‘Interval walking’ a more efficient way to lose weight

Tired of the same old exercise routine? Changing it up could do more than just beat boredom. Interval walking may help jump-start your metabolism.

It's one thing to get your exercise through walking. But in his book "The South Beach Diet Super Charged," Dr. Arthur Agatston advocates something called “interval walking.”

“Instead of going at a steady state, warm up for three, four or five minutes,” Agatston explains. “Then, walk almost as fast as you can for 30 seconds. Then, recover for 30 seconds, a minute.”

Agatston suggests repeating the cycle throughout the workout. He says it's a more efficient way to lose weight.

“You will burn more calories, more fat, in less time,” he said. “The time will go much faster and you'll improve your fitness levels.”

More from wbst.com

Happy Birthday NASA!

50 years old and going strong, they have not only helped mankind reach beyond our planet on to others, but technologies they have developed have so enriched our lives it would be hard to think about modern life without them. The discovery channel will be noting their groundbreaking work over the next 90 days. Check out the link below for on-line video, articles and more. It's going to be some pretty cool stuff.

NASA - The first 50 years at The Discovery Channel

BlackLight's physics-defying promise: Cheap power from water

Imagine being able to convert water into a boundless source of cheap energy. That's what BlackLight Power, a 25-employee firm in Cranbury, N.J., says it can do. The only problem: Most scientists say that company's technology violates the basic laws of physics.

Such skepticism doesn't daunt Dr. Randell Mills, a Harvard-trained physician and founder of BlackLight, who recently claimed that he has created a working fuel cell using the world's most pervasive element: the hydrogen found in water.

"This is no longer an academic argument," Mills, 50, insists. "It's proven technology, and we're going to commercialize it as quickly as possible."

For the first time in his company's 19 years of persistent trial and error, Mills says he has a market-ready product: a fuel cell that produces a chemical reaction to alter hydrogen atoms. The fuel cell releases heat that turns water into steam, which drives electric turbines.

The working models in his lab generate 50 kilowatts of electricity - enough to power six or seven houses. But these, Mills says, can be scaled to drive a large, electric power plant. The inventor claims this electricity will cost less than 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, which compares to a national average of 8.9 cents.

More from CNN Money

Amazing Video Dept. See an Octopus squeeze through a one inch hole

The variety of God's creation is just awesome. I love this little video. From Google Video.

See-Through Solar Hack Could Double Panel Efficiency

If there's one thing most people know about solar cells, it's that they are too expensive.

Now, MIT researchers think they may have found a way to double the performance of solar arrays with cheap dyed glass and some tricks borrowed from fiber optics.

Their so-called solar concentrator could be placed on top of existing solar arrays. It could capture some wavelengths of visible light and guide them to high-voltage solar cells on the edges of the array, while still allowing the infrared light that largely powers current solar systems to pass through.

"If you stick one of these on top of existing solar panels, we think we could nearly double the performance of these systems with minimal added cost," said Marc Baldo, the lead researcher on the work.

The new research, published tomorrow in the journal Science, is another major advance in solar energy, a field that's received renewed interest due to concerns about climate change and rising fossil fuel prices. The new MIT technology marries the science behind two of the most promising ways of harnessing solar energy: light concentrators and thin-film solar cells.

More from Wired

10 Fireworks Effects to Watch For

I had no idea there were so many different types of effects and I definitely didn’t know they had names. To me, their names are, “The Ones That Do That Shooty Thing,” “The Ones That Scream” and “The Ones That Kind of Sparkle Out”. Very technical. If you’re like me, here’s a mini-lesson for you – try to spot them at whatever fireworks display you attend this weekend. I don’t usually do pictures with the Quick 10, but thought this post kind of warranted them.

From Mental Floss

Happy thoughts may dampen cravings for a Smoke

Want to quit smoking? Next time the urge to light up strikes, think of snow-capped peaks instead of the fleeting pleasure of a white cigarette. That's the conclusion of a new brain study which shows that thinking happy thoughts could help dampen cravings.

Mauricio Delgado, a cognitive neuroscientist at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, and his colleague Elizabeth Phelps of New York University measured the brain activity of 15 volunteers as they played a simple game.

More at NewScientist

Also - Working Out May Help Prevent Addiction - From CNN

Accidental fungus leads to promising cancer drug

A drug developed using nanotechnology and a fungus that contaminated a lab experiment may be broadly effective against a range of cancers, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.

The drug, called lodamin, was improved in one of the last experiments overseen by Dr. Judah Folkman, a cancer researcher who died in January. Folkman pioneered the idea of angiogenesis therapy -- starving tumors by preventing them from growing blood supplies.

Lodamin is an angiogenesis inhibitor that Folkman's team has been working to perfect for 20 years. Writing in the journal Nature Biotechnology, his colleagues say they developed a formulation that works as a pill, without side-effects.

More at Yahoo News

State frees teachers to criticize evolution - Global warming, origins of life, cloning also may be scrutinized

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal this week signed into law the Louisiana Science Education Act, which allows school districts to permit teachers to present evidence, analysis and critique of evolution and other prevalent scientific theories in public school classrooms.

The law came to the governor's desk after overwhelming support in the legislature, including a unanimous vote in the state's Senate and a 93-4 vote in the House.

The act has been criticized by some as an attempt to insert religion into science education and hailed by others as a blow for academic freedom in the face of pressure to ignore flaws in politically correct scientific theories.

Robert Crowther, director of communications for The Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank on science and culture, called the act necessary.

Specifically, the act allows teachers in the state's public schools to present evidence both for and against Darwinian theories of evolution and allows local school boards to approve supplemental materials that may open critical discussions of evolution, the origins of life, global warming, human cloning and other scientific theories.

More from WorldNetDaily

Magnetic stimulation blocks migraine pain

A hand-held device that painlessly sends a magnetic pulse into the head may offer some migraine sufferers relief, a small study suggests.

The device delivers a therapy known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS. It sparks a magnetic pulse that, when held against a person's head, creates an electric current among the nerves cells of the brain.

This, in turn, disrupts migraines in the "aura" phase, before they trigger pain.

Though migraines strike without warning in most cases, some people experience an aura stage, which is marked by visual disturbances, like flashes of light or zigzag lines, or other sensations such as tingling or numbness.

For the new study, researchers recruited 201 patients suffering from migraine with aura, then randomly assigned them to use the TMS device or a "sham" device the investigators used for comparison. Patients were instructed to apply the device over the site of the migraine, at its onset.

More from Reuters

14 Simple Ways to Super Charge Your Brain

Have you ever felt exasperated when you bumped into someone at the store but absolutely couldn't remember their name? Sure, it happens to all of us.

Despite being the strongest computer on the planet, our brains do lapse. It's hard to blame them really. As humans, we spend much of or existence stuffing our brains with stuff. Some stuff is worthless, some of it's meaningful, some of it, well, it's just stuff and there is an endless amount of it.

No matter how powerful our brains are, they need recuperation time, to be kept in shape, and even an occasional charge. Think of it as a tune up for your brain. Skipping brain maintenance is as silly as the person wandering the parking garage because they forgot where they parked. Is that you? Are you that person? Sure. We all are at some point. No worries, there is hope.

Now I am not a brain surgeon and I am not going to suggest you do anything surgical or dangerous. I am however an astute student of human behavior, so I always look for simple ways to super charge my brain.

Here are some things you can begin doing as soon as today to begin the great brain tune up.

From Dumb Little Man

Build a Better Car Battery and a HUGE Cash Prize Could Be Yours

In the 18th century the British parliament offered a £20,000 prize to anyone who figured how to solve the problem of calculating longitude. More recently, Netflix offered a million-dollar prize for improving its movie recommendation software. And now Senator John McCain is suggesting a new, national prize: $300 million for anyone who can develop a better, more efficient car battery.

“I further propose we inspire the ingenuity and resolve of the American people by offering a $300 million prize for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars,’’ Mr. McCain said here at California State University, Fresno.

“That’s one dollar, one dollar, for every man, woman and child in the U.S.,’’ he said. “A small price to pay for helping too break the back of our oil dependency, and should deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs.’’

He made the proposal as he spoke about improving enforcement of fuel efficiency standards, hastening the conversion of cars to flex-fuel vehicles, and offering tax credits to people who buy zero-emissions cars – stressing issues that are popular in California. (Last week, in Houston, he proposed lifting the moratorium on off-shore drilling for oil, which is considerably less popular here.)

More from the New York Times

Weight loss after gastric bypass controls diabetes

Obesity surgery can cause type 2 diabetes to go into remission, but much depends on how much weight the patient loses within the first few months, a new study suggests.

Gastric bypass surgery for severe obesity has been shown to control type 2 diabetes, a disorder that commonly goes hand-in-hand with obesity. The procedure involves sectioning off a small portion of the stomach, creating a pouch that limits the amount of food a person can eat in one sitting.

The surgeon also adds a bypass that reroutes food past the rest of the stomach and part of the small intestine to limit calorie and nutrient absorption.

It's thought that the surgery creates hormonal changes that, in turn, improve diabetes control.

More from Reuters

People with type 2 diabetes can help control the disease by taking better care of their teeth and gums

That's the case dentists were expected to make at the American Diabetes Association's annual meeting in San Francisco this weekend.

"Several recent studies have shown that having periodontal disease makes those with type 2 diabetes more likely to develop worsened glycemic control, and puts them at much greater risk of end-stage kidney disease and death," George W. Taylor, an associate professor of dentistry at the University of Michigan schools of Dentistry and Public Health, said in a prepared statement. "Given the numerous medical studies showing that good glycemic control results in reduced development and progression of diabetes complications, we believe there is the potential that periodontal treatment can provide an increment in diabetes control and subsequently a reduction in the risk for diabetes complications," he said.

Intensive periodontitis intervention, for example, can significantly lower one's levels of A1C, a measure of long-term glucose control.

More from US News

Edison, Make Way for the L.E.D.’s

If you’re looking for the latest advancements in incandescent light bulb technology, one place you don’t want to go is to a lighting trade show. I learned that in about five minutes last week, while touring the aisles of Lightfair, the lighting industry’s big convention, held this year in Las Vegas.

In case you didn’t know it, Thomas Edison’s invention, in use for more than 100 years to illuminate virtually everything, is quickly heading for the exits. What will eventually take its place is the light-emitting diode (L.E.D.) bulb, made up of tiny light sources the size of a head of a pin that use a fraction of a regular light bulb’s electricity, produce little heat, and last for tens of thousands of hours of use.

L.E.D.’s are not widely used today because of their high cost: An L.E.D. bulb can run as high as $90. Even if they would save money in the long run, few people are willing to spend that much up front.

But costs will come down, and when they do, expect to see the end of what is in essence an interim technology: the compact fluorescent bulb. Fluorescents, while using much less power than incandescent light bulbs, are sometimes too bulky, often can’t be dimmed and produce light that is less pleasing than incandescents.

More at the New York Times

Eastern Kentucky Naure Pics - Cicadas, Baby Birds and Butterflies

Nature is alive here in Eastern KY, and it really is a sight to behold. The cicadas are very loud, I'm guessing they are buzzing at around 70 decibels, and they look as strange as they sound. They only come around once every 17 years here, and only for a short time. Here is a collection of pictures, and you can click on them to blow them up to 600 to 800. Some were taken on my farm, others near Natural Bridge State Park.



More info on Cicadas at Wikipedia

Article at the Charleston Daily Mail

Article from USA Today

FAQ on Cicadas from the Huntington Herald Dispatch

Article at the Louisville Courier Journal

Developers of New "Superlattice Structure" Lithium Battery Announce Boost in Electric Car Range - Go 200 Miles

Anyone who has followed the electric car industry over the past few decades has heard that, in addition to lackluster and inconsistent interest by gas-addicted Big Auto, the biggest hurdle facing widespread adoption of cleaner cars has been battery technology.

Now that gas prices are at record highs, it isn't surprising that past months would see various announcements of increased innovation and investment in this area.

Now, North Carolina-based Superlattice Power Inc has announced a successful move toward development of a new cathode material, which the company says "will be incorporated to a Lithium Ion Polymer battery that significantly increases operating voltage range and energy density."

Superlattice Power says its new Lithium Ion Polymer battery would allow electric vehicles to be driven over 200 miles, compared to the current 120 to 140 mile range. They are said to be able to operate at a voltage range of 4.3V to 2V.

More from The Daily Green

How to harvest solar power? Beam it down from space!

By 2030, India's Planning Commission estimates that the country will have to generate at least 700,000 megawatts of additional power to meet the demands of its expanding economy and growing population.

Much of that electricity will come from coal-fired power plants, like the $4 billion so-called ultra mega complex scheduled to be built south of Tunda Wand, a tiny village near the Gulf of Kutch, an inlet of the Arabian Sea on India's west coast. Dozens of other such projects are already or soon will be under way.

Yet Mehta has another solution for India's chronic electricity shortage, one that does not involve power plants on the ground but instead massive sun-gathering satellites in geosynchronous orbits 22,000 miles in the sky.

The satellites would electromagnetically beam gigawatts of solar energy back to ground-based receivers, where it would then be converted to electricity and transferred to power grids. And because in high Earth orbit, satellites are unaffected by the earth's shadow virtually 365 days a year, the floating power plants could provide round-the-clock clean, renewable electricity.

More from CNN

Celebrex shows promise in lung cancer prevention

The Pfizer Inc drug, also known as celecoxib, works by blocking the COX-2 enzyme that causes inflammation, which has been linked with cancer.

A six-month study of 212 current or heavy smokers found a reduction in a specific type of precancerous change in lung cells in people who took a high dose of Celebrex compared with those who took a placebo.

None of the study participants had any heart-related problems such as those with Merck & Co Inc's now withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx, another COX-2 inhibitor.

"Celebrex was safe and we did not see any cardiovascular events," said Dr. Edward Kim of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who presented his findings at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

He said the study suggests that a high dose of Celebrex might alter some of the cellular changes that lead up to lung cancer. But the finding is very early and would need to be confirmed in longer, larger studies.

More from Reuters

This Story Stinks - and that's a good thing. Sweden turning sewage into a gasoline substitute

Taking a road trip? Remember to visit the toilet first. This city is among dozens of municipalities in Sweden with facilities that transform sewage waste into enough biogas to run thousands of cars and buses. Chemically, biogas is the same as natural gas from fossil fuels, but its manufacture relies on a process where bacteria feed on waste for about three weeks in an oxygen-free chamber. The result is two-thirds methane and one-third carbon dioxide, as well as a nutrient-rich residue that can be used as soil or construction material.

Once the methane is purified, it is pumped through Goteborg's network of gas pipelines to specialized filling stations, where it is pressurized for delivery. Any car with an engine and tank configured for compressed natural gas can use biogas.

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