Latheef's Web Log

Once there was a little island country. The land of this country was the tiny island itself. The total money in circulation was 2 dollars as there were only two pieces of 1 dollar coins circulating around. 1) There were 3 citizens living on this island country.. A owned the land. B and C each owned 1 dollar. 2) B decided to purchase the land from A for 1 dollar. So, now A and C own 1 dollar each while B owned a piece of land that is worth 1 dollar. * The net asset of the country now = 3 dollars. 3) Now C thought that since there is only one piece of land in the country, and land is non producible asset, its value must definitely go up. So, he borrowed 1 dollar from A, and together with his own 1 dollar, he bought the land from B for 2 dollars. *A has a loan to C of 1 dollar, so his net asset is 1 dollar. * B sold his land and got 2 dollars, so his net asset is 2 dollars. * C owned the piece of land worth 2 dollars but with his 1 dollar debt to A, his net residual asset is 1 dollar. * ...

Two of the biggest fallers were the Gulf emirate's property giant Emaar and construction firm Arabtec. Shares also fell heavily in several Middle East exchanges including Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi slide came despite assurances from officials that the country was not exposed to the global financial crisis. The Dubai Financial Market sank to 3,043 by mid-morning with prices of all 27 quoted shares falling. The market fell by 5.1% on Tuesday. Foreign investors are reportedly selling interests in Dubai amid fears of weakness in the emirate's construction bonanza and a greater exposure to global markets than its Gulf neighbours. Unwarranted falls Saudi Arabia's stock exchange - the Middle East's largest - fell by more than 7.5%, trading below the 6,000-point mark for the first time since 2004. Saudi central bank deputy governor Mohammed al-Jasser tried to reassure investors, saying the country had no liquidity problems and was safe from the financia...

From cut fingers to electrical burns—what you should and shouldn't do in a home health emergency. NewsWeek

TORONTO: Plastic containers may be deadly for your brain. Canadian researchers have found that Bisphenol A (BPA), the chemical used in making plastic containers, might be responsible for impairing many brain functions such as learning and remembering. They also fear that it could be a factor behind Alzheimer's, schizophrenia and depression. BPA is globally used in making plastic water bottles, baby food bottles, food containers and dental prostheses. Link

Scientists are preparing for "seven minutes of terror" as a Nasa spacecraft makes a nail-biting descent to the surface of Mars The Phoenix lander will begin its plunge through the Martian atmosphere on 25 May (GMT) as it attempts to land in the planet's polar north. The craft needs to perform a series of challenging manoeuvres along the way. It then begins a three-month mission to investigate Mars' geological history and potential habitability. BBC Link

The Duggars, who already have 17 children, making them America’s largest family, continues to embiggen. Michelle and Jim Bob have just announced that they’re expecting a new baby on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2009. All of their children’s names start with the letter "J," so Discovery Health is taking polls on what you think the name should be Link

While knowledge is an important quality of expertise, it’s only one of several factors that makes someone an expert in their field. There are five characteristics of real experts: Knowledge: Being an expert requires an immense working knowledge of your subject, whether it’s memorized information, or knowing where to find information you haven’t memorized. Experience: In addition to knowledge, an expert needs to have significant experience working with that knowledge, and be able apply it in creative ways. Communication Ability: Expertise without the ability to communicate it is practically pointless. Connectedness: Expertise is, ultimately, social; experts are embedded in a web of other experts who exchange ideas and approaches to problems. These experts are likewise embedded in a wider social web that connects them to people who need their expertise. Curiosity: Experts are curious about their fields, and recognize the limitations of their own understanding of it. Sometimes becomi...

Eat 1 tea spoon variari (fennel seeds) after every meal Microscopic dust is bad for eyes, splash cold water 5 times a day to cleanse the dust Red chillies - Do not consume Lal marchi - bad for liver, kidney and gives ulcers Do not use lots of oil or ghee when cooking. Eat carrots Drink chaas (butter milk) Eat yogurt Eat raw papaya in the morning and ripe papaya in the evening Eat 2 ripe bananas a day (scientists have proven that eating very ripe bananas are good for reducing high blood pressure, cleaning the intestines and helping reduce constipation) CINNAMON ¼ tea-spoon of cinnamon powder mixed with cereals or anything in the morning with breakfast activates the pancreas which produces insulin, reduces the sugar level in the body• mixed with honey, it can be good for lungs and liver HALDI (turmeric Powder)boil 1 cup milk, mix with ½ teaspoon haldi kills lactic acid take 1 cup water add honey (in a silver cup or Pyrex dish), add 1 teaspoon haldi (filter in a cheese cloth) store in a...

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist Complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them. "Not very long," answered the Mexican. "But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American. The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his Needs and those of his family. The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, Play the guitar, and sing a few songs... I have a full life." The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard, and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the Extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat." "And after that?" asked the Mexican. "With the ...

Dubai: The government of India has issued instructions that all Indian passports with serial numbers Z-000001 to Z-045925 are to be recalled and new passports issued in their place. Some of these include certain passports issued by the Indian Consulate General in Dubai between February and September 2007. "This is a global recall. It is not restricted to the consulate in Dubai alone," said Venu Rajamony, the Consul General in Dubai. Rajamony assured that Indians whose passports fall under these serial numbers will be issued new passports without any delay. "Those who want it on an emergency basis will be issued with a new passport on the same day. http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/General/10210414.html

The value of a sisterAsk someoneWho doesn't have one. To realizeThe value of ten years:Ask a newlyDivorced couple. To realize The value of four years: Ask a graduate. To realizeThe value of one year:Ask a student whoHas failed a final exam. To realizeThe value of nine months:Ask a mother who gave birth to a still born. To realize The value of one month:Ask a motherWho has given birth toA premature baby. To realizeThe value of one week:Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper. To realizeThe value of one hour: Ask the lovers who are waiting to Meet. To realizeThe value of one minute:Ask a personWho has missed the train, bus or plane. To realizeThe value of one-second:Ask a personWho has survived an accident... To! RealizeThe value of one millisecond:Ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have.You will treasure it even more when You can share it with someone special. To realize the value of a friend:Lose one

To: My loving wife A man checked into a hotel. There was a computer in his room. So he decided to send an E-MAIL to his wife. However he accidentally typed the wrong e-mail address and without realising his error, he sent the message. Meanwhile, Somewhere a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. The widow decided to check her mail, Expecting message from her relatives and friends.; After reading the first message she fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read: To: My loving wife Subject: I've just reached Date: 13th Oct 2006 I know you are surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now, and you are allowed to sent e-mails to your loved ones. I've just reached and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you. Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was; MORAL OF STORY - be careful while sending ...

Bionic eyes have been implanted in British patients for the first time offering hope to hundreds of thousands of blind people. Read from Telegraph

Our memory is one of the integral parts of day-to-day human life. We’re using it every moment, consciously or not, as we perceive the world and interpret it based on our memories and experiences, or as we look for the car keys, trying to recall where, exactly, was the last place they were seen? It’s no small wonder that this part of our brain would fall prey to such inefficiency and failure, given the busy pace of Western life and the constant barrage of information that the hippocampus must somehow keep up with. At the same time, how can we fall complacent when such an essential thing as memory doesn’t work properly? Many lifehackistas and personal development fans spend hours, weeks, months and years dedicated to other areas of their lives while they completely ignore the memory. You should up your standards. Your memory should be a finely-tuned, working piece of equipment that you can depend on. So where do we start? Read from LifeHack

Japanese mobile service provider Willcom has today announced that the company will be selling the world’s first handset to be powered by Intel’s Atom chipset, and has released some details on the device. Read from ITP

A promising new cancer treatment that may one day replace radiation and chemotherapy is edging closer to human trials. Read from Wired

This is nice - finding positive out of every negative - which we don't always manage to do. I am thankful... 1. For the husband who snores all night, because he is at home asleep with me and not with someone else. 2. For my teenage daughter who is complaining about doing dishes, because that means she is at home & not on the streets. 3. For the taxes that I pay because it means that I am employed. 4. For the mess to clean after a party because it means that I have been surrounded by friends. 5. For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat. 6. For my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine. 7. For a floor that needs mopping, and windows that need cleaning because it means I have a home. 8. For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that we have freedom of speech. 9. For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been ...

Google Earth's new mapping programme takes you on a virtual reality tour with the UN refugee agency of some of the world's major displacement crises and the humanitarian efforts aimed at helping the victims. Link to UNHCR

Apple released another iPhone 2.0 OS update and the iPhone SDK Beta 3 today. The last iPhone SDK update is just about 10 days old. Link to I4U

India is actually starting to outsource some of their IT functions back the U.S. One example of this is new trend is Tata's new facility: "Tata Consultancy Services said last week it has opened a development center in a former paper plant outside Cincinnati, with initial plans to employ 1,000 people, which would make it one of the largest U.S. development centers by an India-based IT services company. The 200,000-square-foot facility will include a lab where TCS hopes to show off its experience in such areas as industrial engineering and services. TCS plans to hire Midwest tech talent for the facility." Tata isn't alone, the trend of IT jobs returning to US shores via foreign employers may only be beginning. We'll keep our fingers crossed. Thanks

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands : The Web site where Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders was promoting his not-yet-released anti-Quran film has been suspended by its U.S. hosting service, Network Solutions. The site formerly showed the film's title, "Fitna" — "Coming Soon" — and an image of a gilded Quran. Now it shows a note that the company is investigating whether the site violates its terms of service. "Network Solutions has received a number of complaints regarding this site that are under investigation," the note said. While the exact contents of the 15-minute movie, due to be released by March 31, are unknown, Wilders has said it will underscore his view that Islam's holy book is "fascist." Dutch officials fear the movie could spark violent protests in Muslim countries, similar to those two years ago after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper. Wilders has said he will release his movie on the Internet after tel...

An old man, probably some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the park bench. He didn't move, just sat with his head down staring at his hands. When I sat down beside him he didn't acknowledge my presence and the longer I sat I wondered if he was ok. Finally, not really wanting to disturb him but wanting to check on him at the same time, I asked him if he was ok. He raised his head and looked at me and smiled. Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking, he said in a clear strong voice. I didn't mean to disturb you… but you were just sitting there staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were ok I explained to him. Have you ever looked at your hands he asked? I mean really looked at your hands? I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I never really looked at my hands as I tried to figure out the point he was making. Then he smiled and related this story: Stop and think for a moment about...

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An innovative technique for detecting different biomarkers could result in a precise, easy-to-use diagnostic tool. T echnology Review

1. Don’t spend more money than you have. 2. Stick to your grocery lists – compile them based on an itemized overview of your household needs and never stray too far from it. 3. In a similar vein, never go grocery shopping hungry! 4. Keep your receipts, or write your own – at the end of each day, list your expenditures. At the end of the month, group those expenditures to create a simple overview of where you’re spending too much or even too little. 5. Pack a brown bag lunch each day. Save hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars each year. 6. Develop a distaste for Starbucks. 7. Talk yourself out of purchases. Ask yourself, do I need this? Think of various ways you can avoid a purchase that seems necessary through innovative MacGyvering. 8. You don’t need the $100 shirt from the pricey store when there’s a $10 equivalent at the thrift store. You don’t need a room-sized plasma TV when your old CRT still works. 9. Remind yourself frequently of your financial goals, especially when you’re ...

The most powerful computer known is the brain, and now scientists have designed a machine just a few molecules large that mimics how the brain works. So far the device can simultaneously carry out 16 times more operations than a normal computer transistor. Researchers suggest the invention might eventually prove able to perform roughly 1,000 times more operations than a transistor. Yahoo News

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Scientists say the data download has started from the international Cassini spacecraft as it moves through geyser plumes from one of Saturn's moons. An unmanned probe will sweep through geysers on one of Saturn's moons to measure the chemical makeup. Todd Barber, NASA's lead propulsion engineer on the project, says the transmission signal from the unmanned probe was received at 10:01 p.m. ET Wednesday and "everything looks great." The probe was expected to be at a height of nearly 120 miles above the surface of the moon Enceladus as it sweeps through the edge of the geysers and measures their chemical makeup. The carefully orchestrated event will take Cassini "deeper than we've been before," mission scientist Carolyn Porco of the Space Science Institute said in an e-mail. CNN News

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- A pair of astronauts have ventured out on the first spacewalk of Endeavour's space station mission despite a problem getting power to a giant robot that they needed to assemble. CNN News

MyTobii, a Swedish-based world leader in eye-tracking software and hardware, has launched their Middle East division at the Dubai International Rehabilitation Forum 2008. ITP Link

A tiny chemical "brain" which could one day act as a remote control for swarms of nano-machines has been invented. BBC Link

A British company has developed a camera that can detect weapons, drugs or explosives hidden under people's clothes from up to 25 meters away in what could be a breakthrough for the security industry. Full Story

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door. SON: "Daddy, may I ask you a question?" DAD: "Yeah sure, what is it?" replied the man. SON: "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?" DAD: "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?" the man said angrily. SON: "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?" DAD: "If you must know, I make Rs.100 an hour." SON: "Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down. SON: "Daddy, may I please borrow Rs.50?"The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behavior." The little boy quietly went to his room and shut ...

GREENSBORO (GEORGIA): Nearly four decades after this rural Georgia county stopped segregating its schools by race, it wants to divide students again—this time by sex. Greene County is set to become the first school district in the nation to go entirely single-sex, with boys and girls in separate classrooms—a move born of desperation over years of poor test scores, soaring dropout rates and high numbers of teenage pregnancies. Full Story

A well-made cup of hot tea can warm the heart and soul of any tea lover, but it can be unpleasantly bitter or disappointingly tasteless when improperly steeped. A conscientious approach to tea preparation can maximize the flavor and health benefits provided by the tea bush, Camellia sinensis. Here's how to get it just right. Link

Let’s say you are wrestling with a tough issue - maybe at work, at home, with your children or in your social life. You have been stuck for a while and you can’t seem to make a breakthrough. You want to come up with some really creative ideas. What can you do? Here are ten great practical ways to boost your inventiveness and to crack the problem: 1. Ask why, why? Ask, ‘why has this issue arisen?’ Come up with six different reasons and for each of them ask, ‘why did this happen?’ Keep asking why for each cause. This helps you to better understand the different reasons why this is a problem and so in turn you will see different possible solutions. 2. Sleep on it. Ponder the issue and all its aspects for some time and then put it out of your mind. Get a good night’s sleep. The subconscious mind goes to work and often you come up with great ideas the next day. 3. Talk it over with someone who has nothing to do with the situation. They will often ask basic questions or make seemingly silly ...

"Scientists have developed a computerised mind-reading technique which lets them accurately predict the images that people are looking at by using scanners to study brain activity. The breakthrough by American scientists took MRI scanning equipment normally used in hospital diagnosis to observe patterns of brain activity when a subject examined a range of black and white photographs. Then a computer was able to correctly predict in nine out of 10 cases which image people were focused on. Guesswork would have been accurate only eight times in every 1,000 attempts. The study raises the possibility in the future of the technology being harnessed to visualise scenes from a person's dreams or memory." Thanks

Learning looks set to undergo a big change as novel technologies make it into the classroom, says Bill Thompson. BBC's - Full Story Once you start looking at the way schools operate then you start to question teaching methods, assessment, exams and even the very existence of "schools" and "classrooms" Bill Thompson

Saving money is one of those tasks that's so much easier said than done. There's more to it than spending less money (although that part alone can be challenging). How much money will you save, where will you put it, and how can you make sure it stays there? Here's how to set realistic goals, keep your spending in check, and pay yourself first. Link

The Nationwide Building Society has admitted an ATM blunder which has seen thousands of customers not charged for machine cash withdrawals. The building society has been forced to apologise to thousands of customers after a technical glitch in Northern Ireland led to accounts not being debited at the time of withdrawals. The problem reportedly affects about 7,500 customers who took money from their accounts using cash machines at Northern Bank between last November and this February. The total amount in question is said to be about £400,000. An IT fault in the building society's connection to the national Link processing system is believed to be the cause of the problem. Jay Colville, area director of Nationwide in Northern Ireland, told the BBC that Link upgraded the ATM network at the end of last year, but that the building society did not handle the upgrade correctly. ADVERTISEMENT Nationwide has told affected customers it will now debit the cash from their accounts on 10 March....

Thieves operating in the UAE have compromised an ATM machine and stolen bank card details over a seven day period, according to a statement from the Central Bank of the UAE. The gang is understood to have installed a card reader inside the ATM to read card data, along with a video camera to record PIN numbers. The Central Bank statement warns that the thieves were able to "copy data of all the cards used in the said ATM during the period 19-25 February 2008". The location and owner bank of the ATM was not disclosed. The Central Bank has contacted the banks of card users who were affected, with instructions to block usage of affected cards and to replace them or PINs, as well as to check ATM machines for sign of tampering. Skimming attacks normally involve the placement of a fake card reader over or inside the regular card reader in an ATM, which reads and records the data from the card's magnetic strip, while either a hidden camera or a nearby observer (a so-called ‘shoul...

To track their blood sugar levels, patients with diabetes typically prick their fingers at least three times a day and feed blood samples into glucometers. It's a tedious and sometimes painful process, and a patient will often need to run a second test due to "insufficient blood" in the first sample. Now, researchers at Baylor University, in Waco, TX, have engineered a thumb-pad sensor that measures glucose levels via electromagnetic waves--no finger pricking required. "There are many patients that don't monitor because of the pain of monitoring," says John Buse, president of the American Diabetes Association. "So there's certainly the potential to improve the lives of people with diabetes." According to Randall Jean, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Baylor, the prototype of the new device matches the performance of conventional glucometers. "It is accurate enough for people to make decisions about whether or n...

When I applied for my faculty job at the MIT Media Lab, I had to write a teaching statement. One of the things I proposed was to teach a class called "How to Think," which would focus on how to be creative, thoughtful, and powerful in a world where problems are extremely complex, targets are continuously moving, and our brains often seem like nodes of enormous networks that constantly reconfigure. In the process of thinking about this, I composed 10 rules, which I sometimes share with students. I've listed them here, followed by some practical advice on implementation. 1. Synthesize new ideas constantly . Never read passively. Annotate, model, think, and synthesize while you read, even when you're reading what you conceive to be introductory stuff. That way, you will always aim towards understanding things at a resolution fine enough for you to be creative. 2. Learn how to learn (rapidly). One of the most important talents for the 21st century is the ability to learn...

The Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar has rolled out a Polycom video conferencing suite that will enable the school to link to its US campus to share lectures and seminars.The Global Classroom initiative will be used to deliver lectures between the two campuses, to ensure a consistent learning experience for undergraduate students.Polycom's RealPresence Experience High Definition (RPXTMHD) technology includes high-definition displays, low profile microphones, controls and cameras, and special dual lens camera technology that enables speakers in different locations to make realistic eye contact during sessions, to improve communications.James Reardon-Anderson, dean of the School of Foreign Service in Qatar commented: "The point of the global classroom is to enable students and teachers in separate locations to experience learning as if they were in the same room. This gives students from different countries and cultures an opportunity to talk directly to ...

The TANKER (an acronym for Tamilnad Kidney Research)Foundation is a registered, non - profit charitable trust, founded on 30th June 1993. TANKER aims to provide health care and financial assistance to those who have kidney problems and do not have the wherewithal to seek medical attention. tankerfoundation@tankerfoundation.com http://www.tankerfoundation.com/

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Working less while accomplishing more isn’t easy. It requires creative thinking creatively and a willingness to open yourself to the possibility that your methods aren’t as efficient as they could be. Once you do that, though, there are some ways that you can do it, including: The 80/20 Rule Only 20 percent of your work contributes to a large output. Be ruthless in cutting time in the less important 80 percent. Parkinson’s Law Parkinson’s Law states that “work will fill the time available for its completion.” Give yourself strict deadlines and cultivate a desire to finish projects. Energy Management Think of results as a function of energy, not time invested. Working intensely for a short period of time can accomplish more than working for days, tired and distracted. Only Use Sharp Tools Skill saves time. Don’t waste your time doing things you don’t intend to be excellent at. Delegate them to someone else. Rule With Numbers Assumptions are the biggest waste of your time. When your intu...

Does that slow drip in the sink keep you awake at night? Do you ever find yourself hearing a sound outside of your home and while getting used to it, staying up anticipating the next moment you will hear it again? Would you like to filter out annoying and disturbing sounds and get a good sound rest? The Sound Screen by Marpac aims to mute out undesired noises and give you a calm tone, so you can rest and sleep as you deserve. You filter out the amount of “white noise” by simply rotating the top cap of the device and relax while focusing on the silence. Can you think of someone this gadget is good for? Anyone you know that would love some external tech product to give them some peace and quiet? Whether you work late, crazy shifts, have a hard time getting used to all the noise at different times of the day, or simply looking for an easy remedy to help you sleep…Marpac aims to grant that Thanks

The US Dollar Collapse is Imminent and there will be global economic catastrohpe when it is rejected as the currency for trade, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday. The US dollar was retaining some value because of fears of a global economic catastrophe if it was rejected, he told a conference of some 650 chief executives from 30 countries at a conference in Kota Kinabalu on Borneo."But the catastrophe will come one day because even the most powerful country in the world cannot repay loans amounting to seven trillion dollars," Mahathir said.He said, Central banks worldwide were reducing their US dollar reserves and he suspected that Malaysia was also switching to other currencies.The huge deficit meant that the US dollar had no backing but it continued to be used internationally because some people still accepted payments in US dollars, he said."But there will come a time when we will switch away from the US dollar and we have suggested the ...

Founded in 2006, this Silicon Valley start-up aims to make small but powerful lithium ion batteries--which discharge energy as lithium ions move from an anode to a cathode--for power tools, but also has its eye on larger devices like motorcycles and cars. The three-pronged sell: higher energy density (the amount of charge the battery holds), higher power density (strength to rev up larger devices) and increased cycles (the number of times the battery can be recharged). The batteries also offer a vent to release potentially dangerous pressure that builds up from heat generated by those bouncing ions. Backed by Battery Ventures, Lion licenses its technology from SRI, a non-profit sponsor of technology development. According to Chief Executive Jeff Depew, the company's products should hit the market in 2009, if not sooner.

Dubai is set to spend $817-million on building the world’s largest arch bride, at 617-feet tall and 1-mile in length. Expect it to be in service by 2012. Link

A friendly dog can make older people feel less isolated--and it appears to make little difference if that wagging tail belongs to a robot doggie or the real thing. Researchers at Saint Louis University in Missouri compared a 35-pound floppy-eared mutt named Sparky with Aibo, a far-from-lifelike robot dog, to see how residents of three U.S. nursing homes would respond. "The most surprising thing is they worked almost equally well in terms of alleviating loneliness and causing residents to form attachments," said Dr. William Banks, a professor of geriatric medicine who worked on the study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. Banks said pets have been shown to help older people feel less isolated. "It really improves loneliness considerably," he said in a telephone interview. But many senior citizens are too frail to care for a pet or have had to give up their own animals when they went to the nursing home. "They really miss that...

A barren, treeless island in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard may prove to be the last, best hope of agriculture in warmer, more fertile parts of the world. The first batch of 100 million of the most important agricultural seeds were placed into the doomsday repository there today. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is buried deep within a frozen mountainside near the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen that perpetually cools it to –18 degrees Celsius (–0.4 degree Fahrenheit) with or without permafrost. Built to withstand all foreseeable disasters, including a recent earthquake that was the biggest in Norwegian history, it has room to protect at least 4.5 million samples (2.25 billion seeds) in its three man-made caverns. "The opening of the seed vault marks a historic turning point in safeguarding the world's crop diversity," says Cary Fowler, executive director of the Rome-based Global Crop Diversity Trust, which led the project. "Crop diversity will soon prove to be our...

DEUTSCHNEUDORF, Germany (CNN) -- Digging has resumed at a site in the southeastern German town of Deutschneudorf, where treasure hunters believe there are almost 2 tons of Nazi gold and possibly clues to the whereabouts of the legendary Amber Room, a prize taken from a Russian castle during World War II. Treasure hunters began drilling again Tuesday to try to locate the lost Nazi gold. Heinz Peter Haustein, one of the two treasure hunters and a member of Germany's parliament, said: "We have already hit a hollow area under the surface, it's filled with water and we are not sure if it is the cave we are looking for." Digging was stopped more than a week ago amid safety concerns, as authorities and the treasure hunters feared that the shaft might collapse and that the cave -- if it is there -- may be rigged with explosives or poisonous booby traps. At a news conference Friday, Christian Hanisch, the other treasure hunter, said that geological surveying equipment had loca...

The American University in Dubai (AUD) has streamlined its student record processing, with the deployment of a document management system, The university has integrated Perceptive Software's ImageNow document management solution with its existing CampusVue administration system, to provide secure management of electronic documents. The system also includes solutions for document capture and workflow, to improve productivity in the university's administration. Frank Seifaee, information technology services manager at the AUD said: "Our students records system was a very paper-heavy process. Because documents have to be viewed across different departments we wanted to find a more efficient way of providing controlled access. ImageNow meets all our needs - it's quick to implement, simple to use and has an affiliation with CampusVue. "Perceptive Software's director of sales, EMEA, Paul Hunt, said: "We're delighted to add The American University in Dubai ...

Motorists will be targeted by a new generation of road cameras which work out how many people are in a car by measuring the amount of bodily fluid it contains. The latest snooping device on the nation's roads aims to penalise lone drivers who abuse car-sharing lanes, and is part of a Government effort to combat congestion at busy times. The cameras work by sending an infrared beam through the windscreen of vehicles which detects the unique make-up of blood and water content in human skin. The system's inventors believe it will catch out motorists who try to fool existing CCTV road cameras by placing mannequins in passenger seats or fixing photographs to windscreens. It will at first be used to police car-sharing lanes in Leeds, but councils across the country have already expressed an interest in using them. Professor John Tyrer, who headed the Loughborough University team which created the device, said it would reduce congestion. "It allows you to automatically count peo...

Dark energy makes the universe fly apart like a runaway freight train and keeps space-time flat as a pancake, but what is it? Hypothetical 'dark energy' is the most popular way of explaining why the universe is expanding at an ever increasing rate. Dark energy plays a massive part in shaping our reality however nobody seems certain of what the dang stuff actually is. Future space missions hope to solve this mystery and shake up our current understanding of the universe. The discovery of 'Dark Energy' In 1998 two rival groups of scientists embarked on research projects to measure the effects of gravity on the expansion of the universe. Since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, the universe had been expanding. What was unknown was would this expansion go on forever. Was there too little mass in the universe to slow down the expansion - and it would continue forever? Or was the amount of mass in the universe sufficient to not only slow down the growth of the universe, bu...

Etisalat is taking steps to block the flow of SMS spam, with the deployment of a spam blocking solution from Irish mobile security company Etisalat customers to be protected from mobile spam with AdaptiveMobile solution AdpativeMobile. The UAE telco will roll out AdaptiveMobile's PolicyFilter SMS to automatically cut out spam sent from outside the Emirates, to protect Etisalat's 6.4 customers from unwanted text messages. The solution has been customized to screen both English and Arabic language messages, although it will only block spam SMS sent from outside the country. Essa AlHaddad, Etisalat's chief marketing officer commented: "Etisalat is extremely vigilant towards the protection of the individual and we rely heavily on the technology delivered by companies such as AdaptiveMobile to offer our customers total peace of mind. Our subscribers do not want to receive SMS SPAM and Etisalat's pro-active approach to security compels us to continually look at measures ...

If you've trying to lose weight and think your metabolism might be the culprit, there are changes you can make to improve it. But with the commercialism surrounding "metabolism-enhancing" products, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction (or advertising) and pin down techniques that are scientifically proven to change one's metabolism. Link

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For those who believe laughter is the best medicine, now there is a way to measure the dosage. Researchers at Kansai University have developed a machine that can scientifically measure the quantity of a person’s laughter, as well as distinguish between the real and the fake. The laughter measurement system, which the researchers say will help scientists conduct more detailed research into the physiological effects of laughter on the immune system, relies on a series of electrode sensors that monitor the tiny amounts of bioelectricity generated by certain muscles that flex when you chuckle. The sensors, which attach to a person’s cheeks, chest and abdomen, take 3,000 measurements per second. Sensor data is relayed to a computer, where it is analyzed by special software that determines the nature of the laugh and assigns a numerical score based on the quantity. The laughter quantity is expressed in terms of “aH” — a unit of measurement developed by the research team. According to chief ...