Does that make them magic mushrooms?
Mushrooms may help produce vaccines
STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Nov. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers are using modified mushrooms in a project designed to produce millions of doses of a vaccine or other drugs within a three-month period.
Penn State University Professor C. Peter Romaine and Xi Chen, previously a post-doctoral scholar at Penn State, hold the patent to genetically modify Agaricus bisporus -- the button variety of mushroom that is the predominant edible species worldwide.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Romaine $2.2 million in initial funding for the project. Officials said the total value of the effort, if both phases of the development program are completed, could be up to $5.9 million.
"Our immediate research goals are to maximize the level of expression of various biopharmaceuticals and to devise efficient and economical methods for their extraction and purification from mushroom tissue," Romaine said.
The drugs will then be extracted from the mushroom into forms that could be administered to people. In a pending third year of the project, the researchers are expected to show they can execute a full-scale manufacturing effort and produce three million doses of a drug within a 12-week period.
A defense contract? Right…
Sure, they’re just lookin’ at the biosphere. Yeah, we believe that
Global monitoring system under development
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency said a new global Earth observation system is under review at a ministerial-level meeting in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Group on Earth Observations -- involving 71 governments, the European Commission and 46 organizations, including the ESA -- is meeting this week to assess progress in developing the global system that will provide near real-time data on changes in the Earth's lands, oceans, atmosphere and biosphere via a single Web portal.
The GEO is leading a worldwide effort to develop a Global Earth Observation System during a 10-year period.
The ESA said the operation will work with and build on existing systems, such as ocean buoys, weather stations and satellites, to provide comprehensive, coordinated Earth observations from thousands of instruments worldwide.
Hey, you there. Quit running.
No, actually we recruit people who are already muscle-bound tweekers. We look for what we call the fight or fight response.
Blackwater denies its guards use steroids
WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- A sweeping lawsuit by families of victims shot in Baghdad by U.S.-contracted Blackwater guards claims the company condones the use of steroids.
Susan Burke, the lead attorney in the Washington litigation, told CNN the lawsuit is based on a Sept. 16 incident in which 17 people were killed by Blackwater guards.
The suit accuses the North Carolina company of war crimes, wrongful death, assault, negligent hiring, emotional distress and of hiring foreign mercenaries such as ex-Chilean commandos who were barred from security or military work in their home country.
"I think there is a whole corporate culture there that essentially rewards the use of excessive force -- shooting first, asking questions later," Burke told the broadcaster.
However, Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said all company workers face drug tests when they apply and on a quarterly basis.
"Steroids and performance enhancement drugs, both illegal and prescribed, are absolutely in violation of our policy," Tyrrell told CNN.
If they have two heads they can see twice as much
It’s for you
Cell phone may have killed South Korean man
By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer Wed Nov 28, 10:20 AM ET
SEOUL, South Korea - An exploding cell phone battery is suspected by police in the death of a South Korean worker Wednesday, though the phone's manufacturer said it was highly unlikely.
The man, identified only by his family name Suh, was found dead at his workplace in a quarry Wednesday morning and his mobile phone battery was melted in his shirt pocket, a police official in Cheongwon told The Associated Press.
"We presume that the cell phone battery exploded," the police official said on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way.
Kim Hoon, a doctor who examined the body, agreed.
"He sustained an injury that is similar to a burn in the left chest and his ribs and spine were broken," Yonhap news agency quoted Kim as saying. "It is presumed that pressure caused by the explosion damaged his heart and lungs, leading to his death."
Kim was not immediately available for comment.
Police said the phone was made by South Korea's LG Electronics Inc., the world's fifth-biggest handset maker.
An LG official confirmed its product was involved in the accident but said the company would not comment directly on the incident because the cause was not confirmed. However, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to company policy, said such a fatal explosion would be virtually impossible.
So, how long before heads start exploding?
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