Video games take off as a spectator sport

Editorial: "Give video games a sporting chance"

EVERY sport has its idols and superstars. Now video gaming is getting them too. Professional gaming, or e-sports, exploded in popularity in the US and Europe last year.

The scene has been big in Asia - particularly South Korea - for about a decade, with top players such as Lim Yo-Hwan earning six-figure salaries and competing for rock-star glory in Starcraft tournaments that attract audiences in the hundreds of thousands.

The phenomenon is taking off in the West partly because of improved video-streaming technology and large financial rewards. Video games are becoming a spectator sport, with certain players and commentators drawing massive online audiences.

And where people go, money follows. The second world championship of League of Legends - a team-based game in which players defend respective corners of a fantasy-themed battle arena - was held in Los Angeles in October. The tournament had a prize pool of $5 million for the season, with $1 million going to winning team Taipei Assassins, the largest cash prize in the history of e-sports.

League of Legends has also set records for spectator numbers. More than 8 million people watched the championship finals either online or on TV - a figure that dwarfs audience numbers for broadcasts of many traditional sports fixtures.

But gamers don't need to compete at the international level to earn money. Video-streaming software like Twitch makes it easy for players to send live footage to a website, where the more popular ones can attract upwards of 10,000 viewers - enough for some to make a living by having adverts in their video streams. Gamers can go pro without leaving their homes.

Currently, e-sports productions are handled by gaming leagues - but that could soon change. Last November saw two moves that will make it even easier to reach a global online audience. First, Twitch announced it would be integrating with Electronic Arts's Origin service, a widely used gaming platform. This would let gamers stream their play at the click of a button, making it easy for people around the world to watch.

Also in November came the latest release from one of gaming's biggest franchises, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which has the ability to live-stream via YouTube built into the game itself. Another feature allows the broadcast of in-game commentary for multiplayer matches.

"I think we will reach a point, maybe within five years, where spectator features are a necessity for all big game releases," says Corin Cole of e-sports publishing company Heaven Media in Huntingdon, UK.

David Ting founded the California-based IGN Pro League (IPL), which hosts professional tournaments. He puts the popularity of e-sports down to the demand for new forms of online entertainment. "After 18 months, IPL's viewer numbers are already comparable to college sports in the US when there's a live event," he says. "The traffic is doubling every six months."

Ting sees motion detection, virtual reality and mobile gaming coming together to make physical exertion a more common aspect of video games, blurring the line between traditional sport and e-sports. "Angry Birds could be this century's bowling," says Ting.

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France braces for massive anti gay marriage protest

PARIS: Tens of thousands are set to march in Paris on Sunday to denounce government plans to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption which have angered many Catholics and Muslims, France's two main faiths.

Leading the charge is sassy phenomenon Frigide Barjot, whose real name is Virginie Tellenne and who has carved a career by creating a bizarre persona and cocking a snook at the establishment.

Her assumed name -- a play on the name of French film star Brigitte Bardot, a sex symbol in the 1960s -- translates as Frigid Loony.

Barjot has become a rallying symbol for the "March for All", articulating the feelings of many of those opposed to the government initiative.

"One cannot say that a child is born from two women," she says -- an argument espoused by opponents to the legislation in a country which is officially a secular republic but overwhelmingly Catholic.

The French parliament is to debate the bill -- one of the key electoral pledges of Socialist President Francois Hollande -- at the end of this month.

Preparations for the rally have gathered pace. Protesters across the country have hired as many as 90 coaches and five high-speed trains to head to Paris. They say they have distributed 4.5 million leaflets championing their cause.

There will be three different marches across the city which will converge near the Eiffel Tower.

Barjot said on Saturday she was expecting "between 200,000 and 300,000 people."

The march comes a day after France ordered tightened security in public buildings and transport as well as in places with large public gatherings after military action against radical Islamists in Mali and Somalia and threats of reprisals by the extremists.

A poll published Friday showed that 52 per cent of the French backed gay marriage but an equal number opposed same-sex adoption.

The head of the French Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, who has been vocal in his opposition of gay marriage, will not attend the protest. Nor will the chief rabbi Gilles Bernheim and Muslim Council head Mohammed Moussaoui take part in the street protests.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen will also not be attending. Her National Front party is divided over the issue and has authorised those wanting to take part to do so despite officially taking the line that it was not backing the march.

Marchers have been instructed in leaflets not to react to provocation and told to "keep smiling in the face of invective ... seek discussion and if that fails, turn to the forces of law and order."

The controversy over the highly divisive issue gained momentum after the education minister asked Catholic schools to drop a plan to discuss the bill in schools, evoking France's traditional line of separation of the Church and the state.

French Muslim groups are joining in the opposition. The call has been led by the influential Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF) which urged co-religionists to join the march.

"This bill, if it passes, will disrupt family and social structures and civil law dangerously and irreparably," it said.

An earlier protest march on November 17 drew more than 100,000 people across France, with some 70,000 rallying in Paris alone.

Justice Minister Christiane Taubira has said the government will stick to the project, irrespective of the magnitude of the protest and has rejected calls for a referendum on the issue.

- AFP/ck

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Tech VIPs, family take to Web with sorrow, anger over Swartz

The suicide of 26-year-old computer programmer and Internet activist Aaron Swartz has inspired expressions of sorrow and anger from the tech community throughout the day today.

World Wide Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee wrote a poem in honor of Swartz, which he posted to a forum on the W3C's Web site (he also tweeted an abridged version):

---

Aaron is dead.

Wanderers in this crazy world,
we have lost a mentor, a wise elder.

Hackers for right, we are one down,
we have lost one of our own.

Nurtures, careers, listeners, feeders,
parents all,
we have lost a child.

Let us all weep.

---

Author and blogger Cory Doctorow posted a tribute on Boing Boing, saying, in part:

Aaron had an unbeatable combination of political insight, technical skill, and intelligence about people and issues. I think he could have revolutionized American (and worldwide) politics. His legacy may still yet do so.

Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig published an angry blog post that discussed the legal actions that were being taken against Swartz by the U.S. government in regard to Swartz's alleged theft of millions of documents from MIT and the Jstor database. The post, titled "Prosecutor as Bully," says that "the question this government needs to answer is why it was so necessary that Aaron Swartz be labeled a 'felon.'" It begins on a note of grief:

(Some will say this is not the time. I disagree. This is the time when every mixed emotion needs to find voice.)

Since his arrest in January, 2011, I have known more about the events that began this spiral than I have wanted to know. Aaron consulted me as a friend and lawyer. He shared with me what went down and why, and I worked with him to get help. When my obligations to Harvard created a conflict that made it impossible for me to continue as a lawyer, I continued as a friend. Not a good enough friend, no doubt, but nothing was going to draw that friendship into doubt.

The billions of snippets of sadness and bewilderment spinning across the Net confirm who this amazing boy was to all of us...

And this afternoon, Swartz's family, and his partner, Taren Stinebricker-Kaufmann, released their official statement about Swartz's passing, announcing a Web site they're setting up as a repository of stories and memories about him, and saying that the behavior of MIT and the U.S. District Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts played a role in Swartz's death:

Official Statement from the Family and Partner of Aaron Swartz:

Our beloved brother, son, friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday in his Brooklyn apartment. We are in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing.

Aaron's insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable--these gifts made the world, and our lives, far brighter. We're grateful for our time with him, to those who loved him and stood with him, and to all of those who continue his work for a better world.

Aaron's commitment to social justice was profound, and defined his life. He was instrumental to the defeat of an Internet censorship bill; he fought for a more democratic, open, and accountable political system; and he helped to create, build, and preserve a dizzying range of scholarly projects that extended the scope and accessibility of human knowledge. He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and technologist not to enrich himself but to make the Internet and the world a fairer, better place. His deeply humane writing touched minds and hearts across generations and continents. He earned the friendship of thousands and the respect and support of millions more.

Aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office and at MIT contributed to his death. The US Attorney's office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims. Meanwhile, unlike JSTOR, MIT refused to stand up for Aaron and its own community's most cherished principles.

Today, we grieve for the extraordinary and irreplaceable man that we have lost.

Aaron's funeral will be held on Tuesday, January 15 at Central Avenue Synagogue, 874 Central Avenue, Highland Park, Illinois 60035. Further details, including the specific time, will be posted at http://rememberaaronsw.com, along with announcements about memorial services to be held in other cities in coming weeks.

Remembrances of Aaron, as well as donations in his memory, can be submitted at http://rememberaaronsw.com

Among other things, Swartz co-authored the "RSS 1.0" specification of RSS, was arguably a co-founder of Reddit, and was the founder of the nonprofit group Demand Progress, which was active in the anti-SOPA battle. He was a crusader for what he saw as the freedom of information.

Police had arrested Swartz in July 2011 for allegedly stealing 4 million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jstor, an archive of scientific journals and academic papers. The authorities claimed he broke into a restricted-access computer wiring closet at MIT and accessed that network without authorization.

If convicted, Swartz faced a maximum of $4 million in fines and more than 50 years in prison after the government increased the number of felony counts against Swartz to 13 from 4.

News of Swartz's suicide came only days after Jstor announced this week that it would make "more than 4.5 million articles" publicly available for free.

As noted by AllThingsD, in 2011 Carmen Ortiz, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said in regard to the case, "Stealing is stealing, whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data, or dollars."

CNET has contacted Ortiz's office and MIT for comment, and we'll update this post when we hear back.

As many of today's outpourings noted, Swartz had struggled with bouts of depression.

CNET's Charles Cooper contributed to this report.

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse Cancelmo

A fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.

From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew and put them in irons.

The officers were allowed to keep their swords and wander the deck as long as they promised not to lead an uprising against the Alabama's crew, he added.

From there, the Alabama dropped off their captives in Jamaica, leaving them to make their own way back to the U.S.

Delgado wants to dig even further into the crew of the Hatteras. He'd like see if members of the public recognize any of the names on his list of crew members and can give him background on the men.

"That's why I do archaeology," he said.

(Read about other Civil War battlefields in National Geographic magazine.)

Published January 11, 2013

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.

"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."

The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.

"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.

Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video

Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.

"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."

Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.

Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."

Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.

Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.

She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.

"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.

"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."

Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.

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Today on New Scientist: 11 January 2013

Largest structure challenges Einstein's smooth cosmos

One-twentieth the diameter of the observable universe, a group of galaxies dents the cherished idea that the cosmos is uniform at large scales

Straitjacket drug halts herpes virus's escape stunt

Herpes infections recur as the virus is adept at evading our defences, but a new drug that suppresses enzymes exploited by the virus seems effective

Zoologger: Mouse eats scorpions and howls at the moon

Super-aggressive grasshopper mice are not put off by the deadly venom of the scorpions they feast on - in fact, nothing much seems to scare them

Sand tsunami pictured striking Australian coast

The spectacular wall of sand and dust appears to block out the sun like a giant wave

Astrophile: Zombie stars feed on Earth-like exoplanets

We can now learn what planets around other stars are made of - by looking at the atmospheres of white dwarfs that have swallowed up their worlds

Life will find a way, even in the midst of a hurricane

Not for the faint-hearted: to sample the microbiome of a hurricane, fly a jetliner through it

Physics not biology may be key to beating cancer

Billions of dollars spent on cancer research have yielded no great breakthrough yet. There are other ways to attack the problem, says physicist Paul Davies

Feedback: Return of nominative determinism

The last nominative determinism stories, salads of gizzards and his chestnuts, Australian graduates in outer space, and more

A comeback for virtual reality? Inside the Oculus Rift

The Oculus Rift promises an immersive gaming experience like no other. Niall Firth gets his head in the game and gives it a try

Is the US facing Flu-maggedon?

The US flu season has come early this winter, leaving many hospitals overwhelmed. But is the situation really any worse than usual?

Your body's insights into life and cosmos

The Universe Within by Neil Shubin tells stories from your body about our species, planet and universe. PLUS: a cautionary tale of inspirational scientists

Hands on with Leap Motion's gestural interface

The makers of the ultra-precise gestural interface talk big about killing off the mouse. But it looks like more than just bluster

Personal assistant for your emails streamlines your life

GmailValet aims to use crowdsourcing to give everyone a personal assistant to help deal with their emails - it could cost as little as $2 a day

DNA 'identichip' gives a detailed picture of a suspect

A new microchip-based DNA tester can identify multiple traits of an individual at a time, even where their DNA is scarce

Most fundamental clock ever could redefine kilogram

Physicists have created the first clock with a tick that depends on the hyper-regular frequency of matter itself

Nanomachine mimics nature's protein factory

An artificial ribosome that assembles proteins and peptides could make it much easier to manufacture antibiotics and exotic new materials

Muscle mimic pulls electricity from wet surface

A plastic film that repeatedly curls up and flips over when wet could power devices in remote areas or sensors embedded in sweaty clothing

Read More..

Central African rivals agree unity government

LIBREVILLE: Central African Republic rebel groups on Friday signed a ceasefire deal with President Francois Bozize who agreed to set up a government of national unity and call new elections.

The accord was announced after three days of talks in the Gabon capital between the government and Seleka rebels who launched an offensive on December 10.

The rebels swept aside the impoverished country's army, but stopped just short of the capital Bangui.

The government and rebels signed a ceasefire accord. The two sides and Central African Republic's political opposition also signed two political accords allowing for the appointment of a prime minister from the opposition and setting out other power-sharing details, according to the United Nations.

The talks were organized by the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) which had sent troops to the troubled country as Bozize faced mounting pressure.

Chad's President Idriss Deby, current ECCAS head, said the opposition and Bozize should start work on the transitional government "from tomorrow".

Under the accord, Bozize will be allowed to finish his mandate which ends in 2016 but he cannot replace the new prime minister during the transition period. Bozize has said he will not stand for a new term.

The agreement also calls for the withdrawal of "all foreign military forces" except those sent by the ECCAS countries. Seleka made this demand specifically to secure the withdrawal of about 200 South African troops sent in December.

The UN Security Council welcomed the signature of the ceasefire, in a statement, which "emphasized the necessity of an expeditious implementation of these agreements and called on all parties to implement them in good faith."

The 15-nation council "urged all parties to allow safe and unhindered access to peoples in need of humanitarian assistance as quickly as possible" and for all civilians held by armed groups to be released.

The violence in the country of some five million has affected more than 300,000 children, with child soldiers recruited and some girls forced to act as sex slaves, according to UN agencies.

The United Nations withdrew non-essential staff and the dependents of all workers in December as rebels neared Bangui.

The UN humanitarian department, OCHA, has voiced serious concern about the plight of civilians amid reports of widespread looting and violence.

The UN's World Food Programme, which has suspended its operations in the country, says hundreds of tonnes of food have been stolen from warehouses across the country.

Central African Republic has been notoriously unstable since its independence from France in 1960.

Bozize took power in a coup in 2003 and has since won two elections.

The rebels accused Bozize of failing to uphold earlier peace deals and had called for him to face war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court.

They also said he planned to modify the constitution to allow him to seek a third term in 2016.

Up to 500 soldiers from Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Cameroon were sent after troubles in 2008. These troops have begun to pull out of the country.

Nearly 600 French troops are stationed in Bangui, officially to ensure the safety of the estimated 1,200 French nationals in the country.

- AFP/al

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The 2013 TVs of CES are bigger and smarter, but what about the picture?

I expect great things out of the Panasonic ZT60 plasma.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

Will flat-panel TV picture quality get even better in 2013?

I'm guessing "Yes" in the case of the Best of CES nominee Panasonic TC-PZT60 and the re-engineered Samsung UNF8500, very likely the two best-performing TVs of 2013 under $10,000.

But those two are hardly the TV hardware poster children of the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, where all the headlines touted expensive 4K and OLED sets as well as new gadgetry of questionable usefulness. Finger-gesture control, anyone?

I got a chance to see both the Panasonic and the Samsung plasmas in extended private viewing sessions and suffice it to say, I think both will be able to surpass the mind-bogglingly good Panasonic TC-PVT50 of 2012 at doing what TVs are supposed to do best: make beautiful pictures. I can't wait to review them, nor to test a few other TVs that stood out from a picture quality perspective.

Other TVs that piqued my videophile interest

• Panasonic's entire plasma lineup Based on what I saw at the show, last year's reviews and this year's pricing so far, I wouldn't be surprised if the 2013 Best TVs list at CNET looked as top-heavy with Panasonic plasmas as the 2012 list. Each of the company's 2013 plasma series models, with the exception of the lowest-end X60 perhaps, should be among the best-performing in its price class.
  
• Sony KDL-55W900A The successor to our favorite edge-lit LED TV of 2012, the W900A keeps the company's excellent local-dimming scheme but is unfortunately only available in one size: 55 inches.


• Vizio M series Meanwhile our second-favorite edge-lit LED of 2012 has a whole litter of descendants in various sizes, and all of them do local dimming too. The company is proud of its home-grown dimming, and from what I saw on the 2012 M3D0KD series, the M should be a solid performer. It's also noteworthy that select sizes in the very affordable E series will be the first to do dimming from a "direct LED" configuration.


• Samsung UNF8000 series The biggest TV company is pushing its revamped Smart TV suite to the world, but to me its engineers talked up the fact that this flagship finally put real local dimming back into its highest-end LEDs. Both the F8000 and the F7500 can dim the letterbox bars, which leads to big improvements in perceived contrast for ultra-widescreen movies, but only the F8000 gets dimming across the whole screen. From what I saw of an early sample it looked great, and color was also exceedingly accurate.


• Samsung UN85S9 The winner of the TV category for Best of
  CES got there partly with unique style and buzz-worthy 4K resolution, but what put it atop other 4K sets I saw was the inclusion of local dimming from a full-array LED backlight. It's Samsung's first so-equipped TV since the excellent UN55B8500, and my bet for the best-performing 4K TV of 2013. I just hope it doesn't fall over and crush me during the review.


• Sharp Purios The company's first shipping 4K TV will also be the first to receive THX's 4K display certification -- not a guarantee that it'll be a good performer, but still a positive sign. I saw an encouraging demo where the Purios' image processing, dubbed ICC (integrated cognitive creation), seemingly revealed a bit more depth and detail than a comparison model. I also liked the company's new "Moth eye" screen finish, which straddles the line between matte and glossy and in demo form did a great job suppressing reflections. I was told the finish might not make it onto the shipping Purios, but I hope it does.


• LG Hecto laser projector At $10,000 the Hecto has the distinction of being the cheapest 100-inch-or-larger TV shown at CES 2013, trumping the 110-inch
  LEDs by a few hundred thousand dollars. Essentially a deconstructed rear-projection TV, this short-throw laser projector includes its own screen and even has speakers. It's the only product of its kind from a major maker, and I'm excited to see how it competes against similarly-priced 80-inch
  LED TVs.


• LG LA8600 Even LG's best TVs last year had disappointing performance, but the company's engineers promised me they've done better this year. I assume LG's best non-4K 2013 LED, the LA8600, will showcase those improvements.


• LG 55PM9700 After more than 10 years of doing what I do, I'm more excited to review LG's OLED TV than I've ever been to review any product. Ever. Will its color-filter WRGB technology affect the jaw-dropping contrast and color response I expect from OLED? What about off-angle, color accuracy, even passive 3D? I hope to know soon how our third Best of CES nominee fares.

It's gonna be tough to find an OLED TV in stores.

Uh, what about 4K and OLED?
In our preview we called out both of these buzz-grabbing trends as the stars of CES, but it's important to remember that showstopping display technology usually takes years to go mainstream. You'll be hard-pressed to find 4K TVs anywhere on store shelves in 2013, and OLED will be as rare as a Tesla Roadster. The TVs with both, introduced by Sony and Panasonic, were prototypes that are still years away.

TVs with 4K, or Ultra High Definition (UHD) resolution, were front and center in nearly every major maker's booth, and their huge screens and slow-moving, short-looping demo material often looked very good (although often worse than I expected). No pricing was announced for any of the major makers' new 4K sets, however, and product managers I pressed on the question were universally more tight-lipped than usual -- not a good sign.

If Samsung's 85-inch 4K TV costs less than $20K, I'm a monkey's uncle.

Sony mentioned "a cost that is right around that of a premium HDTV" for its smaller XBR-X900 sizes, and I'm guessing that means $5,000 for the 55-incher. While LG's smaller 4K models might cost a bit less than that, I don't think you'll be able to buy a non-Chinese 4K TV for less than $4K this year. I'll be interested to test new sets from Chinese makers like Hisense (its 4K TVs go down to 50 inches) and TCL, but I'm not expecting them to match the picture quality of the established brands.

And then there are OLED TVs, which LG says will finally be shipping in March for $12,000. Even if you have that kind of cash I'm guessing it will be nearly impossible to lay your hands on one -- initial quantities will be extremely limited. The only other TV maker close to production is Samsung, which says "this year" for its KN55F9500. But the company still hasn't released a final design, and I'm still skeptical the TV will ship.

Whizbang doodads, newfangled thingamabobs, miscellaneous frippery
No CES TV wrap-up would be complete without passing mention of all the extra bullet points TV makers will pack onto specification sheets that have nothing to do with the core mission of making great pictures. I'll try to get it all into one paragraph.

The fire hose: Samsung TVs now have more than 2,800 apps.

Samsung, the king of featuritis, has a new Smart TV suite that can control your cable box as well as recommend upcoming shows and consolidate searches of on-demand video sources (just not Amazon). Sony is pushing NFC pairing, a second-screen app, and DirecTV-friendliness. LG also touts NFC, along with improved voice control and a better motion remote. Panasonic wants to entice you with an optional pen accessory for marking up documents onscreen (huh?), voice control, a touch-pad controller, and a pop-up camera on some models. Vizio has M-Go, a studio-sanctioned streaming app, as well as a new streaming-3D service and HTML5 support in higher-end sets. Everybody has dual-core processors, built-in Wi-Fi, and tons of apps that you'll never use. But at least they all have Netflix.

In the preview I wistfully asked for a dumb TV with all the picture quality enhancements of a flagship model for a bit less money. None was announced. Maybe next year.

A look at the exciting new technology of Sony's 4K OLED TV

Read More..

Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse Cancelmo

A fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.

From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew and put them in irons.

The officers were allowed to keep their swords and wander the deck as long as they promised not to lead an uprising against the Alabama's crew, he added.

From there, the Alabama dropped off their captives in Jamaica, leaving them to make their own way back to the U.S.

Delgado wants to dig even further into the crew of the Hatteras. He'd like see if members of the public recognize any of the names on his list of crew members and can give him background on the men.

"That's why I do archaeology," he said.

(Read about other Civil War battlefields in National Geographic magazine.)

Published January 11, 2013

Read More..

CDC: Flu Outbreak Could Be Waning

The flu season appears to be waning in some parts of the country, but that doesn't mean it won't make a comeback in the next few weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Five fewer states reported high flu activity levels in the first week of January than the 29 that reported high activity levels in the last week of December, according to the CDC's weekly flu report. This week, 24 states reported high illness levels, 16 reported moderate levels, five reported low levels and one reported minimal levels, suggesting that the flu season peaked in the last week of December.

"It may be decreasing in some areas, but that's hard to predict," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in a Friday morning teleconference. "Trends only in the next week or two will show whether we have in fact crossed the peak."

The flu season usually peaks in February or March, not December, said Dr. Jon Abramson, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist Health in North Carolina. He said the season started early with a dominant H3N2 strain, which was last seen a decade ago, in 2002-03. That year, the flu season also ended early.

Click here to see how this flu season stacks up against other years.

Cheryl Evans/The Arizona Republic/AP Photo

Increasing Flu Cases: Best Measures to Ensure Your Family's Health Watch Video

Because of the holiday season, Frieden said the data may have been skewed.

For instance, Connecticut appeared to be having a lighter flu season than other northeastern states at the end of December, but the state said it could have been a result of college winter break. College student health centers account for a large percentage of flu reports in Connecticut, but they've been closed since the fall semester ended, said William Gerrish, a spokesman for the state's department of public health.

The flu season arrived about a month early this year in parts of the South and the East, but it may only just be starting to take hold of states in the West, Frieden said. California is still showing "minimal" flu on the CDC's map, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way.

Click here to read about how flu has little to do with cold weather.

"It's not surprising. Influenza ebbs and flows during the flu season," Frieden said. "The only thing predictable about the flu is that it is unpredictable."

Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., said he was expecting California's seeming good luck with the flu to be over this week.

"Flu is fickle, we say," Schaffner said. "Influenza can be spotty. It can be more severe in one community than another for reasons incompletely understood."

Early CDC estimates indicate that this year's flu vaccine is 62 percent effective, meaning people who have been vaccinated are 62 percent less likely to need to see a doctor for flu treatment, Frieden said.

Although the shot has been generally believed to be more effective for children than adults, there's not enough data this year to draw conclusions yet.

"The flu vaccine is far from perfect, but it's still by far the best tool we have to prevent flu," Frieden said, adding that most of the 130 million vaccine doses have already been administered. "We're hearing of shortages of the vaccine, so if you haven't been vaccinated and want to be, it's better late than never."

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Muscle mimic pulls electricity from wet surface

Electricity has been squeezed from a damp surface for the first time, thanks to a polymer film that curls up and moves – a bit like an artificial muscle – when exposed to moisture. The film could be used to run small, wearable devices on nothing but sweat, or in remote locations where conventional electricity sources aren't available.

When a dry polymer absorbs water, its molecular structure changes. This can, in principle, be converted into larger-scale movement, and in turn electricity. But previous attempts at creating a material powered by a moisture gradient – the difference in chemical potential energy between a wet region and a dry region - failed to produce a useful level of force.

These unsuccessful tries used a polymer called polypyrrole. Now Robert Langer and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have turned to the material again, embedding chains of it within another material, polyol-borate. This more complex arrangement mimics structures found in muscles as well as in plant tissues that bend in response to changes in humidity.

Flipping film

The result looks like an ordinary piece of thin black plastic, but when placed on a wet surface, something extraordinary happens. As the material absorbs water, its end curls away from the surface and the film becomes unstable, so it flips over. The ends have now dried out, so they are ready to absorb more water, and the whole process repeats itself. This continuous flipping motion lets the film travel across a suitably moist surface unaided.

Langer found that a 0.03-millimetre-thick strip, weighing roughly 25 milligrams, could curl up and lift a load 380 times its mass to a height of 2 millimetres. It was also able to move sideways when carrying a load about 10 times its mass.

To extract energy from this effect, Langer's team added a layer of piezoelectric material – one which produces electricity when squeezed. When this enhanced film, weighing about 100 milligrams, flipped over, it generated an output of 5.6 nanowatts – enough to power a microchip in sleep mode.

Electricity from sweat

Though the output is small, it is proof that electricity can be extracted from a water gradient. "To the extent of our knowledge, we are the first to utilise a water gradient, without a pressure gradient, to generate electricity," says Langer.

Large-scale energy harvesting is unlikely as the size of the device needed would be impractical, but it could be used to power small devices such as environmental monitoring systems in remote locations. "It will be interesting for applications where the amount of energy needed may be low but where access to energy may be difficult," says Peter Fratzl at the Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, who was not involved in the work.

Another application, Langer suggests, would be to place the film inside the clothing of joggers or athletes. The evaporation of sweat could generate enough electricity to power sensors monitoring blood pressure and heart rate.

Journal reference: Science, DOI 10.1126/science.1230262

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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Python clings to Qantas wing on two-hour flight

SYDNEY: It was not quite a "Snakes on a Plane" scenario, but passengers on a Qantas jet watched in amazement as a three-metre (nine feet) python clung to the outside of their aircraft during a flight.

The Australian carrier said the flight from the Queensland city of Cairns to Port Moresby, capital of the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea, took off early Thursday morning with the unintended passenger tucked into its wing.

"The snake was seen by passengers once (the plane) reached cruising altitude," a Qantas spokesman told AFP.

"It was still on the aircraft when it arrived in Port Moresby but it had died by that stage."

Once they spotted it on the wing, passengers watched as the reptile engaged in a life-and-death struggle to maintain its grip on the plane despite the winds and chilly altitude temperatures for the two-hour journey.

Passenger Robert Weber told Fairfax Media Friday that while people at the front of the plane were unaware of the python, those at the back were "all totally focused on the snake and how it might have got onto the aircraft".

Unlike the 2006 "Snakes on a Plane" movie starring Samuel L. Jackson, this reptile did not affect the flight.

"There was no panic. At no time did anyone stop to consider that there might be others on board," Weber said.

He added that the snake had been nestled neatly at first, but once the wind caught the end of its tail, it was "pulling him straight out" and from then on it became a hopeless "life-and-death struggle".

"I felt quite sad for it, really," he said.

An expert said the snake was probably a scrub python, Australia's longest snake and one common in northern Queensland.

Qantas said it had never heard of anything similar happening before, adding that there was no way the reptile could have accessed the cabin.

- AFP/ck

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Uh-oh, Windows RT. Samsung's got second thoughts

Samsung's Ativ Tab runs Windows RT, shown here with the mandatory new Metro interface by Damien Cusick, general manager of Samsung Electronics UK, at a press conference at IFA.

(Credit:
Stephen Shankland/CNET)

LAS VEGAS--Microsoft launched Windows RT with grand ambitions only a few months ago, but CNET has learned the operating system is facing yet another setback.

This time it's Samsung having second thoughts about the computer software that runs on cellphone chips.

Mike Abary, the Samsung senior vice president who oversees the company's PC and
tablet businesses in the U.S., told CNET today at the Consumer Electronics Show that the Korean electronics giant won't be launching its Qualcomm-powered Windows RT device in the U.S. It's unclear what the company's plans are for the non-U.S. markets.

Abary noted Samsung reached its decision about he device, dubbed the Ativ Tab, for two main reasons. First, feedback from its retail partners indicated demand for such products is only modest. Second, Samsung determined it would take a lot of investment to inform consumers about the benefits of Windows RT. Here's what he told CNET:

There wasn't really a very clear positioning of what Windows RT meant in the marketplace, what it stood for relative to Windows 8, that was being done in an effective manner to the consumer. When we did some tests and studies on how we could go to market with a Windows RT device, we determined there was a lot of heavy lifting we still needed to do to educate the customer on what Windows RT was. And that heavy lifting was going to require pretty heavy investment. When we added those two things up, the investments necessary to educate the consumer on the difference between RT and Windows 8, plus the modest feedback that we got regarding how successful could this be at retail from our retail partners, we decided maybe we ought to wait.

Abary added that one of the big selling points for Windows RT is the devices should be less expensive than those using
Windows 8. However, Samsung found that it would have had to make tradeoffs -- like including less memory -- to bring down the price, and that wasn't something it was willing to do.

"We didn't necessarily attain the price point that we hoped to attain," Abary said. "It's not an issue on Microsoft's side. It's more an issue of how the product was built and some of the tradeoffs we had to incorporate in it."

Check out CNET's in-depth report on how Microsoft became a control freak with tablet makers.

The comments from Abary come only a few days after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer joined Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs onstage during his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The two talked up their partnership on Windows RT devices and touted the devices from Dell and Samsung.

"The new Windows PCs, tablets, and phones, I think are stunning," Ballmer said. "Windows RT devices are the new addition to the family."

Samsung's move to hold off on Windows RT, at least in the U.S., raises concerns about the operating system and deals a blow to Microsoft's efforts to gain a bigger footprint in mobile devices. Samsung is one of the world's top provider of smartphones and tablets, and while it's relatively new to the U.S. PC market, those operations have been experiencing double-digit sales growth on a percentage basis. That means Samsung is a key partner for any software maker to have.

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs is joined on stage at CES 2013 by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

While Samsung isn't releasing the initial product it developed with Qualcomm in the U.S., Abary said the company may consider Windows RT devices in the future.

"We want to see how the market develops for RT," Abary said. "It's not something we're shelving permanently. It's still a viable option for us in the future, but now might not be the right time."

We've contacted Microsoft and will update the report when we hear back.

Meanwhile, Rob Chandhok, president of the Qualcomm's Internet services division, told CNET today at
CES that while the company cares that Samsung won't be launching its product in the U.S., "there are a bunch of devices in the pipeline."

"These first rounds of devices are going to be followed by other rounds of devices," he said.

Microsoft has tightly controlled the development process for Windows RT devices, limiting the number of companies the chipmakers could work with, in order to make better products. That's meant that few products have hit the market, and some companies in the initial development program ultimately decided to abandon Windows RT.

Even before Microsoft's Surface RT tablet hit the market, Hewlett-Packard said in June that it had scuttled its immediate plans for a Windows RT device after receiving feedback from customers that they preferred Intel-powered tablets for business use. And Toshiba in August said it canceled its initial RT products because of development problems that would have delayed launch. The company believed its devices would be handicapped if they weren't introduced with the first wave of Windows RT products.

Samsung unveiled its Windows RT device at IFA in August. However, around the time Windows 8 and RT launched in October, it said it was still trying to formulate its strategy for Windows RT.

Meanwhile, Abary said Samsung saw "exponential" growth in its tablet business in the fourth quarter, with seven-inch devices experiencing the strongest demand.

"We saw significant growth in every category," Abary said. "There's now way we could keep up with all the demand."

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Google and Twitter Help Track Influenza Outbreaks

This flu season could be the longest and worst in years. So far 18 children have died from flu-related symptoms, and 2,257 people have been hospitalized.

Yesterday Boston Mayor Thomas Menino declared a citywide public health emergency, with roughly 700 confirmed flu cases—ten times the number the city saw last year.

"It arrived five weeks early, and it's shaping up to be a pretty bad flu season," said Lyn Finelli, who heads the Influenza Outbreak Response Team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Boston isn't alone. According to the CDC, 41 states have reported widespread influenza activity, and in the last week of 2012, 5.6 percent of doctor's office visits across the country were for influenza-like illnesses. The severity likely stems from this year's predominant virus: H3N2, a strain known to severely affect children and the elderly. Finelli notes that the 2003-2004 flu season, also dominated by H3N2, produced similar numbers. (See "Are You Prepped? The Influenza Roundup.")

In tracking the flu, physicians and public health officials have a host of new surveillance tools at their disposal thanks to crowdsourcing and social media. Such tools let them get a sense of the flu's reach in real time rather than wait weeks for doctor's offices and state health departments to report in.

Pulling data from online sources "is no different than getting information on over-the-counter medication or thermometer purchases [to track against an outbreak]," said Philip Polgreen, an epidemiologist at the University of Iowa.

The most successful of these endeavors, Google Flu Trends, analyzes flu-related Internet search terms like "flu symptoms" or "flu medication" to estimate flu activity in different areas. It tracks flu outbreaks globally.

Another tool, HealthMap, which is sponsored by Boston Children's Hospital, mines online news reports to track outbreaks in real time. Sickweather draws from posts on Twitter and Facebook that mention the flu for its data.

People can be flu-hunters themselves with Flu Near You, a project that asks people to report their symptoms once a week. So far more than 38,000 people have signed up for this crowdsourced virus tracker. And of course, there's an app for that.

Both Finelli, a Flu Near You user, and Polgreen find the new tools exciting but agree that they have limits. "It's not as if we can replace traditional surveillance. It's really just a supplement, but it's timely," said Polgreen.

When people have timely warning that there's flu in the community, they can get vaccinated, and hospitals can plan ahead. According to a 2012 study in Clinical Infectious Diseases, Google Flu Trends has shown promise predicting emergency room flu traffic. Some researchers are even using a combination of the web database and weather data to predict when outbreaks will peak.

As for the current flu season, it's still impossible to predict week-to-week peaks and troughs. "We expect that it will last a few more weeks, but we can never tell how bad it's going to get," said Finelli.

Hospitals are already taking precautionary measures. One Pennsylvania hospital erected a separate emergency room tent for additional flu patients. This week, several Illinois hospitals went on "bypass," alerting local first responders that they're at capacity—due to an uptick in both flu and non-flu cases—so that patients will be taken to alternative facilities, if possible.

In the meantime, the CDC advises vaccination, first and foremost. On the bright side, the flu vaccine being used this year is a good match for the H3N2 strain. Though Finelli cautions, "Sometimes drifted strains pop up toward the end of the season."

It looks like there won't be shortages of seasonal flu vaccine like there have been in past years. HealthMap sports a Flu Vaccine Finder to make it a snap to find a dose nearby. And if the flu-shot line at the neighborhood pharmacy seems overwhelming, more health departments and clinics are offering drive-through options.

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Judge: Holmes Can Face Trial for Aurora Shooting

Jan 10, 2013 8:45pm

(Arapahoe County Sheriff/AP Photo)

In a ruling that comes as little surprise, the judge overseeing the Aurora, Colo., theater massacre has ordered that there is enough evidence against James Holmes to proceed to a trial.

In an order posted late Thursday, Judge William Sylvester wrote that “the People have carried their burden of proof and have established that there is probable cause to believe that Defendant committed the crimes charged.”

The ruling came after a three-day preliminary hearing this week that revealed new details about how Holmes allegedly planned for and carried out the movie theater shooting, including how investigators say he amassed an arsenal of guns and ammunition, how he booby-trapped his apartment to explode, and his bizarre behavior after his arrest.

PHOTOS: Colorado ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Theater Shooting

Holmes is charged with 166 counts, including murder, attempted murder and other charges related to the July 20 shooting that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded by gunfire. An additional 12 people suffered non-gunshot injuries.

One of the next legal steps is an arraignment, at which Holmes will enter a plea. The arraignment was originally expected to take place Friday morning.

Judge Sylvester indicated through a court spokesman that he would allow television and still cameras into the courtroom, providing the outside world the first images of Holmes since a July 23 hearing. Plans for cameras in court, however, were put on hold Thursday afternoon.

“The defense has notified the district attorney that it is not prepared to proceed to arraignment in this case by Friday,” wrote public defenders Daniel King, Tamara Brady and Kristen Nelson Thursday afternoon in a document objecting to cameras in court.

A hearing in the case will still take place Friday morning. In his order, Judge Sylvester said it should technically be considered an arraignment, but noted the defense has requested a continuance.  Legal experts expect the judge will grant the continuance, delaying the arraignment and keeping cameras out of court for now.

Sylvester also ordered that Holmes be held without bail.

Holmes’ attorneys have said in court that the former University of Colorado neuroscience student is mentally ill. The district attorney overseeing the case has not yet announced whether Holmes, now 25, can face the death penalty.

SHOWS: World News

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Hints of new dark force seen in galactic smash-ups

Colliding clusters of galaxies may hold clues to a mysterious dark force at work in the universe. This force would act only on invisible dark matter, the enigmatic stuff that makes up 86 per cent of the mass in the universe.

Dark matter famously refuses to interact with ordinary matter except via gravity, so theorists had assumed that its particles would be just as aloof with each other. But new observations suggest that dark matter interacts significantly with itself, while leaving regular matter out of the conversation.

"There could be a whole class of dark particles that don't interact with normal matter but do interact with themselves," says James Bullock of the University of California, Irvine. "Dark matter could be doing all sorts of interesting things, and we'd never know."

Some of the best evidence for dark matter's existence came from the Bullet cluster, a smash-up in which a small galaxy cluster plunged through a larger one about 100 million years ago. Separated by hundreds of light years, the individual galaxies sailed right past each other, and the two clusters parted ways. But intergalactic gas collided and pooled on the trailing ends of each cluster.

Mass maps of the Bullet cluster showed that dark matter stayed in line with the galaxies instead of pooling with the gas, proving that it can separate from ordinary matter. This also hinted that dark matter wasn't interacting with itself, and was affected by gravity alone.

Musket shot

Last year William Dawson of the University of California, Davis and colleagues found an older set of clusters seen about 700 million years after their collision. Nicknamed the Musket Ball cluster, this smash-up told a different tale. When Dawson's team analysed the concentration of matter in the Musket Ball, they found that galaxies are separated from dark matter by about 19,000 light years.

"The galaxies outrun the dark matter. That's what creates the offset," Dawson said. "This is fitting that picture of self-interacting dark matter." If dark matter particles do interact, perhaps via a dark force, they would slow down like the gas.

This new picture could solve some outstanding mysteries in cosmology, Dawson said this week during a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California. Non-interacting dark matter should sink to the cores of star clusters and dwarf galaxies, but observations show that it is more evenly distributed. If it interacts with itself, it could puff up and spread outward like a gas.

So why doesn't the Bullet cluster show the same separation between dark matter and galaxies? Dawson thinks it's a question of age – dark matter in the younger Bullet simply hasn't had time to separate.

New window

The idea complements a previous study that saw evidence for dark forces at work in the Bullet cluster. In 2007 Glennys Farrar of New York University and colleagues said that the smaller cluster was moving too fast for gravity alone to be responsible. They suggested that some mysterious force related to dark matter might be hurrying it along.

Still, two clusters is not a lot to go on. Dawson, Bullock and colleagues are following up with about 20 more galactic collisions to see if they show any unusual behaviours. "I really think that we're almost to the point where we have enough observational data in hand," Dawson said. "We could close the book on self-interacting dark matter."

If the new force does exist, we might soon be able to see its effects on things influenced by dark matter, such as the behavior of black holes or the masses of the first stars, says Douglas Finkbeiner of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was not involved in the new study.

"The simple thing isn't always the right thing, so I really appreciate that Will is trying to look into these other possibilities," he says.

Louis Strigari of Stanford University in California agrees. "Self-interacting dark matter is worth pursuing because we're still very ignorant," he said. "We're desperate to understand what dark matter is, so any new window is welcome."

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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NEL service delayed due to power fault

SINGAPORE: Train services in both directions on the North East Line (NEL) are delayed due to a power fault.

Train operator SBS Transit alerted commuters at 10:18am on Twitter of a delay of 15 minutes.

It said free bus rides are available at designated bus stops.

SBS Transit first alerted commuters via SMS at about 10am, saying there had been a delay of 15 minutes due to a power fault.

It said at about 10:30am that shuttle services were activated at designated bus stops to provide free bus rides.

- CNA/ck

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Reddit reportedly seeks investors with influence

With Reddit users flocking to the site more than ever, now seems like the perfect time for the company to go searching for investors. Which is exactly what it's doing, but it's not cash that Reddit is after.

According to AllThingsD, the company is seeking certain elite investors that could help with company input -- rather than just fork over a wad of dough. A recent article by TechCrunch noted that the company's valuation has jumped to $400 million, but, according to AllThingsD, Reddit is actually only after around $1 million.

When Reddit was spun out in 2011 from the company that acquired it, Conde Nast, it had $20 million saved up, according to AllThingsD. Since then, the bare-bones company has only spent around $2 million. Apparently, it doesn't take a lot of money to keep the site staffed and running. By the same token, it's not likely that Reddit will become a cash cow for investors wanting a big return either. So, anyone considering an investment in the company would probably need to be interested the business also.

Reddit has been on the up and up ever since it was acquired in 2006. At that time, it said was getting 700,000 page views a day. By September 2011, when it spun out from Conde Nast, it got 1.6 billion page views a month on 21 million unique users. And in October 2012, the site reported more than 3.8 billion monthly page views and more than 46 million unique visitors.

One of the ways Reddit has driven more traffic to its site this past year is by hosting high-level AMAs, or "ask me anything" sessions. In August, Reddit hosted President Barack Obama, whose impromptu hour-long interview crippled the site's servers. Reddit has also done AMAs with the Mars Curiosity rover team, Gangnam Style's PSY, and U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who asked users for ideas on a bill to protect Web sites accused of copyright violations.

CNET contacted Reddit for comment. We'll update the story when we get more information.

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Embryonic Sharks Freeze to Avoid Detection

Jane J. Lee

Although shark pups are born with all the equipment they'll ever need to defend themselves and hunt down food, developing embryos still stuck in their egg cases are vulnerable to predators. But a new study finds that even these baby sharks can detect a potential predator, and play possum to avoid being eaten.

Every living thing gives off a weak electrical field. Sharks can sense this with a series of pores—called the ampullae of Lorenzini—on their heads and around their eyes, and some species rely on this electrosensory ability to find food buried in the seafloor. (See pictures of electroreceptive fish.)

Two previous studies on the spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) and the clearnose skate (Raja eglanteria)—a relative of sharks—found similar freezing behavior in their young. But new research by shark biologist and doctoral student Ryan Kempster at the University of Western Australia has given scientists a more thorough understanding of this behavior.

It all started because Kempster wanted to build a better shark repellent. Since he needed to know how sharks respond to electrical fields, Kempster decided to use embryos. "It's very hard to test this in the field because you need to get repeated responses," he said. And you can't always get the same shark to cooperate multiple times. "But we could use embryos because they're contained within an egg case."

Cloaking Themselves

So Kempster got his hands on 11 brownbanded bamboo shark (Chiloscyllium punctatum) embryos and tested their reactions to the simulated weak electrical field of a predator. (Popular pictures: Bamboo shark swallowed whole—by another shark.)

In a study published today in the journal PLoS One, Kempster and his colleagues report that all of the embryonic bamboo sharks, once they reached later stages of development, reacted to the electrical field by ceasing gill movements (essentially, holding their breath), curling their tails around their bodies, and freezing.

A bamboo shark embryo normally beats its tail to move fresh seawater in and out of its egg case. But that generates odor cues and small water currents that can give away its position. The beating of its gills as it breathes also generates an electrical field that predators can use to find it.

"So it cloaks itself," said neuroecologist Joseph Sisneros, at the University of Washington in Seattle, who was not involved in the study. "[The embryo] shuts down any odor cues, water movement, and its own electrical signal."

Sisneros, who conducted the previous clearnose skate work, is delighted to see that this shark species also reacts to external electrical fields and said it would be great to see whether this is something all shark, skate, and ray embryos do.

Marine biologist Stephen Kajiura, at Florida Atlantic University, is curious to know how well the simulated electrical fields compare to the bamboo shark's natural predators—the experimental field was on the higher end of the range normally given off.

"[But] they did a good job with [the study]," Kajiura said. "They certainly did a more thorough study than anyone else has done."

Electrifying Protection?

In addition to the freezing behavior he recorded in the bamboo shark embryos, Kempster found that the shark pups remembered the electrical field signal when it was presented again within 40 minutes and that they wouldn't respond as strongly to subsequent exposures as they did initially.

This is important for developing shark repellents, he said, since some of them use electrical fields to ward off the animals. "So if you were using a shark repellent, you would need to change the current over a 20- to 30-minute period so the shark doesn't get used to that field."

Kempster envisions using electrical fields to not only keep humans safe but to protect sharks as well. Shark populations have been on the decline for decades, due partly to ending up as bycatch, or accidental catches, in the nets and on the longlines of fishers targeting other animals.

A 2006 study estimated that as much as 70 percent of landings, by weight, in the Spanish surface longline fleet were sharks, while a 2007 report found that eight million sharks are hooked each year off the coast of southern Africa. (Read about the global fisheries crisis in National Geographic magazine.)

"If we can produce something effective, it could be used in the fishing industry to reduce shark bycatch," Kempster said. "In [America] at the moment, they're doing quite a lot of work trying to produce electromagnetic fish hooks." The eventual hope is that if these hooks repel the sharks, they won't accidentally end up on longlines.

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Arias Caught Lying to Cops in Recorded Phone Calls

Jodi Arias blatantly lied to police who asked her about Travis Alexander's death, telling them in recorded phone calls that she kept trying to call and message Alexander the week of his death but never heard back from him.

The phone calls were played as evidence during the fourth day of Arias' trial, in which she is charged with murder and could face the death penalty if convicted of killing Alexander in a "depraved and heinous" way. Arias has admitted to killing her former boyfriend, but claims it was self-defense.

During the phone conversations played in court, Arias can be heard telling Mesa, Ariz., detective Esteban Flores that she last talked to Alexander on Tuesday night, June 3, 2008, around 10 p.m. She had been in Los Angeles, about to leave to go to Utah to visit a new love interest, she said.

After June 3, he stopped calling her back, she said.

Photos of Key Players and Evidence in the Jodi Arias Murder Trial

"On Tuesday night (I talked to him), it was brief though, 10 o'clock maybe. I'd say 10 p.m. or 9 - 9:30. I was calling people because I was bored on the road. He was nice and cordial, but kind of acting like he had hurt feelings," she said.

"I may have called him Wednesday, from the road, and I sent him a couple of text messages, and a couple of pictures," she said, though Alexander didn't pick up and his voice mailbox was full. "That's unusual. He deletes all of his messages. I didn't want to be obsessive about it because we're not together anymore and I didn't like to call too much."

According to court records, Arias, 32, actually went to Alexander's home on in Mesa on Wednesday morning. There, the pair had sex and took graphic photos of one another with Alexander's camera.

Then, Arias is believed to have killed Alexander, 30, in his shower by stabbing him, slashing his throat from ear to ear, and shooting him in the head.

In the phone conversations, Arias told Flores that she considered calling Alexander's friends when he stopped returning her calls on Wednesday, but didn't want to act like "his mother."

Alexander's friends found his body five days later with stab wounds and a bullet wound, lying in blood in his home.

Flores asked Arias if she ever considered buying a gun, she said she was too scared of handguns.

Jodi Arias/Myspace | ABC News

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Who Is the Alleged Killer? Watch Video

Jodi Arias Trial: Defense Claims Victim Was Sex Deviant Watch Video

"I've looked into handguns. I have a list of things I'm scared of that I'm trying to overcome," she said. "I got that from Travis, you know, to push yourself out of your comfort zone, and do things you're afraid of. But handguns are expensive and not really in my price range right now."

Arias is accused of stealing her grandmother's handgun and using it to shoot Alexander in the head during the attack.
The detective interviewed Arias by phone multiple times in June after Alexander's body was discovered by his friends on June 9.

Arias was indicted on July 9, 2008, and changed her story again before her arraignment, telling a TV news station that she was at Alexander's house when he was killed and witnessed two intruders kill him.

After she was arraigned, Arias told police she killed Alexander, but did it in self-defense. Arias's attorneys have said that Alexander was controlling and abusive toward Arias, and described him as a "sexual deviant."

In earlier testimony in court today, Arias's new love interest, Ryan Burns, testified that Arias showed up to his house on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 5, just 24 hours after she killed Alexander.

There, the pair cuddled, kissed, and watched movies, according to Burns.

Burns, who met Arias at a business conference in spring, 2008, said he exchanged frequent long phone calls and online conversations with Arias before inviting her to come visit him in West Jordan, Utah, in June. Arias lived in California at the time.

She arrived at Burns's home 24 hours after she was expected there, telling him that she got lost, drove the wrong way on a freeway for a few hours, fell asleep for awhile, and then got lost again, Burns testified today.

She never told him that she had confronted Alexander with a knife or gun and ended up killing him just hours before their date.

When she arrived, the pair quickly got physical, he testified.

"We went back to my house. We talked for awhile, and agreed that we were going to watch a movie. At some point we were talking and we kissed. Every time we started kissing it got a little more escalated. Our clothes never came off, but at some point she was kissing my neck, I was kissing hers, but our clothes never came off," he said.

Burns said that both he and Arias stopped kissing at the time, though they again became physically involved later in the evening when Arias climbed on top of Burns and began kissing him. Burns said that they stopped kissing because he did not want her to "regret the visit" because of her Mormon beliefs about sex.

He also told prosecutors upon questioning that Arias was physically strong.

"She's very fit," he said, describing their encounter when she climbed on top of him. "She's very strong. She has close to a six pack (of abs)."

Prosecutors likely asked about the strength of Arias because in testimony Tuesday Maricopa County medical examiner Kevin Horn said Alexander was stabbed so forcefully that the blade chipped his skull and his neck was cut all the way back to the spinal cord.

Burns, who is also a Mormon, said he noticed two bandages on Arias's hand when she arrived at his house, which she told him she got when a glass broke at her place of employment, Margaritaville.

During her visit, the pair also went to a business meeting and went out with Burns' friends where Burns described Arias as acting "shy" and a "little awkward."

"She was fine, she was laughing about simple little things like any other person. I never once felt like anything was wrong during the day. With a crowd she was a little awkward in social areas, but one on one she was very talkative and excitable," he said.

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Pruney fingers give us better grip underwater

WHY do our fingers do prune impressions when soaked? It could be an adaptation that gives us better grip underwater.

Fingers and toes wrinkle in water after about 5 minutes due to the constriction of blood vessels. This reduction in volume pulls the skin inward, but as the skin's surface area cannot change, it wrinkles. A study in 2011 showed that wrinkles form a pattern of channels that divert water away from the fingertip – akin to rain treads on tyres. The team thought that this could aid grip.

To find out, Tom Smulders and his team at Newcastle University, UK, timed people as they transferred wet or dry objects from one box to another with and without wrinkled fingers.

With wrinkles, wet objects were transferred about 12 per cent faster than with unwrinkled fingers. The time it took to transfer dry objects was the same regardless of wrinkles.

So why aren't our digits always prune-like? "With wrinkles, less of your skin surface touches the object, so there may be issues of sensitivity," Smulders suggests.

Journal reference: Royal Society Biology Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0999.

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Japan plans US$2.1b military spend in stimulus package: official

TOKYO: Japan plans to spend $2.1 billion on its military over the next few months as part of a huge stimulus package, a defence ministry official said Wednesday, amid growing concerns over a rising China.

The cash is in addition to the regular military spending for 2012-13 and is separate from a boosted budget request for next fiscal year that ruling party policy makers called for on Tuesday.

"We will request 180.5 billion yen to be allocated to military spending from a stimulus package," a defence ministry spokesman told AFP, adding that some of the cash will be used to buy PAC-3 surface-to-air anti-ballistic missile systems and modernise four F-15 fighter jets.

The request for funds has to be approved by the finance ministry before being officially included in the stimulus the government is set to announce later this month, reportedly worth 13.1 trillion yen for this fiscal year to March.

The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Japan will increase military spending for the first time in 11 years next fiscal year starting from April.

Japan is involved in a territorial tussle with China over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Beijing has sent vessels to the area dozens of times and late last year dispatched a plane.

Nerves in Tokyo have also been rattled by an unpredictable North Korea. It sent a rocket over Japan's southern islands last month in what it insisted was a satellite launch. Tokyo and its allies said the launch was a covert ballistic missile test.

"Out of 180.5 billion yen, the defence ministry plans to use 60.5 billion yen to prepare for the changing security environment surrounding Japan," the spokesman said.

The defence ministry also plans to purchase three SH-60K patrol helicopters and to add a battery for an intermediate-range ballistic missile system, he said.

"We need to update our equipment as the security environment surrounding Japan is becoming harsher as North Korea has test-launched missiles twice in the last year and tensions with China continue," he said.

Under usual precedent, 70-80 percent of a defence order must be spent with domestic firms, although this is not a legal requirement, he said.

-AFP/ac

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