Scientists Sequence Endangered Tasmanian devil’s

A revolutionary species-preservation approach based on whole-genome analysis of two Tasmanian devils -- one that had died of a contagious cancer known as Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) and one healthy animal -- has been used to develop a theoretical model to predict which individuals would need to be kept in captivity to maximize chances of preserving enough genetic diversity for the species to survive. The research helps to formulate one possible plan of action to prevent the extinction of the Tasmanian devil -- a marsupial found in the wild exclusively in the Australian island-state of Tasmania. The research model also may be extended to other endangered species.

DFTD, which disfigures the victim and causes death from starvation or suffocation within months, is an unusual sort of cancer. It would eradicate our species very quickly. The scientists explained that if a number of healthy Tasmanian devils were kept in zoos and other facilities in "protective custody" until the tumor ran its course and disappeared in the wild, then the captive animals could be released back into their former habitat and the population could begin to grow anew.

World’s Shortest Man

A poor Filipino blacksmith's son who stands less than 2 feet (60 centimeters) tall was declared the world's shortest man by Guinness World Records on his 18th birthday Sunday, sparking a celebration in his hometown.

Junrey Balawing was certified by the Guinness World Records as the shortest man in the world with a standing and lying down average measurement of 23.5 inches (59.93 cm), on his 18th birthday on Sunday.

Unbelievable Architectures in Dubai

7-star-hotels

Rotating-wind-power-tower

Burj Dubai

Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club

The Louvre Abu Dhabi

Burj Al Arab Hotel

Nearly 10 million people fight drought in China

Students have water provided by the local government at a Primary School

A villager stands at the a partially dried-up well

A farmer works on a dried-up pond

A local resident fills a container with water taken from a partially dried-up reservoir

People wait to get drinking water distributed by the local government at a drought-hit village.

A child drinks water from a pot cover near a partially dried-up pond

Why Human Getting Taller, Way Taller

It’s been called the “most significant development in human history” and researchers have been looking into the evolution of human height and overall growth for decades now. The findings are outlined,

The change in human physiology is a result of a number of factors, according to the authors of the study, including food technology, public health, medicine, and sanitation and is resulting in much more dramatic changes than that which could have been predicted by Darwinian methods.

“The rate of technological and human physiological change in the 20th century has been remarkable, This “technophysio evolution,” powered by advances in food production and public health, has so outpaced traditional evolution, the authors argue, that people today stand apart not just from every other species, but from all previous generations of Homo sapiens as well.

According to Mr. Fogel, "If babies are deprived of sufficient nutrition in the womb and early in life, they will be more fragile and more vulnerable to diseases later on. These weakened adults will, in turn, produce weaker offspring in a self-reinforcing spiral."

Enjoying the Blooms

There is something about flowers that attracts us. Don’t forget to spend time to smell the flowers, as these sweet animals and birds certainly did.

Earth Core is Melting and Freezing As Well

The inner core of Earth is simultaneously melting and freezing due to circulation of heat in the overlying rocky mantle, according to new research from the University of Leeds, UC San Diego and the Indian Institute of Technology.

"Our new model provides a fairly simple explanation to some of the measurements that have puzzled scientists for years. It suggests that the whole dynamics of Earth's core are in some way linked to plate tectonics, which isn't at all obvious from surface observations.

Earth's inner core is a ball of solid iron about the size of our moon. This ball is surrounded by a highly dynamic outer core of a liquid iron-nickel alloy (and some other, lighter elements), a highly viscous mantle and a solid crust that forms the surface where we live.

Over billions of years, Earth has cooled from the inside out causing the molten iron core to partly freeze and solidify. The heat given off as the core cools flows from the core to the mantle to Earth's crust through a process known as convection. This escaping heat powers the geo dynamo and coupled with the spinning of Earth generates the magnetic field.

Scientists have recently begun to realize that the inner core may be melting as well as freezing. They show that heat flow at the core-mantle boundary varies depending on the structure of the overlying mantle. On the other hand, melting would produce a layer of dense liquid above the boundary. Therefore, the blobs of light elements will rise through this layer before they stir the overlying outer core.

Mom with Twins Have Longer, Healthier Lives

Women who give birth to natural twins are probably more reproductively fit to do so, according Compared with other mothers, women who deliver twins live longer, have more children than expected, bear babies at shorter intervals over a longer time, and are older at their last birth, according to a University of Utah study.

"Having twins will not make you stronger or healthier, but stronger, healthier women are more likely to have twins naturally," says Shannen Robson, the study's first author and a recent Ph.D. graduate in anthropology at the University of Utah.

"Women having children are fundamentally young and healthy," he adds. "So the risk of dying in childbirth is quite low. The women who have twins have a somewhat elevated risk of mortality over those [child-bearing] years, but the vast majority of those women reach age 50, and we're able to observe that they have healthier lives."

Real Heroes in Action

SEAL training is very rigorous, one of the toughest training programs for special operations in the world. The dropout rate for SEAL classes is regularly 80 per cent. The average Navy SEAL spends over a year in a series of formal training environments. Making them unique among the world's special-ops teams, Navy SEALs can perform combat operations completely submerged in saltwater or freshwater.

Royal Wedding - William and Catherine

Man with Love and Care

Big Personality Bird

Great Tits

The research, led by scientists at Oxford University, has also found that smaller immigrant birds – those flying into, and staying, in a better habitat – are likely to have faster personalities than those born in the better habitat.

"Great tits can probably see the woods from several kilometers away and we think the immigrants were born in towns or hedgerows where the habitat quality is not so good,’ Dr. Quinn says. His study showed that immigrant birds flying into Wytham were likely to have fast personality types.

Great tits are generally calm, and readily adapt to captivity, but there were clear differences between fast and slow personalities. "The slow types just sat on the trees and did very little while the hyperactive types moved around constantly.

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