When I pre-interviewed Phyllis Diller over the phone for her appearance later in the week on GSN Live, I told her that I knew all the lyrics to her song, ?You?re Different,? from the 1967 stop-motion animated film Mad Monster Party. She laughed and said, ?Well, you?ll have to sing it for me.? Though that may have just been a polite remark on her end, I took it far more seriously. When Phyllis Diller asks you to sing for her, you do it.
So in between segments, I ran over to where she was seated on the set, leaned down, cupped my hand against her ear and sang her the first two verses as quietly and as quickly as I could. I was met with a giant trademark Phyllis cackle, and when I finished she placed my hands between hers and said, ?Thanks for the memory.? One of my favorite television producer moments, and one I intend to share with everyone willing to lesson until my dying day.
Check out the song below. Then be sure to go sing it to someone you love and admire.
Tags: GSN Live Fred Roggin, GSN Live Heidi Bohay, GSN LIve Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller dead, Phyllis Diller first television appearance, Phyllis Diller game shows, Phyllis Diller Groucho Marx, Phyllis Diller GSN Game Show Network, Phyllis Diller Hairstyle, Phyllis Diller Mad Monster Party, Phyllis Diller Match Game, Phyllis Diller on Match Game, Phyllis Diller sings, Phyllis Diller Stop Motion animation puppet, Phyllis Diller television appearances, Phyllis Diller You Bet Your Life, Phyllis Diller You're Different
Posted in Game Shows and TV Retro 4 hours, 27 minutes ago at 1:59 pm. 1 comment
Growth-boosting protein may act as pregnancy-protecting hormone in humans
Web edition : Monday, August 20th, 2012
Semen doesn?t just ferry sperm. It also bears a mystery ingredient that turns on ovulation in some animals and may even pump up fertility in humans as well. The molecule, nerve growth factor, kick-starts egg release and revs up pregnancy-protective hormones in llamas, researchers report online August 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Llama semen is loaded with NGF, says study coauthor and veterinarian Gregg Adams of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada. The protein is also found in the semen of bulls and humans.
"If we find that NGF is also effective in women, it will obviously have huge implications for treating male infertility conditions,? says reproductive biologist Raj Duggavathi of McGill University?s campus in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Canada. ?It could be a big boost for couples.
NGF is well-known to biologists but not in the context of reproduction. Nerve cells typically spit the protein out to tell neighboring cells to grow.
Previous findings that semen could trigger ovulation in llamas challenged conventional wisdom that the physical movements of sex were what stimulated egg drop in the animals, says Adams. Unlike humans cows, horses and sheep, which ovulate on a regular cycle, some animals rely on a little action to get their eggs moving.
Adams? team had shown that semen ? filtered free of sperm ? injected into llamas? leg muscles could set off ovulation all on its own ? no bump-and-grind required. Semen from stallions, cattle, boars and rabbits could also prod llamas to ovulate.
What?s more, in llamas and other animals, the seminal substance nurtured growth of a little yellow gland in the ovary called the corpus luteum. The gland churns out hormones essential for maintaining a pregnancy. Humans rely on it early in gestation, before the placenta plumps up and takes over. A fizzled-out corpus luteum with low-flowing hormones can make women miscarry.
Adams? team has known since 2005 that some ingredient in llama semen juices up ovulation, but until now, they didn?t know what it was.
To pinpoint NGF?s identity, Adams? group first collected semen from five llamas. Next, researchers filtered out the sperm, then zeroed in on the special semen substance by injecting increasingly pure portions into female llamas? legs. Next, Adam?s team followed a step-by-step process to rule out potential molecular suspects.
The molecule?s size, structure and biochemical properties clued researchers in to its identity. ?Through a process of elimination, we finally realized it was a very hearty, very tough protein. When we found out that it was NGF, we scratched our heads and said, ?That?s strange ? NGF isn?t supposed to work this way,?? Adams says. Instead of signaling nearby cells, semen NGF goes all the way through the blood vessels to the brain, where it delivers the message to get busy cranking out more hormones.
Adams? team confirmed that the llama semen substance was NGF by using a technique usually seen in fertility clinics: injections followed by ultrasounds. The researchers gave llamas shots of either the purified semen substance or NGF from mouse salivary glands ? a classic source of the protein. Then, they checked the animals? reproductive organs with daily ultrasounds. Both substances made ovulation rates shoot up.
I?m fairly convinced? that NGF is the ovulation-sparking semen substance, says reproductive biologist Bruce Murphy of the University of Montreal. ?It?s a blockbuster paper,? he says. The work is the first to link NGF to reproductive function.
Next, Adams? team plans to investigate NGF?s role in human semen ? to see if it?s connected to fertility in people as well as llamas. Because women, unlike llamas, don?t need semen to ovulate, it?s not clear yet if NGF is also important for people, says reproductive biologist Dan Bernard of McGill University in Montreal. ?It?s still early.? But, he says, ?I think the fact that they?ve identified the protein will put this work on the map.? The findings should provide fertile ground for other researchers in the field.
Even though human females ovulate regularly, sometimes women?s bodies gear up for egg release at odd times during their cycle. ?I want to know what happens if seminal plasma is absorbed at that time,? Adams says. ?Will it cause ovulation?? If a timely dose of semen does nudge an egg?s release, he says, ?It could be why we sometimes call couples who practice the rhythm method parents.?
In addition to tweaking ovulation timing, NGF could boost growth of the pregnancy-protecting corpus luteum in humans. If NGF can cultivate the gland the way it does in llamas, cattle, and mice, it?s possible that frequent sex ? and thus a steady supply of semen ? during early pregnancy could help prevent miscarriage.
Why do the Caribbean Islands arc?Public release date: 20-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Suzanne Wu suzanne.wu@usc.edu 213-740-0252 University of Southern California
Using earthquake data, USC earth scientists model the movement of the Earth to a depth of 3,000 km. and provide new insights into the strength of continents
The Caribbean islands have been pushed east over the last 50 million years, driven by the movement of the Earth's viscous mantle against the more rooted South American continent, reveals new research by geophysicists from USC.
The results, published today in Nature Geoscience, give us a better understanding of how continents resist the constant movement of the Earth's plates and what effect the continental plates have on reshaping the surface of the Earth.
"Studying the deep earth interior provides insights into how the Earth has evolved into its present form," said Meghan S. Miller, assistant professor of earth sciences in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and lead author of the paper. "We're interested in plate tectonics, and the southeastern Caribbean is interesting because it's right near a complex plate boundary."
Miller and Thorsten W. Becker, associate professor of earth sciences at USC Dornsife College, studied the margin between the Caribbean plate and the South American plate, ringed by Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and a crescent of smaller islands including Barbados and St. Lucia.
But just like the First Law of Ecology (and time travel), when it comes to the earth, everything really is connected. So to study the motion of the South American continent and Caribbean plate, the researchers had to first model the entire planet 176 models to be exact, so large that they took several weeks to compute even at the USC High Performance Computing Center.
For most of us, earthquakes are something to be dreaded. But for Miller and Becker they are a necessary source of data, providing seismic waves that can be tracked all over the world to provide an image of the Earth's deep interior like a CAT scan. The earthquake waves move slower or more quickly depending on the temperature and composition of the rock, and also depending on how the crystals within the rocks align after millions of years of being pushed around in mantle convection.
"If you can, you want to solve the whole system and then zoom in," Becker said. "What's cool about this paper is that we didn't just run one or two models. We ran a lot, and it allowed us to explore different possibilities for how mantle flow might work."
Miller and Becker reconstructed the movement of the Earth's mantle to a depth of almost 3,000 kilometers, upending previous hypotheses of the seismic activity beneath the Caribbean Sea and providing an important new look at the unique tectonic interactions that are causing the Caribbean plate to tear away from South America.
In particular, Miller and Becker point to a part of the South American plate known as a "cratonic keel" that is roughly three times thicker than normal lithosphere and much stronger than typical mantle. The keel deflects and channels mantle flow, and provides an important snapshot of the strength of the continents compared to the rest of the Earth's outer layers.
"Oceanic plates are relatively simple, but if we want to understand how the Earth works as a system and how faults evolved and where the flow is going over millions of years we also have to understand continental plates," Becker said.
In the southeastern Caribbean, the interaction of the subducted plate beneath the Antilles island arc with the stronger continental keel has created the El Pilar-San Sebastian Fault, and the researchers believe a similar series of interactions may have formed the San Andreas Fault.
"We're studying the Caribbean, but our models are run for the entire globe," Miller said. "We can look at similar features in Japan, Southern California and the Mediterranean, anywhere we have instruments to record earthquakes."
###
The research was funded by two National Science Foundation CAREER grants.
Meghan S. Miller and Thorsten W. Becker, "Mantle flow deflected by interactions between subducted slabs and cratonic keels," Nature Geoscience. DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1553.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Why do the Caribbean Islands arc?Public release date: 20-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Suzanne Wu suzanne.wu@usc.edu 213-740-0252 University of Southern California
Using earthquake data, USC earth scientists model the movement of the Earth to a depth of 3,000 km. and provide new insights into the strength of continents
The Caribbean islands have been pushed east over the last 50 million years, driven by the movement of the Earth's viscous mantle against the more rooted South American continent, reveals new research by geophysicists from USC.
The results, published today in Nature Geoscience, give us a better understanding of how continents resist the constant movement of the Earth's plates and what effect the continental plates have on reshaping the surface of the Earth.
"Studying the deep earth interior provides insights into how the Earth has evolved into its present form," said Meghan S. Miller, assistant professor of earth sciences in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and lead author of the paper. "We're interested in plate tectonics, and the southeastern Caribbean is interesting because it's right near a complex plate boundary."
Miller and Thorsten W. Becker, associate professor of earth sciences at USC Dornsife College, studied the margin between the Caribbean plate and the South American plate, ringed by Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and a crescent of smaller islands including Barbados and St. Lucia.
But just like the First Law of Ecology (and time travel), when it comes to the earth, everything really is connected. So to study the motion of the South American continent and Caribbean plate, the researchers had to first model the entire planet 176 models to be exact, so large that they took several weeks to compute even at the USC High Performance Computing Center.
For most of us, earthquakes are something to be dreaded. But for Miller and Becker they are a necessary source of data, providing seismic waves that can be tracked all over the world to provide an image of the Earth's deep interior like a CAT scan. The earthquake waves move slower or more quickly depending on the temperature and composition of the rock, and also depending on how the crystals within the rocks align after millions of years of being pushed around in mantle convection.
"If you can, you want to solve the whole system and then zoom in," Becker said. "What's cool about this paper is that we didn't just run one or two models. We ran a lot, and it allowed us to explore different possibilities for how mantle flow might work."
Miller and Becker reconstructed the movement of the Earth's mantle to a depth of almost 3,000 kilometers, upending previous hypotheses of the seismic activity beneath the Caribbean Sea and providing an important new look at the unique tectonic interactions that are causing the Caribbean plate to tear away from South America.
In particular, Miller and Becker point to a part of the South American plate known as a "cratonic keel" that is roughly three times thicker than normal lithosphere and much stronger than typical mantle. The keel deflects and channels mantle flow, and provides an important snapshot of the strength of the continents compared to the rest of the Earth's outer layers.
"Oceanic plates are relatively simple, but if we want to understand how the Earth works as a system and how faults evolved and where the flow is going over millions of years we also have to understand continental plates," Becker said.
In the southeastern Caribbean, the interaction of the subducted plate beneath the Antilles island arc with the stronger continental keel has created the El Pilar-San Sebastian Fault, and the researchers believe a similar series of interactions may have formed the San Andreas Fault.
"We're studying the Caribbean, but our models are run for the entire globe," Miller said. "We can look at similar features in Japan, Southern California and the Mediterranean, anywhere we have instruments to record earthquakes."
###
The research was funded by two National Science Foundation CAREER grants.
Meghan S. Miller and Thorsten W. Becker, "Mantle flow deflected by interactions between subducted slabs and cratonic keels," Nature Geoscience. DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1553.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The Caribbean islands have been pushed east over the last 50 million years, driven by the movement of the Earth's viscous mantle against the more rooted South American continent, reveals new research by geophysicists from USC.
The results, published today in Nature Geoscience, give us a better understanding of how continents resist the constant movement of the Earth's plates ? and what effect the continental plates have on reshaping the surface of the Earth.
"Studying the deep earth interior provides insights into how the Earth has evolved into its present form," said Meghan S. Miller, assistant professor of earth sciences in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and lead author of the paper. "We're interested in plate tectonics, and the southeastern Caribbean is interesting because it's right near a complex plate boundary."
Miller and Thorsten W. Becker, associate professor of earth sciences at USC Dornsife College, studied the margin between the Caribbean plate and the South American plate, ringed by Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and a crescent of smaller islands including Barbados and St. Lucia.
But just like the First Law of Ecology (and time travel), when it comes to the earth, everything really is connected. So to study the motion of the South American continent and Caribbean plate, the researchers had to first model the entire planet ? 176 models to be exact, so large that they took several weeks to compute even at the USC High Performance Computing Center.
For most of us, earthquakes are something to be dreaded. But for Miller and Becker they are a necessary source of data, providing seismic waves that can be tracked all over the world to provide an image of the Earth's deep interior like a CAT scan. The earthquake waves move slower or more quickly depending on the temperature and composition of the rock, and also depending on how the crystals within the rocks align after millions of years of being pushed around in mantle convection.
"If you can, you want to solve the whole system and then zoom in," Becker said. "What's cool about this paper is that we didn't just run one or two models. We ran a lot, and it allowed us to explore different possibilities for how mantle flow might work."
Miller and Becker reconstructed the movement of the Earth's mantle to a depth of almost 3,000 kilometers, upending previous hypotheses of the seismic activity beneath the Caribbean Sea and providing an important new look at the unique tectonic interactions that are causing the Caribbean plate to tear away from South America.
In particular, Miller and Becker point to a part of the South American plate ? known as a "cratonic keel" ? that is roughly three times thicker than normal lithosphere and much stronger than typical mantle. The keel deflects and channels mantle flow, and provides an important snapshot of the strength of the continents compared to the rest of the Earth's outer layers.
"Oceanic plates are relatively simple, but if we want to understand how the Earth works as a system ? and how faults evolved and where the flow is going over millions of years ? we also have to understand continental plates," Becker said.
In the southeastern Caribbean, the interaction of the subducted plate beneath the Antilles island arc with the stronger continental keel has created the El Pilar-San Sebastian Fault, and the researchers believe a similar series of interactions may have formed the San Andreas Fault.
"We're studying the Caribbean, but our models are run for the entire globe," Miller said. "We can look at similar features in Japan, Southern California and the Mediterranean, anywhere we have instruments to record earthquakes."
###
University of Southern California: http://www.usc.edu
Thanks to University of Southern California for this article.
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In order to succeed professionally, one of the most important things that someone will need to do is receive a higher level of education than just high school. While going to college is often a good idea, choosing the right major can be just as important. Choosing the right major will provide you with a great education in a field that you are interested in, which should then help guide you towards a rewarding professional career. Since choosing the right major and degree is such a large decision, following a few different tips will help to ensure that you make the right choice.
When trying to choose your college major, one of the most important things to consider is what your interests are. While choosing a major that has good job prospects is important, you also need to find a career path that will allow you to be happy and feel satisfied. Try to spend some time thinking about what your eventual career goals are and what you would like to do on a daily basis. Based on this, and with the help of a guidance counsellor, you should be better able to find a relevant education path and college degree.
Another factor to consider when choosing a major is the job prospects that you will have when you graduate. Regardless of whether you choose to pursue a bachelor of arts, bachelor of commerce, or any other formal degree path, there should be plenty of information available for you to determine what your future job prospects are. You should be able to get a formal understanding of what types of jobs hire the specific major, what typical employment rates for new graduates are, what the average salary is for a new graduate, and what the likely salary will be five or ten years following graduation. After receiving this information, you should be able to make a more informed education decision.
When choosing your degree, you should also consider how long it will ultimately take you to fully complete the education. While many professions hire people with a four-year college degree, others require even more advanced degrees. If you are looking to become a doctor or lawyer you may spend up to another four years in school after college. Be sure to factor this additional time and financial requirement into your decision when you are choosing your college degree.
Jim Cantrell is a lifestyle blogger who blogs on a wide variety of topics including geekery, technology and education. His style of writing is ecclectic and varied. If you're a student looking for a degree in college, visit Bond University and read about our fields of study and how we can help you achieve a successful career.
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Public release date: 20-Aug-2012
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