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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for February 26, 2012:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- Scientists isolate egg-producing stem cells from adult human ovaries- HTML5 spec editor slams Google & gang's DRM bid
- Mind-reading skateboard gets cues from neuroheadset (w/ video)
- Scientists score one more victory over uncertainty in quantum physics measurements
- Asian mobile giants go ultra fast in race for smartphone pie
- Early ripening of grapes pinned to warming, soil moisture
- Scientists discover elusive platelet count and limb development gene
- Volcanoes deliver two flavors of water
- A wild online ride hits the digital piracy wall
- How to rescue the immune system: Study could lead to novel therapy for cancer
- Technology and creativity go "full spectrum" at TED
- Researchers test sugary solution to Alzheimer's
Space & Earth news
Top Indian space scientist quits over blacklisting
A top Indian scientist said Saturday he had resigned from the nation's Space Commission to protest the government's blacklisting of four scientists over alleged irregularities in a satellite deal.
Gulf oil spill trial delayed for settlement talks
(AP) -- A judge is pushing back the federal trial over the nation's worst offshore oil disaster by a week, saying Sunday that BP PLC was making some progress in settlement talks with a committee overseeing scores of lawsuits, according to people close to the case.
Himalayan Sherpas lament climate change devastation
Climate change is altering the face of the Himalayas, devastating farming communities and making Mount Everest increasingly treacherous to climb, some of the world's top mountaineers have warned.
BP faces billions in fines as spill trial nears
(AP) -- On the cusp of trial over the catastrophic 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, phalanxes of lawyers, executives and public officials have spent the waning days in settlement talks. Holed up in small groups inside law offices, war rooms and hotel suites in New Orleans and Washington, they are trying to put a number on what BP and its partners in the doomed Macondo well project should pay to make up for the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.
BP says US oil spill trial could 'last until 2014'
British energy giant BP is prepared for a multi-billion-dollar US legal case into the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill to last until 2014, its chief executive told the Sunday Telegraph.
Volcanoes deliver two flavors of water
Seawater circulation pumps hydrogen and boron into the oceanic plates that make up the seafloor, and some of this seawater remains trapped as the plates descend into the mantle at areas called subduction zones. By analyzing samples of submarine volcanic glass near one of these areas, scientists found unexpected changes in isotopes of hydrogen and boron from the deep mantle. They expected to see the isotope "fingerprint" of seawater. But in volcanoes from the Manus Basin they also discovered evidence of seawater distilled long ago from a more ancient plate descent event, preserved for as long as 1 billion years. The data indicate that these ancient oceanic "slabs" can return to the upper mantle in some areas, and that rates of hydrogen exchange in the deep Earth may not conform to experiments. The research is published in the February 26, 2012, advanced on line publication of Nature Geoscience.
Early ripening of grapes pinned to warming, soil moisture
Researchers in Australia say they have pinpointed key factors in the early ripening of grapes, providing potential answers for wine growers threatened by global warming.
Technology news
Chinese netizens flood Obama's Google+ page
Hundreds of Chinese have flooded US President Barack Obama's Google+ page, apparently taking advantage of a glitch in China's censorship system to post about human rights and green cards.
S. African officials use Twitter for Mandela news
Nelson Mandela's health scares send Twitter into overdrive, but South African officials made savvier use of social media to keep the world informed on the global icon's latest medical woe.
Thousands protest in Malaysia over rare earths plant
Thousands rallied Sunday in Malaysia in the biggest protest yet against an Australian miner's rare earths plant, as the opposition vowed to shut down the facility if it came to power.
Google to sell Clearwire stake at 94 percent loss
(AP) -- Google Inc. on Friday said it will sell its stake in Clearwire Corp., the struggling operator of a wireless data network. The search company is taking a 94 percent loss on the originally $500 million investment made in 2008.
France works with Microsoft to cultivate startups
French minister Frederic Lefebvre and Microsoft on Saturday announced a partnership to cultivate promising Internet startups in France.
A wild online ride hits the digital piracy wall
On his way up, he fooled them all: judges, journalists, investors and companies. Then the man who renamed himself Kim Dotcom finally did it. With an outsized ego and an eye for get-rich schemes, he parlayed his modest computing skills into an empire, becoming the fabulously wealthy computer maverick he had long claimed to be.
Technology and creativity go "full spectrum" at TED
Technology, art and magic will mix in perspective-bending ways this week as the prestigious TED conference continues transforming from an elite retreat to a global movement for a better world.
HTML5 spec editor slams Google & gang's DRM bid
(PhysOrg.com) -- A draft proposal by Google, Microsoft and Netflix to introduce mechanisms for copy protection on web videos has generated strong opposition and a response that the proposal is "unethical." Reaction has been strong against the powerful trio's bid to see HTML5 carry digital rights management (DRM) tools.
Mind-reading skateboard gets cues from neuroheadset (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Austin, Texas-based Chaotic Moon Labs made a splash earlier this year with a high-tech Kinect-controlled skateboard moving by the rider's hand signals. Now they are showcasing another skateboard that moves beyond Kinect power and hand signals, over to a board that moves by just reading your mind. Think where you want to go and your board takes you there. From their Board of Awesomeness, their newest Board of Imagination is designed to show another twist to skateboard inventiveness and also to what travel might involve with enough technical ingenuity and creativity at play.
Medicine & Health news
Turkey: doctors perform quadruple limb transplant
(AP) -- The head physician at a Turkish hospital says his team has performed the world's first quadruple limb transplant, attaching two arms and two legs to a young man.
Indonesia reports fourth bird flu death of the year
A 12-year-old boy on the Indonesian resort island of Bali has died from bird flu, the fourth human death from the virus this year, an official said Saturday.
Older anesthesiologists have higher litigation rates
(HealthDay) -- Anesthesiologists over the age of 65 years have a higher frequency of litigation and greater severity of injury than their younger counterparts, according to an article published in the March issue of Anesthesiology.
Complication in Turkey's quadruple limb transplant
Turkish surgeons had to remove one leg from a patient who underwent a quadruple limb transplant after his heart and vascular system failed to sustain the limb, the hospital said on Sunday.
Could rosemary scent boost brain performance?
Hailed since ancient times for its medicinal properties, we still have a lot to learn about the effects of rosemary. Now researchers writing in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, published by SAGE, have shown for the first time that blood levels of a rosemary oil component correlate with improved cognitive performance.
Airflow obstruction and reduced lung function increase the risk of heart failure
A large population-based study has found that lung function and obstructive airway diseases are strongly and independently associated with increased risk of heart failure. Importantly, say the investigators, this association was even evident in never-smokers and was still evident after adjustment for smoking status and number of years smoking. This, they add, indicates "that our results are not primarily confounded by smoking".
Bolus calculation, flexible insulin up diabetes control
(HealthDay) -- A structured course teaching the benefits of automated bolus calculator (ABC) use and flexible intensive insulin therapy (FIIT) improves metabolic control and satisfaction in patients with type 1 diabetes, according to a study published online Feb. 16 in Diabetes Care.
Cancer's growing burden: the high cost of care
Patti Tyree was afraid that cancer would steal her future. Instead, the cost of treating it has.
Allergy-Related diseases affect majority of children
(HealthDay) -- Eczema, asthma, and rhinitis affect more than 50 percent of children up to age 12, according to a study published online Feb. 16 in Allergy.
India taken off WHO polio list in major milestone
India was taken off a list of polio endemic countries by the World Health Organisation on Saturday, marking a massive victory for health workers battling the crippling disease.
States called on to restore anti-smoking funds
(AP) -- Steve Panetta smoked for 34 years, the last 10 at a three-pack-a-day clip. He watched his father die from lung cancer and his stepfather struggle with emphysema. He tried quitting six times before a state-funded cessation program helped him beat the habit in 2002.
Scientists discover elusive platelet count and limb development gene
Researchers have identified an elusive gene responsible for Thrombocytopenia with Absent Radii (TAR), a rare inherited blood and skeletal disorder. As a result, this research is now being transformed into a medical test that allows prenatal diagnosis and genetic counselling in affected families.
How to rescue the immune system: Study could lead to novel therapy for cancer
In a study published in Nature Medicine, Loyola researchers report on a promising new technique that potentially could turn immune system killer T cells into more effective weapons against infections and possibly cancer.
Scientists isolate egg-producing stem cells from adult human ovaries
For the first time, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have isolated egg-producing stem cells from the ovaries of reproductive age women and shown these cells can produce what appear to be normal egg cells or oocytes. In the March issue of Nature Medicine, the team from the Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology at MGH reports the latest follow-up study to their now-landmark 2004 Nature paper that first suggested female mammals continue producing egg cells into adulthood.
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