Crowds of nearly 100,000 in St. Louis honored Iraq war veterans in the first big welcome-home parade since the last troops were withdrawn from Iraq in December.
The moving St. Louis event brought tears to the eyes of Army Major Rich Radford.
“It’s not necessarily overdue, it’s just the right thing,” said Rich Radford, a Army veteran who served 23 years in the force and walked in the parade alongside his 8-year-old daughter, Aimee, and 12-year-old son, Warren.
Rich Radford was among about 600 veterans, many dressed in camouflage, who walked along downtown streets lined with rows of people clapping and holding signs with messages including “Welcome Home” and “Thanks to our Service Men and Women”.
Fire trucks with aerial ladders hoisted huge American flags in three different places along the route, with politicians, marching bands – even the Budweiser Clydesdales – joining in.
The large crowd was clearly there to salute men and women in the military, and people cheered wildly as groups of veterans walked by.
That was the hope of organizers Craig Schneider and Tom Appelbaum.
Neither man has served in the military but came up with the idea after noticing there had been little fanfare for returning Iraq War veterans aside from gatherings at airports and military bases. No ticker-tape parades or large public celebrations.
Crowds of nearly 100,000 in St. Louis honored Iraq war veterans in the first big welcome-home parade since the last troops were withdrawn from Iraq in December
Tom Appelbaum, an attorney, and Craig Schneider, a school district technical coordinator, decided something needed to be done.
So they sought donations, launched a Facebook page, met with the mayor and mapped a route. The grassroots effort resulted in a huge turnout despite raising only about $35,000 and limited marketing.
Veterans came from around the country, and more than 100 entries – including marching bands, motorcycle groups and military units – signed up ahead of the event, Tom Appelbaum said.
Craig Schneider said he was amazed how everyone, from city officials to military organizations to the media, embraced the parade.
“It was an idea that nobody said no to,” Craig Schneider said.
“America was ready for this.”
All that effort by her hometown was especially touching for Gayla Gibson, a 38-year-old Air Force master sergeant who said she spent four months in Iraq – seeing “amputations, broken bones, severe burns from IEDs” – as a medical technician in 2003.
“I think it’s great when people come out to support those who gave their lives and put their lives on the line for this country,” Gayla Gibson said.
With 91,000 troops still fighting in Afghanistan, many Iraq veterans could be redeployed – suggesting to some that it’s premature to celebrate their homecoming.
In New York, for example, Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently said there would be no city parade for Iraq War veterans in the foreseeable future because of objections voiced by military officials.
In St. Louis, there was clearly a mood to thank the troops with something big, even among those opposed to the war.
“Most of us were not in favor of the war in Iraq, but the soldiers who fought did the right thing and we support them,” said 72-year-old Susan Cunningham, who attended the parade.
“I’m glad the war is over and I’m glad they’re home.”
Several veterans of the Vietnam War turned out to show support for the younger troops.
Among them was Don Jackson, 63, of Edwardsville, Illionis, who said he was thrilled to see the parade honoring Iraq War veterans like his son, Kevin, who joined him at the parade.
Kevin Jackson, 33, an Air Force staff sergeant said he’d lost track of how many times he had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as a flying mechanic.
“I hope this snowballs,” Kevin Jackson said of the parade. “I hope it goes all across the country. I only wish my friends who I served with were here to see this.”
Looking at all the people around him in camouflage, 29-year-old veteran Matt Wood said he felt honored. He served a year in Iraq with the Illinois National Guard.
“It’s extremely humbling, it’s amazing, to be part of something like this with all of these people who served their country with such honor,” Matt Wood said.
A new research suggests men can actually tell from a woman’s voice when she is having her period.
In a study, published in the journal Ethology, psychologists asked three groups of men to listen to voice recordings of ten women who counted from one to five – at four different points over their menstrual cycle.
All four recordings were played in a random order – and then the first group of men were asked to guess which were made while the women were on their period, Popular Science reported.
The tests, conducted by Nathan Pipitone at Adams State College and Gordon Gallup, from SUNY-Albany, revealed that the men were correct 35% of the time – described as a “significant” result.
A 2008 study run by the two scientists had already shown that men find the voices of ovulating women more attractive than voice recordings at other points in their period cycle.
So to update their research, the two scientists swapped the recordings which were nearest to ovulation with those from a less fertile day.
A new research suggests men can actually tell from a woman's voice when she is having her period
The second group in the new study still spotted the voice during menstruation 34% of the time.
In fact, Nathan Pipitone and Gordon Gallup said all three group pinpointed the “period” voices more than any other recordings.
In another experiment, a separate group of men – who were not told the study had anything to do with menstruation – were asked to pick out the most “unattractive” voice.
In 34% of cases, they chose the menstrual recording – significantly more than was predicted by chance.
According to the men taking part in the experiments, they could tell the women were menstruating by four key indicators in the recordings: mood (bad v good); quality (harsh v smooth); pitch (low v high); and speed (slow v fast).
Some said that the menstrual recordings appeared lower in pitch, quality and mood.
In evolutionary terms, an aversion to menstruation – whether conscious or subconscious – is logical because males will seek females who are ovulating in order to pass on their genes.
Nathan Pipitone said: “The men seemed to determine menstrual voices by picking the most unattractive voice.”
He added that it is hormones that give the women away, by inducing vocal change.
“Vocal production is closely tied to our biology. For example, cells from the larynx and vagina are very similar and show similar hormone receptors,” Nathan Pipitone said.
As a result, according to Gordon Gallup: “The sound of a person’s voice contains a surprising amount of reproductively relevant information.”
Evidence has already shown that men subconsciously judge where a woman is in her menstrual cycle.
Lap dancers make 80% more money in tips when they’re ovulating compared to when they’re menstruating, the journal Evolution & Human Behaviour reported in 2007.
In 2011, a German study showed the voices of women on their periods tend to be “heavier and less harmonic”, according to Wired.
In a sneak peek from today’s episode of Kourtney & Kim Take New York , Kim Kardashian reveals that, in less than 72 days, her feelings for ex-husband Kris Humphries changed.
Kim Kardashian, 31, says she just “fell out of love”.
The clip shows Kim Kardashian having a breakdown on the finale of Kourtney & Kim Take New York, sobbing uncontrollably to older sister Kourtney.
“It’s hard for me. He’s a good heart, he’s a Christian – everything on paper I want in someone, but for some reason, my heart isn’t connecting,” Kim Kardashian tells her sister, before asking for family support.
The reality star sobs: “I feel awful that I made him move out here and change his whole life. I feel sad, I feel bad for the guy.”
After reflecting on her highly publicized, very expensive August 20 wedding, Kim Kardashian clearly can’t cope with the depth of her feelings.
“He fell in love with me and I fell in love with him and now all my feelings have changed,” she cries.
“I invited all these people to this huge wedding and flew everyone out, wasted everyone’s time and everyone’s money – everyone’s everything – and I feel bad!” Kim Kardashian sobs.
Kim Kardashian has a breakdown on the finale of Kourtney & Kim Take New York, sobbing uncontrollably to older sister Kourtney
“At 30 years old, I thought I’d be married with kids and I’m not. I failed at this,” she says. “People change their minds, people make mistakes.”
On last week’s episode of the E! show, Kim Kardashian had her second revelation that she needed to end her marriage after meeting with medium John Edwards.
She then sobbed to 32-year-old Kourtney: “I don’t want to be married anymore.”
During the session John Edwards asked if either of the sisters were divorced.
Kim Kardashian replied: “I’m divorced, I am. I mean I was married now but I was divorced before.”
The reality star was referring to her first marriage; she was wed to record producer Damon Thomas from 2000 to 2004.
John Edwards asked Kim Kardashian if she had learned from her divorce, claiming that is what her father wanted to know.
It was this line of questioning which upset Kim Kardashian and she confided in Kourtney after the session about how she felt in her relationship.
Kim Kardashian explained: “What was so crazy about that was when he was talking about the divorce stuff.
“I honestly feel like I can’t do this anymore with Kris. I feel like I got into this way too fast. You know I’m not happy.”
Facebook is preparing the process of becoming a publicly-listed company this week, valuing the social networking site at between $75 billion and $100 billion, reports suggest.
Facebook plans to file papers with the US financial watchdog on Wednesday, according to the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.
The flotation later this year would raise about $10 billion, they reported.
This would be one of the biggest share sales seen on Wall Street.
It would dwarf the $1.9 billion raised by Google when it went public in 2004.
It would still, however, be some way short of the $20 billion raised by carmaker General Motors in November 2010.
The reports suggest that Morgan Stanley will be the lead underwriter for the sale, with Goldman Sachs also expected to be heavily involved.
Rumours of Facebook’s so-called initial public offering (IPO) have circulated for many months, and the company has maintained it will not comment on the subject.
The reported valuation would make Facebook one of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization.
“Facebook a brilliant achievement, but $75-$100 billion? Would make Apple look really cheap,” said Rupert Murdoch on Twitter.
Facebook was started by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students at Harvard University in 2004 and has quickly grown to become one of the world’s most popular websites.
Rebels in South Kordofan region announced they are holding 29 Chinese workers who became caught up in a battle with the Sudanese army.
The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said the workers are safe and “in good health”.
China’s foreign ministry confirmed that some of their nationals were missing, but did not specify how many.
South Kordofan is one of three areas hit by conflict since South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July.
Abyei and Blue Nile along with South Kordofan lie along the loosely demarcated border between Sudan and South Sudan.
The Chinese nationals are reported to have been working on road construction projects in the area.
“Yes, we have captured them,” Arnu Ngutulu Lodi of the SPLM-N told the AFP news agency. “I want to assure you right now they are in safe hands.”
Arnu Ngutulu Lodi said they were captured – along with nine Sudanese soldiers – after the SPLM-N attacked and destroyed a Sudanese military convoy in the area.
Sudan’s army said the rebels had attacked the compound of a Chinese construction company and captured 70 civilians.
“Most of them are Chinese. They are targeting civilians,” army spokesman Sawarmi Khalid Saad told Reuters news agency.
He said the army had launched an operation to rescue them.
Police arrested around 300 Occupy protesters in Oakland after trying to enter the City Hall and a convention centre.
Police fired tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse crowds who threw rocks, bottles and other objects.
Oakland was the scene of similar clashes last October. In December, protesters occupied the port.
Oakland is one of several US cities to see mass protests over economic inequality and corporate greed.
The movement began with Occupy Wall Street in New York last year and has since spread.
Police arrested around 300 Occupy protesters in Oakland after trying to enter the City Hall an a convention centre
The local offshoot, Occupy Oakland, had earlier called on protesters to join a weekend of action, saying 28 January would be “Move-in Day”, and they would “occupy a large, vacant building and convert it into a social center”.
The protest march – joined by as many as 2,000 people over the course of the day – moved first to the empty Henry Kaiser convention centre, police said.
Some started tearing down perimeter fencing and “destroying construction equipment”, the Associated Press quotes the police as saying.
When protesters ignored an order to leave, they were dispersed using tear gas and smoke, police added. In response, officers were pelted with bottles, rocks, burning flames and other objects.
Demonstrators also broke into City Hall and a nearby YMCA building in the centre of Oakland, police said.
One post on Occupy Oakland’s Twitter feed later read: “We didn’t get in the building, but fought like our future depended on it.”
Oakland police said in a statement that, while the city “welcomes peaceful forms of assembly and freedom of speech… acts of violence, property destruction and overnight lodging will not be tolerated”.
Google has given a glimpse on just how much information on its users it has collected – and who thinks they are.
However, it seems the famed Google algorithms are far from infallible.
People taking advantage of the facility that allows the public to view what kind of consumer Google thinks they are have been amused to find themselves listed with the wrong age and even sex.
Nevertheless, the knowledge that Google works so hard to profile its 350 million account holders is bound to intensify the debate about privacy which flared up again this week with the announcement that the company was going to start tracking users across all of its sites, including YouTube.
The detailed personal “profile” sums up many of a user’s interests, along with age and gender.
Google builds a detailed profile by harvesting the history of its account holders’ visits to sites in its advertising network.
User’s age and gender are decided by those of other Google users who have visited the sites you visit, leading to the mistakes.
One blogger from tech site Mashable found this week that Google’s Ad Preferences page assume that she was middle-aged – and a man, simply because her interests included technology and computing.
The profile page, called Ad Preferences, is hidden away inside a settings menu in Google Accounts, but can be accessed directly.
This sort of in-depth profiling raises alarm bells with privacy activists.
“Consumers have increasingly digital lives and they are developing an unfathomably large data trail every day,” says Rainey Reitman, activism director for privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“There has never been another time in history where privacy was under the kind of assault it is today.”
Uuser can opt out of the tracking, or manually edit his details. Google also does not store information on controversial subjects such as pornography.
The Ad preferences page came to public attention following a sweeping change to “privacy policy” which comes into effect on March 1, although the preferences page was launched some time ago.
YouTube data, Gmail information and search data will all be used to build up ever more accurate advertising profiles and also the company claims it will make searches more personalized.
In most cases, though, the data is eerily accurate, bringing up a breakdown of interests, age and sex.
The Advertising Preferences information that Google gathers is sent out as a “cookie” – a packet of information sent out by your browser – whenever you visit other Google partners, who then serve up “relevant” adverts when you visit their sites.
Users who are fearful of the amount of information Google holds can block the profiling by disabling “cookies” in their internet browser settings.
Google says: “We associate interests with your ads preferences based on the types of websites that you visit within the Google Display Network.”
“For example, when you browse many gardening-related websites in the Google Display Network, Google may associate a gardening preference with your cookie.”
“If the sites that you visit have a majority of female visitors, we may associate your cookie with the female demographic category.”
Some users reported that Google had identified bizarre interests such as “Sweets and Candy”, and was duly serving them adverts appropriate to that “interest”.
User can manually change his “interests” from your Ad Preferences page – although you cannot, of course, stop Google from sending you adverts.
Divers searching the wreck of Costa Concordia cruise ship have found the body of a woman, bringing the death toll to 17.
Operations to pump fuel from the tanks of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship lying off the Italian coast have been delayed because of bad weather.
Dutch salvage company Smit says it now hopes to begin work next week on pumping more than 2,300 tons of diesel out of the 290m-long vessel.
The woman was wearing uniform, indicating she was a crew member.
The ship ran aground on 13 January with more than 4,200 people on board.
Another 15 people are still missing.
Divers searching the wreck of Costa Concordia cruise ship have found the body of a woman, bringing the death toll to 17
“We were ready this morning [Saturday] to commence oil pumping in the course of the day,” Smit spokesman Martijn Schuttevaer told a news conference.
“Unfortunately the weather had turned in our disadvantage as it deteriorated and therefore towards the end of the morning we had to demobilize our vessel, the Moloria, back from the side of the ship back into the port here.”
Oil pumping is now expected to begin in the middle of next week. Bad weather is forecast until Tuesday.
Smit has withdrawn a barge that had been placed alongside the hulk of the Costa Concordia.
The operation is expected to take about four weeks to complete.
The delay will add to fears that a leak could cause an environmental disaster in the marine national park where the ship capsized.
On Saturday morning divers searching submerged parts of the wreck found the body of a woman, wearing the ship’s uniform, on deck number six. No further details of her identity or nationality have been released.
The Costa Concordia is lying on its side off Giglio island, where it hit rocks at the start of a Mediterranean cruise.
Captain Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest while his actions are being investigated.
Francesco Schettino is accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning ship before all passengers were evacuated. He denies the allegations.
Costa Crociere, which is part of the world’s largest cruise ship operator Carnival Group, has offered uninjured passengers 11,000 euros ($14,500) each in compensation, on condition that they drop any legal action.
However, a consumer group and two US law firms are filing a class-action lawsuit in the US, demanding at least $160,000 for each passenger on the ship.
Passengers aboard a Finnair flight from Helsinki to New Delhi were pleasantly surprised when the aircraft’ staff treated them with a Bollywood-style dance to celebrate India’s 63rd Republic Day.
A video showing the smiling Finnair staff treating passengers to the choreographed routine, has become a hit on YouTube, receiving more than half-a-million hits in just one day.
Helena Kaartinen, the flight attendant who came up with the idea, coordinated rehearsals and even enlisted the help of a former flight attendant friend in Mumbai, who is now a Bollywood teacher.
She uploaded videos of the team practizing and expert Manish Gawde corrected the choreography ahead of the performance.
Passengers aboard a Finnair flight from Helsinki to New Delhi were pleasantly surprised when the aircraft' staff treated them with a Bollywood-style dance to celebrate India's 63rd Republic Day
Helena Kaartinen told the New York Times: “It was a good way to show respect.”
The flight attendant said she was keen to show Indian passengers that the airline did know something about their culture.
The performance took place on a flight on January 17 and was uploaded to Finnair’s YouTube channel on January 25 to mark India’s Republic Day on January 26.
So far, the video clip has received more than 1.7 million viewings.
One person wondered what would happen to a host of items that ranged from eggs and tomatoes to music CDs and light bulbs if they are put in a microwave.
The video of the experiment was uploaded onto YouTube and reveals the devastating effect once the microwave was switched on.
Amongst the items that were quick to burst were an egg, a tomato and a limes.
Unsurprisingly, a watermelon proved more resilient, yet a bottle of beer also shattered to its core.
A number of items caught fire including a light bulb, a CD, a carton of juice and some tin foil.
Despite the frivolous footage, doctors having previously warned of the dangers of exploding items leading to serious injuries.
One person wondered what would happen to a host of items that ranged from eggs and tomatoes to music CDs and light bulbs if they are put in a microwave
In April, 2004, a 9-year-old girl who was left temporarily blind after being hit in the face by an exploding egg was highlighted by eye experts.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, experts said warnings about the risks of heating eggs in their shells in the microwave should be made more obvious, perhaps being displayed on the oven itself.
The ophthalmologists from Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup, Kent, and King’s College Hospital in London said exploding microwaved eggs or eggshells had caused facial, eyelid and corneal burns of varying severity.
They pointed out that even eggs out of their shell with pierced yolks could explode when microwaved.
European scientists are developing a system to protect Earth from the giant asteroids which travel around the Milky Way.
The NEOShield project is run out of Berlin with funds from the EU.
The project, which will look for a way to protect Earth from the space rocks, is expected to take three years to complete.
Some of the ideas being tossed around at the moment include repelling asteroids with projectiles or explosives or using gravity to change its course.
NEOShield project though is a little late as a chunk of rock 400 times the City of London is set to hurtle closer than a rock of its size has in a very long time.
The asteroid labelled “(433) Eros” measures 19 by 8 by 8 miles and is set to pass by next week.
Despite its massive size, the cosmic rock shouldn’t be too cause too much of a threat as it is on a circular path far outside the moon’s orbit.
A smaller bus-sized asteroid passed extremely close to Earth yesterday.
European scientists are developing a system to protect Earth from the giant asteroids which travel around the Milky Way
With NASA estimating that there are almost one thousand asteroids over one kilometre in length and 19,500 over 100-metres, scientists at the Institute of Planetary Research are trying to find a way to protect Earth.
With an investment of some €4 million ($5.2 million) by the European Commission and an extra €1.8 million ($2.3 million) coming from scientific institutions and partners, the German Aerospace Center aims to have a plan for a test mission drafted within three years.
After that, if they can find the extra cash, the mission may be launched by 2020.
The scientists will be looking at a host of ideas, many of which have already been proposed.
For one, there’s the “kinetic impactor” plan where a massive projectile would deflect the asteroid.
Another is the “gravity tractor” idea where a small probe would linger near the asteroid and use its gravitational traction to move it out of Earth’s way.
Or, like waging an all-out space war, some have suggested a full scale strike with nuclear missiles.
“Of course, a lot of things have already been proposed,” Alan Harris, the study’s leader, told Spiegel Online.
“But, so far, most of them have come from a single institution, perhaps even from a single person. So it has been hard to pursue them.”
Investigating each idea ‘will take place on paper and in lab experiments, since we don’t have the money to do more than that,” said Wolfram Lork, who works with a subsidiary on the project.
One other, coarser idea would be “blast deflection” which would involve deterring the asteroid with directed explosive charges. Harris says this would be the “final, desperate approach”.
“We would like to present plans for a feasible, affordable mission. We want to show the world it can be done,” Alan Harris said, adding that the ultimate solution might be a combining a gravity tractor with a kinetic impactor.
By observing the huge craters around the world – such as the Barringer Crater in Arizona or the Nördlinger Ries near Munich – scientists know that asteroids have struck Earth in its history and that, without action, they could well strike again.
Seal and Heidi Klum worked together to decide how to break the sad news of their split to their four children, the singer revealed in a new interview.
Seal discussed the way in which they broached the topic to the youngsters during a pre-recorded interview that has been aired on Access Hollywood Live on Friday, January 27.
He told presenter Billy Bush: “We talk to them, we tried to explain, as best we could, what is going on,” adding that the difficulty was “just explaining to them that things will be different, you know, without going into too much detail.”
Seal, 48, said: “Things will be different, but a lot of things won’t change.”
Heidi Klum and Seal have four children, Leni, seven, Lou, two, and sons Henry, six, and Johan, five.
Seal went on to say: “The main thing is to make sure that they feel that they’re loved, make sure that they understand that their parents love each other, make sure that they understand if there are any changes, it is absolutely nothing to do with them.”
The singer added: “It won’t change the amount of time, and in actual fact, it may even improve the amount of time that we spend with them – quality time – because it’s not the amount of time, as you know being a family man yourself, it’s the quality of that time.”
He also stressed that the break-up had been amicable, saying: “There is nothing to reconcile. We haven’t fallen out. We’re not getting divorced. We’re not even legally separated. And so… is there a chance of us getting back together? Honestly, Billy, I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that.”
Seal said: “I want our children to be happy of course. But I want her to be happy. It’s always been like that.”
Seal and Heidi Klum worked together to decide how to break the sad news of their split to their four children, the singer revealed in a new interview
A source told Us Weekly magazine that the four children were so far finding the news difficult, saying they “are upset”, but their welfare “will always come first” to their famous parents.
Both Seal and Heidi Klum, 38, have continued to wear their wedding rings since the split.
However, while Seal has participated in several interviews, discussing the breakdown of his marriage while promoting his upcoming album, the German model has remained resolutely silent.
The couple announced their separation last weekend after nearly seven years of marriage.
It has been reported by People magazine that the final straw came during the couple’s skiing holiday to Aspen over the Christmas period.
“Aspen didn’t go as well as planned … there were more lows than highs,” a source told People magazine.
“Aspen was the final straw.”
Another source said: “When they came together for Christmas as a family, things had changed and they fought a lot. Their Aspen trip was a bit of a mess.
“Instead of enjoying being back together as a family, it was difficult for them to get along.”
The source added that Heidi Klum reached a point where she was “done with the arguing”.
An international team of researchers says it may be possible to detect autism at a much earlier age than previously thought.
The team’ study findings, published in Current Biology, identified differences in infants’ brainwaves from as early as six months.
Behavioral symptoms of autism typically develop between a child’s first and second birthdays.
Autism charities said identifying the disorder at an earlier stage could help with treatment.
It is thought that one in every 100 children has an autism spectrum disorder in the UK. The disorder affects more boys than girls. While there is no “cure”, education and behavioral programmes can help. The overall effect of these programs is greatly increased when autism is detected at a young age. One of the first things the parent of an autistic child may notice is that they have problems in social situations. Difficulty with conversation, trouble making friends, and obsessive-compulsive behavior are all early signs of autism. It should also be noted that these signs are not guarantees that one is in the early stages of the disorder, but if the problems are persistent then it would be wise to take the child to a specialist.
One of the researchers, Prof. Mark Johnson from Birkbeck College, University of London, said:
“The prevailing view is that if we are able to intervene before the onset of full symptoms, such as a training programme, at least in some cases we can maybe alleviate full symptoms.”
An international team of researchers says it may be possible to detect autism at a much earlier age than previously thought
Prof. Mark Johnson’s team looked for the earliest signs of autism in 104 children aged between six and 10 months. Half were known to be at risk of the disorder because they had on older sibling who had been diagnosed with autism. The rest were low risk.
Older children with autism can show a lack of eye contact, so the babies were shown pictures of people’s faces that switched between looking at or away from the baby.
Sensors attached to the scalp looked for differences in brain activity.
In low-risk babies, or high-risk babies that did not develop autism, there was a large difference in the brainwaves when looking at each type of image.
There was a much smaller difference in the brainwaves of babies who developed autism.
Prof. Mark Johnson said: “It is important to note it is not a 100% predictor. We had babies who flagged up warning signs who did not develop autism.”
There were also babies who did develop autism who had low-risk brainwaves. The test would need to be more accurate before it was used routinely.
Prof. Tony Charman, Centre for Research in Autism and Education at the Institute of Education, said: “Differences in the use of eye gaze to regulate social interaction are already a well-recognized early feature in many children with autism from the second year of life.
“Future studies will be required to determine whether measurements of brain function such as those used in our study might one day play a role in helping to identify children at an even earlier age.”
Christine Swabey from the charity Autistica said: “The hope is that this important research will lead to improved identification and access to services for future generations.
“Ultimately, the earlier we can identify autism and provide early intervention, the better the outcomes will be.”
Dr. Georgina Gomez-de-la-Cuesta from the National Autistic Society said: “Further research to investigate these differences will eventually lead to earlier recognition of the condition.
“Early intervention is very effective in supporting those with autism, so recognition in infancy can only be beneficial in helping individuals with autism reach their full potential.
“However, this important research is still in its early stages, and larger studies looking at several early markers of autism will be necessary before a robust clinical diagnosis could be possible at such a young age.”
In a new interview, Todd Waterman, Kris Jenner’s former lover, has broken his silence and told all about their steamy affair that wrecked her marriage to Robert Kardashian.
Todd Waterman, an Emmy-nominated Hollywood animator, reveals explosive details of the couple’s relationship which began back in 1989, more than ten years into Kris Jenner’s marriage to lawyer Robert Kardashian.
He was a 23-year-old soccer player from local team LA Heat when he first set his eyes on Kris Jenner in a photo frame at a friend’s house in Beverly Hills.
Their subsequent “crazy and passionate” affair led to Kris Jenner’s divorce and paved the way to creating the worldwide Kardashian phenomenon.
“I was attracted to Kris,” says Todd Waterman, who decided to speak out after Kris Jenner wrote about him in her autobiography – using the false name “Ryan”.
Todd Waterman eventually got together with Kris Jenner on a night out with friends in Los Angeles and the pair had sex for the first time in a friend’s closet.
“I’m sure we danced and had a good time in the club,” says Todd Waterman. “We came back to her friend’s home in Beverly Hills. And our first time [we had sex] was in her friend’s closet. We found a little place in the house and consummated the relationship.”
“It was a magical night, surreal,” he adds.
“I think it was two people who were both open to experiencing something in their life at that time. It was fate, we invited it and we just ran with it and from that point on. We didn’t hold back.”
Photographs in Todd Waterman’s possession show the couple together during the affair – one features Kris Jenner in a colorful 1980’s style outfit with Todd in a suit and his arms around her.
Todd Waterman, an Emmy-nominated Hollywood animator, reveals explosive details of the couple's relationship which began back in 1989, more than ten years into Kris Jenner's marriage to lawyer Robert Kardashian
Another snap shows Todd Waterman and Kris Jenner sipping from beer bottles outside, with Kris wearing a bulky navy blue suit and white corsage, while other shots featuring a young Khloe Kardashian and Todd in his football playing days.
In her recent book, “All Things Kardashian”, Kris Jenner describes Todd Waterman living in a “tiny, dumpy apartment” in Studio City.
However, Kris Jenner leaves out the fact that she was the one who suggested they find a place, even choosing it herself, according to Todd Waterman.
Todd Waterman said: “She picked the apartment. We found it together.”
Elaborating on his memories of the affair, Todd Waterman, now 46, said: “The love swept us away. We made our own different reality. It was special, it was a little crazy, a little wild – we didn’t exercise caution or self-restraint. I think we were both very much in love.”
Speaking about the risks they would take, Todd Waterman described going over to play tennis at the Kardashians home near the beginning of the affair.
Todd Waterman said: “We did some crazy things. I remember playing tennis at her home with my friend the soccer player Justin Fashanu. And Robert was watching us play. We’re in the affair now and I’m sure he suspected at this point.
“He was trying to throw me off my game actually. He was just calling out foot fault while I served.”
In her book, Kris Jenner wrote how they had: “Wild crazy sex all the time. We had sex in cars, sex on the tennis court, sex in the pool house, sex in the garage when we got home, sex up and down the stairs, sex everywhere, all the time.”
Todd Waterman does not dispute her account, just adding: “We were pretty prolific. You’ve got a guy in his sexual prime and a woman entering hers.
“It wasn’t a problem. I can’t remember exactly but it’s possible we had sex in all those places. We were definitely adventurous. Outdoors and indoors.”
And when asked if they had sex in the Kardashians home, Todd Waterman said: “I don’t remember, I’m sure we did.”
But when asked if it went as far as the marital bed, he would only say: “I don’t remember but I’m usually not comfortable with those things.”
Todd Waterman remembers Kris Jenner paying for most things when they were together, as he decided to quit soccer due to it being badly paid.
He recalls: “She was generous. I didn’t have the money for the lifestyle she was leading. She was paying a lot, or it was Robert I guess.”
But once the affair was outed, Todd Waterman would go to parties as Kris Jenner’s boyfriend, meeting celebrities and enjoying the high life.
Todd Waterman said: “I just remember good times, barbecues, pool parties – it was fun. I would go to events as her boyfriend.
“I met celebrities at parties. Magic Johnson and the LA Lakers were at a pool party, I remember going from a George Michael concert to that house party and dancing in the back yard with George Michael there and Billy Idol.”
In the book, Kris Jenner describes how Robert Kardashian hired a private detective to catch her cheating with him eventually confronting them in a restaurant in Beverly Hills.
Todd Waterman remembers noticing the private detectives following and taking pictures of them – but had a different recollection of the confrontation.
He says: “When he hired the private investigators I would say that’s when it started going bad. It was the midway point of the affair.
“I remember he turned up at our apartment and he got into the complex. I said we’d call the police, let a little time go by and then I decided to drive Kris back to wherever she had to go.
“I was driving in an open Jeep at the time. As I pulled out of my garage, it was about 5:00 p.m. and a sunny day, he comes charging out with a golf club in his 450 SL convertible.
“He took a swing and whacked the back of my car. I said <<holy s***, Kris, can I pull over and confront him? What do you want to do?>> She screamed out <<no, no, keep driving he might have a gun in the car. I know he keeps a gun.>>
“So we’ve got this little high speed chase going on at rush hour and I’m in a Jeep and he’s trailing me and he’s trying to overtake us. I did a couple of spin out moves and he just kept going, luckily – maybe he got his composure again or something.”
Robert Kardashian filed for divorce and in the book Kris Jenner describes breaking the news to the children and how they “cried and cried”.
At the time Todd Waterman says he was scared for his life and thought Robert Kardashian might have him “wiped out” – as he was a powerful man.
Todd Waterman remembers OJ Simpson calling him and warning him to stay away from Kris – something the reality show matriarch also wrote about in her book.
Todd Waterman recalled: “OJ said he wanted to talk and he invited me to the house to talk. I said <<no thank you>. I said <<If you want to talk I have no problem meeting you in a public place but I have no desire to go to your home.>>”
Todd Waterman says he started to look over his shoulder and felt threatened: “I would walk into my place a different route, using the back door. I’d just been caught by this man with his wife, he was a high powered person, he’s got friends. It was scary.”
His fears turned out to be unfounded, but looking back, he regrets the hurt the affair caused.
Todd waterman says: “There’s several things I regret and it’s definitely the pain that it did cause Robert and the children specifically. I think it affected Kourtney the most. I know she was definitely affected and I always felt bad about that.”
“She was the oldest. Kimberley didn’t seem to mind and Khloe she was just a special kid.”
Todd Waterman also rubbishes claims about Robert Kardashian not being Khloe’s biological father. Setting the record straight, he says: “She’s definitely not my kid. We had this affair five years after she was born. I feel sorry that Khloe has to go through something like that.”
However, Todd Waterman recalled Kris Jenner joking about the possibility: “It absolutely is a family joke. Kris joked about that with me. She would say <<You know we don’t know where she got the blonde hair.>> It was a laugh.
“She never said anything like she had an affair before me though. To me Robert was definitely her father. I see Robert in her.”
He added: “To my knowledge I was the only affair she had.”
Todd Waterman has fond memories of Khloe: “Khloe would go out with us. She’d be in the back seat of the car if we were going to lunch.
“I had a special relationship with her more than the other children. She just was the cutest. She was a smart kid and when talking to her sisters, she would say <<You don’t like him do you?>> She was funny.”
In her book, Kris Jenner describes how she caught Todd Waterman in bed with another woman – soon after she split from Robert Kardashian.
“I think I got busted,” Todd Waterman says.
“I don’t remember if that’s exactly how it happened. I’m not justifying the action, I was young, not only that I also allowed myself certain safeguards. Because in my mind she was still going home to her husband and still getting in his bed at night.”
However, Todd Waterman says he was heartbroken when the relationship ended.
He says: “There was no way I could support her [Kris] or help maintain what she was accustomed to financially, and with the age difference as well I didn’t see that working out in the future.
“I was heartbroken. Sometimes you stop something not because you stop caring but because it isn’t practical.”
In another sensational revelation, Todd Waterman alleges that after he and Kris Jenner split up, he continued to sleep with her even when she started dating Bruce Jenner.
Todd Waterman says: “I wouldn’t say we were dating, we were still communicating, she was still coming over to the apartment and we were still sleeping together when she had started dating Bruce.
“I would say that she was getting serious with him [Bruce] and we were still occasionally seeing each other and it was messing with my head. I think we just had a hard time keeping away from each other.”
In the end Todd Waterman moved to London in an attempt to get over her, but he claims Kris Jenner called him three months after she married Bruce and she cried down the phone during a lengthy conversation.
The next time they spoke was in 2000, when Kris Jenner tracked him down via email and they spoke on the phone.
Todd Waterman recalls: “Maybe she was hitting a doldrum in her marriage because I got the impression that she was open to getting together and then I came back to LA and we would talk on the phone and make the appointment, and say <<Starbucks today>> or something but she could never get herself to do it. She never followed through and it’s probably best we didn’t really.”
The pair no longer speak, and Todd Waterman says he is not a fan of Kris Jenner’s reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Todd Waterman says: “I’ve never watched a full episode, I can’t get myself to. It’s not a good show, it’s not good television. It’s horrible. You want to see how they became famous, it was at the death of a friend and a scandal with her daughter and her daughter’s relations.”
“Kris always worked hard,” he adds. “She wanted to make money, her own money. More power to her but it’s manufactured and there’s an audience for that unfortunately.
“There’s no truth to the shows, they’re all pre-conceived. Kris shared that with me once, that they make it up. It’s mindless, it’s nonsense, like Jersey Shore.”
According to a Physics Review Letters report, the question of whether normal matter’s shadowy counterpart anti-matter exerts a kind of “anti-gravity” is set to be answered.
Normal matter attracts all other matter in the Universe, but it remains unclear if anti-matter attracts or repels it.
The research says it has prepared stable pairs of electrons and their anti-matter particles, positrons.
A beam of these pairs can be used to finally solve the anti-gravity puzzle.
For every particle in physics, there is an associated anti-particle, identical in every respect that scientists have yet measured, except that it holds an opposite electric charge.
Current theory holds that, at the birth of the Universe, matter and anti-matter were created in equal amounts. When they meet, however, they destroy each other in energetic flashes of light.
The question has remained, then, why did any Universe come into being at all, and why is the one we see overwhelmingly made of normal matter?
For every particle in physics, there is an associated anti-particle, identical in every respect that scientists have yet measured, except that it holds an opposite electric charge
One of the characteristics that may differentiate anti-matter is its gravitational behavior. Most scientists believe that anti-matter will be attracted to normal matter.
Others are not so sure; anti-matter may repel – it may “fall up”.
That has implications for the question of why the Universe didn’t disappear into a grand flash of light just as soon as it formed. It also might help explain why the Universe is expanding ever more quickly.
It has simply been impossible to test the idea, but researchers at the University of California Riverside are getting closer to addressing the question once and for all.
They have created electron-positron pairs that are in stable orbits around one another – the result is called positronium.
The pairs are kept from bumping into and destroying each other by carefully dumping energy into them to create what are known as “Rydberg states”.
Like the lanes of an automotive test track, particles can move into different orbits around one another if they reach higher energies, and these Rydberg positronium atoms are spun up to high energies, lasting for a comparatively long three billionths of a second.
The team hopes to extend the method, up to a few thousandths of a second, preparing a beam of the artificial atoms and seeing just which way they fall.
According to the 911 call tape from last Monday, Demi Moore suffered convulsions after smoking an undisclosed substance.
In the recoding of the emergency call, which was released by Los Angeles fire officials, Demi Moore is described as “semi-conscious, barely”.
The tape captures the few minutes it took paramedics to arrive as friends gathered round the collapsed star.
In the emergency call, a woman is asked by operators: “Is she [Demi Moore] breathing normal?”
“No, not so normal,” the woman says.
“More kind of shaking, convulsing, burning up.”
When the dispatcher asks if Demi Moore has ingested or smoked any substance, the woman replies: “She smoked something. It’s not marijuana but it is similar to incense.”
According to the 911 call tape from last Monday, Demi Moore suffered convulsions after smoking an undisclosed substance
But the full answer was redacted on the advice of the city attorney’s office, citing federal medical privacy rules.
“She’s been having some issues lately with some other stuff,” says the woman.
Asked by the operator if this has happened before, the female voice says: “There’s been some stuff recently that we’re all just finding out.”
When asked by the operator if the apparent overdose was accidental or intentional, the caller said: “Well, she smoked something but the reaction was accidental.”
A second woman gets on the phone and says: “She’s shaking, convulsing, burning up. I’m taking cold water and putting it on her back because she’s burning up.”
At one point, the woman can be heard saying: “Demi, can you hear me? Yes, she’s squeezing my hand. She can’t speak. She’s convulsing so we’re holding her down.”
By the end of the call, a male caller takes the phone and says Demi Moore is “much calmer…she’s breathing fine. She’s leaning up and talking quietly.”
Demi Moore’s eldest daughter Rumer is believed to have been by the actress’ side at the time of her dramatic collapse.
During the 911 recording, a male caller appears use the 23-year-old’s nickname.
The man is heard saying: “Hey, Ru, what’s the name at the gate so that we can buzz them [the paramedics] in from here?”
Demi Moore has two other daughters, Scout, 20, and Tallulah, 17, from her marriage to Bruce Willis.
Radar Online speculates Demi Moore may have been smoking K2 or Spice, which is a legal herbal and chemical product that mimics the effects of cannabis.
The actress had also inhaled laughing gas, also known as “whip-its”, is has been claimed in US reports.
Demi Moore’s publicist has previously said the actress suffered from exhaustion.
It has now been claimed Demi Moore – who is reported to be receiving treatment for eating disorder anorexia – had replaced food with caffeine-based energy drink Red Bull.
A friend of the star told The Sun newspaper: “Demi avoids alcohol and instead drinks tons of Red Bull when she goes out. But in recent months she’s not been eating much, so she’s also been drinking it in the day to give her energy to get through.”
Demi Moore- who was reportedly released from California’s Sherman Oaks Hospital last night – “seemed drunk” when she was admitted to the medical facility on Monday, but it is thought it was just because of the vast quantities of Red Bull she had consumed.
The pal added: “She seemed drunk but I don’t think any alcohol passed her lips, just loads of Red Bull. It’s not a healthy way to live.”
Demi Moore left hospital yesterday and is understood to be recovering at home.
Her split from actor Ashton Kutcher, whom she married in 2005, followed allegations of his infidelity.
Demi Moore was formerly married to actor Bruce Willis, with whom she had three daughters Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle.
Rapper Snoop Dogg launched a foul-mouthed attack on reality star Kim Kardashian in a new web video, Hollywood Reporter.
Snoop Dogg, 40, who uses his Nemo pseudonym in the clip, calls Kim Kardashian “cold blooded” and uses a series of misogynist terms to describe her.
In the video, which is running on the Hollywood Reporter, Snoop Dogg claims to be giving “advice” to Kim Kardashian’s ex husband Kris Humphries, telling him he’s just one of many men who have be burnt by the reality TV star.
Snoop Dogg name checks her other exes Reggie Bush and Ray J, the man with whom she made a notorious sex tape.
The rapper claims Kris Humphries, 26, made the mistake by marrying Kim Kardashian, 31, in the first place.
“You shouldn’t have tried to wife the b****,” Snoop Dogg says while smoking what appears to be a blunt, which is a cigar hollowed out and filled with marijuana.
“She’s cold-blooded, I’m pretty sure she’ll have a book in a month talking about all the n****s that she got and how she played them.”
Snoop Dogg, 40, who uses his Nemo pseudonym in the clip, calls Kim Kardashian “cold blooded” and uses a series of misogynist terms to describe her
The rapper continues: “So, my advice is you can’t make a ho a housewife. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.”
Snoop Dogg makes several other crude references to Kim Kardashian.
It is unclear why Snoop Dogg decided to record the video and a spokesperson for Kim Kardashian had no comment.
Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian may be too busy celebrating to let it get her down – she has just won a recurring role on a TV show.
Kim Kardashian will appear in the fourth season of drama-comedy Drop Dead Diva – which stars Brooke D’Orsay as a lawyer who has inhabited the soul of a dead supermodel – and will begin production next month.
The reality star is in line play Nikki, who is a love interest for Ben Feldman’s alter-ego Fred, and her character is set to go into business with Stacy, who is played by former Two and a Half Men beauty April Bowlby.
Kim Kardashian wrote on her blog: “I am so excited to announce that I’ll be guest starring on <<Drop Dead Diva>> this summer. I can’t wait to get to work with everyone on set!”
Josh Berman, creator and executive producer of the programme, felt Kim Kardashian’s “humor and passion” made her the right person for the role.
He explained: “I’m ecstatic to welcome Kim to the Diva family.
“In discussing the role of Nikki with her, I’m blown away by her smarts, sense of humor, and passion. This series is all about reinvention and I’m so excited to see Kim ‘reinvented’ in the world of <<Drop Dead Diva>>.”
Kim Kardashian previously starred in Beyond the Break and had a guest role in CSI: NY.
Scientists at the University of York are one step closer to understanding the origin of life after making a breakthrough into how sugar molecules found in DNA are created.
They have recreated a pair of simple sugars – threose and erythrose – in a process which could have occurred before the advent of life.
The research team, led by Dr. Paul Clarke, along with colleagues at the University of Nottingham, have made the first step towards showing how the basic building blocks of life developed.
Every biological molecule has an ability to exist in a left-handed form or right-handed form.
All sugars in biology are made up of the right-handed form of molecules and yet all the amino acids that make up the peptides and proteins are made up of the left-handed form.
The researchers found using simple left-handed amino acids to catalyze the formation of sugars resulted in the production of the predominantly right-handed form of sugars.
Their research, published in Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, could explain how carbohydrates originated and why the right-handed form dominates in nature.
Scientists at the University of York are one step closer to understanding the origin of life after making a breakthrough into how sugar molecules found in DNA are created
Dr. Paul Clarke said: “There are a lot of fundamental questions about the origins of life and many people think they are questions about biology.
“But for life to have evolved, you have to have a moment when non-living things become living – everything up to that point is chemistry.
“We are trying to understand the chemical origins of life.
“One of the interesting questions is where carbohydrates come from because they are the building blocks of DNA and RNA.
“What we have achieved is the first step on that pathway to show how simple sugars – threose and erythrose – originated.
“We generated these sugars from a very simple set of materials that most scientists believe were around at the time that life began.”
The research has echoes of the landmark Miller-Urey study in 1952, which simulated hypothetical conditions that may have been present on early Earth.
The study findings showed how the building blocks of life can form from simple chemical reactions – for example, electrical activity like that associated with lightning can prompt the formation of amino acids.
Astonishing pictures of a hulking freighter wearing mangled pieces of a steel bridge on its bow after a collision in southwestern Kentucky Thursday night emerged today.
The images show the 312-foot Delta Mariner idles, still partially in the bridge’s path, and clearly looks much too large to fit beneath the aging Eggner Ferry Bridge, which crosses the Kentucky Lake Reservoir.
The cargo vessel was carrying space rocket parts for the United Launch Alliance, intended for a vehicle that was scheduled to be shot into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Two sections of the bridge, which is the only route across the lake and the Tennessee River, collapsed after the crash.
Unbelievably no one was injured after the collision, though one driver described the harrowing experience of slamming on his breaks and stopping just a few feet short of oblivion after finding the bridge suddenly stopped.
Robert Parker, 51, of Cadiz, Kentucky, said he and his wife were traveling northbound on the highway after leaving his stepson’s house in Murray, Kentucky. They were driving in the rain along the darkened bridge around 8pm when they suddenly noticed a missing 20-foot piece of the bridge, which at that section stands at least 20 feet above the water.
“All of a sudden I see the road’s gone and I hit the brakes,” Robert Parker said. “It got close.”
Robert Parker said he stopped his pickup within five feet of the missing section. Two cars behind him stopped on his bumper and he saw another car on the other side of the missing section stopped.
State officials are inspecting what’s left of the bridge.
The cargo vessel was carrying space rocket parts for the United Launch Alliance, intended for a vehicle that was scheduled to be shot into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe says inspectors began the in-depth review of the Eggner Ferry Bridge at US Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 80 at daylight Friday.
“At this point, we don’t believe there was any loss of life,” said Keith Todd, spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
Keith Todd said there also were no injuries on board the boat. He was unable to say where the ship was traveling when it struck the bridge.
Officials said the collapse meant vehicles needing to cross the Kentucky Lake reservoir and the Tennessee River had to be detoured for dozens of miles. The Coast Guard blocked access to boat traffic at the bridge site.
Robert Parker said he didn’t feel the vessel strike the bridge but “felt the bridge was kind of weak”. They had to detour about 50 miles to return home to Cadiz.
Officials say about 2,800 vehicles travel daily on the bridge, which was due to be replaced.
Argus One is the Pentagon’s newest unmanned spy plane, which cheeky observers are already calling it the “Flying Sperm”.
The Argus One has the capacity to carry 30 pounds of high tech sensors and cameras and the ability to hover over remote locations between 10,000 and 20,000 feet, even in rough weather.
The suspect design has been attributed to improved “flight stability and aerodynamic control” as well as giving the aircraft a longer flight time.
The spy plane, named after the Greek god Argus who was the all seeing god with one hundred eyes, is designed to be an “eye in the sky” even in very remote areas.
The Argus One has the capacity to carry 30 pounds of high tech sensors and cameras and the ability to hover over remote locations between 10,000 and 20,000 feet, even in rough weather
The aircraft was created by the World Surveillance Group Inc (WSGI) for the Pentagon and is now being tested at an undisclosed location.
“The Argus One has a low radar footprint making it virtual stealth since the payload bay located on the forward module of the airship is the only radar reflecting material on the airship,” a statement from WSGI said.
The aircraft’s “flexible, non-rigid” body also makes for easy storage and transportation.
Argus One can be assembled and launched in hours from virtually anywhere, including remote, mountainous territory.
The device has been especially designed to meet the requirements of U.S. military and other governmental agencies.
It can also wirelessly transmit critical live video and other information directly to a ground control station or system.
The ground control system also allows the operator to control Argus One either manually or remotely by programming it for GPS–based autonomous navigation.
A new study in Science journal shows that membranes based on the “miracle material” graphene can be used to distil alcohol.
An international team created the membrane from graphene oxide – a chemical derivative of graphene.
The research team has shown that the membrane blocks the passage of several gases and liquids, but lets water through.
This joins a long list of fascinating and unusual properties associated with graphene and its derivatives.
Graphene is a form of carbon. It is a flat layer of carbon atoms tightly packed into a two-dimensional honeycomb arrangement.
Because graphene is so thin, it is also practically transparent. As a conductor of electricity, graphene performs as well as copper; and as a conductor of heat, it outperforms all other known materials.
The unusual electronic, mechanical and chemical properties of graphene at the molecular scale promise numerous applications.
Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov from the University of Manchester were awarded 2010’s Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery, outlined in a scientific paper in 2004.
Andrei Geim and others have now developed a laminate made from thin sheets of graphene oxide.
These films were hundreds of times thinner than a human hair but remained strong, flexible and easy to handle.
Graphene is a flat layer of carbon atoms tightly packed into a two-dimensional honeycomb arrangement
When a metal container was sealed with agraphene film, even the most sensitive equipment was unable to detect air or any other gas, including helium, leaking through.
But when the researchers tried the same with water, they found that it evaporated without noticing the graphene seal. Water molecules diffused through the graphene-oxide membranes with such a great speed that the evaporation rate was the same whether the container was sealed or open.
Dr. Rahul Nair from Manchester University, who led the team, commented: “Graphene oxide sheets arrange in such a way that between them there is room for exactly one layer of water molecules.”
He added: “If another atom or molecule tries the same trick, it finds that graphene capillaries either shrink in low humidity or get clogged with water molecules.”
Professor Andrei Geim added: “Helium gas is hard to stop. It slowly leaks even through a millimetre-thick window glass but our ultra-thin films completely block it. At the same time, water evaporates through them unimpeded. Materials cannot behave any stranger.”
Dr. Rahul Nair said: “Just for a laugh, we sealed a bottle of vodka with our membranes and found that the distilled solution became stronger and stronger with time. Neither of us drinks vodka but it was great fun to do the experiment.”
Despite this, the researchers do not offer any immediate ideas for applications. But Prof. Andrei Geim commented: “The properties are so unusual that it is hard to imagine that they cannot find some use in the design of filtration, separation or barrier membranes, and for selective removal of water.”
In another study in Science journal, a different team reports the development of a membrane based on diamond-like carbon. This membrane has unique pore sizes that allow for the ultra-fast passage of oil through it.
One expert said it could potentially be used for filtering toxic contaminants out of water or for purifying industrial chemicals.
Costa Cruises, the Italian company that owns the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia, has offered passengers 11,000 euros ($14,000) each in compensation.
The deal comes after negotiations between Costa Cruises and several Italian consumer groups.
Costa Cruises also promised to refund medical and transport expenses, as well as the cost of the cruise.
One consumer group, Codacons, has urged passengers not to accept the offer, Reuters news agency reports.
Codacons and two US law firms are filing a class-action lawsuit in the US suit against Costa Cruises, demanding at least $160,000 for each passenger on the ship. Costa Cruises is owned by the US-based Carnival Group.
Mitchell Proner, a lawyer with one of the firms filing the lawsuit, said last week that it was being brought on behalf of 110 claimants.
A crew member from the Costa Concordia has also brought a lawsuit against Costa Cruises in the US state of Illinois, Reuters reports.
In court documents, Gary Lobaton says he was not aware of the “dangerous conditions” the ship was in until it was too late to abandon ship.
Costa Cruises, the Italian company that owns the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia, has offered passengers 11,000 euros ($14,000) each in compensation
The deal will not cover those passengers who lost loved ones or who were injured.
“This deal concerns some 3,000 passengers from 60 countries, including some 900 Italians,” Adoc, one of the consumer groups that negotiated the agreement, said in a statement, AFP reports.
“We think around 85% of them will agree to this deal,” it added.
On Tuesday another body was found inside the wreck of the Costa Concordia, bringing the death toll to 16. At least 16 others are missing.
Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio on 13 January with more than 4,200 people on board.
Costa Cruises has blamed Captain Francesco Schettino for committing “grave errors of judgement” by steering the ship too close to Giglio on an “unauthorized manoeuvre”.
Francesco Schettino is currently under house arrest on suspicion of manslaughter, which he denies.
Teodora, the world’s largest cut emerald, which is the size of a watermelon, is set to go up for auction and is expected to fetch $1.15 million.
The 57,500-carat stone is scheduled to be auctioned off tomorrow by Western Star Auctions in British Columbia.
The gem was found in Brazil and cut in India, before being sold to rare gems dealer Reagan Reaney in Calgary, but there are doubts over whether it is in fact a true emerald.
“I’m positive it contains emerald but I’m not sure how much of it is emerald,” Jeff Nechka, the gemologist who appraised the stone, told JCK Magazine.
Jeff Nechka said that he cannot even confirm that the stone is in fact the “world’s largest emerald”.
The gem has been dyed so Jeff Nechka says it is possible that at least part of it could be dyed white beryl.
“It has been dyed to some extent but it’s impossible to tell the intensity of the stone prior. It’s impossible to know how much of it is emerald.” Jeff Nechka told JCK.
Director of Gemological Institute of America’s West Coast Identification Service, Shane McClure, said he had not examined the stone but that if there is any white beryl in the stone, GIA would likely term it “beryl with zones of emerald.”
“We probably would not call it emerald no matter what,” Shane McClure told JCK.
“They seem to think there is indication of natural green coloration but we wouldn’t call it emerald in any case.”
Teodora, the world's largest cut emerald, which is the size of a watermelon, is set to go up for auction and is expected to fetch $1.15 million
Despite the doubt, Jeff Nechka said that he was confident the stone has been priced accordingly.
“If it was solid, untreated emerald, you would be looking at 10 or 20 times the value for sure,” Jeff Nechka told JCK.
Regan Reaney, the Calgary gem wholesaler who is selling the stone, told JCK that anyone who questions the stone is welcome to examine it.
“This is 100 percent what we say it is. We know there is emerald throughout it, we don’t know how much. We know it’s not a total white beryl, but it has some white beryl in it. It’s not gem quality, and we know it’s commercial grade. But the size of it is what makes it special,” Regan Reaney said in the report.
If the stone is not sold, it will be sent to the Gemological Institute of America.
The FBI has caused incalculable damage, far in excess of the losses claimed by the content lobbies, in a fruitless attempt to prevent access to the media content hosted on Megaupload, some of which they claim to have been infringing copyright under US law. However, as much of the unlawful content will still be available via other services on the web, this action not only shows us the futility of these measures but also serves as a reminder that these files are not necessarily, nor have been shown to be, illegal in any country, including the US.
In contrast, by closing the service they have impeded the access to millions of archives of both private individuals and organisations, potentially causing huge personal, economic and image damages to a vast number of people. In addition, the Pirate Party understands they may have violated Articles 197 and 198 of the Spanish Penal Code by misappropiating personal data.
The widespread damage caused by the sudden closure of Megaupload is unjustified and completely disproportionate to the aim intended. For this reason Pirates of Catalonia, in collaboration with Pirate Parties International and other Pirate Parties [including the Pirate Party of the United Kingdom], have begun investigating these potential breaches of law and will facilitate submission of complaints against the US authorities in as many countries as possible, to ensure a positive and just result.
The complaint against FBI
In order to make this joint complaint, a platform has been created where any person or organisation affected by this closure can register their interest, regardless of the type of account they had on Megaupload.
This initiative is a starting point for legitimate internet users to help defend themselves from the legal abuses promoted by those wishing to aggressively lock away cultural materials for their own financial gain.
Regardless of ideology, or opinions on the legality or morality of those running Megaupload, actions such as the closure of this service cause huge damage to lawful users of the sites and are unacceptable and disproportionate violations of their rights.
For these reasons, we ask that everyone spread the call to join this initiative, as actions like this one cannot and should not be forgiven.
NASA announces that an asteroid the size of a bus is set to pass extremely close to Earth today.
Asteroid 2012 BX34 will pass within 36,750 miles of Earth at about 3:30 p.m GMT/10:30 a.m. EST Friday, January 27, tweeted astronomers with NASA’s Asteroid Watch program.
Even though this is more than five times closer than the moon, at 11 meters wide, the rock won’t be any threat to Earth.
“It wouldn’t get through our atmosphere intact even if it dared to try,” Asteroid Watch scientists tweeted Thursday.
Asteroid Watch is a part of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
NASA announces that an asteroid the size of a bus is set to pass extremely close to Earth today
For an asteroid to cause real damage to Earth, it needs to measure at least 140 m, experts estimate.
At that size they can cause widespread destruction near where they hit but will need to be far larger to cause trouble globally.
With this danger in mind, scientists in Germany have just launched a study to develop an asteroid shield.
With funds from the European Commission, the NEOShield project is expected to take three years to complete.
Some of the scientists will look at include repelling asteroids with projectiles or explosives or using gravity to change its course.
Still today’s asteroid passing should offer a good show:
“Advanced amateur astronomers might be able to observe the flyby as the asteroid brightens to 14th magnitude just before closest approach on Friday,” the website Spaceweather.com reported.
