2013 Smart Guide: Curiosity to reach Mars mother lode

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"

NASA'S Curiosity rover is about to have its cake and eat it too. Around September, the rover should get its first taste of layered sediments at Aeolis Mons, a mountain over 5 kilometres tall that may hold preserved signs of life on Mars.

Previous rovers uncovered ample evidence of ancient water, a key ingredient for life as we know it. With its sophisticated on-board chemistry lab, Curiosity is hunting for more robust signs of habitability, including organic compounds - the carbon-based building blocks of life as we know it.

Observations from orbit show that the layers in Aeolis Mons - also called Mount Sharp - contain minerals thought to have formed in the presence of water. That fits with theories that the rover's landing site, Gale crater, was once a large lake. Even better, the layers were probably laid down quickly enough that the rocks could have held on to traces of microorganisms, if they existed there.

If the search for organics turns up empty, Aeolis Mons may hold other clues to habitability, says project scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The layers will reveal which minerals and chemical processes were present in Mars's past. "We're going to find all kinds of good stuff down there, I'm sure," he says.

Curiosity will explore a region called Glenelg until early February, and then hit the gas. The base of the mountain is 10 kilometres away, and the rover can drive at about 100 metres a day at full speed. The journey should take between six and nine months, but will include stops to check out any interesting landmarks. After all, some of the most exciting discoveries from Mars rovers were a result of serendipity.

"It's a discovery-driven mission," Grotzinger says. "We picked this site because we wanted to go to Mount Sharp. But we'll kind of follow our nose, and see where it leads us off on side trails."

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India's trauma turns to anger at gang-rape killing

NEW DELHI: Horror at a deadly gang-rape that appalled India has turned to anger in New Delhi, where a leaden-footed government is accused of being out of touch and out of ideas in handling its latest crisis.

On Sunday evening, as dusk descended on an area of the Indian capital where protesters have assembled daily since the December 16 rape of a 23-year-old medical student, a group ran through the crowd with an effigy.

It depicted Sheila Dikshit, the 74-year-old chief minister of New Delhi blamed by many for failing to prevent Delhi becoming known as India's "rape capital".

The victim was repeatedly raped and violated with an iron bar on a bus before being thrown off the moving vehicle. She suffered horrific injuries and died on Saturday.

"Tomorrow it could be my sister or me," Soumya Tandon, a 26-year-old marketing executive, told AFP. "I take a bus from near my office and every day my mother is worried if I will reach home safely. Why should we live in constant fear?"

Under the watchful eye of hundreds of riot police, Dikshit's effigy was burnt to cheers, underlining the ugly mood among young urban voters who are increasingly vocal in denouncing their leaders as too old and too complacent.

"We are the future of this nation, they need to connect with us," said 32-year-old Mayuri Goswami, a chartered accountant carrying a banner that read "Time to engage, not disconnect. Wake up, leaders".

"They need to involve us more, try and understand our emotions and anger," he said.

Dikshit, who once said a female journalist murdered in Delhi should not have been so "adventurous" as to be out on her own late at night, is not the only target amid a chorus of calls for change.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an 80-year-old former academic who struggles to connect with voters, called for "dispassionate debate" in a brief statement after the woman's death as the nation was consumed by grief.

As politicians of all stripes struggled to measure the mood and find the right language, the Minister for Women Krishna Tirath failed to make herself heard.

Heavy-handed policing and insensitive comments only stirred more anger.

The president's son, Abhjit Mukherjee, called the protesters "painted ladies", while others blamed provocative clothing and suggested withdrawing skirts at school to curb harassment.

Another protester's poster took aim at Rahul Gandhi, the 41-year-old "youth leader" of the ruling Congress party who is expected to be a prime ministerial candidate in 2014 national elections.

The aloof Oxford graduate -- the latest in the Gandhi political dynasty -- has made few public comments on the crime, which brought simmering anger over widespread abuse of women to boiling point.

"I am not Rahul Gandhi. I have guts to save my sisters," read one banner.

Commentary on the victim's ordeal has tended to place the assault at the centre of forces churning up one of the world's most diverse countries.

Economic growth of nearly 10 percent over the last decade has led to hectic urbanisation that has brought changed moral codes and lifestyles, a more global outlook and globalised trends, as well as simmering class and gender tensions.

Many reasons have been posited for the assault, a commonplace crime in India. A recent poll found it to be the worst in the G20 group of nations for women because of infanticide, child marriage and abuse.

Analysis has focused on India's deeply patriarchal society, in which misogyny runs deep and women are at best second-class citizens and at worst mere objects to be owned, enjoyed or abused by men.

But did the country's gender imbalance as a result of female foeticide play a role? And what about frustration among young Indians in an increasingly sexualised society?

"In our attitudes to sex, we are midway between the liberal democracies of the West and fundamentalist Islamic societies," wrote Palash Krishna Mehrotra, author of "The Butterfly Generation", this week.

In the "old versus new" narrative, most analysts agree that the scandal highlighted the growing battle line between young middle-class urban India -- the future of the country -- and a government still run by men of pensionable age.

Madhuresh Kumar of the non-profit National Alliance of People's Movement, says the protesters represent a new kind of movement which is urban and rooted in globalised, aspirational India.

"This class was till now complacent in its material prosperity," Kumar told AFP.

The millions who protested last year, when anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare ignited a national campaign against graft, had a similar profile.

Then as now, a political class seen as unable or unwilling to improve India was widely pilloried as failing to respond to a young population yearning for wealth and security.

- AFP/al

Read More..

Yahoo completes withdrawal from South Korean market

As it promised earlier this year, Yahoo has completed its exit from the South Korean market before the end of the year, according to a brief report by the Yonhap News Agency.

Yahoo announced its intention in October to withdraw from the country, saying that the move was a response to "efforts to streamline operations and focus our resources on building a stronger global business that's set up for long-term growth and success."

The South Korean unit, which had been in operation since 1997, consisted of about 200 employees, delivered editorial content and handled the company's advertising efforts in that country. Yahoo's market share in South Korea has been on the decline as users increasingly used competing Web portals, like Naver and Daum.

"The Korean operation has faced growing challenges over the past few years that now make scaling our business very difficult," Yahoo said in a statement in October.

Yahoo isn't the only company having trouble competing in South Korea. Motorola Mobility plans to close "most" of its operations in the country by 2013, according to a leaked internal memo. After long struggling with low handset sales in the Asian country, phone maker HTC closed its doors in South Korea in July.

(Via TNW)

Read More..

How to Banish That New Year's Eve Hangover

For those of us who enjoy the occasional cocktail, the holiday season would be incomplete without certain treats of the liquid variety. Some look forward to the creamy charms of rum-laced eggnog; others anticipate cupfuls of high-octane punch or mugs of warm, spiced wine.

No matter what's in your glass, raising one as the year winds down is tradition. What could be more festive? The problem is, one drink leads to two, then the party gets going and a third is generously poured. Soon, the music fades and the morning arrives—and with it, the dreaded hangover. (Explore a human-body interactive.)

Whether it's a pounding headache, a queasy stomach, sweating, or just general misery, the damage has been done. So now it's time to remedy the situation. What's the quickest way to banish the pain? It depends who you ask.

Doctors typically recommend water for hydration and ibuprofen to reduce inflammation. Taking B vitamins is also good, according to anesthesiologist Jason Burke, because they help the body metabolize alcohol and produce energy.

Burke should know a thing or two about veisalgia, the medical term for hangover. At his Las Vegas clinic Hangover Heaven, Burke treats thousands of people suffering from the effects of drinking to excess with hydrating fluids and medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"No two hangovers are the same," he said, adding that the unfavorable condition costs society billions of dollars-mostly from lost productivity and people taking sick days from work.

Hot Peppers for Hangovers?

So what's the advice from the nonmedical community? Suggestions range from greasy breakfasts to vanilla milkshakes to spending time in a steamy sauna. A friend insists hot peppers are the only way to combat a hangover's wrath. Another swears by the palliative effects of a bloody mary. In fact, many people just have another drink, following the old "hair of the dog that bit you" strategy.

Whether such "cures" actually get rid of a hangover is debatable, but one thing's for sure: the sorry state is universal. The only people immune to hangovers are the ones who avoid alcohol altogether.

So for those who do indulge, even if it's just once in awhile, see our interactive featuring cures from around the world (also above). As New Year's Eve looms with its attendant excuse to imbibe, perhaps it would be wise to stock your refrigerator with one of these antidotes. Pickled herring, anyone?

Read More..

Hillary Clinton Hospitalized With Blood Clot

(MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images)

By DANA HUGHES and DEAN SCHABNER

Secretary Hillary Clinton was hospitalized today after a doctors doing a follow-up exam discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago.

She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours, Deputy Assistant Secretary Philippe Reines said.

Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion. They will determine if any further action is required, Reines said.

Clinton, 65, originally fell ill from a stomach virus following a whirlwind trip to Europe at the beginning of the month, which caused such severe dehydration that she fainted and fell at home, suffering a concussion. No ambulance was called and she was not hospitalized, according to a state department official.

The stomach virus had caused Clinton to cancel a planned trip to North Africa and the United Arab Emirates, and also her scheduled testimony before Congress at hearings on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

According to a U.S. official, the secretary had two teams of doctors, including specialists, examine her after the fall.  They also ran tests to rule out more serious ailments beyond the virus and the concussion. During the course of the week after her concussion, Clinton was on an IV drip and being monitored by a nurse, while also recovering from the pain caused by the fall.

Medical experts consulted by ABC News said that it was impossible to know for sure the true nature or severity of Clinton’s condition, given the sparse information provided by the State Department. However, most noted that the information available could indicate that Clinton had a deep venous thrombosis,which is a clot in the large veins in the legs.

“A concussion (traumatic brain injury) in itself increases risk of this clot. Likely the concussion has increased her bed rest,” said Dr. Brian D. Greenwald, Medical Director JFK Jonson Rehabilitation Center for Head Injuries. “Immobility is also a risk for DVT. Long flights are also a risk factor for DVT but the recent concussion is the most likely cause.

“Anticoagulants are the treatment,” he said. “If DVT goes untreated it can lead to pulmonary embolism (PE). PE is a clot traveling from veins in legs to lungs which is life threatening. Many people die each year from this.

“Now that she is being treated with blood thinners her risks of PE are decreased,” he said. “Blood thinners carry risk of bleeding but are common and can be safely used.”

Dr. Allen Sills, associate professor of Neurological Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said it was most likely that the clot was not located in Clinton’s brain, since she is being treated with anticoagulants.

“This is certainly not a common occurrence after a concussion, and is most likely related to either inactivity or some other injury suffered in the fall,” he said.

Dr. Neil Martin, the head of Neurovascular Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center, said blood thinners are often given for blood clots in the legs, and it is “very unusual” for anticoagulants to be given for blood clots in the head.

But he cautioned about speculating too much about Clinton’s condition before more information is available.

“If we don’t know where it is, there is the possibility of several different indications,” he said. “I don’t know if there is any connection between what she’s got now and the concussion. All I can tell you is, at this point, it’s almost impossible to speculate unless we know what’s going on there.”

Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 28 December 2012

Best videos of 2012: Rare view of Challenger tragedy

Watch a rare amateur video of the Challenger explosion, our most-viewed video of the year

Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms

Record snowfall and dozens of tornadoes snarled holiday travel as a powerful winter storm plowed across much of the US, while rainstorms battered the UK

2012 review: The year in life science

The year's biggest stories in life science, including James Cameron's descent into the Mariana trench and efforts to break into Antarctica's buried lakes

Superstorm lessons for adapting to climate change

As the post-Sandy rebuild gets under way, coastal cities around the world will be watching

Best videos of 2012: First MRI movie of childbirth

Watch a unique view of a baby's birth, at number 2 in our countdown of the year's top science videos

Fleadom or death: Reviving the glorious flea circus

The parasite-based sideshows were almost done for by the domestic vacuum cleaner - but they are bouncing back, finds Graham Lawton

Approval for gene-modified salmon spawns controversy

Apparently months late, US regulators have declared genetically engineered fish safe to farm and eat, but final approval could be some way off

Best videos of 2012: New aircraft flies inside out

Watch a novel flying machine use a unique mechanism to propel itself, at number 3 in our countdown of the top videos of the year

2012 review: The year in technology

The year's biggest stories in technology, including Kinect devices that may spot signs of autism and controlling a robot by the power of thought

Superdoodles: The science of scribbling

Far from being a distraction, doodling has an important purpose - and you can harness it

2013 Smart Guide: Wave goodbye to the mouse

The Leap, a 3D motion control device set to launch next year, will let you control your computer with touch-free hand and finger movements

Read More..

Russia probes Moscow plane crash

MOSCOW: Russian medics began Sunday identifying the bodies of four crew killed when a passenger jet careened off the runway of a Moscow international airport and smashed into a highway.

Rescue workers recovered the flight recorders from the four-year-old Tu-204 of tycoon Alexander Lebedev's Red Wings airlines late Saturday as Russia began mourning its latest post-Soviet crash.

"The plane touched down in the proper landing area but for some reason was unable to stop on the strip," Federal Air Transport Agency chief Alexander Neradko said in televised remarks.

A bigger loss of life was only averted because the 210-seat liner was empty except for eight crew on their return from a charter flight to the Czech Republic.

Cell phone footage of the accident posted on the Internet showed large chunks of debris hurtling over the highway and smashing into cars speeding on the highway whose drivers had to make sudden emergency stops,

The jet split into three pieces and required the temporary shutdown of both the Kiev Highway and Vnukovo -- Moscow's third largest airport and the site of a special terminal for Kremlin officials.

A security source said investigators had brushed aside poor weather conditions or pilot error and were focusing on technical problems with the Tupolev as the most likely cause.

"According to preliminary information, the Vnukovo catastrophe may have been caused by problems with the plane, which became exposed in difficult weather conditions," the unnamed official told the Interfax news agency.

Witnesses said heavy gusts accompanying a light snowfall were swirling over the airport at the time the plane came in for landing on Saturday at 4:45 pm (1245 GMT).

Red Wings owner Lebedev -- a billionaire famous for his critical view of the Kremlin and his ownership of the London Evening Standard and The Independent in Britain -- said the jet had recently passed a meticulous check.

"Plane number 47 had accumulated 8,500 flight hours and underwent its last serious check on November 23," Lebedev tweeted.

He also suggested that traffic controllers' initial refusal to authorise landing -- requiring the plane to complete several circles over Vnukovo -- may have been a contributing factor.

"All machinery has its limits, even when it is new," Lebedev wrote.

- AFP/ck

Read More..

Windows 8 wrestles with PC's legacy

I spend precious little time in Metro when using a traditional laptop.

(Credit:
Microsoft)

I'm by no means the first one to say this but
Windows 8 and older PCs make an odd couple.

But let me back up for a second. Before the release of Windows 8 on October 26, I tested Windows 8 on
tablets only, such as the Intel-based Samsung slate that Microsoft sold in its stores. And I was impressed with Metro.

That was then. Windows 8 Pro 64-bit is now installed on my Dell Adamo laptop. And I rarely venture into the Metro UI unless if I'm forced to.

Of course if you're one of the relative few who have a tablet like the Samsung slate or Microsoft's Surface or a touch-screen laptop like Acer's Aspire S7, yeah, then Metro is front and center, as it should be.

But on a traditional laptop it's problematic. That's why Apple, probably the biggest single force behind the rise of the touch interface, hasn't done something similar with its OSes.

Making iOS the launch point and default interface on Macs would not go over well, Steve Job's edict nixing the idea of touch on laptops notwithstanding.

So, Microsoft is going where Apple won't. Intel -- still Microsoft's single most important hardware partner -- is going there too, by the way. The chipmaker said recently that it has chosen Windows 8 "as the standard operating system for Ultrabooks and tablets in our enterprise environment."

But I don't think -- despite Microsoft's upbeat announcement about Windows 8 licenses -- the hundreds of millions of users out there with plain old PCs will warm to the concept of a touch-based launch UI.

Acer's president, Jim Wong, stated this concern rather bluntly to Digitimes this week. The Windows 8 interface could "dramatically delay adoption by consumers," he said.

I'll expand on that by saying that until touch-based laptops and hybrids are both plentiful and cheap, Windows 8 may not gain much traction. And that may take a while.

Let me close on a positive note, though. I like Windows 8. It's faster than
Windows 7 on my Dell and more stable. That's good enough for me.

And Microsoft should spend more time pitching these straightforward Windows 8 merits until touch becomes mainstream.

64-bit Windows 8 Pro on my Dell Adamo.

(Credit:
Brooke Crothers)

Read More..

How to Banish That New Year's Eve Hangover

For those of us who enjoy the occasional cocktail, the holiday season would be incomplete without certain treats of the liquid variety. Some look forward to the creamy charms of rum-laced eggnog; others anticipate cupfuls of high-octane punch or mugs of warm, spiced wine.

No matter what's in your glass, raising one as the year winds down is tradition. What could be more festive? The problem is, one drink leads to two, then the party gets going and a third is generously poured. Soon, the music fades and the morning arrives—and with it, the dreaded hangover. (Explore a human-body interactive.)

Whether it's a pounding headache, a queasy stomach, sweating, or just general misery, the damage has been done. So now it's time to remedy the situation. What's the quickest way to banish the pain? It depends who you ask.

Doctors typically recommend water for hydration and ibuprofen to reduce inflammation. Taking B vitamins is also good, according to anesthesiologist Jason Burke, because they help the body metabolize alcohol and produce energy.

Burke should know a thing or two about veisalgia, the medical term for hangover. At his Las Vegas clinic Hangover Heaven, Burke treats thousands of people suffering from the effects of drinking to excess with hydrating fluids and medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"No two hangovers are the same," he said, adding that the unfavorable condition costs society billions of dollars-mostly from lost productivity and people taking sick days from work.

Hot Peppers for Hangovers?

So what's the advice from the nonmedical community? Suggestions range from greasy breakfasts to vanilla milkshakes to spending time in a steamy sauna. A friend insists hot peppers are the only way to combat a hangover's wrath. Another swears by the palliative effects of a bloody mary. In fact, many people just have another drink, following the old "hair of the dog that bit you" strategy.

Whether such "cures" actually get rid of a hangover is debatable, but one thing's for sure: the sorry state is universal. The only people immune to hangovers are the ones who avoid alcohol altogether.

So for those who do indulge, even if it's just once in awhile, see our interactive featuring cures from around the world (also above). As New Year's Eve looms with its attendant excuse to imbibe, perhaps it would be wise to stock your refrigerator with one of these antidotes. Pickled herring, anyone?

Read More..

Woman Charged With Murder in NYC Subway Push

A woman who allegedly told New York City police she pushed a man onto the subway tracks because she hated Hindus and Muslims has been charged with murder as a hate crime.

Erica Menendez, 31, allegedly told police that she "pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I've been beating them up."

Menendez was taken into custody this morning after a two-day search, and when detectives were interviewing her she allegedly made the statements implicating herself in Thursday night's subway-platform death.

"The defendant is accused of committing what is every subway commuter's worst nightmare -- being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train," Queen District Attorney Richard A. Brown said. "The victim was allegedly shoved from behind and had no chance to defend himself. Beyond that, the hateful remarks allegedly made by the defendant and which precipitated the defendant's actions can never be tolerated by a civilized society."

Menendez was due to be arraigned this evening. She could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the second degree murder charge.

On Thursday night, a woman shoved a man from a subway platform at Queens Boulevard, and the man was crushed beneath an oncoming train. Police had searched the area for her after the incident.

New York City Subway Pusher Charged With Murder Watch Video

The victim was Sunando Sen, identified by several media outlets as a graphic designer and Indian immigrant who opened a print shop, Amsterdam Copy, on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Sen was struck by the No. 7 train after the unidentified woman allegedly pushed him from the northbound platform at 40th Street and Queens Boulevard at 8:04 p.m. on Thursday.

Witnesses told police they had seen the woman mubling to herself, pacing along the platform. She gave Sen little time to react, witnesses said.

"Witnesses said she was walking back and forth on the platform, talking to herself, before taking a seat alone on a wooden bench near the north end of the platform. When the train pulled into the station, the suspect rose from the bench and pushed the man, who was standing with his back to her, onto the tracks into the path of the train," NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne said earlier today. "The victim appeared not to notice her, according to witnesses."

READ: What to Do If You Fall on the Subway Tracks

Police released brief surveillance video of the woman fleeing the subway station, and described the suspect as a woman in her 20s, "heavy set, approximately 5'5" with brown or blond hair."

It was New York's second death of this kind in less than a month. On Dec. 3, 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han of Queens was shoved onto the tracks at New York's Times Square subway station. Two days later, police took 30-year-old Naeem Davis into custody.

On Friday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked whether the attack might be related to the increase of mentally ill people on the streets following closures of institutions over the past four decades.

"The courts or the law have changed and said, no, you can't do that unless they're a danger to society. Our laws protect you," Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show.

Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 28 December 2012

Best videos of 2012: Rare view of Challenger tragedy

Watch a rare amateur video of the Challenger explosion, our most-viewed video of the year

Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms

Record snowfall and dozens of tornadoes snarled holiday travel as a powerful winter storm plowed across much of the US, while rainstorms battered the UK

2012 review: The year in life science

The year's biggest stories in life science, including James Cameron's descent into the Mariana trench and efforts to break into Antarctica's buried lakes

Superstorm lessons for adapting to climate change

As the post-Sandy rebuild gets under way, coastal cities around the world will be watching

Best videos of 2012: First MRI movie of childbirth

Watch a unique view of a baby's birth, at number 2 in our countdown of the year's top science videos

Fleadom or death: Reviving the glorious flea circus

The parasite-based sideshows were almost done for by the domestic vacuum cleaner - but they are bouncing back, finds Graham Lawton

Approval for gene-modified salmon spawns controversy

Apparently months late, US regulators have declared genetically engineered fish safe to farm and eat, but final approval could be some way off

Best videos of 2012: New aircraft flies inside out

Watch a novel flying machine use a unique mechanism to propel itself, at number 3 in our countdown of the top videos of the year

2012 review: The year in technology

The year's biggest stories in technology, including Kinect devices that may spot signs of autism and controlling a robot by the power of thought

Superdoodles: The science of scribbling

Far from being a distraction, doodling has an important purpose - and you can harness it

2013 Smart Guide: Wave goodbye to the mouse

The Leap, a 3D motion control device set to launch next year, will let you control your computer with touch-free hand and finger movements

Read More..

Philippines seeks unity after birth control law signed

MANILA: President Benigno Aquino's government called for reconciliation on Saturday after a "divisive" birth control act was signed into law despite bitter opposition from the influential Catholic church.

Making sex education and contraceptives more widely available to the poor, the landmark legislation takes effect in mid-January, Aquino's spokeswoman Abigail Valte said.

"The passage into law of the Responsible Parenthood Act closes a highly divisive chapter of our history -- a chapter borne of the convictions of those who argued for, or against this Act," Valte said in a statement.

"At the same time, it opens the possibility of cooperation and reconciliation... engagement and dialogue characterised not by animosity, but by our collective desire to better the welfare of the Filipino people."

Both chambers of parliament passed the final version of the act on December 19 after an acrimonious debate pitting non-government organisations and women's groups against the country's dominant church and its lay organisations.

Aquino, who was once threatened with excommunication by church leaders for pushing the bill, signed the act two days later and said it gives couples the tools and information needed to plan the size of their families.

Proponents say it will help moderate the nation's rapid population growth, reduce poverty and bring down its high maternal mortality rate.

Church leaders in the Catholic-majority nation have vowed that the fight is not over.

Groups allied with the church are expected to challenge the law in the Supreme Court, while the church itself plans to ask its flock to oust the supporters of the birth control law in next year's general election.

The Philippines has one of Asia's highest birth rates, with the United Nations estimating that half of the country's 3.4 million pregnancies each year are unplanned.

The government's Commission on Women said that maternal mortality also remains high, with 162 deaths for every 100,000 live births, while 10 women die every day from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications.

- AFP/ck

Read More..

New iOS app shows NY subway arrival times

Now arriving...

(Credit:
New York MTA)

New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority finally joined the smartphone era today by releasing an iOS app showing train arrival times for seven subway lines.

Available for the iPhone, the
iPod Touch, and the
iPad, MTA Subway Time will display train arrival times for 156 stations on the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 lines and the S shuttle line. Though officially in a test version for the time being, the app will use the same arrival times shown on station countdown clocks and on the MTA's Web site.

"The ability to get subway arrival time at street level is here," said MTA Chairman and CEO Joseph J. Lhota in a statement. "The days of rushing to a subway station only to find yourself waiting motionless in a state of uncertainty are coming to an end."

According to the statement, the app can handle up to 5,000 incoming requests per second. The information comes from a feed that can be accessed by developers for other mobile operating systems.

Though the MTA has existing apps for bus arrivals and the drive times on its bridges and tunnels, this is the first time that the country's busiest transit agency has developed an app for subway service.

Via AllThings D

Read More..

How to Banish That New Year's Eve Hangover

For those of us who enjoy the occasional cocktail, the holiday season would be incomplete without certain treats of the liquid variety. Some look forward to the creamy charms of rum-laced eggnog; others anticipate cupfuls of high-octane punch or mugs of warm, spiced wine.

No matter what's in your glass, raising one as the year winds down is tradition. What could be more festive? The problem is, one drink leads to two, then the party gets going and a third is generously poured. Soon, the music fades and the morning arrives—and with it, the dreaded hangover. (Explore a human-body interactive.)

Whether it's a pounding headache, a queasy stomach, sweating, or just general misery, the damage has been done. So now it's time to remedy the situation. What's the quickest way to banish the pain? It depends who you ask.

Doctors typically recommend water for hydration and ibuprofen to reduce inflammation. Taking B vitamins is also good, according to anesthesiologist Jason Burke, because they help the body metabolize alcohol and produce energy.

Burke should know a thing or two about veisalgia, the medical term for hangover. At his Las Vegas clinic Hangover Heaven, Burke treats thousands of people suffering from the effects of drinking to excess with hydrating fluids and medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"No two hangovers are the same," he said, adding that the unfavorable condition costs society billions of dollars-mostly from lost productivity and people taking sick days from work.

Hot Peppers for Hangovers?

So what's the advice from the nonmedical community? Suggestions range from greasy breakfasts to vanilla milkshakes to spending time in a steamy sauna. A friend insists hot peppers are the only way to combat a hangover's wrath. Another swears by the palliative effects of a bloody mary. In fact, many people just have another drink, following the old "hair of the dog that bit you" strategy.

Whether such "cures" actually get rid of a hangover is debatable, but one thing's for sure: the sorry state is universal. The only people immune to hangovers are the ones who avoid alcohol altogether.

So for those who do indulge, even if it's just once in awhile, see our interactive featuring cures from around the world (also above). As New Year's Eve looms with its attendant excuse to imbibe, perhaps it would be wise to stock your refrigerator with one of these antidotes. Pickled herring, anyone?

Read More..

Epic Journey: Did Moses' Exodus Really Happen?

In the Bible, he is called Moses. In the Koran, he is the prophet Musa.

Religious scholars have long questioned whether of the story of a prophet leading God's chosen people in a great exodus out of Egypt and the freedom it brought them afterwards was real, but the similarities between a pharaoh's ancient hymn and a psalm of David might hold the link to his existence.

Tune in to Part 2 of Christiane Amanpour's ABC News special, "Back to the Beginning," which explores the history of the Bible from Genesis to Jesus, on Friday, Dec. 28 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

Christian scripture says Moses was content to grow old with his family in the vast deserted wilderness of Midian, and 40 years passed until the Bible says God spoke to him through the Burning Bush and told him to lead his people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. According to tradition, that miraculous bush can still be seen today enclosed within the ancient walls of St. Catherine's Monastery, located not far from Moses' hometown.

But there was another figure in the ancient world who gave up everything to answer the call from what he believed was the one and only true God.

Archaeologists discovered the remains of the ancient city of Amarna in the 1800s. Egyptologist Rawya Ismail, who has been studying the ruins for years, believes, as other archaeologists do, that Pharaoh Akhenaten built the city as a tribute to Aten, the sun.

G.Sioen/De Agostini/Getty Images

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She said it was a bold and unusual step for the pharaoh to leave the luxurious trappings of palace life in Luxor for the inhospitable landscape of Amarna, but it might have been his only choice as the priests from the existing religious establishment gained power.

"The very powerful Amun-Ra priests that he couldn't stand against gained control of the whole country," Ismail said. "The idea was to find a place that had never been used by any other gods -- to be virgin is what he called it -- so he chose this place."

All over the walls inside the city's beautiful tombs are examples of Akhanaten's radical message of monotheism. There is the Hymn to the Aten, which translates, in part, to: "The earth comes into being by your hand, as you made it. When you dawn, they live. When you set, they die. You yourself are lifetime, one lives by you."

PHOTOS: Christiane Amanpour's Journey 'Back to the Beginning'

Some attribute the writing of the hymn to Akhanaten himself, but it bears a striking resemblance to a passage that can be found in the Hebrew Bible: Psalm 104.

"If you compare the hymns from A to Z, you'll find mirror images to it in many of the holy books," Ismail said. "And if you compare certain parts of it, you'll find it almost exactly -- a typical translation for some of the [psalms] of David."

Psalm 104, written a few hundred years later, references a Lord that ruled over Israel and a passage compares him to the sun.

"You hide your face, they are troubled," part of it reads. "You take away your breath, they die, And return to dust. You send forth your breath, they are created, And you renew the face of the earth."

Like the psalm, the Hymn to Aten extols the virtues of the one true God.

"A lot of people think that [the Hymn to Aten] was the source of the [psalms] of David," Ismail said. "Putting Egypt on the trade route, a lot of people traveled from Egypt and came back to Egypt, it wasn't like a country living in isolation."

Ismail believes it is possible that the message from the heretic pharaoh has some connection to the story of Moses and the Exodus, as outlined in the Hebrew Bible.

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2013 Smart Guide: Wave goodbye to the mouse

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"

If the Leap is anything to go by, the days of the mouse are numbered. The 3D-gesture-sensing device lets you control your computer with a wave of your hand - and it could be yours early next year.

Developed by Silicon Valley startup Leap Motion, the Leap is the size of a smartphone and behaves like a smaller, super-accurate version of Microsoft's Kinect motion sensor. It is also significantly cheaper, at only $70. Connected to your PC or Mac's USB port, the Leap creates a 3D interaction space in front of your computer screen, in which the tiniest motions of your fingers, or gestures of your hands, can be sensed.

As a result, you can wave up with your hand to scroll up a web page, or point into a game with an index finger to move characters where you want them to go. Standard Windows or Mac applications can be controlled by making clicking, grabbing, scrolling and pinch-to-zoom gestures, the company says.

Leap Motion won't say how the software achieves its accuracy - they claim it is 200 times that of existing motion-sensing technologies, able to track movements to one-hundredth of a millimetre. We do know that it uses infrared LEDs and cameras, with light from the LEDs reflected from your hands back to the cameras.

Pointing and clicking has been a mainstay of our interactions with personal computers for nearly 30 years, and old habits die hard. But if the Leap is as good as the pre-release hype suggests, the mouse could soon be ousted, with little more than a wave goodbye.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Yachting: Wild Oats XI wins Sydney to Hobart race in record time

HOBART, Australia: Supermaxi Wild Oats XI smashed its own record time by nearly 17 minutes in Australia's Sydney to Hobart ocean yacht race, taking line honours on Friday ahead of Ragamuffin-Loyal.

Thousands of onlookers cheered at Hobart's Constitution Dock as the favourite came home in one day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds for its sixth victory over the prestigious 628 nautical mile bluewater classic.

Wild Oats XI also won every year from 2005 to 2008 and in 2010.

"It was close, we only just made it but it's a great result for the whole team," skipper Mark Richards said after crossing the finish line.

"This boat is a great machine and we're very proud of it. Getting the record is a big thing and it's very satisfying."

Ragamuffin-Loyal, which beat Wild Oats by just three minutes last year and is skippered by 85-year-old Syd Fischer, finished four-and-a-half hours later with gear damage hampering a bid for back-to-back wins.

"A lot of things just went wrong," said Fischer. "But it's a good boat, well built, strong and it goes fast. We'll make modifications for next year."

Lahana was running third in a tight battle with Black Jack, ahead of Loki in fifth. Jazz leads the handicap standings, which takes into account the dimensions of each boat in the fleet, ahead of Calm and Secret Men's Business.

The previous record was one day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds, set in 2005, and Richards had his 100-foot yacht well ahead of that pace late Thursday as they powered down Tasmania's east coast.

But a northeasterly tailwind gave way to a weaker westerly that dramatically slowed progress.

Wild Oats' crew had all but given up on breaking the record after rounding Tasman Island in the middle of the night and it was touch and go as they sailed up Hobart's Derwent River.

But the unfurling of a bigger headsail ultimately made the difference to tack home surrounded by a flotilla of smaller vessels.

"It was a very tricky night, the breeze died on us. It was very testing and we had to make a lot of sail changes, but it's all part of the Sydney-Hobart," said Richards.

"The crew have been together a long time and when the going gets tough they just get tougher."

Wild Oats XI led the 76-vessel fleet from the starting gun in Sydney Harbour on Wednesday in a famously unforgiving race that takes crews across the notorious Bass Strait.

As well as dealing with the tough conditions, the boat hit an unknown object that damaged a daggerboard beneath the hull.

Catastrophic conditions claimed six lives and sank five yachts in 1998, and vessels are routinely unable to complete the race.

However, there have so far only been two retirements this year - Living Doll and Primitive Cool.

The 2013 event was marred by the controversial expulsion of supermaxi Wild Thing, the 2003 line honours winner, which was among the top three favourites.

Officials banned it just hours before the start, citing incomplete documentation of major modifications that extended the vessel to 100 feet. Skipper Grant Wharington continued to protest Friday.

He claimed the man who banned his yacht, race director Tim Cox, did not know enough about boat-building and had "egg on his face".

Cox rejected the criticism and told Wharington to "lay off the personal insults", according to Sydney's Daily Telegraph.

- AFP/de

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Autonomy founder fires back at HP after news of DOJ inquiry

Autonomy founder Mike Lynch

(Credit:
HP)

Autonomy founder and former CEO Mike Lynch is firing back at Hewlett-Packard after the release of HP's annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today. The report states that the federal government opened an inquiry into HP's acquisition of Autonomy in November and hints that Autonomy's accounting is partially to blame.

"It is extremely disappointing that HP has again failed to provide a detailed calculation of its $5 billion write-down of Autonomy, or publish any explanation of the serious allegations it has made against the former management team, in its annual report filing today," Lynch said in an e-mailed statement. "Furthermore, it is now less clear how much of the $5 billion write-down is in fact being attributed to the alleged accounting issues, and how much to other changes in business performance and earnings projections."

HP acquired the enterprise software company in August 2011 for $11.1 billion, or 11 times its annual earnings. Since the purchase, controversy, lawsuits, and an $8.8 billion charge against HP's earnings have ensued.

HP and Lynch have traded arguments in the press over who deserves the blame for Autonomy's subpar performance. In its fourth-quarter earnings release last month, HP said it had discovered "extensive evidence" of fraudulent accounting and failed disclosures on Autonomy's part leading up to the sale. Consequently, Lynch set up a Web site that denies HP's charges and says HP mishandled the company after acquiring it.

"We also do not understand why HP is raising these issues now given that Autonomy reported into the HP Finance team from the day the acquisition completed in October 2011, there was an extensive due diligence process and Autonomy was audited as a public company for many years," Lynch said today. "We also note the statement in HP's annual report that it received confirmation from the U.S. Department of Justice on 21 November 2012 (the day after HP's first public statement), that the Department had opened an investigation. We can confirm that we have as yet had no contact from any regulatory authority. We will co-operate with any investigation and look forward to the opportunity to explain our position."

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How to Live to a Ripe Old Age

Cento di questi giorni. May you have a hundred birthdays, the Italians say, and some of them do.

So do other people in various spots around the world—in Blue Zones, so named by National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner for the blue ink that outlines these special areas on maps developed over more than a decade. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)

In his second edition of his book The Blue Zones, Buettner writes about a newly identified Blue Zone: the Greek island of Ikaria (map). National Geographic magazine Editor at Large Cathy Newman interviewed him about the art of living long and well. (Watch Buettner talk about how to live to a hundred.)

Q. You've written about Blue Zones in Sardinia, Italy; Loma Linda, California; Nicoa, Costa Rica and Okinawa, Japan. How did you find your way to Ikaria?

A. Michel Poulain, a demographer on the project, and I are always on the lookout for new Blue Zones. This one popped up in 2008. We got a lead from a Greek foundation looking for biological markers in aging people. The census data showed clusters of villages there with a striking proportion of people 85 or older. (Also see blog: "Secrets of the Happiest Places on Earth.")

In the course of your quest you've been introduced to remarkable individuals like 100-year-old Marge Jetton of Loma Linda, California, who starts the day with a mile-long [0.6-kilometer] walk, 6 to 8 miles [10 to 13 kilometers] on a stationary bike, and weight lifting. Who is the most memorable Blue Zoner you've met?

Without question it's Stamatis Moraitis, who lives in Ikaria. I believe he's 102. He's famous for partying. He makes 400 liters [100 gallons] of wine from his vineyards each year, which he drinks with his friends. His house is the social hot spot of the island. (See "Longevity Genes Found; Predict Chances of Reaching 100.")

He's also the Ikarian who emigrated to the United States, was diagnosed with lung cancer in his 60s, given less then a year to live, and who returned to Ikaria to die. Instead, he recovered.

Yes, he never went through chemotherapy or treatment. He just moved back to Ikaria.

Did anyone figure out how he survived?

Nope. He told me he returned to the U.S. ten years after he left to see if the American doctors could explain it. I asked him what happened. "My doctors were all dead," he said.

One of the common factors that seem to link all Blue Zone people you've spoken with is a life of hard work—and sometimes hardship. Your thoughts?

I think we live in a culture that relentlessly pursues comfort. Ease is related to disease. We shouldn't always be fleeing hardship. Hardship also brings people together. We should welcome it.

Sounds like another version of the fable of the grasshopper and the ant?

You rarely get satisfaction sitting in an easy chair. If you work in a garden on the other hand, and it yields beautiful tomatoes, that's a good feeling.

Can you talk about diet? Not all of us have access to goat milk, for example, which you say is typically part of an Ikarian breakfast.

There is nothing exotic about their diet, which is a version of a Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes vegetables, beans, fruit, olive oil, and moderate amounts of alcohol. (Read more about Buettner's work in Ikaria in National Geographic Adventure.)

All things in moderation?

Not all things. Socializing is something we should not do in moderation. The happiest Americans socialize six hours a day.

The people you hang out with help you hang on to life?

Yes, you have to pay attention to your friends. Health habits are contagious. Hanging out with unhappy people who drink and smoke is hazardous to your health.

So how has what you've learned influenced your own lifestyle?

One of the big things I've learned is that there's an advantage to regular low-intensity activity. My previous life was setting records on my bike. [Buettner holds three world records in distance cycling.] Now I use my bike to commute. I only eat meat once a week, and I always keep nuts in my office: Those who eat nuts live two to three more years than those who don't.

You also write about having a purpose in life.

Purpose is huge. I know exactly what my values are and what I love to do. That's worth additional years right there. I say no to a lot of stuff that would be easy money but deviates from my meaning of life.

The Japanese you met in Okinawa have a word for that?

Yes. Ikigai: "The reason for which I wake in the morning."

Do you have a non-longevity-enhancing guilty pleasure?

Tequila is my weakness.

And how long would you like to live?

I'd like to live to be 200.

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White House Says It Has No New Fiscal Cliff Plan

The White House said today it has no plans to offer new proposals to avoid the fiscal cliff which looms over the country's economy just five days from now, but will meet Friday with Congressional leaders in a last ditch effort to forge a deal.

Republicans and Democrats made no conciliatory gestures in public today, despite the urgency.

The White House said President Obama would meet Friday with Democratic and Republican leaders. But a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said the Republican "will continue to stress that the House has already passed legislation to avert the entire fiscal cliff and now the Senate must act."

The White House announced the meeting after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the budget situation "a mess" and urged the president to present a fresh proposal.

"I told the president I would be happy to look at whatever he proposes, but the truth is we're coming up against a hard deadline here, and as I said, this is a conversation we should have had months ago," McConnell said of his phone call with Obama Wednesday night.

McConnell added, "Republicans aren't about to write a blank check for anything Senate Democrats put forward just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff."

"That having been said, we'll see what the president has to propose," the Republican Senate leader said.

But a senior White House official told ABC News, "There is no White House bill."

That statement, however, may have wiggle room. Earlier today White House spokesman Jay Carney said, "I don't have any meetings to announce," but a short time later, Friday's meeting was made public.

It's unclear if the two sides are playing a game of political chicken or whether the administration is braced for the fiscal cliff.

Earlier today, fiscal cliff, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lashed out at Republicans in a scathing speech that targeted House Republicans and particularly Boehner.

Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

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Reid, D-Nev., spoke on the floor of the Senate as the president returned to Washington early from an Hawaiian vacation in what appears to be a dwindling hope for a deal.

The House of Representatives will meet for legislative business Sunday evening, leaving the door cracked open ever so slightly to the possibility of a last-minute agreement.

But on a conference call with Republican House members Thursday afternoon, Boehner kept to the Republican hard line that if the Senate wants a deal it should amend bills already passed by the House.

That was the exact opposite of what Reid said in the morning, that Republicans should accept a bill passed by Democratic led Senate.

Related: What the average American should know about capital gains and the fiscal cliff.

"We are here in Washington working while the members of the House of Representatives are out watching movies and watching their kids play soccer and basketball and doing all kinds of things. They should be here," Reid said. "I can't imagine their consciences."

House Republicans have balked at a White House deal to raise taxes on couples earning more than $250,000 and even rejected Boehner's proposal that would limit the tax increases to people earning more than $1 million.

"It's obvious what's going on," Reid said while referring to Boehner. "He's waiting until Jan. 3 to get reelected to speaker because he has so many people over there that won't follow what he wants. John Boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than keeping the nation on a firm financial footing."

Related: Starbucks enters fiscal cliff fray.

Reid said the House is "being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker" and suggested today that the Republicans should agree to accept the original Senate bill pass in July. Reid's comments, however, made it clear he did not expect that to happen.

"It looks like" the nation will go over the fiscal cliff in just five days, he declared.

"It's not too late for the speaker to take up the Senate-passed bill, but that time is even winding down," Reid said. "So I say to the speaker, take the escape hatch that we've left you. Put the economic fate of the nation ahead of your own fate as Speaker of the House."

Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel reacted to Reid's tirade in an email, writing, "Senator Reid should talk less and legislate more. The House has already passed legislation to avoid the entire fiscal cliff. Senate Democrats have not."

Boehner has said it is now up to the Senate to come up with a deal.

Obama, who landed in Washington late this morning, made a round of calls over the last 24 hours to Reid, Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Related: Obama pushes fiscal cliff resolution.

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Three gods: The hardest logic puzzle ever

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Tokyo's Nikkei 225 hits 21-month high

TOKYO: Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index on Thursday closed at its highest level since the quake-tsunami disaster in March last year, a day after Japan's new conservative government took power.

The Nikkei added 0.91 percent, or 92.62 points, to 10,322.98 by the close, finishing above 10,254.43, its level on March 11, 2011 when a massive temblor hit Japan, sparking a tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares was up 0.75 percent, or 6.38 points, at 854.09.

"Some say the market is now overbought, but the trend is your friend, and few are willing to risk going short at the moment," said an equity trading director at a foreign brokerage.

"Japan is now right in the middle of the radar for foreign portfolio managers."

In forex trade, the US dollar rose to its highest level in more than two years against the yen as Shinzo Abe was sworn in as prime minister.

Abe -- whose Liberal Democratic Party won a landslide election victory this month -- has repeatedly said he would pressure the Bank of Japan for more easing measures, comments that have helped bring down the value of the yen.

- AFP/al

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Pressure on Apple is improving labor practices, says Times

Workers assemble and perform quality control checks on MacBook Pro display enclosures at an Apple supplier facility in Shanghai.

(Credit:
Apple)

The attention brought to bear on the labor practices of Apple's manufacturers and suppliers in China may be starting to create real, positive change in the electronics industry, says an article published this evening in The New York Times.

The Times, along with other media outlets, published several high-profile reports this year on the practices of Apple suppliers -- including contract manufacturer Foxconn, which produces Apple's iPhone and
iPad, as well as products for other companies. The reports also included looks at Apple's lack of manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and its tax strategies.

Such media attention -- and the entry of the issue into mainstream consciousness, by way of skits on "Saturday Night Live" and questions during the presidential debates -- has, the Times reports, compelled executives in the electronics industry to realize they need to turn things around.

"The days of easy globalization are done," the paper quotes an unidentified Apple executive as saying. "We know that we have to get into the muck now."

Some of the positive steps the Times mentions are decreased hours and increased wages at Foxconn; a tripling of Apple's corporate social responsibility staff; increased transparency from Apple on practices and progress; and a new willingness on the part of Apple to reach out to worker-advocacy groups. Apple has also, the Times reports, stopped treating these labor issues "like engineering puzzles," and has adopted a "messier, more human approach" -- one with an increased focus on listening to workers and labor groups as opposed to simply establishing more policies.

The negative attention on industry giants Apple and Foxconn, as well as the positive changes it has begun to foster, are affecting the industry at large, the Times reports, with companies like HP and Intel, as well as Foxconn's competitors, getting swept up in the jetstream.

Intel's director of corporate responsibility, Gary Niekerk, tells the news outlet, "This is on the front burner for everyone now." No one inside Intel "wants to end up in a factory that treats people badly, that ends up on the front page."

Still, Apple has much work to do, the Times says. For one thing, the company's famous secrecy -- and that of Silicon Valley as a whole -- extends, wrongheadedly, to the sharing of information that could help improve labor conditions. And Apple has yet to truly don the mantle of industry leader in regard to concern for workers. As the Times puts it:

...Apple has not sought the high-profile leadership opportunities that have set off transformations in other industries. Nike, for instance, has convened public meetings of labor, human rights, environmental, and business leaders to discuss how to improve overseas factories. The clothing retailer Gap Inc. has invited outside organizations to critique its purchasing practices and publish their findings. Patagonia shares its factory audits with competitors and has been a vocal supporter of a centralized audit report clearinghouse that lets companies share information.

"That's the standard Apple has to meet," said a former Apple executive. "That's how a leader transforms an industry."

And the problem, too, is complex, and one that's not likely to be solved overnight, the Times reports. Some workers, for instance, were upset when Foxconn curtailed working hours. And there's a struggle between companies like Apple and their suppliers, like Foxconn, over which side should pay for improvements at manufacturing facilities.

Still, the Times concludes, though it may be slow-going, both Foxconn and Apple believe changes are "falling into place."

You can read the Times article in its entirety here. The paper has also published an extended statement from Apple on factory conditions in China, which says, among other things, "Apple is in a unique position to lead and we have embraced this role since the earliest days of our supplier responsibility program." You can read the entire statement here.

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Space Pictures This Week: Green Lantern, Supersonic Star

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Green Lantern

  Image courtesy Caltech/SSI/NASA

  Another glorious, backlit view of the planet Saturn and its rings has been captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, as seen in a picture released December 18.

  On October 17, during its 174th orbit around the gas giant, Cassini was deliberately positioned within Saturn's shadow, "a perfect location from which to look in the direction of the sun and take a backlit view of the rings and the dark side of the planet," according to NASA.

  (Related: "Ten Best Pictures From NASA's Cassini Probe—Saturn, More.")

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Starry Night

  Photograph by Wally Pacholka, TWAN

  The Milky Way glitters over Yosemite, California, in a picture taken December 14 and submitted to the astronomy-education project The World at Night (TWAN).

  Our galaxy is far larger, brighter, and more massive than most other galaxies. From end to end, the Milky Way's starry disk, observable with the naked eye and through optical telescopes, spans 120,000 light-years.

  (See Milky Way pictures inNational Geographic magazine.)

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Celestial Ornament

  Image courtesy G. Bacon, STScI/ESA/NASA

  The Hubble Space Telescope has spied a nearby planetary nebula that resembles a holiday ornament wrapped in a ribbon, as seen in a picture released December 18.

  Planetary nebulae such as NGC 5189 represent the final brief stage in the life of a medium-size star like our sun.

  (See more nebula pictures.)

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  It's a Bird, It's a Plane

  Photograph by Shamil Zhumatov, Reuters

  A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carries U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield to the International Space Station on December 19.

  While floating some 240 miles (390 kilometers) above Earth's surface, the space station has hosted a rotating international crew since November 2000.

  (See our space-exploration timeline.)

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Martian Hazard

  Image courtesy Caltech/NASA

  Still not home for the holidays, NASA's Mars rover Opportunity keeps plugging away on the red planet's surface.

  Here, the rover's hazard camera scans a target called Onaping at the base of Copper Cliff in the Endeavor crater. At least Opportunity calls home.

  (See "Mars Rover Detects Simple Organic Compounds.")

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Jewel Box

  Photograph by Rolf Olsen, Your Shot

  A star cluster named Jewel Box sparkles in a picture submitted to the Your Shot photo community on December 18.

  Visible as a faint smudge with the naked eye under dark skies, the Jewel Box is located 6,440 light-years away towards the constellation Crux, or the Southern Cross. The bright orange star in the centre of the cluster is known as Kappa Crucis.

  (See another picture of Jewel Box.)

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Supersonic Star

  Image courtesy Caltech/NASA

  The giant star Zeta Ophiuchi is having a "shocking" effect on surrounding dust clouds in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, released on December 18.

  Stellar winds flowing out from this fast-moving star are making ripples in the dust, creating a bow shock seen as glowing gossamer threads only visible in infrared.

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Image courtesy Jesse Allen, EO-1/USGS/NASA

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  

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Okla. Senator Could Prevent Gun Control Changes

If there's one person most likely to keep new gun-control measures from passing Congress swiftly, it's Sen. Tom Coburn.

Conservatives revere the Oklahoma Republican for his fiscal hawkishness and regular reports on government waste. But he's also a staunch gun-rights advocate, and he's shown a willingness to obstruct even popular legislation, something in the Senate that a single member can easily accomplish.

That mixture could make Coburn the biggest threat to quick passage of new gun-control laws in the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., shooting that has prompted even pro-gun NRA-member lawmakers like Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to endorse a new look at how access to the most powerful weapons can be limited.

Coburn's office did not respond to multiple requests to discuss the current push for gun legislation. But given his record, it's hard to imagine Coburn agreeing to a major, new proposal without some fuss.

The last time Congress considered a major gun law -- one with broad support -- Coburn held it up, proving that the details of gun control are sticky when a conservative senator raises unpopular objections, especially a senator who's joked that it's too bad he can't carry a gun on the Senate floor.

After the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, Congress heard similar pleadings for new gun limits, some of them similarly to those being heard now. When it came to light that Seung-Hui Cho, the mentally disturbed 23-year-old who opened fire on campus, passed a background check despite mental-health records indicating he was a suicide threat, a push began to include such records in determining whether a person should be able to buy a gun.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., a longtime gun-control advocate whose husband was killed in a mass shooting on the Long Island Rail Road in 1996, introduced a widely supported bill to do just that. The NRA backed her National Instant Check System Improvement Amendments Act of 2007.

But Coburn didn't. The senator blocked action on the bill, citing concerns over patient privacy, limited gun access for veterans, and the cost of updating the background-check system,

In blocking that bill, Coburn pointed to a government study noting that 140,000 veterans had been referred to the background-check registry since 1998 without their knowledge.

"I am certainly understanding of the fact that some veterans could be debilitated to the point that such cataloguing is necessary, but we should ensure this process does not entangle the vast majority of our combat veterans who simply seek to readjust to normal life at the conclusion of their tours. I am troubled by the prospect of veterans refusing necessary treatment and the benefits they are entitled to. As I'm sure you would agree we cannot allow any stigma to be associated with mental healthcare or treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury," Coburn wrote to acting Veterans Secretary Gordon Mansfield.

Coburn succeeded in changing the legislation, negotiating a set of tweaks that shaved $100 million over five years, made it easier for prohibited gun owners to restore their gun rights by petitioning the government, and notifying veterans that if they abdicated control of their finances they would be added to the gun database. The bill passed and President Bush signed it in January 2008.

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New Scientist 2012 holiday quiz

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THIS was the year we held our breath in almost unbearable anticipation while we waited to see whether physicists at the Large Hadron Collider would finally get a clear view of the Higgs boson, so tantalisingly hinted at last December. Going a bit blue, we held on through March when one of the LHC's detectors seemed to lose sight of the thing, before exhaling in a puff of almost-resolution in July, when researchers announced that the data added up to a fairly confident pretty-much-actual-discovery of the particle.

Early indications were that it might be a weird and wonderful variety of the Higgs, prompting a collective gasp of excitement. That was followed by a synchronised sigh of mild disappointment when later data implied that it was probably the most boring possible version after all, and not a strange entity pointing the way to new dimensions and the true nature of dark matter. Prepare yourself for another puff or two as the big story moves on next year.

This respirational rollercoaster might be running a bit too slowly to supply enough oxygen to the brain of a New Scientist reader, so we have taken care to provide more frequent oohs and aahs using less momentous revelations. See how many of the following unfundamental discoveries you can distinguish from the truth-free mimics that crowd parasitically around them.

1. Which of these anatomical incongruities of the animal kingdom did we describe on 14 July?

• a) A fish, found in a canal in Vietnam, that wears its genitals under its mouth
• b) A frog, found in a puddle in Peru, that has no spleen
• c) A lizard, found in a cave in Indonesia, that has four left feet
• d) A cat, found in a tree in northern England, that has eight extra teeth

2. "A sprout by any other name would taste as foul." So wrote William Shakespeare in his diary on 25 December 1598, setting off the centuries of slightly unjust ridicule experienced by this routinely over-cooked vegetable. But which forbiddingly named veg did we report on 7 July as having more health-giving power than the sprout, its active ingredient being trialled as a treatment for prostate cancer?

• a) Poison celery
• b) Murder beans
• c) Inconvenience potatoes
• d) Death carrots

3. Scientists often like to say they are opening a new window on things. Usually that is a metaphor, but on 10 November we reported on a more literal innovation in the fenestral realm. It was:

• a) A perspex peephole set in the nest of the fearsome Japanese giant hornet, to reveal its domestic habits
• b) A glass porthole implanted in the abdomen of a mouse, to reveal the process of tumour metastasis
• c) A crystal portal in the inner vessel of an experimental thorium reactor, to reveal its nuclear fires to the naked eye
• d) A small window high on the wall of a basement office in the Princeton physics department, to reveal a small patch of sky to postgraduate students who have not been outside for seven years

4. On 10 March we described a new material for violin strings, said to produce a brilliant and complex sound richer than that of catgut. What makes up these super strings?

• a) Mousegut
• b) Spider silk
• c) Braided carbon nanotubes
• d) An alloy of yttrium and ytterbium

5. While the peril of climate change looms inexorably larger, in this festive-for-some season we might take a minute to look on the bright side. On 17 March we reported on one benefit of global warming, which might make life better for some people for a while. It was:

• a) Receding Arctic sea ice will make it easier to lay undersea cables to boost internet speeds
• b) Increasing temperatures mean that Greenlanders can soon start making their own wine
• c) Rising sea levels could allow a string of new beach resorts to open in the impoverished country of Chad
• d) More acidic seawater will add a pleasant tang to the salt water taffy sweets made in Atlantic City

6. In Alaska's Glacier Bay national park, the brown bear in the photo (above, right) is doing something never before witnessed among bearkind, as we revealed on 10 March. Is it:

• a) Making a phonecall?
• b) Gnawing at a piece of whalebone to dislodge a rotten tooth?
• c) Scratching itself with a barnacle-covered stone tool?
• d) Cracking oysters on its jaw?

7. Men have much in common with fruit flies, as we revealed on 24 March. When the sexual advances of a male fruit fly are rejected, he may respond by:

• a) Whining
• b) Hitting the booze
• c) Jumping off a tall building
• d) Hovering around the choosy female long after all hope is lost

8. While great Higgsian things were happening at the LHC, scientists puzzled over a newly urgent question: what should we call the boson? Peter Higgs wasn't the only physicist to predict its existence, and some have suggested that the particle's name should also include those other theorists or perhaps reflect some other aspect of the particle. Which of the following is a real suggestion that we reported on 24 March?

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