Making Science More Better For You

News of the day 09/12

At least they can't blame Britney Spears for this

Russia tests the world's largest ever non-nuclear bomb

Russia has exploded the world's biggest non-nuclear bomb in a dramatic escalation of the new Cold War. Nicknamed 'the father of all bombs', it was filmed being dropped from a strategic bomber and exploding in a massive fireball. The film then showed the debris of apartment buildings and armoured vehicles at a testing range, as well as ground burned by a massive explosion. (ThisisLondon.co.UK)

Papaya changes everything

Chimps impress the ladies with stolen fruit

Wild chimps in West Africa pinch fruits from local farms to impress the lady chimps, and it seems to pay off, said Dr. Kimberley Hockings of the University of Stirling's department of psychology.

"The adult male who shared most with this female engaged in more consortships with her and received more grooming from her than the other adult males, even the alpha male," said Hockings, whose study appears in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS One. (Reuters)

Consortships? Oh, so that’s what they’re calling it now. Well, it’s not like they can drive.


But do they make killer honey?

'Killer Bees' Descend on New Orleans

MERAUX, La. (AP) - Africanized honeybees, a fierce hybrid strain sometimes referred to as "killer bees," appear to have established themselves in the New Orleans area, the state agriculture commissioner said.

A swarm of the bees was captured about five miles from where demolition workers found a colony of Africanized bees in January, commissioner Bob Odom said Tuesday. (Las Vegas Sun)

What about taxes?

Call to revamp death definition

It may be wrong to define death purely in medical terms, an academic argues. Professor Allan Kellehear said the medical diagnosis of brain death was at odds with society's view of when death actually occurs. He said a debate was needed about whether it was right to use brain death as the key criterion for switching off life support, and removing organs. He argues that the current emphasis on brain death has come from a select cabal of doctors, and is at least in part driven by the need to harvest organs for transplant. (BBC)

Never monkey with bushmeat
Major Ebola outbreak in Congo confirmed, up to 166 deaths could be linked

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed a major outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and said 166 deaths there since April could be linked to the disease.

The outbreak of the highly-contagious Ebola haemorrhagic fever, in the Western Kasai province, was confirmed by specialist laboratories in the US and Gabon, the WHO said in a statement on its website.

Speaking to journalists in Geneva Tuesday, a WHO spokesman stressed that another illness other than Ebola could yet be responsible for some of the deaths, possibly the Shigella infectious disease. Of five samples sent to one laboratory, all showed signs of Ebola. (AFP)


Maybe they can make some kind of ride out of this

Disney violates Chinese labor laws: report

Workers at a Chinese factory making Disney toys are overworked, underpaid, exposed to dangerous toxins and forced to live in filthy conditions, a labor rights group said in a report Wednesday.

The study, released on the second anniversary of the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, said factory workers complained they were forced to work 28 days a month and up to 15 hours a day. (AFP)


Where’s Crazy Eddie when you need him?

FCC issues rules for 2009 digital switchover

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Communications Commission approved rules Tuesday night that it says will ensure that millions of cable subscribers will still be able to watch broadcast programming after the digital television transition in 2009.

The FCC says approximately 40 million households are analog-only cable subscribers. Tuesday's ruling will require cable operators to guarantee analog cable customers will receive broadcast channels until February 2012.

2012? Does Darren Daulton know about this? http://darrendaulton.com/If_They_Only_Knew.

There goes your raise
Health-Care Premiums Climbing
Faster Than Inflation, Studies Say
By VANESSA FUHRMANS (WSJ)
Health-care premiums of employers and their workers have climbed more than twice as fast as inflation in 2007 -- to about double their cost in 2000 -- and look to rise at a similar or slightly faster clip next year, a pair of nationwide surveys show.