Good morning/afternoon all,
It's 4am my time...why am I awake??? I can't sleep. I think this is because I fell to sleep on my couch earlier today, while trying to complete the good news. Since I didn't finish it before I drifted off, my conscience woke me up to do it before work. lol.
Today I would like to bring your attention to just one article. The second article in the top 5 today features a cambodian woman who found herself compelled to help starving children in Cambodia after they started fighting for a piece of food she'd just finished and thrown out. Rather than just feed these children, she decided to teach them. She opened a school specifically for the poorest children, and is now helping them to get a proper education.
I hope you enjoy today's articles! See you tomorrow.
Today's Top 5:
1. Brain Cells Help Neighboring Nerves Regenerate (Science Daily)
2. Saving Children from Cambodia's Trash Heap (CNN)
3. Leaning Tower of Pisa won't Fall for At Least 300 More Years (The Scotsman)
4. Hero Drivers Pulled Man from Lorry Wreck (EADT 24--Suffolk and Essex online)
5. World's Rarest Rhinos Captured on Video (Reuters)
Honorable Mention:
1. Ancient Egyptian City Unearthed in Sinai (Yahoo News)
Today's Top 5:
1. Brain Cells Help Neighboring Nerves Regeneratehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080527170516.htm
ScienceDaily
May 29, 2008
Researchers have uncovered a completely unexpected way that the brain repairs nerve damage, wherein cells known as astrocytes deliver a protective protein to nearby neurons.
Astrocytes are a type of support cell in the brain that serve many functions; one of their roles is to chew up damaged nerves during brain injury and then form scar tissue in the damaged area.
Roger Chung and colleagues have now found that astrocytes have another trick up their sleeve. During injury, astrocytes overproduce a protein called metallothionein (MT) and secrete it to surrounding nerves; MT is a scavenging protein that grabs free radicals and metal ions and prevents them from damaging a cell, and thus is a potent protecting agent.
While the ability of astrocytes to produce MT has been known for decades, the general view was that the MT stayed within astrocytes to protect them while they help repair damaged areas. However, Chung and colleagues demonstrated that MT was present in the external fluid of damaged rat brain.
Furthermore, with the aid of a fluorescent MT protein, they observed that MT made in astrocytes could be transported outside the cell and then subsequently taken up by nearby nerves, and that the level of MT uptake correlated with how well the nerves repaired damage.
While the exact physiological role that MT plays in promoting better repair remains to be identified, this unexpected role for this protein should open up new avenues in treating brain injuries in the future.
2. Saving Children from Cambodia's Trash Heap
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/29/heroes.noun/index.html?eref=edition
29 May 2008
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (CNN) -- Walking down a street in Cambodia's capital city, Phymean Noun finished her lunch and tossed her chicken bones into the trash. Seconds later, she watched in horror as several children fought to reclaim her discarded food.
Noun stopped to talk with them. After hearing their stories of hardship, she knew she couldn't ignore their plight.
"I must do something to help these children get an education," she recalls thinking. "Even though they don't have money and live on the sidewalk, they deserve to go to school."
Six years after that incident, Noun is helping many of Phnom Penh's poorest children do just that.
Within weeks, she quit her job and started an organization to give underprivileged children an education. Noun spent $30,000 of her own money to get her first school off the ground.
In 2004, her organization -- the People Improvement Organization (PIO) -- opened a school at Phnom Penh's largest municipal trash dump, where children are a large source of labor.
Today, Noun provides 240 kids from the trash dump a free education, food, health services and an opportunity to be a child in a safe environment. Watch Noun and some of the children who attend her school »
It is no easy task. Hundreds of them risk their lives every day working to support themselves and their families.
"I have seen a lot of kids killed by the garbage trucks," she recalls. Children as young as 7 scavenge hours at a time for recyclable materials. They make cents a day selling cans, metals and plastic bags.
Noun recruits the children at the dump to attend her organization because, she says, "I don't want them to continue picking trash and living in the dump. I want them to have an opportunity to learn."
Growing up during the Pol Pot regime, Noun faced unimaginable challenges.
"There were no schools during Pol Pot's regime," she recalls. "Everyone had to work in the fields. My mother was very smart. She told them that she didn't have an education. That was how she survived. If they knew she was educated, they would have killed her."
Noun's mother died of cancer when Phymean was 15. Phymean's sister fled to a refugee camp, leaving her young daughter in Phymean's care.
"When my mom passed away, my life was horrible, " says Noun. "It was very sad because there was only my niece who was 3 years old at that time." Yet Noun was determined to finish high school. Watch Noun decscibe the hardships of life during the Pol Pot regime »
That dedication paid off, and after graduating she spent the next decade working with various aid organizations.
"I tell the children my story and about the importance of education," she said. "I'm their role model."
Some of the children who attend her school continue to work in the dump to support themselves and their families. Without an education, she said, these children would be vulnerable to traffickers or continue to be caught in the cycle of poverty.
"We are trying to provide them skills that they can use in the future," Noun said. "Even though we are poor and struggling and don't have money, we can go to school. I tell them not to give up hope."
Noun has even bigger plans for them. "These children are our next generation and our country depends on them. They are our future leaders."
3. Leaning Tower of Pisa won't Fall for At Least 300 More Years
http://news.scotsman.com/world/Tower-of-Pisa-39won39t-fall.4130001.jp
Published Date: 29 May 2008
By Philip Pullella
THE leaning tower of Pisa has been successfully stabilised and is out of danger for at least 300 years, according to an engineer who has been monitoring the iconic Italian tourist attraction. "All of our expectations have been confirmed," Professor Michele Jamiolkowski told the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
The tower's tilt of about 13ft off the vertical has remained stable after a big engineering project that ended in 2001 corrected its lean by about 15in from where it was in 1990 when the project began. The tower was shut to visitors for almost 12 years.
"Now we can say that the tower can rest easy for at least 300 years," Prof Jamiolkowski said.
The 14,000-tonne free-standing bell tower, an internationally recognised architectural symbol of Italy along with Rome's Colosseum, was built in several stages between 1174 and 1370. It began to tilt after completion of several storeys due to unstable ground.
Builders at first used trapezoidal stones to return the structure to the vertical, but the tower continued to lean.
During the stabilisation phase of the project the structure was anchored to cables while cement was injected to relieve pressure on the ground. The lean of the tower is now considered safe and is about what it was in 1700.
Restorers are now using a specially-designed light-weight scaffolding made of an aluminium alloy as a base from which to clean the tower's white and grey marble.
4. Hero Drivers Pulled Man from Lorry Wreck
http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/news/story.aspx?brand=EADOnline&category=news&tBrand=EADOnline&tCategory=News&itemid=IPED29%20May%202008%2013%3A10%3A38%3A463
29 May 2008 13:10
Brian Impleton was travelling behind the truck, which was carrying scrap vehicles, when it toppled over on the Copdock Mill roundabout just after 9am today.
The 35-year-old said: “I was bumper to bumper with him.
“I saw the truck kick out and it went over. I managed to drive round the front of it and park.”
Dozens of tyres were thrown off the back of the lorry, luckily into woodland, while diesel leaked onto the road.
Had the incident happened just a few metres further ahead on the bridge over the A14, the tyres could have caused chaos and injury to motorists below.
Mr Impleton and another motorist decided it was best to get the driver out of the cab because he was caught in an awkward position.
Mr Impleton, from Norwich, said: “I supported him through the sunroof and the other guy took his seatbelt off and held him out of his seat.
“He was then able to climb out through the side window. He was okay but shaken up.”
The driver, Steven Poundall, escaped without injury and spoke at the scene about how he feared for his life.
The 28-year-old from Rotherham was carrying scrap vehicles to Harwich when the vehicle flipped over just after the sliproad onto the London-bound A14 carriageway.
He said: “I was coming around the corner at about 15mph when the trailer went straight over. It was totally scary.
“Imagine your life in your own hands. I am thankful I had my seatbelt on. I am thankful no one was trying to undertake me.
“I am a bit shaken up. They did not have to help but they did. I would like to say a big thank you to them.”
Police closed part of the roundabout while the clean-up operation took place, causing delays to motorists travelling out of Ipswich.
5. World's Rarest Rhinos Captured on Video
http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/FullArticle/CECO/nenvironmentNews_uUSJAK15411920080529?src=RSS-ECO
05:52 AM EDT
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Hidden cameras have captured rare footage of critically endangered Javan rhinos in the jungles of Indonesia, which will help understand the animal's behavior patterns, the wildlife conservation group WWF said on Thursday.
The rhinos have appeared twice on cameras one month after the devices were installed in the Ujung Kulon National Park in the westernmost region of Java island, with one rhino mother charging a camera and damaging it.
"With fewer than 60 Javan rhinos left in the wild, we believe this footage was well worth the risk to our equipment," said Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi, who leads WWF-Indonesia's project in the national park.
"It's very unusual to catch a glimpse of the Javan rhinos deep inside the rain forest," he said in a statement.
He said the footage would help authorities understand the population dynamics and behavior of Javan rhinos in a more scientific manner.
Javan rhinos are found only in Indonesia and Vietnam, with Java home to more than 90 percent of the population.
(Reporting by Ahmad Pathoni; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
Honorable Mention:
1. Ancient Egyptian City Unearthed in Sinai
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/egypt_ancient_city
By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 28, 3:48 PM ET
CAIRO, Egypt - Archaeologists exploring an old military road in the Sinai have unearthed 3,000-year-old remains from an ancient fortified city, the largest yet found in Egypt, antiquities authorities announced Wednesday.
Among the discoveries at the site was a relief of King Thutmose II (1516-1504 B.C.), thought to be the first such royal monument discovered in Sinai, said Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. It indicates that Thutmose II may have built a fort near the ancient city, located about two miles northeast of present day Qantara and known historically as Tharu.
A 550-by-275-yard mud brick fort with several 13-foot-high towers dating to King Ramses II (1304-1237 B.C.) was unearthed in the same area, he said.
Hawass said early studies suggested the fort had been Egypt's military headquarters from the New Kingdom (1569-1081 B.C.) until the Ptolemaic era, a period of about 1500 years.
The ancient military road, known as "Way of Horus," once connected Egypt to Palestine and is close to present-day Rafah, which borders the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Archaeologist Mohammed Abdel-Maqsoud, chief of the excavation team, said the discovery was part of a joint project with the Culture Ministry that started in 1986 to find fortresses along that military road.
Abdel-Maqsoud said the mission also located the first ever New Kingdom temple to be found in northern Sinai, which earlier studies indicated was built on top of an 18th Dynasty fort (1569-1315 B.C.).
A collection of reliefs belonging to King Ramses II and King Seti I (1314-1304 B.C.) were also unearthed with rows of warehouses used by the ancient Egyptian army during the New Kingdom era to store wheat and weapons, he said.
Abdel-Maqsoud said the new discoveries corresponded to the inscriptions of the Way of Horus found on the walls of the Karnak Temple in Luxor which illustrated the features of 11 military fortresses that protected Egypt's eastern borders. Only five of them have been discovered to date.
Associated Press reporter Pakinam Amer contributed to this report from Cairo.
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