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Binge Drinking During The Holidays Blamed On Marketing

Binge Drinking During The Holidays Blamed On Marketing

Dec 28 2008 | comment(s)

As the party season approaches, a timely reminder of the issues surrounding the binge drinking culture are again highlighted by research into 'young people and alcohol' a team lead by Professor Christine Griffin, at the University of Bath. The research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) suggests several considerations for future policy. 
Oil Refineries Announces That 50%-Held Carmel Olefins Publishes Prospectus For Registering Existing Debentures For Trading

Oil Refineries Announces That 50%-Held Carmel Olefins Publishes Prospectus For Registering Existing Debentures For Trading

Dec 28 2008 | comment(s)

HAIFA, Israel, December 28 /PRNewswire/ --

Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE: ORL.TA) (the ORL), Israel's largest oil refiner, announced that on December 24, 2008 Carmel Olefins Ltd. (a 50% held private subsidiary) published a prospectus to register its debentures for trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The final prospectus is available in Hebrew on ORL's website under the Hebrew Investor Relations section, as of Sunday, December 28, 2008. Following please find a convenience translation from Hebrew of the first cover page of the prospectus. For full and binding information please refer to the Hebrew prospectus.

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Carmel Olefins Ltd. (the Company or the Issuer)

Batteries Included - Forever - With New USB Chargeable Batteries

Batteries Included - Forever - With New USB Chargeable Batteries

Dec 28 2008 | comment(s)

A British company says they have a solution to the over 22,000 tons of hazardous waste that ends up in UK landfills annually from Alkaline batteries that are thrown away after being used in toys and gadgets, creating a toxic problem for hundreds of years.

Moixa Energy's award winning USBCELL re-usable batteries could help reduce this, they say, as they can be re-used hundreds of times by re-charging in USB ports on desktops, laptops or games consoles, saving consumers from money and helping the planet. USBCELLs were recently a Good Housekeeping consumer awards finalist and in September won the Barclays Commercial 'Green Leaders in Business' award.

Multiple Sclerosis Hypothesis Contested

Multiple Sclerosis Hypothesis Contested

Dec 28 2008 | comment(s)

During an autoimmune disease, the endogenous defence system (the immune system) loses the ability to distinguish between "self" and "foreign".     As a consequence, the immune system directs its defense against itself, with fatal consequences.

In the case of multiple sclerosis, a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease, the immune system attacks the protective layer encapsulating the nerve fibres: This protective layer formed by myelin works like insulation for electrical cables. If the insulation is damaged, the nerves can no longer transmit messages effectively. 
Humans, Animals, And Plants Make Their Own Form Of Aspirin

Humans, Animals, And Plants Make Their Own Form Of Aspirin

Dec 27 2008 | comment(s)

Since 1899, when acetylsalicylic acid was named "aspirin" in Germany, the emphasis has been placed on its properties. There is a new wind on the subject -- a medical cyclone seems to be brewing in the United Kingdom. John R. Patterson and colleagues report their new findings in the Dec. 24 issue of ACS' biweekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
New Evidence That People Make Aspirin's Active Principle

New Evidence That People Make Aspirin's Active Principle

Dec 27 2008 | comment(s)

People can make their own salicylic acid (SA), the principal metabolite of aspirin. SA that gives aspirin its famous action on pain, fever, and inflammation is now looking like a star in its own "class" of bioregulators.
What Do Barack Obama, John McCain And Tom Cruise Have In Common? Scientific Illiteracy

What Do Barack Obama, John McCain And Tom Cruise Have In Common? Scientific Illiteracy

Dec 27 2008 | comment(s)

Go ahead and admit it, you would have been stumped if the answer wasn't in the title, right?   There isn't much a Democrat President-elect, an old white Republican war veteran and an insane actor could all have in common, but they do, according to the group Sense About Science which seeks to promote scientific accuracy.

It's scientific illiteracy.

Their Celebrities and Science Review 2008 pulls out the choicest bits of non-supported science data and holds them up for all to ridicule.  So let's go to it:

Barack Obama:
Competition And Coexistence

Competition And Coexistence

Dec 27 2008 | comment(s)

In a closed system (and the biosphere as a whole is a closed system) the only way to generate additional species is through evolution. 

While the evolution of new species is a necessary condition for the generation of diversity, it isn't good enough on its own.  If a species splits into two daughter lineages that are unable to interbreed, you should have two species.  But in order for them to coexist in a given area, some sort of ecological difference needs to have evolved.  If two species occupy the same area, they are in a position to compete for resources.  The more similar their needs, the more intense the competition is likely to be. 
Created - Artificial Human Bone Marrow In A Test Tube

Created - Artificial Human Bone Marrow In A Test Tube

Dec 27 2008 | comment(s)

Artificial bone marrow that can continuously make red and white blood cells has been created in a University of Michigan lab.   This development could lead to simpler pharmaceutical drug testing, closer study of immune system defects and a continuous supply of blood for transfusions.

The substance grows on a 3-D scaffold that mimics the tissues supporting bone marrow in the body, said Nicholas Kotov, a professor in the U-M departments of Chemical Engineering; Materials Science and Engineering; and Biomedical Engineering.

The marrow is not made to be implanted in the body, like most 3-D biomedical scaffolds. It is designed to function in a test tube.
Meta Goes Beta, Says JetBrains

Meta Goes Beta, Says JetBrains

Dec 27 2008 | comment(s)

JetBrains, creators of intelligent and innovative productivity-enhancing tools for software developers, have announced the Beta version of their new product - Meta Programming System, or MPS. Meta Programming System is a brand new concept of software development environment implementing the Language Oriented Programming paradigm. After several years of research and development, JetBrains has released its Beta version now, targeting 1.0 for early 2009.

Meta Programming System is an environment for professional software developers to create new custom languages, extend existing languages, and use them to develop programs. MPS is also an instrument for creating Domain Specific Languages (DSLs).

Mothers Diagnosed With Depression Have More Kids That Get Diagnosed With ADHD

Mothers Diagnosed With Depression Have More Kids That Get Diagnosed With ADHD

Dec 27 2008 | comment(s)

The probability of having one’s child receive an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis involves a mother’s own medical conditions and her use of health services prior to having the child, a new study finds. 

Using records from a Northern California Kaiser Permanente database, the researchers identified three groups: mothers of children with ADHD, mother of children without ADHD and mothers of children with asthma. Authors then compared the mothers’ diagnoses, health care use and costs among the groups.
Where does species diversity come from?

Where does species diversity come from?

Dec 27 2008 | comment(s)

If you set out to answer questions about species diversity, there are two questions you need to consider - how is diversity generated, and how is diversity maintained?
Animal Cruelty Or Better Drug Trials? Use Dogs In Research, Says European Group

Animal Cruelty Or Better Drug Trials? Use Dogs In Research, Says European Group

Dec 27 2008 | comment(s)

Human and veterinary medicine could receive a big boost through use of larger animals, especially pigs and dogs, in research, with Europe at the forefront, according to a recent workshop organized by the European Science Foundation (ESF), which called for a European pig clinic to facilitate generation and characterization of models of human disease that would be funded within the EU's Seventh Framework program, the main source of EU funding for research projects.

They say this will improve the prospects of bringing drugs to the market more quickly at less cost, as well as accelerating progress in other forms of therapy, notably the use of stem cells in regenerative medicine.
Discovery - The Trigger That Pulls Together X Chromosomes In Female Cells

Discovery - The Trigger That Pulls Together X Chromosomes In Female Cells

Dec 27 2008 | comment(s)

Scientists say they have discovered the trigger that pulls together X chromosomes in female cells at a crucial stage of embryo development. Their discovery could also provide new insights into how other similar chromosomes spontaneously recognize each other and are bound together at key parts of analogous cell processes. This is an important mechanism as the binding togetgher of too many of too few of a particular chromosome can cause a number of medical conditions such as Down's Syndrome or Turner's Syndrome.
OPERATION WARM TOES: U.S. Company Symbion Power AREVA TD Provide Warmth To Children In Afghanistan

OPERATION WARM TOES: U.S. Company Symbion Power AREVA TD Provide Warmth To Children In Afghanistan

Dec 26 2008 | comment(s)

KABUL, Afghanistan, December 26 /PRNewswire/ --

- With Photo

U.S. power engineering company Symbion Power, in collaboration with Hart Security and AREVA Transmission and Distribution (AREVA TD), a division of the global energy company AREVA, announced today an initiative to donate boots and socks to children in need in Afghanistan. The program, OPERATION WARM TOES, will at its completion deliver more than 3200 pairs of children's winter boots and shoes as well as more than 2500 pair of socks to children at schools and orphanages near Symbion's projects in Kabul. The first distribution took place at a school in Kabul on December 25, 2008 where expatriate employees of Symbion and Hart gave out the items to more than 800 children.

Tata Communications Global Internet Service Maintains Connectivity During Triple Cable Cuts

Tata Communications Global Internet Service Maintains Connectivity During Triple Cable Cuts

Dec 26 2008 | comment(s)

SINGAPORE, December 26 /PRNewswire/ --

Tata Communications maintained Internet connectivity to its customers in India, Middle East, and South East Asia and restored normal connectivity to its customers in these regions on December 20, 2008, within a day of the triple cable cuts of December 19, 2008.

Target – Melamine!

Target – Melamine!

Dec 26 2008 | comment(s)


You may remember the melamine scandal where in September this year over a thousand babies were made ill and four died as a result of producers putting melamine, or worse, melamine scrap  into milk to increase its apparent protein content as determined by standard analytical methods (basically nitrogen determination.)
Why Will We Have A 'Leap Second' This Year?

Why Will We Have A 'Leap Second' This Year?

Dec 26 2008 | comment(s)

2008 will be a little longer than you might have assumed at the beginning of the year. But not so much that you’ll be early for that New Year’s Eve party.

The spin of the Earth is slowing down. Not by much, only about 0.002 seconds a day (it actually varies), relative to our modern definition of the second. The varying rotation of the Earth is due to the cumulative effect of friction from the ocean's tides, the Moon’s orbital momentum, snow at the polar ice caps, the 23-degree tilt of the Earth, the atmosphere, solar wind, space dust and magnetic storms. In any case, the Earth does not rotate exactly once every 24 hours (or 86,400 seconds).
Carbonates Found On Mars Adds To Mystery

Carbonates Found On Mars Adds To Mystery

Dec 26 2008 | comment(s)

Researchers using a powerful instrument aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have found a long sought-after mineral on the Martian surface and, with it, unexpected clues to the Red Planet's watery past. 
NASA Signs Agreement To Test Plasma Drive On The International Space Station

NASA Signs Agreement To Test Plasma Drive On The International Space Station

Dec 26 2008 | comment(s)

Does Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket sound like science fiction to you?  

NASA and Ad Astra Rocket Company of Webster, Texas, have signed a Space Act Agreement that could lead to the testing of their new plasma-based space propulsion technology, the VASIMR engine, on the International Space Station. The engine initially was studied by NASA and is being commercially developed by Ad Astra. 

This is the first such agreement for a payload on the station’s exterior and represents an expansion of NASA’s plans to operate the U.S. portion of the space station as a national laboratory. This effort follows the success achieved by the agency last year in reaching multiple agreements to utilize internal station sites for this endeavor.