SportingNews.com – Your expert source for NFL Football stats, scores,…
The News Review:
- SportingNews.com – Your expert source for NFL Football stats, scores,…
- ‘Spare part heart’ beats in lab
- Thai soldier beheaded, 7 others killed
- Ethanol for the future
- Meet the ancestors
- After feeling green, revived Federer’s ready for a blue
SportingNews.com – Your expert source for NFL Football stats, scores,…
SportingNews.com – Jan 13, 2008
After Jimmy Smith’s retirement, Reggie Williams, Matt Jones and Ernest Wilford couldn’t step up. Primarily because they couldn’t consistently catch passes. The dropsies were spreading through the locker room like a Cleveland-style staph infection, so the team decided that the home-grown products, all obtained through the draft, needed help. And so they signed Dennis Northcutt. A receiver who had a reputation for.
‘Spare part heart’ beats in lab
BBC News – Jan 13, 2008
This frame was then “seeded” with cardiac cells taken from a newborn rat, and kept in lab conditions designed to simulate the growing heart. ‘Speechless’
In just four days, the cells had multiplied and spread to such an extent that the researchers could see contractions in the new muscle tissue. By the eight day, the home-grown hearts were capable of pumping, albeit at only 2% of the power of a normal rat heart. Dr Doris Taylor, who led the experiment, suggested that it might change the way scientists think about producing artificial organs. “It opens a door to this notion that you can make any organ: kidney, liver, lung, pancreas – you name it and we hope we can make it. ”
Another researcher, Dr Harald Ott, said: “When we saw the first contractions we were speechless. ”
Pig transplant
Professor Sian Harding, from Imperial College London, who is working on ways to repair failing human hearts with new heart cell “patches”, described the technique as “potentially a real advance”.
Thai soldier beheaded, 7 others killed
USA Today – Jan 13, 2008
The insurgents do not issue public statements, but researchers who have had contact with them believe they seek a separate Islamic state. The region was a sultanate until it was annexed by Thailand in the early 1900s, and most of its Muslim residents are ethnic Malays who have more in common with the people of neighboring Malaysia. The degree of influence on the insurgents by outside Islamic extremist groups is still debated, though most experts agree the rebellion is home grown — an outgrowth of decades of disenchantment over misrule and discrimination by Thailand’s central government. Akara insisted the ambush was evidence the government has made progress against the uprising, saying a recent lull in large-scale violence stems partly from an effort to round up major suspects. “We have gotten close to some of the bigger suspects, and they are responding to that,” he said. “Every time we launch an offensive attack or round up some suspects, we see this kind of reaction. ”
Srisompob Jitpiromsri, a political scientist at Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani, said the roundups had been successful but only “to a certain extent.
Ethanol for the future
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscription… – Jan 13, 2008
The company is exploring partnerships with other major companies, and the pulp and paper industry would be a good fit because wood chips and the parts of trees not used to make paper would make suitable feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol, Bolsen said. Other potential partners could be waste-disposal companies that operate landfills, or national big-box retailers that may be considering selling alternative fuels. Hurdles aheadMany hurdles remain to powering more of the nation’s cars and trucks with home-grown ethanol. Mary Beth Stanek, GM director of environment, energy and safety, says the company has helped open 300 new stations nationwide in recent years, but the E85 blend of ethanol is sold at only 1,400 gas stations, 1% of all the filling stations in the nation. Wisconsin has 73 filling stations selling E85. Ethanol has been the target of criticism from a variety of sources in part because it’s produced from a food crop. Also, cars that run on ethanol get 25% worse gas mileage, on average.
Meet the ancestors
The Age – Jan 13, 2008
The celebrity factor accounts, of course, for part of thatsuccess. I watched the Stephen Fry and Jeremy Clarkson episodessimply because they were about Fry and Clarkson. And the home-growncelebrities are about as engaging and interesting as they are intheir normal duties: how much you enjoy each ep will depend a loton how you feel about the subject. What gives both series broader interest – and indeed it’s anovert part of their mission – is the way personal histories areused to provide a broader social history. In that respect they worka treat. In the British version, the industrial revolutionnaturally loomed large; here it’s the early days of colonialAustralia, represented at all levels, that’s quite fascinating. The Australian families are particularly interesting toobecause, with the exception of Freeman’s, they all came fromsomewhere else.
After feeling green, revived Federer’s ready for a blue
The Age – Jan 13, 2008
TennisAustralia has responded by cracking down on access to gamblingwebsites from within Melbourne Park and banning courtsidenon-essential laptops. But what, finally, of the Australians’ chances? After breakinginto the top 100 last year, Melbourne-born Chris Guccione surprisedonlookers by making the final of last week’s Sydney International. But the greatest home-grown chance remains Hewitt, who, after aninjury-plagued year, finished last year ranked 21. He has beenplaying down the challenges of his draw, which includes AAMIClassic finalist and 2006 Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, and MaratSafin, who defeated him in the 2005 final. “You know, for the draw ahead, there’s a long way to go before Ihave to worry about the big names just yet. I’m hitting the ballpretty well at the moment in practice. If I take that into thematch court then I’ll be feeling pretty confident.