Study: Expensive Hotels Have More Germs -

Study: Expensive Hotels Have More Germs - 

Think that fancy five-star hotel you just booked is cleaner than others? According to a new study, think again.

The new study titled “Hotel Hygiene Exposed” finds that the average hotel room has more bacteria than a typical home, airplane, or school.

“We’re definitely not trying to scare anyone,” project manager for Travelmath told Yahoo Travel.

Travelmath used teams of researchers armed with cotton swabs, and plastic bags to test rooms in nine different hotels.

They say they tested three-star, four-star, and even five-star hotels in a variety of locations for the study.

Their results show that all the hotel rooms had a lot of bacteria, and the four-star and five-star hotels actually tended to be dirtier than the less luxurious three-star hotels.

In the Travelmath study, each team swabbed the same four surfaces in each hotel room, the bathroom counter, the remote control, the desk, and the phone.

Read more - 

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2016/01/19/study-expensive-hotels-have-more-germs/

Cosmic first: Zinnia flower blooms aboard space station -

Cosmic first: Zinnia flower blooms aboard space station - 

Successfully growing flowers in space brings explorers one step closer to growing fresh produce on long space missions.

For the first time, a zinnia flower has bloomed in space, aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Successfully growing flowers brings cosmic explorers closer to growing flowering food crops, like tomatoes, on longer space missions in the future.  


On Saturday, American astronaut Scott Kelly, who has been working since March 2015 on the space laboratory and has become its resident gardner, gleefully announced on Twitter that he successfully coaxed the brightly colored zinnia to blossom.

This wasn’t the first time flowering plants have blossomed in space, though. There have been many, according to NASA, from wheat, to barley, to brassicas and peas, grown more than a decade ago on the Russian Mir space station and on the ISS.

Recommended: Five groups making private space flight a reality
Regardless, the zinnia bloom was a big accomplishment, as less than a month ago, the plants were moldy and shriveled. 

But even the space mold held some interest to researchers, so it was collected and frozen so it can be returned to Earth for study. 

For NASA scientists back on Earth, the flowering experiment, called “Veggie,” will allow them to better understand how plants grow in microgravity. For the astronauts in space, growing the quick-sprouting zinnias is important practice for growing produce on a future mission to Mars.

“I think having this fresh food source available is going to be critical,” Gioia Massa, a project scientist at NASA Kennedy Space Center and the brainchild behind Veggie, told The Christian Science Monitor in a phone interview in November.

Astronauts eat mostly food that has been freeze-dried for long storage. Fresh fruits and vegetables do show up occasionally at the space station with other supply deliveries, but they run out quickly.


"The farther and longer humans go away from Earth, the greater the need to be able to grow plants for food, atmosphere recycling and psychological benefits," Massa said in a NASA announcement.

Astronauts started experimenting with Veggie in 2014, when they grew red romaine lettuce in the same system that’s now growing the zinnias: trays of water with bags of seeds in a type of calcined clay used on baseball fields, used to increase aeration to help the plants grow. The growing plants are lit by LED lights and fertilized by an automatic release.

The first batch of lettuce didn’t grow due to “drought stress,” as the Veggie team reported. But astronauts learned from their watering mistakes and grew another batch of lettuce successfully in summer 2015. Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren of NASA, with Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, celebrated in August by indulging in their freshly harvested space lettuce.

The lettuce experiment was an important precursor to the flowering zinnia, which is more challenging to cultivate.

“The zinnia plant is very different from lettuce,” said Trent Smith, Veggie project manager, in a NASA blog post.

“It is more sensitive to environmental parameters and light characteristics. It has a longer growth duration, between 60 and 80 days. Thus, it is a more difficult plant to grow, and allowing it to flower, along with the longer growth duration, makes it a good precursor to a tomato plant,” he said.

Astronauts are planning to try growing tomatoes in 2018.

Until then, they will keep experimenting with other crops. This year a SpaceX spacecraft will deliver seeds for two sets of Chinese cabbage, and one set of red romaine lettuce, said NASA.

Read more - 

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0117/Cosmic-first-Zinnia-flower-blooms-aboard-space-station

El Chapo's craving for Tacos may have led to his capture - doomed by a suspiciously large taco order -

El Chapo's craving for Tacos may have led to his capture - doomed by a suspiciously large taco order - 

Actor and just all-around enigma Sean Penn might not have lead to the downfall of Joaquín Guzmán Loera (a.k.a El Chapo). Instead, it might have been his craving for tacos. The notorious Mexican drug kingpin was recently captured after escaping prison and leading local authorities on a six-month country-wide man hunt. According to the New York Times, after months hiding out in the “remote wilds,” he arrived in the city of Los Mochis to a home. However, the authorities had trailed one of the men who had helped Guzmán escape prison to the area.

The Mexican marines were already suspicious of the house where “construction crews had been hard at work” and telephone intercepts appeared to show that someone “big was about to arrive.” It was a very, very large taco order, however, that officially tipped authorities off that El Chapo was in town. Two blocks away from the house, a “big order of tacos was picked up after midnight… by a man driving a white van, like the one believed to be driven by” one of Guzmán’s associates. The next morning they raided the house.

There’s no details regarding what kinds of tacos El Chapo went H.A.M. on, but perhaps it was one of these regional specialities. Regardless, can you really blame the man? Tacos might be one of a handful of foods that taste better than freedom. If you need some convincing, here’s a good list of tacos to start with.

Read more - 

http://firstwefeast.com/eat/el-chapo-tacos-lead-to-capture/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=First%20We%20Feast%20-%20Daily%202016-01-18&utm_term=Daily

The FBI and Memphis Police Admit Their Involvement in the Assassination of MLK -

The FBI and Memphis Police Admit Their Involvement in the Assassination of MLK - 

Nearly 50 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the FBI and Memphis Police Department have sparingly released information implicating themselves or members of their agencies in facilitating and directly causing the untimely death of Dr. King. Although the Justice Department officially claims James Earl Ray assassinated MLK, a civil suit later determined that a Memphis cop was involved in a conspiracy to murder the civil rights leader.

During a rainstorm on February 1, 1968, two black sanitation workers in Memphis lost their lives when the truck’s compactor accidentally triggered. On that same day, 22 black sewer workers were sent home without pay while their white coworkers received compensation. Less than two weeks later, over a thousand black sanitation workers went on strike wearing placards reading, “I AM A MAN.”

On March 18, 1968, Dr. King spoke at a rally in Memphis promising to lead a march later in the month supporting the striking sanitation workers. According to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, a black civil rights group named the Invaders sabotaged the March 28 demonstration by distributing hundreds of two by two sticks attached to placards into the hands of impressionable black children caught breaking store windows. The Invaders allegedly incited violence against Dr. King’s orders of peaceful resistance.

Because of the violence perpetrated during the March 28 demonstration, the city of Memphis filed a formal complaint against Dr. King and his associates within the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). On the last day of his life, Dr. King spent most of his time with Dr. Ralph Abernathy of the SCLC. While Rev. Andrew “Andy” Young of the SCLC had convinced U.S. District Court Judge Bailey Brown to allow Dr. King to organize a peaceful march scheduled for April 8, Dr. King was preparing for dinner with Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles.

On April 4, 1968, Dr. King’s Memphis PD security detail had been withdrawn, a black Memphis PD detective posted near the Lorraine Motel had been removed, and two black firemen in a station near the Lorraine Motel were transferred shortly before the assassination. Former Memphis PD Detective Jerry Williams had been assigned to Dr. King’s security detail twice before his final visit in 1968. Det. Williams asserted on Dr. King’s final visit that no black officers had been assigned to his security detail. The day before Dr. King’s death, Inspector Don H. Smith requested to remove his detail. The request was granted.

Accounts differ regarding Dr. King’s final words. According to FBI documents, Dr. King was discussing the weather with his chauffeur, Solomon Jones Jr., when the fatal shot struck. Rev. Jesse Jackson instead recalls Dr. King chastising him for not wearing a tie. Dr. King then turned to musician Ben Branch, who was standing beside Jackson, and said, “Make sure you play ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord.’ Play it real pretty.” According to Jackson, those were his final words.

Since revealing its illegal COINTELPRO harassment of Dr. King and the existence of at least 5 paid informants who reported to their Memphis Field Office, the FBI also disclosed that Dr. King’s trusted friend and renowned photographer, Ernest Withers, had been secretly working as an FBI informant. In addition to the FBI informants, a black undercover Memphis PD officer named Marrell McCollough had infiltrated the Invaders in 1968. McCollough stood in the parking lot of the Lorraine Motel on the night Dr. King died. He claimed to have been the first person to reach the body.

Although the Invaders had been removed from the Lorraine Motel a few hours earlier, undercover MPD officer Marrell McCollough remained on the premises until Dr. King’s death. McCollough claimed he spent the day shopping with Rev. James Bevel and Rev. James Orange of the SCLC. Standing in the parking lot of the Lorraine Motel, McCollough witnessed Dr. King’s assassination then ran up the stairs to view the body. ABC News confirmed McCollough went on to join the CIA, and he later testified on March 12, 1978, to the House Select Committee on Assassinations.

While recalling Dr. King’s final moments, Rev. Billy Kyles who was standing beside Dr. King on the balcony admitted decades later, “Only as I moved away so he could have a clear shot, the shot rang out.” Kyles has denied working as an FBI informant, even though he was accused of being a confidential Memphis PD informant.

In 1999, civil trial King v. Jowers determined former Memphis PD officer Loyd Jowers had been complicit in a conspiracy to assassinate Dr. King. In December 1993, Jowers appeared on ABC’s Prime Time Live confessing to his participation in Dr. King’s assassination. Jowers admitted he believed MPD Lt. Earl Clark fired the shot that killed Dr. King, not James Earl Ray. Although the U.S. government claims that Jowers fabricated his allegations, they have also admitted responsibility in attempting to ruin Dr. King’s marriage and persuading him to commit suicide.



Read more - 

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/fbi-memphis-polices-admitted-involvement-assassination-mlk/

Counterfeiters Perplexed By Canada's Plastic Money -

Counterfeiters Perplexed By Canada's Plastic Money - 

Canada's plastic money is stumping counterfeiters. The RCMP estimate the number of fake bills passed on to retailers in 2015 dropped by 74 per cent compared with the previous year.

That doesn't mean people have given up trying to copy Canada's banknotes — it's just that even their best attempts to make fake cash are falling well short.

Regina Police Const. Scott Wolfe hasn't seen much counterfeit currency since the Bank of Canada introduced polymer money four years ago, but he did have a case last fall.

"When we first touched the bill you could tell it wasn't the polymer feel. It was paper. We could see they had cut out the security window from a real $5 bill and pasted it to a $50 and $100 bill," said Wolfe.

The face in the hologram didn't match the face on the bill and the edges were uneven. Even so, the money was successfully passed on to retailers, perhaps in a dimly lit bar or sandwiched between two authentic notes.

Wolfe said people passing counterfeit bills often pay for an inexpensive item with a high-value bill in order to get lots of change in authentic currency.

Read more -

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/01/13/counterfeiters-perplexed-by-canada-s-plastic-money_n_8975634.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business&ir=Canada+Business

French drug trial leaves one brain dead and five critically ill -

French drug trial leaves one brain dead and five critically ill -

The French health minister, Marisol Touraine, said 90 people in total
had taken part in the trial and received some dosage of the drug;
others had taken a placebo. All trials on the drug have been suspended
and all volunteers who have taken part in the trial are being called
back.

The ministry said the test was carried out by the Biotrial clinic for
Bial, which “specialised in carrying out clinical trials”.

The trial was intended to test for side-effects of the new drug but
all trials at the clinic have been suspended and the French state
prosecutor has opened an inquiry.

Touraine said the drug was a so-called FAAH inhibitor meant to act on
the body’s endocannabinoid system, which deals with pain. Earlier
reports suggested that the drug contained cannabinoids, an active
ingredient found in cannabis plants, but the minister said it did not
contain the drug or any derivatives of it.

Touraine said the study was a phase one clinical trial, in which
healthy volunteers take the medication to “evaluate the safety of its
use, tolerance and pharmacological profile of the molecule”.

Medical trials typically have three phases to assess a new drug or
device for safety and effectiveness. Phase one entails a small group
of volunteers and focuses only on safety. Phase two and three are
progressively larger trials to assess the drug’s effectiveness,
although safety remains paramount.

Testing had already been carried out on animals, including
chimpanzees, starting in July, Touraine said.

Bial said it was committed to ensuring the wellbeing of test
participants and was working with authorities to discover the cause of
the injuries, adding that the clinical trial had been approved by
French regulators.

Every year, thousands of volunteers, often students looking to make
extra money, take part in such trials. Mishaps are relatively rare,
but in 2006 six men were treated for organ failure in London after
taking part in a clinical trial into a drug developed to fight
auto-immune disease and leukaemia.

The men now apparently have a higher risk of cancer and autoimmune
diseases tied to their exposure to the experimental drug.

Dr Ben Whalley, a neuropharmacology professor at Britain’s University
of Reading, said standardised regulations for clinical trials were
“largely the same” throughout Europe. “However, like any safeguard,
these minimise risk rather than abolish it,” Whalley said. “There is
an inherent risk in exposing people to any new compound.”

Read more -
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/15/french-drug-trial-one-person-in-coma-and-five-critically-ill

Ebola death in Sierra Leone hours after WHO declares outbreak over -

Ebola death in Sierra Leone hours after WHO declares outbreak over - 

Sierra Leone officials have confirmed a death from Ebola, hours after the World Health Organization declared the latest West Africa outbreak over.
The country was declared free of the virus on 7 November, and the region as a whole was cleared when Liberia was pronounced Ebola-free on Thursday.
Tests on a person who died in northern Sierra Leone proved positive, an Ebola test centre spokesman told the BBC.
The WHO has warned, however, that more flare-ups are expected.
How Ebola changed the world
Mapping Ebola
The Sierra Leone death occurred earlier this week.
Ebola test centre spokesman Sidi Yahya Tunis told the BBC that the patient had died in the Tonkolili district. He had travelled there from Kambia, close to the border with Guinea.

The tests were conducted by British health experts. The BBC's Umaru Fofana in the capital Freetown said health officials were now urgently seeking those who had come into contact with the victim.
Close to 4,000 people have died of Ebola in Sierra Leone, and 11,000 people across the region, since December 2013.
Liberia was the last country to see the end of active transmission of Ebola. But it had been declared clear twice before, only for the infection to re-emerge.
A country is considered free of human-to-human transmission once two 21-day incubation periods have passed since the last known case tested negative for a second time.

Read more - 
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35320363

Travelers cry fowl as 'Comfort Turkey' gets a seat on a plane - ruffles feathers about 'emotional support' animals -

Travelers cry fowl as 'Comfort Turkey' gets a seat on a plane - ruffles feathers about 'emotional support' animals - 

If you think that air travel has gone to the birds, it has -literally.

We're talkin' turkey, as in that big Thanksgiving bird, one of which recently was spotted aboard a Delta flight acting as a "support animal," and that's causing a flap over how passengers are using, and abusing, comfort animal rules.

So how can a turkey get on a plane?  Simple.  The passenger provided proper documentation proving the fowl was indeed their emotional support animal, so Delta let the bird on board, and even gave it its own seat.

Reddit user biggestlittlepickle posted the picture, saying that his neighbor, a flight attendant, took this snapshot of the poultry on a plane. unclelimpy, another Reddit user who is friends with the Delta pilot on that flight, followed with another shot of the turkey receiving VIP treatment as it was rolled through the airport on a wheelchair. It even looks like it was enjoying the ride.

Turkeys aren't the only animals used as emotional support animals on flights.  Horses, pigs and--yes, dogs are regularly used.

In 1986, Congress passed the Air Carrier Access Act, allowing service animals to fly on planes and ensuring they can't be removed simply on the grounds that other passengers object. That turkey, or other emotional support animals, requires documentation from a mental health professional. It can't walk about the cabin and can't do their business during the flight (after 8 hours the animal's owner must plan for the clean disposal of waste), something that must be a written guarantee from the human passenger. They also can't block aisles or take up seats near the emergency doors.

It's good to know that Delta and other U.S.-based carriers prohibit unusual service animals, such as snakes and other reptiles, ferrets, rodents, and spiders, as written in the federal guidelines of The Air Carrier Access Act. While Delta prohibits farm poultry, it allows domestic birds, and the turkey, well --apparently is a domestic bird.

In a statement to USA Today, Delta said by letting the turkey fly, they complied with the Air Carrier Access Act. "While we can't always accommodate all pets, Delta employees made a judgment call based in part on extensive documentation from the customer. We review each case and make every effort to accommodate our customers's travel needs while also taking into consideration the health and safety of other passengers."

Travel expert George Hobica, president of the website Airfarewatchdog.com, says these animals are all well and good until something happens.

"The problem with animals of any kind on planes, of course, is possible allergic reactions by other passengers and the possibility that an animal will bite a crew member or another passenger (there have been instances of this happening) or have an accident on the plane, perhaps even forcing an emergency landing if it's bad enough and passengers become ill as a result."

More of a concern is the growing trend of passengers faking emotional support needs and gaming the system to get around paying exorbitant pet fees.  Service animals are free, while shipping pets can cost hundreds of dollars. 

SOAR president Captain Tom Bunn, a former commercial pilot who now helps people manage their fear of flying, says it's all too easy to get a therapist to write a note. And websites are popping up that provide emotional support vests and necessary letters for fees ranging from $59 to $200.

"Any therapist can sign off on any kind of animal," he said.  "Science has proven that when dogs look at you with total devotion, it produces oxytocin, a hormone that shuts down the fear mechanism.  The turkey, I don't think so."

Bunn rarely uses dogs or other support animals in his therapy, opting instead for visualization techniques that would bring on the flow of oxytocin.  

He says support animals do help for jittery fliers, but when the system gets abused, it's not good for anyone.

"When I saw that turkey on Twitter, I thought here we go," he said. "Some people are going to very annoyed that they paid several hundred dollars to fly with a turkey."

It's likely airline executives feel the same way. But airlines face fines as high as $150,000 for refusing requests for legitimate support animals, and as those requests increase, so does the threat of a lawsuit.

According to Bunn, until the Department of Transportation changes guidelines, there's only one solution.

"The airlines and everyone on board will have to live with it,"says Bunn.

Read more - 
http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2016/01/14/turkey-ruffles-feathers-about-emotional-support-animals-on-flights/

Urine Test to Predicts Alzheimer's -

Urine Test to Predicts Alzheimer's - 

A simple urine test may one day predict the onset of Alzheimer's disease, a devastating condition that affects 5.1 million Americans over the age of 65.

Researchers for the study, which was published by Scientific Reports, observed mice who were given chemical treatment meant to mimic the abnormal brain activity of people with Alzheimer's.

These mice had a urine odor distinct from the urine of mice who were not given the chemical.

The difference in odor was detectable even before researchers could identify plaque build-up in the mice's brains, an indicator meant to simulate Alzheimer's symptoms.

This suggests that the odor is due to a genetic change rather than a developmental one, signaling that the disease may be detectable earlier than previously thought.

"While this research is at the proof-of-concept stage, the identification of distinctive odor signatures may someday point the way to human biomarkers to identify Alzheimer's at early stages," said study author Dr. Daniel Wesson, a neuroscientist at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, in a press release.

While there is currently no test to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, presence of an early biomarker could allow physicians to slow the progression of the disease and explore alternative avenues for treatment.

Read more - 

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-01-14/alzheimers-may-be-detectable-through-urine-test-study-says

This Plant Grows Eggplants and Potatoes at the Same Time - is nicknamed the “Egg and Chips” plant -

This Plant Grows Eggplants and Potatoes at the Same Time -  is nicknamed the “Egg and Chips” plant - 

A hybrid plant nicknamed “Egg and Chips” is capable of growing both eggplants and potatoes at the same time, yielding up to four eggplants and two kilograms of white potatoes during a harvest.

The plant is ideal for a kitchen garden or vegetable patch, and though it relies on a grafting procedure, has not been genetically modified. The plants “are great fun for kids and really capture the imagination, but the result is more than just a novelty, promises Thompson and Morgan, the U.K.-based seed manufacturer behind the dual-cropping plant.

Egg and Chips can be grown indoors or outdoors, and will reach a height of approximately 20 inches. Flowering will take place between July and August. Thompson and Morgan recommends you plant Egg and Chips in a greenhouse or sunny sheltered position, in a large-enough container to allow both plants to develop. For best results using a pot, choose a container that will hold at least 40 liters of compost.

Thompson and Morgan has previously created another hybrid called the Tomtato, a plant that grows tomatoes and potatoes. 

Read more - 

http://www.thedailymeal.com/cook/plant-grows-eggplants-and-potatoes-same-time-and-it-s-non-gmo/010816?advD=1401,21408