Kazakhstan's president urges scientists to find the elixir of life

Nursultan Nazarbayev calls on new research institute to concentrate on study to unlock secret of immortality

Cleopatra may have bathed in asses' milk to preserve her youth but Nursultan Nazarbayev, the autocratic president of Kazakhstan, wants nothing less than an elixir of life to keep him going.

Not satisfied with 19 years in charge of the gas-rich central Asian state, Nazarbayev urged scientists today to unlock the secret to immortality.

The 70-year-old leader stressed in a speech that a new scientific research institute in the capital Astana should study "rejuvenation of the organism," as well as "the human genome, production of human tissue and creation of gene-based medicines".

In an aside to students, Nazarbayev added: "As for the medicine of the future, people of my age are really hoping all of this will happen as soon as possible."

Two months ago an ethnic Korean delegate at Kazakhstan's people's assembly proposed that Nazarbayev should stay in power until 2020. The president answered: "Maybe, then, you'll offer me an elixir of youth and energy – maybe you have such potions in Korea … I'm willing to go on until 2020, just find me an elixir."

Today was the third time in just over a year that Nazarbayev has urged scientists to find a way to stave off death.

"Anti-ageing medicine, natural rejuvenation, immortality," he mused to a government science committee in September last year. "That's what people are studying these days." He added: "Those who do are the most successful states in the world – those who don't will get left on the sidelines."
In case anyone had missed the point, Nazarbayev repeated the challenge a month later.

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Study Says Wi-Fi Makes Trees Sick

Wi-Fi, sweet deliverer of information and porn, may be killing trees. A study by a Dutch university suggests that Wi-Fi radiation causes weird abnormalities in trees. This is disturbing, as we love both Wi-Fi and trees.

The dutch city of Alphen aan den Rijn commissioned the study five years ago to figure out why their city's trees were developing weird growths, according to PC World. The study, conducted by a researcher at Wageningen University, found that 70 percent of trees in urban areas exhibited similar symptoms today, while only 10 percent did five years ago. What's to blame for the increase? Wi-Fi, maybe.

From PC World:

The study exposed 20 ash trees to various radiation sources for a period of three months. Trees placed closest to the Wi-Fi radio demonstrated a "lead-like shine" on their leaves that was caused by the dying of the upper and lower epidermis of the leaves. This would eventually result in the death of parts of the leaves. The study also found that Wi-Fi radiation could inhibit the growth of corn cobs.

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Giant stork once roamed Indonesian island

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Fossils of a giant stork have been discovered on a far-flung Indonesian island that has been home to many extreme-sized creatures — from tiny human-like "hobbits" and dwarf elephants to the world's largest-known rats and lizards.

Authors Hanneke Meijer and Rokus Due wrote in the December issue of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society that leg bones from the marabou stork, which lived 20,000 to 50,000 years ago, indicate it stood around 6 feet (180 centimeters) tall and weighed up to 35 pounds (16 kilograms).

It appears to have been primarily land-based, they wrote.

The bones were found during excavations of the Liang Bua cave in the west of the island of Flores at a depth of around 15 feet (4.7 meters).

Flores, located on Indonesia's eastern edge, has never been connected to another island or mainland, shaping evolution of historic wildlife, with many small-sized warm blooded animals growing larger than elsewhere on the planet, and big-sized mammals becoming more diminutive, said Colin Groves, a professor at Australian National University who was not related to the study, citing the so-called "island rule" in biology.

With no mammalian carnivores, birds and reptiles faced less competition for food, accounting for some of their massive size.

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The thought police are here

JUNE 2008, MUMBAI - Hailed as a breakthrough by some and condemned as being dubious and unethical by others, it is clear that, in India at least, ‘brain-mapping’ is assuming an increasingly important place in the repertoire of investigative tools used by law-enforcement agencies.

And in an unprecedented judgement by a Maharashtra court, it was this test that led to the undoing of Pune-based MBA student Aditi Sharma, who was convicted for killing an ex-lover by feeding him poisoned prasad.

Although many question the veracity of such a method, it is based on sound scientific principles. The suspect under investigation is seated and made to wear a cap with 32 electrodes. Out of these, two are attached to the ear lobes and the remaining 30 placed on different parts of the brain to measure electrical waves.

Unlike the polygraph test or narco-analysis, this non-invasive procedure — technically known as the Brain Electrical Oscillation Profiling (BEOS) test — does not require any verbal responses from the subject. Instead, the probe questions are designed to evoke the memory of the experience that the accused is suspected to have had. Simply put, remembering conceptual and experiential knowledge activate different regions of the brain.

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Oliver the Mutant Chimp

A chimpanzee named Oliver has stumped and astonished scientists for nearly twenty years. He is physiologically unusual, with a lack of hair on his chest and head, and a jawline and ears that are shaped differently from normal chimps. But more notably, Oliver very much acts human. Way too human.

Oliver was born in the Congo and sold to South African animal trainers Frank and Janet Burger in the early 1970s. From his youth he seemed not to belong with the other chimps, preferring instead to socialize with humans. He always walked upright and learned to use the toilet. His owners found that he enjoyed chores such as pushing a wheelbarrow and preparing dog food for the family dogs. Oliver was also fond of relaxing by watching television and drinking Seven-Up and whiskey. When his mind turned to sexual thoughts, Oliver was not interested in female chimps -- he went after Mrs. Burger and any other human women he saw.

Oliver's libido eventually forced the Burgers to sell him to an American trainer, and Oliver began a career of traveling as a trained chimp, demonstrating all manner of highly intelligent behavior. He came to be promoted as "The Missing Link," and there was much speculation about his genetic makeup.


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Native Americans visited Europe 1000 years ago

Five centuries before Columbus reached the Americas, Vikings briefly settled on the northern tip of Newfoundland. Now the DNA of four Icelandic families reveals it wasn't just Europeans traveling to the Americas...at least one Native American went back with them.

Eleven modern Icelanders carry an unusual variant of mitochondrial DNA known as C1e. This particular variant is very closely related to those found in Native Americans but practically unheard of in Europe. Mitochondrial DNA is only passed down by the mother, so the common ancestor who originally possessed the C1e must have been a woman.

Research shows all these people are descended from generations of Icelanders, meaning the mitochonidrial DNA can't have come from a relatively recent immigrant. Indeed, based on Iceland's centuries of isolation, the only real way to account for this finding is that a Native American woman lived and had children on Iceland about 1000 years ago.

Of course, that fits perfectly with the known Viking expeditions in the Americas, but until now it was thought it was only Europeans who made the voyage across the Atlantic. Now we know at least one Native American woman made the trip, and it's possible future DNA research will reveal more Amerindians came with her.

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Hotel guests spooked by 'ghostly figure' in mirror and strange happenings

Source: STOMP

STOMPer Jasmine and her friends apparently encountered a number of strange occurrences during their 2-day stay in a hotel on Sentosa.

Besides the ghostly figure that appeared in this photo, one of her friends reported hearing strange noises from the toilet. Another even claimed that he was awakened by something pushing his leg.

The STOMPer described their experience:

"My friends and I stayed for 2 nights at one of the hotels on Sentosa late last month.

"I took a couple of photos of the hotel room including the bathroom. To our horror, we saw a ghostly figure in photo we took of the bathroom

"Check out the reflection in the mirror!

"We are quite sure that it's not a design of the tiles; the tiles on that particular wall were homogeneous mosaic tiles.

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Have we found the universe that existed before the Big Bang?

The current cosmological consensus is that the universe began 13.7 billion years ago with the Big Bang. But a legendary physicist says he's found the first evidence of an eternal, cyclic cosmos.

The Big Bang model holds that everything that now comprises the universe was once concentrated in a single point of near-infinite density. Before this singularity exploded and the universe began, there was absolutely nothing - indeed, it's not clear whether one can even use the term "before" in reference to a pre-Big-Bang cosmos, as time itself may not have existed yet. In the current model, the universe began with the Big Bang, underwent cosmic inflation for a fraction of a second, then settled into the much more gradual expansion that is still going on, and likely will end with the universe as an infinitely expanded, featureless cosmos.

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Mokele-mbembe: a dinosaur of Africa?

by Phillip O'Donnell

It was 1986, Rory Nugent and his expedition party were out in the world's largest unexplored swamp on earth, the Likouala Swamp of Africa. While near Lake Tele he saw a long, thin neck come up out of the water, like that of a dinosaur. Rory imediately took two photographs and quickly got in his canoe, but his native guides stopped him at gunpoint and siad," He (the creature) would have killed us all..."

Over the last 100 years, evidence has accumulated that sauropod dinosaurs may still be roaming the vast, unexplored regions of the African swamp and jungle. Places like Nigeria, Congo, Angola, Gabon, and Cameroon have similar reports of huge, long-necked monsters, some with a length of 75 feet! Native sightings have been confirmed by reports from missionaries, explorers, and even army personnel.

The natives in the Congo region call this creature “Mokele-mbembe” (the one who stops the flow of rivers). This creature is said to possess a long neck and tail, small head, large body, and four legs. They say the animal is very aggressive when disturbed and will bite and lash its tail at you when it is tipping over canoes, killing elephants or hippos.

It is herbivorous (plant-eater) and enjoys eating very large amounts of the Malombo fruit that grows on vines at the edge of the rivers. Tracks from this creature range from 1 to 3 feet wide and are spaced 7 to 8 feet apart. It has no hair and it’s skin is very smooth. Dr. Bill Gibbons and Dr. Roy Mackal have done much research on Mokele-mbembe and without their work, little would be known about it.


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Mysterious hole in Geylang

Source: RazorTV

Residents of Geylang Lorong 15 woke up to find a little surprise outside their door last Friday (December 3).

A 60cm wide and 50cm deep hole had appeared on the concrete pavement out of nowhere.

According to shop owners nearby, the hole in the ground appeared suddenly. It has been temporarily covered with a piece of wooden board to prevent accidents.

When contacted by RazorTV, the Land Transport Authority said the hole will be repaired on Wednesday (December 8).

As for what caused the hole, LTA said it may have been caused by wear and tear, and that the pavement may not have been compacted properly when it was laid.

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Area 51 Gets Cool Reviews on Google Maps

(Nov. 29) -- In the worlds of weird, conspiracy theories and government cover-ups, a leading contender for top honors would definitely be Area 51 -- the secret military installation located in a Nevada desert -- that's allegedly home to alien spaceships.

And now, with the ever-popular Google Maps site, online users have been taking jabs at Area 51.

Google Maps allows Web surfers to easily find and make maps by offering street maps, route planners and satellite images.

So it's not surprising that visitors checking out Area 51 on Google Maps would leave some comments on what they found.

"There was this guy in a black suit there. Said something about swamp gas and light from Venus. The rest is kind of hazy," one Google reviewer recently wrote.

Area 51, also commonly referred to as Groom Lake and Dreamland, is an actual military base, located on the shore of a salt flat called Groom Lake, about 80 miles north of Las Vegas.

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Ever Dream of This Man?

In January 2006 in New York, the patient of a well-known psychiatrist draws the face of a man that has been repeatedly appearing in her dreams. In more than one occasion that man has given her advice on her private life. The woman swears she has never met the man in her life.



That portrait lies forgotten on the psychiatrist’s desk for a few days until one day another patient recognizes that face and says that the man has often visited him in his dreams. He also claims he has never seen that man in his waking life.

The psychiatrist decides to send the portrait to some of his colleagues that have patients with recurrent dreams. Within a few months, four patients recognize the man as a frequent presence in their own dreams. All the patients refer to him as THIS MAN.

From January 2006 until today, at least 2000 people have claimed they have seen this man in their dreams, in many cities all over the world: Los Angeles, Berlin, Sao Paulo, Tehran, Beijing, Rome, Barcelona, Stockholm, Paris, New Dehli, Moscow etc.

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