Doctor perform lifesaving surgery on Roona

Well-wishers around the world contribute towards £34,000 cost of life-saving surgery to save hydrocephalic baby’s life.

A toddler whose head swelled up to three times its normal size has undergone surgery which could save her life.

Roona Begum caught the world’s attention when images of her plight were published in a last-ditch bid to help her get treatment.

She suffered an extreme case of hydrocephalus, which means that water collects in the head instead of being absorbed into the body.

Doctors in Agartala, northeast India, where Roona lives, said that the amount of excess fluid makes up around half the 18-month-old’s body weight.

Experts had abandoned nearly all hope that Roona’s life could be saved. Without treatment, she is almost certain to die but her father, Abdul, could not afford to pay for surgery.

But well-wishers around the world have clubbed together and raised £34,000 to give Roona the chance of a more normal life.

Treatment is under way and doctors are positive. They drained some of the liquid from her head and inserted a shunt to direct the liquids toward her stomach for it to be absorbed naturally into her body.

Surgeon Sandeep Vaishya said: “The surgery went perfectly – much better than expected.

“It’s  a success but it’s too early to say what the quality of her future life will be like.”

Roona will face plenty of challenges when the lengthy procedure is complete.

Her body is seriously under-developed because her very rare condition has caused limited mobility.

Vaishya said that strengthening her would become a priority.

“Her neck muscles are very underdeveloped so she will need more nutrition and extensive physiotherapy to make her stronger,” Vaishya said.

“Her body will have to grow strong so she can learn to sit up and move about and live a normal life.”

Abdul Begum added: “The day she was born, the doctor said there were no guarantees she would survive.

“I figured we would do our best for as long as we could and Allah would help us with the rest.”

Doctor perform lifesaving surgery on Roona – YouTube.

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.

Miyoko Shida Demonstrates the Power of Mental Focus

The Incredible Power Of Concentration – Miyoko Shida – YouTube.

Astronaut sings Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ in zero gravity

Chris Hadfield has conquered space. Now he’s conquering the Internet, too.

A video of the Canadian astronaut singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” from the International Space Station has been zipping around the Web at light speed since it was posted Sunday. The five-minute clip features Hadfield singing a modified version of the tune and strumming an acoustic guitar while floating through a space module, more than 200 miles above the Earth.

By Monday morning, it had more than 1 million views on YouTube, 3,000 comments on Reddit and was being widely shared across social networks.

Hadfield already was something of a social media star, with 260,000 fans on Facebook and more than 825,000 followers on Twitter. During his five months aboard the International Space Station, he has posted numerous photos and videos of himself preparing meals, brushing his teeth and explaining how to vomit in space.

But the elegant “Space Oddity” video, reportedly months in the making, may rocket him into a higher orbit. Hadfield’s earnest voice and unique perch in space brings a moving immediacy to Bowie’s verses, and when he sings, “I’m floating in a most peculiar way” while actually floating, it’s a powerful moment.

Because Hadfield’s vocals and guitar were recorded on the space station (and mixed with supporting tracks by Emm Gryner, a Canadian musician who once sang backup for Bowie), some observers are calling it the first music video made in space.

Commenters on Reddit praised the video’s simplicity and genuineness.

“The floating guitar is really floating, it’s not some computer animation or trickery. The Earth turning behind him in the windows is the real deal. That’s us, that’s our blue dot, not some stock image, or animation …,” wrote one Redditor. “The video has none of the Hollywood fakery we are used to. Its power comes from this authenticity.”

Hadfield took a few liberties with the lyrics of the 1969 Bowie song, which became a hit upon its 1973 rerelease. In the original song, Ground Control loses radio contact with the astronaut, Major Tom, implying that the mission has failed. But Hadfield omits that part.

Bowie himself acknowledged the video, tweeting, “CHRIS HADFIELD SINGS SPACE ODDITY IN SPACE!”

The 53-year-old Hadfield launched aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft in December and in March became the first Canadian to lead a spaceship as commander of the International Space Station. The video clip is a farewell of sorts: He is due to depart the space station Monday night and return to Earth.

via Astronaut sings Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ in zero gravity – CNN.com.

Video: Scientists make world’s smallest animation with atoms – Telegraph

Researchers used a scanning tunnelling microscope to move thousands of carbon monoxide molecules to make an animated short film depicting a stick boy playing with his pet atom.

In the one-minute video, individual molecules are repeatedly rearranged to show a boy dancing, throwing a ball and bouncing on a trampoline.

The film, called A Boy and His Atom, is so small it can be seen only when magnified 100 million times.

The ability to move single atoms — the smallest particles of any element in the universe — is crucial to IBM’s research in the field of atomic memory.

The company has honed atomic-manipulation technique after years of researching atomic data storage.

via Video: Scientists make world’s smallest animation with atoms – Telegraph.

Robot Revolution: Androids are coming

16×9 – Robot Revolution: Androids are coming – YouTube.

Protected: Hacked Photos Show Colin Powell At Bohemian Grove

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Link between human and monkey communication found

Scientists claim to have identified the missing link between human speech and monkey chatter.

Researchers analysed the distinctive “lip-smacking” sounds made by wild gelada baboons of the Ethopian highlands and found striking similarities to human speech.

Their noises are so human-like that Thore Bergman, an assistant professor with the University of Michigan, thought he heard people talking while he was hanging out with the creatures.

“I would find myself frequently looking over my shoulder to see who was talking to me, but it was just the geladas,” he said. “It was unnerving to have primate vocalizations sound so much like human voices.”

Male geladas smack their lips to produce a distincive (sic) “wobble” in their calls to females. These sounds follow a similar tempo to human speech.

Bergman suggested the research identified a “plausible” explanation of how human speech evolved.

He said: “The ability to produce complex sounds might have come first. Then, when we could do that, we could attach meanings and communicate in more sophisticated ways. Or it could be that, as we needed to communicate more, we developed an ability to produce a greater variety of sounds.”

Other monkeys smack their lips while eating, but geladas are the only species which do so when communicating. It is believed monkeys living in large groups have stronger vocal skills.

“It’s a very complex social system. They have some of the largest groups of any primate,” Bergman said. “These very large group structures may be linked to vocal complexity. There’s some evidence across primate that bigger groups make more sounds.”

The research can be found in the journal Current Biology. According to the study’s abstract, the gelada baboons’ “independent evolution of a speech-like vocalization involving complex facial movements provides initial support for the hypothesis that lip-smacking was a precursor to the emergence of human speech”.

via MISSING LINK between HUMANS and MONKEYS FOUND • The Register.

I added the video so you can check them out. At the end you can hear one of them “speaking”… It does sound a little bit like a human. I think I heard the word “Crazy”.

Great White Shark Attack caught on camera 24/03/2013

Great White Shark Attack Ataque de Tubarão Branco 24/03/2013 – YouTube.

Don’t Freak Out If You See A B-52 Bomber Targeting Your Home

The following short video shows a B-52 Stratofortress during a standard training mission of the War Week, an exercise which incorporates Aerial Refueling, Weapons Tactics and High Altitude Maneuvering.

The iconic bomber can be seen taking off, cruising, releasing simulated bombs, taking fuel midair from a KC-135 Stratotanker refueler and landing at Barksdale Air Force Base, Lousiana.

As some viewers have noticed with a bit of concern on Youtube, the B-52 used what appears to be the garden of a civil house as the target of its simulated bombing run.

via » Don’t Freak Out If You See A B-52 Bomber Targeting Your Home Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!.

That looks like my garden… wait a minute, it IS, it is my garden, what the heck?! No, just kidding.