Google Play Music now available in Australia -- Update: and 6 other countries

Australians can now listen to their favorite music both on the web and their Android device with Google Play Music

Update: Google Play announced via their Google+ account that there are six other countries also getting the Play Music service: Austria,  Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Portugal. For those about to rock, we salute you. The original story continues below.

Google has flipped their magic switch and made Google Play Music alive and well in the land down under. Users can buy music from Google Play on either the web or their Android device, and the cloud associated with their Google account will hold up to 20,000 of a users own music. The streaming service is available to 10 devices at a time, and the settings on the web version can be used to authorize and deauthorize devices.

The addition of Music means all Google Play services -- apps, games, books, movies, magazines and music -- are now available in Australia. You can find Google Play Music on the web right here, and download the application to your Android device via the Google Play link above.

Source: Google Australia

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/eCEmH1H5jsY/story01.htm

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Scientists seek sea urchin's secret to surviving ocean acidification

Apr. 8, 2013 ? Stanford scientists have discovered that some purple sea urchins living along the coast of California and Oregon have the surprising ability to rapidly evolve in acidic ocean water -- a capacity that may come in handy as climate change increases ocean acidity. This capacity depends on high levels of genetic variation that allow urchins' healthy growth in water with high carbon dioxide levels.

The study, co-authored by Stephen Palumbi, a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and director of Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station, revealspreviously unknown adaptive variations that could help some marine species survive in future acidified seas.

"It's like bet hedging," Palumbi said. "Betting on multiple teams in the NCAA playoffs gives you a better chance of winning. A parent with genetic variation for survival in different conditions makes offspring that can thrive in different environments. In an uncertain world, it's a way to have a stake in the Final Four."

Increasing acidification is a worrisome question for the billionpeople who depend on the ocean for their sustenance and livelihoods. Which sea creatures will survive in waters that have had their chemistry altered by global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels?

The authors, including collaborators at the University of California Davis' Bodega Marine Lab, speculate in a research paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesthat other marine species that have long dealt with environmental stresses may have a similar adaptive capacity.

If true, these capabilities could provide important clues about how to maintain robust marine populations amid the effects of acidification, climate change, overfishing and other human impacts.

Scientists have known for decades that high carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are increasing the levels of carbonic acid in the world's oceans, leading to increased acidity. Hundreds of undreddhof studies have shown that acidification at levels expected by the year 2100 can harm ocean life.

But little is known about marine species' capacity to adapt evolutionarily to this condition. The delicate embryos of marine species are especially susceptible. The West Coast oyster farm industry nearly collapsed in 2007 because of oyster larvae sensitivity to increased acidification of coastal waters.

The study examined how purple sea urchins -- creatures with the most well-studied genome of any marine species -- react to the acidification levels predicted for 2100.

The researchers raised larvae in ocean water with either low or high carbon dioxide content. They sampled the larvae at early and later stages in life and then used new DNA-sequencing and analytical tools to determine which elements of the urchins' genetic makeup changed through time in these conditions. By looking at the function of each gene that changed, researchers were able to pinpoint which types of genes were critical for survival under future conditions.

"The high CO₂ larvae showed almost no negative effects, and that was a surprise," said Melissa Pespeni, the study's lead author and a former Stanford postdoctoral fellow. "They didn't suffer because among them were some individuals with the right genes to be able to grow well in those harsh conditions."

Purple sea urchins, like other West Coast marine species, normally live in cold water that wells up along the coast, bringing seasonally higher CO₂ levels. The study's results suggest that this long-term environmental mosaic has led to the evolution of genetic variations enabling purple sea urchins to regulate their internal pH level in the face of elevated carbon dioxide.

"There are hundreds of West Coast species that similarly evolved in these conditions. Maybe some of these have the genetic tools to resist acidification, too," Palumbi said. "We need to learn why some species are more sensitive than others."

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University. The original article was written by Rob Jordan.

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Journal Reference:

1. M. H. Pespeni, E. Sanford, B. Gaylord, T. M. Hill, J. D. Hosfelt, H. K. Jaris, M. LaVigne, E. A. Lenz, A. D. Russell, M. K. Young, S. R. Palumbi. Evolutionary change during experimental ocean acidification. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1220673110

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/4UG4sssupdg/130409111632.htm

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What is killing California sea lion pups? Why unusual event is a concern.

Scientists say the sea lions reveal 'important things about what is going on in our oceans.' Food shortages and disease are being looked at as possible causes of the 'unusual mortality event' in California.

By Gloria Goodale,?Staff writer / April 10, 2013

Rescued California sea lion pups are seen at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, California in this March 13, 2013 file photo. NOAA has declared a recent wave of sea lion beachings an 'unusual mortality event.' Officials are investigating its cause.

REUTERS/Mike Blake/Files

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California?s sea lions, usually celebrated for their entertaining, prankster ways and doglike barks, are making very different headlines right now. Young pups are washing up dehydrated and dying, from Monterey to San Diego, in record numbers.

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So far, more than 1,100 of these emaciated, underweight marine mammals have come ashore ? more than ten times the normal rate for this time of year. As startled residents cope with these sickly animals on local beaches, overwhelming marine mammal rescue facilities, scientists are scrambling to decipher the mysterious message behind these strandings.

?We do not know the cause,? says Sharon Melin, a marine biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

NOAA has taken the extraordinary step of declaring an ?unusual mortality event,? or UME, which brings with it additional funds for research as well as national collaboration between agencies.

One recipient of that additional UME funding is the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, an hour south of Los Angeles. Development director Melissa Sciacca says they knew as early as January they were facing an unprecedented event.

?We began seeing 10 to 12 animals every day coming into the facility,? she says, noting that this began during a time when even a single young sea lion beaching is unusual. Sea lion pups don?t typically wean until April or May, and while a certain number of pups fail to thrive annually, she adds, it has never been at this rate.

?In our 42 years, we have never seen anything like this,? she says.

At this early stage, scientists are focusing on food shortages and disease as possible causes, says Dr. Melin. While some have raised the possibility of radiation effects from the Fukushima earthquake in Japan, Melin points out that this event is narrowly limited to the young sea lion population.

?There would be a more widespread effect if radiation were the cause,? she says.

Nonetheless, she points out that the federally protected sea lions, perhaps the most adaptable of sea mammals, are an important sentinel species. ?The events that impact them tell us important things about what is going on in our oceans,? she adds.

This unusual wave of sea lion beaching comes at the same time as a rash of equally remarkable marine mammal events have caused a sensation over the past few months. Back in mid-February,?a mega-pod of feeding dolphins that was estimated to number in the tens of thousands and to cover 35 square miles astonished residents near San Diego, while the largest pods of grey and killer whales ever spotted also delighted tourists at the same time as they perplexed scientists.

Researchers at NOAA are cautious in their proposals as to what is behind the growing number of incapacitated sea lion pups, points out Beth Pratt, California director of the National Wildlife Federation. But, she adds, it?s hard for the average person watching these events not to think they?re connected somehow.

?It seems pretty obvious to the average viewer that there is something going on in our oceans or environments that is driving such extraordinary changes in marine mammal behavior,? she says.

The research funding and major effort to understand the causes of the sea lions? travails are just beginning ? and may not be conclusive, points out David Helvarg, author of ?The Golden Shore ? California's Love Affair with the Sea.?

While the research could point to a collapse in food sources such as anchovies or squid, he adds via e-mail, ?it could be a mixed result like with the manatee die-off in Florida, where a naturally occurring red tide is being unnaturally fed by nutrients from farm and lawn fertilizers.??

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/roMcEqYB5ek/What-is-killing-California-sea-lion-pups-Why-unusual-event-is-a-concern

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Microsoft escalates advertising assault on Google

This frame grab made available by Microsoft shows a scene from the latest in a series of scathing Microsoft ads against Google. The ads that say as much about the dramatic shift in the technology industry?s competitive landscape as they do about the animosity between Microsoft and Google. (AP Photo/Microsoft)

This frame grab made available by Microsoft shows a scene from the latest in a series of scathing Microsoft ads against Google. The ads that say as much about the dramatic shift in the technology industry?s competitive landscape as they do about the animosity between Microsoft and Google. (AP Photo/Microsoft)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Microsoft is skewering Google again with scathing ads that say as much about the dramatic shift in the technology industry's competitive landscape as they do about the animosity between the two rivals.

The missive that began Tuesday marks the third phase in a 5-month-old marketing campaign that Microsoft Corp. derisively calls "Scroogled." The ads, which have appeared online, on television and in print, depict Google as a duplicitous company more interested in increasing profits and power than protecting people's privacy and providing unbiased search results.

This time, Microsoft is vilifying Google Inc. for sharing some of the personal information that it gathers about people who buy applications designed to run on smartphones and tablet computers powered by Google's Android software. Earlier ads have skewered Google's long-running practice of electronically scanning the contents of people's Gmail accounts to help sell ads and attacked a recently introduced policy that requires retailers to pay to appear in the shopping section of Google's dominant search engine.

"We think we have a better alternative that doesn't do these kinds of nefarious things," said Greg Sullivan, Microsoft's senior manager for Windows Phone, the business taking aim at Google's distribution of personal information about buyers of Android apps.

Microsoft's advertising barbs could potentially backfire. Even as they help draw attention to Google practices that may prod some consumers to try different services, they also serve as a reminder of Microsoft's mostly futile ? and costly ? attempts to trump its rival with more compelling technology.

"It's always the underdog that does negative advertising like this, and there is no doubt that Microsoft is now the underdog," said Jonathan Weber, who has been following Microsoft's "Scroogled" campaign at search consulting firm LunaMetrics.

On the flip side, Google has evolved from an endearing Internet startup to an imposing giant running Web and mobile services that vacuum intimate details about people's lives. Despite repeated management assurances about respecting personal privacy, Google has experienced several lapses that have resulted in regulatory fines, settlements and scorn around the world.

Beyond privacy, Google has been the subject of complaints that its practices are anti-competitive. On Tuesday, a group of companies led by Microsoft said it has asked European authorities to investigate whether Google is acting unfairly by giving away its Android operating system to mobile device manufacturers on the condition that Google's own apps, such as YouTube and Google Maps, are installed and prominently displayed.

Microsoft's latest ads revolve around concerns already raised by privacy watchdogs. Critics argue that Google hasn't adequately disclosed that customers' names, email addresses and neighborhood locations are routinely sent to the makers of apps sold in Google's online Play store.

At least one group, Consumer Watchdog, has complained to the Federal Trade Commission that Google's apps practices represent an "egregious privacy violation." Citing agency policy, FTC spokesman Jay Mayfield declined to comment on whether the complaint has triggered a formal investigation.

Google says it shares a limited amount of personal information about customers to ensure they get better service and faster responses if any problems arise. The company says the practice is allowed under its terms of service ? a document that most people rarely read in its entirety.

Microsoft says it doesn't pass along personal details about customers buying apps for devices running its Windows Phone software. But there aren't as many Windows Phone users or apps for that system as there are for Android.

The notion of Microsoft being well behind Google once seemed inconceivable.

A decade ago, Microsoft was the world's most powerful technology company, with its Windows operating system and Office productivity software pervasive on personal computers. Microsoft's dominance had grown so extensive that U.S. and European antitrust regulators spent years trying to rein in the Redmond, Wash., software company.

Although Google was growing rapidly at the time, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other skeptics dismissed the company as a "one-trick pony" that hadn't proven adept at doing anything besides searching the Web and selling ads next to the results.

Google, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., has since morphed into a multi-faceted juggernaut relentlessly trying to muscle into new markets. The company now runs the world's most watched online video service in YouTube, the largest email service in Gmail and the most widely used operating system for mobile devices in Android. All of those services provide more opportunities to show the ads that generate the bulk of Google's revenue. Google is now the company facing the scrutiny of regulators ? and Microsoft has been active in making those complaints, including the one announced Tuesday.

"Google is certainly the biggest challenge that Microsoft has ever had to deal with," said Michael Cusumano, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management and author of several books about Microsoft.

Microsoft has tried to thwart Google by investing heavily in online services, to little avail. Since Google went public in August 2004, Microsoft's online division has accumulated more than $17.5 billion in operating losses. The losses include an accounting charge of more than $6 billion for Microsoft's acquisition of aQuantive, an online advertising service that didn't pan out.

Google, meanwhile, has been steadily increasing profits and share of the Internet search market. Google processes about two out of every three search requests in the U.S. and handles an even larger percentage of queries in many parts of Europe.

Although Microsoft has remained profitable companywide, the Windows franchise that provides its financial backbone has been weakening as a growing preference for smartphones and tablet computers undercuts sales of desktop and laptop computers. Besides doing damage with Android, Google is also trying to dent Microsoft by selling a less expensive, Internet-based alternative to Microsoft's Office suite. Google also is pushing a laptop operating system built on its popular Chrome Web browser in an attempt to divert even more sales away from Windows machines.

Microsoft has countered with a dramatic overhaul of the Windows operating system, one designed to bring tablet features such as touch screens to desktops and laptops. But Windows 8 has gotten off to a tepid start since its October release.

The changing fortunes of Microsoft and Google have been reflected in the stock market's appraisal of the two companies.

Google's market value has soared from nearly $25 billion at the time of its initial public offering to $255 billion. Microsoft's market value has fallen by about 20 percent during the same period, declining from nearly $300 billion at the time of Google's IPO to $239 billion today. Apple Inc., a rival of both Google and Microsoft, is the only technology company worth more than Google, with a market value hovering around $400 billion.

In morning trading Tuesday, after the latest campaign kicked off, Microsoft's stock gained 36 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $28.95, while Google's increased $6.85, or nearly 1 percent, to $781.70.

Microsoft developed its anti-Google ad campaigns shortly after hiring former political operative Mark Penn in August as a corporate strategist who reports directly to Ballmer. Penn is best known as a former pollster for President Bill Clinton and a campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful bid for president in 2008. Penn left his job as CEO of public relations firm Burson-Marsteller to help Microsoft generate more usage of its Bing search engine and other online services.

Microsoft isn't saying how much it is spending on these ad campaigns beyond saying the amount will run in the "multimillions" of dollars.

Although there isn't any evidence that the ads have hurt Google yet, Sullivan said Microsoft is pleased with the response. The company says about 117,000 people have signed Microsoft's online petition protesting Gmail's ad-driving scanning of content. That's a sliver of the more than 425 million Gmail accounts worldwide. Microsoft says about 4 million people have visited Scroogled.com, the website that serves as the hub of the company's anti-Google screed.

Although the attack ads are something new for Microsoft, denigrating the competition isn't. Most notably, Microsoft tried to undermine Web browser pioneer Netscape Communications beginning in the mid-1990s. Most of that sniping remained behind the scenes until a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Microsoft's business practices exposed the cut-throat tactics deployed to overcome Netscape's early lead in the Web browser market.

Given that history, Microsoft's marketing assault on Google isn't that surprising, said Cusumano, who has been following the company for 20 years.

"Nothing is below Microsoft," Cusumano said. "They have been playing dirty for a long time. In this instance, they probably sincerely believe this can give them a little marketing edge and help them capitalize on the growing discomfort with the size and influence of Google."

___

Online:

Microsoft campaign: http://www.scroogled.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-04-09-Microsoft-Attacking%20Google/id-e2c130dab204473f936eeb067dda3fb9

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Spring rains bring life to Midwest granaries but foster Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone'

Apr. 9, 2013 ? NEW ORLEANS, April 9, 2013 ? The most serious ongoing water pollution problem in the Gulf of Mexico originates not from oil rigs, as many people believe, but rainstorms and fields of corn and soybeans a thousand miles away in the Midwest. An expert on that problem ? the infamous Gulf of Mexico ?Dead Zone? ? today called for greater awareness of the connections between rainfall and agriculture in the Midwest and the increasingly severe water quality problems in the gulf.

Keynoting a symposium at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world?s largest scientific society, Nancy N. Rabalais, Ph.D., emphasized that oil spills like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, claim a terrible toll. Sometimes, however, they overshadow the underlying water pollution problem that has been growing more and more severe for almost 40 years.

?The Dead Zone is a vast expanse of water, sometimes as large as the state of Massachusetts, that has so little oxygen that fish, shellfish and other marine life cannot survive,? Rabalais explained. ?The oxygen disappears as a result of fertilizer that washes off farm fields in the Midwest into the Mississippi River. Just as fertilizer makes corn and soybeans grow, it stimulates the growth of plants in the water ? algae in the Gulf. The algae bloom and eventually die and decay, removing oxygen from the water. The result is water too oxygen-depleted to support life.?

An oceanographer and executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Rabalais spoke at a special symposium organized by 2012 ACS President Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, Ph.D. Abstracts of other presentations in the event, titled ?Water: A Grand Challenge for Science and Society,? appear below.

?Shortages in availability of water suitable for drinking, agriculture and industry are the common denominator in some of the great global challenges facing society in the 21st century,? Shakhashiri said. ?More than 1 billion people already lack access to reliable supplies of clean water. Climate change, surging population growth and other factors stand to make matters worse. I hope this symposium helps engage scientists in seeking solutions that help sustain Earth and its people.?

Rabalais described how the Dead Zone is getting larger and more desolate, with lower concentrations of oxygen dissolved in the water. The Gulf also seems to be more sensitive to the nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers that wash down the Mississippi River and the Atchafalaya River today than it was in the past. Concentrations of fertilizer that caused a relatively small amount of oxygen depletion now are having a more profound effect.

Fish and shellfish either leave the oxygen-depleted water or die, causing losses to commercial and sports fisheries in the Gulf, she noted. Dead fish sometimes wash up onto beaches, with a negative impact on recreational activities and tourism.

Oil spills and other local pollution compound those negative effects on marine life, Rabalais noted. By day 77 of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, for instance, the oil slick had covered about one-third of the Dead Zone, making it even more inhospitable.

The amounts of phosphorus fertilizer compounds in the Lower Mississippi have doubled and nitrogen compounds have tripled nitrogen over the last 50 years, Rabalais said. Oxygen levels in the Dead Zone have declined in parallel.

Rabalais pointed out that advances in chemistry and other fields do promise solutions. Fertilizers that stay in the soil and resist runoff, for instance, could have a big impact. Genetically modifying crops so that they produce some of their own fertilizer could also help with the problem.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world?s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society contact newsroom@acs.org.

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Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

# # #

CONTACT:
Nancy N. Rabalais, Ph.D.
Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium
Chauvin, La. 70344
Phone: 985-851-2801
Fax: 985-851-2874
Email: nrabalais@lumcon.edu

Abstracts
Water is life and is to be celebrated
1. Nancy N. Rabalais, PhD, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, 8124 Highway 56, Chauvin, LA, 70344, United States, 985-851-2801, nrabalais@lumcon.edu

Every day I do, but I annually bring water from the Gulf of Mexico dead zone to a water ceremony at the Unitarian church in Baton Rouge where it is combined with waters from others from all over the world and locally. Some of the water is retained in the urn for the next year?s ceremony. Each year I bring my intent to continue to work for water quality in the Mississippi River watershed and its coastal ocean. The distances and seeming disconnects are large, but surprisingly short for a drop of water from the Gulf of Mexico to be transported inland and then flow with other droplets down the river to the ocean.

The imperative science needs for health-related water research and education
1. Joan B. Rose¹, PhD, Michigan State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, 480 Wilson Road, Natural Resources Bldg Rm 13, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States , 517-432-4412, rosejo@msu.edu

Linking advances in genomics research, mathematics and earth sciences as well as novel engineering technologies is imperative in order to create a future of globally safe water. To address the major challenges in managing the growing amounts of animal and human waste water pollution; protecting water resources and restoring an economically vital coastline, we will need to invest in the characterization of our water microbiological communities and shift the pollution science paradigm toward an understanding of risk and resilience under global change.

Water sustainability in a changing world
1. Jerald L. Schnoor¹, PhD, The University of Iowa, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, United States , 319-335-5649, jschnoor@engineering.uiowa.edu

Water is a vital renewable resource for society which is increasingly stressed by multiple demands for water supply, agriculture, industry, recreation, and ecosystem needs. Changes in water supply and demands for water are driven by population growth, climate and land use change, and our energy choices (such as biofuels, oil sands, and shale gas). In this talk, we discuss the drivers affecting water sustainability and potential solutions including: adapting to a changing water world, direct and indirect potable water reuse, resilient water infrastructure, and more holistic management of the water cycle. This paper also describes research at Clear Creek watershed (270 km2), a tributary of the Iowa River in eastern Iowa, to create an environmental observing facility and intelligent digital watershed (IDW) for better water management and prediction.

Future of urban water systems: Technological and institutional challenges
1. David Sedlak¹, PhD, University California, Berkeley, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 657 Davis Hall, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States , 510-643-0256, sedlak@berkeley.edu

The complex infrastructure that cities rely upon for water supply, treatment and drainage are struggling to keep up with the combined effects of climate change, population growth, underinvestment in maintenance and a growing recognition of the impacts of contaminants that cannot be removed easily by existing treatment processes. Technological solutions to these problems that employ the latest developments in materials science, chemistry, biology and electronics are capable of greatly enhancing the performance of these systems. However, the success of these next generation technologies will depend upon their integration into the institutions responsible for urban water management.

Convergence of nanotechnology and microbiology: Emerging opportunities for water disinfection, integrated urban water management, and risk assessment
1. Pedro J. Alvarez¹, PhD, Rice University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 6100 Main Street, MS 519, Houston, TX, 77005, United States , 713-348-5903, alvarez@rice.edu

The extraordinary properties of some nanomaterials offer leapfrogging opportunities to develop next-generation applications for drinking water disinfection and safer wastewater reuse (e.g., photocatalytically-enhanced disinfection, biofouling-resistant membranes, and biofilm- and corrosion-resistant surfaces). The multifunctional and high-efficiency processes enabled by nanotechnology are broadly applicable in both industrialized and developing countries, by enabling the retrofitting of aging infrastructure and the development of high performance point-of-use devices that facilitate differential water treatment and reuse. On the other hand, the use of nanomaterials in commercial products is outpacing the development of knowledge and regulations to mitigate potential risks associated with their release to the environment. Therefore, it is important to understand how engineered nanoparticles interact with microorganisms, which form the basis of all known ecosystems and provide critical environmental services such as nitrogen cycling. The convergence of nanotechnology with environmental microbiology could expand the limits of technology, enhance global health through safer water reuse, and contribute towards sustainable and integrated water management. This presentation will consider the antibacterial mechanisms of various nanomaterials within the context of environmental implications and applications. Research needs to steward ecologically responsible nanotechnology will also be discussed.

Confronting the water challenge: Dow technologies increase the flow
1. William F. Banholzer¹, PhD, The Dow Chemical Company, Executive Department, 2030 Dow Center, Midland, MI, 48674, United States , 989-636-0718, mbiehler@dow.com

Dow is a leader in purification, separation and chemical technology, with a longstanding legacy of technology innovation for improving water quality and utilization. Communities throughout the world depend on Dow reverse osmosis membrane technology for desalination and water reclamation. Dow has also made investments that are solving the water-borne disease crisis by bringing affordable, potable water through deployment of low-cost, community-based water systems. In addition, new processes for chemical production have been deployed that dramatically reduce wastewater production, helping to preserve freshwater resources.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/XET4vgDOQc4/130409105641.htm

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Here's How Google Glass Actually Works

We all know Google Glass doesn't need sorcery for you to comfortably see a digital image projected over reality. But just how does it work? This infographic by Martin Missfeldt lays out the way the magic happens in simple terms. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Zyvt22u_I_g/heres-how-google-glass-actually-works

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Two 4-year-olds, two guns, two fatal shootings

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Snooki: Pregnancy Blows, But Worth It

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Passwords? What about passthoughts? New login relies on brain signals

Nidhi Subbaraman , NBC News ? ? ? 3 hrs.

Just mental humming of your favorite tune, a mental reconstruction of your favorite yoga move, or focusing on your favorite color could soon unlock your computer.

Say you were wearing that computer ? as you might if you owned Google Glass. A "passthought" reader that decoded your EEGs would be way more convenient than typing in a password on a real or virtual keyboard.

"You can see all these pictures of Sergey Brin wearing this Google Glass," John Chuang, a professor at theSchool of Information at UC Berkeley, told NBC News. "What if he puts down his Google Glass, and someone else picks it up? Does that mean that someone else can access his photos, start messaging his friends?"

Chuang and a group of researchers at the School of Information ran a series of experiments in which they tested how user-friendly an EEG authenticator would be. The headset they used, a MindSet made by NeuroSky, looks like a pair of Bluetooth headphones and costs about $200, and has one electrode that picks up EEG signals from your forehead and wirelessly transmits that data to a computer.

The volunteers trialled seven different "passthoughts." Among those, they thought about humming their favorite tunes, mentally re-enacted a favorite athletic stance, even just closed their eyes and breathed in deeply. Altogether, and with several repetitions, the scientists collected 1,050 brainwave samples, and were able to reliably match them to the person who made them with an accuracy of 99 percent.

Researchers have been investigating multi-channel EEGs as authenticators since 2005, but this is the first study to show that an affordable, non-medical EEG reader can pick up a reliable signal. More than that, the test subjects seemed to enjoy using a brainwave reader potentially in place of a password.

So what if someone wanted to break into your device by reproducing your passthought? Or, as Chuang described it: "If I knew your song and how you sang you song, how easy or difficult would it be to log in as you?" Chuang said their recent study hasn't tested passthought impersonators, but that's next on the list.

If it turns out others can reproduce your EEG by thinking the same thought, then, like your passwords, you'd have to keep them secret, and keep them safe. "No [form of] security is secure unless people want to use it," Chuang said.

Nidhi Subbaraman writes about technology and science. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a868e03/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cfutureoftech0Cpasswords0Ewhat0Eabout0Epassthoughts0Enew0Elogin0Erelies0Ebrain0Esignals0E1C9275556/story01.htm

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North Korea turns up volume by silencing final military hot line

What happens now?

By Robert Marquand,?Staff writer / March 27, 2013

South Korean Army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday. North Korea said Wednesday that it had cut off a key military hot line with South Korea that allows cross-border travel to a jointly run industrial complex in the North.

Ahn Young-joon/AP

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North Korea's edgy game of war talk continued?at ever higher volumes today with the announcement that it will cut off the last military hot line with South Korea.

Skip to next paragraph Robert Marquand

Staff writer

Over the past three decades, Robert Marquand has reported on a wide variety of subjects for?The Christian Science Monitor, including American education reform,?the wars in the Balkans, the Supreme Court, South Asian politics, and the oft-cited "rise of China." In the past 15 years he has served as the Monitor's bureau chief in Paris, Beijing, and New Delhi.?

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?Under the situation where a war may break out any moment, there is no need to keep North-South military communications,? said the regime, according to the Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang.

The severed line of communication comes as the North, under young and new President Kim Jong-un, has said it is moving into its highest military alert status and has threatened to target Hawaii and Guam with rockets, after last month conducting its third nuclear test.?

The escalating rhetoric has brought a new agreement between US and South Korean officials that would dictate military action should the North cross the border, shell islands, or harm shipping in the kind of low-level actions Pyongyang has attempted in recent years.?

US military officials called the North Korean statement ?bellicose.??Many have expressed doubt that North Korea?s rockets have the range to reach US bases in Guam and Hawaii, but a few, including the?editor of Jane?s Defense Weekly, estimated they could reach US military bases in Japan, according to USA Today.?

Yesterday the small, poor state that is anchored by devotion to the Kim family dynasty, and is now nearly entirely dependent on China for basic sustenance but has also devoted considerable resources to its military, repeated a longstanding threat to turn Seoul into a ?sea of fire,? among other similarly colorful threats.

Earlier this year, the North said it would no longer answer?a hot line at the Demilitarized Zone. The hot line that the country is now threatening to shut down linked the two Koreas at the?Kaesong industrial park, created in the North during the warming winds of unification in the 2000s. The economic complex has long been a symbol of the potential for North-South cooperation.?

The New York Times today notes the North?s threat on the hot line follows comments from?Park Geun-hye,?the newly elected president of South Korea, that North Korea needed to end its nuclear threats in order to gain better traction with the South:

?If North Korea provokes or does things that harm peace, we must make sure that it gets nothing but will pay the price, while if it keeps its promises, the South should do the same,? she said during a briefing from her government?s top diplomats and North Korea policy-makers. ?Without rushing and in the same way we would lay one brick after another, we must develop South-North relations step by step, based on trust, and create sustainable peace.?

Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, a veteran Korea-watcher once based in Seoul, tells The Christian Science Monitor that Pyongyang's main grievance appears to be recent United Nations sanctions targeted at the North.

Mr. Snyder argues that the meaning of the North?s sudden blustery behavior will only become clearer ?once the question of the consolidation of [Kim Jong-un?s] power becomes clearer.?

Agence France-Presse today said that a significant meeting among party elites and power brokers in the closed world of Pyongyang is about to take place.

"They will discuss how to handle the nuclear issue, inter-Korean relations and North Korea's longstanding demand for a peace treaty with the United States," Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul told AFP.

Comparisons between the new Kim and his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the patriarch of North Korea, are flowing freely, since there is a resemblance between the two. But Snyder notes that too little is yet known of the young Kim, who took over from his father Kim Jong-il last year, and that his youth is not necessarily a plus in such a high-stakes game.

?Right now the song is the same, but the volume is a lot louder. We don?t know his risk tolerance yet ? does he understand the game he is playing??

The US-South Korea military agreement follows a recent scrapping by the North of the historic legal armistice that effectively ended the Korean war in the 1950s. It came on the anniversary of the infamous sinking of the Choenan Navy vessel in 2010, which resulted in the deaths of 46 South Korean sailors, something that has had powerful emotional resonance in the South. (The Choenan was raised from the ocean floor, and forensics by the South claim the vessel was torpedoed by the North, something the North denies.)?

USA Today quotes an Asia-watcher who feels the key to dealing with Pyongyang runs through Beijing:

US diplomats should talk to their Chinese counterparts and say, "Your ally North Korea is acting in a very belligerent and destabilizing way," said [Richard] Bush, who heads the Brookings Institution Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies. "They're acting in ways that are contrary to the principles you [China] have laid out. The situation is somewhat dangerous. You need to restrain your ally."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/P8CCMVqq_nQ/North-Korea-turns-up-volume-by-silencing-final-military-hot-line

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Russia to file case against vote-monitoring group

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's Justice Ministry says it is filing a legal case against the country's only independent elections monitoring group for allegedly failing to register as a foreign agent.

Under a law passed last year, any non-governmental organization that receives foreign funding and is deemed to be involved in political activities must register as a "foreign agent." Critics say the term is pejorative and aimed at undermining NGOs' credibility and support.

Failure to register carries a potential fine of up to 300,000 rubles (about $9,500) for the organization's director and 500,000 rubles ($16,000) for the organization.

A Justice Ministry statement Tuesday said the vote-monitoring group Golos was found to have engaged in political activity and had failed to register. The case is to be presented to a court on Wednesday.

Golos director Liliya Shibanova told the state news agency RIA Novosti that the group has not received foreign funding since the law took effect. "I don't know on what basis they're doing this."

The announcement comes after a wide wave of searches at hundreds of non-governmental organizations in recent weeks. The searches brought sharp criticism from the West, including the United States where State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland characterized them as a "witch-hunt."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday prodded President Vladimir Putin on the NGOs issue, telling him during his visit that "a lively civil society can only develop if individual organizations can work without fear and worry."

Putin brushed aside the concern, saying: "We aren't trying to put anyone under control, but we want to know how much money, through what channels and for what purpose, is being sent."

Putin and other Russian officials have long complained that Western countries aim to undermine his government by funding opposition groups. The criticism became more vehement after a wave of massive anti-Putin protests broke in Russia in late 2011.

After he returned to the presidency in May, Russia enacted several measures aimed at stifling opposition, including the foreign agents registration law and sharply increasing penalties for taking part in unauthorized demonstrations.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-file-case-against-vote-monitoring-group-131143894.html

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The relationship between prenatal stress and obesity is confirmed in rats

Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Press Office
info@agenciasinc.es
34-914-251-820
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

Stress during gestation causes a predisposition to the development of pathologies in adulthood

The intrauterine environment plays an important role in the health of the offspring. Now, experts from the University of Navarra affirm that the mother's stress, due to socio-economic or psycho-social causes, is associated with the development of pathologies related with obesity.

"The growing prevalence of obesity cannot be solely attributed to genetic factors or poor nutrition, but also to lifestyle and adverse environmental factors," as explained to SINC by Javier Campin, lead researcher of this new study. "The said environmental factors could have a bearing on epigenetic mechanisms, which are responsible for the control of genes beyond the genetic code itself".

For the authors, the fast pace which characterizes society produces an increase in stress rates within the population, and this rise, in parallel with the rates of obesity, makes an analysis of the interaction necessary between these two factors which do not only affect adult age groups.

The objective of the work, which was published in the magazine 'Stress', was to determine the effect on adult rats of moderate chronic stress during the final week's embryonic development on the phenotypical, biochemical and hormonal changes.

To do this the researchers studied two groups of rats, with and without stress, and examined in the offspring any alterations in the expression of genes related with obesity and the metabolism of glucocorticoids in the white adipose tissue.

"The general conclusion we obtained was that an adverse situation during intrauterine development could lead to animals, due to the ingestion of a hyper-calorific diet, experiencing a greater increase in body fat and biochemical, hormonal and genetic alterations," underlined Campin.

In addition the authors insisted that these changes at adult age induced by the ingestion of a diet rich in fat and sugars provoked obesity and other associated conditions, such as insulin resistance, the result of which is the development of type-2 diabetes.

Pregnancy in the 21st Century

"These days many women continue with their hectic lives during pregnancy almost up to the birth, without noticing the stress they may be under," the researcher indicated.

The experts allege that stress, which during the normal life of a woman may not affect health, could be altering the development of the baby and leading to a predisposition towards the development of pathologies during adulthood, possibly due to epigenetic modification. Every year, problems relating to obesity are responsible for over 2.8 million deaths throughout the world.

"A healthy life during the pregnancy does not only consist of a good diet, with a good provision of vitamins and minerals, but also in living a quiet life, without stress," Campin concluded.

###

References:

L. Paternain, A.L. de la garza, M.A. Batlle, F.I. Milagro, J.A. Martnez & J. Campin. "Prenatal stress increases the obesogenic effects of a high-fat-sucrose diet in adult rats in a sex-specific manner". Stress, 16(2): 220232, marzo de 2013.

Paternain L, Batlle MA, De la Garza AL, Milagro FI, Martnez JA, Campin J. "Transcriptomic and epigenetic changes in the hypothalamus are involved in an increased susceptibility to a high-fat-sucrose diet in prenatally stressed female rats". Neuroendocrinology. 2012; 96(3):249-60.

Contact:

Javier Campin
Dpto. Ciencias de la Alimentacin y Fisiologa
Universidad de Navarra
Tel: +34 948 425600 Ext. 6554
E-mail: jcampion@unav.es
CIBER Fisiopatologa de la Obesidad y Nutricin (CIBEROBN)

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Press Office
info@agenciasinc.es
34-914-251-820
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

Stress during gestation causes a predisposition to the development of pathologies in adulthood

The intrauterine environment plays an important role in the health of the offspring. Now, experts from the University of Navarra affirm that the mother's stress, due to socio-economic or psycho-social causes, is associated with the development of pathologies related with obesity.

"The growing prevalence of obesity cannot be solely attributed to genetic factors or poor nutrition, but also to lifestyle and adverse environmental factors," as explained to SINC by Javier Campin, lead researcher of this new study. "The said environmental factors could have a bearing on epigenetic mechanisms, which are responsible for the control of genes beyond the genetic code itself".

For the authors, the fast pace which characterizes society produces an increase in stress rates within the population, and this rise, in parallel with the rates of obesity, makes an analysis of the interaction necessary between these two factors which do not only affect adult age groups.

The objective of the work, which was published in the magazine 'Stress', was to determine the effect on adult rats of moderate chronic stress during the final week's embryonic development on the phenotypical, biochemical and hormonal changes.

To do this the researchers studied two groups of rats, with and without stress, and examined in the offspring any alterations in the expression of genes related with obesity and the metabolism of glucocorticoids in the white adipose tissue.

"The general conclusion we obtained was that an adverse situation during intrauterine development could lead to animals, due to the ingestion of a hyper-calorific diet, experiencing a greater increase in body fat and biochemical, hormonal and genetic alterations," underlined Campin.

In addition the authors insisted that these changes at adult age induced by the ingestion of a diet rich in fat and sugars provoked obesity and other associated conditions, such as insulin resistance, the result of which is the development of type-2 diabetes.

Pregnancy in the 21st Century

"These days many women continue with their hectic lives during pregnancy almost up to the birth, without noticing the stress they may be under," the researcher indicated.

The experts allege that stress, which during the normal life of a woman may not affect health, could be altering the development of the baby and leading to a predisposition towards the development of pathologies during adulthood, possibly due to epigenetic modification. Every year, problems relating to obesity are responsible for over 2.8 million deaths throughout the world.

"A healthy life during the pregnancy does not only consist of a good diet, with a good provision of vitamins and minerals, but also in living a quiet life, without stress," Campin concluded.

###

References:

L. Paternain, A.L. de la garza, M.A. Batlle, F.I. Milagro, J.A. Martnez & J. Campin. "Prenatal stress increases the obesogenic effects of a high-fat-sucrose diet in adult rats in a sex-specific manner". Stress, 16(2): 220232, marzo de 2013.

Paternain L, Batlle MA, De la Garza AL, Milagro FI, Martnez JA, Campin J. "Transcriptomic and epigenetic changes in the hypothalamus are involved in an increased susceptibility to a high-fat-sucrose diet in prenatally stressed female rats". Neuroendocrinology. 2012; 96(3):249-60.

Contact:

Javier Campin
Dpto. Ciencias de la Alimentacin y Fisiologa
Universidad de Navarra
Tel: +34 948 425600 Ext. 6554
E-mail: jcampion@unav.es
CIBER Fisiopatologa de la Obesidad y Nutricin (CIBEROBN)

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/f-sf-trb040913.php

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Obama Takes Gun Control Push to Ct. (ABC News)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/297455133?client_source=feed&format=rss

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'This Is The End' Starts Sneak Peek Week: Tune In Tonight!

Seth Rogen and friends will air exclusive clip from post-apocalyptic comedy on MTV at 11 p.m. ET with interview following on MTV.com
By Brett White

"This Is The End"
Photo: Sony Pictures

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1705130/this-is-the-end-sneak-peek-week.jhtml

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Bare-breasted Tunisian feminist fears for her life

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) ? A 19-year-old Tunisian who bared her breasts and taunted Muslim hard-liners said this weekend that she now fears for her life and wants to take refuge abroad.

The woman known only as Amina appeared in photos on Facebook last month with the words "My body belongs to me" scrawled on her bare chest, a particularly bold act in a Muslim country led by a moderate Islamist party, Ennahda.

Amina's act was inspired by the Ukraine-based group Femen, which stages bare-breasted protests for women's and gay rights. The group held an International Topless Jihad day last Thursday in support of Muslim women, including Amina.

Amina went into hiding after reportedly receiving death threats, prompting wild rumors over her whereabouts, including that she had been interned in a psychiatric hospital. But she reappeared in an interview broadcast Saturday with the French cable TV station Canal Plus in a village hours from the Tunisian capital where she's been hiding.

She told Canal Plus that she "must leave Tunisia."

"I'm afraid for my life and the lives of my family," she said, adding that she doesn't think it possible to return to school in Tunisia and wants to study journalism abroad.

Amina made an earlier TV appearance with a private Tunisian channel, in mid-March, her face blurred. She insisted her action had not aimed to provoke. "We Femen, we have the courage to cry out our demands to liberate women," she said at the time.

Amina told Canal Plus that though she fears for her life in her homeland, she will keep her Femen principles "until I'm 80."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bare-breasted-tunisian-feminist-fears-her-life-140417582.html

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Navy to unveil new laser weapon

No longer the fantasy weapon of tomorrow, the U.S. Navy is set to field a powerful laser that can protect its ships by blasting targets with high-intensity light beams.

Early next year the Navy will place a laser weapon aboard a ship in the Persian Gulf where it could be used to fend off approaching unmanned aerial vehicles or speedboats.

The Navy calls its futuristic weapon LAWS, which stands for the Laser Weapon System. What looks like a small telescope is actually a weapon that can track a moving target and fire a steady laser beam strong enough to burn a hole through steel.

A Navy video of testing conducted last summer off the coast of California shows how a laser beam fired from a Navy destroyer was able to set aflame an approaching UAV or drone, sending it crashing into the ocean.

"There was not a single miss" during the testing, said Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, chief of Naval Research. The laser was three for three in bringing down an approaching unmanned aerial vehicle and 12 for 12 when previous tests are factored in.

But don't expect in that video to see the firing of colored laser bursts that Hollywood has used for its futuristic laser guns. The Navy's laser ray is not visible to the naked eye because it is in the infrared spectrum.

Many of the details about how the laser works remain secret, such as how far its beam can travel, how powerful it is or how much power is used to generate it.

But Navy officials have provided a few unclassified details. For example, the laser is designed to be a "plug and play" system that integrates into a ship's existing targeting technologies and power grids. Those factors make it a surprisingly cheap weapon.

Klunder says each pulse of energy from the laser "costs under a dollar" and it can be used against weapons systems that are significantly more expensive. The Navy says it has spent about $40 million over the past six years in developing the weapon.

Rear Admiral Thomas Eccles, Navy Sea Systems Command, says the beam can be turned on instantly and that ultimately "the generation of power is essentially your magazine. It's the clip we have" instead of bullets. "We deliver precision with essentially an endless supply of rounds."

Some new technological fixes, what Klunder calls "a secret sauce," have been developed to improve the degrading of lasers over distance as well as maintaining a lock on a target from a moving ship.

The strength of the beam is flexible enough that at a lower intensity level it can be used to warn approaching ships and UAV's not to get too close to a Navy ship. Instead of using machine guns to fire non-lethal warning shots as Navy ships do now, the laser can be aimed to "dazzle" the viewing sensors aboard the craft. That light effect warns the pilot of a small water craft or at the controls of a UAV that they are being targeted by a laser and to turn away. If they don't, the laser's power can be boosted to destroy the approaching craft.

Based on earlier testing the Navy is confident the laser is ready for real-world testing aboard the USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf. The ship was selected because of its mission to be an enduring presence in the Gulf to counter Iranian maritime threats in the region. Coincidentally Iran uses small fast boats to harass American warships in the waters of the Persian Gulf.

How might Iran feel about the new weapon? "Frankly I hope it sends a message to some of our potentially threatening adversaries out there to know that we mean business," said Klunder. "This is a system where if you try to harm our vessels that I hope you will take a very, very serious moment of pause to think about that before you do it because this system will destroy your vessel or will destroy your UAV."

The Navy wants the ship's crew to use the same techniques and methods they use with their other defensive weapons systems.

While for now the laser will be used primarily against slow-moving UAV's and fast boats cruising at speeds of 50 knots, the Navy sees the system's capabilities expanding over time to target faster weapons.

"There's absolutely every intention that with the development of this system and follow-on upgraded systems we will eventually be able to take higher speeds in-bound," said Klunder.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/navys-laser-weapon-blasts-bad-215808231.html

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Tumblr Overhauls Its Android App With Path-Like Interface, Brings ?Take A Photo? Back To The Desktop

Today, Tumblr launched a new version of its?Android app. Its interface is the design you’re seeing in many apps lately, mostly made popular by Path. Yes, Tumblr has gone Holo with its UI. That aside, the app feels way more responsive, letting you scroll through all of the cat photos and emo shots of your pals. Its pull-down-to-refresh even got a snazzier animation. The brief note from the Tumblr Staff blog came along with an animation of the new navigation…animations: Tumblr for Android just got a total facelift! We?ve completely redesigned the interface, added fancy post animations, made images pop, and a whole lot more. Download the update today. Tumblr has also made it so that photos pop out in your stream more, so as to increase interaction within the app. This is something that Facebook recently announced it’s doing with its own News Feed: It’s interesting that Tumblr attacked the Android app first, as its iOS version still has this boring old interface: Stay tuned for the iOS version, though, since its latest major overhaul was back in November. There’s only one problem with the new interface, though. You can’t post from any page you’re on. I’d like to see the animated “post” button follow me no matter where I am on the site. Right now, you have to go back to your stream to post something. Since it’s not all about mobile, for those who like to take “selfies,” (who doesn’t?) the company has brought back the “take a photo” functionality to the desktop site. If you just want to show all of your followers exactly how you feel right now, you can just shoot a shot and post it to your stream like this: Sadly, that feature only works on Chrome and the latest versions of Firefox. Sorry, Safari and IE users, no selfies for you. Happy Tumblr-ing. [Photo credit: Flickr]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/R1qhRPKSHNc/

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A Reporter Explains Why Gun Coverage Is So Biased (Powerlineblog)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/297215129?client_source=feed&format=rss

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