Natural oils do what antibiotics can't

Exciting news, if it pans out:

Essential oils could kill the deadly MRSA hospital 'superbug', scientists have claimed.

University of Manchester researchers found three of the oils, usually used in aromatherapy, destroyed MRSA and E.coli bacteria in two minutes.

They suggest the oils could be blended into soaps and shampoos which could be used in hospitals to stop the spread of the superbug.

Hospital-acquired infections, such as MRSA, kill an estimated 5,000 a year.

That's in the UK, I presume. Worldwide, the number must be far greater -- though the lack of openness about the problem in Britain has been an ongoing scandal.

The team . . . tested 40 essential oils against 10 of the most infectious agents found in hospitals, including MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus).

Two of the oils were found to kill MRSA and E.coli almost instantly, while a third was found to act over a longer period of time.

However, the researchers say they are unable to reveal which oils carry benefits because of commercial sensitivities.

"Commercial sensitivities"? What is that supposed to mean? Any information so potentially lifesaving really ought to be released as soon as possible.

ADDENDUM: Here's an article summarizing other approaches to fighting MRSA. No mention of oils, but Manuka honey is cited.

Brancusi on the run

Romanian authorities have asked Interpol to locate the sculpture that
The bronze version of the Mademoiselle Pogany.

Oslo authorities have issued a court order forbidding the further sale of Constantin Brancusi's "Mademoiselle Pogany", after Sveaas argued that he had secured the right to purchase it from brothers Alexandru and Alvaro Botez.

But the rights to the masterpiece, which Sveaas has offered to pay NOK 100 million (USD 18.43 million) for, are even more disputed.

Romanian authorities say the sculpture has been illegally transported out of the country, and Alis Vasile, director of the directorate of museums, collections and state guarantees in Romania called the sculpture's exodus 'a police matter'.

Full article here, previous report here.

Nazi loot, with a difference

A vase that was a gift to Adolf Hitler was turned over to investigators, who are rounding up a collection of Nazi artifacts stolen from a Utah storage unit in 2005, authorities said Friday.

The vase was one of five items stolen in that burglary. Three other items were confiscated this week from an antiques dealer, who had been approached by a man who wanted to sell them.

The items apparently were taken from Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" mountain home in the Bavarian Alps by an American soldier during World War II. The soldier's son found the collection after his father died and put everything in storage.

The vase was recovered Thursday, a few hours after sheriff's detectives unveiled other pieces. Still missing: a bronze bust of Hitler.

Full story here.

Goudstikker Cranachs to stay at the Norton Simon

The principle of restitution of Nazi-looted art is well established, but determining the facts when the trail of ownership gets convoluted is not always possible.

A Los Angeles federal judge has dismissed a case that jeopardized the Norton Simon Museum's ownership of a nearly 500-year-old pair of paintings of Adam and Eve by German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. . .

Cranach's monumental paintings of life-size nudes in the Garden of Eden have been a highlight of Simon's collection since 1971, when the Los Angeles industrialist and collector bought them from George Stroganoff-Scherbatoff, an heir of a noble Russian family thought to have lost the paintings to the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution. But the Cranachs have a complicated history, at issue in the legal battle.

Von Saher's Dutch father-in-law, Jacques Goudstikker, bought the paintings in a 1931 auction in Berlin, billed as "Stroganoff Collection Leningrad" and staged to raise funds for Stalin's impoverished government. "Adam" and "Eve" remained in his gallery in Amsterdam until 1940, when the Nazis took over his business. Goudstikker died in a shipboard accident while fleeing the Germans, but his wife, Desiree, and son, Edward, survived, as did a list of artworks left behind.

After the war, Desiree Goudstikker settled with the Dutch government, regaining part of her husband's inventory. She did not claim another group of artworks, including the Cranachs, because she would have had to return payment received from the Germans. That settlement made it possible for Stroganoff-Scherbatoff to pursue his claim. The Dutch transferred the paintings to him in 1966.

From the LA Times.

World's oldest wall painting?

French archaeologists have discovered an 11,000-year-old wall painting underground in northern Syria which they believe is the oldest in the world.

The 2 square-meter painting, in red, black and white, was found at the Neolithic settlement of Djade al-Mughara on the Euphrates, northeast of the city of Aleppo, team leader Eric Coqueugniot told Reuters. . .

"We found another painting next to it, but that won't be excavated until next year. It is slow work," said Coqueugniot, who works at France's National Centre for Scientific Research.

Rectangles dominate the ancient painting, which formed part of an adobe circular wall of a large house with a wooden roof. The site has been excavated since the early 1990s.

From Reuters.

Spain vs Odyssey, continued

On Tuesday, patrol boats from Spain's maritime police intercepted the 76m Odyssey Explorer, owned by underwater salvage firm Odyssey Marine International, three miles off the coast of Gibraltar. It was ordered to the Spanish port of Algeciras for inspection.

Spain's Guardia Civil has been keeping a close eye on the company's vessel since a Spanish judge ordered that it be detained and searched if it left port in Gibraltar.

The company says its recovery vessel has been effectively blockaded since the ruling in June. Spain believes it could provide clues to the identity and location of the wreck that yielded half-a-million colonial era silver and gold coins.

It suspects that a Spanish galleon is being secretly plundered - or that the wreck lies in Spanish waters.

From the BBC, which really needs to get its exchange rates updated:

The haul, which has an estimated value of $500m (£350m), is now at a secret location in Florida, where Odyssey is based.

Oh, how I wish I could buy pounds at $500 for £350! That's under $1.43 -- spot rate has been floating around $2.03.

Madonna of the Yarnwinder recovered

Saw this right before I left the UK, and was a bit surprised to see it given so little coverage back in the US press:

A stolen Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece worth up to £25 million was recovered yesterday more than four years after it was stolen in a daylight raid at a Scottish castle.

Police said that they had recovered the 500-year-old Madonna with the Yarnwinder in the Glasgow area after a multi-agency operation. Three men from Lancashire and another from Glasgow were arrested. . .

Police said that, acting on intelligence, they intercepted a meeting between five people in the centre of Glasgow at about 11am yesterday. The painting was recovered at the scene. They refused to comment on newspaper reports that the painting was recovered at a Glasgow solicitors’ office.

From the Times of London, which on the next day reported:

Two solicitors were among four men in their fifties who appeared in court today . . .

Calum Jones, 52, a partner at HBJ Gateley Wareing in Glasgow, where The Madonna with the Yarnwinder was recovered by police on Thursday, and Marshall Ronald, 51, a solicitor from Greater Manchester, were charged with conspiracy to rob and extort money.

The full story clearly has not come out yet.

Back at last . . .

The last few weeks have been a bit crazy, including several days in London. Hadn't been back there for three years, so there was lots of catching up to do. And though there was time enough for blogging (and certainly material enough), I really don't like having recourse to the ever-dwindling number of Internet cafes out there, and I still haven't sprung for a subnotebook handy enough to carry along comfortably. I did take my T-Mobile Wi-Fi-enabled phone, but I found there are precious few open wireless networks to be found in London -- far fewer than, say, in and around Paris. Calling home to the USA worked beautifully when a network could be found. Still, it would have been easier just using a calling card with a payphone, or getting one of Orange's new Call Abroad SIM cards that lets you call to the USA for only 7p a minute. No charge for the card, you just have to put a minimum of £5 credit when you pick one up.