GOMA, Congo (AP) ? Fighting between the M23 rebels and the army continued for a second day Tuesday near Congo's eastern provincial capital of Goma, in clashes that have so far killed 20 people, all of them either soldiers or rebels, officials said.
A Congolese military spokesman Col. Olivier Hamuli said that the fighting in the village of Mutaho, 10 kilometers (6 miles) northeast of Goma, broke out early Tuesday after M23 rebels tried to take back positions lost to the army in fighting on Monday. In an effort to surround the rebels, he said that the Congolese army had opened a second front in Kanyaruchinya, 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Goma.
The rebels took the strategic city of Goma last November, but left 10 days later under intense international pressure. Complicating the conflict is the fact that the rebels are believed to be financed and backed by neighboring Rwanda, which is accused of sending battalions of fighters across to help M23 gain territory, according to several reports by the United Nations Group of Experts. To end the fighting, Congo's government reluctantly entered into talks with the rebels. The talks reached a dead end in recent weeks, and after a six-month lull the Congolese army and the M23 started fighting again on Monday.
"The M23 and those who support them in the region have purposely started this attack to delay peace," said government spokesman, Lambert Mende on national television on Tuesday. "The toll from the clashes, which were provoked by the mutinous M23, who are being helped by their counterparts from neighboring nations, is 16 dead, 21 injured and six captured among the ranks of the M23," he said. "While in the ranks of the FARDC (the Congolese military), there were four dead and six wounded."
The army has used heavy weapons to try to push back the rebels, including combat helicopter which bombed rebel positions on Monday. After several hours, the M23 were forced to retreat from their positions in Mutaho, northeast of Goma. Early on Tuesday morning, the rebels tried to retake Mutaho, according to Hamuli, though the rebels accuse the army of attacking first.
"Since this morning they have been bombarding us again. In Kanyaruchinya too. We are not responding for now, but we won't be able to wait much longer," said Bertrand Bisimwa, the president of the M23 movement by telephone.
The M23 rebellion began in April 2012, when hundreds of mutinous soldiers defected from the Congolese army. The soldiers were in fact former rebels belonging to a now-defunct rebel group who agreed to put down their arms following a March 23, 2009 peace deal, which paved the way for them to be integrated into the military. M23 takes its name from the date of that peace deal which they claim was not fully implemented. Country experts say the real reason for the rebellion was a fight over the control of eastern Congo's mineral riches.
In recent weeks, leaders of civic groups in Goma claim that hundreds of Rwandan troops have crossed into Congo, further fueling allegations that the rebellion is sponsored by the country's smaller but powerful neighbor. The territory controlled by the M23 is located at the border with Rwanda and Uganda.
In Kanyaruchinya and Kibati, where some of the fiercest fighting is ongoing, locals say the situation resembles what happened in November. People have been fleeing by the thousands and Kibati has become a ghost town, a village of padlocked doors.
In Goma, although a few banks had closed on Tuesday, most businesses remained open, and streets were bustling with people. International aid groups have begun discussing evacuating some of their staff, though no concrete measures have been taken yet.
___
Associated Press writer Saleh Mwanamilongo contributed to this report from Kinshasa, Congo.
Mark Twain. Frederick Douglass. Malcolm X. Jay Gatsby.
Those names are all inventions. And as is the case in America's greatest novels -- be it Invisible Man, Moby Dick, or Gatsby -- we're never quite certain about just who our protagonist is. "Call me Ishmael." Well, if you say so.
Fitzgerald was one in a long line of writers who honed in on the mystery and eccentricity of American reinvention -- and its failures. Fitzgerald just captured it best. And like the novel, Baz Luhrmann's work does so on its own terms. It is a beautiful film. Those shirts of Gatsby's so beloved by Daisy Buchanan may not be worth crying over as she does in her vapid state of euphoria. But let's not kid ourselves; those are some pretty damn nice shirts Leo DiCaprio is tossing about.
Luhrmann's film works because it gives us the stunning visuals to a place and time few of us have any memory of. And it echoes the surrealism and beauty of Fitzgerald's language. While taking its modest share of liberties with the novel, it remains largely true to it in word and spirit. And most importantly, it gets right the crushing sense of loss for what it meant (and means) to truly fail in one's quest for the American Dream.
Of course, the wealthy ensemble of Gatsby's world, much like our own host of vampire investment houses, banks, and off-shore corporate fronts, are not true participants in the so-called American Dream. They are the spinners of that dream. Fitzgerald's genius was for giving us a character loosed into that world, a part of that world, and yet cut out of it. Gatsby's tragedy is not that of Arthur Miller's Willy Loman. Loman's devastation is to crumble outside the gates of Paradise. Gatsby's is to drown a bloody mess in its sumptuous pool.
Alternatively, Gatsby's "Old Sport" tick is a reminder of our own time's encounters with impersonal virtual communication. At least Gatsby's delusions were the creation of a man seeking some sort of connectivity. Our "dude," "brother," or, for my class, the ever-hated "prof," -- are today's flaccid efforts to achieve camaraderie. They are no better than Gatsby's "Oggsford" invention of shared experience. The "Hi Prof" email salutation is not just about the loss of formality; it is about the vanity of class-based entitlement. Working class kids rarely communicate that way. They know in our highly stratified world of elite education they don't have the right to affront the rules of etiquette. Sadly, they know their place.
Knowing one's place is of course, one of the unspoken yet undeniable rules of American society. It is foolish to teach or read Gatsby as a novel of the "Roaring Twenties." What Luhrmann thankfully captures in image, sound, and performance, is that the penalty for violating that rule is timeless. And in this way, Gatsby's tragedy is our own.
That green light beckons for thee.
Saladin M. Ambar teaches American politics at Lehigh University. He is the author of How Governors Built the Modern American Presidency (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012) and the forthcoming Malcolm X at Oxford Union (Oxford University Press, February 2014). He'll be teaching The Great Gatsby in his course on American Political Thought in the fall.
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Follow Saladin Ambar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dinambar
AAA??May. 21, 2013?4:03 PM ET AP PHOTOS: Devastation, reunion in tornado wake By The Associated Press??By The Associated Press
Residents pass a destroyed car as they walk through a tornado-ravaged neighborhood Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Residents pass a destroyed car as they walk through a tornado-ravaged neighborhood Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Rebekah Stuck hugs her son, Aiden Stuck, 7, after she found him in front of the destroyed Briarwood Elementary after a tornado struck south Oklahoma City and Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. Aiden Stuck was inside the school when it was hit. (AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Nate Billings)
An aerial view of an entire neighborhood destroyed by Monday's tornado is shown Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed in the massive tornado that flattened homes and a school in Moore, on Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Lea Bessinger and her son Josh Bessinger look through the rubble of her tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
An aerial view shows Briarwood Elementary with vehicles thrown about after Monday's tornado, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed in the massive tornado that flattened homes and a school in Moore, on Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Residents sift through the remnants of their homes and parents embrace children outside a demolished elementary school. Emergency workers tend to the wounded.
Here are images of the aftermath of a powerful tornado that swept through an Oklahoma City suburb, flattening neighborhoods and killing at least 24 people.
Y Combinator's Paul Graham revealed a bunch of personnel news in a just-published blog post. Let's see if I've got everything: The incubator has added one full-time partner (Wufoo's Kevin Hale) and four part-time partners (Socialcam's Michel Seibel, Hipmunk's Steve Huffman, imeem and App.net's Dalton Caldwell and Groupon's Andrew Mason). Current partner Harj Taggar, meanwhile, is leaving "to start a new startup (in the long term) and travel the world (in the short)," but Graham writes that Taggar will stay on as a part-time partner.
We've never understood why Panasonic chose to brand its top-line tablet as the Toughbook H2, but given the hairy-chested types who build and use the gear, we're not gonna challenge 'em. The company hasn't messed too much with the Windows 7 slate, except pushing the top chip to a 2.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U and to swap out the 320GB 7,200RPM shock-mounted HDD for a 500GB model. Panasonic has also tweaked the hardware's polycarbonate-encased magnesium alloy chassis, with MIL-STD-810G1 ensuring that the gear will survive drops from six-feet, as well as IP651 weather-proofing. The 3.5-pound unit also sees its battery life pushed to seven hours and also gains boosted WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1+EDR connectivity. Once you've selected a unit, there's a hefty list of possible add-ons, including barcode scanners, smart card readers, Gobi-running 3G, LTE and GPS options. There's even a model that meets MIL-STD-461F standards for electromagnetic protection -- useful if your day job involves battling superheroes. The standard unit will set you back $3,349 and comes with a three-year international warranty, so you'd better get buttering-up your procurement manager now.
May 15, 2013 ? In ancient Greece, the city-states that waited until their own harvest was in before attacking and destroying a rival community's crops often experienced better long-term success.
It turns out that ant colonies that show similar selectivity when gathering food yield a similar result. The latest findings from Stanford biology Professor Deborah M. Gordon's long-term study of harvester ants reveal that the colonies that restrain their foraging except in prime conditions also experience improved rates of reproductive success.
Importantly, the study provides the first evidence of natural selection shaping collective behavior, said Gordon, who is also a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
A long-held belief in biology has posited that the amount of food an animal acquires can serve as a proxy for its reproductive success. The hummingbirds that drink the most nectar, for example, stand the best chance of surviving to reproduce.
But the math isn't always so straightforward. The harvester ants that Gordon studies in the desert in southeast Arizona, for instance, have to spend water to obtain water: an ant loses water while foraging, and obtains water from the fats in the seeds it eats.
The ants use simple positive feedback interactions to regulate foraging activity. Foragers wait near the opening of the nest, and bump antennae with ants returning with food. The faster outgoing foragers meet ants returning with seeds, the more ants go out to forage. (Last year, Gordon, Katie Dektar, an undergraduate, and Balaji Prabhakar, a professor of computer science and of electrical engineering at Stanford, showed that the ants' "Anternet" algorithm follows the same rules as the protocols that regulate data traffic congestion in the Internet).
Colonies differ, however, in how they use these interactions to regulate foraging. Some colonies are likely to forage less when conditions are dry. These same, more successful colonies are also more likely to forage more steadily when conditions are good.
Gordon found that it's more important for the ants to not waste water than to forage for every last piece of food. There's no survival cost to this strategy, even though the colonies sometimes forgo foraging for an entire day. Instead, not only do the colonies that hunker down on the bad days live just as long as those that go all out, they also have more offspring colonies.
"Natural selection is not favoring the behavior that sends out the most ants to get the most food, but instead regulating foraging to hold back when conditions are bad," Gordon said. "This is natural selection shaping a collective behavior exhibited by the entire colony."
Gordon's group is still investigating how the ants gauge humidity, but they have determined that the collective response of the colony to conditions is heritable from parent colony to offspring colony. Even though a daughter queen will establish her new colony so far from the parent colony that the two colonies will never interact, the offspring colonies resemble parent colonies in their sensitivity to conditions.
Although the foraging activity of the offspring colonies and the parent colony didn't entirely match up on all days, they were similar on extreme days: parent and offspring colonies made similar judgments about when to lie low or take advantage of ideal conditions.
While the region has experienced 10 to 15 years of protracted drought, and the more restrained colonies will most likely fare better reproductively as that trend continues, Gordon can't yet say whether the emphasis on sustainability evolved in response to climate change pressures.
"What's evolving here are simple rules for how ants participate in a network that regulates the collective behavior of the colony," she said.
The work is published in the May 16 issue of the journal Nature.
It's almost impossible to catch a male angler fish. Why? They don't exist for very long. When a male angler fish is born, it is a tiny creature with no digestive system. As such, it must swim to find a female angler fish as soon as possible. When it does, it bites and releases an enzyme that removes a part of her flesh allowing the male to fuse. Soon it becomes nothing but a small bump on the side of its partner. This lump stores the sperm needed for fertilization when the female is ready to reproduce.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/helder/" target="_hplink">http://www.flickr.com/photos/helder/</a>
Garter Snake
When a female garter snake is ready to mate, it releases a strong sex pheromone that drives hundreds of male gartner snakes to her location. Once there, the snakes form an intertwined pile of slithering bodies, covering the female and attempting to mate with her at the same time. This not only provides the female with a vast plethora of potential suitors, but also warmth and protection during the process.
Hippopotamus
Hippos might look lackadaisical, but don't be fooled. They're among the most dangerous animals in the world, and are highly territorial. During mating, the male will empty his bladder and bowels in the surrounding water and use his powerful tail to splash the fecal water at a female of interest.
Skip to 1:35.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/SCOTTIESPINSERVE?feature=watch" target="_hplink">http://www.youtube.com/user/SCOTTIESPINSERVE?feature=watch</a>
Camel
Male camels who are sexually aroused attract females through excessive salivation, covering their mouths in a drooling white froth. But that's not all: they also expel a pink sack from the roof of their mouths called the doula, which hangs out from the side of their mouths to attract females.
Skip to 1:13 to see the mating ritual.
Manakin
The manakin is a small bird with a startling, stage-worthy mating ritual; the Moonwalk.
White Fronted Parrot
As a part of their mating ritual, the white fronted parrot kisses its partner much like two humans might - except without the beaks. But unlike the standard french kiss, the male parrot adds a secret ingredient: vomit.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jroldenettel/" target="_hplink">http://www.flickr.com/photos/jroldenettel/</a>
Bean Weevil
The bean weevil's penis is covered in sharp spines. Its genitals severely damage the inside of the female's reproductive tract, a phenomenon known as "traumatic insemination."
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramblejungle/" target="_hplink">http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramblejungle/</a>
The Porcupine
During courtship, porcupine males stand on their hind legs and spray their partners with urine. If a female is ready to mate she will then allow the male to mount.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gander178/" target="_hplink">http://www.flickr.com/photos/gander178/</a>
Honey Bee
After ejaculation, the male honey bee's genitals break away from the body and lodge themselves inside the queen bee's reproductive tract. This acts as a plug that blocks any other worker bees from mating with the queen. This insurance, however, comes at a cost, as the male honey bee dies soon after.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheepies/" target="_hplink">http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheepies/</a>
Praying Mantis
The praying mantis is infamous for its mating ritual. During coitus a hungry or stressed female will bite off the head of its mate and use it for nourishment. Unlike common belief however, this form of "rough" mating only occurs less than a third of the time. Nevertheless, the male mantis takes a definite risk in each attempt at procreation.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonscottmeans/" target="_hplink">http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonscottmeans/</a>
The Giraffe
To check if a female giraffe is ready to mate, the male will nudge her behind with his head to induce urination. He will then taste the urine to see if she is in heat. If so, he will follow her around until she allows him to mount. Interestingly, females that find a male to be particularly attractive have been observed to urinate more.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/cabagg?feature=watch" target="_hplink">http://www.youtube.com/user/cabagg?feature=watch</a>
Argonaut
Male argonauts have a specialized tentacle, known as a hectocotylus, that holds a ball of spermatozoa on the end. In the vicinity of a female, this tentacle actually detaches from its host and swims towards the prospective mate.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/saspotato/" target="_hplink">http://www.flickr.com/photos/saspotato/</a>
Echidna
The porcupine-like echindna has a four-headed penis. Even more surprising is the coordination between the heads; they work in pairs, with only one pair active at any one time. The other pair rests, in preparation for the next round of mating.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/denis_fox/" target="_hplink">http://www.flickr.com/photos/denis_fox/</a>
Banana Slugs
Banana slugs have extremely long penises, some as long as their own body length. As hermaphrodites, two slugs will form the arrangement shown above in order to try to fertilize one another. In some cases however, a penis can get stuck in the middle of the attachment, holding two slugs together. The solution? The other slug chews it off.
The Frigate Bird
A male frigate bird inflates a large throat sack, a mating ritual that takes a lot of effort and some time. Once it inflates, the sack looks like a big pink heart. To complete the ritual the male will shake its wings and sing a mating call.
Hyena
Female hyenas are at the top of the hyena hierarchy. They are the more aggressive and dominate sex. This is because young female hyenas produce androgens, a similar hormone to testosterone, which increases aggression and competitiveness. It also enlarges the genitalia, creating a seven inch clitoris, or pseudo-penis. This gets tricky when a male tries to mate, and means that rape is extremely difficult. What's more, females have to give birth through their enlarged clitoris, which can cause serious complications for the mother.
Skip to 1:23 in the video to get a better look.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/berenice881?feature=watch" target="_hplink">http://www.youtube.com/user/berenice881?feature=watch</a>
Brown Antechinus
The brown antechinus is renowned for its hyperactive sexuality. Male antechinuses have been known to engage in coitus for hours with a single partner, only to move onto another. Eventually the male dies, a sexual martyr, from a lack of food and rest.
After a one-week hiatus due to Disrupt (did you miss us?) we're back in the trusty TechCrunch TV studio with a brand new episode of CrunchWeek, the show where a few of us writers chat up the most interesting stories from the past seven days.
Rock metal fest, Gigantour, has announced their lineup and tour dates for this summer.
The lineup features headliners Megadeth and Black Label Society. They?ll also be joined by Device, Hellyeah, Newsted, and Death Division. The bands will be hitting up the East Coast, some of Canada, and a little bit of the West Coast.
Different tier packages are available for general admission or VIP admission. Within VIP, fans can choose the Premier Guitar VIP package or a Gold VIP package. The VIP packages include a meet and greet with Megadeth, commemorative memorabilia, an open bar before the show, amongst other goodies. Tickets are available here.
Check out the bands in your town this summer:
July 03: Gilford, NH ? Meadowbrook July 05: Uncasville, CT ? Mohegan Sun Arena July 06: Canadaigua, NY ? Marvin Sands PAC July 08: Clarkston, MI ? DTE Energy Music Theatre July 09: Chicago, IL ? Allstate Arena July 10: Youngstown, OH ? Covelli Center July 13: Lubbock, TX ? Lonestar Amphitheatre July 14: Corpus Christi, TX ? Concrete Street Amphitheatre July 16: Oklahoma City, OK ? Zoo Amphitheatre July 18: Bloomington, IL ? US Cellular Coliseum July 19: Milwaukee, WI ? Eagles Ballroom July 22: Winnipeg, MB ? MTS Center July 23: Regina, SK ? Brandt Centre July 25: Calgary, AB ? Stampede Corral July 26: Edmonton, AB ? Rexall Place July 27: Dawson Creek, BC ? EnCana Events Centre July 29: Abbotsford, BC ? Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre July 30: Everett, WA ? Comcast Arena Aug 01: West Valley City, UT ? Maverik Center Aug 02: Broomfield, CO ? 1st Bank Center Aug 04: Fargo, ND ? Scheels Arena Aug 09: Camden, NJ ? Susquehanna Bank Center Aug 11: Toronto, ON ? Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
By Elizabeth HeckerPosted in NewsBlack Label Society, Death Division, Device, Gigantour, Hellyeah, Megadeth, Newsted
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LAS VEGAS (AP) ? You can't always get what you want. Unless, perhaps, you're a member of the Green Valley High School choir and you want a chance to sing onstage with the Rolling Stones.
The Henderson school's choir will join the Stones at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night for the encore performance of their hit song, "You Can't Always Get What You Want."
Choir director Kim Ritzer said she thought it was a joke when she first got a message on Facebook from someone she didn't know inviting them to sing backup for the famous rockers. She later learned a friend who teaches music at the University of Southern California had recommended them.
"When I announced it to the kids, I think their parents were more excited than they were because some of them didn't even know who the Rolling Stones were," Ritzer told KLAS-TV (http://tinyurl.com/c7w3en4 ).
They sealed the deal with an audition via Skype for a representative of the band in London.
"I called my dad. He was screaming at me over the phone and said, 'Are you kidding me?'" said Kyle Sorenson, a freshman in the Green Valley High choir.
The 24 singers had only had two weeks to learn the song they'll perform with Mick Jagger and company Saturday night. The singers have to be at the arena by 1:30 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show, but nobody is complaining.
"I'm going around going, 'Hey, so who's performing with the Rolling Stones on Saturday?'" senior Alex Miller bragged.
"It's cool, like, a lot of my friends that are into the Rolling Stones are, like, 'Can you get me tickets?' And I'm like, 'No. sorry. It's an exclusive thing.'"
May 10, 2013 ? Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have successfully tested their novel anti-cocaine vaccine in primates, bringing them closer to launching human clinical trials.
Their study, published online by the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, used a radiological technique to demonstrate that the anti-cocaine vaccine prevented the drug from reaching the brain and producing a dopamine-induced high.
"The vaccine eats up the cocaine in the blood like a little Pac-man before it can reach the brain," says the study's lead investigator, Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, chairman of the Department of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.
"We believe this strategy is a win-win for those individuals, among the estimated 1.4 million cocaine users in the United States, who are committed to breaking their addiction to the drug," he says. "Even if a person who receives the anti-cocaine vaccine falls off the wagon, cocaine will have no effect."
Dr. Crystal says he expects to begin human testing of the anti-cocaine vaccine within a year.
Cocaine, a tiny molecule drug, works to produce feelings of pleasure because it blocks the recycling of dopamine -- the so-called "pleasure" neurotransmitter -- in two areas of the brain, the putamen in the forebrain and the caudate nucleus in the brain's center. When dopamine accumulates at the nerve endings, "you get this massive flooding of dopamine and that is the feel good part of the cocaine high," says Dr. Crystal.
The novel vaccine Dr. Crystal and his colleagues developed combines bits of the common cold virus with a particle that mimics the structure of cocaine. When the vaccine is injected into an animal, its body "sees" the cold virus and mounts an immune response against both the virus and the cocaine impersonator that is hooked to it. "The immune system learns to see cocaine as an intruder," says Dr. Crystal. "Once immune cells are educated to regard cocaine as the enemy, it produces antibodies, from that moment on, against cocaine the moment the drug enters the body."
In their first study in animals, the researchers injected billions of their viral concoction into laboratory mice, and found a strong immune response was generated against the vaccine. Also, when the scientists extracted the antibodies produced by the mice and put them in test tubes, it gobbled up cocaine. They also saw that mice that received both the vaccine and cocaine were much less hyperactive than untreated mice given cocaine.
Booster Shots to Dampen the Cocaine High
In this study, the researchers sought to precisely define how effective the anti-cocaine vaccine is in non-human primates, who are closer in biology to humans than mice.
They developed a tool to measure how much cocaine attached to the dopamine transporter, which picks up dopamine in the synapse between neurons and brings it out to be recycled. If cocaine is in the brain, it binds on to the transporter, effectively blocking the transporter from ferrying dopamine out of the synapse, keeping the neurotransmitter active to produce a drug high.
In the study, the researchers attached a short-lived isotope tracer to the dopamine transporter. The activity of the tracer could be seen using positron emission tomography (PET). The tool measured how much of the tracer attached to the dopamine receptor in the presence or absence of cocaine.
The PET studies showed no difference in the binding of the tracer to the dopamine transporter in vaccinated compared to unvaccinated animals if these two groups were not given cocaine. But when cocaine was given to the primates, there was a significant drop in activity of the tracer in non-vaccinated animals. That meant that without the vaccine, cocaine displaced the tracer in binding to the dopamine receptor. Previous research had shown in humans that at least 47 percent of the dopamine transporter had to be occupied by cocaine in order to produce a drug high. The researchers found, in vaccinated primates, that cocaine occupancy of the dopamine receptor was reduced to levels of less than 20 percent.
"This is a direct demonstration in a large animal, using nuclear medicine technology, that we can reduce the amount of cocaine that reaches the brain sufficiently so that it is below the threshold by which you get the high," says Dr. Crystal.
When the vaccine is studied in humans, the non-toxic dopamine transporter tracer can be used to help study its effectiveness as well, he adds.
The researchers do not know how often the vaccine needs to be administered in humans to maintain its anti-cocaine effect. One vaccine lasted 13 weeks in mice and seven weeks in non-human primates.
"An anti-cocaine vaccination will require booster shots in humans, but we don't know yet how often these booster shots will be needed," says Dr. Crystal. "I believe that for those people who desperately want to break their addiction, a series of vaccinations will help."
Co-authors of the study include Dr. Anat Maoz, Dr. Martin J. Hicks, Dr. Shankar Vallabhajosula, Michael Synan, Dr. Paresh J. Kothari, Dr. Jonathan P. Dyke, Dr. Douglas J. Ballon, Dr. Stephen M. Kaminsky, Dr. Bishnu P. De and Dr. Jonathan B. Rosenberg from Weill Cornell Medical College; Dr. Diana Martinez from Columbia University; and Dr. George F. Koob and Dr. Kim D. Janda from The Scripps Research Institute.
The study was funded by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
May 10, 2013 ? Our ability to assess biological diversity, ecosystem health, ecological interactions, and a wide range of other important processes is largely dependent on accurately recognizing species. However, identifying and describing species is not always a straightforward task. In some cases, a single species may show a high level of morphological variation, while in other cases, multiple morphologically similar species may be hidden under a single species name. Cryptic species, two or more distinct species that are erroneously classified under a single species name, are found in all major groups of living things.
As an alternative to traditional morphology-based species delimitation, an international research group, including scientists from Germany, Iran, Spain, and the USA, describe five new species of lichen-forming fungi from what was traditionally considered a single species using differences in DNA sequence data. The authors state that "the effective use of genetic data appears to be essential to appropriately and practically identify natural groups in some phenotypically cryptic lichen-forming fungal lineages."
The study was published in the open access journal Mycokeys.
They also provide a reference DNA sequence database for specimen identification using DNA barcoding, making specimen identification more accessible and more reliable at the same time. The application of DNA-based identification can potentially be used as a way for both specialists and nonspecialists alike to recognize species that are otherwise difficult to identify.
Lichens are commonly used to monitor ecosystem health and the impact of atmospheric pollution. In addition, some lichens are potentially valuable sources of pharmaceutical products, including antibiotics, antioxidants, etc. In spite of their occurrence in all terrestrial ecosystems and overall ecological importance, lichens are commonly overlooked. DNA barcode identification can be performed in a variety of ecological, pharmaceutical, and biomonitoring studies in order to quickly sort specimens into the correct species.
The authors argue that the use of molecular sequence data in identifying species will likely become increasingly important and routinely applied. Other disciplines such as ecology, conservation, and physiology will benefit from a more objectively based species circumscription, enabling us to interpret distribution and ecological patterns more precisely, while more accurately monitoring environmental disturbance and climate change. The authors predict that this approach will prove to be an important tool in making critical conservation-related decisions.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Pensoft Publishers. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Steven Leavitt, Fernando Fern?ndez-Mendoza, Sergio P?rez-Ortega, Mohammad Sohrabi, Pradeep Divakar, Thorsten Lumbsch, Larry St. Clair. DNA barcode identification of lichen-forming fungal species in the Rhizoplaca melanophthalma species-complex (Lecanorales, Lecanoraceae), including five new species. MycoKeys, 2013; 7 (0): 1 DOI: 10.3897/mycokeys.7.4508
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Our eyes capture everything we see. So for this week's Shooting Challenge, we're going straight for the source.
The Challenge
Photograph something reflecting in an eye.
The Technique
I know what you're thinking: "That sounds neat. I've seen shots like that before. But how were they taken?"
This is how. <? Use that tutorial, with clearly laid out diagrams, and you'll be fine. Basically, the trick is to have a strong light source on one side of the eye, your subject on the other side of the eye and a camera set taking the shot in between.
The Example
Our example is the music video for K-Conjog's QWERTY, directed by Francesco Lettieri (via PetaPixel). The content can be a bit explicit, but it does show how far you can push the technique narratively/creatively.
The Rules
0. No watermarks. They're so ugly. 1. Submissions need to be your own. 2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced. 3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot. 4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me. 5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email. 6. One submission per person. 7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below) 8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions. 9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.
Send your best photo by Monday, May 14th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Eye" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameEye.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameEyeWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!
May 9, 2013 ? Scientists have long known that control mechanisms known collectively as "epigenetics" play a critical role in human development, but they did not know precisely how alterations in this extra layer of biochemical instructions in DNA contribute to development.
Now, in the first comprehensive analysis of epigenetic changes that occur during development, a multi-institutional group of scientists, including several from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has discovered how modifications in key epigenetic markers influence human embryonic stem cells as they differentiate into specialized cells in the body. The findings were published May 9 in Cell.
"Our findings help us to understand processes that occur during early human development and the differentiation of a stem cell into specialized cells, which ultimately form tissues in the body," says co-lead author Joseph R. Ecker, a professor and director of Salk's Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory and holder of the Salk International Council Chair in Genetics.
Scientists have established that the gene expression program encoded in DNA is carried out by proteins that bind to regulatory genes and modulate gene expression in response to environmental cues. Growing evidence now shows that maintenance of this process depends on epigenetic marks such as DNA methylation and chromatin modifications, biochemical processes that alter gene expression as cells divide and differentiate from embryonic stem cells into specific tissues. Epigenetic modifications -- collectively known as the epigenome -- control which genes are turned on or off without changing the letters of the DNA alphabet (A-T-C-G), providing cells with an additional tool to fine-tune how genes control the cellular machinery.
In their study, the Salk researchers and their collaborators from several prominent research institutions across the United States examined the beginning state of cells, before and after they developed into specific cell types. Starting with a single cell type -- the H1 human embryonic stem cell, the most widely studied stem cell line to date -- the team followed the cells' epigenome from development to different cell states, looking at the dynamics in changes to epigenetic marks from one state to another. Were they methylated, an essential process for normal development, or unmethylated? What happened to the cells during development? What regulatory processes occurred in the cell lineage?
The scientists found sections of the DNA that activate regulatory genes, which in turn control the activity of other genes, tend to have different amounts of letters of the DNA alphabet, "C" and "G" specifically, depending on when these regulatory genes are turned on during development. Additionally, regulatory genes that control early development are often located on stretches of DNA called methylation valleys, or DMVs, that are generally CG rich and devoid of epigenetic chemical modifications known as methylation.
Consequently, these genes have to be regulated by another epigenetic mechanism, which the authors found were chemical changes called chromatin modifications. Chromatin is the mass of material -- DNA and proteins -- in a cell's nucleus that helps to control gene expression.
On the other hand, genes active in more mature cells whose tissue type is already determined tend to be CG poor and regulated by DNA methylation. The results suggest that distinct epigenetic mechanisms regulate early and late states of embryonic stem cell differentiation.
"Epigenomic studies of how stem cells differentiate into distinct cell types are a great way to understand early development of animals," says Ecker, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Investigator. "If we understand how these cells' lineages originate, we can understand if something goes right or wrong during differentiation. It's a very basic study, but there are implications for being able to produce good quality cell types for various therapies."
For example, says Matthew Schultz, a graduate student in Ecker's lab, "understanding how development plays out normally could give us clues about how to reverse the process and turn normal adult cells into stem cells to regenerate tissues."
One area where the findings may help is in the study of tumor development. In normal tissue, DMVs are unmethylated, but in cancer, especially breast, colon and lung cancer, they are hypermethylated, suggesting, says Ecker, that alterations in the DNA methylation machinery might be an important mechanism aiding tumor development. He says further investigation is required to develop a greater understanding of this process.
Other researchers on the study were Matthew D. Schultz, Ryan Lister, Joseph R. Nery, Mark A. Urich and Huaming Chen, from the Salk Institute; Wei Xie, Nisha Rajagopal, R. David Hawkins, Danny Leung, Ah Young Lee, Audrey Kim, Samantha Kuan, Chia-an Yen, Sarit Klugman, Lee E. Edsall, Ulrich Wagner, Yan Li, Zhen Ye and Bing Ren of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research; Zhonggang Hou, Shulan Tian, Scott A. Swanson, Jiuchun Zhang, Pengzhi Yu, Nicholas E. Propson, Jessica E. Antosiewicz-Bourget, Ron Stewart and James A. Thomson of the Morgridge Institute for Research; Pradipta Ray Ashwinikumar Kulkarni, Zhenyu Xuan, Wen-Yu Chung and Michael Q. Zhang of the University of Texas at Dallas; John W. Whitaker, Hongbo Yang, Tao Wang, Yun Zhu, Neil C. Chi, and Wei Wang of the University of California, San Diego; and Kran Suknuntha and Igor Sluvkin of the University of Wisconsin.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health Epigenome Roadmap Project, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and the American Heart Association.
Social connections drive the 'upward spiral' of positive emotions and healthPublic release date: 9-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
People who experience warmer, more upbeat emotions may have better physical health because they make more social connections, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The research, led by Barbara Fredrickson of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Bethany Kok of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences also found it is possible for a person to self-generate positive emotions in ways that make him or her physically healthier.
"People tend to liken their emotions to the weather, viewing them as uncontrollable," says Fredrickson. "This research shows not only that our emotions are controllable, but also that we can take the reins of our daily emotions and steer ourselves toward better physical health."
To study the bodily effects of up-regulating positive emotions, the researchers zeroed in on vagal tone, an indicator of how a person's vagus nerve is functioning. The vagus nerve helps regulate heart rate and is also a central component of a person's social-engagement system.
Because people who have higher vagal tone tend to be better at regulating their emotions, the researchers speculated that having higher vagal tone might lead people to experience more positive emotions, which would then boost perceived positive social connections. Having more social connections would in turn increase vagal tone, thereby improving physical health and creating an "upward spiral."
To see whether people might be able to harness this upward spiral to steer themselves toward better health, Kok, Fredrickson, and their colleagues conducted a longitudinal field experiment.
Half of the study participants were randomly assigned to attend a 6-week loving-kindness meditation (LKM) course in which they learned how to cultivate positive feelings of love, compassion, and goodwill toward themselves and others. They were asked to practice meditation at home, but how often they meditated was up to them. The other half of the participants remained on a waiting list for the course.
Each day, for 61 consecutive days, participants in both groups reported their "meditation, prayer, or solo spiritual activity," their emotional experiences, and their social interactions within the last day. Their vagal tone was assessed twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of the study.
The data provided clear evidence to support the hypothesized upward spiral, with perceived social connections serving as the link between positive emotions and health.
Participants in the LKM group who entered the study with higher vagal tone showed steeper increases in positive emotions over the course of the study. As participants' positive emotions increased, so did their reported social connections. And, as social connections increased, so did vagal tone. In contrast, participants in the wait-list group showed virtually no change in vagal tone over the course of the study.
"The daily moments of connection that people feel with others emerge as the tiny engines that drive the upward spiral between positivity and health," Fredrickson explains.
These findings add another piece to the physical health puzzle, suggesting that positive emotions may be an essential psychological nutrient that builds health, just like getting enough exercise and eating leafy greens.
"Given that costly chronic diseases limit people's lives and overburden healthcare systems worldwide, this is a message that applies to nearly everyone, citizens, educators, health care providers, and policy-makers alike," Fredrickson observes.
###
This work was supported National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH59615.
Those interested in learning more can explore Barbara Fredrickson's recent book, Love 2.0, at http://www.PositivityResonance.com.
For more information about this study, please contact: Barbara L. Fredrickson at blf@unc.edu.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "How Positive Emotions Build Physical Health: Perceived Positive Social Connections Account for the Upward Spiral Between Positive Emotions and Vagal Tone" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
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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.
Social connections drive the 'upward spiral' of positive emotions and healthPublic release date: 9-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
People who experience warmer, more upbeat emotions may have better physical health because they make more social connections, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The research, led by Barbara Fredrickson of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Bethany Kok of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences also found it is possible for a person to self-generate positive emotions in ways that make him or her physically healthier.
"People tend to liken their emotions to the weather, viewing them as uncontrollable," says Fredrickson. "This research shows not only that our emotions are controllable, but also that we can take the reins of our daily emotions and steer ourselves toward better physical health."
To study the bodily effects of up-regulating positive emotions, the researchers zeroed in on vagal tone, an indicator of how a person's vagus nerve is functioning. The vagus nerve helps regulate heart rate and is also a central component of a person's social-engagement system.
Because people who have higher vagal tone tend to be better at regulating their emotions, the researchers speculated that having higher vagal tone might lead people to experience more positive emotions, which would then boost perceived positive social connections. Having more social connections would in turn increase vagal tone, thereby improving physical health and creating an "upward spiral."
To see whether people might be able to harness this upward spiral to steer themselves toward better health, Kok, Fredrickson, and their colleagues conducted a longitudinal field experiment.
Half of the study participants were randomly assigned to attend a 6-week loving-kindness meditation (LKM) course in which they learned how to cultivate positive feelings of love, compassion, and goodwill toward themselves and others. They were asked to practice meditation at home, but how often they meditated was up to them. The other half of the participants remained on a waiting list for the course.
Each day, for 61 consecutive days, participants in both groups reported their "meditation, prayer, or solo spiritual activity," their emotional experiences, and their social interactions within the last day. Their vagal tone was assessed twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of the study.
The data provided clear evidence to support the hypothesized upward spiral, with perceived social connections serving as the link between positive emotions and health.
Participants in the LKM group who entered the study with higher vagal tone showed steeper increases in positive emotions over the course of the study. As participants' positive emotions increased, so did their reported social connections. And, as social connections increased, so did vagal tone. In contrast, participants in the wait-list group showed virtually no change in vagal tone over the course of the study.
"The daily moments of connection that people feel with others emerge as the tiny engines that drive the upward spiral between positivity and health," Fredrickson explains.
These findings add another piece to the physical health puzzle, suggesting that positive emotions may be an essential psychological nutrient that builds health, just like getting enough exercise and eating leafy greens.
"Given that costly chronic diseases limit people's lives and overburden healthcare systems worldwide, this is a message that applies to nearly everyone, citizens, educators, health care providers, and policy-makers alike," Fredrickson observes.
###
This work was supported National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH59615.
Those interested in learning more can explore Barbara Fredrickson's recent book, Love 2.0, at http://www.PositivityResonance.com.
For more information about this study, please contact: Barbara L. Fredrickson at blf@unc.edu.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "How Positive Emotions Build Physical Health: Perceived Positive Social Connections Account for the Upward Spiral Between Positive Emotions and Vagal Tone" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
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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.
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Y Combinator's Paul Graham revealed a bunch of personnel news in 
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Public release date: 9-May-2013
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