A recent report published in the science journal Nature reveal that the Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice over the last decade. The research, made possible using GRACE, a pair of orbiting satellites racing around the planet at an altitude of 300 miles, is the first to survey all the world’s icecaps and glaciers. ”The GRACE results in this region really were a surprise,” said University of Colorado at Boulder physics John Wahr, who led the study.

It seems that the result of the study surprised scientists who had believed that 50 billion tonnes of meltwater were lost from the Himalayas each year and not replaced with snow and therefore forecasting that the Himalayan glaciers would melt completely in 25 years, vanishing by the year 2035.

Bristol University glaciologist Prof Jonathan Bamber, who was not part of the research team, told the Guardian that, “The very unexpected result was the negligible mass loss from high mountain Asia, which is not significantly different from zero,” adding that, “This new study doesn’t change our view of the risks and threats from climate change. What it does do is improve our knowledge of the recent behavior of one part of the climate system.”

Wahr said that the higher altitude of the Himalayas might be the reason for these peaks being unaffected by melting. ”One possible explanation is that previous estimates were based on measurements taken primarily from some of the lower, more accessible glaciers in Asia and were extrapolated to infer the behavior of higher glaciers. But unlike the lower glaciers, many of the high glaciers would still be too cold to lose mass even in the presence of atmospheric warming,” Wahr explained.

Still, he added that, “Our results and those of everyone else show we are losing a huge amount of water into the oceans every year. People should be just as worried about the melting of the world’s ice as they were before.”

After a delay of over 3 years, Boeing 787 Dreamliner will finally be inaugurated. This model is a cost-saving one, using 20% less fuel than a similar model thanks to its fuel efficient engines and was developed as a way to respond effectively to the financial crises that has hit the airlines. At the same time, it can be a greener alternative for this type of travels.

Made from light weight composite carbon fiber rather than aluminum, the jet was designed to provide a better passenger experience.

The material used has benefits that go beyond cost reduction: the more efficient engines make the ride more silent, along with making cabin pressure and humidity more adequate.

With so many interesting characteristics, it’s no wonder consumer interest was high, with more than 800 order’s on the books.

Yet, the delays are a perfect reflection of the financial processes and the issues encountered down the road. Concerns about profitability, reliability and investment returns were dominant, yet the future looks promising if we are to judge by the positive consumer response.

In an effort to boost tourism, Japan will offer 10,000 free airfares for tourists next year.

The Japan tourism industry has been hit hard since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. Many foreign tourists, from China to the United States are staying away, possibly assuming that the nuclear situation makes the country dangerous to visit.

The government has said that it is safe to travel throughout the country, with the only exception being the area surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The state of the global economy is also having an effect on Japan tourism, no doubt not helped by the country’s reputation as an expensive one to visit as a foreigner.

The country hopes that the 10,000 free airfares will be help to boost the flagging tourism industry.

In the popular summer tourist season, tourism was down nearly 40% in the months of June and July. During March, April and May of 2011, tourism fell sharply, more than 50%. In addition, many future trips that were already scheduled were postponed or cancelled altogether, due to radiation and safety fears.

The Japan Tourism Agency will allow potential tourists to apply via an online application for the free flights. Applicants must detail what regions of the country they wish to visit. Applicants may then be asked to create a report about their visit, presumably to post on the Japan Tourism Agency website to help further boost tourism by showing tourists having safe, enjoyable trips in the country.

While the airfare is free, those who qualify for the program will need to arrange and pay for their lodging, food, ground transportation and other expenses.

Currently, many travel agencies are offering discounted rates on Japan trips, including all-inclusive packages with airfare, food, transport, tourist guides and events.

The program announcement is certainly welcomed by the many businesses who rely on tourists for the majority of their income, such as hotels, inns, ryokans, hostels, transportation services and many restaurants.

A German company that specializes in security camera technology has installed the world’s highest webcam. The M-12 webcam now sits at an elevation of over 18,500 feet to allow viewers a glimpse of the world’s highest m0untain.

The webcam now lies on Kala Patthar mountain and will offer viewers a hi-def view of the Mt. Everest summit, which is over 29,000 feet. The webcam is solar powered.

The location was selected due to its unparallelled view of the Everest summit’s West Ridge and western side. The position, however, means that the webcam must deal with extremely low temperatures, as low as -20°F and violent winds.

The images saved by the webcam are sent wirelessly to the Ev-K2-CNR Pyramid Observatory, and are then sent to Italy for evaluation.

The company, called Mobotix, says they spent a great deal of time working on and testing the ideal camera set up and position.

The project will be part of the Share environment and climate change monitoring conference. Researchers are hoping the webcam’s images and monitoring capabilities will offer more information on climate change.

View the Mt. Everest webcam at http://www.evk2cnr.org/WebCams/PyramidOne/everest-webcam.html

Note that the images are only available during the daytime, from 6am to 6pm local Nepal time. The images are updates every 5 minutes.

The Everest webcam becomes the highest webcam on earth, taking the title from a webcam in Argentina, sitting at the base camp of Mt. Aconcagua which sits at over 14,000 feet.

Florida is being invaded by giant snails. The species of snail is the Giant African Land snail and is began to invade the Florida county of Miami-Dade earlier this month.

UK scientists are hoping to change the way people protect their skin from harmful UV rays from the sun. As of right now, sunscreen is the surefire way to protect the skin. However, a sunscreen pill is being manufactured that could give users weeks of sunscreen protection.

The better sunscreen secret may be found under the world’s oceans and seas. Researchers are looking to rein in the natural defense of coral against the sun and create a pill for humans to use.

According to a recent report by the BBC, a King’s College London research team went to Great Barrier Reef in Australia to examine several samples of the Acropora coral, an endangered species. The researchers’ goal is to amalgamate the protective components of the coral. These components have not only protected the coral but the fish that eat off of it. They’ll first design a lotion version to test on skin. And, in time, develop a tablet form of sunscreen protection.

Human testing, according to the BBC, could start very soon.

There’s a strong possibility that the pill could be designed to also protect your eyes, not just your skin. The UK’s The Guardian reported the pill could be out within five years.

Using the seas to learn about clues for a better sunscreen is not a new notion. Scientists have learned how the natural antioxidant known as astaxanthin, which is seen in red ocean animals and plants, can reduce the damage from the sun. Based on the research, skin cancer patients can particularly benefit from it. There is a supplement form available; however, it’s recommended that persons use sunscreen along with it and limit their time outdoors in the sun.

American Airlines will fly Karen Pascoe back to Kennedy Airport in New York to search for the missing feline Friday morning.

Pascoe will make the flight, hoping to locate her cat Jack. American Airlines is looking at the closed-circuit TV footage to see how it is that Jack escaped.

Since Aug. 25, Jack has been running around the American Airlines baggage center at Kennedy; just before Hurricane Irene hit the town. The airport closed for the majority of the weekend but reopened it again on Monday.

Pascoe flew to San Francisco on Thursday with the two cats, Jack and Barry, because she was starting a new job. The cats were too large to comfortably fit in a cat carrier that could be placed under the sear. For that reason, the cats were flying different carriers as cargo. Not long after the cats were checked in, Pascoe’s cat Jack got loose.

She said she told the cats goodbye and went to get dinner. Shortly afterwards, she got a call from American informing her of Jack’s escape from the kennel.

Pascoe made her way to the baggage area, calling out to the cat. However, when he didn’t show up, she had to leave because her other cat and luggage was on the last San Francisco flight. She said the Kennedy Airport baggage area is huge and she just couldn’t find him.

American personnel told her they’d keep a lookout for Jack and they’d call her with an update the next day. However, Pascoe said no one called and no one answered the phone when she tried the baggage area number.

She said, while she knew that the hurricane was coming, it was still disheartening not to hear from the airlines for 60 hours.

Pascoe’s sister set up a Facebook page in response to the airline’s silence. The page has over 8,000 fans. A Twitter page was also set up about Jack’s search.

On American Airlines’ Facebook page, a good deal of pet lovers urged them to find the cat, which prompted them to post responses about the airline’s effort to find the missing feline including placing cans of cat food by the kennel.

Pascoe said she credits Twitter, Facebook and animal lovers for getting the airline to recognize the issue at hand. On Sunday, the airline company called and, on Monday, she spoke to an assigned contact person in Kennedy’s central baggage claim department.

Pascoe said she was a bit irritated about the lack of procedures in place but glad they’re finally doing something to help her.

A team of astronomers have discovered a planet that may consist of diamonds. The planet is about  thousand light years away from earth or about 38,000,000,000,000,000 kilometers.

The planet is orbiting a neutron star in our galaxy. The planet is speculated to be more dense than any other planet discovered to this point. The planet consists of mostly carbon with some oxygen, and the carbon is typically crystal in structure, ie. diamond, leading the astronomers to speculate that the planet is made of mostly diamond. Its total mass is a bit more than Jupiter, however, the diamond planet has a density about 20 times that of our universe’s largest planet. Helium and hydrogen are likely not present, due to the density.

The planet may be a what’s left of a massive star that no longer has its outer layers, likely due to the dead star which it orbits.

A neutron star, or pulsar, is a small dead star about 12 miles around, which may rotate hundreds of times each second. These stars typically emit rays of radiation. The diamond planet orbits once every 2 hours.

The diamond planet has been monitored by astronomers in Hawaii, the UK and Australia.

Astronomers speculate that the planet could look like a crystal planet, with diamond cropping everywhere.

The anti-aging and anti-wrinkle business is always booming. People will always be on the lookout for a product that will make them look younger, reduce the appearance of wrinkles, repair damaged skin and keep the acne away.

The latest trend in skin care is an unusual one though. Snail slime or snail gel or snail cream, whatever you want to call it. Yes, from snails. The mucous or goo that snails leave behind when they pass over a surface is called snail slime and some people swear by it.

The origins of snail gel products for skin care comes from Chile. Some farmers who handled a lot of snails noticed that the gel had a wonderful effect on their skin. The farmers noticed that the slime helped to quickly heal any cuts or scrapes to their hands and left no scars. The trend is already taking off in South America and South Korea. Snail slime products are selling especially well in South Korea.

A number of products have sprung up to take advantage of interest in this trend. The most popular is snail cream, which looks more like traditional cream. There is also snail extract and snail gel cream. The oldest product on the market was created by those same farmers in Chile who discovered the benefits of snail slime. Their product called Elicina has been in stores in South America for 15 years.

People are touting the snail slime products as being excellent for acne, scars, stretch marks, wrinkles and for damaged skin. Rapid burn healing is also another reported benefit.

The snail slime contains a mixture of glycolic acids, elastin and proteins. The lowly snail has evolved to produce the slime which protects it from everything it crawls over, as well as from sun damage, infection and injury. Applied to human skin, the slime provides intense moisturizing effects. The snail slime also reportedly stimulates collagen production in the skin and helps the skin to keep moisture. It can also be used for wound healing, for cuts and scrapes.

U2′s epic 360 tour is finally coming to an end tomorrow, June 30th, in Canada. Billboard.biz has already released their estimates for a final tally for gross and attendance. The final gross is estimated at just over $736,137,000. An extraordinary gross no matter how you look at it. The tour also broke attendance records with a total attendance estimated at 7.2 million people in 110 shows.

The U2 360 tour dates were expanded an additional 7 dates allowing them to cement the status of the tour as the highest earning ever. The expanded dates were possible due to the re-scheduling of last year’s tour dates because of Bono’s emergency back surgery.

The groundbreaking tour used a unique in-the-round stage set-up which allowed up to 25% more tickets to be sold at each venue thanks to increased capacity. The average ticket price is estimated at about or near $100.

The tour started in Spain in 2009, making it’s way around the world, including places that U2 had never played before, like Moscow, Russia.

The only major region not played by U2 was Asia, with no shows scheduled in Japan or any other Asian countries. No word on why U2 skipped Japan, but logistics must have certainly played a part.

U2 360 Tour Stage

The revolutionary 360 stage featured a 400,000+ pixel video screen which featured high definition images of the band, intermingled with graphics and other video. Video packages were used from political figures including Aung San Suu Kyi and Desmond Tutu were featured between songs. Later in the tour, Astronaut Mark Kelly made a video to be used at nearly all of the final leg’s shows, featuring him reciting lyrics from David Bowie’s Space Oddity and also lyrics from U2′s own Beautiful Day. Mark Kelly is the husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head earlier in the year at an event for her constituents. Giffords has said that U2′s Beautiful Day is her favorite song.

The U2 360 stage itself was almost sparse, but featured a rotating drum kit, and moving walkways. The center stage was encircled by a circular walkway that allowed the band to get close to the audience. Several thousand general admission ticket holders were treated to an intimate experience at each show, with the band being close in front of them and at times behind them when using the circular walkway. The band also sold tickets to areas on the side of the stage and circular walkway, called RedZones, which went up for auction with the proceeds going to Product (Red) which donates their proceeds to the Global Fund. The Global Fund fights malaria, tuberculosis and other preventable diseases all over the world.

The U2 360 screen would expand at one point in the show, becoming almost a honeycomb that engulfed the band.

U2 360 Tour Opening Acts

Opening acts on the tour included Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs, Glasvegas, Damien Dempsey, Republic Of Loose, Bell X1, The Script, The Hours, Elbow, Muse, Black Eyed Peas, Kasabian, Razorlight, One Republic, Aviv Geffen, Interpol, Jay-Z, Springbok Nude Girls, Amadou & Mariam, The Fray, Lenny Kravitz, Florence and the Machine, Carney and Arcade Fire.

U2 360 Tour Set List

With the tour nearly done, there are several sites to check out for U2 360 tour set lists. We recommend U2gigs.com and U2tours.com. These two sites also include fan submitted reviews. Setlist.fm is also a good resource for setlists.

U2 360 Tour Reviews

Reviews of the U2 360 tour have been nearly universally excellent, saying the band achieved the impossible by creating a sense of intimacy in massive stadiums. In addition, many described their experience to be nearly religious or communal. Of criticisms leveled at the tour, the most common seem to be related to a lack of intimacy and sub-par sound for those seated in the upper decks. Some also criticized the over-the-top nature of the show and lights.

Celebrities at U2 360 Tour

At nearly every show, celebrities and political figures from the local area and worldwide came to the show. In Miami, basketball star Lebron James and Gloria Estefan were present. In Nashville, many contemporary Christian music artists attended. In Las Vegas, President Bill Clinton and Paris Hilton attended. In Seattle, members of Pearl Jam were there. In Anaheim, Maria Shriver and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay attended.