2050

13 Jan 2012 - The global research department of HSBC has released a report predicting the rise and fall of the world’s economies in the next 40 years. The world’s top economy in 2050 will be China, followed by the United States. No surprises there – since China’s reforms in the 1980s, economists have said it’s not a question of if, but when, China’s collective economic might will top the U.S. But among the smaller, developing nations, there are several surprises by HSBC prognosticators:
* By 2050, the Philippines will leapfrog 27 places to become the world’s 16^th largest economy.
* Peru’s economy, growing by 5.5% each year, jumping 20 places to 26^th place – ahead of Iran, Columbia and Switzerland. Other strong performers will be Egypt (up 15 places to 20th), Nigeria (up nine places to 37^th), Turkey (up six spots to 12^th), Malaysia (up 17 to 21^st) and the Ukraine (up 19 to 45^th).
* Japan’s working population will contract by a world-top 37% in 2050 – yet HSBC economists predict it will still be toward the top performing economies, dropping only one spot to the 4^th largest economy. India will jump ahead of Japan to 3^rd on the list.
* The big loser in the next 40 years will be advanced economies in Europe, HSBC predicts, who will see their place in the economic pecking order erode as working population dwindles and developing economies climb. Only five European nations will be in the top 20, compared to eight today.  Biggest drop will be felt northern Europe: Denmark to 56^th ( -29), Norway to 48^th ( -22), Sweden to 38^th (-20) and  Finland to 57^th (-19).

Crying Babies

12 Jan. 2012 - New mums should be advised that it is normal for their baby to cry more if they are breastfed, say experts. The Medical Research Council team says this irritability is natural, and although formula-fed babies may appear more content and be easier to pacify, breast is still best. If parents have more realistic expectations more may stick with breastfeeding, they hope. Most UK mums try to breastfeed. Within months the rate drops to a third. The Department of Health recommends that mothers exclusively breastfeed for the first six months after birth.
The most common reason given for women to stop breastfeeding is that "Breast milk alone didn't satisfy my baby", which the MRC scientists say reflects their perception of irritability as a negative signal. But they say this crankiness in babies is normal and just their natural way of communicating their needs to their mother and is no cause for alarm. For example, some cries will be down to tiredness not hunger. And the reason formula babies are so serene could well be because they are overfed. Lead investigator Dr Ken Ong said: "Bottle-fed babies may appear more content, but research suggests that these infants may be overnourished and gain weight too quickly. "Our findings are essentially similar to other stages of life; people often find that eating is comforting."
In their study, they asked more than 300 mums to comment on the temperament of their own baby and to state whether they were using breast or bottle. Overall, 137 of the infants were exclusively breastfed, 88 were exclusively bottle-fed, and 91 were fed with a mixture of formula and breast milk. Breastfed babies were deemed to have "more challenging temperaments" and tended to cry more. Rosie Dodds, of the National Childbirth Trust, said the new observations were useful for parents. "Mothers and babies may experience starting to breastfeed as demanding or stressful in this society where bottle-feeding is seen as the norm and breastfeeding is unfamiliar to many new parents. "It would be interesting to compare this with countries where almost all babies are breastfed."We often hear from mothers who say that once both they and their baby got the hang of it, breastfeeding was a breeze."

Cyberworms

8 Jan. 2012 -  I am not into Twitter, but I do Facebook and of course there is this blog. Like many people I frequently serve the internet, and I am sometimes struggling to remember all the different passwords. Buit passwords are important, no vital! BBC reports that a computer worm has stolen 45,000 login credentials from Facebook, according to security experts. The data is believed to have been taken largely from Facebook accounts in the UK and France, according to security firm Seculert. The culprit is a well-known piece of malware - dubbed Ramnit - which has been around since April 2010 and has previously stolen banking details.
Facebook told the BBC that it was looking into the issue. The latest iteration of the worm was discovered in Seculert's labs. "We suspect that the attackers behind Ramnit are using the stolen credentials to login to victims' Facebook accounts and to transmit malicious links to their friends, thereby magnifying the malware's spread even further," said the researchers. "In addition, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the fact that users tend to use the same password in various web-based services to gain remote access to corporate networks," it added. I need to be more careful,.

Supersoldiers

6 Jan 2011 - Ants can be programmed to become "supersoldiers", according to an international team of researchers. All ant colonies are made up of insects of different "castes", including soldiers and workers. This team worked out how to "trick" developing ant larvae to turn into a rare and unusual supersoldier caste.

The breakthrough, the researchers say, reveals that hidden traits could be unlocked in many species.
 Dr Ehab Abouheif from McGill University in Montreal led the team, which found that treating ant larvae with a hormone at a very specific time during their development turned those ants into the giant supersoldiers. The scientists managed to achieve this in two ant species that do not "naturally" have the supersoldier caste as part of their colony. Dr Abouheif and his team studied Pheidole ants - a large group of more than 1,000 related species. Of those, there are just eight that have a so-called supersoldiers, which help protect the colony by blocking the entrance from invaders using their oversized heads.
The idea of attempting to "programme" developing ants to become these giant soldiers was triggered when Dr Abouheif noticed that another common Pheidole ant species, which does not have any supersoldiers in its colony, had a few strangely big-headed colony members. "We were collecting [the ants] on Long Island, New York, and we noticed some monstrous-looking soldiers," Dr Abouheif said. The apparently mutant ants looked just like the rare supersoldier caste of related species, so the scientists set out to find out what had caused them to take that form. "We understand a lot about how these different castes are produced during development of the ant larvae," said Dr Abouheif. Supersoldiers are much larger than worker ants of the same species

When a queen lays eggs, he explained, each egg can develop into a different caste depending on the environment it is in - the temperature it develops at and the nutrition it receives. But the key to "switching" into a specific cast is controlled to a large extent by one chemical inside the eggs, which is called juvenile hormone. "So if you treat any species at the right time in development, just with a hormone, you can induce the development of the supersoldier," explained Dr Abouheif.

One Billion Apps

4 Jan. 2012 - I just bought my first-ever smartphone and started downloading Apps. Little did I know that I contributed to a new record! The BBC reports that for the first time in a single week, more than a billion apps have been downloaded, according to a study. Analytics firm Flurry said 1.2 billion apps were downloaded in the last week of December. Activity was buoyed by the facts that many users received new devices for Christmas and firms offered discounted apps over the holiday period. The US was responsible for nearly half of the downloads, followed by China and the UK. With 81 million downloads, the UK easily surpassed Canada (41 million), Germany (40 million) and France (40 million). It was beaten to second spot by China with 99 million downloads. The US was out ahead with 509 million. Flurry thinks this level of download activity will become more standard. "Looking forward to 2012, Flurry expects breaking the one billion download barrier per week will become more commonplace," the firm said. "While [Apple] iOS and [Google] Android growth continues to amaze, the market is still by all measures relatively nascent." Unsurprisingly, Christmas proved a boom time for device makers. Flurry estimated that nearly seven million Android devices and iPhones were activated on Christmas Day. Apple does not disclose such figures but Google confirmed that more than 3.7 million Android devices were activated over the Christmas weekend.

The End of the World

3 Jan 2012 - Stories like these - from the Daily Mail - freak me out. Thousands of dead herring have been discovered washed up on a north Norwegian beach - prompting Doomsday predictors to hail it as another sign the world is set to end. More than 20 tonnes of the fish is currently carpeting the beach of Kvaenes, in Nordreisa, with experts views differing on how they have to be there. One thing is for sure, it will provide welcome ammunition to those believing the Mayan prophecy that 2012 will bring the end of Earth. Jan-Petter Jorgenson, 44, was walking with his doggy Molly when he found the stinky haul. He said: 'People say that something similar happened in the 80s. Maybe the fish have been caught in a deprived oxygen environment, and then died of fresh water?' Experts have said the school could have been trapped by tidal waters after predatory fish - such as coalfish - chased them towards the shoreline.  Another theory is that the fish were washed ashore during a recent storm, or trapped in shallow waters and affected by freshwater from a river that flows into the bay. Jens Christian Holst, of the Institute of Marine Research, said several factors could have come together at once. And he said he hoped they would be able to conduct tests on the dead fish to see if they had died of a disease.  The incident in Norway is not the only mass death mystery over the New Year. On Sunday, 200 blackbirds mysteriously fell from the sky in a small Arkansas town - although officials now believe the birds were targeted by someone with fireworks, experts say. Last month 25 dead horses were discovered at the bottom of a cliff near Glenn Innes, New England. And similarly bizarre and unexplained massacres took place on the opening days of last year, with millions of spot fish washing up in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, more blackbirds dying in Arkansas, and masses of marine life dying in Louisiana bayou.

Legionnaires' Disease

3 Jan. 2012 - Hong Kong's brand-new government headquarters compound is contaminated with a bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease, officials have confirmed. Health officials conducted an investigation after a minister was hospitalised with the potentially fatal disease last month. Traces of the bacteria were found to be up to 14 times above acceptable levels. Authorities are now disinfecting the buildings. Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection has been collecting water samples from various sites in the new Central Government Offices after Education Secretary Michael Suen was diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease last month. Samples collected from various toilets - including those at the office of Chief Executive Donald Tsang - tested positive for Legionella pneumophila, said a a government statement. Other trouble spots include water taps inside the kitchens of a canteen and the Dining Hall in the Legislative Council Complex. Wong Kwok-hing, a pro-Beijing unionist legislator, has described the news as a "scandal". He says government offices and the legislature should return to their original locations if the situation gets worse, reported local public broadcaster RTHK. However Dr Thomas Tsang, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said there was no need for officials to stay away from the new building. The HK$5.5bn site ($708m; £455m) was officially opened last August by Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang. Back then, most of the site was still undergoing engineering work.  Former legislator and physician Lo Wing-lok blamed a rushed move into the new compound for the presence of the deadly bug

Grim Year Ahead

2 Jan 2012 - It is only the second day of the year, but the optimistic feelings linked to new beginnings are already fading.  European leaders have warned of a difficult year ahead, as many economists predict recession in 2012. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe was experiencing its "most severe test in decades" but that Europe was growing closer in the debt crisis. France's President Sarkozy said the crisis was not finished, while Italy's president called for more sacrifices. Growth in Europe has stalled as the debt crisis has forced governments to slash spending.No doubt, these trends will also have a negative impact on growth in Asia and elsewhere. The leaders' new year messages came as leading economists polled by the BBC said they expected a return to recession. The cost of borrowing for some of the eurozone's largest economies, including Italy and Spain, has shot up in recent months as lenders fear governments will not be able to pay back money they have already borrowed. With growth stalled, the pressure is on governments across Europe, not just ones using the single currency, to cut spending in order to meet debt obligations. Fears are now focusing on a potential second credit crunch, triggered by the exposure of banks across Europe to Italy's huge debt. So once more, Happy New Year?

Shrinking Brain

1 Jan. 2012 - Happy 2012. A new year is traditionally a good time for new resolutions, for example to finally go on that diet and loose some weight. researchers have now published results that may increase motivation for the diet die-hards. A diet rich in vitamins and fish may protect the brain from ageing while junk food has the opposite effect, research suggests. Elderly people with high blood levels of vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids had less brain shrinkage and better mental performance, a neurology study found. Trans fats found in fast foods were linked to lower scores in tests and more shrinkage typical of Alzheimer's. A UK medical charity has called for more work into diet and dementia risk. The best current advice is to eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, not smoke, take regular exercise and keep blood pressure and cholesterol in check, said Alzheimer's Research UK. Dr Simon Ridley Alzheimer's Research UK. The research looked at nutrients in blood, rather than relying on questionnaires to assess a person's diet. US experts analysed blood samples from 104 healthy people with an average age of 87 who had few known risk factors for Alzheimer's. They found those who had more vitamin B, C, D and E in their blood performed better in tests of memory and thinking skills. People with high levels of omega 3 fatty acids - found mainly in fish - also had high scores. The poorest scores were found in people who had more trans fats in their blood. Trans fats are common in processed foods, including cakes, biscuits and fried foods.

Red Sweatpants

27 Dec 2011 - Shirtless men clad in red sweatpants have been lining up for days in Singapore’s prime shopping district, part of an advertising gimmick revealing not just muscle but also a gradual unpeeling of the city state’s puritanical ways. The feverish reception given the “shirtless greeters” by the Singapore public, both in real life and online, where it has gone viral in social media, signals how the notoriously conservative city-state has been loosening up in recent years, experts said.

A woman poses for photographs with a shirtless model outside a department store in Singapore’s Orchard Road shopping district on December 14, 2011. — Reuters pic

On a recent evening, women stood with the men for pictures, touching them on the chest or receiving a friendly embrace. One even jumped up on a greeter’s back.The men, from the United States, Europe and Asia, are on a mission to drum up excitement for fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F)’s flagship store in Singapore, which opened today, using a campaign also employed overseas. “There’s no way such advertisements that push the envelope slightly would have appeared about 30 years ago,” said M. Thiyagarajan, a senior lecturer at Singapore Polytechnic’s business school who specialises in advertising and public relations. “I think as a society we have moved to a different level. We are far more accepting of such things.” He cited the spread of the Internet, education and overseas travel as factors that have helped open minds in Singapore, which officially is still such a strict society that a ban on sales of chewing gum was renewed last year. Local theatres have recently staged plays exploring traditionally controversial themes such as homosexuality and religion. Gay sex can still lead to a jail term of up to two years, although such laws are rarely enforced.
In October, a performance by French dancer Sylvie Guillem also contained “some scenes of upper body female nudity”. However, conservatives in the city-state are still making their voices heard.
A letter to the editor in a local paper last month complained about naming an orchid after singer Elton John, asking if homosexuality was to be “openly encouraged and endorsed by the government?” In September, the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore told A&F to remove a giant billboard showing a naked male torso after some members of the public complained that it was too racy. “It is probably the response of a vocal minority, a storm in a teacup, who would use any occasion, however small, to raise the alarm,” said  Tan Ern Ser, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s sociology department.
The shirtless greeters appear, for now, to be reaping more positive than negative attention.“I think it’s a pretty effective way to publicise the brand leading up to its launch, and I like how it’s an outdoor campaign which has taken its own life online,” said Cathryn Neo, a recruitment consultant. “And I do find them hot.”

Holiday On Ice

26 Dec 2011 - It is still 30 n degrees in Kuala Lumpur, and the BBC said that Amsterdam reported 12 degrees yesterday, but it's Boxing Day and my mind is on skating. Temporary ice rinks have appeared in many European cities, and the British Society of Sports Therapists is reminding people that ice skating can be a dangerous sport. It warned of a risk of serious injury and advised people take precautions. It recommends jogging to warm up and avoiding the mulled wine. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said falling over and bumping into people was part of the fun, but there were safety precautions. The chairman of the society, Prof Graham Smith, told the BBC: "It was not about going 'bah, humbug'. Have fun, but be careful."
He said: "While it is a fun sport it can be very dangerous and should be treated with a large degree of respect, especially as for some, it is something that is done only once or twice a year." By contrast regular skaters learn "how to fall properly". If you fall, he recommends tucking your arms in and rolling - rather than putting you hand out to stop the fall, which could damage the hand or be hit by another skater's blades. He said the hazards were greater for older people.

MAS Advertising?

23 Dec 2011 - I have a simple question: is Malaysia Airlines seriously promoting the slogan 1 Malaysia by offering a discount for multi-racial group travelers? The ad "Malaysia Airlines celebrates the spirit of 1 Malaysia" was posted in the right column of my Facebook page. I do not have the habit of clicking these ads and helping the Facebook Gods to further shape my dodgy profile, but I am always in need of cheap tickets to Europe so ... hey! It seems that MAS goes all political by touching the very sensitive topic of "race" or "ethnicity" in Malaysia by offering a discount for people who travel in groups of three, six or nine, if they belong to different races. One simply has to show the Malaysian passport or ID card to qualify. There is even a word for your travel companions: your muhibbah mates. What to make of this ad?  

Six Stars

23 Dec 2011 - The flag of China is a red field charged in the upper corner nearest the flagpole with five golden stars. The design features one large star, with four smaller stars in a semicircle set off towards the fly (the side farthest from the flag pole). The red represents revolution; the five stars and their relationship represent the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party.. Sometimes, the flag is referred to as the "Five Star Red Flag". It is rather amusing that Vietnam blundered by welcoming  Vice President Xi Jinping with a flag with six stars. The official media in Vietnam ignored the mistake, but the internet is buzzing. One person said "Please stop the people who want to turn Vietnam into China's sixth star.". Xi Jinping went to Vietnam to improve relations over some disputed islands in the South China China.
PS Sorry for the poor quality picture ... but it's the only proof I have ...

Self-repair

22 Dec 2011 - I was always recall Stanley Kubrick's master-piece "2001" a Space Odyssey", when I read about developments like this. But researchers have done it again: are we one step closer to computers ruling the world? In any way, self-repairing electronic chips are one step closer, according to a team of US researchers. The group has created a circuit that heals itself when cracked thanks to the release of liquid metal which restores conductivity. The process takes less than an eye blink to bring the circuit back to use. The researchers said that their work could eventually lead to longer-lasting gadgets as well as solving one of the big problems of interplanetary travel. The work was carried out by a team of scientists and engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (never heard of the place, but that's where it obviously happens) and is published in the journal Advanced Materials. The process works by exploiting the stress that causes the initial damage in the chips to break open tiny reservoirs of a healing material that fills in the resulting gaps, restoring electrical flow.

Gay Marriage Improves Health

18 Dec.2011 - This from the BBC website ... Legalising same-sex marriage may create a healthier environment for gay men, say US researchers. The number of visits by gay men to health clinics dropped significantly after same-sex unions were allowed in the state Massachusetts. This was regardless of whether the men were in a stable relationship, reported the American Journal of Public Health. A UK HIV charity said there was a clear link between happiness and health. Research has already suggested that gay men are more likely to suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts than heterosexual men, and that social exclusion may be partly responsible. Same-sex marriages are legal in six US states, with Massachusetts the first to allow them in 2003.Researchers from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health surveyed the demand for medical and mental health care from 1,211 gay men registered with a particular health clinic in the 12 months prior to the change, and the 12 months afterwards. They found a 13% drop in healthcare visits after the law was enacted. There was a reduction in blood pressure problems, depression and "adjustment disorders", which the authors claimed could be the result of reduced stress. Lesbian women were not included in the study as there were insufficient numbers to give a statistically meaningful result. Dr Mark Hatzenbuehler, who led the study, said: "Our results suggest that removing these barriers improves the health of gay and bisexual men. "Marriage equality may produce broad public health benefits by reducing the occurrence of stress-related health conditions." A spokesman for the Terrence Higgins Trust, a UK-based sexual health and HIV charity, said: "There is a known link between health and happiness. "It's no surprise that people who are treated as second class citizens tend to have low self esteem, which in turn makes them more likely to take risks. "Whether this is drugs, alcohol abuse, or unsafe sex, treating gay men unequally has lasting repercussions for their health."

Cluster Bombs

17 Dec 2011 - Initially I was not sure, if this is a true story or not, but it comes from a credible website so let's share. And it's nice to have some positive news from the Middle-East (for a change). Israeli medical researchers say they have developed a new technique for blasting cancer tumours from the inside out which reduces the risk of the disease returning after treatment. Tel Aviv University professors Yona Keisari and Itzhak Kelson are about to start clinical trials of a pin-sized radioactive implant that beams short-range alpha radiation from within the tumour.Unlike conventional radiation therapy, which bombards the body with gamma rays from outside, the alpha particles "diffuse inside the tumour, spreading further and further before disintegrating," a university statement quoted Keisari as saying.

"It's like a cluster bomb -- instead of detonating at one point, the atoms continuously disperse and emit alpha particles at increasing distances." The university said that the process takes about 10 days and leaves behind only non-radioactive and non-toxic amounts of lead. "Not only are cancerous cells more reliably destroyed, but in the majority of cases the body develops immunity against the return of the tumour," the statement said.

The wire implant, inserted into the tumour by hypodermic needle, "decays harmlessly in the body," it added. It went on to say that in pre-clinical trials on mice, one group had tumours removed surgically while another was treated with the radioactive wire. "When cells from the tumour were reinjected into the subject, 100 percent of those treated surgically redeveloped their tumour, compared to only 50 percent of those treated with the radioactive wire," it said.

"The researchers have had excellent results with many types of cancer models, including lung, pancreatic, colon, breast, and brain tumours."It added that the procedure would begin clinical trials at Beilinson hospital, near Tel Aviv, "soon."

Navi

16 Dec.2011 - I picked this from the Wires. The U.N.’s top human rights official has urged countries to abolish legal discrimination against gays, including the death penalty for consensual sex. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says governments should also outlaw all forms of abuse based on sexual orientation. Navi Pillay’s appeal came in a report released Thursday to the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council. In June, the Geneva-based body passed a resolution condemning for the first time anti-gay discrimination. It was hailed as historic by the United States, European countries and others, but decried by some African and Muslim nations.

Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen have the death penalty for same-sex relationships on their statute books.

Richard Avedon

13 Dec. 2011 - People like lists - or at least I do. The magazine the "Professional Photographer" published a list with the 100 most influential photographers. At the top spot is Richard Avedon. I had never heard of him (my mistake), so here is what the magazine wrote about him:
Avedon was the epitome of the modern photographer – a charming, sophisticated man-about-town and a photographer who was able to cross photographic genres. It did not matter where he was, which format he chose to work with or who his subject was, the image would be an Avedon image. It would have that unmistakeable elegance and confidence that marked him out, not just as a great photographer but as a highly successful commercial photographer, who was able to create instantly iconic and memorable images. So what’s his influence? His large-format portrait style with the stark white background, his use of two images to tell one portrait story, his use of strobe lights in fashion, the book In The American West? Of course it’s all this and more.Avedon is a photographer whom every photographer should get to know via his books. They cover his whole career and not only chart his own photographic and personal development but also, that of commercial photography over the last half of the twentieth century.

Quite simply he is No.1. www.richardavedon.com

Wallpaper

12 Dec.2011 - They may look like sketches of a madman with too much time on his hands, but this stunning landscape is in fact the labour of love of German artist Heike Weber who uses permanent marker pens to draw on acrylic floors and walls. The artist installation series, called Utopia, has transformed a dull and dreary apartment in Neumunster into a surreal landscape of visual depth and complexity. .

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072479/The-mesmerising-wallpaper-transform-home--created-just-permanent-marker-LOT-time.html#ixzz1gFI2bLs7

Nobel Peace Prize 2011

11 Dec 2011 - I have been quite for some time, but let's pick things up where I left the. It seems appropriate to honor three women who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2011 as a topic for this re-launch of the water-trotter blog. Writing will not be as frequent, but I hope to post regularly.
The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize has been presented to three women at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital, Oslo. This year's award was won jointly by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, Leymah Gbowee, the Liberian peace activist, and Yemeni pro-democracy campaigner Tawakkol Karman. They were recognized for their "non-violent struggle" for women's safety and for women's rights to participate in peace-building work.Chinese lawyer Liu Xiaobo won in 2010. Each of this year's winners was presented wit