METRO Monday, November 23, 2009 D LET THE WORLD SEE THROUGH YOUR EYES sponsored by Vote at www.metrophotochallenge.com/ie Vote now to choose the top 3 Irish photos! The Metro Global Photo Challenge has moved to stage 2 of the competition. In Ireland you submitted over 5,600 photos with a total of 120,000 photos entered globally! Metro readers can now vote to select the best photo from a shortlist of 10 in each category; People, Places and Climate Change. The 3 Irish winners will then go to the world final where a panel of global judges will select the best of the best. Metro wishes to thank everyone who took part and for making 2009 the biggest year to date. Now we ask you to get voting and choose the best 3 photos to represent Ireland! Voting is open from Tuesday 3rd November and Sunday 29th November. To vote go to www.metrophotochallenge.com/ie Too much? Soapy hands Healing hindered by hygienic habits BEING too clean may impair the skins ability to stay healthy and heal itself. Scientists in the US discovered that bacteria on the surface of the skin play an active role in combating inflammation. The bugs dampen down over-active immune responses which can lead to rashes or cause cuts and bruises to become swollen and painful. These germs are actually good for us, said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research at the University of California at San Diego. The findings may provide a molecular basis for the hygiene hypothesis. First proposed in the 1980s, this suggests early childhood exposure to bugs might prime the immune system to prevent allergies. The research appears online in the journal Nature Medicine. Baby for astronaut on space mission ASTRONAUT Randolph Bresnik had a pretty good weekend he took his first spacewalk and returned to be told he had become a father. He was informed by mission control that his wife Rebecca had given birth to a baby girl in Houston, Texas. As part of a team equipping the International Space Station, Mr Bresnik and the other astronauts were woken up by the song Butterfly Kisses, which Mrs Bresnik had chosen. It features the lyrics: She was sent here from heaven and shes daddys little girl. Shop worker pips Depp in poll vote A POPULAR shop assistant has been chosen to switch on the Christmas lights in his home town after a Facebook campaign by customers. Shoppers at Homebase in Portishead near Bristol were won over by 21-year-old Nigel Parkers cheerful demeanor and helpful attitude. The Nigel from Homebase group on the social networking site attracted 1,600 supporters, trouncing his rival, Hollywood actor Johnny Depp, with just 450 followers. City Chase pair in training... with earwigs and spidersTHEY bled, sweated, cried, climbed, sang, swam, stripped and zorbed their way around Dublin now theyre preparing to do the same in South America. Having won the Dublin City Chase in September, 25-year-olds Ciarn Pollard and Lorcan Walsh are preparing to represent Ireland in the World City Chase final in the city of Salta in Argentina. Ciarn, from Kimmage in Dublin, and Lorcan, from Carlow Town, have agreed to keep Metro up to date on their training in an exclusive weekly diary. But since they havent a clue what they will be facing when they get there, their training routine is not very routine at all. Heres a taste: Its just less than three weeks until we leave for our epic adventure. We are only beginning to realise what this entails and are getting extremely excited. We have begun trying to speak Spanish. Typical words include bonjour, agrafeuse and grenouille as you can see were coming along in leaps and bounds... Unfortunately we cant challenge our taste buds by getting any llama, rattlesnakes, or lizards which are native to Salta so were settling for earwigs, slugs and spiders.Eager: Ciarn, left, and Lorcan Commuter heart: An artists impression of the proposed Dart station in the Docklands by joAnnE AhErn 60,000 an hour at new Dart stations DUBLINS proposed underground Dart stations would be able to cater for 60,000 passengers an hour, tak- ing into account future growth in demand for the service. Iarnrd ireann has released im- ages of the underground station at the Docklands and the surface one at Inchicore to coincide with pub- lic information meetings for com- munities and businesses. A company spokesman said: The station entrances are designed as distinctive identifiable landmark structures in sympathy with the lo- cal environment and will also offer cycle parking. The stations designs provide a seamless transition from street to platform, incorporating the use of natural lighting where possible and easy-to-negotiate step-free routes throughout, providing excellent accessibility for the mobility im- paired. He added: This is intended to create a safe and clear environment with the emphasis on ease of inter- change with other rail, tram and bus services. Underground platforms and link- ing passages will be constructed using underground mining tech- niques at Pearse, St Stephens Green, Christchurch and Heuston stations. Ground conditions are not suita- ble for this at Docklands, so cut- and-cover techniques will be used. The 7.5km Dart underground line will run through the heart of the city centre, connecting the Dart, commuter, Inter-City, Luas and Metro lines. Dart services will operate on the line up to every three minutes, in- creasing Dublins annual rail ca- pacity from 33million passenger journeys now to more than 100mil- lion passenger journeys. Between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs will be created in each year of the construction phase. Iarnrd ireann expects to sub- mit a railway order application early next year, with construction proper starting in 2011. The first public consultation meeting is for the Christchurch sta- tion and will take place tonight at Dublin City Councils civic offices at Wood Quay from 5pm. If you have a story for MiniCosm please e-mail us at news@metroireland.ie MINICOSMSCIENCE & DISCOVERY IN BRIEF GUSHING OVER: Flowing air could be used to generate electricity for planes and cars. Using materials known as piezoelectrics, scientists can convert the energy of motion into electricity. The tiny devices could be mounted on a car or aircraft fuselage to capture turbulent air flow. The power generated would not be enough to replace engines, but it could run electrical systems, researchers from the City College of New York have found. plaStIc faNtaStIc: Fossil fuels might not be needed any more to make plastic. Thats because South Korean scientists have developed a cheap, one-stage fermentation bio-engineering process to make the polymers used for everyday plastics. The key ingredient they have used for the breakthrough is an engineered strain of the E.coli bug, which is used to make polylactic acid. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html