The Rotunda Ramblings

Why Mukesh Ambani’s swank home makes Ratan Tata sad

2011-05-27T00:27:00.000+05:30

Ratan Tata has, in uncharacteristically candid comments about fellow tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s lifestyle , pointed to the latter’s luxurious 27-storeyed mansion in Mumbai as a glaring sign of income disparity in India – and the stuff that “revolutions are made of.”

“It makes me wonder why someone would do that. That’s what revolutions are made of,” Tata told Damian Whitworth of The Times of London in an interview published on Saturday.

The money quote that is certain to echo in business circles for a long while:

“The person who lives in there should be concerned about what he sees around him and [asking] can he make a difference. If he is not, then it’s sad because this country needs people to allocate some of their enormous wealth to finding ways of mitigating the hardship that people have.”

Ambani’s swank residence – the world’s first billion-dollar home – has of course drawn reams of (mostly gushing) media attention. Criticism of its over-the-top opulence has so far come only from commentators like Ramachandra Guha and filmmakers like Prakash Jha. For someone of Tata’s stature to point to the lifestyle of one of India’s richest industrialists as reflecting the larger social inequity is striking.

In the interview to Whitworth, Tata also hints that Noel Tata, his half-brother, may not have what it takes to take over the reins as the head of the Tata empire next year. “I think if he is to run this he should have greater exposure than he has had. Partly his not having it has been his own choice,” Tata noted.

Asked if he regretted he had no children to whom he could pass on the baton, Tata says that if he had had a family, he would probably not have been able to devote as much of his time to the organisation as he had. But he says it would have “bothered” him to think that if he’d had a son, he would automatically have been considered as a natural successor.

“I would have probably done something not to have that happen, and my son would have felt I was prejudiced against him. I wouldn’t have wanted it to be automatic,” Tata said.

Some of the other points that Tata makes in the interview:

The UK and the US have a “work ethics” problem among senior management, which is dragging them down.

“It’s a work ethic issue,” he says. “In my experience, in both Corus and (Jaguar), nobody is willing to go the extra mile, nobody. I feel if you have come from Bombay to have a meeting and the meeting goes till 6pm, I would expect that you won’t, at 5 o’clock, say, ‘Sorry, I have my train to catch. I have to go home.’ Friday, from 3.30pm, you can’t find anybody in their office.”

He contrasts that with the situation in India, where “if you are in a crisis, if it means working to midnight, you would do it. The worker (at Jaguar) seems to be willing to do that; the management is not.”

by the FB team

The Lost Animals of Fukushima

2011-05-26T08:52:00.007+05:30

After much hand-wringing, the Japanese government finally created a mandatory evacuation zone around the radiation-spewing Fukushima plant. Humans should be safe now. But the same can't be said of the hundreds of thousands of abandoned of animals left behind.

In the midst of a hurried and uneven evacuation plan, the creatures—both household pets and domesticated farm animals—have been left stranded. According to The Telegraph and ABC News hundreds of thousands of animals are now on their own in the irradiated region—around 3,400 cows, 31,500 pigs and 630,000 chickens. Prof. D.L Brown of Cornell University's Department of Animal Science speculates almost all of these chickens are dead by now, and that the livestock are in rough shape. Whatever livestock is left won't be around for long—the government is killing them all off as a safety precaution.

And then there are the pets. It's estimated that almost 6,000 dogs alone inhabited the radius, though no telling how many of them are still alive. The Japanese government is doing what it can to retrieve stray animal friends, and with the help of nonprofits, trying to care for them or find them new homes. But often, homeowners on government-sanctioned, temporary visits back home are dismayed by what they find. When hazmat suit-wearing 63-year-old Hatsuo Sakamoto came home to quickly check up on his cat for the first time in months, it simply ran away. "The cat must be startled because it has been two months since we last saw it—and because we look like space aliens," lamented his wife. But it's a testament to the love these people had for their pets that they're willing to brave the radiation zone at all—often, just to say goodbye.

This was the case for Shoichi Akimoto, one of Fukushima's evacuated residents who had returned for a brief visit to his house. When he searched for John, his dog, he found the pet had died, still leashed, after digging itself a little hole in the ground to rest. With only 15 minutes left before they would be forced back out of the area, Akimoto and Nobuichi Kobayashi, a local leader, placed incense for the deceased pet beside it, unable to bring his friend back with him. "I will bury his body on my next return," he vowed. Stories like this—likely playing out all over Fukushima—speak to both the psychological turmoil of the disaster, and the tenacity of those affected by it.

STD Test? There's an App for That

2011-05-25T02:32:00.003+05:30

British health officials are hard at work on a new app that will allow users to pee into their cell phones and find out within minutes if they have an STD.

Seriously, we could not make this stuff up if we tried.

According to The Guardian, £4 million have been invested in the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, which is creating a smartphone app that will allow users, "to put urine or saliva on to a computer chip about the size of a USB chip, plug it into their phone or computer and receive a diagnosis within minutes."

The techno-savvy approached is aimed at young brits, who apparently are too embarrased to visit the doctor face to face and have been experiencing rising rates of STDs (or STIs if you prefer.)

"Your mobile phone can be your mobile doctor. It diagnoses whether you've got one of a range of STIs, such as chlamydia or gonorrhea and tells you where to go next to get treatment," Dr Tariq Sadiq, a senior lecturer and consultant physician in sexual health and HIV at St George's, University of London, who is leading the project, told The Guardian.

If it's really that simple, why wait till after the deed is done? Wouldn't it make more sense for prospective partners to swap fluids before hand, get a reading on their cell phones, and then decide whether or not to "finish the download"?

Raiders knew mission a one-shot deal

2011-05-24T00:42:00.000+05:30

WASHINGTON — Those who planned the secret mission to get Osama bin Laden in Pakistan knew it was a one-shot deal, and it nearly went terribly wrong.

The U.S. deliberately hid the operation from Pakistan, and predicted that national outrage over the breach of Pakistani sovereignty would make it impossible to try again if the raid on bin Laden’s suspected redoubt came up dry.

Once the raiders reached their target, things started to go awry almost immediately, officials briefed on the operation said.

Adding exclusive new details to the account of the assault on bin Laden’s hideout, officials described just how the SEAL raiders loudly ditched a foundering helicopter right outside bin Laden’s door, ruining the plan for a surprise assault. That forced them to abandon plans to run a squeeze play on bin Laden — simultaneously entering the house stealthily from the roof and the ground floor.

Instead, they busted into the ground floor and began a floor-by-floor storming of the house, working up to the top level where they had assumed bin Laden — if he was in the house — would be.

They were right.

The raiders came face-to-face with bin Laden in a hallway outside his bedroom, and three of the Americans stormed in after him, U.S. officials briefed on the operation told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a classified operation.

U.S. officials believe Pakistani intelligence continues to support militants who attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and actively undermine U.S. intelligence operations to go after al-Qaida inside Pakistan. The level of distrust is such that keeping Pakistan in the dark was a major factor in planning the raid, and led to using the high-tech but sometimes unpredictable helicopter technology that nearly unhinged the mission.

Pakistan’s government has since condemned the action, and threatened to open fire if U.S. forces enter again.

On Monday, the two partners attempted to patch up relations, agreeing to pursue high-value targets jointly.

The decision to launch on that particular moonless night in May came largely because too many American officials had been briefed on the plan. U.S. officials feared if it leaked to the press, bin Laden would disappear for another decade.

The one-shot deal

U.S. special operations forces have made approximately four forays into Pakistani territory since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, though this one, some 90 miles inside Pakistan, was unlike any other, the officials say.

The job was given to a SEAL Team 6 unit, just back from Afghanistan, one official said. This elite branch of SEALs had been hunting bin Laden in eastern Afghanistan since 2001.

Five aircraft flew from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, with three school-bus-size Chinook helicopters landing in a deserted area roughly two-thirds of the way to bin Laden’s compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, two of the officials explained.

Aboard two Black Hawk helicopters were 23 SEALs, an interpreter and a tracking dog named Cairo(Navy SEAL dogs are badasses, yes. But did you know some of them have titanium fangs, designed to rip through enemy protective armor?That titanium grill runs $2,000 per tooth. The end result, US military dog trainer Alex Dunbar tells The Daily, is that being bitten is "like being stabbed four times at once with a bone crusher." Hard. Core.). Nineteen SEALs would enter the compound, and three of them would find bin Laden, one official said, providing the exact numbers for the first time.

Aboard the Chinooks were two dozen more SEALs, as backup.

The Black Hawks were specially engineered to muffle the tail rotor and engine sound, two officials said. The added weight of the stealth technology meant cargo was calculated to the ounce, with weather factored in. The night of the mission, it was hotter than expected.

The Black Hawks were to drop the SEALs and depart in less than two minutes, in hopes locals would assume they were Pakistani aircraft visiting the nearby military academy.

One Black Hawk was to hover above the compound, with SEALs sliding down ropes into the open courtyard.

The second was to hover above the roof to drop SEALs there, then land more SEALs outside — plus an interpreter and the dog, who would track anyone who tried to escape and to alert SEALs to any approaching Pakistani security forces.

If troops appeared, the plan was to hunker down in the compound, avoiding armed confrontation with the Pakistanis while officials in Washington negotiated their passage out.

The two SEAL teams inside would work toward each other, in a simultaneous attack from above and below, their weapons silenced, guaranteeing surprise, one of the officials said. They would have stormed the building in a matter of minutes, as they’d done time and again in two training models of the compound.

The plan unraveled as the first helicopter tried to hover over the compound. The Black Hawk skittered around uncontrollably in the heat-thinned air, forcing the pilot to land. As he did, the tail and rotor got caught on one of the compound’s 12-foot walls. The pilot quickly buried the aircraft’s nose in the dirt to keep it from tipping over, and the SEALs clambered out into an outer courtyard.

The other aircraft did not even attempt hovering, landing its SEALs outside the compound.

Now, the raiders were outside, and they’d lost the element of surprise.

They had trained for this, and started blowing their way in with explosives, through walls and doors, working their way up the three-level house from the bottom.

They had to blow their way through barriers at each stair landing, firing back, as one of the men in the house fired at them.

They shot three men as well as one woman, whom U.S. officials have said lunged at the SEALs.

Small knots of children were on every level, including the balcony of bin Laden’s room.

As three of the SEALs reached the top of the steps on the third floor, they saw bin Laden standing at the end of the hall. The Americans recognized him instantly, the officials said.

Bin Laden also saw them, dimly outlined in the dark house, and ducked into his room.

The three SEALs assumed he was going for a weapon, and one by one they rushed after him through the door, one official described.

Two women were in front of bin Laden, yelling and trying to protect him, two officials said. The first SEAL grabbed the two women and shoved them away, fearing they might be wearing suicide bomb vests, they said.

The SEAL behind him opened fire at bin Laden, putting one bullet in his chest, and one in his head.

It was over in a matter of seconds.

Back at the White House Situation Room, word was relayed that bin Laden had been found, signaled by the code word “Geronimo.” That was not bin Laden’s code name, but rather a representation of the letter “G.” Each step of the mission was labeled alphabetically, and “Geronimo” meant that the raiders had reached step “G,” the killing or capture of bin Laden, two officials said.

As the SEALs began photographing the body for identification, the raiders found an AK-47 rifle and a Russian-made Makarov pistol on a shelf by the door they’d just run through. Bin Laden hadn’t touched them.

They were among a handful of weapons that were removed to be inventoried.

It took approximately 15 minutes to reach bin Laden, one official said. The next 23 or so were spent blowing up the broken chopper, after rounding up nine women and 18 children to get them out of range of the blast.

One of the waiting Chinooks flew in to pick up bin Laden’s body, the raiders from the broken aircraft and the weapons, documents and other materials seized at the site.

The helicopters flew back to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, and the body was flown to a waiting Navy ship for bin Laden’s burial at sea, ensuring no shrine would spring up around his grave.

When the SEAL team met President Obama, he did not ask who shot bin Laden. He simply thanked each member of the team, two officials said.

In a few weeks, the team that killed bin Laden will go back to training, and in a couple months, back to work overseas.

Ratan Tata is losing patience

2011-05-23T02:19:00.009+05:30

Ping! The clarification from Vaishnavi Communications, the Tata group’s communications agency, hit my inbox at 9:25 p.m. on a Saturday evening. Obviously, someone had swung into damage control mode inside Bombay House at that late hour. And I guess they had reason to get a bit rattled by their chairman’s sudden, sharp attack on the declining British work ethic in evidence at Corus and JLR in a candid interview to The Times of London.

The timing of the interview obviously couldn’t be worse. According to The Telegraph in the UK, Tata Steel proposes to close or mothball part of its Scunthorpe plant, putting at risk 1,200 jobs. The plans would also see 300 jobs lost at its Teesside site.

Yet it isn’t often that Indian business leaders publicly attack their own employees—and that too in a foreign country. In 2005, I had done an interview with L&T supremo AM Naik for The Times of India, where he had railed against the engineers inside his own company. “Around 95% of the students passing out of engineering colleges head either to the US or Europe or any other part of the world. The leftovers of the leftovers of the leftover come to join us, only to leave after gaining the platinum touch. So who will build India’s ports, bridges and airports?” he had questioned.

The next day, there was a huge uproar inside L&T as Naik had to placate his engineers and assure them that they weren’t exactly third class citizens as he had described them! Tata may have to do something similar in UK, as is evident from the hurried clarification. (See the clarification.)

To my mind, there’s a clear upshot from this no-holds barred interview: Ratan Tata is finally losing his patience, when it comes to securing the full benefits from his global M&A binge in the last decade. To that extent, this outburst, though somewhat belated, may not have come a day too soon. Let me explain why.

Ever since the Tatas made their big move to buy Corus in 2007 and followed it up with the JLR acquisition in 2008, their post merger integration model had a clear defining theme: it was referred to as light touch. Management consultants McKinsey & Co called it a quintessential Asian approach to M&A. Here’s how they describe it in a 2010 article in the McKinsey Quarterly: When it comes to acquisitions, some Asian companies are forging a novel path through the thicket of postmerger integration: they aren’t doing it. Among Western companies, the process can vary considerably from deal to deal, yet it’s an article of faith that acquirers must integrate quickly. Otherwise, the logic goes, they may lose the momentum of a deal before they can capture the synergies that justified it.

The Tatas epitomized this so-called Asian approach. From the time they made their big move, Ratan Tata chose to leave his crown jewels—Corus and JLR—strictly alone. There were no 100 day integration plans. There were no large armies of senior managers sent from India to indoctrinate their European employees.

A very senior manager from Tata Steel who was sent to push things along in UK returned home completely frustrated by the bureaucracy. None of the British managers would listen to any kind of advice; he confided to a senior executive I knew on a flight way back from UK. And Bombay House was in no hurry to enforce its writ.

The word was out that Corus was perhaps the most bureaucratic organization in Europe, a spaghetti of different cultures slapped together from the erstwhile British Steel and Dutch maker Koninklijke Hoogovens merger in 1999. No one had attempted to fuse the two organisations, and the plants across Euorpe continued to operate as decentralised entities, with enormous operating freedom for its managers. And this created large, bloated bureaucracies that no one had any control over. There was a joke about Corus’ antiquated IT systems—that may have well been true—no one in the central office knew exactly how many workers were employed in each plant. A senior executive at the Tatas once told me that the managers at Corus would do everything possible to thwart any kind of change effort. And the Tatas did nothing to attack this bureaucracy in the initial years, despite the fact that they may have overpaid for the two acquisitions, buying, as they did, at the top of the cycle.

When they bought Corus in 2007, the Tatas allowed the local management to set the agenda. The massive downturn following the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers and the resultant downturn did force the Tatas though to make massive job cuts in the UK and elsewhere. But it wasn’t until September 2010, that Corus became Tata Steel Europe.

Obviously, there may have been valid grounds for the Tatas not to meddle too much at Corus. The Anglo-Dutch steel maker was four times bigger than Tata Steel. Besides, the Tatas themselves did not have a cadre of international managers who were trained to handle such complex post merger integration. So they consciously left it to the existing European managers to lead the charge. It wasn’t until the combative American steel expert Kirby Adams arrived as the new CEO did the process of restructuring and culture change at Corus begin in right earnest. His plan to mothball the Teeside plant made him hugely unpopular with local politicians in the area. In the 14 months that he was there, Adams cut 6,000 jobs across Europe and thereby helped stop some of the bleeding at Corus. Not surprisingly, Adams stepped down in October 2010 and was replaced by his COO Karl-Ulrich Köhler, who had come in from German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp.

While he was at the helm, Adams made no efforts to integrate the European operations with the Indian ops. The two entities continued to perform without too much integration. Perhaps Adams was apprehensive that it could destabilise his own power base in Europe. Köhler, on the other hand, has no such compunctions. In the past few months, apparently he has himself realised the inherent fallacy of having two independent entities in India and Europe. He is said to have taken up the challenge of merging the two organisations and deriving greater synergies. And he is also said to have taken on the tough task of dismantling the infamous bureaucracy that Mr Tata ranted about in the interview to The Times.

So, after nearly four years after the Tatas acquired Corus, the gloves may finally be coming off. And it’s about time someone had the courage to call a spade a spade.

by Indrajit Gupta

What Is Planking?

2011-05-22T02:07:00.001+05:30

Planking is blowing up the news these day. Old people would say it's another instance of why the youth is screwed. Kids would fire back that it's the most fun you can have being still. Who's right? And just what the hell is planking?

It's a stupid internet sensation...

Planking is the act of lying facedown for a photograph. The term planking originated from Australia but is actually just another name for 'the lying down game' (I'm not kidding). The specific instructions: to put your body face down to the ground (or table, or object, or anything) with your arms to the side. Yeah.

...that's really, really stupid...

Again, the act itself is to lie down on the ground. Anybody can do that, right? That's why kids are getting crazier. You get creativity points for planking in odd places like trees branches. Or escalators. Or animals! Or balls. The more wild you get, the 'better' the picture will be.

...but is huge on Facebook.

The Official Planking Facebook page has over 180,000 fans and tons of pictures showcasing the best plankers around the world. Hell, the whole idea about planking is to upload it to your Facebook account so your friends can see it, as planking alone is not planking at all.

Unfortunately, it's not all fun and games...

An Aussie man died for trying to plank on a balcony, plummeting 7 stories to the ground. Police are growing concerned that people are trying to one up each other in their planking.

...so don't go nuts if you plank...

I think a safe policy would be to not plank anywhere you wouldn't sit.

...or really, just don't plank at all.

Come on, people.

Apocalypse believers wait vigilantly for the end after months of preparing; skeptics carry on

2011-05-21T02:12:00.008+05:30

They spent months warning the world of the apocalypse, some giving away earthly belongings or draining their savings accounts. And so they waited, vigilantly, on Saturday for the appointed hour to arrive.

When 6 p.m. came and went across the United States and various spots around the globe, and no extraordinary cataclysm occurred, some believers expressed confusion, while others reassured each of their faith. Still, some others took it in stride.

Caroline Dennewith, co-owner of Dorky’s Arcade in Tacoma, Wash., poses for a photo, Friday, May 20, 2011 with a poster advertising her business’ ”Rapture Party,” which will be held Saturday, May 21, 2011, the day on which a loosely organized Christian movement believes Jesus will return to Earth to gather the faithful. Dennewith says she has received international media attention and some isolated local criticism for what started out as a low-key party in response to predictions of the rapture.

“I had some skepticism but I was trying to push the skepticism away because I believe in God,” said Keith Bauer — who hopped in his minivan in Maryland and drove his family 3,000 miles to California for the Rapture.

He started his day in the bright morning sun outside the gated Oakland headquarters of Family Radio International, whose founder, Harold Camping, has been broadcasting the apocalyptic prediction for years.

“I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth,” said Bauer, a tractor-trailer driver who began the voyage west last week, figuring that if he “worked last week, I wouldn’t have gotten paid anyway, if the Rapture did happen.”

The May 21 doomsday message was sent far and wide via broadcasts and websites by Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer who has built a multi-million-dollar Christian media empire that publicizes his apocalyptic prediction. According to Camping, the destruction was likely to have begun its worldwide march as it became 6 p.m. in the various time zones, although some believers said Saturday the exact timing was never written in stone.

In New York’s Times Square, Robert Fitzpatrick, of Staten Island, said he was surprised when the six o’clock hour simply came and went. He had spent his own money to put up advertising about the end of the world.

“I can’t tell you what I feel right now,” he said, surrounded by tourists. “Obviously, I haven’t understood it correctly because we’re still here.”

Many followers said the delay was a further test from God to persevere in their faith.

“It’s still May 21 and God’s going to bring it,” said Family Radio’s special projects coordinator Michael Garcia, who spent Saturday morning praying and drinking two last cups of coffee with his wife at home in Alameda. “When you say something and it doesn’t happen, your pride is what’s hurt. But who needs pride? God said he resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.”

The Internet was alive with discussion, humorous or not, about the end of the world and its apparent failure to occur on cue. Many tweets declared Camping’s prediction a dud or shared, tongue-in-cheek, their relief at not having to do weekend chores or take a shower.

The top trends on Twitter at midday included, at No. 1, “endofworldconfessions,” followed by “myraptureplaylist.”

As 6 p.m. approached in California, some 100 people gathered outside Family Radio International headquarters in Oakland, although it appeared none of the believers of the prophecy were among them. Camping’s radio stations, TV channels, satellite broadcasts and website are controlled from a modest building sandwiched between an auto shop and a palm reader’s business.

Nanopatch could be new way to repair heart damage

2011-05-20T04:45:00.010+05:30

When you suffer a heart attack, a part of your heart dies. In tests, a new nanopatch shows promise in helping bring dead regions of the heart back to life.

“This whole idea is to put something where dead tissue is to help regenerate it, so that you eventually have a healthy heart,” says David Stout, an engineering graduate student at Brown University and lead author of the paper published in Acta Biomaterialia.

The approach, if successful, would help millions of people. In 2009, some 785,000 Americans suffered a new heart attack linked to weakness caused by the scarred cardiac muscle from a previous heart attack, according to the American Heart Association. Just as ominously, statistics show that a third of women and a fifth of men who have experienced a heart attack will have another one within six years.

What is unique about the experiments at Brown and at the India Institute of Technology Kanpur is the engineers employed carbon nanofibers, helical-shaped tubes with diameters between 60 and 200 nanometers. The carbon nanofibers work well because they are excellent conductors of electrons, performing the kind of electrical connections the heart relies upon for keeping a steady beat.
The researchers stitched the nanofibers together using a poly lactic-co-glycolic acid polymer to form a mesh about 22 millimeters long and 15 microns thick and resembling “a black Band Aid,” Stout says. They laid the mesh on a glass substrate to test whether heart tissue cells known as cardiomyocytes would colonize the surface and grow more cells.

In tests with the 200-nanometer-diameter carbon nanofibers seeded with cardiomyocytes, five times as many heart-tissue cells colonized the surface after four hours than with a control sample consisting of the polymer only. After five days, the density of the surface was six times greater than the control sample, the researchers report. Neuron density had also doubled after four days.

The scaffold works because it is elastic and durable, and can thus expand and contract much like heart tissue, says Thomas Webster, associate professor in engineering and orthopaedics at Brown and the corresponding author on the paper. It’s because of these properties and the carbon nanofibers that cardiomyocytes and neurons congregate on the scaffold and spawn new cells, in effect regenerating the area.

The scientists want to tweak the scaffold pattern to better mimic the electrical current of the heart, as well as build an in-vitro model to test how the material reacts to the heart’s voltage and beat regime. They also want to make sure the cardiomyocytes that grow on the scaffolds are endowed with the same abilities as other heart-tissue cells.

The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum, the Hermann Foundation, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, the government of India and California State University funded the research.

Mother who tried to get pregnant for eight years finally gives birth after she's injected with yolk from CHICKEN EGG

2011-05-19T06:15:00.009+05:30

A woman who struggled to fall pregnant for eight years has given birth to a baby boy after she was injected with chicken egg yolk.

Leanne Blackwell, 38, and her plumber husband Andy, 48, had been trying to conceive since 2003 and spent £15,000 of IVF without success.

Then in 2010, Dr George Ndukwe, from Care Fertility in Nottingham discovered the couple had incompatible immune systems.
Leanne's overactive immune system was producing cells that were killing her fertilized eggs before they could develop.

He suggested a novel approach to lower her immune system - by injecting her with protein taken from a chicken egg.

Mrs Blackwell was given an intralipid solution containing a combination of egg extracts and soy oil through a drip, before being inseminated with the couple's fertilised eggs.

Research shows the fatty acids in the egg reduce the number of killer cells in the immune system.

Finally in May 2010 Leanne discovered she was pregnant, and gave birth to baby Martyn weighing 6lbs 13oz in February this year.

Leanne, who is a driving instructor, said: 'Holding Martyn in my arms for the first time was amazing, and the fact we had waited for so long made it all the more powerful'.

'I didn't realise how depressed I was getting about not being able to have a family.

'I couldn't even go to Asda without getting upset. It seemed like pregnant women were everywhere, and it was just a reminder it wasn't happening for us.'

After reading about the possible effects of her immune system on pregnancy, Leanne requested an immunology test.

The Chicago Test, revealed that Leanne body was producing a high number of killer cells which would treat any fertilised embryo as a foreign body.

After two failed IVF attempts, the couple from Grantham, decided to give it one more try using the food supplements.

'We had hit rock bottom. Andy and I had totally expected it to work.

'We talked about adoption. People would say to us: "when you stop trying, that's when it happens", but I didn't want to give up on having a family.'

'We decided to give IVF one more try with these new drugs.

'It's amazing to think that something quite simple has given us our baby.'

Leanne was given two sessions of the intralipid solution, both before and after she became pregnant. It is believed the solution interferes with the signal to the immune system reducing the number of killer cells.

'I had to wait two weeks to take my pregnancy test, I was so excited I got up at 5am to find out the result', says Leanne.

'After so many years of waiting, I couldn't believe it when I finally got a positive result. I just started bawling in the bathroom'.

After discovering she was expecting, it was important to maintain a low functioning immune system while the baby was developing.

As a result she was susceptible to infection and disease, and had to be extra vigilant throughout her pregnancy.

'I got a couple of bouts of food poisoning which wasn't nice. But everything was worth it in the end.

'Having Martyn is awesome, it was all worth it!'

Simon Thornton, Group Medical Director, CARE Fertility said: 'We believe that this treatment is important for women and families because there seems to be a subset of fertility patients who have developed, effectively, over active immune systems and this is contributing to their fertility difficulties.

'This treatment is inexpensive, well tolerated and easy to administer

'We have devoted time to finding answers when nature goes wrong'

Stab in the Backistan = Pakistan

2011-05-18T01:57:00.003+05:30

Pele fertility doctor 'deceived IVF parents'

2011-05-17T01:51:00.004+05:30

A Brazilian fertility expert who helped Pele father twins is suspected of having deceived large numbers of patients into bringing up children that are not genetically theirs.
Roger Abdelmassih is on the run from police after being convicted of sexually assaulting or raping 39 female patients at his clinic.

New evidence gathered by police and public prosecutors suggests that many of the 8,000 babies born after IVF treatment by him and his team may not be the biological children of the couples raising them. There is no suggestion this is the case with Pele.
The authorities believe that Abdelmassih, 67, misled many customers by implanting embryos formed from eggs and sperm of other people to increase his chances of success.
DNA tests have already found at least three cases where children born after IVF treatment at his clinic in Sao Paulo are not the genetic offspring of one of the paying parents.
But according to Epoca, a weekly Brazilian news magazine which has seen evidence collected by the authorities, this could be just the tip of the iceberg.
Abdelmassih treated a string of high-profile clients including Pele who fathered twins with his second wife in 1996 at the age of 55 and after having earlier undergone a vasectomy.
His clinic's IVF success rate hit 47 per cent in recent years compared to an average of around 32 per cent in Latin America and less than 30 per cent in Britain.
Such a high level of success will increase fears that Abdelmassih may have fooled large numbers of patients over a period of two decades.
Abdelmassih was sentenced to 278 years in jail in November last year after he was found guilty of attacking female patients between 1995 and 2007 but went missing after being allowed to remain free pending an appeal.

Road Rage:)

2011-05-16T08:45:00.008+05:30

These photos are from Thursday, Feb. 17 by someone from Centurion in Pilanesberg game reserve, South Africa.

The guy in the white Volkswagen was trying to get past the elephant.

Road rage, it affects us all!

Twitter Vigilante Reclaims a Stranger’s Stolen Laptop After Police Refuse to Help

2011-05-15T00:02:00.009+05:30

Twitter helps break news and aid in political uprisings, but after one guy helped recover the stolen laptop of a stranger he followed on Twitter, it seems the social network is also going to revive a dying breed: the vigilante.

After Sean Power had his laptop stolen in New York City, he used Prey—the awesome (and FREE) tracking software—located the laptop, obtained the culprit's Skype name and snaped a screenshot of the guy using it. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to file a police report before having to leave NYC for a few days, so when he finally tracked down his computer, the cops more or less refused to help. That's when Power started tweeting.

What ensued was a flurry of tweets from followers who dug up all sorts of info on the accused, while spreading the word. A female friend of Power's was already at the bar where Prey had pinpointed the computer, but was hesitant to try and handle the situation alone.

But a complete stranger, Nick Reese, happened to be in the neighborhood where the laptop was located. After receiving links to the unfolding saga, debating whether or not to help, and having friends prod him, he finally hopped a cab and went down to the bar.

Once there, he casually confronted the thief (who worked—or possibly owned—the bar where he was using the computer), and got the laptop back with little resistance, scoring a victory for Twitter nerds everywhere. There's a whole, chronological twitter stream here, detailing what went down in realtime. And it's a pretty entertaining story to skim through, involving highs, lows, moments of doubt and multiple characters.

And internet, can we keep crowdsourcing all our law enforcement needs? With local police squads going bankrupt all around the country, I'm all about a bunch of shadowy, hockey-masked randoms popping up to save the day.

-Adrian Covert

Sheex Performance Bed Sheets

2011-05-14T23:59:00.007+05:30

You know those workout shirts that keep you cool and dry? Like from Under Armour and Nike? These Sheex "performance" bedsheets are made out of the same material. And they're pretty much perfect for any type of activity you do in bed.

PLUSSES
Holy baby bottoms, these sheets are soft. You definitely feel the roots of performance wear, but the softness is more similar to satin or silk (but obviously more durable). There's a purposeful weight and texture to it, which lets your body breathe while keeping you warm. It's fantastic really—I've slept on many a high thread count and on the cotton of Phaorohs but none were as versatile as Sheex.

The set comes with a fitted sheet, a flat sheet and two pillowcases all made from the same 87% polyester/13% spandex fabric blend. Once you put the Sheex on, your bed becomes one constant cool side of the pillow. For a person like me, who gets hot easily, and lives in a city that stays hot midyear, Sheex is an absolute oasis. Or I guess deodorant if you're a sweaty sleeper. Either way, I've been sleeping wonderfully since I started using Sheex.

But, um, how do 'performance sheets' perform when you perform?

You are who you are, of course, but let's put it this way: Sheex eliminates the messy variables of night time relations. The fitted bed sheet is tight and stretchy so it wraps itself perfectly around the mattress so there's no needless fabric flapping around. This is crucial, as it gives you a blank slate for your penetrative masterpieces: you can spin, tango, and switch gears any which way without ever getting your knees, elbows or any of your other body parts caught in your sheets. Cotton is for virgins, people.

As for those who partake on solo missions, the flat sheet grooves itself onto your body, caressing its polyester around your knees and ankles while giving breathability to your backside. It's as easy as ever to find peace within yourself.

MINUSES
If you have any rough patches on your body (back of your heels, etc), rubbing against the sheets will make your rough skin feel like the carcasses of burnt alligators. It scratches and it's not fun knowing how gross your feet are. Also, because of Sheex's materials, it doesn't retain that 'fresh laundry' scent. And, lastly! The bed sheets might be so awesome that your impromptu one night bed dance partner (what was his/her name?) might want to stay with you through the morning after.

$200 for a Queen Set, Sheex

-Casey Chan

Hindu goddess swimsuits at Australian Fashion Week spark angry protests

2011-05-13T00:16:00.000+05:30

The row has come close to creating a diplomatic incident between Australia and India. Models wearing colourful swimsuits and bikinis covered in pictures of the goddess took to the catwalk in front of hundreds of people in Sydney last week.
However, not everyone thought it was appropriate to use of the revered goddess's image on a skimpy piece of clothing.
When news of the fashion show reached India, some Hindus were outraged. Over the weekend, demonstrators in Amritsar burned the Australian flag in protest, waving photographs of the offensive swimsuit and demanding that all of the garments be recalled.

Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity, fertility and courage. She is worshipped every day by Hindus and her image is considered to be sacred. Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism, demanded an apology from the designer. He said Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world and its deities deserved to be respected.
"Lakshmi was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for pushing swimwear in fashion shows for mercantile greed of an apparel company," he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Partya party (BJP) also called for an apology from the Australian government. The incident is the latest in a long line of fashion faux pas by Western designers when it comes to Indian gods, including US designer Guess using the image of Ganesh on a tank top and the French shoe brand Minelli putting images of Lord Rama on shoes. The Australian fashion house responsible for the design was quick to apologise. In a statement, Lisa Blue Swimwear said the company had put a halt on production of the new range and pulled the pieces that had been shown during Fashion Week.
"This range will never be available for sale in any stockists or retail outlets anywhere in the world," it said.
"We apologise to the Hindu community and take this matter very seriously.
"At no time would we ever have intended that the brand would cause offence."

Australia's relationship with India is only just starting to recover after a spate of attacks on Indian students last year which led to widespread protests and claims that the crimes were racially motivated.

500 Taliban Prisoners Just Escaped Through a Long Underground Tunnel—Built Using No Heavy Machinery

2011-05-12T02:50:00.005+05:30

In their biggest prison break since 2008, nearly 500 Afghani detainees (mostly Taliban members) escaped from the Sarposa Prison through an underground tunnel, dug from the outside. Now the U.S. military is searching high and low, hoping to corral the escapees back in. The crazy thing is that they built this long tunnel using nothing but basic tools—no machinery.
UPDATE: Two of the imprisoned Taliban members reveal all about their escape through the underground tunnel.

According to Al Jazeera, Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said that a group on the outside spent five months digging a 320 meter tunnel that circumvented numerous security checkpoints (the length of the tunnel varies between 320 and 360 meters in different reports).

The militants launched the dig from a house "within shooting distance of the prison guard towers," the AP notes, but it's not clear whether they lived in the house as the dig continued. The head of Kandahar's prisons told The Guardian that constructing the tunnel must have been extremely labor-intensive given that the Taliban had to refrain from using heavy machinery that could attract attention to its efforts.

From the Times:

At 11 p.m. Sunday, three Taliban prisoners, who he said were the only ones who knew, "went from cell to cell waking people and guiding each of them to the tunnel."

"More Taliban were on hand as the prisoners emerged from the dirt and dust of the tunnel to guide the dazed prisoners to waiting vehicles. Also on hand were Taliban fighters and suicide bombers in case the security forces woke up and there was a fight.

The actual escape began around 11 pm, when imprisoned Taliban members who had obtained copies of the cell keys began guiding prisoners to the tunnel. The walk through the tunnel took over 30 minutes and when they emerged from the tunnel, they were taken away in waiting vehicles. Around 4 am, security guards discovered they had escaped (Taliban officials claim they didn't notice until 7:30 am).

The 2008 escape freed more than 1200 prisoners (and 350 Taliban members), but relied on a less stealth method in the form of a surprise attack on the prison. In that instance, 30 insurgence stormed the prison, which completely caught guards by surprise, creating an environment of chaos. This time around, the escape went totally undetected, leading some to believe some of the prison guards were involved. [NYT via The Atlantic]

[Image via Allauddin Khan/Associated Press]

Desi Humor

2011-05-11T02:30:00.003+05:30

Senator Chuck Grassley Is the Worst Twitter User in the United States of America

2011-05-10T01:16:00.003+05:30

Last year, 77 year-old Iowan senator Chuck Grassley vowed to do anything for reelection—including picking up Twitter. We almost wish he hadn't. Grassley's 1,147 tweets are possibly among the most incoherent, confounding, mind-boggling text on the internet.

Is This the US Navy’s Secret Helicopter?

2011-05-09T14:29:00.005+05:30

Ever since SEAL Team 6 blew up its downed, stealth Black Hawk, aviation geeks around the globe have been trying to figure out what the hell it was. One flight expert has gathered the clues and created this detailed rendering.
David Cenciotti, the brain behind the sketch, has serious credentials: he's a former member of the Italian air force, current private pilot, computer engineer, and journalist. With the help of Ugo Crisponi, an artist at Aviation Graphic, we might have a better understanding of what whisked the commandos in and out without Pakistani interference (beyond a few photos of a severed tail rotor). It's still a drawing, of course, but here it's easier to appreciate the strange tail rotor, and the sleek, streamlined stealth chassis—particularly compared to the standard Black Hawk underneath (click images to expand). We're eager for more details to surface on this mystery bird, but I have a feeling the Pentagon wishes the whole thing had been blown to bits.

The cost of fertility treatment 'tourism'

2011-05-08T10:57:00.005+05:30

BBC Radio Scotland's The Investigation programme examines the increasing number of couples travelling abroad to seek infertility treatment.

It is described as one of the fastest growing areas of medical "tourism" although that is a word none of those undertaking this journey like to use.

But is it costing too much in terms of emotional, physical and financial stress?

One couple, interviewed anonymously for BBC Scotland's The Investigation programme, said they had spent £90,000 already, and after 17 treatments in various places, including the US, are heading to Spain again this year for one last try at conceiving a longed-for baby.

This couple did not meet until their mid-30s, and by the time they went for treatment on the NHS, at 40 the patient was deemed too old to qualify by her local health board.

The couple have had to remortgage their house to raise funds, so the financial pressure has been enormous, but they have also been on an emotional and physical rollercoaster. And two miscarriages have made it all the more devastating.

It should be the most natural thing in the world, starting a family when the time is right, but for many thousands, it just does not happen.

Fertility decline
Growing numbers choose to take the overseas route to pregnancy, driven by a desperate desire to have a child of their own.

Professor Richard Fleming, director of the Glasgow Centre for Reproductive Medicine, said that the root cause was because women were starting their families later in life. Scientific studies have shown that human fertility starts declining at the age of 31, which is the age many women are having their first babies.

By the mid-30s, eggs are of poor quality, and chances of natural conception have decreased considerably, and even IVF, the professor said, struggles to make up the shortfall.

Prof Fleming is concerned that the general population are not aware of this sharp decrease in fertility. He said it was not the age of the patient that counts, but the age of the eggs.

A number of studies have looked at the reasons people go abroad for treatment. The Infertility Network UK carried out an online fertility tourism survey, which produced some surprising results.

They found that 76% of those who responded would consider travelling overseas for treatment. Of those, 70.5% said it was because of shorter waiting times than in the UK, 69.5% gave the cost of treatment as a reason, and 61% pointed to the success rates of conception in clinics abroad.

Donor anonymity
The availability of donor eggs and sperm was also an important element in their choice.

Availability is a crucial issue in the UK. There are huge waiting lists everywhere for donor eggs and sperm.

Five years ago the government lifted the anonymity granted to donors, so that now any offspring conceived by the donor method, are able to trace their biological parents when they get to the age of 18.

Juliet Tizzard, policy director of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), believes this was the right thing to do, but donor numbers have declined, and many people go abroad particularly because there is still anonymity, and many donors prefer it too.

In Europe it is not allowed to pay donors a fee, but they may be paid "compensation" for their time and trouble. In the UK it is expenses only, up to a limit of £250, but in Spain, a favourite venue for those seeking treatment, donors will receive €900. In Europe much younger donors are used, often students, whose eggs are at their most fertile.

Varying treatments
Costs of treatments vary, too, with an IVF cycle in the UK costing up to £4,500, or with donor eggs up to nearly £6,000.

Those going abroad also have to build in the cost of travel and accommodation, and, of course, time off work.

A European Union directive, in force since 2007, focuses on the safety and laboratory practice at all fertility clinics in the EU, and last week the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) issued a new code of practice to ensure high standards of care for patients.

In Scotland, it is the health boards who determine how much NHS treatment infertile patients may have, and it varies from one area to another.

Some offer two cycles, some three; for all the cut-off point is at 40 years of age, and there are other criteria, such as whether there are already any other children living in the home.

Gwenda Burns, Scottish co-ordinator of the Infertility Network, is calling for an acceptable waiting time in each health board area, and fairness for all those who need help with their fertility, which has been recognised as an illness by the World Health Organisation.

But she also said people must be realistic and call an end to treatment when there is no chance of it working, just as you would with any other illness.

What Happens when You Get Shot in the Head

2011-05-07T01:22:00.008+05:30

You may or may or may not see it coming, but it doesn't really matter. You're not going to have time to react. Because a bullet can travel at speeds exceeding 3200 feet per second, which is too fast to duck or yell or plead. Hang in there. Taking a cap to the dome means that it will be over faster than a fatal wound anywhere else.

The bullet with your name on it slides past hair, skin and muscle before it smashes into one of eight cranial bones engineered to keep your brain safe. Unfortunately, it's too late for that now. Bullets beat bones. The projectile's entrance into your skull makes easy shrapnel of your calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and collagen case. As a souvenir of the opening, you gain a circular hole rimmed with abraded skin. Distance matters, too: The closer you are to the bullet, the more the gun's smoke and powder could burn your flesh.

But enough about the blemish; the real work happens deeper. The connective tissue and fibrous membranes that act as internal cushioning are split open just before the bullet dives into your cerebrospinal fluid. This fluid serves as a shock absorber. It, with some other structures, allows you to ride roller coasters and join mosh pits without injury. But again, because your 3.4-pound control system is being taken out, this will be your last head bang.

The bullet travels through your brain faster than the speed at which your tissues tear. This means that it's actually pushing tissues out of the way, stretching them beyond their breaking points. When high velocity long arms are responsible, bullets traveling at thousands of feet per second will exit your body before your tissues have a chance to rip.

The ability to process information and solve problems? All gone when the bullet shoves its way through your prefrontal cortex. Your ability to index memories? Gone with your hippocampus. In the bullet's wake, a long temporary cavity is left. When the tearing finally does happen, your tissues will snap back toward the initial opening and overshoot their original position. You know that back and forth thing that happens when you kick one of those springy door stops? Well that's what your tissues do when the shock waves kick them.

Then the passage collapses. The high-speed firearm that produced the bullet created a disruption in your brain 10 times its diameter.

But you're lucky, relatively speaking. If you were shot in the heart, your blood pressure would quickly drop, but it would take 10 to 15 seconds to lose brain function. In that time you could draw your gun, utter last words, or spend some time thinking about your unfortunate situation. But a shot to the brain is different. Your brain stops functioning almost immediately. In just a fraction of a second, you're gone.

by Rachel Swaby

Lower IVF Success Rates Widely Reported In Patients Of African Origin May Be Consequence Of Genetic Predisposition Towards Autoimmunity

2011-05-06T00:58:00.004+05:30

In vitro fertilization (IVF) pregnancy rates, also known as "IVF success rates" are related to specific genotypes and races/ethnicities, according to new research conducted by a New York City-based IVF center. It has long been known that IVF success rates differ amongst different races/ethnic groups. This new study suggests that predisposition to autoimmune disease may be the cause for these differences.

Despite general improvement in outcomes of fertility treatments, disparities between races/ethnicities have actually increased. Prevalence of infertility also differs in that African women experience infertility more frequently than Caucasians and Asians. Causes for these differences have remained largely unknown.

This new study, just published in the prestigious medical journal PLoS One, was conducted by the Center for Human Reproduction (CHR) in New York, NY, and involved 339 Caucasian, Asian and African women. As previously widely reported in the medical literature, African patients demonstrated significantly lower IVF pregnancy rates, compared to Asian and Caucasian patients, even after controlling for age and BMI. African patients also demonstrated the highest rates of the recently described FMR1 (fragile X mental retardation) gene sub-genotype het-norm/low, which the same group of researchers previously reported to be statistically highly associated with autoimmunity. Asian women, with lowest prevalence of het-norm/low experienced the highest pregnancy rates after IVF.

"We have previously associated this specific FMR1 sub-genotype with an approximately 50% reduction in IVF pregnancy chances," explains David Barad, MD, MS, one of the study's senior authors, and Clinical Director of ART at CHR. "This new finding is in line with our previous studies on this specific FMR1 sub-genotype."

"The association of FMR1 genotypes and risk for autoimmunity presents evidence that autoimmunity may be associated with lower pregnancy rates in IVF in general," adds Norbert Gleicher, MD, the study's second senior author, and Medical Director of CHR. "Autoimmunity may, thus, also be at least partially responsible for the racial/ethnic disparities in infertility prevalence and treatment outcomes."

Soya- egg yolk mix helps UK mum give birth after 3 miscarriages, failed IVF

2011-05-05T22:34:00.008+05:30

A UK couple, who struggled to have a baby after three miscarriages and failed IVF treatments, are now proud parents of twins-thanks to a mix of soya and egg yolk.
According to Stacy and James Bodle, an experimental fertility treatment using egg yolks and soya oil cured the condition causing the miscarriages and they are now celebrating the arrival of twins Libby and Harry.

"I've hardly slept for the 13 weeks since they were born but I'm not complaining," the Daily Mail quoted Stacy, as saying.
"They have been the happiest weeks of our lives. We were trying for three years for a family and we started to think this day would never come. There were so many awful times and to sit here and see our lovely twins staring back at us is wonderful," she added.
The treatment involved a combination of natural fats made up from egg yolks and soya oil.
Doctors believe this intralipid liquid, a calorie-rich potion normally used in tube-feeding sick patients, could help more women achieve their dream of motherhood.
Studies show a remarkable success rate at overcoming an immune system problem in which "killer cells" attack a fertilised embryo.
"It's basically just a lot of calories, but research suggests that it can suppress the natural killer cells," said Dr Adel Shaker, medical director at CARE fertility clinic in Sheffield.

Don't Kiss & Tell

2011-05-04T05:41:00.004+05:30

Watch How the Police Raid a Cellphone

2011-05-03T04:11:00.007+05:30

Everyone knows the cops have tools to get inside your phone. But what do they do? They suck your iPhone's entire soul in 15 minutes. With one single click. This is what it looks like.
Lantern 2 is an incredibly powerful piece of software. Plug your iPhone in. Click "Acquire." Wait for a progress bar to complete. After about fifteen minutes, I had the entire contents of my phone in an extremely user-friendly interface—even with a lock screen activated. Anything you would want to know—or didn't even know you'd want to know—about my phone is easy to tap. An entire minute by minute chronology of my text exchanges. Every picture I'd ever taken. My bookmarks. My cookies. Every Skype call I've ever placed. My entire Facebook friend list. Every cell tower my phone has touched, with longitude and latitude coordinates. All there. Lantern 2 is awesome—and must be a stellar thing to have in any cop's arsenal (and for those wondering, no, you can't download it—Lantern's only available to government agencies researchers, and security firms). We just hope it (and our phones) never get into the hands of anyone on the other side of the law.

Highway through a building

2011-05-02T04:57:00.003+05:30

Gate Tower Building is a 16-storey office building in, Osaka , Japan . And what makes it notable is the highway that passes through the 5th-7th floors of this building. The highway is part of the Hanshin Expressway, a network (239.3 km) of expressways surrounding Osaka , Kobe and Kyoto , Japan . The Gate Tower Building is Japan 's first building to have a highway pass through it. And it had been nicknamed "beehive" referring to its appearance as a "bustling place". The Umeda Exit of the Ikeda Route of the Hanshin Expressway system passes through this building.

The expressway is the tenant of these floors. The elevator doesn't stop on floor 5th-7th, floor 4 being followed by floor 8. These floors consist of elevators, stairways, machinery and other stuff. The highway passes through the building as a bridge, held up by supports next to the building making no contact with the building itself. The building has a double core construction, with a circular cross section and special care is taken by providing surrounded structure to the highway to protect the building from noise and vibration. Generally expressways are built underground, and passing through a building is an extremely rare occasion. It dates back to 1983, when the redevelopment of this area was decided upon, "building permits were refused because the highway was already being planned to be built over this land. The property rights' holders refused to give up, and negotiated with the Hanshin Expressway corporation for approximately 5 years to reach the current solution."

Your hands give away your hotness

2011-05-01T00:32:00.004+05:30

The ratio of length between a man's second and fourth fingers (2D:4D) is thought to be linked to the amount of testosterone he received in the womb. According to new research, it also shows something else: How attractive a man's face will be to women.

The research looked at the relationship between the 2D:4D ratio, how attractive women thought the face was, and other signs associated with attraction and testosterone production: body smell and voice.

Men with a lower 2D:4D ratio (shorter pointer and longer ring fingers) were thought by the subjects to be more attractive, have more "masculine" features, and have more symmetrical faces.

However, the men's smell and voices — both of which are linked to testosterone levels and attraction — didn't correlate with the ratio. Scientists say this implies that facial structure is influenced by the hormone during pregnancy, and voice and odor by testosterone levels later in life.

Which "gut type" do you have, and what does it say about you?

2011-04-30T00:29:00.007+05:30

We all have flourishing bacterial ecosystems in our intestines filled with thousands of microbes. But these gut ecosystems only come in three types. And the type you have may influence the kind of life you lead.

Bacteria are a crucial part of human digestion. Hundreds of billions of them live in our stomachs and intestines, many helping us digest food. With the many different kinds of bacteria, and the many different types and habits of people, it would seem like each stomach and intestines would be unique - a less poetic metaphor for human individuality than a snowflake, but a more apt one. This, however, is not the case. We're far more uniform inside than we are outside. Human gut bacteria ecosystems fall into three different types: Bacteroides, Prevotella and Ruminococcus, each named for the bacteria that rules the roost.

Scientists believe that the reason for this conformity is that our guts can only configure themselves into a limited number of habitats for bacteria. In one habitat, one type of bacteria can dominate - in another, they are forced into a more niche group. Three different gut types is all that humanity can muster.

The ruling bacteria may influence our bodies, too. Gut types have been associated with different physical and medical conditions in people. A recent study found some bacteria process food more efficiently than others - this leaves more calories for their human hosts, and so they may have trouble losing weight. Another study found a correlation between certain bacterial strains and diabetes.

So do our stomachs create us or do we create them? Scientists aren't sure yet. All they've found is correlation - with no word on cause. They also don't know if people could change their gut ecosystems through diet, exercise, or medication.

The most disgusting flower in the world is about to bloom

2011-04-29T00:26:00.004+05:30

The amorphophallus titanum has perhaps the least charming nickname of any flower: it's known as the corpse flower because it smells like rotting flesh. And yet its latest bloom this weekend is expected to bring over 10,000 eager admirers.

It's a generally remarkable flower, standing well over six feet tall, and this particular one has been steadily growing more than two inches a day since it first emerged from the soil in March. Switzerland's Basel Botanical Gardens is the latest to bring the flower to bloom in captivity, the first time in 75 years the country has seen such a bloom. In fact, there have been just 134 recorded artificial blooms since the first one in 1889, making the corpse flower a relatively rare treat - if you can call the smell of rotting flesh a "treat" - for botany enthusiasts.

The species is native to the tropical rainforests of Sumatra, and any attempts to make the flower bloom in captivity require precise simulation of its natural humid climate. Even then, it's rare for the plant to grow and blossom, whether it's in the wild or in a greenhouse. Its corpse-like odor is thought to attract certain insects for pollination purposes.

The physics of bubble bath

2011-04-28T00:24:00.004+05:30

Why does soapy water bubble up in baths and dishwashers, while regular water stays flat? It's all connected to the foam in root beer.

Everyone knows that, when the bubble solution runs out, there's a quick fix. Just put a little dish soap in the jar, add a little soap, de-slime the wand so it doesn't fall out of a kid's chubby fingers, and start all over again. Although regular water is drinkable, only soapy water makes bubbles. But why? What is it about soap that makes the water suds-up? In fact, what makes water-based liquids bubble up in general?

The origin of soapy water's bubbling ability is the same as the origin as soap's cleaning ability. It's a surfactant. A surfactant is something that lowers the surface tension and cohesion of water - the properties of water that make one water molecule stick to another water molecule. These allow water molecules to interact more strongly with other molecules like dirt and grime - lifting them away when regular water won't do the job.

Regular water can form bubbles, or course, but only when a lot of air (or some other gas) is mixed into it harshly. Even then, these bubbles tend to only be half-bubbles, floating on the surface of the water. Any attempt to plump them up further generally results in the bubble breaking. This is because of the high surface tension of the water. The layer of water molecules need to pull together enough to keep the bubble of air trapped inside them from pushing free. If they pull together too much, though, they rip the bubble apart. Soap lowers the surface tension of water enough to let it relax around a bubble.

Soap isn't the only material to use surfactants. Some commercial root beers do, to make the root beer foamy enough to have a 'head' like regular beer. Note: The surfactant that root beer manufacturers uses probably isn't soap. Probably.

Obama Is Sending Predator Drones to Libya

2011-04-27T00:20:00.006+05:30

Robert Gates, the US Secretary of Defense, just said that Obama has authorized the use of of Predator Drones in Libya against Gaddafi's forces. In fact, the first mission of the Predator Drones in Libya had taken place earlier this week.

They've already used drones for gathering intelligence in Libya, but sending in Drones armed with Hellfire missiles would mark a significant growth in USA's contribution to the now NATO led effort in Libya. These unmanned predator drones pack a punch but more importantly mean that by sending these drones, USA is not sending its troops there. Hopefully, that won't change.

FDA Gives Robots Permission to Sew Hair On Your Scalp

2011-04-26T00:18:00.000+05:30

Balding sucks. But will you trust the machines to repair your scalp? The FDA does, which is why they approved this piece of robotery to perform hair transplants. It's name is ARTAS, and it lives in your dermatologist's office.

If you have straight hair that's brown or black and you want more if it, you can sit in ARTAS' lap, at which point it will massage your scalp (along with a few "dermal punches" thrown in for good measure). A year later, you'll have a scalp full of healthy hair, or so the story goes. But if we can't trust a robot to throw a damn baseball, should we trust them with our precious hair?

Mumbai surgeons perform knee surgery replacements using an iPod touch

2011-04-25T00:03:00.006+05:30

The newest winner in the "there's an app for that" sweepstakes has to go to the DASH app and its supporting system. It's putting the iPod touch at the heart of a system that allows surgeons to make it easier to do hip and knee replacement surgery. This medical system, developed by Smith & Nephew along with Brainlab, has allowed doctors at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai to effectively perform three knee replacement surgeries.

The system comes in a rolling box with a precision camera and everything needed to take exact measurements and landmark registrations critical to such an operation. The iPod touch is slipped into a case and the software does the measuring and computing. Without this assistance, highly trained surgeons would have to "eyeball" measurements that the DASH does for them. This is said to reduce the learning curve and, at least in India, lessens the certification process for surgeons performing replacement procedures. Operating times are also reduced. This system is currently awaiting FDA approval in the US.

You can download the free DASH iOS app, which provides movies covering specific functions and operations of the DASH system, or watch the remarkable video on the next page that demonstrates the entire process.

French Skiers Parachute off Cliff to Avoid Avalanche

2011-04-24T00:11:00.004+05:30

TWO BIG CAVEATS HERE: This video is an advertisement for GoPro. It also might be a fake viral video, because 99.99% of everything on the internet is a fake viral video. With that in mind, this is still awesome. AVALANCHE!

This Stripper Broke Into Google Headquarters

2011-04-23T00:05:00.005+05:30

Strippers are people too! And just like people, some of them are batshit crazy. Take Vera Svechina

, a stripper who recently followed a blind Google employee into Google headquarters to leave a Russian book and "non-threatening" note for co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. A little weird, no? Turns out, Svechina has a bizarre history with Silicon Valley.

The Business Insider reported on how she allegedly stalked Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, so much and threatened his family that he had to file a restraining order. Her voicemails, emails and blog posts were filled with borderline insane behavior, such as:

Svechina allegedly says many bizarre things, including that Zynga was her Russian family's idea, that Google's cofounders killed her father, that Pincus's children are "ugly babies" and that "I wish them all the worst." She also goes after Steve Jobs.

Even nuttier? Back in May 2010, she went to the Mountain View Police Deparment to report Google of a crime. The crime? That Google was sending messages to her brain, ordering her to kill herself. Come on, Google is at least two to twenty years away from developing that sort of technology.

Bad jokes aside, hopefully Vera Svechina can find the professional help that she seems to need.

Kuch Bhi!

2011-04-22T02:14:00.001+05:30

Three-parent IVF needs more research, review says

2011-04-21T02:08:00.008+05:30

More research is needed into a controversial fertility treatment, known as three-parent IVF, before it can be considered safe for clinical use, a review has concluded.

Mitochondrial transfer aims to replace a faulty part of a mother's egg with healthy material from a donor.

This means a baby would have a small amount of the donor's genetic material, and therefore three biological parents.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) carried out the study.

The HFEA is the UK's independent fertility treatment regulator and its conclusions are published in a scientific review of the technique commissioned by the Department for Health.

Inherited disorders
The proposed treatment is designed to help families with rare inherited disorders.

These disorders are due to faulty energy-generating components of cells called mitochondria. Mothers carrying these faulty mitochondria in their eggs are at risk of having children with the inherited disorder.

Under the transfer treatment, the idea is to replace the faulty mitochondria in the eggs or fertilised embryos with those from eggs or early embryos from a healthy, unaffected donor.

The hope is these methods will enable couples to have healthy children and eliminate the disease for subsequent generations, but the technique is controversial because mitochondria carry their own genetic material (DNA).

Although this is very small and only carries a few genes, the resulting child will have this genetic material from the donor, in addition to the majority of maternally- and paternally-inherited genes present, in the nucleus of the cell.

The scientific review has concluded the two main ways of carrying out mitochondrial transplants appear safe, but a little more research is needed before it can be tried out on people.

Legislation call
Medical charities and research organisations are to press the government to prepare the legislation that would make this procedure legal so the technique can be used in the clinic as soon as it gets the go-ahead from the research community.

Dr Evan Harris, who campaigns for medical research, said: "Without regulations making clinical work legal, it will be difficult to ensure the laboratory research is funded and done in this country and that trials on affected families can be planned.

"Until the government makes clinical research and eventual treatment legal, subject to strict regulation on safety, this country risks losing its world-leading status."

Dr Harris argued for the legalisation of mitochondrial transplantation during the passage of the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act when he was science spokesman for the Liberal Democrats.

He has now called on the government to provide a timetable for consultation and the publication of the regulations.

The report, called scientific review of the safety and efficacy of methods to avoid mitochondrial disease through assisted conception, examines three approaches to treating mitochondrial disorders.

The first, which is permitted under current regulations, is known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD.

This involves testing very early stage embryos from the affected couple and implanting only those that seem unaffected by the genetic disorder.

The report authors concluded the technique was unreliable for some disorders and could not guarantee the resulting child would be healthy.

Pro-life groups
The two other techniques are not permitted and would require a change in legislation for its use in the clinic.

Research on human embryonic material however is permitted, provided it is not implanted into a woman's womb.

One technique, known as maternal spindle transfer, involves transplanting the nuclear genetic material (in the form of chromosomes) from an unfertilised egg carrying the abnormal mitochondria obtained from the "patient" (the mother) into an empty donor egg, which is then fertilised.

The other, known as pro-nuclear transfer, involves transplanting the genetic material from a fertilised egg from the patient into a healthy "empty" fertilised egg from a donor, which has had its nuclear genetic material removed.

Some pro-life groups object more to this technique as it involves the creation and destruction of embryos.

Experiments with monkeys and work with embryonic material show promise.

But the HFEA's scientific review says more work needs to be carried out to show that embryos produced by either technique will develop normally.

The report authors also want research that compares the effectiveness of each technique before clinical trials are given the go-ahead.

By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News

Incredible India by Rajiv Dixit

2011-04-20T06:06:00.002+05:30

Ferrari Quiz

2011-04-19T06:00:00.011+05:30

A question that is often asked of someone with a new car is
"what will it do?"

The answer is usually something like "zero to 60 in 5.3 seconds," or something along those lines.

Well, here's the brand new 2011 Ferrari "458 Italia"

First, here's what it looks like:

And here is what it can do...

Pig & Pork Facts - A Christian Viewpoint

2011-04-18T03:12:00.019+05:30

The pig or swine is a very popular food item with most Christians. Yet Christians are unaware that the God they profess to believe in had condemned the eating of swine's flesh. The condemnation was based on some very sound biological principles. Here are some facts on pork that prove it to be a very unhealthy food to eat:
A pig is a real garbage gut. It will eat anything including urine, excrement, dirt, decaying animal flesh, maggots, or decaying vegetables. They will even eat the cancerous growths off other pigs or animals.

The meat and fat of a pig absorbs toxins like a sponge. Their meat can be 30 times more toxic than beef or venison.
When eating beef or venison, it takes 8 to 9 hours to digest the meat so what little toxins are in the meat are slowly put into our system and can be filtered by the liver. But when pork is eaten, it takes only 4 hours to digest the meat. We thus get a much higher level of toxins within a shorter time.

Unlike other mammals, a pig does not sweat or perspire. Perspiration is a means by which toxins are removed from the body. Since a pig does not sweat, the toxins remain within its body and in the meat.
Pigs and swine are so poisonous that you can hardly kill them with strychnine or other poisons.
Farmers will often pen up pigs within a rattlesnake nest because the pigs will eat the snakes, and if bitten they will not be harmed by the venom.
When a pig is butchered, worms and insects take to its flesh sooner and faster than to other animal's flesh. In a few days the swine flesh is full of worms.
Swine and pigs have over a dozen parasites within them, such as tapeworms, flukes, worms, and trichinae. There is no safe temperature at which pork can be cooked to ensure that all these parasites, their cysts,and eggs will be killed.
Pig meat has twice as much fat as beef. A 3 oz T bone steak contains 8.5 grams of fat; a 3 oz pork chop contains 18 grams of fat. A 3 oz beef rib has 11.1 grams of fat; a 3 oz pork spare rib has 23.2 grams of fat.

Cows have a complex digestive system, having four stomachs. It thus takes over 24 hours to digest their vegetarian diet causing its food to be purified of toxins. In contrast, the swine's one stomach takes only about 4 hours to digest its foul diet, turning its toxic food into flesh.
The swine carries about 30 diseases which can be easily passed to humans. This is why God commanded that we are not even to touch their carcase (Leviticus 11:8).

The trichinae worm of the swine is microscopically small, and once ingested can lodge itself in our intestines, muscles, spinal cord or the brain. This results in the disease trichinosis. The symptoms are sometimes lacking, but when present they are mistaken for other diseases, such as typhoid, arthritis, rheumatism, gastritis, MS, meningitis, gall bladder trouble, or acute alcoholism.

The pig is so poisonous and filthy, that nature had to prepare him a sewer line or canal running down each leg with an outlet in the bottom of the foot. Out of this hole oozes pus and filth his body cannot pass into its system fast enough. Some of this pus gets into the meat of the pig.
There are other reasons grounded in biological facts that could be listed to show why pigs and swine should not be eaten. But a true Christian should only need one reason why not to eat this type of food because God prohibited it.
"And the swine, because it divides the hoof, yet does not chew the cud, it is unclean unto you: you shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase." - Leviticus 11:7,8; Deuteronomy 14:8
Those who say Christ abolished the law condemning pork are motivated by their stomach not scripture. The problems with pork are biological, and Christ never changed the laws of biology.

Emperor Sukhoi

2011-04-17T07:51:00.010+05:30

This is like ballet in the air….takes about 3 minutes to watch….

The red smoke coming from the wingtips is only there to demonstrate to spectators on the ground the direction the plane is actually moving through the air. Normally the smoke wouldn't be there. When the smoke is streaming behind, the airplane is moving fast forward etc. When the airplane is engulfed in smoke, it means the airplane is almost stopped in mid-air. The maneuverability of this plane is incredible. This plane would be nearly impossible to defeat in a dogfight.

Russia may now have the #1 fighter plane in the world ...SU-30-Vectored Thrust with Canards. As you watch this airplane, look at the canards moving along side of, and just below the canopy rail. The "canards" are the small wings forward of the main wings. The smoke and contrails provide a sense of the actual flight path, sometimes in reverse direction. This video is of an in-flight demonstration flown by the Russian's-30MK fighter aircraft.

The fighter can stall from high speed, stopping forward motion in seconds(full stall).

Then it demonstrates an ability to descend tail first without causing a compressor stall. It can also recover from a flat spin in less than a minute. These maneuver capabilities don't exist in any other aircraft in the world today.

Take a look at the video with the sound up. This aircraft is of concern to U.S. And the NATO planners. We don't know which nations will soon be flying the SU-30MK, hopefully China isn't one of them.

King Sukhoi by drallah
Friends worked with advanced aircraft flight control systems and concepts for many years as an extension of stability control and means of control. Canards and vectored thrust were among many concepts examined to extend our fighter aircraft performance. Neither our current or next generation aircraft now poised for funding & production can in any way match the performance of this Russian aircraft.

Somehow the bankrupt Russian aircraft industry has out produced our complex politically tainted aerospace industry with this technology marvel.Scratch any ideas of close in air-to-air combat with this aircraft in the future.

Incredible India

2011-04-16T01:00:00.005+05:30

Are we heading towards a Christian India ?

2011-04-15T00:38:00.000+05:30

I am a westerner and a born Christian. I was mainly brought up in catholic schools, my uncle, Father Guy Gautier, a gem of a man, was the parish head of the beautiful Saint Jean de Montmartre church in Paris; my father,Jacques Gautier, a famous artist in France, and a truly good person if there ever was one, was a fervent catholic all his life, went to church nearly
every day and lived by his Christian values. There are certain concepts in Christianity I am proud of : charity for others, the equality of system in many western countries, Christ’s message of love and compassion….

Yet, I am a little uneasy when I see how much Christianity is taking over India under the reign of Sonia Gandhi : according to a 2001 census, there are about 2.34 million Christians in India ; not even 2,5% of the nation, a negligible amount.Yet there are today five Christian chief ministers in Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

One should add that the majority of politicians in Sonia Gandhi’s closed circle are either Christians or Muslims. She seems to have no confidence in Hindus.Ambika Soni, a Christian, is General Secretary of the Congress and a very powerful person, with close access to Sonia Gandhi. Oscar Fernandes is Union Programme Implementation Minister. Margaret Alwa is the eminence grise
of Maharasthra. Karnataka is virtually controlled by AK Anthony, whose secretaries are all from the Southern Christian association. Valson Thampu,a Hindu hater, is Chairman NCERT curriculum Review Committee, John Dayal,another known Hindu baiter, has been named by Sonia Gandhi in the National Integration Council; and Kancha Ilaya, who hates Hindus, is being allowed by the Indian Government to lobby with the UN and US Congress so that caste discrimination in India is taken-up by these bodies. **( One can also add to list Ajit jogi, and Digvijay Singh both christian converts & also Pranoy Roy, his niece Arundhati 'Suzanna' Roy ).

I have nothing personnally against Sonia Gandhi, in fact she probably is a good person to win the alliegance of so many and certainly a loving mother.I share with her a love for India, like her I have lived in this country for over 30 years and like her I have married an Indian. But nevertheless, since she is at the top, Christian conversions in India seem to have gone in
overdrive. More than 4,000 foreign Christian missionaries are involved in conversion activities across different states.

In Tripura, there were Christians at independence, there are 120.000 today, a 90% increase since 1991.The figures are even more striking in Arunachal Pradesh, where there were only 1710 Christians in 1961, but 1,2 million today, as well as 780 churches! In Andhra Pradesh, churches are coming-up every day in far flung villages and there was even an attempt to set-up one near Tirupati. Many of the North-East separatist movements, such as the Mizo or the Bodos, are not
only Christian dominated, but also sometimes function with the covert backing of the missionaries. In Kerala, particularly in the poor coastal districts, you find “miracle boxes” put in local churches: the gullible villager writes out a paper mentionning his wish: a fishing boat, a loan for a pukka house, fees for the son’s schooling… And lo, a few weeks later, the
miracle happens ! And of course the whole family converts, making others in the village follow suit. During the Tsunami, entire dalit villages in Tamil Nadu were converted to Christianity with the lure of money.

It is true that there have been a few backlashes against missionnaries and nuns, particularly the gruesome muder of Staines and his two sons. But Belgium historian Konenraad Elst laments that « When over a thousand Hindus are killed and a quarter million Hindus ethnically cleansed in Kashmir, the world media doesn't even notice, but watch the worldwide hue and cry when a
few local riots take place and a few missionaries are killed by unidentified tribal miscreants. Christian Naga terrorists have been killing non-Christians for decades on end, and this has never been an issue with the world media, except to bewail the "oppression" of the Nagas by "Hindu India". More than 20,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam and
Manipur in the past two decades. As recently as last week, four paramilitary Assam Rifles soldiers were killed in an ambush yesterday by the outlawed United National Liberation Front (UNLF).

The other day I was at the Madras Medical center, the foremost heart hospital in Madras. Right when you enter the lobby, you find a chapel,inviting everybody to pray, there are pictures and quotations of Christ everywhere and a priest visits all the patients, without being invited at
all. Educational institutes and orphanages run by Christian organisations have become big business in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and other states. In Pondichery, where I am often, schools run by Adventists force their pupils,mostly Hindus, to say Christian prayers every day and attend mass. They are constantly fed anti Hindu slogans and biases under different forms, whether it is in history books, or discourses by priests during religious classes.Even in the elite schools or colleges, such as Saint Stephen in Delhi, Saint Xavier in Calcutta or Loyola college in Madras, where no direct proletization is attempted, Hindu pupils are subtly encouraged towards skepticism of their own religion, and admiration of whatever is Western. One
should also say that it’s a one way traffic : remember the furor when MM Joshi wanted the Saraswati hymn to be sung at a Chief Ministers’ meet on education ? And imagine the uproar in secular India if portions of the Bhagavad Gita, this Bible for all humanity, were read at the beginning of the day in public schools ?

Sonia Gandhi said during the last National Integration Council meeting : « We are committed to ideological battle against communal forces which seek to destroy our diversity and polarise us. Certain parties promote polarization and confrontation. And there are certain regimes in India which promote communalism ». But is not actually the Congress under Mrs Gandhi, which is promoting communalism, by insidiously installing Christians and Muslims (and Marxists) everywhere, propping up Christian states, allowing a free hand too missionaries and pressing for reservations for Christian Dalits and Muslims, as recently done in AP, in a nation of 850 million Hindus ?

In my country, France, a Christian majority nation , it would be unthinkable to have Hindus – or even Indian born French for that matter – in so many positions of power. Impossible also to find a non-elected, non French,non-Christian person being the absolute ruler of the country behind the scene as Sonia Gandhi is in India. Indians like to say that the greatness of India is that it accepts a foreigner and a Christian like Sonia Gandhi. But is’nt it rather a weakness, and an aberration ? Can’t we find a worthy leader amongst one billion Indians ? This is an India where you see today Swami Avimukteshwarananda Saraswati of Dwarka Peeth, made to disembark from
an Indian Airlines flight for carrying his holy dand, a thin bamboo stick which is a symbol of their spiritual designation, inside the aircraft cabin.

Are we heading then towards a Christian India under Sonia Gandhi’s helm? It would be a tremendous loss not only to India, but also to the world. For in India, you find the only living spirituality left on this planet.

by - Francois Gautier

SPINE ( A - Z )

2011-04-14T01:45:00.000+05:30

Lady Gaga Desifies 'Born This Way'

2011-04-13T10:57:00.008+05:30

Not too long ago she talked to Bollywood babe Priyanka Chopra about her desires to visit India. Now pop princess Lady Gaga has gone Desi by teaming up with Desi Hits! and famous Bollywood music composers Salim-Sulaiman. Today Lady Gaga released a Bollywood-inspired remix of her hit single "Born This Way," produced by Salim and Sulaiman. Leaving no Desi behind, Lady Gaga has also released an urban Desi version of the #1 selling track, targeting the UK South Asian (Desi) market. Created and produced by Culture Shock, this version of "Born This Way" fuses Bhangra with elements of Dub step and features both Lomaticc and Sunny Brown's vocals. Last year Culture Shock produced Urban Desi remixes for Rihanna and Sean Paul.

Lady Gaga's manger, Troy Carter, tells DH!, "We collaborated with Indian music producers from across the globe to show our respect and appreciation for our Desi fans and the music community. We're looking forward to more Desi collaborations in the near future." Salim and Sulaiman made a name for themselves by producing hit tracks for films such as Fashion and Rab ni Bana Di Jodi.
Sulaiman says of this remix, "When we started working on "Born This Way" there was a feeling of excitement and a bit of nervousness. This was the no. 1 track in 23 countries and to remix it and give it an Indian touch was something that we were very conscious about. The sitar was the instrument of choice for us when it came to creating a melodic riff. Of course there was the dholak and the dhol that always create the atmosphere of party and euphoria, but what really rocked it all was Salim's voice to add that Indian flavor."

The Culture Shock Trio reveals that this was no easy task. Lomaticc says that he thought to himself, "how do we strip down a global smash to its bare properties and rebuild it Culture Shock style?" Sunny Brown, whose job in the group was to give it a Punjabi flavor, says of the remix, "the song when you listen to it is epic! Very gospel! Bigger than life, how do I incorporate the Punjabi flavor to a choir song?"
It all obviously worked out and Baba Kahn from Culture Shock says, "in the end we decided to stay true to our fans. True to our sound and hope for the best. We're giving you a Culture Shock track that pushed us beyond our limits and hopefully took our fans on a different journey." This is the first step Lady Gaga has taken to break into the Indian market, and what a hot way to do it!

Tavleen Singh's views on Anna Hazare's fast

2011-04-12T08:53:00.003+05:30

Hysteria will not end corruption
Tavleen Singh

As I have watched mass hysteria build up over Anna Hazare’s fast, there have been moments when I felt that his supporters had forgotten that India is a democratic country. I have long believed that the most apolitical Indians are those who belong to the English speaking, tweeting, texting middle classes but I had no idea just how apolitical they were till last week. Without reading the Jan Lokpal bill that Anna Hazare is trying to ram down our throats, actors, writers, social activists, television anchors and sundry other supposedly educated Indians leapt on to Anna’s bandwagon.Some seemed to have been inspired by the recent revolution in the Middle East. They babbled on about text messages and social media sites having brought about a ‘people’s movement’ without noticing that in India the people have the right to vote. Every five years they choose who they want to represent them in the Lok Sabha and in their state assemblies. It is the job of these legislatures to make laws for the country. It is not the job of sanctimonious activists.

If they had bothered to read the draft that Hazare’s Leftist advisors have drawn up, they would have noticed that its worst flaw is that it is anti-democratic in the most frightening way. It is not an ombudsman that it seeks to create but a despot with the powers to investigate, judge and punish anyone he suspects of corrupt practices. So if some NGO type of Leftist persuasion were to decide that his local MP was spending his constituency allowance on a project that did not benefit ‘the masses’, he (or she) could complain to his local Lokayukta and organise a raid on the MP’s property and order his arrest if he decides that public funds are being misused. It is not just officials but private citizens who will be under the Lokpal’s purview.

This is the way of totalitarian countries like China. It is not India’s way but you would not know it if you had been watching our news channels last week. One famous TV anchor became a sort of Lokpal himself by haranguing a Congress Party spokesman on behalf of ‘the people of India.’
Meanwhile, hunger pangs appear to have caused Anna Hazare to suffer hallucinations of becoming India’s next Mahatma, so he has ordered a ‘jail bharo andolan’ as if we were still fighting the British. And, his coterie of Lefty advisors are using their fifteen minutes of fame to rant against the liberal economic policies that have brought the only prosperity that India has seen since 1947. Without it there would be no tweeting, texting middle class.
In the process we seem to have all forgotten that it is not the economic reforms that have created India’s vast and wondrous infrastructure of corruption. This was built in those times when the ‘commanding heights’ of the economy were inflexibly in the grip of high officials and mighty ministers. With the rise of the private sector in the past twenty years, politicians have turned their greedy eyes upon the possibilities of bigger takings and to this end ensure that their progeny succeed them to take care of the family business. If we want corruption to end, we could begin by banning hereditary MPs and making it compulsory for political parties to have regular elections. We could also ban political parties who cannot account for their donations. Political parties are richer today than ever because they have become leeches on the back of the private sector.

Nearly all corruption in India is related to government. If big businessmen pay for every contract they get, pavement shopkeepers pay for the right to earn their meagre living. I have never met an Indian who has not been forced to bribe an official at some time or other. This is why there is so much understandable anger against corruption but anyone who thinks a despotic Lokpal is the solution is deluded, naïve or an NGO.

Speaking of which, I found it most annoying last week to listen to NGOs behave as if they were the incorruptible, rightful spokesmen for ‘civil society’. In my time, I have met as many corrupt NGOs as I have met corrupt officials and they are accountable to nobody. Many receive funds from mysterious foreign sources that they would have to declare if they stood for elections. Is that why fasting in Jantar Mantar is the preferred option? If NGO types want to make laws, let them get elected to the Lok Sabha or else go back to activities that are genuinely non-governmental. Making laws is the right of governments, no matter how ineffective or corrupt these governments may be. This appears to have been forgotten in the mass hysterics of last week. It is time to remember.

Give a man a wire and see him light up your life!

2011-04-11T06:02:00.005+05:30

This Star Trek-Style Scanner Tells If You’re Healthy Or Not

2011-04-10T14:04:00.002+05:30

I never thought I would live to see something like this: A hand held scanner that can detect if a patient is healthy or not just by pointing it at the skin. It seems out of Star Trek, but it is real and it works today.

The scanner has been developed over a five-year period by a group lead by professor Jürgen Lademann of the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergy of the Charité-University Medicine in Berlin (and sponsored by the German's Federal Ministry for Education and Research). Right now, it is being tested in Germany using a group of 19-year-old students.

How does it work?
The device—which will have a $280 price tag in Europe—is very simple: Point it at the skin, wait three minutes, and it will tell you how healthy you are in a scale from one (worst) to ten (optimal). The machine produces a light beam that reflects on the skin, analyzes the wavelengths reflected, and processes that information to figure out the anti-oxidants level in the skin. Before this Star Trek-style scanner, doctors needed to get tissue samples and process them in a laboratory to get the same kind of readings.

According to the researchers, the anti-oxidant level in your skin is a good indicator of your overall body health, since it is affected by stress, smoking, alcohol drinking, unhealthy food, lack of sleep and UV radiation. During trial, they were able to detect changes in diet and smoking habits.

The scanner is not designed to detect specific diseases, just your overall health level. It will work for any kind of patients—like cancer patients under treatment, to check out the negative impact of chemotherapy—but the German Government is hoping that it will help people who are not sick to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Lademan thinks that, by allowing people to measure their health level in a comprehensive way, they will be able to modify their habits and immediately see the results. It sounds like a video game, but according to the ongoing tests, it's working among the students. I would use one, but then again, I'm not going to change my decadent lifestyle, so I prefer to live—and die—in ignorance but happy.

The Story of the Lonely Whale Will Break Your Heart

2011-04-09T01:59:00.004+05:30

Once upon a time, there was a whale called June. Or maybe her name is Margaret. Or Kate. We don't really know. A few nitrogen-hearted scientists call her 52 Hertz just because she sings at a 51.75Hz frequency, but I will call her Alice.

Alice isn't like any other baleen whale. Unlike all whales, Alice doesn't have friends. She doesn't have a family. She doesn't belong to any tribe, pack or gang. She doesn't have a lover. She never had one.

In the immense solitude of the ocean, Alice is completely alone.

The only thing Alice does is sing. Like other whales, she has been singing for a very long time. The first time we heard her song was in 1989, when the hydrophone network of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded her voice for the first time. The researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have been tracking her using these hydrophones for the last two decades.

Her songs—in this recording accelerated by a factor of five—come in groups of two to six calls, lasting for five to six seconds each. But her voice is unlike any other baleen whale. It is unique—while the rest of her kind communicate between 12 and 25Hz, Alice sings at 51.75Hz.

You see, my dear humans, that's precisely Alice's problem. No other whales can hear her. Every one of her desperate calls to communicate remains unanswered. Each cry ignored. And with every lonely song, Alice becomes sadder and more frustrated, her notes going deeper in despair as the years go by.

Nobody knows why this is happening. Nobody knows why Alice is going through the wrong paths instead of following the usual baleen whale's migratory channels. Some think that she might be a weird hybrid, one of a kind. Maybe she—or he, as we don't really know the whale's sex—is the last member of her species. Perhaps there was a mutation. Who knows. Who cares—the explanation doesn't matter.

Whatever the reason is, the sad fact is that there's no happy ending to this tale. Alice keeps roaming the big blue, eating krill, seeing other creatures around her but unable to communicate with any of them. And one day, the NOAA hydrophones will record Alice's unique voice one last time. And again, that farewell cry will get no reply. But it will not matter this time because, at last, Alice would be sad no more.

Bizarre Sex Laws From Around the World!

2011-04-08T10:26:00.000+05:30

The Incredible Story of a Dog Named Wall-E Who Resurrected Himself After Being Put Down

2011-04-07T12:08:00.005+05:30

That cute little dog, now named Wall-E, isn't supposed to be alive. He (along with the rest of his littermates) was abandoned in front of a shelter and since the shelter didn't have any room to care for him, was put to sleep.

Wall-E was euthanized twice, with lethal injections to both his heart and limbs, and was pronounced dead after a stethoscope test. They discarded Wall-E and the other dogs in a trash dumpster and moved on.

But! The story doesn't end there. Amazingly, the next day Wall-E wasn't dead. He was somehow resurrected, alive and kicking. Hell, he was healthy as can be, walking around inside the dumpster (his littermates all died) and just doing dog things. An angel dog they called him. A survivor, a fighter and a medical miracle.

Did Dr. Richard B. Hoover Just Discover Alien Life?

2011-04-06T12:04:00.010+05:30

So the methane organisms discovered in that hostile little lake in California weren't such a big deal after all. No harm, no foul—they were at the very least interesting. Interesting, but nothing like this: Dr. Richard Hoover, as astrobiologist with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, claims he's found alien life.

Real alien life. Not weird Earthbound extremophiles or hints of the building blocks of life that are really just errant specks of dust on the lens of a telescope. Life, and not of this Earth.

If Dr. Hoover's paper detailing the find holds up to scrutiny, we can finally, truly say it: We are not alone.

In fact, if Dr. Hoover's paper holds up to the incredibly thorough peer review currently taking place around it, life may in fact be pretty boring and downright common in the grand scheme of the universe.

So what, exactly, did Dr. Hoover find? It's pretty mind-blowing, actually: Contained within nine extremely rare meteorites called CI1 carbonaceous chondrites he discovered what he believes are the fossils of common bacteria that's both similar and nothing like what exists on our planet. In addition to being extremely rare, these meteorites are also some of the oldest in our solar system.

"The exciting thing is that they are in many cases recognizable and can be associated very closely with the generic species here on earth," said Hoover in an interview with Yahoo News. Some of the fossils, however, are quite odd. "There are some that are just very strange and don't look like anything that I've been able to identify, and I've shown them to many other experts that have also come up stump."

More specifically, Hoover claims to have discovered traces of filaments and remnants of algae-like organisms called cyanobacteria. Another find was similar to a bacterium called Titanospirillum velox. They were very Earth-like and unremarkable save for one important difference: They lacked nitrogen.

This caveat is important, as the lack of nitrogen indicates the samples are "the remains of extraterrestrial life forms that grew on the parent bodies of the meteorites when liquid water was present, long before the meteorites entered the Earth's atmosphere," he said.

Hoover is being incredibly open about his paper. As stated above, peer scrutiny has already begun, to the tune of 100 experts who have started dissecting his work in advance of its official publication. A broader, more general invitation was issued to a further 5,000 scientists as well, making this one of the most vetted scientific papers ever. This vetting is a good thing, as Hoover has made claims like this before with other meteorites that ultimately did not pan out.

Should the paper hold up, however, the game is well and truly changed. We are not just "not alone," we are common.

Update: Counterclaims calling the journal a joke and the science suspect have already begun.

Update 2: Bad Astronomy, a blog I read often due to its insightful author and spot-on commentary, debunks this news even more. Sigh.

The Devastating Health Impacts of a Nuclear Crisis

2011-04-05T11:59:00.006+05:30

The Japanese authorities have announced that radiation levels surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are increasing to potentially harmful levels. New Scientist investigates the health risks associated with nuclear power plant explosions.

How do nuclear accidents impact health?

Apart from the damage caused by fires and explosions, accidents also release radioactive materials which can cause radiation sickness. Radiation exposure above a certain threshold, usually only received by workers and emergency teams in a stricken plant, causes acute radiation syndrome within hours of exposure. Depending on the dose of radiation this ranges from skin rashes, vomiting and diarrhoea, to coma and death.

Radiation damages DNA, especially as it assembles in dividing cells. That means tissues which contain many dividing cells, such as the gut lining, skin and bone marrow, are most at risk of damage. High enough doses also damage brain cells and such doses are invariably fatal.

Less severe damage can be treated, however. Gut damage disturbs fluid balance and can lead to blood infection; marrow damage means no blood cells are produced for clotting and fighting infection. If those problems can be managed, people can be kept alive long enough for gut and marrow to regenerate. A cloned human hormone that boosts white blood cell production sometimes helps; there is little else.

Fears of nuclear terrorism have recently inspired more funding for research into new treatments, most aiming to limit cell death in damaged tissues.

What radioactive elements are being released at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant?

As nuclear cores melt down, reacting nuclear fuel creates many different radioactive elements, all with different toxic effects. Results from previous accidents at nuclear power plants suggest that inert gases such as xenon and krypton are likely to be released, together with iodine-131, two isotopes of caesium, and possibly strontium, tellurium and rubidium.

What effect do these elements have on the body?

Exposure to any radioactive material is bad: the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission assumes that exposure to anything higher than normal background levels increases health risks.

Xenon and krypton are not retained by the body so they have little effect.

Iodine-131 and caesium are more damaging, however. Iodine is actively taken up by the thyroid gland to make hormones. If iodine-131, which emits beta particles, is taken up, this can damage DNA and cause thyroid cancer.

Following the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion in Ukraine in 1986, more than 6000 people developed thyroid cancer, probably after drinking contaminated milk as children, according to an investigation by the UN released in February. For unknown reasons iodine-131 does not seem to affect adults.

These cancers can be prevented if children are given pills containing the non-radioactive isotope of iodine soon after exposure. These saturate the thyroid with safe iodine and stop it taking up the radioactive kind. Most children did not get these pills after Chernobyl. They are now being distributed in Japan.

Vast amounts of caesium-137 were distributed across 40 per cent of Europe's surface after Chernobyl. Environmental levels remain elevated in wildlife, with restrictions still in place on eating some sheep farmed in the UK, and game and mushrooms from elsewhere. However, exposure to environmental caesium-137 from Chernobyl has never been linked conclusively to any direct health effects in people, although researchers are divided over whether there is no effect, or just not enough data to say.

How do the nuclear reactor explosions happening in Japan compare to previous nuclear disasters?

The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986. However, so far it seems more likely to resemble the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident in Pennsylvania in 1979 which, like Fukushima, lost coolant and had a partial meltdown.

So far, the release of radioactivity at Fukushima appears to be closer to what happened at TMI than at Chernobyl. The huge plume of smoke from Chernobyl spread radiation over most of Europe and forced evacuation within a 30-kilometre radius. The gases that escaped TMI, in contrast, might have travelled as far as New York state, but most stayed within 15 kilometres of the plant.

US authorities have found little evidence of any health damage after TMI. But Joseph Mangano of the Radiation and Public Health Project, a pressure group, claims that deaths from disease have been 26 to 54 per cent higher among young people who were fetuses or babies living downwind of the accident than among local but less exposed people.

He blames the absence of a solid conclusion on poor data on where radionuclides went, and who was exposed to how much. The same arguments will dog Fukushima, unless the data collection is better this time.

Now This Is How You Retrieve Two Massive Solid Rocket Boosters from the Ocean!

2011-04-04T11:57:00.007+05:30

I still can't believe this is the first up-close, 480p video of NASA retrieving the space shuttle's two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) from the Atlantic Ocean, and yet it is! The SRBs are, in a word, massive. And they float!

Obviously, right? How else would NASA retrieve these two huge towers of propulsion from the ocean once the space shuttle no longer needs them to achieve orbit around the Earth?

Once the boosters are retrieved by the two teams (Liberty Star and Freedom Star) and a gaggle of divers, they are sent to Utah to be refurbished and stored.

This particular pick-up followed the final launch of Discovery on February 24. Listen for the loud "plunk-plunk" when the second boat gets set to begin the retrieval process.

Qatar Will Use $500,000 Artificial Clouds for the World Cup

2011-04-03T11:50:00.006+05:30

When I heard that World Cup 2022 was going to be in Qatar, I was confused like everyone else. Isn't it deathly hot over there? But they've got a solution: to make artificial clouds (something Bill Gates has wanted to do) to cool down the temperature.

Apparently, the artificial clouds, developed by scientists at Qatar University, are made from a "lightweight carbon structure carrying a giant envelope of material containing helium gas." There are four solar-powered engines that will move the "cloud" (via remote control) to block the sun and make the temperature playable. This is cool! But this will also happen in 2022, a whole 11 years from now where we'll likely be using an iPhone 16 (which hopefully by then, will have its own artificial cloud) and seeing a dominant US soccer team win the damn thing. One or the other, at least.

Why Are Millions of Spiders Invading Thousands of Trees and Why Is It Good News?

2011-04-02T11:48:00.004+05:30

These huge trees are fully covered with thousands of spiderwebs, something never before seen in Sindh, Pakistan, where this photo was taken. Yes, it's a eewrifying image, but it has had a surprisingly positive effect on the population of this heavily punished part of the world. How, you scream?

These spiders usually crawl on the ground but, when the massive July 2010 floods took over one fifth of the 307,374 square miles of Pakistani land, they escaped to the trees. The water is taking a long time to recede, so they thought it may be a good idea to adapt to the situation, establish camp and have a big party up there. The results is thousands of cocooned trees all around.

Gross? It is. But the United Kingdom's Department for International Development thinks that the massive spiderwebs are a blessing and the eight-legged furry beasties are Bill Gates' new best friends. It seems that these giant sticky pompoms are capturing mosquitoes by the truckload. According to the people in these areas, the mosquito levels are extremely low for this time of the year. Even more so taking into account the vast amount of stagnant water, which acts as a nursery for those bloody winged buggers. As a result, the risk of a malaria plague is a lot lower than what everyone was expecting.

In other words: Thank you, spiders! P.S. If I see any of you around my house, however, I'll smash you faster than Doctor Octopus.

Degradable Nanoparticles Bludgeon Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

2011-04-01T11:45:00.006+05:30

MRSA Cells With and Without Nanoparticles MRSA bacteria before, left, and after, right, incubation with a new biodegradable polymer nanoparticle. Cell destruction is clearly visible. The bottom two images are magniﬁed with respect to the top images.

A new breed of biodegradable nanoparticles can glom on to drug-resistant bacteria, breaching their cell walls and leaking out their contents, selectively killing them. The polymer particles could someday be used in anything from injectable treatments for drug-resistant bacteria, to new antibacterial soaps and deodorants, according to inventors at IBM. After their work is done, the particles break apart, flushing away with the invaders they destroyed.

The nanoparticles, which IBM says are relatively inexpensive, were effective against bugs that have been evolving to resist antibiotics, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Preliminary results suggest the particles could also be effective against yeast, fungus and small bacteria like E. coli, IBM says. Research on the new particles is reported in this week's issue of the journal Nature Chemistry.

Antibiotics kill microorganisms in various ways, including interfering with their DNA or interacting with their ability to rebuild their cell walls, explains James Hedrick, advanced organic materials scientist and master inventor at IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif. But some of the bugs survive the onslaught, leading to new generations of bacteria that won't succumb to the drugs.

A new class of positively charged plastic micro-machines, including IBM's nanoparticles, take a somewhat more physical approach.

"These are designed to slice the cell membrane, to rip the membrane up and eliminate the contents," Hedrick said. "It's kind of like the way a virus would work - a virus drills a pore, empties the contents and hijacks it. This is drilling in little holes, and all the contents leak out."

Transmission electron micrographs show it works: As the images show, the cell walls have been ruptured and everything inside is gone. The best part is that bacteria cannot evolve resistance because it's a physical attack, not a chemical one.

These particles are special because they self-assemble in water and are biodegradable, unlike other nanoparticle treatments. They're made of amphiphilic polycarbonate material, meaning some of the particles are water-loving and some are water-phobic. When exposed to fluids - like serum or blood - the polycarbonate self-assembles into clumps about 200 nanometers in size. Another part of the clump is positively charged, designed to match the negatively charged surface of microbes, Hedrick said.

Cell walls are dynamic barriers, constantly morphing and changing as they divide. When something binds to their surface, the walls' synthesis is interrupted. Penicillin, for instance, binds to an enzyme that helps build the walls. Hedrick and collaborators at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore say the charged particles interact with the cell walls to destabilize them.

"These particles are cationic (positively charged), so they are attracted to the microbial membrane surface, and it begins to disrupt that dynamic assembly process of the membrane," Hedrick said.

The authors also report that the particles can be used at relatively low concentrations. Hedrick said they're not sure what makes the particles so effective, but it's probably because they can each kill multiple cells, moving on to new targets after the membranes are so disfigured that static no longer binds the cells and nanoparticles together.

"A little of the polymer goes a long way," Hedrick said.

After a few days of this, enzymes start breaking apart the chains that hold the particles together, said Bob Allen, senior manager at IBM-Almaden's Advanced Materials Chemistry department.

"Think of the enzyme as a pair of scissors - it will go through and snip it. It's just a weak link that allows you to have a degradable system," he said.

The particles degrade to molecules of alcohol and carbon dioxide, which are removed just like anything else in the bloodstream.

IBM believes the particles could be a new way to treat drug-resistant bacteria, especially MRSA, which is frequently associated with hospital infections. The company says antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a fertile field for its polymer research labs - chemists do focus primarily on electronics, but chip-scale research translates well to research in health care, water purification, and energy, Allen said.

Hedrick and Allen cautioned that they're not clinicians and they don't know how the particles would be used. But they were optimistic about the possibilities.

"The applications are going to be very diverse, whether we're talking about wound healing or dressing, skin infection, and quite possibly injections into the bloodstream," Hedrick said. "But this is way early in the discovery process to be going there."

Resourceful Nebraskan Moron Sucks Change from Laundry Machines with Backpack Vacuum

2011-03-31T11:42:00.009+05:30

This is an odd convergence of ingenuity and idiocy: a man tried to clean out (tee hee) the coin coffers of an apartment laundry room with a backpack-mounted vacuum cleaner. He netted $20! And was then arrested.

The saddest part of this story? The local news report's claim that he "no longer has the vacuum." Well now he's just going to have to steal one of those too! Also noted is his prior criminal record, including the theft of "an artificial Christmas tree from the Salvation Army and 32 pallets from Super Saver." This man is clearly the Lex Luther of petty, strange, Midwestern crime. He even sort of looks like a supervillain.

Meal Snap Photographs Your Food and Automatically Estimates the Calories You Ate

2011-03-30T11:39:00.005+05:30

Meal Snap is a neat app that photographs your food, uploads the picture, and then replies with a calorie count in just a few seconds. And it works surprisingly well.
This seems like the sort of thing that wouldn't actually work, but it's surprisingly impressive. I took pictures of some leftover steamed veggies in my fridge and it gave me a pretty accurate calorie count. While I can't be sure, I'd imagine these counts are looked up by actual people as you get a faster response if you name your food rather than simply photograph it. That said, I took a picture of some brownies I made last night and, although Meal Snap's horde of calorie counters thought it was chocolate cake, the calorie count was pretty much spot on. It even gave me a calorie count for a bag of dog bones. It's fast, it works, and is excellent if you're trying to count calories but hate the tedious task of looking up every food you ate after every meal.

Meal Snap is available on the iTunes App Store, right now, for $3.

Nanoparticle Rubber Stamps Could Help Heal Wounds

2011-03-29T11:36:00.004+05:30

You know the UV-ink rubber stamps that night clubs like to stick on your skin? Well, a novel silver nanotech variant of the idea could actually help heal your skin wounds more quickly.

Silverware became popular centuries ago partly because it was a precious metal and thus a status symbol, but also because the health qualities of silver have been known since Roman times. Back then wealthy folks even gave their kids a silver spoon to suck on to ward-off the plague (hence the saying). Modern science understands how silver has anti-bacterial qualities, but the trick in delivering silver accurately into a wound nowadays is getting the dosage right since silver is toxic in high concentrations. That's what research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is tackling, with a novel delivery approach for silver nanoparticles.

The research team has perfected a way of delivering silver nanoparticles onto skin in a layer just a few molecules thick—thereby forming an excellent barrier but not over-dosing the region and killing skin cells—by borrowing a technique that's long been used to apply ink in molecule-thick layers: Rubber stamping. The polyelectrolyte multilayer coating, mixed with micrometer-sized beads of silver nanoparticles (which the team found was the most efficient way to ensure delivery) was "assembled" on a rubber stamp and was then placed on wounds from cadaver skin to test its efficiency.

Small doses of bacteria (common skin bacteria staphylococcus epidermidis and pseudomonas aeruginosa—both of which can run rampant and cause infections) were applied to the area. After roughly 12 hours 99.999% of the bacteria were killed and the bacteria-defeating effect was still reliable up to around 48 hours.

To check that the treatment didn't actually interfere with normal wound-healing, the scientists tried it on diabetic mice and are currently investigating wound healing on mice and pigs (particularly interesting as pig skin is analogous to human skin in many ways).

So in the future, a trip to ER to stitch a wound could result in patients wearing a rubber stamp healing treatment, too.

How Does the Mona Lisa Look Without Mona Lisa?

2011-03-28T11:34:00.004+05:30

Recognize this 77 x 54-centimeter oil on canvas painting? Believe it or not, it's perhaps the best-known Leonardo da Vinci painting this side of The Last Supper.

Yes, it's the Mona Lisa without Mona Lisa, as interpreted by Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Artist Mike Ruiz got a high resolution photograph of Leonardo's art, scanned it in Photoshop, selected the smily girl, and used content-aware fill in Photoshop CS5, a tool that borders in witchcraft—so much that it may make sandwiches for you (almost).
Adobe's tool interpreted the surroundings and generated the complete background in place of the mysterious woman, who apparently was Jesus or his daughter or his third cousin or whatever. One of those. After clicking the OK button, Ruiz sent the result to China, where artists used the image to actually create the oil painting in the same style as da Vinci himself.

Finally, Bacon Cologne!

2011-03-27T11:20:00.000+05:30

No longer do you have to dribble bacon down your chin to get a hint of pig on your throat—perfumers Fargginay have invented bacon cologne which has a mix of 11 essential oils in both the Gold (citrus) and Classic (spicy maple) variants, which cost $36 each.

I like Fargginay's little accent over the "o." Really classy.

In Tunisia, act of one fruit vendor unleashes wave of revolution through Arab world

2011-03-26T21:53:00.000+05:30

On the evening before Mohammed Bouazizi lit a fire that would burn across the Arab world, the young fruit vendor told his mother that the oranges, dates and apples he had to sell were the best he’d ever seen. “With this fruit,” he said, “I can buy some gifts for you. Tomorrow will be a good day.”

For years, Bouazizi had told his mother stories of corruption at the fruit market, where vendors gathered under a cluster of ficus trees on the main street of this scruffy town, not far from Tunisia’s Mediterranean beaches. Arrogant police officers treated the market as their personal picnic grounds, taking bagfuls of fruit without so much as a nod toward payment. The cops took visible pleasure in subjecting the vendors to one indignity after another — fining them, confiscating their scales, even ordering them to carry their stolen fruit to the cops’ cars.

Before dawn on Friday, Dec. 17, as Bouazizi pulled his cart along the narrow, rutted stone road toward the market, two police officers blocked his path and tried to take his fruit. Bouazizi’s uncle rushed to help his 26-year-old nephew, persuading the officers to let the rugged-looking young man complete his one-mile trek.

The uncle visited the chief of police and asked him for help. The chief called in a policewoman who had stopped Bouazizi, Fedya Hamdi, and told her to let the boy work.

Hamdi, outraged by the appeal to her boss, returned to the market. She took a basket of Bouazizi’s apples and put it in her car. Then she started loading a second basket. This time, according to Alladin Badri, who worked the next cart over, Bouazizi tried to block the officer.

“She pushed Mohammed and hit him with her baton,” Badri said.

Hamdi reached for Bouazizi’s scale, and again he tried to stop her.

Hamdi and two other officers pushed Bouazizi to the ground and grabbed the scale. Then she slapped Bouazizi in the face in front of about 50 witnesses.

Bouazizi wept with shame.

“Why are you doing this to me?” he cried, according to vendors and customers who were there. “I’m a simple person, and I just want to work.”

Revolutions are explosions of frustration and rage that build over time, sometimes over decades. Although their political roots are deep, it is often a single spark that ignites them — an assassination, perhaps, or one selfless act of defiance.

In Tunisia, an unusually cosmopolitan Arab country with a high rate of college attendance, residents watched for 23 years as Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali’s dictatorship became a grating daily insult. From Tunis — the whitewashed, low-rise capital with a tropical, colonial feel — to the endless stretches of olive and date trees in the sparsely populated countryside, the complaints were uniform: It had gotten so you couldn’t get a job without some connection to Ben Ali’s family or party. The secret police kept close tabs on ordinary Tunisians. And the uniformed police took to demanding graft with brazen abandon.

Still, the popular rebellion that started here and spread like a virus to Egypt, Libya and the Persian Gulf states, and now to Yemen and Syria, was anything but preordained. The contagion, carried by ordinary people rather than politicians or armies, hits each country in a different and uncontrollable way, but with common characteristics — Friday demonstrations, Facebook connections, and alliances across religious, class and tribal lines. This wave of change happened because aging dictators grew cocky and distant from the people they once courted, because the new social media that the secret police didn’t quite understand reached a critical mass of people, and because, in a rural town where respect is more valued than money, Mohammed Bouazizi was humiliated in front of his friends.

After the slap, Bouazizi went to city hall and demanded to see an official. No, a clerk replied. Go home. Forget about it.

Bouazizi returned to the market and told his fellow vendors he would let the world know how unfairly they were being treated, how corrupt the system was.

He would set himself ablaze.

“We thought he was just talking,” said Hassan Tili, another vendor.

A short while later, the vendors heard shouts from a couple of blocks away. Without another word to anyone, Bouazizi had positioned himself in front of the municipal building, poured paint thinner over his body and lit himself aflame.

The fire burned and burned. People ran inside and grabbed a fire extinguisher, but it was empty. They called for police, but no one came. Only an hour and a half after Bouazizi lit the match did an ambulance arrive.

Manoubya Bouazizi said her son’s decision “was spontaneous, from the humiliation.” Her clear blue eyes welled as her husband placed at her feet a small clay pot filled with a few white-hot pieces of charcoal, their only defense against a cold, raw, rain-swept day. The Bouazizi family has no money, no car, no electricity, but it was not poverty that made her son sacrifice himself, she said. It was his quest for dignity.

Ben Ali visited Mohammed Bouazizi in the hospital, along with a camera crew. The president made a show of handing Manoubya a check for 10,000 dinars (about $14,000). But the mother said Ben Ali’s staffers took the check back after the cameramen were escorted from the room. “I never got any of it,” she said.

Three weeks after he set himself on fire, Bouazizi died in the burn unit.

In early January, the policewoman was arrested, but it was too late. The story had spread, and three months later, a revolution that sprouted in a small village in Tunisia and flowered in Egypt has morphed into a contagion that threatens regimes in Bahrain and Yemen, has enveloped Libya in civil war, and is unsettling even the region’s more placid monarchies, such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

By Marc Fisher

Scientists Grow an Eye in a Petri Dish

2011-03-25T11:07:00.005+05:30

A Japanese research team has successfully grown a "rudimentary" mouse eye in a petri dish using stem cells. This has many implications for future research and curing blindness. Below is a time-lapse photo

of the stem sells spontaneously organizing into an "optic cup"—the precursor to an eye. Now they need to grow a little pair of Ray Bans in a petri dish and we'll have the coolest mouse in the world.

Ghostly Lightpainting Uses a Cross-Sectioned Video of an Executed Convict’s Body as Light Source

2011-03-24T10:49:00.006+05:30

Lightpainting requires a certain sort of skill to get the sort of marvellous results we've seen previously, but Croix Gagnon and Frank Schott went the whole nine yards and played an animation of a cross-sectioned human body on a laptop, which they then whizzed through the air and took long-exposure photos of.

1,871 slices of a convicted murderer's body who was executed in 1993 and given to science were used to create the animation (which you can see below—and actually use yourself!), Gagnon and Schott employed someone to move it about while they shot photos of it. You can see one of the photos below actually shows the laptop with animation frozen on-screen.

Amazing work, I'm sure you'll agree. If you like the prints enough to spend $700 on one, you can buy them from 12:31, with the proceeds being donated to

"Hand-Screened for Radioactivity" Is Going to Be the New "Grown Locally"

2011-03-23T10:34:00.006+05:30

If you're willing to throw down $140 for the tasting menu at Le Bernardin—perhaps the greatest seafood-oriented restaurant in the country, with three Michelin stars and four from the NYT—you can nom on the fluke sashimi without worrying about radioactive contamination.

That's because in addition to no longer sourcing seafood from Japan, chef Eric Ripert's now hand-screening all of the fish coming into the restaurant for radioactive contamination. Will it make patrons feel better while simultaneously subtly inducing more panic? Yes.

Expect this kind of thing to become de rigueur at any place that professes to care about the provenance of its food—well-regarded Sushi Yasuda in NY is already following suit—even as a senior scientist at the FDA tells the NYT, "Is that one fish at the intervention level a public health concern? No, it is not." And another scientist, a professor of marine sciences at SUNY Stony Brook adds that, given the current levels of cesium 137 detected in Japanese fish, you can eat around 35 pounds of it a year and be fine.

But yes, if you're willing to pay for organic beef grown on a particular farm and fed only the finest non-additive grass and massaged daily for all-natural marbling, you can also procure hand-screened, non-radioactive fish. You're paying for it, after all. Me? I like pork better anyway. [NYT]

How Big Weapons Hit Tiny Targets from Incredible Distances

2011-03-22T09:40:00.010+05:30

So, let's say our armed forces were in a conflict where they had to enforce a no-fly zone without deploying troops on the ground. How would they do that? Simple: GPS. Oh, and Lasers. And mechanized ordnance that is better at navigating than any meatbag with a map.
In a tense conflict like Libya, where nobody—including the American public—wants US troops stomping around, it might seem like military options are limited. They are: to a gang of super-smart, incredibly accurate missiles and bombs launched from the ocean and sky. In some cases, a missile's solo journey can originate from a submerged submarine hundreds of miles from its target. Which raises the question: Wait, how can it hit a target the size of a shipping container from, like, another country?

It all starts with a plan. Before, say, a $607,000 Tomahawk land attack missile ever leaves the launch tube, it's programmed with a set of instructions—called a pre-mission plan—that tells it where to land. The guide includes the latitude and longitude of the target as well as the coordinates for up to 15 other alternate endings.

Also loaded are stored images of the flight path, which come in handy later.

Getting from point A (say, a sub) to point B (say, a bunker) requires an intricate set of negotiations that the Tomahawk handles on the fly. After our 20-foot-long projectile protagonist pops out of the ocean, it levels low to the water in order to dodge enemy radar. Moving at up to 550mph, the missile is guided by a GPS system similar to the ones 747s use, and a system called Terrain Contour Matching. TERCOM takes note of the immediate landscape, but it's not about sight seeing. The Tomahawk instead compares real time data from its altimeter and radar with satellite imagery from a stored database to make sure it's precisely on course. It's kind of like looking at Google Street View while you walk through a neighborhood. If the missile finds that it has zigged off its route or desired altitude, it aligns itself with the right topography to get back on track.

But things change rapidly in conflict, so the 3,330 Tomahawk Block IV has built-in ability to react to situations like a last-minute change in targeting. In these cases, GPS location data gets updated via a two-way satellite link, and the missile takes an alternate route to another end point. Haven't determined the new target yet? "The missile can go into a loitering mode," explains a super secret Navy official whose name we can't use. "It's not as dramatic as a hover, but it will fly loops in the air, and it will await further tasking."

Remember that stored image of the route to the enemy destination included in the pre-mission plan? Well, if there aren't any changes mid-flight, the missile compares the picture of the route with what's on the ground. "It adjusts based on what it sees," says the Navy official. When everything matches up: Boom. No more shipping container.

Destruction doesn't only come from the sea, either. Other super accurate systems, like certain Guided Bomb Units (GBU) carried on F15E Strike Eagle planes, use lasers and fins for guidance. Before ever leaving the ground, the bombs are programmed to look for a certain laser signature—the same laser signature that the plane is programmed to "paint" on its enemies. See, the bombs are ravenous for these beam-illuminated spots, but their attraction needs to be very, very specific. The Air Force doesn't want Jet #1's bomb hitting Jet #2's target (or, like, a grocery store) by accident.

F15Es have what's called a targeting pod that allows Weapons Systems Officers to look for targets using infrared and electro-optical imaging. You've seen this set up on TV; it's the screen with the crosshairs on it. Once they find the correct spot, the targeting pod computes the coordinates. Then, the jet's computer calculates where the pilot needs to fly and when the bomb needs to drop.

When the range is right, the pilot hits the "pickle button" (for serious—that's what it's called) and the laser guided bomb is dropped from something like 20,000 feet. From here, the on-bomb computer plays a game of find the laser. Bombs are equipped with a glassed-over seeker that kind of looks like an eye. When the seeker locates the laser-illuminated target below, the computer tells the bomb how to move its fins to navigate the free fall. "We can hit anything: buildings, cars, holes in the ground—really there's no limitation," says Major Ryan Ismirle, who flew F15Es in Afghanistan. "I've never seen one—especially in combat-that hasn't hit its target."

50 Fukushima Heroes Work On, as Radiation Levels Soar

2011-03-21T00:15:00.001+05:30

Pausing for respite for a few hours, the "Fukushima 50," as they've become known, finally had a chance to catch their breath.

Following a radiation spike, the workers were moved from the reactor buildings earlier today for about one hour—initially, it was misreported that the workers left the plant grounds, due to a translation error. As of 11.30am Japanese-time today, the brave workers were back at work after temporarily leaving the reactors, and tending to the fire-ravaged No.4 reactor.

Edano also confirmed that temperatures in the water cooling the nuclear rods have actually increased. An ideal temperature is 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), but they'd risen to 84 degrees Celsius (183 degrees Fahrenheit). With reactors 1, 2, 3 and 4 already hit by exposions and fires, the fifth and sixth reactors are now experiencing soaring temperatures too.

TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power Co., startedspraying seawater and boric acid onto the reactors from military helicopters, but it was abandoned shortly afterwards, after worries too much seawater would be dumped and turn into steam, which would counter their efforts by producing hydrogen and only increasing the pressure.

Current reactor status according to Kyodo News

Reactor 1. Cooling failure, partial melting of core, vapor vented, building damaged by hydrogen explosion, seawater being pumped in.

Reactor 2. Cooling failure, seawater being pumped in, fuel rods fully exposed temporarily, vapor vented, building damaged Monday by blast at Reactor No. 3, damage to containment vessel on Tuesday, potential meltdown feared.

Reactor 3. Cooling failure, partial melting of core feared, vapor vented, seawater being pumped in, building damaged Monday by hydrogen explosion, high-level radiation measured nearby on Tuesday, plume of smoke observed Wednesday, damage to containment vessel likely.

Reactor 4. Fire Tuesday possibly caused by hydrogen explosion at pool holding spent fuel rods, fire observed Wednesday at building housing reactor.

The radiation effects on the 50 workers, believed to be working in shifts, is still unknown. Radiation levels have swung up and down for days now, with the current levels in Fukushima City believed to be 100 times above normal, at around 20 micro-sieverts per hour.Supposedly that's comparable to one chest X-ray every two hours. Nausea, damage to the thyroid, and cancer are the varying stages of radiation poisoning. Around 15 workers are believed to have been injured in the plant's explosions, since Saturday.

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has warned TEPCO executives after failing to inform the government of yesterday's explosion, with Kanreportedly asking TEPCO "the TV reported an explosion, but nothing was said to the prime minister's office for more than an hour. What the hell is going on?" While obviously concerned about the workers' health, Kan has also urged TEPCO to ensure employees continue working on the plant until it is safe, otherwise "the [TEPCO] company will collapse." [The Guardian, Al Jazeera,AltJapan, @Matt_Alt and Joi]

UPDATE: The helicopter has been unable to drop any water on the reactor, owing to the high levels of radiation. Workers are now topping up the water from the ground.

Meanwhile, over in Germany, all seven of their pre-1980 nuclear plants will be shut down and checked over for safety. Across the European Union, further preventative measures will also be made, with 143 of the reactors being tested also.

The Arrogance of Authority

2011-03-20T09:54:00.010+05:30

A DEA officer stopped at a ranch in Texas , and talked with an old rancher.

He told the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs."

The rancher said, "Okay , but don't go in that field over there.....", as he pointed out the location.

The DEA officer verbally exploded saying, " Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me !"

Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removed his badge and proudly displayed it to the rancher.

"See this badge?! This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish.... On any land !!

No questions asked or answers given!! Have I made myself clear......do you understand ?!!"

The rancher nodded politely, apologised, and went about his chores.

A short time later, the old rancher heard loud screams, looked up, and saw the DEA officer running for his life, being chased by the rancher's big Santa Gertrudis bull......

With every step the bull was gaining ground on the officer, and it seemed likely that he'd sure enough get gored before he reached safety. The officer was clearly terrified.

"

The rancher threw down his tools, ran to the fence and yelled at the top of his lungs.....

(This is the best part....)

"Your badge, show him your BADGE........ ! !

How a Captain Got Sucked Out Of a Blown-Up Cockpit Window and Everyone Survived

2011-03-19T09:42:00.001+05:30

There are times in which an airplane decompression may not be dangerous. But when your captain literally has half of his body out of one of the cockpit window, his face "banging against the window [from the outside] with blood coming out of his nose and the side of his head", all while the plane—with 81 passengers en route to sunny Málaga, Spain from Birmingham, England—is " spiralling down at 80 feet per second with no autopilot and no radio"... well, maybe then it is time to panic.

That's exactly what happened to Tim Lancaster on flight BA5390, when he was piloting a 43-tonne British Airways BAC 1-11 airliner at 17,000 feet, on June 10, 1990.

Fortunately, Nigel Ogden—a flight attendant who was getting out of the cockpit when the windshield blew away—didn't lose his cool. As the explosive decompression "made the whole cabin mist up like fog for a second" and the "plane started to plummet", Nigel thought it was a bomb. Later, it was discovered that the cause for the explosive decompression was an improperly installed window pane, which has been replaced 27 hours before the flight. When Nigel turned around, the scene was terrifying:

I whipped round and saw the front windscreen had disappeared and Tim, the pilot, was going out through it. He had been sucked out of his seatbelt and all I could see were his legs. I jumped over the control column and grabbed him round his waist to avoid him going out completely. His shirt had been pulled off his back and his body was bent upwards, doubled over round the top of the aircraft. His legs were jammed forward, disconnecting the autopilot, and the flight door was resting on the controls, sending the plane hurtling down at nearly 650kmh through some of the most congested skies in the world.

Everything was being sucked out of the aircraft: even an oxygen bottle that had been bolted down went flying and nearly knocked my head off. I was holding on for grim death but I could feel myself being sucked out, too. John rushed in behind me and saw me disappearing, so he grabbed my trouser belt to stop me slipping further, then wrapped the captain's shoulder strap around me. Luckily, Alastair, the co-pilot, was still wearing his safety harness from take-off, otherwise he would have gone, too

.

Soon, the pressure equalized, but Tim was still out of the plane and the wind start getting in the cabin at about 630km/h (391mph) and -17ºC (1.4ºF). The co-pilot struggled to gain control of the plane and he did it, taking down to 11,000 feet in two minutes—where there was more oxygen. But Nigel was still holding Tim and the situation was still critical. The plane may have been stabilized, but the captain was still hanging out of it.

I was still holding Tim, but my arms were getting weaker, and then he slipped. I thought I was going to lose him, but he ended up bent in a U-shape around the windows. His face was banging against the window with blood coming out of his nose and the side of his head, his arms were flailing and seemed about 6 feet [1.8 metres] long. Most terrifyingly, his eyes were wide open. I'll never forget that sight as long as I live.

Amazingly, with the help of another flight attendant, they were able to pull him back. And even more amazing: Tim as more or less ok, frostbitten and with some bones fractured, but alive. In fact, back in 2005 he was still in active, flying for EasyJet. The BA plane landed without any other problem—even while they feared that a catastrophe could happen if there was more damage. It was 07:55. Only 18 minutes had passed from the explosive decompression till the planed landed on Runway 02 at Southampton Airport. To everyone in that cockpit, it felt like hours.

Model Poonam Pandey to go nude if India wins Cup

2011-03-18T07:00:00.005+05:30

Some fans pour milk on cut-outs of their favourite cricketers, some hold chain prayer meetings for divine intervention during the Indo-Pak epic semifinal clash on Wednesday at Mohali, while there are still others who vow to shed all their clothes if India lifts the World Cup trophy.
Model and cricket fan Poonam Pandey has promised to strip naked in the view of thousands if India wins the Mohali semifinal against Pakistan and eventually lifts the Cup, though she is also open to a players' dressing room peep show if the Indian cricket board permits it, reports said.
The Kingfisher Calender girl's intention to bare all is bound to pile on additional pressure on the Indian cricket team already coping with mounting crowd expectations at home, not having won the Cup since 1983.
Poonam recently started a fan page on Facebook to cheer the Indian team. She follows in the footsteps of Paraguay's Larissa Riquelme and Argentinian Luciane Salazar who promised to strip if their football teams won the FIFA World Cup.

Devi Shetty targets medical tourism in Cayman Isles

2011-03-17T00:28:00.002+05:30

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands: A renowned Indian heart surgeon has struck a deal to build a 2,000-bed healthcare city in the Cayman Islands to target American patients and insurers searching for deeply discounted medical care.

The British Caribbean territory agreed to the deal with Dr. Devi Shetty , a low-cost healthcare pioneer renowned as Mother Teresa's heart surgeon. The Caymans fulfilled its part of the bargain last week by passing legislation that caps medical negligence claims at U.S.$600,000.

The tiny, affluent territory west of Jamaica has 55,000 residents and is under pressure from Britain to diversify its economy and move away from its tax haven image.

The healthcare city will cost about $2 billion and encompass a hospital, medical university and assisted-living facility and target American patients and insurance providers seeking deep cost reductions.

Construction is set to begin this year on the initial $100 million phase, with a 200 to 300-bed facility expected to be complete in about 18 months.

The project has attracted significant interest. Templeton emerging markets expert Mark Mobius, who oversees some $50 billion in assets, recently said the project could be very attractive to outside investors.

Shetty would not discuss specific investors, although JP Morgan Chase & Co, American International Group Inc and the chairwoman of Biocon Ltd , a large Indian biotechnology firm, already own more than 25 percent of the Shetty family's Bangalore-based hospital group, Narayana Hrudayalaya Private Ltd.

Its 1,000-bed flagship hospital performs more than twice as many cardiac bypass surgeries and pediatric surgeries in a year than similarly sized U.S. hospitals.

Citing his high-volume, low-cost hospitals in India as his model, Shetty estimates the Cayman facility will draw 50 percent of its patients from the United States.

U.S. insurers and employers are under pressure to reduce costs for high-tech procedures for heart, cancer, orthopedics, nuclear medicine and organ transplants, Shetty said.

"It will be much easier for insurance companies to buy an air ticket and ask them to go to the Cayman Islands and get a heart bypass done and have a two-week beach holiday and come back at perhaps less than 50 percent of the cost," he said.

The Cayman Islands are politically stable, English-speaking and close to Miami, which makes the modern large-scale facility an attractive medical tourist destination for Americans, Shetty said.

The Caymans' incentive package for the new hospital includes duty waivers on $800 million of medical equipment, recognition of Indian medical credentials and a discount of up to 30 percent on work permit fees for the influx of foreign workers expected to staff the hospital.

The average cost for a heart bypass is $144,000 in the United States, five times higher than neighboring Mexico at $27,000. Costa Rica charges $25,000 and Colombia $14,800 for the same procedure, the Medical Tourist Association said.

Even with the higher cost of doing business in the Cayman Islands, Shetty estimates a heart bypass will cost less than $10,000.

Medical tourism is still considered a niche market. But an estimated 1.3 million Americans will seek medical care outside of the United States in 2011 with 35 percent annual growth, according to a Deloitte report.

President Barack Obama's year-old healthcare overhaul faces significant challenges in court. But as it is implemented, millions of Americans will be brought into the insurance market in 2014, escalating costs well into the double digits, said industry expert Irving Stackpole.

"That will push medical tourism across the chasm from being a sector filled with early adopters to a mainstream solution for healthcare consumers," Stackpole said.

As Americans travel abroad for medical care, competition will increase in Latin America and the Caribbean to get a piece of the lucrative market, said Dr. Steve Tomlinson, head of the private Chrissie Tomlinson Memorial hospital in the Caymans.

Last month, a 4-year-old Cayman girl was flown to Shetty's hospital in Bangalore for successful surgery to repair two holes in her heart. Surgeons in Jamaica said the operation was too complex and the child's medical insurance was insufficient to cover the $800,000 cost of the surgery the United States.

"We could do it virtually free. It is all because of volume," Shetty said.

What is a Golf Ball Worth?

2011-03-16T00:06:00.002+05:30

The ball was in the pond on Hole 16 at Oak Crest Golf Club in Norway, Michigan. It was a brand new Titlelist with the Verso logo on it and he didn't want to loose it or take the two stroke penalty as he was already behind in points!!!

NEVER PUT YOUR ARM IN THE WATER TO RETRIEVE A GOLF BALL!!!!!!!!!!!

Do Dogs go to Heaven?

2011-03-15T11:08:00.004+05:30

Do Dogs go to Heaven? Hysterical! Absolutely unreal that this actually happened! These two churches face each other across a busy street

World's most expensive dog: Tibetan Mastiff sold for $1.5 million

2011-03-14T04:17:00.001+05:30

A male Tibetan Mastiff puppy has created a stir in the dog breeding world and gained the title of the world's most expensive dog after being sold in China for a record 10 million yuan ($1.5 million).
The 11-month-old Tibetan Mastiff male puppy named 'Big Splash' and 'Hong Dong' is red in color, a rarity in the breed. He was purchased by a Chinese coal baron who will reportedly use him for breeding, earning as much as $100,000 yuan in stud fees for each female bred to the pricey pooch.
Big Splash took the coveted title of most expensive dog from another Tibetan Mastiff pup that was sold last year for $600,000, as reported by Digital Journal.
"The Tibetan Mastiff, also known as Do-khyi , meaning 'home guard' has been used for centuries to guard herds of domesticated farm animals, villages, monasteries, palaces and private homes," according to Wikipedia. The males can grow to heights of 31 inches tall and can weigh as much as 275lbs.
The dog is considered a primitive breed with a temperament that can vary from one dog to another. They are considered to be both 'noble and impressive animals', said the AKC.
"According to legend, both Genghis Khan and Buddha had them, and they are known to be great guard dogs. They are rarely found outside Tibet and China, making them an especially exclusive breed. In China, they are considered a state protected animal, and there are reportedly just 15,000 in the country, most belonging to the wealthy," reports Yahoo's The Week.

Butt Power

2011-03-13T01:44:00.001+05:30

Butt Power by drallah

'Three-parent' mitochondrial IVF technique to be assessed

2011-03-12T10:32:00.001+05:30

Scientists have been invited to advise whether the new "three-parent IVF" procedure should be approved to help couples affected by devastating conditions.
An expert panel from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will consider its safety and effectiveness before reporting to Health Secretary, UK Andrew Lansley.
The technique could help couples have healthy children even if they are affected by mitochondrial diseases.
At present, babies born with one of the rare diseases can suffer fatal liver, heart and neurological disorders.
Mitochondria are located in every human cell and act as "power houses" to provide the energy for cells to function.
Mitochondrial DNA is not present in the nucleus of a fertilised egg, meaning scientists could extract the nucleus and place it into another egg from a donor.
The resulting embryo would have almost 100 per cent inherited genetic material from its mother and father.
Alison Murdoch, head of the department of reproductive medicine at Newcastle University, which has developed the technique, said: "We are not ready to do this in patients now but the science is progressing very rapidly and we need to get Parliament to discuss this again now.
"We anticipate that the process of review could take about a year so we are asking for this process to start now.
"Of course there is no guarantee that we will have all the evidence we need to secure a licence in a year but we need to anticipate that we may have and prepare accordingly.
"We recognise this process is necessary and will co-operate fully.
"As doctors we have a duty to treat disease and where possible to prevent disease. With diseases for which there are no treatments the imperative to develop new treatments is even greater.
"Of course no treatment is ever risk free and if there are risks we will need to quantify these so that doctors can discuss the relative risks and benefits with patients and their families."
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "We have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to co-ordinate an expert group to assess the effectiveness and safety of a new technique to treat mitochondrial disease.
"This is in response to a request from researchers asking the Department of Health to make new regulations under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act to allow this treatment.
"This treatment is not currently possible under current legislation.
"We welcome scientific innovation and this group will investigate the safety of this technique reporting back to us.
"When the group reports back, and based on the evidence available, we can decide whether it is the right time to consider making these regulations."

How the inventor of the pill changed the world for women

2011-03-11T01:44:00.004+05:30

Among certain people – Catholics, moralists, social conservatives – the urge to make Carl Djerassi regret his invention seems to be overpowering. He brought us the pill. The more you think about it, the more crucial it has been to the world as we now know it. We used to talk about it as the facilitator of promiscuity, the chemical agent behind sexual liberation. That's just the warm-up act. The rest is monumental: women taking on professional identities, waiting longer to become mothers, ageing populations, smaller families – every stamp of the household of the developed world can be traced back to this discovery. Furthermore, every new direction of the fertility industry – which, after the postponement of death, is the major focus of medical enquiry – can be attributed to this breakthrough. No one would be researching egg storage or ICSI (fertilising an egg with a single implanted sperm) or IVF if it weren't for this discovery.

"For the last 50 years, the leitmotif was contraception. The present 50 years, it's conception," says Djerassi, 88, as though it's the simplest leap in the world, which in a sense it is. Medicine follows the money – once people knew how not to conceive, the issue became how to conceive. It wasn't just ageing parity – women waiting until their mid-30s to have a child – that forced the change. The smaller, deliberated families of the developed world, post-pill, lent cultural credence to the idea of a child as a right and a necessity.

But besides the technology, it is also a conceptual leap larger than the fall of communism, larger than the advances in communication that we hold so vital. Women were hitherto enslaved by biology; and suddenly we weren't. To be in the presence of Djerassi, emeritus professor of chemistry at Stanford University, is so momentous that I fancy at one point I've gone a bit deaf in one ear.

And yet precisely because the world has changed so much, hinged on one discovery, what you want to know is: has he any regrets? Knowing how much can be attributed to his work, at 26 years old, 60 years ago, is there nothing he would change? "To me, the greatest disadvantage is what it has done in the 80s, 90s, perhaps not so much recently: modern, intelligent men won't take responsibility, wouldn't even use condoms. They shrugged and said: 'All women are now on the pill, I don't need to bother.' This has become another woman's burden."

How burdensome is it, though? He wonders, would women believe a man, if he said he'd taken the pill? That's a moot point, since this hassle has now ossified into a fact of life. "Of the 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, not one is working on male contraception. They wouldn't touch it with a 10ft pole. The first question a man would ask is: would it affect my potency? There have been clinical trials – it has no effect on potency. The second question is erection. The third one is prostate cancer. There would be questions we would not be able to answer. Medicine is mainly geared towards geriatric concerns, Alzheimer's, cancer, anti-inflammatories, and people there are not concerned about side effects. No cancer patient has ever sued for vomiting during chemotherapy or losing their hair. But if you lost your hair because of your oral contraceptive, male or female, I can assure you that there would be lawsuits."

This is where we are (literally, not culturally): Austria-born Djerassi has a flat in London. It's beautiful: the corridors and landings could hold a diplomatic reception. The flat itself is laden with art (he is the largest private collector of Paul Klee in the world – those are at his San Francisco estate). The bookshelves are full of Frankfurt School Marxists and science giants. He is a theoretically impossible person: entirely erudite, and nevertheless still concerned about whether or not people can have sex without negative consequence.

"How many acts of sexual intercourse would you guess occur every 24 hours?" he asks. "I often do this with my students, and they say a billion. I say: 'No, no, no, you're dreaming. There are six billion people. Well, you need two for sexual intercourse, so there are only three billion. And some of them are five years old, so they're out.' So then they say a million. Well, now you're underestimating, because you're sitting here and you're not having sex. It's actually 100m, every 24 hours. And they produce about a million conceptions, about half of which are unexpected. Of the 500,000, half of them are unwanted. As a result, every 24 hours, 150,000 abortions occur; of these, over 50,000 are illegal." He doesn't labour the point; rather, leaves a moment for it to sink in, how much squalor and danger still surrounds unwanted pregnancy, even so long after its means of prevention should be universal.

Naturally, though, there are countries such as the UK and the US that have moved on, where the pressing issue is conception. He is droll on the subject of egg freezing and casts himself as a 20-year-old woman: "So, I am a young woman, I collect my eggs – I haven't the foggiest idea yet whether I want children, I have not yet met the man with whom I would like to have children, I do not know yet whether I want to be a single mother, I have not made up my mind yet but I have it in the bank. Men could do this, but men don't do this unless they have testicular cancer, because we produce sperm all the time."

Ultimately, while he admits to some slight reservation about sex selection, he is clear, in his creative writing (taken up over the past 20 years), in his lectures, in everything he does: sex and reproduction have been severed. This is the future – you freeze your material, then get yourself sterilised. It looks a little bald written down. But when you think about it, you want to stand up and cheer.

Zoe Williams,The Guardian,UK

Diet Plan With Hormone Has Fans and Skeptics

2011-03-10T11:14:00.005+05:30

Every morning, Kay Brown engages in a ritual similar to a heroin addict’s, or a diabetic’s: she sticks herself with a syringe. Only hers contains hCG, a pregnancy hormone.

Ms. Brown, 35, is not taking hCG to help her bear a child. She believes that by combining the hormone injections with a 500-calorie-a-day diet, she will achieve a kind of weight-loss nirvana: losing fat in all the right places without feeling tired or hungry. “I had a friend who did it before her wedding,” Ms. Brown said. “She looks great.”

Women like Ms. Brown are streaming into doctors’ offices and weight-loss clinics all over the country, paying upward of $1,000 a month for a consultation, a supply of the hormone and the syringes needed to deliver it. More than 50 years after a doctor at a Roman clinic began promoting hCG as a dieting aid, it is as popular as ever, even though there is scant evidence that it makes any difference.

The regimen combines daily injections with a near-starvation diet, and patients, mostly women, are often enticed by promises that they can lose about a pound a day without feeling hungry. Perhaps even more seductively, they are frequently told that the hCG will prompt their bodies to carry away and metabolize fat that has been stored where they least want it — in their upper arms, bellies and thighs.

In response to inquiries stirred up by the diet’s popularity, the Food and Drug Administration warned in January that “homeopathic” forms of hCG, like lozenges and sprays, sold over the Internet and in some health food stores, are fraudulent and illegal if they claim weight-loss powers.

The injectable, prescription form of hCG, human chorionic gonadotropin, is approved as a treatment for infertility and other uses, and it is legal for doctors to prescribe it “off-label” for weight loss.

But the F.D.A. has also reiterated a warning, first issued in the mid-1970s, that is required on hCG packaging: It has not been shown to increase weight loss, to cause a more “attractive” distribution of fat or to “decrease hunger and discomfort” from low-calorie diets.

The F.D.A. recently received a report of a patient on the hCG diet who had a pulmonary embolism, said Christopher Kelly, a spokesman for the agency. He said the hormone carried risks of blood clots, depression, headaches and breast tenderness or enlargement.

Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor at Harvard medical school who researches weight-loss supplements, said that aside from the issue of side effects, the use of hCG as a diet tool was “manipulating people to give them the sense that they’re receiving something that’s powerful and potent and effective, and in fact they’re receiving something that’s nothing better than a placebo.”

But unlike other popular diet supplements, hCG, which is derived from the urine of pregnant women, has acquired an aura of respectability because the injections are available only by prescription.

Ms. Brown’s physician, Lionel Bissoon, a well-known society doctor with an office off Central Park West, charges $1,150 for his hCG program, which covers an examination, injection training, a month’s supply of the hormone and syringes, and blood work to monitor for possible trouble.

“From an anecdotal point of view,” Dr. Bissoon said, “physicians all around the country have seen people losing a tremendous amount of weight with this stuff, and you cannot afford to ignore that.”

Another New York doctor, Scott M. Blyer, offers the hCG diet as an adjunct to his cosmetic surgery practice, working with Jacqueline Fulop-Goodling, an orthodontist, out of her office in Midtown. Dr. Fulop-Goodling does not prescribe hCG, but she counsels patients. They charge $800 for a 40-day course of therapy, half-price for repeat rounds; they also require an EKG to make sure the patient has no heart trouble.

One of Dr. Blyer’s patients, a 30-year-old business consultant named May, who asked that her last name not be used because she was embarrassed to be considering the diet, described herself as an “emotional eater.” She is 5-foot-3 and 130 pounds, but said she hoped to shed 20 pounds in time to be a bridesmaid at an April wedding. “So I have just six weeks,” she said.

Dr. Blyer looked uneasy. “Your legs are thin, your face is thin,” he told her. “You’re a very attractive woman.” But he reassured her that she would lose weight where she wanted to, in her stomach. The hCG, Dr. Blyer said, “tricks your body into a state of pregnancy; it burns off fat so the fetus can get enough calories, but it protects muscle.”

May eventually decided that she did not need to lose much weight and did not go through with the diet.

Dr. Blyer’s explanation of how the hCG diet works resembles a theory first popularized in the 1950s by A. T. W. Simeons, a doctor in Rome who said he had used it on more than 500 patients, and published a paper about it in The Lancet, the British medical journal, in 1954.

In 1995, a Dutch study in The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology tried to resolve the question of whether the hCG diet really worked by analyzing 14 randomized clinical trials of the diet. Only two, including one co-written by an advocate of the diet, found that people on hCG lost more weight, felt less hunger and had an improved body shape, compared with people on the same 500-calorie diet who received a placebo, like saline injections.

But several studies concluded that the ritual of the daily injection and the instant gratification of quick weight loss helped motivate people to stay on the diet.

However arcane the theory, some doctors say it is theoretically plausible that hCG would create a more toned body, because it can induce the production of male hormones and increase muscle mass.

“There’s a reason Manny Ramirez took it,” said Dr. Martin Keltz, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan. Mr. Ramirez, the baseball star, was suspended for 50 games in 2009 after evidence surfaced that he had used hCG, which is banned by Major League Baseball.

Dr. Keltz said he thought it was possible to redistribute fat with hCG, but, he added, “there are risks, like cardiovascular risks.”

“I would shy away from them,” he continued.

Then there are the nutritional concerns about a diet that some say mimics anorexia. “The average person is going to eat 1,800 to 3,000 calories,” said Kristen Smith, a bariatric surgery dietitian at Montefiore Medical Center.

“I don’t think it promotes healthy long-term eating habits,” she added.

Doctors who prescribe hCG for dieting say that experience is in their favor, even if the research is not. They point to women like Guldal Caba, a 53-year-old psychologist from Toledo, Ohio, who traveled to New York for treatment from Dr. Bissoon. “It was the fat that needed to go — you know behind my bra, that back fat, my belly,” Dr. Caba said.

Ms. Brown, a theater administrator who is 5-foot-8, said she was thrilled to lose six pounds in seven days, and hopeful about reaching her goal of losing 30, which would bring her close to her ideal weight of 135. She said she did not feel hungry and did not obsess about food as she had years ago, when suffering from anorexia.

“A lot of people have a lot of opinions,” Ms. Brown said, “but I don’t want to be a person who feels like my weight is not under my control.”

By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
Published: March 7, 2011
The New York Times

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

S'pore MD gives up 5-figure salary to be Mister Mum

2011-03-09T01:55:00.004+05:30

This couple believe that a maid can never be a substitute for parents.

Especially when their offspring are twins conceived by in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.

It was a painful process and a difficult pregnancy for Madam Rachel Foo who was 33 when she gave birth to a pair of non-identical twins on June 29, 2005.

The couple, who married in 2001, named their boy, Aston, and their girl, Chelsea.

But when it came to the crunch on whether it would be Madam Foo, 39, or her husband, Mr Peter Chua, 56, who should stay home to look after their precious twins, the decision wasn't easy.

He was older. And he had a successful career.

Mr Chua was the managing director (Asia Pacific) of a US company in the cruise and resort industry, earning more than $10,000 a month.

On the other hand, the wife, who was then working as an executive assistant to the manager in a finance company, was earning about $4,000 a month.

But Madam Foo felt that she was not as patient as her husband and she did not like to stay at home.

The couple then decided that Mr Chua would stay home in their four-room HDB flat in Punggol, to look after the children while the wife would be responsible for bringing home the bacon.

Mr Chua said: "Rachel has a career to build. I think I have done enough in my career. To stop working and stay home to look after the children is just sacrificing my income.

"Our children are our primary concern..."

Open-minded

"To me, I want to spend more time with my children."

Madam Foo agreed, saying: "I told my husband that maids can never substitute us as parents.

"Peter is very open-minded and he didn't mind. He really looks after the kids very well. And I respect him for his sacrifices."

The first few years were tough as the couple struggled a little to make ends meet. They had to plan for everything that they were going to spend on. It also meant shorter holidays to places like Hong Kong and Macau and eating out less.

Madam Foo said: "It helped that we were staying with my mother while waiting for our new flat in Punggol."

But six years on and the couple are still very happy with the arrangement. Their twins are now six years old and attending pre-school.

Madam Foo has since joined a fund investment firm as a business manager and earns more than $5,000 a month.

She pays for her children's school fees and household expenses such as utility bills and groceries. When Aston and Chelsea were born, they spent three and five weeks respectively in the intensive care unit in the hospital.

"They were so tiny and it was not easy to care for them," Mr Chua recalled.

The couple had to hire a maid to do the household chores so that Mr Chua could fully concentrate on looking after the twins.

With the role reversal, Mr Chua was the one who woke up in the middle of the night to feed the twins and changed their diapers.

Now that the twins are in pre-school, Mr Chua begins his day by waking up at 6.30am to get them ready. He drops them off before taking his wife to the MRT station where she takes the train to work.

Before picking up his kids at 11am, Mr Chua goes grocery shopping or dabbles in stock trading activities.

After fetching the twins home, he ensures that Aston and Chelsea have a good bath and lunch before supervising them in their homework.

"After they have finished their homework, I play with them or read to them," Mr Chua said.

In the past six years as a house husband, Mr Chua has learned to be careful with his grocery spending as he would have to fork out the extra money whenever he exceeded the budget, he added jokingly.

"I did not have any training before, but I learned to bathe them, feed them and take care of them when they are sick.

"I call it a parent's instinct. Be it the dad or the mum, it is the parents' instinct to look after their children. I had learned to identify their cries, whether it was a cry that they had wet their diapers or a cry for milk," Mr Chua said.

As the twins grew older, Mr Chua attended toddler classes with them. It was inevitable that he received curious stares from other toddlers' mothers. But Mr Chua took the stares in his stride. He said: "I was the only man in my kids' class. And unlike them, I didn't just look after one kid, but two. I took the initiative to interact with them and even gave them some parenting tips that I had learnt."

Mr Chua said his family and friends supported his decision to care for the children, much to his surprise.

He said: "They told me that I have made the right decision and they actually envy me for being able to do it.

"There are always sacrifices in life. Sometimes money can create a lot of family problems, but I am glad that it has never been our problem.

"When Rachel and I decided on this arrangement, we knew what we were getting into. We had our little struggles and we don't envy others who are able to take their children on holiday during every school holiday. We need to strike a good balance."

On her part, his wife has never doubted his ability to take care of the children.

She said: "In my previous job, I would get very stressed out with the office politics and I would ask Peter if we could switch back our roles. But I also knew that I wouldn't last more than two months at home."

Madam Foo admits that her husband has done a better job than she ever could.

When Madam Foo returns home in the evenings, Mr Chua would patiently wait for her to settle down and have her dinner before lending her a listening ear.

He said: "I would listen to her talk about her work in the office and sometimes give her my advice. That's what a husband is for."

It is something his wife greatly appreciates.

Madam Foo said: "Sometimes I can get very carried away with my work and Peter is always there to remind me that our family is equally important."

Role reversal

With this reversal of roles, Mr Chua admitted he can now appreciate the role of a housewife better.

He said: "In our relationship, there is no one party who is superior to the other.

"Few men would like to do what I do. For it to work, you must believe in what you are doing and there needs to be trust between the spouses.

"If right now, I tell my wife that I would like to rejoin the workforce, she will support me in my decision.

"But now that I have grown so close to my children, it would be a huge sacrifice for me to go back to work and not be able to care for them.

"Unless the work is very challenging, I value my time with my children more than earning an income."

Wives: No respect lost for house hubbies

IF ONE party has to give up the job to look after the children, who should it be? Should it be dad or mum?

The New Paper on Sunday spoke to five couples who said that they have no issue with the man staying home to look after the children.

Most of them were more concerned with the loss of income of the party who needs to stay home, given the high cost of living in Singapore.

Typically, they felt that the person with the lower income should be the one to stay home.

Madam Jennifer Tan, 35, a sales executive, who gave birth to a son last week, said: "If the woman is earning $10,000 a month and the man is earning only $5,000 a month, then it makes more sense for the woman to keep her job to support the family."

Madam Tan's husband, Dr Andy Lee, 37, an entrepreneur, was asked if his wife would lose respect for him for if he stayed home to look after their baby.

Dr Lee replied: "I don't think so. If she wants me to be a stay-home dad, she can't say that I am worth nothing. I would have contributed by looking after our son."

Madam Tan said: "Why would I lose my respect for him? I feel it's a big sacrifice for the man to be able to do this. It just shows that he loves the family a lot."

Psychologist and family counsellor Richard Lim said there is a big jump in the number of wives who now earn the same, if not higher, salaries than their husbands. Often, this leads to unhappy situations at home.

Dr Lim said: "Regardless of what the initial arrangement was, it's hard for the man not to feel insecure. When the power shifts, it'll take for both the man and woman to adjust.

"Pride, which is an emotion, is not something that can be controlled."

Lawyer Steven Lam of JTJB has handled a few cases of wives divorcing their house husbands.

He said: "We're still an Asian society and the man is still regarded as the breadwinner. I have came across some cases where the woman had loved the man because of his status. And problems popped up when he became a house husband and she did not see him as capable as he used to be."