I came across this interesting article from THIS LINK which I thought I'd share with you today. It said:
Capuchin monkeys have what at first glance appears to be an odd habit: they urinate onto their hands then rub their urine over their bodies into their fur.
Now scientists think they know why the monkeys "urine wash" in this way.
A new study shows that the brains of female tufted capuchins become more active when they smell the urine of sexually mature adult males.
That suggests males wash with their urine to signal their availability and attractiveness to females.
READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY HERE.
March 12, 2011
Nuclear Emergency Declared!!!
According to BBC News:
apanese authorities have declared a state of emergency at two nuclear power plants, after Friday's devastating earthquake caused malfunctions.
Cooling systems inside several reactors at the Fukushima 1 and 2 power plants have stopped working properly, leading to a build-up of pressure.
Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate the area near the plants.
Technicians are starting to release vapour to lower the pressure in some of the reactors.
Some of the released gases could be radioactive, but officials insisted the procedure would pose no risk to the public.
Radioactivity levels in the control room of the Fukushima 1 plant were reportedly running at 1,000 times normal.
CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE ENTRY.
apanese authorities have declared a state of emergency at two nuclear power plants, after Friday's devastating earthquake caused malfunctions.
Cooling systems inside several reactors at the Fukushima 1 and 2 power plants have stopped working properly, leading to a build-up of pressure.
Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate the area near the plants.
Technicians are starting to release vapour to lower the pressure in some of the reactors.
Some of the released gases could be radioactive, but officials insisted the procedure would pose no risk to the public.
Radioactivity levels in the control room of the Fukushima 1 plant were reportedly running at 1,000 times normal.
CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE ENTRY.
Nuclear Reactor Overheating!!
I have always been against nuclear energy despite whatever experts may say to defend their rationale for pursuing that avenue of alternative energy. The big question I always ask is - What if there is a nuclear leakage? Would the parties involved in the reactor be able to cope and to control the leakages that it will NOT jeopardize the surrounding areas, lives and ultimately the world?
Take a look at Japan. It is a first world nation and what is happening to their nuclear reactor?
According to ABC News at THIS LINK:
Take a look at Japan. It is a first world nation and what is happening to their nuclear reactor?
According to ABC News at THIS LINK:
Radiation levels inside a Japanese nuclear power plant have surged to 1,000 times their normal levels after today's 8.9-magnitude earthquake knocked out power to a cooling system, and tsunami floods have hampered efforts to get it restored.
Meanwhile, heat-induced pressure built up inside the crippled reactor, prompting widespread evacuations within a 10 km radius and stoking fears of a potentially catastrophic radioactive event.
Officials declared a "nuclear emergency" at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, about 200 miles northeast of Tokyo, when its cooling system failed to function properly after the nuclear reactor lost power and automatically shut down.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY.
March 11, 2011
Tsunami Fear Hits Japan
According to AP AT THIS LINK:
Japan was struck by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, unleashing a 13-foot (4-meter) tsunami that washed away cars and tore away buildings along the coast near the epicenter. There were reports of injuries in Tokyo.
Enlarge This Image
A tsunami carried boats across waters in Kamaishi city port in this still image taken from video footage.
In various locations along Japan's coast, TV footage showed massive damage from the tsunami, with dozens of cars, boats and even buildings being carried along by waters. A large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture, according to footage on public broadcaster NHK.
Officials were trying to assess damage, injuries and deaths from the quake but had no immediate details.
The quake that struck at 2:46 p.m. was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, including a 7.4-magnitude one about 30 minutes later. The U.S. Geological Survey upgraded the strength of the first quake to a magnitude 8.9, while Japan's meteorological agency measured it at 7.9.
CLICK HERE for the rest of the entry.
Japan was struck by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, unleashing a 13-foot (4-meter) tsunami that washed away cars and tore away buildings along the coast near the epicenter. There were reports of injuries in Tokyo.
Enlarge This Image
A tsunami carried boats across waters in Kamaishi city port in this still image taken from video footage.
In various locations along Japan's coast, TV footage showed massive damage from the tsunami, with dozens of cars, boats and even buildings being carried along by waters. A large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture, according to footage on public broadcaster NHK.
Officials were trying to assess damage, injuries and deaths from the quake but had no immediate details.
The quake that struck at 2:46 p.m. was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, including a 7.4-magnitude one about 30 minutes later. The U.S. Geological Survey upgraded the strength of the first quake to a magnitude 8.9, while Japan's meteorological agency measured it at 7.9.
CLICK HERE for the rest of the entry.
March 10, 2011
What you might not know about America
I came across this link which MIGHT tell you something that you may not be aware of.
CHECK IT OUT HERE.
CHECK IT OUT HERE.
March 09, 2011
Earthquake Hits Japan
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan this afternoon has triggered a small tsunami, but with no reports of damage.
The quake hit at 1.54pm about 169 kilometres off the city of Sendai in northern Japan at a depth of 14 kilometres.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning of up to 50 centimetres for the east coast of the main Honshu island.
A 60-centimetre wave was first reported at Ofunato port half an hour after the quake without causing any damage.
"We have confirmed that small tsunami have come up on the shores, but we have no reports of damage at this point," said Shinobu Nagano, an emergency and disaster response official in Iwate prefecture.
"We are still trying to determine the impact of the quake."
Yoshiyuki Sato, an official at Kurihara City in Miyagi prefecture, about 300 kilometres north-east of Tokyo, told Reuters: "First I felt a jolt that pushed from underneath, then a big sideways tremor that lasted for about 20 seconds.
"The tremor was relatively big but things did not fall off the shelves in the city government building."
CLICK HERE for the rest of the entry.
The quake hit at 1.54pm about 169 kilometres off the city of Sendai in northern Japan at a depth of 14 kilometres.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning of up to 50 centimetres for the east coast of the main Honshu island.
A 60-centimetre wave was first reported at Ofunato port half an hour after the quake without causing any damage.
"We have confirmed that small tsunami have come up on the shores, but we have no reports of damage at this point," said Shinobu Nagano, an emergency and disaster response official in Iwate prefecture.
"We are still trying to determine the impact of the quake."
Yoshiyuki Sato, an official at Kurihara City in Miyagi prefecture, about 300 kilometres north-east of Tokyo, told Reuters: "First I felt a jolt that pushed from underneath, then a big sideways tremor that lasted for about 20 seconds.
"The tremor was relatively big but things did not fall off the shelves in the city government building."
CLICK HERE for the rest of the entry.
March 06, 2011
Antibodies to Combat AIDS?
Discover carried this article on New HIV Hope? Researchers Find Natural Antibodies That Thwart the Virus at THIS LINK.
Excerpt:
You can’t defeat what you can’t identify. That’s part of the human body’s problem with HIV–a virus that mutates constantly. Most antibodies can identify, latch onto, and neutralize only certain variants of the virus, or none at all. But two new studies published in Science yesterday point to two antibodies that almost always hits their targets--neutralizing some 90 percent of the most common HIV strains.
Scientists hope to eventually use their knowledge of these antibodies to develop a vaccine, but this is not an easy task.
“The path forward isn’t as clear as we’d like it to be, but we are turning a corner, I think,” says David Montefiori, a viral immunologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., who was not involved in the research. [Science News]
But first, how did they find these antibodies?
Step 1: Learning from a Survivor
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases looked at the blood of a 60-year-old African American man who had survived with HIV for 20 years.
The HIV antibodies were discovered in the cells of a 60-year-old African-American gay man, known in the scientific literature as Donor 45, whose body made the antibodies naturally…. Donor 45′s antibodies didn’t protect him from contracting HIV. That is likely because the virus had already taken hold before his body produced the antibodies. He is still alive, and when his blood was drawn, he had been living with HIV for 20 years. [Wall Street Journal]
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY.
Excerpt:
You can’t defeat what you can’t identify. That’s part of the human body’s problem with HIV–a virus that mutates constantly. Most antibodies can identify, latch onto, and neutralize only certain variants of the virus, or none at all. But two new studies published in Science yesterday point to two antibodies that almost always hits their targets--neutralizing some 90 percent of the most common HIV strains.
Scientists hope to eventually use their knowledge of these antibodies to develop a vaccine, but this is not an easy task.
“The path forward isn’t as clear as we’d like it to be, but we are turning a corner, I think,” says David Montefiori, a viral immunologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., who was not involved in the research. [Science News]
But first, how did they find these antibodies?
Step 1: Learning from a Survivor
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases looked at the blood of a 60-year-old African American man who had survived with HIV for 20 years.
The HIV antibodies were discovered in the cells of a 60-year-old African-American gay man, known in the scientific literature as Donor 45, whose body made the antibodies naturally…. Donor 45′s antibodies didn’t protect him from contracting HIV. That is likely because the virus had already taken hold before his body produced the antibodies. He is still alive, and when his blood was drawn, he had been living with HIV for 20 years. [Wall Street Journal]
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY.
The Human Brain
This morning, I have been doing a lot of research on the human brain in an attempt to understand how people think. I came across this excellent video that enthralled me to bits!!
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW CARL SAGAN'S LECTURE ON THE HUMAN BRAIN.
Enjoy!
Have a nice day! Do leave a message to share your thoughts. Thanks!
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW CARL SAGAN'S LECTURE ON THE HUMAN BRAIN.
Enjoy!
Have a nice day! Do leave a message to share your thoughts. Thanks!
