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POPSNano Superbug-Killers -Identifies Bacteria That Have Become Resistant to Antibiotics The drugs to be tested work by latching onto the bacteria and literally ripping its cell wall to pieces, exposing the vulnerable core to destruction by the surrounding environment. When a drug can latch onto the mucopeptide, it bends the cantilever and alters the reflection of the laser. The response to the drug can be observed almost instantly. While this technique only works for surface-latching antibiotics (by no means the only antibiotic mechanism), Professor McKendry and colleagues are already planning an upgrade where entire bacterial cells will be pinned to the nano-lever and stretched by drugs.
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POPSFarming And Chemical Warfare: A Day In The Life Of An Ant The bacteria produce antifungal compounds that stop the microfungal pathogen from attacking the garden. This discovery was the first clearly demonstrated example of an animal, other than humans, that uses bacteria to produce antibiotics to deal with pathogens. "Interestingly, the tight association between ant, bacteria and pathogen will sometimes result in the pathogen winning. This interplay has been described as a chemical 'arms race' between the bacteria and fungus, with one side beating the other as new compounds are evolved," said Professor Currie. "At the moment, we are beginning to understand the chemical warfare at the genetic level, and it is likely that these types of interactions are more prevalent in nature than previously thought." So how exactly does an ant go about forming partnerships with a fungus and a bacterium? No one really knows.
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POPSWill the Internet Evolve into a Lifeform? One route is the evolution of electronic intelligences in situations like the internet-arms race between spammers and shielders. It might sound silly, the idea that new life could be created in an attempt to offer you a great deal on C1@Lis!!, but have you tried registering for a forum recently? Even gaining access to the lowest level of interaction online now requires elementary Turing tests to tell the humans from the robots. Another option is the idea of the net itself becoming sentient, a vast self-modifying array of connections and information storage with limited connections to the outside world (kind of like that glob of grey goo you carry around in your skull). If that happens then Gibson help us all - remember that the net is made of about 90% spam, 9% porn, and quite a lot of whining blogs. If that mixture ever becomes self-aware we're not quite sure what it'll do, but the odds are against it being anything good.
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POPSIn defense of William Ayers But to call Ayers a "terrorist" and throw him in the Osama bin Laden pile is a reach for the moral high ground by the very people and political establishment that secretly carpet bombed Cambodia, murdering hundreds of thousands of civilians. ...Ayers is no martyr, and he's no role model. But he doesn't deserve to be the punching bag of the moral cretins who still celebrate lying wars of aggression and the pointless slaughter of untold thousands.
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POPSBody Language of Winners and Losers Could be Innate "In the end, it’s all about evolution. The discovery by psychologists suggests that these gestures of pride and shame are hard wired into the human brain, probably because they were universal signs of dominance and submission among our ape relatives and ancestors . So when you see arms raised in victory at the Beijing Olympics, you might really be seeing an symbol of dominance that humans developed long ago."
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POPSRussia is buying off our closest neighbors The U.S. move to place missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic is being viewed as antagonistic by Russia. Their answer is to sell military weaponry to U.S. neighbors. Latin America and South American countries are being used as pawns in a new form of arms-race. Venezuela and Bolivia, have expelled their U.S. ambassadors. The geo-political map is changing and the U.S. is losing ground. This is yet another foreign relations failure that can only be blamed on the Bush administration. The next administration needs to do some old-fashioned diplomatic manuvering to prevent another Cuban missile crisis. I hope they are up for it.
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POPSSpiegel: George, the Worst, Goodbye. A footnote. "Gingrich, once crowned Time's "Man of the Year," cannot help but be pleased that Americans have welcomed the break with Bush with open arms. Gingrich, who has repeatedly and semi-publicly toyed with the idea of throwing his hat into the presidential race, recommends that his party base its new strategy on turning its back on Bush.
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POPSConservative Dictionary...understanding right-wing lingo "While surfing the Web, you may come upon many conservative-oriented pages. They use their own lingo, which can be confusing to outsiders. To aid you in your perusal of right wing web resources, here is a concise glossary of some terms they use. Standard disclaimers apply: "I know all conservatives aren't Nazis, my best friends are conservative, really, blah, blah, blah...""
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POPSGorbachev: US Restarting Cold War, Threatening World Amazing quotes by Gorbachev about U.S. war-mongering. For awhile Putin and Bush were close, until the Secretary of Defense (Gates) started talking of preparing against Russia and China. Now things have changed. Note his "conspiracy" charges against the U.S. and also Great Britain. They should have read the neocon blueprint for PAX AMERICANA, by the Project for New American Century, which includes regime change for China, and another look at Russia.
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POPSAnother couple $100billion wasted... ...friggin' paranoid yet? I think it's a setup. More crap to fear? The Bushies are well on their way to starting another escalation and arms race for sure. Assholes. Do they think every country is gonna sit by and let us get away with world domination??? I think not.
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POPS10 Facts about Dr. Seuss 7. What impact did they have on children's books? A revolutionary one. He has been credited with killing off "Dick and Jane", the sterile heroes of older children's books, replacing them with clever rhymes, plot twists and rebellious heroes who do the unexpected. The Cat in the Hat was commissioned following publication in 1955 of an influential book, Why Johnny Can't Read, which said children were being held back by boring books. An article under the same name in Life magazine called for more imaginative illustration, and named Dr Seuss as a good example of what could be done. Now one in four American children receive Dr Seuss as their first book. 9. What did he think was his greatest work? He once said it was not a book or an illustration, but the Lion Wading Pool at Wild Animal Park in San Diego, which he donated in 1973. 10. Which was his most controversial book? The Butter Battle Book, published in 1984, about the arms race.
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POPS"White Guilt" Politics of Obama Crowd Undermined and then morphed that into the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) which earned him an invitation to sip tea with Chinese stalinists in Beijing in 1977. The Chinese were the originators of the idea that the rural third world south was being exploited by the urban developed world north. Klonsky fondly reminisced about his authoritarian left activities here in November 2007 stopping only to "repent" for his sectarianism while celebrating that he is now back together with former SDS comrades in "one movement." Now Klonsky blogs for the Obama campaign website on education policy and "social justice teaching." How is it under that bus, Comrade Klonsky? Mike Klonsky, former Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers' longtime comrade-in-arms from their days in SDS to the Chicago School Wars they fought in the 80s and 90s alongside Barack Obama, and presto he's gone. http://globallabor.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-is-it-under-that-bus-comrade.html
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POPS Answering Russia 10. Announce the creation of a new information network, much larger and better funded than Voice of America or Radio Free Europe to deliver Internet, TV and radio broadcasts into neo-Soviet Russia so that Russians can learn the truth about their country.
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POPSPhelps Swam into History as the Winningest Olympic Athlete Ever He finished in 1:52.03, breaking his mark of 1:52.09 from the 2007 worlds. Phelps barely smiled as he looked at the board, breathing heavily and hanging on the lane rope. Hungary's Laszlo Cseh really pushed it at the end, but settled for silver in 1:52.70. Japan's Takeshi Matsuda took the bronze in 1:52.97. Phelps rubbed his eyes and said climbing from the pool, "I can't see anything." A pair of leaky goggles kept him from even seeing the wall as he touched. "My goggles kept filling up with water during the race," Phelps said. "I wanted 1:51 or better." Still, he had two more golds and two more records before lunchtime, leaving him just three wins away from beating Spitz's record in the 1972 Munich Games. "There is nobody in our sport that can win like he wins," U.S. head coach Eddie Reese said. "He is not just winning, he is crunching world records."
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POPSAlberto Gonzales, war criminal? From 2005, an editorial consisting of the text of a proposed indictment of Alberto Gonzales for alleged violations of the War Crimes Act (Title 18 USC sec. 2441).
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POPSSatisfied? Now? Who Are These People? One of the first people I met was "satisfied," but she'd also been drinking that afternoon and wouldn't let me use her name. (I directed her to the closest bar.) Later I found a really sweet couple satisfied with the way things are going in America, because they live in Canada. Lynda Race, of Arlington, Va., who is "almost 50," boiled it down: "I love America. Where else would you be more satisfied?" Clip Song
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POPSCould it Hapen? Repulsed Into Voting Republican It is no wonder then that McCain is making a place at the table for possible defectors, however unlikely. He began his “forgotten places” tour in Alabama’s Black Belt by literally dancing into the arms of an elderly black woman as she sang the gospel hymn “Do, Lord, Remember Me.” Remember that moment if you ever see a bumper sticker that reads, “Repulsed into voting Republican.”
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