Christmas 1904 brought back to life digitally

UPSOT: 'WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS' This Christmas carol rendition might sound faint, but then it is more than a century old. UPSOT: 'WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS' The song was recorded by Cromwell Wall back in 1902.. as his family gathered around the table for Christmas. It's believed to be the oldest Christmas recording ever uncovered... Wall made the recording using a phonograph and wax cylinders. Museum of London's Bill Lowry says the fact that the cylinders have survived all these years.. is hard to believe. Lowry and a team of digital sound restorers have spent months carefully digitising these recordings and bringing them back to life. SOUNDBITE (English) BILL LOWRY, DIGITAL COLLECTIONS MANAGER FOR THE MUSEUM OF LONDON, SAYING: "I've taken the digitised recordings and used current technology to try and reduce the surface noise, but I haven't wanted to go too far because if you take away the crackle and the other noises that come away they you reduce the authenticity of the recording." UPSOT: PIANO PLAYING The fragile cylinders' individual grooves were first carefully cleaned with a fine brush before the audio was digitised. Lowry then used sound restoration technology to delete and repair glitches - attempting to re-create how the recording would have sounded when they were made. UPSOT: CROMWELL WALL SPEAKING That is Cromwell Wall addressing his family on Christmas day 108 years ago. Museum curator Julia Hoffbrand says 24 of these century old recordings were successfully resurrected. She has her favourite. UPSOT: CHURCH BELLS PEALING SOUNDBITE (English) JULIA HOFFBRAND, SOCIAL AND WORKING HISTORY CURATOR AT THE MUSEUM OF LONDON, SAYING: "There's an amazing recording of the bells of Old Southgate church pealing in the New Year 1904. Cromwell apparently wheeled up the phonograph in his children's pram over a mile at midnight to record the sound of the bells." Wall family descendant David Brown donated the recordings to the museum in 2008. When they were finally converted, Brown's relatives gathered to hear the unique blast from the past. SOUNDBITE (English) JULIA HOFFBRAND, SOCIAL AND WORKING HISTORY CURATOR AT THE MUSEUM OF LONDON, SAYING: "Oh, they were very excited. Some of them hadn't heard their grandfathers speak before and it was quite emotional. They were very thrilled." And as they gather for this year's Christmas turkey the current Wall clan will raise a glass to their ancestors - thanking them for providing a such a memorable window into the past. UPSOT: WALL FAMILY MEMBERS SHOUTING 'HIP HIP HOORAY'

Dec 21 - The earliest known Christmas home recordings have been brought back to life. Using state-of-the-art sound restoration technology, experts at the Museum of London have managed to resurrect Christmas Carols performed and recorded by an affluent English family more than a century ago. Jim Drury reports.

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Student created video of eagle snatching child goes viral

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And the Academy Award goes to... the iPhone?

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Overcoming the fear of Santa

STORY: Meeting Santa can be stressful for children as well as their parents eager for a photo op. But seeing jolly old Saint Nick in person can be fun for everyone, according to Martin Antony, a leading expert in anxiety and psychology professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) MARTIN ANTONY, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RYERSON UNIVERSITY, SAYING: "Children when they're visiting Santa experience a wide range of feelings. So, some kids are very excited, very happy to see Santa, but a small number of kids are quite terrified when they see Santa." (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) MARTIN ANTONY, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RYERSON UNIVERSITY, SAYING: "Kids with a fear of Santa may be ambivalent. So on the one hand they may want to see Santa, they may want to ask for certain presents, they may want to get that picture, that candy cane. On the other hand, they may be terrified of seeing Santa." (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) PAUL, DEWLING, MAN DRESSED AS SANTA, SAYING: "A lot of kids, they're not scared of Santa in general, they're scared of the facial hair. Whether it's a real beard, or a pretend beard." (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) MARTIN ANTONY, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RYERSON UNIVERSITY, SAYING: "On the one hand, Santa is a stranger. On the other hand, Santa is a familiar character so children are certainly familiar with Santa before they meet Santa for the first time and parents are there. Parents are defining that as a safe situation. But for some children, that unfamiliarity has a very strong effect on fear." If a face-to-face close-up with Santa is too much for tots, speaking to Santa using virtual technology such as Skype or websites like Magic Santa dot C-A, can help. (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) MARTIN ANTONY, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RYERSON UNIVERSITY, SAYING: Nowadays there are opportunities to visit with Santa in new ways - virtual Santas for example. And in some ways, having some distant between Santa and the child will help reduce fear in the short-term, so in that way it's helpful. On the other hand, if the child is afraid of the situation, NOT encountering the situation may not help the child in terms of getting over the fear. (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) MARTIN ANTONY, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RYERSON UNIVERSITY, SAYING: For a child who's mildly afraid and sort of wants to see Santa but is apprehensive about doing that, then just taking it slowly is the best thing to do. And taking it as far as the child is willing to take it. So a child may not be willing to sit on Santa's lap, but a child might be willing to stand beside Santa. For parents worried about the long-term effect of their child being afraid of Santa, Antony says have no fear. (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) MARTIN ANTONY, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RYERSON UNIVERSITY, SAYING: "The best way to overcome fear if it's important to overcome fear, is through exposure. Through confronting feared situations and young children may need incentives to carry out exposure because they may not be invested in getting over the fear as much as their parents are invested. (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) MARTIN ANTONY, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RYERSON UNIVERSITY, SAYING: "And the other important thing for parents to remember is that it's not essential to get over every fear. There are a lot of fears (and the fear of Santa may be one of them) that children will outgrow on their own, or the fear doesn't really interfere that much with the child's life and parents need to not push in those cases."

A visit to Santa can be a terrifying experience for some kids, according to a leading expert in anxiety and stress disorders. But facing the fear in stages or chatting with Saint Nick over the Internet are two ways to make a meeting with Father Christmas a jolly one. Natalie Armstrong reports.

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Soyuz spacecraft blasts off for ISS

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Mind control brings new taste of life for paralysis patient

For 53-year-old Jan Scheuermann, chocolate never tasted so good. Using a robotic arm that is directly controlled by her thoughts, Scheuermann, who is paralyzed from the neck down, has been able to feed herself. SOUNDBITE: JAN SCHEUERMANN, PARALYZED PATIENT, SAYING: "I just can't stop smiling. It's just so cool. I'm moving things, I have not moved things for about 10 years." The robotic arm Scheurmann is maniplulating is called a brain computer interface (BCI). Using a computer algorithm the system accurately translates brain signals into actions - one of the biggest challenges in mind-controlled prosthetics. It was developed by Dr. Andrew Schwartz and a research team from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. SOUNDBITE: DR. ANDREW SCHWARTZ, NEUROLOGY PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, SAYING: "We wanted to be able to capture that natural, those natural features of movement from brain activity. This led to the idea that we could make this prosthetic and make sure that the prosthetic obeyed the rules of natural movement. We had a device that let subjects express themselves and that was what I was after. It's really nice to see that happening." After successfully testing the device on monkeys, the scientists implanted two microelectrode devices into Scheurmann's left motor cortex, the part of the brain that initiates movement. The researchers used a real-time brain scanning technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging to find the exact part of the brain that lit up after the patient was asked to think about moving her now unresponsive arms. Dr. Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara oversaw the neurological procedure. SOUNDBITE: DR. ELIZABETH TYLER-KABARA, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF NEUROLOGY AT UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, SAYING: "The surgery went about as smoothly as I could have hoped. I held my breath until she was out of the hospital and at the rehab hospital … And we said ok, imagine wiggling your thumb. Of course we were expecting to hear fuzz and instead what we hear is the rush of the neurons coming and then activating again for each time she imagines wiggling her thumb." The electrodes are connected to the robotic hand via a computer. The system runs a complex algorithm that translates the signals that mimic the way an unimpaired brain controls healthy limbs. After weeks of training Scheuermann learned to master control of the hand. SOUNDBITE: JAN SCHEUERMANN, PARALYZED PATIENT, SAYING: "I used to have to think up, clockwise, down, forward, back … It's not a matter of thinking which direction anymore. It's just I want to do that and my brain knows which direction to move to make that happen." It's a remarkable step forward for prosthetics controlled directly by the brain says Dr. Mike Boninger. In the future it could even be paired with robotic exoskeletons that allow paralyzed individuals to walk. SOUNDBITE: DR. MICHAEL BONINGER, PROFESSOR AND CHAIR, UPMC REHABILITATION INSTITUTE, SAYING: "After completing a task in a time that is close to what I could complete that task in you think wow, we just have to take the next steps where we make this a clinical tool not a research one." In the meantime, Scheuermann is enjoying her new found freedom. She's tasting cheese, red peppers and truffles in a whole new way.

Dec. 17 - A Pennsylvania woman who became a quadraplegic through a genetic disease has fed herself for the first time in nearly ten years, using a mind-controlled robotic arm. A research team at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine developed the device, an arm that can move in seven dimensions and perform many of the natural motions of a real arm in everyday life. Sharon Reich reports.

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Two NASA spacecraft crash into the moon

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Orangutan's eyes may hold clues to better life

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New Yorker marches to beat of artificial heart

New Yorker Daquain Jenkins takes comfort in the the repetitive beat that accompanies him everywhere he goes. Far from being annoying, It's a vivid reminder that his implanted artificial heart is working. UPSOT: JENKINS SAYING (OFF CAMERA): "This shows my beats per minute, my flow volume, and my cardio output....This is the batteries and how we check the chargers. You push these down." The father-of-three was diagnosed with congestive heart failure three years ago aged 25 and given a transplant. But the heart failed in August, and had to be removed. It was replaced by a temporary Total Artificial Heart that will keep Daquain alive until another donor heart becomes available. DAQUAIN JENKINS, NEW YORK CITY'S FIRST RECIPIENT OF A PORTABLE TOTAL ARTIFICIAL HEART, SAYING: "Air travels through the lines, up until here, and these tubes that are hanging out are connected to the artificial heart that's in here using air and uses air to pump the valves, the artificial valves that are in here that pumps the blood throughout me and keeps me alive. My lifeline." The plastic organ, developed by US company SynCardia, replaces the two lower heart chambers, the ventricles, which pump blood through the body. It enables patients like Jenkins to live at home while waiting for a donor heart. It can last for two hours on battery power when not plugged into an outlet. Dr. Anelechi Anyanwu who performed Jenkins's operation, says the technonology goes back three decades. SOUNDBITE (English) DR. ANELECHI ANYANWU, JENKINS' CARDIOTHORACIC SURGEON, SAYING: "In a way it's just a crude mechanical pump that just moves blood in one direction and that's where we are now, but there are several developments going on, for example to make smaller pumps, to have better power supplies and ultimately to have a pump that the whole mechanism of the pump is within the body." Last month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved this heart pump made by HeartWare International. Steven Tsui, one of the UK's foremost cardiac surgeons, thinks it's an exciting development. SOUNDBITE (English) STEVEN TSUI (PRON: SOO-EEY), CARDIAC SURGEON AND DIRECTOR OF TRANSPLANTATION AT PAPWORTH HOSPITAL, SAYING: "The reason why this is so much better than older devices is because it is much more effective and efficient in power consumption so the same battery would last a lot longer for the patient. It is completely silent in operation and the small driveline means that the exit site through the skin will be much easier for the patient to manage and therefore may reduce the complication rate associated with the use of these devices." Czech fireman Jakub Halik recently survived for six months with a Heartmate 2 device after an aggressive tumour necessitated his heart's removal. Halik died in October of liver failure but his surgeon Jan Pirk believes the Holy Grail of a permanent synthetic heart replacement is getting nearer. SOUNDBITE (Czech) CARDIOLOGIST PROF. JAN PIRK SAYING: "I'm convinced that new pumps fully able to replace the heart function will be discovered in the future. It's not the case yet, but they can already function to help the left heart chamber work properly. With this pump some patients have lived for seven years." SynCardia has implanted more than 1,000 of its devices and given almost 300 years of extra life to its patients, keeping them alive long enough to receive a real heart. Daquain Jenkins calls SynCardia and his doctors miracle workers. His heart backpack gives him an unexpected degree of freedom and a chance at life. UPSOT: JENKINS SAYS: "It's nice outside. I like it."

Dec. 14 - With the number of donor hearts too low to meet the demand from cardiac patients, the use of temporary total artificial hearts is becoming more commonplace. And the technology is advancing to the point where some heart surgeons believe a permanent, artificial heart may soon be an option for some patients. Jim Drury has more.

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Mapping London's bomb sites a hit

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Touchnote's appy Christmas cards

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Mexican maggots help ID the dead

Nuevo Leon in northern Mexico is on the frontline of the country's unrelenting drug war. Thousands of people have been killed, many of them decapitated and burned beyond recognition. For forensic scientists, identifying the dead is often impossible, as burned flesh yields no DNA for analysis. But earlier this year, scientists led by Dr Lourdes Chaves at the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon scored a victory. They were able to identify a missing woman by examining the DNA of content s inside maggots that had consumed the few tiny morsels of viable flesh left on her charred body. SOUNDBITE: DR. LOURDES CHAVEZ, HEAD OF THE FORENSIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT, AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF NUEVO LEON, SAYING: "Once the maggots are deposited in the cadaver, they begin to feed themselves. With that in mind, we decided to collect the maggots dissect them, and remove the contents of the digestive system. Inside the gastrointestinal tract, we can find the material that has been consumed from the decomposing corpse. It was really a surprise to be able to magnify and analyze the contents at that stage." With that success, the researchers beleive they have found a new investiagtive tool. DNA is also extracted from bones, but it's a much longer process. SOUNDBITE: DR. LOURDES CHAVEZ, HEAD OF THE FORENSIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT, AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF NUEVO LEON, SAYING: "With this, we'd save a lot of time by utilizing the maggots. In any case, we will still examine the bones to make sure our analysis of the body is correct. It is another option." And it's a valuable option for crime fighters like Jorge Domene, in a place where the body count frequently overwhelms resources. SOUNDBITE: JORGE DOMENE, NUEVO LEON PUBLIC SECURITY SPOKESMAN, SAYING: "We are at a point today in which we are prepared, which happens to coincide, in a way which was not planned, with the index of violence we have had over the last two years. This has helped solve important cases that otherwise would have been practically or literally impossible to identify the victim." And without a victim I.D, it's impossible to prosecute a murder case. In Mexico, the maggot is gaining a new measure of respect.

Dec. 17 - Maggots found feeding on bodies burned or mutilated beyond recognition, may hold the answers to identifying the dead. Scientists in Mexico say a DNA examination of contents inside three maggots found on a badly burned body led to its identification, when the flesh itself was too badly decomposed to reveal useful samples. Kilmeny Duchardt reports.

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U.S. judge says Apple patents too far from the tree

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Boeing prepares for happier landings

STORY: Almost 90,000 flights a day are in the skies above the United States. According Boeing, the number of aircraft flying will double in the next 15-20 years, leading to more congestion at airports and increased carbon dioxide emissions from burning jet fuel. Boeing's solution is an air traffic management concept called Tailored Arrivals, which engineer Rob Mead says will land aircraft more efficiently. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROB MEAD, BOEING LEAD ENGINEER FOR TAILORED ARRIVALS SAYING: "We allow dynamic generation of arrival paths into busy airports and that allows us to reduce emissions, reduce noise and make for a cheaper ride for our airline customers and the passengers on board." Under the system, aircrews receive arrival path guidance matched to their specific flight by taking into consideration aircraft performance, air traffic, airspace and weather. Mead says conventional landing procedures burn needless amounts of fuel. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROB MEAD, BOEING LEAD ENGINEER FOR TAILORED ARRIVALS SAYING: "The conventional approach will come down and fly, level off and then descend a little bit more and level off. A lot of vectoring around and things like that. And it burns an awful lot more fuel, creates emissions and creates noise and is less predictable for the air nav service providers. And we smooth that out to make it a nice gradual descent. It's smoother for the passengers in the back; you don't feel the engines coming up and hear the noise of speed breaks coming on and things like that." International aviation produces about two percent of greenhouse gas emissions and is under increasing pressure to curb its carbon pollution. Between 2007 and 2009, Boeing says tests of its system saved six airlines 3.3 million pounds of fuel and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 10.4 million pounds.

Dec. 18 - With one of the busiest holiday travel seasons of the year about to begin, air traffic control procedures are set to receive a 21st century face lift. Aircraft industry giant Boeing is in the final stages of testing out a new system that gives airplanes tailor-made landing paths, a technology they say will decrease airlines delays and cut harmful fuel emissions significantly. Jane Ross reports.

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Brain scans could uncover psychopaths, say researchers

The often often not like US schools slaying and the small Connecticut towns such responses about how it could've happened. No one knows what drove at a glance it's -- killed 26 people including twenty children and his -- mop up -- mental illness might prove to be a factor. According to nearest scientists clues -- line destruction he's -- They say that studies of MRI scans of the brains of violence criminals show structural abnormalities that have not found in the brains of normal people. James Fallon from the University of California it says scans show -- big cortex on the function in the price of psychopaths. Melinda cortex -- means emotional control and emotional. Like that you have. And that is not so much out here. This is more forward thinking cognition hold cognition rational thought this stuff appear. The stock -- too deep in in quite cold is this orbital cortex of the orbital cortex -- means -- sort of bump behind. Violence has scans show psychopaths Bryant had very patient the same characteristics. They all have the same underlying pattern which is -- a major loss of function to the orbital cortex right about the guys into the from the temple this whole Linda promotional cortex. That's shaped like -- -- in the brain and I noticed it was at all hopes of someone only had that big image. And all of those that I looked they turn out to be psychopaths. Across the Atlantic -- such as King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry. Have conducted similar studies. The results psychopaths have significantly next right -- -- and to area hospitals free until closings and temple polls the normal price. This is old gray matter. So this is just picking winners and losers that are statistically particularly reduced. In the -- group. And the areas in dark green on those in which there's hardly significant green mountain evil wolves. In the sun group. Forensic psychiatrist not a black quote says the child that cycle paths can be crucial. The studies that I've been done -- -- you can't help some emotional children aren't -- -- tank and -- -- we can show brain differences that we as yet don't know whether predictive power of those differences. To somewhere if -- extreme -- with quite a bit to agreements -- won't you walls of anyone's most like it's going to young adults like for example. Thinking so a couple feet of brain function price the prospect of more can assault unit defense insanity. James Holmes allegedly shot dead twelve people including the Shiites at a Colorado student on July. Report suggests his defense team may -- a not guilty plea by reason of insanity. In the case of Norwegian muscular and this Friday sentenced to preventive detention -- 77 people. Court appointed psychiatric teams reached opposite conclusions about his mental health. It's black with believes that within a decade studies like these may be used to print the diminished responsibility. Psychopathic criminals. Although -- the people that Newtown Connecticut a -- of what's happened on Friday the fourteenth of December is likely to India for much longer.

Dec. 17 - The brains of psychopaths are different to those of normal people, according to a growing body of evidence being studied by neuroscientists. In the wake of last Friday's school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, speculation mounts about the mental state of the gunman, Adam Lanza, and although little is known at this stage, scientists say it may be possible in the future to identify potential murderers through structural abnormalities in their brain. Jim Drury reports.

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