People for the Ethical Treatment of the Animals (PETA) has called for TV and film safety rules to be tightened after two horses were put down during filming for HBO drama Luck.
The animals were injured in the making of the show starring Dustin Hoffman.
PETA said it “repeatedly reached out” to HBO before filming to offer safety advice but was “rebuffed”.
HBO, which worked with the American Humane Association, said both were “committed to ensuring all necessary safety procedures” were in place.
Luck, conceived by NYPD Blue creator David Milch, is billed as “a provocative look at the world of horse racing – the owners, gamblers, jockeys and diverse gaming industry players”.
The AHA said in a statement that the fatal accidents had taken place several months apart – one during the filming of a pilot episode and another during the filming of the seventh show.
AHA’s standard “no animals were harmed” statement was removed from the credits of both episodes.
PETA has called for TV and film safety rules to be tightened after two horses were put down during filming for HBO drama Luck
The AHA said both racehorses “stumbled and fell during short racing sequences”.
“The horses were checked immediately afterwards by the onsite veterinarians and in each case a severe fracture deemed the condition inoperable,” it added.
“The decision was that the most humane course of action was euthanasia.”
It listed a series of precautions taken including that each horse was “limited to three runs per day and was rested in between those runs”.
In a statement released to the New York Observer, HBO said filming was suspended after the second accident “while the production worked with AHA and racing industry experts to adopt additional protocols specifically for horse racing sequences”.
They included “the hiring of an additional veterinarian and radiography of the legs of all horses being used by the production”.
“HBO fully adopted all of AHA’s rigorous safety guidelines before production resumed.”
But, in a blog on its website, PETA said: “Perhaps if producers had considered the proved safety protocols that we would have suggested, these horses would still be alive.”
It added that “two dead horses in a handful of episodes exemplify the dark side of using animals in television, movies, and ads”.
It said it was now in discussions with HBO “about how to prevent even more deaths on the show”.
US scientists have discovered how to rapidly clear the destructive plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients while they were testing a cancer drug on mice.
The study, published in the journal Science, reported the plaques were broken down at “unprecedented” speed.
Tests also showed an improvement in some brain function.
Researchers said the results were promising, but warned that successful drugs in mice often failed to work in people.
The exact cause of Alzheimer’s remains unknown, but one of the leading theories involves the formation of clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid. These damage and kill brain cells, eventually resulting in memory problems and the inability to think clearly.
Clearing protein plaques is a major focus of Alzheimer’s research and drugs are already being tested in human clinical trials.
In the body, the role of removing beta-amyloid falls to apolipoprotein E – or ApoE. However, people have different versions of the protein. Having the ApoE4 genetic variant is one of the biggest risk factors for developing the disease.
Alzheimer’s plaques (in brown) form around brain cells (in blue) and shrink parts of the brain
Scientists at the Case Western Reserve University in Ohio were investigating ways of boosting levels of ApoE, which in theory should reduce levels of beta-amyloid.
They tested bexarotene, which has been approved for use to treat cancers in the skin, on mice with an illness similar to Alzheimer’s.
After one dose in young mice, the levels of beta-amyloid in the brain were “rapidly lowered” within six hours and a 25% reduction was sustained for 70 hours.
In older mice with established amyloid plaques, seven days of treatment halved the number of plaques in the brain.
The study said there were improvements in brain function after treatment, in nest building, maze performance and remembering electrical shocks.
Researcher Paige Cramer said: “This is an unprecedented finding. Previously, the best existing treatment for Alzheimer’s disease in mice required several months to reduce plaque in the brain.”
The research is at a very early stage, and drugs often do not make the leap from animal experiment to human treatment.
Fellow researcher Prof. Gary Landreth said the study was “particularly exciting and rewarding” and held the “potential promise of a therapy for Alzheimer’s disease”.
However, he stressed that the drug had been tested in only three “mouse models” which simulate the early stages of the disease and are not Alzheimer’s.
Prof. Gary Landreth warned people not to “try this at home”, as the drug had not been proven to work in Alzheimer’s patients and there was no indication of what any dose should be.
“We need to be clear, the drug works quite well in mouse models of the disease. Our next objective is to ascertain if it acts similarly in humans,” he said.
Prof. Gary Landreth’s group is preparing to start trials in a small group of people to see if there is a similar effect in humans.
Alzheimer’s disease is likely to become more common as people live longer.
At least 25 people have been killed in two bomb attacks targeting security forces compounds in Syria’s second city of Aleppo, state media report.
According to state television, the death toll included both civilians and members of the security forces and blamed “armed terrorist gangs” for the blasts.
There are conflicting reports about whether the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) was behind the attacks.
A spokesman appeared to confirm that it was, but another blamed the government.
Col Malik al-Kurdi, the FSA’s deputy leader, said it had been monitoring the activity of security forces personnel and members of the pro-government Shabiha militia inside a Military Intelligence compound and a riot police base in Aleppo on Friday morning.
“When they were gathering in a square to go to the mosques and repress demonstrations, two groups from the FSA targeted the two buildings with small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire,” he said.
“After violent clashes, there was an explosion inside the Military Intelligence building. At first we didn’t know what it was, but we think it was the regime trying to stop the operation of the FSA,” he added.
Another FSA spokesman, Col Mahir Nouaimi, told AFP: “This criminal regime is killing our children in Homs and carrying out bomb attacks in Aleppo to steer attention away from what it is doing in Homs.”
At least 25 people have been killed in two bomb attacks targeting security forces compounds in Syria's second city of Aleppo
Opposition activists also said the government was responsible, accusing it of trying to discredit the uprising. Suspicious activity by security personnel had been noticed shortly before the blasts, they added.
Syrian state TV broadcast images showing at least five corpses and mangled body parts.
A weeping TV reporter said the bomb targeting an intelligence building went off near a park, where people had gathered for breakfast and children had been playing.
Some children were killed in the blast, he said, holding up an inline-skate.
Robert Dewey Hoskins, a man who was convicted of stalking and threatening pop star Madonna, has escaped from a psychiatric hospital, police in Los Angeles say.
Robert Dewey Hoskins, 54, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 1996.
After leaving prison the stalker spent time in another hospital, before being arrested last July and sent to the facility in Norwalk that he escaped from on Friday.
Police describe Robert Dewey Hoskins as having “very violent tendencies” and say he is not to be approached.
“Hoskins is highly psychotic when not taking his medication,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.
Madonna testified during Robert Dewey Hoskins’ trial in 1996 that she had nightmares about him after seeing him near her home the previous year.
Robert Dewey Hoskins, who was convicted of stalking and threatening pop star Madonna, has escaped from a psychiatric hospital
The singer said her bodyguard told her Robert Dewey Hoskins claimed she was supposed to be his wife, and that “if he couldn’t have me, he was going to slice my throat from ear to ear.”
Later that year, while Madonna was in Florida, Robert Dewey Hoskins scaled the perimeter wall of her home in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles, jumped into her pool and was eventually shot twice by a security guard.
Court records show Robert Dewey Hoskins was convicted of vandalism in July 2011, the Associated Press reports.
Baby Blue Ivy appeared on her father’s single at just a few hours old and now Beyoncé and Jay-Z daughter’s name is a brand in the making.
According to reports in the US, Beyoncé and Jay-Z have moved to trademark their one-month-old baby’s name.
Beyoncé, 30, and Jay-Z, 42, have filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect Blue Ivy’s name against others using it.
The application was filed under Beyoncé’s company BGK Trademark Holdings and is still pending, according to MTV.
If approved Beyoncé and Jay-Z could use their daughter’s name for any brand or endorsements, but it is more likely they took action in order to prevent others cashing in on their already famous offspring.
Family law attorney Vikki Ziegler told MTV: “Seeking the trademark forestalls competitors from using the child’s name and or third parties from attempting to sell the baby’s name back to the couple. They are likely trying to protect what they rightfully own or created, shall we say, by trademarking Blue Ivy’s name.”
Beyoncé and Jay-Z have filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect Blue Ivy's name against others using it
The Patent Office has already denied two attempts by other parties to trademark the name since Blue Ivy was born on January 7, noting that the name belonged to a “very famous infant” as the reason for the rejection.
While Blue Ivy Carter awaits the decision on her trademarked name, the pampered baby is being wheeled about in a very posh pram.
According to Us Weekly, Beyoncé’s BFF Gwyneth Paltrow splashed out $1,400 on a black Bugaboo Chameleon stroller for the baby – but that’s something of a downgrade compared to the other extravagant transport at Blue Ivy’s disposal.
The new parents reportedly paid $625,000 on a solid gold rocking horse, and a mini Bugatti car for when her motor skills are more developed. And in the mean time, a $15,000 Swarovski-studded high chair and $45,000 “coach carriage” crib will keep Blue Ivy comfortable while stationary.
Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles recently spoke out about her granddaughter, telling People magazine: “She’s doing great. She’s beautiful.”
“[Being a grandma is] amazing. It’s the second best job I’ve ever had.”
In a new book by Spanish author Pilar Eyre is claimed that Princess Diana was just one of the many young ladies King Juan Carlos of Spain pursued in a romantic career in which he is said to have bedded more than 1,500 women.
The explosive claims are made in one of the six volumes about the Spanish royal family written by Pilar Eyre.
Imperious and suave, Juan Carlos looks every inch the old-style monarch with the autocratic manners to go with it. He loves hunting bears, skiing and boating and bedding the opposite sex.
In one picture, King Juan Carlos of Spain sits with the small Prince William, while a radiant Princess Diana, a protective arm round toddler Prince Harry, leans in to share a pleasantry with the good-looking monarch. At the other end of the couch, Prince Charles seems scarcely part of the same holiday party in 1986. He is staring glumly straight ahead like the proverbial gooseberry.
Apparently, it is an open secret in his circles that he is such a keen womanizer that the only woman he does not spend much time with is his wife, Greek-born Queen Sofia.
According to Pilar Eyre, King Juan Carlos, now 74, and Queen Sofia have not shared a bed for 35 years.
In fact, the new book, “The Solitude of the Queen”, says, following an operation on a benign lung tumor at a Barcelona hospital in 2010, the woman who spent most of the time consoling King Juan Carlos during his convalescence was a 25-year-old German interpreter called Corinne.
But can it really be true that our very own Princess Diana was one of Juan Carlos’s most significant conquests? And that it was the relationship between her and the then 48-year-old king, in the prime of his romantic life, that finally put paid to any chance of reviving his marriage?
It is certainly the case that Princess Diana, together with Prince Charles and their young children, holidayed in Majorca with the Spanish royal family several times during the 80’s.
Prince Charles never felt at ease on the sunshine island and much preferred visiting the Duke of Wellington’s estate near Granada on the mainland where the shooting was good.
In one picture, King Juan Carlos of Spain sits with the small Prince William, while a radiant Princess Diana, a protective arm round toddler Prince Harry, leans in to share a pleasantry with the good-looking monarch
But Diana, who loved lounging about on yachts in stylish bathing suits, was right at home on the shores of the Mediterranean where she could show off her figure. And King Juan Carlos, who appreciated displays of female beauty, seems to have acted on an impulse to get closer to her.
After her first trip to Majorca in 1986, Pilar Eyre alleges Diana told her bodyguard Ken Wharfe that Juan Carlos fancied her. Apparently, the king made all sorts of excuses to get tactile with her and used to love bending down with her and inviting her to stroke his old German shepherd dog, Archie.
Another royal biographer, Lady Colin Campbell, has long insisted that Princess Diana and King Juan Carlos embarked on an affair while on a cruise with their spouses in August 1986, and that they took up with each other again the following summer.
“Diana did it to make Charles jealous, but it didn’t work,” says Lady Colin. “Charles couldn’t have cared less.”
According to Pilar Eyre, rumors of the affair intensified later over the curious case of some photos of Diana in a state of undress. These were touted around the world’s publications, only to be taken off the market when someone in Spain paid $45,000 for them. That someone is rumored to have been Juan Carlos, who wanted to protect the Princess’s reputation.
But why rake all this up now? Diana is long since dead, while Juan Carlos, though he retains an eye for a pretty woman, has made it quite plain that he would never divorce his wife, with whom he has three children and eight grandchildren.
Pilar Eyre says she has revealed it for Queen Sofia’s sake.
“In a macho country like Spain, the king’s womanizing image makes him very popular,” Pilar Eyre says.
“Even the women don’t reproach him. On the contrary, they love him because he has such a seductive manner with them. But they don’t feel the same about poor Queen Sofia.
“She is seen as a cold, aloof foreigner. I wanted to show what she has had to put up with.”
Pilar Eyre says she tried hard to find out whether the Queen might also have had lovers in her time, but could come up with nothing.
Though as a young woman she had caught the eye of the Duke of Kent – first cousin to Queen Elizabeth – the Duke then fell in love with the Englishwoman he married, Kathleen Worsley.
Sofia dutifully entered into an arranged marriage in 1962, having met the highly eligible Juan Carlos on a cruise specially convened to introduce Europe’s young royals to each other.
By 1968, they had two daughters and Crown Prince Felipe. But though Sofia had fallen deeply in love with her husband, Pilar Eyre says Juan Carlos was still playing the field.
And by 1975, when he finally came to the Spanish throne after the death of the dictator General Franco, the new Queen was nursing a great sadness. For by then the royal couple was more or less estranged as a result of the king’s persistent womanizing.
According to the book, one of Sofia’s greatest humiliations happened a couple of months after Juan Carlos became king. All of a sudden he sent for a new barber and underwent such a transformation Sofia was convinced he was sprucing himself up for a lover.
A few days later the king packed his suitcase and said he was going hunting near Toledo.
“It’s an all-male outing; you’d be bored,” the king told his wife. Unwisely, Queen Sofia decided to surprise him by arriving at the estate in the middle of the night with their children, the eldest of whom was 12.
Queen Sofia burst through the door, brushed past the servants and, taking the stairs two at a time, discovered her husband in flagrante with an unknown woman. But even being caught by his entire family did not encourage the king to mend his ways.
Pilar Eyre says that throughout her reign, Queen Sofia has consequently been forced to content herself with a life of duty in Madrid, leavened by shopping trips with her daughters and occasional visits to England to visit her brother Constantine, the ex-King of Greece, who has lived in London since he was booted off the throne in 1973.
Lately Queen Sofia has taken solace in religion. She goes to Roman Catholic Mass every Sunday in the palace and attends Madrid’s Greek Orthodox church as well. Her devotions seem to annoy Juan Carlos even more.
King Juan Carlos raised his voice to his mother-in-law, Queen Federica of Greece, when he heard her telling her daughter how the Virgin Mary had appeared before her in a vision in a church near Madrid.
“There was an intense light and peace!” said Federica, at which point the king shouted: “Shut up, you! Don’t fill her head with this nonsense, she will believe it all.”
The tragedy is that despite his behavior, Queen Sofia appears to be as captivated by her husband as she was when they married 40 years ago.
At a recent family funeral Queen Sofia was seen holding tight to him and sobbing on his shoulder as if they were still the closest of companions.
Whether the book will rehabilitate Sofia in the eyes of the Spaniards or merely add to the prestige of Juan Carlos remains to be seen.
Scientists have identified helicobacter pylori bacterium as being the real cause of stomach bleeding linked to aspirin, which makes thousands of patients to be unable to take the daily pill to prevent heart attack and stroke.
This new theory could transform the way many people with cardiovascular disease are treated.
It also opens up the possibility that otherwise healthy people, who are currently advised not to take a daily aspirin, because of the risk of bleeding, might be able to take it safely for its cancer-preventing benefits.
Low-dose daily aspirin is a lifesaver, helping to prevent blood clots in the arteries supplying the heart and brain.
Aspirin is also prescribed for problems such as atrial fibrillation, a common condition that causes an irregular heartbeat, as this can also lead to the formation of blood clots.
More recently, aspirin has also been linked to a lower risk of cancers.
However, it does carry the risk of abdominal pain and stomach bleeds, and for this reason many patients are advised not to take it.
This risk was thought to be due to aspirin directly irritating the stomach lining and causing an ulcer.
Scientists have identified helicobacter pylori bacterium as being the real cause of stomach bleeding linked to aspirin
Now researchers from Nottingham University believe that helicobacter pylori bacterium (H. pylori), a common stomach bug, may in fact be responsible for the ulcers – and that aspirin merely exacerbates them.
The scientists think treating this problem at the source by eliminating the bacteria would leave more people able to tolerate aspirin, and so reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke.
One in four people is infected with H.pylori at some point, and though many people show no symptoms, it is thought to be the principal cause of stomach ulcers: about three in 20 people infected with it develop a stomach ulcer.
Now research has also linked the bacterium to bleeding from aspirin.
In a study by Nottingham University, 60% of patients who suffered internal bleeding while taking low-dose aspirin tested positive for the bacterium (H.pylori is detected using a breath test).
The researchers explained: “Our hypothesis is that H.pylori causes the ulcer, and aspirin, by thinning the blood, makes it bleed.
“If the bacterium is eradicated, the patient will not get an ulcer and therefore there is no increased bleeding risk with aspirin.”
Now a new trial of 40,000 patients in UK will investigate this. Doctors at five universities across the UK – Oxford, Durham, Southampton, Birmingham and Nottingham – will carry out the trial, the Helicobacter Eradication Aspirin Trial, starting next month and ending in March 2016.
In the study, patients aged 60 and over who are taking low-dose aspirin will first be given the breath test for the H.pylori bacterium.
Those found to be infected will receive a one-week course of eradication drug treatment of strong antibiotics, or a placebo treatment.
Commenting on the study, Dr. Jonathan Lyne, a consultant cardiologist who practices in London and at the Mater Private Hospital in Dublin, said: “Aspirin is a cornerstone of treatment in almost all patients with vascular disease.
“Concern in using this drug in those with a history of stomach ulceration and bleeding has always led to consideration of not using it in these patients, or using alternative drugs that may be more expensive and potentially not as effective.
“Furthermore, the potential cost savings in preventing hospital admissions, investigations and treatments related to ulcers and bleeding caused by aspirin and H.pylori would be welcome not just to patients but to the NHS as a whole.”
Scientists from the University of Southern California say fasting for short periods may help to combat cancer and boost the effectiveness of treatments.
Their study found fasting slowed the growth and spread of tumors and cured some cancers when it was combined with chemotherapy.
It is hoped that the discovery will prompt the development of more effective treatment plans and further research is now under way.
The study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, found that tumor cells responded differently to the stress of fasting compared to normal cells.
Instead of entering a dormant state similar to hibernation, the cells kept growing and dividing, in the end destroying themselves.
Lead researcher Professor Valter Longo, from the University of Southern California said: “The cell is, in fact, committing cellular suicide.
“What we’re seeing is that the cancer cell tries to compensate for the lack of all these things missing in the blood after fasting. It may be trying to replace them, but it can’t.”
Prof. Valter Longo and his team looked at the impact fasting had on breast, urinary tract and ovarian cancers in mice.
Fasting without chemotherapy was shown to slow the growth of breast cancer, melanoma skin cancer, glioma brain cancer and neuroblastoma – a cancer that forms in the nerve tissue.
In every case, combining fasting with chemotherapy made the cancer treatment more effective.
Multiple cycles of fasting combined with chemotherapy cured 20% of those with a highly aggressive form of cancer while 40% with a limited spread of the same cancer were cured.
None of the mice survived if they were treated with chemotherapy alone.
Researchers are already investigating the effects of fasting on human patients, but only a clinical trial lasting several years will confirm if human cancer patients really can benefit from calorie restriction.
However, they highlight that fasting could be dangerous for patients who have already lost a lot of weight or are affected by other risk factors, such as diabetes.
Results of a preliminary clinical trial will be presented at an annual meeting of the American Society of Cancer Oncologists (ASCO) in Chicago this June.
Prof. Valter Longo points out that the study only tests if patients could tolerate short fasts of two days before and one day after chemotherapy.
“We don’t know whether in humans it’s effective,” he said.
“It should be off-limits to patients, but a patient should be able to go to their oncologist and say, <<what about fasting with chemotherapy?>> or without if chemotherapy was not recommended or considered.”
Previous research led by Prof. Valter Longo showed that fasting protected normal cells from the effects of chemotherapy but it did not look at cancer cells.
It is now though fasting may be one way to make tumor cells weaker and more vulnerable.
Prof. Valter Longo added: “A way to beat cancer cells may not be to try to find drugs that kill them specifically but to confuse them by generating extreme environments, such as fasting, that only normal cells can quickly respond to.”
A new study has found that zinc supplements can triple the survival chances of young children with pneumonia who are deficient in the mineral.
Taking zinc had a dramatic effect on death rates – even though it did not shorten the time severely ill children took to recover.
The metal is found in shellfish, meat, egg yolks and seeds and supports a wide range of functions in the body and is vital to the immune system.
However, many people are deficient in the mineral, both in rich and poor countries.
The new research, involving young children aged six months to five years, was conducted in Uganda where zinc deficiency is rife.
Scientists studied 352 children with severe pneumonia who were all being treated with antibiotics.
Half the children were given additional therapy in the form of 10 milligram or 20 milligram zinc supplements, depending on age.
The researchers found no difference between the two groups in the time it took to recover from infection.
But the risk of dying was very different. Just 4% of children taking zinc died compared with 12% of those not taking zinc.
For children infected with the AIDS virus, HIV, the supplements had a really dramatic impact. In this group, an extra 26 out of every 100 children had their lives saved by zinc.
A new study has found that zinc supplements can triple the survival chances of young children with pneumonia who are deficient in the mineral
Study leader Professor James Tumwine, from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, said: “Zinc is known to bolster the immune system and zinc deficiency is rife all over the developed, and developing, world.
“In Uganda, where this study was performed, zinc deficiency in some areas can be as high as 70%.
“We would only need to give 13 of these children with pneumonia zinc on top of their antibiotics to save one life. This equates to about $4 – a small price to pay.”
The findings are published in the online journal BMC Medicine.
The researchers pointed out that the HIV-infected children suffered a double disadvantage. Their immune systems were compromised both by HIV infection and zinc deficiency.
Taking zinc supplements was thought to give a big boost to the immune systems. Yet the scientists were unable to explain why the mineral failed to speed up recovery time.
The researchers wrote: “What is clear is that we have unearthed a very interesting, yet contradictory phenomenon, that seems to be related to HIV infection and severe zinc deficiency. It calls for further studies on the interaction among HIV, zinc and severe pneumonia.”
A short guide to pick-up the right bottle of fragrance for this Valentine’s Day.
FRAGRANCES FOR HER
FASHIONISTAS
Jimmy Choo eau de toilette
A newly launched lighter version of the gorgeous Jimmy Choo scent, which, in keeping with all things romantic, is pale pink. There are top notes of ginger and heart notes of tea rose. It comes in an exquisite faceted bottle.
FLIRTY GIRLS
Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial L’Eau
In a beautiful bottle with a sapphire blue stopper, this new version of the iconic scent has top notes of damask rose and iris on a base of vanilla and tonka bean. It’s fresher than the original, with an almond overtone.
TRUE BRITS
Burberry Body Mist
A new, lighter version of the best-selling Burberry Body fragrance, this is lovely for spraying all over as it’s delicate enough to scent hair and the whole body. Use after bathing to allow skin to absorb sandalwood, freesia and peach notes.
SULTRY SIRENS
Gucci Guilty Intense
A warm, oriental version of the eau de toilette, this is a feminine fragrance, with notes of pink pepper, mandarin and powdery violet. Perfect for romantic nights out.
Gucci Guilty Intense is perfect for romantic nights out
FUN LOVERS
Coach Poppy
Brand new from Coach, this is a fruity, floral scent with fresh cucumber, juicy mandarin and baby freesia buds. In a pretty pink and red bottle, its woody undertones blend with the floral aspects. Lovely for every day.
LUXURY LOVERS
Dolce & Gabanna The One
This scent feels exclusive and luxurious. It’s a warm oriental with a citrus blend of bergamot and mandarin. The heavy glass bottle feels substantial and expensive.
REAL LADIES
Carita eau de parfum
With top notes of bergamot and rose, heart notes of violet, heliotrope and iris and base notes of vanilla, amber and musk, this is one of the sexiest new scents around. A must-have for true romantics.
FLORAL FANS
Fan de Fendi eau de toilette
This limited edition of the Sicilian scent is like a little bottle of sunshine. A fresh floral perfume with notes of Damascena rose, it comes with the famed Fendi logo in bright yellow. It’s available for only one season, so is sure to become a collector’s item.
FRAGRANCES FOR HIM
FOR ADVENTURERS
Molton Brown Re-Charge Black Pepper eau de toilette
With fiery Madagascan black pepper- corn oil, this sultry, warming scent is very masculine. Another great choice is one of Molton Brown’s fabulous gift sets, Fresh Black Pepper.
TRUE GENTS
Boucheron Pour Homme
A refreshing citrus scent with a woody base and notes of bergamot, verbena, basil and coriander. One for men who like to look and smell classic and dapper.
KEEN TRAVELLERS
Jean Paul Gaultier Kokorico
This sweet, yet fresh, fragrance contrasts cocoa bean with fig leaf for an unusual, yet distinctly Gaultier scent. It comes beautifully presented in a red tin, so it would make a great Valentine’s gift. Ideal for men who like a powerful, exotic fragrance.
OUTDOOR TYPES
Guerlain Homme L’Eau Boisee
A woody version of Guerlain Homme L’Eau, with notes of Indian vetiver. There’s a lovely crispness, too, perfect for spring days.
Guerlain Homme L’Eau Boisee is a woody version of Guerlain Homme L’Eau, with notes of Indian vetiver, perfect for spring days
DISCERNING CHAPS
Tom Ford Extreme eau de toilette
A real treat for the man who knows exactly what he wants. Rum, caramel, vanilla and black truffle make this a unique spicy scent. In an elegant bottle, it will quickly become a favorite.
GOLDEN OLDIES
M7 by Yves Saint Laurent
This is part of The Collection from YSL, another brand to re-launch cult and classic fragrances. Dating from 2002, it has notes of mandarin and myrrh to give a woody, distinctive fragrance. The retro bottle will look good in the bathroom.
FLAMBOYANT TYPES
Paco Rabanne 1 Million aftershave
A huge seller, this scent is leathery and freshly crisp, with notes of frosted grapefruit, mandarin and peppermint, contrasting with tonka bean and amber. The bottle is impressive and will look smart in a wash bag.
Experts found that men can inherit heart disease from their father after they have tracked the condition to the Y chromosome that dads pass to sons.
By studying the DNA of over 3,000 men, scientists found a particular version of the sex chromosome increases the risk of coronary artery disease by 50%.
The risk it confers is in addition to other heart risk factors like cholesterol, The Lancet reports.
Experts already know that men develop heart disease a decade earlier than women, on average. By the age of 40, the lifetime risk of heart disease is one in two for men and one in three for women.
Lifestyle factors like smoking and blood pressure are important contributors. This latest work suggests the male Y chromosome can also play a role in coronary artery disease.
Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski, from the University of Leicester in UK, and colleagues studied 3,233 biologically unrelated British men who were already enrolled in other medical studies investigating heart disease risk.
When they carried out genetic tests on the men they found that 90% possessed one of two common versions of Y chromosome – named haplogroup I and haplogroup R1b1b2.
And the risk of coronary artery disease among the men carrying the haplogroup I version was 50% higher than in other men.
The scientists say they now need to pinpoint precisely which genes on the Y chromosome are responsible.
But they believe they already know how they exert their effect – by upsetting a man’s immune system.
Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski, a clinical senior lecturer at the University’s Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, said: “We are very excited about these findings as they put the Y chromosome on the map of genetic susceptibility to coronary artery disease.
“Doctors usually associated the Y chromosome with maleness and fertility but this shows it is also implicated in heart disease.”
Experts found that men can inherit heart disease from their father after they have tracked the condition to the Y chromosome that dads pass to sons
He said, ultimately, the discovery could lead to new ways to treat and prevent heart disease in men, as well as a genetic test to spot those at greatest risk.
In the meantime, Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski said men should focus on risk factors that they already have the power to modify themselves, such as getting enough exercise and eating a healthy diet to keep their blood pressure and cholesterol down.
Dr. Hélène Wilson of the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the work, said: “Coronary heart disease is the cause of heart attacks, which claim the lives of around 50,000 UK men every year.
“Lifestyle choices such as poor diet and smoking are major causes, but inherited factors carried in DNA are also part of the picture. The next step is to identify specifically which genes are responsible and how they might increase heart attack risk.”
A research team from Tel Aviv University claim that a full breakfast that includes a sweet treat really can contribute to weight loss success.
Researchers found that eating pudding as part of a balanced 600-calorie breakfast that also includes proteins and carbohydrates, can help dieters to lose more weight – and keep it off in the long run.
The key is to indulge in the morning, when the body’s metabolism is at its most active and we are better able to work off the extra calories throughout the day, according to Professor Daniela Jakubowicz and her team.
Attempting to avoid sweets entirely can create a psychological addiction to these same foods in the long-term, Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz said. So adding dessert items to breakfast can control cravings throughout the rest of the day.
A research team from Tel Aviv University claim that a full breakfast that includes a sweet treat really can contribute to weight loss success
Over the course of a 32 week-long study, detailed in the journal Steroids, participants who added dessert to their breakfast – cookies, cake, or chocolate – lost an average of 40 lbs more than a group that avoided such foods. What’s more, they kept off the pounds longer.
A meal in the morning provides energy for the day’s tasks, aids in brain functioning, and kick-starts the body’s metabolism, making it crucial for weight loss and maintenance.
And breakfast is the meal that most successfully regulates ghrelin, the hormone that increases hunger, explains Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz.
While the level of ghrelin rises before every meal, it is suppressed most effectively at breakfast time.
Basing their study on this fact, the researchers hoped to determine whether meal time and composition had an impact on weight loss in the short and long term, or if it was a simple matter of calorie count.
193 clinically obese, non-diabetic adults were randomly assigned to one of two diet groups with identical caloric intake – the men consumed 1600 calories per day and the women 1400.
However, the first group was given a low carbohydrate diet including a small 300 calorie breakfast, and the second was given a 600 calorie breakfast high in protein and carbohydrates, always including a dessert item (i.e. chocolate).
Halfway through the study, participants in both groups had lost an average of 33 lbs per person. But in the second half of the study, results differed drastically. The participants in the low-carbohydrate group regained an average of 22 lbs per person, but participants in the group with a larger breakfast lost another 15 lbs each.
At the end of the 32 weeks, those who had consumed a 600-calorie breakfast had lost an average of 40 lbs more per person than their peers.
One of the biggest challenges that people face is keeping weight off in the long-term, says Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz. Ingesting a higher proportion of our daily calories at breakfast makes sense. It’s not only good for body function, but it also alleviates cravings.
Highly restrictive diets that forbid desserts and carbohydrates are initially effective, but often cause dieters to stray from their food plans as a result of withdrawal-like symptoms. They end up regaining much of the weight they lost during the diet proper.
Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz said that although they consumed the same daily amount of calories, “the participants in the low carbohydrate diet group had less satisfaction, and felt that they were not full”. She said that their cravings for sugars and carbohydrates were more intense and eventually caused them to cheat on the diet plan.
“But the group that consumed a bigger breakfast, including dessert, experienced few if any cravings for these foods later in the day.”
Ultimately, this shows that a diet must be realistic to be adopted as part of a new lifestyle. Curbing cravings is better than deprivation for weight loss success, the team concluded.
According to a study by Yale University scientists, the Earth will look very different in 200 million years, with the latest prediction that a supercontinent called Amasia will form right over the North Pole, and not over the centre of Africa, as previously thought.
North and South America will crunch together, with the Caribbean Sea and Arctic Ocean disappearing, while Asia will join the Americas, the scientists say.
“After those water bodies close, we’re on our way to the next supercontinent,” said lead researcher Ross Mitchell.
“You’d have the Americas meeting Eurasia practically at the North Pole.”
The results of the study were published this week in Nature, with the paper explaining that the formation of Amasia is between 50 and 200 million years away.
The Yale researchers used a process called orthoversion to arrive at their conclusions.
North and South America will crunch together, with the Caribbean Sea and Arctic Ocean disappearing, while Asia will join the Americas
According to this, each succeeding supercontinent forms 90 degrees from the geographic centre of its ancient predecessor.
The new theory contrasts with the standard theories about supercontinent formation, introversion and extroversion, which hold that supercontinents form either 0 or 180 degrees away from the geographic centre of the previous supercontinent.
Under these earlier theories, the Atlantic Ocean will disappear and the next supercontinent will form with a centre more or less in the same spot as the last supercontinent’s centre, present-day Africa.
Alternately, the Pacific Ocean will disappear and the next supercontinent will form with a centre on the opposite side of the globe.
Ross Mitchell and colleagues arrived at the new theory after an extensive analysis of the magnetism of ancient rocks.
After each historical supercontinent assembled, it underwent a series of back-and-forth rotations around a stable axis along the equator.
From one supercontinent to the next, the axes were offset from each other by about 90 degrees, the Yale team showed – consistent with orthoversion, but not with either introversion or extroversion.
“This kind of analysis gives us a way to arrange continents in both latitude and longitude, providing a better understanding in patterns of biological dispersal and the dynamics of Earth’s deep interior,” said Yale doctoral student Taylor M. Kilian, the study’s second author.
The most recent supercontinent, Pangea (which is Greek for “All Lands”), formed about 300 million years ago with Africa at its centre.
Pangea began breaking apart into the seven continents of today with the birth of the Atlantic Ocean about 100 million years later.
Researchers believe Pangea is the third or fourth supercontinent in Earth’s history. Its immediate predecessors were Rodinia – which formed about 1 billion years ago – and Nuna, which formed about 1.8 billion years ago.
The idea of continental drift was introduced by German scientist Alfred Wegener in 1912, to explain how the shape of Earth’s countries looked suspiciously like jigsaw pieces that would fit together.
The Earth’s surface is formed from seven major and several minor tectonic plates that wander around at speeds varying from a few millimetres to two centimetres a year, the same pace that a human nail grows.
It’s the friction caused by plates grinding against each other that causes earthquakes.
Baltasar Garzon, Spain’s best-known judge has been found guilty of authorizing illegal recordings of lawyers’ conversations by Supreme Court in Madrid.
The judge has been banned from the legal profession for 11 years.
Baltasar Garzon, 56, is best known for his efforts to extradite the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from London to face trial in Madrid.
He is also accused of exceeding his authority by wanting to investigate Franco-era disappearances.
That would violate a 1977 amnesty on crimes committed during General Franco’s rule.
Baltasar Garzon, Spain’s best-known judge has been found guilty of authorizing illegal recordings of lawyers' conversations by Supreme Court in Madrid
Baltasar Garzon believes that no amnesty can cover crimes against humanity.
The judge also faces a third charge, of allegedly dropping an investigation into the head of Spain’s biggest bank, Santander, after receiving payments for a course sponsored by the bank. No date has been set for that trial.
The prosecutions have been brought by private parties.
Seven judges at the Supreme Court in Madrid have been hearing the evidence.
How zebras evolved their characteristic black-and-white stripes has been a long time subject of debate among scientists.
Now researchers from Hungary and Sweden claim to have solved the mystery.
The stripes, the scientist say, came about to keep away blood-sucking flies.
They report in the Journal of Experimental Biology that this pattern of narrow stripes makes zebras “unattractive” to the flies.
They key to this effect is in how the striped patterns reflect light.
“We started off studying horses with black, brown or white coats,” explained Susanne Akesson from Lund University, a member of the international research team that carried out the study.
“We found that in the black and brown horses, we get horizontally polarized light.” This effect made the dark-coloured horses very attractive to flies.
How zebras evolved their characteristic black-and-white stripes has been a long time subject of debate among scientists
It means that the light that bounces off the horse’s dark coat – and travels in waves to the eyes of a hungry fly – moves along a horizontal plane, like a snake slithering along with its body flat to the floor.
Dr. Susanne Akesson and her colleagues found that horseflies, or tabanids, were very attracted by these “flat” waves of light.
“From a white coat, you get unpolarized light [reflected],” she explained. Unpolarized light waves travel along any and every plane, and are much less attractive to flies. As a result, white-coated horses are much less troubled by horseflies than their dark-coloured relatives.
Having discovered the flies’ preference for dark coats, the team then became interested in zebras. They wanted to know what kind of light would bounce off the striped body of a zebra, and how this would affect the biting flies that are a horse’s most irritating enemy.
“We created an experimental set-up where we painted the different patterns onto boards,” said Dr. Susanne Akesson.
She and her colleagues placed a blackboard, a whiteboard, and several boards with stripes of varying widths into one of the fields of a horse farm in rural Hungary.
“We put insect glue on the boards and counted the number of flies that each one attracted,” she explained.
The striped board that was the closest match to the actual pattern of a zebra’s coat attracted by far the fewest flies, “even less than the white boards that were reflecting unpolarized light,” Dr. Susanne Akesson said.
“That was a surprise because, in a striped pattern, you still have these dark areas that are reflecting horizontally polarized light.
“But the narrower (and more zebra-like) the stripes, the less attractive they were to the flies.”
To test horseflies’ reaction to a more realistic 3-D target, the team put four life-size “sticky horse models ” into the field – one brown, one black, one white and one black-and-white striped, like a zebra.
The researchers collected the trapped flies every two days, and found that the zebra-striped horse model attracted the fewest.
Veteran TV anchor Kyle Dyer in Denver, Colorado, was rushed to the hospital after a dog that recently survived a harrowing rescue bit her in the face during a live TV segment.
86-pound Argentine Mastiff named Max sunk his teeth into Kyle Dyer’s face when she bent down to pet him Wednesday during the morning show segment on KUSA-TV.
KUSA-TV’s news chopper captured video footage of a firefighter rescuing Max from a freezing pond Monday after he fell through the ice and couldn’t make it out.
Now, Max has been caged by animal control officers and his owner, Michael Robinson, has been fined.
TV anchor Kyle Dyer was rushed to the hospital after a dog that recently survived a harrowing rescue bit her in the face during a live TV segment
KUSA-TV says Kyle Dyer is in fair condition, recovering from the bite at Denver hospital.
A trauma team is evaluating the injuries to her face.
Michael Robinson says he was walking Max Monday when he saw a coyote and ran off after it.
Authorities say Max spend 20 minutes swimming in the pond before a firefighter in a dry suit dove into the frigid waters and pulled him to safety.
KUSA- TV station aired the harrowing rescue and invited the firefighter, Michael Robinson and Max into their studios Wednesday morning for a reunion.
That’s when Max attacked Kyle Dyer.
The station says the attack was not broadcast, but it later released a short clip of the bite.
Denver Animal Control Director Doug Kelley told CBS4 Denver Kyle Dyer’s injury was “a pretty major bite”.
Max, who did not have proper rabies vaccinations, will be quarantined 10 days to ensure he is healthy.
Michael Robinson was cited for a dog bite violation, having the dog off his leash and not having proper vaccinations.
Lindsay Lohan drew attention to herself for all the wrong reasons at the amfAR New York Gala at Cipriani Wall Street last night.
Lindsay Lohan looked years older than her quarter of a century, as she appeared on the red carpet sporting a matronly look, and heavy make-up for the stylish affair last night.
The actress was looking almost unrecognizable with her overly bleached hair, badly cut fringe and glazed expression.
Lindsay Lohan’s white dress by Tom Ford did little to reveal her real age and the midi-length white shift dress, complete with modest v-neckline and sleeves, did little to flatter her figure.
While she might have hammed it up for the cameras on the red carpet, smiling broadly at times, she appeared vacant with a blank expression on her face.
Perhaps the stresses of recent months which have been fraught with legal woes, her probation obligations and allegations she has been drinking, which she strongly denies, have taken their toll on Lindsay Lohan.
Lindsay Lohan looked years older than her quarter of a century, as she appeared on the red carpet sporting a matronly look, and heavy make-up for the stylish affair last night
Lindsay Lohan was joined by a whole host of famous faces at the event at Cipriani Wall Street and unlike the actress, most stars looked chic and stylish at the fashion event.
Supermodel Heidi Klum, who last month revealed she was splitting from husband Seal, attended the event in a long black gown with metallic sequin embellishment and accessorized with her wedding ring, which she has yet to take off.
While there was plenty of glamour on the red carpet, fashionista Sarah Jessica Parker certainly didn’t play it safe when it came to her ensemble.
Sarah Jessica Parker donned a pale pink dress which boasted considerable material around the skirt and trail, curiously teaming the feminine dress with a black leather biker jacket.
To complete the miss-matched look the actress had donned a pair of short white gloves.
Liz Hurley stepped out in a plunging stone colored dress which complimented her incredible figure to perfection.
On her arm she stepped out with beau and Australian cricketer Shane Warne who was looking dapper in his dinner suit.
Cindy Crawford looked stunning in a plunging dress with beaded detail while, Linda Evangelista opted for a suit with just a bra underneath.
Model Erin Heatherton opted for a midnight blue strapless dress which boasted a corset detail for the evening which kicks off Fall 2012 Fashion Week.
One of the most stylish dressers of the evening was Bridesmaid’s star Rose Byrne who looked incredibly chic in a fitted cream and black lace dress.
Pregnant actress Molly Sims covered up her baby bump in a flowing white gown which she teamed with a cropped fur jacket.
Jennifer Hudson appeared to have released her wild side and stepped out with big crimped hair which she teamed with a mocha-colored dress boasting a thigh high split.
The mystery surrounding Chinese police chief Wang Lijun from Chongqing has deepened after the US government confirmed he visited one of its consulates.
Some are speculating that Wang Lijun was seeking asylum, although the US state department said it could not comment on that issue.
Wang Lijun, 52, gained national recognition after spearheading a crackdown on organized crime in Chongqing.
But he was removed from his post and is now on leave because of “stress”.
One of China’s vice-foreign ministers, Cui Tiankai, said this was an “isolated incident”.
Speaking at a briefing, Cui Tiankai said this issue was “resolved and resolved quite smoothly”, although he did not go into details about exactly what had happened to Wang Lijun.
The incident could have ramifications for Wang Lijun’s boss, Bo Xilai, who appears poised to become one of China’s top national leaders later this year.
Bo Xilai has been one of China’s most high-profile politicians of late, launching a campaign that praised the virtues of the country’s communist past, as well as the crime crackdown.
The mystery surrounding Chinese police chief Wang Lijun from Chongqing has deepened after the US government confirmed he visited one of its consulates
There has been speculation for several days about the fate of Wang Lijun following a disturbance outside the US consulate in Chengdu earlier this week.
Chengdu is just a few hours drive from Chongqing, where Wang Lijun is also the deputy mayor.
People reported seeing swarms of police officers, who set up roadblocks outside the consulate.
Posting comments on Chinese micro-blog sites, some said a SUV-style vehicle with a Chongqing number plate was hauled away by the police.
Speaking in Washington, US state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: “Wang Lijun did request a meeting at the US consulate general in Chengdu earlier this week.”
In carefully-worded comments she added: “He did visit the consulate and he later left the consulate of his own volition.”
Victoria Nuland said the state department did not talk about issues related to those seeking refugee status or asylum.
Wang Lijun was removed from his post as head of Chongqing’s police department last week and given other duties.
Then on Wednesday the city government’s news department said on its micro-blog site that he had gone on leave.
“It is understood that Vice-Mayor Wang Lijun, who has suffered overwork and immense mental stress for a long time, is seriously physically indisposed. After agreement, he is currently taking holiday-style medical treatment,” read the tweet.
Wang Lijun headed an attack on organized crime in Chongqing that saw hundreds of people arrested, including the former head of the city’s judicial authorities.
He is a martial arts expert whose crime-fighting exploits once inspired a television series.
US researchers revealed that three people who lost their sight in childhood have reported a dramatic improvement in vision after having gene therapy in both eyes.
There was some improvement after the genetic fault in one eye was corrected four years ago.
Now, one woman has described her joy at seeing her children’s faces, after her second eye was treated.
The three have Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), a rare inherited disease caused by defects in a gene encoding a protein needed for vision.
It appears at birth or in the first months of life, leading to severely impaired vision, involuntary eye movements and poor night vision.
LCA disorder, which can be caused by “mistakes” in more than 10 different genes, prevents normal function of the retina; the light-sensitive layer of cells at the back of the eye.
Several teams around the world are carrying out early trials of gene therapy in blindness, including experts at the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital and the University of Philadelphia, US.
Only a handful of patients worldwide have received the treatment to boost a faulty gene underlying an inherited form of blindness.
The US researchers revealed in 2008 that 12 people with LCA had recovered some vision after being injected in one eye with an engineered virus carrying the gene RPE65.
In a follow-up study they treated the other eye of three of them, and found it improved their sight even more.
The subjects could see better in dim light and two were able to find their way around obstacles.
The results were revealed in the latest edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The principal investigator of the study, Dr. Jean Bennett, said the patients could now do things they could never do before, such as walking around at night, going shopping for groceries and recognizing people’s faces.
Dr. Jean Bennett said: “We’ve shown that it is possible to safely treat both eyes of people with this particular form of retinal deficiency using a gene-based treatment and further we’ve demonstrated that the brain understands what the retina is seeing.”
MRI scans showed the brain could “see” the newly-treated eye.
Dr. Manzar Ashtari, from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who carried out the brain scans, said: “We saw the brain gets activated – the brain after treatment responded to the visual stimuli.”
One of the three patients who took part in the clinical trial, Tami Morehouse, told how her vision gradually returned, opening up a whole new world for her.
Even though she can’t see well enough to read or drive a car, she can now make-out her children’s faces, watch them play baseball and see the light change over Lake Erie, where she lives.
Tami Morehouse said: “Life is so much easier at a level that most people take for granted. Any amount of vision that you can get when you have almost nothing is incredibly valuable.”
The researchers now hope to treat the second eye of the remaining nine patients, and extend the clinical trial.
Dr. Jean Bennett said: “I think it will be a stepping stone to treating more common forms of blindness in both eyes.”
Top US Republican John Boehner has called in Congress for action against a White House contraception rule that has angered Catholic leaders.
John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, said legislation was needed against the rule, which means Church-linked institutions must buy health insurance that covers birth control costs.
Catholic leaders say that would force them to violate religious beliefs.
White House officials say they want to find ways to allay Church concerns.
But one report in the New York Times on Wednesday said the administration would not back down from the rule.
Under President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law, employers must offer insurance that includes contraceptives.
Churches and other houses of worship were given a waiver under the new law, but institutions including Catholic universities and hospitals are not exempt.
John Boehner took to the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday to call for legislation against the rule.
“This attack by the federal government on religious freedom must not stand and will not stand,” he said.
Top US Republican John Boehner has called in Congress for action against a White House contraception rule that has angered Catholic leaders
The speaker said the House Energy and Commerce Committee were working on legislation related to the rule.
The mandate has also provoked strong condemnation from the Republican presidential candidates on the campaign trail.
In Colorado on Tuesday, Mitt Romney described the policy as a “violation of conscience”.
But the White House and other Republican candidates have hit back at his criticism.
During Mitt Romney’s tenure as governor of Massachusetts, the state implemented legislation that required hospitals – including Catholic ones – to provide emergency contraception to rape victims.
Democratic congresswomen have defended the White House measure, arguing that the policy would control health costs, stop unwanted pregnancies and that overturning the rule would adversely affect staff who may not be Catholic.
Jan Schakowsky, a Democratic Representative from Illinois, said: “Women’s healthcare should not depend on who the boss is.”
Wisconsin Representative Gwen Moore said the church “can’t impose its religious views on people and whether they can have healthcare”.
The uproar began over the weekend, after US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius defended the policy in an editorial for USA Today.
Catholic bishops called for the rule to be dropped, including Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, who wrote in an editorial for the Wall Street Journal that the mandate was “an unprecedented incursion into freedom of conscience”.
The Obama administration has sought to portray the issue as a balance between religious freedoms and preventing discrimination under the new healthcare law.
“You are going to have folks of all faiths who work for those large institutions,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a Tuesday press briefing.
“Those women ought to be able to have access to the same contraceptive services that other women will have access to.”
Images of an avalanche of fine ice and dust thundering over a cliff near Mars’s north pole have been captured by a high resolution camera from a NASA spacecraft.
It’s not the first avalanche captured by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
NASA first detected the phenomenon in 2008, believed to be caused by a thin “crust” of frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) which forms during the Martian winter.
The HiRISE high resolution camera took the amazing photograph at 85 degrees north on the planet.
The HiRISE camera is one of several hi-tech instruments on board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It’s the largest camera ever carried into deep space.
Images of an avalanche of fine ice and dust thundering over a cliff near Mars's north pole have been captured by a high resolution camera from a NASA spacecraft
NASA’s ground team says that the events are detectable by a cloud of fine material that erupts when avalanches collapse down slopes on the planet.
Some avalanches on Mars are caused by meteorite impacts, but others are thought to be the result of ‘seasons’ on the planet, which has winters, just like Earth.
Planetary scientist Ingrid Daubar Spitale of the University of Arizona, who first noticed the avalanches in photos taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter said: “It’s great to see something so dynamic on Mars. A lot of what we see there hasn’t changed for millions of years.”
Images of a “serpent-like” sea creature gliding through the waters of an Icelandic river have been captured last week by Hjörtur Kjerúlf.
The video shows a mysterious creature swimming through the cold water of the glacial river Jökulsá í Fljótsdal, in east Iceland and it has already become a monster hit on the internet in just over a week.
Some are claiming this grainy footage is proof of the existence of the legendary beast Lagarfljótsormurinn – Iceland’s version of Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster.
Images of a “serpent-like” sea creature gliding through the waters of an Icelandic river have been captured last week by Hjörtur Kjerúlf
The notorious “snake-like” creature is said to live in the Lagarfljót lake, which is 25 miles long and 367 feet deep – and it has been the subject of many a supposed sighting since reports of it first emerged in 1345.
However, an expert on the legendary Lagarfljótsormurinn lake beast believes this footage is fake.
Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, has researched the Icelandic creature and wrote about it in his book Field Guide to Lake Monsters and Sea Serpents.
He said he was concerned about the ‘robotic’ look of the creature featured in the video and believes it is an elaborate hoax.
On his website Cryptomundo, Loren Coleman wrote: “Frankly, this video shows something that looks like a constructed snake-like object, with rigid sections, being propelled through the water.
“From the movement on the water’s surface, it would have to be something other than a mammal, like a giant worm, a reptile or a fish.
“The head appears to have been made to look like it belongs to a giant anaconda. The sections do not gracefully flow, but are sectionally moving from side-to-side. Mammals move up and down.
“It seems someone attempting this fakery, perhaps by using a robot with tarps, fish nets, or trash bags – a favorite for watery hoaxers – has decided to take the phrase <<sea serpent>> and/or <<worm>> too literally.”
According to Coleman, the most recent sighting of a strange creature in Lake Lagarfljót was in 1998, when a teacher and their class of pupils said they saw something close to the shore.
However, they did not describe it as having a “worm-like” appearance.
Another reason why Loren Coleman believes the footage to be a hoax, is because of the creature’s appearance. He said the phrase “Icelandic Worm Monster” was coined in the 21st Century and comes from a misunderstanding and mistranslation of Lagarfljótsormurinn simply as Lagarfljót worm.
This is instead of the more correct Lagarfljót Würm or Wurm – a phrase which harks back to dragon folklore.
Loren Coleman added: “The traditional sightings of this lake’s <<monster>> – going back to 1345 – are not <<snake-like>>… Instead, they describe Lagarfljótsormurinn as having a hump, a long neck, and whiskers, more like a long-necked Waterhorse than a giant snake.”
He said because of the creature’s misinterpreted adopted name, hoaxers may mistakenly create it in the shape of a snake which contradicts all other eye witness accounts.
A breathtaking series of images captured by helicopter pilot JR Hott show a natural phenomenon that appears to be a though tsunami crashing over the Florida coastline.
However, the natural phenomenon which appeared in Panama City is far less destructive – waves of clouds.
The images show the low-lying haze swooping over high-rise buildings down the coast.
KATU reports JR Hott captured the images hovering over the Gulf of Mexico after one of his pilots came in from a flight on Sunday.
Before his chopper could be engulfed by the heavy fog, JR Hott flew up to capture the wave-like formations.
“We jumped into helicopter and took off,’ he said. But he didn’t have long to descend.
“Within a few minutes after we landed, it covered up the helipad,” the seasoned pilot said.
The natural phenomenon “waves of clouds” occurred as a result of warm, moist air forming "just right" as it blew into the coastline, forming a low-lying fog that dissipates as the air cools with altitude
According to Dr. Greg Forbes, of Weather.com, the phenomenon occurred as a result of warm, moist air forming “just right” as it blew into the coastline, forming a low-lying fog that dissipates as the air cools with altitude.
Dr. Greg Forbes explained on the website: “You see the clouds forming off shore, as the winds from south to north push them toward and then up over the high rises as the air rises and reaches its crest.
“And then sinks back down and lowers the relative humidity and the clouds dissipate.
“The other thing that’s happening is with friction, the air slows down as it just begins to move onshore.
“That gives it a little extra convergence and an upward forcing of the air to rise. But it must be that relative humidity needing to be just right that… explains why we don’t see this kind of a picture every day.”
JR Hott, posted the images on Facebook, and they’ve since swept the internet, receiving an overwhelming response.
“Oh my God, we’ve got thousands of shares and thousands of likes,” he told KATU.
“It’s amazing to me how this thing has gone nuts,” he said.
Hypertrichosis universalis disorder or werewolf syndrome is one of the rarest conditions in the world, affecting just one in a billion people.
In an incredible quirk of fate, three sisters from a small village near Pune, central India, have all been blighted by a condition known as werewolf syndrome – where they are covered from head to foot in thick hair.
Savita, 23, Monisha, 18, and 16-year-old Savitri Sangli inherited the hypertrichosis universalis disorder from their father.
All three sisters struggle to keep the condition under control with cream and hope they one day might eventually be able to pay for specialist laser treatment to rid them of their excessive hair.
Despite the devastating effects of the syndrome, the three sisters still dream of a day when they might get married.
Hypertrichosis universalis is a genetic mutation, in which cells that normally switch off hair growth in unusual areas, like the eyelids and forehead, are left switched on.
It means the girls have had abnormal hair growth on their bodies and even their faces, affecting their eyebrows, nose and giving them appearance of having a beard.
The young women must use a special cream every day – otherwise the hair will quickly return. The youngest sister Savitri is still virtually covered in hair.
In an incredible quirk of fate, three sisters from a small village near Pune, central India, have all been blighted by a condition known as werewolf syndrome - where they are covered from head to foot in thick hair
The girl’s mother Anita Sambhaji Raut has six daughters in total with only three having werewolf syndrome.
The condition was passed down by the girls’ father, who Anita Sambhaji Raut was forced to marry aged at the age of 12.
Because theirs was an arranged marriage and she did not lay eyes on him until the wedding day, Anita Sambhaji Raut had no idea he was suffering from the condition himself.
Anita Sambhaji Raut and her daughters are now desperate to fund laser surgery that will help to finally remove the curse of excess hair and allow the girls to lead normal lives.
In their small village near Pune, the Sangli have little prospects for marriage and the eldest Savita sometimes gets sent home from work when her hair begins to show.
Laser surgery would cost 350,000 Indian rupees – or $7,000 per girl – but the family are not wealthy enough to be able to afford it.
Now documentary filmmaker Sneh Gupta is planning make a film of the girls in a bid to help their dream of becoming almost hair free – with the eventual aim of finding marriage.
Mum Anita Sambhaji Raut, 40, said her husband – who died in 2007 and whose portrait hangs in the family home – also suffered from werewolf syndrome.
Anita Sambhaji Raut was being looked after by her uncle and auntie as her parents had passed away and they told her if she didn’t marry this man they would kill her off.
The woman said: “It was only on the day of my marriage that I discovered what he was, (he) was hairy on his face, ears and body, that’s when I found out.
“I was very young, I didn’t know what kind of boy he was, he scared the hell out of me when he arrived at the altar. He’s the groom, I am the bride, I had no idea what all that meant.
“I was only 12 when they forced me into marriage, and if you don’t agree to marriage as a girl they will kill you off.
“I asked my mother-in-law why my daughters were born like this and she told me because their father is like this, at the time (as a baby) my daughter had little hairs all over her face.
“When I used to take her (Savita) out as a child, they used to shout here comes the beast, the witch, that’s what they said.
“They keep her at work now for 10 to 15 days, and then after that they ask her to leave as soon as the hair starts showing through, that’s what they do.
“I tell people this is the type of girl she is, hair grows on her face, she has to apply medicine, we must be honest with everybody.”
In the village society a woman does not have much prospects if she is not married and mum Anita Sambhaji Raut explained she was still trying to get her daughters a man.
Anita Sambhaji Raut said: “If a good proposal comes in, I’ll get her married. If nothing comes in she’ll have to work and survive. As long as I am living I have to keep trying.”
Eldest daughter Savita, who now using a cream to try and combat her hair growth, said: “When I used to go to school the boys and the girls would shout, <<hairy face>>, <<horrible looking>>, <<don’t sit next to her>>, that’s how they behaved.
“Marriage is not an option for us, it’s not likely to happen, who is going to marry us when hair keeps growing on our faces.”
The concept of being underdressed have been brought to another meaning by the Australian label Black Milk Clothing by launching a range of leggings that emulate muscles with the skin torn off.
The new leggings are printed with the anatomically correct layout of the bare human muscle, with sinews, ligaments and muscle fibres printed in blood red.
Those who enjoy pushing sartorial boundaries will no doubt enjoy the shock value the £50 ($80) leggings will inevitably provide.
Potential customers might include performers like Lady Gaga, who infamously wore a dress made entirely of raw meat back in 2010, or singer Jessie J, who has made graphic printed leggings her staple.
Black milk Clothing – which specializes in unusual leggings and also sells pairs printed with jellyfish and skeleton bones – could also find an unlikely fan in model Heidi Klum, who had an uncannily similar full body muscle suit made for her last Halloween fancy dress party.
The new leggings are printed with the anatomically correct layout of the bare human muscle, with sinews, ligaments and muscle fibres printed in blood red and cost $80
“This is an idea that we have been thinking about for a while,” said Australian designer James Lillis of his uncanny creation.
“A few people encouraged me to do it but I never quite got around to it. Then I got a spare afternoon one day and decoded to have a good go at making it work. It worked…. perhaps a little too well!
