Spanish photographer Samuel Aranda won the World Press Photo of the Year 2011 with a moving image that captured the jury due to its powerful message and the great emotional impact.

The image showing Fatima al-Qaws holding her wounded son in her arms was captured on 15 October 2011 inside a mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, that was used as a field hospital by demonstrators against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. At the time, Samuel Aranda was working in Yemen on assignment for The New York Times.

“The photo is the result of a very human moment, but it also reminds us of something important, that women played a crucial part in this revolution. It is easy to portray the aggressiveness of situations like these. This image shows the tenderness that can exist within all the aggression. The violence is still there, but it shows another side,” a member of the jury said.

Speaking to Mr. Aranda about the tough period they passed through during the revolution, Ms. Qaws confessed that she didn’t want her son to go to the protest that day, but when she heard the news at the radio she ran to the hospital thinking that her son was killed. But she found him lying down. Mr. Qaws was in a coma for two days after the photo was taken and spent a month recuperating.

Samuel Aranda’s photograph was selected out of 101,254 photos submitted, from a total of 5,247 photographers in 124 countries. He used a Nikon D700, with the shutter speed of 0.4 seconds, an ISO of 400, F-stop of f/2.0, and focal length of 35mm.

A recent research made by a team of scientists at Rockefeller University in New York lead to a great discovery that might be the first step in finding an effective cure for insomnia. The experiment developed on fruit flies revealed that those carrying a mutation in the protein slept two thirds less than normal and also had much shorter lifespans.

“Sleep is a fundamental behaviour in all animals, and it is poorly understood from a scientific standpoint. This work gives us several new clues about how sleep is controlled at the molecular level, and could prove useful in understanding and treating sleep disorders,” Dr Nicholas Stavropoulos, of Rockefeller University in New York, said.

Researchers cloned and tested the gene, known as insomniac, in more than 20,000 fruit flies and discovered a new mechanism by which sleep is regulated. They used an infrared beam to detect when the flies nodded off and detected those with the variant slept for an average of just 317 minutes a day instead of the typical amount of 927 minutes. The flies with mutations also snoozed for shorter periods, slept and woke more frequently, and lived only about two thirds as long as others.

“The results showed a dramatic loss of both the duration of the flies  sleep and their ability to remain asleep after they dozed off. But what’s especially interesting is the insomniac gene may function through homeostatic mechanisms. These are distinct from the well-studied circadian clock pathways linked to sleep, and have an effect on the body regardless of the time of day,” Stavropoulos said.

By eliminating the gene from neurons, the dissimilarity disappeared and the resulting animals slept poorly but lived just as long. “This suggests reduced sleep can be ‘uncoupled’ from reduced lifespan, supporting the idea some disruptions of sleep do not effect overall health, at least as far as lifespan is concerned,” Dr Stavropoulos added.

The latest experiments from the branch of science which deals with dolphins reveals fascinating details about the life of these intelligent animals. According to recent science reports dolphins should be considered ‘non-human persons’ due to their unique culture and personalities. Experts also claim that isolating orcas and dolphins and placing them in separate tanks at famous amusement parks can do great damages. These animals are actually more socially driven than people and numerous marine experts joined forces to convince international authorities to consider the rights of cetaceans.

At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver scientists tackled the subject of the “declaration of rights” for cetaceans. An international team of researchers claimed equal rights to these animals which included the right to wellbeing and liberty. Ethic expert at Loyola Marymount University in California, Dr Thomas White claimed that, “The similarities between cetaceans and humans are such that they, as we, have an individual sense of self.[...]Dolphins are non human persons. A person needs to be an individual. If individuals count, then the deliberate killing of individuals of this sort is ethically the equivalent of deliberately killing a human being.[...]The science has shown that individuality, consciousness, self awareness is no longer a unique human property. That poses all kinds of challenges.”.

Different experiments concentrating on the brain functioning of dolphins have revealed that these animals are more intelligent than other species like chimpanzees and they use a way of communicating with each other extremely similar to the ones humans use. Moreover, we also find out from the latest science reports that dolphins have the ability to think about the future, recognize themselves in the mirror and can learn different behavior patterns.

A group of researchers created the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans made up of ten points which includes the right to live in their natural habitat and free existence. Furthermore the declaration would deprive any person or organization from the right to own a cetacean. Dr. Lori Marino as one of the researchers who contributed to the creation of the declaration revealed that, “We went from seeing the dolphin or whale brain as being giant amorphous blob that doesn’t carry a lot of intelligence and complexity to being an enormous brain with a complexity that rivals our own,[...]It’s different in the way its put together, but in terms of the level of complexity it is very similar to the human brain.”.

Time will decide whether the group of researchers will actually succeed in achieving some of their groundbreaking goals.

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Millions of researchers are working on projects to find alternative methods to prolong our life. The latest results of numerous experiments revealed that the secret to a longer life is to starve yourself on alternate days. This ritual will boost the functioning of your brain and you’ll be able to shed extra pounds in the quickest way. The National Institutes for Aging from the US revealed that the latest researches analyzed the organism of animals provided with the minimum amount of calories to survive. The results showed that these animals were able to live twice as long as the ones who had consumed a generous amount of food on a daily basis.

The experiment was also used in the case of humans and the results are similar. Moreover a low-calorie diet can also keep the brain in top shape and could also protect our circulatory system from aging and disorders like Alzheimer’s.

According to Mark Mattson, head of the laboratory of neurosciences at the NIA and professor of neuroscience at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, “Dietery energy restriction extends lifespan and protects the brain and cardiovascular system against age-related disease,”. He also stated to the Sunday Times, “We have found that dietary energy restriction, particularly when administered in intermittent bouts of major caloric restriction, such as alternative day fasting, activates cellular stress response pathways in neurones,”.

During the experiments mice were separated into two groups. Some of them were provided with generous meals on a daily basis, others would consume a meal only on alternate days. Then their brains were examined by scientists and it became obvious that the brain functioning of mice on the low-calorie diet was much better.

Specialists also conducted experiments with humans who decided to starve themselves for a few days in order to fight against disorders like cancer. According to the results of numerous experiments healthy cells which are furnished with less food can enter a survival mode  and will resist the severe damages caused by chemotherapy and stress. We’re looking forward to see how these experiments will change the perspective of people and scientists on weight loss.

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Even in the 21st century, it seems that many industrialized countries tend to have a fairly weak understanding of evolution, according to educators. It appears that the problem is accentuated in America, which scored among the last countries when it comes to the subject. Kenneth Miller of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, however, suggests that the perceived conflict is lessened as the education level increases.

He exposed his views at the symposium American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS):”As juniors, they see a conflict between religion and science, and take the religious side,” he stated. “By their senior year, 79 percent said they don’t see a conflict, but a collaboration model instead. These students changed their attitudes and (came to) regard religion and science as being able to exist side by side.”

He also pointed out that some crucial scientific developments have been made by people with a strong religious background. Considered to be the founder of genetics, Gregor Johann Mendel was well known for his religious beliefs, being one of the numerous examples that help combat the widespread belief according to which morality would not exist without religion.

Resistant bacterial strains are becoming an increasing problem for both the general population and the pharmaceutical industry which requires large investments for solving the problem without necessarily gaining enough profit comparative to the effort required. However, nature can help solve some of the problems. Jes Gitz Holler from the University of Copenhagen has discovered a compound that seems to be effective in treating yellow staphylococci, which typically don’t respond to normal treatment.

“I have discovered a natural substance in a Chilean avocado plant that is active in combination treatment with traditional antibiotics. Resistant bacteria have an efflux pump in their bacterial membrane that efficiently pumps out antibiotics as soon as they have gained access. The identified natural substance inhibits the pumping action, so that the bacteria’s defence mechanisms are broken down and the antibiotic treatment allowed to work,” explained Jes Gitz Holler.

The extracts gathered by the scientist lowered MIC value ( a value that states the minimum value for which antibiotics inhibit bacterial growth) 8 times, an astounding result. All this is done by targeting the efflux-inhibitor mechanism. The scientist plans to improve the efficiency by devising a synthetic compound in order to lower costs and protect the rainforest at the same time.

German president, Christian Wulff, announced his resignation after being caught in a series of corruption scandals involving presumed political favors and financial impropriety while he was state premier of Lower Saxony. The scandal that began in mid-December due to a possible private loan Wulff had received from a wealthy friend’s wife was intensified by a phone he made in January to the editor of Bild.

Christian Wulff said in a statement that Germany “needs a president who can devote himself completely to national and international challenges.”

He then added that, “The developments of the past days and weeks have shown that this trust and therefore confidence in my ability to serve have been adversely affected. For this reason, it is no longer possible for me to continue in my role as president.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who supported Wulff’s candidacy as president, said in a televised statement that she accepted his resignation with the “utmost respect and deepest personal regret.”

Based on all the evidence gathered, prosecutors asked Parliament to strip Wulff of his immunity.

“Following extensive analyses of new documents and the evaluation of further media reports, the Hanover Public Prosecutor’s Office now has sufficient factual evidence and therefore grounds for initial suspicion of receiving bribes or being granted advantages,” it said in a statement. “(The Office) therefore proposes to the president of the German Parliament that immunity for the federal president be waived.”

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.”

The latest report revealed by Save the Children organization sheds light on the fact that Malnutrition Affects 1 in 4 Children Globally. This condition can lead to undeveloped brains and other severe damages in the organism of children. No less than 300 kids die from this condition every hour. According to Huffingtonpost childhood malnutrition is a “silent killer” which is often neglected due to the controversies and debates related to HIV/AIDS or malaria.

The increasing food prices force families to juggle with their budget which can lead to the reduction of food purchasing. The Press Association also claimed that one-third of the parents around the world confessed that their children don’t benefit of the necessary amount of food. Justin Forsyth as the chief executive of the Save the Children organization stated that, “Every hour of every day, 300 children die because of malnutrition, often simply because they don’t have access to the basic, nutritious foods that we take for granted in rich countries,”.

The recent report done by Save the Children names a few factors that could generate the appearance of this severe social problem, “climate change, volatile food prices, economic uncertainty, the global health worker shortage and demographic shifts.”. Huffingtonpost reveals the 6 steps offered by the organization to solve the problem, “investing in direct interventions, increasing the number of health workers, investing in social protections against poverty, supporting female and small-scale farmers, and building up international political leadership.”.

The Global Hunger Index from last year revealed that countries like Congo, Burundi, Comoros, Swaziland and also Ivory Coast have higher malnutrition rates than in earlier decades. There are other countries who succeeded in finding solutions to combat the increase of hunger. These countries are: Malaysia, Mexico, Kuwait and Turkey. Malnutrition is definitely has the highest rate in Africa. According to the report 60 million children suffer from this condition.

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People who struggle with unbearable headaches will definitely do everything to get rid of this unfortunate condition. The latest health news reports claim that Botox reduces migraine pain. Numerous clinical researches demonstrated the miraculous effect of this method in order to minimize the discomfort caused by this world-wide-known disorder. It seems that Botox is good not only for wrinkles but also for other painful conditions which ruin the life and mood of people. Migraine is actually generated by the overactive nerve impulses which also contribute to excessive muscle contractions. According to specialists the pure version of botulinum toxin A or Botox can reduce the nerve impulses and will actually slow down or stop the contractions.

The latest review done by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence reveals that it is important to conduct more researches until they approve NHS funding in spite of the fact that about 2 years ago Botox was already licensed as a migraine treatment. Joanna Hamilton-Colclough as the director of the ‘Migraine Action’ organization claimed that Botox treatments changed her whole life, “I’ve been able to work without a headache and sleep properly for the first time,[...] We don’t think the treatment is expensive when you take into account the cost to the economy from people needing time off work for migraines, and to the NHS from A&E treatment.”. (MarieClaire).

Migraine expert, Professor Anne MacGregor also said that, “It’s not a blanket treatment but it might be appropriate for a small number of patients.”.

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