Today the American public got a haircut.

They got rid of their Bush.

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My horse of only several weeks died this evening at about 8:40 pm due to kidney failure. We purchased Azan Azan (named so after our last horse, an Arab stallion, who died a couple of years ago from colic), perhaps 3 weeks ago for RM 5,000. Pretty cheap as he was already 20 years old. In human terms that would be termed ancient.

On Monday afternoon the syce found him lying down in his stable not having touched his food or water. The vet initially diagnosed the horse with colic. As a result, we did everything that we could to treat a horse suffering from colic. Lots of water, electrolytes and walking him about. That first day the vet gave him an equivalent of 22 litres of water. He did urinate a lot and so we thought he was out of the critical stage.

In spite of all this, the horse did not seem to be recovering. His breath smelt bad and his tummy was extended and hard as a rock. I visited him on my way back from work on Monday not knowing that that would be the last time I ever saw him alive.

Initially I thought I had caused the colic because I was riding him day in, day out. But we were informed that this was a case of kidney failure rather than colic. I didn’t feel so bad after hearing this news (as if I had killed Azan Azan) but…still…that doesn’t make me feel any better today.

I’ll miss the chestnut. Eventhough we were together for such a brief time, I truly enjoyed Azan Azan.

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So now we hear that robbers can enter your house from 200 feet away. Well, more precisely, they can start the process of burglary from 200 feet away. Beginning with a photo of your keys using telephoto lens + the magic of ‘Sneakey’.

Sneakey is a new software developed by rather thoughtless computer scientists from the University of California in San Diego. It is able to reproduce keys with as little as a grainy mobile phone image of the real thing or from a distance of roughly 200 feet.

Benjamin Lexton, one of the scientists working on the project said that the programme is easy to use as all the user (thief) needs to do is indicate where the top of the key and other control points are located from the image. The software then accurately estimates the height of each key cut and voila! you’re in.

So now we have yet another thing to add to our ever expanding worry list!

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From Tokyo University, we may soon be getting mice that are no longer afraid of cats. If this does happen, won’t the point behind the cartoon Tom & Jerry be rather moot?

Apparently, what makes mice fear cats is the smell that cats emit. In certain experiments, the Japanese scientists were able to genetically switch off these nasal cells in the mice thus causing them to no longer pick up the feline scents.

Research team leader, Ko Kobayakawa even said that these mice played and even nuzzled up against the cats. The cats chosen were domesticated cats as I am sure wild cats wouldn’t have twice about pouncing and munching on an overtly friendly mouse!

The purpose of the study is to find out the causes of fear and how to treat it (presumably in humans rather than animals). But if one of these genetically modified rats got out and mated with normal rats…imagine the chaos that could ensue when they no longer feared their number 1 enemy.

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Tesofensine, a drug developed for the treatment of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s has been found to be as effective as a weight loss solution. More accurately, studies conducted noted an average loss of 2 stones in 6 months. These early experiments would suggest that the drug is the best on the market for weight loss with obese patients losing about 10 percent of their body weight quickly.

How the drug works is that its chemicals target the region of the brain which controls hunger and appetite. Although further tests need to be conducted, researchers from Cambridge University claim that they may have found the answer to our weighty problems.

Professor Steve O’Rahilly added that this discovery could mean that obesity, in the near future, could be treated with “effective and affordable” drugs just like what is done for sufferers of high blood pressure.

There are however side effects which include problems with the bowels and nausea. Having said so, the drug may become the next big thing seeing that the number of prescription weight loss pills handed out last year in the United Kingdom surpassed the one million mark.

 These findings are from the Lancet and excerpts can be read at: http://www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/neurosearch-announces-publication-lancet-tesofensine-proof-concept-results-tipo-1

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Forget the sound of music because now we can hear the sound of space. Research carried out in France using their Corot space telescope has been successful in recording sounds emitted from 3 stars similar to the Sun.

Stellar seismology could allow scientists to study the inner structure of stars in the galaxy. This particular study has confirmed that stars (well, these 3 at least, pulsate). In short stellar seismology is a means of looking into stars using the principle of acoustic oscillations. Among other things, it has been used in the past to determine the chemical compositions, density, rotations, convective zone depth, internal temperature and magnetic fields with unprecedented precision.

I have not personally listened to these stars but if you want to, some people have said that it resembles those from the Star Trek franchise. Perhaps Gene Roddenberry had it right all along!

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Say goodbye to different keys that take up valuable space in your hand bag or weigh down your already heavy, pocket laden pants…because mentalists at Makers Local 256 have created an incredible new door locking system based on the humble USB stick.

To be more precise, you could use anything that has a USB end attached to it and voila! problem solved. They claim that the system is so secure that unless someone steals your USB device, the lock is intruder-proof.

The clever system works by using the serial number in the chip itself. So be it a memory stick, an iPod, or even an external hard drive for that matter, it’s all good. You just insert the USB part into a core which is connected to a PC. The PC then reads the serial number and compares it to a list of ‘safe’ serial numbers it stores (obviously because it’s your house, it should be your computer and so it recognises your USB key). After which the computer sends signals to a Microcontroller which then unlocks the door.

Makers Local 256 have created a set of instructions on how to build one at https://256.makerslocal.org/wiki/index.php/USB_Auth or http://hackaday.com/2008/10/22/usb-authenticated-deadbolt-lock/. Apparently, the whole project will cost you only USD 60.00.

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