Thursday 28 February 2013

Please Welcome the New Editor of SEJ, John Rampton | Search ...

John Rampton BioI?m excited to introduce John Rampton as the new Managing Editor of Search Engine Journal. John is a great guy with a lot of love for this community. We know he will bring a level of expertise that SEJ needs and he brings an understanding of the blogging community that is required to be good at this job.

As a writer himself he understands the sacrifices our writers make to continually contribute to SEJ. This quality is one I personally appreciate, from both a writer?s and editor?s perspective.

As many of you know the success and future of SEJ is important to me. I think John is a great choice. I know that the SEJ community is in good hands with John and I urge you to reach out to him and get to know him better.

John?s Background:

John is the founder of PPC.org?as well as the PPC guru behind?Maple North. He graduated from the University of Utah in Economics. He has been in the online marketing industry for the past 10 years consulting companies and growing businesses online. He has been written about on?Forbes as being a leading Blogging expert. ?He has spoken at Blog World, Affiliate summit, SES and several other conferences around the world. ?We?re excited about his expertise and love of Internet marketing and how much he brings to the SEJ community.

Future Plans for SEJ:

We are excited to keep up great content from loved authors around the globe. We want to work closely with all the amazing people out there that make up the SEJ community. John stated to me yesterday:

??I will rely on the SEJ community for feedback, suggestions, ideas and proposals on how we can make things better. ?It?s you who we rely on to make us better. ?We?re here for the community and want to make SEJ even better!?

?I?m excited and honored to be a part of the great team behind SEJ. ?I?m looking forward to working with the great authors and contributors to SEJ. ?I would love to hear from our fans on ideas that you have to make SEJ better.?Looking forward to hearing from everyone.?

John?s Contact Info

You can find John on Twitter @JSRampton or email him at?john@searchenginejournal.com.

A Personal Thank You

it is time for me to step away, but I want to clarify some things and thank some people before I go. I know some of you are aware that I stepped back in at SEJ?temporarily in December. Neither I or the company that owns SEJ, Alpha Brand Media, planned on me staying on long-term. We have worked together to find the best new editor we could for SEJ and we are thankful we found John.

I have always enjoyed the SEJ community and working one-on-one with the writers that contribute to SEJ. I want to thank all the people that have supported me as editor when I came to SEJ in October 2011. You made my work even more fun than it already was.

I want to thank all the writers that have supported SEJ, and also me, by contributing. I also want to thank the SEJ community for being just fantastic people that continually support SEJ as a whole; your dedication is what keeps us going.

I want to thank Loren Baker for offering me this job and giving me the opportunity way back when :). It has been a blast and I really enjoyed it.

I truly hope that everyone welcome?s John with open arms. He will be a great and supportive editor.?

?

SEJ Editor - Melissa is the owner of SEO Aware, LLC. She is a consultant and trainer helping companies make the most of their content marketing and SEO. She specializes is the Psychology behind blogging and content marketing. Melissa is also an associate at SEOmoz.org, an associate and writer at CopyPress an editor at Authority Labs and a columnist at SmallBizTrends.com She is a self-proclaimed Star Wars and Internet geek and volunteers with big cats at BigCatHabitat.org.

Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/please-welcome-the-new-editor-of-sej-john-rampton/59838/

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Suspect in Vegas murder brags about fast life

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Las Vegas triple murder suspect Ammar Harris has a smirk on his face in a 90-second YouTube video that shows him flashing a thick stack of $100 bills.

The video is just one of many online displays of bravado being examined by police in which Harris boasts of a high-rolling lifestyle of luxury cars, prostitutes and boat trips with scantily clad women. The 26-year-old is the subject of a multi-state manhunt after a Maserati driver was shot dead on the Las Vegas Strip last Thursday and a taxi driver and passenger died in the fiery chain reaction crash that followed.

Wearing a red baseball cap and crisp white shirt with flashy sunglasses tucked in the collar, Harris asks nonchalantly whether viewers will "help me count something," and then fans out a stack of bills.

The video he took of himself in a bathroom cuts away to a pile of cash on the counter; Harris drops a bill and says "50."

"I could keep going, I could keep going ... but like, I don't feel like countin' anymore," he says. "I got another bag. But I think I proved my (expletive) point."

Las Vegas Police Officer Bill Cassell declined to comment on the video, saying it was open to the interpretation of individual viewers. But he said detectives are getting plenty of leads on Harris, whose face is splashed across billboards along Las Vegas freeways.

"I'm sure the widespread publicity, as well as the blatant, heinous nature of the crime, is motivating people to contact us," Cassell said.

LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 21: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers investigate the site of what is being described as a gun battle between shooters in vehicles along the Las Vegas Strip ... more? LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 21: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers investigate the site of what is being described as a gun battle between shooters in vehicles along the Las Vegas Strip on February 21, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to reports gunshots were fired between a black SUV and a Maserati, causing the Maserati to crash into a taxi that burst into flames. Five vehicles were involved in the subsequent crash with the Maserati driver and two people in the taxi being killed. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) less? Authorities believe Harris shot from a Range Rover he was riding in along with Tineesha Lashun Howard, a 22-year-old from Miami who has been arrested multiple times on charges including prostitution, trespassing, possession of a stolen vehicle and grand larceny. Police have named Howard, who also goes by the name Yenesis "Yeni" Alfonzo, a person of interest in the case.

Harris was arrested last year in Las Vegas in a 2010 prostitution case using the name Ammar Asim Faruq Harris. He was charged with robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping and coercion with a weapon, and police sought charges of pandering by force and felon in possession of concealed weapon. Court records show that case was dismissed last June.

But while the courts haven't convicted him of pimping, his bold social media persona suggests otherwise.

In Twitter postings attributed to Harris and reviewed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/ZzEO2i ) before the feed was apparently disabled Tuesday, Harris brags that his house is full of women, and they're all paying him. In one August post quoted by the newspaper, he writes, "there's nothing wrong with paying for (sex)...as long as you paying one of my (women)."

Harris posts pictures of a Bentley and an Aston Martin, and mug shots from his own arrests. Harris was convicted in South Carolina in 2004 of felony possession with intent to sell a stolen pistol and convicted in Atlanta of a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.

Harris also discusses plans for his own birthday party aboard a boat on the Atlantic Ocean, complete with a $1,000 bikini contest.

The fast life Harris boasts of is not unlike the online persona projected by 27-year-old shooting victim Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr.

Cherry, who went by the stage name "Kenny Clutch," is seen in a YouTube video driving his luxury car down the Strip and rapping about a "Maserati, paid 120 for it."

Police say the two argued in the valet area of the Aria casino before dawn Thursday. The dispute took a deadly turn in the tourist corridor when shots were fired from a Range Rover and into Cherry's Maserati, which sped forward through a red light and slammed into a taxi.

The taxi exploded, killing 62-year-old driver Michael Boldon and 48-year-old passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, a businesswoman visiting from Maple Valley, Wash. Four other cars crashed, injuring several other people and closing the intersection in the heart of Las Vegas for an entire day.

Police found the Range Rover two days later parked at the gated Las Vegas apartment complex where Harris lived, but there was no sign of Harris.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vegas-murder-suspect-brags-online-fast-life-204307885.html

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Controlling element of Huntington's disease discovered: Molecular troika regulates production of harmful protein

Feb. 26, 2013 ? Huntington's disease, also known as Huntington's chorea, is a hereditary brain disease causing movement disorders and dementia. In Germany, there are about 8,000 patients affected by Huntington's disease, with several hundred new cases arising every year. The disease usually manifests between the ages of 35 and 50. To date, it is incurable and inevitably leads to death. It is caused by a specific genetic defect: In the patient's DNA, which is the carrier of genetic information, there are multiple copies of a certain motif. "Repeats like this are also found in healthy people. However, in cases of Huntington's disease, these sequences are longer than usual," explains Dr. Sybille Krauss from the DZNE in Bonn.

The long DNA sequences in Huntington's disease lead to changes in a certain protein called "Huntingtin." The DNA is like an archive of blueprints for proteins. Errors in the DNA therefore result in defective proteins. "Huntingtin is essential for the organism's survival. It is a multi-talent which is important for many processes," emphasises Krauss. "If the protein is defective, brain cells may die."

In the spotlight: protein synthesis

In the current study, the scientists around Sybille Krauss and the Mainz-based human geneticist Susann Schweiger took a closer look at a critical stage of protein production -- translation. At this step, a copy of the DNA, the so-called messenger RNA, is processed by the cell's protein factories. In patients with Huntington's disease, the messenger RNA contains an unusually high number of consecutive CAG sequences -- CAG representing the building plan for the amino acid glutamine.

These repetitive sequences have a direct consequence: more glutamine than normal is built into Huntingtin, which is therefore defective. Sybille Krauss and her colleagues have now identified a group of three molecules, which regulate the production of this protein. "We were able to show that this complex binds to the messenger RNA and controls the synthesis of defective Huntingtin," says Krauss. When the scientists reduced the concentration of this so-called MID1 complex in the cell, production of the defective protein declined.

"If we could find a way of influencing this complex, for example with pharmaceuticals, it is quite possible that we could directly affect the production of defective Huntingtin. This kind of treatment would not just treat the symptoms but also the causes of Huntington's disease," says Krauss.

Background:

Three molecules come together

The complex consists of MID1, from which it gets its name, and the proteins PP2Ac and S6K. "Every single one of these proteins is known to be important for translation. We have discovered that in the specific case of Huntington's disease, they together bind to the CAG sequences. This was previously unknown. We also found that binding increases with repeat lengths," says Krauss. "In sequences of normal length, we found only weak binding or none at all."

The Bonn-based molecular biologist and her colleagues investigated the effect of the MID1 complex and the interaction between its components in a series of elaborate laboratory experiments. "This project took several years of research work," says Krauss. Along with biochemical procedures, the scientists used cell cultures and analysed proteins from the brains of mice. The mice's genetic code had been modified in such a way that it contained elongated CAG-repeats as it is typical for Huntington's disease.

From previous studies it was already known that the protein MID1 tends to bind messenger RNAs. The scientists were now able to show that MID1 also attaches to messenger RNAs with excessively long CAG sequences. Furthermore, experiments showed that PP2Ac and S6K also bound the RNA in the presence of MID1. However, if the MID1 was depleted, this binding did not occur. "From this, we can conclude that these three proteins form a molecular complex, which binds to the RNA. MID1 is a key component. It actually seems to keep together its binding partners," Krauss comments on the results of the experiments.

Complex controls protein production

The researchers were also able to prove that the MID1 complex controls the translation of RNA with excessively long CAG sequences. For this, they investigated various cell cultures. The cells produced either normal Huntingtin or -- due to excessively long sequences in their DNA -- a defective version of this protein. The scientists reduced the occurrence of MID1 inside the cells using a procedure known as "knock-down." The elimination of this protein, which is a major part of the MID1 complex, had direct consequences: the production of defective Huntingtin declined. "However, it did not affect the production of normal Huntingtin," emphazises Krauss. "This further proves that the MID1 complex specifically targets RNAs with excessively long CAG sequences."

Highly specific

The Bonn-based molecular biologist sees this specific influence as a chance to treat Huntington's disease: "The MID1 complex is a promising target for therapy. It indicates a possibility to suppress the production of defective Huntingtin only, while not affecting the production of normal Huntingtin. This is of particular significance, because the normal protein is also being produced in the patients' bodies and it is important for the organism."

A suitable active substance has yet to be found, says Krauss. However, the next developments are in sight: "We now want to test potential substances in the laboratory," she says.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Sybille Krau?, Nadine Griesche, Ewa Jastrzebska, Changwei Chen, D?siree Rutschow, Clemens Achm?ller, Stephanie Dorn, Sylvia M. Boesch, Maciej Lalowski, Erich Wanker, Rainer Schneider, Susann Schweiger. Translation of HTT mRNA with expanded CAG repeats is regulated by the MID1?PP2A protein complex. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1511 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2514

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/3hXgOI3qYjI/130226113826.htm

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Wednesday 27 February 2013

Close encounters with the popes over 3 decades

Rome Bureau Chief Victor Simpson, left, shakes hands with Pope Benedict XVI during the flight from Beirut to Rome, Sept. 16, 2012. Simpson has chronicled four papacies in 35 years covering the Holy See. A Vatican institution in his own right, Simpson has had a unique vantage point on history, enjoying the ear of Vatican insiders and chatting with the pope himself on foreign pilgrimages. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

Rome Bureau Chief Victor Simpson, left, shakes hands with Pope Benedict XVI during the flight from Beirut to Rome, Sept. 16, 2012. Simpson has chronicled four papacies in 35 years covering the Holy See. A Vatican institution in his own right, Simpson has had a unique vantage point on history, enjoying the ear of Vatican insiders and chatting with the pope himself on foreign pilgrimages. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

This June 2, 1979 photo shows then Associated Press correspondent Victor Simpson, left, interviewing Pope John Paul II aboard the airplane in flight from Rome to Warsaw, June 2, 1979. Rome Bureau Chief Victor Simpson has chronicled four papacies in 35 years covering the Holy See. A Vatican institution in his own right, Simpson has had a unique vantage point on history, enjoying the ear of Vatican insiders and chatting with the pope himself on foreign pilgrimages. (AP Photo)

(AP) ? The Middle East Airlines jetliner had barely taken off from Beirut when I was escorted down the aisle to the first-class section and seated beside Pope Benedict XVI. He had just ended a delicate two-day visit to Lebanon as civil war raged in neighboring Syria, and he looked and sounded weary.

It was my 92nd trip aboard a papal plane ? first with the master of papal globetrotting John Paul II, then over the past eight years with Benedict.

As I was planning to retire, the pope's journey in September was to be my last, and Vatican officials thought I should share the moment with him.

I sat beside the pope and shook his hand. "Congratulations on your retirement," he said in Italian as a Vatican photographer recorded the occasion. Speaking in a soft voice, he asked me how many years I had been covering the Vatican. When I told him more than 30, he looked surprised and said my retirement "is much-deserved." Did his thoughts drift to important plans of his own that he was concealing from the world?

There's no way to tell.

But Benedict appeared pleased with our conversation and in no rush to end it. It was his aides who motioned to me that it was time to return to my seat.

The encounter did not prepare me for his stunning announcement five months later that he planned to retire on Feb. 28 ? the exact date I had chosen to retire myself.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: Rome Bureau Chief Victor Simpson has chronicled four papacies in 35 years covering the Holy See. A Vatican institution in his own right, Simpson has had a unique vantage point on history, enjoying the ear of Vatican insiders and chatting with the pope himself on foreign pilgrimages. He looks back on a storied career.

___

I know a bishop who says he is jealous of the "Vaticanisti" ? reporters on the Vatican beat ? because we get to ask the pope questions that no bishop would dare to broach. And we're often rewarded with a remarkable response.

Sprung from Vatican confines, airborne popes seem to feel freer to speak out.

John Paul II used just such a papal flight in 1988 to issue a ringing endorsement, one of the strongest of his papacy, of fellow Poles striking against communist authorities in the Gdansk shipyard.

It was on a trip to Uruguay, and the pope came to the back of the plane to take questions. When asked about the Solidarity strikes, he responded that the journalist should read his encyclical on work, which lays out his views on the dignity of labor. At that point, the plane was rocked by turbulence and the pilot advised over the loud speaker that the pope needed to return to his seat.

When calm returned, I complained that the pope had never reached my section.

A few minutes later the pope's secretary, Monsignor Stanislaw Dziwisz (now a cardinal) came and brought me to the pope. He turned off my tape recorder, suggested I ask about the strikes, then turned the recorder back on.

So I asked. John Paul launched into a broadside against communist authorities and lent his full papal support to the strikes.

"Here we are touching the heart of the problem," the pope said. "It is not easy to bring democracy to a system that is by definition dictatorial and totalitarian."

No mention of the encyclical.

The statements, exclusive to AP, hit front pages of newspapers around the world the next day. They were later seen as a landmark in the pope's role in bringing down communism in eastern Europe.

___

Two years earlier, I was asked to join John Paul for dinner in his cabin of a Qantas 747 on the final leg to Rome ? after a two-week trip to Bangladesh, Singapore, Fiji Islands, New Zealand, Australia and the Seychelles.

I was embarrassed at the way I looked: lots of stubble from having shaved at dawn that morning and in a sloppy safari jacket soaked by a monsoon in the Seychelles.

But the pope put me at ease. When I apologized for "my working clothes," he gripped his white robes and said, a twinkle in his eye: "These are my working clothes."

We were joined at dinner by a papal aide and the Australian ambassador to the Holy See.

That's when I found myself in the middle of a diplomatic incident.

The Qantas steward brought wine to the table and the ambassador grabbed a bottle of red and announced we would be having that. But John Paul protested that he didn't drink red wine and wanted white.

After that, the ambassador could get nothing right ? always finding himself on the wrong side of papal opinions (judgments, after all, that are supposed to be infallible!).

John Paul sought to line me up on his side of arguments ranging from the role of young people in the church to the plight of Aborigines. One debate, in particular, became rather lively: Are Australians more like Americans or Europeans? The pope saw them as more like Americans.

What could I do but agree?

___

More recently, Benedict, flying to Africa, defended church policy that handing out condoms is not the answer in the fight against AIDS. The pope, who promotes marital fidelity and abstinence, said condoms only increased the problem. The Vatican transcript did not include that line, but we all had it recorded ? and the news soon made the rounds of the world.

The resulting controversy, including complaints from priests dealing with the AIDS problem in Africa, cast a shadow over Benedict's first trip to Africa.

Benedict's diplomatic tone-deafness on that trip was a big contrast to the media-savvy John Paul's introduction to Africa in 1980.

When his plane touched down in Kisangani, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, hundreds of dancers surrounded the plane and began swaying to music. Caught up in the exuberant moment, the pope stood atop the stair-ramp beside the plane in the sweltering heat and made some halting dance moves himself, flashing a broad grin as the press corps watched and the crowd cheered wildly.

Not all arrival scenes were as pleasant.

On a visit to Syria in 2001, a pilgrimage to retrace the biblical travels of St. Paul, John Paul listened impassively through a translator as President Bashar Assad urged him to take the Arabs' side in their dispute with Israel ? and referred to what he called Jewish persecution of Jesus Christ.

The Syrian president said Jews "betrayed Jesus Christ and (in) the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad."

Those views were anathema to John Paul, who made strong efforts at interfaith healing throughout his papacy.

And in his address before Assad spoke, John Paul called for a "new attitude of understanding and respect" among Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Ten years later, Benedict made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Christ ? one of the key achievements of his pontificate.

___

One thing that sets the Vatican apart from other places is that you can't just stroll around and poke your head in everywhere. As many as 18 million people pass through Vatican territory each year, but their visits are effectively limited to St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican museums. Aside from the Vatican's 492 residents and its 4,700 employees, everyone else needs a pass, even to drop by the Vatican pharmacy for medicine not sold in Italy (bring a doctor's prescription please) or to buy back copies of the Vatican paper at the offices of L'Osservatore Romano.

After all these years, I still feel a tingle of excitement to be let in through the Bronze Door, escorted past Swiss Guards in full regalia, and taken up to the pope's apartment on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace for a papal audience with a dignitary. These meetings have given a rare peek inside Vatican diplomacy.

Years ago, during the height of the Cold War, when Vatican contacts with Moscow were rare, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko came calling.

As I was led into the meeting, past guards with plumed helmets and halberds, papal aide Monsignor Jacques Martin mused aloud for anyone who was listening: "And they said Stalin asked, 'How many divisions does the pope have?'" ? a dig at the huge Soviet military machine.

In 1989, reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev made an official visit to the Vatican and invited John Paul to Moscow. The pope didn't take him up on it, and no pope has yet made the visit to the Russian capital.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Rome in June 2000 a month after his inauguration, he showed up to a papal audience 20 minutes late ? a severe breach of protocol.

But the gaffe didn't seem to upset the businesslike atmosphere.

When reporters were ushered into the pope's study after the private talks, the Russian was heard telling John Paul that Gorbachev's old invitation for a papal visit to Moscow still stood.

___

Most people who cover an institution as long as I have see a changing of the guard more often. Over more than three decades, there's only been Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict.

So after Benedict's shock announcement, how could I resist letting him go first and hanging around another month to cover one more papal transition?

After all, I never thought I'd see a pope resign: It hasn't happened in 600 years!

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-26-Papal%20Encounters/id-28a950e852d24d89bfef05f9d892a1fb

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You'll Be Able to Download Every Single PS4 Game Digitally

Though we're still waiting to see what the PS4 is going to look like, we definitely have a handle on the guts and how the next gen system will work. And that includes downloading PS4 games digitally. According to Sony exec Shuhei Yoshida, every single PS4 game will be available to download online. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/vYUIuXH_sqQ/youll-be-able-to-download-every-single-ps4-game-digitally

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Hummingbird flight: Two vortex trails with one stroke

Feb. 25, 2013 ? As of today (February 25), the Wikipedia entry for the hummingbird explains that the bird's flight generates in its wake a single trail of vortices that helps the bird hover. But after conducting experiments with hummingbirds in the lab, researchers at the University of California, Riverside propose that the hovering hummingbird instead produces two trails of vortices -- one under each wing per stroke -- that help generate the aerodynamic forces required for the bird to power and control its flight.

The results of the study could find wide application in aerospace technology and the development of unmanned vehicles for medical surveillance after natural disasters.

The researchers used high-speed image sequences -- 500 frames per second -- of hummingbirds hover-feeding within a white plume (emitted by the heating of dry ice) to study the vortex wake from multiple perspectives. They also used particle image velocimetry (PIV), a flow-measuring method used in fluid mechanics, to quantitatively analyze the flow around the hummingbirds. PIV allowed the researchers to record the particles surrounding the birds and extract velocity fields.

The films and velocity fields showed two distinct jets of downwards airflow -- one under each wing of the hummingbird. They also revealed that vortex loops around each jet are shed during each upstroke and downstroke.

The researchers therefore propose in their paper published online last month in the journal Experiments in Fluids that the hummingbird's two wings form bilateral vortex loops during each wing stroke, which is advantageous for maneuverability.

"Previous studies have indicated that slow-flying bats and faster flying birds produced different structures in their wakes," said Douglas Altshuler, formerly an assistant professor of biology at UC Riverside, whose lab led the research. "We have been investigating the wake structure of hovering hummingbirds because this allows us to decouple the effects of different types of wings -- bat versus bird -- from different forward flight speeds.

Hummingbirds each weigh 2-20 grams. Because they can hover with high precision, they are able to drink nectar from flowers without any jiggling movement to their bodies. Besides using upstrokes and downstrokes, hummingbirds can rotate their wings. They can even flap their wings from front to back with a 180-degree amplitude.

"We began this study to investigate how the hummingbird used its tail while hovering," said Marko Princevac, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and a coauthor of the research paper. "After all, many insects also hover, but they have no tail. Instead, however, our research showed something interesting about the hummingbird's wings: the bilateral vortex structure. Hummingbirds hovering should cost a lot of energy but these birds are able to hover for long periods of time. Ideally, unmanned vehicles need to be operated with a very limited energy supply, which is why understanding how the hummingbird maximizes its use of energy is tremendously beneficial."

Sam Pournazeri, a former Ph.D. graduate student in Princevac's lab and a co-author on the paper, explained that in a downstroke, the air pressure difference developed as a result of wing movement creates flow from the bottom to the top of the wing. The result is a circular movement or vortex.

"Based on theories in fluid mechanics, this vortex should close either on the wing/body or create a loop around it," he said. "It's these loops that provide circulation around the wings and cause the hummingbird to overcome its weight. Hovering requires the bird to create a lift that cancels its body weight. Although the two-vortex structure we observed increases the hummingbird's energy consumption, it provides the bird a big advantage: a lot more maneuverability."

Next, the research team plans to study the hummingbird in a wind tunnel to closely observe how the bird transitions from hovering to forward motion, and vice versa.

"Current technology is not successfully mimicking how living things fly," Princevac said. "Drones don't hover, and must rely on forward motion. Research done using hummingbirds, like ours, can inform the development of the next generation of drones."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Riverside. The original article was written by Iqbal Pittawala.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Sam Pournazeri, Paolo S. Segre, Marko Princevac, Douglas L. Altshuler. Hummingbirds generate bilateral vortex loops during hovering: evidence from flow visualization. Experiments in Fluids, 2012; 54 (1) DOI: 10.1007/s00348-012-1439-5

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/mX8jP5brUZY/130225153139.htm

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Tuesday 26 February 2013

Was that Peter Brady hosting the Oscars?

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, TODAY

One's a "Family Guy," the other wanted to "somehow form a family." Oscar-watchers were of differing opinions on host Seth MacFarlane's performance at Sunday's big awards show, but many found one thing to agree on: He looked an awful lot like Peter Brady.

TODAY

Here's the story: Some Oscar-watchers felt host Seth MacFarlane looked more than a little like Peter Brady.

Twitter users spotted the comparison early, and began sharing photo comparisons and of course, "Brady" references. (Some saw a mixed resemblance, saying MacFarlane also looked like Donny Osmond.)

?

You remember Peter, the Brady family's middle son, played by actor Christopher Knight. Peter loved movies too -- he famously once tried to say "pork chops and applesauce" in the style of Humphrey Bogart. And he was more than a little into drama, once getting big brother Greg to attempt a "Cyrano" act with him in hopes of charming a girl, and pretending to his parents that he was still employed after a bike shop fired him for working too slow.

MacFarlane acknowledges the resemblance, telling Parade magazine on Sunday, "I get a lot of 'Hey, aren't you Peter Brady?'" And maybe the resemblance is more than skin-deep.

If you'll remember, poor Peter, like middle sister Jan, had it a little rough. He never pulled off the suave charm of Greg or the little-kid cuteness of little Bobby.?Maybe, as the mixed reviews of MacFarlane's hosting gig continue to trickle in, the comic can relate.

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/02/25/17087872-peter-brady-is-that-you-heres-the-story-of-oscar-host-resemblance?lite

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New clot removal devices show promise for treating stroke patients

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Specialists at Stony Brook Medicine's Cerebrovascular and Stroke Center (CVC) are treating patients with a new generation of blood clot removal devices that show promise in successfully revascularizing stroke patients, including those with large vessel blockages. The Solitaire Flow Restoration Device and the Trevo device, approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2012 to treat stroke caused by the sudden obstruction of a brain blood vessel (acute ischemic stroke) showed improved results over a previous standard and first generation clot-removal device in clinical trials.

"We have had excellent outcomes using these new devices," said David Fiorella, M.D., Ph.D., a Professor of Clinical Neurological Surgery and Radiology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine and Co-Director of the CVC. "In acute ischemic stroke, 'time is brain,' and in some cases just minutes matter. Therefore, restoring blood flow in an effective and timely manner is critical to the survival and recovery of stroke patients. These new devices enable us to quickly restore blood flow and retrieve the clot in most patients," said Dr. Fiorella, who has performed some 30 procedures on stroke patients using the new devices.

"These blot clot removal devices are an important new component of our armamentarium against stroke" said Henry Woo, MD, Professor of Neurological Surgery and Radiology and Co-Director of the CVC, who has also used both devices in patient procedures. "Our center provides endovascular treatment for acute stroke 24/7, and by having the latest technologies to remove brain blood clots, and the expertise to perform endovascular procedures, our Center remains on the cutting-edge against this life-threatening condition."

According to the American Stroke Association, stroke remains the fourth leading cause of death and leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average a stroke occurs every 40 seconds in the country, and someone dies from a stroke every four minutes. These statistics speak to the need to develop more effective drugs, devices, and procedures to treat stroke.

Recent results of clinical trials reported in The New England Journal of Medicine (February 2013) about the use of first generation of blood clot removal devices in the endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke revealed that endovascular treatment does not result in better patient outcomes compared to standard drug treatments. Dr. Fiorella contends that while these trial results are important in the search for the best treatment protocols for acute ischemic stroke, the new devices and techniques are markedly better than those used to treat the majority of patients in these trials and may yet prove to be the most effective approach in select patients. Further research trials are being conducted at Stony Brook to investigate the efficacy of these newer, better devices in acute ischemic stroke.

The new devices that Stony Brook cerebrovascular specialists use to perform revascularization are expandable wire-mesh systems that collapse and are delivered into the brain blood vessels through small flexible tubes (microcatheters) which are guided from the groin to the brain. The devices open at the site of the clot, displacing the occlusion and immediately restoring blood flow to the brain. When the devices are withdrawn from the blood vessel, they take the clot with them, allowing the clot to be removed from the blood vessel.

Dr. Fiorella said that while intravenous clot-busting drugs remain a standard part of stroke therapy, endovascular therapies using the new devices are particularly beneficial when treating certain stroke patients.

"In many of the more severe stroke cases where the main arteries of the brain are blocked, intravenous medications are predictably ineffective, failing to open the occluded artery in 70 to 90 percent of the cases. Also, many patients are not eligible for intravenous clot busting medication because of their time of presentation, existing medical conditions, recent surgery, or the medications they take, such as blood thinners," he explained. "In these cases where intravenous medications are ineffective or contraindicated, endovascular treatments using these new devices offer patients the most promise."

"I feel extremely good and am able to do the things I did before my stroke, and that includes taking care of my grandchildren and running road races," said Michael Jezewski, 66, a retiree from Centereach, N.Y., who ran a five kilometer race just two months after his May 2012 stroke. "I believe that Dr. Fiorella's procedure did save my life and contributed greatly to my quick recovery."

Jezewski did not have a history of stroke and collapsed while at doctor's appointment. He was rushed to Stony Brook where Dr. Fiorella performed endovascular treatment with one of the new devices within two hours of Jezewski's sudden collapse. Jezewski's symptoms started with fatigue and no feeling on the right side of his body, and then quickly progressed to paralysis and the inability to speak. Upon awaking from the clot removal procedure, the majority of his symptoms had completely resolved.

When Shelley Broven, 66, of Setauket, N.Y., began to feel dizzy and had a hard time speaking during her husband's 70th birthday party in November 2012, friends called an ambulance from the restaurant. She was rushed to Stony Brook where Dr. Fiorella performed endovascular treatment with a new generation device.

"I don't recall much of what happened after that incident, but within a week I was out of the hospital, beginning rehabilitation, and feeling pretty good," said Broven. "Each week I have more energy and can express myself more clearly," added Broven, whose stroke resulted from a nearly completely blocked carotid artery which sent a blood clot into her brain blood vessels.

About the New Devices

In two separate multicenter clinical trials reported in The Lancet the new devices were compared to a standard first generation clot removal device called the Merci Retriever.

In one published report, the Solitaire device opened blocked arteries in approximately 70 percent of the patients, compared to only 30 percent treated with the previous device. When other therapies were used with Solitaire, the success rate improved to 80 percent. After three months, 58 percent of the patients with the Solitaire device had a good neurological outcome in comparison to 33 percent of those treated with the standard device. In addition, the mortality rates were less than half in those treated with the newer generation device.

Another published report compared the Trevo device with the Merci Retriever. In this trial, the new Trevo device was superior to the older device, with an 86 percent success rate in opening the blocked brain blood vessel. When other therapies were added, the Trevo device success rate was more than 90 percent.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stony Brook Medicine.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Jeffrey L Saver, Reza Jahan, Elad I Levy, Tudor G Jovin, Blaise Baxter, Raul G Nogueira, Wayne Clark, Ronald Budzik, Osama O Zaidat. Solitaire flow restoration device versus the Merci Retriever in patients with acute ischaemic stroke (SWIFT): a randomised, parallel-group, non-inferiority trial. The Lancet, 2012; 380 (9849): 1241 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61384-1

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/PgBIsRaoaLc/130225201809.htm

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Video: Argo: The Real Diplomats

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50933403/

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Monday 25 February 2013

HP Slate 7 Android tablet rocks Beats, $169 price tag; due out in April

Image

Mobile World Congress isn't just about the phones. Sometimes a company's got a little tablet love to give as well. HP's out in Barcelona talking up the new Slate 7, a Jelly Bean-sporting tablet with a 1.6GHz dual-core ARM processor inside. The tablet's got a (you guessed it) seven-inch display, plus front and rear facing cameras and, as the red backing not-so-subtly suggests, built-in Beats Audio. The device's biggest selling point, however, has to be that $169 starting price. The Slate 7's due out in April. In the meantime, have a read of the press release after the break.

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Source: HP

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/24/hp-slate-7-android-tablet-rocks-beats-169-price-tag-due-out-i/

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Sunday 24 February 2013

Cyprus votes for president as clock ticks on bailout deal

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cypriots started voting in a runoff on Sunday to elect a president who must clinch a bailout deal for the island nation to avoid a financial meltdown that would revive the euro zone crisis.

Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades, who favors hammering out a quick deal with foreign lenders, is favored to win against Communist-backed rival Stavros Malas, who is more wary of the austerity terms accompanying any rescue.

Financial markets are hoping for an Anastasiades victory that speeds up a joint rescue by the European Union and International Monetary Fund before the island runs out of cash and derails fragile confidence returning to the euro zone.

The 66-year-old lawyer took more than 45 percent of the vote in last Sunday's first round, easily beating Malas who took 27 percent.

The winner takes the reins of a nation ravaged by its worst economic crisis in four decades, with unemployment at a record high of 15 percent. Pay cuts and tax hikes in preparation for a bailout have further soured the normally sunny national mood.

Newspaper headlines reflected the grim outlook, warning of an uphill climb for the new president. One described it as walking towards "Calvary", the location where, according to Christian scripture, Jesus Christ was crucified.

"He will be plunged straight into the deep end, and failure is not an option," the Simerini daily wrote. Phileleftheros, another daily, said: "Its a long road ahead, and insight and vision is needed."

Like candidates, newspapers also called on people to vote. Fewer voters were expected to show up at the polls than on February 17 after the third-placed candidate refused to back either contender in the runoff, boosting Anastasiades's chances.

"Whatever happens in this vote, the day after is going to be very difficult for Cyprus," said Demetris Charalambous, a 56-year-old convenience store owner. "People are really depressed. Business is bad, we are at risk of shutting down."

Prospects for a quick bailout that revives the sinking Cypriot economy - which the EU says will shrink a worse than expected 3.5 percent this year - have been equally grim.

Talks to rescue Nicosia have dragged on eight months since it first sought help, after a Greek sovereign debt restructuring saddled its banks with losses. It is expected to need up to 17 billion euros in aid - worth the size of its entire economy.

Virtually all rescue options - from a bailout loan to a debt writedown or slapping losses on bank depositors - are proving unfeasible because they push Cypriot debt up to unmanageable levels or risk hurting investor sentiment elsewhere in the bloc.

German misgivings about the nation's commitment to fighting money laundering and strong financial ties with Russia have further complicated the negotiations.

END UNCERTAINTY

Longstanding anger over the island's 40-year-old division into the Greek-speaking south and Turkish north has been relegated to a distant second as an election issue this year, with both candidates vying to portray himself as the right man to lead the country out of its financial quagmire.

"We must end the uncertainty and give Cyprus back its lost international credibility and its prestige in Europe," Anastasiades said as he ended his campaign.

A heavy smoker known for his no-nonsense style, Anastasiades is widely respected but suffered political humiliation nine years ago when he supported a United Nations blueprint to reunify the island that was later rejected by the public.

He has suggested the island may even need a bridge loan to tide it over until a rescue is nailed down.

His younger rival Malas is handicapped by the support of the incumbent Communists who are perceived as having mismanaged the economic crisis and a munitions blast in 2011.

Still, he is expected to get a boost from his pledges to drive a hard bargain with lenders and anti-austerity rhetoric that resonates with many Cypriots struggling to make ends meet.

"I want to see someone worthy win, who will cut out cronyism and be decisive about the problems we have," said George Nearchou, 58, an unemployed electrician.

"I am however very worried about austerity, people are very angry. I see a popular uprising."

(Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Stephen Powell and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyprus-votes-president-clock-ticks-bailout-deal-000647202.html

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Cult star seeks to resolve lost SAfrican royalties

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? The story of Sixto Rodriguez, the greatest protest singer and songwriter that most people never heard of, is a real-life fairytale with a Hollywood finale.

In his latest incarnation, the guitarist has unwittingly become a champion for the rights of wronged musicians.

The Detroit construction worker whose albums flopped in the United States in the 1970s wants to know what happened to royalties in South Africa, where he unknowingly was elevated to rock star status.

While Rodriguez toiled in the Motor City, white liberals thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean burdened by the horrors of the apartheid regime were inspired by his songs protesting the Vietnam War, racial inequality, abuse of women and social mores.

Songs composed half a century ago that some equate to "inner-city poetry" still are relevant today: Like his poke at the pope's stance on birth control, and his plaints about corrupt politicians and bored housewives.

In South Africa, they were massive and enduring hits that still sell today, considered standards like Paul Simon's "Bridge over Troubled Waters," according to Stephen "Sugar" Segerman, a Cape Town record store owner whose nickname comes from the Rodriguez song "Sugarman."

"He's more popular than Elvis" in South Africa, Segerman said in an interview.

For decades, Rodriguez remained in the dark. Now the heartwarming documentary "Searching for Sugar Man," which tells of two South Africans' mission to seek out the fate of their musical hero, has been nominated for an Oscar.

The film by Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul and the story behind it have proved transformative for several people, not least Rodriguez, who is on a worldwide tour that has included New York's Carnegie Hall and London's Royal Albert Hall.

Even after the extent of his fame was brought home to him when he first toured South Africa to sold-out concerts 15 years ago, Rodriguez had said he had no interest in pursuing the money, holding true to his lyrics "And you can keep your symbols of success, Then I'll pursue my own happiness."

Now, he is not so sure: that people were profiting off his music doesn't sit well with him. He plans to seek legal resolution for the lost royalties, though he's not certain where to start.

"I think omission is a sin. Withholding evidence is unethical to say the least, but I'll resolve that," Rodriguez said in an interview with The Associated Press in a Detroit bar, months before the documentary was nominated. "These were licensed releases, not just bootlegs. ... It's in the process, but I have to get to a position to see what jurisdiction I approach. I'm ignorant. ... How do you do this?"

How, indeed? South Africa was under U.N. economic and cultural sanctions from the 1960s. While some Rodriguez songs were banned by the apartheid regime and many bootlegged copies were made on tapes and later CDs, three local labels reproduced Rodriguez's two albums under license, the 1970 "Cold Fact" and 1972 "Coming from Reality: After the Fact."

No one knows how many sold. In the documentary, Robbie Mann of RPM Records estimates that, under his father, the South African company sold "maybe half a million copies." Some estimate more than 1 million were sold in all.

South Africans interviewed in the documentary said they sent royalty checks to the United States, to the now-defunct Sussex Records label of former Motown executive Clarence Avant. The Hollywood record producer starts off emotional in the documentary, calling Rodriguez "my boy" and "greater than Bob Dylan."

But he's short-tempered when asked about the royalties, saying he cannot be expected to remember details of a 1970s contract and album that he suggests didn't sell more than three copies in the United States.

The 81-year-old Avant, who could not be reached for this article, still owns the rights to the music and is now being paid for them by Light In The Attic Records, which gives a new life to old recordings, according to Segerman, who acts as an unofficial publicist for Rodriguez. He said the 2008 and 2009 releases were the first time Rodriguez was paid royalties.

Now you can buy Rodriguez songs on iTunes, and the documentary soundtrack released by Light In The Attic in conjunction with Sony Legacy.

Segerman said Rodriguez has "created a whole new consciousness about robbing an artist." People coming into his Malibu Vinyl shop and sending him emails say "I want to buy it, not download it for free, but please, I want to make sure he's going to get the money."

"Here's the irony: His music came into South Africa through bootlegging but it's South Africa that's given him the voice to say 'This is wrong!' and people get that, they understand now."

He said at least 200,000 copies of both albums have sold in the last year or so.

But Rodriguez appears untouched by the money, Segerman said. Now in his 70s with failing eyesight, Rodriguez continues to live in the same old house he's occupied for decades in Detroit, and gives most of the money away to relatives and friends, said Segerman.

In South Africa in the old days, his fans isolated by sanctions and censorship believed Rodriguez was as famous at home as he was in their country. They heard stories that the musician had died dramatically: He'd shot himself in the head onstage in Moscow; He'd set himself aflame and burned to death before an audience someplace else; He'd died of a drug overdose, was in a mental institution, was incarcerated for murdering his girlfriend.

In 1996, in the newly liberated South Africa, Segerman and journalist Carl Bartholomew-Strydom set out separately to find out the truth and then got together to solve the mystery. Nearly two years of frustration and dead ends finally led to Detroit, where they found Rodriguez ? sane, free and working on construction sites in his home town.

"It's rock-and-roll history now. Who would-a thought?" Rodriguez said, struggling to explain his improbable tale even several months before the documentary was nominated for an Oscar. How does an anonymous laborer in the Motor City who failed to make it in folk music unknowingly became a mysterious musical prophet in South Africa? And how does the persistence of two fans thousands of miles and an ocean away lead to redemption and a Hollywood-style victory for his long-ignored talent?

Those who produced his records could not believe they flopped. "This guy was like a wise man, a prophet, I've never worked with anyone as talented," Steve Rowland, who produced hits for Jerry Lee Lewis and Peter Frampton, says in the documentary. He produced Rodriguez's second and last album.

Rodriguez was the first artist signed to Sussex Records. Its second was Bill Withers.

Rodriguez said he wasn't wallowing in self-pity after his music career fizzled ? he just "went back to work." He raised a family that includes three daughters, launched several unsuccessful campaigns for public office, obtained a philosophy degree and reverted to manual labor in Detroit. He gave up the dream of living off his music but never stopped playing it.

"I felt I was ready for the world, but the world wasn't ready for me," Rodriguez said. "I feel we all have a mission ? we have obligations," he said. "Those turns on the journey, different twists ? life is not linear."

___

Karoub reported from Detroit.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cult-star-seeks-resolve-lost-safrican-royalties-162937494.html

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China admits existence of ?cancer villages?

China admits existence of ?cancer villages?

February 23, 2013 - 15:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - China's environment ministry appears to have acknowledged the existence of so-called "cancer villages" after years of public speculation about the impact of pollution in certain areas, BBC New reported.

For years campaigners have said cancer rates in some villages near factories and polluted waterways have shot up. But the term "cancer village" has no technical definition and the ministry's report did not elaborate on it.

There have been many calls for China to be more transparent on pollution.

The latest report from the environment ministry is entitled "Guard against and control risks presented by chemicals to the environment during the 12th Five-Year period (2011-2015)".

It says that the widespread production and consumption of harmful chemicals forbidden in many developed nations are still found in China.

"The toxic chemicals have caused many environmental emergencies linked to water and air pollution," it said.

The report goes on to acknowledge that such chemicals could pose a long-term risk to human health, making a direct link to the so-called "cancer villages".

"There are even some serious cases of health and social problems like the emergence of cancer villages in individual regions," it said.

As China has experienced rapid development, stories about so-called cancer villages have become more frequent.

And China has witnessed growing public anger over air pollution and industrial waste caused by industrial development.

Media coverage of conditions in these so-called "cancer villages" has been widespread. In 2009, one Chinese journalist published a map identifying dozens of apparently affected villages.

Source: http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/147250/

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Saturday 23 February 2013

'Parade's End' keeps British TV invasion going

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Tom Stoppard is sitting on the patio of a Sunset Boulevard hotel, bathed in California winter sunshine, framed by bamboo landscaping and looking very much out of his element in Hollywood.

The acclaimed British playwright professes to feeling that way as well, despite having pocketed a Writers Guild of America lifetime achievement award the night before for his screenplays, including the Oscar-winning "Shakespeare in Love."

"I was always nervous coming here. The first time I was terrified," he said. "I'm trying not to sound nauseatingly self-deprecating, but I don't think of myself as being a terrific screenwriter or even a natural screenwriter."

Combine that, he said, with the local entertainment industry's perception that "I'm some different kind of animal," a high-minded artist to whom the words "intellectual" and "philosophy" are freely applied.

But if Hollywood can be forgiven anything, it should be that. Stoppard has created a remarkable wealth of two dozen-plus plays, including "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," "Travesties" and "The Real Thing," and he's counting on more.

He looks like a proper man of letters, with unkempt gray hair, a comfortably unstylish cardigan and a delicately shaped mouth that hesitates, slightly, before dispensing exacting thoughts on the art of writing (without pretension: he relishes a snippet of "Ghostbusters" dialogue.)

Stoppard also is the master behind "Parade's End," a five-part HBO miniseries (airing Tuesday through Thursday, 9 p.m. EST) that was lauded by U.K. critics as "the thinking man's `Downton Abbey'" after its BBC airing.

Adapted by Stoppard from a series of novels by British writer Ford Madox Ford, "Parade's End" features rising stars Benedict Cumberbatch ("Sherlock Holmes" and the upcoming "Star Trek" movie) and Rebecca Hall ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") in the juiciest of roles.

Like PBS' "Downton Abbey," it's set in the early 20th century among aristocrats and encompasses World War I's shattering effect on the social order. Romance is provided by the triangle of Cumberbatch's tradition-bound Christopher, his unfaithful wife, Sylvia (Hall), and a suffragette (Australian newcomer Adelaide Clemens). The uniformly impressive cast includes Janet McTeer, Miranda Richardson, Roger Allam and Rupert Everett.

Stoppard rejects the oft-made comparison to PBS' "Downton" as unfair to it and its writer-creator, Julian Fellowes: "I was embarrassed by it because it's so condescending of Julian's work. He's a good writer and he's done a superlative job," he said. It's also a misguided comparison because "Downton" is heading toward season four and "Parade's End" is "five episodes and that's it, forever."

The self-effacing Stoppard leaves it at that. But there's a wider gap between the two: "Downton" is an easy-to-digest soap opera, while "Parade's End" is a challenging, nuanced view of a slice of British society and a set of singular characters, all dressed to the nines in the heady language of literature.

"There's a wonderful richness to the language and a beauty, which I think is the brilliance of Tom Stoppard, and also this very beautiful language of Ford Madox Ford," said director Susanna White.

The heedless, acid-tongued Sylvia has dialogue to relish, something Stoppard cannot resist.

"The line I like best comes straight from Ford: (the public) likes `a whiff of sex coming off our crowd, like the steam on the water in the crocodile house at the zoo,'" he said, adding gleefully, "What a line!"

Although careful to credit the novelist with that particular zinger, Stoppard said "Parade's End" is the first adaptation in which his dialogue and that from the original text have become intertwined in his memory.

He attributes that to the year he spent forming Ford's intricate novels into a screenplay, often crafting original scenes, and the several more years he spent helping bring the series to fruition with the producers and White ("Generation Kill").

"It's the closest thing to writing a play which isn't a play that I have ever been involved with," he said.

The stage has been the Czech-born Stoppard's chief occupation since leaving journalism in his 20s. But he's made a number of detours into film, either as a screenwriter or a behind-the-scenes script doctor. His latest big-screen project is the adaptation of "Anna Karenina" with Keira Knightley.

Stoppard's insistence that he isn't an outstanding scriptwriter stems, in part, from his reticence. Then there's what he calls the differing "schools of eloquence" represented by film and plays.

"I envy and admire movies which are eloquent without recourse to long speeches," he said, citing several lines to illustrate his point. One comes from "The Fugitive" ("I don't care," Tommy Lee Jones says after Harrison Ford insists he didn't kill his wife), another from "Ghostbusters."

Bill Murray is confronted by "this kind of Amazonian ghost goddess, spooky thing, and he goes, `This chick is toast,'" Stoppard said, with a delighted smile.

"It's the sense that precisely the right words have been uttered," he explained.

That's how fellow scribes feel about him. One L.A. film and TV writer said she regularly rereads the famed cricket-bat speech from "The Real Thing," about the challenge of writing, for joy and inspiration: "If you get it right," the character Henry says, "the cricket ball will travel two hundred yards in four seconds, and all you've done is give it a knock like knocking the top off a bottle of stout, and it makes a noise like a trout taking a fly. What we're trying to do is to write cricket bats, so that when we throw up an idea and give it a little knock, it might travel."

For now, the right words for Stoppard would be those of a new play, the first since "Rock `n' Roll" from seven years ago. He has no regrets about immersing himself in "Parade's End," but is ready for the solitude needed to find the right story for the stage.

He used to steal away to a house in France until the air travel became too much. Now he makes do with a "small, shabby cottage an hour-and-a-half from London, which in theory is supposed to be my French house. But it's not far enough away" to evade commitments, social and otherwise. ("I'm Mr. Available," he laments.)

It's welcome assurance to hear the guild lifetime award he received Feb. 17 doesn't signal a halt for Stoppard. It did pull him up short, at least briefly.

"I was quite surprised. Though I am 75, so I shouldn't be surprised. But I haven't thought of stopping yet."

---

Online:

http://www.hbo.com

---

Lynn Elber is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. She can be reached at lelber(at)ap.org and on Twitter (at)lynnelber.

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TV_PARADES_END_STOPPARD?SITE=KGO&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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Siberian Caves Reveal Advancing Permafrost Thaw

Melting of significant portions of Arctic permafrost could accelerate climate change into a catastrophe


frost-crystals-at-cave-entrance PERMAFROST CAVE: The frost crystals at the entrance to the Ledyanaya Lenskaya cave in Russia denote the region's permafrost, which has been in place for roughly 400,000 years, according to the cave's speleothems. Image: Vladimir V Alexioglo

Permafrost is not so permanent. Across the Arctic, swathes of once-frozen-solid ground have begun to thaw. If the records preserved in Siberian caves are accurate, much more of the region could melt if temperatures continue to warm.

Geoscientist Anton Vaks of the University of Oxford led an international team of experts?including the Arabica Caving Club in Irkutsk?in sampling the spindly cave growths known as stalagmites and stalactites across Siberia and down into the Gobi Desert of China. Taking samples of such speleothems from six caves, the researchers then reconstructed the last roughly 500,000 years of climate via the decay of radioactive particles in the stone. When the ground is frozen above a cave no water seeps into it, making such formations "relicts from warmer periods before permafrost formed," the researchers wrote in a study published online in Science on 21 February.

The details of the study reveal that conditions were warm enough even in Siberia for these mineral deposits to form roughly 400,000 years ago, when the global average temperature was 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than present. It also suggests that there was no permafrost in the Lena River region at that time, because enough water seeped into the northernmost cave to enable roughly eight centimeters of growth in the formations.

That was, in fact, the last time the formations in the Ledyanaya Lenskaya Cave grew, although other caves further south showed multiple periods of growth coinciding with other warmer periods. "That boundary area of continuous permafrost starts to degrade when the mean global temperature is 1.5 degrees C higher than present," Vaks explains. "Such a warming is a threshold after which continuous permafrost zone starts to be vulnerable to global warming."

Since Vaks's present is the "preindustrial late Holocene," that means the planet is already more than halfway there, having experienced 0.8 degree C warming to date. Such a thaw is no small matter, given that permafrost covers nearly a quarter of the land in the Northern Hemisphere and holds roughly 1,700 gigatonnes of carbon?or roughly twice as much carbon as is currently trapping heat in the atmosphere. Much of that carbon would end up in the atmosphere if the permafrost was to thaw further.

That may not have occurred during the warm period 400,000 years ago, known as Marine Isotope Stage 11 to scientists, which featured elements such as boreal forest on Greenland and higher sea levels. "The thawing was probably very brief because the layer deposited in the northernmost cave stalactite was relatively thin," Vaks says?too thin in fact to determine how long the warm period lasted. "We don't see any extraordinary increase in atmospheric CO2 or methane during MIS-11." And the Gobi Desert might benefit, enjoying wetter conditions in the future if the record in these caves is accurate.

It's not clear how far north such thawing might extend if global average temperatures continue to warm until they match those from long ago. "Now we are looking for caves with speleothems in northern Siberia to answer this question," Vaks notes, adding that the northernmost cave is already much warmer than in the late 18th century based on historical reports. Further research could be done by taking sediment cores from Arctic river deltas or lakes, though this remains an epic task given the vastness and remoteness of the region. But, already, it is clear that global climates not much warmer than present are enough to thaw even more permafrost?as far north as 60 degrees latitude.

"The potential impact of these results extends to global policy: these results indicate the potential release of large amounts of carbon from thawed permafrost even if we attain the 2 degree [C] warming target under negotiation," says Kevin Schaefer, a scientist at the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, who has also studied permafrost but was not involved in this, in his words, "great science" effort. "Permafrost thaws slowly and the carbon will be released into the atmosphere over two to three centuries."

Already, such thawing Arctic ice?whether underground or at sea?has further opened up the territory to exploration for resources, particularly oil. At the same time, the big thaw will make getting the oil out more expensive?billions of dollars in infrastructure investments in pipelines, roads and the like will be damaged as the ground shifts beneath them.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=b81aff471deae6d179db06519bbc5891

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Friday 22 February 2013

Lady Gaga Goes Under The Knife For Hip Surgery

'I thought to myself, I'm alive, I'm living my dream, and this is just a bump in the road,' Gaga says about Wednesday's procedure.
By Gil Kaufman


Lady Gaga
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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702309/lady-gaga-hip-surgery.jhtml

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Social capital -- the benefit of Facebook 'friends'

Feb. 21, 2013 ? Intense Facebook usage is found to have a positive effect on psychological well-being, according to a new study..

A recent study in Behaviour & Information Technology investigated the role Facebook use plays in the creation or maintenance of social capital among 800 students from 7 universities in South Africa.

Empirical research has linked social capital to many positives in society, such as improved mental and physical health and economic well-being.

The study suggests a strong association between the intensity of Facebook use and perceived bridging, bonding and maintaining of social capital. Facebook usage was also found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might be beneficial to students experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Taylor & Francis, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Kevin Johnston, Maureen Tanner, Nishant Lalla, Dori Kawalski. Social capital: the benefit of Facebook ?friends?. Behaviour & Information Technology, 2013; 32 (1): 24 DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2010.550063

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/-5OpIDA3Tdk/130221084618.htm

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Thursday 21 February 2013

Apple's Upgrade Dilemma

Apple has been taking a beating on Wall Street, in part due to skepticism over future growth of iPhone and iPad sales. With the market becoming saturated with iPhone and, to some extent, iPad users, Apple will soon need to rely upon upgrades rather than new customers to fuel sales. Apple's problem is that their products are so good, people aren't upgrading fast enough. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/6z3yC-klYgY/apples-upgrade-dilemma

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Climate change effect on plant communities is buffered by large herbivores

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Can existing ecological communities persist intact as temperatures rise? This is a question of increasing relevance in the field of climate change and is the focus of a new study to be published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London on 20 February. The study suggests that the answer to this question may have as much to do with the biological interactions that shape communities as with the effects of climate change itself.

The study's insights are based on a novel approach by Eric Post, a Penn State University professor of biology, who simulated climate change and integrated the effects of large, plant-eating mammals in a 10-year arctic field experiment. The results of the research suggest that plant communities in the Arctic are more likely to resist destabilization by climate change if populations of caribou, musk ox, and other large herbivores remain intact. "The study demonstrates that grazing by these large herbivores maintains plant species diversity, while warming reduces it," Post said. "Plant communities with lower diversity display a greater tendency toward instability under warming, a pre-cursor to the loss of such communities."

Post explained that climate-change research in the 1980s and 1990s was focused primarily on how fluctuations in such factors as temperature, precipitation, and nutrient availability directly affected plant communities. "That research was important and enlightening, but what it did not emphasize were the indirect effects of climate change -- how interactions among species may shape the responses of those species to warmer temperatures," Post said. "If the planet continues to warm by 1.5-to-3.0 degrees Celsius over the next century, as the models predict, we need to know not only what the warming will do to plants and animals directly, but also how species' interactions may influence those effects of warming."

Post began the study in a remote, low-Arctic plant community near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland in 2002. To simulate the effects of the 1.5-to-3.0-degrees-Celsius warming that is predicted to occur over the next century, he erected special warming chambers -- cone-shaped hollow structures that create a greenhouse effect. Some areas on which these warming chambers were placed were left open to grazing by caribou and musk ox -- two ecologically important large herbivores in the Arctic -- while separate 800-square-meter areas that also received warming chambers were fenced off to exclude the animals. In this way, Post created two very different environments: one in which plants and herbivores continued to live together as the temperatures climbed within the warming chambers; the other in which the animals were not present and the plants were left ungrazed.

"The study tested a classic ecological hypothesis, but with a new angle," Post said. "Ecologists have argued for decades over whether species-rich plant communities are more stable, and, hence, persistent in the face of environmental disturbance, than species-poor communities. This study added a layer of complexity by asking whether large herbivores contribute to the diversity-stability relationship in a climate-change context."

After 10 years of careful observation of the Kangerlussuaq, Greenland plant communities, Post found that the grazed and ungrazed sections of land did indeed fare quite differently in their responses to warmer temperatures. "This study confirmed that caribou and musk ox act as a buffer against the degradative effects of warming on plant species diversity," Post said. He found that shrubs such as willow and birch became the dominant plants in response to warming where the herbivorous animals were excluded from the ecosystem. "When these shrubs expand in the plant community, they tend to shade their neighbors, and the build-up of leaf litter around the shrubs tends to cool the soil surface, reducing the availability of soil nutrients for other plants," Post said. "As a result, shrubs can quickly out-compete other plants and reduce species diversity in the process. On the other hand, in those areas where caribou and musk ox were able to graze freely, shrub responses to warming were muted, and species diversity within the plant community was maintained."

Post said the take-home message from his study is that, in a warming climate, intact populations of large herbivores may be crucial to the maintenance of plant-community diversity and to the persistence of existing plant communities. "What this experiment suggests is that factors that threaten the persistence of large herbivores may threaten the plant communities they exist in, as well. Conservation of these herbivores in the rapidly changing Arctic will require careful mediation of interacting stressors such as human exploitation, mineral extraction, and the direct effects of climate change," Post said.

Post said that the next step in his research will be to study the contribution of plant diversity to long-term stability of carbon dynamics in the atmosphere and in the soil.

###

Penn State: http://live.psu.edu

Thanks to Penn State for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126931/Climate_change_effect_on_plant_communities_is_buffered_by_large_herbivores

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