Pictures: Fungi Get Into the Holiday Spirit

Photograph courtesy Stephanie Mounaud, J. Craig Venter Institute

Mounaud combined different fungi to create a Santa hat and spell out a holiday message.

Different fungal grow at different rates, so Mounaud's artwork rarely lasts for long. There's only a short window of time when they actually look like what they're suppose to.

"You do have to keep that in perspective when you're making these creations," she said.

For example, the A. flavus fungi that she used to write this message from Santa grows very quickly. "The next day, after looking at this plate, it didn't say 'Ho Ho Ho.' It said 'blah blah blah,'" Mounaud said.

The message also eventually turned green, which was the color she was initially after. "It was a really nice green, which is what I was hoping for. But yellow will do," she said.

The hat was particularly challenging. The fungus used to create it "was troubling because at different temperatures it grows differently. The pigment in this one forms at room temperature but this type of growth needed higher temperatures," Mounaud said.

Not all fungus will grow nicely together. For example, in the hat, "N. fischeri [the brim and ball] did not want to play nice with the P. marneffei [red part of hat] ... so they remained slightly separated."

Published December 21, 2012

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Norquist: Obama, Democrats Using Newtown for 'Political Purposes'

Dec 23, 2012 11:23am

(ABC News)

National Rifle Association board member and president of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist said on Sunday that President Obama and Democrats are politicizing the Newtown tragedy by pushing for gun control.

“We ought to calm down and not take tragedies like this, crimes like this, and use them for political purposes,” Norquist told me on “This Week.” “President Obama has been president for four years. If he thought some gun control could solve this problem, he should have been pushing it years ago.”

“Democrats had a majority in the House and a supermajority in the House and the Senate for the first two years that they were in office. If they thought that this was really an important issue they might have done something then. They didn’t,” he added.

Read a full transcript of this week’s show HERE. 

On Wednesday, Obama announced that Vice President Joe Biden would head a task force of leaders from across the country to evaluate solutions to reduce gun violence.

Norquist endorsed the recommendation made by NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre at a press conference on Friday to place armed guards in schools across the country.

Other members of the political roundtable pushed for what they called “common sense” gun laws.

Like “This Week” on Facebook here. You can also follow the show on Twitter here.

Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker, who is a member of the pro-gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said that there is more agreement than disagreement on measures to stop the mentally ill and criminals from acquiring weapons.

“I don’t think anyone has seen someone shot—I have,” Booker said. “I don’t know if anybody here has had to put their hand in somebody’s chest, and try to stop the bleeding so that person doesn’t die—I have. What frustrates me about this debate is that it is a false debate.”

“Most of us in America including gun owners agree on things that would stop the kind of carnage that is going on in cities all across America,” Booker said, adding that loopholes that allow criminals to buy guns in “secondary markets” should be closed.

Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com.

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan said that LaPierre’s suggestion that the effect of a violent culture on the mentally ill has contributed to increased gun violence, but she believes that Congress should pursue some gun control measures.

“I am for the banning of the extended magazines and extended clips,” Noonan said.

Editor and Publisher of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel said that focusing on the mentally ill is a distraction from the issue of gun violence.

“The mental illness argument has been used to evade action,” vanden Huevel said. “More guns and bullets, more dead children.”

SHOWS: This Week

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Today on New Scientist: 21 December 2012

Cadaver stem cells offer new hope of life after death

Stem cells can be extracted from bone marrow five days after death to be used in life-saving treatments

Apple's patents under fire at US patent office

The tech firm is skating on thin ice with some of the patents that won it a $1 billion settlement against Samsung

Himalayan dam-building threatens endemic species

The world's highest mountains look set to become home to a huge number of dams - good news for clean energy but bad news for biodiversity

Astrophile: Black hole exposed as a dwarf in disguise

A white dwarf star caught mimicking a black hole's X-ray flashes may be the first in a new class of binary star systems

Blind juggling robot keeps a ball in the air for hours

The robot, which has no visual sensors, can juggle a ball flawlessly by analysing its trajectory

Studio sessions show how Bengalese finch stays in tune

This songbird doesn't need technological aids to stay in tune - and it's smart enough to not worry when it hears notes that are too far off to be true

Giant tooth hints at truly monumental dinosaur

A lone tooth found in Argentina may have belonged to a dinosaur even larger than those we know of, but what to call it?

Avian flu virus learns to fly without wings

A strain of bird flu that hit the Netherlands in 2003 travelled by air, a hitherto suspected by unproven route of transmission

Feedback: Are wind turbines really fans?

A tale of "disease-spreading" wind farms, the trouble with quantifying "don't know", the death of parody in the UK, and more

The link between devaluing animals and discrimination

Our feelings about other animals have important consequences for how we treat humans, say prejudice researchers Gordon Hodson and Kimberly Costello

Best videos of 2012: First motion MRI of unborn twins

Watch twins fight for space in the womb, as we reach number 6 in our countdown of the top videos of the year

2012 Flash Fiction winner: Sleep by Richard Clarke

Congratulations to Richard Clarke, who won the 2012 New Scientist Flash Fiction competition with a clever work of satire

Urban Byzantine monks gave in to temptation

They were supposed to live on an ascetic diet of mainly bread and water, but the monks in 6th-century Jerusalem were tucking into animal products

The pregnant promise of fetal medicine

As prenatal diagnosis and treatment advance, we are entering difficult ethical territory

2013 Smart Guide: Searching for human origins in Asia

Africa is where humanity began, where we took our first steps, but those interested in the latest cool stuff on our origins should now look to Asia instead

The end of the world is an opportunity, not a threat

Don't waste time bemoaning the demise of the old order; get on with building the new one

Victorian counting device gets speedy quantum makeover

A photon-based version of a 19th-century mechanical device could bring quantum computers a step closer

Did learning to fly give bats super-immunity?

When bats first took to the air, something changed in their DNA which may have triggered their incredible immunity to viruses

Van-sized space rock is a cosmic oddball

Fragments from a meteor that exploded over California in April are unusually low in amino acids, putting a twist on one theory of how life on Earth began

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Football: Inter Milan held by Genoa, nine points behind Juve

ROME: Inter Milan fell further behind Serie A leaders Juventus on Saturday after being held 1-1 at home to struggling Genoa.

Inter, nine points behind the defending champions who beat Cagliari 3-1 on Friday, had to rely on a goal from Argentinian veteran Esteban Cambiasso five minutes from time to rescue a point.

Genoa's Ciro Immobile had given the visitors the lead in the 77th minute with an exquisite shot with the outside of his right foot.

Cambiasso headed the leveller after being set up by Italian forward Antonio Cassano.

The hosts should have stolen all three points in the final minute of normal time but for a remarkable miss by 19-year-old Croatian Marko Livaja, who missed an open goal and hit the post.

The point could ease the pressure on Genoa coach Luigi Delneri, though; they remain second from bottom and have taken just five points since he took over on October 22.

Lazio later leapfrogged Inter into second place, eight points behind Juventus, after edging Genoa's city rivals Sampdoria 1-0 with a goal by Brazilian midfielder Hernanes to take their tally to 17 points from their last 21.

Napoli got back to winning ways -- after two defeats to Bologna in four days in Serie A and then the Italian Cup -- beating bottom side Siena 2-0 with late goals from Christian Maggio, who was set up by Slovakian Marek Hamsik, in the 86th minute and Edinson Cavani who scored his 13th of the season from the penalty spot in the 90th minute.

Juventus needed two goals in stoppage time to seal a come-from-behind 3-1 win at Cagliari on Friday.

Cagliari, just a point above the relegation zone, went ahead after 16 minutes through a Mauricio Pinilla penalty awarded after Arturo Vidal had chopped down Marco Sau in the box.

In a contentious game, Cagliari played the last 30 minutes a man short after the sending off of Davide Astori, who had already been booked, for a foul on Sebastian Giovinco.

Alessandro Matri, playing against his old club, levelled for Juventus 10 minutes later and added another in the second minute of injury time.

Mirko Vucinic put away the third in the fifth minute of time added on.

"I have waited for this moment for a long time. My morale had gone down because I wasn't scoring but I always believed in myself," said Matri, who hadn't found the back of the net since September 29.

- AFP/jc

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A troubling promise in iPad Mini's new Xmas ad

Only in her dreams, Grandad.

(Credit:
Apple screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Xmas is a time for families to be together and share all the tensions they have harbored for the whole year.

So to celebrate family closeness, Apple has just released an ad -- bless you, MacStories -- for the
iPad Mini. It features a grandfather and granddaughter.

She is singing to him over FaceTime.

We see her face on a regular iPad and his on an iPad Mini.

Naturally, the viewing public, tired from shopping and eating, are supposed to look at this sweet opus and offer an "aahh" and a "so sweet."

Here at Technically Incorrect, though, we seek the deeper meanings.

So let's analyze what's really going on here. The girl is singing "I'll Be Home For Xmas."

More Technically Incorrect

Granddad, who perhaps hasn't seen her in some time, is delighted that finally, finally he will get to see the lovely girl.

Then the song takes a turn for the worse. For she sings that she'll be home for Xmas "if only in her dreams."

Granddad doesn't seem to register this nuance. He's too busy being charmed. But the truth seems to be that the little girl isn't going to be seeing Granddad for Xmas.

She's winding him up with a promise, merely to show off her singing skills and her iPad.

I fear Granddad's actually going to be all on his lonesome this Xmas, while his sweet little granddaughter will be playing video games on her iPad Mini and downloading more songs to learn.

I wonder what the next one will be. "Only The Lonely," perhaps.

Read More..

Pictures: Fungi Get Into the Holiday Spirit

Photograph courtesy Stephanie Mounaud, J. Craig Venter Institute

Mounaud combined different fungi to create a Santa hat and spell out a holiday message.

Different fungal grow at different rates, so Mounaud's artwork rarely lasts for long. There's only a short window of time when they actually look like what they're suppose to.

"You do have to keep that in perspective when you're making these creations," she said.

For example, the A. flavus fungi that she used to write this message from Santa grows very quickly. "The next day, after looking at this plate, it didn't say 'Ho Ho Ho.' It said 'blah blah blah,'" Mounaud said.

The message also eventually turned green, which was the color she was initially after. "It was a really nice green, which is what I was hoping for. But yellow will do," she said.

The hat was particularly challenging. The fungus used to create it "was troubling because at different temperatures it grows differently. The pigment in this one forms at room temperature but this type of growth needed higher temperatures," Mounaud said.

Not all fungus will grow nicely together. For example, in the hat, "N. fischeri [the brim and ball] did not want to play nice with the P. marneffei [red part of hat] ... so they remained slightly separated."

Published December 21, 2012

Read More..

'Fiscal Cliff' Leaves Boehner a Wounded Speaker

John Boehner is a bloodied House speaker following the startling setback that his own fractious Republican troops dealt him in their "fiscal cliff" struggle against President Barack Obama.

There's plenty of internal grumbling about the Ohio Republican, especially among conservatives, and lots of buzzing about whether his leadership post is in jeopardy. But it's uncertain whether any other House Republican has the broad appeal to seize the job from Boehner or whether his embarrassing inability to pass his own bill preventing tax increases on everyone but millionaires is enough to topple him.

"No one will be challenging John Boehner as speaker," predicted John Feehery, a consultant and former aide to House GOP leaders. "No one else can right now do the job of bringing everyone together" and unifying House Republicans.

The morning after he yanked the tax-cutting bill from the House floor to prevent certain defeat, Boehner told reporters he wasn't worried about losing his job when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3.

"They weren't taking that out on me," he said Friday of rank-and-file GOP lawmakers, who despite pleading from Boehner and his lieutenants were shy of providing the 217 votes needed for passage. "They were dealing with the perception that somebody might accuse them of raising taxes."

Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

Cliffhanger: Congress Heads Home after 'Plan B' Vote Pulled from House Floor Watch Video

President Obama on Fiscal Cliff: 'Nobody Gets 100 Percent of What They Want' Watch Video

Next Steps for Fiscal Cliff? 'God Only Knows,' Says Boehner Watch Video

That "somebody" was a number of outside conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America, which openly pressured lawmakers to reject Boehner's bill. Such organizations often oppose GOP lawmakers they consider too moderate and have been headaches for Boehner in the past.

This time, his retreat on the tax measure was an unmistakable blow to the clout of the 22-year House veteran known for an amiable style, a willingness to make deals and a perpetual tan.

Congressional leaders amass power partly by their ability to command votes, especially in showdowns. His failure to do so Thursday stands to weaken his muscle with Obama and among House Republicans.

"It's very hard for him to negotiate now," said Sarah Binder, a George Washington University political scientist, adding that it's premature to judge if Boehner's hold on the speakership is in peril. "No one can trust him because it's very hard for him to produce votes."

She said the loss weakens his ability to summon support in the future because "you know the last time he came to you like this, others didn't step in line."

Boehner, 63, faces unvarnished hostility from some conservatives.

"We clearly can't have a speaker operate well outside" what Republicans want to do, said freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan.

Huelskamp is one of four GOP lawmakers who lost prized committee assignments following previous clashes with party leaders. That punishment was an anomaly for Boehner, who is known more for friendly persuasion than arm-twisting.

He said Boehner's job would depend on whether the speaker is "willing to sit and listen to Republicans first, or march off" and negotiate with Obama.

Conservative Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said one of the tea party's lasting impacts would be if Boehner struggled to retain his speakership due to the fight over the fiscal cliff, which is the combination of deep tax increases and spending cuts that start in early January without a bipartisan deal to avert them.

"If there's a major defeat delivered here, it could make it tough on him," King said. "He's in a tough spot."

Read More..

Apple's patents under fire at US patent office

Paul Marks, senior technology correspondent

When engineers at CERN invented the touchscreen, they chose not to patent it. Yet Apple, Microsoft and Nokia are among the slew of tech firms who have chosen to patent aspects of the way software responds when humans touch or interact with touchscreens. But if Apple's recent experiences are any kind of harbinger, it looks like a strategy that's beginning to backfire.

This week the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a notice that it is likely to invalidate an important Apple patent - meaning that two of the three that led to the company winning a cool $1 billion in damages from Samsung of South Korea would be kaput. That would lend significant ammunition to Samsung in its ongoing appeal against the massive fine.

A USPTO notice in October had already revoked Apple's patent covering "rubber-banding", the onscreen bounce-back effect that iOS touchscreens display when a page is scrolled beyond its edge. And this week it has done likewise with the patent that covered the sensing of simultaneous touches that allow for touch-typing and pinch-to-zoom functionality.

It is not known who asked for the re-examination of
the patents, but it seems previous inventions have been dug up that
negate many of Apple's claims to novelty. Neither of the USPTO's
invalidation decisions are yet binding - Apple can appeal - but the
company needs to act quickly and convincingly if it's to keep these
patents in force. 

At the Free and Open Source Patents
blog, analyst Florian Mueller points out that the evidence negating the
important claim in that latest multitouch patent is a double whammy -
suggesting it is not inventive, and also obvious.

Other
Apple patents are also falling under the microscope of the USPTO, where
red faces must abound amongst the examiners who granted them. The
agency has been criticised over and again for not checking "prior
invention" beyond what it finds in the patent databases - not checking
relevant engineering journals, product catalogues and gadget magazines,  for example.

The moves at the USPTO come as
the worm turns against the patent land-grab elsewhere. The pressure group
that claims to guard everybody's digital lifestyle, the Electronic Frontier Foundation,
has just gained $500,000 in funding to take on what it calls "stupid"
software patents that crush innovation. Entrepreneur and inventor Mark
Cuban and the Minecraft game developer Markus Persson have each stumped
up half the cash to allow EFF attorneys to press for reform of the
patent courts and bust innovation-blocking patents.

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Moments of silence, bells mark US school shooting

NEWTOWN: Mourners in Newtown, Connecticut, stood in silence under heavy rain while church bells rang to honour the 20 young children and six staff massacred in a school shooting a week ago.

The sombre scene at 9:30 am local time, the moment a week earlier when a deranged local man armed with semiautomatic weapons burst into the Sandy Hook Elementary School, was echoed around the country in an unofficial national day of mourning.

President Barack Obama observed the moment of silence at the White House and he tweeted: "20 beautiful children & 6 remarkable adults. Together, we will carry on & make our country worthy of their memory."

Connecticut State Governor Dannel Malloy had been the first to call on residents to stop and reflect in silence at the exact minute that 20-year-old Adam Lanza began his slaughter of the six- and seven-year-old children and their school staff.

"Let us all come together collectively to mourn the loss of far too many promising lives," Malloy said. "Though we will never know the full measure of sorrow experienced by these families, we can let them know that we stand with them during this difficult time."

Malloy asked for churches and government buildings to ring bells 26 times, symbolizing each of the victims in the school.

In Newton, bells rang as people on the street stood in a cold, driving rain.

Outside the fire station near the school, which remains closed off by police, a woman brushed tears and raindrops away from a man's face. Some stood stoically, heads bowed, while others sobbed.

Several firemen emerged from the station in full bunker gear and hugged the mourners. The rain was so hard that from the impromptu memorial, the sound of church bells couldn't even be heard, while wind and water had knocked down several Christmas trees erected to remember the dead children.

And the people of Newtown were far from alone.

Malloy's appeal was quickly matched by state governors from Hawaii to Florida, who called on residents to observe their own moment of silence in solidarity.

Houses of worship around the country also embraced the week's anniversary.

The National Council of Churches said that thousands of churches would "observe a minute of silence and at 9:30 am Friday sound their bells 26 times in memory of the victims who died in the school."

On the crowd-sourced charity site, causes.com, almost 177,000 people had signed up by early Friday to pledge a moment's silence.

The first lady, Michelle Obama, wrote to the people of Newtown that "as a mother of two young daughters, my heart aches for you and your families."

However, "the countless acts of courage, kindness and love here in Newtown and across America" had inspired her to believe the country had shown its good side in the aftermath of the massacre, she said.

- AFP/jc

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Facebook's about-face over Instagram (week in review)

It didn't take Facebook long to backtrack over controversial policy changes it intended to make regarding its photo-sharing app Instagram.

A public backlash was ignited by Instagram stating that had it the perpetual right to sell users' photographs without payment or notification. Under the new policy, Facebook claimed the right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, which would effectively transform the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency.

"Instagram is now the new iStockPhoto, except they won't have to pay you anything to use your images," one user quipped on Twitter.

Instagram soon apologized to its users, saying it would "remove" language from its legal terms that would have let it sell users' photos or use them in advertisements. In a blog post, Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said it's "our mistake that this language is confusing" and that the company is "working on updated language."

A day later, Instagram officially backpedaled on the changes, with Systrom announcing that the terms will revert to the version in place since the service launched in 2010. Systrom also denied that the company ever intended to sell users' images.

"I want to be really clear: Instagram has no intention of selling your photos, and we never did. We don't own your photos -- you do," he said.
•  National Geographic turns off Instagram over new terms

•  Instagram rivals try to lure users away after photo rights flap

•  Don't blame Instagram users -- blame Instagram

•  Zuckerberg's sister 'Likes' the Instagram backlash

•  Instagram reminds us that we are the product for sale

More headlines

Key Apple patent used against Samsung under fire

A key Apple patent used against Samsung in court is under close scrutiny by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

•  Samsung drops Apple ban request in Europe

•  Apple loses bid for permanent ban on Samsung phones in U.S.

•  Samsung loses bid for new trial after Apple's $1B verdict

Google to submit antitrust probe settlement offer in January

The search giant is going to send the European Union's antitrust commission an offer next month.

Facebook tests $1 fee for inbox access

The "small experiment" will let some people pay to have a message routed to the Inbox of someone they're not connected with, rather have it be banished to the Other folder.

•  Facebook said to launch autoplay video ads in news feed

•  Facebook puts mobile ad network on the back burner

Samsung displaces Nokia as overall cell phone king

Thanks to an erosion in Nokia's smartphone business, the company saw its 14-year reign end.

•  Samsung preps 5.5-inch flexible phone screen for CES demo

•  Samsung announces Galaxy Grand: 5-inch Jelly Bean-powered smartphone

Google Maps for iOS nabs 10M downloads in first two days

Google's official maps application for iOS pulled in more than 10 million downloads in its first 48 hours on the App Store, according to the company.

•  iOS 6 adoption surges after release of Google Maps app

•  Big iOS 6 uptick linked to China launch, instead of Google Maps

Online holiday shoppers spend $35B so far this season

This season's online spending marks a 13 percent increase over that of last year, says ComScore. But that's still below expectations.

•  U.S. shoppers spent $7B online last week -- busiest 5 days ever

Also of note

•  It's official: Your Twitter archive is here and now, sort of


•  DARPA wants to build 100Gbps wireless military network

•  New York A.G. removes 2,100 sex offenders from online games

Read More..