Spanish treasure lands after 200 years

MADRID: Coins worth nearly half a billion dollars finally arrived in Spain on Saturday after lying in a sunken warship for more than 200 years and following a five-year legal battle between the Spanish government and a salvage company.

The Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a 49-gun navy frigate, set sail from the coast of Peru - then a colony of Spain - with coins to help replenish the Spanish treasury's coffers.

In 1804, British warships attacked as the frigate was approaching the Spanish port of Cadiz and the ship went down, with 249 killed, a Spanish government website said.

On Saturday, Spanish military aircraft landed at the Torrejon air force base near Madrid bearing 594,000 gold and silver coins recovered from the wreck by U.S.-based Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2007.

Spain had argued in court that it, not the salvage company, was the rightful owner of the cargo and the ship, and a U.S. judge ordered on February 17 that the coins be returned from Florida.

The company said it would abide by the ruling, although a spokeswoman said it "flies in the face of all legal precedent.

"This a victory for Spain and the United States," lawyer Jose Maria Lancho, who advised the Spanish government in its action against Odyssey, told Reuters.

"For Spain, this sunken ship, this archaeological site, is still a warship and we still have jurisdiction over what has happened to it."

The Spanish government plans to restore, conserve and catalogue the contents of the 17-tonne cargo, which it estimates to be worth 373 million euros ($496 million).

Several cities are vying to put the coins on show, but the culture minister said no decision had yet been taken. Spain has not said where it will keep the coins in the meantime, for security reasons.

While the treasure is now in Spain, there is still legal action pending.

Spanish news agency EFE reported the Peruvian government planned to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to claim part of the cargo.

And Malaga-based marine archaeology company Nerea, which Lancho also works with, has been asking a Spanish court to bring charges against Odyssey of damage to cultural heritage, damage to archaeological sites and trafficking in archaeological heritage.

Local media citing Spanish government sources reported part of the ship's cargo was still in Gibraltar, a British-administered territory in southern Spain whose sovereignty is disputed by the Spanish government.

"We are in touch with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As yet, we do not have any confirmation that any of the ship's contents are in Gibraltar," a British Embassy spokesman said in Madrid. (Reuters)

Lichtenstein's "Sleeping Girl" to be sold at auction

NEW YORK: Roy Lichtenstein's comic book-inspired painting "Sleeping Girl," is expected to fetch up to $40 million when it is sold at auction in New York in May, Sotheby's said Friday.

The 1964 close-up painting of a sexy blonde woman is part of a series by Lichtenstein and considered one of the great works of post-war American art.

"Sleeping Girl is one of the great masterpieces of the 20th century, counting iconic depictions of women by Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brancusi and Amedeo Modigliani among its peers," Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art, said in a statement.

"Lichtenstein's 'girls' are arguably his most desirable works today and 'Sleeping Girl' has been coveted since it was acquired in 1964, the year it was painted. It is astonishingly fresh and vibrant, as if it were painted yesterday."

The painting, which will go under the hammer in New York as part of Sotheby's Contemporary Art Sale on May 9, will be shown in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, London and New York before the sale.

Other paintings from the series hang in museums around the world, including New York's Museum of Modern Art. Sleeping Girl has been owned by a private collector and has only been exhibited once, in Los Angeles, in 1989-1990. (Reuters)

Heartless thieves pick lovers' padlocks in Germany

BERLIN: German police caught two thieves breaking open "lovers' padlocks" attached to a bridge over the Rhine River in the city of Cologne.

The pair were cutting padlocks, left by amorous couples to symbolize their eternal love, off a railing on the Hohenzollern Bridge presumably to sell as scrap metal, police said.

"I spotted two men on the other side of the bridge tampering with the lovers' padlocks, so I called for back-up straight away," a police officer said. The men tried to escape with their loot after spotting police but were apprehended on the bridge.

Police discovered over 50 padlocks along with lock cutters in a trolley suitcase, wheeled along by the men. The pair will appear in court on charges of property damage, police said.

Love-struck couples have been fastening padlocks to railings of bridges, engraving them with their initials or adding a few sentimental words and then tossing the keys into the rivers below to symbolize their eternal love. (Reuters)

'World's shortest man' to be measured in Nepal

KATHMANDU: A 72-year-old man from a remote valley in southwestern Nepal was preparing Sunday to be measured by Guinness World Records experts investigating his claim to be the shortest man ever recorded.

Chandra Bahadur Dangi, who claims to stand just 56 centimetres (22 inches) tall, was in high spirits as he looked forward to a third and final measurement.

"They have already measured me twice yesterday. They didn't tell me what height they recorded but everyone is sure of my height and I'm confident I'm going to get the record," Dangi told AFP through an interpreter.

If his height is verified, Dangi will take the world's shortest man title from Filipino Junrey Balawing, who measures 59.93 cm.

He will also be declared the shortest human adult ever documented, taking the accolade from India's Gul Mohammed, who was measured at 57 cm before he died in 1997 aged 40.

Dangi, who weighs 12 kilogrammes (26.5 pounds), was brought to the attention of the world three weeks ago after Nepali researchers looking into the history of the Dangi people were introduced to him.

The pensioner, who earns a living weaving jute headbands, has only ever left his village in poverty-stricken Dang district 350 kilometres (220 miles) from Kathmandu a handful of times, and is in the Nepali capital for the first time.

Another Nepali, Khagendra Thapa Magar, claimed the title in 2010 after being measured at 67 cm.

Magar's stint as the world's shortest man saw him travel to more than a dozen countries and make television appearances in Europe and the United States.

He was also the official face of Nepal's tourism campaign, which featured him as the smallest man in a country that is home to the world's highest peak, Mount Everest. (AFP)

Oldest rock carving of Americas found in Brazil

SAO PAULO: Brazilian archeologists have discovered an ancient rock carving they say is at least 10,000 years old, making it the oldest human carving in the Americas.

The claim, detailed in an article in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE, opens the controversial debate over when and how humans populated the Americas.

The 30 centimeter (12 inches) carving is of a man with a "C" shaped head and three fingers per hand.

Walter Neves, an archeologist with the Universidad de Sao Paulo and a member of the team that made the discovery, said the rock carving, or petroglyph, could be part of a "cult of fertility."

The ancient work of art was found in 2009 at Lagoa Santa, in central Brazil some 60 kilometers (35 miles) from Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais state.

The experts based their claim on carbon dating the sediment covering the carving. (AFP)

Study aims to bring Great Barrier Reef to living rooms

SINGAPORE: Finding Nemo is about to get a lot easier with the launch of a scientific survey that will allow anyone with access to the internet to take a virtual tour of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

The survey, which will use a variety of high-tech underwater cameras, will carry out one of the most intensive studies of the reef up to a depth of 100 meters (330 feet), with the public watching every step via Youtube and other Google sites.

"There are a whole series of ways of using the imagery and ultimately this is bridging a gap between science and public awareness," said Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, chief scientist of the Catlin Seaview Survey.

"The only way to do that is to make it part of people's activities," Hoegh-Guldberg of the University of Queensland told Reuters during the launch of the survey at a conference on the oceans in Singapore.

The images will help better understand the impact of climate change on the reef and also help scientists carry out more regular surveys of fish, turtles and other animals.

A specifically developed camera attached to underwater vehicle will take thousands of 360-degree panoramic images from locations along the length of the 2,300 km (1,430 mile) reef off Queensland state.

These panoramas, when stitched together, will allow people to choose a location, dip underwater and go for a virtual dive.

Google's Panoramio site, which links pictures to locations, will eventually allow a total of about 50,000 panoramas to be uploaded and accessible via Google Earth and Google Maps.

The project (www.catlinseaviewsurvey.com/ ) will also have a dedicated Youtube channel.

"For the first time people will be able to explore thousands of environments along the length of the Great Barrier Reef from the comfort of their own home," cinematographer Richard Fitzpatrick told the conference during a live underwater interview from Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef.

Fishing and tourism along the reef earns Australia about $6 billion a year, Hoegh-Guldberg said, but scientists were still trying to figure out how rising sea temperatures and increased ocean acidity will affect the region over the long term.

The survey will also use robotic cameras to survey depths between 30 meters and 100 meters, a region scientists know little about, he said. This zone makes up 93 percent of the reef.

"So this becomes important in climate change because people have been suggesting those deeper areas may be protected from climate change and assist in the recovery of reef systems. But at the moment we don't know." (Reuters)

Swedish man survives for months in snowed-in car

STOCKHOLM: A Swedish man was dug out alive after being snowed in to his car on a forest track for two months with no food, police and local media reported.

The 45-year-old from southern Sweden was found on Friday, emaciated and too weak to utter more than a few words.

He was found not far from the city of Umea in the north of Sweden by snowmobilers who thought they had come across a car wreck until they dug their way to a window and saw movement inside.

The man, who was laying in the back seat in a sleeping bag, said he had been in the car since December 19.

"Just incredible that he's alive considering that he had no food, but also since it's been really cold for some time after Christmas," a rescue team member told regional daily Vasterbottens-Kuriren, which broke the news.

Ebbe Nyberg, duty officer at the Umea police, said police saw no reason to doubt that the man had been stuck in the car for a very long time.

"We would not make something like this up. The rescue services were on site too and saw the same as us," he told Vasterbottens-Kuriren.

Umea University Hospital, where the man is recovering after being rescued by police and a rescue team, said in a statement he was doing well considering the circumstances.

Doctors at the hospital said humans would normally be able to survive for about four weeks without food. Besides eating snow, the man probably survived by going into a dormant-like state, physician Stefan Branth told Vasterbottens-Kuriren.

"A bit like a bear that hibernates. Humans can do that," he said. "He probably had a body temperature of around 31 degrees (Celsius) which the body adjusted to. Due to the low temperature, not much energy was used up."

Why the man ended up under the snow in the forest remains unknown, police said. (Reuters)

Scientists regenerate a plant -30,000 years on

WASHINGTON: Fruit seeds stored away by squirrels more than 30,000 years ago and found in Siberian permafrost have been regenerated into full flowering plants by scientists in Russia, a new study has revealed.

The seeds of the herbaceous Silene stenophylla are far and away the oldest plant tissue to have been brought back to life, according to lead researchers Svetlana Yashina and David Gilichinsky of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The latest findings could be a landmark in research of ancient biological material and the race to potentially revive other species, including some that are extinct.

And they highlight the importance of permafrost itself in the "search of an ancient genetic pool, that of preexisting life, which hypothetically has long since vanished from the earth's surface," they wrote.

The previous record for viable regeneration of ancient flora was with 2,000-year-old date palm seeds at the Masada fortress near the Dead Sea in Israel. (AFP)

‘Everything you know about dieting is wrong’

VANCOUVER: Everything you know about dieting is wrong, say US scientists who have devised a new formula for calculating calories and weight loss that they hope will revolutionize the way people tackle obesity.

Obesity rates have doubled worldwide in the past 30 years, coinciding with a growing food surplus, and the ensuing epidemic has sparked a multibillion dollar weight loss industry that has largely failed to curb the problem.

Current standards in the United States, where two thirds of people are overweight or obese, advise people that cutting calories by a certain amount will result in a slow and steady weight loss over time.

But that advice fails to account for how the body changes as it slims down, burning less energy and acquiring a slower metabolism, researchers told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Vancouver.

The result is a plateau effect that ends up discouraging dieters and sending them back into harmful patterns of overeating.

As an example, researcher Kevin Hall offered up his large vanilla latte, purchased at a popular coffee shop. When he asked, the barista told him it contained about 240 calories.

"The notion was if I drank one of these every day and then I replaced it with just black coffee no sugar, then over the course of a year I should lose about 25 pounds, and that should just keep going," Hall told reporters.

"People have used this sort of rule of thumb to predict how much people should lose for decades now, and it turns out to be completely wrong."

Hall, a scientist with the US National Institutes of Health, said his work aims to "come up with better rules and better predictions of what is going to happen when an individual changes their diet."

He and colleagues said their scientific model is aimed to help doctors and policymakers, while a "back-of-the-envelope calculation" for consumers means cutting small amounts of daily calories, but expecting to cut more over time.

"If I want to lose 10 pounds of weight eventually, I have to cut 100 calories per day out of my diet," Hall explained.

"You'll get halfway there in about a year, and then you will eventually plateau, (reaching the goal) after about three years," he added.

"For folks abroad that works out to about 100 kilojoules per day per kilogram. The contrast is the old rule of thumb predicts twice as much weight loss after a year, and it gets worse after that."

The new model gives dieters one calorie goal for short term weight loss and another for permanent weight loss. Exercise is also calculated in to help set realistic goals.

Tests on small numbers of adults who were fed strictly controlled diets showed the model was accurate, though real-life situations are harder to predict. (AFP)

'Artificial leaf' eyed as holy grail in energy research

VANCOUVER: Turbo-charging photosynthesis - by which plants and bacteria turn sunlight into food and energy - in an "artificial leaf" could yield a vast commercial power source, scientists said.

Photosynthesis "unfortunately not very efficient," Anne Jones, assistant professor and biochemist at Arizona State University, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Vancouver this weekend.

"In fact, all of our current fossil fuels are products of this process," she said. But photosynthesis efficiency "could be boosted to increase food yields or sustainable biofuel production."

The world's energy consumption is expected to surge by 100 percent in the next 40 years.

That is expected even as oil and gas reserves are being used up, according to researchers, who are weighing a range of approaches to harness the power of photosynthesis to power engines.

Scientists said that given the low efficiency of photosynthesis, the top theoretical yield for squeezing energy out of the process with major crops such as wheat or sugar beets would be about five percent.

But if efficiency could be forced up by even a few percentage points, they could be sitting on major biofuel production potential. (AFP)

Tiny shrimp leave giant carbon footprint: scientist

VANCOUVER: Measured by environmental impact, a humble shrimp cocktail could be the most costly part of a typical restaurant meal, scientists said Friday.

If the seafood is produced on a typical Asian fish farm, a 100-gram (3.5 ounce) serving "has an ecosystem carbon footprint of an astounding 198 kilograms (436 pounds) of CO2," biologist J. Boone Kauffman said.

A one-pound (454-gram) bag of frozen shrimp produces one ton of carbon dioxide, said Kauffman, who is based at Oregon State University and conducts research in Indonesia.

He told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that he developed the comparison to help the public understand the environmental impact of land use decisions.

Kauffman said 50 to 60 percent of shrimp farms are located in tidal zones in Asian countries, mostly on cleared mangrove forests.

"The carbon footprint of the shrimp from this land use is about 10-fold greater than the land use carbon footprint of an equivalent amount of beef produced from a pasture formed from a tropical rainforest," wrote Kauffman in a paper, not including emissions from farm development, feeds, supplements, processing, storing and shipping. (AFP)

World's 'fattest man' needs 18 carers to keep him alive

A British man who weighs 58 stone and devours eight hotdogs for breakfast has been named the world's fattest man.

Keith Martin, 42, is so large that he is bed-ridden and he requires an army of 18 medical professionals to look after him, including ambulance staff, carers and nurses.

His needs are putting an extra drain on NHS resources and costing the taxpayer thousands of pounds.

Eight ambulance workers are required to help hoist his giant frame to a reinforced vehicle for frequent hospital visits close to his home in Harlesden, North-West London.

Trips for health checks are the only occasions in the past ten years on which he has left his bed. He also requires four carers to visit him twice a day and four nurses three times a week to wash him and monitor his health as his staggering weight is putting massive strain on his heart and other internal organs.

Medics say he would need to shed half his bulk before he could even be considered for a gastric band to aid his weight loss.

Martin took the crown of heaviest man on the planet after the previous title-holder - a 90-stone Mexican Manuel Uribe - went on a crash diet.

Uribe, 44, is still listed as the heaviest man in the Guinness Book of Records but is believed to have shrunk to a relatively svelte 31st 6lb. Martin has also overtaken another former world's heaviest man, fellow Brit Paul Mason.

Mason, a 51-year-old former postman from Ipswich, slimmed down from 70st to 49st after being warned he was dangerously close to death.

Super-sized Martin told a Channel 5 documentary, due to be aired next week, that his life of excess was triggered by the death of his mother when he was a teenager.

"My mother died when I was 16 and I didn't care about anything after that and I couldn't care less about what happened to me - I ate anything and everything," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

"I blame myself. It was my fault and I hate what I have done to myself," he added.

Martin typically starts the day with eight hot dogs and four slices of bread, or a pile of ham sandwiches followed by coffee with sugar.

Lunch includes a selection of chocolate bars, cakes, a packet of biscuits plus more coffees with sugar.

And for dinner he would have two whole roast dinners with all the trimmings, or 16 sausages plus a family-sized bag of oven chips washed down with coffee.

Martin has not had a girlfriend for 20 years and can no longer find clothes that fit him, as he is 5ft 9in with a six- foot waist.

He relies on round-the-clock support from carers and relatives with his two sisters taking it in turn to carry out house visits. He spends his days watching television and gorging on sweets, cakes, biscuits and sausages.

Martin is one of several morbidly obese Brits to appear in the TV programme Big ody Squad, which aims to raise awareness of the plight of more than a million similarly overweight people who cost taxpayers millions of pounds in home help costs every year. Credit:santabanta.com

Breast implants top list of most common plastic surgeries

Breast augmentations are the most common form of plastic surgery in America, plastic surgeons say.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of women who are getting breast implants has increased from last year.

In 2011, 307,180 women nationwide underwent a breast augmentation procedure while 296, 203 women had the same surgery in 2010.

Loyola University Health System plastic surgeons have also revealed similar trends in their practice.

“I have certainly seen an increase in elective cosmetic procedures in my practice. This is a sign the economy may be improving and people may have more disposable income to spend on cosmetic enhancements,” said Victor Cimino, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon at LUHS.

Other cosmetic surgery procedures that topped the list included: nose reshaping (243,772); liposuction (204,702); eyelid surgery (196,286); and face lifts (119,026).

The top five minimally invasive procedures were: Botulinum Toxin A (5,670,788); soft-tissue fillers (1,891,158); chemical peels (1,110,464); laser-hair removal (1,078,612); and microdermabrasion (900,439).

The least popular procedures nationwide were: pectoral implants (317), calf augmentation (405) and buttock implants (1,149).

“The top surgical procedures that we do at Loyola mirror the national statistics,” Dr. Cimino said.

“However, we opt to use various peels and lasers to rejuvenate the skin over other minimally invasive procedures such as microdermabrasion,” he added. Credit:santabanta.com

Japan scientist makes 'Avatar' robot

YOKOHAMA: A Japanese-developed robot that mimics the movements of its human controller is bringing the Hollywood blockbuster "Avatar" one step closer to reality.

Users of the TELESAR V don special equipment that allows them not only to direct the actions of a remote machine, but also to see, hear and feel the same things as their doppelganger android.

"When I put on the devices and move my body, I see my hands having turned into the robot hands. When I move my head, I get a different view from the one I had before," said researcher Sho Kamuro.

"It's a strange experience that makes you wonder if you've really become a robot," he told .

Professor Susumu Tachi, who specialises in engineering and virtual reality at Keio University's Graduate School of Media Design, said systems attached to the operator's headgear, vest and gloves send detailed instructions to the robot, which then mimics the user's every move.

At the same time, an array of sensors on the android relays a stream of information which is converted into sensations for the user.

The thin polyester gloves the operator wears are lined with semiconductors and tiny motors to allow the user to "feel" what the mechanical hands are touching -- a smooth or a bumpy surface as well as heat and cold.

The robot's "eyes" are actually cameras capturing images that appear on tiny video screens in front of the user's eyes, allowing them to see in three dimensions.

Microphones on the robot pick up sounds, while its speakers allow the operator to make his voice heard by those near the machine.

The TELESAR -- TELexistence Surrogate Anthropomorphic Robot -- is still a far cry from the futuristic creations of James Cameron's "Avatar", where US soldiers are able to remotely control the genetically engineered bodies of an extra-terrestrial race they wish to subdue.

But, says Tachi, it could have much more immediate -- and benign -- applications, such as working in high-risk environments, for example the inside of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, though it is early days.

"I think further research and development could enable this to go into areas too dangerous for humans and do jobs that require human skills," he said.

Japan's famously advanced robot technology was found wanting during the crisis at Fukushima, where foreign expertise had to be called on for the machines that went inside reactor buildings as nuclear meltdowns began.

Tachi said a "safety myth" had grown up around atomic technology, preventing research on the kind of machines that could help in the wake of a disaster.

But he said his kind of robot technology could help with the long and difficult task of decommissioning reactors at Fukushima -- a process that could take three decades.

A remote-controlled android that allows its user to experience what is happening far away may have more than just industrial applications, he added.

"This could be used to talk with your grandpa or grandma living in a remote place and deepen communications," he said. (AFP)

Whale shark, the 'biggest catch' for Pakistani fishermen

KARACHI:Fishermen killed and transported an 11-meter long whale shark, weighing in at 22 tons, to the Karachi Fish Harbour from the open seas. Although they paid Rs50,000 alone to lift and transport the carcass of this endangered sea mammal, they were only able to sell it for Rs170,000 as fish trash.

The crew of the small fishing boat, Al-Hafeez, spotted the sea giant near Ghora Bari in the Arabian sea. Experts believe that the crew fed the animal diesel or fresh water to kill it, and then towed the creature to the harbour in hopes of making a profit by auctioning it.

The dead marine mammal did not, however, prove to be worth the hectic efforts made by the fishermen: they paid Rs50,000 to crane operators to lift the dead animal out of the water, but were only able to make a few thousand each, as the animal was auctioned for Rs170, 000, according to officials at the harbour.

A large number of people had excitedly gathered at the Karachi Fish Harbour upon learning that fishermen had caught a mammoth fish; several children and adults were even seen jumping on the body of the dead whale shark.

Initially, the owner of the boat had hired two small cranes to lift the whale shark. The two cranes were unsuccessful in lifting the 22 ton animal out of the water, which prompted the boat’s owner to arrange for a single heavy-duty crane to get the job done.

Marine experts said the fish was a whale shark, scientific name Rhincodon Typus. It is better known as “Andhi Mangar” among the local fishermen. The experts said that the creature was a blind sea animal; it was not a predator, nor was at all as ferocious as it appeared, and that it probably proved easy prey for the fishermen.

Experts deplored the fact that no law existed at the provincial or federal levels to prevent the killing and sale of such a precious, rare and large fish. They stated that such animals are usually not used for human consumption, and that their killing deprives the Pakistani waters of an extremely rare organism.

Fisheries sources said the whale shark, which was sold as trash at the harbour, would not be used for preparing poultry feed. Former director KFHA and Marine expert Dr Moazzam Khan informed The News that the whale shark is an endangered species. They stressed the need to create awareness about the affects of it being hunted in Pakistani waters.

“It is of no use of humans other than that its oil is used for wooden fishing boats or for making poultry feed. I read an old article that said that Britishers living in Karachi used to hunt wale sharks in late 19th century and early 20th century, and that this practice continued till the creation of Pakistan” he recalled.

Dr Khan pointed out that this type of whale shark was an extremely vulnerable marine creature. He urged to fishermen to avoid hunting it, even though there were no laws in place against doing so.

World's 'last' First World War veteran dies

LONDON: The world's last surviving First World War veteran, whos erved in Britain's Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF), has died aged 110, British media reported.

Florence Green, who joined the WRAF as a 17-year-old in 1918, was believed to be the last veteran of the 1914-1918 conflict.

She died in her sleep at a care home in King's Lynn, eastern England, on Saturday, according to media reports.

"She led an amazing and extraordinary life," Green's daughter June Evetts told the Eastern Daily Press. "She must have seen a lot of changes in her time."

Evetts said that Green, a great-grandmother, "certainly wouldn't shout about the fact she was the last veteran".

"She was, however, very proud of what she did and we are all very proud of her," she said.

Green joined the WRAF as a mess steward two months before the armistice and served at Royal Air Force bases in Norfolk, eastern England. Though she never saw frontline action, she is classed as having served in the war.

Claude Choules, the world's last known combat veteran of what was then called the Great War, died in Australia aged 110 in May last year. (AFP)

Cancer in Egyptian mummy

CAIRO: A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment.

The genetics-environment question is key to understanding cancer.

AUC professor Salima Ikram, a member of the team that studied the mummy in Portugal for two years, said Sunday the mummy was of a man who died in his forties.

She said this was the second oldest known case of prostate cancer.

"Living conditions in ancient times were very different; there were no pollutants or modified foods, which leads us to believe that the disease is not necessarily only linked to industrial factors," she said.

A statement from AUC says the oldest known case came from a 2,700 year-old skeleton of a king in Russia. (AP)

Miami named most miserable US city

NEW YORK: Warm sun, white beaches, and million-dollar mansions notwithstanding, Miami has captured the dubious distinction of being the most miserable city in the United States, according to a new poll.

The playground of the rich and famous is home to a crippling housing crisis, one of the highest crime rates in the country, and lengthy daily commutes for workers, all of which have propelled it to the No. 1 position in the Forbes.com list.

"Miami has sun and beautiful weather but other things make people miserable. You have this two-tier society: glitzy South Beach attracts celebrities, but the income inequality has skyrocketed in recent years," explained Forbes Senior Editor Kurt Badenhausen.

The rankings are based on factors including jobless rates, violent crime, foreclosures, income and property taxes, as well as considerations like weather, commute time and political corruption.

Reeling for decades from the decline of the U.S. auto industry, Michigan's troubled duo of Detroit and Flint registered at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, among the most miserable cities.

"Detroit and Flint are struggling," said Badenhausen. "Violent crime is highest in the country in Detroit; housing prices are down 55 percent. Detroit is closing schools and laying off policemen. In recent years they have been demolishing houses to change their city landscapes"

West Palm Beach, Florida and Sacramento, California rounded out the top five cities.

"We're trying to judge cities where residents have a lot of complaints. It doesn't mean that there aren't terrific things there," he said.

And for the haves Miami's charms remain undiminished.

"The one percent in Miami is doing fantastic. But for the vast majority, who make less than $75,000 (a year), Miami can be a challenging place," he said. "Forty-seven percent of homeowners sit on underwater mortgages. That's tough." (Reuters)

26 new planets!

WASHINGTON: The US space agency recently said its Kepler space telescope mission has confirmed 26 new planets outside our solar system, all of them orbiting too close to their host stars to sustain life.

Scattered across 11 planetary systems, their temperatures would be too hot for survival, as they all circle their stars closer than Venus, the second planet from the Sun, which has a surface temperature of 464 Celsius (867 F).

But NASA scientists were still pleased with the findings, which nearly double the number of confirmed planets that Kepler has found since 2009.

"Prior to the Kepler mission, we knew of perhaps 500 exoplanets across the whole sky," said Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA headquarters.

"Now, in just two years staring at a patch of sky not much bigger than your fist, Kepler has discovered more than 60 planets and more than 2,300 planet candidates," he added.

"This tells us that our galaxy is positively loaded with planets of all sizes and orbits."

The discoveries are described in four different papers in the Astrophysical Journal and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, NASA said in a statement.

Kepler is NASA's first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting stars similar to our Sun. It launched in March 2009, equipped with the largest camera ever sent into space -- a 95-megapixel array of charge-coupled devices -- and is expected to continue its science operations until at least November 2012.

In December last year, NASA announced Kepler had confirmed its first-ever planet in a habitable zone outside our solar system, Kepler 22b, though it remained unclear whether the surface was rocky or gaseous.

Such planets have the right distance from their star to support water, plus a suitable temperature and atmosphere to support life.

Spinning around its star some 600 light years away, Kepler 22b is 2.4 times the size of the Earth and orbits its Sun-like star every 290 days.

The 26 planets that Kepler confirmed orbit their stars between every six and 143 days. (AFP)

Ten year old sets world powerlifting record

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas: Naomi Kutin, a 10-year-old girl native of Fairlawn, New Jersey, who weighs slightly less than 97 pounds, lifted 215 pounds, more than twice her body weight - setting the new world record for the Strongest 10-year-old girl, according to World Records Academy.

The previous world record for the 97 pound division was 209 pounds broken by a 44 year old European woman last summer.

The Guinness world record for the most weight squat lifted in one hour by an individual is 56,728.53 kg (125,065 lb) by Ryan Lapadat (Canada) at Goodlife Fitness in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the most weight lifted by lateral raises in one hour: 19,600 kg (43,210 lb) by Eamonn Keane (Ireland) at Louisburgh Gym in Louisburgh, Ireland.

Kutin actually regained her own world record after losing it several months ago. Kutin, who began powerlifting in April 2010, first set the 97-pound world record last July at age 9, but Geitner bested it with a 209-pound squat last September.

Kutin drew a round of applause from the onlookers as she completed the record-breaking lift.

The event, an invitational for elite powerlifters, had never invited a competitor younger than 14, but made an exception for Kutin because of her extraordinary achievements to date, her father Ed said.

"When I was younger, my friends would be doing a lot of things that I couldn't do, and I wanted to do something extraordinary," an excited Kutin said. "I wanted to break a record of some sort and I just really wanted to get this record."

"You know she gets giggly or silly in a 10-year-old girl kind of way," Naomi's Dad said.

"She's also learned a lot about psyche. In this sport, it's not just about strength, it's also about the ability to focus and psyche, and she's back there pacing and getting herself psyched and she's really doing that well too."

New record set at Wing Bowl eating extravaganza

PHILADELPHIA: More than 17,000 mostly beer-fueled spectators packed a Philadelphia indoor arena on Friday for the city's annual early morning eating extravaganza in which competitors vie to eat the most chicken wings.

Japanese champion Takeru Kobayashi, weighing just 127 pound (xx kilos) defeated his much larger opponents in the 20th annual Wing Bowl and walked away with a $20,000 prize after devouring a record-breaking 337 chicken wings during the 30-minute contest.

He easily smashed the previous record of 255 wings set by Jonathan "Super Squibb" Squibb, who had won the celebration of gluttony the previous three years, and defeated local favorite Bill "El Wingador" Simmons, a five-times champion who weighs 330 pounds.

For Gary Gladwell, 53, of Bucks County in Pennsylvania, the important event for competitive eaters was part of his birthday celebration.

"This is my first time here. I can take it off my bucket list now," he said, adding "It's definitely an experience."

The Wing Bowl is held at the Wells Fargo Center each Super Bowl weekend by WIP, a sports-talk radio station, which came up with the idea almost two decades ago as a consolation prize for fans of the Philadelphia Eagles when they fail, as they have this year, to advance to the Super Bowl.

Gladwell and his brother John, 49, of Lawrenceville, New Jersey paid $10 per seat to the extravaganza which began with a parade of small floats and scantily clad women, known as "Wingettes," each touting the eating prowess of the 26 professional eaters.

"We can't get a championship here, so we might as well have fun and I have the day off," said Pennsylvania resident Bill Cheatham.

David Allan, a pop culture expert at St Joseph's University in Philadelphia, described the event as "an indoor tailgate party."

Because it begins so early many fans of the Wing Bowl, which is aired lived on WIP, arrive in the middle of the night

"What they've done," he said of the Wing Bowl promoters, "is to make it an event not to miss. Something might happen at the Wing Bowl and you're going to want to be there."

Competitors do stunts to impress he judges but the main event is the chicken wing eating contest, which is done in two 14-minute elimination rounds and a two-minute "Wing Off.".

Christian Collazo, 33, of Philadelphia, said he showed up just for the experience.

"Last year I went to Mardi Gras. This is another thing to take off my list," he said. (Reuters)

16 million Chinese women married to gays

At least 16 million women in China are married to gays, a leading expert has said.

Professor Zhang Bei-chuan of Qingdao University, an authority on AIDS and HIV, said that due to traditional family values in China, about 90 percent of homosexual men get married because of pressure to conform.

"But their wives are struggling to cope and their plight should be recognized," The China Daily quoted him, as saying.

Xiao Yao, a 29-year-old magazine editor in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, divorced her gay husband in 2008.

"Most gay men’s wives I’ve known are silently suffering at the hands of husbands who could never love them, and like me, some even got abused by husbands who were also under great pressure," she said.

Xiao now runs a website called "Homeland of gays’ wives", which has 1,200 registered users and provides support and advice.

Zhang said that getting their voice heard was the first step to raising public awareness.

However, some within the gay community think otherwise.

Xiao Dong, a 36-year-old gay man, who heads a civil organization in HIV/AIDS prevention and control, said: "Zhang’s estimation is unsubstantiated and I even feel it’s pointless to research the issue." Credit:santabanta.com

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