STORY OF CREATER / INVENTOR OF DIGITAL CAMERA BACK IN 1975

Steven Sasson in 1973, the year he started working at Eastman Kodak. 

Imagine a world where photography is a slow process that is impossible to master without years of study or apprenticeship. A world without iPhones or Instagram, where one company reigned supreme. Such a world existed in 1973, when Steven Sasson, a young engineer, went to work for Eastman Kodak.

Two years later he invented digital photography and made the first digital camera.

Mr. Sasson, all of 24 years old, invented the process that allows us to make photos with our phones, send images around the world in seconds and share them with millions of people. The same process completely disrupted the industry that was dominated by his Rochester employer and set off a decade of complaints by professional photographers fretting over the ruination of their profession.

It started out innocently enough.

Soon after arriving at Kodak, Mr. Sasson was given a seemingly unimportant task — to see whether there was any practical use for a charged coupled device (C.C.D.), which had been invented a few years earlier.

“Hardly anybody knew I was working on this, because it wasn’t that big of a project,” Mr. Sasson said “It wasn’t secret. It was just a project to keep me from getting into trouble doing something else, I guess.”

The very first digital camera created by Steven Sasson in 1973. This camera was the basis for the US patent issued on December 26, 1978.

He quickly ordered a couple of them and set out to evaluate the devices, which consisted of a sensor that took an incoming two dimensional light pattern and converted it into an electrical signal. Mr. Sasson wanted to capture an image with it, but the C.C.D. couldn’t hold it because the electrical pulses quickly dissipated.

To store the image, he decided to use what was at that time a relatively new process — digitalization — turning the electronic pulses into numbers. But that solution led to another challenge — storing it on RAM memory, then getting it onto digital magnetic tape.

The final result was a Rube Goldberg device with a lens scavenged from a used Super-8 movie camera; a portable digital cassette recorder; 16 nickel cadmium batteries; an analog/digital converter; and several dozen circuits — all wired together on half a dozen circuit boards.

It looks strange today, but remember, this was before personal computers – the first build it yourself Apple computer kit went on sale that next year for $666.66.

The camera alone was a historic accomplishment, but he needed to invent a playback system that would take the digital information on the cassette tape and turn it into “something that you could see” on a television set: a digital image.

“This was more than just a camera,” said Mr. Sasson who was born and raised in Brooklyn. “It was a photographic system to demonstrate the idea of an all-electronic camera that didn’t use film and didn’t use paper, and no consumables at all in the capturing and display of still photographic images.”

The camera and the playback system were the beginning of the digital photography era. But the digital revolution did not come easily at Kodak.

“They were convinced that no one would ever want to look at their pictures on a television set.”

Mr. Sasson made a series of demonstrations to groups of executives from the marketing, technical and business departments and then to their bosses and to their bosses. He brought the portable camera into conference rooms and demonstrated the system by taking a photo of people in the room.

“It only took 50 milliseconds to capture the image, but it took 23 seconds to record it to the tape,” Mr. Sasson said. “I’d pop the cassette tape out, hand it to my assistant and he put it in our playback unit. About 30 seconds later, up popped the 100 pixel by 100 pixel black and white image.”

Though the quality was poor, Mr. Sasson told them that the resolution would improve rapidly as technology advanced and that it could compete in the consumer market against 110 film and 135 film cameras. Trying to compare it with already existing consumer electronics, he suggested they “think of it as an HP calculator with a lens.” He even talked about sending images on a telephone line.

Their response was tepid, at best.

“They were convinced that no one would ever want to look at their pictures on a television set,” he said. “Print had been with us for over 100 years, no one was complaining about prints, they were very inexpensive, and so why would anyone want to look at their picture on a television set?”

The main objections came from the marketing and business sides. Kodak had a virtual monopoly on the United States photography market, and made money on every step of the photographic process. If you wanted to photograph your child’s birthday party you would likely be using a Kodak Instamatic, Kodak film and Kodak flash cubes. You would have it processed either at the corner drugstore or mail the film to Kodak and get back prints made with Kodak chemistry on Kodak paper.

It was an excellent business model.

When Kodak executives asked when digital photography could compete, Mr. Sassoon used Moore’s Law, which predicts how fast digital technology advances. He would need two million pixels to compete against 110 negative color film, so he estimated 15 to 20 years. Kodak offered its first consumer cameras 18 years later.

“When you’re talking to a bunch of corporate guys about 18 to 20 years in the future, when none of those guys will still be in the company, they don’t get too excited about it,” he said. “But they allowed me to continue to work on digital cameras, image compression and memory cards.”

The first digital camera was patented in 1978. It was called the electronic still camera. But Mr. Sasson was not allowed to publicly talk about it or show his prototype to anyone outside Kodak.

In 1989, Mr. Sasson and a colleague, Robert Hills, created the first modern digital single-lens reflex (S.L.R.) camera that looks and functions like today’s professional models. It had a 1.2 megapixel sensor, and used image compression and memory cards.

The 1989 version of the digital camera, known as the Ecam (electronic camera). This is the basis of the United States patent issued on May 14, 1991.

But Kodak’s marketing department was not interested in it. Mr. Sasson was told they could sell the camera, but wouldn’t — because it would eat away at the company’s film sales.

“When we built that camera, the argument was over,” Mr. Sasson said. “It was just a matter of time, and yet Kodak didn’t really embrace any of it. That camera never saw the light of day.”

Still, until it expired in the United States in 2007, the digital camera patent helped earn billions for Kodak, since it — not Mr. Sasson — owned it, making most digital camera manufacturers pay Kodak for the use of the technology. Though Kodak did eventually market both professional and consumer cameras, it did not fully embrace digital photography until it was too late.

“Every digital camera that was sold took away from a film camera and we knew how much money we made on film,” Mr. Sasson said. “That was the argument. Of course, the problem is pretty soon you won’t be able to sell film — and that was my position.”

Today, the first digital camera Mr. Sasson made in 1975 is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. President Obama awarded Mr. Sasson the National Medal of Technology and Innovation at a 2009 White House ceremony.

Three years later, Eastman Kodak filed for bankruptcy.

NYT

James Estrin

Ocean's Hidden World Of Plankton Revealed In 'Enormous Database'

Planktonic organisms such as these single-celled creatures are found throughout the oceans

The hidden world of the ocean's tiniest organisms has been revealed in a series of papers published in the journal Science.
An international team has been studying samples of plankton collected during a three-year global expedition.

They have so far found 35,000 species of bacteria, 5,000 new viruses and 150,000 single-celled plants and creatures.
They believe that the majority of these are new to science.

Dr Chris Bowler, from the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), in Paris, told BBC News: "We have the most complete description yet of planktonic organisms to date: what's there in terms of viruses, bacteria and protozoa - we finally have a catalogue of what is present globally."

This tiny crustacean was found in a sample taken in the South Pacific

Planktonic organisms are minute, but together they make up 90% of the mass of all of the marine life in the oceans.

They include viruses, bacteria, single-celled plants and creatures (protozoa).They form the very base of the food chain, and produce - through photosynthesis - half of the oxygen we breathe.

However, until now, little has been known about this unseen ocean ecosystem.The Tara expedition, primarily funded by the French fashion designer Agnes B, set out to change that.

Many of the organisms are new to science

So far the team has analysed 579 of the 35,000 samples that were collected
An international team of scientists took part in expeditions onboard the Tara schooner between 2009 and 2013.

It sailed 30,000km across the world's oceans, with researchers collecting 35,000 samples, taking them from the very top layers of the ocean down to 1,000m below the waves.

The project has cost about 10m euros.

New viruses

So far the scientists have analysed 579 of the 35,000 samples collected, presenting the results in five scientific papers.

Dr Bowler said the research was transforming our understanding of these ocean communities.
"For the viruses, we describe about 5,000 virus communities - only 39 of these were previously known.

"And for protists - unicellular organisms - we estimate something like 150,000 different taxa.
"There are about 11,000 formally described species of plankton - we have evidence for at least 10 times more than that."

The analysis has revealed that many of the organisms are sensitive to temperature

The researchers also looked at how the different organisms interacted

Planktonic organisms such as these tiny jellyfish and fish are found throughout the oceans

Of the 35,000 microbes found, most had been seen before, however a genetic analysis of them revealed many new genes.

"We have 40 million genes - about 80% of which are new to science," explained Dr Bower.

The researchers also analysed how plankton communities are organised.

"We have thrown all of these together to see who interacts with whom," said Dr Bower.

"We now have a big dataset where we can ask: 'who do you always find with someone else?' or 'who do you never find with someone else'.

"This helps us to describe symbiosis and interactions that go beyond grazing and predator-prey relationships."

'Enormous' Database

The researchers have found that many of the organisms, particularly the bacteria, are sensitive to temperature.

Dr Bowler said: "It is temperature that determines what sort of communities of organisms we find. If we look at our data and we see what organisms are there, we can predict with 97% probability the temperature of the water they are living in.

"These organisms are most sensitive to temperature, more than anything else, and with changing temperatures as a result of climate change we are likely to see changes in this community."

The researchers say that this scientific analysis is just the beginning.

They are making their findings freely available to the scientific community to gain a better understanding of this vital but unseen underwater world.

Dr Bowler continued: "The amount of data we have released is already enormous; it is one of the largest databases of DNA available to the scientific community. But we've analysed perhaps 2% of the samples we have collected throughout the world - so there is a huge amount of work to do in the future to understand even more about the functioning of these marine ecosystems and the importance of that for the wellbeing of the planet.

"So it's really just the beginning of the study."

Article By :

Rebecca MorelleScience Correspondent, BBC News

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Panipat Teen Makes Device To Turn Breath Into Words, Enters Google Science Fair ...!

                       Arsh Shah Dilbagi, a 16-year-old from Panipat, has entered the Google's Global Science Fair as the only finalist from Asia this year for developing a device that helps people with developmental disabilities, like Locked-In Syndrome and ALS, communicate, using only their breath.

The device, called 'TALK', uses signals from a person's breath via Morse code, picked up by a sensor, and then converts them into speech. Dilbagi, a student of DAV International School, Panipat, says the device even allows almost entirely speech impaired and paralyzed people to communicate like never before.

Claiming to have built the world's fastest and cheapest Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device, a kind used by physicist Stephen Hawking, Dilbagi says it is not possible for all those who have motor-neuro disabilities to afford an AAC device that costs $7,000 (Rs 4.26 lakh).

"AAC devices available in the market are very expensive, slow, bulky and not generic. I decided to find a better solution — an AAC device which is faster, portable and generic and costs only $80 (Rs 5000), making it affordable to the large population," he explains.

The young innovator says that TALK expects a person to be able to give two distinguishable exhales with varying intensities, for converting them into electrical signals using a microphone. The signals are processed by a microprocessor, called the 'Morse engine', which labels the short exhales as 'dots' and longer exhales as 'dashes'. These are further interpreted through the Morse code which converts the signals into words and then sends them to another microprocessor for synthesizing them into voice. According to Dilbagi, TALK features two modes - one to communicate in English, and the other to give specific commands and phrases. These are communicated in nine different voices enabled according to gender and age.

Making two major breakthroughs; increasing the speaking rate, and becoming the world's most affordable AAC device, TALK has landed the young prodigy as the only finalist from Asia in Google's Science Fair Challenge.

"I even got predicted results by testing the device on a person suffering from encephalopathy (global brain dysfunction) and Parkinson's disease," he has claimed in his proposal to Google.

He adds, "In future, I would like to add auto-predictions to my computing engine and integrate TALK with modern technology like Google Glass to make it easier for people with development disabilities."

Dilbagi's father, Amit, said, that since childhood his son had dreamt of doing something meaningful for mankind.

"His attention has always been towards applied science projects. I will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union health minister Harshvardhan to consider this project for the countless people in need for such a device in our country," he told TOI.

Gurgaon: 

Social Groups Can Help Ease Depression

Researchers have suggested that building a strong connection to a social group helps clinically depressed patients recover and helps prevent relapse.

For the paper, (CIFAR) Senior Fellow Alexander Haslam, lead author Tegan Cruwys and their colleagues at the University of Queensland conducted two studies of patients diagnosed with depression or anxiety. The patients either joined a community group with activities such as sewing, yoga, sports and art, or partook in group therapy at a psychiatric hospital.

In both cases, patients responding to survey questions who did not identify strongly with the social group had about a 50% likelihood of continued depression a month later.

But of those who developed a stronger connection to the group and who came to see its members as 'us' rather than 'them,' less than a third still met the criteria for clinical depression after that time. Many patients said the group made them feel supported because everyone was "in it together."

While past research has looked at the importance of social connections for preventing and treating depression, Haslam, a member of CIFAR's Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being (SIIWB) program, says it has tended to emphasize interpersonal relationships rather than the importance of a sense of group identity.

6 Things Women Notice About Men Right Away

First impressions may be made in moments, but they predict the course your relationships follow. So if you know what exactly about you draws in the votes, you can perfect it -- and do better with the opposite sex. So what do women notice immediately?

According to Dr Gordon Patzer, author of Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined, and one of the world's leading authorities on physical attractiveness, a lot of what women notice in the first few minutes is appearance-based. "A substantial portion of the six features of a man are apparent, in terms of height, weight and overall physical attractiveness," he says. And when appearances don't make the cut, the door slams shut on further interactions.

 Here's a list of things to keep that door open.

1. Physical stature

Yep, you knew this already: size matters. Height and weight are right on top of the list of things women notice. "Too much or too little of either immediately classifies the man as unattractive to women, and closes the door before less physically obviously features (such as confidence) can be determined," says Dr Patzer. Take heart though, the acceptable range is influenced by the woman's own height and weight.

2. Appearances and attractiveness
Yes, beauty is skin deep, but it's going to get women to explore what lies beneath. Attractiveness does include what you were born with, but your genes alone can't scuttle your chances. What really counts is what you do with your hair, clothes, grooming and basic hygiene. If you can't make the effort, women certainly are not going to work hard to learn more about you!

3. Smile
Once women are done assessing your overall build, women will look at your smile. "The ability to smile, particularly within the first few minutes of meeting, sends a welcoming, non-hostile signal to women," says Dr Patzer. There is one proviso though -- the smile must show off reasonably good-looking teeth. It's never too late to fix an appointment with the dentist!

4. Humour

Another reason to show off those pearly whites! Women like men who have the ability to laugh. Even better, make the woman laugh. That instantly nets you bonus points!

5. Confidence

Women find confident men attractive. According to Dr Sameer Malhotra, head of psychiatry and psychotherapy department at Fortis Hospital in New Delhi, within the first few minutes of meeting, women will not only suss out your level of confidence, they will also interpret the vibes you give out and how you think. "Women notice how clear or decisive you are and whether you approach things positively." Just remember, cockiness and arrogance are not the same as confidence!

6. Conversation
Men have successfully given womankind the impression of being strong and silent. So women aren't expecting you to have mad talking skills. All you've got to do hold her attention. "We know (scientifically) that the more or longer that a woman gets to know a man, the more physically attractive he becomes in her mind," says Dr Patzer. Women are looking for someone to keep up the conversation -- so forget the one-liners, just be yourself!

Get Over That Holi Hangover

Holi's here, and that means it's time to bring on the colours and get into the festive spirit, so to speak. But sometimes it's difficult to recover from Holi drinking, especially when you have to work the next day. Here are a few ways to deal with a Holi hangover. 

AT THE PARTY Don't mix drinks: This will only exacerbate a hangover, so it's best to stick to one type.
Don't drink on an empty stomach: Make sure you head to a Holi party on a full stomach. Otherwise, the alcohol will hit your system with a vengeance.
Avoid deep-fried food: Steer clear of food that's oily and fried as this could make you feel nauseous later.
Drink water regularly: Keep sipping on water every half an hour, or between drinks, as this will prevent you from getting dehydrated.

AFTER THE PARTY Rehydrate your system: If you have a headache after binge drinking, keep sipping on lemon juice with water, or just plain water.

Drink buttermilk: If your stomach is acting up, it's best to drink buttermilk to soothe your stomach.

Don't drink coffee or tea: Need a pick-me-up before you head out to work? Don't drink coffee or tea even though it may be your usual way to perk up in the mornings. The caffeine in coffee will further dehydrate your body. Instead, drink herbal tea as it does not contain caffeine.

Have a smoothie: Fructose is a healthy form of sugar, and bananas have natural antacids that can help with nausea, so one of the best ways to get over a hangover is to have a banana shake. All you need to do is combine cold milk and chopped bananas in a blender and blitz them. If you want to make the shake more interesting, add strawberries, carrots, bananas and berries of your preference to it.

Go for a walk: This may be the thing you are least inclined to do, but getting some fresh air is one of the best ways to counter a hangover-induced headache.

Blocking Immune Response May Reduce Disability After Stroke

New York, March 15: Stroke is the fourth-leading killer in the world and an important cause of permanent disability.

This may no longer be the same as scientists have now found that using a compound to block the body's immune response reduces chances of disability after a stroke significantly.

The study shows that after a stroke, the injured brain cells provoke the particular immune cells 'CD4+' T-cells to produce a substance, 'IL-21', that kills the neurons in the blood-deprived tissue of the brain.



For the study, normal mice, ordinarily killed or disabled by an ischemic stroke, were given a shot of a compound that blocks the action of 'IL-21'.

Brain scans and brain sections showed that the treated mice suffered little or no stroke damage.

"This is very exciting because we haven't had a new drug for stroke in decades, and this suggests a target for such a drug," said Zsuzsanna Fabry, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at University of

Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

The final part of the study looked at brain tissue from people who had died following ischemic strokes, said Matyas Sandor, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Wisconsin.

It found that 'CD4+' T-cells and their protein, 'IL-21' are in high concentration in areas of the brain damaged by the stroke.

The similarity suggests that the protein that blocks 'IL-21' could become a treatment for stroke, and would likely be administered at the same time as the current blood-clot dissolving drugs, Sandor said.

The study appeared in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Space Debris Can Make Future Space Missions Impossible

There may soon be so much debris in orbit around the Earth that future space missions could become impossible, scientists have warned.

Researchers at the European Space Agency (ESA) have said that the amount of debris from man-made objects is about to reach “criticality”.This means there is so much debris that it is colliding with other debris – generating particles of space junk at an accelerating rate.

The scientists said it would eventually surround the planet in so much speeding space junk that swathes of space will become inaccessible.


There is so much debris that it is colliding with other debris - generating particles of space junk at an accelerating rate. (NASA Image)


“If the current launch rate continues, then collisions will soon be 25 times higher than now. This would make space flight in low Earth orbits almost impossible,” ESA said.

“There are already 17,000 trackable objects larger than a coffee cup, which threaten working missions with catastrophic collision. Even a 1cm nut could hit with the force of a hand grenade.”

To tackle the problem, the space agency is designing a hunter-killer space probe to track down and destroy defunct satellites and so halt the growth of the burgeoning cloud,’The Sunday Times’ reported.

The e.DeOrbit probe would deploy a Roman gladiator-style array of nets and harpoons to first trap rogue satellites and then drag them downwards until they burn up in the atmosphere.

While the question remains how long it will take for the debris cascade to render space unusable, researchers said there are already certain orbits, popular with communication and military satellites, that could become unusable within a decade or two.

The worst affected are orbits of 800-965 km altitude that pass over the poles, because these already contain many of the 5,000 or so satellites launched by humanity since the space age began.

ESA said removing between five and 10 large satellites from space each year would be enough to stop the debris cloud growing.

Sleep disorders could prove deadly

The effects of a restless and sleep deprived night may extend far beyond exhaustion and feeling cranky, according to many studies.

Studies have shown that sleep disorder can contribute to heart disease, hypertension, even memory loss and depression. So not being able to get good quality sleep at night could be bad for your health and lifestyle.




According to surveys about 50% of all middle-aged men and 20% of women aged 50 and above suffer from sleep apnea which is caused due to a narrowed air passage that does not allow sufficient oxygen into the system-usually as a result of obesity.

So when a patient with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) falls into deep sleep, his air passage closes, and for a few seconds, he stops breathing. Then, his/her oxygen-deprived brain wakes him up partially, and he changes his position to re-open the air passage and starts breathing/snoring again.

Doctors explain that this happens at least 40 times in the night. When it becomes a chronic problem, and there is constant shortage of oxygen in the body, it triggers the secretion of stress hormones, which in turn strains the heart.

The scary part is that only a minority of sleep apnea patients know of their problem and seek treatment and this some times results in heart attack or an accident because of drowsiness during the day.

Once the patient is aware of the problem through Sleep Study, he/she can begin treatment. For mild forms of OSA simply losing weight can help while chronic snorers would have to use a C-Pap (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine, which involves wearing a mask to bed every night to prevent the airway from closing.

Woman Gives Birth to a Two-Headed Baby

Urmila Sharma from northern India went into labor on Wednesday (March 12) morning and gave birth to a baby with two heads.

"Yes this report is perfectly true that we have delivered a female baby having two heads," Dr. Ashish Sehgal, the CEO of Cygnus JK Hindu Hospital, told ABCNews.com in an email.

"She is presently alive and healthy," she stated.

Thirty two-year-old Sharma and her husband could not get regular ultrasound scans done due to lack of funds. As a result, they found out just two weeks beforehand that the baby was suffering from a serious complication.

Dr Shikha Malik at Cygnus JK Hindu Hospital said, "We only came to know she was carrying conjoined twins after an ultrasound two weeks ago but it was too late to do anything by then."

The baby, who was born by C-section and weighed 7lbs 7oz, was delivered with two heads, two necks, two spines, but only one tiny body. The baby girl is technically considered to be conjoined twins, and they suffer from a rare condition called dicephalic parapagus, states a Hollywood Life report.

Apparently, chances of survival for the baby are slim.

A "meticulous and challenging" surgery could be the key to saving the twins' life, but the procedure can't take place until they are in stable condition, Dr Sehgal told the Daily News.

"The parents are very distressed and we are helping the family the best we can," Dr Malik explained while discussing the aftermath of the baby girl's birth.

The doctor did not confirm whether or not the surgery would be separating the babies or just easing their 'conjoined' condition.




By Arjun Varma

SEAFOOD AND PREGNANCY

                       

What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish

By U S Food and Drug Administration

           

    Fish and shellfish are an important part of a healthy diet. Fish and shellfish contain high-quality protein and other essential nutrients, are low in saturated fat, and contain omega-3 fatty acids. A well-balanced diet that includes a variety of fish and shellfish can contribute to heart health and children's proper growth and development. So, women and young children in particular should include fish or shellfish in their diets due to the many nutritional benefits.

       However, nearly all fish and shellfish contain traces of mercury. For most people, the risk from mercury by eating fish and shellfish is not a health concern. Yet, some fish and shellfish contain higher levels of mercury that may harm an unborn baby or young child's developing nervous system. The risks from mercury in fish and shellfish depend on the amount of fish and shellfish eaten and the levels of mercury in the fish and shellfish. Therefore, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are advising women who may become pregnant, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children to avoid some types of fish and eat fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury.

 

 3 SAFETY TIPS:

     By following these 3 recommendations for selecting and eating fish or shellfish, women and young children will receive the benefits of eating fish and shellfish and be confident that they have reduced their exposure to the harmful effects of mercury.

1. Do not eat
   • Shark
   • Swordfish
   • King Mackerel
   • Tilefish
   They contain high levels of mercury.
   
2. Eat up to 12 ounces (2 average meals) a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury.
   
   • Five of the most commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish.
   • Another commonly eaten fish, albacore ("white") tuna has more mercury than canned light tuna. So, when choosing your two meals of fish and shellfish, you may eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) of albacore tuna per week.
   •  
3. Check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in your local lakes, rivers, and coastal areas.
   If no advice is available, eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) per week of fish you catch from local waters, but don't consume any other fish during that week.

Follow these same recommendations when feeding fish and shellfish to your young child, but serve smaller portions.

      

'Omega-3 supplements may cause prostate cancer risk'

      

 By Nick Collins in Telegraph

     Omega-3 fatty acids, which are found naturally in oily fish, are widely hailed for their anti-inflammatory properties which are thought to protect against a raft of maladies including heart attacks and strokes, arthritis and various cancers.

    But a study found that men with high levels of omega-3 in their blood were at 43 per cent greater risk of prostate cancer than those with low concentrations, while less common aggressive “high-grade” tumours were 71 per cent more likely than in those not taking supplements.

      The difference in blood concentrations of the fatty acids between the two groups was the equivalent of more than two portions of salmon per week, researchers said.

      The team from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle compared blood samples from 834 prostate cancer patient against 1,393 healthy controls.

    Previous studies into prostate cancer and omega-3 have produced differing results, with some suggesting the fatty acids could be protective rather than harmful, but the researchers said the new findings support an earlier paper they published in 2011.

     Dr Alan Kristal, senior author of the paper, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, said: “We’ve shown once again that use of nutritional supplements may be harmful.”

     It is unclear why omega-3 increased the risk of the disease but the effect could be related to the body’s conversion of fatty acids into compounds which can damage cells and DNA, and suppress the immune system, researchers said.

   The study did not examine how omega-3 might affect the progression of prostate cancer in men who already had the disease.

Omega-3 is one of the most popular supplements sold on the high street, with estimated sales of £116 million each year in Britain alone.

    Each year around 41,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with prostate cancer and 11,000 die from the disease.

    Dr Iain Frame, Director of Research at Prostate Cancer UK said: “Omega 3, such as is found in oily fish, has been the focus of a large amount of research in recent years, the majority of which points to it having wide ranging health benefits when eaten as part of a balanced diet.

    “Therefore we would not encourage any man to change their diet as a result of this study, but to speak to their doctor if they have any concerns about prostate cancer.”

     Sarah Williams, health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “The evidence as to whether omega 3 fats affect prostate cancer risk is mixed and unfortunately this study doesn’t resolve the debate. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers, and the risk increases as men get older."

Humans in 100,000 years: What will we look like?

Homo sapiens have slowly evolved over thousands of millennia, but what happens when modern technology comes into play?

       Visual artist, Nickolay Lamm of Pittsburgh, Pa., tried to answer that question. Interested in illustrating how humans would look like in 100,000 years, he asked science for the answers.“Because I'm not expert in evolution, [I] got in touch with Dr. [Alan] Kwan who gave me his educated guess at what we may look like,” Lamm told FoxNews.com in an email.

       Working with Dr. Kwan, who has a PhD in computational genomics from Washington University, they established “one possible timeline” to future human evolution of sorts. It's not science -- just a "thought experiment," Kwan has clarified -- but it's fascinating to think about.
       Published on MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, these changes to modern-day humans were based on the assumption that by the 210th century, scientists will be able to modify human appearances before birth through zygotic genome engineering technology.

         Kwan based his theories on the accepted idea that between 800,000 and 200,000 years ago, the Earth underwent a period of fluctuation in its climate, which resulted in a tripling of the human brain, as well as skull size. Scientists agree that the rapid changes in climate may have created a favorable environment for those with the ability to adapt to new challenges and situations.


        This trend has noticeably continued, for British scientists have found that modern humans have less prominent features and higher foreheads than people during medieval times.“My goal is to get people talking and thinking about things they otherwise wouldn't have. For example, this 'Future Face' project is getting people talking about whether or not something like 'Gattaca' may happen,” Lamm told FoxNews.com, referring to the 1997 movie starring Ethan Hawke.

        Some have criticized Dr. Kwan for appearing to ignore common scientific knowledge. Such 100,000 year projections are “fantasy,” Razib Khan, a geneticist, told Matthew Herper of Forbes.

        "This is more of a speculative look than a scientific look into one possible future where human engineering replaces natural evolution in determining human physiology, but we have been very happy that our humble project has garnered so much attention and provided a platform for others share their own vision of the future," Kwan said, according to Lamm.

10 Things Your Airline Doesn't Want You to Know

      Commercial airlines open up the world for business and exploration. Routes that used to take weeks or months now take a few hours in a plane.

        Flying can be fun and exciting, of course, but in recent years, the friendly skies have become a little (or a lot) less friendly. High fuel prices and operating costs have lowered the number of routes and reduced services provided by airlines. A business that started off as complicated (it is pretty incredible that those planes can fly, right?) has only gotten more complex.

     These days, airline travel can be a boring hassle. Or worse. Keep reading to learn what your airline doesn't want you to know.

1: A Flight Delay Might Not Stop You

    You're waiting at the airport and you've just heard that your plane is stuck in another city. Maybe the weather is keeping it grounded. Maybe it needs a part. Flight delays are common and unavoidable -- for your carrier. You, on the other hand, might still be able to get where you're going on time.

    If you can't reach your destination on time because of a flight delay with the airline you bought the ticket from, that airline is required to put you on a competitors' flight if that flight will get you there sooner than the original airline's next scheduled flight. Of course, the competitor's plane must have an available seat for this rule to apply.

2: It's Cheaper to Fly Some Times than Others

      If you can be flexible about when you fly, you might score some good savings on your ticket. There are certain days, weeks, months and times of day that offer cheaper fares.

      Wednesday, Tuesday and Saturday are the cheapest days to fly. Friday and Sunday are the most expensive. Tuesday afternoons through Thursday are good days to find sales on destinations. If you want the absolute cheapest fare, book your ticket for the red-eye flights or the earliest morning flight scheduled. Flights scheduled during lunch and dinner hours also tend to cost less.

    The first half of January is a good time to buy tickets. Airlines run destination sales then, and available travel dates usually extend into spring. Fares are highest for peak travel seasons like summer, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

3: You Can Get a Discount on First Class

     How many bargain shoppers do you know who check the price of first-class tickets? Probably not many. First-class seats are expensive -- and there's your advantage. Because of the price, first-class seats are often empty. Airlines don't like to fly with empty seats. Sometimes, they'll sell first-class tickets for the same price as a full-fare coach ticket. It's called a "Y-up fare." They're not always available, and if you have to change your travel plans, it could cost a bundle to change a Y-up ticket. But if you're sure about your plans and are willing to pay a little more for a lot more comfort, ask about Y-up availability when you book your flight.

Baggage Fees Are Bunk

   Since carriers started imposing checked baggage fees, fewer passengers bring luggage that goes into the cargo hold. To make up for that lost weight, ground crews load sand bags into the hold to balance the plane.

4: It's Easy to Shop Around for Cheaper Fares

    All fares are not equal, and it pays (or saves) to shop around. You can often get better deals through discount travel sites.

    Be sure to check out the Web sites of budget airlines directly. Some of them don't advertise their prices on fare comparison Web sites. Word gets around anyway, and their competitors will try to beat the budget flyers' prices.

   And don't forget about all those add-on fees. Check for baggage and other additional costs before buying your ticket.

5: Your Plane is a Revolving Door of Germs

     Airlines stress that the cabin air is continually scrubbed of germs as it circulates through the airplane, and that's true. However, the air is also pressurized, which strips it of moisture. This drier-than-desert air dries out your mucous membranes and lowers your resistance to germs around you. If you're sitting within two rows of someone with a cold, the dry, recirculated air makes you more likely to become infected.

     Even if you aren't seated near a sick person during your flight, you may still be at risk for infection. Airlines make money by keeping the planes full and flying. There's only a cursory cleaning -- if any cleaning takes place at all -- between flights. Cold and flu viruses can live for hours on surfaces, such as your seat, counters and faucets in the bathroom.

Other Dangers

    EPA tests of water from the galley and bathrooms in airplanes found that 17 percent of the tested sources were positive for a type of fecal bacteria. This is the same water used to brew coffee and tea on the plane.

6: Their Planes are Old

   It's stretching the truth to say that some commercial airplanes are older than their pilots -- unless you look at age in miles and years. Just recently, a hole opened in the fuselage of a Boeing 737-300 during flight. The plane made a successful emergency landing, but subsequent FAA inspections revealed the plane had made over 40,000 flights -- more than seven flights per day during its 15 years in service.

    Since a full inspection of an airplane's fuselage requires an electromagnetic device and takes a month to complete, inspections are usually limited to a few sections of the outer skin.

7: You'll Pay More for Your Flight than the Ticket Price

    That cheap fare you just booked will look different when you go to pay for it. In addition to taxes, your final price includes government-imposed fees for security, immigration, customs and agriculture inspections. It may also include fees for services and baggage. If you have to change your flight, you'll get hit with more fees.

    Because airlines aren't required to include these fees in the ticket price, you don't learn about them until it's time to pay. There's a bonus for the airline, too. By separating fees from ticket prices, airlines avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars in revenue.

Fare Plus Fees

Some airlines charge fees for blankets and headphones during your flight, and for Internet and lounge access while you wait at the airport.

8: Frequent Flyer Miles Really Aren't Worth Much

     Lots of airline companies out there are offering frequent flyer programs. That's great -- you can collect points from a bunch of different programs and come up with a boatload.

 Here's the catch. There are so many frequent flyer points floating around that they're losing value. It takes a ton of points to earn tickets or upgrade to a better seat. In some cases, the points expire more quickly, too. A secondary problem with frequent flyer and reward points is that airlines tempt you to spend more money than you normally would, because you want to build up those points. Although frequent flyer programs can come in handy, they're not always a fantastic deal.

9: Pilots are Pooped

     FAA domestic flight rules don't include a limit for the number of hours that a pilot can be on duty -- the organization simply has a limit of 8 hours of flight time for every 24 hours. If a pilot is scheduled for two or more flights in a day, delays on the ground for weather or other considerations can lengthen his or her time on duty, even though it may not affect actual time in the air. Add in the time for preflight checks, fueling and baggage loading, and your pilot may actually be on duty for 14 hours or more. To make matters worse, the mandatory 8 hours of rest time isn't all sleeping -- it includes driving, eating and getting ready for the next flight.

Napping Air Traffic Controllers

       Pilots aren't the only exhausted commercial flight workers. The FAA has recently uncovered two cases of air traffic controllers sleeping on the job, forcing several airplanes to land without advice or assistance from the ground.

10: A Ticket is Just a Piece of Paper

     Just because you have a ticket and a reservation, don't think you'll head out on your intended flight. Overbooking is a common practice among airlines. It's an attempt to cut losses (or make profits) from passengers who don't show up. So your ticket is no guarantee that you'll get a seat.

     If your flight is overbooked, the U.S. Department of Transportation requires the airline to ask for volunteers to be "bumped" from the flight. It'll get you on another flight, and the airline will offer some form of compensation -- perhaps expenses for meals while you wait, cash or a ticket voucher for another trip. If you're bumped involuntarily, the airline has specific DOT rules it must follow, including giving you cash compensation if its overbooking means you'll arrive more than an hour late at your destination.