Sunday, March 16, 2008
Cup that cheers may be a counter to next terror strike
New York, March 16 (IANS) It may well and truly be the cup that cheers - especially if you are under terrorist attack. A cup of the humble tea - with or without sugar, but minus milk - is an effective antidote to anthrax that, in powder form, terrorised the US post-9/11, according to a new study.
Researchers at Cardiff University and the University of Maryland have found that special components in tea - called polyphenols - can considerably inhibit the activity of Bacillus anthracis - anthrax’s scientific name, Sciencedaily reported.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest issue of the journal Microbiologist.
A very serious and rapidly progressing form of the disease occurs when bacterial spores are inhaled making anthrax a potent threat when used as a biological warfare agent.
Les Baillie, who led the study, said: “Our research sought to determine if tea was more effective than a commercially available American medium roast coffee at killing anthrax. We found that special components in tea such as polyphenols have the ability to inhibit the activity of anthrax quite considerably.”
The study provides further evidence of the wide range of beneficial physiological and pharmalogical effects of this common household item.
The research also shows that the addition of whole milk to a standard cup of tea completely killed its antibacterial activity against anthrax.
Said Baillie: “I would suggest that in the event that we are faced with a potential bio-terror attack, individuals may want to forgo their dash of milk at least until the situation is under control.
“What’s more, given the ability of tea to bring solace and steady the mind, and to inactivate Bacillus anthracis and its toxin, perhaps the Boston Tea Party was not such a good idea after all.”
Special Thanks to Thaindian.com
Researchers at Cardiff University and the University of Maryland have found that special components in tea - called polyphenols - can considerably inhibit the activity of Bacillus anthracis - anthrax’s scientific name, Sciencedaily reported.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest issue of the journal Microbiologist.
A very serious and rapidly progressing form of the disease occurs when bacterial spores are inhaled making anthrax a potent threat when used as a biological warfare agent.
Les Baillie, who led the study, said: “Our research sought to determine if tea was more effective than a commercially available American medium roast coffee at killing anthrax. We found that special components in tea such as polyphenols have the ability to inhibit the activity of anthrax quite considerably.”
The study provides further evidence of the wide range of beneficial physiological and pharmalogical effects of this common household item.
The research also shows that the addition of whole milk to a standard cup of tea completely killed its antibacterial activity against anthrax.
Said Baillie: “I would suggest that in the event that we are faced with a potential bio-terror attack, individuals may want to forgo their dash of milk at least until the situation is under control.
“What’s more, given the ability of tea to bring solace and steady the mind, and to inactivate Bacillus anthracis and its toxin, perhaps the Boston Tea Party was not such a good idea after all.”
Special Thanks to Thaindian.com
World's Largest Mozzerella
In Sala Consilina, a small town near Salerno, a team of mozzarella masters spent a significant portion of their Sunday on 7 October crafting the world’s largest mozzarella.
Three 70 meter coils of mozzarella were twisted together to create a braid that was 56.5 meters long and 30 centimeters in diameter. The cheesy effort won the artisans a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, for they topped their own 2006 record by adding 13.7 meters to the length of this year’s mozzarella.
Following the Italian rule that says that mozzarella should be eaten on the day it is made, the super-mozza was consumed a clamoring crowd of fans who had turned out to watch the making of cheese history.
Circa October, 2007
Three 70 meter coils of mozzarella were twisted together to create a braid that was 56.5 meters long and 30 centimeters in diameter. The cheesy effort won the artisans a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, for they topped their own 2006 record by adding 13.7 meters to the length of this year’s mozzarella.
Following the Italian rule that says that mozzarella should be eaten on the day it is made, the super-mozza was consumed a clamoring crowd of fans who had turned out to watch the making of cheese history.
Circa October, 2007
Discovering a DaVinci
It could be a scene from the Da Vinci Code: A high-tech art sleuth finds a hollow space behind an Italian palazzo’s murals, and believes he may have discovered a Da Vinci masterpiece not seen since 1563.
In a case of life imitating art, Maurizio Seracini, an internationally recognized expert in high-technology art analysis, has done just that – and, in an odd twist, he does indeed appear, as himself, in Dan Brown’s popular bestseller about secrets hidden in Leonardo’s work – the book’s only non-fictional character.
(In the Da Vinci Code, Seracini uses his investigative skills to show that Leonardo’s Adoration of the Magi has been painted over by other artists and can no longer be considered a true Da Vinci.)
Seracini, 55, an alumnus of the University of California, San Diego and a native Florentine, thinks he may be close to finding the lost fresco Battle of Anghiari behind murals by Giorgio Vasari in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. Using radar, x-rays and other devices, he discovered a narrow cavity behind the Vasari fresco Battle of Marciano, and believes that the latter artist, an admirer of the great Leonardo, intentionally created the space to preserve the master’s work.
Art historians have known that Battle of Anghiari existed from early sketches, from the copies made by Da Vinci contemporaries, and from the writings of those who saw it – one of whom described it as “miraculous.”
“Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari was considered the highest work of art of the Renaissance at that time,” Seracini said. “For over 50 years afterwards, documents spoke of the wonderful horses of Leonardo with the highest admiration.”
If he and other researchers can prove that the Vasari murals conceal a greater treasure, “it may be possible,” Seracini believes, “to remove the Vasari fresco and the wall behind, extract Leonardo’s mural, and finally put the Vasari back in place.”
Seracini, who heads Editech — a Florence-based company he founded in 1977 focused on the “diagnostics of cultural heritage” — estimates that he’s worked on some 2,000 paintings, including 31 works by Raphael and three others by Da Vinci. Most of his equipment, he says, has been adapted from medical devices. Infrared, thermographic, ultraviolet and other kinds of scanners allow him to see images behind a painting’s visible layers.
Now those high-tech tools have peered behind a mural, into a palazzo’s walls, to find another mural, long thought destroyed or lost to the ages.
How will he search for Leonardo’s lost painting? A cutting-edge nuclear probe will carry out an analysis using “neutron activation and“point by point, we will get a map that will enable us to see what’s behind Vasari’s fresco,” Saraceni said. So-called ‘georadar’ technology created at the University of Florence will also be used.
Seracini received his bachelor’s degree from UCSD’s Revelle College in 1973; he majored in applied mathematics and bioengineering, and spoke at his alma mater in April, as a Bioengineering Distinguished Lecturer, on “The Role of Science in Conservation of Cultural Heritage.” In 1975, he received a degree in electronic engineering from the University of Padua in Italy.
He credits his UCSD teachers – who had him experiment with lasers on fragments of blackened marble from Venice and Florence – with the spark that “ignited a long-lasting desire to blend art and science.”
During his time as a student in San Diego, he also traveled to UCLA to study under Carlo Pedretti, a scholar of Renaissance art and a specialist in Da Vinci. It was his mentor Pedretti, seeking a non-invasive way to search for Leonardo’s masterpiece, who steered Seracini to the murals in the Palazzo Vecchio.
Begun in 1505, the Battle of Anghari is considered by many art historians to be Leonardo’s most important – and largest – masterpiece. Vasari, commissioned by the Medici family in 1593 to remodel the palazzo’s hall, might have covered the unfinished work with a wall.
Most art historians believe, says Seracini, that even if the incomplete Da Vinci fresco is behind the wall, it may have deteriorated beyond salvation. Like the doctor he studied to be, he takes a physician’s detached approach to the prospect. “We’ll investigate,” he says, “and see.” It’s the code Da Vinci himself might have followed.
Special Thanks to UCSD
In a case of life imitating art, Maurizio Seracini, an internationally recognized expert in high-technology art analysis, has done just that – and, in an odd twist, he does indeed appear, as himself, in Dan Brown’s popular bestseller about secrets hidden in Leonardo’s work – the book’s only non-fictional character.
(In the Da Vinci Code, Seracini uses his investigative skills to show that Leonardo’s Adoration of the Magi has been painted over by other artists and can no longer be considered a true Da Vinci.)
Seracini, 55, an alumnus of the University of California, San Diego and a native Florentine, thinks he may be close to finding the lost fresco Battle of Anghiari behind murals by Giorgio Vasari in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. Using radar, x-rays and other devices, he discovered a narrow cavity behind the Vasari fresco Battle of Marciano, and believes that the latter artist, an admirer of the great Leonardo, intentionally created the space to preserve the master’s work.
Art historians have known that Battle of Anghiari existed from early sketches, from the copies made by Da Vinci contemporaries, and from the writings of those who saw it – one of whom described it as “miraculous.”
“Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari was considered the highest work of art of the Renaissance at that time,” Seracini said. “For over 50 years afterwards, documents spoke of the wonderful horses of Leonardo with the highest admiration.”
If he and other researchers can prove that the Vasari murals conceal a greater treasure, “it may be possible,” Seracini believes, “to remove the Vasari fresco and the wall behind, extract Leonardo’s mural, and finally put the Vasari back in place.”
Seracini, who heads Editech — a Florence-based company he founded in 1977 focused on the “diagnostics of cultural heritage” — estimates that he’s worked on some 2,000 paintings, including 31 works by Raphael and three others by Da Vinci. Most of his equipment, he says, has been adapted from medical devices. Infrared, thermographic, ultraviolet and other kinds of scanners allow him to see images behind a painting’s visible layers.
Now those high-tech tools have peered behind a mural, into a palazzo’s walls, to find another mural, long thought destroyed or lost to the ages.
How will he search for Leonardo’s lost painting? A cutting-edge nuclear probe will carry out an analysis using “neutron activation and“point by point, we will get a map that will enable us to see what’s behind Vasari’s fresco,” Saraceni said. So-called ‘georadar’ technology created at the University of Florence will also be used.
Seracini received his bachelor’s degree from UCSD’s Revelle College in 1973; he majored in applied mathematics and bioengineering, and spoke at his alma mater in April, as a Bioengineering Distinguished Lecturer, on “The Role of Science in Conservation of Cultural Heritage.” In 1975, he received a degree in electronic engineering from the University of Padua in Italy.
He credits his UCSD teachers – who had him experiment with lasers on fragments of blackened marble from Venice and Florence – with the spark that “ignited a long-lasting desire to blend art and science.”
During his time as a student in San Diego, he also traveled to UCLA to study under Carlo Pedretti, a scholar of Renaissance art and a specialist in Da Vinci. It was his mentor Pedretti, seeking a non-invasive way to search for Leonardo’s masterpiece, who steered Seracini to the murals in the Palazzo Vecchio.
Begun in 1505, the Battle of Anghari is considered by many art historians to be Leonardo’s most important – and largest – masterpiece. Vasari, commissioned by the Medici family in 1593 to remodel the palazzo’s hall, might have covered the unfinished work with a wall.
Most art historians believe, says Seracini, that even if the incomplete Da Vinci fresco is behind the wall, it may have deteriorated beyond salvation. Like the doctor he studied to be, he takes a physician’s detached approach to the prospect. “We’ll investigate,” he says, “and see.” It’s the code Da Vinci himself might have followed.
Special Thanks to UCSD
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
