LONDON?? Can you help make Stephen Hawking's voice heard?
The famed British physicist is seeking an assistant to help develop and maintain the electronic speech system that allows him to communicate his vision of the universe. An informal job ad posted to Hawking's website said the assistant should be computer literate, ready to travel, and able to repair electronic devices "with no instruction manual or technical support."
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Stephen Hawking seeks help to make voice heard
Hawking has long struggled against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease which left him almost completely paralyzed.
He lost his real voice in a tracheotomy in 1985, but a wheelchair-mounted computer helps synthesize speech by interpreting the twitches of his face. The synthesizer's robotic monotone has become nearly as famous as Hawking himself, but the computer ? powered by batteries fastened to the back of Hawking's wheelchair ? isn't just for speaking.
It can connect to the Internet over cell phone networks and a universal infrared remote enables the physicist to switch on the lights, watch television, or open doors either at home or at the office.
It's a complicated, tailor-made system, as the ad makes clear. A photograph of the back of Hawking's wheelchair, loaded with coiled wires and electronic equipment, is pictured under the words: "Could you maintain this?"
"If your answer is 'yes,' we'd like to hear from you!" the website says.
Hawking's website says that the job's salary is expected to be about 25,000 pounds ($38,500) a year.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
I'd like to thank my friends, family (especially my mom) and members of the Academy. Oh, wait. Wrong speech. No, seriously. My inaugural column for 'Michael In the City' was really a big hit. I never had so many Facebook comments, Tweets, text messages and BBM's from everyone. And I realize why, it's because I'm being brutally honest and not holding back. My recent columns are coming from my soul.
"Don't you think you've pissed off a few people," my old business partner asked me about my Art Basel coverage. My response was rhetorical. "Don't you think I like pissing people off?? This column is about opinion."
With that said, at a holiday party held at the house of my dear friend Melissa Sheppard, a new acquaintance Channing Norton (I swear I couldn't make up that name if I tried -- okay, maybe I could) tells me how much she likes my columns, but feels my morality is askew. "Michael," she said with a sense of authority, "You know the reason you're 40 and single is because you're a slut."
I did the gay finger snap. "First of all, I'm not 40," I replied, half devastated. I really am close to that number, but still. I then inserted an indignant second finger snap. "Two, I am not wasting three dates only to find out a guy has a small penis. That's never going to work for me."
And so a lively dinner debate ensues, where I argue that a big brain and heart are as equally as important as a big package and that the quicker -- and I don't necessarily mean the first date -- I gather evidence, the easier it is to draw a verdict if this is a case I should pursue. She rebuts with what I consider a lame fight: the more you make men wait, the more they want you.
A random moment happens when another table guest chimes in and says, "When me and my boyfriend go out, I make him follow me to restroom and wait while I pee." Um, okay.
The next night, I met up with some of my uber-hetero males friends where I relay Channing's thoughts of the evening. "Mike (that's my straight name by the way) your friend Channing is a player. She's the kind of girl that knows how to load the bases and then lets you strike out."
I get what they're saying. She'll let you kiss her, maybe touch her breasts, and if you're really good, slide your hand down her pants, but your bat will never get the chance to hit a homerun. That is until you slide a ring on her finger and even then there's no guarantee.
"I gave this 6-carat ring back to my fianc?," something Channing mentioned a few times. So much for that theory.
But I wasn't done with my research. I hadn't had any girl-on-girl talk that was until the Krug dinner party. Now, if you don't know Krug, it makes Veuve Clicquot seem like the poor man's champagne, so you can imagine the guest list.
Atop the dinner table, situated on the penthouse of the Tides Hotel, sat a 23-pound turkey that looked like a baby dinosaur. Guests were drinking thousands of dollars of champagne, including myself, and I was, well, feeling it. And so while the Chamber Singers from Miami Dade college belted out the holiest of songs, I asked the lesbian next to me the unholiest of questions: how long until you normally go down on a girl?
Then I paused. I really meant intercourse because oral sex doesn't really count, right? And so I rephrased the question, "How long until you use a strap on?" She points to the turkey leg and says, "Honey I'd strap something like that on if I could on the first date."
She had me speechless, something that doesn't happen very often. But it made me think, there are no rules to getting laid. When it works, it works and when it doesn't, it doesn't. We so easily fabricate insane rules and create laws that prohibit a good old orgasm. That's why when I'm feeling a dude, I apply the Nike slogan and just do it. And I'm confident that the rest will follow, or not. After all, I want to live up to Channing's stellar image of me.
Need advice or know of something Michael In The City must be at? Post in the comment section below.
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I am a devout Android user. I?d even like to think of myself as a somewhat?advanced user, considering I?ve been on board since the G1, and I?ve flashed more ROM?s on more devices than I can even keep up with, but I am by no means an Android developer.
I?ve downloaded thousands of apps, but couldn?t actually make one to save my life with a gun to my head. Many of my Android brothers and sisters can attest, there isn?t many things in life that can make a person feel better than flashing an awesome ROM on their phone and spending the next 4 hours setting everything up and dissecting the functionality like nobody?s business.
Have you ever wondered how these custom ROM?s come about? If the answer to that question is yes, you might want to check out the latest episode of XDA TV, in which Shen gives a quick video walk-through of the simplicity of compiling Android from the source code AOSP tree.
Of course, these are only the first steps to actually creating custom ROM?s ? there are many intricate methodologies used by Android developers to perfect their art, but this is an amazing lesson that shows you don?t have to be a mad scientist to figure out how to get started. If you?ve got 6 minutes of spare time, check the video out below:
For further information, make sure to?check out the?discussion thread.
PS ? Don?t mess with Shen (or anyone from XDA) or you will get burned in front of millions of people on an episode of XDA TV, just like Pejitijor. Epic lulz!
FELDHEIM, Germany ? This tiny village in a wind-swept corner of eastern Germany seems an unlikely place for a revolution.
Yet environmentalists, experts and politicians from El Salvador to Japan to South Africa have flocked here in the past year to learn how Feldheim, with just 145 people, is already putting into practice Germany's vision of a future powered entirely by renewable energy.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government passed legislation in June setting the country on course to generate a third of its power through renewable sources ? such as wind, solar, geothermal and bioenergy ? within a decade, reaching 80 percent by 2050, while creating jobs, increasing energy security and reducing harmful emissions.
The goals are among the world's most ambitious, and expensive, and other industrialized nations from the U.S. to Japan are watching to see whether transforming into a nation powered by renewable energy sources can really work.
"Germany can't afford to fail, because the whole world is looking at the German model and asking, can Germany move us to new business models, new infrastructure?" said Jeremy Rifkin, a U.S. economist who has advised the European Union and Merkel.
In June, the nation passed the 20 percent mark for drawing electric power from a mix of wind, solar and other renewables. That compares with about 9 percent in the United States or Japan ? both of which rely heavily on hydroelectric power, a source that has long been used.
Expanding renewables depends on the right mix of resources, as well as government subsidies and investment incentive ? and a willingness by taxpayers to shoulder their share of the burden. Germans currently pay a 3.5 euro cent per kilowatt-hour tax, roughly euro157 ($205) per year for a typical family of four, to support research and investment in and subsidize the production and consumption of energy from renewable sources.
That allows for homeowners who install solar panels on their rooftops, or communities like Feldheim that build their own biogas plants, to be paid above-market prices for selling back to the grid, to ensure that their investment at least breaks even.
Critics, like the Institute for Energy Research, based in Washington, D.C., maintain such tariffs put an unfair burden of expanding renewables squarely on the taxpayer. At the same time, to make renewable energy work on the larger scale, Germany will have to pour billions into infrastructure, including updating its grid.
Key to success of the transformation will be getting the nation's powerful industries on board, to drive innovation in technology and create jobs. According to the Environment Ministry, overall investment in renewable energy production equipment more than doubled to euro29.4 billion ($38.44 billion) in 2011. Solid growth in the sector is projected through the next decade.
Some 370,000 people in Germany now have jobs in the renewable sector, more than double the number in 2004, a point used as proof that tax payers' investment is paying off.
Feldheim has zero unemployment compared with roughly 30 percent in other villages in the economically depressed state of Brandenburg, which views investments in renewables as a ticket for a brighter future. Most residents work in the plant that produces biogas ? fuel made by the breakdown of organic material such as plants or food waste ? or maintain the wind and solar parks that provide the village's electricity.
"The energy revolution is already taking place right here," says Werner Frohwitter, spokesman for the Energiequelle company that helped set up and run Feldheim's energy concept.
But it's not only in the countryside. Earlier this month in Berlin, officials unveiled a prototype of a self-sustaining, energy-efficient home, built from recycled materials and complete with electric vehicles that can be charged in its garage.
The aim of the prototype home is to produce twice as much energy as is used by a family of four ? chosen from a willing pool of volunteers who will be selected to live in the home for 15 months ? through a combination of solar photovoltaics and energy management technology, in order to show the technology already exists to allow people to be energy self-sufficient.
"We want to show people that already today it is possible to live completely from renewable energy," said German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer as the project, dubbed "Efficiency House Plus," was unveiled. The house is part of a wider euro1.2 million ($1.57 million) project investing in energy-efficient buildings.
"The Efficiency House Plus will set standards that can be adopted by the majority in the short term," Ramsauer told The Associated Press. "The basic principle is that the house produces more energy than needed to live. The extra energy is then used to charge electric-powered cars and bicycles or sold back to the public grid."
Germany's four leading car makers are also participating in the project with BMW AG, Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and Opel, which is part of Buick's parent company, General Motors Co., each making an E-car for use by in the home.
Such strong cooperation between Germany's industrial sector, coupled with a political landscape that emphasizes stability and a heightened public ecological sensibility, makes Germany fertile ground to lead the way in the transformation from a post-carbon economy to one run on renewable energy.
"Germany has the most robust industrial economy per capita. When you talk about industrial revolution, that's Germany. It's German technology, it's German IT, it's German commutation," said Rifkin, who outlines what he calls the "The Third Industrial Revolution," in a newly released book of the same title that explains how the economies in the future could swap fossil fuels for renewable energies and still maintain growth.
Robert Pottmann, an asset manager with Munich Re, one of the world's biggest reinsurers, says the company seeks to invest about euro2.5 billion ($3.27 billion) in the next few years in renewable energy assets such as "wind farms, solar projects or maybe new electricity grids."
Alan Simpson, an independent energy and climate adviser from Britain who visited Feldheim as part of a wider tour of Germany last month to see what the renewable revolution looks like up close said it was inspiring to view what is being accomplished on the ground.
"It's great to think about Germany delivering on everything that we are being told in Great Britain is impossible," Simpson said.
Amid the excitement, there is also an awareness of the real need for the German experiment to succeed.
"If Germany can't pull this off," said Rifkin. "We don't have a plan B."
___
Associated Press writer Juergen Baetz contributed to this story from Berlin.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin described election protesters as seeking 'Brownian motion.' Here's what the obscure term means.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, during comments before his supporters on Tuesday, said protesters against his 12-year reign were seeking "Brownian motion."? What was he talking about?
Skip to next paragraph
Mr. Putin was referring to a physics phenomenon first described by Scottish scientist Robert Brown in his 1827 paper "A brief account of microscopical observations made on the particles contained in the pollen of plants."
While observing pollen grains suspended in water, Mr. Brown found that the grains jiggled and bounced within the fluid in what he called "rapid oscillatory motion." He could not see any cause of their motion ? they didn't appear to impact any other particles, and he ruled out currents within the water ? but he was able use other substances to consistently replicate the phenomenon, which he dubbed "Brownian motion."
It wasn't until 1905 that the phenomenon was explained, by none other than Albert Einstein. The grains weren't jerking randomly in the water, he wrote, but rather were colliding with much smaller water molecules.? As the molecules hit the grains, the grains would change direction, but since the water molecules were invisible, it would appear that the grains were jittering without cause.? Einstein's discovery was seen as proof of the atomic theory of matter: that all matter is made of tiny particles, or atoms.
So what did Putin mean? Presumably, he was referring to the protesters acting without apparent purpose ? he also said that their proposed individual programs were not "unified," and that their goals "are also not clear."
But there's also a bit of a warning in Putin's metaphor. After all, the point of Brownian motion is that it's not as inexplicable as it seems ? it's only inexplicable because the observer can't see all the molecules in play. Perhaps the same is true of Putin's perspective on the protesters.
As a budget MFP geared to a home office or micro office, the Brother MFC-J280w ($100 street) is a mixed bag, having some strong business features while lacking some sensible, complementary ones. Like the Editors? Choice Brother MFC-J430w ($100 street, 4 stars), it?s decidedly business-oriented rather than home?unusual for an MFP at its price point. It has some nice touches, like good speed and a low claimed cost per page, but the MFC-J430W presents a better rounded and more compelling package.
The MFC-J280w can print, copy, scan, and fax. It lets you fax either from your computer (PC Fax), or standalone faxing without needing a computer. However, it lacks an automatic document feeder (ADF) for unattended copying, scanning, or faxing of multi-page documents. It also lacks a port for a USB thumb drive as well as a media-card reader. The MFP is compatible with the Brother iPrint&Scan app, which allows you to print or scan from an Apple, Android, or Windows 7 Phone mobile device on the same wireless network.
The matte-black MFC-J280w is reasonably compact, measuring 6.3 by 15.9 by 14.9 inches (HWD) and weighing 19.2 pounds. It has a 1.9-inch color touch screen with touch panel controls for navigating menus. It has a 100-sheet paper tray, a bit meager for home-office use, and lacks an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper.
The MFC-J280w connects to a PC via a USB cable, or to a network via WiFi (802.11b/g), but lacks Ethernet connectivity. I tested it over a USB connection with the drivers installed on a computer running Windows Vista.
Print Speed
The Brother MFC-J280w printed out the latest version of our business applications suite (as timed with QualityLogic?s hardware and software) at a zippy 4.3 effective pages per minute (ppm), matching the speed turned in by the MFC-J430w. It proved faster than the Editors? Choice Kodak ESP C310 All-in-One Printer ($99.99 direct, 4 stars), which chugged through the tests at a 2.7 ppm clip.
In contrast to its business printing speed, the MFC-J280w turned in a lackadaisical 1 minute 57 second average in printing out 4-by-6 photos, effectively tying the MFC-J430w (1:59). The Kodak ESP C310, which is a more home- than business-friendly MFP, turned the tables in photo printing with an impressively low average of 46 seconds per 4-by-6 print.
Output Quality
The MFC-J280w?s output quality was a touch below par across the board. Text quality was suitable for schoolwork or general business use, but not up to use with documents like resumes in which visual impact is important, or documents with smaller fonts.
As for graphics, illustrations generally looked slightly pale or faded. Some dithering (solid areas appearing grainy) was apparent, and several graphics showed minor banding (a regular pattern of faint stripes lighter than the background).The graphics were suitable for displaying data in reports or PowerPoint handouts, though I?d hesitate in giving them to, say, a client I was seeking to impress through their visual appearance.
In some photo prints there was considerable loss of detail in brighter areas. Still, most of the prints could pass for drugstore quality. Printing photos proved tricky, as the printer frequently failed to recognize Brother?s letter-sized photo paper (even with the driver set for it) and I?d have to reload it, sometimes several times.
Other Issues
Brother?s claimed running cost is 3.8 cents per monochrome page and 10.7 cents per color page, a low figure for a printer at its price. The color figure is even lower than that of the MFC-J430w (11.3 cents).
The Brother MFC-J280w is a rarity, a budget inkjet MFP with home-office chops but few home (namely, photo-centric) features. It has very good speed, a low claimed cost per page, and some nice flourishes like the ability to work as a standalone fax machine as well as to initiate faxes from your PC. Still, it lacks some of the features of the similar, Editors? Choice Brother MFC-J430w?such as an automatic document feeder, which lets you fax, copy, or scan multi-page documents without having to feed each sheet in by hand. If you?re looking for a more home-oriented budget inkjet MFP, be sure to check out the Kodak ESP C310.
More Multi-function Printer Reviews:
??? Brother MFC-J280w ??? Brother MFC-J625dw ??? Canon imageClass MF4570dw ??? HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275 ??? HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One ?? more
MORELIA, Mexico -- An American teenager who was found dead on Christmas Eve in Mexico had gone to see his girlfriend the day he died and didn't tell relatives, perhaps fearing they wouldn't let him go, according to Mexican prosecutors' documents obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.
The charred remains of 18-year-old Alexis Uriel Marron of Rolling Meadows, Illinois were found along with the bodies of two friends in the trunk of a burned-out car in the western state of Michoacan. The car belonged to one of the friends.
Two uncles identified Marron through crowns on his teeth and clothing that hadn't burned, the documents said.
The prosecutors' office said the car holding the remains of the three young men was found Saturday on the side of a rural road in Michoacan, a Mexican state that has been plagued in recent years by violence linked to Mexico's drug trafficking trade.
Prosecutors were looking into robbery as a possible motive because none of the three men's possessions were found in the car. But the area has also been the scene of bloody turf battles between drug gangs. The Knights Templar and Jalisco New Generation cartels are believed to be active in the area.
Marron was a U.S. citizen, according to the documents, but his family was from a town in the area called Quiringuicharo. The relatives said Marron, a suburban Chicago high school student, arrived in Mexico on Dec. 3 to celebrate the year-end holidays and was staying with an uncle.
He left the house on Dec. 23, wearing a blue checked shirt, with the intention of visiting his girlfriend, who lived in the neighboring state of Jalisco. Another uncle said he called Marron Friday afternoon to tell him to collect money his father had sent him from the U.S.
Marron replied that he was on the road, and the signal was bad, according to the documents.
When he hadn't returned later in the evening, the family began to worry.
"I thought that he had gone without telling us for fear that we wouldn't give him permission," Jose Avalos Reyes, one of the uncles, told prosecutors.
The cousin of one of the other victims said he called Marron's girlfriend. She told him she had been expecting him and his friends but they had never arrived.
Family members reported the disappearances to local authorities and the charred remains were discovered the next day. The uncles told prosecutors that Marron did not do drugs.
Word of the death spread quickly to the Chicago area, which has a large population of Mexicans and Mexican Americans with roots in Michoacan. Family members were shocked, calling him a good kid.
Friends set up two memorial Facebook pages, a YouTube picture tribute and held a memorial Tuesday evening. Dozens attended in the Chicago suburb of Mount Prospect. They carried candles, flowers and balloons. Some quietly prayed in Spanish.
He was remembered as an athlete, a positive person who was always smiling and loved spending time with family.
Marron's cousin, Daniela Zendejas, told reporters that she considered him to be a brother. "He loved his nieces. And he didn't have time to get to one of them, to see her grow," she told reporters. "And now he's gone."
Another memorial was planned for next week when students were scheduled to return after the holiday break to Rolling Meadows High School, where Marron was a student. They were urged to wear red, Marron's favorite color.
"Wear red to remember our friend ... RIP Alexis Marron," one of the Facebook tributes read. "We are also all meeting out by his locker in the morning, bring pictures if you'd like or post notes or anything you'd like on his locker. We will all come together in remembrance..."
The U.S. State Department said the agency was working with U.S. Embassy officials to get more information. Mexican Consulate officials in Chicago said they were aware of reports of Marron's death and were ready to help family if requested.
The other two victims were identified as Mexican men aged 21 and 24. All three were from, or had family in Quiringuicharo.
Earlier in December, two other bodies were found in a burned-out vehicle on the same stretch of road. The victims have been identified as two Mexico City residents, but there was no immediate information on the motive in those killings either.
PALM HARBOR, Fla. ? A Florida animal sanctuary says Cheetah, the chimpanzee sidekick in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s, has died at 80. But other accounts call that claim into question.
Debbie Cobb, outreach director at the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, said Wednesday that her grandparents acquired Cheetah around 1960 from "Tarzan" star Johnny Weissmuller and that the chimp appeared in Tarzan films between 1932 and 1934. During that period, Weissmuller made "Tarzan the Ape Man" and "Tarzan and His Mate."
But Cobb offered no documentation, saying it was destroyed in a 1995 fire.
Also, some Hollywood accounts indicate a chimpanzee by the name of Jiggs or Mr. Jiggs played Cheetah alongside Weissmuller early on and died in 1938.
In addition, an 80-year-old chimpanzee would be extraordinarily old, perhaps the oldest ever known. According to many experts and Save the Chimps, another Florida sanctuary, chimpanzees in captivity generally live to between 40 and 60, though Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Fla., says it has one that is around 73.
A similar claim about another chimpanzee that supposedly played second banana to Weissmuller was debunked in 2008 in a Washington Post story.
Writer R.D. Rosen discovered that the primate, which lived in Palm Springs, Calif., was born around 1960, meaning it wasn't oldest enough to have been in the Tarzan movies of Hollywood's Golden Age that starred Olympic swimming star Weissmuller as the vine-swinging, loincloth-wearing Ape Man and Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane.
While a number of chimpanzees played the sidekick role in the Tarzan movies of the 1930s and `40s, Rosen said in an email Wednesday that this latest purported Cheetah looks like a "business-boosting impostor as well."
"I'm afraid any chimp who actually shared a soundstage with Weissmuller and O'Sullivan is long gone," Rosen said.
Cobb said Cheetah died Dec. 24 of kidney failure and was cremated.
"Unfortunately, there was a fire in `95 in which a lot of that documentation burned up," Cobb said. "I'm 51 and I've known him for 51 years. My first remembrance of him coming here was when I was actually 5, and I've known him since then, and he was a full-grown chimp then."
Film historian and Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osbourne said the Cheetah character "was one of the things people loved about the Tarzan movies because he made people laugh. He was always a regular fun part of the movies."
In his time, the Cheetah character was as popular as Rin Tin Tin or Asta, the dog from the "Thin Man" movies, Osbourne said.
"He was a major star," he said.
At the animal sanctuary, Cheetah was outgoing, loved finger painting and liked to see people laugh, Cobb said. But he could also be ill-tempered. Cobb said that when the chimp didn't like what was going on, he would fling feces and other objects.
___
Associated Press writers Ben Nuckols in Washington and Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this report.
___
Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush
NEW DELHI ? An Indian activist began a three-day hunger strike Tuesday calling for Parliament to pass a tougher version of an anti-corruption bill than the one federal lawmakers were debating.
Anna Hazare began his fast in India's business capital, Mumbai, to protest what he calls a lack of teeth for an anti-corruption watchdog that the proposed bill would create.
Hazare has called the government's anti-graft legislation an attempt to fool the country without actually taking tough action to end rampant corruption that angers almost everyone.
His main complaint is that the proposed corruption ombudsman would not have authority over the country's top investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation. He says the ombudsman position would be too weak without that authority.
In New Delhi, India's Parliament began its debate as junior parliamentary affairs minister V. Narayanasamy moved the bill in the powerful lower house, saying the legislation maintained the "fine balance" between the powers of the legislature, the judiciary and the executive branch.
Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the main opposition, right wing Bharatiya Janata Party, however, said that as the country waited for a "strong and effective" anti-corruption watchdog, the government was offering a bill that was "so full of holes and flaws that it has disappointed all of us."
Swaraj's party has thrown its weight behind Hazare's protest.
Hazare, who claims inspiration from Mohandas K. Gandhi, has called his protest against corruption India's second freedom struggle and has fasted three times already to garner support for his demands.
His previous public protests have drawn tens of thousands of people in a country where corruption is rampant and top officials are regularly embroiled in scandals even as hundreds of millions of people remain bitterly poor.
But critics say his populist campaign attempts to vilify all politicians and hold elected officials hostage.
Dozens of those critics came out on the streets Tuesday, waving black flags and shouting anti-Hazare slogans as Hazare's motorcade made its way to the Mumbai fairground where he was fasting.
Eight hours were set aside for the debate in Parliament's lower house on Tuesday. The government has said it will try to pass the legislation by Thursday.
Japan Recommends Temporary State Control for Tokyo Electric
published about 3 hours ago
The order came after the utility requested 689.4 billion yen, or $8.8 billion, in government aid to help pay for its response to the nuclear accident at its Fukushima site.
University of New Hampshire / Boston Globe 12/12-19/11; 543 likely Republican primary voters, 4.2% margin of error Mode: Live telephone interviews Boston Globe release
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2.5x normal Android activations on 12/24 & 12/15. Any context? Normal for a Christmas? How's it compare to iPhone? techme.me/CTk5Il y a environ 2 heuresvia Seesmic twhirlRetweeted by 3 people
GRAPEVINE, Texas?? The man believed to have killed six relatives and then himself on Christmas Day was dressed as Santa Claus, police said Monday.
The shooter "showed up shortly before the incident took place" in the Santa outfit and was a member of the family opening gifts in the apartment in this Dallas suburb, said Grapevine police spokesman Sgt. Robert Eberling.
Late Sunday evening, police intently searched a sport utility vehicle parked outside the apartment. The vehicle is registered to a man who listed his residence as a home two miles away in the neighboring suburb of Colleyville.
Thomas Ehrlich, who lives near the home in Colleyville, told the AP he heard from neighbors that police went to the house Sunday. He said it was his understanding that the man and women who once lived there were estranged.
Records show the couple had financial problems and that their home, most recently valued on the county tax rolls at $336,200, had been sold in 2010 at a foreclosure auction.
Eberling said the identity of the man and the victims would be released after autopsies are conducted and relatives were notified.
The dead ? four women and three men ? were found late Sunday morning in an apartment living room in Grapevine by police answering a voiceless 911 call.
Two pistols were recovered from the home, said Eberling, who called it a "gruesome crime scene" and the worst outburst of gun violence in the town's history.
No one was found alive by police arriving at the home, he said.
A community of about 46,000 people some 20 miles northwest of downtown Dallas, Grapevine is known for its wine-tasting salons and was recently proclaimed by the state Senate as the "Christmas Capital of Texas" for its abundance of annual holiday-season events.
"This is obviously a terrible tragedy," said Mayor William Tate. "The fact that it happened on Christmas makes it even more tragic."
Producer?s notebook: Goldmans are a ?normal? family
The victims' ages were 15, 19, 22, 55, 56, 58 and 59, said Grapevine police Lt. Todd Dearing. The victims in their 50s were two couples.
Voiceless 911 call
Police dispatched at about 11:30 a.m. local time on Sunday found the bodies in the first-floor living room of a two-story unit in the Lincoln Vineyards apartments.
The 911 caller never spoke to police, and officers did not see the telephone when they arrived, officials said. Eberling said he believed police had to kick in the door to enter.
Many of the nearby apartments are vacant, and police said no neighbors reported hearing anything on a quiet Christmas morning when many people were not around.
Eberling said the victims appeared to have just opened Christmas presents when the shooting started, and there was no visible sign of forced entry or a struggle.
"By all appearances, they're all part of the same family," Eberling said. "It's a gruesome crime scene to say the least, with that many victims in that (small an) area suffering gunshot wounds."
The bodies remained in the apartment well past dark as investigators worked into the early hours of Monday morning processing the crime scene, police said.
Lincoln Vineyards is a middle-income complex near Colleyville Heritage High School, one of the area's most highly regarded schools.
Several neighbors said children frequently played in front of the apartment, and they regularly saw young adults leaving for work.
Vanessa Barerra said the killings were especially disturbing in light of Grapevine's reputation as a safe place to live.
"I did research and chose to live here because of the safety and the school district," she said. "I'm glad my kids weren't here. They're with their dad."
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? At least seven people were killed when a suicide car bomber hit Iraq's interior ministry on Monday in the latest attack since a crisis erupted between the Shi'ite-led government and Sunni leaders a week ago.
Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought the arrest of the Sunni vice president last Monday and asked parliament to fire his own Sunni deputy, triggering turmoil that threatens new sectarian strife just after the last U.S. troops withdrew.
The blast occurred when the bomber drove his vehicle into a security cordon outside the ministry in central Baghdad, detonating an explosion that left dead and wounded on the ground and set fire to nearby vehicles, police said.
A senior police source said authorities believed insurgents were targeting the interior ministry because of the announcement of the arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, charged with running death squads.
Taped confessions of suspects the ministry said were Hashemi's bodyguards were aired on state-run Iraqiya television and other local media on Monday and linked the vice president to killings and attacks on Iraqi government and security officials.
"This is a direct message to us because we are the ones who arrested Tareq al-Hashemi's network and we are the ones who should preserve security in the country," said Ali al-Quraishi, a police lieutenant who monitors checkpoints around Baghdad.
The attack on Bab al-Sharji street followed a wave of explosions on Thursday, including one suicide car bomb and multiple roadside bombs, in mainly Shi'ite areas across the capital in which at least 72 people were killed.
Seven people, including five policemen, were killed and 34 others, including seven policemen, were wounded in the attack on the interior ministry, police and hospital sources said.
"When I went outside I found my colleagues, some of them were killed, others were on the ground, many cars were burned, the policeman on the watchtower looked like he was killed when he was hit in the head," Zaid Raheem, a police guard, said.
The ministry said in a statement that a suicide car bomber had attacked the entrance to its headquarters and killed 3 people and wounded 33.
Hashemi has left Baghdad for semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, where he is unlikely to be handed over to central government officials immediately.
The turmoil threatens to scuttle an uneasy power-sharing government that splits posts among the Shi'ite National Alliance coalition, the mostly Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc and the Kurdish political movement.
CABINET MEETING
A weekly cabinet meeting, expected on Tuesday, is seen as the key test for how the crisis develops, and tensions could rise further if government ministers from Iraqiya decide to boycott the meeting.
Iraqiya lawmakers have already suspended their participation in parliament, which is in recess, though a statement from the party on Sunday said it was willing to take part in talks to try to solve the crisis.
Maliki has warned Hashemi's Iraqiya bloc they face exclusion from power if they walk out on his ruling coalition.
The Sunni minority have felt marginalized since the rise of the Shi'ite majority after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, and many Sunnis feel the political deal has pushed them aside.
Turmoil in Iraq would have a wider impact in a region where a crisis in neighboring Syria is taking on a more sectarian tone and Shi'ite Iran, Turkey and Sunni Arab Gulf states are jockeying for influence.
U.S. officials, diplomats and Iraqi politicians have been in talks to end the dispute that threatens to push Iraq back into the kind of sectarian violence that took the OPEC member to the edge of civil war a few years ago.
Vice President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday with Maliki and Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani about the spat, urging dialogue among leaders, and expressing condolences over violence in Baghdad.
Biden played a diplomatic role during the U.S. military's departure from Iraq, travelling to the country and discussing signs of rising sectarian tension with Iraqi leaders.
U.S. forces withdrew fully from Iraq after almost nine years on December 18.
(Additional reporting by Suadad al-Salhy and Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Serena Chaudhry; Editing by Tim Pearce)
(AP)? CARACAS, Venezuela ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has replaced his military intelligence chief.
Chavez says he is appointing Gen. Wilfredo Figueroa Chacin as the new chief of the country's military intelligence agency.
The new appointee replaces Gen. Hugo Carvajal, one of the president's most trusted security chiefs.
Carvajal was one of three close Chavez allies who in 2008 were accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of helping Colombian rebels by supplying arms and aiding drug-trafficking operations.
Chavez has denied those accusations.
The president announced the change during a speech Saturday. He did not say why he made it or what plans he has for Carvajal.
The forwards are a mix of high-end skill and two-way players.
Canada?s entry in the world junior hockey championship, a 10-team, 31-game holiday tradition opening Boxing Day, is expected to be in the tournament?s gold-medal game in Calgary on Jan. 5.
But after winning back-to-back silver medals following five straight golds, Canada, the host country and tournament favourite, will face a stern test from the defending champion Russians and 2010 titleist Americans.
The teams are split into two groups of five. The winner of each of those groups after round-robin play advances directly into the semifinals. The second- and third-place teams move on to the quarter-finals.
Group A features Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia and Latvia.
Group B has been dubbed the ?group of death? because one of Canada, the United States, Finland and the Czech Republic will not advance to the playoffs from a pool that also includes Denmark.
The Canadians, who have won 15 gold medals, eight silver and four bronze over the years, are looking for a little d?j? vu. The last time the tournament was held in Alberta, Don Hay was the head coach and the team went a perfect 7-0 on the way to winning it all. But to have a repeat of that 1995 performance, a number of things will need to happen for the hosts.
In goal, Mark Visentin, who gave up five unanswered goals in the third period of last year?s stunning gold-medal collapse versus Russia, must be better than he was the for last 20 minutes that night ? and so far this season.
Defensively, the Canadians are big and mobile. Ryan Murray of the WHL?s Everett Silvertips, widely projected to be a first-round pick in next June?s NHL entry draft, is the little guy at 6 feet, 201 pounds. But none of them have been here before, so one of the keys will be how they handle the pressure of playing in front of a demanding home crowd.
The last-minute arrival of NHL forwards Brett Connolly, who is returning to the tournament, and Devante Smith-Pelly, who promises to be a physical force with a scoring touch, is a huge bonus for the Canadians. Those two will be a nice complement to the likes of high-end skill guys such as Mark Scheifele, Ryan Strome, captain Jaden Schwartz, Michael Bournival and Jonathan Huberdeau, whose recovery from a foot injury still raises concerns.
Overall, the mix of skill and toughness at both ends of the ice makes the Canadians a favourite to win their first gold in three tries, especially factoring in the loud, Maple-Leaf-clad crowds behind them each night.
?That?s part of the expectations of being a Canadian team playing in Canada,? Hay said of the demand for gold from fans. ?You can?t hide.
?You?ve got to embrace that and take that pressure and show people that you deserve that. It?ll make us stronger in the end.?
Pfc. Bradley Manning is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of US military and diplomatic documents to Wikileaks website. His defense attorneys argue that weak oversight is to blame.
Pre-trial hearings to decide whether to court-martial Pfc. Bradley Manning ? the soldier accused of stealing and leaking hundreds of thousands of top-secret documents to the Wikileaks website ? are expected to end today.?But Private Manning?s adventures in the US military justice system appear to be just beginning.
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Manning?s defense attorneys called just two witnesses to the stand to testify about Manning?s emotional outbursts while working in an intelligence analysis unit in Iraq in 2009 and 2010. Highlighting the outbursts could indicate that the defense team hopes to explore the extenuating circumstances behind Mannings actions of leaking 400,000 field reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as some 250,000 US State Department cables.
Given the importance of this case ? Manning?s alleged actions have been described as the single largest intelligence breach in US history ? it is unlikely that Manning can avoid a court martial. The question is whether Manning?s defense strategy could reveal more about the inner workings of the US military?s intelligence operations, the missteps of Manning?s superior officers, and even the alleged human rights violations that may have prompted Manning to leak the information in the first place.
Like the 1971 Pentagon Papers case before it, the so-called Wikileaks case is seen by US government officials as devastating to US national security interests, in which the lives of US officials and its informants abroad have been put into danger. Critics of the US see the Wikileaks case, conversely, as a chance to see the truth about alleged US misdeeds during the past decade since Sept. 11, 2001, a time during which the Bush and Obama administrations set aside longtime US laws against torture and indefinite detention.
SACRAMENTO ? California State Veterinarian Dr. Annette Whiteford has granted a 24-hour permit clearing all brand inspection and health requirements for nine reindeer slated to visit California on the evening of Dec. 24 and in the early morning hours of Dec. 25.
The permit application was filed in person by a rotund, jolly man with a red suit and a white beard. The signature on the paperwork reads ?K. Kringle,? according to a Thursday press statement from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Brand inspections and health requirements help veterinarians prevent the spread of animal disease.
The law also mandates that all animals entering California be individually identified. The nine reindeer named on the permit are: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder (or Donner), Blitzen and Rudolph.
The permit was granted under two conditions: the nine reindeer may not co-mingle with other reindeer in the state of California, and the visiting reindeer may not be used for breeding purposes while in the state.
?It is our pleasure to issue the permit to Mr. Kringle and do our part to ensure another successful trip,? said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. ?We wish him safe travels, clear skies and plenty of milk and cookies as he and his reindeer make deliveries to the good children of California.?
After Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. and House Speaker John Boehner reached an agreement Thursday nightr that calls for the payroll tax deduction to be extended for two months, President Barack Obama congratulated lawmakers "for ending the partisan stalemate."
"Because of this agreement, every working American will keep his or her tax cut - about $1,000 for the average family.... Vital unemployment insurance will continue for millions of Americans who are looking for work. And when Congress returns, I urge them to keep working to reach an agreement that will extend this tax cut and unemployment insurance for all of 2012 without drama or delay," Obama said, The Washington Post reported Thursday night. "This is good news, just in time for the holidays. This is the right thing to do to strengthen our families, grow our economy, and create new jobs. This is real money that will make a real difference in people's lives. And I want to thank every American who raised your voice to remind folks in this town what this debate was all about. It was about you. And today, your voices made all the difference."
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Also after the agreement, Speaker Boehner discussed the deal with rank-and-file GOP on a conference call -- the same Tea Party faction-dominated caucus that had rejected the two-month extension only days earlier, The New York Times reported Thursday night.
From the tone of Boehner's voice, the sense was one that he was reasonably confident the House GOP caucus will agree to the deal on unanimous consent.
"It may not have been politically the smartest thing in the world,'' Boehner said, The Times reported. "But let me tell you what: I think our members waged a good fight.''?
Political/Public Policy Analysis: The late word Thursday night of a deal regarding a payrolll tax reduction extension is qualified good news for the 160 million Americans who are subject to the tax.?
"Qualified" good news because -- you guessed it -- the deal still has to be approved by the Republican-led House. True, all Boehner has to do is get a unanimous consent vote on Friday, but keep in mind we're dealing with the Tea Party-dominated House GOP caucus -- and in 2011 the faction has shown a remarkable ability to reject a compromise or deal, even if reasonable, in order to obstruct, or deny the pasage of legislation, simply becuase they believe their extreme, conservative stance should apply accross the land -- even if the overwhelming majority of Americans opposed their stance. The Teas have demonstrated this willingness to obstruct and deny by nearly forcing a government shutdown twice, and by almost triggering a U.S. government default -- something that would have rattled credit markets, and had other negative consequences --- during the debt deal crisis in August.
Boehner said if the deal is not approved by unanimous constent on Friday, he will call the House back into session for a vote next week. Odds are, enough House Republicans will vote for it to enable the deal to pass, but stay tuned.
Further, what's the only way the majority of the American people can make their intentions known and stop the Tea Party faction -- or any philosophical faction for that matter --? from thwarting the will of the American people? By voting Tea Party and other perpetrators out of office in November 2012.
--
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ABERDEEN, Wash. -- A regular customer at a Washington state diner that closed, leaving a dozen employees out of work, has led a fundraiser that collected nearly $17,000 to help them out.
Glenn Ludwig launched the "Grinch fund" after learning the 12 workers at his favorite restaurant ? America's Diner in Aberdeen ? were left jobless and without a paycheck since before Thanksgiving.
Ludwig's goal was to raise enough money to cover $16,000 in back wages owed to the employees by the owner.
KXRO-AM reports Ludwig collected nearly $17,000, and that $13,700 of it was collected Wednesday in front of the former diner on Heron Street.
Ludwig says some of the excess money will be used to help a diner employee who was fired for reporting the owner to the state Labor and Industries Department after the owner failed to pay workers.
Any other leftover money will be donated to a local charity.
LONDON?? Trees that produce frankincense, a fragrant resin used in incense and perfumes and a central part of the Christmas story, are declining so fast that production could be halved over the next 15 years, scientists said on Wednesday.
In a study published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology, ecologists from the Netherlands and Ethiopia looked at large-scale field studies and predicted that tree numbers could decline by 90 percent in the next 50 years.
If fire, grazing and insect attack, the most likely causes of decline, remain unchecked, then frankincense production could be doomed altogether, they warned.
Frankincense, best known in religious teachings as one of the gifts laid before the newborn Messiah, is obtained by tapping various species of Boswellia, a small, deciduous tree that grows across Africa from northern Nigeria to the highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
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Cutting the Boswellia's bark produces the frankincense resin, a white substance with a strong, sweet smell. The resin is burnt in churches, mosques and at ceremonies, as well as being used by the perfume industry and in herbal medicines.
Despite its economic importance, incense has been traded internationally for thousands of years, little is known about how tapping affects Boswellia populations.
Working in an isolated part of northwest Ethiopia near the source of the Blue Nile, a research team led by Frans Bongers of Wageningen University in the Netherlands studied 13 two-hectare plots, some where trees were tapped for frankincense and some where they were untapped.
Over two years, they monitored survival, growth and seed production of more than 6,000 Boswellia trees and used the data to build mathematical models to predict the fate of Boswellia populations in coming years. The forecasts suggest Boswellia populations are declining so dramatically that frankincense production could be halved in the next 15 years.
"Current management of Boswellia populations is clearly unsustainable," Bongers said in a statement. "Our models show that within 50 years, populations of Boswellia will be decimated, and the declining populations mean frankincense production is doomed."
The researchers found that all the Boswellia populations they studied are declining, not only those from tapped trees, a finding that suggests factors other than tapping are at the root of the problem.
Bongers said the main causes of the trees' decline are likely to be burning, grazing and attack by the long-horn beetle, which lays its eggs under the Boswellia's bark.
The scientists urged local authorities to introduce better management incentives to ensure farmers work harder to protect Boswellia trees. In the short-term this meant preventing fires and beetle attack, Bongers said, but in the longer term, large areas should be set aside and protected for five to 10 years to allow Boswellia saplings to become established.
(Matthew's account of the Nativity mentions two other gifts that were brought to Jesus' birthplace by the Three Kings, who are also known as the Three Wise Men or the Magi. Myrrh is another aromatic resin that is produced almost exclusively in East Africa. The third gift of the Magi was gold.)
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Science's breakthrough of the year: HIV treatment as preventionPublic release date: 22-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Natasha Pinol npinol@aaas.org 202-326-7088 American Association for the Advancement of Science
A clinical trial that revitalized HIV research tops the journal's list of advances in 2011
This press release is available in Arabic, French, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese on EurekAlert! Chinese.
The journal Science has lauded an eye-opening HIV study, known as HPTN 052, as the most important scientific breakthrough of 2011. This clinical trial demonstrated that people infected with HIV are 96 percent less likely to transmit the virus to their partners if they take antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).
The findings end a long-standing debate over whether ARVs could provide a double benefit by treating the virus in individual patients while simultaneously cutting transmission rates. It's now clear that ARVs can provide treatment as well as prevention when it comes to HIV, researchers agree.
In addition to recognizing HPTN 052 as the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year, Science and its publisher, AAAS, the nonprofit science society, have identified nine other groundbreaking scientific accomplishments from the past year and compiled them into a top 10 list that will appear in the 23 December issue.
Myron Cohen from the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C. and an international team of colleagues kicked off the HPTN 052 study in 2007 by enrolling 1,763 heterosexual couples from nine different countries: Brazil, India, Thailand, the United States, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Each participating couple included one partner with an HIV infection.
The researchers administered ARVs to half of those HIV-infected individuals immediately and waited for the other half of the infected participants to develop CD4 counts below 250 indicative of severe immune damage before offering treatment. (A CD4 count below 200 indicates AIDS.)
Then, earlier this year, four years before the study was officially scheduled to end, an independent monitoring board decided that all infected study participants should receive ARVs at once. The board members had seen the dramatic effects of early ARV treatment on HIV transmission rates, and they recommended that the trial's findings be made public as soon as possible. Subsequently, the results of HPTN 052 appeared in the 11 August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
"This [HPTN 052 trial] does not mean that treating people alone will end an epidemic," said Science news correspondent Jon Cohen, who wrote about the trial for Science's Breakthrough of the Year feature. "But, combined with three other major biomedical preventions that have proven their worth in large clinical studies since 2005, many researchers now believe it is possible to break the back of the epidemic in specific locales with the right package of interventions."
Treatment with ARVs was already known to reduce the viral load, or the actual amount of HIV, in an infected individual. Many HIV/AIDS researchers had thus reasoned that treated individuals should also be less infectious. But, before HPTN 052, skeptics had contended that such a theory was unproven and that the viral load might not reflect levels of virus in genital secretions.
"Most everyone expected that reducing the amount of virus in a person would somewhat reduce infectiousness," explained Jon Cohen. "What was surprising was the magnitude of protection and then the impact the results had among HIV/AIDS researchers, advocates and policy-makers."
These findings have added important momentum to a movement, already underway, that promotes the ongoing treatment of HIV to reduce viral loads in communities and could possibly eliminate HIV/AIDS epidemics in some countries. But moving forward won't be easy, researchers say.
"There are huge hurdles when it comes to applying this clinical trial evidence to a population," said Jon Cohen. "Some 52 percent of the people who need ARVs immediately for their own health right now have no access and that's 7.6 million people. What's more, there are all sorts of obstacles that hinder attempts to scale this up that have more to do with infrastructure than the purchase price of drugs."
Still, some researchers consider HPTN 052 a "game-changer" because of its near-100 percent efficacy in reducing HIV transmission rates. And, indeed, it has already sprung many clinicians and policy-makers into action. For all these reasons, Science spotlights the HPTN 052 study as the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year.
Science's list of nine other groundbreaking scientific achievements from 2011 follows.
The Hayabusa Mission: After some near-disastrous technical difficulties and a stunningly successful recovery, Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft returned to Earth with dust from the surface of a large, S-type asteroid. This asteroid dust represented the first direct sampling of a planetary body in 35 years, and analysis of the grains confirmed that the most common meteorites found on Earth, known as ordinary chondrules, are born from these much larger, S-type asteroids.
Unraveling Human Origins: Studying the genetic code of both ancient and modern human beings, researchers discovered that many humans still carry DNA variants inherited from archaic humans, such as the mysterious Denisovans in Asia and still-unidentified ancestors in Africa. One study this year revealed how archaic humans likely shaped our modern immune systems, and an analysis of Australopithecus sediba fossils in South Africa showed that the ancient hominin possessed both primitive and Homo-like traits.
Capturing a Photosynthetic Protein: In vivid detail, researchers in Japan have mapped the structure of the Photosystem II, or PSII, protein that plants use to split water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The crystal-clear image shows off the protein's catalytic core and reveals the specific orientation of atoms within. Now, scientists have access to this catalytic structure that is essential for life on Earth one that may also hold the key to a powerful source of clean energy.
Pristine Gas in Space: Astronomers using the Keck telescope in Hawaii to probe the faraway universe wound up discovering two clouds of hydrogen gas that seem to have maintained their original chemistry for two billion years after the big bang. Other researchers identified a star that is almost completely devoid of metals, just as the universe's earliest stars must have been, but that formed much later. The discoveries show that pockets of matter persisted unscathed amid eons of cosmic violence.
Getting to Know the Microbiome: Research into the countless microbes that dwell in the human gut demonstrated that everyone has a dominant bacterium leading the gang in their digestive tract: Bacteroides, Prevotella or Ruminococcus. Follow-up studies revealed that one of these bacteria thrives on a high-protein diet while another prefers vegetarian fare. These findings and more helped to clarify the interplay between diet and microbes in nutrition and disease.
A Promising Malaria Vaccine: Early results of the clinical trial of a malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S, provided a shot in the arm to malaria vaccine research. The ongoing trial, which has enrolled more than 15,000 children from seven African countries, reassured malaria researchers, who are used to bitter disappointment, that discovering a malaria vaccine remains possible.
Strange Solar Systems: This year, astronomers got their first good views of several distant planetary systems and discovered that things are pretty weird out there. First, NASA's Kepler observatory helped identify a star system with planets orbiting in ways that today's models cannot explain. Then, researchers discovered a gas giant caught in a rare "retrograde" orbit, a planet circling a binary star system and 10 planets that seem to be freely floating in space all unlike anything found in our own solar system.
Designer Zeolites: Zeolites are porous minerals that are used as catalysts and molecular sieves to convert oil into gasoline, purify water, filter air and produce laundry detergents (to name a few uses). This year, chemists really showed off their creativity by designing a range of new zeolites that are cheaper, thinner and better equipped to process larger organic molecules.
Clearing Senescent Cells: Experiments revealed that clearing senescent cells, or those that have stopped dividing, from the bodies of mice can delay the onset of age-related symptoms, such as cataracts and muscle weakness. Mice whose bodies were cleared of these loitering cells didn't live longer than their untreated cage-mates but they did seem to live better, which provided researchers with some hope that banishing senescent cells might also prolong our golden years.
###
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the worlds largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org) as well as Science Translational Medicine (www.sciencetranslationalmedicine.org) and Science Signaling (www.sciencesignaling.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to advance science and serve society through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Science's breakthrough of the year: HIV treatment as preventionPublic release date: 22-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Natasha Pinol npinol@aaas.org 202-326-7088 American Association for the Advancement of Science
A clinical trial that revitalized HIV research tops the journal's list of advances in 2011
This press release is available in Arabic, French, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese on EurekAlert! Chinese.
The journal Science has lauded an eye-opening HIV study, known as HPTN 052, as the most important scientific breakthrough of 2011. This clinical trial demonstrated that people infected with HIV are 96 percent less likely to transmit the virus to their partners if they take antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).
The findings end a long-standing debate over whether ARVs could provide a double benefit by treating the virus in individual patients while simultaneously cutting transmission rates. It's now clear that ARVs can provide treatment as well as prevention when it comes to HIV, researchers agree.
In addition to recognizing HPTN 052 as the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year, Science and its publisher, AAAS, the nonprofit science society, have identified nine other groundbreaking scientific accomplishments from the past year and compiled them into a top 10 list that will appear in the 23 December issue.
Myron Cohen from the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C. and an international team of colleagues kicked off the HPTN 052 study in 2007 by enrolling 1,763 heterosexual couples from nine different countries: Brazil, India, Thailand, the United States, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Each participating couple included one partner with an HIV infection.
The researchers administered ARVs to half of those HIV-infected individuals immediately and waited for the other half of the infected participants to develop CD4 counts below 250 indicative of severe immune damage before offering treatment. (A CD4 count below 200 indicates AIDS.)
Then, earlier this year, four years before the study was officially scheduled to end, an independent monitoring board decided that all infected study participants should receive ARVs at once. The board members had seen the dramatic effects of early ARV treatment on HIV transmission rates, and they recommended that the trial's findings be made public as soon as possible. Subsequently, the results of HPTN 052 appeared in the 11 August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
"This [HPTN 052 trial] does not mean that treating people alone will end an epidemic," said Science news correspondent Jon Cohen, who wrote about the trial for Science's Breakthrough of the Year feature. "But, combined with three other major biomedical preventions that have proven their worth in large clinical studies since 2005, many researchers now believe it is possible to break the back of the epidemic in specific locales with the right package of interventions."
Treatment with ARVs was already known to reduce the viral load, or the actual amount of HIV, in an infected individual. Many HIV/AIDS researchers had thus reasoned that treated individuals should also be less infectious. But, before HPTN 052, skeptics had contended that such a theory was unproven and that the viral load might not reflect levels of virus in genital secretions.
"Most everyone expected that reducing the amount of virus in a person would somewhat reduce infectiousness," explained Jon Cohen. "What was surprising was the magnitude of protection and then the impact the results had among HIV/AIDS researchers, advocates and policy-makers."
These findings have added important momentum to a movement, already underway, that promotes the ongoing treatment of HIV to reduce viral loads in communities and could possibly eliminate HIV/AIDS epidemics in some countries. But moving forward won't be easy, researchers say.
"There are huge hurdles when it comes to applying this clinical trial evidence to a population," said Jon Cohen. "Some 52 percent of the people who need ARVs immediately for their own health right now have no access and that's 7.6 million people. What's more, there are all sorts of obstacles that hinder attempts to scale this up that have more to do with infrastructure than the purchase price of drugs."
Still, some researchers consider HPTN 052 a "game-changer" because of its near-100 percent efficacy in reducing HIV transmission rates. And, indeed, it has already sprung many clinicians and policy-makers into action. For all these reasons, Science spotlights the HPTN 052 study as the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year.
Science's list of nine other groundbreaking scientific achievements from 2011 follows.
The Hayabusa Mission: After some near-disastrous technical difficulties and a stunningly successful recovery, Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft returned to Earth with dust from the surface of a large, S-type asteroid. This asteroid dust represented the first direct sampling of a planetary body in 35 years, and analysis of the grains confirmed that the most common meteorites found on Earth, known as ordinary chondrules, are born from these much larger, S-type asteroids.
Unraveling Human Origins: Studying the genetic code of both ancient and modern human beings, researchers discovered that many humans still carry DNA variants inherited from archaic humans, such as the mysterious Denisovans in Asia and still-unidentified ancestors in Africa. One study this year revealed how archaic humans likely shaped our modern immune systems, and an analysis of Australopithecus sediba fossils in South Africa showed that the ancient hominin possessed both primitive and Homo-like traits.
Capturing a Photosynthetic Protein: In vivid detail, researchers in Japan have mapped the structure of the Photosystem II, or PSII, protein that plants use to split water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The crystal-clear image shows off the protein's catalytic core and reveals the specific orientation of atoms within. Now, scientists have access to this catalytic structure that is essential for life on Earth one that may also hold the key to a powerful source of clean energy.
Pristine Gas in Space: Astronomers using the Keck telescope in Hawaii to probe the faraway universe wound up discovering two clouds of hydrogen gas that seem to have maintained their original chemistry for two billion years after the big bang. Other researchers identified a star that is almost completely devoid of metals, just as the universe's earliest stars must have been, but that formed much later. The discoveries show that pockets of matter persisted unscathed amid eons of cosmic violence.
Getting to Know the Microbiome: Research into the countless microbes that dwell in the human gut demonstrated that everyone has a dominant bacterium leading the gang in their digestive tract: Bacteroides, Prevotella or Ruminococcus. Follow-up studies revealed that one of these bacteria thrives on a high-protein diet while another prefers vegetarian fare. These findings and more helped to clarify the interplay between diet and microbes in nutrition and disease.
A Promising Malaria Vaccine: Early results of the clinical trial of a malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S, provided a shot in the arm to malaria vaccine research. The ongoing trial, which has enrolled more than 15,000 children from seven African countries, reassured malaria researchers, who are used to bitter disappointment, that discovering a malaria vaccine remains possible.
Strange Solar Systems: This year, astronomers got their first good views of several distant planetary systems and discovered that things are pretty weird out there. First, NASA's Kepler observatory helped identify a star system with planets orbiting in ways that today's models cannot explain. Then, researchers discovered a gas giant caught in a rare "retrograde" orbit, a planet circling a binary star system and 10 planets that seem to be freely floating in space all unlike anything found in our own solar system.
Designer Zeolites: Zeolites are porous minerals that are used as catalysts and molecular sieves to convert oil into gasoline, purify water, filter air and produce laundry detergents (to name a few uses). This year, chemists really showed off their creativity by designing a range of new zeolites that are cheaper, thinner and better equipped to process larger organic molecules.
Clearing Senescent Cells: Experiments revealed that clearing senescent cells, or those that have stopped dividing, from the bodies of mice can delay the onset of age-related symptoms, such as cataracts and muscle weakness. Mice whose bodies were cleared of these loitering cells didn't live longer than their untreated cage-mates but they did seem to live better, which provided researchers with some hope that banishing senescent cells might also prolong our golden years.
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Public release date: 22-Dec-2011
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