The Korea Herald

Champagne drought threatens

Food&BeverageSept 7, 2012

REIMS, France (AFP) ― First the bad news: there is going to be a lot less champagne to go round this year.The good news: what there is could be outstanding.After one of the worst spring growing seasons on record, producers of the world’s most celebrated bubbly are bracing themselves for one of the smallest harvests in the last 20 years.But thanks to a hot and sunny August, all the signs are that the chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes that go into the king of sparkling wines will be
Trendy in Beijing, mala xiangguo

Food&BeverageSept 7, 2012

Restaurant serves fiery, fragrant Sichuanese dishMala xiangguo ― a Sichuanese dish that is all the rage in Beijing ― lives up to its name. According to Mala Xiangguo owner-chef Ko Young-yun, “ma” means “tongue-numbing.” “la” means “spicy.” “xiang” means “fragrant” and “delicious;” and “guo” means “pot.” In short, mala xiangguo is an incredibly fiery, delectable jumble of ingredients served up in a large pot. The version served at Ko’s hanok-housed Chinese restaurant in Tongin-dong, Seoul, achie
Saengseonjeon (pan-fried fish fillet)

Food&BeverageSept 7, 2012

Saengseonjeon is a dish of white fish fillets that are coated with wheat flour and egg wash then pan-fried. Fish used for saengseonjeon are white-flesh fish such as croaker, frozen pollack, sea bream and gray mullet. Saengseonjeon may also be called “jeonyueo,” (oil-fried fish) or ‘jeonyuhwa’ (oil-fried flower) for its beauty. Ingredients- 300 g white fillet fish (frozen pollack), 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp ground white pepper - 3 tbsp wheat flour, 2 eggs, 2 tbsp edible oil - vinegar soy sauce: 1 tbs
Walk fest, dance party at Jung-gu

CultureSept 7, 2012

The 10th Seoul International Walking Festival will take place tonight and Sunday around Seoul Plaza.The event involves four walks and is organized by the Korea Walking League. A 10 km walk under the moonlight will start at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Seoul Plaza and take walkers by Namsan Mountain North Trail, National Theater of Korea, N Seoul Tower, Namsan Public Library, Ahn Jung Geun Memorial Hall and Sungnyemun before returning to Seoul Plaza.A 25 km walk will kick off at 9 a.m. on Sunday at Seou
Non-alcoholic wine lowers blood pressure

HealthSept 7, 2012

BARCELONA (UPI) -- Men at high risk for heart disease had lower blood pressure after drinking non-alcoholic red wine for four weeks, researchers in Spain say.Gemma Chiva-Blanch of the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona and colleagues studied 67 men with diabetes, or three or more cardiovascular risk factors, who ate a common diet plus one of the following drinks -- about 10 ounces of red wine, a similar amount of non-alcoholic red wine or about 3 ounces of gin.All of the men tried each diet/beverage c
Green tea good for the memory

HealthSept 7, 2012

The chemical properties of green tea affect the generation of brain cells, providing benefits for memory and spatial learning, researchers in China say. Professor Yun Bai of the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China, and his team focused on the organic chemical epigallocatechin-3 gallate, known as EGCG, an antioxidant in green tea. "Green tea is a popular beverage across the worl
Vietnam Agent Orange victims get Scientology 'detox'

HealthSept 7, 2012

Dozens of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange on Thursday embarked on a controversial detoxification treatment plan developed by the Church of Scientology, a Hanoi hospital director said.US aircraft sprayed chemical defoliants such as Agent Orange over vast swathes of jungle during the Vietnam War in an attempt to flush out Viet Cong communist guerrillas by depriving them of tree cover and food.Th
Tick-borne virus, new to Americas, identified in Missouri

HealthSept 6, 2012

Federal scientists have isolated a virus in ticks that has never before appeared in the Western Hemisphere and are calling on other scientists to look for evidence of the disease-causing pathogen.Virus hunters from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus causes an illness nearly identical to ehrlichiosis, a tick-borne disease that is caused by a bacterium.The newfound pathogen, known as a phlebovirus, was isolated in 2009 in two Missouri men who doctors knew had been bitten
Australian gets the world’s first prototype bionic eye

HealthSept 6, 2012

SYDNEY ― An Australian woman robbed of her sight 30 years ago told Thursday how she saw a “little flash of light” after being implanted with the world’s first prototype bionic eye.Dianne Ashworth, 54, went blind through an inherited condition called retinitis pigmentosa but had some vision after the device was surgically implanted in a Melbourne hospital and connected up to a laboratory unit.“All of a sudden I could see a little flash ... it was amazing,” Ashworth said in a statement from the Bi
DNA database unlocks map to genetic disease

HealthSept 6, 2012

CHICAGO (AFP) ― A massive DNA database has generated a map of the genetic switches which impact everything from hair loss to cancer and opened the door to revolutionary treatments for a host of deadly diseases, researchers said Wednesday.“This is a major step toward understanding the wiring diagram of a human being,” said lead researcher Michael Snyder of Stanford University.The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements ― or ENCODE ― has enabled scientists to assign specific biological functions for 80 perce
Guard against colon cancer

HealthSept 6, 2012

Many think that colon cancer is something that people aged over 50 should be worried about, but it pays to be on guard against the disease at a much earlier age, doctors say. A study released Thursday by the Korean Society of Coloproctology found that over 20 percent of men in their 30s who underwent colonoscopies between 2009 and 2011 had one or more polyps, the primary seed of colon cancer. It was a surprisingly high rate for the age group, which was regarded as less vulnerable, researchers sa
Cystitis

HealthSept 6, 2012

Cystitis is an inflammation of the bladder lining which can be caused by microorganisms (bacteria, protozoa or viruses), allergies, radiation and pharmacological agents. The most common mechanism of cystitis is bacterial infection through the urethra. Because women have shorter urethras than men, they are more prone to urinary tract infections. This is because the bacteria from the urethra, vagina or the cervix can flow back to the bladder. In this case, the main bacterial organisms are those of
Politics, dirty campaigns fill election yarn

BooksSept 6, 2012

The Other WomanBy Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge) Myriad “other women” form an ever-widening circle of political intrigue in award-winning author Hank Phillippi Ryan’s highly entertaining hardcover debut.Politics, dirty campaigns and compromised candidates are a compelling plot foundation in any year, but especially in this presidential election year. Ryan combines both a timely tale and a multi-layered plot with gripping suspense. “The Other Woman” works well as a political thriller and romantic su
Author undone by his own style

BooksSept 6, 2012

The Devil in SilverBy Victor LaValle (Spiegel & Grau)Nobody is his or her own best editor, not even the writer of this review, so you wonder whether Victor LaValle didn’t get advice about his third novel, “The Devil in Silver,” or simply chose to ignore it. It’s sad, really, because what might have been a first-rate thriller about madness, corruption and monsters in a Queens asylum is too glib to get a reader fully committed, no pun intended, although it’s a great example of how an author can be
Molly Ringwald taps into her literary interest

BooksSept 6, 2012

Picture a film shoot somewhere in Canada. On one side of a swimming pool, the gear, the crew and most of the cast; on the other side, Molly Ringwald. They’re shooting the rest of the scene before her part, so she sits on a box to wait. She begins tapping on her phone, and as the hours pass, that’s all she does: Sit on the box, tapping. By the time the camera turns her way, she has finished the first draft of “When It Happens to You,” the impassioned, clever title story of her first book of ficti