WASHINGTON — Earthlike planets covered with deep oceans that could harbor life may be found in as many as a third of solar systems discovered outside of our own, US researchers said on Thursday. These solar systems feature gas giants known as ‘Hot Jupiters,’ which orbit extremely close to their parent stars — even closer than Mercury to our sun, University of Colorado researcher Sean Raymond said. The close-orbiting gassy planets may help encourage the formations of smaller, rocky, Earthlike planets, they reported in the journal Science. ‘We now think there is a new class of ocean-covered, and possibly habitable, planets in solar systems unlike our own,’ Raymond said in a statement. The team from Colorado, Penn State University and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Maryland ran computer simulations of various types of solar systems forming. The gas giants may help rocky planets form close to the suns, and may help pull in icy bodies that deliver water to the young planets, they found. ‘These gas giants cause quite a ruckus,’ Raymond said. Water is key to life as humans define it. ‘I think there are definitely habitable planets out there,’ Raymond […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. officials, seeking a way to measure the results of a program aimed at decreasing violence in Baghdad, aren’t counting scores of dead killed in car bombings and mortar attacks as victims of the country’s sectarian violence. In a distinction previously undisclosed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said Friday that the United States is including in its tabulations of sectarian violence only deaths of individuals killed in drive-by shootings or by torture and execution. That has allowed U.S. officials to boast that the number of deaths from sectarian violence in Baghdad declined by more than 52 percent in August over July. But it eliminates from tabulation huge numbers of people whose deaths are certainly part of the ongoing conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Not included, for example, are scores of people who died in a highly coordinated bombing that leveled an entire apartment building in eastern Baghdad, a stronghold of rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Johnson declined to provide an actual number for the U.S. tally of August deaths or for July, when the Baghdad city morgue counted a record 1,855 violent deaths. Violent deaths for August, a morgue […]
Mad honey disease is among the rarest afflictions in the world, but it appears to be on the increase. Only 58 cases have been reported worldwide, but eight people were treated in 2005 alone. The trend towards eating more natural products may be driving a rise in cases of the disease, whose symptoms can include convulsions, low blood pressure, fainting and temporary heart problems, according to a new report. ‘Mad honey disease has the potential to cause death if untreated,’ say the researchers. ‘Because of the increasing preference for natural products, intoxication induced by consumption of honey will increase in the future.’ Just a spoonful of the wrong honey can cause problems, according to researchers, who report their findings this week in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Mad honey poisoning is most prevalent in honey from the Black Sea region of Turkey. Compounds called grayanotoxins, found in the nectar of rhododendrons, mountain laurels and azaleas, are thought to be responsible for the disease. Though harmless to bees, they are psychoactive and poisonous to humans. Affected honey is said to have a very bitter taste.
NORWICH — Men may have developed a psychology that makes them particularly able to engage in wars, a scientist said on Friday. New research has shown that men bond together and cooperate well in the face of adversity to protect their interests more than women, which could explain why war is almost exclusively a male business, according to Professor Mark van Vugt of the University of Kent in southern England. ‘Men respond more strongly to outward threats, we’ve labeled that the ‘man warrior effect’,’ he told the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting. ‘Men are more likely to support a country going to war. Men are more likely sign up for the military and men are more likely to lead groups in more autocratic, militaristic ways than women,’ he added. Van Vugt said the finding is consistent with results from different behavioral science disciplines. In experiments with 300 university men and women students, Van Vugt and his team gave the volunteers small sums of money which they could either keep or invest in a common fund that would be doubled and equally divided. None of the students knew what the others were doing. […]
WASHINGTON — Some mothers and fathers might want to take a lesson from their children: Just say no. The government reported yesterday that 4.4 percent of baby boomers ages 50 to 59 indicated that they had used illicit drugs in the past month. It is the third consecutive yearly increase recorded for the group by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Illicit drug use among young teenagers declined for a third consecutive year, from 11.6 percent in 2002 to 9.9 percent in 2005. The annual survey on drug use and health involves interviews of about 67,500 people. It provides an important snapshot of how many Americans drink, smoke, and use drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Overall, drug use remained relatively unchanged among Americans age 12 and older in 2005. About 19.7 million Americans reported they had used an illicit drug in the past month, which represented a rise from 7.9 percent to 8.1 percent. Among the 18 to 25 group, drug use rose from 19.4 percent to 20.1 percent. David Murray of the Office of National Drug Control Policy said the peak of drug use among youth in the United States […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
