Source: www.nytimes.com --- Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Joseph Kabila was sworn in on Tuesday for a new term as president after his victory last month in a disputed election that was marred by deadly violence and allegations of fraud. ...
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Interrupting ?Bonanza,? one of the most popular TV shows in the nation, President Richard Nixon in 1971 told the country he was ?temporarily? ending the link between gold and the US dollar.
Since then the value of the dollar has ???floated,??
Now, at least two out of seven major Republican candidates have said they support returning to a ?gold standard? which would require the US to backup every dollar with gold stored in Fort Knox or the New York Federal Reserve.
IN PICTURES: Gold's journey
Backers of a gold standard ? a view popular with many tea party advocates ? see a gold-backed currency as a way to rein in government spending and minimize the role of the Federal Reserve. Traditional economists consider the concept a bad idea, arguing it would hamstring the ability of policymakers to respond to changing economic times.
The most vocal pro-gold-standard candidate is Ron Paul, now running third in Iowa polls. It is one of his signature issues. ?We need honest money, a gold standard and not paper money out of the Federal Reserve system,? said Mr. Paul at a debate in Ames, Iowa in August.
Newt Gingrich, running second in Iowa, says he is in favor of ?hard money with a very limited Federal Reserve.? He also said he favors a dollar that is ?good as gold.?
One of the most vocal advocates of returning to the gold standard is Jeff Bell, the policy director of American Principles in Action, which recently sponsored a forum for Republican candidates in South Carolina.
Mr. Bell argues that gold should be the final currency of the world, instead of the dollar. He thinks any American should be able to go to a bank and convert his or her money into a gold ingot or two. The actual amount a person would receive would depend on the market. ?Say you have thirty months of market activity, then the secretary of the Treasury locks in a value for the price of gold based on that activity,? he says. ?That would give you a good approximation of how many dollars would be represented by an ounce of gold.?
Advocates for gold argue that policymakers can???t be trusted to run the economy. In theory, using gold limits the amount of money the Federal Reserve can print, which might prevent inflation from decimating the value of the currency.
?The market would control the money supply, not some PhD from MIT,? says Bell.
Of course there was a time when the US government did offer its citizens a chance to exchange their cash for gold or silver. Between 1816 to 1914, a gold standard existed with most nations linked to a specific gold price. As World War I began, the system ended.
After World War II, world leaders adopted a modified form of the gold standard, known as the Bretton Woods Agreement. Each nation?s currency was linked to the US dollar (fixed exchange rates) which was in turn linked to gold priced at $35 an ounce. But Americans no longer could exchange money for gold. The linkage was reserved for central banks.
That system was in place until Mr. Nixon closed the gold window that Sunday night in 1971, interrupting the adventures of the Cartwright family on the Ponderosa ranch.
Mainstream economists argue going back to convertibility of the greenback into gold or silver is a bad idea.
?Most economists agree that a money supply needs to be flexible, able to change with economic conditions,? says Richard DeKaser, chief economist at the Parthenon Group, a business consulting firm, in Boston, Mass. ?There are times when credit needs are greater.?
Mr. DeKaser points out that central banks were formed because farmers had a greater need for funding at certain times of the year. If the money supply were fixed by the amount of gold on hand, this could limit lending, he argues.
Lyle Gramley, a former member of the Federal Reserve?s Board of Governors, calls the concept ?the stupidest idea I can think of.?
Mr. Gramley can understand the distrust of politicians. He says one of the reasons why Nixon unlinked the US from gold was because he was unhappy over the pace of the economic recovery from the recession in 1970. ?He was concerned that somehow the quantity of gold we held would reduce the Fed?s ability to increase the money supply and therefore ensure his election.?
But Gramley says he thinks the distrust of central bankers is misplaced. He maintains central bankers for the past twenty-five years have been generally successful at scotching inflation fires. On Friday, for example, the government reported the inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index was zero percent for November.
Bell, however, doesn?t buy that argument. Even though the government reports inflation at a low rate, he argues the price of food and gasoline have risen much faster than the government inflation statistics. ?The truth is we have more inflation than most times since the 1970s,? he says. ?Ben Bernanke [Fed Chairman] has the worst record on inflation of any Fed Chairman since Arthur Burns [Fed Chairman from 197-1978].?
However, DeKaser says gold has also caused its share of inflation. ?When we used to have major gold finds ? think of the California gold rush ? then we had surges in inflation,? he says.
IN PICTURES: Gold's journey
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Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
Share ] Contact: Jim Ritter
jritter@lumc.edu
708-216-2445
Loyola University Health System
MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Loyola University Medical Center researchers are reporting what could become the first reliable method to predict whether an antidepressant will work on a depressed patient.
The method would involve a blood test for a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). A Loyola study found that among depressed patients who had higher than normal blood levels of VEGF, more than 85 percent experienced partial or complete relief from depression after taking escitalopram (brand name Lexapro). By comparison, fewer than 10 percent of depressed patients who had low levels of VEGF responded to the drug.
"This would be the first time we would have a predictor for how well a patient would respond to an antidepressant," said Angelos Halaris, MD, PhD, first author of the study. Halaris presented results during the 2011 annual meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry and the 4th Annual Illinois Brain, Behavior and Immunity Meeting.
About 60 percent of depressed patients do not respond fully to the first prescribed medication. Consequently, doctors often must prescribe a different medication again and again before finding one that works. "It would greatly benefit our patients if we could predict ahead of time whether a given medication would be effective for a certain patient," Halaris said.
The Loyola study involved 35 patients who took escitalopram for major depressive disorder. Escitalopram belongs to a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Other common SSRIs are Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.
Scientists aren't certain why SSRIs work in some patients but not in others. One possible mechanism is that SSRIs help restore a chemical balance in the brain. Some scientists recently have proposed a second possible mechanism, called neurogenesis -- SSRIs help to regenerate brain cells in specific parts of the brain that have atrophied in depressed patients.
The Loyola study supports the neurogenesis theory. It appears that escitalopram, the SSRI used in the Loyola study, jump-starts brain cells that have become inactive. This regeneration is fueled by VEGF. In the brain, VEGF stimulates the growth of blood vessels and works in other ways to keep brain cells healthy and active.
It appears that in patients with higher levels of VEGF, there was more regeneration, helping to reduce depression. Conversely, in patients with lower VEGF levels, there was less regeneration of brain cells and less relief from depression.
If the finding is confirmed by further studies, it could lead to a blood test that would help physicians tailor treatment. If, for example, a patient had low levels of VEGF, the physician might skip SSRIs and try alternative classes of antidepressants, such as bupropion, or alternative therapies, such as psychotherapy or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMG). These treatments are all available at Loyola University Medical Center.
Currently, a VEGF blood test would be quite expensive if it were performed for a patient. But the cost likely would come down significantly if a VEGF test were to become widely used, Halaris said.
###
Halaris is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and medical director of Adult Psychiatry at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Other co-authors are Edwin Meresh, MD, MPH; Steven Kimmons, SJ, PhD; James Sinacore, PhD; Jawed Fareed, PhD; and Debra Hoppensteadt, PhD, all at Loyola; and Nathan Ontrop, MD, who was a medical student at Loyola at the time of the study.
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Public release date: 15-Dec-2011 Share ] Contact: Jim Ritter
jritter@lumc.edu
708-216-2445
Loyola University Health System
MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Loyola University Medical Center researchers are reporting what could become the first reliable method to predict whether an antidepressant will work on a depressed patient.
The method would involve a blood test for a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). A Loyola study found that among depressed patients who had higher than normal blood levels of VEGF, more than 85 percent experienced partial or complete relief from depression after taking escitalopram (brand name Lexapro). By comparison, fewer than 10 percent of depressed patients who had low levels of VEGF responded to the drug.
"This would be the first time we would have a predictor for how well a patient would respond to an antidepressant," said Angelos Halaris, MD, PhD, first author of the study. Halaris presented results during the 2011 annual meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry and the 4th Annual Illinois Brain, Behavior and Immunity Meeting.
About 60 percent of depressed patients do not respond fully to the first prescribed medication. Consequently, doctors often must prescribe a different medication again and again before finding one that works. "It would greatly benefit our patients if we could predict ahead of time whether a given medication would be effective for a certain patient," Halaris said.
The Loyola study involved 35 patients who took escitalopram for major depressive disorder. Escitalopram belongs to a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Other common SSRIs are Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.
Scientists aren't certain why SSRIs work in some patients but not in others. One possible mechanism is that SSRIs help restore a chemical balance in the brain. Some scientists recently have proposed a second possible mechanism, called neurogenesis -- SSRIs help to regenerate brain cells in specific parts of the brain that have atrophied in depressed patients.
The Loyola study supports the neurogenesis theory. It appears that escitalopram, the SSRI used in the Loyola study, jump-starts brain cells that have become inactive. This regeneration is fueled by VEGF. In the brain, VEGF stimulates the growth of blood vessels and works in other ways to keep brain cells healthy and active.
It appears that in patients with higher levels of VEGF, there was more regeneration, helping to reduce depression. Conversely, in patients with lower VEGF levels, there was less regeneration of brain cells and less relief from depression.
If the finding is confirmed by further studies, it could lead to a blood test that would help physicians tailor treatment. If, for example, a patient had low levels of VEGF, the physician might skip SSRIs and try alternative classes of antidepressants, such as bupropion, or alternative therapies, such as psychotherapy or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMG). These treatments are all available at Loyola University Medical Center.
Currently, a VEGF blood test would be quite expensive if it were performed for a patient. But the cost likely would come down significantly if a VEGF test were to become widely used, Halaris said.
###
Halaris is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and medical director of Adult Psychiatry at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Other co-authors are Edwin Meresh, MD, MPH; Steven Kimmons, SJ, PhD; James Sinacore, PhD; Jawed Fareed, PhD; and Debra Hoppensteadt, PhD, all at Loyola; and Nathan Ontrop, MD, who was a medical student at Loyola at the time of the study.
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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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/luhs-btm121511.php
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Enlarge Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Chairman Gregory Jaczko (center) speaks Wednesday during a meeting of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. His fellow commissioners, from bottom left: Kristine Svinicki, William Magwood IV and William Ostendorff.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesNuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Chairman Gregory Jaczko (center) speaks Wednesday during a meeting of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. His fellow commissioners, from bottom left: Kristine Svinicki, William Magwood IV and William Ostendorff.
The government organization charged with keeping nuclear power safe is having a meltdown. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission consists of five commissioners who direct the work of hundreds of nuclear engineers and other experts. They write the rules for how nuclear reactors operate.
Now four of those commissioners say the chairman of the NRC is a bully who's destroying their ability to do their job.
The feud at the NRC is long-standing, but it boiled over last week when a letter the four commissioners wrote to the White House was made public. In no uncertain terms, they said they simply can't stand NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko.
At a meeting of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday, all five sat down together in a House hearing room and listed their grievances:
"The chairman's continued outbursts of abusive rage directed at subordinates within the agency staff ? all members of the commission, including me, have been on the receiving end of this conduct," said Kristine Svinicki, one of the NRC commissioners.
"I'm most concerned that the chairman has made a regular practice of interfering with the ability of the commission to obtain information from the NRC staff," said Commissioner William Magwood. He also said that Jaczko once berated three female staff members to the point of tears.
And Commissioner William Ostendorff had this to say about Jaczko: "It's about bullying and intimidating behavior towards NRC career staff that should not and cannot be tolerated."
While they stopped short of calling for Jaczko's resignation, the commissioners said they feared for NRC's ability to function.
Congressional members of the committee were more blunt. Republican Jason Chaffetz of Utah read the charges the commissioners made in their letter to the White House and demanded answers from Jaczko:
Chaffetz: "True or false: Ignored the will of the majority of the commission contrary to the statutory functions of the commission."
Jaczko: "I have never ignored the will of the majority in an area that is a commission policy."
Chaffetz: "I'll take that as a false. True or false: Interacted with us, his fellow commissioners, with such intemperance and disrespect that the commission no longer functions as effectively as it should."
Jaczko: "Well, I'm a very passionate person about safety."
Jaczko's response wasn't enough for Chaffetz.
"We've got people who are suffering under this gentleman right here," Chaffetz said. "He is not living up to the duties. I don't believe you. I think the safety and security of this nation is too important. I think you should resign."
However, when the commissioners were asked whether, in fact, the turmoil at NRC had compromised safety at power plants, they said no.
And committee member John Tierney, a Massachusetts Democrat, noted that the four commissioners might share some blame. Jaczko's supporters in Congress ? and he has many, having worked there before he went to the NRC ? have accused the other commissioners of dragging their feet in releasing NRC's report on the Fukushima accident and what it meant for U.S. reactors:
Jaczko: "I think we have had some challenges with ..."
Tierney: "Did you feel that there was an attempt to slow down the release of that report on Fukushima?"
Jaczko: "There definitely was an attempt to prevent the release of the report."
Tierney: "It seems we've got a problem with everybody here."
Jaczko denied the accusations, except to say that he can be outspoken about safety. But advocates of nuclear power have targeted Jaczko because he helped deep-six the idea of putting a nuclear waste dump in Nevada, called Yucca Mountain.
A view from the outside of the Washington hothouse comes from Peter Bradford, who spent five years as an NRC commissioner. He says this isn't just about Republicans vs. Democrats.
"There is a sort of nuclear party that transcends Republican and Democratic labels," Bradford says. "The four signers of the letter are all very much in the nuclear party, and the chairman is not."
When asked at Wednesday's hearing if they could patch this up, all four commissioners said maybe. And in fact, according to the NRC website, the commission is described as a "collegial body" that regulates nuclear safety. On Thursday, a Senate Committee will query the witnesses again.
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RIM reports Q3 2011 earnings: $5.2b revenue, $265m net income and 14.1 million handsets shipped originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Unexpected signaling role for foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide in cell response to protein misfolding
Tuesday, December 13, 2011Something rotten never smelled so sweet.
This is what members of a team of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) are telling one another as they discuss a new finding they did not expect to make. They have discovered that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) ? the flammable, highly toxic gas that we usually associate with the smell of rotten eggs in landfills and sewers ? plays an important role in the regulation of a signaling pathway implicated in biological malfunctions linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, among others.
"H2S comes under the category of things that people think of as toxic and nasty, but which can actually be harnessed to serve a useful purpose," says CSHL Professor Nicholas K. Tonks, FRS, who led the research team. In fact, H2S, which is produced naturally in small quantities in various tissues, is a gasotransmitter, one of a family of gaseous signaling molecules that includes nitrous oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO). Unlike growth factors, cytokines and hormones that act through receptors in the cell membrane, these gasotransmitters are able to permeate membranes and enter freely the interior of living cells.
Tonks and colleagues were intrigued by reports in the scientific literature suggesting that H2S was produced as part of the cell's response to what is called ER stress. The ER is the cellular organ called the endoplasmic reticulum. It is an extensive network of membranes spread throughout the cytosol, which is involved in protein synthesis and processing.
When the cell is placed under stress, specifically when newly formed proteins are being manufactured in the ER so rapidly that they do not fold properly, rendering them non-functional, the cell must make a decision either to slow down protein production to match its physiological requirements in the hope that proteins will begin to fold properly or, if that is not sufficient, to commit a form of suicide called apoptosis.
The surprise in the research performed by Tonks' team ? which is published online today in Science Signaling ? is that H2S plays a critical role in the exquisitely tuned signaling pathway through which cells make this fateful determination.
Navasona Krishnan, a postdoctoral fellow, performed an experiment to determine whether H2S could covalently modify an enzyme called PTP1B. Discovered by Tonks in 1988, PTP1B is a protein tyrosine phosphatase, or PTP ? an enzyme that specifically removes phosphate groups from amino acid residues called tyrosines. This function is critical in regulating cellular signaling in normal and disease conditions.
H2S did indeed modify PTP1B, specifically on a cysteine amino acid residue in the enzyme's active site, which inactivated the enzyme. A number of subsequent experiments performed in collaboration with CSHL Professor Darryl Pappin, who directs the proteomics Shared Resource at the Laboratory, identified this modification and revealed that it occurred in vitro and in vivo.
Because PTP1B is itself a signaling pathway regulator, this inactivation was immediately understood to be important and potentially useful. Further experimentation revealed that the H2S-induced modification to PTP1B prevented this phosphatase from inactivating an enzyme called PERK, which is a sensor of the presence of unfolded proteins and a critical regulator of the cell's response to ER stress.
The completed puzzle is as follows: small amounts of hydrogen sulfide are produced when the cell senses ER stress; PTP1B undergoes a unique covalent modification at its active site in response to the H2S that is produced, which in turn prevents the phosphatase from dephosphorylating PERK thereby allowing the latter protein to play its specific regulatory role in response to the stress. Importantly, the process is fully reversible, such that this previously undiscovered pathway can act like a switch, to help fine-tune a response to stress that potentially can lead to cell death.
"We hypothesize that the controlled production of H2S could have a profound impact on how this part of the ER stress pathway ? the PERK 'arm' ? is regulated. When proteins are misfolded in response to cellular stress, the inactivation and reactivation of PTP1B appears to be one means by which the cell regulates its protein synthesis machinery and can exert tight control over whether it lives or dies, ," says Tonks.
The linkage of such regulation with human disease is a subject that bears further exploration. ER stress is causally related to the protein-folding-related pathologies seen in such illnesses as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, Tonks says. "What we are trying to do is understand the structure of PTP1B in the presence and absence of its modification by H2S ? to define this modification in molecular detail and understand its importance to the control of this major signaling enzyme in normal and disease states."
###
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory: http://www.cshl.org
Thanks to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for this article.
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BERLIN ? A global conference in Germany to discuss Afghanistan's future beyond 2014 comes as the country faces political instability, an enduring Taliban-led insurgency and possible financial collapse following the planned drawdown of international troops and foreign aid.
About 100 countries and international organizations will be represented at the Monday gathering, with some 60 foreign ministers in attendance, among them U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But one of the most important countries for Afghanistan's future, its eastern nuclear-armed neighbor Pakistan, said it will boycott the conference to protest last month's NATO air assault carried out from Afghan territory that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Pakistan is seen as a crucial player in the region because of its links and influence on insurgent groups that are battling Afghan government and foreign troops and that sometimes use Pakistan as a base for their operations.
The Bonn conference is expected to address the transfer of security responsibility from international forces to Afghan security forces over the next three years, long-term prospects for international aid and a possible political settlement with the Taliban.
"Our objective is a peaceful Afghanistan that will never again become a safe haven for international terrorism," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
The U.S. had once hoped to use the Bonn gathering to announce news about the prospect for peace talks with the Taliban, but neither an Afghan nor a U.S. outreach effort has borne fruit.
The reconciliation efforts suffered a major setback after the September assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was leading the Afghan government's effort to broker peace with the insurgents.
But Washington and other partners are still trying to arrange an interim step toward talks ? the opening of a Taliban diplomatic office where its representatives could conduct international business without fear of being arrested or killed. Such a deal would be a minor accomplishment for the Bonn gathering.
"Right now we don't know their address. We don't have a door," to knock on, said Afghanistan's ambassador to the U.S., Eklil Hakimi.
The final declaration of the Bonn conference is expected to outline broad principles and red lines for the political reconciliation with the Taliban, a project that several leading participants in the conference increasingly predict will outlast the NATO timeline for withdrawal in 2014.
The Bonn conference also seeks to agree on a set of "mutual binding commitments" under which Afghanistan would promise reforms and policy goals such as good governance, with donors and international organizations pledging long-term assistance in return to ensure the country's viability beyond 2014, a senior German diplomat said.
"It's about not repeating the mistakes of 1989, when the Soviet troops left and the West also forgot about Afghanistan," he said, referring to the bitter civil war that unfolded soon after the sudden withdrawal that was followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will formally open the one-day conference of about 1,000 delegates. Afghanistan's western neighbor Iran also joins the conference, represented by Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.
Afghan civil society groups are meeting on the sidelines, and some 5,000 protesters were out in Bonn's streets Saturday, urging an end to the Afghan war.
While the conference is nominally run by the Afghans and organized by Germany, the United States is the key participant because it's the country that has by far invested the most blood and treasure in Afghanistan since 2001.
The NATO coalition of 49 countries currently has 130,000 troops in the country, including about 72,000 Americans. The U.S. military footprint in Afghanistan, however, totals more than 101,600 because other American forces operate under a separate command. The vast majority are set to withdraw from Afghanistan over the next three years, leaving only a small force focused on training and counterterrorism missions beginning in 2015.
President Barack Obama announced this summer that 10,000 U.S. troops will come home by the end of the year. Another 23,000 will be pulled out by the end of September 2012. Those troops represent the 33,000 reinforcements that Obama sent in to help reverse the Taliban's momentum, leaving a force of about 68,000 U.S. forces, which will gradually shrink as the deadline for withdrawal approaches.
That deadline was set a year ago, by agreement between NATO and Afghanistan. There is little chance it will be extended.
The U.S. had also hoped to use this opportunity to unveil an agreement with the Afghan government establishing operating rules for the small number of remaining U.S. forces and other issues after international forces withdraw. But talks on the deal have bogged down over the past several months.
Although the Bonn gathering is not a donors' conference where specific pledges are expected, the U.S. is seeking agreement among other nations that they will not rush to the exits and commit to long-term financial assistance to avoid seeing Afghanistan slip back into chaos.
The international troops' withdrawal could indeed cause the Afghan economy to collapse, the World Bank warned last month, stressing that the war-ravaged nation will need billions of dollars in aid for another decade or more.
Afghanistan this year received $15.7 billion in aid, representing more than 90 percent of its public spending, it said.
In a report published ahead of the conference, the Afghan government said that despite expected revenue increases from a growing mining industry, customs and taxes, foreign donors will have to finance about half of the country's economic output in 2015, equivalent to aid worth $10 billion.
Despite the international troops' presence for more than a decade, Afghanistan still ranks among the world's poorest and most corrupt nations.
Without foreign help, Afghanistan won't be able to pay for basic services needed by its security forces which are slated to increase to 352,000 personnel by the end of 2014. Those expenses will have grown to twice the size of revenues and will result in a shortfall of about $7.8 billion annually, or about 25 percent of the country's gross domestic product in 2021.
"There will be a gap from when international forces withdraw, and we want to see a plan," for filling it, Hakimi said.
Although the United States has spent $444 billion in Afghanistan since it invaded the country in late 2001 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and plans to spend $101 billion in fiscal 2011, most of that money "does not reach Afghanistan because it primarily funds salaries of international soldiers, purchases of military hardware, and the like," the World Bank said.
Despite improvements to security in Afghanistan, militants operating from safe havens in Pakistan and chronic problems with the Kabul government pose significant risks to a "durable, stable Afghanistan," according to a recent Pentagon progress report on the country.
___
Deb Riechmann in Kabul contributed to this report.
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Extrasolar planet discoveries have boosted by 50 percent the number of known planets orbiting massive stars. Extrasolar planets are those outside of our solar system.
Astronomers have found 18 new alien planets, all of them Jupiter-size gas giants that circle stars bigger than our sun, a new study reports.
Skip to next paragraphThe discoveries increase the number of known planets orbiting massive stars by 50 percent. The exoplanet bounty should also help astronomers better understand how giant planets form and grow in nascent alien solar systems, researchers said.
The haul comes just a few months after a different team of researchers announced the discovery of 50 newfound alien worlds, including one rocky planet that could be a good candidate for life. The list of known alien planets is now well over 700 and climbing fast.
The researchers surveyed about 300 stars using the Keck Observatory in Hawaii and instruments in Texas and Arizona. They focused on so-called "retired" type A stars that are at least 1.5 times more massive than our own sun.
These stars are just beyond the main stage of life ? hence the name "retired" ? and are now ballooning out to become what's known as subgiant stars.
The team scrutinized these stars, looking for slight wobbles caused by the gravitational tug of orbiting planets. This process revealed 18 new alien worlds, all of them with masses similar to Jupiter's. All 18 planets also orbit relatively far from their stars, at a distance of at least 0.7 times the span from Earth to the sun (about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers). [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]
Planet-formation theories
In addition to boosting the ever-growing alien planet tally, the new finds lend support to one of two theories that attempt to explain the formation and evolution of planets, researchers said.
This theory, called core accretion, posits that planets grow as gas and dust glom onto seed particles in a protoplanetary disk. Core accretion predicts that the characteristics of a planetary system ? the number and size of planets, for example ? depend strongly on the mass of the star.
The main competing theory, called gravitational collapse, holds that planets form when big clouds of gas and dust in the disk spontaneously collapse into clumps that become planets. According to this idea, stellar mass should have little impact on planet size, number and other characteristics.
As the exoplanet finds pile up, it seems that stellar mass does in fact play an important role. The 18 huge newfound alien worlds, which all orbit massive stars, add more evidence in support of core accretion, researchers said.
"It's nice to see all these converging lines of evidence pointing toward one class of formation mechanisms," study lead author John Johnson, of Caltech in Pasadena, said in a statement.
Johnson and his colleagues reported their results in the December issue of the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.
Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom?and on Facebook.
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Environmental activists have broken into a French nuclear power station, to highlight the "vulnerability" of atomic sites in France.
Greenpeace campaigners entered the site at Nogent-sur-Seine, 60 miles (95km) south-east of Paris, before dawn.
The activists climbed on top of a reactor building and unfurled a banner, said a Greenpeace spokesman.
The power company, Electricite de France (EDF), says the intruders were detected straight away.
Seven out of nine activists who entered the site have been arrested, said the firm.
The activists "were immediately detected by the security system and were permanently followed on the site, without a decision being made to make use of force," said an EDF statement.
Greenpeace also targeted two other nuclear sites in France at the same time.
Banners were unfurled at those sites, say police, but it is not clear whether the activists managed to gain entry.
The campaign group says it did succeed in putting up a banner on the Nogent-sur-Seine plant which read "Safe Nuclear Power Doesn't Exist".
"The aim is to show the vulnerability of French nuclear installations and how easy it is to get to the heart of a nuclear reactor," said a Greenpeace nuclear specialist, Sophia Majnoni.
Continue reading the main storyEnd Quote Henri Guaino Advisor to President SarkozyThis does make one think about the security of access to nuclear power plants?
She said a recent security audit of French nuclear plants "did not learn the lessons of Fukushima," the Japanese nuclear plant crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in March.
'Irresponsible' actionFrench Industry Minister Eric Besson expressed surprise when told of reports about the Greenpeace action.
"That would mean there has been a dysfunction and that measures must be taken to ensure that it doesn't happen again," he told French radio.
An advisor to President Nicolas Sarkozy, Henri Guaino, said the Greenpeace action was "irresponsible", but acknowledged that it raised concerns.
"This does make one think about the security of access to nuclear power plants," French news agency AFP reported him as saying.
"Conclusions must be drawn from this."
France generates about 75% of its electricity from nuclear power.
The future of the nuclear industry has sparked heated political exchanges in the run up to next year's presidential elections.
The opposition socialists say they want to reduce the country's dependence on nuclear power, but the French government has accused them of undermining the industry to win Green party support.
Greenpeace has repeatedly targeted the French nuclear industry over safety concerns.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-europe-16029572
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FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010 file photo, Bishop Eddie Long speaks at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. Megachurch leader Long has announced he's taking time off to focus on his family after his wife filed for divorce. Long's spokesman, Art Franklin, said that the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church leader told his congregation Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011, that he will continue to serve as senior pastor at the church in Lithonia, an Atlanta suburb. But Long said he needs a sabbatical. (AP Photo/John Amis, Pool, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010 file photo, Bishop Eddie Long speaks at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. Megachurch leader Long has announced he's taking time off to focus on his family after his wife filed for divorce. Long's spokesman, Art Franklin, said that the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church leader told his congregation Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011, that he will continue to serve as senior pastor at the church in Lithonia, an Atlanta suburb. But Long said he needs a sabbatical. (AP Photo/John Amis, Pool, File)
LITHONIA, Georgia (AP) ? Megachurch leader Bishop Eddie Long announced Sunday he's taking time off to focus on his family after his wife filed for divorce.
Long's spokesman, Art Franklin, said the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church leader told his congregation during church services that he will continue to serve as senior pastor at the church in Lithonia just outside Atlanta. But Long said he needs a sabbatical.
Franklin declined to say how long the pastor's sabbatical from the church would be. He said Long and his family "are asking for privacy and sensitivity to their family."
The divorce filing comes more than a year after allegations last year that Long used his lavish lifestyle and position of spiritual authority to lure four young men into sexual relationships. Long settled the cases but has never admitted to any wrongdoing. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
The scandal has tainted Long's reputation as an influential spiritual leader who transformed his suburban Atlanta congregation of 150 into a following of 25,000 members and an international televangelist empire that included athletes, entertainers and politicians.
Long's wife, Vanessa Long, filed a petition for divorce Thursday in DeKalb County Superior Court to end her 21-year marriage to the embattled minister. The church sent out a press release Friday morning saying Vanessa Long planned to withdraw her petition, but her attorney said later in the day that she had changed her mind.
In her petition, Vanessa Long indicated that the marriage is "irretrievably broken" and that there was "no hope of reconciliation of the parties." She asked the court for temporary and permanent alimony, as well as attorneys' fees and an equitable division of marital and non-marital property.
"Vanessa and I are working together in seeking God's will in our current circumstances," Eddie Long said in a written statement.
According to the divorce petition, the couple is "currently living in a bona fide state of separation."
The Longs were married March 10, 1990. The couple has three children together and has another child from Long's previous marriage.
Eddie Long, who has been a vocal opponent of gay marriage, built his empire with charisma and a prosperity Gospel message that told followers God would reward the faithful with wealth. It was an idea he embodied, sporting jewels on stage, living in a mansion and driving a luxury car.
The bishop was well-regarded in Lithonia, just outside Atlanta in DeKalb County, home to one of the most affluent African-American communities in the U.S.
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TORONTO (Reuters) ? Canada believes the United States will ultimately approve TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which Washington put on hold last month amid fierce environmental opposition, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said on Friday.
The $7 billion oil pipeline to Texas from Alberta, as well as a new pipeline to Canada's West Coast, are crucial to preventing a costly bottleneck in export capacity over the next four to seven years as oil sands production jumps, Oliver said.
Keystone XL, which would carry oil sands-derived crude to numerous refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, still makes enormous economic sense for the United States, he told a Reuters editorial board in Toronto.
"I think it will go through, but obviously later than we had hoped," Oliver said.
A recent decision by the state of Nebraska to back a shift in the pipeline's route, away from a major aquifer, was "a significant development", he said.
Oliver's comments were among the most bullish from Canada's Conservative government since Washington announced the Keystone go-ahead decision would be delayed at least until early 2013, after next year's U.S. presidential election.
The postponement was a big blow to Ottawa, which has made bolstering exports of crude from the tar sands - the world's third-largest oil deposit - a top policy priority and one that has kicked off a lobbying effort spanning three continents.
"This delay is not a happy event for us, but we're going to continue to talk about the advantages of the pipeline," Oliver said. Those include jobs, economic activity and reliable energy supplies, he said.
Washington's move followed protests by environmental campaigners and Hollywood celebrities, who warn that exploitation of the oil sands is causing a huge spike in greenhouse gas emissions.
The demonstrations intensified after a U.S. environmental impact assessment concluded that the pipeline, which would carry 700,000 barrels a day, would have limited ecological impact, Oliver said. He said much of the opposition in the United States was from groups opposed to all hydrocarbon development.
Oliver said the delay showed the importance of diversifying Canada's oil exports, in particular by developing pipelines to the Pacific Coast, which would allow major shipments to Asia for the first time.
The concept, which he called a "nation-building exercise", is already sparking friction with aboriginal groups and environmental activists, who say such pipelines would present oil-spill risks in environmentally sensitive areas in the British Columbia interior and in coastal waters.
More than 60 British Columbia aboriginal groups flexed their muscles on Thursday by saying they had formed a united front to oppose all exports of crude oil from the Alberta tar sands through their territories.
Such a ban would create a roadblock for Enbridge Inc's planned C$5.5 billion ($5.4 billion) Northern Gateway pipeline, which would transport tar sands crude to the British Columbia coast.
Oliver would not speculate on what the legal implications for the government might be if native communities maintain their opposition to the Northern Gateway or subsequent proposals.
Enbridge has said it is still in talks with native communities, offering a 10 percent interest in the project and as much as C$1 billion of community development money. One group, the Gitxsan First Nation, said on Friday it had agreed to support the pipeline, saying it would get C$7 million in benefits.
"It has to be built in a way that takes into account the environmental impact and the needs and the wishes of the aboriginal community," Oliver said. "I think that can be done. I'm not saying it will be easy."
West Coast oil routes represent "an enormous opportunity" for aboriginal groups, offering badly needed economic development, education and jobs, he added.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the industry's main lobby group, has said production could approach export capacity as early as 2015 without new pipelines and that could slow investment.
Oliver said expansions to current systems could push that out to 2018, but the issue remained crucial and showed the need to move forward with his plans to streamline approvals major projects.
"This decade we're going to confront that issue," he said. "It's a really big issue. That's the key reason why I think improving the regulatory process is a key objective."
($1=$1.02 Canadian)
(Editing by Peter Galloway and Rob Wilson)
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We have taken a look at Pops a few times before, and they even released a special Halloween update, and now they have a Christmas / Holiday package available. These alerts will be sure to put you in the holiday mood with each notification you receive. If you are already a Pops user be sure to check out the new notifications, and if you haven't downloaded it yet be sure to hit the break for download links.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/T7HhMnEqBmw/story01.htm
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In this Nov. 16, 2011 photo, Kent Displays/Improv Electronics communications director Kevin Oswald shows off the company's flexible plastic LCD screen at the Kent, Ohio company. The small firm makes LCD tablets for writing, and earlier this month released the Boogie Board Rip model which they say could replace notebooks by letting users write on the screen, save the images to the tablets internal storage chip, and then transfer those images to their computers. U.S. factories grew last month at the fastest pace since June, helped by a jump in new orders and production. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
In this Nov. 16, 2011 photo, Kent Displays/Improv Electronics communications director Kevin Oswald shows off the company's flexible plastic LCD screen at the Kent, Ohio company. The small firm makes LCD tablets for writing, and earlier this month released the Boogie Board Rip model which they say could replace notebooks by letting users write on the screen, save the images to the tablets internal storage chip, and then transfer those images to their computers. U.S. factories grew last month at the fastest pace since June, helped by a jump in new orders and production. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
In this Nov. 22, 2011 photo, construction worker Will Capper works on a new house in Palo Alto, Calif. U.S. builders spent more in October on new homes, offices and shopping centers, pushing construction spending up for a third straight month. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
This photo taken Nov. 25, 2011, shows a commercial construction project at the Bala Cynwyd Shopping Center in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. Friday Nov. 25, 2011. U.S. builders spent more in October on new homes, offices and shopping centers, pushing construction spending up for a third straight month. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)
In this photo taken Nov. 16, 2011, Kent Displays/Improv Electronics communications director Kevin Oswald shows off the company's new Boogie Board Rip eWriter, in Kent, Ohio. The small firm makes LCD tablets for writing. U.S. factories grew last month at the fastest pace since June, helped by a jump in new orders and production.(AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
In this Nov. 16, 2011 photo, Kent Displays/Improv Electronics communications director Kevin Oswald shows off the company's flexible plastic LCD screen at the Kent, Ohio company. The small firm makes LCD tablets for writing, and earlier this month released the Boogie Board Rip model which they say could replace notebooks by letting users write on the screen, save the images to the tablets internal storage chip, and then transfer those images to their computers. U.S. factories grew last month at the fastest pace since June, helped by a jump in new orders and production. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. economy is picking up. If only job growth would follow.
A spate of data Thursday showed U.S. factories grew last month at the fastest pace since June, construction spending increased for a third straight month, and both retail sales and auto sales rose in November.
But the number of people applying for unemployment benefits is still too high to signal strong hiring.
The reports offered a mixed picture for the economy one day before the government reports on job growth in November. Economists project that employers added a net 125,000 jobs. That's not enough to lower the unemployment rate, which is projected to stay at 9 percent for the second straight month.
And manufacturers could face strains overseas in key export markets, especially if Europe's debt crisis worsens and leads the continent into another recession.
For now, factories are growing. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Thursday that its manufacturing index rose to 52.7 in November, up from 50.8 in October. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion. Factories have grown for 28 straight months.
Bradley Holcomb, chair of the ISM's survey committee, said manufacturers "are cautiously more optimistic about the next few months based on lower raw materials pricing and favorable levels of new orders."
Still, companies have tempered their outlook with concerns about future economic growth, government regulation and the debt crisis in Europe, he added.
New orders rose to a seven-month high and production increased, according to separate indexes in the report.
Ian Shepherdson, an economist at High Frequency Economics, said the gains suggest factory output will expand at an even faster pace next month.
"The economy seems finally to be developing real momentum; growth is accelerating," he said in a note to clients.
But a measure of factory employment fell. The drop indicates manufacturers are still hiring, but at a slower pace than the previous month.
"Manufacturers are trying to meet demand without significantly increasing their work force," said Ryan Wang, an economist at HSBC Securities.
Worker productivity rose in the July-September quarter by the most in 18 months, while labor costs fell, the government said Wednesday.
A more productive and less-costly work force can boost corporate profits. But unless companies see more demand, they're unlikely to step up hiring.
And manufacturers could soon see less demand overseas. Most economists expect Europe's financial crisis to tip that region into recession next year. About 20 percent of U.S. exports are shipped to Europe.
China, the world's second-largest economy, is also slowing. Manufacturing in China contracted in November for the first time in nearly three years, according to business surveys released Thursday.
Separately, the Labor Department said the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week rose above 400,000 for the first time in four weeks. The increase comes after applications had drifted lower over the past two months.
About 7 million people are still receiving benefits. House Republicans said they are drafting legislation to continue an extended benefits program set to expire at the end of this year. That program provides up to 99 weeks of aid in states with the highest unemployment rates.
Another report showed that U.S. builders spent more in October on new homes, offices and shopping centers. Construction spending rose for a third straight month, the Commerce Department said. Despite the gains, overall construction spending remained depressed.
The projected job growth in November would be an improvement from the previous month, when the economy added just 80,000 jobs.
Some economists are more optimistic after payroll provider ADP said Wednesday that companies added 206,000 workers last month, the most this year. That survey doesn't include government agencies, which have been cutting jobs.
Other economic indicators reinforce the outlook for an improving economy. Retailers reported a strong start to holiday sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, consumer confidence surged in November to the highest level since July, and Americans' pay rose in October by the most in seven months.
Those reports have caused many economists to forecast a pickup in growth in the final three months of the year, to about a 3 percent annual rate. That would be an improvement from growth of 2 percent in the July-September period.
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FILE - This Nov. 5, 2011 file photo provided by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General shows former Penn State football defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky, who sexually abused a boy more than 100 times, then threatened his family to keep him quiet about the encounters, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 that details new accusations not included in criminal charges against him. (AP Photo/Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, File)
FILE - This Nov. 5, 2011 file photo provided by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General shows former Penn State football defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky, who sexually abused a boy more than 100 times, then threatened his family to keep him quiet about the encounters, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 that details new accusations not included in criminal charges against him. (AP Photo/Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, File)
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Lawyers for a young man described in a grand jury report as a victim of sexual abuse by former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky said Thursday they settled a legal action regarding a charity's assets.
Harrisburg attorneys Ben Andreozzi and Jeffrey Fritz said the settlement protected the claim their client plans to assert to the assets of The Second Mile, a nonprofit for at-risk children Sandusky founded in 1977.
"We intend to initiate a civil lawsuit seeking damages from the organizations and individuals responsible for the sexual assaults upon our clients," the lawyers said in a release. "However, our priority at this time is to support our clients, including Victim No. 4, who will be testifying against Mr. Sandusky at the preliminary hearing."
Sandusky, 67, has been charged with sexual abuse of eight boys over a 15-year period. His preliminary hearing on 40 criminal counts is scheduled for Dec. 13 at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte.
Andreozzi and Fritz said that under terms of the settlement, The Second Mile has agreed to obtain court approval before transferring assets or closing and give their client the ability to weigh in before a judge regarding any distribution of assets.
The Second Mile released a statement calling the agreement a reiteration of its existing legal liabilities and saying it does not include a finding of liability.
The Second Mile said earlier this week that its donors should consider giving money to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, the latest sign that the charity may not be a going concern much longer. The Second Mile said its December programs would go on as scheduled, however.
Prosecutors said Sandusky found his alleged victims through The Second Mile, which is based in State College.
Also Thursday, state Rep. Ronald Waters, D-Philadelphia, asked the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare ? the agency that licenses programs dealing with youth and children ? to provide him with detailed information about The Second Mile's activities.
Penn State President Rodney Erickson said Thursday the school would conduct a wide-open search for a new football coach, following the dismissal of head coach Joe Paterno shortly after Sandusky was arrested. Paterno has not been charged with any crime, although two other high-ranking administrators, former athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz, have been charged with lying to a grand jury and failure to properly report suspected child abuse.
They have denied the allegations and await a preliminary hearing in Harrisburg Dec. 16.
Penn State's trustees held a four-minute meeting Friday to formally approve decisions made in the immediate aftermath of the arrests of Sandusky, Curley and Schultz. The board scheduled the meeting after criticism that the trustees violated the state open-meetings law by taking its initial votes behind closed doors last month.
Erickson said the university will donate $1.5 million in bowl proceeds to a pair of sex-crime advocacy organizations in the wake of shocking sex-abuse allegations levied against a once-revered assistant football coach.
He said Big Ten bowl revenue, which usually goes back to the athletic department, will go instead to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
"This presents an excellent opportunity for Penn State to raise the national visibility of this issue," Erickson said. "Our students and fans are focused on a cause to play for, to cheer for."
In addition on Thursday, Sandusky's lawyer said he has not discussed pleading guilty with his client and that the former coach continues to maintain he is innocent of the charges against him.
Joe Amendola said Sandusky has never considered a plea in his case and the topic of a guilty plea came up as a "what-if" question from a reporter about potential additional charges.
"My answer to the 'what if' question was analogous to saying, if weather forecasters were predicting a blizzard next week, which they are not, I would have to at least consider the possibility of postponing my scheduled trip to Philadelphia," Amendola said in an email.
Authorities say the sex abuse allegations were not immediately brought to the attention of authorities even though investigators say high-level people at Penn State apparently knew about at least some of them.
School President Graham Spanier was ousted as a result.
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