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How "Gene Doping" Could Create Enhanced Olympians

lthough athletes at the Beijing Olympics have been subjected to some of the most aggressive testing ever for performance-enhancing drugs, no case of so-called gene doping has yet been detected.

But experts say Oympic athletes may soon be able to genetically enhance their muscles to be faster, stronger, and better able to recover after workouts—if they aren't already.

A virus that commonly infects potatoes bears a striking resemblance to one of the key proteins implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and researchers have used that to develop antibodies that may slow or prevent the onset of AD.

Studies in mice have demonstrated that vaccinations with the amyloid beta protein (believed to be a major AD contributor) to produce A antibodies can slow disease progression and improve cognitive function, possibly by promoting the destruction of amyloid plaques.

And although the levels were lower, mice also developed A antibodies if given injections of PVY-infected potato leaf as opposed to purified PVY.

Is computer use changing children?

As the age at which children start to get familiar with computers and the net gets ever lower, questions are starting to be asked about what that exposure is doing to our children's brains and their ability to concentrate.

Baroness Greenfield

Drink Outside the Box

ITALY’S Agriculture Ministry announced this month that some wines that receive the government’s quality assurance label may now be sold in boxes.

Wine in a box makes sense environmentally and economically.

Certain foods can burn fat.

According to the "negative calorie effect," the act of chewing and digesting certain foods burns up more calories than the food itself contains.

It's better to eat six mini meals than three squares.

PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.

"PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says.

Margarine is better than butter.

Butter contains saturated fat that

margarine—specifically stick margarine—is that it contains trans fats

North Korea nuclear seals removed

The UN's atomic watchdog says it has removed seals and surveillance cameras from part of North Korea's main nuclear complex at Pyongyang's request.

IAEA inspectors will have no further access to the reprocessing plant

The nation's top domestic security official says aviation still remains vulnerable to terrorist attack, seven years after 9/11.

A California woman who escaped from a Michigan prison 32 years ago and lived on the lam as a suburban mother was sentenced to probation Wednesday

Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner said LeFevre had already served 14 months in prison on a drug conviction when she escaped.

"The court finds no reason to give you extra time," said Groner, who ordered two years of probation.

With everyone and their mother jumping onto the green bandwagon, we’re bound to have a whole bunch of non-sustainable junk items pawned off as “green” by the loosest of standards, and a whole bunch of greenwashing. It’s something we have to be wary of and keep a diligent eye out for pos

An art project, “Subverting the Green Aesthetic,” helps us remember this and gives us a few IDing skills.

For instance, he shows two MP3 players, one that looks like it has sustainability on the brain, but in actually can’t be recycled, can’t be upgraded, and toxic substances are used in its manufacturing. The other MP3 player looks sleek in a non-sustainable way, but is more durable, can be upgraded, and recycled.

Don’t turn your faucet on until you’re ready

we turn on the faucet before the brush or cup is under the water.

Take it easy when driving

Dog meat off the menu during Beijing Olympics

Canine cuisine is being sent to the doghouse during next month's Beijing Olympic Games.

Waiters and waitresses should "patiently" suggest other options to diners who order dog, it said, quoting city tourism bureau Vice Director Xiong Yumei.

Emma was given up twice

birth mothe

48-year-old adoptive mother who backed out when she learned of Emma's heart condition and of her own pregnancy

The Bush administration on Friday rejected regulating greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, saying it would cause too many job losses.

kicking any decision on a solution to the next president and Congress.

The White House on Thursday rejected EPA's conclusion three weeks earlier that the 1970 Clean Air Act "can be both workable and effective for addressing global climate change."

new sapling was sprouted from a 2,000-year-old date palm excavated in Masada

Dubbed the "Methuselah Tree"

after 26 months, the tree was nearly four-feet

Rock band AC/DC will sell its new album only through Wal-Mart Stores

AC/DC album is expected to come out in the fall

This is Your Brain on God

Debate has long raged between atheists and the faithful about whether God is all in our heads, and the discovery of a so-called “God module” in the brain has only fanned the flames.

While a group of neuroscientists at the University of San Diego were studying the brain patterns of epileptics, they stumbled across something they weren’t expecting: that epileptics who suffer a certain kind of seizure are often intensely religious, reporting an unusual number of visions, communications with God and even paranormal experiences. Further tests revealed that there’s a specific place in the temporal lobe (the aforementioned “module”) which flares up when faithful subjects are asked questions about their faith, and that this spot was a common focal point for electrical discharges during epileptic seizures.

As gas goes up, driving goes down

At a time when gas prices are at an all-time high, Americans have curtailed their driving at a historic rate.

The Department of Transportation said figures from March show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded.

The Value of a Human Life: $129,000

That's the international standard most private and government-run health insurance plans worldwide use to determine whether to cover a new medical procedure. More simply, insurance companies calculate that to make a treatment worth its cost, it must guarantee one year of "quality life" for $50,000 or less.

New research, however, would argue that that figure is far too low.