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Scientists unveil 'supercarrot'

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:15:35 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Scientists in the US say they have created a genetically-engineered carrot that provides extra calcium.

They hope that adding the vegetable to a normal diet could help ward off conditions such as brittle bone disease and osteoporosis.

Someone eating the new carrot absorbs 41% more calcium than if they ate the old, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study suggests.

The calcium-charged vegetable still needs to go through many safety trials.

"These carrots were grown in carefully monitored and controlled environments," said Professor Kendal Hirschi, part of the team at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.

"Much more research needs to be conducted before this would be available to consumers."

But the scientists nonetheless hope their carrot could ultimately offer a healthier way of consuming sufficient quantities of the mineral.

A gene has been altered in the carrot which allows the calcium within it to cross more easily over the plant membranes.

Changing colour

Tags: supercarrots

Famous Lost cities and cultures

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:14:39 GMT

clipped by: vickybaranwal

Clip Source: www.shunya.net

Troy, Turkey

Clip Source: www.shunya.net

Ephesus, Turkey

Clip Source: www.shunya.net

Memphis, Egypt

Pyramids of Giza

Great Pyramid of Khufu

Pyramids and Sphinx

The Sphinx

Pyramid of Khafre

Inside the Great Pyramid

Great Gallery

Tunnel to the tomb

Funerary Temple

Memphis

Ramses II at Memphis

Step pyramid of Zoser

Clip Source: www.shunya.net

Thebes and Luxor, Egypt

Luxor Temple

Main entrance

Avenue of the Sphinxes

Carvings

Great Festival Hall

Side view

Tomb of Merenptah

Temple of Hatshepsut

Tomb chamber

Ancient worker's village

Temple of Hatshepsut

Keeping watch

Clip Source: www.shunya.net

Syracusa

Ancient Amman

Tags: famous, world, lost, cities, culture

North Magnetic Pole Is Shifting Rapidly Toward Russia

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:45:34 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

New research shows the pole moving at rapid clip—25 miles (40 kilometers) a year.

Over the past century the pole has moved 685 miles (1,100 kilometers) from Arctic Canada toward Siberia

The shift is likely a normal oscillation of the Earth's magnetic field, Stoner said, and not the beginning of a flip-flop of the north and south magnetic poles, a phenomenon that last occurred 780,000 years ago.

Such reversals have taken place 400 times in the last 330 million years, according to magnetic clues sealed in rocks around the world. Each reversal takes a thousand years or more to complete.

"People like to think something special is happening in their lifetimes, but despite the dramatic changes, I don't see any evidence of it," Stoner said. "It's probably just a normal wandering of the pole."

Tags: geology, science, earth

How Advertising Manipulates Our “Caveman” Brains (& How to Resist)

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:48:30 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Fortunately, there are ways to go about PROOFING YOUR BRAIN.

1. Change your mindset to “postmore” by challenging culture’s ingrained assumption that “more” of everything is automatically better.

2. Grow your gratitude. Our poor, starved, frozen ancestors would cry tears of joy if they suddenly landed in our culture of abundance. Fostering our appreciation of this bounty can also block the consumerist “cool” pressure to deride so many of our fine, workable possessions as “so last year”.

3. Be enough. We’re constantly told that we aren’t rich enough, glam enough, cool enough, networked enough, etc. This has a powerful insidious effect on our primitive, socially competitive brain circuits. It’s like a toxic substance that turns rational brains into needy toddlers wanting “more, more, more!

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

It is becoming increasingly clear that widespread consumption is wrecking havoc on the planet. But, if it’s making us happier then perhaps it’s worth the compromise, some argue. Strangely, that doesn’t appear to be the case, either. The spreading westernized belief that “more” possessions equates to more happiness hasn’t panned out. In fact, statistically, the First World now has more depression, alcoholism, crime, anxiety, obesity and overall dissatisfaction with life than was reported 50 years ago. What if “more” isn’t “more” in terms of consumption? Recent research is now shedding light on the phenomenon.

Last year Bonn researchers used brain scanning to show that humans don’t want lots of stuff, so much as they want MORE stuff than others

Our primitive brains…got us down from the trees and around the world, through ice ages, famines, plagues and disasters, into our unprecedented era of abundance. But they never had to evolve an instinct that said, ‘enough’.”

Tags: consumerism, planet, brain, consumption

Cities of the Future

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:13:09 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.technewsworld.com

"Future cities should be compact habitat alternatives to urban sprawl and the single family housing concept. Local resources would be maximized and logistical systems for people, goods and services would be especially efficient," explains Erin Jeffries, spokesperson for the Arcosanti Project of the Cosanti Foundation.

For decades, sci-fi writers have painted a picture of utopia as a crystal-domed city appointed with shiny-steel accents, ultra-modern furniture and gadgets ranging from food replicators to floor-hugging maintenance drones. Tranquility and efficiency extend from work to sex, and the human aging process is "curable," as is every other form of disease.

The results to date have been pitted and pitched by the decidedly inefficient and totally anti-tranquil aspects of the messy side of human existence.

Building huge cities and hyperstructures that can house hundreds of thousands of people is once again seen as a good shot

perhaps our best shot

Tags: cities, habitat

Aw, Shucks, It's just a Li'l Ol' Constitution!

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:41:47 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Credit SF Chron columnist Mark Morford for this apt description:

After all, the right has its own heaping bucket of problems right now, not the least of which is the weakest and craziest and least palatable field of GOP contenders in 50 years. There's the chipper creationist nutball who loves him some Chuck Norris, the stupefied Mormon mannequin who simply cannot believe the world is so icky and complicated, the doddering Iraq-loving war vet who seems to be getting more unstable by the minute, and the cross-dressing former New York mayor who has "9/11" tattooed on his ego in fake blood. And oh yes, a zany old anti-choice libertarian who somehow keeps raising piles of cash and sending fascinating postcards from the edge of political reason. Cool!

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Radical cleric and Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee wants to rewrite the constitution:

The United States Constitution never uses the word "God" or makes mention of any religion, drawing its sole authority from "We the People." However, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee thinks it's time to put an end to that.

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

When Willie Geist reported Huckabee's opinion on MSNBC's Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski was almost speechless, and even Joe Scarborough couldn't immediately find much to say beyond calling it "interesting." [Raw Story]

New Hypoxia Execution - Totally Humane & Cheap

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:34:01 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: ...Emerging from the chamber, he believes the test to push his life to its limit has failed.

Nor has he any recollection of his inability to reopen his oxygen supply or to put his mask back on.

"I fooled you, didn't I?" he says triumphantly.

"No, Michael, death was your final destination today," says Meeuwsen, who trains fighter pilots for the Royal Netherlands Air Force. "Hans saved your life."

Portillo travelled to a military training base in the Netherlands to research the effects of oxygen starvation, technically known as hypoxia, on the body.

His quest is unusually dark. What he really wants to know is if hypoxia can offer a humane method of killing people in the 55 countries that still have the death penalty on their statute books.

Clip Source: www.thisislondon.co.uk

How Michael Portillo was left seconds from death as he investigated 'the science of killing'

It's a deeply shocking scene. Just ten seconds from unconsciousness and less than a minute from death, Michael Portillo has no idea he is in any danger at all

"Flick the switch, Michael,"

But the former politician, still capable of sight, sound and coherent speech, does not reconnect his oxygen supply

"Put your oxygen mask back on or you will die,"

Again Portillo ignores him as he continues the journey to the edge of his existence

A few seconds pass and then the scientists can wait no longer

Physiologist Hans Wittenberg, who has been monitoring his subject in an altitude chamber mimicking atmospheric conditions at 29,000ft, snatches Portillo's mask and clamps it back over his nose and mouth

Portillo drinks in the oxygen-rich mixture and begins to recover from his extraordinary encounter with his own mortality

Yet throughout the experiment he has remained calm and happy to the point of euphoria

Tags: uk, new