"Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - Blue roses are to be found and sold only in Japan as a local firm that developed it genetically with the help of a biotechnology company announced it will start selling the flower next month.

Whisky maker Suntory Ltd. took 20 years of research to finally produce roses with the color blue. The feat was achieved in 2004 with the help of Australian firm Florigene Pty. Ltd."

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7016751808?Blue%20Roses%20Hit%20Japan%20Stores,%20Sell%20For%20Up%20To%20$33%20Per%20Stem

The exceptionally well-preserved fossil primate known as "Ida" is not a missing link as some have claimed, according to an analysis in the journal Nature.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8318643.stm

"NASA's Ares 1-X Flight Test Vehicle rolls out to Complex 39B during preparations for the rockets first test flight at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 20,2009. The 327-foot-tall Test Vehicle represents the next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system."

http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/Photos_of_the_Day/October-20-2009/2391/

http://mises.org/story/3754

In Q2 2009, total debt outstanding in the United States — financial plus nonfinancial debt — amounted to 373.4% of GDP.[1] At the start of 1952, the debt-to-GDP ratio stood at only 130%. In fact, in the last decades the rise in total debt has increasingly outpaced nominal income — a development which gained momentum after the erosion of the last vestiges of the gold standard in the early 1970s.

The current upward dynamic of the debt-to-GDP ratio is economically unsustainable. It cannot go on forever. To see this, let us assume that the total debt-to-GDP ratio does continue to grow at the average rate at which it has expanded from Q1 1971 to Q2 2009 (case 1 in the chart above). The total debt-to-GDP ratio would exceed 600% at the start of 2029 and reach more than 1000% in 2050.

If one assumes that the total debt-to-GDP ratio will expand at the average growth rate seen from Q1 1995 to Q2 2009 (case 2), a level of 600% would be reached as early as the middle of 2024, and the ratio would go up further towards 1300% by the end of 2050.

A new and rare species of "giant" orb web spider has been discovered in Africa and Madagascar.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8316720.stm

>>	09/10/21(Wed)06:03 No.2496   File: 1256130191646.jpg -(79279 B, 500x400) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. I'm not convinced untill I see one of these eating cars.

What we know about H1N1

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/715

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/20/scareware_psychology/

The trade in rogue anti-virus application can make top-tier distributors an estimated $1.2m (£ 850,000) a year, net security firm Symantec estimates. A study by Symantec into the psychology of the scam found that 93 per cent of users deliberately downloaded and installed scareware packages, albeit without realising what they were getting for their money.

Scareware slingers use trickery to mimic the look and feel of legitimate security packages, tapping into users' fears in order to trick them into buying worthless software packages. Some malicious sites use legitimate online payment services to process credit card purchases, offering receipts and serial numbers.

Marks ended up running scareware packages of little or no utility, at best. Some of these packages install malicious code or reduce the overall security of a client PC, while in other cases users' payment details are used to facilitate further forms of fraud.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/20/ares_i_x/

NASA's Ares I-X test rocket is currently trundling towards Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Centre ahead of a slated 27 October first test flight.

The Ares I-X trundles towards the launchpad. Pic: NASA

The vehicle, described by NASA as the "essential core of a safe, reliable, cost-effective space transportation system" and built on "cutting-edge launch technologies, evolved powerful Apollo and space shuttle propulsion elements, and decades of NASA spaceflight experience", represents the trailblazer for the agency's Constellation programme.

>>	Junior Field Reporter 09/10/20(Tue)09:09 No.2483   File: 1256054985973.jpg -(90956 B, 580x433) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size.

"Web surfing among older adults with little Internet experience has been shown to give their brain function a significant boost, according to a new study.

The University of California, Los Angeles researchers said in a statement that Internet use among new Web users triggers key centers in the brain that control decision making and complex reasoning after just one week. The researchers presented their findings at the Oct. 19 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago."

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7016742424?Study:%20Internet%20Use%20Boosts%20Brain%20Activity

"If you want to buy a church, you can choose from hundreds of religious buildings for sale, many of them foreclosures and distress sales. Churches, parsonages, church schools and other properties are becoming victims of the same sour national economy that has devastated secular real estate.

The latest congregation to lose its home is the First Assembly of God in Naples, Fla. Work on a new $3.2 million multimillion-dollar family worship center stopped cold more than a month ago when contributions shrunk by two-thirds. Some in the congregation are homeless. Many others don't have jobs."

http://www.upi.com/Real-Estate/2009/10/18/More-Churches-Face-Foreclosure/6071255899857/