73240071
submission
hypnosec writes:
Campylobacter, the food bug which is mainly found on raw poultry and is considered one of the biggest cause of food poisoning in the UK, has been found in 73 per cent of chickens in the UK – a year long survey carried out by the Food Standards Agency has revealed. The FSA published its cumulative results for samples taken between February 2014 and February 2015 including results presented by major retailer. The survey found that 19 per cent of chickens tested positive for campylobacter within the highest band of contamination meaning that more than 1,000 colony forming units per gram (>1,000 cfu/g) were detected in those samples. The survey, which tested more than 4,000 samples of fresh whole chilled chickens and packaging, also found that 0.1 per cent (five samples) of packaging tested positive at the highest band of contamination and 7 per cent of packaging tested positive for the presence of campylobacter.
73210421
submission
hypnosec writes:
Concentrations of ozone depleting chemicals was at its peak in 1993, but over the years they have declined and a new research points out that the Montreal Protocol, which came into force in 1987, has played a major role in not only ensuring that use of these chemicals is reduced, but has also helped us avoid a severe ozone depletion.
73108063
submission
hypnosec writes:
Researchers in Australia have used the vortex fluidic device – the same device using which researchers unboiled an egg – to produce a four-fold increase in efficacy of carboplatin, a commonly used drug for ovarian, lung and other cancer.
73052527
submission
hypnosec writes:
In a quest for more disease resistant and resilient crops, researchers have moved a step closer to identifying the nanostructure of celluose – the building block of plant cell walls – by tapping into IBM’s supercomputing power. Researchers at IBM and Universities of Melbourne and Queensland have been able to model the structure and dynamics of cellulose at the molecular level – a development that is pegged as a significant step towards understanding of cellulose biosynthesis and how plant cell walls assemble and function.
73044523
submission
hypnosec writes:
Oskar Pernefeldt, a student at Beckmans University of Design in Stockholm, Sweden, has proposed an International Flag of Earth that would not only represent our planet but will remind us that we share this planet and we should take care of each other as well as the planet we live on. The flag packs seven rings forming a flower at its center, which according to Pernefeldt is a symbol of the life on Earth. These rings are linked to each other, and this, Pernefeldt says, represent how everything on Earth, directly or indirectly, are linked.
72975009
submission
hypnosec writes:
Using the age-old idea of employing yeast to convert sugar into alcohol, researchers have formulated key steps using which sugar-fed yeast can be turned into a microbial factory to churn out therapeutic drugs including morphine, antibiotics and possibly even anti-cancer drugs. Researchers have succeeded in replicating the early steps of the chemical pathway in the poppy plant in an engineered strain of yeast and have managed to synthesize reticuline, a compound in poppy, from tyrosine, a derivative of glucose using the engineered yeast. The research has been published in journal Nature Chemical Biology
72940225
submission
hypnosec writes:
Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), UK have launched an awareness campaign dubbed ‘Wake up – don’t fake up!’ warning consumers of the risks posed by fake beauty products. PIPCU notes that their laboratory tests have shown counterfeit perfumes often containing poisonous chemicals including cyanide and even human urine. Lab tests of fake cosmetics including eyeliner, mascara, lipgloss and foundation have shown toxic levels of chemicals and harmful substances such as arsenic, mercury and lead. There have been instances wherein rats’ droppings and poison have also been found in the fake cosmetic products.
72902539
submission
hypnosec writes:
A novel technique of detecting cocaine abuse through a simple fingerprint has been developed by researchers from multiple universities from UK and the Netherlands paving way for a secure, non-invasive and hygienic drug detection method. The research, led by University of Surrey and published in the journal Analyst, demonstrates for the first time that cocaine abuse can be tested by non-invasive techniques by detecting excreted metabolites – benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine – resulting from abuse of drugs. These chemicals are found in fingerprint residue, which the researchers detected using analytical chemistry technique known as ambient mass spectrometry.
72723839
submission
hypnosec writes:
Never-before-seen photos of the Roswell ‘alien’ were released a week ago taking alien enthusiasts and internet by storm; however, analysis of the contents on the otherwise ‘unreadable’ placard in the photo has revealed that the ‘alien’ could actually a mummified body of two year old boy that was in display in a San Francisco Museum. The photos also called ‘Roswell Slides’ are images that a group of UFO promoters including Anthony Bragalia, Jaime Maussan, Adam Dew, and Richard Dolan, released at an event held on May 5, 2015, in Mexico City. They pegged these photos as undeniable proofs that positively indicate an extraterrestrial crash at Roswell in 1947 and the recovery and cover-up by the US government of alien bodies. However, the Roswell Slides Research Group analysed the photo using the commercially available SmartDeblur and a hack by Nab Lator, and was able to significantly clear up the blurred text. The first line was the most clearly resolved: MUMMIFIED BODY OF TWO YEAR OLD BOY
72691601
submission
hypnosec writes:
Good news for humans! We haven’t yet been surpassed in intelligence by computer programs as a two-day poker showdown between four of the world’s best players of heads-up no-limit Texas Hold’em and Carnegie Mellon University artificial intelligence program called Claudico saw the professionals win by amassing more poker chips than their AI counterpart. Despite the win, the poker players’ $732,713 collective lead over Claudico wasn’t quite large enough to attain statistical significance, experts have said. This means that the results can’t be accepted as scientifically reliable thereby indicating that the “Brains Vs. Artificial Intelligence” competition effectively ended in a statistical tie.
72597951
submission
hypnosec writes:
Researchers from the National Taiwan University have utilised gold and epidermal cells of onion to create an artificial muscle that can expand and contract to bend in different directions depending on the driving voltage applied. Published in the journal Applied Physics Letters, the research started off with the goal to develop an engineered microstructure in artificial muscles for increasing the actuation deformation. On examining onion's cell structure, researchers Wen-Pin Shih and colleagues realised that onion's cell structure and dimensions were similar to what they have been trying to make. The researchers treated the cells with acid to remove the hemicellulose, a protein that makes the cell walls rigid. Then, they coated both sides of the onion layer with gold. When current flowed through the gold electrodes, the onion cells bent and stretched much like a muscle.
72596893
submission
hypnosec writes:
Researchers at University of Southampton have put forward an analytical model based on which they claim that there is a possibility that debris from the recently exploded US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F13 satellite could pose a threat to other spacecraft and missions. According to European Space Agency (ESA) and other satellite operators, the 100 odd pieces of debris resulting from the explosion of DMSP F13 satellite on February 3, 2015 pose little risk to their missions. The debris were detected by ground based radar and according to scientists from the Astronautics Research Group at the University of Southampton, because of smaller debris, which were not accounted for, the risk from debris is much higher than previously thought.
71253169
submission
hypnosec writes:
On March 21 CERN detected an intermittent short circuit to ground in one of the LHC's magnet circuits that could delay the restart by anywhere between a few days to several weeks. CERN revealed that the short circuit has affected one of LHC's powerful electromagnets thereby delaying preparations in sector 4-5 of the machine. The European research organisation confirmed that seven of the machine’s eight sectors have successfully been commissioned to 6.5 TeV per beam, but it won't be circulating beam in the LHC this week. Though the short circuit issue is a well understood one, engineers will take time to resolve it since it is in a cold section of the machine and repair may therefore require warming up and re-cooling after repair.
71169937
submission
hypnosec writes:
Mars One CEO Bas Lansdorp has lambasted recent criticism of the project in a new interview, which have raised questions on almost each aspect of the project, stating that the reports are anything but the truth and pegged an article by journalist Elmo Keep as a sensational one that is devoid of actual facts. Lansdorp said in the interview that at Mars One they value ‘good criticism’ as it helps them to improve their mission. He said that the recent bad press was due to an article by Keep which contains quite a few things including details about the total applicants, and astronaut selection process which are ‘not true’
70826539
submission
hypnosec writes:
Oldest human brain in the UK is believed to have been preserved for over 2,500 years by mud, archaeologists have revealed. The brain was found inside a decapitated skull, with the jaw and two vertebrae still attached, at an Iron Age dig site near York, UK, in 2008. Based on radiocarbon dating of a sample of the jaw bone, researchers have determined that the person lived in the 6th century BC and is likely to be a man between 26 and 45 years old. A team of 34 experts have been working to study and conserve the brain since its discovery. An examination of the vertebrae in the neck shows that he was first hit hard on the neck, and then the neck was severed with a small sharp knife. York Archaeological Trust said the skull had been buried in wet, clay-rich ground providing an oxygen-free burial.
