A mass grave believed to contain up to 1,270 bodies has been found in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, says the National Transitional Council (NTC).
The remains are thought to be those of inmates who were killed by security forces in 1996 in the Abu Salim prison.
The uprising against Col Muammar Gaddafi began as a protest to demand the release of a lawyer who represented families of the Abu Salim inmates.
Excavation at the site is expected to start soon.
The NTC said it had discovered the site - a desert field scattered with bone fragments within the grounds of the Abu Salim prison - by questioning prison guards who had worked there when the prisoners were killed after protesting against their conditions.
Several bone fragments and pieces of clothing have already been found in the top soil.
'Grenades and gunfire'
Some family members visited the site, among them Sami Assadi, who lost two brothers in the incident.
He was told they had died of natural causes only five years ago. He told the BBC how it felt to be at the place where his brothers may be buried.
"Mixed feelings really. We are all happy because this revolution has succeeded, but when I stand here, I remember my brothers and many, many friends have been killed, just because they did not like Muammar Gaddafi."
Until recently, little was known about the circumstances in which the prisoners died, says the BBC's Jonathan Head who went down to the site.
A few eyewitnesses have talked about the fact they were killed in their jail cells by grenades and sustained gunfire after a protest.
Officials in the new government say they will need foreign forensic help to determine exactly what happened there.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Car fumes 'raise heart attack risk for six-hour window'
Breathing in heavy traffic fumes can trigger a heart attack, say UK experts.
Heart attack risk is raised for about six hours post-exposure and goes down again after that, researchers found.
They say in the British Medical Journal that pollution probably hastens rather than directly cause attacks.
But repeated exposure is still bad for health, they say, substantially shortening life expectancy, and so the advice to people remains the same - avoid as far as is possible.
Prof Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, which co-funded the study, said: "This large-scale study shows conclusively that your risk of having a heart attack goes up temporarily, for around six hours, after breathing in higher levels of vehicle exhaust.
"We know that pollution can have a major effect on your heart health, possibly because it can 'thicken' the blood to make it more likely to clot, putting you at higher risk of a heart attack.
"Our advice to patients remains the same - if you've been diagnosed with heart disease, try to avoid spending long periods outside in areas where there are likely to be high traffic pollution levels, such as on or near busy roads."
Early peak
The research looked at the medical records of almost 80,000 heart attack patients in England and Wales, cross-referencing these details with air pollution data.
This enabled the investigators to plot hourly levels of air pollution (PM10, ozone, CO, NO2, and SO2) against onset of heart attack symptoms and see if there was any link.
Higher levels of air pollution did appear to be linked with onset of a heart attack lasting for six hours after exposure.
After this time frame, risk went back down again.
Krishnan Bhaskaran from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who led the research, said the findings suggested that pollution was not a major contributing factor to heart attacks.
For example, being exposed to a spell of medium-level rather than low-level pollution would raise heart attack risk by 5%, by his calculations.
"If anything, it looks like it brings heart attack forward by a few hours. These are cardiac events that probably would have happened anyway."
But he said the findings should not detract from the fact that chronic exposure to air pollution was hazardous to health.
Prof Pearson from the BHF agrees: "Unhealthy diets and smoking etc are much bigger heart attack risk factors, but car fumes are the cream on the cake that can tip you over."
Heart attack risk is raised for about six hours post-exposure and goes down again after that, researchers found.
They say in the British Medical Journal that pollution probably hastens rather than directly cause attacks.
But repeated exposure is still bad for health, they say, substantially shortening life expectancy, and so the advice to people remains the same - avoid as far as is possible.
Prof Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, which co-funded the study, said: "This large-scale study shows conclusively that your risk of having a heart attack goes up temporarily, for around six hours, after breathing in higher levels of vehicle exhaust.
"We know that pollution can have a major effect on your heart health, possibly because it can 'thicken' the blood to make it more likely to clot, putting you at higher risk of a heart attack.
"Our advice to patients remains the same - if you've been diagnosed with heart disease, try to avoid spending long periods outside in areas where there are likely to be high traffic pollution levels, such as on or near busy roads."
Early peak
The research looked at the medical records of almost 80,000 heart attack patients in England and Wales, cross-referencing these details with air pollution data.
This enabled the investigators to plot hourly levels of air pollution (PM10, ozone, CO, NO2, and SO2) against onset of heart attack symptoms and see if there was any link.
Higher levels of air pollution did appear to be linked with onset of a heart attack lasting for six hours after exposure.
After this time frame, risk went back down again.
Krishnan Bhaskaran from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who led the research, said the findings suggested that pollution was not a major contributing factor to heart attacks.
For example, being exposed to a spell of medium-level rather than low-level pollution would raise heart attack risk by 5%, by his calculations.
"If anything, it looks like it brings heart attack forward by a few hours. These are cardiac events that probably would have happened anyway."
But he said the findings should not detract from the fact that chronic exposure to air pollution was hazardous to health.
Prof Pearson from the BHF agrees: "Unhealthy diets and smoking etc are much bigger heart attack risk factors, but car fumes are the cream on the cake that can tip you over."
Edinburgh and Cambridge scientists make virus discovery
Scientists have gained new knowledge into how viruses such as flu and HIV jump between species.
The research, by Edinburgh and Cambridge universities, should help predict the appearance of new diseases.
The scientists wanted to understand how viruses such as bird flu infect distant species like humans.
They found they were better able to infect species closely related to their typical target species than species that were distantly related.
However, the research also suggested that when diseases make a big leap they may then spread easily in species closely related to the new victim, regardless of how closely related these are to the original target species.
Dr Ben Longdon, of Edinburgh University's school of biological sciences, who led the study, said: "Emerging diseases such as Sars, HIV and some types of flu have all got into humans from other species.
"Understanding how diseases jump between different species is essential if we want to predict the appearance of new diseases in the future."
More susceptible
By infecting more than 50 species of flies with three different viruses, the researchers showed that species closely related to a virus's usual target species were more susceptible than distantly related flies.
They also showed that groups of flies that were closely related were similarly susceptible to the same viruses.
The study, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society, was published in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
OnLive cloud gaming comes to UK
OnLive, the cloud based video game service, has launched in the UK.
The system, which went live in the United States last year, allows users to play games without owning a traditional console.
Instead, the applications are all run on remote servers with the video streamed across the internet.
Run in conjunction with BT, OnLive requires a broadband connection faster than 1Mbps and works on PC, Macs, Tablets and net connected TV's.
Because the system uses video streaming and players effectively remote control their game, bandwidth is a crucial issue.
Speaking to BBC News, OnLive's chief executive Steve Perlman said that the project had overcome numerous hurdles during its decade-long development.
"The first thing we had to do was come up with a new form of video compression," he said.
"We had to deal with the internet not working, the time delays that occur with different communication methods [e.g. wifi, broadband]."
Mr Perlman said that they had managed to get the limits down to 1Mbps for a tablet device, but a large screen HD TV would need a minimum of 5Mbps.
OnLive games can be played on a ranges of devices, including tablets.
Because the game is a video stream, rather than a direct link to the TV or monitor from hardware in the home, there are limitations on the resolutions it can display.
However, it allows games not designed for certain platforms, such as Windows PCs or Macs, to be played on those machines.
Gamers without a computer or connected TV can use an OnLive "micro console" to access the system. The box plugs into the back of a conventional television.
Cloud gaming
The games themselves are hosted on cloud servers. In Europe, these are based in London, Luxembourg, and Brussels.
Currently OnLive offers around 150 titles, but said it planned to expand that.
Joe Martin, Games Editor at Bit Gamer, told BBC News that OnLive posed a threat to both retail and hardware manufacturers.
"At present the threat is small, but it will grow. In fact the only drawback I can see is in terms of visual compression, which has been sacrificed to remove lag," said Mr Martin.
"From what I can see, the system works and it's not just retailers and console manufacturers who are going to be threatened. It's hardware firms like nVidia and ATI and every gaming platform," he added.
Google denies 'cooking' search results
Google's executive chairman has denied that the company fixes its search results to promote its own websites and services.
Eric Schmidt told a congressional hearing in Washington: "May I simply say that I can assure you we're not cooking anything."
The Senate Judiciary subcommittee on anti-trust is looking at whether Google abuses its market position.
The US Federal Trade Commission is also investigating the same issue.
The website search giant faces a further continuing investigation by the European Commission.
'Extraordinary advantage'
Mr Schmidt told the senators: "Google does nothing to block access to any of the competitors and other sources of information."
When asked whether Google was a monopoly company, Mr Schmidt said the search engine giant was "in that area", adding that it recognised it had a special responsibility because of its market power.
In reference to software giant Microsoft - which faced years of anti-competition investigations and subsequent fines - Mr Schmidt said: "We get it. By that I mean, we get the lessons of our corporate predecessors."
Concern over Google's domination of the internet search - it has a global market share of about two-thirds - has grown as the company continues to expand into other internet areas, such as its own price comparison website and buying US mobile phone firm Motorola Mobility.
Sen Michael Lee of Utah said that Google's market dominance gave it an "unnatural and extraordinary advantage", and it had a "clear and inherent conflict of interest".
Mr Schmidt was chief executive of Google for 10 years until April, when he was replaced by Larry Page, one of the company's two founders.
Eric Schmidt told a congressional hearing in Washington: "May I simply say that I can assure you we're not cooking anything."
The Senate Judiciary subcommittee on anti-trust is looking at whether Google abuses its market position.
The US Federal Trade Commission is also investigating the same issue.
The website search giant faces a further continuing investigation by the European Commission.
'Extraordinary advantage'
Mr Schmidt told the senators: "Google does nothing to block access to any of the competitors and other sources of information."
When asked whether Google was a monopoly company, Mr Schmidt said the search engine giant was "in that area", adding that it recognised it had a special responsibility because of its market power.
In reference to software giant Microsoft - which faced years of anti-competition investigations and subsequent fines - Mr Schmidt said: "We get it. By that I mean, we get the lessons of our corporate predecessors."
Concern over Google's domination of the internet search - it has a global market share of about two-thirds - has grown as the company continues to expand into other internet areas, such as its own price comparison website and buying US mobile phone firm Motorola Mobility.
Sen Michael Lee of Utah said that Google's market dominance gave it an "unnatural and extraordinary advantage", and it had a "clear and inherent conflict of interest".
Mr Schmidt was chief executive of Google for 10 years until April, when he was replaced by Larry Page, one of the company's two founders.
Apple sued by Via over chips in gadgets
Taiwanese chip designer Via is suing Apple claiming the US firm has infringed patents it owns.
Via said the disputed ideas were used in Apple TV, the iPod, iPad and iPhone and the software they run on.
The patents involve the ways chips in these products use, transfer and manipulate data.
Via has filed a complaint with both an American district court and the US International Trade Commission.
The company's boss Wen-Chi Chen said the firm was "determined to protect our interests and the interests of our stockholders" in a statement about the lawsuit.
The legal action is widely believed to be connected to an ongoing dispute between Apple and Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC. Mr Chen is married to HTC's chairwoman Cher Wang, who co-founded both businesses.
Earlier rounds in the legal fight between the two saw Apple rack up a win as the HTC was found to have infringed two Apple patents. HTC has said it plans to appeal against that ruling.
HTC has filed three separate lawsuits against Apple over patents used in mobiles and tablets.
Apple has yet to issue a statement about the Via lawsuit.
The latest action is one of many patent spats in which Apple is involved. The company has taken action itself against Samsung in the US, Europe, Australia and South Korea. These have led to a ban on the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany and bans on three smartphones in Holland.
In retaliation, Samsung has taken Apple to court in France and has counter-sued in the Netherlands.
Via said the disputed ideas were used in Apple TV, the iPod, iPad and iPhone and the software they run on.
The patents involve the ways chips in these products use, transfer and manipulate data.
Via has filed a complaint with both an American district court and the US International Trade Commission.
The company's boss Wen-Chi Chen said the firm was "determined to protect our interests and the interests of our stockholders" in a statement about the lawsuit.
The legal action is widely believed to be connected to an ongoing dispute between Apple and Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC. Mr Chen is married to HTC's chairwoman Cher Wang, who co-founded both businesses.
Earlier rounds in the legal fight between the two saw Apple rack up a win as the HTC was found to have infringed two Apple patents. HTC has said it plans to appeal against that ruling.
HTC has filed three separate lawsuits against Apple over patents used in mobiles and tablets.
Apple has yet to issue a statement about the Via lawsuit.
The latest action is one of many patent spats in which Apple is involved. The company has taken action itself against Samsung in the US, Europe, Australia and South Korea. These have led to a ban on the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany and bans on three smartphones in Holland.
In retaliation, Samsung has taken Apple to court in France and has counter-sued in the Netherlands.
Warning about cost of rogue apps
The premium rate regulator has uncovered two cases of smartphone apps charging users without their knowledge or consent.
Now the regulator, Phonepayplus, has issued plans for more protection for consumers from rogue traders in the industry.
In one case an app automatically sent and received text messages that could cost the user £4.50 each.
It was shut down by the regulator.
Now Phonepayplus has started consultation on proposals that consumers' consent to charge is clearer, password requirements are strengthened to prevent children buying items, and there is more explanation of the cost of virtual credit.
"We need to be nimble and flexible in our approach. We know that the best regulation is one that works collaboratively with industry to pre-empt problems that harm consumers and damage markets," said Paul Whiteing, Phonepayplus chief executive.
"We will not hesitate to use our robust sanctioning powers to drive out rogue providers who could damage a vital part of the UK's growing and innovative digital and creative economies."
Dutch engineers make 'robot legs' for stroke patients
Scientists in the Netherlands are using robotic legs to try to improve the movement of stroke patients.
The prototype device is called the Lower-extremity Powered ExoSkeleton, or LOPES, and works by training the body and mind of a patient to recover a more natural step.
The machine is also being tested on spinal injury patients who have recovered some restricted movement in their legs.
It is hoped a commercial version could be made available to rehabilitation centres around the world as early as next year.
Feedback mechanism
LOPES has been developed by engineers at the University of Twente in Enschede in the Netherlands over several years. Designed for the rehabilitation clinic, it is not a mobile device but supports the patient as they walk on a treadmill.
It can do all the walking for the patient, or it can offer targeted support in either one leg or with one element of the walking process. The machine can also detect what the patient is doing wrong.
"For instance, some people cannot lift their foot up appropriately," explains Dr Edwin van Asseldonk, who is working on the project. "What this device does is it senses that the foot is not lifting properly.
"It then compares it with a reference pattern and then exerts a force or torque to assist that subject in doing it."
Petra Hes is one of those testing the device. She suffered a stroke aged just 17. Years of physiotherapy have helped, but she still has what is known as a "drop foot", which means she cannot lift and flex her left foot in the way she once did, or even remember how to do so.
The machine provides the forces to enable her to physically move her left leg and foot the way it should move, but it also operates as a memory aid, the researchers believe.
"I got a eureka moment because I felt an old feeling of how to walk normally," she recalls of the first time she used the machine.
"That push-up I felt and my knee lifting it is what I've forgotten. I couldn't reproduce it myself so I had to feel it again."
Dr van Assledonk believes that by physically showing patients how to walk properly, the machine can help them develop the brain signals required to drive improved movement.
"With stroke survivors, it's very important that they get signals to the brain but also that they send signals downwards from the brain," he says.
"It's only when you get information from your legs to your brain and vice-versa that can you hope for some plasticity in your brain."
Dr Sharlin Ahmed from The Stroke Association in the UK hopes the innovation will help.
"Mobility issues have negative effects upon stroke survivors' quality of life, so we welcome any research or technology that will help improve mobility for stroke survivors and enable them to have a better quality of life," she told the BBC.
Military exoskeletons
The HULC exoskeleton is designed to take the load off US infantry
Work on a commercial version of the LOPES machine is already under way, with two private companies co-operating on the project. Two rehabilitation centres in the Netherlands will then test the device before it is rolled out to other clinics at home and abroad.
The LOPES project is by no means the only example of scientists turning to "exoskeletons" to aid human performance.
Berkeley Bionics of California has designed an exoskeleton called the Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC). The device enables infantry soldiers to lift and carry weights of up to 90kg in the field, and consists of a hydraulic-powered frame which straps around the soldier's body.
The same company has also developed an exoskeleton called "eLegs". Billed as an alternative to the wheelchair for those with restricted mobility, the frame can help users to walk upright with the aid of sticks.
A rival machine called ReWalk by Israeli company Argo Medical Technologies is also intended to help those with lower-limb disabilities to walk upright using sticks.
Dr van Asseldonk believes the possibilities are manifold.
"I foresee that older people in the future might just wear an exoskeleton when they're going around so they can keep pace with the grandchildren.
"You can imagine devices like this could keep people mobile for longer."
Monday, September 19, 2011
Alaska’s Denali National Park
For many travellers, Denali National Park is probably your best chance to see a grizzly, moose, caribou, lynx, fox or -- if you are lucky -- wolf. Clear days afford stunning views of Mount McKinley (known to most Alaskans as Denali) - North America's tallest mountain.
Related article: A starter guide to cruising in Alaska
While much of Alaska can be experienced by the seat of your pants, it pays to be prepared before visiting Denali National Park due to its fleeting summer season, its overwhelming popularity and the regulations instituted to protect it. Follow our pre-visit tips to make your Denali trip a breeze.
When to go
From late June to late August, despite cool, cloudy conditions and drizzle, Denali's campgrounds are full, its road is busy with shuttle buses and its entrance area is fist-to-jowl with tourists. The hordes disappear once you are in the backcountry, and they are not an issue in the “frontcountry” come September - when the bugs thin out, the skies clear and brilliant autumn foliage dazzles. However, shuttle buses (your ticket into the backcountry) stop running in the second week of September. Your choices are then to bike it or enter the road lottery (held every July), which grants entry to 400 cars during a four-day window. The end of September will see the beginning of winter - the season characterised by chilly temperatures of -40F and 4.5 hours of daylight.
What to bring
Do not arrive in Denali expecting to outfit your expedition once you get there. Except for one small shop in Glitter Gulch and a tiny nook in the Wilderness Access Center, nobody sells camping gear. Groceries are even less available. Double-check your equipment and get all of your shopping done before leaving Anchorage or Fairbanks. Have a look at Denali's checklist for suggested backpacking gear.
Reservations
Before showing up to Denali it is worthwhile to secure advance reservations for campsites and on shuttle buses through the Denali National Park Reservation Service. You can reserve online for the following year beginning 1 December; phone reservations start 15 February for the same year. Sites in five of Denali's six campsites can be booked in advance. The campgrounds are hugely popular, so visitors without advance reservations are unlikely to find a site on a walk-in basis.
Up to 65% of bus seats are available through advance reservation; the other 35% are set aside for in-person reservations. The latter can be made no more than two days in advance.
You can only reserve backcountry permits 24 hours in advance. For the itinerant souls who do not make reservations in advance, this may be your best bet for staying in the park.
A few itineraries to get you started
One day If you have only a day in Denali National Park, there is only one option: take a park bus to Eielson Visitor Center (an eight-hour round trip).
Two days Try to get a permit for an overnight backpacking trip. If you do not want to backpack, you could certainly day hike for two days (or two months!).
Three or more days With this amount of time you will be able to go backpacking or get in a lot of day hiking. If you tire of the tundra and can afford it, you could also take a raft trip down the Nenana River or a flight-seeing excursion over the park.
Beetel GD 470 – The ultimate guide
The Indian mobile market is slowly but steadily developing into a specialized cellphone market. Once considered a docking yard for foreign-made flop phones, it today has it own range of India–based and India-centric phones. Phone companies are nowadays coming up with phones that cater to the masses rather than niche audiences. The Beetel GD 470 seems to be a birth-child of the same effort.
Priced at an affordable Rs. 3300, the Beetel GD 470 is a dual-SIM full touchscreen phone. The handset is equipped with a 2.8-inch touchscreen and 1.3-megapixel camera.
Apart from being a full touchscreen feature phone, this handset offers a multi-format audio/video player that supports .3GP,. AVI, .MP4 video formats along with MIDI, AMR and WAV formats. What that means basically, is that you no longer have to change your files to a prescribed format to transfer them to your mobile phone. To support its music/video capabilities, the handset offers up to 8 GB of storage.
Beetel introduced a new feature with the GD 470 codenamed the ‘Beetel World’. Beetel world, in a nutshell, is a bundle of popular services such as Facebook, Snaptu and Yahoo.
But that’s not all. Since both Airtel and Beetel are homegrown brands, they have engineered the set to suit to requirements of an Indian consumer. It comes with an Indian calendar enlisting all Indian festivals.
The most interesting feature of the GD 470 is that it is not only a dual-SIM phone; in fact it has a dual-personality. The phone also doubles up as an Internet modem implying that if you connect the phone via USB while using network supported Internet, you can use the same Internet connection for your PC.
The mobile being dual-SIM even offers one an option of trying out the Internet connection of an operator different than your normal one. For e.g. If your number is an Airtel no. but you want to try out an Idea one for Internet; you are free to do so.
All in all, the Beetel GD 470 seems an admirable effort by the company to target the Indian budget phone market.
It’s become a burgeoning trend in India for mobile network operators to venture into the growing cellphone industry. When Vodafone came up with its own range of phones, how could rival Airtel lag behind?
To match up to the market, Airtel’s parent company, Bharti Enterprises acquired landline giant Beetel telecom to come up with its own range of phones and tablets.
Airtel’s acquisition of Beetel seems to have worked in its favor. Along with its own range of phones, Airtel also recently unveiled the Beetel Magiq tablet, which is, again a budget device centered on Indian consumers.
Priced at an affordable Rs. 3300, the Beetel GD 470 is a dual-SIM full touchscreen phone. The handset is equipped with a 2.8-inch touchscreen and 1.3-megapixel camera.
Apart from being a full touchscreen feature phone, this handset offers a multi-format audio/video player that supports .3GP,. AVI, .MP4 video formats along with MIDI, AMR and WAV formats. What that means basically, is that you no longer have to change your files to a prescribed format to transfer them to your mobile phone. To support its music/video capabilities, the handset offers up to 8 GB of storage.
Beetel introduced a new feature with the GD 470 codenamed the ‘Beetel World’. Beetel world, in a nutshell, is a bundle of popular services such as Facebook, Snaptu and Yahoo.
But that’s not all. Since both Airtel and Beetel are homegrown brands, they have engineered the set to suit to requirements of an Indian consumer. It comes with an Indian calendar enlisting all Indian festivals.
The most interesting feature of the GD 470 is that it is not only a dual-SIM phone; in fact it has a dual-personality. The phone also doubles up as an Internet modem implying that if you connect the phone via USB while using network supported Internet, you can use the same Internet connection for your PC.
The mobile being dual-SIM even offers one an option of trying out the Internet connection of an operator different than your normal one. For e.g. If your number is an Airtel no. but you want to try out an Idea one for Internet; you are free to do so.
All in all, the Beetel GD 470 seems an admirable effort by the company to target the Indian budget phone market.
It’s become a burgeoning trend in India for mobile network operators to venture into the growing cellphone industry. When Vodafone came up with its own range of phones, how could rival Airtel lag behind?
To match up to the market, Airtel’s parent company, Bharti Enterprises acquired landline giant Beetel telecom to come up with its own range of phones and tablets.
Airtel’s acquisition of Beetel seems to have worked in its favor. Along with its own range of phones, Airtel also recently unveiled the Beetel Magiq tablet, which is, again a budget device centered on Indian consumers.
Samsung celebrates Bada Developer Day
Samsung Electronics marked the ‘Bada Developer Day' for software developers in Bangalore here on Friday. The event was held to directly introduce Samsung's own platform, Bada 2.0, globally launched last month, and vitalise the development of applications.
About 250 developers and partners participated in the conference to demonstrate and experience the features of Bada 2.0. Starting from India, Samsung Electronics has planned to open its Bada developer global tour in over 18 countries, including China and Russia, the target markets of the Bada platform, a press release stated.
A wide variety of technologies and services, which can be provided through both off-line centres and the official developer website (developer.bada.com), were introduced in addition to the strategy and features of Bada 2.0.
Also, its evangelists shared many other useful tips to develop applications.
About 250 developers and partners participated in the conference to demonstrate and experience the features of Bada 2.0. Starting from India, Samsung Electronics has planned to open its Bada developer global tour in over 18 countries, including China and Russia, the target markets of the Bada platform, a press release stated.
A wide variety of technologies and services, which can be provided through both off-line centres and the official developer website (developer.bada.com), were introduced in addition to the strategy and features of Bada 2.0.
Also, its evangelists shared many other useful tips to develop applications.
Conjoined twins separated by Great Ormond Street doctors
Twins who were born joined at the head have been successfully separated by a team of British doctors.
Baby girls Rital and Ritag Gaboura, who are 11 months old, were separated on 15 August after four operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
They do not appear to have suffered neurological side effects. The chances of surviving the rare condition are put at one in 10 million.
The Sudanese infants were flown to the UK by the charity Facing the World.
Conjoined twins are very rare - only one in every 2.5 million births - and only 5% of conjoined twins are craniopagus, which means they are fused at the head.
About 40% of twins fused at the head are stillborn or die during labour and a third die within 24 hours.
The nature of the twins' condition meant significant blood flowed between their brains.
Ritag supplied half her sister's brain with blood whilst draining most of it back to her heart. It was a life-threatening situation because significant drops in brain blood pressure would cause neurological damage.
The children were born by Caesarean section in Khartoum, Sudan.
The girls' parents, who are both doctors, said: "We are very thankful to be able to look forward to going home with two separate, healthy girls. We are very grateful to all the doctors who volunteered their time and to Facing the World for organising all the logistics and for paying for the surgery.
We feel very lucky that our girls have been able to have the surgery that they needed, but we also know of other children who need complete sponsorship and families who are searching for someone to help them."
So far, the girls are reacting in the same ways to tests and stimuli as they did prior to surgery which suggests they have not suffered neurological side effects.
However, their young age makes it difficult to determine whether this is definitely the case.
David Dunaway, from the plastic surgery and craniofacial unit at Great Ormond Street, was the lead clinician and is also a trustee of Facing the World.
Surgeon Simon Eccles: "To look at them now it is difficult to believe they were ever joined together"
He said: "The incidences of surviving twins with this condition are extremely rare. The task presented innumerable challenges and we were all very aware of our responsibilities to the family and these two little girls.
"The Gaboura family have been extremely brave throughout a very stressful journey and their love for their children is clear to see. It is a testimony to the support of the British public that we are able to do any of the charity work that we do."
Facing the World is funded by donations from members of the public
Baby girls Rital and Ritag Gaboura, who are 11 months old, were separated on 15 August after four operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
They do not appear to have suffered neurological side effects. The chances of surviving the rare condition are put at one in 10 million.
The Sudanese infants were flown to the UK by the charity Facing the World.
Conjoined twins are very rare - only one in every 2.5 million births - and only 5% of conjoined twins are craniopagus, which means they are fused at the head.
About 40% of twins fused at the head are stillborn or die during labour and a third die within 24 hours.
The nature of the twins' condition meant significant blood flowed between their brains.
Ritag supplied half her sister's brain with blood whilst draining most of it back to her heart. It was a life-threatening situation because significant drops in brain blood pressure would cause neurological damage.
The children were born by Caesarean section in Khartoum, Sudan.
The girls' parents, who are both doctors, said: "We are very thankful to be able to look forward to going home with two separate, healthy girls. We are very grateful to all the doctors who volunteered their time and to Facing the World for organising all the logistics and for paying for the surgery.
We feel very lucky that our girls have been able to have the surgery that they needed, but we also know of other children who need complete sponsorship and families who are searching for someone to help them."
So far, the girls are reacting in the same ways to tests and stimuli as they did prior to surgery which suggests they have not suffered neurological side effects.
However, their young age makes it difficult to determine whether this is definitely the case.
David Dunaway, from the plastic surgery and craniofacial unit at Great Ormond Street, was the lead clinician and is also a trustee of Facing the World.
Surgeon Simon Eccles: "To look at them now it is difficult to believe they were ever joined together"
He said: "The incidences of surviving twins with this condition are extremely rare. The task presented innumerable challenges and we were all very aware of our responsibilities to the family and these two little girls.
"The Gaboura family have been extremely brave throughout a very stressful journey and their love for their children is clear to see. It is a testimony to the support of the British public that we are able to do any of the charity work that we do."
Facing the World is funded by donations from members of the public
Laser beam 'kicks' molecules to detect roadside bombs
A laser beam that makes molecules vibrate could help detect improvised explosive devises, say scientists.
Every molecule vibrates with a unique frequency - so the laser could "sense" bombs while scanning the ground from a safe distance.
The Michigan State University team's work is another attempt to curb the number of deaths from roadside bombs in places such as Afghanistan.
The research appears in the journal Applied Physical Letters.
An improvised explosive device is a homemade bomb and more than half the deaths of coalition soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been as a result of IEDs.
The lead developer of the laser sensor, Dr Marcos Dantus, said detecting IEDs has always been a challenge because of the chemical compounds present in the environment that mask the bomb's molecules.
"Having molecular structure sensitivity is critical for identifying explosives and avoiding unnecessary evacuation of buildings and closing roads due to false alarms," he said.
The invention uses a laser beam to probe the chemical composition of an object at a certain distance from the laser.
The beam combines short pulses that "kick" the molecules to make them vibrate with longer pulses.
"The laser and the method we've developed were originally intended for microscopes, but we were able to adapt and broaden its use to demonstrate its effectiveness for standoff detection of explosives," said Dr Dantus.
The researcher said he was not able to describe the technology behind the invention in great detail because of the project's sensitive nature.
"I cannot give you more specific information regarding its implementation," he told BBC News.
"All we are saying is that it could detect explosives from a standoff distance."
In 2010, a team of UK scientists developed a "plastic laser" able to sense hidden explosives
Bombs in airports
Many different devices and techniques have been developed to help safely detect roadside bombs.
A UK scientist Dr Graham Turnbull from University of St Andrews, who has done a lot of research in this area, told the BBC that the latest study is an exciting step forwards for stand-off detection of explosives - despite still being in the exploratory phase.
"The work demonstrates that a laser spectroscopy technique called 'coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy' can be used for high-sensitivity stand-off detection of explosives," he said.
"The researchers show that their technique is sensitive - they can detect low concentrations of explosives, of a few millionths of a gram per square centimetre, from a distance of one metre.
"They also show that it is highly selective and can even tell apart very similar explosive molecules - this could be important in complex environments like airports where there could be innocent substances that give false positives with other stand-off detection techniques."
Robot dog's nose
In mid-2010, Dr Turnbull and his team developed laser technology able to sense hidden explosives by "pumping" a type of plastic called polyfluorene with photons from another light source.
They found the laser reacted with vapours from explosives such as TNT.
Dr Turnbull suggested placing such a laser on a robotic, perhaps remotely controlled, vehicle that would be able to "sniff around" in a mine field, looking for vapour clouds.
"On a dusty road in Afghanistan there are relatively few things that might give you a false positive and it certainly could have potential in that area," said Dr Turnbull.
"Essentially it's making an artificial nose for a robot dog."
Earthquake toll 74 as rain, slides hamper rescue
Rescuers battled heavy rains and cleared dozens of landslides while making their way to Sikkim, the ground zero of Sunday evening's 6.8 magnitude earthquake that has so far claimed 74 lives across three countries - India, Nepal and China (Tibet).
According to late-night reports, at least 58 people were killed and hundreds injured in Sikkim, Bengal and Bihar, in addition to nine deaths in Nepal and seven in Tibet. The toll is likely to rise, say rescuers. In Sikkim, the toll had reached 41. The maximum casualties have been in Rangpo, Dikchu, Singtam and Chungthang in north Sikkim. Ten persons have died in Bengal and seven in Bihar.
TOI reached some of the worst-affected areas, following rescue convoys as they battled impossible odds. Every now and then progress was halted by massive landslides. Virtually nothing is left intact on the 100-km Gangtok-Chungthang road. NH-31A, the highway to Gangtok, was cleared by late afternoon. Roads and bridges between Meeli and Namchi in south Sikkim and Rawangla in west Sikkim have been severely damaged. Tourists have been warned not to venture beyond Gangtok.
Nearly 6,000 Army and paramilitary forces personnel were deployed for relief operations in Sikkim but till Monday evening only a handful could reach Mangan, the quake's epicenter, and surrounding areas of north and west Sikkim, where the maximum damage has been reported.
The majority of the force, with equipment and vital supplies, were stuck at various locations with fallen trees, downed power lines and landslides - evidence of the deadliest earthquake to hit India in a decade - making major routes inaccessible. "The biggest challenge now is to get rescue teams to the affected areas," said Sikkim information minister C B Karki.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team that landed at Bagdogra (near Siliguri in north Bengal) early on Monday had to wait till afternoon for the Gangtok road to be cleared. The team spent the night in Gangtok from where they will proceed to Mangan on Tuesday morning, hoping to reach the worst-hit areas by late evening.
"Our first task will be to restore communications links. Till then, the extent of damage will not be known," an officer said.
The NH31, the lifeline to the Northeast, was a trail of devastation. TOI saw a car crushed like a matchbox on the highway. The quake and landslides hit with such force that its tyres had simply exploded.
Through the day, torrential rain and low clouds hampered movement of air supplies and threatened to trigger more mudslides. More rain is forecast for Tuesday in Sikkim and north Bengal.
Nearly everyone in Sikkim and Darjeeling spent Sunday night in the open as aftershocks triggered fears of a second wave of destruction. The earthquake damaged more than 1 lakh of the 1.2 lakh houses in Gangtok. Key buildings like the state secretariat, police headquarters and hospital have developed cracks.
Meanwhile, Nepal began to take stock of the havoc created by Sunday's earthquake, the biggest since 1934. There were reports of the human toll rising to nine, with some claiming 10 deaths. The home ministry and police were yet to officially confirm the figures.
In Sikkim, while the Army brought in special forces personnel and ordered troops from high-altitude camps to trek to remote parts, it was clear that top officials had no clear idea of the extent of damage. Army casualties may also go up as many of the high-altitude camps along the Line of Actual Control with Tibet are close to the epicentre.
Despite the hurdles, a few Army teams worked through Sunday night to reach the north and east Sikkim, clearing concrete slabs, bricks and mud to rescue people trapped under the debris of their own houses flattened by the quake. Late in the night, the Army rescued 14 tourists from north Sikkim, who are now being treated at a military hospital in Chungthang.
Power, water and telecommunication lines continue to be affected. Power was restored in Gangtok and some other areas after engineers gave the go-ahead to the Teesta unit. Schools will be shut for three days and offices have been asked to function only if the buildings have been declared safe.
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached out to the affected areas in Kurseong on Monday, and promised all help to restore normal life. The Bengal government has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the dead. Mamata may visit Sikkim on Tuesday.
Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling held an emergency meeting with police chiefs and department secretaries to take stock of relief and rescue operations. The families of the dead will get a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and the injured Rs 50,000, he said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia for families of those who had died and Rs 1 lakh each for the seriously injured.
Two top Army officers - 33 Corps commander Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia and GOC 17 Mountain Division Maj Gen SL Narsimhan - are stationed in Gangtok to oversee operations in which over 2,000 officers and soldiers have been deployed. "Our men have reached most of the populated areas in north and east Sikkim and most of the casualties have been evacuated. But there are regions in the west and south that we are yet to reach," Narsimhan said.
The IAF had dispatched two C-130J Hercules aircraft with 203 NDRF personnel, sniffer dogs, rescue teams, medical personnel and nine tonnes of relief materials including tents, medicines and food stocks from Hindon to Bagdogra within hours of the quake.
An Mi-17 helicopter with medical team and relief equipment also took off from Bagdogra for Gangtok and two Cheetah helicopters from Bagdogra carried out aerial recce missions to assess the damage. One IL-76 with 100 personnel of the No. 2 NDRF battalion and eight tonnes of material flew from Chandigarh to Bagdogra this morning and will make another sortie on Monday night.
In Darjeeling, also badly hit the earthquake, 15 Army columns have been deployed in Kalimpong, Algarah, Rishi, Rorathang and Padamchea while four more have been kept in Darjeeling town.
According to late-night reports, at least 58 people were killed and hundreds injured in Sikkim, Bengal and Bihar, in addition to nine deaths in Nepal and seven in Tibet. The toll is likely to rise, say rescuers. In Sikkim, the toll had reached 41. The maximum casualties have been in Rangpo, Dikchu, Singtam and Chungthang in north Sikkim. Ten persons have died in Bengal and seven in Bihar.
TOI reached some of the worst-affected areas, following rescue convoys as they battled impossible odds. Every now and then progress was halted by massive landslides. Virtually nothing is left intact on the 100-km Gangtok-Chungthang road. NH-31A, the highway to Gangtok, was cleared by late afternoon. Roads and bridges between Meeli and Namchi in south Sikkim and Rawangla in west Sikkim have been severely damaged. Tourists have been warned not to venture beyond Gangtok.
Nearly 6,000 Army and paramilitary forces personnel were deployed for relief operations in Sikkim but till Monday evening only a handful could reach Mangan, the quake's epicenter, and surrounding areas of north and west Sikkim, where the maximum damage has been reported.
The majority of the force, with equipment and vital supplies, were stuck at various locations with fallen trees, downed power lines and landslides - evidence of the deadliest earthquake to hit India in a decade - making major routes inaccessible. "The biggest challenge now is to get rescue teams to the affected areas," said Sikkim information minister C B Karki.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team that landed at Bagdogra (near Siliguri in north Bengal) early on Monday had to wait till afternoon for the Gangtok road to be cleared. The team spent the night in Gangtok from where they will proceed to Mangan on Tuesday morning, hoping to reach the worst-hit areas by late evening.
"Our first task will be to restore communications links. Till then, the extent of damage will not be known," an officer said.
The NH31, the lifeline to the Northeast, was a trail of devastation. TOI saw a car crushed like a matchbox on the highway. The quake and landslides hit with such force that its tyres had simply exploded.
Through the day, torrential rain and low clouds hampered movement of air supplies and threatened to trigger more mudslides. More rain is forecast for Tuesday in Sikkim and north Bengal.
Nearly everyone in Sikkim and Darjeeling spent Sunday night in the open as aftershocks triggered fears of a second wave of destruction. The earthquake damaged more than 1 lakh of the 1.2 lakh houses in Gangtok. Key buildings like the state secretariat, police headquarters and hospital have developed cracks.
Meanwhile, Nepal began to take stock of the havoc created by Sunday's earthquake, the biggest since 1934. There were reports of the human toll rising to nine, with some claiming 10 deaths. The home ministry and police were yet to officially confirm the figures.
In Sikkim, while the Army brought in special forces personnel and ordered troops from high-altitude camps to trek to remote parts, it was clear that top officials had no clear idea of the extent of damage. Army casualties may also go up as many of the high-altitude camps along the Line of Actual Control with Tibet are close to the epicentre.
Despite the hurdles, a few Army teams worked through Sunday night to reach the north and east Sikkim, clearing concrete slabs, bricks and mud to rescue people trapped under the debris of their own houses flattened by the quake. Late in the night, the Army rescued 14 tourists from north Sikkim, who are now being treated at a military hospital in Chungthang.
Power, water and telecommunication lines continue to be affected. Power was restored in Gangtok and some other areas after engineers gave the go-ahead to the Teesta unit. Schools will be shut for three days and offices have been asked to function only if the buildings have been declared safe.
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached out to the affected areas in Kurseong on Monday, and promised all help to restore normal life. The Bengal government has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the dead. Mamata may visit Sikkim on Tuesday.
Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling held an emergency meeting with police chiefs and department secretaries to take stock of relief and rescue operations. The families of the dead will get a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and the injured Rs 50,000, he said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia for families of those who had died and Rs 1 lakh each for the seriously injured.
Two top Army officers - 33 Corps commander Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia and GOC 17 Mountain Division Maj Gen SL Narsimhan - are stationed in Gangtok to oversee operations in which over 2,000 officers and soldiers have been deployed. "Our men have reached most of the populated areas in north and east Sikkim and most of the casualties have been evacuated. But there are regions in the west and south that we are yet to reach," Narsimhan said.
The IAF had dispatched two C-130J Hercules aircraft with 203 NDRF personnel, sniffer dogs, rescue teams, medical personnel and nine tonnes of relief materials including tents, medicines and food stocks from Hindon to Bagdogra within hours of the quake.
An Mi-17 helicopter with medical team and relief equipment also took off from Bagdogra for Gangtok and two Cheetah helicopters from Bagdogra carried out aerial recce missions to assess the damage. One IL-76 with 100 personnel of the No. 2 NDRF battalion and eight tonnes of material flew from Chandigarh to Bagdogra this morning and will make another sortie on Monday night.
In Darjeeling, also badly hit the earthquake, 15 Army columns have been deployed in Kalimpong, Algarah, Rishi, Rorathang and Padamchea while four more have been kept in Darjeeling town.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Through the pages of Tuscany
Because Tuscany is a treasure trove of fine art, breathtaking architecture, savoury food and world renowned wine, travellers to the central Italian region often overlook its rich literary history. Yet for any lover of great poetry and prose -- particularly writers like Boccaccio, Petrarch and Dante -- Tuscany is also the muse that inspired some of the writers’ greatest works.
Arezzo
Begin in Arezzo, birthplace to Francesco Petrarca (born 1304), the father of the sonnet. In his letter, To Posterity, the Renaissance master (commonly known as Petrarch) calls Arezzo the place where he “first saw the light”. Casa del Petrarca is a small museum built over medieval remnants that are thought to be Petrarch’s birthplace. It is also home to the Accadémia Petrarca di Léttere, Arti e Scienze, a research library of more than 15,000 works dating back to the 14th Century, including Petrarch’s scrolls and manuscripts. Close by is the Passeggio il Prato (Prato Gardens), Arezzo’s oldest and largest park, an idyllic setting for the city’s only monument to Petrarch, a white marble statue created by sculptor Alessandro Lazzerini. The writer stands tall, with Roma's she-wolf feeding Romolo and Remo at his feet, a visual representation of the myth of Rome’s founding and a reminder that Petrarch received his prestigious poet laureate award there in 1341.
Two of Petrarch‘s sonnets, Canzoniere CXLV and CLIX (the former about one’s desire to rest in nature and the latter, a reflection on the beauty of a woman) may have inspired Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Bring both sonnets to read as you visit the Ponte Buriano and Penna nature reserve. The Ponte Buriano bridge along the River Arno is thought to be in the painting’s background.
Certaldo
The charming small town of Certaldo designates itself (despite some scholarly dispute) as the birthplace of Renaissance writer Giovanni Boccaccio (born 1313), author of The Decameron. It is also where Boccaccio spent the last 13 years of his life. The walled area of Certaldo Alto, only reachable by foot or funicular rail, still maintains its medieval character, with terracotta brick buildings, narrow streets and churches dating back to the 11th Century. Start your tour with a walk along Via Boccaccio and visit the Casa del Boccaccio, a museum with a library of nearly 3,500 volumes, including numerous foreign translations of his major and minor works, among them Famous Women and The Decameron. It is the latter -- 100 tales told by 10 Florentines who escaped the city’s bubonic plague and settled in the countryside of Fiesole -- that most consider Boccaccio’s masterpiece.
Pack a copy of Boccaccio’s The Eaten Heart: Unlikely Tales of Love, a slimmed down collection of The Decameron (10 stories as opposed to 100, all with a focus on love’s many incarnations, from the innocent to the raunchy) and read the selection Sowing the Seeds of Love over a delicious Tuscan dinner at Osteria del Vicario. Like the setting of this tale, the restaurant is located in a medieval monastery. It is also adjacent to Boccaccio’s house.
If you travel in the summer, visit Certaldo during Mercantia, a mind blowing Renaissance festival with street performers, visual artists, heart-pumping music, Italian street food and colourful crafts. The town comes alive in a way that truly reflects the vigorous spirit, daring mischief and seductive creativity of the Tuscan people, which Boccaccio captured so well in his work.
San Gimignano
The walled town of San Gimignano is best known for its 14 amazingly preserved medieval towers and many churches. Less known, is that it is also the world’s only producer of the white wine Vernaccia di San Gimignano, a drink so enticing and captivating it led Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger (nephew to the more famous, painter Michelangelo) to write in 1643 that “it kisses, licks, bites and stings”. Even Dante refers to Vernaccia in his Divine Comedy (Purgatorio XXIV) as attributing to Pope Martin IV’s gluttony. While the Pope enjoyed endless portions of eels marinated in the wine, you can drink yours straight. Have a glass at the Hotel Bel Soggiorno restaurant, which overlooks the region’s rolling vineyards and valleys. British author EM Forester wrote that San Gimignano’s hilltops and towers allow you to see “half of Tuscany steeped in sunlight”. He then set his novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread, in a fictionalized version of the town.
Retro travel
Fashion, food and music all take their cues from the past, so why not travel with a vintage twist? Here is a down-the-years guide to yesterdays holidays, with suggestions for how you can get a little taste of more – or less – glamorous eras.
1910s
As the twentieth century began, travel overseas was the preserve of the wealthy and was starting to assume some of the grandeur we associate with this era. It was all possible thanks to boiling water, which became the steam that turned the turbines on steam trains and ships. This was the start of the ocean liner era – passenger-carrying airships were decades away – with companies competing for speed, size and luxury. The Cunard ship Mauretania, launched in 1907, held the speed record for crossing the Atlantic for twenty years.
How to do this today: Cruises are more popular than ever before, but only Cunard’s transatlantic crossings between Southampton and New York preserve the spirit of travelling to get somewhere rather than boarding to eat and drink vast amounts. The Queen Mary II (diesel driven) is the only vessel sailing a transatlantic schedule each year. Fares start at £699 including a flight home from your destination.
1920s
Fast forward past the First World War into the decadent 1920s. Whatever people did, it involved jazz playing in the background and an elegantly poised cigarette holder in their hand. The spirit of the age took people to the French Riviera -- maybe Nice, Cannes or St Tropez -- to the house of someone rich and famous, with plenty of gin and tonics, dips in the deep blue Mediterranean and few thoughts for the penniless rabble about to get blindsided by the Depression.
How to do this today: The south of France remains a magnet for glam travel – it is just much cheaper to visit than it used to be. For starters, Nice is something of a budget air hub, serving destinations across Europe, and is also an excellent base for exploring the region. A stroll along the city’s Promenade des Anglais is evocative of another age, no matter where you are staying.
1930s
The giant Zeppelin airship is the iconic image of this decade, and it was these mammoth beasts that carried long-distance airborne traffic throughout the 1930s. The most famous of these, the ill-fated Hindenburg, carried between 50 and 72 passengers. It was 243m long – over three times as long as an Airbus A380, the largest commercial plane in service. It also took 68 hours to reach Recife, Brazil from Germany.
How to do this today: California is one of the few places where you will find airships today. Airship Ventures offer tours of the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts of California, with flights starting at $375 for 45 minutes.
1940s
Tourism in many places ground to a halt in the 1940s, but American trains enjoyed a boom years before the post-war rise of the automobile. Comfortable, sleekly-liveried services operated high-speed, long-distance services with evocative names like the Pioneer Zephyr and 20th Century Limited. Think shiny cutlery serving fine fare inside equally shiny trains.
How to do this today: Some great American rail services still operate. The Empire Builder leaves Chicago’s iconic Union Station each day, bound for Seattle or Portland. The 2,200-mile journey takes 46 hours and features cheese and wine tasting along the route.
1950s
While for some, the ‘50s were about the development of a political ideology from the back of a bike in South America or road trips across America, (think Jack Kerouac’s classic On the Road), for others they were as glamorous as the days of pre-war hedonism. The Jet Age, ushered in by entry into service of the Brit-built De Havilland Comet in 1952 means travel becomes sleek, fast and fun.
How to do this today: Cocktails in Cuba recall the pre-revolutionary island vividly portrayed in The Godfather, Part II. El Floridita in Havana may be a popular spot for a tourist tipple, but you know you are following in some famous footsteps.
1960s
The ‘60s were the decade that travel changed forever. The advent of mass tourism introduced a generation of northern Europeans to just how quickly the Spanish sun could turn you lobster pink, and forever transformed sleepy fishing villages into brash, in-your-face holiday resorts. Even today, the straw donkey remains an iconic souvenir of this time -- one redolent of stellar tackiness.
The warming wine regions
Napa Valley’s premium wine production could be cut in half in the next 30 years, according to a recent study by Stanford University.
The culprit is the world’s warming climate, which could render 50% of the land currently used to grow pinot noir, chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon grapes unsuitable. This troubling forecast is being echoed in wine regions worldwide.
As greenhouse gases turn up the heat on our planet, the world wine map is changing. High-value grapes are grown within a narrow climate window, Stanford earth scientist Noah Diffenbaugh said, making them more sensitive to temperature variations than standard crops.
In Tuscany, a Florence University study found that climate change will result in both increased temperatures and increased rain intensity, which could damage such wines as Chianti, Barolo, Brunello and Amarone. In Australia, drought attributed to climate change has already affected wine production in recent years.
There are some wine regions, however, which stand to gain from global warming. In Europe, rising temperatures will shift wine country to the north, extending its reach into Scandinavian countries, Florence agronomist Simone Orlandini told MSNBC. In England, wineries are already experiencing the benefits. Last year, even as overall wine consumption decreased in England, consumption of domestic wine went up by more than 70%, the Economist reported. (This map provides a glimpse into the future of British wine.) Changes in climate are bringing earlier harvests and friendlier growing conditions for French varietals. In the US, wine production is expected to increase in cool, coastal areas and high desert regions. In Australia, production is expected to increase in Tasmania due to its island climate, and in Chile and Argentina, production may shift to high desert regions, mountain foothills and coastal areas.
But classic regions are by no means prepared to abandon wine, their star industry. This year, Spain hosted the third annual Climate Change and Wine Conference, which featured former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan as its VIP guest speaker. Industry professionals from Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, the UK, the US, South Africa, Chile and Brazil attended the conference with the goal of facing climate challenges head-on.
It’s no surprise that winemakers are taking climate threats seriously. In California, for instance, the wine industry in Napa County alone is worth $9.5 billion and employs more people than any other industry. Wine tourism makes up 80% of Napa’s tourism. So, the valley has far more to lose than just its reputation as a primer wine producer.
To combat losses, scientists advise wine producers to start adapting as soon as possible. The Stanford climate study provides recommendations for viticulture techniques that increase plants’ tolerance for severe heat.
Such recommendations may provide little solace, though, in Old World regions, like Bordeaux or Burgundy, where generations of winemakers have worked hard to perfect their world-famous varietals over the centuries. Wine lovers would do well to visit these areas before the vines begin to change. Because in a matter of decades, the world’s wine geography may look a lot different than it does today.
Dwarf galaxies suggest dark matter theory may be wrong
Scientists' predictions about the mysterious dark matter purported to make up most of the mass of the Universe may have to be revised.
Research on dwarf galaxies suggests they cannot form in the way they do if dark matter exists in the form that the most common model requires it to.
That may mean that the Large Hadron Collider will not be able to spot it.
Leading cosmologist Carlos Frenk spoke of the "disturbing" developments at the British Science Festival in Bradford.
The current theory holds that around 4% of the Universe is made up of normal matter - the stuff of stars, planets and people - and around 21% of it is dark matter.
The remainder is made up of what is known as dark energy, an even less understood hypothetical component of the Universe that would explain its ever-increasing expansion.
Scientists' best ideas for the formation and structure of the Universe form what is called the "cosmological standard model", or lambda-CDM - which predicts elementary particles in the form of cold dark matter (CDM).
The Boulby mine is one of the facilities dedicated to the hunt for direct evidence of dark matter
These CDM particles are believed to have formed very early in the Universe's history, around one millionth of a second after the Big Bang, and they are "cold" in the sense that they are not hypothesised to be particularly fast-moving.
The existence of the particles has not yet been proven, as they are extremely difficult to detect - they cannot be "seen" in the traditional sense, and if they exist, they interact only very rarely with the matter we know.
Various experiments are being carried out in deep mines in Yorkshire, on the Fermi Space Telescope, and in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland to try and detect these elusive particles, or indirect evidence of their effects.
So far, none of these experiments has conclusively spotted them.
Scientists working on the problem have recently expressed dismay at the universally negative results coming from the LHC, and this has led some to consider that the standard model may be wrong.
'Disturbing possibilities'
Prof Carlos Frenk at Durham University, working with the Virgo Consortium, now has data suggesting that our understanding of the formation and composition of the Universe is incomplete.
These data come from an unlikely source: dwarf galaxies, a "halo" of which surrounds our own Milky Way.
These dwarf galaxies are believed to be mostly made up of dark matter, and contain just a few stars. Their dimness has made them difficult to study in the past.
But the Virgo Consortium has created computer simulations to visualise how the dwarf galaxies formed, using their assumptions about CDM.
Continue reading the main story
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Start Quote
Dark matter is poised for big developments in the next few months”
Carlos Frenk
Durham University
The team found that the final results of these simulations did not at all match what we observe. The models showed many more small galaxies in a wide halo around the Milky Way, whereas in reality there are fewer, larger dwarf galaxies.
Prof Frenk explained that there were two "equally disturbing possibilities" for why this is the case.
One idea is that many dwarf galaxies formed as in the simulation, but there were violent supernova explosions during their formation that radically changed the structure of the dwarf galaxy halo.
"If this were the case, it would mean that galaxy formation is a much more exciting process than we thought," said Prof Frenk.
But there are still uncertainties over whether the small fraction of normal matter in the Universe (4%) could have such a fundamental effect on the structure of the dark matter.
An alternative cause for the discrepancies between the modelled data and what we observe is much more fundamental: that CDM does not exist, and the predictions of the standard model relating to it are false.
Prof Frenk said that after working for 35 years with the predictions of the standard model, he is "losing sleep" over the results of the simulations.
Warmer Universe
But he believes he has found a solution to the CDM problem. He proposes that instead of "cold" dark matter that formed within the first one millionth of a second after the Big Bang, the Universe may instead be filled with warm dark matter (WDM).
The WDM would have formed later, up to minutes after the Big Bang, and is described as "warm" as the particles would be lighter and more energetic.
When simulations of galaxy formation are run with the later-forming WDM instead of CDM, the halo of dwarf galaxies has the same structure as we observe in reality.
Violent supernovae in early dwarf galaxy formation could be at the heart of the discrepancy
The WDM solution is "remarkably elegant", Prof Frenk said, and it means that "the standard model is by no means dead".
But if all dark matter is WDM and not CDM, this poses major problems for our current attempts to detect it.
The LHC is designed to recreate the conditions one millionth of a second after the Big Bang. If WDM is the dominant dark matter, however, the facility will not see a trace of the particles.
Other possibilities exist for trying to detect WDM. The most likely WDM particle, the "sterile neutrino", could be identified by the X-rays it emits; but much more sensitive X-ray detectors would be needed.
Alternatively, the James Webb Space Telescope, which is designed to peer into space to look for the earliest stars, and is due to be launched in 2018 pending funding agreements, could be used to prove the non-existence of CDM.
If WDM is the dark matter holding galaxies together, then at the very earliest stages of the Universe, the telescope will see nothing, because the WDM and its accompanying galaxies would not have yet formed.
Prof Frenk explained that there is no definitive proof yet that the dark matter theories need a "paradigm shift", but he remains positive that an answer will be found soon.
"Dark matter is poised for big developments in the next few months," he said.
Worldwide weird: See the world’s largest Big Mac
At 14ft tall and 12ft across, the world’s largest Big Mac looks good enough to eat, if you could fit it in your mouth — just each pickle measures two feet across.
Thankfully, the museum where the sculpture is housed is also a working McDonald’s restaurant, so you can immediately feed the craving with a smaller, edible version of the iconic sandwich. The Big Mac Museum in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania opened in 2007 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the burger’s creation. Pennsylvania resident and franchise owner Jim “MJ” Delligatti put together the two all beef-patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun in 1967 as an offering specifically geared to adults amid the Ronald McDonald, kid-friendly atmosphere. By 1968, the burger was available at restaurants nationwide and made history with its ingredient-focused advertising campaign.
Exhibits in the museum trace the evolution of the Big Mac’s packaging and catchy marketing, which became iconic in its own right in 1974 when some customers were rewarded with a free Big Mac if they could sing the seven ingredient jingle in under four seconds . One section explores the International Big Mac, a montage highlighting slogans and images from the 100-plus countries where the sandwich is sold.
The ubiquity of the sandwich worldwide has proven to have economic importance as well, as The Economist magazine has run its Big Mac Index since 1986, which compares the price of the Big Mac across countries to value currency. One thing the museum doesn’t reveal: the recipe to the famous special sauce.
A new breed of boutique hotels in Singapore
A standard room at the Moon Hotel in Little India.
A new breed of boutique hotels in Singapore is offering visitors more bang for their buck.
Related article: A little 'sin' in Singapore
The price of a hotel room in Singapore is now among the most expensive in the world, with the average nightly rate reaching USD$214, according to the US Hotel Price Index from Hotels.com, the hotel booking arm of Expedia. The report showed this was an 18% increase from prices paid in 2010.
Recently, there have been a growing number of boutique hotels springing up around the city-state, not only offering more reasonable prices, but becoming known as hip, off-beat alternatives to the generic, global hotel brands that populate the Singaporean skyline.
“These new boutique hotels are smart, in the fact that they’ve identified a niche in the market, not only in terms of price, but also in terms of location, so that they can serve both the business and the leisure markets,” said Abhiram Chowdhry, Marketing Director for Hotels.com in Asia Pacific.
“These hotels are very much focused on service with an eye on the design elements,” explained Roshan Mendis, President of booking website ZUJI and Regional Vice President of Travelocity Asia Pacific.
Even though the general perception is that Singapore hotels are very expensive, it is still possible to find good deals and boutique bargains.
The Saff
Named after the spice saffron, the Saff hotel blends cultural elements from the exotic climes of Spain, Morocco, Persia, Turkey, India and Thailand. The hotel is situated in a historic building, so the rooms are on the small side. The standard single rooms are between 133-140 sq t, while the deluxe doubles can be as large as 322 sq ft. The majority of bathrooms are a little pokey too, but they are clean and have a brand new finish. Sari fabric curtains and faux snakeskin upholstery give this hotel a contemporary feel.
There is no mini bar or restaurant in the Saff, but there is a cute bar and restaurant next door where you can have breakfast, and there are scores of great dining options just a few steps away. The Saff is in the heart of Chinatown, just a few minutes from the CBD and a five-minute walk to Outram Park or Chinatown MRT stations
Hotel 1929
As the name suggests, Hotel 1929 is housed in a building that is more than 80 years old, but step inside, and it s nouveau chic all the way. The lobby is filled with designer chairs, and there are 32 individually designed rooms. Be warned, the single room is small and only meant for one (small) person. Luggage is stored under the bed to save on space. If you want to go lux, opt for a suite with an outdoor bath. Every room has a flat screen TV as well as an iPod docking station and there is free wi-fi.
Hotel 1929 is located near what was once a notorious red light district of Singapore. But now, Keong Saik Road is more home to boutique hotels and charming bars. It is a short walk to the Chinatown MRT station as well as the buzzing bars and restaurants on Club Street.
Wanderlust
“Industrial glamour” is the look this boutique establishment is going for. Describing itself as an alternative hotel, Wanderlust is the place to stay for the adventurous traveller looking for a radical hotel experience. This four-storey hotel has 29 rooms and each individually themed floor is the creation of local leading design and architect firms. The best priced are the Pantone rooms, 11 capsule-like spaces with compact storage solutions and modern features. The nine loft suites on the top floor are for the truly indulgent, each with a whimsical and original design.
Wanderlust is smack in middle of Little India, where the streets still have that rustic charm – women in brightly coloured saris, incense and spices wafting from nearby temples and Bollywood music blasting from shops and homes. The developers have yet to move in, so this is a rare enclave in Singapore that’s to be savoured. But if you are craving order and sanitation then Orchard Road and the CBD are roughly 10 minutes away by taxi.
Hotel Re!
Hotel Re! offers a lineup of 1960s and ‘70s inspired guestrooms and suites with mod cons and psychedelic furnishings, resulting in a blend that is truly “modern retro”. There are 53 reasonably priced, superior rooms with brightly coloured walls adorned with ‘60s inspired stencils. The top class suites are decked out in gold, silver or bronze, complete with a Jacuzzi hot tub and a waterbed, very Austin Powers. This is a hotel that screams fun.
Located at the base of Pearl’s Hill, Hotel Re! is a little away from the action, but it is only a short taxi ride to attractions like Chinatown, Clarke Quay and Orchard Road.
Moon Hotel
The Moon Hotel is a friendly and cosy establishment in the heart of the traditional Singaporean enclave of Little India. There is a trendy feel about this hotel, with an Ikea-like compact design. The standard rooms are seriously tiny and some do not even have windows, but they are all equipped with iPod docking stations, flat screen TVs, LED lighting and bathrobes. There is only one suite with a balcony and open bath.
Moon hotel is in Little India, just down the road from Wanderlust. This is an area that is not for everyone’s taste. It is a little rough around the edges, a raucous mix of backpacker hostels and spice stores – but why go for the boring, wanna-be Blade Runner skyline and corporate climes? Best make the most of Little India for all its rawness, before big business takes over.
Mini guide to St Petersburg, Russia
Peter the Great’s city is an exercise in invention. Its canals reflect a spellbinding collection of cultural palaces, while the environment inspired many great artists, writers and musical maestros.
Related article: St Petersburg goes back to the future
See
The former Mikhailovsky Palace, now the Russian Museum, houses one of the country’s finest art collections, including works by Ilya Repin and Kazimir Malevich. The palace, designed by Carlo Rossi, was built in 1819-1829 (00 7 812 595 4248; rusmuseum.ru; Inzhenernaya; £8).
The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood was built on the spot where Alexander II was killed by terrorists in 1881. It reopened in 1997 after its 7,000 sq metres of mosaics were restored (00 7 812 315 1636; eng.cathedral.ru/saviour; Kanal Griboyedova; £7).
Viewing the city from its canals is an idyllic way of touring St Petersburg. From May to October, find boats at the Fontanka River dock and on the Neva River outside the Hermitage and the Admiralty. Anglo Tourismo runs guided tours in English from near Anichkov Bridge (anglotourismo.com; daily tours £11).
Peter and Paul fortress is one of the city’s oldest buildings. For wonderful views, walk the Nevskaya Panorama then head inside the SS Peter & Paul Cathedral, with its 122-metre gilded spire (00 7 812 238 4550; spbmuseum.ru; £5.50).
Kirovsky Islands are the outer deltas of Petrograd Side. They were granted to 18th- and 19th-century court favourites and developed into playgrounds. Accessible by Metro, they’re popular for picnics, boating and on White Nights. Rent a rowboat on Yelagin Island for £4.50 per hour.
Eat and drink
You’ll struggle to get enough of the traditional savoury and sweet pies served at Stolle cafés throughout the city and on Yelagin Island (stolle.ru; Konyushennaya; pies from £1.50).
Classy, kosher restaurant LeChaim is the city’s best place for Jewish cooking. Dine on gefilte fish, stuffed pike with horseradish and chicken schnitzel with capers. Profits go towards food for the elderly and needy (00 7 812 572 5616; Lermontovsky; mains from £4.50).
The décor at Sadko uses traditional Russian floral designs in contemporary style. It has its own children’s room and is ideal as a pre- or post-theatre dining option. They also make their own pies and the waiters give impromptu vocal performances (00 7 812 920 8228; ul Glinki; mains from £6).
The charming Chekov trades on pre-Revolutionary nostalgia. Imagine you’re a guest at the great author’s home when you dine on traditional Russian dishes. Be sure to wash down your meal with gusto: choose from homemade flavoured vodkas, fruit juices and kvas – non-alcoholic beer (00 7 812 234 4511; ul Petropavlovskaya; mains from £6).
Inspired by the cookbook of Elena Molokhovets – Russia’s Mrs Beeton of the 19th century – the menu at Mechta Molokhovets covers the classics, from borsch to beef stroganoff. Their speciality is koulibiaca, a golden pastry pie of fish or rabbit and cabbage (00 7 812 929 2247; molokhovets.ru; ul Radishcheva; mains from £18).
Sleep
Andrey and Sasha’s Homestay is the delightful home of a photographer and a doctor. Rooms are huge and you have the run of the kitchen, a fascinating library and a generous supply of vodka. Facilities are shared and dressing gowns and slippers are provided (00 7 812 315 3330; asamatuga@mail.ru; nab kanala Griboedova; from £55).
A mural of Renaissance Italy graces the lobby of Art Hotel Terezinni, with more art found throughout. Rooms 201 and 214 have balconies overlooking the neighbouring St Andrew’s Cathedral (00 7 812 332 1035; trezzini-hotel.com; Bolshoy pr; from £110).
On the third floor of a handsome apartment building with an antique lift, the elegant Anichkov Pension has six rooms and one gorgeous apartment. The lounge offers balcony views of the bridge from which the pension takes its name (00 7 812 314 7059; anichkov.com; Nevsky pr; from £160).
For the price of a standard room at St Petersburg’s luxury establishments, you can live it up in pre-Revolutionary style in one of two suites at the impeccable Rossi Hotel. Its deluxe and contemporary-styled rooms are accessorised by exposed beams and brick walls (00 7 812 635 6333; rossihotels.com; nab reki Fontanki; from £190).
Grand Hotel Europe is a historic hotel known for elegance and luxury. Deservedly popular are the 17 handsome terrace rooms, which afford spectacular city views. The Style Moderne décor, particularly of its Europe restaurant, make them worth a visit in their own right (00 7 812 329 6000; grandhoteleurope.com; Mikhaylovskaya ul; from £350
Getting around
Excellent public transport includes buses, trolleybuses, trams and the Metro. The centre is best seen on foot. Station booths sell Metro tokens and cards (70p deposit, £3 for 10 trips). City centre taxis aren’t metered (taxiblues.ru; around £5).
When to go
In June and July, the long days – known as White Nights – are very special. Parks and gardens burst into colour and citizens hit the streets to party. In December, head for the Arts Square Winter Festival (artsquarewinterfest.ru).
How to go
BA flies direct from Heathrow to Pulkovo-2, the main international terminal (£370; ba.com). The Metro and bus connect the airport to the city centre. Bus 13 runs from Pulkovo-2 to Moskovskaya Metro (50p). You can get a taxi to the city centre (£13), but prepare to haggle. For a fee, hotels can arrange transfers, but they may cost more than a taxi.
Microsoft CEO hints at 'Metro-ization' of Office
Computerworld - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Wednesday strongly hinted that the company will craft a Metro-style version of the next Office suite.
"You ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style," said Ballmer, when asked by a Wall Street analyst whether Microsoft is working on a version of Office for Windows 8's Metro touch-based interface.
Metro is the name Microsoft has given the tile- and touch-based interface borrowed from Windows Phone 7, the smartphone operating system, and before that, Zune, the company's portable music player. The interface is the first thing users see when they launch Windows 8, and apps must be specially-coded to run in Metro.
A Metro style look-and-feel would be a massive change for Office, one that would dwarf the "ribbonization" that set off a firestorm of complaints about Office 2007's new look. The criticism died down, and Microsoft later extended the ribbon in Office 2010 and Windows 7. It will ribbonize other components of Windows 8, notably the OS's file manager.
One analyst thinks that Office on Metro is a done deal.
"I think they need something in Metro to enable people to work on documents on tablets," said Rob Helm, an analyst with Kirkland, Wash. Directions on Microsoft, a research firm that scrutinizes Microsoft. "They need something on ARM."
Microsoft is developing a version of Windows 8 that will run on ARM system-on-a-chip (SoC) silicon to power iPad-style tablets. Because the company has said that the ARM edition of Windows 8 will not run legacy Windows applications, that leaves Metro-style apps as its software.
On Wednesday, Steven Sinofsky, the president of the Windows division, reiterated that.
"We've been very clear since the very first CES demos and forward that the ARM product won't run any x86 applications," said Sinofsky. "If we allow the world of x86 application support like that, or based on what we call desktop apps in our start yesterday, then there are real challenges in some of the value proposition[s] for [SoC]. Will battery life be as good, for example? Those [x86] applications aren't written to be really great in the face of limited battery constraints."
Helm envisions a Metro-style Office as being less than the desktop suite long familiar to users, but more than the current online Office Web Apps.
'With x86 dead in the water on ARM, Microsoft needs Office apps that allow for viewing and some light editing [on ARM]," said Helm. "Office Web Apps are perfectly positioned for that, but they don't support offline."
Helm believes that Microsoft will create a Metro edition of Office based on the work it's already done on Office Web Apps, and use Windows 8 APIs (application programming interfaces) to support offline work.
But the "Metro-ization" of Office won't kill the desktop versions of the suite, Helm continued. "Absolutely, the desktop Office will continue for Intel-based systems," he said. "Microsoft isn't walking away from that. Think of Office as desktop plus tablets with Metro."
Helm expects that the next desktop Office will look similar to Office 2010.
Microsoft has said nothing about a release timetable, the design or features slated for the next-generation Office, but if the company follows past practice, it could ship a new version in 2012 alongside Windows 8 -- as it did with Office 2007 and Windows 7 -- or in 2013, three years after the debut of Office 2010.
Talk of metro-izing Office isn't coming out of the blue. In March, several websites, including WinRumors, published screenshots allegedly from an early build of Office that showed Metro elements in Outlook, the suite's email client.
On Wednesday, Ballmer said that Microsoft would give out more information on a Metro-style Office only when it's ready.
"When we have something that we want to talk about, we will," Ballmer said.
"You ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style," said Ballmer, when asked by a Wall Street analyst whether Microsoft is working on a version of Office for Windows 8's Metro touch-based interface.
Metro is the name Microsoft has given the tile- and touch-based interface borrowed from Windows Phone 7, the smartphone operating system, and before that, Zune, the company's portable music player. The interface is the first thing users see when they launch Windows 8, and apps must be specially-coded to run in Metro.
A Metro style look-and-feel would be a massive change for Office, one that would dwarf the "ribbonization" that set off a firestorm of complaints about Office 2007's new look. The criticism died down, and Microsoft later extended the ribbon in Office 2010 and Windows 7. It will ribbonize other components of Windows 8, notably the OS's file manager.
One analyst thinks that Office on Metro is a done deal.
"I think they need something in Metro to enable people to work on documents on tablets," said Rob Helm, an analyst with Kirkland, Wash. Directions on Microsoft, a research firm that scrutinizes Microsoft. "They need something on ARM."
Microsoft is developing a version of Windows 8 that will run on ARM system-on-a-chip (SoC) silicon to power iPad-style tablets. Because the company has said that the ARM edition of Windows 8 will not run legacy Windows applications, that leaves Metro-style apps as its software.
On Wednesday, Steven Sinofsky, the president of the Windows division, reiterated that.
"We've been very clear since the very first CES demos and forward that the ARM product won't run any x86 applications," said Sinofsky. "If we allow the world of x86 application support like that, or based on what we call desktop apps in our start yesterday, then there are real challenges in some of the value proposition[s] for [SoC]. Will battery life be as good, for example? Those [x86] applications aren't written to be really great in the face of limited battery constraints."
Helm envisions a Metro-style Office as being less than the desktop suite long familiar to users, but more than the current online Office Web Apps.
'With x86 dead in the water on ARM, Microsoft needs Office apps that allow for viewing and some light editing [on ARM]," said Helm. "Office Web Apps are perfectly positioned for that, but they don't support offline."
Helm believes that Microsoft will create a Metro edition of Office based on the work it's already done on Office Web Apps, and use Windows 8 APIs (application programming interfaces) to support offline work.
But the "Metro-ization" of Office won't kill the desktop versions of the suite, Helm continued. "Absolutely, the desktop Office will continue for Intel-based systems," he said. "Microsoft isn't walking away from that. Think of Office as desktop plus tablets with Metro."
Helm expects that the next desktop Office will look similar to Office 2010.
Microsoft has said nothing about a release timetable, the design or features slated for the next-generation Office, but if the company follows past practice, it could ship a new version in 2012 alongside Windows 8 -- as it did with Office 2007 and Windows 7 -- or in 2013, three years after the debut of Office 2010.
Talk of metro-izing Office isn't coming out of the blue. In March, several websites, including WinRumors, published screenshots allegedly from an early build of Office that showed Metro elements in Outlook, the suite's email client.
On Wednesday, Ballmer said that Microsoft would give out more information on a Metro-style Office only when it's ready.
"When we have something that we want to talk about, we will," Ballmer said.
Eyelid marks warn of heart attack
Yellow markings on the eyelids are a sign of increased risk of heart attack and other illnesses, say researchers in Denmark.
A study published on the BMJ website showed patients with xanthelasmata were 48% more likely to have a heart attack.
Xanthelasmata, which are mostly made up of cholesterol, could be a sign of other fatty build-ups in the body.
Cardiologists said the findings could be used by doctors to help diagnose at-risk patients.
The research team at the Herlev Hospital in Denmark started following 12,745 people in the 1970s.
At the start of the study, 4.4% of patients had xanthelasmata.
Yellow alert
Thirty three years later, 1,872 had had a heart attack, 3,699 had developed heart disease and 8,507 had died - and the data showed that those with the yellow markings around the eyes were at greatest risk.
Those with the markings were 48% more likely to have a heart attack, 39% more likely to have developed heart disease and 14% more likely to have died during the study.
The authors believe patients with xanthelasmata may be more likely to deposit cholesterol around the body.
A build up of fatty material in the walls of arteries - known as atherosclerosis - leads to stroke and heart attack.
For both men and women in several age groups, the data said there was a one in five chance of developing heart disease in the next decade if the patient had xanthelasmata.
The authors said such patients were "generally considered to be at high risk" and should have "lifestyle changes and treatment to reduce [bad] cholesterol."
However they warned that: "Today, most people with xanthelasmata are seen by dermatologists, when they want their xanthelasmata removed for cosmetic reasons.
"Some of these people may not have been managed according to their increased risk of cardiovascular disease."
A review of the study, by US cardiologists Antonio Fernandez and Paul Thompson, concluded that: "Xanthelasmata could be used by general clinicians to help identify people at higher risk of cardiovascular disease."
Judy O'Sullivan, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "There are many different techniques to predict someone's risk of developing heart disease in the future, none of which are perfect. The most important thing is that any one of these techniques is used in the first place."
Five easy ways to brush up quickly on a new country
Business travellers are frequently called on assignment at the last minute, with no time to learn the basics about their destination, especially when they’re travelling to a new country.
That’s too bad, because a little preparation can help ease the way in a new place, impress colleagues and make the traveller a better guest.
For me, the anticipation and preparation prior to visiting a country for the first time -- getting to know more about the culture, cuisine, customs and language before taking off -- is one of the best parts of the trip.
I’ll be taking off on my first business trip ever to India (Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi) later this month, and with little time to prepare, I’m tapping my top five sources of country information to familiarize myself as fast as I can. No matter where you are going, if you need to brush up quickly on a new destination, here are five places to start.
Rent films about the country
My Netflix queue (an online video rental service in the US) is currently packed with Indian classics, documentaries and some Bollywood, of course. The BBC’s Story of India documentary series hosted by Michael Wood refreshed my memory of historical figures such as Emperor Akbar and gods such as Shiva and Rama. Fellow travel writer Rudy Maxa’s Exotic India video taught me the custom of clasping hands together and saying “Namaste” when greeting someone. The classic Gandhi taught me that adding the suffix “–ji” to the end of a name shows respect, as in “Gandhiji”. The adventurous Mr and Mrs Iyer provided insight into the strained relations between Muslims and Hindus. From Earth I learned about the pain of India’s partition in 1947 that still hurts to this day. Dil Chahta Hai and Monsoon Wedding provided a glimpse of what it’s like to be young and upwardly mobile in modern, urban India. After watching the heart-wrenching Water, about a feisty, young widow trapped by the caste system, I would like to try a ladoo — a small round flour and bean paste ball cooked in butter and served at special occasions — that played a special part in the film.
Read novels about life in the country you are going to visit
Between movies, I’m tearing into the 1997 best-selling novel The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. It’s an exotic and engrossing story told from the perspective of two twins growing up in southern India during the 1960s. So far, the story is as big, diverse, detailed, dirty, juxtaposed and flavourful as I expect India to be once I get there. If I find the time, I hope to peruse two recommendations from my editor at BBC Travel:
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie and A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (but at 1,349 pages, I might have to save that one until after I get back!)
Dine in restaurants serving the cuisine of the country you’ll visit
I’ve always loved going out for Indian food, but I’m now paying a lot more attention and asking for advice when I duck into the Indian restaurants in my neighbourhood. From a friendly server in San Francisco, I learned that curry powder does not necessarily come from a curry plant or curry seed. It is a blend of spices such as pepper, cumin, coriander ginger, cinnamon, turmeric and sometimes, but not always, curry leaves and it varies among restaurants, chefs and households. Similar to the way I grind coffee every morning -- good Indian cooks grind up their curry powder or garam masala every day.
Check out travel websites and guidebooks
The first paragraph of the Lonely Planet online guide to India includes the words bamboozling, enigma, diversity and multidimensional, so I’m prepared to have all my senses assaulted when I step off the plane in Mumbai. In February, BBC Travel posted an excellent guide for first timers in India, providing this nugget of advice I’ve been considering adopting: “Many travellers go veggie whilst in India. It is not a bad idea. A dodgy bit of meat will do you a lot more harm than slightly undercooked vegetables.”
From online business travel guides I’ve picked up that that many Indian women may prefer not to shake hands, and that I should refrain from using first names in business meetings. Small talk, including the weather, your family and cricket, are important when breaking the ice and developing new relationships. (Note to self: Brush up on cricket talk!)
Inquire with friends and social media
Of course, I’ve tapped the brains and experience of friends who have lived or worked in India — all of whom are very eager to offer advice, recommendations and recollections. An Indian friend in California told me that it would be impolite to ask locals if they are Hindu or Muslim. Fellow travel writers from India have told me it’s common (and not insulting) to refer to Mumbai as “Bombay”. My cousin who once lived in Delhi suggested a typical Mughlai meal at the famous Karim’s and a side trip to World Heritage site Fatehpur Sikri, an ancient fortified “ghost city” near the Taj Majal. Then there’s social media…. What I’m doing right here, tapping into the crowd for more tips and advice from readers… so here goes….
Have you been to India? What advice would you have for a business traveller seeing Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi for the first time? What foods should I try? Is there any typical or irritating behaviour in business or social settings that unwitting visitors should avoid? Please leave your advice on our Facebook page.
Blackberry maker RIM profits fall sharply
Blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) has seen its second-quarter profits more than halve, hurt by low demand for its older models.
The firm rolled out new smartphones but only late in the quarter.
Net profit fell to $329m (£208m) for the three months to 27 August, from $797m in the same period a year earlier.
In July, the company said it would cut 2,000 jobs - 11% of its workforce - as part of a shake-up of its operations.
Revenue for the second quarter fell to $4.2bn, a drop of 10% on the same three months last year.
During the quarter, RIM shipped some 10.6 million Blackberry smartphones and about 200,000 Blackberry PlayBook tablets, which was well below analysts' expectations.
Following the results announcement, RIM's shares fell by as much as 10% in after-hours trading in New York.
The Canadian firm said it expected things to improve in the third quarter though, forecasting shipments of between 13.5 million and 14.5 million smartphones and revenues of between $5.3bn and $5.6bn.
Nasa's Kepler telescope finds planet orbiting two suns
A planet orbiting two suns - the first confirmed alien world of its kind - has been found by Nasa's Kepler telescope, the US space agency announced.
It may resemble the planet Tatooine from the film Star Wars, but scientists say Luke Skywalker, or anyone at all, is unlikely to be living there.
Named Kepler-16b, it is thought to be an uninhabitable cold gas giant, like Saturn.
The newly detected body lies some 200 light years from Earth.
Though there have been hints in the past that planets circling double stars might exist - "circumbinary planets", as they are known - scientists say this is the first confirmation.
It means when the day ends on Kepler-16b, there is a double sunset, they say.
'Stunning'
Kepler-16b's two suns are smaller than ours - at 69% and 20% of the mass of our Sun - making the surface temperature an estimated -100 to -150F (-73 to -101C).
The planet eclipses, or transits, both stars; and the stars regularly eclipse each other too
The planet orbits its two suns every 229 days at a distance of 65m miles (104m km) - about the same distance out as Venus.
The Kepler telescope, launched in 2009, is designed to scour our section of the Milky Way for Earth-like planets.
"This is really a stunning measurement by Kepler," said Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution for Science near Washington DC, a co-author of the study.
"The real exciting thing is there's a planet sitting out there orbiting around these two stars."
Kepler finds stars whose light is regularly dimmed when an orbiting planet passes between the star and the telescope.
In this case, the team was also able to observe dimming when one star passed in front of the other.
Nasa's scientists saw additional dips in the light in both stars at alternating but regular times, confirming the dual orbit of the planet.
Data collected by the Kepler telescope allows for very precise measurements of the mass, radius and trajectories of all three bodies - the best ever estimates of a extra-solar planet.
The finding was reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
Microsoft drops Flash from IE on Windows 8 tablets
One of the web's most widely used technologies is going to be absent from some versions of Windows 8.
Microsoft is to drop support for Adobe Flash from the web browser that works with the Metro interface on Windows 8.
The Metro user interface is most likely to be used on tablets as it displays applications and programs as easy to touch coloured tiles.
Flash will still be supported in the Windows 8 desktop interface and the desktop version of IE.
The announcement about the lack of Flash support was made in a blog post by Dean Hachamovitch, head of IE development at Microsoft.
In the post he said Microsoft had worked hard to make Metro rely as little as possible on older technologies. Instead it had concentrated on the latest version of web technology HTML 5.
Supporting HTML 5 meant making Metro plug-in free, he said. One of the most widely used plug-ins for web browsers is Adobe's Flash as many sites use it to show video, multimedia and games.
"The experience that plug-ins provide today is not a good match with Metro style browsing and the modern HTML5 web," wrote Mr Hachamovitch.
"Providing compatibility with legacy plug-in technologies would detract from, rather than improve, the consumer experience of browsing in the Metro style [user interface]," he said.
Microsoft showed off the Metro interface this week at its Build developers conference in California. Windows 8 has been "re-imagined" said Microsoft and the Metro interface was specifically designed with tablets and touch screens in mind.
Apple dropped support for Flash in early 2010 saying it made Macs crash
Mr Hachamovitch said plug-ins were rapidly becoming unnecessary. Flash was by far the most widely used plug-in, he said.
Removing plug-ins will mean longer battery life on tablets, protect privacy and improve security, he said.
Users will still be able to get at sites that run Flash by exiting the Metro interface, returning to the classic desktop view and running Internet Explorer.
Adobe responded to the news in a blogpost of its own.
"We expect Windows desktop to be extremely popular for years to come (including Windows 8 desktop) and that it will support Flash just fine," wrote Danny Winokur.
"In addition," he wrote, "we expect Flash based apps will come to Metro via Adobe AIR, much the way they are on Android, iOS and BlackBerry Tablet OS today."
In dropping Flash support, Microsoft is following Apple's lead which has had a long-standing policy of not letting its gadgets support the technology.
In an open letter explaining the ban published in April 2010, Apple boss Steve Jobs said: "We don't want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash".
Flash was "the number one reason Macs crash", he added.
Artificial blood vessels created on a 3D printer
Artificial blood vessels made on a 3D printer may soon be used for transplants of lab-created organs.
Until now, the stumbling block in tissue engineering has been supplying artificial tissue with nutrients that have to arrive via capillary vessels.
A team at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany has solved that problem using 3D printing and a technique called multiphoton polymerisation.
The findings will be shown at the Biotechnica Fair in Germany in October.
Out of thousands of patients in desperate need of an organ transplant there are inevitably some who do not get it in time.
In Germany, for instance, more than 11,000 people have been put on an organ transplant waiting list in 2011 alone.
To make sure more patients receive these life-saving surgeries, researchers in tissue engineering all over the globe have been working on creating artificial tissue and even entire organs in the lab.
But for a lab-made organ to function, it needs to be equipped with artificial blood vessels - tiny and extremely complex tubes that our organs naturally possess, used to carry nutrients.
Numerous attempts have been made to create synthetic capillaries, and the latest one by the German team seems to be especially promising.
"The individual techniques are already functioning and they are presently working in the test phase; the prototype for the combined system is being built," said Dr Gunter Tovar, who heads the BioRap project at Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart.
Elastic biomaterials
3D printing technology has been increasingly used in numerous industries, ranging from creating clothes, architectural models and even chocolate treats.
But this time, Dr Tovar's team had a much more challenging printing mission.
To print something as small and complex as a blood vessel, the scientists combined the 3D printing technology with two-photon polymerisation - shining intense laser beams onto the material to stimulate the molecules in a very small focus point.
The material then becomes an elastic solid, allowing the researchers to create highly precise and elastic structures that would be able to interact with a human body's natural tissue.
So that the synthetic tubes do not get rejected by the living organism, their walls are coated with modified biomoelcules.
Such biomolecules are also present in the composition of the "inks" used for the blood vessel printer, combined with synthetic polymers.
"We are establishing a basis for applying rapid prototyping to elastic and organic biomaterials," said Dr Tovar.
"The vascular systems illustrate very dramatically what opportunities this technology has to offer, but that's definitely not the only thing possible."
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