Vital-Sign “Optical Monitor” to be Tested at Broadmoor

Patients at Broadmoor Hospital could be set to test a camera that remotely monitors a person’s vital signs, such as their heart rate or breathing. But before you go thinking that such cameras would, of course, be a huge invasion of the patients’ privacy, they are simply detection devices and don’t actually send pictures at all.

Broadmoor is a high-security psychiatric hospital where staff take care of around 200 men suffering from severe mental health problems.

Staff need to carry out regular checks on the patients throughout the night, to make sure they are all alive and well. However, some patients need to be checked on as many as four times in an hour. And every time a member of staff enters the room, they have to flash their torch or turn on the light so that they can see what they're doing. Of course, this is likely to disturb the patient in question.

But the optical monitors could take those checks out of the equation altogether, allowing staff to concentrate on the patients that need their help the most.

The technology, created by high-tech company Oxehealth working with Broadmoor, allows for remote monitoring of a person’s vital signs, even when they are inside a secure room.

The cameras are mounted on the wall and monitor the chest movements of a person, which helps to estimate breathing rate. Subtle changes in skin colour called by microblushes - made through the movement of blood beneath the skin - combined with a sophisticated algorithm to calculate a person's heart rate.

And as the devices uses infra-red, it works just as well in the dark as in a brightly lit room. This means that patients wouldn't have to be disturbed so often through the night, being woken up just to make sure they are still breathing.

Broadmoor clinical director and consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Amlan Basu is already thinking about the benefits of installing the technology in patients' rooms. "My hope is that... nursing staff will be freed up to perhaps spend their time more effectively by actually engaging with patients," he said.

Oxehealth has already tested the technology on premature babies and kidney patients at Oxford University Hospitals Trust. The optical monitors ran alongside conventional monitoring equipment, to test and compare their accuracy.

Both the peer-reviewed and published initial results were promising, so Oxehealth and Broadmoor have decided to step up their game. Monitors for temperature, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels are now being incorporated into the device as well.

Jonathan Chevallier, chief executive for Oxehealth, said that the technology had the potential to be extended into a broad range of settings, outside of the hospital scene. For example, optical monitors could be set up in a care home to keep an eye on residents' health, or perhaps even in prisons or on a car dashboard. Another idea is that it could give older people a little more peace of mind about their health.

“If you are over the age of 65, you probably have friends who have had a stroke,” he explained. “You probably don’t spend too much time thinking about it because it is a bit scary. But if you knew there was a technology you could have in your home… and it’s going to detect when you’re developing an irregular heartbeat, so you can see your doctor and avoid a stroke, I think that’s a massive benefit.”

To begin with, the optical monitors will be tested by volunteer staff at Broadmoor hospital. If they prove successful, some patients will be able to issue their consent to have the cameras tested on them.

England and Wales Water Charges to Fall

We don't get to tell you often enough that your bills are going to fall slightly over the next few years. But according to England and Wales water regulator Ofwat , that is just what is going to happen to your water bills.

Not including inflation, household water bills will be falling by an average of 5% by 2020. In terms of real money, this means that water bills will be around £20 less than they are today - depending on the area you live in and how much you’re paying now.

Out of the 18 water and sewage companies in England and Wales, only three had yet to have their price terms already set by Ofwat - Bristol Water (a water-only company), Thames Water and United Utilities.

These three firms have now had their price changes determined, with United Utilities informed it must cut its costs by 3%. Thames Water has been told that its rates need to fall by 5% - and not the rise of 3% it had previously proffered - and Bristol Water has to cut its own charges by a whopping 21%.

Ofwat have been able to order these price drops because of a sustained period of low interest rates, allowing the companies to borrow more cheaply for infrastructure projects which are among their most costly outgoings.

All of the water and sewage companies will still be able to add inflation, as measured by RPI, and some critics have suggested that this could actually result in the consumer paying more than they are already.

However, the CCW (Consumer Council for Water) said that these changes are the good news they appear to be for the customer.

“Most water companies and the regulator have listened to customers and delivered a deal which reflects the services they want, at a price most find acceptable,” stated CCW chief executive Tom Smith.

Cathryn Ross, Ofwat chief executive, explained that the ruling enables water companies to invest around £44 billion (about £2,000 per household) over the next five years. She said that the changes will mean customers getting more for their money.

“Where companies stepped up to do the best they could for their customers, we did not need to intervene,” she said. “But where companies fell short, we stepped in to make sure customers get a good deal. Now the hard work begins!”

She added that companies will only be able to gain the trust and confidence of their consumers if they deliver and that those that do, won’t struggle at all in the coming five years. “Those that don’t will be hit in the pocket and face a tough five years instead,” she concluded.

The companies have two months to accept the terms. If they don’t, they can seek a referral from the Competition and Markets Authority. Either way, we can look forward to the changes coming into effect from April next year.

Gecko-Gloves for Climbing Like Spiderman

Most of us would have watched Spiderman scaling the side of a building using just his hands and wondered what it would be like if it were really possible to be able to do such a thing. Well, now it is possible, thanks to scientists from Stanford University in the US.

The team, led by mechanical engineer Professor Mark Cutkosky, have developed hand pads that have been inspired by geckos. The pads were so successful that they enabled one of the team to climb and down a vertical glass wall multiple times without failing even once. Their findings have been published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface .

Geckos use something called van der Waals forces to stick to what they are climbing. The force is actually relatively weak but is multiplied by lots of tiny frills that cover the underside of a gecko’s foot. These frills, called setae, effectively increase the surface area of the toes, thus boosting the electrical attraction between the gecko and the surface it clings to and producing a dry adhesive.

The hand pads, made of silicone, use the same forces to stick to the wall, but on a larger scale. Along the same lines as a gecko’s tiny toe-hairs, the team created micro-wedges, which are small tiles that are able to harness the adhesive power.

Using this method, researchers were able to create a dry adhesive, like that from the gecko but even more efficient - which they found out during testing.

PhD candidate Elliot Hawkes was the volunteer climber to climb a 3.6m/12ft tall vertical glass wall using only a 140cm² pad on each hand. Hawkes, who weighs around 11 stone (70kg/154lb), found that the pads easily peeled on and off of the glass surface. Despite this, he was still able to test the pads hundreds of times without them losing any of their stickiness.

“As the load [on the micro-wedges] increase, the tendons and springs ensure that all tiles converge to the same maximum load,” said Professor Cutkosky. He explained that if this didn’t happen, then one of the tiles would fail. And if one tile fails, they all fail. “The failure proceeds like an avalanche across the entire array.”

One problem the team did come across, however, was that the pads didn’t perform as well on rough surfaces as on smooth, clean glass. That is the one area that a gecko is able to outperform the pads. Hawkes suggested that to overcome this, the tiles on the pads could be made smaller.

“On contaminated surfaces, even geckos have trouble producing adhesions,” Hawkes pointed out. He added that the micro-wedges on the silicone pads could be cleaned after each step using materials like sticky tape, which have a higher surface energy. This could ultimately lead to the pads becoming self-cleaning.

Professor Cutkosky explained that past efforts involving some kinds of “spider-suit” don’t work because they don’t take into account that humans tend to have more strength in their legs than in their arms. But the professor now thinks that a system could be created whereby the silicone pads on the hands were connected to the feet with cables and links to transfer the load.

Talking Therapies Shown to Reduce Suicide Risk

When it comes to illnesses like depression, many people dismiss the idea of talking therapies as something that simply doesn’t work. But according to a new study coming out of the US, talk-therapy sessions can actually reduce the risk of suicide in people who have previously attempted to take their own life.

The team from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland studied information pertaining to around 65,000 people in Denmark who had previously attempted suicide. From this group, the researchers tracked more than 23,000 individuals from this group for around 20 years.

The study, published in Lancet Psychiatry , involved 5,678 participants who volunteered to undergo six to 10 talk-therapy sessions at suicide prevention clinics around Denmark.

The idea of this form of therapy is to give people the opportunity to talk about their troubles. This is done with the help of a trained professional who also allows the patient to explore otherwise difficult feelings. Ultimately, it allows the patient to understand that they will always have someone to talk to and talks things through with.

The outcomes of the volunteers were compared with those of 17,000 people who had opted out of further treatment.

During the first year, those receiving counselling were found to be 27% less likely to attempt the act of self-harm again.

Five years down the line, this same group saw 26% fewer attempted self-harm incidents.

After 10 years, the trend continued with the positive effects of talk-therapy still evident in the group.

Study co-author Dr Elizabeth Stuart is from the university’s department of mental health. She explained that following up the study participants on such a long-term scale allowed researched to gather more accurate information on which treatments for the prevention of suicide worked best.

“Our findings provide a solid basis for recommending that this type of therapy be considered for populations at risk from suicide,” Dr Stuart declared.

Lead researcher Dr Annette Erlangsen agreed, explaining that people who had tried to commit suicide once were at high-risk of attempting to do so again, and something needs to be done to help these people.

“We did not know what would be effective in terms of treatment,” Dr Erlangsen explained. “Now we have evidence that psychosocial treatment (which provides support, not medication) is able to prevent suicide in a group at high-risk.”

The researchers still plan to gather as much more information as they can on the specific types of talking therapies and which ones work best. However, they agree that providing somewhere safe and confidential for the patient to talk was essential for the success of such therapy sessions. Ultimately, the study results just go to show that talking therapies might not be something to be dismissed so easily, and could provide the sort of long-term help that doesn't come from taking medication.

Wikipedia Page-Views Can Predict Disease Outbreaks

Trying to stay ahead of outbreak trends is not an easy task. It usually involves laboratory tests, collecting data, calls to doctors’ surgeries and trying to keep track of the number of people who visit health facilities. This process might be accurate, but it is also slow and expensive, and by the time an outbreak is being announced to the publicly, it had already been in effect for a couple of weeks.

But some scientists in the US have published a new study in PLOS Computational Biology with a promising suggestion. They say that the number of views a disease-related page on Wikipedia has could actually predict an outbreak of a disease nearly a month before official health advice.

The team, from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, explained that this was because people check out their symptoms online before seeking professional medical help. So, as part of their study, the researchers tracked the number of page-views on related pages between 2010 and 2013.

Wikipedia is an open-data site, which means that hourly traffic data on all pages is publicly available. But because this data doesn’t indicate which country a Wikipedia search has been made in, the language the information was written in was mapped by the researchers. This was able to give them an potential location of the person making the search.

The data was then compared with national health surveillance information on disease outbreaks. And using their Wiki-system, the team were able to forecast outbreaks of influenza, tuberculosis, and dengue fever in different countries. In eight out of 14 cases, this forecast was up to four weeks in advance of the news being announced by health officials.

Dr Sara Del Valle, lead researcher and co-author of the paper, said that a disease-forecasting system that can work on a global scale would greatly benefit the way we respond to epidemics.

“In the same way we check the weather each morning, individuals and public health officials can monitor disease incidence and plan for the future based on today’s forecast,” Dr Del Valle explained. She added that the ultimate aim of the research was to create a disease monitoring and forecasting system with both open data and open source code and that the research paper demonstrated that this was possible.

At the moment, it is unclear how the system would be able to work in a region where there is little-to-no internet access - and therefore limited access to Wikipedia. However, the team has indicated that it might be possible to create a trainable prediction model for their system. This would take the available data from one region and apply it to another region where the information is either less readily available or less reliable.

Although some experts have expressed some doubts about how such a system could be applied on a global scale, the US scientists have demonstrated that we may have to look for out-of-the-box solutions. And as the team pointed out: “Our Wikipedia-based approach is sufficiently promising to explore in more detail.”

Life-Size Katniss Sponge is Icing on the Cake…

Last year, Lara Clarke from the West Midlands made headlines around the world with her entry in the Cake International bakers’ competition in Birmingham. Swaying rather far from traditional cakes, Lara's “almost life-sized” cake of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean certainly gave spectators something to talk about..

“The judges are probably more used to seeing three-tier wedding cakes than giant Jack Sparrows,” Lara said at the time. And she wasn’t far wrong - the judges certainly were surprised at her entry.

Lara had only been baking for two years previously, with her first attempt at a decorated cake - outside of home economics, that is - being for her mother-in-law’s silver wedding anniversary. “I thought [the cake] was rubbish,” she said, “but everyone else seemed to like it.”

Since then, Lara has expanded her cake-baking repertoire to include a variety of novelty cakes, such as a motorbike and the Grinch (standing at 4ft/1.2m tall). She has also created a cake replica of her mother-in-law, though nothing on the same scale as Captain Jack.

While her regular job saw her working for a bingo website, Lara said that she learnt her skills from watching tutorial videos on YouTube (which is how pretty much everybody learns pretty much everything nowadays).

One evening, whilst watching Pirates of the Caribbean and on the phone to her friend, it was suggested to Lara that she should enter the Cake International competition. Glancing at the screen, she saw Johnny Depp as Captain Jack and thought he would be the perfect model for a cake because of all the different fabrics he wears could translate well into different textures.

Overall, it took her 90 hours over three months to make the 5ft 5in (1.65m) tall cake out of crisped rice and marshmallows. Detail was added with both royal and fondant icing as well as edible paint. However, because of what the cake was made from, it didn’t need baking and some people suggested that it didn’t pass for a cake.

Regardless, because the cake was so big, Lara had to hire a minibus to transport it to the competition, where cake fans and judges marvelled at the almost life-sized creation.

This year, Lara decided to go bigger, this time creating two entries for the competition. One was based on Tyrion Lannister, her favourite Game of Thrones character, and the other was a life-size model of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. And to ensure that Katniss was indeed precisely to scale, Lara even researched Jennifer Lawrence’s measurements online.

Being a huge fan of both made the task even more a sweet treat for Lara. And to hush the potential nay-sayers, both Katniss and Tyrion are sponge cakes. A total of 10kg/22lbs of flour, 10kg/22lbs of butter, an astonishing 150 eggs, and two-and-half months were used to create alternating chocolate and vanilla sponge layers, which were then crafted around frames.

Both cakes were entered into the Decorative Exhibit category of the competition. Tyrion Lannister won Lara one of the silver ribbons, while Katniss achieved a coveted gold.

For Lara, it is too soon to think about what her entry might be for next year, but there is no doubt that cake enthusiasts around the world will be waiting with bated breath and sweet tooth.

Alibaba Breaks Records with Singles’ Day

Within only the first 17 hours of China’s “Singles’ Day” shopping event, online-retail giant Alibaba had already smashed sales records, ultimately improving on last year’s sales figures by a whopping 62%.

Singles’ Day is an annual online shopping event based in China, held on November 11 every year. The day was originally created by students at Nanjing University who wanted a sort of anti-Valentine’s Day where people could celebrate their single-ness and buy things for themselves. The date - 11/11 - is even thought to have been chosen for its four single ones.

Alibaba then adopted Singles’ Day in 2009 in a bid to boost sales. Which is exactly what it did, because, since then, the event has gone on to become one of - if not the - biggest 24-hour online sales in the world. It even rivals Cyber Monday, held the Monday after Thanksgiving in the US and the online equivalent of Black Friday.

Last year’s Singles’ Day saw Alibaba bringing in record sales of $5.75 billion (£3.65 billion) and shipping more than 150 million packages. But before this year’s sale even took off, the company said it was expecting to break records, helping this along by offering huge discounts to customers.

It also didn’t hurt that advertising for the event began at the beginning of October, and customers were able to place deposits for their items, securing them for the full payment on the actual day.

Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairperson of Alibaba, estimated that around 200 million packages would be sent out just for orders made on the day. “I bet the number [of goods bought] is going to be scary!” he added.

And he was right.

Only 18 minutes into the day and the company had already made the equivalent of its first billion dollars. After the first hour, $2 billion (£1.3 billion) of goods had already been sold.

Seventeen hours in, the firm had hit $6.96 billion (£4.5 billion), wiping the record and leaving industry experts predicting that sales could surpass $8 billion (£5.1 billion) this year.

And surpass it, it did, reaching an astounding $9.3 billion (£5.9 billion).

This year’s event attracted the participation of global brands numbering in their tens of thousands, reaching shoppers in more than 200 countries.

“Lots of clients from the brands side have for the first time approached Singles’ Day as an event of its own,” said Shaun Rein from Shanghai’s China Market Research (CMR) . He explained that these clients have now earmarked Singles’ Day as a significant retail operation, on par with the Chinese New Year and Christmas.

Alibaba are obviously doing something right, and we can only wait and see what they do to break sales records for next year… and they have 12 months to work on it.

SWAT Superheroes “Save” Children’s Hospital

Children who are ill enough to have to spend time in hospital miss out on a lot of fun, especially if they have to stay in for the holidays.

For residing patients at Ohio’s Promedica Toledo Children’s Hospital in the US, it is the same story. Being too ill to go out and trick-or-treat, the children were disappointed to be missing out on Halloween.

That is - until they got caught up in a special heist to save the city from the evil Dr Trickster!

Watching a newsflash on television inside the hospital, patients at the children’s hospital were informed that Dr Trickster wanted to ruin Halloween for everyone in Toledo. He had stolen all of the city’s Halloween candy to fuel his winter-weather device.

But all was not lost! The newscaster announced that help was on the way in the form of superheroes who would be converging on the roof of the children’s hospital. To help, all of the children had to dress up in Halloween costumes donated by a local charity and stand at the front fifth-floor window waving glowsticks, signalling the heroes where to go.

Once the helicopters had dropped the heroes onto the roof, they scaled down the building, waving at the children as they passed their window.

After reaching the ground, the superheroes faced their foe and managed to capture him. The patients and their families then watched a video showing Dr Trickster being led into custody by the Toledo police SWAT team.

After they had “saved the day” the heroes gathered inside to meet the children and their families and to have hugs and pictures taken.

The members of the SWAT team that had led Dr Trickster away were actually the same people behind the superhero masks. They had been inspired to give the young children a Halloween to remember after hearing stories of window-washers elsewhere who would dress up in the same way and surprise sick children.

Police patrolman Matt Slaman, also known as Wolverine, described the whole experience as both cool and awesome. “To see all the kids, as you are going down the floor; all those people in their rooms, you can see their faces light up,” he said. “So, you’re really seeing you are bringing some joy in their life.”

These people gave the children a Halloween when they would otherwise have missed out because of their illnesses, and gave them some happy memories of their time in hospital. If you want to watch them in action, there is a video below. And if you want to check out more photos of the day, you can on the hospital’s Facebook page .

As you can see from the children’s face, these SWAT superheroes certainly “saved” Halloween for them!

[video width="570" height="275" id="Nsw17DOEzTs" type="youtube"]

“Beautiful Buddhist Monks” Fashion Show!

Shingon Buddhists in Japan have taken a rather unconventional approach - for them, anyway - to celebrate their 1,200th anniversary next year…

But first, what is a Buddhist? Well, some describe it as a religion, some, a philosophy, others, simply a better way of life.

Whichever way you look at it, the ultimate ambition of a Buddhist is to reach Nirvana, which is a state of enlightenment. To do this, a Buddhist must free themselves of the suffering of an eternity of reincarnation by removing greed, ignorance and hatred from their lives. They must live a good life because when a person does good, good consequences will come of it and vice versa.

Shingon Buddhism is one of the mainstream schools of Buddhism and one of the few surviving lineages the originally spread to China and Japan from India in the 3rd and 4th century.

Kōyasan Shingon-shū is the oldest and largest of the 18 Shingon sects in Japan. The main temple of this sect, Kongōbu-ji, is located on Mount Kōya, known locally as Kōyasan.

Next year marks the 1,200th anniversary of the opening of a discipline-training hall on the mountain, and the Buddhists monks wanted to do something special to bring the public’s attention to Mount Kōya. So they held an event called “Kōyasan Festa in Nara - Ikunara Kōyasan”, the last part of which means, “If you want to go somewhere, you should go to Mount Kōyasan.”

But what was this event, we hear you ask? The Buddhist monks held a fashion show!

The fashion show was organised by the monks’ young teacher association, which saw 10 of its 1,500 members become models for the day. The theme of the show was “Bi-bozu”, which literally means, “Beautiful Buddhist Monks”.

The monks took the catwalk in front of an audience of around 300, wearing outfits that are rarely seen by the public. Some of the modelled pieces are normally only worn by high-ranking monks. The audience, most of whom were women, were cheering the monks on and shouting their adoration.

After the fashion show, a commemorative photo session was held on the catwalk stage for the audience and the monks.

Nao Ozu, 35, was one of the members of the audience who enjoyed the show. “All of the monks are really handsome,” she said, “I was excited.”

One of the models, Shuchi Matsuki, had been nervous about participating in the event. “I was a little bit embarrassed,” he said, “but I enjoyed playing the role of model.”

UK Rubbish Heating Denmark’s Homes

Regarding rubbish in the UK, there is no doubting the landfill problems we often hear about. But did you know that last year alone we exported around 200,000 tonnes of the stuff - to Denmark?

And over the last year or so, that figure has doubled. But what are they doing with it? Well, they are turning it into heating for their radiators and lights for their lamps - generally creating energy for their homes. And the scheme has been such a success that is is spreading across the country.

Waste management company ASØ provides heating and power for the citizens of Frederikshavn, a town in northeast Denmark. They import non-hazardous waste - such as cardboard, wood and plastic - mainly from construction sites in Manchester, burn it in incinerators to turn it into home energy.

The UK rubbish stands 3m (10ft) high and 15m (50ft) wide, wrapped in big bales like something you would see in a hay field during harvest.

“I guess we have 600 tonnes here that provide a good combustible mixture,” said AVØ Operations Manager Orla Frederiksen, explaining that this concoction is just right to convert into district heating and power.

Waste now accounts for around 15% of the fuel in Denmark, with just under half of that rubbish coming from the UK.

And, according to AVØ Director, Tore Vedelsdal, creating energy by burning rubbish is actually cheaper than using natural gas. “The British are interested because they lack incinerators and pay heavy taxes on their landfills,” he explained. “They save having to bury the waste and we save on the consumption of natural gas.”

Using waste as fuel is a method slowly spreading across Denmark, with rubbish from the UK also being burned in incinerators in the towns of Aalborg and Hjørring as well.

Amanda Hill, who is researching waste management at Aalborg University, agrees with the scheme. She said that anything that involves the rubbish not ending up in a landfill is considered good for the environment.

“But we must be careful that we do not build as much incineration capacity that it prevents a shift to a greener technology in the future,” she added.

So, could Denmark hold the key to the rubbish solutions of the future? We’ll just have to wait and see...

A Cancer Sensor from Google?

Google is working on new technology that could potentially diagnose health problems like cancer or heart attacks at a much earlier stage than is currently possible.

As with treatment of many diseases, early diagnosis is key. Unfortunately, many can only be detected when they have already passed the treatable stage and have become fatal.

But there are clearly noticeable differences between cancerous cells and healthy ones, and Google wanted to tap into that to see if it could be used as a sort of early warning system.

The company’s research division, Google X, which investigates potentially revolutionary innovations, may have come up with a workable concept. This would involve combining a special pill and a sensor worn on the body that could alert the wearer of possible malignant cells.

The pill would contain nanoparticles that would enter the bloodstream when swallowed, and different nanoparticles could be tailored for different conditions. For example, the microscopic particles could be designed to stick to cancerous cells, or find evidence of heart attack-causing fatty plaques breaking from the lining of blood vessels.

So, the patient swallows the pill containing nanoparticles, which then travel through the body looking for identifying cells.

“What we are trying to do is change medicine from reactive and transactional to proactive and preventative,” explained molecular biologist Dr Andrew Conrad, head of life sciences for Google X. “Nanoparticles give you the ability to explore the body at a molecular and cellular level.”

The team has also been exploring ways of using magnetism with these nanoparticles. This means that the particles could be controlled - to an extent - and temporarily concentrated in a single area. Using this method, they could be called back to the wrist to report their findings to a sensory device worn on that part of the body.

Google X’s ultimate ambition is to create a wristband that would be able to take nanoparticle readings through light or radio waves at least once a day.

But Dr Conrad stressed that these devices would not be given out or sold on a commercial scale as consumer devices, and Google has no intention of monetising the technology. In fact, apparently the only reason that the project has been made public knowledge now is because the company is looking to establish partnerships. These partners could then take the tech to doctors and patients.

And anyone worried that Google would use the information gathered from the sensors to create a sort of person-based health database can stay rest assured that this is not the intention at all.

“[The devices] are prescriptive medical devices,” Dr Conrad explained, “and you know that doctor-patient relationships are pretty privileged and would not involve Google in any way.”

The “Miraculous Recovery” of the Galapagos Tortoise

The dwindling numbers of the Galapagos tortoises have been something of great concern for conservationists for decades. But now, after 40 years of hard work, the Galapagos Island of Española now has a stable and breeding population of giant tortoises.

In the 1960s, tortoise numbers had fallen so dramatically that there were only 15 left - 12 females and three males. The creatures were so rare that they had trouble finding each other on the island, and the females hadn’t mated in so long that lichen and fungi were growing on their shells.

But a detailed study Española Island’s ecosystem, published in PLOS ONE , has confirmed that the danger of extinction appears to be a thing of the past. This is all thanks to a reintroduction programme started in 1973 by the Galapagos National Park Service.

Galapagos tortoises can weigh up to 250kg (40 stone) and live up to 170 years. And yet, there are only 11 subspecies left. The animals are important to their environment because they are what are called “ecosystem engineers”. This means that their way of life helps to make life possible for other species of animals as well, in the arid landscape of the Galapagos Islands.

For example, cacti provide food for various songbirds and reptiles, as well as the tortoises. The tortoises mainly eat the cacti’s pads and fruit, the seeds of which are then spread around the island through the animals’ droppings, growing into plants to feed the various creatures, and so on.

The 15 tortoises from Española were taken to an enclosure on another island where focus went on breeding the animals. Since then, more than 1,500 offspring have since been released onto Española, and these are breeding well enough for the population to be maintained unaided.

The study’s lead author was Professor James Gibbs, from the State University of New York’s College of Environment Science and Forestry, or SUNY-ESF . He described the programme as “a miraculous conservation success” resulting in around 1,000 tortoises on the island breeding on their own.

“The population is secure,” he said. “It is a rare example of how biologists and managers can collaborate to recover a species from the brink of extinction.”

His team found that more than half of the tortoises that had been released since the programme was started in the 1970s were still alive. He said that he felt honoured to be reporting the obvious success of the programme but that there was still work to be done.

But this work is more to do with the ecosystem of the island itself. Feral goats - introduced in the 1800s and since removed from the island - stripped the land of its undergrowth, resulting in bigger, woodier plants. These prove a hindrance for such creatures as an endangered albatross. The large, ungainly birds breed on the island, but struggle to take flight with the tree-like plants in the way.

“Population restoration is one thing, but ecological restoration is going to take a lot longer,” Professor Gibbs pointed out.

But it looks like the tortoise “ecosystem engineers” will be able to help with that. And when it comes to the no-longer-endangered animal... “It looks like we’re no longer needed,” the professor concluded. “The tortoises can take care of themselves.”

Teens Pull Woman from Path of Oncoming Train

Like something you would see in a television show or movie cliffhanger, a woman feared for her life as she was stuck in the path of an oncoming train. Luckily for her, two teenagers happened to be driving past at just the right time to stop and pull her to safety.

Colton Essary, 16, and Maddie Hand, 17, were driving back to Frankfort Community High School in Illinois after lunch when they noticed a woman had fallen onto the nearby train tracks. She was screaming for help and an oncoming train was quickly approaching.

The unnamed elderly woman had been crossing the tracks when she had tripped on them, breaking her wrist as she landed so she was unable to get back up.

“We just happened to take the back way back to school and happened to be there,” Colton said.

Maddie, the passenger in the car, pointed out the woman's situation to Colton. But Maddie was so scared that the train was going to pass at any moment that all she could do was tightly close her eyes and pray that everything would be alright.

Colton quickly parked in the middle of the road and raced out of the car in the hope of reaching the woman before the train - travelling at 50mph (80.5kph) - did.

And they made it - just in time!

“It wasn’t really something you had time to think about,” Colton said of his actions. “I had an obligation to help." He added that if he hadn't have made it to the woman soon enough, or had just let it happen right in front of him without doing anything to stop it, then he wouldn't have been able to live with himself.

Speaking to the grateful woman later, Colton found out that she had seven grandchildren and was so happy to be returning to them with only a broken arm.

Colton described the whole affair as simply a traumatic event and that he was thankful that it had turned out okay.

Principal Bethany Shaw, of the teens’ school, said that the pair’s lateness after lunch was struck off the record because of their good deed.

“I am glad they were aware of what was going on and able to help her when she needed it,” the principal said. “Maddie and Colton are shining examples to our student body.”

New York Opens 100-Year-Old Time Capsule

On May 23, 1914, the Lower Wall Street Business Men’s Association in New York was commemorating several great events in the country's history, including the “union of the Colonies” - the birth of the USA - exactly 140 years before.

The men decided to fill a great bronze box with various documents pertaining to the history of Wall Street and the interests of the people who ran it. They also included a programme with the current day’s proceedings and a copy of an iconic 1774 letter, from New York to Boston, urging the colonies to unit.

Former mayor and current Chamber of Commerce President Seth Low then handed the box to the New York Historical Society . He explained that the 1774 letter inside was “the first suggestion of a union of the colonies in connection with the then approaching conflict with the mother country”. The historical society was given instructions for the box to remain sealed until the Colony Union’s 200th birthday, in 1974. (You can read the New York Times account of events at the time here .)

But when 1974 rolled around, the box was still gathering dust in the society’s warehouse. It is thought that the city’s fiscal crisis of the time might have something to do with the box being forgotten. On top of this, the people behind the capsule in the first place, the Lower Wall Street’s Business Men’s Association, didn’t actually exist anymore.

Almost 25 years later, in 1998, the New York Historical Society’s Decorative Arts Curator Marji Hofer was cataloguing artefacts in that very same warehouse when she came upon the bronze box.

“On October 11, 1614, the Dutch Republic granted a charter and a three-year fur trading monopoly to the New Netherland Company,” said Professor Nick Yablon, a historian with the society and something of an expert on time capsules. “It was this event that the Wall Street merchants were celebrating in 1914.” He suggested that as the original opening date had passed, the chest should be opened in 2014 to celebrate 400 years since the trade agreement.

So last week, a crowd gathered around the historical society’s CEO Dr Louise Mirrer, with art handlers Daniel Santiago and Richard Miller, waiting for the chest to be unsealed for the first time in a century.

“The very concept of a time capsule - a cache of materials that helps future generations understand the past - goes to the heart of the New York Historical Society’s missions,” stated Dr Mirrer.

Once the box had been opened, Professor Yablon was the one to remove the contents: the documents and news reports from 1914 and the 1774 - and a message from the past.

“There was also a telegram from the governor of New York which is partly addressed to the time capsule organiser,” said the professor, “but also to the future governor of New York in 1974.”

Given that the time capsule was opened forty years later than it was meant to have been, it has become the world’s oldest example of one - created before the phrase “time capsule” had even been put to use.

The bronze box is now going to preserved using modern techniques, resealed and stored for its next scheduled opening in 2074, which it will no doubt create the same sense of wonder - if not more so - as it caused in this day and age.

In celebration of the whole event, high-school students from the historical society’s internship programme have created a time capsule of their own, hoping for it to be opening in a century’s time. Of course, as these are teenagers and not businessmen from Wall Street, the contents of this new time capsule are going to be a little different.

Some of the contributions include - among other things - an iconic New York paper coffee cup, a subway poster, a library card from the New York Public Library, a gay pride Tshirt, a Kindle, and a number of popular websites stored on a flash drive. But just so the business people of the future don’t feel left out, a copy of The Economist was also thrown in for good measure. We can only imagine what future generations will make of all that!

Mental Health Waiting Time Targets Unveiled

For the first time, waiting time targets have been unveiled for people with mental health conditions. These targets are to be introduced from April next year, in a move that has been greatly welcomed by mental health charities.

Every year, mental health issues are thought to be accountable for 70 million lost working days, a total estimated cost to the economy of around £100 billion. According to the NHS , a quarter of all people will suffer with some kind of mental health problem in their lifetime. And yet, mental health is still such a taboo subject to talk about.

The waiting time targets were announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who has addressed the House of Commons with his first speech on the topic. The idea is to bring mental health patients up the same level of priority as those with physical health problems.

“It is wrong that [someone] needing a hip operation can expect treatment within a clear timeframe,” Mr Clegg explained. “But someone with a debilitating mental health condition has no clarity about when they will get help.”

So, from next April, at least 95% of people diagnosed with depression will have begun talking therapy within 18 weeks of diagnosis.

On top of this, young people suffering through their first case of psychosis will be put on a course of treatment as quickly as within a fortnight of their initial diagnosis, which is the same target length of waiting time as a cancer patient.

And patients who are thought to be suicidal will be treated with the same level of urgency as suspected heart attack sufferers because the cases will be considered the same imminent risk to a person’s life.

Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat Health Minister, described the set up before - of not treating mental health conditions with the same priority as physical health problems - as discrimination. “If you have cancer, you get access to a specialist within two weeks,” he said, “If you have a first episode of psychosis, it is completely haphazard and that is outrageous.”

“There is a moral and economic case to do this,” he added, explaining that to obtain genuine mental and physical health equality would be a truly pivotal achievement.

In his speech, Mr Clegg said that although progress has been made in fighting the stigma surrounding mental health, more needs to be done to raise awareness. He believes that discussing anxiety or depression should be just as acceptable as talking about a sprained ankle.

“If you are having a breakdown, if you are thinking of harming yourself, for any emergency that takes you to A&E, you will get the help you need, just as if you had gone to hospital with chest pains or following an accident,” he explained. “These are big, big changes.”

RoomAlive: Turning a Whole Room into a Gaming System

You may have heard of the holodeck from Star Trek - an enclosed room in which people and objects are simulated and holographic images are projected. Inside the holodeck, you can be anywhere you want to be and it has been the pipe dream of technology companies for decades to be able to create one.

But it could become a reality! Or, at least, something very similar to a holodeck has finally been created!

Microsoft has created a prototype gaming system that turns a whole room into an interactive, augmented reality display. RoomAlive is able to turn any room into an interactive gaming space, building heavily on another research project called IllumiRoom that Microsoft unveiled last year.

IllumiRoom used a projection system linked to a next-gen Xbox that was about to be unveiled, and showed that gaming could be extended from just being displayed on the television to cover the surrounding walls, as well.

But while IllumiRoom focused mainly on expansive display, RoomAlive is all about user interaction. Just like IllumiRoom, RoomAlive combines Xbox Kinect technology and projectors, but users can actually interact with the projections.

“RoomAlive enables any space to be transformed into an augmented, interactive display,” explained Hrvoje Benko, one of the researchers behind the project. “Users can touch, shoot, stomp, dodge, and steer projected content that seamlessly coexists with their existing physical environment.”

But how is this done? Depth cameras are mounted on the ceiling of the room and are able to work out the dimensions of the room so that any surface inside can be used as a display. Six Kinect sensors keep tabs on gamers in the room, tracking the positions of their heads to make sure that content is rendered appropriately.

The Microsoft research team released video demonstrations of players using RoomAlive, showing virtual critters scurrying over all surfaces, with users shooting and hitting them. One demonstration showed a player controlling a projected robot that could shoot projected "bad guys" that would appear from behind the room’s furniture.

“With enough computing power, depth cameras, and projectors, it is possible to create these immersive environments within an ordinary living space,” Benko said. “Augmented reality fundamentally changes the nature of communication, with rich interactions not just for entertainment, but also for work and collaboration.”

Sadly, RoomAlive is currently just a proof-of-concept gaming system, showing what is possible to be created. The combination of the video projectors and multiple Kinect sensors is considered too expensive to roll out commercially at the moment. However, Microsoft does envision a future where the technology could be produced on a smaller scale and at a cost that would be appealing to customers.

Either way, RoomAlive might not be a holodeck just quite yet, but it is certainly a great big step closer to one, and therefore something to be very excited about.

More Children Passing Y1 Phonics Test

New government figures from the Department for Education (DfE) have shown that more five- and six-year-old children in Year One in England are meeting the expected standard in the phonics test.

The test requires pupils to spell out a combination of real words and “non-words” that allow the child to blend common sounds together to form longer words. This method has been shown to help the majority of children learn to read more accurately and fluently.

If the child does not meet the expected standard of phonic-decoding in the Year-One check, they have to take the test again a year later, when they are in Year Two.

In 2012, only 58% of Year-One children passed the check. This figure rose to 69% for 2013, and the statistics for this year have shown that just shy of three-quarters of pupils - 74% - were at the expected level.

According to the DfE, this means that around 100,000 more children have benefited from learning to read and spell through the phonics method than two years ago, helping them to get “on track to become excellent readers”.

Pupils from Year One weren’t the only ones to see an increase of passes though, as the number of Year Twos passing the check also increased.

And although there has always been an attainment gap between children from disadvantaged families and their better-off classmates, this gap closed minutely by 1% between 2013 and 2014.

“For too long, thousands of young people, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, were allowed to slip through the net and fall behind on reading,” said Schools Minister Nick Gibb.

Mr Gibb said the statistics were “irrefutable evidence that [the government’s] plan for education is working”. He added that more and more schools are using the phonics method in a way that was helping their pupils to learn to read properly.

It was also found that almost all of the children who passed the phonics test the first time around went on to either meet or exceed reading level benchmarks for Year Two.

Should We Cut Down on TV?

How much television do you watch each day? According to new guidelines from NICE , if you are trying to watch your weight, then it might be too much.

NICE - or the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence - have updated their guidance on tackling obesity for the first time in eight years, with one of the new recommendations being to limit your TV-viewing to only two hours a day. You could even opt for a whole day free of television at least once a week.

Obesity rates have almost doubled in England over the last ten years, with a quarter of adults and 20% of schoolchildren now obese. That's one of the issues that NICE hope to address with their guidance update, helping people lead healthier lives.

“Obesity rates… continue to be a huge concern for local authorities and the health service in England,” said NICE’s Professor Mike Kelly. He added that while there are already guidelines on tackling obesity, the latest update focuses on ways that individuals can help reduce their own risk of becoming overweight or obese.

Professor Kelly explained that maintaining a healthy weight can be done by making sure our energy intake from food and drink (ie: calories) doesn’t exceed the energy we use through daily activities. The guidelines are a way of giving people advice that is “more specific and based on real evidence”, helping them to keep the weight off after losing it in the first place.

“We all know we should probably take the stairs rather than the lift, cut down on TV time, eat more healthily and drink less alcohol,” he said. He acknowledged that it can be difficult for us to know what the most useful changes to our day-to-day lives can be when it comes to our weight and health.

One of the recommendations is to become more active, such as walking or cycling to work or school, or taking up an active hobby, like swimming, dancing or football. Another is limiting the amount of television we watch, as mentioned before, and not eating our meals in front of the TV.

We should also be making sure we get enough sleep at night and having breakfast in the morning. The first meal of the day kick-starts our metabolism and people who eat a healthy breakfast have been shown to fare better at losing weight than those who forgo the “most important meal of the day” entirely.

The guidelines indicate that we should be indulging in fast-food or takeaways are rarely as possible, as well as cutting down on drinks with added sugar in them, including sports drinks. We should also consider adopting a healthy Mediterranean diet, which you can learn more about here . And let's not forget the old classic: cutting down on alcohol and all of its extra “hidden” calories.

While these suggestions may all seem rather obvious (we have definitely heard them before!), we need all the help we can get when it comes to the fight against obesity. And it can't hurt to try. As Professor Kelly points out: “Following a healthy diet and being more physically active is important for everyone, not just if you are already overweight or obese.”

New Molecule Discovery: Milky Way Yields More Secrets

Something wonderful has been discovered 27,000 light-years away in the centre of the Milky Way - iso-propyl cyanide!

Okay, so it doesn’t sound very exciting, but does actually suggest that the life-bearing chemistry and building blocks of life could be widespread throughout our galaxy. This makes it more probable that there is life out there other than us on Earth.

What makes this discovery so important is that iso-propyl cyanide is the first of the organic molecules to have been discovered in interstellar space to have a branched carbon structure. This means that the molecule is also closer to the complex molecule of life than any previous finding. The research has been published in Science .

And what does all that mean? Well, some of the more complex branched molecules that are necessary for life on Earth, such as amino acids, could have originated in interstellar space. (That's the physical space in our galaxy not occupied by other planetary systems or stars.)

The molecule was discovered by astronomers in Germany Using the telescopes at the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) observatory in Chile. The twenty huge telescopes - around 39ft/12m tall - were able to detect the iso-propyl cyanide in a giant gas cloud in our Milky Way called Sagittarius B2.

The region has stars forming in it, and as they are born, surrounding microscopic dust particles are heated up. This in turn initiates a chemical reaction on the surface of the dust that allows for complex molecules like iso-propyl cyanide to form. These molecules emit a radiation signal that was able to be detected as radio waves by the ALMA telescopes.

“Amino acids on Earth are the building blocks of proteins, and proteins are very important for life as we know it,” said study lead Dr Arnaud Belloche from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy . “The question is, is there life somewhere else in the galaxy?”

He explained that each molecule emits a different frequency, and his team needs to work out which frequencies belong to which molecule. And now that they know that molecules like the iso-propyl cyanide can be found in interstellar space, they can keep an eye out for more.

“The detection of a molecule with branched carbon backbone… shoes that interstellar chemistry is indeed capable of producing molecules with such a complex, branched structure,” Dr Belloche concluded. “The idea is to know whether the elements that are necessary for life to occur can be found in other places in the galaxy.”

Who is More Moral: the Religious or Non-Religious?

It really is one of those controversial questions: is a religious person, in fact, more moral than an atheist?

You may very well already have your opinion on that matter, but new research from Germany, the Netherlands and the US might surprise you…

Religious and non-religious people are just as moral - and immoral - as each other.

Previous psychological studies about morality were through laboratory observations, but this latest study aimed at a different approach. Led by Professor Dr Wilhelm Hofmann from Germany's University of Cologne, the team sought to assess just how morality plays out in people’s everyday lives and were able to catch a glimpse into how people really think about it.

The study involved more than 1,250 people between the ages of 18 and 68, and all were from either Canada or the US. To begin with, they were all surveyed to find out how religious they felt they were, ranging from “not at all” to “very much”. They also indicated where they fell on the political spectrum, from “very conservative” to "very liberal".

The next phase of the study saw the participants going about their everyday lives for three days. During that time, they received five texts a day asking them if they had heard of, experienced or committed any moral or immoral acts. If they replied with a “yes”, the team sent back follow-up questions so that the subject could describe their experience and their reaction to it.

In total, the team received more than 13,000 responses from the study participants, nearly 4,000 of which were actual moral or immoral acts. There was also a broad range of acts described, from “I gave a homeless man an extra sandwich I had” to “Hired someone to kill a muskrat that is ultimately not causing any harm”.

Several judges, who didn’t know anything about the study nor the participants involved, independently rated each of the acts that were texted through. On average, the judges only differed in opinion to the participant about the morality of an act less than 1% of the time.

Publishing the results in Science , the team found that subjects were more likely to admit carrying out moral acts than committing immoral ones, but relayed that they heard about immoral acts more frequently.

Overall, the team concluded that the religious members of the study reported experiencing more or less the same number of moral acts as their non-religious counterparts. The only real differences that were found between the two groups were that religious people tended to be more emotional in their reaction to an event, while non-religious people seemed calmer about them.

It was a similar story when comparing liberals and conservatives. “Liberals more often mention moral phenomena related to fairness and honesty,” explained study co-author Professor Daniel Wisneski from New Jersey’s Saint Peter’s University. “Conservatives more often mention moral phenomena related to loyalty and disloyalty, or sanctity and degradation.”

The findings provide us with a small peek into how moral people are, and psychologists are hoping to use more smartphone surveys in the future to further investigate how we interact with each other in the real world, outside of a laboratory environment.

So there you have it. Neither religious nor non-religious people can claim to have the moral high ground because everyone is just as bad (and good) as each other.

Goodbye to the Smear Test?

Could we be saying “goodbye” to the cervical smear test? The uncomfortable necessity that women have to go through every three years could become a thing of the past with self-testing urine kits, according to researchers in England and Spain.

Cervical screening is available to women in Wales between the ages of 20 and 64. In Scotland, it's between the ages of 20 and 60, though next year this will be extended to 64. In England and Northern Ireland, women are offered smear tests between the ages of 25 and 64, and in the US, the test is available to women between 30 and 64.

Although cervical screening is believed to save the lives of around 4,500 women in the UK every year, many women opt to forgo the uncomfortable procedure. Perhaps this is unsurprising when you consider that it involves a speculum being inserted into the vagina so that cells from the surface of the cervix can be collected in order to screen for HPV, human papillomavirus. NHS figures showed that between 2012 and 2013, although 4.2 million women were invited for testing, almost a million declined to attend.

HPV is thought to be one of the leading causes of cervical cancer and is so common and contagious that around 80% of sexually active women will be affected at some point in their life. Two of the highest risk strains, HPV 16 and HPV 18, are thought to cause 70% of all cervical cancer cases.

Because of this, experts from the Women’s Health Research Unit at Queen Mary University of London and the Clinical Biostatistics Unit in Madrid decided to analyse the data from 14 studies, involving a total of almost 1,450 women, to investigate the effectiveness of detecting the virus through urine tests. They published their findings online in the British Medical Journal .

It was found that urine tests were able to correctly identify HPV 87% of the time, with 94% of negative results also being accurate. Furthermore, for the high-risk strains of the virus, urine tests were 73% accurate when detecting and 98% correct with negative results.

“The detection of HPV in urine is non-invasive, easily accessible, and acceptable for women, and a test with these qualities could considerably increase uptake,” the authors wrote. They concluded that urine tests are accurate enough at detecting the virus that they could be “a feasible alternative to HPV testing of cervical samples collected by health professionals".

The hope is that enabling women to test themselves in the comfort of their own home, and sending their samples off to be analysed, will encourage women who have been ordinarily reluctant to undergo cervical screening in the past.

The next step is to research urine testing further to “identify the true clinical performance” of the method both as this means of encouragement and also in countries with low incomes that currently cannot afford to offer widespread screening.

So, fingers crossed that women around the world will be able to get the HPV screening they need - without the dread of stirrups and speculums - in the not-too-distant future.

Sharks and Manta Rays Get Extra Protection

Finally, some good news for sharks and manta rays! On 14 September, new international laws went into effect to provide extra protection for five species of shark and all species of manta ray.

Sharks and manta rays are hunted for a variety of reasons - food, medicine, trophies - and have been brought increasingly closer to the brink of extinction over the years. They are not the types of creatures that can be bred in captivity and reintroduced into the wild, so when they are gone, they really are gone.

The basking shark and great white shark were already part of the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) treaty, under Appendix II . They have now been joined by five other species: great hammerhead sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks, porbeagle sharks, scalloped hammerhead sharks and smooth hammerhead sharks.

The new regulations mean that any live specimens of (or pieces of) manta rays or the five shark species can only be exported with a special permit that needs to be obtained in advance. If a permit is not provided to confirm that the creatures have been legally and sustainably harvested, the sale of that creature's fin or meat will be prohibited.

“Now, the international community is paying more attention to the ocean,” explained CITES legal expert Juan Carlos Vasquez. “The health of marine species is a good indicator of the health of this big marine ecosystem.”

It is possible that the fishing focus could shift to other shark species and creatures not yet listed on the CITES treaty, or simply move to another area, so the Convention and other authorities will have to remain vigilant.

Although some countries have said that they will not be bound by the new laws, but will only be able to trade with other countries that have also declined, greatly limiting trade possibilities.

As the regulations are rolled out, ports of entry will be used by customs agencies and national authorities to check permits and looking for illegal shark parts, and so far, environmentalists and fisheries officials have been cooperating in making sure these new rules are followed.

“It is an amazing movement we are witnessing here,” Vasquez noted. “For the first time, we are finding a way to bring these players together.”

CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon said that the regulations will need to be practically implemented by determining manageable export levels, sorting out the special permits, and identifying the shark and manta ray parts that are already being traded.

“Regulating international trade in these sharks and manta ray species is critical to their survival,” he said. “This may seem challenging, but by working together we can do it and we will do it.”

Patrick Stewart Surprises Make-a-Wish Trekkie at DragonCon

There is no denying it: Sir Patrick Stewart is a legend. In fact, he is one of the greatest and well-loved legends of our time. And he appears to age at a much slower rate than the rest of us - he looks just as he did when he first graced our screens as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation almost 30 years ago.

It isn’t just on the big screen or theatre that he shows us just what a brilliant person he is, either. Just type his name into YouTube and you have videos upon videos of the great man (often with his bestie, Sir Ian McKellen) that will bring tears of laughter streaming down your face.

And on top of all that is his charity work and activism against domestic violence. He really is the type of person we should all aspire to be.

And he has done it again (and you might want the tissues for this one)!

After hearing that a little girl (and HUGE Star Trek fan) would be attending DragonCon 2014 through the Make-a-Wish Foundation, at the same time as him, he arranged to meet her.

Dawn Garrigus, 11, from Georgia in the US, has a rare progressive and chronic mitochondrial disease. The condition can cause problems with development, as well as mental and physical disability.

Because of her illness, Dawn was offered a wish from the Make-a-Wish Foundation , so she told them that she really wanted to go to DragonCon 2014, which was being held in her home state. DragonCon is a fantasy and sci-fi convention, with Star Trek often featuring heavily. The little Trekkie would be in her element there in her full Captain Spock costume - complete with Vulcan ears.

Although Dawn was told him August that her wish had been granted and she would be able to attend the event, Sir Patrick's meet-and-greet was kept under wraps, and Mini-Spock didn’t know anything about it until mere moments before. Photographer James Barker , taking pictures for DragonCon, was on hand to capture the magical moment Dawn met Captain Picard.

She said that she didn’t know what to say to him at first because she was shy, but he kept talking to her until she was comfortable. “I felt like I was on the Enterprise talking to the captain,” she explained. “And suddenly, I was okay.”

Mr Barker posted a photo of the pair hugging on his Facebook page , describing it as one of his favourite pictures from DragonCon that year.

Sir Patrick spent a little time with Dawn and her family, signing autographs and posing for more pictures, before going off to address a 2000-strong legion of fans.

Danny and Kristy, Dawn’s parents, explained that their daughter’s illness can cause her to feel isolated and make it difficult for her to relate to other children her age, but the meeting with Sir Patrick had made her look happier than she had for some time.

“We've seen a very positive response,” they said. “Her brief visit with Sir Patrick has alleviated that feeling which we cannot begin to express gratitude for.”

Dawn’s parents have also sent an open message out to Sir Pat, just so he knows just what an impact he has made: “You have made a mark on her and our life that will never be forgotten!”’

The World’s First Player-Powered Football Pitch

Have you ever watched a game of football and thought about all of the potential energy that was being wasted? Maybe not, but a start-up company from London has!

Pavegen has created tiles that convert the kinetic energy of a footstep into electrical power, with some already in use in Heathrow Airport, trains stations across Europe, and even in some schools in England and New York.

Working with oil company Shell , Pavegen has used its technology to refurbish a football pitch in a slum in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, used by the local children and youth football team.

The field has been covered with 200 energy-harnessing tiles with a layer of astroturf over the top, as well as solar panels surrounding the pitch. The solar panels create up to 80% of the energy used by the pitch during the day, while all of the energy needed to power floodlights in the evening and such comes from the tiles beneath the players’ feet.

At the moment, each tile costs around £310 ($500), but as the company refines the manufacturing process, the price is dropping, which means that more and more projects could benefit from the installation of these tiles in the future.

Pavegen CEO and founder Laurence Kemball-Cook didn’t want to give away any of the secrets of the tiles’ technology, but did explain that they work like a cog system. Once a tile is stepped on, the “cogs” spin and act like generators, to store and convert energy.

“We have effectively turned this community into a real-life science experiment. I believe this technology can be one of the future ways we illuminate our cities,” he declared. “We have taken this idea from a bedroom in London to a football pitch in Brazil.”

Brazilian football legend Pelé led the countdown to the pitch’s floodlights being turned on for the first time at dusk and donated a signed football to the community. But he thought he was at the launch for a regular artificial - a welcome gift on its own.

“I didn’t expect that this field could produce energy!” he exclaimed. “It is the first in the world.”

The 73-year-old explained that the sport of football had been through so much technological innovation since the last time he played. “This new pitch show the extraordinary things possible when science and sport come together.”

New York Fashion Week: ‘Role Models, Not Runway Models’

Once again, Carrie Hammer has been pushing the boundaries of New York Fashion Week , showing that beauty comes in all forms.

When a person is lacking in self-confidence, there is nothing more confidence-boosting than being invited to walk down a New York Fashion Week runway, reminding that person of just how beautiful they really are.

For 31-year-old Karen Crespo from California, that is exactly what it was like.

Karen has always been interested in fashion, but a battle with bacterial meningitis three years ago meant that doctors had to amputate both her arms and both her legs. Karen was then in a coma for more than two weeks before spending a further five months in an intensive care unit.

After being left with a body she didn’t recognise and struggled to love, walking down the runway seemed like an impossible dream for Karen.

But then, in February, Karen read about a fashion show from Carrie Hammer, a fashion designer who specialised in women’s professional yet stylish clothing. What caught Karen's attention was that one of Carrie's models was Danielle Sheypuk, who had become the first ever runway model in a wheelchair.

“I thought, ‘This is amazing, how someone would break the boundaries and let someone in a wheelchair be in New York Fashion Week!’” Karen said. It spurred her to contact Carrie, to thank her for proving that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, with no right or wrong.

Carrie responded by inviting Karen to participate in Role Models, Not Runway Models, part of her New York Fashion Week show which features accomplished women with empowering stories to share, each flaunting a piece from Carrie’s latest collection - in this case, the SS15 (Spring/Summer 2015).

New prosthetics were also arranged for Karen after Carrie learned that a recent order of custom-made prosthetics - worth around $100,000/£62,000 - had gone missing from her porch shortly after being delivered.

On September 5, last Friday, Karen Crespo became the first quadruple-amputee to walk the runway at New York Fashion Week . She wore a red, fitted A-line gown that falls just below the knee and a scooped back. The dress was also named “The Karen” in honour of its wearer.

Describing the experience, Karen speculated that everything she had been through had been meant to happen so that she could inspire and make a difference in someone else’s life.

“I have a totally different perspective on things,” she explained. “Just seeing all those faces when I walked out there, and knowing that hopefully I’ll be able to make a difference and be a role model for other people with disabilities [gave me confidence].”

Carrie said that the whole point of her show was to accentuate the differences among people. “My models definitely way outshine my clothes - I don’t mind!” she declared. “Beauty lies in our differences. There isn’t one slim ideal beauty, but that is what fashion has become all about. My line is all about highlighting the beauty in the differences and making sure that the women feel confident and beautiful in their individualities.”

The Clangers are Back (With a Wonderful New Narrator)!

Raise your hand if you fondly remember watching The Clangers as a child… Originally airing in the late 60s, the little knitted and puppet-like critters captured the childish hearts of so many generations, and we can joyously report that they will be gracing our screens once more!

The Clangers were pink and mousy, living inside craters on a Moon-like planet. The craters were covered in dustbin lids that ‘clanged’, giving the creatures and the show their names. The Clangers, kind-hearted and generous creatures, also communicated with one another in whistles, while the narrator translated and commented on the events taking place.

The Clangers was first shown in November 1969, only four months after man first stepped foot on the moon, and this idea was incorporated into one of the episodes, showing the Clangers making use of a flag left behind on their little Blue Planet.

The show is being co-produced by the BBC’s preschool television channel, CBeebies, as well as a preschool tv channel in the US called Sprout, which will broadcast The Clangers to North America. Media company the Coolabi Group and Smallfilms, behind the Clangers and other classics like Bagpuss and Ivor the Engine, will also play a role in the production of the new series.

And this isn’t the only exciting Clanger-related news! Monty Python member, travel-show presenter, and general English treasure Michael Palin has been confirmed as the new narrator taking up residence on the Clangers’ planet.

“The world of the Clangers is delightful and irresistible,” Mr Palin said. “It is a real pleasure and a great privilege to be a part of its return to television.”

Peter Firmin, who created The Clangers with Oliver Postgate (the narrator in the original series who has since passed away), said that he had wanted Palin as the new narrator, and had wished and hoped for it to happen. “Once in a blue moon, wishes come true,” he said. “This is once in a blue moon. I hope Michael enjoys his voyage to our little Blue Planet.”

Daniel Postgate, son of Oliver Postgate and executive producer of the new series, said that Palin had been his first choice, too, so he was delighted the Python had agreed. “Among other things, he has been a warm and charming guide for us all in his extensive travels around this world,” he added. “It seems wonderfully appropriate that he should pack his bags once more, go off across the starry expanse of space and do the same for the world of the Clangers.”

The whole affair has been deemed as “incredibly exciting” by CBeebies controller Kay Benbow, enhanced all the more by Palin’s involvement.

Production is costing around £5 million and in the UK, the 11-minute show will hit CBeebies in the Spring, when it won’t be surprising if there are grown adults around the country sat cross-legged in front of their television set, reliving their youth.

Hospital Food in England to Get Revamp

Apart from the obvious medical worries, one of things that people don’t like about an overnight stay at hospital is the prospect of having to eat hospital food.

But as of later this year, not only will hospitals in England be enforced to raise the standards of the food they serve to their patients through legally-binding contracts, they will also be ranked on the meals they prepare. This will mean being marked on certain criteria, and the rankings will be posted on the NHS Choices website .

Hospitals will be assessed on the quality of their food and the range of options available to patients. For example, there should be at least one hot meal option for breakfast. Fresh fruit and food should be available between meals and the hospital menu needs to have been approved by a dietician, to ensure that a healthy diet is being promoted to both patients and staff.

Fish will be offered to patients at least twice a week, and any potatoes, rice or vegetables should be cooked without salt, as well as fruit options making up half of the desserts on offer. On top of this, tap water will be available to patients on request, unless stipulated for a medical reason.

When a patient is admitted to hospital, they will be assessed for malnutrition and given a personal food plan based on allergies and diet. Hospital staff will also have the greater responsibility of ensuring that patients get the help they need to physically eat and drink.

“Patients say the quality of food at their hospital is one of the most important things in their stay,” said Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, explaining that patients provided with healthy meals tend to recover more quickly and thus stay in hospital for a shorter time. This, in turn, costs the NHS less, “so there are lots of reasons why this is very important.”

Hospital canteens, which sell food and drinks to staff and patients, as well as visitors, will also have to comply with the new rules. This means ensuring that the food they sell have lower levels of sugar, salt and fat, as well as providing other healthier options for their customers.

Mr Hunt said that the new hospital food standards are part of a plan towards making the NHS more transparent to the public. Not only does it mean giving patients the chance to compare the food available to them on different wards, but also providing hospitals with even more of an incentive to raise the standards of their meals.

“Many hospitals are already offering excellent food to their patients and staff,” he added, “but we want to know that all patients have nourishing and appetising food to help them get well faster and stay healthy.”

Football Legend at Centre of Twitter Craze

If you need a chuckle this Monday afternoon, then we might have just the thing for you - Steve Bruce at Weddings!

Mr Bruce has been involved in football for the last 37 years, ranging from his youth career at Gillingham to currently managing Hull City.

But what does he like to do in his spare time? If the latest viral craze to hit Twitter is anything to go by, he apparently enjoys attending the occasional wedding...

“But what’s so funny about that?” we hear you ask.

Well, take a look for yourself!

Mr Bruce doing his Night Fever impression.

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Mr Bruce witnessing Peter Andre and Katie Price getting married.

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Mr Bruce celebrating the Royal Wedding.

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And our personal favourite...

Mr Bruce flashing his light saber.

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If you'd like to see more pictures of Mr Bruce getting his wedding on or you want to keep up to date with the latest weddings that he has made an appearance at, check out @bruceatwedding on Twitter.

Twice-a-Day Pill Could Cure Alopecia Hair Loss

Around one or two out of a thousand people in the UK suffered from alopecia areata, a kind of hair loss that results in patches of baldness and is very difficult to treat, according to the NHS .

Usually a person develops the disease when they are between the ages of 15 and 29, with 60% of these finding their first bald spot before they are 20. Although the hair tends to grow back after about a year, it can be a reoccurring problem.

Around a fifth of people with alopecia areata have been found to have a family history of the condition, so it is thought that a person’s genes might affect how susceptible they are of developing it.

There have been few studies of targeted treatment for the condition, largely because experts were uncertain of the exact reasons why a person might develop it. But scientists from Columbia University Medical Center may have found the answer - and possible treatment.

Alopecia areata is caused by an anomaly in the immune system that causes it to attack the hair follicles, and the US team had previously been able to identify the cells involved in the destruction of hair, conducting a number of trials of a drug on mice that proved successful.

Stepping up their research, the team gave a twice-daily dose of bone-marrow cancer drug ruxolitinib to three patients, all of whom had lost at least 30% of their hair, over a period of five months, and publishing the findings in Nature Medicine .

All of the patients saw dramatic regrowth of their hair in that time. The picture below, from left to right, shows one of the study participants at the start of the trial, three months into it and four months into the study.

Dr Raphael Clynes, who led the research, said that more testing is still needed to establish if there can be widespread use of the drug in alopecia areata patients. However, the use of ruxolitinib is unlikely to benefit patients with the more common condition of male-pattern baldness - affecting around 6.5 million men in the UK - as the two conditions are actually unrelated, regardless of their similarities. However, despite this, the team says the news is still very exciting.

Study co-author Professor Angela Christiano, who has had personal experience with the disease, added that people with the condition suffer profoundly, but the findings are a significant step forward that can give them some hope. “The team is fully committed to advancing new therapies for patients with a vast unmet need,” she said.

Professor David Bickers, also from the university and who has treated many patients with the conditions, said that there have been few treatments that have proven to be effective against alopecia areata. “This is a major step forward in improving the standard of care for patients suffering from this devastating disease,” he said.

“We have only begun testing the drug in patients,” explained Dr Clynes, “but if the drug continues to be successful and safe, it will have a dramatic impact on the lives of people with the disease.”