The government has unveiled a new shatterproof pint glass which it hopes will help to save billions of pounds in healthcare costs says the Huffington Post.

The glasses are designed to prevent them being used as weapons when smashed and the government has developed two prototypes of the new barware. The government plans to introduce the new glasses for use on a voluntary basis in pubs, providing tests show the glasses’ durability, safety and cost-effectiveness.

With around 87,000 alcohol-related glass attacks each year, the new glasses have been met with a positive reaction by alcohol concern charities and groups with healthcare costs incurred by attacks resulting in hospital treatment being estimated at around £2.7 billion.

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A Japanese company has developed a fire alarm that alerts hearing-impaired people by emitting the odour of WASABI!

The pungent foodstuff was chosen from a host of different scents during tests to determine which odour would cause people to wake the fastest from their slumber. It was found that wasabi – Japanese horseradish – acted quickest with almost all the test subjects waking within 2-and-a-half minutes of first exposure.

Wasabi contains a substance called allyl isothiocyanate – the same substance as found in mustard – and further tests were required to find the appropriate amount of odour release required without causing people’s eyes to water – which could hinder peoples’ attempts to escape a fire.

The alarm, which measures 21cm by 8cm and weighs just half-a- kilogram was developed by the Japanese fire extinguisher company Air Water Safety Services and has already been sold to residential homes for the elderly as well as hotels says the Daily Telegraph online.

It wouldn’t work for this writer, however, as the scent of wasabi is likely to lead to the kitchen rather than any escape point!

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Scientist Ray Kurzweil has been in the news a lot this week for saying that within 25 years humans could not only become immortal but could also reverse the aging process.

Mr Kurzweil believes this is possible thanks to an increase in the understanding of how the human body works coupled with a greater understanding of nanotechnology. Artificial pancreases and neural implants are already available, and the 61-year-old believes it’s only a matter of time until our major organs can be replaced with technology to keep us alive longer.

He said: “”Nanotechnology will extend our mental capacities to such an extent we will be able to write books within minutes.

“If we want to go into virtual-reality mode, nanobots will shut down brain signals and take us wherever we want to go. Virtual sex will become commonplace. And in our daily lives, hologram like figures will pop in our brain to explain what is happening.”

With an already increasing population – that some believe to already be overbearing on the planet’s resources – if this were to come true some of science’s previous whacky claims such as us living on the moon and eating meals in pill form would have to happen at roughly the same time. Although with the prospect of eternal life the behaviour of some people towards the place we live may start to buck up.

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Scottish donors are at their lowest level in decades and the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) is looking for ways to change this. In 2008, SNBTS predicted that if blood supplies continued to be re-stocked in the same quantities there could be a crisis within two years.

The actual donation process is, on average, shorter than 15 minutes and the donor feels almost no discomfort – just a quick needle prick before a pint of blood is effortlessly collected as they lie back.

It is thought on average each donation saves two lives – with just three teaspoons of blood being enough to save the life of premature a baby.

Sadly, it’s not just Scotland that has been having problems attracting donors. Americans have been having similar problems recently although the blood centre in Austin, Texas, has recently seen a surge in donors as a result of a new advertising campaign. Rather than the serious matter of life and death approach taken by most adverts they have gone down a light-hearted route which has seen an upturn in donors. The campaign uses the tagline “Redeem yourself. Donate blood, save two lives and make up for just about anything” alongside misdeeds such as forgetting an anniversary or using the neighbour’s Wi-Fi.

For those wanting to donate, opening hours extend later during the middle of next week and ScotBlood has a handy tool on their website to help you find your nearest centre.

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