Farmer saves $200,000 with poo power

By Ayesha Tejpar
CNN

ROCKWOOD, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Four generations of Saylors have worked the family's dairy farm for nearly a century, but for the past three years, the cows have been doing something besides providing milk: They've been helping power the place.

"The farm used to get a lot of complaints," says farmer Shawn Saylor. "It used to stink a lot."

Growing up on the sprawling spread 90 minutes from Pittsburgh, 36-year-old farmer Shawn Saylor developed into a self-described science buff.

So it was no surprise that, when faced with rising energy costs, Saylor turned to technology.

He tapped into an abundant and easily accessible energy source: manure from about 600 cows. Watch how cow poo powers the farm »

"It's a pretty simple process. There's not really a lot to it," Saylor said. "Manure comes from the cows, and there's energy left in the manure."

The process is known as anaerobic digestion, and here's how it works:

With the help of a mechanical scraper in the barn, manure drops into a 19,000-gallon tank. The slurry then moves into the digestor, which is 16 feet deep and 70 feet in diameter. It's heated there for about 16 days while the bacteria break down the organic matter in order to produce methane gas. That gas is burned in two engine generators to make electricity. See an interactive explaining the process »

Heat created by the generators keeps the digestor hot, heats the buildings around the farm and helps provide hot water.

The electricity is used to power this farm and a dozen neighboring homes, Saylor said. And there's still some left over, which he sells back to the grid.

Overall, the poo power helps Saylor's bottom line.

"In savings, there's $200,000 a year, in either extra income from sale of electricity or cost offsets," he said.

"So you're talking about system project costs of over a million dollars to build the system but a payback of five years or less."

Before he installed the system, the pungent smell from the cows could linger for three to four days, Saylor said. "The farm used to get a lot of complaints from motorists, which is understandable. It used to stink a lot."

Now, the digestors reduce 98 percent of all odor, although he admits that if the wind blows, you still "get a whiff."

The farm's leftover solid waste is sold to the community.

"We use it for bedding for the animals," according to Saylor. "A lot of people like to get it for their gardens ... because it doesn't smell much."

Farm-based digestors became popular in the United States during the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s. But the technology didn't catch on, possibly because of the high operational costs and declining energy prices, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Although Saylor had been interested in digestors for years, his dream didn't become reality until 2006. That's when he received a $600,000 grant from Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection.

But Saylor's work isn't done. He intends to make his farm entirely self-sufficient by using waste vegetable oil to make biodiesel fuel.

He said his goal is to waste nothing.

"In a biodiesel system, all the waste products can either be used or fed back into the digestor to make more gas," he said. "I've always looked at new technologies and believed you kind of have to work with that stuff to stay with the future."

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/31/cow.power/index.html

Rolling out RNA-primed RCA for cell-free cloning

Patrick Lo, Ph.D., Kristie Nybo, Ph.D.
07/28/2009

Researchers at the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (Ibaraki, Japan) investigated whether random RNA primers could effectively promote MPRCA and block synthesis of the unwanted byproducts observed with the random DNA primers.

In situations where certain DNA sequences cannot be cloned by the traditional method of insertion into a vector and growth in a biological host (for example, due to their length or repetitive nature), cell-free cloning is an attractive alternative. A recent and innovative technique for cell-free cloning uses multiply primed rolling circle amplification (MPRCA), which can amplify DNA molecules in submicroliter reaction volumes and is flexible in terms of the length or sequence to be amplified.

MPRCA is based on rolling circle amplification primed by random DNA primers, which afford the technique its flexibility, but also contribute to its main disadvantage. When the quantity of DNA template is very low, the majority of the amplification product arises from undesired DNA synthesis derived solely from the primers, producing amplicons that are found in control reactions lacking template DNA.

H. Takahashi, S. Sugiyama, and their colleagues at the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (Ibaraki, Japan) investigated whether random RNA primers could effectively promote MPRCA and block synthesis of the unwanted byproducts observed with the random DNA primers.

Their hypothesis was based on the fact that the bacteriophage φ29 DNA polymerase used in RCA can use RNA as a primer for DNA synthesis but not as a template. They found that MPRCA using thiophosphate-linked RNA primers can efficiently amplify circular DNA molecules without creating byproducts or requiring submicroliter reaction volumes, allowing for the 1012-fold amplification of a single copy of a plasmid. The researchers then demonstrated that MPRCA using RNA primers is suitable for some types of cell-free cloning if a specific dephosphorylation/ligation strategy is first employed. Under these conditions, unwanted ligation products would be linear and easily eliminated by exonuclease treatment. The desired circular products would then be amplified, yielding sufficient product even if the ligation efficiency was low.

The complete paper was published in the July 2009 issue of BioTechniques.

SOURCE:http://www.biotechniques.com/news/Rolling-out-RNA-primed-RCA-for-cell-free-cloning/biotechniques-172552.html?utm_source=BioTechniques+Newsletters+%26+e-Alerts&utm_campaign=e5487aaef9-BTN_DAILY&utm_medium=email

Juices, tea and energy drinks erode teeth

By Madison Park

(CNN) -- For years, dentists have warned patients about the decaying effects of cola and sugary, fizzy drinks on their teeth.

Acidic drinks that are healthier than soda caused tooth erosion in dental experiments.

Research shows that other drinks thought to be better --fruit juices, teas and energy drinks-- can also have harmful effects on teeth, turning the pearly whites to shrinking, spotted yellows marred with pockmarks.

Dentists say sipping fluorescent-colored sports drinks, carbonated beverages and citric fruit juices bathe the teeth in harmful acids. The constant exposure strips the hard, protective layer of the tooth called the enamel and could dissolve the entire tooth.

"We all became aware of the sugar on your teeth. What most of us don't know is the acid," said Dr. Mohamed Bassiouny, a restorative dentistry professor at Temple University. "Cavities form when bacteria in the mouth mixes with sugar, leading to decay. Erosion occurs when chemicals strip the mineral off the teeth.

"The seriousness of the erosion is far more than decay," said Bassiouny. "Erosion affects all teeth at once, as you can imagine acidic fluid is running through the entire mouth."

This causes hypersensitivity, discoloration and cracks on the teeth. Serious cases require crowns or even dentures if entire teeth have disintegrated.

Research in Europe has linked that acidic beverage consumption to increasing tooth erosion. A person who has bulimia or acid reflux disease could get tooth erosion, because of stomach acids in their mouth, but the more common culprits are often beverages, Bassiouny said. Here are some of them:

Energy drinks

Researchers at the University of Iowa's College of Dentistry found that energy drinks and sports drinks, such as Gatorade and Red Bull, eroded the enamel more than soda and fruit juices. In a 2008 study published in the journal Nutritional Research, the dentists soaked extracted human teeth in various liquids for 25 hours, and then measured the structural changes, or lesions.

"Power drinks can be quite acidic, usually because there is an addition of citric acid to those to give it tartness that is desired by some consumers," said Dr. Clark Stanford, the associate dean for research at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry. "It's important to look at the label and see if citric acid has been added."

Soda (including diet)

Dentists have warned for years the perils of carbonated beverages. But don't disregard diet drinks. The lack of sugar in these products doesn't mean they don't erode the teeth, Bassiouny said. Carbonation could make the drink more acidic, he said.

A patient whom Bassiouny examined had drunk a liter of diet soda every day for the last three years. He likened her teeth to those of a methamphetamine user. The corrosive chemicals from the drug can cause extensive oral damage commonly known as "meth mouth," in which teeth decay, crack and crumble.

Citric juices

A study published this year in the Journal of Dentistry showed that orange juice decreased enamel hardness by 84 percent. Lemon, orange and grapefruit juice can strip away the enamel with their acidity.

"We encourage adults if they're going to have kids drink fruit juices, which is good in a way, that they consume it all at once instead of sipping on it all day long," Stanford said.

Lemon juice showed the highest erosion, according to Bassiouny's study, which was published in the May-June issue of General Dentistry.

"We're not saying, 'Don't drink orange juice," Bassiouny said. "Don't drink orange juice then go to the office, then have a diet soda at lunchtime. You are asking for trouble because of the frequency of the contact and the challenge of the acid contact to your teeth."

Tea

The drink sometimes considered a super food because of its antioxidant content can cause tooth erosion, but not as much as citric juices, soda and energy and sports drinks.

In Bassiouny's study, human teeth were soaked in unsweetened green and black tea, and they did not erode until the 16th week. Teeth soaked in lemon juice, vinegar, and soda showed physical changes by the second week. Teeth soaked in black tea eroded more rapidly than those in green tea.

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"Tea is controversial," Stanford said. "Certain types of tea can actually stabilize the amount of tooth loss or demineralization of the surface. Others, if they have a low pH, can cause natural erosion of the tooth surface."

This doesn't mean people should avoid tea or citric juices, Bassiouny said. The key is to practice moderation. He suggested keeping acidic beverages to fewer than five servings a week and avoiding sugary canned teas.

Limitations

Dentists acknowledge that the methodology of the erosion studies have flaws. The teeth were soaked in beverages because it's impossible to re-create the human mouth in a laboratory. And the experiments do not take into consideration the natural defense humans have against acid -- their saliva.

"Saliva naturally protects teeth to reverse the acid attack," Stanford said.

While the studies have limitations, this should not discount the findings, Bassiouny said. The dental studies attempt to show the accelerated effect of a person drinking common beverages. "We adopted a lab setup to simulate the number of hours that the patient has been exposed to that challenge and to magnify that," he said.

Basic tips to avoid tooth erosion

Drink the acidic beverage at once, instead of sipping it all day

Use a straw to avoid the teeth from being immersed in liquid

Substitute acidic beverages with water

Rinse mouth with water after drinking acidic beverage instead of brushing. The bristles of the toothbrush may damage the enamel.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/23/teeth.erosion.drinks/index.html

Study: Sunbeds as harmful as cigarettes

• Story Highlights
• Sunbeds pose a similar cancer risk as cigarettes and asbestos, experts say
  
• The use of sunbeds has been described as "carcinogenic to humans"
  
• Melanoma is the second most common cancer in women aged 20 - 29.5

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Sunbeds pose a similar cancer risk as cigarettes and asbestos, according to an international cancer research agency.

The use of sunbeds has been described as "carcinogenic to humans"

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had previously classified sunbeds as being a "probable" cause of cancer.

However, the agency is now recommending that tanning machines should be moved to "the highest cancer risk category" and be labeled as "carcinogenic to humans".

It followed a review of research that concluded that the risk of melanoma -- the most deadly form of skin cancer -- was increased by 75 percent in people who started using sunbeds regularly before the age of 30.

The IARC also says there is evidence of a link between melanoma of the eye and the use of sunbeds.

In an article in medical journal The Lancet, WHO oncology expert Dr Fatiha El Ghissassi said: "The use of UV-emitting tanning devices is widespread in many developed countries, especially among young women.

"Analysis concluded that the risk of skin melanoma is increased by 75 percent when use of tanning devices starts before 30 years of age.

"Studies provide consistent evidence of a positive association between the use of UV-emitting tanning devices and ocular melanoma -- skin cancer of the eyelid.

"Therefore, we raised the classification of the use of UV emitting tanning devices to Group 1 - carcinogenic to humans."

However the UK's Sunbed Association says there is no proven link between using sunbeds and cancer.

"We would dispute the IARC classification that sunbeds are "carcinogenic to humans," the organization wrote on its Web site.

"The relationship between UV exposure and an increased risk of developing skin cancer is only likely to arise where over-exposure and burning in particular has taken place."

The use of sunbeds is more prevalent in northern Europe and the United States than most other regions.

Melanoma is the second most common cancer in women aged 20 - 29.5, according to the America Melanoma Foundation.

The World Health Organization also estimates that as many as 60,000 people a year worldwide die from too much sun, mostly from malignant skin cancer.

Of these deaths, 48,000 are from melanoma, and 12,000 are from other skin cancers. About 90 percent of these cancers are caused by ultraviolet light from the sun.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/29/sunbeds.cancer.study/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Tanning Beds as Deadly as Mustard Gas, Arsenic

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

AP

Rosie McDavid, 17, who has been using tanning beds since she was 14, prepares a tanning bed for a session in Tallahassee, Fla.

International cancer experts have moved tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation into the top cancer risk category, deeming them as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas.

For years, scientists have described tanning beds and ultraviolet radiation as "probable carcinogens."

A new analysis of about 20 studies concludes the risk of skin cancer jumps by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds before age 30. Experts also found that all types of ultraviolet radiation caused worrying mutations in mice, proof the radiation is carcinogenic. Previously, only one type of ultraviolet radiation was thought to be lethal.

The new classification means tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation are definite causes of cancer, alongside tobacco, the hepatitis B virus and chimney sweeping, among others.

The research was published online in the medical journal Lancet Oncology on Wednesday, by experts at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization.

"People need to be reminded of the risks of sunbeds," said Vincent Cogliano, one of the cancer researchers. "We hope the prevailing culture will change so teens don't think they need to use sunbeds to get a tan."

Most lights used in tanning beds give off mainly ultraviolet radiation, which cause skin and eye cancer, according to the International Agency for Cancer Research.

The classification of tanning beds as carcinogenic was disputed by Kathy Banks, chief executive of The Sunbed Association, a European trade association of tanning bed makers and operators.

"The fact that is continuously ignored is that there is no proven link between the responsible use of sunbeds and skin cancer," Banks said in a statement. She said most users of tanning beds use them less than 20 times a year.

But as use of tanning beds has increased among people under 30, doctors have seen a parallel rise in the numbers of young people with skin cancer. In Britain, melanoma, the deadliest kind of skin cancer, is now the leading cancer diagnosed in women in their 20s. Normally, skin cancer rates are highest in people over 75.

Previous studies found younger people who regularly use tanning beds are eight times more likely to get melanoma than people who have never used them. In the past, WHO warned people younger than 18 to stay away from tanning beds.

Cogliano cautioned that ultravoilet radiation is not healthy, whether it comes from a tanning bed or from the sun. The American Cancer Society advises people to try bronzing or self-tanning creams instead of tanning beds.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,535220,00.html?mrp

City Aids Homeless With One-Way Tickets Home

By JULIE BOSMAN

Published: July 28, 2009

They are flown to Paris ($6,332), Orlando ($858.40), Johannesburg ($2,550.70), or most frequently, San Juan ($484.20).

Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

Hector Correa and Elisabeth Mojica were at Kennedy Airport on Tuesday to fly home to Puerto Rico, to stay with her father.

Justin Little and Eugenia Martin, with Inez, returned to North Carolina after only a few days when relatives paid their back rent.

They are not executives on business trips or couples on honeymoons. Rather, all are families who have ended up homeless, and all the plane tickets are courtesy of the city of New York (one-way).

The Bloomberg administration, which has struggled with a seemingly intractable problem of homelessness for years, has paid for more than 550 families to leave the city since 2007, as a way of keeping them out of the expensive shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family. All it takes is for a relative elsewhere to agree to take the family in.

Many of them are longtime New Yorkers who have come upon hard times, arrive at the shelter’s doorstep and jump at the offer to move at no cost. Others are recent arrivals who are happy to return home after becoming discouraged by the city’s noise, the mazelike subway, the difficult job market or the high cost of housing.

“I didn’t expect the city to be the way it is,” said Hector Correa, who was in a homeless shelter last week and flew home to Puerto Rico on Tuesday. “I was expecting something different, something better.”

Mr. Correa and his companion, Elisabeth Mojica, and their two young sons, both also named Hector, arrived in New York in May to live with his mother. But after they failed to find jobs and the bills began to mount, his mother threatened to kick them out. Out of cash, they checked into the city intake center for homeless families in the Bronx.

“The person I spoke to in the shelter informed me that if I have a person I could stay with in Puerto Rico, that I could get help to go,” said Mr. Correa, who worked as a mechanic in Carolina, on the north shore of the island. They will stay with Ms. Mojica’s father. “I feel very happy because I’m going to be able to get back to do the things that I know how to do,” he said.

At the intake center, social workers ask families about their housing options in other places. If a family says that they have relatives who might be willing to take them in, and social workers confirm their report, the family could be on a plane, bus or train within hours, although the city will sometimes wait a few days to avoid the expense of last-minute fares. The Correas flew to San Juan for less than $1,000.

The city, which spends $500,000 a year on the program, employs a local travel agency, Austin Travel, to book one-way tickets for domestic trips. Department of Homeless Services employees do all the planning for international travel.

City officials said there were no limits on where a family can be sent, and families can reject the offer and stay in city shelters. So far, families have been sent to 24 states and 5 continents, most often to Puerto Rico, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

“We want to divert as many families as we can that need assistance,” said Vida Chavez-Downes, the director of the Resource Room, a city office with 11 social workers, two managers and an administrative assistant who help relocate families. “We have paid for visas, we’ve gone down to the consulate, we’ve provided letters, we’ve paid for passports for people to go. Anyone who comes through our door.”

One family with 10 children accepted an offer to go to Puerto Rico on a nonstop JetBlue flight. An adventurous but ultimately unlucky Michigan couple drove to the city in search of jobs and a new life. They got $400 in gas cards to drive back.

One set of parents agreed to move to France with their three children to be with the mother’s family. The $6,332 travel cost included five plane tickets to Paris and five train tickets to the town of Granville, in the northwest.

In the past, the city contracted with the Salvation Army for a now-defunct program called Homeward Bound, but only for single adults and couples, not families with children. Both versions followed the example of Travelers Aid, a 150-year-old nonprofit organization that provides stranded and homeless people emergency aid so they could return to their homes, and which still exists today. Other cities have experimented with similar programs, but they are largely focused on adults without children.

The Hawaii Legislature recently rejected a plan to send homeless people on one-way flights to live with relatives on the mainland, because of the cost.

Once a family leaves New York, homeless services officials say they follow up with a phone call to make sure they arrive safely, then make a few more calls over the next two to three weeks. In rare cases, they will advance the family up to four months’ rent, a one-month security deposit, a furniture allowance and a broker’s fee.

City officials said that none of the families that have been relocated have returned to city shelters.

The program fails to address the underlying problems that brought the families here in the first place, said Arnold S. Cohen, the president and chief executive of the Partnership for the Homeless, an advocacy group in New York.

“The city is engaged in cosmetics,” Mr. Cohen said. “What we’re doing is passing the problem of homelessness to another city. We’re taking people from a shelter bed here to the living room couch of another family. Essentially, this family is still homeless.”

Sometimes the journey to and from New York is quick. Justin Little and Eugenia Martin, both 20, owed back rent on their apartment in Fayetteville, N.C., so they came to New York on Saturday with their 5-month-old, Inez. They planned to stay in shelters while they looked for jobs, and went straight to the intake center.

Then relatives of Mr. Little, who worked at a telephone center serving insurance customers, scraped up enough money to pay their back rent, and homeless services workers confirmed that his mother would be around to help. By Monday night, they were waiting outside Gate 73 at the Port Authority Bus Terminal to board their 7:15 p.m. Greyhound to Greensboro.

“We were going to come here and then find work, you know, because there’s always work in New York,” Ms. Martin said, as Inez bounced on her knee.

Mr. Little said, “Once we found out we could keep our apartment, there was no point in staying here, because I can go back to my job in North Carolina.”

SOURCE: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/nyregion/29oneway.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Blue Food Dye Used in M&M's May Treat Spinal Cord Injuries

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Courtesy: Takahiro Takano

A common and safe blue food dye might provide the best treatment available so far for spinal cord injuries, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

Tests in rats showed the dye, called brilliant blue G, a close relative of the common food dye Blue no. 1, crossed into the spinal fluid and helped block inflammation, Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Center and colleagues reported.

"We have no effective treatment now for patients who have an acute spinal cord injury," Dr. Steven Goldman, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

"Our hope is that this work will lead to a practical, safe agent that can be given to patients shortly after injury, for the purpose of decreasing the secondary damage that we have to otherwise expect."

When nerve cells in the brain or spine are damaged, they often release a spurt of chemicals that causes nearby cells to die. No one is sure why, and stopping this process is key to preventing the damage that continues to build after a stroke or spinal cord injury.

One of the chemicals is ATP. Nedergaard's team looked for something that would interfere with this and found the blue dye, which they called BBG, would do this via the P2X7R receptor or doorway.

"We found that IV administration of the P2X7R inhibitor BBG significantly reduced the severity of spinal cord damage without any evident toxicity," they wrote.

"Remarkably, BBG is a derivative of the widely used food additive FD&C Blue number 1. Currently, more than 1 million pounds of FD&C blue dye No. 1 are consumed yearly in the United States, corresponding to a daily intake of 16 mg per person."

The only known toxicity is in patients with blood infections known as sepsis.

Nedergaard cautioned that tests in humans are likely still years away. Treatment would have to be immediate, she added - because the damage to nerve cells is irreversible.

SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,535142,00.html?test=latestnews

Cell phone fluorescent microscopes

07/23/2009

Kate Farley

The researchers have added fluorescent microscopy capabilities to their original bright-field cell phone attachment.

Researchers at the University of California (UC), Berkeley have developed a compact fluorescent microscope that attaches to an ordinary camera phone. The CellScope made its debut in April when the research team announced their original bright field microscope model. The latest prototype adds fluorescent microscopy capabilities.

“Fluorescence microscopy requires more equipment - such as filters and special lighting - than a standard light microscope, which makes them more expensive,” said Dan Fletcher, UC Berkeley professor of bioengineering and head of the research team. “In this paper, we’ve shown that the whole fluorescence system can be constructed on a cell phone using the existing camera and relatively inexpensive components.”

The CellScope uses compact microscope lenses attached to a holder that snaps onto a camera phone. The fluorescent microscopy model uses a light-emitting diode (LED) as the light source. Filters restrict the LED to 460 nm, the wavelength that excites the green fluorescent dye that labels the tuberculosis-causing bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The researchers have successfully captured fluorescent images of this bacterium, as well as bright-field images of sickle-shaped red blood cells and Plasmodium faceiparum, the parasite that causes malaria in humans. The images taken with a 3.2 megapixel mass-market camera phone achieved a spatial resolution of 1.2 micrometers.

The phone is designed for field use in areas with poor health care. The images recorded can be analyzed immediately or wirelessly transmitted to clinical centers for remote diagnosis.

The team is currently developing sturdier CellScope prototypes that will be used in more extensive field testing

The findings are published in “Mobile Phone Based Clinical Microscopy for Global Health Applications,” available online at PLoS ONE.

SOURCE: http://www.biotechniques.com/news/Cell-phone-fluorescent-microscopes/biotechniques-172218.html?utm_source=BioTechniques+Newsletters+%26+e-Alerts&utm_campaign=0eb80c0aec-BTN_DAILY&utm_medium=email

The 10-year-old who helped Apollo 11, 40 years later

SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/07/20/apollo11.irpt/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

By Rachel Rodriguez
CNN

(CNN) -- On July 23, 1969, as Apollo 11 hurtled back towards Earth, there was a problem -- a problem only a kid could solve.

At age 10, Greg Force reaches his arm into a tiny hole to fix an antenna crucial to Apollo 11

It sounds like something out of a movie, but that's what it came down to as Apollo 11 sped back towards Earth after landing on the moon in 1969.

It was around 10:00 at night on July 23, and 10-year-old Greg Force was at home with his mom and three brothers. His father, Charles Force, was at work. Charles Force was the director of the NASA tracking station in Guam, where the family was living.

The Guam tracking station was to play a critical role in the return of Apollo 11 to Earth. A powerful antenna there connected NASA communications with Apollo 11, and the antenna was the only way for NASA to make its last communications with the astronauts before splashdown. But at the last minute on that night, a bearing in the antenna failed, rendering it nearly useless.

To properly replace the bearing would have required dismantling the entire antenna, and there was simply no time. So Charles Force thought of a creative solution: If he could get more grease around the failed bearing, it would probably be fine. The only problem was, nobody at the station had an arm small enough to actually reach in through the two-and-a-half inch opening and pack grease around the bearing.

And that's when Greg was called in to save the day. Charles Force sent someone out to his home to pick up Greg. Once at the tracking station, Greg reached into the tiny hole and packed grease around the failed bearing. It worked, and the station was able to successfully complete its communications role in the mission. Apollo 11 splashed down safely the next day.

At the time, Greg didn't think what he was doing was a big deal, and 40 years later, he's still modest about his role in the mission.

"That's all I did, was put my hand in and put grease on it," he says. If he hadn't been there, NASA would not have been able to make its last communications with the mission before splashdown, but Greg says "it wasn't life or death, [from] my understanding."

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"My dad explained to me why it was important," he says, "but it kind of caught me by surprise afterwards, all the attention." iReport.com: Read Greg's firsthand account

That attention came from the media and even the astronauts themselves. Greg's small but important part in Apollo 11 was a story told by news outlets around the world. He even got a nice thank-you note from Neil Armstrong, whom he met when Armstrong went on a tour of NASA stations with the other astronauts to thank the staff after the mission. "To Greg," reads the note, which Armstrong wrote on a newspaper clipping of Greg's story, "with thanks for your help on Apollo 11. Neil Armstrong."

Perhaps not surprisingly, like many other kids who grew up during the Apollo era, Greg dreamed of becoming an astronaut. He says he remembers visiting his dad's office to listen to astronauts communicating with NASA officials on the ground.

"We could sit and listen to the actual communication with the astronauts as it was happening, and it was hard to understand, but I loved to do that," he says. "On Guam we didn't have good television coverage, so I think I listened to the [moon] landing on the radio. To me it was a huge thing."

Greg pursued his dreams of space exploration all the way through college, where he majored in physics. Unfortunately, he was unable to pass the vision test for the space program because of his colorblindness, but even that couldn't squelch his interest. Greg went on to get his pilot's license, and even though his career now as a gymnastics school owner isn't exactly space-related, he says that "ever since then, I've followed the space program."

And as a lover of space exploration, Greg hopes to see more missions to the moon.

"I think it would be an important step as far as going further, like to Mars," he says. "I would love to see us go back to the moon."

But for now, on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, he can remember the small but crucial role he played in bringing Apollo 11 home safely.

"It kind of caught me by surprise," he says, "but I'm real proud to have been even a little tiny part of it."

SOURCE:http://www.usnews.com/blogs/professors-guide/2009/06/17/10-reasons-to-pick-a-community-college.html

10 Reasons to Pick a Community College

June 17, 2009 02:19 PM ET | Lynn F. Jacobs, Jeremy S. Hyman | Permanent Link | Print

One of the fastest-growing and most important segments of the American college scene is the community college (in some cases called two-year, junior, or technical colleges). Including such institutions as Miami-Dade College, Broward College, Northern Virginia Community College and the many campuses of the Maricopa Community Colleges (Phoenix), City College of San Francisco, City College of New York, Los Angeles Community College District, and Houston Community College Systems, community colleges enroll a full 44 percent of U.S. undergraduate students. That's 6.7 million credit students, plus 5 million students who are not candidates for a degree, at 1,177 urban, suburban, and rural institutions. To find out what the main differences are between the community college and the four-year liberal arts institution—and whether you should consider applying to a community college—we invited visiting blogger George R. Boggs, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges and former president of Palomar College (a two-year college in California), to offer his thoughts. Here's what he has to say:

With family budgets now under the microscope, community colleges have become attractive alternatives to the more expensive four-year colleges and universities. There are many reasons that nearly half of American undergraduates choose to start their higher education in a community college. Here are the top 10:

1. Affordability. Average annual tuition and fees for a full-time student at community colleges average $2,402, versus $6,585 at a public four-year college or university and $25,143 at a private institution. In addition, students can live at home and save on housing and food. To help meet even these reduced expenses, community college students often find they qualify for financial aid while attending. And in many cases, the colleges offer work-study or part-time jobs for students.

2. Convenience. Community colleges offer classes at times and locations that are convenient for students. Classes are often offered at off-campus locations and in the evenings or on weekends in addition to the more traditional day classes. An abundance of online classes provides yet another alternative to make education convenient to those who must fit school around work or family responsibilities. And students can choose to attend on a full-time or a part-time basis.

3. Open access. Community colleges do not have exclusive admissions standards that require high scores on an admissions test or a certain grade-point average from high school. Anyone with a high school diploma or equivalent can enroll. Some students even enroll while in high school to get a head start on college. Starting at a community college gives students a chance to improve a high school record before transferring to a university. However, open access does not mean that students can take any course; students usually are given placement examinations and then advised or placed into developmental courses if they are not up to college-level work.

4. Teaching quality. Community college classes are taught by faculty who care about teaching and student learning, not by teaching assistants. The faculty members are fully committed to teaching and are not pulled away by research interests or the need to publish in order to get tenure. And community colleges are accredited by the same agencies that accredit major universities.

5. Class size. Class sizes at community colleges are much smaller than those found in the freshman and sophomore year at public universities. Most classes have fewer than 35 students and provide more opportunities for students to interact with teachers and other students. Faculty members are accessible and want to help their students be successful.

6. Support services. Community colleges offer a variety of services to help students, and the wise ones learn how valuable these services can be. Services that are often found at community colleges include counseling, advising, tutorials, health care, financial aid, and library services. There are usually computer labs on campus to make it easier for students to complete assignments.

7. Choices. Community colleges offer both vocational programs and academic transfer programs. For example, community colleges prepare most of the nation's registered nurses, police officers, paramedics, firefighters, and advanced-skill technicians. Of course, community colleges also offer courses that transfer into universities and count toward a bachelor's degree. Certificate programs can be completed in a year or less, while associate degree programs take two full years of course work. Of course, it's always important to check with a counselor to be sure that the courses count toward the degree that the student is seeking and that they transfer to the university program the student has identified.

8. Diversity. Community colleges serve the most diverse group of students in higher education. Students differ by age, ethnicity, degree of disability, socioeconomic status, and in many other ways. International students add yet another perspective. The opportunity to interact with and to learn from other students from many different backgrounds and with a variety of life experiences is another big advantage of starting at a community college.

9. Access to modern technology. Because of their strong partnerships with business and industry, community colleges often have cutting-edge equipment that is used by students in the classroom. Employers want job candidates who have experience with the equipment being used by industry, including the most modern computers and scientific instruments. Since community colleges offer classes only at the freshman and sophomore levels, the use of the best equipment isn't reserved for juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

10. Good company. In case a student feels discouraged by the prospect of attending a local community college rather than his or her first-choice university, here are some people who are glad that they started in a community college: J. Craig Venter, the person who mapped the human genome; Richard Carmona, former U.S. surgeon general; Eileen Collins, the first NASA female space shuttle commander; Nick Nolte, actor; Harry Reid, Senate majority leader; and Nolan Ryan, retired baseball pitcher. Several Nobel laureates, state governors, members of Congress, famous sports figures, famous actors, and distinguished business executives got their start in community colleges, but so have many thousands of nurses, skilled technicians, artists, police officers, firefighters, and EMTs.

For more info about community colleges, visit the American Association of Community Colleges.

©2009 Professors ' Guide LLC. All rights reserved.

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10 Reasons to Pick a Community College

June 17, 2009 02:19 PM ET | Lynn F. Jacobs, Jeremy S. Hyman | Permanent Link | Print

One of the fastest-growing and most important segments of the American college scene is the community college (in some cases called two-year, junior, or technical colleges). Including such institutions as Miami-Dade College, Broward College, Northern Virginia Community College and the many campuses of the Maricopa Community Colleges (Phoenix), City College of San Francisco, City College of New York, Los Angeles Community College District, and Houston Community College Systems, community colleges enroll a full 44 percent of U.S. undergraduate students. That's 6.7 million credit students, plus 5 million students who are not candidates for a degree, at 1,177 urban, suburban, and rural institutions. To find out what the main differences are between the community college and the four-year liberal arts institution—and whether you should consider applying to a community college—we invited visiting blogger George R. Boggs, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges and former president of Palomar College (a two-year college in California), to offer his thoughts. Here's what he has to say:

With family budgets now under the microscope, community colleges have become attractive alternatives to the more expensive four-year colleges and universities. There are many reasons that nearly half of American undergraduates choose to start their higher education in a community college. Here are the top 10:

1. Affordability. Average annual tuition and fees for a full-time student at community colleges average $2,402, versus $6,585 at a public four-year college or university and $25,143 at a private institution. In addition, students can live at home and save on housing and food. To help meet even these reduced expenses, community college students often find they qualify for financial aid while attending. And in many cases, the colleges offer work-study or part-time jobs for students.

2. Convenience. Community colleges offer classes at times and locations that are convenient for students. Classes are often offered at off-campus locations and in the evenings or on weekends in addition to the more traditional day classes. An abundance of online classes provides yet another alternative to make education convenient to those who must fit school around work or family responsibilities. And students can choose to attend on a full-time or a part-time basis.

3. Open access. Community colleges do not have exclusive admissions standards that require high scores on an admissions test or a certain grade-point average from high school. Anyone with a high school diploma or equivalent can enroll. Some students even enroll while in high school to get a head start on college. Starting at a community college gives students a chance to improve a high school record before transferring to a university. However, open access does not mean that students can take any course; students usually are given placement examinations and then advised or placed into developmental courses if they are not up to college-level work.

4. Teaching quality. Community college classes are taught by faculty who care about teaching and student learning, not by teaching assistants. The faculty members are fully committed to teaching and are not pulled away by research interests or the need to publish in order to get tenure. And community colleges are accredited by the same agencies that accredit major universities.

5. Class size. Class sizes at community colleges are much smaller than those found in the freshman and sophomore year at public universities. Most classes have fewer than 35 students and provide more opportunities for students to interact with teachers and other students. Faculty members are accessible and want to help their students be successful.

6. Support services. Community colleges offer a variety of services to help students, and the wise ones learn how valuable these services can be. Services that are often found at community colleges include counseling, advising, tutorials, health care, financial aid, and library services. There are usually computer labs on campus to make it easier for students to complete assignments.

7. Choices. Community colleges offer both vocational programs and academic transfer programs. For example, community colleges prepare most of the nation's registered nurses, police officers, paramedics, firefighters, and advanced-skill technicians. Of course, community colleges also offer courses that transfer into universities and count toward a bachelor's degree. Certificate programs can be completed in a year or less, while associate degree programs take two full years of course work. Of course, it's always important to check with a counselor to be sure that the courses count toward the degree that the student is seeking and that they transfer to the university program the student has identified.

8. Diversity. Community colleges serve the most diverse group of students in higher education. Students differ by age, ethnicity, degree of disability, socioeconomic status, and in many other ways. International students add yet another perspective. The opportunity to interact with and to learn from other students from many different backgrounds and with a variety of life experiences is another big advantage of starting at a community college.

9. Access to modern technology. Because of their strong partnerships with business and industry, community colleges often have cutting-edge equipment that is used by students in the classroom. Employers want job candidates who have experience with the equipment being used by industry, including the most modern computers and scientific instruments. Since community colleges offer classes only at the freshman and sophomore levels, the use of the best equipment isn't reserved for juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

10. Good company. In case a student feels discouraged by the prospect of attending a local community college rather than his or her first-choice university, here are some people who are glad that they started in a community college: J. Craig Venter, the person who mapped the human genome; Richard Carmona, former U.S. surgeon general; Eileen Collins, the first NASA female space shuttle commander; Nick Nolte, actor; Harry Reid, Senate majority leader; and Nolan Ryan, retired baseball pitcher. Several Nobel laureates, state governors, members of Congress, famous sports figures, famous actors, and distinguished business executives got their start in community colleges, but so have many thousands of nurses, skilled technicians, artists, police officers, firefighters, and EMTs.

For more info about community colleges, visit the American Association of Community Colleges.

©2009 Professors ' Guide LLC. All rights reserved.

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I notice two things about this article. One is that it is based on the views of a guy whose job is to promote community colleges. He is hardly an unbiased source. Second, most of the comments seem to come from people who work at or run community colleges. Naturally, they have a high opinion of their abilities and their institutions. They may not be the best judges.

Naturally, with tens of millions of people having gone to community colleges, one might expect at least a few hundred successful people would be among their attendees.

While community colleges may sound cheap, they are heavily subsidized by taxpayers -- the real cost is much higher.

Teaching quality can't be measured by the fact that teachers get paid to teach and don't have to do original work in research. Bureaucracies generally hire and keep people -- community colleges are no different from other government-run schools. There are some fine teachers, many mediocre ones, and some incompetents or misfits.

As for diversity, as Thoreau observed, the most valuable thing you get at college costs nothing: a chance to associate with other brilliant students. As a rule, nearly all community college students are from the same town, they come from poorer families, and they were in the bottom half of their high school classes. This may explain why so many politicians are among the acclaimed graduates of community colleges.

A better route for those interested in a cheaper, more convenient education with no admissions process or no community college bureaucracy to deal with, is self-education. You can choose the best books, watch videos like the Teaching Company lectures by professors considered the best in top US universities (available at good public libraries for free), and hire a tutor for any special assistance you may need. The class size is one and pace is ideal, since you set it yourself. The only reason for preferring community college is to get a piece of paper that says you have an education. As a result of the increasing bureaucratization of our society, you now need a diploma for work that high school graduates or even capable dropouts can do.

As for practical knowledge, get a job in the field that interests you -- you'll get paid for learning how things are really done, instead of paying teachers to tell you how they think things are done. Albert Einstein skipped his physics classes, because he felt the teacher was seventy years behind the times. Warren Buffett dropped out of Wharton because the teachers weren't worth the money. It would be foolish to think that typical community college teachers will be better.

Among the famous self-educated (non-college graduates) are Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Tom Cruise, Bill Gates (Microsoft), Michael Dell (Dell Computers), and about one out of six of the Forbes 400 richest people in America.

Fredric Dennis Williams of XX
Jul 16, 2009 10:29:17 AM [permalink] [report comment]

would like to leave Mia and go to school in CA

I really like CA and would like to move there. I am tired of living in Miami and sick of the mosquitos, humidity, and suffocating heat. I am looking at different schools in CA for me and my kids. Any suggestions for a Grad School, Community College and High School for me and my daughters. I would like to move into an area that is in the middle of all three or relatively in the area. My oldest teenager and I are pursuing Psychology and youngest teenager is entering 10th grade.

Gloria M. Taborda of CA
Jul 14, 2009 10:43:03 AM [permalink] [report comment]

Quality Instruction/Great Place to Work

No one so far has mentioned the often wonderful quality of the instruction. As English department chair at Oakland Community College, and former dean of academics, I know how dedicated and intelligent the community college faculty can be. Students get a great education from highly motivated faculty. For example, many of my students have gone on to publish in magazines and journals; one even has his first book published. Several students have earned their MFA's in creative writing.

As a place to work, the community college is a great environment. I can publish and do research without the overbearing pressure, knowing my job does not depend upon my output. My job depends upon me being a good teacher, motivating students, holding high standards, and creating growth in people. What a wonderful set of duties...

David James

English

Oldest Bible made whole again online

SOURCE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31761140/ns/tech_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

1,600-year-old texts include numerous revisions, additions and corrections

3032075180

Reuters

3032075180

updated 4:51 p.m. CT, Mon., July. 6, 2009

LONDON—

The surviving parts of the world's oldest Bible were reunited online Monday, generating excitement among scholars striving to unlock its mysteries.

The Codex Sinaiticus was handwritten by four scribes in Greek on animal hide, known as vellum, in the mid-fourth century around the time of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who embraced Christianity.

Not all of it has withstood the ravages of time, but the pages that have include the whole of the New Testament and the earliest surviving copy of the Gospels written at different times after Christ's death by the four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Bible's remaining 800 pages and fragments — it was originally 1,400 pages long — also contain half of a copy of the Old Testament. The other half has been lost.

"The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world's greatest written treasures," said Scot McKendrick, head of Western manuscripts at the British Library.

"This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and firsthand evidence of how the text of the Bible was transmitted from generation to generation," he said.

The texts include numerous revisions, additions and corrections made during its evolution down through the ages.

"The Codex ... is arguably the oldest large bound book to have survived," said McKendrick, pointing out that each page is 16 inches tall by 14 inches wide (40 by 35 centimeters).

"Critically, it marks the definite triumph of bound codices over (papyrus) scrolls — a key watershed in how the Christian Bible was regarded as a sacred text," he said.

Four-year project
The ancient parchments, which appear almost translucent, are a collection of sections held by the British Library in London, the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, Egypt, the National Library of Russia and Leipzig University Library in Germany.

Each institution owns different amounts of the manuscript, but the British Library, which digitized the delicate pages of the entire book in London, holds by far the most.

The four-year joint project, which began in 2005 with the aim of "virtually reunifying" and preserving the Bible as well as undertaking new research into its history, has shed new light on who made it and how it was produced.

Importantly, experts at the British Library say, the project has uncovered evidence that a fourth scribe — along with the three already recognized — worked on the texts.

The assembly and transcription of the book includes previously unpublished pages of the Codex found in a blocked-off room at St. Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of Mount Moses, Sinai, in 1975, some of which are in a poor condition and have been difficult to study.

But there are still many unanswered questions about how the book came to be, said the British Library's Juan Garces, project manager of Greek manuscripts, who worked on the digitization.

For instance, where was it made? Which religious order commissioned it? And how long did it take to produce?

"The limits on access to this manuscript previously have meant that people (academics) have tended to dip, so that they have seized on particular things" to advance theories, McKendrick told Reuters.

He said the Web site will enable research to be carried out in a holistic way for the first time, forcing top scholars to view their theories in context.

A good example, he said, was evidence advanced by some academics pointing to the theory that it could have been made in the ancient city of Caesarea in Israel.

"It is our hope this will provide the catalyst for new research and it is already creating great interest," Garces told Reuters.

The Bible, which can be viewed online free, includes modern Greek translations and some sections translated into English.

Amoebas turn to family during tough times

SOURCE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27915075/ns/technology_and_science-science/

When food supplies run low, the organisms cluster together

This image shows how two genetically different strains of an amoeba species (shown in red and green) begin to cluster together as the cells clump into an aggregate or multi-cellular organism.

By Jeanna Bryner

updated 4:55 p.m. CT, Tues., Nov . 25, 2008

When times are tough, many of us turn to family and develop closer ties. So, too, with amoebas.

Some of these single-celled organisms tighten family bonds and cooperate when food is in short supply, new research shows.

The research, published this week in the journal PLoS Biology, shows how one amoeba species can distinguish genetically similar individuals, and how an incredibly simple life-form can display some sophisticated, social behaviors. (Not only is an amoeba a single cell, it reproduces asexually. So one parent cell divides into two daughter cells, which can continue to divide and produce more amoebas.)

"These single cells aggregate based on genetic similarity, not true kinship," said researcher Gad Shaulsky, professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Shaulsky added that this demonstrates a discrimination between "self" and "non-self" that is similar to that seen in the immune systems of higher organisms.

Amoeba community
Called Dictyostelium discoideum, this amoeba species generally keeps to itself when living in a healthy environment with enough grub.

But when food supplies run low, the free-living organisms clump together into a community of individuals. The result is a multi-cellular organism. Each amoeba takes on one of two roles in this organism: They either become spores, which can survive and reproduce, or they die and the dead cells form stalks that lift the spores above the ground to increase the chances the spores will disperse to more favorable environments.

Only cells that form spores can pass on their genetic information to future amoebas. So the preferred position is spore. About 20 percent of the cells, however, do turn into stalks.

Previous research has shown that Dictyostelium cells sometimes cheat and ditch stalk duty. Instead, they turn into spores while reaping the benefits (passing on genes) provided by other stalks.

Chummy cells
Perhaps there's a way to avoid being cheated, the researchers wondered. If being a stalk means one amoeba could ensure the survival and success of genetically similar individuals, evolutionarily, it makes sense to take one for the family.

To find out, the researchers mixed cells from genetically distinct strains of the amoebas. They found that the amoebas segregated into clusters of genetically similar individuals once they congregated into a multi-cellular formation.

In this way, the researchers determined that Dictyostelium reduces the likelihood that it will become a stalk cell that will die to assist in the survival of a genetically distant individual.

"The big thing we found is that Dictyostelium discoideum have social behavior," said researcher Mariko Katoh of Baylor College of Medicine. "We didn't really know if they could discriminate when the genetic differences were small. That was the surprising part."

Amoebas, along with plants, animals, protists and fungi, are considered eukaryotes by biologists. Sociality has also been detected among the other major group of organisms, prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea), which are generally single-celled organisms.

The amoeba research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Keck Center for Interdisciplinary Bioscience Training of the Gulf Coast Consortia.

© 2009 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Mashed-up genomes could produce biofuels

SOURCE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31767229/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Dependency of ants, fungi and bacteria gives clues on producing energy

By Eric Bland

updated 5:45 p.m. CT, Mon., July 6, 2009

The genomes of 17 different ants, fungi and bacteria that eat through hundreds of pounds of leaf matter a year could ultimately lead to new techniques for making biofuels.

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin, the Joint Genome Institute and Emory University are sequencing the first-ever community genome, searching for clues to how what's essentially a 50 million-year-old bioreactor operates.

"These leaf cutter ants, fungi and bacteria can plow through over 400 kilograms [880 pounds] of dry leaves each year," said Garret Suen, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who is working on the project.

"We believe that the whole community effort helps achieve this," Suen told Discovery News.

In the wild, armies of leaf cutter ants fan out across the rainforest floor searching for leaves. Using their powerful jaws, they cut out sections of leaves and then carry them back to their underground nests, where they feed the leaves to carefully tended gardens of fungi.

The fungi secrete enzymes onto the leaves that break down various molecules, leaving behind sugar that the ants use as food.

Once the fungi have broken down all they can, the ants remove the leaf pieces from the fungal garden, carry them to the surface and discard them in heaps around the nest. Bacteria continue to break down the leftover leaves, so the waste doesn't overwhelm the ant colony.

Exactly which molecules the fungi and the bacteria break down is still under investigation.

Only two other insect species have evolved such a close symbiotic relationship with fungi. Without the fungi, the ant colonies die. Without the ants, the fungi cannot survive. The bacteria are dependent on both for their food.

Over the last 50 million years, the three groups of organisms have optimized their relationship to squeeze the maximum amount of energy out of the leaves. How the community does this is still a mystery — one the scientists hope to unravel using a grant from Roche to sequence the genomes of all 17 organisms, including three different leaf cutter ant species.

Scientists estimate that there are roughly 1.5 billion base pairs spread out across the 17 different organisms. The human genome alone contains about 3 billion base pairs.

Locked inside the community genome could be clues that could eventually lead scientists to new enzymes or techniques that could enable humans to produce biofuels more efficiently.

"A systems approach is important for the biofuels field, because the breakdown of lignocellulosic with enzymes is still too expensive and cumbersome," said Lars Angenent, a scientist who studies how various microorganisms break down cellulose to produce biofuels at Cornell University.

"I think the work at Wisconsin should be applauded, because it does not sequence individual bacteria or insects, but rather the entire biological system," said Angenent.