The real Papa Smurf

Fourteen years ago, Paul Karason developed a bad case of dermatitis, which results in swollen, reddened and itchy skin. He started self-medicating, using a treatment called colloidal silver, which is made by extracting silver from metal. Instead of curing him, it turned him into a real life Papa Smurf!

The substance is usually consumed orally but Mr Karason also decided to rub it into his peeling skin to accelerate the effects. According to the 57-year-old, his skin slowly turned blue that neither he nor he friends noticed the change at first. "The change was so gradual that I didn't perceive it and other people around me likewise," said Karason. "It wasn't until a friend I hadn't seen in several months came by my parent's place to see me and he asked me 'what did you do?.'"

Karason, who recently moved from Oregon to Madera, California, said it hasn't been easy living with blue skin. He try to avoid public places as much as he can. Karason made the move in hopes of fitting in a little better. "I hope that they just accept me," he said, "And I think that will happen here. Where I was, I rather doubt it would have. This is different kind of community here." So far, Karason hasn't sought any medical attention for his condition. When he was asked if he's still drinking the colloidal silver, he said yes, but much less.

The FDA does not consider colloidal silver safe or effective to treat any disease or condition. In fact, taking it could have serious side effects such as Argyria, an irreversible blue-gray discoloration of your skin, nails and gums; Seizures and other neurological problems; Kidney damage; Indigestion; Headaches; Fatigue and Skin irritations.

Source : Fox News

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Science changed mice fear of cat

In nature, rodents are afraid of cats when they smelled their presence. But this may be a thing in the past as scientist found how to genetically erase the mice's phobia! Scientist at the University of Tokyo used genetic engineering to successfully switch off a mice instinct to run at the presence of cats. This new method shattered common believes that fear is learned through experience.

Mice are naturally terrified of cats and usually panic or flee at the moment they smelt its presence. Humans will shy away at certain smell too, we are born with a dislike of curdled and moldy food and when we detect rotten food we will distance ourselves from the smell instinctively. The findings suggest that the human aversion to dangerous smells could also be genetically predetermined, according to research leader Ko Kobayakawa.

The genetic surgery had only affected the nerve cells in the nose (dorsal zone olfactory sensory neurons) that can trigger fear, but they did not lose the feeling of fear entirely. They found that the altered mice still froze if they heard a cat meow. "This observation may suggest that the mice only lacked the innate fear responses to cats' odors, but they did not lose the feeling of fear," said Dr Kobayakawa.

The technique has great potential in neuroscience, he said "We think it as the power to clarify many unrevealed principles of the brain, those which generate emotions and behaviors in mammals." There is increasing evidence that humans do respond to the smell of signaling chemicals - pheromones, - added Dr Denise Chen, of Rice University, Houston. "Only a few years ago, many in the scientific community would not even entertain the idea of a human pheromone.

"The past couple of years have witnessed a paradigm shift in this belief, as a result of an explosion of findings about the involvement of the main olfactory system in pheromone sensing." The idea of the presence of both learned and innate systems for processing smells within the main olfactory system may shed light on understanding and elucidating the differences in which humans process salient social chemo signals (for example, fearful sweat) and other types of smells (for example, non-emotional body odor or non-social smells)."

Source : news.nationalgeographic.com
Watch Video : www.guardian.co.uk

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Chimp vs. Human - Chimps won!

Young chimps have been competed against university students in laboratory tests of working memory and unbelievablely the chimps outsmarted humans. The assumption that the brain of a human can outperform that of close relatives is overturned today by a study that adds to research that brings chimpanzees closer to humans.

Young chimpanzees have an "extraordinary" ability to remember numerals that is superior to that of human adults. "There are still many people, including many biologists, who believe that humans are superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions," said Professor Tetsuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University.

Prof Matsuzawa, a pioneer in studying the mental abilities of chimps, said even he was surprised by the results of his study. He and colleague Sana Inoue report the findings in the journal Current Biology. "No one can imagine that chimpanzees-young chimpanzees at the age of five-have a better performance in a memory task than humans.

The chimps' memory ability is reminiscent of what scientists call "eidetic imagery", a special ability to retain a detailed and accurate image of a complex scene or pattern. Such a "photographic memory" is known to be present in some normal human children, and then the ability declines with the age, he added.

Prof Andrew Whiten of the University of St Andrews commented: "I have seen Prof Matsuzawa's chimpanzees performing this task and one's first response is 'that's impossible!' because they remember a sequence of numerals so well and 'list' them so fast. I have also attempted the task myself and my limited recall only underlines how extraordinary is the apes' achievement."

In the new work, the researchers took three pairs of mother and infants and taught them Arabic numerals from 1 to 9. They were then pitted them against university students in a memory task. The chimps or humans were briefly presented with various numerals from 1 to 9 on a touch-screen monitor. Those numbers were then replaced with blank squares, and the test subject had to remember which numeral appeared in which location and touch the squares in the appropriate order.

Nine university students, three young chimpanzees and the chimps' mothers were tested. In the hardest tests, where numbers are flashed for 0.21 seconds on a screen, the star five-year-old chimp averaged 80 percent accuracy, double that of the university students. The young chimpanzees could grasp many numerals at a single glance, with no change in performance as the hold duration - the amount of time that the numbers remained on the screen - was varied. In general, the performance of the three young chimpanzees was better than that of their mothers and also all of the students.

One chimp, Ayumu, did the best. The researchers believe that the young chimps' newfound ability to top humans in the numerical memory task is "just a part of the very flexible intelligence of young chimpanzees".

Source : news.nationalgeographic.com

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M. Schumacher the fastest taxi driver

When one cabbie in southern Germany apparently was not driving fast enough, his customer, former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, took the wheel himself. The seven-times world champion shocked a cab driver by taking over the wheel in order to be on time for a flight.

Schumacher, 38, flew into the aerodrome at the Bavarian town of Coburg on Saturday and took a taxi to the village of Gehuelz, 30 kilometres away, to pick up a new puppy - an Australian Shepherd dog called "Ed". But when the former Formula One ace, plus his wife and two children, caught a taxi back to the airport they were short on time and, afer a polite request, cab driver Tuncer Yilmaz watched in wonder as Schumacher took the wheel.

"I found myself in the passenger seat, which was strange enough, but to have "Schumi" behind the wheel of my cab was incredible, he drove at full throttle around the corners and over-took in some unbelievable places." Mr Yilmaz was well rewarded for the unusual journey - on top of the 60 euros (88 US dollars) fare, he was also given a 100 euros (146 US dollars) tip.

Schumacher’s spokeswoman, Sabine Kehm, confirmed the story. She said Schumacher had flown in from Switzerland on Saturday on his private jet to buy a puppy from a breeder in the town of Gesuelz. The German track ace, who now lives in Switzerland, retired from Formula One in 2006 after a glittering career and, despite test drives for his old team Ferarri, has insisted there is no chance of a return to racing.

Source : BBC News

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Kill with a kiss

A woman has been sentenced to death for killing her lover with a kiss! Xia Xinfeng and her childhood sweetheart, Mao Ansheng, swore an oath that if either was unfaithful, they would have to die. Xia took action after she saw her man talking to a woman in a way that made her suspicious, a court in Henan province, central China, was told.

They had arranged to meet the next day at a public bath-house. She filled a plastic pellet with rat poison, hid it under her tongue, and while they were kissing, nudged it into his mouth. Mao failed to notice it, swallowed it and died shortly afterwards.

Rat poison is one of the common methods of murder and suicide in China, so much so that one variety, "dushuqiang" was banned three years ago. In one case, a widow used it to kill 10 guests, with whom she had been engaged in a feud, at her husband's funeral banquet.

Despite the crackdown, however, besides Xin Xinfeng, a couple from Yunnan province, Chen Lihua and Huang Jianxiao, were also sentenced to death this week, suspended for two years, for lacing their respective spouses' dinners with rat poison.

Source : The Shanghai Daily

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London bridge may fall, paper bridge may not

Shigeru Ban is an accomplished Japanese and international architect, most famous for his innovative work with paper, particularly recycled cardboard paper tubes used to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims. Shigeru Ban was the winner in 2005 at age 48 of the 40th annual Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He was profiled by Time Magazine in their projection of 21st century innovators in the field of architecture and design.

Shigeru Ban studied at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and later went on to Cooper Union’s School of Architecture where he studied under John Hejduk and graduated in 1984. Hejduk was a part of the The New York Five. From Hejduk, Ban learned not only fundamental elements of architecture, but also gained an interest in ‘architectonic poetics’ or the creation of three-dimensional poetry. Hejduk, the most experimentally minded of the New York Five, had a lasting influence on Ban, whose work has continuing explorations into basic geometric elements. Ban’s formal explorations with basic building materials helped to lead him into unique structural solutions.

Ban is most-famous now for his innovative work with paper and cardboard tubing as a material for building construction. He was the first architect in Japan to construct a building primarily out of paper, with his paper house and required special approval for his building to pass Japan’s building code. Ban is attracted to using paper because of its low-cost, its recyclable, low-tech and they’re replaceable. The last aspect of Ban’s influences is his humanitarianism and his attraction to ecological architecture. Ban’s work with paper and other materials is heavily based on its sustanability and because it produces very little waste. As a result of this, Ban’s DIY Refugee shelters (used in Japan after the Kobe earthquake, in Turkey, Rwanda and around the world) are very popular and effective for low-cost disaster relief-housing.

When the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban was asked to build a footbridge over the Gardon River in the south of France, he designed one that was keenly sensitive to its surroundings. He constructed it from locally available materials and based its geometry on the nearby Pont du Gard, a historic Roman aqueduct. Ban used a mixture of cardboard tubes, recycled labels and creative engineering.

The surprisingly strong structure can withstand the load of at least 20 people, rose triumphantly against the backdrop of the ancient monument. The 72-foot-long frame was made primarily from 281 cardboard tubes — each four and a half inches in diameter and about three-quarters of an inch thick. The tubes were held together by steel joints. For the steps, Ban used a new material called ProFi, assembled from paper and plastic left over from the manufacture of self-adhesive labels. Wooden boxes buried underground and packed with local sand formed the foundations.

The bridge diameter and curvature were modeled on the classic proportions of the Pont du Gard’s arch. “It was an interesting contrast,” Ban says. “But it was both a contrast and a harmony.” The design of the bridge allows for easy assembly and dismantling. It took a team of architecture students only a month to complete the installation, which remained open to the public for six weeks before being dismantled in August before the rainy season. Ban says he expects it to be rebuilt next year.

The main challenge, Ban says, was not mastering the engineering of the bridge but persuading skeptics to rethink basic principles of design. “The strength and durability of a structure has nothing to do with the material,” he said. Ban fits well into the category of “Ecological Architects” but he also can make solid claims for being modernist, a Japanese experimentalist as well as a rationalist. “I don’t like waste” is an apt quote from Ban, summing up his philosophy, known as “Paper George's Architecture.”

Source : www.shigerubanarchitects.com
Source : www.nytimes.com

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Anencephaly - Neckless baby

Anencephaly is a cephalic disorder that results from a neural tube defect that occurs when the cephalic (head) end of the neural tube fails to close, usually between the 23rd and 26th day of pregnancy, resulting in the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull, and scalp. Infants with this disorder are born without a forebrain, the largest part of the brain consisting mainly of the cerebral hemispheres.

Such is the case that happens in Nepal as it is reported by eKantipur.com. The birth of a bizarre-looking baby in Charikot, the headquarters of Dolakha district, drew a huge number of onlookers to witness the astonishing sight. The neck-less baby with its head almost totally sunk into the upper part of the body and with extraordinarily large eyeballs literally popping out of the eye-sockets, was born to Nir Bahadur Karki and Suntali Karki at the Gaurishnkar Hospital in Charikot.

The bizarre baby, however, died after half an hour of its birth, Suntali, the mother, informed. It was taken to the hospital after its death. The news about such a baby being brought to the hospital spread like wildfire and there were hundreds gathered at the hospital to have a look. The police had to be deployed to control the crowd.

"We wouldn't have been able to save it, even if it had been brought here alive" said a nurse attending to the mother at the hospital, adding "This is an extremely abnormal case". The baby weighed 2kg at birth and was born after the normal nine-month gestation period.

Suntali, already a mother of two normal daughters, was not suffering from any illness during the pregnancy. Nir Bahadur, the father, says he does not feel any remorse for the newly-born baby's death. I am happy that nothing happened to my wife, he said.

Note : Though Anencephaly does exist, the story and the 2nd attached photos authenticity is undetermined. Also, it was not known why the baby was paraded.

Source : library.med.utah.edu
Source : kantipuronline.com

Tags : Anencephaly cephalic disorder neck-less baby disorder Nepal Gaurishnkar Hospital

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It's dove at first sight

It's like a tale straight out of Disney. An abandoned baby monkey, close to death, is revived by the love of a bird. The 12-week-old macaque was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Guangdong Province, China, after being abandoned by his mother.

Taken to an animal hospital, he was weaned back to physical health but still showed little appetite for life. It was not until a fellow patient, a white pigeon, took him under her wing and showed him love and affection that he perked up.

The blossoming relationship helped to revive the baby macaque who has developed a new lease of life, say staff at the sanctuary. Now the unlikely duo are never far from each other's side.

Source : dailymail.co.uk

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Rich bitch Trouble in trouble

Trouble is a white Maltese dog that inherited $12 million from late New York hotelier Leona Helmsley since she passed away in August 2007. But now, Trouble is really in trouble after receiving about 20 death threats. And Trouble was flown on a private jet to Florida two months ago to throw her pursuers off the track.

Helmsley cut two of her four grandchildren out of her will, but established a $US12 million trust fund for Trouble. The dog used to live in luxury in a 46th-floor apartment on top of the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, eating food prepared by the hotel chefs.

The will stipulated that Helmsley's 80-year-old brother should care for her beloved pet, but he refused to do so and it passed to the care of her staff. John Codey, who manages the dog's trust fund, said the cost of Trouble's security, medical care, chef-cooked meals and grooming was about $300,000 a year.

"We were alarmed by the number of threats - 20 to 30, something of that order," said Helmsley's former aide John Codey. He told CBS's Early Show that blackmailers had threatened: "I'm gonna kill the dog. I'm gonna kidnap the dog. I need the $12 million."

Trouble's penchant for biting people has earned her many enemies over the years, but Mr Codey said he had been astonished at the animosity toward her. "I think the reaction was really quite bizarre," he said. Mr Codey said the 2kg pooch had a rotating security team and used an alias when she flew out of Connecticut.

When Trouble dies, any remaining money from her trust will go to the charitable foundations that inherited the lion's share of Ms Helmsley's estimated $US4 billion estate.

Source : BBC News
For previous written article about Trouble, click here

Tags : Trouble Maltese dog death threats inheritance Leona Helmsley hotelier

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Ancient Egyptian plays bowling

Italian archeologists have found in Egypt what may be the world's oldest indoor bowling alley. A spacious room, with a shallow lane running through into a pit and two heavy stone balls lying nearby, was found at an ancient site in the province of Al-Fayyum, 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Cairo, and appears to be man's first attempt to create an area for a game that was to become the prototype for modern-day bowling.

The site dates back to the Ptolemaic era, which began in 332 B.C with Ptolemy I Soter declaring himself Pharaoh of Egypt following Alexander the Great's conquest, and ended with the Roman conquest in 30 B.C. The bowling room was apparently part of a residential building, with papyruses, pottery and copper utensils found at the site in abundance.

It's believed that two players would throw balls from the two ends of a lane. The one throwing a smaller ball aimed to get the ball in a hole, while one throwing a larger ball tried to block the other's shot. The lane is made from three pieces of joint marble.

Source : dsc.discovery.com

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Bigfoot appear in a smaller form?

Natasha, a black Macaque in the Safari Park Zoo near Tel Aviv, Israel surprised scientist by the difference between her from others Macaque. Black Macaque, like others monkey usually walks on all four and occasionally they will walk upright for a short period of time. Natasha walks upright all the time, bearing similarity to the walking style of the legendary creature Bigfoot with not such a big foot.

In 2004, Natasha went through a death experience, a stomach ailment that almost killed her. She and three other monkeys were diagnosed with severe stomach flu. At the zoo clinic, she slipped into critical condition. The veterinarian Igal Horowitz that's treating Natasha said "I was sure that she was going to die," he said. "She could hardly breathe, and her heart was not functioning properly."

After intensive treatment, Natasha's condition began to stabilize. But a day after she was released from the clinic, she soon starts to walk upright from this day onwards. Horowitz was baffled, and said that the possible explanations to her advanced evolution of movement might due to her brain being damaged from the illness. Probably she thought that she has become Bigfoot. But apart from her evolutional walking style, her others monkey behavior remain unchanged.

Source : MSNBS News
Source : CBC News

Tags : Natasha Black Macaque Macaque Tel Aviv Safari Park Zoo walk upright human evolution bipedal Bigfoot

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