Two Virginia Task Force 1 team members work with the FINDER prototype in 2013.
Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls
NASA technology sensed the heartbeats of four people trapped in
rubble days after a huge 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April
25, saving the lives of the four men.
The new prototype technology — called FINDER (short for Finding
Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response) — uses microwave-radar
technology to find people trapped under debris by sensing and locating
their heartbeats. Two suitcase-sized FINDER prototypes developed by NASA
and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology
Directorate were brought to Nepal to help with rescue efforts on April
29.
"The true test of any technology is how well it works in a real-life
operational setting," DHS under secretary for science and technology
Reginald Brothers said in a statement.
"Of course, no one wants disasters to occur, but tools like this are
designed to help when our worst nightmares do happen. I am proud that we
were able to provide the tools to help rescue these four men."
NASA's damage proxy map is used to help relief workers assess which areas need aid in Nepal.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/Google Earth
The
men were trapped for days under debris in the village of Chautara,
according to the press release. The FINDER devices detected the
heartbeats of two men trapped beneath about 10 feet of rubble in one
location, and another two survivors of the earthquake trapped in
another. Rescue workers were then able to go in and pull the people out
of the collapsed buildings.
Microwave radar technology can actually help users tell the
difference between a human heartbeat and the heartbeats of other living
things, the DHS has said. One big benefit to FINDER is that people
trapped in rubble don’t need to be conscious in order to be saved,
because the technology finds beating hearts.
According to NASA, the device has detected people buried under up to
30 feet of rubble, hidden behind 20 feet of solid concrete, and from a
distance of 100 feet across an open space. The technology can peg the
location of trapped individuals to within about five feet of their
location, depending on the type of rubble they are trapped in, NASA
says.
Developed with private industry partners, the device is moving into a
commercial enterprise phase, and will soon be available for purchase by
rescue agencies and organizations around the world.
Areas affected by the earthquake have become something of a test-bed for emerging technologies in the wake of this disaster.
The company Skycatch is using its drones to map aid efforts in Nepal.
Their drones are able to provide high-resolution imagery that can be
used to photograph areas to learn more about the damage caused by the earthquake. Other groups are also flying drones to help relief efforts in the hard-hit areas of the country.
The company DigitalGlobe open-sourced its satellite imagery of Nepal to users, asking them to help map damage caused by the earthquake.
FINDER isn’t NASA’s only contribution to the relief effort. The space
agency is also using satellite data collected by probes to put together
maps of potentially vulnerable areas and places that were most damaged
from the quake.
You’ve tamed the laundry, hit a home run at work, and dished up a family dinner. Forget anything? Oh, right—your partner!
It’s easy to simply co-exist with the person next to you in bed. But a rise
in "gray" divorce (couples over 50 calling it quits) suggests that
Isn't it time to add a little love to your to-do list? Try these 29 libido-boosting ideas.
Try something new together
Climbing out of a dating rut can be difficult. But couples who
participate in exciting activities get a big boost in relationship
satisfaction, according to a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. So grab your significant other and get ready for a good—but different—time.
Laugh it up: Crack up at a comedy club with your sweetie.
Get comfy in the kitchen: Take a cooking class (bonus points for learning a foreign cuisine).
Hit the road: Rent a fun car—a Prius, a Volkswagen Beetle, aSmart Car, a Mustang—and go for a mini–road trip.
Gossip
It’s tempting—and often prudent—to keep couple conversations behind
closed doors, but you may actually benefit from blabbing to a close
friend.
“Many couples live very privately and discuss these
issues with the shades down, but relationship issues like this can often
benefit from hearing how people that you trust dealt with a similar
situation," says Ken Robbins, MD, a clinical professor of psych
Whether it’s hearing how a friend dealt with her husband’s infidelity or other big hurdles, a little empathy can put things in perspective.
Tweak your diet
Eat up! Almonds, avocados,and arugula can boost your sex drive and improve fertility.
Open about your spending
Nearly 40% of married people admit to lying to their spouse about a
purchase, according to a 2004 poll, and money is the number-one reason
couples fight.
Don’t fret if you’re a spendthrift and your
partner pinches pennies. “It’s probably not a good thing to have the
exact same philosophy about money,” says Dr. Robbins. You don't have to
be a financial martyr, but don't hide your spending habits, either.
Slip on something red
Research shows that men find women who wear red sexier than those who wear “cool” colors such as blue and green. Any doubts as to what you should wear for date night?
Assess your sex drive
If you're not interested in sex—but you would like to be —there might be a medical explanation.
Reduced blood flow: Diabetes and high blood pressure are among the health problems that can restrict genital blood flow.
Hormonal issues: Menopause, breast-feeding, birth control pills, and thyroid problems can dampen sexual desire.
Medication side effects: Antidepressants and chemotherapy agents such as tamoxifen are frequently to blame.
Make an appointment with your primary care doctor if you've noticed an unwanted decrease in your libido.
Hit the gym
If you want to be "hot-blooded," then improve your circulation. Physical fitness
can increase blood flow, which in theory can make sex more pleasurable,
since sexual arousal for both men and women involves increased blood
flow to the genital area. And that can increase desire itself—if it
feels great, you tend to want to do it more.
Make your bedroom Tech free
We hear it over and over again: The bed should be used for sex and sleep only. But still our beds are cluttered with laptops, Blackberries, and Netflix rentals. How can you cuddle up to your partner when you're stuck in extension cords?
This month, try clearing all your gadgets from your bedroom and explore each other instead of the Internet.
Help your partner quit smoking
Erectile dysfunction, a yellow grin and loads of wrinkles, stained wallpaper, increased risk of balding—can you name one good reason why you shouldn't help your partner quit?
Of course quitting isn't easy, but smokers who have support
are more likely not to light up. Recognize and congratulate small
milestones, and realize that your partner may be crankier than usual.
Sometimes the best thing you can be is a sounding board, or even an
emotional punching bag, for whenever a bad craving strikes.
Keep things hot when you're apart
Sure, it sounds a little intimidating at first, but phone sex is a great way for couples to bond when one of you is on the road.
First,
dim the lights and slip into something sexy. Start by telling your
husband what you’re wearing, where you are, etc. Talk about the last
time you had sex or what you would be doing to him if you were home. If
the goal is an orgasm, describe what you’re doing to yourself, and ask
him to do the same. Just relax and have fun!
Turn up the heat
Dig into a dish made with chiles—they contain capsaicin, a substance
that stimulates nerve endings, triggers the release of endorphins, and
ramps up heart rate. Next date night, try these chile-infused Salmon and Scallop Skewers.
Give your bedroom routine a boost
Think of ways to pique his interest outside the bedroom. Next time
you take a shower, wear just the towel around for a while. Titillation
will spur him to be more spontaneous.
write down your fantasies and put them in a “fantasy jar.” Then take
turns picking out of the jar and act out the fantasies. This can build
intimacy, trust, and great sex.
Embrace the quickie
Few of us can afford the luxury of leisurely sex, says Jennifer
Berman, MD, the director of the Berman Women’s Wellness Center and
author of For Women Only. And holding out for the perfect moment can lead to infrequent sex. The solution? Embrace the quickie.
For
extra excitement, break out of the bedroom: Five-minute romps are
perfect for unusual locations, even if that just means your shower or
sofa.
Eat an elegant meal—for less!
Need a little extra something to put the sizzle back into your
Valentine’s Day? Skip the overcrowded, overpriced restaurants and cook
something special for your partner. Or, for extra relationship points,
start chopping away together.
Remember that you're a team
Expanding your brood requires adjustment. “Sex lives of people who
have children are worse—there’s data to prove it,” says Andrew
Goldstein, MD, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine. <
When possible, get a friend or relative to
occasionally help out at night so mom and dad have some time to
cultivate their relationship one-on-one. Especially as kids get older,
make sure they understand that mom and dad need time to themselves.
Watch your waistline
Wedded couples tend to have fatter waistlines, which can spell
trouble in terms of sexual attraction and general health. A 2007 study
found that your chances of becoming obese increase by 37% if your spouse
becomes obese. So unless you want “till death do us part” to include
chronic health issues like heart disease and diabetes, it’s important to
establish healthy eating habits early on.
Spend couple time checking out local farmers’ markets on the weekends in an effort to consume fresher, low-calorie fare. Or...
Make an exercise date
A 1995 study found that couples who work out together are more likely
to stick with an exercise program. And some experts suggest that
couples who exercise more frequently tend to have better sex lives.
Try a life sport that you can enjoy together for decades to come, like golf, tennis, or hiking.
Work on your working relationship
Given the state of the economy, it's likely that you or your partner
is facing some tough employment choices. Both partners need to respect
the other’s role and recognize their situation as shared. Open
communication can help you weather the storm and make your relationship
even stronger.
Find family and friends dealing with this same
issue. Talking about shared struggles can help couples gain perspective
and give them a chance to feel good about using their experience to help
others.
Get some shut-eye
Snoring away and having passionate sex may seem like exact opposites,
but experts insist that getting enough sleep is the number-one
aphrodisiac.
Too tired for intimacy at night? Change your schedule to include some cuddling or a quickie before work.
Love your body
Is your libido lagging? Many women withdraw if they feel overweight.
News flash:
“Women have a talent for disliking the very things about themselves
that other people find very attractive,” says Los Angeles–based sex
therapist Linda De Villers, PhD. Feel free to ask your partner what he
likes about your body; his compliments can help you feel more positive.
Eat more seafood
Oysters are one of the best sources of libido-boosting zinc. But
other types of seafood can also act as aphrodisiacs, too. Oily fish—like
wild salmon and herring—contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are
essential for a healthy heart.
Swap in seafood instead of your usual meat or poultry a few times a week. You'll be doing your heart and your sex life a favor.
Search for the big O
Elusive? Yes. Attainable? Certainly. Although every woman is unique,
the woman-on-top position is a good place to start, says Berman. For
most of us, clitoral stimulation is key to an orgasm, and this position
lets you rub your clitoris against your partner's pelvic bone for dual
stimulation.
Sex from behind, or doggie-style, is another great
option because it stimulates the G-spot in the vagina while also
allowing you or your partner to rub your clitoris by hand. It also makes
it easy to massage other erogenous zones like the nipples, which
increase your chance of reaching the big O.
Stop comparing yourself to other couples
It doesn’t matter whether you’re having sex five times a week or five
times a year, as long as both of you are happy. In fact, a 2008 study
found that couples who reported any kind of marital intimacy—everything
from holding hands to sex—exhibited lower levels of a hormone produced
by stress.
Have a pre-date
You've rushed home from work, hopped in the shower, and turned on the
hair dryer while feeding the kids—you'd probably rather take a nap than
hit the town. So have the babysitter come early on date night so you
can relax with music and unwind with your partner before you head out.
Get away
"People are overworked and stressed, and they translate their
overworked, stressed lives to a lousy sex life." suggests Irwin
Goldstein, MD, the director of San Diego Sexual Medicine and editor in
chief of the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
When your to-do list gets to be too much, take a couple's trip—or send the kids to their grandparents' house and have a staycation. It may be just what you need to recharge your relationship.
Don't be afraid to get help
When a marriage is rocky, it can make both partners feel depressed.
But only middle-aged women—not men—seem to have health problems
associated with marital strife, such as high blood pressure, excess
belly fat, and other factors that boost risk for heart attack and
diabetes, says a recent study. The bottom line? If your relationship
feels rocky, get help.
Be understanding if your partner seems skittish
It’s got to be nerve-racking to propose marriage to your sweetie. But as freaky as Jaws?
A survey
of British men found that guys are just about equally frightened by
shark attacks and popping the question! So cut the guy some slack—or
better yet, take the heat of him and do the proposing yourself!
Realize that all couples fight...
...but once you've settled your grievances, you've set the stage for amazing makeup sex.
It's natural to feel turned on after an argument— adrenaline and
dopamine (your hormone of desire) levels rise, giving you that excited
feeling.
One caveat: If it always takes a blowout to get you two
connecting, then you should seriously consider talking to a couple's
counselor.
Work on yourself first
When you are feeling depressed, your partner feels the strain too. If
you tend to isolate yourself when you’re feeling blue, it can take a
serious toll on your relationship.
Antidepressants can help pull
you out of a funk, but are less effective for mild depression than
moderate or severe depression. They can also cause side effects like a
decreased libido. If you notice a dip in your sex drive, discuss
alternative medications with your doctor or seek non-drug treatments like talk therapy or exercise.
The energy level for many business leaders isn't quite right, new research suggests.
Too many business leaders are working above or below their optimum
energy level, which translates to a loss of productivity all around,
according to the recent Leadership Pulse study. Specifically, 82% of business leaders are not working at their best energy level, which is when they maximize productivity, meet challenges head on and look for opportunities to accomplish more.
Of the 540 business leaders who participated in the study, 61%
reported working below their optimal energy level, while 21% are working
above their best energy level. Just 18% of those studied were working at their most productive energy level.
The findings are a cause for concern, said Theresa Welbourne, an
affiliated researcher at the Center for Effective Organizations at the
University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and the
study's author.
"We have over 15 years of research from hundreds of thousands of
individuals showing that optimizing and directing energy positively
drives high performance and growth," Welbourne said in a statement.
Welbourne said working above your best energy level is
counterproductive because mistakes are made more frequently, and small
obstacles easily become big problems. She said working at this level for
too long can lead to burnout.
Conversely, when leaders work too far below their optimal energy
level, they avoid challenges and boredom sets in easily, Welbourne said.
The research found that among the leaders surveyed, this was
particularly a problem for senior managers, vice presidents and CEOs.
Welbourne said in order improve energy and productivity business
leaders need to measure and understand their own energy and that of
their employees.
"Energy changes on a regular basis; thus, to optimize and direct it,
more frequent measurement needs to be taken," she said. "Once an
organization knows what the energy levels are, then leaders, managers
and employees can focus on how to make improvements that directly drive
positive energy."
Often, small and quick changes can have lasting and substantial impact on employee energy at work, according to Welbourne.
"The best solution may be working with employees directly; teach
individuals about their own energy and help them learn how to start the
right conversations needed to make small changes to improve performance
one person at a time," Welbourne said.
Welbourne conducts the quarterly Leadership Pulse study in
partnership with CEO, human resources consulting firm Mercer and
technology partner eePulse.
No matter what even your hardest partying friends tell you, no self-respecting college senior should ever have to drink watered-down jungle juice from a bathtub.
And yet, giant batches of punch brewed in everything from wash basins
to trash cans are still something you might witness at your school's
seediest fraternity house. Skip the sketchy mystery punch and brew your
own crowd-pleasing cocktails at home.
For the 21-up college set, there's a whole world of upgraded punch
recipes just waiting to be chugged. Because if you plan to drink your
way to graduation day, you might as well enjoy the good stuff.
We'll tell you now, there's no actual
champagne in this punch. But according to the recipe's author, the
delicate blend of cheap beer, vodka and raspberry lemonade concentrate
tastes a whole lot like the real deal.
This punch recipe suggests turning your
watermelon into a drink bowl after it's been scooped out. Other key
ingredients include frozen lemonade concentrate, hulled strawberries
and, of course, plenty of vodka.
If you've never considered a beer cocktail,
stop what you're doing and head to the liquor store now. This particular
punch calls for amber ale, pineapple juice and sweet Yellow Chartreuse
liqueur.
When Nellie Mead and Teresa Espinosa conceived their daughter, they
did it without sex, a fertility clinic or medical supervision. Instead,
Espinosa injected a friend's sperm into a menstrual cup she bought at a
drugstore. She then inserted the cup into Mead's vagina in their Spring
Hill, Florida, home. Aliena was born in July.
“I was shocked when it worked,” says Mead, 25, who had thought her
only options were “to have sex with a guy and that wasn’t happening” or
“to save thousands of dollars to buy sperm.” That was until she
uncovered a trove of at-home artificial insemination advice online. Mead
devoured YouTube testimonials, where a search for “home insemination”
yields more than 11,000 results (though some are clips of impregnating
livestock).
Single women, lesbian couples and straight couples with fertility
troubles are increasingly experimenting at home with store-bought goods,
in an effort to skirt expensive fertility procedures like intrauterine
insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF). At-home
inseminators enlist friends or acquaintances to donate sperm, or procure
free donor samples from dating-style portals like the Known Donor
Registry, Pollen Tree and Pride Angel. Some go a more orthodox route and
purchase sperm from FDA-regulated banks, which can cost from about $500 to $1500
per cycle. In addition to saving money, many at-home inseminators say
they prefer bedrooms to treatment rooms, because they can personalize
the conception experience, imbue it with romance, and reduce stress.
Legal experts warn, however, that inseminating at home can compromise a
couple’s legal rights.
Embracing the DIY ethos, Mead and Espinosa assembled a kit of
store-bought tools over the 10 months they tried to conceive. Items
included an ovulation predictor kit, various sized syringes (1
milliliter was the winner), menstrual cups intended to catch period
blood, prenatal vitamins and herbs like Evening Primrose and
Chasteberry, and Robitussin cough syrup to loosen cervical mucus and
whisk sperm on their course.
Mead, who shaves the sides of her head and wears baseball caps,
documented their attempts in a series of “pregnant stud updates” on
YouTube, with Espinosa at her side. Their video announcing Mead’s
pregnancy was watched more than 100,000 times, and now they’re selling a
version of their kit on eBay.
The trend wouldn’t have taken off without the Internet. Tabitha
Freeman, a research associate at Cambridge University, studies the
growth of Internet-abetted artificial insemination and is examining
1,000 users of Pride Angel, which aims to match sperm and egg donors
with recipients, most frequently in the UK, U.S. and India. She
estimates that roughly 70% of the nearly 500 sperm recipients in her
study wish to inseminate at home. A third of all sperm orders at the
Cryos International Sperm Bank based in Denmark are intended for at-home
insemination, and that number increases each year, according to
managing director, Ole Schou.
The main reason couples bypass assisted reproductive technologies to inseminate at home is cost.
The average out-of-pocket price for fertility treatments exceeds $5,000
and in vitro fertilization tops $19,000, according to a second mortgages on their homes. A Barclay’s phone operator pled guilty
to stealing more than 4,000 pounds from his employer to underwrite his
wife’s in vitro fertilization. In many cases, insurance policies won’t
cover assisted reproductive technologies for individuals who haven’t
been diagnosed with fertility problems, and often they won’t subsidize
assistance at all.
“As lesbians a lot of us want kids and we already know that shit’s
too expensive,” Mead says. It’s exactly why sites like Pride Angel,
which counts more than 4,800 users willing to give sperm for free, are
growing. “The cost of fertility treatment is high. This is more
accessible, more direct and it cuts out the middleman. You go straight
to the donor,” says Freeman.
Still, plenty of fertility specialists believe that insemination —
particularly more invasive strains like IUI, in which washed sperm are
placed in the uterus to fertilize an egg, and IVF, when an embryo is
created outside the womb, then implanted in the uterus — belongs in a
medical setting, where they first originated. Dr. Eric Surrey, a
reproductive endocrinologist at the Colorado Center for Reproductive
Medicine told Slate
he understands the desire for couples to “have as pleasant an
environment as possible” when trying to conceive, but that “insemination
is a medical procedure, and like anything else in medicine, it requires
training.”
The Pipers conceived in their donor’s guest bedroom in Boston. A
nurse practitioner in Belfast, Maine, Lindsey Piper performed IUI on her
wife, Allison Piper, and believes that method is “easier than putting
in an IUD.” IUI requires sperm to be washed, or vetted for strong
swimmers and rid of a substance called prostaglandin, which can cause
cramping. Piper washed the sperm herself — she performs IUIs at the
feminist health center where she works, and says there each treatment
costs $300. She used a speculum and a four-inch syringe fitted with a
thin catheter measuring 10 centimeters.
“They were in the bedroom doing their thing,” she says of Brian and
Mike, the gay couple who donated sperm, “and Brian would holler
upstairs, ‘yoo-hoo!’ and that’s how we’d know the sample was ready. One
of us would come down and get it.” Piper recently taught a group of
home-birth midwives an at-home IUI technique, and also tutored her
neighbor, who she says conceived on the first try. One study found that
IUI was nearly three times
more effective than Intracervical Insemination, which Mead and Espinoza
used, for women using frozen donor sperm. Piper says it makes no
difference statistically for a woman with normal fertility.
Heterosexual couples with fertility challenges are also employing gadgets to get pregnant at home.
(Infertility is vaguely diagnosed as a year of trying to conceive
without success.) The creators of a new product called The Stork believe
it can be more effective than sex, and call their device the first
over-the-counter conception assistance device aiming to “bridge the gap
between infertility and expensive treatments.” The $79.99 kit designed
for one-time use has sold 30,000 units at CVS and Drugstore.com since
the FDA approved it in July. It was modeled after Gulf War veteran and
engineer Steve Bollinger’s own infertility hack — he split a racquetball
in two, ejaculated into half and inserted it into his wife’s vagina.
The couple conceived two kids this way.
The Stork’s forbear may have been a rubber ball, but it mimics the
decades-old medical practice of cervical cap insemination. The
difference is that it attaches a string, much like a tampon for easy
removal (after a prescribed 6 hours), and it is sold over the counter
for at-home use. It’s comfortable enough that women “have run half
marathons with these things,” Bollinger says.
“We’re not utopia or a magic bullet,” he adds. “But we get sperm and
egg closer, which is the only thing medicine has really done in the last
50 years.”
While The Stork’s success rate is still being researched — doctors
are recommending it to fertility patients who want to join the study —
Bollinger claims it has “very similar results to IUI, which costs
between $1,000 and $5,000 per attempt in a doctor’s office.” In theory,
such a device could boost fertility in couples by giving sperm a head
start, which is helpful if there is a decreased amount of healthy ones,
or if the vaginal tract is inhospitable due to stress or other causes.
Medical professionals warn that inseminating at home can pose health
risks, like tissue damage, uterine perforation, infection, or the
contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, but perhaps the greatest
threats are legal. Many of the legal protections that protect parents
who conceive by medically-supervised artificial insemination do not
cover couples who artificially inseminate at home. This means that
donors to at-home inseminators can legally claim parenthood and that,
for lesbian couples or straight couples using a sperm donor, the
non-carrying partner still must navigate a tricky path toward adoption.
Reproductive law specialist Melissa Brisman says she would
“absolutely not” endorse at-home insemination because most states
require it to occur under the supervision of a licensed medical
professional in order to fully terminate a donor’s parental rights.
“It’s one thing to be more comfortable, and to have things feel better.
It’s another if that sacrifices your legal rights,” she says. “When
there are no medical personnel, you’ll have a problem terminating the
donor’s parental rights.”
While the law favors doctors’ offices, Brisman estimates that
"hundreds of couples in each state are currently inseminating at home."
She has retained 20 pregnant lesbian couples in the last two years who
have done so and want to legally refute a donor’s parental rights and
navigate adoption proceedings for the non-carrying partner.
Often, women using friends’ donor sperm forgo contracts all together.
Mead refused to draw up papers (“we knew him, it would have been
awkward”), but hopes their email exchange, which included record of a
$150 payment to the donor, would hold up in a Florida court. For the
Pipers, a conversation about intent and goals was assurance enough.
“They have white couches and white carpets and everything matches.
They’re fine and don’t want kids,” Lindsey Piper says.
Brisman wouldn’t advise this route. “Clients have a hard time taking
the emotion out of it, because it’s a baby,” Brisman says. “But it’s 5
to 10 years down the road that I’m worried about. When the kid is five
and the couple gets divorced.”
“Macgyvering” conception feels like a natural act to men and women
raised on the Internet, Bollinger says, rather than a question of ethics
or the law. Birth control methods teach men and women that they are
gods of their own reproduction. At-home insemination advocates see the
practice as simpatico with the home-birth movement — women forgoing
hospitals in favor of laboring at home. “Since birthing left the woman
realm and became a medical thing, women have been quick to outsource
fertility to clinics,” Piper says. While she doesn’t recommend
non-medical professionals undergo IUI without education, she says that
the technology is accessible.
Meanwhile, Lindsey Piper is now pregnant with the couple’s second
child. After driving the four hours to Boston, Allison inseminated
Lindsey with Mike’s sperm, which she transported in a pickled carrot
jar. It worked on the second try.
Lesbians inseminating their partners report feeling more empowered
and connected by emptying the syringe themselves rather than watching or
waiting outside while a doctor in a lab coat does it. Mead says
inseminating at home was the best way to form a family that she could
imagine. “I loved that Teresa was part of the entire process, just like a
heterosexual couple,” Mead says. “She can really say she got me
pregnant.”
Graham Williams, Course Leader, Postgraduate Forensic Sciences at University of Huddersfield
for
DNA profiling (or genetic fingerprinting) has proved to be a
revolutionary tool for forensic investigators as a means to identify
potential suspects, exonerate the innocent and convict the guilty. But,
like any forensic technique, it has its limitations. One limitation is
in cases involving identical twins, something that has raised technical, legal and ethical problems — until now.
The more closely related one human is to another, the more similar
their DNA profiles. For example, the probability of a DNA match between
two random, unrelated individuals is in the region of one in a billion.
For two full siblings, the probability drops to one in 10,000. Identical
twins present the same DNA profile.
In forensic investigations, this presents problems. Under the ethical
premise that it is better to let ten guilty men go free than to
imprison one innocent man, if the courts cannot decide which twin is
responsible then both must go free. There have in fact been a small
number of high-profile cases
where the suspects were identical twins, leading forensic genetics
researchers to explore how this could be addressed. Now we've come up
with a solution, recently published in the journal Analytical Biochemistry.
Say "Marry Me" with this custom-made ring featuring everyone's favorite droid. Image: Paul Michael Design
2. Batman
You're the hero Gotham deserves, and you deserve a wedding band as badass as you are. Image: Amazon
3. Bone Rings
Because metal just isn't personal enough, wear a bone ring grown from
your other half's cells ... 'cause there's nothing creepy about that at
all. Image: BioJewellery
4. Cat5 Rings
Who needs to hold hands? Just link rings and upload your affection to one another via this Cat5 ring. Image: Etsy
5. Decoder Ring
Perfect for encrypting those secret love letters from your sweetie, try BoingBoing's Cory Doctrow's decoder ring. Image: BoingBoing
6. DNA Rings
Because your love is wired into your very genetic code. Image: K. Brunini Jewels
7. Hello Kitty
Fangirls will love this heart-shaped diamond engagement ring from the beloved brand. Image: global.rakuten.com
8. Lord of the Rings
Takes "One ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them" to a whole new level. Image: griffinsland.com
9. Projector Ring
Wear a mini-projector on your finger to constantly carry your favorite memories with you. Image: LukeJerram.com
10. Spiderman
Your Mary Jane will adore this Spidey-inspired engagement ring. Image: CustomMade.com
11. Stargate
This ring, based on the popular science fiction franchise, even has spinning chevrons. Image: WeddingBandDesigns.com
12. Zelda Triforce
The Zelda Triforce is so simple to weave into a jewelry design that
there are multiple versions of this geeky ring. These are our favorites.
Image: CustomMade.com
13. Han and Leia
We'll let you two fight over who gets to wear the "I know" half of this pair of rings, featuring some of the most famous lines in the Star Wars series.
Image: Imgur, timmanb
14. Whisper
A visual representation of the sound waves of your spouse's whisper: "I love you." Image: Imgur,Jupiter Queen
15. Dungeons and Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons: bringing geeky couples together since 1974. Image: Imgur, ibi828
16. Decepticon
This Decepticon ring hides in plain sight. How fitting. Image: , ibi828
17. Tardis
That diamond is a lot bigger on the inside. Image: Imgur, ibi828
18. Darth Vader
This ring, inspired by everyone's favorite fallen Jedi, features both his lightsaber and chest plate. Image: Imgur, ibi828
19. Microchip
You know, like the microchip you got for your dog to keep it from getting lost ... except this one is for your wife. Image: Imgur, ibi828
20. Playstation
For the ultimate gamer girl. Image: Imgur, ibi828
21. Lego
For the couple who just fits together so well. Image: Imgur, ibi828
22. Superman
A ring of mixed rose and white gold for fans of the Man of Steel. Image: Imgur, ibi828
23. Indiana Jones
Your love's the adventure of a lifetime. She's your golden idol. There's a wealth of analogies we can make here.
