Neuron Breakthrough Offers Hope On Alzheimer’s And Parkinson’s

From Times Online:

Neurons have been created directly from skin cells for the first time, in a remarkable study that suggests that our biological makeup is far more versatile than previously thought.

If confirmed, the discovery that one tissue type can be genetically reprogrammed to become another, could revolutionise treatments for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s, opening up the possibility of turning a patient’s own skin cells into the neurons that they need.

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NASA Sets Feb. Launch Date For Shuttle Endeavour

From ABC News:

NASA sets Feb. 7 launch date for shuttle Endeavour, delivering new space station room.

NASA has set an early February launch date for space shuttle Endeavour.

Senior managers met Wednesday and decided unanimously to proceed toward a Feb. 7 launch date for Endeavour. It will be a pre-dawn liftoff at 4:39 a.m. — in all probability the last shuttle launch in darkness.

Endeavour will carry up a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station, the last of the major U.S. components. The six-person crew will hook up the chamber, named Tranquility, during a series of spacewalks.

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Shoes May Have Changed How We Run

From The BBC:

Wearing cushioned running shoes may have changed the way in which many of us run, new research suggests.

Using slow-motion footage, scientists have discovered that experienced barefoot runners land very differently from runners who wear shoes.

The researchers showed that runners who have trained barefoot tend to strike the ground with their forefoot or mid-foot, rather than their heel.

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3-D Glasses Get A Makeover

The Bocko family of Bernardston, Mass., tried watching "The Polar Express" on Christmas Day with paper 3-D glasses but gave up partway through because the glasses weren’t fitting well enough for them to enjoy the full effect. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff

From Christian Science Monitor:

New home entertainment technology aims to transform a 3-D viewer’s experience.

It seems every year is heralded as “the year 3-D home entertainment will take off.” Yet the moment never really arrives.

Last year saw huge strides for 3-D movies in theaters. Each of the seven top-grossing 3-D movies of all time came out in 2009. Atop the list sits “Avatar,” which raked in more than $1.6 billion worldwide and became history’s second biggest box-office hit in only a few weeks. And animation powerhouse Pixar, hungry for similar successes, stuck to its pledge to only make 3-D movies from now on.

This is great news for theatergoers, but there are very few ways to bring the extra dimension home with you.

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Single Photons Observed At Seemingly Faster-Than-Light Speeds

At the boundaries between layers, the photon creates waves interfering with each other, affecting its transit time. (Credit: JQI)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 27, 2010) — Researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a collaboration of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland at College Park, can speed up photons (particles of light) to seemingly faster-than-light speeds through a stack of materials by adding a single, strategically placed layer.

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New Theory of Primate Origins Sparks Controversy

From Live Science:

The evolution of the distant ancestors of humans and other primates may have been driven by dramatic volcanic eruptions and the parting of continents, according to a controversial new theory.

Scientists remain skeptical about the idea, however.

According to prevailing theories, primates originated in a small area. From this center of origin, they dispersed to other regions and continents.

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Video: Boeing's Truck-Mounted Laser Neatly Picks Off 50 IEDs In A Row

From Popular Science:

Boeing's laser weapons have already shown the power to blast aerial drones from the sky, but may find even more immediate use in detonating roadside bombs, which are a top killer of soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. A newly unveiled video shows the company's truck-mounted Laser Avenger destroying two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during a series of 50 test firings that took place at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama last September, according to OptoIQ.

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India Plans Manned Space Mission In 2016

From Breitbart/AFP:

India will launch its first manned space mission in 2016 in a bid to match space pioneers such as Russia and the United States, a top official said Wednesday.

The government had already approved plans for a human space flight project by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and last year gave the go-ahead for funding of around 2.8 billion dollars.

ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan said the agency would develop the space module for the programme within four years.

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Blonde Women Born To Be Warrior Princesses

Photo: Blondes, such as the actress Emilia Fox, are used to having their own way, the study says

From Times Online:

IT really is a case of blonde ambition. Women with fair hair are more aggressive and determined to get their own way than brunettes or redheads, according to a study by the University of California.

Researchers claim that blondes are more likely to display a “warlike” streak because they attract more attention than other women and are used to getting their own way — the so-called “princess effect”.

Even those who dye their hair blonde quickly take on these attributes, experts found.

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Scientists In Stolen E-Mail Scandal Hid Climate Data

Photo: Professor Phil Jones, the unit's director, stood down while the inquiry took place. (University of East Anglia)

From Times Online:

The university at the centre of the climate change row over stolen e-mails broke the law by refusing to hand over its raw data for public scrutiny.

The University of East Anglia breached the Freedom of Information Act by refusing to comply with requests for data concerning claims by its scientists that man-made emissions were causing global warming.

The Information Commissioner’s Office decided that UEA failed in its duties under the Act but said that it could not prosecute those involved because the complaint was made too late, The Times has learnt. The ICO is now seeking to change the law to allow prosecutions if a complaint is made more than six months after a breach.

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No Facebook IPO In 2010

From CBS News:

Two Major Investors in Facebook Nix Possibility of Public Offering in 2010.

After years of Facebook executives and investors saying "not yet" to an initial public offering, 2010 finally looked like the year when it could happen.

Nope. Or at least that's what two major Facebook investors, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners and Yuri Milner of Digital Sky Technologies, said during an onstage talk at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich on Tuesday.

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'Farthest' Star-Mass Black Hole

An artist's impression of the black hole pulling gas off its companion

From The BBC:

Astronomers have spied a star-sized black hole much further away than any such object previously known.

It has a mass 20 times that of our Sun and is sited six million light-years away in the galaxy NGC 300.

The discovery was made using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility on Mount Paranal in Chile.

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Leading Cause Of Medical Evacuation Out Of War Zones: It's Not Combat Injury

UK troops carry a wounded soldier to a waiting Blackhawk Medevac helicopter after a prolonged contact with Taliban insurgents. (Photo from BBC News in Pictures)

From E! Science News:

The most common reasons for medical evacuation of military personnel from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years have been fractures, tendonitis and other musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders, not combat injuries, according to results of a Johns Hopkins study published January 22 in the Lancet. "Most people think that in a war, getting shot is the leading cause of medical evacuation, but it almost never is," says study leader Steven P. Cohen, M.D., associate professor of anesthesiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. "As in the past, disease and non-battle-related injuries continue to be the major sources of service-member attrition and that's not likely to change. It's likely to get worse."

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My Comment: The same can be said about a good percentage of fatalities in war zones. Fatal accidents have always comprised a good percentage of those who are located in conflict zones.

Apple Introduces The iPad Tablet

Apple’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, introduced the iPad on Wednesday in San Francisco. Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Apple Reveals The iPad Tablet -- New York Times

After months of wild speculation, Steven P. Jobs has finally given Apple fans exactly what they have been asking for — a new iPhone-like tablet computer called the iPad starting at $499."We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a magical and revolutionary product today,” said Mr. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive.

Some models of the product will be available in 60 days, he said.

Mr. Jobs appeared energized but gaunt as he unveiled the iPad at a press event in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Read more ....

More News On The iPad Tablet

A Closer Look at Apple’s New Tablet, the iPad -- Gadget Lab
Apple Tablet Scorecard -- PC World
Apple Launches iPad Tablet, iBooks Bookstore -- PC Magazine
Apple reveals multi-touch 'iPad' tablet device starting at $499 -- Apple Insider
Meet the iPad: Apple CEO Steve Jobs debuts tablet computer -- New York Daily News
Summary: Apple puts an end to tablet rumors with iPad -- MacWorld
Apple announces iPad tablet computer -- 'far better at some key tasks' -- L.A. Times
Apple's iPad Plays Games, Surprise! -- PC World
Apple unveils the 'magical' iPad -- CNN
Apple's Steve Jobs unveils the iPad -- Washington Post
Should the Apple iPad be considered a computer? -- CNET News
Apple tablet iRoundup: The good, the bad, the ugly -- CNET News
No Second Coming: Apple’s iPad Just a Big iPod Touch -- PC World

Scientists Return To Haiti To Assess Possibility Of Another Major Quake

In a pre-earthquake photo, a GPS receiver and antenna sit atop a roof in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Credit: Purdue University/Eric Calais)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 27, 2010) — A team funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) is returning to Haiti this week to investigate the cause of the January 12, magnitude 7 earthquake there.

The geologists will collect crucial data to assess whether the quake could trigger another major event to the east or west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital.

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Altruistic Chimpanzees Adopt Orphans

The adult male chimpanzee Freddy carries his adopted son Victor on his back. Credit: Tobias Deschner, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

From Live Science:

Chimpanzees can be altruistic just like humans, according to a new study that found 18 cases of orphaned chimps being adopted in the wild.

The kind-hearted chimp parents were discovered in the Taï forest in the West African country Ivory Coast. The adoptive caregivers, both male and female, devoted large amounts of time and effort to protecting their young charges, without any obvious gain to themselves.

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Mysterious Band Of Particles Holds Clues To Solar System's Future

IBEX spacecraft's all-sky map reveals a bright ribbon of particles. Credit: NASA

From Cosmos:

HUNTSVILLE, USA: The ribbon of particles at the edge of the Solar System "shocked" NASA researchers when it was discovered last year. Now they say it is a reflection off a strong galactic magnetic field, and holds the clues to the future of the Solar System.

In October last year, NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) spacecraft made the first all-sky maps of the heliosphere - the bubble of magnetism that springs from the Sun and surrounds our Solar System.

The result was a map bisected by a bright, winding ribbon of unknown origin. At the time, NASA researchers called it a "shocking result" and puzzled over its origin.

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Navy Pledges Green Strike Group By 2012

The Navy is Going Green The Navy will demonstrate a Green Strike Group, like the George Washington Carrier Strike Group pictured here, by 2012; the group will run on biofuels and nuclear power rather than fossil fuels.

From Popular Science:

Militaries have a tough, often messy job to do, and as such taking steps to polish their green credentials generally isn’t a high priority. But the potential cost savings – not to mention the tactical advantages – of going green are not lost on U.S. Armed Forces’ top brass. The Army has pursued “zero footprint” base camps, and the Air Force is looking into a variety of alternative propellants that could be turned into jet fuel. Now the Navy is going green, signing a memorandum of understanding with the USDA to demo a Green Strike Group of biofuel- and nuclear-powered vessels by 2012.

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My Comment: Political correctness running amok .... but I will concede that the search for alternative fuels and energy is a valid one, and one that may produce huge savings in the future (maybe).

Obama Aims To Ax Moon Mission

From Orlando Sentinel:

NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon are dead. So are the rockets being designed to take them there — that is, if President Barack Obama gets his way.

When the White House releases his budget proposal Monday, there will be no money for the Constellation program that was supposed to return humans to the moon by 2020. The troubled and expensive Ares I rocket that was to replace the space shuttle to ferry humans to space will be gone, along with money for its bigger brother, the Ares V cargo rocket that was to launch the fuel and supplies needed to take humans back to the moon.

There will be no lunar landers, no moon bases, no Constellation program at all.

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Science Chief John Beddington Calls For Honesty On Climate Change

The IPCC's 2007 report that the glaciers would disappear by 2035 has exposed a wider problem with the way that some evidence was presented

From Times Online:

The impact of global warming has been exaggerated by some scientists and there is an urgent need for more honest disclosure of the uncertainty of predictions about the rate of climate change, according to the Government’s chief scientific adviser.

John Beddington was speaking to The Times in the wake of an admission by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that it grossly overstated the rate at which Himalayan glaciers were receding.

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