First Case of Animals Making Their Own Essential Nutrients: Carotenoids

A certain Aphid can make their own essential nutrients called carotenoids, according to University of Arizona researchers. It is widely known that animals do not make their own carotenoids. Carotenoids are building blocks that are crucial in life for vision, bone growth and other key functions. Animals must seek out these nutrients in order to sustain life. But not the Pea Aphid, they have a way to make it own there own. Well they don't do it by themselves. These aphids have a symbiotic relationship with a bacteria that produces the nutrient. These bacteria are passed from the mother to the babies. If the bacteria dies the aphids die.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100429141417.htm

New study: Overweight adults beyond age 70 live longer

Here is a link to the article!

In a new study published in the Journal of The American Geriatrics Society, it has been found that overweight adults over 70 years old are actually less likely to die over a ten year period than adults who are the same age and considered 'normal' weight. The study took place in Australia, the third most obese country, behind the United States, and the United Kingdom, and started in 1996, and included 9,200 men and women between 70 and 75 years of age. The research shows that risk of death was lowest for participants who were overweight, by BMI standards, with the risk of death reduced by 13% compared with participants who have a normal weight, by BMI standards. The lead researcher Leon Flicker, of the University of Western Australia concludes that "Our study suggests that those people who survive to age 70 in reasonable health have a different set of risks and benefits,"

So, I found this article interesting because what it is saying goes against everything that everybody has been telling us about obesity. I don't really think it accurate though. I don't think BMI standards are accurate to begin with. According to BMIs, all the NFL players are obese!! Staying in shape is extremely important, and even more important as you get older because your body grows weaker and your metabolism slows done tremendously. So, you can't eat the same things you did when you were younger. It's important to eat healthy and stay active.

Merely seeing disease symptoms may promote aggressive immune response

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/04/27/merely_seeing_disease_symptoms_may_promote_aggressive_immune_response.html

Just seeing someone who looks sick is enough to make your immune system work harder, according to a new study in which volunteers looked at pictures of sick people. This may help fight off pathogens, says Mark Schaller from the University of British Columbia who conducted the research. "It seems like it's probably good for the immune system to be responding especially aggressively at times when it looks like you are likely to be coming into contact with something that might make you sick."

i like this article because it shows how well the brain works with the rest of the body in preventing harm to itself. the mere sight of sick people can raise the white blood cell count as a prophylactic effect. it was amusing the test they did, comparing a picture of a sick person exposed to someone to a picture of someone having a gun pointed at them. maybe it's possible that the picture of a sick person didn't actually raise the immune system at all, it could be possible the sight of someone pointing a gun at you just hinders the immune system because your body is preparing for death. either way, it shows that treatment for illness doesn't have to be dependent on medication, perhaps alternative self preventatives can be just as good.

Lottery game helps to assess brain damage following stroke

People that suffer from strokes are believed to have the reasons most people do when they get a stroke. Examples of this is just eating on one half of your food on your plate and only focusing on one side of your brain. 45% of people suffer from strokes on the right side of their brain.

Students and professors at the University of Melbourne studied a group of people who have suffered from strokes and they came up with some very interesting information. The students and professors played a lottery game with the patients where they had to choose six lottery numbers and mark them off. Most patients tended to pick numbers located on the right side, basically ignoring all the numbers on the left side.

These people even picked larger numbers on a number lines, those numbers that were located on the right side of the number line. I thought this was very interesting to find out that people were able to just look over the left side of some information.

Doctor fixes heart with remote-controlled robot

Doctors at a British hospital have carried out the first heart rhythm operation using a remote -controlled robot and say its success means patients could be treated by doctors in other cities, or even other countries. Robotic surgery is becoming more common in wealthy nations and can be used on patients suffering from gynecological cancer, coronary artery disease, kidney cancer, and bladder cancer. The procedure carried out by Ng involved inserting thin wires called catheters into blood vessels at the top of the groin and then threading them up into the chambers of the heart.
Electrodes on the catheters record and stimulate different regions of the heart to help the doctor identify the cause of the heart rhythm problem, which usually involves an abnormality in the electrical wiring system of the heart.
Once the area is identified, one of the catheters is placed at the right location to ablate, or burn, the tissue to cure the problem. Catheter ablation has been developed and used over the past two decades effectively in many patients suffering palpitations due to heart rhythm disturbances. They say that remote operations may be carried out on patients in future all over the world.

Iceland has longest-lived men

AIDS, smoking and obesity are reversing progress made in helping people live longer around the world, with mortality rates worsening over the past 20 years in 37 countries, researchers reported on Thursday.
An Iceland fan shouts during their men's European Handball Championship group B match against Serbia in Linz January 19, 2010. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski
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They found Icelandic men have the lowest risk of premature death, while Cypriot women do. Some rich countries such as the United States and Britain scored relatively poorly, the survey found.
In most places, men have twice the relative mortality rate of women, Dr. Christopher Murray of the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues reported in the Lancet medical journal.
"Worldwide, the 1990s reversal in the trend in adult mortality is probably a result of the HIV pandemic and the sharp rise in adult mortality in countries of the former Soviet Union," the researchers wrote.
"One of the most striking patterns is the rapid decline in adult female mortality in south Asia; in 1970 this was the region with the highest risk of female mortality and by 2010, (the risk of dying before age 60) had fallen by 56 percent."

Military may join fight to contain Gulf oil slick

Defense Department offered to help contain the massive growing oil slick from a deadly rig explosion that threatens the shoreline of four Gulf states. BP and the Coast Guard have already mounted what the London-based company calls the largest oil spill containment operation in history, involving dozens of ships and aircraft. They are struggling to control the slick from the leaking well 5,000 feet under the sea off Louisiana's coast, which is spilling five times more oil than previously estimated. This could and will cause serious environmental damage to coastal wildlife refuges, beaches and estuaries in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. They are saying that they will accept help from anyone at this point just to help it get cleared up before the damage spreads.

Mercury Levels In Arctic Seals May Be Linked To Global Warming

The scientists analyzed the mercury content in muscle samples collected from ringed seals between 1973 and 2007. They then compared the levels to the length of the so-called "summer ice-free season," a warm period marked by vanishing sea ice in the seals' habitat. They found that the seals accumulated more mercury during both short (2 months) and long (5 months) ice-free seasons and postulate that this is related to the seals' food supplies.
Higher seal mercury concentrations may follow relatively short ice-free seasons due to consumption of older, more highly contaminated Arctic cod while relatively long ice-free seasons may promote higher pelagic productivity and thus increased survival and abundance of Arctic cod with the overall result of more fish consumption and greater exposure to mercury. Longer ice-free seasons resulting from a warming Arctic may therefore result in higher mercury levels in ringed seal populations as well as their predators (polar bears and humans).

Melting Sea Ice Major Cause of Warming in Arctic

melting of sea ice has dramatically increased the levels of warming in the region in the last two decades.
Lead author Dr James Screen of the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne says the increased Arctic warming was due to a positive feedback between sea ice melting and atmospheric warming.
"The sea ice acts like a shiny lid on the Arctic Ocean. When it is heated, it reflects most of the incoming sunlight back into space. When the sea ice melts, more heat is absorbed by the water. The warmer water then heats the atmosphere above it. "
"What we found is this feedback system has warmed the atmosphere at a faster rate than it would otherwise," he says.
Using the latest observational data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting, Dr Screen was able to uncover a distinctive pattern of warming, highly consistent with the loss of sea ice.
"In the study, we investigated at what level in the atmosphere the warming was occurring. What stood out was how highly concentrated the warming was in the lower atmosphere than anywhere else. I was then able to make the link between the warming pattern and the melting of the sea ice."
The findings question previous thought that warmer air transported from lower latitudes toward the pole, or changes in cloud cover, are the primary causes of enhanced Arctic warming.
Dr Screen says prior to this latest data set being available there was a lot of contrasting information and inconclusive data.
"This current data has provided a fuller picture of what is happening in the region," he says.
Over the past 20 years the Arctic has experienced the fastest warming of any region on the planet. Researchers around the globe have been trying to find out why.
Researchers say warming has been partly caused by increasing human greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the Arctic sea ice has been declining dramatically. In summer 2007 the Arctic had the lowest sea ice cover on record. Since then levels have recovered a little but the long-term trend is still one of decreasing ice.
Professor Ian Simmonds, of the University's School of Earth Sciences and coauthor on the paper says the findings are significant.
"It was previously thought that loss of sea ice could cause further warming. Now we have confirmation this is already happening."

Jellyfish Fight Terrorists

Engineers invented a device to bring air samples into contact with genetically engineered biosensors in the effort to detect dangerous biological agents. The technology uses multiple collections of altered cell antibodies, each collection designed to respond to a specific pathogen by releasing photons of a unique wavelength upon finding it. Detectors measure the photons' wavelengths and interpret the pathogens they represent. Anthrax, plague and small pox are some of the possible pathogens terrorists could use against us. Researchers also said that jellyfish are helping prevent these kinds of attacks.

From Scifi to reality

In the book, Darwins Radio, a scientist has found evidence that shows that the "junk" DNA in people may be more than it seems, and it looks like he was right. Scientist Nitya Venkataraman and Alexander Colewhether along with their their group have found that a part in the human DNAs junk can actually produce retrocylin which is the protein that monkeys have to fight off AIDS. it seems that humans are also capable of making this protein but a mutation called a "nonsense" mutation has blocked the sequence. The pair of scientist did testing to see if the part of DNA, if reactivated, would fight off HIV in human cells would work and it seems it did. They used a compound called aminoglycosides to disrupts RNAs transcription into DNA which "activates" the junk DNA.

Now that is an experiment I would volenteer myself for. also imagin if they reawaken other parts of the DNA maybe we could be cancer resistent.

article can be found here

What Lyes can do to you

In the article it talked about how narco-hit men use Lye, usually sudiom hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, to get rid of bodies aswell as how universities do the same thing to get rid of the cadavers used in classes. What's usually done in the universities is that they take the bodies and dump it in an enormous "pressure cooker" and heat the water to 300 degrees F with some lye and let the body dissolve until only the bones are left. The Bones are then separated from the liquid and the mixture is poured down the drain. The narcos just heat up water and dumo the bodies in with lye until they get the same results, which take longer do to the water only reaching boiling point. I find it scary how something that can be used to clean or make soaps can do that kind of damage.

The article can be found at : http://www.slate.com/id/2238086/?from=rss

Giant Earthworm is a myth

For the past 110 years enviromental groups have been petitioning for the protection of the "giant" Palouse earthworm under the belive that it was a meter long, spit at you and would smell like lilies. Two reaserchers from the university of Idaho found two after sending electricity into the earth to force the worms to come out. The pair of worms they got were an adult and a younger worm. The adult was disected and measured at 9 to 10 inches and the juvenille worm is being stored in soil with ice to further reaserch. I was disapinted in finding out that its not that big and it doesnt spit, it doesnt even smell of lilies, whats next no jakalope?

For the full article read this.

Cute puppy gets plastic surgery!

Roland, an abandoned shar pei from Australia, underwent a face lift and double eye lift costing $897. Roland's surgery was not cosmetic, the dog needed it to be saved from going blind. Entropion is a painful condition where the dogs wrinkles push down on his eyes, causing it's eyelashes to be pushed inwards and rub against its eyes. Since Roland will not become blind he will have a much easier time finding a good home.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581978,00.html?sPage=fnc/health/pethealth

70 years with no food

Prahlad Jani, an 83 year old man from Gujarat, has been living for the past 70 years without food or water. Jani claims he is able to survive without necessities because when he was 8 years old he was blessed by a goddess. Indian doctors now have Jani under 24 hour surveillance in hopes of learning from his strange condition. Cameras are placed all around his home and a mobile camera follows him while he's out. Doctors are hoping to learn from Jani in order to help soldiers at war survive longer periods of time with no food or water. Jani says that he receives all of his strength through meditation, and although soldiers would not be able to meditate in time of war, doctors are still hoping to discover secrets to Jani's incredible ability.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,591747,00.html

Merely seeing disease symptoms may promote aggressive immune response

This University of British Columbia (that's in Canada, aye) study suggests that the mere observation of sysmtoms of illness in others may send the immunes system into hyper drive. I found this very interesting because it suggests that even our involuntary and unconscious reactions may be directly linked to our voluntary consciousness. This would mean that the unconscious drive that triggers our immune system response had it's own cause/effect logic that is completly seperate from our normal awarness. Check out the full article at http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/04/27/merely_seeing_disease_symptoms_may_promote_aggressive_immune_response.html

There may be plenty of fish in the sea but the medaka knows what it likes. A new study published in the open access journal BMC Biology shows how a single gene mutation that turns Japanese Killifish a drab grey colour renders them significantly less attractive to more colourful members of the opposite sex.

The medaka, found commonly in Southeast Asia, can be observed in a wide range of colours; from brown, to more uncommon orange and grey variations. Shoji Fukamachi led a team of researchers from the University of Konstanz, Germany and the University of Tokyo, who studied the effects of alterations in a colour-determining gene on mating preferences of the fish.

According to Fukamachi "We observed that the grey medaka were often rejected in favour of their brown or orange rivals. This is the first demonstration of a single gene that can change both secondary sexual characteristics and mating preferences".

The greys, however, need not be completely despondent at these findings, as the study also showed that they were preferentially selective for each other.

Orange colour in medaka is determined by the presence of pigmented structures known as xanthophores, and these are reduced in the grey fish carrying the mutant gene. By over-expressing this same gene, the researchers created super attractive bright orange medaka that induced hyperactivity in similarly engineered members of the opposite sex while other potential mates were ignored almost completely.

"Thus, the present finding of the xanthophore-dependent mate choice enables many ingenious experiments to be designed in this and other fish species" said Fukamachi, adding, "This discovery should further facilitate molecular dissection/manipulation of visual-based mate choice".

The strong like-for-like colour preference of medaka mating, suggests that sympatric speciation could occur as reproductive isolation follows colour switches due to mutations in this colour-determining gene.
Source : BioMed Central

Lottery game helps patients

Patients recovering from stroke sometimes behave as if completely unaware of one half of the world: colliding with obstacles on their left, eating food only from the right side of their plate, or failing to dress their left side. This puzzling phenomenon is termed "spatial neglect" and it affects roughly 45% of patients suffering from a stroke in the right side of the brain. The condition can indicate a long road to recovery, but researchers have now developed a quick and simple lottery game, which can be used to assess the extent of these symptoms and potentially aid the design of rehabilitation programmes. The findings are reported in the May 2010 issue of Elsevier's Cortex (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/cortex).

Psychotropic Drugs Overprescirbed to Children

A new study warns of a large increase in prescription drugs being given to children. One in every fifty Americans is considered permanently disabled by mental illness, and eight million children take one or more kinds of psychotropic drugs. They are usually prescribed to adults, but doctors have been prescribing these to children without knowing the impact on the childs long term development. Pharmaceutical industries are largely influenced by making a profit and have been given leniency by the FDA to sell drugs that have not been properly tested. Between 1994-2001 psychotropic prescriptions to children have gone up 60%. Children are prescribed these drugs and the long term affects are unknown to them. I am glad I narrowly missed the fad of putting your kid on drugs for everything sense im too old, im just normal crazy like everyone else.

Lottery Game Helps Assess Brain Damage Following Stroke

Patients that are recovering from a stroke sometimes behave as if completely unaware of one half of the world: colliding with obstacles on their left, only eating off one side of their plate or only dressing half their body. This disorder affects about 45% of people with strokes in the right side of their brain. Researchers have developed a quick and simple lottery game which can assess the symptoms and potentially aid the design and rehabilitation programs.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/04/28/lottery_games_helps_to_assess_brain_damage_following_stroke.html

Gene That Allows Worms to Grow New Head and Brain Discovered

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered the gene that enables an astonishing worm to restore its own body parts after amputation -- as well as a whole head and brain. Their research into the Planarian worm is another piece in the scientific jigsaw that could one day make the regeneration of old or damaged human organs and tissues a real possibility.

The research led by Dr Aziz Aboobaker, a Research Councils UK Fellow in the School of Biology shows for the first time that a gene called 'Smed-prep' is essential for correctly regenerating a head and brain in planarian worms. These remarkable creatures contain adult stem cells that are constantly dividing and can become all of the missing cell types. They also have the right set of genes working to make this happen exactly as it should so that when they re-grow body parts they end up in the right place and have the correct size, shape and orientation.

I knew that worms could regenerate their tail or their head if it were to be chopped off, but I never knew that their brains were regenerated to. It's pretty amazing how an animal so small like a worm can do amazing things and regenerate their bodies, while us humans are still trying to figure out if we are able to save a limb or not. Being able to regenerate human body parts would make life a lot more simpler.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100423113721.htm

Young Salamanders' Movement Over Land Helps Stabilize Populations

Amphibians -- frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts -- are disappearing worldwide, but the stream salamanders of the Appalachian Mountains appear to be stable. This region is home to the largest diversity of salamanders in the world (more than 70 species reside here), and scientists want to understand what contributes to the stability of these salamander populations.

In research published in the March 29, 2010 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Evan Grant (a research associate in the University of Maryland Department of Biology and wildlife biologist with the US Geological Survey's Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative), describe how two species of stream salamanders find new homes by moving both within streams and over land to adjacent streams during multiple life stages, and how this movement may help to stabilize their populations.

Evan Grant used observations of marked animals to estimate the dispersal probabilities of two species of lungless salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus and Desmognathus monticola) who reside in headwater streams (these salamanders are known to prefer the headwaters, where the stream originates) in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park.

An animal that can change it's body to perform in different situations and overal live a longer life than any other amphibian? That's new news to me, I didn't think there was any animal on earth that could function without any lungs. And then without any lungs, change the way its body is to live in different places. There are some pretty cool animals out there that no one even knows about.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100330142433.htm

How nerve cells distinguish odors

Whether different odors can be quickly recognized depends on certain synapses in the brain that restrain nerve stimulation. The researchers in Professor Dr. Thomas Kuner's team at the Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Heidelberg University Medical School and Dr. Andreas Schäfer at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research have shown that mice in which a certain receptor in the olfactory center is missing can distinguish similar smells more quickly than mice without genetic manipulation. The behavior that was discovered was directly caused by the inhibitor loops between adjacent nerve cells.

Odors attach to receptors of olfactory cells in nasal mucosa, where they trigger nerve signals. These signals are processed in what is known as the olfactory bulb, a part of the brain. In the neuronal network, the incoming signal is converted to a specific electrical pattern that is transmitted to the cerebral cortex and other areas of the brain and is recognized there.

I think it is pretty interesting that the nerve cells in my body are able to distinguish different odors that my body can create. There is obviously a whole bunch of different cells and parts of the brain that contribute to this discovery. I am just so amazed at how researchers can find out all these types of extremely interresting things and then be able to share them with everyday people.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/04/28/how_nerve_cells_distinguish_odors.html

Chagas disease is one of the deadliest parasitic diseases in the world. More than 10 million people are affected by it, usually in America. It kills about 50,000 people in South America each year. A diagnosis has been a main point in the fighting the infection, it hasn't been achieved yet—Momar Ndao and his associates at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal had their results published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. They have reported their success in making a process of diagnosis and others have failed.

Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, which is in South America and southern Central America, happens by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. The disease is usually sent through the bite of an infected insect. The symptoms are varied, but as the disease moves on, serious chronic symptoms can start to happen, like heart disease and malformation of the intestines. Some people affected may not have symptoms for years, which makes diagnosis difficult.

Chagas disease can also be sent from mother to unborn child and can go on through many generations without symptoms. If a mother gave birth to someone in North America who was infected can send the disease to their child without traveling. They might also unknowingly donate infected blood. There is an fast need for action on this disease as it is under-diagnosed and there is no effective treatment.

A Natural Cure for Cancer a substance in breast milk kills cancer cells

A natural cure for cancer has been found by Swedish researchers in at the University of Gothenburg and Lund University. The substance found in breast milk binds and kills cancer cells. The tumor-lethal substance, dubbed HAMLET (Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made LEthal to Tumor cells), was discovered in breast milk a few years ago, but human testing was only recently authorized. In initial tests, patients with bladder cancer were treated with the substance. After each treatment, researchers found dead cancer cells in their urine. This raised hope it could be developed into an effective cancer medication. Researchers discovered HAMLET when they were studying breast milk's antibacterial action. Further investigation showed HAMLET is composed of a protein and a fatty acid found naturally in breast milk. So far, however, it has not been shown whether the HAMLET complex forms spontaneously in milk. It seems, however, that the two components of HAMLET join together in the acid juices of babies' stomachs.
Incredibly, additional tests have demonstrated that HAMLET kills 40 different types of cancer, and the investigators are going on to study its effect on skin cancer, tumors in the mucous membranes and brain tumors. An additional amazing finding is that HAMLET has no effect on healthy cells — It kills only the cancer cells.
Researchers at Gothenburg University, Roger Karlsson, Ingela Lanekoff and Maja Puchades, are now focusing on how HAMLET is taken up into the tumor cells. In particular, they are trying to understand how it interacts with plasma membranes of cancer cells.

If you smoke too much 'blame your genes'

If you smoke too much 'blame your genes', say experts

A nicotine addiction drives some people to smoke more than others
Smokers who find it hard to cut down or quit may be able to blame their genes, new research suggests.

Scientists identified three genetic mutations that increase the number of cigarettes people smoke a day.

And several genes appear to dictate how likely you are to take up smoking and how easily you can quit.

Three separate studies collected data from 140,000 people, with the results published in the journal Nature Genetics.

A previous study two years ago found a common single-letter change in the genetic code linked to nicotine addiction and lung cancer risk.

This new research confirms this discovery and also pinpoints two more genetic variants that seem to increase cigarette consumption among smokers.

Lung cancer risk

The new single-letter mutations, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs, lie in regions of the DNA molecule containing genes believed to influence nicotine addiction.

Smokers who want to quit should not wait for treatment tailored to their genetic make-up

Amanda Sandford, ASH
In smokers, each copy of the variants was associated with a small increase in smoking consumption equivalent to about half a cigarette a day.

However they also conferred a 10% increase in lung cancer risk, raising questions about their effect.

It is not clear whether the variants simply drive people to smoke more, or increase susceptibility to cancer as well.

The University of North Carolina, Oxford University and Icelandic company deCODE were all involved in the research.

Dr Kari Stefansson, researcher and executive chairman of deCODE, stressed that smoking is bad for anyone's health.

"But it is even worse for some, and our discoveries continue to strengthen our ability to identify who those people are and give them a compelling reason to quit."

Amanda Sandford, research manager at ASH, a public health charity, cautioned that any potential benefits from this research were still a long way in the future.

"Smokers who want to quit should not wait for treatment tailored to their genetic make-up.

"There is an abundance of advice and treatments available already to help people stop smoking," she said.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

This article is not necessarily saying if you have parents that are smokers that you will automatically become one as well. However, there are genes that have been proven to be passed on causing to be more seseptable to addiction.

Stay Home ET, UK scientist: Aliens may pose riskhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100426/ap_on_sc/eu_britain_dangerous_aliens;_ylt=AoxebUIsJIbwxk5g5droj38P

Many people all over the world believe that aliens exsist on other planets such as Mars. A Britsish astrophysist believes there they are aliens but trying to interact with them could be risky for us. He relates alien communications with Columbus arriving to America. He believes that these Aliens would come to the earth and try to conquer it which could spark jeporady. He says that these aliens would be smillar to animals in size, his advice is to not go after them.

Chinese Woman Keeps Healthy by Eating Dirt

Fan Qianrong says she has stayed healthy for more than 40 years by eating soil. The 48-year-old resident of the Qingquan village of Shijiazhuang city in China's Hebei province gathers clods of clay for her dirt diet-and she is not alone.
Three years ago, a young woman from China's Inner Mongolia made news when she told the media how much she loved munching on dirt.
Although this may sound a bit crazy, medical professionals have told ABC News that certain kinds of mineral-packed soil might provide diners with health benefits. In rural regions of African and India, pregnant women consume calcium-loaded kinds of clay thought to combat morning sickness, The Guardian notes.
For me, this dirt diet is very bizarre and imagining it makes me sick.
Link: http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/chinese-womafan-qianrong-stayshealthy-by-eating-dirt/19443571

Giant Lizard Species Discovered

Deep in a dense Philippine jungle, a massive species of monitor lizard has been identified. And one of the researchers who helped locate the 6 1/2-foot-long creature says this new discovery may not be the last

With its slit-shaped nostrils, banded tail, yellow spots and double penis for males, the new lizard has been known to villagers in the northern reaches of Luzon island. They cal it bitatawa.

But the species-officially known as Varanus bitatawa - has only just come to the attention of scientists, who say it is a relative of the Komodo dragon. Unlike its carnivorous cousin, bitatawa dines on plants, not flesh, and tends to spend most of its time out of sight, hidden in the treetops of the forest.

This is quite a beast! I guess the only good news about this lizard is the fact that it eats plants!

Link: http//://www.aolnews.com/science/article/scientists-discover-new-species-of-monitor-lizard-varanus-bitatawa/19433684

Special diet may prevent Alzheimer's disease

According to researchers at Columbia University, people who eat a lot of salad dressing, nuts, fish, poultry and certain fruits and vegetables and not much red meat, high-fat dairy, organ meat and butter are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. This disease typically affects the elderly and is accompanied by debilitating memory loss.

The study built on previous research that found that foods containing certain nutrients are beneficial for the brain and effective at warding off Alzheimer's.

I have seen a few movies about Alzheimer's disease and it is very sad how this disease affects people and their relationships with their family members and loved ones. Therefore, I am glad to hear that there is a dietary prevention plan which might help to reduce Alzheimer's disease in our society.

Words Really Do Hurt

Study Shows Words Alone May Activate Pain Response in the Brain
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Laura J. Martin, MDApril 2, 2010 -- Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can hurt you too, according to new research.

A new study suggests merely saying, "This may hurt a bit," before receiving a shot may be enough to trigger a pain response in the brain long before any actual pain is felt.

Researchers found hearing words that describe pain -- such as "excruciating" or "grueling" -- activated the areas of the brain that process the corresponding sensation.

"These findings show that words alone are capable of activating our pain matrix," says researcher Thomas Weiss, a professor at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, in Germany, in a news release. "Even verbal stimuli lead to reactions in certain areas of the brain.”

In the study, published in Pain, researchers used functional magnetic resonance tomography (fMRI) to examine how 16 healthy people processed words associated with experiencing pain. The brain scans revealed which parts of the brain were activated in response to hearing the words.

In the first experiment, researchers asked the participants to imagine situations that corresponded with words associated with pain -- such as "excruciating," "paralyzing," and "grueling" -- as well as negative but non-pain associated words such as "dirty" and "disgusting" and neutral and positive words.

In the second experiment, the participants read the same words but were distracted by a brainteaser.

The results showed that in both cases there was a clear response in the brain's pain-processing centers with the words associated with pain, but there was no such activity pattern in response to the other words.

Researchers say preserving painful experiences as memories in the brain may have been an evolutionary response to allow humans to avoid painful situations that might be dangerous.

"However, our results suggest as well that verbal stimuli have a more important meaning than we have thought so far," says Weiss.

Researchers say the findings may be especially significant for people with chronic pain disorders who tend to speak a lot about their painful experiences with their health care providers. They say those conversations may intensify the activity of the pain matrix in the brain and intensify the pain experience.


href="http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20100402/words-really-do-hurt">-------------------------------
this is an interesting study however it does not surprise me, it has been shown in many cases that maintaining a calm state of mind and not thinking about pain can allow the body to endure without the sensation of pain. Mental toughness is a huge part of life, just as importaint if not more importaint than physical toughness.

Several Different Species of Killer Whales Likely

Killer whales have different behaviors, feeding preferences, and subtle physical features, which suggested that there are different species according to scientists. The issue before was locating a genetic map to see the entire genetic picture, or genome, of the whales’ mitochondria. This cell is inherited from the mother.

"The genetic makeup of mitochondria in killer whales, like other cetaceans, changes very little over time, which makes it difficult to detect any differentiation in recently evolved species without looking at the entire genome," said Phillip Morin, lead author and geneticist at NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif. "But by using a relatively new method called, 'highly parallel sequencing' to map the entire genome of the cell's mitochondria from a worldwide sample of killer whales, we were able to see clear differences among the species."

Tissue samples from 139 killer whales were analyzed, these samples cane from killer found in the North Pacific, North Atlantic and oceans surrounding Antarctica. “As a result of the study, two types of killer whales in the Antarctic that eat fish and seals, respectively, are suggested as separate species, along with mammal-eating "transient" killer whales in the North Pacific. Several other types of killer whales may also be separate species or subspecies, but additional analysis is required.

Highly parallel sequencing of DNA is far faster and less costly than historical methods of analysis. For instance, the examination of mitochondrial DNA genome in one sample could have taken as long as several months. But with the use of high throughput sequencing, researchers can complete the same analysis for 50 or more samples in just a few weeks, and technology to sequence larger parts of the genome and more individuals continues to improve rapidly.

Determining how many species of killer whales there are is critically important for resource managers to establish conservation priorities and to better understand the ecological role of this large and widespread predator in the world's oceans.”

From bacteria to electricity: The future of green energy

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/04/19/from_bacteria_to_electricity_the_future_of_green_energy.html

Showcasing its energy research initiatives for an Earth Day event on April 22 at the Pentagon, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) will highlight the microbial fuel cell, a device that could revolutionize naval energy use by converting decomposed marine organisms into electricity.

This article shows the amazing things that can be done using natural resources. there's a whole field of people looking for microorganisms that generate electricity as a byproduct of their metabolism. i think it's amazing the way some creatures survive, and love the interesting things people think up to utilize these natural wonders for our own benefit. if they can create a self charging natural fuel cell underwater, i can't wait to see what other technologies they can think up.

Caffeine's effect on ADHD

The authors of this article are cautiosly optimistic that a regiment of structured caffeine consumption may aid in the fight against adult and jeuvenile ADHD. This is good thing as caffeine does not have the same psychoactive side effect of traditional ADHD medication such as Ritalin or Adderal. While more research is needed before and conclusive results can be garnered, initial lab tests point towards a positive outcome for the 'alternate' treatment. Read full article at http://psychcentral.com/lib/2010/caffeines-effect-on-adhd-symptoms/

Idol Give's Back

One of the most popular television shows American Idol isn't all about singing contestants. Each season Idol Gives Back. American Idol raises money for different charities. It is one of the most inspirational shows of the season. Celebrities, organizational leaders and America join a helping hand to the less fortunate across the world. Last night on the show we saw footage of the children in Africa that are suffering from HIV, AIDS, Malaria, starvation and other deadly diseases . One African girl they highlighted was 9 years old and weighed that of a one year old, she was HIV positive and both her parents had died from HIV, this poor little girl was only given a couple of weeks to live. But with all the wonderful donations from America a few months later she had gained weight and had medical treatment she is now doing much better. It is amazing how a little can go a far way.

American Idol has been doing Idol gives back for a couple years now from last years show alone they raised over 15 million dollars. All the donations go to different charities including The Children Health fund which was founded in 1987 by Paul Simon and pediatrician/advocate Irwin Redlener, MD, Children's Health Fund (CHF) is the nation's leading pediatric provider of mobile-based health care for homeless and low-income children and their families. CHF's mission is to bring health care directly to those in need through the development and support of innovative medical programs, response to public health crises, and the promotion of guaranteed access to health care for all children.

Other charities are Save the Children, Feeding America, Malaria no-more. Save the Children has teamed up with schools to help children who live in poverty excel at reading and education. Malaria No More has helped millions of families in Africa protect themselves from malaria in Uganda, Zambia, Angola, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition, generous sponsorship of IDOL GIVES BACK from ExxonMobil helped Malaria No More strengthen country capacity and improve the delivery and use of malaria interventions in Africa. Together, we can make malaria no more. All these foundations are changing our world and helping the unfortunate. Please go to the link check it out and decided if you'll give back....
IDOL GIVES BACK

Wave Energy

As we search for new ways to harvest energy, scientists are truing their focus on the ever-powerful ocean. Off the coast of Oregon, construction of machines that harvest energy from the ocean's waves, has begun. Wave power draws from the energy of ocean surface waves, according to Phil Pellegrino, spokesman for New Jersey-based developer Ocean Power Technologies, which is developing the project. A float on a buoy rises and falls with the waves, driving a plunger up and down, he explained. The plunger is connected to a hydraulic pump that converts the vertical movement into rotary motion, driving an electrical generator. Electricity produced is sent to shore over a submerged cable, he said. The first buoy will measure 150 feet tall by 40 feet wide, weigh 200 tons and cost $4 million, Pellegrino said. Nine more buoys are planned to deploy at a site in Reedsport, Oregon, by 2012, at a total cost of $60 million, he said.
Hopefully this will work. The world's first commercial wave farm opened in 2008 off the coast of Portugal, at the Aguçadoura Wave Park. It ran into financial difficulties last year and was suspended indefinitely, according to a statement from Pelamis Wave Power of Scotland, part owner of the project.
A wave-power device from another company, Finavera Renewables of Canada, sank off Oregon's coast two years ago, Pellegrino said.
Because the technology is still being developed, wave power costs five or six times as much as wind power, said Marianne Boust, senior analyst for Emerging Energy Research, an alternative energy advisory firm in Cambridge, Mass. Boust said she believes that wave power eventually will be competitive with other alternative power sources, because waves are more predictable than either wind or sun.
If this works it will be a great advancement. I fully support all attempts at finding alternative ways to fuel the power thirst American culture we live in. Here is the full article.

Recent Earthquakes Not Unusual

On April 13th, there was a 6.9 earthquake in China. Along with China's earthquake there were others in Haiti, Chile and Mexico. According to scientists this earthquake activity is "well-within the normal range." Scientists say there has been 18 major earthquakes within the year from April 15, 2009 to April 14, 2010 which is also expected. Aftershocks will continue in the regions around each of this year's major earthquakes sites. But these aftershocks shouldn't be any larger than the earthquakes themselves. These recent earthquakes have not rasied the likelihood of any major earthquakes in the future. Though these earthquakes were all very devastating, it is comforting to know that all of this earthquake activity isn't abnormal.

Mystery Solved: Why Nebulae Around Massive Stars Don't Disappear

The birth of the most massive stars -- those ten to a hundred times the mass of the Sun -- has posed an astrophysical riddle for decades. Massive stars are dense enough to fuse hydrogen while they're still gathering material from the gas cloud, so it was a mystery why their brilliant radiation does not heat the infalling gas and blow it away. New simulations by researchers affiliated with the University of Heidelberg, American Museum of Natural History, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics show that as the gas cloud collapses, it forms dense filamentary structures that absorb the star's radiation when it passes through them.

A result is that the surrounding heated nebula flickers like a candle flame. The research is published in the current issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

"To form a massive star, you need massive amounts of gas," says Mordecai-Mark Mac Low, a co-author and curator in the Department of Astrophysics at the Museum. "Gravity draws that gas into filaments that feed the hungry baby stars."

Stars form when huge clouds of gas collapse. Once the central density and temperature are high enough, hydrogen begins to fuse into helium and the star begins to shine. The most massive stars, though, begin to shine while the clouds are still collapsing. Their ultraviolet light ionizes the surrounding gas, forming a nebula with a temperature of 10,000 degrees Celsius. This suggests that the growth of a massive star should taper off or even cease because the surrounding gas should be blown away by the heating.

First author Thomas Peters, a researcher at the Center of Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and a former Annette Kade Fellow at the Museum, and colleagues ran gas dynamical simulations on supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center funded by the National Science Foundation and at the Leibniz and Jülich Computing Centers in Germany. The team's results show that interstellar gas around massive stars does not fall evenly onto the star but instead forms filamentary concentrations because the amount of gas is so great that gravity causes it to collapse locally while falling to the star. The local areas of collapse form spiral filaments. When the massive star passes through them, they absorb its ultraviolet radiation, shielding the surrounding gas. This shielding explains not only how gas can continue falling in, but why the ionized nebulae observed with radio telescopes are so small: the nebulae shrink again as they are no longer ionized, so that over thousands of years, the nebula appears to flicker, almost like a candle.

"So far, these ionized nebulae were just thought to be expanding bubbles of hot gas, and the measured size of these bubbles was used by observers to infer the age of its central star," says Peters. "Our results are of particular importance because the simulations show that there is, in fact, no direct relation between the size of the nebula and the age of the massive star, so long as the star is still growing. This is the case over a significant fraction of the total lifetime of a massive star."

Science Daily

Coral nearly as complex as humans

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/05/28/eco.complexcoral/index.html?iref=allsearch

People have known for a long time that corals are a very diverse species. But up until recently not much was known about their genetic makeup. "Corals have been a highly successful life form for 250 million years. They are tiny animals and polyps that exist as genetically identical individuals, and can eat, defend themselves and kill plankton for food. In the process they also secrete calcium carbonate that becomes the basis for an external skeleton on which they sit." Corals not only can fend for themselves but harbor life for species of all kinds.

It is very interesting to find that coral genetically rival human beings. It is terrible that we could know so much more about coral reefs but they are constantly being destroyed. Hopefully humans can help save these coral reefs, so that one day we may know everything there is about them.

scientists find worlds deepest undersea volcanoe

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/04/13/undersea.volcanic.vents/index.html?iref=allsearch

British scientists have found the worlds deepest undersea volcanoes. The volcanoes called "black smokers" were found 5000 meters deep in the Cayman Trough below the surface of the Caribbean. The scientists called this expedition a "painstaking process" as they has to map out the whole Cayman Trough and then use advanced solar technology to pinpoint the volcanoes.

I think that this is an amazing discovery. As it states in the article these undersea volcanoes hep us understand how the world was shaped. It is amazing that we have the kind of technology to help us find things which are so rare and incredibly hard to find.

Lionfish on the Spread

Lionfish are spreading and judging by their numbers they are not going anywhere. The only sensible thing to do is to catch them and eat them. Scientists from Oregon State University are now desperately trying to control the ever growing situation. According to another scientist lionfish are capable of eating every other fish on the coral reef and could destroy reefs. This scientist goes about by saying the best method to reduce numbers is to use them as a commercial fish, they taste good and are easy to catch. On thing is for certain though these fish must be controlled, and soon.

New species of human malaria recognized

Scientists investigating ovale malaria, a form of the disease thought to be caused by a single species of parasite, have confirmed that the parasite is actually two similar but distinct species which do not reproduce with each other. It was a great surprise to find that, not only are these two species completely distinct from each other by every test we carried out, they actually occur in people living side by side in the same African and Asian countries, and even in the same towns and villages.

Controls for animals' color designs revealed

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/04/07/controls_for_animals_color_designs_revealed.html

The vivid colors and designs animals use to interact with their environments have awed and inspired since before people learned to draw on the cave wall.

This article is somewhat interesting, telling about how scientists figured out how the fruit fly makes spots on it's wings and has figured out how to change the colors and change the spots to stripes. "We can make custom flies," notes Carroll. By manipulating the gene, "we can make striped flies out of spotted flies." they also make the claim that they assume this should translate to other species, though it doesn't look like they have yet.
i understand this is another example of the amazing things that we can do with gene manipulation, and i guess things like color and pattern are the easiest. it's like we're in the kindergarden of gene manipulation, first we work on fingerpainting and over the next few grades we'll eventually be working on more important things. hopefully the pythagorean theorem of gene manipulation will allow people to weed out genetic alterations altogether.

Hair Growth Gene Found in Humans

Hair, it seems useless, but in fact it has many functions. It can regulate temperature, act as sensors, camouflage, physical protection, and even help social interactions. The gene, Lhx2, regulates the growth of your hair. The growth phase of the hair on your head can be a duration of years, whereas your eyebrows can be a couple months. Eventually, the hair follicle will start a new growth phase and reject the old hair strand, which falls off your body. This is also controlled by the Lhx2 gene. The gene is important because it might eventually help find a cure for baldness!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100415085317.htm

Dance Therapy Improves Seniors

For Seniors, dancing isn't just fun but also shows to help them. Two recent studies by the University of Missouri found that participation in dance based therapy can improve balance and gait in older adults. The reserachers used a dance therapy program called The Lebed Method that includes a combo of low impact dance steps choreographed to music.
The study included 18 dance sessions throughout 2 months. They found many seniors enjoyed it and were eager to participate. They found the dancing therapy increased their balance and walking speed, which are two major factors for falling.

I was happy to read this article about seniors. I love old people and anything that has to do with them being happy and healthy i love.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100416144617.htm

Brain maxed out

You brain can not handle more than two tasks at once without losing focus. Our brains are set up to do two things at once, but not three, a French team reports in the journal Science. David Meyer, who studies multitasking at the University of Michigan, says he doesn't think the study shows it's impossible to keep three tasks in mind. To learn more about this study and the results click here.
This is great to keep in mind when I have 6 windows open at once. I guess less is more when it comes to multitasking.

Excreted Tamiflu Found In Rivers

We had just mentioned in lecture how certain hormones are not water soluble. There are concerns that these are polluting the waters of major cities. Now the same goes for Tamiflu. This antibiotic is being consumed by waterfowl. These birds often carry influenza and other viruses. Tamiflu or oseltamivir carboxylate or OC will eventually breakdown when exposed to sunlight. But this process takes times. The birds that are exposed could develop antibiotic resistant strains of avian or other seasonal flu's. These studies were made in Japan where there Tamiflu distribution standards are much lower the the US.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/47971/title/Excreted_Tamiflu_found_in_rivers

First animals to live without oxygen discovered

Researchers have been observing the tiny animals that live under the sea for their whole life and found some very interesting facts out. There are new members found of the group "Loricifera" that are alive and active but require no oxygen.

The Mediterranean Sea is where reseachers discovered this little creatures. These animals were actually discovered once before, but they were thought to have only been sunk from the upper waters that researchers thought they lived in.

I think this article was interesting because it seems impossible for an animals, or anything in that matter, to live without any oxygen!

green tea helps bones just like vitamins

Researchers in Hong Kong have found out that by drinking green tea it will help you improve your bones just like vitamins do.They noted that the tea contains chemicals that stimulate bone formation and help slow down the breakage of them.Ping Chung Leung and his colleagues said that many scientific studies have linked tea to beneficial effects in preventing cancer, heart disease, and other fatal conditions.Studies in humans and their cell cultures suggest that tea may also benefit bone health but scientists said that chemicals in the tea are responsible for this effect.



http://www.biology-online.org/articles/evidence-green-tea-may-help.html

Zombie Biology

No, zombies are not real. Even if they were, they're kinda dead, and as such they don't realy have a biology. But if they did...

This article is a tounge-in-cheek mock overview of Zombie body system, brought to you by the good folks at the Federal Vampire and Zombie agency. Again, mythic creatures don't really count as 'organisms', but it was interersting to see how the authors of this article treated them as if they were. The article covers their central nervous system, their circulation and respiration, even the degredation of their senses as the body of the undead falls victim to decay.

Ridiculous, yes, but interesting none the less. Check the article out at http://www.fvza.org/zscience2.html

Xenon Gas to Prevent Brain Injury

Every year in the UK more than 1,000 otherwise healthy babies born at full term die or suffer brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen or blood supply at birth.

"Riley Joyce had no pulse and was not breathing when he was first arrived at the hospital. He had a 50/50 chance of permanent brain injury and was transferred to St Michael's Hospital, Bristol."

The process is Xenon gas is given to babies to breath in and it cools down the brain and reduced their chances of brain injuries. The only problem is that this treatment can be very expensive but it is still in the trial stage and will be tested on a minimum of 12 babies within the next month. From there, researchers will determine whether this treatment can be used on a larger scale.

(The study is being funded by Sparks, the children's medical research charity.)

I thought this article was very benefitial because we have a finite amout if xenon gas that could be used to help other. Of course, like everything else it is an expensive process. I never thought that the gas flowing through my headlights could be used in a more legal way. I hope that this trial continues to be funded and will be used more frequently.

Pre-History of Life: Elegantly Simple Organizing Principles Seen in Ribosomes

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100412151823.htm

All forms of life rely on the same genetic code which specifies the amino acid composition of proteins. Still subject to speculation is how individual amino acids were assigned to specific three-letter combinations or codons during the evolution of the genetic code. Through research with modern cells at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies concluded that after two waves of “matching” and some minute fiddling, all 20 commonly used amino acids were firmly linked with their respective codons, thus setting the stage for the emergence of proteins with unique, defined sequences and properties. These finding are the first in vio data shediing light on the origin and evolution of the genetic code.

"Although different algorithms, or codes, were likely tested during a long period of chemical evolution, the modern code proved so robust that, once it was established, it gave birth to the entire tree of life," says the study's lead author Lei Wang, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Chemical Biology and Proteomics Laboratory.

"But the universality of the code makes it very hard for researchers to study its formation since there are no organisms using a primitive or intermediate genetic code that we could analyze for comparison," he explains.

All life forms on earth use the same 20 common amino acids with few exceptions. Each of the 20 amino acids is matched to its own carrier molecule known as transfer RNA (tRNA). During protein synthesis, which is coordinated by so-called ribosomes, amino acids are brought out one by one by their respective tRNAs and inserted in the growing protein chain according to the instructions spelled out in the universal language of life -- the genetic code. The code is "read" with the help of anticodons embedded in each tRNA, which pair up with their codon-counterparts.

Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain why codons are selectively assigned to specific amino acids. "One of the theories, the stereochemical hypothesis, gained some traction when researchers could show that short codon- or anticodon-containing polynucleotide molecules like to interact with their respective amino acids," says graduate student and first author David B. F. Johnson.

According to Johnson if chemical or physical interactions between amino acids and nucleotide drove the formation of the genetic code, then he reasoned that he should be able to find the relics of this mutual affinity in modern cells. He then zoomed in on ribosomes which are large complexes that are consist of some 50 proteins interacting closely with ribosomal RNA’s.

"Also, the ribosome emerged from an early evolutionary stage of life to help with the translation of the genetic code before the last universal common ancestor," explains Wang, "and therefore is more likely to serve as a molecular fossil that preserved biological evidence."

When Wang and Johnson probed bacterial ribosomes for imprints of the genetic code, they found evidence that direct interactions between amino acids and nucleotide triplet anticodons helped establish matching pairs. "We now believe that the genetic code was established in two different stages," says Johnson.

The data that was collected did not shed much light onto the early code, consisting of prebiotically available amino acids. The kind generated in the “zap” experiment of Stanley Miller. When some primitive translational mechanisms were established , he then added new amino acids to the mix and started infiltrating the genetic code based on specific amino acid or anticodon interactions.

"We found evidence that a few amino acids were reassigned to a different codon but once the code was in place it took over," says Johnson. "It might not have been the best possible solution but the only one that was viable at the time."