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A team of archeologists have uncovered a flute in a German cave dating back 35,000 years

General - No Comments » - Posted on June, 27 at 8:48 am

A team of archeologists have uncovered a flute in a German cave dating back 35,000 years, showing that early Europeans had an advanced creative culture which included artistic pursuits.

The flute, made from a griffon vulture bone, was assembled from several pieces found in the Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany. It is 8.6-inches (22-centimeters) long and features complex and delicate craftsmanship, shown by its five holes and a notched end.

“It’s unambiguously the oldest instrument in the world,” says University of Tuebingen archaeologist Nicholas Conar, who lead the team.

The flute is also the oldest and most complex musical instrument so far found in Europe. Another flute excavated in Austria is believed to be 19,000 years old, and a group of 22 flutes found in the French Pyrenees mountains has been dated at up to 30,000 years ago.

The Hohle Fels cave is also where archeologists have uncovered the oldest statue on record, a small ivory carving of a woman believed to have been used in fertility rituals. Other ancient fertility objects have been found in this cave. Via

Apple Removes Hottest Girls For iPhone Because It Contains Porn

General - No Comments » - Posted on June, 27 at 8:47 am

Apple is making fun of iPhone users. After they approved the first porn app, Apple decided to take it down after a few hours because it contained porn. Hottest Girls was an $1.99 which at first consisted of Asian girls in swimsuits or lingerie, but two days ago the developer added some nice boobs there. Well, everybody was surprised when the app was no longer available and we thought that Apple took it down.

Moments later the ATG dev team said that Hottest Girls for iPhone is now sold out, but I don’t know how an app can be sold out. The developer also stated that the server usage is high because the app is very popular and they don’t want their server to crash, but the app will be up and running again with boobs included.

Every iPhone user was relieved to hear that, however the story was a lot different. A spokesman for Apple officially said that Apple was the one who had removed the application because it violated the TOU of the iPhone dev program. According to Apple, the company will not approve apps with explicit content therefore they will remove every app that contains inappropriate content. Apple motivated their decision by saying that when Hottest Girls was approved it didn’t contain topless pics and the developer added them afterwards. Due to the fact that they don’t allow porn, the application has been removed from the App Store.

What more can we say? Apple took everything that was good from the App Store. The good thing is that those who downloaded the app with topless pics will still be able to use it therefore you should backup your iPhone and make sure that you won’t lose the app.

via TechCrunch

Hottest Girls for iPhone

Read More On This Topic:

  1. Apple Approves Porn App, Hottest Girls Available for iPhone (NSFW)
  2. Apple Will Remove Apps Not Compatible With The iPhone OS 3.0 From The App Store
  3. Apple Removes Sikalosoft’s Baby Shaker From The iTunes Store

Michael Jackson, Jeff Goldblum, Harrison Ford – All dead, according to social media

General - No Comments » - Posted on June, 27 at 8:47 am

We just told you what buzz did the death of Michael Jackson create on social media websites like Twitter, which was very good, because people were able to find out instantly. Now the bad part is that there are fake rumors of other celebrities’ death, like Harrison Ford or Jeff Goldblum. Those rumors are absolutely fake, but make Twitter users seem to have believed and there are also a lot of websites that and some newspapers that didn’t double check the news and said it’s true.

It’s clear that Twitter is no official source of news, Twitter users are not journalists  and can’t be trusted 100%, but it seems like the websites and newspapers we were telling you earlier didn’t know this. Because of this, the craze about the two celebrities’ death has spread and now many other websites profit of this to gain some spare traffic.

Excepting the fact that people fell the victims of some fake rumors, it’s a bad situations for the celebrities to be considered dead. We should find a way to deal with those kind of issues.

Jeff Goldblum death

Read More On This Topic:

  1. How to track Michael Jackson and Jeff Goldblum News on Social Media
  2. Michael Jackson died of a heart attack, makes buzz on Twitter
  3. Social Media Helps Obama To Keep People Informed About The Swine Flu

Michael Jackson died of a heart attack, makes buzz on Twitter

General - No Comments » - Posted on June, 27 at 8:47 am

Michael Jackson died earlier today and Twitter was ovewhelmed by people spreading the news or asking for more details. Like we got used to, Twitter was the first media where you could find out the news, right after TMZ made the official announcement.

This only means that social networking is indeed a helpful tool and chances are that traditional media will never have the possibility to deal with this. And one good reason I can think of is that it would take much more for a newspaper or a TV Channel to get the news life than it takes for a Twitter user to broadcast the story in 140 characters.

Michael Jackson Twitter

There were over 50,000 tweets about Michael Jackson’s death in just one hour, which means Twitter again did a great job at spreading the news and thousands of people were informed imediately. Considering 50,000 of them tweeted about it, there were probably a few hundred thousands or millions who actually read tweets about it. TV Channels also broadcasted the news pretty fast, but I’m glad to say Twitter was faster.

Read More On This Topic:

  1. How to track Michael Jackson and Jeff Goldblum News on Social Media
  2. Michael Jackson, Jeff Goldblum, Harrison Ford – All dead, according to social media
  3. Twitter Swine Flu Map More Useful Than What Google and Microsoft Have To Offer

Researchers Contribute Climate Model to Study That Finds Some Winds Decreasing

General - No Comments » - Posted on June, 27 at 8:47 am
Iowa State University researchers contributed their regional climate modeling expertise to a study that found surface wind speeds are decreasing across the country. That could have implications for the wind power industry, agriculture and city air pollution.

Iowa State University researchers contributed their regional climate modeling expertise to a study that found surface wind speeds are decreasing across the country. That could have implications for the wind power industry, agriculture and city air pollution.

Declining wind speeds in parts of the United States could impact more than the wind power industry, say Iowa State University climate researchers.

Three Iowa State researchers contributed their expertise in modeling North America’s climate to a study to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres. The study – led by Sara C. Pryor, a professor of atmospheric science at Indiana University Bloomington – found that wind speeds across the country have decreased by an average of .5 percent to 1 percent per year since 1973.

“The study found that across the country wind speeds were decreasing – more in the East than in the West, and more in the Northeast and the Great Lakes,” said Gene Takle, an Iowa State professor of geological and atmospheric sciences and agronomy.

In Iowa, a state that ranks second in the country for installed wind power capacity, Takle said the study found annual wind speed declines that matched the average for the rest of the country.

The study’s findings made headlines across the country. Most of those stories focused on the potential implications for the wind power industry.

But Iowa State’s team of climate researchers – Takle; Ray Arritt, a professor of agronomy; and Bill Gutowski, a professor of geological and atmospheric sciences – say the study raised other issues and questions, too.

The study looked at eight sets of wind data going back to 1973 and up to 2005: actual wind speed measurements from anemometers; a hybrid of measurements and computerized climate models; and two different regional climate models. Iowa State researchers contributed a regional model of North America’s climate they’ve worked with since the early 1990s. It’s a community model that researchers across the globe share and use. The Iowa State researchers have used the model to run long-term climate simulations.

Takle said there wasn’t a lot of agreement between the measurements and the various models. The model that most closely matched the measurements was the one used by the Iowa State researchers.

Gutowski said the differences aren’t surprising because the study was an initial examination of surface wind trends. He also said those differences tell climate researchers they have more work to do.

“We see this trend toward slower wind speeds and our unanswered question is whether this is part of global warming or something else,” Gutowski said. “What we’re poking into here is not something that’s commonly explored. Most studies look at temperature and precipitation, not surface winds.”

But the researchers said slower surface winds can have significant impacts beyond the wind power industry.

Crops, for example, depend on the wind for ventilation and cooling. Slower winds could mean higher field temperatures and less productive crops.

Slower winds could also mean more dew covering crops for longer periods, Takle said. That could mean problems with fungus and plant disease. That could also lead to lower yields at harvest time.

In cities, slower winds can mean more pollution and heat, the Iowa State researchers said.

“Air pollution episodes in major cities happen when there’s high pressure and stagnant air,” Takle said. “Less wind means less ventilation and less sweeping away of pollutants.”

Slower winds can also be a problem when heat waves hit a city, he said. The winds wouldn’t dissipate as much heat, allowing heat to linger and build.

All of those potential impacts need further study, the researchers said. And so does the cause of the apparent decline in the country’s wind speeds.

Takle suggested three possibilities for the trend: changes in instrumentation produced flawed measurements (though Takle said researchers made corrections to account for the changes); the study didn’t account for land-use changes such as development and tree planting that slowed winds near instruments; or the climate is changing and one consequence is slower winds.

Arritt said the study appears to support theories that climate change could affect surface winds.

“There are some good theoretical reasons to think that global warming will cause lighter winds in regions between the tropics and the Arctic,” Arritt said. “But we like to confirm our theory with data, and our results make us think the theory is on track.”

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-26

General - No Comments » - Posted on June, 27 at 8:47 am

Recession No Damper on Americans’ Vacation Travel Plans

General - No Comments » - Posted on June, 27 at 8:47 am

The recession is apparently not deflecting consumers’ vacation travel plans this year, according to findings from a national study conducted recently by a research team led by Nancy McGehee, associate professor of hospitality and tourism management at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business.

Survey respondents were asked how the current economic situation might affect their likelihood to travel for pleasure in general this year. Nearly half — 49.4 per cent — reported that the economy would have no impact, while 35 per cent indicated they would be less likely to travel. The remainder — more than 15 per cent —reported that they would be more likely to travel.

“An interesting trend seemed to emerge,” McGehee said, when respondents were asked why. “Those who reported no impact explained that their travel experiences were very important to them, and many other luxuries would be foregone before they would give up those plans. Of those who reported that they were more likely to travel, several indicated that they were on fixed incomes and that low gas prices and bargains currently available in the travel industry were to their benefit.”

Respondents who indicated no change in their travel plans were evenly split along gender lines, she said. “However, many more women than men — 58 per cent women versus 42 per cent men — reported that they would be less likely to travel due the economy.” The survey was sent to 2,500 people in 48 states. Responses were received from more than 800 people in 44 states, resulting in a 32 per cent response rate.

The travel survey is part of a larger study on sustainable tourism that McGehee and her fellow researchers are conducting for the National Park Service. McGehee’s co-researchers on the project are John McGee, a geospatial extension specialist at Virginia Tech’s Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, and Jeff Hallo, Cari Goetcheus, and William Norman, all of Clemson University.

Virginia Tech’s nationally ranked Pamplin College of Business (www.pamplin.vt.edu) offers undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting and information systems, business information technology, economics, finance, hospitality and tourism management, management, and marketing. The college emphasizes the development of ethical values and leadership, technology, and international business skills. Its centers focus on business leadership, business diversity, electronic commerce, forest industries, organizational performance, and services innovation. The college is committed to serving business and society through the expertise of its faculty, alumni, and students. It is named in honor of alumnus Robert B. Pamplin, the former CEO of Georgia-Pacific, and businessman, philanthropist, and alumnus Robert B. Pamplin Jr.

Read more about Nancy McGehee’s tourism research at the following links.

Homepage: http://www.htm.pamplin.vt.edu/faculty/mcGehee.html

News release on sustainable tourism:
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2008&itemno=461

Research magazine story on volunteer tourism:
http://www.research.vt.edu/resmag/2009winter/tour.html

Caffeine reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

General - No Comments » - Posted on June, 27 at 8:47 am

If you think that your daily cups of coffee only provide you with alertness after you wake up or during the day, think again. Long-term intake of caffeine, the major constituent in coffee and tea, has been shown to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s in mice that develop the disease.

In a study just published on-line in the Journal Neuroscience, researchers at the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute in Tampa, Florida, are reporting that caffeine intake equivalent to five cups of coffee a day in humans, protects Alzheimer’s mice against otherwise certain memory impairment and reduces Alzheimer’s pathology in their brains.

amyloid

Beta-amyloid results when two enzymes, BACE and PS1, cut a larger protein in the cell membrane of brain cells called APP. Newly formed molecules of beta-amyloid then aggregate into plaques. Caffeine reduces the level of both BACE and PS1 enzymes, resulting in less beta-amyloid in the brain.

An earlier study in humans hinted that caffeine was protective against Alzheimer’s disease by showing that Alzheimer’s patients consumed markedly less caffeine during the 20 years preceding disease diagnosis compared with age-matched individuals without Alzheimer’s disease.

“We wanted to test the ability of dietary caffeine intake to protect against Alzheimer’s disease in a highly controlled study in Alzheimer’s mice where the only variable that was different between groups was whether caffeine was in their drinking water or not,” says Dr. Gary Arendash, Ph.D, lead researcher in the study. “We were surprised to find that Alzheimer’s mice given caffeine in their drinking water throughout adult life performed much better than Alzheimer’s mice not given caffeine and very similar to normal mice without the disease,” adds Arendash.

Not only was the memory of Alzheimer’s mice protected by the human equivalent of five cups of coffee per day (500 mg/day), but levels of an abnormal brain protein that most researchers believe causes the disease were reduced. This abnormal protein, called beta-amyloid, is formed by the actions of two enzymes on a much larger protein called APP, which extends through the cell membrane of brain cells. The two enzymes (BACE and PS1) cut APP in specific places, resulting in beta-amyloid formation. Once formed, beta-amyloid molecules aggregate into “plaques” within the brain, causing death and dysfunction of cells, especially in brain areas important for learning and memory. The researchers found that caffeine reduces the level of both BACE and PS1 enzymes, thus resulting in much less of the dangerous beta-amyloid protein.

Even when the researchers administered caffeine to aged Alzheimer’s mice, that already had high levels of beta-amyloid in their brains, caffeine intake resulted in lower beta-amyloid levels. This finding suggests that even individuals who already have the disease could benefit from a moderate daily intake of caffeine.

“Some of the current therapeutics being developed against Alzheimer’s disease involve synthetic compounds capable of suppressing either BACE or PS1 enzymes in the brain,” Dr. Arendash says. “It appears we have found a totally natural and very safe dietary compound for most of us, namely caffeine that suppresses both of these enzymes. This is the most likely way that caffeine is protecting our mice against Alzheimer’s disease, although there are several other possible mechanisms,” adds Arendash.

The researchers began giving Alzheimer’s mice caffeine in their drinking water at 4 months of age and continued treatment through 9 months of age – an age at which beta-amyloid levels are rapidly increasing in Alzheimer’s mice. During the final month of caffeine treatment, mice were tested in a variety of tasks involving learning, memory, and recognition. Across multiple behavioral measures, the Alzheimer’s mice given caffeine performed much better than those that been given given normal drinking water. Long-term dietary caffeine protected many aspects of cognition in these mice, not simply one aspect.

For an 8-ounce serving, drip coffee typically contains 100 mg caffeine, tea contains about 35 mg caffeine, and soft drinks contain 25 mg caffeine. To attain the 500 mg caffeine per day equivalent in humans that the researchers found to be protective in Alzheimer’s mice, only five cups of coffee would be required. Since some coffees, especially from specialty shops, contain considerably more than 100 mg caffeine per 8-ounce cup, fewer than 5 cups may be needed.

“The results of our study add Alzheimer’s disease to a growing list of age-related diseases where caffeine or coffee appear to reduce the risk,” says Dr. Arendash.
Long-term intake of caffeine and/or coffee has been linked to reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, suicide risk, and colorectal cancer. Although caffeine has been suspected of causing hypertension, a recent study showed that there is no association between caffeine consumption “in coffee” and blood pressure. By contrast, caffeine in sugared and diet soft drinks did increase the risk of hypertension.

“Aside from its rich source of caffeine, coffee is the primary dietary source of antioxidants for Americans, which may be why drinking coffee does not seem to increase risk of hypertension,” says Dr. Arendash.

The study involved several laboratories and universities collaborating with the Byrd Institute. Other collaborators in the study include Dr. Jun Tan, Ph.D, of the University of South Florida College of Medicine and Dr. Ed Jackson, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the loss of brain cells and their connections. Signs of the disease usually become evident after 65 years of age, initially as a loss of short-term memory for events that occurred a few minutes earlier.

Over the disease’s time course of 2 to 20 years, cognitive impairment expands to involve long-term memory and language skills. Eventually, all aspects of intellect are lost. Alzheimer’s disease afflicts 4.5 million Americans and costs the U.S. economy $100 billion a year. Ten percent of people 65 or older and half of those 85 or older are victims of the disease. With the aging baby boomer generation, the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease will more than double by 2050, and the costs to society will balloon as well.

Aside from consuming caffeine, Americans can take other precautions to decrease their risk for Alzheimer’s or delay the disease’s onset. These include:

• Keeping cognitively active, exercising your brain
• Eating a low-fat diet rich in antioxidants
• Keeping weight, blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check

Source: Byrd institute

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-25

General - No Comments » - Posted on June, 27 at 8:47 am

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-25

General - No Comments » - Posted on June, 27 at 8:47 am
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