Teplok Online Magazine | There's Only Good News For You

[Video] Google's Campaign to Save Worldwide Trees.

2010-01-09T17:10:00.003+08:00

Now, Google is campaigning to save trees at worldwide.

Recently, Google has released a tool which will aware the situation of world’s forests to the forest scientists across the world.

This tool will be sought through the satellite. So obtained satellite images and other information will be brought to the world.

In the tool, Google have also included the discussion on the conference on climate change, which was running in Copenhagen.

What a good news! I hope by this technology we can save our forests from the destruction.

What do you think about this good news?

Enabling Blind to See by Microchips

2010-01-09T13:34:00.002+08:00

Good news comes from Germany, the country of scientists. They said that they could enable blind to see by adding microchips into retinas. As far as I know, there's no way to enable blind to see unless they change their eyes with the healthy eyes from donors. I hope this is going to be a very good news to the world, here is the news I got from http://www.dw-world.de.

Scientists in southwestern Germany have made a breakthrough in restoring vision to the blind by successfully implanting special microchips under their retinas.

German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that a group of doctors at the University of Tuebingen under ophthalmologist Eberhart Zrenner had carried out the procedure.

The team implanted a chip under the retinas of eleven visually-impaired people, enabling them to regain rudimentary vision so they could recognize objects and read letters.

The procedure is designed for people who have lost their vision as a result of degenerative retinal disease which affects more than 4,000 people every year in Germany, according to the Web site of Retina Implant AG, the sponsor of the study.

'No longer legally blind'

One particular success story was the procedure on a 45-year-old Finnish man called Miika.

"Miika showed that with an aid we can give people enough sight so that they are no longer legally blind," the news magazine cited Zrenner.

The implant, comprising more than 1,500 photo cells housed on a three-by-three millimeter tiny microchip, was placed under the retina in a four-hour operation.

"The implant is well tolerated by the body," Zrenner told the magazine.

"None of the patients we have observed have had serious problems such as inflammation."

However, because of constraints of the ethics committee of the University of Tuebingen, the vision chip will be removed again after a few weeks. That's because too little was known about how the long-term compatibility of the implants at the beginning of the experiment.

The procedures are currently free for those undergoing the tests at Tuebingen. In future, Retinal Implant's Web site suggests that the chips would cost 25,000 euros plus the cost of the surgery.

Zrenner said he planned to implant the chip permanently in about two dozen blind people next year.

sjt/dpa/AP
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar

That's all, what do you think about this good news?

Ebook: The Modern Books Form Those Are Good For You

2009-11-17T10:54:00.005+08:00

Which is easier for you, ebooks or physical books? I prefer ebooks than physical books. It's easier to get, to read, and it's easier to save. Some people believe that ebooks are also good for environment. As I thought the better things about ebooks than physical books. I found some interesting things. It's benefits listed untill the 30th point, Wow it's great. Do you wanna know? here are the copy from the source:

Ebooks promote reading. People are spending more time in front of screens and less time in front of printed books.
Ebooks are good for the environment. Ebooks save trees. Ebooks eliminate the need for filling up landfills with old books. Ebooks save transportation costs and the pollution associated with shipping books across the country and the world.
Ebooks preserve books. (The library of Alexandria was burned and the collection ruined. Richard Burton's wife, after his death and against his wishes, destroyed a book he had been working on for ten years. The original manuscript of Carlyle's The French Revolution was lost when a friend's servant tossed it into the fire.) Ebooks are ageless: they do not burn, mildew, crumble, rot, or fall apart. Ebooks ensure that literature will endure.
Ebooks, faster to produce than paper books, allow readers to read books about current issues and events.
Ebooks are easily updateable, for correcting errors and adding information.
Ebooks are searchable. Quickly you can find anything inside the book. Ebooks are globally searchable: you can find information in many ebooks.
Ebooks are portable. You can carry an entire library on one DVD.
Ebooks (in the form of digital audio books) free you to do other activities while you are listening.
Ebooks can be printable: and thereby give a reader most or all of the advantages of a paper-based book.
Ebooks defy time: they can be delivered almost instantly. Ebooks are transported to you faster than overnight shipping: in minutes or in seconds.
Ebooks defy space: ebooks online can be read simultaneously by thousands of people at once.
Ebooks are cheaper to produce. Thus, small presses can attempt to compete with media giants.
Ebooks are cheaper to buy.
Ebooks are free. The magnificent work of Project Gutenberg, and other online public libraries, allow readers to read the classics at no cost.
Ebooks can be annotated without harming the original work.
Ebooks make reading accessible to persons with disabilities. Text can be re-sized for the visually impaired. Screens can be lit for reading in the dark.
Ebooks can be hyper-linked, for easier access to additional information.
Ebooks -- with additional software and hardware -- can read aloud to you.
Ebooks let you tweak the style. Many ebooks allow readers to change the font style, font size, page size, margin size, colors, and more.
Ebooks may allow the option for the addition of multimedia: still images, moving images, and sound.
Ebooks, with their capacity for storage, encourage the publishing of books with many pages, books that might be too expensive to produce (and purchase) in paperback.
Ebooks -- without outrageous DRM schemes -- are made for sharing. Ebooks can be quickly duplicated, and then distributed to strangers or given to your friends. Worry no more about your loaned books that will never be returned.
Ebooks empower individuals to write and to publish, and in this way help to challenge "the crushing power of big publishing", that excludes so many authors from the New York City publishing circus. Publishing can move from the impersonal and profitable, to the personal and pleasurable.
Ebooks -- thanks to the simplicity and speed of publication and feedback -- allow authors to experiment in many themes and styles.
Ebooks posted online encourage comments, corrections, and feedback -- which eliminates mistakes and improves accuracy -- especially important when dealing with scientific and technological issues.
Ebooks allow publishers to publish (and readers to read) works by a larger number of authors, and works on a wider variety of topics. Critics of traditional book publishing (such as Jason Epstein and Andre Schriffin) state that economic pressures have reduced and limited the number of authors and topics that traditional publishers will now produce.
Ebooks defeat attempts at censorship. All these works were banned: Analects by Confucius. Lysistrata by Aristophanes. Ars Amorata by Ovid. Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio by John Milton. The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne. Wonder Stories by H.C. Andersen. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Ulysses by James Joyce. ... Many of these books were confiscated, burned, or denied availability in libraries, bookstores and schools. Ebooks guarantee that readers maintain their right to read.
Ebooks help paperbook publishers to sell paperbooks. Cory Doctorow has explained that the giving away of ebooks, for free, has helped to sell the paperback editions of his stories and novels.
Ebooks are evolving. As technology develops, ebooks may contain new features. For example, a book of recipes may contain a recipe calculator to figure how much maple syrup is needed to bake 200 cookies. An ebook that prepares you for the GRE could include an interactive test. An ebook about politics might allow you to click a link and register to vote, or send an email to a Congressman that tells him he is not a good environmental steward.
Ebooks are good for paperbook publishing. By setting an example for diversity and freedom of expression, ebooks may motivate the stagnant book publishing industry towards the renewal of small presses, the end of the blockbuster-bestseller publishing mentality, and a healthier balance between the needs of commerce and culture.

Good News: No Tar, No Ignition, and No carcinogenic : What kind of cigarettes are they?

2009-09-11T03:05:00.006+08:00

It's Electronic Cigarettes!

About Electronic Cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes is a none-igniting substitute of the cigarette, it has some characteristics with the traditional cigarettes, such ad making you refresh, fulfilling the smokers' needs; But it has much more different with the traditional cigarettes substantially, such as no tar, no ignition, no 460 kinds of chemical substances that can lead to respiratory and cardiac system diseases, no the carcinogenic in the traditional cigarettes.

Since the using of tobacco of the history of human, people started to know the know the bad effects of tobacco to the health of human, who has gotten through
The Framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC)(on 21 may 2003) ,it called on every country should take into account that the threats of tobacco to the health of the health of people.
As a result, the technology of getting rid of tar and finding a substitute of cigarette has been developed. In the last few years, because of the technological barriers and microelectronic immaturity, scientists can not develop the product that can approach the taste and flavor of cigarette.

Although German, U.S, Japan had been developed some substitutes of cigars, the uncertain conceptions and coarse technology destroyed the market of the substitutes. Everyone should remember this year.2003, a team that consisted of Chinese scientists bread through many difficult and invented ANI that has nearly same flavor and taste but has no risk as traditional cigars. Electronic cigarettes a product that applied microelectronic control technology and supercritical atomizing method, can be inhaled by smokers without tar. So the smokers who use electronic cigarettes will avoid tar and many dangerous substances to get into their lungs and bodies.

The structure of Electronic Cigarettes
Electronic Cigarette consists of some micro-electronic components such as airflow sensor, control circuit, executive circuit, high-power integrated circuit, high-frequency ultrasonic sounder, atomizing chamber mask, built-in lithium ion battery, by which it can carry out such high-tech humanized functions as airflow sensing, smoke simulation, smoke temperature simulation, standby at any moment. Meanwhile, as far as the biological technology is concerned, it can make smokers enjoy the same pleasure as that of traditional cigarette when inhaling the nicotine smog droplet, imitating the whole process of smoking. Electronic Cigarette creates a healthy smoking cultural atmosphere, and has been eulogized by authoritative experts as the perfect combination of modern micro-electronic technology, biological technology and the conception of healthy life.

How does Electronic Cigarettes work
In the body of electronic cigarette, low thickness nicotine liquid enters atomizing cell after ultramicro atomizing pump pressurizing and is supercritically atomized into about 0.5-1.5um fog drops in the high-frequency untrasonic vibration field. Then the smog droplets will be dispersed into aerosols by the inhaled airflow and finally the aerosol will be formed into vapour which simulates the cigarette smoke. Before supercritical atomizing, the liquid should be heated up to reduce its surface tension to the extent of easiest atomizing. Electronic cigarette not only simulates cigarette smoke but also the temperature of common cigarette smoke (50-60 °C), which is similar to common cigarette and can refresh and satisfy the joviality and long-term psychological habit of smokers so as to achieve humanized healthy smoking; and at the same time, it simulates cigarette and does not contain such hazardous substance as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrocyanic acid, acrolein arsenic, lead, hydragyrum, perishing the harm of second-hand smoking to surrounding crowd so as to achieve the authentic humanized smoking.

Good News: When does Television become so beneficial?

2009-09-10T19:36:00.004+08:00

Television is an inescapable part of modern culture. We depend on TV for entertainment, news, education, culture, weather, sports—and even music, since the advent of music videos.

With the recent explosion in satellite and digital speciality channels, we now have access to a plethora of both good quality and inappropriate TV content. In this crowded television environment, the key for parents is to search out high quality TV programs for their kids, and whenever possible, enjoy them together as a family.

Television offers lots of benefits to kids, including:

1. Because of its ability to create powerful touchstones, TV enables young people to share cultural experiences with others.

2. Shared viewing gives family members of all ages an opportunity to spend time together.

3. Parents can use TV as a catalyst to get kids reading—following up on TV programs by getting books on the same subjects or reading authors whose work was adapted for the programs.

4. Great television can teach kids important values and life lessons.

5. TV programs often explores controversial or sensitive issues, which can make it easier for parents and kids to discuss them.

6. Educational programming can develop young children's socialization and learning skills.

7. News, current events and historical programming can help make young people more aware of other cultures and people.

8. Documentaries can help develop critical thinking about society and the world.

9. Cultural programming can open up the world of music and art for young people.

How to choose good TV

How can you select viewing that is good for your children? David Kleeman, Director of the American Center for Children and Media, says ask yourself the following questions:

* Does the program actively engage my child, physically or intellectually?
Television watching doesn't have to be passive. It can prompt questions, kindle curiosity, or teach activities to pursue when the set is off.

* Do I respect this program?
Parents don't have to like every show their children choose—in fact young people need their own district culture. But parents should trust that a program's creators understand and respect how children grow and learn.

* Does my child see others like himself or herself on television?
Young children believe that television reflects the real world. To not see people like themselves—in race, ethnicity, or physical ability, for example—may diminish their self worth. A lack of role models should spark discussion about how TV portrays different types of people.

* How do makers of this program regard my child?
Some program creators see young people as consumers to be sold to. Others see them as students to be educated, as future citizens to be engaged in the community, or simply as children, whose work is play.

Use the resources on the side bar to help you find good quality television for your kids.

Source : http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/television/good_things_tv.cfm

Good News : Advantages of Solar Power - Why Not Use it in Your Home?

2009-09-09T21:30:00.004+08:00

With the increasing awareness that fossil fuels are quickly becoming depleted, we need to start focusing on renewable sources of energy. Solar power is one of the most viable options. Of course, this is no surprise. Using the power of the sun has been around in some form since the dawn of time and there are many advantages of solar power for homes.

The sun's energy is renewable. This means that no matter how much we use, we will never deplete this resource. This is in sharp contrast to the dwindling supply of fossil fuels we use.

Also, unlike fossil fuels, energy from the sun does not harm the environment. There are no byproducts of solar power that leach into the air and create pollution or contribute to greenhouse gasses. In addition, acquiring the power is not intrusive to the environment like some other forms of energy. About the most intrusive part would be the solar panels which are well suited in most areas to fit snugly on the roof.

When generating energy from the sun to power your home, you can be a self contained unit. While it might not be practical in some areas to rely solely on the sun for power, other, less developed, areas might benefit immensely by being able to power homes with the sun without having to install power plants and run electrical cables. In areas where there is not enough sunlight for household needs, systems can be setup so that you can hook into the electrical grid during those times when more energy is needed.

While installing a solar power system for your home can be expensive at first, you will eventually see a savings because as time goes on you will reduce or eliminate your monthly power bill. And with readily accessible solar power home kits on the market, the barriers to entry are minimal. One particularly well put together step-by-step guide is Earth4Energy.

After the initial costs, generating power from the sun is free. So, once you have your collection and storage systems set up, you will reap the benefits not only in monthly savings but also in the benefits to our planet. These advantages of solar power make a commitment to using solar power the most sensible decision you can make to minimize your dependence on fossil fuels.

With a little bit of time and no specialized expertise, you can reduce your dependency on fossil fuels with a cost-efficient residential solar power system. Sign up for a free six-part mini-course and learn more at http://solarpowerhomekit.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dani_Deronda

Good News : How much will you pay for alternative energy? it's cheap!

2009-09-09T20:04:00.005+08:00

Many people don't realize that there are cheap alternative energy solutions for your home that you can implement and thus free yourself from the ever increasing energy costs. This is definitely the time to look into cheap alternative energy solutions as prices will continue to rise in the coming weeks and months. Saving hundreds of dollars every month is in everyone's interest, and it's time we sought ways to harness are energy for free.

1. Solar panels.

You are likely aware of using solar panels to power your home and the amazing way this energy solutions can eliminate huge bills. But, you have probably also been led to believe that solar panels are "too expensive". This isn't always the case and there are definitely cheap ways you can make your own panels. Even if you go online and dig a little you will find some of the big, discount stores sell very affordable and complete systems for a lot less than the you'd imagine. And of course the panels will have paid for themselves over a short time.
2. Solar Cooker.

This is basically a small box which requires no fuel to cook food in. You can buy solar cookers or you can make them yourself. You can boil, roast and bake your food in a solar cooker. You'll be saving a ton of power and money cooking your meals from the sun in an energy efficient manner.

3. Solar Home Heating

Home heating can be a huge cost to fork out every month, but fortunately there are cheap alternative energy solutions. There are different methods for solar home heating, depending on the design of your house, as well as your wants, needs, and how much you want to spend as an upfront cost. There are also several do it yourself projects which are very cheap. For example people have been running pvc pipe through their yards as the sun easily heats it up and it runs into their home for hot water.

Want to make your own power at home for cheap with solar and wind energy and eliminate your power bill completely? Check out this step by step instruction manual - http://energyrenewables.blogspot.com

With this set up you can get your energy for free and save literally thousands of dollars which would otherwise go towards energy bills - http://energyrenewables.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chess_McDoogle

Good News : "Active Cloaking" : A New Technology to decrease the destructions by Earthquakes

2009-08-21T03:05:00.007+08:00

A good news came from a new technology called "Active Cloaking" that may provide a side effect that will keep earthquakes from destroying buildings…

The technology was originally being researched to provide a better way to make fighter jets more stealthy. The concept is much the same as noise cancelling systems used in headphones and aircraft noise reduction systems.

It’s long been known that waves can be reduced or eliminated by sending a reverse of the wave against it – noise cancelling headphones work by sending a “counter" frequency to neutralize the unwanted sounds.

Earthquakes are very large waves that travel through the earth and when they strike a building, cause it to move, which causes the building to collapse – the idea is to use wave generators that will counter those waves and keep the building from moving…

The same concept is also being researched to see if generators could counter ocean waves that create tsunamies.

Good News : One million Environmental cleaner cars coming on the streets.

2009-08-21T02:47:00.005+08:00

In 2020,we can see one million electricity-driven cars from running on the streets in Germany.
There comes good news for the companies like BMW and Folkswagon, that the environment is happy with this product.

The German Cabinet on Wednesday gave green signal to the plan of electric cars.

As per the plan,in Germany,there we can see one million electric cars running on the streets, just by 2020 .

Now the German Government is making resesrch in this area ,so in this case, the German companies can come ahead than the Asian companies.

Germany's Transport Ministers Tifensi Volfgang said, We have full confidence that we will reach to the better environmental condition in the German.
As soon as possible,We are trying to make power-driven vehicles,as the common part of life.

By this news we'll find not only in German these cars will be on the street, but they will be in whole world. Nowadays, using an electric car is included in a way out of keeping this earth fine because it won't produce pollution parts and make the air healthier without the dangerous carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide.

Source : http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3961072-one-million-environmental-cleaner-cars-coming-on-the-streets

Good News : Need a heart? Try this artificial heart that works as good as real!

2009-08-18T22:31:00.004+08:00

Scientists have been working on designing a fully implantable artificial heart since early 1960’s.The first clinical application of a permanent fully implantable total artificial heart AbioCor was implanted in a patient during 2001. Some limitations of AbioCor were that because of its size it could be implanted in only 50% of the male population and it has life of 1 to 2 years.

On 27th October 2008, French professor and a leading heart transplant specialist Alain F. Carpentier announced that a fully implantable heart will be ready for clinical trials by 2011. It was developed by him and will be manufactured by Biomedical firm Carmat, and venture capital firm Truffle.

The prototype uses electronic sensors and is made from chemically treated animal tissues, called “biomaterials”, or “pseudo-skin” of biosynthetic, microporous materials. In order to resolve the power issue two options are under study that do not require wires crossing the skin because these pose an infection risk.

"The aim of this heart is to allow patients to go from an impossible life where they can do just a few steps from their bed to an armchair to a normal social life. They will even be able to run - although naturally not a marathon," he said.

Assuming French medical authorities give the go-ahead, it will be tested on around 20 volunteer heart patients within the next two and a half years. Given the materials and technology involved, it is estimated that each heart will cost around £120,000.

Source : http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/1644844-worlds-most-advanced-artificial-heart-as-good-as-real

Good News : Time Travel may be true...

2009-08-18T22:01:00.003+08:00

A Physicist at the University of Connecticut by the name of Dr. Ronald Mallett is now closer than anyone has ever gotten to making time travel a real thing. Although still in the development stages, he has shown using undeniable scientific equations based on Einstein's Theory of Relativity, that it is more than the Sci-Fi based fantasy we have known it to be.

The first step involves building a machine. Based on Einstein's theory once he can create a machine that spins fast enough to cause a vortex in space (and we know lasers can do just that) he will be able to manipulate time and space in such a way that we will be able to pass through it. He is going to start by sending subatomic particles and information, but even that alone would obviously be a huge breakthrough.

But there are some limitations. This isn't a miracle machine that will allow us to teleport back and forth between any time we choose. Time travel will be limited to when the machine was made because we need a door on both sides to pass through. So say he made the time machine today and kept it on for a year. Then we would be able to travel in between the time of that year. No more no less.

So although this birth is still in it's infancy, Dr. Ronald Mallett has given us some actual logical reasoning on how time travel is now more than just a fantasy. I personally will be keeping an eye on his studies and following the progress of what could be a world changing event.

Something else to keep an eye out for is the new Spike Lee Joint 'Time Traveler' that will be chronicling Ronald's Story

Source : http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3435376-time-travel

Good News : Maybe We're not Alone in this Universe (Mars comes alive)

2009-08-18T21:43:00.005+08:00

NASA scientists are now at the threshold of what may be a start of new Era in Human life history.According to the scientists working on the mission of finding life on our Earth's neighbour Mars"The red planet" they have got very close to discovering alien life in Mars.

Scientists are now planning an expedition to Mars to find alien life who are now believed to live under the planet's surface.

"We will have to drill the rock to bring up water or sample of rock" geology expert LIsa Pratt has said.

The long-going mission was refuelled after NASA scientists confirmed the report published in THE SUN magazine that the methane gas propelled at the surface of Mars was by microbes.

At a live press conference professor MIchael Mumma told"We are entering a new era.There wa life at Mars or still there is.There is a lot to find out and discover".

Huge plumes of methane gas was found on Mars,the gas which is produce by food breakdown and metabolism from animals.The methane gas may be produced by living organisms or from the decaying body of dead organisms.

This is the closest man has come to prove that extra-terrestial life exists.But unfortunately the ultimate discovery won't happen anytime soon as scientists now have to drill several meters down the surface of Mars to see the possibility of living organism.

Many people have neglected the report saying that the gas may be produced by some volcanic activity but scientists claim that its cannot be due to volcanic activity as other gases like Sulphurdioxide which is most prominent product of volcano was not found in Mars.

Scientists say that the Mission wil take till 2011 to come to a conclusion and solve the mysteries of The REd Planet which has beeen a major subject of study for scientists for many years now.

Hope we can soon meet our friends from Mars.My hello to all u MARSIANS.

Good News : A MAJOR Discovery that will produce Oxygen on the Moon

2009-08-14T20:34:00.004+08:00

Oxygen is included in main factors to indicate that a place has a living. As far as I know the only planet has oxygen to build life is our earth because we can find so many being produces oxygen here such as plants, bacterias and etc. But some people believe that we need a new place to have living, this opinion based on the decline of our earth because of climate change, pollutions, disaster and others reasons.

So researchers tried to find the new place where we can build lives or at least a thing which can produce breathable oxygen. Some opinions choose mars as a new place. But the moon is the nearest places that researchers have been decided. And that may be true.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom have built a small reactor (1 meter in height) that will produce BREATHABLE Oxygen from lunar rocks.

This reactor has an electrochemical process that extracts metals and alloys from metal oxides found in the lunar rocks has been developed.

The oxygen produced will provide not only breathable oxygen, but can be used as fuel for power generation or propulsion systems.

So this would be the way out of starting living in a new place.

Good News : How to make your eyes stay health? Just Play Games!

2009-08-13T01:03:00.008+08:00

Nowadays there's so many games made every year, and the genres of games are developing rapidly. In this case, games will catch more gamers to play facing the computer. As we all know that facing the computer for long time is not a good habit, especially for eyes health. But new research found that games can make our eyes healthier.

How does it work? It depends on what kind of games we play, a good game for eyes health is the active motion game that leads our eyes to move its muscles more. Some games have fast move to play, they make our eyes active moving from side to side and take the eyes muscles some exercises.

However, this is not always good whenever we play games too much and waste so much times in front of the computer. Our eyes will get tired if it moves for long time. So we can decide wisely how long exactly games can keep our eyes health.

The effective time is about 30-60 minutes a day and you'll get the advantages of playing games.

Good News : Digital cameras are good for the environment

2009-08-10T22:14:00.003+08:00

As we consider the digital camera revolution that has taken place over the last decade, most people think about it in terms of enhanced benefits for consumers. We can take a lot more pictures at much lower cost with digital cameras versus film cameras. We can also more easily manipulate and share those photos since they're all in the digital realm.

But one thing many people don't think about actually deserves mention as potentially the most profound effect of the digital camera revolution: how digital cameras greatly reduce the destructive impact on the environment compared to film cameras.

At first, you might think, "How can that be? My film camera didn't harm the environment!" Even though it wasn't your camera that harmed the environment, your film processing did indeed harm it. Any time you take your pictures to a photo processing center, that film is run through batches of chemicals. These chemicals are environmental hazards, and once they are used to process film, those chemicals must be discarded. These chemicals include both developer solutions and fixer solutions.

All film photo processing centers use these chemicals. The question is, what do they do with these chemicals after they use them? According to environmental protection standards, they have to dispose of these chemicals in an environmentally sound way. That can mean trapping them in absorbent materials designed to render the chemicals inert and then disposing of those materials in a landfill. But more often than not, because of the increased expense involved in such endeavors, many film processing companies just pour the chemicals down the drain.

Don't believe me? Just ask anyone who has worked in a film processing company. While certainly the bigger and better known companies probably adhere to the environmental laws, many of the smaller, locally-owned companies don't. As an experiment, one day I went to a local film processing company and asked what they did with their chemicals after they were done using them. The answer? "We pour them down the drain!" And that means these chemicals enter the water supply and go downstream.

Quiz time: what do you get when you have 1,000 film developing companies and industrial chemical producers all breaking the rules and dumping chemicals into the river? You get the lower Mississippi river, which is of course a horrifying stream of man-made pollution that no one would want to swim in or drink... but yet provides the water for many of the cities downstream along the river (not to mention that the whole mess empties into the Gulf of Mexico, which is probably why the fish in the Gulf are too loaded with heavy metals to even consider eating...)

Another interesting angle on all of this is what happens in international waters, because cruise ships don't have to adhere to U.S. environmental protection standards. We already know that cruise ships dump raw sewage into the open ocean on a regular basis, but that's not even the worst part of it. They also dump film developing chemicals into the open ocean. This is done routinely: it's part of the regular process on world famous cruise lines. They develop your film for all the pictures you took on Aruba or the Cayman Islands or the Virgin Islands and then they pump the polluting chemicals to the ocean water. And we wonder why our oceans are dying and our coral reefs are dying at a rate faster than rainforest clear-cutting...

Back to digital cameras: it is pure coincidence, I think, that the upsurge in digital camera use is having a positive environmental impact. With digital photography, we no longer need to use all of those chemical solutions for developing photographs.

This is just one of many positive impacts of the digital camera revolution. But skeptical consumers might say "What about the environmental impact of all of the ink used in inkjet printers that people are printing their photos with?" And that's a reasonable question. The first part of that answer is that most of the photos taken with digital cameras stay in the digital domain (people don't print out all those photos).

As far as the inkjet ink chemistry goes, I'm willing to take an educated guess that there are solvents in those inks and those solvents should not be touched in their liquid form because they will absorbed through the skin and are probably carcinogenic. But once they dry, they're fairly safe to handle.

Regardless of the inkjet ink chemicals, the net effect of digital photography is undoubtedly positive from an environmental standpoint. Of course, most consumers don't even think about this. For most consumers, the digital camera argument is not about saving the planet, it's about getting the latest cool technology, or taking photos without the expense of physical film development. But whether or not the public really gives a hoot about the environment is beside the point in this particular case -- people are buying digital cameras in record numbers, the digital camera market continues to grow and film cameras are finally becoming obsolete. In my view, it couldn't be a moment too soon because a world without film cameras is, of course, a healthier world with fewer chemical contaminants.

One final thought: I do realize there's a potential negative impact to the environment related to the use of batteries in digital cameras. But most such batteries are rechargeable, so we're not talking about consumers chucking alkaline batteries into the landfill every week.

There's also the question of the environmental impact of manufacturing digital cameras. I'm sure that's not inconsequential, but it's probably similar to the impact of manufacturing film cameras anyway. And even high-end estimates of this manufacturing impact are relatively tame compared to the repeated destruction to the environment caused by film developer chemicals.

That's why I say the digital camera revolution is a net positive for the environment.

Good News : Say goodbye to glasses

2009-08-09T23:12:00.003+08:00

If you have always wanted a permanent solution to wearing glasses, then spend just 15 minutes under the laser and you can say adios to those ugly frames. Laser surgery is popular, largely painless and every effective.

LASIK is a 15-minute operation that uses a laser to reshape the cornea. It can correct nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. For most people, the recovery period is at most a few days. [How to See Like a Hawk When You're Blind as a Bat : A Patient's Guide to LASIK Laser Vision Correction]

But LASIK, which stands for laser in situ keratomileusis, is not without its share of problems. A study published in the January 1999 Ophthalmology documented complications in 5 per cent of cases. A very small number of people do end up with worse eyesight.

Here are a few things you have to keep in mind before opting for the surgery.

• If you are over 40, LASIK probably does not mean goodbye to glasses. You’ll still need them for reading or doing close work. Some people avoid reading glasses by getting just one eye treated, which balances out their vision: one eye for seeing things up close.

• Don’t expect 20/20 vision. The vast majority of people who undergo LASIK do so to correct nearsightedness. Most of them end up with vision somewhere between 20/20 and 20/40 (a person with 20/40 vision needs to stand 20 feet away from something that a person with 20/20 vision can see fine from 40 feet away).

• Considering that people with even a mild correction tend to have 20/100 vision or worse, that is a huge gain. But if you are used to glasses or contact lenses, which correct your vision to 20/20, uncorrected vision of 20/40 after LASIK may seem like a setback.

There could be other problems after surgery, too. Some people see halos around streetlights, others suffer from contrast sensitivity. Moreover, if you are a diabetic, it is better to avoid LASIK surgery. Get your doctor to enlighten you about both the advantages and the disadvantages.

• Reshaping the eye with a laser can cause some distortion in the eye’s optics that decreases what ophthalmologists call ‘contrast sensitivity’—the narrowing of difference between dark and light.

It is roughly analogous to a photograph that is in focus but too grey. Sometimes the loss of contrast sensitivity is described as adding a ghostliness or fuzziness to vision. The reason for this optical distortion following a LASIK and other laser operations is not yet known.

• While the recovery period from LASIK is remarkably short, 30 per cent to 40 per cent of people see halos or ‘starbursts’ around bright lights for several months. This effect seems to be caused by the edge between the treated and the untreated part of the cornea bending and distorting the way light hits the eye.

People with exceptionally large pupils should not opt for LASIK surgery because the starburst effect could remain a permanent problem for them.

• People with extra-thin corneas are not good candidates because the surgeon needs enough tissue to work with. The thickness of the cornea is not necessarily related to vision. So the only way of knowing if your corneas are thick enough is to have them measured by an ophthalmologist.

Some ophthalmologists also turn away people with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus because they can have problems with dry eyes and recovery from LASIK involves some drying out of the eyes. People with diabetes also may not be ideal LASIK candidates because the outermost layer of their cornea, the epithelium, is thin and they have decreased corneal sensation.

• Finally, people who are candidates for a cataract surgery shouldn’t choose LASIK. A cataract is a cloudy lens; operating on cataracts involves taking out the clouded lens and replacing it with a new plastic or silicon version. Artificial lens implants can correct nearsightedness or farsightedness just as well as LASIK. So, there is no point in having both the procedures.

Good News : New drug can create bone

2009-08-09T23:02:00.003+08:00

Bones often get compared to banks. People who don’t build up a healthy savings of bone density when they’re young, so the analogy goes, may find themselves in debt come retirement.

Researchers are working on drugs that can offer last-minute deposits. In 2002, physicians welcomed the first new osteoporosis drug in five years, and tests of more are in the pipeline. Meanwhile, manufacturers are making existing drugs easier to take, and researchers are making discoveries in bone metabolism that may lead to more choices.

Still, challenges remain. Hormone-replacement therapy was once popular but lost favor with the discovery that it may increase the risk of heart attacks and cancer. Research published in July in the New England Journal of Medicine found mixed results for Evista, which has been a bone-strengthening alternative to hormone therapy. While use of the drug for five years reduced the risk of fractures and breast cancer by about one woman per thousand, it also increased the odds of blood clots and strokes.

Nothing offers a cure.

“We have a few good choices, but we certainly need better in several areas,” says Dr. Gordon Strewler, an osteoporosis expert from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

The need is expected to increase as the population ages. Federal health authorities estimate some 10 million Americans already have bones brittle to the point of full-fledged osteoporosis, and another 34 million may be on the brink of developing the condition. Women run a greater risk than men; thin people a greater risk than heavier people.

Basically, though, osteoporosis is a disease of aging. About a third of women older than 80 will suffer a broken hip. As many as 20 percent will die from the complications.

Bones may seem solid as rocks, but they are more like rigid pipes with honeycombs inside. Their airy internal latticework constantly resculpts itself, drawing on calcium, vitamin D and exercise. Some cells remove bone from the matrix while others replace what’s lost. Osteoporosis occurs when the cells on teardown duty outperform cells doing construction.

“People think of bone as kind of a dead tissue, but it’s actually very alive tissue,” says Dr. Dennis Black of the University of California, San Francisco.

Medicines usually work by slowing the natural turnover of bone. The bone-removing cells are called osteoclasts; their counterparts are osteoblasts. They are the yin and yang of bone strength. Almost all osteoporosis medications hamper the work of osteoclasts.

The newest drug on the market, however, is the first to boost osteoblasts, the cells that create bone. Called Forteo, the drug comes in a daily injection. The most painful side effect so far appears to be on the wallet. It can cost about $7,000 a year.

Writing in June in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine tried to analyze whether the advantages of the drug justified its cost, considering an analysis of a hypothetical group of 200,000 women - a study population far larger than would be feasible in the real world. Based on what’s known about each drug’s effectiveness and price, the researchers had a computer compare the costs and benefits of Forteo with other treatments, evening out the fact that some women would benefit greatly from the treatment while others would pay for medicine that didn’t make much difference.

In the overall population, the new drug wasn’t a bargain, says researcher Hau Liu. In most scenarios, “Forteo is not cost-effective, primarily because of its high price,” he says. “You can get a lot of benefit from existing therapy already.”

The numbers in the analysis worked out this way: Fosamax alone provided an extra year of perfect health for about $11,600. Forteo would cost more than $172,000.

And although Forteo appears better able to improve bone density, so far that hasn’t translated to striking differences in fracture rates, Liu says. This is perhaps because improved fracture rates depend on more than just better bone density. The strength of any material rests on its entire internal structure - a china plate is heavier than a plastic one, but only one will break when it hits the floor.

All of which does not mean that Forteo isn’t a useful drug.

“It’s not the first thing you reach for,” agrees Dr. William Fears, chief of endocrinology at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. However, he does prescribe it to people at highest risk of fracture, or for whom standard drugs won’t work.

The most common drugs are known as bisphosphonates, which have been used for more than a decade. Seen the commercials with women raving about their osteoporosis pill? It’s probably a bisphosphonate such as Fosamax or Boniva.

In 2004, physicians reported that women who took Fosamax for 10 years (with a 10-milligram dose) saw an increase in lower-spine density of about 14 percent. While the drugs appear safe, scientists can’t say whether the suppression of bone turnover might cause long-term side effects.

Still, bisphosphonates remain the drugs of choice for most patients, Black says. The drawback is that they can cause gastrointestinal side effects and must be taken with a strict ritual: first thing in the morning, before breakfast, with a glass of water, while remaining upright. Since the pills don’t make people feel different, even with all this trouble, patients often abandon them.

That’s why drug makers increasingly offer drugs that can be taken once a week or once a month and through injections. The modifications are aimed at convenience, not effectiveness.

Researchers also are trying to find the best combinations of Forteo and bisphosphonates. Because animal studies raised the possibility of a risk of bone cancer, Forteo is approved for any person to use for only up to two years. Last year, Dr. Black from San Francisco reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that a year after stopping Forteo, the buildup of bone eroded unless Forteo was followed with Fosamax. This back-to-back use of the drugs produced a greater improvement in bone mass, the study found.

Doctors hope to have more choices soon. A drug called denosumab has looked promising. It is administered by injection, and works by interfering with the body’s ability to make osteoclasts. It is unlikely to work better than a bisphosphonate but, at just two doses a year, would be easy to take.

In addition, it has a quicker, reversible effect, says Dr. Michael McClung, director of the Oregon Osteoporosis Center.

By the time denosumab could make it on the market, physicians should be better able to target medications to the patients who would most benefit. Current assessments are based largely on bone-density scans. A bone scan is a useful predictor of fracture risk, but it doesn’t speak to bone quality, McClung says.

“Bone density doesn’t tell us about things like bone turnover and bone architecture,” he says. Experts are about to release better measures for predicting fractures, guidelines that will measure age, medical history and family risk. In other words, people who are on the verge of finding their bones overdrawn.

Good News : World’s First Functional Computer Made Out Of Wood

2009-08-09T03:13:00.003+08:00

Computers were once thought to be a clean technology. Everything virtual! No more paper!

That turned out to be an illusion. Computers produce some of the most toxic waste.

But that’s all about to change with the introduction of the world’s first completely biodegradable computer. Yes, you read that right: biodegradable.wooden computer

The computer is made from wood panels which have been manufactured from waste products from the lumber industry.

The panels themselves have been impregnated with seeds. This means that once the computer reaches the end of its lifecycle it can be planted so that new trees will grow!

”One advantage of Iameco is that when the components are buried in landfill the wood gets wet, breaks down and new plants begin to grow from old computers.

There’s no mercury, lead or plastic in the machine, and it has three times the lifespan of other computers.”

It’s about $250 more expensive than a regular computer and runs any software

Good News : Best Free Hosting

2009-08-04T10:53:00.005+08:00

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Good News : Boy discovers microbe that eats plastic

2009-07-26T01:14:00.004+08:00

PhDs have been searching for a solution to the plastic waste problem, and this 16 year old finds the answer.

It's not your average science fair when the 16-year-old winner manages to solve a global waste crisis. But such was the case at last ~~month's~~ May's Canadian Science Fair in Waterloo, Ontario, where Daniel Burd, a high school student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, presented his research on microorganisms that can rapidly biodegrade plastic.

NOTE: there are TWO high school students who discovered plastic-consuming microorganisms. The first was Daniel Burd (last year). The second was Tseng I-Ching (last month), a high school student in Taiwan.

Daniel had a thought it seems even the most esteemed PhDs hadn't considered. Plastic, one of the most indestructible of manufactured materials, does in fact eventually decompose. It takes 1,000 years but decompose it does, which means there must be microorganisms out there to do the decomposing.

Could those microorganisms be bred to do the job faster?

That was Daniel's question which he put to the test by a very simple and clever process of immersing ground plastic in a yeast solution that encourages microbial growth, and then isolating the most productive organisms.

The preliminary results were encouraging, so he kept at it, selecting out the most effective strains and interbreeding them. After several weeks of tweaking and optimizing temperatures Burd was achieved a 43 % degradation of plastic in six weeks, an almost inconceivable accomplishment.

With 500 billion plastic bags manufactured each year and a Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch that grows more expansive by the day, a low cost and nontoxic method for degrading plastic is the stuff of environmentalists' dreams and, I would hazard a guess, a pretty good start-up company as well.

NOTE: to the comment below. Yes there are certainly methods for decomposing plastic, but most are chemical in nature not organic, requiring high temperatures and chemical additives to cause the plasticizers to vaporize, for instance this patent on PVC extraction. There have been several successful bacteria based solutions developed at the Dept. of Biotechnology in Tottori, Japan as well as the Dept. of Microbiology at the National University of Ireland, but both apply only to styrene compounds.

It goes without saying that these discoveries need to be tested to ensure, for instance, that the bi-products of organic decomposition are not carcinogenic (as in the case with mammalian metabolism of styrene and benzene). The processing of plastics by these methods would also have to be contained in highly controlled environments. So, no, we're not talking about a magic panacea or a plastic-free paradise, but the innovative application of microorganisms to break down our most troublesome waste products is nevertheless a major scientific breakthrough.

ANOTHER NOTE: One of our readers pointed out a very interesting study in 2004 at the University of Wisconsin that isolated a fungus capable of biodegrading phenol-formaldehyde polymers previously thought to be non-biodegradable. Phenol polymers are produced at an annual rate of 2.2 million metric tons per year in the United States for many industrial and commercial applications including durable plastics.

Good News : Cure for cancer one step closer

2009-07-21T00:57:00.003+08:00

The cure for cancer is one step closer this week with the first collections of cancer tissue taking place at the new Wesley Research Institute Tissue Bank.

The Tissue Bank is the first of its kind in Queensland to provide a widely available and diversified collection of ethically consented and clinically annotated tissue, helping to unravel the cause, progression and potential treatment for cancer and other diseases.

Professor Julie Campbell AO, Director of The Wesley Research Institute, said the current absence of large, high quality cancer tissue and blood collections with clinical data is a major barrier to improving care of cancer patients.

“Queensland research has taken an enormous step forward this week. There is every possibility that findings made achievable by the Tissue Bank will lead to the next big breakthrough in the fight against cancer,” she said.

“By providing researchers who are part of an ethically and scientifically approved research project with tissue, matching blood samples and full clinical data, valuable funds will be saved, which can then be applied to further their research.

“There is compelling evidence that new methods for screening, diagnosis and evaluation of cancer can make a significant impact on cancer care in the immediate future,” Professor Campbell said.

Dr John Lumley, a surgeon from The Wesley Hospital, said that these specimens would be donated by consenting patients during the course of their normal treatment.

“I encourage patients and surgeons to support the important work of the Tissue Bank because everybody can play a part in the cure. Every cell contains a clue that can make a difference to tomorrow’s cancer patients,” he said.

Queensland is well placed as a source of cancer tissue due to its diverse population, large number of aged retirees, and high-rate of some cancers, particularly melanoma. The Wesley Hospital alone had almost 2000 cancer related surgeries in 2004.

The Queensland Government contributed $1.42 million towards the construction of the Tissue Bank through the Smart State Research Facility Fund.

The investment has built and equipped, as part of the Institute’s infrastructure, a dedicated laboratory with highprecision equipment for preparation and study of tissue samples.

This equipment includes an Aperio Scan Scope which takes high resolution images of tissue samples that can then be shared with researchers around the world, and two vapour phase nitrogen storage vessels (-196ºC) and two -80ºC freezers which have the capacity to house in excess of 164,000 tissue and blood samples.

The small sections of tissue collected from patients will be stored in cryogenic vials which will help preserve the tissue’s proteins and genetic material almost indefinitely.

The Wesley Research Institute is a leading medical research facility with a commitment to patient care, ethical conduct and quality research that aims to improve quality of life through better diagnosis and treatment.