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By  Brandon Keim  -  February 3, 2009   If humans took their cues from ants, they might spend less time in traffic. When opposing streams of leafcutter ants share a narrow path, they instinctively alternate flows in the most efficient way possible. Studying how ants manage this could provide the basis for a system of driverless cars running on ant traffic algorithms. "They never get stuck in traffic," said  Audrey Dussutour , a University of Sydney entomologist. "We should use their rules. I’ve been working with ants for eight years, and have never seen a traffic jam — and I’ve tried." People have long been fascinated with the ability of ants to organize colonial activities in patterns as sophisticated as any urban engineer’s megalopolis blueprint. In recent years, scientists have turned ant traffic flows into algorithms applicable to  data transmission  and  vehicular traffic . Dussutour, whose earlier work showed that leafcutter ants organi...

Could do more harm to your health than tobacco smoke Suzanne Harrison  - Jun 29, 2010   It's one of the familiar smells of Asia , from the temple to the family altar, but the next time you are surrounded by a cloud of incense smoke you may want to hold your nose. Research in Taiwan has lent credence to suspicions that the joss sticks and incense that are burned as offerings to the gods may get you to heaven far quicker than you'd like. Medical professionals have long suspected that joss sticks and incense - usually containing a blend of plant extracts and oils - emit harmful fumes when burned. Now, researchers from Taiwan 's National Cheng Kung University in Tainan say joss fumes contain particulate matter, gases and organic compounds that could be more harmful than tobacco smoke. "On average, incense burning produces particulates greater than 45 milligrams per gram burned, as compared to 10mg/g for cigarettes," says a report by Cheng Kung University ...

I happened to stay and work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1984 to 1987 as a foreign exchange assistant in the defunct Al-Rajhi Company for Currency Exchange and Commerce.  Thus, I have a certain understanding of the pattern of thinking of Saudi clerics. The kingdom has been through some revolutionary social (of course not political) changes in the recent past. However, a mullah's recently issued bizarre fatwa has caused real tremors in the Saudi media.   Since I read this story, I have been thinking about what would happen if a Pakistani qualified religious scholar had issued such a stupid fatwa?   The following story will reveal his creative perversion of thoughts.   Latest bizarre fatwa to avoid 'illicit mixing' Many were stunned when Saudi cleric Sheik Abdel Mohsen Obeikan recently issued a  fatwa , or  Islamic ruling, calling on women to give breast milk to their male colleagues  or men they come into regular contact with so as to avo...

The digitalized era has deprived us of many small and simple fascinations that we used to enjoy till four five decades ago.   One of these enthrallments was a rhythmic tick … tick … tick of pendulum clocks. At the age of six, and being the only child of my parents, I was all alone in the house to rule my world of toys and not allowed to go out to play with the street kids for longer times. So, I fell victim to indulging in my own wishful fantasies and pendulum clocks were my chums and buddies of total solitude. Sometimes I wanted to take down a clock to place it among my characterized toys to watch them closely.  I never expressed this kiddish desire to my mother for fear of admonition.  I had created characters of my own choice; both friends and rivals except the clocks.  It never occurred to me to tag them with some names like toys.   My mother would say "Look at the clock, when it strikes the hour, your play-time would end".  We had two...

By  Timon Singh  | 06/14/10 MENA Infrastructure  last year reported on the  Makkah Clock Tower Royal Hotel  that, once it is finished, will be the tallest clock tower in the world. That time is getting closer and closer as it was announced that in the coming weeks, Makkah Clock Tower is to be inaugurated. The Makkah Clock Tower Royal Hotel  is part of the  seven tower Abraj Al-Bait Complex , that is being constructed opposite the Grand Mosque of Mecca. When we reported the story last year, there were concerns that the super-luxurious hotel would 'cheapen' the Hajj, considering that the  fifth pillar of Islam  is meant to be about hardship, struggle and sacrifice. Once it is finished, the tower will stand 402 metres tall and will be seen from up to seven kilometres away. It will boast the world's largest clock (4.7 times larger than Big Ben) on each side, and will be among the world's second tallest tower. Two of the clocks will be 80 met...

Indo-Asian News Service Kathmandu, June 19, 2010 In a fairytale wedding, Bollywood actor Manisha Koirala tied the knot with Nepali businessman Samrat Dahal in a traditional Nepali ceremony on Saturday morning after an elaborate engagement and   mehendi   ceremony a day before. The 40-year-old was wedded to the 33-year-old entrepreneur at the picturesque Le Meridien resort in Kathmandu on Saturday morning. Though her first hero in Bollywood, Vivek Mushran, flew to Kathmandu to attend the four-day extravaganza, as did Manisha's friend and director Deepti Naval, there was not much of a Bollywood presence besides Sunita, who stood in proxy for her husband Govinda. There was also virtually no sign of the Nepali film industry that has impassively accepted her return almost after two decades. Manisha returned to the Nepali film industry a few months ago, playing wife to its superstar Rajesh Hamal. Nepal 's bigwigs, including political heavyweights, are expected at the wedding...

PART - III June 15, 2010 - by   Barry Rubin It is no accident that there are so many sayings warning against the dangers when perceived wisdom becomes nonsense. And they all agree that this mistake leads to the destruction of those who refuse to see reality accurately. Sophocles, the ancient Greek playwright, noted: “Evil sometimes seems good to a man whose mind a god leads to destruction.” The Jewish Bible warns: “For the waywardness of the thoughtless shall slay them, and the confidence of fools shall destroy them.” And what form does that madness take? The German Socialist leader, August Bebel, explained it: “Anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools.” But, claim those who purvey its most modern form, we are against anti-Semitism. Such arguments are merely propaganda for Israel . What is happening at most, however, is that all the traditional anti-Semitic themes are being introduced with merely the change of one word: “Jew” becomes “Israeli.” The implications often leak into “Je...

Obama Speech Resurrects Jimmy Carter Era   About two-thirds of the way through President Obama’s speech, leaves and twigs twitched erratically amid late-spring gusts of wind outside the windows of the Oval Office. Symbolism is integral to a presidential address, and Tuesday night was no exception, with solemn flags standing behind the history-heavy and timber-laden   Resolute desk . But faltering branches was not the imagery desired for the moment. In his opening comments, the president reassured the public: From the very beginning of this crisis, the federal government has been in charge of the largest environmental cleanup effort in our nation’s history. It hasn’t felt that way. Obama didn’t personally visit the Gulf until May 2 , more than 10 days after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the catastrophic mile-deep oil gusher. Original estimates on the extent of the oil spill drastically underestimated the enormity of the damage: in late April the National Oceanic and Atmos...