Blind No More: ‘It’s Like I’m a Child All Over Again’

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Photo Credit: The Montreal GazetteWhen Pierre-Paul Thomas was a boy, he could not play hockey with his brothers and it broke his heart.

For Thomas had been born blind. He endured the triple misfortune of suffering from congenital nystagmus — a condition in which the eyes move from side to side involuntarily — along with damaged optic nerves and cataracts bulging behind his pupils…

But two years ago, at the age of 66, Thomas fell down the stairs in a St-Henri apartment building and fractured the bones of his thin face, including those around his eye sockets. He was rushed to the Montreal General Hospital with severe swelling around his eye.

A team of doctors operated on him and repaired those bones. One day, months later, he was examined by a plastic surgeon at the Montreal General, Lucie Lessard, renowned for her skills in micro-suturing.

During the consultation about repairing his scalp, Lessard asked matter-of-factly, “Oh, while we’re at it, do you want us to fix your eyes, too?”

…And so during two dates in February, Thomas underwent surgery at the Montreal General to remove the cataracts from his eyes. The operations, to put it mildly, were a success, for Thomas could now truly see for the first time in his life.

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Scientists Grow New Teeth Out of Urine

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Photo Credit: MSNWhatever the reason, you may be missing a tooth. But a typical dental implant costs several thousand dollars — and as much as $10,000 if there are complications or bone grafts are needed. And most dental insurance policies don’t cover the bulk of implant costs.

So, the news from China about new research showing that new teeth can actually be grown is nothing short of astounding, and such a process could remake dentistry as we currently know it. As Medical News Today reports, Chinese scientists have successfully used stem cells to grow solid organs, including teeth, from stem cells. The study, first published in the journal Cell Regeneration, also details just how the organs and teeth were regrown: Using stem cells from . . . urine.

The scientists mixed mouse cells and human cells to create the different types of cells that make up a human tooth: pulp, dentin and enamel. The little creations were physically and structurally “quite similar” to human teeth, the study says, though they are not as strong — yet — as natural human teeth.

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Hawaii Sets Aside $100,000 to Offer its 17,000 Homeless People One-Way Airfare Back to Their Home States (+video)

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Photo Credit: hawaii news now“This is not a silver bullet, this does not solve everything” Representative John Mizuno is quick to point out the limitations of the “Return to Home” program, and he’s one of its staunchest supporters.

Mizuno helped get the program passed as part of Senate Bill 515.

“It’s fractional, it’s not for 5,000 homeless people. It’s going to be a handful of homeless people that we send home, again–home to their support unit” added Mizuno.

The program, which is set to launch this fiscal year, is a three-year pilot program in which $100,000 is appropriated each year to send homeless people in Hawaii back to their families on the mainland.

Representative Rida Cabanilla was also instrumental in getting it passed. She points to a dual purpose in the program: social empathy, combined with fiscal conservatism.

Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

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How to Know if You’re About to be Struck by Lightning: Amazing Picture of Brothers with Hair on End Minutes Before they Were Hit

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By Daily Mail Reporter. This frightening picture of two brothers with their hair on end was snapped just minutes before they were struck by lightning at Moro Rock, California, leaving the younger boy with third-degree burns and another man dead.

Electrical charges in the atmosphere just before a strike can lift hair into the air, providing nature’s last warning of a bolt from the blue…

The story behind the classic 1975 picture has come to light on the blog of Michael McQuilken, the teenager on the right who had no idea that they were in terrible danger…

McQuilken wrote on his blog that when he raised his right arm in the air ‘the ring I had on began to buzz so loudly that everyone could hear it’…


McQuilken, who is now a drummer and software designer, described the lightning hit as being engulfed ‘in the brightest light I have ever seen,’ similar in intensity to an arc welding light. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APAmerican Men Almost 6x More Likely Than Women to Be Killed by Lightning

By Terence P. Jeffrey. Lightning strikes in the United States are almost six times more likely to kill a man than a woman, according to recently released data from the federal Centers for Disease Control.

The CDC did not explain why males are so much more likely than females to be killed by lightning.

The CDC looked at deaths by lightning in the 43 years from 1968 through 2010. It found that during that period the annual number of Americans killed by lightning was on a downward trend, with the annual number of men being killed declining 78.6 percent and the annual number of women being killed declining 70.6 percent.

However, over the 1968-2010 period, 85 percent of the Americans killed by lightning were male and 15 percent were female. That means American males were 5.66 times more likely to be killed by lightning than American females.

Photo Credit: CDC

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First Open Source Airplane Could Cost Just $15,000

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Photo Credit: WiredThere’s an open source airplane being developed in Canada, and now its designers are looking to double down on the digital trends, turning to crowdsourced funding to finish the project. The goal of Maker Plane is to develop a small, two-seat airplane that qualifies as a light sport aircraft and is affordable, safe, and easy to fly. But unlike other home-built aircraft, where companies or individuals charge for their plans or kits, Maker Plane will give its design away for free.

The group behind the project consists of pilots and engineers who are designing the airplane, allowing it to be built using the kind of personal manufacturing equipment somebody in the maker community might already have at home or can easily purchase. The idea of a home-built airplane is nothing new. It dates back to the earliest days of flight, after Orville and Wilbur made and flew their own airplanes (and engine), the homemade plane movement — literally — took off…

In the spirit of the open source and maker movements, the Maker Plane group is including components from many designers and builders outside their circle. As they focus on the design of the airplane (fuselage, wings, etc.), the Maker Plane team helps connect those interested in building their own with other open source components such as an air data computer and radios. They even show you where you can get plans to build your own traffic and collision avoidance system.

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Unmanned Aerial Drone to Search for Bigfoot

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Photo Credit: ChiceauxThe hunt for Bigfoot is getting serious now.

At the same time a television network is offering a $10 million bounty – guaranteed by British insurance company Lloyd’s of London – for proof of the creature’s existence, a professor in Idaho is preparing to send an unmanned drone to the skies to seek out the elusive legend.

According to an Idaho Mountain Express report and press releases from the university itself, Idaho State University Professor Jeff Meldrum, author of “Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science,” is in the final fundraising stages of what is called “The Falcon Project,” which will use a remote-controlled airship to conduct flyovers in what he calls “Bigfoot territory.”

“These unmanned drones, I believe, are the next step in proving the nature of these creatures,” said Meldrum.

“The aircraft will offer stealth and maneuverability, allowing us to peer directly down through the forest canopy,” Meldrum explained through a university news report. “It is essentially silent and can fly at considerable altitude, surveying the forest floor from the night sky, allowing us to track and photograph a target once it is identified, without disturbing it.

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Man Dragged From Tent and Violently Attacked by Polar Bear Remains in Critical Condition with Broken Jaw and Serious Neck Injuries but Health is Improving

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Photo Credit: Daily MailA Maine man who was terrifyingly dragged from his tent and attacked by a polar bear while camping in Canada has serious injuries but is improving in a Montreal hospital, according to his wife.

Matthew Dyer was attacked by a bear that crossed an electric fence designed to protect members of his group in Torngat Mountains National Park at the northern tip of Labrador on Wednesday.

The mauling ended when members of his group drove the bear away by firing flares. Dyer has a broken jaw and neck injuries.

The group had been advised to hire an armed guard to protect against such attacks but decided against it, a Parks Canada spokesman said.

Officials said they were investigating whether the portable electrified fence was working properly.

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Uh oh: Study Now Says Earthquakes are Causing Global Warming

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Photo Credit: AlamyEarthquakes may contribute to global warming by releasing greenhouse gas from the ocean floor, a study suggests.

Scientists uncovered evidence that a large earthquake in 1945 released more than seven million cubic metres of methane into the North Arabian Sea.

The discovery exposes a natural source of greenhouse gas emissions that has not been considered before, they claim.

As a greenhouse gas, methane is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, but less abundant in the atmosphere.

Enormous quantities of methane are locked in icy structures called hydrates on the floors of the continental shelves surrounding the Earth’s land masses.

Read more from this story HERE.

Can You Hear The Hum? How 1 in 50 Across the World are Affected by Low Droning Noise Which Scientists Can’t Explain (+video)

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Photo Credit: AlamyIt is a noise that only two per cent of people can hear, but this low droning sound would be enough to drive anyone mad.

Scientists have been left baffled because they can’t figure out what causes a phenomenon called The Hum, or why it affects so few people.

Sufferers have identified common factors: the humming is only heard indoors, it is a low, rumbling noise, it is louder at night, and is more common in more rural areas, reported The Huffington Post.

In the UK, the noise has been heard in Leeds, Bristol, and Largs, Scotland, but has been reported as far as Taos, New Mexico, and Bondi Beach in Sydney.

A 2003 study by acoustical consultant Geoff Leventhall, from Surrey, shows that one in 50 people who live in a Hum-prone place hear the noise, and that most of these people are aged between 55 and 70.

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Five Ounce, $375,000 Artificial Hamburger to be Eaten in London Next Week

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Photo Credit: PAThe meal has been made from 3,000 strips of artificial beef, each the size of a grain of rice.

Scientists are hoping the development will meet the growing worldwide demand for beef, lamb, pork and chicken. It is the brainchild of Mark Post, a medical physiologist at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

“Right now, we are using 70 per cent of all our agricultural capacity to grow meat through livestock. You are going to need alternatives,” said Professor Post. “If we don’t do anything, meat will become a luxury food and will become very expensive.

“Eventually, my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals which you keep in stock in the world. You basically kill animals and take all the stem cells from them, so you would still need animals for this technology,” the professor told the Independent on Sunday.

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