how time flies. I've not blogged here for a long time, and another year is starting. I rmbed starting this year with a look back at the weirdest science of 2006. Hmm..this year, maybe i'll post this video about the top 5 science videos of 2007 in newscientist. (you'll need a shockwave player)
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
Live Earth
I'm sure most of you must have heard of "live earth" on the 7/7/7 by now.
You can show your support by wearing green on 7/7 and 8/7.
Here's the website:
http://www.liveearth.org/
It provides many resourses on how you can help in the fight against global warming and to protect our Earth.
Please take some time to look at how you can help. The Earth needs us now!
You can show your support by wearing green on 7/7 and 8/7.
Here's the website:
http://www.liveearth.org/
It provides many resourses on how you can help in the fight against global warming and to protect our Earth.
Please take some time to look at how you can help. The Earth needs us now!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Belief in reincarnation tied to memory errors
I noe I've not been blogging for more than a month. really sorry. Shall post this really interesting article:
"People who believe they have lived past lives as, say, Indian princesses or battlefield commanders are more likely to make certain types of memory errors, according to a new study.
The propensity to make these mistakes could, in part, explain why people cling to implausible reincarnation claims in the first place.
Researchers recruited people who, after undergoing hypnotic therapy, had come to believe that they had past lives.
Subjects were asked to read aloud a list of 40 non-famous names, and then, after a two-hour wait, told that they were going to see a list consisting of three types of names: non-famous names they had already seen (from the earlier list), famous names, and names of non-famous people that they had not previously seen. Their task was to identify which names were famous.
The researchers found that, compared to control subjects who dismissed the idea of reincarnation, past-life believers were almost twice as likely to misidentify names. In particular, their tendency was to wrongly identify as famous the non-famous names they had seen in the first task. This kind of error, called a source-monitoring error, indicates that a person has difficulty recognizing where a memory came from.
Power of suggestion
People who are likely to make these kinds of errors might end up convincing themselves of things that aren’t true, said lead researcher Maarten Peters of Maastricht University in The Netherlands. When people who are prone to making these mistakes undergo hypnosis and are repeatedly asked to talk about a potential idea — like a past life — they might, as they grow more familiar with it, eventually convert the idea into a full-blown false memory.
This is because they can’t distinguish between things that have really happened and things that have been suggested to them, Peters told LiveScience.
Past life memories are not the only type of implausible memories that have been studied in this manner. Richard McNally, a clinical psychologist at Harvard University, has found that self-proclaimed alien abductees are also twice as likely to commit source monitoring errors.
Creative minds
As for what might make people more prone to committing such errors to begin with, McNally says that it could be the byproduct of especially vivid imagery skills. He has found that people who commonly make source-monitoring errors respond to and imagine experiences more strongly than the average person, and they also tend to be more creative.
“It might be harder to discriminate between a vivid image that you’d generated yourself and the memory of a perception of something you actually saw,” he said in a telephone interview.
Peters also found in his study, detailed in the March issue of Consciousness and Cognition, that people with implausible memories are also more likely to be depressed and to experience sleep problems, and this could also make them more prone to memory mistakes.
And once people make this kind of mistake, they might be inclined to stick to their guns for spiritual reasons, McNally said. “It may be a variant expression of certain religious impulses,” he said. “We suspect that this might be kind of a psychological buffering mechanism against the fear of death.” "
"People who believe they have lived past lives as, say, Indian princesses or battlefield commanders are more likely to make certain types of memory errors, according to a new study.
The propensity to make these mistakes could, in part, explain why people cling to implausible reincarnation claims in the first place.
Researchers recruited people who, after undergoing hypnotic therapy, had come to believe that they had past lives.
Subjects were asked to read aloud a list of 40 non-famous names, and then, after a two-hour wait, told that they were going to see a list consisting of three types of names: non-famous names they had already seen (from the earlier list), famous names, and names of non-famous people that they had not previously seen. Their task was to identify which names were famous.
The researchers found that, compared to control subjects who dismissed the idea of reincarnation, past-life believers were almost twice as likely to misidentify names. In particular, their tendency was to wrongly identify as famous the non-famous names they had seen in the first task. This kind of error, called a source-monitoring error, indicates that a person has difficulty recognizing where a memory came from.
Power of suggestion
People who are likely to make these kinds of errors might end up convincing themselves of things that aren’t true, said lead researcher Maarten Peters of Maastricht University in The Netherlands. When people who are prone to making these mistakes undergo hypnosis and are repeatedly asked to talk about a potential idea — like a past life — they might, as they grow more familiar with it, eventually convert the idea into a full-blown false memory.
This is because they can’t distinguish between things that have really happened and things that have been suggested to them, Peters told LiveScience.
Past life memories are not the only type of implausible memories that have been studied in this manner. Richard McNally, a clinical psychologist at Harvard University, has found that self-proclaimed alien abductees are also twice as likely to commit source monitoring errors.
Creative minds
As for what might make people more prone to committing such errors to begin with, McNally says that it could be the byproduct of especially vivid imagery skills. He has found that people who commonly make source-monitoring errors respond to and imagine experiences more strongly than the average person, and they also tend to be more creative.
“It might be harder to discriminate between a vivid image that you’d generated yourself and the memory of a perception of something you actually saw,” he said in a telephone interview.
Peters also found in his study, detailed in the March issue of Consciousness and Cognition, that people with implausible memories are also more likely to be depressed and to experience sleep problems, and this could also make them more prone to memory mistakes.
And once people make this kind of mistake, they might be inclined to stick to their guns for spiritual reasons, McNally said. “It may be a variant expression of certain religious impulses,” he said. “We suspect that this might be kind of a psychological buffering mechanism against the fear of death.” "
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Lab disaster may lead to new cancer drug
Ok, i noe its been a looonng time since i last posted sth. I've started working so sometimes i just feel too tired to post. Even my own blog has shorter entries nowadays coz i usually end up been so tired i forgot what i intended to blog abt. But i do still read articles from various sources i subscribe to just that yeah, just tired. I'll try to post as much as i can (: Here's one that's quite recent and i thk it's good news for many cancer patients.
"WASHINGTON - Her carefully cultured cells were dead and Katherine Schaefer was annoyed, but just a few minutes later, the researcher realized she had stumbled onto a potential new cancer treatment.
Schaefer and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York believe they have discovered a new way to attack tumors that have learned how to evade existing drugs.
Tests in mice suggest the compound helps break down the cell walls of tumors, almost like destroying a tumor cell’s “skeleton”.
The researchers will test the new compound for safety and hope they can develop it to treat cancers such as colon cancer, esophageal cancer, liver and skin cancers.
“I was using these cancer cells as models of the normal intestine,” Schaefer said in a telephone interview.
Normal human cells are difficult to grow and study in the lab, because they tend to die. But cancer cells live much longer and are harder to kill, so scientists often use them.
Schaefer was looking for drugs to treat the inflammation seen in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, both of which cause pain and diarrhea.
She was testing a compound called a PPAR-gamma modulator. It would never normally have been thought of as a cancer drug, or in fact a drug of any kind.
“I made a calculation error and used a lot more than I should have. And my cells died,” Schaefer said.
A colleague overheard her complaining. “The co-author on my paper said,’ Did I hear you say you killed some cancer?’ I said ‘Oh’, and took a closer look.”
They ran several tests and found the compound killed ”pretty much every epithelial tumor cell lines we have seen,” Schaefer said. Epithelial cells line organs such as the colon, and also make up skin.
It also killed colon tumors in mice without making the mice sick, they reported in the journal International Cancer Research.
Targets cells
The compound works in much the same way as the taxane drugs, including Taxol, which were originally derived from Pacific yew trees.
“It targets part of the cell cytoskeleton called tubulin,” Schaefer said. Tubulin is used to build microtubules, which in turn make up the cell’s structure.
Destroying it kills the cell, but cancer cells eventually evolve mechanisms to pump out the drugs that do this, a problem called resistance.
“Resistance to anti-tubulin therapies is a huge problem in many cancers. We see this as another way to get to the tubulin,” Schaefer said.
The PPAR-gamma compound does this in a different way from the taxanes, which might mean it could overcome the resistance that tumor cells often develop to chemotherapy.
“Most of the drugs like Taxol affect the ability of tubulin to forms into microtubules. This doesn’t do that -- it causes the tubulin itself to disappear. We do not know why.”
Schaefer’s team plans more safety tests in mice. As the compound is already patented, her team will probably have to design something slightly different to be able to patent it as a new drug.
Taxol, developed by U.S. National Cancer Institute researchers and manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1993, had annual sales of $1.6 billion at its peak in 2000."
[Acknowlegement: Reuters; Msnbc]
Yep, i thk its really amazing and i hope that everything will go well in creating the new drug.
"WASHINGTON - Her carefully cultured cells were dead and Katherine Schaefer was annoyed, but just a few minutes later, the researcher realized she had stumbled onto a potential new cancer treatment.
Schaefer and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York believe they have discovered a new way to attack tumors that have learned how to evade existing drugs.
Tests in mice suggest the compound helps break down the cell walls of tumors, almost like destroying a tumor cell’s “skeleton”.
The researchers will test the new compound for safety and hope they can develop it to treat cancers such as colon cancer, esophageal cancer, liver and skin cancers.
“I was using these cancer cells as models of the normal intestine,” Schaefer said in a telephone interview.
Normal human cells are difficult to grow and study in the lab, because they tend to die. But cancer cells live much longer and are harder to kill, so scientists often use them.
Schaefer was looking for drugs to treat the inflammation seen in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, both of which cause pain and diarrhea.
She was testing a compound called a PPAR-gamma modulator. It would never normally have been thought of as a cancer drug, or in fact a drug of any kind.
“I made a calculation error and used a lot more than I should have. And my cells died,” Schaefer said.
A colleague overheard her complaining. “The co-author on my paper said,’ Did I hear you say you killed some cancer?’ I said ‘Oh’, and took a closer look.”
They ran several tests and found the compound killed ”pretty much every epithelial tumor cell lines we have seen,” Schaefer said. Epithelial cells line organs such as the colon, and also make up skin.
It also killed colon tumors in mice without making the mice sick, they reported in the journal International Cancer Research.
Targets cells
The compound works in much the same way as the taxane drugs, including Taxol, which were originally derived from Pacific yew trees.
“It targets part of the cell cytoskeleton called tubulin,” Schaefer said. Tubulin is used to build microtubules, which in turn make up the cell’s structure.
Destroying it kills the cell, but cancer cells eventually evolve mechanisms to pump out the drugs that do this, a problem called resistance.
“Resistance to anti-tubulin therapies is a huge problem in many cancers. We see this as another way to get to the tubulin,” Schaefer said.
The PPAR-gamma compound does this in a different way from the taxanes, which might mean it could overcome the resistance that tumor cells often develop to chemotherapy.
“Most of the drugs like Taxol affect the ability of tubulin to forms into microtubules. This doesn’t do that -- it causes the tubulin itself to disappear. We do not know why.”
Schaefer’s team plans more safety tests in mice. As the compound is already patented, her team will probably have to design something slightly different to be able to patent it as a new drug.
Taxol, developed by U.S. National Cancer Institute researchers and manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1993, had annual sales of $1.6 billion at its peak in 2000."
[Acknowlegement: Reuters; Msnbc]
Yep, i thk its really amazing and i hope that everything will go well in creating the new drug.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Report: Amniotic fluid yields stem cells
This is such a breakthrough!
Here's the article:
"Stem cell researchers reacted with enthusiasm and reservations to a report that scientists have found stem cells in amniotic fluid, a discovery that would allow them to sidestep the controversy over destroying embryos for research.
Researchers at Wake Forest University and Harvard University reported Sunday that the stem cells they drew from amniotic fluid donated by pregnant women hold much the same promise as embryonic stem cells.
They reported they were able to extract the stem cells from the fluid, which cushions babies in the womb, without harm to mother or fetus and turn their discovery into several different tissue cell types, including brain, liver and bone.
But Dr. Anthony Atala, head of Wake Forest’s regenerative medicine institute and the senior researcher on the project, said the scientists still don’t know exactly how many different cell types can be made from the stem cells found in amniotic fluid. The scientists said preliminary tests in patients are years away.
The cells from amniotic fluid “can clearly generate a broad range of important cell types, but they may not do as many tricks as embryonic stem cells,” said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientist at the stem cell company Advanced Cell Technology. “Either way, I think this work represents a giant step forward for stem cell research.”
Dr. George Daley, a Harvard University stem cell researcher, said the finding raises the possibility that someday expectant parents can freeze amnio stem cells for future tissue replacement in a sick child without fear of immune rejection.
Nonetheless, Daley said, the discovery shouldn’t be used as a replacement for human embryonic stem cell research.
“While they are fascinating subjects of study in their own right, they are not a substitute for human embryonic stem cells, which allow scientists to address a host of other interesting questions in early human development,” said Daley, who began work last year to clone human embryos to produce stem cells.
Atala said the research reported in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology expands far beyond similar work.
At a heart research conference in November, Swiss researcher Simon Hoerstrup said he managed to turn amniotic fluid stem cells into heart cells that could be grown into replacement valves. Hoerstrup has yet to publish his work in a scientific journal.
“Our hope is that these cells will provide a valuable resource for tissue repair and for engineered organs as well,” Atala said.
It took Atala’s team some seven years of research to determine the cells they found were truly stem cells that “can be used to produce a broad range of cells that may be valuable for therapy.”
Atala said the new research has found even more promising stem cells with the potential to turn into many more medically useful replacement parts.
“We have other cell lines cooking,” Atala said.
The hallmark of human embryonic stem cells, which are created in the first days after conception, is the ability to turn into any of the more than 220 cell types that make up the human body. Researchers are hopeful they can train these primordial cells to repair damaged organs in need of healthy cells.
However, many people, including President Bush, oppose the destruction of embryos for any reason. The Bush administration has restricted federal funding for the embryo work since 2001, leading many scientists to search for alternative stem cell sources.
The advance is the latest in the so-called regenerative medicine field that has sprung from Atala’s lab in Winston-Salem, N.C.
No substitute for embryonic cells
In April, Atala and his colleagues rebuilt bladders for seven young patients using live tissue grown in the lab.
In the latest work, Atala’s team extracted a small number of stem cells swimming among the many other cell types in the amniotic fluid.
One of the more promising aspects of the research is that some of the DNA of the amnio stem cells contained Y chromosomes, which means the cells came from the babies rather than the pregnant moms.
Dr. George Daley, a Harvard University stem cell researcher, said that finding raises the possibility that someday expectant parents can freeze amnio stem cells for future tissue replacement in a sick child without fear of immune rejection.
Nonetheless, Daley said the discovery shouldn’t be used as a replacement for human embryonic stem cell research.
“While they are fascinating subjects of study in their own right, they are not a substitute for human embryonic stem cells, which allow scientists to address a host of other interesting questions in early human development,” said Daley, who began work last year to clone human embryos to produce stem cells."
[Acknowledgements: Associated press; Msnbc health]
Well although they are not a substitute for human embryonic stem cells, at least it is another path to which stem cells may be extracted and used to generate different types of organs or tissues etc. Much safer than using human embryos.
Here's the article:
"Stem cell researchers reacted with enthusiasm and reservations to a report that scientists have found stem cells in amniotic fluid, a discovery that would allow them to sidestep the controversy over destroying embryos for research.
Researchers at Wake Forest University and Harvard University reported Sunday that the stem cells they drew from amniotic fluid donated by pregnant women hold much the same promise as embryonic stem cells.
They reported they were able to extract the stem cells from the fluid, which cushions babies in the womb, without harm to mother or fetus and turn their discovery into several different tissue cell types, including brain, liver and bone.
But Dr. Anthony Atala, head of Wake Forest’s regenerative medicine institute and the senior researcher on the project, said the scientists still don’t know exactly how many different cell types can be made from the stem cells found in amniotic fluid. The scientists said preliminary tests in patients are years away.
The cells from amniotic fluid “can clearly generate a broad range of important cell types, but they may not do as many tricks as embryonic stem cells,” said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientist at the stem cell company Advanced Cell Technology. “Either way, I think this work represents a giant step forward for stem cell research.”
Dr. George Daley, a Harvard University stem cell researcher, said the finding raises the possibility that someday expectant parents can freeze amnio stem cells for future tissue replacement in a sick child without fear of immune rejection.
Nonetheless, Daley said, the discovery shouldn’t be used as a replacement for human embryonic stem cell research.
“While they are fascinating subjects of study in their own right, they are not a substitute for human embryonic stem cells, which allow scientists to address a host of other interesting questions in early human development,” said Daley, who began work last year to clone human embryos to produce stem cells.
Atala said the research reported in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology expands far beyond similar work.
At a heart research conference in November, Swiss researcher Simon Hoerstrup said he managed to turn amniotic fluid stem cells into heart cells that could be grown into replacement valves. Hoerstrup has yet to publish his work in a scientific journal.
“Our hope is that these cells will provide a valuable resource for tissue repair and for engineered organs as well,” Atala said.
It took Atala’s team some seven years of research to determine the cells they found were truly stem cells that “can be used to produce a broad range of cells that may be valuable for therapy.”
Atala said the new research has found even more promising stem cells with the potential to turn into many more medically useful replacement parts.
“We have other cell lines cooking,” Atala said.
The hallmark of human embryonic stem cells, which are created in the first days after conception, is the ability to turn into any of the more than 220 cell types that make up the human body. Researchers are hopeful they can train these primordial cells to repair damaged organs in need of healthy cells.
However, many people, including President Bush, oppose the destruction of embryos for any reason. The Bush administration has restricted federal funding for the embryo work since 2001, leading many scientists to search for alternative stem cell sources.
The advance is the latest in the so-called regenerative medicine field that has sprung from Atala’s lab in Winston-Salem, N.C.
No substitute for embryonic cells
In April, Atala and his colleagues rebuilt bladders for seven young patients using live tissue grown in the lab.
In the latest work, Atala’s team extracted a small number of stem cells swimming among the many other cell types in the amniotic fluid.
One of the more promising aspects of the research is that some of the DNA of the amnio stem cells contained Y chromosomes, which means the cells came from the babies rather than the pregnant moms.
Dr. George Daley, a Harvard University stem cell researcher, said that finding raises the possibility that someday expectant parents can freeze amnio stem cells for future tissue replacement in a sick child without fear of immune rejection.
Nonetheless, Daley said the discovery shouldn’t be used as a replacement for human embryonic stem cell research.
“While they are fascinating subjects of study in their own right, they are not a substitute for human embryonic stem cells, which allow scientists to address a host of other interesting questions in early human development,” said Daley, who began work last year to clone human embryos to produce stem cells."
[Acknowledgements: Associated press; Msnbc health]
Well although they are not a substitute for human embryonic stem cells, at least it is another path to which stem cells may be extracted and used to generate different types of organs or tissues etc. Much safer than using human embryos.
Stem cell researchers reacted with enthusiasm and reservations to a report
that scientists have found stem cells in amniotic fluid, a discovery that would allow them to sidestep the controversy over destroying embryos for
research.
Monday, January 01, 2007
A new year!
Happy New Year everyone! Should have posted a last entry for 2006, but oh well, now i shall post the first entry of 2007. haha.
Let's look back at the weirdest science stories of 2006:
1st up:
Whales found to speak in dialects
We could blame our accents and different dialects on self-imposed borders -- but that doesn’t explain why animals from different regions speak in dialects. Using underwater microphones, scientists eavesdropped on whale talk and found that the blue whales off the Pacific Northwest sound different than those living in the western Pacific Ocean or near Chile. The reason? Still unknown.
2nd in line:
The Red Sea parts again
It parted once. It parted twice. And this time scientists are watching the whole thing. Satellite images show the Arabian tectonic plate and the African Plate are moving away from each other and parting the southern end of the Red Sea. This growing rift, which is tearing the northeast of Ethiopia and Eritrea from the rest of Africa, could eventually create a whole new sea.
the 3rd:
A new wave: Scientists write on water
Using wave generators, scientists were able to write on water. The Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin (AMOEBA)-- a circular tank created by researchers -- can form the Roman alphabets and some Japanese characters. The device could soon find its way to your nearest amusement park.
4th:
Spider cries out while mating
When mating, female Physocylus globosus squeak to tell their men what they should be doing. The cries are in response to being excited by males rhythmically squeezing their genitalia inside the female. The more a male squeezes, the greater the chance that it will be his sperm that sires her offspring.
5th:
Rats born to mice
Scientists produced healthy offspring from the cells of another species for the first time by taking rat stem cells involved in sperm production and implanting them in mice testicles. In the future, researchers hope to grow sperm of livestock or endangered species in mice or other lab animals.
6th:
Stingray kills 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin
In a tragic and unusual accident, the much loved and popular Australian television personality and conservationist,Steve Irwin, was killed by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. Stingrays sport a tail with an 8-inch spear that stiffens when faced with a threat. Although the spear packs venom that alters heart rate and respiration, it rarely kills humans. The Crocodile Hunter was probably killed because the stingray's spear pierced his heart.
7th:
Scientists create cloak of partial invisibility
Writer H.G. Wells imagined it in his writing in the late 1800’s, and this year scientists inched closer to creating an invisible man. Duke University researchers created a cloaking device that can make objects invisible to microwave light. The device works by rerouting microwaves beam around it the way boulders in a stream divert flowing water.
8th:
Penis transplant removed
Chinese doctors removed the transplanted penis of a 44-year-old man who had lost his own in an accident. The organ was removed two weeks after the transplant because of psychological problems encountered by the man and his wife.
9th (quite interesting):
Coins don't smell -- you do
That metallic odor you smell after handling change? It's created by the breakdown of oils in skin after touching objects that contain iron. The chemical reaction has most of us running to wash our hands to get that musty scent out
last one:
Amazon River flowed backwards
Some of these are quite interesting so hope it ends 2006..weirdly enough. lol.
Let's look back at the weirdest science stories of 2006:
1st up:
Whales found to speak in dialects
We could blame our accents and different dialects on self-imposed borders -- but that doesn’t explain why animals from different regions speak in dialects. Using underwater microphones, scientists eavesdropped on whale talk and found that the blue whales off the Pacific Northwest sound different than those living in the western Pacific Ocean or near Chile. The reason? Still unknown.
2nd in line:
The Red Sea parts again
It parted once. It parted twice. And this time scientists are watching the whole thing. Satellite images show the Arabian tectonic plate and the African Plate are moving away from each other and parting the southern end of the Red Sea. This growing rift, which is tearing the northeast of Ethiopia and Eritrea from the rest of Africa, could eventually create a whole new sea.
the 3rd:
A new wave: Scientists write on water
Using wave generators, scientists were able to write on water. The Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin (AMOEBA)-- a circular tank created by researchers -- can form the Roman alphabets and some Japanese characters. The device could soon find its way to your nearest amusement park.
4th:
Spider cries out while mating
When mating, female Physocylus globosus squeak to tell their men what they should be doing. The cries are in response to being excited by males rhythmically squeezing their genitalia inside the female. The more a male squeezes, the greater the chance that it will be his sperm that sires her offspring.
5th:
Rats born to mice
Scientists produced healthy offspring from the cells of another species for the first time by taking rat stem cells involved in sperm production and implanting them in mice testicles. In the future, researchers hope to grow sperm of livestock or endangered species in mice or other lab animals.
6th:
Stingray kills 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin
In a tragic and unusual accident, the much loved and popular Australian television personality and conservationist,Steve Irwin, was killed by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. Stingrays sport a tail with an 8-inch spear that stiffens when faced with a threat. Although the spear packs venom that alters heart rate and respiration, it rarely kills humans. The Crocodile Hunter was probably killed because the stingray's spear pierced his heart.
7th:
Scientists create cloak of partial invisibility
Writer H.G. Wells imagined it in his writing in the late 1800’s, and this year scientists inched closer to creating an invisible man. Duke University researchers created a cloaking device that can make objects invisible to microwave light. The device works by rerouting microwaves beam around it the way boulders in a stream divert flowing water.
8th:
Penis transplant removed
Chinese doctors removed the transplanted penis of a 44-year-old man who had lost his own in an accident. The organ was removed two weeks after the transplant because of psychological problems encountered by the man and his wife.
9th (quite interesting):
Coins don't smell -- you do
That metallic odor you smell after handling change? It's created by the breakdown of oils in skin after touching objects that contain iron. The chemical reaction has most of us running to wash our hands to get that musty scent out
last one:
Amazon River flowed backwards
The Amazon River apparently changed its mind a few times in history. South America’s majestic waterway currently flows east into the Atlantic Ocean. But scientists found this year that millions of years ago, the great river flowed east to west and at one time went in both directions at once.
[Acknowledgement: LiveScience and msnbc ]Some of these are quite interesting so hope it ends 2006..weirdly enough. lol.
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