The Nokia Lumia 900 may be the current leader when it comes to a quality Windows Phone handset on a budget, but Samsung is under-cutting the competition with the newly announced Focus 2. Succeeding the Focus and Focus S, this new handset offers LTE and comes in any color you like (so long as it’s white) for the low-low price of $49.99 on-contract. It has a 4-inch Super AMOLED (non-Plus) display up front and a five megapixel sensor in the back, capable of recording 720p video, paired with a VGA camera facing forward. No details on processor memory at this point, but for that price we wouldn’t expect to be too overwhelmed. Intrigued? You can sate that curiosity when it hits AT&T stores on May 20th.
Update: AT&T’s site now specifies that the Focus 2 will use a 1.4GHz CPU.
Public release date: 7-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dean Falk dfalk@fsu.edu 505-954-7249 Florida State University
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — One of the world’s most important fossils has a story to tell about the brain evolution of modern humans and their ancestors, according to Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk.
The Taung fossil the first australopithecine ever discovered has two significant features that were analyzed by Falk and a group of anthropological researchers. Their findings, which suggest brain evolution was a result of a complex set of interrelated dynamics in childbirth among new bipeds, were published May 7 in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“These findings are significant because they provide a highly plausible explanation as to why the hominin brain might grow larger and more complex,” Falk said.
The first feature is a “persistent metopic suture,” or unfused seam, in the frontal bone, which allows a baby’s skull to be pliable during childbirth as it squeezes through the birth canal. In great apes gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees the metopic suture closes shortly after birth. In humans, it does not fuse until around 2 years of age to accommodate rapid brain growth.
The second feature is the fossil’s endocast, or imprint of the outside surface of the brain transferred to the inside of the skull. The endocast allows researchers to examine the brain’s form and structure.
After examining the Taung fossil, as well as huge numbers of skulls belonging to apes and humans, as well as corresponding 3-D CT (three-dimensional computed tomographic) scans, and taking into account the fossil record for the past 3 million years, Falk and her colleagues noted three important findings: The persistent metopic suture is an adaptation for giving birth to babies with larger brains; is related to the shift to a rapidly growing brain after birth; and may be related to expansion in the frontal lobes.
“The persistent metopic suture, an advanced trait, probably occurred in conjunction with refining the ability to walk on two legs,” Falk said. “The ability to walk upright caused an obstretric dilemma. Childbirth became more difficult because the shape of the birth canal became constricted while the size of the brain increased. The persistent metopic suture contributes to an evolutionary solution to this dilemma.”
The later fusion of the metopic suture is most likely an adaptation of hominins who walked upright to be able to more easily give birth to babies with relatively large brains. The unfused seam is also related to the shift to rapidly growing brains after birth, an advanced human-like feature as compared to apes.
“The later fusion was also associated with evolutionary expansion of the frontal lobes, which is evident from the endocasts of australopithecines such as Taung,” Falk said.
The Taung fossil, which is estimated to be around 2 million years old, was discovered in 1924 in Taung, South Africa. It became the “type specimen,” or main model, of the genus Australopithecus africanus when it was announced in 1925.
An australopithecine is any species of the extinct genera Australopithecus or Paranthropus that lived in Africa, walked on two legs and had relatively small brains.
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Falk conducted the research with Marcia S. Ponce de Leon, Christoph P.E. Zollikofer and Naoki Morimoto of the Anthropological Institute and Museum at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.
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Public release date: 7-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dean Falk dfalk@fsu.edu 505-954-7249 Florida State University
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — One of the world’s most important fossils has a story to tell about the brain evolution of modern humans and their ancestors, according to Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk.
The Taung fossil the first australopithecine ever discovered has two significant features that were analyzed by Falk and a group of anthropological researchers. Their findings, which suggest brain evolution was a result of a complex set of interrelated dynamics in childbirth among new bipeds, were published May 7 in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“These findings are significant because they provide a highly plausible explanation as to why the hominin brain might grow larger and more complex,” Falk said.
The first feature is a “persistent metopic suture,” or unfused seam, in the frontal bone, which allows a baby’s skull to be pliable during childbirth as it squeezes through the birth canal. In great apes gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees the metopic suture closes shortly after birth. In humans, it does not fuse until around 2 years of age to accommodate rapid brain growth.
The second feature is the fossil’s endocast, or imprint of the outside surface of the brain transferred to the inside of the skull. The endocast allows researchers to examine the brain’s form and structure.
After examining the Taung fossil, as well as huge numbers of skulls belonging to apes and humans, as well as corresponding 3-D CT (three-dimensional computed tomographic) scans, and taking into account the fossil record for the past 3 million years, Falk and her colleagues noted three important findings: The persistent metopic suture is an adaptation for giving birth to babies with larger brains; is related to the shift to a rapidly growing brain after birth; and may be related to expansion in the frontal lobes.
“The persistent metopic suture, an advanced trait, probably occurred in conjunction with refining the ability to walk on two legs,” Falk said. “The ability to walk upright caused an obstretric dilemma. Childbirth became more difficult because the shape of the birth canal became constricted while the size of the brain increased. The persistent metopic suture contributes to an evolutionary solution to this dilemma.”
The later fusion of the metopic suture is most likely an adaptation of hominins who walked upright to be able to more easily give birth to babies with relatively large brains. The unfused seam is also related to the shift to rapidly growing brains after birth, an advanced human-like feature as compared to apes.
“The later fusion was also associated with evolutionary expansion of the frontal lobes, which is evident from the endocasts of australopithecines such as Taung,” Falk said.
The Taung fossil, which is estimated to be around 2 million years old, was discovered in 1924 in Taung, South Africa. It became the “type specimen,” or main model, of the genus Australopithecus africanus when it was announced in 1925.
An australopithecine is any species of the extinct genera Australopithecus or Paranthropus that lived in Africa, walked on two legs and had relatively small brains.
###
Falk conducted the research with Marcia S. Ponce de Leon, Christoph P.E. Zollikofer and Naoki Morimoto of the Anthropological Institute and Museum at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.
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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.
You might think the koozie you’ve got wrapped around your can is doing a great job at keeping your drink cold. But a quarter inch of neoprene can’t compare to how well this gigantic novelty foam fist would insulate your cold beer. More »
Public release date: 7-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Molly Galvin news@nas.edu 202-334-2138 National Academy of Sciences
Sustainability has become a major focus for federal, state, and local government agencies, businesses, and nonprofits. This National Research Council symposium will showcase federal investments and institutional structures regarding sustainability and identify opportunities to help promote practices that would lead communities toward sustainability.
The symposium will highlight science and technology research contributions to sustainability goals and present international, national, and local case studies that examine how science is being used for decision-making regarding sustainability. John Holdren, national science adviser, Subra Suresh, director of the National Science Foundation, and Robert Hormats, under secretary of economic growth, energy, and the environment at the U.S. Department of State will deliver keynote addresses. The symposium is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
The symposium will take place from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 17, and 9 a.m. to noon on May 18 at the Pew D.C. Conference Center, 901 E St., N.W., Washington, D.C.
Also on May 16, a reception will be held at in the Atrium of the National Academies’ Keck Center, 500 Fifth St., N.W. Seating is limited; reporters who wish to attend the symposium or reception must register in advance with the Office of News and Public Information; 202-334-2138 or news@nas.edu.
###
Those who cannot attend can watch the symposium via live webcast. For a complete agenda or to register for the webcast, visit http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/sustainability/SustainabilitySymposium/PGA_069055.
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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.
Public release date: 7-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Molly Galvin news@nas.edu 202-334-2138 National Academy of Sciences
Sustainability has become a major focus for federal, state, and local government agencies, businesses, and nonprofits. This National Research Council symposium will showcase federal investments and institutional structures regarding sustainability and identify opportunities to help promote practices that would lead communities toward sustainability.
The symposium will highlight science and technology research contributions to sustainability goals and present international, national, and local case studies that examine how science is being used for decision-making regarding sustainability. John Holdren, national science adviser, Subra Suresh, director of the National Science Foundation, and Robert Hormats, under secretary of economic growth, energy, and the environment at the U.S. Department of State will deliver keynote addresses. The symposium is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
The symposium will take place from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 17, and 9 a.m. to noon on May 18 at the Pew D.C. Conference Center, 901 E St., N.W., Washington, D.C.
Also on May 16, a reception will be held at in the Atrium of the National Academies’ Keck Center, 500 Fifth St., N.W. Seating is limited; reporters who wish to attend the symposium or reception must register in advance with the Office of News and Public Information; 202-334-2138 or news@nas.edu.
###
Those who cannot attend can watch the symposium via live webcast. For a complete agenda or to register for the webcast, visit http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/sustainability/SustainabilitySymposium/PGA_069055.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
As the globe warms, communities across the world are providing examples of how to adapt. David Biello reports
May 6, 2012?|
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For want of a mangrove, the village was lost. In fact, the loss of coastal mangroves made even a costly dyke along the Vietnamese seashore inadequate to cope with a recent typhoon. Plus, the absence of mangroves hit livelihoods?less seafood to catch.
But one village had painstakingly replanted mangroves, scraping barnacles off the seedlings to ensure they took root. In return, those mangroves protected the village from the typhoon that devastated the rest of the coast.
This is not a fable, it’s a tale of how people are already adapting to climate change, as revealed at the International Institute for Environment and Development’s sixth conference on community-based adaptation to climate change held in Vietnam in April.
Farmers are trying to adapt, too. Whether by growing ginger in the shade of banana fronds in Southeast Asia or planting millet beneath new trees in the Sahel region of Africa.
Those who can’t adapt have to move, like Alaskans whose coastal towns have been undermined by severe winds or waves. Or whose water sources have been infiltrated by brine.
Admittedly, I am an unabashed Francophile and will miss Nicholas Sarkozy for purely selfish foreign policy reasons. Sarkozy has been a steadfast U.S. ally and reliable trans-Atlantic partner no matter his shortcomings at home.
So with the vote tally completed last evening in Paris, Francois Hollande will ride triumphantly into the Elysee Presidential Palace as the first Socialist president in over 24 years with a mandate to end German-style austerity force fed by the European Union’s paymasters. Hollande faces many hurdles: he must reverse an unemployment rate rocketing north of 10% that is 50% higher than Germany’s at 5% yet fulfill a campaign pledge not to mess with France’s social safety net by cutting government spending. Tall orders for the callow Hollande who built his winning margin on a promise to bring the French “change you can believe in.” But delivering change requires Hollande to tackle France’s mounting fiscal challenges which he can only do by jettisoning the Euro-Zone bailout pact German’s Chancellor Angela Merkel force fed on France and its EU partners. That will require Hollande to devise a magic formula to rein in France’s deficit without torching any hope for economic growth.
Convincing Germany to let up on the austerity brakes may not be as politically difficult as it may sound. With the Euro-zone hanging in the balance, European Union’s leaders face a growing populist rebellion throughout the southern tier of the continent driven by the bleak austerity-driven policies imposed by Brussels at Berlin’s insistence. Deutche-driven austerity may make economists and bondholders relieved, but it has perversely tricked down to Europe’s voters as an unproven Euro-zone cure that is killing the patient rather than cure the disease.
Consequently, Hollande faces many an inconvenient truth in the days ahead. France’s public spending is 56% of GDP as compared to an OECD average of @43%. The reason France’s spending is so out of kilter when compared to its growth is simple. Sarkozy and his predecessors were determined to build a lavish social entitlement system, but never instituted the means to pay for it. The sad truth facing France is that it simply cannot afford its social largess because of its stagnating growth rate and the erosion of France’s ability to compete around the world. France is borrowing beyond its means without taking the steps necessary to generate jobs and increase competitive exports to fund its cherished social entitlements. These are hard truths that kept getting lost in the harsh campaign rhetorica of the past two weeks.
But French voters are no different than others. They do not want to pay the price for economic mismangement…the burden for error should fall on someone else or something else.
Yet the election was principally about which candidate could maintain that lavish social safety net while finding more funds to spur economic growth to reduce unemployment. In the end Sarkozy fell into a trap of his own making. He simply could not credibly assure the French that his economic policies would let them have their cake and eat it, too.
But the mild-mannered Hollande is no financial Houdini, either. The incoming president will be shackled not only by a reluctant Chancellor Merkel who has her green eyeshade on when poring over France’s economic balance sheet, but also by a loss of confidence in France’s ability to pay for its spiraling debt. Never mind that Hollande is a core socialist who believes the cure to France’s ills lies in more, not less government spending. But the creditors are having none of this, and when France forfeited its cherished AAA credit rating a few months ago, it fell on Sarkozy’s reelection chances like a ton of bricks. Nothing that Hollande campaigned on will automatically reset the credit rating clock.
Restoring French economic strength and vitality is of great interest across the pond here in Washington. A tottering France equals a weak global ally and this is not a good time in world affairs for France to become globally myopic because of Hollande’s singular fixation to find a cheap cure for economic travails when one does not exist.
Whether or not the Euro goes by way of the dodo, nothing good can come if France’s economic challenges spill across the Atlantic – that contagion would make Greece’s pale in comparison. All the more reason why Washington should be encouraging its German ally to read the tea leaves well out of Paris and not make it that much harder for Hollande to sell a financial fix to his fellow citoyens. That is about all Washington can do…it is up to the French to decide whether something’s gotta give before it is taken away.
However one cuts it, Messr. Hollande faces the same hard choices as does his defeated predecessor. Does he impose crushing new taxes on the wealthy or does he impose new taxes on everyone to help achieve revenue targets needed to help offset France’s deficit? But making that choice reflects only one side of the deficit coin. No targeted or across the board draconian tax increase alone will work to improve France’s financial integrity and competitive deficit without some cuts in France’s public spending. But Hollande has taken the Grover Norquist pledge on raising taxes and turned it on its head, i.e., he has vowed not to reduce government spending and, to the contrary, has promised to double down and dramatically spend more on education and other potential job creation programs. By anyone’s reckoning, his campaign platform would cost the French economy another Eur 20 billion. Would this further spending reverse every economic principle known to man? Who am I to say…the proof will be in the souffle.
Why would anyone expect Hollande to break with his own Socialist party principals and be compelled to pay the piper given what he has pledged not to do?
Simpson/Bowles a la Hollandaise anyone?
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Follow Amb. Marc Ginsberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@ambmcg
CHICAGO (AP) – Chris Capuano threw seven shutout innings and drove in two runs to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
Capuano (4-0) held Chicago to three hits and struck out seven, extending his scoreless innings streak to 18 2-3. His two-run double in the second gave him his first RBIs since Aug. 24, 2007.
Cubs starter Chris Volstad (0-4) fell to 0-9 over 17 starts dating to July 10. He allowed four hits and five runs over five innings, walking three and striking out one.
The first-place Dodgers avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season. It’s just the second time since 1988 that Los Angeles has won at least 18 of its first 27 games.
Los Angeles started 19-8 in 2009, the last year the Dodgers won the NL West.
During Volstad’s long winless streak, his Achilles’ heel has been an inability to avoid big innings. The problem surfaced again on Saturday when his leadoff walk to Andre Ethier in the second led to a sacrifice fly.
Later that inning, Volstad left a pitch up to Capuano, who laced it into the gap in right-center for a two-run double.
Capuano, who was a capable hitting pitcher before missing two seasons with an elbow injury, had gone just 5 for 79 without an RBI since returning to the majors in 2010.
Capuano is off to his best start since winning his first five decisions in 2007. He’s hoping this season turns out better after he lost his final 12 decisions that year. The lefty has won seven of his last nine starts against the Cubs, who barely threatened him on Saturday.
Chicago loaded the bases with one out in the first, but Capuano struck out Alfonso Soriano and Ian Stewart looking. The Cubs got just three base runners against Capuano over his last six innings and didn’t get another runner past first base.
Matt Kemp went 0 for 3 but drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Kemp’s batting average dropped below .400 for the first time since April 10. The major-league home run leader hasn’t gone deep in the Dodgers’ last four games, his longest drought of the season.
Dee Gordon doubled home Matt Treanor in the fifth. Gordon also singled and stole his 12th base of the season.
Starlin Castro singled three times for the Cubs, but committed his eighth error, the most in the majors.
Bryan LaHair walked twice, extending his streak of reaching base to 23 straight games, but his career-best 10-game hitting streak was snapped.
Notes: Volstad started in place of Matt Garza, who is battling a virus. Garza’s start was pushed back to Sunday, though Cubs manager Dale Sveum said that possibility is “pretty iffy.” Garza’s start may be skipped altogether. If Garza can’t pitch Sunday, LHP Travis Wood will be recalled from Triple-A Iowa to take his turn in the rotation. Wood was in the Cubs’ clubhouse on Saturday. … Sveum said that utility player Jeff Baker has the same illness as Garza and was unavailable for Saturday’s game. … LHP Ted Lilly was ejected from the Dodgers’ dugout by home plate umpire Tim Timmons during the top of the fifth.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Capuano throws, hits Dodgers past Cubs
CHICAGO (AP) – Chris Capuano threw seven shutout innings and drove in two runs to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
Murtaza Razvi, an editor at one of Pakistan’s leading English newspapers, was murdered in Karachi yesterday. He was one of many journalists I met on a recent trip who have refused to give up their work despite threats.
Two weeks ago I was in an office in Karachi, Pakistan, with a room full of journalists, including Murtaza Razvi, an editor at Dawn newspaper, discussing challenges facing the country?s vibrant media, including risks to covering Pakistan. Yesterday I was e-mailed that he had been murdered.
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Before I left for Pakistan a few weeks ago on a journalist exchange program sponsored by the East-West Center, I asked colleagues who reported in the country, both Pakistani and American, about their greatest challenge.
Americans complained of the government’s game of ?smoke and mirrors,? a disinformation campaign that puts most other government propaganda efforts to?shame. The challenge for Pakistani journalists, on the other hand, was decidedly more severe. ?We have a completely free media in Pakistan, but no protection,? said one journalist based in Islamabad.
How severe? The country leads the world in journalist murders, the latest just yesterday.
Seven of the other eight Pakistani journalists at a meeting with my group proceeded to share stories of threats. It was common, they said, to receive a threat by a phone call from the Taliban for not getting enough quotes from them, from political parties for including the Taliban in a story or not being represented the way they saw fit, and even from Pakistan?s version of the CIA, the ISI.
But this wasn?t something that had them lining up to find a new job. It was just how things work. Most of the time the person on the other end of the line is bluffing, they said. They had gotten used to the fact that Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010 and 2011, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. And killings there have been met with near-perfect impunity throughout the years. For some perspective, consider that there have been 19 unsolved murders of journalists since 2002. (see CPJ?s video)
When you put it that way, having to peer through smoke and mirrors to get to the heart of a story doesn’t look so bad.
I visited the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting while I was in Pakistan. The ministry has jurisdiction over the rules and regulations relating to information, broadcasting, and the press. Like many Pakistanis we spoke to on this trip, the minister talked at length about how wonderful it was to have an active, independent, vibrant media that had absolutely no restrictions and how that was contributing to democracy in Pakistan.?
However, when we raised the question of safety and reported threats against journalist, Minister of Information Firdous Ashiq Awan (since replaced), without asking for details or pausing to smooth this over, said: ?Those are complete fabrications. It never happened. It?s not happening.?
We brought up the famous case of Syad Saleem Shazad, a prominent journalist who went missing after exposing Al Qaeda infiltration of the military. He had been ?warned? several times by the ISI for covering sensitive topics, according to his family. He was later found dead. The ISI, was implicated, though it denied involvement.
The minister dismissed the scenario of Shazad’s murder as unproven. She did clarify that, “we condemn that sort of action.” But she stuck with her statement that there were no threats or real dangers for journalists who were not “over smart.” A former local journalist who now works in the ministry agreed with her.
At this point, Issam Ahmed, the Monitor?s Islamabad correspondent, who had been invited to the round table by the minister, shared a story about a time he had been reporting on a sensitive topic in northern Pakistan, when he was summoned into a car by agents to go meet with the ISI bureau chief. The car sped off at breakneck speed to the headquarters, where the chief warned him to ?not report critically.? So, Issam, said, it wasn’t a death threat, but intimidation happens.
President Nicolas Sarkozy conceded defeat Sunday when polls indicated that his rival, socialist Francois Hollande, had won France?s presidential elections.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The largest U.S. banks are accusing the Federal Reserve of attempting to misuse its new regulatory powers to shrink financial giants under the misguided belief that “big is bad.” Lobbying groups representing the big banks are pushing back against a set of proposed rules the Fed issued in December to more closely [...]
(Reuters) – Bank of America Corp is planning to cut about 300 jobs in its investment banking and capital markets group, as it struggles to rein in costs to make up for weak revenue growth, sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. The layoffs are not nearly as eye-popping as the bank’s job cuts [...]
Someone seems a bit surly. Before last night?s Angels-Twins game, the Angels hitters and hitting coach Mickey Hatcher had their usual pre-series meeting. During the meeting Albert Pujols stood up and said some inspiring words of some kind about how he?s going to turn it around and go team and all of that. That?s cool. [...]
The Thai construction industry increased in value at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.99% during the review period (2007?2011). This was supported by significant private and public investments in infrastructural, residential, commercial and industrial construction projects. Residential construction was the largest market in the industry in 2011. However, the residential construction market only [...]
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