Turtles Urinate Via Their Mouths—A First

Found on Site: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121012-turtles-urine-pee-mouth-science-animals-weird/

When a species of soft-shelled turtle in China piddles in puddles, it does so through its mouth—the first evidence of an animal doing so, a new study says.

The findings could also have stomach-churning implications for humans with kidney failure, scientists say.

Researchers at the National University of Singapore noticed Pelodiscus sinensisturtles would stick their heads into puddles of water and wiggle their tongues, but they weren't drinking.

Study leader Yuen K. Ip and colleagues also knew that the soft-shelled turtle had structures similar to gills inside its mouth, which had previously been thought to help the turtle breathe—but did not actually function as gills.

"However, I saw a controversy here," Ip said via e-mail. "If the turtle has lungs, why would it need to submerge its head in water [to breathe]?"

Tracking Turtle Pee

To find out, the researchers purchased live turtles from a local market and kept them in water for six days. Only 6 percent of the urea—the main ingredient in animal urine besides water—produced by the turtles ended up in the urine from their hind ends.

After the researchers removed the reptiles from the water but provided them with a puddle, the turtles dipped their heads and, using the water puddles as a mouth rinse, spat out 50 times more urea than was present in the mouth discharge. The urea travels through the reptiles' bloodstreams to their mouths, so it's not technically urination.

The team also found that the turtles carry a gene that produces a specialized protein that helps expel urea. The gene was expressed in their mouths, not their kidneys.

The reptiles live in brackish water, which makes the mouth pee a clever adaptation.

If the turtles expelled their urea the traditional way—a process that requires a lot of water—they'd need more water to stay hydrated.

This would lead to what Ip called a "a vicious cycle of imbibing more seawater"—like us, the turtles would have to drink more saltwater to lower the salt in their blood, because reptiles can't expel salt in their urine. This process would continue until the saltwater proved fatal.

Instead, simply rinsing out the mouth without drinking any salty water helps keep the creatures healthy.

"The ability to excrete urea through the mouth instead of the kidney might have facilitated P. sinensis and other soft-shelled turtles to successfully invade the brackish and/or marine environment," Ip said.

Turtle-Pee Research May Help People

Ip's research interests tend toward "what we can learn from the animal world to resolve biomedical problems," he added.

In other words, the turtle with a mouth full of wee could someday help humans who have undergone kidney failure. Currently, human patients with failed kidneys must undergo dialysis to remove waste from their bloodstream. (Explore an interactive of the human body.)

"Hypothetically," Ip said, "if active urea-excretion mechanisms can be expressed in the mouth of a patient with kidney failure, urea excretion can still occur, through rinsing the mouth with water—just like the soft-shelled turtle."

For now, though—perhaps to the relief of some patients—the idea is just a tinkle in Ip's eye.

Boy's Letter: 'Grown-Ups Killed My Kitty'

Found on Site: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/06/boys-letter-kitty_n_1944988.html?ref=topbar

                                          Brothers Rayden and Devin Sazama

SALT LAKE CITY — An 8-year-old Utah boy wrote a letter to his local newspaper after an animal shelter worker failed to write a note to save his cat from being euthanized. "Yesterday grown-ups killed my kitty, my best friend, when they weren't supposed to," he said.

The letter appeared in The Herald Journal, of Logan, on Thursday. By Friday, it had received the fourth-most comments on the newspaper's website – behind three letters about Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Some berated the shelter for failing to keep the cat safe. Others criticized the family for letting the cat outside, failing to have it on a leash or not looking for the cat at the shelter sooner. Still others faulted the neighbors who had trapped the cat and denied having seen it when asked.

But the boy, Rayden Sazama, just wanted to share his love of his cat, Toothless.

"I just wanted to tell people about Toothless – that I loved him," he told The Associated Press through his father, Jason Sazama, on Friday. "And that people shouldn't lie."

Sazama said he's surprised how many people didn't get the point of Rayden's letter, which the boy dictated to his grandfather: "It was about a boy sharing his love for his cat – and saying, `C'mon grown-ups.'"

Toothless, a fluffy, black cat who roamed the cow pasture next door and often brought home "presents" of field mice, slipped out his kitty door Sept. 28 and didn't return home. By Sunday, Rayden and his younger brother, Devin, were going door to door, asking neighbors if they had seen the cat.

Everyone said they hadn't seen Toothless.

Jason Sazama checked the Cache Humane Society's website but didn't see any photos resembling Toothless. After two busy days on the road for work, he decided to swing by the organization's shelter Tuesday to see if Toothless had turned up.

The shelter had already closed for the evening, but a worker allowed Sazama inside, where Toothless sat in a cage. There was just one problem: Sazama still needed to pay the impound fee at a government building that was also closed.

The worker assured Sazama the cat would be fine, and he returned home, crowing: "I found Toothless! We'll get him tomorrow."

But when Sazama returned the next day, the receipt for his impound payment in hand, he discovered that Toothless had already been euthanized. The worker had forgotten to put a note on the cage.

The Cache Humane Society did not return a telephone message Friday from the AP. When reached by The Herald Journal, Director Brenda Smith confirmed Rayden's story, saying the boy's father had visited the shelter after business hours, when the worker was busy training another employee.

"She let him in to look for the cat, but unfortunately, in training someone she forgot to leave a note on the cat's cage," Smith told the newspaper. "I've just been sick about it, and so has she."

Sazama said he has no ill will toward the shelter.

"I had to explain to my son that several adults made mistakes here," he said. "The worker made a mistake, and I should have gone to the shelter sooner."

Sazama said he even understood why the neighbors trapped the cat; he hadn't known that Toothless had been visiting the neighbors' sandbox and leaving different kinds of presents there.

But Rayden said in his letter that the neighbors lied when he asked them if they had seen the cat. "My dad and mom tell me and Devin not to lie and that is right," he said.

"Now I don't know what to do," the letter concludes. "My cat Toothless is dead; the people that killed him didn't even give him to my dad so we could bury him. What do I do now?"

Caffeinated Coffee, Vision Loss are Linked

Found on Site: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/283047/caffeinated-coffee-vision-loss-linked.html

Caffeinated coffee drinkers should limit their intake to reduce chances of 
developing vision loss or blindness, a new study has claimed.

In a study published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, researchers found that heavy caffeinated coffee consumption is associated with an increased risk of developing exfoliation glaucoma, the leading cause of secondary glaucoma worldwide.

Secondary glaucoma refers to any form of glaucoma in which there is an identifiable cause of increased eye pressure, resulting in optic nerve damage and vision loss.

The study was composed of two cohorts: 78,977 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and 41,202 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) who were at least 40 years of age and did not have glaucoma.

The research team used questionnaires to obtain and validate the consumption of beverages containing caffeine and reviewed medical records to determine incident cases of exfoliation glaucoma.

An analysis of the two cohorts showed that, compared to abstainers, participants who drank three cups or more of caffeinated coffee daily were at an increased risk of developing exfoliation glaucoma or glaucoma suspect.

The researchers did not find associations with consumption of other caffeinated products, such as soda, tea, chocolate or decaffeinated coffee.

The results also showed that women with a family history of glaucoma were at an increased risk.

Aspirin May Help Preserve Brain Function in Older Women with Heart Disease

Found on Site: http://www.wowktv.com/story/19743840/aspirin-may-help-preserve-brain-function-in-older-women-with-heart-disease-healthday-news

The same daily, low-dose aspirin that many women take to lower their risk for heart attack may have spillover benefits on their risk for developing mental decline, suggests new research from Sweden.

In the study of nearly 700 women between 70 and 92 years old, 600 were considered to be at high risk for heart disease and stroke. Of these, about 130 women were taking low-dose aspirin when the study began, and nearly 100 more were taking various other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen.

After five years, women who were taking low-dose aspirin showed less decline on a standardized test measuring brain function than women who were not on aspirin. The longer the women were taking aspirin, the more pronounced the differences. Daily aspirin use did not, however, have any bearing on the risk for developing full-blown dementia, the study showed.

Exactly how aspirin may slow cognitive decline is not fully understood, but it may enhance blood flow to the brain, concluded study authors Dr. Silke Kern and colleagues at the University of Gothenburg.

"Low-dose aspirin treatment may have a neuro-protective effect in elderly women at high cardiovascular risk," the researchers wrote.

The findings appear online Oct. 3 in the journal BMJ Open.

Aspirin may help prevent strokes, and sometimes a series of "mini-strokes" can add up to cognitive decline and even cause dementia, said Dr. Deepak Bhatt, director of the integrated cardiovascular intervention program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "It makes sense that this could be the case, but the new study does not prove it."

"I would not start taking aspirin because of this study," Bhatt added. "This needs to be tested in a larger number of patients before we can say that aspirin has a role in preventing cognitive decline in women or men."

While the study found an association between aspirin use and mental skills, it did not reveal a cause-and-effect link.

Not everyone can or should take aspirin, Bhatt noted.

"Aspirin can cause side effects and should not be taken by people who are at risk for ulcers or bleeding," he said. "Do not take aspirin without discussing it with your doctor."

None of the women in the new study developed ulcers or major bleeds.

Still, the study authors concluded: "Longer follow-ups are needed to evaluate the long-term effect of aspirin on cognitive function and dementia."

Dr. Sam Gandy, chairman of Alzheimer's disease research and associate director of the Mount Sinai Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in New York City, said: "Aspirin has many properties that benefit the health of our blood vessels. This study shows just how large a role brain circulation plays in maintaining good cognitive function."

Blood Pressure 'Link to Maths Test'

Found on Site: http://news.uk.msn.com/odd-news/blood-pressure-link-to-maths-test-1

High blood pressure during pregnancy can affect a child's thinking skills throughout its life, research suggests.

Scientists studied 398 men born between 1934 and 1944 whose mothers' blood pressure during pregnancy was recorded in their medical records.

The men were tested for language skills, maths reasoning and visual and spatial ability at the age of 20 and again at an average age of 69.

Men whose mothers experienced high blood pressure while pregnant performed less well than those whose mothers never suffered the problem. On average, they scored 4.36 points lower on the tests at 69 years old.

The same group also had lower scores at the age of 20, and their scores declined faster over the decades than did those of the other men. The biggest impact was on maths-related reasoning.

Lead scientist Dr Katri Raikonen, from the University of Helsinki in Finland, said: "High blood pressure and related conditions such as pre-eclampsia complicate about 10% of all pregnancies and can affect a baby's environment in the womb.

"Our study suggests that even declines in thinking abilities in old age could have originated during the prenatal period when the majority of the development of brain structure and function occurs."

The findings are published in the latest online issue of the journal Neurology.

Plant Scientists Create 'See-through' Soil

Found on Site: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/10/01/Plant-scientists-create-see-through-soil/UPI-46931349128459/?spt=fsb&or=ros

DUNDEE, Scotland, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Researchers in Scotland say they have developed a see-through soil that will enable scientists to study roots in detail for the first time.

The underground world of plant roots is called the rhizosphere and scientists at the University of Abertay Dundee and the James Hutton institute, writing in the journal PLos ONE, say creation of the new transparent soil marks a research milestone that will have applications in many different areas.

The artificial soil that becomes translucent when saturated with a special water-based solution is a substrate very similar to real soil in terms of physical and biological variables, researchers said.

The soil is a synthetic composite utilizing Nafion, often used in power-generating fuel cells, and replicates natural soil chemistry, they said.

"There are many different scientific disciplines that could benefit from this research," Hutton researcher Lionel Dupuy said. "Transparent soils could be used to study the spread and transmission of soil borne pathogens.

"In crop genetics, transparent soils could be used to screen the root systems of a range of genotypes. This would help breed crops with more efficient root systems so that agriculture can rely less on fertilizers."

Male DNA Found in Female Brains

Found on Site: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/345443/title/Male_DNA_found_in_female_brains

Children live on in their mothers’ brains for decades, and not just as memories. Scientists have found pockets of male DNA, presumably from boy fetuses, in the brain tissue of women who died in their 70s.

Not only is male DNA present in women’s brains, it’s common, researchers report online September 26 in PLOS ONE. J. Lee Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and her colleagues found snippets of a male-only gene in the brains of 18 of 26 women who died without neurological disease. The male DNA was spread throughout their brains.
 
The technique used in the study couldn’t distinguish if the DNA was from intact, functional brain cells, though in a separate test of brain tissue from a different woman, Nelson and colleagues did spot nuclei from male cells in the brain. Earlier studies in mice hinted that these foreign cells can integrate themselves into the brain and start functioning as nerve cells.
 
So far, cells from fetuses have turned up in women’s blood, livers, lungs, heart and other organs, so finding male DNA in the brain isn’t a complete shock, says geneticist Kirby Johnson of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., who wasn’t involved in the study. “From everything we knew, it’s not really that surprising.”What’s interesting is how the DNA could have gotten there. Male cells from a fetus could have broken through the blood-brain barrier — a wall that protects the fragile brain from pathogens in the blood. But that shouldn’t be possible, Johnson says.
 
If the male DNA did come from a fetus during pregnancy, then the genetic material stuck around in the brain for decades after that. The average age for these women at the time of their death was 70. “Maybe these are with us for a lifetime,” Nelson says.
 
Presumably, mothers can also carry a daughter’s genetic material in their brains; the presence of a Y chromosome simply makes it easier to spot male DNA.
 
Complete medical records, including pregnancy history, weren’t available for the women in the study, which means the researchers couldn’t rule out sources of cellular mingling other than male fetuses. The male DNA could have come from a male twin whose cells ended up moving into his sister’s body during pregnancy, for instance, or they may have come from an organ donation or blood transfusion, or even an older brother who had previously occupied the same uterus as the women.
 
What’s more, cells from several generations could mingle in a single person. Because cells also flow from mother to fetus, a pregnant woman possesses cells from both her mother and her child, and that child could inherit his grandmother’s cells.
 
Fetal cells could be beneficial, harmful or innocuous in a mother’s body. In a follow-up experiment, the researchers found that women with Alzheimer’s had less foreign DNA in their brains than women with healthy brains, hinting that these cells might offer protection from the disease. Those results are too preliminary to be conclusive, Nelson says. In tissues outside the brain, there is preliminary evidence that fetal cells may affect risk for cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Salt Intake Tied to Higher Blood Pressure in Kids

Found on Site: http://www.healthnews.com/en/news/Salt-intake-tied-to-higher-blood-pressure-in-kids/2OiKOfg0D8E9r0repFo4cE/



NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children in the U.S. eat almost as much salt as adults, according to a new government study that finds a clear link between sodium intake and higher blood pressure.

The connection was particularly strong among overweight and obese children, said Quanhe Yang from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, who worked on the study. That's concerning because both high blood pressure and excessive pounds are risk factors for cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks and stroke down the road, researchers say.

"Our American diet clearly is very high in sodium," said Dr. Frederick Kaskel, chief of pediatric nephrology at Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York, who was not involved in the research.
"Not only is the high sodium something to be avoided, but it is also indicative of an unhealthy diet," he told Reuters Health.

The results, released Monday in the journal Pediatrics, are likely to fan the hot debate over the health effects of salt. While health authorities across the globe warn consumers to cut back on dietary salt, a number of recent studies have suggested that not getting enough salt can be as harmful as getting too much.

The salt industry has pounced on that research, saying the dietary guidelines for sodium intake are flawed and should be withdrawn. The CDC study is based on national surveys of more than 6,200 children and adolescents aged 8 to 18. The youths had their blood pressure measured between one and three times and also reported their diet in the prior 24 hours. On average, they ate 3,387 milligrams of sodium a day - considerably more than the 2,300 mg (about one teaspoon of salt) the government recommends as the upper limit. According to previous data from the CDC, U.S. adults consume 3,466 mg of sodium per day by comparison.

"Kids are consuming as much sodium as adults, which far exceeds the recommended amount," Yang told Reuters Health, encouraging parents and others to "read the label when you go shopping and buy the food with the lowest sodium content." Yang and his colleagues found that for every 1,000 mg of extra sodium in the children's diets, there was a one-point rise increase in blood pressure. Among overweight and obese kids, each 1,000 mg of sodium was tied to a blood pressure increase of 1.5 points.

In adults, high blood pressure is defined as at least 140 mm Hg (the top, or systolic, number) or 90 mm Hg (the bottom, or diastolic, number). Doctors also talk about "pre-hypertension," which is defined as a top number between 120 mm Hg and 140 mm Hg or a bottom number between 80 mm Hg and 90 mm Hg.
The potential health effects of the small blood pressure variations seen in the study are not clear. But Kaskel said they could spell trouble later on.

"The antecedents of adult cardiovascular disease are seen early on in the pediatric age group," he said. "We shouldn't underestimate the potential harms of a 1-mm increase in systolic blood pressure."
The new study doesn't prove that higher dietary salt intake directly increases blood pressure, however, although other research shows that is theoretically possible.

"Many times the higher intakes of sodium may simply be a marker of a higher intake of fast food and processed foods," said nutritionist Lauren Graf of Children's Hospital at Montefiore.
She added that several ingredients in such foods, including fructose, have been tied to higher blood pressure.
Dr. Michael Alderman of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York cautioned that it's not clear that cutting back on sodium will do most kids any good. "There is nothing in this paper - and there is no information that I'm familiar with - that suggests reducing sodium intake is of value for people eating an average of 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day," he told Reuters Health.

Alderman said he has been an adviser to the Salt Institute, which represents the industry, and received $750 from the group in 1995. He said he has no ties to the group today. Graf said bread is the biggest source of dietary sodium in the U.S., adding that deli meats also contain a lot of the ingredient. Eating a healthy diet - including whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and fresh fish and meats - will automatically reduce sodium intake, she noted.

Bust These Anti-ageing Cream Myths

Found on Site: http://bit.ly/M8JwOY

Looking for the perfect skin cream to prevent ageing? Then don't believe these myths!
The next time you go shopping for skin care products, dispel these myths and shop sensibly...

1. The more expensive, the better!
Women who truly believe that there are miracles hidden in a jar of skin cream also seem to believe that the more expensive the cream, the more they are ensured of a total anti-ageing experience. Recent research, however, shows otherwise in some cases. Affordable creams can be just as good for your skin, but it is important to buy products that address your unique needs. Don't go by the price only, because cheap creams can also cause harm and an expensive cream might not be good for you if your skin can't take the richness of the product.

2. One cream will do everything
This is really wishful thinking because one cream cannot take care of every problem you have. The skin needs different ingredients at different times of the day and it is best to buy product that are made specifically for a time period. A serum is necessary, and so is eye cream, besides your regular night cream. During the day, you will need cream with SPF, so make sure you purchase a product with this ingredient. Buy different products for different times of the day.

3. You will see miracles in an instant
Ah — this is what skin care manufacturers would have you believe, but is just not possible. All a cream will do is delay the ageing process slightly, but age will inevitably creep in to your life, no matter what you do. It is best, therefore, to check out what you need most - do you need help for pigmentation? Is it radiance that you require? Or is your problem that of early wrinkles? Buy a cream that will help you in these specific areas, but remember -- everything takes time. Some creams may take up to three months for any significant improvement to be noticeable on your skin.

4. Buy creams according to the age mentioned on the packaging
Walk into a store and the lady at the counter will immediately ask you how old you are or try and make a guess about your age. She will then offer you products according to your age like those for 30+, 40+ and other creams positioned in various age brackets. This is not the right way to buy a good skin cream. You could have fine lines at the age of 30 if you've been a sun worshipper or a sportsperson. On the other hand, you may have acne at 50. So, don't go by age at all. Buy products according to your skincare needs.

10 Coolest Zombie Wedding Cakes

Found on Site: http://www.oddee.com/item_98260.aspx

Till death do them part? Forget that! These couples wouldn't dream of letting death interfere with their special day. Here are ten incredibly cool and creative wedding cakes that look like something straight out of AMC'sThe Walking Dead!

1. Such a beautiful cake... minus the attacking zombies, that is…


2. We've heard of being dragged to the altar, but it's usually the bride doing the dragging...


3. Straight out of the grave, and into your heart.


4. The lawnmower is a nice touch.


5. Bonus points for being adorable in spite of being gross.


6. Maybe this one isn't as high budget as the others, but the action figures lend a certain charm.


7. Not necessarily zombies, but a Buffy the Vampire Slayer cake is still awesome!


8. Brain cake, anyone?


9. Don't mess with this chainsaw-wielding bride and groom!


10. Putting the "gruesome" in "groom."

Doubts Over Jesus 'Wife' Scroll

Found on Site: http://www.3news.co.nz/Doubts-over-Jesus-wife-scroll/tabid/1160/articleID/269914/Default.aspx



Is a scrap of papyrus suggesting that Jesus had a wife authentic?

Scholars on Wednesday questioned the much-publicised discovery by a Harvard scholar that a 4th century fragment of papyrus provided the first evidence that some early Christians believed Jesus was married.
And experts in the illicit antiquities trade also wondered about the motive of the fragment's anonymous owner, noting that the document's value has likely increased amid the publicity of the still-unproven find.
Karen King, a professor of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School, announced the finding Tuesday at an international congress on Coptic studies in Rome. The text, written in Coptic and probably translated from a 2nd century Greek text, contains a dialogue in which Jesus refers to "my wife", whom he identifies as Mary.
King's paper, and the front-page attention it received in some US newspapers that got advance word about it, was a hot topic of conversation Wednesday at the conference.

Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was unmarried, although there is no reliable historical evidence to support that, King said. Any evidence pointing to whether Jesus was married or had a female disciple could have ripple effects in current debates over the role of women in the church.

Stephen Emmel, a professor of Coptology at the University of Muenster who was on the international advisory panel that reviewed the 2006 discovery of the Gospel of Judas, said the text accurately quotes Jesus as saying "my wife". But he questioned whether the document was authentic.

"There's something about this fragment in its appearance and also in the grammar of the Coptic that strikes me as being not completely convincing somehow," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the conference.
Another participant at the congress, Alin Suciu, a papyrologist at the University of Hamburg, was more blunt.
"I would say it's a forgery. The script doesn't look authentic" when compared to other samples of Coptic papyrus script dated to the 4th century, he said.

King acknowledged Wednesday that questions remain about the fragment, and she welcomed the feedback from her colleagues. She said she planned to subject the document to ink tests to determine if the chemical components match those used in antiquity.

"We still have some work to do, testing the ink and so on and so forth, but what is exciting about this fragment is that it's the first case we have of Christians claiming that Jesus had a wife," she said.
She stressed that the text, assuming it's authentic, doesn't provide any historical evidence that Jesus was actually married, only that some two centuries after he died, some early Christians believed he had a wife.
Wolf-Peter Funk, a noted Coptic linguist, said there was no way to evaluate the significance of the fragment because it has no context. It's a partial text and tiny, measuring four centimetres by eight centimetres, about the size of a small cellphone.

"There are thousands of scraps of papyrus where you find crazy things," said Funk, co-director of a project editing the Nag Hammadi Coptic library at Laval University in Quebec. "It can be anything."
He, too, doubted the authenticity, saying the form of the fragment was "suspicious".
Ancient papyrus fragments have been frequently cut up by unscrupulous antiquities dealers seeking to make more money.

An anonymous collector brought King the fragment in December 2011, seeking her help in translating and understanding it. In March, she brought it to two papyrologists who determined it was very likely authentic.
On Tuesday, Harvard Divinity School announced the finding to great fanfare and said King's paper would be published in January's Harvard Theological Review. Harvard said the fragment most likely came from Egypt, and that its earliest documentation is from the early 1980s indicating that a now-deceased professor in Germany thought it evidence of a possible marriage of Jesus.

Some archaeologists were quick to question Harvard's ethics, noting that the fragment has no known provenance, or history of where it's been, and that its current owner may have a financial interest in the publicity being generated about it.

King has said the owner wants to sell his collection to Harvard.
"There are all sorts of really dodgy things about this," said David Gill, professor of archaeological heritage at University Campus Suffolk and author of the Looting Matters blog, which closely follows the illicit trade in antiquities. "This looks to me as if any sensible, responsible academic would keep their distance from it."
He cited the ongoing debate in academia over publishing articles about possibly dubiously obtained antiquities, thus potentially fuelling the illicit market.

The Archaeological Institute of America, for example, won't publish articles in its journal announcing the discovery of antiquities without a proven provenance that were acquired after a UNESCO convention fighting the illicit trade went into effect in 1973.

Similarly, many American museums have adopted policies to no longer acquire antiquities without a provenance, after being slapped with successful efforts by countries like Italy to reclaim looted treasures.
Archaeologists also complain that the looting of antiquities removes them from their historical context, depriving scholars of a wealth of information.

However, AnneMarie Luijendijk, the Princeton University expert whom King consulted to authenticate the papyrus, said the fragment fit all the rules and criteria established by the International Association of Papyrologists. She noted that papyrus fragments frequently don't have a provenance, simply because so many were removed from Egypt before such issues were of concern.

She acknowledged the dilemma about buying such antiquities but said refraining from publishing articles about them is another matter.
"You wouldn't let an important new text go to waste," she said.
Hany Sadak, the director general of the Coptic Museum in Cairo, said the fragment's existence was unknown to Egypt's antiquities authorities until news articles this week.
"I personally think, as a researcher, that the paper is not authentic because it was, if it had been in Egypt before, we would have known of it and we would have heard of it before it left Egypt," he said.

Danish Nursery Offers Parents Time for Making Babies

Found on Site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19585136



A group of nursery workers in central Denmark have made parents an offer that they might find hard to refuse.
They have promised to provide two hours' free childcare on Thursday evening, so that the parents can go to bed and make more babies.

Dorte Nyman of the Grasshoppers kindergarten in North Fyn said a lack of young children meant the future of local nurseries was uncertain. She expected nearly half of the nursery's families to accept the offer.
"We have 42 children in the kindergarten, and we'll be looking after 20 tonight," she told the BBC.
Not all, though, are likely to use their free time for the intended purpose.
"Lots say: 'We'll bring our children to the party but you won't be getting any more children out of us!'" she said.
'A chance to speak'
Ms Nyman said she would be laying on food and playing music and holding a party for the children.
If any of them ask what the party is for, "we'll tell them it's to give the parents a chance to speak at home", she says.

Six other kindergartens in the area are also offering the same service, for one night only - though Ms Nyman said if their plan was successful, they would be happy to do it all over again.
The nursery workers want to draw attention to the dwindling number of births and to do something about it.
In terms of birth rate, Denmark languishes at 185th out of 221 countries in the world, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Copenhagen.

If the increasingly older population continues to expand, Denmark will not be able to support pensioners and others dependent on state benefits, he says.
Ms Nyman said as well as the low birth rate, nurseries were also facing a cut in their funding from local government. "Without money we can't look after the children well, and if there aren't enough children, there are not enough jobs for our workers."

Crook Claimed Aliens Told Him to Burgle His Mother's Home

Found on Site: http://newslite.tv/2012/08/27/crook-claimed-aliens-told-him.html



We've seen some crazy criminal excuses here at Newslite Towers - like the burglar who told cops he was a trainee locksmith - and here's another great one.

A man in Middlesbrough reportedly told police that aliens had instructed him to go into his mother’s home and steal food to give to the homeless.

A hearing at Teesside Crown Court also heard that John Kirby had smashed into his uncle’s home before stealing aftershave and toiletries … also at the behest of aliens.

29-year-old Kirby - who had previous convictions for burglary - had left fingerprints at the scenes of the two burglaries and representing himself in court entered guilty pleas.

The judge jailed Kirby for 12 months, of which he will serve half. There's no new if the instructing aliens will face any charges.

‘F-bomb,' 'sexting' land in Merriam-Webster dictionary

Found on Site:http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/08/f-bomb-sexting-land-in-new-merriam-webster-dictionary-/1#.UFykS7Libe4

After apparently first landing in the late 1980s, "F-bomb" has finally left its mark in the newest edition of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

The F-word derivative joins sexting, flexitarian, obesogenic, energy drink and life coach and 94 other new words included in the annual update, which will be published Tuesday, theAssociated Press says.
Back in October 2007, a "Kimberley" from Pennsylvania submitted the F-bomb for M-W's consideration. She defined itas a euphemism for "the notorious 'F' word, especially when a person uses that word frequently or capriciously."

Here's how the 114-year-old M-W defines the euphemism for that special word, which cannot be spelled out around these parts.
Take a gander at the top 25 new words.
Keep in mind that dictionaries are not bleeding-edge linguistic lighthouses; they lag the turbocharged lingua franca du jour, blessing words only after they're splashing about in the mainstream. And M-W has lagged its competitors -- sometimes by several years -- in adding other commonly used words.
So who are the cultural bombardiers, and when did F-bombs start falling? AP writes:

Kory Stamper, an associate editor for Merriam-Webster, said she and her fellow word spies at the Massachusetts company traced it back to 1988, in a Newsday story that had the now-dead Mets catcher Gary Carter talking about how he had given them up, along with other profanities.
But the word didn't really take off until the late `90s, after Bobby Knight went heavy on the F-bombs during a locker room tirade.
"We saw another huge spike after Dick Cheney dropped an F-bomb in the Senate in 2004," and again in 2010 when Vice President Joe Biden did the same thing in the same place, Stamper said.

"It's a word that is very visually evocative," Stamper told AP. "It's not just the F-word. It's F-bomb. You know that it's going to cause a lot of consternation and possible damage."
One place where it recently caused some consternation was at the Iowa State Fair, according to our Gannett colleagues atTheDes Moines Register.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals took down its booth late Thursday after concessionaires and other exhibitors complained about "profane language" heard and seen in subtitles during a 13-minute video, the paper writes.

"Supposedly, the raw language used by one factory-farm worker in the undercover video footage — he drops an F-bomb while describing the difficulty of snapping turkeys' necks — proved too much for Iowans' delicate ears," PETA wroteFriday.
Earlier today, PETA said its booth and its Glass Walls video"exposing the horrific cruelty of the meat trade" -- narrated by former Beatle Paul McCartney -- returned Saturday.

Florida Grandfather Wrestles Gator to Save Pet Dog

Found on Site: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/florida-grandfather-wrestles-gator-save-pet-dog-015320288.html



A 66-year-old retired corporate lawyer in Florida jumped on top of a 7-foot alligator  all in an attempt to save his "best friend," a small terrier dog named Bounce.
"I just knew that my best friend was going to be dead," Steve Gustafson told the Orlando Sentinel. "And I took off."

The grandfather was hanging out in his backyard of his home at The Villages, a retirement community near Orlando, while the 9-year-old West Highland terrier wandered close to the shore of a nearby pond.
That's when Gustafson said he heard Bounce yelp and saw the alligator carrying his dog away in its mouth.
"For whatever reason, I don't know, I just yelled, 'you're not going to get her!' and just leaped on the gator…just like you do some silly belly flop in a pool," Gustafson told the paper. "The only difference was I landed on top of a gator."

But the rescue didn't come without a fight. The 130-pound gator reportedly tried to pin Gustafson to the bottom of the 3-foot-deep pond before he was able to outmaneuver it, finally setting Bounce free.
Gustafson said he then "tossed" the gator back into the pond and raced for the shore. Both Bounce and Gustafson sustained minor injuries, receiving medical attention and a few stitches.

His neighbors responded by giving Gustafson a superhero cape and alligator belt buckle.
Still, they both came out far ahead of the unlucky gator, who was captured and killed by a local trapper.
"It's like being in a really bad car accident and walking away from it," Gustafson said. "If I hesitated I would have lost my best friend."

Needless to say, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission official Patrick Delaney said Gustafson's story is not one others should try to emulate.
"They're fast, and they can be dangerous," Delaney said. "So, I would give them a healthy respect."
Wildlife officials said alligator populations thrive during this time of year, with high temperatures and an ample food supply. Authorities in Louisiana extended the normal window for alligator hunting season this year to October 5^th because of the large numbers.

In December, a 70 long and 30 foot wide "Gator in the Bay" art project will be unveiled in Miami, with a giant gator head made of all recycled material will float in the water as part of an effort to raise awareness for conservation efforts in the Florida Everglades.

Judge Jails Woman Who Refused to Delete Facebook Account

Found on Site: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/facecrook-judge-jails-woman-refused-delete-facebook-account-194209538.html



A Kentucky woman who was issued a DUI after she caused a car accident with four teenagers is being sent back to jail after a judge ordered her to delete her Facebook page.

Local NBC affiliate WAVE3 reports that Paula Asher wrote a dismissive status update to her Facebook page after the accident, stating, "My dumb (expletive) got a dui and I hit a car…lol."
Asher was allegedly under the influence at the time of the accident and fled the scene before police arrived.
The parents of the four teens injured in the crash asked District Judge Mary Jane Phelps to have the offending Facebook page removed and the judge complied.

However, while Asher has apologized to the judge and the families for her offensive post, she has not deleted her Facebook account. And as a result, Judge Phelps has sentenced Asher to a two-day jail sentence for contempt of court.
"I really wasn't trying to make fun of (the crash)," Asher said.

However, as SecurityNewsDaily notes, it's not clear if the judge actually had the authority to order Asher to delete her Facebook page. No specific law was cited in the order, and Asher certainly could make a claim that posting her thoughts about the accident, no matter how crude or offensive, is protected under her First Amendment rights.

"I apologize to everybody," she said. "I apologize to the judge. I didn't mean to hurt anybody," Asher said.  "I didn't think 'lol' would put me in jail."
I had to go pull my time in," said Asher. "I did and they said I'm not allowed to have Facebook,"Asher told Lex18.com.

Will-Kate greeted by 'topless babes' in Solomon Islands

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Kate Middleton and Prince Williams were greeted with garlands by a group of topless women, draped in the island's traditional garb, to the village of Marau.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were welcomed to Marau, Solomon Islands before they travelled by boat to Tavanipupu, as part of the Royal couple's Diamond Jubilee Tour of South East Asia.
According to New York Daily News, Kate also saw a topless sculpture during a visit to the Cultural Village in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

The 30-year-old reportedly raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips, as she came face to face with a topless sculpture, seemingly trying to suppress her laugh in the wake of the scandal that has swept Europe.
Meanwhile Michael O'Kane, editor of the Irish Daily Star, was suspended Monday over the paper's publication of revealing photos of the royal couple.

While Star's British co-owner threatened to shut down the newspaper entirely, O'Kane said he didn't see what the big deal was.
"I did this as a service to our readers. I'm a little taken aback by the reaction in the UK. It only seems to be an issue in the UK because she is your future queen. But from our point of view in Ireland, Kate Middleton is just another of the fantastic line of celebrities," O'Kane told the BBC.

On the other hand, spokesman from Clarence House, in reaction to the editor made it clear what the big deal is.
"The complaint concerns the taking of photographs of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge whilst on holiday and the publication of those photographs in breach of their privacy," the New York Daily News quoted the spokesman as saying.

Marilyn Monroe Check Up for Auction

Found on Site: http://bit.ly/O90t0e

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., July 4 (UPI) -- The last check Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe wrote before her death in 1962 is up for sale, Heritage Auctions announced. The document is expected to fetch about $10,000 when it is auctioned off July 24.

" As the 50th anniversary approaches of Marilyn's Aug. 5, 1962 death, demand for her memorabilia continues to increase and so do the prices for it," said Margaret Barrett, director of entertainment and music memorabilia at Heritage, in a statement.

The check is dated Aug. 4, 1962, and was for $228.80. It was used to buy a white chest of drawers from Pilgrim's Furniture, said Barrett. Monroe, star of "Some Like It Hot," "The Seven-Year Itch" and "The Misfits," was 36 when she died of a prescription drug overdose.

Oregon Man Sues Orthodontist for Leaving Braces on 11 Years

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A 22-year-old Oregon man has sued an orthodontist for leaving his braces on for 11 years, resulting in straight but rotten teeth,The Oregonian newspaper reports.

Devin Bost, of Portland, claims he suffered serious tooth decay and periodontal disease from having worn braces from ages 7 to 18 while he lived in Eugene, Ore. Two to three years is normal for braces.
Some of Bost's teeth will need to be replaced with implants, but others cannot be because they have rotted to the jaw, said his attorney, David Hollander.

The lawsuit states that Bost, whose mother is a medical doctor, "received an urgent phone call" in June 2008 from orthodontist Brad Chvatal's office "that he needed to have the braces removed immediately."
The paper writes, "As for how Bost could spend most of elementary school and all of middle school and high school years with braces, Hollander is still trying to sort the details out."
"We aren't really sure what happened," he said.

Bost is seeking $185,000 -- $35,000 for dental bills and $15,000 for pain and suffering.
Chvatal told The Oregonian he could not have treated Bost until 2002, when he was licensed as an orthodontist. He has been licensed with the Oregon Board of Dentistry since 1997. He declined to comment on the case, citing patient privacy laws.

The president of the American Association of Orthodontists told ABC News that it was "extremely unusual" for somebody to wear braces for 11 years and that he "could not think of an instance where that would be the case."

Venom From the Banana Spider Could Be the New Viagra

Found on Site: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/10/venom-from-the-banana-spider-could-be-the-new-viagra/



Shortness of breath, excessive salivation, tremors, and an intensely painful erection are all indications of being bitten by a highly venomous arachnid commonly known as the banana spider. So toxic is Phoneutria nigriventer, a member of the Ctenidae family of wandering spiders, that its bite has been known to kill people.

The spider is a native of the rain forests of central and South America, but it has been seen scurrying out of crates of bananas shipped to other parts of the world.

The observation that the banana spider’s bite causes priapism, prolonged erections that can damage the penis permanently, got researchers to wonder if its potent venom could be the basis of an alternate treatment for erectile dysfunction, or ED, as television commercials for Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis politely put it. About one in three men seeking a virility lift is not helped by the ED drugs currently on the market.
Brazilian and American scientists report in the current issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine that the toxin from the Brazilian wandering spider may help treat ED in humans, if tests on elderly rodents with erectile dysfunction are anything to go by.

“Researchers from Brazil and the US extracted the toxin, called PnTx2-6, from the deadly venom and injected it into rats which had age-related erectile dysfunction,” reports the UK news site MailOnline. “They found the toxin boosted erections by triggering the release of nitric oxide, which boosts circulation in the male genitals by helping blood vessel walls relax.”

Treatment derived from the toxin may help patients who fail to respond to erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, which use different pathways, study co-author Kenia Nunes told NBC News.