Sunday 19 February 2017
Rare chickens brought back from the brink of extinction by Edinburgh University
R
are chickens such as the ‘Scots Dumpy’ which was used by the Picts to warn of the approach of the Roman Army, could be brought back from the brink of extinction by Edinburgh University.
Scientists have genetically engineered chickens which can act as surrogates and lay the eggs of other rare breeds.
The surrogates themselves are sterile and so cannot produce their own offspring. But when the stem cells from rare chicken breeds are implanted into their reproductive tissue, they go on to produce eggs and ultimately chicks from the threatened species.-read more
Woolly Mammoths could be 'de-extinct' in 2 years
This whole nostalgia thing is getting out of control because scientists are about to bring back the woolly mammoth, the Guardian reports.
Harvard professor George Church—who New Scientist calls a "maverick geneticist"—is leading a "de-extinction" team that says it's about two years away from creating a hybrid embryo combining mammoth traits with Asian elephant DNA.
Woolly mammoths went extinct about 4,000 years ago due to human hunting and warming temperatures. But in the past few years, Church and his team have managed to splice 45 mammoth edits into Asian elephant DNA, including ones that control for a mammoth's shaggy hair, small ears, fat layers, and more.
While Church and his team believe they can have a "mammophant" embryo in two years, it will be much longer before anyone sees one in the wild. The team wants to grow mammophants completely in a lab in order to not mess with the reproduction of endangered Asian elephants, and that technology doesn't exist -read more
Backyard Worlds: Join Search for Planet Nine, Nearby Brown Dwarfs
A NASA-funded website called Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 lets everyone participate in the search for the hypothetical Planet Nine and ‘failed’ stars in the solar neighborhood by viewing brief movies made from images captured by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).“Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 has the potential to unlock once-in-a-century discoveries, and it’s exciting to think they could be spotted first by a citizen scientist,” said Dr. Aaron Meisner, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in analyzing WISE images.
The new website relies on human eyes because we easily recognize the important moving objects while ignoring the artifacts. It’s a modern version of the technique astronomer Clyde Tombaugh used to find Pluto in 1930.
On the website, people around the world can work their way through millions of ‘flipbooks,’ which are brief animations showing how small patches of the sky changed over several years.
Moving objects flagged by participants will be prioritized by the science team for follow-up observations by professional astronomers.
Participants will share credit for their discoveries in any scientific publications that result from the project.
“There are just over 4 light-years between Neptune and Proxima Centauri, the nearest star, and much of this vast territory is unexplored,” said Dr. Marc Kuchner, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.”-read more
Nelson's captured French Tricolour flag displayed again
A French flag presented to Norwich by Admiral Lord Nelson after it was captured in battle is to go on display for the first time in 100 years.
The ensign of Le Genereux, believed to be one of the earliest Tricolours in existence, was captured in 1800.
Conservation work on the 16m by 8.3m (52ft by 27ft) flag, which still contains splinters of wood and traces of gunpowder, will cost about £40,000.
Norwich Castle said it is "a remarkable survivor" of sailing ship battles.-read more
melanoma-warning-signs-and-images
Even if you have carefully practiced sun safety all summer, it's important to continue being vigilant about your skin in fall, winter, and beyond. Throughout the year, you should examine your skin head to toe once a month, looking for any suspicious lesions. Self-exams can help you identify potential skin cancers early, when they can almost always be completely cured.
First, for a successful self-exam, you obviously need to know what you're looking for. As a general rule, to spot either melanomas or non-melanoma skin cancers (such as basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma), take note of any new moles or growths, and any existing growths that begin to grow or change significantly in any other way. Lesions that change, itch, bleed, or don't heal are also alarm signals.
It is so vital to catch melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, early that physicians have developed two specific strategies for early recognition of the disease: the ABCDEs and the Ugly Duckling sign.read more
Elton the tiger gets a visit from the dentist
A dentist who has expertise in treating nature’s giants was called upon to treat Elton the tiger this week. Woburn Safari Park’s Amur tiger needed urgent treatment after breaking one of his canine teeth.
Dr Peter Kertesz, one of the world’s leading zoological dentists, was asked to visit Elton and perform dental surgery to repair the damaged tooth. In the wild, a dental infection could result in severe complications, and even death. Fortunately, the eagle-eyed keepers at the park spotted that something was wrong, and Elton s not recovering after undergoing surgery.
Dr Kertesz was assisted by a team during the procedure, which began once the Amur tiger had been sedated. The procedure, which was captured on film, involved cleaning the tooth, filling the holes in the canine tooth to prevent further infection, and fitting a moulded filling to strengthen the tooth.
Once Dr Kertesz had finished operating on Elton, he was encouraged to come around slowly, and he spent 24 hours in recovery sleeping off the effects of anaesthetic.
After his dental dramas, Elton has now made a full recovery. Dental infections can be incredibly dangerous for tigers, especially in the wild when they rely on hunting to catch and kill their prey. The team is trained to spot even the most minor injuries and swift action helped to save Elton’s troublesome tooth and prevent him from suffering pain and any long-term damage.
Seal hitches a lift.
Playing it dumb.
I know dear reader this is seems to be a strange headline but as i write this post i hope you will understand a bit more.I have noticed when going to tests for benefits or get help if you show any insight or knowledge it is frowned upon.So you can take 2 options -1 lie which is wrong and you will get caught out at some point,2-play dumb just keep replies to yes ,no and show no insight is this ok no not really but its the only thing that works .
Science behind love at first sight.
It is possible that their is science behind the instant connection of love at first sight.Back in 2014 researchers asked students to look at a series of photo,s of attractive strangers while having eye movement,s tracked.Students reported feeling romantic love ,their eye,s tended to fix on strangers face and if sexual desire they felt the eyes strayed over the rest of person,s body.This means eye movements can signal whether its love or lust that we feel.
Confrontation with Evil: An In-Depth Review of the 1949 Possession That Inspired the Exorcist Paperback
Known as the 1949 St. Louis Exorcism, the story of possessed child Roland Doe was immortalized in the groundbreaking novel and film The Exorcist. Much has been written about the case, but the truth has been shrouded in secrecy...until now. Join Steven A. LaChance, as he shares the shocking evidence for how a family's grief over the death of an aunt progressed into a full-blown demonic possession. While the conventional story is that Roland Doe brought the demonic infestation upon himself, LaChance convincingly suggests an alternative interpretation, and provides new insights into the nature of possession itself.
Winston Churchill on Aliens: 1939 Essay Discovered
Winston Churchill was known for his leadership during World War II, but a newfound essay on alien life reveals another side of him, one that was deeply curious about the universe.
"I, for one, am not so immensely impressed by the success we are making of our civilization here that I am prepared to think we are the only spot in this immense universe which contains living, thinking creatures," he wrote in the newly uncovered essay, "or that we are the highest type of mental and physical development which has ever appeared in the vast compass of space and time."
Besides being prime minister of the United Kingdom during the tumultuous years of World War II, the British statesman was also a prolific writer and proponent of science. In fact, he was the first prime minister to have a science advisor. Those traits converged in the newfound 11-page essay about the search for alien life, discovered at the Churchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri. It was first written in 1939 and was slightly revised in the late 1950s. [5 Bold Claims of Alien Life]-read more
Saturday 18 February 2017
what-are-cognitive-abilities/
First of all, what is cognition? Cognition has to do with how a person understands the world and acts in it. It is the set of mental abilities or processes that are part of nearly every human action while we are awake.
Cognitive abilities are brain-based skills we need to carry out any task from the simplest to the most complex. They have more to do with the mechanisms of how we learn, remember, problem-solve, and pay attention, rather than with any actual knowledge. For instance, answering the telephone involves perception (hearing the ring tone), decision taking (answering or not), motor skill (lifting the receiver), language skills (talking and understanding language), social skills (interpreting tone of voice and interacting properly with another human being).
Cognitive abilities or skills are supported by specific neuronal networks. For instance memory skills rely mainly on parts of the temporal lobes and parts of the frontal lobes (behind the forehead).
In the table below, you can browse through the main brain functions involved in cognition. You will also find brain teasers that will help you exercise the cognitive abilities described. I hope you enjoy it…and have fun!-read more
GM hens help build 'frozen aviary' in Edinburgh
Genetically-modified hens that can lay eggs from different poultry breeds are helping scientists set up a "frozen aviary" to conserve rare birds.
The aviary acts like a seed bank for poultry, storing primordial stem cells that produce eggs destined to hatch male or female offspring.
The Edinburgh University team have collected more than 500 samples from 25 different breeds.
The cells are held in a freezer at -150C and will be viable for decades.
The researchers at Edinburgh's Roslin Institute want to preserve rare poultry breeds that may be resistant to infections such as bird flu or have desirable traits such as high meat quality.
The first step was to create the GM hens capable of laying eggs from multiple different rare breeds, which include the colourfully-named "rumpless game", "Scots dumpy", "Sicilian buttercup", and "Old English pheasant fowl".-read more
Sunday 12 February 2017
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