Dolphins, not elephants, may have the best memories of any non-human species.
In a new study, scientists say dolphins in captivity have shown an ability to recognize former tank mates’ whistles even after being apart from them for more than 20 years.

The study, done by researchers at the University of Chicago, shows that dolphins have the longest social memory ever recorded for non-humans. According to the study, dolphins’ skills in recognizing the whistle sounds may be better than humans' facial recognition skills because human faces change over time.

“This shows us an animal operating cognitively at a level that’s very consistent with human social memory,” said Jason Bruck, a specialist in comparative human development, who conducted the study.

His study is published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B.

Bruck collected data from 53 bottlenose dolphins at six facilities that were part of a breeding consortium that kept decades of records on which dolphins had lived together.

Bruck compared the dolphins’ reactions to whistles of former tank mates with those of dolphins that were not familiar with each other. His initial studies showed that “dolphins get bored quickly listening to signature whistles from dolphins they don’t know.”

“When they hear a dolphin they know, they often quickly approach the speaker playing the recording,” Bruck said. “At times they will hover around, whistle at it, try to get it to whistle back.”

Bruck said dolphins even responded to calls they had not heard in decades.

In one notable example, Bruck played a recording of a female dolphin named Allie, who currently lives at the Brookfield Zoo, for Bailey, a female now in Bermuda.

The pair had last lived together at Dolphin Connection in the Florida Keys when Allie was two years old and Bailey was four. But 20 years and six months after their last contact, Bailey still recognized the recording of Allie’s signature whistle.

“Why do they need this kind of memory? I’m not sure they do,” Bruck said. “The cognitive abilities of dolphins are really well-developed, and sometimes things like this are carry-along traits. But to test whether this kind of social memory capacity is adaptive, we would need more demographic data from multiple populations in the wild to see if they experience 20-year separations.”



Here's a video about the experiment:

Read More »

DAKAR — A new education program in Liberia is teaching women in their 30s, 40s and 50s how to read and write - something that only a quarter of the country’s women can do. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said that more such second-chance programs are needed to educate the world’s estimated 516 million women who remain illiterate.

More than two-thirds of all illiterate adults are women. The majority of the women live in West Africa, where many girls never get the chance to go to school.

Pauline Rose, head of UNESCO’s global monitoring report on Education for All, said that being illiterate poses a huge problem for women in day-to-day life.

"Some of the things people say is: that I can’t read the number on buses; I can’t pick up a medicine bottle and read the label and understand how many spoons of the medicine to take, for example. So there are real practical concerns about when women are illiterate," she explained. "It affects not only themselves but also their families. They are often the main caregivers for children. And when women are illiterate they are less like to make use of health services.”

Rose noted that illiterate women are also more likely to die in childbirth and that their children are more likely to be malnourished.

Some countries, such as Senegal, have improved women’s literacy rates through government efforts to enroll more girls in primary school and community awareness programs on the importance of female education.  But there are still many countries, such as Guinea, Niger, Benin, Mali and Burkina Faso, where less than one in four women can read and write.

Rose said literacy programs that target women are needed in these countries.

“In terms of this huge number of young women and adults who are already illiterate, there is obviously a need to have second-chance programs to ensure that they are able to become literate. That we can’t neglect them, just because they are no longer of primary school age,” stated Rose.

In Liberia, where just 27 percent of women are literate, the government has launched a massive second-chance literacy campaign to teach women.  The women either never got to go to school or were forced to drop out due to the country’s more than 10 years of civil war.

 Lonee Smith, 35,  a student at the Firestone Liberia Natural Rubber Company’s adult literacy school in Margibi County, said having a second chance at education has changed her life.

“Today, I am a happy woman. I’m very proud. I’m in the first grade. I can read and write," she said. "In the past, I couldn’t do that. My parents never sent me to school. But today I am happy that I can read and write. I’m a market woman. Now, I can sell my goods and count my profit with no one helping me. I am grateful."

Liberia’s Ministry of Education said there are approximately 5,000 women, such as Smith, currently enrolled in adult literacy programs across the country.

UNESCO’s Rose said that while this is a good step forward, such programs need to be expanded in order to reach the millions of other women. 

Read More »

Not getting enough sleep can lead you to eat more and gain weight, and a new study suggests the connection is caused by what happens in the sleep-deprived brain.

Researchers at the University of California Berkeley found that after just one sleepless night, the brain's frontal lobe, which governs rational decision-making, was impaired. In contrast, there was increased activity in the more primitive brain region that controls desire and responds to rewards. As a result, study participants - 23 healthy young adults - craved unhealthy snacks and junk food when they were sleep deprived, and had less ability to rein in that impulse. 

Senior author Matthew Walker, a professor of psychology and neuroscience, says that combination may help explain why people who sleep less tend to be overweight or obese. On the other hand, he points out, the findings indicate that getting enough sleep could help promote weight control "by priming the brain mechanisms governing appropriate food choices." 

The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Read More »

A wrecking crew in the U.S. has demolished the house where a man held three young women captive for a decade while chaining and repeatedly raping them.

Workers quickly reduced the rundown house in Cleveland, Ohio to rubble on Wednesday as neighbors cheered the demolition.

A one-time school bus driver, 53-year-old Ariel Castro, pleaded guilty to more than 900 charges in the case and was sentenced last week to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors say he cried as he signed over the deed to his house.

One of his victims, Michelle Knight, watched the destruction of the house, and released yellow balloons into the sky. She said it was a symbol of hope for other missing children.



''I go from here as being a motivational speaker and let everybody know that they are heard that they are loved ... and there is hope for everyone.''

Read More »

NEW DELHI — Indian government officials are being pressured to take a tough stand with Pakistan after the killing of five soldiers in a cross-border clash in Kashmir, which Defense Minister A.K. Antony has attributed to men dressed in Pakistani army uniforms.

Pointing out that the Indian army officials have also put responsibility for Monday's ambush on Pakistani forces, Sushma Swaraj, leader of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), slammed Antony for taking a soft line with Islamabad, accusing the minister of giving its neighbor "clean chit" and insisting that Indian authorities should officially state that Pakistan's army is responsible for the attack.

The issue rocked parliament for a second day as tensions were exacerbated by Tuesday reports of two Pakistani soldiers being wounded in a firefight with Indian troops along the disputed border. BJP legislator Arun Jaitley is now leading calls to abandon proposed peace talks with its neighbor.

"For those who say that the dialogue with Pakistan must be uninterrupted and uninterruptible, I just want to suggest to them [that in] the interest of India’s sovereignty, it is our interest against terrorism which must be uninterruptible," he said. "The dialogue process must depend on what Pakistan’s attitude is."

Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid told a local television channel an appropriate decision will be taken, but said talks are a continuous process.

In recent days both Indian and Pakistani officials were firming up dates for two rounds of talks to be held in the coming weeks. Islamabad’s new government had taken the initiative in proposing that the two countries restart a dialogue which was stalled in January.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry denies a cross-border clash took place and says it looks forward to an early resumption of the dialogue process.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said he wants to work with India to improve ties.

Security analyst for New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research, Bharat Karnad, said the government, which faces elections next year, may have to postpone talks indefinitely due to pressure from both public and political opposition.

“[The government's] hand may be forced by the opposition in parliament and everybody making the noises," he said. "The election year is coming and the Manmohan Singh government is particularly vulnerable to the charge of being weak on national security ... the stance New Delhi has taken has not really succeeded in stopping the terrorist violence."

The flare up in tensions along the Kashmir border comes days after three suicide bombers targeted India’s consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. 

Read More »

Impotence, also known as erectile dysfunction (ED) is a man's inability to achieve or maintain an erection. This is a condition that is rarely talked about amongst men but can have a devastating effect on a man's confidence and self-esteem. This can subsequently lead to depression which only serves to aggravate the condition further. Unfortunately, impotence is a very common problem and affects over 2 million men in the UK alone. In fact, over half the male population over the age of 40 will suffer from some form of impotence at some stage. Despite these statistics, only a small number of men, about 10%, will seek medical assistance due mainly to feelings of embarrassment. Many medical doctors will prescribe chemicalised drugs, such as the blue pills to combat impotence. These are of course, not without their side effects. 

Most young men in their 20's or early 30's dismiss erectile dysfunction as something that will never happen to them. Yet ED is a condition that can be caused by a number of factors. 

Psychological 

This is often the layman's reason for the number one cause of impotence. Yet according to studies, psychological factors account for less than 20% of impotence in men. It is the subsequent feeling of depression and anxiety after one incident of impotence that can compound any underlining medical condition and worsen the problem. 

High Blood Pressure 

Aside from psychological factors, physical condition can also precipitate impotence. It is well documented that high blood pressure and high level of cholesterol can lead to a high risk of impotence. This is due to the copious amount of pressure on the blood vessels that causes damage to the arteries of the penis severely restricting the flow of blood to the penis resulting in an ineffective erection. 

Stress and Fatigue 

This one falls into the category of psychological. Although some men find stress to be a motivator, too much stress and fatigue can lead to erectile dysfunction. Stress can be in the form of financial, sexual, work or relationship and this can cause erectile problems. Fatigue is normally the result of stress that can zap a person's physical and mental energy. Once the cause of stress or fatigue is resolved, then any erectile challenges should also be resolved. 

Excess Weight 

Over weight is seen as a contributory factor to increased level of impotence. Excessive fat blocks the arteries in the penis which restrict the flow of blood to the penis resulting in difficulty in 

achieving or maintaining an erection. 

Strokes 

Most men who suffered strokes normally complain of lack of sexual desire and erection problems. It is important that stroke sufferers should immediately seek medical advice upon any indication of any erectile dysfunction whatsoever. Erectile problems after a stroke are not normally permanent. 

Treatment 

Impotence is a very real and serious concern for the majority of men at some stage in their life. The causes range from the psychological, to the physical such as high blood pressure. There are preventative actions that one can take such as regular exercise, adequate sleep, reducing levels of stress and consulting your doctor as soon as possible. 

Most causes of impotence can be identified and treated. Many medical doctors will prescribe the little blue pill or other similar ED drugs to treat impotence. Unfortunately, these are not without side effects. So it is not surprising that millions of men are turning to 100% naturally herbal alternatives such as Maxidus to treat erectile dysfunction. 

As natural herbs have no side effects, the benefits are unsurpassable such as increase in energy, libido boosting and treatment of impotence. So, don't allow impotence to become your nightmare!

Read More »

Vietnam has executed its first prisoner by lethal injection, ending a two year pause in carrying out death sentences because of difficulty obtaining the proper drugs.

State media reports say convicted murderer Nguyen Anh Tuan was put to death Tuesday in a Hanoi prison. He is the first criminal to be put to death since Vietnam switched from firing squads to lethal injections in 2011.

However, the country has had trouble obtaining the drugs needed for an execution because of a European Union ban on the export of the chemicals. Earlier this year, Vietnam amended its laws to allow the use of locally made drugs in executions.

There are currently 586 people on death row in Vietnam.

Read More »