Good Afternoon All!!
Today there were more "vivid" titles in the Honorable Mentions than there were in the Top 5. I would like to point out articles from each, that might pique your interests. First, in the top 5, you will find an article about a man who was attacked by a shark, and rescued by a petite woman, in Australia. She not only swam him to shore, but also ensured his leg was bandaged with pressure wounds made from towels available on the beach. In the Honorable Mentions section, you will notice two incredible stories. One is about a legally blind man bowling a perfect 300. The other is about a bowfisher catching a 92 pound carp!
I hope you enjoy today's articles! I have enjoyed finding them for you. :) See you tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. Washington State 6th-Grader and Texas Team Awarded Mathematics Champions at Lockheed Martin MATHCOUNTS National Competition - 2008 (The Earth Times)
2. Man Survives Shark Attack, Woman Rescued Him from Waters (news.com.au)
3. Recycled NASA Telescope to be Used in Bomb Detection (Malaysia Sun)
4. Firefighter's Ingenuity Saves Geoduck Hunter (Seattle Times)
5. Tribes Allowed to Hunt Bison on Refuge (Denver Post)
Honorable Mentions:
1. Legally Blind Man, 78, Bowls Perfect Game (Yahoo News)
2. Oh Carp! Worden Man Bags 92 Pound Monster with Bow and Arrow! (Belleville News-Democrat)
3. Costa Rica's Captive Macaws now Reproducing in Wild (Seattle Times)
4. Make Ethanol in Your Own Backyard (Physorg.com)
5. Nitrates In Vegetables Protect Against Gastric Ulcers, Study Shows (Science Daily)
Today's Top 5:
1. Washington State 6th-Grader and Texas Team Awarded Mathematics Champions at Lockheed Martin MATHCOUNTS National Competition - 2008
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/washington-state-6th-grader-and-texas,387831.shtml
Posted : Sat, 10 May 2008 01:47:27 GMT
Author : CO-MATHCOUNTS
Category : Press Release
DENVER - (Business Wire) Darryl Wu of Bellevue, Washington, answered this challenging math problem in less than 45 seconds to win the MATHCOUNTS National Champion title at the Lockheed Martin MATHCOUNTS National Competition today in Denver at the Denver Marriott Tech Center:
Question: A set of distinct positive integers has a total of 11 digits, and all the digits are 1s. What is the smallest possible sum of the integers in the set?
Answer: 11,234
The 6th-grader from Lakeside Middle School competed against 227 other middle school students in this prestigious competition, hosted by Lockheed Martin, a MATHCOUNTS National Sponsor.
Wu was victorious in the intense, one-on-one oral Countdown Round where the top 12 Mathletes® competed for the title of MATHCOUNTS National Champion. Bobby Shen of Sugarland, Texas, was awarded the second-place individual title with Anderson Wang of Ambler, Pennsylvania, and Evan Miller of Owensboro, Kentucky, advancing to the Semi-finals.
In the team competition, Texas captured the title of National Team Champions. Team members include Bobby Shen of Sugarland, Kevin Tian of Austin, Ding Zhou of Houston, Kevin Li of College Station and coach Jeff Boyd of Sugarland
The Washington team took second place, and the Maryland team placed third.
“Congratulations to each of these students on their amazing accomplishments,” said Lou Digioia, Executive Director of the MATHCOUNTS Foundation. “These Mathletes, and all of their counterparts around the nation, deserve our praise and acknowledgement of their talent and dedication. MATHCOUNTS is honored to support the efforts of U.S. middle school students to develop strong mathematical abilities.”
Student representatives of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Department of Defense and State Department schools worldwide participated in the Lockheed Martin MATHCOUNTS National Competition. The top four students in each state competition in March earned the honor of forming a team and advancing to today’s culmination of the MATHCOUNTS competition.
As National Champion, Darryl Wu won the $8,000 Donald G. Weinert Scholarship, a trip to U.S. Space Camp and a notebook computer. Bobby Shen won a $6,000 scholarship as 2nd Place Individual. Semi-finalists Anderson Wang and Evan Miller each won a $4,000 scholarship, and Darryl Wu’s coach, Lon-Chan Chu, received a notebook computer.
Bobby Shen of Texas won an $8,000 scholarship as the Written Round Winner and Jason Hyun of Maryland also won a $6,000 scholarship as Written Round Runner-up.
Additionally, each team member from first-place Texas won a $2,000 scholarship, trips to U.S. Space Camp and a notebook computer.
ABOUT MATHCOUNTS:
The mission of MATHCOUNTS is to increase enthusiasm for and enhance achievement in middle school mathematics throughout the United States
Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, more than 7 million students have participated in MATHCOUNTS.
The program has received two White House citations as an outstanding private sector initiative and been recognized in White House ceremonies by four presidents.
MATHCOUNTS relies upon a national network of 17,000 volunteers.
A 501(c)(3) organization, funding for MATHCOUNTS comes primarily from its National Sponsors; Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Foundation, Raytheon Company, Texas Instruments Incorporated, National Society of Professional Engineers, 3M Foundation, CNA Foundation, General Motors Foundation and ConocoPhillips. MATHCOUNTS was founded by The National Society of Professional Engineers, CNA Foundation, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Additional information on MATHCOUNTS and the Lockheed Martin MATHCOUNTS National Competition – 2008 is available at www.mathcounts.org.
For MATHCOUNTS
Barbara Pflughaupt, 212-707-8181
or
Amy Gorton, 310-749-8345 (cell)
2. Man Survives Shark Attack, Woman Rescued Him from Waters
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21498,23675280-2761,00.html?from=public_rss
May 10, 2008 09:00am
AN Albany man who was savaged by a 4m shark just off the town's most popular beach owes his life to a local hero who swam to his rescue and helped bring him to shore.
The shark tore two chunks from 37-year-old Jason Cull's left leg, leaving him flailing and yelling for help from passersby at Middleton Beach at 7.30am.
He was rescued by local woman, mother-of-three Joanne Lucas and received first aid before being taken to Albany Regional Hospital for surgery.
The extent of Mr Cull's injuries are not known, but St John Ambulance confirmed he had suffered bites to one leg.
Albany Sea Rescue yesterday tracked the shark, which was described as a white pointer with a "belly the size of a 44-gallon drum''.
Authorities closed the beach and sent a spotter plane to monitor the movements of three sharks _ two of 4m and one 5m -- sighted in the bay.
Albany locals yesterday said the sharks may have been enticed into the bay by schools of salmon or a pod of dolphins that had been seen in the area earlier.
Joanne Lucas grabbed Mr Cull and dragged him to safety as the shark loitered just 3m away.
"Instinct just kicked in,'' Mrs Lucas told The Sunday Times.
"I didn't even have to think about it, which is amazing really. It all just happened. I didn't think, I just thought I had to get in there.''
Mrs Lucas said she swam to Mr Cull, but was acutely aware that two other swimmers in the water were at grave risk of being attacked.
"I got to him and he said: 'Thank God. Thank you so much -- a shark has attacked my leg.''
"It thought it was a dolphin to start with, but when he told me it had taken a big chunk (from his leg), I thought `Oh no'.
"I kept thinking that I've got to get him in before it turns around and comes after us. I was thinking I have to beat (the shark) in (to shore).
"I just kept pulling him through the water, pulling him in.''
Mrs Lucas said when they got to shore, they wrapped towels on the wounds as makeshift pressure bandages.
"He had huge chunks taken out of his leg, his calf and the knee area,'' she said. ``I just kept talking to him because I didn't want him to go unconscious. Everyone was so good, they all just got into the mode and helped out. He held it together, he was just fantastic.''
Sen-Sgt Roger Creamer said at least two other swimmers were in the water when the attack happened.
"There were other people in the water and on the beach and someone has called out that there was a shark in the water,'' Sen-Sgt Creamer said.
"It appears a woman has seen the man in difficulty and went out to help him.
"I'd say that she was extremely brave.
"Certainly from the descriptions, it was a pretty sizeable shark with rather large belly. ``A shark of any size can do a lot of damage, but a shark that big is does not bear thinking about.''
But Mrs Lucas denied that she was a hero.
"It was instinct. I really didn't think about it. And I'm definitely not doing it for hero status, I've better things to keep me occupied,'' she said.
"It's been an emotional day and it's pretty scary when you think about it, but I just hope someone would do the same if I was in that situation, too.''
Albany Surf Lifesaving Club spokesman Tom Marron said club members had unsuccessfully tried to herd the sharks out of the bay yesterday.
"They won't leave the area and there's not much more we can do so we've closed the beaches,'' Mr Marron said.
"The shark that attacked did hang around for a while and it did surface its dorsal fin for a while, which was a bit spooky.''
Mr Marron said the sharks may have been enticed into the bay by schools of salmon or a pod of dolphins.
"It is cold water and there are a lot of big white pointers out, but never anything like this -- we've just never had it,'' he said.
"This is not an area where you do get big sharks.''
3. Recycled NASA Telescope to be Used for Bomb Detection
http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/89d96798a39564bd/id/357826/cs/1/
Malaysia Sun
Saturday 10th May, 2008
London, May 10 : An astrophysicist has recycled parts from one of NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory's old instruments for bomb detection.
According to a report in Nature News, the 9-year mission of NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory ended in 2000 with a plunge into the Pacific Ocean.
But instead of the space telescope's parts being wasted away, James Ryan, an astrophysicist at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, recycled one of them to detect gamma rays emitted by radioactive substances, such as plutonium, uranium and caesium, which could be used in dirty bombs combining conventional explosives with radioactive material.
There are many techniques for spotting radioactive materials. Some sensors pick up neutrons spat out by radioactive atoms. This technique is very sensitive - neutrons cannot be shielded by lead or concrete walls - but somewhat non-discriminatory.
Gamma rays, although they can be shielded, are emitted with specific energies depending on their parent nuclei, thus providing a potential fingerprint of the radioactive material.
Many commercial gamma-ray detectors, however, can't detect the direction of a source.
Directionality is particularly useful, for example, if scanning rows of shipping containers rather than single trucks at border crossings, or when tracking a dirty bomb.
Keeping these facts in mind, Ryan decided to use the gamma ray detector of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory for use in bomb detection.
The Compton device detects light emitted by electron scattering, caused by gamma rays hitting two layers in the instrument. These two detections allow a user to track the direction of the incoming rays.
According to Ryan, using the device from a distance of 10 metres, he can pinpoint a source like caesium to within a third of a metre from side-to-side.
"It'll work, but it's not optimal, given the fact it's so dated," said Nick Mascarenhas, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratory in Livermore, California, who is building his own directional radiation detector. "It's probably going to have limitations," he added.
Even if the nearly 20-year-old Compton telescope technology isn't the best available kit to turn into a commercial bomb-sniffing tool, homeland security is certainly benefiting by learning from, or borrowing, astrophysical tools that can 'image' the location of radioactive sources, rather than just detecting their presence.
"We're showing that imaging has very powerful advantages," said Mascarenhas.
4. Firefighter's Ingenuity Saves Geoduck Hunter
Quest for giant clam almost turns deadly
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004404909_clamdigger10m.html
By Sara Jean Green
Carol and Harold Thomas walk along a beach in Purdy. Harold became stuck in the mudflats at Penrose Point State Park Thursday while digging for geoduck.
Related
Archive Stuck clamdigger rescued from Key Peninsula tideflats
Harold Thomas wasn't having any luck finding clams Thursday afternoon. So, the lifelong clammer ventured farther onto the mud flats at Penrose Point State Park on the Key Peninsula and started digging in the muck for a geoduck.
As he tried to wrestle a giant clam from its burrow, Thomas felt himself sinking. He pulled his right foot out of its rubber boot, but that just made his left foot sink deeper. As he tried to pull his left ankle free, Thomas' right foot became stuck in the mud.He tried to dig himself out with a shovel, but that didn't work. His wife, Carol, wrapped her arms around him and pulled. Nothing. Two women came to help, then a man and his son.
Thomas didn't budge. And the tide was coming in.
Carol Thomas called 911. The water -- which was 50 feet away when Harold Thomas started digging for the geoduck -- had reached his knees. Six minutes later, the first firefighters arrived. They waded out and found Thomas waist-deep in water, the mud sucking at his thighs. The firefighters tried to pull him from the mud, but couldn't. They put a life jacket on Thomas and tied a line around his body.
The water kept rising. It was so cold, Carol Thomas could see her husband's hand turn white as she held it in her own. The firefighters shooed her back to shore, where she stood on the beach with the others who'd helped try to free her husband.
"We just stood there on the spit and prayed," Carol Thomas said Friday from her home near Purdy, Pierce County. "I prayed for wisdom and discernment for the fire department people."
Out in the water, Harold Thomas began to panic. But then, "a calmness came over me," said the 65-year-old retired shipyard machinist. "I knew they'd get me out of there."
Battalion Chief Hal Wolverton of the Key Peninsula Fire Department wasn't so sure. He considered calling for a Coast Guard helicopter or maybe a Pierce County dive team but knew Thomas didn't have that kind of time. He called the Anderson Island Fire Department, and they sent out a rescue boat. Twenty minutes seemed an eternity. Wolverton's crew stood by with snorkels.
The boat arrived, but even then, rescuers couldn't pull Thomas from the mud. The water lapped at his shoulders.
Then Wolverton had an idea: "I don't know how it came to me," he said Friday. "... I don't think they all had faith in my theory. They all gave me the eyebrow."
Wolverton connected a 200-foot long fire hose to the boat's fire pump. At the other end, he attached a 4-foot-long penetrating nozzle, a rod-shaped piece of equipment firefighters use to bust through roofs to pour water on a blaze. The firefighters stuck the nozzle into the sand around Thomas' legs, and the "turbulent action" from the pressurized water finally broke "the suction that was holding him there," he said.
"He popped out like a big, giant geoduck," Wolverton said.
Thomas, who'd spent 45 minutes in frigid Puget Sound, was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. His wife, a nurse, was close behind in the family car. Thomas was hypothermic, and it took hours for the warming blankets to raise his body temperature back to acceptable levels. He was released about 9 p.m.
"I'm sore," Thomas said Friday. "My back and my neck hurt from people yanking on me and pulling on me."
Thomas said he's gone clam digging all his life and checked to see when the tide would be coming in before he left home on Thursday. And while Thomas is a little embarrassed about his ordeal, he and his wife agreed to share their story to warn others.
"It just happens fast -- you just don't expect the sand to hold you like that, to take you down," said Carol Thomas, 61. "If it can happen to us, it can happen to anyone. ... It was frightening. I was afraid for his life."
5. Tribes Allowed to Hunt Bison on Refuge
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WST_ELK_REFUGE_HUNT_WYOL-?SITE=CODEN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 10, 3:40 PM EDT
JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has granted two Idaho tribes permission to hunt for bison on the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole.
The Shoshone-Bannock tribes on the Fort Hall Reservation near Pocatello, Idaho, will be allowed to take five bison of either sex and of any age at any time this year, according to Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Kim Greenwood.
The federal agency is requiring the tribes to work with refuge managers to coordinate the ceremonial hunt.
While the hunt agreement is only for 2008, refuge manager Steve Kallin said his staff expect to consider allowing ceremonial hunts in future years.
The hunting of up to five bison by the tribes was proposed in a bison management plan approved last year for the National Elk Refuge and Grand Teton National Park. Unlike other bison hunting in Jackson Hole, the ceremonial hunt is not intended to control bison numbers.
"It is a religious ceremony," Kallin said. "We are basically following the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Native American policy to provide reasonable access for ceremonial activities."
He said no other tribes had contacted him about conducting a ceremonial hunt.
Kallin said the tribes will be allowed to decide for themselves how to kill the buffalo - using guns or some other method. He said if the tribes use guns, the refuge might close the hunt areas but not in a way that affects other people on the refuge.
"We are going to ensure that when this ceremonial hunt takes place, we are involved and engaged," he said. "We are not going to have that take place next to town or along Flat Creek if that is open for fishing."
The refuge is just north of Jackson and south of Grand Teton.
Hunters with state-issued licenses killed 222 bison on the refuge and a total of 266 bison in the area last fall. It was the first state-run bison hunt on the refuge.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Legally Blind Man, 78, Bowls Perfect Game
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_fe_st/odd_blind_perfect_game;_ylt=ApAttfUJ73xlEiYN4kfLu1sZ.3Q
Fri May 9, 4:27 PM ET
ALTA, Iowa - A 78-year-old legally blind man nicknamed "The Hammer" has bowled a perfect game. Dale Davis of Alta, Iowa, nailed 12 consecutive strikes and reached 300 on Saturday night during league play.
"It's a great sport. It's something the young, the old and the handicapped can do," Davis said Thursday. "I guess I count as the old and handicapped."
Davis has suffered from macular degeneration, a chronic eye disease, for the past decade. He can't see out of his left eye and has limited peripheral vision in his right eye.
Davis' perfect game came at a roll-off to conclude the league season at a four-lane alley in the small northwest Iowa community of about 1,800 people.
Century Lanes owner Clem Ledoux said Davis' game didn't draw much attention until he reached 10 strikes. That's when folks poured out of the bar to watch his final two shots.
Davis, who stands 5-foot-8 and just 115 pounds, threw a "Brooklyn," where a right-hander strikes the left side of the head pin, for his final strike. The feat brought wild cheers from Davis' fellow bowlers and onlookers.
"It went down there and somebody hollered 'Brooklyn!' It was just a solid sound in the pocket," said Davis, whose average score is 180. "It was quite a thrill. For just a few minutes there I felt like a pro."
Davis, who earned his unique moniker as a child from his blacksmith father, moved from California to live with his sister in Iowa shortly after losing sight in his left eye in 1997.
She encouraged him to start bowling again. Davis now bowls twice a week, and his fellow bowlers help him with pin placement and in making sure he picks up the right ball.
Davis said the only time he sees the ball is when he picks it up, but he can usually tell how his throw went by sound. All 12 tosses sounded great to Davis, who bowled the first 300 that Ledoux could recall at the alley since he took over in 1984.
"He's got good coordination. He's got good timing," Ledoux said. "We've always kidded him that we think his bowling ball has eyes."
2. Oh Carp! Worden Man Bags 92 Pound Monster with Bow and Arrow!
http://www.bnd.com/389/story/333888.html
Provided to the BND
Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2008
By Rod Kloeckner
Darin Opel is allergic to fish. If he eats one or something that has been fried in the same grease, the reaction swells his throat shut.
"That's why my buddies like to go fishing with me," said Opel, a 40-year-old operations manager from Worden. "I can catch them and handle them, but I can't eat them. They're the ones that get to take the fish home."
Nobody will be getting the fish Opel caught Sunday -- except maybe the Guiness Book of World Records.
Bowfishing for gar from the shore in backwater above the Melvin Price Lock and Dam No. 26 on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River near Alton, Opel shot a 92-pound, 8-ounce bighead carp with a compound bow and arrow.
After fighting the behemoth for 10 minutes, Opel jumped into the muddy water, bearhugged the beast and inched him to the shore.
"It was real heavy, like lifting a refrigerator," said Opel, who ripped his jeans on the arrow sticking from the back of the carp's head during the ruckus. "Once he got out of the water, he started fighting hard. He beat me up pretty good. He definitely got a few licks in."
Opel won the fight -- and the admiration of anglers everywhere who fantasize about landing a monster fish such as his trophy.
Weighed on a certified scale at Worden Food Market in Worden, the huge Asian carp had a 30-inch girth and measured 62 inches long. It obliterated the previous Illinois bowfishing record for bighead carp of 35 pounds, 5 ounces set by John Borgers on June 8, 2006.
According to Duane Chapman, a fish biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who specializes in carp studies, Opel's catch is the largest on record by a recreational fisherman in the Western Hemisphere.
Chapman said there are only two bigger bighead carp on record in the world. A 93-pounder was captured in a reservoir in northern Texas a few years ago, but it was not caught by an angler and not weighed on a certified scale.
Chapman said a commercial fisherman in Pakistan landed a bighead carp that weighed more than 100 pounds several years ago. The fish now hangs in a museum in that country, where carp are revered.
"Both of those were kind of oddballs," Chapman said. "Other than that, I don't know of any fish that are bigger than his that have been captured anywhere."
Tissue and bone samples are being sent to Chapman to be tested for age and origin. Chapman said he won't hazard a guess on the age of the record fish.
"Any time you get something that's a contender for a world record, it's wild," said Opel, who has been bowfishing for 25 years. "A buddy told me I was just in the perfect place at the perfect time. Everything just came together.
"It's something that may never happen again. It would be cool to top it, but if I don't, I'm happy with where I'm at."
The catch
Opel is single, which allows him plenty of time to pursue his love for the outdoors. Bowhunting is at the top of his list.
"I can't remember the last time I fired a shotgun," said Opel, who took five does and a buck this year with a bow.
Opel has been bowfishing since he was 15. He usually bowfishes from a boat around the locks on the Mississippi River near Alton, but on Sunday, a buddy had his boat in Texas.
"But it was such a nice day -- the first super-nice day where it wasn't raining and it was sunny -- I just wanted to get out there," Opel said. "So, I decided to fish for some gar from the shore."
Opel parked his Ford Explorer around 2 p.m. and walked down the levee to the rip-rap, much of which was submerged because of high water. Near Opel on the bank were two elderly fishermen using rods and reels.
As Opel was shooting at a couple of gar, he noticed a shadowy figure pop up about 40 yards from the bank.
"I kept saying something to these fishermen and they said 'No, that's a log,'" Opel said. "But the third time I seen it, it popped up about 15 yards. I said 'It's closer now,' and right then it stuck it's head up. I knew it was a bighead, but that was the first time I seen one up in there."
Opel took aim and fired, the barbed tip of the arrow and its fiberglass shaft piercing the water. At first, the line went limp and Opel thought he missed the fish. Five seconds later, the 200-pound test went taut and the string started screaming out of his reel.
Opel's aim was true. His arrow entered the carp in the head right above the eye. Opel fought the fish for five minutes -- it took nearly 40 yards of line -- before it surfaced.
Then he got worried.
"Usually with those bigheads, they have soft flesh and the arrow goes through them and you got a little more hold," he said. "I knew this one was huge, and it worried me bad because I thought it wasn't going to hold."
Once Opel wrestled the carp within five feet of the bank, he lodged his bow behind some rip-rap, belly-flopped into the chest-deep water and wrapped his body around the fish.
After he was securely on shore, Opel said the reaction of the elderly fishermen was priceless.
"I bet they said 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God,' about 500 times," Opel said. "I was waiting for one of them to say 'Do you need some help?' but I never heard that."
More reaction
A member of the Illinois Bowfishers Club since it was incorporated four years ago, Opel has bowfished for sharks, stingrays and even alligators in Florida. His largest bighead carp before Sunday weighed 25 pounds.
That was a guppy compared to this catch. Once he hoisted it on the back of his truck and took it to Worden Food Market later that afternoon, a crowd had already gathered.
"It's amazing how fast word spreads with something like a big buck or a big fish," said Opel, who posed for numerous pictures.
When he picked up the prints at Wal-Mart in Collinsville on Monday, even the cashier was amazed.
"The lady said 'So, you're the big fisherman. That fish would have eaten me,'" Opel said. " She made another picture with a note at the top. It said 'You ought to see the one that got away.'"
A big man at 6-foot-4, 300 pounds, Opel said some people think the photos are fake.
"I hear people all the time say it's trick photography," Opel said. "I said 'Look at it. It covers my body. There's no trick photography!' My left arm still hurts from holding it up and taking those pictures."
Opel plans on having the fish, which is currently being stored in his father's meat freezer, mounted by a taxidermist in St. Louis. He wants to display it at the Deer and Turkey Classic in Bloomington next year.
Total cost to have it mounted: about $3,000.
"I have almost a year to pay it off," he said. "I asked my boss today if we're going to be busy, because I may need some overtime."
3. Costa Rica's Captive Macaws now Reproducing in Wild
Friday May 9, 2008
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004402328_macaw09.html
By MARIANELA JIMENEZ
A pair of scarlet macaws are part of a breeding program at the ZooAve Center for the Rescue of Endangered Species in La Garita, Costa Rica.
LA GARITA DE ALAJUELA, Costa Rica — Endangered scarlet macaws born in captivity are reproducing in the wild for the first time on Costa Rica's southern Pacific Coast.
The ZooAve Center for the Rescue of Endangered Species has released 100 of the birds into the wild in the last decade. But biologists didn't spot offspring until last year, biologist Laura Fournier said.
Since then, they have recorded 22 chicks born in the wild, and four more scarlet macaw couples have laid eggs, Fournier said.
The parrots once occupied all of Costa Rica. But hunting and poaching dramatically cut their population, and they now are found only in two national parks along the coast.
The biologists' goal is for 200 birds to populate an isolated coastal area.
Chicks are hatched at the ZooAve center in La Garita northwest of the capital, San Jose. At six months, they take a 200-mile trip to the southern city of Golfito, then travel by boat to a beach and finally the isolated San Josecito conservation center far from human settlements. There they spend up to three more months in captivity before being released.
The parrots, which live up to 80 years, can start reproducing at age 7. Of ZooAve's 86 scarlet macaws, 54 are in the reproduction program.
Many parrots in the breeding program were confiscated by environmental authorities or turned in by their former owners. Some can't leave the sanctuary because they don't know how to survive in the wild.
"Many don't even know how to feed themselves," Fournier said.
4. Make Ethanol in Your Own Backyard
http://www.physorg.com/news129557670.html
Published: 13:14 EST, May 09, 2008
by Lisa Zyga
A Silicon Valley start-up called E-Fuel is showing exactly how ethanol can live up to its name as "the people´s fuel." The company recently announced that it will soon start selling a home ethanol system, the E-Fuel 100 MicoFueler, which will allow anyone to make ethanol from sugar, water, yeast, and electricity in their own backyard.
The MicroFueler, which is about the size of a gas station pump, will sell for $9,995 and start shipping late in 2008. E-Fuel´s founders Floyd Butterfield and Thomas Quinn expect that government incentives for alternative fuels will reduce the initial investment by up to $5,000.
The MicroFueler uses sugar as the main fuel source, which is mixed with a time-release yeast the company has developed. E-Fuel explains that it takes about 10-14 pounds of sugar to make one gallon of ethanol. When using store-bought sugar, which costs about 20 cents per pound in the US, plus the cost of electricity, the cost to produce a gallon of ethanol would be roughly equivalent to today´s gas prices in the US.
However, Butterfield and Quinn note that inedible sugar can be bought from Mexico for about 2.5 cents per pound under the North American Free Trade Agreement effective this past January. Then it could cost as little as a dollar a gallon to produce ethanol with the MicroFueler. Quinn also noted that he´s used leftover alcohol as an alternative feedstock to sugar, and the only cost is for the electricity.
"It´s going to cause havoc in the market and cause great financial stress in the oil industry," Quinn told The New York Times.
Previously, distilling ethanol has required large pieces of equipment and questionable efficiency. But E-Fuel says that it has developed technology such as a new membrane distiller that can separate water from alcohol at lower temperatures than in conventional ethanol refining, reducing cost and complexity. The machine can fill its 35-gallon tank through fermentation in about a week, it doesn´t produce odors, and the water byproduct is potable. Further, the company estimates that burning a gallon of ethanol made by the MicroFueler will let off just 12% of the carbon that a gallon of gasoline emits.
To brew ethanol at home, property owners in the US must obtain permits from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Currently, however, it´s illegal in the US to run a conventional vehicle on 100% ethanol - but E-Fuel is hoping that regulators will certify all-ethanol cars if their system becomes popular.
E-Fuel plans to release the machine internationally, with production in China and the UK, in addition to the US. The company is also working on a commercial version and variations that will use different feedstocks besides sugar.
5. Nitrates In Vegetables Protect Against Gastric Ulcers, Study Shows
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507105601.htm
ScienceDaily
May 9, 2008
Fruits and vegetables that are rich in nitrates protect the stomach from damage. This takes place through conversion of nitrates into nitrites by the bacteria in the oral cavity and subsequent transformation into biologically active nitric oxide in the stomach. The Swedish researcher Joel Petersson has described the process, which also means that antibacterial mouthwashes can be harmful for the stomach.
"Nitrates in food have long been erroneously linked to an increased risk of cancer," says Joel Petersson of Uppsala University's Department of Medical Cell Biology.
He instead thinks that nitrate-rich vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, radishes and beetroot have a positive affect on the stomach by activating the mucous membranes' own protective mechanisms, thus reducing the risk of problems such as gastric ulcers.
In the body the blood circulation transports nitrates to the salivary glands, where they are concentrated. When we have eaten nitrate-rich food our saliva thus contains large amounts of nitrates, which the bacteria of the oral cavity partially convert into nitrites. When we swallow the nitrites they come into contact with acid gastric juice, and are then converted into the biologically active substance nitric oxide. This results in our developing high levels of nitric oxide in the stomach after eating vegetables.
It has long been known that nitric oxide is produced by various enzymes in the human body, but the fact that nitric oxide can also be formed in the stomach from nitrites in the saliva, entirely without the involvement of enzymes, is a relatively new discovery. Researchers still have very little idea of how the stomach is affected by these high levels of nitric oxide. Joel Petersson's thesis shows that the nitric oxide that is formed in the stomach stimulates the protective mechanisms of the mucous membrane -- because the stomach constantly has to protect itself so as not to be broken down together with the food ingested.
Two such important defence mechanisms are the stomach's constant renewal of the mucous layer that covers the mucous membrane and its maintenance of a stable blood flow in the mucous membrane. The nitric oxide widens the blood vessels in the mucous membrane, thus increasing the blood flow and regulating elimination of the important mucus. Together, these factors lead to a more resistant mucous membrane.
Using animal models Joel Petersson and his colleagues have shown that nitrate additives in food protect against both gastric ulcers and the minor damage that often occurs in the gastrointestinal tract as a result of ingestion of anti-inflammatory drugs.
"These sorts of drugs are very common in the event of pain and inflammation. They have the major disadvantage of causing a large number of serious side effects in the form of bleeding and ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract. With the aid of a nitrate-rich diet you can thus avoid such damage," he explains.
The thesis also shows that the bacteria in the oral cavity are very important to the process of nitrates in food protecting the stomach's mucous membrane. This has been examined in that rats have been given nitrate-rich feed, whereby some of them have also simultaneously received an antibacterial oral spray. When these rats were then given anti inflammatory drugs, damage to the mucous membrane only occurred in the ones that had received the oral spray. In the latter the nitrates no longer had a protective effect on the mucous membrane, as the oral spray had killed the important bacteria that normally convert nitrates into nitrites.
"This shows how important our oral flora is. The fact that these bacteria are not just involved in our oral hygiene but also play an important role in the normal functions of the gastrointestinal tract is not entirely new. It is currently an important issue, as antibacterial mouthwashes have become more and more common. If a mouthwash eliminates the bacterial flora in the mouth this may be important to the normal functioning of the stomach, as the protective levels of nitric oxide greatly decrease," says Joel Petersson.
In his opinion the research results also provide a new approach to the importance of fruit and vegetables in our diet.
"If we followed the National Swedish Food Administration's recommendation and ate 500 g of fruit and vegetables per person per day it would definitely be better for our stomachs.
Nitrates in vegetables protect against gastric ulcers
Fruits and vegetables that are rich in nitrates protect the stomach from damage. This takes place through conversion of nitrates into nitrites by the bacteria in the oral cavity and subsequent transformation into biologically active nitric oxide in the stomach. The Swedish researcher Joel Petersson has described the process, which also means that antibacterial mouthwashes can be harmful for the stomach.
"Nitrates in food have long been erroneously linked to an increased risk of cancer," says Joel Petersson of Uppsala University's Department of Medical Cell Biology.
He instead thinks that nitrate-rich vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, radishes and beetroot have a positive affect on the stomach by activating the mucous membranes' own protective mechanisms, thus reducing the risk of problems such as gastric ulcers.
In the body the blood circulation transports nitrates to the salivary glands, where they are concentrated. When we have eaten nitrate-rich food our saliva thus contains large amounts of nitrates, which the bacteria of the oral cavity partially convert into nitrites. When we swallow the nitrites they come into contact with acid gastric juice, and are then converted into the biologically active substance nitric oxide. This results in our developing high levels of nitric oxide in the stomach after eating vegetables.
It has long been known that nitric oxide is produced by various enzymes in the human body, but the fact that nitric oxide can also be formed in the stomach from nitrites in the saliva, entirely without the involvement of enzymes, is a relatively new discovery. Researchers still have very little idea of how the stomach is affected by these high levels of nitric oxide. Joel Petersson's thesis shows that the nitric oxide that is formed in the stomach stimulates the protective mechanisms of the mucous membrane -- because the stomach constantly has to protect itself so as not to be broken down together with the food ingested. Two such important defence mechanisms are the stomach's constant renewal of the mucous layer that covers the mucous membrane and its maintenance of a stable blood flow in the mucous membrane. The nitric oxide widens the blood vessels in the mucous membrane, thus increasing the blood flow and regulating elimination of the important mucus. Together, these factors lead to a more resistant mucous membrane.
Using animal models Joel Petersson and his colleagues have shown that nitrate additives in food protect against both gastric ulcers and the minor damage that often occurs in the gastrointestinal tract as a result of ingestion of anti-inflammatory drugs.
"These sorts of drugs are very common in the event of pain and inflammation. They have the major disadvantage of causing a large number of serious side effects in the form of bleeding and ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract. With the aid of a nitrate-rich diet you can thus avoid such damage," he explains.
The thesis also shows that the bacteria in the oral cavity are very important to the process of nitrates in food protecting the stomach's mucous membrane. This has been examined in that rats have been given nitrate-rich feed, whereby some of them have also simultaneously received an antibacterial oral spray. When these rats were then given anti inflammatory drugs, damage to the mucous membrane only occurred in the ones that had received the oral spray. In the latter the nitrates no longer had a protective effect on the mucous membrane, as the oral spray had killed the important bacteria that normally convert nitrates into nitrites.
"This shows how important our oral flora is. The fact that these bacteria are not just involved in our oral hygiene but also play an important role in the normal functions of the gastrointestinal tract is not entirely new. It is currently an important issue, as antibacterial mouthwashes have become more and more common. If a mouthwash eliminates the bacterial flora in the mouth this may be important to the normal functioning of the stomach, as the protective levels of nitric oxide greatly decrease," says Joel Petersson.
In his opinion the research results also provide a new approach to the importance of fruit and vegetables in our diet.
"If we followed the National Swedish Food Administration's recommendation and ate 500 g of fruit and vegetables per person per day it would definitely be better for our stomachs.
Joel Petersson's thesis is being scrutinised at Uppsala University on 9 May.
Adapted from materials provided by Uppsala University.
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