Scientists engineer functioning miniature human livers in the lab
October 31, 2010
(ChattahBox Science News) – Researchers at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have reached an early, but important, milestone in the quest to grow replacement livers in the lab. They are the first to use human liver cells to successfully engineer miniature livers that function at least in a laboratory setting like human livers. The next step is to see if the livers will continue to function after transplantation in an animal model. Read more
Midterm Elections: Better The Devil You Do Than The Devil You Don’t
October 31, 2010
(ChattahBox Op/Ed News) – On Wednesday morning November 3, 2010 I will either be writing an obituary or a call to arms, and as a political prognosticator my record is nothing to brag about. It’s tough to handicap some races while others are quite easy. I don’t bother with them because with few exceptions it all works out the way it’s supposed to. But there is one movement that continues to shock in both directions: The Tea Party. Read more
Woman Arrested in Yemen Plane Bomb Plot While Bomb-Maker Identified But Still At Large
October 31, 2010
(ChattahBox World News) – Two days after explosives were intercepted on a cargo flight out of Yemen, a 22-year-old female medical student has been arrested. Hanan al Samawi, was traced through a phone number left with a cargo company, and was arrested in Yemen on suspicion of posting the packages containing bombs found on two cargo jets in Dubai and Britain. Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen’s president, said the information that identified her was provided by the US and the United Arab Emirates. The bomb intercepted in Britain on its way to America was possibly designed to explode in mid-air and may have been targeted at the UK, according to a Daily Telegraph source.
Read more
Democrats Losses Will Be Of Their Own Doing, but Not Why You Think
October 30, 2010
(ChattahBox Op/Ed) – After what I am about to share with you, I hope that you’ll see that what you don’t know is hurting you, and it’s hurting mostly Democrats, and the worst part for me, being a Democrat, is that it is our own fault.
Although this may seem like breaking news, it’s not. Let me share some remarkable facts:
□ Since President Obama took office, he has cut taxes by more than $240 billion dollars, and the vast majority of those tax cuts have been to the benefit of the middle class.
□ Obama policies have effective cut taxes for 95% of the country.
□ Specific programs that have benefitted all Americans have included breaks for college education, the unemployed, and for renewable energy.
□ TARP, the program that saved banks have produced a remarkable return on our taxpayer investment of more than $28 billion and the money is projected to be paid back in full with more revenue being generated as we go.
□ The economy has seen growth in the last five quarters shoring up expectations that a recovery is actually here and is sustaining itself. Read more
The GOP Whackadoodle List
October 30, 2010
Rand Paul by Gage_Skidmore Wikipedia commons
(ChattahBox Op/Ed) – The rhetoric is rising. Tempers are flaring and the lying is more pervasive than porn in a Paladino email. It’s clear the elections are very close. With all the political news, commercials and pundits punditing about, it’s impossible to escape the simple fact that come next Tuesday the world is coming to an end, unless of course you vote for a Republican (Republicorpians from this point forward) or depending on your point of view the Democrat. I’m thinking those ancient Mayans were off just a little and what they were trying to tell us is that our political system is going to scare us to death in 2010 not in 2012 as previously reported. Read more
Mohammed tops list of UK baby names
October 29, 2010
[ChattahBox News] – Baby names are a clear indicator of the vibrant palette of humanity that is western Europe, and this year’s list of the most popular names includes a surprise; The number one name in Britain is now Mohammed.
Based in London, the Office of National Statistics announced yesterday that ‘Oliver’ was the most popular name for boys born in 2009. But research conducted by CNN of the top 4,500 names shows that when its various spellings are combined Mohammed becomes #1. Read more
The dangers of Tenthers
October 29, 2010
(ChattahBox Op/Ed) – If “one is the loneliest number” then ten is the nuttiest and it has plenty of company. Tenthers are folks who believe the federal government does not have the right to do much of what it does. Basically, they take a very narrow view of the tenth amendment to the constitution, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Essentially, anything they don’t like, the tenthers can declare it unconstitutional, with the exception of federal support for the military. Read more
Study says 25 percent of all sun-like stars may have planets the size of Earth
October 29, 2010
(ChattahBox Science News) – Nearly one in four stars like the sun could have Earth-size planets, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study of nearby solar-mass stars.
UC Berkeley astronomers Andrew Howard and Geoffrey Marcy chose 166 G and K stars within 80 light years of Earth and observed them with the powerful Keck telescope for five years in order to determine the number, mass and orbital distance of any of the stars’ planets. The sun is the best known of the G stars, which are yellow, while K-type dwarfs are slightly smaller, orange-red stars. Read more
OK, Republicans, If You Win, Then What?
October 29, 2010
(ChattahBox Op/Ed) – All partisanship aside, now what? Let’s just say for the sake of today’s column that Republicans gain control of the House, of the Senate I am not entirely sure that will happen, but let’s stick to the House for now. Now what? What happens if Republicans take control of the house? What changes? What will happen? How will it create opportunity that doesn’t currently exist as things stand today? Read more
U.S. Suggests That Israel Lease Land from Palestinians, Report Indicates
October 29, 2010
Israel (ChattahBox World News) – The United States and Israel appear to be working together to establish what could become a Palestine state, which may end the hostility that has endured for years between Israel and Palestinians, reports Haaret.com.
Israel has been privately negotiating with American officials to create a proposal in which Israel would lease East Jerusalem land from Palestinians for a 40 to 99 year period, Haaretz.com says, citing a report printed in today’s Arabic-language newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. In exchange for the lease deal, an independent Palestine state would be established, but it’s unclear what Palestinian officials think of the proposal.
Although sources indicate that the U.S. sparked the talks, neither the American government nor Israeli officials would comment on the reprot, Haaretz.com indicates.