Honey could help fight MRSA and other Superbugs

Blütenpollen und Honig

Even more health benefits from honey are being identified.

The Guardian reports that Welsh scientists are collecting honey to help identify new anti-bacterial drugs. The idea is not necessarily to use the honey itself, although the article notes that this is a common enough practice, but rather to identify the plants that bees have been feeding on, and then isolate compounds that may be used to develop new drugs. It’s an urgent problem…

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China aims for world’s deepest dive in a manned submersible in 2012

The Jiaolong

The Jiaolong reached 16,591 ft in a dive in international waters in the Pacific.

Scientists in China aim to complete the world’s deepest dive in a manned submersible in 2012 by going to 7,000 meters (22,966 ft) beneath the sea after a successful test dive in the Pacific Ocean, state news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

 

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SuperBetter – online game promotes self-improvement

Jane McGonigal

Jane McGonigal

Game designer Jane McGonigal, came up with the idea for “SuperBetter”, after she got a concussion. In interviews with Jane, she has described how she struggled to retrieve her focus until she decided to treat her recovery like a game: setting a series of progressive challenges, levels of achievement, with small prizes along the way. Users will be able to pick from a list of challenges—quit smoking, lose weight, recover from heartbreak—and try to accomplish them. Friends or family who have also signed up can act like Toad in the classic game “Super Mario Brothers 3”, and nudge you along.

 

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Navy prepares submarines for first female officers breaking one of the last gender barriers in the U.S. military

submarine

U.S. Navy prepares women for submarine duty.

The biggest concern about serving on a submarine for Ensign Peggy LeGrand is not spending weeks at a time in tight quarters with an entirely male crew. What  really worries her is the scrutiny that comes with breaking one of the last gender barriers in the U.S. military.

 

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Scientists prove time travel is impossible

time_travel

Scientists say time travel is impossible by showing a single photon cannot travel faster than the speed of light.

Physicists in Hong Kong say they have proved that a single photon obeys Einstein’s theory that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light — demonstrating that outside science fiction, time travel is impossible.

 

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Mumbai to Delhi train travel time could be cut to only 7 hours

golden rail corrider

At present the train travel time from Mumbai to Delhi runs 16 hours.

Train travel time between the national and the commercial capitals of India could soon come down by at least half to only seven hours.  The infrastructure for the Golden Rail Corridor, which will have trains running at semihigh speed (160-200 kmph) between New Delhi and Mumbai, is likely to cost around Rs 5,000 crore, according to railway officials.  They say the cost is relatively low as the railways will not have to acquire land for the project.

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Russians hail the end of the space shuttle era

russian spacecraft

A Russian Soyuz craft leaves the International Space Station.

Space officials in Russia are hailing the end of the space shuttle era as the beginning of the “Soyuz epoch.” Russian Soyuz craft will serve as the only way to get back and forth from the International Space Station, and NASA will be paying up to $63 million a seat for the ride for at least the next few years.

 

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