ON MY OWN: Ameesha Patel

Ameesha won't move back        Ameesha Patel has patched up with her parents, and her many appearances along with brother Ashmit are a clear indication of this.         However, she doesn't seem to be in any hurry to return to her parents' house. Why? Well, we hear that athe actress, who has been living independently all these years, is now used to her own space. And apparently, she now prefers to live on her own than move back with her parents. So now, while she does visit her parents, she comes back to her own place. Looks like this Bolly babe is completely cool with doing things her own way.

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ALTERNATIVE CAREER? Maria Sharapova

Sharapova dons designer's hat         Maria sharapova, the 23-yer-old tennis ace, who was the world's highest paid female athlete in 2008 after earning $26 million in prize money and sponsorships deals, seems to have taken to an alternative career in dress designing.           Apparently, her line would be based on the clothes she wears on the court, She reveals she was always involved in designing wht she wore and is excited by the fact that the same would now be available in the market for budding tennis players., "The things that I wear on court are actually available for people to buy! I've got a chance to help design the dresses and the two piece outfits and that's something that's really creative. I've been interested in it since I was pretty young." she says.

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IN REEL NOW: Gulshan Grover in a still from the film

Brit MPs get first dekho         Honour killings are rampant among the NRI population in the UK too, and it's natural concern for the government of Prime Minister David Cameron. That's the reason that a film on the subject, British born Indian director Avatar Bhogao'sHonour Kiooing - God Forgive Me, was shown to the House of Commons and the House of Lords recently.          The film, which will be released in Hindi, English, Punjabe and Urdu, has Bollywood baddie Gulshan Grover playing a Sardarju. "It's about how my father )Prem Chopra) kills my sister who falls in love with a Muslim boy. After many years, history repeats itself and my son falls in love with my Pakistani friend's daughter," revealed Gulshan who feels strongly about honour killings. "The film shows how my community as well as the Muslim community pressurise people," he added. The film will Pakistani actors Javed Sheikh and Zara Shekh, besides Tom Alter and some well known British actors.

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PLAY ON: Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh's music mania        Taking a quick break from shooting, Shah Rukh Khan is holidaying in Spain, with Gauri and the kids, And we must say he's a true romantic at heart. Not only is he soaking in the flavour of Spain, the man's making music too. Yeah, he went and bought a fancy guitar, and was so thrilled to own it that he started strumming on the streets of Spain. We're sure the pretty Spanish ladies weren't spared of his charm. Well, he might not be a trained musician, but he's no novice either Apparently, a few years ago, he learned the basics of the G-string, while son Aryan was being tutored to play the instrument. So, if you think the Spaniards are the real mushballs, well, think again, lovelies, Our  dilwala can strum the heartsrings no less.

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FIRST ATTEMPT: Kathir

DREAM COMES TRUE        If actor kathir is all excited these days, there is one sole reason-his maiden venture VeluthuKattu has just hit the screens, "I haven't been able to sleep for the past few days as I was really anxious. It was like waiting for my sxam results. But I'm confident tht the film will do sell. After all, it's coming from SA Chandrashekhar's factory," he begins.          Talking about his role in the film, Kathir says, "I play a rustic villager from Dindigul who embarks on a journey to Chennai. How he changes as an individual because of his love for a girl forms the crux of the story."          The actor, who has been striving hard to enter the film industry for the past seven months, is glad that his dream has finally been fulfilled. "After a number of auditions, I managed to bag this role. Now, I just hope that I get to do some good projects," he signs off.

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SECRETIVE: Zoe Saldana

Zoe wants privacy!      Avatar star Zoe Saldana recently got betrothed to her boyfriend keith Britton, who she has been with for 10 years. The 32-year-old actress is said to be 'thrilled' about tying the knot.        S source says, "They've been together forever. They're a great couple." But another source added that she is quite a private person and many a time she doesn't even introduce her man as 'her' man.       The source says, "She doesn't even introduce him as her fiance. She will just say, 'This is keith.' She likes to keep herself and wants people to focus on her only as an actress. She wants to get married soon, but is still too busy with work to concentrate on making wedding plans."

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DIVE IN: Deepika Padukone

Deepika's taking the 'plunge'       Okay, badminton can take a backseat. This babe is turning out to be a diving diva. Yeah, so far she's shown her moves in many badminton coutrs, but now she's ready to take some more resks. Deepika Padukone's latest passion is diving from the skies to underwater.         Recently, while shooting in Mauritius, Deepika was keen for some adverture, so she took time off to do scube-diving and sky-diving. And it was almost addictive as the gal just couldn't stop her diving advertures. "I had the time of my life and it's one of the coolest things I've ever done," she said, squcaling with excitement. Way to go. gal. Go on and take the plunge.

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News: Car that puts blind

Car that puts blind in driver's seat       Washington: Could a blind person drive a car? Researchers are trying to make that far-flung notion a reality.        The National Federation of the Blind and Virginia Tech plan to demonstrate a prototype nehicle next year equipped with technology that helps a blind person drive a car independently. The technology, called "nonvisual interfaces," uses sensors to let a blind driver maneuver a car based on information transmitted to him about his surroundings: whether another car or object is nearby, in front of him or in a neighboring lane.        Advocates for the blind consider it a "moon shot," a goal similar to president John F Kennedy's pledge to land a man on the moon. For many blind people, driving a car has been considered impossible.        "We're exploring areas that have previously been regarded as unexplorable," said Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind. The vehicle will use non visual interfaces to help a blind driver operate the car. One interface, called DriveGrip, uses gloves with vibrating motors on areas that cover the knuckles. The vibrations signal to the driver when and where to turn.         Another interface, called AirPix, is a tablet with multiple air holes. Compressed air coming out of the device hilps inform the driver of his or her surroundings, essentially creating a map of the objects around a vehicle. It would show whether there's another vehicle in a nearby lane or an obstruction in the road. A blind person will drive the vehicle on a course near the famed Daytona race track and attempt to simulate a typical driving experience.

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Health Issue: Olive Oilk keep breast cancer at bay,

Olive Oil helps keep breast cancer at  bay, says study      London: Olive oil has long been known for its health benefits, now scientists claim regular use of the Mediter ranean oil could help keep breast cancer at bay.           Spanish scientists found that olive oil mounts a multi pronged attach attack on the tumours, stunting their growth, driving their cells to imp;ode and protecting against potentially-cancerous damage to DNA. Researches at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain found that the oil thwarts a gene that dirves the growth of breast tumours.          In experiments on rats,m the researchers found that the oil, which has high content of antioxidative substances, switched off proteins that cancer cells rely on to stay alive. It also protects DNA from damage which can lead to cancer, the Daily Mail quoted the researchers as saying.          Reporting their findings in the journal Carcinogenesis, study authyor Dr Eduard Escrich said regular and longterm use of extra virgin olive oil could hive better results. A second Spanish study found that olive oil 'turns down' genes linked to hardening of the arteries and heart disease.         The Mediterranean diet has previously been credited with protecting against all major diseases - including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

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Helath Issue: Live to a 100 years

Live to a 100: Gne test to tell longevity    If you were going to live to be 100, would you want to know it? When it becomes affordable to have one's genome sequenced, perhaps in a few years, a longevity gest, though not a foolproof one, may be feasible, if a new claim holds up. Seientists studying the genomes of centunarians in New England say they have identified a set of genetic variants that predicts extreme longevity with 77% accuracy.          The centenarians had just as many disease-associated variants as shorter-lived mortals, so their special inheritance must be genes that protect against disease, said authors of the study, a team led by Paola Sebastiani and Thomas Poeris of Boston University. Their report appears in Science.           The finding,if confirmed, would complicate proposals for predicting someone's liability to disease based on disease causing variants in the person's genome, since much would depend on whether or not an individual possessed protective genes as well. "I think it's a quite striking finding." said Nir Barzilal, and expert on longevity at athe Albert Einstein Gollege of Medicine, It shows that only a limited number of favorable genes are requyired to attain great age, he said.           Identifying these genes would provide protection against all diseases of old age, a more powerful straggler than tackling each disease. The researchers said they do not plan to market a test for long-life genes and will design a free website where people who have their DNA sequenced can check and see of they have any of them.

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Health Issue: Afterlife ? Freeze brain

Afterlife ? Freeze brain tillit finds a new body Moscow: "I don't ever want to die...it wouldn't suit me," said Innokenty Osadchy. Fortunately, the 35-yearold investment banker is certain he has found as loophole out of death.        Osadchy is ready to pay a small fortune to freeze his brain until future technology allows him to continue his life - after being transplanted into a new body and resuscitated. "Why do I have to die in a couple decades? I don't see any logic in this," Osadchy said. "It won't be another life, it'll be the continuation of my life. I don't ever want to die ever. Not in a year, not in a million years," he added.        Osadchy and other clients of Russian cryonics company KrioRus believe the brain operates like a computer hard-drive and its contents can be frozen and stored for the future. "We know tht the personality is stored in the brain. So when a person's  body is old, there's no reason to keep it," said Danila Medvedev, who runs KrioRus, the first cryonics outfit outside the US.        Cryonics - or the freezing of humans in the hope of future resuscitation - is illegal in france and much of the world, but KrioRus has stored four full bodies and eight people's heads in liquid nitrotgen-filled metal vats. While a few are kept at home by their client's relatives, most are lumped together in contaners at the firm's rusting warehouse, where an ole desk now serves as a step to allow visitors to peer into the icy-mist where the bodies are stored.         "You would just need to launch their bearts... then you have a person who is living again, " Medvedev said, counting on the swift progress of nanotechnology and medicine to help reverse the initial cause of death. "Once you can do that kind of nano-surgery at the cellular level... you can take a person from cryo-stasis; warm him up gradually and then he will be alive."           Since its 2005 launch, KrioRus bas been building new vats, in anticipation of the 30 clients, like Osadchy, with whom it already has contracts. The fee is $10,000 for brain freeze and $30,000 for the full body.           But scientists at the Soviet Union's former premier cryo-biology institute, now in Ukraine, are full of disdain for the idea. "They are cheating people, taking a lot of money: It's fraud," said Valentin Grishendo, director of the Ukraine-based institute. "If you freeze a body today - even one alive and healthy - after it is defrosted, it won't be alive and whole. We can't even freeze and preserve organs today.-only cells.

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