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HUMAN ORGANS GROWN IN PIGS. "Experiments building up to organ farms have been carried out in pigs, mice and rats in Japan. So far, regulations there have made the next stage impossible – using human stem cells to make human-animal chimeras. But last week, the Japanese government announced new rules which should allow Hiromitsu Nakauchi and his group at the University of Tokyo to grow animals that are partly human." (July 16, 2013). " " http://lnkd.in/bNKinV7 View in LinkedIn

SPARE PART FACTORY. Genetically Perfect Replacements for Diseased Cells (2013). "the methods detailed . . . would allow researchers to fashion human embryonic stem cells that are custom-made for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and others, these stem cells could be used to grow replacements for a wide variety of diseased cells—that would not risk rejection by the patient’s immune system."" " http://lnkd.in/b5ZFtg7 View in LinkedIn

CLONING HUMANS FOR SPARE PARTS. "Sir John Gurdon, whose work cloning frogs in the 1950s and 60s led to the later creation of Dolly the sheep by Edinburgh scientists in 1996, said that progression to human cloning could happen within half a century." The logical applications are fresh human organs for transplantation. " " http://lnkd.in/bQNJsd9 View in LinkedIn

CLONING USING BLOOD. "For the first time, a donor mouse has been cloned using a drop of peripheral blood from its tail."" " http://m.phys.org/news/2013-06-donor-mouse-cloned-peripheral-blood.html View in LinkedIn

DURABLE DNA. DNA from prehistoric man thousands of years ago, or from wooly mammoths, has survived intact and enabled genetic studies. But the other implication is that, when J Craig Venter's prototype matures, that of taking a DNA sequence and 4 bottles of amino acids, and "creating life", or by cloning into a related cell, it is feasible we can bring back early hominids and mammoths. " "" " http://lnkd.in/bmEVhKi" " http://lnkd.in/baT3cde View in LinkedIn

CATALAN FIESTAS are numerous and often ancient. In general they love to dress up and to party. Carnival is dramatic. Every town also offers their annual fiesta. The Colles Castelleres is where they make human towers 10 men high; Correfocs is about devils playing with fire; in the nativity they have a Caganer figure near the crib, defacating; most of the festivals are seasonal and often accompanied by seasonal culinary delights. There is a strong tradition of seasonal foods and local produce. Strong old traditions that have not weakened. View in LinkedIn

FESTIVAL IF THE DEAD SARDINE in Spain, since the 1700s. "The procession is headed by a public prosecutor,,,a fake priest, and people driving the funeral carriage. The carriage is adorned with palms, flowers and other offerings with the sardine resting in its interior,. The widows follow, confessing their “sins” to the false priest and lamenting the death of the sardine...the Devil tries to prevent the passage of the sardine by trying to abduct it, but a supposed group of policemen scare the devil away."" " http://lnkd.in/bbcvCv3 View in LinkedIn

THE DANCE OF DEATH has been performed every year on Maundy Thursday since the European Black Death in the small Mediaeval Catalan town of Verges. "The Dance of Death group comprises ten people, divided into groups of five. The five dancers – two adults and three children – are dressed as skeletons and carry symbolic objects: a scythe, flag, clock without hands and plates of ash. The other five figures are dressed in black tunics and move forward following the rhythm but without forming the dance steps." Deeply haunting. " " http://www.catalunyaonline.cat/verges/idioma_en.html View in LinkedIn

PLAGUE UNRAVELED SOCIETY. "And worse, the people turned on each other. Parents abandoned children; husbands turned their backs on their wives. The streets were filled with the dead, and neighbors sometimes learned of a death next door by the smell. The living didn't have time to mourn; Boccaccio says that due to the large number of dead and the fear of their presence, "a dead man was then of no more account than a dead goat would be today."" " http://lnkd.in/bFmfA-x View in LinkedIn

BLACK DEATH. "The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, killing an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1348–50 CE. Currently, 5 to 15 people in the United States are estimated to catch the disease each year—typically in western states."" " http://lnkd.in/bjZwNcq View in LinkedIn