Apple passes Microsoft to be biggest tech company

Apple has pushed past arch-rival Microsoft to become the world's biggest technology company.

Changes in the share price values of the two in Wednesday's choppy trading left the total value of Apple at $222bn (£154bn).

Microsoft is now valued by investors at $219bn.

However, Microsoft still enjoys higher profits than Apple. Its most recent annual net profit was $14.6bn (£10bn), compared with $5.7bn for Apple.

Microsoft also reported bigger full-year revenues of $58.4bn, with Apple on $36.5bn.

Apple's shares closed Wednesday trading down 0.4% at $244.11, while Microsoft fell by 4% to $25.01.

iPhone boost

The value of a listed company, known as market capitalisation, is calculated by multiplying the number of shares in a company by the current share price.

Apple, which makes computers, iPods, iPhones and now iPads, almost went out of business in the 1990s.

Its growth is partly owing to the launch of the iPod in 2001.

Although the iPod works with computers running Microsoft's Windows operating systems, it encouraged more people to to buy one of Apple's computers.

The big popularity of the iPhone, which has become a big seller since it was first released in 2007, has further boosted Apple's profits and revenues.

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Why Does Scratching Feel So Good?

Have you ever wondered why scratching an itch feels so good?

Well, researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina may have finally answered that burning question.

“Our study shows for the first time how scratching may relieve itch,” said lead author Dr. Gil Yosipovitch in a news release.

“It’s important to understand the mechanism of relief so we can develop more effective treatments. For some people, itch is a chronic condition that affects overall health.”

For the study, researchers used functional magnetic response imaging (MRI) technology to monitor 13 healthy volunteers while they scratched on their lower leg with a small brush. The scratching went on for 30 seconds and was then stopped for 30 seconds — for a total of about five minutes.

“To our surprise, we found that areas of the brain associated with unpleasant or aversive emotions and memories became significantly less active during the scratching,” said Yosipovitch. “We know scratching is pleasurable, but we haven’t known why. It’s possible that scratching may suppress the emotional components of itch and bring about its relief.”

The reduced brain activity occurred in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area associated with aversion to unpleasant sensory experiences, and the posterior cingulate cortex, which is associated with memory. When participants reported that the scratching felt most intense, activation in these areas was lowest.

“This is the first real scientific evidence showing that itch may be inhibited by scratching,” he said. “Of course, scratching is not recommended because it can damage the skin. But understanding how the process works could lead to new treatments. For example, drugs that deactivate this part of the brain might be effective.”

Source <www.foxnews.com>

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Bank that lends to the poor!

Those who can, do; those who can't,  teach. An old maxim-but one that
does not account for the likes of  Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi
profes sor whose achievements are the stuff of  lore among
development economists.

Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank,  a Bangladeshi credit
organisation that has  pioneered lending to the rural poor and  in the
process stood normal banking con ventions on their head.

The customers of Grameen (whose  name means rural in Bengali) are
almost  exclusively those who have no collateral to  offer against their
loans. Yet defaults are so  low its repayment rates would be the envy  of
most mainstream lenders. "Compared  to Grameen Bank," says Yunus,
"other  banks look like charity outfits for the rich."

Two other things are immediately strik ing about Grameen. First, the
vast majority  of its customers are women--a fact not  unconnected with
the low number of de faults--and, second, its vision extends be yond
mere finance. Grameen is perhaps  the only bank in the world that
encourages  birth control, sanitation and a clean envi ronment as part of
its lending policy.

As a pioneer in the growing field of  "micro-lending," Grameen has
shown that  the rural poor --even in a country virtually synonymous
with deprivation--can  make productive use of credit. To many,  this
approach is a more effective antidote  to poverty than traditional
giveaways.

The bank's success since it was set up in  1983 has spawned Grameen-
type institu tions in 30 countries. A group of seven US  Congressmen
recently urged President Bill  Clinton to make micro-enterprise
develop ment efforts, modelled specifically on  Grameen, the
"hallmark" of his foreign-aid  programme. Yunus already has the admi
ration of Clinton, who once met Yunus in  Washington and deems him
worthy of a  Nobel prize.

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Black hole 'hurled out of galaxy'

A supermassive black hole may have been observed in the process of being hurled from its parent galaxy at high speed.

The finding comes from analysis of data collected by the US Chandra space X-ray observatory.

However, there are alternative explanations for the observation.

The work, by an international team of astronomers, has been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Normally, each galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its centre.

Given that these objects can have masses equivalent to one billion Suns, it takes a special set of conditions to cause this to happen.

High-speed exit

The authors believe this could be the result of the merger of two smaller black holes.

But there are alternative explanations for the bright X-ray source; it could also be a Type IIn supernova, or an ultra-luminous X-ray source (ULX) with an optical counterpart (which could represent several phenomena).

Simulations using supercomputers suggest that when this happens, the larger black hole that results is shot away at high speed.

However, this depends on the direction and velocity at which the two black holes are rotating before their collision.

Marianne Heida of the University of Utrecht used data in the Chandra Source Catalogue to compare hundreds of thousands of sources of X-rays with the positions of millions of galaxies.

The material that falls into black holes heats up dramatically on its final journey, which often means that black holes are strong X-ray sources.

X-rays are also able to penetrate the dust and gas that obscures the centre of a galaxy, giving astronomers a clear view of the region around the black hole, with the bright source appearing as a star-like point.

Looking at one galaxy in the Catalogue, Ms Heida noticed that the point of light was offset from the centre and yet was so bright that it could be associated with a supermassive black hole.

Ms Heida said: "We have found many more objects in this strange class of X-ray sources. With Chandra we should be able to make the accurate measurements we need to pinpoint them more precisely and identify their nature."

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Strange headless creature washes ashore

A mysterious and headless “sea creature” has washed up on the shore of McIvers on the Bay of Islands in Canada.

Local residents were out in force to take a look at the odd animal, but no one has any idea what species this actually is, if it is in fact a recorded species.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Corner Brook intends to check out the Lower Cove site today hoping to find some answers to the discovery by Warrick Lovell on Wednesday.

“It would be nice to see if anyone knows what it is,” says Lovell. “First I thought it was a seal washed up (on the high tide earlier in the day), but when I went down to check on my boat that evening, I walked over to see and then I knew it wasn’t a seal.

“But, I don’t know what it is.”

The creature is described as 15-foot in length, with a 10-foot tail and a single flipper-like appendage on it’s right hand side. Confused residents will have to wait on the analysis of the DFO to find out just what is lurking in their waters

Source < www.paranormalmagazine.co.uk >

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Patient shocks surgeons with green blood

Surgeons operating on a 42-year-old Canadian man got a shock when they discovered dark-green blood coursing through his arteries, like Star Trek's Mr Spock.

Stunned, the medical team immediately sent his blood for analysis. The test revealed the blood discolouration was caused by sulfhaemoglobinaemia, which occurs when a sulphur atom gets incorporated into the oxygen-carrying haemoglobin protein in blood.

Doctors suspected that the patient's migraine medication caused the condition. "It is possible that our patient's arguably excessive intake of sumatriptan, which contains a sulfonamide group, caused his sulfhaemoglobinaemia," they say.

Gradual recovery

"The patient recovered uneventfully, and stopped taking sumatriptan after discharge. When seen five weeks after his last dose, he was found to have no sulfhaemoglobin in his blood," they added.

The Canadian doctors explain that sulfhaemoglobinaemia usually goes away as red blood cells regenerate. In very extreme cases a transfusion might be necessary, they say.

Mr Spock's green Vulcan blood was supposed to have been caused by copper replacing the iron in haemoglobin.

Source <www.newscientist.com>

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Russian president asked to investigate alien claims

A Russian MP has asked President Dmitry Medvedev to investigate claims by a regional president that he has met aliens on board a spaceship.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the leader of the southern region of Kalmykia, made his claim in a television interview.

MP Andre Lebedev is not just asking whether Mr Ilyumzhinov is fit to govern.

He is also concerned that, if he was abducted, he may have revealed details about his job and state secrets.

The MP has written a letter to Mr Medvedev raising a list of his concerns.

In his letter he says that - assuming the whole thing was not just a bad joke - it was an historic event and should have been reported to the Kremlin.

He also asks if there are official guidelines for what government officials should do if contacted by aliens, especially if those officials have access to state secrets.

Mr Ilyumzhinov said in an interview on primetime television that he had been taken on board an alien spaceship which had come to planet Earth to take samples - and claims to have several witnesses.

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New hope for HIV vaccine efforts

By Helen Briggs
Health reporter, BBC News

The HIV virus fusing with a T cell

US researchers say they are a step closer to understanding why some people have natural protection against HIV.

They believe rare individuals who progress very slowly to AIDs when infected make white blood cells that are better at fighting the virus.
The findings, published in Nature, may help international efforts to design an effective AIDS vaccine.
But the research team at MIT and Harvard says any such vaccine is at least a decade away.
The findings relate to so-called "elite controllers" - a small number of people who, when exposed to HIV, progress very slowly to AIDS or never develop it at all.

It shows another piece in the puzzle of what we want a vaccine to do Prof Arup Chakraborty

In the late 1990s it was discovered that these individuals - about one in 200 of those infected with HIV - carry a specific gene, known as HLA B57.
The research team, led by MIT Professor Arup Chakraborty and Harvard Professor Bruce Walker, found this gene causes the body to make more potent killer T cells - a type of white blood cell that fights infections.
This helps them to keep the HIV virus at bay, but also makes them more susceptible to autoimmune diseases, where the body's immune system turns on itself.
The work is based on computer modelling of how immune cells develop in a specialised organ of the immune system known as the thymus.
Vaccine puzzle
The researchers say the study has implications for designing an effective vaccine.
It could help them develop vaccines that provoke the same response to HIV that individuals with "natural immunity" can do on their own.
But they say even if they knew exactly what vaccine they wanted to make, it would take at least a decade to reach the hands of a healthcare worker.
Prof Bruce Walker told the BBC: "Some people are able to control HIV on their own and it's really critical for us to understand how this happens. This study takes us a step forward in understanding that."
Prof Chakraborty added: "It shows another piece in the puzzle of what we want a vaccine to do."
Genetic defences
Commenting on the study, Jason Warriner, Clinical Director at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "Anything that gives us greater insight into genetic defences related to HIV is useful in searching for a vaccine and, one day, a cure for this complex virus.
"However, these elite controllers are a tiny proportion of people and they are not immune from HIV-related illnesses.
"HIV remains the UK's fastest-growing serious health condition, with 83,000 people affected, so it is vital that people continue to use condoms to protect themselves."
The study is published online in the journal Nature.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

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