Kuznetsova’s luck runs out against Kirilenko

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Svetlana Kuznetsova’s luck finally ran out at Roland Garros on Friday.

This time, as darkness descended on Court One, the defending French Open champion could find no miraculous escape from the jaws of defeat as she was beaten 6-3 2-6 6-4 by fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko.

It was not through lack of effort though. The sixth seed saved two match points to go with the four she staved off two days ago against Germany’s Andrea Petkovic.

When Kirilenko was offered a third opportunity to finish off her struggling opponent, however, she made no mistake as Kuznetsova prodded a backhand into the tramlines.

“I mean, it was very hard to defend my title with the tennis I have been playing this season,” a glum 24-year-old, who also has a U.S. Open title to her name, told reporters.

“I didn’t come here with my best game, but I gave my all. I fought to the end, it happens.

“I’ll be back. I have the game. It’s just matters of time.”

Kuznetsova appeared to have turned the match on its head when she had a point for a 3-0 lead in the deciding set but Kirilenko reeled off the next four games.

Again Kuznetsova had two points to level at 5-5 but her brittle confidence undermined her again and Kirilenko held her nerve to reach the fourth round here for the first time.

“I’m happy the way I played at the end of the match, I was so aggressive,” Kirilenko, who also beat Kuznetsova in Rome recently, told reporters. “I took a risk. That last game was a tough, tough game. This is one of the best wins of my career.”

Kirilenko will face Italy’s Francesca Schiavone in the fourth round.

“I’m expecting a tough match. She has too much spin, she plays kind of like a guy,” the 23-year-old said of her next challenge.

(Editing by Miles Evans; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Loss to Australia in T20 WC semi-final still hard to believe: Mohammed Hafeez

May 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 20 (ANI): Pakistan all rounder Mohammed Hafeez and his other teammates are still shocked at their stunning defeat against Australia in the semi-final of the just concluded ICC T20 World Championship in Caribbean.

Hafeez told PakPassion.net that his fellow cricketers are still finding it hard to come to terms with having snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

“We played so well, we gave absolutely everything and it was hard to believe at the end of the day that we actually lost. We were upset with the defeat and I believe that we should have won the match against Australia,” he said.

Hafeez denied there being any complacency on part of the players during the all important match, and stressed that the whole team was absolutely focussed on its job even after posting a challenging total of 192 for Australia to chase.

“The captain and coach told us to give our all till the very last ball of the match. There was absolutely no chance of us taking things easy or thinking we had already won the match. Against Australia you can never let your guard slip and that”s what the captain and coach emphasised to all of us,” he said.

Hafeez, however, did not take away any credit from Michael Hussey for producing a breathtaking innings of 60 off 24 balls, which saw the Kangaroos seal their berth in the final of the tournament.

“Hussey did not make any mistakes. To come in that late in the batting order and play an innings like that was just simply brilliant. It was a magical innings by Hussey, he played really well and he planned his strokes to perfection,” he said.

Hafeez, who has played 15 T20 internationals for Pakistan, also expressed the hope that he would be recalled in the one-day team for the upcoming Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.

“The defeat to Australia is hard to take, but we all need to look ahead and to look forward to the Asia Cup. I hope I am given a chance in Sri Lanka and given the opportunity once again in the 50 over format of the game,” said Hafeez, who last played a 50-over match in October 2007 against South Africa in Lahore. (ANI)

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New fossil material reveals Azendohsaurus as an early reptile, not a dinosaur

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 19 (ANI): New fossil material has revealed that Azendohsaurus was not a dinosaur, but a peculiar early reptile.

A careful new analysis of A. madagaskarensis—this time based on the entire skull rather than on just teeth and jaws—aligned the 230-million-year-old animal with a different and very early branch on the reptile evolutionary tree.

Many aspects of Azendohsaurus are far more primitive than previously assumed, which in turn means that its plant-eating adaptations, similar to those found some early dinosaurs, were developed independently.

“Even though this extraordinary ancient reptile looks similar to some plant-eating dinosaurs in some features of the skull and dentition, it is in fact only distantly related to dinosaurs,” said John J. Flynn, curator in the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History.

“With more complete material, we re-assessed features like the down-turned jaw and leaf-shaped teeth found in A. madagaskarensis as convergent with some herbivorous dinosaurs,” he added.

The fossil is a member of Archosauromorpha, a group that includes birds and crocodilians but not lizards, snakes, or turtles.

The type specimen of the genus Azendohsaurus was a fragmentary set of teeth and jaws found in 1972 near (and named for) a village in Morocco”s Atlas Mountains.

The fossils on which the current research paper is based was discovered in the late 1990s in southwestern Madagascar. Named A. madagaskarensis, this specimen was uncovered by a team of U.S. and Malagasy paleontologists in a “red bed” that includes multiple individuals that probably perished together.

This species was initially published as an early dinosaur in Science over a decade ago, but the completeness of the more recently unearthed and studied fossils has provided the first complete glimpse of what this animal looked like and was related to.

And the conclusion is: A. madagaskarensis was not a dinosaur.

A. madagaskarensis lived during the period of time that dinosaurs, crocodile relatives, mammals, pterosaurs, turtles, frogs, and lizards were getting their start, and all of the continents were connected as the supercontinent Pangaea.

A. madagaskarensis was 2 to 4 meters long and weighed between 20 and 50 kilos (about 44 to110 pounds).

A. madagaskarensis was an efficient herbivore—”a veritable four-legged weed-whacker,” according to Flynn—with teeth modified for slicing vegetation covering not only its jaws, but also the roof of its mouth.

Even though early archosaurs were commonly thought to be primarily carnivorous, A. madagaskarensis shows that traits associated with herbivory were much more widespread across archosaur reptiles.

“Now there are many more cases of herbivorous archosaurs. We are rethinking the evolution of diet and feeding strategies, as well as the broader evolution of the group,” said Andre Wyss, professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“This is the way science works. As we found and analyzed more material, it made us realize that this was a much more primitive animal and the dinosaur-like features were really the product of convergent evolution,” said Flynn, commenting on the reinterpretation of the fossils.

Wyss added: “In many ways Azendohsaurus ends up being a much more fantastic animal than if it simply represented a generic early dinosaur.”

The new analysis is published in the journal Palaeontology. (ANI)

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Shock, disbelief in Pak after ouster

May 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

They were gearing up to celebrate a win when Michael Hussey turned the match on its head, leaving scores of fans in Pakistan shocked at their team’s ouster from the Twenty20 World Cup following the last-over loss to Australia.

A pall of gloom descended on the city of Karachi and in other parts of the country after Pakistan were stunned by Australia in the high scoring semifinal of the mega event last night.

Australia snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by overhauling a 191-run target with a ball to spare, leaving Pakistani supporters in disbelief.

“It is shocking we were just getting ready for a feast and to distribute sweets and to just celebrate a great victory and that was just two overs back and now we are simply stunned and shocked,” former Test player Jalaluddin said.

Jalaluddin was among thousands of people in the city who had made special arrangements to watch the match with family and friends at their homes where people had set up barbecues and big television screens.

People thronged big hotels, private clubs and cafes, to watch the match and as a likely victory loomed large for Pakistan, the celebrations had already begun at most places with people dancing and cheering every Australian wicket that fell.

But it took just two overs to change the mood of the as they left disheartened after Pakistan lost despite coming so close to beating Michael Clarke’s men.

“It was just poor captaincy and nothing else, our players don’t have self belief, they don’t realise how much we pray for their success,” an angry student said in the Lines area.

In the Lines area, a lower and congested middle class locality of Karachi, people had set up giant screens on the roads for children and elders watched the match.

There were special arrangements to watch the match on generators due to the energy crisis in the country.

“I think we should accept defeat with grace, our team played like true champions but in sports one team has to lose and unfortunately it was not our day today but our players made us proud,” said Zeesh another student watching the match at Area 51.

If Pakistan had won, it would have been their third successive final in the Twenty20 World Cup.

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Sniff of local anesthetic may replace dentist’s needle

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 13 (ANI): A new discovery may replace the needle used to give local anesthetic in the dentist”s chair for many procedures.

Boffins have reported that a common local anesthetic, when administered to the nose as nose drops or a nasal spray, travels through the main nerve in the face and collects in high concentrations in the teeth, jaw, and structures of the mouth.

The discovery could lead to a new generation of intranasal drugs for noninvasive treatment for dental pain, migraine, and other conditions, the scientists suggest in American Chemical Society”s bi-monthly journal Molecular Pharmaceutics. The article is scheduled for the journal”s May-June issue.

William H. Frey II, Ph.D., and colleagues note that drugs administered to the nose travel along nerves and go directly to the brain.

One of those nerves is the trigeminal nerve, which brings feelings to the face, nose and mouth. Until now, however, scientists never checked to see whether intranasal drugs passing along that nerve might reach the teeth, gums and other areas of the face and mouth to reduce pain sensations in the face and mouth.

Neil Johnson, working in the labs of Frey and Leah R. Hanson, Ph.D., at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., found that lidocaine or Xylocaine, sprayed into the noses of laboratory rats, quickly traveled down the trigeminal nerve and collected in their teeth, jaws, and mouths at levels 20 times higher than in the blood or brain.

According to the scientists, the approach could provide a more effective and targeted method for treating dental pain/anxiety, trigeminal neuralgia (severe facial pain), migraine, and other conditions. (ANI)

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Newly discovered fossils reveal how dinosaur feathers changed with age

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 29 (ANI): Analysis of newfound fossils of a feathered dinosaur has suggested that the extinct reptiles might have had a diversity in plumage types that puts modern birds to shame.

Farmers in northeastern China have unearthed two roughly 125-million-year-old specimens of the dinosaur Similicaudipteryx— a member of the group called the oviraptorosaurs, which are believed to be ancestors of birds.

The species, believed to be herbivorous, was first described in 2008—it had robust jaws similar to those of other oviraptorosaurs, but with two unusually large buck teeth.

The two new fossils belong to a pigeon-size juvenile dinosaur thought to be just a year or two old and a three- to four-year-old duck-size youth.

The younger animal”s fossil included short ribbonlike feathers and each feather on its tail was just 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) long, while on its arms a typical feather was less than 0.8 inch (2 centimeters) long.

On the other hand, the older dinosaur sported long quills, with each tail feather measuring 13.7 inches (35 centimeters) long and a typical arm feather measuring roughly 9.8 inches (25 centimeters) long.

The findings suggest feathered dinosaurs might have been undergone a string of changes as they matured—unlike anything seen in modern birds, said study co-author Xing Xu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

It is believed that very young dinosaurs have been covered in down, so the new finding suggests that dinosuars went through at least three stages of feather types— full down, to a mix of down and “ribbons,” to down and quills.

The long quills on the older Similicaudipteryx are much like those seen on modern birds, and they might have served as ornaments or to help the dinosaur balance itself as it ran.

The younger dinosaur”s ribbonlike feathers are superficially similar to some specialized plumes seen today, for example, on birds of paradise.

However, the ancient feathers are actually a type that has been lost in the course of evolution, and the role they played on the younger juvenile remains unknown.

These extinct feathers would not have been useful for warmth, for example, given how flat they are, said Xu.

While the “ribbons” might have served as ornaments, “in modern animals, structures used for display generally develop relatively late, when the animal is mature, for attracting mates,” he added.

“Their appearance here is at the wrong stage—it”s really bizarre,” National Geographic News quoted him as saying.

Similicaudipteryx”s odd changes suggest that early birds and feathered dinosaurs experimented with a diversity of feather types and a variety of ways to use them, “which only later stabilized to the more conservative system we see now with modern birds,” said Xu.

“There were very, very strange structures in the history of feathers,” he added.

The feathered dinosaurs are described in the latest issue of the journal Nature. (ANI)

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Jaws – 4 million BC!

March 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, March 17 (ANI): If a new research is anything to go by, then the makers of the Jaws film franchise might have enough material for the next movie in the series, with scientists discovering evidence of how an extinct shark attacked its prey 4 million years ago.

By careful, forensic-style analysis of bite marks on an otherwise well-preserved dolphin skeleton, the research team, based in Pisa, Italy, have reconstructed the events that led to the death of the dolphin, and determined the probably identity of the killer: a 4 mln shark by the name of Cosmopolitodus hastalis.

The evidence comes from the fossilised skeleton of a 2.8-mln long dolphin discovered in the Piedmont region of northern Italy.

According to Giovanni Bianucci, who led the study, “The skeleton lay unstudied in a museum in Torino for more than a century, but when I examined it, as part of a larger study of fossil dolphins, I noticed the bite marks on the ribs, vertebrae and jaws.”

“Identifying the victim of the attack was the easy part – it’s an extinct species of dolphin known as Astadelphis gastaldii – working out the identity of the killer called for some serious detective work, as the only evidence to go on was the bite marks,” he said.

The overall shape of the bite indicated a shark attack, and Bianucci called in fossil shark expert Walter Landini.

“The smoothness of the bite marks on the ribs clearly shows that the teeth of whatever did the biting were not serrated, and that immediately ruled out some possibilities. We simulated bite marks of the potential culprits and, by comparing them with the shape and size of the marks on the fossils, we narrowed it down to Cosmopolitodus hastalis,” said Bianucci.

Circumstantial evidence also supports this verdict: fossil teeth from Cosmopolitodus are common in the rock sequences that the dolphin was found in.

“From the size of the bite, we reckon that this particular shark was about 4 m long,” said Landini.

Detailed analysis of the bite pattern allowed the researchers to go even further.

“The deepest and clearest incisions are on the ribs of the dolphin, indicating the shark attached from below, biting into the abdomen,” said Bianucci.

Caught in the powerful bite, the dolphin would have struggled, and the shark probably detached a big amount of flesh by shaking its body from side to side,” he said.

“The bite would have caused severe damage and intense blood loss, because of the dense network of nerves, blood vessels and vital organs in this area. Then, already dead or in a state of shock, the dolphin rolled onto its back, and the shark bit again, close to the fleshy dorsal fin,” he added. (ANI)

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Do Indestructible Dog Toys Exist? Natural Pet Warehouse Talks Tough Dog Toys

March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

RED LION, PA, Mar 01 (MARKET WIRE) —
Do indestructible dog toys exist? No, not indestructible, but almost
indestructible, says Natural Pet Warehouse, a leading provider of
wholesome, organic and natural pet supplies.

“While there are no indestructible dog toys, West Paw Design and Planet
Dog treat their toys as if they are,” said Brandon Fritz, owner of
NaturalPetWarehouse.com. “Both of these manufacturers (which we carry on
our site) guarantee you will be satisfied with their tough dog toys which
are still soft enough to not damage your dog’s teeth; if you’re not
satisfied, you can exchange the toy or get your money back.”

Today, many people are conscientious about the health of the planet, and
West Paw Design and Planet Dog are too. Both companies use green
technology and make toys that are recyclable. A recyclable toy never
dies, so buyers of dog toys by West Paw Design and Planet Dog can be sure
they are taking care of natural resources on planet Earth.

NaturalPetWarehouse.com carries many types of dog toys for every type of
chewer, even the aggressive ones. When buying a dog toy, take into
consideration that dogs’ jaws have the most chewing power in the back of
the mouth. So owners of an aggressive chewer will want to buy more rounded
dog toys because they are more difficult to get into the back of the
mouth.

“It seems like every time people go to the pet store to buy a toy, they
subconsciously evaluate the toys based on some kind of ratio of seconds of
fun per dollar,” said Fritz. “This was a motivating factor for us to carry
super tough dog toys that give you a better bang for your buck.”

For more information on all natural pet supplies and dog toys from
Natural Pet Warehouse, please visit www.NaturalPetWarehouse.com.

About Natural Pet Warehouse:

Natural Pet Warehouse understands the difference natural and organic
practices can make in the quality and longevity of life for pets and their
owners. Pets are part of the family, which is why they absolutely love
providing the healthiest pet products available. All of their pet supplies
and products are eco-friendly (recycled, recyclable, or made from natural
or organic ingredients) and have undergone careful research to meet their
high health standards.

Contact:
Natural Pet Warehouse
npw@naturalpetwarehouse.com
888-760-PETS
888-760-7387

Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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Anna Friel bares all for Breakfast at Tiffany’s role

September 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, September 20 (ANI): Actress Anna Friel dropped her layers on stage for her role in classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

The Pushing Daisies star was said to have left fans with dropped jaws as she stripped off at the preview at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket.

“The guys in the front row couldn’t believe it, their eyes were on stalks. It looked like they were about to pass out,” News of the World quoted one as saying.

The 33-year-old stars as Holly Golightly, the role made famous by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 Oscar-winning movie.

The play opens on September 29. (ANI)

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Pregnant Heidi Klum bares bum for sexy mag shoot

September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, September 13 (ANI): Heidi Klum has left many jaws hanging in the air after baring her bottom for a magazine picture shoot.

The Victoria’s Secret model, who is expecting her fourth child next month, sported a tiny backless snakeskin dress while posing for the camera.

“She might be a mum of three already but Heidi has still got it. Men go wild for her,” News of the World quoted an insider at the photo session, for the New York Post’s Page Six Magazine, as saying.

But the 36-year-old German, married to British singer Seal, may disagree with the suggested popular opinion.

Klum previously said: “The last month (of pregnancy) is unbelievable, how rapidly your stomach goes. It’s huge. The thighs, the butt – everything explodes.” (ANI)

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Pregnant Heidi Klum bares bum for sexy mag shoot

September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, September 13 (ANI): Heidi Klum has left many jaws hanging in the air after baring her bottom for a magazine picture shoot.

The Victoria’s Secret model, who is expecting her fourth child next month, sported a tiny backless snakeskin dress while posing for the camera.

“She might be a mum of three already but Heidi has still got it. Men go wild for her,” News of the World quoted an insider at the photo session, for the New York Post’s Page Six Magazine, as saying.

But the 36-year-old German, married to British singer Seal, may disagree with the suggested popular opinion.

Klum previously said: “The last month (of pregnancy) is unbelievable, how rapidly your stomach goes. It’s huge. The thighs, the butt – everything explodes.” (ANI)

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Abi Titmuss strikes sexy pose for 2010 calendar

September 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, September 10 (ANI): Abi Titmuss has left many jaws dropping after posing for this year’s batch of calendar babes.

The nurse-turned-glamour model was said to have dropped a self-imposed retirement for her 2010 special.

The 33-year-old left little to the imagination after dropping her layers, reports the Sun.

Abi has allegedly been more inclined towards her budding acting career over the last few months. (ANI)

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Duck-billed dino ate unlike anything alive today

June 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, June 30 (ANI): In a new study, scientists have found evidence that the duck-billed dinosaurs – the Hadrosaurs – had a unique way of eating, unlike any living creature today.

Working with researchers from the Natural History Museum, the study uses a new approach to analyze the feeding mechanisms of dinosaurs and understand their place in the ecosystems of tens of millions of years ago.

According to paleontologist Mark Purnell of the University of Leicester Department of Geology, who led the research, “For millions of years, until their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, duck-billed dinosaurs – or hadrosaurs – were the world’s dominant herbivores.”

They must have been able to break down their food somehow, but without the complex jaw joint of mammals they would not have been able to chew in the same way, and it is difficult to work out how they ate.

It is also unclear what they ate. They might have been grazers, cropping vegetation close to the ground – like today’s cows and sheep – or browsers, eating leaves and twigs – more like deer or giraffes.

Not knowing the answers to these questions makes it difficult to understand Late Cretaceous ecosystems and how they were affected during the major extinction event 65 million years ago.

“Our study uses a new approach based on analysis of the microscopic scratches that formed on hadrosaur’s teeth as they fed, tens of millions of years ago,” said Purnell.

“The scratches have been preserved intact since the animals died. They can tell us precisely how hadrosaur jaws moved, and the kind of food these huge herbivores ate, but nobody has tried to analyze them before,” he added.

The researchers sadi that the scratches reveal that the movements of hadrosaur teeth were complex and involved up and down, sideways and front to back motion.

According to Paul Barrett palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, “This shows that hadrosaurs did chew, but in a completely different way to anything alive today. Rather than a flexible lower jaw joint, they had a hinge between the upper jaws and the rest of the skull.”

“As they bit down on their food the upper jaws were forced outwards, flexing along this hinge so that the tooth surfaces slid sideways across each other, grinding and shredding food in the process,” he said. (ANI)

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Water snakes startle fish to make them flee into their jaws

June 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, June 19 : A tentacled snake from South East Asia has developed a unique line of attack to catch its prey-it startles a fish in a way that the prey turns toward the snake”s head to flee instead of turning away.

In fact, the fish”s reaction is so predictable that the snake, instead of tracking its movement, actually aims its strike at the position where the fish”s head will be.

“I haven”t been able to find reports of any other predators that exhibit a similar ability to influence and predict the future behaviour of their prey,” said Kenneth Catania, associate professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University.

Catania used high-speed video to deconstruct the snake”s unusual hunting technique.

“Before I begin a study on a new species, it is my practice to spend some time simply observing its basic behaviour,” he explained.

While fishing, the snake forms an unusual “J” shape with its head at the bottom of the “J”.

It remains completely motionless until a fish swims into the area near the hook of the “J” and that”s when the snake strikes.

The snakes” motions take only a few hundredths of a second, and are too fast for the human eye to follow, but its prey reacts even faster- in a few thousandths of a second.

The studies have found that many fish have a special circuit in their brains that initiates the escape, which biologists call the “C-start”.

Fish ears sense the sound pressure on each side of their body. When the ear on one side detects a disturbance, it sends a message to the fishes” muscles causing its body to bend into a C-shape facing in the opposite direction so it can begin swimming away from danger as quickly as possible.

When Catania began examining the movements of the snake and its prey in slow motion, he saw something peculiar-when the fish that the snake targets turn to flee, most of them turn toward the snake”s head and many literally swim into its jaws!

After a closer study of the snake”s actions, he found that when the snake strikes, it doesn”t aim for the fish”s initial position and then adjust its direction as the fish moves – the way most predators do.

Instead, it heads directly for the location where it expects the fish”s head to be.

“The best evidence for this is the cases when the snake misses. Not all the targeted fish react with a C-start and the snake almost always misses those that don”t react reflexively,” said Catania.

The study has been published in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Women find ‘feminine-looking’ men most attractive!

May 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, May 22 (ANI): Women have a soft corner for feminine-looking men, suggests a new study, which found that ladies find males with higher arched eyebrows, smaller jaws and large eyes most attractive.

In the University of Aberdeen study, led by Dr Ben Jones, from the Face Research Laboratory, 449 women were shown a series of images of men’s faces that had been manipulated.

Some were made to look more feminine, while others were made to appear more masculine, reports The Daily Express.

The study’s volunteers were then asked to pick which men they would chose for a long-term relationship.

Three-quarters of them chose the more feminine-looking men and preferred those who were looking directly at the camera.

Jones said: “Women perceive feminine men as honest, kind and even as good parents.

“So it makes good sense that women find these caring and sharing men attractive when thinking about a long-term partner.” (ANI)

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Jaws voted ‘Best Ever James Bond Character’

March 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 24 (ANI): Jaws has been voted the ‘Best Ever James Bond Character’ in a new poll.

The metal-mouthed villain, who was portrayed in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ and ‘Moonraker’ by Richard Keil, topped the survey of 4,900 film fans, reports Contactmusic.

Jaws beat Q, the Head of Research and Development for British Intelligence – originally played by Desmond Llewellyn and in later films by John Cleese – into second place.

Third in the poll – which excluded James Bond himself – was Harold Sakata’s Odd Job, the baddie from ‘Goldfinger’, followed by secret service chief M, who has been played by both Bernard Lee and Dame Judi Dench.

Rounding off the top five was Miss Moneypenny, M’s personal assistant who was played by Lois Maxwell in 14 movies, Caroline Bliss in two of the spy adventures and Samantha Bond in four.

The survey was conducted by HMV.com and social networking site getcloser.com to mark the DVD and Blu-ray release of the 22nd James Bond film Quantum of Solace.

Favourite James Bond Characters:

1. Jaws

2. Q

3. Odd Job

4. M

5. Miss Moneypenny

6. Pussy Galore

7. Goldfinger

8. Scaramanga

9. Ernst Stavro Blofeld

10. Sheriff J.W. Pepper (ANI)

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Predator X had a bite 11 times stronger than T Rex

March 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, March 17 (ANI): Analysis of the fossilized remains of a huge dinosaur, dubbed ‘Predator X’, has indicated that it boasted a bite up to 11 times as strong as that of Tyrannosaurus rex, making it the most fearsome animal ever to swim the oceans.

According to a report in The Times, the fossil remains of the huge pliosaur were dug up last summer from the permafrost on Svalbard, a Norwegian island close to the North Pole.

Researchers have been astonished by the size of the reptile, which exceeded even that of another pliosaur, called ‘The Monster,’ which was found at the same site a year earlier.

Predator X is thought to have been at least 50 feet long, perhaps more, and measurements of its bulk suggest that it would have weighed in at 45 tonnes.

Its discovery was announced in Oslo by Jorn Hurum, of the University of Oslo, who led the expedition to dig up the remains.

At least 20,000 fragments have been recovered including most of the jaws, which were 10 feet long.

Analysis revealed that the animal was a turbo-charged swimmer. Its front flippers allowed the creature to cruise along comfortably, but when prey came into range, the power of its hind flippers kicked in to provide extra acceleration.

Measurements of its jaw and the killing power of its dagger-like teeth have shown that it could bite down with a force of 33,000lb per square inch compared with T. rex’s 3,000lb per square inch.

“It was the most ferocious hunter ever. It’s like a turbo-charged predator. This is a very, very large carnivore,” Dr Hurum said.

He added that Predator X was smaller than the biggest marine reptile yet known, a 75ft ichthyosaur from 210 million years ago, and was about the same length as the largest fossil shark to have been identified by palaeontologists.

Predator X, however, was armed with much bigger teeth and, with its ability to close in at enormous speed, would have been much faster and deadlier than either of them. (ANI)

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“Dracula” fish lost its teeth about 50 million years ago

March 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, March 11 (ANI): Scientists have used DNA analysis to suggest that the “Dracula” fish lost its teeth about 50 million years ago, and developed rows of sharp protrusions that resemble teeth.

Dubbed the “Dracula” fish, the creature is about 17mm (0.7 inches) long and has been found in only one Burmese stream.

According to a report by BBC News, the researchers, from London’s Natural History Museum (NHM), believe the fish lost its teeth over evolutionary time, but later evolved the bone fangs.

In their research, the team observed that though the males use the fangs to jostle each other, they do not appear to draw blood.

“When you watch them in captivity you can see the males sparring,” said NHM’s Ralf Britz. “They display with their lower jaws open incredibly widely, then they nudge each other; but we don’t see any wounds,” he added.

Dr Britz, who has worked with Burmese wildlife for more than a decade, named the species Danionella Dracula in honor of mythology’s most eminent fanged predator.

The tiny specimens came to the UK in a consignment of aquarium fish, and at first, the researchers mistook them for another related species.

“After a year or so in captivity, they started dying; and when I preserved them and looked at them under the microscope, I thought ‘my God, what is this, they can’t be teeth’,” Dr Britz told BBC News.

Rather than being true teeth, the fangs are made of bone.And when I looked in more detail, and stained the bone and cartilage with different colours and used an enzyme to dissolve away the muscle, I saw they clearly were not teeth,” said Dr Britz.

Instead, the jawbones appear to have developed rows of sharp protrusions resembling teeth and presumably serving the same purpose – plus, in the males, these extraordinary fangs.

Using DNA data to place the new species in its family tree, the researchers believe the lineage lost its teeth about 50 million years ago.

Compared to relatives, they appear to reach sexual maturity when their bodies have not fully developed.

The researchers believe the Dracula fish evolved to mature sexually before its body was fully developed, perhaps because individuals reproducing earlier in life had more reproductive success.

Given that these scientists, experienced with the family of fish, did not immediately spot D Dracula as a new species, they suggest it is entirely possible that the little fanged creatures are swimming round unrecognized in other aquaria even now. (ANI)

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Great White has the hardest bite among all sharks

January 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Jan 10 (ANI): A new study has determined that the Great White Shark tops the list of hardest-biting sharks in the ocean.

According to a report in Discovery News, in descending order, the top five hardest-biting sharks, based on this study and prior research, are: the great white, great hammerhead, bull, blacktip and horn sharks.

The largest great white shark on record, which measured around 24 feet long, would have had a bite force of 9,320 Newton (N) at the tip of its jaws and 18,216 N at the back of its jaws, where the leverage is higher.

“A key finding over the years has been that pound-for-pound, sharks don’t bite overly hard for their body size compared to other animals,” lead author Daniel Huber told Discovery News.

“However, their large body sizes make the overall magnitude of bite force so great that the pound-for-pound issue goes out the window,” he added.

For the new study, he and his team took measurements of length, body mass, head height and head width for 10 variously sized sharks, with the blackbelly lantern shark being the smallest studied and the great hammerhead being the largest.

The researchers gathered data about each species’ bite force, either from other studies or by calculating it based on muscle and jaw geometry.

The scientists determined which shark characteristics were most closely linked to bite force.

The study, that measured biting force in several shark species, indicated that a big body helps, but the primary predictor for how hard a shark can bite is the width of its head.

A hard diet, consisting of foods like sea turtles, large sea birds and even other sharks, was also found to predict how hard a shark could chomp.

The researchers were surprised to learn, however, that the hardest biters also seemed to have the sharpest teeth.

This seemed counterintuitive, since when a shark’s jaws clamp together into hard food, the eater could crack its own teeth.

Also, greater biting force would appear to eliminate the need for such pointy teeth.

Instead, the scientists discovered that many hard-biting sharks have teeth that overlay each other, “kind of like roof shingles on a house,” Huber said. “This reinforces them and helps to distribute stresses throughout all of the teeth,” he added.

According to Steve Wroe of the University of New South Wales, “Nature has endowed this carnivore with more than enough bite force to eat large and potentially dangerous prey.” (ANI)

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