A colorful, fruit-eating bird with a black mask, pale belly, and scarlet breast- never before described by science- has been discovered and named a Sira Barbet by Cornell Univ. graduates following an expedition to the remote Peruvian Andes.
The team discovered the barbet on a ridge of montane cloud forest in the Cerros del Sira range in the eastern Andes. Steep ridges and deep river gorges in the Andes produce many isolated habitats and microclimates that give rise to uniquely evolved species.
Against the drumbeat of bad news on obesity among American children, researchers have uncovered a cause for optimism: a steady and significant improvement in their cholesterol levels over the last 20 years — down 28% since 1988.
Manufacturers cutting the trans fats from cookies, crackers and french fries may have contributed to the dramatic decline, but exercise rates may also have improved.
No one will be able to buy tickets to this year’s hottest concert featuring the Black Keys, Foo Fighters, and Neil Young with Crazy Horse in NYC’s Central Park. But you can earn points that will enter you in a lottery for the show’s 54,000 tickets by doing small actions that serve in the fight against global poverty.
By sharing the website with friends, signing a petition, or donating money, music fans can support a good cause and possibly win tickets to the September 29 show.
After a family dinner at a local Outback Steakhouse, Yoni Kalin noticed the waiters tossing into the trash small packs of crayons given out to young diners. He wondered how many thousands were being thrown out around the country at a time when news reports showed teachers digging into their own pockets to buy school supplies for students.
Inspired to take action, Yoni contacted several Outback Steakhouses to ask if they would collect the used crayons for him to recycle and donate to schools and shelters in need.
In the last several years, the boy, now 18, has coordinated 25 teenage volunteers to collect 100,000 crayons from 46 restaurants in ten states, while simultaneously reducing thousands of pounds of landfill waste.
After a family dinner at a local Outback Steakhouse, Yoni Kalin noticed the waiters tossing into the trash small packs of crayons given out to young diners. He wondered how many thousands were being thrown out around the country at a time when news reports showed teachers digging into their own pockets to buy school supplies for students.
Inspired to take action, Yoni contacted several Outback Steakhouses to ask if they would collect the used crayons for him to recycle and donate to schools and shelters in need.
In the last several years, the boy, now 18, has coordinated 25 teenage volunteers to collect 100,000 crayons from 46 restaurants in ten states, while simultaneously reducing thousands of pounds of landfill waste.
A 9-year-old Detroit boy has earned national attention for setting up a lemonade stand to raise money for his cash-strapped city. He heard on the radio that the city was having trouble paying for the mowing of grass in city parks and decided to help.
His lemonade and popcorn business, which opened July 30, raised more than triple what the young man originally hoped and today Joshua Smith presented a check to Detroit officials for $2,832.
His work also earned him a Spirit of Detroit award last week and a $2,000 Rosa Parks Scholarship for college.
An old painting, which shows a woman embracing a young child, was nearly thrown out on several occasions, but Fiona McLaren, 59, from Scotland decided to seek an appraisal recently after financial difficulties forced her to look for new resources.
The director of Sotheby’s in Scotland, Harry Robertson, gasped when he saw the artwork which had been given to her father by one of his patients.
(READ the story in the Daily Mail)
Four weeks to the day after Roger Federer downed him on the same patch of grass at the Wimbledon finals, Britain’s Murray dispatched the Swiss superstar in the Olympic men’s singles final, 6-2 6-1 6-4 to win Olympic gold.
The victory broke a losing streak for British tennis players at the hallowed Wimbledon grounds. Not since Fred Perry in 1936 has a British male won a major contest on the center court here.
While the ecstatic crowd, outfitted in Union Jack bowler hats yelled “An-DEE” (clap, clap, clap), Murray dismembered Federer in straight-sets that were brutal, beautiful, meticulous, and concluded by a pair of whipping aces.
Four weeks to the day after Roger Federer downed him on the same patch of grass at the Wimbledon finals, Britain’s Murray dispatched the Swiss superstar in the Olympic men’s singles final, 6-2 6-1 6-4 to win Olympic gold.
The victory broke a losing streak for British tennis players at the hallowed Wimbledon grounds. Not since Fred Perry in 1936 has a British male won a major contest on the center court here.
While the ecstatic crowd, outfitted in Union Jack bowler hats yelled “An-DEE” (clap, clap, clap), Murray dismembered Federer in straight-sets that were brutal, beautiful, meticulous, and concluded by a pair of whipping aces.
Long Island police spent over four hours rescuing a trapped fawn that had fallen into a 20-foot manhole.
Landscapers working by a vacant lot under construction in the New York neighborhood of Mount Sinai called Suffolk County Police when they noticed the fawn had fallen into the manhole, police said.
Police took photos with the baby deer before releasing it back into the nearby woods.
(READ the story in Huffpost)
17 year-old swimmer Missy Franklin is being called the new Michael Phelps, after winning four gold medals and a bronze in London and competing in almost every different stroke.
While training overseas, she heard about the tragic shooting at a Batman movie premiere in her hometown of Aurora, Colorado.
She vowed to do all she could to inspire her neighbors and friends back home, and her performance last week proves she delivered.
Facing unfavorable odds, the U.S. scored a huge victory, sticking a landing on the surface of Mars early Monday, setting down the largest and most sophisticated mobile laboratory ever deployed, which is now beaming back photos of the red planet.
NASA ground control engineers flew into a frenzy of high-fives, hugs and cheers after NASA’s Curiosity rover survived a perilous seven-minute plunge to the surface of the red planet.
After eight months traveling millions of miles, NASA’s largest and most complex rover ever will attempt a difficult and complicated Mars landing tonight, August 5.
The landing—or the crash—should be confirmed by about at 10:31 PDT (that’s 1:31 EDT on August 6). Here’s what you may want to know about this venture.
The rover, named “Curiosity,” and its spacecraft will plummet into the Martian atmosphere at 13,000 mph, then use a huge parachute to slow its decent to about 200 mph.
Kim Hartke, who served 14 months in jail for stealing a car to pay for her addiction, turned her life around in part because of financing provided to a social services program from an innovative type of bond.
The bonds are part of a new trend in social investing that is gaining some favor with cash-strapped states and communities that are looking to private investors to help pay for badly needed social services programs.
Belarus’ authoritarian President Lukashenko has sacked two of the nation’s top defense officials after two Swedish advertising agency employees piloted a light plane into the country’s heavily guarded airspace, dropping 879 teddy bears decked out in parachutes and slogans supporting human rights.
Following the incident, Belarus (also known as the last dictatorship in Europe) denied the flight took place but then jailed a journalist for posting a photo of the bears on the internet.
Three independent studies have now shown that our understanding of the physical makeup of cancer tumors has been based on a myth.
The conventional view of cancer is that it results from genetic mutations within ordinary cells that cause them to divide uncontrollably into a tumour that can then spread to other parts of the body. This suggests all cancer cells are created equal.
But, a portion of the cells are now seen to be “cancer stem cells” which are responsible for causing a tumor to grow and develop. Treatments, therefore, can be focused on killing these cells rather than targeting the wider community of tumor cells.
(READ the story in the Independent) – Photo by Ed Uthman, CC license on Flickr
Belarus’ authoritarian President Lukashenko has sacked two of the nation’s top defense officials after two Swedish advertising agency employees piloted a light plane into the country’s heavily guarded airspace, dropping 879 teddy bears decked out in parachutes and slogans supporting human rights.
Following the incident, Belarus (also known as the last dictatorship in Europe) denied the flight took place but then jailed a journalist for posting a photo of the bears on the internet.
A University of Washington researcher listened to the audio picked up by a recording device that spent a year in the icy waters off the east coast of Greenland. She was stunned at what she heard: whales singing nearly constantly for five months using the most remarkable variety of songs.
In 2008, oceanographer Kate Stafford set out to discover how many endangered bowhead whales populated the area. The species was hunted to near-extinction in the 1800’s.
A University of Washington researcher listened to the audio picked up by a recording device that spent a year in the icy waters off the east coast of Greenland. She was stunned at what she heard: whales singing nearly constantly for five months using the most remarkable variety of songs.
In 2008, oceanographer Kate Stafford set out to discover how many endangered bowhead whales populated the area. The species was hunted to near-extinction in the 1800’s.
if you are watching too much “news” in America these days, you’re not hearing the truth about the economy as much as political messaging and strategy. The truth is, the U.S. still has the strongest economy on the planet. We should be touting that.
America’s performance should be measured against the current competition, not against the records it set in the 1990s or 2000s. Everything is relative to expectations, even global economic competition. These days, the United States is an underestimated underdog, while China is still widely seen as a dominant sprinter, even though it is carrying a worse burden in terms of national debt.
