Science Special News

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Devil of a good tale

The very name The Devil's Stone Inn sends a chill down the spine and it comes as no surprise that the well-known Shebbear hostelry has a reputation as one of the most haunted pubs in England. Its name stems from Shebbear's famous Devil's Stone situated just across the village square.The six foot boulder is something of a mystery. It is not a type of stone found elsewhere in the locality.Legend has it that it was dropped by the Devil himself.Bellringers from the village church use crowbars each November 5 to turn the stone over - following a tradition that it must be turned annually to ward the Devil away.The pub itself was once a farmhouse, but was turned into a coaching inn some 400 years ago.It is said to be linked to the church across the square by a hidden tunnel.The reputation for hauntings stems from reports of staff and guests over many years of strange "goings on" and the pub has often been visited by paranormal groups and investigation teams - including by a Haunted Devon team earlier this year.Among its uninvited guests are reports of a young girl running around and also of her mother and of a grumpy man.Current owners Chris and Steve Hurst have only been there since last December.But Chris already reports a number of strange experiences."I sometimes hear a noise like the little girl running across the landing," she said. "There are also knocks on doors and doors open, but when you step back to let someone through, there is no-one there. Pictures move and I have also had a feeling like someone breathing down the back of my neck. Guests have reported duvets being removed from their beds. Investigations have also revealed orbs of light flying around."

But there is no bad feeling at all. Paranormal groups have said the spirits seem very happy. "I am the sort of person who would get very nervous, but I have been here on my own in the evening and have had no bad feelings at all."It was said the young girl and her mother could be the result of a past fire in the building, when a woman died, said Chris. And the grumpy old man was said to have been a rent collector who called for his dues from lodgers there. But with its beamed ceilings, flagstone floor, open fireplaces and fine kitchen, The Devil's Stone Inn provides a warm welcome to all customers, old and new.

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Different approaches to ghost hunting

Marbles and Lego pieces from out of nowhere zoom across the room and drop to the floor, scorching hot. Coins and stones drop out of the air. Sofas levitate and tip over. Beds, tables and chests of drawers spin on the spot and fling themselves about. Iron fireplaces wrench themselves out of the wall. Room lights flash on and off, doors slam, brand-new flashlight batteries drain mysteriously. Dogs bark in completely dogless rooms. And preteen girls -- always a staple of supernatural situations -- are flung out of bed by unseen hands, gutturally growling horribly vulgar, un-girlish words. In the world of ghostly investigation, England's "Enfield poltergeist" from the 1970s is one of the more spectacular cases. Its manifestations were observed by more than two dozen highly credible witnesses. And, like all of the occurrences in these two new books by journalistic ghost hunters, it defies, at one and the same time, both doubt and rational, scientific explanation.

One book is historical, the other mostly contemporary; one is resolutely skeptical and neutral, the other skeptical but willing to be persuaded, because there just is too much weird stuff in the world. Each is intelligent, informative and, in its way, entertaining. Deborah Blum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former science journalist and now an author and professor of science journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her Ghost Hunters is the heavyweight of the two, scrupulously researched along historiographical lines.

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Charles Darwin's works go online

The complete works of one of history's greatest scientists, Charles Darwin, are being published online. The project run by Cambridge University has digitised some 50,000 pages of text and 40,000 images of original publications - all of it searchable. Surfers can even access downloadable audio files to use on MP3 players. The resource is aimed at serious scholars, but can be used by anyone with an interest in Darwin and his theory on the evolution of life. "The idea is to make these important works as accessible as possible; some people can only get at Darwin that way," said Dr John van Wyhe, the project's director. Dr van Wyhe has spent the past four years searching the globe for copies of Darwin's own materials, and works written about the naturalist and his breakthrough ideas on natural selection.

The historian said he was inspired to build the library at darwin-online.org.uk when his own efforts to study Darwin while at university in Asia were frustrated. "I wrote to lots of people all over the world to get hold of the texts for the project and I got a really positive reaction because they all liked the idea of there being one big collection," he told BBC News. Darwin Online features many newly transcribed or never-before-published manuscripts written by the great man.

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Researchers developing purple tomatoes

Oregon State University researchers are fine-tuning a purple tomato, a new blend of colors and nutrients. The skin is as dark as an eggplant. But it doesn't just look cool, it could be better for you. The novel pigment contains the same phytochemical found in blueberries that is thought to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.Six years in the making, the purple hybrid could hit salad plates in two years.Genetic origins are not at issue. The purple tomato traces its roots to a wild species in South America, not a petri dish.Jim Myers, the Oregon State professor overseeing the project, said he doesn't see it changing the world, but it may entice gardeners and commercial growers to try it.Although locals can't buy the hybrids yet, several got to sample them at farmers markets around the Mid Valley this summer, and a handful got a sneak peek at a local nursery. Barbara Taylor of Monmouth marveled at its color when she saw the tomato last month."Wow," she said. "It's definitely different."

It will be the first true purple tomato, Myers said, although a few heirlooms offer whispers of a muddy purple caused when pink fruit meets green skin.Local tasters give mixed reviews, but researchers are working on a cross with the popular Sungold cherry tomatoes to boost the flavor.That hybrid won't be ready for several years.Hundreds of years ago, explorers discovered purple tomatoes in the wild, but the species never made it to the table because the fruit was small and some were poisonous, as all tomatoes once were thought to be.In the 1960s and 1970s, scientists collected seeds from purple tomatoes and bred them with modern hybrids, making them safe to eat.

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Debunking Hollywood's ghosts and vampires

As the weather cools and Halloween approaches, chilling creaks in the stairs, bloodcurdling screams from the attic and other paranormal activity become more believable -- but not to UCF physics professor Costas Efthimiou. The laws of physics and math debunk popular myths about ghosts and vampires, according to a paper published by Efthimiou and Sohang Gandhi, a UCF graduate now studying at Cornell University. Using Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion, Efthimiou demonstrates that ghosts would not be able to walk and pass through walls. Basic math disproves the legend of humans turning into vampires after they are bitten, Efthimiou explains, because the entire human population in 1600 would have been wiped out in less than three years. "These popular myths make for a lot of Halloween fun and great movies with special effects, but they just don't hold up to the strict tests of science," Efthimiou said. In movies such as "Ghost," starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, ghosts often walk like humans, pass through walls and pick up objects. But that portrayal cannot be accurate, Efthimiou says. For ghosts to have the ability to walk like humans, they would need to put a force upon the floor, which would exert an equal and opposite force in return. But ghosts' ability to pass through walls and have humans walk right through them demonstrates that they cannot apply any force. Movies such as "Blade," featuring Wesley Snipes, suggest that vampires feed on human blood and that once a human has been bitten, he or she turns into a vampire and begins feeding on other humans.

To disprove the existence of vampires, Efthimiou relied on a basic math principle known as geometric progression. Efthimiou supposed that the first vampire arrived Jan. 1, 1600, when the human population was 536,870,911. Assuming that the vampire fed once a month and the victim turned into a vampire, there would be two vampires and 536,870,910 humans on Feb. 1. There would be four vampires on March 1 and eight on April 1. If this trend continued, all of the original humans would become vampires within two and a half years and the vampires' food source would disappear.

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New exhibit explores Chupacabra legend

Word traveled fast in Salvatierra, Art Guevara's hometown in Mexico. A chupacabra, a bloodsucking monster, slaughtered a neighbor's farm animals. Children who played on the farms and in the fields at night would be next, parents warned. But Guevara, then about 7 years old, and his friends planned to catch the menacing chupacabra with a net."It was scary. We stayed out the whole night and when we caught it, we called everyone to see the chupacabra," said Guevara, 56. "And then we realized it actually was a coyote."The half-man, half-beast monster has never been photographed, but the Discovery Science Center is offering insight into the mythical creature through an exhibit that runs until Nov. 5. The display is part of Discovery's Spooky Science program, which uses monsters to explore aspects of science.To understand the chupacabra, children can learn about real creatures that share its traits. The exhibit features leeches and mosquitoes, other bloodsucking organisms. And it looks at specimens such as fleas, which share the hind-leg features that the chupacabra purportedly uses to pounce on its prey."What we like to do at the Discovery Science Center is offer something to spark a kid's interest and then show them the science behind it," said spokeswoman Julie Smith.But Discovery leaves the mystery of the chupacabra to its guests.

There are no images or figures of the creature, which is said to have razor-sharp fangs, scaly skin and haunting red eyes.Some Orange County residents thought they spotted a chupacabra in Santa Ana in 1996, according to news reports. A construction worker who fell asleep near his apartment window said he woke up to see a large, shadowy figure of the legendary beast.Guevara said the stories may have been a parental tactic to keep mischievous children like him home at night. But, despite his chupacabra hunts, he has never stopped believing the urban legend."They would prefer little kids over grown-ups and animals, they would tell us," he said. "We couldn't help but be scared."

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Korea scientist paid Russia mafia for mammoth

Submitted by Hurrikane: Disgraced South Korean stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk said on Tuesday he spent part of private donations for research to pay the Russian mafia for mammoth tissues to clone extinct elephant species. Hwang, once celebrated as a national hero, was indicted in May on charges of fraud and embezzlement after prosecutors said he was the mastermind of a scheme to make it look like his team had produced stem cells through cloning human embryos.He previously told a Seoul court that he spent part of more than $1 million in corporate donations for "peripheral activities related to research.""Some of the money was spent in contacting the Russia mafia as we tried to clone mammoths," Hwang told the court during a hearing on Tuesday. "But you can't say that (on the expense claim) so we expensed it as money for cows for experiment."Hwang previously said he obtained mammoth tissues from glaciers and tried to clone them three times but failed.Prosecutors have charged Hwang with fraud to secure funds and misusing $2.9 million in state funds and private donations as well as violating bioethics laws in procuring human eggs for research.

An investigation panel at Seoul National University, where Hwang once worked, said his team fabricated key data in the two papers on embryonic stem cells that were once heralded.Misuse of state funds carries a penalty of up to 10 years in jail, while violating the bioethics laws can lead to three years' imprisonment, prosecutors have said.Hwang denied any of the funds were used for anything other than research. He described extra expenses incurred when trying to secure animal ovaries in addition to paying for junior researchers' housing and travel.

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'Tower of Babel' translator made

A "Tower of Babel" device that gives the illusion of being bilingual is being developed by US scientists. Users simply have to silently mouth a word in their own language for it to be translated and read out in another. The researchers said the effect was like watching a television programme that had been dubbed. The system, detailed in New Scientist, is not yet fully accurate, but experts said it showed the technology was "within reach". The translation systems that are currently in use work by using voice recognition software. But this requires people to speak out loud and then wait for the translation to be read out, making conversations difficult. But the new device, being created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, is different. Electrodes are attached to the neck and face to detect the movements that occur as the person silently mouths words and phrases. Using this data, a computer can work out the sounds being formed and then build these sounds up into words. The system is then able to translate the words into another language which is read out by a synthetic voice.

The team currently has two prototypes: one that can translate Chinese into English and another that can translate English into Spanish or German. If the prototypes used a small vocabulary of about 100-200 words they worked with about 80% accuracy, researcher Tanja Schultz said. But, she added, a full vocabulary had a much lower level of accuracy. Professor Schultz said: "The idea is that you can mouth words in English and they will come out in Chinese or another language."