B4U India

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Beatles' Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies
2008-02-06 10:34:00
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guru who introduced the Beatles to transcendental meditation, has died at his home in Vlodrop, in the Netherlands. He was believed to be around 91 years old. ''He died peacefully at about 7:00 pm, due to natural causes, his age,'' The BBC quoted a spokesman, as saying.  His funeral arrangements were not immediately announced. Born in Madhya Pradesh, the Maharishi trained as a physicist before devoting himself to spiritual enlightenment. He began teaching transcendental meditation in 1955 and brought the technique to the United States in 1959. By the time of his death, it had grown into a multi-million dollar empire. But the movement really took off after the Beatles visited his ashram in India in 1968, although he had a famous falling out with the rock stars when he discovered them using drugs at his Himalayan retreat. After 50 years of teaching, the Maharishi unveiled plans to use the power of group meditation to create both world peace and en...
More About: Indian , Guru , Dies

CSM claims Kayani reversing Musharraf's military-related policies
2008-02-06 10:34:00
Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Kayani, has “begun to systematically reverse some of the most significant policies of his predecessor, President Pervez Musharraf .” According to a Christian Science Monitor (CSM) report, evidence of this change can be seen in the “reversal” two key directives -- prohibiting soldiers from meeting with politicians and ordering all active officers who hold posts in civilian agencies to resign from those positions. Those orders contrast starkly with those promoted by Musharraf when he was army chief, the Daily Times says. The newspaper sees these steps as an indication that General Kayani is taking his Army in the direction that the United States had hoped he would – to refocus officers on the task of securing the country from terrorists, rather than playing politics or vying for public perks. “The shift is welcome in Pakistan, too, where the interference of the military into public life was seen as...
More About: Military , Policies , Claims , Related

Jealous paparazzo may have triggered Di conspiracy theory
2008-02-06 10:34:00
Bitterness and resentment between two paparazzi may have generated the longest-running conspiracy theory about the death Princess Diana, the inquest into her death has heard.   Photographer James Andanson, who owned a white Fiat Uno, was ordered by French police in February 1998 to explain his movements in the early hours of August 31 1997 following an unidentified warning to officers in Britain, the court heard.   Andanson, who initially thought the summons was a prank pulled by a jealous colleague, denied he had been in the vicinity on the night of the crash.   Testifying on Feb 5, Jean Claude Mules, a retired major in the French Brigade Criminelle, told the jury that Andanson was able to support his explanation with documentary evidence and satisfied them that he was not the driver of a mystery white Fiat Uno believed to have been involved in the crash that killed Diana and Dodi Fayed.   But when French police were unable to trace the Fiat Uno, Mohamed al Fay...
More About: Theory , Paparazzo , Conspiracy , Conspiracy Theory , Jealous

Baitullah Mehsud is West’s new public enemy No1
2008-02-06 10:34:00
Thirty-four-year-old Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has replaced Osama bin Laden as the West’s Public Enemy No 1. According to a report in The Times, Mehsud is now being seen as the most significant non-state threat to global security to have emerged in the past 12 months. Nigel Inkster, a former deputy chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), was quoted by the paper as saying that neo-Taleban led by Mehsud were suspected of having been involved in terrorist plots in Britain and Spain. The revelation that the most extreme elements of the Taleban in Pakistan had turned their focus towards the West and foreign forces in Afghanistan followed claims by President Bush last year that the Taleban posed a global threat. His remark was dismissed largely in Europe. Inkster was speaking at the release of The Military Balance, an annual publication of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), of which he is director of trans-national threats and...
More About: Public Enemy

US intelligence says Pak nuke weapons are vulnerable
2008-02-06 10:34:00
The political turmoil in Pakistan has not seriously threatened the military’s control of its nuclear weapons “but vulnerabilities exist,” United States intelligence has warned in a report delivered to Congress by its chief Mike McConnell. “We judge that the [Pakistan] army’s management of nuclear policy issues — to include physical security — has not been degraded by Pakistan’s political crisis,” the Daily Times quotes the report, as saying. The report also warned that Al Qaeda is improving the last key aspect of its ability to attack the US. McConnell claimed that Pakistan’s Tribal Areas were providing Al Qaeda “many of the advantages it once derived from its base in Afghanistan, though this was on a smaller and less secure scale. The intelligence chief also said that the Taliban has expanded its operations into previously peaceful areas of western Afghanistan and around the capital Kabul. (ANI)
More About: Intelligence , Weapons , Nuke

UN envoy Akram condemns doomsday prediction for Pakistan
2008-02-06 10:34:00
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Munir Akram has taken exception to New York Times columnist Selig S Harrison’s article of February 1, and accused him of fanning an ongoing international conspiracy to destabilize his country. In the article titled ‘Drawn-and Quartered’, Harrison suggests ‘the breakup of Pakistan would be a costly and destabilising development that can still be avoided, but only if the United States and other foreign donors use their enormous aid leverage to convince Islamabad that it should not only put the 1973 Constitution back into effect, but amend it to go beyond the limited degree of autonomy it envisaged”. In a rejoinder published in the same paper on Tuesday, Akram said the orchestrated campaign against President Musharraf, the denigration of the Pakistani Army, calls for the capture of Pakistan’s nuclear assets and the string of suicide bombings are all seen as aimed at this malevolent desi...
More About: Pakistan , Doomsday

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi hated the Beatles smoking pot in his ashram
2008-02-06 10:34:00
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian founder of Transcendental Meditation, who died in the Netherlands on Feb 5, strongly disapproved of the fact that his most high profile followers, the Beatles took drugs while staying at his Indian ashram.   The Maharishi, who was believed to be 91, gained international status after guiding the Beatles, who spent time on a retreat in India in the late 1960s.   But, their relationship became unpleasant because the Maharishi was exasperated with the group taking drugs at his home in Rishikesh, northern India.   With the exception of the late George Harrison, the Beatles became disillusioned with the Maharishi and following a widely-publicised spat, left India.   Shedding light on the actual cause behind the bitterness, spiritualist and author Deepak Chopra, a former Maharishi disciple and a friend of Harrison, revealed that contrary to popular myth, the fight was nothing to do with claims that the Maharishi made sexual advances on ...
More About: Smoking , The Beatles , Ashram

A Q Khan will not be handed over to another country: Pak
2008-02-06 10:34:00
The Pakistan embassy in Washington has said that nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan will not be handed over to a foreign country for investigative purposes. Embassy spokesman Akram Shaheedi said in an article for the Washington Post that no government in Pakistan could afford to take this step. He was reacting to a critical article by Selig Harrison that criticised the soft approach taken on Khan by the Musharraf regime. Pakistan, Shaheedi claimed has investigated the nuclear proliferation matter thoroughly and had shared its findings with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “It is unfair and offensive to malign Pakistan’s leadership on such a sensitive issue as nuclear proliferation. This analysis was built on hearsay rather than substance and the facts,” the Daily Times quotes Shaheedi, as saying. He also argued that there is no link between the AQ Khan issue and the war on terrorism, and added that the United States and the international community ar...
More About: Country , Handed

Brit Muslim women guilty for ignoring murder in their house
2008-02-06 10:34:00
A judge here has declared three women guilty for ignoring a murder that took place in their own house. Two sisters – Nazia Naureen, 28, and Uzma Khan, 23, and their mother - Phullan Bibi, 52, were charged with turning a blind eye to the killing of 19-year-old Sabia Rani by her husband and their brother/son Shahzad Khan. Sabia had 15 broken ribs and bruising in over 85 per cent of her body. According to a pathologist, she looked like a victim of a catastrophic road accident. According to The Times, Khan was convicted of her murder a year ago. Yesterday his mother, his sisters and Uzma’s husband Majid Hussain, 28, were all found guilty of allowing the death of a vulnerable adult under the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004. The judge told the family that they should be prepared for custodial sentences before they were bailed overnight to reappear before the court today. As the jury delivered the verdicts all three women began wailing and shouting in the dock. ...
More About: Murder , Women , House , Muslim , Guilty

Prince William to train as a journalist
2008-02-06 10:24:00
Prince William is reportedly set to train as a journalist after finishing his military duties later this year.   According to sources, the British royal will undertake a journalism internship at a national newspaper in a bid to familiarise himself with the workings of the country's media, before beginning his royal public duties full time.   Insiders say that senior authorities at the official royal residence, Clarence House, have organised a series of civilian "work experience" placements for the 26-year-old, to prepare him for the throne.   "I think it would be a good idea for him to find out how the media works. It's something I would like to see him do. He's learned about the armed forces, now he has to learn about the state,” Contactmusic quoted a source, as telling British newspaper the Guardian.   William, the second in line to the throne after his dad Prince Charles, graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2006. and ...
More About: Prince William , Train , Prince , Journalist

Shoaib Malik denies marrying any girl in India
2008-02-06 10:24:00
Pakistani cricket team captain Shoaib Malik has denied that he had married an India n girl named Ayesha adding that he would file suit in this regard.   Malik’s brother-in-law Imran Zafar said that this was merely an Internet love affair, which started in 2001.   The girl with whom Shoaib Malik was chatting was mailing the picture of another girl to Malik,  Zafar told reporters.   He went on to say that the pictures of the girl are with Malik, but he does not want to play with her honour.   This marriage scandal is a fraud as no nikah or rukhsati took place and the parents of Ayesha are dishonouring the religion, The News quoted Zafar, as saying.   Ayehsa’s parents had invited the Pakistan cricket team at dinner in 2005, but they did not show the girl on the insistence of Inzamam-ul-Haq nor they arranged any meeting with her despite his efforts, said Zafar, adding that this incident has revealed that it was all fraud and the matter was...
More About: Girl , Marrying

India-Lanka ODI washed out
2008-02-06 10:24:00
The second one-day international (ODI) of the Commonwealth Bank series between India and Sri Lanka was called off on Tuesday due to rain with both teams getting two points each.   Earlier in the day, 184-run partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Team India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni helped Indians in scoring 267 after its top-order batting collapsed.   Gambir made unbeaten 102, while Dhoni finished on 88 not out after the pair guided India to an impressive total at the Gabba in Brisbane.   Openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag made 68 runs in the first 14 overs.   Lasith Malinga bowled Tendulkar for 35 and Sehwag’s wicket was taken by Ishara Amerasinghe.   Muttiah Muralitharan took two wickets of Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma.   On Sunday too, the opening ODI between India and Australia was washed out. (ANI)

Roo says he's very proud to play for ManU
2008-02-06 10:24:00
England footballer Wayne Rooney has said that he is proud and honoured to be a Manchester United player, particulalrly after watching a DVD on the air tragedy that struck the team in Munich 50 years ago. Survivor Sir Bobby Charlton also gave a speech about the tragedy and how the club came back to win the European Cup ten years later. It was an emotional lunchtime at the club’s Carrington training ground for everyone involved, Rooney revealed to The Sun. He said: “We saw the way they were playing before the disaster and you could see they were a good, young team growing together," Rooney said of the former players, who were known as the Busy Babes". “For a disaster like that to happen is horrible in any walk of life. For a football club to bounce back from something as terrible as Munich, and to go on and become the huge club it is today — it’s just an honour to be a part of it and part of the history of United,” Rooney said. Rooney ...
More About: Play , Manu , Proud

Facebook and Skype is a problem for Brit spies
2008-02-06 10:24:00
The intelligence network in Britain is reportedly finding it hard to keep pace with fast-moving internet technology. According to a report, spooks working at Britain’s GCHQ spy base are having problems using social networking websites like Facebook and new internet phone systems such as Skype . The report, by MPs and peers forming the Intelligence and Security Committee, will be embarrassing for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who recently pledged to make the web a “no-go area” for terrorists. The Sun quotes the report as saying: “One of the greatest challenges for GCHQ is to maintain its intercept capability in the face of rapidly evolving communications technology.” (ANI)
More About: Problem , Spies

Brits will soon fly to Oz in just 4½ hours!
2008-02-06 10:24:00
The large amount of time spent reaching Australia from Britain may soon be history, for Virgin Atlantic has developed an aircraft which will facilitate trippers reach Oz in just 4½ hours.   Virgin boss Richard Branson has unveiled the designs of the first tourist spaceships, which can allow day-return trips to Oz in one day.   Billed Concorde’s much bigger and faster successor, the plane’s hi-tech liquid hydrogen engines will propel it to 3,400mph, which is 5 times the speed of sound.   But the bad news is that the aircraft which fits in 300 passengers has no windows as the searing external heat generated at Mach 5 would melt them.   The aircraft, code-named A2, is still on the drawing board.   Designers from British firm Reaction Engines said that the plane could soon be a reality.   “It sounds incredible by today’s standards but I don’t see why future generations can’t make day trips to Australasia,&rdquo...
More About: Hours , Brits

The goose that survived crashing into a meteorite – only to be savaged by
2008-02-06 10:24:00
A goose survived being hit by a 9lb meteorite and crashing into a car only to fall prey to a hungry fox.   And, witness to all this was Brit postman Adrian Mannion who was enjoying his morning cup of tea with wife Fiona when the bizarre set of events unfolded.   According to Mannion, the Canada Goose was left dazed when after banging into a meteorite, it fell headlong into his car’s roof, causing 2,500 pounds worth of damage.   However, there was no reprieve for the bird, for a hungry fox then grabbed it dragged it away before the Mannions could rescue it.   “We heard two almighty thuds and rushed out to see this large, odd-looking rock next to our Mini – and a very poorly-looking mangled goose on the car roof,” The Sun quoted Mr Mannion, as saying.   “A flock of Canada Geese were overhead so the falling stone must have hit the poor creature.”   Mrs Mannion added: “It has to be the unluckiest bird ever. It surv...
More About: Meteorite

‘Thrill of a fling’ boosts the quality of work
2008-02-06 10:24:00
It’s not your boss’ positive feedback or motivation that enhances quality of work but the ‘thrill of a fling’.   According to a new study, office romance raises energy levels and leads to better professional capacity.   The study, conducted by Italian sexologist Serenella Salomoni, one in five of the total quizzed admitted to an affair at work.   “We discovered that people who had an office romance said they were happier, more energetic and more productive,” The Sun quoted her, as saying.   Salomoni added that nearly twice as many women as men admitted to having a fling in the workplace.   The study also found that one in three of the total respondents were having a relationship with a superior to enhance their career. (ANI)
More About: Work , Quality

I am not surprised over England axing,' says Becks
2008-02-06 10:24:00
Former soccer captain David Beckham has said that he is not surprised to be out of the England squad, and insists he saw coach Fabio Capello’s axe coming his way. Beckham, who had hoped to win his 100th cap in tonight’s Switzerland friendly, said: “I half expected it because I know what Fabio Capello is like as a manager. If he thinks you’re not fit and ready to play then you won’t be in the team." “It’s as simple as that and I totally understand and respect his decision.There are a lot of Premier League players who have played 15 games in the last two months while I haven’t played a game since December,” The Sun quoted Becks , as saying. The midfielder, who played for Capello at Real Madrid before moving to LA Galaxy last season, had been training with Arsenal since the New Year. “I did everything I could to make myself available for England. I did go to Sierra Leone and to Brazil, but those trips were only four da...

Bali survivor slams Australia's Islam matriarch
2008-02-06 10:24:00
A survivor of the first bombing that took place in Bali , Indonesia, in October 2002 has criticised Australia ’s Islam matriach Rabiah Hutchinson. Peter Hughes said Hutchinson was uninformed and utterly insensitive. "It's like going back to that moment when the suicide bomber was standing next to me," news.com.au quoted Hughes, as saying. Hughes nearly died in the attack in which 202 people, including 88 Australians, were killed. Hughes warned that some people would hunt down Hutchinson after she had made less than sympathetic statements about victims and survivors of that attack. In an hour-long documentary, Hutchinson, who was married to the former Australian leader of the Jemaah Islamiah, the terror group responsible for the bombing, was asked about the attack. "Do I feel for the people that died? Not as much as I feel for those 200 Afghani people that gave me and my children shelter," Hutchinson said. "Why? Because they weren't holidaying in so...
More About: Survivor

Coach Capello thinks "The Grove" is too swanky for England team
2008-02-06 10:24:00
England coach Fabio Capello has decided not to allow his players to stay at their favourite hotel -- The Grove -- because he thinks it is too swanky. The Grove with its health spa and world-renowned golf courses set in vast parkland, is a bad place to foster team spirit because of the many distractions, The Sun quoted sources close to Capello, as saying. He is now on the lookout for a smaller place where he can keep a close eye on the players as they prepare for international matches. The 227-room hotel, set in 300 acres of Hertfordshire countryside, has been used as the England team base for home internationals for the past two years. Former England skipper David Beckham is said to have loved the place because of its secluded grounds. An insider said: "Becks loved the Grove and his opinions used to hold a lot of sway. Players were free to make the most of the facilities and roam about the grounds but Capello is putting his foot down and won't allow it." The new Engl...
More About: England , Team , Coach

Kids from minority communities get less health care
2008-02-06 10:16:00
A nation wide survey has revealed that minority children experience significant disparities in health care than the majority group.   Dr. Glenn Flores, professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern analysed the results of 102,353 interviews completed between January 2003 and July 2004 by National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH).   The child’s ethnicity was then divided into white, Latino, African-American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American or multiracial.   The findings revealed that in all five minority groups children were notably less likely than whites to have visited a physician or been given a medical prescription in the past year. Additionally, Latino and Native American children were more likely to be uninsured than African-American, multiracial, white and Asian/Pacific Islander children.   “Conservative estimates indicate that minorities will comprise half of U.S. children by 2040. In Texas, more than 62 percent of children curr...
More About: Kids , Health Care , Care , Communities

Indian botanists voice concern about country’s stringent biodiversity law
2008-02-06 10:16:00
A group of Indian botanists have said that the country’s biodiversity laws are so stringent that they are stifling research in the sector.   The group includes K. D. Prathapan from Kerala Agriculture University and Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, Bangalore.   According to a report in ENN, the scientists have said that India's "draconian" rules on free exchange of biological samples could "totally isolate Indian biodiversity researchers and is akin to a self-imposed siege on scientists in the country".    India's biodiversity rules, established in 2002, do not permit Indian scientists to deposit their specimens in international museums and stipulate that specimens must be kept in selected national repositories.   According to Prathapan and colleagues, quality research involves extensive collaboration among specialists and institutions across continents. “And in taxono...
More About: Voice , Biodiversity , Ty Law

Scientists create nanowires using DNA
2008-02-06 10:16:00
Scientists at Texas A & M University have developed a simple and cheaper method to develop nanowires that can create tiny computers and medical devices by using DNA.   Stirring of DNA into a chemical solution and exposing it to ultraviolet light will form these nanowires.   "The process is very simple stuff. Basically you put the solution and DNA into a beaker, stir it around, and expose it to light," Discovery quoted Hong Liang of Texas A & M University, one of the authors of the paper.   It is well known that DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, contains the blueprints for all life. It was used by the Texas researchers to work as scaffold, to which other molecules could bind to.   As DNA is naturally programmed to form long chains, the investigators started out by creating wires, but also tried making other shapes from the solution as well.   DNA was mixed with a cadmium (metal) solution and this solution was stirred before exposing it to UV ...
More About: Scientists , Create

Scientists show how a crystal can become a conductor
2008-02-06 10:16:00
A new research has used computational modeling to show how a crystal of manganese oxide can be changed from an electrical insulator to a conductive metal.   Carried out at the University of California, Davis, this research was conducted by Warren Pickett, professor of physics at UC Davis, and his colleagues.   According to Pickett, “Manganese oxide is magnetic but does not conduct electricity under normal conditions because of strong interactions between the electrons surrounding atoms in the crystal.”   “But under pressures of about a million atmospheres (one megabar), manganese oxide transitions to a metallic state,” he added.   Using the model, the researchers were able to test different explanations for the transition and identify the microscopic mechanism responsible.   They found that when the atoms are forced together under high pressure, the magnetic properties of the manganese atoms become unstable and collapse, freeing the...
More About: Show , Crystal , Scientists

Fish also help in seed dispersal in forests
2008-02-06 10:16:00
A new research has revealed that fish have a remarkable role in distributing the seeds of tropical plants.   The research was carried out in Brazil's Pantanal, the largest freshwater wetlands in the world, by a team from the São Paulo State University.   According to a report in Nature News, in the usual methods of animal seed dispersal, primates, rodents and birds either eat fruit and ingest seeds contained inside or get seeds from the plant stuck to their bodies. Later, the seeds are either defecated intact, or fall off.   But in recent years, ecologists have found seeds in the digestive tracts of more than a hundred fish species as well.   In the Pantanal, plants including palms and legumes tend to release their fruits during a time of year when massive flooding is common, and waters encroach over thousands of square kilometres.   The fruits fall from the trees into water and the pacu, one of the most common fish in the Pantanal, migrate deep i...
More About: Fish , Forests , Seed

New bird discovered in Nepal maybe link between previously known species in
2008-02-06 10:16:00
Scientists have discovered a previously unknown sub-species of bird in the southern grasslands of Nepal , which might provide an important geographical link between previously-known varieties in Pakistan and India.   According to a report in BBC News, the bird is a warbler with a very long tail and slender beak and has been named the “Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia”.   Though the bird had been spotted first in 2005 in a wetland area, it is only now that taxonomists have decided it is distinctive enough to be described as a separate sub-species.   The report stated that the newly identified bird has different dimensions from the two other types of Rufous-vented Prinia, and in colour comes between the rich chestnut of its western neighbour and the grey of the one to the east.   According to Hem Sagar Baral of Bird Conservation Nepal, the find is exciting because while the other two types belong to Pakistan's Indus river basin and the Brahmaputra of north...
More About: Link

Kids too can have high cholesterol levels
2008-02-06 10:16:00
High cholesterol is not just confined to adults, for children can have it too even if they are not overweight, says a new study.   Experts at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have recommended that kids should have a complete cholesterol profile done if they have a family history of high cholesterol or early heart disease.    Those who do not have a family history but have other risk factors for early heart disease, such as overweight, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, poor diet, and sedentary lifestyle should also be screened.   “Although the most common reasons for high cholesterol are poor diet, being overweight, and not getting enough exercise, some apparently healthy children inherit high cholesterol levels from their parents,” said Julie Brothers, M.D., medical director of the Lipid Heart Clinic at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.   “Overall, we’ve noticed an increase in children’s cholesterol...
More About: Kids , High , Cholesterol , High Cholesterol

Israeli archaeologist revises reading of ancient seal inscription
2008-02-06 10:16:00
A leading Israeli archaeologist has revealed that she has revised her reading of an inscription on an ancient seal discovered in an archaeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, following severe criticism of the original interpretation of the name on the seal, by various scholars around the world.   The 2,500 year-old black stone seal was uncovered last month among stratified layers of debris in the ongoing excavation just outside the Old City walls near the Dung Gate, said archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig.   Mazar had originally read the name on the seal as "Temech," and pointed out that it was owned by the family of that name mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah.   However, after the find was first reported in The Jerusalem Post, various epigraphers around the world said Mazar had made a blunder by reading the inscription on the seal straight on (from right to left) rather than backwards (from left to right), as a result of th...
More About: Reading , Seal , Ancient

Scientists identify key factor in the cause of metabolic syndrome
2008-02-06 10:16:00
Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have made advancement in the fight against metabolic syndrome and its associated atherosclerosis, disorders, by identifying insulin resistance in the liver as a key factor in the cause of the condition.   According to the researchers their findings provide not only an understanding of how metabolic syndrome occurs, but also locate a target for treatment of the condition.   This represents the work of Sudha Biddinger, M.D., Ph.D., and a team led by C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., Head of the Joslin Research Section on Obesity and Hormone Action and the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.   “This is one of the first true insights into the role of the liver in the metabolic syndrome and provides guidance for future therapies,’’ said senior investigator Dr. Kahn, an internationally recognized researcher in diabetes and metabolism.   “Showing this connection between atherosclerosis...
More About: Syndrome , Scientists , Factor

Veggie diet of dinosaurs was more nourishing than previously believed
2008-02-06 10:16:00
New research by scientists has revealed that the vegetarian diet of dinosaurs was more nourishing than previously believed, which might explain how the extinct creatures reached huge sizes off seemingly poor food.   According to the research, the largest animals to have ever lived on land were colossal vegetarians known as sauropods, which included the massive Apatosaurus. Strong evidence reveals these herbivores may have reached up to 130 feet in length and 110 tons in weight, and sketchier data hint they might have grown even larger.   These enormous beasts must have relied mostly on ferns, gingkoes, conifers and similar plants. However, those plants are generally seen as very poor in nutritional value, because few animals eat such flora today. To shed light on how dinosaurs lived off these plants, scientists devised artificial dino guts consisting of airtight glass syringes that held microbes normally found in sheep guts.   Living examples of the kinds of veget...
More About: Diet , Dinosaurs