Lucky charms really do work | Buzz 7
Lucky charms really do work
New York, July 27 (ANI): Want to succeed in an upcoming job interview? Well, then don’t forget to wear your lucky charm, suggests a new study.
In a German study, when volunteers used their key chain, special stone or sentimental jewelry, they did better at a computer memory game than those who didn’t have anything special to hold onto, according to msnbc.com.
“Superstition increase people’s confidence,” the New York Daily News quoted study co-author Lysann Damisch as saying.
And the University of Cologne social psychologist added: “In other words, if you have your lucky charm close by, you feel more confident and secure about the following task, which makes you try harder and perform better.”
Lucky charms may just boost your confidence enough that when you are in the midst of something scary, you may be more confident and at ease if you’re wearing your favorite necklace. (ANI)
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Researchers Find Gene Behind Four-Leaf Clover – KVOA Tucson News
Researchers Find Gene Behind Four-Leaf Clover
Posted – 7/5/2010 at 6:06PM
share thisFRIDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) — One of the leprechauns’ secrets has been uncovered by U.S. scientists.
A University of Georgia team has pinpointed the gene that turns an ordinary clover, with three leaves, into the supposedly lucky four-leaf type.
The researchers also identified genes that control two other leaf traits in the white clover — the red fleck mark and the red midrib, a herringbone pattern that runs down the center of each leaflet.
Some believe that manipulating these three newly identified genes may enable breeders to turn clover into an ornamental plant for use in flower beds.
A report on the finding is published in the July/August issue of Crop Science.
“This is a great time to be involved in clover breeding,” senior researcher Wayne Parrott said in a Crop Science Society of America news release. “We now have the tools to make it easier to breed important traits in this species, which has historically proven to be a challenging plant to work with. In addition, we can hasten the development of new white clover cultivars bred for a variety of uses by screening new generations of plants for traits of interest before they even reach the field trial stage, significantly reducing the time and resources needed for new releases of white clover.”
White clover is highly nutritious forage for all types of livestock, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
More information
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has more about white clover.
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UGA research team unlocks secret to producing lucky four-leaf clovers – Online Athens
UGA research team unlocks secret to producing lucky four-leaf clovers071210uganews1lee.shearer@onlineathens.com Researchers led by a University of Georgia plant scientist have figured out the genetic secret of the four-leaf clover.UGA research team unlocks secret to producing lucky four-leaf clovers
By Lee Shearer – lee.shearer@onlineathens.com
Published Monday, July 12, 2010
Researchers led by a University of Georgia plant scientist have figured out the genetic secret of the four-leaf clover.
Richard Hamm || University of Georgia professor Wayne Parrott shows off some of the varieties of clover he has been developing at the UGA Center for Applied Genetic Technologies greenhouse.
Richard HammUniversity of Georgia professor Wayne Parrott shows off some of the varieties of clover he has been developing at the UGA Center for Applied Genetic Technologies greenhouse.
But Wayne Parrott didn’t find the gene for the rare four-leaf trait through a lucky stroke or help from leprechauns.
It took 18 years of research and modern DNA analytical techniques to find the gene, said Parrott.
Parrott, who came to UGA in 1988, worked with UGA graduate student Rebecca Tashiro and other researchers at UGA and Oklahoma’s Noble Foundation to find the four-leaf gene.
Looking for the lucky four-leaf clover gene has been a sort of sideline from Parrott’s more traditional research projects, such as trying to improve switchgrass to be a better raw material for biofuel production. He’s also developing soybeans that can resist insect pests and nematodes.
“This has been a sort of fun project,” he said.
Parrott has been fascinated by the genetically complex clover plant since he was a Kentucky teenager.
He remembers the day one of his dad’s cousins taught him how to find four-leaf clovers.
The secret: Don’t get on your hands and knees to look for the rare four-leafers leaf by leaf – that will take forever. Just look around for a break in the pattern formed by thousands of little plants with three leaves – and that break in the pattern is likely to be the rare four-leaf clover.
Scientists have been trying for a century to tease out the secret of why clover sometimes produces a plant with four leaves instead of the usual three.
“It’s such an incredibly cool plant,” said Parrott, who treasures the plant’s seemingly infinite color and pattern variations and its genetic complexity.
In addition to the four-leaf gene, Parrott and his fellow researchers found the rare gene that gives some clover plants red flecks, and another rare gene that lends other variants a pattern of red leaf veins.
Now Parrott is using traditional breeding methods to develop new clover varieties that will show off the plant’s hidden beauty.
“There’s just so many combinations of colors and shapes that we can do; we should be able to develop a whole series of varieties,” Parrott said.
The plant scientist has filled much of a UGA greenhouse with pots of potential varieties. Small flower beds outside the UGA AGTEC building off Riverbend Road, where Parrott’s laboratory is, serve as trial gardens for some of Parrott’s clover plants.
Most people think of clover as forage or a lawn weed, but Parrott hopes to see some of the new clover types he’s developing planted in Southern flower gardens.
“I really think it has great potential as a bedding plant,” Parrott said. “I think it can fill a niche, something besides pansies and ornamental kale.”
To find the right plants to breed, the researchers first used a modern technology called genetic fingerprinting that finds plants with the right genes – the genes for color and for the color variations Parrott likes.
Cross-breeding clover plants with different genetic traits, Parrott grows about 1,000 new plant types a year. But only a small fraction have the color or leaf pattern characteristics he’s looking for.
“If you start out with about 1,000, one to four will be suitable for a variety,” he said.
In addition to new, colorful clover varieties, Parrott also wants to breed plants with the four-leaf gene. His aim is a variety that will produce more four-leaf sprigs than the plants you’d normally find in your frontyard – but not a variety with nothing but four-leaf sprigs.
That would be boring, he figures.
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, July 12, 2010
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Chattanooga News, Weather & SportsUGa. scientist unlocks four … – WRCB-TV
Associated Press – July 12, 2010 3:24 PM ET
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – A University of Georgia plant scientist has helped unlock the genetic secret of the four-leaf clover.
Wayne Parrott says it’s the result of 18 years of research and modern DNA analytical techniques that shed light on the four-leaf trait.
Scientists have spent a century trying to figure out why clover sometimes produces a plant with four leaves instead of the usual three.
Parrott says he and his fellow researchers also found the rare gene that gives some clover plants red flecks, and another rare gene that lends other variants a pattern of red leaf veins.
In addition to new, colorful clover varieties, Parrott wants to breed plants with the four-leaf gene.
Information from: Athens Banner-Herald, http://www.onlineathens.com
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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UGA Scientist Says He’s Unlocked Genetic Secret Of Four-Leaf Clover – WJBF-TV
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – A University of Georgia plant scientist is looking over a four-leaf clover. Wayne Parrott says he’s unlocked the genetic secret of the unusual clover. And it has nothing to do with luck.
Parrott has put 18 years and modern DNA analysis into his research. It’s a rare gene that makes for the extra leaf.
The researchers also found a rare gene that changes the color of clover.
Parrott says the work could lead to breeding a four-leaf only plant.
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Cramlington crash survivor Raymond Curry returns to scene of impact – Cramlington
Miraculously, the stake missed all of his vital organs. When he was examined by A&E medics, they found a four-leaf clover stuck to his back. Today, still recovering at his Oulton Close home, in Cramlington, Ray said: “I could just see lots of smashed plastic when I got there. The crash happened much further down the road than I thought.
“It was very eerie going back there and seeing where the fence was supposed to be and how big the poles are. I was just interested to see it. It really brought it home to me how big the crash was and how lucky I am.
“It made me feel sick. But I was impressed at how the air ambulance managed to land in such a small space.”
Ray’s survival came while he was making his way to work in Alnwick, just after 9am on June 1.
With no time to spare, the Great North Air Ambulance Service flew the casualty to Newcastle General Hospital, where skilled surgeons removed the stake and then found Ray’s car air-freshener inside him.
Aware how lucky he is to be alive, the driver has refused to bin his lucky clover, instead giving it pride of place in his bedroom.
Ray said: “My thoughts have turned back to driving a car.
“I found it difficult getting back in to begin with, but my dad refused to let it become a problem for me.”
To donate to the GNAAS call 01325 489819, or go to www.greatnorthairambulance.co.uk
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Research team unlocks secret of of four-leaf clover – Foster’s Daily Democrat
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Researchers led by a University of Georgia plant scientist have figured out the genetic secret of the four-leaf clover.
But Wayne Parrott didn’t find the gene for the rare four-leaf trait through a lucky stroke or help from leprechauns.
It took 18 years of research and modern DNA analytical techniques to find the gene, said Parrott.
Parrott, who came to UGA in 1988, worked with UGA graduate student Rebecca Tashiro and other researchers at UGA and Oklahoma’s Noble Foundation to find the four-leaf gene.
Looking for the lucky four-leaf clover gene has been a sort of sideline from Parrott’s more traditional research projects, such as trying to improve switchgrass to be a better raw material for biofuel production. He’s also developing soybeans that can resist insect pests and nematodes.
“This has been a sort of fun project,” he said.
Parrott has been fascinated by the genetically complex clover plant since he was a Kentucky teenager.
He remembers the day one of his dad’s cousins taught him how to find four-leaf clovers.
The secret: Don’t get on your hands and knees to look for the rare four-leafers leaf by leaf — that will take forever. Just look around for a break in the pattern formed by thousands of little plants with three leaves — and that break in the pattern is likely to be the rare four-leaf clover.
Scientists have been trying for a century to tease out the secret of why clover sometimes produces a plant with four leaves instead of the usual three.
“It’s such an incredibly cool plant,” said Parrott, who treasures the plant’s seemingly infinite color and pattern variations and its genetic complexity.
In addition to the four-leaf gene, Parrott and his fellow researchers found the rare gene that gives some clover plants red flecks, and another rare gene that lends other variants a pattern of red leaf veins.
Now Parrott is using traditional breeding methods to develop new clover varieties that will show off the plant’s hidden beauty.
“There’s just so many combinations of colors and shapes that we can do; we should be able to develop a whole series of varieties,” Parrott said.
The plant scientist has filled much of a UGA greenhouse with pots of potential varieties. Small flower beds outside the UGA AGTEC building off Riverbend Road, where Parrott’s laboratory is, serve as trial gardens for some of Parrott’s clover plants.
Most people think of clover as forage or a lawn weed, but Parrott hopes to see some of the new clover types he’s developing planted in Southern flower gardens.
“I really think it has great potential as a bedding plant,” Parrott said. “I think it can fill a niche, something besides pansies and ornamental kale.”
To find the right plants to breed, the researchers first used a modern technology called genetic fingerprinting that finds plants with the right genes — the genes for color and for the color variations Parrott likes.
Cross-breeding clover plants with different genetic traits, Parrott grows about 1,000 new plant types a year. But only a small fraction have the color or leaf pattern characteristics he’s looking for.
“If you start out with about 1,000, one to four will be suitable for a variety,” he said.
In addition to new, colorful clover varieties, Parrott also wants to breed plants with the four-leaf gene. His aim is a variety that will produce more four-leaf sprigs than the plants you’d normally find in your front yard — but not a variety with nothing but four-leaf sprigs.
That would be boring, he figures.
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Dublin isn’t all shamrocks and beer – News & Observer
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tool goes hereBY L.A. JACKSON – CorrespondentTags: travelDUBLIN — St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Guinness Storehouse, Book of Kells, Temple Bar, Trinity College – mention these famous Celtic icons and thoughts of Dublin come to mind. But while those must-see attractions are forever linked to Ireland’s capital, they aren’t the only sites worth visiting.
Dublin is a sophisticated European city that will surprise those expecting to find a four-leaf clover slant to every activity and attraction. Sure, the spirit of “Erin go bragh” is strong in this historic city, but it is also an enjoyable, diverse destination enhanced by such unexpected pleasures as:
Phoenix Park: At 1760 acres, Phoenix Park is twice as big as New York City’s Central Park. On sunny days, the wide-open spaces are magnets for Dubliners wanting to bask and play in the fair weather.
Originally a Royal Hunting Park, it was opened to the public in 1745 and has been the home of a herd of wild fallow deer since the 17th century. Two monuments that are hard to miss in the park are a large papal cross that commemorates Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1979 and the Wellington Monument, a towering 210-foot obelisk honoring the Duke of Wellington, a native Dubliner who gained fame at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Phoenix Park is also home to Aras an Uachtarain, the official residence of the president of Ireland.
Dublin Zoo: Inside fPhoenix Park, the 66-acre Dublin Zoo ( www.dublinzoo.ie) is the fourth-oldest zoo in the world, having been established in 1830 by the Zoological Society of Dublin. It is home to more than 235 species of animals, including such endangered species as the white-faced saki, Goeldi’s monkey, Moluccan cockatoo and golden lion tamarin.
Its paths are abundantly landscaped with plants from around the world, and they lead visitors through eight themed areas that display animals in roomy simulations of their natural habitats. Last year, the zoo welcomed almost 1 million visitors, making it one of Ireland’s top attractions.
Dublinia: Dublin is the capital of Ireland, but it began as an outpost for Norsemen who raided the Irish countryside in the ninth century. Dublinia ( www.dublinia.ie) is a museum that takes visitors back to the time of the Vikings and shows the city’s transition from a Nordic settlement to an important medieval European city. Housed in the architecturally impressive neo-Gothic masterpiece that used to be Synod Hall of the Church of Ireland, the museum is a time capsule of Ireland from the Dark Ages to the Reformation in the 16th century.
National Botanic Gardens: Nowhere in Ireland is it greener than at the National Botanic Gardens ( www.botanic gardens.ie ), where more than 20,000 plant species live on 48 acres along the banks of the Tolka River. Established in 1795, this must-see destination for plant lovers takes visitors through a horticultural wonderland of plants from around the world. History also has a presence in the form of two magnificent Victorian greenhouses: The Curvilinear Range, built in 1848 to house Southeast Asian plants, cycads and specimens from the Southern Hemisphere, and the restored Great Palm House (1884), which contains tropical trees, bamboos, bromeliads, orchids and cacti.
Millennium Spire: Officially called the “Monument of Light” or simply “The Spire” by Dubliners, it was built in 2003 in the center of the city to commemorate the new millennium. At 390 feet, this stainless steel beauty is the tallest sculpture in the world.
The needlelike monument’s base is 10 feet in diameter and gradually narrows to 6 inches at the top. Standing on bustling O’Connell Street close to the historic General Post Office, the spire also serves as an excellent point of reference for tourists who stroll the busy shopping district that surrounds the monument.
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Saline Celtic Festival shares amazing feats – Heritage Newspapers
By Steven Howard, Heritage Newspapers
Lilliane Aittama, 5, cautiously approached what appeared to be a statue of Cearbhall A’Danu, a lord of Celtic mythology, as she stood totally still on a podium Saturday at the Saline Celtic Festival.
As Lilliane stepped closer, however, the statue came to life and bowed to the girl, much to her amazement.
Lilliane’s face bore elements of excitement and confusion as the majestic statue offered her a magic stone, sprinkled her with dust and offered a piece of rolled up parchment.
The small note explained how Cearbhall had become stone at the hands of a dreaded enemy, but was “brave and strong” and “defended his lands and his people from every foe.”
Similar amazing feats abounded at the Saline festival over the course of Friday and Saturday, amazing the adults and children in attendance with traditional Celtic activities.
Friday brought the Skill at Arms competition to the jousting fields, with costumed men on horseback using 10-foot jousting poles to capture small rings off of stationary posts.
Competitor Stephen MacPherson told the crowd “this is an actual competition” sanctioned, he said, by the International Jousting Association.
The following day, the same men donned full suits of armor for the full-contact joust.
The announcer for the event said the competitors reached speeds of about 30 miles an hour as they rode toward each other extending 10-foot poplar poles with the objective of hitting the other directly in the shoulder.
Though the top 3 feet of the poles were said to be balsa wood, the explosions were fierce when full contact was made.
Before the joust, people in designated stands were assigned a Knight and country of origin to root for as spectators might have done in medieval times.
One Knight of English origin yelled to the crowd that he would “put the Scotts and French in their place,” which solicited loud booing from those sections.
A bit more of a tame, but every bit as educational, activity was also going on in the Textile Arts Tent as Barbara Schutzgruber and others were weaving tartans of all varieties using time-tested methods.
As she worked on a scarf, Schutzgruber said she loves to practice the craft and that she has been weaving for about 25 years.
“I used to watch the weavers at Greenfield Village,” she said of the artisans that inspired her.
She manipulated the wool to make a multi-colored pattern she said was based on other specific tartans.
Schutzgruber is part of the Ann Arbor Fiber Arts Guild as were others in attendance making textiles.
At the dancing stage, Michael Patrick Farrell, Art Director for Brogue in Toronto, could be seen teaching workshops and performing traditional dances at various times throughout the day.
He said he welcomed all skill levels at the dance classes because the lessons were really about finding the heart of the activity.
“What I like to teach is an enthusiasm course,” he said, saying more technical concerns were not a worry. “What is more important is the soul of the dancing.”
Farrell said things got off to “an auspicious start” shortly after arriving in Saline, finding the first four-leaf clover of his life near the stage of the dancing tent.
“I feel it found me,” he said.
Watching the opening ceremonies was Milan resident Robert Puckett, who was wearing the traditional Scottish kilt and related ornamentation.
Puckett, who has traced his heritage to the Stewart of Appin clan, said he has been participating in similar events for about four years.
“After talking with the relatives, I found out I was part Scottish,” he said.
Puckett said there were a few festival activities he looked forward to most of all.
“First of all, the music,” he said, “then there’s the rugby, and the people.”
He also mentioned enjoying a traditional Scottish dish that seems to only appeal to certain tastes.
“People look at me weird, but I love my haggis,” he said.
Steven Howard can be reached at 429-7380 or showard@heritage.com. Follow his blog at http://heritageweststaffblog.blogspot.com.
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Research team unlocks a lucky four-leaf secret – Paducah Sun
5
ATHENS, Ga. — Researchers led by a University of Georgia plant scientist have figured out the genetic secret of the four-leaf clover.
But Wayne Parrott didn’t find the gene for the rare four-leaf trait through a lucky stroke or help from leprechauns.
It took 18 years of research and modern DNA analytical techniques to find the gene, said Parrott.
Parrott, who came to UGA in 1988, worked with UGA graduate student Rebecca Tashiro and other researchers at UGA and Oklahoma’s Noble Foundation to find the four-leaf gene.
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