Is Sex Possible During Pregnancy

What You Need to Know About Pregnant Sex -- Live Science

Prospective parents can breathe a sigh of relief: According to the latest research, sex during pregnancy is almost always safe.

The latest primer for physicians on the topic, published today (Jan. 31) in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, advises pregnant women and their partners to engage in sex according to the couple's comfort level. The only exception is in the case of high-risk pregnancies. In those cases, sex may sometimes carry risk, the authors wrote, though the evidence is limited.

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Microsoft Security Flaw Puts 900 Million Internet Users At Risk

From FOX News:

Internet users across the world are at risk of being hacked due to a massive security flaw in Internet Explorer, according to a Microsoft announcement.

The flaw, which affects all versions of the popular web browser, puts 900 million people across the globe at risk of being hacked and will require an interim patch update while Microsoft prepares a long term solution.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/02/01/microsoft-security-flaw-puts-million-internet-users-risk/#ixzz1CjIff1Vt

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My Comment: One more reason to use Firefox.

Has The Father Of Triceratops Been Found?

The skull on the left is the Titanoceratops skull, the missing parts of which were reconstructed to look like a Pentaceratops. The illustration on the right shows the missing parts of the frill (shaded). (Credit: Image courtesy of Yale University)

Newly Discovered Dinosaur Likely Father of Triceratops -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2011) — Triceratops and Torosaurus have long been considered the kings of the horned dinosaurs. But a new discovery traces the giants' family tree further back in time, when a newly discovered species appears to have reigned long before its more well-known descendants, making it the earliest known member of its family.

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5,000 Years Of Egyptian Antiquities Are Now Being Looted Across Egypt

Egypt's Antiquities Fall Victim To The Mob -- Wall Street Journal

When Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, came to work at the Egyptian Museum on Saturday, he found that looters had broken in and beheaded two mummies—possibly Tutankhamun's grandparents—and looted the ticket booth. Reports indicate that middle-class Egyptians, the tourism police and later the military secured the museum. But now it appears that many other museum's and storehouses have been looted, along with archaeological sites. A vast, impoverished underclass seems less taken with either the nationalist narrative of Egyptian greatness that stretches back to the pharaohs, or the intrinsic value of antiquities for all humanity, and more intrigued by the possibility of gold and other loot. For his part, Mr. Hawass has now been appointed state minister for antiquities by President Hosni Mubarak.

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More News On Egypt's Collection of Antiquities At Risk As The Unrest Continues To Grow

Egypt sees massive looting of antiquities -- Bikyamasr
Protesters defended Cairo's Egyptian Museum from looters; archeological warehouses raided -- New York Daily News
Egypt: Other face of unrest sees looters plunder country's past -- Scotsman
Details of looting of Cairo and other Egyptian museums -- The Art Newspaper
Haswass Anxiety for Egyptian Antiquities in Attacks on Museums -- Suite101
Egyptian artifacts in danger: antiquities chief -- CBC
Egyptologists fear for relics amid unrest -- CNN
Archaeologists Hold Their Breaths on Status of Egyptian Antiquities -- Science Magazine
Archaeologists assess Tut tragedy -- MSNBC
Egypt crisis: Looters destroy mummies in Cairo museum -- The Telegraph
Egyptian army boosts security at museums and archaeological sites -- The National
Egypt's Treasures Saved from Looters and Vandals -- FOX News
Egypt Treasures Looted, but Public Strikes Back -- National Geographic
Egypt's Human Chain: The Race to Save the Mummies -- Time Magazine
Egypt: military detains 50 at museum -- AP
The Break-In at Cairo's Prized Museum -- Time Magazine
Pictures: Ancient Egyptian Artifacts Damaged in Looting -- National Geographic
The battle for Egypt's past -- CNN
Egypt's museums must be defended -- Jonathan Jones, The Guardian

My Comment: The focus of the media is on the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and efforts to protect it. But the fact is that there are many more museums all across Egypt, and reports are now coming in that they are being looted. To say that this is a catastrophe is an understatement. Regardless of what is happening politically, years from now Egypt will be looking at what is happening today as a dark day in which a good portion of its historical past was looted and stolen.

Why Walking Will Boost Your memory

Memory Boost For Aging Adults: Take A Walk -- Live Science

Forget the brain puzzles, mild exercise such as walking can boost brain volume and improve memory in older adults, researchers have found.

"With a limited investment of time and effort you can produce fairly dramatic improvements in memory and brain health," senior researcher Arthur Kramer, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told LiveScience. "You can roll back the clock about two years."

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My Comment: Exercise is vital when it get older .... and the fun part is that it is fun.

We All Operate On A 24-Hour Cycle

Scientists have identified the mechanism that controls the internal 24-hour clock of all forms of life. Reuters/Tyrone Siu

Scientists Find the Tiny 24-Hour Clock in Every Living Thing -- FOX News

Scientists have identified the mechanism that controls the internal 24-hour clock of all forms of life -- from us to algae.

Researchers from Britain's Cambridge and Edinburgh universities, whose work was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, said their findings provide important insight into health-related problems linked to people such as nurses, pilots and other shift workers, whose body clocks are disrupted.

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My Comment: Truth be told .... sometimes I feel that i have been on a 36 hour schedule.

Shutting Down The U.S. Internet: A Doomsday Scenario

From CBS News:

For Americans addicted to Facebook and Google, a day without the Internet might seem to last forever, but the effect of going offline would be no less traumatic for the entire U.S. economy, experts say.

While the economy probably could reverse the damage from being offline a few days, every day without the Internet would be a step closer to calamity for manufacturing, finance and other sectors of the economy.

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The Web Will Soon be Out of Addresses

Net Approaches Address Exhaustion -- BBC

The last big blocks of the net's dwindling stock of addresses are about to be handed out.

The event that triggers their distribution is widely expected to take place in the next few days.

When that happens each of the five regional agencies that hand out net addresses will get one of the remaining blocks of 16 million addresses.

The addresses in those last five blocks are expected to be completely exhausted by September 2011.

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Rewriting History Of Man As A Global Species

Out Of Africa: Stone Tools Rewrite History Of Man As A Global Species -- The Independent

A stone-age archaeological site in the Arabian peninsula has become the focus of a radical theory of how early humans made the long walk from their evolutionary homeland of Africa to become a globally-dispersed species.

Scientists have found a set of stone tools buried beneath a collapsed rock shelter in the barren hills of the United Arab Emirates that they believe were made about 125,000 years ago by people who had migrated out of eastern African by crossing the Red Sea when sea levels were at a record low.

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My Comment: This debate is going to go on long after we are all gone.

New Techniques To Find Fingerprints Is Helping To Solve Crimes

Image: University of Abertay Dundee/Scottish Police Services Authority)

Fingerprints On Fabrics Could Now Solve Crimes -- New Scientist

Picture the scene: a body is found dead after falling from a high balcony. As forensics teams gather at the scene they need to understand whether it was an accident or something more sinister. Now, the dead man's shirt might hold the answer.

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Is The PC On The Way Out?

Are Tablets Going To Kill The PC? -- Discovery Magazine

It would've been more appropriate to call this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas the Consumer Tablet Show.

In the wake of Apple’s iPad 2010 success with sales topping 10 million units, competing companies rolled out more than 80 tablet devices at the January electronics tradeshow.

“At CES, it seemed like every major company introduced at least one new tablet to its line of products,” said Jonathan Strickland, technology expert who covered CES 2011 for HowStuffWorks.com and the TechStuff podcast.

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My Comment: I am skeptical that this will happen. Computers are easier to use .... and quicker when it comes to work. Tablets will be predominant .... but killing the PC .... nah.

Identifying Skin Cancers With Laser Light

Photo: Holy Mole-y The Verisante Aura uses Raman spectroscopy to analyze moles and other skin growths for the presence of malignant cells nearly instantaneously, taking some of the guesswork out of melanoma diagnosis. Verisante Technology

New Handheld Melanoma Scanner Instantly Identifies Skin Cancers With Laser Light -- Popular Science

Yeah, you’ve been thinking about getting that thing checked out, but it’s just a mole right? Such is the problem with melanoma; it’s tough to know which spots on the skin are benign and which could be the hallmark of early-stage skin cancer. Most dermatologists still decide which moles require a biopsy by good old fashioned eye-balling, but a new device developed by researchers at British Colombia Cancer Agency (BCCA) could remove that guesswork, using a handheld laser to quickly identify problem spots that require closer examination.

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My Comment: I had a skin cancer scare 3 years ago .... this hits me home in more levels than I can imagine.

Startling Images Which Show How Chimpanzees Mourn Their Dead

A Mother's Grief: The Startling Images Which Show How Chimpanzees Mourn Their Dead Just Like Humans -- The Daily Mail

Chimpanzees appear to mourn their dead infants just like humans, scientists have discovered.

Chimpanzee mothers establish close physical relationships with their young, carrying them for up to two years and nursing them until they are six.

But now scientists have filmed how one chimpanzee mother, whose 16-month-old infant died, apparently begins the grieving process.

It’s the latest evidence highlighting just how similar chimps and other great apes are to humans.

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My Comment: A fascinating video. It appears that we are not too different after all.

What If To Do If A Huge Asteroid Was Going To Slam Into Earth?

City Tech student Thinh Lê with the apparatus he built to measure the optical transmission of meteorite samples. (Credit: Michele Forsten)

Asteroid Deflection: What If A Huge Asteroid Was Going To Slam Into Earth? -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2011) — So you think global warming is a big problem? What could happen if a 25-million-ton chunk of rock slammed into Earth? When something similar happened 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs and other forms of life were wiped out.

"A collision with an object of this size traveling at an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 mile per hour would be catastrophic," according to NASA researcher and New York City College of Technology (City Tech) Associate Professor of Physics Gregory L. Matloff. His recommendation? "Either destroy the object or alter its trajectory."

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My Comment: A massive asteroid strike on the earth .... that for sure will make my day.

Is A Trip To The Bar The Best Thing For Veterans Mental Health

Photo: First Lt. Travis Gilbert, 34, center, enjoys his first beer since returning from a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan. Anita Powell / S&S

For Veterans, Road to Mental Health May Begin at the Bar -- Live Science

Connecting struggling veterans to the mental health services they need is an ongoing challenge. Now, a new study finds that the process could start with a sympathetic bartender.

The exploratory study found that bartenders at Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) clubs could help identify veterans in trouble and direct them to mental health professionals. Brief and inexpensive training for these bartenders would widen the safety net for veterans in need of care, said study researcher Keith Anderson, a professor of social work at Ohio State University

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My Comment: I do not see many soldiers disagreeing with this course of treatment.

How Egypt Disconnected The Internet

How Egypt Pulled The Plug On The Internet -- CBS News

Within Six Minutes, Internet Providers for 93 Percent of Egypt Went Down - And Have Not Come Back.

(CBS) NEW YORK - The uprising in Egypt is a quintessential 21st century event - born on Facebook and other social networking sites - which led the government to cut off Internet service.

Science and Technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg reports on this desperate effort to keep a lid on dissent.

The Internet blackout was a surprising move for a nation previously known for being open - compared to other countries in the Mideast.

Read more ....

More News On How Egypt Disconnected The Internet

Egypt's Internet service blockade unprecedented -- USA Today
A Look At How Egypt Shut Down The Internet -- Tech Dirt
Egypt Internet Blockade Worst in History -- Mobilemedia

Noor Group, Egypt's last Internet service provider, shuts down -- L.A. Times
Egypt's last Internet provider, The Noor Group, goes dark; 'speak-to-tweet' service launched -- Canadian Press
Egypt's Last ISP, Noor Group, Vanishes from 'Net -- PC Magazine
Egypt’s Last-Standing ISP Goes Dark -- Threat Level
As Final Internet Provider Goes Off-Line, Egyptians Seek Simpler Options -- NPR

Accessing The Internet From Egypt -- NPR (Audio)
Egypt Turns Off the Internet. Now What Happens? -- Technology Review
Egypt’s Internet gambit misfires. Surprised? -- Reuters
Making sense of the internet and Egypt -- John D. Sutter, CNN
Egypt's big internet disconnect -- Andrew McLaughlin, The Guardian

Microsoft Warning Over Browser Security Flaw

From The BBC:

Microsoft has issued a "critical" warning over a newly-discovered flaw in Windows.

In a security advisory, the company warned of a loophole that could be used by malicious hackers to steal private information or hijack computers.

The bug potentially affects every user of the Internet Explorer web browser - around 900 million people worldwide.

Microsoft has issued a software patch to defend against attacks, and said it was working to develop a long-term fix.

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My Comment: A Microsoft browser security flaw .... how come I am not surprised. What will really make the news, is when they report that there are no security flaws.

How Are We Going To Feed 9.2 Billion People In 2050

The UN has warned of a global hunger crisis over predicted poor crop yields. Photo by wordpress.com

2.4 Billion Extra People, No More Land: How Will We Feed The World In 2050? -- The Independent

Steve Connor reveals how scientists propose a major policy shift to tackle one of the great challenges of the 21st century.

The finite resources of the Earth will be be stretched as never before in the coming 40 years because of the unprecedented challenge of feeding the world in 2050, leading scientists have concluded in a report to be published next week.

Food production will have to increase by between 70 and 100 per cent, while the area of land given over to agriculture will remain static, or even decrease as a result of land degradation and climate change. Meanwhile the global population is expected to rise from 6.8 billion at present to about 9.2 billion by mid-century.

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My Comment: If not .... what has been happening in Tunisia and Egypt in the past two weeks will be a piper when compared to what may happen in the future when the populations involved are 50% greater.

How Did the Vikings Navigate Their Ships When Cloud Or Fog Hid The Sun

No sun here (Image: Doughoughton/Alamy)

Vikings' Crystal Clear Method Of Navigation -- New Scientist

Viking sagas may have been more truthful than we realised. Crystal "sunstones" could have helped Viking sailors to navigate even when cloud or fog hid the sun.

Vikings navigated using sundials calibrated to show the direction of the North Pole. While there is no physical evidence for the navigational techniques adopted on cloudy days, there are references in the Viking sagas to "sunstones" being used.

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Assessing The Damage At The Egyptian Museum

Photo: The Egyptian Museum (Courtesy Kristoferb/Wikimedia Commons)

Egypt's Treasures: Assessing The Damage -- Discover Magazine

Concern about Egypt’s priceless antiquities continues to grow, and Egyptologists around the world are issuing high-alert statements about the risk of Egyptian antiquities being smuggled abroad.

“It would be a wonderful gesture if people who are in the antiquity business do not buy any Egyptian artifact at the moment, particularly if they look Old Kingdom antiquities or if they appear to come from the Memphite Necropolis of the New Kingdom,” Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, told Discovery News in a phone interview from Cairo.

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Greenland's Ice Sheet Is Not Melting

Greenland Ice Sheet Is Safer Than Scientists Previously Thought -- The Guardian

New study overturns fears that increased melting could lubricate the ice sheet, causing it to sink ever faster into the sea.

The threat of the Greenland ice sheet slipping ever faster into the sea because of warmer summers has been ruled out by a scientific study.

Until now, it was thought that increased melting could lubricate the ice sheet, causing it to sink ever faster into the sea. The issue was a key unknown in the landmark 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which pinned the blame for climate change firmly on greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.

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My Comment: OK .... I guess global warming is not an issue there.

How Much Can You Sweat

Never Stop Sweating Jetportal is Jeffrey Montes on Flickr

FYI: How Much Can A Human Body Sweat Before It Runs Out? -- Popular Science

It all depends on the size, physical fitness and hydration of the person in question, but it’s possible to sweat buckets before heatstroke sets in and we pass out. After all, there are about three million sweat glands on the human body (the highest concentration is on our palms), and the average person aggressively working out perspires about 0.7 to 1.5 liters per hour. Theoretically, if we were attached to a treadmill and pumped full of liquids, it’s possible to keep sweating forever.

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My Comment: The sentence that caught my attention was the following .....

.... During the Ironman Hawaii, competitors perspire some 15 liters (about four gallons) throughout the combined marathon run, 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike ride.

That's a lot of sweat.

Will Astronaut Mark E. Kelly Fly Or Not?

Mark E. Kelly at a news conference in Tucson this month, joined by Dr. Peter Rhee, one of Gabrielle Giffords’s doctors. Joshua Lott/Reuters

Giffords’s Husband Faces Decision on Shuttle Flight -- New York Times

As Representative Gabrielle Giffords settles into a rehabilitation hospital in Houston, a major question remains for her husband, the astronaut Mark E. Kelly: Will he fly or not?

Captain Kelly, a Navy officer who flew 39 combat missions in the Persian Gulf war, is scheduled to fly the shuttle Endeavour on a two-week mission to the International Space Station in April.

With his wife at the beginning of a long and arduous rehabilitation program to recover from a gunshot wound to the head, Captain Kelly and his bosses at NASA will have to determine whether he can maintain the training regimen in the weeks leading up to the launching and command the mission.

Read more ....

Update: Giffords husband to decide on space trip in mid-Feb -- Reuters

My Comment: I do not envy the decisions that he has to make.

Commander Of International Space Station Gets A Birthday Present

Expedition 26 crew: (from left to right) Engineers Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri, Dmitry Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli, Catherine Coleman and Commander Scott Kelly

Happy Birthday! Commander Of International Space Station Crew Has Present Delivered By Unmanned Rocket -- The Daily Mail

The commander of a six-person crew who are currently on the International Space Station (ISS) has had a special delivery today, Russian Mission Control have confirmed.

The unmanned rocket delivered food, fuel, oxygen, scientific equipment and packages for the U.S.-Russian-Italian crew, who are part of Nasa's Expedition 26.

And commander Scott Kelly, leading the trip which began in November, found a surprise package to help him celebrate when he turns 47 on February 21.

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Who Will Be On Top .... Google Or Facebook?

Will Google Survive Facebook? -- Wall Street Journal

"How can we not be happy?" Google CFO Patrick Pichette asked rhetorically last week as the Internet search giant unveiled stellar earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter and full year 2010.

He got his answer: a swift $25 drop in Google's stock price. Shares closed Friday at $600.99.

On the face of it, Google management and shareholders had plenty to celebrate. In the fourth quarter, sales surged 26%, while profits rose 29%—both above Wall Street's expectations. Growth in Google's core search business accelerated, and Mr. Pichette stressed that newer businesses in display and mobile search were "another growth engine" for the company. Analysts rushed to increase their one-year stock-price targets, with some going as high as $800.

So why the tepid response?

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My Comment: Search will be around forever .... but social networking is where the growth is.

New Material To Revolutionize Electronics?

This is a digital model showing how molybdenite can be integrated into a transistor. (Credit: Credit: EPFL)

New Transistors: An Alternative to Silicon and Better Than Graphene -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2011) — Smaller and more energy-efficient electronic chips could be made using molybdenite. In an article appearing online January 30 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, EPFL's Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES) publishes a study showing that this material has distinct advantages over traditional silicon or graphene for use in electronics applications.

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My Comment: This is the next electronic revolution.

King Tut Artifacts Damaged In Egypt

Looters Damage King Tut Artifacts in Egypt -- Live Science

As chaos reportedly ensues on the streets of Cairo, the Egyptian Museum became a piece of property for looters to exploit, according to Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

About 1,000 people jumped over the wall on the eastern side of the museum on Friday (Jan. 28) when the protests began. They raided the gift shop, thinking it was the museum, according to Hawass's blog. Ten of the individuals made their way into the museum.

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My Comment: It could have been far worse .... correction .... much worse.

Will The U.S. Get An "Internet Kill Switch"?

After Egypt, Will U.S. Get 'Internet Kill Switch'? -- PC Magazine

With reports of Egypt's government completing shutting down the Internet in the country, talk about an "Internet kill switch" bill in the U.S. has reemerged. Could it happen here?

The bill in question is the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, a cyber-security measure introduced in June by Sen. Joseph Lieberman. It was an over-arching cyber-security measure that, among other things, would create an office of cyberspace policy within the White House and a new cyber-security center within the Homeland Security Department.

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More News On The Possibility Of The U.S. Developing And Installing An "Internet Kill Switch"

Internet ‘Kill Switch’ Legislation Back in Play -- Threat Level
Zombie internet 'kill switch' bill back to haunt the Senate -- Washington Examiner
How Governments Flip the Internet’s Kill Switch -- New York Magazine
So how do you shut off a whole nation's Internet? -- MSNBC
Could Egypt Happen Here? Obama's Internet "Kill Switch" -- Fast Company
Internet Kill Switch: Should the United States Emulate Egypt? -- Aol News
What Could Possibly Go Wrong: An Internet "Off" Switch -- Popular Science
Tunisia, Egypt, Miami: The Importance of Internet Choke Points -- The Atlantic
Egypt's 'Net Shutdown a Wakeup Call for Companies -- PC World

Hidden Chambers In The Great Pyramids

One theory suggests that the Great Pyramid had been built inside-out using an internal spiral ramp, as opposed to an external ramp as had long been suggested. Corbis

Great Pyramid May Hold Two Hidden Chambers -- Discovery News

A 3-D simulation of the 4,500-year-old structure suggests an ancient secret lies beneath the desert sand.

* Two secret chamber housing funereal furniture were discovered at the Great Pyramid of Giza.
* The furniture was intended for use in the afterlife by the pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops in Greek.

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My Comment: If true .... I could only imagine the treasures inside.

The Future Of Wine

Grapes on the Vine in Mendocino, Calif. Hot Ash via Wikimedia

The Future Of Wine: We Need New Breeds Of Grape -- Popular Science

When news broke last week that archaeologist had unearthed a 6,000-year-old winemaking operation in an Armenian cave, many took it as occasion to pat ourselves on the backs—after all, it’s proof that early humans were more civilized than previously thought, evolved creatures that we are. Unfortunately, in the intervening years our grapes haven’t evolved much at all, leaving our winemaking varieties—most of which have been developed from a single species—extremely susceptible to disease and pathogens.

Read more ....

When Did The Dinosaurs Exactly Die Off?

U of A researcher Larry Heaman with the actual fossil that now throws into questions the KT paradigm. He is sitting in front the laser ablation machine. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Alberta)

Dinosaurs Survived Mass Extinction by 700,000 Years, Fossil Find Suggests -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2011) — University of Alberta researchers determined that a fossilized dinosaur bone found in New Mexico confounds the long established paradigm that the age of dinosaurs ended between 65.5 and 66 million years ago.

The U of A team, led by Larry Heaman from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, determined the femur bone of a hadrosaur as being only 64.8 million years old. That means this particular plant eater was alive about 700,000 years after the mass extinction event many paleontologists believe wiped all non-avian dinosaurs off the face of earth, forever.

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My Comment: More evidence is needed .... but it raises a lot of questions.

Drinking In Ancient Greece

Photo: This terra cotta cup was a "designer knock off" with a pattern meant to emulate silver work. This type of cup appeared as people sought escape from harsh economic and social realities, according to Kathleen Lynch, an archeologist with the University of Cincinnati. Courtesy of the excavations of the Athenian Agora

In Vino Veritas: Wine Cups Tell History of Athenian Life -- Live Science

Over centuries, the ancient Athenian cocktail parties went full circle, from a practice reserved for the elite to one open to everyone and then, by the fourth century B.C., back to a luxurious display of consumption most could not afford.

The wine cups used during these gatherings, called symposia, reflect this story, according to Kathleen Lynch, a University of Cincinnati professor of classics.

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My Comment: Drink and merry .... what more can I say.

Lack Of Diversity In Grapes Raises Concerns

(Click on Image To Enlarge)

Lack Of Sex Among Grapes Tangles A Family Vine -- New York Times

For the last 8,000 years, the wine grape has had very little sex. This unnatural abstinence threatens to sap the grape’s genetic health and the future pleasure of millions of oenophiles.

The lack of sex has been discovered by Sean Myles, a geneticist at Cornell University. He developed a gene chip that tests for the genetic variation commonly found in grapes. He then scanned the genomes of the thousand or so grape varieties in the Department of Agriculture’s extensive collection.

Much to his surprise he found that 75 percent of the varieties were as closely related as parent and child or brother and sister. “Previously people thought there were several different families of grape,” Dr. Myles said. “Now we’ve found that all those families are interconnected and in essence there’s just one large family.”

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My Comment: Yup .... I need a drink.

Another Look At Thunderstorms

Here the terrestrial gamma ray flash (pink) is 1.98 milliseconds old, and its electron(yellow) /positron(green) beam is reaching altitudes where it may intercept spacecraft, such as NASA's Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. Credit: NASA

Thunderstorms Create Beams Of Antimatter -- Cosmos

SYDNEY: A space-based telescope has detected beams of antimatter shooting out the top of thunderstorms, in what has been described as an “amazing curiousity of nature”.

The data was collected from NASA's Fermi Gamma Ray SpaceTelescope. In some cases the thunderstorms were thousands of kilometres away, and the beams were detected only after they had travelled along the Earth’s magnetic field and collided with the spacecraft.

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Ten Endangered-Species Battles

10 Critical Endangered-Species Battles -- Wired Science

In theory, decisions about flora and fauna habitat are purely scientific. In practice, they're political. And that, in a nutshell, is the reality of the Endangered Species Act, passed in 1973 as part of a historic wave of legislation that both protects America's environmental heritage and provides a framework for settling conflicts.

Some say it does too little; others, that it intrudes too much. The arguments go 'round and 'round, and underscore a fundamental truth: In the Anthropocene Era, people decide nature's fate.

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A Cybermap Of The Scientific World

(Image: Computed by Olivier H. Beauchesne @ Science-Metrix, inc. Data from Scopus, using books, trade journals and peer-reviewed journals)

Info-Streams Create Cybermap Of The Scientific World -- New Scientist:

Inspired by an earlier image showing connections among Facebook friends, Olivier Beauchesne of the consulting firm Science-Metrix has now created this global map of scientific collaborations.

Read more ....

My Comment: Impressive map.

Food Inflation Expected To Reach 50% For Some Countries This Year

The world is facing a commodities crisis that could leave millions unable to afford the rising costs of food as population levels soar

Food Prices To Rocket By 50% As Global Hunger Epidemic Causes Riots And Famines -- The Daily Mail

* 'Perfect storm' of issues will bring widespread starvation if nothing is done
* Food prices to rise by 50 per cent over the next decade
* GM crops will be needed to feed the world
* Global population to grow to 9billion by 2050

The cost of food will soar by 50 per cent over the next few decades as the world becomes racked by famine, mass migrations and riots, experts have warned.

The increase will be triggered by the exploding world population, rising cost of fuel and increased competition for water, according to a leading Government think-tank.

Spiralling food prices will push hundreds of millions of people into hunger, trigger mass migration and spark civil unrest, the report warned.

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My Comment: A perfect storm of drought, floods, and failing crops is probably going to give many countries a lot of grief this year when it comes to the price of food supplies.

Amazon Sells More E-Books Than Paperbacks

Amazon.com Touts More E-Book Sales Than Paperbacks -- Computer World

Third-gen Kindle sold millions in fourth quarter, CEO Bezos says.

Computerworld - Amazon.com said it is selling more Kindle e-books than paperback books.

Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos said in a fourth-quarter earnings statement Thursday that the e-book-selling milestone "has come even sooner than we expected."

The company said that in all of 2010, it sold 15% more Kindle e-books than paperbacks. In July, Amazon.com reported that it had sold more Kindle e-books than hardcover books. For all of 2010, it sold three times as many Kindle e-books as hardcovers. Free Kindle books are excluded from those figures.

Read more ....

Early Humans Left the Trees 4.2 Million Years Ago

A reconstructed head of Australopithecus afarensis for an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. John Gurche/Smithsonian

Humans Left Trees 4.2 Million Years Ago -- Discovery News

Wrist bones of human ancestors reveal when humans switched from living in trees to on the ground.

* Fossilized wrist bones suggest humans switched from trees to a terrestrial lifestyle between 4.2 and 3.5 million years ago.
* Tree dwellers experience more stress on the pinky side of their hands while terrestrial species tend to load more stress on the thumb side.
* The timing of the switch coincides with climate and habitat changes and a shift in diet.

Read more ....

My Comment: We've gone a long way in 4.2 million years.

Remembering Space Shuttle Challenger

From CBS News:

(CBS) Friday marks 25 years since the space shuttle Challenger broke apart shortly after takeoff.

"Early Show" co-anchor Jeff Glor took a look back at the tragedy on the broadcast Friday morning.

On Jan. 28, 1986, June Scobee watched the shuttle's 25th liftoff first-hand. Her husband, Dick Scobee was the commander. Scobee was among the six astronauts -- and one teacher -- aboard the shuttle.

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My Comment: I cannot believe that it is 25 years already. Where did the time go.

Marines In Afghanistan Are Getting Use To Using Solar Panels

Marines With ExFOB Marines and sailors of India Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment pose with their Afghan national army counterparts in front of a solar power generator at Patrol Base Sparks, in Sangin District, Afghanistan. Photo by Gunnery Sgt. William Price/USMC

Marines in Afghanistan Find That Solar Panels Save Soldiers' Lives -- Popular Science

A battalion of Marines in Afghanistan is going green, using solar panels to reduce their energy consumption and thereby reduce the things they carry — and even save lives.

The Marines and sailors of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment arrived last October at Forward Operating Base Jackson, outside Sangin, Afghanistan, with an array of solar equipment. The battalion’s generators typically use more than 20 gallons of fuel a day, but the Marines have cut that to 2.5 gallons a day, according to Staff Sgt. David Doty, who maintains the gear.

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My Comment: I just hope that they do not get cloudy days for a long period of time.

Japan On Alert After Volcano's Biggest Eruption In 50 Years

Force of nature: Lightning strikes as Shinmoedake erupts, scattering ash and rocks across a wide swathe of southern Japan

Lightning And Fire: Japan On Alert After Volcano's Biggest Eruption In 50 Years -- The Daily Mail

A one-mile cordon has been established around a volcano on Mount Kirishima after it erupted scattering rocks and ash across southern Japan and sending smoke billowing 5,000ft into the air.

The Meteorological Agency raised the volcanic alert to level 3 as ash today continued to spew from Shinmoedake on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, and residents have been banned from going within a mile of the volcano following its worst eruption in 50 years.

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My Comment: Impressive pictures.

Type 1 Diabetes Cure?

Photo: Dr. Roger Unger (left) and Dr. Young Lee found in an animal study that blocking the hormone glucagon might eliminate the symptoms of type 1 diabetes. (Credit: Image courtesy of UT Southwestern Medical Center)

Potential 'Cure' for Type 1 Diabetes? -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2011) — Type 1 diabetes could be converted to an asymptomatic, non-insulin-dependent disorder by eliminating the actions of a specific hormone, new findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggest.

These findings in mice show that insulin becomes completely superfluous and its absence does not cause diabetes or any other abnormality when the actions of glucagon are suppressed. Glucagon, a hormone produced by the pancreas, prevents low blood sugar levels in healthy individuals. It causes high blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes.

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My Comment: Faster please .... much faster.

Slithering Robots Learn To Stand On Their Own Four Feet

A new robot learns to slither, then crawl, before it can walk. Credit: Joshua Bongard

From Live Science:

Robots that evolved from crawling babies into upright adults could help pave the way for better bots.

Using a computer program, researchers at the University of Vermont simulated a population of naive "baby" robots. The robots had to complete various tasks in their virtual environment, such as finding objects and walking toward them. Those robots that performed poorly got deleted, while the best-performing ones remained "alive."

The robots that changed their body forms (like tadpoles growing into frogs) learned to walk more rapidly and developed the most stable gait, the researchers found.

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Wikileaks Now Has A Competitor

The website for WiiLeaks-competitor OpenLeaks.org, which launched Thursday after information about the site was itself leaked. OpenLeaks

WikiLeaks Rival Launches New Secret-Spilling Site -- Washington Post

DAVOS, Switzerland -- A former member of the group that created WikiLeaks has launched a rival website with the aim of giving whistleblowers more control over the secrets they spill.

Daniel Domscheit-Berg says the new platform called OpenLeaks will allow sources to choose specifically who they want to submit documents to anonymously, such as to a particular news outlet.

He told reporters Friday that the site will begin testing in several weeks and hopes it will be fully operational later this year.

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More News On OpenLeaks

OpenLeaks Site Leaked, Forces Premature Launch of WikiLeaks Rival -- FOX News
OpenLeaks Site Leaked Before Launch -- Information Week
WikiLeaks rival goes live as editors turn on Assange -- Sydney Morning Herald
Wikileaks breakaway site Openleaks gets leaked -- Inquirer
WikiLeaks rival website launches -- Inquirer
WikiLeaks alternative OpenLeaks goes live -- Ars Technica

My Comment: I wish them luck.

Climate In The Past Had An Impact On Europe's Rise And Fall

Tree rings can show environmental changes throughout history, which can be linked to major ups and downs in European history, according to new research. Credit: iStockPhoto

Climate Matched Europe's Rise And Fall -- Cosmos

WASHINGTON: Ancient tree rings show links between climate change and major events in human history, like migrations, plagues and the rise and fall of empires, according to a new study.

The study, which appears in the journal Science , shows moist, balmy temperatures were seen during prosperous Medieval and Roman times, while droughts and cold snaps coincided with mass migrations.

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Man's Migration Out Of Africa More Complicated Than Thought

Ancient Tools May Mark Earlier Path Out Of Africa -- Wired Science

The bodies are still missing, but a prehistoric toolkit discovered in the United Arab Emirates has led some archaeologists to propose a more complex scenario for humanity’s emigration out of Africa.

Uncovered at a Jebel Faya rock shelter, just west of the Straits of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the tools are 125,000 years old. Previous estimates placed the dispersal of modern humans from North Africa around 70,000 years ago. If correct, this new study indicates that humans in eastern Africa left earlier, and traveled to Arabia.

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My Comment: Time to change the history books.

Energy Efficiency Could Cut World Energy By 70%

Alan Simpson calls the national energy grid 'monumentally inefficient' ... electricity pylons in Suffolk. Photograph: Graham Turner/Guardian

Efficiency Could Cut World Energy Use Over 70 Per Cent -- New Scientist

Simple changes like installing better building insulation could cut the world's energy demands by three-quarters, according to a new study.

Discussions about reducing greenhouse gas emissions usually concentrate on cleaner ways of generating energy: that's because they promise that we can lower emissions without having to change our energy-hungry ways. But whereas new generation techniques take years to come on stream, efficiency can be improved today, with existing technologies and know-how.

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My Comment: 70% reduction .... in your dreams.

Using Plants In The Fight Against Terrorism

The Latest Weapon In The Fight Against Terrorism: How Scientists Have Developed Plants That Can Detect Bombs -- The Daily Mail

They provide us with food and are pretty to look at, and now they may even save out lives.

For unlikely as it may seem, scientists have developed plants that can detect bombs.

They have taught plant proteins to change colour when in the presence of certain chemicals.

The implications of the study are not hard to see - ringing an airport security gate, for instance, with such plants could prove a lifesaver should a terrorist approach with an explosive and a whole wall of leaves turn white.

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My Comment: Impressive .... very impressive.

Global Warming Will Freeze Britain

Colder, harsher winters similar to last month will become the norm and summers will become cooler and wetter Photo: ALAMY

Climate Change Means We Will Be Skiing In Yorkshire Rather Than Sunbathing Under Palm Trees, Experts Warn -- The Telegraph

We are more likely to be skiing in Yorkshire than basking under palm trees, a leading climate change expert has warned as global warming will actually lead to Britain getting colder.

Dr Simon Boxall, of the National Oceanography Survey, said that while the planet as a whole will get much warmer, this country will see temperatures plunge as the ocean currents and weather patterns around the world change.

At the moment north west Europe, particularly Britain, is warmer than it should be because of the effect of the North Atlantic Drift bringing warm water from the Tropics.

This then warms sea breezes which keep temperatures mild on land.

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My Comment: I live in Canada .... give me global warming any day.

E-Paper Screens Made Of Real Paper

Andrew Steckl's research is featured on the cover of the November issue of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is the world's largest scientific society. The American Chemical Society (ACS)

Finally, E-Paper Screens Made Of Real Paper! -- Popular Mechanics

In December, electrical engineers at the University of Cincinnati reinvented the wheel. By applying electric fields to nonglass materials, they discovered they could make an e-paper display screen using the unlikeliest of materials—paper.

This discovery has big implications for the future of the screen: Making a display out of regular old paper could maximize affordability, decrease environmental impact and also save space, since a paper screen has the potential to roll up and pull out. So is it time to throw out our retro flatscreens and make room for paper television? Not just yet. The future is exciting, but looking at the essential components of a display screen reveals some big roadblocks on the way to shoving a 78-inch screen into your cup holder.

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My Comment: I still prefer old fashion paper.

Super-Tough Robotic Hands Are Now Real (Video)

Video: Scientists Smash A Super-Tough Robotic Hand With A Hammer -- Popular Science

Good news everyone! German robotics researchers have built a hyper-strong hand that can withstand hammer blows! Come and shake the hand that will someday wring our species' collective neck.

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My Comment: We are getting to that age when robots are just like us .... but stronger (and probably a bit smarter).

Hubble Telescope Detects The Oldest Known Galaxy

The galaxy was already in existence 480 million years after the Big Bang.

From The BBC:

The Hubble Space Telescope has detected what scientists believe may be the oldest galaxy ever observed.

It is thought the galaxy is more than 13 billion years old and existed 480 million years after the Big Bang.

A Nasa team says this was a period when galaxy formation in the early Universe was going into "overdrive".

The image, which has been published in Nature journal, was detected using Hubble's recently installed wide field camera.

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My Comment: The Hubble telescope .... still going strong after all of these years.

Is Your Next Credit Card Your Cell Phone?

From ABC News:

Apple Reportedly Planning Pay-by-Phone Service for Next Gen iPhones, iPads.

Get ready to retire that worn leather wallet. If some of the country's biggest tech companies have their way, all the plastic cards crammed into your billfold will soon find their way into your phone.

Apple is planning to introduce a service that would let consumers use their iPhones and iPads to purchase products, essentially turning a user's cell phone into a credit or debit card, according to a Bloomberg report.

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My Comment: Credit cards, iPhones, Ipads .... what's wrong with paper cash?

Hormone Holds Promise As Memory Enhancer

From Live Science:

Could boosting your memory someday be as simple as popping a pill? Scientists found that rats injected with a hormone could remember better, even two weeks after the memory was formed.

The memory-boosting hormone was IGF2, which plays an important role in brain development. The researchers suggest that a better understanding of how this chemical works (IGF2 is short for insulin-like growth factor 2) might lead to drugs that enhance human brain power, particularly in individuals with Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

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My Comment: Faster please .... I am getting older, and my memory is not what it once was.

Report Advocates GM Crops In Food Supply Measures

Top of the crops: Government ministers are keen to embrace GM foods,like this modified soya crop. Photo from The Daily Mail

From The Independent:

Genetically-modified crops are among measures needed to tackle problems with global food supplies that could see prices soar, leading scientists said today.

A new Government-commissioned report warned that there were major failings in the global food system that damages the environment and leaves one billion people hungry.

A further one billion suffer from "hidden hunger" in which nutrients are missing from their diet and the same number are over-consuming, while a third of all food produced is currently wasted.

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My Comment: Lacking any other means to grow more crops .... our options are very limited.