Philly: Another burka robbery Burkas are all the rage in America, particularly among the criminal. via Teens in Muslim burkas try to rob Delco gun shop. Most teenagers do dumb things. But not trying-to-rob-Joe-Galiano dumb. What the Doctor Ordered: Building New Body Parts Spray-on skin, made-to-order muscle, and print-out kidneys aren't just science fiction anymore. Dr. Anthony Atala and Dr. Stephen Badylak, two pioneers of regenerative medicine, talk about the latest methods for building new body parts, and the challenge of growing complex organs like the heart, liver or brain.
Massive Food Stamp Fraud Ring Busted in Arizona K&S convenience store workers Kameel Sweiss, Ameer Sweiss, and Faday Sweiss were arrested on Wednesday on charges of suspicion of illegally conducting an enterprise, fraudulent schemes and artifices, money laundering, unlawful use of food stamps, and computer tampering. "People were essentially selling their cards to [the] store," said spokesperson Stephanie Grisham. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne says the bust is the fifth of its kind this year and that this is the largest to date. Horne told Fox News host Neil Cavuto that food stamp fraud is a growing problem, as 47,635,297 people now receive taxpayer-funded food stamps.
Hot Climate Could Shut Down Plate Tectonics A new study of possible links between climate and geophysics on Earth and similar planets finds that prolonged heating of the atmosphere can shut down plate tectonics and cause a planet's crust to become locked in place. "The heat required goes far beyond anything we expect from human-induced climate change, but things like volcanic activity and changes in the sun's luminosity could lead to this level of heating," said lead author Adrian Lenardic, associate professor of Earth science at Rice University. "Our goal was to establish an upper limit of naturally generated climate variation beyond which the entire solid planet would respond." Lenardic said the research team wanted to better understand the differences between the Earth and Venus and establish the potential range of conditions that could exist on Earth-like planets beyond the solar system. The findings may explain why Venus evolved differently from Earth.
Long Road Ahead to 'Six Million Dollar Man' SAN DIEGO -- Robotic, brain-controlled replacements for human hands and eyes no longer appear to be purely sci-fi fantasy, but dozens of hurdles to making them into plastic-and-metal reality still remain, researchers suggested here. Such issues as how to keep electrodes functioning in vivo for years, where to connect them to nerve fibers, how to detect the brain signals intended to control a robotic limb -- even how to keep a robotic leg from running when a patient dreams of running -- are among those that researchers on "brain-machine interfaces" are still contending with, according to presenters at a session Saturday at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Talk of such devices brings to mind the 1970s TV program "The Six Million Dollar Man" and the 1987 film "Robocop," as well as the new series "Almost Human" that debuts this month.
Gorillas Seen Using "Baby Talk" Gestures—A First Lowland gorillas converse with each other primarily through nonvocal gestures. While researching how captive gorillas communicate during play, study leader Eva Maria Luef noticed that animals older than three years had a special way of interacting with younger gorillas. (See lowland gorilla pictures .) With infants, the older gorillas used touch and repeated gestures—such as grabbing or stroking the infant's jaw—more frequently than they did when communicating with their peers.
The SEJ x SMX West Interview: Brian Clark of CopyBlogger I had the opportunity to interview marketing experts who are speaking at SMX West as part of SEJ’s partnership with Third Door Media. Be sure to attend Brian’s session on Tuesday, March 11 (and visit SEJ’s booth in the exhibit hall!) Bio: Brian Clark is a serial entrepreneur based in Boulder, Colorado. He’s the founder and CEO of Copyblogger Media, and the host of New Rainmaker, debuting in January of 2014. Epigenomes of newborns and centenarians differ: New clues to increasing life span An international study sheds important new light on how epigenetic marks degrade over time. Since epigenetic lesions are reversible, it would be possible to develop drugs that increase the life span, the research suggests. What happens in our cells after one hundred years? What is the difference at the molecular level between a newborn and a centenarian? Is it a gradual or a sudden change? Is it possible to reverse the aging process?
House Oversight Committee Democrats Ask GOP To End 'Partisan Investigation' Of Benghazi By Hayes Brown "House Oversight Committee Democrats Ask GOP To End ‘Partisan Investigation’ Of Benghazi" Rep. Black Holes are Everywhere Holes are everywhere, if you look... This post is the second in a series that accompanies the upcoming publication of my book ‘Gravity’s Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Cosmos’ (Scientific American/FSG). Black holes, even the really hugely massive ones, are tiny – positively microscopic pinpricks scattered throughout the vastness of spacetime. Even the largest, perhaps ten billion times the mass of our Sun, have event horizons (the surface from within which no light can ever emerge) that reach to only about the orbit of Neptune. That’s a mere 4.5 billion km (or 0.00047 light years), absolutely nothing compared to the scale of galaxies – whose stellar components may reach across more than 100,000 light years. And nothing that massive exists in the Milky Way, where the very largest black hole is only some 4 to 5 million solar masses, lurking close to the galactic center.