Dentists could soon hang up their drills. A new peptide, embedded in a soft gel and placed next to a cavity, encourages cells inside teeth to regenerate in about a month. The new research could make a trip to the dentist’s office more pleasant, said Berkirane-Jessel. Instead of a drill, a quick dab of gel or a thin film against an infected tooth could heal teeth from within.
(READ more of the Discovery News story at MSNBC)
Rapper 50 Cent has a message for kids: Get off your butts.
The platinum-selling superstar hosted a day of games and healthy snacks at a Queens park Saturday to encourage kids from his old ‘hood to put down the video games and get some exercise.
Concerned citizens are helping out dwindling bee colonies by installing hives in their backyards or on rooftops.
It only costs a couple hundred dollars to become an urban beekeeper and requires about a half hour of time each week.
WATCH the video below, or at CNN.com…
Cuba has promised the Roman Catholic Church it will free 52 political prisoners, slashing the number held by nearly a third in what would be the communist-led island’s largest release of dissidents since Pope John Paul II visited in 1998.
“This opens a new era in Cuba with hope of putting aside differences once and for all on matters of prisoners,” the Spanish Embassy declared in a statement.
(READ more of the AP story at CBS News)
Few places are more deserving of their name than Death Valley at the height of summer.
Incredibly, it is into this furnace of sand and peril that a 75-year-old grandfather from England will run next week in an effort to raise money for Cerebral Palsy Care in Kent.
He already holds the record as the oldest man to compete in the world’s toughest foot race, securing it as a sprightly 70-year-old back in 2005.
Jack Denness — also known as Death Valley Jack after completing the race no less that 14 times — will run 135 stamina-sapping miles in just 3 days, with little sleep, for the last time.
He credits his fitness to his slim frame and taking cod liver oil since he was a boy. As for relaxing once the race is over, Denness says he’ll crack open a few beers… After that he will get ready for a run through the Sahara.
Jack wants our help to get 5,000 fans on Facebook to win 3000 for Cerebral Palsy Care. All Facebook users should click now and become a fan.
Check back for future Updates on GNN…
(WATCH the video below, and READ more in the Independent)
Few places are more deserving of their name than Death Valley at the height of summer.
Incredibly, it is into this furnace of sand and peril that a 75-year-old grandfather from England will run next week in an effort to raise money for Cerebral Palsy Care in Kent.
He already holds the record as the oldest man to compete in the world’s toughest foot race, securing it as a sprightly 70-year-old back in 2005.
Jack Denness — also known as Death Valley Jack after completing the race no less that 14 times — will run 135 stamina-sapping miles in just 3 days, with little sleep, for the last time.
He credits his fitness to his slim frame and taking cod liver oil since he was a boy. As for relaxing once the race is over, Denness says he’ll crack open a few beers… After that he will get ready for a run through the Sahara.
President Obama announced today that the Department of Veterans Affairs will begin on Monday to make it easier for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to receive the benefits they need.
Until now, veterans with PTSD have been stymied from receiving benefits by tedious regulations requiring them to produce evidence that a specific event caused the disorder.
Streamlining the process will help not just the veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, but VietNam veterans too.
President Obama announced today that the Department of Veterans Affairs will begin on Monday to make it easier for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to receive the benefits they need.
Until now, veterans with PTSD have been stymied from receiving benefits by tedious regulations requiring them to produce evidence that a specific event caused the disorder.
Streamlining the process will help not just the veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, but VietNam veterans too.
Researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have tested pollution-eating concrete on about 1,000 square meters of roads in the town of Hengelo.
We already knew it worked in the lab, but this was a real-world test and the results are pretty impressive: a 25 to 45% reduction in oxides of nitrogen (NOx) over the special roads.
This could mean that someday our roads and other concrete structures could be used to clean up the air. How does it work?
READ the story in Treehugger…
The College of William and Mary is turning fish-killing algae into biodiesel fuel for cars and other gas-guzzling machines.
The project is too small scale to solve the nation’s energy woes, but it will help scientists learn a more cost-effective way to convert algae to biodiesel — and a pollution-marred lake on the edge of campus will get a much needed cleaning, as well.
(WATCH the video below, and READ the longer report at the Daily Press)
Celebrating his birthday with raucous applause at New York’s Hard Rock Café on Wednesday, the oldest Beatle proved he’s still young at heart, asking everyone around the world to flash a peace sign at noon in honor of his 70th.
WATCH the video below (NOTE: music removed by NBC), or see it on MSNBC…
UPDATE: Also, read this tribute at Zeitgeist Report
An aerospace firm is working to turn rocket nozzle technology into a novel method for pulling carbon dioxide from the smokestacks of coal-burning power plants.
The idea is to use aerodynamic force, rather than chemicals, to separate out carbon dioxide from a power plant’s air before it is released into the atmosphere, a technique that should be 50 percent cheaper than currently available systems.
(READ more in Discovery.com)
U.S. stocks rose, with the S&P 500 capping its first three-day rally since April, as a drop in jobless claims and higher-than-forecast sales at some retailers bolstered confidence in the economy.
Initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 21,000, more than double what some economists had forecast.
“There’s evidence that the global economy continues to recover. In the U.S., some retailers are doing well. Valuations are reasonable. The stock market may have found a short-term bottom,” one investor told the San Francisco Chronicle.
(READ more in the SF Chronicle)
Germany’s car industry, the backbone of Europe’s largest economy, is booming again.
Fueled by the huge appetite for German luxury cars in China and the fact that the plunging euro has made European products cheaper abroad, manufacturers say they are shaking off the last of the economic downturn, adding extra shifts and hiring more workers to meet increasing demand.
(READ more of the AP story on SF Gate)
Solar power is inching closer to the mainstream, with a 40% increase last year in U.S. households installing the renewable power source.
The costs have sharply decreased in the past few years and the return on investment is attractive for some — while the investment builds home value similar to installing a new kitchen.
In states with high electricity rates, like California, the system could pay for itself in six or seven years. Tack on incentives for switching to renewable energy, like the 30% rebate on installation costs in Illinois, and it could be as fast at two or three years, according to Housing Watch.
There are also federal tax credits for up to 30 percent of costs.
For one man in Illinois who invested $20,000 in a solar system a few years ago, the return on his investment is about 3 or 4 percent a year.
The Chicago Tribune reports: “His gas use has dropped more than 50 percent, and his electricity use has dropped about 70 percent. He sells extra power back to the electricity grid and sells renewable energy credits, which investors buy and trade to support renewable energy projects.”
An independent commission in Britain cleared climate-change researchers of charges of academic misconduct Wednesday, completing an inquiry begun after hundreds of e-mails from the scientists were released to the public.
The commission, chaired by a Scottish university administrator, was the latest to find no evidence that researchers embroiled in the “Climate-gate” scandal had violated academic standards. After examining e-mails and research from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, the commission said, “we find that their rigor and honesty as scientists are not in doubt.”
The university also investigated and found “no evidence of any deliberate scientific malpractice” in the e-mails.
(READ more in Washington Post, or more in the Scotland Herald)
Gulf Coast rescuers are hatching a daring plan to save as many as 70,000 sea turtle eggs from the fouled water along Florida’s Panhandle.
Each year, thousands of newly hatched sea turtles instinctively scramble toward the water from their nests in sandy beaches. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is determined that this year’s hatchlings won’t be among the Gulf casualties.
In a couple of weeks, biologists plan to relocate all the nests from the Gulf Coast to Florida’s eastern coast, digging up an estimated 700 to 800 nests, containing up to 70,000 eggs, placing them in foam containers and shipping them overland — in FedEx trucks — to Florida’s far side.
They’ll be allowed to complete their incubation, and hopefully the turtles will emerge, to be released into the ocean.
(READ or LISTEN to the story from NPR’s Weekend Edition)
Gulf Coast rescuers are hatching a daring plan to save as many as 70,000 sea turtle eggs from the fouled water along Florida’s Panhandle.
Each year, thousands of newly hatched sea turtles instinctively scramble toward the water from their nests in sandy beaches. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is determined that this year’s hatchlings won’t be among the Gulf casualties.
In a couple of weeks, biologists plan to relocate all the nests from the Gulf Coast to Florida’s eastern coast, digging up an estimated 700 to 800 nests, containing up to 70,000 eggs, placing them in foam containers and shipping them overland — in FedEx trucks — to Florida’s far side.
They’ll be allowed to complete their incubation, and hopefully the turtles will emerge, to be released into the ocean.
(READ or LISTEN to the story from NPR’s Weekend Edition)
Polar bears, walruses, sea otters, and other endangered species are all set to benefit from a Russian decision to boost its national protected areas to nearly 3 percent of its territory by 2020, an addition of land nearly equal to the size of Switzerland.
The Russian government’s decision establishes 9 new nature reserves and 13 national parks covering a total area of nearly 15,000 square miles (3.8 million hectare) by 2020. Russia is also introducing marine buffer zones over an area of nearly 4,000 square miles (1 million ha).
Polar bears, walruses, sea otters, and other endangered species are all set to benefit from a Russian decision to boost its national protected areas to nearly 3 percent of its territory by 2020, an addition of land nearly equal to the size of Switzerland.
The Russian government’s decision establishes 9 new nature reserves and 13 national parks covering a total area of nearly 15,000 square miles (3.8 million hectare) by 2020. Russia is also introducing marine buffer zones over an area of nearly 4,000 square miles (1 million ha).
