Thursday, February 24, 2005

A paste containing synthetic tooth enamel can seal small cavities without drilling. Kazue Yamagishi and colleagues at the FAP Dental Institute in Tokyo say that the paste can repair small cavities in 15 minutes.

Currently, fillers don’t stick to such small cavities so dentists must drill bigger holes. Hydroxyapatite crystals, of which natural enamel is made, bond with teeth to repair tiny areas of damage.

Yamagishi and colleagues have tested their paste on a lower premolar tooth that showed early signs of decay. They found that the synthetic enamel merged with the natural enamel. The synthetic enamel also appears to make teeth stronger which will improve resistance to future decay. As with drilling, however, there is still the potential for pain: The paste is strongly acidic to encourage crystal growth and causes inflammation if it touches the gums.

The paste is reported in the journal Nature.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Marija Minic is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the York Centre riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed her regarding her values, her experience, and her campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Police in the West Midlands in England today said nearly 200 kilograms worth of drugs with value possibly as great as £30 million (about US$49 million or €36 million) has been seized from a unit in the town of Brownhills. In what an officer described as “one of the largest [seizures] in the force’s 39 year history”, West Midlands Police reported recovering six big cellophane-wrapped cardboard boxes containing cannabis, cocaine, and MDMA (“ecstasy”) in a police raid operation on the Maybrook Industrial Estate in the town on Wednesday.

The seized boxes, which had been loaded onto five freight pallets, contained 120 one-kilogram bags of cannabis, 50 one-kilogram bags of MDMA, and five one-kilogram bricks of cocaine. In a press release, West Midlands Police described what happened after officers found the drugs as they were being unloaded in the operation. “When officers opened the boxes they discovered a deep layer of protective foam chips beneath which the drugs were carefully layered”, the force said. “All the drugs were wrapped in thick plastic bags taped closed with the cannabis vacuum packed to prevent its distinctive pungent aroma from drawing unwanted attention.” Police moved the drugs via forklift truck to a flatbed lorry to remove them.

Detective Sergeant Carl Russell of West Midlands Police’s Force CID said the seizure was the largest he had ever made in the 24 years he has been in West Midlands Police and one of the biggest seizures the force has made since its formation in 1974. “The impact this seizure will have on drug dealing in the region and the UK as a whole cannot be underestimated”, he said. “The drugs had almost certainly been packed to order ready for shipping within Britain but possibly even further afield. Our operation will have a national effect and we are working closely with a range of law enforcement agencies to identify those involved in this crime at whatever level.”

Expert testing on the drugs is ongoing. Estimates described as “conservative” suggest the value of the drugs amounts to £10 million (about US$16.4 million or €12 million), although they could be worth as much as £30 million, subject to purity tests, police said.

Police arrested three men at the unit on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug. The men, a 50-year-old from Brownhills, a 51-year-old from the Norton area of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, and one aged 53 from Brownhills, have been released on bail as police investigations to “hunt those responsible” continue. West Midlands Police told Wikinews no person has yet been charged in connection with the seizure. Supplying a controlled drug is an imprisonable offence in England, although length of jail sentences vary according to the class and quantity of drugs and the significance of offenders’ roles in committing the crime.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Yesterday, La La Land, directed by Damien Chazelle, received a record-equalling fourteen Academy Awards nomination, tied with 1950s movie All About Eve and 1990’s Titanic. Mel Gibson’s HackSaw Ridge based on true story bagged six nominations.

The movie, featuring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, received nominations in all major categories. Gosling and Stone received nominations for Best Actor and Actress respectively. The other nominations include Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film-editing, Original Score, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Original Screenplay. Two songs from the movie, Audition (The Fools Who Dream) and City of Stars, received nominations for best original song. Lionsgate studio received 26 nominations — more than any other studio.

Andrew Garfield, who previously starred in The Amazing Spider-Man along with Emma Stone, competes with Gosling for his role in Hacksaw Ridge. Based on the true story of US combat medic Desmond Doss, the movie has received six nominations including Best Picture, Actor in Leading Role, Best Director, Film Editing, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing — La La Land also receiving nominations in these categories. Lion and Manchester by the Sea also received six nominations.

Author J.K. Rowling’s screenwriting début Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them starring Eddie Redmayne received two nominations for costume design and production design. Redmayne won the award for best actor two years ago for playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything and was nominated last year for The Danish Girl.

This year, six black actors received nominations setting a new record. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite was mentioned lot of times on Twitter as no non-white received nominations for the past two years. April Reign, creator of the hashtag, said “Everyone is saying the Oscars are more diverse this year. No they’re not. They’re blacker, but where are the Latinx movies, the LGBTQIA movies? The Asian American/Pacific Islander community has had a worse year. We can’t forget just because we have black nominees this year.” Bradford Young, cinematographer of Arrival, is the first African-American to be nominated and Joi McMillon – editor of Moonlight – is the first non-white woman to receive nomination. Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Viola Davis, Dev Patel, and Octavia Spencer are the non-white people who are nominated for their supporting roles.

Disney’s Zootopia and Moana received nominations for Best Animated Feature film. Pixar’s Finding Dory did not receive this nomination. Last year, Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur also missed the nomination but Pixar’s Inside Out, directed by Pete Docter, won the award.

Manchester by the Sea‘s nomination made the e-commerce website Amazon.com the first movie streaming company to earn a nomination for the Best Picture category. Arrival bagged eight nominations. Florence Foster Jenkins starring Meryl Streep nominated for Best Actress earned her 20th career Oscars nomination.

The award ceremony is to be held on February 26 to be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Today, at 12:00 p.m. EDT (UTC-4) the Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) staged a “naked” protest in White Plains, New York. The target of the protest was British fashion house, Burberry, and their fur practices.

Two “naked” female PETA members, wearing nothing but bikini bottoms and body paint held billboards with the slogan, “When plaid goes bad.” The body paint was done in the trademarked Burberry Check plaid design.

Two other PETA members were there handing out leaflets and showing a video presentation. The painted protesters were spattered with far less fake blood than other documented PETA protests in this campaign.

PETA is protesting Burberry for the company’s use of fur in its products and how it is obtained. The group has staged similar protests around the world in its ongoing “BloodyBurberry”-campaign.

The protest took place at the intersection of Westchester Avenue and Bloomingdale Road in front of the The Westchester, an upscale shopping mall owned by Simon Property Group. Burberry has a retail store in the mall.

This corner is far from the mall’s entrances and sees little pedestrian traffic. However, it does see heavy traffic by motorists, before whom the protestors were in plain sight. While Wikinews was on the scene, police and news media were the only other pedestrians.

The police presence was significant, numbering at least two vehicles and two mounted police officers. But since there was no crowd to control, they just hung back. Media was also there in numbers. At least two television crews could be observed.

As far as Wikinews can tell, Burberry has yet to make any public comment about any of the “BloodyBurberry” protests.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Wikinews interviewed author Amy Scobee about her book Scientology – Abuse at the Top, and asked her about her experiences working as an executive within the organization. Scobee joined the organization at age 14, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005. She served as a Scientology executive in multiple high-ranking positions, working out of the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base”, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California.