AFP: E. coli outbreak spreading, Spain resists blame

AFP: E. coli outbreak spreading, Spain resists blame

BERLIN — More than 270 people in Germany have fallen seriously ill due to potentially deadly bacteria detected in imported Spanish cucumbers, but Madrid said Friday there was "no proof" it is to blame.

Russia meanwhile is considering an import ban on all German vegetables in the wake of the E. coli outbreak.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's national disease centre, said more than 60 new cases of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) had been reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number in Germany to 276. At least two people have died.

Two German tourists have also been hospitalised in Austria with the infection, a health ministry spokesman told the Austrian news agency APA.

The men spent two weeks cycling to Austria from north Germany before coming down with symptoms, the spokesman said.

In Switzerland, authorities said a woman returning from northern Germany also appeared to be infected with the same food-borne bacteria.

Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli causes HUS, which can result in acute renal failure, seizures, strokes and coma.

The German consumer affairs ministry said investigations were underway to track the precise origin of the contamination in vegetables which have been ordered withdrawn from the market.

German authorities have identified organic cucumbers from Spain as a source of the bacteria which has also led to food poisoning in Sweden, Denmark, Britain and the Netherlands.

But Spain's agriculture minister, Rosa Aguilar, said it was too early to blame her country and complained the accusations had caused "irreparable damage" to the sector.

"We do not know where the contamination may have taken place and the European Commission has made clear that it could have happened outside the country of origin," the minister said.

"Until now nothing has been proven and it has not been demonstrated that it happened in the country of origin," she said, adding: "Our level of safety and quality is extraordinarily high."

A spokesman for the AESA food safety agency in Spain said investigations were also underway.

"The Andalusian authorities are investigating to find out where the contamination comes from and when it took place," he said.

"This type of bacteria can contaminate at the origin or during handling of the product."

There has been no report of contamination within Spain, AESA said.

Russia's top health official said a ban on imports of vegetables from Germany was a possible option.

"Because the situation is ongoing and we do not know its causes or the mechanisms by which it is spread, we are examining the option of imposing a ban on German vegetable imports," news agencies quoted Gennady Onishchenko as saying.

There was no information about when a ban might be imposed, but Russians were instructed to avoid eating German vegetables and those planning to visit the country to only eat prepared food.

The German state of Saarland responded to the outbreak by banning the sale of all cucumbers from Spain.

Some supermarket chains, including the giant Rewe, also said they had withdrawn all Spanish-imported cucumbers from their shelves nationwide.

Officials meanwhile defended themselves against charges, mainly from farmers in northern Germany, that they had acted rashly in their warnings to the public.

Initial warnings had spoken of possible contamination in tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers grown in northern Germany, where most cases of food-poisoning have been reported.

"The protection of the consumer must always take precedence over economic interests," the consumer ministry spokesman said.

German vegetable growers have suffered losses of some two million euros ($ 2.8 million) per day since the middle of the week, a spokesman for the Farmers' Association said Friday.

"Trading is completely flat on the vegetable market in Hamburg," Germany's second city, according to Jochen Winkhoff, who heads the Association of German Vegetable Growers.

All growers are hard hit and "we have to destroy their produce because there is no demand," he added.

Denmark's veterinary and food products agency said Friday it had found contaminated cucumbers from Spain in the stocks of two wholesalers in the west of the country and ordered them withdrawn.

It advised consumers not to eat raw cucumbers from Spain or tomatoes and lettuce from northern Germany.

Out with a bang — new theory threatens to rewrite origins of universe

Out with a bang — new theory threatens to rewrite origins of universe

It all began, goes the prevailing theory of the origins of the universe, when the Big Bang set the cosmos in motion about 14 billion years ago, leading to the formation of the Earth nearly 10 billion years later and — if it all holds together for another day — to tomorrow morning's sunrise.

But a Canadian scientist and his British co-researcher, perhaps convinced that the end of Oprah doesn't yet seem insignificant enough in the grand scheme of things, have published a paper outlining the possibility that this universe is just one of many that have existed through infinite time, and that black holes — super-dense nodes of nothingness scattered across the expanse of space — could be key to proving their mind-bending theory.

Dalhousie University mathematician Alan Coley and University of London astronomer Bernard Carr have posted their essay — titled "Persistence of Black Holes Through a Cosmological Bounce" — at the arXiv online archive of scientific research studies.

The paper examines "whether black holes could persist in a universe which recollapses and then bounces into a new expansion phase," an idea that — if true — would explode, so to speak, the conventional idea that the Big Bang got our cosmic clock ticking around 13.7 billion years ago.

Others have kicked around the general notion before, Coley told Postmedia News, noting that the prospect of successive universal expansions and collapses — or "bounces" — represents an emerging field of interest in theoretical physics.

But "what we're bringing to the table," he said, is a proposed strategy for eventually testing "what possibly could persist from the previous epoch, and which would be something like a regular object. And the only things that could would be black holes."

Scientists believe that black holes — such profoundly compact celestial objects that even light cannot escape their gravity — have been formed throughout the life of this universe after heavy stars collapse and die in spectacular supernova explosions.

Some are also believed to have been formed in the midst of the Big Bang itself, and perhaps as the central hubs in the subsequent coalescing of galaxies.

But such objects could theoretically have been formed in prior universes and — because of their uniquely indestructible nature — may have survived the Big Bang to be studied today, Coley said.

And these so-called "primordial black holes," he explained, could have existed for hundreds of billions of years — in fact, from along any point in the infinite span of time before the birth of our universe — and "they wouldn't be destroyed in the Big Bang."

Coley said he and Carr are now preparing a more detailed study aimed at explaining how scientists might develop tests to determine the age of black holes and distinguish "younger" objects formed within the accepted time horizon of this universe and older black holes pre-dating the Big Bang.

The theory is "very speculative," he acknowledges, and that experiments testing it might be a generation away.

But he compares the quest to the way 19th-century geologists and other scientists, including Charles Darwin, pioneered new ways of interpreting rock layers and began to develop the idea that life actually evolved over "deep time" — millions and even billions of years — rather than appearing abruptly a few millennia ago, as suggested by the Bible.

"In geology, what happened was that as technology became more advanced, people's views became broader — you could put things in different perspectives and you could test things," said Coley. "In that sense, there's an analogy. But because this is theoretical physics, and it's right at the extreme, it's much more speculative."

While the Coley-Carr probe into the possibility of previous universes gives new meaning to the exploration of "deep time," other space scientists continue to investigate more "recent" phenomena, such as the birth of this solar system more than four billion years ago.

NASA announced this week that it would back an $800-million, Canadian-supported mission to retrieve rock samples from a distant asteroid and send them back to Earth for analysis by 2023.

The OSIRIS-Rex mission, which would include Canadian-made laser technology to guide an unmanned spacecraft on a four-year flight to the surface of asteroid RQ36, is expected to shed light on the Earth's origins because the space rock is considered an uncontaminated remnant from the formation of our immediate family of planets about 4.5 billion years ago.

"This asteroid is a time capsule from the birth of our solar system and ushers in a new era of planetary exploration," Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary science, said Wednesday.

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

AFP: NASA satellite 'helps find 17 Egypt pyramids'

AFP: NASA satellite 'helps find 17 Egypt pyramids'

WASHINGTON — Archaeologists have uncovered as many as 17 buried pyramids in Egypt with the help of NASA satellite imagery, according to a documentary to be aired by the BBC on Monday.

Led by US researcher Sarah Parcak at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the team has already confirmed two of the suspected pyramids through excavation work.

The BBC, which funded the research, released the findings this week ahead of a broadcast describing the technique and what was uncovered.

"I couldn't believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt," Parcak was quoted as telling the BBC.

"To excavate a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist."

The team also found more than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements, according to the report.

Infrared images, which were taken by satellites orbiting 700 kilometers (435 miles) above the Earth, revealed the below-ground structures.

The satellites used powerful cameras that can "pinpoint objects less than one meter (three feet) in diameter on the Earth's surface," the report said.

The technology was helped by the density of houses and other buildings, made of mud brick so that they showed up somewhat clearly against the looser soil cover.

The documentary, "Egypt's Lost Cities," airs Monday on BBC One and will also be shown on the Discovery channel in the United States.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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Mark Zuckerberg's new diet: Eating only what he kills - USATODAY.com

Mark Zuckerberg's new diet: Eating only what he kills - USATODAY.com

Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is always on the prowl for new ways to test himself.

So his "personal challenge" this year, he tells Fortune magazine, is to eat "only what he kills."

It started with the idea of being thankful for the food we have to eat.

"I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have," he tells Fortune. "This year I've basically become a vegetarian since the only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself. So far, this has been a good experience. I'm eating a lot healthier foods and I've learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals."

His first kill was a lobster, which he had to throw in a pot of boiling water. "The most interesting thing was how special it felt to eat it after having not eaten any seafood or meat in a while."

But while he says he has "basically" become a vegetarian, he has experimented with killing bigger creatures. On May 4, Zuckerberg posted a note to the 847 friends on his private page: "I just killed a pig and a goat."

His friend Jesse Cool, a Silicon Valley chef, explains, "He cut the throat of the goat with a knife, which is the most kind way to do it."

Purdue University Students Turn Ordinary Saltwater into Hydrogen Power and Drinking Water | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Purdue University Students Turn Ordinary Saltwater into Hydrogen Power and Drinking Water | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Researchers from Purdue University are on the cusp on creating a new type of mobile technology that not only coverts non-potable water into drinking water, but also extracts hydrogen to generate electricity. The technology revolves around an aluminium alloy that the team believes could bring both water and power to poor villages around the world.

Leading the team is Jerry Woodall, a Purdue University distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering. Speaking to Science Daily, he stated that by immersing the new alloy (which contains aluminum, gallium, indium and tin) into water, you can create a spontaneous reaction that splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The hydrogen can then be used to fuel power cells, while clean drinking water is produced in the form of steam.

“The steam would kill any bacteria contained in the water, and then it would condense to purified water,” Woodall said. “So, you are converting undrinkable water to drinking water.”

The technology even works with saltwater, which means it could be utilised on boats and marine vessels around the world to providing drinking water to sailors. A prototype has yet to be created and a patent is pending, but Woodall believes the portable technology could transform villages that aren’t connected to a power grid.

“There is a big need for this sort of technology in places lacking connectivity to a power grid and where potable water is in short supply,” he said. “Because aluminum is a low-cost, non-hazardous metal that is the third-most abundant metal on Earth, this technology promises to enable a global-scale potable water and power technology, especially for off-grid and remote locations.”

It would be cheap too, as water could be produced for about $1 per gallon, while electricity could be generated for about 35 cents per kilowatt hour of energy. ”There is no other technology to compare it against, economically, but it’s obvious that 34 cents per kilowatt hour is cheap compared to building a power plant and installing power lines, especially in remote areas,” Woodall said. ”You could drop the alloy, a small reaction vessel and a fuel cell into a remote area via parachute. Then the reactor could be assembled along with the fuel cell. The polluted water or the seawater would be added to the reactor and the reaction converts the aluminum and water into aluminum hydroxide, heat and hydrogen gas on demand.”

Simple! And as aluminum hydroxide waste is non-toxic it can be disposed of in a landfill.

Read more: Purdue University Students Turn Ordinary Saltwater into Hydrogen Power and Drinking Water | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

It's Official- Cell Phones are Killing Bees | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

It's Official- Cell Phones are Killing Bees | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Scientists may have found the cause of the world’s sudden dwindling population of bees – and cell phones may be to blame. Research conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland has shown that the signal from cell phones not only confuses bees, but also may lead to their death. Over 83 experiments have yielded the same results. With virtually most of the population of the United States (and the rest of the world) owning cell phones, the impact has been greatly noticeable.

Led by researcher Daniel Favre, the alarming study found that bees reacted significantly to cell phones that were placed near or in hives in call-making mode. The bees sensed the signals transmitted when the phones rang, and emitted heavy buzzing noise during the calls. The calls act as an instinctive warning to leave the hive, but the frequency confuses the bees, causing them to fly erratically. The study found that the bees’ buzzing noise increases ten times when a cell phone is ringing or making a call – aka when signals are being transmitted, but remained normal when not in use.

The signals cause the bees to become lost and disoriented. The impact has already been felt the world over, as the population of bees in the U.S. and the U.K. has decreased by almost half in the last thirty years – which coincides with the popularization and acceptance of cell phones as a personal device. Studies as far back as 2008 have found that bees are repelled by cell phone signals.

Bees are an integral and necessary part of our agricultural and ecological systems, producing honey, and more importantly pollinating our crops. As it is unlikely that the world will learn to forgo the convenience of cell phones, it is unclear how much they will contribute to the decline of bees, and their impact on the environment.

Via Daily Mail

Read more: It's Official- Cell Phones are Killing Bees | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World