Association in Pasadena, California January 5, 2013. REUTERS/Gus Ruelas

"Da Vinci" doesn't have that feeling, yet, though the show does go for earthiness with a fair amount of nudity, even of the rarely seen full-frontal middle-aged variety. It helps us feel that we're among flesh-and-blood human beings, even amid the nagging sense that we're going into the false dreamscape of visual effects.

The conflict is at the heart of the big challenge for "Da Vinci's Demons": How to bring a sense of urgency to a far-off world. HBO's "Game of Thrones" gushes life through the fictional land of Westeros, and its realness makes its fantasy sequences all the more jaw-dropping. That's a balance "Demons" doesn't yet strike. Florence could use a little more of Gotham's grime.

Fortunately, it feels like it will get there, thanks in part to plenty of nasty characters eager to shed clothes and blood. They include double agents, middle-aged men who don't treat their boyish companions very nicely, the church, and the Medicis.

All the intrigue can be hard to follow at first. But fortunately, we see it through the keen eyes of our hero, who has enough touchstones with Batman for us to understand his essential struggle even if we know next to nothing about the Renaissance.

As Goyer has noted before, both Da Vinci and Bruce Wayne are haunted by parental loss at a young age and both had horrific, life-changing experiences in a cave. As we see in the series premiere, the similarities don't stop there.

Both are also fascinated by artificial flight, inhabit corrupted cities full of grotesque villains, and are closely linked to a mysterious secret society.

Wayne may be a Renaissance man, but Da Vinci was the original.

He's a painter, swordsman, inventor and lover who really wants a contract to make military weapons, because, he figures, war is where the innovation is.

Like any great hero, he also has weaknesses - which may turn out to be strengths. First, he's a bastard, forced to make his own way rather than relying on family wealth. (Between "Da Vinci" and "Game of Thrones," bastards are having quite a nice run lately on premium cable.) His determination makes him smarter and tougher than the nobles.

He's also overly fond of opium. But the visions he experiences on it - besides providing some of the show's many lovely visuals - also provide him answers about his mysterious past.

That mystery has plenty of potential to drive "Da Vinci's Demons" forward. He quickly learns from a smoking buddy named "The Turk" that something called "The Book of Leaves" contains secrets that can help advance his already far-ahead-of-their time contraptions, which include, in the first episode, a hang glider prototype and flying mechanical birds.

If you have trouble following the drama or keeping track of the characters, don't worry. The visuals will keep you occupied as the show rolls out and explains its conspiracies.

The show's first flying sequence - in which Da Vinci helps his young assistant take to the sky - is kind of underwhelming. That's too bad, because later ones are simply beautiful.

In one scene, Da Vinci watches birds fly from a cage and sketches their movements. We see the birds freeze, as they do in his mind, and his sketches appear in place of the birds. It's a brilliant way to show us how Da Vinci's mind works. Later, in another sweeping sequence, we see how Da Vinci translates life into art and then into a merger of the two.

Here's hoping "Da Vinci's Demons" can do the same. ( TheWrap.com )

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Trove of Neanderthal Bones Found in Greek Cave

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 1 Apr 2013 22:44:00 +0700

Trove of Neanderthal Bones Found in Greek Cave - A trove of Neanderthal fossils including bones of children and adults, discovered in a cave in Greece hints the area may have been a key crossroad for ancient humans, researchers say.

The timing of the fossils suggests Neanderthals and humans may have at least had the opportunity to interact, or cross paths, there, the researchers added.

Neanderthals are the closest extinct relatives of modern humans, apparently even occasionally interbreeding with our ancestors. Neanderthals entered Europe before modern humans did, and may have lasted there until about 35,000 years ago, although recent findings have called this date into question.

To learn more about the history of ancient humans, scientists have recently focused on Greece.

"Greece lies directly on the most likely route of dispersals of early modern humans and earlier hominins into Europe from Africa via the Near East," paleoanthropologist Katerina Harvati at the University of Tübingen in Germany told LiveScience. "It also lies at the heart of one of the three Mediterranean peninsulae of Europe, which acted as refugia for plant and animal species, including human populations, during glacial times — that is, areas where species and populations were able to survive during the worst climatic deteriorations."

"Until recently, very little was known about deep prehistory in Greece, chiefly because the archaeological research focus in the country has been on classical and other more recent periods," Harvati added.

Harvati and colleagues from Greece and France analyzed remains from a site known as Kalamakia, a cave stretching about 65 feet (20 meters) deep into limestone cliffs on the western coast of the Mani Peninsula on the mainland of Greece. They excavated the cave over the course of 13 years.

The archaeological deposits of the cave date back to between about 39,000 and 100,000 years ago to the Middle Paleolithic period. During the height of the ice age, the area still possessed a mild climate and supported a wide range of wildlife, including deer, wild boar, rabbits, elephants, weasels, foxes, wolves, leopards, bears, falcons, toads, vipers and tortoises.

In the cave, the researchers found tools such as scrapers made of flint, quartz and seashells. The stone tools were all shaped, or knapped, in a way typical of Neanderthal artifacts.

Now, the scientists reveal they discovered 14 specimens of child and adult human remains in the cave, including teeth, a small fragment of skull, a vertebra, and leg and foot bones with bite and gnaw marks on them. The teeth strongly appear to be Neanderthal, and judging by marks on the teeth, the ancient people apparently had a diet of meat and diverse plants.

"Kalamakia, together with the single human tooth from the nearby cave site of Lakonis, are the first Neanderthal remains to be identified from Greece," Harvati said. The discoveries are "confirmation of a thriving and long-standing Neanderthal population in the region."

These findings suggest "the fossil record from Greece potentially holds answers about the earliest dispersal of modern humans and earlier hominins into Europe, about possible late survival of Neanderthals and about one of the first instances where the two might have had the opportunity to interact," Harvati said.

In the future, Harvati and her colleagues will conduct new fieldwork in other areas in Greece to address mysteries such as potential coexistence and interactions between Neanderthals and modern humans, the spread of modern and extinct humans into Europe and possible seafaring capabilities of ancient humans.

"We look forward to exciting discoveries in the coming years," Harvati said. ( LiveScience.com )

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Green Meteorite May Be from Mercury, a First

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 01:50:00 +0700

Green Meteorite May Be from Mercury, a First - Scientists may have discovered the first meteorite from Mercury.

The green rock found in Morocco last year may be the first known visitor from the solar system's innermost planet, according to meteorite scientist Anthony Irving, who unveiled the new findings this month at the 44th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. The study suggests that a space rock called NWA 7325 came from Mercury, and not an asteroid or Mars.

SPACE.com - This green meteorite that landed in Morocco in 2012 could be from Mercury. (Photo By Stefan Ralew/sr-meteorites.de)

NWA 7325 is actually a group of 35 meteorite samples discovered in 2012 in Morocco. They are ancient, with Irving and his team dating the rocks to an age of about 4.56 billion years.

"It might be a sample from Mercury, or it might be a sample from a body smaller than Mercury but [which] is like Mercury," Irving said during his talk. A large impact could have shot NWA 7325 out from Mercury to Earth, he added.

Irving is an Earth and Space Sciences professor at the University of Washington and has been studying meteorites for years. But the NWA 7325 meteorite is unlike anything found on Earth before, he told SPACE.com.

Meteorites from Mars are imbued with some Martian atmosphere, making them somewhat simple to tell apart from other rocks. Space rocks from Vesta, one of the largest asteroids in the solar system, are also chemically distinct, but NWA 7325 does not resemble any space rock documented by scientists today.

Irving thinks that the meteoritewas created and eventually ejected from a planet or other body that had flowing magma on its surface at some point in its history. Evidence suggests that the rock could have been formed as "scum" on the top of the magma, Irving said.

NWA 7325 has a lower magnetic intensity — the magnetism passed from a cosmic body's magnetic field into a rock — than any other rock yet found, Irving said. Data sent back from NASA's Messenger spacecraft currently in orbit around Mercury shows that the planet's low magnetism closely resembles that found in NWA 7325, Irving said.

Messenger's observations also provided Irving with further evidence that could support his hypothesis. Scientists familiar with Mercury's geological and chemical composition think that the planet's surface is very low in iron. The meteorite is also low in iron, suggesting that wherever the rock came from, its parent body resembles Mercury.

While Messenger's first extended mission just finished, the team has put in a request to continue researching the planet with the orbiter for the next two years. If the mission is extended until 2015, the science returned by the spacecraft could help further validate or invalidate Irving's ideas about the origin of the meteorite.Although finding meteorites on Earth that came from Mercury is less likely than finding Martian meteorites, it could be possible, Irving said. ( sapce.com )

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UFO Memo Is FBI's 'Most Wanted' Record

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:17:00 +0700

UFO Memo Is FBI's 'Most Wanted' Record - The FBI says its most viewed public record is a memo from 1950 recounting a strange story someone told an agent about three "flying saucers" that were allegedly recovered in New Mexico.

The so-called Hottel memo was first released in the late 1970s under the Freedom of Information Act, but it's been viewed nearly a million times since 2011, when the FBI launched an online database of public records called the Vault.

A single-page March 22, 1950, memo by Guy Hottel, special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office, regarding UFOs is the most viewed document in the FBI Vault, an online repository of public records

Dated March 22, 1950, the memo was addressed to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and written by Guy Hottel, then head of the Bureau's field office in Washington, D.C. Hottel was reporting what an Air Force investigator said that someone else told him about the crashed saucers.

The following details of the report have perhaps fueled the hopes of those who want to believe: "They [the saucers] were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots."

For the record, FBI officials said in a statement on Monday (March 25) that the Hottel memo "does not prove the existence of UFOs; it is simply a second- or third-hand claim that we never investigated."

Bureau officials also say there is no reason to believe that the story has anything to do with the infamous 1947 Roswell crash in New Mexico. Hoover did actually order his agents to verify any UFO sightings after the Roswell incident and until July 1950. That the Hottel report was never investigated suggests "our Washington Field Office didn't think enough of that flying saucer story to look into it," the FBI statement says. ( LiveScience.com )

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Unidentified Floating Fireballs?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:09:00 +0700

Unidentified Floating Fireballs? - A strange sight in the Texas night sky over the weekend had many people talking about fireballs and alien invasions. But, alas, the real culprit has been identified, a much more Earthly one.

Police in East Liberty County got a 911 emergency call at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday from a person reporting "red fireballs in the sky." Responding police officers, along with a dozen locals, described seeing four orange lights moving slowly in a line high in the sky. Police scopes revealed that the objects looked like hot air balloons — complete with flames — but were much smaller and did not have the signature gondola at the bottom.

Even more mysteriously, the lights were estimated to only be a few thousand feet off the ground, and yet they moved silently. No known airplane or helicopter technology could fly that low and remain so quiet. Within minutes the UFOs were gone, having disappeared into the night. They didn't fly away but instead simply blinked out of existence; some eyewitnesses thought they had vanished behind a passing cloud and would reappear at any moment, but they never did.

Even so, the sighting wasn't over: A second batch of the strange lights soon appeared, in an identical line and in a more or less identical formation, until they too vanished in the same pattern. Baffled police contacted the National Weather Bureau, the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies, though none of them could shed light on the mystery. No unusual aircraft appeared on radar, and though weather balloons had been launched earlier that day, they were not aloft in the area at that time — and in any event did not match the UFOs description. The National UFO Reporting Center was also contacted, though they had no information to offer.

The Unidentified Flying Objects became IFOs when members of a nearby wedding party informed police that the floating, flaming objects were paper lanterns lit just after their ceremony. Such Chinese lanterns are made of lightweight paper and a candle that provides the heat that lifts the lanterns as well as the light that makes them glow. That explains why there was no aircraft engine sound, and the flamelike appearance. Each lantern represented a wish made by each of the guests for the new couple. The newlyweds apologized if their wish lanterns scared anyone, and the sheriff took it in stride but noted that the lanterns might pose a fire threat, and asked the public to notify police before lighting such lanterns in the future.

This is not the first time that paper lanterns have sparked UFO reports. In October 2011 over a dozen strange lights were seen in the night skies over northern Utah. The UFOs glowed a strange fiery red as they headed north at an estimated speed of about 70 mph (113 km/h), according to one eyewitness. A nearby Air Force base was asked if they had any experimental aircraft, helicopters or planes in the sky. Officials claimed that they knew nothing of the UFO lights, and that no air-training exercises had been conducted at that time. The mystery was solved when students at a local high school mentioned they had launched 16 lanterns just before the sightings occurred as part of a ceremony.

Lights in the night sky — whatever the source — can easily be misinterpreted and mistaken for strange extraterrestrial craft or mysterious weather phenomenon. As always, just because you don't know what a light in the sky is doesn't mean it's unknown or mysterious. And it may just be sending newlywed wishes toward the heavens. ( LiveScience.com )

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1873 dime sells for a pretty penny: $1.6 million

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:00:00 +0700

1873 dime sells for a pretty penny: $1.6 million — A dime made in 1873 has cost someone a pretty penny: It sold for $1.6 million at auction.

Associated Press/Brynn Anderson - An 1873 dime from Carson City, Nev., is displayed on Friday, Aug. 10, 2012, in Philadelphia. The dime sold at auction for $1.84 million. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

An anonymous bidder won the pristine coin, said Chris Napolitano, president of Stack's Bowers Galleries, which auctioned it during an American Numismatic Association convention. With a 15 percent buyer's fee tacked on, the final price for the coin was $1.84 million, he said.

The rare coin was minted in Carson City, Nev., during a one-day run of dimes.

"Generally speaking, in the coin auction business, you might get a couple of people fighting each other" as they bid, he said Friday. "On this one, we had four or five buyers over a million dollars. We had a fair amount of buyers pursuing it."

The 1873-CC "No Arrows" Liberty Seated dime was auctioned Thursday night. It's part of the Battle Born Collection, which contained one of every coin struck in Carson City before the mint there closed in 1893.

All 111 pieces were auctioned off Thursday night, fetching a total of nearly $10 million. ( Associated Press )

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Top up on sunshine and vitamin D, says charity

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 7 Jan 2013 21:40:00 +0700

Top up on sunshine and vitamin D, says charity - People should go outside and soak up some sunshine to help increase their vitamin D levels, a charity is urging.

Arthritis Research UK says vitamin D deficiency can cause bone loss, muscle function problems and, in some cases, rickets in children.

The government recommends vitamin D supplements for pregnant women and children aged under five.

Sunshine is a natural source of vitamin D

But, on sunny days, a few minutes outdoors should achieve the same results, the charity says.

“Start Quote

From June to August just 15 minutes outside is generally enough time” - Arthritis Research UK

In January the chief medical officer for England said she was concerned that young children and some adults were not getting enough vitamin D.

Figures show that up to a quarter of the population has low levels of vitamin D in their blood and the majority of pregnant women do not take vitamin D supplements.

People aged over 65, pregnant and breast-feeding women and children aged six months to five years old are thought to be most at risk.

Vitamin D is essential to help the body absorb calcium from food.

Low levels can result in serious problems with the health of our bones.

Alan Silman, medical director of Arthritis Research UK, said the advice was simple: "When the days are sunny, go out for a few minutes and expose your face and arms to the sunshine."

But he also had a warning on overexposure: "Don't allow your skin to go red, and take care not to burn, particularly in strong sunshine and if you have fair or sensitive skin.

"From June to August just 15 minutes is generally enough time."

The sun's UV levels are not yet strong enough over the UK for our bodies alone to make enough vitamin D.

He said: "In less sunny months, we recommend that people top up the vitamin D in their diet by eating more oily fish such as salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel, pilchards and sardines, and foods 'fortified' with vitamin D, such as breakfast cereals and some margarines." ( bbc.co.uk )

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Museum tells story of Titanic survivor Molly Brown

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 7 Jan 2013 21:34:00 +0700

Museum tells story of Titanic survivor Molly Brown — Thousands of miles from the ocean, a museum tells the story of a woman made famous by the Titanic. No, her name was not Rose, and a movie about her life, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," starring Debbie Reynolds as a plucky lifeboat survivor, was a hit decades before Kate Winslet's doomed romance in "Titanic."

Molly Brown was a real person, but the movie created a myth that the museum, located in Brown's Denver home, attempts to dispel.

Born in 1867 to Irish immigrants in Hannibal, Mo., Brown struck it rich, with her husband, from a Colorado gold mine years before she boarded the Titanic, and in later years, she fought for women's suffrage and labor rights.

No one called her Molly during her lifetime — her name was Margaret — and biographer Kristen Iversen, author of "Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth," writes that there's no proof she ever referred to herself as "unsinkable." The nickname seems to have originated with a Denver gossip columnist who may have been mad that Brown gave her account of the Titanic disaster to a newspaper in Newport, R.I., where she also spent time. Iversen says two books written in the 1930s created the image of Brown as a gun-packing, wisecracking former saloon girl, accounts that became the basis of the Broadway play and later the 1964 musical starring Reynolds. Molly Brown also appears in James Cameron's "Titanic," portrayed by Kathy Bates.

Brown eventually separated from her husband and, unlike on screen, they never reunited. That gave her the freedom to indulge in travel, and in 1912, she headed to Egypt with John Jacob Astor and his wife. She cut the trip short to visit her ailing grandson back in the U.S., and set sail on the Titanic from France, where the ship made one stop to pick up passengers and provisions.

Brown wrote that she was watching from a deck after the Titanic hit the iceberg and was thrown into lifeboat No. 6. She rowed all night with its mostly female crew until the rescue ship Carpathia arrived.

Before the disaster, Brown was well known in the Mile High City for her charity and social reform work, such as fundraising to build Immaculate Conception Cathedral and mountain camps for poor children and orphans. After the sinking, she gained fame for raising money from rich Titanic survivors to help poorer passengers, making sure they had a place to go when they got to New York.

In 1914, she was called on to help ease tensions after 20 people, including women and children, died when the National Guard opened fire on striking coal miners and set fire to a tent colony in Ludlow, an operation owned by John D. Rockefeller. Brown also helped with relief efforts during World War I and ran for the U.S. Senate in 1914, six years before women could vote nationally.

The museum, a few blocks from the state Capitol, is offering Titanic-themed tours this year and some recent visitors sang songs from the musical on the front porch as they waited to begin. At the end, they were surprised to learn that Brown, despite having just an eighth-grade education, spoke several languages — which came in handy with the Titanic's international collection of passengers — and had planned to take another trip on the Titanic, in part to take advantage of its well-stocked library.

Some of her own books are included in the museum's library, which like the rest of the home is lit by dim 15-watt bulbs like the ones she used. Upstairs, there's a copy of Brown's Titanic insurance claim, recording the loss of items including 14 hats, "street furs" and a $20,000 necklace. There are no Titanic items in the stone Victorian — which was saved from demolition in 1970 — thought there is a binnacle, a nonmagnetic stand that held navigational instruments, from the Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic.

Brown followed her brother to the mining town of Leadville, Colo., when she was 18 and got a job in a dry goods store. After marrying mining engineer J.J. Brown, she moved out of town to be closer to the mines during the winter.

Janet Kalstrom, a retired banking project manager who has been the museum's Brown impersonator for six years, said that the five-mile trip is a rough 45 minutes by four-wheel drive today and may hold some clues to Brown's toughness.

"Adventure ran in her blood so the strength and courage came from just plugging away," she said.

Brown died in 1932 in New York City while pursuing another lifelong passion — acting.

To mark the Titanic anniversary, the museum is hosting a six-course meal, like first-class ship passengers might have had, on April 14 at Denver's historic Oxford Hotel. Brown's great-granddaughter, Muffet Laurie Brown — the daughter of the baby grandchild Brown was rushing home to see — will attend the benefit gala. In August, the museum plans a more affordable Steerage Class Shindig, featuring beer and an Irish band. ( Associated Press )

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Hoax Nurse Hanged Self, Left Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 7 Jan 2013 20:28:00 +0700

Hoax Nurse Hanged Self, Left Notes - Jacintha Saldanha, the London nurse who killed herself after she answered a radio-station prank call about Kate Middleton, was found hanging from the neck, and left three notes, according to the coroner's officer.

The 46-year-old nurse who worked at London's King Edward VII Hospital was discovered Dec. 7 hanging by a scarf from a wardrobe in her bedroom, Coroner's Officer Lynda Martindill told a British inquest.

The wife and mother of two also had injuries to her wrists, according to police detective chief inspector James Harman.

Good Morning America - Royal Hoax Nurse Hanged Herself, Left 3 Notes (ABC News)

Harman told the coroner's inquest that two notes were found at the scene and a third was discovered among Saldanha's belongings.

He did not release the contents of the notes.

There is no suspicion of foul play in Saldanha's death, Harman said. Investigators are still trying to piece together exactly what led to her suicide, and are now interviewing her friends, family and co-workers to find more information, Harman said.

Saldanha was found dead Friday morning after police were called to an address near the hospital to "reports of a woman found unconscious," according to a statement from Scotland Yard.

Saldanha had worked at the hospital for more than four years.

DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian of 2Day FM in Sydney called the hospital Dec. 5 pretending to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, looking to speak to Middleton, who was being treated at the hospital for acute nausea related to her pregnancy. The duo were able to obtain information about the duchess' condition.

When the royal impersonators called the hospital, Saldanha put them through to a second nurse who told the royal impersonators that Kate was "quite stable" and hadn't "had any retching."

The radio station, along with Greig and Christian, has apologized for the prank call, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority has now launched an investigation into the incident.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox has adjourned the inquest into Saldanha's death until March 26. ( ABC News )

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Real-life "Contagion" uses DNA to halt outbreak

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:48:00 +0700

Real-life "Contagion" uses DNA to halt outbreak - If Hollywood needs a plot for a medical thriller, scientists at the National Institutes of Health have one: Doctors, using cutting-edge technology called whole-genome sequencing, trace an outbreak of a deadly bacterial infection, identify precisely how it's spreading - and in the final minutes sic poison-spewing robots on the rampaging microbes.

That's essentially what scientists did when Klebsiella pneumoniae, an often-lethal bacterium, spread through NIH's research hospital in Bethesda, Maryland last year, as described in a study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

A DNA double helix is seen in an undated artist's illustration released by the National Human Genome Research Institute to Reuters on May 15, 2012. REUTERS/National Human Genome Research Institute/Handout

"With whole-genome sequencing," said microbial geneticist Julie Segre of NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute, who led the study, "we were able to understand how the outbreak was moving through the hospital and identify weaknesses" in infection-control practices, finally halting the outbreak.

The unprecedented effort to use genome sequencing to save patients from an infectious outbreak offers hope that the technique could fight other hospital-acquired infections. These infections kill some 99,000 people die from such infections in the United States every year, estimates the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The added health-care costs, according to the CDC: $4.5 billion a year.

Calling it a "compelling story," virologist and microbe hunter Ian Lipkin of Columbia University in New York City said the NIH scientists' feat shows what ultra-fast whole-genome sequencing can accomplish in so-called microbial forensics. In whole-genome sequencing, machines identify the DNA units that make up an organism's entire genome.

Researchers were able "to implicate 'Patient Zero,' track transmission of a drug-resistant bacterium over the course of an important outbreak and provide insights that will inform infection control and patient care," said Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health and a scientific adviser on the 2011 film "Contagion."

PATIENT ZERO

The outbreak at NIH's hospital began last summer. In June a 43-year-old patient with antibiotic-resistant K. pneumoniae, which infects the urinary tract and bloodstream and can cause sepsis, a blood infection, was transferred to its intensive-care unit from a New York City hospital. "Patient Zero" was put in an isolation room; staff and visitors had to wear gowns, masks and gloves to enter.

Three weeks after she was cured and discharged in July, a second patient was found to be infected with K. pneumoniae. Since he had not been on the same ward at the same time as Patient Zero, physicians believed he probably acquired it elsewhere.

New cases began appearing at a rate of one a week, and soon there were 17. Eleven patients died.

DNA fingerprinting, the 30-year-old technique that identifies a handful of genes, was too crude to reveal whether these infections were identical to Patient Zero's. If they were, something had gone badly wrong with the 243-bed hospital's infection control. If they weren't, a second source had to be identified.

"If we had a second, separate introduction, then the isolation procedures for the first patient had worked," said Segre. "But if we had transmission in the hospital, then they didn't, plus our surveillance (which had not detected any K. pneumoniae before another patient was found to be infected) failed to detect that pneumoniae was spreading and silently colonizing patients."

Segre and her colleagues began sequencing the genomes of bacteria collected from patients, using technology from 454 Life Sciences, part of Roche Holding AG (which also made a cameo in "Contagion").

The bacterium was evolving like a nightmarish sci-fi bug, acquiring about one new mutation a week, estimates Segre. With $40,000 worth of whole-genome sequencing, she and her team were able to compare each patient's bacteria to others', eventually inferring the outbreak route.

Verdict: All 17 patients acquired their infection from Patient Zero, either directly or indirectly.

"The genomic data is indisputable," said Segre. "There were weaknesses in the infection-control system." The deadly microbe had traveled from Patient Zero to the others, via hospital staff or equipment (on which it could survive, the scientists discovered, even after the equipment that had been thoroughly cleaned).

Some possible routes of transmission were absolved: The microbe was not spreading via wound care, so the staff did not have to make changes there.

The hospital did make radical changes in other practices, though. "Equipment used in the isolation ward was no longer used elsewhere, and staff who worked there didn't work anywhere else," said Segre.

After a patient infected with K. pneumoniae vacated his room, because he was cured or died, a robot blasted the space with a vapor of bacteria-killing hydrogen peroxide. The maintenance department ripped out sinks and drains that could have harbored the bug.

Hospitals and long-term-care facilities, which also often experience infectious outbreaks, could become significant markets for sequencing companies. Roche, in a statement to Reuters, says "an obvious application" of DNA sequencing is "to define transmission pathways of pathogens and to support outbreak investigations."

DNA sequencing could be a $1 billion market in the United States alone, estimated Pathogenica, a privately owned Cambridge, Massachusetts company founded in 2009. Its first product is the $2,950 HAI (Hospital Acquired Infection) BioDetection Kit. It can test 48 samples for the presence of 12 pathogens (including K. pneumoniae), using telltale genomic regions.

Might cash-strapped hospitals and nursing homes balk at the cost? "When you have patients in your ICU who just paid $100,000 for an organ transplant," said Segre, spending a few thousand dollars to protect them from an outbreak of deadly bacterial infections "doesn't seem like too much to ask." (Reuters)

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What's the Best Way to Avoid Mosquito Bites?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 23:11:00 +0700

What's the Best Way to Avoid Mosquito Bites? - As the West Nile outbreak grows, many may be looking for the best ways to avoid mosquito bites.

If you decide to try insect repellents, Consumer Reports recommends repellents with DEET as the active ingredient.

In the company's 2010 rankings, four insect repellents with DEET tied for the top score: Off Deep Woods Sportsman II, Cutter Backwoods Unscented, Off FamilyCare Smooth & Dry and 3M Ultrathon Insect Repellent 8. These repellents were effective in completely protecting against mosquitoes and ticks for at least eight hours, the organization said.

The sprays were tested by applying the product to the testers' arms, and measuring how much time elapsed before the tester was bitten by a mosquito after he had placed his arms in a mosquitoes-filled cage. For the four products that topped ranking, there were no bites after eight hours. Consumer Reports does not recommend using products that combine sunscreen with insect repellent.

"It sounds like it makes sense — you get two for one," said Nicole Sarrubbo, an associate editor at Consumer Reports. But people should use two separate products, Sarrubbo said, because while sunscreens should be applied liberally and often, "you don’t want to do that with bug spray."

People should be cautious about their use of bug spray, to avoid exposure to unnecessary chemicals, she said.

The company also does not recommend using clip-on mosquito-repellent devices. In testing, their protection lasted less than two hours.

Insect repellents should not be applied to infants, and for children, Consumer Reports recommends a repellent with a DEET concentration of no more than 30 percent (the top ranked products have between 15 and 30 percent DEET).

And bug repellents are just be "one of the tools in your toolbox," against mosquitoes, Sarrubbo said.

Other ways to reduce exposure to mosquitoes include: clearing areas with standing water, staying inside during dawn and dust (peak hours for mosquitoes), and limited use of perfumes and scented products that can attract misquotes, Sarrubbo said.

Pass it on: Bug sprays with DEET appear most effective at preventing mosquito bites, according to tests from Consumer Reports. ( LiveScience.com )

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A rare visitor to the Grand Canyon

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 13:21:00 +0700

A rare visitor to the Grand Canyon - Black Bear Photographed at Grand Canyon - A hidden camera caught a rare picture of a large black bear roaming near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon last month. The picture was recently released by park officials.

It's highly uncommon to see bears around this area because there are only a few natural water sources and it offers only marginal habitat, said Greg Holm, wildlife program manager at Grand Canyon National Park.

This black bear was photographed by a camera trap near the South Rim of Grand Canyon on June 14.

Holm told OurAmazingPlanet he thinks the bear may have been driven by thirst. "It's very, very dry this year," he said. "The theory is that that bear or some bears may have been traveling into the park to find new sources of water."

Wildlife biologists use several wildlife camera traps, like the one that snapped a photo of the bear on June 14 near Hermit Road, to gain information about animal populations in the park. Cameras are particularly helpful in studying elusive carnivores, which are typically nocturnal. The devices operate via heat and motion sensors to trigger them to automatically take pictures when there is movement within the camera's range.

This is a "reason for people to be more cautious about bears in the area," Holm said. Use common sense, like not feeding bears or approaching them, he said. While bears generally avoid people, it's always good to remember that uncovered trash, recycle bins, pet food and even bird feeders can act as bear attractants. ( LiveScience.com )

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The Girl Who Can’t Feel Pain

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 5 Jul 2012 20:57:00 +0700

The Girl Who Can’t Feel Pain - From scratches on the playground to spills while biking, parents are constantly trying to protect their children from pain. But what if pain was the one thing your child needed the most?

While Ashlyn Blocker may seem like a normal 12-year-old girl who loves pageants and playing the clarinet, she suffers from a rare genetic disorder that prevents her from feeling pain.

Ashlyn was born with a congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), a disorder that affects the way signals travel from her central nervous system.

Unlike most babies, she never cried when she was hungry or had diaper rash.

“Everyone thought, ‘Oh, what a good baby you have,’ you know,” said Ashlyn’s father, John Blocker. “But the signs, as time went on, the red flags started going up.”

Her parents first realized that something was wrong when they took their 8-month-old to the eye doctor to treat her irritated eye.

“When they put the dye in her eye, everyone kind of gasped,” John Blocker said. ”She had a big corneal abrasion across her eye. They were just astonished that she wasn’t in pain.”

The doctor’s visit led to the diagnosis of CIPA, which affects only about 100 people worldwide.

“It was scary because, you know , there weren’t very many good outcomes that were involved with this condition,” said Ashlyn’s mother, Tara Blocker. “I mean, you know, people passing away from appendicitis because they didn’t have the warning signs – and bone infections.”

Ashlyn’s toddler years were the most difficult for her parents.

She would injure herself, “biting, burning her hands, different things,” John Blocker said. “Tara actually would wrap her hands up with athletic tape. She’d be our little boxer.”

The family has photos that document injuries that Ashlyn sustained as a toddler. Her father said sending his daughter out the door every day, not knowing what would happen, was “rough.”

University of Florida researchers have been testing Ashlyn since 2004. A few years ago, they pinpointed the gene that affects the strength of pain signals sent to the brain. The findings might offer new treatments for people with chronic pain but are not likely to help with Ashlyn’s condition.

This past November, the Blocker family started Camp Painless But Hopeful for families suffering from CIPA.

“Ashlyn had a dream one night that we started a camp for families like us. I knew instantly what I was meant to do,” said her mom.

The camp hosted eight families and John described Ashlyn’s “instant bond” with the other children as “priceless.” Ashlyn crochets and sells what she makes as a fundraiser for the camp.

“It was an amazing, amazing, unforgettable time for sure,” Tara Blocker said. “I mean, to actually be in a room and presence of someone who knows what we’ve been through. I mean, know your daily life and daily struggle – and to know you’re not alone anymore. I mean, it was just amazing.”

What’s in store for Ashlyn’s future?

“I think its gonna hold everything she wants it to,” her mother said. ( abcnews.go.com )

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Mike Giannulis Loses 255 Pounds on 'Extreme Makeover'

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 5 Jul 2012 20:50:00 +0700

Mike Giannulis Loses 255 Pounds on 'Extreme Makeover' - At 28 years old, Mike Giannulis was 493 pounds and so obese that he missed out on things others might take for granted, like kissing a girl or even experiencing a first date.

The only time he would step foot outside the house was to visit nearby family.

"I don't have a full-length mirror anywhere in the whole entire house, and if I can just avoid seeing myself … out of sight out of mind," Giannulis said. "I mean, who would want to see this? I just feel like no girl deserves this."

Giannulis' brother, Mark, feared for his life. "I really think he can't get up off the couch sometimes because of his weight," he said.

That's when Chris Powell and " Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" entered his life and set a goal for Giannulis to lose half his body weight - 246 pounds - in the next year.

Powell was with Giannulis through the tough workouts and at the 90-day mark, he lost a staggering 129 pounds. By the six-month mark, Giannulis was a brand new man with a new lady in his life.

"I've got a brand new girlfriend and things are going awesome," Giannulis said.

Giannulis had lost so much weight that he was not only off the couch but was able to compete in a triathlon, a feat that would have been impossible just a few months before.

"I know how hard Michael has worked at this triathlon. You don't find many people like him," said Giannulis' girlfriend, Meghan. "I love him so much. I'm just so proud of everything he's done."

At the final weigh-in, 12 months after Powell came into Giannulis' life, he weighed 238 pounds, down more than half his original weight.

"In all the 29 years I have lived," Giannulis said, "this has been the best year of my life."

After the show concluded, however, he found himself giving into temptations and slipping back into old habits. Refusing to let that happen, Giannulis made a drastic move: He left his home in Tarpon Springs, Fla., to move closer to Powell in Phoenix, Ariz.

“He caught himself,” Powell said. “He realized that he what he was doing, especially after he lost his purpose, he fell back into some of his old patterns and some of those triggers he was experiencing. Those social triggers. They were feeding the addiction again. So he picked up from Florida and moved and he’s actually living down the street from me now.”

Powell also believes it’s important to realize one is never on the weight-loss journey alone.

“You have to realize that no man is an island,” he said. “You can’t do it alone. As we go through this process, real life happens, and we need to talk about it. We need to share in order to heal. It’s really important to reach out to those different people or there are incredible online sites as well.”

Powell recommends one key tip for maintaining weight loss.

“We all create what we call a ‘smart goal.’ It’s specific, it’s measurable, it’s attainable, realistic and time-sensitive,” he said. “And it’s so important that we live with that purpose, that we’re always reaching toward that goal.” ( ABC News Blogs )

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U.S. seizes Tyrannosaurus bones on suspicion of smuggling

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:50:00 +0700

U.S. seizes Tyrannosaurus bones on suspicion of smuggling - U.S. officials on Friday seized the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus dinosaur that Mongolia wants returned on suspicion that it was smuggled to the United States from the Gobi desert.

The bones of the tyrannosaurus bataar, an eight-foot-tall, 24-foot-long cousin of the Tyrannosaurus rex, were taken in a moving van from the Cadogan Tate Fine Art storage company in Queens, where they had been stored in four large wooden crates.

The President of Mongolia, Elbegdorj Tsakhia, demanded that the skeleton be returned to his country after it was auctioned on May 20 for $1.05 million by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

Skeleton remains of a Tyrannosaurus Bataar dinosaur are pictured in this undated handout photo received by Reuters June 22, 2012. REUTERS/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Handout

The buyer of the skeleton was never disclosed. But the man who acquired the skeleton and offered it to Heritage for auction, said he has been unfairly labeled as a smuggler.

"I'm just a guy in Gainesville, Florida trying to support my family, not some international bone smuggler," commercial paleontologist Eric Prokopi said in a statement.

"It's been claimed that I misrepresented what was being imported and did not properly declare its value. I can wholeheartedly say the import documents are not fraudulent," Prokopi said in the statement issued through Heritage.

A U.S. government lawsuit filed on Tuesday on behalf of Mongolia said the customs forms filed when the skeleton was imported incorrectly stated the country of origin was Great Britain, its value was $15,000 instead of $1 million it sold for, and mentioned only reptiles not dinosaurs.

Prokopi did not say in his statement where or from whom he acquired the skeleton. He said that when he received the tyrannosaurus bataar, it was a collection of loose, mostly broken bones and rocks with embedded bones. Prokopi said he and his wife spent thousands of hours preparing and mounting the skeleton, which increased its value, before it was auctioned.

On Monday, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara filed a lawsuit seeking the forfeiture of the skeleton to the Mongolian government. An order to seize the fossil was issued on Tuesday.

Robert Painter, the lawyer representing Mongolia, said that the dinosaur will be held by the U.S. government while legal proceedings on its future continue.

Anyone who comes forward to claim ownership of the skeleton will have to prove they are the rightful owner or the U.S. will repatriate the skeleton to Mongolia.

"Today we send a message to looters all over the world: We will not turn a blind eye to the marketplace of looted fossils," Mongolian President Tsakhia said in a statement.

The skeleton was discovered in 1946 during a joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition to the Gobi Desert, Bharara said.

Heritage Auctions and the Mongolian government agreed in May to jointly investigate the ownership of the skeleton. Several paleontologists examined the bones and determined they were removed from the western Gobi Desert between 1995 and 2005. (Reuters)

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Baby Boomers and Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 23:05:00 +0700

Baby Boomers and Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea - Baby boomers take heed: Drug-resistant gonorrhea may well be a topic of interest or concern to you.

STD Numbers on Upswing for Baby Boomers

A February report by UPI.com revealed that researchers in the United States, Canada and England discovered an upswing in the numbers of baby boomers reporting sexually transmitted diseases, including chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea. Researchers theorize that in addition to many people in this age group not practicing safe sex, post-menopausal women are at greater risk for micro-tears due to decreased lubrication, with the tiny tears providing entry portals for the infectious organisms.

Health Care Providers Put on Notice

On Wednesday, the United Nations' health agency, the World Health Organization, put health care providers around the world on notice about being vigilant in their surveillance of the antibiotic-resistant strain of gonorrhea that is expected to eventually be found throughout the world. According to an AP report, the drug-resistant strain of gonorrhea has currently been identified in nations such as Norway, Japan and Britain.

What's the Risk?

Currently, the drug-resistant strain that concerns health experts has been developing a resistance to all the antibiotics currently used to treat this STD. As this strain of gonorrhea continues to develop and mutate, it is likely to become immune to all current treatments, reports Forbes.com. This could result in an incurable form of a sexually transmitted disease that is the second-highest reported communicable disease in the United States.

Bottom Line

Baby boomers didn't have to be concerned about deadly types of STDs during the heyday of their youth, so it can seem like those "teenagers" diseases aren't a concern in mid-life. Safe sex is important for sexually active adults at any age, as well as taking antibiotics for any condition exactly as prescribed to help avoid the development of future "super germs."

Smack dab in the middle of the baby boomer generation, L.L. Woodard is a proud resident of "The Red Man" state. With what he hopes is an everyman's view of life's concerns both in his state and throughout the nation, Woodard presents facts and opinions based on common-sense solutions. ( yahoo.com )

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They voodoo that there, don't they: The colourful and creepy ‘reincarnations’ of spirits in west African religious festival

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:40:00 +0700

They voodoo that there, don't they: The colourful and creepy ‘reincarnations’ of spirits in west African religious festival - these festival goers certainly can't be accused of not putting the effort in.

With spectacularly colourful costumes, they are celebrating Benin's mysterious voodoo religion at its annual festival in the city of Ouidah.

The coastal location is the west African country's voodoo heartland and is thought to be the spiritual birthplace of the religion - which is known as vodun in Benin.

Flamboyant: These festival-goers are celebrating Benin's mysterious Voodoo religion in the city of Ouidah. It is thought to be the spiritual birthplace of the religion

Colourful: At the same time each year this flamboyant festival takes place which involves a week of activity. Nigerian Yaruba Voodoo Spirits are pictured performing at the festival

At the same time each year this flamboyant festival takes place which involves a week of activity.

It culminates with people from across Benin as well as Togo and Nigeria descending on the city for the final day.

The festival has been taking place since 1997, with followers of the religion wanting to be blessed by Ouidah's voodoo chief.

The beginning of celebrations is marked by the sacrificing of a goat, which is an offering to the spirits.

As the religion's followers gather - along with tourists - devotees in animal skins chant and dance as locals drink Gin.

Voodoo dolls adorn tents and there is even a horse race on the beach.

Annual: The festival has been taking place since 1997 with followers wanting to be blessed by Ouidah's voodoo chief

Bright: As the religion's followers gather - along with tourists - devotees in animal skins chant and dance as locals drink Gin. 'Egungun' spirits are pictured

The festival features Nigerian 'voodoo spirits' walking the streets.

Each spirit represents the reincarnation of a dead member of the Nigerian 'Nagu' clan.

The festival also features 'Egungun' spirits from the Nigerian Yoruba Clan.

The Egungun are masqueraded dancers that represent the ancestral spirits of the Yoruba - a Nigerian ethnic group which are believed to visit earth to possess and give guidance to the living.

This picture on the left shows an 'Egungun' spirit while on the right is a Nigerian 'Voodoo Spirit' walking the streets

Shrouded in mystery and often misunderstood, voodoo was acknowledged as an official religion in Benin in 1989.

It is increasing in popularity with around 17 per cent of the population now following it.

The festival takes place every year in January. ( dailymail.co.uk )

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'UFO' that turned out to be one of ours: Mystery craft on highway was military drone being transported to air base

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:15:00 +0700

The Washington D.C. 'UFO' that turned out to be one of ours: Mystery craft on highway was military drone being transported to air base - Hundreds of people in Washington D.C. got the shock of their lives last night when they saw what they believed to be a UFO being transported across a local highway.

The internet exploded with sightings of the ‘alien spacecraft’ being driven along the Capitol Beltway near College Park on the back of a truck at around 11 p.m.

Hundreds of people Tweeted pictures of the mysterious object alongside exclamations of concern and astonishment.

Scroll down for video

Mysterious: The internet exploded with sightings of the 'alien spacecraft' being driven along the Capitol Beltway near College Park on the back of a truck at around 11 p.m.

‘A UFO In Maryland! Where’s Men In Black When You Need Them!’ @AyeeKeithyKeith said of the saucer-shaped vehicle.

'Can Obama explain why we got a UFO double parked on the beltway?’ added @TheDollyStoner.

But Maryland State Police today revealed that the so-called alien carrier was in fact a military drone being moved from West Virginia to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Southern Maryland.

Jamie Cosgrove, a public affairs officer for the Navy Unmanned Combat Air Demonstrator Program, said the drone, an X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System made by Northrup Grumman, had undergone testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California, according to WUSA.

Mystery solved: But Maryland State Police today revealed that the so-called alien carrier was in fact a military drone being moved from West Virginia to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Southern Maryland

Sighting: It will be the first unmanned vehicle designed to take off from and land on an aircraft carrier

It will be the first unmanned vehicle designed to take off from and land on an aircraft carrier, the station said. The plane is 82 feet long, 32 feet wide and 14 feet high.

‘In the coming months, you can expect to see the X-47B flying over the base and surrounding area along the Chesapeake Bay,’ Matt Funk, lead test engineer, told NBC4.

'As part of the program's demonstration, the X-47B will perform arrested landings and catapult launches at Pax to validate its ability to conduct precision approaches to the carrier,' a military press release said.

'The base is one of only a few sites in the world where the Navy can run performance tests on aircraft-carrier catapult operations at a land-based facility with flight test and engineering support resources not available on a ship.'

But the clarification from police was not enough to alleviate the concerns of some anxious residents.

‘Why would they parade it so openly down the beltway?’ Karrie Salisbury posted on Facebook.

‘It's almost like they WANT us to think aliens. Which leads me to wonder, where the hell did it really come from that they would rather us think that?’

Military drone: A Navy X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration aircraft takes off and flies for the first time on Feb. 4, 2011, at Edwards Air Force Base, California ( dailymail.co.uk )

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80-Year-Old Woman's Skydiving Trip From Hell

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 May 2012 18:27:00 +0700

80-Year-Old Woman's Skydiving Trip From Hell - A video of an elderly woman's skydiving adventure gone horribly awry has gone viral, perhaps serving as a warning literally to look before you leap - or at least to mind your elders when it looks like they actually don't want to jump out of the plane.

The video was created by The Parachute Center, a skydiving company in Acampo, Calif., as a memento for jumpers to take home after their airborne adventures.

But someone posted it on The Chive, a video site on which a counter said it has been viewed more than 170,000 times. It shows Laverne, an energetic woman who has just turned 80 and has rounded up a crew of female relatives to go skydiving with her. She tells the camera that she's "real excited," and that she has wanted to do this for "at least 10 years."

Cut to the plane taking off to an upbeat rock tune by The Offspring. We see Laverne smiling, looking out the window, and putting on her safety goggles. A few jumpers dive from the open plane window and whoosh down toward the earth below. Looks like they're all having fun.

But wait a second - something's wrong. The Offspring song has been cranked up and it's Laverne's turn to jump with her towheaded tandem instructor, but it looks as if she's having second thoughts. She's no longer smiling and is instead clinging to the side of the open door. Then her legs buckle and she's sitting down, refusing to move, and appears to mouth the word "No!"

Instead of letting the poor woman just sit it out - it's not like they're on an episode of "Fear Factor," right? - the instructor scoops her up and they fall forward out of the plane.

The camera person has also jumped, so from his vantage point, we see that Laverne has evidently slipped out of her harness so that the straps are attaching her to her instructor from behind her knees. She's also clinging to him with her arms. And her shirt has flown up, so we see part of Laverne's torso. The instructor starts trying to pull her shirt down, which is the last thing we see before the camera cuts to the scenery thousands of feet below them.

The souvenir video from hell finishes from the ground, where we see the duo land in the distance and two employees run toward them. Laverne appears to be okay, but says something to the effect of "Let me get my clothes," as she tugs at her blouse. The instructor seems shaken and one of the other employees is consoling him.

"This happened a long time ago and everything worked as advertised," said Parachute Center owner Bill Dause in a statement to ABC News. "No one got hurt or injured." In a separate call to the center, an employee who answered the phone said the video was a year old, but said he had no more information.

Skydiving fatalities are on the decline these days, with some 21 deaths out of 3 million jumpers in 2010, a 0.007 chance of death, according to the United States Parachute Association.

Nancy Koreen, a spokesperson for the association, said they were aware of the incident before the video was posted. It looked as if Laverne's harness wasn't adjusted properly, and that she wasn't positioned properly before the jump, she said. "But that's not at all a common occurrence," she said. "It's extremely, extremely rare."

There have been two similar incidents of harness slippage, in which skydivers slipped out of their harnesses completely, said Koreen. Both happened about a decade ago, she said, and afterwards harness manufacturers modified them to have an extra strap across the skydiver's back.

"The USPA does everything that we can to reinforce proper training for instructors, constantly issuing reminders to make sure that instructors are properly adjusting their student harnesses to avoid any kind of situation where the students isn't situated properly or comes loose," Koreen said. ( ABC News )

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