May 27th, 2006
Invinsibility cloak coming to you soon!
Posted by blogging_nuts at 10:56 AM on May 27, 2006.
Scientists may be able to make magic like Harry Potter
Thursday, May 25, 2006; Posted: 4:59 p.m. EDT (20:59 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Imagine an invisibility cloak that works just like the one Harry Potter inherited from his father.
Researchers in England and the United States think they know how to do that. They are laying out the blueprint and calling for help in developing the exotic materials needed to build a cloak.
The keys are special manmade materials, unlike any in nature or the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. These materials are intended to steer light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation around an object, rendering it as invisible as something tucked into a hole in space.
"Is it science fiction? Well, it's theory and that already is not science fiction. It's theoretically possible to do all these Harry Potter things, but what's standing in the way is our engineering capabilities," said John Pendry, a physicist at the Imperial College London.
Details of the study, which Pendry co-wrote, appear in Thursday's online edition of the journal Science.
Scientists not involved in the work said it presents a solid case for making invisibility an attainable goal.
"This is very interesting science and a very interesting idea and it is supported on a great mathematical and physical basis," said Nader Engheta, a professor of electrical and systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Engheta has done his own work on invisibility using novel materials called metamaterials.
Pendry and his co-authors also propose using metamaterials because they can be tuned to bend electromagnetic radiation -- radio waves and visible light, for example -- in any direction.
A cloak made of those materials, with a structure designed down to the submicroscopic scale, would neither reflect light nor cast a shadow.
Instead, like a river streaming around a smooth boulder, light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation would strike the cloak and simply flow around it, continuing on as if it never bumped up against an obstacle. That would give an onlooker the apparent ability to peer right through the cloak, with everything tucked inside concealed from view.
"Yes, you could actually make someone invisible as long as someone wears a cloak made of this material," said Patanjali Parimi, a Northeastern University physicist and design engineer at Chelton Microwave Corp. in Bolton, Massachusetts, Parimi was not involved in the research.
Such a cloak does not exist, but early versions that could mask microwaves and other forms of electromagnetic radiation could be as close as 18 months away, Pendry said. He said the study was "an invitation to come and play with these new ideas."
"We will have a cloak after not too long," he said.
The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency supported the research, given the obvious military applications of such stealthy technology.
While Harry Potter could wear his cloak to skulk around Hogwarts, a real-world version probably would not be something just to be thrown on, Pendry said.
"To be realistic, it's going to be fairly thick. Cloak is a misnomer. 'Shield' might be more appropriate," he said.
Original source: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/05/25/invisibility.cloak.ap/index.html
May 6th, 2006
Parrot's oratory stuns scientists
Posted by blogging_nuts at 05:34 PM on May 6, 2006.
Monday, 26 January, 2004, 15:27 GMT
The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.
The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.
He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with novel ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope - just as a human child would do.
N'kisi's remarkable abilities, which are said to include telepathy, feature in the latest BBC Wildlife Magazine. 
N'kisi is believed to be one of the most advanced users of human language in the animal world.
About 100 words are needed for half of all reading in English, so if N'kisi could read he would be able to cope with a wide range of material.
Polished wordsmith
He uses words in context, with past, present and future tenses, and is often inventive.
One N'kisi-ism was "flied" for "flew", and another "pretty smell medicine" to describe the aromatherapy oils used by his owner, an artist based in New York.
When he first met Dr Jane Goodall, the renowned chimpanzee expert, after seeing her in a picture with apes, N'kisi said: "Got a chimp?"
School's in: He is a willing learner
He appears to fancy himself as a humourist. When another parrot hung upside down from its perch, he commented: "You got to put this bird on the camera."
Dr Goodall says N'kisi's verbal fireworks are an "outstanding example of interspecies communication".
In an experiment, the bird and his owner were put in separate rooms and filmed as the artist opened random envelopes containing picture cards.
Analysis showed the parrot had used appropriate keywords three times more often than would be likely by chance.
Captives' frustrations
This was despite the researchers discounting responses like "What ya doing on the phone?" when N'kisi saw a card of a man with a telephone, and "Can I give you a hug?" with one of a couple embracing.
Professor Donald Broom, of the University of Cambridge's School of Veterinary Medicine, said: "The more we look at the cognitive abilities of animals, the more advanced they appear, and the biggest leap of all has been with parrots."
Alison Hales, of the World Parrot Trust, told BBC News Online: "N'kisi's amazing vocabulary and sense of humour should make everyone who has a pet parrot consider whether they are meeting its needs.
"They may not be able to ask directly, but parrots are long-lived, and a bit of research now could mean an improved quality of life for years."
Original source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3430481.stm
April 28th, 2006
Experts examine 'anti-Aids gel'
Posted by blogging_nuts at 09:00 PM on April 28, 2006.
Sunday, 23 April 2006, 17:20 GMT 18:20 UK
An international conference opening on Sunday in South Africa aims to develop a revolutionary technology to curb the spread of HIV and Aids.
More than 1,000 scientists will gather i
n Cape Town over the next four days to study a product known as microbicides.
The product, which can take the form of a gel or cream, releases an active ingredient designed to kill HIV during sexual intercourse.
Scientists hope to have microbicides on the market within the next four years.
Development of the technology began 15 years ago, and the conference will hear about the progress being made in what scientists say is possibly the most productive area of research in the fight against HIV and Aids.
They believe microbicides could have a major impact in the fight against Aids, especially in Africa, where women bear the brunt of the disease.
They are being developed because its often so difficult to insist that condoms are used during sex.
"It's not always possible for people to negotiate condom use in many different circumstances," said Professor Helen Rees, head of the reproductive health unit at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
"So there was obviously a need to have methods that were potentially hidden, could be female-controlled, but also methods that would make a condom itself even safer."
Companies' indifference
Microbicides have been shown to be effective in the laboratory, and to have no significant side effects.
Large-scale trials are now under way to see if they work with real people in countries across Africa, as well as India.
But so far, the work is being funded by the American and British governments, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Pharmaceutical companies have shown little interest, since most Aids patients are in the developing world and have little money to spend on these products.
Original source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4936854.stm
April 25th, 2006
Comet Collision with Earth on May 25, 2006
Posted by blogging_nuts at 03:30 PM on April 25, 2006.
Former Military Air Traffic Controller Claims Comet Collision with Earth on May 25, 2006
KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii, April 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Eric Julien, a former French military air traffic controller and senior airport manager, has completed a study of the comet 73P Schwassmann- Wachmann and declared that a fragment is highly likely to impact the Earth on or around May 25, 2006.
Comet Schwassman-Wachmann follows a five-year orbit that crosses the solar system's ecliptic plane. It has followed its five year orbit intact for centuries; but, in 1995, mysteriously fragmented. According to Julien, this is the same year that a crop circle appeared showing the inner solar system with the Earth missing from its orbit. He argues the "Missing Earth" crop circle was a message from higher intelligences warning humanity of the consequences of its destructive nuclear policies. He links this crop circle to May 25, 2006, and identifies the comet Schwassmann-Wachman as the subject of higher intelligence communications.
Using NASA simulations of the comet's path, Julien concludes that impact is likely around May 25 precisely when the comet crosses the Earth's ecliptic plane. While the first fragment will cross at approximately 10 million miles, lagging fragments threaten to collide. While astronomers have stated that the comet poses no direct threat, Julien argues that some fragments are too small to observe. Astronomers have predicted possible meteor showers indicating some cometary debris will enter the atmosphere.
Julien argues that the kinetic energy of even a 'car sized' fragment will impact the Earth with devastating effect. He concludes the May 25 event is tied in to the Bush administration's policy of preemptive use of nuclear weapons against
Iran, and the effect of nuclear weapons on the realms of higher intelligences. Regarding its importance, Julien declares: "we have to save lives when we have such information to share with the public". He further claims it important "to preserve all data, historical artifacts and precious material in the event of such a collision." Julien predicts that the comet collision will occur in the Atlantic Ocean between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer, and generates 200 meter waves. Julien concludes that "each person with this information has to take responsibility to warn potential victims."
Doc finds 12 nails in skull
Posted by blogging_nuts at 12:23 AM on April 25, 2006.
Sat, Apr. 22, 2006
12 nails caused man’s aching head
He fired them into skull in suicide try
PORTLAND, Ore. — A man who went to a hospital complaining of a headache was found to have 12 nails embedded in his skull from a suicide attempt with a nail gun.
Surgeons removed the nails with needle-nosed pliers and a drill, and the man survived with no serious lasting effects, according to a report in the current issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery.
The unidentified 33-year-old Oregon man was suicidal and high on methamphetamine last year when he fired the nails into his head one by one.
The nails were not visible when doctors first examined the man in the emergency room of an unidentified Oregon hospital a day later. Doctors were surprised when X-rays revealed six nails clustered between his right eye and ear, two below his right ear, and four on the left side of his head.
No one before is known to have survived after intentionally firing so many foreign objects into the head, according to the report, written by G. Alexander West, the neurosurgeon who oversaw the treatment of the patient.
The nails missed major blood vessels and the brain stem.
The patient was in remarkably good condition when he was transferred to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, where the nails were removed. The patient was later transferred to psychiatric care and stayed under court order for nearly a month before leaving against doctors’ orders.
Original source: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/14401784.htm