Did you Know!

 National Pie Day falls on January 23rd which was created by the American Pie Council, National Pie Day is dedicated to the celebration of pie. Pie has been around since the ancient Egyptians. The first pies were made by early Romans who may have learned about it through the Greeks.

What Your Workspace Says About You !

If you spend a lot of time at a desk, personalizing the space makes sense--whether it's a private corner office or a shared cubicle. But just as your clothes and body language make an impression on others, your workspace gives coworkers and clients a distinct impression about you. 

Plants, books, artwork--even your name plaque--transmit clues about your efficiency, your sociability, and your competence, experts say. "Everything in your office sends a message, whether you want it to or not," says Lisa Marie Luccioni, an adjunct professor of communication at the University of Cincinnati.

So what might they be thinking when they see your space?

You'd rather be fishing (or skiing, or skydiving, or building birdhouses). Evidence: Pictures and artifacts from your hobby on every surface.

There's a delicate balance between sharing your interests and giving the impression that you're daydreaming all day about jumping out of planes or skiing, according to Barbara Pachter, business etiquette expert and the author of "New Rules at Work": "Pictures of your hobby are good conversation starters, but if you have too many of them, it makes people wonder whether you're really daydreaming about fly-fishing."


They can hang around. Evidence: A full candy dish, aspirin in the drawer, well-tended plants, pictures of children and babies.

"Things like an open door, candy, a comfortable guest chair, and photos of people--but not pictures of objects--signal an extroverted workspace that people will feel free to linger in," says Sam Gosling, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas.

They shouldn't hang around. Evidence: Flimsy guest chair, guest chair covered in files, or no guest chair. Your desk faces away from guests. Minimal or no decoration.

"Even if your office has photos or artwork, but they're images of things and not people, [people] can make an assumption you're more introverted and might not want them to linger," Gosling says.

You demand respect. Evidence: Multiple degrees on the wall, awards on the shelf, pictures of you and important people, magazines featuring articles about you. The plaque on your desk says your full name and title, and lists your advanced degrees.

"Name plaques form a strong impression. If it says just your first name, people assume you're friendly and approachable. If it has a formal title, they think you want to be respected for your rank," Luccioni says.

You've just been hired, you've just been fired, or you'd like to leave soon. Or you'd rather be temping. Evidence: Files in boxes, no decorations, no books, no plants, no pictures, and no name plaque.

They should avoid doing business with you. Evidence: Messy piles of papers on every surface. Half-eaten donuts atop teetering stacks of binders. Carpet stains.

Experts agree that a messy office can seriously damage your reputation as a conscientious person. "It's hard to function in a messy office, and people assume your office chaos will spill over to their project and their files will be lost in your mess," Pachter says.

Gosling pointed to research that shows people read much more than they should into a messy office. "People think that someone with a messy office is less agreeable, which may not be accurate. My guess is, people assume a mess is inconsiderate."

You don't take the whole "work thing" too seriously. Evidence: Humorous posters, ironic bumper stickers, whimsical images, and toys.

Conscious Decorating

Experts have several suggestions on making sure your workspace matches the image you want to project.

Err on the conservative side. Especially if clients visit you or if you're in a high-traffic area, you want to make sure people don't stop in their tracks to gawk at your collection of teddy bears or tiki torches.

Be careful with controversial items. "Consider the cost:reward ratio of putting up something like a political campaign poster," Luccioni says. "You might find kindred spirits, or you might offend people and get a first meeting off to a bad start." All experts say anything potentially racist, sexist, or homophobic, or otherwise disparaging of a group, is a no-no.

Check your employee handbook, or ask HR. Your company probably has some guidelines on decorating your work space. They might not even permit any decoration, which makes the issue moot.

Follow industry norms. Some industries demand a strict image of seriousness, while others are more laid-back. A poster with a funny or counterculture slogan would be more appropriate in the office of an advertising copywriter than the office a defense attorney.


Consider the physical arrangement. "A desk can act as a barrier and give formality, which is good for reviews but can be intimidating," Luccioni says. She adds that a small circular table allows everyone to meet on an equal basis. A power difference, if you want that, can be achieved by giving guests smaller, flimsier chairs.

And if you tend to make snap judgments about others' offices, try to look at the bigger picture, Gosling recommends.

"Any one item can have many different purposes. If someone has a plant, maybe they have a green thumb, maybe they're into feng shui, or maybe the plant was left over from the last person in that office. If you see someone with a super neat desk, how do you know whether they're truly neat, or whether they swept everything into a drawer before you stopped by?"

Did you Know!

 The bagpipe was originally made from the whole skin of a dead sheep.

Broome tourist survives tussle with 5m saltwater crocodile .

A DRUNKEN Broome visitor is lucky to be alive after climbing onto the back of a 5m crocodile and trying to ride the giant predator. 

The man, who had earlier been turfed out of a Broome tavern for being drunk, told police he climbed into the croc's enclosure at a local crocodile park because he wanted to give him a pat.

``He made his way into the crocodile park and then climbed into the compound with a large, male 5m saltwater croc named Fatso,'' Sergeant Roger Haynes told AAP.

``He has attempted to sit on its back and the croc has taken offence to that and has spun around and bit him on the right leg.

``For an unknown reason, the crocodile has let him go and he's managed to scale the fence and exit the park.''
Crocodile park owner Malcolm Douglas said the man was incredibly lucky to survive his brush with the 800kg "Fatso'' who was relocated about 20 years ago from a Northern Territory river where it had been attacking boats.
Mr Douglas said the cooler night in Broome had probably made "Fatso'' a bit more sluggish than he would normally have been, contributing to the miracle escape from a near-certain fatal attack.

The man managed to clamber back over the perimeter fence and made his way back to the nearby tavern to get help after the attack, about 10.15pm on Monday.

Mr Douglas said it is believed the man is an itinerant drifter. Earlier Police said they thought he had been in the town for several weeks.

Sgt Haynes said the man was extremely lucky to be alive.

``No person in their right mind would try to sit on a 5m crocodile,'' he said.

``We do know he's from the eastern states and he doesn't seem to have a very good understanding of the nature of saltwater crocs in the Kimberley.''

He said the 36-year-old had some ``very nasty lacerations'' and would spend some time in hospital, as croc wounds are prone to infection.

``Saltwater crocodiles . . . once they get hold of you, are not renowned for letting you go. He's lucky to have escaped with his life.''

Human Brains "Evolve" Become Less Monkey-Like With Age

John Roach

for National Geographic News

Brain regions that grow the most outside the womb are the same areas that expanded the most during evolution from monkeys to humans, a new study says.

As the human brain matures, it expands in a "strikingly nonuniform" fashion, according to researchers who compared MRI scans of 12 infant brains with scans of 12 young adult brains.

The research revealed that brain regions involved in higher cognitive and executive processes—such as language and reasoning—grow about twice as much as regions associated with basic senses such vision and hearing, said study leader Jason Hill, a neurobiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

"The parts of the [brain] that have grown the most to make us uniquely humans are the same regions that tend to grow the most postnatally," Hill said.

Hill and colleagues also compared the new human-brain scans with brain scans of macaque monkeys.

The results suggest that the expansion patterns in infant brains are "remarkably similar" to how human brains have changed since humans and macaques diverged from a common ancestor about 25 million years ago.

Early Human Brain Primed for Survival?

Hill and colleagues suspect that development of the human brains' higher cognitive and executive regions may be delayed to allow them to be shaped by early life experiences.

The delay could help keep a fetus's brain from growing too big to fit through his or her mother's pelvis.
"It is evolutionarily advantageous to put those resources more into the maturation of regions that are better suited to early survival, such as being able to see and recognize your mother," Hill said.

Brain Research May Help Preemies 

The researchers hope that the new brain discovery can help uncover where and how the development of some premature babies goes awry.
"We know that 30 to 50 percent of preterm infants have some kind of lasting neurodevelopmental problem," Hill said, "and in a lot of cases we don't necessarily know why."

10 Most Exotic Fruits

Squared Watermelon

For years consumers have struggled to fit the large round fruit in their refrigerators. And then there was the problem of trying to cut the fruit when it kept rolling around. But 20 years ago a forward-thinking farmer on Japan's south-western island of Shikoku solved the problem. The farmer, from Zentsuji, in Kagawa prefecture, came up with the idea of making a cube-shaped watermelon which could easily be packed and stored. To make it happen, farmers grew the melons in glass boxes and the fruit then naturally assumed the same shape. Today the cuboid watermelons are hand-picked and shipped all over Japan. But the fruit, on sale in a selection of department stores and upmarket supermarkets, appeals mainly to the wealthy and fashion-conscious of Tokyo and Osaka, Japan's two major cities. Each melon sells for 10,000 yen, equivalent to about $83. It is almost double, or even triple than of a normal watermelon

Pomegranate

The pomegranate is native from Iran to the Himalayas in northern India and was cultivated and naturalized over the whole Mediterranean region since ancient times. The LA Times recently labelled pomegranate as ‘one of the most trendiest and versatile fruit on the market', and it could be good for you (another fruit sold for its ‘medical values'). Packed with antioxidants, pomegranate juice is now on the red carpet, and even the stars at the Oscars drink the dark red liquid.

Dragon fruit

A pitaya is the fruit of several cactus species, most importantly of the genus Hylocereus (sweet pitayas). These fruit are commonly known as dragon fruit. The fruit can weigh from 150 to 600 grams. To prepare a pitaya for consumption, the fruit is cut open to expose the flesh. The fruit's texture is sometimes likened to that of the kiwifruit due to the presence of black crunchy seeds. The flesh, which is eaten raw, is mildly sweet and low in calories; dragon fruit should not be used to accompany strong-tasting food – except to "clean the palate" between dishes. The seeds are eaten together with the flesh, but they are indigestible unless chewed. The fruit is also converted into juice or wine, or used to flavour other beverages. The flowers can be eaten or steeped as tea.

Kiwano

The horned melon (Cucumis metuliferus), also called African horned cucumber or kiwano, is an annual vine in the cucumber and melon family. Often known by its nickname in the southeastern United States - blowfish fruit - it is grown for its fruit, which looks like an oval melon with horn-like spines. The fruit of this plant is edible, but it is used as often for decoration as for food. When ripe, it has a yellow-orange skin and a lime green jelly-like flesh. The horned melon is native to Africa, and it is now grown in California, Chile, Australia and New Zealand as well.

Star fruit

The star fruit or carambola is a tropical fruit that is gaining popularity in the United States. This fruit acquired its name from the five pointed star shape when cut across the middle of the fruit. It has a waxy, golden yellow to green color skin with a complicated flavor combination that includes plums, pineapples, and lemons.

Rambutan

This is the strangest looking fruit ever. Rambutan in Malay, Indonesian, and Filipino literally means hairy, caused by the 'hair' that covers this fruit. On the outside it's magenta with green hairy legs all over it. From the outside you'd have no idea what to expect on the inside. Inside it's similar to a lychee fruit. It looks sort of clear and gummy. It's very watery and has a huge seed in the center. It tastes pretty decent, but it's the look of the ramputan that puts it in the top ten.

Ackee

Ackee is Jamaica's national fruit. The fruit was imported to Jamaica from West Africa (probably on a slave ship) before 1778. Since then it has become a major feature of various Caribbean cuisines, and is also cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas elsewhere around the world. The fruit of the ackee is not edible in its entirety. Only the inner, fleshy yellow arils are consumed. It is extremely poisonous in the very center if you eat the red bits.

Mangosteen

Called ‘mangkut', these are the ‘queen of Thai fruits' with their elegant, segmented white–flesh inside a thick large purple peel. They grow in the South and the season lasts just a few months of the year, mainly from May to September. If you are here in Thailand at that time be sure to enjoy this delicious and luxurious sweet fruit.

Buddha's Hand

Ever heard of a Fingered Citron? How about a Buddha's Hand? It's a weird -looking citrus that has green or rich yellow tapering fingers or segments attached to a base – the appearance is not unlike a curled, arthritic hand, only there are usually many more than 5 fingers! But what on earth do you do with a Buddha's Hand? Do you eat it? Well, yes, and no. Its thick, lemony rind and pith (the white part) is often candied into a delicious citrus delicacy, infused with spirits or made into liqueurs. However, the small amount of inside flesh is quite sour and rarely used in food. The Buddha's Hand and other members of the Citron family are also prized for their aromatic citrus oils and used in perfumes and sometimes kept in homes as a natural air deodorizer.

Urucu

You can count on finding the Urucu plant (Bixa orellana) around every rural household in the Amazon. Achiote (Bixa orellana) is a shrub or small tree from the tropical region of the Americas. It is cultivated there and in Southeast Asia, where it was introduced by the Spanish in the 17th century. It is best known as the source of the natural pigment annatto, produced from the fruit. Originally from Africa is considered a melon. It tastes sweeter than the traditional red watermelon.

Two New "Walking" Batfish Species Found

New bottom-dwellers live in path of Gulf oil spill.

Two new species of bottom-dwelling "walking" fish have been found in the Gulf of Mexico—right in the path of the Gulf oil spill, experts say.

Small enough to fit in a person's palm, members of the two species of pancake batfish might already be threatened by the ongoing Deepwater Horizon spill and the oil-dispersing chemicals being used in its cleanup, experts say.

The new fish are so named because they are flat and can use their stout, arm-like fins to shamble along the seafloor with a stilted gait, reminiscent of a walking bat.

Once thought to be part of a known, widespread species, the batfish are actually three separate species, according to a recent physical reexamination of museum specimens. The species discoveries—to be described in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Fish Biology—were made before the Gulf oil spill began on April 20.
One of the new species, H. intermedius, is found only in the Gulf of Mexico (see map), including parts—such as coastal Louisiana—that are already heavily affected by the oil spill.

The other new batfish, H. bispinosus, lives along the northeastern Gulf coast, as well as along the eastern coasts of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Oil has begun to dirty the western coast of Florida in recent weeks. 

"If we are still finding new species of fishes in the Gulf, imagine how much diversity ... is out there that we do not know about," study co-author John Sparks, a fish biologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, said in a statement.

Toxic Oil Poses Many Threats to Batfish 

There are several ways the oil could harm the newfound fish.

For one, floating slicks of oil may be killing the pancake batfishes' plankton food supply.

Adult pancake batfish on the seafloor could be immediately harmed by oil gushing from the broken wellhead.
And the toxic crude may also kill off the fishes' eggs and larvae, which travel on the ocean's surface, said study co-author Prosanta Chakrabarty, a fish biologist at Louisiana State University.

What's more, chemical dispersants used to break up the oil into smaller droplets for easier digestion by microbes may be toxic to the fish, he said.

As a drastic measure to contain the disaster, cleanup crews have been applying dispersants underwater directly at the source of spill. However, it's unknown how—or even if—dispersants applied at depths biodegrade in the same way that they do at the surface.

Dispersed Oil's Impact on Fish Unknown

It's also unclear whether the right kinds of microbes exist in deep ocean to digest the oil once it's broken up by dispersants, Chakrabarty pointed out.

"How the oil breaks down and how it's affecting the fish is totally unknown. This shouldn't have been done without a study beforehand," he added.


"I'm afraid that next year when there's no oil on the surface, people will forget about it.

"People are going to say everything's fine in the Gulf," he said, "when in fact terrible things are still going on below the surface."

First implantable telescope for vision

WASHINGTON – U.S. health officials have approved a first-of-its-kind technology to counter a leading cause of blindness in older adults — a tiny telescope implanted inside the eye.

The Implantable Miniature Telescope aims to help in the end stages of incurable age-related macular degeneration, a creeping loss of central vision that blocks reading, watching TV, eventually even recognizing faces.

The idea: Surgically insert the Implantable Miniature Telescope into one eye for better central vision, while leaving the other eye alone to provide peripheral vision. The brain must fuse two views into a single image, and the Food and Drug Administration warned Tuesday that patients need post-surgery rehabilitation to make it work.

There's little to help such advanced patients today aside from difficult-to-use handheld or glasses-mounted telescopes, while the new implanted telescope — smaller than a pea — can improve quality of life for the right candidate, said Dr. Malvina Eydelman, FDA's ophthalmic devices chief.

But it's only for a subset of the nearly 2 million Americans with advanced macular degeneration, Eydelman warned: Those 75 and older, with a certain degree of vision loss, who also need a cataract removed. In fact, the FDA took the highly unusual step of requiring that patients and their surgeons sign a detailed "acceptance of risk agreement" before surgery, acknowledging potential side effects — including corneal damage and worsened vision — and the need for lots of testing to determine who's a candidate.

"We're not giving people back 20-year-old eyes," cautioned ophthalmic surgeon Dr. Kathryn Colby of Harvard and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. She helped lead manufacturer VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies' study of the implant.
But by magnifying images onto more of the retina than its diseased center, someone who before couldn't see an entire face might now miss only the nose, Colby said.

In a 219-patient study, the FDA said 90 percent of telescope recipients had their vision improve by at least two lines on an eye chart, and three-quarters went from severe to moderate vision impairment.

Concern about damage to the inside lining of the cornea, the eye's clear front covering that helps focus light, held up FDA approval for several years. In that study, 10 eyes had serious corneal swelling, five that required corneal transplants. FDA's Eydelman said the company proposed candidate restrictions to minimize that risk, and will study how an additional 770 recipients fare after sales begin.

VisionCare, of Saratoga, Calif., is seeking Medicare coverage for the surgery and rehab costs, a package that it calls CentraSight. The company wouldn't estimate total costs but said the device itself costs $15,000.

Did you Know!

Ladybugs make a chemical that smells and tastes terrible so that birds and other predators won't eat them.

16 Unusual Facts About the Human Body

 People will often say they know something "like the back of their hand" to indicate that they're familiar with it top to bottom. But how much do you actually know about your own body? We've got 16 tidbits that may surprise you.

1: Tongue Print

Don't stick out your tongue if you want to hide your identity. Similar to fingerprints, everyone also has a unique tongue print!

2: Shedding

Your pet isn't the only one in the house with a shedding problem. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. That works out to about 1.5 pounds each year, so the average person will lose around 105 pounds of skin by age 70.

3: Bone Count

An adult has fewer bones than a baby. We start off life with 350 bones, but because bones fuse together during growth, we end up with only 206 as adults.

4: New Stomach

Did you know that you get a new stomach lining every three to four days? If you didn't, the strong acids your stomach uses to digest food would also digest your stomach.

 

5: Scent Remembering

Your nose is not as sensitive as a dog's, but it can remember 50,000 different scent

6: Long Intestines

The small intestine is about four times as long as the average adult is tall. If it weren't looped back and forth upon itself, its length of 18 to 23 feet wouldn't fit into the abdominal cavity, making things rather messy.

7: Bacteria

 

This will really make your skin crawl: Every square inch of skin on the human body has about 32 million bacteria on it, but fortunately, the vast majority of them are harmless

8: Source of Body Odor

The source of smelly feet, like smelly armpits, is sweat. And people sweat buckets from their feet. A pair of feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day.

9: Sneeze Speed

The air from a human sneeze can travel at speeds of 100 miles per hour or more -- another good reason to cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze -- or duck when you hear one coming your way.

 

10: Blood Distance

Blood has a long road to travel: Laid end to end, there are about 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body. And the hard-working heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood through those vessels every day.

11: Saliva Quantity

 

You may not want to swim in your spit, but if you saved it all up, you could. In a lifetime, the average person produces about 25,000 quarts of saliva -- enough to fill two swimming pools!

12: Snore Loudness

By 60 years of age, 60-percent of men and 40-percent of women will snore. But the sound of a snore can seem deafening. While snores average around 60 decibels, the noise level of normal speech, they can reach more than 80 decibels. Eighty decibels is as loud as the sound of a pneumatic drill breaking up concrete. Noise levels over 85 decibels are considered hazardous to the human ear.

13: Hair Color and Count

Blondes may or may not have more fun, but they definitely have more hair. Hair color helps determine how dense the hair on your head is, and blondes (only natural ones, of course), top the list. The average human head has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person's lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles. People with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles, while those with brown hair are right on target with 100,000 follicles. Redheads have the least dense hair, averaging about 86,000 follicles.

14: Nail Growth

If you're clipping your fingernails more often than your toenails, that's only natural. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. Fingernails grow fastest on the hand that you write with and on the longest fingers. On average, nails grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.

15: Head Weight

No wonder babies have such a hard time holding up their heads: The human head is one-quarter of our total length at birth but only one-eighth of our total length by the time we reach adulthood.

16: Need for Sleep

If you say that you're dying to get a good night's sleep, you could mean that literally. You can go without eating for weeks without succumbing, but eleven days is tops for going without sleep. After eleven days, you'll be asleep -- forever!

Earth is much younger than previously though

The Earth could be younger and took more than three times longer to form than has been previously thought, according to a new study.

Researchers have calculated that the planet could have taken far longer to form following the birth of the solar system 4.567 billion years ago than scientists have previously believed.

By comparing chemical isotopes from the Earth's mantle with those from meteorites, geologists at the University of Cambridge claim the planet reached its current size around 4.467 billion years ago.

Scientists have in the past estimated that the Earth's development, a process known as accretion where gas, dust and other material clumped together to form the planet, happened over just 30 million years.

But the new research suggests this process may have taken up to 100 million years – more than three times longer than previous estimates.

Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, however, the researchers claim that while the Earth probably grew to 60% of its current size relatively quickly, the process may well have then slowed, taking about 100 million years in all.

“The whole issue hinges on working out how long it took for the core of the Earth to form, which is one of the big unknowns in this area of science,” said Dr John Rudge, one of the authors at the University of Cambridge.

“One of the problems has been that scientists usually presume Earth's accretion happened at an exponentially decreasing rate.

"We believe that the process may not have been that simple and that it could well have been a much more staggered, stop-start affair.”

The accretion of the Earth involved a series of collisions between large pieces of debris, known as planetary embryos.

The huge levels of heat created by these impacts caused the interior of the growing planet to melt, creating the molten metal core at the centre of the Earth and the mantle above it.

Many scientists believe that the final part of the process happened when a body roughly the size of Mars collided with the Earth and caused part of the planet to break off, forming the Moon.

The research team used measurements of the levels of chemical isotopes created during the accretion of the Earth, providing a form of geological clock.

The Earth's isotope levels were then compared with samples taken from meteorites that have hit our planet in modern history.

These meteorites are a kind of time capsule that have isotope levels similar to those present in the original material that clumped together when the solar system formed.

Differences in the isotopic values of Earth tungsten and that taken from the meteorites was able to provide the researchers with information about how long accretion took.

Dr Rudge and his colleagues used computer models to calculate how the Earth could have formed to match the levels of isotope decay found in the planet's mantle.

They showed that the Earth almost certainly could not have formed within 30 million years but instead grew very quickly, reaching two-thirds of its size within about 10 to 40 million years.

The accretion process then slowed and took up to another 70 million years to complete.

“If correct, that would mean the Earth was about 100 million years in the making altogether,” said Dr Rudge said.

“We estimate that makes it about 4.467 billion years old – a mere youngster compared with the 4.537 billion-year-old planet we had previously imagined.”

'Romantic Love Is an Addiction,' Researchers Say

Those who pine over a lost love might have a biological reason for their prolonged yearning. New brain research suggests getting over romantic rejection might be akin to kicking an addiction.

The study is one of the first to examine the brains of the recently broken-hearted who have trouble letting go of their relationship.

The researchers found that, for heartbroken men and women, looking at photographs of former partners activated regions in the brain associated with rewards, addiction cravings, control of emotions, feelings of attachment and physical pain and distress.

The results provide insight into why it might be hard for some people to get over a break up, and why, in some cases, people are driven to commit extreme behaviors, such as stalking and homicide, after losing love.

"Romantic love is an addiction," said study author Helen E. Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University who studies love. "It’s a very powerfully wonderful addiction when things are going well and a perfectly horrible addiction when things are going poorly," she said.

The researchers speculate the brain's response to romantic rejection may have an evolutionary basis.

"I think the brain circuitry for romantic love evolved millions of years ago, to enable our ancestors to focus their mating energy on just one person at a time and start that mating process," Fisher said. "And when you've been rejected in love, you have lost life's greatest prize, which is a mating partner."

"This brain system becomes activated probably to help you try to win this person back so you focus on them and crave them and try to get them back," she said.

Brains of the heart-broken

Fisher and her colleagues scanned the brains of 15 college-aged volunteers (10 women and 5 men) who had all recently experienced a break up, but were still in love with the person who had rejected them. The average length of the relationship was about 2 years, and about 2 months had passed, on average, since the relationship ended.

All participants scored high on the Passionate Love Scale, a questionnaire psychologists use to measure the intensity of romantic feelings. Participants also said they spent more than 85 percent of their waking hours thinking about their rejecter.

In the experiment, the subjects viewed a photograph of their former partner and were asked to think about events that occurred with him or her. The subjects also looked at a neutral image of a familiar person, such as a classmate or friend of a friend. To try and suppress the romantic feelings conjured up from the first half of the experiment, the researchers had participants compete a math exercise in between viewing the rejecter photograph and the neutral photograph.

Among the findings 

Viewing their former loved one stimulated a region of the brain called the ventral tegmental area, involved in motivation and reward. Previous work has found this region is also active in people who are madly in love. This makes sense, because "Whether you're happily in love or whether you're unhappily in love, you're still in love," Fisher said.

Brain regions known as the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal/prefrontal cortex were also activated. These regions are known to be associated with intense cocaine addiction and cigarette addiction.
There was also increased activity in the brain's insular cortex and the anterior cingulated, regions associated with physical pain and distress.

Some good news

The researchers did find some good news for romantically rejected: time seems to heal. The more time that had passed since the breakup, the less activity there was in a brain region associated with attachment.

Brain areas involved in emotion regulation, decision making and evaluation were also active when participants viewed their rejecter. This suggests participants were learning from their past romantic experience, evaluating their gains and losses and figuring out how to deal with the situation, Fisher said.

These findings suggest that talking about their experience, rather than simply moping in grief, may have therapeutic benefits for the lovelorn.

"It seems to be healthy for the brain, to instead of just wallowing in despair, to think about the situation more actively and try to work out how you're going to handle it." Fisher said.

The results were published in the July issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology.

'Male menopause' idea questioned

The "male menopause" is a myth, according to a review.

Some doctors have linked a fall in testosterone levels as men get older to symptoms such as depression and low sex drive.

But an editorial in Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin says many men reporting symptoms have normal hormone levels.

They warn against giving synthetic testosterone as it can increase the risk of prostate cancer.

Doctors are divided on the idea that men go through a well-defined "menopause".
Some doctors advocate the use of synthetic testosterone to relieve some of the symptoms associated with so-called male menopause such as weakness, depression and sexual problems.

But the journal says that unlike the menopause in women, where levels of the female hormone fall dramatically, testosterone levels fall by only 1 to 2% a year from the age of 40 onwards in men.
Around 80% of 60-year-olds and half of those in their 80s still have levels within the normal range.


The editorial concludes: "There is no place for testosterone therapy in older men without symptoms, or without clearly low testosterone concentrations on more than one occasion."
Risks vs benefits

Commenting on the report, Dr Ian Banks, a GP and president of the Men's Health Forum, said: "What the paper says is that the doctor must assess the risks versus the benefits of giving testosterone."
He said men seeking a "quick fix" for symptoms such as tiredness and lack of sex drive should consider lifestyle changes first.

"We've got to get the message over to resist the temptation of the quick fix and look at things such as lifestyle that you can do something about," he added.

Did you Know!

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite

Amazon river dolphins being slaughtered for bait

RIO DE JANEIRO – The bright pink color gives them a striking appearance in the muddy jungle waters. That Amazon river dolphins are also gentle and curious makes them easy targets for nets and harpoons as they swim fearlessly up to fishing boats.

Now, their carcasses are showing up in record numbers on riverbanks, their flesh torn away for fishing bait, causing researchers to warn of a growing threat to a species that has already disappeared in other parts of the world.
"The population of the river dolphins will collapse if these fishermen are not stopped from killing them," said Vera da Silva, the top aquatic mammals expert at the government's Institute of Amazonian Research. "We've been studying an area of 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) for 17 years, and of late the population is dropping 7 percent each year."
That translates to about 1,500 dolphins killed annually in the part of the Mamiraua Reserve of the western Amazon where da Silva studies the mammals.

Da Silva said researchers first began finding dolphin carcasses along riverbanks around the year 2000. They were obviously killed by human hands: sliced open and quartered, with their flesh cut away.

The killings are becoming more common, researchers and environmental agents say. Even the government acknowledges that there is a problem. It's already illegal to kill the dolphins without government permission — as with all wild animals in the Amazon. But little is being done to stop it.

Less than five agents are tasked with protecting wildlife in a jungle region covering the western two-thirds of Amazonas state, which is more than twice the size of Texas, according to the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), the enforcement arm of the Environment Ministry.
"It's a matter of priority, and right now the government is focusing on deforestation," said Ibama's Andrey Silva. "The killings of these dolphins exists — it's a fact."
The dolphins are attractive to anglers for their fatty flesh that is a highly effective bait for catching a type of catfish called piracatinga.
Consumption in neighboring Colombia is driving the slaughter. Some 884 tons of the fish came from Brazil in 2007, according to the Colombian Institute for Rural Development. That jumped to 1,430 tons in 2008 and spiked to 2,153 tons in 2009.
Simple economics exacerbates the problem: Killing dolphins is free, and their meat is valuable. Using the flesh from one carcass, fishermen can catch up to 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of piracatinga. According to da Silva and other researchers, they can sell the catfish for 50 cents per kilogram, translating into $550 for just a few nights' work — about double Brazil's monthly minimum wage.

"It's attracting a lot of poor people to this region to kill the dolphins and make easy money," said Antonio Miguel Migueis, a dolphin researcher with the Federal University of Western Para since 2005.

So far it's impossible to quantify the exact impact fisherman are having on the river dolphins — little research has been done to study the killings or even the overall population of the dolphins in the Amazon.
But activists warn that waiting for exhaustive studies could mean the dolphin population would be irreversibly devastated by the time the work is complete.

"This is most definitely a threat to the future of this river dolphin species," said Alison Wood, with the England-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. "This is a relatively new threat, but clearly an extremely serious one."
Migueis said he warned Ibama and other authorities numerous times about the dolphin slaughter, but his reports fell on deaf ears.
Growing up to 8 feet (2.5 meters) long and weighing as much as 400 pounds (180 kilograms), Amazon river dolphins are the largest of four species known to exist in South America and Asia.

Their genetic siblings have already died off elsewhere: The Yangzte river dolphin in China was declared functionally extinct in 2006, the victim of pollution, overfishing and increased boat traffic.

Meanwhile, the International Union of Conservation of Nature lists the Ganges river dolphin in India as endangered, and the Irrawaddy river dolphin in Bangladesh as vulnerable.

Scientists believe river dolphins likely arrived in the Amazon during the Middle Miocene era 16 million years ago, when ocean levels were high around the world, and the sea inundated what is now lush rain forest.

For centuries they have been revered by locals and protected by myth. According to one tale, the dolphins transform into handsome men and leave the water at night, seducing and impregnating local women before returning to the river. Many simply consider it bad luck to kill them, given their supposed magical attributes.
But today, the quick payoff is trumping legend and superstition.

"Killing the dolphins is a fast and easy way for the fisherman to make money. It costs nothing but time," Vera da Silva said. "It's ugly because these dolphins have a folkloric value in the Amazon, and all that is disappearing for the sake of using them as bait."

Quotations!!!!!!!!!!

On Courage

Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death". 

- Bradley, Omar

Did you Know!

When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red.h

9 Surprising Allergy Triggers

The cause of your sneezing, itchy nose, watery eyes, headache and a host of other symptoms may be more surprising than you think. You already know the usual suspects: pet dander, mold, pollen and dust. But could something else be causing your allergy symptoms? Our experts say yes indeed. Check out our list of allergens and allergy triggers you may have never before considered.

1. Chocolate

For some people, eating chocolate can be as uncomfortable as standing in a field of pollen during the peak of spring. Your favorite chocolate bar can bring on classic allergy symptoms, says Steven Y. Park, MD, an otolaryngologist in private practice in New York and the author of Sleep, Interrupted: A Physician Reveals the #1 Reason Why So Many of Us Are Sick and Tired. “Chocolate can irritate your nose's nervous system,” he says. “Think of it as being like a migraine, where nerve endings in your nose become overly reactive.” Incidentally, he adds, chocolate, along with red wine, MSG and aged cheeses, is a known migraine trigger.

2. Cloudy Weather

A lot of people complain about feeling a little down when the sun is hiding, but could clouds and rain actually bring on allergies? Certified food allergy safety educator Aleasa Word in Newark, Delaware, says yes. “When the weather changes and it gets cold, my 9-year-old son breaks out in hives and eczema on his hands and legs,” she says. “We have to make sure he has several layers on to reduce the effect, and he takes an antihistamine medication each day before going out in the cold weather.” Weather fluctuations such as temperature, air pressure and humidity changes can absolutely bring on allergy symptoms, adds Ronald Stram, MD, founder of the Center for Integrative Health and Healing in Delmar, New York. “This is also a common reason for sinus pain, pressure and headaches, which are often treated as if you had a sinus infection.”

3. Stress

Have you ever been so stressed out that you started sneezing? It happens, says Elizabeth Lombardo, PhD, MS, PT, a psychologist in private practice in Wexford, Pennsylvania. “Stress induces a physiological reaction of certain chemicals including histamines, which lead to allergy symptoms. And although stress doesn't actually cause allergies per se, research shows it can make allergy symptoms much worse: immediately and even the next day.”

4. Sex

Allergic to sex? Maybe. According to experts, as many as 40,000 women in the United States suffer from what is known as seminal plasma hypersensitivity, an allergy to semen that can cause hives, itching, swelling and breathing difficulties. In severe cases, it can even cause death. “This occurs when the body's immune system overreacts when it encounters semen,” says Dr. Stram. “The white blood cells mistakenly identify proteins in the semen as harmful invaders, such as bacteria or viruses, and launch an attack against them.” What to do if you suspect a sperm allergy? Use condoms, of course, but also speak to a doctor immediately to rule out other sexually transmitted infections.



5. Cell Phones

We spend so much time with our cell phones that it’s no wonder doctors are reporting an uptick in so-called cell phone “allergies.” Some people may be surprised to find out that the rash on their cheek is from an allergy to nickel, which some phones are coated in. For others, it may just be a case of garden-variety contact dermatitis. This inflammation of the skin, explains Dr. Stram, is generally benign, but can cause red, itchy bumps. While the situation can most easily be traced to a dirty phone (remember to gently wipe yours with a disinfecting wipe every few days), the cause could also be diet related. “There is evidence that skin sensitivity may be a result of deficiencies in nutrients such as essential fatty acids, zinc, vitamin D and probiotics.”

6. Wine

Love pinot noir, chardonnay or merlot? For some, even just a little sip can bring on red, blotchy skin and flu-like symptoms. But can one really be allergic to wine? Yes, says Dr. Stram. “This can be [the result of] several different allergies or sensitivities,” he explains. “People who are allergic to wine can be allergic to yeast, sulfites, phenols or to the grapes themselves. The white blood cells mistakenly identify proteins in the wine as harmful invaders, such as bacteria or viruses, and launch an attack against it.” But if you’re a new wine drinker, don’t expect your body to react immediately—wine allergies can take time to develop. “Typically, an allergic response is not triggered the first time the body encounters the protein, or allergen,” he says. “The first time or several times after the body is exposed to the allergen, the immune system becomes sensitized.”

7. Perfumes and Colognes

Does a certain coworker’s cologne make your eyes burn? Do you sneeze every time you pass by his desk? If so, you may have scent sensitivities. According to some estimates, as many as a quarter of the U.S. population suffers from allergic rhinitis. Symptoms can include watery eyes, sneezing, runny nose and even difficulty breathing. “This is due to an extra-sensitive nervous system in your nose that overreacts to certain stimulants,” says Dr. Park. Perfumes have become such an issue that some workplaces have banned them entirely. For instance, after an employee said that her colleague’s perfume made it “challenging” to do her job, the city of Detroit made a new rule: no scented body products, aftershave, perfumes or colognes allowed.

8. Houseplants

They supposedly purify the air in our homes, but that neglected houseplant in the corner of your living room may also bring on a bad case of hay fever, say experts. According to researchers in Belgium, exposure to certain plants can cause sneezing and a runny nose. If you’re sneezing more than usual this season, consider setting your houseplants outside for a day or two to see if your allergies improve. The worst-offending plants? Palms, orchids, ficus and ferns are known to be the biggest allergy inducers.


9. The Sun

Cloudy weather isn’t the only allergy culprit, according to experts. For some people, the sun can bring on painful rashes and hive-like bumps. It’s a condition commonly called a “sun allergy,” but its true name is photosensitivity. “This occurs when the body’s immune system overreacts to sunlight exposure,” says Dr. Stram. “The sun causes a reaction in the skin which changes the protein component of the skin, producing an inflammatory cell reaction which releases histamine. Chemicals in lotions, perfumes or oral medications (like antibiotics or diuretics) may also prompt the allergic reaction.” If you suspect you have a sun allergy, talk to your doctor, who may recommend changing your medications or trying something called “phototherapy” treatment, which can help your skin build up a tolerance to the sun’s rays.