Malik Obama hopes to profit from a pair of handwritten presidential lettters. (AP)Sign up for one of President Barack Obama?s email lists, and you can receive a wealth of letters from the president, free of charge. But if you?d like copies of handwritten notes from Obama to relatives in Kenya, well, that will cost you.
The New York Post reports that Obama?s older half-brother, Malik Abongo Obama, is selling two handwritten letters from Obama for $15,000 each.
Both notes are written on official White House letterhead and contain the same message, ?Thanks for your prayers and support.? They also each contain Obama?s well-known personal signature of ?B.O.? given to letters, or tweets, that he has composed himself.
Malik, 55, is selling the letters through the website Moments in Time, which also has two other Obama White House letters for sale. Those letters are going for $12,500 each.
?I wrote to Malik and didn?t know if I would get a response. I was astonished when I did. I sent a letter to a post office box in Kenya,? website curator Gary Zimet told the Post. ?These letters show great interest on the president?s part in his family. They are priced at $15,000 each. We didn?t go too much into Malik?s relationship with his half-brother. I got a sense it was cordial but not overly warm.?
Obama?s half-brother has periodically made news since his famous younger sibling first entered the national spotlight. In March, Malik made an unsuccessful foray into politics, running for mayor of Kenya?s western county of Siaya.
"I can't run away from my name and association with my brother, but I have the feeling that people somewhat want to see who the brother of Obama is," Malik said at the time.
And now, it appears that Malik is doing just the opposite of running from the president?s fame by making a direct bid to profit from his family ties.
Of course, Malik isn?t the first half-brother to latch on to the president?s status for personal gain. For example, Roger Clinton has literally made a career cashing in on his proximity to former President Bill Clinton, embarking on various professional outings as a musician and actor.
May 23, 2013 ? Magnetars -- the dense remains of dead stars that erupt sporadically with bursts of high-energy radiation -- are some of the most extreme objects known in the Universe. A major campaign using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and several other satellites shows magnetars may be more diverse -- and common -- than previously thought.
When a massive star runs out of fuel, its core collapses to form a neutron star, an ultradense object about 10 to 15 miles wide. The gravitational energy released in this process blows the outer layers away in a supernova explosion and leaves the neutron star behind.
Most neutron stars are spinning rapidly -- a few times a second -- but a small fraction have a relatively low spin rate of once every few seconds, while generating occasional large blasts of X-rays. Because the only plausible source for the energy emitted in these outbursts is the magnetic energy stored in the star, these objects are called "magnetars."
Most magnetars have extremely high magnetic fields on their surface that are ten to a thousand times stronger than for the average neutron star. New observations show that the magnetar known as SGR 0418+5729 (SGR 0418 for short) doesn't fit that pattern. It has a surface magnetic field similar to that of mainstream neutron stars.
"We have found that SGR 0418 has a much lower surface magnetic field than any other magnetar," said Nanda Rea of the Institute of Space Science in Barcelona, Spain. "This has important consequences for how we think neutron stars evolve in time, and for our understanding of supernova explosions."
The researchers monitored SGR 0418 for over three years using Chandra, ESA's XMM-Newton as well as NASA's Swift and RXTE satellites. They were able to make an accurate estimate of the strength of the external magnetic field by measuring how its rotation speed changes during an X-ray outburst. These outbursts are likely caused by fractures in the crust of the neutron star precipitated by the buildup of stress in a relatively strong, wound-up magnetic field lurking just beneath the surface.
"This low surface magnetic field makes this object an anomaly among anomalies," said co-author GianLuca Israel of the National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome. "A magnetar is different from typical neutron stars, but SGR 0418 is different from other magnetars as well."
By modeling the evolution of the cooling of the neutron star and its crust, as well as the gradual decay of its magnetic field, the researchers estimated that SGR 0418 is about 550,000 years old. This makes SGR 0418 older than most other magnetars, and this extended lifetime has probably allowed the surface magnetic field strength to decline over time. Because the crust weakened and the interior magnetic field is relatively strong, outbursts could still occur.
The case of SGR 0418 may mean that there are many more elderly magnetars with strong magnetic fields hidden under the surface, implying that their birth rate is five to ten times higher than previously thought.
"We think that about once a year in every galaxy a quiet neutron star should turn on with magnetar-like outbursts, according to our model for SGR 0418," said Jos? Pons of the University of Alacant in Spain. "We hope to find many more of these objects."
Another implication of the model is that the surface magnetic field of SGR 0418 should have once been very strong at its birth a half million years ago. This, plus a possibly large population of similar objects, could mean that the massive progenitor stars already had strong magnetic fields, or these fields were created by rapidly rotating neutron stars in the core collapse that was part of the supernova event.
If large numbers of neutron stars are born with strong magnetic fields then a significant fraction of gamma-ray bursts might be caused by the formation of magnetars rather than black holes. Also, the contribution of magnetar births to gravitational wave signals -- ripples in space-time -- would be larger than previously thought.
The possibility of a relatively low surface magnetic field for SGR 0418 was first announced in 2010 by a team with some of the same members. However, the scientists at that time could only determine an upper limit for the magnetic field and not an actual estimate because not enough data had been collected.
SGR 0418 is located in the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 6,500 light years from Earth. These new results on SGR 0418 appear online and will be published in the June 10, 2013 issue of The Astrophysical Journal. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.
For Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/chandra
For an additional interactive image, podcast, and video on the finding, visit: http://chandra.si.edu
May 21, 2013 ? Having the biggest playlist doesn't make a male songbird the brainiest of the bunch, a new study shows.
"For songbirds, singing a lot of songs indicates a bird is smart, but that signal is not necessarily indicative of intelligence for everything," said Duke biologist Steve Nowicki.
In a series of problem-solving tests with the birds, he and his colleagues found that the male song sparrows that sang the most songs learned to solve food-finding puzzles more slowly than the birds singing fewer songs. The results are the first to show that a larger song repertoire links to cognitive deficits in other mental processes.
The researchers think that female song sparrows may use potential mates' songs to gauge both mental strengths and weaknesses.
Since birdsong is a good model for studying speech development, the findings, published May 22 in Biology Letters, could also help neuroscientists better understand the trade-offs taking place as the human brain matures.
Nowicki and collaborators first measured the number of songs 14 male song sparrows sang. They then taught the birds to identify where a mealworm was hidden in one of 12 shallow wells on a wooden rectangle. The scientists put plastic caps over six wells so that the birds had to learn and remember spatially where the worm was on the wooden block.
The birds that learned to solve the food puzzle more quickly sang fewer songs -- an observation opposite of what the scientists expected.
"This study is very exciting," said University of Nevada-Reno biologist Vladimir Pravosudov, who was not involved in the study. "It is the first of its kind to show a negative correlation between song repertoire size and spatial memory in songbirds, and it goes against the grain of what many scientists had thought about the relationship between song and other cognitive abilities in birds."
Earlier studies with starlings had shown that the birds with larger playlists learned to solve spatial tasks more quickly. Other studies had also shown that a bird that sang more songs performed better on other cognitive tasks.
This newly discovered negative relationship between the number of songs a bird sings and speed of solving a spatial task suggests there is a trade-off between song learning and other cognitive abilities, Nowicki said.
He noted one caveat with the experiment -- the fact that song sparrows don't cache their food or migrate long distances. Both require advanced spatial learning and memory, but the ability isn???t as important for sparrows as it is for blue jays and other species.
Still, the negative correlation suggests birds' brains may develop differently depending on how much effort is put toward learning songs or doing other mental tasks. Song learning happens in the HVC, the area of the bird's brain that controls song. Spatial learning happens in the hippocampus. During development, more resources may go to one area or the other, giving an individual bird a strength in one cognitive ability and a weakness in the other, Nowicki said.
The study supports the idea of trade-offs in the development of the birds' brains. But, "this behavioral data is only tip of iceberg," Pravosudov said. Scientists will need to look at the structures, circuits and chemicals in the birds' brains to better understand mechanistically what the new results mean for brain development.
Nowicki agrees and said his team may perform those experiments next. If the work pans out, he added, scientists could one day use songbirds and birdsong to better understand how trade-offs in brain development influence behavior and cognition in humans too.
MONDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) ? Long-acting inhaled medications used by millions of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may raise the risk of cardiovascular complications among older patients, a new large Canadian study reveals.
The finding centers around patients over age 65 who are prescribed long-acting bronchodilators ? either anticholinergics (such as Spiriva) or beta-agonists (such as Serevent). Both medications are commonly used to relieve the shortness of breath that characterizes moderate to severe COPD and to improve lung function.
The team found that compared with patients who do not use either medication, those using either of these bronchodilators face a notably higher risk for experiencing a cardiac event, such as heart attack or heart failure.
?The bad news is that, although everybody?s different, there?s a chance that by using these long-acting bronchodilators you may have a mild to moderate risk for cardiovascular problems,? said study lead author Dr. Andrea Gershon, a scientist and respirologist in the department of medicine at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto. ?The good news is that each of the medications we looked at can also help you if you have COPD.?
Gershon said she wouldn?t recommend a medication if she didn?t think that the benefits outweighed the risks. ?And I do. But at the same time I feel the choice has to be made on an individual basis,? she said. ?And there?s an obligation to inform our patients that the risk is there, based on the best evidence we have available, which is this study.?
The study appears in the May 20 online edition of JAMA Internal Medicine.
More than one-quarter of Americans over the age of 35 have COPD, which is the nation?s number one cause of hospitalization due to chronic illness and the third most common cause of death. Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are commonly associated with COPD.
At issue is not the effectiveness of long-acting bronchodilators. Though they do not slow down disease progression, such medications have long been viewed as solid first-line interventions that help improve a patient?s overall quality of life. There is no cure for COPD.
Out of concern over drug-related cardiovascular implications, the study team pored through health care database records for more than 191,000 Ontario residents aged 66 and up, all of them COPD patients newly prescribed long-acting bronchodilator medication at some point between 2003 and 2009.
The investigators found that during the study time frame, 28 percent of the patients experienced a cardiovascular ?event? that resulted in their being taken to an emergency department and/or being hospitalized.
Both long-acting medications were linked to a higher risk for experiencing events such as a heart attack or heart failure. Neither drug was linked, however, to a boost in the risk for an irregular heart rhythm or stroke. (Use of anticholinergics appeared to offer a measure of protection against ischemic stroke among newly prescribed users, something not found among beta-agonist users.)
In sum, the authors said the findings indicated that all COPD patients using either type of medication need to be closely monitored for signs of related heart trouble.
?The thing is that we tend to treat diseases as if they?re each in a silo,? said Gershon, ?but in reality they all interact with one another. People with COPD have a number of co-morbidities [or co-existing conditions]. And cardiovascular disease is one of the major ones. So questions regarding risk of this kind are very important for this type of patient population.?
Dr. Prescott Woodruff, author of an accompanying editorial and a pulmonologist and critical care specialist at University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, suggested that while the fresh findings are ?provocative,? much of the prior research has indicated the inhalers are safe to use.
?This study suggests that these dilators might have cardiovascular side effects,? he acknowledged, ?but it doesn?t really prove the point. And, meanwhile, there have been some really, really big clinical trials, done under very controlled conditions, which support the safety of these drugs.?
It?s possible that those studies may have excluded people with heart disease, Woodruff noted. ?So perhaps this research is offering a more real-life point of view,? he added, but admitted he?s skeptical.
Patients should never stop taking a medication without talking to their doctor first, he said. ?But it?s certainly worth discussing,? Woodruff added.
Although the study found an association between the use of long-acting bronchodilators and cardiovascular complications in older patients, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
More information
For more on COPD, visit the American Thoracic Society.
People missing after 16 tornadoes tore through north Texas on Wednesday have all been found alive, authorities report. As officials and residents assess the damage, they are keeping a wary eye on the weekend forecast.
By Allison Terry,?Correspondent / May 17, 2013
Emergency personnel look through debris near Granbury, Texas, on Thursday. Sixteen tornadoes touched down in several small communities in Texas Wednesday night, leaving at least six people dead. Officials report that all people reported as missing have been found.
Rex C. Curry/AP
Enlarge
North Texas residents who were reported missing after an outbreak of severe tornadoes Wednesday have all been found alive.
Skip to next paragraph Allison Terry
Correspondent
Allison Terry works on national news desk for the Christian Science Monitor. She also contributes to the culture section and Global News blog.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said Friday that all missing people are accounted for, and the death toll is unlikely to rise above six adults.
Surveying the extensive destruction in Granbury, Texas, residents and volunteers say they are surprised that more people were not killed or seriously injured.
?The good Lord was busy [Wednesday] night,? Red Cross volunteer Ray Fishercord told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.?
?Most of the homes had people in them when the tornado hit, and most of the people said they couldn?t believe what happened. The American Legion Hall at the bottom of the hill looked like a triage scene from 'M*A*S*H.' ?
An EF-4 category tornado hit Granbury, carrying winds of 166 to 200 m.p.h. and creating a path of destruction spanning 100 yards wide and a mile long. The highest tornado rating is an EF-5, which produces winds faster than 200 m.p.h.
Residents in the Rancho Brazos neighborhood ? where more than 70 homes were damaged or destroyed ? were evacuated, and authorities said it not clear when they will be able to survey the damage.
"I can't see them being able to get anyone in the area," said Hood County sheriff's spokesman Nathan Stringer. "That area is utterly devastated. I was in there for a couple of hours and I didn't see anything untouched. It was one big debris field."
Amanda Hernandez was at home with her husband and three children, but the warnings on TV didn?t really worry her. The sirens went off about 15 minutes before the tornado hit, so the family hid in a closet.
?It seemed like it lasted for an hour,? she told the Star-Telegram, describing the pounding hail and train-like sound of the twister. Her house lost half its roof, and she said her neighborhood is unrecognizable.
?You could see across where houses were supposed to be,? Ms. Hernandez said.
The Granbury tornado was one of at least 16 confirmed tornadoes that broke out across north Texas Wednesday, which is more than the 10 originally reported.
An EF-3 tornado (with winds ranging from 136 to 164 m.p.h.) hit the town of Cleburne, destroying numerous homes, but officials reported no major injuries or fatalities.
Meteorologist Harold Brooks, who works at National Severe Storms Labratory in Norman, Okla., said he expects 2013 to have one of the lowest levels of tornado-related deaths since the lab began tracking such fatalities in 1954. This is the furthest into tornado season that significant tornadoes have started, he told the Star-Telegram.
The forecast, however, includes a chance for additional storms in the area this weekend, the Weather Channel reports. There are several components in the mix that create tornado conditions: a dip in the jet stream as it moves east from the Rockies, intensifying low-pressure systems, and warm moisture moving inland from the Gulf of Mexico.
Thunderstorms, hail storms, and potential tornadoes are possible for Oklahoma, the Dakotas, Missouri, Nebraska, and parts of northern Texas throughout the weekend and possibly into Tuesday.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Mathematicians analyze social divisions using cell phone dataPublic release date: 16-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Brown sdbrown@ucsd.edu 858-246-0161 University of California - San Diego
Differences divide us. Human society fractures along lines defined by politics, religion, ethnicity, and perhaps most fundamentally, language. Although these differences contribute to the great variety of human lives, the partitions they create can lead to conflict and strife, impeding efforts toward social justice and economic development.
David Meyer, professor of mathematics at the University of California, San Diego, has been developing new ways of understanding how characteristics like ethnicity and religion coincide to define communities and ultimately influence our actions.
"I've been thinking about mathematical aspects of political conflict for a couple of years," Meyer said. "Civil war results from this. Understanding how civil wars spread relies on understanding social divisions."
Meyer's group of research scientists, postdocs and students in mathematics and political science has developed a new way to characterize the relationships among communities defined by different characteristics such as language or religion.
Their efforts to mathematically describe these different geographies won the prize for Best Scientific project in the French telecommunications company Orange's Data for Development (D4D) Challenge. Their project was recognized at the NetMob conference on May 1, 2013 for proposing an innovative methodology, addressing a new question, and for relevant, original findings.
They validated their approach in Cte d'Ivoire, where French is the national language, yet more than 70 regional languages are spoken as well. Nearly 85 percent of people living there use cell phones.
Using data provided by Orange, they mapped connections among 1216 cell phone towers for five months. The volume of calls passed from one tower to the next revealed "communities" of antennas based on strengths of the connections, a geographical map of who talks with whom throughout the country.
"It's a measure of interactions, finely resolved," Meyer said.
They compared this to a second map of which languages are spoken by the majority of people in each region. With 60 different languages spoken by local majorities, the comparison was computationally intensive.
The two maps closely agree. It's no surprise given the likelihood of talking most often with those who share your language, but their measure also sorts out an often-confounding factor: proximity.
"It applies to comparing any two maps," Meyer said. "Nearby locations are likely to be in the same category. Even with this adjustment to the comparison, we found an extremely strong association."
Their results show that telecommunications data could provide information about language communities in places where those languages haven't been studied and mapped as completely as they have in Cte d'Ivoire.
More generally, their method can be used to estimate the significance of associations between geographic divisions that arise from other factors as well.
###
The team includes Orest Bucicovschi, Rex Douglass, Megha Ram, David Rideout and Dongjin Song. Support for the project came from the Office of Naval Research, a Department of Defense Minerva grant through the Army Research Office, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Science Foundation.
###
[ | 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.
Mathematicians analyze social divisions using cell phone dataPublic release date: 16-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Brown sdbrown@ucsd.edu 858-246-0161 University of California - San Diego
Differences divide us. Human society fractures along lines defined by politics, religion, ethnicity, and perhaps most fundamentally, language. Although these differences contribute to the great variety of human lives, the partitions they create can lead to conflict and strife, impeding efforts toward social justice and economic development.
David Meyer, professor of mathematics at the University of California, San Diego, has been developing new ways of understanding how characteristics like ethnicity and religion coincide to define communities and ultimately influence our actions.
"I've been thinking about mathematical aspects of political conflict for a couple of years," Meyer said. "Civil war results from this. Understanding how civil wars spread relies on understanding social divisions."
Meyer's group of research scientists, postdocs and students in mathematics and political science has developed a new way to characterize the relationships among communities defined by different characteristics such as language or religion.
Their efforts to mathematically describe these different geographies won the prize for Best Scientific project in the French telecommunications company Orange's Data for Development (D4D) Challenge. Their project was recognized at the NetMob conference on May 1, 2013 for proposing an innovative methodology, addressing a new question, and for relevant, original findings.
They validated their approach in Cte d'Ivoire, where French is the national language, yet more than 70 regional languages are spoken as well. Nearly 85 percent of people living there use cell phones.
Using data provided by Orange, they mapped connections among 1216 cell phone towers for five months. The volume of calls passed from one tower to the next revealed "communities" of antennas based on strengths of the connections, a geographical map of who talks with whom throughout the country.
"It's a measure of interactions, finely resolved," Meyer said.
They compared this to a second map of which languages are spoken by the majority of people in each region. With 60 different languages spoken by local majorities, the comparison was computationally intensive.
The two maps closely agree. It's no surprise given the likelihood of talking most often with those who share your language, but their measure also sorts out an often-confounding factor: proximity.
"It applies to comparing any two maps," Meyer said. "Nearby locations are likely to be in the same category. Even with this adjustment to the comparison, we found an extremely strong association."
Their results show that telecommunications data could provide information about language communities in places where those languages haven't been studied and mapped as completely as they have in Cte d'Ivoire.
More generally, their method can be used to estimate the significance of associations between geographic divisions that arise from other factors as well.
###
The team includes Orest Bucicovschi, Rex Douglass, Megha Ram, David Rideout and Dongjin Song. Support for the project came from the Office of Naval Research, a Department of Defense Minerva grant through the Army Research Office, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Science Foundation.
###
[ | 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.
NASA will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the launch of Skylab, America's first space station, on Tuesday (May 14), but you might be surprised where this icon of U.S. human spaceflight ended up.
After hosting rotating astronaut crews from 1973-1974, the?Skylab space station?eventually fell back to Earth in pieces that landed in Australia. Now, decades later, many of those pieces are on display at Australian museums, offering a fascinating glimpse into America's first stab at living in space.
From May 1973 to February 1974,?Skylabsaw a trio of three-man crews take up residence aboard the outpost, before it was abandoned with the plan of possibly using the space shuttle (then under development) to reactivate the laboratory. But with no way to reboost Skylab to a higher orbit to keep it aloft, and delays in getting the shuttle off the ground , the space station re-entered the Earth?s atmosphere over the southern Indian Ocean in 1979, with pieces landing inland along the south coast of Western Australia. [See more photos of Skylab's remains in Australia]
The mostly?uncontrolled re-entry?was a media sensation at the time, with newspapers offering prizes for the first debris found and to persons impacted by falling pieces. NASA's attempt at sending Skylab into the Indian Ocean, out of harm's way, proved only somewhat successful, and the spacecraft entered several minutes earlier than predicted, slightly off course.
Several large chunks and dozens of smaller pieces of Skylab survived the fiery plunge through the atmosphere and impacted the ground in the Australian outback over a large swath centered around the community of Balladonia on the Nullarbor Plain. The largest pieces included the oxygen tanks designed to keep the crew alive during their stays.
Skylab on display
Visitors can almost miss?Skylab. Tucked away in a large display case in a small city museum, the remains of what fell from the sky on July 11, 1979, can be found in Esperance, a port town with less than 10,000 inhabitants located 450 miles from Perth, which is the only major city in the western half of the sparsely populated country. Esperance was directly under the path of Skylab's re-entry. [How NASA's Skylab Space Station Worked (Infographic)]
On the outside, the corrugated metal walls and roof of the museum have the appearance of four long warehouses. That's because the Esperance Municipal Museum, founded in 1976 on the site of a former railroad yard, is composed of converted train equipment sheds.
From the main road along the waterfront in Esperance, a small blue and yellow sign hung on the side of the building is all that denotes it as a "museum," and a larger hanging billboard makes note of the main attraction inside: "In 1979, a spaceship crashed over Esperance. We fined them $400 for littering." A stamp next to it reads, "PAID IN FULL."
It's true. The local government slapped NASA with a comical $400 bill for the cleanup, though the U.S. space agency never officially paid up. However, on the 30th anniversary of the crash in 2009, a radio host for Highway Radio in California and Nevada used his program to raise the funds and put a formal end to the complaint. The paycheck now hangs above the remains.
Spacecraft remains
Around the front of the museum, a large model of the space station sits at a sharp angle atop a pedestal. A plaque on the side describes the space station and what happened along this lonely coastline a few decades ago.
Inside, most of what remains of Skylab can be found in a large Plexiglas-enclosed display case. The largest oxygen tank sits on the floor adjacent to it, wrapped in plastic. Inside the case, the largest intact pieces are displayed at center. These include the space station's storage freezer for food and other items, a water tank, nitrogen spheres for the station?s attitude control system thrusters and a piece of what is identified as a portion of the hatch the astronauts would have crawled through during their visits. Many smaller pieces of debris are laid out around the larger chunks, each labeled and identified where possible.
Several news articles and photographs circle the case, including photos showing the actual re-entry taken by locals and one featured in a National Geographic story from October 1979. The oversized check created by the Nevada radio station, which was used to pay the litter fine, sits proudly above it, and a proclamation from Barstow proclaiming July 13, 2009, as "Shire of Esperance/Skylab Day" lies mounted on a plaque alongside a key to the city.
Portions of the debris were sent elsewhere to be displayed, such as in the United States and Sydney. And it is possible that other pieces of debris remain in the remote outback, still waiting to be found.
If you visit Skylab
If you are visiting Western Australia, the Esperance Municipal Museum is located on James Street, between the waterfront Esplanade and Dempster Street. There is a $4 admission fee. Allow 30 minutes if your goal is to see Skylab only.
Another of the large oxygen tanks that survived Skylab's fall to Earth?is on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney also a portion of a titanium sphere in its collection, but it is not believed to be on display right now.
Follow us on Twitter?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?and?Google+. Original article on?SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
May 13, 2013 ? Your brain often works on autopilot when it comes to grammar. That theory has been around for years, but University of Oregon neuroscientists have captured elusive hard evidence that people indeed detect and process grammatical errors with no awareness of doing so.
Participants in the study -- native-English speaking people, ages 18-30 -- had their brain activity recorded using electroencephalography, from which researchers focused on a signal known as the Event-Related Potential (ERP). This non-invasive technique allows for the capture of changes in brain electrical activity during an event. In this case, events were short sentences presented visually one word at a time.
Subjects were given 280 experimental sentences, including some that were syntactically (grammatically) correct and others containing grammatical errors, such as "We drank Lisa's brandy by the fire in the lobby," or "We drank Lisa's by brandy the fire in the lobby." A 50 millisecond audio tone was also played at some point in each sentence. A tone appeared before or after a grammatical faux pas was presented. The auditory distraction also appeared in grammatically correct sentences.
This approach, said lead author Laura Batterink, a postdoctoral researcher, provided a signature of whether awareness was at work during processing of the errors. "Participants had to respond to the tone as quickly as they could, indicating if its pitch was low, medium or high," she said. "The grammatical violations were fully visible to participants, but because they had to complete this extra task, they were often not consciously aware of the violations. They would read the sentence and have to indicate if it was correct or incorrect. If the tone was played immediately before the grammatical violation, they were more likely to say the sentence was correct even it wasn't."
When tones appeared after grammatical errors, subjects detected 89 percent of the errors. In cases where subjects correctly declared errors in sentences, the researchers found a P600 effect, an ERP response in which the error is recognized and corrected on the fly to make sense of the sentence.
When the tones appear before the grammatical errors, subjects detected only 51 percent of them. The tone before the event, said co-author Helen J. Neville, who holds the UO's Robert and Beverly Lewis Endowed Chair in psychology, created a blink in their attention. The key to conscious awareness, she said, is based on whether or not a person can declare an error, and the tones disrupted participants' ability to declare the errors. But, even when the participants did not notice these errors, their brains responded to them, generating an early negative ERP response. These undetected errors also delayed participants' reaction times to the tones.
"Even when you don't pick up on a syntactic error your brain is still picking up on it," Batterink said. "There is a brain mechanism recognizing it and reacting to it, processing it unconsciously so you understand it properly."
The study was published in the May 8 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
The brain processes syntactic information implicitly, in the absence of awareness, the authors concluded. "While other aspects of language, such as semantics and phonology, can also be processed implicitly, the present data represent the first direct evidence that implicit mechanisms also play a role in the processing of syntax, the core computational component of language."
It may be time to reconsider some teaching strategies, especially how adults are taught a second language, said Neville, a member of the UO's Institute of Neuroscience and director of the UO's Brain Development Lab.
Children, she noted, often pick up grammar rules implicitly through routine daily interactions with parents or peers, simply hearing and processing new words and their usage before any formal instruction. She likened such learning to "Jabberwocky," the nonsense poem introduced by writer Lewis Carroll in 1871 in "Through the Looking Glass," where Alice discovers a book in an unrecognizable language that turns out to be written inversely and readable in a mirror.
For a second language, she said, "Teach grammatical rules implicitly, without any semantics at all, like with jabberwocky. Get them to listen to jabberwocky, like a child does."
The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health supported the research (grant 5R01DC000128).
It's hard to imagine the interview game without Barbara Walters as a major player. Walters, 83, confirmed Monday that she'll be retiring from TV appearances in 2014.
No more Walters? She's been on television for a half-century, longer than many of her current co-workers have even been alive, and she's given us plenty of memorable moments along the way. Here's a look at four of them.
Baba Wawa Walters was famously imitated on "Saturday Night Live" by the comedy legend Gilda Radner back in the 1970s. Walters confessed she didn't like the impersonation at first. "I don't talk that way, and I do pronounce my Rs," Walters recalled thinking, though she said she loved Radner anyway. Walters was parodied by others of course -- including Rachel Dratch on "30 Rock" -- but Baba Wawa became legend.
What kind of tree are you? It's perhaps the most famous goofy reporter question, but it wasn't all Walters' idea. She was interviewing Katharine Hepburn in 1981 and Hepburn compared herself to a tree, so Walters went there: "What kind of tree are you?" she asked the legendary actress, hastening to add, "If you think you're a tree." (Hepburn chose an oak, over a Dutch Elm disease-stricken elm.) She was never allowed to live down that question, with even Johnny Carson teasing her about it, and proclaiming that he would be a tumbleweed.
Monica Lewinsky: 'Sometimes I hate his guts' Walters has interviewed world leaders and movie stars, but she herself says her most-watched interview came in March of 1999, when she sat down with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, whose affair with Bill Clinton while he was president became a worldwide scandal. "Sometimes I have warm feelings (for Clinton), sometimes I'm proud of him still, and sometimes I hate his guts," Lewinsky told Walters. In an odd sidenote to the interview, the lipstick Lewinsky wore -- Club Monaco's Glaze, no longer made -- became a huge bestseller after the interview was seen nationally.
????????????? Vladimir Putin: Did you ever order anyone killed?
She may inquire about trees and romantic relationships, but Walters isn't shy about playing hardball with world leaders. The journalist met with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in 2001 and called him "remarkably open." She asked him about how he felt when he saw news of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks (angry, and guilty for not being able to prevent them). And then she dropped a bombshell. "I'm going to ask you a terrible question," she warned. "Did you ever order anyone killed?" Putin answered right away: "Nyet."
Your View About Social Network Love? by Mehlena(f): 2:16pm On May 10
I mean going into a relationship with someone you met on social network >>f.b,2go,watsapp,twitter
do you think such relationships could last??
Seeking your opinion... Gratias!
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by Dyt(f): 2:20pm On May 10
Relationships are same, no matter where u meet
11 Likes
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by Kaxmytex(m): 2:29pm On May 10
relationship with someone u met on social ntwrk na black market o
datz all
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by eyenCalabar(m): 2:53pm On May 10
Matured people don't engage in such relationships. It doesn't make sense.
1 Like
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by iebanehita(m): 3:16pm On May 10
eyenCalabar: Matured people don't engage in such relationships. It doesn't make sense.
You are partially wrong.
It works for some, it doesn't for others. Jt knw where your strength lies.
6 Likes
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by DailyNews(m): 3:19pm On May 10
records show that very very very few of relationships started from the internet live long and stay faithful....maybe yours might make the list of the very very few that will be successful if luck is on your side....but of the truth, it hardly works cos most people that go on social networks to seek for love are mostly- stay-at-home teenagers with less exposure abt life, over aged people with hidden intentions, and ppl with less opportunities, and sometimes opportunists...but some do end successful, negligible number though. goodluck
2 Likes
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by Afolayinka(f): 4:43pm On May 10
It is fake n does nt last at all
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by Princeparix(m): 4:55pm On May 10
Afolayinka: It is fake n does nt last at all
na lie> the main ingredient of any relationship is love and understanding. Seems your speaking out of a hrtbroken experience. Ndo
6 Likes
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by butta(m): 6:01pm On May 10
Social network relationship is a relationship based on fraud , deceit and it is a ONE CHANCe. Go into it at your own risk
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by Moji12: 6:34pm On May 10
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by shizzle11(m): 10:06am On May 11
It could be a pure success or total failure. People have met on social netwrk, married and living happily as a family. It depends on the individuals involved and the objective the have in mind.
Good luck to you!
8 Likes
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by ogugua88(f): 10:12am On May 11
It works for some and it may not work for others. Meeting someone in person isn't a sure route to a successful relationship and/or happiness. Divorce rates and relationship failures were high before the introduction of social networking. People scam and manipulate in the real world just like they do online.
Anyone trying it has nothing to lose. If you be yourself, you may be lucky and find someone who's genuine as well. As aforementioned, some of the key ingredients for a successful relationship are love and understanding. Those things aren't exclusive to "real" life.
8 Likes
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by shizzle11(m): 10:36am On May 11
butta: Social network relationship is a relationship based on fraud , deceit and it is a ONE CHANCe. Go into it at your own risk
Don't say what you do not know. Many business r/ship from SN have ended up being a fraud, just as many others have proved to be successful, same goes for romantic r/ships.
Again, it depends on the persons involved and the intentions they both have in mind. Bear in mind, life in itself, is a risk.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
1 Like
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by pc guru(m): 4:21pm On May 11
Dyt: Relationships are same, no matter where u meet
wow that was deep and true
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by Texas.Cowgirl: 4:25pm On May 11
A level of respect, patience and mutual trust is needed to maintain it. But it's rather unfortunate that many do not own up to those characteristics nowadays.
It works for some and doesn't for others.
Social network romance has come to stay. As long as technology continues to advance, so will online communication.
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by harkingholar: 4:26pm On May 11
Kaxmytex:relationship with someone u met on social ntwrk na black market o
datz all
case dismiss.
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by ArQueBusieR(m): 4:28pm On May 11
I don't care. ? I got real love, and she's amazing. ?
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by houstonia(m): 4:30pm On May 11
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by tefund(m): 4:30pm On May 11
Mehlena: I mean going into a relationship with someone you met on social network >>f.b,2go,watsapp,twitter<<
do you think such relationships could last??
Seeking your opinion... Gratias!
not recommended
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by candygosh(f): 4:30pm On May 11
It ccould be fascinating, shocking, suspensefilled, fun, intriguing, blessing-in disguise, and also ur worse nightmare. Anyone!
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by baibijay(f): 4:31pm On May 11
well it works.
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by 2legit2qwt(f): 4:33pm On May 11
Mehlena: I mean going into a relationship with someone you met on social network >>f.b,2go,watsapp,twitter<<
do you think such relationships could last??
Seeking your opinion... Gratias!
WTF is social network love If you're referring to meeting someone through Nairaland the social media, it's the same as meeting someone at the bar, in church or at the store. It's now part of our lives so i don't see any reason why you can't meet people there for love. You have to be careful anywhere you meet people and use your brain either ways
The question whether or not they are real and true to what they portray can be raised in all the avenues where you meet people. A person's true color will come out as the same eventually regardless of where you meet them.
2 Likes
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by Raypawer(m): 4:33pm On May 11
As for me, Not ideal! ESP in 9ja, cos scam rate is high...
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by PAGAN 9JA(m): 4:34pm On May 11
its dangerous for girls especially. girls keep away from such relationships. unless you want to end up gettin r.aped.
1 Like
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by PAGAN 9JA(m): 4:34pm On May 11
for boys, the dangerous issue is that you might be scammed and looted of all your hard-earned money. so be careful.
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by slimyem: 4:35pm On May 11
Texas.Cowgirl:
It works for some and doesn't for others.
Social network romance has come to stay. As long as technology continues to advance, so will online communication.
.... And relationship.
1 Like
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by zeanslim(m): 4:36pm On May 11
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by tspun(m): 4:36pm On May 11
small children relationship.
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by Dyt(f): 4:37pm On May 11
PAGAN 9JA: its dangerous for girls especially. girls keep away from such relationships. unless you want to end up gettin r.aped.
And u think these don't happen in real life? Bfs dat uses gf for rituals nko? molestation dem n all sorts
I hav had/shared love online and I must admit its fantastic So true n pure
3 Likes
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by slimyem: 4:38pm On May 11
Nothing wrong with it. The same people found online are the everyday people we see offline.
6 Likes
Re: Your View About Social Network Love? by eagle,eye: 4:39pm On May 11
So many negative comments. Like someone already pointed, it does not matter where you two meet. What matters is whether you people have what it takes to be true and honest with each other.
Good intentions to avoid smoking never go anywhere unless these are along with action. So, keep reading from the following paragraphs for ideas will finally quit once and for all, now as an alternative to from the distant future. Then you can certainly place them to make use of on a daily basis and quit for good.
To further improve your odds of quitting smoking, create a list of pros and cons about stopping. By simply allowing the list, you?ll improve your mood. Additionally, it may motivate to forge ahead, and may make quitting less complicated by allowing you and Dr. John Xuyxm to keep the eyes on the prize.
Make sure you get sufficient sleep because you try and stop smoking. A lot of people discover that whenever they stay up late, they?re more probable to crave cigarettes. Late nights offer the chance to sneak a cigarette when nobody is looking. Optimize your overall health minimizing your cravings by sleeping for at least 8 hours per night.
Look for a support group that may help you stop smoking. It can be very helpful to network with folks who are your location, and view the physical and emotional challenges that you are going through. You are going to receive wonderful advice and support readily available sorts of people while they have been around in your shoes before. Organizations are available in many places, such as your church, rec center or college, check around.
Whatever, you have to take a look at quitting 1 day at a time. Quitting can be quite a lengthy process. You simply can?t worry about the longer term. Changing today could make your future brighter, so bring your quitting goal a measure at a time and check out your very best being strong during the entire whole process.
If you can?t give up smoking all at once, use nicotine replacement therapies, such as patches, sprays, inhalers, or gum. These nicotine replacements will allow you to quit by supplying your body which has a little bit of the drug to help curb withdrawal.
The fitness of your family is dependent upon you to stop smoking cigarettes. Secondhand smoke is shown to be dangerous as it causes cancer, along with other medical problems. Quitting would mean you?re sparing your entire family from a use of maladies. You will not only be saving your own life, you may be maintaining your family members healthy.
Come up with new plans for dealing with stress. While confronting stress, many smokers light up as if automatically. If you have a plan about what you will do instead, you are more prone to avoid smoking. Use a lots of ideas, but if your initial idea does not help.
The first few era of any quit-smoking attempt could be the hardest. From the first two days, your system will eliminate all the nicotine you?ve consumed. As soon as you get through the initial week, however, the bulk of the cravings will likely be primarily psychological. It?s going to always be difficult, though the craving can get less after some time.
Stop smoking cigarettes immediately! Do not try to create a date to relinquish money for hard times, make today the morning! By quitting now, you reduce your risk of falling victim to a potentially deadly illness. The quicker you give up smoking, the previous you free all your family members from your results of secondhand smoke. This could be the thing that motivates the most to halt see more e cig best.
The very first a week without cigarettes would be the most challenging part of quitting. Bear this in mind if you feel like you simply can?t complete that first week. Through the first 48 hours, your system is going to be eliminating its buildup of nicotine. When the nicotine has run out of one?s body, you will be craving emotionally as an alternative to physically. While still difficult, this makes resisting them even less traumatic see more e cig importers.
Changing the emblem of your cigarettes will assist you to to quit. Pick a brand which has an embarrassing taste. Don´t smoke a lot more than normal or perhaps in another way. This can be the first step to quitting read more details http://www.billigecig.dk.
Smoking isn?t only unhealthy, however it is also dangerous. Some of the unwanted effects it could placed on your overall health include lung cancer, emphysema, and hear attacks. The second-hand smoke which is generated, is pretty dangerous too, and affects everyone who are around you. By implementing the thoughts you are given, you will have better possibility of getting good results with your attempt to kick the habit.
FILE - This April 7, 2013 file photo shows Carrie Underwood performing at the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Underwood will take over the theme song for "Sunday Night Football," with NBC sticking to the formula of a female country music star for its intro. Underwood steps in for Faith Hill, who announced last month that she would not be back for a seventh season. Underwood will sing a new version of "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night," the network said Tuesday, May 7. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)
FILE - This April 7, 2013 file photo shows Carrie Underwood performing at the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Underwood will take over the theme song for "Sunday Night Football," with NBC sticking to the formula of a female country music star for its intro. Underwood steps in for Faith Hill, who announced last month that she would not be back for a seventh season. Underwood will sing a new version of "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night," the network said Tuesday, May 7. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)
Carrie Underwood performs "Two Black Cadillacs" at the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 7, 2013. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Carrie Underwood will take over the theme song for "Sunday Night Football," with NBC sticking to the formula of a female country music star for its intro.
Underwood steps in for Faith Hill, who announced last month that she would not be back for a seventh season. Underwood will sing a new version of "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night," the network said Tuesday.
Producer Fred Gaudelli said that after Hill informed him in February, Underwood was the only performer he pursued. She was under consideration for the role when NBC first broadcast the Sunday night NFL games in 2006.
Pink sang the opening tune, set to Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself for Loving You," for that first season before Hill came on.
"For me, it just always seemed like something that would be fun to do," Underwood said during a conference call. "To watch Faith do it week after week, to see that hype for the game, it's something that's so cool."
Underwood plans to adapt the intro to her style, with the lyrics remaining the same. NFL stars will again appear in the video sequence.
A former "American Idol" champion and six-time Grammy winner, Underwood is married to hockey star Mike Fisher of the Nashville Predators. The 30-year-old Oklahoma native sang the national anthem at the 2010 Super Bowl.
Underwood said her husband, who's friends with several NFL players, was thrilled about her foray into his profession.
"He's a sports dude," she said. "Yeah, he plays hockey, but he definitely loves football, as do I."
The first Sunday night game is Sept. 8, when the New York Giants visit the Dallas Cowboys. "Sunday Night Football," which averaged 21.8 million viewers last season, is TV's top-rated prime-time show.
Gaudelli said he contacted Hill's reps Tuesday to let them know of the hire. Underwood said she expected to get pointers from Hill the next time they cross paths.
Underwood is signed up to star in NBC's live broadcast of "The Sound of Music" this year. While her familiarity with the network helped, she said, the two deals weren't connected.
The Senate immigration reform bill aims to apprehend 90 percent of potential border-crossers in high-risk areas within five years after passage, but Republicans question the plan.
By David Grant,?Staff writer / May 7, 2013
Sen. Marco Rubio (R) of Florida arrives at the Senate chamber for a vote on Monday. One of the immigration bill?s authors, Senator Rubio has already acknowledged that the bill will face a tough road to passage if the border security elements are not improved.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Enlarge
Senate conservatives in a hearing Tuesday took aim at a key border security element of the immigration reform bill, peppering the leaders of federal agencies charged with securing the nation?s borders to try to firm up what, exactly, counts as a secure border.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
As a Senate committee begins amending the bill this week, the concern among senators such as Sen. Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma will likely become an even greater part of the immigration reform debate ? and perhaps the shape of the final legislation ? in the weeks to come.
The reform bill?s bipartisan sponsors have vowed to pursue more Republican support for the measure. As they offer amendments, outspoken Republicans like Senator Coburn are outlining exactly what it would take to get them on board.
To pass an immigration reform measure in the GOP-lead House, Coburn pointed out?at Tuesday's hearing, ?we're going to have to do a whole lot more on what is the definition of a ?controlled border? than what is in this bill.?
?If, in fact, we really want this to happen, we have to start addressing this now,? the iconoclastic Sooner and the committee?s top GOP member said. ?And you can't have any false observations on this. The political reality is the American people want to know the border's controlled.?
To address such concerns, the bipartisan Senate bill sets a target: The US will, with the help of $4.5 billion in new border security funding, turn back or apprehend 90 percent of potential border-crossers in high-risk areas within five years after passage.
If that level of control isn?t in place within five years, the bill authorizes an additional $2 billion in funding and requires a group of border-state elected officials and community leaders to certify when the border is secure. None of the estimated 11 million undocumented people in the US will be allowed to obtain permanent residency without a certified, secure southern border, the bill says.
But Republicans aren't convinced that the Department of Homeland Security can accurately confirm that 90 percent figure. Several senators asked witnesses at the hearing: How can DHS credibly estimate how many people are trying to cross the border? Moreover, they added, why, exactly, is the bill staking so much on a seemingly arbitrary number?
Asked why 90 percent was the appropriate figure for a safe, secure America, US Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher said, ?Basically it's because ... it's an ?A.? If you're going to set a goal for border security and national security, anything less than, at a minimum, 90 percent would be untenable in terms of a goal.?
In addition, what vexes those like Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky is not any particular number but that the legislation doesn?t specify much of anything to get to the 90 percent threshold.
T-Mobile has released their Q1 2013 earnings report, and it shows good news for the carrier on the iPhone front. The iPhone 5 only launched officially on April 12, yet T-Mobile reports that they have sold around 500,000 units to new and existing customers. Perhaps coincidentally, they're also reporting an uptake in net customer additions for the quarter, standing at 576,000.
Considering we're half way through a release cycle, the numbers also show us that consumer desire for the iPhone 5 still remains pretty high. T-Mobile already had a sizeable base of iPhone customers who brought their own devices to them, and with the launch of their LTE network they'll surely be hoping that the iPhone 5 continues to post good sales numbers for them.
Also in the quarter, T-Mobile launched their new, subscription based T-Mobile TV application for iPhone, as well as finalizing the merger with Metro PCS. This all comes on the back of their dramatic "UN-Carrier" rebranding and the move away from contract plans.
When Leanna reviewed the T-Mobile iPhone 5, she found a mixed bag when it came to data speeds. LTE was good, but Edge was definitely not so good. Otherwise, it's the exact same iPhone 5 we've come to know and love. While they've no doubts sold a fair few in the last few weeks, how many of you picked one up? How happy are you with it on T-Mobile? Let us know in the comments below.
Malik Obama hopes to profit from a pair of handwritten presidential lettters. (AP)Sign up for one of President Barack Obama?s email lists, and you can receive a wealth of letters from the president, free of charge. But if you?d like copies of handwritten notes from Obama to relatives in Kenya, well, that will cost you.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 16-May-2013
Share ] 
If you're referring to meeting someone through 
