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Wednesday, 27 February 2013

5 SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT YOUR MICROBIOME

Body Bugs: 5 Surprising Facts About Your Microbiome
By Tanya Lewis, Live Science, 26 February 2013.

Your Inner Microbe

As far back as we know, animals have been home to microbes. Scientists have known for some time that these tiny tenants have the ability to make humans powerfully sick, while others are vital to maintaining the body's normal flora and fauna. Collectively, the microbes inside everyone make up the "microbiome" - what microbiologist Martin Blaser of the NYU School of Medicine defines as "all the organisms that call us home, that live in us and that interact with each other and with ourselves." These teensy creatures, from bacteria and fungi to protozoans (mostly single-celled animal-like organisms), have a surprisingly rich story to tell. Here are five fascinating facts about the critters that call your body home.

1. Your body has more microbes than human cells

The human body is teeming with microbes. A number that gets bandied about is that there are 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells inside you. While no one's bothered to count them, "the exact number doesn't matter as much as the idea that there are certainly more bacterial cells in our body than human cells," Blaser told Live Science. As humans have evolved, these microbes have evolved with them. A whole lot of viruses call humans home, too. And 2013 marks the end of the Human Microbiome Project [HMP], a five-year effort involving hundreds of scientists to catalogue the microbiome of human beings.

2. You are born bacteria-free

With all these bacteria living inside, it seems natural that humans would just be born with them. Not so. According to Blaser, people are born without bacteria, and acquire them in the first few years of life. Babies get their first dose of microbes as they're passing through their mother's birth canal. (Of course, babies born by caesarean section don't acquire their microbes this way. In fact, studies show that C-section babies have a markedly different microbiota from vaginal birth babies, and may be at higher risk for certain types of allergies and obesity.) A baby acquires most of its microbiome by the age of 3, Blaser said - during a time when the baby's metabolic, immune, cognitive, and reproductive systems are undergoing extensive development.

3. Bacteria can be both good and bad for you

You're probably aware that while some germs can make you sick, others are important for keeping you healthy and fending off infections. Sometimes, the same bacteria can do both. Consider Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria responsible for causing stomach ulcers. The bacteria were once found in the majority of the population, but their prevalence has steadily been decreasing, and today only about half of the world's population has it. Most of them do not have symptoms, but a small number develop painful ulcers in an acidic part of the digestive tract (a finding that earned a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2005). Helicobacter infections are treatable with antibiotics, but there's a twist: Blaser and colleagues have found the absence of Helicobacter appears to be associated with diseases of the oesophagus, such as reflux esophagitis and certain cancers of the oesophagus. In other words, Helicobacter may be bad for our stomachs, but good for our throats. Though not all scientists agree, "There's a big body of evidence that Helicobacter has both biological costs and biological benefits," Blaser told Live Science.

4. Antibiotics may cause asthma and obesity

Penicillin was a major breakthrough when Alexander Fleming discovered it in 1928. Antibiotics have enjoyed widespread popularity ever since, but antibiotics overuse has given rise to deadly strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Now, there's some evidence that antibiotics also increase the risk for developing asthma, inflammatory bowel disease and obesity. Of course, there are times when antibiotics are necessary. "I would never withhold antibiotics from a very sick child," Blaser told Live Science. Nevertheless, he said, many common childhood ailments, from ear infections or throat infections, go away by themselves.

5. (Store-bought) probiotics are overrated

The recognition that bacteria can be good for you has spawned something of a craze in probiotic supplements, consisting of live microbes purported to bestow health benefits. Many people take them after a course of antibiotics. But do they actually work? "The concept of a probiotic to help re-establish our baseline microbiota after an antibiotic is a good concept," Blaser told Live Science. "But the idea that, of all thousand species in our bodies, taking a single species that comes from cow or cheese is naïve." Current probiotics are very well marketed, Blaser said, but there's not much benefit. He does think medicine will one day develop probiotics that will be used to treat illness, but as of now, "it's a very young field," he said.

[Source: Live Science. Edited. Links added.]

More:

1. Human Microbiome Project (Wikipedia)

2. Human Microbiome Project page (National Institutes of Health)

3. Data Analysis and Coordination Centre for HMP

4. Martin Blaser Lab homepage

5. 10,000 Microbes Cornered in Map of Human Body (Live Science)

7 OF THE WORLD'S MOST AMAZING CLOCKS

7 of the World's Most Amazing Clocks
By Laura Kiniry, Popular Mechanics, 26 February 2013.

They're advanced, artistic, and a sight to behold - not to mention incredible ways of marking time. From Denmark to Japan, we introduce you to some of the world's most interesting public clocks. Take a little time to take in these timepieces.

1. The Water Clock, Osaka, Japan

Japan's Osaka Station City is filled with public clocks, but there's one timepiece that's more striking than most: the Water Clock in the complex's South Gate building, by Japanese mechatronics manufacturer Koei Industry. A work of high-tech art, the Water Clock delivers digital time using H₂O and space printing. At the top of the clock are 400 computer-controlled nozzles that dispense water in both pre-programmed patterns, in shapes such as musical notes, and as a numeric display of the actual time. After the water falls and tells the time, it collects in a basin at the bottom of the clock to be recirculated into the system. Altogether the clock requires 30 litres of water per minute.

2. Iron Ring Clock, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Credit: Burtonpe/Wikipedia

Four Canadian engineering students created the Iron Ring Clock as their thesis project in 2003. The nearly 5-foot-tall timepiece is now on display at their alma mater, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The clock, named for the rings most Canadian engineering students wear upon graduating, uses a synchronous electric motor, which synchronizes with the frequency of electricity it receives. Two stainless steel rings more than 3 feet in diameter rotate independently. The lower ring displays the minutes, while the upper ring, which displays the hour, uses a Geneva-drive mechanism to slow down its rotation. The rings are decorated with 6-inch-high numbers that, when read straight on, tell the time. A stained-glass portrayal of the McMaster crest stands between the two rings, doing double duty as a school symbol and as a cover for the clock's mechanical drives and power-transmission systems. [More]

3. Jens Olsen's World Clock (Verdensur), Copenhagen, Denmark

Jens Olsen's World Clock, built in the mid-20th century, displays more than time. It also calculates current astronomical information such as the relative positions of the sun, moon, and stars. The titanic timepiece features a dozen clockworks showing the exact time at locations around the globe and features more than 14,000 parts, including displays for lunar and solar eclipses and the time equation (the time difference between local time and solar time, or the Earth's position proportional to the sun). Verdensur (as it is also known) is a mechanical clock, meaning it uses a repetitive oscillator and a controller device, which replaces the energy the oscillator loses to friction and converts its oscillations into countable pulses to tell time. Its fastest gear takes 10 seconds to complete a revolution; its slowest, 25,753 years. Olsen, the Danish locksmith who designed the machine, died a decade before it was completed, but the clock still stands in Copenhagen City Hall. [More here and here]

4. Cosmo Clock 21, Yokohama, Japan

Credit: ajari/Flickr

While not much in the way of technological advancements as far as clocks go, Japan's Cosmo Clock is impressive for both the structure's overall size (369 feet tall, including its base, with a diameter of 330 feet) and the fact that it's also one of the world's largest Ferris wheels. Built in 1989 and now located in Yokohama's Cosmo World theme park, the wheel features 60 eight-person passenger cars and a massive time display at its central hub. While it's said to be the world's largest clock, it's a bit of a misnomer because most estimates include the actual wheel on which it's based. Still, the giant timepiece - which is really just a huge digital clock slapped onto a Ferris wheel - is an undeniable landmark. The structure is especially impressive during evenings, when it lights up in a fireworks-like display of neon colours such as gold, blue, or pink (depending on the season). [More here and here]

5. Corpus Clock, Cambridge, England

Credit: Rror/Wikimedia Commons

British physicist Stephen Hawking unveiled the mechanically driven Corpus Clock (invented by his colleague John C. Taylor) in 2008. Situated on the campus of England's Cambridge University, at Corpus Christi College, the unusual timepiece features a 24-karat-gold-plated disk nearly 5 feet in diameter that displays time through a series of 60 backlit slits. The slits are arranged in three steel rings, each one encircling the next. As the rings move they reveal a series of blue LED lights, which mark the hours, minutes, and seconds. By design, the clock is accurate only once every 5 minutes, reminding viewers of time's irregularity (typical Hawking). The rest of the time, the flashing LEDs (there are 2,736 of them in all) are just for show.

Perhaps the clock's coolest feature is the eerie Chronophage, or "time eater," which sits atop the disc. This fanged-tooth metal insect rocks back and forth on articulated hinges, literally chomping away at the passage of time. The Corpus Clock also features the world's largest grasshopper escapement - an 18th-century invention that transfers energy to the clock's pendulum to replace what's lost to friction during its cycle. Both the escapement and the clock's toothed escape wheel (the part that engages regularly with the pendulum to move the clock's "hands") are prominently displayed on the front of the timepiece rather than at the back, where they are traditionally hidden from public view. [More here and here]

6. Giant Water Clock, Indianapolis, USA

Water clocks are some of the world's oldest time-measuring devices. French scientist and artist Bernard Gitton built this modern version of the instrument in 1988. Displayed in the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, it's 26.5 feet tall - making it North America's largest water clock - and features more than 40 glass and 100 metal pieces.

Instead of pure water, the clock operates on a solution of deionized water, methyl alcohol, and blue dye. The dye makes the water easy to see; using deionized water keeps it electrically nonconductive; and the alcohol prevents bacteria growth.

Here's how it works: A basement pump sends the solution up through the clock's central pipe into a reservoir atop the timepiece, from where it drips onto a scoop. With a swing of the clock's pendulum, the scoop pours water into a series of siphons, or inverted U-shaped tubes. As more water falls, the H₂0 already in the tubes rises, ultimately emptying into a series of small glass globes, each one representing 2 minutes. Once all 30 small glass globes reach capacity, they empty and a larger hour globe fills.

To calculate the time, figure out the hour by counting the number of filled larger globes, seen here on the left. For minutes, count the filled smaller globes (on the right) and multiple by two. [More here and here] [Video]

7. Clock of the Long Now, Texas, USA

Credit: Pkirlin/Wikimedia Commons

Inventor and scientist Danny Hillis conceived of the Clock of the Long Now - also called the 10,000-Year Clock - as a way to promote long-term thinking. The full-scale clock, which will stand nearly 200 feet tall and is designed to keep time for 10,000 years, is currently being constructed inside a mountain in western Texas as a project of the Long Now Foundation, a non-profit established in 1996. Though there's no word as to when the clock will be completed, the original 8-foot-tall prototype is currently on loan to and display at the Science Museum of London.

Hillis has had to get creative to build a timepiece that keeps ticking for 10,000 years. The clock will undoubtedly require maintenance, so he decided that it should require human winding - it's unlikely that any other power source would be around for 10,000 years. As he couldn't find a timing mechanism that would be both reliable and accurate, Hillis used two - one that's reliable but not accurate, and the other vice versa - linked together in what's called a phase-locked loop: a type of electronic circuit that matches the phase of an input signal with the one derived from its output oscillator to keep the two in balance. To calculate time, the 10,000-year clock will use binary digital logic that's mechanically (rather than electronically) implemented through a sequence of stacked binary adders, and time will be displayed using five digits (i.e., 02013) instead of the standard four.

The forward-thinking timepiece - which will be displayed on land open to the public - will include astronomical elements as well. [More] [Long Now Foundation website]

[Source: Popular Mechanics. Edited. Links added.]

7 STRANGE AND BIZARRE JAPANESE MEDICAL DEVICES

That's Sick! Seven Strange & Bizarre Japanese Medical Devices
By Steve Levenstein, Inventor Spot, 25 February 2013.

While the vast majority of Japanese medical device designs are insightful, beneficial and, er, normal, a rare few stand out by virtue of their extreme niche applications and distinctive attributes such as borderline inappropriate cuteness. This isn't always a bad thing, especially if one of these strange and bizarre medical devices is about to be used on you!

7. Mermaid Self-Propelled Endoscopy Device

Image via MedGadget

Combine Disney's Little Mermaid with the 1966 sci-fi classic film Fantastic Voyage and you've got The Mermaid...or as Derek Zoolander might say, “Mer-MAN!”

This pill-sized, self-propelled endoscopy device was invented by researchers from Ryukoku University and Osaka Medical College in Japan as an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-ternative to invasive and uncomfortable endoscopes.

The Mermaid can be swallowed or inserted rectally, after which it begins snapping photos at the rate of 2 per second while the device's movement is controlled using a joystick...sorry, Raquel Welch is NOT on board and really, can you blame her?

6. Fibre Optic Video Ear Scope

Image via Japan Trend Shop

Gold Rush Earlaska? Don't tell the Discovery Channel but Coden's EarScope can help you locate those precious gold(en) nuggets faster than Honey Boo Boo can locate between-meal snacks.

Settle down, budding prospectors, this is only a self-operated fibre optic video camera & ear pick combo so we're not exactly sure what the model above is looking so surprised about, unless she hid gold in her ears as a child.

Coden also suggest the device can be used to peek into attics for wasp nests or what not but be sure no wasps are clinging to the tip before embarking on your next earwax prospecting expedition.

5. Anti-Snoring Robotic Polar Bear Pillow

Image via ShiftEast

The Jukusui-kun (“Deep Sleep”) robotic polar bear pillow is an anti-snoring and Sleep Apnea prevention device invented by Waseda University's Kabe Lab, with a little inspiration from Rube Goldberg.

The obviously not-ready-for-prime-time (or nap time) device requires the snorer to wear a cute, fleecy polar bear cub-shaped pulse-oxygen meter glove on one hand.

When the glove's sensors note a drop in blood oxygen, a signal is sent to the pillow which then brushes the offending sleeper's face with its arm, causing the sleeper to change position to one that hopefully doesn't promote snoring...just like your spouse or S.O. does right now, only in not such a cute fashion.

4. Muu Socia 3.0 Communication Support Robot

Image via Robot Watch

Muu Socia 3.0 [more here] isn't really a one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater - it can't fly, comes in a variety of colours, and to the best of our knowledge doesn't eat people...yet.

Anyway, that's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International's story and they're sticking to it. Equipped with voice recognition, voice synthesis, speech processing and face recognition capabilities, the so-called “communication support” robot was designed to encourage communication between care givers and care recipients...one example of which would be “What the *bleep* is that thing, and whatever the *bleep* it is, get it the *bleep* away from me before I throw it out the *bleep*-ing window!”

3. Belly Button "Sesame Mixer-Catchers"

Image via RocketNews24

They may be rather low-tech as medical devices go but Hesogomu Karametoru (Belly Button "Sesame Mixer-Catchers", seriously) were made to help you, the user, patrol the front lines of antibacterial navel warfare.

Maybe you don't care about the dirt, lint and other assorted debris constantly accumulating in your navel. Maybe you're oblivious to the approximately 600 types of bacteria partying 24-7 at Club Umbilicus. Maybe you have an outie.

Regardless, swabbing the decks at the ol' navel base just got easier and pricier as well. A hefty 1,890 yen (about US$24) is what you'll pay for a mere 10 specially designed cotton swabs and a tube of organic, dirt-absorbing, plant-based gel...and you WILL pay, now that we've told you what's going on down there, IN there, as you're reading this. Eww.

2. Transnasal Endoscope

Image via Pink Tentacle

“Gee doc, my last prostate exam wasn't anything like this, not that I'm complaining or anything. Moooon riverrrr...”

Looking like an outtake from John Carpenter's 1982 sci-fi/horror film classic The Thing, the display model for a new transnasal endoscope developed by FUJIFILM Medical Co., Ltd. and Fujinon Toshiba ES Systems Co., Ltd. is intended to show off the diagnostic instrument to best advantage.

Admittedly, anything would look good beside the excruciatingly uncomfortable-looking semi-torso seemingly caught in mid-shriek. We can't wait to see their colonoscope, and by “can't wait” we mean “DO NOT WANT”.

1. "Robohelper Love" Automatic Wearable Toilet

Image via News.com.au

Last but not least, meet “Robohelper Love,” an automatic toilet machine designed especially for bedridden oldsters and/or hospital patients. Actually, “Robohelper Love” would make a great band name but we digress.

Inside a curiously embossed, flesh-toned, U-shaped thing that looks like Gundam's jock cup is a vacuum mechanism activated by a moisture sensor that siphons waste through a duct into a remote storage tank.

But wait, there's more! A tiny integral bidet then goes into spray and blow-dry mode like a miniaturized wearable washlet. “This machine is intended to ease the burden for care givers,” explains Daizo Igawa, manager of Muscle Corp., “especially at night, and it also helps those in bed stay clean.” If only it didn't resemble the Alien Facehugger re-imagined by Vivid Video.

Image via Tofugu

Suddenly feeling a lot better? Ready to re-schedule that overdue physical examination to the Tuesday after “I'll let you know”?

Look on the bright side, at least your belly-button will henceforth be clean as a whistle though as Ned “Needlenose” Ryerson can attest, whistling through one's belly-button isn't recommended unless you've topped up your life insurance first.

Top image via The Atlantic/REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

[Source: Inventor Spot. Edited. Some links added.]

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

CHINA NATIONAL HIGHWAY 110 TRAFFIC JAM: THE LONGEST TRAFFIC JAM EVER

For Malaysians who are perennially prone to complaining about traffic jam, don't forget there are other countries worse than ours. Here's one example...

Longest Traffic Jam Ever
By Biggest Stuff, 26 February 2013.

If you just got home from a dreadful traffic jam, we might have something that will make you feel at least slightly better.

If anything, it will make your traffic hold-up seem like a walk in the park. It took place in Beijing, China, lasted for over 10 days and yes, it was the longest traffic jam in history.

Named as China National Highway 110 Traffic Jam, it started on August 14, 2010 with an estimated length of 60 miles (100 km), slowing the drivers down to speed of mere 0.6 miles (1 km) per day.

Many drivers were stuck for days, unable to move forward or return back. With most people barely able to stand an hour long hold-up, you can only imagine what it would have been like. The jam was caused by a capacity overload, but was met with several government regulations, eventually returning to normal.

As for the nearby locals, many of them have seized the situation as a unique business opportunity, selling drivers water and food at prices as much as 10 times higher than normal. By the end of month, the jam has mostly dissipated, enabling the usual traffic functioning, apart from a few minor slowdowns.

Video:

YouTube Link

More videos from BBC and The Epoch Times.

More information:

1. Chinese drivers stuck in the longest traffic jam

2. China's 10-day traffic jam “longest ever”

Top image source: left, right.

[Source: Biggest Stuff. Edited. Top image, video and some links added.]

OPENARCH: THE PROJECT THAT CREATES AN INTERACTIVE 'iPAD HOUSE' WHERE EVERY SURFACE IS A TOUCH SCREEN

This is a real prototype of a smart home!

Walls that really CAN talk (and tweet): The interactive 'iPad house' where every surface is a touchscreen
By Mark Prigg, Daily Mail, 25 February 2013.

For internet addicts, it could be the ultimate way to stay in touch - an entire apartment turned into a giant, online screen.

The walls show Facebook updates, and life-sized friends during video chats.

It can also be controlled from anywhere - even bed - using gestures or speech.

Scroll down for video

The Openarch system uses projectors to turn walls into giant touchscreens, allowing users
to interact from anywhere - even bed.

What You Can Do

Social networks an emails can be displayed on walls
Video chats can show a life sized colleague
Shopping sites can show life sized clothes
Entire bedroom wall can become a giant alarm clock
Music can be controlled by gestures - swiping to change tracks

The system works uses projectors and sensors already available.

'The hardware is complete but only 40 per cent of the software is finished,' said Ion Cuervas-Mons, director of Think Big Factory, a Spanish design agency which created the project.

'Everything in the house can be used to communicate, the interface is ubiquitous.

'Through projections that are activated by the presence of a person, we can control everything with the movement of the hands: the lights; turning on any electrical household appliances; music; even connecting to Skype for a conference from any part of the house.'

The system aims to replace the current slew of keyboards and remote controls needed to interact with technology.

However, Mr Cuervas-Monsclaims much of the technology will be invisible.

'I don’t think that an Openarch home is going to look any different,' he said.

'New technologies must be non-intrusive and natural.'

Mr Cuervas-Mons says the first inhabitant has already moved into the experimental apartment.

'He is using some parts of the house, and we are learning from that.

One of the prototype apps places the user inside Times Square, with projections on every wall.

'The main interface is in the living room, where you can see social networks, magazines, and play music just using gestures,' he said.

The prototype uses sensing cameras such as Microsoft's Kinect to track users, allowing them to swipe in mid air to move through menus.

The project started three years ago, and the prototype built in an apartment in the North of Spain, all using existing technology.

'Now we have around 40% of the applications actually running - and we hope to finish soon, then begin developing products so people can actually begin using it.'

The wall can display anything, form video to a user's Facebook and Twitter feeds.

The system even allows video chats using a life sized video projection of the person you are
talking to.

Videos: The interactive home in action

Video 1: Openarch

Source: Vimeo

Video 2: Openarch Interface v.0.2

Source: Vimeo

Links:

1. OpenArch

2. Think Big Factory

3. Ion Cuervas-Mons

Top image via Fast Co.Design

[Source: Daily Mail. Edited. Video 2 and links added.]

ANCIENT LONG-LOST CONTINENT DISCOVERED BENEATH INDIAN OCEAN

This discovery is bound to raise more theories (and alternative ones) about the fabled lost continent of Atlantis. But judging from news below and elsewhere, we would still be a long way from the discovering the truth.

Long lost continent discovered beneath the Indian Ocean
By Robert T. Gonzalez, io9, 25 February 2013.

For ages now, Mauritia has been hiding. The small, precambrian continent once resided between Madagascar and India, before splitting off and disappearing beneath the ocean waves in a multi-million-year breakup spurred by tectonic rifts and a yawning sea-floor. But now, volcanic activity has driven remnants of the long-lost continent right through to the Earth's surface. After millions of years, and some incredible geologic sleuthing, it seems Mauritia has been found.

The news comes from a team of researchers led by University of Oslo geologist Bjørn Jamtveit. In the latest issue of Nature Geoscience Jamtveit and his colleagues present the result of a study that examined the beaches of Mauritius, a volcanic island off the coast of Madagascar (pictured up top). The lava sands of Mauritius are laced with very interesting particles called - and this is probably the coolest scientific term I've come across in weeks - "zircon xenocrysts."

The vast majority of Mauritius's volcanic lava sands date to around 9 million years ago. But a grain-by-grain analysis revealed the sparsely distributed xenocrysts to be anywhere from 660 million to 1.97 billion years old. A strange find, to be sure, but Jamtveit and his colleagues have a compelling explanation for the anachronistic crystals.

The zircons, write the researchers, likely originated in fragments of ancient continental crust situated beneath Mauritius, and were in fact pushed up through to the planet's surface through volcanic activity. How far were they pushed? Geologist Trond Torsvik, first author on the paper, told the BBC he thinks pieces of long-lost Mauritia are likely situated 10km beneath the island and a chunk of the Indian Ocean. Analyses of Earth's gravitational field corroborate his claims, revealing several regions of the sea floor where the crust is significantly thicker than normal (around 30 kilometres thick, where it should be closer to 5 or 10).

Land on Earth was once gathered together in a supercontinent known as Rodinia [where Mauritia is located], shown here as it was during its break-up 750 million years ago. Now scientists believe they have found a fragment of it buried under the Indian Ocean. Image/caption via BBC.

Torsvik says the researchers will need seismic data to image the seafloor structures more accurately - either that, or deep drilling. But a 2-billion-year old zircon xenocryst on a beach covered in 9-million-year-old volcanic sands is a hell of a geological riddle, and right now, fragments of an ancient precambrian microcontinent, coaxed surfaceward particle-wise by volcanism, seem a rather compelling explanation. Then again, they are called zircon xenocrystals. So aliens and time travel seem as good an explanation as any, right?

This map shows the thickness of the crust around the Mauritius and Reunion Island region. The circled numbers note how many millions of years ago the mantle plume there was beneath or near the Indian and African tectonic plates. Image/caption via Live Science.

The coloured track (left colour scale) west of Reunion is the calculated movement of the Reunion hotspot. The black lines with yellow circles and the red circle indicate the corresponding calculated track on the African plate and the Indian plate, respectively. The numbers in the circles are ages in millions of years. The areas with topography just below the sea surface are now regarded as continental fragments. Image/caption via Daily Mail.