Small is the new big. Not too long ago, the world’s automakers were engaged in a virtual arms race to satisfy the American public’s appetite for hulking sport utility vehicles. General Motors Corp.’s jumbo-sized Chevy Suburban was topped by Ford Motor Co.’s mammoth Excursion. GM’s Hummer, originally a U.S. military vehicle, was sold in a civilian model to buyers who wanted to tower over other motorists. Even the Japanese got into the race. Now Japan’s big automakers stand to profit from galloping gas prices as they prepare to roll out a batch of fuel-efficient small vehicles. The move could spell additional trouble for Detroit, which still seems obsessed with gas-gulping muscle cars. The subcompacts from Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., which established themselves here in the 1970s with small, reliable, fuel-efficient vehicles, will deliver fuel economy in high-30-miles-per-gallon territory at prices starting at about $12,000. In March, Toyota will launch the Yaris sedan and three-door hatchback, followed by Honda’s Fit, a five-door hatchback in April, and Nissan’s Versa hatchback in May and a sedan in the fall. The Yaris is a third smaller than the Suburban and weighs almost a […]
Acupuncture works by deactivating the area of the brain governing pain, a TV show will claim. Tuesday’s programme – the first of three on complementary medicine – will show researchers carrying out brain scans on people having acupuncture. The BBC Two show will also feature heart surgery done using acupuncture instead of a general anaesthetic. The patient is conscious during the operation in China, but she was given sedatives and a local anaesthetic. In Alternative Medicine: The Evidence, volunteers are subjected to deep needling, which involves needles being inserted 1cm into the back of the hand at well-known acupuncture points. A control group undergoes superficial needling with needles placed only 1mm in. Sensation The needles are then twiddled until the participants feel a dull, achy or tingling sensation. For those in the deep needling group this stimulates the nervous system. During these two procedures, the volunteers underwent brain scans to see what, if any, effect there was in the brain. The team, including leading scientists from University College London, Southampton University and the University of York, found the superficial needling resulted in activation of the motor areas of the cortex, a […]
BERLIN — Three more countries said on Tuesday they had detected cases of deadly bird flu in wild swans, with Germany, Iran and Austria the latest to find the virus that has killed 91 people worldwide. Austria and Germany became the third and fourth European Union countries to report H5N1 bird flu, just three days after the bloc’s first instances were confirmed by Italy and Greece. Germany said its results came from initial tests. Both countries said samples of the dead birds had been sent to the EU’s reference laboratory in Britain for confirmation. Experts had said it was only a matter of time before the H5N1 strain dangerous to humans broke out in Iran, a wintering place for wildfowl that may be carriers. Neighboring Iraq, Azerbaijan and Turkey had already reported outbreaks. The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus has killed at least 91 people in Asia and the Middle East, according to the World Health Organization. Experts fear H5N1 may mutate into a form that can spread between people and cause a pandemic that could kill millions. New cases of H5 bird flu were found in Romania, Europe’s largest wetlands and […]
BOSTON -The state pharmacy board ordered Wal-Mart on Tuesday to stock emergency contraception pills at its stores in Massachusetts. Massachusetts becomes second state to require the world’s largest retailer to carry the morning-after pill. A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company would comply with the directive by the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy and is reviewing its nationwide policy on the drug. “Clearly women’s health is a high priority for Wal-Mart,” spokesman Dan Fogleman said. “We are actively thinking through the issue.” Wal-Mart now carries the pill only in Illinois, where it is required to do so under state law. The company has said it “chooses not to carry many products for business reasons,” but has refused to elaborate. The unanimous decision by the pharmacy board comes two weeks after three women, backed by abortion rights groups, sued Bentonville, Ark.- based Wal-Mart for failing to carry the drug in its 44 Wal-Marts and four Sam’s Club stores in Massachusetts. The women had argued that state policy requires pharmacies to provide all “commonly prescribed medicines.” The morning-after pill provides a high dose of hormones that women can take up to five days after sex to prevent […]
WASHINGTON — The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years. New projections, buried in the Interior Department’s just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government. Based on the administration figures, the government will give up more than $7 billion in payments between now and 2011. The companies are expected to get the largess, known as royalty relief, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period. Administration officials say that the benefits are dictated by laws and regulations that date back to 1996, when energy prices were relatively low and Congress wanted to encourage more exploration and drilling in the high-cost, high-risk deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. “We need to remember the primary reason that incentives are given,” said Johnnie M. Burton, director of the federal Minerals Management Service. “It’s not to make more money, necessarily. It’s to make […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
