Zimmerman hits 3 HRs, but Orioles rally past Nats

Baltimore Orioles' Chris Davis, right, fist-bumps teammate Nick Markakis after driving him in on a home run in the seventh inning of an interleague baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Wednesday, May 29, 2013, in Baltimore. Baltimore won 9-6. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Baltimore Orioles' Chris Davis, right, fist-bumps teammate Nick Markakis after driving him in on a home run in the seventh inning of an interleague baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Wednesday, May 29, 2013, in Baltimore. Baltimore won 9-6. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann throws to the Baltimore Orioles in the first inning of an interleague baseball game, Wednesday, May 29, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Washington Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman high-fives teammates after hitting a solo home run in the first inning of an interleague baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Wednesday, May 29, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman walks out of the dugout after the Nationals' interleague baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Wednesday, May 29, 2013, in Baltimore. Baltimore won 9-6. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Chris Tillman throws to the Washington Nationals in the first inning of an interleague baseball game, Wednesday, May 29, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

BALTIMORE (AP) ? Ryan Zimmerman hit three home runs in the first five innings, leaving the Baltimore Orioles with a four-run deficit to overcome against one of the best pitchers in the National League.

On a toasty night at Camden Yards, the Orioles turned to their hottest player to get them out of the hole.

Chris Davis went 4 for 4 with two homers, and the Orioles battled back to beat Jordan Zimmermann and the Washington Nationals 9-6 Wednesday night.

In a wild game before 39,129 fans, each team slugged four home runs and Baltimore got six of its 13 hits in a six-run seventh inning.

"To battle back and really pull it out in a game like that is huge," Davis said. "I gave a little fist bump to let you know how much this win meant to us."

Zimmerman hit solo homers in the first and fourth innings before adding a two-run drive in the fifth, all off Chris Tillman. With a chance to tie the major league record of four homers in a game, Zimmerman came to the plate in the seventh against Steve Johnson and looked at a third strike.

It was the first three-homer game of Zimmerman's career. He came in with three home runs in 38 games this season.

"It's tough to have a night like that and not be able to kind of celebrate or have fun with it because we lost," Zimmerman said. "I've been kind of swinging the bat better. Tonight, everything kind of came together in one game."

Davis hit a solo drive in the fourth and capped the pivotal seventh with his major-league leading 19th homer, a two-run shot off Tyler Clippard.

"He's been doing that the whole year, so every home run he hits from now on is just another one," teammate Manny Machado said. "It's impressive pop. He's a tremendous hitter and he's swinging the bat well."

Davis is batting .359 after going 18 for 30 over his last seven games.

"It's fun," he said. "You're always working on things, whether you're locked in or struggling. Just the consistent approach every day has helped me out."

Steve Johnson (1-1) pitched 2 1-3 innings and Jim Johnson worked a perfect ninth for his 16th save.

Baltimore trailed 6-3 in the seventh before rallying against Jordan Zimmermann (8-3), who was seeking to become the majors' first nine-game winner.

After Ryan Flaherty singled and Steve Pearce homered, Nate McLouth got an infield hit and scored on a double by Machado. Clippard entered and gave up an RBI single to Nick Markakis before Davis crushed a 3-2 pitch to make it 9-6.

"It's on me. I am too good a pitcher to let that happen," Clippard said. "You have to execute the pitches you need to throw in those situations."

Zimmermann gave up seven runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings. He came in with a 1.71 ERA and a streak of 15 straight starts allowing three runs or less.

He, like Clippard, shouldered the blame for the defeat.

"Those guys give me six runs like that and I ought to do a better job. We should win this ball game," Zimmermann said. "It's solely on me this time."

Tillman gave up six runs and eight hits ? including a career-high four homers ? in 4 2-3 innings. He left with Baltimore down 6-2.

In his defense, it was a tough night to be a pitcher.

"Strange things happen in this ballpark," said Nationals manager Davey Johnson, who held the same job with the Orioles in 1996-97. "It's a great ballpark to hit in, but it's a tough park to pitch in."

The major league record for home runs in a game is four. The last to do it was Josh Hamilton, for Texas on May 8, 2012, at Camden Yards, of all places.

After Zimmerman homered in the first inning, Baltimore tied it in the second. Davis singled and scored on an RBI double by Flaherty, who was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the day.

In the Washington fourth, Roger Bernadina sent a shot onto Eutaw Street beyond the right-field wall and Zimmerman followed with a drive to center that traveled an estimated 430 feet. After going homerless in the first 36 games of the season, Bernadina has connected in two straight.

Davis got the Orioles to 3-2 in the bottom half, but Zimmerman's third homer of the game highlighted a three-run fifth for Washington. Markakis homered with no one aboard in the sixth for Baltimore.

Coming into the game, Zimmermann had allowed only three homers in 10 starts, no more than one per game.

NOTES: Baltimore optioned INF Yamaico Navarro to Norfolk to make room for Flaherty. ... Washington 2B Danny Espinosa (wrist) returned after a five-game absence. ... Nationals RF Jayson Werth (groin) was scheduled to begin his rehab assignment with Single-A Potomac on Wednesday night. ... Baltimore RHP Freddy Garcia faces Dan Haren in the series finale Thursday night. ... Davis has scored a run in eight straight games, three short of the team record set by Frank Robinson in 1966.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-29-BBO-Nationals-Orioles/id-d3c17ce84bbd486c9399120ea19cf018

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The Educated Reporter: Guest Post: Economist James Heckman on ...

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Source: http://www.educatedreporter.com/2013/05/guest-post-economist-james-heckman-on.html

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Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart Split: What Went Wrong?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/robert-pattinson-and-kristen-stewart-split-what-went-wrong/

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YouTube Turns Eight Today

The youtube.com domain name was activated on February 14, 2005, and the first public preview of the site went live eight years ago today. So...birthday!

More than 100 hours or about four days-worth of video is uploaded to the site every minute now. Which is pretty staggering. On average, 1 billion people, almost half of worldwide internet users, visit YouTube every month. And yes, fine, we get it, there are adorable animal videos on YouTube. They are great. But at this point it's kind of gone beyond that. [YouTube]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/youtube-turns-eight-today-508737205

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FBI searches apartment in ricin letter case

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) ? Authorities in hazardous materials suits searched a downtown Spokane apartment Saturday, investigating the recent discovery of a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin.

Few details have been released in the case, and no arrests have been made. Federal investigators have been searching for the person who sent the letters, which were postmarked Tuesday in Spokane.

The letters were addressed to the downtown post office and the adjacent federal building, but authorities have not released a potential motive. They also have not said whether the letters targeted anyone in particular.

Ricin is a highly toxic substance made from castor beans. As little as 500 micrograms, the size of the head of a pin, can kill an adult if inhaled or ingested.

There have been no reports of illness connected to the letters.

FBI agents, Spokane police and U.S. Postal Service inspectors descended on the three-story apartment building Saturday morning and the investigation continued into the afternoon.

FBI spokeswoman Ayn Sandalo Dietrich would not say whether agents were questioning anyone in connection with the case.

"We are not actively looking for a subject," Sandalo Dietrich said. "We are not asking the public's help in bringing someone in."

Despite the hazmat suits, officials said apartment residents were not at risk, and people were seen coming in and out of the brick building in the city's historic Browne's Addition neighborhood.

"There's no public risk," Sandalo Dietrich said.

Sandalo Dietrich would not say specifically why the FBI was searching the apartment.

"Information we developed led us to believe this was a productive spot to search," she said.

Two letters containing the substance were intercepted at the downtown Spokane post office Tuesday.

The Postal Service has received no other reports of similar letters, said Jeremy Leder of the Postal Inspection Service on Saturday.

In a statement following the discovery, the Postal Service said the "crude form of the ricin suggests that it does not present a health risk to U.S. Postal Service personnel or to others who may have come in contact with the letter."

The Spokane investigation comes a month after letters containing ricin were addressed to President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator and a Mississippi judge. A Mississippi man has been arrested in that case.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-18-US-Ricin-Letter-Spokane/id-e85a88900a2348929a52a4dd3ef4d906

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Independent Scotland open to Cyprus-style bank risks, says Britain

By William James

LONDON (Reuters) - An independent Scotland would have a vastly oversized financial sector that would leave it vulnerable to a Cyprus-style banking crisis, Britain's finance ministry says.

Before a referendum due in September 2014 on whether Scotland should split from the United Kingdom, the British government is analyzing the impact of independence on Scotland, which has a population of about 5 million.

A report from the finance ministry - or Treasury - says that without the British government's regulatory framework, Scotland would be left vulnerable by having a banking sector that dwarfs its economy, driving businesses out of the country.

"An independent Scotland would have an exceptionally large banking sector compared to the size of its economy - with banking assets of more than 1250 percent of Scottish GDP - making it more vulnerable to financial shocks and the volatility of the sector," said a Treasury statement which contained excerpts from the report, due to be published on Monday.

The Scottish National Party (SNP), which controls Scotland's devolved government and is behind the independence campaign, dismissed the report and said it would produce its own study on Tuesday highlighting the benefits of a split from Britain

"An independent Scotland will be an economic success story, as we will outline this coming week, and the tall tales from the Treasury can't hide that reality," said Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney of the SNP.

Opinion polls indicate the pro-independence movement in Scotland has the support of about a third of voters, while nearly 60 percent want to stay in the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister David Cameron has campaigned against Scottish independence.

At 12-1/2 times the size of Scotland's economic output, Scotland's banking sector would be even more out of proportion to the economy than that of Cyprus, which ground to a standstill earlier this year as the cost of recapitalizing its banks, which had assets worth nine times its GDP, spiraled.

"Overall, the experience of financial crises shows that countries with a large banking sector compared to the size of their GDP are significantly more vulnerable," the Treasury statement said.

Scotland currently benefits from the British government's capacity to support struggling banks.

During the 2007/08 financial crisis, government support for Britain's financial sector peaked at more than 1 trillion pounds' ($1.5 trillion) worth of guarantees and cash injections.

The Treasury report will say any future bank rescues would place a heavy burden on Scottish taxpayers, and could generate concerns about state finances that might discourage firms from basing their operations there.

Previous reports from the British government have said that there is no clear case for an independent Scotland to share use of the British pound, and that it might have to reapply for membership of international bodies such as the European Union.

(Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/independent-scotland-open-cyprus-style-bank-risks-says-083357964.html

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Picking The Best Computer Speakers For you personally ...

In the last 5 years, computer systems completely changed how a world functions, day-to-day lives and also carries out company. Back in the day that just significant organizations as well as places of work has computers as a method of increasing the work they do stream. These days laptops are getting to be standard in most houses in the united states, European countries as well as the Se. Pcs are actually utilized to mail emails, check out along with listen to what is the news, look and in some cases work. Earlier pcs are not considerably regarding media devices however today lots of people make use of pcs to see shows, pay attention and create music along with forms of mass media. Which means they support superior audio as well as online video media greeting cards. The usage of pcs because media gateways has produced another business throughout personal computer equipment for instance sound system along with encompasses sound systemsbest budget?computer speakers, at this point are available in many shapes and sizes.
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Source: http://matthewbult.fav.cc/picking-the-best-computer-speakers-for-you-personally/

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Why Manhattan's Green Roofs Don't Work--and How to Fix Them

City rooftops covered with vegetation are seen as a way to reduce the urban heat-island effect and cut energy usage--but so far, the results have been unimpressive

By Amy Kraft

Image: Krista McGuire

• 

  Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...

  Read More??

On a rooftop in New York City?s Chelsea neighborhood, two students are collecting soil samples from boxes planted with species from two native plant communities: Hempstead Plains, which are grasses belonging to a prairie community originally found on Long Island, and Rocky Summit grasslands,which grow on the tops of mountains and ridges throughout southern New England and all of New York StateThey carefully place the dirt from the soil core into a plastic bag and seal it up to be taken to the lab for analysis.

These two students are part of a research team that is trying to figure out how to maximize the benefits of green roofs. The problem has taken on practical significance as grass and other plants sprout on rooftops all over Manhattan and in other cities. For the past two years, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg?s PlaNYC initiative has offered tax abatements for green roof construction and grant money for projects to capture storm water. Rooftop gardens have the potential of lowering energy usage for heating and air-conditioning as well as reducing rainwater runoff, but their effectiveness is not well established.

Researchers are trying to identify the best plant species suitable to green roofs, with an eye to designing ones that fulfill their promise. A 2007 study in the journal BioScience found that green roofs can potentially help manage stormwater runoff, reduce urban heat-island effects and regulate building temperature. To deliver these benefits, rooftop vegetation has to be able to survive the high winds, prolonged UV radiation and unpredictable fluctuations in water availability. To resist these harsh environments, a majority of green roofs are planted with sedum, a non-native species that can survive wind and long periods withoutrainfall. A roof planted with sedum, however, is no greener, from the standpoint of sustainability, than is ordinary tar or asphalt.

Sedum does not absorb water as efficiently as other plant species, according to Scott MacIvor, a PhD student in biology at York University in Toronto who studies bee and wasp habitats on green roofs there, and co-wrote the city?s new guidelines for biodiverse green roofs. At certain times of the year, he sayssedum actually absorbs heat instead of reflecting it. ?The problem is that sedum plants aren?t really performing on green roofs,? he notes. ?They?re just there.? One of the plant?s biggest failings, it turns out, is that it does not encourage biodiversity of plant species on the roof. According to MacIvor?s research, green roofs provide the most benefit when they are planted with a diverse group of species that are adapted to local conditions.

Krista McGuire has taken sedum?s inadequacy as a challenge. The assistant professor of biological sciences at Barnard College wanted to see if a variety of native plants could survive on green roofs and how well they would deliver the desired benefits. Since 2010, the year Bloomberg announced his green roof initiative, McGuire has been comparing soil samples from 10 roofs planted with native vegetation with soil from five city parks spanning New York?s five boroughs, seeking to identify the microbial communities that thrive on green roofs to better to understand how healthy rooftop ecosystems sustain themselves.

Her study, published in PLoS ONE last April, found that green roofs have distinct fungal communities that help plants to thrive in harsh, polluted environments and filter heavy metals. On average, 109 different types of fungi were present on each roof including Pseudallescheria fimeti, a fungus that grows in polluted soils and human-dominated environments. Rooftop soil also contained fungi from the genusPeyronellaea, which live in the tissues of plants to help them take in nutrients.

McGuire hopes her research will be able to help inform green roof companies on planting the best species for each rooftop. Three of the rooftops, which received more intensive sampling, showed that fungal communities are different from one roof to another. Roofs are microclimates, McGuire says. Fungal growth depends on the position of the roof, pollution levels in the area, temperature and how much rainfall it receives. ?Plant species are adapting to new environments,? she says. ?Without the fungi, the plants would not be able to grow and survive.?

?In the long term, this information may help individuals decide which types of soil microbes to amend on their green roofs, so that they can maximize plant survival and minimize management,? she says.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a754f6377759cb50dc6cc2208c1ed48f

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Egypt police close Gaza border to protest kidnap

RAFAH, Egypt (AP) ? An Egyptian security official says policemen at the country's main crossing point into the Gaza Strip have closed the border on their own initiative to protest the abduction of their colleagues.

The official said Friday that the guards will keep the border closed until four of their colleagues, who were abducted in the Sinai peninsula Thursday with three others, are freed. He spoke anonymously according to the rules.

Authorities believe the kidnappers are militants, who acted after another militant was alleged to have been tortured in prison. Officials have said negotiations with the kidnappers are underway.

Gaza's Interior Ministry confirmed the closure in a statement. Sinai militants are believed to have contact with other groups in the coastal territory.

____

AP writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-police-close-gaza-border-protest-kidnap-094451774.html

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Google Axed SMS Search Thinking People Wouldn't Notice

Shocking no one, or very very few people, Google turned off its SMS search service on Friday. Reports of the outage have begun to sloooowly trickle in on Google forums and Reddit, but for the most part the spacetime continuum seems to be holding up.

Google created SMS Search as a way for users with limited or no data on their phones to access search information. You could text a search query to 466453 and receive an SMS reply containing only text, no links. It was useful to a lot of people back in the day, but it's not surprising that the service has been losing popularity. A Google employee finally commented on the situation in a forum thread:

Hi everyone,

Closing products always involves tough choices, but we do think very hard about each decision and its implications for our users. Streamlining our services enables us to focus on creating beautiful technology that will improve people?s lives.

Thanks,
Jess

Fine. Be like that Jess. All that level-headed, allocation of resources mumbo jumbo doesn't change the pain people FEEL INSIDE. [Ubergizmo, TechCrunch]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/google-axed-sms-search-thinking-no-one-would-notice-503805896

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Carnivorous plant throws out 'junk' DNA

May 12, 2013 ? Genes make up about 2 percent of the human genome. The rest consists of a genetic material known as noncoding DNA, and scientists have spent years puzzling over why this material exists in such voluminous quantities.

Now, a new study offers an unexpected insight: The large majority of noncoding DNA, which is abundant in many living things, may not actually be needed for complex life, according to research set to appear in the journal Nature.

The clues lie in the genome of the carnivorous bladderwort plant, Utricularia gibba.

The U. gibba genome is the smallest ever to be sequenced from a complex, multicellular plant. The researchers who sequenced it say that 97 percent of the genome consists of genes -- bits of DNA that code for proteins -- and small pieces of DNA that control those genes.

It appears that the plant has been busy deleting noncoding "junk" DNA from its genetic material over many generations, the scientists say. This may explain the difference between bladderworts and junk-heavy species like corn and tobacco -- and humans.

The international research team, led by the Laboratorio Nacional de Gen?mica para la Biodiversidad (LANGEBIO) in Mexico and the University at Buffalo, will report its findings on May 12 in Nature.

The study was directed by LANGEBIO Director and Professor Luis Herrera-Estrella and UB Professor of Biological Sciences Victor Albert, with contributions from scientists in the United States, Mexico, China, Singapore, Spain and Germany.

"The big story is that only 3 percent of the bladderwort's genetic material is so-called 'junk' DNA," Albert said. "Somehow, this plant has purged most of what makes up plant genomes. What that says is that you can have a perfectly good multicellular plant with lots of different cells, organs, tissue types and flowers, and you can do it without the junk. Junk is not needed."

Noncoding DNA is DNA that doesn't code for any proteins. This includes mobile elements called jumping genes that have the ability to copy (or cut) and paste themselves into new locations of the genome.

Scientists have spent countless hours puzzling over why noncoding DNA exists -- and in such copious amounts. A recent series of papers from ENCODE, a highly publicized international research project, began to offer an explanation, saying that the majority of noncoding DNA (about 80 percent) appeared to play a role in biochemical functions such as regulation and promotion of DNA conversion into its relative, RNA, which for genes, feeds into the machinery that makes proteins.

But Herrera-Estrella, Albert and their colleagues argue that organisms may not bulk up on genetic junk for reasons of benefit.

Instead, they say, some species may simply have an inherent, mechanistic bias toward deleting a great deal of noncoding DNA while others have a built-in bias in the opposite direction -- toward DNA insertion and duplication. These biases are not due to the fact that one way of behaving is more helpful than the other, but because there are two innate ways to behave and all organisms adhere to them to one degree or the other. The place that organisms occupy on this sliding scale of forces depends in part on the extent to which Darwin's natural selection pressure is able to counter or enhance these intrinsic biases.

The new U. gibba genome shows that having a bunch of noncoding DNA is not crucial for complex life. The bladderwort is an eccentric and complicated plant. It lives in aquatic habitats like freshwater wetlands, and has developed corresponding, highly specialized hunting methods. To capture prey, the plant pumps water from tiny chambers called bladders, turning each into a vacuum that can suck in and trap unsuspecting critters.

The U. gibba genome has about 80 million DNA base pairs -- a miniscule number compared to other complex plants -- and the deletion of noncoding DNA appears to account for most of that size discrepancy, the researchers say. U. gibba has about 28,500 genes, comparable to relatives like grape and tomato, which have much larger genomes of about 490 and 780 million base pairs, respectively.

The small size of the U. gibba genome is even more surprising given the fact that the species has undergone three complete genome doublings since its evolutionary lineage split from that of tomato.

That is, at three distinct times in the course of its evolution, the bladderwort's genome doubled in size, with offspring receiving two full copies of the species' entire genome. "This surprisingly rich history of duplication, paired with the current small size of the bladderwort genome, is further evidence that the plant has been prolific at deleting nonessential DNA, but at the same time maintaining a functional set of genes similar to those of other plant species" says Herrera-Estrella.

Besides LANGEBIO and UB, institutions with researchers contributing to the study included: University of Arizona, Tucson; Universidad de Guanajuato, Irapuato; Chongqing University of Science and Technology; Departamento de Gen?tica, Unidad Irapuato, Centro de Investigaci?n y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Polit?cnico Nacional; Universidad Veracruzana; Michigan State University; Universidad de Guadalajara, Ocotl?n; Pennsylvania State University; Nanyang Technological University; Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona; Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics; Indiana University; Rutgers University; and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.

The study was supported by CONACyT (Mexico), Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences and the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/EGMZRcm1uB8/130512140559.htm

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After Last-Minute Spacewalk Fix, It's Wait-and-See on Space Station

A spacewalk outside the International Space Station today (May 11) appeared to fix a leak of liquid ammonia, though astronauts and Mission Control will be in wait-and-see mode until they know for sure if the repairs succeeded.

Two NASA astronauts ? Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn ? ventured outside the football field-size orbital complex to investigate a leak that had sprung in the station's cooling system, which uses liquid ammonia to transfer heat away from electronic power systems. Although they found no signs of damage that might explain the leak, the spacewalkers replaced a suspect coolant pump, which appeared to halt the flow of ammonia for now.

It will be weeks, or even months, though, before it's clear if the leak has fully stopped. [Emergency Spacewalk to Fix Space Station Leak in Photos]

"The crew looked and watched for any obvious signs of leaks and didn't see anything," Joel Montalbano, deputy space station program manager, said during a press conference after the spacewalk today at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We're very happy."

Engineers on the ground will continue to study the troubled area in hopes of understanding what caused the leak.

"We'll see if anything becomes obvious," said NASA flight director Ed Van Cise. "From what we saw during the EVA [extravehicular activity, or spacewalk] itself, nothing really stood out in terms of what may have been the culprit."

NASA officials said they don't yet know if the problem is related to a leak that was spotted in the same coolant channel in 2007. That leak was so slow it posed no immediate problem, and a November 2012 spacewalk that replaced a radiator for the system appeared to stop it.

On Thursday (May 9), the six-man crew of the space station's Expedition 35 mission noticed the leak had worsened, with visible white snowflakes of frozen ammonia floating out into space.

"It was just two days ago that the slight leak we were observing in the thermal control system took a change to where it was a pretty dramatic leak," Van Cise said.

The urgency of the problem caused NASA to "pretty much bring everyone to the table" to address the situation and plan the spacewalk at the last minute, he added. "Space station is a very large, complicated and complex vehicle built all across the world. There are going to be engineers and very smart people all over the place that need to help us address these situations. We draw upon that when we have to and when the vehicle throws something at us that we need all those resources."

For now, mission managers are breathing a sigh of relief, though only time will tell if the issue is truly resolved.

"It's going to take the teams a few weeks to go ahead and watch the system, understand the system ? before they're ready to tell us that we were 100-percent successful," Montalbano said.

In the meantime, the crew is preparing for a change of command ceremony tomorrow (May 12), where current Expedition 35 commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency will pass the duty over to Expedition 36 commander Pavel Vinogradov of the Russian Federal Space Agency. Hadfield, Marshburn, and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko will depart the space station Monday evening at 7:08 p.m. EDT (2308 GMT) on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and land about three hours later, at 10:31 p.m. EDT (0231 GMT Tuesday), in Kazakhstan.

A new crew of three spaceflyers is due to arrive at the space station later this month to round out the Expedition 36 team.

Follow Clara Moskowitz on Twitter and Google+. Follow us?@Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on?SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/last-minute-spacewalk-fix-wait-see-space-station-221540090.html

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Crossing Roads: Shadowed Rebellion

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Tips In Choosing Residential Painting Austin Texas Contractors ...

There is more to a New Year than just making a personal resolution that you might just be repeating. This is another time of the year to start searching for trustworthy residential painting Austin Texas contractor to aid in your home improvement project. Though toeing on a tightrope, improving the interior and exterior ambiance of a home can actually be achieved sans the skyrocketing costs. By simply generating a solid plan and in practicing sound initiative, the promise of generating budget-friendly aesthetically appealing results is on the horizons.

But there are hundreds of independent painters and service contractors in the area, each promising excellent jobs. Finding one can sometimes be overwhelmingly arduous. You need to check on important variables like pre- and post- paint procedures, paint techniques, experience, and guaranteed quality results. With these, thorough planning will help you land a painter you can trust.

When choosing a house painter, keep in mind the before and after techniques to be done. Scrutinize carefully prep work services done. Make sure that surfaces will be prepared thoroughly to prevent easy flaking or chipping or paint. Scraping and sanding should be done for interior walls to reveal smooth nude lines. Rotten parts should be repaired or replaced. Pressure washing should be done exterior walls and roofs, if included, to clean tough dirt. Caulking and treatment must also be applied before putting in a primer.

It goes to follow that credible contractors have updated licenses and permits to operate in a given state or city. If a contractor cannot provide license or necessary permits, try to look for a more secured service. A license is quite elemental in verifying track record and credentials of a particular contractor in the industry. Checking of complaints and concerns in the Better Business Bureau can also be done using such.

Of course, just like anything else, price is of essence when choosing services. This can vary from one contractor to another and usually depends on the extent of the job at hand and the expertise of the painter. Most highly recommended painters usually are priced a notch higher but can be negotiated upon. These paint service contractors rely on their reputation and strong referral factor. If you must save, always learn to negotiate on paying hourly or flat rate for labor and lobby on buying your own paint materials.

Comparing of prices through detailed quotes from three different contractors is a must. This will give you enough knowledge on how much you can afford and what you cannot. Arrange an ocular inspection for a more detailed quote. Make sure that stipulated insurance coverage and service warranty is included to give you some form of protection and assurance should unknown circumstances happen.

Search initially with your closely knitted acquaintances. Family, friends or co-workers might have done a paint project recently making them first-hand sources of information. They are great sources of no-nonsense feedback and opinion on some of the service providers they have experienced dealing with. They are also keen in providing pointers basing from their experience. There are also comprehensive online sites for convenient search methods.

Choosing a residential painting Austin Texas service provider is no easy feat. With characteristics like budget-savvy, credibility and experience, reliability and quality-driven to consider, finding one can truly be daunting. However, when search is properly executed, achieving your home improvement goal is at hand.

Read more about Pointers In Choosing Residential Painting Austin Texas Services visiting our website.

Source: http://hotarticledepot.com/tips-in-choosing-residential-painting-austin-texas-contractors-2/

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State Department Is Demanding the Removal of the 3D-Printed Gun Plans

After finding its way to over 100,000 hard drives in a matter of mere days, the blueprints for the world's first fully 3D-printed gun have finally been pulled from the designer's website at the request of the US State Department.

Being digital files for highly regulated weapons, 3D-printed gun blueprints currently fall into a bit of a legal gray area, namely with export control laws known as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). And because the group behind the plans, Defense Distributed, uploaded the files online, they could have easily been downloaded overseas.

Now, this may or may not have violated the United States' strict export controls over firearms. But because this is such new territory, the State Department is demanding that these blueprints?along with nine other 3D-printable firearm components?be removed until they're able to determine whether or not this is considered a violation.

The State Department, though, isn't just demanding that the files be removed from Defense Distributed's own website, Defcad.org, but from all public access whatsoever. And as anyone who's ever had anything even remotely embarrassing pop up online knows, totally erasing the offending data from the web is a near impossible task. Especially with something as high-profile and controversial as these blueprints, which are already appearing on torrenting sites.

These files are, supposedly, the most heavily downloaded file on The Pirate Bay at the moment. So try as the State Department might, now that the blueprints have been set free, they're certainly not going to be going away any time soon. Because if anything's going to make the public want to get a hold of these files, it's telling them they can't have it?especially with no real way of enforcing the ban. The full text of the Department's removal request as obtained by Forbes follows. [Forbes via Fast Company]

United States Department of State

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs

Offense of Defense Trade Controls Compliance

May 08, 2013

In reply letter to DTCC Case: 13-0001444

[Cody Wilson's address redacted]

Dear Mr. Wilson,

The Department of State, Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance, Enforcement Division (DTCC/END) is responsible for compliance with and civil enforcement of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778) (AECA) and the AECA?s implementing regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (22 C.F.R. Parts 120-130) (ITAR). The AECA and the ITAR impose certain requirements and restrictions on the transfer of, and access to, controlled defense articles and related technical data designated by the United States Munitions List (USML) (22 C.F.R. Part 121).

The DTCC/END is conducting a review of technical data made publicly available by Defense Distributed through its 3D printing website, DEFCAD.org, the majority of which appear to be related to items in Category I of the USML. Defense Distributed may have released ITAR-controlled technical data without the required prior authorization from the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), a violation of the ITAR.

Technical data regulated under the ITAR refers to information required for the design, development, production, manufacture, assembly, operation, repair, testing, maintenance or modification of defense articles, including information in the form of blueprints, drawings, photographs, plans, instructions or documentation. For a complete definition of technical data, see 120.10 of the ITAR. Pursuant to 127.1 of the ITAR, it is unlawful to export any defense article or technical data for which a license or written approval is required without first obtaining the required authorization from the DDTC. Please note that disclosing (including oral or visual disclosure) or tranferring technical data to a foreign person, whether in the United States or abroad, is considered an export under 120.17 of the ITAR.

The Department believes Defense Distributed may not have established the proper jurisdiction of the subject technical data. To resolve this matter officially, we request that Defense Distributed submit Commodity Jurisdiction (CJ) determination requests for the following selection of data files available on DEFCAD.org, and any other technical data for which Defense Distributed is unable to determine proper jurisdiction:

1. Defense Distributed Liberator pistol
2. .22 electric
3. 125mm BK-14M high-explosive anti-tank warhead
4. 5.56/.223 muzzle brake
5. Springfield XD-40 tactical slide assembly
6. Sound Moderator ? slip on
7. ?The Dirty Diane? 1/2-28 to 3/4-16 STP S3600 oil filter silencer adapter
8. 12 gauge to .22 CB sub-caliber insert
9. Voltlock electronic black powder system
10. VZ-58 sight

DTCC/END requests that Defense Distributed submits its CJ requests within three weeks of the receipt of this letter and notify this office of the final CJ determinations. All CJ requests must be submitted electronically through an online application using the DS-4076 Commodity Jurisdiction Request Form. The form, guidance for submitting CJ requests, and other relevant information such as a copy of the ITAR can be found on DDTC?s website at http://www.pmddtc.state.gov.

Until the Department provides Defense Distributed with the final CJ determinations, Defense Distributed should treat the above technical data as ITAR-controlled. This means that all such data should be removed from public access immediately. Defense Distributed should also review the remainder of the data made public on its website to determine whether any additional data may be similarly controlled and proceed according to ITAR requirements.

Additionally, DTCC/END requests information about the procedures Defense Distributed follows to determine the classification of its technical data, to include aforementioned technical data files. We ask that you provide your procedures for determining proper jurisdiction of technical data within 30 days of the date of this letter to Ms. Bridget Van Buren, Compliance Specialist, Enforcement Division, at the address below.

Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance

PM/DTCC, SA-1, Room L132

2401 E Street, NW

Washington, DC 20522

Phone 202-663-3323

We appreciate your full cooperation in this matter. Please note our reference number in any future correspondence.

Sincerely,

Glenn E. Smith

Chief, Enforcement Division

Source: http://gizmodo.com/state-department-is-demanding-the-removal-of-the-3d-pri-499795853

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Potential flu pandemic lurks: Influenza viruses circulating in pigs, birds could pose risk to humans

May 10, 2013 ? In the summer of 1968, a new strain of influenza appeared in Hong Kong. This strain, known as H3N2, spread around the globe and eventually killed an estimated 1 million people.

A new study from MIT reveals that there are many strains of H3N2 circulating in birds and pigs that are genetically similar to the 1968 strain and have the potential to generate a pandemic if they leap to humans. The researchers, led by Ram Sasisekharan, the Alfred H. Caspary Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT, also found that current flu vaccines might not offer protection against these strains.

"There are indeed examples of H3N2 that we need to be concerned about," says Sasisekharan, who is also a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. "From a pandemic-preparedness point of view, we should potentially start including some of these H3 strains as part of influenza vaccines."

The study, which appears in the May 10 issue of the journal Scientific Reports, also offers the World Health Organization and public-health agencies' insight into viral strains that should raise red flags if detected.

Influenza evolution

In the past 100 years, influenza viruses that emerged from pigs or birds have caused several notable flu pandemics. When one of these avian or swine viruses gains the ability to infect humans, it can often evade the immune system, which is primed to recognize only strains that commonly infect humans.

Strains of H3N2 have been circulating in humans since the 1968 pandemic, but they have evolved to a less dangerous form that produces a nasty seasonal flu. However, H3N2 strains are also circulating in pigs and birds.

Sasisekharan and his colleagues wanted to determine the risk of H3N2 strains re-emerging in humans, whose immune systems would no longer recognize the more dangerous forms of H3N2. This type of event has a recent precedent: In 2009, a strain of H1N1 emerged that was very similar to the virus that caused a 1918 pandemic that killed 50 million to 100 million people.

"We asked if that could happen with H3," Sasisekharan says. "You would think it's more readily possible with H3 because we observe that there seems to be a lot more mixing of H3 between humans and swine."

Genetic similarities

In the new study, the researchers compared the 1968 H3N2 strain and about 1,100 H3 strains now circulating in pigs and birds, focusing on the gene that codes for the viral hemagglutinin (HA) protein.

After comparing HA genetic sequences in five key locations that control the viruses' interactions with infected hosts, the researchers calculated an "antigenic index" for each strain. This value indicates the percentage of these genetic regions identical to those of the 1968 pandemic strain and helps determine how well an influenza virus can evade a host's immune response.

The researchers also took into account the patterns of attachment of the HA protein to sugar molecules called glycans. The virus' ability to attach to glycan receptors found on human respiratory-tract cells is key to infecting humans.

Seeking viruses with an antigenic index of at least 49 percent and glycan-attachment patterns identical to those of the 1968 virus, the research team identified 581 H3 viruses isolated since 2000 that could potentially cause a pandemic. Of these, 549 came from birds and 32 from pigs.

The researchers then exposed some of these strains to antibodies provoked by the current H3 seasonal-flu vaccines. As they predicted, these antibodies were unable to recognize or attack these H3 strains. Of the 581 HA sequences, six swine strains already contain the standard HA mutations necessary for human adaptation, and are thus capable of entering the human population either directly or via genetic reassortment, Sasisekharan says.

"One of the amazing things about the influenza virus is its ability to grab genes from different pools," he says. "There could be viral genes that mix among pigs, or between birds and pigs."

Sasisekharan and colleagues are now doing a similar genetic study of H5 influenza strains. The H3 study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/B_j0De3iKUs/130510180250.htm

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Google Working On High-Resolution Nexus 7 For I/O Reveal, Android Notebooks Later This Year, Analyst Says

Google?s I/O developer conference is happening next week in San Francisco, and one of the big questions around what we?ll see there includes hardware. Now KGI securities analyst Mingchi Kuo (via 9to5Google), who unlike other analysts actually has a good track record of predicting things accurately, has let slip that one big reveal will be an updated Nexus 7 tablet, with a 1920 x 1200 7-inch display, a 5 megapixel camera and a new sleek, light design for the same $199 price point as the current version.

The Asus-built tablet will boast a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, a ?narrow bezel? screen with pixel density of 323 (pretty close to that of the iPhone 5) and physical dimensions that make it either very close to or even smaller than Apple?s iPad mini. If true, that?ll make it handheld, and with a Retina-quality display, at a price that absolutely undercuts Apple?s $329 entry point with the mini.

Other additions to this model include wireless charging according to Kuo, which would be in keeping with that feature being offered standard with the Nexus 4. Google is using Qi-based induction charging, which means that it?s compatible with a wide range of chargers, and the new Nexus 7 would likely adopt the same tech.

Kuo also looked beyond the I/O conference to what we might see from Google in the coming months, which include some fairly surprising developments. There?s a plan to get Samsung Android-powered notebooks to market, for instance, over the next 3 or 4 months. Intel telegraphed Android-based notebooks via one of its executives in a report last month, as 9to5Google notes, but Kuo says that we won?t see these at I/O since the next major point release of Android, version 5.0, won?t be ready for the show.

Android-based notebooks are a bit of a head-scratcher since Google has already invested a lot in pushing Chrome OS on the desktop, and recent reports suggest Chrome OS might end up powering tablets, too. It seems contrary for Google to continue working on that while also building a version of Android that can power notebooks, but this may just be a case of Google putting bets on multiple horses over the long-term, which makes sense given that the company has repeatedly shown it?s willing to invest in products that end up being failures for the sake of gleaning insights from what went wrong.

Beyond that, Kuo says Google is still working on an a Google TV device which will compete with the existing Apple TV, which sounds like it might be a second, more feature-rich kick at the ill-fated Nexus Q can. Finally, he also says a smart watch device is expected to debut alongside Glass in Google?s wearable computing category, but that this won?t hit mass production until at least next year.

September 7, 1998

NASDAQ:GOOG

Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world?s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and Google+, the company?s extension into the social space. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google?s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing...

? Learn more

The Nexus 7 is Google?s first tablet hardware. The Nexus 7 comes in two sizes: 8GB and 16GB both with 7-inch 1280x800 HD display.

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/10/google-working-on-high-resolution-nexus-7-for-io-reveal-android-notebooks-later-this-year-analyst-says/

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Carbon dioxide at NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory reaches new milestone: Tops 400 parts per million

May 10, 2013 ? On May 9, the daily mean concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mauna Loa, Hawaii, surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time since measurements began in 1958. Independent measurements made by both NOAA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have been approaching this level during the past week. It marks an important milestone because Mauna Loa, as the oldest continuous carbon dioxide (CO₂) measurement station in the world, is the primary global benchmark site for monitoring the increase of this potent heat-trapping gas.

Carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by fossil fuel burning and other human activities is the most significant greenhouse gas (GHG) contributing to climate change. Its concentration has increased every year since scientists started making measurements on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano more than five decades ago. The rate of increase has accelerated since the measurements started, from about 0.7 ppm per year in the late 1950s to 2.1 ppm per year during the last 10 years.

"That increase is not a surprise to scientists," said NOAA senior scientist Pieter Tans, with the Global Monitoring Division of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. "The evidence is conclusive that the strong growth of global CO₂ emissions from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas is driving the acceleration."

Before the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, global average CO₂ was about 280 ppm. During the last 800,000 years, CO₂ fluctuated between about 180 ppm during ice ages and 280 ppm during interglacial warm periods. Today's rate of increase is more than 100 times faster than the increase that occurred when the last ice age ended.

It was researcher Charles David Keeling of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, who began measuring carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa in 1958, initiating now what is known as the "Keeling Curve." His son, Ralph Keeling, also a geochemist at Scripps, has continued the Scripps measurement record since his father's death in 2005.

"There's no stopping CO₂ from reaching 400 ppm," said Ralph Keeling. "That's now a done deal. But what happens from here on still matters to climate, and it's still under our control. It mainly comes down to how much we continue to rely on fossil fuels for energy."

NOAA scientists with the Global Monitoring Division have made around-the-clock measurements there since 1974. Having two programs independently measure the greenhouse gas provides confidence that the measurements are correct.

Moreover, similar increases of CO₂ are seen all over the world by many international scientists. NOAA, for example, which runs a global, cooperative air sampling network, reported last year that all Arctic sites in its network reached 400 ppm for the first time. These high values were a prelude to what is now being observed at Mauna Loa, a site in the subtropics, this year. Sites in the Southern Hemisphere will follow during the next few years. The increase in the Northern Hemisphere is always a little ahead of the Southern Hemisphere because most of the emissions driving the CO₂ increase take place in the north.

Once emitted, CO₂ added to the atmosphere and oceans remains for thousands of years. Thus, climate changes forced by CO₂ depend primarily on cumulative emissions, making it progressively more and more difficult to avoid further substantial climate change.

On the Web:

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/FkGwxZ57pjU/130510180610.htm

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New discovery may lead the way to improved whooping cough vaccine

May 10, 2013 ? Scientists at Trinity College Dublin have made novel discoveries concerning the current vaccine against whooping cough that may lead to the development of an improved future vaccine. The findings could help reduce the incidence of the disease which is increasing in developed countries. The research led by Professor of Experimental Immunology, Kingston Mills has just been published in the journal PLoS Pathogens.

A new vaccine against whooping cough, caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis was first introduced to the routine vaccination schedule for infants and children in most developed countries, including Ireland over a decade ago. Prior to the introduction of this vaccine, children were immunised with a vaccine made from whole bacteria. Although this 'whole cell pertussis vaccine' was effective at preventing the infection, it had been associated with side effects. Dissatisfaction with that vaccine led to the development of an 'acellular pertussis vaccine' made from components of the bacteria combined with an adjuvant to boost immune responses.

Following its introduction in the late 1990s, the new vaccine has proved to be very safe and has been effective in controlling the potentially fatal disease of whooping cough in children. However, protective immunity conferred with the vaccine falls quite quickly, necessitating frequent booster vaccinations. This fall off in the immunity may be contributing to the number of whooping cough cases which are increasing with quite dramatic increases reported in certain countries, including the US, Australia and the Netherlands.

Professor Kingston Mills's research team at the School of Biochemistry and Immunology in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute has discovered important mechanistic differences in the type of immune responses induced with the new 'acellular' and old 'whole cell' vaccine. The whole cell vaccine, although much more likely to cause adverse reactions in recipients, was capable of inducing strong cellular immune responses mediated by white blood cells called T cells, in particular a type of T cell called Th1 cells. In contrast, the new acellular vaccine, although safer, was less effective in inducing cellular immunity, but instead induced immunity mediated by antibodies and another type of T cell called a Th17 cell.

Most vaccines include a component called an adjuvant to boost immune responses to the bacterial or viral antigens in the vaccine and the acellular pertussis vaccine uses an aluminium salt, called alum. However, Dr Padraig Ross, Dr Sarah Higgins and Ms Aideen Allen in Professor Mills' laboratory, working in collaboration with Dr Rachel McLoughlin and Dr Ed Lavelle, have shown that the vaccine could be improved further through the use of a different adjuvant.

The current vaccine does not enhance the induction of Th1 cells, required for conferring optimum protective immunity against the bacteria. They showed that by switching the adjuvant from alum to an adjuvant based on bacterial DNA, they could induce the crucial Th1 cells and thereby enhance the efficacy of the vaccine against Bordetella pertussis infection in a murine model. The new vaccine has the potential to protect a higher proportion of immunised children using a lower number of doses.

Commenting on the significance of the findings, Professor Mills said: "Although it will not be an easy task to implement, our findings should pave the way for an improved vaccine against whooping cough in children."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/sad3XlnB4jc/130510124457.htm

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Benghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions (ABC News)

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Randy Jackson Resigns From American Idol

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/randy-jackson-resigns-from-american-idol/

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Diplomat: Request for Special Ops team in Benghazi denied (Washington Post)

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Early math and reading ability linked to job and income in adulthood

May 8, 2013 ? Math and reading ability at age 7 may be linked with socioeconomic status several decades later, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The childhood abilities predict socioeconomic status in adulthood over and above associations with intelligence, education, and socioeconomic status in childhood.

In light of ongoing debates about the impact that education standards have on children's lives, psychological scientists Stuart Ritchie and Timothy Bates of the University of Edinburgh wanted to investigate whether early math and reading skills might have effects that go beyond the classroom.

"We wanted to test whether being better at math or reading in childhood would be linked with a rise through the social ranks: a better job, better housing, and higher income as an adult," Ritchie and Bates explain.

The researchers explored these relationships using data from the National Child Development Study, a large, nationally representative study that followed over 17,000 people in England, Scotland, and Wales over a span of about 50 years, from when they were born in 1958 to present day.

The data revealed that childhood reading and math skills really do matter.

Ritchie and Bates found that participants' reading and math ability at age 7 were linked to their social class a full 35 years later. Participants who had higher reading and math skills as children ended up having higher incomes, better housing, and better jobs in adulthood. The data suggest, for example, that going up one reading level at age 7 was associated with a ?5,000, or roughly $7,750, increase in income at age 42.

The long-term associations held even after the researchers took other common factors into account.

"These findings imply that basic childhood skills, independent of how smart you are, how long you stay in school, or the social class you started off in, will be important throughout your life," say Ritchie and Bates.

So what might explain these long-term associations? The researchers believe that genes may play a role:

"Genes underlie many of the differences among children on all the variables we've looked at here," they note. "The genetically-controlled study using twins that we're conducting now should allow us to separate out genetic and environmental effects."

The researchers hope that the twin study will illuminate the extent to which environmental interventions might strengthen the links they've identified in their current research.

This research was supported by an Economic and Social Research Council scholarship awarded to Stuart Ritchie.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/8EwEDNIbckI/130508123125.htm

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YouTube Trends Map shows you what the rest of the country is watching

In an effort to give some visual pizazz to the world of dry regional metrics, Google has announced a new trends map for its YouTube views. While the top video (True Blood's season six teaser, if you're asking) currently dominates across the (for now, US-only) map, there's some Walking Dead fans that can't get enough bad lip-reading in the North-West. Upgrading fromYouTube's Trends Dashboard, the Trends Map can be tweaked for gender and age profiles, with scrollable bars showing the number of regions that a video has claimed the top spot. Browse your region (we're still not sure how YouTube is assigning the regions just yet) at the source below.

Filed under: Internet, Google

Comments

Source: YouTube Trends Map

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/CrzdXJDbx0Y/

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