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405th installation anniversary of Sri Guru Granth Sahib

September 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Agra, Sep 19(ANI): People of all religions and communities gathered to celebrate the 405th anniversary of the installation of the Sikh holy scriptures, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, at Gurudwara Maithan in Agra.

This was a significant landmark for the Sikhs, as the 275-year-old handwritten scripture, whose front pages are written with gold, was put on display for the devotees.

“The Guru Granth Sahib has the preaching or ‘bani’ of famous poets like Kabir ji, Guru Ravidas ji and Baba Farid ji. It is symbol of humanity and so people of all the religions have gathered here to celebrate the ‘Prakash Parv’, the installation ceremony together,” said Kanwldeep Singh, President of Sri Gursikh Sabha.

Also on display was a miniature scripture of Guru Granth Sahib, which has been preserved at the Gurudwara Maithan for the past 15 years.

“We have Guru Granth sahib of 1 X 1 inches long. The British for the convenience of Sikh soldiers especially designed the holy book during the First World War, as they could not carry a normal sized book in the battlefield. The miniature Guru Granth Sahib was printed in Germany. It was kept in a silver box,” said Gyani Kashmir Singh, head Granthi of Gurudwara Maithan.

To mark the anniversary of the installation of Guru Granth Sahib, special prayers were also held in the Gurudwara premises, which once the house of Mai jassi that was visited by Guru Sri Tegh Bahadur.he gurudwara is currently undergoing renovation and will be expanded to facilitate the large number of devotees visiting the shrine.

A total of 20 million dollars will be spent on renovation and construction of new Gurudwara, a 100-bed hospital and a community hall.

Gurudwara Maithan also upheld the tradition of Langar, which has been followed over the centuries. Guru Arjan Dev and Mata Ganga set the precedent of preparing and serving food to the hungry, in the langar hall, where all social, economic and religious barriers collapse and all – the laborer, the lord, the peasant and the prince, are treated alike and served the same food in the same manner.

This is a practice of great social significance, and it is the key to the understanding of Sikhism. By Brijesh Sharma (ANI)

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Holiday Inn hotel made of key cards is world’s first

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Sep 18 (ANI): A Holiday Inn hotel made entirely of key cards has been unveiled in New York.

The 37-square-metre hotel, built by world record-holding Cardstacker Bryan Berg, is made from more than 200,000 key cards and weighs 1814 kilograms.

It includes a guest bedroom, bathroom and lobby, with life-sized furniture.

The design was created by Holiday Inn, the world’s largest hotel group, to mark the relaunch of 1200 of its hotels around the world.

“The Key Card Hotel is a fun and interactive way to showcase the changes happening at our hotels and is the only structure of its kind to ever be created by a hotel brand,” News.com.au quoted Kevin Kowalski, Senior Vice President, Global Brand Management, Holiday Inn, as saying.

Berg, who will also build a freestanding three-metre replica of New York’s Empire State Building in the lobby of the Key Card Hotel using Holiday Inn playing cards, said constructing the hotel has been a great challenge.

“This is my largest cardstacking challenge to date and the only card creation I have ever made at full human scale,” Berg added about the hotel.

The first 250 guests who attended the Key Card Hotel grand opening received a free night stay at any Holiday Inn.

The company’s 1 billion dollar relaunch is one of the largest in the history of the hospitality industry. (ANI)

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The pen may be mightier than the keyboard for schoolkids

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 17 (ANI): It may not be wrong to say that the pen is mightier than the keyboard, for a new study on schoolchildren so suggests.

Virginia Berninger, a University of Washington professor of Educational Psychology, looked at the ability of second, fourth, and sixth grade children to write the alphabet, sentences, and essays using a pen and a keyboard.

“Children consistently did better writing with a pen when they wrote essays. They wrote more and they wrote faster,” said Berninger.

The researcher further said that only for writing the alphabet was the keyboard better than the pen.

Results were mixed for sentences.

However, when using a pen, the children in the three grade levels produced longer essays and composed them at a faster pace.

The study also showed that fourth and sixth graders wrote more complete sentences when they used a pen, and that this ability was not affected by the children’s spelling skills.

The research also showed that many children don’t have a reliable idea of what a sentence is until the third or fourth grade.

“Children first have to understand what a sentence or a complete thought is before they can write one. Talking is very different from writing. We don’t talk in complete sentence. In conversation we produce units smaller and larger than sentences,” Berninger said.

She, however, added: “We need to learn more about the process of writing with a computer, and even though schools have computers they haven’t integrated them in teaching at the early grades. We need to help children become bilingual writers so they can write by both the pen and the computer. So don’t throw away your pen or your keyboard. We need them both.”

She further said: “We need more research to figure out how forming letters by a pen and selecting them by pressing a key may engage our thinking brains differently.” (ANI)

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Pak to rake up ‘K’ issue, Indian atrocities in UN General Assembly

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Sep.12 (ANI): Pakistan is looking to rake up the Kashmir issue at the United Nations General Assembly which is scheduled to be held later this month.

According to sources, in two separate meetings held at the Foreign Office, concerned officials briefed Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi regarding both the Kashmir and Afghanistan issues.

Sources said that it was decided that Islamabad would urge the United Nations to ensure a resolution of the long-lingering Kashmir dispute on a priority basis for durable peace in the region.

“The international community would also be informed about the human rights violations committed by Indian forces in held Kashmir,” The Dawn quoted sources, as saying.

They said the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha was also present in the meeting.

According to a private television channel, Pakistan is also likely to take up the issue of presence of US led allied forces in Afghanistan

Islamabad has decided to inform the international community about the problems being faced by it due to the presence of NATO forces in Afghanistan, the channel reported.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that resolution of the Kashmir issue is the key to establishing good ties with India and restoring peace in the sub-continent.

During a meeting with Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) Prime Minister Sardar Yaqub Khan, Gilani said resolving the Kashmir dispute was Islamabad’s top priority. (ANI)

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Stay-at-home parents ‘most stressed workers’

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 12 (ANI): Parents who stay at home and look after the household are the most stressed out, a new UK study claims.

According to a research conducted by Mindlab Organisation, mothers or fathers who do household chores are more frazzled than those with traditionally high-pressure jobs, like city trading, teaching or nursing.

Stress levels were investigated in British adults as per their “work” roles – stay-at-home parents, taxi drivers, teachers, nurses and city dealers.

The conclusion was reached by measuring levels of the stress hormone cortisol throughout an average working day.

It was found that stay-at-home parents proved to be the most under pressure. Nurses ranked second in the list, followed by the traders, then teachers and finally, taxi drivers.

A bio-monitoring equipment was used to measure and record the heart rate and skin conductance.

The participants were connected to the equipment and tested over a seven-hour period.

Also, samples of saliva were taken at crucial junctures during the day to measure cortisol, which is a direct indicator of stress.

“The key here is the degree of control each of these professionals feel able to exercise over their lives,” the Daily Express quoted Dr David Lewis, who was part of the research, as saying.

“Stay-at-home parents receive little or no specific training and are furthermore typically isolated from other adults for much of the day,” he added.

Psychologist Jenni Trent Hughes said: “The answer is simply to be selfish and take some time out. After 21 years of running around after the family, pets, supermarket and the house, women have earned it.

“If you’re not taking care of your- self then how can you properly take care of anyone else?

“If you’re ratty or short-tempered, tired or at your wits’ end how can you possibly be the best you can be for your partner, children, family and last but definitely not least yourself?” (ANI)

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Turning off oncogene may inhibit lung cancer stem cells’ growth

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 9 (ANI): A lung cancer oncogene, called PKCiota, is necessary for the proliferation of lung cancer stem cells, and turning it off could act as a key for the treatment of this deadly disease, according to scientists at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida.

These stem cells are rare and powerful master cells that manufacture the other cells that make up lung tumours, and are resistant to chemotherapy treatment.

The study also shows that an agent, aurothiomalate, being tested at Mayo Clinic in a phase I clinical trial substantially inhibits growth of these cancer stem cells.

“Our data indicate that PKCiota is required for the earliest steps in the development of lung cancer, which is the expansion of tumor-initiating cells or cancer stem cells,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Alan Fields.

“Lung cancer stem cells appear to be the major drivers in many common lung cancers, and in order for a therapeutic treatment to be effective, it has to disrupt these cancer stem cells. We show that aurothiomalate, the agent now being tested in lung cancer patients, can, in fact, target these cells,” he added.

While aurothiomalate was once used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, the researchers have now discovered that it can also target PKCiota.

Currently, the agent is being tested in patients at Mayo Clinic’s sites in Minnesota and Arizona and, based on this phase I trial, a phase II human clinical trial is planned to combine aurothiomalate with agents targeted at other molecules involved in cancer growth.

“We had previously shown that PKCiota is required to maintain tumor growth, but what this study sought to determine is whether PKCiota is involved in the initial steps of lung cancer development,” said Fields.

Fields said that, in mice, an oncogene known as Kras is thought to transform normal lung stem cells into cancer stem cells, thereby initiating lung cancer.

In the present study, the researchers established a strain of mice in which Kras can be activated at the same time that the PKCiota gene is inactivated.

They found that when the PKCiota gene is inactivated, Kras was unable to cause errant growth and expansion of lung stem cells in mice, the process that initiates tumour formation.

“What this told us is that Kras requires PKCiota to transform the lung stem cells and make them proliferate. In other words, PKCiota is downstream from Kras, and is necessary for Kras to initiate lung tumor formation,” said Fields.

After discovering that aurothiomalate disables PKCiota, the researchers tested whether this agent is effective against lung cancer that develops due to Kras mutation.

“The drug showed potent inhibitory effects on the Kras-dependent proliferation of lung cancer stem cells both in cell culture and in animals,” said Fields.

“That further suggests that a drug like aurothiomalate could have an effect on tumors that are dependent on either Kras or PKCiota for growth and survival, and that is potentially a lot of cancers.

Aurothiomalate appears to be one of the few drugs available that can effectively target these critical cancer stem cells. In the clinic, however, it is likely that aurothiomalate will be most effective when combined with other agents designed to target other tumor survival pathways,” he added.

The study has been published in Cancer Research. (ANI)

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Facebook may boost your brain’s working memory

September 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep 7 (ANI): Some social networking sites, like Facebook, could help improve a person’s working memory, according to an expert.

Dr. Tracy Alloway, a psychologist at Stirling University, says that working memory – the ability to recall things over a short period of time – could be the key to success.

She believes that it may be possible to train the brain’s working memory just like an athlete trains muscles, reports the Independent.

Alloway said that some technological inventions, such as Facebook, might actually improve working memory because they require people to hold a lot of information in their heads.

However, other such websites, like spell-checks and Twitter, which requires only small bite-sized phrases, may work against improving working memory.

Instead, these websites could be contributing to some people’s lack of success, she suggested.

Alloway said that she had devised an on-line game that can improve working memory, which may help the young develop working memory skills as well helping to combat memory loss in the elderly. (ANI)

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Govt. plans 2,500 model schools on PPP model in two years: Sibal

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Koraput (Orissa) , Aug.29 (ANI): Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday said the Government was planning to set up over 2,500 model and 200 central schools on public-private- partnership (PPP) basis in the country in next two years

Inaugurating the much-awaited central university in this tribal-dominated town, which often witnesses Maoist violence, Sibal informed that the proposed model schools would be set up in the backward areas to provide primary education to all as “higher education has no meaning unless primary education was strengthened.”

“The schools would be set up in PPP as part of our efforts to strengthen the human resource base,” Sibal said during the function.

Sibal also asked corporate houses to invest in a big way in the education sector.

Corporate houses should come forward to invest in the education sector as developing human resources is the key to the success of any nation, Sibal said.

He remarked that though the country made progress in the field of education in the last 62 years, it required much more.

“About 1.5 lakh Indian students are going abroad for education. We will like to provide all facilities in the country so that students need not go to foreign countries.”

Sibal also said only 12 out of 100 students reach the graduation level in India, while the figure was 85 in the US and added that the Central universities in backward places like Koraput could help students get into higher learning. (ANI)

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Italy TV refuses to air “offensive” film featuring Berlusconi

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 29 (ANI): Italy’s state TV has stopped a trailer of a film featuring Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from being aired, claiming that it is “offensive” to his reputation.

The scandalous leader is present in an ad for Videocracy, which has scantily-clad women and statistics claiming the nation has a low press freedom rating.

But Italy TV has refused to telecast the clips on concerns that it could have a political backlash on the leader.

And the country’s state broadcaster RAI has stated in its rejection letter that the images in the trailer alluded to recent stories about the Italian premier’s private life.

However, filmmaker Erik Gandini insists that his work, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, is about Italian culture even though it has the top man in it.

“It is a film about the present time. It is a film that talks about how Italy has become after all these years. Of course, Berlusconi is in the story,” the BBC News quoted him as saying.

He added: “In a videocracy, the key to power is the image. In Italy, one man only has kept the domination of the image over three entire decades,”

Also, producers Fandango said that RAI told them that the movie promo showing a smiling Berlusconi came across as a political message aimed against the government.

Berlusconi’s company Mediaset, which runs Italy’s private TV stations, has declined to screen the trailer too.

Mediaset and RAI’s three state television channels make up 90 percent of the available free-to-air broadcasters in Italy. (ANI)

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McGrath’s advice to Johnson: Keep it simple

August 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Sydney, Aug.27 (ANI): Former Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath has told left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson not to overdo or over think things and keep things simple if he wants to reach his considerable potential as a Test match bowler.

McGrath, who has high hopes for Johnson and the other two members of Australia’s Ashes pace attack – Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle, feels Johnson’s potential, will be reached only through a clear head uncluttered by countless theories about his bowling technique.

Though finishing with a solid return of 20 wickets at 32 in the Ashes series, Johnson was not the rampant force he was in South Africa and earlier at home.

“All his problems were sorted out when Michael Clarke said to him ‘just bowl fast’,” McGrath said.

“I can understand that. He needs to keep it simple. That is the key. He just has to clear his head and not complicate things. Less things can go wrong when you keep it simple. I just used to switch a voice off in my head, pick out a song to sing at the top of my mark and trust myself that my body knew how to bowl. It didn’t always work. But if you win the battle with yourself you are 75 per cent towards being successful,” the Courier Mail quoted McGrath, as saying.

“That’s all Mitch needs to do. Just relax. Even when he isn’t bowling well he still takes wickets. It is just a confidence thing. He needs to just run in and bowl,” he added.

McGrath also felt that Brett Lee can again return as a Test match force for Australia but the Johnson-Siddle-Hilfenhaus union has the potential to be a long-term one for Australia.

“Those three guys will grow as time goes on. They were the leading wicket-takers in the Ashes from both teams. You can’t really sledge them too much because I think they have done pretty well,” he said.

McGrath said Lee bowled well in an early tour game before being injured and cannot be dismissed from Test match calculations this summer when Australia play the West Indies and Pakistan in three-Test series.(ANI)

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Sam Pitroda calls for ICT’s application for development

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Aug. 26 (ANI): Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda has called for the application of information and communication technology (ICT) in the field of education, health, environment and agriculture in order to bring in a generational change among the Indian masses.

“The key in terms of what next is to focus on five to six key areas. My preference would be health, education, energy and environment. Pretty broad four to five big areas,” Pitroda said, delivering a keynote address at a function to mark the silver jubilee of Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT).

He also noted that information technology (IT) should be used as a tool to enhance the education sector in the country.

On this score, he called for IT and ICT to supplement and complement each other for positive results.

“They key is we need to use IT in a very different way to build productivity and efficiency in education. Learning models have to change. We need to take advantage of available IT infrastructure to really enhance our teaching as well adds to our teachers resource,” Pitroda, added.

C-DOT is the premier organisation engaged in research and development (R andD) of IT in India and it was set up on August 25, 1984. (ANI)

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DNA analysis key for solving mystery of King Tut’s origins

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 26 (ANI): Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt, has said that harvesting DNA from ancient mummies would be the key to solving the mystery surrounding Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen’s origins.

According to an article authored by Dr Hawass in the Asharq Alawsat Newspaper, he was in for a surprise when he entered the royal tomb of Tutankhamen with Professor Zakaria, and managed to get DNA samples.

Previously, there was hardly any hope in obtaining DNA samples from mummies, and Dr Hawass believed that he would prove to the world that mummies did not have any DNA suitable for analysis.

“For the first time, I saw that it is possible to harvest DNA from a mummy, and I believe that this will be the key to solving the mystery surrounding King Tutankhamen’s origins,” he wrote in the article.

Tutankhamen, the golden pharaoh, continues to bedazzle the entire world.

The discovery of King Tut’s tomb, which took place around 85 years ago, remains the most important archeological discovery of our time, not just in Egypt, but in the entire world.

This was the first time that a royal tomb of one of Egypt’s pharaohs was discovered untouched, and with the complete set of funeral furniture which was buried with the King.

In addition to this, there was also the treasures and jewelry which blinded anybody who set eyes on them.

“In an attempt to unravel the mystery surrounding King Tut’s family and discover the identity of his father, we find that there are some archeologists who strongly suggest that this is most probably King Akhenaton,” said Dr Hawass.

Akhenaton was the first Pharaoh to advocate monotheism, not just in ancient Egypt, but in the world. Others believe that Akhenaton’s father, King Amenhotep III is a more likely candidate for Tutankhamen’s father.

As for King Tut’s mother, “If we follow the speculation mentioned above with regards to Tutankhamen’s father, his mother is most likely either Queen Tiye, the consort of King Amenhotep III or the extremely famous, Queen Nefertiti, the consort of King Akhenaton,” said Dr Hawass.

These questions are enigmatic, and archeologists are having a hard time trying to answer them.

According to Dr Hawass, “We have embarked upon the quest to solve the mysteries surrounding King Tut thanks to the two DNA analysis laboratories that we have access to, as well as the availability of a CT-Scan machine, through which we are able to know every single detail about a mummy.” (ANI)

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Xinjiang separatists are doomed to fail, says Chinese President

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Uygur (China), Aug. 26 (ANI): Chinese President Hu Jintao, who made his first trip to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region since last month’s deadly riot, has warned the separatists that they are “doomed to fail”.

The July 5 riot, which killed 197 people and injured more than 1,600, were masterminded by the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism and extremism both at home and abroad, he said.

“The separatists don’t have the people’s hearts and are doomed to fail. Their sabotage activities will not shake the stable development of reforms in Xinjiang,” China Daily quoted Hu, as saying.

The president promised that more solid measures would be taken to beef up economic growth and social development in Xinjiang, and to improve the living and production conditions of the people of various ethnic groups.

Hu congratulated the armed forces, militia and police for their role in ending the July 5 riot in Urumqi, saying: “The key to our work in Xinjiang is to properly handle development and stability.”

He added that the success in quelling the riot and maintaining stability in Xinjiang fully demonstrated the power of the Party and the people as well as the strength of solidarity among ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

“Neither will they (separatists) sway the Xinjiang people’s determination to build a prosperous and harmonious socialist Xinjiang,” he said. (ANI)

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India will look into the Swiss banks rejection to disclose details: Mukherjee

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Aug 24 (ANI): Union Finance Minster Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said the Indian Government will look into the matter of Swiss banks rejection to hand over details of the Indian clients.

Speaking to newsmen before entering his North Block office Mukherjee said, “What can I comment? I will look into the matter and discuss the Swiss Banks rejection to disclose the details with authorities in banking sector.”

Earlier Swiss Bank authorities rejected India’s request to disclose details of clients, saying Swiss law and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Model Tax Convention do not permit fishing expeditions.

The Swiss Bank authorities added that they would not co-operate for the indiscriminate trawling through bank accounts in the hope of finding something interesting.

“This means that India cannot simply throw its telephone book at Switzerland and ask if any of these people have a bank account here,” a top Swiss Bankers Association official said.

According to sources the Swiss bank-client confidentiality has never been 100 per cent absolute and Swiss legislators have built in provisions for it to be lifted during criminal investigations and also in many civil cases and it has also evolved over time.

“The key for the exchange of information in tax matters is the Double Taxation Agreement between Switzerland and India,” said SBA’s Head of International Communications James Nason.

Double Taxation Agreements are being currently revised to incorporate the OECD standard on the exchange of information in tax matters according to the OECD’s own Model Tax Convention. (ANI)

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Key feature of immune system survived in humans for 60 million years

August 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 19 (ANI): A new study has concluded that one key part of the immune system survived in the humans and other primates for almost 60 million years.

Researchers at the Oregon State University (OSU) and the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the US carried out the study.

They found out that one key part of the immune system, the ability of vitamin D to regulate anti-bactericidal proteins, is so important that is has been conserved through almost 60 million years of evolution and is shared only by primates, including humans – but no other known animal species.

The fact that this vitamin-D mediated immune response has been retained through millions of years of evolutionary selection, and is still found in species ranging from squirrel monkeys to baboons and humans, suggests that it must be critical to their survival, according to researchers.

Even though the “cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide” has several different biological activities in addition to killing pathogens, it’s not clear which one, or combination of them, makes vitamin D so essential to its regulation.

The research also provides further evidence of the biological importance of adequate levels of vitamin D in humans and other primates, even as some studies and experts suggest that more than 50 percent of the children and adults in the US are deficient in “the sunshine vitamin.”

“The existence and importance of this part of our immune response makes it clear that humans and other primates need to maintain sufficient levels of vitamin D,” said Adrian Gombart, an associate professor of biochemistry and a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.

In the new study, researchers from OSU and the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center describe the presence of a genetic element that’s specific to primates and involved in the innate immune response.

They found it not only in humans and their more recent primate ancestors, such as chimpanzees, but also primates that split off on the evolutionary tree tens of millions of years ago, such as old world and new world primates.

The genetic material – called an Alu short interspersed element – is part of what used to be thought of as “junk DNA” and makes up more than 90 percent of the human genome.

In this case, the genetic element is believed to play a major role in the proper function of the “innate” immune system in primates – an ancient, first line of defense against bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. (ANI)

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Laser technology creates new forms of metal and enhances aircraft performance

July 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 16 (ANI): A team of scientists is using laser light technology to create new forms of metal and enhance aircraft performance.

The laser light technology is being used by AFOSR (Air Force Office of Scientific Research) funded researchers at the University of Rochester to help the military create new forms of metal that may guide, attract and repel liquids and cool small electronic devices.

Dr. Chunlei Guo and his team of researchers for the project discovered a way to transform a shiny piece of metal into one that is pitch black, not by paint, but by using incredibly intense bursts of laser light.

The black metal created, absorbs all radiation that shines upon it.

“With the creation of the black metal, an entirely new class of material becomes available to us, which may open up a whole new horizon for various applications,” said Guo.

“To do this, we looked at the reverse process of light absorption or light radiation and transformed the incandescent lamp into a bulb that glows twice as brightly as a regular light source, while consuming the same amount of energy,” Guo added.

The key to creating this super-filament is an ultra-brief, ultra-intense beam of light called a femtosecond laser pulse.

The laser burst lasts only a few quadrillionths of a second.

That intense blast forces the surface of the metal to form nano-structures and micro-structures that dramatically alter how efficiently light can radiate from the filament.

In addition to increasing the brightness of a bulb, Guo’s process can be used to tune the color of the light as well.

In addition to this research, Guo and his team have been working on creating technology that may enable the Air Force to create an additional kind of metal.

They are able to do this by using the femtosecond laser once again to alter the surface of metal and create unique nano- and micro-scale structures on the metal.

The unique nano-structures which are created from the laser affect the way liquid molecules interact with metal molecules.

The liquid spreads out over the metal because the nano-structures attach themselves to the liquid’s molecules more readily than the liquid’s molecules bond to each other.

The end result is the formation of a new kind of metal that can cool the plane’s electronic brain and heat pumps and allow the craft to retain dominance over any enemy that is also in flight. (ANI)

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Hominids’ last supper establishes the times they lived at archaeological sites

July 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 15 (ANI): An international team of scientists has analyzed the last food that the hominids consumed, in order to establish the length of their occupations at archaeological sites.

As part of the research, the scientists analyzed the dental wear of the fossils of herbivorous animals found in the French cave of Arago, which were hunted by Homo heidelbergensis.

It is the first time that an analytical method has allowed the establishment of the length of human occupations at archaeological sites.

The key is the last food that these hominids consumed.

For many years, the mobility of the groups of hominids and how long they spent in caves or outdoors has been a subject of discussion among scientists.

Now, an international team headed by researchers from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) in Tarragona has based its studies on the dental fossils of animals hunted by hominids in order to determine the vegetation in the environment and the way of life of Homo heidelbergensis.

“For the first time, a method has been put forward which allows us to establish the relative length of the human occupations at archaeological sites as, up until now, it was difficult to ascertain the difference between, for example, a single long-term occupation and a succession of shorter seasonal occupations in the same place”, said Florent Rivals, a researcher from ICREA.

In the study, the researchers analyze the dental wear of the ungulates (herbivorous mammals) caused by microscopic particles of opaline silica in plants.

These marks appear when eating takes place and erase the previous ones. This is why they are so useful.

Thanks to the “last supper phenomenon”, the scientists have been able to analyze the last food consumed by animals such as the Eurasian wild horse, the mouflon and the reindeer. “This method allows us to confirm the seasonal nature of the occupation”, Rivals added.

According to the team, the microwear of the teeth is sensitive to seasonal changes in the diet.

The application has allowed the researchers to estimate the length of the occupation of the site from the Lower Paleolithic Age in the cave of Arago (France) by the number of marks on the fossils and, therefore, the variation in the diet of several species of herbivores, as “each season presented food resources which were limited and different in the environment”, the paleontologist clarified.

“With this method, we were able to prove that at the site, which belonged to Homo heidelbergensis, there is evidence of differing mobility, as there were highly mobile groups and others with little mobility”, said Rivals. (ANI)

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Recognition of Israel as Jewish state key to peace with Palestine: Netanyahu

July 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jerusalem, July 13 (ANI): Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that Palestine must recognise Israel as a Jewish state, and give up its demand to resettle the descendents of Palestinian refugees in Israel in order to attain peace.

“The key to peace lies in explicit and unequivocal recognition of Israel as the Jewish state on the part of the Palestinians. They must once and for all give up the demand to resettle inside of Israel the descendents of the refugees,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu, as saying.

Netanyahu added that the Palestinian leaders must say: “We have had enough of this conflict; we recognize Israel as Jewish; we will live alongside you in true peace.

“As soon as that is stated, a huge window to peace will be opened,” he said.

Earlier, Netanyahu called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet with him as soon as possible in order to renew peace talks.

“Let’s make peace – both diplomatic peace and economic peace. There is no reason why we can’t meet, the Palestinian Authority president and I, anywhere in Israel, and since we are in Beersheba, I say, let’s meet here,” Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting in Beersheba hat was held there as an act of solidarity with the Negev capital.

“We’ve removed many roadblocks, we have decided to increase the operating hours of the Allenby Bridge for more goods, and I’ve decided to advance a series of projects with the Palestinians to promote peace. But all these efforts can only bring us to a certain point, and the results will be multiplied by the dozen if there is cooperation from the other side,” he added.

Netanyahu also tried to reach out to Arab countries, saying: “Let’s meet, let’s cooperate… We have the ability to bring many players on board.” (ANI)

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Da Vinci follow-up ‘The Last Symbol’ will be promoted with a series of puzzles

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 9 (ANI): Publishers of Dan Brown’s new novel ‘The Last Symbol’ will be launching a series of puzzles, codes, and teasers on social networking sites like Facebook, as a part of their promotional campaign.

The book, which features Harvard Professor Robert Langdon for a third time, is due for release in September.

The storyline has still been kept under wraps, but it is believed to focus on freemasonry, with the lost symbol of the title a reference to a ciphered pictogram in an ancient book called The Key of Solomon.

The publishers have also revealed six million copies of the book will be printed on its first run, reports the BBC.

Brown had said that writing the new novel was “a strange and wonderful journey”. (ANI)

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Scientists unveil prostate cancer ‘homing device’ for drug delivery

July 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 7 (ANI): Purdue University researchers have come up with a new prostate cancer “homing device” that can improve detection, and allow for the first targeted treatment of the disease.

The researchers have revealed that they have synthesized a molecule that finds and penetrates prostate cancer cells, and created imaging agents and therapeutic drugs that can link to the molecule and be carried with it as cargo.

Philip Low, the Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry who led the team, said that a targeted treatment could be much more effective in treating cancer and would greatly reduce the harmful side effects associated with current treatments.

“Currently none of the drugs available to treat prostate cancer are targeted, which means they go everywhere in the body as opposed to only the tumour, and so are quite toxic for the patient,” said Low, who is a member of the Purdue Cancer Center.

“By being able to target only the cancer cells, we could eliminate toxic side effects of treatments. In addition, the ability to target only the cancer cells can greatly improve imaging of the cancer to diagnose the disease, determine if it has spread or is responding to treatment,” Low added.

The Purdue team say that the molecule they have created attaches to prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a protein that is found on the membrane of more than 90 percent of all prostate cancers.

Low points out that it is also found on the blood vessels of most solid tumours, and may provide a way to cut off the tumour blood supply.

“A lot of new drugs are being designed to destroy the vasculature of solid tumours, and, if they could be linked to this new targeting molecule, we could have a two-pronged attack for prostate cancer. We could not only kill the prostate cancer cells directly, we could also destroy the vasculature that feeds the tumours,” he said.

The researcher says that there also is potential for the targeting molecule to be used to attack the vasculature of solid tumours of other types of cancers.

Animal studies carried out by the researchers have shown an ability to eliminate human prostate cancer cells in mice, without any collateral toxicity in normal tissue.

“The molecule acts like a homing device for prostate cancer. PSMA, which is found only on prostate cancer cells and tumor blood vessels, acts as the homing signal that the molecule targets. The molecule and its cargo go only to cancerous tissue, leaving healthy tissue unharmed,” says Sumith Kularatne, a graduate student in Purdue’s chemistry department and first author of both papers who compared the targeting molecule to a homing device.

He has revealed that the molecule is designed with a specific shape that fits with the protein like a key to a lock. The molecule and its cargo are then carried inside the cell with the protein as it goes through its normal cycle.

A radioimaging application used for body scans is expected to enter clinical trials this fall, and an optical imaging application used to measure prostate cancer cells in blood samples is already in clinical trials.

The findings of the researchers have been described in two research articles published in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics. (ANI)

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