Latest News, Medical Breakthrough, New Discoveries, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

Death Valley microbe may spark novel biotech and nanotech uses

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Badwater Basin, lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere, at Death Valley National Park.

Nevada, the “Silver State,” is well-known for mining precious metals. But scientists Dennis Bazylinski and colleagues at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) do a different type of mining.

They sluice through every water body they can find, looking for new forms of microbial magnetism.
In a basin named Badwater on the edge of Death Valley National Park, Bazylinski and researcher Christopher Lefèvre hit pay dirt…

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Current Events, Globalism, government, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Latest News, People Making a Difference

Crowdfunding temporarily halts oil extraction in Ecuador

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No drilling here for now.

Ecuador had agreed last year to accept money in exchange for not drilling foroil in Yasuní National Park, an area of the Amazon rainforest that last year set a record for the most mammal, bird, amphibian and plant species in the world.

But a fundraiser was held last night that collected the $116 million necessary to temporarily halt exploitation of the area for oil…

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Analysis, facebook, Health & Fitness, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

How people are turning to Facebook for organ donors

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Damon Brown’s Facebook plea for a kidney paid off.
These days people are using Facebook for a lot more than looking at friends’ photos or playing addictive word games. Facebook and other social media sites are quickly becoming a go-to place to find a generous person with a kidney to spare.
Architecture, Art, Photo Perspectives

5 homes with amazing staircases

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Staircase slide and bookcase staircase

Circular stairs were commonplace in castle towers during medieval times. Staircases were designed to go the same direction all the way around, ascending clockwise, to suit right-handed swordsmen for ease in hindering the attacker. Fast forward to the late 1800s and stair design changes dramatically when steel and reinforced concrete are introduced, and the use of dramatic curves and fantastic sweeps become important elements in staircase workmanship. Even today, stair-crafting ingenuity continues, with many staircases doubling for incredible feats of gravity and eye-popping works of art. (Pics)

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App, Big Problems, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

New wave of ‘silent camera’ apps blamed for huge rise in illicit photography in Japan

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An upskirt warning poster in a subway station outside Tokyo.

Almost all smartphone cameras have a built-in shutter noise to prevent the camera being used to take pictures without people’s consent.  But a new wave of ‘silent’ apps – some specifically designed for voyeurism – have been blamed for a huge rise in illicit photography in Japan.

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Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Record number of guns bought by Americans for Christmas

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The actual number of guns bought may have been even higher if individual customers took home more than one each.

Over 1.5 million background checks on customers were requested by gun dealers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in December, according to the FBI. Nearly 500,000 of those were in the six days before Christmas.

Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, Education, Historical Perspectives, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

Why salespeople make bad fundraisers

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Who is and is not the best one to head up the fundraising?

Company founders are the quintessential cheerleaders, promoting their vision and company every chance they get. But that doesn’t mean that they are necessarily the best at two core functions: selling and fundraising (and many are bad at both but excel at other functions, like technology).

While generating revenue and raising capital require a lot of the same traits, in my experience those who are good at one tend to be poor at the other…

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Great New Product, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

AGNES – the suit that makes you feel 75 years old

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AGNES, a suit to emulate old age.

I am sure you have heard of the fat suit and pregnancy suit.  Now meet AGNES – the old person suit.

AGNES stands for “Age Gain Now Empathy System” and was designed by researchers at MIT’s AgeLab to emulate what it feels like — physically — to be 75 years old with arthritis and diabetes.

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Analysis, Business, Economy

Foreign tourists could help the U.S. economy

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Non-resident visitors to the United States wait in line at immigration control at a U.S. airport.

Businesses salivate over the kind of foreign traveler Agustina Ocamp is.  He is a  22-year-old Argentine who recently dropped more than $5,000 on food, hotels and clothes in Las Vegas during a trip that also took her to Seattle’s Space Needle, Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo. But she doubts she will return soon.

Continue reading… “Foreign tourists could help the U.S. economy”

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