Australian leaders mentioned in manifesto

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26 July 2011
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The man behind Norway’s massacre described the former Australian prime minister John Howard as one of the most sensible leaders in the Western world, according to an online version of his 1500-page manifesto.

The unverified document, published on various websites, shows Anders Behring Breivik may have paid attention to issues in Australia. As well as mentioning Mr Howard, he also refers to Sydney’s Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, and points to a comment by the Catholic leader where he describes 11 September as his personal wake-up call — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Cheetah Cubs / National Zoo

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26 July 2011
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Five Cheetah cubs were born on May 28, 2011, to six-year-old Amani at the National Zoo’s Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia. Amani gave birth to a single male cub in December 2010. The cubs got their first exam with our veterinarians on 12 July. The cubs, now seven weeks old, are healthy and thriving, and they’re growing quickly. They now each weigh between four and five pounds. The veterinary team performed full physical examinations to make sure none of the cubs had any abnormalities. They were given their first vaccinations to protect against respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses, both of which commonly affect Cheetahs — via ZooBorns

Nun forced to leave India after 29 years of helping leprosy patients

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25 July 2011
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In Politics, World
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A Catholic nun from Britain who has spent 29 years caring for leprosy patients in Bengaluru, India, is being forced to give up her work and leave the country after Delhi refused to renew her residency permit.

London-born Jacqueline Jean McEwan, now known as Sister Jean, or the Mother Teresa of Sumanahalli, runs a mobile clinic for leprosy patients. She has been ordered to leave without explanation by the union home ministry and if her appeal for permission to stay goes unanswered by 2pm on Monday she will have to board an evening flight bound for London — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Hidden Decorative Concrete / Frederik Molenschot + Susanne Happle

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24 July 2011
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In Design
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Just like ordinary concrete surfaces, it looks a tad dull and drag when dry … but put it in a place with condensation-producing heat, running water or natural rain and it reveals hidden decorative designs (that disappear again as it dries).

Conceived by Frederik Molenschot and Susanne Happle, it is a bit like the old bathroom mirror trick — the writing, picture or pattern appears and disappears with moisture content. On a humid day you might get partial glimpses of what would be fully visible during a torrential downpour — via Dornob

Can a Playground Be Too Safe?

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24 July 2011
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In Science
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When seesaws and tall slides and other perils were disappearing from New York’s playgrounds, Henry Stern drew a line in the sandbox. As the city’s parks commissioner in the 1990s, he issued an edict concerning the 10-foot-high jungle gym near his childhood home in northern Manhattan.

I grew up on the monkey bars in Fort Tryon Park, and I never forgot how good it felt to get to the top of them, Mr Stern said. I didn’t want to see that playground bowdlerized. I said that as long as I was parks commissioner, those monkey bars were going to stay.

His philosophy seemed reactionary at the time, but today it’s shared by some researchers who question the value of safety-first playgrounds. Even if children do suffer fewer physical injuries — and the evidence for that is debatable — the critics say that these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are ultimately worse than a broken bone — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Female genital mutilation laws to be toughened against families

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24 July 2011
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In Politics, Rights
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New guidelines to target families that take young girls abroad to undergo female genital mutilation are being sent to prosecutors by the government.

Ministers want to encourage more action against those who inflict the brutal procedure on their children and relatives amid concerns that the current approach serves as little deterrent.

Female genital mutilation is an illegal procedure in the UK with those convicted risking 14 years’ imprisonment. The Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2003 also allows for the prosecution of British citizens who breach the provisions of the act and perform the procedure abroad.

But while the law seems strict on paper, it seems to have limited effect in practice. Campaigners say 22,000 girls are at risk each year. However, MPs were this week told that there has yet to be a single conviction, despite 100 investigations being carried out over two years by the Met. By contrast the French authorities have successfully prosecuted in 100 cases — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Rhino Calf / Lowry Park Zoo

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24 July 2011
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An endangered Indian Rhinoceros (also known as the greater one-horned Rhinoceros) was born Wednesday evening, 13 July, at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo to second-time mother Jamie, in the rhino barn within the Zoo’s Asian Gardens exhibit area. The Indian Rhino birth is the second for the Zoo in two years, and a significant conservation milestone for the species with fewer than 60 animals in the managed population — via ZooBorns

Tattoo Tracks Sodium and Glucose via an iPhone

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23 July 2011
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In Health, Science
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Using a nanosensor tattoo and a modified iPhone, cyclists could closely monitor sodium levels to prevent dehydration, and anemic patients could track their blood oxygen levels.

Heather Clark, a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Northeastern University, is leading a team working to make this possible. The team begins by injecting a solution containing carefully chosen nanoparticles into the skin. This leaves no visible mark, but the nanoparticles will fluoresce when exposed to a target molecule, such as sodium or glucose. A modified iPhone then tracks changes in the level of fluorescence, which indicates the amount of sodium or glucose present. Clark presented this work at the BioMethods Boston conference at Harvard Medical School last week — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Freed from facts, Abbott goes ballooning

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23 July 2011
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In Politics
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The Opposition Leader’s discomfiture in the face of certain large repositories of expertise is a matter of record.

He disapproves of climate scientists, of Australian economists on the whole, and he has no time at all for the work of Treasury officials, which should make things fairly interesting should the public distaste for Julia Gillard bear its probable fruit two years hence, and install Mr Abbott as their lord and master. Awkward — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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