Latest Military Lab Concerns Involve Plague Bacteria, Deadly Viruses

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081228-bacteria-art-02The Pentagon’s most secure laboratories may have mislabeled, improperly stored and shipped samples of potentially infectious plague bacteria, which can cause several deadly forms of disease, USA TODAY has learned.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flagged the practices after inspections last month at an Army lab in Maryland, one of the Pentagon’s most secure labs. That helped prompt an emergency ban on research on all bioterror pathogens at nine laboratories run by the Pentagon, which was already reeling from revelations that another Army lab in Utah had mishandled anthrax samples for 10 years . . .

Moreover, officials point out that continuing testing has shown the suspect samples of plague contain a weakened version, and not the fully virulent form that was of concern to lab regulators at the CDC.

There is no danger to the public from the plague and encephalitis specimens found in the labs, said Army spokesman Dov Schwartz. After extensive testing, no danger has been found to scientists and researchers who have worked with the vials, he said. Final test results are expected by the end of the month.

However, for the first time since the scandal broke in May about an Army lab’s botched handling of anthrax, the Pentagon is now acknowledging that worries now extend to other lethal agents that it studies. In addition to the plague samples and some additional anthrax specimens, the CDC has raised concerns about military labs’ handling of specimens created from two potentially deadly viruses that are also classified as bioterror pathogens: Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus and Eastern equine encephalitis virus, which can cause rare but serious illnesses in people, including deadly inflammation of the brain. (Read more from “Latest Military Lab Concerns Involve Plague Bacteria, Deadly Viruses” HERE)

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Alzheimer’s Disease May Be Infectious, Study Suggests

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alzheimers-getty3-v2The “seeds” of Alzheimer’s disease may be transmitted from one person to another during certain medical procedures, scientists have found.

A study into people who died of a separate kind of brain disease after receiving injections of human growth hormone suggests that Alzheimer’s may also be a transmissible disease.

The findings have raised questions about the safety of some medical procedures, possibly including blood transfusions and invasive dental treatment, which may involve the transfer of contaminated tissues or surgical equipment.

The investigation has shown for the first time in humans that Alzheimer’s disease may be a transmissible infection which could be inadvertently passed between people.

Scientists emphasised that the new evidence is still preliminary and should not stop anyone from having surgery. They have also stressed that it is not possible to “catch” Alzheimer’s by living with someone with the disease. (Read more from “Alzheimer’s Disease May Be Infectious, Study Suggests” HERE)

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Scientists Are Waking up “30,000-Year-Old” Giant Virus

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virus_1Bringing a 30,000-year-old virus back to life sounds like the plot of a real-life horror movie. So if you were scared by the incurable virus in the movie “28 Days Later,” you might want to stop reading right now.

Scientists who discovered a prehistoric virus called Mollivirus sibericum in the Siberian permafrost plan to give the virus its first wakeup call since the last Ice Age (after first verifying that it can’t harm humans and animals, thankfully). It’s hoped the study could shed insight into ancient dormant viruses that could, it’s feared, get another chance at spreading as permafrost retreats due to ‘climate change’.

The team, from the French National Centre for Scientific Research, announced its plans in a study published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.

The virus is classified as a “giant” virus because it’s visible by light microscopy. Mollivirus sibericum carries a complex genetic structure that houses more than 500 genes, according to the study’s abstract. The influenza virus, in comparison, has only 8 genes.

The same team that discovered Mollivirus sibericum found another 30,000-year-old virus, Pithovirus sibericum, in the same Russian permafrost. As described in PNAS last year, those scientists revived a sample of Pithovirus sibericum in safe lab conditions and determined it was still infectious, though it only affects amoebas. (Read more from “Scientists Are Waking up 30,000-Year-Old Giant Virus” HERE)

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Here Come the Wearables That Aim to Save Your Life

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AAe3pylRejoice, asthmatics, paranoiacs and even the merely sun-conscious! Soon there may be a wearable just for you.

Australian engineers are working on patches that can detect all sorts of environmental hazards, like UV radiation and toxic gas. Stretchy and transparent, the sensors would stick to the skin, like a nicotine patch, or be sewn into clothing. From there, they’d send you a smartphone alert to seek shade when the sun’s UV rays are too strong or when pollution levels get too high. And then the data could be uploaded to a cloud-based monitoring system to flag environmental no-go zones. “We’ve shown in the lab they work,” says Philipp Gutruf, who led the research at RMIT University in Melbourne.

Besides potentially preventing skin cancer, lung cancer, asthma attacks and other respiratory problems, the invention could save lives from gas leaks that sometimes occur in mines and power plants, the RMIT University engineers say. Although such places already have portable gas detection systems, they’re clunky — about the size of a shoe box. A sensor stitched into workers’ uniforms would be more user friendly. And by using zinc oxide, which can detect gas at room temperature, the Australian engineers got a side benefit: The metal can measure UV radiation too.

The first test: the sensor’s ability to detect hydrogen — a colorless, odorless gas that can explode if left to leak — and nitrogen dioxide, a brownish gas that contributes to smog. The engineers then measured its resistance to an electric current. As expected, the sensor’s resistance changed depending on whether it detected hydrogen, nitrogen dioxide or UV light. What’s more, the stretchy sensor beat out its stiff counterparts in speed and sensitivity. (Read more from “Here Come the Wearables That Aim to Save Your Life” HERE)

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Wikipedia Exposed as a Blackmail Racket That Does This to Small Businesses

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Wikipedia-Logo-on-BlackNatural News has long documented the scandal, debauchery and bogusness surrounding the “online encyclopedia” known as Wikipedia – and each time we’ve been proven correct that the media giant is little more than a corrupt operation that has always attempted to downplay or hide its seedy, shady side.

As reported by the UK’s Independent newspaper, hundreds of small British businesses and minor celebrities have been targeted by a high-level blackmail scam that was orchestrated by “rogue editors” at Wikipedia. (Side note: We at Natural News believe if this is happening in Britain, it’s a safe bet to assume it could be happening in others in other nations – just saying.)

The Independent further reported:

The victims, who range from a wedding photographer in Dorset to a high-end jewellery shop in Shoreditch, east London, faced demands for hundreds of pounds to “protect” or update Wikipedia pages about their businesses. A former Britain’s Got Talent contestant was among dozens of individuals targeted.

Wikipedia officials say they have taken action against what the media entity described as the “co-ordinated group” of fraudsters by blocking 381 accounts. They also said that the accounts were controlled by Wikipedia users who had offered to change some articles about companies and private individuals in exchange for money. In some of those cases, requests for money were veiled blackmail threats, Wikipedia said.

(Read more from “Wikipedia Exposed as a Blackmail Racket That Does This to Small Businesses” HERE)

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Lawmaker: Synthetic Weed Leaving Streets Full of ‘Zombies’

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Synthetic Marijuana, Or K2, Use On The Rise In New York CityState and city legislators joined forces on Thursday to demand that online retailers such as eBay and Craigslist stop selling the dangerous synthetic marijuana known as K2.

“The Internet has become a virtual ­bodega and a chemist’s warehouse,” state Sen. Jeff Klein, a Bronx Democrat, said at a Manhattan press conference.

“These are things that we can find in grocery stores and bodegas around our city, and now you can actually get them delivered to your front door.”

Klein and other lawmakers sent letters to the CEOs of several Internet ­retailers, asking that they take down ads for the potent substances and “better monitor the classifieds” . . .

“It is a dangerous, unpredictable and ­illegal substance and for too long unscrupulous stores and online marketplaces have profited,” said City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who has led the fight to rid K2 from her East Harlem community. (Read more from “Lawmaker: Synthetic Weed Leaving Streets Full of ‘Zombies'” HERE)

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Cambridge Company Says Live Bacteria Spray Will Keep You Clean

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spray-bottle-while-sprayingYou’ve heard of taking probiotics for a healthy gut, but what about literally spraying live bacteria on your skin? As Dr. Mallika Marshall reports, a local company thinks it’s a good idea for overall health, and plans to prove it.

“I have not taken a shower in over 12 years,” says Dave Whitlock, a chemical engineer and MIT grad who says he doesn’t miss bathing at all. “No one did clinical trials on people taking showers every day. So what’s the basis for assuming that that is a healthy practice.”

In fact, what Whitlock does believe is healthy is restoring good bacteria to our skin that our ancestors enjoyed long ago and that has slowly been stripped away by excessive cleaning. To prove his theory, he helped found AOBiome, a company based in Cambridge, MA.

“We’ve confused clean with sterile,” says Jasmina Aganovic, the General Manager of Consumer Products at AOBiome. She says as humans, we need to reconnect with our environment. “We’ve taken the dirt out of our lives. We don’t spend as much time outdoors as we used to, even little children,” she explains.

To add a little dirt back into our lives, AOBiome has created Mother Dirt, specifically the AO+ Mist containing live bacteria that is sprayed directly on the skin twice a day. It has no odor and feels like water. (Read more from “Cambridge Company Says Live Bacteria Spray Will Keep You Clean” HERE)

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Israel Recovers Ancient Sarcophagus Hidden by Contractors

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Part-NIC-Nic6481924-1-1-0Israeli authorities have recovered a Roman-era sarcophagus that construction workers sought to hide after digging it up at a building site, officials said Thursday.

The limestone coffin, estimated at 1,800 years old and discovered last week during work on a new neighbourhood in coastal city Ashkelon, was described as “unique” by Gabi Mazor, a retired Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist and expert on the era.

The contractors who encountered the find opted to extract it themselves with a tractor, damaging it before hiding it beneath a stack of metal sheets and boards, according to the authority.

Police have questioned the contractors on suspicion of not reporting their find and of damaging it, and the authority pledged that legal proceedings would be pursued against those involved . . .

Around the coffin are engraved images of “bulls’ heads, naked Cupids, and the head of the monstrous female figure Medusa which includes remains of hair together with snakes, part of a commonly held belief in the Roman period that she protects the deceased,” Mazor said. (Read more from “Israel Recovers Ancient Sarcophagus Hidden by Contractors” HERE)

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Diver Breaks up Mortal Combat Between Deadly Sea Snake, Stonefish

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7d1a5abee75541b91b6b0c3620d2ecb0If an average person happened upon the world’s most poisonous snake and the world’s most poisonous fish engaged in battle, stepping between them would probably be the last idea to come to mind. Leaving the area and trying to find a change of underpants would be more likely.

But for experienced diver and fisherman Rick Trippe of Darwin, Australia, breaking up such a deadly struggle of nature didn’t even require a second thought.

The Australian realtor with a passion for being on the water found a sea snake and stonefish fighting each other during a Thursday trip in Darwin Harbor. He separated them with his own two hands and set them both free. The photos he posted of the encounter on his Facebook page quickly went viral, netting him emails from around the globe that probably contain phrases like “Are you insane?!?”

Trippe told CNET’s Crave blog that he and a friend had just “up-anchored from an old World War II wreck and were feeling pretty chuffed” about the fish they caught when he first noticed the sea snake.

“We were going to our next wreck when we saw something in the middle of the harbor but couldn’t make out what it says,” Trippe said. “So with curiosity, we motored over to find a massive sea snake. It was close to 2 meters (6.5 feet) long and thick. As we approached the sea snake, we saw that it had a stonefish in its mouth.” (Read more from “Diver Breaks up Mortal Combat Between Deadly Sea Snake, Stonefish” HERE)

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Scientists Baffled After Mysterious “Alien” Corpse Found in Russia [+video]

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Russian-Alien-602289Local news reports said the corpse with a “mysterious skull” was found by two residents next to the River Kovashi, on Sunday, in the Russian town of Sosnovy Bor, a town built in 1958 to serve the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant.

It is said that the locals, who spotted it by chance, initially believed it could be a mutant chicken embroyo that had been discarded . . .

The body was also looked at by experts from the Institute of Biophysics in Krasnoyarsk, who said it was impossible to make a quick identification.

Biologist Yegor Zadereev said: “Extensive studies are needed to determine what kind of creature or organism it is” . . .

Scott C waring, who edits UFO Sightings Daily, said: “This tiny alien body was found near a river in Russia and has no resemblance to any animal known. (Read more from “Scientists Baffled After Mysterious “Alien” Corpse Found in Russia” HERE)

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