Resurrecting the Planet's Extinct Species -Can It Be Done?
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Resurrecting the Planet's Extinct Species -Can It Be Done? - 0 views
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Scientists at the Universities of Melbourne and Texas have successfully resurrected a gene from the extinct Tasmanian Tiger.
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Col2a1 is only involved in the production of chondrocytes, the cells which produce and maintain cartilage in various joints around the body.
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The original samples had been kept in a jar of ethanol for over a century, and considering how DNA breaks down over time even putting Col2a1 together was a massive success.
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The research is extremely well-timed, with current conservation efforts focusing on salvaging as many species as possible with biotissue cataloging efforts and seed vaults around the world.
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While the reconstruction of complete animals is a long way off, if possible at all, this research demonstrates that the basic steps are possible - it's only our time and technology that are lacking.
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Cenk Uygur: The Silent Minority - 0 views
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There is a minority group in America that is a bigger percentage of the country than blacks or Hispanics.
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A new comprehensive study by The Program on Public Values at Trinity College shows that this group is now a whopping 15% of the country. Mormons by comparison are a puny 1.4% of the population, and people can't shut up about the Mormons.
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a religious person can say that an atheist will burn in hell as a result of their beliefs, and that is not considered offensive;
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Official: Obama reverses stem cell policy | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine - 0 views
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Obama has signed an Executive Order today reversing the ban on federal funding of stem cells. You may recall he promised to do this during his campaign, and made a point of it in his answers for Science Debate 2008.
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the memorandum will order the Office of Science and Technology Policy to "assure a number of effective standards and practices that will help our society feel that we have the highest-quality individuals carrying out scientific jobs and that information is shared with the public,"
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Thumbs up for 3D bone printer - health - 07 March 2009 - New Scientist - 0 views
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EXACT replicas of a man's thumb bones have been made for the first time using a 3D printer. The breakthrough paves the way for surgeons to replace damaged or diseased bones with identical copies built from the patients' own cells.
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Weinand "grew" his replacement bones on the backs of laboratory mice, in the same way that Jay Vacanti of Massachusetts General Hospital famously grew a human ear from human cartilage cells back in 1997.
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Firstly, you need a 3D image of the bone you want to copy. If the bone has been lost or destroyed, you can make a mirror image of its surviving twin.
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This image is then fed into a 3D inkjet printer, which deposits thin layers of a pre-selected material on top of one another until a 3D object materialises.
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Weinand loaded the printer with tricalcium phosphate and a type of polylactic acid - natural structural materials found in the human body. The resulting bone "scaffolds" contained thousands of tiny pores into which bone cells could settle, grow and eventually displace the biodegradable scaffold altogether.
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CD117 cells grow into primordial bone cells called osteoblasts, which the team syringed onto the bone scaffolds in a gel designed to support and nourish them
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Finally, the scaffolds were sewn under the skin on the backs of mice where they grew for up to 15 weeks, until the scaffold had changed into human bone
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on a "scaffold" left for nine months in his abdomen. In that case, the stem cells came from the patient's own fat cells.
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Shortcuts: Michael Brooks on five mysteries of the universe | Science | The Guardian - 0 views
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Everything in the universe is either mass or energy, but there's not enough of either. Scientists think 96% of the cosmos is missing.
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why almost everything in biology uses sexual reproduction rather than asexual cloning - sex is a highly inefficient way to reproduce.
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The suggestion that sex's gene shuffling makes us more able to deal with changing environments seems plausible, but the evidence is scarce
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Neuroscientists are almost convinced that free will is an illusion. Their experiments show that our brains allow us to think we are controlling our bodies, but our movements begin before we make a conscious decision to move.
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Islamic Scholar Suggests Using Ethanol-Powered Vehicles May Be a Sin - Green Car Reports - 0 views
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It is based on the part of Islamic law derived from a statement by the prophet in which dealing with alcohol in any form--including purchase, sale, transport, consumption, and manufacture--is strictly prohibited.
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The opinion comes from Sheikh Mohamed al-Najimi, of the Islamic Jurisprudence Academy in Saudi Arabia.
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He noted that any ban would extend beyond Islamic countries to cover observant Muslims in other countries. This might include tourists, students abroad, and other groups.
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Caffeine Linked To Hallucinations - 0 views
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Researchers in the UK found that people who ingest a lot of caffeine, for instance by drinking lots of coffee, tea, and caffeinated energy drinks, are more likely to report experiencing hallucinations, including hearing voices and seeing things and people that are not there.
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The research, which was funded by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council, was done by scientists at Durham University, and is published as an academic paper in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
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Defined as consuming more than the equivalent of seven cups of coffee a day, a high caffeine user was three times more likely to have heard a person speak when there was nobody there, compared to low caffeine users (those who had less than the equivalent of one cup of coffee a day),
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One possible explanation, said the authors, was that caffeine amplifies the effects of stress, by boosting the release of the stress hormone cortisol.
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Readers should note that this study merely showed a link between caffeine intake and propensity to hallucinate in a group of students: it did not establish the direction of the relationship,
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Attorney General Signals Shift In Marijuana Policy : NPR - 0 views
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Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a change in medical marijuana policy Wednesday, saying federal agents will target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state law.
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That would be a departure from the Bush administration, which targeted medical marijuana dispensaries in California even if they complied with that state's law.
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But he was quick to add that law enforcement officers will target anyone who tries to "use medical marijuana laws as a shield" for illegal activity.
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Are Romantic Movies Bad For You? - TIME - 0 views
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In the celluloid world of romantic comedies, shy but decent men get the girl, arguments set up sweet reconciliations, and couples separated by tragedy are always reunited through improbable coincidence.
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But now researchers are beginning to ask whether the make-believe world projected in "rom-coms" might actually be preventing true love in real life.
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They found that problems typically reported by couples in relationship counseling at their counseling center reflect misconceptions about love and romance depicted in Hollywood films.
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The Truth About Diet Soda on Yahoo! Health - 0 views
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Americans today drink about 192 gallons of liquid a year—or about 2 liters a day. To put it into perspective, this is nearly twice as many calories as we did 30 years ago.
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consuming sugary-tasting beverages--even if they're artificially sweetened--may lead to a high preference for sweetness overall. That means sweeter (and more caloric) cereal, bread, dessert--everything.
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The FDA maintains that the sweetener is safe, but reported side effects include dizziness, headaches, diarrhea, memory loss, and mood changes.
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12 Health Fads That Never Made It - Family Health Guide - 0 views
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The practice involved swallowing beef tapeworm eggs and then taking a medicine to kill the tapeworm after reaching your target weight.
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A number of health and beauty products marketed by Japanese firms claimed to contain pig placenta or ‘afterbirth’ as the active ingredient.
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A long hollow tapering cone of muslin coated with wax is inserted into the ear and lit to create a vacuum.
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The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act | Michigan Medical Marijuana Association | News and ... - 0 views
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Although federal law currently prohibits any use of marihuana except under very limited circumstances, states are not required to enforce federal law or prosecute people for engaging in activities prohibited by federal law.
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Cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn's disease, agitation of Alzheimer's disease, nail patella, or the treatment of these conditions.
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"Medical use" means the acquisition, possession, cultivation, manufacture, use, internal possession, delivery, transfer, or transportation of marihuana or paraphernalia relating to the administration of marihuana to treat or alleviate a registered qualifying patient's debilitating medical condition or symptoms associated with the debilitating medical condition.
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primary caregiver will be allowed under state law to cultivate marihuana for the qualifying patient, 12 marihuana plants kept in an enclosed, locked facility; and
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Inaugural Donations to Be Listed Online - washingtonpost.com - 0 views
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The Presidential Inaugural Committee has raised almost $10 million so far to cover the costs of putting on a four-day fete that may draw the biggest crowd ever for an inauguration, casting the fundraising as ground-breaking in its restrictions and transparency.
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President Bush's last inaugural committee raised a record $42.8 million for a three-day celebration that included fireworks and nine inaugural balls.
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limited contributions, following the example of his campaign, banning contributions from corporations, political action committees, registered lobbyists, foreigners and registered foreign agents.
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The public will be able to fully track donations from those giving $200 or more toward the Jan. 18-21 event
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Woman 'pregnant' with monkey convicted of smuggling - CNN.com - 0 views
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A Washington woman who hid a sedated monkey under her blouse on a flight from Thailand was convicted of violating wildlife laws for smuggling the monkey into the United States, prosecutors said Tuesday.
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Gypsy Lawson, 28, and her mother, Fran Ogren, 56, were convicted of smuggling and conspiracy to smuggle the monkey in violation of the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws.
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Authorities found journals and handwritten notes describing the mother and daughter's attempts to find a monkey small enough to smuggle back to the United States.
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Neighborhood Stabilization Program needs beefing up, critics say - Tampa Bay Business J... - 0 views
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A federal plan directing municipalities to buy up a handful of foreclosed properties to curtail neighborhood blight may be championed by local leaders, but the business community isn’t convinced it’s going to have any impact on record high foreclosure rates.
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A federal plan directing municipalities to buy up a handful of foreclosed properties to curtail neighborhood blight may be championed by local leaders, but the business community isn’t convinced it’s going to have any impact on record high foreclosure rates.
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Congress created the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in July, which is divvying up $3.9 billion nationally and $98.8 million locally.
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effort to get some foreclosures off the market and to partner with outside groups and companies to convert those properties into affordable housing.
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When you go up and down the streets, 20 to 40 percent of the houses there don’t even have people living in them,” said Cynthia Miller, Tampa’s growth management and development services administrator. “We have to do the best with what we’ve got, so we’re just looking at certain streets so that we can have some land assemblage. This is all about neighborhood stabilization, and we want to make sure vacant structures don’t become a problem.”
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Apple Blocking iTunes Competition for iPhone? - HotHardware - 0 views
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They believe Apple may be unfairly blocking rival software makers from selling music on the iPhone and new iPod Touch.
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Currently, four out of every five songs purchased on the Internet come from the iTunes store, according to a release from Reuters.
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consumers should be able to switch to Nokia, Blackberry In Motion Ltd or other MP3 players without having to dump their entire music library.
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White House, Democrats reach deal on $15 billion auto aid | Reuters - 0 views
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Democratic leaders and the White House reached a deal to provide billions of dollars in relief to the ailing U.S. auto industry, a senior congressional aide told Reuters on Friday.
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The package, which Democratic leaders hope to win passage of next week and send to President George W. Bush, totals between $15 billion and $17 billion, the aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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Spam gets 1 response per 12,500,000 emails | News | TechRadar UK - 0 views
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A new study details how spammers – the bane of our email inboxes – still make pots of money, despite only receiving a response to one in every 12,500,000 emails they spam out
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firstly offering a fake pharmacy site and, secondly, offering a herbal Viagra-style remedy to boost libido.