A single bite from the Brazilian wandering spider has been shown to cause four-hour long erections

Most people who find a spider in their bedroom quickly try to get rid of it.
But new research shows that one arachnid might actually be best kept by your bedside.
A single bite from the Brazilian wandering spider has been shown to have side-effects including four-hour long erections.



Unusual side-effects: A single bite from the Brazilian wandering spider has been shown to cause four-hour long erections

The eight-legged creature – also known as the armed spider, banana spider or Phoneutria nigriventer – is native to South and Central America.
Scientists at the Medical College of Georgia believe the species contains a possible breakthrough for erectile dysfunction.

Dr Kenia Nunes, a physiologist at the college, said: ‘The venom of the Phoneutria nigriventer spider is a very rich mixture of several molecules.

‘These molecules are called toxins, and then we have various toxins in this venom with different activity.
‘Because of this, when a human is bitten by this spider, we can observe many different symptoms including priapism, a condition in which the penis is continually erect.’

Other side-effects on top of the long-painful erections include loss of muscle control, severe pain, difficulty breathing and if its victim is not treated with anti-venom, could lead to death due to oxygen deprivation.
But its unusual effects could be used to treat sexual dysfunction in both men and women, according to Dr. Nunes.



The new Viagra? The Brazilian wandering spider’s venom might lead to a breakthrough new treatment for erectile dysfunction

In her study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, Dr. Nunes’ experiment managed to give erection-challenged rats with high blood pressure a bit of a boost.

A peptide called PnTx2-6 was given to the flaccid rats, who achieved side-effect free erections.
Dr. Nunes said: ‘We found the toxin responsible [for the erections] and performed experiments using hypertensive rats which have severe erectile dysfunction. The toxin was able to normalise the erectile dysfunction in these animals.’

The spider’s toxin worked in a different way to drugs such as Viagra though and Nunes told MSNBC: ‘This is good because we know that some patients don’t respond to the conventional therapy.
‘This could be an optional treatment for them.’

She is also hopeful that the toxin could help female sexual dysfunction, but has not yet studied this.
The Brazilian wandering spider, which has a leg span of over four inches, has already been found in some American and Canadian supermarkets but is normally found in tropical banana plantations.

According to the curator of arachnids at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum, Rod Crawford, only 10 humans out of 7,000 have died from its bite.

Mardi Gras: Jude Law and Pamela Anderson in Rio

This year's carnival in Rio could go down as the safest in history.
While nearly 800,000 tourists, Brazilian and foreign, take part in the high-decibel samba extravaganza of the world's biggest Mardi Gras alongside most of Rio's population of six million, this year 50,000 police have been deployed to clamp down on crime in the city.

And for the first time, around 30 surveillance cameras have been installed to improve the monitoring of crowds and make it easier to tackle pick-pocketing and muggings that usually mar the event for a handful of unlucky revellers.


What a spectacle: The Vila Isabel samba school performs during the carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, earlier today


Rio rainbow: Thousands line the streets as the Samba Sao Clemente group parades by. The whole country stops completely for almost a week for the intense carnival festivities 

The Rio Carnival is the benchmark against which every other carnival is compared and boasts one of the most spectacular parades in the world.
This year’s carnival began on Saturday with the opening ceremony crowning the carnival king followed by various parades including the Children’s Samba Schools parade.

The biggest cheer was reserved for the appearance of elite samba group Portela, which performed despite losing most of its costumes and floats in a devastating fire.

A blaze in early February tore through the warehouses where Portela and two other samba groups were preparing for Carnival, destroying more than 3,000 feather and glitter costumes and many meticulously decorated floats.

But the group, which has not missed a parade in its 84-year history, put on a dazzling performance.


Sea of colour: The first night of the Rio Carnival parades at the Sambadrome. Scores of people watch the festivities from their balconies


Celebrity hangout: Actress and model Pamela Anderson (left) enjoys the view as the parade passes, 
while actor Jude Law (right) takes the opportunity to kick back and relax after his recent relationship break-up

Among celebrities spotted joining the party were top model Gisele Bundschen, actress Pamela Anderson and newly single British actor Jude Law.

Some of the revellers say they have already noticed the difference in atmosphere as a result of the police work in the months leading up to Mardi Gras 2011.

'The re-taking of the slums has improved the Carnival atmosphere a lot,' said one Brazilian dancer. 'Before it was a problem, there were muggings, but now people feel much safer,' he said.

Rio authorities are also trying to repair the city's reputation for crime ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

The knock-on effect is a safer, if just as beautiful and crazy, carnival for everyone.


Fling those beads: Fat Tuesday festivities begin in New Orleans


The Krewe of Mid City Mardi Gras float rolls down St Charles Avenue in New Orleans. The crowds poured onto the Big Easy's streets for the traditional warm-up before the big show on Shrove Tuesday

New Orleans holds the American record for the biggest Mardi Gras celebrations - despite its difficulties over recent years.

Today in the city the warm-up for Mardi Gras is in full swing and people are celebrating the carnival season under clear skies.

After bad weather on Saturday which saw many parades cancelled as thunderstorms swept the state, yesterday crowds poured back onto the streets for the traditional warm-up before the big show on ‘Fat Tuesday’.

The French Quarter, where tourists and long-time regular visitors mix with locals, saw a handful of celebrity-laden parades and the usual revelry.

The temperature will rise further as the Carnival festivity moves closer to its climax. The excesses end at midnight tomorrow with the beginning of Lent.



Temperatures will rise as the Carnival festivity moves closer to its climax of midnight tomorrow, the beginning of Lent

Meanwhile in the UK, Mardi Gras fever has spread to Great Yarmouth, which will host its second Carnival parade.

Local schoolchildren have been making Rio carnival-style masks and headdresses while Lithuanian culture will be represented by a colourful fight between two giant characters, Fatso and Hempen, which symbolise the struggle between winter and spring.

Orient Express: Into Eastern Europe and Dresden in Art Deco wartime bordello carriage

Trainspotters in Eastern Europe, I can now say with some certainty, look just the same as the ones back home. Overnight we had rattled and creaked into Poland from the Czech Republic in our beautiful old Art Deco Wagon-Lit carriages, passing through dark forests that seemed to go on for ever.

We had started our unusual Orient-Express journey in busy, touristy Venice, but there we were the next morning, a long way from the canals and gondolas, blinking at the contrast as we rolled slowly past Zywiec.
A rust-coloured train was waiting at a platform covered with weeds. Walls by the ticket office were covered with indecipherable graffiti. The sun beat down (Eastern Europe was in the midst of a heatwave). And then we saw them - the trainspotters.


Eastern adventure: Tom and his girlfriend Emma board the Orient Express

A scraggly haired fellow with a giant belly and an old baseball cap was holding up a camera and taking snaps. Next to him, a skinny man wearing black socks and sandals was squinting through old spectacles, capturing the train with a video camera. Another with a sleeveless jacket with pockets was scribbling in a notebook.
They smiled and waved, and we smiled and waved back - sitting at our little breakfast table in our tiny compartment, eating croissants and rolls, with cups of fresh coffee at a table with purple flowers in a silver vase.

It was a bizarre scene. It was also typical of the friendly reception the Orient-Express received as we moved deeper into Eastern Europe.
Locals, tipped off to the arrival of our shiny, navy-blue carriages, were waiting at platforms all the way. We were almost cheered past in places, especially as we moved on from our stop in Krakow towards Dresden - the first time the Orient-Express has ventured into the city that suffered such heavy bombing in the Second World War.

From Dresden we were travelling onwards, via a mini-stop in Paris, to Calais and buses into the Channel Tunnel to Folkestone, where another Orient-Express train was waiting to transport us to Victoria Station. The journey consisted of one night on the train, two in Krakow (at a plush Sheraton), another night on the train, two in Dresden (in an even plusher Kempinski), one more on the train, before returning home. Quite an adventure: it made London-to-Venice or Paris-to-Istanbul seem pass? - we were travelling into the Orient-Express unknown.

So, via the Dolomites and long tunnels when the lights flickered (and we thought of Agatha Christie), Austria and the Czech Republic, we reached Poland. Along the way we dined on foie gras, fillet of beef marinated in dill and juniper berries, and dark chocolate cake ‘with Italian lemon zests’.


Former bordello: Tom's Art Deco Wagon-Lit compartment

We were dressed formally - a tie and suit for me (some wore black tie), a smart dress for my girlfriend Emma - as we listened to a tinkling piano. There were three dining carriages (each restored to Art Deco glory) as well as six sleeping carriages, all beautifully maintained. Ours dated from 1929. The mahogany panelled rooms were designed by Rene Prou – considered a master in this area. A sign also said that the compartment had been ‘used as a brothel in Limoges 1940-45’.

Our compartment had a funny sink in a cabinet in a corner. There was a bench-seat converted into bunks by a steward while you had your evening meal. There was a mini-fan in a corner, helping with the heat. But it was still pretty hot.
An American woman commented wryly: ‘Staying here is cheaper than a divorce.’ There was also no shower room – ‘This is authentic,’ explained the train manager, Bruno Janssens. Regarding the heat, he added: ‘We’re thinking of bringing in air-conditioning.’

In Krakow, we stayed by the Vistula river overlooking the 14th Century Wawel Castle. Krakow is easy to walk around, with a pretty old town encircled by a park renowned as a lovers’ promenade. We climbed the hill to the castle and took in the strange shoebox-like tourist boats on the river below and bathers on the small beach opposite. We walked on, passing a shopping mall selling every brand under the sun (Eastern Europe has come a long way since 1989) and had a coffee in the huge central square, where stalls had T-shirts bearing the slogan: ‘CK: City of Krakow.’

Then we went to Auschwitz. You can’t help wondering whether it is appropriate, having travelled in our sybaritic train on the very same tracks used by Hitler’s Holocaust wagons. But it would be wrong to visit this part of Poland without spending some time at this monument to man’s inhumanity.

We passed under the chilling sign that says Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Makes You Free) and entered the harrowing rows of red-brick compounds, overlooked by watchtowers and surrounded by barbed wire.
We saw pictures of inmates sentenced to death. We took in a courtyard where executions were performed against a brick wall. We visited the terrifying gas chambers, where a sign said: ‘Please maintain silence here: remember their suffering and show respect for their memory.’ A display explained that more than a million people died in Auschwitz and neighbouring Birkenau.

It gave us a lot to think about when we returned to the Orient-Express that night.


Masterpiece: The Zwinger in Dresden has an amazing art collection

We journeyed on to Dresden, passing great factories and Soviet-era housing blocks in the outskirts of the former East German city. There was music and dancing at the station before we were whisked to the Kempinski, a former palace built for a mistress of Augustus the Strong, who ruled Saxony from 1670 to 1733.

The hotel was rebuilt after being bombed in February 1945, and is next to the Royal Palace. We were soon being shown round the grounds of the Zwinger, another palace with a fabulous collection of Augustus’s porcelain and a gallery full of works by Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt and Vermeer.

Augustus, we learned, spent a fortune gained from mining silver near Dresden on his beloved art. Stalin had taken much of it to Russia, but it was returned by Khrushchev, who felt the works belonged in the city.
We were shown the marvellous domed Church of Our Lady, also destroyed during the war but rebuilt five years ago. Our guide said: ‘This is a symbol. I was five years old when this was destroyed. Now it is back, it feels as though the city is living again.’

Later, we visited a Volkswagen factory and the botanical gardens. Then we rejoined our train for the slow ride back via Paris to Calais – passing Eastern European trainspotters again on the way.
As we did so, the words of our guide came back to me: ‘For many years, living here was like living in a prison. Now we are free to go where we like. Now we can welcome the Orient-Express.’
With the piano playing in the dining car, we chugged out of Dresden on our very different (and extremely memorable) journey.

Orient-Express (0845 077 2222, www.orient-express.com) offers a seven-day Venice/Krakow/Dresden/London journey from ?4,850pp including a cabin suite on the train with full-board, two nights at the Sheraton Hotel in Krakow and two nights in the Taschenbergerpalais Kempinski Hotel in Dresden, a special dinner in Krakow and excursions. It can also arrange flights to Venice, two nights’ accommodation and transfers from ?475.

Ryanair Cabin Crew Charity Calendar 2010 (pictures and video)

The girls of Ryanair are back with their latest sexy cabin crew charity calendar for 2010.

The calendar is raising money for the UK charity “KIDS” which provides support to disabled children all over the Britain.

Here’s a couple of pics from the launch in London and a sneak peek at sexy air hostess Frances who appears for April plus a behind the scenes video filmed at the photoshoot on location in Alicante, Spain.

Iceland Volcano Satellite Image: NASA’s Stunning Photo

Iceland Volcano Satellite Image: NASA’s Stunning Photo
A new Iceland volcano satellite image posted by NASA offers an incredible view of this event. Ash from the Iceland volcano has halted flights across …

Mitha – The Virgin

Mitha – The Virgin

* Full Name: Happy Cameria Pramita | CH Pramita
* Nickname: Mitha
* Name of Artist: Mitha The Virgin | Mitha The Rock Indonesia
* Place of Birth: Jakarta
* Date of Birth: January 2, 1986
* Hobbies: Ngapain aja
* Name of Mother: Emmy Sofyana
* Last Education: High School
* Favorite Food: Meatballs
* Favorite bands: Muse
* Most Genre: for mitha, music is the most beautiful works, so mitha likes everything music.
* Position: Guitarist | Vocalist
* Group Band: The Rock Indonesia Band | The Virgin Band
* Creation Mitha Song: Lagu Cinta Terlarang | Lagu Belahan Jiwa

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