Dog Cooks up a Storm in the Kitchen 
Plastic Surgery Does More Harm Than Good
Dr. Craig Layt a plastic surgeon says potential patients should consult a qualified surgeon before going ahead with surgery. I thought people were doing that already. If the government is allowing unqualified practitioners to do plastic surgery then shame on them. Governments must be held responsible if things go wrong when "upstarts" do surgery.
Apparently, women who have breast enhancements are not told whether they will be able to breast feed in the future. Surely, patients are thoroughly informed of the operation and the possible consequences.
Women can breast feed after the operation, but breast feeding can completely ruin the implants. They can sag. Furthermore, liposuction should not be used just to lose weight. This procedure can leave a visible indentation in the body. Facelifts are notoriously visible when celebrities tippytoe to the surgeon. Patients who have plastic surgery may have improved self-esteem. This may be due to others not telling them the truth.
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Health
Marine Animals Die With Unusual Warming off the Coast of Peru
Something is going on out there. Mysterious deaths of particular species of animals occur regularly. Recently dolphins died in their hundreds while thousands of pelicans died off the coast of Lima, Peru. This was followed by thousands of crustaceans dying.
The crustacean affected is red krill. It is known that some species of dolphin eat this food. Pelicans also surface feed for krill. Why would a food source die after poisoning other animals?
These deaths are not being caused directly by humans with perhaps chemicals or pesticides. The reason is the ocean off the coast of Lima is warming up. Krill have been moving closer to the coast to avoid the heat. Environmentalists blame offshore oil exploration. The government says they died of natural causes, but the seemingly static La Niña with cool weather in the western Pacific (oddly currently warm in the east) is not natural.
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Nature
Death Adders Are Causing Their Own Extinction
Australia's death adder is contributing to its own extinction. Moving around to hunt their prey is not their method. An adder tempts its victims by laying in ambush and wiggling its tail tip. By wiggling its tail, however, it is noticed by cane toads, frogs and lizards who eagerly gulp down the tasty meal.
After cane toads were introduced into Australia death adder numbers plummeted. Ironically as the cane toad attacks the snake it is bitten, so after its meal the cane toad dies - mutual suicide. Even if the snake eats the toad it will end up dead because cane toads are poisonous.
For millions of years death adders have survived by enticing their prey within easy reach. Now this behavior is leading to their demise. Man cannot intervene to prevent this. There is nothing that can be done.
After cane toads were introduced into Australia death adder numbers plummeted. Ironically as the cane toad attacks the snake it is bitten, so after its meal the cane toad dies - mutual suicide. Even if the snake eats the toad it will end up dead because cane toads are poisonous.
For millions of years death adders have survived by enticing their prey within easy reach. Now this behavior is leading to their demise. Man cannot intervene to prevent this. There is nothing that can be done.
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Wildlife
Abelisaurids Took the Place of T.rex in Australia
Tyrannosaurus rex did not roam ancient Australia. Perhaps another animal had already filled the niche. A new kind of dinosaur could have been the Australian killer and scavenger. The animal had stubby arms and could not live in central Australia because it was a vast desert.
The abelisaurid was a strange looking creature but it was the top killer. They not only dominated Australia. Their presence was felt right across the Southern Hemisphere. Different species of the animal reigned in various regions. The 21 foot long abelisaurid enjoyed a hot climate that changed from very wet to dry.
They existed for a long time, right back to Pangea the supercontinent. Like Tyrannosaurus rex they had a vicious bite. Abelesaurids had arms even less useful than Tyrannosaurus rex : abelesaurids had no wrists.
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Paleontology
Fungal Infections Kill Many People
Fungal infection is the most difficult thing to treat. Taking medication and applying ointment may seem to solve the problem - for a while. Unfortunately, the skin may appear to be free of infection but it is still there and will reappear.
It is not commonly known that deaths from fungal infection are higher than all the deaths from malaria and tuberculosis. Treatment for other ailments can involve immunossuppressive medication. This allows fungal infections to run wild.
You would think there is enough demand and money for pharmaceutical companies to develop better anti-fungal drugs. However, sufferers do not know how deadly the "disease" can be, so they are not prepared to pay a high price for new treatments. This is despite the fact that fungal infection can appear in any part of the body.
Unfortunately, the World Health Organization shows little interest in the problem. Doctors also tend to brush aside fungal infections when examining patients. If asked, doctors say it is common and people live with it without treatment. This is a great mistake. It should be treated when first seen in order to stop it becoming well established, because long term fungal infection is difficult to treat.
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Health
If you move as fast as superman you may be able to make yourself invisible, but for the ordinary person it is just not possible. Theories exist though that "prove" it is possible to make yourself invisible. Doctor Jensen Li and Professor John Pendry have written a paper which surmises making invisible paint.
Such material has to be extremely thin, having a structure smaller than the wavelength of visible light. Scientists have already made a small object invisible by cloaking it in a material comprised of tiny structures. If a material can be developed from nano-sized pieces it could be painted on an object and it would "bend" the light away from sight, i.e., the background would be visible.
Such a material has to be made from silica and silicon because variation in interpreting light is necessary. A person viewing a cloaked object would see a mirage of the background. Don't be too hasty though - we are not in the Star Trek world yet. A person would experience only an illusion of the background!
Such material has to be extremely thin, having a structure smaller than the wavelength of visible light. Scientists have already made a small object invisible by cloaking it in a material comprised of tiny structures. If a material can be developed from nano-sized pieces it could be painted on an object and it would "bend" the light away from sight, i.e., the background would be visible.
Such a material has to be made from silica and silicon because variation in interpreting light is necessary. A person viewing a cloaked object would see a mirage of the background. Don't be too hasty though - we are not in the Star Trek world yet. A person would experience only an illusion of the background!
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Science
Blaming Rewiring of the Brain for Chronic Pain is Too Simplistic
What a cop out, medical "professionals" are now saying chronic pain is caused by a mixed-up brain. This cannot be the case when you have an open wound and it really hurts. They are saying we should not feel any pain at all. People with leprosy feel no pain and look what damage they do to themselves.
Pain is functional. It stops one using a limb when there is damage to it. Otherwise, it wouldn't heal properly. Most back pain is caused by damage to the spine that cannot be detected with current technology and knowledge.
Those "in the know" are now saying the brain rewires itself when there is an injury so that when the damage is repaired pain still continues. If this is the case then it is very selective. Why doesn't this happen when you cut your finger? We know if a limb is lost pain can continue, but saying the brain rewires itself after an injury is far too simplistic.
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Health
New Anti-Melanoma Treatment Is Promising
Australia has the highest rate of melanoma in the world. People will not listen. Many still regularly tan themselves in the sun or even go to solariums. Any improvement in treating melanoma is sorely needed in this country.
Tumors put up defences against drugs that aim to destroy them. Combining drugs can break down these barriers. A new kind of anti-melanoma drug, the BRAF inhibitor, has been developed. It is not a "golden bullet". Life expectancy can be increased from 8 months to 15 months.
Better results have been obtained by combining BRAF with another inhibitor called MEK. They slow down the growth of the cancer. Some tumor were shrunk. Though the tests were done on only 24 patients, improvement in treatment is promising.
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Health
Worry Over Job Security Increases With Casual Work
Gone are the days of local business monopolies where shops, for example, had a higher profit margin so they could keep employees in secure employment for decades. In the past shopping centers didn't exist and a firm had a local licence. Only one type of business could operate in a regional center. If a shop had the fish licence and decided to sell only fish, no fish and chips, you as a customers had to go without a quick hot meal.
The proportion of casual workers is increasing every year. Just how these employees manage to build up capital for retirement is anyone's guess. Holiday pay is said to be built into casual rates, but this is a myth. Such workers hardly ever take a day off because they will not get any pay.
People worry more over job security than anything else. Despite all the troubles in the world, Macquarie University found employees experience more anxiety over losing their jobs than any other issue. This affects men more than women. Seventy per cent of men worry compared to 60 per cent of women. Young people suffered most: eighty per cent were concerned.
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Society
"It's elementary my dear Watson."Magnets Stop Crocodiles Returning to Their Home Range
We have been told that magnets have wonderful powers: not only can they be used to generate electricity, they can be used to reduce pain, etc. Now a new use has been found: crocodiles have been fitted with magnets to stop them returning to their home area.
In Florida they have been carrying out an experiment to find out if magnets can be used to disrupt crocodiles' homing ability. Though small in number, crocodiles do cause problems when they wander into populated areas. People fear them even though they are are small and usually run away from humans. In contrast alligators are larger and more dangerous.
Once a "rogue" crocodile has been caught it is relocated to an area free of humans. Magnets are put on the crocodile's head. This affects the animals natural homing abilities so that it remains where it is placed. The population has increased because fewer wander onto roads. This is a good thing as the species is endangered.
In Florida they have been carrying out an experiment to find out if magnets can be used to disrupt crocodiles' homing ability. Though small in number, crocodiles do cause problems when they wander into populated areas. People fear them even though they are are small and usually run away from humans. In contrast alligators are larger and more dangerous.
Once a "rogue" crocodile has been caught it is relocated to an area free of humans. Magnets are put on the crocodile's head. This affects the animals natural homing abilities so that it remains where it is placed. The population has increased because fewer wander onto roads. This is a good thing as the species is endangered.
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Nature
Higher Rates of Birth Defects With "Injected" ICSI Babies
For many years we have heard nothing but good things about test tube babies, how they are strong and grow faster, etc. Maybe the "authorities" are telling us what we want to hear, with women choosing to have children later in life.
Older women having babies had their age taken into account when measuring birth defects. If they smoked this was also given a mathematical allowance. This could be distorting the true picture.
There has been a change in the way the "art" of test tube babies is done. Today, an individual sperm is injected into an egg. In the normal fertilization process only the fastest, healthiest sperm is successful.
Evaluation of babies shows that birth defects occur in "injected" babies at a rate of 10 per cent. This compares to 6 per cent for naturally conceived babies. Couples who choose the older form of freezing embryos had normal rates of healthy babies. The attempt to get more embryos by injecting sperm, ICSI, seems to have backfired.
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Health
Islander Blondes Are Natural
All black people have black hair - right? This is an incorrect assumption. When Europeans first arrived in Australia they found some blonde Aboriginals. They thought that White sailors must have been shipwrecked off the coast and took Aboriginal wives.
In the Solomon Island near northern Australia 10 per cent of black people have blonde hair. The sun has not bleached the hair white. European sailors are not responsible either. It is a random gene that causes it. This is proven as the tone of blonde is different from Europeans.
A group of Islanders were tested for gene structure: forty two with dark hair and 43 'blondes'. The pigmentation gene was either coded with a "c" which produced blond haired people or 'T' giving dark hair. It is a recessive gene which means both parents must have the blond gene to have a blond child.
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Science
Your Shoes Give You Away
Shoes apparently show your inner feelings. When Kylie Minogue wore those extremely high shoe-boots she was saying "I want Attention." She also shows that she is loaded with money, having the shoes specially made, and is waited on hand and foot.
Victoria Beckham is another one who wears shoes that make a statement. Her shoes say I wear these silly shoes everywhere, even to breakfast, because I can.
Mary-Kate Olsen should be careful though about her choice of shoes - wearing bondage gladiator shoes says she likes her sex to be rough.
These woman choose their shoes for particular reasons of course. They really don't feel this way. They are just playing games with those who look at them.
Victoria Beckham is another one who wears shoes that make a statement. Her shoes say I wear these silly shoes everywhere, even to breakfast, because I can.
Mary-Kate Olsen should be careful though about her choice of shoes - wearing bondage gladiator shoes says she likes her sex to be rough.
These woman choose their shoes for particular reasons of course. They really don't feel this way. They are just playing games with those who look at them.
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Society
The Science of Carrying a Mug of Coffee
You wouldn't think that finding out how to carry a mug of coffee without spilling it would be a subject for analysis by scientists, but you would be wrong. Rouslan Krechnetnikov took it upon himself to solve this disruptive daily issue.
This area of study dawned upon him when he watched people struggling with mugs of coffee at a fluid dynamics conference. He thought that the solution wasn't simple. It was a complex scientific problem. The coffee carriers gender, age and health would affect the solution.
Tests included walking in a straight line with coffee in hand while looking at the mug or looking ahead. A sensor in the mug measured spillage of coffee. Conclusions were that one should walk slower and, wait for it - watch the mug not where you are going.
This sounds like advice leading one to disaster. "Watch your heads and laps everybody someone's coming who doesn't know where he's going! Why don't you get a cup you fool?"
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Society
Male Bowerbird Grows Tomatoes
The bowerbird is unusual to say the least. A fancy structure is built by the male to attract females. It is an arch of still growing undergrowth with a walk through from one side to the other. In the middle and to one side is a collection of leaves, fruit, shells, dead insects and odd glistening objects manufactured by humans.
When a female is in range the male "screeches" at the female to make her look at his handiwork. Males often wave fruit at females. The male stays in the area of the bower for up to ten years so he has an investment in that location. Researchers have found that males do not just pick up fruit laying around. The spotted bowerbird actually grows his own fruit.
As the male tends to his "plot" he throws out dried fruit of the bush tomato and clears the ground, thus leaving healthy seeds to sprout and grow into bushes. The area around the bower is full of bushes in fruit with tomatoes. This symbiosis is part of the bowerbird mating game.
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Ornithology
An Attempt to Get Survivors to Another Planet Is Futile
Australian astronomers are searching for planets in other solar system that could sustain human life. Dr Charley Linweaver says Mankind is reaching the beginning of the end. It's time to look for a way out at least for a small group of people. The number of planets identified orbiting other suns now exceeds 750. Though a few of these could be like the Earth, exact information is lacking.
The objective of getting people to such a distant destination is way "off the planet" at present. We do not have the technology to get people in orbit around other planets in our own solar system, let alone reaching a far away planet and landing safely.
Finding an identical planet to Earth is just not possible. This planet is a freak in regard to the universe. Most planets do not have life because they are regularly hit by asteroids and even other planets. Sending probes to a possible twin planet would be a waste of time. It would literally take a lifetime to get a message back.
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Science
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