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Utah Man Named as Person of Interest in Abandoned Mine Shaft Murder

April 2, 2018 By Dave Smith Leave a Comment

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The authorities believe that the odious abandoned mine shaft murder might have been partly motivated by jealousy.

On Wednesday, the Utah authorities announced that they’ve discovered and arrested a person of interest in the abandoned mine shaft murder. Jerrod W. Baum, 41, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, abuse of a dead body, and kidnapping among others.

Abandoned Mine Shaft Murder Was Jealousy Related, Authorities Believe

The events that led to the arrest of Baum started to unfold on the 2^nd of January when the families of 18-year-old Riley Powell and 17-year-old Brelynne Otteson filed a missing person’s report with the Utah police. According to the document, the couple was last seen alive on the 30^th of December 2017, leaving for Baum’s home.

This Wednesday, following a 911 call, the authorities retrieved two bodies from an abandoned mine shaft, located 75 miles from Salt Lake City. The coroner’s office established that the bodies belong to the couple who went missing in December.

Several hours later, Baum was taken into custody and charged with murder.

During his police interview, the man confessed to killing the couple and admitted that it was a hard thing to do but had no choice.

After putting all the pieces together, the investigators discovered that Baum’s gesture was partly motivated by jealousy. The man said that he grew tired of Otteson and Powell visiting Morgan Henderson, his girlfriend.

According to Henderson’s testimony, Baum got mad at her after returning home to see her in the company of the Utah couple. Baum allegedly told her that he couldn’t stand to see her in the company of other men and boasted that he’s going to kill the couple.

Conclusion

On the 30^th of December, Baum arranged for Otteson and Powell to meet at Morgan’s house. After smoking marijuana inside the house, the man allegedly assaulted the teens, tied them up and threw them in Powell’s jeep.

He then told Morgan to get in the car as they were going for a drive. Baum drove to the abandoned mine shaft in Powell’s jeep, stabbed both teens to death, and threw their bodies in the shaft.

Before dumping Powell’s jeep into the river, he told Morgan to keep quiet about what transpired that evening.

Image source: Wikipedia

Trained Dolphins Will Locate Rare Vaquita Porpoise

January 4, 2017 By Kyle Mills Leave a Comment

The experts will use trained dolphins to locate the critically endangered vaquita porpoise.

Many dolphins were trained by U.S. Navy to pinpoint the location of the vaquita porpoise, an elusive animal which is critically endangered. The marine biologists aim to capture the remaining specimens and place them in a special enclosure.

Then, they will develop breeding programs to save the species from extinction. This initiative is encouraged by the Navy Marine Mammal Program, which will support the training of dozens of dolphins.

The program will start this spring. According to the officials, the handlers are still planning the dolphins’ involvement. These friendly mammals will use their sonar to find any vaquita porpoise. Then, they will come out to the surface to draw their handlers’ attention.

The vaquita porpoise is the most endangered and smallest porpoise species in the world. This animal lives in the Gulf of California. Also known as totoaba, the vaquitas were devastated by illegal fishing over the past few decades.

The swim bladder of this animal is worth a fortune on the Chinese black market. It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time when dolphins are used in a large-scale project. U.S. Navy has previously trained these intelligent creatures to locate sea mines.

The vaquita porpoise has never been kept in captivity, so it is the first time when scientists try to successfully breed this species in an artificial environment. The specialists will design floating pens in the Gulf of California, which will be the new home for the remaining vaquitas.

According to Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, chair of the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita, the specimens living in the floating enclosures will be protected from fishing nets.

He says that Mexico banned gill nets, but the problems were not over. Many poachers are willing to take their chances to catch a vaquita porpoise because it is still in high demand on the illegal Chinese market.

Based on the estimates, this species will become extinct by 2022, if the conservation efforts don’t pay off. The vaquita porpoise population has been declining by 40% every year. Worse, only 60 live specimens were recorded last year.

In other words, it means that there might be just around 30 vaquitas left in the Gulf of California. Nevertheless, other specialists believe that this project is risky and potentially dangerous because the marine biologists can accidentally harm the vaquitas in their attempt to capture them.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Rumors Suggest New Apple TV Box Will Be Unveiled Alongside Future iPhone

August 30, 2015 By Dave Smith Leave a Comment

Reports surfaced on Sunday claim that a new version of the Apple TV is going to be released come October, at a way higher price than the original.

The official reveal is stated to happen in less than a fortnight, when Apple’s big event surrounding its next iPhone is scheduled. However, the same reports also claim that it’s not going to launch alone, but alongside a host of other redesigned gadgets meant to interact with it.

The new set-top box is rumored to cost anywhere between $149 and $199, which is quite the increase considering that the original Apple TV sold for just $99 at launch and quite rapidly dropped to $69. This means that the Silicon Valley giant is certainly going to cater in a host of new improvements and probably some surprises to justify upping the price.

9to5Mac were reportedly the first to break the news, and judging by the good ratio of Apple leaks which turned out to be the real deal shared by the site, you can expect most of the information to be accurate. The site also claims that it knows part of the improvements Apple will add to its new TV system, some of which sound outlandish: a touchpad remote control which support motion controls similar to the Wii-U and an in-built microphone for voice commands, of course controlled by Siri.

Still, coughing up $200 for a new set-top box – no matter how much it resembles 80’s sci-fi movies – will have even the most avid Apple fans questioning its worth. If there isn’t anything truly breathtaking with it, chances are it’s going to be catered more as a niche product for core fans, as the report also brought forth the idea that Apple might keep commercializing its current box as a cheaper alternative.

An important piece of information though is that Apple’s upcoming on-demand TV streaming service will be apparently available for both boxes – so at least we know that’s not going to be major selling point of the future Apple TV. But it will reportedly bring a host of technical improvements, stemming from it running the latest iOS 9 version, and also featuring a processor similar to the iPhone 6’s A8. In any case, the rumors are meant to be confirmed or dispelled in little more than 10 days, when we are going to have an official presentation of the box or a confirmation of misleading information.

Image Source: 9to5mac

Cortana for Android Beta Version Leaked

July 19, 2015 By Dave Smith Leave a Comment

Reports suggest that Microsoft’s Cortana for Android has leaked early, and the personal intelligent assistant can be currently installed on Android devices.

The Finnish mobile site Suomimobiili, cited by Endgadget, first announced the leak on Saturday. The voice assistant’s android version was announced earlier this year as available also for iOS and Android alongside Windows 10 devices, following Microsoft’s new policy of offering its upcoming apps over multiple systems. However, all versions were expected to be released on July 29^th, the worldwide Windows 10 release date.

The Endgadget has confirmed that the leak is indeed a legitimate version of the personal voice assistant, albeit a beta release. They reportedly tested it on a HTC One M9 and managed to use its basic functions, but some of the features still seemed either unavailable or unresponsive. The leaked app has since spread over the internet, but no links have been pulled due to copyright infringement.

Venture Beat reports reached to Microsoft for a comment, and a spokesperson for the company stated that the app was probably leaked by China and US testers rather than a Microsoft employee. He went on to say that the app’s Android version will come out soon, without confirming any official release dates.

This might mean that the personal assistant is indeed nearing a release build for Android and possibly iOS systems. Currently, the intelligent personal assistant is available in beta form for Windows Phone 8.1 users and for those who participate in PC Windows 10 open beta, with rumored full release dates pointing towards an October release.

Cortana, the Windows equivalent of Apple’s Siri, is loosely based on a character from the popular Halo video game series, which is published by Microsoft. The program uses the same voice actress as the character, Jen Taylor.

Windows 10 news and leaks have been piling up in the last couple of days, as the worldwide release of Microsoft’s last iteration of the popular operating system. Just on Friday, Amazon listings a leaked a previously unannounced USB flash drive version of a Windows 10 install kit, prompting the software company to confirm that it is legit.

Some pundits believe that such leaks/listings without official announcements might be actually planned by the company to test public reception before officially committing through an announcement. Microsoft were sometimes forced in the past to roll back on previously announced decisions due to overly negative reception, like in 2013 when they had to axe multiple Xbox One features over public lashback.

Image Source: ndtv.com

Chinese Stock Market Decline Linked to Market Manipulation

July 12, 2015 By Doyle Buehler Leave a Comment

Investigation into the massive Chinese stock market decline as apparently unveiled possible influences it would have got from a couple of trading companies which are suspected of having manipulated futures trading.

The state run Xinhua news agency as announced that a governmental investigation team, headed by Vice Minister of Public Security Meng Qingfeng, has found clues of market manipulation after investigating records kept by China’s Securities Regulatory Commission in Shanghai.

The investigation team described what it found as “malicious short-selling of stocks and stock indices”, which is just one of the practices which specialists believe led to 30 percent stock market plummet. The team was constituted one week after the Chinese government threatened to launch a “serious investigation into issues of market manipulation”.

No other information has been offered regarding the identity of the companies suspected or what kind of prosecution they face, but the investigation will continue until a clear image of all shady market movements involved with the crash will be established.

It is unclear how if in any way this is going to affect China’s market liberalization process, started two years ago alongside the presidency of Xi Jinping. If the investigation proves accurate, this would be the first major setback caused by liberalization-related risks, and it might prompt the Chinese government to take a more cautious approach to the issue in the future.

However, despite the rapid liberalization, China still reserves for itself more means of intervention than most other countries in such issues, and its supportive measures – putting a stop to initial public offerings, limiting futures trading with a major small-cap index and even direct investment of government funds – have apparently prompted a rebound, as the market index rose for two days in a row Thursday and Friday.

But the Shanghai Composite Index is still down more than 25 percent since the beginning of June, before the crash. Some analysts are pointing out the fact that, malicious practices aside, the drop represents the market evening itself out after a long period of extended growth, which brought it up 150 percent throughout a single year.

Futures trading manipulation has also done damage to the United States in recent times. In April 2015, a futures trader was arrested to the UK in relation to the May 2010 “Flash Crash”, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummet 600 points in five minutes. The trader used automatic trading software to manipulate prices of Standard & Poor 500 futures contracts, also known as E-minis, whose price drop as result of the manipulation played a big role in the Dow Jones plummet.

Image Source: jhaine6a

Study Shows That Spiders Can Be Skillful Sailors

July 5, 2015 By Kyle Mills Leave a Comment

Using their legs and web spiders can move across water like a sailboat.

A new study has showed that besides being able to fly spiders can be skillful sailors as well. Using their legs and web spiders can move across water like a sailboat.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham have examined 352 spiders, meaning 21 species in total, which they gathered from nature reserves in Nottingham. The spiders were exposed to blasts of air both on solid surface and on water and afterwards the researchers compared their behavior.

The researchers observed how the spiders used their web as an anchor in order to slow down or stop. Spiders could use their web to hold on to debris that is floating on the surface of the water. They can also use it to reach the shore. The researchers noted:

“Our observations suggest that a possibility could be that the silk may sometimes work as a dragline for the water-trapped spider to attach to floating objects or to the shore.”

When they are on water the spiders use their legs as sails and also change the position of their body in order to take full advantage of the wind power.

These skills could help spiders who are not capable of ballooning or could be useful in case of heavy rain or floods. Ballooning is a form of flying which can carry the arachnids up to 19 miles. The spider catches the wind with silk and is lifted off the ground. However this method is also risky because the spider has no control over the direction where it travels. If they land on water they can use their legs and web in order to sail.

The technique of ballooning is not new, but sailing is a newly-observed skill in terrestrial spiders. Co-author of the study Dr. Sara Goodacre explained that when spiders land someplace where they do not perfectly fit they have strategies which help them cope with the situation. This is such an example. She also said that this study explains how spiders are able to reach certain places: for instance spiders that can be found on farms. They are important for agriculture because they function as pest controllers.

Image Source: flickriver.com

High Sugar Diet Might Impair Cognitive Development

June 25, 2015 By Jeff Suchon Leave a Comment

We all know how bad sugar is for our body but there are few of us who try to avoid it no matter what. Called “the white death” by some experts, sugar is extremely dangerous to our bodies because it is cancer cells’ favorite food, it can compromise your immune system, it leads to diabetes and obesity and it is highly addictive.

A new research carried out by experts from Oregon State University says that sugar, along with fat, does not only cause damage to our bodies but also to our brain.

Thus, a diet rich in fat and sugar can prompt changes in gut bacteria – microbiome, which can lead to modifications in cognitive flexibility. This refers to the person’s ability to adapt to change.

“We’ve known for a while that too much fat and sugar are not good for you. This work suggests that fat and sugar are altering your healthy bacterial systems, and that’s one of the reasons those foods aren’t good for you. It’s not just the food that could be influencing your brain, but an interaction between the food and microbial changes,” said lead author Dr. Kathy Magnusson, who is a biomedical scientist at Oregon State University.

The study also proves that a diet that is too rich in sugar can affect the person’s short and long-term memory.

The researchers carried out experiments on mice to prove their theories. They distributed the mice in three groups and fed them separately either with food rich in sugar, rich in fat or a normal diet. Afterwards, they tested the mice both physically and mentally and evaluated what was going on in their gut and how this was linked to their performance.

It was soon proved that the mice who had been fed a normal diet had better cognitive functions and better memory compared to the ones who had a diet that was rich in sugar or fat.

Therefore, the bad bacteria found in the mice’s gut directly affected their cognitive functions.

Even if it was not established how microbiome influences the brain, one assumption is that the bacteria can affect the immune system. This, in turn, may activate the an inflammatory response.

The study, which was published in the journal Neuroscience, could lead to a better understanding of how diets can affect our ability to adapt to change or understand things that are completely new to us.

Image Source: hungryforchange

The Gene Responsible for Pain in Humans Was Recently Discovered

May 27, 2015 By Jeff Suchon Leave a Comment

Each of us has dreamed of being able to not feel pain at least once in our lives. It would really come in handy to be able to shut pain off sometimes, especially when it doesn’t go away with the pain killers available on the market.

And even if the pain does go away with certain medication, painkillers can be dangerous to our health and have damaging side effects.

A new study led by experts at Cambridge University might have just made a discovery that will revolutionize the way other researchers will approach pain relief treatments – a gene responsible for pain.

In order to make such a discovery, the team of researchers employed genome mapping to compare the genetic material of 158 members of 11 families from all across the world. Some of them suffered from scarred skin, mutilated lips, tongue or fingers or had been wounded in various ways.

What they all had in common was a condition called congenital insensitivity to pain, which is genetically inherited and it is characterized by the person’s inability to feel pain.

Thus, the researchers identified a gene, called PRDM12, that might be at the root of congenital insensitivity to pain.

The people suffering from this condition had two variants of PRDM12, which basically prevented the gene from functioning because they suppressed the development of chromatins, that have a very important role in forming neurons. In their case , the ability of neurons to sense pain was inhibited. This explained the people’s inability to feel pain.

However, the inability to feel pain is not all fun and games. Professor Geoff Woods from the University of Cambridge said that “the ability to sense pain is essential to our self-preservation, yet we understand far more about excessive pain than we do about lack of pain perception.”

The people who are born with this condition sometimes have a shorter life span precisely because they are unable to tell when they suffer from a certain disease or when they hurt themselves. For example, they can easily get burnt or break a leg without feeling a thing. Some of their injuries could prove lethal if they are not treated on time.

This might be considered a breakthrough, as the new information could result into the creation of new more efficient painkillers. This medication will hopefully have fewer side effects than the ones that are currently available on the market.

Image Source: Drhealth

Google celebrates Sally Ride, first American women in Space with a doodle

May 27, 2015 By Stephanie James Leave a Comment

Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel to space.

Google honors Sally Ride on her 64^th birthday by dedicating the today’s Google doodle to this astronaut.

Sally Ride was born in Los Angeles. She is credited for being the first American women in space, the youngest person ever in space at the age of 32, and also the first known LGBT person in space.

Ride’s life partner, Tam O’Shaunghnessy stated in a web post, “With whimsy, it expresses Sally’s sense of fun and adventure, and her ability to inspire young people”.

Google unveiled a series of five different Behind the Doodle animations that portray the inspiring journey of Ride which will show up each time a person visits Google’s home page.

Google has also celebrated Ride by devoting a two and a half minute animation video narrated by Artist Olivia Huynh. The video shows all the important milestones in Ride’s life. Ride’s journey from being a junior tennis player to a doctoral student at Stanford and then heading on to becoming the American space star is covered in the video.

From 1978 to 1988, Ride stayed at NASA, twice undertaking flights abroad the space shuttle Challenger.

The first mission was accomplished in 1983.

Ride has joined the University of California, San Diego faculty as a professor in 1989 and became a director of the University of California Space Institute.

She founded the educational company called Sally Ride Science in 2001.

Ride has dedicated her life to inspire next generation, especially girls, to pursue careers in Science, engineering, math and technology.

Ride is a recipient of the President Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor and efforts are being made to include her in the US Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

Ride died almost three years ago on July 23, 2012 from, pancreatic cancer.

Popular pesticides are extremely dangerous to wild bees

April 23, 2015 By Doyle Buehler Leave a Comment

According to a new study, a common type of pesticide is harming wild bees.

According to the study, honeybees which pollinate major crops like almonds did not show significant ill effect than wild bees like bumblebees did. The study is published in journal Nature; the finding is a bit surprising to some experts.

According to the second study, the bees prefer pesticide coated crops and they are not repelled by the pesticides making the problem worse.

Over several years bees of all kinds and especially the ones that are crucial to pollinate plants are declining.

Pesticide problem is one of the many problems and colony collapse disorder is a separate problem which devastated honeybee population in recent years but is now narrowing.

Exposure of bees to neonicotinoid insecticides has caused ill effects to bees, it has reduced the population of wild bees and it also resulted in less reproduction, and the colonies of the bees exposed to the pesticide didn’t grow compared to the bees colonies which are not exposed to the pesticide.

Scientists in Sweden conducted a study on the bees. They used 16 patches of landscape; eight where canola seeds were coated with the pesticide and other eight patches weren’t and then they compared the two areas.

Maj Rundlof of Lund University, lead author of the study said, when the results came in, “I was quite, ‘Oh my God,'” and said the reduction in bee health was “much more dramatic than I ever expected.”

In the areas treated with pesticide there were half as many wild bees per square meter then there were in the areas which were not treated.

Rundlof said, the bees in the pesticide patches gained no weight compared to the normal colonies which gained about a pound.

European Union has a ban on the usage of neonocotinoids and some environmentalists in the United States are pushing for the same.

Rundlof conducted her study just before European ban went into effect in 2013

Dennis vanEnglesdor, entomologist from University of Maryland, who wasn’t part of the study said, “This paper has the potential of really shifting the conversation, neonics may have a very dramatic effect on these non-managed pollinators in the environment. This is the most definitive work I’ve seen in the area.”

Rundolf’s study couldn’t measure an effect on honey bees, just wild native bees. She said, there may be an effect but it would be under 20 percent.

Different species of bees respond differently and will only result in confusion because until now, scientists have used domesticated honeybees as the model for all bees.

Scientist believe that honeybees which have colonies in the tens and thousands can absorb more losses than the less sociable native bees, which have smaller colonies and have more difficulty in getting new queens.

Honeybees are more sociable and they are probably much better adapted at taking abuse.

In 2013 a study found that wild bees and other insects are more important and efficient for pollination than honeybees. Wildflowers around the world are mostly pollinated by wild bees.

Environmental groups are using the study to put pressure on the government of US to ban the pesticide class.

Abandoned Mine Shaft Murder Was Jealousy Related, Authorities Believe

Conclusion

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