Human Organs Found In Florida Storage Locker
August 29th, 2012Via: CBS:
In what could be described as an episode of “Auction Hunters” turned reality horror show, authorities in Pensacola are investigating after finding human brains, hearts and lungs in a storage unit they say belonged to a former medical examiner.
Someone bought the storage unit at an auction last week and noticed a foul smell as they were sifting through furniture and boxes.
Officials at the medical examiner’s office in Pensacola say the remains of more than 100 people were found crudely stored in Tupperware containers, garbage bags and drink cups. Many of the remains were not identified.
Investigators found formaldehyde, a chemical used to embalm and preserve bodies, leaking from a 32-ounce drink cup with a cracked lid that was holding a heart, said Jeff Martin, director of the District 1 Medical Examiner’s Office in Pensacola. The unit had been rented previously by Dr. Michael Berkland.
Spain’s Jobless Turn to Barter System
August 29th, 2012Via: Wall Street Journal:
Even though she’s one of millions of young, unemployed Spaniards, 22-year-old Silvia Martín takes comfort in knowing that her bank is still standing behind her. It’s not a lending institution, but rather a time bank whose nearly 400 members barter their services by the hour.
Ms. Martín, who doesn’t own a car and can’t afford taxis, has relied on other time-bank members to give her lifts around town for her odd jobs and errands, as well as to help with house repairs. In return, she has cared for members’ elderly relatives, organized children’s parties and even hauled boxes for a member moving to a new house.
The time bank not only saves her cash, she says, but also lifts her spirits by making her feel “part of a community that’s taking some positive action during hard times.”
As Europe’s leaders struggle with a five-year-old economic crunch that has saddled Spain with the industrialized world’s highest jobless rate, young Spaniards are increasingly embracing such bottom-up self-help initiatives to cope. The diverse measures—some commonly associated with rural or disaster-zone economies—supplement a public safety net that is fraying under government austerity programs.
Gates Foundation Funds ‘Anti-Vaccine Surveillance and Alert System’ and ‘On-Demand Vaccine Delivery via Low-Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’
August 29th, 2012Via: TechNet21:
An anti-vaccine surveillance and alert system
Seth Kalichman of the http://www.uconn.edu/ in the USA will establish an Internet-based global monitoring and rapid alert system for finding, analysing, and counteracting communication campaigns containing misinformation regarding vaccines to support global immunization efforts.
…
On-demand vaccine delivery via low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles
George Barbastathis of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology in the USA will lead a team to develop unmanned aerial vehicles that can be deployed by health care workers via cell phones to swiftly transport vaccines to rural locations and alleviate last-mile delivery problems and improve cost, quality, and coverage of vaccine supplies.
Research Credit: noguru
U.S. Helicopters Over Bay Area Scanning for Radiation
August 29th, 2012You know, “Natural radiation levels,” *wink*
Via: Contra Costa Times:
Helicopters will be flying low over San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Pacifica through Saturday to record natural radiation levels, federal authorities said Monday.
The flyovers are part of research by two federal security agencies to set baselines for radioactivity in the event of a nuclear accident or terrorism.
The helicopters will fly a grid pattern about 300 feet above the ground, covering about 70 square miles for the Department of Homeland Security and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The Bay Area scans will include the areas near the Oakland-Berkeley border, along the coast in Pacifica and several areas in San Francisco.
The project will help local, state and federal authorities’ measure radiation, according to an announcement by the Nuclear Security agency. It has had similar flights around the country in recent months, including in Baltimore.
Did Gwenyth Todd Delay Start of U.S.-Iran War?
August 29th, 2012Via: Washington Post:
Todd feared that the Iranians would respond, possibly by launching fast-attack missile boats into the gulf or unleashing Hezbollah on Israel. Then anything could happen: a collision, a jittery exchange of gunfire — bad enough on its own, but also an incident that Washington hawks could seize on to justify an all-out response on Iran.
Preposterous? It had happened before, off North Vietnam in 1964. In the Tonkin Gulf incident, a Navy captain claimed a communist attack on his ship. President Lyndon Johnson swiftly ordered the bombing of North Vietnam, touching off a wider war that turned the country upside down and left more than 58,000 U.S. servicemen dead.
Don’t tell anybody? No way.
Todd picked up the phone and called a friend in Foggy Bottom. She had to get this thing stopped.
New AIDS-Like Disease Found in U.S., Asia
August 29th, 2012Via: AP:
Researchers have identified a mysterious new disease that has left scores of people in Asia and some in the United States with AIDS-like symptoms even though they are not infected with HIV.
The patients’ immune systems become damaged, leaving them unable to fend off germs as healthy people do. What triggers this isn’t known, but the disease does not seem to be contagious.
This is another kind of acquired immune deficiency that is not inherited and occurs in adults, but doesn’t spread the way AIDS does through a virus, said Dr. Sarah Browne, a scientist at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
She helped lead the study with researchers in Thailand and Taiwan where most of the cases have been found since 2004. Their report is in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
Research Credit: valix
Israeli Court Throws Out Family’s Lawsuit Over Death of U.S. Activist Rachel Corrie
August 28th, 2012Via: MSNBC:
An Israeli court rejected on Tuesday accusations that Israel was at fault over the death of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an army bulldozer during a 2003 pro-Palestinian demonstration in Gaza.
Corrie’s family had accused Israel of intentionally and unlawfully killing their 23-year-old daughter, launching a civil case in the northern Israeli city of Haifa after a military investigation had cleared the army of wrongdoing.
In a ruling read out to the court, judge Oded Gershon called Corrie’s death a “regrettable accident,” but said the state was not responsible because the incident had occurred during what he termed a war-time situation.
At the time of her death, during a Palestinian uprising, Corrie was protesting against Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
“I reject the suit,” the judge said. “There is no justification to demand the state pay any damages.”
Four U.S. Soldiers Accused of Plotting to Overthrow the Government and Kill Obama
August 28th, 2012[???]
Via: Global Post:
Four US army soldiers are accused of forming an anarchist militia inside the military with the idea that they would overthrow the government and kill President Barack Obama, the UK Press Association reported, citing court prosecutors.
Private Michael Burnett, one of the four soldiers in question, also pleaded “guilty to manslaughter and gang charges in the killings last December of former soldier Michael Roark and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Tiffany York,” the UKPA reported. Burnett said that Roark knew about the plan, and was killed because he was a “loose end,” according to the Associated Press.
Along with plotting to kill the president, the AP reported that “prosecutor Isabel Pauley said the group bought [$87,000] of guns and bomb-making materials and plotted to take over Fort Stewart, bomb targets in Savannah and Washington state.”
In court, Pauley told a Superior Court judge, “This domestic terrorist organization did not simply plan and talk. Prior to the murders in this case, the group took action. Evidence shows the group possessed the knowledge, means and motive to carry out their plans,” according to the AP.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jay Bookman noted that, “Sometimes these things get blown out of proportion, but $87,000 in weaponry suggests otherwise. And when you’re willing to murder two people to keep the plot secret, you’re pretty serious about it.”
According to the Atlantic Wire, the group went by the name F.E.A.R., which stands for Forever Enduring Always Ready.
IBM Envisions Watson as Supercharged Siri for Businesses
August 28th, 2012Via: Bloomberg:
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) researchers spent four years developing Watson, the computer smart enough to beat the champions of the quiz show “Jeopardy!” Now they’re trying to figure out how to get those capabilities into the phone in your pocket.
Light from Screens Delays Sleep
August 28th, 2012Via: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute:
A new study from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows that a two-hour exposure to electronic devices with self-luminous “backlit” displays causes melatonin suppression, which might lead to delayed bedtimes, especially in teens.
The research team, led by Mariana Figueiro, associate professor at Rensselaer and director of the LRC’s Light and Health Program, tested the effects of self-luminous tablets on melatonin suppression. In order to simulate typical usage of these devices, 13 individuals used self-luminous tablets to read, play games, and watch movies. Results of the study, titled “Light level and duration of exposure determine the impact of self-luminous tablets on melatonin suppression,” were recently published in the journal Applied Ergonomics.
“Our study shows that a two-hour exposure to light from self-luminous electronic displays can suppress melatonin by about 22 percent. Stimulating the human circadian system to this level may affect sleep in those using the devices prior to bedtime,” said Figueiro.
Related: Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder
