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Children with Williams syndrome, a rare form of autism, love music and will spend hours listening to it. This is further evidence that the ability to compose and appreciate music lies in one specific portion of the brain. We already know that the ability to recognize other people and read a watch take place in specific parts of the brain. Despite averaging a relatively low IQ score of 60 (the average is 100), many of them possess a great memory for songs and an uncanny sense of rhythm. Their hearing is so good that they can identify different vacuum cleaner brands, just by listening to them. Some people have speculated that Mozart had some sort of strange genetic condition. He could have had Williams syndrome.
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New technology is allowing people who are paralyzed, due to accidents or to diseases like ALS (the condition that quantum physicist Stephen Hawking has), to operate computers using only their brains. A fourteen-year-old boy with epilepsy has learned to play Space Invaders using only brain signals. And new breakthrough in stem cell research may be able to actually cure people with ALS.

Researchers have shown that transplanting human stem cells into spinal cords of rats bred to duplicate Lou Gehrig?s disease delays the start of the nerve cell damage and prolongs life. The stem cells develop into nerve cells that connect with existing nerves and do not themselves succumb to ALS. While this is not yet a cure, it does demonstrate hope for the future.
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Scientists who are warning us about a possible bird flu epidemic are comparing it with the 1918 Spanish flu influenza epidemic which killed somewhere between 40 and 100 million people worldwide during the 18 months it lasted. Researchers are analyzing that virus to try to figure out why it was so lethal. Other researchers have discovered a compound that gives broad protection against influenza viruses, including the deadly avian influenza. Bird flu may soon become one less thing for us to fear.

An analysis of mice infected with the reconstructed 1918 influenza virus has revealed that although the infection triggered a very strong immune system response, the response failed to protect the animals from severe lung disease and death.
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We recently wrote about how drinking cola?whether regular, diet or decaf?is dangerous for women. Now the Coca-Cola company is launching a new brand of cola that is even more dangerous, because it’s essentially speed in a bottle!

Andrew Gumbel in the Independent the sales pitch for the new drink will be: drink cola and lose weight at the same time. This is different from regular diet drinks, that just claim to prevent you from gaining weight, in that the new drink, called Enviga, will actually burn calories, due to its high level of caffeine and other ingredients, which speed up the metabolism.
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