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World's First Scar-free Appendectomy

image showing appendectomy through man mouth

The world's first scar-free appendectomy has been successfully performed at University of San Diego Medical Centre, USA. Jeff Scholtz, a former U.S. marine, has recently secured his place in medical history, becoming the first patient in the world who had his appendix through mouth removed.

The operation, which is a major advance in the quest for scar-free surgery, was performed by doctors in San Diego, California, who used a flexible tube to thread miniature surgical instruments down the 42-year-old's throat to his stomach.

A tiny incision was then made in the stomach wall to get at the appendix - a small worm-like pouch attached to the large bowel.

The inflamed appendix was cut away, bagged and pulled back into the stomach - and out of the mouth.

Jeff Scholz Appendix removal surgery

Source: DM

Astronomers Find "second Earth"

Using the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter telescope in Chile, astronomer Stephane Udry and his colleagues discovered that a planet about five times as massive as Earth is the smallest and potentially most Earth-like planet outside the solar system. It orbits a small, dim "red dwarf" star called Gliese 581 which lies 20.5 light years away every 13 days. The planet is believed to be habitable because the astronomers calculated that it has a pleasant right-for-liquid-water-existence surface temperature of about 0 to 40° C. Link

The Rock That Stops Superman Discovered in Serbia

Scientists found a new mineral matching nothing known previously to science but the unique chemistry of kryptonite that robs the superhero of his powers in the film Superman Returns. It will be officially named as Jadarite.

The large green crystals of kryptonite have a devasting affect on the superhero. However, unlike its famous counterpart, the new mineral is white, powdery and not radioactive. And, rather than coming from outer space, the real kryptonite was found in Serbia.

'Towards the end of my research,' says Dr Stanley [at the Natural History Museum], 'I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula, sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide, and was amazed to discover that same scientific name written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns'.

'The new mineral does not contain fluorine and is white rather than green, but in all other respects the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite. We will have to be careful with it - we wouldn't want to deprive Earth of its most famous superhero!'

The mineral could be used as a source of lithium , which has many uses including in batteries, or as a source of borate, which is used for cleaning, also known as borax.

Link

Video: Water Instantly Freezed to the Ice

A scientific experiment shows ropelike peaks (slush) immediately formed when the supercooled water (-21C/-6F) was pour into a bowl. Link to Youtube via Digg

What Looks Like World’s First Tree?

Scientists revealed that Earth's oldest known tree, Wattieza, which lived during the Middle Devonian period and preceded dinosaurs by 140 million years, was nearly 30 feet tall and looked like a modern palm.

Workers uncovered hundreds of upright stumps of the 385 million-year-old tree more than a century ago, after a flash flood in Gilboa, New York uncovered them, but little else was known about the tree’s appearance.
Then, in 2004, scientists unearthed a 400-pound fossilized top — or crown — of the same genus a few miles away. The following summer, the same team discovered fragments of a 28-foot trunk. Piecing together stump, trunk and crown now reveals what the full tree looked like for the first time.
“These were very big trees,” said study team member William Stein, a paleobotanist at the State University of New York at Binghamton.
“Our reconstruction shows them to be a lot longer and much more treelike than any of the reconstructions before,” Stein told LiveScience. “I don’t think any of us dared think of them being quite that big.”
The tree belonged to a group of early fern-like plants called Wattieza. Unlike flowering plants, which use seeds to reproduce, Wattieza used spores, the reproductive method of choice for algae, ferns and fungi.

Czech Scientist Invents World's First Artificial Vocal Chords

Vojtech Misut Invents World's First Artificial Vocal Chords

The invention by Czech scientist Vojtech Misut from the Technological University in Brno can return voice to those who have lost it in the surgery. However, in spite of the success, the development of artificial chords is yet at the beginning. A suitable material, dimensions, shape as well as placement are yet to be found.

Misut first created a computer model of the vocal chords according to his own theory, and now he has successfully tested his physical model as well.

Since the vocal chords differ by length, Misut had to create special models for men, women and children that can be shaped so that people even recognise their lost voice.

Misut is not yet able to implant the artificial vocal chord in its original place in the patient's throat.

That is why air is conducted from the lungs through a tiny tube to the artificial vocal chord fixed for instance to the chest. The created source voice is led by the tube back to the voice tract where it is fine-tuned.

Misut is considering placing the artificial vocal chord in the nasal cavity.

From Praque Daily│Photo

Chocolate Sweeter Than Kissing

Women have always known about the sensual effects of chocolate but it has now been proved that it is an aphrodisiac for men too.

Researchers who monitored the heads and hearts of romantically involved [6] couples [all in their 20's] found they responded more to chocolate melting in their mouths than kissing.

The findings showed that even the most passionate kisses fail to equal the 'buzz' of chocolate. 'These results really surprised and intrigued us,' said psychologist Dr David Lewis, who led the study.

'While we fully expected chocolate – especially dark chocolate – to increase heart rates due to the fact it contains some highly stimulating substances, both the length of this increase together with the powerful effects it had on the mind were something none of us had anticipated.'

'There is no doubt that chocolate beats kissing hands down when it comes to providing a long-lasting body and brain buzz. A buzz that, in many cases, lasted four times as long as the most passionate kiss.'

Photo source: Gluten-free Girl

The Red Square Nebula

It is one of the most beautiful objects in the universe and ranks among the most symmetrical objects ever observed by scientists.

Seen in the infrared, the nebula resembles a giant, glowing red box in the sky, with a bright white inner core. A dying star called MWC 922 is located at the system's center and spewing its innards from opposite poles into space.

'This spectacular event is the death of a star,' said study team member James Lloyd of Cornell University.

After MWC 922 ejects most of its material into space, it will contract into a dense stellar corpse known as a white dwarf, shrouded by clouds of its own remains.

What is particularly astonishing about the Red Square, the researchers say, is the degree of symmetry seen in lines, or 'rungs,' that bisect its surface.

'If you fold things across the principle diagonal axis, you get an almost perfect reflection symmetry,' said study leader Peter Tuthill from the University of Sydney in Australia. 'This makes the Red Square nebula the most symmetrical object of comparable complexity ever imaged.'

Half of Einstein's Theory of Relativity Proved Correct

Scientists have proved that the 'geodetic' effect of Einstein's Theory of Relativity is correct. They need another eight months to testify if the remaining 'frame-dragging' effect of the theory, that is, as the world spins it drags the fabric of the universe behind it, or not.

Under his name in the Oxford English Dictionary is the simple definition: genius. Yet for decades physicists have been asking the question: did Albert Einstein get it wrong? After half a century, seven cancellations and $700m, a mission to test his theory about the universe has finally confirmed that the man was a mastermind - or at least half proved it.
The early results from Gravity Probe B, one of Nasa's most complicated satellites, confirmed yesterday 'to a precision of better than 1 per cent' the assertion Einstein made 90 years ago - that an object such as the Earth does indeed distort the fabric of space and time.
Francis Everitt, the Stanford University professor who has devoted his life to investigating Einstein's theory of relativity, told scientists at the American Physical Society it would be another eight months before he could measure the 'frame-dragging' effect precisely.

Link

Macaque Genome Decoded

A international team of more than 170 scientists from 35 institutions have decoded the genetic make-up of the rhesus macaque, an Old World monkey. The research indicates macaques diverged from our ancestors 25 million years ago.

It is the third primate (after humans and chimps) to have the secrets of its DNA laid bare.

The work, led by the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, is reported in the journal Science.

Researchers say the information will help them understand better the evolutionary relationships between humans and their closest relatives.

They say in their analysis that the rhesus macaque, chimp and humans share about 97.5% of the same genes.

High Blood Pressure Caused by Brain, not Heart

The research done by scientists at Bristol University suggested the traditional belief that the cause of hypertension lay with the heart may not be true anymore.

Scientists isolated a protein (JAM-1) located in the brain. They discovered the protein trapped white blood cells.

Once trapped the blood cells could cause inflammation, obstructing blood flow leading to poor oxygen supply to the brain which, in turn,trigger the condition that raise blood pressure.

Anyway, eating low fat foods, reducing salt intake and undertaking regular exercise are always beneficial to you who wish to reduce the risk of high blood pressure. Link to BBC and Sky

Scienctists Artificially Created Human Sperm Cells

HUMAN sperm cells have been artificially created for the first time, offering hope to thousands of men with low sperm counts or who have been left infertile by cancer treatment.

German scientists said fully-functioning sperm cells could be manufactured within five years to use in in-vitro fertilisation.

Scientists took samples from the bone marrow of volunteers and isolated stem cells known as mesenchymal cells, which were then treated with vitamin A to transform them into primordial germ cells - the first stage in sperm production. Some were then further developed into advanced spermatagonial stem cells.

Prof Karim Nayernia, who carried out the research and is now studying how to make spermatagonial cells enter the final stage of development, said: "We are very excited about this discovery, particularly as our earlier work in mice suggests we could develop the work even further.

Scientists Observed Longest Mammal Migration

Marine scientists recently published a research paper in the science journal, biology letters, that found humpback whales migrate over 5,100 miles from Central America to their feeding grounds off Antarctica; a record distance undertaken by any mammal.

Kristin Rasmussen, a biologist with Cascadia Research Collective, and lead author in the study, finds the record-breaking migration interesting, but is most pleased that the study validates a long held assumption that humpback whales travel to warm water areas during the winter.

"It was very exciting because for years everyone said humpback whales could be found in warmer waters during the winter months, but this was the first time we were actually able to quantify this on a global scale, and relate it to these long distance migrations" said Rasmussen.

0^0 = 1?

Mudd Math Fun Fact gives arguments to show that the answer to Zero to the Zero Power "should" be 1.

The alternating sum of binomial coefficients from the n-th row of Pascal's triangle is what you obtain by expanding (1-1)ⁿ using the binomial theorem, i.e., 0ⁿ. But the alternating sum of the entries of every row except the top row is 0, since 0^k=0 for all k greater than 1. But the top row of Pascal's triangle contains a single 1, so its alternating sum is 1, which supports the notion that (1-1)⁰=0⁰ if it were defined, should be 1.
The limit of x^x as x tends to zero (from the right) is 1. In other words, if we want the x^x function to be right continuous at 0, we should define it to be 1.
The expression mⁿ is the product of m with itself n times. Thus m⁰, the "empty product", should be 1 (no matter what m is).
Another way to view the expression mⁿ is as the number of ways to map an n-element set to an m-element set. For instance, there are 9 ways to map a 2-element set to a 3-element set. There are NO ways to map a 2-element set to the empty set (hence 0²=0). However, there is exactly one way to map the empty set to itself: use the identity map! Hence 0⁰=1.
Here's an aesthetic reason. A power series is often compactly expressed as
SUM_{n=0 to INFINITY} a_n (x-c)ⁿ.
We desire this expression to evaluate to a₀ when x=c, but the n=0 term in the above expression is problematic at x=c. This can be fixed by separating the a₀ term (not as nice) or by defining 0⁰=1.

Link to Google 0^0 search via Gseeker & Digg