2008: June 5th Good News (6 Year Old Boy Rescues Drowning Friend; Drinking Alcohol Cuts Arthritis Risk by Half; more...)

Good Afternoon All,

Today there are tons of articles to browse. :) It's hard for me to pick which ones to highlight...but I guess I'll go with these three. First, on Mount McKinley, a climber fell more than 2000 feet on Wednesday. He survived, and called for help on his cell phone. After being airlifted to the hospital, it was discovered that he had (even after such a lengthy tumble) only minor injuries!

Second, this one is for those of you who have arthritis, or who have an increased genetic risk of developing arthritis. The latest studies show that drinking alcohol reduces the likelihood of getting arthritis by at least 50%. However, for those of you who smoke while you drink, you'll have to cut the smoking habit, because smoking appears to increase your risk.

Lastly, I'd like to highlight a 6 year old hero in Georgia. While swimming with friends he noticed a dark spot at the bottom of the pool. He called for help when he realized that spot was his friend, who was unconscious at the bottom of the pool. His friend was taken to a hospital, and recovered.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy today's articles! I'll see you tomorrow. :)

Today's Top 5:
1. Chopper Lifts Rescued Climber off McKinley (Anchorage Daily News)
2. "Plastic" Brain Outsmarts Experts (National Science Foundation)
3. NOAA Study Shows Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean Dolphin Populations Improving (Eurekalert.org)
4. Drinking Alcohol Cuts Arthritis Risk by Half (Daily News Analysis India)
5. Detroit Church's Stolen Jesus Statue Recovered (freep.com)



Honorable Mentions:
1. 6-year-old Rescues Drowning Friend (United Press International)
2. Inflatable Electric Car Can Drive up to 2,500 Miles on a Single Charge (Physorg)
3. Indonesian Couples Told to Plant Trees Before Marrying (Otago Daily Times)
4. ‘Green Wave’ Aims to Sweep Hispanics into Cause (Las Vegas Sun)
5. Fish and Chips Fuel "Green" Revolution (Yahoo News)


Today's Top 5:

1. Chopper Lifts Rescued Climber off McKinley
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/427696.html
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK

Published: June 5th, 2008 12:19 PM
Last Modified: June 5th, 2008 12:19 PM

A Canadian climber who tumbled up to 2,000 feet from Mount McKinley's West Buttress on Tuesday was airlifted off the mountain Wednesday night and quickly discharged from an Anchorage hospital.

The solo climber, Claude Ratte, 44, of Montreal, was described in serious but stable medical condition after a helicopter completed a rescue stalled for a day by bad weather, lifting him off the mountain about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to officials at the Denali National Park Talkeetna ranger station.

But sometime that night, after arriving at the Alaska Regional Hospital emergency room, he was discharged.

"I guess he wasn't in as serious (shape) as originally thought. He's gone," said Kjerstin Lastufka, a hospital spokeswoman. "I'm as surprised as you are."

Ratte was flown to the hospital from Talkeetna in a small plane, said Dave Kruetzer, a helicopter manager for the Talkeetna ranger station.

Ratte lost his footing on the West Buttress ridge sometime Tuesday, falling and tumbling 2,000 feet down a snow and ice slope onto the upper Peters Glacier. He suffered facial trauma and leg and ankle injuries yet was able to remove his crampons, crawl into a sleeping bag and call state troopers on his satellite phone around noon Tuesday, according to Park Service officials.

It took the rangers three to four hours traveling on foot to reach Ratte. After a medical assessment, they secured him in a rescue litter and raised him 2,000 feet to the West Buttress Ridge before lowering him 2,000 feet down the other side of the ridge to the camp, where he received medical attention.

Ratte remained on the mountain all day Wednesday because of bad weather, according to ranger station spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin.

But at 7:30 p.m., conditions cleared and the Park Service helicopter plucked him off, Kruetzer said.

The ground-based rescue party launched around noon Tuesday and got him to the camp by 10:30 p.m., McLaughlin said.

The rope-raising of Ratte to the West Buttress ridge was the longest raising operation in Denali mountaineering history, she said.

At least 10 climbers have had a serious fall on the Peters Glacier, including three who died in separate accidents in 1998, she said.

So how did Ratte survive such a big fall?

For one thing, he didn't free-fall down the mountain, McLaughlin said.

He misstepped, tried to self-arrest with an ice ax several times and ended up tumbling down a 35- to 40-degree slope, she said.

It's not the first time a climber has survived such a fall.

In 2006, a skier tumbled 2,600 feet through a chute notorious for fatal accidents -- along Denali's Orient Express route -- and emerged with scratches and bruises but no broken bones.

The skier, Ed Maginn, started walking down to the 14,200-foot camp before rescuers reached him.





2. "Plastic" Brain Outsmarts Experts
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111659&org=NSF
Training a person's working memory may increase his or her general intelligence.
June 5, 2008

Can human beings rev up their intelligence quotients, or are they stuck with IQs set by their genes at birth? Until recently, nature seemed to be the clear winner over nurture.

But new research, led by Swiss postdoctoral fellows Susanne M. Jaeggi and Martin Buschkuehl, working at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, suggests that at least one aspect of a person's IQ can be improved by training a certain type of memory.

Most IQ tests attempt to measure two types of intelligence--crystallized and fluid intelligence. Crystallized intelligence draws on existing skills, knowledge and experiences to solve problems by accessing information from long-term memory.

Fluid intelligence, on the other hand, draws on the ability to understand relationships between various concepts, independent of any previous knowledge or skills, to solve new problems. The research shows that this part of intelligence can be improved through memory training.

"When it comes to improving intelligence, many researchers have thought it was not possible," says Jaeggi. "Our findings clearly show this is not the case. Our brain is more plastic than we might think."

Jaeggi, Buschkuehl and Walter Perrig from Bern University, Switzerland, along with Jon Jonides, their National Science Foundation-supported colleague from the University of Michigan, reasoned that just as crystallized intelligence relies on long-term memory, fluid intelligence relies on short-term memory, or "working memory," as it is more accurately called. This is the same type of memory people use to remember a phone number or an e-mail address for a short time, but beyond that, working memory refers to the ability to both manipulate and use information briefly stored in the mind in the face of distraction.

Researchers gathered four groups of volunteers and trained their working memories using a complex training task called "dual n-back training," which presented both auditory and visual cues that participants had to temporarily store and recall.

Participants received the training during a half hour session held once a day for either eight, 12, 17 or 19 days. For each of these training periods, researchers tested participants' gains in fluid intelligence. They compared the results against those of control groups to be sure the volunteers actually improved their fluid intelligence, not merely their test-taking skills.

The results were surprising. While the control groups made gains, presumably because they had practice with the fluid intelligence tests, the trained groups improved considerably more than the control groups. Further, the longer the participants trained, the larger were their intelligence gains.

"Our findings clearly show that training on certain memory tasks transfer to fluid intelligence," says Jaeggi. "We also find that individuals with lower fluid intelligence scores at pre-test could profit from the training."

The results are significant because improved fluid intelligence scores could translate into improved general intelligence as measured by IQ tests. General intelligence is a key to determining life outcomes such as academic success, job performance and occupational advancement.

Researchers also surmise that this same type of memory training may help children with developmental problems and older adults who face memory decline. But, that remains to be seen, because the test results are based on assessments of young, healthy adult participants.

"Even though it currently appears very hard to improve these conditions, there might be some memory training related to intelligence that actually helps," says Jaeggi. "The saying 'use it or lose it' is probably appropriate here."

Since it is not known whether the improvements in fluid intelligence last after the training stops, researchers currently are measuring long-term fluid intelligence gains with both laboratory testing and long-term field work. Researchers say it will be some time before a complete data set is available to draw any conclusions.

University of Bern professor Walter J. Perrig also co-authors this study along with University of Michigan professor John Jonides. The Swiss National Science Foundation funds Jaeggi and Buschkuehl's visiting scholar status.

Media Contacts
Bobbie Mixon, NSF (703) 292-8485 bmixon@nsf.gov
Joe Serwach, University of Michigan (734) 647-1844 jserwach@umich.edu

Program Contacts
Douglas Whalen, NSF (703) 292-7321 dwhalen@nsf.gov

Principal Investigators
Susanne Jaeggi, University of Michigan (734) 763-2229 sjaeggi@umich.edu




3. NOAA Study Shows Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean Dolphin Populations Improving
2 dolphin stocks may be recovering from tuna fishing practices
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/nnmf-nss060508.php
Public release date: 5-Jun-2008
Contact: Jim Milbury
jim.milbury@noaa.gov
562-980-4006
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service
The numbers of Northeastern offshore spotted and eastern spinner dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean are increasing after being severely depleted because of accidental death in the tuna purse-seine fishery between 1960 and 1990, according to biologists from NOAA's Fisheries Service.

"These estimates are encouraging because they are consistent with what we would expect to see if these stocks are recovering, now that reported fishery mortality has been dramatically reduced," said Dr. Lisa Ballance, director of NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center protected resources division. "However, we have to be careful not to jump to final conclusions. We need to resolve the uncertainties around these estimates before we can definitively say these stocks are recovering."

Between 1960 and 1990, the northeastern offshore spotted and eastern spinner dolphin populations dropped to 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively, of their pre-fishery levels when dolphins were caught and died in tuna purse-seine nets. Since the early 1990s, however, the number of reported dolphin deaths has been very low because of severe restrictions on the fishery.

"We expected to see these populations begin their recovery years ago, because fishermen have been so successful at reducing dolphin deaths," said Tim Gerrodette of NOAA's Fisheries Service. "The new data are the first to indicate the beginning of a recovery, but these initial indications are not enough to be confident that the populations will continue to grow."

Researchers emphasize the need to continue to monitor dolphin populations at sea through comprehensive ecosystem research cruises, and to conduct an updated dolphin stock assessment that will include not only these most recent abundance estimates, but also additional information on dolphin life history, fishery mortality, and the ecosystem. This assessment will enable a more definitive interpretation of whether these abundance estimates indicate Eastern Tropical Pacific dolphins are recovering and the degree to which the fishery and other factors affect the conservation of these stocks.

Today's report stems from a series of research cruises conducted since 1986. It presents new estimates of abundance for 10 dolphin stocks for each survey year between 1986 and 2006. A summary of 2006 ETP dolphin abundance estimates may be found at, http://swfsc.noaa.gov/textblock.aspx?Division=PRD&ParentMenuId=228&id=12816

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-422 - "Estimates of 2006 dolphin abundance in the eastern






4. Drinking Alcohol Cuts Arthritis Risk by Half
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1169022
Thursday, June 05, 2008 18:37 IST

LONDON: Drinking alcohol is not only good for heart, it's good for joints too. In fact, regular guzzling could halve the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, a new study has revealed.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have found alcohol protects against the painful joint condition by reducing inflammation within the body, in a similar way to how red wine helps protect the heart.

According to them, teetotallers are the most likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis but its risk decreases the more people drink -- best is to down five or more alcoholic drinks beverages a week, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

"Our findings point to the possibility that alcohol may protect against rheumatoid arthritis," Henrik Kallberg, who led the study, said.

The Swedish team came to the conclusion after looking at the results of two major researches involving 2,750 people in Scandinavia, which analysed environmental and genetic risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis.

They found the more alcohol people regularly drank, the less likely they were to develop the condition. Those who drank more than five drinks every week cut their chances of developing it by between 40 and 50 per cent.

In fact, the effect was found to be the same for both men and women in the north European countries.

However, teetotallers had a slightly raised chance of developing the disease, while low drinkers, those whose intake was between one and five drinks a week, had an average risk, the study found.

In addition, it revealed that smoking raised the risk in those with a genetic susceptibility to the joint condition -- the results of the study have been published in the 'Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases' journal.






5. Detroit Church's Stolen Jesus Statue Recovered
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080605/NEWS01/80605071
June 5, 2008

An 8-foot-statue of Jesus Christ stolen from the cross at the Church of the Messiah on Detroit’s east side has been found in an alley near the church.

Rev. Barry Randolph said Patricia Bower, a woman who lives in the neighborhood, decided to take a shortcut home when she found Jesus “in a bush, between two trees” Wednesday night. He and another church member went to pick up Jesus, finding the green-hewed weather beaten statue with only its hand missing.

“We are truly grateful,” Randolph said Thursday.

But in another twist – someone advertised the statue for sale on the classifieds website Craigslist Wednesday. Then, presumably, the same person called the church, trying to sell it to back to them for $1,000. Randolph said he declined. The statue had already been found.

The statue is made of a strong plaster, but a thief or thieves may have mistaken for copper. A parishioner called church staff Tuesday morning and told them the statue was missing from the 107-year-old Episcopal church at 231 E. Grand Blvd. The cross on the side of the building was badly damaged.

“We got calls from all over the world,” Randolph said, about how fast the news of the stolen statue spread.

The church will have the statue and cross repaired, and will host a “resurrection celebration” when they return it to the church. Randolph said they will also post a sign next to it: “Jesus is not copper. Do not take him off the cross.”




Honorable Mentions:

1. 6-year-old Rescues Drowning Friend
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/06/04/6-year-old_rescues_drowning_friend/1357/
Published: June 4, 2008 at 8:48 PM

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga., June 4 (UPI) -- A 6-year-old Georgia boy said he was simply being a good friend when he rescued his 5-year-old buddy from drowning in a pool.

Fayetteville, Ga., resident Haden Stusak said he was trying to find out what was making a dark spot at the bottom of the pool Sunday when he found his friend Josiah Buddah, 5, unconscious in the water.

It turned out Buddah sank after removing his water wings, WSB-TV, Atlanta reported Wednesday.

Stusak said he called for help after finding his friend.

"They took me to the hospital. I was dead and couldn't breathe," Buddah told reporters.

A doctor and two nurses performed CPR on Buddah after Stusak pulled him out of the water.

"Were friends. That's what friends do," the young hero said.



2. Inflatable Electric Car Can Drive up to 2,500 Miles on a Single Charge
http://www.physorg.com/news131804347.html
by Lisa Zyga

It's hard to say what the most intriguing thing about XP Vehicles' inflatable car is. Maybe it's that the car can travel for up to 2,500 miles on a single electric charge (the distance across the US is roughly 3,000 miles).

Or maybe it's the fact that you buy the car online, it gets shipped to you in two cardboard boxes, and the estimated assembly time is less than two hours. Perhaps it's that the car is made out of "airbags" - the same polymer materials used to cushion NASA's rovers when they landed on Mars. Then again, it could be the company's claim that you can drive the car off a cliff without serious injury, and that it will float in a flood or tsunami.

Together, these features characterize the Whisper, XP Vehicles' solution to the oil crisis. The company doesn't expect the car to be in production until 2010 at the earliest, but when it is, it will hopefully be an extremely affordable $10,000 or less. XP Vehicles envisions four body styles, along with a special low-priced model for the Southeast Asian market.

As the San Francisco-based start-up explains on its Web site, the miracle behind the 2,500-mile range is a "hot-swap XPack Multi-Core Battery/Fuel Cell power plant" invented by the founders of XP Vehicles. Or, without the hot-swap technology, the car can travel up to 300 miles on a single charge, thanks to its light weight.

XP Vehicles hopes to have a prototype developed by the end of the year, and will begin working on built-to-order vehicles for its OEM partners only. Later, it plans to sell to dealers, who will assemble the vehicle before selling to consumers.

In the future, individuals may also order online, pick out their desired features as if customizing a PC, and receive the car by a common carrier. Options will include iPod mounts, 20 colors, trim, decals, roof/no roof, car covers, solar mounts, stereos, integrated pumps, home connections, GPS, battery clubs, alarms, and more. Two adults with a high school education should be able to unpack and inflate the car in less than two hours, according to the company. And, if you don´t have enough room in the garage, some models even fold up after assembly for storage. Other models "can change bodies" (details on that are sparse).

Different models of the car will be made of various polymers, carbon fiber, and/or other strong, ultra-light-weight materials - the same stuff that protected the Mars rovers´ sensitive electronics as they fell and bounced along the planet´s surface. XP Vehicles claims that the car will be one of the safest on the road for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.

"Research shows that the metal in your car is the largest cause of death and injury," the company explains on its Web site. "The shrapnel, body compression immobility, lung compression, dismemberment and other serious results of a crash are most often caused by the inflexibility of metal and the permanent deformation of the body of the metal car around or into your body. Hence the need for, and name of, the Jaws of Life."

For another thing, the car won´t "blow off the road," due to a special ballast and aerodynamic design features which make the car very stable. An inflatable car might even provide additional safety measures in certain circumstances, such as if someone were to accidentally drive it off a cliff - although the company says that it´s not intended for this use.

If you´re concerned that an inflatable car may be too tempting for a tire-slashing juvenile delinquent, XP Vehicles says that their car bodies are actually pretty difficult to pierce. The cars have multiple chambers, so a single slice wouldn´t pop it like a balloon - "somebody would really have to go at it" to cause major damage, the company says. And, in the case of vandalism, you can repair it yourself.

Whether it´s legal to drive an inflatable car on the road will depend on local ordinances, which dealers or individual buyers will be responsible for knowing. But, as XP Vehicles estimates a $200 billion market for alternative energy vehicles, changes in regulations seem inevitable.

XP Vehicles is not releasing specific vehicle data until an official launch, which will be announced after the company receives various safety certification papers.

More information: http://www.xpcarteam.com/




2. Indonesian Couples Told to Plant Trees Before Marrying
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/8467/indonesian-couples-told-plant-trees-marrying
Wed, 4 Jun 2008

Prospective newlyweds in an Indonesian province are being given one more promise to honour: planting trees to help slow the rapid deterioration of the country's forests.

As Indonesia marks World Environment Day on Thursday, husbands- and brides-to-be in Gorontalo, a rugged mountainous province on Sulawesi island, are being required to plant 10 seedlings supplied by the local government, said Hasyim Alidrus, head of the religious affairs office.

It is part of a nationwide "re-greening" initiative launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Bali Conference in Bali last November when million of trees were planted across the vast archipelago.

The programme, critics say, is largely symbolic in a nation that is losing its forests at one of the fastest rates in the world due to illegal logging, mining, new oil palm plantations and slash-and-burn land clearing.

Conservationists say deforestation on Borneo island has claimed an area the size of some European countries and continues virtually unabated.

That has hardly dampened the enthusiasm of 27-year-old Khairul Baso and his fiancee, Andini, who received two 6-month-old teak trees along with palm, fruit and flower seedlings ahead of their wedding this weekend.

The couple is just one of nearly 900 that this year received trees from Gorontalo's religious affairs office, where they are required to register their marriage documents. Couples are required to plant the trees to receive their legal paperwork, Alidrus said, although it was unclear how the rule would be enforced.




4. ‘Green Wave’ Aims to Sweep Hispanics into Cause
National environmental group hopes free concert will boost anti-coal agenda
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jun/04/green-wave-aims-sweep-hispanics-cause/
By Timothy Pratt
Wed, Jun 4, 2008 (2 a.m.)

A pair of uncombed, college-aged Mexican pop singers tonight will usher in the first attempt by a national environmental organization to target Nevada’s Hispanics.

A free concert by Latin Grammy winners Jesse and Joy at the Rio is the hook for la onda verde, or “green wave,” a campaign being launched here by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The idea is to draw a few thousand Hispanics to listen to the wispy duo’s harmonies and then persuade the crowd to dash off notes to Gov. Jim Gibbons protesting three coal power plants planned for rural Nevada.

The hope is the campaign, which is also being promoted in Spanish-language TV and radio spots, will sow the seeds for a groundswell of support for renewable energy among the state’s largest and fastest-growing minority population.

It’s the latest example of Nevada’s more than 600,000 Hispanics’ drawing increasing attention, a phenomenon seen in recent years in advertising and electoral politics.

“This is something that’s spreading, and it’s tied to their numbers,” said Nora Vargas, executive director of the California-based Latino Issues Forum, a policy and advocacy group.

Andres Ramirez, vice president of Hispanic projects at the Washington, D.C.-based NDN, formerly the New Democrat Network, said the green wave campaign is the first full-blown effort by a national environmental group to reach Hispanics in Nevada. Ramirez compared the move to the Democratic Party’s choice of Nevada as an early caucus state. The selection of the state was in part due to its Hispanic population, party leaders said. The campaign also hopes to reverse what experts and its promoters say is a popular misconception: that Hispanics don’t care about the environment.

Last month, the Sierra Club released what it said was the first national survey of Hispanic voters on energy and environmental issues. The main conclusion: 80 percent said those issues have “a lot” or “some” impact on their quality of life, with the same percentage saying that global warming — a focus of la onda verde — is a major problem.

Low-income Hispanics, in particular, are “disproportionately affected by health and environmental concerns” because they often live close to sources of pollution, Oliver Bernstein, spokesman for the Sierra Club, said.

At the same time, however, “for far too long, the Hispanic community has been ignored or not invited to participate in environmental issues,” Bernstein said.

La onda verde may help change that. “We’re going to see more and more of this,” Bernstein said.

Adriana Quintero, spokeswoman for the campaign, said many Hispanics bring from their native countries what she called “a love and connection with the environment” that they lose track of in the day-to-day struggle for survival in the United States.

“We have to begin to communicate with Hispanics about this subject,” she said.

She wouldn’t say how much money is to be spent on the campaign, which hopes to persuade Nevada’s Hispanics to oppose three coal-fired energy plants on the drawing board and to support solar, wind and geothermal energy.

Advocates for the coal plants contend the plants are the only realistic route to ensure the state has enough reliable and affordable electricity in the immediate future.

They plan to court Hispanics, too. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity says it is going to focus on the Hispanic community in an effort to make more people aware of the group and its support for coal.

“Our group is reaching out to anyone interested in keeping electricity prices affordable, and that certainly includes Hispanics,” spokesman Brad Jones said.

The environmentalists are pitching a different economic motive. Quintero said the Hispanic community, which is younger than other ethnic groups, has “an opportunity to be part of a new green economy.”

Tony Sanchez, corporate senior vice president of Nevada Power and former president of the local Latin Chamber of Commerce, seemed less than impressed by the green campaign.

“From our standpoint, it’s another out-of-state special interest group coming in,” he said. “We’re not going to fight with them ... we’re not engaged in a debate.”

“Our No. 1 concern is providing a reasonable, predictable price to our customers.”

He added that his company has increased advertising in Spanish, going from 1 percent of its budget for advertising in 2006 to 6 percent this year, as well as including information in Spanish on its Web site.

Quintero allows that being the first to target Nevada’s Hispanics with an environmental campaign might not be easy. “The community hasn’t been involved in advocacy,” she said.

Vargas said the best way to turn the tide is to get Hispanics to understand the impact that issues such as energy choices have on their lives through, say, global warming.

Having a couple of good-looking pop stars onboard can’t hurt either.




5. Fish and Chips Fuel 'Green' Revolution
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080604/wl_uk_afp/britainenergyfoodbiofuelsinflation
by Lucie Godeau
Wed Jun 4, 9:30 AM ET

WINSLOW (AFP) - Faced with soaring prices at the petrol pumps, ecologically-minded Britons are turning to fish and chips to run their cars -- transforming the leftover frying oil into "green" fuel.

Deep in the southern English countryside, an environmental group spent last weekend teaching 12 men how to transform the abundant vegetable oil from fish and chip shops, but also pubs and restaurants, into biodiesel.

One of the participants, Mike Kempton, who runs a business hiring out limousines, said the prospect of cheap fuel was extremely attractive at a time when oil prices have reached historic highs.

"I want to save money, I don't want to be in a position where I'm isolated from fuel and where I can't drive my vehicle.

"And I genuinely am concerned about what we're doing to the environment," he said.

The courses are organised by the Low Impact Living Initiative (LILI), a group which has already trained more than a thousand people, and applicants for the scheme increase every time the price of fuel rises.

In an added incentive, the government does not tax the production of biodiesel, providing it does not exceed 2,500 litres per person a year.

In a low-tech shed in Winslow near Oxford, Jon Halle, a tutor from the non-profit making company Goldenfuels, gives the participants an elementary chemistry lesson.

By mixing a litre of vegetable oil with methanol and several other ingredients and heating it, he produces a litre of basic biodiesel.

"Some people don't have a clue, some people on the course are chemists but everybody will be able to go away and do it if they spend the time," Halle said.

He insists the danger is low even to people without a scientific background.

"The risks are, you use some dangerous chemicals, you also use electricity so you could have potentially dangerous scenarios but you just have to take care.

"It's not rocket science, it's like cookery but on a big scale."

It is not as easy as Halle makes it look -- some of the participants struggle to properly measure the amount of fatty acids in the oil that must be neutralised for it to become fuel.

But when properly done, the biodiesel can be used in diesel engines without any modification and without the vehicle suffering any loss of performance.

Biodiesel made from vegetable oil contains 75 percent less carbon than its mineral equivalent.

Another participant on the course, Matthew Stephens, from Lincolnshire in eastern England, admitted using the "green" fuel was good for his conscience.

"I have to use the car to work a lot, Lincolnshire doesn't have public transport in a meaningful way," he said.

"And if I use biodiesel, it will make me feel an awful lot better because it's virtually carbon-free."

The re-processing of vegetable oil is relatively rare in Britain, meaning there is a huge glut of raw material and the process does not require much-needed agricultural land to be set aside to growing biofuels crops such as rapeseed.

There is one hitch though -- the basic equipment to turn the oil into fuel costs between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds (1,250 euros and 2,500 euros or 1,950 dollars and 3,900 dollars) and the necessary chemicals cost 15 pence per litre of biodiesel.

That means an individual user would need to produce biodiesel for more than a year to absorb the initial investment.

Colin Hygate, the director of Greenfuels, which claims to be Europe's biggest seller of the re-processing equipment, said business was booming as people take a long-term approach.

"We see an acceleration whenever there is an issue about fuel security or the cost of fuel at the fuel station," he said.

"We are growing year-on-year. Over a four-year period, we have gone from a turnover of less than 100,000 pounds a year to a turnover this year that is looking more like two million pounds.

"The number of people inquiring about our products has increased from about 10 to 15 contacts a day to between 40 to 50 people and we have had to employ additional sales people to try to cope with the increasing demand."