The Buffet Project

Attacks by the largest lizard still living have been increasing in the past few years.  Recently two Komodo dragons mauled a man to death when he fell out of a tree in an orchard in eastern Indonesia.
Muhamad Anwar, 31, was found bleeding within minutes of falling out of a sugar-apple tree on the island of Komodo and died later at a clinic. The 10ft and 200lbs. lizards rarely attack humans but after an eight-year-old boy died after being mauled in 2007, attacks are said to be increasing as their habitat becomes restricted.  Komodo dragons,  are carnivorous and can move at up to 12mph in pursuit of prey. Although they can climb trees, they mainly wait and pounce on passing potential victims, and have been known to eat up to 80% of their own body weight in a single meal.  They have serrated teeth, similar to sharks, to tear meat and although they are not poisonous, their saliva contains several strains of bacteria.  Even is one is to survive the attack, the dragons will follow the scent of the infection caused by the bites.


     -The Gaurdian

Radiologists predict oxygen-ozone therapy will soon become a replacement for back surgery in the United States for the treatment of herniated disks.  The procedure would consist an injection of the oxygen-ozone gas mixture into the disk.  The effect is comparable to back surgery, limiting pain and inflammation; all with out surgical recovery times.


     -Society of Interventional Radiology online, March 2009

"White-nose syndrome," first discovered in 2007, has scientists puzzled over the cause of large populations of bats dyeing out across the northeast.  White-nose syndrome is a fungal infection that white growths on the noses, wings and tail of bats  The infection is also associated with abnormal behavior are infected;
• bats flying outside during the day in temperatures at or below freezing;
• bats clustered near the entrance of caves or mines or in areas not normally identified as winter roost sites; and/or
• dead or dying bats on the ground or on buildings, trees or other structures.
          -Brian Man, North Country Radio
Scientists are as of yet unsure of the risk to human so avoidance in the best practice.

An opening at Edison Junior High School in Massillon, Ohio for a janitorial position received a few more application than expected...667!   The school usually receives only 200 applications.

           -All Things Considered

Doodling while listing to something boring may help you retain what you heard.  Research of people who listened to a phone conversation about  a party recalled an average of 7.5 names and places while people who did not doodle remembered only 5.8.  So that next meeting you go to, grab a pad and paper.

                   Applied Cognitive Psychology, published online February 26, 2009

President Obama overturned President Bush's band on stem cell research funding this week. - CNN

Hopefully this mark a return to our nation being one of science not political centrism.