Japan crisis: nuclear workers exposed to 10,000 times more radiation than normal

Concerns over the extent of radioactive contamination in Japan deepened after it emerged that three workers admitted to hospital this week were exposed to radiation levels 10,000 times higher than normal The news raised fears that the steel and concrete containment around one of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant could be leaking. Japan's prime minister, Naoto Kan, made clear that the work to stabilise Fukushima remains on a knife-edge. "The situation today at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is still very grave and serious. We must remain vigilant," he said in an evening address to the nation, "We are not in a position where we can be optimistic. We must treat every development with the utmost care." Japanese officials said further investigations were needed...

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Libya: British planes bomb Gaddafi tanks for first time

Britain has launched a concerted attack for the first time on pro-Gaddafi loyalists besieging the key Libyan city of Ajdabiya, using laser guided weapons to destroy tanks on the ground. The attack which destroyed four tanks on the outskirts of Ajdabiya, came as rebel fighting intensified inside the city and reports came in of fighting in a second city, Misurata. Dr Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, said British Tornado GR4 Aircraft took part in the missile strike on Thursday night. "The Tornado aircraft launched a number of guided Brimstone missiles at Libyan armoured vehicles which were threatening the civilian population of Ajdabiya," he said. In Tripoli the Libyan government unwittingly showed journalists yesterday striking evidence of the accuracy of allied air strikes. The blackened...

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Libya: supporters rally in Gaddafi's home town Sirte

In the early hours groups of men paraded through the streets of Sirte, the town where Col Muammar Gaddafi grew up and has since built into a modern city. Supporters, some as young as five, marched along the wide avenues shouting pro-Gaddafi slogans, holding posters of his photograph and waving green flags. Convoys of cars followed blowing horns and playing pro-regime music loudly on the radio. They are part of a mobilisation in Col Gaddafi's half of the country - residents of Sirte and elsewhere are preparing to repel an invasion from the rebel-held east. Col Gaddafi claims that criminal gangs and Islamic fundamentalists have seized control...

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RightHealth Results for Smoking Cessation

Background Smoking cessation is an effort by a person who regularly uses tobacco products to establish a plan to reduce, and eventually eliminate, tobacco use. Tobacco contains nicotine, a highly addictive drug, in addition to the 69 chemicals known to cause cancer. All major medical institutions acknowledge that quitting smoking greatly increases a person's health prospects. Smoking cessation may be accomplished by many different approaches. The pharmacological approach often contains various nicotine replacement therapies, such as the patch, nicotine gum or lozenges, or even a nicotine inhaler. Some alternative therapies include certain herbal...

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Surgery Scars Can Now Be removed

Sometimes we come across such health disorders or accidents which demand undergoing surgery. On one hand surgery saves our life but n the other hand they leave behind deep scars which often become embarrassing for the person. Surgery scars are usually thought to be permanent. These scars are nothing but the collected skin tissues. After a surgery, the body tries to heal itself and since the body cannot create healthy skin and tissues immediately, it brings together fiber which are not as functional as the original skin tissues This collected fiber put together is know as scars. These scar tissues have limited blood circulation, movement and sensation. The scars are also do not have sweat glands, are pale and less resistant to ultraviolet rays. The good news is that the surgery scars are...

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NASA's Successful 'Can Crush' Will Aid Heavy-Lift Rocket Design

On March 23, NASA put the squeeze on a large rocket test section. Results from this structural strength test at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will help future heavy-lift launch vehicles weigh less and reduce development costs. This trailblazing project is examining the safety margins needed in the design of future, large launch vehicle structures. Test results will be used to develop and validate structural analysis models and generate new "shell-buckling knockdown factors" -- complex engineering design standards essential to launch vehicle design. "This type of research is critical to NASA developing a new heavy-lift...

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Tusshar Kapoor turns baddie in real life!

Tusshar Kapoor, who is known for good temperament and cool head, has turned baddie in his real life. The news may come as a surprise to many, but the fact is that the actor has shown his other side of him by yelling at director Sagar Ballary in public. Tusshar Kapoor himself has admitted that he lost his temper during the shooting of Hum Tum Aur Shabana and had a fight with his director Sagar Ballary. The incident happened at a shopping mall in Mumbai. The actor said that he had been working overtime without proper sleep. Recently, when the director told him to extend the shooting by another night, the actor got irritated and shouted at him....

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8 things to know about IE9

Software giant Microsoft has launched the latest version of its browser, Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), in India. Unveiled at TechEd India 2011, Microsoft claims that Internet Explorer 9 uses full capabilities of Windows and enables a Web that is faster, cleaner and more trusted by default. The IE9 launch comes at a time when the race to capture browser markets share is heating up. The browser market is becoming increasingly competitive with an increasing number of devices going online every day. According to one report, when all versions of browsers are taken together, Internet Explorer leads the pack with 45% market share. Available for download...

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Gay or straight? Brain chemical decides sexual preference

LONDON: Chinese researchers have identified a chemical in the brain that controls sexual preference in mice. They found that male mice lose their normal preference for females if they have low levels of serotonin. Instead, they try to mate with either males or females.  It is the first time that a neurotransmitter has been shown to play a role in sexual preference in mammals, according to the researchers. They first bred male mice whose brains were not receptive to serotonin.  A series of experiments demonstrated that these mice had lost the preference for females. When presented with a choice of partners, they showed no overall preference for either males or females.  When just a male was introduced into the cage, the modified males were far more likely to mount the male...

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Are we all descendants of Martians? Device to tell

Boston: A team of researchers at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing a device that will study whether life on Earth descended from organisms that were originated on Mars and carried to our planet aboard meteorites – a theory that would make all humans of Martiandescent . A team from MIT and Harvard University are working on the proposed instrument called the 'Search for Extra-Terrestrial Genomes' (SETG). The device, which could be carried on future missions to Mars, would take samples of Martian soil and isolate any living microbes that might be present or microbial remnants , which can be preserved for about up to a million years and still contain viable DNA. They would separate out the genetic material in order to use biochemical techniques to analyse...

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Metro surfing: When teens get high on trains zipping through tunnels

LONDON: A new craze has come up in Moscow called metro surfing, which has teenagers risking their lives by clinging to the back of underground trains as they hurtle through darkened tunnels. It has become so common to see the youngsters, usually sporting distinctive gloves and ski goggles, leaping onto the back of underground trains that Muscovite commuters now barely bat an eyelid. And as they cling on for dear life with the train quickly accelerating away from the platform, they are whisked within centimetres of tunnel walls facing a near certain death should they fall. Some have even begun clambering onto roofs to literally "surf" the trains while others prefer to wedge themselves between carriages with nothing to hold onto. Using cameras attached to their heads, the daredevils capture...

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