Hair could reveal travels

New Scientist;"Tracking the recent whereabouts of suspected criminals or uncovering the true origins of asylum-seeking immigrants might come down to a single hair, says a researcher. Colleagues at the University of Reading are testing a new method of determining where people have lived by measuring the ratios of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in their tissues or fluids. The isotopes, absorbed into the body from water, have predictable values for different local areas and leave a telltale signature in tissues. Hair is particularly good because it grows about a centimetre a month, So it actually grows a record of not only where you have been but what you have been eating and drinking. Says the technology could assist police investigations and potentially help immigration officials to decide whether people seeking asylum are arriving from appropriate countries. We’re not going to get a postcode. It will only get as far as a regional level, but that may be good enough for some cases. Distinct local patterns The method is based on the ratio of two sets of naturally occurring isotopes, oxygen-16 and oxygen-18, and hydrogen and deuterium. Plants and animals alike absorb a distinct local pattern of isotopes from the water and food they consume. Because each isotope differs in its atomic weight, the ratio of each pair can be easily measured by mass spectroscopy and compared to published local values. Researchers from many areas of science have used these isotopes for years to investigate everything from the source of air pollution to how far butterflies migrate. But this is one of the first applications of the method to living human beings. Reachers are currently conducting trials to figure out how the isotopes migrate from food to tissue samples. They are tracking the dietary habits of volunteers to develop a reference index of human isotope ratios and the places or foods they correspond to. They also want to extend the trials to include officers in the high commission of foreign countries. The technique, however, could fail for several reasons. For example, if test subjects drink large amounts of bottled water, the isotope signature could resemble the water’s foreign source more than their current residence. Frequent travelers would also be hard to pin down. But despite the potential pitfalls of the procedure, it would be a boon to criminal investigation units. It would be a cheap and fairly rapid technique, that’s really important to a police investigation."

I think this would be a really good thing in a lot of ways it would help us on cutting down on a lot of unsolved crimes and would be dangers. But it could also be a bad thing, because it takes away from the private way we all like to live, and we all know that even in tests like this not everything is 100% things could come up wrong. I have heard of people losing -Jobs, freedom and other things because of a DNA-testing and it was read wrong by a lab.

DUI horse-and-buggy

RIGA, Latvia -- Police in eastern Latvia were trying to determine what charges to bring against a drunken horse-and-buggy driver who caused a drunken motorist to crash into a ditch, flipping his car. The accident happened just before midnight Monday near Kraslava, 140 miles east of the Latvian capital, Riga. The driver of the horse-and-buggy made an illegal turn onto a main road when he should have yielded to an oncoming car, said Kraslava police spokeswoman Ingrida Nevedomska. To avoid crashing into the horse-and-buggy, the driver of the car, a Volkswagen Golf, veered into a roadside ditch, flipping his car, Nevedomska said. The driver was not seriously hurt. Police, who did not release the names of the drivers, administered breathalyzer tests and determined they were both legally drunk, Kraslava traffic police chief Uldis Ornicans said The driver of the car was fined $830 and had his license revoked. But police were unsure what to do about the horse-and-buggy driver -- only motor vehicles and bicycles are covered under the country's drunk driving laws. "How do you ticket a guy driving a horse-and-buggy?" Nemedomska said. Ornicans said the man at the reins would probably be charged with having caused an accident but declined to specify what penalties he might face. As for the horse, Nevedomska said, it seemed sober."

Okay? How does the poor horse feel about this? He was made to comment a crime and could of been killed!! Poor animal, but this is a first for me never heard of a drunker buggy-driver in the year 2004'

Dinosaurs doting parents

New Scientist;" A fossil of one adult Psittacosaurus dinosaur surrounded by 34 juveniles has provided the most compelling evidence to date that dinosaurs raised their young after hatching. Previously discovered fossils of teeth found at the same site in China from Allosaurus dinosaurs of differing ages, and fossils of groups of young Maiasaura have hinted that dinosaurs may have indulged in parental care. But what makes this 125-million-year old fossil find from Liaoning province more convincing is that the skeletons are complete, and crowded together in life-like positions with their legs tucked under and heads raised, indicating that they were buried alive rather than swept together after death. Psittacosaurus are herbivorous dinosaurs, about one metre long, with parrot-like beaks and cheek horns. The newly unearthed juveniles are about a quarter of the length of the adult, and far bigger than hatchlings. This suggests that the adult had tended them for some time, says David Varricchio of Montana State University in Bozeman, US, who examined the ancient remains with Jinyuan Liu of the Dalian Natural History Museum, China, and colleagues. “It looks like a creche,” says Chris Daniels, an evolutionary biologist at Adelaide University, Australia. “It would be unlikely that one or two adults could provide food for so many youngsters.” Caring for young in creches is a type of parenting behaviour seen in animals such as Emperor penguins in which a few adults tend chicks from several families, while the parents collect food. Birds and crocodilians, which also invest time and effort raising their offspring, share a common ancestor with dinosaurs, so the new finding suggests that sophisticated parenting is an ancient behaviour that evolved just once in these animals, rather than twice."

I found this to be quite a pleasure to read, why because it goes to show that it don't matter what type of animal you are. You still have a great need as a parent of your off-spring to protect and feed them. Also we really don't know that much about things in our past but what we find thru diggs and research. And the fact that they are always finding new facts makes it worth reading to me. I hope you enjoyed reading it also.

Man Tried To Sell 200-year Old Skull On E-Bay

NBC-6;"A California man has been charged with trying to sell the 200-year-old skull of a Hawaiian native on e-Bay. Jerry David Hasson is accused of violating the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, a federal law that protects archaeological finds. Authorities contend he put the skeletal remains on sale on eBay in February, claiming the warrior died on Maui in the 1790s. On the site, Hasson allegedly claimed he found the skull and other remains on a Hawaiian beach. An undercover agent with the Bureau of Indian Affairs arranged to buy the skull. An anthropologist determined the skull was that of an adult female of Polynesian ancestry who was around 50 when she died. Hasson could face up to five years in prison and a 250-thousand-dollar fine."

Well just goes to tell you, what you can find on E-Bay..LOL This guy must of thought he was a really good con-man, or he smoked way to much of the Tie-stick he bought while he was in Hawaii..What dumb-A$$

Teaching Your Teen to Drive

about.com;"The first time I took Spencer on a higher speed rural road (50 mph speed limit), he panicked when he reached 40 miles per hour. He broke into a cold sweat as he watched objects whizzing beside him on the drivers side of the car. I finally coaxed him into getting up to 50, but it was not without a fair amount of fear from his perspective. He had a similar experience the first time he merged onto a freeway. Learned some pretty good tips for teaching teenagers to safely work behind the wheel. If you are embarking on the process of teaching your first teen to drive, or if you are trying for a first "successful" experience, then there are some things you should know."
My teenager daughter has been bugging me really bad to teach her how to drive or be allowed to take, Drivers-Ed. Well being a single mom, not a lot of money to pay for the latter so I have agreed to teach her myself. Well lets just say its been a really stressful time for me, the thought of my little girl behind the wheel when just a short time ago she was trying to figure out how to just stay on a bike and not fall off. Well would love to hear stories or infro. From others that have done this or been thru this...Thanks