Teen Survives Four Months without a Heart

An American teenager survived for 118 days without a heart, having her blood circulated by a pair of artificial pumping devices as she waited for a second heart transplant. Fourteen-year-old D'Zhana Simmons suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart becomes weakened and enlarged and is unable to pump blood efficiently, and underwent a heart transplant in July. When the donor organ failed, doctors quickly removed it and replaced it with the heart pumps that kept Simmons alive until she could have a second transplant. Doctors believe this is the first time a child has survived in this manner for so long.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Bad Bosses Hurt the Heart

The longer you work for an inconsiderate boss, the more damage your heart may suffer. A recent study of 3,000 men found a strong link between poor leadership and the risk of heart attack and serious heart disease. Previous studies have shown that unfair bosses can drive up employees’ blood pressure, increasing heart disease risk. In addition, stress can foster unhealthy behaviors like smoking and eating a poor diet, which can also lead to heart disease. Of the men surveyed, those who viewed their senior managers as least competent had a 25% higher risk of serious heart problems. Those who had worked for a bad boss for four years or more had a 64% higher risk.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Wrecked Slave Ship Found

In 1841, some 192 Africans survived the sinking of the Spanish slave ship Trouvadore off the British-ruled Turks and Caicos Islands. The slave trade had been banned there, and the surviving Africans were apprenticed to trades and allowed to settle on the islands. Their descendents now form an integral part of the islands’ population. Over the years the ship had been forgotten, but marine researchers now believe they have located the wreck. It is the only known wreck of a ship involved in the illegal slave trade

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Chicken Trucks Leave Trail of Bacteria

A recent study found that trucks transporting crates of chickens leave a trail of bacteria in their wake, prompting the study’s authors to recommend that anyone driving behind these trucks attempt to pass them quickly. Riding in a 4-door car with all the windows open and the air conditioning off, the researchers followed several chicken trucks down a 17-mile long stretch of highway connecting chicken farms to a processing plant. While it remains unclear whether the bacterial debris from these trucks can make people sick, the researchers did find strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria on and in the cars that trailed the trucks

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

OPEC Defers Output Decision to December, Seeks US$75 Oil Price

By Maher Chmaytelli and Ayesha Daya

Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- OPEC deferred a decision on whether to cut production again this year by two weeks to gauge the impact of previous cuts, as it seeks to push oil prices back up to $75 a barrel.

Crude oil prices have slumped 62 percent from July’s record of $147.27 a barrel as the global recession cuts fuel demand. Ali al-Naimi, the oil minister of Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest exporter and its de facto leader, said yesterday that $75 a barrel oil represents a “fair price” needed to support investment in new oil fields.... (cont'd)

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Screw the OPEC cartel...

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- Luke.

Drug Fails to Help ALS Patients in Study

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a degenerative disease that affects motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, causing weakness, paralysis, and eventual death. There is currently only one drug available for people with the incurable disease, and a two-year study of another drug, which had previously shown some benefit to ALS sufferers, has found that the treatment does not slow the progression of muscle weakness. Two previous studies had looked at whether the growth hormone known as insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) could treat ALS, but they had produced conflicting results.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

312 Million-Year-Old Insect Imprint Found

A geology student in Massachusetts has found what researchers are calling the oldest imprint of a prehistoric insect. Found at a rocky outcrop near a large shopping center in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, the 312 million-year-old imprint shows the creature’s thorax, abdomen, and six legs. Though not a dragonfly, the insect had a similar body structure and may have been some sort of mayfly. A few weeks earlier, the fossilized remains of a wing that may have belonged to another insect of the same species was uncovered

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Happiness is Contagious

Researchers have concluded that an individual's happiness is largely a collective affair, depending heavily on the happiness of one’s friends, one’s friends' friends, and even the friends of one’s friends' friends. These effects persist across three degrees of separation; a happy third-degree friend increases a person's chance of being happy by 6%. Surprisingly, it appears that a next-door neighbor’s happiness has more impact on a person’s mood than a live-in partner. A next-door neighbor’s joy increases one’s chance of being happy by 34%, while a live-in partner who becomes happy increases the likelihood of his or her partner being happy by just 8

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Carbon Dioxide Found on Distant Planet

Astronomers have discovered that a so-called "hot Jupiter" found 63 light-years from Earth has both water vapor and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. Though scientists already knew that water vapor was present in the planet’s atmosphere, they only recently detected the carbon dioxide. HD 189733b has a fiery, molten core and a highly gaseous atmosphere that mimics the atmosphere found on Jupiter, but with surface temperatures of about 1,800°F (1,000°C), it is too hot to support life. Despite this, astronomers believe that these observations demonstrate that the basic chemistry for life can be found on planets orbiting other stars.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Mount Everest Deaths Result from Brain Swelling

Adventurers who dare to scale Mount Everest, the highest mountain peak in the world, face many dangers including extreme cold, strong winds, treacherous climbs, and avalanches. Since 1921, more than 200 people have died attempting to summit the 29,000-ft (8,850-m) peak. Researchers investigating these deaths had expected to find that many resulted from pulmonary issues, however, they instead found that high-altitude cerebral edema was largely to blame. The low oxygen levels found at such high altitudes cause cerebral blood vessels to leak fluid into surrounding brain tissue, triggering swelling that results in confusion and loss of coordination.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Extinct Amphibian Had World's Strangest Bite

An odd amphibian that lurked at the bottoms of warm lakes some 210 million years ago had one of the most unusual bites in Earth’s history. Rather than drop its lower jaw to catch its prey, as most other vertebrate animals do, Gerrothorax pulcherrimus would actually raise its head as much as 50 degrees to create the mouth gape necessary to capture its food. A special adaptation of the joint between its skull and first neck vertebra allowed for the unusual hinging action. The 3-ft (1-m) long creature had a flat body and head, well-developed gills, stubby limbs, and sharp fangs as well as bony body armor that protected it from other predatory amphibians and reptiles.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Percentage of Cell-Only Households Grows in US


Nearly 18% of households in the US have no traditional telephone and rely entirely on cell phone services, up from just 13.6% of households in the beginning of 2007. The weak economy may have exacerbated the trend, perhaps prompting some customers to cancel home phone service in order to save money. The majority of households without landlines are comprised of unrelated adults, renters, and young people. While just 9% of homeowners have cell phones but no home phones, 34% of renters are living this way. The growing trend has even skewed poll results, since pollsters have traditionally interviewed only people who have landlines

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Sleeping Good for the Heart

Getting too little sleep has been linked to a number of health problems, including weight gain, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and now researchers have added another consequence to the list: coronary artery calcifications. They found that just one extra hour of sleep a day appears to reduce the risk of developing calcium deposits in the arteries, a precursor to heart disease. About 12% of the people in the study developed artery calcification during the 5-year study period. Among those who slept less than 5 hours a night, 27% had developed artery calcification. Only 6% of those who slept more than 7 hours a night developed coronary artery calcifications

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Cytomegalovirus Raises Risk of Infant Hearing Loss


Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most common viral infection affecting the fetus. While in adults with healthy immune systems the virus rarely causes symptoms, CMV can cause problems when passed from a mother to a fetus during pregnancy. Previous studies have shown that children with congenital CMV are at risk of developing sensorineural hearing loss, and now researchers have determined that the risk of hearing loss is greatest when the mother-to-be is infected with the virus during the first trimester of pregnancy.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Sharks Have Weak Bite

Scientists have concluded that sharks have fairly weak bites relative to their size and can only bite through their prey because they grow so large, develop very wide jaws, and have very sharp teeth. According to the researchers, mammals have evolved much more efficient jaw muscles than sharks. In fact, sharks often have to resort to using a sawing motion to break apart their prey with their teeth. The study also shows that lions and tigers have significantly greater jaw strength than the fearsome carnivorous fish

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Continental Flight Fueled by Algae

On Wednesday, Continental Airlines conducted its first demonstration flight powered partly by alternative fuels. One engine of the Boeing 737-800 was powered by a 50-50 blend of regular petroleum-based jet fuel and a synthetic alternative made from jatropha and algae. Both jatropha and algae are considered sustainable, second-generation biofuels and release fewer emissions than traditional biofuels like ethanol. The biofuel exceeded specifications for regular jet fuel, and neither the plane’s engines nor the plane itself needed to be modified to use it.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Ransom Found in Pocket of Drowned Pirate


The body of a Somali pirate has washed ashore with a pocketful of cash—$153,000 to be exact. The man had been a member of a group of pirates who seized the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star in November and who had just released the ship after reportedly receiving a $3 million ransom. As the pirates returned home, their small boat was hit by rough seas and capsized. Five of the pirates drowned; one washed ashore with cash from the ransom in a plastic bag in his pocket. Three others survived, but all lost their shares of the ransom while swimming to shore.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Microscopic Robot May Take Fantastic Voyage


In the 1966 sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage, a group of doctors are miniaturized along with a submarine and then injected into a man's body to destroy a blood clot in his brain. Incredible as the plot may sound, scientists are now one step closer to making the fictional tale a reality. They have developed a microscopic robot that measures just a quarter of a millimeter, or the width of two to three human hairs, and is propelled forward by a motor that uses piezoelectricity. Scientists hope that the minute robot will one day be able to perform delicate surgeries within blood vessels and arterie

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Clean Air Adds Months to Life

Between 1980 and 2000, Americans' average life span increased almost three years, and researchers believe that nearly 5 months of that increase is the result of dramatic improvements in air quality. Residents of cities that were most successful in reducing air pollution showed the biggest jump in life span. People living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for example, could expect to live an extra 10 months with their cleaner air. Many other factors also boost life expectancy, including improved socioeconomic status and reduction in smoking prevalence

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Marijuana Use Down Among Teens

A study of 15-year-olds in 30 countries found that teens are going out less at night and smoking less marijuana. In the US, Canada, and a number of European countries, teen pot use declined rapidly between 2002 and 2006. Researchers believe that technology along with drug prevention efforts may be responsible for the recent drop. Kids are going out less with their friends at night, instead using cell phones, instant messaging, and e-mail to maintain contact with their peers

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010