Madison Keys of the United States returns to Mona Barthel of Germany during their Women's second round singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Thursday, June 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
LONDON (AP) ? American teenager Madison Keys reached the third round in her Wimbledon debut by beating 30th-seeded Mona Barthel of Germany 6-4, 6-2 Thursday.
Keys, an 18-year-old who was born in Rock Island, Ill., saved the only break point she faced while converting 3 of 10 on Barthel's serve.
The 52nd-ranked Keys also defeated Barthel on grass in a tuneup tournament at Birmingham, England, two weeks ago.
It's the second time in the past three Grand Slam tournaments that Keys has made it to the third round. She lost at that stage at the Australian Open in January.
Bidding to reach the round of 16 for the first time at a major championship, Keys will face either 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska, who is seeded fourth, or Mathilde Johansson.
June 8, 2013 ? Danish researchers have just published findings that explain a previously unknown mechanism used by cells to communicate with one another. The research significantly contributes to understanding why some children are born with malformations and why children and adults may develop life-threatening diseases.
Dr. S?ren Tvorup Christensen (Department of Biology) and Professor Lars Allan Larsen (Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine) at the University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with colleagues in Denmark and France, have spearheaded the recent discovery which sheds new light on the causes of a range of debilitating diseases and birth defects.
Antennae-like structures on the surface of cells
Over the years, the research group has been a leader in primary cilium research. Primary cilia are antennae-like structures found on the surface of nearly all cells in the human body. These antennae are designed to receive signals, such as growth factor and hormones, from other cells in the body and then convert these signals to a response within individual cells. Defective formation or function of these antennae can give rise to a range of serious maladies including heart defects, polycystic kidney disease, blindness, cancer, obesity and diabetes. However, there remains a great deal of mystery as to how these antennae capture and convert signals within cells.
"We have identified an entirely new way by which these antennae are able to register signals in their midst, signals that serve to determine how cells divide and move amongst one another. This also serves to explain how a stem cell can develop into heart muscle," explains S?ren Tvorup Christensen.
"What we have found is that the antennae don't just capture signals via receptors out in the antennae, but they are also able to transport specific types of receptors down to the base of the antennae -- where they are then activated and might possibly interact with a host of other signalling systems. The receptors include the so-called Transforming Growth Factor beta (TGF?) receptors which have previously been associated with birth defects and cancer. Therefore, the base of the antennae can serve as a sort of control centre that coordinates the cell's ability to manage fetal development and the maintenance of organ function in adults."
TGF? signalling and development of the heart
Lars Allan Larsen has numerous years of experience in heart development research. He adds "we know TGF? signalling is very important during heart development and that a failure in this system can lead to the congenital heart defects that affect roughly 1% of all newborns. Therefore, our discovery is a significant step towards demystifying the causes of congenital heart defects."
The two researchers also point out that defective TGF?-signalling has been associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons disease and mental retardation. Subsequently, the research group has begun studies on how these antennae -- the primary cilia -- regulate TGF?-signalling during, among other processes, the transformation of stem cells into nerve cells.
"It's definitely an area that will be attracting lots of attention in years to come. Globally, there is a great deal of interest in understanding why the antennae are so important for our health," concludes the pair of researchers.
The groundbreaking results have been published in Cell Reports. The research is supported by the Lundbeck Foundation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Danish Heart Association (in Danish), among others.
Lyn Harris Hicks, a longtime opponent of the San Onofre nuclear power plant and a nearby resident, wears a banner on her hat as she waits for a news conference in front of the plant Friday, June 7, 2013, in San Onofre, Calif. The troubled power plant on the California coast is closing after an epic 16-month battle over whether the twin reactors could be safely restarted with millions of people living nearby, officials announced Friday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Lyn Harris Hicks, a longtime opponent of the San Onofre nuclear power plant and a nearby resident, wears a banner on her hat as she waits for a news conference in front of the plant Friday, June 7, 2013, in San Onofre, Calif. The troubled power plant on the California coast is closing after an epic 16-month battle over whether the twin reactors could be safely restarted with millions of people living nearby, officials announced Friday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Gary Headrick, right, hugs Steve Netherby, center, and his wife Laurie Headrick, left, before a news conference by opponents of the San Onofre nuclear power plant near the entrance to the plant Friday, June 7, 2013, in San Onofre, Calif. The troubled power plant on the California coast is closing after an epic 16-month battle over whether the twin reactors could be safely restarted with millions of people living nearby, officials announced Friday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Lyn Harris Hicks, a longtime opponent of the San Onofre nuclear power plant and a nearby resident, right, hugs Laurie Headrick, left, as they wait for a news conference in front of the plant Friday, June 7, 2013, in San Onofre, Calif. The troubled power plant on the California coast is closing after an epic 16-month battle over whether the twin reactors could be safely restarted with millions of people living nearby, officials announced Friday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Power lines cross a freeway as they make their way to the San Onofre nuclear power plant Friday, June 7, 2013, in San Onofre, Calif. The troubled power plant on the California coast is closing after an epic 16-month battle over whether the twin reactors could be safely restarted with millions of people living nearby, officials announced Friday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A surfer rides a wave in front of the San Onofre nuclear power plant Friday, June 7, 2013, in San Onofre, Calif. The troubled power plant on the California coast is closing after an epic 16-month battle over whether the twin reactors could be safely restarted with millions of people living nearby, officials announced Friday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The decision to close California's San Onofre nuclear plant is the latest setback for an industry that seemed poised for growth not long ago.
In Wisconsin, a utility shuttered its plant last month after it couldn't find a buyer. In Florida ? and now California ? utilities decided it was cheaper to close plants rather than spend big money fixing them and risk the uncertainty of safety reviews.
Meanwhile, the low cost of natural gas is discouraging utilizes from spending billions of dollars and lots of time to build nuclear reactors.
New technology allows drillers to extract more gas within the U.S., increasing the supply and pushing down prices. In states were utilities operate as monopolies, they are reluctant to ask their regulators for permission to build enormously expensive nuclear plants ? or even fix old ones ? when it so cheap to build gas-fired plants.
In places where utilities sell power into the open market, the low prices don't offset the financial risk of building expensive and time-consuming nuclear plants.
"The world has changed with natural gas prices being so low and so much gas being available for so long," said Mike Haggarty, a senior utility analyst for Moody's Investor Service.
Industry supporters acknowledge the challenging economics but say nuclear power still has long-term possibilities. While the costs to build plants are enormous, once online, the fuel and operating costs are relatively low. And reactors can reliably produce power with little or no carbon emissions, said Steve Kerekes, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry lobbying group.
Plants fired by gas cost much more to run when prices surge.
"When gas prices are low, that's great," Kerekes said. "But a lot of people don't like to put all their energy eggs in one basket."
On Friday, Southern California Edison announced it would close its San Onofre plant between San Diego and Los Angeles rather than fix damaged equipment that critics said could never be safely replaced. The twin reactors were idled in January 2012 when a small radiation leak led to the discovery of unusual damage to hundreds of new tubes that carry radioactive water.
Despite spending more than $500 million on repairs and replacement power, the utility, owned by Edison International, decided to call it quits. It faced safety investigations and regulatory hurdles to restart the plant.
In February, North Carolina-based Duke Energy Corp. decided to close the Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida after workers cracked a concrete containment building during an attempt to upgrade the plant in 2009. The containment building is supposed to prevent a release of radiation in case of an accident. An attempt to fix the problem in 2011 resulted in more cracks.
Despite the shutdown, Duke still wants its customers to reimburse the company for $1.65 billion in plant investments. The utility will use $835 million from an insurance settlement to refund customers who had to pay for backup power.
Even working plants are being scuttled. Dominion Resources Inc. announced in October it would close the Kewaunee Power Station in Wisconsin because it couldn't find a buyer. Dominion CEO Thomas F. Farrell II said the plant's contracts to sell its electricity were ending while wholesale electricity prices are expected to remain low. The company is keeping reactors elsewhere in the country.
"This decision was based purely on economics," Farrell said at the time. "Dominion was not able to move forward with our plan to grow our nuclear fleet in the Midwest to take advantage of economies of scale."
Just a few years back, nuclear industry officials said the time was right for expanding. A more robust economy boosted demand for electricity, natural gas prices were higher, and it seemed Congress might pass legislation restricting the greenhouse gas emissions, a rule that could hurt fossil fuel plants and increase the demand for nuclear power. To further sweeten the pot, the U.S. government adopted tax credits and offered low-cost loans to subsidize construction.
The industry called it a "nuclear renaissance." It was short-lived.
The Great Recession trimmed the demand for electricity as business and consumers cut back, and natural gas prices fell. Several utilities have scrubbed their plans for new plants or delayed them far into the future.
Paul Patterson, a utility analyst for Glenrock Associates LLC, said the idea of a renaissance was "exaggerated to begin with," and low-cost natural gas ended such talk.
Only three nuclear construction projects have moved forward, and they are all under financial pressure.
The Tennessee Valley Authority is finishing a long-mothballed reactor at its Watts Bar plant. Initially budgeted at $2.5 billion, the utility has said finishing the project could cost up to $2 billion more.
Atlanta-based Southern Co. owns a 46 percent share of two new reactors being constructed at Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia, a project originally estimated at $14 billion. Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power recently asked regulators to raise its share of the construction budget by $737 million to roughly $6.85 billion.
It may cost more. Georgia Power and the companies designing and building the plant are in a legal fight that may cost the utility more money. Separately, an independent monitor hired by Georgia regulators has warned of additional potential costs.
SCANA Corp. announced this week that it expects its costs to rise by around $200 million and the construction schedule to slip while building two reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in South Carolina.
___
Henry reported from Atlanta and can be reached at http://twitter.com/rhenryAP . AP Energy Writer Jonathan Fahey also contributed to this report from New York.
PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) ? Overcoming rain and a muddy course, Morgan Pressel shot a 2-under 70 on Saturday to take the lead after two rounds of the LPGA Championship.
At 6-under 138, Pressel had a two-shot lead over top-ranked Inbee Park and Chella Choi. Park shot 68, while Choi, the first-round leader, struggled with a 73.
The final two rounds will be squeezed into a 36-hole marathon Sunday at Locust Hill Country Club to determine the winner of the tour's second major. The change in schedule came after nearly five inches of rain fell Thursday, forcing officials to postpone the first round.
Pressel hasn't won since claiming the Kapalua LPGA Classic in 2008. The American is attempting to end a string of eight straight majors won by Asian-born players.
Camp Justice, the site of the U.S. war crimes tribunal compound at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba. (Brennan??One week after President Barack Obama renewed his vow to try to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, Republican Sen. John McCain, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough headed Friday to visit the notorious facility.
Feinstein chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee. McCain serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
McCain announced the trip on Twitter:
An aide to Feinstein confirmed the visit.
Asked about the trip, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told Yahoo News: "Following up the president's May 23 speech, White House Chief of Staff McDonough is accompanying Sens. Feinstein and McCain to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to review the situation there and discuss the steps that we can take with the Congress to meet the president's goal of closing the facility."
Actress Sally Kellerman, known for her iconic role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" O'Houlihan in the film version of "M*A*S*H", recently visited the HuffPost Live studios to open up about life behind the scenes and her new memoir, "Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood Life." Kellerman discussed how she used to have a crush on Marlon Brando and how she eventually ended up in his bed.
Diablo 3 isn't a Sony console exclusive anymore, it seems, with Blizzard Entertainment today announcing it's heading to Xbox 360 as well on September 3rd. The game will arrive for the PlayStation 3 on the same day as the 360 version, with the PlayStation 4 version arriving at an unknown point afterward. It's unknown if the game is also headed to Microsoft's next-gen console, Xbox One, though Blizzard told our friends at Joystiq, "We don't have any further platform announcements to share at this time." Not exactly a straight up "no!" The console version of the game is said to contain all the updates that PC / Mac users have enjoyed thus far, not to mention much needed relief for your clicking finger.
Ape and human infants at comparable stages of development use similar gestures, such as pointing or lifting their arms to be picked up, new research suggests.
Chimpanzee, bonobo and human babies rely mainly on gestures at about a year old, and gradually develop symbolic language (words, for human babies; and signs, for apes) as they get older.
The findings suggest that ?gesture plays an important role in the evolution of language, because it preceded language use across the species," said study co-author Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, a developmental psychologist at the College of Staten Island in New York.
The gesturing behavior was described today (June 6) in the journal Frontiers in Comparative Psychology. [8 Humanlike Behaviors of Primates]
Language precursor
The idea that language arose from gesture and a primitive sign language has a long history. French philosopher ?tienne Bonnot de Condillac proposed the idea in 1746, and other scientists have noted that walking on two legs, which frees up the hands for gesturing, occurred earlier in human evolution than changes to the vocal tract that enabled speaking.
But although apes in captivity can learn some language by learning from humans, in the wild, they don't gesture nearly as much as human infants, making it difficult to tease out commonalities in language development that have biological versus environmental roots.
To do so, Gillespie-Lynch and her colleagues compared detailed video of an American baby girl in everyday life with two apes of the same age that were trained to communicate. Panpanzee, a chimpanzee, and Panbanisha, a bonobo, were living at the Language Research Center in Atlanta, where they received interactive training in sign language, gesturing and vocalizations; they also went through a daily testing session.
The researchers analyzed the young apes? behavior when they were about a year old to about 26 months old to that of the human baby when she was 11 months old to almost 2 years old.
Common language
Both the apes and the human baby started out gesturing more than using words, and they used similar gestures, such as pointing at or reaching for things they wanted, or lifting their arms when they wanted to be picked up.
?The 'up' gesture looks just like if you find a human child asking to pick them up," Gillespie-Lynch told LiveScience.
The baby girl used more gestures overall and developed gestures ? such as waving bye-bye, shaking the head and nodding ? that the apes did not demonstrate.
The girl tended to use more gestures for showing things to caretakers, whereas the apes relied more on reaching gestures. Together, the findings suggest the human child was more focused on sharing her experience with others, whereas the apes were using gestures more instrumentally to get what they wanted.
As they grew older, the species' trajectories diverged. All the infants gradually shifted to using more symbolic words, but the child's shift was much more dramatic than the apes'. And from the start, the little girl vocalized more than the apes did.
Because gesture played an early role in communication in all of the babies, it probably also played a similar role in a common ancestor, Gillespie-Lynch noted.
"So we're getting an idea of what our common ancestor was like in terms of how that ancestor might have been able to communicate," she said.
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? A private survey shows U.S. businesses added just 135,000 jobs in May, the second straight month of weak gains.
Payroll provider ADP said Wednesday that May's gain was above April's revised total of 113,000. But it's much lower than the gains ADP reported over the winter, which averaged more than 200,000 a month from November through February.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, blamed the slowdown on higher taxes and steep government spending cuts enacted this year.
The ADP survey is derived from payroll data and tracks private employment. It has diverged at times from the government's more comprehensive monthly jobs report, which will be released Friday. In April, the government said private employers added 176,000 jobs, much higher than the ADP's estimate.
Economists say the gap between the ADP's survey and the government figures has narrowed since Moody's Analytics began compiling the numbers eight months ago. Still, it has differed from the Labor Department's report by about 40,000 a month since then.
"The ADP survey has never been the most reliable indicator," Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, said in a note to clients.
Economists forecast that the government's report will show employers added 170,000 jobs in May, according to a survey by FactSet. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at a four-year low of 7.5 percent.
Most economists said the ADP report wouldn't prompt them to change their forecasts. Zandi acknowledged that the ADP has undershot the government's figure in recent months.
The ADP report found that manufacturing companies cut 6,000 jobs last month. Construction firms added only 5,000, below the previous month's 15,000 gain.
Retail hiring has also been weak, Zandi said, a sign that consumers could be spending less because of the increase in Social Security taxes.
If the government report Friday shows slower job growth, too, the Federal Reserve would be less inclined to scale back its pace of bond buying, economists said. The Fed is purchasing about $85 billion in Treasury and mortgage-backed bonds each month in an effort keep interest rates low.
Minutes of the past meeting showed that several members favored reducing the bond purchases if the economy demonstrates strong and sustained growth. And Chairman Ben Bernanke told a congressional panel last month that the Fed could slow the pace of the bond purchases over the next few meetings, if the job market shows "real and sustainable progress."
Economists forecast growth is slowing to around a 2 percent annual pace in the April-June quarter, down from 2.4 percent in the first three months of the year.
Consumers and businesses are likely slowing their spending because of the tax increases and spending cuts. And weaker global growth has reduced demand for U.S. exports, which has slowed activity at U.S. factories.
Dick Clark studio:?Syracuse is in the midst of an $18 million refurbishing of the studio, which is in one of the three buildings that house the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
By David Brauder,?Associated Press / June 6, 2013
Dick Clark hosts the New Year's eve special from New York's Times Square in this undated photo.
Donna Svennevik/AP/File
Enlarge
Syracuse University said Wednesday that it will name a renovated broadcasting studio on its campus after the late television producer and host?Dick?Clark, who graduated from the school.
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Syracuse is in the midst of an $18 million refurbishing of the studio, which is in one of the three buildings that house the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The project is expected to be done by September 2014, said Newhouse Dean Lorraine Branham.
Clark, the former "American Bandstand" host and creator of ABC's annual New Year's Eve telecast, died in 2012.
Clark's?widow, Kari, brought a $5 million check Wednesday to the Mirror Awards ceremony in New York, which annually honors journalists reporting on the media. Branham said it was the largest single gift toward the renovation.
"This is just a continuation of what he did with 'Bandstand' ? he gave youth a stage, then got out of the way," Kari?Clark?said.
Some 18 members of the?Clark?family have attended Syracuse, said?Clark's?daughter, Cindy, a 1986 graduate.?Clark?also donated $1 million for academic scholarships to the Syracuse fraternity he belonged to.
The Newhouse building that is headquarters for Syracuse's radio and television news programs opened in 1974. While its facilities were state of the art then, it is now outdated and putting the university at a competitive disadvantage with similar college programs, Branham said.
The project will make the Newhouse facilities fully digital. The renovation will include high-definition production rooms, a virtual set studio and other spaces for classroom and lab space and room for the student-run television station.
Clark?graduated from Syracuse in 1951, and began his broadcasting career at the city's WOLF-AM radio station his senior year.
The Canon PowerShot Elph 115 IS ($169.99 direct)?is the least expensive model in the Elph series, a line of cameras that have historically been known for solid build quality and compact dimensions. It packs an 8x lens into a svelte body, but its 16-megapixel CCD sensor leaves a bit to be desired when compared with more expensive models that capture images using CMOS technology. It's also a little pricey in comparison to our Editors' Choice budget camera, the Canon PowerShot A1400, especially when you consider that the two models offer similar image quality and performance.
Design and Features The 115 IS is very compact, measuring just 2.1 by 3.7 by 0.9 inches (HWD) and weighing just 3.7 ounces. It can be had in blue, pink, silver, or black. As small as it is, the Elph isn't the tiniest camera we've tested; Nikon's Coolpix S01 is a mere 2.1 by 3.1 by 0.7 inches and a bit lighter at 3.4 ounces. That camera doesn't offer nearly as many control options as the Elph, which offers a Program mode in addition to fully automatic shooting.
The lens is an 8x design; it covers a 28-224mm (35mm equivalent) focal range, which is a useful one. The aperture is modest, opening up to f/3.2 at the widest angle and dwindling all the way to f/6.9 when zoomed all the way in. When you factor in the camera's relatively poor performance at high ISO settings you are left with a compact camera that's best used in brighter light. The lens is stabilized, so you should be able to get away with longer shutter speeds when shooting static subjects, but you'll have to ask people to be still when trying to get a shot in dimmer light without the flash. The Canon PowerShot Elph 330 HS is a bit more expensive and its 10x lens also struggles to capture light when zoomed all the way; it makes up for it by performing much better at higher ISO settings, which made it our Editors' Choice winner among mid-level pocket cameras.
Even though there's no full manual shooting mode, there are enough physical controls to keep veteran shooters happy, but not so much that novice snapshooters will be intimidated. A toggle switch changes between Automatic and Program shooting. There are physical controls to make your photos brighter or darker with exposure compensation, to enable or disable the flash, and to activate macro shooting. You can also set the ISO, change the white balance, and adjust the light metering pattern. If you opt to shoot in Automatic mode you'll only be able to enable or disable the flash; other shooting controls are disabled.
The rear LCD is a little small at 2.7 inches. Its resolution is 230k dots, which is also on the low side, even for a camera at this price point. The Elph 130 IS sells for about $30 more and features a larger 3-inch LCD with a 460k-dot resolution. The lower resolution display is noticeably grainer and details can be hard to make out, especially when you're reviewing images to confirm they are sharply focused and free of blur.
Performance and Conclusions Be prepared to wait a bit when shooting with the Elph 115 IS. It requires 1.9 seconds to start and take a shot, and there's a long 1.4-second wait between shots. The shutter lag is acceptable at 0.2 seconds. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX80 is also slow to start at just about 2 seconds, but can grab a 10-shot burst of photos at about 6.7 frames per second and manages to cut its shutter lag to 0.1 seconds.
I used Imatest to measure just how sharp the photos captured by the Elph 115 IS are. We consider a photo to be sharp if it scores 1,800 lines per picture height using a center-weighted score on our SFR Plus test chart. The Elph does just a bit better than this, notching 1,871 lines. It's a perfectly fine score, better than the 1,755 lines that the Samsung DV150F managed.
Imatest also checks photos for noise, which is most noticeable when the sensitivity to light (ISO) is increased. If a photo is made up of more than 1.5 percent noise it appears grainy and minute details start to vanish. The Elph 115 IS crosses this barrier at a relatively low setting; at ISO 400 images contain 1.7 percent noise, showing a good amount of grain but thankfully not losing too much in terms of detail. Pushing the camera to ISO 800 increases noise and begins to smudge away textures, but it's not until the maximum ISO 1600 that images become really muddy. We compared the photos with those from another camera that does a better job at higher ISO settings using a calibrated NEC MultiSync PA271W LCD display. The Canon PowerShot Elph 330 HS keeps noise under 1.5 percent through ISO 1600?that lets you shoot in about an quarter of the light as the Elph 115 IS and get similar results.
Video recording isn't the camera's strong suit. It's limited to 720p25 capture in QuickTime format, and while the footage looks OK, it's not great. Even under studio lights the footage looks grainy. You can zoom in and out while recording, and while the sound of the lens wasn't overbearing on the soundtrack, the general sound levels of the video were much lower than we're used to hearing. The camera includes a dedicated wall charger for its rechargeable battery. That's good news if you're the type of photographer who likes to carry a spare battery; you won't have to stop shooting while charging as you do with other models that require you to charge the battery inside the camera. The only interface port is a standard mini USB connector, and as usual SD, SDHC, and SDXC memory cards are supported by the Elph.
The Canon PowerShot Elph 115 IS is a very good camera when used in bright light. If you're going to be shooting indoors at home, though, expect to rely on the flash for illumination, as the camera struggles mightily at higher sensitivities. If you're on a budget, you may find that the Canon PowerShot A1400 is a better choice; its 5x zoom isn't quite as ambitious at the 8x lens found in the 115 IS, and you'll have to go back to using AA batteries to power it?but it includes an optical viewfinder, image quality and performance are on par, and it sells for a little bit over $100. If you can stretch your budget, the $230 PowerShot Elph 330 HS is a much more versatile camera?one that does much better in low light and packs built-in Wi-Fi.
In order to equip enterprise devs with the proper tools to create custom Maps, Google announced the Maps Engine API. The kit allows users to leverage the outfit's cloud muscle to layer appropriate info on a Google Map and publish the results for either internal or widespread use. Direct access to Maps Engine is provided through the API and web, Android, iOS and server-to-server platforms are all in play. A few companies have already put the goods to use -- FedEx is leveraging it to search its locations for the closest shipping option.
>>>of drones by the u.s. overseas. the president gave a speech on the topic. part of the appeal of using drones in place of live personnel is their accuracy but they may not be as precise as many u.s. officials claim. our report on this tonight from our chief foreign correspondent
richard engel
.
>> reporter: look at the tall man in white flanked by body guards. experts say it's
osama bin laden
in
afghanistan
one year before 9/11 in footage captured by the very first
predator drone
mission. but the drone isn't armed. a year later, drones are fitted with rockets and pakistan quickly turns into a
hunting ground
. an estimated 49 drone strikes under
president bush
. more than 300 under
president obama
.
>>conventional
air power
or missiles are far less precise than drones and are likely to cause more
civilian casualties
.
>> reporter: does the u.s. always know who drone strikes are actually killing?
nbc
news has examined classified documents detailing 114 drone strikes in pakistan in
2010
and '11. locations, death tolls, alleged terrorist affiliations. they also reveal what u.s. officials don't know like how many killed. between seven and ten in one strike, 20 to 22 in another. u.s. officials do seem certain they almost never kill civilians. in those 114 strikes, only one acknowledged
civilian casualty
.
>>they want to maintain the myth that civilians are not harmed with drone strikes which is implausible.
>> reporter: what's more, a quarter of those killed are described generically as, quote, other militants. it suggests u.s. oh officih -- officials don't always know how many or who they are killing. targets based on a signature profile. where they live, who they meet, who they talk to. several senior officials informed
nbc
news they had concerns about signature strikes. one told us the u.s. sometimes executes people based on circumstantial evidence. many counter terrorism officials insist drones are more precise than conventional attacks and they work. with a proven track record against
al qaeda
.
>>it's been a tremendous step forward in
military technology
. it's combined the capabilities of oh surveillance strike and long endurance in one platform.
>> reporter: drones are part of war now. but determining from afar who is a terrorist remains less precise than the weapons used to kill them. responding to our story a senior
white house
official told
nbc
news a major justification for many of the drone strikes is protecting
u.s. troops
in and around
afghanistan
.
president obama
has said as u.s. troop numbers in
afghanistan
goes down, so will the strikes.
>>richard engel
with tonight's investigation. thanks for your work.
This Saturday, Joan Rivers, the woman who has rejuvenated her visage so successfully that nobody on Earth has had any notion of her real age for decades, will celebrate her 80th birthday. And I, for one, am outraged. The fact that this occasion has not been declared a national holiday is a shonda of epic proportions. (Expect more Yiddish in the coming paragraphs.) Joan is, quite simply, a national treasure.
We all owe Joan a massive debt of gratitude. Without Joan, life in our celebrity-obsessed society would not be worth living. Joan is our guiding light. She has shown us all that, even though we are force-fed endless drivel about self-important A-listers from morning till night, there is no reason why we have to take that crap lying down. She gives us carte blanche to rip those freebie-crazed red-carpet deities to shreds at every opportunity. Without Joan and her complete lack of respect, we would all be stuck in a perpetual episode of Inside the Actors Studio.
I became aware of Joan?s passion for no-holds-barred celebrity debunkery back in the ?80s. Around this time June Allyson had somewhat recklessly elected to become a high-profile spokeslady for a well-known brand of adult diapers. It is no exaggeration to say that every time one turned on one?s telly, one was subjected to an endless stream of saccharine incontinence-themed testimonials from the gravelly voiced Ms. Allyson. Joan to the rescue. In her nightly monologue, La Rivers would invariably lob a grenade or two at old June: ?Sheesh! It?s so humid in New York today, June Allyson is wearing two pairs of Depends. ? Oh, please ? grow up!!?
June?s only consolation must surely have been that, regularly mocked though she was, at least she wasn?t Elizabeth Taylor. At that point in her career Miss Taylor, and her fluctuating weight, were getting the lion?s share of Joan?s loving attention: ?Liz Taylor! Can we talk? Now she has to put Vaseline on her hips to squeeze through the Golden Arches. Grow up!?
Not all of Joan?s celeb mockery was so brash. Joan has always been capable of exquisitely subtle barbs. I vividly remember Grace Jones riding onto Joan?s stage, posing, growling, roaring, snarling, and sucking in her cheeks (both sets) while straddling a Harley and wearing a bizarre, hired-assassin leather new wave outfit. ?Just a simple girl with a dream,? deadpanned Joan.
Joan and I got acquainted in the mid-1980s when I was working at Barneys in downtown Manhattan. At this point Ms. Rivers was a major TV star and a major customer. We were wardrobing her for her nightly chat show?she favored Chanel, Valentino, Geoffrey Beene, and Karl Lagerfeld?but, unlike the freebie-crazed celebs of today, she always ended up buying most of the high-priced designer schmattas. Cheap she is not.
Joan was at the store constantly for fittings. It was during this time that I got to study this bitchy broad up close ? only to find out that she was anything but. Joan Rivers is shockingly thoughtful, polite, and kind. Quel paradoxe! The viper-tongued vixen is actually a total softie who was idolized by the Barneys staff. She remembered names, birthdays, traumas, hysterectomies, dead pets, live pets. If anybody got pregnant or kicked the bucket, Joan was the first to offer congrats or condolences. Look up the word hamische in the Yiddish dictionary: Next to it you will find a picture of Joan Alexandra Rivers, nee Molinsky.
In 1990 I decided it was time to pay tribute to our favorite customer by creating a Joan Rivers holiday window homage. I commissioned a life-size caricature from artist Martha King. Also in this diorama was a replica of Joan?s beloved Yorkie, Spike. The other major prop was a June Allyson wreath constructed entirely of Depends adult diapers (fresh and unworn). It was quickly edited from the window when I realized it was not producing any laughs, because it resembled a depressingly lumpy life preserver.
The discarded diaper wreath left us in need of a little humorous garnish. Joan to the rescue, again! Before you could say, ?Borscht Belt,? Joan had faxed through some thigh-slapping holiday one-liners, which covered a banner we draped across the back of the window, much to the delight of passersby:
By Tony Jimenez LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Jose Mourinho's return to Chelsea throws up a host of thought-provoking sub plots, none more intriguing than the question of whether the new coach feels John Terry and Fernando Torres have a future at the club. Captain Terry was relegated to fourth-choice centre half under interim boss Rafa Benitez last season and, although Torres had his best season in Chelsea blue, the Spain striker has only bagged one goal in the Premier League in 2013. ...
China's President Xi Jinping, center, and his wife Peng Liyuan hold the "Key to the City" given to them by San Jose Mayor Johnny Araya in San Jose, Costa Rica, Monday, June 3, 2013. After Costa Rica, Xi has planned stops in Mexico and the United States. Trinidad, a leading supplier of natural gas, was his first stop of a four-country trip in the region. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
China's President Xi Jinping, center, and his wife Peng Liyuan hold the "Key to the City" given to them by San Jose Mayor Johnny Araya in San Jose, Costa Rica, Monday, June 3, 2013. After Costa Rica, Xi has planned stops in Mexico and the United States. Trinidad, a leading supplier of natural gas, was his first stop of a four-country trip in the region. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
China's President Xi Jinping talks during a press conference at the presidential house in San Jose, Costa Rica, Monday, June 3, 2013. After Costa Rica, Xi has planned stops in Mexico and the United States. Trinidad, a leading supplier of natural gas, was his first stop of a four-country trip in the region. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) ? Chinese President Xi Jinping and American counterpart Barack Obama will talk cyber-security this week in California, but experts say the state's Silicon Valley and its signature high-tech firms should provide the front lines in the increasingly aggressive fight against overseas hackers.
With China seeking to grow its economy and expand its technology base, companies like Facebook, Apple, Google and Twitter are inviting targets. In fact, all have been attacked and all point the finger at China, which has denied any role.
The U.S. government has stepped up efforts to thwart cyber-attacks, but those efforts are mainly focused at protecting its own secrets, especially regarding military operations and technologies.
Paul Rosenzweig, a former Department of Homeland Security official whose Red Branch Consulting provides national security advice, said the responsibility for preventing attacks in the private sector lies with the U.S. innovators who created the technology that's being hacked in the first place.
"To some degree, they were getting a pass," he said. "If a car manufacturer made a car that was routinely able to be stolen, they'd be sued. If software is made with gaps that are a liability, they bear some responsibility, and in recent years there's been a sea change in high tech firms accepting that responsibility."
Big firms like Google employ thousands of security experts who can spot a potential attack on just a few individuals and quickly disseminate protection for everyone using their products. Google routinely detects unsafe websites that spread malicious software or trick people into revealing personal information, posting warnings in front of users and contacting webmasters who may have been hacked.
But Chinese hackers have managed to hit even Google, and in a book released this spring, Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt said China is the world's "most sophisticated and prolific hacker."
Cybersecurity is high on the agenda for the meeting between Obama and Xi on Friday and Saturday in Southern California's Rancho Mirage. A recent government report found nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs and almost 30 other defense technologies were compromised by cyber intrusions from China. Earlier this year, cybersecurity firm Mandiant linked a secret Chinese military unit to years of cyber-attacks against U.S. companies.
Mandiant's chief security officer, Richard Bejtlich, said his firm tracks more than 20 potentially threating groups of hackers in China, some with links to the government and military.
China's government denies any involvement, with Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng telling reporters Sunday that the U.S. claims "underestimate the intelligence of the Chinese people."
Frustration is growing, however, as the attacks continue. Although none have come out publically, analysts say some U.S. companies even are considering cyber-attacks of their own as retaliation, even though it's illegal. Retaliatory hacking was a hot topic at the 2013 RSA Conference on tech security in March, where attorneys and sitting judges even held a mock trial over an imaginary firm that struck back.
And on May 20, the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, headed by former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman and former U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, recommended that Congress and the Obama administration reconsider the laws banning retaliation.
"If counterattacks against hackers were legal, there are many techniques that companies could employ that would cause severe damage to the capability of those conducting IP theft," they wrote.
Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer at security firm BeyondTrust in San Diego, warns against private firms going on the offensive.
"There are a lot of people lobbying to 'hack back' but I think that is a disastrous idea," said Maiffrett, who was a hacker of government sites before discovering the first Microsoft computer worm, "CodeRed."
"Most of corporate America is failing to secure themselves, let alone become competent hackers to hack back against someone like a China."
Tim Junio, who studies cyber-attacks at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation, doesn't expect much to change because of the Xi-Obama talks.
"China benefits too much by stealing intellectual property from the U.S., so it's really hard to imagine anyone convincing them to slow down," he said.
Indeed, the payoff for successfully stealing critical information can be enormous. For example, if a company spends many millions of dollars developing expensive intellectual property, such as a pharmaceutical firm investing in a new drug, it's very cost-effective for a Chinese firm or government entity to dedicate a small team of hackers to gain access to that company's networks.
A patient approach of sending emails for months, hoping an employee eventually clicks on a link or opens an attachment that they shouldn't, usually works. It's a probabilities game, and the offense has the advantage, especially when targeting a company with thousands of employees. Sooner or later, someone will make a mistake.
Hackers then sell the stolen intellectual property to competing companies, which can try to replicate the product and sell counterfeits at a cut rate. For a developing country like China, this is a great way to stimulate domestic economic growth.
Junio suspects that China's political leaders may not even be aware of the extent of hacking by their own cyber teams, because corrupt government officials may also be using them for personal gain.
James Barnett, former chief of public safety and homeland security for the Federal Communications Commission, said the government's role in fighting Chinese hackers should be to offer high-tech firms tax deductions, credits or liability limits.
"The private sector's role is to continue to innovate, something it can do much better than the government, and something that Silicon Valley does better than just about anywhere in the world," he said.
___
Follow Martha Mendoza on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mendozamartha
Contact: Richard Merritt richard.merritt@duke.edu 919-660-8414 Duke University
DURHAM, N.C. -- Using a novel genetic 'editing' technique, Duke University biomedical engineers have been able to repair a defect responsible for one of the most common inherited disorders, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, in cell samples from Duchenne patients.
Instead of the common gene therapy approach of adding new genetic material to "override" the faulty gene, the Duke scientists have developed a way to change the existing mutated gene responsible for the disorder into a normally functioning gene. The Duke researchers believe their approach could be safer and more stable than current methods of gene therapy.
The researchers are now conducting further tests of this new approach in animal models of the disease.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease affecting one in 3,600 newborn males. The genetic mutation is found on the X chromosome, of which males have only one copy. (Females, with two X chromosomes, presumably have at least one good copy of the gene.)
Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy cannot produce the protein known as dystrophin, which is essential in maintaining the structural integrity of muscle fibers. Over time, patients with the disorder suffer gradual muscle deterioration, which leads to paralysis and eventual death, usually by age 25.
"Conventional genetic approaches to treating the disease involve adding normal genes to compensate for the mutated genes," said Charles Gersbach, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and member of Duke's Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. "However, this can cause other unforeseen problems, or the beneficial effect does not always last very long.
"Our approach actually repairs the faulty gene, which is a lot simpler," said David Ousterout, the Duke biomedical engineering graduate student in the Gersbach lab who led the work. "It finds the faulty gene, and fixes it so it can start producing a functional protein again."
The results of the Duke study were published online in Molecular Therapy, the journal of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy. The project was supported by the Hartwell Foundation, the March of Dimes Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
The Duke experiments, which were carried out in cell samples from Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, were made possible by using a new technology for building synthetic proteins known as transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), which are artificial enzymes that can be engineered to bind to and modify almost any gene sequence.
These TALENs bind to the defective gene, and can correct the mutation to create a normally functioning gene.
"There is currently no effective treatment for this disease," Gersbach said. "Patients usually are in a wheelchair by the age of ten and many die in their late teens or early twenties."
Duchenne muscular dystrophy has been extensively studied by scientists, and it is believed that more than 60 percent of patients with this type of mutation can be treated with this novel genetic approach.
"Previous studies indicate that restoring the production of dystrophin proteins will be highly functional and alleviate disease symptoms when expressed in skeletal muscle tissue," said Ousterout.
Similar approaches could be helpful in treating other genetic diseases where a few gene mutations are responsible, such as sickle cell disease, hemophilia, or other muscular dystrophies, Gersbach said.
###
Other members of the team were Duke's Pablo Perez-Pinera, Pratiksha Thakore, Ami Kabadi, Matthew Brown, Xiaoxia Qin, and Olivier Fedrigo. Other participants were Vincent Mouly, Universite Pierre at Marie Curie, Paris, and Jacques Tremblay, Universite Laval, Quebec.
Citation: "Reading frame correction by targeted genome editing restores dystrophin expression in cells from Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients," David Ousterout, et. al, Molecular Therapy, DOI 10.1038/mt.2013.111.
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Contact: Richard Merritt richard.merritt@duke.edu 919-660-8414 Duke University
DURHAM, N.C. -- Using a novel genetic 'editing' technique, Duke University biomedical engineers have been able to repair a defect responsible for one of the most common inherited disorders, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, in cell samples from Duchenne patients.
Instead of the common gene therapy approach of adding new genetic material to "override" the faulty gene, the Duke scientists have developed a way to change the existing mutated gene responsible for the disorder into a normally functioning gene. The Duke researchers believe their approach could be safer and more stable than current methods of gene therapy.
The researchers are now conducting further tests of this new approach in animal models of the disease.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease affecting one in 3,600 newborn males. The genetic mutation is found on the X chromosome, of which males have only one copy. (Females, with two X chromosomes, presumably have at least one good copy of the gene.)
Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy cannot produce the protein known as dystrophin, which is essential in maintaining the structural integrity of muscle fibers. Over time, patients with the disorder suffer gradual muscle deterioration, which leads to paralysis and eventual death, usually by age 25.
"Conventional genetic approaches to treating the disease involve adding normal genes to compensate for the mutated genes," said Charles Gersbach, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and member of Duke's Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. "However, this can cause other unforeseen problems, or the beneficial effect does not always last very long.
"Our approach actually repairs the faulty gene, which is a lot simpler," said David Ousterout, the Duke biomedical engineering graduate student in the Gersbach lab who led the work. "It finds the faulty gene, and fixes it so it can start producing a functional protein again."
The results of the Duke study were published online in Molecular Therapy, the journal of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy. The project was supported by the Hartwell Foundation, the March of Dimes Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
The Duke experiments, which were carried out in cell samples from Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, were made possible by using a new technology for building synthetic proteins known as transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), which are artificial enzymes that can be engineered to bind to and modify almost any gene sequence.
These TALENs bind to the defective gene, and can correct the mutation to create a normally functioning gene.
"There is currently no effective treatment for this disease," Gersbach said. "Patients usually are in a wheelchair by the age of ten and many die in their late teens or early twenties."
Duchenne muscular dystrophy has been extensively studied by scientists, and it is believed that more than 60 percent of patients with this type of mutation can be treated with this novel genetic approach.
"Previous studies indicate that restoring the production of dystrophin proteins will be highly functional and alleviate disease symptoms when expressed in skeletal muscle tissue," said Ousterout.
Similar approaches could be helpful in treating other genetic diseases where a few gene mutations are responsible, such as sickle cell disease, hemophilia, or other muscular dystrophies, Gersbach said.
###
Other members of the team were Duke's Pablo Perez-Pinera, Pratiksha Thakore, Ami Kabadi, Matthew Brown, Xiaoxia Qin, and Olivier Fedrigo. Other participants were Vincent Mouly, Universite Pierre at Marie Curie, Paris, and Jacques Tremblay, Universite Laval, Quebec.
Citation: "Reading frame correction by targeted genome editing restores dystrophin expression in cells from Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients," David Ousterout, et. al, Molecular Therapy, DOI 10.1038/mt.2013.111.
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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.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than 7,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq have crossed back to the rebel-held Syrian border town of Albu Kamal in recent weeks due to better security there, an Iraqi official said on Sunday.
The reverse flow coincides with a lull in battles and air raids by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military, which has been on the offensive elsewhere in Syria, especially in the western town of Qusair, around Damascus and in the south.
The mayor of the Iraqi border town of al-Qaim said 7,000 out of 11,000 Syrian refugees hosted there had returned home.
"Each week, we receive refugee requests to go back to their towns across the border, they are freely going back," Farhan Ftaikhan told Reuters by telephone.
"The security situation in Albu Kamal is very calm. There have been no clashes or air strikes for about three months."
Around 152,000 Syrian refugees have been registered in Iraq, according to the U.N. refugee agency, most of them Kurds and Sunni Muslims who fled to Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and the Sunni-dominated western province of Anbar.
Dealing with Syrian refugees has been a tricky question for Iraq's Shi'ite-led government, which fears Sunni Islamist fighters seeping back across the border from Syria's conflict to worsen Iraq's own increasingly sectarian violence.
Iraqi security officials worry that Syrian rebel-held border towns will become bases for Sunni Islamist insurgents and al Qaeda to launch attacks in Iraq. Al Qaeda's local wing has already benefited from the flow of arms and fighters into Syria.
More than 1,000 people were killed in Iraq in May, making it the deadliest month since the Sunni-Shi'ite slaughter of 2006-2007, the United Nations said on Saturday.
The renewed bloodletting reflects worsening tensions between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunnis angered at their treatment since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 overthrew Saddam Hussein.
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Public release date: 4-Jun-2013
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