IPod is Bigger Than Jesus?
The iBelieve is a $13 cap and lanyard for the iPod shuffle that turns the player into a cross when hung around your neck. It is available online. The site, which is very slick, appears to be genuine. The site says: "Inspired by the world's obsession and devotion to the iPod, iBelieve is a replacement lanyard for your Shuffle. It is a social commentary on the fastest growing religion in the world." This clearly refers to the iPod -- the iPod is the fastest growing religion in the world. Another 'biblical' quote in the upper right corner reads: "But now bring me a man who plays music. And when the man played music, the groove came upon them." According to BibleGateway, the quote says: "'But now bring me a man who plays music. And when the man played music, the power of the Lord came upon Elisha."

Scientists make new tissue in minutes
British scientists claim they can grow new tissue in minutes, a development they say may one day allow doctors to make tissue implants at the bedside. Currently, scientists take between one and 12 weeks to make tissues to be used for operations such as skin grafts by building a scaffold of cells that grow in the lab. Professor Robert Brown and colleagues at University College, London, investigated whether they could cut this time down. They experimented on making a tissue called collagen, which acts as a structural support for skin, bones and tendons. Sucking out the water using a technique called plastic compression meant they could make the collagen in just over half an hour. The tissue was not only made much faster than that made in the conventional tissue engineering way, it also appeared to be stronger, more like real collagen. "Our method offers a simple and controllable means of quickly engineering tissue structures," Brown said. "The next stage is to test whether this method could help repair injured tissues. Ultimately, the goal is to design a rapid, inexpensive, automatic process for creating strong tissues, which could supply hospital surgical units with a tool kit of spare parts for reconstructive surgery. "The speed and control it offers means that our method could one day be used to produce implant tissue at the bedside or in the operating theatre," he said.

Musical Sunglasses
Japanese optical maker Volks employee displays a pair of sunglasses with MP3 digital audio player "Junction Produce MP-3", equipped with 128MB built-in flash memory to record and play digital music contents at the annual International Optical Fair Tokyo. The Volks will put it on the market at the end of this year with a price of USD 165. Some 400 makers and traders from 20 countries exhibited their latest eyewears at Asia's largest optical equipments trade show.

Source: AFP, Wired and Webindia123

Compiled by IMRAN H. KHAN

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