Tick, Tick… Doom!

The renowned Doomsday Clock’s minute hand will be moved January 14th., and for the first time, anyone with Internet access can watch, although the way the hand will move and by how much has not been made public.

The actual clock is housed at the Bulletin of Atomic Sciences offices in Chicago, Ill., but a representation of the clock will be changed at a 10 a.m. news conference at the New York Academy of Sciences building in New York City on Thursday. Watch the live Web feed here.

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Burgers & Wi-Fries

Beginning January 15, McDonald’s Corporate is prepared to offer free Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) service at most of its United States restaurants.

A McDonald’s representative recently told news agency Reuters that free Wi-Fi will be available at about 11,500 of its 14,000 locations.

McDonald’s, the largest fast-food chain in the U.S., currently offers Wi-Fi at an hourly rate of about $1.50.

Putting It All Behind

In a new report conducted by the University of Oxford in England, stored fat cells around the thigh and buttock area may actually be medically beneficial.

“This new article summarizes a body of research showing that such hip and thigh fat can help to reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease, said lead researcher Konstantinos Manolopoulos. “The review also suggests a mechanism for conveying those benefits.”

According to Manolopoulos and his colleagues in the latest issue of the International Journal of Obesity, although stomach fat is considered more metabolically active than lower body fat, it releases a substance called cytokines, which has been linked to cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and diabetes. Scientists now think lower body fat, like that around the hips and thighs, produces beneficial hormones that protect against these diseases, although it is yet to be fully determined.

Evidence of this theory includes Cushings syndrome, in which a patient looses their hip and thigh fat while gaining stomach fat. These patients usually have an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.

“As long as you are female and your hormones are female hormones you are protected from cardiovascular disease,” Manolopoulos said. “The moment you go into menopause and your hormones change, you lose your typical female appearance and you gain stomach fat and at the same time your risk for heart disease and diabetes becomes comparable to men of the same age.”

Tainted Love

According to research conducted by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis continue to spread throughout the U.S. although the three are highly treatable.

“Chlamydia and gonorrhea are stable at unacceptably high levels and syphilis is resurgent after almost being eliminated,” said John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ”We have among the highest rates of STDs of any developed country in the world.”

Untreated, these three diseases can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, ectopic pregnancy and can infect newborns.

Other findings in the CDC’s report were:

 · Adolescent girls between the ages of 15 and 19 years old had the most chlmydia and gonorrhea cases of any age group at 409,531.

 · African-Americans, who represent only 12 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for about 71 percent of reported gonorrhea cases and almost half of all chlamydia and syphilis cases in 2008.

 · 63 percent of syphilis cases were among men who have sex with men.

Ears like Gaga

Though she’s usually associated with outlandish outfits, pop star Lady Gaga has now put her bizarre twist on a pair of headphones.

“Heartbeats by Lady Gaga” are actually part of the Beats by Dr. Dre headphone collection from Monster Cable that was launched earlier this year.

Varieties include metal with either a red jewel-shaped earpiece or a chrome jewel-shaped earpiece and a black-on-black body with a jewel-shaped earpiece. They’re expected to be sold around $120 a pop.

Hall of Game

Before there was a PlayStation or an Xbox, there was Nintendo, the originator of all modern home gaming. Now, in honor of its revolutionary features and the iconic-like appeal of Mario, Nintendo’s original Game Boy has been inducted into The National Toy Hall of Fame.

“Over the past two decades, Game Boy has become synonymous with hand-held gaming fun,” the Hall said in a release. “Its portability and efficient design, ability to allow simultaneous multiplayer gaming, and scores of intriguing games (like Tetris and Super Mario Land, featuring Nintendo’s already-iconic character Mario) make it a true innovator.”

Joining the Big Wheel and the “ball,” which I assumed would have been in already, the trio beat out the likes of Hot Wheels, Cabbage Patch Kids and the Rubik’s Cube, to name a few, in this year’s induction class.

Besides the newly inducted Game Boy, the first hand-held gamer, the only other gaming system in the Hall is the Atari 2600.

Strap On

Beginning in 2011, Ford Motor Co. plans to equip Ford Explorers with the newly crafted seat belt-mounted air bags in the back seat, making Ford the first auto manufacturer to mass produce the technology.

Fitting in a pocket sewn into the belt, his safety harness features a cylindrical air bag that stretches from the buckle to the shoulder.

Lead engineer Srini Sundararajan says with the wider belts and bags, crash force is evenly distributed, limiting the chance of injury.

The technology will be expensive but will be initially available as an option, according to Sue Cischke, Ford’s group vice president for sustainability, environmental and safety engineering. Cischke also says these improved seat belts are only a platform to other safety modifications, such as side-curtain air bags and stability control.

Hopefully this will be an improvement on Ford’s 2001 back-seat air bag display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Drivers complained of the constant rattling of the inflator, which was then located in the trunk.