Short Takes

UMMM, IS THERE A NEED FOR THIS?

RxBio, of Johnson City, Tenn., wants everyone to know their lead product, RX100, “…a potent radioprotectant as well as radiomitigator, protects against lethal, whole-body radiation when administered before, during, or up to 24 hours after exposure.” What? WHAT?! We understand the company needs to get the word out about what they have, but Jeeez! And this line further down in their release doesn’t offer much comfort, either: “Among other things, it prevents the disintegration of the mucosal barrier -- thus, preventing diarrhea and overwhelming bacterial infections, potentially severe side effects from such exposures. Several agencies of the Federal Government continue their interest in this promising new compound and its unique approach and mechanism.” OK, we have to go lie down with a cold compress now. For those not as fainthearted as us, details are at RxBio.com

MEET A CLIENT WHO MIGHT KNOW MR. SPOCK

Mark your calendar for May 11-13. That’s when the Earth Transformation Conference will be held in Kona Hawaii. Details, available at Earth Transformation.com, include the study of “New Science & Technologies, Spirituality, Dolphins & Exopolitics.” (Dolphins? Exopolitics?) But what really piques our interest is this little nugget in a press release: “Teleportation spacecraft technology will be the subject of a presentation by Ralph Ring at the upcoming … conference. Mr. Ring will be speaking in only his second public appearance since revealing his participation in a project that successfully developed and tested a teleportation spacecraft in 1960.” Oh, we are SO going to be there. Beam us up, Scotty.

YOUR AD HERE

Those wacky kids at M.I.T. are trying to raise some money to help successfully launch their Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program, and they need your help. According to their new Web site, Your Name Into Space (and thanks for the tipoff from faithful reader Hayley B.), the group is selling ad space on its exploratory satellite, set to launch in 2010. “Choose a location on the outside of the spacecraft and get pictures of your content photographed in space. Choose a location inside the return vehicle, and after five weeks in orbit we'll return to you the actual piece of spacecraft hardware, which carried your image into orbit,” they say on their site. But it is a tad pricey: “Options start as low as $35 for a single square centimeter in the Introductory zone,” they tell us. And in case you’re wondering what that buys you, a paperclip is approximately one centimeter wide. It’s a nice cause, but as cheap as we are, we’ll pass.

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM

According to the makers of Tylenol PM and Simply Sleep medicines, some 65 million Americans have trouble getting a good night’s sleep. So besides pushing its products as one way to achieve steady Zzzzz’s, parent company McNeil-PPC has now launched iSlumber.com, a site designed to identify sleep disorders and offer some remedies to get the sleep your body needs. That’s all well and good, but the site switches soooo slowwwwwly between screens, it’s enough right there to make you nod off. We also have a sleep suggestion based on a not-so-scientific method we uncovered: Stop taking pills, push yourself away from the Internet, lace up a pair of sneakers and go for a 40-minute walk. We’ve found if our body is naturally tired from physical exertion, it will sleep on its own. And it doesn’t cost anything.