Apple iPhone, iPad Batteries to Last 'Days or Even Weeks'

Sometime in the future, Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad and MacBook might work longer than ever on a smaller and lighter battery pack. How is this possible? By using hydrogen fuel cells, which convert oxygen and hydrogen into water, heat and electricity. The US Patent & Trademark Office has recently published two Apple patent applications, detailing how fuel cells might power smartphones, laptops and tablets of the future.

Hydrogen fuel cells aren't exactly a new technology; they've been used to power Honda cars, for example, and they bring their own set of problems, especially in the context of smartphones or laptops.

But Apple might have a solution. One of the patent applications describes a "fuel cell system which is capable of both providing power to and receiving power from a rechargeable battery in a portable computing device. This eliminates the need for a bulky and heavy battery within the fuel cell system, which can significantly reduce the size, weight and cost of the fuel cell system."

China's Coolest Town

If Santa fancies taking a breather after his gift-giving jaunt around the world tonight, there's one spot on the planet where he'll feel right at home. For the town of Harbin in northeast China has created an entire city carved out of ice and snow. The 28th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, which opens on January 5, features work by some of the best ice sculptors and attracts thousands of visitors from around the world.

Spread out across three zones, the theme park features a range of snow-based rides, ice mountains and reproductions of some of the most iconic buildings in the world - all carved from giant blocks of ice and snow.

The town, located near the border with Russia, experiences dry but freezing winters and has an abundance of ice on tap from the nearby Songhau River. Winter activities at the festival include Yabuli Alpine Skiing, winter-swimming and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden.

A Christmas Decoration 1,000 Light Years Away

Even a far-far universe celebrates Christmas. Yes, Nasa scientists were in a very festive mood in last week, releasing an amazing image of a nebula they nicknamed the 'wreath nebula.' The scene looks like a ring of evergreens decorated with a red Christmasy bow with silver bells throughout.It was captured by Nasa's WISE space telescope. The star-forming nebula is actually named Barnard 3, or IRAS Ring G159.6-18.5, discovery.com reports.

But this picture of serenity is deceiving. From 1,000 light years away, this nebula looks peaceful but it is actually a mass of savage winds blasting from the central bright star. in the middle of the red area.

The blizzard winds have turned the warm dust into a wreath shape.The central red glow is thought to be metal-rich gases being heated up by the central bright star.Factor in the many shining stars, lovingly dubbed 'silver bells' by Nasa scientists, and you have a truly cosy Christmas scene.

Doubled Earth-size planets spotted!!!!

Last week, scientists have found doubled Earth-sized planets orbiting a star outside the solar system, an encouraging sign for prospects of finding life elsewhere. The discovery shows that such planets exist and that they can be detected by the Kepler spacecraft, said Francois Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. They're the smallest planets found so far that orbit a star resembling our sun.

Scientists are seeking Earth-sized planets as potential homes for extraterrestrial life, said Fressin, who reports the new findings in a paper published online Tuesday by the journal Nature. One planet's diameter is only 3 percent larger than Earth's, while the other's diameter is about nine-tenths that of Earth. They appear to be rocky, like our planet.

But they are too hot to contain life as we know it, with calculated temperatures of about 1,400 degrees and 800 degrees Fahrenheit, he said.

Keep a Flexible to-do List

Making a daily list of to-dos is a great way to stay on top of your work. However, there is one pitfall-it can make you inflexible. "A lot of people feel their day's been wrecked if they have to change their plan, but the most effective people understand that's part of the job," says Vicki Milazzo, author of Wicked Success Is Inside Every Woman.

"I always start my day with a plan, but by 9 a.m. I've busted that plan." However, according to Paula Rizzo, a master list-maker and founder of ListProducer.com, it's important to keep some form of a to-do list, no matter how much your day changes. For example, Rizzo begins her days with a master list, which she continually updates throughout the course of the day to note the items that haven't been done or to add tasks as they crop up.

Before leaving work, Rizzo will make a fresh list for the next day. The key, she says, is referencing the changing list throughout the day to keep herself on course. "Just putting a little extra work into it will keep you on track."

“Super memory” pill: possibly an Alzheimer’s cure–could be around the corner

Something big in healthcare industry is coming. Scientists have isolated a gene in mice that works to give them "super memories" and reverses the course of several degenerative mental illnesses like Alzheimer's. And because of the similarity of mice and human brains, a powerful brain pill for humans may now not be far off.

The brains of both mice and humans release a gene known as PKR, which is triggered by the onset of Alzheimer's. But the newly discovered gene can apparently block PKR's release--a development that not only can reverse the course of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, but induces a state of "super memory" in the mice it has been tested on.

"If we were to find an inhibitor, a molecule, a drug that will specifically block PKR, we should be able to do the same [in humans]," Maura Costa-Mattioli, who led the research study at Baylor University, told the Vancouver Sun. "And we did."

"We recognize that PKR plays a dual role, one in regulating simple everyday processes like the way neurons talk to each other [for] memory, but also has a stress response," added John Bell, a senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute who also contributed to the study.

Clean Your Coffee Machines Regularly

When you think of the germiest places in your house, you probably picture the kitchen sink or garbage disposal. But your coffee machine's reservoir also tops the list. A study performed by NSF International, a not-for-profit health and safety organization, found that the coffee reservoirs they studied were "loaded with yeast and mold organisms," says Robert Donofrio, PhD, director of NSF International's microbiology labs.

"Hardly any of the volunteers we spoke to cleaned or disinfected their reservoirs. The residual water in that area, plus the fact that it's a humid part of the machine, contributed to bacterial growth." To properly clean your coffee machine, follow the manufacturer's cleaning protocol. If nothing is specified, clean it once a month by adding three or four cups of undiluted vinegar to the reservoir, allowing it to sit for 30 minutes and then running the vinegar through the unit.

Finish by adding fresh water to the reservoir and running the machine through two or three cycles to wash away vinegar residue.

Google's Hit: Most popular queries of 2011 revealed

It's the all-encompassing litmus test that determines what's top and what's a flop in our digital-age society. Today, Google reveals its annual zeitgeist - the people, places and things that are clicking the most with UK internet users in 2011.

Top of the most-searched celebrities is US reality star Kim Kardashian, whose profile was boosted further this year after marrying and then divorcing basketball player Kris Humphries in just three months.

Next behind her was Victoria Beckham, who gave birth to her and husband David's first daughter, Harper Seven, in July, followed by Harry Potter actress Emma Watson in third.

Amy Winehouse, who died earlier this year in tragic circumstances, comes in fifth. Ricky Gervais, undoubtedly buoyed by his notorious appearance as MC for the Golden Globes, was the only male to make into the top ten.

The search giant also revealed the year's fastest-rising searches which was topped by a country mile by the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, who also featured in the top ten fasting-rising people section.

Another American reality TV star, the late Ryan Dunn of Jackass fame, was the fastest-rising person ahead of singer Adele, while Breaking Dawn leads the fastest-rising movies list.

Named after voice of Starship Enterprise Google to Create Rival to Apple's Siri

Apple's Siri voice control system is as a 'digital personal assistant' designed to allow you to talk to your phone like you talk to other people. Many Google Android functions already have similar apps built in - although not quite to the specifications of Apple's much-hyped control systems.

Now it seems Google may be about to unveil an official Android rival to Siri - called Majel after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the actor who played the voice of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek. The name was reported by sources speaking to the Android and Me blog this week. The name tallies with earlier comments from Google staffers about a 'Star Trek'-like approach.

Google is definitely working on such a system - and this week announced that it had acquired the company Clever Sense, which offers a voice control app.

Coffee: It's not truly addictive

While many people claim that they can't make it through the day without a few cups of java, Liz Applegate, PhD, faculty member and director of sports nutrition at the University of California at Davis, explains that caffeine is not addictive.

"Caffeine is a mild stimulant, and the World Health Organization states that it is wrong to compare caffeine intake to drug addiction, since people can reduce or eliminate caffeine from their diet without the serious psychological or physical problems that result from a true addiction."

However, serious coffee drinkers may experience symptoms such as fatigue and irritability if they reduce their intake. According to Dr. Applegate, people who consume 600 milligrams of caffeine (about six small cups of coffee) daily are most likely to experience these symptoms, but they will usually resolve themselves after a few days.

American Woman Helping Poor Women Named Hero of The Year

An American woman, Robin Lim, who has helped thousands of poor Indonesian women have a healthy pregnancy and birth, was named the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year on Sunday night.

Through her Yayasan Bumi Sehat health clinics, "Mother Robin," or "Ibu Robin" as she is called by the locals, offers free prenatal care, birthing services and medical aid in Indonesia, where many families cannot afford care.

"Every baby's first breath on Earth could be one of peace and love. Every mother should be healthy and strong. Every birth could be safe and loving. But our world is not there yet," Lim said during "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," which took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and recognized Lim and the other top 10 CNN Heroes of 2011.

Many women in the developing world do not have access to contraception or maternal care. According to the United Nations Population Fund, three out of five women giving birth in South Asia do so without a skilled birth attendant on hand.

You are what you eat

And eating a heavy mid-day meal will often make you feel lethargic for the rest of the afternoon. "Consider what you're eating at lunch. If you're having that post-pasta slump at 2 p.m., and need java or cookies to pep back up, maybe you should try a salad or something a bit lighter so you won't lag," suggests Hohlbaum.

The key is keeping your blood sugar levels steady throughout the day, according to Kari Kooi, RD, corporate wellness dietician at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, who recommends three light meals and two snacks at regular intervals. "Heavy meals can make you feel sluggish because they require more energy to digest," Kooi says. "[A quality lunch] will consist of a fiber-rich carbohydrate, like water-rich veggies, and a lean protein, like chicken or fish," she says.

And what does Kooi suggest you avoid? "A highly processed meal, like some of the frozen meals in the grocery store, will not give you the sustainable energy you need. The less processed the better when it comes to keeping your energy levels up." When you hit that midday slump, Kooi suggests going for proteins like mixed nuts and fruit instead of the usual energy-zapping pretzels, cookies or candy, which cause your blood sugar levels to spike and then drop and may even make you hungrier, according to Kooi.

Stop killing trees with e-book

Tablet computers and electronic readers promise to eventually close the book on the ink-and-paper era as they transform the way people browse magazines, check news or lose themselves in novels. “It is only a matter of time before we stop killing trees and all publications become digital,” Creative Strategies president and principal analyst Tim Bajarin told AFP.

Online retail giant Amazon made electronic readers mainstream with Kindle devices and Apple ignited insatiable demand for tablets ideal for devouring online content ranging from films to magazines and books. The combined momentum of e-readers and tablets will push annual revenue from digital books to $9.7 billion by the year 2016, more than tripling the $3.2 billion tally expected this year, according to a Juniper Research report.

Readers are showing increased loyalty to digital books, according to the US Book Industry Study Group (BISG). Nearly half of print book buyers who also got digital works said they would skip getting an ink-and-paper release by a favorite author if an electronic version could be had within three months, a BISG survey showed.

Things your pet shouldn't eat

Listed under, from most (1) to least (4) dangerous, are common foods and drinks that make pets sick.

1. Chocolate
Why: Stimulates the nervous system and the heart. Poisonous to: All species, but dogs are most likely to eat dangerous quantities. Possible effects of poisoning: Vomiting, increased thirst, restlessness, agitation, increased or irregular heartbeat, increased body temperature, tremors, seizures.

2. Grapes, Raisins
Why: Damage the kidneys. Poisonous to: Dogs, cats. Possible effects of poisoning: Increased thirst, increased urination, lethargy, vomiting.

3. Garlic, Onions
Why: Damage red blood cells, causing anemia. Poisonous to: Cats, dogs. Possible effects of poisoning: Vomiting, red-colored urine, weakness, anemia.

4. Xylitol (Found in sugarless gum.)
Why: Causes increased insulin secretion, resulting in lower blood sugar levels. Poisonous to: Dogs. Possible effects of poisoning: Vomiting, lethargy, lack of coordination, seizures, jaundice, diarrhea.

Norman Kamaru: Lip-synching Indonesia cop fired amid YouTube fame

First, Indonesian police were angry about a young cop's YouTube lip-synching antics. Then, they championed him for softening the image of an unloved force. Now, after he put stardom over police duty, Norman Kamaru has been fired. "Who does he think he is?" a clearly frustrated police spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Lisma Dunggio, said Wednesday from his hometown. "What made him famous was his uniform."

But the 26-year-old Kamaru told reporters he wanted to give singing a real shot. And he wasn't afraid of failure. The video of Kamaru trying to lift the spirits of a heartbroken colleague by shimmying and lip-synching to the Bollywood hit "Chaiyya Chaiyya" went viral in April. Initially, the top brass was furious. But that changed when the public rallied to support the charismatic young officer. Suddenly, Kamaru was being flown from his dusty police outpost of Gorontalo to the capital, flanked by high-ranking officers who smiled broadly as squealing girls begged for his autograph.

As a new, unexpected asset to the force — widely considered one of the country's most corrupt institutions — Kamaru started appearing regularly on TV talk shows in full uniform. As it turned out, he had a voice. With a $100,000 record deal in his pocket, Kamaru told his bosses he wanted out. They said no. And he stopped coming to work. Saud Usman Nasution, spokesman for the national police, said Kamaru was dishonorably discharged on last Tuesday.

NASA Astronomers Discover Habitable Blue Planet

Astronomers have discovered the first habitable blue planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a star similar to the Sun. NASA’s Kepler Mission has been finding new worlds at an incredible rate over the past year but this is the first discovery of what could be a habitable super-earth as it appears to be large, rocky planet with a surface temperature of about 72 degrees Fahrenheit, similar to spring day on Earth.

A team of researchers, including Carnegie Institute's Alan Boss, made the discovery which will be published in The Astrophysical Journal. The discovery team, led by William Borucki of the NASA Ames Research Center, used photometric data from the NASA Kepler space telescope, which monitors the brightness of 155,000 stars.

This discovery is the first detection of a possibly habitable world in orbit around a Sun-like star.
The host star lies about 600 light-years away from us toward the constellations of Lyra and Cygnus. The star, a G5 star, has a mass and a radius only slightly smaller than that of our Sun. As a result, the host star is about 25 per cent less luminous than the Sun.

Monster Black Holes Found, Biggest Yet!

"They are monstrous," Berkeley astrophysicist Chung-Pei Ma told reporters. "We did not expect to find such massive black holes because they are more massive than indicated by their galaxy properties. They're kind of extraordinary." The previous black hole record-holder is as large as 6 billion suns.

In research released by the journal Nature, the scientists suggest these black holes may be the leftovers of quasars that crammed the early universe. They are similar in mass to young quasars, they said, and have been well hidden until now. The scientists used ground-based telescopes as well as the Hubble Space Telescope and Texas supercomputers, observing stars near the black holes and measuring the stellar velocities to uncover these vast, invisible regions.

Black holes are objects so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape. Some are formed by the collapse of a super-size star. It's uncertain how these two newly discovered whoppers originated, said Nicholas McConnell, a Berkeley graduate student who is the study's lead author. To be so massive now means they must have grown considerably since their formation, he said.

The world's Most Spectacular Sea-caves

Many 'sea caves' are famous among the watersports community - largely because you have to strap on a pair of flippers and an air tank to explore sights such as Belize's Great Blue Hole.

But the relentless action of the waves over millennia has carved out some spectacular caves that you don't even need a snorkel to explore such as Fingal's Cave in Scotland - just a sturdy pair of boots.

Fingal's Cave, on the uninhabited island of Staffa in Scotland, showcases unique, unspoiled geography - and was reputed to be home to a giant who built a causeway between Scotland and Ireland.

Cyclops Shark is Real

The fisherman who discovered the Cyclops shark is reportedly hanging on to the preserved remains, news outlets reported. But scientists have recently examined and X-rayed the fish, authenticating the catch. According to Seth Romans, a spokesman for Pisces Fleet, Galvan Magana and his colleagues will publish a scientific paper about the find within the next several weeks.

The Cyclops shark is an exception. While rare, "cyclopia" is a real developmental anomaly in which only one eye develops. Human fetuses are sometimes affected, as in a 1982 case in Israel reported in 1985 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. In that case, a baby girl was born seven weeks early with no nose and only one eye in the center of her face. The infant, who lived only 30 minutes after birth, also had severe brain abnormalities.

In 2006, a kitten born with one eye and no nose (a rare condition called holoprosencephaly), created a stir online as news organizations and bloggers tried to determine if the bizarre photos of the animal were real. A veterinarian confirmed the kitten's condition; "Cy," as the cat was known, lived only a day. The remains were sold to the creationist Lost World Museum.

How to get your cat sleep at night in the house

Here are some tips to get your cat sleeps at the same time you sleep. Change meal time. "Feed the cat before you go to bed vs. before you leave in the morning," Dr. Buffington suggests. Because we are all more likely to sleep after a meal (think about the postprandial pause after we push back from the Thanksgiving table!) feeding just before your bedtime will make your cat more likely to snooze, too.

Make time for playtime. "Providing play opportunities will help 'wear the cat out' before bed," Dr. Buffington says. If a long day at work leaves you too exhausted to play with Kitty, get a toy that your pet can play with on his own, like the Fling-ama-String, one of my Dr. Becker's Best from the Global Pet Expo. Set it up at the other end of the house and hit the sack!

Widen your cat's world. "I'd suggest they enrich the environment so they're not the only source of the cat's stimulation and activity," Dr. Buffington says. "Add feeding puzzles, window perches with bird feeders outside, cat videos, etc." This keeps your cat busy all day and makes him more likely to sleep all night.

World's First Sex School Opens in Austria

Do you want to have a better life with your loved one? Ylva-Maria Thompson has opened the world's first international sex school to teach its students how to be better lovers. The Austrian International Sex School in Vienna offers 'hands on' lessons in seduction for £1,400 a term.

The 'headmistress' says anyone over the age of 16 can enrol at 'the world's first college of applied sexuality'. Students live in a mixed sex dormitory block where they're expected to practise their homework.

And at the end of the course, they are awarded a qualification. The new school head said: 'Our core education is not theoretical, but very practical. The emphasis is on how to be a better lover.

Train Better Tips: Train Faster

Everyone can start tapping into their genetic potential for muscle and strength with one simple change to your weightlifting routine:

Start working out faster.

That's right: All those times you skipped the gym because you only had 20 or 30 minutes, turns out you could have gotten an ideal workout if you were dedicated to using every single second.

"Lifting or moving quicker will, in general, fire more fast-twitch muscle fibers," says Portland-based trainer Christopher Bathke, "Lifting more explosively is a crucial method if you want to improve in power and or strength."

Are You A Positive Person?

Some studies have shown that an upbeat attitude about aging adds years. But long-term studies conducted at the Stanford Longevity Center show that emotions, more than attitudes, may be the biologic mechanism at work, says Laura Carstensen, the center's director.

"What's the mechanism at work here? Feeling upbeat about your life means you experience less stress, which in turn affects cortisol levels, which can affect health," she says. Stanford researchers periodically assess 19 different emotions in subjects randomly polled over 1 week at 5-year intervals. Having more positive emotions than negative ones is associated with living longer.

Carstensen is a firm believer that while "slow agers" clearly exist, there's more to their stories than lucky genes. "There's mounting evidence that genes play a role in longevity, but genes play a role in almost everything," she says. "They don't express themselves in vacuums -- there are very complex interactions between genes and lifestyle." So all that advice on how to live to 100? Can't hurt to heed it.

Start Your Day Off on the Right Foot

According to a recent study at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University, if an employee is in a bad mood when they arrive at work-whether because of familial problems or a stressful commute-it can decrease their productivity by as much as 10% that day.

So unless you come in to the office every day in a great mood (and who does?), start your day with 5 to 10 minutes of time dedicated to decompressing. "Create a ritual. Maybe it's meeting in the coffee break room or going around the office to greet everyone. It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you foster a sense of connection [with your coworkers]," Says Holhbaum.

"Swinging by to say 'hi' to your colleagues when you walk in gives you a sense of focus. When you feel you're part of a bigger effort, you feel more connected to why you're there and that can make all the difference in the world." Re-focusing your mind at the beginning of the day will also create a sense of calm, helping you to disregard outside stressors and zero in on your daily tasks.

"If we're actually able to start the day centered, then we'll have a longer tolerance period before we get off track," Holhbaum says.

The Only 2 Financial Rules You Need Live By

There's a lot of great advice out there to saving money. But if it overwhelms you, start with just these two simple rules and you'll be on your way to financial independence.

1. Pay Yourself First: The Best Kind of Cliché

"Pay yourself first" is a very common piece of financial advice. It's simple enough to follow, but that doesn't make it easy.

If you can save $200 per month at a 6-percent interest rate, you'll have more than $200,000 in 30 years. At the very least, you'll have a great savings fund at the ready for whatever life may bring. But how can you come up with that cash when you barely have any money left between paychecks?

The answer is to take that money off the top. And yes, it'll sting a bit at first.

2. Practice Mindful Spending

Having some leeway in your paycheck isn't a given, but I think many people have more wiggle room than they realize.

This is what I mean when I say that I think $10 is a lot of money. When I decide to buy something, it's a decision, not an impulse buy. I want to spend my money on things that really have value for me, not just things that are convenient or appealing at the moment. So while I can buy something nice once in a while — without guilt — I have a hard time going out for lunch or buying (you guessed it) a latte.

Less expensive purchases are an easy mental hurdle to get over because they're so small it seems that they could hardly amount to anything. The truth is, these seemingly insignificant purchases can easily amount to, or exceed, that $200 you may be aiming to save.

Ten-year-old Girl Speaks TEN Languages

She might only be 10-years-old, but little Sonia Yang can already speak an incredible 10 languages.

And the schoolgirl has been crowned the north west of England's best young linguist after stunning teachers with her detailed knowledge.

The youngster, from Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, was born in Taiwan but moved to England with her family to begin primary school.

When she arrived here, Sonia was already fluent in Japanese, Chinese and English, as well as her native Taiwanese. But she can also now speak German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and has recently picked up Kazakh and the Ugandan language of Luganda.

New Research: Gamma-ray Bursts Could End Life on Earth!

New research suggests the continuation of life on Earth depends on massive explosions on the other side of the galaxy.

The explosions, gamma-ray bursts thought to occur when two stars collide, can release tons of high-energy gamma-ray radiation into space. Scientists believe they have already played a part in some the planet's extinctions.

They say the blasts could be contributing to the depletion of the Earth's ozone layer. Brian Thomas, of Washburn University, in Topeka, Kansas, said: 'We find that a kind of gamma-ray burst — a short gamma-ray burst — is probably more significant than a longer gamma-ray burst. 'The duration is not as important as the amount of radiation.'

The research is being presented on Sunday, October 9, at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting in Minneapolis. It is thought to be the first time scientists have connected the timing of these gamma-ray bursts to extinctions on Earth that can be dated through the fossil record.

Livescience.com reports that there are two types of gamma-ray bursts: a longer, brighter burst and a 'short-hard' burst, which lasts less than a second but seems to give off more radiation than a longer burst.

If such a burst were to happen inside the Milky Way, its effects on Earth would be much longer lasting. The short bursts may be caused by fender-benders between stars, such as dense neutron stars or black holes colliding.

Orangutans Allows to Smoke?

An activist said that orangutans in many of Indonesia’s zoos were allowed to smoke as visitors could freely toss cigarettes to them without proper monitoring.

“Cigarettes are bad for orangutans’ health. We demand the zoos closely monitor the orangutans,” Centre for Orangutan Protection campaigner Hardi Baktiantoro told AFP.

“Orangutans can also smoke cigarettes because they tend to imitate human behaviour,” he said. Baktiantoro said the apes were able to receive any food or cigarettes thrown to them as there were no barriers between them and zoo visitors.

In Malaysia, an orangutan named Shirley that amused visitors by smoking cigarette butts thrown into her cage was being forced to go cold turkey after authorities seized the great ape from a state-run zoo last week.

Mosquitoes Dengue-Free

Injecting a bacteria into mosquitoes can block them from transmitting the dengue virus and help control the spread of a disease that kills 20,000 annually in more than 100 countries, scientists said.

In two papers published in the journal Nature on Thursday, researchers in Australia showed how female mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacteria passed the bug easily to their offspring, making them all dengue-free.

They said such infected mosquitoes should be released into the wild, so that the spread of dengue to people may be reduced.

“The main feature we saw was their ability to reduce dengue transmission,” said Professor Scott O’Neill, lead author and science faculty dean at Monash University. “It almost completely abolished dengue virus in the body of the mosquito.”

In their experiment, O’Neill and colleagues injected the bacteria into more than 2,500 embryos of so-called Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can spread dengue fever. After they hatched, they were treated to blood meals laced with the dengue virus, and none picked up the virus.

Differences between the iPhone family: iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4 vs. iPhone 3GS

Given that the last two versions of the iPhone aren't going away any time soon, and they all support the new iOS 5 operating system, it's helpful to know the differences between the three phones. Not only is there a price difference, but the technical specs are different as well. As a quick note, the new Siri voice assistant feature is only included on the iPhone 4S.

Price of the iPhone
With a two-year contract, the iPhone 3GS with 8GB storage is free. The iPhone 4 with 8GB is $99, again under a two-year contract. The iPhone 4S with 16GB is $199; there is no 8GB model of the iPhone 4S. If 16GB of storage on your iPhone 4S isn't enough for you, you can upgrade to 32GB for $299 or 64GB for $399. Again, all of this is based on signing a standard two-year contract.

Put another way, the iPhone 3GS is free, and you're spending $12.37 per GB of memory on an iPhone 4. With the iPhone 4S, you're spending $12.43 per GB for the least expensive phone, $9.34 per GB for the 32GB model, but only $6.23 per GB on a 64GB iPhone 4S.

Carriers and bluetooh
If you're using an iPhone 3GS, you're stuck with AT&T. The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S will be carried by both AT&T and Verizon ... but also Sprint! This is especially exciting since Sprint is offering unlimited data plans.

The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 both use bluetooth 2.1, but the iPhone 4S uses bluetooth 4.0. While this wireless upgrade won't make a difference for a while, it's nice to know the iPhone 4S is already forward compatibile.

Camera and Video
The iPhone 3GS has a 3 megapixel camera that can autofocus. The iPhone 4 camera is 5 megapixels, enjoys an LED flash, a backside illumination feature, and a four-element lens; the iPhone 4 also has a front-facing VGA camera. The iPhone 4S dwarfs them both with an 8 megapixel camera, an LED flash, backside illumination, a five-element lens, faster shooting speed, and face detection; it's also got a front-facing VGA camera.

Video becomes a big deal with these camera improvements. The 3GS can record 480p video. The iPhone 4 records at 720p and includes an LED light. The iPhone 4S is another step up, recording 1080p video and still sporting LED lighting while also adding image stabilization.

Display quality
The iPhone 3GS is a 480-by-320 display. In this regard, the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S share the same specs: 960-by-640 resolution. The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S offers a Retina Display, which is a way of saying it has an incredibly high pixel density. This density is responsible for amazingly crisp, beautiful resolution on the iPhone's screen.

Battery life
The iPhone 3GS gets 5 hours of talk time on 3G networks or 12 hours of talk on old 2G networks. On the iPhone 4, you get 7 or 14 hours of talk time. On the iPhone 4S, Apple squeezed out a little more battery life with 8 hours on 3G networks and 14 hours on 2G networks.

Interestingly, standby battery life is one of the places where the iPhone 4S is weaker than its predecessors. While the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 both expect about 300 hours of standby battery life, the iPhone 4S only gets around 200 hours. This difference probably won't be a deal-breaker for anyone, but it does likely speak to the power requirements of the A5 processor.

Presentation and color
The iPhone 3GS is only available in black now. If you want a white iPhone, you'll have to pick up an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. These two models are available in black or white.

The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S are nearly identical in both size and weight, with the iPhone 4S tipping the scales at a scant tenth of an ounce heavier. The iPhone 3GS is a slightly bigger than its compatriots; while all three phones are 4.5" tall, the iPhone 3GS is 0.09" wider and 0.11" thicker. Overall the size differences between the 3GS and the 4 and 4S are fairly small, with the far more noticeable difference being the design aesthetic between the 3GS's rounded back and the flat back and curved corners of both the 4 and 4S.

Under the hood
The iPhone 3GS uses an old Samsung processor. The iPhone 4 uses a chip called the A4, the same chip used in the original iPad, while the iPhone 4S uses a dual-core A5 chip, the same chip found inside the iPad 2. The important thing here is that the iPhone 4S has a much more powerful processor than the iPhone 4, which was already a big upgrade over the iPhone 3GS.

The bottom line
The easiest way to understand the difference in these specs is that the iPhone 4S is better than the iPhone 4, which is better than the iPhone 3GS. Where you'll really notice the differences is in the quality of the camera, recording video, and the speed of the processor, which translates into how much raw power your phone has in order to perform tasks. All three phones are a good deal with a two-year contract, and how much you spend will depend on how much you value onboard storage and your iPhone photography – and, of course, how much you're willing to pay to have the latest and great device in your pocket.

First Pictures of Deepest Space

The picture you see at the left side is is one remarkable first picture taken by the new $1.3 billion radio telescope sitting high in the Chilean Andes.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, shortened to the 'ALMA radio telescope', took a snap of the Antennae Galaxies from South America.

The telescope is now officially open and ready to explore the universe after years of planning and constructing the massive observatory it sits in alongside some of the world’s most complex ground-based telescopes.

North American ALMA project manager at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia, Mark McKinnon, told Space.com: We went to one of the most extreme locations on Earth to build the world’s largest array of millimetre/submillimeter telescopes, having a level of technical sophistication that was merely a dream only a decade ago.’

‘This truly is a great occasion.’ The amazing shot of the Antennae Galaxies (otherwise known as NGC 4038 and 4039) shows the pair of interacting galaxies in the constellation Corvus. The galaxies are around 70 million light-years away and were captured by ALMA using two different wavelength ranges.

Facebook is Watching YOU, Even when you're NOT logged in

Do you know that as a member of Facebook social networking, it has been watching you the whole time? Facebook has admitted that it monitors every single web page its members visit – even when they have logged out.

In its latest privacy blunder, the social networking site was forced to confirm that it constantly tracks its 750million users, even when they are using other sites. Most would assume that Facebook stops monitoring them after they leave, but technology bloggers have discovered this is not the case.

In fact, data is regularly sent back to the social network’s servers – helping Facebook make billions of pounds each year from advertising, as such information is highly valuable.

The website’s practices were exposed by Australian technology blogger Nik Cubrilovic and have provoked a furious response across the internet. Mr Cubrilovic found that when you sign up to Facebook it automatically puts files known as ‘cookies’ on your computer which monitor your browsing history.

Some cookies remain on your computer after you log out, and report back when you visit a site connected to Facebook. This covers millions of websites and refers to anything with a Facebook ‘like’ or ‘recommend’ button on it.

This covers millions of websites worldwide and refers to anything with a Facebook ‘like’ or ‘recommend’ button on it. The data that is sent back is the IP address, or unique identifier of your computer, and a log of what you have been viewing.

Mr Cubrilovic wrote: ‘Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit.

‘The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate (web) browser for Facebook interactions.

‘This is not what ‘logout’ is supposed to mean’.

The admission is the latest in a series of privacy blunders from Facebook, which has a record of only correcting such matters when they are brought to light by other people.

Earlier this year it stopped gathering browser data from users who had never even been to Facebook.com after it was exposed by a Dutch researcher. The site was forced into a partial climbdown over changes to privacy settings which many claimed made too much public.

World's Cheapest Car Covered In Gold

In an effort to spur flagging sales of its Nano micro-car, Indian automaker Tata has decided to take a jewel-encrusted version of the $3,000 two-door People’s Car worth $4.6 million — yes, buy just one for the price of 1,533 Nanos — and trot it around a country where a third of the world’s poor live on about 50 cents a day. By way of explanation, Tata chairman Bhaskar Bhatt said, “It’s only meant to travel around to showcase the Indian karigar’s (craftsmen’s) expertise.”

This particular Nano, commonly referred to as the world’s cheapest car, certainly does that. Artisans associated with the company’s chain of GoldPlus jewelry stores lavished the automobile with 194 pounds of hard-crafted 22-karat gold, 33 pounds of silver and 10,000 precious and semi-precious stones. The end result is a blinding chariot out of modern Bollywood, an automotive paean to some of India’s most iconic designs, colors and inherent beauty.

The micro bling machine was fittingly unveiled in a theater in Mumbai, and will go on a six-month tour of towns where Tata has manufacturing plants. The GoldPlus Nano is dazzling to the point of distraction, which is perhaps some of the point. Originally launched in 2008 with a 100,000-customer waiting list, the Nano has been plagued by Ford Pinto-like incidents of spontaneous combustion, the result of which were electrical system and exhaust safety upgrades for 70,000 owners. Sales have flagged markedly since that launch; August saw 1,200 sales, an 88 percent drop from 10,000 in April. Some analysts argue that the reason for the Nano’s sales decline may have less to do with safety issues and more to do with Indian consumers not taking well to the notion of owning the world’s least expensive vehicle.

Energy consumption and investment

The story of energy for mankind began when fire was discovered for the first time in the ancient world. Since then human started to consume energy and it was taken from renewable energy resources such as sun, wind and water power. Together with the development in industrial sectors, demands for energy have increased significantly, human started to explore and began massive exploration and production of energy. The advancement of technology human owned at that time has a major contribution in the exploration of energy resources, and that was the time when energy consumption had accelerated rapidly.

Human has developed technology that turns heat to energy based on fossil fuels. It has become one huge business. The acceleration of this type of investment is unstoppable, solar energy investments are among the most explored investments in energy industry. The exploitation of coal deposits to oil and natural gas fields on a global scale has become unstoppable. The next era of energy resource begins not very long after the fossil-based era, the major transition takes place when human invented nuclear-based energy, but since the production cost and the security are another issue, production of nuclear energy hasn’t as fast as fossil-based energy.

World population has increased; new plants were being built and operated. This all needs more and more energy to run, in the 19th century alone world population has increased by 3 times and that was the time when the essential change of energy consumption took place. World data for energy consumption shows that today fossil-based fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas are the primary contributors of total energy supply, and this one fact alone has shown why Investing in natural gas, oil and coal become extremely significant.

Since the energy sources will not last forever, it left each of us a global issue. We have to ask ourselves on how we use energy, that’s our homework. While for investors and inventors out there, it will be a great challenge for them to create some energy forms that will last forever and can be consumed without polluting the environment.

Kate Winslet As Elizabeth Tailor in 'V' Magazine

Kate Winslet is paying tribute to Elizabeth Taylor in the pages of "V" magazine by dressing up as the late, legendary actress. Winslet being Winslet being Taylor, the photo gallery is totally stunning.

"There was a real fearlessness in her," Winslet tells the high-fashion magazine. "Which in old Hollywood perhaps didn't feel quite as prevalent. Now, actors and actresses can bend the rules a lot. Back then, there did seem to be a rule book, and there was some expectation in terms of how glamorous women should look. There's a sort of coolness and aloofness to the way [Taylor] would look in posed photographs."

Winslet adds: "In candid snapshots she was really quite soft, and she would really screw up her face. I do that as well."

The series of images, photographed by Mario Testino, show Winslet wearing an assortment of Taylor-esque turbans, head scarves, animal prints and -- it wouldn't be a Liz homage without them -- diamonds. Lots of diamonds. Winslet's eyes, though not strikingly violet, appear as large and magnetic as Taylor's famous peepers.

Wow ... Smartphone Goes 3D

A mobile smartphone which will be able to take 3D, panoramic photos is expected to go on sale next month. Pictures taken on Sony Ericsson's new, top-of-the-range Xperia Arc S can be viewed on any compatible television set.

The phone, however, will display them only in two dimensions. Nor will it be able to produce 3D video output.

The camera works by taking several simultaneous images and 'stitching' them together. The phone, which runs Google's Android operating system, has a 4.2" screen and the camera definition is 8.1 megapixels, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

Any 3D images are viewed by connecting the phone to a 3D TV using the HDMI output. Sony Ericsson said the Arc S's 1.4GHz processor means it will start up 25 per cent faster than its predecessor, the Arc.

It also doubles as a remote control for Sony Bravia televisions, and features Sony’s Music and Video Unlimited media stores. Most of the Arc S's other updates are software-based. It comes with Android 2.3 installed, which enables faster web-browsing.

The company said the Arc S will come in five colours - white, blue, silver, black and pink. The device was unveiled at the IFA technology fair in Berlin.

The show also featured what Toshiba claims is the first glasses-free 3D television, although the model, the 55ZL2, has had mixed reviews. Korean manufacturer LG demonstrated a glasses-free 3D computer monitor.

iPhone 5: Everything We Know so Far

Rumors about the iPhone 5 started flying nearly as soon as the iPhone 4 landed on the shelves last year.

So far, many sources have strongly suggested that Apple's newest smartphone may be right around the corner.

Releasing in October
The Wall Street Journal confirmed the new iPhone model is coming in October, although we don't know yet if the new phone will be called iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, or something else entirely. It's been well over a year since the iPhone 4 became available in June 2010, and we've had white iPhones and Verizon iPhones since then. The iPhone 3GS had been released in June 2009 and Apple tends to release its iconic smartphone on a yearly cycle.

Wireless syncing, wireless charging
We know for certain that the new iPhone using iOS 5 will sync with your computer wirelessly, since Apple made a big deal of this capability at its developer's conference in June. The iPhone may also support wireless charging. The soon to be extinct HP TouchPad had this capability, so it makes sense that Apple might be exploring the technology to improve the iPhone experience, cutting away the last cords that force you to tie your phone to your computer. That seems like an experience that Apple would want to pioneer.

Better camera
The Wall Street Journal also reported the new iPhone camera sports 8 megapixels, which is a significant boost over the iPhone 4's 5 mexapixel sensor. This information seems to confirm similar, earlier rumors from Bloomberg. If we're really lucky, we might finally see an improved camera flash. Remember that the iPhone 4 was released over a year ago; newer smartphones have cameras that simply blow away the iPhone 4's offering, at least on paper. It's time for Apple to get back on top of the heap with an update.

4" screen or smaller
The size of the iPhone 5's touchscreen has been a hotbed of rumor. While many original rumors said the screen would be larger than 4", new panel suppliers indicate that the iPhone 5 screen will actually be smaller than 4". Previous rumors were based on market expectations, not any actual supply chain leaks. The newest leaks say the screen could be as small as 3.5' which is the same size as the iPhone 4 screen.

iCloud inside
One of the most exciting bits about the iPhone 5 will be its operating system and iCloud. The free service will automatically sync your pictures, music, and other data instantly between your computer and your iPhone. Using iTunes Match, you will even be able to upgrade your existing music to one of Apple's lossless, higher-quality music files. iCloud is integrated with personal computers, cloud computing, and mobile information. When you take pictures or buy content on your phone, you will be able to access all of it on your computer through iCloud.

Faster, beefier processor
It isn't a surprise to hear that the iPhone 5 will have a better processor than the iPhone 4, since every major iteration of the phone has enjoyed this kind of upgrade under the hood. The A5 processor already struts itself inside the iPad 2. Including that same processor on the iPhone 5 would give the smartphone considerable power, catching it up to the capability of the iPad itself.

Integrated earthquake warning
The Japanese version of iPhone 5 will warns its users of impending earthquakes. A simple pop-up notification will appear whenever Japan's monitoring facilities detect an impending threat, providing iPhone 5 users much needed time to get to safety and prepare for disaster. There's been no word about whether such a warning will also exist in the U.S., but that might be a concern after the recent, rare earthquake in Virginia.

iPhone available on Sprint and T-Mobile
While Verizon and AT&T both boast their own iteration of the iPhone, Apple's smartphone hasn't migrated to the remaining two carriers yet. The Wall Street Journal expects the new iPhone 5 to include Sprint among its available carriers, while other reports indicate the iPhone may land on T-Mobile. At the same time, new information suggests that the new iPhone will be a "world phone," capable of supporting multiple types of mobile networks, which would make it an attractive option for frequent travellers.

A new friend: iPhone nano
At the same time we're hearing about a bigger, more powerful iPhone 5, rumors about a smaller, cheaper iPhone also keep coming up. The lighter, more budget-minded (and purely theoretical) iPhone has been dubbed the the iPhone nano among tech blogs. This potentially petite iPhone would be aimed at more casual smartphone owners who want to use the Apple product but aren't necessarily comfortable with the iPhone's traditionally high price point. With 8 GB of storage, the iPhone nano would rely on iCloud and the internet to access a lot of its content.

Of course, none of this speculation is official fact until you've heard the words uttered from Apple itself. That being said, these rumors have all been repeated by enough independent sources that a few of them are bound to pan out — we can only wait and see.

Drink More Water

Research indicates that chugging H2O curbs appetites. In fact, in one study by the American Chemical Society, dieters who drank water three times a day before meals over 12 weeks shed about 5 pounds more than those who did not boost their water intake.

Water’s benefits don’t stop there: Agua also keeps you energized, so you’ll have the vigor needed to burn additional calories in the gym, on the tennis court, or wherever the day takes you. “Even being slightly dehydrated can lead to feeling fatigued,” says personal trainer Jim White, RD, owner of Jim White Fitness & Nutrition Studios in Virginia Beach, VA.

And soda fiends out there can chop more than 200 calories from their diets by replacing a 20-ounce bottle of nondiet cola with some refreshing H2O.

HTV-2 - An unmanned Hypersonic Glider

An unmanned hypersonic glider developed for U.S. defense research into super-fast global strike capability was launched atop a rocket early Thursday but contact was lost after the experimental craft began flying on its own, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said.

The problem occurred during the critical point of transition to aerodynamic flight, DARPA said in a statement that described the mission as an attempt to fly the fastest aircraft ever built.

Shaped like the tip of a spear, the small craft is part of a U.S. military initiative to develop technology to respond to threats at 20 times the speed of sound or greater, reaching any part of the globe in an hour.

The HTV-2 is designed to be launched to the edge of space, separate from its booster and maneuver through the atmosphere at 13,000 mph (21,000 kph) before intentionally crashing into the ocean.

Study: Secret to Long Life in Genes, NOT Lifestyle

Researchers trying to unlock the secret of longevity studied a population of Ashkenazi Jews who have lived to at least 95 and found their eating and lifestyle habits are no better than those of the general population.

In fact, men in the long-lived group drank slightly more and exercised less than their average counterparts. The findings are published in the online edition of Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

'This study suggests that centenarians may possess additional longevity genes that help to buffer them against the harmful effects of an unhealthy lifestyle,' said the senior author, Dr Nir Barzilai, the director of the Institute for Aging Research at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

The study involved 477 Ashkenazi Jews aged 95 to 122 who were living independently. Three-quarters were women. All were enrolled in a study aimed to uncover the secrets to longevity.

Ashkenazi Jews were chosen because they are more 'genetically uniform than other populations, making it easier to spot gene differences, the study said. The elder group had similar habits in terms of height-weight ratio, smoking, exercise level and diet as similarly matched people in the general population.

Are you ready to go up, up and away again?

The first photo of Henry Cavill in costume as Superman for the new big-screen version entitled "Man of Steel" was just released very recently. It shows Superman looking like he's rising to his feet against a smoking, smoldering vault door.

The costume retains the basic look from the comic books: blue with a red cape and boots. But the suit has a textured, almost rubbery look that's different from previous movie incarnations, like Christopher Reeve's stretchy bodysuit. The colors look darker and more muted than previous versions of the suit, and the raised "S" insignia on his chest also looks better. Since he's in shadow its difficult to tell if he's also wearing the classic red trunks which are actually getting eliminated in the upcoming revamp of the "Superman" comic books.

Cavill, a 29-year-old British native best known for the TV series "The Tudors," recently told Total Film magazine that he's been working out and chowing down to get himself into shape for the role. "I'm on 5000 calories a day," Cavill said, "You've got to eat protein first, then a little bit of carbs." He needs plenty of fuel for his exhausting workout routine: "I'm training two and a half hours a day, pushing my body beyond its normal limits."

It was also announced earlier this week that Cavill will be joined by Laurence Fishburne, who will play Perry White, Clark Kent's editor at the Daily Planet. Fishburne is just the latest Oscar nominated actor added to the cast, which includes Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, and Michael Shannon as the villainous General Zod. Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner also star as Superman's biological and adoptive father, respectively. "Man of Steel," directed by Zack Snyder, will not fly into movie theaters until June 14, 2013.

The World's Only Penis Museum: What are Their Collections?

From gigantic whale penises to speck-sized field mouse testicles and lampshades made from bull scrotums, Iceland's small Phallological Museum has it all -- and recently put its first human member on display.

"This is the biggest one," founder and curator Sigurdur Hjartarson says, patting an enormous plastic canister. Inside was a liquid-immersed greyish-white mass as wide as a small tree trunk and as tall as a man.

Weighing 70 kilos and measuring around 170 centimetres, the Sperm Whale specimen "is just the front tip," he explained.

"The full penis could in fact be five metres and weigh something like 350 to 450 kilos -- but of course, the animal it came from weighed around 50 tonnes," says the 69-year-old retired headmaster, chuckling beneath his woolly, grey beard.

A total 276 specimens from all of Iceland's 46 mammals, along with a few foreign contributions, are on show at what may be the world's only penis museum.

The cramped room is filled with test tubes and glass containers in all shapes and sizes, holding formaldehyde-immersed offerings from whales, dolphins, walruses, redfish, goats, polar bears and rats, just to mention a few.

More Americans are Members of Facebook than Have Passports

A staggering 155 million Americans - 50 per cent of the population - are on the social network, while only 115 million people - 37 per cent - have a passport.

The number of U.S. citizens applying for passports has been rising over the last decade, but the proportion of people with the travel documents is still dwarfed by other countries.

Some 71 per cent of the population in the UK has a passport. But the U.S. is still way ahead of China, where only 1.5 per cent of the population can travel abroad.

Facebook, which was started by Mark Zuckerberg while he was a student at Harvard, has experienced phenomenal growth since it was launched in February 2004. There are now 750 million Facebook users worldwide, according to travel website Tripl, which compiled the figures.

Reasons given for the low proportion of Americans with passports include the costs of travelling abroad and the popularity of vacationing at home. Simon Winchester, who wrote 'The Best American Travel Writing', said that Americans to do have a history of international travel.

How much water do we really need?

The eight-glass formula doesn't fit for everyone. It depends on your gender, size, and level of activity, other studies note. The Institute of Medicine calls for adult men to drink 13 cups of fluid daily (which totals three liters, or a little more than four tall reusable water bottles) and women to have nine cups (2.2 liters, or about the amount found in three reusable water bottles). That number changes according to lifestyle.

The more active a person is, the more they will need to replace fluids. Larger people, pregnant and nursing women, and those who take dehydrating medications also will likely need to account for that by adding more water to their diet.

If you are active, it's also important to account for your environment when calculating how much fluid you need. If you are exercising in temperatures that are very hot (likely leading you sweat more) or very cold (which can stunt your ability to sense dehydration), are an endurance athlete, or are active in a high-altitude area, you will probably need to up your water intake.

First Photos of Beckhams' Baby Girl Harper Seven

David Beckham posted a photo on his Facebook page showingwife Victoria getting some rest with their newborn daughter. "I took this picture of my two girls sleeping," he wrote.

Victoria, 37, also tweeted a picture Sunday of David, 36, tenderly holding their newborn daughter. In the black and white photo, David cradles Harper Seven and sweetly touches her nose with his. She's "Daddy's little girl," Victoria explained.

Harper Seven was born July 10 at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. David and Victoria also have three sons: Brooklyn, 12, Romeo, 8, and Cruz, 6.

On Thursday, the fashion designer tweeted that "baby Harper is the most beautiful baby girl I have ever seen. I have fallen in love all over again!" "We feel so blessed," she added. "And the boys love their baby sister so much."

Scientists Discover Lost World

An ancient landscape long ago submerged beneath the North Atlantic Ocean has been discovered by scientists.

Researchers found the 56million-year-old lost terrain, which they have likened to the mythical lost city of Atlantis, by analyzing data collected for oil companies using an advanced echo-sounding technique.

The 1.2mile-deep landscape is located in the North Atlantic west of the Orkney-Shetland Islands and has peaks that once belonged to mountains and eight major rivers.

It would once have risen up to 0.6miles above sea level and probably joined up with what is now Scotland, and may even have stretched as far as Norway, the scientists said.

Researcher Nicky White, from University of Cambridge, said: 'It looks for all the world like a map of a bit of a country onshore. 'It is like an ancient fossil landscape preserved 1.2miles beneath the seabed.'

The discovery came from data gathered by a seismic contracting company. A hi-tech echo-sounding technique was deployed that involved releasing high-pressured air underwater - this produced sound waves that traveled through sediment on the ocean floor. An echo would bounce back each time these waves happened upon a change in the terrain through which they were traveling.

The Brain Can be Trained to Erase Embarrassing Memories

According to the latest scientist study, they have proved that selective memory really exists and people can train their minds to erase embarrassing moments from their mind. Repressing bad memories for long enough can lead to us forgetting them completely, researchers claim.

Scientists used EEG scans to monitor the parts of the brain that became active when volunteers actively tried to forget something. They were also able to pinpoint the exact moment a memory is 'forgotten', and claim that long-term suppression of a memory is a sure-fire way of permanently erasing it.

A team from Lund University in Sweden said that mastering the technique could be useful for people who suffer from depression or post traumatic stress disorder, where constantly dwelling on upsetting or traumatic memories has a devastating effect on mental health. Lead researcher Gerd Waldhauser said: 'We know that "forgotten" or repressed feelings often manifest themselves as physiological reactions.

'Our volunteers were trained to forget neutral information in a controlled laboratory environment. Training to forget a traumatic event would be more complex.'

Study: Van Gogh's "self-portrait" actually his brother

Art researchers at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum said they have "discovered" a work by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh - long thought to have been a self-portrait -- was in fact a picture of his younger brother Theo.

"According to current opinion, Vincent van Gogh never painted his brother Theo, on whom he was dependent," the Van Gogh Museum said in a statement.

But senior researcher Louis van Tilborgh now believed the 1887 painting of a man wearing a light-coloured hat and a dark blue jacket was in fact Van Gogh's brother Theo, Vincent's junior by five years.

"The conclusion is based on a number of obvious differences between the two brothers," said the museum, pointing out dissimilar features including the neatness of the subject's beard and his round-shaped ear, "something Vincent did not have."

"The form and colour of Theo's beard, more ochre than red, is also an indication" as well as the man's "eye-colour and the style in which he was dressed supports the new insight," the museum said.

"The portrait matches pictures of Theo," Van Tilborgh told the Dutch news agency ANP.

Theo van Gogh died six months after his older brother shot himself in a wheatfield at the age of 37 in Auvers, France, in July 1890.

Dog Smiles for the Camera

When the person taking this picture said, 'Smile for the camera,' they probably were only expecting to see one set of gnashers. But thanks to his unexpected human-like expression of happiness, this gleeful dog has become an internet sensation.

The chirpy canine, pictured grinning ear to ear with his smiling Martina Navratilova lookalike owner, is now something of a star after his picture began being shared on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

However, this hound's fame is nothing yet compared to that of Riley, the bichon frise/poodle mix pictured smiling while celebrating its first birthday.

The young dog was photographed in a party hat, unable to contain his excitement, as he prepares to devour a cake by its owner Maureen Ravelo, from San Jose, California. The image has since spread like wildfire.

‘Riley always makes faces like this, and that’s the best part about him. He gives you a new facial expression every time that you forget he’s a dog,’ Ms Ravelo told Metro.

‘The most unique part about him is he thinks he’s human like us,’ she added.

Will Earth Face A Mini-Ice Age?

The sun is heading into an unusual and extended period of hibernation that could trigger a mini-Ice Age on Earth, scientists claim. A decrease in global warming might result in the years after 2020, the approximate time when sunspots are expected to disappear for years, maybe even decades.

While the effects of a calmer sun are mostly good - there'd be fewer disruptions of satellites and power systems - it could see a sharp turnaround in global warming.

An absence of sunspots is not an unprecedented situation. It has happened before, but not since the early 18th century. Lead researcher Frank Hill, of the National Solar Observatory, said: 'The solar cycle is maybe going into hiatus, sort of like a summertime TV show.'

While scientists don't know why the sun is going quiet, all the signs are that it will. Dr Hill and his team have based their prediction on three changes in the sun spotted by scientific teams - weakening sunspots; fewer streams spewing from the poles of the sun's corona; and a disappearing solar jet stream.

Dr Richard Altrock, the study's co-author and an astrophysicist at the Air Force Research Laboratory, said these three cues show that 'there's a good possibility that the sun could be going into some sort of state from which it takes a long time to recover'.