again prion: June 2013

Saturday, June 29, 2013

EarthTalk?: Should Pet Owners Keep Their Cats Indoors? | njtoday ...

E - The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: I understand that pet cats prey on lots of birds and other ?neighborhood? wildlife, but isn?t it cruel to force felines to live indoors only? And isn?t human encroachment the real issue for bird populations, not a few opportunistic cats? ? Jason Braunstein, Laos, NM

While it is true that habitat loss as a result of human encroachment is a primary threat to birds and wildlife of all kinds, outdoor cats are no doubt exacerbating the loss of biodiversity as their numbers swell and they carry on their instinctual business of hunting.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute?s Peter Marra estimates that outdoor cats in the United States, counting both pets and feral animals, kill up to 3.7 billion birds each year?along with up to 20 billion other small mammals. Researchers estimate that roughly 114 million cats live in the contiguous U.S., 84 million of them pets and the rest feral?and that as many as 70 percent of pet cats spend some time roaming outside and hunting.

?Cats are a nonnative species,? reminds Marra, adding that they often target native species and can transform places that would normally harbor many young birds into ?sinks that drain birds from neighboring populations.? As a result of this ongoing predation, many environmentalists and animal lovers think cats should stay inside. ?The big message is responsible pet ownership,? Marra says. He acknowledges that feral cats may be the bigger problem, but pet cats still catch as many as two billion wild animals a year.

The non-profit American Humane Association reports that there are several ways to keep indoor cats happy even though they are restricted from chasing and hunting wildlife. Getting Fluffy a companion (another cat or even a dog) is a good way to provide an outlet for play. Likewise, interactive toys, scratching posts, cat perches and other amenities?check with any well-stocked local pet store?can make the indoor environment a stimulating yet safe one for housebound cats and should serve to prevent stir-crazy behavior.

Meanwhile, another non-profit, the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), adds another reason why cat owners might want to think about restricting their pet?s territory to inside: Research shows that indoor cats live significantly longer lives than their free-roaming counterparts. ?Life for outdoor cats is risky,? reports the group. ?They can get hit by cars; attacked by dogs, other cats, coyotes or wildlife; contract fatal diseases, such as rabies, feline distemper, or feline immunodeficiency virus; get lost, stolen, or poisoned; or suffer during severe weather conditions.?

But the fact that feral cat populations have gotten so large in recent years makes the problem that much more vexing. Researchers concede that efforts to catch and either neuter or euthanize feral cats have proven ineffective given their booming populations, leaving cat owners wondering whether jeopardizing Fluffy?s mental health for the sake of saving a few birds is really even worthwhile.

CONTACTS: Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/; American Humane Association, www.americanhumane.org; American Bird Conservancy, www.abcbirds.org.

EarthTalk? is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E ? The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

Source: http://njtoday.net/2013/06/29/earthtalk-should-pet-owners-keep-their-cats-indoors/

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No sign of BlackBerry turnaround in results, shares drop

By Euan Rocha and Alastair Sharp

TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry offered few signs of a long-promised turnaround on Friday, with an unexpected quarterly operating loss, a dearth of details on sales of its make-or-break new line of devices and no return to profit expected in the current quarter.

BlackBerry shares tumbled about 28 percent in both U.S. and Toronto trading.

The Canadian smartphone maker, which has struggled to compete against Apple Inc's iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy phones and other devices powered by Google's Android operating system, said smartphone sales were up 13 percent from the previous quarter, a period when buyers waited for the BB10 phones to hit the market.

But deliveries are down from a year ago as sales of its older line of BlackBerry devices taper off.

"We haven't received the BlackBerry 10 unit numbers yet, but certainly it doesn't bode well for the initial BlackBerry 10 launch, particularly the Z10. But even the outlook for a Q2 loss doesn't bode well for the Q10 either," said Brian Colello, an analyst with Morningstar.

BlackBerry launched two all-new smartphones this year, the touch screen Z10 device, followed by the Q10, which includes the mini keyboard many BlackBerry users still covet.

It has also launched the Q5, a lower-end keyboard device targeted at emerging markets, and plans to unveil one more cheaper phone running on its old BlackBerry 7 platform later this year, hoping to stave off market share losses in price- sensitive emerging markets flooded with cheap Android devices.

BlackBerry invented the concept of on-the-go email with clunky little devices with a mini keyboard. It offered levels of security that made the devices attractive to the business, government and legal clients, but they are now moving to other devices and leaving BlackBerry chasing both a high-end and a low-end market.

"They're not the high-end provider anymore, they're not Apple, they're not the low-end provider, they're not Nokia, so they are in the middle and they do relatively low volumes," said Daniel Ernst, of Hudson Square Research in New York.

"It's difficult to make great margins on that kind of volume, so I would say the outlook is quite negative then."

Excluding one-time items such as the cost of job cuts, BlackBerry reported a loss from continuing operations of $67 million, or 13 cents a share, on revenue of $3.1 billion.

Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 6 cents a share, on revenue of $3.36 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S Estimates.

Earnings were also reduced about 10 cents a share due to Venezuelan currency restrictions.

FORECAST OF CURRENT-QUARTER LOSS

The company forecast an operating loss in the current quarter. Chief Executive Thorsten Heins cited the need for increased investment in a competitive environment.

The company has been consumed over the last year with developing the new phones and making sure they work, and the devices were not ready for the all-important holiday season at the end of last year.

The Z10 only hit store shelves in the crucial U.S. market in late March, while the Q10 device only reached the United States after the end of BlackBerry's fiscal first quarter.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said it shipped 6.8 million smartphones in the quarter. On a conference call it said 40 percent of them, or 2.72 million devices, were BlackBerry 10 devices. Analysts looked for shipments of about 3 million of the new phones.

It reported a net loss of $84 million, or 16 cents a share, in the fiscal first quarter ended June 1. That compared with a year-earlier loss of $518 million, or 99 cents a share.

BlackBerry did not provide a detailed outlook for the rest of the year, saying the smartphone market remained highly competitive, making it difficult to estimate units, revenue and levels of profitability. It also said it would not supply subscriber numbers due to changes in its revenue model.

(Writing by Janet Guttsman; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackberry-reports-quarterly-loss-shares-plunge-111328915.html

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Friday, June 28, 2013

Reader recommendations: One Man Great Enough

Monitor readers share their favorite book picks.

By Martha Barkley, Belgrade Lakes, Me. / June 27, 2013

What a joy to find One Man Great Enough by journalist John C. Waugh, a very readable history about Lincoln's road to the Civil War. Reading this book I found out about Albion, Me., martyr Elijah Parish Lovejoy who died in Illinois due to his abolitionist press. I also learned about Vermont legislator Dan Stone who, early on, cowrote with Lincoln early on resolutions opposing slavery. There is so much readable, interesting history in this scholarly book about Lincoln.

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In Egypt, skepticism over religion in politics

CAIRO (AP) ? In a tiny mosque in southern Egypt, the cleric railed in his sermon against opponents of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, comparing them to "the Devil, who rebelled against God and was kicked out of heaven." Among the Muslim worshippers, a 42-year-old civil servant had enough.

Recounting the incident, Nasser Ahmed said he stood up and chanted, "Down with the rule of the Guide," referring to the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, the conservative political powerhouse from which Morsi hails. Other worshippers in the el-Lawa Mosque joined the chanting. Some became so angry they rushed the cleric and tried to beat him up, Ahmed told The Associated Press.

The outburst during the Friday sermon earlier this month in the Luxor province village of Bouairat hasn't been the only case of the faithful lashing out at preachers who stray into politics. It was part of growing signs that, after a year of Morsi's presidency and two years of growing Islamist political power in general, religiosity is not the political selling point it once was among Egyptians.

Increasingly, Egyptians denounce "wrapping politics in the cloak of religion," even in rural areas seen as the heartland of the conservative, "piety" voter. Along with anger over Egypt's economic woes and discontent with Morsi's managing of the country, the disillusionment is a factor fueling support for massive protests to demand Morsi's removal, planned for Sunday.

Egyptians are hardly becoming less religious. But more are losing their belief that someone who touts his religiosity is necessarily a trustworthy, clean and effective politician. Even one ultraconservative party, al-Nour, is shifting its stance in response to the new cynicism.

Though not universal, the shift has been fast. In the series of elections since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in early 2011, it was a common refrain from voters that Islamists' piety means they will not be corrupt and will work for the good of the people. That helped boost the Muslim Brotherhood and the more ultraconservative movement known as Salafis to win every vote.

Over years under Mubarak, the conservative Muslims' beard and "zabiba" ? a mark on the forehead from prostration in prayer ? came to be seen as signs of a good man. Mubarak oppressed some Islamist groups, giving them the allure of being victims of a corrupt system. Non-political Islamists, who were spared in crackdowns, set up networks helping the poor and filling the vacuum amid Mubarak's neglect of social services.

Now those disillusioned with politicizing religion point to what they call Morsi's failures ? fuel shortages, rising prices, continual instability. But they also say they have been turned off by seeing clerics taking political sides on TV, in mosques and at political rallies. Others are alienated by rhetoric on Salafi TV channels they see as dividing Egyptians into good or bad Muslims ? or branding opponents as "kuffar," or infidels.

They point to lslamists in parliament and in executive posts, many in religious trappings like beards and robes, engaging in the same unseemliness all politicians do: Internal fights, violent rhetoric, planting loyalists in positions, and even the occasional sex scandal.

"The image has been greatly disturbed," said Mohammed Habib, who was once the deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood but split and has become a sharp critic. "The people will not make the same choices as before." He said the group's leadership has hurt itself by being "narrow-minded" and showing "lack of vision."

Kamal Habib, a researcher in Islamic movements, said that "politicizing religion has led people to doubt the channels they long trusted and even viewed as sacred."

A spokesman for the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party argued that religiosity was not why people voted for Morsi. Rather it was because Morsi belonged to a group ? the Brotherhood ? that has a foot in every village and town and has always been close to the people, said Abdel-Mawgoud Dardery.

He blamed private media and Mubarak loyalists for misrepresenting Morsi. Media "tarnished the image of President Morsi, he said, while old regime elements "have been trying to sabotage the economic process of the country."

Indeed, religion was not the Brotherhood's only or even strongest selling point in legislative elections it dominated in late 2011-early 2012 or in Morsi's win. The group boasts Egypt's most powerful organizational network, with cadres to campaign for it nationwide, and a history of charities that helped the poor. That means it would likely still perform strongly in any election in the near-term.

Still, Brotherhood officials often lean on religious rhetoric, talking of the need to defend the "Islamist project" to rally hard-liners behind Morsi. The president, who frequently says he is the leader of all Egyptians, is less direct but laces his speeches with Quranic references. Nine months into his administration, a book by a supporter listed among Morsi's accomplishments that he was the first Egyptian president with a beard, the first to allow a state TV presenter to wear a conservative headscarf and the first to hold prayers every Friday in a mosque.

In two post-Mubarak referendums, including December's which passed the new constitution, Salafi clerics and other hard-liners campaigned for a "yes" vote in each by saying, in one form another, God wanted it.

Such rhetoric seems to have diminishing appeal.

Khadiga Gad el-Mawla, a housewife in the southern city of Deir Mawass in the Islamist stronghold Minya province, says she is no longer a fan of two of the most popular Salafi sheiks, Mohammed Hassan and Mohammed Hussein Yaacoub, who have large followings in mosques and on TV.

"I used to listen when they talked to us about obeying God and the way to heaven," she told AP. "The clerics told us to elect Morsi because he is God's choice. ... But they cheated us."

"The more they say something and do the opposite, the more I get shocked," she said.

Ali Assel, a cleric in the southern city of Nassariya, said he was dismayed by Islamists' battles with the judiciary and the media. Last year, Islamist protesters besieged the Supreme Constitutional Court, preventing judges from ruling on disbanding the interim parliament and the body writing the constitution. Other Islamists barricaded Media City, a complex near Cairo that houses TV stations, angry over "the liberal media."

"Politics corrupted religion," Assel said, adding he was shocked to see the Brotherhood "serving their own agenda and battling to topple down state institutions."

There are few polls in Egypt, so getting a broad picture is difficult. A poll released this week by the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research, or Basserah, found Morsi's approval rating at 32 percent, compared to 78 percent after his first 100 days in office. The group polled 6,179 Egyptians across the country, with a margin of error of less than 1 percent. It did not ask questions about attitudes on religion.

Among the first blows to religious prestige came with a sex scandal soon after parliament was seated, when a Salafi lawmaker was caught in a compromising position in a car with a woman wearing the "niqab," the black robes and veil that leave only the eyes exposed. Another Salafi who said his facial bruises came from being attacked by enemies was discovered to have gotten a nose job.

Another factor: comedian Bassem Youssef, who has a weekly program in the style of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. Youssef frequently plays footage of Islamists' TV appearance to show contradictions and mock their rhetoric ? so pointedly that he was investigated by police for insulting religion.

Youssef is often seen as an urban, liberal phenomenon. But with an audience of millions, plenty in rural and conservative areas watch him.

Youssef "exposes to the simple people the contradictions of the religious views and the triviality of the clerics," said Atef Ibrahim, 54, head of the chamber of commerce in the southern city of Assiut, who records Youssef's program to watch with his friends over the week.

Saad al-Azhari, a cleric who appears on a Salafi TV station, recognized Youssef's impact. But he said it will be "short-lived."

"Frankly speaking, the Islamist current is losing popularity," he said. "But this is the case for all movements" in Egypt.

He said Islamists' shortcomings have been because their powers are "incomplete" and "there is resistance from within state institutions."

In a telling sign of the diminished power of religious rhetoric, the Salafi al-Nour Party seems to be trying to a subtly different path. Once an ally of Morsi and the second biggest winner in the parliament elections, it has since distanced itself from the president. In a statement this week, it warned against dividing the country into Islamic and non-Islamic camps.

"The party rejects identifying those who oppose the ruing regime as against Islam or the Islamic project," the statement said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-skepticism-over-religion-politics-204121626.html

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Voices: Experts & Analysts Weigh in on Obama's Climate Change Plan

President Barack Obama announced a sweeping plan to tackle climate change today (June 25), outlining measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote the development of clean energy technologies.

The new strategy, which was revealed before an audience at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., identifies three key objectives: cut the amount of carbon pollution in the United States, prepare the country for the effects of a warming planet and lead global efforts to combat climate change.

The measures "should send a strong signal to the world that America intends to take bold action to reduce carbon pollution," Obama said in his address. [8 Ways Global Warming Is Already Changing the World]

LiveScience asked several experts, analysts and industry members about their thoughts on the president's new climate change plan. Here are their responses and official statements:

Christine McEntee, executive director and CEO of the American Geophysical Union

"We are pleased to see that President Obama?s commitment to addressing the growing impacts of climate change is coming to fruition. When it comes to climate change, its causes and its impacts, the science is clear and the scientific community is in agreement. We cannot continue to delay action. The costs are too high.

Addressing this critical challenge requires a global commitment from all stakeholders, including the business community, the energy industry, and national, regional, and local governments, and a willingness to embrace both mitigation and adaptation strategies. Difficult decisions will have to be made at all levels. However, we know that those decisions have the potential to open up new avenues for economic growth and development?both now and in the future.

The scientific community, including AGU and its members, are committed to providing the scientific facts that will enable well informed decision-making for addressing the growing challenge of climate change. We look forward to working with all stakeholders to begin building a foundation for a more sustainable future."

Bill Snape, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity

"We?re happy to see the president finally addressing climate change, but the plain truth is that what he?s proposing isn't big enough, and doesn?t move fast enough, to match the terrifying magnitude of the climate crisis. [Natural Disasters: Top 10 U.S. Threats]

The president, like all of us, needs to be able to look across the dinner table at his children and know he?s doing all he can to ensure they inherit a planet that?s healthy and livable. This plan is a small step in the right direction, but certainly begs for something bigger and bolder."

Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member

"The president is absolutely right to act now. We have a moral imperative to protect the environment for our children and future generations. We are at a crossroads. Every year we delay, the impacts will worsen and the costs will rise. But if we act now, we can lead the world in developing the clean energy technologies of the future."

Lou Leonard, U.S. Vice President for Climate Change at the World Wildlife Fund

"Recognizing that the U.S. needs to meet its international commitments and strongly support robust international action is also crucial as the world works to forge a new global climate pact by 2015.?

What we need next is a strategy that identifies our destination and how fast we will move to get there.? We have the technology and the business case to meet science-based climate goals by the end of this decade, get off dirty fuels and move to 100 percent renewable energy today.?As President Obama fills in the details of his plan, the best science should serve as his compass if we are to find the way to safer shores." [Top 10 Emerging Environmental Technologies]

Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association

"This is a watershed moment in our nation?s history. Today, climate change is a real and growing threat to America and the rest of the world. It?s indisputable. Climate change threatens our economy, our future progress, our health and safety and even our way of life. Every day, the Earth suffers a little more from human neglect. We can?t wish this problem away, and pointing fingers won?t solve it, either.

This is our moment in time. America?s solar energy industry stands ready to do our part to help fight climate change and usher in a new era of clean energy in America and around the world. Despite what some critics say, this isn?t a choice between clean energy and a robust economy. We can have both, and solar is showing how to make that possible."

Mark Tercek, president and CEO of the Nature Conservancy

"There are simply some effects of climate change that, sadly, we are already seeing today, such as sea level rise and more severe and erratic weather patterns that result in increased storms, heat waves, floods and droughts. We need to adapt to make our farms, forests and coasts more resilient. Whenever and wherever possible, we should invest in natural defenses such as the protection of natural floodplains, healthy forests and the restoration of coastal features like oyster reefs, marshes, sand dunes and wetlands that help reduce risks by acting as buffers to waves and higher tides. These natural defenses are often more durable and cost-effective than traditional infrastructure, and is a smart investment that will save government money in the long run.

We recommend some important next steps in the challenge to deal with climate change, such as putting a price on carbon; conserving forests and keeping the carbon they store out of the atmosphere by reducing deforestation; investing in research and development that can lead to discoveries applicable in other countries like China and India; and coping with the impacts of climate change by promoting the use of natural defenses."

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

"Science tells us that climate change is real and it is among the biggest global threats facing us today. It is not only an environmental issue ? it is a public health issue, an economic issue, a national security issue. I applaud President Obama?s decisive action on this critical challenge.

Clean air is good for the economy, as we have seen in Maryland, where our strong clean air rules have resulted in job creation and economic growth. Investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency will not only result in cleaner, healthier communities, it will also create jobs and a more resilient economy. We know the results of inaction: deadlier storms, rising sea levels, and crippling droughts and wildfires, with taxpayers shouldering the skyrocketing costs of disaster recovery. As a nation, we must act now to avert the worst effects of climate change."

David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society

"It's high time for bold action on climate pollution. In fact, we're making up for lost time. The good news is this isn't a blue, red or purple state issue. It's a core value, particularly for young people, and it's a promise to our kids and their future. If we take advantage of this moment, it's a chance for America to come out of the climate closet and to lead the way America is supposed to do. Whether you're talking about birds, wildlife or people, this is the most significant threat we all face, and addressing it is the most important thing we can do."

Ned Helme, president of the Center for Clean Air Policy

"Targeting greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants is a game changer that shows the United States is serious about addressing climate change. But it is important that EPA be flexible about how utilities can comply. Combined heat and power technologies that produce electricity along with useful heat are promising and should be encouraged by the regulations. Another hopeful direction is increased reliance on abundant natural gas. By recommending a flexible approach, EPA's rules can reduce carbon pollution cost effectively and produce jobs that revitalize America's manufacturing sector. In fact, states in the industrial Midwest stand to benefit greatly despite what critics are saying. President Obama's announcement should be seized upon by the states as an opportunity to increase economic growth, not stifle it."

Bob Irvin, president of American Rivers

"Fighting climate change is not only our moral responsibility to our children and grandchildren, it is an opportunity to harness our country?s unique strengths to create a stronger economy, healthier environment, and a better world. President Obama is taking action because Congress has failed to do so. We applaud President Obama for his leadership on climate change and for outlining a bold vision to put our country on a better path to the future.

The president?s commitment to cut carbon pollution, help communities deal with the increasingly apparent impacts of climate change, and to position America as the global leader in clean energy technology will have a positive impact on America?s rivers and the people who depend upon them.? All of us at American Rivers look forward to working with the Obama Administration to implement the president?s vision outlined today."

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)

"For too long, the barricade of special interests in Washington has stopped Congress from acting against carbon pollution. President Obama knows that we can?t wait to address this issue. We?re already paying the costs of climate change. Our oceans are warmer, more acidic, and rising; our seasons are shifting; and the dice are loaded for more frequent and more severe extreme weather events. I applaud President Obama for taking action today to protect the planet for future generations."

Alden Meyer, strategy and policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists

"President Obama has a little more than three years to cement a lasting legacy on climate change, and he'll need every last second. Americans are already dealing with worse droughts, wildfires and coastal floods, and the practical realities of climate change are forcing political leaders to make this a priority.

The president is absolutely right to emphasize preparedness. Mayors and governors are becoming climate change first responders and they need all the help they can get. The federal government needs to more effectively deliver the scientific information and planning support that communities need to cope with a changing climate.

Of course, we need to do more than help our communities prepare for climate change. We need to address its cause."

Follow Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/voices-experts-analysts-weigh-obamas-climate-change-plan-124418265.html

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HTC One launches in 'glamor red', arrives in the UK next month

Flush from launching in the US in a Google-heavy iteration, HTC is reward its UK fans, finally launching its One smartphone in a sultry 'glamour red' option. It'll arrive at retailer Phones 4U in mid-July, although there's no specifics yet on storage (16 or 32GB?), or whether there will be any price difference between the new colorful hue and existing silver and black options.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/w2639o8FyaI/

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WearIT brings its prototype smart watch to CE Week, we go eyes-on

It'd be hard to go hands-on with the WearIT smart watch given that it's still very much a prototype and its touchscreen is ... well, it's not enabled yet. But we did get a chance to put our hands to the device and snap a gaggle of pictures, highlighting its 1.54-inch capacitive touchscreen and trio of buttons (each of which will correspond to specific applications, we're told). The concept with WearIT's watch is that it's a standalone device -- "We're getting closer to Dick Tracy every day," a company rep told us. While the device isn't quite up to Tracy's standards (no phone functionality, for instance), it assuredly packs more power than the aging detective's wrist gadget.

A Cortex A8 600 MHz CPU and 256MB of RAM are at the heart of the smart watch, backed up by a 550 mAh lithium ion rechargeable battery. 4GB of storage is embedded inside, along with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth / Bluetooth LE, ANT+, and a USB 2.0 port (when using the charging clip, included with the watch). Oh, and it runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, though it's pared down considerably for the screen size. We'll have a much closer look at WearIT's smart watch later this year -- the device is expected to arrive in the US starting in November and will retail for $400.

Gallery: WearIT Smart Watch

Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables, Software

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/oPgSexTK7yg/

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Court Rulings on Gay Marriage and Voting Rights Test GOP Makeover

House Speaker John Boehner spent at least $2.3 million to defend the federal law banning same-sex marriage -- a cause dear to the Republican base -- but you couldn't tell from his muted reaction when the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down.

?While I am obviously disappointed in the ruling, it is always critical that we protect our system of checks and balances,? Boehner said Wednesday in a statement. The day before, he didn?t respond at all to the court?s blow to the Voting Rights Act, even though the decision could protect the Republican majority in Congress for years to come.

Boehner?s cautious positioning reflects the squeeze both court rulings put on a Republican Party torn between its traditional values and a desire to modernize and expand before the 2014 and 2016 elections. Crusading against gay marriage, a timeworn Republican strategy to rally social conservatives, is out of step with polls that show increasing support for gay marriage, particularly among young voters. ?The court also put congressional Republicans on the spot by demanding a rewrite of the landmark law protecting minority voting rights, setting up potentially awkward battles with African-American and Hispanic leaders that would reprise the rallying cry in those communities last year over voter ID laws.

?The politics on these issues are changing, and it?s smart to be careful,? said Republican consultant John Feehery, a former adviser to House leadership. ?Years ago, gay marriage was something that you were able to rile the base with and it became part of an electoral strategy, but opinion seems to be evolving pretty quickly. The Voting Rights Act is also a combustible issue, and there are risks for getting involved.?

That?s exactly why the Democratic Party is flogging both court rulings. Rep. Steve Israel of New York, who leads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Wednesday that the gay marriage ruling ?shows how extreme and intolerance House Republicans really are.? Democratic gubernatorial candidates from Barbara Buono in New Jersey to Terry McAuliffe in Virginia also picked fights with their Republican opponents over the court rulings. Gov. ?Chris Christie is still blocking marriage equality. He is trying to be more conservative than Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and the rest of the Tea Party,? Buono?s daughter said in a fundraising appeal. Similar requests from Democratic candidates and groups are coming rapid fire this week, calling for checks to fund historic battles for marriage equality and voting rights.

Coupled with ongoing debates over immigration and abortion, the court rulings mark a return to the culture wars that could hamstring Republican outreach to women, young voters and minorities in the wake of the 2012 election. Recent skirmishes include a House vote banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, another House vote rejecting President Obama?s policy to halt deportations of illegal immigrants brought here as children, and this week, an explosive filibuster of a bill backed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas to regulate abortion clinics. Democratic attacks portray these efforts to block immigration reform or limit abortion as proof of the GOP?s hostility toward minorities and ?war on women.?

Many Republicans are eager for the national debate to return to President Obama?s spending and health care law -- which fueled historic GOP gains in 2010 -- and away from issues that pit the party against demographic tides and public opinion.

?At some point our party has got to come to grip with fact that the world is moving on and being bound by old theories and traditions is not healthy for the future of the party or their candidates,? said Republican strategist Rich Galen, who was among dozens of prominent members of his party who signed a pro-gay marriage legal brief. ??If young people see the masters in Washington use the issue to gin up the conservative right, they may just roll their eyes. I think this is a good test for the Republican Party to see how it wants to be seen in the 21^st century.?

Withstanding pressure from the right wing of the party will be the first trial. Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, called Wednesday for federal legislation to reinstate a same-sex marriage ban. He noted that many of the more than 30 state bans have passed with healthy margins.

?Republicans shouldn?t be trying to disassociate themselves from marriage ? they should be hugging it tighter,? Reed said. ?It serves to engender greater intensity and enthusiasm at the grassroots level among faith-based activists and voters. I don?t think this is a hard call for the Republican Party.?

Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, a staunch conservative and Boehner nemesis, is ready to lead the charge for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. But the message from Boehner and other Republican leaders on Wednesday was clear: leave the issue to the states. ?The states will now decide this issue through the democratic process,? said Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 2012 vice presidential nominee.

That stance marks a dramatic shift from just six years ago, when former President George W. Bush pushed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Even Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential presidential contender who recently said he opposed laws banning anti-gay workplace discrimination, urged states to pick up the issue.

?I appreciate that many Americans? attitude towards same-sex marriage have changed in recent years,? he said in a statement. ?I respect the rights of states to allow same-sex marriages, even though I disagree with them. But I also expect that the decisions made by states like Florida to define marriage as between one man and one woman will also be respected.?

The measured reaction from Rubio and other prominent Republicans contrasted with the unabashed outrage expressed by Democrats to the voting rights decision. ?SCOTUS took a step backward on voting rights, on civil rights, & on justice for all,? House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote on Twitter. ?The decision is a cue for Congress to strengthen? the law. Democrats could benefit politically from taking on the issue: some of the most closely watched Senate race in 2014 are in Southern states where African-American turnout ? typically light in mid-term elections -- will be pivotal.

?The voter ID laws definitely made Republicans look bad, and if they refuse to do something on the Voting Rights Act, Democrats are going to use that to their advantage,? said Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, director of social policy and politics at Third Way, a non-partisan think tank.

In the Virginia governor?s race, Democratic nominee McAuliffe pounced this week on his opponent?s positions on voting rights and gay marriage. Ginning up turnout of the Democratic base is key for McAuliffe to beat Republican Ken Cuccinelli in an off-year election. "Unlike my opponent, I believe that,?while we have made progress, protections are still necessary to ensure that Virginians are allowed to exercise their right to vote without the risk of disenfranchisement,? McAuliffe said in a statement.?

The Voting Rights Act requires several states, mostly in the south, to get federal approval before changing electoral practices. Cuccinelli emphasized that ?every person?s vote counts? but added, ?I do not believe we have the institutional bigotry like we had before.? His senior advisor, Chris LaCivita warned that McAuliffe should tread carefully. ?Any attempt to use it in the context that implies race or that implies not everyone would have right to vote would be viewed as over the top, insulting to Virginians and will backfire,? he said.

This week has shown, however, the Democratic impulse to hammer Republicans over minority voting rights and gay marriage, is a powerful one.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-rulings-gay-marriage-voting-rights-test-gop-060027626.html

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Thursday, June 20, 2013

How Google hires people - Business Insider

Google likely sees more data than any company on the planet. And that obsession carries through to hiring and management, where every decision and practice is endlessly studied and analyzed.

In an interview with The New York Times' Adam Bryant, Google's Senior Vice President of People Operations Laszlo Bock explains that some of the biggest stalwarts of the hiring and recruiting world, the interview, GPA, and test scores, aren't nearly as important as people think.?

Google doesn't even ask for GPA or test scores from candidates anymore, unless someone's a year or two out of school, because they don't correlate at all with success at the company. Even for new grads, the correlation is slight, the company has found.

Bock?has an excellent explanation about why those metrics don't mean much.

"Academic environments are artificial environments. People who succeed there are sort of finely trained, they?re conditioned to succeed in that environment," he says.

While in school, people are trained to give specific answers, "it's much?more interesting to solve problems where there isn?t an obvious answer," Bock says. "You want people who like figuring out stuff where there is no obvious answer."

As for interviews, many managers, recruiters, and HR staffers think they have a special ability to sniff out talent. They're wrong.?

"Years ago, we did a study to determine whether anyone at?Google?is particularly good at hiring," Bock says. "We looked at tens of thousands of interviews, and everyone who had done the interviews and what they scored the candidate, and how that person ultimately performed in their job. We found zero relationship."

Google also used to be famous for posing impossibly difficult and punishing brain teasers?during interviews. Things like "If the probability of observing a car in 30 minutes on a highway is 0.95, what is the probability of observing a car in 10 minutes (assuming constant default probability)?"

Turns out those questions are"a?complete waste of time," according to Bock. "They don?t predict anything. They serve primarily to make the interviewer feel smart."

The only thing that works are behavioral interviews, Bock says, where there's a consistent set of questions that ask people what they did in specific situations.

Many of the assumptions and practices we have about hiring came about because we didn't have anything better. For decades, the?only (relatively) consistent data point among hires was GPA and test scores. It was an easy way to sort, and because that's the way it was always done, people stuck with it.

We can do better now. And though Google has something of a head start and a lot more data, more and more companies are catching on.?

The best thing about data? It's hard for people to contest. Even when people don't want to believe that they're underperforming, it's hard to dispute years worth of numbers. "For most people, just knowing that information causes them to change their conduct," ?Bock says.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-people-2013-6

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Obama: 'Lives have been saved' by NSA programs

BERLIN (AP) ? Trying to tamp down concerns about government over-reach, President Barack Obama on Wednesday defended U.S. Internet and phone surveillance programs as narrowly targeted efforts that have saved lives and thwarted at least 50 terror threats.

"This is not a situation in which we are rifling through ordinary emails" of huge numbers of citizens in the United States or elsewhere, the president declared during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He called it as a "circumscribed, narrow" surveillance program.

"Lives have been saved," Obama said, adding that the program has been closely supervised by the courts to ensure that any encroachment of privacy is strictly limited.

Merkel, for her part, said it was important to continue debate about how to strike "an equitable balance" between providing security and protecting personal freedoms.

"There has to be proportionality," she said. She added that their discussion on the matter Wednesday was "an important first step" over striking a balance.

Merkel appeared to be looking to avoid a public rift with Washington over the surveillance program, particularly since Germans benefit from U.S. intelligence. Much of the German criticism of the program has come from her junior coalition partners, facing the prospect of losses in the September election and looking for an issue.

The two leaders spoke to the media after meeting privately on a range of issues confronting U.S. and European leaders, including the fragile effort to bring peace in Afghanistan, where peace talks with the Taliban are in the offing to find ways to end the nearly 12-year war. Earlier Wednesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai suspended talks with the United States on a new security deal to protest the way his government was being left out of the initial peace negotiations with the Taliban.

Obama said the U.S. had anticipated "there were going to be some areas of friction, to put it mildly, in getting this thing off the ground. That's not surprising. They've been fighting there for a long time" and mistrust is rampant.

Karzai said Wednesday that peace talks cannot begin amid "fighting and bloodshed." But Obama said it was important to pursue a parallel track toward reconciliation even as the fighting continues, and it would up to the Afghan people whether that effort ultimately bears fruit.

On another world trouble spot, the 2-year-old Syrian civil war, the president declined to provide details on the type of military support the U.S. will provide to opposition forces. But he said the administration had been consistent in working toward the over-riding goal of a Syria that is "peaceful, non-sectarian, democratic, legitimate, tolerant."

"I cannot and will not comment on specifics around our programs related to the Syrian opposition," he said.

The president said while world leaders at the just-completed Group of 8 summit in Northern Ireland could not agree on whether Syrian President Bashar Assad must go, he believes Assad cannot regain legitimacy.

And the president offered reassurances on another issue of particular concern in Germany. In response to a question from a German reporter, Obama said the United States doesn't use Germany as a launching point for unmanned drones to strike terrorist targets. He said he knows there have been some reports in Germany speculating that was the case, but it's not so.

Later Wednesday, Obama planned to draw attention to his plan for a one-third reduction in U.S. and Russian arsenals, rekindling a goal that was a centerpiece of his early first-term national security agenda.

His 26-hour whirlwind visit to the German capital caps three days of international summitry for the president and marks his return to a place where he once summoned a throng of 200,000 to share his ambitious vision for American leadership.

Obama will make the case for his nuclear plan during a speech at Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate. His address comes nearly 50 years after John F. Kennedy's famous Cold War speech in this once-divided city, and five years after Obama spoke in the city during his 2008 run for president.

The president has previously called for reductions to the stockpiles and is not expected to outline a timeline for this renewed push. But by addressing the issue in a major foreign policy speech, Obama is signaling a desire to rekindle an issue that was a centerpiece of his early first-term national security agenda.

Five years later, Obama comes to deliver a highly anticipated speech to a country that's a bit more sober about his aspirations and the extent of his successes, yet still eager to receive his attention at a time that many here feel that Europe, and Germany in particular, are no longer U.S. priorities. A Pew Research Center poll of Germans found that while their views of the U.S. have slipped since Obama's first year in office, he has managed to retain his popularity, with 88 percent of those surveyed approving of his foreign policies.

Obama also has an arc of history to fulfill.

Fifty years ago next week, President Kennedy addressed a crowd of 450,000 in that then-divided city to repudiate communism and famously declare "Ich bin ein Berliner," German for "I am a Berliner." Since then, presidents from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton have used Berlin speeches to articulate broad themes about freedom and international alliances.

Obama, fresh from a two-day summit of the Group of Eight industrial economies, placed his hand over his heart outside the sunny presidential palace as a German military band played "The Star-Spangled Banner," the American national anthem. He and German President Joachim Gauck inspected a lineup of German military troops before entering the palace, stopping to greet children who waved American and German flags.

The visit was attracting widespread attention in Germany. People waved and snapped photos as Obama sped by after his arrival and a thick cluster awaited the motorcade as it passed the Brandenburg Gate. An evening news show in Berlin devoted itself to the president's visit, highlighting "Das Biest," or "The Beast," as the president's armored limousine is called.

There have been a few small protests, including one directed against the National Security Agency's surveillance of foreign communications, where about 50 people waved placards taunting, "Yes, we scan."

Merkel has said she was surprised at the scope of the spying that was revealed and said the U.S. must clarify what information is monitored. But she also said U.S. intelligence was key to foiling a large-scale terror plot and acknowledged her country is "dependent" on cooperating with American spy services.

For Merkel, the visit presents an opportunity to bolster her domestic standing ahead of a general election in September.

The U.S. and the Germans have clashed on economic issues, with Obama pressing for Europe to prime the economy with government stimulus measures, while Merkel has insisted on pressing debt-ridden countries to stabilize their fiscal situations first.

But the two sides have found common ground on a trans-Atlantic trade pact between the European Union and the U.S. At the just-completed G-8 summit, the leaders agreed to hold the first talks next month in the U.S.

___

Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Robert Reid and Frank Jordans contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-lives-saved-nsa-programs-114733804.html

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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The Tyranny of the Smile

Women smiling

Photos courtesy of Thinkstock

Back in April the comedy website Funny or Die created a PSA video about a dire condition afflicting a subset of women: Bitchy Resting Face. ?That?s just my face? is the?cri de coeur?of the BRF sufferer, who looks pissed even when she?s not judging your outfit or dreaming up schemes against unsuspecting colleagues. ?We?ll face it together,? the commercial promises BRFers worldwide. Scan the actors? visages and that invitation seems less than reassuring.

The video, of course, is a joke. And it is evenhanded enough to describe an equivalent male syndrome, Asshole Resting Face, occurring in certain well-intentioned men. Still, the gag recalls the commotion over a Publishers Weekly story in which an interviewer asked author Claire Messud whether she?d want to befriend her female antihero. ?For heaven?s sake, what kind of question is that,? Messud shot back. ?Would you want to be friends with Humbert Humbert? Would you want to be friends with Mickey Sabbath? Saleem Sinai? Hamlet? Krapp? Oedipus?? Messud was scorchingly indignant, and many felt she overreacted. But could she have been right to intuit something insidious in the question? We?do?inspect every last outward manifestation of a woman?s inner life?the characters she pens, the facial expressions she makes?for evidence of ?niceness.?

Women have to be nice. ?Show me a smile? is a staple of street harassment (the ur-creep of the genre being Heath Ledger?s Joker, a lank-haired greaseball leering, ?Why so serious??) And when they are not, when they are merely impassive or thoughtful, they can be held up for mockery and branded as rude.

To ask why is to step into the laser grid of unspoken rules governing the arrangement of male and female faces?the gendered ways we police social performance. (If you?re a woman who thinks this sort of policing doesn?t happen in real life, consider whether a friend has ever yanked you from an introspective haze by asking ?Are you mad at me?? She probably meant: Why aren?t you smiling?) We?ve tangled up so many notions of gender in our smiles that the presence or absence of a grin has come to imply a distinction between male and female. In one study, babies dressed in green and yellow were paraded before a group of onlookers. When the infants cooed, gurgled and smiled, the observers tagged them as girls; fretters and criers were assumed to be boys. The effect persisted when a different group of participants was presented with images of cheerful or angry adult faces. People readily identified smiling women as female and wrathful men as male, but they took longer and stumbled more often when confronted with furious female countenances or beaming male ones.

In a raft of studies, women report smiling more than men (and men report smiling less than women). They speak of grinning on the job, with strangers, with relatives, in a dazzlingly diverse array of situations. An unscientific scan of high school yearbook photos, newspaper clippings, Facebook pics, and advertisements backs up those studies: Women flash their pearly whites far more frequently than men, at least when someone is taking their picture. And in simulated job interviews, female participants salt their speech with smiles, while male test subjects are more likely to adopt neutral (read: alluringly strong and stoic) expressions.

Here?s the thing, though: All this feminine smiling does not mean that women are happier. Back in the 19^th century, the French physiologist G.B.A. Duchenne distinguished the spontaneous facial sunrise now known as the Duchenne smile (the ?true? smile) from the imposters. While a performed or deliberate smile requires just the zygomaticus major, the muscle around the mouth, ?real? smiles involve both the lips and the muscles ringing the eyes, the orbicularis oculi. Or as Duchenne put it, one type of grin ?obeys the will, but the second is only put into play by the sweet emotions of the soul.? (Or as Tyra put it, ?smile with your eyes.?)

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/06/bitchy_resting_face_and_female_niceness_why_do_women_have_to_smile_more.html

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Exposure to high pollution levels during pregnancy may increase risk of having child with autism

June 18, 2013 ? Women in the U.S. exposed to high levels of air pollution while pregnant were up to twice as likely to have a child with autism as women who lived in areas with low pollution, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). It is the first large national study to examine links between autism and air pollution across the U.S.

"Our findings raise concerns since, depending on the pollutant, 20% to 60% of the women in our study lived in areas where risk of autism was elevated," said lead author Andrea Roberts, research associate in the HSPH Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

The study appeared online June 18, 2013 in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Exposure to diesel particulates, lead, manganese, mercury, methylene chloride and other pollutants are known to affect brain function and to affect the developing baby. Two previous studies found associations between exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and autism in children, but those studies looked at data in just three locations in the U.S.

The researchers examined data from Nurses' Health Study II, a long-term study based at Brigham and Women's Hospital involving 116,430 nurses that began in 1989. Among that group, the authors studied 325 women who had a child with autism and 22,000 women who had a child without the disorder. They looked at associations between autism and levels of pollutants at the time and place of birth. They used air pollution data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to estimate women's exposure to pollutants while pregnant. They also adjusted for the influence of factors such as income, education, and smoking during pregnancy.

The results showed that women who lived in the 20% of locations with the highest levels of diesel particulates or mercury in the air were twice as likely to have a child with autism as those who lived in the 20% of areas with the lowest levels.

Other types of air pollution -- lead, manganese, methylene chloride, and combined metal exposure -- were associated with higher autism risk as well. Women who lived in the 20% of locations with the highest levels of these pollutants were about 50% more likely to have a child with autism than those who lived in the 20% of areas with the lowest concentrations.

Most pollutants were associated with autism more strongly in boys than girls. However, since there were few girls with autism in the study, the authors said this finding should be examined further.

Senior author Marc Weisskopf, associate professor of environmental and occupational epidemiology at HSPH, said, "Our results suggest that new studies should begin the process of measuring metals and other pollutants in the blood of pregnant women or newborn children to provide stronger evidence that specific pollutants increase risk of autism. A better understanding of this can help to develop interventions to reduce pregnant women's exposure to these pollutants."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/child_development/~3/_Rz1cN_xQGk/130618101734.htm

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Video: Stimulus Program Is Noise In Economy: Gilder

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52246827/

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Study finds the sweet spot -- and the screw-ups -- that make or break environmental collective actions

June 17, 2013 ? Sustainability programs are a Goldilocks proposition -- some groups are too big, some are too small, and the environment benefits when the size of a group of people working to save it is just right.

It has long been debated how many people working together can change the world.

Scientists at Michigan State University have found that there is a sweet spot -- a group size at which the action is most effective. More importantly, the work revealed how behaviors of group members can pull bad policy up or drag good policy down. The work is published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This paper finds that group size does matter -- and the answer is right in the middle," said Jianguo "Jack" Liu, who holds the Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability at MSU and is director of the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability. "Collective action is of growing importance as the world becomes more interdependent. It's important to understand how collective action works if we want programs that are effective."

Wu Yang, an MSU-CSIS doctoral student, and his colleagues studied how groups in the Wolong Nature Reserve worked to participate in China's massive Natural Forest Conservation Program. That program pays all of the 1,100 rural households there to monitor the forest on which they rely to enforce logging bans intended to allow forests to recover. Since it's mostly local residents who chop down the trees for firewood or to build homes, enlisting locals has been identified as the best way to increase forest cover.

The stakes are high there. Wolong is a biodiversity hotspot that's home to endangered giant pandas.

Wolong and the conservation program became a stage on which the universal behaviors that have bogged down collective actions are played out. If groups get too big, "free riders" -- individuals who dodge their duty undetected and still reap the benefits -- can make the collective actions less effective.

In small groups, participants can be overburdened. In contrast, large groups need to have expensive enforcement efforts to reduce free riders and improve the effectiveness.

For both group sizes, those limiting forces drag the effectiveness down. Liu said that holds true in Wolong, as well as in other efforts, including students' class group projects.

This work for the first time tests and quantifies the non-linear relationship hypothesized by Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics for her analysis of governance, particularly how people managed "the commons" -- as she referred to shared natural resources.

"We're showing that the outcomes of these actions are important," Liu said. "This can point the way to determine how to better protect the environment and utilize natural resources."

Other contributors to the paper were CSIS members Thomas Dietz, professor of environmental science and policy, sociology, and animal studies; Andr?s Vi?a, assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife; and former CSIS doctoral students Wei Liu, now a postdoctoral fellow at IIASA in Laxenburg, Austria, Mao-Ning Tuanmu, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, and Guangming He.

The research is funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA and Michigan State University AgBioResearch.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/QBOJzEexAtw/130617160858.htm

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Brandeis scientist invents anti-cholesterol process

Public release date: 18-Jun-2013
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Contact: Charles A. Radin
radin@brandeis.edu
781-736-4210
Brandeis University

Daniel Perlman solves phytosterol dispersibility problem

Senior Brandeis research scientist Daniel Perlman has discovered a way to make phytosterol molecules from plants dispersible in beverages and foods that are consumed by humans, potentially opening the way to dramatic reductions in human cholesterol levels.

A U.S. patent (#8,460,738) on the new process and composition was issued on June 11.

Phytosterols in plants and cholesterol molecules in animals are highly similar and when both are dispersed together they are attracted to one another. When they mix in the gut of an animal, the cholesterol molecules are competitively inhibited from passing into the blood stream and instead are excreted.

The ability of phytosterols to reduce cholesterol levels in animals has been recognized since the 1950s, but practical application of this knowledge was difficult because phytosterols are not naturally water-soluble, and they are only poorly soluble in fatty substances.

Perlman and K.C. Hayes, professor emeritus of biology and former director of the Foster Biomedical Research Laboratories, invented and patented a way to increase the bioavailability of phytosterols in fats more than 10 years ago. Their separate discoveries relating to fat metabolism and oxidative stability led to development of the Smart Balance blend of oils and a number of other food products.

However, improving dispersal of phytosterols in water has remained problematic, and was an obstacle to their general use in foods and beverages. Phytosterols placed in water-based substances will not disperse, and this has thwarted their cholesterol-reducing potential.

Now, Perlman has found a way to change the behavior of phytosterols in liquids by forming a new complex in which glycerin molecules attach to phytosterol molecules. Phytosterols and glycerin are heated together to a temperature at which the water molecule that usually attaches to each phytosterol molecule boils off and is replaced by a glycerin molecule. Because glycerin molecules have multiple places at which water molecules can be attached and because glycerin also inhibits crystal growth that complicates dispersal, the phytosterol-glycerin complex together with an emulsifier becomes dispersible in water-based foods.

"I had been playing with ideas on how to enhance the dispersibility of this molecule for a number of years," said Perlman, who has more than 100 patents and pending patents on inventions he has made in his years at Brandeis. This was critically important, he explained, because "if you really want to have widespread public health benefits, you want to be able to put [phytosterols] in foods and beverages."

Hayes said he has tested Perlman's new compound on gerbils in his laboratory and obtained results from the water-dispersed phytosterols that are excellent in terms of their cholesterol-reducing action.

Physics Professor Seth Fraden, who is director of the Brandeis Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, said "the actual science of how it all works" when the attachment of glycerin changes phytosterol behavior "is not understood."

Perlman, he said, "had a chemical intuition for doing this. He is a good chemist; he has a feeling for molecules and what they'll do when you mix them. In addition to this intuition, he is very open-minded and will go in the lab and try things that other people don't do because their professors have told them it won't work.

"That's why he's a good inventor," Fraden said.

###

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Brandeis scientist invents anti-cholesterol process

Public release date: 18-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Charles A. Radin
radin@brandeis.edu
781-736-4210
Brandeis University

Daniel Perlman solves phytosterol dispersibility problem

A U.S. patent (#8,460,738) on the new process and composition was issued on June 11.

"That's why he's a good inventor," Fraden said.

###

[ | 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/2013-06/bu-bsi061813.php

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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Feds: Morning-after pill appeal officially on hold

Graphic originally moved June 6 and resending for related story; shows use of emergency contraception pill by age

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., shows a package of Plan B One-Step, an emergency contraceptive. The federal government on Monday, June 10, 2013 told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions. (AP Photo/Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A government appeal in the legal fight over allowing girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions has officially been put on hold.

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday in a letter to a New York City appeals court both sides have agreed to stop litigating while they await a ruling from a lower-court judge.

The Department of Justice notified U.S. District Judge Edward Korman on Monday it had decided to reverse course and comply with his order to allow sales of the morning-after pills without age or other restrictions. It said it would withdraw the appeal of the order if the judge agrees with its plan to fast-track Food and Drug Administration approval.

It's unclear when and how the judge will address the issue. A woman answering the phone in his chambers declined to comment.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-06-11-Morning-After%20Pill/id-2b7b4b6eccac4e7cbad0623aa3bdb8d3

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