Just like that

Ian Sample The Guardian science correspondent Thursday March 31, 2005 A severely paralysed man has become the first person to be fitted with a brain implant that allows him to control everyday objects by thought alone. Matthew Nagle, 25, was left paralysed from the neck down after a vicious knife attack in 2001. He uses a wheelchair and is unable to breathe without a respirator, and doctors say he has no chance of regaining the use of his limbs. But following an operation at New England Sinai Hospital in Massachusetts, Mr Nagle has become the first patient in a controversial trial of brain implants which could help disabled people to be more independent by tapping into their brain waves. During the three-hour operation, electrodes were attached to the surface of Mr Nagle's brain. They were positioned just above the sensory motor cortex, where the neural signals for controlling arm and hand movement are produced. Surgeons completed the operation by fitting a metal socket to Mr Nagl...

Times of India WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 Don't drop off at the back there - yawning is really interesting. Proving this has become the mission in life of Dutch academic Wolter Seuntjens, whose thesis - The Hidden Sexuality of the Human Yawn - has earned him a well-deserved place on this week's Improbable Research tour. "The yawn has not received its due attention," argues Seuntjens, of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, who set out to provide an encyclopaedic overview of all available knowledge about yawning, drawing on linguistics (semantics, etymology), sociology, psychology, the medical sciences (anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology), and the arts (literature, film, visual arts). He then explores whether yawning has an erotic side. Not all readers will agree he has really proved his point about the erotic yawn, despite citing a passage from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as an example, but it is a good try. Seuntjens believes there is no good explanation for yawnin...

It was jus another harassing night yesterday. With the pictures of tsunami devastation afresh in everyone memories, no one was taking any chance after the second quake in Banda Aceh on Monday night. Though the government departments were on their alert, the bureaucratic diplomacy was seen to the core in the words and actions of officials. It was irritating to hear Kapil Sibal clearly washing his hands off the episode during such an hour of crisis. When queried on what actions was being taken after the possible tsunami threat, he simply said "we've informed the home ministry about the quake and that's our duty. about what action would they act, its up to them to decide." At such an hour, when everyone is confused as to what to do and where to look, being the first government representative to have appeared on screen, I felt it called for a little more responsible answer from his side. Instead of sticking to his bureaucratic parlance about "its not my department...

IANS Tuesday March 29 LONDON: It has been the ultimate goal of alchemists and sorcerers for centuries - the ability to increase one's lifespan. Now Scottish scientists say they have unlocked the secret to an elixir of life. According to Scottish daily Scotsman, a pill by Aberdeen University professor John Speakman, if taken once a day would keep a person healthier, able to work longer and would also extend age limit by up to 30 years. Medieval alchemists had earlier tried in vain to make an elixir of life by dissolving gold in different liquids, while ancient Egyptians believed they could harness the power of the earth to create the Aqua Vitae. But Speakman has identified a more realistic candidate - a hormone called thyroxine. According to him, by altering the crucial biological process called metabolism, it is possible to reduce damage linked to ageing inside animal cells. "If you increase the metabolic rate of a mouse then it increases its lifespan," he said. This idea...

Agencies March 23, 2005, London: A two-day-old baby has died from the hospital “superbug” MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus).Luke Day was born on February 2 and died 36 hours later from MRSA, with the Ipswhich hospital saying he was born without any sign of illness, though the birth had been complicated. “We instigated an immediate investigation into the events surrounding this unexpected death,” the hospital’s acting chief executive Chris Dooley said in a statement.“This investigation included testing of the ward, the surrounding maternity facilities, all staff who have come into contact with Luke and the immediate family members for the presence of MRSA. All of these tests have proved negative.” The cause of death was established by a Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children pathologist.Healthy baby Luke’s 17-year-old mother Glynis Day told Sky television she hadn’t noticed anything unusual with the baby. “His colour was fine, he was just crying for milk,” she said...

ROGER HIGHFIELD London, March 23: We tend to trust people who we look like but are not sexually attracted to, according to a study that shows the extent to which we use the face to work out how genetically related someone else is to us. The study entitled “Trustworthy but not lust-worthy” shows that we are attracted by more than just someone with whom we feel something in common and underlines current evolutionary theory, which predicts we should trust our relatives but not have romantic relationships with them because of the dangers of inbreeding. The conclusions of Dr Lisa DeBruine of the Universities of St Andrews and Aberdeen are published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Biological Series. Students were shown pairs of face photographs, one that was subtly altered to resemble the student looking at the image and one that resembled another person. The similarities were not noticed by the 150 undergraduates who were asked to decide between pairs of faces as to...

AMIT ROY Telegraph on March 24 London, March 23: Naresh Patel, who has died, aged 63, while on holiday in south India, was a leading British Asian businessman who revolutionised colour film processing in the United Kingdom. His company, Colorama, which he set up in 1972 with other members of his family, slashed the time needed to process a roll of film from, typically, two weeks to, first, an “overnight” service and, then, a “same day” service. The £16 cost of developing and printing a 36-exposure 35mm roll, which was a large sum 30 years ago, was also cut drastically. Described by family and friends as “a man of vision who could see things behind a brick wall”, Nareshbhai, as he was universally known, was the first to give customers a roll of free film with their printed holiday or family snaps. His British rivals dismissed the move as “expensive madness”. Yet, Nareshbhai, who was a shrewd businessman, was the first to increase the standard size of prints to 6x4 inches from 5x3.5 inch...

Vatican is upset with The Da Vinci code and calls it shameless and unfounded lies . But its one of the best seller of the times. Dan Brown's extraordinary story-telling skills are too good to be ignored and Vatican's such belated calls are sure to fall into deaf ears. The book, which excellently explains or may be weaves a story behind every Da Vinci painting, ends on a note about the child that Jesus had with Mary Magdalene. The descriptions are too realistic to be disbelieved. And precisely, that's the reason why Vatican is jittery. But come to think of it, how many such scandals keep roaming around about Hinduism and has it gone around making a hue and cry asking people to stop reading it (apart from a few fanatical organisation who act for political gains at times). That's the strenth of the religion.. TOLERANCE.

Steve Job, CEO of Apple Computers, gets a salary of $1 only for years. And he is in the 74th position in the Forbes list of top 400 richest people in the world with an annual worth of $2.6 billion. After all, its his money. This man does it to keep up the spirit his company (firm). But what about our Beloved Amma, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, with a show of Re 1 salary whose networth is yet to disclosed? Whose footwear and sarotarial penchant still hold people who are in the know of things at awe? And all of this from public money? Of course, its all to keep her company's (friends) spirits up!!

Asian News International London, March 3, 2005 A British jail has employed stand-up comedians to teach prisoners how to develop a good sense of humour. According to The Sun, the comedy course at the Winchester Jail teaches criminals the communication powers of empathy and humility, and also how to crack a joke in comedy workshops. "We should be wiping smiles off the faces of these criminals," Ananova quoted Norman Brennan of the Victims of Crime Trust as saying to the paper. The course is being funded with 3,500 pounds public cash and by comedy bar chain Jongleurs.

It can happen only in India. All such tamasha of dismissing a legally elected government just because the mandate is in contrast to the Government at the Centre and the Governors of the two states are Central Government sympathisers. The tamasha at Goa is that Governor S.C. Jamir dismisses a legally elected Manohar Parrikar Government of BJP within hours of winning a controversial trust vote and sworn-in a Congress-led government headed by Pratap Singh Rane. All in a matter of few hours. He gives the latter a time of one-month to prove his majority while the former was just given two days. And What in Jharkhand? Governor Syed Sibtey Razi refuses to accept people's mandate and does not let NDA form a government. Instead, sworns in Shibu Soren immediately without even verifying his majority. Despite NDA parading its MPs (literally as in a fashion show) before the President, he goes on to give Soren "some more" time to prove his majority. Though all this high-tension drama ...

Hugs are best way to keep warm. Not just physically but also psychologically. When my son hugged me for letting him possess some trivia, the action said it all. And similarly, when I had tried my best to lighten the mood of my mother after an incident over which she was very hurt, all that she could say, nay do, was to give me a big hug. And she said everything in it. I was quite moved. Actions do speak louder than words. Especially hugs, don't they?

Reuters[ TUESDAY, MARCH 01, 2005 ] NEW DELHI: You can now buy lotions, potions and pills to cure anything from cancer to hysteria to piles - all made from cow urine or dung. A new goratna (cow products) stall at the BJP's souvenir shop is rapidly outselling dry political tracts, badges, flags and saffron-and-green plastic wall clocks with the face of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. "You won't believe how quickly some of the products sold out," says Manoj Kumar, who runs the souvenir shop along with his brother, Sanjeev, at the BJP headquarters in a plush central New Delhi neighbourhood. "The constipation medicine is a hot seller." But the biggest seller is a "multi-utility pill" that claims to cure anything from diabetes to piles to "ladies' diseases". "It's a miraculous cure" the container declares. A month's supply costs a little over $1. Another cure-all is Sanjivani Ark, a liquid medicine that battles...