Having won six medals in his career, Seattle-based speed skater Apolo Ohno stands to make U.S. Winter Olympic history if he wins another one in upcoming short-track competition--the 1,000-meter race this weekend or the 5,000-meter relay on February 26. In various reports, Ohno has said that he's in the best physical shape of his life, weighing five kilograms less than he did for the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy, and nine kilograms less than he did for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Ohno is now 65 kilograms of almost pure muscle : only 2.8 percent of his body consists of fat. [More]

We've all suffered through the last-minute exam cram--that largely futile attempt to memorize as much as possible in the final minutes before a test. No matter how hard we try to remember it all, the information often disappears the minute we read the first question. Whereas forming memories is an active and often exhausting process, losing them seems to happen quite passively as time elapses and new information overloads our busy brains. But a new study published February 19 in the journal Cell shows that forgetting is a biochemically active process not unlike memory formation. [More]

MARCH

1 How does the human brain process fear? Neuroscientist Joseph E. Le­Doux of New York University will reveal what we know about the biological underpinnings of fear and memory during a lecture hosted by the Oregon Health & Science University. The lecture is part of a series leading up to Brain Awareness Week (March 15–21), which inspires events worldwide. This year O.H.S.U. is hosting seven weeks of activities, including talks by leading brain researchers and science writers such as Jonah Lehrer (a contributing editor for Scientific American Mind), a workshop for teachers, a brain fair and a scientific meeting. [More]

Over the past 20 years educators have fought over the best way to teach numbers to kids. Advocates of traditional math tout the practice of algorithms and teacher-centered learning, whereas reform-math proponents focus on underlying concepts and student inquiry. In the face of continued declining scores in the U.S., these so-called math wars have heated up recently with the circulation of petitions, the release of contested curriculum guidelines and, in one case, the filing of a lawsuit. At stake is the ability of American high school graduates to perform everyday math tasks and compete in a global economy.

The war began in 1989, when the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) released a set of standards that reshaped a generation of instruction. Instead of having students memorize formulas and compute problems such as adding fractions, advocates of reform math encouraged students to develop their own visual representations of math concepts and use calculators to solve numerical tasks.

[More]

Over the past 20 years educators have fought over the best way to teach numbers to kids. Advocates of traditional math tout the practice of algorithms and teacher-centered learning, whereas reform-math proponents focus on underlying concepts and student inquiry. In the face of continued declining scores in the U.S., these so-called math wars have heated up recently with the circulation of petitions, the release of contested curriculum guidelines and, in one case, the filing of a lawsuit. At stake is the ability of American high school graduates to perform everyday math tasks and compete in a global economy.

The war began in 1989, when the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) released a set of standards that reshaped a generation of instruction. Instead of having students memorize formulas and compute problems such as adding fractions, advocates of reform math encouraged students to develop their own visual representations of math concepts and use calculators to solve numerical tasks.

[More]

If you are having a problem within your body, you may find that this is because one of your chakras is blocked. This can prevent the essential energy from flowing in a way that it needs to and your body will suffer for it.

The first root chakra is related to the physical body and is located near the base of the spine.

A sense of survival is connected to this chakra and it can influence the immune system, legs, bones, feet, and body support.

The second sacral chakra is related to issues of sexuality and emotion. This chakra, located in the lower abdomen, will affect the intestines, kidneys, appendix, sexual organs, and other lower, internal organs.

The solar plexus chakra will relate to vitality and affect the stomach, respiratory and nervous systems. Problems here may relate to the third chakra.

The heart chakra is related to love and physical problems, with this chakra will not only manifest themselves with the heart, but respiratory and circulatory systems.

Problems in the throat chakra will relate to self-expression. This can manifest in problems with the throat, tongue, vocal cords, teeth, and other specifics in this area.

The sixth, third-eye chakra relates to a person’s ability to imagine and intuit. Health issues in the brain, nervous system, eyes, nose, and face can all be drawn to this chakra.

Finally, the crown chakra is related to issues with self-awareness. Health problems with the skeletal or muscular systems or the skin may be dealt with by unblocking this chakra.

When the Swine flu scare was on, one of the things that were periodically being reported were alternative cures for the infection.

Yet the nay sayers were disputing that alternative therapies were any use for fighting off swine flu and similar infections.

The fact is that with its emphasis on holistic healing rather than symptomatic cure, alternative medicine, can help to strengthen the immune system.

By shoring up the body’s defenses to disease and infection, the incidence of infection and disease it significantly reduced:

Acupuncture is a highly personalized therapy specific to each individual. It can help in strengthening the immune system and help the body rid itself of pathogens. This has been seen to be effective in treating symptoms of flu and cold as well.

Meditation: Simply put, meditation relieves stress and the control of stress is extremely beneficial for health and immunity.

Naturopathy is really mostly about common sense: observe proper flu prevention hygiene, eat more fresh produce and whole grain, less processed food, get enough rest and a variety of natural substances to support the immune system.

Homeopathy works by using very small dosages of medicine to stimulate the body’s ability to heal itself.

Source: southcoasttoday

A group of scientists recommends that the National Institutes of Health ethics guidelines for embryonic stem cell research be modified to better protect the rights of individuals donating egg or sperm to patients undergoing in vitro fertilization.

For some years, the Wind Energy Division at Risø DTU in Denmark has been working to develop a method for controlling the loads on large wind turbine blades using a flexible trailing edge made of an elastic material which can be controlled by means of compressed air or hydraulics. Now, the invention, which has been called CRTEF (Controllable Rubber Trailing Edge Flap), has been tested in a wind tunnel with promising results.

Measuring levels of the active form of the protein EGFR in the tumor and its vicinity can provide a more reliable prognosis for individuals with prostate cancer, according to new research.