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Friday, April 19, 2013
I Can't Believe This Amazing Flying Guy in a Wingsuit Didn't Crash Into the Mountain at 155MPH
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Spayed or neutered dogs live longer
Apr. 17, 2013 ? Many dog owners have their pets spayed or neutered to help control the pet population, but new research from the University of Georgia suggests the procedure could add to the length of their lives and alter the risk of specific causes of death.
Looking at a sample of 40,139 death records from the Veterinary Medical Database from 1984-2004, researchers determined the average age at death for intact dogs -- dogs that had not been spayed or neutered -- was 7.9 years versus 9.4 years for sterilized dogs. The results of the study were published April 17 in PLOS ONE.
"There is a long tradition of research into the cost of reproduction, and what has been shown across species is if you reproduce, you don't live as long," said Dr. Kate Creevy, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine. "The question that raises is why would you die younger if you have offspring?"
Historically, studies on the effects of reproduction on life span have been done in model systems like mice, nematode worms and fruit flies, where it is difficult to figure out eventual cause of death. For the first time, researchers have been able to measure costs of reproduction in terms of the actual causes of death, finding that the causes of death differed between sterilized and intact dogs. Dogs who had undergone a gonadectomy (a spay or castration) were more likely to die from cancer or autoimmune diseases. Those in the sample who still had functional reproduction systems at death were more likely to die from infectious disease and trauma.
"Intact dogs are still dying from cancer; it is just a more common cause of death for those that are sterilized," said Jessica Hoffman, a UGA doctoral candidate in the Franklin College of Arts of Sciences who co-authored the study.
Creevy added, "At the level of the individual dog owner, our study tells pet owners that, overall, sterilized dogs will live longer, which is good to know. Also, if you are going to sterilize your dog, you should be aware of possible risks of immune-mediated diseases and cancer; and if you are going to keep him or her intact, you need to keep your eye out for trauma and infection."
Their findings are valuable not only for learning about dogs, she said, but also for studying reproductive effects in humans as well.
"There is no other species where we can even begin to study cause of death as closely as we do with dogs," Creevy said. "They model our own disease risk because they live in our homes, sleep in our beds and eat our food. All of the things that impact us and our health impact them."
Some of the reproductive hormones, particularly progesterone and testosterone, she said, could suppress the immune system, explaining why there is an increased risk of infection among dogs that have been sterilized.
"There are a few studies of people who are sterilized, specifically among men who are castrated for cultural or medical reasons," Creevy said. "Interestingly, there was a difference in their life spans too, and the castrated men tended to live longer. The men in that study who were not sterilized also got more infections, supporting the idea that there is a physiological reason for this."
According to Daniel Promislow, a genetics professor in the Franklin College and co-author of the paper, "when researchers have looked at the effect of reproduction on survival rates in humans, the results have varied from one study to the next. Our findings suggest that we might get a clearer sense of potential costs of reproduction if we focus on how reproduction affects actual causes of mortality rather than its effect on life span."
The authors note that the average life span seen in this study is likely lower than what would be observed in the population of dogs at large. Those observed for the study had been referred to a veterinary teaching hospital and represent a population of sick animals.
"The overall average life span is likely shorter than what we would observe in private practice, because these were dogs seen at teaching hospitals, but the difference in life span between sterilized and intact is real," Creevy said. "The proportionate effects on causes of death are translatable to the global dog population, and it will be interesting to see if explanations for these effects can be found in future studies."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Georgia, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Jessica M. Hoffman, Kate E. Creevy, Daniel E. L. Promislow. Reproductive Capability Is Associated with Lifespan and Cause of Death in Companion Dogs. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (4): e61082 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061082
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.
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Media frenzy on marathon investigation
A heavily armed United States Marshall stands guard outside the Moakley Federal Court House in Boston after the building was evacuated, Wednesday, April 17, 2013. The U.S. Marshals Service in Washington says the courthouse was evacuated due to a bomb threat. Spokeswoman Nikki Credic-Barrett says authorities are conducting a security sweep. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
A heavily armed United States Marshall stands guard outside the Moakley Federal Court House in Boston after the building was evacuated, Wednesday, April 17, 2013. The U.S. Marshals Service in Washington says the courthouse was evacuated due to a bomb threat. Spokeswoman Nikki Credic-Barrett says authorities are conducting a security sweep. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
NEW YORK (AP) ? For about an hour Wednesday afternoon, people could flip through different television channels and hear completely different accounts of the investigation into the Boston Marathon explosions: Some news organizations reported the arrest of a suspect and then took those claims back.
CNN, Fox News Channel and the Boston Globe said that a suspect in Monday's bombing had been arrested. The Associated Press said a suspect had been taken into custody. Within an hour, the FBI denied that a suspect had been captured, leading the three news organizations that had reported the arrest to back down from those claims.
The AP, while reporting the federal denial, said that its original source was standing by its claim that a suspect had been taken into custody. The news cooperative said its source was a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity.
ABC, CBS and NBC all broke into their regular programming to report progress in the case, but did not say there was an arrest or someone brought into custody.
The frantic afternoon presented another example of news organizations being embarrassed by a race to report information under intense competitive pressure. It was reminiscent of the day last year that the Supreme Court handed down its decision on President Obama's health care plan, when both CNN and Fox initially got the ruling wrong in their haste to report it.
In Wednesday's scenario, CNN's John King had jumped out early around lunchtime, saying that a department store's surveillance camera had helped law enforcement spot a person dropping a container on the street that was believed to be the second of two bombs that detonated near the race's finish line.
King reported at 1:45 p.m. that an arrest had been made. The Boston Globe tweeted the same thing at 1:53, attributing it to an unnamed official. Six minutes later the Globe sent out a second tweet, saying CNN was the source of its arrest report. Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelly said at 1:55 that the network had been told of an arrest.
The Associated Press sent out a NewsAlert at 1:53 saying that an arrest was imminent. At 2:14, the AP said a suspect had been taken into custody, but did not say there was an arrest.
The three biggest broadcast networks jumped into the story with cautious reports of progress within five minutes of each other shortly before 2 p.m. NBC reporter Pete Williams was insistent that news organizations reporting an arrest had jumped the gun.
"From the beginning of this, this has been the hallmark of this story ? information going in totally different directions coming from normally very reliable sources," Williams said. "We can't just flip a coin on this."
At 2:15 on MSNBC, Williams said that "at the end of the day, somebody is going to be right, because every news organization is reporting something different."
King's exclusive then began to be shot down by three different CNN reporters giving their own on-air reports: Fran Townsend, Joe Johns and Tom Fuentes.
As Chris Cuomo was saying on the air that "we don't know what's right or not right at this point," the onscreen crawl was still reporting that an arrest had been made.
CNN spokeswoman Barbara Levin noted that the network had three credible sources on the local and federal levels for King's initial report. "Based on this information, we reported our findings," she said. "As soon as our sources came to us with new information, we adjusted our reporting."
On Fox, Kelly was dialing back that network's arrest claim, noting the conflicting reports. At 2:15, Kelly told viewers that two law enforcement officials had told Fox there had been an arrest.
"Other news outlets ? some are reporting that an arrest has been made and some are reporting that that is not the case," she said. "Here's the truth: We don't know ... We just want to be transparent with you on the information that is coming in a breaking news situation that seems to be anything but clear at this moment."
The Globe at 2:40 p.m. reported that both the United States attorney and Boston police said there was no arrest.
The FBI statement denying the arrest, which was transmitted on the AP wire at 2:59, quieted the television chatter about whether a suspect had been captured.
During his initial reporting, King had said that law enforcement officials had told him that a "dark-skinned male" had been spotted leaving the package believed to be a bomb. King said he was reluctant to give that description, which can inflame racial sensitivities. An hour later CBS News contradicted him, tweeting that authorities are seeking a "white male" as a bombing suspect.
None of the news organizations named the officials that they were speaking to during their reporting.
Amid the confusion, the Columbia Journalism Review offered a one-word tweet: "Sigh."
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Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Girl Scouts could get very own video game badge, STEM-approved
Girls are gamers, too -- and not just the Nintendogs type. Though video games have commonly been ascribed a boys' club distinction, the Girls Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and Women in Games International are looking to undo that widespread misperception. Working in conjunction with E-line, the publisher behind the government's STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) initiative, the two groups are seeking to create a nationally recognized video game badge; a first for the Girl Scouts. Guidelines for the proposed badge are still in process, with WIGI molding requirements to fall neatly in line with the STEM program, even going so far as to use the same development tool, Gamestar Mechanic. If and when the program gets final approval from the Girls Scouts of America, it'd be the third such video game badge available to our nation's young troopsters, as both the Cub and Boy Scouts currently offer one. So, no Rosa, it would seem the Girl Scouts do need those stinkin' patches.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/17/girl-scouts-videogame-badge/
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Tobacco companies keep people smoking despite UK cigarette tax increases
Apr. 16, 2013 ? Raising tobacco prices is one of the most effective means of reducing tobacco use, particularly among price-sensitive smokers such as young people and people with low incomes. But when the UK government has been raising cigarette taxes to increase prices and deter smoking, tobacco companies have been absorbing the tax increases on their ultra-low-price (ULP) brands to keep their prices low. As a result, real ULP cigarette prices have remained virtually unchanged since 2006 and their market share has doubled, suggesting that as cigarette taxes rise, many smokers downtrade to cheaper cigarettes and carry on smoking.
Transnational tobacco companies categorise cigarette brands into four price segments: premium, mid-price, economy, and ultra-low-price (ULP). A research report published online today in the journal Addiction reveals that while the real weighted average price of premium, mid-price and economy brands has increased gradually between 2001 and 2009, the real price of ULP cigarettes has barely changed since 2006, greatly reducing the effectiveness of cigarette taxes to deter smoking.
Tobacco companies have achieved this by overshifting taxes on their higher priced brands (increasing cigarette prices on top of the tax increases) and undershifting taxes on their ULP brands (absorbing tax increases so they are not passed on to the consumer) to keep the prices of their cheapest brands low. The former enables tobacco companies to increase their profits while the latter helps keep smokers in the market.
Unsurprisingly, the market share held by price-static ULP cigarettes doubled between 2006 and 2009, while the market share of the other three categories has fallen. But the rising prices of the more expensive brands means that, even with a falling market share, revenue from premium and mid-price brands has increased steadily since 2001.
Says lead author Anna Gilmore, Professor of Public Health & Health Foundation Clinician Scientist in the University of Bath's Department for Health and the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, "Tobacco companies use their price changes to win two ways in the UK: when tobacco taxes increase each year, the tobacco companies hide their price increases on more expensive cigarettes behind the tax increases, making large profits from smokers who aren't bothered by price increases. Simultaneously, they cut the prices of their cheapest cigarettes so that smokers who would be deterred by price hikes continue to smoke. Tobacco company revenues increase and fewer smokers quit. To increase the effectiveness of cigarette taxes, the UK government must find ways to narrow the price gap between the cheapest and most expensive cigarettes and prevent tobacco companies from discounting their cheapest brands."
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wiley, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Anna B. Gilmore, Behrooz Tavakoly, Gordon Taylor, Howard Reed. Understanding tobacco industry pricing strategy and whether it undermines tobacco tax policy: the example of the UK cigarette market. Addiction, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/add.12159
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/x10OWXqmm20/130416085422.htm
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Tuesday, April 16, 2013
'Star Trek' Cast Excited 'Not To Have To Lie Anymore'
Since January 2012, the cast and crew of "Star Trek Into Darkness" have come under serious scrutiny to give up the secrets behind the sci-fi sequel. Who is Benedict Cumberbatch playing? How will this new story play with the alternate timeline aspects of the reboot? Well, as Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine indicated to MTV [...]
Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/04/16/star-trek-cast-not-to-have-to-lie/
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Monday, April 15, 2013
'42' scores at home, Cruise dominates overseas
This film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson in a scene from "42." Kansas City's Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is hosting an advance screening of an upcoming movie about Jackie Robinson, who broke major league baseball's color barrier. Thomas Butch of the financial firm Waddell and Reed announced Wednesday, March 20, 2013, that actors Harrison Ford and Andre Holland will be among those appearing at an April 11 screening of "42." The film chronicles Robinson's rise from the Negro Leagues' Kansas City Monarchs in 1945 to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, when he won the inaugural Rookie of the Year award. The film opens nationwide on April 12. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, D. Stevens)
This film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson in a scene from "42." Kansas City's Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is hosting an advance screening of an upcoming movie about Jackie Robinson, who broke major league baseball's color barrier. Thomas Butch of the financial firm Waddell and Reed announced Wednesday, March 20, 2013, that actors Harrison Ford and Andre Holland will be among those appearing at an April 11 screening of "42." The film chronicles Robinson's rise from the Negro Leagues' Kansas City Monarchs in 1945 to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, when he won the inaugural Rookie of the Year award. The film opens nationwide on April 12. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, D. Stevens)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Baseball has scored a rare hit in Hollywood, while another American institution ? Tom Cruise ? has delivered his latest hit overseas.
The Jackie Robinson tale "42" took in $27.3 million to claim the weekend box-office championship domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The film has yet to open overseas, where the sport is a harder sell. But Cruise knocked it out of the park with a $61.1 million international launch in 52 countries for his sci-fi thriller "Oblivion."
That bodes well for the domestic debut of "Oblivion" next Friday. The film stars Cruise as a workman on a devastated future Earth who lands in a battle with aliens.
If "Oblivion" packs in comparable domestic crowds, it will help maintain the action-star momentum Cruise regained with 2011's "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol." That return to box-office luster came after some fitful years that followed odd turns in his personal life, culminating with the breakup of his marriage to Katie Holmes last year.
Released by Warner Bros., "42" easily beat the domestic start of an established franchise in "Scary Movie 5." The Weinstein Co. sequel opened in second-place with $15.2 million, the smallest debut for the horror-comedy series.
Three of the previous four "Scary Movie" installments had debuts of $40 million or more.
On the other hand, "42" outdid the usual expectations for baseball movies, which usually do modest business at best. Box-office trackers had expected "42" to pull in less than $20 million.
The previous weekend's top draw, Sony's horror remake "Evil Dead," tumbled to No. 5 with $9.5 million, raising its domestic haul to $41.5 million.
The $27.3 million opening for "42" is a record for a baseball flick in terms of straight dollars, topping the $19.5 million debut of "Moneyball" in 2011. Factoring in higher ticket prices, the $13.7 million debut of 1992's "A League of Their Own" would have been on par with "42" in terms of inflation-adjusted dollars.
The film stars Chadwick Boseman as Robinson and Harrison Ford as Brooklyn Dodgers boss Branch Rickey, who brought No. 42 onto the team in 1947 as the Major Leagues' first black player.
"It's a story that has so much emotion to it. Jackie Robinson's life had such an influence on our country," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., who noted that all Major League players will wear No. 42 on Monday for Jackie Robinson Day, the 66th anniversary of his Dodgers debut. "Think of what a tribute that is for what he accomplished. Every player wearing 42 on his back."
With generally good reviews, "42" drew in older crowds, with 83 percent of the audience over 25, Fellman said.
"Scary Movie 5" was the franchise's first installment in seven years and had the same lukewarm reception as another Weinstein series that returned after a long lag. In 2011, "Scream 4" opened 11 years after the franchise's last movie and took in just $18.7 million, a fraction of the $30 million-plus debuts for the previous two sequels.
The previous low for the "Scary Movie" series was the second one, which opened with $20.5 million in 2001. "Scary Movie 3" had the best debut, with $48.1 million in 2003, though its total domestic haul of $110 million fell well short of the $157 million take for the 2000 original.
"Sometimes, when there's too big of a lag, people lose interest. If it's a 'Star Wars' movie, nostalgia works in your favor. The long lag works in your favor. People are loaded with anticipation," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "Other franchises, if you go too long, they lose that pop and excitement, and it's hard to get that back."
It didn't help that "Scary Movie 5" got the franchise's worst reviews. Critics haven't much cared for any of the "Scary Movie" flicks, but reviews for the latest were almost universally bad.
In limited release, director Terrence Malick's drama "To the Wonder" had a modest start, taking in $130,000 in 18 theaters for an average of $7,222 a cinema. That compares to a $9,074 average in 3,003 theaters for "42."
"To the Wonder" stars Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem in a dreamlike, poetic musing on love.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "42," $27.3 million.
2. "Scary Movie 5," $15.2 million ($3.5 million international).
3. "The Croods," $13.2 million ($25.5 million international).
4. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," $10.8 million ($15.6 million international).
5. "Evil Dead," $9.5 million ($2.9 million international)..
6. "Jurassic Park" in 3-D, $8.8 million ($1.3 million international).
7. "Olympus Has Fallen," $7.3 million.
8. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $4.9 million ($5.2 million international).
9. "Tyler Perry's Temptation," $4.5 million.
10. "The Place Beyond the Pines," $4.1 million ($2.2 million international).
___
Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:
1. "Oblivion," $61.1 million.
2. "The Croods," $25.5 million.
3. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," $15.6 million.
4. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $5.2 million.
5. "Fists of Legend," $3.7 million.
6. "Scary Movie 5," $3.5 million.
7. "Identity Thief," $3.2 million.
8. "Evil Dead," $2.9 million.
9. "Dragon Ball Z: Kami to Kami," $2.8 million.
10. "The Place Beyond the Pines," $2.2 million.
___
Online:
http://www.hollywood.com
http://www.rentrak.com
___
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
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Tiger Woods gets a reprieve in the Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) ? Augusta National kept Tiger Woods in the Masters on Saturday, saying it would be "grossly unfair" to disqualify him for a rules violation that club officials didn't immediately recognize.
In a bizarre twist to a complex case, it was a television viewer's phone call that ultimately spared the world's No. 1 player.
The viewer questioned the way Woods took a penalty drop after his wedge into the par-5 15th hole struck the flag stick and bounced back into the water. Woods dropped the ball two yards behind where he had hit his previous shot, a violation.
Fred Ridley, head of the Masters competition committees, said officials reviewed the video of Woods' drop and found nothing wrong, so they didn't bother talking to Woods before he signed for a 71 in the second round, leaving him three shots behind.
It was only after Woods explained in interviews why he took that drop ? to land short of the pin ? that prompted another call to the club and led to another review. Woods ultimately was given a two-shot penalty Saturday morning, turning the 71 into a 73. But he was not disqualified because of a revised rule (Rule 33-7) that allows players to stay in the tournament if a dispute was based on television evidence.
Even though Woods was guilty of not knowing the rules, Augusta National took the blame for not alerting him of a potential violation pointed out by a TV viewer.
"Our committee had made a decision and Tiger, although he didn't know that decision, he was entitled to have the benefit of that decision when he signed his scorecard," Ridley said. "And to me, it would have been grossly unfair to Tiger to have disqualified him after our committee had made that decision."
Woods came to the course at 8 a.m. ? nearly six hours before his tee time ? to review the video with club officials.
In a statement posted on his Twitter account, Woods said he was unaware he had violated the rule. Players can take a drop as far back as they want on a line from the hole to where it crossed the hazard, unless they choose to hit from the original spot. Then, they are to drop as close as possible to the previous shot.
The possibility that Woods might face disqualification caused a bigger buzz than any shot at this Masters, especially one day after 14-year-old Guan Tianlang was penalized one shot for slow play, which nearly caused him to miss the cut.
But this was Tiger Woods, No. 1 in the world, the biggest draw in golf. He had won two straight tournaments coming into the Masters and was the overwhelming favorite to win a green jacket for the first time since 2005 and ended his five-year drought in the majors.
Ridley, a former U.S. Amateur champion who served two years as USGA president, said Woods was candid about his drop and helped the committee make the right decision in docking him two shots.
"At that point, it was either no penalty or a two-shot penalty," Ridley said. "But disqualification this morning was not even on the table."
Rule 33-7 was revised two years ago to account for TV viewers calling in violations that the players might not know until after they have signed their cards. If no one had called in, Augusta National would have had no reason to review the drop. But after Woods implicated himself with his post-round comments, and the club had reviewed the drop and assessed the two-shot penalty, he would have been disqualified.
There is a distinction between not being aware of a violation and not knowing the rules. In this case, Woods didn't know the rule. The mistake was on the part of Ridley, who didn't recognize the violation and chose not to talk to Woods before he signed his card.
The club said CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz alerted Masters officials that Woods' post-rounds comments were causing some doubts, leading to another review.
Woods had said after his round, "I went back to where I played it from, but went two yards further back and I tried to take two yards off the shot of what I felt I hit. And that should land me short of the flag and not have it either hit the flag or skip over the back. I felt that was going to be the right decision to take off four (yards) right there. And I did. It worked out perfectly."
He hit that fifth shot to about 4 feet and made the putt for bogey.
Photos and video replays show his first divot clearly in front of where Woods took the second drop. Ridley said one reason he didn't see a clear violation the first time was that Woods' caddie never moved from the original spot. Ridley said the Masters gets a dozen or so calls a day, and he didn't see a violation.
"It was my decision, because it was a non-violation, that I was not going to go down and tell Tiger that we had considered this and it wasn't a violation," Ridley said. "I didn't see at that point in time that really was going to add anything to where we were."
Any regrets?
"There's not a day that goes by that there are not some things I wish I would have done differently," Ridley said.
That it involved Woods only made it a bigger issue.
"Take the fact that it was Tiger out of the equation and it is a fair ruling. Since it is him the debate begins about TV ratings etc etc," former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell said on Twitter.
In one of his more famous incidents, Woods hit a shot that went onto the roof and over the back into a parking lot at Firestone. The ball was never found, and because there was no out-of-bounds, Woods was correctly given a free drop by the practice range. Last year at Quail Hollow, he hit a shot left of the fifth green that was never found. He was allowed a free drop because fans said a man picked it up and ran off.
"There is some leeway with the signing the incorrect card. Not with intentionally not dropping as near as possible," David Duval said on Twitter.
The revision to Rule 33 was based upon the modern era of television. One example cited was Padraig Harrington, who opened with a 65 in Abu Dhabi at the start of the 2011 season. He was disqualified when a slow-motion replay on high-definition TV revealed that his ball moved ever so slightly after he replaced his marked. Harrington didn't realize it had moved ? a two-shot penalty ? and was disqualified for an incorrect card.
That same year, Camilo Villegas was disqualified in Hawaii when a TV viewer noticed he tamped down a divot in an area where his chip was rolling back down a slope. Rule 33 would not have applied there because Villegas did not know the rule.
Woods started the year with a rules violation. He took relief from an imbedded lie in a sandy area covered with vines in Abu Dhabi. It was determined that relief was not allowed in the sand. He was docked two shots before signing his card, and it caused him to miss the cut.
This is not the first time Augusta National had to review an incident involving Woods. In the opening round of 2005, he leaned over to tap in for par on the 14th hole and it appeared his right foot was behind the line of his putt ? a violation of Rule 16-1e that a player's foot cannot touch an extended line behind his ball. Officials deemed the tape inconclusive. Woods went on to the win the Masters.
Woods gets more air time than any other player.
"It is a very uneven playing field out there," said Curtis Strange, a two-time U.S. Open champion and analyst for ESPN. "We do have the call-ins. Tiger broke the rules yesterday. It gave him a two-stroke penalty. I think that's enough."
Reporters were kept away from the front of the clubhouse when Woods arrived alone in a black SUV. He changed shoes and headed to the practice range.
Hunter Mahan summed up the mess on Twitter: "If you think tiger should be dq'd your not wrong, if you think 2 shot penalty is enough your not wrong. Not sure the right answer."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tiger-woods-gets-reprieve-masters-150521617--golf.html
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Sunday, April 14, 2013
Kobe out for season with torn Achilles tendon
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant grimaces after being injured during the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors, Friday, April 12, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won 118-116. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant grimaces after being injured during the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors, Friday, April 12, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won 118-116. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant grimaces after being injured during the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors, Friday, April 12, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won 118-116. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, second from right, looks up sat Pau Gasol, of Spain, and guard Jodie Meeks, right, after being injured during the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors, Friday, April 12, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won 118-116. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant walks off the court after being injured as actor Jack Nicholson, second from left, looks on during the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors, Friday, April 12, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won 118-116. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, right, is congratulated by guard Jarrett Jack after hitting a 3-pointer during the first half of their NBA basketball game, Friday, April 12, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) ? Kobe Bryant had surgery Saturday on his torn Achilles tendon, ending his season with two games left in the Los Angeles Lakers' playoff chase.
Lakers trainer Gary Vitti thinks Bryant will need at least six to nine months for recovery from the most serious injury of his 17-year NBA career. Given Bryant's history of swift recovery from countless minor injuries, Vitti and Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak both believe the 34-year-old guard could be back for their season opener in the fall.
"I think that's a realistic goal for him, based on what he was talking about this morning," Kupchak said at the Lakers' training complex after visiting Bryant at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic.
Bryant completely tore his left Achilles tendon late in the Lakers' 118-116 win over Golden State on Friday night, falling to the hardwood after pushing off his planted foot in an ordinary move toward the hoop. Although he stayed in the game to hit two tying free throws with 3:08 to play, Bryant's season was over.
Bryant's foot will be immobilized for about a month to prevent him from stretching out the tendon, followed by a lengthy rehabilitation process. Nobody knows how the injury will affect Bryant's play, but his decision to have surgery less than 24 hours after getting hurt suggests he's determined to get back on top swiftly.
"He's already taken the challenge," Vitti said. "For us, it's going to be trying to slow him down."
And while it's far too early to predict exactly when Bryant will be back, the Lakers say they wouldn't consider parting ways with their franchise player, who will make nearly $30.5 million next year. If the Lakers used the amnesty clause on Bryant in early July, they could save possibly $80 million in luxury taxes.
"That's not even something that we've discussed," Kupchak said. "That's the furthest thing from our mind right now."
While the rest of the Lakers prepared for their final two regular-season games in a tumultuous season, Bryant's injury left many Lakers fans wondering whether the club had done enough to protect Bryant from himself.
The fourth-leading scorer in NBA history has logged heavy minutes all season on his high-mileage legs, basically dictating his own playing time while the Lakers chased a playoff spot. He has played far more minutes than any other NBA player over 30, including nearly 46 minutes per game in the seven games leading up to Friday night.
"Shame they ran him into the ground," tweeted Clippers forward Matt Barnes, Bryant's teammate with the Lakers in the previous two seasons.
Bryant simply doesn't like to sit out, even when he's hobbling ? as he was Friday night after hyperextending his left knee early in the second half. While Achilles tendon tears can occur in athletes under any level of stress, even first-year coach Mike D'Antoni acknowledged he might have forced Bryant to sit out a bit more if the Lakers weren't desperate for every victory to stay in playoff position.
"He's a warrior," D'Antoni said. "All I do is respect what he wanted to do for the franchise and the city. He's earned the right to do certain things. ... I would have probably (made Bryant rest more) if we were comfortably in the playoffs. When you're trying to win at all cost, maybe you make some decisions that you'd better not."
Kupchak said the Lakers' leadership doesn't hold D'Antoni responsible for not overriding Bryant's decisions. Bryant has played more than 38 minutes per game this season, tops among his teammates.
"I don't think Mike is at blame here one bit," Kupchak said. "Even if you take Kobe out of a game, there's a lot of times where he'll just get up and put himself back in the game. ... I spoke to Kobe about 10 days ago about the 48-minute thing ... and I said, 'I have concerns.' His message to me was, 'Mitch, I hear what you're saying, but we've got to get into the playoffs, and I'm playing, and there's nothing you can do about it.'"
Los Angeles (43-37), which hosts San Antonio on Sunday and Houston on Wednesday, is one game ahead of the Utah Jazz (42-38) for the final postseason spot in the Western Conference. Utah holds the tiebreaker, which means the Lakers must finish one game ahead to make the playoffs for the 16th time in Bryant's career.
Even if the Lakers hang on for a likely first-round matchup with defending conference champion Oklahoma City, the NBA playoffs will go on without Bryant for the first time since 2005.
"You always want the game's best stars in the postseason," Miami guard James Jones said. "That's when everyone is watching. That's when our audience is captivated. You want our best players out there to give fans the best product. Unfortunately, things like this happen, and you just wish him a speedy recovery."
Bryant's injury inspired an outpouring of support across the league, with everyone from LeBron James to Chris Paul tweeting words of support.
"I love the fact that he got up and made two free throws with a torn Achilles," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "I'd have been lying on the floor crying like a baby. ... He is as tough as a competitor as we've seen ? ever. You know, he'll be missed. I would love him to be healthy, but he's not going to be, and we're going to miss him."
Bryant fought back tears in the locker room moments after learning his tendon was torn, and he wrote a lengthy Facebook post about his injury early Saturday morning, saying his "frustration is unbearable."
"Why the hell did this happen ?!?" Bryant wrote. "Makes no damn sense. Now I'm supposed to come back from this and be the same player Or better at 35?!? How in the world am I supposed to do that?? "
He added: "Maybe this is how my book ends. Maybe Father Time has defeated me...Then again maybe not!"
"One day, the beginning of a new career journey will commence. Today is NOT that day."
Bryant's spirits had improved by the time he got to the hospital, where he put photos of himself going into an MRI machine and preparing for surgery.
Bryant has been ferociously competitive while trying to keep the Lakers' playoff hopes afloat during a season featuring an awful start, an early coaching change and countless smaller setbacks along the way, many due to injuries. While most of his teammates sat out significant stretches with various ailments during the season, Bryant played through a sprained ankle and countless minor woes, missing only two games.
"We have a strong, deep team," said Gasol, who had a triple-double against Golden State. "We have high-quality players that are experienced and ready for a challenge. We're fueled by these injuries. We want to take on the challenge and prove we're a good team even without our best player."
The star-packed roster assembled by Kupchak last summer has played together for just a few games this season, thanks to a staggering stretch of serious injuries.
Gasol, Nash, Steve Blake and Jordan Hill all have missed large chunks of the season, and Howard has struggled to get back to full strength while recovering from offseason back surgery and a nagging torn labrum in his right shoulder. Antawn Jamison will need offseason surgery on his injured right wrist, and Metta World Peace recently came back a month earlier than expected from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee ? although he appears to be nowhere close to full strength.
"If you look at our season, it's been a nightmare," Vitti said. "When you try to look at the whys, it's bad luck."
Jodie Meeks, averaging 8.0 points, will start in Bryant's spot against the Spurs. The Lakers won't know until game time whether Nash will return from a right hamstring injury that has kept him out for six games.
The Lakers are likely to rely heavily on their big-man duo of Gasol and Howard, two proven veteran scorers who have worked together splendidly on occasion. During Los Angeles' win over Golden State, Gasol embraced a playmaking role and threw a series of alley-oops to Howard, who addressed the team after practice Saturday.
"We know what we have to do," said Howard, an unrestricted free agent this summer. "We know he's out, but we can't put our heads down like it's over with. We have to go out there and play. We have a lot of talented guys on this team. I think we can accomplish something great, with or without Kobe."
___
AP Sports Writers Tim Reynolds in Miami and Kyle Hightower in Orlando contributed to this report.
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Researchers measure reaction rates of second key atmospheric component
Friday, April 12, 2013
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories' Combustion Research Facility, the University of Manchester, Bristol University, University of Southampton and Hong Kong Polytechnic have successfully measured reaction rates of a second Criegee intermediate, CH3CHOO, and proven that the reactivity of the atmospheric chemical depends strongly on which way the molecule is twisted.
The measurements will provide further insight into hydrocarbon combustion and atmospheric chemistry. A paper describing the research findings titled "Direct Measurements of Conformer-Dependent Reactivity of the Criegee Intermediate CH3CHOO" is featured in the April 12 edition of Science magazine.
Criegee intermediates ? carbonyl oxides ? are considered to be pivotal atmospheric reactants, but only indirect knowledge of their reaction kinetics had previously been available. Last year, Sandia and its UK-based partners reported, for the first time, direct measurements of reactions of the smallest gas-phase Criegee intermediate using photoionization mass spectrometry. That research was featured in the January 13, 2012, edition of Science. A short video featuring two Sandia researchers describing the work can be seen here.
New findings include confirmed fast reactions, first-time measurements with water
Sandia combustion chemist Craig Taatjes, the lead author on the Science papers, said there are several significant aspects about the new research findings.
In particular, the measurements show that the reaction rate depends dramatically on whether the CH3CHOO is bent, with the CH3? and ?OO ends pointing toward the same side, a conformation called "syn?" or more straightened, with the CH3? and ?OO ends pointing away from each other, called "anti?".
"Observing conformer-dependent reactivity represents the first direct experimental test of theoretical predictions," said Taatjes. "The work will be of tremendous importance in validating the theoretical methods that are needed to accurately predict the kinetics for reactions of Criegee intermediates that still cannot be measured directly."
In fact, said Taatjes, the latest results supply one of the most critical targets for such validation. Because of the large concentration of water in Earth's atmosphere, Criegee concentrations ? and, hence, the tropospheric implications of all Criegee intermediate reactions ? depend on knowing the rate constant for reaction with water.
Although the reactions for most Criegee intermediates, including the syn- conformer of CH3CHOO, with water may simply be too slow to be measured by the research team's methods, anti-CH3CHOO has been predicted to have a vastly enhanced reactivity with water. Taatjes and his colleagues confirmed this prediction and made the first experimental determination of the reaction rate of a Criegee intermediate with water. "A Criegee intermediate's reaction with water determines what the concentration of these intermediates in the atmosphere is going to be. This is a significant benchmark," he said.
Taatjes said one of the questions remaining after the first direct measurement of Criegee reactions was whether the remarkably fast reaction of CH2OO with SO2 was representative of other Criegee intermediates.
"This measurement of a second intermediate ? which we found to react just about as fast with sulfur dioxide as the intermediate we measured last year ? supports the notion that the reactions of all Criegee intermediates with SO2 will occur easily," said Taatjes "It also confirms that Criegee intermediate reactions are likely to make a contribution to sulfate and nitrate chemistry in the troposphere." This increase in reactivity, he said, provides additional evidence that Criegee intermediates will play a significant role in the oxidation of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere.
Unraveling the mysteries, complexities of Criegee intermediates
Hydrocarbons that are emitted into Earth's troposphere, either naturally or by humans, are removed by many reactive atmospheric species. For unsaturated hydrocarbons ? molecules with at least one C=C double bond ? a prominent removal mechanism is reaction with ozone, called ozonolysis. It is accepted that ozonolysis produces other reactive species, including carbonyl oxides, which are known as Criegee intermediates. Rudolf Criegee, a German chemist, first proposed the mechanism of ozonolysis in the 1950s.
Because so much ozonolysis happens in the atmosphere, the reactions of Criegee intermediates are thought to be very important in a wide range of tropospheric processes like secondary organic aerosol formation and nighttime production of highly reactive OH radicals. As a result, the chemistry of these reactive Criegee intermediates has been the subject of intense investigation for decades, but without any direct measurement of their reaction rates until last year's published work by Sandia and its collaborators.
###
DOE/Sandia National Laboratories: http://www.sandia.gov
Thanks to DOE/Sandia National Laboratories for this article.
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Saturday, April 13, 2013
Beyond The Bitcoin Bubble
A few months ago, while visiting a hacker friend's magnificent new San Francisco loft, he gestured to a little alcove stuffed with server racks and said: "And over there are the Bitcoin mines." I smiled and nodded, thinking, Oh, right, Bitcoin. Is that still a thing? Andy, if you're reading this, I apologize. Is it ever, and how. Over the last few weeks the hype around everyone's favorite distributed cryptographic currency has gone insane. It's a Ponzi scheme; no, it's the first instance of the third era of currency; no, it will spiral up and down forever; no, it's the new venture-capital frontier; no, it's an existential threat to the modern state. No, possibly, conceivably, maybe, and no. But: I realized this week that Bitcoin actually is a really big deal -- in a way that's been almost entirely obscured by all the hype.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/RSk6cKxXP1o/
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Asian stock markets mixed as gains cashed in
BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets were mixed Friday as investors turned cautious and took profits from recent rallies in spite of evidence pointing to an improving U.S. employment picture.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index retreated 0.6 percent to 13,463.66, a slip from the day before when the Tokyo benchmark closed above 13,500 for the first time since August 2008. The Nikkei has been riding high on the Bank of Japan's aggressive new approach to jolting the world's third-largest economy out of a prolonged slump.
Evan Lucas of IG Markets in Melbourne said profit-taking was putting pressure on Australia's resource-heavy benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which rose 0.2 percent to 5,015.50.
"This will unfortunately dampen what has otherwise being a solid week for the local market, and may see stronger downside pressure in the afternoon as it is the end of the week and investors will close up positions," he said in a commentary.
BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, fell 0.3 percent. Rio Tinto Ltd. dropped 2.1 percent. But Woodside Petroleum Ltd. rose 2.8 percent after the energy company said it has shelved a proposed 45 billion Australian dollar ($47 billion) liquefied natural gas plant in northwestern Australia because of rising costs for the project.
South Korea's Kospi shed 0.4 percent to 1,942.45, as jitters persisted over tensions on the Korean Peninsula. India's Sensex fell 1.5 percent to 18,269.16. Benchmarks in Indonesia and Thailand rose. Mainland Chinese shares were nearly unchanged. Taiwan's fell.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.2 percent to 22,155.17, although market turnover was subdued, as traders kept a recent outbreak of bird flu in eastern China on their radar screens. Ongoing tensions and war-like rhetoric between North and South Korea were also stirring concerns.
"There may be some profit taking because Hong Kong had a technical rebound for the whole week after a big drop last Friday," said Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. "There is still a lot of uncertainty, especially before the weekend. No one knows what will happen, so maybe profit taking is reasonable."
Wall Street stocks ended higher after major retailers such as Rite Aid surged after turning in better sales and weekly claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropped. Investors were awaiting JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. quarterly results later in the day.
Also due Friday are reports from the U.S. Commerce Department on retail sales data for March and business inventories for February.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.4 percent to 14,865.14. The S&P 500 index rose 0.4 percent to 1,593.37. The Nasdaq composite gained less than 0.1 percent to 3,300.16.
Benchmark oil for May delivery was down 27 cents to $93.23 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The euro rose to $1.3118 from $1.3112 late Thursday in New York. The dollar fell to 99.45 yen from 99.88 yen.
___
Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-stock-markets-mixed-gains-cashed-052251322--finance.html
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10 things to know for the Masters
Sergio Garcia, of Spain, reacts to a missed putt on the 13th green during the first round of the Masters golf tournament Thursday, April 11, 2013, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Sergio Garcia, of Spain, reacts to a missed putt on the 13th green during the first round of the Masters golf tournament Thursday, April 11, 2013, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Amateur Guan Tianlang, of China, celebrates after a birdie putt on the 18th green during the first round of the Masters golf tournament Thursday, April 11, 2013, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Skier Lindsey Vonn smiles as she watches Tiger Woods during the first round of the Masters golf tournament Thursday, April 11, 2013, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, kisses tennis player Caroline Wozniacki after his first round of the Masters golf tournament Thursday, April 11, 2013, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Tiger Woods al comienzo del Masters en Augusta, Georgia, el 11 de abril del 2013 (AP Foto/Matt Slocum)
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) ? Ten facts about the Masters going into the second round at Augusta National Golf Club:
1. SERGIO SET UP FOR ANOTHER TRY
Sergio Garcia is atop the leaderboard at a major for the first time since the 2007 British Open. He opened with a 66, and Friday will go a long way toward showing if he can set himself up for another chance at winning his first big one.
2. YOUNG MASTER
What would have been more likely at Augusta National? A woman in a green jacket or an eighth-grader playing in the Masters? Both came true in the same year. Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore are the first female members, and 14-year-old Guan Tianlang opened with a 73. He will try Friday to become the youngest player to make a cut in PGA Tour history.
3. AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE!
The Masters is the only major that an Australian has never won. Marc Leishman would not seem like the one to break this streak, but he ran off four straight birdies on the back nine and was tied for the lead.
4. SHARING THE STAGE
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson are stars in their own rights. But the photographers are spending as much time taking pictures of their significant others at Augusta National ? Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn (Woods), tennis star Caroline Wozniacki (McIlroy) and Paulina Gretzky (Johnson).
5. COUPLES IS COOL
Everyone wants to be as cool as Fred Couples, and at age 53, he can still work his charm at the Masters. Couples shared the lead going into the weekend last year. He was two shots out of the lead going into the second round this year.
6. TRACKING TIGER
Tiger Woods shot 70 in the first round, though there's no reason for the world's No. 1 player to panic. He has only broken 70 once in the first round, and Woods has won the Masters four times. He was tied for 13th place going into Friday.
7. WHAT WILL PHIL DO NEXT?
Phil Mickelson said his biggest problem was not being aggressive enough. Mickelson said soft greens were the reason 45 players shot par or better, and he had to rally for a 71. Lefty promised to attack the flags on Friday.
8. SUB-AIR SYSTEMS
Thunderstorms were expected to roll through Augusta overnight, which usually means a soft golf course. The Masters has a mind of its own. There are sub-air systems beneath the greens that suck out the moisture. In other words, officials can make the greens as fast as they want.
9. NO ROARS FOR RORY
Rory McIlroy made five birdies. That's the good news. He also made five bogeys for a 72, and the two-time major champion has to step it up a notch if he wants to get into contention going into the weekend for the third straight year at the Masters.
10. AMATEUR HOUR
The Masters invites six amateurs to the first major of the year, and one of them had a day to forget. British Amateur champion Alan Dunbar didn't make a par until the ninth hole. He didn't make a birdie until the 15th hole. By then, he had an 83 and was bringing up the rear.
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Video: Building Confidence in Job Creation: Pro
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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51503601/
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Friday, April 12, 2013
Wider lithium battery use strains technology - experts
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Batteries like the one that burned on a Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner in January can be made safer, but doing so can cut performance and raise costs, experts told U.S. safety investigators on Thursday.
The use of lithium-ion batteries has greatly expanded in the past decade, powering everything from Tesla cars to iPads, and the risk of fire is well-understood, experts said at a forum organized by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
But even as participants praised the batteries as the most powerful and lightest available, they also said there was still no fool-proof way to predict or prevent internal short circuits implicated in the Dreamliner fire.
The fire in the battery compartment of a 787 parked on the ground in Boston in January, followed that same month by an in-flight battery malfunction over Japan, led to the grounding of the Dreamliner.
While the final cause of those incidents is still under investigation, Boeing has been allowed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to conduct tests of a redesigned battery unit, part of the plane's auxiliary power system.
The two-day NTSB meeting that began on Thursday is aimed at helping the safety agency gauge the risk of lithium-ion batteries as their use in planes and vehicles expands.
NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said after Thursday's session that the risks had to be addressed. "I think with lithium-ion batteries, the genie is out of the bottle," Hersman said.
The number of lithium-ion cells made worldwide ballooned to 4.4 billion in 2012, from 800 million in 2002, according to the Portable Rechargeable Battery Association, a trade group of battery makers.
Boeing's high-tech Dreamliner, that also makes extensive use of carbon fiber to cut weight, is the first commercial airplane to make extensive use of lithium-ion batteries.
"The growth in the mission of lithium-ion batteries is substantial," said Glen Bowling, vice president of sales at Saft Specialty Battery Group, a producer of lithium ion batteries.
"It's a stretching of the technology boundaries and we have to be professional when we do that."
The understanding of what causes short circuits in lithium-ion batteries and how to prevent them remains murky.
Laurie Florence, principal engineer for the independent safety testing organization UL, said some cells in a battery can withstand a short circuit caused by a nail puncture, but not an internal flaw, perhaps caused by an impurity or other manufacturing issue.
SALES OVERESTIMATED
While consumer uses have soared, the high costs of lithium-ion of making battery technology safe have led to a slower-than-expected development of electric cars and other bigger applications.
Market predictions for those batteries made as recently as 2008 "were off by more than a factor of 10" when compared with actual market size in 2011, said Yet-Ming Chiang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"This created a great deal of stress among those who manufacture batteries," he told the NTSB forum. Some went out of business, mainly because the market for lithium-ion did not materialize.
Currently, there is enough idle lithium-ion battery capacity to power 400,000 Nissan Leaf electric cars, he said.
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama proposed a federal budget that would increase the tax credit for buying an electric vehicle to $10,000 from $7,500 to help support sales.
SAFETY VS COST
About 25 percent of a typical lithium-ion battery cell is flammable liquid, which increases the risk of fire, Chiang said. But making a cell safer through additives reduces performance, experts said.
The difficulties of lithium-ion batteries have prompted some experts to rework older technologies or leap ahead to more advanced batteries in hopes of finding a safer, less costly solution for modern uses.
Boeing rival Airbus has dropped lithium-ion batteries from its forthcoming A350 jet, saying it wants let the technology mature and avoid any risk of delaying the jet's development.
Better technology is needed to predict if a battery cell will experience an internal short due to a manufacturing defect, Daniel Doughty, president of Battery Safety Consulting, told the NTSB forum. He added new methods were also needed to prevent a cell fire from spreading to other cells in the battery pack.
The widespread use of lithium-ion batteries has also placed pressure on regulators to develop new ways to safely ship them.
"We all know lithium batteries are hazardous materials," said Janet McLaughlin, deputy director of the Federal Aviation Administration's hazardous materials safety programs.
In the past, the FAA has estimated the amount of hazardous materials on a given cargo plane to be about 5 percent. But now, that figure can be around 80 percent, with much of that related to batteries, McLaughlin said.
(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Alwyn Scott, Jeffrey Benkoe and Tim Dobbyn)
Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/NcrL9WcFKGY/story01.htm
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Facebook's Zuckerberg calls for U.S. immigration reform (reuters)
Bitcoin bursts: Hacker currency gets wild ride
In this April 3, 2013 photo, Mike Caldwell, a 35-year-old software engineer, holds a 25 Bitcoin token at his shop in Sandy, Utah. Caldwell mints physical versions of bitcoins, cranking out homemade tokens with codes protected by tamper-proof holographic seals, a retro-futuristic kind of prepaid cash. With up to 70,000 transactions each day over the past month, bitcoins have been propelled from the world of Internet oddities to the cusp of mainstream use, a remarkable breakthrough for a currency which made its online debut only four years ago. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
In this April 3, 2013 photo, Mike Caldwell, a 35-year-old software engineer, holds a 25 Bitcoin token at his shop in Sandy, Utah. Caldwell mints physical versions of bitcoins, cranking out homemade tokens with codes protected by tamper-proof holographic seals, a retro-futuristic kind of prepaid cash. With up to 70,000 transactions each day over the past month, bitcoins have been propelled from the world of Internet oddities to the cusp of mainstream use, a remarkable breakthrough for a currency which made its online debut only four years ago. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
In this April 3, 2013 photo, Mike Caldwell, a 35-year-old software engineer, holds a 25 Bitcoin token at his shop in Sandy, Utah. Caldwell mints physical versions of bitcoins, cranking out homemade tokens with codes protected by tamper-proof holographic seals, a retro-futuristic kind of prepaid cash. With up to 70,000 transactions each day over the past month, bitcoins have been propelled from the world of Internet oddities to the cusp of mainstream use, a remarkable breakthrough for a currency which made its online debut only four years ago. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
In this April 3, 2013 photo, Mike Caldwell, a 35-year-old software engineer, poses with bitcoin tokens at his shop in Sandy, Utah. Caldwell mints physical versions of bitcoins, cranking out homemade tokens with codes protected by tamper-proof holographic seals, a retro-futuristic kind of prepaid cash. With up to 70,000 transactions each day over the past month, bitcoins have been propelled from the world of Internet oddities to the cusp of mainstream use, a remarkable breakthrough for a currency which made its online debut only four years ago. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
LONDON (AP) ? It's a promising form of electronic cash free from central bankers and beloved by hackers. It ? Bitcoin ? may also be in trouble, registering catastrophic losses that have sent speculators scrambling.
Although the cybercurrency has existed for years as a kind of Internet oddity, a perfect storm of developments have brought it to the cusp of mainstream use.
As currency crises in Europe piqued investors' interest, a growing number of businesses announced they were accepting bitcoins for an ever-wider range of goods and services. The value of a single bitcoin began racing upward amid growing media attention, smashing past the $100 mark last week before more than doubling again in just a few days.
Then came the crash.
The price of Bitcoin has imploded, falling from around $266 on Wednesday to just above $40 on Thursday, according to bitcoincharts.com, which tracks trades across the Internet. The best-known exchange, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, has suspended trading for what it described as a 12-hour "market cooldown." By late Thursday, the currency was back up to just more than $100.
Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist for the ConvergEx Group, said it was a "great question" whether the currency could survive the wrenching ups and downs.
"At this point I would say yes, since it has before," Colas wrote in an email. But he noted that, unlike previous oscillations, Thursday's collapse was taking place in the full glare of international media attention.
"A lot more people know about Bitcoin than during the prior problems," he said.
To its supporters ? tech-savvy libertarians, currency geeks, and online speculators ? Bitcoin has enormous promise.
Bitcoins are created, distributed, and authenticated independently of any bank or government. The currency's cryptographic features make it virtually immune from counterfeiting, and its relative anonymity holds out the promise of being able to spend money across the Internet without fear of censors, regulators or nosey officials.
The linchpin of the system is a network of "miners" ? high-end computer users who supply the Bitcoin network with the processing power needed to maintain a transparent, running tally of all transactions. The tally is one of the most important ways in which the system prevents fraud, and the miners are rewarded for supporting the system with an occasional helping of brand-new bitcoins.
Cryptographers argue over whether bitcoin is well-designed, but the true test of any currency is whether it can be used to buy anything.
Increasingly, Bitcoin is passing the test. From hard drugs to hard currency, songs to survival gear, cars to consumer goods, many retailers have welcomed the money, whose unofficial symbol is a dollar-like, double-barred B.
Atlanta-based BitPay handles Bitcoin transactions for more than 4,500 companies, taking payments in bitcoins and forwarding the cash equivalent to the vendor involved, which means that its clients are insulated from the cybercurrency's volatility.
BitPay Chief Executive Anthony Gallippi said many of the businesses he served were e-commerce websites, but he said an increasing number of traditional retailers were looking to get into the game as well.
"We just had an auto dealership in Kansas City apply," he said.
Artists are into bitcoins too. Tehran-based music producer Mohammad Rafigh said the currency allows him to sell his albums "all over the world and not only in Iran."
There's long been a black market use for bitcoins as well.
Argentine software developer Patricio Fink described how he recently swapped bitcoins for a wad of American currency with a couple of Australian tourists at a Starbucks in Buenos Aires. The visitors wanted spending money at black market rates without the risk of getting roughed up in one of the Argentine capital's black market exchanges. Fink wanted more bitcoins to insulate his savings from Argentina's high inflation.
"It's something that is new," said Fink, 24, who described the deal to The Associated Press over Skype. "And it's working."
One of the most prominent destinations for bitcoins remains Silk Road, a black market website where drug dealers advertise their wares in a consumer-friendly atmosphere redolent of Amazon or eBay ? complete with a shopping cart icon, a five-point rating system and voluminous user reviews. The site uses Tor, an online anonymity network, to mask the location of its servers, while bitcoin payments ensure there's no paper trail.
One British user told AP he first got interested in Silk Road while he was working in China, where he used the site to order banned books. After moving to Japan, he turned to the site for an occasional high.
Drug dealers aren't the only ones cashing in on Bitcoin. The hackers behind Lulz Security, whose campaign of online havoc drew worldwide attention back in 2011, received thousands of dollars' worth of bitcoins after promising followers that the money would go toward launching attacks against the FBI.
A report apparently drawn up by the bureau and leaked to the Internet last year said that "since Bitcoin does not have a centralized authority, detecting suspicious activity, identifying users and obtaining transaction records is problematic for law enforcement."
It went on to warn that bitcoins might become "an increasingly useful tool for various illegal activities beyond the cyber realm"? including child pornography, trafficking and terrorism.
That is, if the currency survives.
Bitcoin's dramatic collapse ? from peak to trough, the currency shed more than 80 percent of its value ? has left many enthusiasts anxious and many skeptics saying "I told you so."
"Trading tulips in real time," is how longtime UBS stockbroker Art Cashin described Bitcoin's vertiginous rise, comparing it to the now-unfathomable craze that saw 17th-century Dutch speculators trade spectacular sums of money for a single flower bulb.
"It is rare that we get to see a bubble-like phenomenon trade tick for tick in real time," he said in a recent note to clients.
One Bitcoin supporter with a unique perspective on the boom-turned-to-bust might be Mike Caldwell, a 35-year-old software engineer based in suburban Utah. Caldwell mints physical versions of bitcoins at his residence, cranking out thousands of homemade tokens with codes protected by tamper-proof holographic seals ? a retro-futuristic kind of prepaid cash.
His coins are stamped with the words "Vires in Numeris" ? Latin for "Strength in Numbers."
Some may wonder whether Caldwell's coins will one day be among the few physical reminders of an expensive fad that evaporated into the ether.
When asked, Caldwell acknowledged that bitcoin might be in for a bumpy ride.
"The way I look at it is that there will be bugs and there will be minor issues from time to time," he said. But barring a complete unraveling of the currency's electronic architecture, he predicted that it would continue to grow.
"Bitcoins will either be worth nothing or worth a whole lot more than its current value," he said.
For Colas, the market strategist, the most important thing to keep in mind was that bitcoins suffer from the same weakness as any other form of money. If people increasingly believe they're not worth anything, then they're not worth anything ? no matter how clever the currency's design.
"The future of bitcoin is, like all currencies, going to come down to trust," he said.
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Raphael Satter can be reached at: http://raphae.li/twitter
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