The world's only transplant recipient of two full arms said the feeling of being whole again was "indescribable". Karl Merk, a German dairy farmer whose arms had been amputated after an accident, said he felt like a "whole man" again as he spoke for the first time since the operation in July."The feeling is indescribable. Every day I gain more mobility," said Mr Merk as he showed off the arms, which are being supported by a special "corset" while the healing continues.Six years ago Mr Merk lost his arms in a farm maize threshing machine. Found by a colleague as he lay bleeding to death, he screamed: "Kill me, kill me!" But the man saved his life instead.Doctors at the teaching hospital of the Technical University in Munich then planned a world first: to transplant two arms at once. The procedure was conducted over two days in July.
Karl Merk, a German dairy farmer whose arms had been amputated after an accident, said he felt like a "whole man" again as he spoke for the first time since the operation in July.
"The feeling is indescribable. Every day I gain more mobility," said Mr Merk as he showed off the arms, which are being supported by a special "corset" while the healing continues.
Six years ago Mr Merk lost his arms in a farm maize threshing machine. Found by a colleague as he lay bleeding to death, he screamed: "Kill me, kill me!" But the man saved his life instead.
Doctors at the teaching hospital of the Technical University in Munich then planned a world first: to transplant two arms at once. The procedure was conducted over two days in July.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 8, 2008) -- Frozen arctic soil contains nearly twice the greenhouse-gas-producing organic material as was previously estimated, according to recently published research by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists. School of Natural Resources & Agricultural Sciences professor Chien-Lu Ping published his latest findings in Nature Geoscience. Wielding jackhammers, Ping and a team of scientists dug down more than one meter into the permafrost to take soil samples from more than 100 sites throughout Alaska. Previous research had sampled to about 40 centimeters deep. After analyzing the samples, the research team discovered a previously undocumented layer of organic matter on top of and in the upper part of permafrost, ranging from 60 to 120 centimeters deep. This deep layer of organic matter first accumulates on the tundra surface and is buried during the churning freeze and thaw cycles that characterize the turbulent arctic landscape. The resulting patterned ground plays a key role in the dynamics of carbon storage and release, Ping found. When temperatures warm and the arctic soil churns, less carbon from the surface gets to the deeper part of the soil. The carbon already stored in the deeper part of the soil is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, methane and other gases. Ping predicted that a two- to three-degree rise in air temperatures could cause the arctic tundra to switch from a carbon sink--an area that absorbs more carbon dioxide than it produces--to a carbon source--an area that produces more carbon dioxide than it absorbs. The more organic material stored in the tundra, the greater the potential effect of future releases, Ping stated.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 8, 2008) -- Frozen arctic soil contains nearly twice the greenhouse-gas-producing organic material as was previously estimated, according to recently published research by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists.
School of Natural Resources & Agricultural Sciences professor Chien-Lu Ping published his latest findings in Nature Geoscience. Wielding jackhammers, Ping and a team of scientists dug down more than one meter into the permafrost to take soil samples from more than 100 sites throughout Alaska. Previous research had sampled to about 40 centimeters deep.
After analyzing the samples, the research team discovered a previously undocumented layer of organic matter on top of and in the upper part of permafrost, ranging from 60 to 120 centimeters deep. This deep layer of organic matter first accumulates on the tundra surface and is buried during the churning freeze and thaw cycles that characterize the turbulent arctic landscape.
The resulting patterned ground plays a key role in the dynamics of carbon storage and release, Ping found. When temperatures warm and the arctic soil churns, less carbon from the surface gets to the deeper part of the soil. The carbon already stored in the deeper part of the soil is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, methane and other gases.
Ping predicted that a two- to three-degree rise in air temperatures could cause the arctic tundra to switch from a carbon sink--an area that absorbs more carbon dioxide than it produces--to a carbon source--an area that produces more carbon dioxide than it absorbs. The more organic material stored in the tundra, the greater the potential effect of future releases, Ping stated.
WATERFORD, Calif. -- Phil Stine is not crazy, or possessed, or even that special, he says. He has no idea how he does what he does. From most accounts, he does it very well.< "Phil finds the water," said Frank Assali, an almond farmer and convert. "No doubt about it." Mr. Stine, you see, is a "water witch," one of a small band of believers for whom the ancient art of dowsing is alive and well. Emphasis, of course, on well. Using nothing more than a Y-shaped willow stick, Mr. Stine has as his primary function determining where farmers should drill to slake their crops' thirst, adding an element of the mystical to a business where the day-to-day can often be painfully plain. [...] Scientists pooh-pooh dowsers like Mr. Stine, saying their abilities are roughly on par with a roll of the dice. But witches have been much in demand of late in rural California, the nation's biggest agricultural engine, struggling through its second year of drought.
WATERFORD, Calif. -- Phil Stine is not crazy, or possessed, or even that special, he says. He has no idea how he does what he does. From most accounts, he does it very well.<
"Phil finds the water," said Frank Assali, an almond farmer and convert. "No doubt about it."
Mr. Stine, you see, is a "water witch," one of a small band of believers for whom the ancient art of dowsing is alive and well.
Emphasis, of course, on well. Using nothing more than a Y-shaped willow stick, Mr. Stine has as his primary function determining where farmers should drill to slake their crops' thirst, adding an element of the mystical to a business where the day-to-day can often be painfully plain.
[...]
Scientists pooh-pooh dowsers like Mr. Stine, saying their abilities are roughly on par with a roll of the dice. But witches have been much in demand of late in rural California, the nation's biggest agricultural engine, struggling through its second year of drought.
I'll swap lessons for beer keep to the Fen Causeway
Back in '91 my wife and I went exploring in the then just recently former GDR for 2 weeks. In one place we came across a gang of workers who were assigned to repair a water main, which they didn't know where it was.
So one of the guys was quartering the area holding two pieces of coathanger bent at right angles loosely in his fists so that they pointed ahead of him. Whenever he walked over the pipe (or at least some underground water) the pieces of coathanger would cross.
It never works for me but it does for my wife. Go figure. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
A man's testicles might be a source of stem cells to help him fight serious diseases, US scientists have shown. They extracted early-stage sperm cells from mice, then turned them into cells capable of becoming different tissues. Writing in Nature, the Weill Cornell Medical College team said their work might lead to treatments for illnesses such as Alzheimer's and diabetes. However, some doubt has been expressed on the willingness of men to undergo the procedure to extract the cells.
They extracted early-stage sperm cells from mice, then turned them into cells capable of becoming different tissues.
Writing in Nature, the Weill Cornell Medical College team said their work might lead to treatments for illnesses such as Alzheimer's and diabetes.
However, some doubt has been expressed on the willingness of men to undergo the procedure to extract the cells.
