Protective gear to save your pet during a bio-chemical war (just what we were wishing for... actually, how about no war) [Reuters]

Hero dog summons help for injured owner Last December, while walking her dog at the base of a sledding hill, Mary Vance fell and broke her leg on the icy slope. Sydney, her quick thinking dog, acted like an understudy for Lassie:

She started barking and racing back and forth to attract attention... 'Because "the dog seemed to be beckoning to us," Mertz and Blazer followed the smaller dog and found the reason for Sydney's strange behavior - her owner had fallen and broken her leg in three places...' [The Lombardian]

Kibbles 'n Bits: On the prowl for Dog Hero of the Year  Kibbles 'n Bits 48th Dog Hero of the Year Award has officially launched. If your dog is a hero, nominate your pooch for a prize: this year's awards fetches $100 in local grooomer gift certificate, $500, a year's supply of Kibbles 'n Bits, and a trophy food bowl for your dog. The award recognizes dogs that have performed acts of heroism or helped someone in need....  'To be considered, the heroic act must have been performed between January 1 and December 31, 2002. See the site for easy to enter rules.  [North Jersey Media Group]

Dogs notice things... Scientists confirm dogs help in healing man's illnesses...

'Scientists have found that some creatures are adept at helping people to overcome diseases... 'Dogs are particularly good at this... They have a stunning sense of smell and can detect when chemical changes occur in their owners. Dogs can tell, long before the event, when a person is going to have an epileptic fit. Obviously, that is a talent with very important implications.' [The Globe and Mail]

The number four: key to understanding the laws of nature...   According to Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Geoffrey West, the 'number four plays a key role in how all life on earth takes shape...'  How so? The rate of increase in metabolism - the rate at which cells consume energy - from smaller animals to larger ones is a nice, predictable exponent: three-fourths. Also, as animals get larger, their heartbeat rate goes down in a predictable exponent of four... This law of four permeates all of life... But why? ... West has a hunch...

'The four should actually be thought of as three plus one - and there are three dimensions of the space we live in... In the competition for growth in these networks, they fill in the available space. It's as if in trying to fill all space, life behaves as if it were operating in four spatial dimensions. It's trying to maximize the gathering of a resource.' West theorizes that we actually live in four-dimensional space and life always organizes to maximize its existence. 'All organisms act as if they were four dimensional objects in terms of energy flow...' [Albuquerque Tribune Online] (okay, maybe that's why man needs four-legged best friends... )

Inside the mind of a product designer:  From ABC News, an article about successful design. Top product designer Tom Kelley:

'...good design makes lives better, but genuine innovation does more. New inventions arrive every day, but new innovations are rare. An electric dog washer is Kelley's example of an invention. 'No one in the universe will buy it, so I would argue that that would not be an innovation,' he says. 'Innovation is a new idea that has economic value or can improve a lot of society.' [ABC News] (oops, Kelley's dead wrong... the automated dog wash machine is a reality and a proven hit with customers... )

In June of last year, Dog News reported on The ultimate dog washing machine  FL 'There are currently seven of the $34,000 machines in operation throughout Miami-Dade County. The ultimate dog washing machine features a cat. The sudsing, rinsing and drying procedure takes 30 minutes to complete and costs an average of $20 to $25 at most pet shops"... a slide show of the automated wash and dry is included... And dogs go for the experience... they really enjoy it... : Wired Magazine's: Sadistic Sudser? (Our dog spent 5 hours at the groomer's yesterday and he still hasn't recovered... he's mopey, sleepy and worn out: when he visited his friends at the day care center today [he visits as a therapy dog], he could hardly move... he kept laying down and looking up at them with a big, goofy grin... he's perfectly clean and beautiful, but exhausted... maybe a dog washing machine would not stress him as much [he likes his groomer...] When we wash him, he ends up with little matted balls of fur, and we all get worn out...