February 25, 2010

Coochy-Coo

Siberian tigers perform for visitors at a zoo in Fuzhou, China, on the second day of the Lunar New Year — the year of the Tiger.

February 21, 2010

Impressive

Elephants and their drivers take part in a mock fight as part of regular training exercises at an elephant conservation park in Ayutthaya province, Thailand.

February 19, 2010

Pacemaker

That pacemaker sewn into a loved one's chest actually came about because American engineer Wilson Greatbatch reached into a box and pulled out the wrong thing.It's true. Greatbatch was working on making a circuit to help record fast heart sounds. He reached into a box for a resistor in order to finish the circuit and pulled out a 1-megaohm resistor instead of a 10,000-ohm one.The circuit pulsed for 1.8 milliseconds and then stopped for one second. Then it repeated. The sound was as old as man: a perfect heartbeat.
 

February 10, 2010

Climate Change Sets Rural Livelihoods Off Course in Zimbabwe

 
At a public borehole in Zviyambe, a village in the backyard of Zimbabwe, approximately 250 kilometres away from Harare, the capital city, butterflies, goats, cattle and human beings mix and mingle in edenic fashion all in search of the precious liquid: water. Under a blazing sun, Sekai Mabika (not her real name) and her sister take turns to fill up buckets with water all the while shooing the goats away while the butterflies flutter hither and thither sipping at the water spilled to the ground and the cattle standby for their turn to drink water. 

February 09, 2010

Hands Off

 
A customs official in Karachi defends a burning pile of seized contraband including heroin, alcohol, pirated DVDs and beetle nut from looters intent on stealing and reselling it.