BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Invisibility cloak edges closer

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Invisibility cloak edges closer: "Scientists have rendered objects invisible under near-infrared light.

Unlike previous such 'cloaks', the new work does not employ metals, which introduce losses of light and result in imperfect cloaking."

BBC NEWS | Health | Swine flu: How serious a threat?

BBC NEWS | Health | Swine flu: How serious a threat?: "If the avian flu H5N1 virus had spread from human to human like this then I would be extremely worried. It would be top of my Richter scale.

But this swine flu worries me less because as a population we have a basic immunity to H1N1. Outside of Mexico there have been no deaths, so it doesn't seem so aggressive.

And not only are we coming up to the summer, which makes it less likely for these viruses to spread as well, but Britain has enough antiviral drugs for half of the population.

So we should not panic in any way. This does not look as though it is going to be a virus that sweeps the world and causes huge mortality."

Corn Sryup Danger

We have been discussing this for a while. In North America corn syrup is very popular and in everything, little nearly everything. In Europe, sucrose was more popular and is not in everything too.
In North America we seem to develop a roll of belly fat, that people don't seem to have to the same extent in Europe and I am sure (mine at least) is due to my increased intake of corn syrup.
Need to cut back...

All Sugars Aren't the Same: Glucose Is Better, Study Says - TIME: "Think that all sugars are the same? They may all taste sweet to the tongue, but it turns out your body can tell the difference between glucose, fructose and sucrose, and that one of these sugars is worse for your health than the others.

In the first detailed analysis comparing how our systems respond to glucose (which is made when the body breaks down starches such as carbohydrates) and fructose, (the type of sugar found naturally in fruits), researchers at the University of California Davis report in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that consuming too much fructose can actually put you at greater risk of developing heart disease and diabetes than ingesting similar amounts of glucose. In the study, 32 overweight or obese men and women were randomly assigned to drink 25% of their daily energy requirements in either fructose- or glucose-sweetened drinks. The researchers took pains to eliminate as many intruding factors as possible by asking the volunteers to commit to a 12-week program; for the first and last two weeks of the study, each subject lived at UCD's Clinical and Translational Science Center, where they underwent rigorous blood tests to determine their insulin and lipid levels, among other metabolic measures"

The Associated Press: Mexico City suspends school over flu epidemic

The Associated Press: Mexico City suspends school over flu epidemic: "MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City has suspended classes at schools and universities to contain what could be a new flu strain.

Health Secretary Jose Cordova says private and public schools in this metropolis of 20 million have been ordered to remain closed Friday. The measure could be extended in coming days.

Cordova says the flu is a 'new, different strain that can attack anyone.' He says authorities are investigating whether it is related to a unique new form of swine flu reported in Texas and California. All seven people in the U.S. recovered.

The government says at least 20 people have died nationwide from the flu in the last three weeks, 13 of them in Mexico City.

The total number of cases is estimated to be more than 800."

Missing Vials Of Virus May Never Be Found By Army Investigators

Missing Vials Of Virus May Never Be Found By Army Investigators: "It appears that the missing vials of a virus from the Army biomedical facility, Fort Detrick may never be found.

Army investigators have come out and stated that there appears to be no criminal misconduct surrounding the 3 missing vials of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus."

Crikey this is the day swine flu breaks out....

The Blurry Summit of Mars’ Pavonis Mons | Universe Today

The Blurry Summit of Mars’ Pavonis Mons | Universe Today: "This strange image was captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on board NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on April 11th. At first it looked like a classic example of my early camera days without a tripod; most of the photos I took were blurry or out of focus (due to my less-than-perfect eyesight). So when I first saw this picture of the summit of one of the huge Martian ex-shield volcanoes, Pavonis Mons, I assumed it was a mistake; HiRISE either had the shakes or it had developed myopia.

Actually, this image is in focus, HiRISE is working perfectly. It’s the Martian surface that’s blurry…

Pavonis Mons is one of the Martian “Big Three” ancient volcanoes situated on the Tharsis bulge. Second only to Olympus Mons (the biggest volcano in the Solar System, standing at a mighty 27 km above the Martian surface), Pavonis Mons certainly isn’t small. It reaches 16 km into the Martian skies where the air is so tenuous, it barely reaches a pressure of 130 Pa (compared with the 600 Pa mean surface pressure of Mars), that’s 0.1% the average sea-level pressure on Earth.

When you have an atmosphere so thin at such high altitudes, there are consequences. In the case of this HiRISE image, the issue is that the summit of Pavonis Mons becomes rather blurred.

During major dust storms on the planet, huge quantities of dust can be deposited at the tops of these tall volcanoes, covering them in a thick layer. When the wind blows, it lacks the muscle of the thicker atmosphere found 16km below, so less dust is picked up and transported away. Although small ripples in the dust can be seen (highlighting the fact that there is a weak wind blowing up there), it doesn’t carve definite shapes into the regolith. Instead, it leaves a thick layer of fluffy, smooth dust to collect. When images are taken from space, it has a blurry appearance.

In case you don’t believe me, look at this high resolution version of the image above, zooming into the top right-hand corner where you’ll see a small, recent (and in-focus) impact crater. Also, look at the focused ripples in the dust on the lighter northern edge of the volcano."

Twitter Eats World: Global Visitors Shoot Up To 19 Million

Twitter Eats World: Global Visitors Shoot Up To 19 Million

BBC - Nick Robinson's Newslog: A truly historic budget

BBC - Nick Robinson's Newslog: A truly historic budget: "Few budgets can claim to be truly historic. This one was. Not for the policies the Chancellor unveiled but for the grim statistics he had to produce.

They confirmed that Britain is in the sharpest recession, has the highest borrowing and is about to experience the biggest public spending squeeze since the war.

Alastair Darling did not try to hide this. It isn't his style and, besides, it wouldn't have been possible. Instead, he told a story of the British economy being hit by a global shock; of a government that had chosen to spend and borrow more to stimulate growth; and of a willingness to ask the richest to pay more for the cost of what had gone wrong.

Gordon Brown used to be accused of taxing by stealth. Alastair Darling announced that he was breaking Labour's manifesto pledge not to raise the top rate of tax with a flourish - he is confident that the public is now ready to see the rich pay more.

The Treasury these days prefers stealth spending cuts. Nowhere did the Chancellor explain the consequences of what is to come - a period of public austerity which will dominate politics for years to come.

All this was overlaid with a large dollop of optimism that the economy would start to grow again around the turn of the year and, what's more, grow mighty fast.

If the Treasury's predictions are wrong - as many suspect they are - the next budget will replace this one in the history books.

Even if the optimism proves right, politicians will have to live with the fall out of this crisis for many years to come."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | 'Space blob' baffles astronomers

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | 'Space blob' baffles astronomers: "It might not look like much, but this image represents one of the most distant objects astronomers have ever seen, 12.9 billion light years away."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Botnet 'ensnares government PCs'

BBC NEWS | Technology | Botnet 'ensnares government PCs': "Almost two million PCs globally, including machines inside UK and US government departments, have been taken over by malicious hackers.

Security experts Finjan traced the giant network of remotely-controlled PCs, called a botnet, back to a gang of cyber criminals in Ukraine."

Where's the remotest place on Earth? - environment - 20 April 2009 - New Scientist

Where's the remotest place on Earth? - environment - 20 April 2009 - New Scientist: "SO YOU'VE hitch-hiked through Central America, stalked rare beasts in Madagascar and trekked your way through northern Chile. You're pretty well travelled, even if you do say so yourself. Before you get ideas about being an intrepid explorer, however, consider this. For all their wide open spaces and seeming wildernesses, none of these places can be described as remote in 2009.

In fact, very little of the world's land can now be thought of as inaccessible, according to a new map of connectedness created by researchers at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy, and the World Bank."

Satellites Show How Earth Moved During Earthquake | Universe Today

Satellites Show How Earth Moved During Earthquake | Universe Today: "If you have ever experienced an earthquake, you know that the Earth literally moves beneath your feet. And now there’s satellite data to show just how much. Scientists studying satellite radar data from ESA’s Envisat and the Italian Space Agency’s COSMO-SkyMed, have been able analyze the movement of Earth during and after a recent earthquake in central Italy. A 6.3 earthquake shook the town of L’Aquila in on April 6, 2009, and have used satellite data to map surface deformation in the Earth that took place after the quake and the numerous aftershocks that followed."

Teens Love Aggregation and 'Free', Newspaper Study Finds | Epicenter from Wired.com

Teens Love Aggregation and 'Free', Newspaper Study Finds | Epicenter from Wired.com: "Don't overload them. Less is more: Reduce the volume of information. The teens in the study's focus groups craved a 'top headlines' approach and 'a simplified overview of the news they often find at Yahoo, Google, AOL and their e-mail providers.'

Create home pages that satisfy. It should provide 'an adequate sense of the news' on its own — No click-baiting. Include a brief summary with each headline; One sentence can be enough. Get rid of clutter, like little video boxes, small ads and tabs.

Include visuals with anything that matters. But photo galleries are no substitute for a story.

Convey what's important with a clear, visual hierarchy. The generation that grew up with chronological blogs prefers prioritization. 'They want you to take a stand on which stories of the day are most important and to convey what you've decided.'

Avoid pages that require too much scrolling or clicking. 'Web usability has long emphasized limiting the number of clicks to reach information, but the degree to which teens want to avoid clicking it noteworthy.'

Break up information into management chunks. Categories on the home page, interrupted text on story pages."

Bacon sandwich really does cure a hangover - Telegraph

Bacon sandwich really does cure a hangover - Telegraph: "A bacon sandwich really does cure a hangover - by boosting the level of amines which clear the head, scientists have found."

Pentagon preps for economic warfare

Pentagon preps for economic warfare: "The Pentagon sponsored a first-of-its-kind war game last month focused not on bullets and bombs — but on how hostile nations might seek to cripple the U.S. economy, a scenario made all the more real by the global financial crisis.

The two-day event near Ft. Meade, Maryland, had all the earmarks of a regular war game. Participants sat along a V-shaped set of desks beneath an enormous wall of video monitors displaying economic data, according to the accounts of three participants.

“It felt a little bit like Dr. Strangelove,” one person who was at the previously undisclosed exercise told POLITICO.

But instead of military brass plotting America’s defense, it was hedge-fund managers, professors and executives from at least one investment bank, UBS – all invited by the Pentagon to play out global scenarios that could shift the balance of power between the world’s leading economies.

Their efforts were carefully observed and recorded by uniformed military officers and members of the U.S. intelligence community."

More Quickly Than It Began, The Banking Crisis Is Over - TIME

Exactly isn't this too quick...

More Quickly Than It Began, The Banking Crisis Is Over - TIME: "More Quickly Than It Began, The Banking Crisis Is Over"

Was there a UFO above Dunton? - Biggleswade Today

Was there a UFO above Dunton? - Biggleswade Today: "Villagers report strange sightings in the night sky above a Mid Beds village
A mysterious light was spotted in the skies above Dunton on Sunday evening.

Residents saw an unidentified orange ball of light at around 10.15pm.
One told the Chronicle: 'It seemed to be a sphere containing glowing flame, orange or yellow like a sun.

'But it wasn't a meteor or comet, it wasn't travelling fast enough and had no tail.

'It was silent, it wasn't a plane or helicopter. It wasn't a balloon or weather balloon.

'We watched it till it flew past our property and past our tall conifers until it was out of sight, it seemed to spin or oscillate while it flew.

'I couldn't hazard a guess as to what it was, a bit of a mystery really."

Fed says plan now to avert inflation | Reuters

That was quick...!

Fed says plan now to avert inflation | Reuters: "The United States economy will skid more deeply into recession in coming months, Federal Reserve policy-makers warned on Thursday, but it is time to start planning how to wind down spending to avert an inflationary surge.

The president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, Thomas Hoenig, said that hard as it was to predict when the winding-down process must be initiated, it will happen."

Sabotage attacks knock out phone service

Sabotage attacks knock out phone service: "Police are hunting for vandals who chopped fiber-optic cables and killed landlines, cell phones and Internet service for tens of thousands of people in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties on Thursday."

Mexico City turns off tap to millions as water reserves dip to historic lows

Mexico City turns off tap to millions as water reserves dip to historic lows: "Mexico City has turned off the tap to millions of residents because water reserves have reached historic lows.

The two-day shutdown of a main pipeline starting Thursday affects at least 5 million of the 20 million people in the Mexico City valley. It is the third time this year the metropolis has temporarily turned off the tap to conserve water."

Author who predicted crisis sees inflation ahead | U.S. | Reuters

Author who predicted crisis sees inflation ahead | U.S. | Reuters: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - An author who saw the global financial crisis coming fears the next bubble will come in the form of inflation and has little confidence U.S. President Barack Obama's team is up to the challenge ahead.

'The Democrats have replaced the Republicans as the big benefactors to the financial community,' said Kevin Phillips, author of 'Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism.'

'The financial community is donating more to Democrats than ever before and you've got more Democrats in the financial community, creating a very powerful pattern there. I don't think you're going to see the Obama administration and Congress willing to be tough enough in dealing with these things,' he told Reuters.

Phillips, a former strategist in the Nixon White House who has turned highly critical of the Republicans and voted for Obama in 2008, published 'Bad Money,' his 13th book, a year ago.

The paperback edition came out March 31 with a revised preface and afterward, interpreting the events of the past year, but the prescient body of 'Bad Money' remains unchanged.

A year ago, he warned of a the pending explosion of a 25-year 'multibubble' that started in the 1980s, when the financial sector accounted for 10 percent to 12 percent of the U.S. economy had started metastasizing into an 'arguably crippling' 20 percent to 21 percent by the middle of this decade.

Overleveraging and easy credit was bound to create disaster, he warned.

Phillips assigns much of the blame to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, but perhaps even more on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who he calls a 'disaster,' and his predecessor, Alan Greenspan.

Phillips calls Paulson a Wall Street insider who was looking out for his own, and Bernanke an academic misguidedly trying to refight the 1930s Great Depression. Together they formed the wrong team at the wrong time whose ad hoc approach threw away hundreds of billions of dollars and more than doubled the Fed's balance sheet, he says.

'What you're seeing Bernanke do is he's trying to create a bailout reflationary bubble, which he can't describe as a bubble, just as Greenspan couldn't describe the housing mortgage bubble as a bubble. What we're seeing by Bernanke is a covert attempt to rebubble,' Phillips told Reuters.

Moreover, a commodities cycle probably started early in this decade and is only being masked now by recession, Phillips says, presaging a repeat 1970s style inflation, he said.

'The danger is that the great unwind -- the unraveling of the mammoth buildup of debt -- is under way. If that predominates, Bernanke's theory is you're going to have deflation,' Phillips said.

'My theory is that if we are in a commodities cycle, what you will get will be more like 1973-74-75 ... where as soon as the recovery begins you get rising inflation because you're going to play havoc with all money supply and liquidity that's been unleashed ' he added.

Meanwhile, the taxpayer and small investor have little defense.

'The average person is going to be on the periphery of concern and I think that's rotten,' Phillips said."

Weak pound heaps food price inflation on poorest households - Food & Drink, Life & Style - The Independent

Weak pound heaps food price inflation on poorest households - Food & Drink, Life & Style - The Independent: "The collapse of the pound on the foreign exchanges is keeping food price inflation at painful levels, with the heaviest impact falling on poorer households and pensioners.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents most major shop chains, reported yesterday a 9 per cent rise in the price of food in the shops in the year to March, against a fall in the prices of non-food items of 1.5 per cent. Prices were up 0.4 per cent month-on-month. Despite a general fall in inflation – the annual rise in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) hit zero last month – food prices remain stubbornly high, and rising.

Imports of fresh vegetables from eurozone nations such as Spain have become especially dear – up by around one quarter. Other foods that have seen double-digit price rises since 2008 include lamb (21.3 per cent), beef (20.6 per cent), pork (19.7 per cent), cereals (16.1 per cent) and milk (11.5 per cent). British lamb is becoming an expensive delicacy, up 26.7 per cent, the largest jump of any food item in the RPI."

All 19 US banks pass Treasury's 'stress tests' - Telegraph

I am wondering if all the capital injections have been to buy time and reduce systemic risk in the system, and then some banks will be allowed to fail...

All 19 US banks pass Treasury's 'stress tests' - Telegraph: "The pending results of the US Treasury's 'stress tests' will show that all 19 banks are capable of surviving further shocks – but some will only be able to do so if they receive further capital injections."

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - News

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - News: "NASA has successfully tested the first deep space communications network modeled on the Internet."

George Soros, the man who broke the Bank, sees a global meltdown - Times Online

George Soros, the man who broke the Bank, sees a global meltdown - Times Online: "This recession, he explains, is a “once-in-a-lifetime event”, particularly in Britain. “This is a crisis unlike any other. It’s a total collapse of the financial system with tremendous implications for everyday life. On previous occasions when you had a crisis that was threatening the system the authorities intervened and did whatever was necessary to protect the system. This time they failed.”"

Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: Quantum setback for warp drives

Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: Quantum setback for warp drives: "Bad news I'm afraid -- it looks as if faster-than-light travel isn't possible after all. That's the conclusion of a new study into how warp drives would behave when quantum mechanics is taken into account. 'Warp drives would become rapidly unstable once superluminal speeds are reached,' say Stefano Finazzi at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, and a couple of friends."

Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican -Times Online

Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican -Times Online: "Medieval knights hid and secretly venerated The Holy Shroud of Turin for more than 100 years after the Crusades, the Vatican said yesterday in an announcement that appeared to solve the mystery of the relic’s missing years."

Space debris: Europe to set up monitor in 'two or three years'

Space debris: Europe to set up monitor in 'two or three years': "The European Space Agency (ESA) hopes to start monitoring orbital debris within the next few years, an official said Thursday at the close of the largest-ever conference on a worsening space peril."

North Korea Missile Launch

This was quick. Photos are online quicker than on the news.

Panoramio - Photos by dapudong2

Tell us what it is like to live in Inverness, Scotland | Money | The Guardian

Tell us what it is like to live in Inverness, Scotland Money The Guardian: "Let's move to... Inverness, ScotlandWhen you get to Inverness' big country, Britain seems to have more in common with Iceland and Lapland than Exeter or Llandudno"