Monkeys use minds to control computer'

Scientists have successfully taught monkeys to move the arms of a computer game character using power of thought alone, a breakthrough they say could benefit severely paralysed patients.

A team at the Duke University Centre for Neuroengineering in Durham, the US, taught two rhesus monkeys to operate a virtual arm with their brain power. The animals were able to differentiate between the textures of virtual objects they were "feeling".

The researchers hoped that their findings could pave the way for the development of a "robotic exoskeleton" to be worn by severely paralysed people, helping them move and experience the world around them using brainwaves, the Daily Telegraph reported.

"Someday in the near future, quadriplegic patients will take advantage of this technology not only to move their arms and hands and to walk again, but also to sense the texture of objects placed in their hands," Professor Miguel Nicolelis,who led the study, said

Want muscles like Popeye? Eat mustard, not spinach

Are you a fitness fanatic looking to build your muscles like ‘Popeye the Sailor’? Then consider reaching for the mustard, and not a can of spinach as claimed by the legendary cartoon character, who said “I am strong to the finish because I eat all my spinach”.

A new research has revealed that a steroid, found in the mustard plant, triggers a response similar to anabolic steroids with minimal side effects.

Homobrassinolide produces an anabolic effect, increases appetite and muscle mass along with the number and size of muscle fibres.

“We hope that one day brassinosteroids may provide an effective, natural, and safe alternative for age- and disease-associated muscle loss, or be used to improve endurance and physical performance,” Slavko Komarnytsky, a researcher involved in the work from the Plants for Human Health Institute said.

MI beat Somerset by 10 runs, set up final clash with RCB

Mumbai Indians held their nerves in crucial moments to eke out a narrow 10-run victory over Somerset in the second semifinal of the Champions League twenty20 tonight and set up a summit clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore tomorrow.

Lasith Malinga snapped four wickets and Aiden Blizzard cracked a 39-ball 54 but it was James Franklin's two-wicket burst at the 19th over which set up the win for Mumbai Indians in the nail-biting semifinal.

Needing 22 off last 12 balls, Franklin picked up the wickets of Jos Butler (19) and Craig Kieswetter (62) -- to turn the game in Mumbai's favour. Malinga then completed the proceeding by taking two wickets in the last over.

Chasing 161 to win, Kieswetter cracked seven fours and one six and stitched a crucial 83-run partnership off 63 balls with James Hildreth (39) to keep Somerset in the runchase but Franklin's 19th over put paid to their hopes.

The most powerful Indians in 2011

The 2011 Indian Express power list has 30 new names.

Full list: Powerful Indians in 2011 >>

That's less churn than in our 2010 power list, which had 36 new entrants. But look closer, the churn this year is more intense. The top 30 in this year's power list and their ranks tell us a big story — power has partly shifted, from a weakened government to a stronger Opposition and watchdog institutions, from India Inc. to sophisticated activism. There are establishment figures who are far less or far more powerful this year compared to 2010. Therefore, the usual order could no longer apply when we picked the names. And it’s not just in the top 30, there are some fascinating changes elsewhere on the list.

These big changes were what our jury — excluded from this list — sought to identify when they sat down to the tough job of picking the 100 most powerful people in a country of 1.2 billion. As has been the norm, the jury’s decisions were based on the candidate’s ability to command influence; being talented or being a high achiever isn’t enough. And power can be “negative” — the power to disrupt, to block — and we have tried to capture that, too. Happily, there are some who earned their place primarily because their exercise of power was wonderfully positive

US veterans say Iraq, Afghan wars not worth it

A third of US military veterans who have served in the armed forces since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, a poll released on Wednesday showed.

The poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that these veterans held somewhat more positive views of those two wars that the general public in the United States but still harbored deep misgivings about the conflicts.

Thirty-three per cent of the post-9/11 veterans who took part in the poll said neither of those two wars was worthwhile considering the costs versus the benefits to the United States. That compared to 45 per cent of non-military poll respondents who said neither war was worthwhile.

US forces were sent into Afghanistan in the weeks after the 2001 attacks on the United States to topple that country's Taliban leaders who had harbored the al Qaeda leaders responsible for 9/11.

The greatest hits of Indian cricket, between its two World Cups India vs West Indies, Lord’s, 1983: Kapil Dev’s 30-yard sprint to catch Viv Richards on the midwicket fence, and Jimmy Amarnath’s gleeful dash to grab the stumps at the end.

The Staten Island Ferry cruises along the water as the moon rises over Brooklyn as seen from Liberty State Park on June 15, 2011 in Jersey City, N.J. (AP)