The vaccine ACAM-FLU-A, made by Acambis, should give lifelong protection against all strains of influenza A - the cause of pandemics. It can protect against swine flu (H1N1), avian flu (H5N1) and all other known strains of type A.
Introducing something like this will mean eradication of flu because vaccine targets region of influenza virus which is common for all its types and doesn't change when virus is mutating.
Right now the second phase of clinical testing is performed, first phase has been finished successfully (90% of vaccinated people developed antibodies against flu virus).

See article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7171118.stm

There is one strange thing related to this vaccine. In September 2008 Sanofi Pasteur which is one of the biggest vaccine producing companies in the word has acquired Acambis.

Read this:
http://198.73.159.214/sanofi-pasteur2/ImageServlet?imageCode=23340&siteCode=SP_CORP

Wonder if this is connected somehow to development of universal vaccine. Selling of seasonal flu vaccines is main source of income for Sanofi Pasteur, maybe they do not want to introduce ACAM-FLU-A into market because it will mean less money for them? Guess if any such money is worth 500 000 deaths due to influenza every year.

/Z

Heim's theory (not mine) also predicts very accurately masses and lifetimes of many elementary particles. The predicted masses were claimed to have been derived by Heim using only 4 parameters:
h (Planck's Constant), G (Gravitational constant), vacuum permittivity and permeability.

Calculations are so simple that you can perform them using Java interpreter of your web browser: Heim Calculator
There is no other theory which is capable of doing such thing.

Do you think it could be possible to achieve such accuracy by playing with only number of dimensions 6, 8 or 12?
Don't think it is possible.

/Joss

This "gravitational effect" is regarding Lense-Thirring effect of GR due to rotation of mass, not the mas itself. /Joss

Here is correct link to ariv paper of Dr Martin Tajmar:
http://arxiv.org/abs/0707.3806

/Joss

Martin Tajmar also posits an a-posteriori explanation for the anomalous data from Gravity Probe B based upon Cooper-pair mass in Niobium superconductors in: arxiv.org/abs/0707.3806
Heim Theory predicted such effects in 1950s already. Droscher & Hauser have suggested mechanism based on Heim Theory which was a-priori prediction as commented in the cover story of New Scientist Jan 2006, 3 months before Tajmar's announcement on the ESA homepage.

Here is the latest paper from Droscher & Hauser which gives explanation for outcome of both Tajmar and GP-B experiments.

Personally I like this part:
Numerous experiments by Tajmar et al. were carried out since 2003, and first published in 2006 report on the generation of gravitomagnetic (spacetime twisting) and gravity-like fields (acceleration) in the laboratory. The gravitational effects measured were about 18-20 orders of magnitude larger than predicted by the Lense-Thirring effect of GR. In other words, the rotating niobium ring, having a mass of some 100 grams as utilized by Tajmar et al., produces a gravitational effect similar to the mass of a a white dwarf.

/Joss

The observations of Edwin Hubble in 1929 suggested that distant galaxies were all apparently moving away from us, so that many scientists came to accept that the universe was expanding. These scientists however did not include Hubble himself. While the metric expansion of space reading of Hubble's 1929 observations is viewed today by most scientists as the correct reading of the data, Hubble wrote six years later:

QUOTE (E. Hubble)
"... if redshift are not primarily due to velocity shift ... the velocity-distance relation is linear, the distribution of the nebula is uniform, there is no evidence of expansion, no trace of curvature, no restriction of the time scale ... and we find ourselves in the presence of one of the principle of nature that is still unknown to us today ... whereas, if redshifts are velocity shifts which measure the rate of expansion, the expanding models are definitely inconsistent with the observations that have been made ... expanding models are a forced interpretation of the observational results"

- E. Hubble, Ap. J., 84, 517, 1936

and

QUOTE (E.Hubble)
"[If the redshifts are a Doppler shift] ... the observations as they stand lead to the anomaly of a closed universe, curiously small and dense, and, it may be added, suspiciously young. On the other hand, if redshifts are not Doppler effects, these anomalies disappear and the region observed appears as a small, homogeneous, but insignificant portion of a universe extended indefinitely both in space and time."

- E. Hubble, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 97, 506, 1937

Mistake is the assumption that cosmic red shift is due to Doppler effect.
Existence of gravitational constant means that light is red-shifted due to repulsive gravity effect on very large distances.

Even Einstein himself apparently has been fooled by "expanding universe" idea and didn't finished his works based on cosmological constant. Maybe this is a reason why he didn't succeed with his general relativity theory: due to misconception.

Today I'm convinced that "expanding universe" is one of biggest mistakes which Physics has ever made. That's why we hear this constant mumbling about "dark energy" and "dark mass":

/Z

Heim Theory got Simple explanation for that. Every field got "field mass" associated with it:
http://www.engon.de/protosimplex/posdzech/px_g_gravi1e.htm

Because of equivalence of mass and energy Heim says there must also exist a field mass of the field energy of each field. However in case of gravitational field this results in a secondary (very weak) additional gravitative source because a field mass possesses its own gravitational field.
In a volume V0 there is mass which may be distributed in any kind. This mass is producing a gravitation effect, as it can be described with Newton's approximation. Now Heim says that to the energy of this gravitational field corresponds its own field mass. This field mass again produces a second additionally gravitational field which is very weak. Again this field possesses its own field mass which produces a field. So you receive an infinite series, which however converges very fast against a calculable limit value.
The whole description results in a short mathematical description for a corrected gravitation law, which corresponds with Newton's gravitation law within the observable area of space. However for very large distances it will provide completely different results. As you can see in the illustration below for very long distances gravitation will produce a weak repulsing force which will only exist if a mass is moving toward the center of the gravitational field. Among other things the phenomenon of the cosmic red shift can be explained now as a gravitational effect.

/Joss

Exactly like you have written, there already exist explanation for this:
http://www.engon.de/protosimplex/posdzech/px_g_gravi1e.htm

Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heim_theory
/Joss

This anomaly is not due to mysterious "dark energy", simply "mainstream" understanding of gravity is not complete.
Heim Theory predicted and explained this in 1950s:

http://www.engon.de/protosimplex/posdzech/px_g_gravi1e.htm
Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heim_theory
/Joss

Use Heim Mass Calculator to easily compute masses of proton, neutron, electron and a lot of other particles as well, with a great precision (relative errors less then 0.00001) when comparing with most precise laboratory measurements available. The only hardware you need is Java in your browser.

This algorithm is based on 50-year old equations of Burkhard Heim thanks to his beautiful theory. Notice that it include computation of neutrino mass which was found in recent years. When Heim was working on his theory almost all scientist were sure that neutrino is massless. The only input which this algorithm needs is a bunch of well known constants: h (Planck's Constant), G (Gravitational constant), vacuum permittivity and vacuum permeability.

Our current "mainstream" (hate this word) theory known as Standard Model is full of inconsistencies which are forcing scientists to constantly mumble about "dark mass" and "dark energy" stuff.
It remembers me about Enrico Fermi's comment "Beautiful theory, wrong universe". Does it apply here?

/Z

OK. Will explain it once again.

1. Is global warming a true process?

ANSWER: YES. We are simply getting closer to the middle of interglacial period.

2. Is the humankind activity a main source of global warming?

ANSWER: NO. Global warming has started after last glacial period somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 BP and most likely is caused by changes in Sun activity.

/Z