Post by Clare on Mar 8, 2005 21:59:28 GMT 11
Knife Stuck In Head
A 63-year-old Pole suffering headaches and lack of appetite was reportedly completely unaware a 12-cm-long knife blade stuck in his head was the source of his woes.
Physicians in Bialystok, eastern Poland, were shocked to find the knife blade lodged in the cranium of the unidentified patient.
The man suspects he sustained the injury after falling off a kitchen stool when he was drunk, but noticed no blood and had no major pain at the time. He later found the handle of his favourite knife but the blade had mysteriously vanished.
"The knife blade entered under the right ear near the sideburn and went to the base of the skull near the roof of the mouth. It stopped on the jawbone. It could have caught major blood vessels and nerves but did absolutely no harm," physician Marek Rogowski told Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza.
Physicians simply pulled the blade out of the man's head without any complications, Rogowski said.
The man was sent home with a clean bill of health after only two days in hospital
www.smh.com.au/news/Unusual-Tales/Blades-a-nobrainer/2005/03/02/1109700511249.html
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Pucker Up
Two Germans have set a world record after kissing for exactly 31 hours without a break, ananova.com reports.
Pamela Stern, 19, and Matthias Brandstetter, 24, from Thalmassing, near Nuremberg, broke the record of 30 hours, 59 minutes and 27 seconds, as recorded on the Guinness World Records website, by an American couple.
They were also crowned king and queen of the Bavarian Kissing Championships.
The pair hope to be rewarded with a new entry in the next Guinness World Records book.
www.smh.com.au/news/Unusual-Tales/Pucker-up/2005/02/21/1108834730643.html
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Mouse will have brain of human
March 7, 2005
It will look like any ordinary mouse, but for US scientists a tiny animal threatens to ignite a profound ethical dilemma.
In one of the most controversial scientific projects conceived, a group of university researchers in California's Silicon Valley is preparing to create a mouse whose brain will be composed entirely of human cells.
Researchers at Stanford University have already succeeded in breeding mice with brains that are 1 per cent human cells. In the next stage they plan to use stem cells from aborted human foetuses to create an animal whose brain cells are 100 per cent human.
Professor Irving Weissman, who heads the university's Institute of Cancer/Stem Cell Biology, believes the mice could produce a breakthrough in understanding how stem cells might lead to a cure for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
The group is waiting for a key US Government sponsored report, due this month, that will decide how much science can blur the distinction between man and beast.
Stanford's ethics committee has already approved the research, under certain conditions.
The head of the ethics committee, Professor Henry Greely, said: "If the mouse shows human-like behaviours, like improved memory or problem-solving, it's time to stop."
Professor Weissman said that there was no way of knowing whether the "human mice" would develop any human characteristics until after they were born.
www.smh.com.au/news/Unusual-Tales/Mouse-will-have-brain-of-human/2005/03/06/1110044258297.html
A 63-year-old Pole suffering headaches and lack of appetite was reportedly completely unaware a 12-cm-long knife blade stuck in his head was the source of his woes.
Physicians in Bialystok, eastern Poland, were shocked to find the knife blade lodged in the cranium of the unidentified patient.
The man suspects he sustained the injury after falling off a kitchen stool when he was drunk, but noticed no blood and had no major pain at the time. He later found the handle of his favourite knife but the blade had mysteriously vanished.
"The knife blade entered under the right ear near the sideburn and went to the base of the skull near the roof of the mouth. It stopped on the jawbone. It could have caught major blood vessels and nerves but did absolutely no harm," physician Marek Rogowski told Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza.
Physicians simply pulled the blade out of the man's head without any complications, Rogowski said.
The man was sent home with a clean bill of health after only two days in hospital
www.smh.com.au/news/Unusual-Tales/Blades-a-nobrainer/2005/03/02/1109700511249.html
-----------------------------------------
Pucker Up
Two Germans have set a world record after kissing for exactly 31 hours without a break, ananova.com reports.
Pamela Stern, 19, and Matthias Brandstetter, 24, from Thalmassing, near Nuremberg, broke the record of 30 hours, 59 minutes and 27 seconds, as recorded on the Guinness World Records website, by an American couple.
They were also crowned king and queen of the Bavarian Kissing Championships.
The pair hope to be rewarded with a new entry in the next Guinness World Records book.
www.smh.com.au/news/Unusual-Tales/Pucker-up/2005/02/21/1108834730643.html
-----------------------------------------
Mouse will have brain of human
March 7, 2005
It will look like any ordinary mouse, but for US scientists a tiny animal threatens to ignite a profound ethical dilemma.
In one of the most controversial scientific projects conceived, a group of university researchers in California's Silicon Valley is preparing to create a mouse whose brain will be composed entirely of human cells.
Researchers at Stanford University have already succeeded in breeding mice with brains that are 1 per cent human cells. In the next stage they plan to use stem cells from aborted human foetuses to create an animal whose brain cells are 100 per cent human.
Professor Irving Weissman, who heads the university's Institute of Cancer/Stem Cell Biology, believes the mice could produce a breakthrough in understanding how stem cells might lead to a cure for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
The group is waiting for a key US Government sponsored report, due this month, that will decide how much science can blur the distinction between man and beast.
Stanford's ethics committee has already approved the research, under certain conditions.
The head of the ethics committee, Professor Henry Greely, said: "If the mouse shows human-like behaviours, like improved memory or problem-solving, it's time to stop."
Professor Weissman said that there was no way of knowing whether the "human mice" would develop any human characteristics until after they were born.
www.smh.com.au/news/Unusual-Tales/Mouse-will-have-brain-of-human/2005/03/06/1110044258297.html
i can't watch it. 
