Molecule gives passionate lovers just one year Molecule gives passionate lovers just one year
Tue Nov 29, 1:40 PM ET

ROME (Reuters) - Your heartbeat accelerates, you have butterflies in the stomach, you feel euphoric and a bit silly. It's all part of falling passionately in love -- and scientists now tell us the feeling won't last more than a year.

The powerful emotions that bowl over new lovers are triggered by a molecule known as nerve growth factor (NGF), according to Pavia University researchers.

The Italian scientists found far higher levels of NGF in the blood of 58 people who had recently fallen madly in love than in that of a group of singles and people in long-term relationships.

But after a year with the same lover, the quantity of the 'love molecule' in their blood had fallen to the same level as that of the other groups.

The Italian researchers, publishing their study in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, said it was not clear how falling in love triggers higher levels of NGF, but the molecule clearly has an important role in the "social chemistry" between people at the start of a relationship.   ¶ 11:33 PM 0 comments

  Scientists show we’ve been losing face for 10,000 years - Newspaper Edition - Times Online Scientists show we’ve been losing face for 10,000 years - Newspaper Edition - Times Online
THE human face is shrinking. Research into people’s appearance over the past 10,000 years has found that our ancestors’ heads and faces were up to 30% larger than now.

Changes in diet are thought to be the main cause. The switch to softer, farmed foods means that jawbones, teeth, skulls and muscles do not need to be as strong as in the past.

The shrinkage has been blamed for a surge in dental problems caused by crooked or overlapping teeth.

“Over the past 10,000 years there has been a trend toward rounder skulls with smaller faces and jaws,” said Clark Spencer Larsen, professor of anthropology at Ohio State University.

“This began with the rise in farming and the increasing use of cooking, which began around 10,000 years ago.”

His conclusions are based on measurements from thousands of teeth, jawbones, skulls and other bones collected from prehistoric sites around the world.

Skulls from the site of a 9,000-year-old city in Turkey — thought to be the world’s oldest — show that the faces of city-dwellers had already begun to shrink compared with contemporaries who had not settled down.

Details will be reported at a forthcoming conference on the global history of health. Larsen will suggest that a typical human of 10,000 years ago would have had a much heavier build overall because of the hard work needed to gather food and stay alive.

He said: “Many men then would have had the shape of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s head while women might have looked more like Camilla [the Duchess of Cornwall]. By contrast, Tony Blair and George Bush are good examples of the more delicate modern form.”

Other studies are confirming Larsen’s findings. George Armelagos, professor of anthropology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, has made extensive measurements on people from Nubia in modern Egypt and Sudan to see how their appearance has changed.

He found that the top of the head, or cranial vault, had grown higher and more rounded, a pattern also seen in human remains found at sites in other parts of the world.

Charles Loring Brace, professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan, said: “Human faces are shrinking by 1%-2% every 1,000 years.

“What’s more, we are growing less teeth. Ten thousand years ago everyone grew wisdom teeth but now only half of us get them, and other teeth like the lateral incisors have become much smaller. This is evolution in action.”

Softer food may not be the only cause. Some scientists blame sexual selection — the preference of prehistoric people for partners with smaller faces.

Dr Simon Hillson, of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, has studied humans living from 26,000 years ago to about 8,000 years ago. He measured 15,000 prehistoric teeth, jaws and skulls collected by museums around the world and found the same pattern of shrinking faces.

He said: “The presumption is that people must have chosen mates with smaller, shorter faces — but quite why this would be is less clear.”  ¶ 4:35 AM 0 comments

  Top 20 geek novels Top 20 geek novels -- the results! from Guardian Unlimited: Technology
By Jack Schofield / Media 06:14am

So far, 132 people have voted for the best geek novels (written in English since 1932), in spite of Survey Monkey'srubric saying free polls were limited to 100 responses. The top 20 is therefore as follows, with the numbers in brackets showing the number of votes.

1. The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams 85% (102)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four -- George Orwell 79% (92)
3. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley 69% (77)
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip Dick 64% (67)
5. Neuromancer -- William Gibson 59% (66)
6. Dune -- Frank Herbert 53% (54)
7. I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov 52% (54)
8. Foundation -- Isaac Asimov 47% (47)
9. The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett 46% (46)
10. Microserfs -- Douglas Coupland 43% (44)
11. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson 37% (37)
12. Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 38% (37)
13. Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson 36% (36)
14. Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks 34% (35)
15. Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert Heinlein 33% (33)
16. The Man in the High Castle -- Philip K Dick 34% (32)
17. American Gods -- Neil Gaiman 31% (29)
18. The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson 27% (27)
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson 23% (21)
20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham 21% (19)

There are two surprises for me. First, I'm amazed Neal Stephenson didn't do better: he is probably the ultimate geek novelist, being a bit of a geek himself. Second, I'm very impressed by the support for Watchmen, the graphic novel. And while I'm not surprised The Illuminatus! Trilogy didn't do better, I think more of you should read it -- or at least the first book, The Eye in the Pyramid!

The following five books attracted the most votes against.

Dune -- Frank Herbert 17% (17)
Neuromancer -- William Gibson 13% (15)
I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov 12% (13)
Foundation -- Isaac Asimov 13% (13)
The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett 12% (12)

Finally, the saddest statistics for me were the ones for John Brunner's books, which recorded high scores in the Not read it/Don't care category, as follows.

Stand on Zanzibar -- John Brunner 85% (77)
The Shockwave Rider -- John Brunner 88% (80)

I really enjoyed these books when I read them, though that was a long time ago. The sadness comes from the fact that Brunner was a British novellist, a good bloke, and used to drop me the occasional note (usually askng for advice about computing) in the days when I edited Computer Guardian. He died of a stroke during the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow in 1995.

Footnote: The short-list was drawn up based on comments to What are the top 20 geek novels on October 26, with voting at Survey Monkey.  ¶ 4:04 AM 0 comments

  Empire's 50 Greatest Independent Films Empire's 50 Greatest Independent Films
I have seen 20 of the 50.  ¶ 8:46 PM 0 comments

  Cleopatra_1963_CD3 Cleopatra_1963_CD3
I'm told you come here to sleep.
Not to sleep.
To pass the night then.
I'm not alone.
The old boy and I exchange memories of life.
It's like having a roommate, or should I say, "tomb-mate"?
If he were in your place, would I find Caesar here?
Hidden away, wrapped in moonlight and endless self-pity?
Self-pity! You repeat yourself! Find new reproaches!
Until now it has just been a part of your being drunk.
Singing sad songs for Antony.
Your time would be better spent negotiating with Octavian.
Why not give over my head? It's no great loss to me.
Dying the second time is painless and possibly an advantage to you.
The basis of a great new alliance with Rome.
I do not want a great new alliance with Rome.
Then what do you want?
I have come for Marc Antony.
What is left of his army, Rufio, my son and I...
...all of Egypt are waiting for him.
There is little time.
Marc Antony?
There is no one here by that name...
...alive.
Time for what?
For Marc Antony to appear in shiny armor...
...swords flashing in both hands?
Agrippa. Octavian.
Stand back! Rejoice! Marc Antony will save the day!
Antony, you say?
He died at Actium...
...running away.
He tried to run on the water, but you weren't there to hold his hand!
Rufio, my legions, waiting.
For what?
To ask me what they carry in their eyes...
...in their hearts, in their sleep, as I have.
Why are you not dead?
Why do you live? How can you live?
Why do you not lie in the deepest hole of the sea...
...bloodless and bloated and at peace with honorable death?
You begged forgiveness from me for running away.
You wept and gave reason. A mother to her child, a queen to her country.
Where and how can I weep and beg? From whom?
The thousands and thousands who can no longer hear me?
Shall I give my reason?
Shall I say simply, I loved?
When I saw you go, I saw nothing.
Felt, heard, thought nothing except your going.
Not the dying and dead, not Rome, not Egypt...
...not victory or defeat, honor or disgrace...
...only that my love was going and I must be with her.
That my love, my master, called.
And I followed.
And that only then...
...I looked back...
...and I saw.
How right you were.
"Have as your master anyone, anything...
...but never love."
How wrong.
How wrong I was.
Antony, the love you followed is here.
To be had upon payment of an empire.
Without you, Antony...
...this is not a world I want to live in...
...much less conquer.
Because for me...
...there would be no love anywhere.
Do you want me to die with you? I will.
Or do you want me to live with you?
Whatever you choose.
Are we too late, do you think, if we choose to live?
Better too late...
...than never.   ¶ 7:04 PM 0 comments

  Meditate on This: Buddhist Tradition Thickens Parts of the Brain Meditate on This: Buddhist Tradition Thickens Parts of the Brain - Yahoo! News: "LiveScience Staff
LiveScience.com Fri Nov 11,12:00 PM ET

Meditation alters brain patterns in ways that are likely permanent, scientists have known. But a new study shows key parts of the brain actually get thicker through the practice.

Brain imaging of regular working folks who meditate regularly revealed increased thickness in cortical regions related to sensory, auditory and visual perception, as well as internal perception -- the automatic monitoring of heart rate or breathing, for example.

The study also indicates that regular meditation may slow age-related thinning of the frontal cortex.

"What is most fascinating to me is the suggestion that meditation practice can change anyone's gray matter," said study team member Jeremy Gray, an assistant professor of psychology at Yale. "The study participants were people with jobs and families. They just meditated on average 40 minutes each day, you don't have to be a monk."

The research was led by Sara Lazar, assistant in psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital. It is detailed in the November issue of the journal NeuroReport.

The study involved a small number of people, just 20. All had extensive training in Buddhist Insight meditation. But the researchers say the results are significant.

Most of the brain regions identified to be changed through meditation were found in the right hemisphere, which is essential for sustaining attention. And attention is the focus of the meditation.

Other forms of yoga and meditation likely have a similar impact on brain structure, the researchers speculate, but each tradition probably has a slightly different pattern of cortical thickening based on the specific mental exercises involved.  ¶ 6:33 PM 0 comments

  New Chewing Gum Could Replace Toothbrush New Chewing Gum Could Replace Toothbrush - Yahoo! News
By BETH RUCKER, Associated Press Writer Fri Nov 11, 4:36 PM ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - America's fighting men made their way across Europe during World War II with Juicy Fruit in their rucksacks. The GIs of the future could be carrying a type of chewing gum a lot better for their teeth.

Army and civilian scientists are working to develop gum for combat soldiers too busy to brush.

The gum, described at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists convention this week in Nashville, would contain a special bacteria-fighting agent to prevent plaque, cavities and gum disease.

Soldiers in the field often do not have the time or the means to brush and floss. Beyond that, the stress of combat can encourage bacterial growth in the mouth, said Col. Dennis Runyan, commander of the Army Dental and Trauma Research Detachment in Great Lakes, Ill.

Gum was considered an ideal solution because the Army already issues gum to soldiers in their field rations.

Dr. Patrick DeLuca, a University of Kentucky drug product developer, is working to perfect the prototype, trying to make it taste better and ensure that it retains its bacteria-fighting ability and flavor for 30 minutes to an hour.

Once the development stage is complete sometime in the next year, scientists will begin field-testing the gum, possibly with Army units.

If the Army decides to go ahead with the idea, it will probably team up with a manufacturer to produce the gum. The Army has been talking to such companies as Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., the maker of Juicy Fruit, Runyan said.

Runyan said he hopes to see a finished product available within four years  ¶ 6:31 PM 0 comments

  Why are they 'furphies'? :: ABC Central Victoria Why are they 'furphies'?

Wednesday, 19 October 2005
Reporter: Dave Lennon

You've probably heard someone say that someone else is 'telling furphies', or that a story is 'a bit of a furphy'.

The word is a uniquely Australian idiom, a way of saying that something is an exaggerated story, a false report, a rumour. But how did they come to be named furphies in the first place? It might seem odd (even a possible furphy) to say that water carts had something to do with it - but it's a fact that a brand of water cart had everything to do with the naming of furphies.

The Furphy family has a long history in central Victoria; John Furphy moved from Kyneton to Shepparton in 1873 and that's where the story began. John Furphy set up a smithy in the then-tiny town of Shepparton (the 1871 census shows only six dwellings and a total population of 33) and, within a few years, he'd become well known as a blacksmith, a wheelwright, and also as an agricultural machinery supplier.

A decade after setting up his business in Shepparton, John Furphy and his long-time employee Uriah 'Cocky' Robinson, came up with the idea of a mobile water tank, and within a few years, Furphy water carts were familiar sights.

Andrew Furphy is John's great-grandson, and he has co-authored a book, 'Furphy: The Water Cart and The Word', all about the history of both the cart and the word.

So how did a family name come to be a byword for tall stories and exaggerations?

The name itself became well known because of John Furphy's marketing genius, Andrew says.

"He used that water cart - the cast iron end, in raised lettering - to advertise his materials, to add moral messages. It has become a collectors' item for this very reason - there are a lot of material on the ends. The advertising have changed, there's about 12 or 15 different models, collectors love them."

At various stages, the tank ends included moral messages about the advisability of drinking water instead of beer, endorsement of the 1940s message to 'populate or perish', and a short poem for which Furphy tanks became famous: "Good, better, best/Never let it rest/Till your best is better,/And your better best." The carts also had 'Furphy' painted on the sides in vivid, dark red paint that really stood out. And it's that visibility that led to 'furphy' becoming a byword for rumour around the time of World War One.

"Furphy water tanks were selected to supply water to the Broadmeadows camp just out of Melbourne in 1914, when the troops were embarking to the First World War. These tanks were used for hygienic water supplies at the latrines.

"This was one place where the troops could gather and in their anxious state, they were very, very keen to find out what was happening. The officers didn't disseminate much information, so obviously, it was an ideal spot for rumours to become rife. With the tank there, with the large lettering on the side, they associated the rumours with the word 'furphy'.

"That went overseas then to Gallipoli in the First World War, and has become a word that's still used today."
At first, it was an exclusively Victorian word - then more and more Australians from other states began to pick it up. The earliest example of 'furphy' in writing was in April, 1915, in a diary entry written by Staff Sergeant John Treloar, when he was camped near Cairo:

"Today's 'furphy', for never a day goes by without at least one being created, was about lights being prohibited in camp on account of the possibility of a German airship raid. Some of the troops do not suffer from lack of imagination."   ¶ 4:00 PM 0 comments

  Anger is Good For You Anger is Good For You - Yahoo! News
Robin Lloyd
Special to LiveScience
LiveScience.com Thu Nov 3,10:00 AM ET

PITTSBURGH – Anger is good for you, as long as you keep it below a boil, according to new psychology research based on face reading.

People who respond to stressful situations with short-term anger or indignation have a sense of control and optimism that lacks in those who respond with fear.

"These are the most exciting data I've ever collected," Carnegie Mellon psychologist Jennifer Lerner told a gathering of science writers here last month.

Lerner harassed 92 UCLA students by having experimenters ask subjects to count backward on camera by 13s starting with an odd number like 6,233, telling them it was an intelligence test and then telling them they weren't counting fast enough and to speed it up as they went along.

Wrong answers meant subjects had to start all over again.

Another test involved counting backwards by sevens from 9,095.

So angry …

The video cameras caught subjects' facial expressions during the tests, ranging from deer-in-the-headlights to seriously upset. The researchers identified fear, anger and disgust using a psychologist's coding system that considers the flexing of particular sets of small muscles in the face.

The researchers also recorded people's blood pressure, pulse and secretion of a high-stress hormone called cortisol, which can be measured in the saliva and collected with a cotton swab.

The people whose faces showed more fear during the had higher blood pressure and higher levels of the hormone. The findings were the same for men and women.

Lerner previously studied Americans' emotional response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks two months afterward and found that anger triggers feelings of certainty and control. People who reacted with anger were more optimistic about risk and more likely to favor an aggressive response to terrorism.

Go ahead, get angry

So in maddening situations in which anger or indignation are justified, anger is not a bad idea, the thinking goes. In fact, it's adaptive, Lerner says, and it's a healthier response than fear.

Chronic, explosive anger or a hostile outlook on the world is still bad for you, contributing to heart disease and high blood pressure, research shows.

The new research supports the idea that humans have more than one uniform response to stress and that fear and anger provoke different responses from our nervous systems and the parts of our brain, such as the pituitary, that deal with tough situations.

The results were published in a recent issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Charles Darwin was the first scholar to propose that you can read people's faces. More recently, Paul Ekman is the master of observing emotions on people's faces. He has even identified rare, super-sensitive people who are expert face readers and can accurately tell when people are lying.   ¶ 2:03 PM 0 comments

  Yale School of Music to Go Tuition-Free Yale School of Music to Go Tuition-Free - Yahoo! News
Wed Nov 2, 4:19 PM ET

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Yale University's School of Music is doing away with tuition after receiving a $100 million donation.

Acting Dean Thomas C. Duffy said Wednesday the university will stop charging students next year. Duffy said the donors want to remain anonymous.

Duffy said the donation will also allow the school to buy technology to host clinics and workshops with people around the world.

Tuition this year at the Yale School of Music is $23,750.  ¶ 12:21 AM 0 comments

  SF Gate SF Gate: Multimedia (image)  ¶ 4:42 PM 0 comments

  Carlton Hotel - Hotel Accommodations - Cairo - WGuides.com Carlton Hotel - Hotel Accommodations - Cairo - WGuides.com

Carlton Hotel
Lively neighbourhood
Search Hotels in Cairo for the Lowest Rates
check-in check-out adults
neighborhood: Downtown
tel: 20 2 575 5181
fax: 20 2 575 5232

address
21 26th of July Street
Cairo EG,
Recently renovated, this art deco hotel with dark hardwood furniture still retains much of its charm. The rooms are basic but clean, and many have nice views of the busy streets below. The rooms facing the alley are quieter. This is a good budget option for those wanting to be right in the centre of the action as the lively neighbourhood it's in never sleeps. Definitely worth checking out is the all-night vegetable market around the corner.

nearest train: Nasser
check in: 12:00
check out: 12:00
number of rooms: 62
hotel services: restaurant,24-hour room service,television,air conditioning
special feature: Rooftop dining terrace with great city views.
  ¶ 5:28 AM 0 comments