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CHICAGO ? Officials are investigating the events surrounding a power failure at a nuclear reactor in northern Illinois, but believe they may have traced the cause to a piece of equipment at a switchyard.

After the shutdown Monday morning at Exelon Nuclear's Byron Generating Station, operators began releasing steam to cool the reactor from the part of the plant where turbines produce electricity, not from within the nuclear reactor itself, officials said. The steam contains low levels of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, but federal and plant officials insisted the levels were safe for workers and the public.

Exelon Nuclear officials believe a failed piece of equipment at a switchyard at the plant about 95 miles northwest of Chicago caused the shutdown, but they were still investigating an exact cause. The switchyard is similar to a large substation that delivers power to the plant from the electrical grid and from the plant to the electrical grid.

Diesel generators were supplying the reactor with electricity, though it hasn't been generating power during the investigation into what happened. One question is why smoke was seen from an onsite station transformer, though no evidence of a fire was found when the plant's fire brigade responded, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng said.

The commission declared the incident an "unusual event," the lowest of four levels of emergency. Commission officials also said the release of tritium was expected.

Mitlyng said officials can't yet calculate how much tritium was released. They know the amounts were small because monitors around the plant didn't show increased levels of radiation, she said.

Tritium molecules are so microscopic that small amounts are able to pass from radioactive steam that originates in the reactor through tubing and into the water used to cool turbines and other equipment outside the reactor, Mitlyng said. The steam that was being released was coming from the turbine side.

Tritium is relatively short-lived and penetrates the body weakly through the air compared to other radioactive contaminants.

Releasing steam helps "take away some of that energy still being produced by nuclear reaction but that doesn't have anywhere to go now," Mitlyng said. Even though the turbine is not turning to produce electricity, she said, "you still need to cool the equipment."

Candace Humphrey, Ogle County's emergency management coordinator, said county officials were notified of the incident as soon as it happened and that public safety was never in danger.

"It was standard procedure that they would notify county officials," she said. "There is always concern. But, it never crossed my mind that there was any danger to the people of Ogle County."

Another reactor at the plant was operating normally.

In March 2008, federal officials said they were investigating a problem with electrical transformers at the plant after outside power to a unit was interrupted.

In an unrelated issue last April, the commission said it was conducting special inspections of backup water pumps at the Byron and Braidwood generating stations after the agency's inspectors raised concerns about whether the pumps would be able to cool the reactors if the normal system wasn't working. The plants' operator, Exelon Corp., initially said the pumps would work but later concluded they wouldn't.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_re_us/us_nuclear_plant_illinois

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OSLO, Norway ? Two men accused of plotting to attack a Danish newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad were found guilty Monday of terror charges in Norway, the first convictions under the country's anti-terror laws.

The Oslo district court sentenced alleged ringleader Mikael Davud to seven years in prison and co-defendant Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak to three and a half years.

Judge Oddmund Svarteberg said the court found that Davud "planned the attack together with al-Qaida."

A third defendant, David Jakobsen, was cleared of terror charges but convicted of helping the others acquire explosives. Jakobsen, who assisted police in the investigation, was sentenced to four months.

Investigators say the plot was linked to the same al-Qaida planners behind thwarted attacks against the New York subway system and a British shopping mall in 2009.

The case was Norway's most high-profile terror investigation until last July, when a right-wing extremist killed 77 people in a bomb and shooting massacre.

The three men, who were arrested in July 2010, made some admissions but pleaded innocent to terror conspiracy charges and rejected any links to al-Qaida.

During the trial Davud denied he was taking orders from al-Qaida, saying he was planning a solo raid against the Chinese Embassy in Oslo. He said he wanted revenge for Beijing's oppression of Uighurs, a Muslim minority in western China.

Davud, a Norwegian citizen, also said his co-defendants helped him acquire bomb-making ingredients but didn't know he was planning an attack.

Prosecutors said the Norwegian cell first wanted to attack Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, whose 12 cartoons of Muhammad sparked furious protests in Muslim countries in 2006, and then changed plans to seek to murder one of the cartoonists instead.

Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd, said the paper and the cartoonist were indeed the targets, but described the plans as "just talk."

Prosecutors had to prove the defendants worked together in a conspiracy, because a single individual plotting an attack is not covered under Norway's anti-terror laws.

During the trial, prosecutors presented testimony obtained in the U.S. in April from three American al-Qaida recruits turned government witnesses.

Jakobsen, an Uzbek national who changed his name after moving to Norway, provided some of the chemicals for the bomb, but claims he did not know they were meant for explosives. Jakobsen contacted police and served as an informant, but still faced charges for his involvement before that.

The men had been under surveillance for more than a year when authorities moved to arrest them in July 2010. Norwegian investigators, who worked with their U.S. counterparts, said the defendants were building a bomb in a basement laboratory in Oslo.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_eu/eu_norway_terror_trial

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LOS ANGELES ? When your dinner party guests include Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Kate Winslet and Glenn Close, and the whole affair is televised live, it can take months to plan the menu. That's why the team behind the Screen Actors Guild Awards began putting together the plate for Sunday's ceremony months ago.

It was still summer when show producer Kathy Connell and executive producer and director Jeff Margolis first sat down with chef Suzanne Goins of Los Angeles eatery Lucques with a tall order: Create a meal that is delicious at room temperature, looks beautiful on TV, is easy to eat and appeals to Hollywood tastes. Oh, and no poppy seeds, soups, spicy dishes, or piles of onions or garlic.

"It can't drip, stick in their teeth or be too heavy," Connell said. "We have to appease all palates."

The chef put together a plate of possibilities: slow-roasted salmon with yellow beets, lamb with couscous and spiced cauliflower and roasted root vegetables with quinoa. There was also a chopped chicken salad and another chicken dish with black beans.

To ensure the dishes are both tasty and TV-ready, Connell and Margolis, along with the SAG Awards Committee and the show's florist and art director, dined together at this summertime lunch on tables set to replicate those that will be in the Shrine Exposition Center during the ceremony. The pewter, crushed-silk tablecloths and white lilies you'll see on TV Sunday were also chosen months ago.

The diners discussed the look of the plate, the size of the portions and the vegetarian possibilities.

"We'd like the portions a little larger," Connell told the chef.

"And a little more sauce on the salmon," Margolis added.

Come Sunday, it's up to Goins to prepare 1,200 of the long-planned meals for the A-list audience.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_en_ot/us_sag_awards_menu

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tovarkyra44

This probably shouldn't shock too many people but, Tim Cook believes the future isn't with the PC, but with the tablet. After shipping 15.4 million iPads in Q1 Cupertino is clearly comfortable with the idea that tablets are taking off and, as we begin to demand our devices become more mobile, it only makes sense that these finger-friendly slates will one day outsell less portable options like laptops and desktops. When might that day come? Well, Mr. Cook refused to speculate, but he was confident that the tablet market will be bigger, at least in terms of units sold, than traditional computers. Cook is already seeing a shift, with the iPad cannibalizing some Mac sales, but he does believe "there's more cannibalization of Windows PCs by the iPad," a trend he clearly loves. We hope, for their own sake, Dell and HP are ready for the coming revolution.

Tim Cook: The tablet will be bigger than the PC one day originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/wFSHe9UbRxE/

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tovarkyra44

China?s sovereign wealth fund?s move last week to invest in London water supplier Thames Water puts focus on potential overseas investment in the year of Dragon from China?s central bank PBOC, which plans to create a $300 billion vehicle to invest in Europe and the United States.

After Reuters reported on the plan in December, the PBOC and State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), which manages reserves, have been mum. A tiny?drop in the country?s reserves, still standing at $3.18 trillion, brings only a small comfort to the world?s largest reserve holder as it struggles with low returns on its sovereign debt portfolios in U.S. Treasuries?(earning almost nothing) and euro zone sovereign debt (under growing risk of further ratings downgrades).

China, which regularly intervenes in the FX market to keep a lid on the yuan exchange rate to keep its exports competitive, is suffering??negative carry? ? the difference between the cost of intervention and its overseas investment.

This is how the negative carry arises: The People?s Bank of China buys U.S. dollars in the FX market. When it intervenes, it pumps yuan into the domestic banking system. This extra liquidity, if left, can cause inflation. The PBOC therefore needs to mop this up by issuing ?sterilisation bonds?.

The sterilisation is not cheap.?As ?foreign reserves keep accumulating, the PBC has to issue more debt for sterilisation purposes, which may drive up the interest rates on the PBOC bills.

So far, Chenying Zhang of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that?the PBOC?s income from foreign reserves investment has exceeded its sterilization cost consistently from 2003 to 2010.

Zhang, in her paper, estimated the PBOC?s cost of sterilization and compared it with its income from the foreign reserves investment from the period 2003 to2010. She finds that?China?s FX reserves have to drop around 36% (or to put it in another way, the RMB has to appreciate by more than 50% against the US dollar) before it fails to cover the sterilization cost of the PBOC.

But the yield on U.S. and euro zone government bonds are falling further.?Given the yield on one-year U.S. Treasuries stands at a?paltry?0.1025 percent, the cost of carry right now could be as much as 200 basis points. The pressure to find higher-yielding assets must be great.

?If foreign interest rates keep dropping, China will suffer a more drastic decrease in its income from foreign reserves, especially if its investment is of a shorter term than that was estimated,? Zhang writes.

Also worth remembering is the point that Beijing?is using this implicit tournament between the CIC and State Administration of Foreign Exchange as a carrot and stick mechanism with which to discipline sovereign wealth managers. So SAFE must be feeling peer pressure from CIC which seems to have made a head start in 2012.

Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting/2012/01/23/new-year-new-investment-cic-makes-a-head-start/

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tovarkyra44

JUBA (Reuters) ? South Sudan said Monday it started shutting down oil production and accused Sudan of seizing $815 million worth of crude, escalating an increasingly bitter row over oil revenues between the former civil war foes.

South Sudan seceded last July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between north and south, but the two have remained locked in a dispute over how to untangle their oil industries.

The new landlocked nation needs to use a northern pipeline and the port of Port Sudan to export its crude but has failed to reach an agreement with Khartoum over a transit fee, prompting Sudan to start seizing oil as compensation.

South Sudan started shutting down oil output Sunday and expected to finish the process within two weeks, government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Reuters by phone.

"The task force has been formed for the shutdown and they are already in the fields carrying out the instructions," he said, listing the Thar Jath field in Unity state as one field where the shutdown had begun.

Officials said in November South Sudan was producing about 350,000 barrels of oil per day.

China is the biggest buyer of oil from the two countries, some 12.99 million barrels last year. That amounted to five percent of last year's crude imports by China, which is also the top investor in South Sudan's oilfields.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir accused Khartoum of having "looted" revenues amounting to roughly $815 million and building a tie-in pipeline to divert 120,000 barrels per day of southern production flowing through the north.

"Given our history with the administration of (Sudan's) President Bashir, we realize that, unfortunately, we must prepare for a disruption of revenue that could last many months," Kiir told parliament in Juba.

The justice ministry in South Sudan's capital Juba published a list of three vessels it said had been forced to load southern oil at Port Sudan on orders from Khartoum.

The MT Sea Sky loaded 605,784 barrels on January 13/14, the MT Al Nouf around 750,000 barrels on January 16/17 and the MT Ratna Shradha another 600,000 barrels on Jan 19/20, the ministry said.

Officials in Khartoum could not immediately be reached for comment. Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told Reuters last week that Khartoum was entitled to seize oil to compensate for transit fees.

South Sudanese officials have said they are planning to build a new pipeline to export oil through East Africa, but analysts have expressed skepticism because of the difficulty of carrying out such a project.

"The financial, technical, and political obstacles to the construction of an alternative pipeline are enormous," Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, an analyst at Control Risks, said.

"I have no doubt both Sudanese governments are under a lot of international pressure to reach an agreement, because the risks of conflict are real at this stage," Gallopin said.

NO END TO ROW

The two countries are expected to resume oil talks soon, sponsored by the African Union in Addis Ababa, after negotiations were suspended last week.

Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said this month Khartoum would impose a fee since Juba had not paid anything for using northern export facilities since independence.

Khartoum is demanding $1 billion for fees since July and $36 a barrel as a transit fee, officials have said.

South Sudan's Kiir said his government was planning to reduce its dependence on oil revenues, which make up 98 percent of state income.

"We will need to find other sources of funding. In doing so I have instructed the ministry of finance to initiate contingency plans for revenue collection and allocation," he said.

Sudan's civil war devastated much of the south, leaving the new nation one of the least developed in the world.

The row with Sudan has stirred anger among some in South Sudan, where independence is often framed as the culmination of a long struggle against political and economic marginalization.

Underscoring those sentiments, around one thousand people marched to parliament Monday to support the government's decision to shut down oil production.

The crowd, mostly university students, cheered, waved their fists in the air and carried placards reading: "Looting our oil is a crime" and "We call on the international community to help the infant country."

(Reporting by Hereward Holland and Alexander Dziadosz; Writing by Ulf Laessing and Alexander Dziadosz, editing by Jane Baird and Jason Neely)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_sudan_south_oil

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WASHINGTON?? The e-duck stamp would become a permanent part of federal law under legislation passed by the House Monday.

Since 1934, migratory waterfowl hunters over the age of 16 have been required to buy the federal migratory bird hunting and conservation stamps, or duck stamps, at post offices or sporting goods stores.

But four years ago, eight states joined a pilot program allowing them to sell temporary duck stamps through the Internet. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., said that program has been a success and it was time to make it federal law.

The bill passed 373-1. If passed by the Senate, it would give the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authority to make that program permanent and extend it to all states.

The electronic stamps are valid for 45 days, giving hunters and other purchasers time to get their actual stamps through the mail.

The program also makes it easier for hunters to go online to buy their federal stamps and state hunting licenses at the same time.

The stamps now cost $15 a year, with 98 percent of the revenues going to buy or lease wetland habitat for protection in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

The Migratory Bird Conservation Fund has received more than $800 million since 1934, putting 5.3 million acres of wetlands under the refuge system. The program currently generates about $25 million a year.

The stamps also give birders and other non-hunters free access to the nation's 553 wildlife refuges.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sponsors a contest every year where wildlife artists from around the country vie to have their entry selected as the design for the stamp the next year.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46108487/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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?

One person was transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries and two animals perished after a fire ripped through a home at 1132 Ash St. on Saturday morning.

According to a press release from the Iowa City Fire Department, firefighters received a call at 6:10 a.m. of a structure fire. Two fire engines and a Battalion Chief responded from different stations.

When fire crews arrived, they noted heavy smoke coming out of the roof of a two story house. All of the occupants were reported being out of the house safely, although one person was taken by Johnson County Ambulance to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for injuries sustained from the fire.

The fire was extinguished roughly a half hour after firefighters arrived. Three people were displaced by the fire and were assisted by the Red Cross. MidAmerican Energy and the Iowa City Police Department assisted the fire department.

Two animals, a dog and a cat, were not able to be saved from the blaze.

Fire crews remained on the scene until a little before 8 a.m. in the morning.

Damage from the fire was estimated to be $50,000. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Manuel T. Trevizo, Jr., has the deed to the house, which is listed as a residential home built in 1975, according to the Iowa City Assessors website.

Source: http://iowacity.patch.com/articles/one-person-injured-pets-killed-in-ash-street-fire

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Surgeons in Sweden replaced an American patient's cancerous windpipe with a scaffold built from nanofibers and seeded with the patient's stem cells. Lead surgeon Dr. Paolo Macchiarini discusses the procedure and the benefits of tissue-engineered synthetic organs.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio?. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow.

An American cancer patient became the second person in the world to receive a synthetic windpipe transplant. Surgeons in Sweden replaced a patient's cancerous windpipe with one that was grown in the laboratory. It was made from plastic nanofibers and seeded with the patient's stem cells.

But just how is this artificial organ turned into a functioning airway? And how can this experimental procedure be used on other organs, perhaps lungs, even the heart in the future?

My next guest, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, was the lead surgeon for both synthetic windpipe transplants. Dr. Macchiarini is the director of the Advanced Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Welcome to Science Friday.

DR. PAOLO MACCHIARINI: Thank you so much.

FLATOW: Thank you for joining us.

Let's start at the beginning. How was the scaffold for the synthetic trachea built?

MACCHIARINI: Well, basically, by the same fibers that everybody of us has, nanofibers; very, very small fibers that are composed and native to the human trachea. So when we wanted to transplant this organ, we thought what is best. And the best would be to just replicate what human nature has done. And this is the reason why we use these very thin fibers.

FLATOW: And then you seeded the fibers, the mold, so to speak, the plastic, with the patient's own stem cells.

MACCHIARINI: Exactly. Because these first steps, the generation of the scaffold, was entirely made in the laboratory. But without the cells, the scaffold could not be implanted, because the trachea is the only organ which is in contact with the external environment. So if you put a prosthesis(ph) or synthetic material (unintelligible) become infected. And you can have different lethal problems. By reseeded the scaffold with a patient's own stem cells, we were making living plastic tissue.

FLATOW: Did the stem cells then start to grow as trachea cells?

MACCHIARINI: Well, the first step is to produce a nano(ph) composite. Then the second step is to take the stem cells of the patient. The third step is to put the two together using a so-called bioreactor, which is a shoebox where you put this (unintelligible) cells and the scaffold. And the cells are attracted by this scaffold, because it is biomaterial and permits attachment of the cells. And the cells are not only attaching, but then starts to proliferate, are living. So that they feel like they would be in a physiological (technical difficulties).

Once you have done this, you implant it, implant this in the human body and you give bioactive (unintelligible) that differentiate the stem cells into the (unintelligible) of the trachea. And this happens usually within 14 days after the transplantation.

FLATOW: And so that the stem cells basically grow and become part of the trachea?

MACCHIARINI: Well, rather than growing, they differentiate into the given specific cells. And to avoid infection (unintelligible) the graft. Yes.

FLATOW: And so by the time you transplant it back into the patient, you have the plastic structure and you have tracheal cells that you're putting back into the patient?

MACCHIARINI: Well, we have the nano composite. We have cells. But these are not tracheal cells, because in such a short time you cannot differentiate a cell. You just can have cells that are living. And once they are implanted in the human body, we use the human body as a so-called own bioreactor and we boost the regeneration.

FLATOW: And so how long would it take for those cells to regenerate once they're back in the human?

MACCHIARINI: Well, after one week of the transplantation, we did an endoscopy. That means an evaluation of the graft. And by taking the cells out, we were finding evidence that the cells of the (technical difficulties) inside it were already there. So in short of seven days you can have differentiated cells starting from not differentiated cells.

FLATOW: And how long would it take to cover and make a complete trachea?

MACCHIARINI: Well, we did - before the last patient came home, we did again an endoscopy. And it was lined with the cells. And today we just proved, with the pathologist, that cells were all there. So probably this depends (technical difficulties) three dimensional measures of the trachea. Because if it a - it's a very long - it is a trachea with bifurcation so that many factors play a role. But usually within two to three weeks, if you tell the body to boost, to accelerate regeneration, you can get the complete differentiated trachea.

FLATOW: Two to three weeks you can make the whole trachea.

MACCHIARINI: Well, using the human body as a bioreactor, yes.

FLATOW: So I imagine you could try to do this with other organs in the body, other things.

MACCHIARINI: Well, we are starting to learn what happens with this still experimental therapy. So I'm not so pessimistic to try to do the same with other tissues or organs. And since I'm a thoracic surgeon, I deal with organs of the chest. So I would think of the esophagus at the chest wall, at the liver ? at the lung, and eventually at the heart. Yes.

FLATOW: And how are the patients doing?

MACCHIARINI: Well, probably there was a huge media coverage when he came back in the United States. And he's doing very well. He was seen yesterday by his referring physician in Baltimore. And as far as I know he's doing fine.

FLATOW: Can you reconstruct blood vessels this way?

MACCHIARINI: Well, actually, the Yale University has started to - a clinical trial approved by the FDA using tissue (unintelligible) in children. So the answer would be yes.

FLATOW: And just to understand more completely, this is a - the trachea is - it has a microfiber backbone to it, on top of which you have permeated with stem cells. And the stem cells have been coaxed into becoming tracheal cells?

MACCHIARINI: Exactly.

FLATOW: Exactly. And then they have now totally covered and taken over on top of this structure of plastic? They have now become sort of a living organism?

MACCHIARINI: Yes, sir.

FLATOW: Wow. And you did this all - it all happened within just a matter of a few weeks?

MACCHIARINI: Well, usually - again, depending on the degree of difficulty of the three dimensional aspect of the tissue, you can produce a trachea, for instance, just the tube, in two days. And a bifurcated trachea in 10 days. So now - then you need two days for getting the cells, reseeding the grafts, or in two weeks you have an entire trachea.

FLATOW: And perhaps you might extend your work further, because you deal in this and possibly into the lungs.

MACCHIARINI: Well, ideally, yes. But to me my dream would be another one. It would be rather than replacing the lung or replacing the heart, you use cell therapy to treat these organs before they ultimately do not work anymore. so rather than doing a transplantation, just when we have the first signs of insufficiency, whether to treat these organs with the patient's stem cells, probably targeting the defect that they have, so prolonging and extending their life.

FLATOW: So if you have untreatable tumors, for example, within the patient, you might be able to instead of putting a new part in put the stem cells in and they would grow to replace that?

MACCHIARINI: Well, I don't think that this is so easy. We first need to be very cautious to identify so-called cancer stem cells, because within the cancer you have cells that do proliferate forever and have many of the aspects of undifferentiated and ever proliferating stem cells.

So whether we could target these cells to block the growth and eventually treat cancer, this is very, very early.

FLATOW: So what makes your technique so revolutionary?

MACCHIARINI: Well, the fact that, first of all, in six months we've had three - we were able to treat 31 and 30 years respectively, young gentlemen that had a tumor of the trachea and they're still alive. So the revolution is there, because there wouldn't be any other treatment options.

And the second revolution is that (unintelligible) is too much, but a new thing is that we were able to ? we saw in the blood of the patient's stem cells that as soon as the (unintelligible) transplant, were already expressing the profile of respiratory cells. So they were recruited from the preferred(ph) and went home to the site of the transplant to make the cells of the trachea.

So that means that indeed, we could do and replicate this for other types of - like the liver, kidney, heart. We just need time and more economic support to prove this concept.

FLATOW: Yes, time and money. That's all we need.

MACCHIARINI: Exactly, as usual.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

MACCHIARINI: Exactly.

FLATOW: Well, thank you very much, Dr. Macchiarini, for...

MACCHIARINI: Thank you.

FLATOW: ...taking time to talk with us.

Dr. Paolo Macchiarini is the director of the Advanced Center for a Translational Regenerative Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

We're going to take a break. After the break, we're going to look at two renewable energy projects using pioneering technology. One that taps the heat that causes - under volcanoes. And another project: to float wind turbines off the coast of Maine in really deep water. Not close to shore but far away so you can't even see them from the shore. In deep water creating, you know, electrical energy that way.

We'll talk about it when we get back. Our number: 1-800-989-8255. Tweet us at SciFri@SCIFRI. We'll be right back after this break.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

FLATOW: I'm Ira Flatow. This is Science Friday from NPR.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio?. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/20/145525008/synthetic-windpipe-transplant-boost-for-tissue-engineering?ft=1&f=1007

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tovarkyra44

Show's debut saw biggest year-over-year ratings drop ever.
By Gil Kaufman

Ryan Seacrest and contestant Shaun Kraisman on Wednesday's season premiere of "American Idol"
Photo: Michael Becker / FOX

How do you celebrate crushing the competition in the ratings but still facing one of the worst drop-offs in memory? That's the conundrum "American Idol" brass faced on Thursday morning (January 19) when ratings for the season 11 debut of the #1 program in prime time showed a steep decline from last year's bow even as "Idol" easily won the night.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wednesday night's two-hour premiere represented the biggest year-over-year ratings drop for a season opener in the show's decade-long history. Despite pulling in a formidable 21.6 million viewers, the season 11 bow was down 27 percent from last year in ratings and 18 percent in total viewership.

Even before the season began, pundits had predicted that "Idol" would likely continue its slow ratings slide while remaining the highest-rated program in prime time. Ratings for the season premiere peaked in 2007 (when it drew a 15.8 rating in the crucial adult demo) and have been on the decline since then. Though there was a marginal bump in 2010 when Ellen DeGeneres joined the judging panel, Wednesday night's show pulled in a 7.2 rating in the adult (18-49) demo.

"Idol" has gotten the usual promotional push from Fox, but considering the full-court press employed to hype former judge Simon Cowell's "X Factor" in the fall, the buzz surrounding the latest season of "Idol" appears tame by comparison. The show is also likely to get even more of a ratings challenge when rival "The Voice" debuts on NBC following next month's Super Bowl.

Wednesday night's show went easy on the typical cavalcade of wacky, tone-deaf singers, focusing on more promising contestants such as Phillip Phillips and David Leathers Jr. Once again, though, producers also placed the spotlight on the judging panel, lavishing attention on Steven Tyler's fangirls' rapt looks of attention and stolen kisses (not to mention his fiancée), as well as Jennifer Lopez's multiple struts to the judging table.

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677542/american-idol-ratings-drop.jhtml

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>> congressman from south carolina . thank you for your time.

>> thank you for having me.

>> why do you believe he had a 23-point lead in the polls, and now it's down to ten.

>> well, there are two things converging in this state. one, mr. romney himself. he has allowed himself to be separated from the ordinary people . it's one thing to be wealthy, nobody begrudges him for that. it's another thing to try and make yourself different because of that wealth. that's what he has done with a lot of his words and phrases. for him to say last night during the debate that he walked ordinary streets, everybody knows that's not true. for him to say he inherited nothing from his father. that everything he got he made it himself. that is absolutely not true. people are beginning to say this guy will say anything in order to get a vote, and he has separated himself from ordinary people . now, you got newt gingrich on the other side putting out his tax returns , showing that he may have paid somewhere around 30% income tax on his earnings. here is a guy with all that wealth and saying he's paid only 15%. he has separated himself from ordinary people in a way that newt only had to go halfway. romney went the other half be.

>> let me ask you, there was this title of the inevitable nominee. people believe it was his game to lose. then another bad debate when it came to answering these financial questions. evenmitt romney , tries to just poex him when has not tried. it's like he's putting the cart before the horse.

>> that's correct. i wondered from day one, what kind of candidate would go out, extend him or herself to the other side without ever consolidatiing his or her own base. they didn't seem to do that. the whole thing was all you got to do was be a hater to obama or an objector for obama and that's all you needed for your base. no, no. voters are interested in what you are going to do with me. how will by table top issues get better if you get elected? you just can't be against the other guy. you got to show me why it is i need to invest my precious vote in you and mitt romney --

>> i want to ask you, is that what newt gingrich is doing in your home state? there's been instances where he's referred to the president as this food stamp president and a woman flattered him by saying it was good that she showed juan williams his place in all of this. there's been a lot of talk about race and how it is, for some people, fuel for fire. making them want to get out and vote against this president for whatever reasons or obvious reasons. it is true you have to put out ideas because what we saw in that debate, he's putting out more fire.

>> what i said was, newt had to do his 50%. his 50% was consolidating his base. that's what he's doing with that kind of language. he does his anti- obama stuff, but newt has done a good job of consolidating his base. i don't like where his base is, but the fact of the matter is, using words and phrases like that tend to consolidate his base. that's what he has done to excite these voters and that's why with romney failing to connect and not talking about his vision for the future and with him consolidating his base, those two things have converged in such a way that mitt will benefit in the a very positive way.

>> let me ask you about the first five minutes of the debate when john king asked newt gingrich about his wife's interview in which she revealed newt gingrich asked her for an open marriage . all of the candidates were asked their thoughts on this issue of a person's character and how it should play into the vote. i want to show you each introduced themselves to the audience.

>> i'm rick santorum , and i want to thank the people for their hospitality for my wife and karen children.

>> i'm married now 42 years. i have five kids, daughters-in-law and 16 grand kids.

>> i'm proud that my wife of 54 are years tonight.

>> i want to thank the people of south carolina for being so hospitable.

>> the other three thanked their lives and brought up their families. when given an opportunity not to do any mud slinging, but to just talk about character. they passed, but then were passive aggressive and bringing up their spouses and how many kids they have.

>> we all do that. i'm proud of the fact that i've been married to the same person for 50 years. i have three lovely daughters and three great-grandchildren. we talk about that. i think it's fair game . we talk about family issues and family values . the question is to the extent of which we value our families. i think it's very good for them to do that. if i were newt, i would have brought up the fact that i've got a wife even though it may be a third one. the fact of the matter is, i think i would have brought it up if i were him.

>> all right. congress clyburn it's great to have you. thank you.

>> thank you so much for having me.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/46074685/

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tovarkyra44

Thought that Facebook's and Google+'s requirements that you use your real name were draconian? Just be thankful you're not a weibo addict in China. The government is planning to expand a program that demands users register their real names and disclose their identity. Wang Chen, China's top internet regulation official, said the eventual goal would be to get all 250 million microbloggers registered, starting first with any new users signing up. The obvious privacy and free speech issues that could arise from such a move shouldn't need to be explained -- especially considering the country's track record of censorship and politically motivated arrests. Sadly, unlike SOPA, putting an end to this troubling law isn't as simple as putting up a black banner or emailing your congressman.

China wants microbloggers to register with the government, hand over real identity originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/18/china-wants-microbloggers-to-register-with-the-government/

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Read more: "Must-have robots come nearer with software explosion"

LIKE PCs, robots may soon become a key part of our everyday lives, but they present unique communication challenges that PCs do not. So roboticists are turning to people who have already solved many of these problems - actors, animators and dancers. Here, New Scientist brings you some of the artistic know-how that has proved useful.

MASKED THEATRE The 50-centimetre-tall, white plastic Nao humanoid (see photo) looks adorable. But with such a plain, rigid face - just two big lights for eyes and a pinhole of a mouth - how does the bot do it? Julien Gorrias, a "behavioural architect" at Aldebaran Robotics in Paris, France, which makes the Nao, had solved the same problem in his former life as a masked actor by using expressive body movements. "The whole body was involved in making the mask live," he says. His insights have helped give Nao a tangible personality. "You have to feel like it is someone," he says. "Not a human, but someone."

CARTOONS Humans can often guess what another human is about to do. To investigate how to make its PR2 robot (pictured, page 17) similarly "readable", robotics firm Willow Garage of Menlo Park, California, enlisted the help of the Pixar animation studio. Pixar's animated characters seem to anticipate their own actions: staring hungrily at a piece of cheese before grabbing it, say, creates the illusion of a thought process that makes a character believable. When the team created animations of the PR2 carrying out a task, onlookers were more certain of their interpretation of the robot's behaviour if its actions portrayed forethought. They also described the robot as more approachable.

Similarly, animated PR2s that appeared to react to the task's outcome - a 30-year-old tip from Disney animators - rather than just standing there dumbly, were viewed as more intelligent and capable, irrespective of whether they actually completed the task.

DANCE Humans naturally move in subtly different ways depending on their emotions and intentions, but unravelling how we do this in order to program it into a robot is tricky. Luckily, choreographers have already done some of the work, thanks to a system for characterising human movement dreamed up by Rudolf Laban in the 1950s. Laban theory describes how the timing, strength and angle of a dancer's movement will convey a different inner intention or emotion. Willow Garage is using Laban theory to understand how well this translates when similar motions are executed by a large robot.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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WASHINGTON (AP) ? A low-ranking intelligence analyst charged in the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history is a step closer to a general court-martial, the Army says, after a second officer signed off on the procedure.

Col. Carl Coffman sent his recommendation Wednesday to Maj. Gen. Michael Linnington, commander of the Military District of Washington, according to a statement emailed to The Associated Press. Linnington now must decide whether to order a trial for Pfc. Bradley Manning.

Coffman, garrison commander of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall near Washington, concurred with Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, the presiding officer at Manning's preliminary hearing last month, that Manning should be tried by a court-martial. The 24-year-old Crescent, Okla., native faces 22 counts, including aiding the enemy.

Coffman's recommendation didn't specify whether he agreed with Almanza that Manning should be tried on all counts.

Manning could be imprisoned for life if convicted of aiding the enemy, the most serious charge. The charge carries a maximum penalty of death, but Almanza has recommended against seeking the death penalty. Ultimately, however, that decision lies with Linnington.

Manning allegedly gave more than 700,000 secret U.S. documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks for publication. Prosecutors say WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange collaborated with Manning.

Defense lawyers say Manning was clearly a troubled young soldier whom the Army should never have deployed to Iraq or given access to classified material while he was stationed there from late 2009 to mid-2010.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-19-Manning-WikiLeaks/id-35f2c8663a834bd9a7fbb22c488dca00

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Jan 9th, 2012

There are several things you can do to take advantage self-employment tax deductions. With enough information, you can maximize your tax deductions. It is nice to learn that the law allows you to deduct the cost of health insurance from your tax payments.

The first step is to find out if you are qualified for the self employed health insurance deduction. This deduction can be acquired when filing for schedule F or C with the federal tax return. Schedule F pertains to farmers and schedule C includes all self-employed individuals. You may also receive this tax deduction if you have self-employed earnings through a partnership. When you work for an S corporation, you can only avail of the tax deduction if you have at least two percent total stock ownership.

It is important to note that the government has set limits for this type of tax deduction. Before placing your claim, you should accurately calculate the total tax deduction available to you. You don?t have to be an accountant for this one. Determine your annual income first. You can then deduct up to half from this amount. You are also allowed to deduct your retirement contributions from your taxes.

Bear in mind that you cannot request for a health insurance tax deduction when you incur a loss for the fiscal year. Your deductions will be based on your income being a self-employed individual. If you find yourself in this situation, you can make itemized deductions from your tax payment using your health expenses. Consult schedule A for more information.

There are several limits concerning health insurance tax deductions. Being a self-employed individual will allow you to subtract your spouse?s health insurance expenses. You can also do the same for all your dependents. When you are a part of a group health insurance, you cannot get tax deductions. Purchasing your own health insurance will qualify you for this deduction. Employees in your company are not qualified for this deduction.

You will be eligible for this tax deduction even if you are self-employed part time. Take note of all your income and expenses. Having this record will allow you to easily see your eligibility. Have a record of all your health insurance expenses. Keep all your receipts. You may need them in case the IRS audits you. Submit your taxes on time and do not wait until the deadline looms. Take note of every expense you make regarding your health insurance. Be careful when dealing with the details, an error can cost you a lot of money.

Rules may change on a yearly basis, so it is important to verify the tax laws concerning self-employed individuals. Being up to date can save you a lot of money.

Source: http://www.nyhealthinsurer.com/2011/blog/getting-tax-deductions-for-self-employed-health-insurance/

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You're Going to Need a Fat Wallet for Toshiba's Super Thin Tablet Toshiba's Excite X10 Tablet is only .3 inches thin and 1.18 lbs. heavy but comes with a heavy price tag: $530 for the 16GB version and $600 for the 32GB version. While not dissimilar in pricing strategy with the iPad, it still costs $130 more than the Sony Tablet S and other just as capable Android tablets. It seems like a price drop is inevitable here.

Aside from the bloated price tag, the Excite, which is coming in the first quarter to the US, is the same tablet we previewed in September of last year: a 10.1-inch, 1280x800 resolution screen, a dual-core 1.2 GHz TI OMAP4 CPU, 1GB RAM, and Honeycomb 3.2 (upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich), dual cameras and 8 hours of battery life. A solid Android tablet! But how fast will the price drop?

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/nZGtA06HZ4c/youre-going-to-need-a-fat-wallet-for-toshibas-super-thin-tablet

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Netflix still isn't offering a firm date for its launch in the UK, but it looks like some of the final pieces are starting to fall into place. The company's PlayStation 3 app is now hitting consoles across the pond, displaying the message you see above when it's launched. Unfortunately, that's about all we have to go on at the moment, but PS3 users can now at least rest assured that they won't have any waiting to do when Netflix does finally flip the switch -- one more shot after the break.

[Thanks, Fabio]

Continue reading Netflix app hits PlayStation 3s in the UK, service still coming 'soon'

Netflix app hits PlayStation 3s in the UK, service still coming 'soon' originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/xdbq38SmSW4/

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tovarkyra44

Key dates in the rise of North Korea's young new leader, Kim Jong Un:

? Jan. 8, 1983: Kim Jong Un is believed to have been born to leader Kim Jong Il and Ko Yong Hui. His exact birth date has not been made public.

? Sept. 27, 2010: Kim Jong Un is promoted to four-star general. The promotion is announced the following day in North Korean state media ? the first public mention of Kim Jong Un.

? Sept. 28, 2010: Kim Jong Un is named vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party, a leadership role seen as confirmation that he will become the country's next leader.

? Oct. 10, 2010: Kim Jong Un appears at his father's side for a massive military parade marking the 65th anniversary of the Workers' Party.

? Dec. 17, 2011: Kim Jong Il dies of a heart attack at age 69, but the news is not made public for two days.

? Dec. 19, 2011: Kim's death is announced in a noon broadcast on state television. North Korea begins observing 11 days of official mourning. Kim Jong Un's name appears first on the list of the National Funeral Committee, and he is called "Great Successor" by state media.

? Dec. 20, 2011: Kim Jong Un, accompanied by top military and party officials, visits his father's bier at Kumsusan Memorial Palace.

? Dec. 24, 2011: Kim Jong Un is called "supreme leader" of the Korean People's Army.

? Dec. 26, 2011: Kim Jong Un is identified as head of a top decision-making body of the Workers' Party.

? Dec. 28, 2011: Funeral procession held for Kim Jong Il through Pyongyang, led by Kim Jong Un.

? Dec. 29, 2011: Kim Jong Un declared "supreme leader" of party, military and the people during memorial for Kim Jong Il.

? Dec. 30, 2011: Kim Jong Un called "great leader" in statement from National Defense Commission. New postage stamps feature Kim Jong Un with Kim Jong Il.

? Dec. 31, 2011: Kim Jong Un named supreme commander of Korean People's Army under Oct. 8 order of Kim Jong Il, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

? Jan. 1, 2012: Kim Jong Un visits historic tank division for first solo inspection trip.

? Jan. 3, 2012: Tens of thousands attend a rally in Pyongyang supporting Kim Jong Un. First official documentary of Kim Jong Un airs on North Korean state television.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120107/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_kim_jong_un_timeline

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POSTED: 2:50 pm EST January 4, 2012

BELLE GLADE, Fla. -- The fatal shooting of Jimmy McMillan is hitting too close to home for long-time Glades residents who are mounting a Facebook campaign to stop the violence.Sherrie Delanie grew up in Belle Glade. When the 41-year-old teacher heard about popular grocery store owner Jimmy McMillan's death Monday, she promptly went online and started a Facebook page titled "Taking Back Belle Glade." Delanie said before the robbery of McMillan's Alabama Georgia Grocery store Monday, most crime in the city was gang-related and targeted toward criminals. But McMillan's killing, that of an innocent businessman who was handing over the money to the gunman, has sparked a wave of fear and outrage."I love this town. I don't want to be scared into having to move," Delanie told WPBF 25 News. "It makes me cry to even think of it. We've got to be proactive, not reactive."The Facebook page lists phone numbers of Gov. Rick Scott, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, county Commissioner Jess Santamaria and all of the city's commissioners, exhorting residents to call and demand action."We have received an enormous amount of reaction from the Glades community about this," Cpl. James Stormes said. "We are utilizing many more resources than our contract calls for right now in sending people out to the Glades to solve this crime."

Source: http://www.wpbf.com/news/30134309/detail.html

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Crucial gene activator in slow-killing parasite identified

Public release date: 5-Jan-2012
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Contact: Kevin Mayhood
kevin.mayhood@case.edu
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Case Western Reserve University

A potential target for schistosomiasis vaccine

In the complicated life cycle of ancient flatworms that cause schistosomiasis, Case Western Reserve University researchers have identified a gene activator crucial to development of the parasites within humans a potential target for a vaccine.

A description of the activator, which turns on rapid growth, is in the online journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Schistosomiasis, which causes organ damage and failure, afflicts more than 200 million people worldwide, killing 280,000 annually. Another 400 million people are at risk for the disease.

For decades, a single drug, praziquantel, has been used to kill the worms, and scientists are concerned the drug may become useless. The worms, called schistosomes, have shown they can develop resistance to praziquantel in the lab and there is currently no other drug to treat the disease.

Beyond that concern, the lack of a vaccine leaves human hosts in a cycle of their own: becoming infected, taking praziquantel, becoming reinfected - multiple times - due to the prevalence and ease of contracting the parasite in rivers and ponds in Asia, Africa and South America. Repeated exposure can add up to illness and death.

"This is really a disease of poor people," said Emmitt Jolly, professor of biology at Case Western Reserve and senior author of the paper. "The strategy to combat the disease cannot be expensive."

Jolly and John Milligan, a technician in Jolly's lab and lead author, spent two years studying, identifying and characterizing the protein, and gene activator, myocyte enhancer factor 2, commonly referred to at Mef2, in the flatworm's life cycle.

Depending on the phase of development, the schistosome lives in snails, in freshwater or in humans. From the snail, it becomes a tiny free swimmer that penetrates human skin. The parasite enters blood vessels and feeds on blood cells.

Sexually mature schistosomes congregate in blood vessels in a part of the abdomen called the mesentery. They mate and lay 300 to 1,000 eggs per day that migrate through the liver. About half the eggs are passed outside with urine and feces, depending on the species, and half get stuck in the body.

Upon reaching fresh water, the half excreted hatch into free swimmers that enter and grow in snails.

The half that remain in the body build up and cause an immune response. The eggs become encapsulated in granulomas, immune cells that wall off the foreign material. The result is significant organ damage, particularly in the liver, spleen, and intestine, but also other organs. Schistosomes can live and lay eggs for decades, the build-up of the granulomas slowly sickening and killing the host.

Mef2 is found in plants and yeast on up to humans. The activator is essential to muscle, nerve and bone development in humans, but how it works in flatworms was unknown.

Jolly and Milligan found, by homology, the protein appeared similar to Mef2 in yeast. Mef2 has two parts that act independently: one part binds to DNA, the second part activates gene expression.

When the researchers combined the schistosome gene activator with the DNA binder of yeast, the combination switched on the same yeast gene as the pure yeast gene activator.

They found that in the Schistosome, Mef2 expression is turned up right after the swimmer enters the human host. During this time, the parasites grow from 100 micrometers in length to 10 to 16-millimeter worms.

Praziquantel is most effective when schistosomes start producing eggs inside human hosts. A vaccine could prevent the parasite from reaching sexual maturity and laying eggs inside of hosts thereby preventing schistosomiasis, the researchers say.

Although Mef2 is present in humans, the portion of schistosome Mef2 that switches on gene activity is so different from human Mef2 that "We can target that part, and not affect the host," Jolly said.

Milligan and Jolly are working with other researchers to further understand schistosome Mef2 and are hopeful the work will lead to an alternative to praziquantel or a complimentary drug.

###

The research was funded the Case Western Reserve Department of Biology.

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