Advanced technologies with commodity standard-based hardware bring expensive face-recognition engineering closer to users as an access control in everyday working life.
The technology developed by XID Technologies, a face-recognition technology company, expands its foothold out of Singapore for the first time.
Jason Chaikin, Vice President World sales, said its patented face synthesis technology combined with commodity hardware and industry standard-based processor which is used in netbooks,brings face recognition-based access control devices to the commercial market.
Currently, most of the major players in facial recognition dominate in homeland security and government markets.Entering the commercial area will open new windows of opportunity.
The XID XS PRO-1000 device enables employees to use their company ID cards to touch the device while looking into a built-in camera and then the system will verify whether the ID information on a database server matches the face on the camera.
All verification processing takes less than three seconds and it is simple to install as a plug-and-play. However, compared with normal fingerprint access control systems on the market the cost of this system is around 30 percent higher but it is more accurate than fingerprint recognition which has an average 10 percent error rate.
In some workplaces which have a lot of employees - such as construction sites or factories - where they have to wait in long queues, if the system slows down it can affect productivity. The system also helps to resolve "buddypunching" time attendance by the em-ployees, which can cause company losses.
Carmelo Pistorio, executive chairman of XiD Technologies, said that it is aiming to make face-recognition a global easy access control by 2012.
Currently, fingerprint recognition dominates the biometric market. According to ABI research, in 2008 the biometric market worldwide reached $561 million while fingerprint recognition was worth $349 million, facial recognition was worth $92 million and iris recognition was worth $47 million. Both fingerprint and facial recognition had a combined growth rate from 2008-2013 forecast at 22 percent and were worth $931 million and $251 million, respectively.
This shows how huge the market is and the company decided to expand it reach into China, Indonesia and Vietnam as well as Thailand after spending six years of research and development in Singapore and using the country as test bed for the product technology which was used in a customer site with over 40,000 workers.
Adisorn Keawbucha, CEO, DataOne Asia (Thailand), the exclusive partner for XID, said the product can complement with its skill in integration and implementation service with existing banking and finance customers.
The solution will help to expand new market customers base that require high security areas like power plants, prisons,pharmaceutical labs and other high security zones or sensitive areas.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
SLOWER, LOWER, WEAKER MODERN MAN IS HISTORY'S LOSER
Today's Olympic stars would be no match for their prehistoric relatives, who were stronger and faster and more athletic
Many prehistoric Australian Aborigines could have outrun world 100 and 200 metres record holder Usain Bolt in modern conditions. Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the present world high jump record of 2.45 metres during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood.
Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and present California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle.
These and other eye-catching claims are detailed in a book by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister entitled Manthropology and provocatively sub-titled The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male .McAllister sets out his stall in the opening sentence of the prologue.
"If you're reading this then you - or the male you have bought it for - are the worst man in history.
"No ifs, no buts - the worst man, period ... As a class we are in fact the sorriest cohort of masculine Homo sapiens to ever walk the planet."
Delving into a wide range of source material, McAllister finds evidence he believes proves that modern man is inferior to his predecessors in, among other fields, the basic Olympic athletics disciplines of running and jumping.
His conclusions about the speed of Australian aboriginals 20,000 years ago are based on a set of footprints, preserved in a fossilized claypan lake bed, of six men chasing prey.
An analysis of the footsteps of one of the men, dubbed T8, shows he reached speeds of 37k/ph on a soft, muddy lake edge. Bolt,by comparison, reached a top speed of 42k/ph during his then world 100 metres record of 9.69 seconds at last year's Beijing Olympics.
In an interview in the English university town of Cambridge where he was temporarily resident, McAllister said that, with modern training, spiked shoes and rubberised tracks,aboriginal hunters might have reached speeds of 45k/ph.
"We can assume they are running close to their maximum if they are chasing an animal,"he said.
"But if they can do that speed of 37k/ph on very soft ground I suspect there is a strong chance they would have outdone Usain Bolt if they had all the advantages that he does.
"We can tell that T8 is accelerating toward the end of his tracks."
McAllister said it was probable that any number of T8's contemporaries could have run as fast.
"We have to remember too how incredibly rare these fossilisations are," he said."What are the odds that you would get the fastest runner in Australia at that particular time in that particular place in such a way that was going to be preserved?"
Turning to the high jump, McAllister said photographs taken by a German anthropologist showed young men jumping heights of up to 2.52 metres in the early years of last century.
"It was an initiation ritual, everybody had to do it. They had to be able to jump their own height to progress to manhood," he said.
"It was something they did all the time and they lived very active lives from a very early age. They developed very phenomenal abilities in jumping. They were jumping from boyhood onwards to prove themselves."
McAllister said a Neanderthal woman had 10% more muscle bulk than modern European man. Trained to capacity she would have reached 90% of Schwarzenegger's bulk at his peak in the 1970s.
"But because of the quirk of her physiology,with a much shorter lower arm, she would slam him to the table without a problem,"he said.
Manthropology abounds with other examples:
* Roman legions completed more than one-and-a-half marathons a day carrying more than half their body weight in equipment.
* Athens employed 30,000 rowers who could all exceed the achievements of modern oarsmen.
* Australian aboriginals threw a hardwood spear 110 metres or more - the present world javelin record is 98.48m.
McAllister said it was difficult to equate the ancient spear with the modern javelin,but added:"Given other evidence of Aboriginal man's superb athleticism you'd have to wonder whether they couldn't have taken out every modern javelin event they entered."
Why the decline?"We are so inactive these days and have been since the industrial revolution really kicked into gear," McAllister replied."These people were much more robust than we were.
"We don't see that because we convert to what things were like about 30 years ago.There's been such a stark improvement in times, technique has improved out of sight,times and heights have all improved vastly since then, but if you go back further it's a different story.
"At the start of the industrial revolution there are statistics about how much harder people worked then.
"The human body is very plastic and it responds to stress. We have lost 40% of the shafts of our long bones because we have much less of a muscular load placed upon them these days.
"We are simply not exposed to the same loads or challenges that people were in the ancient past and even in the recent past so our bodies haven't developed. Even the level of training that we do, our elite athletes,doesn't come close to replicating that.
"We wouldn't want to go back to the brutality of those days, but there are some things we would do well to profit from."
Many prehistoric Australian Aborigines could have outrun world 100 and 200 metres record holder Usain Bolt in modern conditions. Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the present world high jump record of 2.45 metres during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood.
Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and present California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle.
These and other eye-catching claims are detailed in a book by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister entitled Manthropology and provocatively sub-titled The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male .McAllister sets out his stall in the opening sentence of the prologue.
"If you're reading this then you - or the male you have bought it for - are the worst man in history.
"No ifs, no buts - the worst man, period ... As a class we are in fact the sorriest cohort of masculine Homo sapiens to ever walk the planet."
Delving into a wide range of source material, McAllister finds evidence he believes proves that modern man is inferior to his predecessors in, among other fields, the basic Olympic athletics disciplines of running and jumping.
His conclusions about the speed of Australian aboriginals 20,000 years ago are based on a set of footprints, preserved in a fossilized claypan lake bed, of six men chasing prey.
An analysis of the footsteps of one of the men, dubbed T8, shows he reached speeds of 37k/ph on a soft, muddy lake edge. Bolt,by comparison, reached a top speed of 42k/ph during his then world 100 metres record of 9.69 seconds at last year's Beijing Olympics.
In an interview in the English university town of Cambridge where he was temporarily resident, McAllister said that, with modern training, spiked shoes and rubberised tracks,aboriginal hunters might have reached speeds of 45k/ph.
"We can assume they are running close to their maximum if they are chasing an animal,"he said.
"But if they can do that speed of 37k/ph on very soft ground I suspect there is a strong chance they would have outdone Usain Bolt if they had all the advantages that he does.
"We can tell that T8 is accelerating toward the end of his tracks."
McAllister said it was probable that any number of T8's contemporaries could have run as fast.
"We have to remember too how incredibly rare these fossilisations are," he said."What are the odds that you would get the fastest runner in Australia at that particular time in that particular place in such a way that was going to be preserved?"
Turning to the high jump, McAllister said photographs taken by a German anthropologist showed young men jumping heights of up to 2.52 metres in the early years of last century.
"It was an initiation ritual, everybody had to do it. They had to be able to jump their own height to progress to manhood," he said.
"It was something they did all the time and they lived very active lives from a very early age. They developed very phenomenal abilities in jumping. They were jumping from boyhood onwards to prove themselves."
McAllister said a Neanderthal woman had 10% more muscle bulk than modern European man. Trained to capacity she would have reached 90% of Schwarzenegger's bulk at his peak in the 1970s.
"But because of the quirk of her physiology,with a much shorter lower arm, she would slam him to the table without a problem,"he said.
Manthropology abounds with other examples:
* Roman legions completed more than one-and-a-half marathons a day carrying more than half their body weight in equipment.
* Athens employed 30,000 rowers who could all exceed the achievements of modern oarsmen.
* Australian aboriginals threw a hardwood spear 110 metres or more - the present world javelin record is 98.48m.
McAllister said it was difficult to equate the ancient spear with the modern javelin,but added:"Given other evidence of Aboriginal man's superb athleticism you'd have to wonder whether they couldn't have taken out every modern javelin event they entered."
Why the decline?"We are so inactive these days and have been since the industrial revolution really kicked into gear," McAllister replied."These people were much more robust than we were.
"We don't see that because we convert to what things were like about 30 years ago.There's been such a stark improvement in times, technique has improved out of sight,times and heights have all improved vastly since then, but if you go back further it's a different story.
"At the start of the industrial revolution there are statistics about how much harder people worked then.
"The human body is very plastic and it responds to stress. We have lost 40% of the shafts of our long bones because we have much less of a muscular load placed upon them these days.
"We are simply not exposed to the same loads or challenges that people were in the ancient past and even in the recent past so our bodies haven't developed. Even the level of training that we do, our elite athletes,doesn't come close to replicating that.
"We wouldn't want to go back to the brutality of those days, but there are some things we would do well to profit from."
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Highlighting His Majesty's innovations
The "Creative King" project of the Commerce Ministry will bring together all of His Majesty the King's innovative ideas and works on culture, music and inventions.
"We hope that the launch of the creative King project will inspire Thais to concentrate more on creative jobs," Sanya Sathiraboost, adviser to the deputy commerce minster, said yesterday.
The National Creative Economy Policy Committee, chaired by the prime minister, also approved Bt1 billion as a primary budget for "Creative Economy" activities that are scheduled to kick off next year.
The Creative King project will officially unveil the government's "Creative Economy Creative Thailand" policy.
So far, 181 projects worth Bt74.39 billion have applied for funding to the committee.
Of the total, 68 projects with a total budget of Bt23 billion have met the projects' requirements.
These proposals will be forwarded to a screening committee for budget allocation under the government's second economic stimulus package.
The government is setting up the Thailand Creatie Economy Agency to support all participants and government agencies in moving towards a Creative Thailand.
"We hope that the launch of the creative King project will inspire Thais to concentrate more on creative jobs," Sanya Sathiraboost, adviser to the deputy commerce minster, said yesterday.
The National Creative Economy Policy Committee, chaired by the prime minister, also approved Bt1 billion as a primary budget for "Creative Economy" activities that are scheduled to kick off next year.
The Creative King project will officially unveil the government's "Creative Economy Creative Thailand" policy.
So far, 181 projects worth Bt74.39 billion have applied for funding to the committee.
Of the total, 68 projects with a total budget of Bt23 billion have met the projects' requirements.
These proposals will be forwarded to a screening committee for budget allocation under the government's second economic stimulus package.
The government is setting up the Thailand Creatie Economy Agency to support all participants and government agencies in moving towards a Creative Thailand.
Monday, October 12, 2009
SOYUZ BRINGS SPACE CLOWN BACK TO EARTH
The Russian Soyuz capsule carrying Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and two other space travellers landed safely in Kazakhstan yesterday, ending the entertainment tycoon's mirthful space odyssey.
Laliberte, who wore a bulbous clown nose during his stay aboard the International Space Station, was estracted from the cramped Soyuz capsule yesterday morning following its landing in the steppes of northern Kazakhstan.
After the landing, he was carried from the capsule wearing the round red nose.
Laliberte returned with Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and Nasa astronaut Michael Barratt, re-entering the Earth's atmosphere several hours after their capsule left the International Space Station.
Valery Lyndin, spokesman for Russian mission control, said the capsule drifted by parachute to Earth at 10.32am local time.
Russian television showed pictures of Padalka sitting outside the spacecraft, scorched by the searing heat of re-entry, eating an apple and drinking tea as ground crew extracted the other space travellers from the capsule. all of the world's apple trees are descended from those that first grew in Kazakhstan.
Laliberte emerged later, wearing his red clown nose as he reclined in a chair set up near the Soyuz capsule. Returning astronauts must rest after Soyuz landing in order to reacclimate to the Earth's gravity.
Laliberte, who wore a bulbous clown nose during his stay aboard the International Space Station, was estracted from the cramped Soyuz capsule yesterday morning following its landing in the steppes of northern Kazakhstan.
After the landing, he was carried from the capsule wearing the round red nose.
Laliberte returned with Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and Nasa astronaut Michael Barratt, re-entering the Earth's atmosphere several hours after their capsule left the International Space Station.
Valery Lyndin, spokesman for Russian mission control, said the capsule drifted by parachute to Earth at 10.32am local time.
Russian television showed pictures of Padalka sitting outside the spacecraft, scorched by the searing heat of re-entry, eating an apple and drinking tea as ground crew extracted the other space travellers from the capsule. all of the world's apple trees are descended from those that first grew in Kazakhstan.
Laliberte emerged later, wearing his red clown nose as he reclined in a chair set up near the Soyuz capsule. Returning astronauts must rest after Soyuz landing in order to reacclimate to the Earth's gravity.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
SPACE CLOWN AIRS SAVE WATER CAMPAIGN FROM ISS
The first clown in space, Guy Laliberte, has launched a 14-city poetic planetary exrtravaganza to promote clean drinking water, from the International Space Station.
The billionair space tourist and founder of Cirque du Soleil described his journedy as "poetic, social mission".
The two-hour live One Drop show, broadcast online on Friday included guests Al gore, Bono, Salma Hayek, Peter Gabriel, Shakira, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette and a musical theatrical performance by Laliberte's circus troupe.
It kicked off with a reading of a poem by Man-Booker prize-winning author Yann Martel, describing a conversation between the Sun, the Moon and a drop of water.
Throughout the show, several people read bits of the fable.
Former US vice president Gore used charts and video to warn of melting polar ice caps, water pollution, and extreme weather causing droughts and flooding.
"To solve the climate crisis and safe-guard our planet and its beauty ... will require global effort," he said.
Australian Tiffany Speight sang fromthe Sydney opera house.
Inuit singer Elisapie Isaac belted out haunting lyrics in her native language, while rappers Fnaire performed from Morocco.
Throughout the show crowds danced and cheered in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, New York's Times Square and at outdooe concerts worldwide.
The 14 segements were broadcast from South Africa, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Britain, Japan, France, Indian, Morocco, Australia, and several cities in the United States.
Acrobats swan underwater with whales in the Pacific Ocean, as others swung from a makeshift ship dangling high above a pool at a Las Vegas casino.
In Moscow, ballet students of the State Academic Maliy Theatre splashed in a curtain of rain with Bolshoi Ballet star Nikolai Tsiskaridze.
U2 rocked a stadium crowd in Tampa Bay, Florida as part of what bono described as "an out of this world event."
Between songs, Laliberte spoke with Bono onstage from orbit via a satellite video link.
"Every time I look down at this fantastic planet ... it looks so fragile," he said. at times losing his footing in zero gravity.
Later, Laliberte was shown trying to gulp a drop of water floating in air.
Flanked by the ISS crew who described onboard technology for recycling urine into drinking water that could someday be used to allay a water crisis predicted to be coming in 25 to 50 years, Laliberte touted: "All for water, water for all."
As well, he expressed his wish that a "ripple effect" from the show would spur more people to become water conservation activists.
Critics lamented the eonormous cost of the promotion and Laliberte's own US$35-million (Bt1.2 billion) space voyage aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket, suggesting the money would have been better spent digging wells in Africa.
The billionair space tourist and founder of Cirque du Soleil described his journedy as "poetic, social mission".
The two-hour live One Drop show, broadcast online on Friday included guests Al gore, Bono, Salma Hayek, Peter Gabriel, Shakira, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette and a musical theatrical performance by Laliberte's circus troupe.
It kicked off with a reading of a poem by Man-Booker prize-winning author Yann Martel, describing a conversation between the Sun, the Moon and a drop of water.
Throughout the show, several people read bits of the fable.
Former US vice president Gore used charts and video to warn of melting polar ice caps, water pollution, and extreme weather causing droughts and flooding.
"To solve the climate crisis and safe-guard our planet and its beauty ... will require global effort," he said.
Australian Tiffany Speight sang fromthe Sydney opera house.
Inuit singer Elisapie Isaac belted out haunting lyrics in her native language, while rappers Fnaire performed from Morocco.
Throughout the show crowds danced and cheered in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, New York's Times Square and at outdooe concerts worldwide.
The 14 segements were broadcast from South Africa, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Britain, Japan, France, Indian, Morocco, Australia, and several cities in the United States.
Acrobats swan underwater with whales in the Pacific Ocean, as others swung from a makeshift ship dangling high above a pool at a Las Vegas casino.
In Moscow, ballet students of the State Academic Maliy Theatre splashed in a curtain of rain with Bolshoi Ballet star Nikolai Tsiskaridze.
U2 rocked a stadium crowd in Tampa Bay, Florida as part of what bono described as "an out of this world event."
Between songs, Laliberte spoke with Bono onstage from orbit via a satellite video link.
"Every time I look down at this fantastic planet ... it looks so fragile," he said. at times losing his footing in zero gravity.
Later, Laliberte was shown trying to gulp a drop of water floating in air.
Flanked by the ISS crew who described onboard technology for recycling urine into drinking water that could someday be used to allay a water crisis predicted to be coming in 25 to 50 years, Laliberte touted: "All for water, water for all."
As well, he expressed his wish that a "ripple effect" from the show would spur more people to become water conservation activists.
Critics lamented the eonormous cost of the promotion and Laliberte's own US$35-million (Bt1.2 billion) space voyage aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket, suggesting the money would have been better spent digging wells in Africa.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Fossilised pig belongs to new species
A fossilised pig discovered in a sand pit in Nakhon Ratchasima eight years ago has been found to belong to a new species.
And scientists have also named a new species of stingray in the past year.
The developments were revealed yesterday by the Nakhon Ratchasima-based Northeastern Research Institute for Petrified Wood and Mineral Resources, which supports research projects by scientists.
The institute said two new species had been confirmed this year.
The pig fossils were found in the Moon River basin in Nakhon Ratchasima by palaeontologist Rattanaphorn Hanta in 2001.
The discovery was published early this year in a palaeontology journal to confirm it was a new ancient pig species.
The pig, which lived in the lateMiocene period 6 million to 8 million years ago, was named Merycopotamus thachangensis after the Tha Chang village where the fossils were found.
"The pig fossils show the pig had a unique tooth shape pattern which is different from prehistoric pig species,but close to the pig species of present day," Ms Rattanaphorn said.
Judging from the shape of its skull,the pig lived in similar conditions to the hippopotamus. The pig, which is about 800cm tall with short legs, lived in swamps with adjacent grassland.
She found the fossils at a sand pit near the Moon River in Chalerm Phrakiat district,20 metres below the surface.
Fossils of several other species, such as a mammoth and rhinos, were also uncovered.
Her team was waiting for confirmation of two new ancient elephant species also found as fossils at the site, Ms Rattanaphorn said.
Another species given a formal name by the institute this year is a stingray.
Chavalit Vidthayanon, the institute's deputy director, said a stingray of the genus Himantura , found in Songkhla lake in the southern provinces of Songkhla and Phatthalung, had been confirmed as a new species.
Known as pla kraben bua , the fish was well known among local people.
It has a sharply pointed snout and rounded wing. However, scientists do not know how many are left.
"I can't say exactly how many of them still exist.
"But local fishermen catch only 20 or so a year now, down from about five tonnes a year two decades ago, which suggests there are very few left," Mr Chavalit said.
He said the fish was at risk of extinction because of the poor condition of the Songkhla lake.
And scientists have also named a new species of stingray in the past year.
The developments were revealed yesterday by the Nakhon Ratchasima-based Northeastern Research Institute for Petrified Wood and Mineral Resources, which supports research projects by scientists.
The institute said two new species had been confirmed this year.
The pig fossils were found in the Moon River basin in Nakhon Ratchasima by palaeontologist Rattanaphorn Hanta in 2001.
The discovery was published early this year in a palaeontology journal to confirm it was a new ancient pig species.
The pig, which lived in the lateMiocene period 6 million to 8 million years ago, was named Merycopotamus thachangensis after the Tha Chang village where the fossils were found.
"The pig fossils show the pig had a unique tooth shape pattern which is different from prehistoric pig species,but close to the pig species of present day," Ms Rattanaphorn said.
Judging from the shape of its skull,the pig lived in similar conditions to the hippopotamus. The pig, which is about 800cm tall with short legs, lived in swamps with adjacent grassland.
She found the fossils at a sand pit near the Moon River in Chalerm Phrakiat district,20 metres below the surface.
Fossils of several other species, such as a mammoth and rhinos, were also uncovered.
Her team was waiting for confirmation of two new ancient elephant species also found as fossils at the site, Ms Rattanaphorn said.
Another species given a formal name by the institute this year is a stingray.
Chavalit Vidthayanon, the institute's deputy director, said a stingray of the genus Himantura , found in Songkhla lake in the southern provinces of Songkhla and Phatthalung, had been confirmed as a new species.
Known as pla kraben bua , the fish was well known among local people.
It has a sharply pointed snout and rounded wing. However, scientists do not know how many are left.
"I can't say exactly how many of them still exist.
"But local fishermen catch only 20 or so a year now, down from about five tonnes a year two decades ago, which suggests there are very few left," Mr Chavalit said.
He said the fish was at risk of extinction because of the poor condition of the Songkhla lake.
Monday, October 5, 2009
A feared predator, its origin evolving
" L ike a locomotive with a mouth full of butcher knives."That is how a shark expert, Matt Hooper,described Carcharodon megalodon to the police chief in Peter Benchley's novel Jaws . He was referring to the 15m-long, 50-tonne body and enormous 15- to 18cm-long teeth that made the extinct megalodon shark perhaps the most awesome predator that has ever roamed the seas.
Hooper had just received his first glimpse of the massive great white shark that was terrorising the residents of Amity Island. Hooper explained that the Latin name for the great white was Carcharodon carcharias and that "the closest ancestor we can find for it" was megalodon. So maybe, he speculated,this creature wasn't merely a great white,but a surviving sea monster from an earlier era.
Hooper was toying with a simple and long-established idea: that the most feared predator in the ocean today, the great white shark, evolved from megalodon, the most fearsome predator of a few million years ago.
That is how the two species had been viewed, until recently, when new ways of looking at shark teeth, and new shark fossils from a Peruvian desert, convinced most experts that great whites are not descended from a mega-toothed megashark. Rather, they evolved from a more moderate-size, smooth-toothed relative of mako sharks.
If true, then the mouth full of fleshripping razor blades that are the stuff of nightmares, and box office blockbusters,are also a great example of one of the most interesting phenomena in the story of life, convergent evolution - the independent evolution of similar adaptations by different creatures.
The idea of a close relationship between great whites and megalodon started in 1835, when Louis Agassiz, a Swiss palaeontologist and fish expert, formally named the giant species. The huge fossil teeth of megalodon had been known for centuries and were once believed to be the fossilised tongues of dragons.Agassiz, noting that great white shark teeth and the fossil megalodon teeth were both serrated, lumped megalodon into the same genus - Carcharodon (from the Greek karcharos, meaning sharp or jagged, and odous, meaning tooth).
Agassiz was not, however, making an evolutionary judgement. In 1835, a young Charles Darwin was just then visiting the Galapagos Islands. There would be no theory of evolutionary descent for nearly 25 years. In fact, the brilliant Agassiz, who later became a professor at Harvard and the leading figure of natural history in the US, forever resisted Darwin's revolutionary ideas. Rejecting biological evolution, Agassiz defined species as a "thought of God". His classification scheme signified nothing about shark origins.
But over the next century, the idea that great whites evolved from megalodon took hold. Because shark skeletons are largely made of nonmineralised cartilage that isn't preserved in the fossil record, the principal evidence has come from their teeth. Shark teeth are heavily mineralised, preserve well,and sharks may shed thousands of them over their lifetime. Megalodon teeth are highly sought by collectors, so we have lots of their teeth.
Great white teeth reach a maximum size of about 6.3cm. Scary enough, but adult megalodon teeth dwarf them. The most obvious characteristics the species'teeth have in common are their pointed shape and serrations. The points facilitate the puncturing of flesh and grasping of prey. The fine, regularly spaced serrations aid in cutting and ripping it into pieces.
Based primarily on these characteristics and some similarities in specific tooth shapes and roots, many experts supported the idea that great whites were, in effect, dwarf megalodons.
But a small minority had their doubts.It was noted that great white teeth also bore similarities to the teeth of an extinct mako shark, Isurus hastalis, some of which had weak serrations. An alternative proposal for great white origins was offered - that they evolved from an extinct group of mako sharks.
Many debates about interpretations of the appearances of structures in the fossil record boil down to the emphasis on different characters by different researchers, the great white origins debate included. It is often similar to a discussion at a family reunion of which child looks more like one parent or grandparent. It depends upon the feature and the viewer.
Such subjective arguments are hard to settle without more quantitative measures. Kevin Nyberg and Gregory Wray of Duke University and Charles Ciampaglio of Wright State University used new computer-assisted imaging and measurement methods to better assess the similarities and differences among great white, megalodon and extinct mako teeth. They determined that the extinct mako and great white teeth and roots were similar in shape and clearly distinct from megalodon.
Furthermore, high-resolution electron microscopy revealed that the shape and spacing of serrations of great white teeth were markedly different from those in megalodon teeth. The serrations that impressed Agassiz now appear to be just a superficial resemblance. The great white did not inherit its sharp cutting tools from megalodon.
Rather, it appears that great whites evolved from a less ferocious-looking ancestor and independently evolved sharp serrations. A remarkably wellpreserved fossil of what a great white ancestor may have looked like was recently brought to light. The desert region of southwestern Peru is a graveyard of marine animals from the past 40 million years, including spectacularly preserved whales, dolphins, walruses, seals, turtles and sharks. It was there that Dr Gordon Hubbell, a shark expert, collected the four-million-year-old fossil that had not only its jaws intact with 222 teeth, but also 45 vertebrae - both rarities for shark fossils and rare opportunities for shark experts.
The serrations of great white teeth undoubtedly evolved to exploit expanding populations of marine mammals.That adaptation appears to have given the predators an advantage as they, like megalodon in its day, enjoy a broad oceanwide distribution. At least for now.
I say "for now" because the number of great whites is declining along with most shark species, some of which have experienced alarming drops in their numbers in just the past 20 years.
Hooper had just received his first glimpse of the massive great white shark that was terrorising the residents of Amity Island. Hooper explained that the Latin name for the great white was Carcharodon carcharias and that "the closest ancestor we can find for it" was megalodon. So maybe, he speculated,this creature wasn't merely a great white,but a surviving sea monster from an earlier era.
Hooper was toying with a simple and long-established idea: that the most feared predator in the ocean today, the great white shark, evolved from megalodon, the most fearsome predator of a few million years ago.
That is how the two species had been viewed, until recently, when new ways of looking at shark teeth, and new shark fossils from a Peruvian desert, convinced most experts that great whites are not descended from a mega-toothed megashark. Rather, they evolved from a more moderate-size, smooth-toothed relative of mako sharks.
If true, then the mouth full of fleshripping razor blades that are the stuff of nightmares, and box office blockbusters,are also a great example of one of the most interesting phenomena in the story of life, convergent evolution - the independent evolution of similar adaptations by different creatures.
The idea of a close relationship between great whites and megalodon started in 1835, when Louis Agassiz, a Swiss palaeontologist and fish expert, formally named the giant species. The huge fossil teeth of megalodon had been known for centuries and were once believed to be the fossilised tongues of dragons.Agassiz, noting that great white shark teeth and the fossil megalodon teeth were both serrated, lumped megalodon into the same genus - Carcharodon (from the Greek karcharos, meaning sharp or jagged, and odous, meaning tooth).
Agassiz was not, however, making an evolutionary judgement. In 1835, a young Charles Darwin was just then visiting the Galapagos Islands. There would be no theory of evolutionary descent for nearly 25 years. In fact, the brilliant Agassiz, who later became a professor at Harvard and the leading figure of natural history in the US, forever resisted Darwin's revolutionary ideas. Rejecting biological evolution, Agassiz defined species as a "thought of God". His classification scheme signified nothing about shark origins.
But over the next century, the idea that great whites evolved from megalodon took hold. Because shark skeletons are largely made of nonmineralised cartilage that isn't preserved in the fossil record, the principal evidence has come from their teeth. Shark teeth are heavily mineralised, preserve well,and sharks may shed thousands of them over their lifetime. Megalodon teeth are highly sought by collectors, so we have lots of their teeth.
Great white teeth reach a maximum size of about 6.3cm. Scary enough, but adult megalodon teeth dwarf them. The most obvious characteristics the species'teeth have in common are their pointed shape and serrations. The points facilitate the puncturing of flesh and grasping of prey. The fine, regularly spaced serrations aid in cutting and ripping it into pieces.
Based primarily on these characteristics and some similarities in specific tooth shapes and roots, many experts supported the idea that great whites were, in effect, dwarf megalodons.
But a small minority had their doubts.It was noted that great white teeth also bore similarities to the teeth of an extinct mako shark, Isurus hastalis, some of which had weak serrations. An alternative proposal for great white origins was offered - that they evolved from an extinct group of mako sharks.
Many debates about interpretations of the appearances of structures in the fossil record boil down to the emphasis on different characters by different researchers, the great white origins debate included. It is often similar to a discussion at a family reunion of which child looks more like one parent or grandparent. It depends upon the feature and the viewer.
Such subjective arguments are hard to settle without more quantitative measures. Kevin Nyberg and Gregory Wray of Duke University and Charles Ciampaglio of Wright State University used new computer-assisted imaging and measurement methods to better assess the similarities and differences among great white, megalodon and extinct mako teeth. They determined that the extinct mako and great white teeth and roots were similar in shape and clearly distinct from megalodon.
Furthermore, high-resolution electron microscopy revealed that the shape and spacing of serrations of great white teeth were markedly different from those in megalodon teeth. The serrations that impressed Agassiz now appear to be just a superficial resemblance. The great white did not inherit its sharp cutting tools from megalodon.
Rather, it appears that great whites evolved from a less ferocious-looking ancestor and independently evolved sharp serrations. A remarkably wellpreserved fossil of what a great white ancestor may have looked like was recently brought to light. The desert region of southwestern Peru is a graveyard of marine animals from the past 40 million years, including spectacularly preserved whales, dolphins, walruses, seals, turtles and sharks. It was there that Dr Gordon Hubbell, a shark expert, collected the four-million-year-old fossil that had not only its jaws intact with 222 teeth, but also 45 vertebrae - both rarities for shark fossils and rare opportunities for shark experts.
The serrations of great white teeth undoubtedly evolved to exploit expanding populations of marine mammals.That adaptation appears to have given the predators an advantage as they, like megalodon in its day, enjoy a broad oceanwide distribution. At least for now.
I say "for now" because the number of great whites is declining along with most shark species, some of which have experienced alarming drops in their numbers in just the past 20 years.
Disaster plans still not good
Authorities last week showed their best side when they declared an alert for approaching Typhoon Ketsana. While there was never any apparent major threat to the country,the decision to place relief services, including the armed forces, on standby status was a major step forward.
In November 1989, Typhoon Gay swept down on Chumphon province, and lack of foresight left residents to deal with the devastation on their own. Twenty years on, and the improvement is evident. At the same time,disaster planning still has weak spots that need immediate addressing.
The attention paid and the response of the National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) to approaching Typhoon Ketsana was positive. Because of geography,Thailand is not generally vulnerable to the brunt of typhoons from the Pacific and South China Sea. By the time the cyclonic storms blast Vietnam and encounter the mountains of Laos, they have lost the power of actual typhoons. But the storms and weather depressions from a dying typhoon continue to dump huge amounts of rain. They also include winds which are potentially deadly even though they are well below the 120 kilometres per hour of an actual typhoon.
The question, rather, is whether typhoons qualify as real "disasters". The storms can be predicted days in advance. One might argue that a true disaster is by definition unpredictable. In general, then, it would be somewhere between difficult and impossible to judge the preparedness of the NDWC. But there are occasional events which reveal whether the disaster planning is really up to confronting an earthquake, an air crash or a tsunami. Here is an example.
A little less than three years ago, and two years after the Dec 26 tsunami that struck southern Thailand and the Indian Ocean rim, authorities launched a buoy in the deep ocean, around 1,100 kilometres off Phuket. It was part of the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART), part of a network installed under the supervision of - and with considerable aid fromthe US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In mid-June, the buoy went off the air; it simply stopped broadcasting. This left Thailand's Andaman Sea coastline almost as vulnerable as in 2004, when it also had no early warning of a tsunami. Two months after it went silent, the buoy began broadcasting again.And again, because no maintenance crew visited the tsunami-warning buoy, no one knew why. Officials now that the buoy is on a backup battery, with a life of about 30 days. Then the warning buoy will definitely stop working again.
Phuket has thus been without a reliable tsunami warning system for four months. There is no actual timetable for the NDWC to repair or replace the defective buoy. The centre has issued a statement saying it will be fixed "as soon as possible".
That is not particularly comforting to the southern region, still nervous about the threat of tsunamis. Clearly,getting to the faraway buoy during the monsoon season is not simple. But neither is any disaster relief planning.By its very nature, it requires quick decisions and fast action to move into the disaster zone.
The National Disaster Warning Centre has clearly made huge strides since Typhoon Gay. It has made even greater progress since the 2004 tsunami. But as the faulty buoy demonstrates, there is still much to be done to protect the country against both natural and man-made disasters.
In November 1989, Typhoon Gay swept down on Chumphon province, and lack of foresight left residents to deal with the devastation on their own. Twenty years on, and the improvement is evident. At the same time,disaster planning still has weak spots that need immediate addressing.
The attention paid and the response of the National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) to approaching Typhoon Ketsana was positive. Because of geography,Thailand is not generally vulnerable to the brunt of typhoons from the Pacific and South China Sea. By the time the cyclonic storms blast Vietnam and encounter the mountains of Laos, they have lost the power of actual typhoons. But the storms and weather depressions from a dying typhoon continue to dump huge amounts of rain. They also include winds which are potentially deadly even though they are well below the 120 kilometres per hour of an actual typhoon.
The question, rather, is whether typhoons qualify as real "disasters". The storms can be predicted days in advance. One might argue that a true disaster is by definition unpredictable. In general, then, it would be somewhere between difficult and impossible to judge the preparedness of the NDWC. But there are occasional events which reveal whether the disaster planning is really up to confronting an earthquake, an air crash or a tsunami. Here is an example.
A little less than three years ago, and two years after the Dec 26 tsunami that struck southern Thailand and the Indian Ocean rim, authorities launched a buoy in the deep ocean, around 1,100 kilometres off Phuket. It was part of the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART), part of a network installed under the supervision of - and with considerable aid fromthe US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In mid-June, the buoy went off the air; it simply stopped broadcasting. This left Thailand's Andaman Sea coastline almost as vulnerable as in 2004, when it also had no early warning of a tsunami. Two months after it went silent, the buoy began broadcasting again.And again, because no maintenance crew visited the tsunami-warning buoy, no one knew why. Officials now that the buoy is on a backup battery, with a life of about 30 days. Then the warning buoy will definitely stop working again.
Phuket has thus been without a reliable tsunami warning system for four months. There is no actual timetable for the NDWC to repair or replace the defective buoy. The centre has issued a statement saying it will be fixed "as soon as possible".
That is not particularly comforting to the southern region, still nervous about the threat of tsunamis. Clearly,getting to the faraway buoy during the monsoon season is not simple. But neither is any disaster relief planning.By its very nature, it requires quick decisions and fast action to move into the disaster zone.
The National Disaster Warning Centre has clearly made huge strides since Typhoon Gay. It has made even greater progress since the 2004 tsunami. But as the faulty buoy demonstrates, there is still much to be done to protect the country against both natural and man-made disasters.
Meet the ancestor who walked Earth four million years ago
She stood 1.21 metres tall, but she was no lightweight - her muscular body weighed a little more than 50 kilogrammes. She could climb trees easily with the help of long arms, huge hands and grasping toes, but "Ardi" could also walk fully upright on two legs - the first known human ancestor with a bipedal gait.
With a hairy body and snout-like face,Ardi must have looked more ape than human when she roamed her woodland habitat in East Africa some 4.4 million years ago - except for her bipedalism.But Ardi's uncertain role in the story of human origins has now become clearer following an exhaustive investigation into the 110 fragments of fossilised bones belonging to her species.
It is now clear that Ardipithecus ramidus is the earliest unequivocal member of the long lineage extending to anatomically-modern humans, Homo sapiens, from the last common ancestral species we shared with chimpanzees,our closest living relatives whose DNA is 99% similar to our own.
In addition to the many fragments of bones, scientists have found that a partial skeleton of a female Ardipithecus Ardi, as she is affectionately called - is the oldest, most complete set of fossilised remains belonging to the many ancestors descended from that elusive common ancestor, a so-far undiscovered species that is believed to have lived between about six million and seven million years ago.
Following studies into every aspect of the anatomy and habitat of Ardipithecus, scientists have presented the results of their research, spanning 17 years, in the form of 11 separate scientific papers published in the journal Science .The investigation, involving painstaking fossil collection in the field and sophisticated analysis in the laboratory,has revealed how this early human ancestor bridged the divide between the purely tree-dwelling past of our more distant primate relatives and the grassland savannah habitat of our fully bipedal ancestors.
Among the most surprising finding was that the conventional view of human evolution, that our ancestors must have been knuckle-walking creatures, has been exploded. It is now clear that modernday chimps have diverged from our last common ancestor just as much, and as dramatically, as modern humans.
"Charles Darwin was very wise on this matter. He said that we have to be really careful. The only way we're really going to know what this last common ancestor looked like is to go and find it,"said Professor Tim White of the University of California Berkeley, one of the leaders of the research.
"Well, at 4.4 million years ago we found something pretty close to it. And just like Darwin appreciated, evolution of the ape lineages and the human lineage has been going on independently since the time those lines split, since that last common ancestor we shared," he said.
Ardi may have been bipedal, but the way she walked on her two legs was not exactly the way scientists had imagined bipedalism to have evolved. Prof White once quipped to a colleague that if you want to find something that moved like Ardi must have moved, you had to go to the bar in Star Wars ."Ardipithecus is not a chimp. It's not a human. It's what we used to be. You're seeing a mosaic creature, that is neither chimpanzee, nor it is human.
"It is Ardipithecus," he said.His colleague Professor Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University added:"The novel anatomy that we describe in these papers fundamentally alters our understanding of human origins and early evolution."
The story of Ardipithecus began in December 1992 when a former graduate student of Prof White's called Gen Suwa saw a glint of light coming from a patch of desert scrub near the village of Aramis in the Afar region of north-eastern Ethiopia. It was a reflection from the polished surface of a molar tooth belonging to a hominid - the lineage descended from the last common ancestor.
Within a few years the scientists had amassed a rich collection of fossilised bones belonging to Ardipithecus ramidus and dating showed that at 4.4 million years it was more than a million years older than the previously oldest member of the lineage, a species known as Australapithecus afarensis, whose most famous fossil was "Lucy", found in 1974.
Like Lucy, Ardi had a relatively large brain, not much bigger than a chimp's and about a third of the size of modern man. Ardi's face had a muzzle, but it jutted out less than that of a chimp and she had lost the long, dagger-like canine teeth possessed by apes.
Ardi's cranial base - the distance between the back and the front of the skull - is short, indicating that her head was balanced on top of her spine, like other upright walkers, rather than to the front of the spine as in quadrupedal apes. But whereas Lucy was fully bipedal and had lost the adaptations that allow apes to climb trees easily, such as an opposable big toe, Ardi still retained the anatomical features in its feet and arms that point to a partial tree-dwelling existence.
Her teeth are protected by moderately thick enamel, thinner than the tough enamel seen in later hominids such as Lucy which ate tough, abrasive food,but not as thin as the enamel found in modern-day chimps, which have a diet rich in soft fruits. This finding suggests that Ardi had an intermediate, omnivorous diet of fruit, roots, insects, eggs and perhaps small mammals.
Her hands were capable of grasping objects, which is believed to have been an essential attribute that allowed primates to become so unusually intelligent. It allowed them to pick things up, to manipulate them and, in the case of chimps and humans, to use them as tools.
But it would be another couple of million years before Ardi's descendants developed the large brains and higher intelligence that separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. It is now clear that the expansion in brain size came long after the evolution of upright walking on two legs.
With a hairy body and snout-like face,Ardi must have looked more ape than human when she roamed her woodland habitat in East Africa some 4.4 million years ago - except for her bipedalism.But Ardi's uncertain role in the story of human origins has now become clearer following an exhaustive investigation into the 110 fragments of fossilised bones belonging to her species.
It is now clear that Ardipithecus ramidus is the earliest unequivocal member of the long lineage extending to anatomically-modern humans, Homo sapiens, from the last common ancestral species we shared with chimpanzees,our closest living relatives whose DNA is 99% similar to our own.
In addition to the many fragments of bones, scientists have found that a partial skeleton of a female Ardipithecus Ardi, as she is affectionately called - is the oldest, most complete set of fossilised remains belonging to the many ancestors descended from that elusive common ancestor, a so-far undiscovered species that is believed to have lived between about six million and seven million years ago.
Following studies into every aspect of the anatomy and habitat of Ardipithecus, scientists have presented the results of their research, spanning 17 years, in the form of 11 separate scientific papers published in the journal Science .The investigation, involving painstaking fossil collection in the field and sophisticated analysis in the laboratory,has revealed how this early human ancestor bridged the divide between the purely tree-dwelling past of our more distant primate relatives and the grassland savannah habitat of our fully bipedal ancestors.
Among the most surprising finding was that the conventional view of human evolution, that our ancestors must have been knuckle-walking creatures, has been exploded. It is now clear that modernday chimps have diverged from our last common ancestor just as much, and as dramatically, as modern humans.
"Charles Darwin was very wise on this matter. He said that we have to be really careful. The only way we're really going to know what this last common ancestor looked like is to go and find it,"said Professor Tim White of the University of California Berkeley, one of the leaders of the research.
"Well, at 4.4 million years ago we found something pretty close to it. And just like Darwin appreciated, evolution of the ape lineages and the human lineage has been going on independently since the time those lines split, since that last common ancestor we shared," he said.
Ardi may have been bipedal, but the way she walked on her two legs was not exactly the way scientists had imagined bipedalism to have evolved. Prof White once quipped to a colleague that if you want to find something that moved like Ardi must have moved, you had to go to the bar in Star Wars ."Ardipithecus is not a chimp. It's not a human. It's what we used to be. You're seeing a mosaic creature, that is neither chimpanzee, nor it is human.
"It is Ardipithecus," he said.His colleague Professor Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University added:"The novel anatomy that we describe in these papers fundamentally alters our understanding of human origins and early evolution."
The story of Ardipithecus began in December 1992 when a former graduate student of Prof White's called Gen Suwa saw a glint of light coming from a patch of desert scrub near the village of Aramis in the Afar region of north-eastern Ethiopia. It was a reflection from the polished surface of a molar tooth belonging to a hominid - the lineage descended from the last common ancestor.
Within a few years the scientists had amassed a rich collection of fossilised bones belonging to Ardipithecus ramidus and dating showed that at 4.4 million years it was more than a million years older than the previously oldest member of the lineage, a species known as Australapithecus afarensis, whose most famous fossil was "Lucy", found in 1974.
Like Lucy, Ardi had a relatively large brain, not much bigger than a chimp's and about a third of the size of modern man. Ardi's face had a muzzle, but it jutted out less than that of a chimp and she had lost the long, dagger-like canine teeth possessed by apes.
Ardi's cranial base - the distance between the back and the front of the skull - is short, indicating that her head was balanced on top of her spine, like other upright walkers, rather than to the front of the spine as in quadrupedal apes. But whereas Lucy was fully bipedal and had lost the adaptations that allow apes to climb trees easily, such as an opposable big toe, Ardi still retained the anatomical features in its feet and arms that point to a partial tree-dwelling existence.
Her teeth are protected by moderately thick enamel, thinner than the tough enamel seen in later hominids such as Lucy which ate tough, abrasive food,but not as thin as the enamel found in modern-day chimps, which have a diet rich in soft fruits. This finding suggests that Ardi had an intermediate, omnivorous diet of fruit, roots, insects, eggs and perhaps small mammals.
Her hands were capable of grasping objects, which is believed to have been an essential attribute that allowed primates to become so unusually intelligent. It allowed them to pick things up, to manipulate them and, in the case of chimps and humans, to use them as tools.
But it would be another couple of million years before Ardi's descendants developed the large brains and higher intelligence that separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. It is now clear that the expansion in brain size came long after the evolution of upright walking on two legs.
Mighty Tyrannosaurus rex was evidently one sick puppy
Tyrannosaurus rex and its close relatives suffered from the potentially life-threatenin disease trichomonosis, which is still carried by pigeons, a study published on Wednesday showed.
Some of the world's most famous T rex specimens, such as "Sue" at the Field Museum in Chicago and the specimen at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, have holes in the lower jaw, which is a classic symptom of trichomonosis, the study by a team of US and Australian researchers showed.
"The holes in tyrannosaur jaws occur in exactly the same place as in modern birds with trichomonosis," says Ewan Wolff, a paleontologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison who worked on the study.
"The shape of the holes and the way that they merge into the surrounding bone is very similar in both animals."
Trichomonosis is carried mainly by pigeons these days, but they are generally immune to the disease. Birds of prey are particularly susceptible to trichomonosis if they eat infected pigeons.
Palaeontologists previous thought the holes in T rex were caused by tooth gouges or bacterial infections, but according to the study, which was puvlished in the peer-reviewed open-access PLoS ONE, the position and nature of the holes indicate that the dinosaur had a trichmonosis-typre disease.
The disease appeared to be quite common in tyrannosaurs and could have been deadly to those that were infected.
"As the parasites take hold in serious infections, lesions form bone. As the lesions grow, the animal has troble swallowing food and may eventually starve to death," says Steve Salisbury of the University of Queensland.
Researchers have found no other dinosaurs that had the disease, and believe it was spread between tyrannosaurs by biting or even through cannibalism.
Some of the world's most famous T rex specimens, such as "Sue" at the Field Museum in Chicago and the specimen at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, have holes in the lower jaw, which is a classic symptom of trichomonosis, the study by a team of US and Australian researchers showed.
"The holes in tyrannosaur jaws occur in exactly the same place as in modern birds with trichomonosis," says Ewan Wolff, a paleontologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison who worked on the study.
"The shape of the holes and the way that they merge into the surrounding bone is very similar in both animals."
Trichomonosis is carried mainly by pigeons these days, but they are generally immune to the disease. Birds of prey are particularly susceptible to trichomonosis if they eat infected pigeons.
Palaeontologists previous thought the holes in T rex were caused by tooth gouges or bacterial infections, but according to the study, which was puvlished in the peer-reviewed open-access PLoS ONE, the position and nature of the holes indicate that the dinosaur had a trichmonosis-typre disease.
The disease appeared to be quite common in tyrannosaurs and could have been deadly to those that were infected.
"As the parasites take hold in serious infections, lesions form bone. As the lesions grow, the animal has troble swallowing food and may eventually starve to death," says Steve Salisbury of the University of Queensland.
Researchers have found no other dinosaurs that had the disease, and believe it was spread between tyrannosaurs by biting or even through cannibalism.
CANADIAN BILLIONAIRE LALIBERTE JOINS ASTRONAUTS IN THE ISS
A Russian soyuz spacecraft carrying Canadian billionaire and founder of Cirque du Soleil and two other astronauts yesterday docked with the International Space Station (ISS).
Guy Laliberte,50, who is travelling as a paying "space tourist",docked with the ISS along with US astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev,a spokesman for mission control in Moscow said.
Laliberte has already entertained his fellow crow members with a soap bubble show during their two-day flight to the ISS and has vowed for further antics once aboard,including tickling his fellow astronauts while they are asleep.
The arrival of the trio has increased the ISS's crew to nine.
Laliberte is due to return to Earth on October 11 alongside Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and Michael Barratt of the US.
Lalibette is planning on October 9 to preside from the ISS over what he has called the first ever artistic mission from space which will take place in a dozen cities around the world and involve music,dancing and images.
The Cirque du Soleil,which Laliberte founded in 1984,fuses acrobatics with haunting music and has made the Quebec native the world's 261st richest man with a fortune of US$2.5 billion (Bt83 billion).
The circus founder,the seventh person to go into space as a tourist,could be the last for some time as seats will be limited aboard the Soyuz once Nasa takes its shuttles out of service from 2010.
Guy Laliberte,50, who is travelling as a paying "space tourist",docked with the ISS along with US astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev,a spokesman for mission control in Moscow said.
Laliberte has already entertained his fellow crow members with a soap bubble show during their two-day flight to the ISS and has vowed for further antics once aboard,including tickling his fellow astronauts while they are asleep.
The arrival of the trio has increased the ISS's crew to nine.
Laliberte is due to return to Earth on October 11 alongside Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and Michael Barratt of the US.
Lalibette is planning on October 9 to preside from the ISS over what he has called the first ever artistic mission from space which will take place in a dozen cities around the world and involve music,dancing and images.
The Cirque du Soleil,which Laliberte founded in 1984,fuses acrobatics with haunting music and has made the Quebec native the world's 261st richest man with a fortune of US$2.5 billion (Bt83 billion).
The circus founder,the seventh person to go into space as a tourist,could be the last for some time as seats will be limited aboard the Soyuz once Nasa takes its shuttles out of service from 2010.
Scientists reveal culprit in 2,600-year-old whodunit
Around 2,600 years ago, on the banks of the Nile, a bed-ridden lady of high rank coughed and wheezed as tuberculosis ravaged her body, driving her ruthlessly towards the afterlife.
The snapshot comes courtesy of a hitech molecular probe into "Dr Granville's mummy", one of the most celebrated and debated mummies of Ancient Egypt.
Its name is owed to a British physician and obstetrician, Augustus Bozzi Granville, who in 1825 carried out the first scientific autopsy of a mummy.
Eager to shed the light of reason and empiricism on the mysteries of mummification, Granville unwrapped, measured, dissected and recorded a mummy unearthed six years earlier at the necropolis at Thebes.
His meticulous six-week investigation showed a female body that was once corpulent, with folds of skin on the belly,yet beautifully preserved.
Most of the soft organs were intact and, unusually, still in place rather than transferred to a funeral jar.
Granville estimated that the woman had borne children and, by the thinning of the pelvic bones, was aged between 50 and 55 when she died.
What caught his eye was a large growth around her right ovary, which he described as "ovarian dropsy", or cancer.This, he said, was the cause of her death.
Amid sensational interest - this was the height of "mummy mania" in Britain - Granville presented his findings to the great minds of the Royal Society.
In an atmospheric touch, he made candles from a waxy substance he scraped from the mummy and lit them for the spellbound audience as he showed off specimens and carried out experiments.(Later research suggests Granville had unwittingly used body fat, or "grave wax", for the illumination.)
Hieroglyphics on the wooden coffin lid describe the mummy as Irtyersenu,"lady of the house". She lived in the 26th dynasty, or around 600 B.C.
In 1994, scientists carried out a second autopsy on Irtyersenu's surviving pieces,which had been sold to the British Museum.
Contrary to Granville's own conclusion, the ovarian tumour was more likely to have been a non-fatal cyst, a pathologist reported.
Another possibility for her demise was malaria, a diagnosis later ruled out after the test proved unreliable.
Intriguingly, though, the mummy's rib cage suggested a condition called pulmonary exudate, in which fluid builds up dangerously in the cavity surrounding the lungs.
Reporting on Wednesday in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B , scientists led by Helen Donoghue, a specialist in infectious disease at University College London, used hi-tech analysis to explore what might have happened.
Thwarted by the difficulty of obtaining a well-preserved sample of DNA, they took material from the bones and soft tissues and tested it with liquid chromatography, analysing it for chemical telltales.
The signatures point to biomarkers of the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis - the germ which causes TB. It was found in the lung tissue, pleura,diaphragm and femur.
The fat, interspersed with skeletal muscle, that had been noted in 1825 and 1994 is consistent with a protracted,terminal illness like TB, in which a patient literally withers away, say the authors.
"We are able to enhance the original paper by Granville to the Royal Society by concluding that there is evidence of an active tuberculosis infection in the lady Irtyersenu and that this, rather than a benign ovarian cystadenoma, was likely to be a major cause of her death," they declare.
"Palaeopathology"- the science of investigating ancient causes of death has previously suggested TB was widespread in the land of the Pharaohs.
The snapshot comes courtesy of a hitech molecular probe into "Dr Granville's mummy", one of the most celebrated and debated mummies of Ancient Egypt.
Its name is owed to a British physician and obstetrician, Augustus Bozzi Granville, who in 1825 carried out the first scientific autopsy of a mummy.
Eager to shed the light of reason and empiricism on the mysteries of mummification, Granville unwrapped, measured, dissected and recorded a mummy unearthed six years earlier at the necropolis at Thebes.
His meticulous six-week investigation showed a female body that was once corpulent, with folds of skin on the belly,yet beautifully preserved.
Most of the soft organs were intact and, unusually, still in place rather than transferred to a funeral jar.
Granville estimated that the woman had borne children and, by the thinning of the pelvic bones, was aged between 50 and 55 when she died.
What caught his eye was a large growth around her right ovary, which he described as "ovarian dropsy", or cancer.This, he said, was the cause of her death.
Amid sensational interest - this was the height of "mummy mania" in Britain - Granville presented his findings to the great minds of the Royal Society.
In an atmospheric touch, he made candles from a waxy substance he scraped from the mummy and lit them for the spellbound audience as he showed off specimens and carried out experiments.(Later research suggests Granville had unwittingly used body fat, or "grave wax", for the illumination.)
Hieroglyphics on the wooden coffin lid describe the mummy as Irtyersenu,"lady of the house". She lived in the 26th dynasty, or around 600 B.C.
In 1994, scientists carried out a second autopsy on Irtyersenu's surviving pieces,which had been sold to the British Museum.
Contrary to Granville's own conclusion, the ovarian tumour was more likely to have been a non-fatal cyst, a pathologist reported.
Another possibility for her demise was malaria, a diagnosis later ruled out after the test proved unreliable.
Intriguingly, though, the mummy's rib cage suggested a condition called pulmonary exudate, in which fluid builds up dangerously in the cavity surrounding the lungs.
Reporting on Wednesday in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B , scientists led by Helen Donoghue, a specialist in infectious disease at University College London, used hi-tech analysis to explore what might have happened.
Thwarted by the difficulty of obtaining a well-preserved sample of DNA, they took material from the bones and soft tissues and tested it with liquid chromatography, analysing it for chemical telltales.
The signatures point to biomarkers of the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis - the germ which causes TB. It was found in the lung tissue, pleura,diaphragm and femur.
The fat, interspersed with skeletal muscle, that had been noted in 1825 and 1994 is consistent with a protracted,terminal illness like TB, in which a patient literally withers away, say the authors.
"We are able to enhance the original paper by Granville to the Royal Society by concluding that there is evidence of an active tuberculosis infection in the lady Irtyersenu and that this, rather than a benign ovarian cystadenoma, was likely to be a major cause of her death," they declare.
"Palaeopathology"- the science of investigating ancient causes of death has previously suggested TB was widespread in the land of the Pharaohs.
Thai woman boffin is off to Antarctica
Marine scientist Suchana Chavanich will investigate the impact of climate change on the Earth's southernmost continent.
The 37-year-old lecturer from Chulalongkorn University's marine science department has been chosen to join the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) on a four-month study trip, starting next month.
She is the second Thai marine scientist to join the expedition after her colleague,Voranop Viyakarn, was part of the JARE exploration team in 2004.
Ms Suchana and 80 other marine researchers, mostly from Japan, will study the marine biological system and its reaction to climate change.
They will be based at the Japanese Antarctic base at Syowa Station, part of a joint team of biological and ocean research groups.
"Visiting Antarctica is a dream come true for a marine scientist like me," Ms Suchana said.
"Antarctica has a pristine environment largely undisturbed by human activities.I can't wait to go."
The scientist, who won the L'oreal outstanding female scientist award last year, said she also wanted to learn about the impact of climate change on the continent's ecological system.
"It will be a tough journey, but I have been trained to work and survive in extreme weather and tough terrain."
Ms Suchana will board the icebreaker ship AGB II at Fremantle in Western Australia and travel to Syowa Station,one of the most inaccessible points on the continent.
It will take three weeks to reach the station. The scientists are scheduled to complete their mission in February 2010,before the sea freezes again.
The 37-year-old lecturer from Chulalongkorn University's marine science department has been chosen to join the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) on a four-month study trip, starting next month.
She is the second Thai marine scientist to join the expedition after her colleague,Voranop Viyakarn, was part of the JARE exploration team in 2004.
Ms Suchana and 80 other marine researchers, mostly from Japan, will study the marine biological system and its reaction to climate change.
They will be based at the Japanese Antarctic base at Syowa Station, part of a joint team of biological and ocean research groups.
"Visiting Antarctica is a dream come true for a marine scientist like me," Ms Suchana said.
"Antarctica has a pristine environment largely undisturbed by human activities.I can't wait to go."
The scientist, who won the L'oreal outstanding female scientist award last year, said she also wanted to learn about the impact of climate change on the continent's ecological system.
"It will be a tough journey, but I have been trained to work and survive in extreme weather and tough terrain."
Ms Suchana will board the icebreaker ship AGB II at Fremantle in Western Australia and travel to Syowa Station,one of the most inaccessible points on the continent.
It will take three weeks to reach the station. The scientists are scheduled to complete their mission in February 2010,before the sea freezes again.
THAILAND, UK SIGN PACT ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
The National Science and Techonology Development Centre (NSTDA) has signed a collaboration pact with the UK government's Office for Science, to do research and development in the areas of new diseases, bio-electronics, life science and climate change.
The pact was signed with Professor Jonh Beddington, the UK government's chief scientific adviser.
NSTDA director Sakarindr Bhumiratana said it was time to make the cooperation official because Thailand and the UK have already jointly worked on eight workshops.
Under the latest paln, studies in both countries will be matched up so joint workshops can be conducted, the first of which is scheduled for November. Both countries will provide funding for the research.
On Thailand's part, researchers from the National Electronics and computer Technology Centre, the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and biotechnology, the National Metal and Materials Technology Centre and the National Nanotechnology Centre as well as NSTDA research institutes will be involved in the workshops.
"Our role is to facilitate researchers, develop an environment for them to work together and provide the funds. We plan to evaluate the project every couple of years," Sakarindr said.
Beddington said Thailand and the UK would jointly research subjects such as biomass fuel and tackling the issue of waste in both agricultural and urban areas.
Science and Technology Minister Kalaya Sophonpanich said the collaboration would further facilitate an exchange of knowledge between Thailand English researchers as well as a joint utilisation of resources.
The pact was signed with Professor Jonh Beddington, the UK government's chief scientific adviser.
NSTDA director Sakarindr Bhumiratana said it was time to make the cooperation official because Thailand and the UK have already jointly worked on eight workshops.
Under the latest paln, studies in both countries will be matched up so joint workshops can be conducted, the first of which is scheduled for November. Both countries will provide funding for the research.
On Thailand's part, researchers from the National Electronics and computer Technology Centre, the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and biotechnology, the National Metal and Materials Technology Centre and the National Nanotechnology Centre as well as NSTDA research institutes will be involved in the workshops.
"Our role is to facilitate researchers, develop an environment for them to work together and provide the funds. We plan to evaluate the project every couple of years," Sakarindr said.
Beddington said Thailand and the UK would jointly research subjects such as biomass fuel and tackling the issue of waste in both agricultural and urban areas.
Science and Technology Minister Kalaya Sophonpanich said the collaboration would further facilitate an exchange of knowledge between Thailand English researchers as well as a joint utilisation of resources.
Circus is coming to the ISS
Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte blasted off in a Russian Soyuz spaceship from Kazakhstan yesterday to become the world's seventh space tourist.
The 50-year-old former fire-eater and founder of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil gave the thumbs-up after the Soyuz TMA-16 spaceship blasted into clear blue skies in a faultless launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome on the Kazakh steppe.
The three-man crew is due to dock with the International Space Station (ISS)tomorrow.
Mr Laliberte has paid more than US$35 million (1.1 billion baht) for the epic journey, in which he plans a webcast linking 14 cities across the world to draw attention to the importance of access to clean water on Earth.
"He's just said 'Super!', he's very happy," Russian cosmonaut and crew member Maxim Suraev said of Mr Laliberte shortly after take-off. Mr Laliberte wore a clown's red nose as he boarded a bus taking him to the spaceship, and a toy lion belonging to Mr Suraev's daughter was in the capsule.
Mr Laliberte, who transformed his passion for acrobatics and circus acts into a world-wide entertainment empire,described his cosmic trip as "the first poetic social mission in space".
"I needed it to be the right time and for the right purpose," he was quoted as saying by flight organiser Space Adventures."This is the time. And the purpose is clear: to raise awareness on water issues to humankind on planet Earth."
The webcast will be carried live on www.onedrop.org on Oct.9. Mr Laliberte is due to return on Oct 11.
The 50-year-old former fire-eater and founder of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil gave the thumbs-up after the Soyuz TMA-16 spaceship blasted into clear blue skies in a faultless launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome on the Kazakh steppe.
The three-man crew is due to dock with the International Space Station (ISS)tomorrow.
Mr Laliberte has paid more than US$35 million (1.1 billion baht) for the epic journey, in which he plans a webcast linking 14 cities across the world to draw attention to the importance of access to clean water on Earth.
"He's just said 'Super!', he's very happy," Russian cosmonaut and crew member Maxim Suraev said of Mr Laliberte shortly after take-off. Mr Laliberte wore a clown's red nose as he boarded a bus taking him to the spaceship, and a toy lion belonging to Mr Suraev's daughter was in the capsule.
Mr Laliberte, who transformed his passion for acrobatics and circus acts into a world-wide entertainment empire,described his cosmic trip as "the first poetic social mission in space".
"I needed it to be the right time and for the right purpose," he was quoted as saying by flight organiser Space Adventures."This is the time. And the purpose is clear: to raise awareness on water issues to humankind on planet Earth."
The webcast will be carried live on www.onedrop.org on Oct.9. Mr Laliberte is due to return on Oct 11.
DSM Nutrition Award 2009 for research on Human Nutrition
DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, is pleased to announce that the DSM Nutrition Award 2009 for research on Human Nutrition has been granted jointly to Michael F. Holick of the USA and Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari of Switzerland for their seminal contributions to research on vitamin D and its role in human nutrition and health. Over the pastk decade the understanding of vitamin D has extended beyond its well established effects on bone metabolism to encompass vitamin D needs in the prevention of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, immunological disorders and certain forms of cancer. DSM is proud to honor the achievements of these two eminent scientists in an area of research that DSM regards as being very important for human health.
Michael F. Holick is receiveing the award in recognition of his lifetime contribution to the basic understanding of the formation of vitamin D in the skin, the regulation of vitamin D absorption in the gut, and the metabolism and activation of vitamin D by liver and kidney. He also D by sun exposure, thus resulting in a critical need for an adequate supply of vitamin D by diet and dietary supplements. Michael F. Holick is Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, Boston USA.
Heike A. Bischolff-Ferrari is receiving the award in recognition of ther significant contributions on the effects of vitamin D in the field of population health and her demonstrtion of a widespread vitamin D deficiency, particularly in the elderly. Already at this early stage of her career she has demonstrated the critical role of vitamin D in assuring muscles strength and bone health to prevent falls and fractures, thus redfining the vitamin D and calcium requirements of this growing segment of the population. Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari has received a professorship from the Swiss National Science Foundation and is director of the Centre on Aging and Mobility at the Department of Rheumatology and the Institute of Physical Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Award presentation
The award will be presented to the joint winners during a special DSM Lunch Symposium at ICN 2009, the 19th International Congress of Nutrition in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 6. The cash prize of EUR 50,000 will be shared by the two awardees.
Award lectures
Professor Michael Holick and Professor Heike Bischoff-Ferrari will each give an award lecture during the DSM Lunch Symposium at ICN 2009 demonstrating their complementary achievements in fundamental and applied research in the field of human nutrition.
DSM Lunch Symposium at ICN 2009
Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Place: Room GH 203, BITEC, Bangkok Thailand
Time: 12.30-14.00 hrs
Unlimited. DSM
DSM Supports Innovative Research Projects to Emphasizes its Role As One of the Global Leading Nutrition al Ingredients Supplier.
DSM Nutritional Products (DSM), a worldwide leading nutritional ingredients supplier, presents DSM Nutrition Award for Human Nutrition to bring about high quality research projects to global nutritional comunity.
Dr. Pisuth Lertvilai, Regional Marketing Manager, Thailand and Indochina, Rovithai Ltd. (DSM Nutritional Products) states that as Thailand is the host of the 19th International Congress of Nutrition, DSM has participated in a special session of the conference so to share and exchange the knowledge and information and has hosted DSM Nutrition Award for Human Nutrition, an outstanding award that gives the company a chance to support high quality research projects conducted for the nutrition community. The DSM Nutrition Award for Human Nutrition is organized every four years, and this year is the second time. The purpose of this award is to support innovative research projects that are beneficial to mankind and to encourage pioneering scientists across the world to produce high quality research to and to encourage pioneering scientists across the world to produce high quality research to science and nutritional community, which is tally to the company's mission to continually improve the product quality, and pursue innovative solutions that responds to consumer demands. Every year, 5% of the total sales is allocated for the application of research, product development, and formulation improvement for vitamins, healthy ingredients-and industrial materials.
For this year, DSM receive a total of 25 candidates worldwide to compete for the research grant prize of EUR 50,000 or approximately Bt. 2,500,000. The two-tiers reviewing process by two sets of international committees has resulted in the selection of two scientists working in the field of vitamin D as the joint winners of the DSM Nutrition Award 2009, namely: Prof. Dr. Michael F Holick from USA. and Prof. Dr. Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari from Switzerland. Both of the winning studies are indispensable to the scientfic research for human and wellness.
Vitamin D is one of the vitamins essential to bone health and bone-teeh formation. Normally, human beings receive Vitamin D through the Vitamin D formation process triggered by sunlight. both studies also help reveal other crucial benefits of Vitamin D.
Michael F. Holick is recognized for his lifetime contribution to the basic understanding of the formation on vitamin D in the skin, the regulation of vitamin D absorption in the gut, and the metabokism and activation of vitamin D by liver and kidney. He also established the evidence that most human populations have a limited capacity to from vitamin D by sun exposure, thus resulting in a critical need for an adequate supply of vitamin D by diet and dietary supplements. Michael F. Holick is Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, Boston USA.
Hekie A. Bischoff-Ferrari is recognized for her significant contributions on the effects of vitamin D in the field of population health and her demonstration of a widespread vitamin D deficiency, particularly in the elderly. Already at this early stage of her career she has demonstrated the critical role of vitamin D in assuring muscle strength and bone health to prevent falls and fractures, thus redefining the vitamin D and calcium requirements of this growing segment of the population. Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari has received a professorship from the Swiss National Science Foundation and is director of the Centre on Aging and Mobility at the Department of Rheumatology and the Institute of Physical Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
This year's DSM Nutrition Award for Human Nutrition will be presented on October 6, 2009. Dr Manfred Eggersdorfer, DSM Senior Vice President Research & Development, will present this award to the winners at BITEC, Bangna.
Company Profile: DSM Nutritional Products
DSM Nutritional Products is a leading manufacturer of Vitamins, Carotenoids, and other important nutrition and health products for food, pharmaceuticals, supplements, pet food, and cosmetics. The company endures a long history as a spearhead for ground-breeking research, product development, and formula that can be adapted to match applicable industries
DSM-the Life Sciences and Materials Sciences Company
Royal DSM N.V. creates innovative products and services in Life Sciences and Materials Sciences that contribute to the quality of life. DSM's products and services are used globally in a wide range of markets and applications, supporting a healthier, more sustainable and more enjoyable way of life. End markets include human and animal nutrition and health, personal care, pharmaceuticals, automotive, coatings and paint, electrical and electronics, life protection and housing.
DSM has annual net sales of EUR 9.3 billion and employs some 23,500 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in the Netherlands, with locations on five continents. DSM is listed on Euronext Amsterdam.
(Excerpt from http://www.dsm.com/en_US/html/about/dsm_company_profile.htm)
For more information on DSM Nutrition Award for Human Nutrition, please visit www.innovationaward.dsm.com
Michael F. Holick is receiveing the award in recognition of his lifetime contribution to the basic understanding of the formation of vitamin D in the skin, the regulation of vitamin D absorption in the gut, and the metabolism and activation of vitamin D by liver and kidney. He also D by sun exposure, thus resulting in a critical need for an adequate supply of vitamin D by diet and dietary supplements. Michael F. Holick is Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, Boston USA.
Heike A. Bischolff-Ferrari is receiving the award in recognition of ther significant contributions on the effects of vitamin D in the field of population health and her demonstrtion of a widespread vitamin D deficiency, particularly in the elderly. Already at this early stage of her career she has demonstrated the critical role of vitamin D in assuring muscles strength and bone health to prevent falls and fractures, thus redfining the vitamin D and calcium requirements of this growing segment of the population. Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari has received a professorship from the Swiss National Science Foundation and is director of the Centre on Aging and Mobility at the Department of Rheumatology and the Institute of Physical Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Award presentation
The award will be presented to the joint winners during a special DSM Lunch Symposium at ICN 2009, the 19th International Congress of Nutrition in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 6. The cash prize of EUR 50,000 will be shared by the two awardees.
Award lectures
Professor Michael Holick and Professor Heike Bischoff-Ferrari will each give an award lecture during the DSM Lunch Symposium at ICN 2009 demonstrating their complementary achievements in fundamental and applied research in the field of human nutrition.
DSM Lunch Symposium at ICN 2009
Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Place: Room GH 203, BITEC, Bangkok Thailand
Time: 12.30-14.00 hrs
Unlimited. DSM
DSM Supports Innovative Research Projects to Emphasizes its Role As One of the Global Leading Nutrition al Ingredients Supplier.
DSM Nutritional Products (DSM), a worldwide leading nutritional ingredients supplier, presents DSM Nutrition Award for Human Nutrition to bring about high quality research projects to global nutritional comunity.
Dr. Pisuth Lertvilai, Regional Marketing Manager, Thailand and Indochina, Rovithai Ltd. (DSM Nutritional Products) states that as Thailand is the host of the 19th International Congress of Nutrition, DSM has participated in a special session of the conference so to share and exchange the knowledge and information and has hosted DSM Nutrition Award for Human Nutrition, an outstanding award that gives the company a chance to support high quality research projects conducted for the nutrition community. The DSM Nutrition Award for Human Nutrition is organized every four years, and this year is the second time. The purpose of this award is to support innovative research projects that are beneficial to mankind and to encourage pioneering scientists across the world to produce high quality research to and to encourage pioneering scientists across the world to produce high quality research to science and nutritional community, which is tally to the company's mission to continually improve the product quality, and pursue innovative solutions that responds to consumer demands. Every year, 5% of the total sales is allocated for the application of research, product development, and formulation improvement for vitamins, healthy ingredients-and industrial materials.
For this year, DSM receive a total of 25 candidates worldwide to compete for the research grant prize of EUR 50,000 or approximately Bt. 2,500,000. The two-tiers reviewing process by two sets of international committees has resulted in the selection of two scientists working in the field of vitamin D as the joint winners of the DSM Nutrition Award 2009, namely: Prof. Dr. Michael F Holick from USA. and Prof. Dr. Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari from Switzerland. Both of the winning studies are indispensable to the scientfic research for human and wellness.
Vitamin D is one of the vitamins essential to bone health and bone-teeh formation. Normally, human beings receive Vitamin D through the Vitamin D formation process triggered by sunlight. both studies also help reveal other crucial benefits of Vitamin D.
Michael F. Holick is recognized for his lifetime contribution to the basic understanding of the formation on vitamin D in the skin, the regulation of vitamin D absorption in the gut, and the metabokism and activation of vitamin D by liver and kidney. He also established the evidence that most human populations have a limited capacity to from vitamin D by sun exposure, thus resulting in a critical need for an adequate supply of vitamin D by diet and dietary supplements. Michael F. Holick is Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, Boston USA.
Hekie A. Bischoff-Ferrari is recognized for her significant contributions on the effects of vitamin D in the field of population health and her demonstration of a widespread vitamin D deficiency, particularly in the elderly. Already at this early stage of her career she has demonstrated the critical role of vitamin D in assuring muscle strength and bone health to prevent falls and fractures, thus redefining the vitamin D and calcium requirements of this growing segment of the population. Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari has received a professorship from the Swiss National Science Foundation and is director of the Centre on Aging and Mobility at the Department of Rheumatology and the Institute of Physical Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
This year's DSM Nutrition Award for Human Nutrition will be presented on October 6, 2009. Dr Manfred Eggersdorfer, DSM Senior Vice President Research & Development, will present this award to the winners at BITEC, Bangna.
Company Profile: DSM Nutritional Products
DSM Nutritional Products is a leading manufacturer of Vitamins, Carotenoids, and other important nutrition and health products for food, pharmaceuticals, supplements, pet food, and cosmetics. The company endures a long history as a spearhead for ground-breeking research, product development, and formula that can be adapted to match applicable industries
DSM-the Life Sciences and Materials Sciences Company
Royal DSM N.V. creates innovative products and services in Life Sciences and Materials Sciences that contribute to the quality of life. DSM's products and services are used globally in a wide range of markets and applications, supporting a healthier, more sustainable and more enjoyable way of life. End markets include human and animal nutrition and health, personal care, pharmaceuticals, automotive, coatings and paint, electrical and electronics, life protection and housing.
DSM has annual net sales of EUR 9.3 billion and employs some 23,500 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in the Netherlands, with locations on five continents. DSM is listed on Euronext Amsterdam.
(Excerpt from http://www.dsm.com/en_US/html/about/dsm_company_profile.htm)
For more information on DSM Nutrition Award for Human Nutrition, please visit www.innovationaward.dsm.com
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