They are the stuff of legend - signifying mystery and traditionally believed to be able to grant the owner youth.

For years breeders have crossed different colours of roses in an effort to create the impossible. But rose petals lack the enzyme needed to create a blue pigment and the breeders always failed.

Now for the first time, thanks to genetic engineering, blue roses finally exist.

Breaking time

A picture of an elusive snow leopard on a night-time prowl has won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 award.
Steve Winter's image was captured during a 13-month quest to snap the perfect photo of the endangered species in its hostile habitat high in the mountains of Central Asia.
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Physical decline caused by slow decay of brain's myelin

During this year's baseball playoffs, Chicago White Sox outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., 38, threw a picture-perfect strike from center field to home plate to stop an opposing player from scoring. The White Sox ultimately won the game by a single run and clinched the division title.

Had Griffey been 40, it could be argued, he might not have made the throw in time. That's because in middle age, we begin to lose myelin — the fatty sheath of "insulation" that coats our nerve axons and allows for fast signaling bursts in our brains.
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Today photos

Who are you?

suicide

A place for climbing

A place for making love

My little hourse

Short Term Memory Checker

Short term memory is information that undergoes little processing or interpretation and can be recalled for only a few seconds. Estimates of short term memory capacity vary - from about 3 or 4 elements (i.e., words, digits, or letters) to about 9 elements.
Check your short term memory. You are shown some items. Push the OK button when you have memorized them. Next find and click them among a lot of other items. You advance to the next level if you found all items. But if you make a mistake in even one, it's game over.

Humans Built Fires 500 Thousand Years Before They Could Speak

Though the ability to make fires is considered one of the great breakthroughs in human civilization, it may have been a more primitive activity than we thought. A new archaeological study has revealed that homo sapiens' ancestors were regularly making fires about 790 thousand years ago. Even by the most conservative estimates, that's least 590 thousand years before our species developed language. An ancient lakeside community by the river Jordan in Israel revealed that proto-humans passed along the secret of creating fire from generation to generation.
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A hot drink in hand 'makes us friendlier towards strangers'

A small study has shown coincidental physical comforts, like holding a warm cup of coffee, can influence your positive or negative judgments of a stranger.
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The Blind Man's Lantern

Blind man, the youngster shouted. What fool you be. Why old No-Eyes do you carry a lantern, you whose midnight is no lighter than his noonday?

The Blind Man lifted his lamp. It is not as a light for myself that I carry this, Boy, he said. It is to warn off you fools with eyes.

What happend so ?!

India's only gorilla is lonely. Even though Polo is 6 feet tall, dark-haired, bilingual and good-natured, the 36-year-old silverback gorilla is still single after a fruitless eight-year search.

"We have written to all major zoos in the world. We have tried everything," said Vijay Ranjan Singh, the director of the zoo in Mysore, a city in southern India about 525 miles southeast of Mumbai.

Polo, who was sent to Mysore from Ireland's Dublin Zoo in 1995, has been alone since 2000 when his mate, 46-year-old Sumathi, died.

The Puzzled Fox

This 1872 Currier and Ives print is titled The Puzzled Fox: Find the Horse, Lamb, Wild Boar, Men's and Women's Faces. There are eight human and animal faces hidden in the scene. Can you find them?