Can you jump from the sky without any parachute or special suit?

(courtesy: BBC NEWS)

Someone tried and succeeded. An American., Luke Aikins, has become the first person to jump from 25,000 ft (7,620m) without a parachute, landing safely in a net.

Courtesy: BBC NEWS

Mr Aikins - who has more than 18,000 jumps under his belt - fell dead centre into the 100x100ft net in Simi Valley, southern California.

During the two-minute fall aired live on Fox television, the 42-year-old reached the speed of 120mph (193km/h).

To loud cheers, he climbed out of the net and hugged his wife and young son.

Mr Aikins, who is a safety and training adviser for the US Parachute Association, said his friend came up with the idea two years ago.

Please read further: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36935087

This report featured 31 July 2016 on BBC NEWS

Super-hard metal 'four times tougher than titanium'

A super-hard metal has been made in the laboratory by melting together titanium and gold.

The alloy is the hardest known metallic substance compatible with living tissues, say US physicists.
The material is four times harder than pure titanium and has applications in making longer-lasting medical implants, they say.

Conventional knee and hip implants have to be replaced after about 10 years due to wear and tear.
Details of the new metal - an alloy of gold and titanium - are revealed in the journal,Science Advances.

Prof Emilia Morosan, of Rice University, Houston, said her team had made the discovery while working on unconventional magnets made from titanium and gold.
The new materials needed to be made into powders to check their purity, but beta-Ti3Au, as it is known, was too tough to be ground in a diamond-coated mortar and pestle.

The material "showed the highest hardness of all Ti-Au [titanium-gold] alloys and compounds, but also compared to many other engineering alloys", said Prof Morosan.

She said the hardness of the substance, together with its higher biocompatibility, made it a "next generation compound for substantively extending the lifetime of dental implants and replacement joints".
It may also have applications in the drilling industry, the sporting goods industry and many other potential fields, she added.

Cross-section of a titanium dental implant(VOLKER STEGER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)
Courtesy: BBC NEWS

The gold-titanium alloy is a cubic compound with a particular arrangement of atoms found when metals are combined at high temperatures.

Titanium is one of the few metals that human bone is able to grow around firmly, allowing it to be used widely in medicine and dentistry.

By Helen Briggs
BBC News
22 July 2016  From the Section: Science & Environment
Follow Helen Briggs (@hbriggs) on Twitter.

Refernce: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36855705

YOU CAN HIRE AN EX-CONVICT!

Are you an employer of labour?

Ever thought of hiring an ex-convict (ex-con)?

It is possible. I don't mind hiring one. Even Richard Branson wants your business to hire an ex-con.

The billionaire behind Virgin Group is encouraging companies to recruit people with convictions. He says putting past offenders to work "increases the talent pool, lowers the price tag of re-offending, nurtures entrepreneurial spirit and contributes to safer communities."

Branson, who has been advocating this cause for years, is setting an example by hiring peoplefrom prisons and rehabilitation programs to work for one of his British businesses, Virgin Trains.

In the past year, 3% of new hires at the company came through the recruitment drive. Virgin Trains now employs 25 staff who were hired in this way.

The rail company has produced a guidebook to help other employers get on board, giving suggestions about suitable U.K. charities and prisons that employers could work with.

"Recruiting people with previous convictions doesn't cost us any more than our normal recruitment drives and it results in highly motivated employees joining our company every year," the guidebook states.

Branson isn't the only one focused on this issue. Last year, the New York City Council passed the"Fair Chance Act," prohibiting employers from asking about a job applicant's criminal history until after the applicant receives a conditional offer of employment.

The act was intended "to address employment discrimination faced by individuals formerly incarcerated."

courtesy: CNN MONEY

Further Reading:  http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/20/news/richard-branson-virgin-jobs-prison-offenders-convicts/

Source: CNN MONEY

Based on a report titled, "Richard Branson wants you to hire an ex-con" by @Alana Petroff (July 20, 2016: 10:36 AM ET )

It's been a long while...a very long while...and i'm glad to be back on this blog again.

CONNECTING....

courtesy: Windows 7