2009 Scientific Findings...

Scientific discoveries are always fascinating and it is hard to choose the best of the bunch. But here is our top 10 countdown for 2009.

1. Eye-tooth surgery

The most exciting scientific breakthrough in 2009 was something you can really get your teeth into. Englishman Martin Jones is finally able to see again after doctors took a piece of his aptly named eye-tooth, placed a man-made lens into its core and implanted it under his eyelid. By cutting a hole in the new cornea, light was able to pass through. The procedure, called Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis, has restored sight to over 600 people worldwide.

2. Is there life out there?

Space was at last grabbing headlines again this year, with traces of water found on the moon and Mars, but our search for extraterrestrial life also became a little bit more serious. The huge Kepler space telescope is taking pictures of planets as they pass in front of their home stars. Scientists hope this will identify likely sites for life in other solar systems. NASA officials are confident by 2011 they will detect Earth-size planets.

3. Adam and Eve: The first medical robot researchers

Scientists have given credit to a robot for a scientific discovery. Researchers at Aberystwyth and Cambridge universities got the robotic system, dubbed Adam, to carry out experiments to identify what are called orphan enzymes in baker's yeast. The team is also developing another robotic system called Eve. Eve will test drugs for malaria by hypothesising how drug molecules of various shapes would perform. Prof Ross King, who led the research at Aberystwyth University, said: "Ultimately we hope to have teams of human and robot scientists working together in laboratories."

4. Concrete solution to pollution

A British start-up company has created cement that absorbs CO2 from the air. Conventional Portland cement already accounts for 5% of global CO2 emissions. Novacem, however, is produced using magnesium oxide, which does not need to be heated to the same temperatures, thus reducing carbon emission and, at the same time, absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere immediately after production.

5. Mind mapping people's thoughts

Scientists at the University of California have modelled how images are represented in the brain by translating recorded patterns of neural activity into pictures. It is thought the research could someday lead to dream-readers and thought-controlled computers. "It's what you would actually use if you were going to build a functional brain-reading device," said neuroscientist Jack Gallant, one of the research leaders.

6. Penis replacement


Here's one for the boys. Researchers at the Wake Forest University's Institute of Regenerative Medicine have managed to engineer a fully functional replacement penis using tissue grown in a laboratory. The organs were made for rabbits, but the researchers at the lab, which has already implanted lab-grown bladders grown from the patient's own tissue into seven men, said the technology has "considerable potential for patients requiring penile construction."

7. Spray-on solar panels

The University of Texas hopes to bring us spray-on solar panels within the next three to five years. It is not a new idea but the team at Austin has developed a new process. Instead of using silicon, ‘inks' of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) have been developed. The sunlight-absorbing nanoparticles are 10,000 times thinner than a strand of hair. They could then be sprayed onto a substrate to make a panel and be on the market within three to five years.

8. Teleportation


A research team at the Australian National University has developed a technology that could one day be used for teleportation. It hinges on a new way to transmit data with light. The team can generate quantum entanglement in beams of light using only two parts. The main aim is to develop super fast computers, but theoretically the scientists said the method could be used for teleportation as well; but quite some time in the future.

9. Dinosaur extinction


A team of scientists from Russia, Austria, South Africa and Germany claim to have found the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs. The largest mass extinction in the history of the Earth could have been triggered by emissions from halogenated gases in salt lakes. Their theory is that the emissions could have changed the atmospheric composition so dramatically that vegetation was irretrievably damaged. As the plant eating dinosaurs died out, so too did the meat eaters.

10. Luscious lashes for the ladies

And here's one for the girls. Women may soon be able to stop relying on mascara. Biologists at L'Oreal's research laboratories in Paris have spent the last three years studying eyelashes and have now developed a gel that they claim extends the length of time individual eyelashes grow for before they fall out. This apparently leads to longer, thicker eyelashes. L'Oreal plans to market the gel as an over-the-counter cosmetic.

Bendang Babes

Got this one from Channelnewsasia.com

TOKYO : Tokyo's most fashionable city girls have ventured into unfamiliar territory, crouching in muddy rice paddies to help make Japan's dying farms cool again - and now they can do it in style.

Shiho Fujita, a 24-year-old model, has led a group of kawaii (cute) 'gal farmers' to do their bit to revitalise rural Japan, where many farms have closed as their owners have aged and their children have run off to the cities.

Her biggest problem so far: she didn't like the clothes.

"Since there are no farm clothes I like, I have come up with the idea of designing cute ones myself," Fujita said.

Her new overalls, targeting girls in their 20s, are made from stretch denim to be comfortable in the field and, crucially, have pockets for their target group's key accessories, a mobile phone and an iPod.

Fujita, who has grown rice in northern Akita prefecture, also said she wants to design plastic gloves for girls with long fingernails, and new farm tools to make farming more accessible and fun for young city dwellers.

Japan, the world's second-largest economy, now imports 60 per cent of its food, and many worry about future food security if climate change rocks global food supplies or energy costs swing international grain prices.

The new overalls, made by leading Japanese jeans maker Edwin, will be available both for men and women from February for 13,000 yen (147 dollars).

Mudin, department mana incharge design farmers' garments?

TT Session Special 4 Dec 09

Assalamualaikum,

Jemput semua kengkawan ke TT Session pada 4 Dec 09, Jumaat ni pukul 8pm, di hotel UITM Shah Alam, di terrace area. Ramai tetamu yang jarang dapat jumpa akan hadir kali ni. Make sure bawak name card banyak-banyak.

Jumpa di sana!

GST 4%, thanks a lot mate...

Another feather on the cap? Asyik nak ikut orang je, orang buat GST, kita pun nak buat GST. Whats the real problem actually? Short of cash? Inflation? With this 4% government is getting rm1b additional into its coffer. But what are the effects? Buying power is reduced by 4%, i believe this is fair to assume! IMF recommend GST kita pun ngikut!!! If the gov is short of RM1b, then there are a lot of other ways to get this money. Key word is "BUSINESS!!!" dont tax people as u wish. Thats a feudal practise!!! When the govs were not bright enough, they tax their people. Now I believe more had been to Harvard, and are bright enough, then taxing should be the last resort.

Remember last time I wrote about making money for the gov through companies like Petronas for the abundance of minerals underneath our terrain? They can always set up ENAS (Emas Nasional) to dig out gold, TENAS (Tembaga Nasional), BANAS (Balak Nasional) what else do we have underneath? Germanium? Kaya pakcik kalau ada mende ni hihihi...Whatelse can we do? Another easier way, asked the GLCs for another RM50mil each, perhaps another RM500mil from Petronas alone, kowtim!

Another easier way, review the gov spending, especially goverment projects. This one I'm willing to volunteer for the job, as I am very used to it. Come on, dont tell me you cant get a RM1b cost down from over RM200b budget?

So still got to do this GST for other reasons? To curb spending? Biar betul, urban poverty line is already at RM3k, what to spend, all are necessities! Perhaps GST is good for things like, ciggy, 4 digits, massage services, entertainments like concerts, football matches etc. Then it sounds reasonable. Dont do like Japan for this one, GST covers everything, Onigiri, Sushi, Sashimi etc. All in!
How do you feel if you have to pay extra for Nasi Lemak? Perhaps you dont right? If you dont mind, then it'll beat the purpose! The idea of imposing GST is to make you do mind spending.So that you will stop spending and save the money.If you continue buying even with a fret, then the purpose looks very much like the one written in the beginning of this blog, just to enrich gov's coffer!

The easiest way to increase saving is by increasing EPF contribution rate, perhaps 11%+4%. Of course shouldnt go flat on everyone, i.e RM4,000~6000=+2%,>6000=4%. Senang nak managekan? Tak payah buat account baru, organization baru, etc. The monies go direct from spending to saving, no losses in between!

Then better think carefully before doing this, PRU13 is getting closer by the day...

Best Bank in the world - BNM

Ni kalau buat IPO ni mesti laku giler...Sounds funny tapi believe it or not Federal Reserve is a private institution! So tak impossible kalau one fine day, BNM akan buat IPO.

Baru jer puji kejap tadi, dah keluar regulation baru to further strengthen the management of the greatest banking system regulator in the world. Baca kat sini...

We Malaysian can sleep tight at night because these people really know what they are doing.Imagine, in other economies, products like sub-prime loan can enter the market without any scrutiny, but not here. I dont know about you guys but some bankers approached me for the sub-prime products since my email is registered in the US. The conditions were ridiculuous, and yet nobody (Greenspan, Bernanke, Friedman, Krugman all the so called expert with loads of free advises spitted globally especially to the third world countries, all of them were quiet) did anything about it until it exploded.They didnt see it coming, that made me wonder how I did!

Bukan macam pakar ekonomi yang sorang tu asyik quote Michel Camdessus, Wolfensohn, kalau tak pun Wolfowitz. These people are the real thing, they have the knowledge, originality, perfect view of the scenarios & integrity. Just make sure succession plan is well in place. Just dont be like politics, when Mahathir resign, everything gone hay wire...

Malaysia Boleh!

Bank Negara really had learned it!

They left the benchmark rate unchanged for I-dont-know-how-long! Actually there are a lot of other ways to manage money flow in and out of economy. We dont really depend on the interest rate alone. If you listen to the Monetarists, of course throwing away the interest rate knobs will be a heresy. But, in some other economies they are living without it and they are prospering!!!I got the feeling that Bank Negara is trying to be less dependant on the interest rate mechanism so that the economy can be less vulnerable to the volatility.

Fundamentally, do we need to raise the rates to get money in (In the first place, do we need the money in?)? I believe 300 billion in the system from the EPF alone is enough to ensure liquidity. But there are other factors like return potential, investment effectiveness, strong currency, strong economic management, political stability etc that can keep the money coming in.The interest rate is just a mean, there are some other ways that can keep the economy prosperous. Last time pensioner complaining that low interest rates can be destructive to their income stream, but nowadays with some other hedging instruments like options, and more currency fund available had produced good results even if they put their money in unit trust, but of course they have to pick the right manager.

We should learn from Japan (which I believe Madam Governor already did) on how they keep the rates low and still prosper! Obviously there are other options rather than the monetarist way!Pump priming perhaps might create back lash politically, but if I were the private sector, investing in the down turn will be the best opportunity which Buffet will take less than 10 days to decide! Perhaps we can learn something from the socialist...

The value of 2 hours a day....

I got this calculation when I was a student. Then I did a partime job for 2 hrs daily, cash registering in a convenient store in Japan.That 2 hrs daily's wage end up more than a thousand ringgit a month and more than 10 thousand ringgit that year, that was in 1994!

I am not going to write about money this time, but about something worth more than money, thing that money cant buy. I am talking about "time". What 2 hours a day can be over a life time?

Imagine if we watch TV for 2 hours a day, how big can the time snow ball into during a life time? Lets see, 2 hrs x 30 days = 60hrs/month. Equivalent 2.5 days/month, multiply with 12 months = 30days. That means if you watch 2 hours of TV everyday, annually you are watching a solid 30 days/month!!! So annually you are only living for 11 months! Say you start watching TV when you are 4 years old and your dead at 64, means you live watching TV for 2 hours a day for 60 years. So just now for every year, you lose 1 month, so for every 60 years, you will lose 60 months = 5 years.
So conclusion is, if you watch TV for 2 hours a day for 60 years, you are spending 5 solid years watching TV! What do you think?

The issue is not just about TV but more of wasting little time, so to speak, but in a life time, you will see the snow ball is so damn huge! If we can sleep 2 hours shorter (8-6), if we can travel 2 hours/daily faster or perhaps we can eliminate travelling time, or
if we can eliminate waiting time, just 2 hours a day, then perhaps we can live our life longer by 5 years!

Mission Accomplished

It has been a long time since I last wrote here, and today as the icing on the cake, I've just got the extremely good news. One of my mission in organizing our 2008OBW is to at least improve one life of our peers have been achieved. We were not going there just to huha-huha, brag about our achievements, recites some glorious moments and then go home. No benefit at all! That was not my aspiration. I wished I could go there, gather old friends and some of us who were doing well to help those who were not doing so well, so that as a batch we can see more of us enjoying a good life.

Since the day we got our SPM result, I always felt bad about not being able to help our friends who had lost focus on life, life as a student. Especially to those who were close to me, whom had spent some growing pain years together. And today those guilt finally dissappear.

One of our friends, who did badly at his younger stage of life had achieved something that only he can dream of months earlier. From making a 3 figures salary 4 months ago, now he is enjoying 5 figures profits from his own business. And that was the fruit of our gathering, he told me! From the bottom of my heart, I wish him congratulations, and may his success inspire others.

We had had a good dinner, I hope we had inspired the wind orchestra boys. We had arranged for rugby & hockey jerseys sponsorship, hope that also inspired the boys the way Heluzaid inspired me to do all these as well as the Pak Chat Rugger U15 Challenge trophy and with this achievement, I believe we have achieved the hardest goal of organizing an oldboy weekend, which is to inspire peers achieving a better life. I hope we will always supporting and continuously inspiring each other in whatever fields and dimensions that we as human beings have to succeed. Looking forward to see all of u again at Reunion@40 of course in better shape.

Wassalam.

Swine Flu: Latest from CDC, USA.

Get your latest info on this pandemic.

Champion of the inaugural UTP Inter School English Debate

The STAR debate team became the first champion of the University Teknologi Petronas school debating championship, another debate tournament open to all schools in Malaysia.

Semi final : Beat MCKK
Final : Beat SMK COnvent Ipoh
Congratulations again to them

Azrul Izzam

ASMARADANA...

Enjoy!!!

5-0

Yes we got another thrashing last night. And the coach already got the excuse, only few players passed the fitness test! I thought the coach should be ensuring that all the selected players are fit enough to play??? Yes, the problem is "standard" and "mind set". FAM still has no idea of the standard expected from the team and the manager is still trying to runaway with all kind of excuses, instead of looking forward and critical of his own errors.

Well, thats the standard of people at FAM, just like what I've wrote last time, they just dont know what they are doing, taking us for a ride everytime we got thrashed! When sports management overseas are already applying scientific approach in human performance enhancement, like advance data system or even high speed visual system like the one used by Phelps, we still have no idea about the standard expected to catch the competitor, forget about over taking them!

Keep letting the feudal lords to manage sport organization!

Reconstructuring Gaza

Saudi made it clear that they are willing to put in US$1Bil for the reconstructuring. I wish to question on how the money is going to be utilized as that 1bil will be coming from Saudi alone. I hope they will focus on building strength, especially mentally rather than spending the money on houses etc, as investing in knowledge will further make other investments and expenses more value added.
I believe education can help them develop their country the way it helped us. Perhaps temporarily they need to be educated somewhere else rather than at home, as the echo of the blasts still vividly thumping the ears even in their dreams.Definitely we can do it, for instance even among this peer group, we have nuclear expert, financial wizards, medical specialists etc, needless to say about OIC.If they made it a program, then definitely Palestinians wouldnt be suffering in the next 15-20 years!

Make it a program rather than a one off pocket money disbursement so that at least you can get a generation of Palestinians who can make the Jews to think twice before they even think of another war! Somehow or rather I still hope Obama will bring about some change in the Middle East...

Words of wisdom...

"Confidence wouldnt come without humility"

Fabio Capello

Show us your balls, Mr President!

Immediately before the election, National Security Agency pre-warned America of possible terrorist capitalizing on the transfer period vacuum of power. See what had happened in Mumbay and Gaza.
My suspect is Mossad in Mumbay and who else in Gaza! With Democratic Party is full of Zionists, Israel is really having a hell of a time, ushering into the new year.Previously when Republican Christians gripping the power, they used the Muslims to whack the Jews and suck out tonnes of oil money to finance their bankrupt businesses.

Obama has the opportunity to make a change here. So far he has been cowardly parroting whatever the lobbyist says, but I dont think a person with an Islam origin can live covering up such a horrible sin forever. Someday he might need to open up and correct what had been badly wronged. Someday he will get fed up concerning so much about what the terrorist Zionists might feel and get back to his sense of justice and peace.

It's time for America to make a change, and The Black President will turn to the bloody lobbyists and tell them, "It's my call! Stop telling me what to say!"

Hopefully that day will come very soon...