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)

RCB in last four after Karthik’s super six

Sreenath Aravind, the latest pace-bowling call-up to the Indian team, had bowled a nightmarish spell, conceding 69 in his four overs. But in the dying moments of his team’s chase of a steep 215, he had walked across the stumps and scooped Daniel Christian for a boundary over short fine leg’s head. There were three balls left in the innings now. A short while later the equation read: seven from two balls.

Aravind swung, and missed. KB Arun Karthik, the non-striker, was already halfway down the pitch. As the two batsmen scampered the bye, keeper Tim Ludeman collected the ball and kept it firm in his gloves, not throwing for fear of conceding overthrows.

Maybe he should have had a shy. Arun Karthik, who bats at number three for Tamil Nadu, had never really had a significant opportunity to display his wares in the IPL. Even here, he had worn an unfamiliar pair of keeping gloves and walked in at the fall of the seventh wicket. Now, he was batting with six needed from one ball

You are here: IE » Story EpaperStocksToday's PaperWeatherHoroscope Gardening helps kids to become responsible and calm: study

A new survey suggested that teaching children how to garden helps them to become responsible, realise where food comes from and calms their behaviour.

The poll by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) revealed that more than half parents said it gave their children a sense of responsibility, while almost 20 per cent said it calmed their behaviour.

A full 60 per cent agreed that it helped youngsters know the origin of food, and another 20 per cent said gardening was an activity grandparents could be involved in.

“When children learn to garden it is a skill that stays with them for life, something they will use and fall back on as they grow up,” the Mirror quoted Sue Biggs, director-general of the RHS as saying.

However, it also showed that today’s children have more awareness about gardening than their parents actually did when they were in school, and so did the grandparents

Now, a super broccoli that protects heart, prevents cancers

British scientists have developed what they claim is a “super broccoli” which can protect people against heart disease and cancers.

A team at the Institute of Food Research and John Innes Centre in Norwich says the new strain called Beneforte looks like normal broccoli, but it contains three times as much of a health-boosting nutrient called glucoraphanin.

Research has shown that glucoraphanin can help protect against heart disease and cancers which include those of the bowel and prostate. The nutrient is converted in the gut into a compound, sulphoraphane.

That apparently reduces inflammation which can cause heart attacks, stops uncontrolled cell division associated with early stage cancer and boosts disease-fighting anti-oxidants, say the scientists.

The super broccoli raises sulphoraphane levels to two to four times that of normal broccoli, say the scientists who developed it by breeding -- and not by genetic engineering

NSW put Chennai out of CL T20 with 46-run win

David Warner smashed a blistering unbeaten century as New South Wales dumped defending champions Chennai Super Kings out of the Champions League Twenty20 with a 46-run thrashing here today.

Electing to bat, New South Wales posted an imposing 201 for two, riding on Warner's 69-ball 135 not out, and Chennai needed to chase down the target in 17 overs if they were to qualify for the semifinals from Pool A. Chennai, however, managed to score 155 all out in their last league match.

After today's match, NSW and the Mumbai Indians qualified for the semifinals after having collected six and five points respectively at the end of their league engagements.

Chennai could only win one out of their four matches and finished at the bottom of the five-team Pool A. Trinidad and Togabo, who defeated Cape Cobras in another Pool A match today, failed to qualify for the last-four stage as they ended their league engagements on four points.