BMW is out from F1

Will the Formula One bites the dust...

BMW to pull out from Formula One at end of the season

MUNICH: BMW rocked Formula One yesterday by announcing their exit as a team and engine supplier at the end of 2009.

The Munich carmaker’s abrupt decision, after a dismal season on the track and with the industry in crisis, leaves the glamour sport with just four manufacturers — Fiat-owned Ferrari, McLaren’s partners Mercedes, Renault and Toyota.

However, three new teams are due to enter next year with others on standby.

“The BMW Group will not continue their Formula One campaign after the end of the 2009 season,” the Munich carmaker said in a statement issued before a news conference at their company headquarters.

“Resources freed up as a result are to be dedicated to the development of new drive technologies and projects in the field of sustainability. BMW will continue to be actively involved in other motorsports series.”

Team boss Mario Theissen told reporters that the natural scenario would be for a partner to take over the team that BMW bought from their Swiss founder Peter Sauber in 2005.

BMW’s exit is the first prominent withdrawal from the series since Honda quit in December due to tough business conditions.

That team was resurrected as Brawn GP, the current championship leaders who now use Mercedes engines.

BMW’s decision, taken at a board meeting only on Tuesday, came just as the teams were on the verge of signing a new commercial agreement that would have committed them to at least the end of 2012.

It also follows a standoff between the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) and eight of the teams that nearly led to a breakaway championship, plunging the sport into its biggest crisis in 60 years.

“Of course, this was a difficult decision for us. But it’s a resolute step in view of our company’s strategic realignment,” said board of management chairman Norbert Reithofer.

The departure ends the carmaker’s hopes of winning a title with their own team.

The carmaker decided in mid-2005 that supplying engines to former champions Williams was not enough and bought a majority stake in Swiss-based Sauber, renaming the team BMW-Sauber.

They won their first race last season when Poland’s Robert Kubica triumphed in Canada, and challenged for both titles.

This season, however, they have scored just eight points in 10 races and are eighth overall. — Reuters

Late Michael's Moonwalk Memoir

Michael Jackson...an entertainment legend

Jul 28 2009 2:13 PM EDT
Michael Jackson's 'Moonwalk' Memoir To Be Re-Released
Ghostwritten autobiography, originally published in 1988, set for October reissue.

By Eric Ditzian

Plans are already in the works to repurpose almost every shred of Michael Jackson's creative output — music, footage, costumes and more — for various tributes on the big screen, small screen, museum hall and concert stage. Next up is the written word.

Jackson's 1988 ghostwritten memoir, "Moonwalk," is being reissued for publication in October, The Associated Press reports. The reissue will contain a new introduction by a yet-unnamed friend of Jackson's and will have a first printing of 100,000 copies.

In interviews with the AP, Jackson's literary agent, Joy Harris, and the original editor of the book, Shaye Areheart, who is also publishing the reissue, revealed the process behind making "Moonwalk," as well as the harried days after the pop star's death when plans to re-release the book began.

Beginning in the mid '80s, Areheart met with Jackson many times at his Encino, California, home to conduct interviews for the memoir. "He was just a lively, in-touch guy," she said. "And he did have his act together."

They would often sit together by a large fireplace as Areheart asked questions and Jackson spoke answers into a tape recorder. He was "smart and funny and gracious," she said.

Yet the project ended up taking much longer to complete than expected, as Jackson was often occupied with the demands of tours and recording sessions. "His time was constantly not his own," Areheart said.

The book ended up coming out in the spring of 1988 and became a #1 New York Times bestseller. In the memoir, Jackson admitted to being beaten by his father and to having two nose jobs. He dedicated the book to Fred Astaire.

According to Harris, publishers began asking about reprinting the memoir the morning after Jackson's death. She got in touch with his attorneys, who began negotiations and struck a deal with Areheart and her Random House imprint, Harmony.

"It did seem abrupt to me," Harris told the AP. "But when I thought about it, it didn't surprise me, in the way that everything is so immediate these days."

New findings on Organic food

What have we been eating?

Organic food is no healthier, study finds
Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:29pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food, according to a major study published Wednesday.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said consumers were paying higher prices for organic food because of its perceived health benefits, creating a global organic market worth an estimated $48 billion in 2007.

A systematic review of 162 scientific papers published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years, however, found there was no significant difference.

"A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, but these are unlikely to be of any public health relevance," said Alan Dangour, one of the report's authors.

"Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority."

The results of research, which was commissioned by the British government's Food Standards Agency, were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Sales of organic food have fallen in some markets, including Britain, as recession has led consumers to cut back on purchases.

The Soil Association said in April that growth in sales of organic products in Britain slowed to just 1.7 percent in 2008, well below the average annual growth rate of 26 percent over the last decade, following a plunge in demand at the end of the year.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing by Simon Jessop)

Ferrari's Felipe Massa

Felipe Massa...Get well soon

Massa takes first steps since being near death

BUDAPEST: Formula One driver Felipe Massa took his first steps yesterday since a high-speed crash at the weekend left him near death.

Ferrari said Massa was set to leave AEK hospital’s intensive care unit later in the day as his condition continues to improve.

“Felipe speaks, can sit upright and was even able to take his first steps,” the Italian team said in a statement.

“From the clinical and radiological point of view, everything is going extremely well.”
Brotherly love: Eduardo Massa is seen after visiting his brother Felipe at Budapest’s AEK hospital on Tuesday. — Reuters

The 28-year-old Brazilian was hit in the helmet by a loose part from another car and crashed into a protective tire barrier at 190kph during qualifying on Saturday at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ferrari said Massa would remain at the Budapest hospital for the next few days.

Massa’s father, Luiz Antonio, said his son still doesn’t remember anything about the accident.

“If it continues like this, maybe on Thursaday (today) Felipe can be transferred to the hospital in Paris, where he would continue his recovery until he can return home,” Luiz Antonio told Brazil’s GloboEsporte.com on Tuesday.

“But we still have to obey what the doctors say. The most important now is to know that his life is not at risk.”

Yesterday, Brazilian driver and friend Popo Bueno said Massa had asked about his chances of racing in Valencia in three weeks, the next race on the F1 calendar.

“Friends and relatives want to see him well, at home, healthy. But the driver always wants to return to racing soon,” Bueno said.

“But only the doctors can know if he will be able to return this year or the next.”

Ferrari also said company chairman Luca di Montezemolo would visited Massa yesterday. — AP

New hope for blindness

No more blindness in the future

Omega-3 may prevent blindness in the elderly: Study
By Stephen Daniells, 23-Jul-2009

Related topics: Innovation

A diet high in omega-3 fatty acids may prevent the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the over-50s, suggests a new study.

Researchers from the National Eye Institute in Bethesda found that a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids could retard the progression of lesions in a mouse model of AMD. The fatty acids were also associated with an improvement in some lesions.

"The results in these mice are in line with the epidemiological studies of AMD risk reduction by long chain omega-3 fatty acids," wrote the researchers in the American Journal of Pathology.

It is known that omega-3 fatty acids, and particularly DHA, play an important role in the layer of nerve cells in the retina, and studies have already reported that omega-3 may protect against the onset of AMD.

Indeed, a meta-analysis published in the June 2008 issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology found that a high intake of omega-3 fatty acids and fish may reduce the risk of AMD by up to 38 per cent. Scientists from the University of Melbourne in Australia reported that the benefits were most pronounced against late (more advanced) AMD, while eating fish twice a week was associated with a reduced risk of both early and late AMD.

AMD low-down

AMD is a degenerative retinal disease that causes central vision loss and leaves only peripheral vision. It is the leading cause of legal blindness for people over 55 years of age in the Western world, according to AMD Alliance International.

Despite the fact that approximately 25 to 30 million people worldwide are affected by AMD, awareness of the condition is low, says the Alliance. And as the generation of Baby Boomers gets older, the Alliance expects incidence to be on the rise and triple by 2025.

Looking at mice

The Bethesda-based researchers, led by Dr Chi-Chao Chan, found that mice fed a high omega-3 fatty acid diet displayed a slower development of lesions in their retina, compared to animals fed a low omega-3 diet. Furthermore, some of the mice in the omega-3 group displayed some reversion of the lesions.

Looking at the potential mechanism behind the effects, the researchers noted lower levels of inflammatory molecules, such as prostaglandin E2 and leukotriene B4, and higher levels of anti-inflammatory molecules, such as prostaglandin D2.

“A diet enriched in EPA and DHA can ameliorate the progression of retinal lesions in their mouse model of AMD,” wrote the researchers.

“This murine model provides a useful tool to evaluate therapies that might delay the development of AMD,” they concluded.

The study was funded by The Intramural Research Program of the National Eye Institute, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Health Assistance Foundation.

Source: American Journal of Pathology
Volume 175, Pages 799-807, doi:10.2353/ajpath.2009.090089
“A High Omega-3 Fatty Acid Diet Reduces Retinal Lesions in a Murine Model of Macular Degeneration”
Authors: J. Tuo, R.J. Ross, A.A. Herzlich, D. Shen, X. Ding, M. Zhou, S.L. Coon, N. Hussein, N. Salem Jr, C.-C. Chan