Finger Length Predicts SAT Performance

LiveScience Staff

LiveScience.com
Wed May 23, 1:25 AM ET



A quick look at the lengths of children's index and ring fingers can be used to predict how well students will perform on SATs, new research claims.

Kids with longer ring fingers compared to index fingers are likely to have higher math scores than literacy or verbal scores on the college entrance exam, while children with the reverse finger-length ratio are likely to have higher reading and writing, or verbal, scores versus math scores.

Scientists have known that different levels of the hormones testosterone and estrogen in the womb account for the different finger lengths, which are a reflection of areas of the brain that are more highly developed than others, said psychologist Mark Brosnan of the University of Bath, who led the study.

Exposure to testosterone in the womb is said to promote development of areas of the brain often associated with spatial and mathematical skills, he said. That hormone makes the ring finger longer. Estrogen exposure does the same for areas of the brain associated with verbal ability and tends to lengthen the index finger relative to the ring finger.

To test the link to children's scores on the College Board's Scholastic Assessment Test (for which the name has changed a number of times in the past 100 years), Brosnan and his colleagues made photocopies of children's palms and measured the length of their index and ring fingers using calipers accurate to 0.01 millimeters. They used the finger-length ratios as a proxy for the levels of testosterone and estrogen exposure.

The researchers then looked at boys' and girls' test performances separately and compared them to finger-length ratio measurements. They found a clear link between high prenatal testosterone exposure, indicated by the longer index finger compared to the ring finger, and higher scores on the math SAT.

Similarly, they found higher literacy SAT scores for the girls among those who had lower prenatal testosterone exposure, as indicated by a shorter ring finger compared with the index finger.

The researchers also compared the finger-lengths ratios to all the children's SAT scores and found that a relatively longer ring finger—indicating greater prenatal exposure to testosterone—meant a wider gap in scores for math versus literacy (writing and critical reading).

"Finger ratio provides us with an interesting insight into our innate abilities in key cognitive areas," Brosnan said, in a prepared statement. The results will be detailed in an upcoming issue of the British Journal of Psychology.

In the future, his team will see if finger-length ratios are related to other cognitive and behavioral issues, such as technophobia, career paths and possibly dyslexia.

This was found at LiveScience.com

Excess weight costs Maine $2.5 billion

By Portland Press Herald Staff Report

Physical inactivity and excess weight cost Maine more than $2.5 billion a year in higher medical costs, workers’ compensation and lost productivity, according to a study of the impact of health on the economy that was released today.

The study looked at the economic costs, both direct and indirect, of inactive lifestyles, being overweight and obesity. The report, sponsored by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and MaineHealth, was prepared by Dr. David Chenowith of Chenowith & Associates, a North Carolina-based econometrics consulting firm.

The report said that if current trends continue, the costs associated with the three unhealthy conditions will rise to $3.1 billion annually by 2009. Since the report released today was based on 2004 data, that would mean an increase in costs of more than 21 percent over a five-year period.

The report also said that getting just 5 percent of inactive adults to engage in some physical activity would cut costs by $150 million a year.

This was found at Portland Press Herald.

Star Wars turns 30

By Stephen Fenech
May 25, 2007 01:00am

FIRE up your light-sabre and prepare for hyperspace - Star Wars is 30.

And fans may be the ones getting the birthday present, with news of a "huge" announcement by creator George Lucas - rumoured to be a new Star Wars movie - expected in Los Angeles.

Australia's Star Wars appreciation society Star Walking Inc member Chris Brennan, in LA for the official convention celebration, said the rumour sweeping the venue is that Lucas will announce a new movie or movies set before the recent prequels at the time of Old Republic, when the Jedi regained control of the galaxy.

Brennan said: "He did make a slip in an interview a couple of weeks ago and say something about a forthcoming movie. The reporter went back to him and said, 'Did you say movie?'

"George said no, he didn't say that, and tried to cover it up."

Lucas has already confirmed a Star Wars live action TV series will be filmed in Australia from next year and will be set between the recent Episode III and the original 1977 Star Wars film, which is Episode IV.

Despite opening in just 32 theatres across the US on May 25, 1977, the original Star Wars is the second highest grossing film of all time behind Titanic.

This was found at The Daily Telegram.

Aiding poor trumps class trip

There will be no out-of-state class trip this year for the eighth-graders at Cathedral School in Portland.

Bill Nemitz
May 18, 2007

There will be no out-of-state class trip this year for the eighth-graders at Cathedral School in Portland. But if you're thinking this is another one of those "kids paying the price for bad behavior" stories, think again.

"I was very, very touched by this," said Sister Theresa Rand, the school principal, as she sat with five soon-to-be-graduates Thursday morning. "To have a whole class say they want to do something like this is really very powerful."

Here's what they did.

Early last fall, the eighth-graders began the traditional task of raising money for their end-of-year trip.

They held dances. They collected bottles. They baby-sat and plunked every nickel into the trip fund. In December, they even set up at the Borders bookstore in South Portland and wrapped Christmas presents in exchange for donations.

The result? A fund that, according to class organizer Hannah Cormier, 14, now totals about $1,100 -- plenty of money to hire a bus and spend a day tooling around, say, Boston.

Enter Sister Lisa Valentini of the Pennsylvania-based Missionary Sisters of the Scared Heart.

Three weeks ago, Sister Lisa came by Cathedral School to talk about the work she does with poor families in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Her presentation, complete with large "picture cubes" depicting life in that part of Latin America -- tin-roofed homes that get "as hot as a microwave" during the summer, hungry kids who are lucky if they have one pair of tattered shoes -- lasted almost two hours.

"But it didn't feel like it. It felt like it went by like that," said Joe LaStoria, 13, with a snap of his fingers.

When they weren't looking at the pictures, the kids found themselves doing the math.

One penny, Sister Lisa told them, could fill a hungry child's bowl with rice and vegetables. Fifty cents could buy enough rice to feed a family for three days.

"It made me feel really appreciative of what I have," Joe said.

When it was over, Winnie Carlo, 14, and Helen Han, 13, approached Sister Lisa and asked what they could do to help. Could they go to the Dominican Republic with her?

Not until you're a junior in high school, Sister Lisa replied.

"But you could hold a talent show or something like that to raise money," she suggested.

"And we're like, 'Wait, we already have some money,'" Helen said.

Helen and Winnie floated the idea with their classmates during lunch period. By the end of the day, it was unanimous: Goodbye Class of 2007 Trip Fund, hello $1,100 donation for kids far less fortunate than themselves.

Twice over the past two weeks, Sister Theresa sat down with the class to make sure that everyone really wanted to do this. Twice, 19 young voices said "yes."

So, as of this week, the annual out-of-state trip is officially off. Instead, the class will spend a day at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth -- not exactly the Imax Theater at Boston's Museum of Science, but who cares?

"As long as we're all together and having fun," Joe said, "it doesn't matter where we are."

Francesca Morabito, 13, nodded.

"Or how much it costs," she said.

This was found at Portland Press Herald.

The Good Thing About Herpes

By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience

posted: 16 May 2007 01:00 pm ET

The herpes family of viruses can have a surprising upside--it can protect against the bubonic plague and other bacterial contagions, at least in mice.

Research into whether a similar mechanism applies to humans and other mammalian hosts should be conducted, said viral immunologist Skip Virgin at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "There may be symbiotic advantages to chronic infections with these viruses."

These new results do not mean people should go out and get infected with herpes, Virgin stressed. They probably already are. Nearly all humans become infected with multiple herpes virus family members during childhood. These germs not only include the herpes simplex viruses, which lead to cold sores and possibly genital herpes, but also the diseases responsible for chickenpox and "mono," as well as several less well-known ailments. Herpes infections have bedeviled animals for more than 100 million years.

After the initial period of infection, these viruses enter a dormant state known as latency. Many lurk for the lifetime of their hosts "as permanent passengers" without causing overt symptoms, Virgin said.

Virgin and his colleagues experimented with viruses highly similar genetically to ones that cause mono and other diseases in humans. These germs normally cause fatigue and ruffled fur in mice, although the researchers used dose levels too low to cause symptoms.

The scientists discovered latent infections with these viruses could protect mice from bacterial infections, including Yersinia pestis, which causes bubonic plague, and Listeria monocytogenes, which causes one kind of food poisoning, findings detailed in the May 17 issue of the journal Nature.

The herpes viruses spur the immune system to boost levels of a protein hormone called interferon gamma "that in effect puts some immune system soldiers on yellow alert, causing them to patrol for invaders with their eyes wide open and defense weapons ready," Virgin said. As a result, the bacteria grew more slowly and were less likely to kill the mice. Future research can investigate whether these latent infections protect against other viruses.

Still, while people might benefit from symbiotic relationships with the herpes family of viruses, they can also have serious consequences, such as deafness, blindness, encephalitis and cancer.

"The presence of these viruses seems to be a two-edged sword," Virgin told LiveScience. "I am quite concerned that we be sensitive to these true human tragedies while recognizing the potential of a new way to view these infections."

Uncovering any potential benefits of these viruses in humans will prove hard, Virgin cautioned, "since nearly all humans are infected with these viruses at a young age, so it will be hard to find people without them for comparison."

This was found at LiveScience.com

Blair digging graves to make his legacy

BY BRIAN PENDREIGH

SEAN Connery has given his most incendiary ever interview on politics, branding Tony Blair an "a***hole" making his legacy from graves in Iraq and suggesting that First Minister Jack McConnell is frustrating democracy in Scotland.

In his first interview since the Holyrood election, Connery also calls on Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander to resign over the voting fiasco, which saw almost 150,000 ballot papers spoiled.

The actor reveals he has been giving post-election advice to SNP leader and likely new First Minister Alex Salmond and suggests he has already become a roving ambassador for Scotland. But on the issue of a return to the land of his birth, Connery remains as enigmatic as ever.

Speaking from his home in the Bahamas, Connery described the conduct of the election as an "embarrassment".

Connery told Scotland on Sunday: "I think [Douglas] Alexander should resign because he was warned. Alexander is not resigning, he's not even apologising."

Referring to the decision to hold council and Parliament votes together, he added: "No other place would attempt to do the two on the same day. It's a real, horrendous mistake."

Connery said of the outcome, in which the SNP won by 47 seats to Labour's 46: "It was an amazing result considering the Prime Minister and Jack McConnell were up there, and all the tabloids on full blast. They had all the ammunition stacked against them, and they've come through, the SNP. The thing is that they [Labour] pushed for a fear element into it."

He added: "Everybody got blinded by the Union issue. It wasn't the Union issue. It was a change of government they wanted.

"What I think got the people going behind Alex Salmond and the SNP was that they really conducted an excellent campaign and they have come out with what they are trying to do. And this will determine the future of Scotland, regardless of a referendum [on independence]."

McConnell has let it be known that should the SNP fail to form a government he is waiting in the wings to try for another coalition with the Lib Dems.

Asked if McConnell was betraying democratic principles by not letting Salmond get on with it, Connery said: "This is it completely. If you were asking the will of the people now, that's exactly what they would want. They would say, 'Let them get in, we're at least on the right track'. If they [Labour] start with a sabotage situation like now they can't blame anybody but themselves."

Connery said that if anybody should be a Labour supporter "it should be me, with my background". He added: "The problem is that Labour has been too long in power. They are totally fossilised. For 50 years until the opening of this Parliament we had nothing but a Labour majority in Scotland, regardless of what happened in the rest of the UK."

On the issue of independence, Connery remains convinced a referendum can still take place with or without the support of the Lib Dems. He even suggests that three years of minority rule under the SNP might be enough to persuade Scots it is time to go it alone.

"When you get to the crossroads in 2010, they [the SNP] might not even need a referendum, it would be so obvious that they want to run alone. The issue is that I do not think the UK is a United Kingdom. I think it is not a democracy, it is not equal, that's the problem."

But the star acknowledges that the SNP is facing a new challenge as a result of the imminent change of leadership of the UK Labour party. "That's going to be the major problem," said Connery. "From a not particularly powerful base, Salmond dealing with Gordon Brown, who is out to set a much bigger stall after this a***hole Blair."

Connery referred to the massive controversy during the election campaign when Blair criticised Sir George Mathewson, former chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, after he backed Salmond for First Minister. Blair responded during a trip to Scotland by calling Mathewson "self indulgent".

Connery said: "How can somebody like a Blair come up and knock somebody like George Mathewson of the Royal Bank, with his success, for being deluded? How dare he say that of somebody from his position who's digging graves to make a legacy? That's the sort of person in Scotland he's knocking. And that can't taste good in the mouth of the Scots."

He then took a side swipe at the Lib Dems, saying: "They [the SNP] are obviously not going to be in bed with the Liberal Democrats. I mean they are so non-productive anyway. They are like some kind of hybrid. Now if the Liberal Democrats were really interested in the big picture of Scotland, they would get in and prove that they can work with a party like the SNP."

Connery predicted the SNP would win the election last month when he declared that Salmond was "the right man at the right time". He also hinted that he may return to live in his homeland if Scotland voted for independence.

Connery told Scotland on Sunday he had followed the election results on the internet throughout the night of May 3 and 4 and had spoken to Salmond since the outcome.

Asked what role he might play in the new Scotland, Connery replied: "For me it's to get the [Scottish] voice heard.

"Since Winnie Ewing at the beginning it's unequal. Her treatment by the MPs when she got to London was deplorable. And if you ask any businessman or any chief, if he had four divisions like Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, what would he do? He would bring them all up to the best they could be competitively for the benefit of the big picture. Well, that's what it should be, that kind of equality. All this talk about borders with guns and all that is s****, you know, absolute panic s****. We are talking about our people who want an equal deal."

Connery agreed he might become a roving, cultural ambassador for Scotland but he also made a plea for fairness towards the SNP, particularly from the media.

"The day we got the Parliament opened, I was asked, leaving the building, what did I think? I said it will be turmoil. Until we get a media which is sympathetic to a better and bigger picture of Scotland it won't work. And it's sadly come true.

"If we get a fair innings and everybody does work, there's a real genuine opportunity."

Connery's relationship with Labour has veered from conciliatory to outright hostile. He lent his support to the devolution referendum in 1997, standing alongside Blair, Donald Dewar and Salmond in urging Scots to vote 'yes'. But there was controversy after Dewar vetoed Connery's knighthood in December 1997. At the time, the veteran actor said he was "deeply disappointed but strangely not angry or greatly surprised". He was eventually made a knight in 2000.

Connery has worked alongside McConnell as well, especially during the annual Tartan Week celebrations in New York. However, this relationship was also strained after sources close to the First Minister described him as a "falling star".

An SNP spokesman said: "The difference between Alex Salmond and Tony Blair was that while Alex Salmond wanted to celebrate and build on Scottish success, Blair came north and attacked it. As for Sir Sean's points about Douglas Alexander and the causes of the election problems, Alex Salmond has already said that he will commission an independent inquiry into the voting fiasco if elected First Minister."

No one was available for comment from Scottish Labour.


I'll be in Scotland when weather improves, says Connery
BP: It was reported that you are thinking of moving back to Scotland or buying a house - is that right?

SC: That very first time I was supposed to have looked at houses is one of these rumours. It's not true.

BP: You are not actively looking for somewhere in Scotland just now?

SC: No, no. I don't feel the need. Travelling in the world today is a pain in the a***.

BP: Do you have any plans to come to Scotland in the near future? Is there anything that will bring you here?

SC: Well, I'm working on the Glasgow animation thing I'm doing, and I'm still doing this book on the history with Murray Grigor. In fact I'm doing quite a few things.

BP: So when will you next be in Scotland?

SC: When the weather improves.

BP: There is no political initiative to bring you here in the coming weeks?

SC: No, no, I won't figure in their plans, I don't think. They have got enough on their plate.

BP: Are you going to do Indiana Jones (left) 4?

SC: I'm still talking with them. I've got their script and they're still working on it.

BP: Can you tell me anything about the story? I believe it might shoot in the Bahamas?

SC: Is it? I don't know.

BP: Can you tell me what Henry Jones does?

SC: No, I can't. It's all secrecy. You know they're paranoid about it.

This was found at Scotsman.com.

Terminator kill-bots to be run by system called 'Skynet'

How many hints do we need? Flee while you can
By Lewis Page
Published Friday 11th May 2007 14:34 GMT

Following the announcement of the new Flying-HK-style "Reaper" death machines for the British forces, the prophetic nature of the Terminator movies has been further confirmed.

Not only will the UK MoD deploy airborne cyber-gunships remarkably similar to those in the films, the flying robot assassins will be controlled by an IT project named "Skynet".

This latest case of life imitating art (well, kind of art) was revealed this morning, with the news that the first of the Skynet 5 satellites has gone operational and is now successfully carrying data to and from British forces fighting in Southwest Asia.

"This important milestone is very good news for the armed forces," said Lord Drayson, the Minister for Defence Procurement. "Skynet 5 will supply about 2.5 times the capacity of the old system and generate a very significant improvement for our global communications systems - allowing us to pass more data faster. It is an excellent example of a successful Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal."

This PFI was the largest ever signed by the UK MoD, around £3.6bn in total. The Skynet 5 satellites are run by Paradigm Secure Communications and were built by EADS-Astrium. Skynet 5A was launched into space aboard an Ariane 5-ECA rocket from French Guiana in March, sharing the ride with an Indian TV platform. Skynet 5B and 5C will follow later this year and next.

It seems pretty clear that the Reaper flying kill machines will be run using the Skynet satellites, not any other comms channels.

"Take for example the capability of unmanned air vehicles. These generate a lot of imagery and that has to be passed over a secure communications link," according to Bill Sweetman, technology and aerospace editor for defence analysts Jane's.

"The practice is to offload mundane traffic on to commercial satellites and then to use a complementary, secure proprietary system for the traffic that has to be protected."

And it may not just be the Reapers that are controlled by Skynet. There's no word yet of any plans to cloak Asimo robots in living flesh cloned from large Austrian bodybuilders, but it can only be a matter of time.

"Ground control segments for the new system have been upgraded," reported the Beeb today. "Ships, planes and land vehicles are being equipped to make the best use of the upgraded Skynet."

Or for Skynet to make use of them. ®

This was found at The Register.

Hospital mistakenly tells man’s family he was dead

By Corina Curry
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR

ROCKFORD — A Rockford man says his family was notified by hospital personnel Friday night that was dead. But, in fact, the man was alive and well.

Jason Williams, 40, still is trying to figure out what kind of mix-up prompted the staff at Freeport Memorial Hospital to call his father and step-mother and tell them that he was there and why they would tell his loved ones over the phone that he was dead.

At the time, about 10:45 p.m. Friday, Williams said he was at home with his 11-year-old son, and both were asleep.

Shortly after arriving to the hospital — about 25 minutes after the initial phone call to Williams’ father’s home in Freeport — relatives were told that it was a mistake, Williams said.

Williams said calls to his cell phone from his relatives eventually woke him up, and he was able to put his relatives at ease.

As of this afternoon, Williams said he’s called the hospital several times but still hasn’t received an explanation about how or why the mix-up occurred.

Freeport Memorial Hospital could not be reached immediately for comment.

This was found at Rockford Register Star.

Inventor of lethal injection stands behind it

Doctor rejects claims that it's cruel and unusual

By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press


SANTA ROSA, CALIF. — Thirty years ago, Oklahoma Medical Examiner Dr. A. Jay Chapman marched into the Oklahoma Statehouse and dictated the formula for a cocktail of three drugs to a lawmaker looking for a more humane way to execute the condemned.

As Chapman spoke, Rep. Bill Wiseman scribbled on a legal yellow pad. That afternoon, Wiseman introduced the bill that made Oklahoma the first state to adopt lethal injection.

Chapman's method has since been taken up by 37 states in all, the federal government and the U.S. military and has been used to execute 900 U.S. prisoners.

But the formula and the way it is administered are now under broad legal assault around the country as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, with activists arguing that Chapman's protocol was hastily conceived and that some prisoners suffer excruciating pain without being able to cry out.

Chapman still sees it as a humane way to kill the worst criminals. Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state, uses lethal injection.

"Everything is political correctness and everyone wants to be a victim today," said the cantankerous 68-year-old Chapman, who lives alone in Santa Rosa when he is not teaching medicine in Nepal or trekking in the Himalayas. "All of the sudden, the person on death row is a victim. I reject that thinking, by and large, because these people made choices to do what they did."

A recent study in the online journal PLoS Medicine said some inmates suffer extreme pain during lethal injections because of insufficient and haphazard doses of the chemicals, including the painkiller that is the first drug in the three-part combination.

Chapman blames incompetent executioners.

"This protocol will work if it's administered as it should be," he said. "If it is competently administered, there will be no question about this business of pain and suffering."

Decades after he developed the protocol, defense lawyers, doctors and death penalty foes publicly question the amount of scientific research that went into the creation of lethal injection.

Chapman said he consulted a toxicologist and two anesthesiologists. But he said it didn't actually require much research because the three chemicals — a painkiller, a muscle-paralyzing agent and a heart-stopper — are well-known to physicians.

"It's simply an adaptation of a medical procedure," Chapman said this week. "It is anesthetizing someone for a surgical procedure, but simply carried to an extreme."

Chapman began thinking about a more humane way to mete out the ultimate punishment in 1976, after watching the debate in Utah over whether to execute killer Gary Gilmore by firing squad or hanging. That notion brought him to Wiseman's office in the Oklahoma Statehouse in 1977.

The former lawmaker remembers the short meeting vividly, down to the corduroy jacket Chapman wore that day.

"It was very simple and straightforward," Wiseman said.

Wiseman, a death penalty foe, nonetheless voted to reinstate capital punishment "because I didn't want to lose the next election." But he later introduced the bill establishing lethal injection as the method to soothe his guilty conscience. Previously, Oklahoma used the electric chair.

Wiseman said he now regrets introducing the world to lethal injection, because it makes capital punishment less gory and thus more acceptable.

Chapman, for his part, said he was surprised by how widespread his concoction became, and how quickly. But he said he has no regrets.

He moved to Santa Rosa in 1982 to work as a forensic pathologist for the Sonoma County coroner and said that until recently, he had stopped thinking about his role in dramatically changing the way executions are carried out in the United States.

"He is a man whose fame has come late and bizarrely," said Jamie Fellner, director of the anti-death penalty U.S. arm of Human Rights Watch. "I think Chapman proceeded in good faith. But the notion that you can have a humane execution is an oxymoron."

The American Medical Association and other doctors groups say medical ethics bar physicians from taking part in executions. Chapman is a rarity among physicians in playing such a central role in capital punishment.

If states are looking for a way to quickly and painlessly put someone to death, he has a suggestion.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with the guillotine," he said impatiently. "It can be operated by an idiot and it is a very effective instrument."

This was found at The Houston Chronicle.

Strange but True: Helmets Attract Cars to Cyclists

Although you might not want to leave your protective gear at home, just know that if you do, drivers will be a lot more scared of hitting you.
By Nikhil Swaminathan

Spring is in full swing now, and a number of the straphangers (read: subway riders) in New York City, as well as citizens in other locales, are getting new tubes and tires and dragging their bikes out of storage. Bicycle riding is the skill you reportedly never forget, but there's a raging debate about whether or not you should forget your helmet when you hop on your two-wheeler.

Last September a plucky psychologist at the University of Bath in England announced the results of a study in which he played both researcher and guinea pig. An avid cyclist, Ian Walker had heard several complaints from fellow riders that wearing a helmet seemed to result in bike riders receiving far less room to maneuver—effectively increasing the chances of an accident. So, Walker attached ultrasonic sensors to his bike and rode around Bath, allowing 2,300 vehicles to overtake him while he was either helmeted or naked-headed. In the process, he was actually contacted by a truck and a bus, both while helmeted—though, miraculously, he did not fall off his bike either time.

His findings, published in the March 2007 issue of Accident Analysis & Prevention, state that when Walker wore a helmet drivers typically drove an average of 3.35 inches closer to his bike than when his noggin wasn't covered. But, if he wore a wig of long, brown locks—appearing to be a woman from behind—he was granted 2.2 inches more room to ride.

"The implication," Walker says, "is that any protection helmets give is canceled out by other mechanisms, such as riders possibly taking more risks and/or changes in how other road users behave towards cyclists." The extra leeway granted to him when he pretended to be a woman, he explains, could result from several factors, including drivers' perceptions that members of the fairer sex are less capable riders, more frail or just less frequent bikers than men.

Randy Swart, founder of the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute (BHSI), says that studies such as Walker's run the risk of misleading cyclists as to the effectiveness of helmets. "The cars were giving him, on average, a very wide passing clearance already," he explains, noting that most vehicles typically stayed well over three feet from the bikes, rendering the 3.35-inch discrepancy to be insignificant. "If you really want the greatest passing distance, you should wobble down the road," looking as inept as possible, he adds.

Walker actually reanalyzed his data recently to counter this line of reasoning. "I assessed the number of vehicles coming within one meter [roughly 3.3 feet] of the rider, on the principle that these are the ones that pose a risk," he says. "There were 23 percent more vehicles within this one-meter danger zone when a helmet was worn, suggesting a real risk."

Dorothy Robinson, a patron of the Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation and a senior statistician at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, published a 2006 review article in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) about regions in Australia, New Zealand and Canada that introduced legislation that spurred an over 40 percent increase in bicycle helmet use among their populaces. The newly instituted laws, she found, did not have a significant effect on bicycle accidents resulting in head injuries, the primary purpose of the gear. Her conclusion was "helmets are not designed for forces often encountered in collisions with motor vehicles" as well as that they "may encourage cyclists to take more risks or motorists to take less care when they encounter cyclists."

Coincidentally, around the same time as Walker announced his results, New York City released a report on bicycle deaths and injuries: 225 cyclists died between 1996 and 2005 on New York streets; 97 percent of them were not wearing helmets. Of these deaths, 58 percent are known to involve head injury, but the actual number could be as high as 80 percent. Comparing the helmet to a seat belt in a car, Swart of the BHSI says, "When you do have that crash, you better have it on."

Walker, whose much-publicized report may inspire a new generation of bareheaded riders, won't make any specific recommendations to other cyclists (and neither will Scientific American), though he notes that when it comes to riding in traffic, motorists are the real problem. "If people read the research and decide a helmet makes them safer, they should wear one; if they read the research and decide it doesn't, perhaps they don't need to," Walker says, adding the caveat, "But they do need to read the research!" And watch out for cars.

This was found at Scientific American.com

Two minute tug on the rug can help you lose weight, look more beautiful

Women can lose weight and look more beautiful simply by tugging on their pubic hair, according to Shukan Josei (5/22).

Clutching at the map of Tasmania stimulates the sex hormones, gets blood flowing toward the genitals and releases pheromones.

It's the release of pheromones that is said to give women in love their "glow" and what is being attributed for making women who try the trick appear to be more beautiful.

Women are advised to tug their pubes while they're still dry and then move the clump of hair around in a circular motion. They're also told to run their fingers through their pubic hair the same way they would do when fondling their regular hair.

Women are told not to worry about pubic hairs that fall out and to continue yanking away for about 1 to 2 minutes.

That's the theory, but does it really work? A little bit, according to physician Hideo Yamanaka.

"If the erogenous zones near the genitals are aroused, it leads to an increased emission of the female hormone estrogen, which certainly makes the skin look better," Dr. Yamanaka tells Shukan Josei. "It could also help alleviate the ill effects of menopause and irregular periods."

Dr. Yamanaka continues: "One of the effects of female hormones is to make it easier for fat to build up under the skin, which gives women a more feminine look."

So, there may be something in the claims that pulling on pubes makes women beautiful. But the doctor is more skeptical when it comes to any dietary benefits.

"I really don't know about this being any good in terms of a diet. Normally, dieting tends to limit the amount of female hormones emitted," Dr. Yamanaka tells Shukan Josei. "But if women did this while they were also on a diet, I guess there is a possibility that it could make them look both beautiful and thinner." (By Ryann Connell)

This was found at Mainichi Daily News.

Sperm donor must pay child support

By Reggie Sheffield/The Patriot-News

A man who donated sperm for a lesbian couple's two children must pay support, the state Superior Court ordered in a ruling that legal experts are calling a precedent.

In reaching the decision, the three-judge panel said that since Carl L. Frampton Jr., who died while the case was pending, had involved himself as a stepparent, he assumed some of the parenting duties.

Legal experts say the ruling is unique in making more than two people responsible for a child. It also brings into question when a sperm donor is liable for support, though at least one expert said the ruling shouldn't worry truly anonymous donors.

Senior Judge John T.K. Kelly wrote in the April 30 ruling that Frampton had held himself out as a stepparent to the children by being present at the birth of one of them, contributing more than $13,000 during the last four years, buying them toys, and having borrowed money to obtain a vehicle in which to transport the children.

"While these contributions have been voluntary, they evidence a settled intention to demonstrate parental involvement far beyond merely biological," the judge wrote.

Robert Rains, who teaches family law at Penn State Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle and is a co-director of the school's family law clinic, said the decision should not intimidate men who contribute to sperm banks.

"This should be entirely different from a guy who goes to a sperm bank and makes a donation with the understanding that he will remain anonymous," Rains said.

But a court essentially recognizing three parents?

"I'm unaware of any other state appellate court that has found that a child has, simultaneously, three adults who are financially obligated to the child's support and are also entitled to visitation," said New York Law School professor Arthur S. Leonard, an expert on sexuality and the law.

Jodilynn Jacob, 33, and Jennifer Lee Shultz-Jacob, 48, moved in together in 1996 and were granted a civil-union license in Vermont in 2002. In addition to conceiving the two children with the help of Frampton, a longtime friend of Shultz-Jacob's, Jacob adopted her brother's two older children, now 13 and 12.

But the women's relationship fell apart, and Jacob and the children moved out of their Dillsburg home in February 2006.

Shortly afterward, a court awarded Jacob, who now lives in Harrisburg, about $1,000 a month in support from Shultz-Jacob. Shultz-Jacob later lost an effort to have the court force Frampton to contribute support -- a decision the Superior Court decision overturned.

Frampton, 60, of Indiana, Pa., died of a stroke in March.

"I just think that if three people are saying they're all parents of the kids, the responsibility should be shared by the three, and that's what everybody was saying," Shultz-Jacob said yesterday.

"I think there's probably more families out there like ours," she said.

"I think it's an interesting area of the law that we're probably going to see more of. The families are becoming more and more complex, and our courts rightfully or wrongfully are going to have to deal with these types of situations," said Heather Z. Reynosa, Shultz-Jacob's attorney.

As part of the Superior Court order, a Dauphin County judge was directed to establish how much Frampton would have to pay Jacob.

Reynosa, wants Frampton's support obligation, which might have to come from his Social Security survivor benefits, to be made retroactive to when Jacob first filed for support. His support payments might also help reduce Shultz-Jacob's monthly obligation.

Lori Andrews, a Chicago-Kent College of Law professor with expertise in reproductive technology, said as many as five people could claim some parental status toward a single child if its conception involved a surrogate mother, an egg donor and a sperm donor.

"The courts are beginning to find increased rights for all the parties involved," she said. "Most states have adoption laws that go dozens of pages, and we see very few laws with a comprehensive approach to reproductive technology."

The state Supreme Court is considering a similar case, in which a sperm donor wants to enforce a promise made by the mother that he would not have to be involved in the child's life. That biological father was ordered to pay $1,520 in monthly support.

About two-thirds of states have adopted versions of the Uniform Parentage Act that shields sperm donors from being forced to assume parenting responsibilities. Pennsylvania has no such law.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This was found at The Patriot-News.

Vibrator 'threat to national security'

A radio-controlled vibrator made in Britain has been banned in Cyprus after it was branded a threat to national security.

The Cypriot military are concerned the sex toy's electronic waves will disrupt the army's radio frequencies on the island.

A spokesperson for makers Ann Summers confirmed its Love Bug 2, a small, egg shaped device operated by a remote control, was on sale for use everywhere in Europe - except Cyprus.

"The remote control only has a range of six metres. We have still been selling them in Cyprus, but with a warning urging Cypriots not to use it unless they travel abroad," said the Ann Summers spokesperson.

In its promotional literature the company describes the device as a "deceptively powerful matt silver love egg", later adding: "Not for use in Cyprus".

Military officials refused to comment on the reasons for the ban, but the government's Communications and Works Ministry said it had been a purely military decision.

"We never even saw them, they were banned before we even had a chance to check them, but if issues of national security are at stake then that is not surprising," a spokesperson said.

"The military does operate on a different frequency to the general frequency, but they do not share that information for obvious reasons, only they would have been able to decide what SRD's (Small Range Devices) might be a threat and what to do about it."

Lizzie Eddleston from the Ann Summers press office in the UK said: "It is a shame but we have to honour the request and have made it clear that the Love Bug is not for sale in Cyprus.

"We have been told the electronic waves given off by the 'Love Bug' would affect military frequencies, but we have told locals that we have a lot of other devices that are not banned which will satisfy their needs. After all, it's better to make love, not war." - Ananova.com

This was found at IOL.

Cell tracking locates heart recipient

Police Use Cell-Tracking Technology to Find Transplant Patient

Staff
AP News

Police located a 10-year-old boy awaiting a heart transplant by asking his mother's cellular provider to locate her cell phone.

John Paul May of Harrisville had the successful surgery at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh on Saturday night, but came dangerously close to being passed over for the donor heart until police tracked down the boy and his mother at a jazz festival.

The hospital called state police Saturday afternoon because officials couldn't reach the boy's parents to let them know a donor heart had been found. When police couldn't find the boy or reach him by phone, they contacted Sprint Nextel Corp. to get the coordinates of his mother's cell phone.

"The only time you can use it is life or death, or to track someone wanted in a homicide," state police Cpl. James Green said. Otherwise, police must get a warrant from a judge.

Using the coordinates, state police tracked the phone to a Slippery Rock University building. Police stopped the jazz concert that was happening and announced they were looking for the boy and his mother, Sue.

The crowd of some 500 jumped to their feet and gave the boy a standing ovation as he left, said Steve Hawk, a music professor who conducted the concert.

"I've been in the entertainment business for 30 years and never had such an emotional, shocking event happen at something live," Hawk told the Butler Eagle.

This was found at Cellular-News.

New Order breaks up

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British rock band New Order, which arose from the ashes of post-punk band Joy Division in the early 1980s, has broken up, according to a Web posting by the group's bass player.

"I'm relieved really hated carryin on as normal with an awful secret so lets move on shall we?" Peter Hook wrote in a blog published on Wednesday on his MySpace page.

Hook first revealed the split as an aside during an interview last weekend with Manchester radio announcer Clint Boon, when he said, "... me and Bernard (Sumner, New Order singer/guitarist) aren't working together."

Hook and Sumner have been working together since the mid-1970s, when they co-founded Joy Division, the gloomy combo best known for the mournful single "Love Will Tear Us Apart."

After singer Ian Curtis hanged himself in 1980, the pair -- along with Joy Division drummer Stephen Morris -- formed New Order, and recruited Gillian Gilbert on keyboards.

The group issued its debut album in 1981, and went on to enjoy enormous success throughout the decade with such singles as "Blue Monday" and "Bizarre Love Triangle," and albums like "Power, Corruption and Lies" and "Low-Life."

New Order was less prolific during the 1990s, as its members took on side projects. The band's most recent album, "Waiting for the Siren's Call" -- a follow-up to 2001's "Get Ready" -- debuted at No. 46 on the U.S. pop album charts in May 2005. It did better in Japan, opening at No. 3, and in Britain, at No. 5.

Reuters/Nielsen

This was found at Reuters.

Shredded East German files reassembled

By DAVID RISING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

BERLIN -- German researchers said Wednesday that they were launching an attempt to reassemble millions of shredded East German secret police files using complicated computerized algorithms.

The files were shredded as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and it became clear that the East German regime was finished. Panicking officials of the Stasi secret police attempted to destroy the vast volumes of material they had kept on everyone from their own citizens to foreign leaders.

So great was the task that it overwhelmed the shredding machines, and a large number of the documents were torn by hand into between eight and thirty pieces.

Some 16,250 sacks containing pieces of 45 million shredded documents were found and confiscated after the reunification of Germany in 1990. Reconstruction work began 12 years ago but 24 people have been able to reassemble the contents of only 323 sacks.

"Many important documents are slumbering in these sacks," Marianne Birthler, head of the Stasi archives, told Deutschlandfunk radio.

Berlin's Frauenhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology estimates that putting everything back together by hand would take 30 people 600 to 800 years.

Researchers are hopeful they will be able to put together 400 sacks in two years using new computer technology employed by the Frauenhofer Institute.

If the government-funded $8.53 million pilot project is successful, head researcher Bertram Nickolay said, researchers will be able to put together all of the bags in four to five years.

Using algorithms developed 15 years ago to help decipher barely legible lists of Nazi concentration camp victims, each individual strip of the shredded Stasi files will be scanned on both sides. The data then will be fed into the computer for interpretation using color recognition; texture analysis; shape and pattern recognition; machine and handwriting analysis and the recognition of forged official stamps, Nickolay said in a statement.

Hand-torn documents are expected to be the easiest to reassemble, because the pieces can be matched together by shape, like a complicated puzzle.

Putting the machine-shredded documents together requires analysis of the script on the surface of the fragments. The institute has already had success putting together similarly destroyed documents for Germany's tax authorities.

This was found at SeattlePI.com

Public urged to return dangerous items found at Salt Plains

By Tim Talley Associated Press Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Federal officials warned tourists Thursday to beware of dangerous chemicals or explosives they may have taken home as souvenirs from a popular crystal-hunting area.

Authorities have found 130 glass vials of toxic agents, which were once used in chemical warfare training, at the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge. They also discovered incendiary devices that may have been intended to destroy these chemicals, U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Victoria Fox said.

The so-called chemical agent identification sets were not designed to be lethal, but could be “extremely dangerous,” Fox said.

“They have a potential to create an extreme irritation to your skin, your face, your eyes,” she said.

The agency urged anybody who may have collected the vials or explosives to call police.

“Having these items places you, your family and your neighbors at risk,” the agency said in a statement.

The military was dispatched to the refuge in northern Oklahoma last week after a Boy Scout who was digging for crystals accidentally broke one of the buried vials, exposing him to a yellowish liquid inside.

The boy started coughing and the material made his eyes burn and his nose run, but he has suffered no lingering ill effects, officials said.

There have been no other reports of the public coming in contact with the chemicals.

Some of the vials contain diluted mustard gas and lewisite in a solution of mostly chloroform, according to the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency. Other vials contained diluted solutions of chemicals such as chloropicirin, pure phosgene or cyanogen chloride.

Fox said officials do not know where the material came from or how long it has been in the ground. Between 1942 and 1946, the area was used as a practice bombing range by U.S. aviators, the former Great Salt Plains Bombing Range near Cherokee in Alfalfa County, about 130 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.

Fox said the crystal digging area has been closed since the first vial was discovered and that officials will ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to assess the safety of the site after the materials are removed.

“We are asking for a complete reassessment of the area. Public safety is our number one concern,” Fox said.

The wildlife refuge, established in 1930, is home to thousands of ducks, geese and birds. It is also prized for its selenite, a crystallized form of gypsum that takes on a variety of shapes as it forms just below the salt-encrusted surface of the refuge.

This was found at News Examiner-Enterprise.com

Methane Rocket Engine Successfully Tested

Engineers have successfully tested a rocket powered by methane--the first of its kind for spaceflight. Future generations of the new engine could use Mars, Jupiter, Saturn's moon Titan and other planets and moons as celestial refueling stations, allowing for lighter spacecraft and easier lift-offs from Earth.

A dramatic video shows the rocket's blue flames streaking into the desert, blowing up clouds of dust and sand.

Built by XCOR Aerospace, the test rocket packs 7,500 pounds of thrust--just a fraction of the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters at 3,300,000 pounds of thrust each--but its designers are just getting started. The Mojave Desert test will provide testing grounds for the design of a much-larger, space-faring rocket.

Today's space rockets use liquid oxygen and hydrogen or solid fuels, which are hard to collect, tricky to store and very expensive. Methane, however, need not be stored at -253 degree Celsius temperatures as hydrogen must be. It's also denser than hydrogen, making more out of limited space in fuel containers.

Methane has another bonus: "You don't have to put on a HAZMAT suit to handle it like fuels used on many space vehicles, said Terri Tramel, NASA's project manager for the rocket.

Collecting methane on other planets and moons would be tricky, but not impossible. Robotic probes could gather the stuff from Saturn's moon Titan, which harbors lakes and rivers of liquid methane. Although Mars has much less methane, it could be produced by heating carbon dioxide and hydrogen together.

One caveat to methane is that it's difficult to ignite, unlike highly reactive oxygen and hydrogen. But rocket engineers are hopeful. "Methane has so many advantages," Tramel said. "The question is, why haven't we done this before?"

This was found at Space.com

Man wants electoral voice for "living dead"

By Sharat Pradhan

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - A villager is campaigning in northern India for the rights of people declared legally dead by cheating relatives seeking to steal their assets.

Lal Bihari, a lower caste villager who lost his father's inheritance due to an unscrupulous uncle, formed the "Union of the Dead" in 1980 to fight for the rights of thousands he says have fallen victim to scams by relatives.

He is contesting as an independent in a month-long election in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, which ends on Tuesday.

In 1976, an uncle allegedly connived with corrupt local officials to fudge village records and declare Bihari dead. The uncle then won the inheritance of Bihari's father.

"It was only as late as in 1994 that I succeeded in proving myself alive," Bihari, 52, said.

Like many poor in India, it was very hard for him to get a court ruling to reverse the decision, due to corruption and a backlog of millions of cases in the judiciary.

"Nearly 3,000 others are fighting their independent battles in other parts of U.P. (Uttar Pradesh) to prove that they are alive," Bihari said.

Senior state government official V.K. Sharma said as per records, there are 313 cases of persons who have been wrongly declared as dead even though they are alive.

"Another round of probe is currently underway and we suspect many more such cases could be unearthed," he said.

In 1980, Bihari added 'Mritak', or "dead," to his name.

He even got his wife to apply, unsuccessfully, for a widow's pension.

He once staged the kidnapping of a cousin so that a criminal case could be brought against him -- and therefore prove legally he was alive.

"But even that did not happen as my relatives understood my intention behind the desperate move and knew that there was no danger to the cousin's life," he added.

Bihari has contested other elections, including one parliamentary election in 1989 against then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

"Even my physical presence in the electoral fray did not help me to prove that I was alive," he lamented.

Victory came years later in 1994, when a local revenue official restored his status as "alive" in the same land records where he had been shown as "dead."

This was found at Reuters.

Doctors split on hymen repairs

By Adam Sage

Muslim women asking for hymenoplasty surgery
French doctors divided on how to best respond
Some fear their patients will be beaten or ostracised

A DEBATE is raging among doctors over Muslim women who ask for operations to reconstitute their hymens before marriage, and medical certificates stating they are virgins.

The controversy has flared in France, where gynaecologists say they are facing a growing number of requests from women desperate to avoid the repudiation that can follow the loss of chastity.

The phenomenon, which is also dividing doctors in other European countries, the US and Africa, is denounced by critics as a sign of social regression driven by Islamic fundamentalists.

Jacques Lansac, chairman of the French National College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians, is leading the campaign against what he describes as "an attack on the dignity of women".

He has also issued advice against hymenoplasty – a surgical operation that involves reconstructing the membrane usually broken during the first act of sexual intercourse.

"We get more and more women coming in and saying that their brothers or fathers will kill them if they find out they've slept with a man. But it's important to say no, because if we don't we're giving in to the fundamentalists," Professor Lansac said.

However, he said some doctors were ignoring his advice in the hope of protecting patients from being ostracised or beaten.

Isabelle Levy, an author who studied the issue for her book Religion in the Hospital, said the search for chastity certificates and hymenoplasties stemmed from conflicting pressures among France's five million Muslims.

"On the one hand, young Muslim girls born in France go out a lot more than they used to," she said.

"They are modern and they have adventures like other Europeans – which never happened in the past.

"But on the other hand, fundamentalism is spreading and these girls are getting sent back to their countries of origin to marry. And they will be rejected if it is found out that they are not virgins."

The plight was evident from the account of one woman of North African origin on a French internet chat forum.

She slept with her boyfriend because "he said that he was mad about me and wanted to marry me and I believed him because I was madly in love with him". But he left her when she fell pregnant.

The woman had an abortion, which she kept secret from her family until her mother discovered a letter from the clinic.

"I fainted and afterwards it was total despair – tears, insults, blows, disappointment and finally a dressing-down. She has asked her gynaecologist to redo her hymen because she says that 'if not, it will ruin my future'."

Several private French clinics carry out hymenoplasties. But some doctors agree to undertake the operation in public hospitals, where it is funded by the welfare state, a practice that is not in theory authorised by officials.

Stephane Saint-Leger, head of gynaecology at Aulnay-sous-Bois hospital refuses virginity certificates because "it's not a medical problem, whether you're a virgin or not".

While some doctors will not sign virginity certificates because it is not a medical problem, others will.

Jacques Milliez, head of the department of gynaecology and obstetrics at Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris, said: "I worked in Algeria as a junior doctor and when I was on call at night I saw these young women whose throats had been slit because they were suspected of having lost their virginity. So if someone asks me, I sign the certificate."

The Times

This was found at The Courier-Mail.

Four Men Take Woman's Helper Monkey

SAN MATEO, Fla. -- Putnam County deputies were looking for the men who stole a companion monkey from a woman with mental disabilities.

Joan Newberger was showing the Marmoset monkey to four men Friday evening at Acme Grooming and Pet Haven Adoption Service in San Mateo.

The sheriff's office reports that one of the men grabbed the monkey from Newberger and cut the animal's leash with a pair of scissors.

The men ran from the store and the $4,900 monkey was taken away in a black sport utility vehicle.

Major Keith Riddick said it was the second time in six months that this type of monkey was stolen from the business.

This was found at WFTV Florida