Click « Previous Entries to read everything.
Stem cell breakthrough: healing lungs of newborn animals
Posted by Xeno on November 28, 2009
Dr. Bernard Thébaud lives in two very different worlds. As a specialist in the Stollery Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, he cares for tiny babies, many of whom struggle for breath after being born weeks before they are due. Across town, in his laboratory in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta, Dr. Thébaud dons a lab coat and peers into a microscope to examine the precise effect of stem cells on the lungs.Today, with his scientific research being published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Dr. Thébaud has made a significant leap to bridge the gap between those two worlds.
An international team of scientists led by Dr. Thébaud has demonstrated for the first time that stem cells protect and repair the lungs of newborn rats. “The really exciting thing that we discovered was that stem cells are like little factories, pumping out healing factors,” says Dr. Thébaud, an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Clinical Scholar. “That healing liquid seems to boost the power of the healthy lung cells and helps them to repair the lungs.”
In this study, Thébaud’s team simulated the conditions of prematurity – giving the newborn rats oxygen. The scientists then took stem cells, derived from bone marrow, and injected them into the rats’ airways. Two weeks later, the rats treated with stem cells were able to run twice as far, and had better survival rates. When Thébaud’s team looked at the lungs, they found the stem cells had repaired the lungs, and prevented further damage.
“I want to congratulate Dr. Thébaud and his team. This research offers real hope for a new treatment for babies with chronic lung disease,” says Dr. Roberta Ballard, professor of pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco. “In a few short years, I anticipate we will be able to take these findings and begin clinical trials with premature babies.”
- via EurkaAlert
Posted in Biology | Leave a Comment »
Mystery surrounds photograph found in bank
Posted by Xeno on November 28, 2009
SHE looks like a Force’s Sweetheart. But someone on the Home Front is missing her.
This photograph of a rather distinguished lady dressed in what appears to be a British naval uniform, and which is believed to date back to World War Two, was found on the floor of a bank in Galashiels.
And now big-hearted staff at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) in the town’s Channel Street, have asked the Border Telegraph to help them reunite it with its owner.
“It’s common for people to carry photographs with them in their wallets and it may well be that this has slipped out and no one has noticed,” branch manager Mike Godsman explained. “It could be a picture of someone’s sweetheart, wife or daughter.
“And, if they have carried it around with them all this time, it obviously means quite a lot to them, so presumably they will be upset at losing it.”
The snap was discovered in the reception area at HBOS in Galashiels by bank worker Emma Saunders at the start of November.
Other than the words HMS Drake, which appear on her cap, there are no other markings on the back of the photograph to say who the subject might be or where they might come from – and no-one has posted it missing.
However, it is not the only unusual item customers have left behind at the branch. A DVD, keys, and handbag have all been reunited with their owners in the past year, while a necklace remains unclaimed.
Mr Godsman said: “Given the age of the photograph, it would appear irreplaceable.” And he added: “We are trying to find a way of reuniting it with its owner.”
Do you know the person in the photograph? Contact our reporter by phone: 01896 758470, or email: amcgilvray@bordertelegraph.com
via Mystery surrounds photograph found in bank – News – Galashiels – Articles – Border Telegraph.
Posted in Strange | Leave a Comment »
Scientist works to prove he does not exist, and neither do you.
Posted by Xeno on November 28, 2009
When studying neurobiology and consciousness, I came across the idea that consciousness is epiphenominal, that is, a side effect of the brain which does not influence the body. A strange idea, certainly. Oddly, scientific data supports the notion that conscious experience is created by non-conscious processes in the brain.
When we make a choice, for example, science has showed that our brain chooses before we do. How can free will exist if your brain already chooses before you do with your supposed free will?
If you find the idea that “you” are an illusion, you will not want to read the following:
The denial of one’s own existence might seem a desperate philosophical strategy, but denying the reality of the self is a line which a number of people have taken, and Thomas Metzinger is prominent among them.
By Peter Hankins
The thesis of his massive 2003 work is summed up in the title: Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity. In that book, Metzinger made a commendable effort to balance philosophy and science; but the sheer size of the resulting text may have deterred some readers — I confess to being somewhat daunted myself. Now he has come back with a slimmer volume The Ego Tunnel which is aimed at a wider public and raises wider issues which Metzinger suggests need public attention.
Metzinger’s theory — the Self-model Theory of Subjectivity or SMT — suggests that subjective experience is really a kind of trick the brain plays on itself. Our brain sets up a model of the world (actually based on fairly limited data) to which it then adds a model of us, ourselves. The coherence of the model and the fact that the processes supporting it are transparent — i.e., invisible to us — yield the vivid impression of a self in direct contact with reality, and that’s where subjectivity arises; although in fact the whole thing is simply an illusion.
Metzinger’s view of qualia is characteristically complex. He has a good argument against the existence of what he calls canonical qualia, qualia conceived as subjective universals. He points out that our ability to discriminate is far greater than our ability to recognise. So, if we are presented with examples of green 64 and green 66, we can readily tell the difference: but if at a later stage we are presented with one of the examples, we have no hope of telling which it is. So there is no single thing that consistently goes along with the experience of green 64.
Concluding that at any rate we need to distinguish between ‘qualia’ available to memory and qualia available to the faculty of recognition, Metzinger goes on to distinguish a series of possible conceptions of qualia, ending with ‘Metzinger qualia’ which are available attentionally but not cognitively. These are slippery customers for obvious reasons, impossible to report and broadly ineffable — but then that’s how qualia are generally assumed to be.
Even as a summary, the foregoing is a bare and radically, probably over- simplified view of the theory, however. Metzinger actually presents ten constraints which need to be satisfied for the occurrence of subjective experience …
Of course, once we understand that the basic way the brain is wired is with feedback loops, the most sensible idea (and the most touch with our experience) is if consciousness feeds back into the brain as an input. This “self” input is as important and sometimes more important than input from the outside world. Yes, it happens after other experience, but we have an illusion that we live in the “now” and that we are in control. These are important illusions and very adaptive. Consciousness is a self correction program, an observer model that believes it is the main actor.
Posted in Biology, Mind | Leave a Comment »
Can you spot the difference?
Posted by Xeno on November 28, 2009
Posted in Politics, Technology | Leave a Comment »
Herschel telescope ‘fingerprints’ colossal star
Posted by Xeno on November 28, 2009
The death throes of the biggest star known to science have been observed by Europe's new space telescope, Herschel.
The observatory, launched in May, has subjected VY Canis Majoris, to a detailed spectroscopic analysis.
It has allowed Herschel to identify the different types of molecules and atoms that swirl away from the star which is 30-40 times as massive as our Sun.
VY Canis Majoris is some 4,500 light-years from Earth and could explode as a supernova at any time.
It is colossal. If VY Canis Majoris were sited at the centre of our Solar System, its surface would extend to the orbit of Saturn.
The star, in the constellation Canis Major, has been recorded by astronomers for at least 200 years.
It is what is called a red hypergiant – a highly evolved object that is exhausting its nuclear fuel.
Its end days see it spew vast quantities of gas and dust into interstellar space, including elements such as carbon, oxygen and nitrogen – the raw materials that will go into the production of future planets, and, who knows, perhaps life elsewhere in the galaxy.
Herschel has trained the spectrometers in its Pacs and Spire instruments on the extensive cloud of material billowing away from the object.
Spectrometers capture and split light into its constituent wavelengths, creating a kind of “fingerprint” that will reveal information on the chemistry of a light source. …
via BBC News – Herschel telescope ‘fingerprints’ colossal star.
Posted in Space | Leave a Comment »
Tough yet stiff deer antler is materials scientist’s dream
Posted by Xeno on November 28, 2009
Prized for their impressive antlers, red deer have been caught in the hunters’ sights for generations. But a deer’s antlers are much more than decorative. They are lethal weapons that stags crash together when duelling. John Currey, from The University of York, UK, has been intrigued by the mechanical properties of bone for over half a century and has become fascinated by the mechanical properties of antler through a long-standing collaboration with Tomas Landete-Castillejos at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.
‘Antlers look as if they are dry,’ says Currey, ‘but no one knew if they really are dry when used in contests’. Curious to find out whether red deer antlers are used wet or dry when duelling, and how this affects the antlers’ mechanical properties, Currey headed south to La Mancha to test the mechanical properties of red deer antlers and publishes the discovery that dry antler is stiff and tough on 27 November 2009 in the Journal of Experimental Biology at http://jeb.biologists.org.
But before the team could begin testing the antler’s strength, they needed to find out how dry the bones were. Collecting freshly cut antlers from the university farm and a local game estate just after stags had shed the antler’s protective velvet, Currey, Landete-Castillejos, José Estevez and their colleagues weighed the antlers each week to find out how much they dried. Amazingly, over the first 2 weeks, the antlers lost a colossal 8% of their weight, compared with 1% weight loss if they were cut at other times of the year. Eventually the weight loss stabilised and the antler’s humidity was in balance with that of the surrounding air. It was clear that the antlers were dry when the stags began duelling.
But how did this water loss affect the bone’s material properties in comparison with those of normal bones, which function internally and are always wet? Would the dry antler make a better weapon than wet bone?
The team prepared 40 mm long blocks of dry antler and wet deer femur and measured the amount of force needed to bend the blocks to find out how flexible the materials were. Even though most bones are relatively brittle and inflexible when dry, the team found that the dry antlers are almost as stiff as wet bone: which is ideal for weapons that have to survive a lengthy pushing contest after the initial clash.
But how ‘tough’ was the antler? How much energy could it absorb in the initial crash? Applying a force to the middle of the blocks of bone and gently increasing it until the bone broke, the team plotted a curve of the bending force against the amount that the bone bent. Calculating the amount of energy that the antler could absorb before shattering, Currey found that the tissue was incredibly tough: 2.4 times tougher than normal wet bone. And when Currey measured the amount of energy that the dry antler could absorb in an impact, he was surprised and pleased to see that it could survive impacts 6 times greater than the impacts that shattered wet femur. The dry antler was tougher than wet bone and ideally suited to survive the stags’ initial clash.
So dry deer antlers are simultaneously stiff, yet tough, making them perfectly suited to their role as a weapon. And the deer seem to have solved a problem that has puzzled engineers for decades. ‘It is very difficult to make anything that is both stiff and tough,’ says Currey, but it seems that duelling deer solved the problem eons ago.
via Tough yet stiff deer antler is materials scientist’s dream.
Posted in Biology | 2 Comments »
Hear the songs written and recorded in one weekend for NPR
Posted by Xeno on November 27, 2009
Update: Nov 27: Hear the songs that were submitted to NPR. (I’m on page 4… they posted the first version I sent instead of the updated version you can hear on the box.net on the left. Alphabetical order … perhaps I should change my name to “Aaahxeno”. )
LISTEN: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4.
Here is the entire group on one page. Hey, someone commented about my song! Woo!
Wow, some great stuff in there! I’m really enjoying listening to these songs and I’m definitely learning some new things about recording and mixing by listening to how others did what they did.
Previous Post:
This is my attempt at writing and recording a song in one day (Saturday Nov 14) start to finish for NPR: PLAY or DOWNLOAD: My Dog, Japan (mix 2).mp3. Here is the NPR request for songs written and recorded in one day using certain key words.
…. I think we’d all be willing to admit that technology has made making music a whole lot easier, cheaper and more accessible. We can be more agile, impulsive, nimble, reactionary and spontaneous than ever before. Right? Well, that’s the idea anyway.
So let’s try!
Here at NPR Music, we could have given you a mere 24 hours to do this, but we’ll be generous and allow you the entire weekend in which to record an original song.
Here are the rules:
Your song needs to include one of the following words: dog, firecracker, lamp shade, Japan, NPR
Your song can be any genre or length.
Please include the name of the song and how you’d like to be credited. Send your songs to:
monitormix@npr.org
All songs are due by this Sunday, Nov. 15, at 8 p.m. ET. We’ll feature the songs next week as part of our continuing Decade In Music coverage.
Thanks, and have fun!
Okay, Done. I’m looking forward to hearing the other songs!
Hear him once, you’ll be a fan.
I’ve got a dog I call Japan
He howls in tune with Beethoven.
The dog’s going to be a star
My cat named Italy is so cool.
Plays piano from the stool.
Paws of gold no feline fool, he’s been on NPRLa la la
My bird named Russia? I can’t say.
The window cracked, he flew away
The rat, however, plays the drums and I
Let him out when company comesI am the manager, the financial backer
I light the proverbial firecracker
Underneath the band to get them going somewhere
If you don’t believe my story’s true
Some countries want to have a word with you
Japan knows he’s going somewhereHe said, “Don’t be afraid, put a smile not a lamp shade on.”
Dream what you will, you deserve it
You deserve what you’d love to be.I‘ve got a dog I named Japan
He’s the genius in the band
I don’t know how he does it, man
He writes these songs that make me want to cryAnd he tells me, “If someone’s messing
with your dignity, you can talk to me.
You deserve to be, what you want to be.
So be.My Dog, Japan. My Dog, Japan…”
Posted in Do stuff, Music | 2 Comments »
Device spells doom for superbugs
Posted by Xeno on November 26, 2009
The prototype device can kill off bacteria, viruses, and fungi in just seconds… You can even make it battery operated so you can use small devices – I have one in my hand right now – Gregor Morfill
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial PhysicsResearchers have demonstrated a prototype device that can rid hands, feet, or even underarms of bacteria, including the hospital superbug MRSA.
The device works by creating something called a plasma, which produces a cocktail of chemicals in air that kill bacteria but are harmless to skin.
A related approach could see the use of plasmas to speed the healing of wounds.
Writing in the New Journal of Physics, the authors say plasmas could help solve gum disease or even body odour.
Plasmas are known as the fourth state of matter, after solid, liquid, and gas. They are a soup of atoms that have had their electrons stripped off by, for example, a high voltage.
Plasmas are common elsewhere in the cosmos, where high-energy processes produce them, and they are even posited as a potential source of fusion energy. Their properties have recently been harvested for use in plasma televisions.
Deadly cocktail
But the new research focuses on so-called cold atmospheric plasmas.
Rather than turning a whole group of atoms into plasma, a more delicate approach strips the electrons off just a few, sending them flying.
Collisions with nearby, unchanged atoms slows down the electrons and charged atoms or ions they leave behind.
It has been known for some time that the resulting plasma is harmful to bacteria, viruses, and fungi – the approach is already used to disinfect surgical tools.
“It’s actually similar to what our own immune system does,” said Gregor Morfill, of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, who led the research.
“The plasma produces a series of over 200 chemical reactions that involve the oxygen and nitrogen in air plus water vapour – there is a whole concotion of chemical species that can be lethal to bacteria,” he told BBC News. …
“To produce plasmas efficiently at low cost so you can really mass produce these things for hospitals, that’s the big breakthrough of the last year,” Professor Morfill said.
The team says that an exposure to the plasma of only about 12 seconds reduces the incidence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi on hands by a factor of a million – a number that stands in sharp contrast to the several minutes hospital staff can take to wash using traditional soap and water.
More applications
Professor Morfill said that the approach can be used to kill the bacteria that lead to everything from gum disease to body odour.
via BBC News – Device spells doom for superbugs.
MRSA (methicillin-resistant Straphylococcus Aureus) and other drug-resistant bacteria could face annihilation as low-temperature plasma prototype devices have been developed to offer safe, quick, easy and unfailing bactericidal cocktails.
//
Two prototype devices have been developed: one for efficient disinfection of healthy skin (e.g. hands and feet) in hospitals and public spaces where bacteria can pose a lethal threat; and another to shoot bacteria-killing agents into infested chronic wounds and enable a quicker healing process.Two papers published today, Thursday 26 November, as part of a selection of papers on Plasma Medicine in New Journal of Physics (co-owned by the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society), demonstrate how far the design of equipment to harness the bacteria-killing power of low-temperature plasma has come.
Plasma, oft called the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas, is defined by its ionized state. In space, stars are made up of high-energy plasma and, on Earth, it is researchers in high-energy plasma that are making significant strides towards limitless energy from nuclear fusion. The high energy of plasma stems from some atoms or molecules in a gas being stripped of their electrons, resulting in a mix of ionized and neutral species.
Related links: Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.
Could alien life exist in the form of DNA-shaped dust?
Complex and Dusty Plasmas: From Laboratory to Space
Posted in Biology, Health, Technology | Leave a Comment »
How are Thanksgiving Day and “Mary Had a Little Lamb” connected?
Posted by Xeno on November 26, 2009
Though many competing claims exist, the most familiar story of the first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth Colony, in present-day Massachusetts, in 1621. More than 200 years later, President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving. Congress finally made Thanksgiving Day an official national holiday in 1941.
Sarah Josepha Hale, the enormously influential magazine editor and author who waged a tireless campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday in the mid-19th century, was also the author of the classic nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” – history.com
Hale was influential, but there is more to the story…
Myth: The first Thanksgiving was in 1621 and the pilgrims celebrated it every year thereafter.
Fact: The first feast wasn’t repeated, so it wasn’t the beginning of a tradition. In fact, the colonists didn’t even call the day Thanksgiving. To them, a thanksgiving was a religious holiday in which they would go to church and thank God for a specific event, such as the winning of a battle. On such a religious day, the types of recreational activities that the pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians participated in during the 1621 harvest feast–dancing, singing secular songs, playing games–wouldn’t have been allowed. The feast was a secular celebration, so it never would have been considered a thanksgiving in the pilgrims minds.
Myth: The original Thanksgiving feast took place on the fourth Thursday of November.
Fact: The original feast in 1621 occurred sometime between September 21 and November 11. Unlike our modern holiday, it was three days long. The event was based on English harvest festivals, which traditionally occurred around the 29th of September. After that first harvest was completed by the Plymouth colonists, Gov. William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer, shared by all the colonists and neighboring Indians. In 1623 a day of fasting and prayer during a period of drought was changed to one of thanksgiving because the rain came during the prayers. Gradually the custom prevailed in New England of annually celebrating thanksgiving after the harvest.
During the American Revolution a yearly day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress. In 1817 New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom, and by the middle of the 19th century many other states had done the same. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a day of thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November, which he may have correlated it with the November 21, 1621, anchoring of the Mayflower at Cape Cod. Since then, each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the date for Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941) – history.com
Posted in History | Leave a Comment »
Couple slips though security to crash state dinner + list of state dinner guests
Posted by Xeno on November 26, 2009
T
he Secret Service says it’s looking into its own security procedures after determining that two people crashed Tuesday night’s state dinner at the White House.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says that President Barack Obama was never in any danger. Donovan says the party crashers went through the same security screening as the 300-plus people actually invited to the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Donovan says the Secret Service first learned about the security breach Wednesday morning after media inquiries prompted by the crashers’ online boasts about having attended the private event.
The Washington Post reports that photos from the state dinner appear on the Facebook page of one of the dinner crashers.
via Couple slips though security to crash state dinner – Yahoo! News.
The hottest ticket in the free world is to the first White House State Dinner of the Obama presidency.
The Obamas are honoring visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but in their own way — unlike prior state dinners in the high-ceilinged State Dining Room, the Obamas will gather a few hundred VIPs in a heated tent on the South Lawn. … – nbc
Here are all of the several hundred attendees who should have been there. After seeing 2010 this is sort of like the list of people who might be invited to survive the apocalypse. Nice to see Steven Spielberg made it. I added some links. Kind of fun to research who these people are.
- The President & First Lady Michelle Obama
- Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, India & Ms. Gursharan Kaur
- The Honorable (Rep) Gary Ackerman, United States Representative Mr. Sant Singh Chatwal (Guest)
- His Excellency Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
- Mr. Mukesh D Ambani
- Mr. Tim Dutta (Spouse of Ms. Pia Awal)
- The Honorable (Mr.) David Axelrod, White House Communications Mrs. Susan Axelrod
- Ms. Preeta Bansal, OMB – General Counsel
- The Honorable (Ms.) Melody Barnes, Domestic Policy Council Mr. Marland E. Buckner
- The Honorable (Rep.) Howard Berman, United States Representative (D/California) Mrs. Jane Berman, Spouse of United States Representative (D/California)
- Mr. Om Prakash Bhatt
- Mr. Hunter Biden Mrs. Kathleen Biden
- The Honorable (Vice President) Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice President of the United States Dr. Jill Biden
- Mr. Robert O Blake, Jr., Assistant Sec for South and Central Asian Affairs, State Department Mrs. Sofia Blake
- Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York, NY Ms. Diana Taylor
- The Honorable (Mr.) John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Deputy National Security Advisor for Counterterrorism, Homeland Security Council Mrs. Katherine Brennan
- The Honorable (Ms.) Lisa Brown, Office of Staff Secretary Mr. Kevin Cullen
- Mr. Donald Browne Ms. Maria Junqera
- The Honorable (Ms.) Carol Browner, Energy and Climate Change The Honorable (Mr.) Tom Downey
- Mr. William Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Department of State Ms. Lisa Cart
- General James E Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mrs. Sandee Cartwright
- The Honorable (Senator) Bob Casey, United States Senator (D/Pennsylvania) Mrs. Terese Casey, United States Senate Spouse (D/Pennsylvania)
- Mr. Rajiv Chandrasekaran Mrs. Julie Chandrasekaran
- Mr. I.S. Chaturvedi, Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
- Senator Satveer Chaudhry, State Senator Colonel Ravi Chaudhry (Guest)
- Ms. Rohini Chopra
- Mr. Deepak Chopra Mrs. Rita Chopra
- The Honorable (Secretary) Steven Chu, Secretary of the Department of Energy Mrs. Jean Chu
- The Honorable (Secretary) Hillary R. Clinton, Secretary of State
- The Honorable (Rep.) James E. Clyburn, United States Representative (D/South Carolina) Mrs. Emily Clyburn
- The Honorable (Senator) Kent Conrad, United States Senator (D/North Dakota) Ms. Lucy Calutti, United States Senate Spouse (D/North Dakota)
- Mr. David Cote
- Ms. Katie Couric Mr. Brooks L Perlin
- Mr. Greg Craig, Assistant to the President and Counsel to the President Mrs. Margaret D Craig
- Mrs. Paula Crown Mr. Jim Crown
- The Honorable (Rep.) Elijah Cummings, United States Representative (D/Maryland) Mrs. Maya Rockeymoore
- Senator Swati Dandekar, State Senator Mr. Arvind Dandekar
- Mr. Rajesh De, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
- Nancy Ann DeParle, Office of Health Reform Mr. Jason P DeParle
- Ms. Bhairavi Desai Javaid Tari
- Dr. Vishakha N. Desai Robert Oxman
- The Honorable (Senator) Chris Dodd, United States Senator (D/Connecticut) Mrs. Jackie Clegg Dodd
- Mr. John Doerr
- The Honorable (Mr.) Thomas Donilon, Assistant to the President, Deputy National Security Advisor, NSC Ms. Cathy Russell
- The Honorable Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director Mr. Bob Bauer
- Mr. Ari Emanuel Mrs. Sarah Emanuel
- The Honorable (Mr.) Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff to the President Ms. Amy Rule
- The Honorable (Mr.) Jon Favreau, Assistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting
- Ms. Sarah Feinberg, Office of the Chief of Staff
- The Honorable (Mayor) Adrian Fenty, Mayor of the District of Columbia Mrs. Michelle Fenty
- Ms. Michelle Flournoy ( Under Secretary of Defense for Policy of the United States.)
- Mr. Thomas Friedman Mrs. Ann Friedman
- The Honorable (Mr.) Mike Froman, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, NSC
- Dr. Ashok S Ganguly
- The Honorable (Mr.) Patrick Gaspard, Office of Political Affairs Mrs. Raina Washington
- The Honorable Robert Gates
- Ms. Charlene Gaynor Mr. Richard Heiss
- Mr. David Geffen Mr. Jeremy Lingvall
- The Honorable (Secretary) Timothy F. Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury Ms. Carole Sonnenfeld
- The Honorable (Mr.) Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretar
- Mr. Anish Goel, Acting Senior Director, South Asia Affairs, NSC
- Mr. Senapathy Gopalakrishnan
- Mr. Mark Gorenberg Ms. Wendy Wanderman
- Mr. John Gorman Mrs. Tamra Gorman
- Representative Jay Goyal, State Representative Kiran Goyal
- Representative Raj Goyle, State Representative Mrs. Monica Arora
- The Honorable (Governor) Jennifer Granholm, Governor of Michigan (D) Mr. Daniel Mulhern, First Gentleman of Michigan
- Mr. Earl G. Graves Mrs. Barbara Graves
- Ms. Geeta Rao Gupta Mr. Arvind Gupta
- Mr. Raj Gupta
- Mr. Rajat Gupta Mrs. Anita M Gupta
- Dr. Sanjay Gupta Mrs. Rebecca Olson Gupta
- Mr. Lee Hamilton Mrs. Nancy Hamilton
- The Honorable (Ms.) Kamala Harris Ms. Maya Harris
- Mr. Kamil Hassan Mrs. Talat Hassan
- Mr. George Haywood Mrs. Cheryl J Haywood
- The Honorable Fred Hochberg, Export-Import Bank Thomas P Healy
- The Honorable (Rep.) Paul Hodes, United States Representative (D/New Hampshire) Mrs. Margaret Hodes
- The Honorable (Attorney General) Eric Holder, United States Attorney General, Department of Justice Dr. Sharon Malone, MD
- Dr. John P. Holdren Dr. Cheryl E Holdren
- The Honorable (Rep.) Eleanor Holmes-Norton, United States of Representative (D/DC) Mr. John Norton
- Mr. Robert D Hormats, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs, State Department Ms. Camille Massey
- The Honorable (Rep) Steny Hoyer, United States Representative (D/Maryland) Ms. Kathleen May
- Mr. Chris Hughes Mr. Sean S Eldridge
- Mr. Jeff Immelt
- The Honorable (Senator) Daniel Inouye, United States Senator (D/Hawaii) Ms. Irene Hirano, United States Senate Spouse (D/Hawaii)
- Mrs. Deepa Iyer Mr. Parag Khandhar Mr. Vasudeva Iyer
- The Honorable (Administrator) Lisa Jackson, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency Mr. Kenneth Jackson
- The Honorable (Ms.) Valerie Jarrett, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
- The Honorable (Governor) Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana Mrs. Supriya Jindal, First Lady of Louisiana
- The Honorable (General) James Jones, Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor Mrs. Diane Jones
- Mrs. Ann Jordan Mr. Vernon Jordan
- Mr. Anil Kakani
- Mr. Farooq Kathwari Mrs. Farida Kathwari
- Mr. Neal Katyal, Principal Deputy Solicitor General, Office of the Solicitor General
- Mr. Jeffrey Katzenberg Mrs. Marilyn Katzenberg
- Ms. Maneesha Kelkar, Manavi Vinay Vaishampayan
- The Honorable (Senator) John Kerry, United States Senator (D/Massachusetts)
- Dr. Harish Khare, Media Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, Indian Delegation
- The Honorable (Mr.) Bradley Kiley, Office of Management and Administration Mr. James Coley, Jr
- Ms. Gayle King
- The Honorable (Ambassador) Ron Kirk, USTR Mrs. Matrice Ellis-Kirk
- The Honorable (Mr.) Ronald Klain, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Vice President, Office of the Vice President
- Mrs. Chanda D Kochhar
- His Excellency S.M. Krishna, Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
- Ms. Gaitri Kumar, Joint Secretary (Americas), Ministry of External Affairs of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
- Mr. Vivek Kundra
- Mrs. Jhumpa Lahiri Mr. Alberto Vourvoulias
- Mr. Marc Lasry Cathy Lasry
- Mr. Jacob Lew, Deputy Secretary, Department of State
- The Honorable Gary Locke, Secretary of Commerce Mrs. Mona Locke
- The Honorable (Mr.) Christopher Lu, Cabinet Affairs Ms. Kathryn Thomson
- The Honorable (Senator) Richard Lugar, United States Senator (R/Indiana) Mrs. Char Lugar, United States Senate Spouse (R/Indiana)
- Mr. Michael Lynton Ms. Elizabeth Jamie Alter
- Mr. Surinder Malhotra
- The Honorable (Chief of Protocol) Capricia Marshall
- The Honorable (Ms.) Alyssa Mastromonaco, White House Office of Scheduling
- Mr. Brian Mathis Mrs. Tracey Kemble
- Ms. Kiran Mazumda-Shaw
- The Honorable (Senator) Claire McCaskill, United States Senator (D/Missouri) Mr. Joseph Shepard, United States Senate Spous
- The Honorable (Rep) Jim McDermott, United States Representative (D/Washington) Mrs. Therese Marie Hansen
- Mr. Zarin Mehta Ms. Carmen Lasky
- The Honorable (Mr.) Jim Messina, Office of Chief of Staff
- Mr. Judd Miner Mrs. Linda Miner
- Mr. Newt Minow Mrs. Josephine Minow
- Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal
- Kalpen Modi, Associate Director, Office of Public Engagement
- Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mrs. Deborah Mullen
- The Honorable (Secretary) Janet Napolitano, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
- His Excellency M.K. Narayanan, National Security Adviser of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
- Mr. Shantanu Narayen Mrs. Reni Narayen
- Mr. Raju Narisetti Durga Raghunath
- Mr. Martin Nesbitt Ms. Anita Blanchard
- Mr. Konrad Ng Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng
- Ms. Indra Nooyi
- The Honorable (Rep) David Obey, United States Representative (D/Wisconsin) Mrs. Joan Obey
- The Honorable (Mr.) Peter Orszag, Director, Office of Management & Budget
- Mr. Jim Owens Ms. Katie Owens
- Mr. Deepak Parekh
- Mr. Eboo Patel Ms. Shehnez Mansuri
- Mrs. Diane Patrick, First Lady of Massachusetts
- The Honorable (Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, United States Representative (D/California) and Speaker of the House Mr. Paul Pelosi
- Mr. Dan Pfeiffer, White House Office of Communications
- Mr. Sam Pitroda Mrs. Anjana Pitroda
- General Colin Powell Ms. Alma Powell
- Dr. Rachakonda D Prabhu Dr. Lata Shete Prabhu
- Mrs. Penny Pritzker Dr. Brian Traubert
- Ms. Kavita Ramdas
- Her Excellency Nirupama Rao, Foreign Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
- Ms. Preetha Reddy
- The Honorable (Governor) Edward Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania (D) The Honorable (Judge) Marjorie Rendell, First Lady of Pennsylvania
- Mr. Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting
- The Honorable (Ambassador) Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Mr. Ian Cameron
- The Honorable (Governor) Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico (D)
- Mrs. Barbara Richardson, First Lady of New Mexico
- Ms. Robin Roberts
- Mrs. Marian Robinson
- Ambassador Timothy Roemer, US Ambassador to India Mrs. Mary Johnston
- Ms. Desiree Rogers, Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary
- Mr. John Rogers
- The Honorable (Dr.) Christina Romer, Chair, Council of Economic Advisers
- Mr. Dennis Ross, NSC
- The Honorable (Rep) Edward Randall Royce, United States Representative Marie Therese Royce
- Mr. Michael Sacks Mrs. Cari Sacks
- The Honorable (Rep.) Linda Sanchez, United States Representative (D/California) Mr. James Sullivan, Guest of Then Honorable Linda Sanchez
- Mr. Pankaj Saran, Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
- His Excellency Shyam Saran, Special Envoy to the Prime Minister on Climate Change, Indian Delegation
- Mr. Jaideep Sarkar, Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
- Mr. Parag Saxena
- The Honorable (Rep.) Jan Schakowsky, United States Representative (D/Illinois) Mr. Robert Creamer
- The Honorable (Mr.) Phil Schiliro, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs Mrs. Jody Schiliro
- Ms. Annetta Seecharran Seema Agnani
- Mr. Stuart Seldowitz, Acting Director for South Asia, NSC
- Dr. Amartya Sen Ms. Emma Georgina Rothschild
- Under Secretary Rajiv J Shah, Under Secretary for Research, Education & Economics, Department of Agriculture
- The Honorable Sonal Shah, Deputy Assist to the President, Director Office of SICP, Domestic Policy Council
- Mr. Vinod Shah
- Her Excellency Meera SHANKAR, Ambassador, India
- The Honorable Susan Sher, Assistant to the President/Chief of Staff to the First Lady The Honorable (Mr.) Neil Cohen
- Mr. M. Night Shyamalan Mrs. Bhavna Shyamala
- Ms. Amrit Singh Mr. Analjit Singh
- Mr. Arun K. Singh, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation
- Mr. Balvinder Singh Mr. Mohinder Singh
- Mr. Lakhwinder Singh Mrs. Sukhbir Kaur
- Ms. Upinder Singh
- Mr. Steven Spielberg
- Mr. Sri Srinivasan Ms. Carla Garrett
- Ms. Srinija Srinivasan
- The Honorable (Mr.) Jim Steinberg, Deputy Secretary of State Ms. Sherburne Bradstreet
- Mrs. Semonti Stephens, Deputy Press Secretary, Office of the First Lady
- Mr. Andy Stern Ms. Anna Burger
- Mrs. Jane Stetson Mr. Bill Stetson
- Xenophilius Lovegood
- Honorable (Dr.) Larry Summers, Director, National Economic Council Dr. Elisa New
- The Honorable (Ms.) Mona Sutphen, Office of Chief of Staff Mr. Clyde Williams
- Mr. Ratan Tata
- The Honorable (Ms.) Tina Tchen, Office of Public Liaison
- Ambassador Vinai Thummalapally, Ambassador, Embassy of Belize Mrs. Barbara Thummalapally
- Mr. Jim Torrey Ms. Rose P Lynch
- Mr. Richard Trumka Mr. Paul H Lemmon
- Ms. Urvashi Vaid Ms. Kate Clinton
- Mr. Kirk Wagar Ms. Crystal Connor
- Dr. Eric E. Whitaker Dr. Cheryl Whitaker
- Mr. Brian Williams Mrs. Jane Williams
- Mr. Wellington Wilson Mrs. Wilson
- Mr. Neal Wolin, Deputy Secretary, Department of Treasury
- Ms. Alfre Woodard Mr. Blair E Underwood
- Mr. Fareed Zakaria Ms. Paula Throckmorton Zakaria
Here is a photo of the gate crashing couple:

image made from Michaele Salahi’s Facebook page shows a photo of Tareq Salahi, left, Vice President Joe Biden and Michaele Salahi, right, at the White House state dinner in Washington on Tuesday Nov. 24, 2009
Michaele and Tareq Salahi penetrated the intensive layers of security surrounding a US president armed with nothing more than a badly-fitting dinner jacket, eye-catching sari dress and mind-boggling chutzpah on Tuesday night.
Boasting of being “honoured to be at the White House”, Mrs Salahi’s page on her Facebook site showed her posing for photographs with Vice President Joe Biden, the White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, the CBS News presenter Katie Couric, Adrian Fenty, the mayor of Washington DC and even three US marines.
But Facebook photos also appear to show the couple in the First Family’s glass-enclosed bullet proof viewing area after a concert at the Lincoln Memorial during Barack Obama’s inauguration weekend, The Washington Post reported.
Mr Biden’s snaps were particularly embarrassing, one capturing the vice president with his arm around the gatecrasher’s waist as she rested a hand intimately on his chest.
Mrs Salahi is a former Washington Redskins cheerleader who, along with her husband, has auditioned to appear in a forthcoming TV show called Real Housewives of DC. The couple were last year involved in a family feud over the future of a $4.75 million vineyard.
Other pictures on her page show the couple with the Prince of Wales, President Obama, Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey, as well as one of Mrs Salahi wearing a skimpy dress on the cover of a local lifestyle magazine.
A publicist for Mrs Salahi initially insisted the couple had not been gatecrashers but later merely confirmed that they “both had a wonderful time”.
However, White House officials confirmed they had not been invited to the dinner nor included on the official guest list. Officials only learned of the intrusion after the media spotted the Facebook pictures.
In what is believed to be the first incidence in modern history of anyone gatecrashing a White House state dinner, the Salahis ended up in the same room as the Obamas and Manmohan Singh although it appears they were never seated for dinner. It was not clear if they ever spoke to the Obamas. – telegraph
Posted in Food, Politics | 2 Comments »
Click: Today's rank
Dr. Bernard Thébaud lives in two very different worlds. As a specialist in the Stollery Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, he cares for tiny babies, many of whom struggle for breath after being born weeks before they are due. Across town, in his laboratory in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta, Dr. Thébaud dons a lab coat and peers into a microscope to examine the precise effect of stem cells on the lungs.Today, with his scientific research being published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Dr. Thébaud has made a significant leap to bridge the gap between those two worlds.
SHE looks like a Force’s Sweetheart. But someone on the Home Front is missing her.

The death throes of the biggest star known to science have been observed by Europe's new space telescope, Herschel.
Prized for their impressive antlers, red deer have been caught in the hunters’ sights for generations. But a deer’s antlers are much more than decorative. They are lethal weapons that stags crash together when duelling. John Currey, from The University of York, UK, has been intrigued by the mechanical properties of bone for over half a century and has become fascinated by the mechanical properties of antler through a long-standing collaboration with Tomas Landete-Castillejos at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.

The prototype device can kill off bacteria, viruses, and fungi in just seconds… You can even make it battery operated so you can use small devices – I have one in my hand right now – Gregor Morfill
Though many competing claims exist, the most familiar story of the first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth Colony, in present-day Massachusetts, in 1621. More than 200 years later, President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving. Congress finally made Thanksgiving Day an official national holiday in 1941.
he Secret Service says it’s looking into its own security procedures after determining that two people crashed Tuesday night’s state dinner at the White House.
Mr Biden’s snaps were particularly embarrassing, one capturing the vice president with his arm around the gatecrasher’s waist as she rested a hand intimately on his chest.