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POPSEuropean Values - The Ideology of Fortress Europe? Are the values of human rights specific to European civilisation, marking the continent off from other regions of the world? Traugott Schoefthaler takes a critical look at the positions of European think tanks and foundations. ↗ "Europäische Werte"-Debatte - Ideologie der Festung Europa?
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POPSHuman-cow hybrid embryos made in lab I noticed the was presented in Israel, perhaps a legal issue. They say one of these embryos is just human DNA wrapped up in a cow egg 'skin', but that is all a human egg is. The egg 'skin' just happens to be human. If a cow was growing donor organs, would it get human rights?
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POPSFound ! Oldest recording of human voice The inventor 'recorded' the song 17 years before Edison, but he was never able to play it back. He wanted to study it. The recording was played by getting high resolution digital scans, and converting them into sound at the Lawrence Berkley, National Lab using equipment used to preserve, and gain access to a wide variety of early recordings.
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POPSDEET messes with mosquito 'nose' Known as an insect repellent, Scientists were not sure how it worked until now. DEET does not so much repel mosquitoes and ticks which are attracted to carbon dioxide, and other human odors which give a signal that there is a blood supply somewhere, It masks these signals so the mosquitoes go and look for their blood supply somewhere else. DEET has been available to the to the public,for over 50 years and is an active ingredient in many insect repellents, but adverse health effects have been noted such as rashes and seizures, is toxic to some marine species. The risk of DEET side effects are generally rare and must be matched with the risk of mosquito borne disease. Advice is given to avoid using on broken skin, and to wash off if no longer needed. The standard warning on an insect repellent can. I've always found that any itch or sting from an insect repellent is better than the itch of a mosquito bite.
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POPSFarm smells can cause real stink They have qualified the amount gases from farm animals can irritate the human respiratory system. It is curious that they have decided to qualify farm animals now, when humans have been farming for thousands of years. Still many humans live in a bubble known as civilization, where all farm produce is processed and packaged, so the closest they get to a farm is the organic grocery section of the supermarket. With all of the artificial noxious chemicals introduced into the environment over the past few hundred years, I'd say farm animals are the least of our worries. particularly when many animals these days are born into and never leave a processing plant unless they're pre-packaged.
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POPSTiny Pacific skeletons stir hobbit debate
I was talking to arifsali about this yesterday (He did a clip on the discovery) There is one line I clipped at the bottom that I managed to get in before I ran out of space. The description of the caves as 'burial caves' One of the most significant milestones in the evolution of our species, is the incidence of 'self awareness,' or perhaps the point where we had a clearer understanding of death, and began to practice funeral rites. Will the manner in which the 'Palau Man' dealt with their dead give us more of an understanding into their character. One of the main ideas that can rattle our thinking is that there may have been more than one species of human on recent history, with an intelligence to compare. I have little doubt however that if we are meant to survive beyond these next few centuries, the human progeny will generate more than a few species, depending on the extent of isolation between the threads. (Eloi, and Moorlock perhaps?) Star travel would throw the field wide ope
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POPSIs the hobbit just a dwarf cretin ? It did live on an island Flores in Indonesia, and seaweed and seawater are high in Iodine, but giant rats, dwarf elephants,and Komodo Dragons also lived on the island. They may have eaten all of the seafood before the hobbits got any. Maybe we'll never know. Evolution does have millions of curious threads. I'm sure many people forget that while we have made it so far, Evolution hasn't stopped, and technology may give it some more curious twists which are directly related to us. If two machines get together and produce viable offspring, will that be a new species? Our definition of 'life' is in need of an overhaul. (Perhaps a bit beside the point, but it will be another one of our 'relatives') I was just reminded of something Mark Twain once said that applies to a point. "It's not change I'm against, it's change for change's sake" Let's hope we improve.
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POPSGeologists push for dawn of new age The effects of the use of coal in around 1800, and then the steam engine, and the accelerated advances in technology since, will leave a marked effect on the geological record. The Holocene Epoch began about 11,500 years ago and we may already be a few hundred years into the Anthropocene Epoch, the period where humanity has dominated the effects on the planet. I was reminded of a question that has occurred to me in the past. With all of our extraction of fossil fuels, and minerals from beneath the Earth's crust, What is left behind? Seems like there would be vast 'empty' spaces left behind where once the ground was being held up by whatever was taken. I have no doubt that for such deposits to exist, there must have been a generally geologically stable capsule for things such as oil to be contained, but even Diamonds have flaws - and the amount of empty space, (apart from volatile natural gas) would seem to be significant. Then of course there are subterranean coal fires
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POPSLab Freaks Gone Wild? “What was once only science fiction is now becoming a reality, and we need to ensure that experimentation and subsequent ramifications do not outpace ethical discussion and societal decisions.
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POPS273 Proteins found that AIDS Virus Preys on The AIDs virus is so simple that it is almost like a boot strap, with a protein mount point. Perhaps they could design a protein shell, with a 'lock' where the AIDs Virus 'key' is likely to fit, then Snap the Key off, spit it out and trap another virus. Protein Catalysts.
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POPSTime Travel in the Brain Perhaps areas that are lit up are where new pathways are being formed, and dark areas are where old pathways are 'studied' or remembered. Where, while the brain may not literally be able to 'see' the future, our choices are being refined, by the projection of possible outcomes of choices, based on past experience.
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POPSFrom Little Things, Big Things Grow If the title doesn't fit this clip, then I'll explain the meaning. It's funny how the simplest random act of kindness can be so powerful. It can literally move one to tears. Like someone giving me this clip. I can't take credit where credit is due. Again, random acts of kindness are what make us better human beings. My New Year's resolution is to try to be a better human being. It's an entirely selfish one you know. It not only makes me feel better about myself. It hopefully makes me grow as a person. Thank you. :)
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POPSW.H.O. Urges vigilance as Bird Flu Spreads They are still waiting for the first case of human to human transmission, but there is the problem that many of the affected areas are remote, and far from medical facilities, so there can be a gap in communication, and action, and the disease can spread before action is taken. There is also the no-doubt crippling effect of having total populations of poultry destroyed for the sake of containing the disease, when they can be a communities primary source of food and income.
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POPSW.H.O. to investigate Pakistan bird flu The strain H5N1, was believed to have infected four brothers, two of whom have died. The main concern, is that only one of the two brothers that died worked at the farm where the disease was found. The details are confusing with conflicting reports, but so far the fatal cases of bird flu, as far as doctors are aware, have been caught directly from birds. They are still on the alert for a case of human to human transmission. If such a variant happens to arise, the transmission will increase, and it will need to be identified quickly and specifically to develop an effective vaccine or treatment.
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POPSWhen it's on the tip of your toungue If a picture paints a thousand words, a metaphor paints a million pictures. I love metaphors,so I just thought I'd do a clip then I figured if it was going to fit I was going to have to be more specific. I am amazed at the way a metaphor can translate ideas between people, that may have been mutually exclusive. The way when there is a completely new concept related, we may be unable to find any direct analogy, but a metaphor can provide enough clues to transmit understanding. It can be a case of I can't explain exactly, but I can show you where to look. The way poets, musicians, artists, writers use metaphors creatively to allow new ideas or emotions to be accepted more easily.
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POPSSemen protein ushers HIV into cells They were looking for factors in human semen that may be used to block the AIDS infection. What they found was a factor that increased transmission as much as 50 fold.
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POPSChimps outsmart Uni students Chimps can remember a sequence of numbers for longer than many humans. Humans can also have trouble remembering, when the numbers are only seen for a short time, where a chimp just has to see the numbers. The test Chimp Ayuma, could remember the order of five numbers that were flashed for 210 milliseconds
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POPSUN Calls for improved Worldwide Sanitation A third of the planets population, don't have clean water, and sanitation. 90% of Human sewage in developing countries, pollutes the public water supply, due to a lack of sewerage systems. The UN Secretary General, is naming 2008 the International Year of Sanitation, to highlight the problem.
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POPSEmbryonic stem cells without embryos People keep talking about Embryonic stem cells, because they are seen as a quick fix, and the 'disadvantages' are worth the bonuses. Science has the capability to go beyond such narrow thinking, and one of the attractions of science, can be finding the unexpected. There is always more than one option. It can just depend on where, or why there is a search.
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POPSRomesh Silva: Human Rights Field statistician Romesh Silva works in the field with local professionals, to collect data, concerning Human rights violations, that can be a result of large scale conflict, and has been used to change the direction of human rights debates, and as as a resouuUce for Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. There are two video links on the page. The top which leads to the video at the site, on the clip seems to go to a video repository with videos on a wide range of interesting subjects. The video can then be found under 'A' in the bottom right 'Ace Day jobs' the second link further down the clip 'Watch Romesh Silva talk about being a field statistician' links straight to the video.
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