From the BBC news site:<strong>Glowing bugs could find landmines

Some 87 countries are riddled with minefields
Bacteria which glow green in the presence of explosives could provide a cheap and safe way to find hidden landmines, Edinburgh scientists claim.

The bugs can be mixed into a colourless solution, which forms green patches when sprayed onto ground where mines are buried.

Edinburgh University said the microbes could be dropped by air onto danger areas.

Within a few hours, they would indicate where the explosives can be found.

The scientists produced the bacteria using a new technique called BioBricking, which manipulates packages of DNA.

Alistair Elfick, from the university's school of engineering, who supervised the student-led project, said: "This anti-mine sensor is a great example of how innovation in science can be of benefit to wider society.

"It also demonstrates how new scientific techniques can allow molecules to be designed for a specific purpose."

Each year, between 15,000 and 20,000 people are killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance, according to the charity Handicap International.

Some 87 countries are riddled with minefields, including Somalia, Mozambique, Cambodia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Psst...Everest is on the left.
I got up early to see Everest. The weather was really foggy so we sat for hours waiting for it to clear. After it did, we went up. It was a beautiful view. We didn't get that close but the Himalayan mountains are beautiful and the flight attendant was great at pointing out which moutain we were approaching.

Am tired though. It has been a long week. I have one more day and one more night and look forward to going home and snuggling in my own bed.

Am currently in Kathmandu and I had the best days yesterday. One of my boss' friends called me this morning at 7 am!! And woke me up. He said he wanted to have lunch with me. When he arrived at noon. He explained that he wanted to take me to his children's awards ceremony. He said that they were down the road. I went with him. It was a long ceremony complete with a quiz and two dance routines - so Nepali!!

And the kids were lovely. 11 year old girl and a 7 year old boy. The girl kept holding my hand and calling me 'auntie'. it is a term of endearment that they use. It is either little sister, big sister or auntie. Auntie is age but also a sense of respect. I used to be big sister. Ahem. ;)

They are a great family. We walked around after the awards ceremony and then went pashmina shopping then ate samosas from a street vendor. We walked through Durban Square. The girl giggled at the fat tourists, her words not mine, and pointed out Nepali wedding veils.

They insisted that I check out of the hotel early and sleep at their house on Monday night. They will take me to the airport. They also promised me an authentic Nepali meal. That means dahl lentils and rice and sleeping on a bed roll but it is so sweet. I am looking forward to it.

Michael Wolf's website is great, but these series of photos are amazing! This photo is just one of the 100 he took and posted. He shot residents in Hong Kong's oldest housing block.

I always knew it. I am a "double enticement"
From the bbc website:
Curvy women may be a clever bet

Women with curvy figures are likely to be brighter than waif-like counterparts and may well produce more intelligent offspring, a US study suggests.
Researchers studied 16,000 women and girls and found the more voluptuous performed better on cognitive tests - as did their children.

The bigger the difference between a woman's waist and hips the better.

Researchers writing in Evolution and Human Behaviour speculated this was to do with fatty acids found on the hips.

In this area, the fat is likely to be the much touted Omega-3, which could improve the woman's own mental abilities as well as those of her child during pregnancy.

Men respond to the double enticement of both an intelligent partner and an intelligent child, the researchers at the Universities of Pittsburgh and California said.

The findings appear to be borne out in the educational attainments of at least one of the UK's most famous curvaceous women, Nigella Lawson, who graduated from Oxford.

But experts are not convinced by the findings.

"On the fatty deposits being related to intelligence front, it's very hard to detangle that from other factors, such as social class, for instance, or diet," said Martin Tovee of Newcastle University.

"And much as we logically like the idea that men are interested in the waist to hip ratio, it actually features relatively low down the list of feature males look for in a potential partner."