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He will run, we will win

Sat, 17 May 2008 10:55:36 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Based on the team’s findings, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, has ruled that Pistorius is eligible to participate in International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) sanctioned competitions. If he qualifies for the 2008 Beijing games, Pistorius would be the first disabled athlete ever to run against able-bodied athletes in an Olympic event.

Clip Source: images.google.com

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Based on Rice and MIT findings, the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland, has ruled that Pistorius is eligible to participate in International Association of Athletics Federations sanctioned competitions. If he qualifies for the 2008 Beijing games, Pistorius would be the first disabled athlete ever to run against able-bodied athletes in an Olympic event.

A world-renowned team of experts in biomechanics and physiology from six universities, led by Professor Hugh Herr of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, refute scientific claims that the prostheses worn by Oscar Pistorius, a 21-year-old South African bilateral amputee track athlete, provide him with an unfair advantage in the 400-meter race.

Tags: athletics, sport, human augmentation

'Mitochondrial Eve' Research: Humanity Was Genetically Divided For 100,000 Years

Sat, 17 May 2008 10:45:45 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

The human race was divided into two separate groups within Africa for as much as half of its existence, says a Tel Aviv University mathematician.

Climate change, reduction in populations and harsh conditions may have caused and maintained the separation.

Dr. Saharon Rosset, from the School of Mathematical Sciences at Tel Aviv University, worked with team leader Doron Behar from the Rambam Medical Center to analyze African DNA. Their goal was to study obscure population patterns from hundreds of thousands of years ago.

“We wanted to look into the ancient history of our species. How did we live throughout most of our existence as a species? Did we live as one — or were we fractured into small groups? Until now, it wasn’t really clear,” says Rosset.

This work has since been extended to show unequivocally that “Mitochondrial Eve” was an African woman who lived sometime during the past 200,000 years.

Tags: genetics, dna, origin of humanity

Simple Artificial Cell Created From Scratch To Study Cell Complexity

Sat, 17 May 2008 10:38:07 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

A team of Penn State researchers has developed a simple artificial cell with which to investigate the organization and function of two of the most basic cell components: the cell membrane and the cytoplasm--the gelatinous fluid that surrounds the structures in living cells. The work could lead to the creation of new drugs that take advantage of properties of cell organization to prevent the development of diseases.

"Many scientists are trying to understand cells by turning off genes, one at a time, and are observing the effects on cell function, but we're doing the opposite," said Associate Professor of Chemistry Christine D. Keating, who led the research. "We're starting from scratch, adding in components to find out what is needed to simulate the most basic cell functions.

This new structure exhibited the type of complexity that the team had been looking for; it exhibited polarity. "Polarity is critical to development,"

Tags: biology, cell biology