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WASHINGTON ( AFP ) - – The end of the world as we know it cannot be avoided, but it can be predicted, according to a group of astrophysicists who see a 50 percent chance of the final countdown ending in 3.7 billion years. "Time is unlikely to end in our lifetime, but there is a 50 percent chance that time will end within the next 3.7 billion years," according to the team of US and Japanese scientists, who are challenging a long-standing theory of the universe. While scientists have long concluded that the universe is expanding, and will do so for an infinite period of time, the researchers say the very rules of physics suggest that "an eternally inflating universe" is far from given. "The point of this paper is to show that certain methods and assumptions that have been widely used by physicists for years -- most prominently, the use of a time cutoff in order to compute probabilities in an eternally inflating universe -- lead to the conclusion that time will en...

Barcellona. Lelaki Spanyol yang menjalani transplantasi wajah penuh pertama didunia, muncul diTV hari Senin kemarin untuk yang pertama kali setelah operasi yang dilakukan bulan Maret lalu. "Kawan, saya ingin berterima kasih kepada koordinasi rumah sakit, tim pengobatan,keluarga para donor dan keluarga saya yang telah mendukung" kata pria berusia 31 tahun ini, yang dikenal bernama Oscar. Oscar berbicara setelah keluar dari rumah sakit, agak sulit berbicara dan tidak dapat menutup mulutnya dengan wajah yang masih lebam. Oscar dikabarkan menderita cacat akibat kecelakaan tembakan 5 tahun lalu. Dia mengenakan scarf biru untuk menutupi bekas luka operasi dilehernya, rambutnya disisir ke depan untuk menutupi bekas luka operasi dikeningnya yang menurut dokter akan sembuh total dikemudian hari. Tim dokter yang terdiri dari 30 dokter ahli melakukan operas pada 20 Maret 2010 dirumah sakit Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron, atas diri Oscar yang sebelumnya mengalami kesulitan menelan, be...

The lasting fat-busting weapon may be found right in your kitchen. According to the health website WebMD, Japanese researchers said that ordinary household vinegars appear to turn on genes that help the body break down fats. This helps prevent fat buildup in the body, thwarting weight gain. Vinegar has been used in folk remedies since ancient times. In recent years, research has suggested that acetic acid, the organic chemical in vinegar which gives it its sour taste, can help control blood pressure and sugar. The Japanese researchers, led by Dr Tomoo Kondo from the Central Research Institute of the Mizkan Group Corporation, found that vinegar could influence genes link to fatty acid oxidation and heat-generating (energy-burning) proteins. They feed mice a high-fat diet. One group of mice was given vinegar through a stomach tube. Another group was given a lower dose – vinegar diluted with water – and a third group was not given vinegar. The experiment showed that all the vinegar-fed m...

Don’t compare Justin Timberlake to Michael Jackson, especially at this time when Jackson has just left us. Timberlake is nowhere near Jackson. When you say King of Pop, it’s not about who is dominating the pop music world right now. It’s about who made the pop music scene what it is today. Before Jackson, there was no one person good at both singing and dancing. He came and artistes who came after him realized they have to do both to be a pop idol. Billy Jean was the first music video from a black artist to get played on MTV. Jackson broke the color barrier in the music industry before Obama did in the politics. Give him credit for that! He was also the first artiste to incorporate complex story lines and dance techniques into a music video, transforming it from a promotional tool into an art form. Before him, a music video was a just a video showing the singer singing to the camera. Don’t forget his trademarks – the moonwalk, toe-stand, 45-degree lean, the spins, the crotch grabbing, ...

It’s been about three months since Influenza A ( H1N1 ) start hogging headlines around the world. It has been 2 months since the first H1N1 patient arrive in Singapore. Since than, Singaporean has been living with daily updates of how many people were confirm infected with the virus, how many were being quarantine and dead victim. Slowly but surely, with all the publicity, people behaviors have also started to change. From what can be observed on the street level, kiasu -ism has kicked in big-time. Worries and etiquette There is one story about a teacher who called up the parents of a pupil to take her home, because she sneezed once. Then there is the hawker at the popular food center who said to the maid ordering food: “Oi, you don’t cough here lah, I scared to get H1N1 you know.” She had cough many times without covering her mouth. Recently I observed two women on the MRT who whipped out wet wipes to wipe down the strap before holding onto it. Yet another woman held up her bo...

The Grand Canyon, the Matterhorn and the Great Barrier Reef are competing with 25 other spectacular natural landmarks in the final phase of the global poll to chose the “New 7 Wonders of Nature”. The New 7 Wonders organization, lead by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber, released its list of finalist on last Tuesday. Among them are the Amazon rain forest, the Dead Sea and Ecuador’s Galapagos islands . People can vote by internet or phone. The winner will be announced in 2011 and share in the glory already enjoyed by the seven-man made wonders chosen two years ago. Over one billion people are expected to vote. Mr. Weber said he was happy the nominees included places that lie in more than one country. Such as the Dead Sea or the Amazon rain forest, which make people work together across borders. Africa, where most people vote by mobile phones, has had the biggest increase in votes over the last few weeks. Niagara Falls will not be among the wonders because United States tourism officials hav...