Futuristic Japanese Cars

Cool designs and bizarre concept cars take the stage at Japan's motor show, including Honda's 'organic' car skin and a rotating Nissan that talks you out of a bad mood.

Possible Cure for Diabetes Found, Ignored by Big Pharma

Irving Weissman discovered a treatment 12 years ago that might have saved the lives of thousands of women with advanced breast cancer, but pharmaceutical companies weren’t interested in developing the therapy. Though that interest is finally being reignited, Weissman doesn’t pull any punches. “I hate to say I told you so,” he said.

Weissman is a professor of pathology & developmental biology at Stanford University, spoke Wednesday & Thursday as part of the Columbia University Department of Religion’s Bampton Lecture series. The lecture series is modeled after a centuries-old Oxford series of the same name, & invites famous authorities in their respective fields to give talks on various issues of interest to the religious community.


In Wednesday’s lecture, Weissman laid out the conceptual foundation of his work—that stem cells are rare, self-renewing, & can regenerate body tissues. Weissman repeatedly expressed frustration that while plenty of of his discoveries seemed to hold remarkable potential for lifesaving treatments, commercial or regulatory hurdles have prevented his scientific research from benefiting human beings.

Weissman’s outspoken disagree with recent reports that adult stem cells can be “reprogrammed,” obliviating the require for the more powerful embryonic stem cells.

“He [Weissman] has a long history of being at the forefront of his field,” Arthur Palmer, professor of structural biology at Columbia said, remarking that Weissman has seldom been afraid to challenge scientific orthodoxy.

Weissman geared his presentation to a lay audience, only occasionally drifting into jargon. Jaffer Kolb, who was visiting his brother at Columbia, enjoyed Weissman’s talk. “I have no science background,” he said, “so I was afraid I would have a hard time. But it was easy to follow.”

The presentation left some audience members with questions. Susan Doubileg, a Columbia alumna, wondered if Weissman’s results were as conclusive as presented. “If they were so useful, why weren’t they picked up in other countries?” they asked, referring to Europe’s less restrictive stem cell regulations. Nonetheless, Palmer cautioned against dismissing Weissman’s research. “He’s been right a lot in the past,” he said.

Coffee may raise child cancer risk

Experts say caffeine may damage the DNA of children in the womb. They become more susceptible to leukaemia, the most common cancer in children.

Women who drink coffee or tea during pregnancy may increase their baby’s odds of developing cancer, doctors believe.

Researcher Dr Marcus Cooke said there was a ‘good likelihood’ the study would make a connection. Previous research has shown that caffeine damages DNA, cutting cells’ ability to fight off cancer triggers such as radiation.

To establish the link, scientists at Leicester University will scrutinise the caffeine intake of hundreds of pregnant women and compare the results with blood samples from their children after birth.

‘Although there’s no evidence at all of a link between caffeine and cancer, we’re putting four and four together and saying: caffeine can induce these changes and it has been shown that these changes are elevated in leukaemia patients,’ added Dr Cooke.

Changes of this kind have been seen in the blood cells of children with leukaemia. Scientists know they occur in the womb, but do not know why.

‘I wonder if caffeine can somehow sensitise cells or increase the risk of leukaemia? The idea seems plausible.

‘It is vital for mothers that they either confirm caffeine as a trigger that can make something happen to a kid while in the womb or rule it out.’

The Food Standards Agency recently reduced the amount of caffeine it advises can be safely consumed in pregnancy from 300mg a day to 200mg. This is equivalent to four mugs of instant coffee, three cups of tea or four cans of cola.

Toshiba SD-PDT12W Portable DVD Player

Toshiba will be release a new portable DVD player SD-PDT12W with compact TV tuner on 1st February.

This super dvd player will be available with 1080i video output and also has composite video output with analog audio RCA output. The measurement of Toshiba DVD player PDT12W 126×126x50 inch with weight only 330gram. There’s no price available yet.

* 26 16 Using Photos to create High-Res Videos from Low-Res Videos