Saroo Brierley, 31, was only a five-year-old boy begging at a railway station in Khandwa, India, when he fell asleep in a train that was going the wrong way. He waited for his older brother to wake him up but he slept for 14 hours and woke up in an unknown city. Brierley spent some time on the streets then taken in by an orphanage and later adopted by an Australian couple who brought him to Tasmania.

Twenty five years later, Brierley, who is now a successful businessman, wanted to look for his family but he couldn’t remember the name of his hometown. Still, using Google Earth and based on his memories, he started searching through the impressive number of images hoping to recall something. “It was just like being Superman. You are able to go over and take a photo mentally and ask: ‘Does this match?’,” Brierley said. “And when you say, ‘No’, you keep on going and going and going.”

In order to narrow down the search, Brierley calculated the distance the train would have traveled using the speed of Indian trains and the time he was on the train – 14 hours. He finally came up with a distance of 1,200km. He drew a circle around a satellite map of Calcutta and found where his family had lived in a place called Khandwa.

“When I found it, I zoomed down and bang, it just came up,” he said. “I navigated it all the way from the waterfall where I used to play.”

Going back to India, Mr Brierley found that his family had moved on but neighbors remembered his mother and they arranged for him to see her. Speaking about the reunion he confessed that, “The last time I saw her she was 34 years old and a pretty lady, I had forgotten that age would get the better of her. But the facial structure was still there and I recognized her and I said, ‘Yes, you are my mother.’

Photo courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk

Behavioral science has a multitude of theories on how our environment and education influences our actions, yet it seems genetic traits can have a strong influence as well when generosity and selfishness are concerned. Scientists have analyzed the hormones associated with ‘niceness’ like  oxytocin which promotes bonding and expanded the previous findings to see whether there are any other factors that influence these hormones.

Researchers at the University of Buffalo and the University of California in the United States conducted a study in which participants were asked to express their opinions about the civic duty, crime reporting, charitable activities, like giving blood  and whether or not the world is a threatening place. 711 people provided a sample of saliva for DNA which helped researchers determine the way vasopressin receptors were expressed. It appears that those who had ‘nice’ genes were much more likely to help others.

Professor Michel Poulin, of the University of Buffalo stated that: ”Specifically, study participants who found the world threatening were less likely to help others – unless they had versions of the receptor genes that are generally associated with niceness. These ‘nicer’ versions of the genes allow you to overcome feelings of the world being threatening and help other people in spite of those fears. The fact that the genes predicted behaviour only in combination with people’s experiences and feelings about the world isn’t surprising because most connections between DNA and social behavior are complex.”

Indonesia in under threat of another disaster after an 8.7 magnitude earthquake was registered about 300 miles from the provincial capital of Aceh, Indonesia, in Banda Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, about 20 miles beneath the ocean floor. Banda Aceh has been struck by disaster in 2004 when a tsunami wave was triggered by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake that claimed the lives of 167,000 people and injured many more.

The earthquake registered on April 11, 2012, shook the buildings of the Aceh province for four minutes and the fear of having the 2004 tragedy repeating caused panic on the street as people tried to seek refuge at high ground before a tsunami hits.

According to DailyMail, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is currently meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron, said that there is no imminent threat despite the fact that an international tsunami warning has been issued. He said:

“The situation is under control so far. It is a very different situation from 2004 when Aceh was faced with a deadly tsunami.”

Banda Aceh is not the only area that could be affected in case of a tsunami, as The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami watch has been issued for the exposed areas surrounding the area of the quake, such as Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands.

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After many speculations on the subject, Google has finally admitted that the Internet connected glasses will soon become a reality. Seeking to gain an important place in the fast developing wearable technology market segment, the company has revealed the current project in order to see initial customers reactions and general view of such projects: “We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input.”, Google representatives stated.

The rather obvious goal of the project is to make technology more convenient to use: “We think technology should work for you — be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t. A group of us from Google X (Labs) started Project Glass to build this kind of technology; one that helps you explore and share your world.”, a group of members of the project revealed in a Google+ post.

The newest glasses are said to have a much more stylish appearance compared to the first prototypes, however it appears that there is still a long way until they will reach the market.“We took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do,” Google representatives revealed, aiming to give customers a better idea regarding the new project.

Microsoft is moving its European logistics center to the Netherlands from Germany due to its legal disputes with mobile phone and tablet maker Motorola Mobility Inc. ”We would have preferred to keep our European distribution center in Germany, where it has been for many years. But unfortunately the risk from disruptions from Motorola’s patent litigation is simply too high,” Microsoft spokesman Thomas Baumgaertner said on Monday.

The news comes ahead of a German court decision expected on April 17 in a suit brought against Microsoft by Motorola, which is being bought by Google, for allegedly infringing a video technology patent. Baumgaertner also said the move was already in progress. So far, the US software maker’s distribution has been handled out of Germany by Bertelsmann’s services unit Arvato.

The worse case scenario? Well, the court could ban Microsoft from distributing some of its biggest products such as Windows 7 from Germany, thus affecting sales in other countries supplied by the German center. However, a second Microsoft spokesman said no jobs will be lost at the company due to the change. According to its website, Microsoft has about 2,700 employees in Germany. The spokesman declined to comment on the cost of the move.

Hamburgers, fries and pizza were always considered unhealthy for the organism. However, the latest researches demonstrated that fast food makes us depressed which is pretty surprising. Experts revealed that the regular consumption of these food items can generate negative changes in our mental health. According to recent studies regular fast food consumers are no less than 51% more likely to suffer from depression than those who consume pizza or hamburger every once in a while. Moreover, it was also revealed that people who were regular visitors at fast food restaurants became less active and had more chances to stay single.

The latest research was published in the Journal of Public Health Nutrition and it was realized with the help of 9,000 people who had never suffered from depression. Individuals were analyzed over a period of about six months. The partial and final results also revealed that 493 of these individuals started to take anti-depressants and were diagnosed with depression.

Lead researcher, Dr Almudena Sanchez-Villegas from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria claimed that, “Even eating small quantities is linked to a significantly higher chance of developing depression.[...]Although more studies are necessary, the intake of this type of food should be controlled because of its implications on both health (obesity, cardiovascular diseases) and mental well-being.”.

Image courtesy of Thinkstock Photos

Genetically modified crops have focused widely on killing insects in order to ensure maximum efficiency up until now, but a new approach may gain more popularity. British scientists have developed a crop of wheat that repels aphids instead of killing them. The new approach might be eliminate or drastically reduce the need for stronger pesticides since pests will not develop resistance to them.

British scientists believe the solution lies in introducing a pheromone that makes the crops unattractive for aphids and causes them to look for other food sources. The pheromone called  (E)-beta-farnesene is naturally found in peppermint. The concentration found in peppermint is not sufficient in order to scare off the insects but scientists working on the world’s first GM crop of this sort have managed to deal with this shortcoming. A bonus of the new idea seems to be that such crops attract parasites which control aphid population.

Professor John Pickett explained part of the thought process that went into the development of the new project: ”We are using a natural process to control aphids but because it is a very difficult process that the aphids have evolved to use, we have had to use another living organism – which is the crop itself – to do this. We don’t believe there is an alternative, but we are providing a new way of controlling the pests that doesn’t rely on toxic modes of action. We believe in the long term all crops need to be protected through the genetics in the seed.”

Good news for all Harry Potter fans out there! All seven of J.K. Rowling popular science fiction novels are now available as digital books, and as audio books, on the Pottermore website. It seems that the books come in a downloadable format that is compatible with all leading e-readers, tablets, personal computers and smartphones including Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook.

“For years our customers have loved reading Harry Potter books in print, and have made them the best-selling print book series on Amazon.com,” said Russ Grandinetti, Amazon’s vice president of Kindle content. “We’re excited that Harry Potter fans worldwide are now able to read J.K. Rowling’s fantastic books on their Kindles and free Kindle reading apps.”

Last year, Rowling made an announcement on YouTube saying that, “I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation. I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have.”

All seven books are priced at $7.99, while the audio versions are sold for $29.99. The books are currently only available in English, though according to the Associated Press there are also French, Italian, German and Spanish editions on the way.

Dark matter, galaxies, stars or black holes will soon be no mystery to us due to The Square Kilometer Array (SKA), world’s largest and most powerful radio telescope that is set to be constructed starting 2016. There are two locations being considered for it construction, one in South Africa’s Northern Cape, the other in western Australia.

“It will have a deep impact on the way we perceive our place in the universe and how we understand its history and its future,” says Michiel van Haarlem, interim director general of the SKA project. “We know we are going to discover things that we haven’t already. It’s going to be very exciting,” van Haarlem said.

The SKA will consist of 3,000 dish antennas, each one around 15 meters wide that will detect radio waves that enter into the Earth’s atmosphere. Moreover, two other types of powerful radio receptors will detect radiation from frequencies between 70 MHz and 10 GHz. The telescope will extend out in five carefully aligned “spiral arms” stretching out ever more sparsely over an area in excess of 3,000 kilometers or more.

“It’s not like an optical telescope where you see an image of the sky directly. What you do is measure signals from the antennas and process them,” van Haarlem says. “We’re talking about huge computing hardware that still needs to be developed. There’s a big challenge there. We will have high-resolution images where we will actually peer into the center of what is going on in galaxies.”

Image courtesy of www.dailymail.co.uk

The media is intrigued by the new that the Islamic guide to happy marriage is already on the market. Those who are fascinated by this intriguing culture will be thrilled to find out a few interesting details about unique habits and recommendations. The “marriage guide” book also lines up a few of the best methods used by Islamic man to beat their wives. A Gift For Muslim Couple as the title of the book reveals is the ultimate textbook for a long-lasting marriage. One of the most controversial parts of the book says that a man should hit his wife with ‘hand or stick or pull her by the ears’.

Moderate Muslims responded quickly to the release of the book and claimed that this guide only encouraged domestic violence. Creators of the guide stated that this non-literary piece is a “presentation for newlyweds”. According to writer by Maulavi Ashraf Ali Thanvi, an Islamic scholar, the guide actually ”deals with the subject of marriage and after marriage relationship, as well as the various pitfalls of marriage, causes of breakdown and their causes.”. Furthermore it also offered advice on “different aspects of family life and  how to run the institution of marriage successfully”.

One section of the guide advises the husband on how he “should treat the wife with kindness and love, even if she tends to be stupid and slow sometimes.”. However the husband should also “refrain from beating her excessively.”. The Islamic marriage guide book appeared first in a Canadian book store. Now it is also available online. Tarek Fatah a Canadian political campaigner told Toronto Sun that, “I wouldn’t say it’s hate, but it is inciting men to hit women,[...]This is new to you, but the Muslim community knows that this is widespread, that a woman can be beaten. Muslim leaders will deny this,…”.

We’re looking forward to see other responses to the book review.

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