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Nong Youshi, The "Cat Eyes Boy" Who Can See in The Dark

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Kompas.com | Fri, 3 Feb 2012 | A young Chinese boy who was born with brilliant blue eyes - like those of a Siamese cat - claims to have the ability to see in pitch darkness. Nong Youshi from Dahua has eyes which, it is claimed, reflect neon green when when a light is shined on them.

Nong who enjoys playing outside with his schoolmates but struggles with in bright sunlight, claims he can see perfectly clearly even in complete darkness.
His father said: 'Two weeks after he was born I was told his eyes were different.

'We took him to hospital and doctors told me not to worry as his eyes would be fine when he grew up.'

To test his abilities, a Chinese journalist recently prepared a set of questionnaires which he was able to finish in a pitch black room. Video footage of the youngster, whose current age has not been revealed, first emerged in 2009, but has only recently been picked up online.

However many experts remain highly sceptical. In animals, night vision is made possible by the existence of a thin layer of cells, called the tapetum lucidum. This is demonstrated in videos of leopards or other big cats taken at night when their eyes literally glow in the dark.

Although Journalists claim Nong's eyes react in a similar way the video footage does not appear to back up this claim. And for such a feature to occur in a human would require multiple mutations to happen at once, which experts say is impossible.

James Reynolds, a pediatric ophthalmologist at State University of New York in Buffalo, sauggests Nong simply has extremely good eyesight rather than true night-vision. He told Live science.com: 'Evolutionarily, mutations can result in differences that allow for new environmental niche exploitation.

'But such mutations are modified over long periods.

'A functional tapetum in a human would be just as absurd as a human born with wings. It can't happen.'

Dennis Brooks, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine told the website: 'It is hard to say what the truth is about this boy.

'A good ophthalmic examination by a physician ophthalmologist is in order, I think.'

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Monkey Made Charmian Chen Famous

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Kompas.com | Wed, 30 Nov 2011 | A student has been left feeling a little red-faced after an embarrassing incident with a monkey made her a global star.

Charmian Chen, who just happens to be a model, was visiting the Sacred Monkey Forest Ubud in Bali last month when two of the primates decided she was a little overdressed.

The 22-year-old student, from Taiwan, was on holiday on the tropical Indonesian island feeding long-tailed macaques when she was singled out. The two macaques apparently spotted a piece of corn that had fallen down Ms Chen's top and decided they wanted it back.

Despite her valiant effors to fend it off, one monkey managed to pull down her top leaving the red-faced model to cover herself as best she could, with her hands.

But what should have been an amusing holiday wardrobe malfunction has ended up catapulting Ms Chen to internet superstardom. Pictures of the incident have made headline news in her native Taiwan, with TV stations asking her to appear and talk about it.

The images have also spread around the globe, appearing on blog sites and forums in the U.S. and Britain. She said: 'I was on holiday and at first the pictures were just funny, but when I got back to Taiwan I had all these people trying to add me as friends on Facebook.

'I thought "that's a bit strange", and then one of them said they'd seen the pictures and I was really surprised, the next thing I knew I had TV stations ringing me.

'I was on vacation then in Bali so I didn't mind it, but back in Taiwan I was still studying so I didn't want to become famous just for my boobs.

'But actually it has been fun, people do come up to me and say "you're the monkey girl" and it does make me laugh.'

Ms Chen said the macaques, as well as being hungry, were also attracted to bikinis worn by many visitors.

She added: 'I think when they took my top down it was because of the corn but the park staff warn visitors that bright bikinis worn under dresses do attract the monkeys.

'I think it's the bright colours which they think might be fruit, well I don't know about that but it was very strange at the time.'

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Amazing Ocean Sculptures In Isla Mujeres

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Dailymail.co.uk | 10 Dec 2009 | Deep under the seas of the Mexican Caribbean these statues look like relics of an ancient civilisation.

However this is not a forgotten lost race, but the beginnings of what will be the world's largest underwater sculpture museum.

Located in the National Marine Park, on the west coast of Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun and Punta Nizuc, these life size sculptures are the first of 400 that will be laid on the seabed over the next 13 months.

The project is the brainchild of Jaime Gonzalez Cano of The National Marine Park, Roberto Diaz of The Cancun Nautical Association and renowned British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor.

Designed to celebrate the region's Mayan history it is hoped the underwater museum will heighten environmental awareness in the area, by creating an artificial reef in the hurricane hit region.

Laying the first three sculptures this December, the project has been 18 months in the making.

'It has been very challenging,' revealed 35-year-old Jason.
'It has taken about one-and-a-half years to plan, so to see the sculptures going in is great. It's wonderful seeing the fruits of all the labour.'

Using cranes and divers to submerge and place the sculptures, Jason has created three durable installations that will have a non-detrimental effect to the local eco-system.

La Jardinera de la Esperanza (The Gardener of Hope), El Coleccionista de los sueqos perdidos (The Archive of Lost Dreams) and Hombre en Llamas (Man on Fire) sit several metres below the surface.

Including propagated coral, it is hoped the sculptures will attract juvenile algae that will give the statues radiant colours.

The laying of the sculptures saw the completion of phase one of the project for the team.

Phase two will see the laying of a further 400 figurative sculptures. Casts for the these statues will be made from the local Mexican population.

Entitled, La Evolucisn Silenciosa (The Silent Evolution), the huge park is due to be completed by the end of 2010.

In total, phases one and two will cost an initial $450,000 US (£277,000).

The project has brought about its own unique challenges.
Jason said: 'We have to work out how the sculptures will fit on the seabed, how we lower them in and how the current affects them.

'The other major challenge is the fact you do not view them from the same angle as normal sculptures.

'Usually you are looking at eye level, but underwater you are above them and floating around the sides of them, so you have to think about how it will look from all angles.'

With phase one now complete, Jason is already working away on phase two of the project.

If successful, Jason hopes the third and final phase of the project will see the creation of an independent trust and committee to manage the museum and commission new sculptures by local artists.

Acting as the museum's artistic director, Jason hopes the underwater museum will create an environmental awareness for the area.

'The feedback has been really good,' said Jason. 'It is proving very popular not only with divers but snorkellers and people in glass bottom boats.

'As well as providing enjoyment, I am trying to create environmental awareness. There are messages about our interaction with the natural world.'

Watch on this video:

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Is This a Frog Or a Mouse?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Wikipedia.com | Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis is a frog species belonging to the family Sooglossidae. It can be found in the Western Ghats in India.

Common names for this species are Purple Frog, Pignose Frog or Doughnut Frog. It was discovered in October 2003 and was found to be unique for the geographic region.

Description

The body of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis is shaped similarly to that of most frogs, but is somewhat rounded compared to other more dorsoventrally-flattened frogs. Its arms and legs splay out in the standard anuran body form.

Compared to other frogs, N. sahyadrensis has a small head and an unusual pointed snout. Adults are typically dark purple in color. The specimen with which the species was originally described was seven centimeters long from the tip of the snout to the tip of the urostyle. Also, its cry sounds more like one from a chicken.

Distribution

The species was discovered in the Idukki district of Kerala by S.D. Biju from the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute in Palode, India and Franky Bossuyt from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels).

However it was well known to the local people before and several earlier specimens had been ignored.
Earlier thought to be restricted to the Western Ghats south of the Palghat gap, new records have extended its known range further north of the gap.

Ecology

The frog spends most of the year underground, surfacing only for about two weeks, during the monsoon, for purposes of mating. The frog's reclusive lifestyle is what caused the species to escape earlier notice by biologists.

Unlike many other burrowing species of frogs that emerge and feed above the ground, this species has been found to forage underground feeding mainly on termites using their tongue and a special buccal groove. They show inguinal amplexus when mating afloat in temporary rainwater pools.

Taxonomy and systematics

The scientific name derives from the Sanskrit word nasika (nose) referring to the pointed snout, batrachus Greek for frog, and Sahyadri as the local name of the mountain range where it was found - the Western Ghats.

The frog is a living fossil and was initially assigned to a new family of its own, Nasikabatrachidae, but has been more recently assigned to the family Sooglossidae which is found on the Seychelles islands.

Being a member of the family Sooglossidae, the species' origins lie in close consort with the Seychelles islands where the family was previously solely known from.

The origin of the disjunct distribution goes back to about 100 million years ago, during which time India, the Seychelles and Madagascar formed a single landmass which split due to continental drift.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Treadmill Bike, Jogging and Cycling At The Same Time

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Gizmag.com | 28 Mar 2010 | Available through Bicycle Forest, the Treadmill Bike is for people who love the feel of a treadmill beneath their feet but don’t want to be stuck inside pounding away when it’s a beautiful day outside. Bicycle Forest says the creation has the same fat-burning benefits of a conventional treadmill without the gym membership fees (although you do have to buy the bike).

The company says you go running through evergreen forests or strolling down country roads thanks to the rugged design and all terrain tires on the revolutionary Treadmill Bike. The bike’s hard-wearing belt provides grip “while protecting your feet from dirt and other contaminants commonly found on the earth's surface”. If that’s your attitude, don’t forget your helmet, knee pads, face mask, gloves, oxygen bottle, etc.

The Treadmill Bike has a variable resistance feature which means people of all ages with a semblance of balance and fitness should be able to ride the device. Just be careful when taking those sweet jumps.

According to the video below, you can even purchase some "bling" for your wheels - sweet! The Bicycle Forest is a group aiming to promote bicycles and other human-powered vehicles as a viable form of transportation. It’s available from Bicycle Forest for around US$2,450.

See Treadmill Bike on this video:

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Lulu, Pretty Little Dog With Diva Attitude

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Animalslook.com | Thu, 4 Nov 2010 | Lu Lu has come to the conclusion that four legs are terribly passé.
She can be found on many a morning walking purposefully through the Chinese city of Zhumadian on her hind legs.

It is not entirely clear why Lu Lu has chosen to present herself in such a manner, or indeed where she go that darling teddy bear bag.

But retired teacher Zhou Guanshun, who owns the one-year-old eccentric, isn’t put off by her irregular behaviour. ‘We loved her instantly’, he said.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Lauren Brudenell, From Fat Girl Became More Like Starvation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Mirror.co.uk | 9 Feb 2011 | As a schoolgirl, Lauren Brudenell had always been bigger than her friends. At her heaviest she weighed 16st 7lbs and for years she cried herself to sleep after taunts from kids in her class.

When photos from her school prom appeared to squeals of delight from the other girls, Lauren just wanted to hide.

So at 16 she did something most girls have done at some stage in their lives – she went on a diet.

But unlike most girls, Lauren became so dangerously obsessed with losing weight that she could have lost her life.

In less than two years she shed a staggering 10 and a half stone and was hospitalised after plummeting to the size of a 10-year-old.

“I hated being so much bigger than all my friends, so I came up with a solution and started dieting,” says Lauren, who lives in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, with parents Tracy, 45, a theatre nurse, James, 47, a teaching assistant, and sister Ellie, 16.

“But I ended up losing more than 10 stone after it became more like starvation.

“It went too far, but I couldn’t stop it.”

Lauren decided to start slimming after her school prom in July 2008.

At 5ft 7in tall, she weighed 16st 7lbs and was a dress size 18. She felt huge compared to her slimmer friends.

“I had noticed that I looked different from the other girls at school when I was a youngster, but I didn’t really worry about it back then,” says Lauren.

“Other children would make hurtful comments about my size, and gradually it started to upset me. When I went with mum to get my school dress one year for the start of the summer term I followed her into the fitting rooms and when she handed me the blue and white dress it was far too small.

“I tried on three bigger versions before I found the right size. Mum reassured me and told me it was because I was just growing, but over the next few weeks I noticed I looked different from all of my friends. I was bigger than they were, but I was happy and didn’t dwell on it.”

As she went on through secondary school, though, Lauren grew increasingly self-conscious.

“I became more and more aware of my weight compared to the other girls,” she recalls.

“Sometimes the other children would make hurtful comments and I’d go home and cry my eyes out.

“I asked mum if she thought I was fat, and she told me that of course I wasn’t and that I looked lovely, but I didn’t really believe her.”

Then the worst thing happened. “I sat on a bench and it broke underneath me at the beginning of sixth form. Loads of people were laughing at me. A few of my friends told me not to worry but it really upset me. It was horrible.

“When I’d finished my exams, I went to my school prom and I laughed and joked with my friends, but deep down I hated being so much bigger than everyone else. I felt out of place.

“We had photographs taken at the prom, and I stood with my friends, plastering a smile on my face. I hated having my picture taken and when I saw the photographs afterwards I couldn’t bear looking at myself.”

Lauren started to comfort eat. She had bigger portions at mealtimes and snacked on chocolates, crisps and biscuits. But she was so unhappy that her school work started to suffer.

“The more I struggled the more desperate I became,” she recalls. “I was worried I was doing so badly that I wouldn’t even get into university.”

With her future as a motivation, Lauren decided to take serious action and started cutting back on food in September 2008. It started with just chocolates and crisps but then she began to miss meals, too. “I just didn’t bother eating meals,” she explains.

“It wasn’t a run of the mill diet I was on, it was more like starvation. But to me it was simple – stop comfort eating and start dieting instead.

“I would lose the weight and it would be the answer to all my problems – a new slimline me.”

As soon as the decision was made, Lauren’s lifestyle changed.

“Overnight I went from eating everything to pretty much cutting everything out. In a day I would just eat a rice cake, or a plum.

“Then I’d eat a little bit in the evening at dinner, but only so my parents didn’t know. I’d hide things at the table and throw them away afterwards.”

The pounds started to drop off. “Mum noticed I was losing weight. I told her I’d just cut out junk food,” says Lauren.

“She told me to be careful and not lose too much. But I was obsessed. I wanted to transform the way I looked every time I stood in front of a mirror. I wanted people to see me differently.

“I wasn’t prepared to be the fat girl anymore, feeling awkward and self-conscious. I was going to fit in like everyone else. I kept getting on the scales and every time I lost a pound I felt a sense of achievement.”

After a year, Lauren had lost nearly eight stone. Lauren’s mother was so worried about her rapid weight loss, she took her daughter to see her GP.

“The GP just told me to put on weight,” recalls Lauren. “Instead, I just kept losing more. I was weighing myself every few hours and my life had become a daily battle to control my calories.

“Mum would plead with me to eat. She even removed the bathroom scales so I couldn’t obsessively weigh myself.

“In a way it was great, but in another I was still struggling, only this time it was a different struggle. I couldn’t concentrate at school and I was freezing cold all the time. I needed a hot water bottle on my lap, even in the summer.”

In July last year, Tracy took her daughter to a psychiatrist. When she stepped on the scales her mum realised for the first time the true extent of her weight loss – Lauren was six stone.

“Mum was so shocked she just let out a gasp,” recalls Lauren. “I was too exhausted to even cry.

“My school work was suffering and it was causing a lot of stress at home as mum was so worried about me.

“The tension between us was now unbearable.”

It was then she made up her mind to get better. “I could see how much it was upsetting mum. I didn’t want to cause any more pain to my family.”

Lauren was admitted to an eating disorders clinic at Milton Keynes Hospital, and under medical supervision she started to eat six small meals a day.

“At first I couldn’t even bear the thought of gaining a single pound,” admits Lauren.

“But I put my family photos at my bedside and every time my resolve weakened, I looked at those as a reminder of why I was trying to get myself better.

“My sister Ellie wanted me to come to her 16th birthday party, so I was determined to put on enough weight to be allowed to go to that, which I did.”

Lauren has been discharged from the clinic and now weighs a much healthier eight stone. She is determined to maintain it for everyone’s sake.

“Mum has been my rock. I couldn’t have got better without her,” she says. “It has been a tough battle, and I am taking it one step at a time, but I am definitely on the road to recovery.”

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Bloody Lake Near Baghdad

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:00:00 +0000

AstroDigi.com | Looks like the lake tells the sad story of Iraq war. May be, may be not.

The picture noticed in year 2007 shows a blood-soaked lake outside Iraq's Sadr City.

Though there is no official version available, some believe it is a result of pollution or maybe some geological phenomena.

Another view is that slaughterhouses in Iraq sometimes dump blood into canals.

Source: Google Earth's unusual discoveries

Watch on this video:

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Express Emotions By Inking Tattoo On . . Heart!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Allvoices.com | 16 Feb 2011 | Now you can express your love in very different way as True Love Tattoos offers inking your heart without any complications. Here is the chance to prove it how much you love your special ones; just put tattoo on your heart.

Expressing emotions through tattoos on one's body is now defunct. Have it etched on your heart! And isn't that true love anyways? Now you can express your love in very unique way by piercing a tattoo in your heart.

The operation for the whole procedure from inking to proclaiming proof in hand takes about three hours. It is said that the highly professional team has performed more than 500 procedures without any side effects and complications.

They provide wide range of styles that can be pierced. You can choose a design that you want to put in your heart. After completition of the operation you will be provided with a picture of your tattoo on place and a video of whole procedure as a proof.

This soul canvas shows how much are you dedicated towards your partner.

So, do you really love your partner as much as you say? Here's your chance to prove it.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Tattoos That Only Visible Under Ultraviolet Light!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Wikipedia.org | 18 Jan 2011 | UV tattoos or blacklight tattoos are tattoos made with a special ink that is visible under an ultraviolet light (blacklight). Depending upon the ink, they can be nearly invisible in non-UV environments, thus they are a popular consideration for people seeking a subtler tattoo. They are particularly popular in the raver subculture.

Although the tattoos are sometimes considered invisible in normal light, scarring from the tattoo machine in the application process may remain, and therefore still show. A UV tattoo becomes visible under blacklight, when it glows in colors ranging from white to purple, depending on the ink chosen.

Colored ink is also available, where the ink is visible in normal light (as with a regular tattoo) but the ink will glow vividly under UV light. However, some UV inks are not as bright under normal light as normal tattoo ink and are considered not as vibrant.

UV tattoo ink is not commonly known or used, as very few varieties of UV inks are approved for use in the US. It is also many times more expensive than regular tattoo inks. Some people have had reactions to ingredients in the ink, ranging from minor itching to dermatitis.

Several UV inks are suspected carcinogens and allergens and at this time, no research has been conducted into the side effects of long term exposure. Although many people who have received black light tattoos have had physical effects on the skin, any ink could cause a reaction.

This can be a result of not protecting the tattoo from UV rays within 3 months of receiving the tattoo process or by using scented cremes or lotions on the tattoo area. This can damage the ink, causing it to become a normal ink color in all light. In time, it may also not glow in black lighting. Clear/blue UV inks are known to yellow or turn slightly brown with sun exposure. Color/black UV inks are known to become colored in all lighting. Therefore, it might permanently appear as a regular tattoo.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Elena Martynenko: I Saw Killer Shark Tear Mum Apart!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Thesun.co.uk | 9 Des 2010 | A TREMBLING teenager told yesterday how she saw her mother being savaged by the killer shark stalking an Egyptian holiday resort.

Distraught Elena Martynenko, whose mum Olga was one of the beast's first targets, said the 48-year-old victim "sacrificed her body to save me".

Elena, 19, was swimming with her mother in Sharm el-Sheikh when the oceanic whitetip attacked, leaving Olga "critical" in hospital.

Elena said: "We were 20 metres from a jetty. When I saw my mum pulled under, I started to scream.

"She gasped at the surface and screamed to keep me away.

As she fought the shark off it took off her hand - it was like something from hell. Then it went for her thigh."

Elena, from Moscow, said her brave mum swam to the pontoon with the shark still attached to her.

She said: "People tried to fight it off but, as they dragged my mum out of the water, it ripped off her buttock."

Olga, who needed plastic surgery, was being transferred back to Moscow from a Cairo hospital.

The November 30 attack came minutes after Russian grandmother Ludmila Stolyarova fought off the same shark yards down the coast.

Ludmila, 70, lost a hand and foot and is now in a Moscow hospital.

Husband Vladimir, 72, said: "I asked what happened as she was pulled from the water. She just kept saying, 'Shark! Shark! Shark'!"

The horrifying accounts are the first from relatives of those attacked in the resort, popular witiyah Brits.

Three Russians and a Ukrainian were attacked before a 70-year-old German woman was KILLED by the shark last Sunday - hours after officials insisted the water was safe.

Brits Jim and Joanna Farr, from Woodingdean, East Sussex, were in the Red Sea when the shark tore off a Russian snorkeller's arm.

Joanna, 42, said: "Everyone was in shock. There was total panic, it was just like a scene from Jaws."

Experts say the rogue shark is thought to have a kink in its tail.

But one said bite marks suggested more than one shark was involved.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Joe Guiso, Australian Who Marries His Pet Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Telegraph.co.uk | 3 Dec 2010 | Joe Guiso, 20, married his 5-year-old pet, who was dressed in a white cape, in an elaborate ceremony in his local park in the Queensland town of Toowoomba.

"This was just an event for my friends and I to get together," he said. "It really was fun. We all dressed up in suits and everything.

"But you can't actually marry a dog."

Mr Guiso said while he loves his dog, it is purely "platonic", adding that he hoped no one was offended by the unconventional union

He admitted however that it is not all going smoothly for the new couple.

"I think [Honey's] a bit angry about all the publicity; she's been giving me the silent treatment," he said.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Legend Of The Wem Ghost Solved

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:00:00 +0000

KOMPAS.com | 19 May 2010 | The infamous photo of the Wem Ghost, showing a girl in the fire at Wem Town Hall in November 1995
It was an image hailed as compelling evidence for the existence of ghosts. As a town hall was being destroyed by fire, an apparition of a little girl - standing behind a rail and surrounded by flames - was apparently captured on camera.

The picture was taken by Tony O'Rahilly, a sewage farm worker and keen photographer, as he stood across the road among a crowd watching the 90-year-old building in Wem, Shropshire, burn down in November 1995.

The legend of the Wem Ghost was born. But 15 years on, a pensioner has come forward to cast doubt on the spectre.

Brian Lear, 77, said the 'ghost' bears a distinct likeness to a girl standing in a doorway in a photo of Wem's high street. This was used on a postcard dating from 1922.

Mr Lear, a retired engineer from Shrewsbury, spotted the image when it was reproduced last week as part of a nostalgia item in a local paper.

'I was intrigued to find that she bore a striking likeness to the little girl featured as the Wem Ghost,' he said.

'Her dress, bonnet and ribbon appear to be identical.'

In 1995 the 'ghost' image created international headlines. There was local speculation that the girl was 14-year-old Jane Churm, who accidentally started a disastrous fire in Wem in 1677. The cause of the 1995 fire remains a mystery. Mr O'Rahilly died of a heart attack in 2005.

Local councillor Peggy Carson, who knew him, said she believed the stress caused by interest in his picture contributed to his death.

Local historian Tom Edwards, 69, said: 'He always maintained that the picture was genuine and I believe him.'

Photographic experts have suggested that the 'ghost' image was a trick of the light caused by the fire.

However, Greg Hobson, the curator of photographs at the National Media Museum in Bradford, said: 'The postcard offers pretty conclusive proof that this is a hoax.

'I think we can say the mystery has been solved.'

Mr Hobson said the technique used to produce the doctored photograph was probably similar to one used by Edwardian era mediums who purported to capture images of spirits with their relatives during the relatives' consultations as a way of boosting their credibility.

The mediums would first ask for a photograph of the deceased person, then take a picture of it in the back room. When the client returned later for a consultation, the image would already be partly exposed on to a glass plate.

Another picture would be taken of the client during the session and exposed on to the same plate, giving an image apparently showing the spirit of their relative visiting them during the seance.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Narcolepsy: A Case of the Body Attacking Itself?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Sciencemag.org | 4 May 2009 | by Gisela Telis | The millions of people who suffer from narcolepsy might have their immune system to blame.

Researchers have tied the disabling sleep disorder to two immune system genes, suggesting that it's an autoimmune disease. The discovery may eventually lead to improved narcolepsy treatments.

Narcolepsy affects 1 in every 2000 people, making it about as common as multiple sclerosis. The disorder encompasses an odd constellation of symptoms, including overwhelming daytime drowsiness, uncontrollable sleep attacks, and cataplexy, a sudden loss of muscle tone after an intense emotional outburst, like a good laugh.

Sufferers rely on a mix of stimulants and sleep-suppressing drugs to control the disorder, but no cure exists.
Emmanuel Mignot, a sleep researcher with the Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California, has been studying narcolepsy for more than 20 years.

In the late 1990s, his team discovered that narcoleptics lack hypocretin, a hormone produced by a few brain cells that helps keep people and animals awake. In narcoleptic patients, the mechanism that makes the hormone is intact, but the cells are missing, suggesting that something destroys them.

Narcoleptics are also likely to have a specific variant of the human leukocyte antigen. HLA instigates the body's immune response by presenting fragments from pathogens to the immune cells, which in turn fight the pathogens off. Most autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes, are associated with specific HLAs.

Although later studies found no further evidence of an immune link, the coincidence made Mignot and many other sleep researchers suspect that an autoimmune attack was ravaging narcoleptics' hypocretin-producing cells.

To test the idea, Mignot teamed with Stanford geneticist Joachim Hallmayer and a network of colleagues spanning three continents. The researchers analyzed DNA from nearly 4000 participants, all of whom shared the same narcolepsy-linked HLA but only about half of whom had narcolepsy.

They found that the narcoleptics in the study shared a version of another gene that tells T cells--the immune cells that destroy intruders--how to react to the pathogens that HLA molecules bring them. The result indicates that T cells and HLA, which together regulate much of the body's immune response, gang up in a unique way to destroy narcoleptics' hypocretin cells, the team reports online this week in Nature Genetics.

The study doesn't explain why T cells target the hypocretin cells specifically, says Mignot. It also sheds no light on what triggers the attack in the first place, a mystery for most autoimmune diseases. "We don't know why bodies go haywire and start attacking themselves," he says. But Mignot hopes future studies will reveal the culprit. In the meantime, knowing the autoimmune trigger could lead to new and more effective treatments for narcolepsy, he says.

"We've known for years that narcolepsy is probably an autoimmune disease, but every attempt to prove it has turned up nothing," says Michael Silber, a neuroscientist with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "This study doesn't conclusively prove narcolepsy is autoimmune, but it's a major step in that direction."

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Mystery of the Bearded Lady Solved

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 02:32:00 +0000

Sciencemag.org | 21 May 2009 | by Claire Thomas | Julia Pastrana was history's most famous bearded lady. In the 19th century, she fascinated spectators as part of a traveling circus, dancing and singing in clothes that showed off her hairy visage and limbs.

In 1857, The Lancet documented Pastrana as a "peculiarity," but modern medicine shows that she suffered from a real disorder known as congenital generalized hypertrichosis terminalis (CGHT), sometimes called "werewolf syndrome." Now, Chinese scientists have begun to unravel the genetic story behind her condition.

CGHT is an extremely rare but highly heritable disorder. Scientists are unsure how many people have the condition, but there are at least 30 cases in China's billion-strong population.

Affected men and women develop excessive dark hair across their bodies and faces. Some sufferers also have a broad, flat nose, large ears, a large mouth, and thick lips, and, occasionally, an enlarged head and jaw.

Hoping to discover the genetic basis of CGHT, geneticist Xue Zhang of the Peking Union Medical College in Beijing scoured his country for cases of the disease.

After 4 years of searching through medical literature, the Internet, and even television, his team found three affected families, including 16 afflicted members willing to participate in the study. The researchers scanned the DNA of these individuals and compared it with the DNA of 19 family members without CGHT.

After narrowing down the search to a short section on chromosome 17, the team looked for mutations called copy number variations, in which large chunks of DNA are repeated or removed.

All of the CGHT sufferers had a copy number variation in which DNA was deleted across the same four genes, the authors report today in the American Journal of Human Genetics. None of the unaffected family members had the mutations.

Zhang speculates that the mutations change the local structure of the chromosome, interfering with the production of nearby genes. Indeed, one neighbor, SOX9, is linked to hair growth: Mice without it are known to suffer from hair loss, or alopecia.

If the CGHT mutations somehow alter this region of chromosome 17 so that the SOX9 protein is overproduced in hair follicle stem cells, this would cause excessive hair growth, says Zhang. "But all this is pure speculation," he says.

Zhang may be onto something, says Eli Sprecher, a hair disorder expert at the Rappaport Institute in Haifa, Israel. Another hair-overgrowth condition-–Ambras syndrome--has been linked to chromosomal rearrangements, he notes, so it's plausible that CGHT works the same way.

This study is "a first and important step" toward solving the puzzle of this disease, he says.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

After 33 Years Of Pain, A TOOTH Removed From His Ear

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 06:09:00 +0000

Dailymail.co.uk | 18 Oct 2010 | For more than 30 years Stephen Hirst was in constant pain and partially deaf because of excruciating earache.

But that is all in the past now after doctors found a TOOTH lodged in the former miner's ear.

Now, Stephen can sleep unhindered by the intense headaches that plagued him.

But medical staff remain mystified as to how the tooth came to be jammed in the 47-year-old's ear canal in the first place. Especially as he had all his teeth taken out some time ago.
Relief at last: Stephen Hirst (pictured) suffered decades of pain, infections and deafness until doctors found the cause of the problem - a tooth lodged in his ear

Relief at last: Stephen Hirst (pictured) suffered decades of pain, infections and deafness until doctors found the cause of the problem - a tooth lodged in his ear

He first complained of pain in his right ear when he was a teenager and was forced to attend countless hospital appointments in an attempt to discover the cause of his mystery condition.

'I've been plagued by earache since I was around 14,' he said.

'The pain wouldn't go away and I couldn't concentrate because it was always there. I used to use a lot of cotton wool and cotton buds and was prescribed antibiotics because I was always getting infections.

'When I was younger I used to just sit and bang my head on the wall because it hurt that much. I would be screaming in pain, that's not exaggerating'

'I would be screaming in pain, that's not exaggerating. It was a sharp jabbing pain and it just wouldn't go away. I've lost count of the times I have been examined but no one spotted the tooth.

'I went again and again to the ear, nose and throat clinic. I don't know why but they never came across the tooth. I decided to have one last try to sort it out and I booked an appointment at the Royal Hallamshire [Hospital] in Sheffield.

'They were determined to get to the bottom of the problem. The nurse put a suction tube in my ear and cleaned it thoroughly, then she had a go with a microscope probe and finally she used some tweezers and got it out.
The cause of the pain: After 33 years of pain, doctors finally found a tooth jammed in Mr Hirst's ear canal

The cause of the pain: After 33 years of pain, doctors finally found a tooth jammed in Mr Hirst's ear canal

'She didn't say anything at first, she just stood there looking amazed. Then she said to me: 'Have you lost any teeth lately?' I said I'd not had any teeth in my head for years.

'The nurse said she couldn't believe what she had found in my ear and showed me the tooth. She said in 20 years she's never seen anything like it.

'I would think it's a first tooth, looking at it, because it can't be big enough to be an adult tooth. I think it's a bottom tooth, one of the front incisors.'

Mr Hirst, from Sheffield, who has two children, had to give up work as a miner 15 years ago partly due to his ear condition.

He said he was baffled to how it got there but the most likely explanation was 'that I pushed it in when I was a kid or something.'

But he speculated: 'At school one day I was swinging between two desks.

'I fell and smashed the back of my ear. It might have happened then.'
A tooth had become embedded deep in Mr Hirst's ear canal. The most likely explanation is he pushed it in there as a child. His right ear drum has disintegrated but the pain has gone

A tooth had become embedded deep in Mr Hirst's ear canal. The most likely explanation is he pushed it in there as a child. His right ear drum has disintegrated but the pain has gone

Mr Hirst said he would be keeping the tooth as a souvenir

He added: 'I can hardly hear anything in my right ear, the eardrum has disintegrated but the main things is the ear ache has now cleared up completely.It's absolutely brilliant. Why the tooth wasn't spotted all those years ago I will never know but I'm just grateful to the hospital staff for finding the tooth now, better late than never.'

His wife Denise, 43, added: 'Stephen has suffered from ear ache and infections ever since I have known him.

'It's marvellous that after all these years he has been cured. It's an amazing story.'

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

How Elderly Survived From Swine Flu?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 06:24:00 +0000

Dailymail.co.uk | 6 Des 2010 | For more than 30 years Stephen Hirst was in constant pain and partially deaf because of excruciating earache.

The mystery of why swine flu killed many victims in the prime of life has been solved.

Normally, the very old and young are most vulnerable to flu.

But scientists believe the elderly were protected because they had come across a similar virus in their youth and mounted an effective immune response.

But the H1N1 strain, which was a descendant of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, stopped circulating byl the late 1950s.

People over the age of 50 are more likely to have met a virus similar to swine flu in their youths than those aged between 20-50 and therefore developed a level of immunity to the disease

Therefore those in their 20s to 50s were too young to have encountered that ‘helpful’ virus. Instead their body’s ‘memory’ of other flu bugs triggered antibodies which reacted dangerously with the swine flu, leading to lung damage.

'In a middle-aged population, we saw a lot of people getting very, very ill,' said Dr Fernando Polack of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee.

They found many adult victims of the recent swine flu outbreak had lungs full of a protein called C4d. This usually helps to destroy viruses but researchers believe that when it met the 2009 virus, it helped kill the host instead.

Young children escaped the worst because they were too young to have come across many flus in the past and so their immune systems were less likely to backfire on them, the journal Nature Medicine reports.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

FROGFISH, Weirdest Fish In the Ocean

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:18:00 +0000

Frogfishes, family Antennariidae, are a type of anglerfish in the order Lophiiformes. They are known as anglerfishes in Australia, where 'frogfish' refers to a different type of fish.

Frogfishes are found in almost all tropical and subtropical oceans and seas around the world, the primary exception being the Mediterranean Sea.

Frogfish live in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Atlantic and Pacific, as well as in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Their habitat lies for the most part between the 20-degree isotherms, in areas where the surface level water usually has a temperature of 20 C (68 F) or more.

They extend beyond the 20-degree isotherms in the area of the Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Islands, along the Atlantic coast of the USA, on the south coast of Australia and the northern tip of New Zealand, coastal Japan, around Durban, South Africa, and at Baja California.

The most types are found in the Indo-Pacific region with the highest concentration around Indonesia. In the tiny Lembah Strait, north-east of Sulawesi, divers have found nine different species. Frogfish live generally on the ocean floor around coral or rock reefs, at most up to 100 meters (330 ft) deep.

There are a few exceptions to these general limits. The Brackishwater Frogfish is at home in ocean waters as well as brackish and fresh water around river mouths.[3] The Sargassumfish lives in clumps of drifting sargassum, which often floats into the deeper ocean and have been known to take the sargassumfish as far north as Norway.[4]

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Smallest Kind Of Elephant In The World!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Borneodream.com | Bornean Pygmy Elephant, Kinabatangan Wildlife SanctuaryThe Bornean Pygmy Elephant is the smallest elephant in the world. The males rarely exceed 2.5m in height while a large female measures around 2m. Today they are only found in the North East of Borneo.

The Bornean Pygmy Elephant has other peculiar features when compared to other elephant species - they have long tails and straight tusks (only possessed by males). It is assumed that these features, including their small size, are adaptions to a dense forest environment.

Perhaps the most peculiar feature of the Bornean Elephant is its tameness. The elephants show a high level of tolerance to humans being in close quarters - as can be seen when they are watched on the bays of the Lower Kinabatangan River by tourists in boats.

Bornean Pygmy Elephant in Sabah, BorneoThe Bornean Elephant has only recently been established as a distinct lineage, they were previously assumed to be artificial extensions of either the Asian Elephant or the Sumatra subspecies. As a result of this they are now recognised as very important from a conservation perspective. Current estimates suggest the total number of elephants in existence is 1,600. These are located in a small area in Borneo stretching from Sebuku Sembakung in north-east Kalimantan through to Maliau, Danum, Kinabatangan and Tabin on the eastern side of Sabah.

Bornean Pygmy Elephants can be seen along the banks of the Kinabatangan River, Sabah, BorneoThe largest single population of Bornean Elephants (150 - 200 elephants) can be found in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. This large herd size is a reflection of the shrinking options for the elephants to roam the land. The Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary covers an area of 64,250 acres. However, plantations surround large parts of the Sanctuary and these are expanding. This creates increased conflict between the elephants and the people of the area.

The WWF (Asian Rhino and Elephant Strategy) and Sabah Wildlife Department have now radio-collared some Bornean Elephants so to track their movements. It is hoped this will help identify the critical forest areas for these elephants so they can be preserved.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Avoid Nicotine! It's Bad For You!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 23:32:00 +0000

Cosmosmagazine.com | Oct 2008 | by Becky McCall | Why nicotine is bad for you?
• Nicotine is not carcinogenic, but it is highly addictive; after inhalation of smoke, nicotine reaches the brain within 20 seconds and its effects are felt within a minute.

• Nicotine is five to ten times more potent than cocaine or morphine in producing behavioural and psychological effects associated with addiction, including feelings of pleasure, according to a report produced by the U.K.’s Royal College of Physicians in 2007.

• Nicotine dependence is reflected in the difficulty associated with trying to quit smoking. A 2006 report by the U.K. Office for National Statistics found that the majority of smokers (around 70 per cent) want to quit, yet the success rate remains very low. Fewer than 20 per cent of people who embark on a course of treatment to quit smoking succeed in abstaining for as long as a year.

• Nicotine binds to an area of the brain known as the adrenal medulla, which increases the flow of adrenaline. This in turn causes increased blood pressure, heart rate and respiration, and these conditions exacerbate existing heart and blood pressure problems.

• Nicotine can contribute to sleep disorders. It stimulates the nervous system and when taken at nighttime it ensures that the user is alert and awake rather than deep in restorative sleep.

WHY SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOU

• Smoking kills half of all regular smokers.

• Smoking was responsible for 15,500 deaths, or 12 per cent of all deaths in Australia in 2003, according to a government report. If it doesn’t kill you, smoking may severely reduce your quality of life; in the same year smoking caused the loss of 204,700 years of healthy Australian life.

• Smokers are three times more likely to suffer a heart attack than people who have never smoked, a 1990 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found; each cigarette smoked per day increases the risk by 5.6 per cent.

• Smoking causes nine out of 10 cases of lung cancer and a third of all cancer deaths, according to a 2006 British study.

• Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 compounds, many of which are toxic and damage our cells. Included in these compounds are acetone, used in nail polish remover; arsenic, often found in insecticides; benzene, a cancer-causing agent; ammonia, used in dry cleaning; and cadmium, which causes cancer of the liver, kidney and brain damage.

• Tar is the main cause of lung and throat cancer in smokers. It stains teeth and skin, and damages the fine hairs in the lungs making breathing difficult and reducing their protective effect against infection. Around 70 per cent of the tar in cigarettes is deposited in a smoker’s lungs.

• A 2007 paper in The Lancet found that smoking causes 73 per cent of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD). COPD damages airways and causes them to narrow, making it harder for air to pass in and out of the lungs.

• In people with high blood pressure, smoking may exacerbate the already increased risk of a blood vessel bursting inside the brain, known as intracerebral stroke.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Garlic, Why It Is So Valuable?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 23:39:00 +0000

Cosmosmagazine.com | Tuesday, 16 Oct 2007 | Alternative medicine has long touted the benefits of garlic, from its antibacterial and antifungal properties, to its positive cardiovascular effects. Now physiologists have figured out why it is so valuable.

A new study reveals that the pungent clove boosts the body's own production of a compound which relaxes blood vessels, increases blood flow, and prevents blood clots and oxidative damage.

"This will help us standardise over-the-counter garlic supplements, and ensure they have the ingredients that produce the key compound," said David Kraus, a physiologist at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, U.S., and lead author of the study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

Pieces of the puzzle

Much existing research into the pharmacological benefits of garlic has focused on the organic polysulphides that the clove is rich in – the best known of which is allicin.

But the new study suggests that allicin and similar biologically active compounds are only a piece of the puzzle – and that it's a chemical messenger that is produced when these compounds are metabolised which is really important.

In laboratory tests, Kraus's team at the University of Alabama found that it was this chemical messenger – hydrogen sulphide (H2S), which is essential at low levels for cellular signalling – that appears to relax blood vessels, enhancing blood flow.

The researchers conducted a series of experiments, first extracting juice from supermarket garlic and adding minute amounts to red blood cells. The cells immediately began emitting H2S.

Additional experiments showed that the key chemical reaction took place mainly at the membrane of the red blood cells, although a fraction of H2S was also produced inside the cells.

Cardiovascular benefits

Furthermore, when the team added a section of rat aorta (an artery in the heart), to a solution containing organic polysulphides, it began to relax as it produced H2S.

The study may explain why some studies showed there were no cardiovascular benefits to be gained from taking garlic supplements while many others showed that such supplements could halt the progress of cardiovascular disease, the authors said.

"In addition, our results suggest that the capacity to produce H2S can be used to standardise garlic dietary supplements," the authors wrote.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Wesley 'Blade' Snipes Ordered To Jail

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:47:00 +0000

Entertainment.stv.tv | 20 Nov 2010 | The 48-year-old actor was ordered by a federal judge on Friday (19.11.10) to surrender to authorities immediately and begin serving a three-year prison sentence for tax-related crimes.

The 'Blade' star's lawyers had asked Florida Judge William Terrell Hodges to review his sentence and grant a new trial after he was originally found guilty of having "wilfully neglected" to file tax returns for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001 by a US court in April 2008.

He appealed that decision on the grounds that some jurors were prejudiced against him and has been on bail ever since.

But Judge Hodges did not accept Snipes' claim and ruled against him.

He wrote in his decision: "The defendant Snipes had a fair trial; he has had a full, fair and thorough review of his conviction and sentence. The time has come for the judgement to be enforced."

Despite the judge's decision, Snipes' defence attorney Daniel Meachum has claimed the Hollywood star now plans to launch an appeal at the US Supreme Court and is remaining "incredibly calm and positive".

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Scientists Found A Way To Turn Skin Into Blood

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 00:38:00 +0000

Cosmosmagazine.com | Monday, 8 November 2010 | by Kerry Sheridan | Stem cell researchers have found a way to turn a person's skin into blood, a process that could be used to treat cancer and other ailments, according to a recent Canadian study.

The method uses cells from a patch of a person's skin and transforms it into blood that is a genetic match, without using human embryonic stem cells, said the study in the journal Nature.

By avoiding the controversial and more complicated processes involved with using human embryonic stem cells to create blood, this approach simplifies the process, researchers said.

Bypassing the blood bank

"What we believe we can do in the future is generate blood in a much more efficient manner," said study author Mick Bhatia of the McMaster's Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

With the ability to create blood for transfusion from a person's own skin, the advance means someday patients needing blood for surgery or to treat anemia could bypass the blood bank and derive the necessary supply from themselves.

The breakthrough could also see future uses such as allowing patients undergoing chemotherapy to endure a longer regime of treatment without the breaks currently needed to rejuvenate the body.

Low-risk solution

Researchers have been able to perform the skin-to-blood transformation in the past, but while using human pluripotent stem cells, widely known as embryonic stem cells.

Stem cells that are derived from human embryos hold significant promise for medical breakthroughs but also carry risks, such as the potential to create tumours.

But researchers say their new method can create enough blood for a transfusion from a four by three centimetre patch of adult human skin, and can avoid those potential hurdles.

"So we don't need to take skin cells and put it into a pluripotent stem cell. That is inefficient in terms of time," Bhatia said. "There are also concerns that they might form a tumour, and the fact that we bypass that makes it more feasible for transplants."

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Wow! Did This Man Lose His Head?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 00:06:00 +0000

KOMPAS.com | 21 Nov 2010 | This mugshot of inmate #100087196 looks like a fake but a guard at a Florida criminal booking facility swears it's for real.

"Yeah, I saw him," a woman who answered the telephone at the Miami-Dade County Pre-Trial Detention Center said. "I just looked at him. I see a lot of stuff. It didn't really bother me."

The woman, who didn't identify herself, said the man who appears to be missing the top of his head "seemed fine" when she saw him about a week ago.

The man's picture was no longer on the Miami-Dade County website because he has been released, she said, adding that she didn't know his name.

But the mugshot could still be found at http://miami.whosarrested.com, a database of Florida arrests.

The website identifies the man as Carlos Rodriguez, 25, and says he was picked up on a charge of allegedly soliciting prostitution on Nov. 9. Other websites were identifying him as Carlos Sosa.

The police report, posted on the Miami New Times website, shows that cops wrote "half a head" in the form's "unique physical features" box. His name isn't legible on the form.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)

Mystery of D.B. Cooper, The Legendary Daredevil

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 00:19:00 +0000

Trutv.com | By David Krajicek | The particulars of D.B. Cooper's clever airborne crime and daredevil getaway have been pondered, picked over and recapitulated for three decades now.

In 1971, D.B. Cooper hijacked and threatened to blow up an airliner, extorted $200,000 from its owner, Northwest Orient, then leaped from the airborne 727 with 21 pounds of $20 bills strapped to his torso.

He was never seen again—dead or alive. The crime was perfect if he lived, perfectly crazy if he didn't.

In either case, D.B. Cooper's nom de crime—no one knows his real name—may be the most recognized alias among western felons since Jack the Ripper.

Everyone from dour G-men to giddy amateur sleuths have pored over the details, hoping to wheedle a resolution out of some overlooked aspect, as though a clue concealed in the holdup's hieroglyph of facts might lead to an a-ha!, a la Inspector Clouseau.

Yet the case remains unsolved more than 30 years later, and D. B. Cooper has become the Bigfoot of crime, evading one of the most extensive and expensive American manhunts of the 20th century. The whereabouts of the man (or his remains) is one of the great crime mysteries of our time.

Of course, the annals of wrongdoing are stuffed with titillating unsolved cases, from London's notorious ripper in the 1880s to the Black Dahlia murder of an aspiring actress in Los Angeles in 1947 to the befuddling murder—and muddled investigation—of little Jon Benet Ramsey in 1997 in Boulder, Colo.

But D.B. Cooper's crime was different. First, no innocent bystander was injured, although law enforcers argue that he put several dozen lives at risk.

There was modest collateral damage to Northwest Orient's bottom line, and the FBI's swollen ego was bruised to the bone. Cooper pulled his buccaneering swipe in the twilight of the 47-year tenure of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who died not long after the hijacking. The director no doubt went to his grave with teeth gritted over his agency's inability, in this case, to get their man.

Cooper's crime also was unusual in that it helped rally critical support for sweeping air travel security initiatives, including passenger screening. Until D. B. Cooper's skydive, it was entirely possible to walk aboard a jet carrying a bomb.

Most law-abiders react with revulsion to violent criminals, with disgust to extortionists, and with a tsk-tsk to the preponderate larcenies that fill crime blotters in police stations across America.

Yet Cooper induced more smiles than frowns.

Hijackings became more violent and less palatable as the 1970s wore on, and the destruction of September 11, 2001, makes any such act seem evil.

But D. B. Cooper's crime was of its time, the early 1970s, when antisocial behavior had cache. Many Americans commended his moxie. He was celebrated in a song, film and books. He managed to tweak J. Edgar Hoover's nose and finagle a bag of loot from a big corporation. He was Robin Hood for tie-dyed longhairs—and not a few wearers of more traditional attire.

But did D. B. Cooper get away with it? No one can say for certain. We do know that he could have survived the dangerous nighttime skydive because Cooper's caper, like a crime science experiment, was replicated with complete success by a copycat aerial clip artist just months later. That hijacker hit the ground safely, although the mimic ultimately paid dearly. The copycat case also spawned a controversial theory about the fate of Dan Cooper.

Coincidentally, Cooper himself probably copied a similar hijacking that occurred two weeks before his endeavor.

Many others have tried variations on the airline extortion technique—generally with less success. Some have "splattered," as law enforcers like to say. FBI investigators believe Cooper probably met that fate—a fatal kiss of the ground. But their opinion is far from unanimous.

Books by a half-dozen authors, including three separate tomes by ex-FBI agents, have posited theories—some serious, some spurious—about what happened to Cooper. Several men have stepped forward claiming to be Cooper, although none convincingly so. Some believe Cooper is alive and well and living on a beach in Mexico. Others say he slipped back into an obscure American life and grins like a Cheshire cat at premature reports of his demise.

www.AstroDigi.com (Nino Guevara Ruwano)