Eye Eye Captain: Bounty mutineer descendants may hold key to myopia
SYDNEY: Descendants of the famous Bounty mutineers who now live on an isolated Pacific Island have among the lowest rate of myopia in the world and may hold the key to unlocking the genetic code for the disease, according to a new study. A study of residents on Australia›s Norfolk Island, 1,600 km (1,000 miles) northeast of Sydney, showed the rate of myopia, or short-sightedness, among Bounty descendants was about half that of the general Australian population. Fletcher Christian led a mutiny on the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty against captain William Bligh in 1789 in the South Pacific. The mutineers settled in Tahiti but later fled, along with their Tahitian women, to remote Pitcairn Island to escape arrest. Some 60 years after arriving on Pitcairn, almost 200 descendents of the original mutineers relocated to Norfolk Island to avoid famine. «We found the rate of Pitcairn group myopia is approximately one-half that of the Australian population and as a result would be ranked among one of the lowest rates in the world,» said David Mackey, the managing director of Australia›s Lions Eye Institute which led the studies. Mackey said there may be genetic differences in the Norfolk Island population that could lead to breakthroughs in the causes of short-sightedness, but added it was also apparent that spending too little time outdoors raised the risk of myopia. The big cities of East Asia like Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mountain cities of China, myopia has become very common and we think that there are environmental factors that have changed,» he said. Myopia affects one in six people in Australia and more than one in four in the United States. A quarter of the world›s population, 1.6 billion people, suffer from the disease.
New York area homeowners turning to ‘lawn painting’
NEW YORK: Despite the summer's persistent heat waves, the grass really is greener in some neighborhoods in New York and New Jersey. Homeowners with brown, dried-up lawns are turning to “lawn painting” to liven up their yards. Business is booming, according to Joe Perazzo, who launched his lawn painting company in New York's most suburban borough of Staten Island a few years ago, inspired by the tinting process used to color professional athletic fields. Other companies have sprung up in the region and elsewhere in the country. “We've had a lot more calls and jobs in the past few weeks,” said Perazzo, who added that this season's heat has been particularly hard on lawns due to a lack of rain. For about 15 cents a square foot ($1.61 a square meter), or $150 for 1,000 square feet ($161.40 for 100 square meters), Perazzo will spray a plant-based, non-toxic turf dye on lawns or even dried-up shrubs and trees. The biodegradable spray can last up until next spring's new growth if grass is truly desiccated, he said. For lawns with a bit of life left in them, the paint will last for “two to three mows,” he said. In such hot weather, with temperatures hovering near the triple digits, lawns are not growing very fast, he said. Rich Pacailler of Howell, New Jersey, had his 1,500 square foot lawn sprayed this week. “It gave me the green lawn I've been working for,” he said. “I come home and see I've got the greenest lawn on the block.” He said it was very natural looking, “like new sod.”
Japan rocket delivers cargo to space station
TOKYO: A Japanese H-IIB rocket blasted off yesterday to deliver an unmanned supplies vessel to the International Space Station. The rocket lifted off into an overcast sky from the southern island of Tanegashima on schedule at 11:06 a.m. (0206 GMT), according to live images relayed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). About 15 minutes later, the rocket successfully released a cargo vessel called “konotori” (stork in Japanese), containing supplies such as food, clothing and tools necessary for experiments to be done in space. The cargo should reach the International Space Station, where Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide is staying, on July 27. Japan’s leading aerospace firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which helped develop the rocket, is expected to take over future operations of the H-IIB and send four more cargo vehicles to the International Space Station by 2016. After the launch, JAXA president Keiji Tachikawa said the rocket should also be used to explore the potentially lucrative satellite launch market.
— Compiled from agencies
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