The web as we know it was famously invented by Tim Berners-Lee while working at CERN, but it wasn't until a few years later -- 1993 to be precise -- that it'd truly be set free. On April 30 of that year, Berners-Lee's then employer would make the technology behind the WWW available license free, bundling a basic browser and some key chunks of code into the deal. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of this event CERN has recreated the first ever website, complete with its original URL. The preservation doesn't stop at copying over some old files, either, with CERN also looking to preserve the first servers used, restoring as much as possible to its original state. Beyond a little geeky nostalgia, the project hopes to safeguard the web's earliest days, before it became the ubiquitous phenomenon it is now, so that future generations can enjoy (and scoff) at the web's origins. Best of all, no drawn-out field trip is required to enjoy the spectacle, in fact, you can see it just as nature intended by heading to the source.
Apr. 29, 2013 ? In the spring following a forest fire, trees that survived the blaze explode in new growth and plants sprout in abundance from the scorched earth. For centuries, it was a mystery how seeds, some long dormant in the soil, knew to push through the ashes to regenerate the burned forest.
In the April 23 early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), scientists at the Salk Institute and the University of California, San Diego, report the results of a study that answers this fundamental "circle of life" question in plant ecology. In addition to explaining how fires lead to regeneration of forests and grasslands, their findings may aid in the development of plant varieties that help maintain and restore ecosystems that support all human societies.
"This is a very important and fundamental process of ecosystem renewal around the planet that we really didn't understand," says co-senior investigator Joseph P. Noel, professor and director of Salk's Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics. "Now we know the molecular triggers for how it occurs."
Noel's co-senior investigator on the project, Joanne Chory, professor and director of Salk's Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, says the team found the molecular "wake-up call" for burned forests. "What we discovered," she says, "is how a dying plant generates a chemical message for the next generation, telling dormant seeds it's time to sprout."
While controlled burns are common today, they weren't 50 years ago. The U.S. park service actively suppressed forest fires until they realized that the practice left the soil of mature forests lacking important minerals and chemicals. This created an intensely competitive environment that was ultimately detrimental to the entire forest ecosystem.
"When Yellowstone National Park was allowed to burn in 1988, many people felt that it would never be restored to its former beauty," says James J. La Clair, a researcher from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California who worked on the project. "But by the following spring, when the rains arrived, there was a burst of flowering plants amid the nutrient-rich ash and charred ground."
In previous studies, scientists had discovered that special chemicals known as karrikins are created as trees and shrubs burn during a forest fire and remain in the soil after the fire, ensuring the forest will regenerate.
The Salk scientists' new study sought to uncover exactly how karrikins stimulate new plant growth. First, the researchers determined the structure of a plant protein know as KAI2, which binds to karrikin in dormant seeds. Then, comparing the karrikin-bound KAI2 protein to the structure of an unbound KAI2 protein allowed the researchers to speculate how KAI2 allows a seed to perceive karrikin in its environment.
The chemical structures the team solved revealed all the molecular contacts between karrikin and KAI2, according to Salk research associate Yongxia Guo, a structural enzymologist and one of the study's lead investigators. "But, more than that," Gou says, "we also now know that when karrikin binds to the KAI2 protein it causes a change in its shape."
The studies' other lead investigator, Salk research associate and plant geneticist Zuyu Zheng, says this karrikin-induced shape change may send a new signal to other proteins in the seeds. "These other protein players," he says, "together with karrikin and KAI2, generate the signal causing seed germination at the right place and time after a wildfire."
Guo and Zheng, a married couple working as postdoctoral researchers in the Noel and Chory labs, respectively, came up with the idea for the study while talking over dinner. La Clair then joined the study, contributing his chemistry expertise. While the new findings were made in Arabidopsis, a model organism that many plant researchers study, the scientists say the same karrikin-KAI2 regeneration strategy is undoubtedly found in many plant species.
"In plants, one member of this family of enzymes has been recruited somehow through natural selection to bind to this molecule in smoke and ash and generate this signal," says Noel, holder of Salk's Arthur and Julie Woodrow Chair and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. "KAI2 likely evolved when plant ecosystems started to flourish on the terrestrial earth and fire became a very important part of ecosystems to free up nutrients locked up in dying and dead plants."
More research is needed to understand exactly how the change in shape of the KAI2 protein activates a genetic pathway that regulates germination, says Chory, the Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. "But this finding is an absolutely critical step in understanding this genetic program and how plant ecosystems, forests and grasslands renew themselves."
The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants 5R01GM52413 and GM094428, National Science Foundation awards EEC-0813570 and MCB-0645794 and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
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Journal Reference:
Y. Guo, Z. Zheng, J. J. La Clair, J. Chory, J. P. Noel. Smoke-derived karrikin perception by the ?/?-hydrolase KAI2 from Arabidopsis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1306265110
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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Elderly Holocaust survivors and the veterans who helped liberate them gathered for what could be their last big reunion Monday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Nearly 1,000 survivors and World War II vets joined with former President Bill Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust activist Elie Wiesel to mark the museum's 20th anniversary. Organizers chose not to wait for the 25th milestone because many survivors and vets may not be alive in another five or 10 years.
"We felt it was important, while that generation is still with us in fairly substantial numbers, to bring them together," said Museum Director Sara Bloomfield.
Washington has many monuments and memorials that offer something special for visitors from around the world, Clinton told the crowd, "but the Holocaust memorial will be our conscience."
Since the museum opened, the world has made huge scientific discoveries, including the sequencing of the human genome, Clinton said.
"Every non age-related difference you can see in this room and across the globe, every single one is contained in one half of 1 percent of our genetic makeup ... but every one of us spends too much time on that half a percent," Clinton said. "That makes us vulnerable to the fever and the sickness that the Nazis gave to the Germans.
"And that sickness is very alive all across the world today."
The occasion marked a reunion of sorts for Clinton and Wiesel: Both were on hand to dedicate the museum at its 1993 opening. On Sunday night, the museum presented its highest honor to World War II veterans who helped end the Holocaust. Susan Eisenhower accepted the award on behalf of her grandfather, U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, and all veterans of the era.
The federally funded museum also launched a campaign to raise $540 million by 2018 to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive and to combat anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and contemporary genocide.
It has already secured gifts totaling $258.7 million in its quest to double the size of the museum's endowment by its 25th anniversary. Also, a $15 million gift from Holocaust survivors David and Fela Shapell will help build a new collections and conservation center.
Bloomfield said organizers wanted to show Holocaust survivors, veterans and rescuers that the effort will continue to honor the memory of 6 million murdered Jews, in part by working to prevent genocide in the future. For instance, a study released by the museum last month found the longer the Syrian conflict continues, the greater the danger that mass sectarian violence results in genocide.
The museum's theme for its 20th anniversary is "Never Again: What You Do Matters."
Vera Greenwood, who was born in Berlin and remembers seeing Hitler with Nazis marching in the street, said her father knew they had to leave when he was forced out of his job as a lawyer. She remembers Nazi officers coming to their house and taking her father's books.
"Though I was very young, I knew something was very wrong," said Greenwood, now 84. "I still feel we were very lucky to survive."
Her family moved to Palestine with a British visa and ended up fighting for Israel's independence. Greenwood lived in Israel for 30 years before immigrating to the U.S.
She and her husband, Fred, who survived the Holocaust in Holland as a child by being hidden and passed from house to house, wanted to be part of the last large reunion of survivors.
"In 10 more years, most of us will be gone," Greenwood said, noting the museum is a way to keep their stories alive.
Herman Zeitchik, 89, of Silver Spring, Md., was a young U.S. Army soldier when his unit landed at Normandy in the mission to liberate Europe. He remembers coming across the Dachau concentration camp unexpectedly in southern Germany.
"They never told us there was a concentration camp, but we smelled it," Zeitchik said. "We smelled the burning flesh."
Later during a patrol, Zeitchik saw people held within the camp's chain-link fence. "That's the first time I knew about the concentration camps," he said.
Dachau was the first regular Nazi concentration camp, established in 1933. The Americans liberated Dachau's prisoners in 1945.
The museum continues collecting objects, photographs and other evidence of the Holocaust from survivors, veterans and archives located as far away as China and Argentina. Curators expect the collection to double in size over the next decade.
This week, the museum is opening a special, long-term exhibit titled "Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration and Complicity During the Holocaust." It includes interviews with perpetrators never shown before.
Curator Susan Bachrach said the exhibit's research challenges the idea that the Holocaust was primarily about Hitler and Nazi leaders. Surveys at the museum show that's what most visitors believe.
"That's very comforting to people, because it puts distance between the visitors and who was involved," Bachrach said.
So, the museum set out to look at ordinary people complicit in the killing and persecution of millions of Jews through greed, peer pressure, a desire for career advancement or other factors beyond hatred or anti-Semitism. The exhibit includes images of bystanders looking on as Jews were led away.
Focusing only on fanatical Nazis would be a serious misunderstanding of the Holocaust, Bloomfield said.
"The Holocaust wouldn't have been possible, first of all, without enormous indifference throughout Germany and German-occupied Europe, but also thousands of people who were, say, just doing their jobs," she said, such as a tax official who collected special taxes levied against Jews.
Much more is still being learned about the Holocaust, Bloomfield noted.
The museum is compiling an encyclopedia of all incarceration sites throughout Europe. When the project began, scholars expected to list 10,000 such sites. Now the number stands at 42,000.
Since opening, the museum has received more than 35 million visitors.
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U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum: http://www.ushmm.org
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Follow Brett Zongker on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DCArtBeat
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Gunmen surrounded Libya's foreign ministry on Sunday, calling for a law banning officials who worked for deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi from senior positions in the new administration.
At least 20 pick-up trucks loaded with anti-aircraft guns blocked the roads while men armed with AK-47 and sniper rifles directed the traffic away from the building, witnesses said.
As well as surrounding the Libyan Foreign Ministry, armed groups also tried unsuccessfully to storm the Ministry of Interior and the state news agency, the prime minister said.
"These attacks will never get us down and we will not surrender," Ali Zaidan told a news conference.
"Those who think the government is frustrated are wrong. We are very strong and determined."
Tension between the government and armed militias have been rising in recent weeks since a campaign was launched to dislodge the groups from their strongholds in the capital.
Since Gaddafi was toppled by Western-backed rebels in 2011, Libya has been awash with weapons and roving armed bands that are increasingly targeting state institutions.
Sunday's protest was to demand a law - which has already been proposed - be passed, banning Gaddafi-era officials from senior government positions. The law could force out several ministers as well as the congress leader, depending on the wording adopted.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will remain closed until the political isolation law is implemented," the commander of the militia told Reuters.
The foreign ministry had been targeted because some officials employed there had worked for Gaddafi, he said.
Libya's legislature, the General National Congress, has previously been prevented from voting on the bill, when protesters barricaded assembly members inside a building for several hours in March demanding they adopt the law.
"The country will remain in crisis so long as these people are present," assembly member Tawfiq Al-Shehabi told Reuters.
On Tuesday, the French embassy in Tripoli was bombed, the first major attack on a foreign target since September's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi. The attack showed the government's grip on the capital may be slipping.
(Reporting by Ghaith Shennib and Jessica Donati; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) -- A fire broke out late Sunday in the wreckage of the garment factory that collapsed last week in Bangladesh, with smoke pouring from the piles of shattered concrete and some of the rescue efforts forced to stop.
The fire came four days after the collapse, as rescuers were trying to free a woman they found trapped in the rubble. The flames broke out when sparks were generated by those rescuers trying to cut through a steel rod to reach the woman, said a volunteer rescuer, Syed Al-Amin Roman. At least three rescue workers were injured in the fire, he said.
Rescuers have retreated from the part of the wreckage where the fire erupted, but were still trying to reach any possible survivors in other parts of the destroyed eight-story building.
Firefighters were frantically hosing down the flames.
"Hopefully we will be able to control it," said Brig. Gen. Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder, who is overseeing rescue operations.
It wasn't immediately clear what happened to the trapped woman.
The fire came hours after the owner of the illegally-constructed building was captured Sunday at a border crossing with India.
Mohammed Sohel Rana was arrested in Benapole in western Bangladesh, just as he was about to flee into India's West Bengal state, said Jahangir Kabir Nanak, junior minister for local government. Rana was brought back by helicopter to the capital Dhaka where he faced charges of negligence.
Rana's capture brought cheers and applause when it was announced on a loudspeaker at the site of the collapsed building in the Dhaka suburb of Savar.
At least 377 people are confirmed to have died in the Wednesday collapse. Three of the building's floors were built illegally. The death toll is expected to rise but it is already the deadliest tragedy to hit Bangladesh's garment industry, which is worth $20 billion annually and is a mainstay of the economy. The collapse and previous disasters in garment factories have focused attention on the poor working conditions of workers who toil for as little as $38 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.
Bangladesh's garment industry was the third largest in the world in 2011, after China and Italy, having grown rapidly in the past decade. The country's minimum wage is the equivalent of about $38 a month.
If you've tried to sell a home in the last few years, you know how hard it can be to get the price you're asking for. Even now as the housing market heats up and bidding wars are breaking out in parts of the country, it's still an uphill battle selling for the right price. But if your home has the right features, that can help score a higher bid from buyers -- maybe even more than you were asking for.
According to a recent National Association of Realtors survey looking at which home features are most desirable to buyers, 24/7 Wall St. analyzed the top 10 home improvements that homebuyers are willing to pay more for. Many of these features center around the kitchen, and some of these improvements could snag a seller thousands more from an interested buyer. Of course, these features aren't necessarily the most important deciding factor for homebuyers, Brendon DeSimone, a Zillow real estate expert, told 24/7 Wall St. The location -- proximity to good schools, neighborhood safety and commute -- will be the biggest factors weighing on buyers' minds, he said. But having some of these features inside the home can only help. Click through the gallery below to see the 10 most popular home improvements that buyers want.
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Brianna Wu and Amanda Warner of Giant Spacekat talk to Marc, Seth, and Rene about their upcoming video game, Revolution 60, working with the Unreal engine, character and game design, and the frenzy over freemium.
SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) ? Police in Bangladesh took six people into custody in connection with the collapse of a shoddily-constructed building that killed at least 359 people, as rescue workers admitted that voices of survivors are getting weaker after four days of being pinned under the increasingly unstable rubble.
Still, in a boost for the rescuers, 29 survivors were pulled out Saturday, said army spokesman Shahinul Islam.
Most of the victims were crushed by massive blocks of concrete and mortar falling on them when the 8-story structure came down on Wednesday morning ? a time many of the garment factories in the building were packed with workers. It was the worst tragedy to hit Bangladesh's massive garment industry, and focused attention on the poor working conditions of the employees who toil for $38 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.
Among those arrested Saturday were two owners of a garment factory, who a Dhaka court ruled can be questioned by police for 12 days without charges being filed. Also detained are two government engineers and the wife of the building owner, who is on the run, in an attempt to force him to surrender. Late Saturday, police arrested another factory owner. Violent public protests continued sporadically in Dhaka and spread to the southeastern city of Chittagong where several vehicles were set on fire.
Working round-the-clock since Wednesday through heat and a thunderstorm, rescuers on Saturday finally reached the ground floor from the top of the mountainous rubble through 25 narrow holes they have drilled, said Brig. Gen. Ali Ahmed Khan, the head of the fire services.
"We are still getting response from survivors though they are becoming weaker slowly," he said, adding that rescue workers were now able to see cars that were parked at the ground level.
"The building is very vulnerable. Any time the floors could collapse. We are performing an impossible task, but we are glad that we are able to rescue so many survivors." He said the operations will continue overnight as chances fade of people surviving for a fifth day with possibly grievous injuries and the heat.
The building site was a hive of frenzied activity all day with soldiers, police and medical workers in lab coats working non-stop. Rescuers passed bottles of water and small cylinders of oxygen up a ladder leaning against the side of the building to be given to possible survivors inside.
They used bare hands and shovels, passing chunks of brick and concrete down a human chain away from the collapsed structure. On the ground, mixed in the debris were several pairs of pink cotton pants, a mud-covered navy blue sock and a pile of green uncut fabric.
Every once in a while a badly decomposed body would be brought out, covered in cloth and plastic, to a spot where ambulances were parked. Workers furiously sprayed air-fresheners on the bodies to cover the stench, leaving the air thick with the smell of death and cheap perfume.
The bodies were kept at a makeshift morgue at the nearby Adharchandra High School before being handed over to families. Many people milled around at the school, waving photos of their missing loved ones.
Officials at a rescue control center at the scene said Sunday that the death toll had risen to 359. Military spokesman Shahinul Islam said 2,429 survivors were accounted for.
Junior Home Minister Shamsul Haque Tuku said police had arrested Bazlus Samad, managing director of New Wave Apparels Ltd., and Mahmudur Rahman Tapash, the company chairman. He told reporters that police had also detained the wife of Mohammed Sohel Rana, the owner of the collapsed Rana Plaza building, for questioning. The top three floors of the eight-story building were illegally constructed. Military spokesman Shahinul Islam said officials arrested Aminul Islam, chairman of Phantom Apparels Ltd., late Saturday in Dhaka.
Authorities are still searching for Rana, a local politician, who hasn't been seen publicly since the building collapsed. Negligence cases have been filed against him. Police in Bangladesh often detain relatives of missing suspects as a way to pressure them to surrender.
Dhaka police superintendent Habibur Rahman said Rana was a local leader of ruling Awami League's youth front. His arrest, and that of the factory owners, was ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the Awami League leader.
Police said they detained for questioning two engineers working for the Savar municipality, Imtemam Hossain and Alam Ali. They did not say what role they played in approving the design of the building but it was clear that the arrests amounted to a widening crackdown. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
A garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was not clear how many were inside it when it collapsed.
Police say they ordered an evacuation of the building on Tuesday after cracks in Rana Plaza were found, but the factories ignored the order and were operating when it collapsed the next day. Video before the collapse shows cracks in walls, with apparent attempts at repair. It also shows columns missing chunks of concrete and police talking to building operators.
Officials said soon after the collapse that numerous construction regulations had been violated.
The disaster is the worst ever for the country's booming and powerful garment industry, surpassing a fire five months ago that killed 112 people and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards. Since then, very little has changed in Bangladesh, where low wages have made it a magnet for numerous global brands.
Bangladesh's garment industry was the third largest in the world in 2011, after China and Italy, having grown rapidly in the past decade. The country's minimum wage is the equivalent of about $38 a month.
Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Altogether, they produced several million shirts, pants and other garments a year.
The New Wave companies, according to their website, make clothing for several major North American and European retailers.
Britain's Primark acknowledged it was using a factory in Rana Plaza, but many other retailers distanced themselves from the disaster, saying they were not involved with the factories at the time of the collapse or had not recently ordered garments from them.
Wal-Mart said none of its clothing had been authorized to be made in the facility, but it is investigating whether there was any unauthorized production.
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AP writers Chris Blake and Gillian Wong in Dhaka, and Kay Johnson in Mumbai contributed to this report.
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? North Korea said Saturday it will soon put a detained American on trial for allegedly trying to overthrow the government, further complicating already fraught relations between Pyongyang and Washington.
The indictment of Kenneth Bae comes in the middle of a lull after weeks of war threats and other provocative acts by North Korea against the U.S. and South Korea. It has expressed rage over U.N. sanctions over a February nuclear test and ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills, though analysts say Pyongyang's motive is to get its Korean War foes to negotiate on its own terms.
"For North Korea, Bae is a bargaining chip in dealing with the U.S. The North will use him in a way that helps bring the U.S. to talks when the mood slowly turns toward dialogue," said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Seoul's Dongguk University.
Bae, identified in North Korean state media by his Korean name, Pae Jun Ho, is a tour operator of Korean descent who was arrested after arriving with a tour on Nov. 3 in Rason, a special economic zone bordering China and Russia.
He is the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The other Americans were eventually deported or released after high-profile diplomatic interventions, including some involving former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
"The preliminary inquiry into crimes committed by American citizen Pae Jun Ho closed," the official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief report. "In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it. His crimes were proved by evidence."
DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Under North Korea's criminal code, terrorist acts include murdering, kidnapping and injuring the country's citizens can lead to a death sentence or life in jail.
North Korea and the United States fought the 1950-53 Korean War and still don't have diplomatic relations. The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the United States.
KCNA didn't say when Bae's trial will take place or what the charges were.
North Korea's state media and the U.S. government have made little information about Bae public.
But his friends, colleagues and South Korean activists specializing in North Korea affairs said Bae is a Christian missionary based in a Chinese border town who frequently made trips to North Korea to feed orphans there. It is not known whether he tried to evangelize while in North Korea.
Officially, North Korea guarantees freedom of religion. In practice, authorities crack down on Christians, who are seen as Western-influenced threats to the government. The distribution of Bibles and secret prayer services can mean banishment to a labor camp or execution, defectors from the country have said.
In 2009, American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for trespassing and unspecified hostile acts. They were freed later that year after former President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang to negotiate their release.
Meanwhile, South Korea is pulling its citizens from a joint factory park in North Korea after Pyongyang rejected Seoul's demand for talks on the inter-Korean symbol of detente on Saturday. The park was shuttered earlier this month after the North pulled its workers out of it, objecting to views in South Korea that the complex is a source of badly needed hard currency for Pyongyang.
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Associated Press reporter Sam Kim contributed from Seoul, South Korea.
Samsung is working on a dust-proof and water-proof Galaxy S4, which will essentially resemble the S4 but with environmental superpowers, says the Wall Street Journal. The paper also reported that Samsung is launching its next-generation Galaxy tablet in June, as well as a compact S4 at "just" 4.3-inches in size (this still seems large to me, but maybe I'm just old). Samsung has always been keen on capitalizing on flagship branding by diversifying its line with a variety of offshoot devices, so the news should come as no surprise.
A United Airlines jet departs in view of the air traffic control tower at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Seattle. A day after flight delays plagued much of the U.S., air travel is smoother Tuesday. But the government is warning passengers that the situation can change by the hour as it runs the nation's air traffic control system with a smaller staff. Airlines and members of Congress urged the Federal Aviation Administration to find other ways to make mandatory budget cuts besides furloughing controllers. While delays haven't been terrible yet, the airlines are worried about the long-term impact late flights will have on their budgets and on fliers. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
A United Airlines jet departs in view of the air traffic control tower at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Seattle. A day after flight delays plagued much of the U.S., air travel is smoother Tuesday. But the government is warning passengers that the situation can change by the hour as it runs the nation's air traffic control system with a smaller staff. Airlines and members of Congress urged the Federal Aviation Administration to find other ways to make mandatory budget cuts besides furloughing controllers. While delays haven't been terrible yet, the airlines are worried about the long-term impact late flights will have on their budgets and on fliers. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congress hurried to approve legislation Friday that will end the furloughs of air traffic controllers that have delayed hundreds of flights daily, infuriating travelers and causing political headaches for lawmakers.
The House approved the measure on a 361-41 vote, a day after the Senate agreed to the bill. Friday's vote came as lawmakers prepared to leave town for a weeklong spring recess, a break that would have been less pleasant if they were confronted by constituents upset over travel delays.
Republicans accused the Obama administration of purposely furloughing controllers to pressure Congress to replace $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts ? known as the sequester ? that took effect last month at government agencies.
"The administration has played shameful politics with the sequester at the cost of hard-working American families," said Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa.
The White House and Democrats have argued that by law, the administration has little room to decide where the cuts fall. They want Congress to work on legislation lifting all of the cuts, which lawmakers noted have also caused reductions in Head Start preschool programs, benefits for the long-term unemployed and medical research.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president would sign the new bill, but he added, "The problem is this is just a Band-Aid solution."
During House debate, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had a similar complaint.
"How can we sit there and say, 'Four million Meals on Wheels for seniors, gone, but that's not important. Over 70,000 children off Head Start, but that's not important," Pelosi said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has furloughed the controllers as part of the government-wide reductions. The bill would let the FAA use up to $253 million from airport improvement and other accounts to end the furloughs through the Sept. 30 end of the federal fiscal year.
In addition to restoring full staffing by controllers, the available funds can be used for other FAA operations, including preventing the closure of small airport towers around the country. The FAA had said it would shut the facilities to meet its share of the spending cuts.
The FAA said there had been at least 863 flights delayed on Wednesday "attributable to staffing reductions resulting from the furlough."
Administration officials participated in the negotiations that led to the deal and evidently registered no objections.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a key participant in the talks, said the legislation would "prevent what otherwise would have been intolerable delays in the air travel system, inconveniencing travelers and hurting the economy."
Senate approval Thursday night followed several hours of pressure-filled, closed-door negotiations, and came after most senators had departed the Capitol on the assumption that the talks had fallen short.
For the White House and Senate Democrats, the discussions on legislation relating to one relatively small slice of the $85 billion in spending cuts marked a shift in position in a long-running struggle with Republicans over budget issues. Similarly, the turn of events marked at least modest vindication of a decision by the House GOP last winter to finesse some budget struggles in order to focus public attention on the across-the-board cuts in hopes they would gain leverage over President Barack Obama.
The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, a union that represents FAA employees, reported a number of incidents it said were due to the furloughs.
In one case, it said several flights headed for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York were diverted on Wednesday when a piece of equipment failed. "While the policy for this equipment is immediate restoral, due to sequestration and furloughs it was changed to next-day restoral," the union said.
The airlines, too, had pressed Congress to restore the FAA to full staffing.
In an interview Wednesday, Robert Isom, chief operations officer of US Airways, said, "In the airline business, you try to eliminate uncertainty. Some factors you can't control, like weather. It (the FAA issue) is worse than the weather."
In a shift, first the White House and then senior Democratic lawmakers signaled a willingness in the past two days to support legislation that alleviates the budget crunch at the FAA, while leaving the balance of the $85 billion to remain in effect.
Obama favors a comprehensive agreement that replaces the entire $85 billion in across-the-board cuts as part of a broader deficit-reduction deal that includes higher taxes and spending cuts.
Officials estimate it would cost slightly more than $200 million to restore air traffic controllers to full staffing, and an additional $50 million to keep open smaller air traffic towers around the country that the FAA has proposed closing.
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Associated Press writers Joan Lowy, Henry C. Jackson and Alan Fram in Washington and David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.
The FCC told us that an LTE ready version of the Dell XPS 10 was coming, but there's nothing like official confirmation. In any case, it's here, and it runs on AT&T. Dell officially announced the variant's availability on its blog, identifying the radio the feds uncovered as a Qualcomm Gobi modem, a natural fit for the tablet's 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU. The LTE option is only available for the device's 64GB configuration, and adds $100 to the price. Hey, nobody said getting LTE on your Windows RT tablet was cheap.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama vowed Friday to join Planned Parenthood in fighting against what he said were efforts across the country to turn women's health back to the 1950s.
Obama's comments were the first by a sitting president before the abortion-rights group. He lauded its nearly 100 years of service to women, providing cancer screenings, contraceptives and other health services.
"When politicians try to turn Planned Parenthood into a punching bag, they're not just talking about you," he said. "They're talking about the millions of women who you serve."
Obama asserted that "an assault on women's rights" is underway across the country, with bills being introduced in nearly every state legislature to limit or ban abortion or restrict access to birth control.
"The fact is, after decades of progress, there's still those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st Century," Obama said. "And they've been involved in an orchestrated and historic effort to roll back basic rights when it comes to women's health."
Obama says he fought for his health care law to ensure individuals have the right to make their own medical choices. He's asking medical providers and abortion rights supporters to "get the word out" about the law's benefits.
He encouraged those gathered to continue fighting for abortion rights. "You've also got a president who is going to be right there with you, fighting every step of the way," Obama said.
In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.
This week I'm writing from a special place: from the perspective of a Google Glass owner. Well, to be honest I'm not wearing them this exact moment -- I'm actually at 30,000 feet, making the most of a Gogo connection, and when your phone is in airplane mode there's not much point in wearing the headset. Unless, of course, you're looking for a conversation starter. In that role, the headset performs impeccably even when turned completely off.
It's been an interesting couple days wearing the headset around, days I'll continue to chronicle on the site because I know many of you are eager to know what Glass is like. I know this because I've had dozens of strangers come up to me and ask, "What's it like?" Suffice to say, Glass is very interesting and the potential is compelling, but right now the thing is somewhat frustrating in its limited functionality. That'll change real soon as more developers get to grips with the Mirror API.
Just as memorable as the Boston bombings was the shared, collective response. Yet the focus remains on divisions, such as classifying the bombers by their background and motives. Isn't the display of shared humanity just as important?
By the Monitor's Editorial Board / April 24, 2013
A moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings is observed April 22 on Boylston Street near the race finish line, exactly one week after the tragedy.
AP Photo
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Perhaps more than recent mass killings in America, the Boston Marathon bombings caused quite a common and massive response ? of togetherness.
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In the days after the bombings, federal, state, and local police as well as local residents displayed incredible cooperation in the capture of the suspects, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Thousands of videos, tweets, and other bits of information from citizens came together in a wealth of evidence and reporting.
Then thousands of people turned out for a healing service held by multiple faiths and attended by three levels of government ? the mayor, the Massachusetts governor, and President Obama.
And on the one-week anniversary of the blasts, throngs of Boston-area residents joined in a moment of silence near the bomb site and elsewhere. People are still bonding in a ?Boston Strong? campaign, such as soliciting donations for the victims and their families.
These displays of a shared humanity, however, haven?t received nearly as much attention as speculation over how the Tsarnaev brothers were so very different from the people they attacked. The two have became categorized, either as disgruntled immigrants, jihadists, loners, or assorted other psychological ?types.? For journalists and politicians, this ?us versus them? divide is an easy sell while the other news ? the collective response ? is more fleeting and perhaps even boring.?
For David Cannadine, a Princeton University historian and the author of 14 books, this sort of fixation on divisions is a big problem. In his latest book, ?The Undivided Past,? the professor takes to task a tendency among scholars and others (not least the media) to focus on the ?allegedly impermeable divides? between people. He pleads that we focus more on the sweep of history that shows just how united we all are.
His main point lies in the subtitle ? ?humanity beyond our differences? ? as well as in his summation: ?humanity is still here.?
Historians, journalists, and political leaders often ignore the fact that most people do not live out their lives in a clash of identities, he says. While people certainly have differences, their commonality is an enduring norm, reflected in their inherent worth and dignity. ?Historically, there is quite a lot of good news,? he states.
Mr. Cannadine doesn?t ignore the prevalent groupings of people, many of which do play a role in history. But he challenges historians who easily divvy up humanity into parts, mainly by race, nationality, class, gender, religion, and even ?civilizations.? These identities, he illustrates with many examples, change over time or aren?t as solid as made out to be.
And easy classifications that are seen as inevitable can also easily lead to animosities. Just witness how often political parties divide up voters by demographics and then find issues to incite one group against another. Yet to many voters, they don?t see themselves that way.
His thesis is not new. He cites like-minded writers such as Maya Angelou (?we are more alike, my friends/ than we are unalike?) and V.S. Naipaul (?that missing large idea of human association?). But his grand and global history shows how collaboration has been far more the norm than conflict. The result has been progress for humankind.
Looking at events like the Boston bombings through this connective lens more than the glasses of polarity just might do better at preventing such tragedies. An ever-more inclusive America might bring the disaffected and detached ?lone wolves? in from the periphery.?
Divisions that create a fear of ?the other? cannot be ignored. But neither should the historical record of what people share. Terrorists might just get the message.
UFC 159 is just over 48 hours from now. What questions will be answered by Saturday's fights?
Does Chael Sonnen have any real chance at beating UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones? Sonnen's moving up to 205 lbs. after spending his entire UFC career at middleweight. He is 2-3 in his last five fights, with both losses coming to Anderson Silva. Two of those wins were decisions, including a close one with Michael Bisping. Though Sonnen talks a good game, he just isn't on the same level as Jones. Every fighter has a puncher's chance in the cage. Will Sonnen find that one punch to get it done?
Will any punches be thrown in Phil Davis and Vinny Magalhaes' bout? When a Division I NCAA champion wrestler and a world champion jiu-jitsu player face off, will their ground game be neutralized? Watching their match will be like a chess match unfold.
Can Jim Miller change UFC president Dana White's mind about the next lightweight title shot? After Benson Henderson defended the UFC lightweight championship belt, White said the next title shot will go to the winner of Gray Maynard's May bout with T.J. Grant. Miller said this week that he wants to perform so well against Pat Healy that White will be forced to reconsider.
"It all comes down to timing and performances," he said. "I'm looking to make a statement on Saturday night. I'm hoping Dana forgets all the things he just said about the Maynard-Grant fight. It's happened before. Nothing's guaranteed about a No. 1 contender spot. I might (have to do some talking). But I plan on making some noise with my fists and my elbows and my knees."
Will Miller be able to get that title shot he's always wanted?
Can Sheila Gaff's finishing ability neutralize Sara McMann's wrestling? McMann is one of the most well-credentialed wrestlers to ever enter the octagon. She was an Olympic silver medalist in 2004, plus has three medals from world championships. Gaff's last three fights have ended in a first-round knockout, so will she be able to come up with another big finish against McMann's elite wrestling?
Roundworm quells obesity and related metabolic disordersPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, have shown in a mouse model that infection with nematodes (also known as roundworms) can not only combat obesity but ameliorate related metabolic disorders. Their research is published ahead of print online in the journal Infection and Immunity.
Gastrointestinal nematodes infect approximately 2 billion people worldwide, and some researchers believe up until the 20th century almost everyone had worms. In developed countries there is a decreasing incidence of nematode infection but a rising prevalence of certain types of autoimmunity, suggesting a relationship between the two. Nematode infection has been purported to have therapeutic effects and currently clinical trials are underway to examine worms as a treatment for diseases associated with the relevant cytokines, including inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and allergies.
In the study researchers tested the effect of nematode infection on mice fed a high-fat diet. Infected mice of normal girth gained 15 percent less weight than those that were not infected. Mice that were already obese when infected lost roughly 13 percent of their body weight within 10 days. Infection also drastically lowered fasting blood glucose, a risk factor for diabetes, and reduced fatty liver disease, decreasing liver fat by ~25 percent, and the weight of the liver by 30 percent.
The levels of insulin and leptin also dropped, "indicating that the mice restored their sensitivities to both hormones," says corresponding author Aiping Zhao of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. Leptin moderates appetite. As with too much insulin, too high a level of leptin results in insensitivity, thus contributing to obesity and metabolic syndrome, Zhao explains.
The mechanism of the moderation of these hormones "was associated with a parasite-induced reduction in glucose absorption in the intestine, reduced liver triglycerides, and an increase in the population of cells called "alternatively activated macrophages," which regulate glucose metabolism and inflammation," says coauthor Joe Urban of the United States Department of Agriculture. Some of these changes involved "a protein called interleukin-13 and related intracellular signaling mechanisms," he says. "This suggests that there are immune related shifts in metabolism that can alter expression of obesity and related metabolic syndrome."
The incidence of obesity has been climbing dramatically, worldwide. It is a key risk factor for many metabolic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Recent studies indicate that it is accompanied by chronic low-grade inflammation in adipose tissues, causing the release of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines that contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.
Parasitic nematode infection induces a marked elevation in host immune Th2-cells and related type 2 cytokines which, besides combating the infection, also have potent anti-inflammatory activity, according to the report.
###
A copy of the manuscript can be found online at http://bit.ly/asmtip0413d. Formal publication is scheduled for the June 2013 issue of Infection and Immunity.
(Z. Yang, V. Grinchuk, A. Smith, B. qin, J.A. Bohl, R. Sun, L. Notari, Z. Zhang, H. Sesaki, J.F. Urban, Jr., T. Shea-Donohue, A. Zhao, 2013. Parasitic nematode-induced modulation of body weight and associated metabolic dysfunction in mouse models of obesity. Infect. Immun. Published ahead of print 18 March 2013, doi:10.1128/IAI.00053-13.)
Infection and Immunity is a publication of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). The ASM is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. Its mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Roundworm quells obesity and related metabolic disordersPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, have shown in a mouse model that infection with nematodes (also known as roundworms) can not only combat obesity but ameliorate related metabolic disorders. Their research is published ahead of print online in the journal Infection and Immunity.
Gastrointestinal nematodes infect approximately 2 billion people worldwide, and some researchers believe up until the 20th century almost everyone had worms. In developed countries there is a decreasing incidence of nematode infection but a rising prevalence of certain types of autoimmunity, suggesting a relationship between the two. Nematode infection has been purported to have therapeutic effects and currently clinical trials are underway to examine worms as a treatment for diseases associated with the relevant cytokines, including inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and allergies.
In the study researchers tested the effect of nematode infection on mice fed a high-fat diet. Infected mice of normal girth gained 15 percent less weight than those that were not infected. Mice that were already obese when infected lost roughly 13 percent of their body weight within 10 days. Infection also drastically lowered fasting blood glucose, a risk factor for diabetes, and reduced fatty liver disease, decreasing liver fat by ~25 percent, and the weight of the liver by 30 percent.
The levels of insulin and leptin also dropped, "indicating that the mice restored their sensitivities to both hormones," says corresponding author Aiping Zhao of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. Leptin moderates appetite. As with too much insulin, too high a level of leptin results in insensitivity, thus contributing to obesity and metabolic syndrome, Zhao explains.
The mechanism of the moderation of these hormones "was associated with a parasite-induced reduction in glucose absorption in the intestine, reduced liver triglycerides, and an increase in the population of cells called "alternatively activated macrophages," which regulate glucose metabolism and inflammation," says coauthor Joe Urban of the United States Department of Agriculture. Some of these changes involved "a protein called interleukin-13 and related intracellular signaling mechanisms," he says. "This suggests that there are immune related shifts in metabolism that can alter expression of obesity and related metabolic syndrome."
The incidence of obesity has been climbing dramatically, worldwide. It is a key risk factor for many metabolic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Recent studies indicate that it is accompanied by chronic low-grade inflammation in adipose tissues, causing the release of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines that contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.
Parasitic nematode infection induces a marked elevation in host immune Th2-cells and related type 2 cytokines which, besides combating the infection, also have potent anti-inflammatory activity, according to the report.
###
A copy of the manuscript can be found online at http://bit.ly/asmtip0413d. Formal publication is scheduled for the June 2013 issue of Infection and Immunity.
(Z. Yang, V. Grinchuk, A. Smith, B. qin, J.A. Bohl, R. Sun, L. Notari, Z. Zhang, H. Sesaki, J.F. Urban, Jr., T. Shea-Donohue, A. Zhao, 2013. Parasitic nematode-induced modulation of body weight and associated metabolic dysfunction in mouse models of obesity. Infect. Immun. Published ahead of print 18 March 2013, doi:10.1128/IAI.00053-13.)
Infection and Immunity is a publication of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). The ASM is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. Its mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
ANN ARBOR TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) ? Neil Sauter (SAW'-ter) walks 9 feet off the ground. But he's more concerned with distance than height these days.
Sauter plans to trek 400 miles across his home state during the next month as part of an effort to raise money for the United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan nonprofit.
The 29-year-old Deerfield resident has mild cerebral palsy.
His "Walk for No Limits" kicked off April 12 in Ann Arbor. His journey is scheduled to end May 19, not far from his southern Michigan home.
Five years ago, Sauter stilt-walked 830 miles across the state and raised about $85,000 in the process. This time, he's looking to walk less and raise more.
Sauter says that when he looks back, he's "going to be really proud of these trips."
Solid gains in the price of oil and gold helped to power the Toronto stock market to its biggest one-day percentage gain in more than eight months Wednesday.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended the day 179.49 points at 12,270.43 ? a gain of 1.5 per cent.
Data from the TSX showed that almost 80 per cent of TSX-listed listed stocks rose, with the materials, technology and energy sectors leading the way.
Oil futures jumped $2.25 to settle at $91.43 US a barrel following the release of storage inventory figures that were lower than expected. Crude also gained amid growing speculation that the European Central Bank might cut interest rates.
Cenovus Energy rose 61 cents to close at $29.36 as it reported higher first-quarter profits and cash flow.
Gold futures rallied by $14.80 US an ounce to settle at $1,423.40. Barrick Gold shares surged $1.37 to $19.38, up 7.6 per cent, as it reported better than expected earnings.
Shares of CP Rail ended $1.50 lower at $124.73 despite reporting a record first quarter and an improved operating ratio, a key measure of efficiency.
U.S. markets were mixed. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 43.16 points to close at 14,676.30 as a disappointing durable goods report weighed on the big board, along with a weak earnings report from AT&T and a soft profit forecast from Procter & Gamble.
The broader S&P 500 index ended the day virtually unchanged at 1,578.79.
The Nasdaq composite index finished marginally higher at 3269.65.
Apple shares slipped 67 cents to close at $405.46 after reporting earnings and revenue numbers that narrowly beat estimates. But the company also said revenue for the current quarter could fall from the year before and Apple CEO Tim Cook also suggested the company won't release any new products until the fall. More than 20 analysts cut their price targets on Apple shares.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.05 cents to close at 97.50 cents US.
If you've tried to sell a home in the last few years, you know how hard it can be to get the price you're asking for. Even now as the housing market heats up and bidding wars are breaking out in parts of the country, it's still an uphill battle selling for the right price. But if your home has the right features, that can help score a higher bid from buyers -- maybe even more than you were asking for.
Samsung is working on a dust-proof and water-proof Galaxy S4, which will essentially resemble the S4 but with environmental superpowers, says the Wall Street Journal. The paper also reported that Samsung is launching its next-generation Galaxy tablet in June, as well as a compact S4 at "just" 4.3-inches in size (this still seems large to me, but maybe I'm just old). Samsung has always been keen on capitalizing on flagship branding by diversifying its line with a variety of offshoot devices, so the news should come as no surprise.
UFC 159 is just over 48 hours from now. What questions will be answered by Saturday's fights?![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
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