What is global warming and its impact on natural and human system?

Global Warming is the idea that light loses energy passing through the atmosphere on its way from the sun, and becomes trapped within our ecosphere. Normally enough sunlight is reflected back into space, so conditions on earth stay stable. Adding certain gases to the atmosphere increases the amount of the sun's energy that is trapped, warming things up. This has been tracked for about a century, as factories, cars, etc produce a lot of those gases. Current projections by the scientific community are that this will reach a catastrophic level soon, much sooner than predicted. That is believed to be because production of those gases has increased more than predicted, and less has been done about the problem than predicted.

Carbon dioxide is the main problem. Doubling the level of CO2 would increase the earth's temperature by about 7 degrees. That has only happened once in the earth's history, and it killed off everything except the algae. Scientists are monitoring the level of CO2 as it rises.

Some 3 piece band from the past

Seven Steps to Rescuing Romance

O, The Oprah Magazine Try one every day of the week, focus on one at a time, do whatever you like with them—but do take them all to heart.

1. Find Out What You Want
Are you meeting your partner's needs? Are your needs being met? What are they? After you know partner's needs, if you find yourselves still frustrated, realize that it's not that you can't meet your partner's needs, it's that you won't. Think about why you haven't yet.

2. Respect Your Partner
It shouldn't matter why your partner needs what he or she needs. Consider Dr. Phil's example: If one of your kids got up in the middle of the night and said, "I'm thirsty," would you just turn around and say, "Well, I'm not, so go back to bed"? The key is to appreciate your partner's individuality. Don't expect your partner to react exactly as you would; your partner isn't you!

3. What Message Do You Send?
Think about the message you are sending your partner when you don't acknowledge his or her wants. How does this make your partner feel? How would it make you feel?

4. Compromise.
Know that you can fulfill your partner's wants. But by prioritizing your needs alone, you're making the conscious decision to not to fulfil his or her wants. Try talking about both of your needs and wants. Find the middle ground.

5. Don't Forget Romance
Keep in mind that romance is an important element of marriage. Your partner might consider romance as the true measure of his or her value to your relationship. Be thoughtful and try doing something sweet for no apparent reason.

6. Remember the 4-minute rule
You can predict the rest of the night based on the first 4 minutes, so make those minutes count! Bring flowers. Greet each other with a compliment. Ask questions about your partner's day. Smile; it'll make a difference.

7. Open Up
Be communicative and expressive with your partner. Remember, sharing emotions is not weakness; it makes you whole.

Awaken Your Erogenous Zones

O, The Oprah Magazine When most people think of erogenous zones, they think of their genitals. But erogenous zones are all over your body, says Hilda Hutcherson, MD. They can include the back, neck, ears, eyelids, and hands... wherever touching feels good! If you haven't found your erogenous zones, the time to start looking is now. Start with these simple suggestions.

Make Time For Yourself
Begin by setting aside time every week for yourself. According to Dr. Hutcherson, this is your sacred time, and nobody should interfere. No partners, no children, nobody but yourself. Go into your home, pull down the shades, and take the phone off the hook. Learn your body all over again. Generate your own sexual energy, and start to see yourself as a sexual being.

How to Wake Up Your Zones
Wake up your erogenous zones by taking a bubble bath, massaging yourself with oils, writing erotic stories, or walking around the house naked. Take a cue from the old motto: if it feels good, do it! Don't be ashamed or embarrassed—you're discovering what feels good for you. When you feel comfortable and good about your sexuality, it's time to bring your partner into the mix.

Sexual Confidence: How To Find Yours

O, The Oprah Magazine Of all the things that affect our sexual satisfaction, the most important element is sexual confidence. By that I mean knowing not only that you're desirable but also that what you bring to a sexual encounter is likely to be highly valued by your partner.

Not surprisingly, sexually confident women seem to be more sexually active and have a whole lot more fun while they're at it. That doesn't mean they confuse quantity with quality. What sets the sexually confident woman apart is that she's relaxed. She experiences things fully because she isn't self-conscious. She doesn't obsess about rejection or failure, and as a result she enjoys success after success. But so many people speak of sexual confidence almost as if it were some kind of exotic potion, enjoyed only by a lucky few. They tell me they aren't certain they comprehend the concept, and they don't have a clue about how to get it.

If you're one of those folks, take heart and read on. The good news is that if this seemingly mystical characteristic is missing in your life, things can change. If you're sexually insecure or uptight, or just feel as if you aren't very good at it, all that can change—in a hurry. The really good news is that attaining sexual confidence is totally up to you. It's time for you to put a little strut in your stuff.

I'm going to focus on the female side of this topic, since most of you reading this are women. But many of the same principles apply to both sexes, so don't stop reading if you're a guy—you just might learn something.

Sexual Energy: Feel the Heat

Catherine Zeta-Jones's take-no-prisoners oomph. George Clooney's let's-do-it eyes. Hugh Grant's crooked smile. Halle Berry's everything. It's exhausting to think that we have to measure up to all that exceptional, multimagnified sex appeal. All of it so inaccessible, so expensive and so impossible.

Any sensible woman would conclude that you might as well pull up your faded comforter, grab some chocolate, and give up the idea of anybody ever finding you irresistible. Instead, try this advice on for size:

Be Yourself: Irresistible.
Consider that being irresistible is more a matter of interest and appetite than of anything else. You can forget about becoming everyone's physical ideal. Everyone has their preferences, their weaknesses and even their hang-ups (even this author). There's nothing you can do about that. If he's mad for tall blondes and you're a short brunette, don't rush out for Clairol and three-inch heels. There's a better way. And forget about miniskirts (unless they look not only good but effortless on you). Irresistible is something else. It transcends the physical, it plays fast and loose with the psychological, and it makes the world a bigger, more entertaining, more filled-with-possibilities place.

Own Your Appetites.
And then there's appetite: The thing women are not supposed to have. You can fake blonde. You can fake tan. You can even fake sexy—for a while. What you can't fake is the real and unmistakable scent and feel of someone who actually likes…sex. Who would you rather have dinner with: the flour-fearing vegan or the happy omnivore who looks on dessert as a special occasion, not a torment? So it is with sex. Shame, guilt and aversion are not attractive to most people. Confidence and an adult appreciation of pleasure—and of the amazing human machine, which despite imperfections and wear and tear, can do such a glorious job of delivering it—is appealing. People who know that and show that they do are simply irresistible.

Let Your Warmth Shine Through.
The heart of sexual energy is making others feel beautiful, wanted, clever, charming, making them see themselves in the warm, pink light of our unembarrassed attention and allowing some of the flattering light to fall on ourselves, our strong points and our frank interest. It isn't the tenacious, almost hostile, approach of the lonely man or woman who is only a step away from turning on us if we disappoint. It isn't breaking up marriages or insulting one's spouse. It is embracing the world and the people in it; it is embracing desire and attraction as sources of pleasure rather than shame, and appreciating what we have to offer as well as what they, the lucky objects of our desire, do.

Pheromone Cologne?

HOW IT WORKS...

Since 1703, scientists have known about an organ in the nasal cavity known as the vomeronasal organ or VNO. They assumed it was an evolutionary relic - an organ that humans no longer used. However, in the last 25 years, scientists have discovered that the VNO is the receptor for pheromones. The VNO gives us a sort of "sixth sense", we can't see, smell, hear, or feel pheromones. As a matter of fact, we cannot consciously perceive pheromones at all, though experiments prove that they can work.

Now it has been proven conclusively, humans produce and react to pheromones, so much so that studies have even shown that exposure to men's pheromones can affect a woman's ovulation cycle, meaning, her readiness and interest in having intercourse. For example, it has been discovered that when the underarm sweat of women in different menstrual phases is placed under the noses of female subjects, the length of these subjects' own cycles is significantly altered. Underarm sweat has been shown to have a pheromone component - dehydroepiandrosterone. This explains why females living in close quarters, such as college dormitories, often have synchronized cycles.

Men and women exposed to pheromones claimed that they felt self-confident, attractive, and romantic. In tests of pheromone effectiveness, it has been found that 74% of subjects testing a pheromone product experienced an "increase in hugging, kissing, and sexual intercourse." Also interesting, foods that have been known for centuries to have aphrodisiac qualities, such as truffles and oysters, have recently been found to chemically correspond to human pheromones. Still not convinced?

Questions to ask before you get married

You may think that you and your fiancé have talked about everything...but have you discussed the issues that will make your marriage work? Author Susan Piver reveals the questions you and your partner should answer before you say "I do."
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Question 1: What percentage of our income are we prepared to spend to purchase and maintain our home on a monthly or annual basis?

Question 2: Who is responsible for keeping our house and yard cared for and organized? Are we different in our needs for cleanliness and organization?

Question 3: How much money do we earn together? Now? In one year? In five years? Ten? Who is responsible for which portion? Now? In one year? Five? Ten?

Question 4: What is our ultimate financial goal regarding annual income, and when do we anticipate achieving it? By what means and through what efforts?

Question 5: What are our categories of expense (rent, clothing, insurance, travel)? How much do we spend monthly, annually, in each category? How much do we want to be able to spend?
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* Oprah.com: Strange but sweet stories of couples' first meetings
* Oprah.com: Are you ready for marriage?
* Oprah.com: Strange but sweet stories of couples' first meetings

Question 6: How much time will each of us spend at work, and during what hours? Do we begin work early? Will we prefer to work into the evening?

Question 7: If one of us doesn't want to work, under what circumstances, if any, would that be okay?

Question 8: How ambitious are you? Are we comfortable with the other's level of ambition?

Question 9: Am I comfortable giving and receiving love sexually? In sex, does my partner feel my love for him or her?

Question 10: Are we satisfied with the frequency of our lovemaking? How do we cope when our desire levels are unmatched? A little? A lot? For a night? A week? A month? A year? More?

Question 11: Do we eat meals together? Which ones? Who is responsible for the food shopping? Who prepares the meals? Who cleans up afterward?

Question 12: Is each of us happy with the other's approach to health? Does one have habits or tendencies that concern the other (e.g., smoking, excessive dieting, poor diet)?

Question 13: What place does the other's family play in our family life? How often do we visit or socialize together? If we have out-of-town relatives, will we ask them to visit us for extended periods? How often?

Question 14: If we have children, what kind of relationship do we hope our parents will have with their grandchildren? How much time will they spend together?

Question 15: Will we have children? If so, when? How many? How important is having children to each of us?

Question 16: How will having a child change the way we live now? Will we want to take time off from work, or work a reduced schedule? For how long? Will we need to rethink who is responsible for housekeeping?

Question 17: Are we satisfied with the quality and quantity of friends we currently have? Would we like to be more involved socially? Are we overwhelmed socially and need to cut back on such commitments?

Question 18: What are my partner's needs for cultivating or maintaining friendships outside our relationship? Is it easy for me to support those needs, or do they bother me in any way?

Question 19: Do we share a religion? Do we belong to a church, synagogue, mosque or temple? More than one? If not, would our relationship benefit from such an affiliation?

Question 20: Does one of us have an individual spiritual practice? Is the practice and the time devoted to it acceptable to the other? Does each partner understand and respect the other's choices?

Lizards fight through visual noise

Thursday, 05 July 2007
Australian National University

Animals that alter their movement-based signals to overcome visually 'noisy' environments could lead to a better understanding of vision systems and improve the capacity of ‘seeing’ machines, according to scientists from The Australian National University.

Dr Richard Peters from the Research School of Biological Sciences (RSBS) at ANU led a research team that demonstrated for the first time how animals that rely on motion signals to communicate will alter their behaviour in relation to other moving things in their surroundings. The results are published in the latest edition of Current Biology.

The researchers looked at the territorial signals of the male Jacky lizard, a medium-sized dragon that lives in rocky, scrubby areas along eastern Australia .

"In order to defend its territory against other males, the Jacky lizard performs a display that begins with a series of tail flicks and culminates in a sequence of push ups, in which it asserts its strength and viability," Dr Peters said. "But the lizards' environment is often windy, which means there can be a lot of branch movement, or motion noise, from surrounding plants."

To see how the lizard copes with motion noise, the researchers created large outdoor enclosures on the New South Wales south coast. They used electric fans to simulate the wind, creating movement in the plants. They then introduced a second male to each enclosure to initiate the territorial display.

"Under sustained wind conditions, the lizard changed the structure and duration of its introductory tail flicking before it performed the push ups," Dr Peters said. "Under calm conditions, the tail flicking may last for as little as a few seconds. But in high winds, we observed that the action may last as long as two minutes, with much longer pauses between flicks."

Dr Peters said that this altered behaviour in response to environmental conditions is most likely inspired by the lizard's desire to ensure reliable detection of its signal against increased background noise. He said learning more about the production and reception of such cues could have real benefits outside of biology.

"By understanding more about how an animal uses visual motion to communicate, we can learn more about how animals' vision systems operate. This could ultimately have implications for how we can improve machine vision in things like robots."

How to improve 'number' memory

Saturday, 07 July 2007

University of Melbourne Our survival depends on effectively processing numerical information – forgetting a pin number can be more than a little embarrassing. How do we remember postcodes and mobile phone numbers? What are the limits of our ‘number’ memory and how can we improve it? Performance on ‘digit span’ tests, which assess the ability to remember sequences of single digit numbers, show that most adults can remember between six and 10 numbers. Nevertheless, some researchers have shown that we are more adept at remembering sequences of numbers than previously thought. W G Chase gave students a digit span test daily for eight months, increasing the number of to-be-remembered digits as performances improved. At the conclusion of the study many participants could remember almost 80 digits. J Smith obtained similar results with older adults (70 years+). How were participants able to perform such memory feats? Many individuals used techniques that made the to-be-remembered numbers meaningful. One student in Chase’s study – a competitive swimmer – associated number sequences with swimming event times, making them more meaningful and easier to recall. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to remember numbers as easily. In research at Melbourne we have been investigating the abilities of individuals who are unable to process numerical information, but otherwise have normal intelligence. So-called ‘dyscalculia’ is estimated to affect 6–10 per cent of people. Individuals with dyscalculia depend on special techniques to survive in the numerical world.