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Variety: April 2007

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Get ready for Spider Man







DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi

CAST: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe

RUNNING TIME: 121 minutes

GRADE: A

The 40-year journey of Marvel Comics' "Spider-Man" to the big screen is a twisted, meandering saga filled with so many contradictory claims But, finally, here it is, and it was worth the wait. As a special-effects particularly impressive.

Adapted by David Koepp (using an extended treatment by James Cameron), the film spends the first of its two hours establishing the character of meek teenager Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), who acquires certain super powers after being bitten by a spider one day on a field trip.

At the same time, it tells the story of industrialist Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), a kind of corporate Dr. Jekyll who tests a chemical portion on himself that turns him into Spider-Man's nemesis, a super-powered Mr. Hyde the press dubs "the Green Goblin."

The two stories intersect -- and the stage is set for an eventual super-showdown -- when Parker and Osborn's troubled son (James Franco) become best friends, roommates and rivals for the affections of their beautiful high-school classmate (Kirsten Dunst).

Read this Link Spider Man

Friday, April 13, 2007

"Friendly Monkey Valley."
AFP writes

A white-handed gibbon eats a banana while sitting on a giant fruit display at the Everland amusement and animal park in Yongin, south of Seoul, during the opening of an anthropoid theme park called "Friendly Monkey Valley." (AFP/Jung Yeon-Je)

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The long and short of why dogs vary in size

The team of scientists attribute the dramatic variations in dog sizes to the IGF1 gene


Telegraph UK writes
From the smallest Chihuahua to the largest Great Dane, dogs dramatically vary in size, much more than most other creatures and an international team of scientists reports that it has found the reason is down to a scrap of DNA. Ranging from toy to giant, dogs have the biggest size variation of any mammal and the team of US and British experts believe it is due to variations in one gene.After analysing DNA samples from 3,200 dogs, they pinpointed IGF-1, a gene that makes a hormone called insulin-like growth factor 1.Variants of the gene were very strongly associated with the different sizes of dogs and the scientists are now trying to determine the precise mutations occurring within the gene.


The scientists began by looking at Portuguese water dogs, which range from 25 pounds to 75 pounds. Small and large Portuguese water dogs had one region of their DNA that differed. It was here that the IGF-1 gene, which is known to influence body size in humans, was found. They then analysed the same region in hundreds of dogs from 14 small breeds.


The IGF1 gene's hormone helps humans and other mammals grow from birth to adolescence. Medium and large dogs have the IGF1 gene but lack the newly discovered piece of DNA. But in small dogs, this scrap of DNA next to the IGF1 gene suppresses the gene's activity, keeping small dogs from growing larger.


The study is relevant to human medicine because a vast majority of the genes in the human genome can also be found in the dog genome.The team, which reported its findings in the journal Science, was led by geneticists Elaine Ostrander and Nathan Sutter.


Mr Sutter told The Daily Telegraph. "There is strong support that IGF1 does promote growth and help determine body size in people. One example is a boy who was born without any IGF1 gene function - he was born extremely small and grew very slowly".


The research could help scientists looking for the genetic causes of human diseases such as arthritis, diabetes and cancer, said the researchers.
LinkTelegraph UK

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Tomb Sweeping Festival-Online tombs to honour dead

Beijing News reports

Chinese internet users are turning to online tombs as an easier ways to pay respects to deceased relatives and others during an annual festival to honour the dead, state media reported

At least five million people have logged on the web sites allowing them to offer the dead everything from simple message to the burning of electronic version of incense in the run-up to the yearly Tomb Sweeping Festival , the Beijing News reported

Chinese turn out in droves for the festival each year to clean the graves and tombs on their ancestors as assign of respect, leaving behind myriad offering to comfort them an the after life. The paper said the huge growth in online offering is likely due to large part to an increase in people paying respects to revered historic figures rather than direct relatives

Link Agence France-Presse
 
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