Researchers: Jamestown settlers resorted to cannibalism

The winter of 1609 to 1610 was treacherous for early American settlers. Some 240 of the 300 colonists at Jamestown, in Virginia, died during this period, called the “Starving Time,” when they were under siege and had no way to get food.

Desperate times led to desperate measures. New evidence suggests that includes eating the flesh of fellow colonists who had already died.

Archaeologists revealed Wednesday their analysis of 17th century skeletal remains suggesting that settlers practiced cannibalism to survive.

Researchers unearthed an incomplete human skull and tibia (shin bone) in 2012 that contain several features suggesting that this particular person had been cannibalized. The remains come from a 14-year-old girl of English origin, whom historians are calling “Jane.”

There are about half a dozen accounts that mention cannibalistic behaviors at that time, although the record is limited, said Douglas Owsley, division head of physical anthropology at the Smithsonian National Museum of National History.

The newly analyzed remains support these accounts, providing the first forensic evidence of cannibalism in the American colonies.

What we know from the bones

Jane’s remains were found in a 17th-century trash deposit at the former site of James Fort. William Kelso, chief archaeologist at the Jamestown Rediscovery Project said at a briefing Wednesday that the fort was built in 1607, but has been washed away. Kelso and colleagues began digging in 1994 and have been excavating the site on Jamestown Island ever since.

Owsley and colleagues can tell quite a bit about what happened to Jane when at least one starving settler in the fort apparently tried to feed off of her.
If it’s any consolation, it appears that she was already dead at the time. …

Six ships reached Jamestown in August 1609, with spoiled or depleted food, and many settlers in poor health. “On one of those ships was Jane,” Horn said.

At the same time, the relationship between the Jamestown colonists and the native Powhatan Indians had broken down. The existing settlers were already experiencing disease and a shortage of food, and the demands they made on the Powhatans strained their relations.

That was the environment into which 300 additional settlers arrived at the James Fort.

One of the leaders of the group, Captain John Smith — the same one who was famously friends with Pocahontas — returned to England in October 1609 because he was injured, Owsley said, leaving a leadership vacuum.

In the fall, the Powhatans waged war against these colonists, and launched a siege against the fort.

With no way to get food from the outside, the colonists resorted to eating horses, dogs, cats, rats, mice and snakes, Horn said, according to the accounts of George Percy, who was the president of Jamestown during this time. There are even accounts of people eating their shoes and any other leather that could be found. Anyone who left to try to scrounge for roots in the woods was killed by the Powhatans.

Percy wrote, according to the Smithsonian, “thatt notheinge was Spared to mainteyne Lyfe and to doe those things which seame incredible, as to digge upp deade corpes outt of graves and to eate them. And some have Licked upp the Bloode which hathe fallen from their weake fellowes.” In other words, cannibalism. …

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/01/us/jamestown-cannibalism/index.html

A bit more history for context:

Captain John Smith became the colony’s leader in September 1608 – the fourth in a succession of council presidents – and established a “no work, no food” policy. Smith had been instrumental in trading with the Powhatan Indians for food. However, in the fall of 1609 he was injured by burning gunpowder and left for England. Smith never returned to Virginia, but promoted colonization of North America until his death in 1631 and published numerous accounts of the Virginia colony, providing invaluable material for historians.

Smith’s departure was followed by the “starving time,” a period of warfare between the colonists and Indians and the deaths of many English men and women from starvation and disease. Just when the colonists decided to abandon Jamestown in Spring 1610, settlers with supplies arrived from England, eager to find wealth in Virginia. This group of new settlers arrived under the second charter issued by King James I. This charter provided for stronger leadership under a governor who served with a group of advisors, and the introduction of a period of military law that carried harsh punishments for those who did not obey.

In order to make a profit for the Virginia Company, settlers tried a number of small industries, including glassmaking, wood production, and pitch and tar and potash manufacture. However, until the introduction of tobacco as a cash crop about 1613 by colonist John Rolfe, who later married Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas, none of the colonists’ efforts to establish profitable enterprises were successful. Tobacco cultivation required large amounts of land and labor and stimulated the rapid growth of the Virginia colony. Settlers moved onto the lands occupied by the Powhatan Indians, and increased numbers of indentured servants came to Virginia.

The first documented Africans in Virginia arrived in 1619. They were from the kingdom of Ndongo in Angola, West Central Africa, and had been captured during war with the Portuguese. While these first Africans may have been treated as indentured servants, the customary practice of owning Africans as slaves for life appeared by mid-century. The number of African slaves increased significantly in the second half of the 17th century, replacing indentured servants as the primary source of labor.

http://www.historyisfun.org/history-jamestown.htm

Fukushima Uncontained: Nuclear Plant Releasing 93 Billion Becquerels Of Radiation A DAY.

… “ The bottom line is that the reactors have lost containment. There are not “some leaks” at Fukushima. “Leaks” imply that the reactor cores are safely in their containment buildings, and there is a small hole or two which need to be plugged. But scientists don’t even know where the cores of the reactors are. That’s not leaking. That’s even worse than a total meltdown.
” This is a daily, ongoing ecological catastrophe. Being ignored and denied by American and by proxy Japanese goverments to preserve and proliferate pro-nuclear energy policy…

A quick calculation shows that Chernobyl released around ten thousand times more radioactive cesium each day during the reactor fire. But the Chernobyl fire only lasted 10 days … and the Fukushima release has been ongoing for more than 2 years so far.

Indeed, Fukushima has already spewed much more radioactive cesium and iodine 131than Chernobyl. The amount of radioactive cesium released by Fukushima was some 20-30 times higher than initially admitted.

Fukushima also pumped out huge amounts of radioactive iodine 129 – which has a half-life of 15.7 million years. Fukushima has also dumped up to 900 trillion becquerels of radioactive strontium-90 – which is a powerful internal emitter which mimics calcium and collects in our bones – into the ocean.

And the amount of radioactive fuel at Fukushima dwarfs Chernobyl … and so could keep leaking for decades, centuries or millenia. …

http://banoosh.com/blog/2013/04/20/fukushima-uncontained-nuclear-plant-releasing-93-billion-becquerels-of-radiation-a-day/

Related:

Almost two years after a natural disaster ravaged a Japanese nuclear plant, Bluefin tuna that test positive for radiation poisoning continue to be caught off the coast of California.

http://rt.com/usa/tuna-fukushima-radiation-238/

And:

Is Fukushima Radiation Causing the Epidemic of Dead and Starving Sea Lions In California?

…CBS News reported last week: ”They’re very sick,” said Keith Matassa, who runs the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. His team is nursing 115 sea lions back to health. “A normal sea lion at this age — 8 to 9 months old — should be around 60, 70 pounds,” said Matassa. “We’re seeing them come into our center at 20 to 25 pounds, and really they look like walking skeletons.”…

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-03-31/fukushima-radiation-causing-epidemic-dead-and-starving-sea-lions-california

Get a Geiger counter now. I use mine to monitor background radiation levels. Get baseline measurements now and know what levels are normal in your area. Know what levels are dangerous. Treat it as if there was a nuclear war and we need to monitor fallout.

Cutting specific atmospheric pollutants would slow sea level rise

Image: black carbon, a short-lived pollutant (shown in purple), shrouds the globe.

With coastal areas bracing for rising sea levels, new research indicates that cutting emissions of certain pollutants can greatly slow sea level rise this century.Scientists found that reductions in four pollutants that cycle comparatively quickly through the atmosphere could temporarily

 

forestall the rate of sea level rise by roughly 25 to 50 percent.The researchers focused on emissions of four heat-trapping pollutants: methane, tropospheric ozone, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon.These gases and particles last anywhere from a week to a decade in the atmosphere and can influence climate more quickly than carbon dioxide, which persists in the atmosphere for centuries.”To avoid potentially dangerous sea level rise, we could cut emissions of short-lived pollutants even if we cannot immediately cut carbon dioxide emissions,” says Aixue Hu of the National Center for Atmospheric Research NCAR in Boulder, Colo., first author of a paper published today in the journal Nature Climate Change.”Society can significantly reduce the threat to coastal cities if it moves quickly on a handful of pollutants.”The research was funded by the National Science Foundation NSF and the U.S. Department of Energy.”Sea level rise and its consequences present enormous challenges to modern society,” says Anjuli Bamzai, program director in NSF’s Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, which supported the

 

research.”This study looks at projections of global sea level rise, unraveling the effects of mitigating short-lived greenhouse gases such as methane, tropospheric ozone, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon, as well as long-lived greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide,” says Bamzai.It is still not too late, “by stabilizing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere and reducing emissions of shorter-lived pollutants, to lower the rate of warming and reduce sea level rise by 30 percent,” says atmospheric scientist Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography SIO in San Diego, a co-author of the paper. Ramanathan initiated and helped oversee the study.”The large role of the shorter-lived pollutants is encouraging since technologies are available to drastically cut their emissions,” says Ramanathan.The potential effects of rising oceans on populated areas are of great concern, he says.Many of the world’s major cities, such as New York, Miami, Amsterdam, Mumbai, and Tokyo, are located in low-lying areas along coasts.

via Cutting specific atmospheric pollutants would slow sea level rise.

 

Is It Still Possible to Disappear From Society?

Two of the country’s most notorious survivalists – the Hermit of North Pond in Maine, and The Mountain Man of Utah, were found and arrested in the last few weeks. And a case of a missing family, the McStay family of southern California, was effectively closed when investigators said the family appears to have gone to Mexico voluntarily.

So is it still possible to “disappear” in 2013?

“Is it more difficult? Yes,” said Jim Biesterfeld, a former U.S. army counter-intelligence special agent who teaches private investigations at California State University-Fullerton Jim Biesterfeld. “Impossible? Not even.”

For someone to hide away from society, he said, at least two things are essential: self-sufficiency, and desire.

“There are not that many people who want to stay hidden for that long” in solitude,” Biesterfeld said. “Most people try to establish new identities.”

That’s why it’s unusual for two cases of solitary survivalists to have been solved in such close succession.

Christopher Knight, 47, also known as The North Pond Hermit, appears to be one of those few who truly wanted to live on his own…

http://mashable.com/2013/04/15/is-it-possible-to-disappear/

Man Tries to Cut Off His Arms at California Home Depot

It was a bloody scene at a Home Depot in West Covina, Calif., on Wednesday when a man entered the store and began sawing his arms off with a hand saw, scaring customers into a panic, according to local police.

The man, who is in his late 50s, is not being identified and is in critical condition. However both his arms were saved, a Queen of the Valley Hospital spokesperson said.Capt. Art Hurtado, an off-duty paramedic from Pasadena, said in a press conference Thursday that he was going to the store for supplies for a project and had stumbled upon police outside the store. He ran in to help with the scene and saw the man lying face down and surrounded by a pool of blood.“There was pandemonium when I walked into the store. A lot of chaos, people running in all directions,” Hurtado said.

“As I walked in, he was face down and I thought it was a crime scene with a fatality, that is how it seemed. There was a pulse, a very faint pulse and he was barely breathing. I knew I had to slow the bleeding down, or this patient may or may not make it.”Hurtado said he did not have the equipment he normally would have with him had he been working. So he immediately had to “engage in some cursory care” by asking for towels and rope, which he used to make a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

“We started the tourniquet in his worst arm, and the dressings were applied to both,” he said. “We got him into a gurney, and he was taken to the local hospital.”

The man was taken to the hospital and his family was notified early Thursday morning, the hospital spokesperson said.Hurtado, who has served with the Pasadena Fire Department for 22 years, said he is always ready to help, whether he’s at work or not, because of his “training as a firefighter and a paramedic.”

“I am always on duty, just like any other brother and sister firefighter,” he added.Stephen Holmes, a spokesman for Home Depot, told ABCNews.com he commends all individuals involved in the rescue of the man.

“We greatly appreciate the fantastic support from the first responders, the city, and our employees and we’re all pulling for a full recovery for this individual,” Holmes said.

“It was obviously extremely tragic, and we want to show our appreciation to the city and the great job they did.”

The Home Depot was cleaned by a third-party hazardous-material team and opened for business as schedule Thursday, Holmes said.

via Man Tries to Cut Off His Arms at California Home Depot – ABC News.

“He’s still not speaking,” Lopez said. “We don’t know anything about his history, motive, concerns at this point.”

Police said the man grabbed several small saws, including one meant to cut drywall, and injured himself Wednesday in a Home Depot store in West Covina, a suburb east of Los Angeles.

via USA Today

Horrified shoppers could only watch as a “crazed” man tried to cut off his arms by sawing them both to the bone in a busy suburban Home Depot store in West Covina, Los Angeles.

Customers at the home improvement outlet watched as he grabbed several small saws – usually used to cut sheet rock – and began slicing open his arms.

via  nydailynews.com

Police are not releasing the identity of an Azusa man in his 50s who entered a local Home Depot on Wednesday and used three saws to cut his arms to the bone, police said.

The man was losing consciousness when a West Covina police officer and an off-duty paramedic from the Pasadena Fire Department came to his rescue.

via MercuryNews

The man had acted like any other customer when he walked into the Home Depot, until he grabbed several handsaws and began cutting into his upper limbs, reaching the bone, Lopez said. Police said it appeared that he had used at least three saws including one designed to cut drywall.

“The amount of pain that someone has to go through to continue to use the saw on yourself, to me I just can’t fathom that,” Lopez said.

The man survived surgery and it appears doctors were able to save his arms, Lopez said. Police said they have spoken with the man’s family and are trying to determine what caused him to hurt himself.

via ChiacagoTribune

According to the Los Angeles Times, a local California man at approximately 1:00pm Wednesday afternoon walked into the Home Depot on Azusa Avenue and went straight to the saw and cutting section. He grabbed several sawing tools down the aisle and began using them on his arms.

911 calls were made shortly after the man was discovered in his tracks, and by the time medical paramedics and police authorities arrived on the scene, the man was found lying unconscious on the ground in his pool of blood.

West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez in the same article stated, “He just began sawing away. He was pretty much intent on doing what he did.”

via CelebCafe

Horrific. Do the words West Covina appear in the Batman movie?

Naturally occurring substance proves effective against deadly skin cancer in laboratory tests

 

A natural substance called gossypin, extracted from the flowers of cotton and hibiscus plants, has been proven effective as a treatment for melanoma, the deadliest and most aggressive form of skin cancer, in lab tests— the next step is to see whether it works in humans. -link

For the first time, scientists have demonstrated the mechanism of action of gossypin, a naturally-occurring substance found in fruits and vegetables, as a treatment for melanoma, which causes the majority of deaths from skin cancer.

“We identified gossypin as a novel agent with dual inhibitory activity towards two common mutations that are the ideal targets for melanoma treatment,” said Texas Biomed’s Hareesh Nair, Ph.D.

At the moment, there is no single therapeutic agent or combination regimen available to treat all melanomas, of which about 76,000 new cases are diagnosed annually, according to the American Cancer Society.

“Our results indicate that gossypin may have great therapeutic potential as a dual inhibitor of mutations called BRAFV600E kinase and CDK4, which occur in the vast majority of melanoma patients. They open a new avenue for the generation of a novel class of compounds for the treatment of melanoma,” Nair added.

His report, appearing in the March 29, 2013 issue of the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, was funded by the Texas Biomedical Forum and the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation.

Nair and his colleagues found that gossypin inhibited human melanoma cell proliferation, in vitro, in melanoma cell lines that harbor the two mutations. Gossypin stunted activities of the mutated genes, possibly through direct binding with them. It also inhibited the growth of various human melanoma cells. In addition, gossypin treatment for 10 days of human melanoma cell tumors with the mutations transplanted into mice reduced tumor volume and increased survival rate.

Further studies are planned by Nair’s team to understand how the body absorbs gossypin and how it is metabolized. This idea has been discussed with the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio’s Deva Mahalingam, M.D, Ph.D., who is interested in testing gossypin in melanoma patients. …

via Naturally occurring substance proves effective against deadly skin cancer in laboratory tests.

85% Of Cops Say Gun Control Is Useless, Detrimental

In a national survey of members of one of the largest groups for law enforcement professionals, an overwhelming majority of active duty and retired officers said that the Obama administration’s gun control proposals will either have no effect or will make things significantly worse.

In the survey conducted by PoliceOne.com, a stunning 85 percent of law enforcement professionals said that in their opinion, a federal ban on assault weapons would have no effect on crime, and would likely have a negative effect on their safety.

When asked whether a federal ban on ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds would reduce violent crime, 96 percent of law enforcement professionals said no.

The survey also revealed that nearly three times as many former and active police believe that a federal ban would exacerbate violent crime rather than help to reduce it.

In addition, twice as many believe that they will be less safe than more safe because of the gun control provisions.

When asked what they thought was the best course of action to prevent incidents such as the recent Sandy Hook school and Aurora Theater shootings, almost one third of law enforcement professionals said “more permissive concealed carry policies for civilians.” In addition, 86 percent said that they felt a legally armed citizen could have reduced casualties at both incidents.

Furthermore, a huge 91 percent said that they support concealed carry by honest/screened citizens, and a massive 80 percent of respondents also said they supported arming school teachers and officials with guns.

“Contrary to what the mainstream media and certain politicians would have us believe, police overwhelmingly favor an armed citizenry, would like to see more guns in the hands of responsible people, and are skeptical of any greater restrictions placed on gun purchase, ownership, or accessibility.” said Doug Wylie, editor of PoliceOne.com. …

via » 85% Of Cops Say Gun Control Is Useless, Detrimental Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!.

I happen to agree. Just as I want people who know CPR around, I’d also like to have a few good armed people around to thwart crime. Getting a concealed weapons permit for personal protection is not that easy in some parts of California.  This is from 2010:

The following is from http://www.californiaconcealedcarry.com/

Carrying a Concealed Firearm in California

In about 40 of the states, any law-abiding citizen may carry a concealed firearm. In Alaska, Arizona and Vermont, a license or permit is not required. In Wyoming, since July 2011, residents are not required to have a permit and it is believed that the out of state permits of non-residents will be honored. In the others (“Shall Issue” states) the weapon license, or permit, MUST be granted. One state (Illinois) has no provision for concealed carry (this may change shortly). The remaining few are known as “May Issue” states, and permits are frequently granted, or refused, at the discretion of Sheriffs, Police Chiefs or Judges (depending upon state law).

California is a “May Issue” state; the decision to grant a CCW (Carry a Concealed Weapon) Permit being granted (or more often refused) at the discretion of the County Sheriff or Police Chief. Some sheriffs/chiefs issue on a reasonable basis, others can be next to impossible to persuade. Many of them, such as LAPD, LASO, Marin SO, SDSO, SFSO and SFPD, (to name just a few) operate Constitutionally illegal policies that are ripe for a legal challenge.

This site is designed to help California residents to understand the law concerning Concealed Carry Permits in California, how to determine whether you reside in a city or county in which it is relatively easy or difficult to obtain a permit and how to make the best of whatever situation in which you find yourself.

Second Amendment

Having a CCW is a privilege, not an entitlement, and the Courts have ruled that a California CCW is not guaranteed to anyone under the 2nd Amendment. If your core belief is that it is a ‘Right’ guaranteed by the Constitution, stop reading and go to one to the Foundation supported sites that share your beliefs. However, the 14th Amendment (Due Process, Equal Protection) is extremely relevant, as many Sheriffs/Chiefs issue on a discriminatory basis. This site will help you identify and overcome this discrimination.

Our Mission

To assist those dealing with California and the right to equal access to a Concealed Weapon Permit. We will tell you up front what we believe your chances of success are and discuss all of your options. California, with its restrictive Concealed Weapon Permit laws (PC 26150), has great need of a site designed solely to help those who wish to successfully acquire a CCW. If you are serious about this pursuit, then you have come to the right place.

Getting Started

If you are a law-abiding Californian citizen who is serious about getting a CCW, then this may be just the site to help. To get the full benefit of the resources on this site, you must regard this as a serious exercise, and be prepared to engage your brain. Once you have done your homework, contact us for help with the next stage.

It is the aim of this site to provide information and assistance to all serious applicants who request same. If you are denied and desire to pursue your appeal beyond the department’s appeal process, we have professionals here that can assist you. A PI with 38 years combined experience in law enforcement, a Plaintiff’s Private Investigator and armed CCW Transporter. 25 of those years investigating government corruption and specializing in investigating Chiefs and Sheriffs with illegal CCW policies and practices.

We work with attorneys who are CCW friendly and some of whom are themselves are former law enforcement. If you work with us we will champion your case through the legal system. Salute v. Pitchess and Guillory v. Gates were benchmark cases that spell out your right to be fairly evaluated in your application for a CCW. Quitters do not win and winners do not quit!

Team Billy Jack is made up of professional, licensed winners. Billy Jack does not view defeat as an option and he does not take prisoners, so if you ask for our assistance be prepared to put some work into your application and possible appeal.

… Read More

That genetic test that predicts if you can live to 100: Scientists pinpoint 19 markers that show you will have a long life

A genetic test which tells whether you will make it to your century has been developed by scientists.

The computer program will give individuals their odds of reaching the age of 100 – and tell them whether their chances are higher or lower than average. Its inventors, from the respected Boston University in the U.S., say it will allow those not blessed with the cocktail of ‘centenarian genes’ to make changes to their lifestyle to maximise the time they have.

But the breakthrough raises moral questions about the effects of being told your destiny – and about who picks up the pieces if the test results are wrong.

There is also the fear that insurance and pension firms could use the information to alter premiums and payouts. The researchers studied the DNA of 1,600 centenarians, including some as old as 119, and compared it with the DNA of others.

This highlighted 150 genetic changes which were more common in those who lived to a ripe old age. They could be broken down into 19 groups, or genetic ‘signatures’, the journal Science reports.

Researcher Dr Paola Sebastiani said: ‘Some signatures correlate with the longest survival, other signatures correlate with the most delayed onset of age-related diseases such as dementia or cardiovascular disease.’ Understanding how these genes lengthen life or protect against illness could lead to new drugs to fight disease.

The researchers are now completing work on a computer program which can tell whether someone is predisposed to a long life – as long as they have information on their genetic code to hand. It could be available to other scientists within days, before being released to the public. The researchers are not patenting the information, meaning there is nothing to stop a biotech company creating an easy-to-use commercial kit.

But there are concerns about the reactions of those given the news that their life could be longer or shorter than they’d expected. And the researchers’ method is only 77 per cent accurate – meaning almost a quarter of those tested could be told they didn’t have what it takes to live to 100, when in fact they did.

One in 15 has the right combination of genes to live to 100, but just one in 600 actually makes it, meaning factors such as healthcare, diet and exercise are hugely important. Dr Muireann Quigley, a Manchester University bioethicist, warned: ‘Having these genes doesn’t mean you are invulnerable to having an accident or getting knocked down.’

via That genetic test that predicts if you can live to 100: Scientists pinpoint 19 markers that show you will have a long life | Mail Online.

Japan Nuclear Plant Leaks Radioactive Water

About 120 tons, or almost 32,000 gallons, of highly contaminated water appeared to have breached the inner protective lining of the pool at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, said the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company. It was unclear how much of the water had made it through two additional layers of lining to reach soil, but radiation levels outside the pool have risen, a sign that some water is getting out, said the company, known as Tepco.

The leak highlights the daunting challenge of what to do with the huge amounts of contaminated water created by makeshift cooling systems at the plant, after a huge earthquake and tsunami knocked out its regular cooling systems two years ago in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Since then, Tepco has essentially been pouring water onto the damaged reactor cores and storage ponds to keep them from overheating.

As it is used for cooling, the water becomes so contaminated that it must be safely stored at the plant. Tepco said it was already storing more than a quarter-million tons of radioactive water in hundreds of large silver or blue tanks that seem to fill every available space at the plant, or in underground pools like the leaking one. With the decommissioning of the Fukushima plant likely to take decades, Tepco has said it expects the amount of radioactive water to keep growing, and possibly more than double within three years. The company has said it is building more storage space and new filtering facilities to clean the water.

The company said the leak appeared to be the biggest since the early months after the March 2011 disaster, when leaks allowed contaminated water to flow into the nearby Pacific Ocean. Tepco said that this time, it did not expect any of the toxic water to reach the sea, since the pool is half a mile from the coast.

Still, Tepco said it had begun pumping the remaining 13,000 tons of water out of the faulty pool and into a similar pool. The pools are like large ponds dug into the ground, protected by multiple layers of plastic sheets and covered with dirt.

Emptying the damaged pool could take five more days, the company said, during which time an additional 47 tons, or about 12,000 gallons, could leak.

… Read more

I don’t think people realize how bad the situation is. This could be far worse than anything North Korea could ever dish out. With all the weapons grade plutonium kept there in a secret program there may be a nuclear bomb type chain reaction explosion. The odds are not high, but spontaneous fission could happen. The biggest risk is contamination. This is a dirty bomb on a massive scale.

Nuclear expert Dr. Ian Fairlie – former scientific secretary to the United Kingdom government’s Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal Emitters, who advises the European Parliament as well as local and national authorities in several countries – told Dr. Helen Caldicott:

Really it’s just a matter of time before it [the corium] goes through and into the bottom of the actual station itself. And if it ever hits ground, well… there’s a lot of water sloshing around there, if molten fuel gets into that water it will immediately flash to steam and you will have huge steam explosions going on.

***

I’m not ruling out a nuclear bomb-type explosion”.

Cell reprogramming to cure leukemia and lymphoma?

Researchers from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona reprogramme lymphoma and leukemia cells to halt their malignancy. Resulting cells remain benign even when no longer subjected to treatment and reduce likelihood of developing new tumours.

Results are published in this week’s edition of the scientific journal Cell Reports.

Leukemia and lymphoma are two types of cancer affecting blood cells. Both illnesses are widely studied and are currently treated mainly with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and antibodies in order to destroy the cancer cells. Unfortunately, there are still a considerable number of patients that do not respond to existing therapies. For this reason, the new discoveries published this week in Cell Reportsjournal could be very important for the future.

“Our experiments demonstrate that cancer cells in humans can be transdifferentiated (transformed) into similar normal cells. This discovery tests a new therapeutic strategy which allows blood diseases, like leukemia and lymphoma, to be treated,” explains Thomas Graf, principal investigator on the project, group leader at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and ICREA research professor.

Thomas Graf and his team had already shown that, thanks to the C/EBPα transcription factor, it is possible to reprogramme one type of blood cell to become another. Specifically, his work focused on changing lymphocytes into macrophages. Now this lab has been investigating the possibility of transforming cancerous blood cells into macrophages. The results have been very positive. The researchers have not only transdifferentiated malignant cells, but the reprogrammed cells also maintain their new state as macrophages over time and definitively. In addition, the scientists have been able to prove that the tumour generating capacity of immunosuppressed mice reduces drastically, which makes these new findings a very effective new treatment. In converting malignant cells into macrophages -a type of cell that does not divide- the work presented by Graf and his collaborators offers the possibility of a new type of treatment to combat blood cancer in the future. Even though the treatments used currently allow cancerous cells to be eliminated, they still do not reduce the capacity to generate new tumours.

“We must continue looking for ways to use what we have just discovered to benefit patients. Most importantly, we now know that human cancer cells can be successfully reprogrammed and also that the reprogramming decreases the possibility of the cancer reproducing. Now we are trying to find chemical compounds (or pharmaceuticals) with the same treatment capacity, not only in culture but also in patients,” insists Thomas Graf.

… Read more