Lie detector

Scientists have found that magnetic interference with the brain makes it impossible to lie, a discovery they say could be the most effective way to extract information from crime suspects unwilling to tell the truth.

Estonian researchers found that stimulating part of the front brain with magnets alters the simplicity of lying.

The team found that when magnets were applied to either the right or left side of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, found directly behind the forehead, it makes a person to lie or tell the truth, depending on which side was stimulated. However, magnetic interference directed at another part of the brain, the parietal lobe, was found to have no impact on the people's decision-making , the researchers said.

"Spontaneous choice to lie more or less can be influenced by brain stimulation," study researchers Inga Karton and Talis Bachmann were quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

For their study, published in the journal Behavioural Brain Research, the researchers recruited a small group of 16 volunteers who were given coloured disks. Then, half of them were given magnetic stimulation on the right side of their prefrontal cortex, half on the left. They then had two options: to lie about what colour their disks were, or tell the truth. Results showed that the volunteers who had their left DPC stimulated lied more often, while the ones with the right DPC stimulated were more likely to tell the truth.

The experiment was repeated while a different brain region — the parietal lobe — was stimulated and it produced no effect, the researchers said.

Regards, BMS

Rowan Atkinson Says Goodbye to Mr Bean:

Rowan Atkinson(56) is retiring from Mr. Bean as he is too old to play the funny character. Mr. Bean the funny series has 18 million viewers and most of them are kids. Well, it is sad news for his fans.

However,

Rowan Atkinson says:

‘I’ve got a feeling I probably won’t play the character [Mr Bean] again.

‘Never say never, but I just feel I’m getting too old for it. I’ve always liked Mr Bean as a cartoon-like figure, who doesn’t really age much.

‘I’ve always seen him as an ageless and timeless being and I’m clearly not ageless and timeless.

‘The older I get, I feel I am less qualified to play him.’

Regards, BMS

Blast at Delhi High Court on 07.09.2011 10:14AM

Delhi blast: 11 dead, 91 injured

About 2 kg of explosives were used in the blast outside Delhi High Court which killed at least 11 people and 91 injured on Wednesday (07.09.2011) morning. The bomb, reportedly a combination of ammonium nitrate and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) was planted in a briefcase, exploded at 10:14 am outside Gate No. 5 of the court, where more than 100 litigants had gathered for passes to enter the court's premises.

Though terror group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) has claimed responsibilty of the blast, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram didn't confirm the claim made by the terror outfit.

"It's too early to say which group is involved," said Manmohan Singh.

What is PETN; why is it deadly?

Terrorists may have used hard-to-detect plastic-based explosive PETN in Wednesday's Delhi High Court blast - the same substance used in the underwear bomb plot on a 2009 Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and by the 'shoe bomber'.

Sharing details of the "preliminary" investigations, secretary of Internal Security U.K. Bansal told reporters that traces of pentaerythritol trinitrate (PETN) have been recovered from the blast site.

"But this is the result of preliminary investigation. Rigorous investigations are in progress," Bansal said, indicating that the explosive traces found were not conclusive.

PETN is one of the most powerful explosives and is difficult to detect. Because of its plastic nature, the explosive can easily pass metal detectors. Even bomb-sniffing dogs cannot detect it because of its low pressure molecules.

The explosive allows terrorists to use only small quantities with enormous damages. Even 100 grams of PETN is enough to blast away a car.

The colourless crystals of PETN were used by terrorist Richard Reid, commonly known as the 'shoe bomber', on an American Airlines jet to Miami in 2001.

Al Qaeda operative Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab also concealed this explosives in his underwear when he unsuccessfully tried to detonate a bomb in Northwest Airlines Flight 253, also known Christian Day bomb plot, in 2009.

The same explosive was also found in two cargo planes from Yemen to the US in October 2010.

Bansal said PETN is "an explosive of choice for terrorists" if they can lay their hands on it.

The remnants of the high court bomb were being analysed in a forensic laboratory, he said.

Courtesy: NDTV, CNN-IBN

Regards, BMS...