Weaver ants help flowers get the best pollinator









































MOST flowers don't want pesky ants hanging around scaring away would-be pollinators. Not so the Singapore rhododendron - the first flower found to recruit ants to chase poor pollinators away.












Francisco Gonzálvez at EEZA, the arid zone experimental station in Almeria, Spain, and colleagues studied flowers frequented by large carpenter bees (Xylocopa) and a much smaller solitary bee, Nomia. The larger bees seemed to be better pollinators - setting far more fruit than the smaller bees.












The team found that Nomia avoided plants with weaver ant patrols, and when they did dare to land, were chased away or ambushed by the ants. Being so much bigger, carpenter bees weren't troubled by the ants (Journal of Ecology, DOI:10.1111/1365-2745.12006).












Plants usually produce chemical repellents to scare off insects that prey on their pollinators. But lab tests suggested Gonzálvez's flowers were actively attracting weaver ants, although how remains a mystery. The team thinks carpenter bees choose flowers with ants so they don't have to compete with Nomia.












Michael Kaspari of the University of Oklahoma in Norman says this is a new kind of plant-ant interaction, and that the team makes a "strong case" for the rhododendron manipulating the behaviour of weaver ants to ward off inefficient pollinators.


















































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.




































All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.


If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.








Read More..

Android-based Ouya game console shipping soon



Early birds get their hands on Ouya after December 28.



(Credit:
Ouya)


Let the gamers,
Android nuts, and open-source geeks rejoice -- the Ouya is shipping on time!


Well, at least the developers' consoles are, that is. Ouya first garnered attention by raising more than $8.5 million on Kickstarter this summer to create an inexpensive, open-source, Android-based game system.


Early supporters of the crowdfunding campaign got first dibs on a finished Ouya for as little as $95, but those aren't scheduled to ship until March. However, the hundreds of folks who ponied up $699 or more for a first-run, rooted developers' system with early SDK access get to experience Christmas twice in the same week when their consoles ship on December 28.


If creators of the Ouya do fulfill their original commitment to ship the dev kits in December, they'll deserve kudos. Plenty of other Kickstarter-funded projects have run into snags meeting original timelines and commitments -- the Pebble watch is now months late on its original ship date and still working out production issues, for example.



Ouya points out that all consoles will actually be dev kits, but the late December batch is a special group that cost more to produce and give big early backers a first crack at working with the platform. The only catch for developers is that at least some part of the game play has to be available for free, be it a demo or the whole shebang.


Ouya is also working on its own ODK (Ouya development kit) that game designers will be able to access. At the same time, Ouya says it's been busy optimizing Android Jelly Bean for gameplay on a large screen.


If Ouya takes off, 2013 could be a year in which a certain segment of the population gets even less exposure to the sun than in the past.


If you missed out on the first Ouya rush, there's still a chance to get in on the ground floor noob level. Ouya is giving away 10 developers' consoles next month.


Read More..

Could Outgoing Republicans Hold Keys to 'Cliff' Deal?


Nov 30, 2012 1:45pm







ap obama boehner lt 121124 main Could Outgoing Republicans Hold Keys to Fiscal Cliff?

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster


The outlook for reaching some sort of bipartisan agreement on the so-called “fiscal cliff” before the Dec. 31 deadline is looking increasingly grim. Shortly after noon today, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, appeared before the cameras to say the talks had reached a “stalemate.”


But there may be a glimmer of hope. There are currently 33 outgoing members of Congress — they’re either retiring or were defeated last month — who have signed the Grover Norquist pledge stating that they will not raise taxes. Those members, particularly the ones who have traditionally been somewhat moderate, could hold the key to that stance softening.


“You have 33 people who do not have to worry about the future political consequences of their vote,” said ABC political director Amy Walter. “These are people who theoretically can vote based purely on the issue rather than on how it will impact their political future.”


One outgoing member has publicly indicated a willingness to join with Obama and the Democrats on a partial deal.


“I have to say that if you’re going to sign me up with a camp, I like what Tom Cole has to say,” California Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack said on CNN on Thursday. Cole is the Republican who suggested that his party vote to extend the Bush tax-rates for everyone but the highest income earners and leave the rest of the debate for later. Mack’s husband, Connie, however, also an outgoing Republican member of Congress, said he disagreed with his wife.


But in general, among the outgoing Republican representatives with whom ABC News has made contact, the majority have been vague as to whether or not they still feel bound by the pledge, and whether they would be willing to raise tax rates.


“[Congressman Jerry Lewis] has always been willing to listen to any proposals, but there isn’t,” a spokesman for Rep. Lewis, Calif., told ABC News. “He’s said the pledge was easy because it goes along with his philosophy that increasing tax doesn’t solve any problems. However, he’s always been willing to listen to proposals.”


“Congressman Burton has said that he does not vote for tax increases,” a spokesman for Dan Burton, Ind., said to ABC.


“With Representative Herger retiring, we are leaving this debate to returning members and members-elect,” an aide for Wally Herger, Calif., told ABC News.


The majority of Congress members will likely wait until a deal is on the table to show their hand either way. However, it stands to reason that if any members of Congress are going to give in and agree to raise taxes, these would be the likely candidates.


An agreement will require both sides to make some concessions: Republicans will need to agree to some tax increases, Democrats will need to agree to some spending cuts. With Republicans and Democrats appearing to be digging further into their own, very separate territories, the big question is, which side will soften first?










Read More..

Florida pet spa mystery link to China's great firewall


* Required fields






















Password must contain only letters and numbers, and be at least 8 characters






Read More..

"Halo 4": More of the same with a sprinkle of change






SINGAPORE: "Halo 4" is the latest instalment of the popular "Halo" game franchise.

It traces the adventures of human super soldier Master Chief, and his artificial intelligence companion Cortana, as they unravel the mystery of Requiem, an uncharted planet inhabited by the hostile Prometheans.

Following the departure of Bungie Inc, the developers who did the previous "Halo" games, 343 Industries was tasked with developing "Halo 4".

To their credit, 343 Industries has managed to retain all the good points of the previous "Halo" games, like their tight controls and frenetic gameplay, in "Halo 4".

It has even improved upon its predecessors in certain areas – "Halo 4" boasts much better graphics, as well as more types of enemies, along with more weapons to kill them with than the earlier games.

But the game on the whole, is essentially similar to past "Halo" games.

The new Promethean weapons, for example, look cool and actually assemble themselves in the player's hands, but they behave more or less the same way as the Human and Covenant weapons.

However, this is great news for diehard "Halo" fans.

"More of the same" isn't always a bad thing, especially when it's done well.

The fluid action, the familiar mechanics from the other games in the series, which have sold over 43 million copies so far in total, are reproduced faithfully in "Halo 4".

What truly sets "Halo 4" apart from the previous "Halo" games is probably its storyline, which has a slightly darker tone.

Some story threads in the game, like Master Chief's relationship with an increasingly unstable Cortana are also quite intriguing, and will leave players wanting to play on in order to find out what happens next.

While the main campaign clocks in at slightly over ten hours, there is a lot more content for players to explore and get their money's worth from the game long after the end credits roll.

343 Industries has created extra content in the form of Spartan Ops, a series of free downloadable episodic missions that draws the player deeper into the "Halo" universe, and fills in narrative gaps in the main game.

In addition, the compelling multiplayer modes also serve to extend the longevity of the game.

At the end of the day, hardcore "Halo" fans will find "Halo 4" very familiar and absolutely adore all the extra new content, but those who are looking for something more than "Halo 3 (2)" may walk away a tad disappointed.

-CNA/ha



Read More..

Crave giveaway: Element Case Sector 5 for iPhone, Joule II for iPad



Sector 5

This Sector 5 features a modular "multi-link" design.



(Credit:
Element Case)


Congrats to Jamie M. of Portland, Ore., for winning a Vinci Tab II
Android
tablet for kids in last week's giveaway. Now, down to business: Could your
iPhone 5 use a new outfit to wear to all those holiday shindigs? You're hanging out in the right place.

We're giving away a Sector 5 from Element Case, which calls the accessory the "most extreme case" it's ever created. To be clear, the black-and-graphite case can't promise to save your iPhone 5's life in a BASE jump, but it is made from lightweight aerospace-grade aluminum in case your iPhone has a thing for flying. Previous Element Case offerings with hinged designs required removing four screws for installation, but the Sector 5 is a one-screw job.


Joule II

The Joule II in your iPad crown.



(Credit:
Element Case)

But that's not all iFolks. You'll also get a sleek and sturdy Element Case Joule II iPad stand in your choice of finish. (Crave giveaway trivia: the original Joule iPad stand was our very first iPad-related prize back in April 2010.)

Normally, an Element Case Sector 5 would run you $150, while a Joule II would cost you $110, but you have the chance to get both, absolutely free. How do you go about making your iPhone 5 and iPad very happy? There are a few rules, so please read carefully.

  • Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the Join CNET link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again.

  • Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful, it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.

  • Leave only one comment. You may enter for this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.

  • The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) Element Case Sector 5 and one (1) Element Case Joule II, with a total retail value of $260.

  • If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. The winner must respond within three days of the end of the sweepstakes. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.

  • Entries can be submitted until Monday, December 3, at 12 p.m. ET.


And here's the disclaimer that our legal department said we had to include (sorry for the caps, but rules are rules):


NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. YOU HAVE NOT YET WON. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OLD OR AGE OF MAJORITY, WHICHEVER IS OLDER IN YOUR STATE OF RESIDENCE AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 12 p.m. ET on Monday, December 3, 2012. See official rules for details.


Good luck.

Read More..

Pictures: Inside the World's Most Powerful Laser

Photograph courtesy Damien Jemison, LLNL

Looking like a portal to a science fiction movie, preamplifiers line a corridor at the U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF).

Preamplifiers work by increasing the energy of laser beams—up to ten billion times—before these beams reach the facility's target chamber.

The project's lasers are tackling "one of physics' grand challenges"—igniting hydrogen fusion fuel in the laboratory, according to the NIF website. Nuclear fusion—the merging of the nuclei of two atoms of, say, hydrogen—can result in a tremendous amount of excess energy. Nuclear fission, by contrast, involves the splitting of atoms.

This July, California-based NIF made history by combining 192 laser beams into a record-breaking laser shot that packed over 500 trillion watts of peak power-a thousand times more power than the entire United States uses at any given instant.

"This was a quantum leap for laser technology around the world," NIF director Ed Moses said in September. But some critics of the $5 billion project wonder why the laser has yet to ignite a fusion chain reaction after three-and-a-half years in operation. Supporters counter that such groundbreaking science simply can't be rushed.

(Related: "Fusion Power a Step Closer After Giant Laser Blast.")

—Brian Handwerk

Published November 29, 2012

Read More..

Man Arrested in Fla. Girl's 1993 Disappearance












Police have arrested a 42-year-old man and charged him with murder in the case of a Florida girl who vanished almost 20 years ago.


Andrea Gail Parsons, 10, of Port Salerno, Fla., was last seen on July 11, 1993, shortly after 6 p.m. She had just purchased candy and soda at a grocery store when she waved to a local couple as they drove by on an area street and honked, police said.


Today, Martin County Sheriff's Department officials arrested Chester Duane Price, 42, who recently lived in Haleyville, Ala., and charged him with first-degree murder and kidnapping of a child under the age of 13, after he was indicted by a grand jury.


Price was acquainted with Andrea at the time of her disappearance, and also knew another man police once eyed as a potential suspect, officials told ABC News affiliate WPBF in West Palm Beach, Fla.






Handout/Martin County Sheriff's Office







"The investigation has concluded that Price abducted and killed Andrea Gail Parsons," read a sheriff's department news release. "Tragically, at this time, her body has not been recovered."


The sheriff's department declined to specify what evidence led to Price's arrest for the crime after 19 years or to provide details to ABCNews.com beyond the prepared news release.


Reached by phone, a sheriff's department spokeswoman said she did not know whether Price was yet represented by a lawyer.


Price was being held at the Martin County Jail without bond and was scheduled to make his first court appearance via video link at 10:30 a.m. Friday.


In its news release, the sheriff's department cited Price's "extensive criminal history with arrests dating back to 1991" that included arrests for cocaine possession, assault, sale of controlled substance, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and violation of domestic violence injunction.


"The resolve to find Andrea and get answers surrounding the circumstances of her disappearance has never wavered as detectives and others assigned have dedicated their careers to piecing this puzzle together," Martin County Sheriff Robert L. Crowder said in a prepared statement. "In 2011, I assigned a team of detectives, several 'fresh sets of eyes,' to begin another review of the high-volume of evidence that had been previously collected in this case."


A flyer dating from the time of Andrea's disappearance, and redistributed by the sheriff's office after the arrest, described her as 4-foot-11 with hazel eyes and brown hair. She was last seen wearing blue jean shorts, a dark shirt and clear plastic sandals, according to the flyer.


The sheriff's department became involved in the case after Andrea's mother, Linda Parsons, returned home from work around 10 p.m. on July 11, 1993, to find her daughter missing and called police, according to the initial sheriff's report.



Read More..

How much will you pay for a green future?



































TIMES are tough. When the UK government announced its new energy plans last week, newspaper headlines raged about how much household bills would rise to pay for cleaner power generation. They gave voice to a growing segment of the British public - wearied by the country's prolonged economic doldrums - that seems disinclined to pay for a greener future.











Ordinary Brits might understandably feel hard done by. Power companies have prospered mightily in recent decades, but the costs of green power will be visited on their customers, not their profits. Other Europeans, too, face a steep bill for climate change relief, but dire financial straits are hampering their efforts (see "Europe in 2050: a survivor's guide to climate change").













But while money is tight, so is time. The climate talks which kicked off in Doha, Qatar, this week, are unlikely to yield much progress towards a global deal to cut emissions. That will increase the need for meaningful national climate change strategies. While we shouldn't let governments and energy companies off the hook, they need public support and pressure to act. It's time we all thought hard about the price we're willing to pay for the future.


















































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.




































All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.


If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.








Read More..

Tokyo governor election kicks off






TOKYO: The race to elect a successor to colourful and controversial Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara kicked off Thursday with his handpicked nominee expected to cruise to an easy victory.

Ishihara, a veteran right-wing firebrand who is widely blamed for exacerbating a territorial row with China, abruptly resigned to lead a new political party in a December 16 general election that coincides with the poll in the city of 13 million.

His chosen successor, deputy governor Naoki Inose, 66, a prize-winning author like Ishihara, has a commanding lead among the nine candidates who have thrown their hats in the ring, analysts say.

The Tokyo vote will essentially be a referendum on Ishihara, who was a year into his fourth four-year term and provoked a flare-up with Beijing over his plans to buy a group of islands at the centre of a dispute with China.

Inose, seen as a tough-minded reformer, has pledged to continue Ishihara's bid for Tokyo to host the 2020 Olympic Games, despite the city's costly failure to win the 2016 Games.

Despite the overall financial gloom in Japan, the capital exists in something of a bubble, and still boasts eye-wateringly expensive eateries and shops stocking the world's finest luxury goods.

Because of this relative wealth and stability, Tokyoites are unlikely to seek any real change, said Tomoaki Iwai, political scientist at Nihon University, meaning Inose is all but guaranteed victory.

"A focus, if any, will be how big a victory Mr Inose will be able to pull off," Iwai said.

Inose's rival candidates are likely to attack him and Ishihara on an ill-fated bank the Tokyo government launched in 2005 to help local small businesses.

The bank's balance sheet quickly turned to tatters with a series of loans that went bad and it is now using public cash to try to get back on an even financial keel.

The only one of his eight opponents who could come close to Inose is Kenji Utsunomiya, 66, a veteran human rights lawyer and a former president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

He has won endorsement from left-leaning parties for his calls to permanently close Japan's nuclear plants following the atomic catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant after last year's tsunami.

The plant, around 220 kilometres (135 miles) from Tokyo, supplied the capital with electricity until its reactors went into meltdown, spewing radiation over the land and sea.

Little radiation is recorded as having reached Tokyo, but the disaster left the city's inhabitants wary of the technology.

The Tokyo government is a major shareholder in the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power, but Inose is credited as having been tough on the utility, which has since been taken into public ownership.

- AFP/lp



Read More..

Curiosity: Behind the amazing success (and disaster) of a mobile gaming hit




Curiosity lets people tap little "cubelets" to make them disappear. Writing messages is one motivation to keep on tapping at the 64 billion cubelets.

Curiosity lets people tap little "cubelets" to make them disappear. Writing messages is one motivation to keep on tapping at the 64 billion cubelets.



(Credit:
screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)



For storied video game designer Peter Molyneux, November 6 was supposed to be the calm before the storm. But it became the storm itself when his newest project, Curiosity, arrived a day early and exploded in popularity.


Molyneux's new gaming startup, 22Cans, planned to launch Curiosity on November 7. Twenty-two hours ahead of time, though, Apple's App Store published the "experiment," which is something like letting thousands of people pop the same sheet of bubble wrap at the same time.


So began a roller-coaster ride that combined a humiliating server failure with an intriguing new take on global-scale video games in the smartphone era. But now, with the server problems licked, Curiosity 2.0 due soon, and 22Cans' grander plans taking shape, Molyneux is starting to sound less mortified and more optimistic.


"It's literally the biggest tragedy I've ever had in my career," Molyneux said in an interview. "It's also been the biggest joy."




That's a big change from two weeks ago, when word of Curiosity got out and the game went viral. 22Cans' servers were overwhelmed, preventing many from reaching the game's giant virtual online cube and wiping out players' stores of carefully collected virtual coins.


But instead of dealing with the crisis at 22Cans headquarters in Guildford, England, Molyneux was trying to get back from a conference in Israel. He spent four and a half agonizing hours trying to get through Tel Aviv's notoriously rigorous airport security more than 2,000 miles away. (For a blow-by-blow look at the drama, check the timeline of Curiosity's difficult debut.)


"Israel has got the most insane security, and through none of it are you allowed to use your mobile phone," Molyneux said. "Knowing Curiosity was alive, I was occasionally pretending to drop something to look at my phone."


The desperation of the moment still was evident in his voice as he described how his hopes of communicating were dashed once again on the plane.


"As luck would have it, the person sitting next to me on the plane was an aircraft inspector. He said, 'You can't use that,'" Molyneux recounted. When the inspector left his seat for a moment, Molyneux mashed his phone against the window to try to get a signal. He said was thinking, "I don't care if the plane crashes and kills a thousand people. I've got to find out what's happening."


Curiosity was simply too popular too soon, almost immediately overtaking 22Cans' plan to gradually increase server capacity.


"I'll be honest. This is my fault. I never in my wildest dreams expected millions of people to download Curiosity in the first few days. It's an experiment. You just tap on it. I could see in my mind's eye, even with my most optimistic nature, we'd see at first a thousand people, maybe after a month, a hundred thousand," Molyneux said. "That hundred thousand figure was reached within three hours of launching Curiosity."



Peter Molyneux explains 22Cans' upcoming game, Godus.

Peter Molyneux explains 22Cans' upcoming game, Godus.



(Credit:
screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)



To cope with the load, 22cans' Curiosity team of six programmers stripped out lots of features -- the Facebook log-in, the ability to check where on the cube your contacts were tapping, detailed statistics. With the upcoming release of Curiosity 2.0, the company will restore these features and hopes to fulfill its original ambition. It will make Curiosity a real-time collective experience rather than individual actions that only synchronize with others' actions in fits and starts. And it will open the door to more experiments.


Video game renown
Perhaps Molyneux' track record has something to do with it. He's a notable figure in the video game world -- notable enough for membership in the Order of the British Empire for distinguished service.


In the 1980s, "I was selling floppy disks to schools," Molyneux said, but he found they sold better with free games on them. He then moved into writing those games himself, though his first, Entrepreneur, was an abject failure that sold only two copies. His fortunes turned later that decade when his "god game" Populous sold 5 million copies, luring players who wanted to lead a civilization in competition with another deity.




The first layer of Curiosity's cube was black; tapping it millions of blocks away revealed the layer beneath.

The first layer of Curiosity's cube was black; tapping it millions of blocks away revealed the layer beneath.



(Credit:
Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)



After that came hits such as Dungeon Keeper, a role reversal in which the player defends his territory against incursion from heroes, and Project Milo, in which a player uses a Kinect controller to interact with a boy and guide him around a virtual world.


Central to many video games is the idea of motivation. Players stay engaged with opportunities to solve puzzles, vanquish enemies, build empires, and escape into alternative realms where they have more control over the future.


Molyneux has experimented with morality as a motivation, too. Where some games such as the Grand Theft Auto series explore the rewards of criminality, Molyneux's Fable series from Microsoft offers moral choices in which choosing the "good" path can help the player's fortunes.


Curiosity accommodates some very different motives: The urge to reveal hidden photos and text. The desire to tidy up. The instinct to collaborate on a group project the same way thousands of ants build an anthill one grain of sand at a time. The compulsion to write crude graffiti -- or to obliterate it. And, closest to Molyneux's heart, the desire to find out the secret message he's hidden deep within the cube.


What is Curiosity?
Curiosity is many things. It's the first of 22 experiments that 22Cans plans to launch on the road to building new games adapted for the era of the Net-connected mobile device. It's a marketing vehicle to promote 22Cans' Kickstarter-funded god game, Godus. And at its most basic level, it's a game whose bare-bones simplicity actually has room for surprising complexity.




People like to uncover the interesting parts of photos once they're discovered on the face of the cube.

People like to uncover the interesting parts of photos once they're discovered on the face of the cube. (Click to enlarge.)



(Credit:
screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)



Curiosity, an app for iOS and
Android, is as primitive and repetitive as popping plastic bubble-wrap. But apparently it's just as addictive, because it's kept hundreds of thousands of people engaged.


The game shows a single cube floating in a virtual room. This cube is constructed from more than 64 billion tiny cubelets that become visible if zoom in close. If you tap a cubelet, it disappears with a tinkling noise into tiny shards.


So what makes this better than virtual bubble wrap?


First of all, there are the gold coins. Destroying a cubelet gets you a single coin at first, but multipliers kick in as you tap ever more cubelets without missing and tapping a blank patch. You get double the coins after a run of 12 cubelets, triple at 26, quadruple at 42, and so on.


It's a pretty crude reward system, but you can cash in your coins for assorted tools that let you destroy more cubes per tap. Some tools are disabled for now, to be unlocked in the future, so perhaps there's a reason to save up.


Molyneux is intrigued by the possibilities. For example, what will happen when the end gets close?


"If you watch a marathon, all the runners will run in a pack, slipstreaming behind each other. Then there will come a point where somebody makes a break for it and runs in front," and he expects a similar realization in Curiosity when people realize it's changing from a cooperative project to a competition.


"That's why we have this notion of saving up," he adds. "Are you a hoarder? Will you spend [your coins] in a blaze of glory on the last few levels? Or are you a cooperator, spending now to get through early levels? It's a deeply interesting experiment in group mentality."


More experiments will center on Curiosity's virtual money -- but later with a connection to real-world money through in-app purchases.


"It's going to form a part of the experiment at some point in the cube. Monetization needs to be fair. We need to get our servers reliable before we monetize in any way," he said. "To test that motivation is fascinating."


Art and graffiti
And other motives are at work, too. Some people like to rapidly tap with multiple fingers, leaving tracks of obliterated cubes behind with a strategy that's good for long runs of coins. Others like to tidy up, perhaps motivated by the bonus awarded if a player clears the screen of all cubelets.




Artwork such as this heart often doesn't last long as others tap away the cubelets.

Artwork such as this heart often doesn't last long as others tap away the cubelets.



(Credit:
screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)



Second, there's the chance for global graffiti. Many people use the face of the cube as a tabula rasa, tapping away cubelets to construct pixelated words, patterns, or artwork. At the same time, others undo what's been created.


"One person is turning everything risque into little works of art. A lot of kids draw penises. He goes round and changes them into dog's faces and palm trees," Molyneux said.


Someone even painstakingly tapped out a marriage proposal, Molyneux said. "A lot of people want to express themselves on the cube," once they realize they're "connected to the entire world."


Third, there are the pictures. Some layers have photographs or other imagery that people want to reveal. Underneath one of the early layers were close-up photos of eyes, and people tapped away the cubes to reveal those eyes first before turning to the more mundane regions around them.


Molyneux was intrigued to see that on one layer, showing words excerpted from Charles Dickens, people tapped away enough to understand the word, but moved on to the next before instead of tapping to fully reveal the world.


The secret
Last, there's the secret.


Somewhere inside the cube is one cubelet that, when tapped, will reveal to a single person a Web address with a message that only Molyneux and one other person know. And Molyneux is terribly excited about it.


"I wake up thinking about it," he said. "I am known for saying exciting things and getting people excited, maybe overexcited, and that's been interpreted as overpromising. Maybe this time I'm understating the promise."


The secret isn't necessarily in the last, centermost cubelet, Molyneux said. If it looks like people are losing interest, 22Cans will "bring forward the end date," but right now he expects that "we have many hundreds of layers to go through yet."


The impetus for Curiosity was a TED talk by J.J. Abrams about the power of a secret, Molyneux said.


"When he was a kid, his grandfather gave him a locked box. He said, 'Don't open the box, just wonder what's in the box. It motivated him to be a brilliant writer," Molyneux said. "If that motivated him, maybe it's enough for me to say, 'Inside the center of this cube, for one person, there is something amazing, wonderful, and life-changing. It isn't just a dead cat or philosophical saying or video of 22cans saying 'Hurrah!" It is something truly meaningful."


And that curiosity apparently motivates people. 22Cans can show messages across the cube, and one is the phrase, "What's inside the cube?"


"What happens to the tap rate if we remind people? We notice the length of time people tap goes up," Molyneux said. Not only that, it keeps them coming back to the cube even though most people abandon new apps quickly. "That keeps them coming back."


Promoting Godus
Molyneux knows what to do with the limelight. He's promoting Curiosity, of course, and a succeeding experiment that will be "more like a game than Curiosity." And last week, peeling away one Curiosity cube layer revealed another 22Cans ambition: a new god game called Godus. The company is funding Godus with Kickstarter, and it's raised $270,000 since then.
Godus




A mockup of the terrain of 22Cans' Godus game due to arrive in September 2013. It's a god game, and players will be able to flick tornadoes across the landscape with a mouse movement or touch-screen swipe.

A mockup of the terrain of 22Cans' Godus game due to arrive in September 2013. It's a god game, and players will be able to flick tornadoes across the landscape with a mouse movement or touch-screen swipe.



(Credit:
22Cans)



It's a new god game that draws on Populous, Dungeon Master, Black and White, and Fable. "We're going to steal the best bits and throw away the worst bits," he said in a video about Godus. That means the mutable landscape of Populous, the subterranean treasures of Dungeon Keeper, and the direct intervention of the hand of god in Black and White, he said. It'll run on Windows PCs, iOS devices, and maybe Macs, and it'll work in adrenaline-charged multiplayer or more relaxed single player modes.


But don't expect Godus to be a direct descendent of Curiosity's massive multiplayer approach, since linking each player's worlds into a single universe will be technically difficult and expensive. "Having all these worlds connected is a huge thing and it's going to require lots of servers, so big stretch goal, I'm afraid," Molyneux said in a video about Godus.


It's clear, though, that Molyneux is hooked on the idea of a game that spans the world through smartphones. "It's a new psychology. Never before have we been able to join people together in a single experience," Molyneux said.


He revels in what it's shown so far.


"On Curiosity, people have proposed to each other. There are obituaries on the cube. There are people from all cultures. There are political statements on the cube, art on the cube, crudity on the cube, censorship on the cube. All these come about because of stupidly simple thing of people tapping. If I can learn from that, then I could be part of making an experience that 100 million people could touch in one day," Molyneux said.


"We'd better get the servers right."


Read More..

Caterpillar Fungus Has Anti-Inflammatory Properties


In the Tibetan mountains, a fungus attaches itself to a moth larva burrowed in the soil. It infects and slowly consumes its host from within, taking over its brain and making the young caterpillar move to a position from which the fungus can grow and spore again.

Sounds like something out of science fiction, right? But for ailing Chinese consumers and nomadic Tibetan harvesters, the parasite called cordyceps means hope—and big money. Chinese markets sell the "golden worm," or "Tibetan mushroom"—thought to cure ailments from cancer to asthma to erectile dysfunction—for up to $50,000 (U.S.) per pound. Patients, following traditional medicinal practices, brew the fungal-infected caterpillar in tea or chew it raw.

Now the folk medicine is getting scientific backing. A new study published in the journal RNA finds that cordycepin, a chemical derived from the caterpillar fungus, has anti-inflammatory properties.

"Inflammation is normally a beneficial response to a wound or infection, but in diseases like asthma it happens too fast and to too high of an extent," said study co-author Cornelia H. de Moor of the University of Nottingham. "When cordycepin is present, it inhibits that response strongly."

And it does so in a way not previously seen: at the mRNA stage, where it inhibits polyadenylation. That means it stops swelling at the genetic cellular level—a novel anti-inflammatory approach that could lead to new drugs for cancer, asthma, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cardiovascular-disease patients who don't respond well to current medications.

From Worm to Pill

But such new drugs may be a long way off. The science of parasitic fungi is still in its early stages, and no medicine currently available utilizes cordycepin as an anti-inflammatory. The only way a patient could gain its benefits would by consuming wild-harvested mushrooms.

De Moor cautions against this practice. "I can't recommend taking wild-harvested medications," she says. "Each sample could have a completely different dose, and there are mushrooms where [taking] a single bite will kill you."

Today 96 percent of the world's caterpillar-fungus harvest comes from the high Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan range. Fungi from this region are of the subspecies Ophiocordyceps sinensis, locally known as yartsa gunbu ("summer grass, winter worm"). While highly valued in Chinese traditional medicine, these fungi have relatively low levels of cordycepin. What's more, they grow only at elevations of 10,000 to 16,500 feet and cannot be farmed. All of which makes yartsa gunbu costly for Chinese consumers: A single fungal-infected caterpillar can fetch $30.

Brave New Worm

Luckily for researchers, and for potential consumers, another rare species of caterpillar fungus, Cordyceps militaris, is capable of being farmed—and even cultivated to yield much higher levels of cordycepin.

De Moor says that's not likely to discourage Tibetan harvesters, many of whom make a year's salary in just weeks by finding and selling yartsa gunbu. Scientific proof of cordycepin's efficacy will only increase demand for the fungus, which could prove dangerous. "With cultivation we have a level of quality control that's missing in the wild," says de Moor.

"There is definitely some truth somewhere in certain herbal medicinal traditions, if you look hard enough," says de Moor. "But ancient healers probably wouldn't notice a 10 percent mortality rate resulting from herbal remedies. In the scientific world, that's completely unacceptable." If you want to be safe, she adds, "wait for the medicine."

Ancient Chinese medical traditions—which also use ground tiger bones as a cure for insomnia, elephant ivory for religious icons, and rhinoceros horns to dispel fevers—are controversial but popular. Such remedies remain in demand regardless of scientific advancement—and endangered animals continue to be killed in order to meet that demand. While pills using cordycepin from farmed fungus might someday replace yartsa gunbu harvesting, tigers, elephants, and rhinos are disappearing much quicker than worms.


Read More..

Two Winners in Record Powerball Jackpot













Winning tickets for the record Powerball jackpot worth more than $587 million were purchased in Arizona and Missouri.


Missouri Lottery official Susan Goedde confirmed to ABC News this morning that one of the winning tickets was purchased in the state, but they would not be announcing a town until later this morning.


Arizona lottery officials said they had no information on that state's winner or winners but would announce where it was sold during a news conference later in the day.


The winning numbers for the jackpot were 5, 23, 16, 22 and 29. The Powerball was 6.


The jackpot swelled to $587.5 million, according to Lottery official Sue Dooley. The two winners will split the jackpot each getting $293.75 million.


An additional 8,924,123 players won smaller prizes, according to Powerball's website.


"There were 58 winners of $1 million and there were eight winners of $2 million. So a total of $74 million," said Chuck Strutt, Director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.


In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners


Hopeful players bought tickets at the rate of 131,000 every minute up until an hour before the deadline of 11 p.m. ET, according to lottery officials.


The jackpot had already rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner. That fact, plus the doubling in price of a Powerball ticket, accounted for the unprecedented richness of the pot.


"Back in January, we moved Powerball from being a $1 game to $2," said Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman at the game's headquarters in Iowa. "We thought at the time that this would mean bigger and faster-growing jackpots."






AP Photo/Patrick Semansky









That proved true. The total, she said, began taking "huge jumps -- another $100 million since Saturday." It then jumped another $50 million.


The biggest Powerball pot on record until now -- $365 million -- was won in 2006 by eight Lincoln, Neb., co-workers.
As the latest pot swelled, lottery officials said they began getting phone calls from all around the world.


"When it gets this big," said Neubauer, "we get inquiries from Canada and Europe from people wanting to know if they can buy a ticket. They ask if they can FedEx us the money."


The answer she has to give them, she said, is: "Sorry, no. You have to buy a ticket in a member state from a licensed retail location."


About 80 percent of players don't choose their own Powerball number, opting instead for a computer-generated one.
Asked if there's anything a player can do to improve his or her odds of winning, Neubauer said there isn't -- apart from buying a ticket, of course.


Lottery officials put the odds of winning this Powerball pot at one in 175 million, meaning you'd have been 25 times more likely to win an Academy Award.


Skip Garibaldi, a professor of mathematics at Emory University in Atlanta, provided additional perspective: You are three times more likely to die from a falling coconut, he said; seven times more likely to die from fireworks, "and way more likely to die from flesh-eating bacteria" (115 fatalities a year) than you are to win the Powerball lottery.


Segueing, then, from death to life, Garibaldi noted that even the best physicians, equipped with the most up-to-date equipment, can't predict the timing of a child's birth with much accuracy.


"But let's suppose," he said, "that your doctor managed to predict the day, the hour, the minute and the second your baby would be born."


The doctor's uncanny prediction would be "at least 100 times" more likely than your winning.


Even though he knows the odds all too well, Garibaldi said he usually plays the lottery.


When it gets this big, I'll buy a couple of tickets," he said. "It's kind of exciting. You get this feeling of anticipation. You get to think about the fantasy."


So, did he buy two tickets this time?


"I couldn't," he told ABC News. "I'm in California" -- one of eight states that doesn't offer Powerball.


In case you were wondering, this Saturday's Powerball jackpot is starting at $40 million.


ABC News Radio contributed to this report.



Read More..

How do you solve a problem like North Korea?


































WHAT would you do if you were invited by a repressive regime to advise it on one of its biggest internal problems - and hence help perpetuate the repression? That was the dilemma faced by a group of ecologists who were invited to North Korea to offer expertise on rebuilding its ruined environment (see "North Korea: What a terrible state to get into").













They went, and did what they could. It was the right thing to do. The regime may be atrocious, but what its people need above all else is humanitarian aid. Restoring forests is a step in that direction.












The fact that the regime was willing to ask for outside help is perhaps a sign of greater openness. By reciprocating, the scientists have put themselves in a position to forge depoliticised channels of communication, and hence build mutual trust and understanding. That is the surest way to peaceful change.


















































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.




































All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.


If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.








Read More..

China denies yuan 'significantly undervalued'






BEIJING: China on Wednesday denied US accusations that the yuan was "significantly undervalued", after the Treasury said the unit's rise so far was "insufficient" but stopped short of labelling Beijing a currency manipulator.

The issue is a sensitive one in Washington because of China's overwhelming surpluses in trade between the countries.

If the US designates China as a manipulator it would be likely to lead to Washington issuing sanctions, risking a trade war between the world's top two economies.

But the Treasury avoided that on Tuesday, although it said that the rise of the yuan, or renminbi (RMB), over the past two years had been "insufficient", based on Beijing's huge foreign exchange reserves and the strong trade surplus.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei denied the accusation on Wednesday, telling reporters: "In recent years... the yuan has been approaching equilibrium level, there is no such thing like the yuan being significantly undervalued.

"China will continue to press ahead with the reform of the yuan exchange rate regime in a self-initiated, controllable and gradual manner.

"We hope the US side will deal with trade issues, including the yuan exchange rate issue, appropriately, so as to maintain the sound and steady development of China-US trade relations."

In its twice-yearly finding to the US Congress the Treasury said the RMB had gained 9.3 percent against the dollar between June 2010 and November 2012, and 12.6 percent when inflation was taken into account.

But it said Beijing's foreign currency reserves, trade surplus and other factors "suggest that the real exchange rate of the RMB remains significantly undervalued and further appreciation of the RMB against the dollar and other major currencies is warranted".

It added that Beijing, which in 2010 pledged to allow the yuan to trade more freely, knew an appreciating currency was in its own interests.

The RMB hit a year low of around 6.39 to the dollar in July but has steadily climbed in recent weeks, hitting a fresh record high of 6.2223 to the greenback on Tuesday. In late afternoon trade on Wednesday it stood at 6.2273.

The US Treasury regularly reviews the exchange rate policies of nine economies that account for 70 percent of US foreign trade, with most of the focus on China, the world's second largest economy.

- AFP/lp



Read More..

Can you ditch your smartphone data plan for Wi-Fi?


Wi-Fi is just about everywhere these days, so why do you still have to pay an arm and a leg for pricey 3G and 4G wireless data service from a carrier if you want to get online from your smartphone?



This is a very good question. Now that every smartphone on the market comes with Wi-Fi capability built-in, some frugal wireless customers are wondering whether they can subscribe to a voice-only service and use Wi-Fi instead of a costly data plan to access the Internet.


In this edition of Ask Maggie, I explain why the major carriers don't offer such a plan for their customers. And I offer some advice for getting around it. I also explain why carriers don't allow their basic feature phones and quick messaging devices, which don't require expensive data plans, to offer Wi-Fi. I'll give you a hint to my answer: It comes down to wireless carriers wanting to squeeze as much revenue out of their customers as possible.


Why can't I buy just the services I want?


Dear Maggie,
I know that Verizon Wireless makes you get a data plan with any smartphone purchase. The question I have is, once your two-year contract expires can you drop the data plan and continue using your old smartphone on Verizon? The phone then would be used for voice and text. And I could get Internet access on Wi-Fi only. Is this possible? Can Verizon, or any other carrier, prevent a user from doing this?


Thanks,
Angel


Dear Angel,
The short answer to your question is that Verizon will not allow you to only subscribe to voice if you're using a smartphone. Unfortunately, the company requires that you sign up for data service, too. In fact, each of the four major wireless providers requires that you sign up for a data plan if you use a smartphone on their service, whether your device is fully paid for or not.



The reason for that is simple. These wireless providers don't make money on voice service anymore. The real money is in data. In fact, that's why you see AT&T and Verizon offering the unlimited talk and text messaging services for a flat rate while they charge more for different levels of data.


The truth is that some wireless subscribers would do just fine with a voice-only service on their smartphones, so long as they could still access Wi-Fi. And since Wi-Fi is available in so many places now, it probably wouldn't be that difficult for these folks. And it would save them a ton of money.


But that is the last thing that the major carriers want consumers to do. They need more of their subscribers to sign up for data plans. And they need those already with data plans to use more data so the subscribers can pay more money. It's the only way wireless operators will be able to increase revenue.


That said, all hope is not lost for people who really want to forgo a carrier data plan on their smartphones. There are ways to do this, but there are catches. Unfortunately for you, it's not really possible to do what you're asking on Verizon Wireless. But if you were to switch to a GSM carrier, such as AT&T or T-Mobile, you should be able to pull this off.


The reason why is that Verizon is a CDMA carrier. And this service does not use SIM cards in devices. So to activate a phone on Verizon's network, you need to tell the carrier to activate the device. That's not the case with a GSM phone. On an unlocked GSM phone, you can simply pop out the SIM card and put in a new SIM card to activate service.



You can do this to switch carriers or to get local access to a wireless network while traveling. It also allows you to pop in a SIM from your same carrier that is provisioned only for voice. For example, lots of people will sign up for a voice-only service with a basic feature phone or as part of a prepaid service on AT&T or T-Mobile and then put that SIM card into the smartphone. If you turn off the carrier data on your smartphone, your device will only use voice services. And your wireless carrier won't likely discover that the device you're using isn't a feature phone.


That said, there are instances in which a carrier finds out that a subscriber is using a smartphone on a service provisioned only for voice, and it then forces the customer to pay for a data plan.


While this work-around has worked for some consumers, it's getting a little trickier to pull off as more and more smartphones are now using microSIM cards instead of standard size SIMs. Regular SIM cards can be cut down to fit into a microSIM slot. But it's an extra step in the process.


This solution may work for you, but you likely won't be able to use your existing Verizon smartphone on AT&T or T-Mobile. (The one exception is if you have a "world" phone from Verizon that has already been unlocked. If it's unlocked and it is compatible with GSM networks, then you could use a SIM from one of these carriers.) Otherwise, you will have to pay for an unlocked smartphone at full price.


Another option for you is to sign up for a prepaid service that uses Verizon's 3G network. Some of them allow you to use Verizon devices, and then you can sign up for a voice service only. If voice-only services aren't available, you can get one that has very minimal data. For example, PagePlus is a prepaid carrier that uses Verizon's network and charges $29.95 a month for 1,200 voice minutes, 3,000 text messages and 250MB of data per month.


There are other prepaid services that use Verizon's network, so you'd have the same coverage that you have right now. Wal-Mart has the Straight Talk service, which uses both Verizon's and AT&T's networks. But unfortunately, you can't take your old Verizon phone to the Straight Talk service. Instead you have to buy a new device from the service.


If you're willing to ditch Verizon and any of the other major carriers, you could try a new service from Republic Wireless, which costs only $19.99 a month for unlimited talk, text, and data. The carrier buys and resells capacity from Sprint Nextel's network. But it also uses Wi-Fi networks. And because it uses Wi-Fi to carry the bulk of its data traffic, the company can offer such a low-cost service.


The company launched a beta version of its service about a year ago. But it was quickly so overwhelmed with users interested in the service that it had to shut down. It relaunched its beta service earlier this year. And starting next month, the service will be available to anyone.


The only catch is that, at least for now, it only supports one device, the Motorola Defy XT. That device is available for preorder now and costs $249 (plus $10 activation fee). Other smartphones will likely follow. And there's even a chance that eventually, customers will be able to bring their own smartphones to the service. But for now, it's just the Motorola Defy XT.


I'm sorry that it's so complicated to get the service you actually want. I'm hoping that some readers out there can also contribute their thoughts on this topic and share their experiences as well. So be sure to check back here for the reader comments. Good luck!


Wi-Fi-enabled feature phones?


Dear Maggie,
Dear Maggie,
I just read your article on "Back to cell phone basics: Buying a non-smartphone." My husband and I are looking to get new phones but we don't want to get caught up in the smartphone mania, mostly because of the high cost of the data plans. Are there any non-smartphones out there that can allow access to local Wi-Fi without requiring a data plan? We are currently with Verizon and like their service. We have also thought of just buying
iPod Touches, but don't like the idea of carrying around two devices.


Thank you for any advice you may have,
Deborah


Dear Deborah,
Unfortunately, Verizon doesn't sell any Wi-Fi-enabled feature phones. In fact, you will be hard pressed to find any quick messaging or feature phones that include Wi-Fi. Wireless operators would likely tell you that these phones don't include Wi-Fi because it's too expensive to add the Wi-Fi chip. And customers who want these devices are usually cost-conscious.


But I doubt that is the reason. Verizon and the other major carriers make more money from data services than they do voice services. And they want as many customers as possible using data services. Right now, they don't require customers with these "basic" phones to have a data plan even though the phones are able to access the Internet.


If the carriers allowed these devices to have Wi-Fi built in, then many customers, such as yourself, might opt out of the data plan and instead use Wi-Fi when it's available. This would eat into the carriers' revenue stream too much.


What this means for you is that you could follow the advice in my first question and try to get a smartphone, which will have Wi-Fi, at full price and use a SIM card for a voice-only service. Or you could get a separate Wi-Fi device. The iPod Touch as well as some smaller tablets like the
iPad Mini,
Nexus 7, or the Kindle Fire are good alternatives. But as you mentioned, it does mean you'll be carrying around two devices, one to access the Internet when you're on Wi-Fi and the other to take phone calls.

I'm sorry I don't have better news for you. Good luck!

Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. The column now appears twice a week on CNET offering readers a double dosage of Ask Maggie's advice. If you have a question, I'd love to hear from you. Please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put "Ask Maggie" in the subject header. You can also follow me on Facebook on my Ask Maggie page.

Read More..

Pictures: Falcon Massacre Uncovered in India

Photograph courtesy Conservation India

A young boy can sell bundles of fresh Amur falcons (pictured) for less than five dollars. Still, when multiplied by the thousands of falcons hunters can catch in a day, the practice can be a considerable financial boon to these groups.

Since discovering the extent of Amur hunting in Nagaland this fall, Conservation India has taken the issue to the local Indian authorities.

"They have taken it very well. They've not been defensive," Sreenivasan said.

"You're not dealing with national property, you're dealing with international property, which helped us put pressure on [them]." (Related: "Asia's Wildlife Trade.")

According to Conservation India, the same day the group filed their report with the government, a fresh order banning Amur hunting was issued. Local officials also began meeting with village leaders, seizing traps and confiscating birds. The national government has also requested an end to the hunting.

Much remains to be done, but because the hunt is so regional, Sreenivasan hopes it can eventually be contained and stamped out. Authorities there, he said, are planning a more thorough investigation next year, with officials observing, patrolling, and enforcing the law.

"This is part of India where there is some amount of acceptance on traditional bush hunting," he added. "But at some point, you draw the line."

(Related: "Bush-Meat Ban Would Devastate Africa's Animals, Poor?")

Published November 27, 2012

Read More..

Study Finds Most Pork Contaminated


Nov 27, 2012 6:24pm








A sample of raw pork products from supermarkets around the United States found that yersinia enterocolitica, a lesser-known food-borne pathogen, was present in 69 percent of the products tested, according to a study released today by Consumer Reports.


The  bacteria  infects more than 100,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but  for every case that is confirmed with a laboratory test, about 120 more cases escape diagnosis. Symptoms can include fever, cramps and bloody diarrhea.


For its sample, Consumer Reports included the same pork products millions of Americans buy every day at their supermarkets. The study included 148 pork chops and 50 ground pork samples from around the United States.


In the samples tested, 69 percent tested positive for yersinia and 11 percent for enterococcus, which can indicate fecal contamination that can lead to urinary-tract infections. Salmonella and listeria, the more well-known bacterium, registered at 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively.


“The results were concerning,”  Urvashi Rangan, one of the authors of the report, told ABCNews.com. “It’s hard to say that there was no problem.  It shows that there needs to be better hygiene at animal plants. Yersinia wasn’t even being monitored for.”


In a written statement, the Pork Producer’s Council questioned the methods used by Consumer Reports, saying the number of samples tested, 198, did  ”not provide a nationally informative estimate of the true prevalence of the cited bacteria on meat.”


Despite the findings, Rangan said  it’s good to know that the bacteria can be killed by cooking the pork properly and by being vigilant about cross-contamination.


Pork cuts should be cooked to 145 degrees, while ground pork needs to reach a temperature of 160 degrees to kill the bacteria.


“Anything that touches raw meat should go into the dishwasher before touching anything else,” Rangan said. ”Juices from raw meat that touch the counter should be washed with hot soapy water.”


The U.S. Department of Agriculture  said the findings “affirm that companies are meeting the established guidelines for protecting the public’s health.


“USDA will remain vigilant against emerging and evolving threats to the safety of America’s supply of meat, poultry and processed egg products, and we will continue to work with the industry to ensure companies are following food safety procedures in addition to looking for new ways to strengthen the protection of public health,” the department said in a statement.


ABC News’ Dr. Anita Chu contributed reporting. 



SHOWS: Good Morning America World News







Read More..

Lake life survives in total isolation for 3000 years








































It is seven times as salty as the sea, pitch dark and 13 degrees below freezing. Lake Vida in East Antarctica has been buried for 2800 years under 20 metres of ice, but teems with life.












The discovery of strange, abundant bacteria in a completely sealed, icebound lake strengthens the possibility that extraterrestrial life might exist on planets such as Mars and moons such as Jupiter's Europa.













"Lake Vida is a model of what happens when you try to freeze a lake solid, and this is the same fate that any lakes on Mars would have gone through as the planet turned colder from a watery past," says Peter Doran of the University of Illinois, Chicago. He is co-leader of a team working in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica where Vida is situated. "Any Martian water bodies that did form would have gone through this Vida stage before freezing solid, entombing the evidence of the past ecosystem."












The Vida bacteria, brought to the surface in cores drilled 27 metres down, belong to previously unknown species. They probably survive by metabolising the abundant quantities of hydrogen and oxides of nitrogen that Vida's salty, oxygen-free water has been found to contain.












Co-research leader Alison Murray of the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada, is now investigating this further by growing some of the extracted cells in the lab. "We can use these cultivated organisms to better understand the physical or chemical extremes they can tolerate that might be relevant to other icy worlds such as Europa," she says.











Surprise composition













Murray and her colleagues were surprised to find so much hydrogen, nitrous oxide and carbon in the water. They speculate that these substances might originate from reactions between salt and nitrogen-containing minerals in the surrounding rock. Over the centuries, bacteria denied sunlight may have evolved to be completely reliant on these substances for energy. "I think the unusual conditions found in the lake have likely played a significant role in shaping the diversity and capabilities of life we found," she says.












But the existence of life in Lake Vida does not necessarily increase the likelihood that life exists in much older, deeper lakes under investigation in Antarctica, most notably Vostok and Ellsworth, which are 3 kilometres down and have been isolated for millions rather than thousands of years.












"It doesn't give us clues about whether there's life in Vostok or Ellsworth, but it says that under these super-salty conditions, life does OK," says Martin Siegert of the University of Bristol, UK, and leader of an expedition to Ellsworth which set off on 25 November. "We'll be drilling down 3 kilometres into the lake," he says.












Journal reference: PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1208607190


















































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.




































All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.


If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.








Read More..

Two errant lawyers suspended for overcharging clients






SINGAPORE: Two lawyers who face disciplinary action for overcharging will be suspended for three months each from January.

The penalty was handed down on Tuesday by Judges of Appeal Chao Hick Tin, Andrew Phang and V K Rajah.

They backed the findings of a disciplinary tribunal that Ang Chin Peng was guilty of misconduct between 1999 and 2004, while Martin Decruz was guilty of improper conduct between 2005 and 2007.

Ang and Decruz have to bear the costs of the court proceedings, as well as pay costs to the Law Society, which brought the charges against them.

They had grossly inflated the bills to about $566,000 when a court-based assessment showed that the amount should have been $170,000.

The complaints were filed by a grandson of Mr Quek Seng Kee and Madam Leong Siew Fong, whose estates were handled by the two lawyers.

The two lawyers argued that an agreement with their clients pegged the fee to an estate's assets whose worth rose over the years.

The disciplinary tribunal maintained that the charges should be fair, based on the work done.

Ang and Decruz, who were partners of law firm ALD LLP which dissolved in July 2010, have about 20 years standing in the profession.

Justice Chao, who delivered the judgement of the High Court, pointed out that the level of overcharging amounted to grossly improper conduct.

None of the work done was in any sense complex.

He said the lawyers have an overriding duty to charge fairly and stressed that the final bill must not be grossly disproportionate to the time spent on the matter

As for the lawyers' argument that they were deprived of a fair hearing as they were not given the opportunity to rebut the allegations before the disciplinary tribunal, Justice Chao said the disciplinary tribunal was clearly entitled to examine whether the fee agreements were fair and reasonable.

He said the lawyers had blatantly sought to rely on the oral fee agreements to render bills which were wholly out of proportion to the nature or the measure of the services they provided.

He said their conduct is "redolent of dishonesty and deceit, and threatens to bring the legal profession into disrepute".

"Such conduct must be regarded as grossly improper," he said.

Justice Chao noted that the total fees charged are three to four times more than the total amount eventually awarded after taxation.

In absolute figures, the total difference is around $400,000.

"Such a huge difference in the figures can only be regarded as egregious and can hardly be justified," he said.

"The fact that the executors and trustees of the two estates agreed to such an agreement merely demonstrates that they did not understand the extent of the legal services required and what were the appropriate fees for those services."

Justice Chao said the judges have no doubt that the lawyers had deliberately misled the clients to think that the proposed fees which the clients had agreed to were in accordance with the norm.

He added that their actions have affected the integrity of the profession.

The judges also noted that the errant lawyers have not shown any signs of remorse or contrition and "sought to strenuously argue that the two oral agreements provided them with a complete cover".

- CNA/de



Read More..

Bing's top searches reveal iPhone 5 as No. 1 news story



Bing reveals the top searches for 2012.



Believe it or not but the No. 1 most searched for news story on Bing this year has been the launch of Apple's iPhone 5. In fact, the debut of this device beat out the 2012 presidential election, the Olympics, and Superstorm Sandy, which followed respectively for the next top searches. The Honey Boo Boo reality TV show came in at No. 5.

Microsoft released its data on the top searched terms for 2012 today. The lists include information on travel destinations, fashion labels, celebrities, consumer electronics, fast food chains, and more. The tallies of the data are based on the aggregation of billions of user search queries.

Besides Internet users' typical celebrity fascination with Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, and Rihanna, technology also made a splash in searches this year. Not only did the
iPhone 5 top the news stories, but the launch of the Kindle Fire HD and Facebook's IPO also made the list at places 9 and 10.

Another category Bing rated was the most searched social networks -- and it's no surprise that Facebook came in No. 1 with its more than 1 billion users. Falling in line next came Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Tumblr. As far as consumer electronics, the iPhone 5 also won this category with the
iPad, Samsung Galaxy S3,
Kindle, and the iPad 3 coming in next. Even with a launch late in the year, Windows 8 also made the list at No. 10.

"People's fascination with the latest smart phones, tablets and games consoles remains unfettered in 2012, with products from Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Samsung topping the list," Bing wrote in a blog post.

Read More..

Space Pictures This Week: Space "Horse," Mars Rover, More





































































































');



































































































































































 $'+ doc.ngstore_price_t +'';
html += ' $'+ doc.ngstore_saleprice_t +'';
} else {
html += ' $'+ doc.ngstore_price_t +'';
}
html += '
';

$("#ecom_43331 ul.ecommerce_all_img").append(html);




o.totItems++;

}// end for loop
} // end if data.response.numFound != 0

if(o.totItems != o.maxItems){
if(o.defaultItems.length > 0){
o.getItemByID(o.defaultItems.shift());
} else if(o.isSearchPage && !o.searchComplete){
o.doSearchPage();
} else if(!o.searchComplete) {
o.byID = false;
o.doSearch();
}
}// end if
}// end parseResults function

o.trim = function(str) {
return str.replace(/^\s\s*/, '').replace(/\s\s*$/, '');
}

o.doSearchPage = function(){
o.byID = false;

var tempSearch = window.location.search;
var searchTerms ="default";
var temp;

if( tempSearch.substr(0,7) == "?search"){
temp = tempSearch.substr(7).split("&");
searchTerms = temp[0];
} else {
temp = tempSearch.split("&");
for(var j=0;j 0){
o.getItemByID(o.defaultItems.shift());
} else if(o.isSearchPage){
o.doSearchPage();
} else {
o.doSearch();
}

}// end init function

}// end ecommerce object

var store_43331 = new ecommerce_43331();





store_43331.init();









































































































































































Read More..