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Be Alert! 02-12-08 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days
Published by Moriel Ministries
February 12, 2008
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Shalom in Christ Jesus,
Past issues of Be Alert! have mentioned that I work
third shift hours as an assistant
Circulation/Transportation manager for a medium
market newspaper (my 'tent making' duties) and have
done so since February of 2001. Being awake at
these early hours of the morning I am able to regularly
listen in on a radio program called Coast to Coast AM
with George Noory. This used to be hosted by Art Bell
but he has now gone into a partial retirement however
does occasionally host shows on the
weekend.
The analogy has been made that this radio program
carried "live" seven days a week across all of the US
and Canada as well as on short wave and the internet
is somewhat of a modern day Areopagus just like
Paul encountered in Acts chapter 17.
This program very well may be this Areopagus as you
will hear anything and everything "new" and "ear
tickling" that is happening around the world, which
really is not new since scripture teaches us that
nothing is new under the sun.
Topics covered generally fall into categories of current
events, spiritual, paranormal, standard sciences or
alternative science, all the same, quite a few
respectable well known names appear frequently
from all avenues of science and journalism.
This is a perfect venue in which to preach the pure
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and indeed is on a
somewhat regular basis, most recently I heard
someone give the good news just a few weeks ago.
Although the Scriptures alluded to on a regular basis,
are more often than not spoken out of context, and/or
considered just another book among many, certain
books such as Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation, and
scriptures concerning the end times do receive a
considerable amount of review. Nevertheless,
considering the times we live in and the topics
covered, the context of the programs just lends itself to
talking about the "end times" and therefore the
apocalyptic books of the Bible are continually
mentioned either by the host, guests or callers and
this keeps the door open for both truth and deception.
Even so, keep in mind this is a secular
program.
In terms of fairness, this is not a place for sound bites
because generally a guest has three hours to discuss
his viewpoints whiles listener calls are taken in the
last hour.
My point of explaining all this to you is because I
believe the Lord is having me observe this for a
reason. There has been a dramatic shift in focus just
in this past year towards more and more UFO's, alien
abductions, alien technology, Area 51 etc--- than ever
in the past. Yes, this has always been one of the most
popular topics and largest areas of conversation over
the years, but it has increased to the point of being
almost an object of "worship".
There definitely seems to be a very strong delusion
being set up as a trap for many to fall for.
Chuck Missler was one of the many Christians that
came on the program (November 2006) and taught
that the whole Alien/UFO phenomenon is demonic in
nature. His is one voice among many including
regular guest Steve Quayle who declares this same
warning.
Yet, at the very same time there is a very different
drumbeat played by non-Christians that aliens have
come either to help us, or to farm our "good" DNA or to
involve us in some intergalactic war among other
things. You may begin to recognize this message
given as one reminiscent from the days of
Noah.
Additionally this involves the year 2012, a year that
new age believes will usher in some kind of global or
perhaps universal transformation depending on
whom you hear.
If you are a regular reader of Be Alert! among other
discernment newsletters and journals, you may have
already begun to notice some unsettling
coincidences.
We have the whole alien/demonic trend that is
growing and we can add to the new age and the year
2012. But now let's add to that Global Transformation,
the cry that we have been hearing from Christian and
business circles finds a common theme with the UFO
phenomena.
Lastly, I would like to leave you with a thought about
H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds". Not many know that
Mr. Wells was a Globalist who wrote for the elite and
looked forward to the day of a one world Federation.
Remember how many people were easily deceived by
his famous radio broadcast and I cannot help but
think that this was a great experiment into mass
deception.
Our world today is filled with mass deception and yet
very few are aware of it. The stage is being set for
greatest deception of all, the ushering in of the false
messiah, the beast and his prophet. I would not be
surprised that some of this agenda will play a part in
that great deception of mankind.
BE/\LERT!
Scott Brisk
Matthew 24:37:39
"For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the
days of Noah. "For as in those days before the flood
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and
they did not understand until the flood came and took
them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Genesis 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and
also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the
daughters of men, and they bore children to them.
Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of
renown.
Genesis 6:11-12
Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the
earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth,
and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted
their way upon the earth.
Revelation 9:11
They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss;
his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he
has the name Apollyon
As in the days of Noah: Two
important words
that have become used increasingly in our vocabulary
in the last few years, however there is nothing new
under the sun. The nephilim were chimeras;
transgenic creatures somehow composed of both
(fallen) angelic and human genes.
Words to be alert of:
tra
ns·gen·ic
adj.
1. Of, relating to, or being an organism whose
genome has been altered by the transfer of a gene or
genes from another species or breed: transgenic
mice; transgenic plants.
2. Of or relating to the study of transgenic
organisms: transgenic research.
chi·me·ra also chi·mae·ra
n.
a. An organism, organ, or part consisting of
two or
more tissues of different genetic composition,
produced as a result of organ transplant, grafting, or
genetic engineering.
b. A substance, such as an antibody, created
from the
proteins or genes or two different species.
2. An individual who has received a transplant
of
genetically and immunologically different tissue.
3. A fanciful mental illusion or fabrication.
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1) Green light for hybrid research
BBC NEWS [PSB operated by BBC Trust] - January 17,
2008
Regulators in the UK have given scientists the green
light to create human-animal embryos for research.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
granted permission after a consultation showed the
public were "at ease" with the idea.
Experts said it was vital for research into life-
threatening diseases.
Two centres, King's College London and Newcastle
University, will now be able to begin their work under
one-year research licences.
Any other centres wishing to do similar work will have
to apply to the HFEA for permission, which will make a
decision on a case-b-case basis.
Hybrids
Scientists want to create hybrid embryos by merging
human cells with animal eggs in a bid to extract stem
cells. The embryos would then be destroyed within 14
days.
The cells form the basic building blocks of the body
and have the potential to become any tissue, making
them essential for research.
At the moment, scientists have to rely on human eggs
left over from fertility treatment, but they are in short
supply and are not always good quality.
Critics say they are repulsed by the idea and there
must be no creation of an animal-human hybrid.
They say it is tampering with nature and is unethical.
It is already illegal to implant human-animal embryos
in the womb or bring them to term.
Go-ahead
Dr Stephen Minger and colleagues at King's College
London want to create hybrids to study diseases
known to have genetic causes - such as Alzheimer's
disease, spinal muscular atrophy and Parkinson's
disease.
And Lyle Armstrong's team at Newcastle University
are hoping to use the technique to help understand
how stem cells develop into different tissues in the
body.
In the distant future this information may enable
scientists to grow new tissues in the laboratory.
Dr Armstrong said: "Now that we have the licence we
can start work as soon as possible.
"We have already done a lot of the work by transferring
animal cells into cow eggs so we hope to make rapid
progress."
John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the
Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), said: "The
HFEA decision represents a disastrous setback for
human dignity in Britain.
"The deliberate blurring of the boundaries between
humans and other species is wrong and strikes at the
heart of what makes us human."
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2) Scientists Build First Man-Made Genome; Synthetic Life Comes Next
WIRED NEWS [Advance/Newhouse] - By Alexis
Madrigal - January 24, 2008
Scientists have built the first synthetic genome by
stringing together 147 pages of letters representing
the building blocks of DNA.
The researchers used yeast to stitch together four
long strands of DNA into the genome of a bacterium
called Mycoplasma genitalium. They said it's more
than an order of magnitude longer than any previous
synthetic DNA creation. Leading synthetic biologists
said with the new work, published Thursday in the
journal Science, the first synthetic life could be just
months away -- if it hasn't been created already.
"We consider this the second in our three-step
process to create the first synthetic organism," said J.
Craig Venter, president of the J. Craig Venter Institute
where scientists performed the study, on Thursday
during a teleconference. "What remains now that we
have this complete synthetic chromosome --- is to
boot this up in a cell."
With the new ability to sequence a genome, scientists
can begin to custom-design organisms, essentially
creating biological robots that can produce from
scratch chemicals humans can use. Biofuels like
ethanol, for example.
"The J. Craig Venter Institute will be able to take a file
stored on a computer and using synthetic chemistry,
turn that information into life," said Chris Voigt, a
University of California at San Francisco synthetic
biologist. "I would be shocked if it doesn't come out in
six months. I think they've done it."
The technique is basically a reverse of the Human
Genome Project, which translated DNA into the letters
A, C, T and G, which represent the body's building
blocks: the nucleotides adenine, thymine, guanine
and cytosine. Synthetic biologists' ambitious goal is to
arrange those letters to create never-before-seen
organisms that will do their bidding.
The first phase of Venter's three-step process, which
he published last year, involved transplanting
and "booting up" the genome of one species of
bacterium into another. The remaining step is to
combine the first two steps, then insert the new
synthetic genome into a standard bacterium.
Scientists said they expect the announcement of man-
made life this year.
The ability to synthesize longer DNA strands for less
money parallels the history of genetic sequencing,
where the price of sequencing a human genome has
dropped from hundreds of millions of dollars to about
$10,000. Just a few years ago, synthesizing a piece of
DNA with 5,000 rungs in its helix, known as base-
pairs, was impossible. Venter's new synthetic
genome is 582,000 base-pairs.
"The largest piece that had been published in the
scientific literature was 32 kilobases," Venter
said. "This is on the order of 20 times the size."
"I would think that you could get to a million base
pairs," said Jim Collins, a professor of biomedical
engineering at Boston University. "I don't think there's
anything that's hindering the use of these approaches
to go for much bigger genomes."
The key to the new technique is the yeast's natural
ability to staple long strands of DNA together.
"What's really interesting about yeast is that --- (it
takes) multiple incomplete synthetic parts and
assembles them," said Daniel Gibson, a synthetic
biologist at the Venter institute and senior author of
the paper.
Hamilton Smith, a synthetic biologist who led the
Venter Institute research, said that the team's new
technique should work for other genomes, although
the full potential of the technique is unknown. But
scientists were enthusiastic about the possibilities.
"Once this becomes routine, it allows us to build
whatever genome we want," Voigt said. "You can
design a genome to incorporate a particular chemical
process to change what the cells are eating and what
the cells are making. You can make robotic cells."
One goal of synthetic biology is to create a so-called
minimal genome that would consist of the smallest
amount of genes necessary to keep the organism
alive. Such a bacterial "chassis" would provide an
ideal platform for mounting modules like biofuel
production to create tiny biological robots.
Other researchers, like Tom Knight of MIT, Drew Endy
of Stanford, and a host of synthetic biology startup
companies are all after this prize, which could lead to
a replacement for fossil fuels. Voigt sits on the
scientific advisory board of a biofuels startup, Amyris.
But synthetic biologists are also planning to scale up
from the simplest organisms to the most complex:
human beings. The first bacterial genome was
sequenced in 1995 and was followed by the landmark
sequencing of the human genome in 2001. Based on
that trajectory, Voigt estimated that a synthetic human
genome -- which could be used in human cloning
research -- could be created by 2014.
But before researchers can do that level of synthetic
biology, scientists will need to automate their
methods. Beyond this work, Voigt said, scientists will
need programming tools, in the same way computer
scientists use higher level programming languages
like Fortran, C++ and Java, to control computer
function.
"(Otherwise it's like) writing Vista in binary," he
said. "It's just not going to happen."
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3) The synthetic genome
Maverick scientist Craig Venter claims he can create
artificial life in the lab. Is this the dawn of a new era for
mankind?
THE SUNDAY TIMES of LONDON [News
Corporation/Murdoch] - By Jonathan Leake, Science
Editor - January 27, 2008
From Frankenstein's monster through I, Robot to the
lost young cyborg of Steven Spielberg's AI, the idea of
creating artificial life from inert matter has long
inspired human imagination.
Last week that thrilling but unsettling goal appeared to
have come a step closer with the announcement by
Craig Venter, the maverick scientist, that his laboratory
had constructed the world's first completely synthetic
genome.
He described how he had used laboratory chemicals
to recreate an almost exact copy of the genetic
material found inside a tiny bacterium - and was now
attempting to slot it into an empty cell in the hope of
creating a new life form.
For the layman, he compared his work with the
building of a computer. His breakthrough was the
equivalent of creating the software for a computer's
operating system. Now what he had to do was insert it
into the computer itself - the empty cell - and "boot it
up".
What's more, he announced, he was already working
on the next stage of his great project. He would build
an entirely synthetic organism, which he would then
use to save the world from global warming.
For Venter, the showman of the world of science, the
result could hardly have been better. Details of the
breakthrough went around the world generating
positive headlines. The prospect that a painless way
of solving the problems of climate change might have
been found was particularly attractive.
As the fuss dies down, however, questions remain.
Has Venter really come close to creating a new life
form? Will the benefits really be so powerful and clear
cut? What might the acquisition of such godlike
powers actually mean for humanity? - - -
Venter's first breakthrough was in developing what is
now known as shotgun sequencing, a method for
analysing the human genome faster and more
cheaply than ever before.
At the time, however, it was unproven and too risky for
the government-funded institution where he worked
so, after many rows, Venter left and raised the money
himself.
An instinctive entrepreneur, he might have expected to
feel more at home mixing with fast moving risk-takers
like himself, but instead the rows became even more
intense. His first business partnership collapsed and
his relationship with Celera Genomics, with whom he
completed the genome, also proved tempestuous.
Even the publication of the genome itself proved
controversial. Fearing that Venter would patent the
genome and charge for access, a consortium of
scientists launched their own publicly funded rival
effort.
The race became so bitter that Bill Clinton, then US
president, had to step in to negotiate a truce, with both
teams agreeing to publish their findings
simultaneously in 2001.
It was supposed to mark the end of hostilities but
when Venter held a party his fellow scientists
boycotted the event, leaving Venter glowering over a
near-empty dance floor.
Soon after he was sacked by Celera. Insiders made
clear the firm could no longer sustain such a huge
ego.
Again Venter bounced back, using his £100m share of
Celera's stock to found the J Craig Venter Institute. It
now has more than 400 scientists and staff based in
Rockville, Maryland, and La Jolla, California. For
Venter, however, perhaps its most priceless asset is
that he controls it.
The years since then have seen Venter repeatedly in
the headlines. Last June he announced success in
transplanting the entire genome of one bacterium into
another, effectively causing the recipient to change
species.
Then, in September, he published his own genome,
the first time any individual person's DNA had been
sequenced. It was perhaps a mixed blessing,
revealing that Venter is at risk of Alzheimer's, diabetes
and hereditary eye disease.
For scientists the benefits of his institute's synthetic
genome are, however, much clearer. Although they
have long been able to make synthetic DNA they have
only been able to produce it in short lengths. This is
because the chemical "bases" that make up the
building blocks of DNA - adenine, thy-mine, cytosine
and guanine - are very difficult to work with.
DNA chains are built from pairs of these bases all
linked together to form the familiar "twisted ladder"
shape. In the test tube, however, the chains become
increasingly brittle the longer they get. This means
that the largest synthesised DNA chain contained only
32,000 base pairs until now.
Dr Jim Haseloff, a Cambridge University expert in
synthetic biology said: "The true breakthrough here is
that Venter has built a DNA sequence containing
583,000 base pairs. There is a very good chance that
if he can transplant it into a bacterial cell it will start
working."
This event may be far closer even than Venter is
saying. The paper published last week was actually
written five months ago, since when it has been
undergoing peer review by other researchers. In that
time the research has intensified.
Dan Gibson, who led the research, and Hamilton
Smith, the Nobel prize-winning biologist who worked
with him, said: "We are now working towards the
ultimate goal of inserting a synthetic chromosome into
a cell and booting it up to create the first synthetic
organism."
What it means is that pretty soon we are likely to see
the first truly synthetic microbes - and that will be sure
to spark fierce debate. Some will accuse Venter of
playing God. Others will raise fears of new
bioweap-ons. The simple question is: just what will
humanity be able to do with this new technology? ONE
thing that is clear is that there is no chance of Venter's
techniques being applied to create synthetic human
genomes. Or indeed of it leading to the halting of the
human ageing process, as some scientists have
speculated. - - - -
* Emphasis Added
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4) Embryos Created With DNA From 3 People
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Maria Cheng - February 5,
2008
LONDON - British scientists say they have created
human embryos containing DNA from two women and
a man in a procedure that researchers hope might be
used one day to produce embryos free of inherited
diseases.
Though the preliminary research has raised concerns
about the possibility of genetically modified babies,
the scientists say that the embryos are still only
primarily the product of one man and one woman.
"We are not trying to alter genes, we're just trying to
swap a small proportion of the bad ones for some
good ones," said Patrick Chinnery, a professor of
neurogenetics at Newcastle University involved in the
research.
The research was presented at a scientific conference
recently, but has not been published in a scientific
journal.
The process aims to create healthy embryos for
couples to avoid passing on genes carrying diseases.
The genes being replaced are the mitochondria, a
cell's energy source, which are contained outside the
nucleus in a normal female egg. Mistakes in the
mitochondria's genetic code can result in serious
diseases like muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, strokes
and mental retardation.
In their research, Chinnery and colleagues used
normal embryos created from one man and one
woman that had defective mitochondria in the
woman's egg. They then transplanted that embryo into
an emptied egg donated from a second woman who
had healthy mitochondria.
The research is being funded by the Muscular
Dystrophy Campaign, a British charity.
Only trace amounts of a person's genes come from
the mitochondria, and experts said it would be
incorrect to say that the embryos have three parents.
"Most of the genes that make you who you are are
inside the nucleus," Chinnery said. "We're not going
anywhere near that."
So far, 10 such embryos have been created, though
they have not been allowed to develop for more than
five days. Chinnery hoped that after further
experiments in the next few years the process might
be available to parents undergoing in-vitro fertilization.
"If successful, this research could give families who
might otherwise have a bleak future a chance to avoid
some very grave diseases," said Francoise Shenfield,
a fertility expert with the European Society of Human
Reproduction and Embryology. Shenfield was not
connected to the Newcastle University research.
Similar experiments have been conducted in animals
in Japan, and has already led to the birth of healthy
mice who had their mitochondria genes corrected.
Shenfield said that further tests to assess the safety
and efficacy of the process were necessary before it
could be offered as a potential treatment.
A bill to allow the procedure to be regulated as a
therapy for couples-once it is proven to work-is
expected to be discussed in Britain's House of
Commons in March.
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5) Scientists accuse priests of spreading embryo 'lies'
LONDON DAILY MAIL [Associated
Newspapers/DMGT] - By David Derbyshire - January
25, 2008
Scientists have accused Roman Catholic priests of
spreading lies from the pulpit in an attempt to stoke
up opposition to animal-human hybrid experiments.
A statement attacking the controversial Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was read out to
parishioners across the country last week.
The briefing, prepared by the Catholic Bishops'
Conference of England and Wales, warned that the
Bill would allow the creation of "half human, half
animals" by combining eggs of women with the
sperm of animals.
It added: "To do this would be a radical violation of
human dignity."
But scientists involved in animal-human embryo
experiments accused the church of "blatant
inaccuracy".
Dr Lyle Armstrong, of Newcastle University, said the
church's statement was "a gross and irresponsible
misrepresentation of our position and our intentions".
Hybrid embryos were designed to provide stem cells
to treat human diseases - not to create half-human,
half-animals, he said.
He added: "We find their example of combining the
egg of a woman with animal sperm even more
distasteful and we wish to make it absolutely clear
that our work does not involve this. We find it
surprising and saddening-that the Catholic Church
should resort to such blatant inaccuracy to support its
message in these matters."
Under the Bill, which is going through Parliament,
scientists would be allowed to create animal-human
hybrids for medical research.
They would take an animal egg cell, remove the blob
in the centre which contains most of the animal's DNA
and replace it with the nucleus from a human cell,
taken from a donor.
The resulting embryo is 99.9 per cent identical to the
human donor - although it contains some animal DNA
left over from the egg.
The Catholic Church has sent every parish a pack of
information including the one-page briefing document
which some priests have read to congregations.
Chris Shaw, Professor of Neurology and
Neurogenetics, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College
London, said: "The bishops' statement on hybrids is
not a radical violation of human dignity as they claim -
it is a radical violation of the truth."
A spokesman for the church said: "Far from providing
misinformation in our parish briefing, all we have
done is draw attention to what this Bill actually allows.
"Clause 4 allows licences to be given for the creation
of hybrid and "interspecies" embryos, defined in the
Bill as "an embryo created by using human gametes
and animal gametes". This means half human and
half animal."
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6) Game of life
Stem cells potentially hold the key to curing diseases
and mending bodies. But in a month of big
developments, the ethical concerns won't go away.
THE AGE [Fairfax-Syme Group] - By Stephen Cauchi -
January 27, 2008
THEY promise one of the biggest revolutions ever in
medicine. Need a new heart, or liver, or lung?
Scientists of the future will be able to grow one for you.
Need new body tissue to treat cancer, Parkinson's
disease, spinal cord damage or any other ailment?
They will be able to do that too.
The miracle is stem cells - found in all humans, they
can grow into any type of organ or tissue. Stem cells
can be extracted from many sources - skin, umbilical
cord blood, bone marrow, as well as non-cloned
human embryos - but those from cloned human
embryos are considered special, for two reasons.
First, embryonic stem cells are considered the
most "pluripotent" stem cells, which means they are
best able to develop into any sort of tissue or organ.
Second, organs and tissues grown from cloned stem
cells would have a DNA exactly the same as the
donor, thus eliminating any organ or tissue rejection
problems.
This month there have been a couple of landmark
developments on the long stem-cell journey. First,
Britain gave the green light to creating human-animal
hybrid embryos, a highly controversial procedure
banned in Australia. Second, and most important, the
journal Stem Cells published a study from a
Californian company, Stemagen, which has, for the
first time, successfully cloned human
embryos.
"These researchers have for the first time developed
cloned embryos up to blastocyst stage (day five after
fertilisation or later)," says Dr Miodrag Stojkovic, co-
editor of Stem Cells. "This is a key advance in the
development of patient-specific stem cell lines for
therapeutic and drug development
purposes."
There were no actual stem cell lines derived from the
embryos, as Stojkovic admitted, but it paves the way
for future experiments to do this. "Although these
results are preliminary, since no stem cell lines have
been derived from the cloned embryos, this may now
be attempted," he says. - - -
These two advances illustrate the continued
broadening of the scientific frontier in stem cell
research. Advocates argue that it could hold the key to
creating the most significant scientific and health
advances of our time, potentially curing diseases and
mending ill or broken body parts. But the ethical
objections are many: opponents argue that it
potentially creates a Dr Frankenstein's lab, with no
knowing what kind of monsters might be created
along the way. - - - -
Also
Scientist who ignited stem-cell war says it's over
WORLDNETDAILY - November 24, 2007
The scientist who helped ignite cultural and political
controversy with the use of embryos in stem-cell
research believes his new discovery - using ordinary
adult skin cells - means the war is virtually over.
"A decade from now, this will be just a funny historical
footnote," James A. Thomson told the New York
Times in an interview.
Thomson's laboratory at the University of Wisconsin
was one of two that announced Tuesday a new way to
turn ordinary human skin cells into what appear to be
embryonic stem cells without using a human embryo.
The technique involves adding four genes to ordinary
adult skin cells.
Stem cells are used to research treatments for
diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's
because of their ability to turn into any of the body's
220 cell types. Scientists hope it eventually will be
possible to use the cells to grow replacement tissues
for patients. - - - -
Read Full Report
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8) Hopes of custom-built organs as scientists create beating heart
THE TIMES of LONDON [News Corporation/Murdoch] -
By Sarah-Kate Templeton - January 13, 2008
SCIENTISTS have created a beating heart in the
laboratory in a breakthrough that could allow doctors
one day to make a range of organs for transplant
almost from scratch.
The procedure involved stripping all the existing cells
from a dead heart so that only the protein "skeleton"
that created its shape was left.
Then the skeleton was seeded with live "progenitor"
cells, which multiplied and grew back over it,
eventually linking together into a new organ. Such
cells are involved in the formative stages of
specialised types of tissue such as those found in the
heart.
The research, by scientists at the University of
Minnesota, has so far been done only with rats and
pigs and is highly experimental. It is unlikely to be
applied to humans for years.
However, Professor Doris Taylor, director of the
university's centre for cardiovascular repair, believes it
could be a significant step towards creating custom-
built hearts, blood vessels and other organs for
people with serious illness. - - -
Taylor and her colleagues used a process called
decellularisation, in which powerful chemicals strip
the cells from a dead animal heart. The researchers
then reseeded the remaining protein skeleton with
progenitor cells taken from the hearts of newborn
animals and let them grow. Taylor said that four days
after seeding, the cells could be seen contracting, and
after eight days the hearts started contracting. - - - -
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9) Sniffling mouse could unlock cold cure: British scientists
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - February 4, 2008
The first mouse to catch a cold has given British
scientists fresh hope that they could finally find a cure
for coughs and sneezes, as well as more serious
conditions like asthma, they said Monday.
Scientists at Imperial College London created a
genetically engineered mouse susceptible to the virus
causing most colds, which normally only infects
humans and chimpanzees.
The breakthrough means that it should now be easier
to test new cold remedies as well as treatments for
other respiratory conditions like asthma and
bronchitis, potentially speeding up the discovery of
cures. - - -
Rhinoviruses, which cause most colds, were
discovered 50 years ago but studying them without
being able to experiment on mice has proved difficult. -
- -
Most colds are triggered when rhinoviruses latch on to
a receptor molecule found on the surface of cells.
In mice, the receptor is slightly different to the version
in humans so the viruses are unable to bind with it.
But in this case, the Imperial College scientists
modified the mouse receptor to make it more like the
human one, meaning the rodent could catch a cold.
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11) US scientists engineer 'mighty mice'
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - November 1, 2007
US researchers have engineered a line of "mighty
mice" whose human equivalent would have similar
abilities to the bicycling champion Lance Armstrong,
according to research published Thursday.
The breed of mice can run six kilometers (four miles)
at a speed of 20 meters (yards) per minute for up to
six hours without stopping, according to Richard
Hanson, a biochemistry professor at Case Western
Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
"They are metabolically similar to Lance Armstrong
biking up the Pyrenees; they utilize mainly fatty acids
for energy and produce very little lactic acid," said
Hanson, the senior author of the article which was
published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The genetically engineered mice can eat 60 percent
more than wild mice in a control group but remain
slim and fit. The "mighty mice" live longer, and some
females were able to reproduce much later in life than
other mice.
The researchers said some "have had offspring at 2.5
years of age, an amazing feat considering most mice
do not reproduce after they are one year old."
Hanson said the strength of the mice was made
possible by the fact that they produce very little lactic
acid, which forms during intense exercise.
Scientists bred 500 of the mice, which also showed
more aggression than other mice, over the past five
years as part of a project aimed at unlocking the
metabolic and physiological function of PEPCK-C in
muscles and tissues.
The key to their unusual traits is the over-expression
of the gene that influence production of the enzyme
PEPCK-C (phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinases),
said Hanson.
The transgenic mice are descended from six "founder
lines" that "contain a chimeric gene in which a copy of
the cDNA for PEPCK-C was linked to the skeletal actin
gene promoter," the research said. - - - -
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12) Designer baby fear over heart gene test
THE TIMES of LONDON [News Corporation/Murdoch] -
By Mark Henderson, Science Editor - December 15,
2007
A British couple have won the right to test embryos for
a gene that leads to high cholesterol levels and an
increased risk of heart attacks, The Times has learnt.
The decision by the fertility watchdog will reopen
controversy over the ethics of designer babies, as it
allows doctors to screen embryos for a condition that
is treatable with drugs and can be influenced by
lifestyle as well as genes.
While the procedure is designed to detect a rare
version of a disease called familial
hypercholesterolaemia (FH), which often kills children
before puberty, it will also identify a milder form that
can be controlled by drugs and diet.
Critics argue that the test will allow couples to destroy
embryos that would have had a good chance of
becoming children with fulfilling and reasonably
healthy lives.
The test will also create an unprecedented moral
dilemma for some couples, as it could show that they
have produced no embryos completely unaffected by
the disease. This would force them to decide whether
to implant embryos that they know have a genetic risk
of premature heart disease and death, or to throw
them away and deny them a chance of life.
Britain's first licence to test embryos for FH will be
awarded next week to Paul Serhal, of University
College Hospital in London, by the Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
Its decision breaks new ground because it permits Mr
Serhal to screen out not only the severe form of the
condition but also the milder type, which is usually
treatable.
Embryo screening has previously been approved only
for disorders in which a gene invariably causes a
serious disease, or for conditions such as breast
cancer in which mutations carry an 80 per cent lifetime
risk. - - - -
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13) Scientists produce embryo clones of 2 men, using skin cells in step toward stem cell goal
ASSOCIATED PRESS - January 17, 2008
NEW YORK: Scientists in California say they have
produced embryos that are clones of two men, a
potential step toward developing scientifically valuable
stem cells.
The new report documents embryos made with
ordinary skin cells. But it is not the first time human
cloned embryos have been made. In 2005, for
example, scientists in Britain reported using
embryonic stem cells to produce a cloned embryo. It
matured enough to produce stem cells, but none were
extracted.
Stem cells were not produced by the new embryos
either, and because of that, experts reacted coolly to
the research.
"I found it difficult to determine what was substantially
new," said Doug Melton of the Harvard Stem Cell
Institute. He said the "next big advance will be to
create a human embryonic stem cell line" from cloned
embryos. "This has yet to be achieved."
Dr. George Daley of the Harvard institute and
Children's Hospital Boston called the new report
interesting but agreed that "the real splash" will be
when somebody creates stem cell lines from cloned
human embryos.
"It's only a matter of time before some group
succeeds," Daley said. - - -
The work was published online Thursday by the
journal Stem Cells.
Scientists say stem cells from cloned embryos could
provide a valuable tool for studying diseases,
screening drugs and, perhaps someday, creating
transplant material to treat conditions like diabetes
and Parkinson's disease.
But critics raise objections. The process "involves
creating human lives in the laboratory solely to destroy
them for alleged benefit to others," said Richard
Doerflinger, spokesman for the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops. - - - -
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15) World should ban human cloning, except medical: U.N.
REUTERS [Thomson-Reuters] - November 11, 2007
OSLO - The world should quickly ban cloning of
humans and only allow exceptions for strictly
controlled research to help treat diseases such as
diabetes or Alzheimer's, a U.N. study said on
Sunday.
Without a ban, experts at the U.N. University's Institute
of Advanced Studies said that governments would
have to prepare legal measures to protect clones
from "potential abuse, prejudice and
discrimination".
"A legally-binding global ban on work to create a
human clone, coupled with freedom for nations to
permit strictly controlled therapeutic research, has the
greatest political viability of options available," the
study said.
"Whichever path the international community chooses
it will have to act soon -- either to prevent reproductive
cloning or to defend the human rights of cloned
individuals," said A.H. Zakri, head of the Institute,
which is based in Yokohama, Japan.
Almost all governments oppose human cloning and
more than 50 have legislation outlawing cloning. But
negotiations about an international ban collapsed in
2005 because of disagreements over research
cloning, also known as therapeutic cloning.
Research cloning can produce tissues that are a
perfect genetic match of a person and so help grow
cells to treat diseases such as strokes, spinal
injuries, diabetes, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's,
according to the study, which was made available in
Oslo.
The United Nations in 2005 agreed a non-binding
declaration to ban human cloning but left many
ambiguities. "The declaration in itself is not an
adequate response," said Brendan Tobin, an author
of the study from the National University of
Ireland.
"This has left us in a situation where maverick
scientists can carry on with their research and that is
likely to lead to an eventual cloning," he told
Reuters.
The authors said laws should grant clones full human
rights to protect from discrimination. - - -
The report noted that clones have been made of mice,
sheep, pigs, cows and dogs and that U.S.
researchers last year achieved the first cloning of a
primate -- a rhesus monkey embryo cloned from adult
cells and then grown to generate stem cells. - - - -
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16) Cloning: a giant step
For the first time, scientists have created dozens of
cloned embryos from adult primates. But what are the
implications of this technical breakthrough for the
future of mankind?
THE INDEPENDENT, UK [APN / INM / O'Reilly] - By
Steve Connor, Science Editor - November 12, 2007
A technical breakthrough has enabled scientists to
create for the first time dozens of cloned embryos from
adult monkeys, raising the prospect of the same
procedure being used to make cloned human
embryos.
Attempts to clone human embryos for research have
been dogged by technical problems and
controversies over fraudulent research and
questionable ethics. But the new technique promises
to revolutionise the efficiency by which scientists can
turn human eggs into cloned embryos.
It is the first time that scientists have been able to
create viable cloned embryos from an adult primate -
in this case a 10-year-old male rhesus macaque
monkey - and they are scheduled to report their
findings later this month.
The scientists will also demonstrate that they have
been able to extract stem cells from some of the
cloned embryos and that they have managed to
encourage these embryonic cells to develop in the
laboratory into mature heart cells and brain neurons.
Scientists who know of the research said it was the
breakthrough that they had all been waiting for
because, until now, there was a growing feeling that
there might be some insuperable barrier to creating
cloned embryos from adult primates - including
humans.
The development will not be welcomed in all quarters.
Opponents of cloning will argue that the new
technique of manipulating primate eggs to improve
cloning efficiency will lead to increased attempts at
creating - and destroying - cloned human embryos for
research purposes.
Although it is illegal in Britain to place any such cloned
embryos into the womb of a woman, many people
also fear that the relative ease of being able to
perform cloning using the skin cells of an adult will
increase the chances of its being applied to produce a
cloned baby. Scientists in South Korea reported in
2004 that they had created the first cloned human
embryo but in 2006 their study was retracted after it
emerged that its main author, Hwang Woo-suk , had
committed fraud.
There has only been one other documented example
of a human embryonic clone, but it died after a few
days and did not produce stem cells. The work has so
far not been replicated. - - - -
Also
Scientists Claim to Clone Monkey Embryos
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Malcolm Ritter - November
14, 2007
NEW YORK - Scientists in Oregon say they've reached
the long-sought goal of cloning monkey embryos and
extracting stem cells from them, a potentially major
step toward doing the same thing in people.
The research has not been published yet or confirmed
by other scientists. But if true, it offers fresh hope in
field that has been marked by frustration and even
fraud. The claim of a similar breakthrough with human
embryos by a South Korean scientist in 2004 turned
out to be false.
The hope is that one day, such a procedure could be
used to create transplant tissue that's genetically
matched to an ailing patient. Because stem cells can
form all types of tissue, the approach might one day
help treat conditions like diabetes and spinal cord
injury without fear of rejection by the patient's body. - - -
-
Read Full Report
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17) Little Children (embryonic stem-cell research)
' "To be a complete human organism," they
write, "an
entity must possess a developmental program
(including both its DNA and epigenetic factors)
oriented toward developing a brain and central
nervous system." The program begins at conception;
therefore, so does personhood. ---'
Ed. Note: It is quite compelling to
grasp what these scientists are suggesting in this
article. The permalink should allow you to access the
entire article after viewing a brief advertisement even if
you are not registered for the New York Times.
BE/\LERT!
NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By
William Saletan - February 10, 2008
Thirty-five years after Roe v. Wade, the pro-life
movement faces a new challenge: biotechnology. The
first human biotech issue, embryonic stem-cell
research, looks like an easy call. Stem cells could
save millions of lives. And the entity we currently
sacrifice to get them - a sacrifice that may soon be
unnecessary - is a tiny, undeveloped ball of cells.
The question, like the embryo, seems a no-
brainer.
For pro-lifers, that's precisely the problem.
Biotechnology is arguably more insidious than
abortion. Abortions take place one at a time and
generally as a response to an accident, lapse or nasty
surprise. Their gruesomeness actually limits their
prevalence by arousing revulsion and political
opposition. Conventional stem-cell harvesting is
quieter but bolder. It's deliberate and industrial, not
accidental and personal. In combination with cloning,
it entails the mass production, exploitation and
destruction of human embryos. Yet its victims don't
look human. You can't protest outside a fertility clinic
waving a picture of a blastocyst. You have to explain
what it is and why people should care about
it.
This is the task Robert George and Christopher
Tollefsen undertake in "Embryo." To reach a secular
and skeptical public, they avoid religion and stake
their case on science. George, a professor of
jurisprudence at Princeton and a member of the
President's Council on Bioethics, and Tollefsen, a
philosopher at the University of South Carolina, locate
humanity not in a soul but in a biological program. "To
be a complete human organism," they write, "an entity
must possess a developmental program (including
both its DNA and epigenetic factors) oriented toward
developing a brain and central nervous system." The
program begins at conception; therefore, so does
personhood.
The argument's absolutism is crucial. In the last three
months, scientists have announced two ways to get
stem cells without killing embryos. One method is to
extract a single cell from the very early embryo. The
other is to reprogram adult cells to make them
embryonic. But if embryos are morally equal to people,
then the first method violates patient consent and the
second leaves unresolved crises in embryo research
and in vitro fertilization. George and Tollefsen would
ban research that poses even slight risks to an
embryo's health. They would abolish production of
spare I.V.F. embryos and require every fertilized
embryo to be transferred to a womb.
The argument is brave but risky. Shifting the pro-life
case from religion to science puts it at the mercy of
scientific discovery, with all the attendant surprises.
Indeed, the human program turns out to be quite
complicated. It discredits the authors'
absolutism.
George and Tollefsen reason that the embryo is fully
human and its life therefore inviolable, because its
program is self-contained. "Nothing extrinsic to the
developing organism itself acts on it to produce a new
character or new direction of growth," they write. The
embryo has all the "structures necessary for providing
the new individual with a suitable environment and
adequate nutrition." It can "get itself to the
uterus," "burrow" into the uterine wall and
begin "taking in nourishment" from "a congenial
environment." - - - -
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18) Europe set for debate rerun on 'Frankenfoods'
FINANCIALTIMES of LONDON [Pearson Group,UK] -
By Andrew Bounds in Brussels, Jeremy Grant in
Washington and Clive Cookson in London - January
11, 2008
Europe is set for a rerun of the heated debate over
genetically modified "Frankenfoods", after regulators
declared on Friday that meat and milk from cloned
pigs and cows and their offspring were safe to
eat.
The finding comes as GM foods are about to reignite
trade friction between the US and European Union,
with a deadline set to expire on Friday night by which
the EU must comply with a World Trade Organisation
ruling to allow imports of GM seeds.
While it could be years before meat and milk from
cloned animals are on dinner plates in the EU, the
European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) issued a "draft
opinion" that such livestock and their products were
as healthy and nutritious as their natural-born
kin. "Healthy clones and healthy offspring do not show
any significant differences from their conventional
counterparts," it said.
Efsa has invited views on its opinion before drawing
up a definitive conclusion in May. Its deliberations
come as the Food & Drug Agency in the US is
expected to reach a final decision on the issue,
possibly next week.
The developments would boost a handful of US
biotechnology companies that have been working on
cloning animals, mainly cattle, for the past four years.
They say cloning would help farmers by increasing the
availability of elite breeding stock. - - - -
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19) FDA Says Cloned Animals Safe for Food
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Lauran Neergaard -
January 15, 2008
WASHINGTON - Just over a decade after scientists
cloned the first animal, the last major barrier to selling
meat and milk from clones has fallen: The U.S.
government declared this food safe Tuesday. Now,
will people buy it?
Consumer anxiety about cloning is serious enough
that several major food companies, including the big
dairy producer Dean Foods Co. (DF) and Smithfield
Foods Inc. (SFD), say they aren't planning to sell
products from cloned animals.
And the industry says most Americans would never
eat a cloned animal for sheer economic reasons: At
$10,000 to $20,000 per cloned cow - compared with
$1,000 for an ordinary steer - they're too valuable. They
would be used primarily for breeding, to produce a
steady supply of cattle that are particularly tender, for
instance, or for prize dairy cows. It would be offspring
of clones that consumers would eat.
But it will be hard to tell which foods do contain
ingredients originating from cloned animals. The
Food and Drug Administration ruled that labels won't
have to reveal whether the food comes from cloned
cows, pigs or goats, or the clones' offspring, because
those ingredients are no different than meat or milk
from livestock bred the old-fashioned way.
"We found nothing in the food that could potentially be
hazardous. The food in every respect is
indistinguishable from food from any other animal,"
FDA food safety chief Dr. Stephen Sundlof said. "It is
beyond our imagination to even find a theory that
would cause the food to be unsafe."
Still, the government asked producers to continue a
voluntary moratorium on sales of meat or milk from
clones for a little longer, for marketing reasons. The
Agriculture Department said it needed a transition
period to get the safety findings to foreign trade
partners and food companies.
"This is about market acceptance," USDA
Undersecretary Bruce Knight said, adding that he
expected this period to last months.
The two main U.S. cloning companies, Viagen Inc.
and Trans Ova Genetics, already have produced more
than 600 cloned animals for U.S. breeders, including
copies of prize-winning cows and rodeo bulls. They
agreed to USDA's call for a continued moratorium
Tuesday, but stressed that it applied only to clones
themselves, not those animals' conventionally
produced offspring, which can begin selling
immediately.
The FDA spent six years tracking the safety of cloning,
and its decision was long expected, but it came after
an emotional fight by opponents. Congress passed
legislation last month urging further study of the issue,
a call echoed by consumer advocates who also asked
that foods from cloned animals be labeled as
such.
Their objections aren't just about food safety but also
include animal welfare since many attempts at
livestock cloning still end in fatal birth defects. - - - -
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20) Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse?
USA TODAY [Gannett] - By G. Jeffrey MacDonald -
March 27, 2007
With humanity coming up fast on 2012, publishers are
helping readers gear up and count down to this
mysterious - some even call it apocalyptic - date
that ancient Mayan societies were anticipating
thousands of years ago.
Since November, at least three new books on 2012
have arrived in mainstream bookstores. A fourth is
due this fall. Each arrives in the wake of the 2006
success of 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, which
has been selling thousands of copies a month since
its release in May and counts more than 40,000 in
print. The books also build on popular interest in the
Maya, fueled in part by Mel Gibson's December 2006
film about Mayan civilization, Apocalpyto.
Authors disagree about what humankind should
expect on Dec. 21, 2012, when the Maya's "Long
Count" calendar marks the end of a 5,126-year era.
Journalist Lawrence Joseph forecasts widespread
catastrophe in Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific
Investigation Into Civilization's End. Spiritual healer
Andrew Smith predicts a restoration of a "true balance
between Divine Feminine and Masculine" in The
Revolution of 2012: Vol. 1, The Preparation. In 2012,
Daniel Pinchbeck anticipates a "change in the nature
of consciousness," assisted by indigenous insights
and psychedelic drug use.
The buildup to 2012 echoes excitement and fear
expressed on the eve of the new millennium,
popularly known as Y2K, though on a smaller scale,
says Lynn Garrett, senior religion editor at Publishers
Weekly. She says publishers seem to be courting
readers who believe humanity is creating its own
ecological disasters and desperately needs ancient
indigenous wisdom.
"The convergence I see here is the apocalyptic
expectations, if you will, along with the fact that the
environment is in the front of many people's minds
these days," Garrett says. "Part of the appeal of these
earth religions is that notion that we need to reconnect
with the Earth in order to save ourselves."
But scholars are bristling at attempts to link the
ancient Maya with trends in contemporary spirituality.
Maya civilization, known for advanced writing,
mathematics and astronomy, flourished for centuries
in Mesoamerica, especially between A.D. 300 and
900. Its Long Count calendar, which was discontinued
under Spanish colonization, tracks more than 5,000
years, then resets at year zero.
"For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to
make it to the end of a whole cycle," says Sandra
Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the
Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Crystal
River, Fla. To render Dec. 21, 2012, as a doomsday or
moment of cosmic shifting, she says, is "a complete
fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash
in."
Part of the 2012 mystique stems from the stars. On
the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned
with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in
about 26,000 years. This means that "whatever energy
typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky
Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11
p.m. Universal Time," Joseph writes.
But scholars doubt the ancient Maya extrapolated
great meaning from anticipating the alignment - if
they were even aware of what the configuration would
be.
Astronomers generally agree that "it would be
impossible the Maya themselves would have known
that," says Susan Milbrath, a Maya
archaeoastronomer and a curator at the Florida
Museum of Natural History. What's more, she
says, "we have no record or knowledge that they
would think the world would come to an end at that
point."
University of Florida anthropologist Susan Gillespie
says the 2012 phenomenon comes "from media and
from other people making use of the Maya past to
fulfill agendas that are really their own."
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21) Dozens in Texas Town Report Seeing UFO
See Video Report:
Breitbart
TV
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Angela K. Brown - January
15, 2008
STEPHENVILLE, Texas - AP Video In this farming
community where nightfall usually brings clear, starry
skies, residents are abuzz over reported sightings of
what many believe is a UFO.
Several dozen people-including a pilot, county
constable and business owners-insist they have seen
a large silent object with bright lights flying low and
fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.
"People wonder what in the world it is because this is
the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of
times," said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and
pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile
long and half a mile wide. "It was positively, absolutely
nothing from these parts."
While federal officials insist there's a logical
explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter,
faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They
also said the object's lights changed configuration,
unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who
reported seeing it over several weeks have offered
similar descriptions of the object.
Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him
when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object
hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his
Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after
reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-
Tribune. - - -
Sorrells said he has seen the object several times.
He said he watched it through his rifle's telescopic
lens and described it as very large and without
seams, nuts or bolts.
Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter
Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in
Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his
base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when most
people reported the sighting.
Lewis said the object may have been an illusion
caused by two commercial airplanes. Lights from the
aircraft would seem unusually bright and may appear
orange from the setting sun.
"I'm 90 percent sure this was an airliner," Lewis
said. "With the sun's angle, it can play tricks on you."
Officials at the region's two Air Force bases-Dyess in
Abilene and Sheppard in Wichita Falls-also said none
of their aircraft were in the area last week. The Air
Force no longer investigates UFOs. - - - -
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22) UFO researchers try to go mainstream
Last years International UFO Symposium was held
August 10-12 in Denver
SPACE.com [Imaginova] - By Leonard David - August
23, 2007
DENVER --- James Carrion, MUFON's international
director, said the organization is fervent about
resolving the scientific enigma known as unidentified
flying objects.
"To me, it's all about the truth. I have a passion for the
truth," Carrion told Space.com.
Still, after decades of pursuing "the truth" behind
UFOs, Carrion admitted that the quest is
befuddling. "Why is it always within out of reach ---
kind of there, but it's not there?"
This year, MUFON is implementing a new initiative to
reach out to mainstream scientists and seek their
assistance for a more detailed look at the data,
Carrion said. An open letter to the professional
scientific community is now being drafted, to be
issued before year's end, he said.
"We have to gain respectability here --- so we're trying
to kick-start intellectual curiosity out there," Carrion
added. "We know that there are folks in academia who
have an interest, but they don't know what to do with
it."
The MUFON strategy will start by centering on the
hypothesis that UFOs are human-manufactured, and
then evaluate the data amassed to date against that
premise, Carrion said. "If this triggers your intellectual
curiosity --- help us out," he said.
Carrion said that MUFON is also forming two research
teams: one to dive into the history of "UFOlogy" and
government archives, the other to probe into the
abduction encounters.
"I'm a skeptical believer," Carrion pointed out. "I've
never seen a UFO. But I've read enough of our own
evidence. There's something real to this. To me, it's
an issue of what is it?" - - - -
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23) I-Team: Expert trying to identify mysterious bird flying around S. Texas
Sightings of prehistoric-like bird in San Antonio and
South Texas called "black, dark and disturbing"
KENS 5 and the San Antonio Express-News [Hearst] -
By Joe Conger - November 20, 2007
More sightings of a huge flying creature, originally
reported by KENS, have prompted an investigation to
determine if it is a monster or myth.
"Even though it was dark, the thing itself was black.
The blackest I'd ever seen," said Frank Ramirez.
Years ago, Ramirez thought he was after a prowler in
the back of his mother's Southwest Side home. But
what greeted him on the garage rooftop still gives him
goosebumps now.
"That's when the thing up there turned to me, and it
was in a perched state, and it started to turn," he
said. "It started to move its arms and this giant
blackness was just coming out. At that point, I
dropped the stick and I ran."
Ramirez sketched a drawing of the large, bird-like
creature. The image is disturbing, and similar to
dozens of sightings across San Antonio and South
Texas.
"If you were to take a man's face and pull his chin
down, just like a stretched face," said Ramirez.
"I was just terrified and as I was running. I just thought
it was going to carry me off or something."
An earlier KENS story about a large, prehistoric-like
bird drew more than 100,000 hits on
MySanAntonio.com. More than a few people in San
Antonio came forward to say they'd seen the creature,
too.
One woman contacted KENS by e-mail, saying that
because of our story, she now knows she's not crazy.
KENS caught up with cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard at
the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.
Gerhard recently wrote a book, called "Modern
Sightings of Flying Monsters" on the large, dark
birds.
"When investigating mystery animals, it's important to
point out that there are vast areas of land, even here in
South Texas, that remain uninhabited," said
Gerhard. "If an animal like big bird does exist, it
certainly needs some habitat, somewhere to hide."
The Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge has
88,000 acres, and the marshes and prairies are
home to 413 species of birds, but no flying
pterodactyls.
"Raptors of all kinds, from hawks to falcons, come
throughout. Our most common is the Harris Hawk, "
said Park Ranger Stacy Sanchez.
But even Sanchez admits that blogs spiked with
reports this summer of something.
"People were posting about a very large, raptor-like
bird, and they were talking about an 18-to-20-foot
wingspan. I don't know --- It's kind of a myth," said
Sanchez.
Critics say where's the proof? Eyewitness testimony
without a feather or other body of evidence leaves
these stories as they are - just stories.
"We know that it's rare, and we know that this area's
been pretty popular hangout in the past," said
Gerhard.
Gerhard has been installing cameras in Harlingen,
where Guadalupe Cantu wants his big bird sighting
documented and validated.
Back in San Antonio, Ramirez has mounted an
outdoor light to keep the creature at bay.
"I know what I saw. It took me more than a week to
step out of this house. I wouldn't step foot out of this
house," said Ramirez. "It had this very, very horrible
demeanor-look on its face. Like I was lunch," he said.
On Nov. 21, Gerhard will be featured in a History
Channel documentary called "Birdzilla."
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24) Hardwired for love: Are robots the sex partners of the future?
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - February 12, 2008
By mid-century, predicts the 62-year-old expert, getting
it on with an electronic femme-fatale or a superstud
sexbot will become an accepted part of the human
landscape. - - -
Not everyone embraces Levy's vision of a future where
humanoids guarantee satisfaction in bed along with
pre-programmed post-coital conversation.
But many agree it is on the cards, given exponential
leaps in computer power, progress in mimicking
human muscles and movements, and headway in
artificial intelligence (AI) software to replicate
emotions and personality.
"Already today, the best quality synthetic voices cannot
be distinguished from human voices," Levy told AFP,
adding that some artificial skins now rival the
smoothest of baby bottoms.
Last November, researchers at Waseda University in
Japan unveiled a robot, named Twendy-One, that can
cook, talk, obey verbal commands, and use its soft
silicon-wrapped hands -- each equipped with 241
pressure sensors -- to interact with humans.
Even so, it will be a long time, Levy acknowledges,
before we cannot tell the difference between human
and humanoid.
The sexbot Gigolo Joe played by Jude Law in Steven
Spielberg's 2001 film "Artificial Intelligence: A.I.,"
providing chat and emotional support as well as sex,
is at least 40 decades away, he thinks.
Not all AI experts agree. "I don't think we will have
convincing 'human-like' robots" within that time frame,"
said Frederic Kaplan, a researcher at the Ecole
Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Kaplan, who pushed the envelope of robot intelligence
in programming the brain of Sony's eerily adorable
robot dog Aibo, also wonders whether we even want
robots made in our own image.
"Human-machine interactions will be interesting in
their own right, not as 'simulation' of human relations,"
he said.
But Levy is convinced the demand is there, and that
market forces will provide the financial drive to
overcome any technical -- or psychological --
obstacles.
"It is only a matter of time before someone in the adult
entertainment industry, which is awash in money,
thinks, 'Gee, I could make a pile of money'," he said.
A company in Japan, Axis, has already produced the
world's first, rudimentary, sexbot -- for men. - - - -
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25) Some People Never Learn
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human
Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany
have found a genetic factor that affects our ability to
learn from our errors. The scientists demonstrated
that men carrying the A1 mutation, which reduces the
amount of dopamine D2 receptors in the brain, are
less successful at learning to avoid mistakes than
men who do not carry this genetic mutation. This
finding has the potential to improve our understanding
of the causes of addictive and compulsive behaviors.
THE FUTURE OF THINGS - By Einat Rotman -
January 22, 2008
Some people do not give up even when they do not
succeed.Theyrefuse to accept defeat and continue to
try even when common sense tells others there's no
use in trying.
Tilmann Klein and Dr. Markus Ullsperger at the Max
Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain
Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, believe they have found
the genetic cause for this "stubbornness". They
discovered that a single genetic mutation can
determine whether people repeat their mistakes. This
mutation, named the A1 mutation, is found in about
one-third of the population and causes a reduction in
the amount of D2 receptors in the brain, which are the
docking sites for dopamine.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter - a chemical
participating in the relay of signals between nerve
cells and target cells. Among other behavior and
cognition functions, dopamine plays a key role in the
process of learning, in the feeling of pleasure, and in
motivation and reward (i.e. learning to repeat
behaviors that maximize rewards).
The researchers theorized that the lower output of
dopamine in people with fewer D2 receptors leads
them to repeat their mistakes, while people with more
D2 receptors comprehend that a certain action is a
mistake the first time they carry it out and do not feel
any desire to repeat it. To examine this theory, Klein
and Ullsperger studied 26 healthy men, half of which
carried the A1 gene variant (allele). - - - -
See More Posted on the Be Alert! Weblog
Revealed: New NASA images show Mercury as
you have never seen it before
LONDON DAILY MAIL [Associated
Newspapers/DMGT] - January 18, 2008
Dramatic new pictures have revealed the unseen side
of Mercury in detailed images taken from a Nasa
spacecraft orbiting the planet.
Astronomers saw the "dark side" of Mercury for the
very first time when the spacecraft flew within 125
miles of the planet's surface and took 1,200 high
resolution images. - - - -
Blog
Post
Also
Here on the Blog
Fallen angels who have both de-evolved and
evolved
with an insatiable lust and the question remains, is
this half-breed among us today?
Blog
Post
Advanced Russian civilization found
ASIAN NEWS INTERNATIONAL - December 28,
2007
MOSCOW: Archaeologists have discovered the
remains of a 2500-year-old advanced civilization at the
bottom of Lake Issyk Kul in the Kyrgyz Mountains in
Russia.
Blog
Post
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Contact Information
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