Clipmarks | arifsali's clips

Teen sells 17,328 boxes of Girl Scout cookies

Thu, 15 May 2008 04:48:37 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Jennifer Sharpe is believed to have set a national record

A Girl Scout has financed her trip to Europe with Thin Mints, Samoas and Do-Si-Dos, possibly breaking a national record in the process.

Jennifer Sharpe, a 15-year-old from Dearborn, sold 17,328 boxes of Girl Scout cookies this year, which shatters her troop's old record and is believed to be a national record, though Girl Scouts of the USA doesn't track individual sales.

"It's always been one of those goals I wanted to accomplish," Sharpe said Wednesday.

Michelle Tompkins, spokeswoman for New York-based Girl Scouts of the USA, called the feat "amazing" but said there's no national record on the books.

"We're thrilled for the girls who take it to such a great level, but so far, we don't track it at the national level," she said.

The two bakeries that make the cookies sold by Girl Scouts said Sharpe sold more than anyone this year, according to Dianne Thomas, spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts of Metro Detroit.

"They are aware when a council has a super seller," Thomas said.

Tags: scouts, girls

Discovery of most recent supernova in our galaxy

Wed, 14 May 2008 21:26:57 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

he most recent supernova in our Galaxy has been discovered by tracking the rapid expansion of its remains. This result, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and NRAO's Very Large Array (VLA), has implications for understanding how often supernovas explode in the Milky Way galaxy.

This artist's impression shows a view looking down on the Milky Way galaxy. The position of the Sun is shown, as are the approximate positions and names (shown in orange)...

"We can see some supernova explosions with optical telescopes across half of the Universe, but when they're in this murk we can miss them in our own cosmic backyard," said Stephen Reynolds of North Carolina State University

"Fortunately, the expanding gas cloud from the explosion shines brightly in radio waves and X-rays for thousands of years. X-ray and radio telescopes can see through all that obscuration and show us what we've been missing."

Tags: discovery, astronomy, universe

Discovery of cell linked to learning and memory

Wed, 14 May 2008 21:22:44 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) neuroscientists at The University of Queensland have discovered a fundamental component of the process that regulates memory formation.

QBI Director Professor Perry Bartlett said the discovery explains, for the first time, how new nerve cells form in an area of the brain associated with learning and memory – which is known to deteriorate in people with stroke and dementia.

“The hippocampus is the region of the brain involved in important brain functions such as learning and memory and loss of neuronal production in the hippocampus is associated with a range of neurodegenerative conditions, and is particularly evident in ageing dementia.” Professor Bartlett said.

Research by Professor Bartlett and his QBI colleague Dr Tara Walker – which features on this week’s front cover of the Journal of Neuroscience

– has identified the resident stem cell in the hippocampus and, even more importantly, has discovered how it can be activated to produce new neurons.

Tags: discovery, science, brain, cells

Do Infants See Colors Differently?

Wed, 14 May 2008 21:14:58 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: A recent study in PNAS by researchers at the University of Surrey challenges this view, however. It suggests an intriguing and novel account of color categorization in infants. In this study 18 English-speaking adults and 13 four-month-old infants were shown a colored target on a colored background.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Infants, unlike adults, store color categories in the brain's right hemisphere. This new finding reveals the surprising power of language over perception.

How do we perceive a rainbow? And does everyone perceive a rainbow in the same way? These seemingly simple questions can reveal some interesting features of the human brain.

Searching for answers to these questions, in recent years many scientists have concluded that speakers of languages that label color in ways distinct from those used in English may see a different rainbow from that of English speakers. Recent studies have claimed that language processing is automatically involved in perceptual decisions about color in the brains of adults, even when hues are visible only briefly (100 milliseconds) or when decisions do not require participants to name colors verbally. Moreover, these effects are language-specific, so speakers of Russian or Korean show a different pattern of responses to color than speakers of English.

Tags: infants, research, colors, brain

A Grain of Sand: Nature's Secret Wonder

Wed, 14 May 2008 21:11:05 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Gary Greenberg photographs the world, one grain of sand at a time, in A Grain of Sand: Nature's Secret Wonder

(magnification 40X)

Maui Sand:

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Star Sand:

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Namibia:

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Minnesota:

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Six Sand Grains:

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Ireland:

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Lahaina Maui:

Tags: nature, sand, photography

US confession: Weapons were not made in Iran after all

Wed, 14 May 2008 20:56:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.campaigniran.org

In a sharp reversal of its longstanding accusations against Iran arming militants in Iraq , the US military has made an unprecedented albeit quiet confession: the weapons they had recently found in Iraq were not made in Iran at all.

According to a report by the LA Times correspondent Tina Susman in Baghdad: “A plan to show some alleged Iranian-supplied explosives to journalists last week in Karbala and then destroy them was canceled after the United States realized none of them was from Iran. A U.S. military spokesman attributed the confusion to a misunderstanding that emerged after an Iraqi Army general in Karbala erroneously reported the items were of Iranian origin. When U.S. explosives experts went to investigate, they discovered they were not Iranian after all.”

Tags: iran, united states, politics

11 year old kid helping children of Myanmar disaster

Wed, 14 May 2008 20:49:01 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Amazing kid!

Clip Source: ismailimail.wordpress.com

Bilaal Rajan launches the Me and You for The Children of Myanmar Challenge urging each child to raise a minimum of $105 for the the children there. The Challenge is all about kids helping kids even if they are on other sides of the globe.

[Video]

Tags: myanmar, disasters, kids

ZenBe

Wed, 14 May 2008 20:25:33 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: I'm a sucker for beautiful UI (hence I'm here on Clipmarks). This is just a shout out to ZenBe as I've been using it for few days and I'm hooked (so far). They feature a beautiful interface to e-mails and other utilities. With Clipmarks and ZenBe, the internet looks really good

Clip Source: www.zenbe.com

Sign up for Zenbe

It's free, and you'll be up and running in a few seconds.

Tags: email

Can you become a creature of new habits?

Wed, 14 May 2008 05:38:33 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. "Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd," William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word "habit" carries a negative connotation.

So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try — the more we step outside our comfort zone — the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.

Tags: brain, science, humans

A Rescue in China, Uncensored

Wed, 14 May 2008 05:28:52 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Mothers wailing over the bodies of their children. Emergency workers scrambling across pancaked buildings. And a grim-faced political leader comforting the stricken and reassuring an anguished nation.

While such scenes are a staple of catastrophes in much of the world, the rescue effort playing nonstop on Chinese television is remarkable for a country that has a history of concealing the scope of natural calamities and then bungling its response.

Since an earthquake flattened a swath of rural Sichuan Province on Monday, killing more than 13,000 people, the government in Beijing has mounted an aggressive rescue effort, dispatching tens of thousands of troops and promptly sending Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to the disaster zone, accompanied by reporters.

A hard hat on his head and a bullhorn in hand, he ducked into the wreckage of a hospital where scores of people were buried and shouted: “Hang on a bit longer. The troops are rescuing you.”

Tags: china, earthquake