As one soldier deals with the trauma of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he’s finding the treatment he needs from an unlikely source — a service dog that was trained by prison inmates. “Yankee” keeps Jim calm in trying times.
Service Dog Helps Soldier With Post Traumatic Stress (Video)
American Hero Gets New Home (Video)
An Army Sergeant who lost three limbs in Iraq and his family have a brand new home thanks to 8,000 Metal industry workers. The ceremony to honor his service and award the new steel-frame house took place in Baltimore, the third year a wounded soldier has received a home.
Computers Help Docs Spot Breast Cancer on X-rays
A computer can safely replace a medical expert in a revolutionary way of interpreting a breast X-ray – according to a Cancer Research UK funded study.
A new study, published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, has shown that a single trained expert plus a computer is just as effective at detecting breast cancer as the two experts who traditionally read a mammogram in the UK. In the United States and some other European countries only a single expert reads mammograms. This means that single readers using the computer aided detection program (CAD) will be even more effective at detecting breast cancer.
Taliban Seeking Peace, has Split with Al Qaeda
Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country’s conflict — and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN. The talks — the first of their kind aimed at resolving the lengthy conflict in Afghanistan — mark a significant move by the Saudi leadership to take a direct role in Afghanistan, hosting delegates who have until recently been their enemies. (CNN – World News)
African Governance Improving: Study
Around two thirds of African countries have improved in the field of governance and human rights over the past year, according to the latest study released Monday by the Ibrahim Index, founded by British billionare Mo Ibrahim. (Thanks to Bill F. for the tip!)
Chicago Charter Schools Defy Expectation for Poor Students
An inner city public high school consisting of poor students — mostly immigrants — has become a remarkable example of what a school can do. One hundred percent of the students graduate, and almost all go to some of the nation’s top colleges. Noble Street College Prep is one of seven in Chicago’s network of charter school campuses on which longer school days, longer school years and mandatory weekend tutoring prepare the students for college. Dress codes are part of life for the small student body, under 500 kids per school. (Read or listen to the report at National Public Radio)
2 Share Nobel Prize for Work on AIDS and Cancer
Three European scientists shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for separate discoveries of viruses that cause AIDS and cervical cancer, breakthroughs that helped doctors fight the deadly diseases. They will share the prize money.
(Associated Press)
Russian Troops Start Dismantling Their Posts in Georgia
Russian troops began dismantling positions Sunday in the so-called security zones inside Georgia they have occupied since August’s brief but intense war, a Georgian Interior Ministry official said. (Oct. 5 Video)
Aussies Save Man From Car’s Icy River Plunge
A street sweeper who helped save a driver whose car plunged into a Gold Coast river says he is not a hero. “Undoubtedly, without the help of these three people from the Gold Coast community, that victim would have drowned,” he said. (News.com.au in Australia)
Man Decorates Basement with $10 Worth of Sharpie Pens
This makes me want to start doodling on my walls. . . A central Kentucky man decorates his cream color walls with Sharpie drawings of columns, bookshelves and more. Great panoramic (VR) photos at the Lexington Herald-Leader website… (Tip: Make the picture move faster by grabbing and dragging with your mouse)
Man Becomes Hero to Nation of Farmers
Almost everyone knows Shykh Seraj in Bangladesh, where farming offers a lifeline to most of its 140 million people, half of whom live on less than one U.S. Dollar a day.
He teaches impoverished farmers how to better work their fields and rise above grinding poverty.
A decade ago the journalist, interested in agriculture, launched a TV show and YouTube channel, more recently, focusing on farmers and giving solutions for their problems.
“Every day there is new reports, new techniques, and new crops.”
1875 Pound Pumpkin Headed for World Record
A Taunton Massachusetts man is an extreme gardener, growing a 1,800-pound pumpkin, according to his estimate, that he plans to have weighed Oct. 11. He’s going for a spot in the Guinness World Records. (Taunton Daily Gazette) Refresh your page if you don’t see the photo of the pumpkin patch … Thanks to Sun Star for the link.
90,000 Homes To Be Powered By Chicken Manure
The world’s largest biomass power plant running exclusively on chicken manure has opened in the Netherlands, converting one-third of all chicken manure residue there into green energy. The power plant will deliver renewable electricity to 90,000 households. (Environmental News Network)
Plant Tweak Could Let Toxic Soil Feed Millions with New Crops
Thanks to a genetic breakthrough, a large portion of Earth’s now-inhospitable soil could be used to grow crops — potentially alleviating one of the most pressing problems facing the planet’s rapidly growing population. Scientists at the University of California, Riverside made plants tolerant of poisonous aluminum by tweaking a single gene. This may allow crops to thrive in the 40 to 50 percent of Earth’s soils currently rendered toxic by the metal. (Wired Magazine online )
New Machine Scrubs CO2 From the Air
University of Calgary climate change researchers say they are close to figuring out how to commercialize the capture of carbon dioxide directly from the air with a simple system that could be set up anywhere in the world.
If they can make it work, it would allow greenhouse gas to be removed from ambient air and reduce the effect of emissions from transportation sources such as cars and airplanes.
(Read the full story in CBC News)
(Right- University of Calgary climate change scientist David Keith with his CO2 scrubber. (University of Calgary))
New Machine Scrubs CO2 From the Air
University of Calgary climate change researchers say they are close to figuring out how to commercialize the capture of carbon dioxide directly from the air with a simple system that could be set up anywhere in the world.
If they can make it work, it would allow greenhouse gas to be removed from ambient air and reduce the effect of emissions from transportation sources such as cars and airplanes.
(Read the full story in CBC News)
(Right- University of Calgary climate change scientist David Keith with his CO2 scrubber. (University of Calgary))
4.2 Million New Green Jobs Predicted
A major shift to renewable energy and efficiency is expected to produce 4.2 million new environmentally friendly “green” jobs over the next three decades, according to a study commissioned by the nation’s mayors. The report makes “a very compelling economic argument for investing in the green economy and that we’re going to get a huge return for it.” (Associated Press at MSNBC)
Southern California Ports Clean up Polluting Trucks
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, comprising the busiest U.S. cargo complex, launched a landmark clean-air program Wednesday banning some 2,000 older trucks blamed for half the pollution spewed by the ports’ diesel haulers. (Full report at Reuters News )
Once a Stutterer, James Earl Jones Gets Lifetime Achievement Award for Vocal Career
James Earl Jones, who remained mute as a child because of a stuttering problem, but went on to give voice to some of entertainment’s most memorable characters, will receive the 2008 Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award for a vocal tenor that is “without peer.” (Associate Press has a good article, too)
Leo, Ellen, Halle And More Celebs’ New Message: Don’t Vote (Video)
Don’t vote? A new public service announcement uses big-time celebrities and reverse psychology to urge citizens to vote.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Halle Berry, Jennifer Aniston, Tobey Maguire, Eva Longoria Parker and other stars “just say no” to young people to get them into voting booths on election day.
In a new public service announcement that hit YouTube and other online outlets Wednesday, DiCaprio says: “Please — just don’t vote.” Others echo his plea: “Don’t vote.”
But the stars soon twist the message: Voting is a civic duty and the only way to effect change.
“I mean, seriously, … after this whole video — if you’re not gonna vote, I don’t even know what to say. … You know you have to vote,” says DiCaprio, who produced the PSA.
Also appearing: Ellen DeGeneres, Forest Whitaker, Dustin Hoffman, Demi Moore, Sarah Silverman, Jonah Hill, Ashton Kutcher, Courteney Cox, Laura Linney, Natalie Portman, Jamie Foxx, Usher, Kyra Sedgwick and will.i.am.