Humanity partially safe from the bird flu

Predictions that the bird flu may become a dangerous threat to humans in the future may be erroneous. UK researchers say our nose, which is the main body part that spreads the virus, is too cold for it. Some testing was done in a laboratory that recreated the environment in the nose, and it was found that at 32 degrees Celsius, avian flu viruses lose function and cannot spread. An assumption that the viruses have adapted to suit the warmer 40 degree environments in the insides of birds was made.
A relatively strong mutation would be needed before the avian flu became a problem directly for humans. The lab also created a mutated human flu virus by adding a protein from the surface of an avian influenza virus to test if the new strain could develop and start a pandemic, but was also unsuccessful at 32 degrees.
The leader of the study, Professor Wendy Barclay said that if a new human influenza strain evolved by mixing with an avian influenza virus, it would still need to have several more mutations before it could be successful in infecting humans. She also added that if constant research was made, it could point to warning signs if the viruses are genetically changing and harm humans in a near future. Wendy also said that swine flu was probably an example of a virus that had adapted to cope with the cooler temperatures in the nose.

UK’s Ministry of Defense releases third installment of UFO files

The acronym UFO is an abbreviation for the US Air Force term “Unidentified Flying Object.” It was coined in 1950 to replace the term “flying saucers”, which was widely used by the media and public. Although for the public and the media UFO has since become a synonym for “alien spaceship”, for the military forces of the world it is simply refers to something in the sky the observer can see but does not recognize.

In part of a three-year project by the Ministry of Defense, there’s a release of UFO files, which can be downloaded from the National Archives website. These documents are the first containing information written by defense intelligence staff to be made public, although they’re just going to stay that way for a month. ‘From suspected US Air Force spy planes to Russian rockets burning up in the atmosphere, these new files show the many and varied explanations for UFO reports submitted to the MoD. Said Dr Clarke, a UFO expert and Journalism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.
The most distinctive story was the one of a woman claiming that approximately at 22:30 on Monday, 20 November, 1989; she was walking her dog in her hometown, near Norwich, UK, when a man approached her and asked if she would listen to what he had to say. The woman agreed. She described the man as 5’9’’ fair hair with a Scandinavian type accent and dressed in a light brown garment similar to a flying suit. He asked if she was aware of the crop circles, and then proceeded to explain that he was from another planet similar to Earth, and that the circles were made by others like him who travelled to Earth. He went on to explain that the purpose of their visits was friendly, but that they were told not to make contact with the people on Earth, as they might see them as a potential threat. He explained he talked to her because he felt that contact between the two people to occur. After ten minutes the man left her, and she ran towards home until she heard a loud buzzing noise behind her, and turned to see a large spherical object rising vertically from behind the trees which rose steadily until out of sight.