Women age faster than men!

It may seem that women make much ado about nothing at the first signs of wrinkles, but they do have reasons to get paranoid, as a research has demonstrated that women’s skin ages faster than men’s.

Researchers have now devised the first non-invasive test to measure skin aging. This new laser-based technique images the fabric of the deeper layers of the skin, combining methods for imaging collagen and elastin, whose degeneration causes the appearance of wrinkles and the progressive loss of skin smoothness.

The technique measures relative amounts of collagen and elastin by a single factor, which can be positive or negative, like temperatures. Higher values of the factor correspond to higher collagen content, and to lower elastin content. Previously, each of the imaging techniques had only been tested on tissue extracted from live patients.

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Tags: elastin | technique | imaging | faster | fabric | collagen | appearance

Sony to release Blu-ray recorders in Japan in December

A model equipped with a 500 gigabyte hard drive will hit stores Dec. 8 with a retail price of Y300,000, followed by a recorder with a 250 gigabyte hard drive on Dec. 16 for about Y250,000. Sony plans to produce 10,000 of the devices a month.

Blu-ray discs use formats based on blue lasers, which have shorter wavelengths than the red lasers used in existing DVDs. This allows discs to store the large amounts of data required for high-definition images and video.

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Electronics manufacturers hope the new technology will help lure buyers as television stations begin to broadcast programs via high-definition standards.

"Blu-ray will be the core of our products to (play and store) high-definition broadcasting, contents recorded by camcorders and (Blu-ray format) movies," said Sony Senior Vice President Kiyoshi Nishitani.

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Tags: gigabyte | Release | recorder | price | Model | tokyo | sony | Japan | electronics | December | CORP | blu-ray

The Paris-Shanna Smackdown?

Paris Hilton, who has lately been spotted cuddling up to the former Blink-182 drummer, and Barker's estranged wife, Dancing with the Stars' Shanna Moakler, both filed police reports early Wednesday morning, alleging they were assaulted at a Hollywood hot spot.

According to Officer Sandra Escalante of the Los Angeles Police Department, Hilton, 25, told police that she was the victim of a battery after getting into an unprovoked skirmish with Moakler at Hyde around 1:30 a.m.

Hilton's publicist, Elliott Mintz, said that Hilton showed up at the club about a half-hour before the alleged confrontation.

"Shortly after her arrival, apparently Shanna appeared and, according to a complaint that's just been filed, she struck Paris in her jaw with closed fists," he told TMZ.com, which first reported the incident. "Paris was hit. She immediately exited the club through the back door.

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Tags: skirmish | Paris-Shanna | drummer | BATTERY | smackdown | Shanna | police | Paris | hyde | hollywood | Hilton | Barker

Playstation 3 "gets too hot"

SHARES IN SONY fell after an analyst claimed its long awaited Playstation 3 console gets a bit too hot.

Sony had a few technical hitches at the Tokyo Game Show, according to the Washington Post. Macquarie Equities analyst David Gibson wrote that PS3 units on display at the show operated erratically and had to be repeatedly reset.

He was not sure why the PS3 would do this, but suspected it was due to over heating. Gibson was concerned that such a problem had occurred so close to full production and this was "clearly negative news for the company".

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Tags: reset | Macquarie | display | analyst | Washington | tokyo

IRA 'terror campaign is over'

Tony Blair said the path is clear to peace in Northern Ireland after a report claimed the IRA had severed its links with terrorism.

The Prime Minister's comments come in the wake of the latest report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, which is tasked with evaluating claims by the IRA that it has turned its back on terror.

The latest analysis of the IMC showed that "the IRA's campaign is over" and that it had "done what we asked it to", Mr Blair said in a statement at Downing Street.

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Tags: wake | terror | report | peace | campaign | Northern Ireland | monitoring | Minister | independent | IRA | Downing Street

Turkish hijacker was alone and unarmed

ROME, Oct 4 (Reuters) - A man who hijacked a Turkish Airlines flight on Tuesday was unarmed, working alone and threatened to blow himself up if the pilot did not divert the flight to Italy, Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said.

All 107 passengers and six crew on the Boeing 737 were unharmed in the hijack which ended with the man's arrest in Brindisi airport in southern Italy. The 27-year-old Turk, Hakan Ekinci, has requested political asylum from Italy.

"The peculiar thing about this hijack was that it was done by a lone, unarmed man," Amato told Italy's Senate on Wednesday.

During the incident, the pilot reported that there were two hijackers and the Turkish Defence Ministry said there may be four or five of them. But checks on everyone on board after the plane had landed and Ekinci had given himself up showed he was alone.

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Tags: southern Italy | Brindisi | UNARMED | Pilot | Hijack | flight | crew | alone | TURKISH | tuesday | Reuters | Rome | Italy | ITALIAN | Interior

Breast-feeding has no impact on intelligence

LONDON (Reuters) - Breast-feeding has no impact on a child's intelligence, according to research published on Wednesday.

Although breast-feeding has many advantages for children including reducing infections, respiratory illnesses and diarrhoea, enhancing a child's intelligence does not appear to be among them.

"Breast-feeding has little or no effect on intelligence in children," Geoff Der of Britain's Medical Research Council, said in a report published online by the British Medical Journal.

The researchers found that although breast-fed children scored higher on IQ tests this was because their mothers tended be more intelligent, better educated and provided a more stimulating environment at home.

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Tags: diarrhoea | Breast-feeding | research | Intelligence | impact | Wednesday | Reuters | London | Britain

Two Dads for Anna Nicole Smith Baby?

In most boldface-name paternity disputes, men deny they're the baby-daddy. But in a he said/he said twist to the Anna Nicole Smith tabloid saga, two guys are claiming to be the father of her baby girl.

Smith's lawyer and boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, says he is the father of Dannie Lynn Hope, born Sept. 7. Smith and Stern have exchanged non-legal vows and say they plan to officially tie the knot.

But Smith's ex-boyfriend, photographer Larry Birkhead, says HE is the dad and has filed a lawsuit demanding that she and the baby return to California for DNA testing. He also wants the baby tested for drugs. Smith was served with court papers Monday in the Bahamas, Birkhead's attorney, Debra Opri, told The Associated Press.

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Tags: twist | saga | Paternity | LAWYER | BOYFRIEND | Smith | sept | nicole | dads | California | Bahamas | anna

Ozone layer hole grows

Before you head to Antarctica for vacation, you'll need to pack a lot of sunscreen.

The ozone "hole" over the South Pole is now close to being as big as ever according to two new reports. Both the World Meteorological Organization and the European Space Agency say the stratospheric ozone hole over the South Pole has just reached its annual peak. The WMO reports the hole will expand to near 10.8 million square miles over Antarctica -- the second-largest hole in history.

In a news release dated Oct. 2, the ESA reported measurements of the amount of ozone lost over this area now topple 40 million tons, breaking the previous record ozone loss of 39 million tons in 2000. The ESA's Envisat satellite records ozone in Dobson units, which measure both the area and depth of the ozone hole. The depth of the hole is around 100 Dobson units, near the record low values observed in 1998.

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Tags: South Pole | PEAK | OZONE | layer | grows | Organization | METEOROLOGICAL | EUROPEAN | Antarctica | agency

Testing Athletes' Hearts Saves Lives

If athletes' hearts are tested the number of sudden cardiac deaths related to sports can go down significantly, say researchers from the University of Padua Medical School, Italy. For the last 24 years, all athletes in Italy have had to undergo an electrocardiogram (EKG) test before engaging in competitive sports. Approximately 2% of people tested were found to have hidden heart problems and are kept from taking part in competitive sports.

The researchers looked at the prevalence of sudden death from heart problems among athletes and non-athletes, aged 12-35, in the Veneto region, Italy, between 1979 - 2004. Obligatory EKG screening started in 1982.

Even though the rate of sudden death from heart problems remained constant throughout the period, the rate for athletes fell by 89%.

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Tags: electrocardiogram | Padua | veneto | university | saves | lives | Italy | athletes

2 win Nobel for picture of backfire from Big Bang

Two physicists who obtained a satellite picture of the infant universe a mere 389,000 years after its explosive birth 13 billion years ago--a feat most scientists thought would never be achieved--have been awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics.

Many consider their accomplishment the most important development in the field of cosmology, cementing the Big Bang theory as the best explanation for how the universe began, showing how stars and galaxies formed and providing scientists with a marvelous time machine for exploring the past and future of the cosmos.

For their measurement of cosmic
background radiation--the afterglow of the Big Bang--John Mather of
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and George Smoot of the
University of California at Berkeley will share the $1.37 million prize
at a ceremony Dec. 10 in Stockholm, Nobel officials announced Tuesday.

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Tags: accomplishment | UNIVERSE | Satellite | Physics | explanation | Development | cosmology | backfire | nobel | BANG

2 win Nobel for picture of backfire from Big Bang

Two physicists who obtained a satellite picture of the infant universe a mere 389,000 years after its explosive birth 13 billion years ago--a feat most scientists thought would never be achieved--have been awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics.

Many consider their accomplishment the most important development in the field of cosmology, cementing the Big Bang theory as the best explanation for how the universe began, showing how stars and galaxies formed and providing scientists with a marvelous time machine for exploring the past and future of the cosmos.

For their measurement of cosmic
background radiation--the afterglow of the Big Bang--John Mather of
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and George Smoot of the
University of California at Berkeley will share the $1.37 million prize
at a ceremony Dec. 10 in Stockholm, Nobel officials announced Tuesday.

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Tags: accomplishment | UNIVERSE | Satellite | Physics | explanation | Development | cosmology | backfire | nobel | BANG

Jackson brings another bonanza

Wellington could reap millions from Peter Jackson's move into the rich video game market with Microsoft boss Bill Gates.

Jackson has teamed up with the world's richest man to set up a video game company in Wellington called Wingnut Interactive.

It will develop new video games, including another chapter in the sci-fi series Halo, and original games for Microsoft's Xbox.

The video game industry made US$30 billion (NZ$45 billion) last year.

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Xbox 360 price drop rumoured

IF ANYTHING COULD ensure the launch of the PS3 became a nightmare for Sony, a significant Xbox 360 price drop would be it.

A small price drop in Europe has already occurred, but this tiny adjustment to the Core SKU is hardly worth mentioning, and certainly won't affect the launch of Sony's new console. A more significant drop of around $100 would certainly cause further worrying at Sony HQ, and it seems Microsoft are pushing ahead with cost reductions in an attempt to make the price drop financially plausible.

Rumours of contract renegoiations with Microsoft from suppliers in Taiwan, state that "the total production cost [of the Xbox 360] can be reduced by 15-20% due to diminishing costs for most components along with increasing production scales and decreasing defect rates" - and this fits perfectly with similar sources stating back in July that a price drop late in 2006 was a target for Microsoft.

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Numbers swell in Sony battery recall

Toshiba, Fujitsu and Dell recalled more Sony-made laptop batteries Friday, swelling the number of units involved in the massive global recall to more than seven million.

Early Friday, Sony Corp. formally asked manufacturers using its problem batteries to carry out a recall.

Sony has said the batteries could pose a risk of fire in rare cases when microscopic metal particles generated during manufacturing come into contact with other parts of the battery cell, leading to a short circuit.

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Tags: Recall | manufacturing | circuit | BATTERY | sony | Fujitsu | friday | Dell