Ancient, Giant Beavers Didn't Have a Taste for Wood

Behemoth beavers that lived in North America during the last ice age ate little if any material from trees, a new analysis suggests.

The extinct giant beaver, Castoroides ohioensis, was just one species of large animals, or megafauna, stalking the North American landscape near the end of the last ice age. Fossils indicate that the creature was about twice the size of its modern-day cousin and therefore weighed between 60 and 100 kilograms, says Catherine Yansa, a paleoecologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

Yansa and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater colleague Peter Jacobs recently analyzed material drilled from the jawbone of a giant beaver that had been unearthed at a farm in southeastern Wisconsin. Carbon dating showed that the creature lived around 14,500 years ago, she reported October 19 at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. Pollen and plant fossils from sediments surrounding the jawbone suggest that the environment at the site then was cold and marshy with few trees.

The jaws and teeth of the extinct giant beavers are somewhat different from those of today's beavers, so some scientists had proposed that their diets differed too. Modern beavers eat mainly tree bark and the soft tissue beneath it, called cambium.

Giant rat found in 'lost volcano'

A new species of giant rat has been discovered deep in the jungle of Papua New Guinea.

The rat, which has no fear of humans, measures 82cm long, placing it among the largest species of rat known anywhere in the world.

The creature, which has not yet been formally described, was discovered by an expedition team filming the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano.

It is one of a number of exotic animals found by the expedition team.

Like the other exotic species, the rat is believed to live within the Mount Bosavi crater, and nowhere else.

"This is one of the world's largest rats. It is a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers," says Dr Kristofer Helgen, a mammalogist based at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who accompanied the BBC expedition team.

Initially, the giant rat was first captured on film by an infrared camera trap, which BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan set up in the forest on the slopes of the volcano.

The expedition team from the BBC Natural History Unit recorded the rat rummaging around on the forest floor, and were awed by its size.

Immediately, they suspected it could be a species never before recorded by science, but they needed to see a live animal to be sure.

Then trackers accompanying the team managed to trap a live specimen.

"I had a cat and it was about the same size as this rat," says Buchanan.

The trapped rat measured 82cm in length from its nose to its tail, and weighed approximately 1.5kg.

It had a silver-brown coat of thick long fur, which the scientists who examined it believe may help it survive the wet and cold conditions that can occur within the high volcano crater. The location where the rat was discovered lies at an elevation of over 1,000m.

Initial investigations suggest the rat belongs to the genus Mallomys, which contains a handful of other out-sized species.

It has provisionally been called the Bosavi woolly rat, while its scientific name has yet to be agreed.

Other rodents, the group of animals that includes rats, grow to a bigger size.

For example, the largest rodent of all is the capybara, which lives in or near freshwater in South America.

It can grow up to 130cm long and weigh up to 65kg.

The Philippines is also home to a few species of cloud rat which can reach over 2kg in weight.

But of the true rats, which includes urban brown and black rats that belong to the genus Rattus, few can match the new species.

In 2007, an expedition to New Guinea led by Conservation International discovered another closely related giant woolly rat, which can weigh up to 1.4kg. It also belongs within the genus Mallomys.

However, that species lives in the Foja Mountains, part of the Mamberamo Basin.

Mount Bosavi, where the new rat was found, is an extinct volcano that lies deep in the remote Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

The expedition team entered the crater to explore pristine forest, where few humans have set foot.

Even members of the Kasua tribe, who acted as trackers for the expedition, live outside the crater, which is 4km wide and has walls up to 1km high, trapping the creatures that live within.

The island which includes Papua New Guinea and New Guinea is famous for the number and diversity of the rats and mice that live there.

Over 57 species of true "Murid" rats and mice can be found on the island. The larger rats are often caught by hunters and eaten.

Source:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8210000/8210394.stm

Pearl-Producing Proteins Uncovered

The iridescent beauty of pearl and nacre, the material found inside the shells of clams, oysters and other mollusks, would likely be impossible without two new proteins recently discovered by Japanese scientists.

The discovery could allow for the production of larger pearls in less time.

Pearl and nacre, also known as mother of pearl, have been used as decorations for millennia. In recent years, scientists have discovered the physical structure responsible for their valuable iridescence, the minerals that make up those structures, and the proteins that hold those minerals together.

What science has failed to find, however, are the proteins that actually produce pearls. The Japanese researchers set out to find those missing proteins.

By infecting Japanese pearl oysters with an engineered virus specifically designed to reduce the amount of the newly discovered proteins, the scientists essentially stopped pearls from forming.

"This is really fundamental research," said Nils Kroger, a scientist at the University of Georgia who wrote an accompanying article in the journal Science. "The mollusk shells looked much more disorganized, not the nice structured layers you would normally expect."

Better Vision, With a Telescope Inside the Eye

A TINY glass telescope, the size of a pea, has been successfully implanted in the eyes of people with severely damaged retinas, helping them to read, watch television and better see familiar faces.

The new device is for people with an irreversible, advanced form of macular degeneration in which a blind spot develops in the central vision of both eyes.

In a brief, outpatient procedure, a corneal specialist implants the mini-telescope in one eye in place of its natural lens. The telescope magnifies images on the retina, extending them so they fall on healthy cells outside the damaged macula, said Allen W. Hill, chief executive of VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies in Saratoga, Calif., the implant’s maker.

In March, an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended approval of the device. VisionCare says it expects the F.D.A. to give its O.K. later this year. The device has already been approved for use in Europe.

The implanted telescope holds much promise for patients, typically elderly, who suffer from end-stage, age-related macular degeneration, or A.M.D., said Janet P. Szlyk, a member of the advisory panel. Dr. Szlyk is executive director of the Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired, a social services agency.

The device does not cure the disease, but it does improve visual acuity, she said. For example, a person who might usually see a blur when looking at a friend’s face might, with the help of the magnified image, see a blur only in the area of the person’s nose or mouth.

“People can use it to recognize faces in a social setting,” she said. ‘That’s a huge advance.”

The telescope is implanted in one eye for jobs like reading and facial recognition. The other eye, unaltered, is used for peripheral vision during other activities like walking. After implantation, extensive therapy is crucial, she said, to learn to deal with the different abilities of the eyes.

Ruth A. Boocks, 86, of Alpharetta, Ga., who received an implant of the device in March 2003 during clinical trials, said her brain learned to adapt quickly. Mrs. Boocks uses her new visual abilities in various ways — for instance, to read e-mail and the messages that scroll across the bottom of the screen when she’s watching television. “My goal was to read to the bottom of the eye charts,” she said. “But I didn’t quite make it.” (She has gotten to the third line from the bottom.)

“I feel like a young woman,” she added. “It’s opened a lot of opportunities for me.”

Henry L. Hudson, a retina specialist in Tucson, Ariz., and lead author of two papers on the telescope published in peer-reviewed journals, said the device was not for everyone with A.M.D. “Maybe only 20 out of every 100 candidates will get the telescope,” he said. “They may not be eligible because of the shape of their eyes,” or they may have another problem, like maintaining balance, that precludes their selection, he added.

After F.D.A. approval, VisionCare will apply to Medicare to cover the device, Mr. Hill said. “We anticipate that it will be seen as a covered benefit for the improvement of visual acuity,” he said.

The price of the device has not been set. Current tools for ameliorating low-vision problems, like glasses fitted with telescopes or reading machines, are typically not covered by insurance.

Dr. Bruce P. Rosenthal is chief of low-vision programs at Lighthouse International in New York City, where telescopes mounted on eyeglass frames, for instance, might be prescribed for people with A.M.D. to help them watch a sports event. He said that patients might be as well served by these glasses as by the new implants, and that he hoped long-term studies would compare the benefits of the two approaches.

“Even though studies on the implants have reported minimal complications, there can be complications when you are inserting anything in the eye,” he said. “Even routine cataract surgery can lead to loss of vision.”

Dr. Rosenthal said the implanted telescope might be beneficial for some patients, “especially if they don’t want other people to know they are visually impaired.” Telescopes mounted on eyeglasses bulge outward, often extending an inch or so beyond the frames.

But he is concerned that people using implants might have trouble with balance. “There is a potential for falling when a person has a big image from one eye and a normal-sized image from the other,” he said.

DURING trials of the device, there was no increase in the incidence of falls among participants, Dr. Hudson said. More than 200 patients received implants in the study, and the effects have been tracked in the group for the past five years.

“The vast majority of the patients have been able to adapt to the new state,” using one eye for ambulating and the other for reading, facial recognition and similar chores, he said. “The average patient goes from legally blind to being able to read large-print books.”

For fish, it’s the more the merrier

Study: Single and pairs of fish in aquariums are more stressed than groups

Watching a fish or two swim around a tank can be relaxing for you — but surprisingly stressful for the fish.

A new study found that common aquarium fish fight more and act less like themselves when they're lonely. Just as people choose to squeeze into a crowded nightclub rather than roam around an empty bar, it seems, certain fish prefer to have lots of companions.

It was the first study to look at the well-being of fish in home aquariums, and the results suggest that we may owe more to our fish than just keeping them from going belly-up.

India plans hot chilli grenades

Indian defence scientists are planning to put one of the world's hottest chilli powders into hand grenades.

They say the devices will be used to control rioters and in counter-insurgency operations.

Researchers say the idea is to replace explosives in small hand grenades with a certain variety of red chilli to immobilise people without killing them.

The chilli, known as Bhut Jolokia, is said to be 1,000 times hotter than commonly used kitchen chilli.

Scientists at India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are quoted as saying the potent chilli will be used as a food additive for troops operating in cold conditions.

And the powder will also be spread on the fences around army barracks in the hope the strong smell will keep out animals.

Other forms of pepper spray are commonly used for crowd control in many parts of the world.

Bacteria in Air So Numerous They Form Clouds

To read the article click here

Some theories of Genitics

Vapour and Fluid Theories of Genetics
Early Greek philosophers speculated that the hereditary informations of parents existed in the form of vapours of fluids. Pythagoras (500 B. C.) speculated that a moist "vapour" descended from the brain, nerves and other body organs of the male during the coitus and from these vapours an embryo was formed in the uterus of the female. According to him, the male transmitted all the characters of the embryo and the female does not. However, another Greek philosopher of the same age, Empedocles thought that both parents contributed equally to the embryo and each parent produces a "semen" which arises directly from various body parts.
After 200 years, another Greek philosopher Aristotle forwarded a highly imaginative speculation that the seman of the male had certain 'vitalizing' or "dynamic" effect and it was supposed to be highly purified blood. According to him, the female furnished the inert building material, while the male gives the motion and new life to the material.


Particulate inheritance theory
The theory of particulate inheritance is an idea that originated with Mendelian theorists (or by Mendel himself) stating that characteristics can be passed from generation to generation through "discrete particles" (which meant genes). These particles can keep their ability to be expressed while not always appearing in descending generation.
Early in the 19th century, scientists had already recognized that Earth has been inhabited by living creatures for a very long time. On the other hand, they did not understand what mechanisms actually drove biological diversity. They also did not understand how physical traits are inherited from one generation to the next. Blending inheritance was the common ideal at the time, but was later discredited by the experiments of Gregor Mendel. Mendel proposed the theory of particulate inheritance by using pea plants (Pisum sativum) to explain how variation can be inherited and maintained over time.


Preformation theory
The Preformation theory states that "knowledge is possible only because God has endowed humans with certain innate ideas along with dispositions or aptitudes in certain ways." This was recognized by Immanuel Kant as an alternative to his theory regarding the categories of understanding and their source.
According to Kant's view the aptitudes are both innate and a priori not given by a creator. Contrary to Kant's position, the preformation theory avoids skepticism about the nature of the noumenal world (Kant believed that the real world is unknowable). It does so by claiming that the rational structures of the human mind are similar to the rational order of the real world because both are created by God to work together, and this similarity makes the attaining of accurate knowledge about the real world possible.


Germ plasm theory
Germ plasm or polar plasm is a zone found in the cytoplasm of the egg cells of some model organisms (such as Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Xenopus laevis), which contains determinants that will give rise to the germ cell lineage. As the zygote undergoes mitotic divisions the germ plasm is ultimately restricted to a few cells of the embryo, these germ cells then migrate to the gonads.
The germ plasm theory is a hypothesis concerning the ability to become germ cells, which is now proven wrong. The term germ plasm was first used by the German biologist August Weismann (b.1834-d.1914) to describe a component of germ cells that he proposed were responsible for heredity, roughly equatable to our modern understanding of DNA. August Weismann formulated the now defunct germ plasm theory in 1893, in which he stated that the germ plasm was the essential nuclear part of germ cells, that it remained qualitatively unchanged from the zygote (in contrast with somatic cells) and was responsible for heredity. In other words it states that a gene's determination was sealed as it, and each of its offspring received fewer and fewer genes from what he called the "germ plasm." (That there is only a set "amount" of "germ plasm" (what we know as genes) and that it was gradually divided amongst the offspring). Cases such as Dolly (the famous cloned ewe) which, via somatic cell nuclear transfer, proved that adult cells retain a complete--as opposed to Weissman's increasingly determined gradual loss of genetic information--set of information; finally putting Weismann's theory to rest.

Extraction of Caffeine from Tea Leaves

Harvard Professor Develops Inhalable Chocolate

It may be a hoax, a sly artistic commentary, a vanity project or simply the greatest thing ever known to man.
A Harvard professor has come up with what he call "Le Whif" — inhalable chocolate with zero calories.

"Over the centuries we've been eating smaller and smaller quantities at shorter and shorter intervals," says Edwards on the product's official Web site. "It seemed to us that eating was tending toward breathing, so, with a mix of culinary art and aerosol science, we've helped move eating habits to their logical conclusion. We call it whiffing."

Each Le Whif dispenser — a box of 24 will cost 40 euro, or about $53 — looks like a blend of an asthma inhaler, a tube of lipstick and a shotgun shell.

You can buy them for 1.80 euro apiece, about $2.40, at "Le Laboratoire," Edwards' shop/consultancy/club/"art and science innovation center" located smack-dab in the middle of Paris, where Edwards spends part of the year.

A video of randomly stylish people trying it Le Whif on the Parisian streets makes one think of "one-hit wonder" marijuana pipes, though with presumably milder effects.

Le Whif comes in "four luscious flavors: mint chocolate, raspberry chocolate, mango chocolate, and plain chocolate," and will be introduced at a gala party in Paris on April 29, followed by 10 days at the Cannes Film Festival and then later a "surprising" appearance in Chicago.

To make things even more bewildering, Edwards, whose Harvard Web page describes him as the "Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering," has a graphic novel coming out, written under a pseudonym, illustrated by a Japanese manga artist and entitled simply "Whiff."

http://www.lewhif.com/

Don't disturb

It was in our biochem lab, we were told to take reagents from those beakers but still it is written "Dont disturb"

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present

Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day.
Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?
Each of us has such a bank. It's name is TIME.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against "tomorrow."
You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!
The clock is running!! Make the most of today.

To realise the value of one year, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realise the value of one month, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realise the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realise the value of one hour, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realise the value of one minute, ask a person who just missed a train.
To realise the value of one second, ask someone who just avoided an accident.
To realise the value of one millisecond, ask the person who won a silver medal at the olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with. And remember time waits for no one.
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why its called the present.

What is an internal examination ???

I have never heard the term internal examination before coming Mysore. Internal examinations are conducted in all the colleges of Mysore university almost at the middle of each semester. Usually exam is conducted from selected topics.
To know more about internal exam I have searched that on Google and yahoo. I was surprised to see nothing related to education. Almost all are about pelvic examination. U just try your self and see.



What does and Internal Examination actually involve?



Google

http://www.google.co.in/search?q=internal+exam&btnG=Search&hl=en&sa=2

http://images.google.co.in/images?q=internal+exam&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi


yahoo

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGkkGfcKpJI9cA3CKl87UF?p=internal+exam&fr=sfp&fr2=&iscqry=

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0oGkj3GcKpJmBcBcg9XNyoA?ei=UTF-8&p=internal+exam&fr2=tab-web&fr=sfp



I feel "Internal Exam" is not the most appropriate term to use for the exams conducted in all the colleges of Mysore University. =P

we are the champions

Maldivian students became the champions of the Federation Of International Students' Associations,Mysore (FISA-M) football tournament beating defending champions so called mighty Iran. The match was monotonous unlike the semifinals and both the sides have shown very poor performances. Only 22 hours time interval have been given between semi-finals and final so all the players seemed tired. It was Maldives who broke the deadlock at the first few minutes of the game. Lead was doubled on the second half when unmarked Muththo received a re-bounce by Iran's goal keeper.He gave no chance for keeper to stop the ball. Iran managed to score their only goal at the dying minutes of second half.

My Bike

You are so beautiful
graceful, slim and sleek
you make me feel so good
riding fast on your wonderfully smooth seat
I feel like I'm flying
in the clouds
Just you and me
no other thing compares
nothing matters
just you and me
I love those days when you and I can spend hours together
forgetting our worries
One day we went to the bus stand and police dragged you away
and were forced to live far away
when I saw you after a month and fortnight
U were dirty still I love u

What the hell.. MP also left

We have very few good lecturers in our college of autonomous. Poornima was a goood lecturer and she left after our second semester. MP (Mahadeva Prasad) was the best teacher taught me during my short span of study life in India. He had unique characters which I have never seen in any Kannadigan teacher. Huh.. he also left. Our JSS college of kukulhumas sucks.

Cotton plug

I don't know what the hell wrong with my microbiology madam. No one can draw cotton plug as she wish. We all know how it looks. It's white colour and very soft as it is made up of cotton. She wont give attendance if we didn't draw it as she wish, but when we get attendance the cotton plug seems wooden plug rather than a cotton plug. She might be having eye sight or something like colourblindness I guess. Anyway as I microbio students we have to deal with cotton plugs always and have to draw it often. I wish we get an alternative to cotton plug in our labs. That might not be a good idea even. We might have to learn to draw something else beside the cotton plug, so it will take another one and half year to learn how to draw that as she wish.

Hijab

وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَغْضُضْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِنَّ وَيَحْفَظْنَ فُرُوجَهُنَّ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَىٰ جُيُوبِهِنَّ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا لِبُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ آبَائِهِنَّ أَوْ آبَاءِ بُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ أَبْنَائِهِنَّ أَوْ أَبْنَاءِ بُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ إِخْوَانِهِنَّ أَوْ بَنِي إِخْوَانِهِنَّ أَوْ بَنِي أَخَوَاتِهِنَّ أَوْ نِسَائِهِنَّ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُنَّ أَوِ التَّابِعِينَ غَيْرِ أُولِي الْإِرْبَةِ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ أَوِ الطِّفْلِ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يَظْهَرُوا عَلَىٰ عَوْرَاتِ النِّسَاءِ وَلَا يَضْرِبْنَ بِأَرْجُلِهِنَّ لِيُعْلَمَ مَا يُخْفِينَ مِن زِينَتِهِنَّ وَتُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ‌[24-31]

[024:031] And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts) and not to show off their adornment except that which is apparent (like both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer palms of hands or one eye or dress like veil, gloves, headcover, apron), and to draw their veils all over Juyûbihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms) and not to reveal their adornment except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husband's fathers, or their sons, or their husband's sons, or their brothers or their brother's sons, or their sister's sons, or their (Muslim) women (i.e. their sisters in Islâm), or the (female) slaves whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children who have no sense of feminine sex. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you beg Allâh to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful.


يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُل لِّأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ ذٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰ أَن يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا ‌[33-59]
[033:059] O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way). That will be better that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed. And Allâh is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.