USA: We fight dirty.

The Aspartame/NutraSweet Fiasco

FDA approved Aspartame despite proof of toxicity

Most people consider Aspartame to be safe, since it has been on the market since 1981. However, what is not widely known is that it took 16 years for the FDA to approve it. Doctors and neuroscientists objected, reporting safety studies that showed serious side effects in animals given Aspartame. In 1975, as a result of these objections, a task force was set up to review the safety and toxicity studies on Aspartame, and the resulting Bressler Report (Erik Millstone, Ph.D.) found that Aspartame was not safe for human consumption. Yet despite these findings, Aspartame was still approved.

In addition to side effects like headaches, depression, and brain tumors, Aspartame can mimic epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, attention deficit disorder, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus, hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, Epstein-Barr, post-polio syndrome, Lyme disease, and Ménière’s disease (Dorway.com/Symptoms).

Additives DO harm children - and a ban could cut child hyperactivity by a third, say scientists

New NASA Spacecraft to Probe Moon Dust

NASA is drawing up plans to probe the secrets of moon dust using a small orbiter that will ride piggyback on another spacecraft’s rocket.

The $80-million LADEE spacecraft is slated to launch alongside a lunar gravity-mapping probe in 2011 on a 100-day mission to study the moon’s wisp-thin atmosphere and ever-present dust, the agency said Thursday.

Scientists find new technique to save endangered creatures from croaking

Hopes of saving thousands of rare animal and plant species around the world from extinction have been increased by the development of a “conservation map”.

The mapping technique was used to identify wildlife hotspots in Madagascar, which has some of the rarest and most unusual creatures in the world.

Scientists from six countries worked together to develop a map pinpointing the areas on the island that most need to be protected to save the largest number of species from oblivion.

They assessed the habitat requirements of 2,315 species of wildlife from Madagascar, and decided that the same sort of conservation blueprint could be applied anywhere else in the world. A map produced by the researchers shows the wildlife hotspots on the island that contain the greatest variety of wildlife and the habitat types that are needed to support them in the long term.

Rare and threatened lemurs such as Perrier’s sifaka, Propithecus perrieri, a critically endangered species named last year among the world’s 25 most threatened primates, are among the creatures likely to benefit from the creation of the conservation map.

Other species living in the areas of Madagascar recommended as nature reserves were Boophis andohahela, a rare tree frog, and the critically endangered Coquerel’s sifaka, Propithecus verreauxi coquereli.

Lemurs, butterflies, frogs, ants, geckos and plants were assessed for the project, which is thought to be the most extensive and detailed analysis of conservation requirements yet.

So much data needed to be assessed during the survey that new computer software, made possible only by recent advances in computing, was created for the task. The animals and plants chosen for the mapping project, reported in the journal Science, had such broad habitat requirements that by saving them conservationists would be able to secure the future of many other species. -tol

Chain letters reveal surprising circulation patterns

A chain letter hoax that fooled thousands of people may help computer scientists understand how information spreads on a global scale.

The chain e-mail originated sometime in 2002, and claimed to be a petition to organize opposition to the impending US-Iraq war. Tens of thousands of people signed their names to several hundred copies of the petition, with some copies appearing on Web archives. Like most Internet chain letters, the petition had its origins in a hoax, but its widespread dissemination is one of the few instances of a single piece of traceable information spreading on a global scale.

Migratory Beekeepers Worry About Their Livelihood

Food is going to get much more expensive soon and out diets will need to change. Plants considered for space bases like broccoli and garden peas may be on the menu more.

… The earth’s bee population is less than half of what it was 20 years ago. McLaury says there are no more wild hives to pollinate crops. He says the planet losing an essential part of the food chain, which will mean higher prices for the food that is available.

“The only thing that’s wild now is if we let a swarm get away,” he said. “They’re wild for about a year, then they’re dead.” - kimatv

With bee populations waning, Beekeepers turn to Einstein’s oft-quoted ‘pollination theory’ for answers. Only problem is… Einstein never said it. Another snopes forum debunking the quote, here. - tdg

Africanized bees sting Mexican police, at least 70 hospitalized

At least 70 police officers were hospitalized after so-called Africanized bees swarmed a police shooting range in southern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday.

The attacked occurred Monday in Tapachula, Chiapas, after one of the policemen hit the bees’ hive with a bullet, local police officer Miguel Serrano said Tuesday. At least 10 of the 70 officers stung were in serious condition, he said.

“We tried as hard as we could, but we weren’t able to avoid getting stung,” Serrano said. “Some of us hit the ground, but that didn’t help.”

“It was really bad. I haven’t seen anything like it, even in the movies,” he said.

Africanized bees, a fierce hybrid strain sometimes referred to as “killer bees,” are the result of an experiment to increase honey production in Brazil. A swarm escaped a lab in 1957 and began heading north. - sd

The cops started it by shooting first.

This is just the beginning. I’m waiting for all different kinds of animals to figure out that humans are the enemy, then they will make plans and all attack at once. This should be a movie. I’d call it, “Super colony”. I’d get that guy with the movie voice to say something… { Quick, someone write me a clever movie intro. }

Newly Discovered Fundamental State Of Matter, A Superinsulator, Has Been Created

Superinsulation may sound like a marketing gimmick for a drafty attic or winter coat. But it is actually a newly discovered fundamental state of matter created by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in collaboration with several European institutions. This discovery opens new directions of inquiry in condensed matter physics and breaks ground for a new generation of microelectronics.

Led by Argonne senior scientist Valerii Vinokur and Russian scientist Tatyana Baturina, an international team of scientists from Argonne, Germany, Russia and Belgium fashioned a thin film of titanium nitride which they then chilled to near absolute zero. When they tried to pass a current through the material, the researchers noticed that its resistance suddenly increased by a factor of 100,000 once the temperature dropped below a certain threshold. The same sudden change also occurred when the researchers decreased the external magnetic field.

Like superconductors, which have applications in many different areas of physics, from accelerators to magnetic-levitation (maglev) trains to MRI machines, superinsulators could eventually find their way into a number of products, including circuits, sensors and battery shields.

Man In Mental Hospital After Chase

An Albuquerque man is in a Las Vegas mental hospital after investigators say he led police and deputies on a roughly 90 mile chase.

Investigators say it all started with the man trying to “get the devil” out of his girlfriend.

A set of spike sticks and two blown out tires aren’t stopping 24-year-old Jason Griego.  With smoke blowing from the wheel wells of his car he continues east on I-40.

Major Tim Baughman of the New Mexico State Police says “he went about, I think 20 miles with his tires deflated like that at speeds in excess of 90 miles an hour.”  After speeding over another set of spike sticks, Griego ditches his car near Santa Rosa.  You can see state police officers jump out of their patrol units and quickly tackle Griego to the ground, then they cuff him.

Major Tim Baughman of the New Mexico State Police says “he was making references to the lord or to Jesus and he didn’t like being handcuffed and things like that.”  Investigators tell us this all started as a domestic violence call at a gas station in Edgewood.

They say Griego pulled into a Phillips 66 when he saw the numbers 6-6, Santa Fe County investigators say Griego was yelling something about getting “the devil” out of his girlfriend.  A deputy tased Griego then they say Griego punched the deputy in the jaw.  After that, deputies say Griego jumped into his car and led officers on the wild pursuit.  Major Tim Baughman of the New Mexico State Police says “obviously he’s a dangerous driver, he’s driving fast recklessly and the officers are trained to try and protect themselves and the public.”

Investigators say Griego will likely be in the Las Vegas mental hospital for a while. He’s charged with false imprisonment, resisting arrest, evading officers, and battery on a police officer. -11alive

… and trying to remove the devil without a license.