Colombia: Would-be robber struck by bus

A would-be robber had a lucky escape after he was struck by a bus, moments after he snatched a woman’s mobile phone.

The incident happened in the Colombian city of Bogota, and was captured on CCTV.

The man escaped with only minor injuries, while his victim’s mobile phone was returned to her.

via BBC News – Colombia: Would-be robber struck by bus.

You were given a 2nd chance to live an honorable life, son. Don’t blow it.

Stolen Newborn Sold on Facebook

A man in India sold his grandchild on Facebook for 70,000 rupees (US$1,278). After his daughter Noor gave birth to his grandson, Feroze Khan, with the help of some hospital staff, he took the baby and was able to give him to his buyer, Amir Kumar. After seeing pictures of Feroze’s grandson via Facebook, Kumar agreed to pay for the baby.

Police learned about the incident after Noor filed complaints that her father sold her son. They immediately launched an investigation and were able to trace the baby in Delhi.

Ludhiana’s Commissioner of Police, Ishwar Singh, said, “We acted upon the complaint of the mother, who alleged that her child was stolen from the nursing home in Ludhiana. After investigations, we found the grandfather of the child had struck a deal with a man in Delhi and had roped-in the nursing staff to smuggle the baby out of the nursing home. We have arrested four people including the grandfather. We have also booked the buyer from Delhi.”

The reason for all this was that Mr. Khan was planning on another arranged marriage for his daughter. He had hoped that his daughter would get an abortion, but the hospital staff did not agree.

http://www.weirdasianews.com/2013/05/16/stolen-newborn-sold-facebook

Quantum camera snaps objects it cannot “see”

A normal digital camera can take snaps of objects not directly visible to its lens, US researchers have shown. The “ghost imaging” technique could help satellites take snapshots through clouds or smoke.

Physicists have known for more than a decade that ghost imaging is possible. But, until now, experiments had only imaged the holes in stencil-like masks, which limited its potential applications.

Now Yanhua Shih of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and colleagues at the US Army Research Laboratory, also in Maryland, have now taken the first ghost images of an opaque object – a toy soldier …

Ghost imaging works a bit like taking a flash-lit photo of an object using a normal camera. There the image forms from photons that come out of the flash, bounce off an object and into the lens.

The new technique also uses a light source to illuminate an object. However, the image is not formed from light that hits the object and bounces back. Instead, the camera collects photons that do not hit the object, but are paired through a quantum effect with others that did.

In Shih’s experiments a toy soldier was placed 45 centimetres away from a light source, which was split into two beams. One was pointed at the toy and the other at a digital camera. A photon detector was placed near the soldier, able only to record when a photon bounced off.

Photons from the light source constantly travel down both paths made by the splitter, either towards the soldier and the photon detector, or towards the camera. The detector and camera record a constant stream of those photons, and occasionally record a photon at exactly the same time.

When this happens, there is a direct relationship between where one of the photons hit the soldier, and where the other one hits the camera’s sensor, says Shih, because of a quantum effect called “two-photon interference”.

“If the first photon stops at one point on the object plane, the second photon can only be observed at the corresponding point on the image plane,” he says.

So when the camera records only pixels from photons that hit simultaneously with one reaching the detector, a “ghost image” of the object builds up. The soldier’s image appeared after around 1000 coincidental photons were recorded.

“It is clear that the experimental set-up can be directly applied to sensing applications,” Shih told New Scientist .

The same method could one day be employed to produce satellite images of objects hidden behind clouds or smoke, using the sun’s radiation as the photon source, says Shih. Doing that may require a photon counter beneath the clouds, but could allow a top-down view not possible using conventional methods.

Not everyone agrees that quantum effects are at work in ghost imaging, though. Baris Erkmen and Jeffrey Shapiro of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, US, point out in a recent paper that classical physics says light sources produce numbers of uncoordinated photons that are not correlated as Shih suggests.

They suspect ghost images might be produced without a quantum link between photon pairs, purely because some photons are just similar. …

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13825-quantum-camera-snaps-objects-it-cannot-see.html

Fla. man tricked pregnant girlfriend into taking abortion drug, feds say

The label on the bottle said it contained a common antibiotic, but prosecutors say inside was a drug that’s often used to induce abortions.

Remee Jo Lee, 26, was six weeks pregnant when her boyfriend gave her a pill he said was prescribed by his father, a Florida fertility doctor, to treat a bacterial infection, according to court papers.

Lee says she trustingly swallowed the pill, and within hours started bleeding. She went to the hospital, where she had a miscarriage and learned that her boyfriend had tricked her into terminating her pregnancy, her lawyer alleges.

Now the ex-boyfriend, John Andrew Welden, 28, is in county lockup, facing a civil lawsuit and a murder rap.

A federal indictment unsealed Thursday charged Welden with product-tampering and first-degree murder under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, charges that could carry a life sentence.

The lawyer who represented him at an initial appearance Wednesday did not return a phone call but said in court that the allegations were out of character for his client, according to The Associated Press.

In a civil complaint and statement, Lee’s attorney described how an eight-month romance turned toxic when his client became pregnant in February.

Lee “was anticipating motherhood with great joy and excitement,” but Welden begged her not to go through with it, lawyer Gil Sanchez said in a press release.

“Everyone dreams of becoming a mom. This was my chance,” Lee told told Tampa’s WFTS-TV.

In late March, Welden took Lee to his father’s Lutz, Fla., clinic for a prenatal examination, including a sonogram and blood and urine samples that confirmed a healthy pregnancy, Lee’s lawsuit says.

The next day, Welden told Lee that his father had diagnosed her with an infection and prescribed Amoxicillin, the antibiotic, the suit charges.

In reality, the doctor’s son had forged a prescription for Cytotec, an ulcer drug that can be used for non-surgical abortions because it causes contractions, Lee’s lawyer said.

“He came to my house with the pills, his weapon of choice,” Lee told WFTS.

“He told me to keep taking them. I was supposed to take three a day for days.”

Welden later admitted to Lee that he had fooled her, the suit claims. It describes his actions as “outrageous, beyond the bounds of decency and utterly intolerable.”

The suit seeks unspecified damages in excess of $15,000.

“We may soon be seeking redress for Lee against others who may have some degree of liability for this heinous act,” Sanchez said, without identifying anyone.

Welden, who worked at his father’s clinic but was not a doctor, is the only person charged with a crime. Workers at the clinic declined to comment.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/16/18302019-fla-man-tricked-pregnant-girlfriend-into-taking-abortion-drug-feds-say

New Hair Style: The Lizard

Vortex to another dimension reported in Brighton

Council bosses have been left mystified after reports of a wormhole to another portal has opened in a residential street in Brighton.
A member of the public reported to Brighton and Hove City Council that the “wormhole or vortex” had opened up in Montreal Road, Hanover, on May 2.

They made the report via the website Fix My Street which is more typically used to report potholes, dumped rubbish and broken lampposts.

The anonymous poster said: “I was recently walking my affenpinscher (a toy breed of dog) around the Hanover area of Brighton when I noticed that a wormhole or vortex has opened up on Montreal Road.

“On closer inspection it seems to be some kind of portal to other times, places and dimensions.

“I would have investigated further but I was concerned my little dog would be sucked into it.

“Is this meant to be there? At first I believed it might be part of the Brighton Festival but I believe it could be a hazard to the general public. I look forward to your response.”

They followed this up with a report on Thursday, explaining: “The other day I reported the presence of some kind of wormhole or vortex on Montreal Road.

“I went past the other day and it seems to have got worse – it is now emitting an unsettling yellow light and a large snake appears to be emerging from the wall.

“I am concerned this is a passage to another time or dimension, and if this snake is anything to go by, I’m worried what else may emerge from the wormhole. Can anyone suggest a course of action to take?”

Brighton and Hove City Council told The Argus they will not be investigating the report.

Commenting on Fix My Street previously, the council said: “We welcome reports through any means residents choose and as a council provide many ways through which residents can raise issues directly ranging from post, online or by telephone.”…

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10414195.Vortex_to_another_dimension_reported_in_Brighton/

Jesus! They are just ignoring it??? How many snakes from another time or dimension have to ooze out and snarf up how many affenpinschers before they act?! Can’t. Stop. Laughing.

“Slow-motion disaster”: California houses sinking into the ground

Scott and Robin Spivey had a sinking feeling that something was wrong with their home when cracks began snaking across their walls in March.

The cracks soon turned into gaping fractures, and within two weeks their 600-square-foot garage broke from the house and the entire property — manicured lawn and all — dropped 10 feet below the street.

It wasn’t long before the houses on both sides collapsed as the ground gave way in the Spivey’s neighborhood in Lake County, about 100 miles north of San Francisco.

“We want to know what is going on here,” said Scott Spivey, a former city building inspector who lived in his four-bedroom, Tudor-style dream home for 11 years.

Eight homes are now abandoned and 10 more are under notice of imminent evacuation as a hilltop with sweeping vistas of Clear Lake and the Mount Konocti volcano swallows the subdivision built 30 years ago.

The situation has become so bad that mail delivery was ended to keep carriers out of danger.

“It’s a slow-motion disaster,” said Randall Fitzgerald, a writer who bought his home in the Lakeside Heights project a year ago.

Unlike sinkholes of Florida that can gobble homes in an instant, this collapse in hilly volcanic country can move many feet on one day and just a fraction of an inch the next.

Officials believe water that has bubbled to the surface is playing a role in the destruction. But nobody can explain why suddenly there is plentiful water atop the hill in a county with groundwater shortages.

“That’s the big question,” said Scott De Leon, county public works director. “We have a dormant volcano, and I’m certain a lot of things that happen here (in Lake County) are a result of that, but we don’t know about this.”

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/11/18200565-slow-motion-disaster-california-houses-sinking-into-the-ground?lite

Man who thought he just had a runny nose for a year-and-a-half finds out it was really his brain fluid leaking

For more than a year and a half, Joe Nagy’s nose just wouldn’t stop running.

At first he put it down to year-round allergies caused by the Arizona weather.

The condition occurred once or twice a week, especially when he sat up in bed, but within a short time his nose ran constantly.

Eventually, Mr Nagy’s condition became unbearable,’ I got to the point where I had tissues all the time’ he told Fox 10.

He finally went to the doctor to be told his runny nose was far from run-of-mill allergies: his brain was leaking.

The problem would occur on a daily basis. ‘This clear liquid dribbled out of my nose like tears out of your eyes. I go what is this?’

‘I got to the point where I had tissues all the time. My pockets were full of folded-up tissues.’

After realising the allergy medication was having absolutely no effect whatsoever he went sought out medical advice.

A doctor diagnosed the problem fairly soon afterwards. The membrane surrounding Joe’s brain had a hole in it and his brain fluid was leaking out.

‘You don’t really think about it, but our brains are really just above our noses all of the time,’ said Barrow Neurological Institute neurosurgeon Peter Nakaji to KSAZ.

‘This is one of the more common conditions to be missed for a long time… because so many people have runny noses.’

Joe was about to have an operation to patch the hole when he contracted a case of near-deadly meningitis and the brain fluid became infected.

Dr. Nakaji explains that human bodies produce around 12 ounces of brain fluid each day which is enough to keep the brain from drying out and another reason why Joe’s runny nose never stopped.

Doctors advise that if you have a runny nose, to first consult an allergist or an ear, nose and throat specialist.

Brain fluid is different to a runny nose caused by allergies because the liquid is exceptionally clear.

There can be various causes that would set off a leak. Sometimes a past head injury can lead to brain fluid leaking, or it can be caused from complications from a spinal tap or surgery

‘These leaks can be very very tiny, a little like a puncture on a bicycle tire, that sometimes you have trouble even finding where it is.’

Mr Nagy underwent surgery. It didn’t require any cutting into the brain itself. Instead the procedure is carried out through the nose and essentially glue was used to seal up the hole.

‘This is just a bit of cartilage from the nose that we can get to repair over it and then the body will seal it up,’ said Doctor Nakaji.

This week, the gauze was removed by doctors from his nose. Joe began to wait for the dripping to begin.

‘I was waiting for the dribble. This leaking cause I was so used to it every day. I got my hankie. Nothing. It’s never come back.’

via Man who thought he just had a runny nose for a year-and-a-half finds out it was really his brain fluid leaking | Mail Online.

Human brain cells alive in mouse brains.

Into brains of newborn mice, researchers implanted human “progenitor cells.” These mature into a type of brain cell called astrocytes… They grew into human astrocytes, crowding out mouse astrocytes. The mouse brains became chimeras of human and mouse, with the workhorse mouse brain cells – neurons – nurtured by billions of human astrocytes.

Neuroscience is only beginning to discover what astrocytes do in brains. One job that is known is that they help neurons build connections (synapses) with other neurons. (Firing neurotransmitter molecules across synapses is how neurons communicate.) Human astrocytes are larger and more complex than those of other mammals. Humans’ unique brain capabilities may depend on this complexity.

Human astrocytes certainly inspired the mice. Their neurons did indeed build stronger synapses. (Perhaps this was because human astrocytes signal three times faster than mouse astrocytes do.) Mouse learning sharpened, too. On the first try, for instance, altered mice perceived the connection between a noise and an electric shock (a standard learning test in mouse research). Normal mice need a few repetitions to get the idea. Memories of the doctored mice were better too: they remembered mazes, object locations, and the shock lessons longer.

Astrocytes (red) embedded among neurons (green)

The reciprocal pulsing of billions of human and mouse brain cells inside a mouse skull is a little creepy. Imagine one of these hybrid mice exploring your living room. Would you feel like a Stone Age tribesman observing a toy robot? Does the thing think?

Neuroscience has no idea – none – of how a mind rises like a genie from the fleshy human brain. It supposes, however, that the magic trick’s spoiler will turn out to reside in physics and chemistry of brain cells. That is the discipline’s fundamental assumption. Nowhere else can the mystery be hiding.

But we have no idea what’s happening as billions of human astrocytes animate rodent awareness inside the tiny skulls. And “awareness” is one quality of “mind.” Do billions of human cells have no effect on mouse awareness? …

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/2013/05/09/human-brain-cells-alive-in-mouse-brains/

They know. They understand what has been done to them. If you look closely they are trying to give you the middle mouse finger each time you prepare to administer a shock. They hate you for trapping them in a short lived mouse and they hate the rest of humanity for letting you get away with this experiment.

What The Hell Is It? Bizarre “Organism” Appears After Lightning Strike

Did an alien creature just land on Earth? Did a bolt of electricity blast some poor squirrel inside out? Just what in god’s name is that thing?Those are just a few of the questions asked after a streak of lightning struck a man’s front yard this weekend, blowing a hole in the ground and revealing a Lovecraftian monstrosity smoking in the dirt. Believing it to be an organic creature of some kind, the man wasted no time texting photos of the gross-looking thing to his friends, one of whom took to social media for answers.

“Lightning struck my friend’s yard yesterday and left this monstrosity,” ben51959 posted to reddit. “What the hell is it?”

Immediately, theories began to pour in from morbidly curious internet slueths, ranging from everything to a coagulated earthworm colony, to fulgarite, to a fried Koosh ball, to the hilariously horrifying “lightning placenta”.

“I just poked it, it’s definitely rubbery/squishy,” Ben replied. “There appear to be no bones.”

Many of the armchair skeptics settled on the Koosh theory, but a few hours later another surfer popped in to add that a similar event had been witnessed by him, providing an even weirder photo of the same phenomena.

 

What are the chances that two of the exact same rubber toys were zapped, creating the exact same hunk of mutant flesh? Slim to none, I’m guessing.

via What The Hell Is It? Bizarre “Organism” Appears After Lightning Strike