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Extinct thylacine genome brought to life

Tue, 20 May 2008 01:47:37 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Known as the Tasmanian Tiger, it was one of the few marsupial predators that were in Australia before the arrival of the west. The other is the Tasmanian Devil, which survives, but is threatened by a disease that causes ulcers.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Stephen Pincock

A genetic fragment of Australia's extinct Tasmanian tiger has been brought back to life by Melbourne researchers.

From extinction to gene expression ... a mouse foetus expressing the thylacine gene, shown by the blue staining

Dr Andrew Pask and Professor Marilyn Renfree from the University of Melbourne have inserted part of a gene involved in bone growth from the fabled animal into mice, and confirmed that it functioned.

"We've brought a fraction of this extinct genome back to life," Pask, at the Department of Zoology, says. "No one has done this in a living organism before."

The Tasmanian tiger or thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) was a large, meat-eating native Australian marsupial that was hunted to extinction in the wild in the early 1900s.

Last of the Tasmanian tigers at the Hobart Zoo

The last-known animal died in captivity in the Hobart Zoo in 1936.

The latest breakthrough

published this week in the journal PLoS One, is the culmination of nine years of effort

Dating

Mon, 19 May 2008 16:01:41 GMT

clipped by: dakotayii
clipper's remarks: Meeting people in bars, especially one's local watering hole, is indeed a rare occurrence these days. “You're not going to find the person,” offered Lem, Jason's 36-year-old bartending counterpart. “It's going to be a hookup.”

Since the days of the singles bar, meeting people socially has gone virtual in the form of various Internet dating and networking sites. Increasingly, Craigslist has become the dirty little secret introducing young couples. One recent headline even asks point blank: Are you willing to lie about how we met? That's not really news, but Craigslist is increasingly the destination for young people (and a few olds) to make new friends and meet new lovers. Perhaps Craigslist is more convenient than the days of singles bars, as it allows one to sift through various pictures, desires and hobbies until a match is made. And besides, many have found apartments and jobs through the site, so why not love or friendship?

Clip Source: origin.observer.com

On a recent Saturday night, I did a little experiment: I broke the rules of youthful social engagement and went to a bar by myself. I sat in the dimly lit courtyard behind Union Pool in Williamsburg. I made myself available, quietly sipping a pint of Blue Moon.

While advising me about my love life, my mother always likes to tell stories about her youthful evenings spent at her local singles bar. The rules of engagement are much different now. It's been a long time since there were social mores about which gender approaches the other, pays for dates or makes the first move on a first date. A cursory glance at Craigslist's missed connections section proves that many 25- to 35-year-olds, especially recent transplants, don't necessarily have the stones to introduce themselves in person.

“Especially in a bar scenario chicks automatically think you're a creep more often than not,” said one of my 27-year-old guy friends about approaching women at bars

Tags: society

Two men Taser each other in parking dispute

Mon, 19 May 2008 10:53:27 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: Stupid is as stupid does.

Clip Source: www.thestar.com

Two men Taser each other in parking dispute

BOULDER, COLO.–It wasn't exactly pistols at 30 paces, but police say a security company supervisor and a restaurateur shot each other with Tasers in a "bonehead" confrontation over parking.

Officers said neither man needed medical attention after the Saturday confrontation, but Harvey Epstein, co-owner of Mamacitas restaurant, was arrested on suspicion of felony menacing and using a stun gun.

A police report said Epstein and Casey M. Dane, a supervisor for Colorado Security Services Inc., were arguing over a metal boot that one of Dane's guards had clamped on a wheel of a van parked behind Mamacitas.

Dane told police he was afraid Epstein was going to hit him with a 2-foot-long pair of bolt cutters. Epstein told police he had only tried to remove the boot with the bolt cutters and hadn't threatened anyone with them.

Both men drew Tasers.

"They shot each other," Police Sgt. Pat Wyton told the Camera newspaper. "It was just kind of a bonehead deal."