Gray smoke rises from Unit 3 of the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Monday, March 21, 2011. Officials say TEPCO temporarily evacuated its workers from the site. Tokyo Electric Power Co. via Kyodo News/ AP

This video was Uploaded youtube by arevamirpal on Jan 19, 2012 who writes:

TEPCO conducted the endoscopy of the Containment Vessel of Reactor 2 to see the inside. TEPCO’s spokesman Matsumoto said in the press conference that the white specs in the video is from gamma rays. White streaks across the screen are water droplets.

The endoscope is made by Olympus. Drilling the hole on the Containment Vessel was done on January 17, requiring 40 workers in 10 teams. The endoscopy operation on January 19 took 34 workers, one hour, working right next to the Containment Vessel.

For more about this operation, please see my posts,

http://bit.ly/xQC8Eo

http://bit.ly/zeAG56

For more Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident and radiation contamination in Japan, visit my blogs:
www.exskf.com (English)
www.exskf-jp.com (Japanese)

Random massage image.

Massage’s Mystery Mechanism Unmasked
by Gisela Telis  |  www.news.sciencemag.org  |  1 February 2012

Massage’s healing touch may have more to do with DNA than with good hands. A new study has revealed for the first time how kneading eases sore muscles—by turning off genes associated with inflammation and turning on genes that help muscles heal. The discovery contradicts popular claims that massage squeezes lactic acid or waste products out of tired muscles and could bring new medical credibility to the practice.

Despite massage’s widespread popularity, researchers know surprisingly little about its effects on muscles. Past studies have managed to show only that a well-administered rub can reduce pain, but none has ever pinpointed how. The scant evidence makes many physicians unsure, if not outright skeptical, of the method.

Mark Tarnopolsky, a neurometabolic researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, was one of those physicians—until he suffered a severe hamstring injury in a waterskiing accident 4 years ago. Massage therapy was part of his rehabilitation regimen, and it was so effective at easing his pain that he became determined to track down the mechanism that made him feel so good. “I thought there has to be a physiologic basis for this,” he says. “And being a cellular scientist, my interest’s in the cellular basis.”

So Tarnopolsky and colleagues—including the coordinator of his rehab program—recruited 11 young men willing to exercise in the name of science. The subjects underwent a grueling upright cycling session that left their muscles damaged and sore. Ten minutes after their workout, a massage therapist massaged one of their legs. Meanwhile, the researchers took tissue samples from the volunteers’ quadriceps muscles—once before the workout, once 10 minutes after the massage, and once 3 hours after the workout—and compared the genetic profiles of each sample.

The researchers detected more indicators of cell repair and inflammation in the post-workout samples than in the pre-workout samples. That didn’t surprise them because scientists know that exercise activates genes associated with repair and inflammation. What did shock them were the clear differences between the massaged legs and the unmassaged ones after exercise. The massaged legs had 30% more PGC-1alpha, a gene that helps muscle cells build mitochondria, the “engines” that turn a cell’s food into energy. They also had three times less NFkB, which turns on genes associated with inflammation.

The results, published online today in Science Translational Medicine, suggest that massage suppresses the inflammation that follows exercise while promoting faster healing. “Basically, you can have your cake and eat it too,” Tarnopolsky says. He adds that the study found no evidence to support often-repeated claims that massage removes lactic acid, a byproduct of exertion long blamed for muscle soreness, or waste products from tired muscles.

“This is probably the best study I’ve seen that looks at the biological basis for massage therapy,” says Thomas Best, a sports medicine physician at Ohio State University in Columbus, who has studied massage’s effects on animals. He notes that it would be a hard experiment to reproduce because no two massages are identical, but he calls the results “compelling” nonetheless.

Tarnopolsky, for one, is a convert. “There’s no question I’m going to be visiting the massage therapist more often,” he says.

Image www.candywarehouse.com.

Is Licorice Dangerous?
November 1, 2011  |  smithsonianmag.com

It’s first day of November and kids everywhere are sitting down with stashes of goodies they earned the night before by dressing up, knocking on doors and rattling off the three magic words that win them a treat. And for adults, the leftover Halloween goodies are all on sale, so the time is right to enjoy a treat or two as well. Personally, I love my Good and Plenty, the licorice treats with pink and white sugary shells that spokesperson Choo Choo Charlie uses to make his locomotive zip down the track. But it turns out that Charlie should consider cutting back on his candy habit. According to a consumer awareness update published by the FDA, overindulging in licorice can cause health problems.

In Western medicine, licorice root has been used for hundreds of years as an herbal remedy to treat conditions from common colds to hepatitis. Clinical evidence of its effectiveness, however, is decidedly mixed. While it may soothe your symptoms, licorice more than likely isn’t curing what ails you. But licorice—the root as well as the black-colored iterations of the candy—can potentially do you harm, due to a chemical called glycyrrhetinic acid. When consumed in large quantities, it can cause your body’s potassium levels to fall to the point that some people experience arrhythmia, a rise in blood pressure, swelling and even congestive heart failure. People taking diuretics or medications for high blood pressure should be especially wary as the licorice may inhibit the effectiveness of the drugs. How much is too much? According to the FDA, a diet including 2 ounces of black licorice a day for two weeks might merit a trip to the hospital to have an irregular heart beat checked out. And consuming one to two pounds of licorice candy in one go may cause the blood vessels in your eyes to spasm, causing temporarily impaired vision. Though predominately a concern for persons over 40, it is recommended that everyone should moderate a high licorice intake.

That said, it pays to be an avid label reader. Some licorice products don’t contain extracts from the actual root and instead use anise to achieve a similar flavor. Packaging language such as “licorice-flavored” might serve as a tip-off that you’re not getting the real deal, but take a second to read the fine print on the ingredients list. Furthermore, licorice can also be processed so that the trouble-causing acid is removed, so you can keep an eye out for products marked DGL, or de-glycyrrhizinated licorice.

I found some new, strong, and eerie images while researching this, but I placed them after the jump out of respect.

Apollo I crew. Image www.universetoday.com

Apollo I astronauts Edward White, Virgil (Gus) Grissom, and Roger Chaffee horsing around during a photo shoot. Image www.de-la-terre-a-la-lune.com

Interior view of the Apollo 204 spacecraft after the fire, which killed astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee during a plugs-out test at the Kennedy Space Center on January 27, 1967. Image Ed Hengeveld, www.apolloarchive.com.

"NASA combustion experts examine spacecraft outside late 3rd Feb 1967. Image posted by robsouth to www.collectspace.com

Photo showing internal fire damage. Image posted by robsouth to www.collectspace.com

The Apollo 1 Disaster
© Copyright 2003, Jim Loy

On January 27, 1967, on launch pad 34, Edward White, Virgil (Gus) Grissom, and Roger Chaffee (shown on the left) died in a fire, during a preflight test. Their mission had been designated Apollo 204. After the accident, it was renamed Apollo 1. There were no Apollo 2 and 3 missions. The next manned mission was Apollo 7. Numerous problems developed with oxygen and communications, and the test dragged on and on. Various communications methods went awry. Then five and a half hours after they had entered the command module, Chaffee said, “Fire, I smell fire.” Two seconds later, White shouted, “Fire in the cockpit.” A few seconds later, they were dead from smoke inhalation.

Numerous things contributed to the disaster.

The test was performed in a pure oxygen atmosphere at nearly full atmospheric pressure. While this is considered hazardous, it had been done on all flights since the beginning of the Mercury program, as far as I can tell. After the accident, air was used while on the ground, and pure oxygen at reduced pressure was used once the spacecraft gained high altitude.

Image collectspace.com

Image collectspace.com

There were many flammable objects within the command module. Some substances are mildly flammable in air, but are much more flammable in pure oxygen under those conditions.

There was evidence of several electrical arcs, with no single identifiable cause. There was no evidence of sabotage.

The hatches could not be opened from either side, because of the pressure of the hot gasses inside the command module, which soon ruptured. The hatches were subsequently redesigned.

Emergency evacuation was very complicated, and had never been done in a little as 90 seconds. Rescue efforts were unsuccessful. 27 men were treated for smoke inhalation, two were hospitalized.

after the fireOn the right is the view into the main hatch, after the bodies had been removed. The astronauts were aware that they had a dangerous job, but they probably did not imagine dying during a test on the launch pad.

Venus fly traps in the wilds near the NC coast. Note the plants clumping habit as well as the tall attractive blooms. Image Miss Fidget circa 2003.

Poaching a threat to rare Venus flytrap plant
by Joel Allen | http://www.carolinalive.com | 01.26.2012

Three people have been arrested in Brunswick County, NC and charged with digging up 200 Venus flytrap plants. Joyce Whaley, 71; her nephew, Kasey Whaley, 31; and his wife Elizabeth Whaley, 27, reportedly told North Carolina wildlife officers that they wanted to sell the rare plants for about 10 cents a piece.

Those who study the Venus flytrap say poaching can be a real problem for the plant’s continued survival.

Its unique ability to capture insects makes the plant popular with kids and adults, but it’s our fascination with this rare carnivorous plant that also makes it a tempting target for poachers.

“People mistakenly think if they find a patch, they can harvest the entire patch, take them home and make money. That’s not really the case. You can buy Venus flytraps now in any of the big box stores,” said Coastal Carolina University botanist Dr. James Luken.

The only place in the world where the Venus flytrap is found in the wild is within a small stretch of coastal North and South Carolina, including Horry County.

Luken said there may be three to four thousand of the plants growing in the heavily-wooded area where he goes to study the plant. To discourage poachers, NewsChannel 15 won’t reveal the location.

Luken said the Venus flytrap is not officially listed as endangered but probably should be, and the population is small enough that the loss of just a few plants can be quite serious.

“A poaching event that removes an entire small population can really have a big impact on the sustainability and the viability of the entire population.”

For Luken, who’s been studying the plants for ten years, spotting a potential poaching incident is pretty easy.

“It basically leaves a little divot in the organic soil and it looks very different than animal digging or anything like that. It has a very characteristic look to it,” he said.

It’s not just poaching that’s a problem, though. Housing and commercial development threatens the plant’s habitat, too. Still, Luken is optimistic about the Venus flytrap’s long-term survival.

“Luckily in both North Carolina and South Carolina, we have some really big preserves with healthy populations of plants, so as long as we continue to manage those correctly, I think we’ll be OK.”

In North Carolina, the fine for digging up plant species like the Venus flytrap is $25.

Pigeon counting. Image William van der Vliet

Scientists Test Counting Ability of Pigeons
www.sciencenewsblog.com | December 26, 2011

Scientists at the University of Otago tested the counting ability of pigeons and found they can count up to nine. The pigeons had to compare pairs of images picturing up to nine objects and order them by lower to higher number. The pigeons received a wheat treat when they pecked the images in the correct ascending sequence.

The pigeons were initially trained with sets containing up to three objects. Pigeons were presented with 35 sets of three images, each with one, two, or three objects of different sizes, colors and shapes. Then the researchers tested to see if the pigeons could apply their knowledge learned from ordering the three images and apply it to images with larger numbers of objects. The pigeons were presented with pairs of images with between one and nine objects and tested on their ability to respond to them in ascending order. The researchers say the pigeons were successful.

The pigeons did best when there was a greater difference between the two pairs of images. Study lead author Dr Damian Scarf says that the greater the distance between the numbers in the pairs, the faster and more accurate the pigeons were.

The researchers say the tests put pigeons on par with primates. Dr. Scarf says, “Our research not only shows that pigeons are also members of this exclusive club, but, somewhat surprisingly, their performance is on a par with that of monkeys.”

The pigeons were not tested with sets greater than nine, so it is possible they can rank even higher sets of numbers in the correct ascending order. Dr. Scarf plans to next test the counting ability of kea, a New Zealand parrot species.

The pigeon counting research was published in the journal Science.