Crop Circle at Innage, nr Chepstow. Gwent Wales. Reported 22nd April 2011.

Well done to Olivier Morel and Francine Blake's group for photographing this aerial shot of the formation at Innage, nr Chepstow. Gwent. Wales. Reported 22nd April. We know this was a long and expensive flight due to this there was great reluctance by other photographers to take to the air.

via Crop Circle at Innage, nr Chepstow. Gwent Wales. Reported 22nd April   2011..

Crop Circle at Innage, nr Chepstow. Gwent Wales. Reported 22nd April 2011.

Well done to Olivier Morel and Francine Blake's group for photographing this aerial shot of the formation at Innage, nr Chepstow. Gwent. Wales. Reported 22nd April. We know this was a long and expensive flight due to this there was great reluctance by other photographers to take to the air.

via Crop Circle at Innage, nr Chepstow. Gwent Wales. Reported 22nd April   2011..

Dogs Detecting Cancer? It's in the Breath, Experts Say

Carol Witcher says she knows it sounds crazy, but she swears that her dog, Floyd Henry, discovered the cancer in her breast in 2008. "When he sniffed me, he kind of turned back and really pushed into my right breast, real hard," she said. "He started sniffing, sniffing, sniffing, sniffing."

It took four days of nudging and nipping by the 8-year-old boxer before Witcher went to a doctor. "He pushed real hard for one shot. ... Then he looked at me straight in the face, took his right foot and began to paw my right breast. And I thought, 'This is not good,'" she said. "I knew instantly that there was an issue."

Witcher's stage-three cancer required surgery, chemotherapy and radiation." Her type of cancer was rather large in her breast," said Dr. Sheryl Gabram-Mendola, a breast surgical oncologist at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.  "I absolutely believe that the dog saved Miss Witcher's life.

"Gabram-Mendola has been studying the breath of cancer patients. She said cancer causes the body to release certain organic compounds that dogs can smell but people cannot. Gabram-Mendola and her team have developed a test in which they look for more than 300 molecules in the breath.

"Our model predicted in over 75 percent of the time correctly which patients did have breast cancer and which ones did not," Gabram-Mendola said. When Witcher breathed into the tube, the test confirmed that she was sick.

"You could potentially go to a physician's office, blow in the bottle and ultimately have a direct read system where we would know in the office ...

It's estimated that a dog's sense of smell is up to a million times better than that of a human, depending on the breed. Dogs have also reportedly sniffed out skin, bladder, lung and ovarian cancers.

"Dogs smell different things and they understand different things," said Charlene Bayer, a principal research scientist at Georgia Tech Research Institute. "They don't necessarily know what's wrong, but they know that there's something that's not normal, that you don't smell the way you normally do." ...

via Dogs Detect Cancer? Experts Say Compounds in Breath Can Signal Breast Cancer - ABC News.

Steytlerville 'monster' strikes again

A ‘monster’ plaguing the sleepy Karoo town of Steytlerville struck again over the Easter weekend, Eastern Cape police said on Monday.

Another two sightings of the "shape-shifting creature" were reported on Sunday evening, said Warrant Officer Zandisile Nelani .

“Two men were walking near a tavern when they saw another man wearing a black jacket. One of the men, identified only as Nozipho, went up to the stranger and asked him, “What is your problem?” said Nelani.When the stranger did not respond, Nozipho went closer and saw that the man had no head. The man then turned into a dog that was “very angry” and “as big as a cow”, Nelani said.

He said that as Nozipho and his friend ran away, the monster allegedly turned on another group of people in the same road. “They said it turned into a big monkey, and then it was gone,” Nelani said.

He said that since the monster was spotted near the tavern, people were afraid to go there at night.

Last week police were told by residents that the monster changed shape while one looked at it. One man had reported that it changed from a man wearing a suit into a pig and then into a bat.

There had also been rumours that the monster could fly. Previously, the monster had only been spotted near the church. It had even been seen peering through the windows during a service, but had vanished by the time the congregation came outside.

Nelani said that the community had dubbed the monster “Bawokozi”, meaning ‘brother-in-law’.Sightings of the monster began over a month ago when it was seen by mourners attending two separate funerals, Nelani said.

He said that the community requested a meeting with police because they were frightened of it. Police agreed to work with residents, but asked them to try to take a photograph of it as evidence.

Nelani said that a photograph had since been taken of the monster resting under a tree.

He said that when the photo was taken the monster had been in human form but when the photo was developed an unknown animal was visible in the picture.

“It is a very strange thing happening in Steytlerville, but no one has been hurt by it,” Nelani said.

via Steytlerville 'monster' strikes again: News24: South Africa: News.

New York cabbie picks up $5,000 fare to California

New York taxi driver Mohammed Alam has picked up the fare of a lifetime - $5,000 (£3,000) to drive across the US to Los Angeles.

Investment banker John Belitsky said he and friend Dan Wuebben wanted to do something "magical".

They decided on a cab ride to LA and struck the deal with Mr Alam after finding him at LaGuardia Airport.

The 2,448-mile trip took six days and included a stop in Las Vegas where the friends won $2,000.

Mr Belitsky, of Leonia, New Jersey, and Mr Wuebben, of Queens, New York, haven't yet said how they intend to get back to the East Coast.

But Mr Alam says a friend will help him make the drive back home.

The epic trip has been documented by Mr Belitsky on his Twitter page.

On 22 April, after their winning streak in Las Vegas, he tweeted: "Woke up Alam to a shower of $100 bills at sunrise."

New York news blog NYU Local estimated that the trip would have cost $17,000 (£10,000) if the meter had been running for the whole trip.

via BBC News - New York cabbie picks up $5,000 fare to California.

Life is short, make fun of it.

Switzerland: Smelly corpse flower draws thousands

Thousands of people are flocking to the northern Swiss city of Basel to see a giant, stinky flower bloom for the first time.

The amorphophallus titanum - known as corpse flower because it exudes a smell of rotting flesh - is the first to blossom in Switzerland in 75 years.

The Basel Botanical Gardens expects the 6.6ft (2m) plant to attract 10,000 people whilst in bloom.

The bloom is set to wilt late Saturday or Sunday.

Worldwide, there have been only 134 recorded blooms from artificial cultivation, according to AP news agency.

The flower first began to poke out of the soil in March, and in the past few days it had been growing at about six centimetres a day, according to Swissinfo news website.

Its mother plant last bloomed in the Frankfurt Palm Garden in 1992.

Originally native to the tropical rainforests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the plant requires a humid climate to grow and rarely blossoms, even in the wild.

The flower's smell, said to be a cross between burnt sugar and rotting flesh, is designed to attract insects for pollination.

via BBC News - Switzerland: Smelly corpse flower draws thousands.

Police investigate Charlie Sheen's high-speed escort

Police in Washington DC are investigating who authorised a controversial high-speed police escort for actor Charlie Sheen.

He was apparently escorted from an airport outside the city to his stage show, Violent Torpedo of Truth: Defeat is Not an Option, on Tuesday.

Police chief Cathy Lanier told a local TV station the escort appeared to violate department policy.

Police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump said the department was investigating.

Sheen posted a photo to Twitter of a speedometer reaching about 80mph (129km/h) and wrote: "In car with Police escort in front and rear! Driving like someone's about to deliver a baby! Cop car lights #Spinning!"

Sheen was reportedly running late for the one-man show. It is not clear for how much of the journey he had a police escort.

Sheen's spokesman, Larry Solters, declined to comment on Friday.

Phil Mendelson, who chairs the DC Council's committee on public safety, said on Friday he considered the escort inappropriate and was glad it was being investigated. ...

via BBC News - Police investigate Charlie Sheen's high-speed escort.

Related:

Mostly fat diet 'can reverse kidney failure' in mice with diabetes

A controlled diet high in fat and low in carbohydrate can repair kidney damage in diabetic mice, according to US scientists.

The study, published in journal PLoS ONE, showed a "ketogenic diet" could reverse damage caused to tubes in the kidneys by too much sugar in the blood.

In the UK around a third of the 2.8m people with either type 1 or 2 diabetes go on to develop kidney damage.

Diabetes UK said it was "questionable" whether humans could sustain the diet.

Damage reversed

The researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York used mice with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Once kidney damage had developed, half the mice were put onto the ketogenic diet for eight weeks.

The highly controlled diet, which is 87% fat, mimics the effect of starvation and should not be used without medical advice.

After eight weeks the researchers noted that kidney damage was reversed.

Professor Charles Mobbs, who led the research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, said: "Our study is the first to show that a dietary intervention alone is enough to reverse this serious complication of diabetes.

"I certainly think it has promise, but I can't recommend it until we have done clinical trials."

The researchers also need to figure out the exact process that leads to repair.

via BBC News - Diet 'can reverse kidney failure' in mice with diabetes.

Good catch: Florida balcony fall baby saved by British tourist

A toddler who fell from the top floor of a four-storey Florida hotel has escaped injury after being caught by a British woman on holiday.

Jah-Nea Myles, 16 months, apparently slipped through the balcony railing and fell into the arms of Helen Beard.

Ms Beard, of Worksop, was at the pool at Orlando's Econo Lodge hotel when she saw the baby hanging from the railing and ran underneath, she said.

She held the child until emergency medical workers arrived.

'Not a scratch'

The baby was taken to hospital, where medical staff said they saw no bruises or scratches and deemed her in good health.

An investigator with the Orange County sheriff's office described her as "playful" and said she was not crying.

Helena Myles, Jah-Nea's 20-year-old mother, told police her friend Dominique Holt had been watching the baby in the adjacent hotel room.

Ms Holt, 21, said she went to the bathroom about 2100 local time (0100 GMT), then heard screaming and saw the balcony door ajar.

She ran out onto the balcony and saw the baby in the arms of Ms Beard, from Nottinghamshire.

Ms Myles told Reuters: "She's perfectly fine. Not a scratch on her body.

"I'm thanking the Lord above right now for saving my child's life. I'm also thanking that lady because she was an angel sent from heaven."

Police said no criminal charges were pending.

Orlando is a popular destination for holidaymakers, with Walt Disney World and other tourist attractions.

via BBC News - Florida balcony fall baby saved by British tourist.

Teen fakes pregnancy as school project

Gaby Rodriguez would worry whenever anyone asked to touch her baby bump.

It wasn't because she felt shy or embarrassed. It was because the bulge - fashioned from wire mesh and cotton quilt batting - didn't actually contain a baby.

For the past 6 1/2 months - the bulk of her senior year at Toppenish High School - the 17-year-old A-student faked her own pregnancy.

Only a handful of people - her mother, boyfriend and principal among them - knew Gaby was pretending to be pregnant for her senior project, a culminating assignment required for graduation.

Her teachers and fellow students, except for her best friend, didn't realize they were part of a social experiment.

Neither did six of her seven siblings, including four older brothers, her boyfriend's parents, and his five younger brothers and sisters.

"At times, I just wanted to take it off and be done," she says. "I didn't want to go through this anymore."

But Gaby didn't give up the charade until Wednesday morning, when she revealed her secret during an emotional, all-school assembly.

The topic of her presentation: "Stereotypes, rumors and statistics."

"Teenagers tend to live in the shadows of these elements," she says.

Before taking off her fake baby belly in front of the entire student body, Gaby told her audience, "Many things were said about me. Many things traveled all the way back to me."

Then, she asked several students and teachers to read statements from 3x5 cards, quotes people actually said about her during the course of her experiment.

Her best friend, Saida Cortes, a 17-year-old senior who was sitting in the front row, read card No. 3: "Her attitude is changing, and it might be because of the baby or she was always this annoying and I never realized it."

It grew quiet in the gym as more and more quotes were read aloud. Then Gaby dropped her bomb: "I'm fighting against those stereotypes and rumors because the reality is I'm not pregnant." ...

Gaby began wearing her homemade, basketball-sized, prosthetic belly to school after spring break. Before that, she wore baggy sweaters and sweatshirts to conceal her faux pregnancy.

Her supposed due date was July 27, not quite two months after graduation. ...

Wednesday, Gaby apologized to teachers and students for misleading them.

When she took off her baby belly, there were a few nervous giggles, and a loud, "Whaaaaat?!" from the audience.

Then, there was applause. And, at the end of the assembly, following a Q&A session, there was a standing ovation, the first one Greene says he remembers during his three-year tenure at Toppenish High School.

"She really fooled me. I never would've guessed it," says 17-year-old senior Vicente Villanueva. "I'm really surprised."

So was 19-year-old Angel Jalomo, a 2010 Davis High School graduate and Gaby's niece: "I didn't know what to say. I just started crying."

Gaby will present her research to a board of community members in May. It will include photos and video from Wednesday's assembly. And Gaby still needs to finish writing her report. But by revealing the project to students Wednesday, she can go on her English class trip to Ashland, Ore., on Friday without her baby belly.

Plus, she didn't want to be pregnant for prom. She already has her dress, a teal form-fitting mermaid gown with spaghetti straps.

Gaby plans to attend Columbia Basin College to study social work or sociology in the fall. And, she says, "I'm not planning to have a child until after I graduate." ...

via Local News | Toppenish teen fakes pregnancy as school project | Seattle Times Newspaper.

Bullet lodged in man's brain for 23 years

Doctors have finally discovered why Wang Tianqing has been suffering from epilepsy for more than two decades.

A two-centimetre rusted bullet, embedded in the head of a farmer for 23 years, has been removed at a local hospital.

In 1988 Wang Tianqing, who lives in Zhangjiakouin city in northern China's Hebei province, was knocked unconscious on his way home by a blow to the head.

"I thought I'd been hit by a slingshot," said Wang. "I saw a man standing on a hill and thought he'd hit me."

He woke up in a hospital bed, was given anti-inflammatory drugs by the doctors and sent home.

Shortly afterwards he started having epileptic seizures which grew progressively worse over the next two decades.

On a return trip to the hospital for treatment for his convulsions, the bullet was spotted on his CAT scan.

Wang Zhiming, an attending surgeon from Neurosurgical Oncology department, said that the survival rate for being shot in the head would usually be one out of several thousand, but the bullet missed his brain's main veins and not injured his brainstem.

via Video: Bullet lodged in man's brain for 23 years - Telegraph.

Gigantic New SuperOrganism with 'Social Intelligence' is Devouring the Titanic

In 2000, Roy Cullimore, a microbial ecologist and Charles Pellegrino, scientist and author of Ghosts of the Titanic discovered that the Titanic --which sank in the Atlantic Ocean 97 years ago -- was being devoured by a monster microbial industrial complex of extremophiles as alien we might expect to find on Jupiter's ocean-bound Europa. What they discovered is the largest, strangest cooperative microorganism on Earth.

Scientists believe that this strange super-organism is using a common microbial language that could be either chemical or electrical -a phenomenon called "quorum sensing" by which whole communities "sense" each other's presence and activities aiding and abetting the organization, cooperation, and growth.

The microbes are consuming the wreck's metal, creating mats of rust bigger than a dozen four-story brownstones that are creeping slowly along the hull harvesting iron from the rivets and burrowing into layers of steel plating. The creatures also leave behind "rusticles," 30-foot icicle-like deposits of rust dangling from the sides of the ship's bow. Structurally, rusticles contain channels to allow water to flow through, and they seem to be built up in a ring structure similar to the growth rings of a tree. They are very delicate and can easily disintegrate into fine powder on even the slightest touch.

These live mats and rusticles form a communicating super-organism funneling iron-rich fluids, sulfur, and electrical charges through the collective of archea, fungi, and bacteria that thrives in the icy dark, low oxygen waters. Using DNA technology, researchers discovered that the rusticles were formed by a combination of 27 different strains of bacteria. Among the bacteria feasting on the Titanic, there was a brand new member of the salt-loving Halomonas genus. ...

via Gigantic New SuperOrganism with 'Social Intelligence' is Devouring the Titanic (Today's Most Popular).

Special Delivery! Oregon Mailman Caught Defecating in Citizen's Yard

An Oregon postal worker has had a bad day and has been suspended without pay after he was caught with his pants around his ankles, momentously defecating in one of the yards along his delivery route.

Portland resident Don Derfler came to the window last week and spotted the mailman striking out against unseen opponents on the ground by his neighbor's house.

"He started pulling his pants down and started defecating, and at that point I grabbed my camera and started to take pictures," Derfler told MSNBC.

The evidence was quickly vanquished, but the neighborhood still wasn't pleased.

An official with the U.S. Postal Service said it is investigating why the mailman delivered his loss and if he allowed any runs.

U.S. Postal Service representative Ron Anderson did not balk and went up with a good apology to customers and to the public.


"We're taking this very seriously ... I've worked for the Postal Service for many years and have never heard of an incident like this, and I hope I never do again."via Special Delivery! Oregon Mailman Caught Defecating in Citizen's Yard.

Outbreak of toxic caterpillars in Pangbourne

Residents have had some bad days due to a toxic caterpillar in Pangbourne and parts of west London.The Forestry Commission came out with a caution not to touch the caterpillars of the oak processionary moth.

Their momentous hairs contain a toxin that can score you some itchy skin rashes as well as eye and throat irritations.

The Forestry Commission's Stewart Snape stepped up to the plate to say that residents can report sightings but that the caterpillars should only be vanquished by pest control operators.

Officials are now recording outbreaks of the moth in Pangbourne in West Berkshire and the London boroughs of Ealing, Brent, Hounslow, Richmond upon Thames and Hammersmith Fulham.

Health Protection Agency director Dr Brian McCloskey said: "We strongly advise people not to touch or approach the caterpillars or their nests because of the health risks caused by the toxin-containing hairs.

"Pets can also be hit by these opponents and should be kept away as well".

He added that anyone who experiences an itchy skin rash or other allergic symptoms after being near oak trees in these areas should not balk at consulting their GP.

As a caterpillar, each oak processionary moth has around 62,000 hairs, which they can eject.

Hairs that fall to the ground can be active for up to five years.

The moths only live for two to three days in July or August before their final out.

via BBC News - Outbreak of toxic caterpillars in Pangbourne.

8,000 cow abductions reported in southern U.S. sent White House into a panic

Cows were sacrificed by aliens sending the White House into a panic declassified FBI files have revealed.

It is claimed that more than 8,000 cows were abducted by UFOs before they were mutilated and thrown back down to earth over the southern United States during the 1970s.

The memo is one of thousands of previously unreleased classified files that the bureau has made public in a new online resource called The Vault.

The files detail how the aliens took trophies from their victims in the form of body parts and in some cases they drained the animals entirely of their blood.

One investigator's theory was that 'these animals are picked up by aircraft, mutilated elsewhere and returned and dropped from aircraft.

'Identical mutilations have been taking place all over the south west. whoever is responsible is well organised with boundless technology, financing and secrecy.'

When news of the cow abductions reached the White House in 1979, there was fear.

'The materials sent to me indicate one of the strangest phenomenon in my memory,' said the then US Attorney General Griffin Bell in a letter to senator Harrison Schmitt, according to The Sun newspaper.

Mr Schmitt represented New Mexico, where countless incidents were reported at a ranch in Dulce, a small town in the north of the State.

In one case an 11-month old bull was dropped close to someone's house from an aircraft and its sex organs had been removed.

The police report about the incident said: 'The bull sustained visible bruises around the brisket seeming to indicate that a strap was used to life and lower the animal from the aircraft... flesh underneath the hide was pinkish in colour.

'A probably explanation for the pinkish blood is a control type of radiation used to kill the animal... both the liver and the heart were mushy. Both organs had the texture and consistency of peanut butter.'

FBI agents were dispatched to farms across the country upon reports to probe the abductions.

A report from the farm in Dulce during 1976 said that a suspect aircraft had landed and left three pod marks in a triangular shape.

A further report commissioned in 1979 added: 'The Department of Justice advised that their criminal division has been aware of the phenomenon of animals being mutilated in a manner that would indicate such acts were performed by persons as part of a ritual or ceremony.'

The FBI added that other possible theories for the mutilation of the animals was as a result of biological warfare or 'unidentified objects' were to blame.

The documents about the cows is just one among thousands of files released by the FBI. ...

via 8,000 cow abductions reported in southern U.S. sent White House into a panic | Mail Online.

I researched this ten years ago when it was news. I poked around in Dulce and got stopped by a bunch of heavily armed men at a roadblock on the way out of town. During another adventure, I examined and photographed a mutilated cow that was being guarded(?) for some reason by men with uniforms and guns near Mt. Shasta.

I do not think aliens are involved. The truth, I believe, is more frightening than aliens.  The answer to this mystery can be found by searching for the dog that does not bark.  What is an obvious thing you would expect to find associated with an investigation of this phenomena? You won't find it. When you ask why, you will see the rabbit hole. My advice: Don't go down it. There are things with teeth in there. Big things. Big teeth. This is not a game.

Strange Exits: Man commits suicide by crocodile

A distressed farm worker may have committed suicide by wading into a crocodile-infested river, police in South Africa said today.

Detectives believe labourer David Lubisi, 40, was eaten alive after he entered the Lepelle river following an argument with his girlfriend.

The father-of-three has not been seen for more than a week after apparently telling a colleague about his painful plan on April 7.

Sergeant Malesela Makgopa today said officers believed Mr Lubisi had died in a bizarre case of suicide.

He said: 'The man has not been seen since the incident and his body has not been found.

'Our investigations have revealed that at around 7pm on April 7 he told a co-worker he wanted to walk into the river, which he knew to be infested with crocodiles.

'He was last seen heading towards the water and never turned up after that.

'We believe he may have been having domestic problems with his girlfriend and that he wanted to commit suicide.

'If that is true then it was a particularly horrible and painful way to die.' Police said the local community had been shattered by the apparent tragedy, which happened near the town of Bushbuckbridge close to the famous Kruger National Park in South Africa's eastern Mpumalanga province.

Before his disappearance Mr Lubisi had worked in the area for five years as a labourer at a game farm.

The country's Sowetan newspaper today reported that the owner of a neighbouring property reported seeing a crocodile with a human leg protruding from its mouth four days after the incident. ...

via David Lubisi, 40, commits suicide by crocodile 'after fight with girlfriend' | Mail Online.

Dancing mania

Sometime in mid-July 1518 a woman stepped into one of Strasbourg’s streets and began dancing. Within a week another thirty four had joined her. By end of August, it is said that 400 people had experienced the madness, dancing uncontrollably around the city.

Local physicians were consulted. They excluded astrological and supernatural causes, declaring it to be a ‘natural disease’ caused by ‘hot blood’; treatment: more dancing. In an echo of the raves that would prove so popular five hundred years later, two guildhalls and an outdoor grain market were cleared so the afflicted could dance freely and uninterrupted. Musicians were provided.

When dancers began to die the governors rethought their strategy. A new diagnosis was made; the dancing was now attributed to a curse sent down by an angry saint. In contrition gambling, gaming and prostitution were banned and the dissolute banished. When this proved ineffective the dancers were despatched to a mountaintop shrine and divine intervention was requested. In the following weeks the epidemic finally abated.

The first major outbreak of dancing mania is thought to have taken place in Aachen, Germany on June 24 1374 after which it spread quickly through France, Italy, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands. Outbreaks virtually always struck close to earlier similarly effected sites. Maastricht, Trier, Zurich and Strasbourg each experienced two or more episodes. Thousands of people danced in agony for days or weeks, screaming of terrible visions and imploring religious leaders to save their souls.

It seems unbelievable today, but there is no question that these epidemics did occur. Dozens of reliable chronicles from several towns and cities describe the events of 1374.

No consensus exists as to the condition’s aetiology. One theory is that sufferers had ingested ergot, a mould that grows on stalks of ripening rye and can cause hallucinations, spasms, and tremors. Epidemics of ergotism are known to have occurred in mediaeval Europe when people ate contaminated flour. But it is unlikely that those poisoned by ergot could have danced for days at a time and nor would so many people have reacted to its psychotropic chemicals in the same way. ...

via Dancing mania | Frontier Psychiatrist.

Brazilian scientists investigate Beethoven's cancer-fighting properties

Research underway at the Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is investigating whether music might be able to fight cancer.

Dr. Márcia Alves Marques Capella and colleagues performed a series of tests in 2010, exposing dish-cultures of both healthy and cancerous cells to audio playbacks of various music genres. In repeated tests, Dr. Capella found that recordings of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor destroyed around 20% of cancerous cells within a few days – yet the healthy cells were unharmed. A similar result was obtained with ‘Atmosphères' composed by György Ligeti in 1961. But, curiously perhaps, no measurable changes in cell growth were found for Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D major. Possible mechanisms which might have produced the results are as yet entirely unknown – though it's speculated that they could be related to the rhythm, frequency or intensity of the music. The team plans further tests beginning in April 2011 ...

via Brazilian scientists investigate Beethoven's cancer-fighting properties.

I wondered about this ten years ago in my article about Raymond Royal Rife's supposed cancer cure:

Does our Western Musical Scale Encode Lost Healing Arts?

What if ... the major scale was picked by the ancients because they knew the curative powers of certain frequencies in that scale? What if we have drifted off of the correct frequencies in all of these years? Look at the musical scale above, compare it to the frequencies that Rife claimed would vibrate cancer germs to death, and decide for yourself. Can these audio frequencies open some sort of secret door?

Here it is... in the right key...  Some versions on youtube are wrongly pitch shifted so they are no longer in C minor.) I haven't checked it with a tuner,  but this one just feels right and the person who uploaded it says ... " the video was wrong pichted because of it's age or what ever when it was downloaded on youtube.I just re-pitched the sound track into the true C minor!"

Beethoven symphony 5 in the real tune : C minor



Ah, but there is one lingering question... did Dr. Capella use the true C minor or the C# minor recording to kill the cancer? Hmmm...

Well, the true C just feels right.  Here's the other composition that worked:

Animal’s 'Bloodcurdling' Cries Keep Kids Inside

Children are being kept off the playground at a school west of Morganton, N.C., after police and neighbors spotted signs of a large animal prowling in a wooded area nearby.

Pastor Michael Brown, who lives nearby, talked to WSOC-TV. He said he hasn’t seen the animal, but he has heard the sound it makes.

“I've heard a bloodcurdling cry,” Brown said. “I've never heard anything like that, and it made the hair on the back of your head stand up.”

Police have set up traps behind Glen Alpine Elementary and are trying to bait the animal with deer carcasses. Parents have been notified of the concerns.

Tracks found near the school and nighttime sightings by police using infrared visual equipment indicate the animal could be a large cat weighing 80 pounds or more.

Parent Kelly Lingafelt said she was warned by police to be careful while walking with friends Thursday.

via Animal’s 'Bloodcurdling' Cries Keep Kids Inside - Greenville News Story - WYFF Greenville.

Primitive Sea Creature Sports Eyes Made of Rock

A tiny sea mollusk uses eyes made of a calcium carbonate crystal to spot predators lurking above, researchers say of the first such rocky lenses found in the animal kingdom.

While scientists had discovered the hundreds of eye-like structures on the surface of this armored mollusk, called a chiton, decades ago, they didn't know what they were made of or whether they could actually see objects or just sensed light. [Image of chiton eyes]

"Turns out they can see objects, though probably not well," said study researcher Daniel Speiser, who recently became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

For comparison, the study found that chiton vision would be the equivalent of humans looking in the sky and seeing a disk the diameter of 20 moons, making human vision about a thousand times sharper than chiton vision, the researchers said. [Jellyfish Have Human-Like Eyes]

Chitons first appeared on Earth more than 500 million years ago. But according to the fossil record, the oldest chitons with eyes didn't emerge until the last 25 million years, making their eyes among the most recent to evolve in animals.

The eyes likely evolved so chitons could see and defend against predators, Speiser said ...

via Primitive Sea Creature Sports Eyes Made of Rock | Chitons & Primitive Creatures | Evolution of Vision | LiveScience.