Satellite Image of Red River Nile Evokes Biblical Story

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A newly released satellite image of Egypt’s Nile river shows the river colored deep red, bringing to mind the biblical first plague in which the waters of the great river turned to blood.

But, this time at least, it is not the wrath of god that is responsible for the river’s crimson hue: The European Space Agency’s Sentinel-3A satellite, which took the picture, uses a radiometer to measure infrared energy . . .

The heat radiated by vegetation around the river is therefore responsible for the red color.

The satellite, launched in February, is designed to monitor environmental changes. It is the third of more than a dozen “eyes in the sky” that make up the Copernicus program, which the ESA describes as the most sophisticated Earth observation system ever launched. (Read more from “Satellite Image of Red River Nile Evokes Biblical Legend” HERE)

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Peace out, Fools! Obama Plays the Clown by Flashing the Peace Sign for Nuclear Security Summit ‘Team Photo’

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Surrounded by world leaders, President Barack Obama gave the peace sign as they gathered for a ‘team photo’ during a two-day nuclear summit.

All eyes were on Obama as 54 other presidents and prime ministers joined him in Washington, DC, for crunch talks on Iran and terrorist threats involving nuclear weapons.

There was one set of eyes, however, that was particularly focused on the President – those of Prime Minister David Cameron.

Relations between Cameron and Obama have been strained since the President criticized the Prime Minister for getting ‘distracted’ during the crisis in Libya and turning it into a ‘s**t show’.

There was more than metaphorical distance between the pair at today’s summit, with Cameron only able to glare at Obama from across the podium as he was elbowed out to the edge of the stage. (Read more from “Peace out, Fools! Obama Plays the Clown by Flashing the Peace Sign for Nuclear Security Summit ‘Team Photo'” HERE)

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Deer Hunters Face Unwanted Competition as Feral Hog Explosion Thins Herds

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Deer hunters are facing competition from a source that is mean, relentless and out of control.

The explosion of feral hogs across the U.S. is threatening the deer population — spreading disease, dominating the food chain and even, on occasion, killing and eating fawns. In Louisiana, where there are an estimated 700,000 wild hogs, hunters and wildlife officials say they are taking a toll on the whitetail deer herd.

“They are in the marshes and beaches of Louisiana all the way up into the hills and piney woods and swamps,” Jim LaCour, state wildlife veterinarian for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, told FoxNews.com. “They’re in every habitat in the state” . . .

LaCour described the feral pigs, which can weigh up to 500 pounds, as “opportunistic” eaters — omnivores that feast on anything crossing their path, including deer fawn, other piglets and dead animals . . .

Some speculate the population boom is due to relatively recent cross-breeding in the wild. Others, like LaCour, say the popularity of hog hunting in the 1980’s and early ’90’s led humans to move the feral pigs from confined, geographically isolated areas into places they had never been before. (Read more from “Deer Hunters Face Unwanted Competition as Feral Hog Explosion Thins Herds” HERE)

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Scientists and Insurers Develop ‘Death Clock’ to Predict When Customers Will Die

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Insurance premiums could rise after scientists teamed up with the insurance industry to create an algorithm which will predict when customers will die.

The University of East Anglia is launching a four year study using huge databases of medical data to determine life expectancy and long-term illness.

The four-year project is being funded by a £800,000 grant from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and is using experts from insurance giant Aviva.

“People around the world are living longer,” said lead researcher Prof Elena Kulinskaya from UEA’s School of Computing Sciences.

“We want to develop software tools that use Big Data routinely collected by healthcare providers to forecast longevity. (Read more from “Scientists and Insurers Develop ‘Death Clock’ to Predict When Customers Will Die” HERE)

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Mental Illness Mostly Caused by Life Events Not Genetics, Argue Psychologists

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Mental illness is largely caused by social crises such as unemployment or childhood abuse and too much money is spent researching genetic and biological factors, psychologists have warned.

Over the past decade funding bodies like the Medical Research Council (MRC) have spent hundreds of millions on determining the biology of mental illness.

But while there has been some success in uncovering genes which make people more susceptible to various disorders, specialists say that the true causes of depression and anxiety are from life events and environment, and research should be directed towards understanding the everyday triggers.

Peter Kinderman, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Of course every single action, every emotion I’ve ever had involves the brain, so to have a piece of scientific research telling us that the brain is involved in responding emotionally to events doesn’t really advance our understanding very much . . .

“It detracts from the idea that trauma in childhood is a very very powerful predictor of serious problems like experiencing psychotic events in adult life, so of course the brain is involved and of course genes are involved, but not very much, and an excessive focus on those issues takes us away from these very important social factors” (Read more from “Mental Illness Mostly Caused by Life Events Not Genetics, Argue Psychologists” HERE)

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Polar Vortex to Plunge Cold Into Midwestern, Eastern US in Early April

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Arctic air will plunge into much of the central and eastern United States, as the polar vortex shifts its position during early April.

Following a pattern favoring more warm days than cold days into next week, a change will likely bring record cold to parts of the Midwest and East . . .

“From Sunday, April 3, through Monday, April 4, temperatures will be below-average from the northern Plains to the mid-Atlantic coast,” Lundberg said. “We expect nighttime temperatures to drop near the freezing mark as far south as the Tennessee Valley.”

Temperatures will average 15-30 degrees Fahrenheit below normal with the core of the cold air directed at the North Central states. Normal highs during the first week of April are in the lower to middle 50s in Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit and in the 60s from Kansas City, Missouri, to Nashville and Cincinnati.

“The intense cold could impact play for opening day MLB games in Pittsburgh and Kansas City, Missouri, on Sunday, as well as games elsewhere in the Midwest and Northeast on Monday,” according to AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok. (Read more from “Polar Vortex to Plunge Cold Into Midwestern, Eastern US in Early April” HERE)

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Hillary Wants to Reveal Area 51 Secrets

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Hillary Clinton says barring any national security risk, she would like to open up the government files on Area 51 to the public if she is elected president.

“I would like us to go into those files and hopefully make as much of that public as possible,” she told Jimmy Kimmel Thursday night on his late night ABC talk show. “If there’s nothing there, let’s tell people there’s nothing there.”

When Kimmel followed up by asking what she would do if she discovered there was actually something alarming in the files, Clinton replied: “Well, if there is something there, unless it’s a threat to national security, I think we ought to share it with the public.” (Read more from “Hillary Wants to Reveal Area 51 Secrets” HERE)

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Scientists Create Ultra-Simplified Bacteria but Discover Life Is Still Mind-Boggling Complex

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By Malcolm Ritter. Scientists have deleted nearly half the genes of a microbe, creating a . . . bacterium [that] has a smaller genetic code than does any natural free-living counterpart, with 531,000 DNA building blocks containing 473 genes. (Humans have more than 3 billion building blocks and more than 20,000 genes).

But even this stripped-down organism is full of mystery. Scientists say they have little to no idea what a third of its genes actually do.

“We’re showing how complex life is, even in the simplest of organisms,” researcher J. Craig Venter told reporters. “These findings are very humbling.” (Read more from “Scientists Create Ultra-Simplified Bacteria but Discover Life Is Still Mind-Boggling Complex” HERE)

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Scientists Create Tiniest Life Form yet, Not Sure What It Is

By Eric Roston. For years, DNA and computer operating systems served as cliches for each other: DNA is the “operating software” of living cells in the same way that system software is the “DNA” of a computer.

The problem with the comparison, as shown by research two decades in the making, is how much biologists still don’t know about DNA, or genomes. That’s an especially problematic development, given the industry sprouting up around genetic manipulation.

Genomics pioneer Craig Venter and more than 20 colleagues engineered a living microbe with a genome simpler than any seen in nature. In other words, they created a life form whose relative simplicity and modular design make it a platform that one day may be as easily manipulated as, say, software. Setting aside fears of Blade Runner replicants running amok, the breakthrough revealed on Thursday in the journal Science may hold promise for a new era in medicine, industry, and energy. (Read more from “Scientists Create Tiniest Life Form yet, Not Sure What It Is” HERE)

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Prop Pistol May Cost New Jersey Actor 10 Years Behind Bars

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New Jersey’s bizarre gun laws have struck again. An actor who used a pellet gun while filming a movie now faces 10 years behind bars on felony possession of a firearm charges.

Carlo Goias, whose screen name is Carlo Bellario, was recently filming “Vendetta Games” when he was arrested in a residential neighborhood for having an Airsoft gun. The Toms River resident was holding a plastic toy outside a vehicle during a chase scene, which prompted some 9-1-1 calls. He was then forced to spend four days in jail while trying to raise $10,000 bail.

“I was shooting a movie – I wasn’t committing a crime intentionally,” Goias told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “Robert De Niro doesn’t ask Marty Scorsese if he has gun permits. We’re actors. That’s for the production company to worry about.”

Goias rejected a plea deal offer Tuesday that would have resulted in less than one year in prison. Prosecutors said prior convictions for theft and burglary could result in a 10-year sentence.

“I pretended to shoot out the window; they were going to dub in the sound later,” Goias said. “We get back, and within a couple of minutes we’re surrounded by cop cars.” (Read more from “Prop Pistol May Cost New Jersey Actor 10 Years Behind Bars” HERE)

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Disney, Marvel Threaten Georgia Filming Boycott Over ‘Antigay’ Bill

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Nathan Deal, the Republican governor of the state of Georgia, has a big decision to make.

He has until May 3 to either sign or veto a bill that supporters describe as defending “religious liberty” and opponents call “antigay.” House Bill 757 is attracting plenty of attention from beyond the state’s boundaries. Walt Disney Studios, maker of many superhero and animated films, chimed in Wednesday.

“Disney and Marvel are inclusive companies, and although we have had great experiences filming in Georgia, we will plan to take our business elsewhere should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law,” Disney said in a statement.

Marvel Studios, maker of the Avengers and X-Men films, is a subsidiary of Disney.

The Georgia bill would let faith-based organizations refuse the use of property “for an event which is objectionable to such faith based organization.” It would allow those organizations to refuse to provide services that “violate such faith based organization’s sincerely held religious belief.” This would also extend to hiring practices. (Read more from “Disney, Marvel Threaten Georgia Filming Boycott Over ‘Antigay’ Bill” HERE)

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