Thursday, May 26, 2011

Now Lamborghini to build 'family' car


Supercar maker Lamborghini is set to build its first four-seater model since the LM002 SUV of the 1980s.

The Italian marque currently sells only two models, the V10 Gallardo and V12 Aventador, but Lamborghini's boss Stephan Winkelmann said at a luxury-brand forum this week that the company was considering a more practical "everyday" car for its third model.

"We are going to have a third model; it has to be an everyday car," said Winkelmann at the recent Reuters Global Luxury and Fashion Summit in Paris. "We want to have a car which is able to be used on a daily basis."

Winkelmann hinted strongly last year that a "four-door car would be a very feasible approach" to expanding the brand's vehicle range. After he all but ruled out a new SUV last year, a production version of Lamborghini's 2008 sedan concept, called the Estoque, is more likely for the car that is not expected until 2015.

The Estoque is a front-mid-engined design with permanent all-wheel drive and a 3.0-metre wheelbase that's marginally longer than that of Porsche's four-door Panamera.

At the time of its global debut, the House of the Raging Bull announced few other statistics, other than to say that a production version could be powered by either the Gallardo LP560-4's 412kW/540Nm 5.2-litre V10 or "a turbocharged eight-cylinder derived from this V10''.

It also tempted that "a particularly economical, but nevertheless dynamic, variation would be a V8 with a hybrid module or an extremely high-performance TDI".

Lamborghini does not plan to work with a partner on the new model, but ''we will use synergies where possible within the (Volkswagen) group,'' added Winkelmann.

An "everyday" model has the potential to significantly boost sales volumes and profitability for Lamborghini. It was affected by the global financial crisis more than some of its rivals, including Ferrari, but says it expects to increase sales this year to about 1500 units.

Strong demand from emerging markets such as China and Russia could be hot targets for the Estoque as sales of high-end models are growing.

The new Lamborghini may be more practical but it's unlikely to be more affordable, with a price tag likely to be several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A high-end sporty, coupe-like four-door would join a trend started by the Mercedes-Benz CLS in 2004 and followed in recent years by the Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide.

Ferrari isn't expected to produce a four-door model any time soon, though its latest supercar - the FF - is its most practical model yet, featuring a hatchback-style rear end and all-wheel drive.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Relationship between Coffee & blood pressure, dementia, skin cancer


ONE CUP
PROS: Drinking just one cup of a coffee a day could reduce your blood pressure, according to a Greek study of 485 people aged 65 to 100.

The researchers found those who drank between one and two cups daily had the healthiest arteries.

The scientists believe this is due to antioxidants in the coffee increasing the production of nitric oxide, a compound found naturally in the body. Nitric oxide helps relax artery walls, and lowers blood pressure.

And a single cup could boost your brainpower, too: a Bristol University study of 600 people found those who had a cup of regular coffee performed better in mental tests than those who drank decaffeinated coffee or nothing.

This may be because caffeine causes more sugar to travel to the brain, giving it extra energy and creating a temporary ‘lift’, says Dr Sarah Schenker, a dietitian.

CONS: Even one cup during the day could keep you counting sheep late into the night, says Sian Porter, of the British Dietetic Association. It takes around eight hours to completely remove caffeine from the body, she explains, so don’t drink a cup after 3pm to 4pm if you suffer from sleep troubles.

TWO CUPS
PROS: This amount of coffee a day could keep Alzheimer’s at bay, say scientists from the University of Florida. Although the findings came from animal research, the team say that around 200mg of caffeine, the equivalent of two cups of coffee, could help prevent the build-up of proteins in the brain that have been linked to memory loss associated with the disease.

And drinking the equivalent of two cups of coffee 30 minutes before exercise may enhance your performance by providing you with more energy, suggests a study in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.

‘It stimulates the production of fatty acids in your body which you use for fuel — it’s like opening the cap on your reserve tank,’ says Dr Schenker.

CONS: ‘If you’re pregnant, your upper caffeine intake limit should be 200mg, or two cups of regular-strength coffee,’ says Dr Schenker.

‘It’s thought the caffeine causes the body to release high levels of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline, which could increase the risk of miscarriage.’

THREE CUPS
PROS: The caffeine intake from three cups a day can reduce the risk of developing ovarian cancer by a fifth, the American medical journal Cancer reported in 2008.

After studying more than 122,000 women, researchers found the benefits were even greater for women who’d never been on the contraceptive pill or HRT (their risk was reduced by 35 and 43 per cent respectively).

Men who drink three cups of coffee have a 40 per cent lower risk of developing gallstones, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The scientists believe the caffeine stimulates contractions in the gall bladder, helping to remove any small stones before they become a problem.

CONS: Coffee drinkers who have more than three cups a day may increase their risk of heart attack, a U.S. study in 2006 found.

‘After around three cups of coffee, your heart will beat noticeably faster, raising blood pressure slightly,’ explains Dr Schenker.

And bizarrely, drinking just three cups of a coffee a day may make some women’s breasts shrink, according to researchers from Lund University in Stockholm.

The scientists surveyed almost 300 women about their bust size and coffee consumption, and found a clear link between drinking three or more cups of coffee daily and smaller breasts. The effect of caffeine on oestrogen levels could be responsible for the results, say the researchers.

FOUR CUPS
PROS: There is 400mg of caffeine in four cups of coffee and this amount is thought to provide the maximum benefit of coffee’s disease-combating antioxidants.

‘Tea and coffee are packed with antioxidant polyphenols, which can potentially cut the risk of cancer,’ says Dr Michelle Harvey, research dietitian at the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Centre, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust.

‘Studies show it promotes production of a less potent form of the cancer-causing hormone oestrogen,’ she says.

University of Utah scientists found people who drink four cups daily are 39 per cent less likely to suffer from cancers of the mouth and larynx.

Other research suggests this amount may also reduce the risk of developing colorectal and prostate cancer, as well as type-2 diabetes.

CONS: People who drink this amount are twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis.
Researchers believe coffee may increase the levels of compounds in the body that can lead to inflammation and joint pain.

FIVE CUPS
PROS: Researchers at the National Cancer Centre in Tokyo found that drinking five cups of coffee reduced the risk of serious liver damage by three quarters.

Their findings were based on a study of 90,000 middle-aged men and women over ten years. The scientists believe antioxidants in the coffee may be responsible for the protective effect.

CONS: Several studies have shown that this amount of coffee is a risk factor for osteoporosis, as caffeine can interfere with the absorption of calcium.

However, many experts dispute this, and the National Osteoporosis Society says there is no conclusive evidence that coffee thins bones, but advises no more than five cups to be safe.

SIX OR MORE CUPS
PROS: Drinking six or more cups a day can reduce the risk of some skin cancers by 31 per cent, according to researchers from Wayne State University in Detroit, who studied more than 90,000 women. They believe antioxidants may protect skin cells.

CONS: This amount of coffee can lead to dehydration, says Dr Schenker. ‘The coffee causes excess fluid to be lost from the body. 

This speeds up the elimination of minerals and vitamins — one of the key vitamins it depletes is B6, vital for preventing kidney stones.’

It can also cause the body to release hormones that, linked to anxiety and stress, can lead to irritable bowel syndrome, increase blood pressure and in turn, the risk of cardiovascular illnesses.

‘The constant “fight-or-flight” response this amount of caffeine has on your body can definitely have severe health implications,’ she adds.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Google takes step forward to battle iTunes, Amazon in online music service


Google has began letting people store music collections in virtual online libraries in a challenge to Apple's popular iTunes shop as well as a similar service from Amazon.


Google Music does not sell songs but allows users to store personal collections in the internet "cloud" for streaming to smartphones, tablet computers or other gadgets.

Google Music is being rolled out on an invitation-only basis in the United States to test the service, which the California internet giant envisions eventually making available worldwide. In a statement, Google Australia said it didn't "have a timeline to announce for an Australian release".

"When you add your music to the new service, you can listen to it on the web on any compatible device," said Google product manager Paul Joyce.

Google was getting around having to cut deals with music labels by letting people store digital versions of songs they already own in online "lockers" which they can access using gadgets linked to the internet.

As many as 20,000 songs could be stored at Google Music, Joyce said at the internet search giant's annual developers conference in San Francisco.

Invitations can be requested online at music.google.com.

The music service is a "compelling platform" for eventually selling digital music, according to Google director of digital Jamie Rosenberg. "It has been in our interest and has been in our plans to work with the music industry to sell music.

"Unfortunately, some of the major labels were only interested in doing so on terms that were unreasonable," he said. "That isn't going to stop us."

Rosenberg contended that Google Music is "a completely legal" service akin to a person storing music collections on home computer hard drives.

Stored music could be streamed to gadgets but digital files cannot be downloaded for sharing or copying.

Google Music takes aim at a similar service launched in March by internet retail powerhouse Amazon.com and is a long-coming step toward taking on Apple's iTunes digital content shop.

With Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player, users can upload digital music, photos, videos and documents to Amazon servers and access the files through web browsers or phones and tablet computers running Google's Android software.

Music bought from Amazon.com or Apple's iTunes or from a personal collection is held in a digital "music locker" on the internet and can be accessed from computers running Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Chrome web browsers.

Cloud Drive gives five gigabytes of free online storage to Amazon account holders and a free upgrade to 20GB with the purchase of an MP3 album. Users can also purchase 20GB for $US20 a year.

Google Music is free for the time being.

Apple sells music at iTunes and is reportedly working on an internet "cloud" storage service for streaming digital music collections but has not announced any plans.

Apple purchased an online music site called Lala.com in December 2009 which hosted digital music collections on the web.

"Google is trying to differentiate its Android platform because they want Android to dominate," said Wedbush Morgan Securities managing director of research Michael Pachter.

Pachter said the move was a necessary tactic to keep Android devices popular in the fierce smartphone and tablet markets but shouldn't be a big deal for consumers who already have options for getting or storing music online.

"Another vendor of the same content at the same price isn't very exciting," Pachter said. "But, by integrating it into all Android devices Google can make a competitive advantage for Google."

Google also used the opening of its developers conference to announce it is adding movie rentals to its Android Market offering digital content for devices running Android software.

Movie rental prices start at $US1.99 and films could then be streamed to any Android-powered device. People have 30 days to view rented movies, and must finish watching them within 24 hours of starting.

More than 100 million Android devices have been activated worldwide and 400,000 new gadgets powered by the Google-backed software are activated daily, according to Google product manager Hugo Barra.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Video games make kids eat more says study


An hour spent playing video games may make teenage boys eat more over the rest of the day, a small study suggests.

The study, of 22 normal-weight teens, found that the boys ate a bigger lunch when they had a pre-meal video game, versus an hour spent relaxing. And they did not make up for the extra bites by burning more calories through gaming, or by eating less later in the day.

On average, the boys downed 163 calories more on the day when they played video games, researchers report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Exactly what that means for video gamers' waistlines is unknown. But the findings add to studies that have linked kids' screen time - from TV and computers - to the odds of being overweight.

While those studies observed patterns, and do not prove cause-and-effect, the current study actually tested the idea that something about video-gaming itself might affect eating habits, explained lead researcher Jean-Philippe Chaput.

It's not clear why boys ate more on game day, according to Chaput, who researches obesity and lifestyle at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa, Canada.

"We didn't see an increase in hunger," he said, adding that neither the boys' self-ratings of hunger nor their levels of appetite hormones appeared to be affected by playing video games.

Instead, Chaput speculated that there is a subtle "mental-stress effect", and eating food may satisfy the brain's need for a "reward".

"And most of the food we'd want," Chaput said, "would be sugary and fatty".

He noted that in past research, he has found a similar effect of computer work on calorie intake.

For the current study, Chaput's team had the teenage boys come to a research lab on two separate days: on one morning, they played a soccer video game for an hour, followed by lunch; on another morning, they sat quietly for an hour before lunchtime.

The boys then went home and kept a record of what they ate for the rest of the day.

Overall, Chaput's team found, the teens spent more energy when they played video games than when relaxing. But their food intake more than compensated for the energy they burned that day, netting them an extra 163 calories.

There are still many questions - including whether findings from the research lab translate into the real world.

Chaput speculated that the number of extra calories could be even greater in real life, where kids often spend hours playing video games in a day, and may eat junk food while they play.

On the other hand, it's not clear if the extra calories seen in this study are an "acute effect" that would fade if someone played video games regularly, according to Chaput.

But if video games do regularly affect how kids eat, he said, it would be concerning. Even though an extra 163 calories "sounds minor", Chaput said, "if it is chronic, it could have a major effect over the years".

By comparison, a can of regular coca cola contains 90 calories.

For now, Chaput suggested that parents try to limit their kids' time in front of the TV and computer, and replace some of those sedentary hours with physical activity.

Experts generally recommend that children get no more than two hours of screen time per day. But research suggests that few kids meet that goal.

Chaput suggested that parents "act as role models" for their kids, and spend less time parked in front of the tube themselves. "Go outside and play with your kids," he advised.

Still, Chaput said he is not blaming video games for the childhood obesity epidemic. "Obesity prevention is complex. This is just one factor in the overall picture."

One question for future studies, he said, is what kind of effects "active" video games, like Wii games, might have on kids' calorie balance.

On the positive side, they get users to move and burn calories; but if they also encourage overeating as compared to old-fashioned exercise, like riding a bike, that would be a downside.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Like humans, Monkeys can remember what they've seen

Monkeys can recollect what they've seen, according to the study which offers some of the first clear evidence that, like humans, they have the capacity for memory.

Scientists found that rhesus monkeys can flexibly recall extremely simple shapes from memory, as evidenced by their ability to reproduce those shapes on a computer touch screen.

They say the findings suggest that human and monkey memory is more similar than scientists knew. Unlike recognition, recall shows an ability to remember things that are not present in the moment, the researchers explained.  Recall is necessary for planning and imagining and can increase the flexibility of navigation, social behaviour, and other cognitive skills.

Benjamin Basile, of Emory University in the United States said: 'The ability of monkeys to recall these shapes flexibly suggests that they might be able to recollect other types of information that would be useful to them in the wild.

'It's exciting to speculate that they may be able to recollect the appearance of monkeys they know, what favourite foods look like, or the path they would have to take to get to a water source.'

He said it's also possible that the monkeys use their recollection in very limited ways Basile added: 'Maybe it's often just easier to recognise the monkey, the food, or the landmark in front of you.

'What we do know is that they do seem to have the ability to recall information in the lab.' Earlier studies had shown that recall and recognition tests given to humans require different types of memory.

However, it had been difficult to devise recall tests suitable for other primates, given that they don't draw or talk.

In the new study, Basile and Robert Hampton trained five rhesus monkeys on a novel recall test in which they had to reproduce a simple figure on a touch screen from memory.

Those shapes included two or three boxes in a grid. After a delay, part of the shape appeared in a different location, and the monkeys had to 'draw' in the rest of the shape by touching where the other boxes should be.

As in humans, the monkeys remembered less in recall than in recognition tests, even under matched conditions, and recall performance deteriorated more slowly over time.

Importantly, the monkeys were able to transfer their memory skill to novel shapes; their recall ability wasn't limited only to the shapes they had seen during training.

The researchers say that the ability of rhesus monkeys to recall what they've seen in the past suggests that the ability to recollect does not depend on language and may have been present in our common ancestor 30 million years ago.

Basile said: 'Recollection and familiarity likely evolved because they solved functionally incompatible problems.

'For example, familiarity does not support detailed memory for context, but it is quick and resistant to distraction. 

'Recollection is slower and more vulnerable to distraction but supports a more detailed and flexible use of memory. 

'Familiarity might better allow rapid responses to foods and predators under distracting conditions, whereas recollection might be necessary to access knowledge of distant food locations or past social interactions for planning future behavior.'

The report was published online in the journal Current Biology.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Science world buzzing over rumors the elusive 'God particle' has finally been found

The world's largest atom smasher is rumoured to have found the Higgs boson, the subatomic particle otherwise known as the 'God particle'.

The speculation is based on a leaked internal note, said to be from physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 17 mile-long particle accelerator near Geneva, Switzerland.

The rumors started when an anonymous post disclosed part of the note on Columbia University mathematician Peter Woit's blog, Not Even Wrong.

While some physicists are dismissing the note as a hoax, others say the find could be a huge particle physics breakthrough in understanding the workings of the universe.

Physicist Sheldon Stone of Syracuse University said: 'If it were to be real, it would be really exciting.'

The Higgs boson is predicted to exist by the particle physics theory known as the Standard Model. The Higgs boson, physicists believe, bestows mass on all the other particles and was crucial to forming the cosmos after the Big Bang.

It has long eluded physicists who believe it could explain why objects have mass.

Huge atom smashers — like the LHC and the Tevatron, at Fermilab in Illinois — have long been searching for the Higgs and other subatomic matter.

These accelerators slam particles together at enormous speeds, generating a shower of other particles.

The leaked note suggests that the LHC's ATLAS particle-detection experiment may have picked up a signature of the elusive Higgs.

The signal is consistent, in mass and other characteristics, with what the Higgs is expected to produce, according to the note.

Some other aspects of the signal, however, don't match predictions.

Mr Stone said: 'Its production rate is much higher than that expected for the Higgs boson in the Standard Model.'

The signal may be evidence of some other particle, Mr Stone said, adding: 'Which in some sense would be even more interesting, or it could be the result of new physics beyond the Standard Model.'

He pointed out that the note is not an official result of the ATLAS research team, so speculation about its validity or implications, therefore, may be a little premature.

Mr Stone said: 'It is actually quite illegitimate and unscientific to talk publicly about internal collaboration material before it is approved.

'So this "result" is not a result until the collaboration officially releases it.'

Other researchers joined Mr Stone in urging patience and caution before getting too excited about the possible discovery, Fox News reports.

Caltech physicist Sean Carroll said: 'Don't worry, Higgs boson! I would never spread scurrilous rumors about you. Unlike some people.'

Some researchers have already been casting doubt on the possible detection.

Tommaso Dorigo, a particle physicist at Fermilab and CERN, which operates the LHC thinks the signal is false and will fade upon closer inspection.

Mr Dorigo points out, for example, that scientists at Fermilab didn't see the Higgs signal in their Tevatron data, which covered similar ground as the ATLAS experiment.

He feels strongly enough to put his money where his mouth is.

Mr Dorigo said: 'I bet $1,000 with whomever has a name and a reputation in particle physics (this is a necessary specification, because I need to be sure that the person taking the bet will honor it) that the signal is not due to Higgs boson decays.

'I am willing to bet that this is no new particle. Clear enough?'

The rumors follow the buzz earlier this month from Tevatron over the discovery of a new elementary particle that caused a stir within the physics community.

Nigel Lockyer, director of Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, TRIUMF, said: 'My personal judgement is that this excitement is adding fuel to the fire for the next generation of results and discoveries that will be made at the LHC (in Europe) and elsewhere.

'We are so close to learning something profound.'

The Tevatron was once the most powerful machine in the world for atom smashing until 2008 when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) became operational at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, known by the acronym CERN.

The U.S. machine began its work in the mid-1980s, and is scheduled for shutdown later this year when its funding runs dry.

Whether some parts will be used in other experiments or whether it will end up as part of a science exhibition is currently being decided by a committee, according to sources.

The structure of the atom was discovered early in the 20th Century. Scientists found that the atom was made of smaller pieces called subatomic particles -- most notably the proton, neutron, and electron.

However, experiments conducted in the second half of the 20th Century with atom smashers revealed that the subatomic structure of the atom was much more complex.

Particle accelerators can take a particle, such as an electron, speed it up to near the speed of light, collide it with an atom and thereby discover its internal parts.

Friday, April 22, 2011

If you're living in an affluent area means you are more likely to commit suicide

It may come as something of a surprise, but the happiest countries have the highest rates of suicide.

Behavioural scientists found that the more affluent an area then the happier it was, but the more likely its residents are to take their own lives.

They put this down to contrast, with a miserable person in an otherwise happy area likely to feel his lot is comparatively worse.Whereas the same person in an unhappy environment would be less inclined to dwell on his own misery and more able to tolerate it, the study suggests.

Researchers from the University of Warwick and Hamilton College in New York said that previous studies have shown 'happy' nations had high suicide rates, with Denmark often singled out as an example.

The team found the same was true about comparatively happy nations including Canada, the U.S., Iceland, Ireland and Switzerland. To rule out cultural differences and suicide reporting conventions, researchers focused on a single country - the U.S. - to see it the same pattern could be seen across its various states.

They found that states with people who are generally more satisfied with their lives tended to have higher suicide rates than those with lower average levels of life satisfaction.

Utah is ranked first in life satisfaction, but has the ninth highest suicide rate, while New York was ranked 45th in life satisfaction but had the lowest suicide rate in the country. Even after making adjustments for age, gender, race, education and income the link could still clearly be made, the scientists write in the U.S. publication Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

After these adjustments, Hawaii would rank second in average life satisfaction, but with the fifth highest suicide rate in the country. New Jersey would rank near the bottom in life satisfaction (47th) but with one of the lowest adjusted suicide risks (also 47th).

Professor Andrew Oswald, of the University of Warwick, co-author on the report Dark Contrasts: The Paradox Of High Rates Of Suicide In Happy Places, said this could come down to how we judge ourselves by other people.

He said: 'Discontented people in a happy place may feel particularly harshly treated by life. Those dark contrasts may in turn increase the risk of suicide. 'If humans are subject to mood swings, the lows of life may thus be most tolerable in an environment in which other humans are unhappy.'

Professor Stephen Wu of Hamilton College added: 'This result is consistent with other research that shows that people judge their well-being in comparison to others around them.

'These types of comparison effects have also been shown with regards to income, unemployment, crime, and obesity.'

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Largest ever fossil of spider found after 165m years | Trends At Glance

Largest ever fossil of spider
The largest ever fossil of a prehistoric spider which was weaving webs when dinosaurs ruled the Earth has been discovered by scientists.

Its fossilized features have been so perfectly preserved from 165 million years ago that experts have identified it down to the exact species and were even able to tell it was an adult female.

The Golden Orb Weaver has been named Nephila jurassica and is the largest fossil of a spider ever found.

It lived in the forests of northern China when the climate was much warmer and more tropical than today.

Its discovery means Golden Orb Weavers, or 'nephilids' - giant spiders that can grow bigger than a human hand and which still thrive today - are the longest ranging spider genus known to man in terms of age.

Palaeontologist Professor Paul Selden, of Kansas University, said the females are the largest web-weaving spiders alive today with a body length of up to two inches and a leg span of six inches. Males are relatively small in comparison.

They are 'common and spectacular' inhabitants of tropical and subtropical regions with females weaving distinctive five foot wide webs of yellow silk that glisten like gold in sunlight.

Prof Selden, who reports his discovery in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, said: 'Here, we describe the largest known fossil spider: a female Nephila from the Middle Jurassic of China.'

Microscopic examination of the female, with a body length of about an inch and more than half an inch wide, revealed clear details including the brushes of long bristles on the ends of her legs that are characteristic of the Golden Orb Weaver.

The spider was dug up at a site called Daohugou in Inner Mongolia that is filled with fossilized salamanders, small primitive mammals, insects and water crustaceans.

During the Jurassic era, the fossil bed was part of a lake in a volcanic region.
Spider fossils from this period are rare, because the arachnids' soft bodies are easily destroyed.

The pristine Nephila jurassica was probably created when the spider was quickly encased in a tomb of silt and ash during a volcanic eruption to keep it from being scavenged or decaying.

Prof Selden said the find means Golden Orb Weavers must have an unusually ancient lineage, an extremely long range for any animal genus.

Their prized webs were being woven to capture moths and beetles in the days of T Rex, and influencing insect evolution.

The Golden Orb Weaver spins a strong web high in protein because it depends on it to capture large insects for food.

The find also suggests the climate was 'warm and humid at this time'.

Added Prof Selden: 'It is likely that Nephila jurassica wove large, golden orb webs to catch medium to large sized insects in the Daohugou forests.

'Predation by these spiders would have played an important role in the natural selection of contemporaneous insects.'

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Mobile phone can be used with thoughts only

Nokia N73
Everyone looking to save as much time as possible and sometimes dialing a mobile number is become too time consuming for our fast-paced time precious society.

Here a Good news researchers in America have come up with a solution - "Brain Cell Phone" a mobile phone which uses the power of thought to make a call - and you do not have to move a finger. Users wear a specially designed headband which is hooked up to a Blue tooth device that wirelessly sends commands to a Nokia N73 mobile phone.

But for using this device you need some practice so that you can master the technique, this technology works by responding to cues from the brain. It is hoped the break-through will be able to create safer hands free mobile phones to help the disabled and elderly and help out professionals in high pressured working environments.

According to the Huffington Post, developer Tzyy-Ping Jung, a scientist at the Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, said the device relies on electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes on the scalp to work out what the brain is trying to say. He believes it could be 100 per cent accurate with just a bit of  training.He said: 'From our experience, anyone can do it.'

Users wear an EEG headband, which detects brain signals and a Bluetooth gadget sends instructions to the phone. This uses algorithms to process the signals.

During trials, users were shown digits from zero to nine flashing at different speeds on a screen and this was detected by the electrodes.

Those used in the initial experiments were between 70 per cent 85 per cent accurate when trying to dial a 10 digit phone number. Thought powered computers have been around for a while, however this is the first time it has been adapted for mobile phones.

End of the post

It's very important technique which even disable person can try to perform their work and even normal person can be benefitted as well. Please discuss your take about it.


Do you think this mobile really needed?
How much does this mobile affect our life?
What other benefits do you think we can get from this technique?

Sunday, April 10, 2011

FBI released a memo that proves "aliens landed at Roswell"

Alien that was autopsied at Roswell in 1947
A bizarre memo that appears to prove that aliens did land in New Mexico prior to 1950 has been published by the FBI. The bureau has made thousands of files available in a new online resource called The Vault.

Among them is a memo to the director from Guy Hottel, the special agent in charge of the Washington field office in 1950.

In the memo, whose subject line is 'Flying Saucers', Agent Hottel reveals that an Air Force investigator had stated that 'three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico'.

The investigator gave the information to a special agent, he said. The FBI has censored both the agent and the investigator's identity. Agent Hottel went on to write: 'They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter.

'Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall,' he stated. The bodies were 'dressed in a metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed flyers and test pilots.'

He said that the informant, whose identity was censored in the memo, claimed the saucers had been found in New Mexico 'due to the fact that the Government has a very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it is believed the radar interferes with teh controlling mechanism of the saucers'.

He then stated that the special agent did not attempt to investigate further.The release of the secret memo is likely to fuel conspiracy theorists' claims of a government cover-up.

Secret memo released online is written to the FBI Director and could confirm the 1947 Roswell UFO incident
The town of Roswell in New Mexico became infamous after reports that a flying saucer had crashed in the desert near a military base there on or around July 2, 1947. The bodies of aliens were said to have been recovered and autopsied by the U.S. military,

but American authorities allegedly covered the incident up Military authorities issued a press release, which began: ‘The many rumours regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence officer of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc.’

The headlines screamed: 'Flying Disc captured by Air Force.' Yet, just 24 hours later, the military changed their story and claimed the object they'd first thought was a 'flying disc' was a weather balloon that had crashed on a nearby ranch.

Amazingly, the media and the public accepted the explanation without question. Roswell disappeared from the news until the late Seventies, when some of the military involved began to speak out. Another memo published in The Vault from 1947 claimed that an object 'purporting to be a flying disc' had been recovered near Roswell.
 
A dead alien is allegedly examined following the landing at Roswell
The disc was 'hexagonal in shape' and 'suspended from a balloon by a cable', according to the memo, marked as 'Urgent', to the FBI director. The memo noted that the disc resembled a weather balloon - but claimed that a telephone conversation between the Air Force and the field office 'had not [word
censored] borne out this belief'.

The disc and balloon were being transported to Wright Field for further inspection, the memo noted.

It added that the information was being flagged up because of 'national interest' in the episode, and noting that both NBC and the AP were set to break the story that day.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Even if you drink just over a unit of beer/alcohol a day "causes cancer"

Drinking a ‘safe’ amount of alcohol below the recommended daily limit increases the risk of developing cancer, with the danger remaining even if you become teetotal, experts say.

New research shows that one in ten cancers in men and one in 33 in women in Britain is caused by drinking – and the figures are on the rise.

Alcohol is blamed for at least 13,000 cases a year, including cancer of the breast, mouth, oesophagus and bowel. Bingeing is responsible for most cases, but some are triggered by drinking at levels below
the suggested daily total, according to the international report.

It found that men who drank more than two standard drinks (or units) a day and women who had more than one were particularly at risk of alcohol-related cancers.

A standard drink is equivalent to a 125ml glass of wine, half a pint of weak beer or a single whisky.

Oxford University researcher Naomi Allen, who helps to compile the ongoing study, said: ‘This supports existing evidence that alcohol causes cancer and that the risk increases even with drinking moderate amounts.’

The study has been tracking volunteers across Europe for years, and Miss Allen said the latest figures understated the risks now.

She added: ‘The results from this study reflect the impact of people’s drinking habits about ten years ago.

‘People are drinking even more now and this could lead to more people developing cancer because of alcohol in the future.’

Figures from eight European countries including Britain were analysed to determine the proportion of cancer cases caused by alcohol, and at what levels of drinking.

NHS guidelines advise that men should drink no more than four units a day while women should not go over three.

Cancers of the pharynx (the cavity behind the nose and mouth), oesophagus and voice box were most commonly caused by alcohol, followed by cancer of the liver.

Overall, in 2008, current and former alcohol consumption caused about 57,600 cases of cancer of the upper digestive tract, bowel and liver in men across Denmark, Greece, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, it showed.

More than half of these cases (33,000) were caused by drinking more than two alcoholic drinks per day. Across all eight countries, some 21,500 cases of upper digestive tract, liver, bowel and breast cancer in women were caused by drinking, of which over 80 per cent (17,400) was due to more than one drink of beer, wine, or spirits per day.

Almost 300,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed each year in Britain. Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, which helped to fund the study, said: ‘Many people just don’t know that drinking alcohol can increase their cancer risk.

‘Keeping alcohol intake to a maximum of one small drink a day for women and two small drinks per day for men can have a real impact.’

The research, published in the British Medical Journal, is part of the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (Epic), which began in 1992 and is one of the largest studies into the links between cancer and diet.

It tracked 360,000 people, mostly aged 35 to 70 when the study started, who were followed up to see how many developed cancer.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The best way to find alien life is to search for signs of mining

Scientists have spent 50 years sending radio signals deep into space in an attempt to establish contact with extra-terrestrials. But it now appears there might be a much simpler way of finding alien life - we should look for signs of mining in asteroid belts.

Mining should be easy to spot because it would create lots of dust due to its effect on local temperatures, or so the theory goes. Aliens would also be more likely to mine large objects instead of smaller ones, researchers believe.

The claims were made by Dr Duncan Forgan, of the University of Edinburgh, and Dr Martin Elvis, of the Harvard Smithsonian Center For Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They suggest that as materials such as gold, platinum, iron and silicon are plentiful in asteroids, then intelligent alien life would be likely to exploit this. Any extrasolar mining would produce three effects that should, in theory, be detected from Earth.

Firstly, scientists are aware of the specific ratio of elements found in common debris belts. Therefore, using spectroscopy, they should be able to spot asteroid belts where this ratio is different.

Secondly, aliens would be more likely to mine large asteroid belts due to their having more elements and minerals for harvesting.

Lastly, any large scale mining would result in a great deal of dust that would take heat from the nearby star and generate an identifiable thermal signature.

Dr Forgan and Dr Elvis claim that spotting all of these tell-tale signs raises the likelihood of pinpointing extra-terrestrials. However, they admit that all three also occur naturally and that their recommendations only increase the chance of finding alien life.

In a paper published in, they write: 'We find that individual observational signatures of asteroid mining can be explained by natural phenomena, and as such they cannot provide conclusive detections of extra-terrestrial intelligences.

'They could provide a means of identifying unusual candidate systems for further study using other techniques.'

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Ever wondered why Mars is red? Earth can too become Red

Mars has not always been red. At least that is the theory proposed by a scientist who has discovered a reason as to how the red planet got its rosy color.

According to Dr John Brandednberg, about 180 million years ago, a planet-shattering yet naturally occurring nuclear reaction may have wiped out everything on Mars, sending a 
shock-wave that turned the planet into dry sand.

He told Fox News: 'The Martian surface is covered with a thin layer of radioactive substances including uranium, thorium and radioactive potassium - and this pattern radiates from a hot spot on Mars.

'A nuclear explosion could have sent debris all around the planet. 'Maps of gamma rays on Mars show a big red spot that seems like a radiating debris pattern ... on the opposite side of the planet there is another red spot.' Dr Brandenburg, who is a senior propulsion scientist at Orbital Technologies Corp, said the natural explosion - the equivalent of one million one-megaton hydrogen bombs - occurred in the northern Mare Acidalium region of Mars where there is a heavy concentration of radioactivity.

This explosion also filled the Martian atmosphere with radio-isotopes, which are seen in recent gamma ray spectrometry data taken by NASA, he said. The radioactivity also explains why the planet looks red.

Dr Brandenburg believes that a natural nuclear reaction could have occurred on our own planet - and could happen again. Dr David Beaty, Mars programme science manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told FoxNews.com that he finds the idea intriguing and fascinating. 

But he said to prove the science, the agency would need to plan a mission to explore Mare Acidalium on Mars.                                                                                                                                                                      

Friday, April 1, 2011

Do you know Heartbeat can charge your Cellphone??

Scientists have developed a tiny chip that can generate power by using the body's sown movement, a technology which they say could soon enable you to recharge your mobile phone by just holding closer to your heart.

Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology in the US who were behind the invention hoped that as the nanotechnology used in the chip evolves, it could lead to electronics which don't require batteries or mains power. Hailed as a milestone, it can use tiny movements such as the tip of the finger to generate power, British newspaper the Telegraph reported.

Zhong Lin Wang, who led the research, said, "This development represents a milestone toward producing portable electronics that can be powered by body movements without the use of batteries or electrical outlets."

Wang and his team used the device to power LCD displays and diodes, as well as to transmit a radio signal once its generated power has been stored. The device, they said, is thousands of times more powerful than its predecessors, allowing scientists to take the technology out of the lab for the first time.

The technology works by using zinc oxide nanowires, which generate electricity when strained or flexed. This mean virtually any body movement - from walking to a heartbeat - can generate power, the scientists said. Wang's team worked to capture and combine the power of millions of the nanowires, which are so small that 500 could fit in a human hair.

Five nanogenerators working together produced about one micro ampere output current at 3 volts about the same voltage generated by two regular AA batteries.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Why a broken heart 'hurts more' than physical pain??

For centuries poets and songwriters have tried to describe the pain of a broken heart. However, it has taken scientists to prove that the agony of unrequited love is more than a simple emotional response.

Experiments show that being dumped by a lover activates brain regions more usually associated with processing physical pain, such as the searing sensation of being burnt. In other words, a broken heart really does hurt.

The finding could help explain why being given the heave-ho can be so painful for so long. The intriguing idea comes from an American study of 40 men and women whose relationships had ended against their wishes. All said the experience left them deeply hurt.

Their brains were scanned as they looked at various pictures. They rated looking at the picture of an ex and being touched with a hot probe as more painful than thinking about a friend or being touched with a cooler probe. More interestingly, they said that break-up thoughts hurt as much as the hot probe.

Analysis of the scans revealed that the same brain regions lit up when processing the two types of pain, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports. Pugh University of Michigan researcher Ethan Kross said: 'These results give new meaning to the idea that social rejection "hurts".'

'On the surface, spilling a hot cup of coffee on yourself and thinking about how rejected you feel when you look at the picture of a person that you recently experienced an unwanted break up with may seem to elicit very different types of pain.

'But this research shows that they may be even more similar than initially thought.' Other research has shed light on why we often yearn to get back together with a lost love Brain scans of men and women pining for a past partner revealed that a broken heart triggers the same feeling in the brain as kicking a drug addiction.

But there is hope for the lovelorn. The study showed that the greater than number of days since the rejection, the less activity there was in the parts of the brain behind emotional attachment.