Human-made material pushes the bounds of superconductivity

Mar. 3, 2013 ? A multi-university team of researchers has artificially engineered a unique multilayer material that could lead to breakthroughs in both superconductivity research and in real-world applications.

The researchers can tailor the material, which seamlessly alternates between metal and oxide layers, to achieve extraordinary superconducting properties -- in particular, the ability to transport much more electrical current than non-engineered materials.

The team includes experts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Florida State University and the University of Michigan. Led by Chang-Beom Eom, the Harvey D. Spangler Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering and physics at UW-Madison, the group described its breakthrough March 3, 2013, in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Materials.

Superconductors, which presently operate only under extremely cold conditions, transport energy very efficiently. With the ability to transport large electrical currents and produce high magnetic fields, they power such existing technologies as magnetic resonance imaging and Maglev trains, among others. They hold great potential for emerging applications in electronic devices, transportation, and power transmission, generation and storage.

Carefully layered superconducting materials are increasingly important in highly sophisticated applications. For example, a superconducting quantum interference device, or SQUID, used to measure subtle magnetic fields in magnetoencephalography scans of the brain, is based on a three-layer material.

However, one challenge in the quest to understand and leverage superconductivity is developing materials that work at room temperature. Currently, even unconventional high-temperature superconductors operate below -369 degrees Fahrenheit.

An unconventional high-temperature superconductor, the researchers' iron-based "pnictide" material is promising in part because its effective operating temperature is higher than that of conventional superconducting materials such as niobium, lead or mercury.

The research team engineered and measured the properties of superlattices of pnictide superconductors. A superlattice is the complex, regularly repeating geometric arrangement of atoms -- its crystal structure -- in layers of two or more materials. Pnictide superconductors include compounds made from any of five elements in the nitrogen family of the periodic table.

The researchers' new material is composed of 24 layers that alternate between the pnictide superconductor and a layer of the oxide strontium titanate. Creating such systems is difficult, especially when the arrangement of atoms, and chemical compatibility, of each material is very different.

Yet, layer after layer, the researchers maintained an atomically sharp interface -- the region where materials meet. Each atom in each layer is precisely placed, spaced and arranged in a regularly repeating crystal structure.

The new material also has improved current-carrying capabilities. As they grew the superlattice, the researchers also added a tiny bit of oxygen to intentionally insert defects every few nanometers in the material. These defects act as pinning centers to immobilize tiny magnetic vortices that, as they grow in strength in large magnetic fields, can limit current flow through the superconductor. "If the vortices move around freely, the energy dissipates, and the superconductor is no longer lossless," says Eom. "We have engineered both vertical and planar pinning centers, because vortices created by magnetic fields can be in many different orientations."

Eom sees possibilities for researchers to expand upon his team's success in engineering human-made superconducting structures. "There's a need to engineer superlattices for understanding fundamental superconductivity, for potential use in high-field and electronic devices, and to achieve extraordinary properties in the system," says Eom. "And, there is indication that interfaces can be a new area of discovery in high-temperature superconductors. This material offers those possibilities."

Funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences, National Science Foundation, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research supported the researchers' work. Eom's collaborators include Eric Hellstrom's and David Larbalestier's group at Florida State University; and Xiaoqing Pan's group at the University of Michigan.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. S. Lee, C. Tarantini, P. Gao, J. Jiang, J. D. Weiss, F. Kametani, C. M. Folkman, Y. Zhang, X. Q. Pan, E. E. Hellstrom, D. C. Larbalestier, C. B. Eom. Artificially engineered superlattices of pnictide superconductors. Nature Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3575

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/YnuQYS5s1Dg/130303154859.htm

best picture 2012 oscar winners channel 3 news j lo j lo sacha baron cohen ryan seacrest octavia spencer

Puppy Love? Kylie Jenner & Jaden Smith Dating!

Puppy Love? Kylie Jenner & Jaden Smith Dating!

Reality star Kylie Jenner of the Kardashian Clan is reportedly dating Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith’s son Jaden! Kylie, 15, was spotted in a cafe in London over the weekend with Jaden Smith, 14, with friends revealing the young stars are dating. Kylie and Jaden started dating recently after being friends for quite some time. Kylie ...

Puppy Love? Kylie Jenner & Jaden Smith Dating! Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/03/puppy-love-kylie-jenner-jaden-smith-dating/

sundance film festival the flintstones etta james ufc on fox evans vs davis fast times at ridgemont high fast times at ridgemont high

Kerry: 'Finite' time for Iran nuke talks to bear fruit

Jacquelyn Martin / Pool via AP

Secretary of State John Kerry adjusts his translation headset as Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal speaks during a news conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Monday.

By Arshad Mohammed and Angus McDowall, Reuters

RIYADH - Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday there was "finite" time for talks between Iran and world powers on its disputed nuclear program to bear fruit, but gave no hint how long Washington may be willing to negotiate.?

Israel, Iran's arch-enemy and convinced Tehran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, has grown impatient with the protracted talks and has threatened preemptive war against Tehran if it deems diplomacy ultimately futile.?

Kerry's sentiment was largely echoed by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who said that the negotiations cannot be endless like the debates of philosophers over how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.?

"There is a finite amount of time," Kerry, in the Saudi capital Riyadh on his first overseas trip as the top U.S. diplomat, said of the talks between a group of six world powers and Tehran, Saudi Arabia's main regional adversary.?

Kerry was speaking at a news conference with Prince Saud al-Faisal, who suggested Iran was not showing enough seriousness about the discussions, which he said "cannot go on forever."?

Iran was positive last week after talks with the powers in Kazakhstan about its nuclear work ended with an agreement to meet again. But Western officials said it had yet to do anything concrete to allay their concerns about its nuclear aspirations.?

The United States, China, France, Russia, Britain and Germany offered modest relief from economic sanctions in return for Iran reining in its most sensitive nuclear activity but made clear that no breakthrough was in the offing quickly.?

"We can't be like the philosophers who keep talking about how many angels a pinhead can hold," Prince Saud al-Faisal said. "They (the Iranians) have not proved to anybody the urgency in their negotiation," he said. "They reach common understanding only on issues that require further negotiation. And so this is what (has) worried us."?

Secretary of State John Kerry pledges $250 million in economic aid if Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi agrees to negotiations over economic reforms.

The United States and many of its allies suspect Iran may be using its civil nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons, a possibility that Israel, which is regarded as the Middle East's only nuclear power, sees as a mortal threat.?

The possibility also deeply disturbs many Arab countries in the Gulf who, some analysts say, could choose to pursue their own nuclear programs if Iran were to acquire an atomic bomb, leading to a destabilizing arms race.?

In Vienna on Monday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog raised pressure on Iran to finally address suspicions that it has sought to design an atomic bomb, calling for swift inspector access to a military base where relevant explosives tests are believed to have been carried out.

Diplomacy 'first choice'
Iran says its program is solely for peaceful purposes, such as generating electricity and making medical isotopes.?

Kerry, in the final stages of a nine-nation, 11-day trip that will also take him to Abu Dhabi and Doha, also had lunch with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the possibility of reviving peace talks with Israel.?

Making his first trip abroad as secretary of state, Kerry also met Saudi Crown Prince Salman but a U.S. official said he would not see Saudi King Abdullah, who turns 90 this year.?

Kerry said a diplomatic solution on Iran is still preferred by the United States and Saudi Arabia.?

In 2008, Riyadh's ambassador to Washington said King Abdullah had repeatedly urged Washington to "cut off the head of the snake" by striking Iran's nuclear facilities, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.?

"We both prefer - and this is important for Iranians to hear and understand - we both prefer diplomacy as the first choice, the preferred choice," Kerry said. "But the window for a diplomatic solution simply cannot by definition remain open indefinitely."?

Echoing Western concerns about a possible nuclear arms race in the Middle East in the event that Iran obtained a nuclear bomb, Kerry made a series of arguments for Gulf Arab countries not to pursue a military nuclear capability.?

Riyadh has also announced plans to develop 17 gigawatts of atomic energy by 2032 as it moves to reduce domestic oil consumption, freeing up more crude for export.?

Related:?

Netanyahu says nuclear talks a chance for Iran to 'buy time' to build the bomb

Iran says building 3,000 advanced centrifuges

West wary, Iran upbeat after nuclear talks

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/04/17180319-kerry-finite-time-for-iran-nuclear-talks-to-bear-fruit?lite

walmart best buy sears abercrombie abercrombie Aeropostale Jcpenny

Crews to raze Fla. home over sinkhole; man missing

Jeremy Bush places flowers and a stuffed animal at a makeshift memorial in front of a home where a sinkhole opened up underneath a bedroom late Thursday evening and swallowed his brother Jeffrey in Seffner, Fla. on Saturday, March 2, 2013. Jeffrey Bush, 37, was in his bedroom Thursday night when the earth opened and took him and everything else in his room. Five other people were in the house but managed to escape unharmed. Bush's brother jumped into the hole to try to help, but he had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Jeremy Bush places flowers and a stuffed animal at a makeshift memorial in front of a home where a sinkhole opened up underneath a bedroom late Thursday evening and swallowed his brother Jeffrey in Seffner, Fla. on Saturday, March 2, 2013. Jeffrey Bush, 37, was in his bedroom Thursday night when the earth opened and took him and everything else in his room. Five other people were in the house but managed to escape unharmed. Bush's brother jumped into the hole to try to help, but he had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

In this undated photo released by Jeremy Bush, shows his brother Jeff Bush. Jeremy Bush heard a loud crash and screaming coming from his brother's room early Thursday, March 1, 2013 in Seffner, Fla. A large sinkhole opened under Jeff's bedroom and he disappeared together with most of the bedroom furniture. Jeremy jumped into the hole and was quickly up to his neck in dirt. Jeff is presumed dead. (AP Photo/Jeremy Bush, HO)

Brenda Bush is escorted by a Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputy as she places flowers, Saturday, March 2, 2013, at a makeshift memorial in front of a home where a sinkhole opened up underneath a bedroom late Thursday evening and swallowed her son Jeffrey in Seffner, Fla. Jeffrey Bush, 37, was in his bedroom Thursday night when the earth opened and took him and everything else in his room. Five other people were in the house but managed to escape unharmed. Bush's brother jumped into the hole to try to help, but he had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

An engineer, tethered with a safety line, walks in front of a home where a sinkhole opened up underneath a bedroom late Thursday evening and swallowed a man in Seffner, Fla. on Saturday, March 2, 2013. Jeffrey Bush, 37, was in his bedroom Thursday night when the earth opened and took him and everything else in his room. Five other people were in the house but managed to escape unharmed. Bush's brother jumped into the hole to try to help, but he had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Engineers talk in front of a home, where a sinkhole opened up underneath a bedroom late Thursday evening and swallowed a man, in Seffner, Fla. on Saturday, March 2, 2013. Jeffrey Bush, 37, was in his bedroom Thursday night when the earth opened and took him and everything else in his room. Five other people were in the house but managed to escape unharmed. Bush's brother jumped into the hole to try to help, but he had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

SEFFNER, Fla. (AP) ? Crews planned to begin demolishing a Florida home Sunday that is perched over a huge sinkhole, deeming it too dangerous to keep searching for the man swallowed into the earth from his bedroom.

The search for Jeff Bush, 37, was called off Saturday. The 20-foot-wide opening of the sinkhole is almost completely covered by the house and rescuers feared it would collapse on them. Two neighboring homes were evacuated as a precaution.

Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill said heavy equipment would be brought in to begin razing the home Sunday morning.

"At this point it's really not possible to recover the body," Merrill said, later adding "we're dealing with a very unusual sinkhole."

Jessica Damico, spokeswoman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, said the demolition equipment would be placed on what they believe is solid ground and reach onto the property to pull apart the house. The crew will try pulling part of the house away from the sinkhole intact so some of the residents' keepsakes can be retrieved.

Bush was in his bedroom Thursday night in Seffner ? a suburb of 8,000 people 15 miles east of downtown Tampa ? when the ground opened and took him and everything else in his room. Five others in the house escape unharmed as the earth crumbled.

On Saturday, the normally quiet neighborhood of concrete block homes painted in Florida pastels was jammed with cars. Engineers, reporters, and curious onlookers came to the scene.

At the home next door to the Bushes, a family cried and organized boxes. Testing determined that their house and another had been compromised by the sinkhole. The families were allowed to go inside for about a half-hour to gather belongings.

Sisters Soliris and Elbairis Gonzalez, who live on the same street as the Bushes, said neighbors were worried for their safety.

"I've had nightmares," Soliris Gonzalez, 31, said. "In my dreams, I keep checking for cracks in the house."

They said the family has discussed where to go if forced to evacuate, and they've taken their important documents to a storage unit.

"The rest of it, this is material stuff, as long as our family is fine," Soliris Gonzalez said.

"You never know underneath the ground what's happening," added Elbairis Gonzalez, 30.

Experts say thousands of sinkholes form yearly in Florida because of the state's unique geography, though most are small and deaths rarely occur.

"There's hardly a place in Florida that's immune to sinkholes," said Sandy Nettles, who owns a geology consulting company in the Tampa area. "There's no way of ever predicting where a sinkhole is going to occur."

Most sinkholes are small, like one found Saturday morning in Largo, 35 miles away from Seffner. The Largo sinkhole, about 10 feet long and several feet wide, is in a mall parking lot.

The state sits on limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water, with a layer of clay on top. The clay is thicker in some locations ? including the area where Bush became a victim ? making them even more prone to sinkholes.

Jonathan Arthur, the state geologist and director of the Florida Geological Survey, said other states sit atop limestone in a similar way, but Florida has added factors such as extreme weather, development, aquifer pumping and construction.

"The conditions under which a sinkhole will form can be very rapid, or they can form slowly over time," he said.

But it remained unclear Saturday what, if anything, had caused the Seffner sinkhole.

"The condition that caused that sinkhole could have started a million years ago," Nettles said.

Jeremy Bush, who tried to rescue his brother, lay flowers near the house Saturday morning and wept.

He said someone came to his home a couple of months ago to check for sinkholes and other issues, apparently for insurance purposes, but found nothing wrong. State law requires home insurers to provide coverage against sinkholes.

"And a couple of months later, my brother dies. In a sinkhole," Bush said Friday.

___

Follow Lush at www.twitter.com/tamaralush

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-03-Sinkhole%20Swallows%20Man/id-7beed10e6f5f4a3c9b1e9e7e8935599e

oscars red carpet jennifer lopez wardrobe malfunction hugo hugo nfl combine 84th annual academy awards beginners

Utahns climb to mount battle against cancer | The Salt Lake Tribune

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55931787-78/cancer-camp-englund-climb.html.csp

michael bay zsa zsa gabor illinois primary trayvon martin 911 call kiribati vernal equinox mr rogers

Unified Communications service provider Simple Signal general ...

Las Vegas, NV and Denver, CO (PRWEB) 26 February 2013

Simple signal, the leader in cloud Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC & C) service provider for businesses, has announced partnerships with services Techlink services nationwide installation and extensive network Sky add mobile features.

Sky Networks

general is a leading distributor of satellite services business-class communications over the Internet in North America. Based in Bend, Oregon, the company specializes in business services Internet class includes 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Fixed Wireless, broadband satellite and terrestrial broadband, such as T1 and Ethernet.

Techlink

Services is the leading supplier for the supply of telecommunications equipment nationwide, maintenance, project management training and other support services.

Techlink

Services is thrilled to have been chosen as a partner for services field Simple signal, said Carl Gittings, president of Techlink services. Use our national network of professional field service engineers to develop new systems and VoIP phone Polycom video conferencing for customers implement simple signal. We hope that our services and proven techniques for managing projects as part of the solution simple signal to offer their customers.

The union of these companies

together we can expand our market reach and offer our customers a turnkey solution for simple signal Executive Vice President, Michael Sterlin. This is not only a controlled delivery of services, but also allows a greater range because of the ability to install TechLinks across the country, he added Sterlin.

three companies will host a cocktail hour and networking event at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas. The party will be attending the conference co-hosted the 27th at the V Bar at the Venetian Hotel and Casino before the opening of the showroom 2-4 clock on Wednesday February.

typically hosts a cocktail hours annually at the Channel Partners Conference, said Dave Gilbert, CEO of Simple Signal. This year we look forward to Sky Broad and Techlink the event to make it more attractive and be able to share our new skills with our partners.

party and networking event is open to all conference participants.

About Simple Signal

Simple Signal is a hosted PBX and cloud-based Unified Communications Service Provider, delivers voice, video and mobile communications of thousands of satisfied customers worldwide. The company offers the possibilities of the most innovative and advanced mobile PBX / video industry and is one of the first, rather than through mobile video telephony PBX iPads, iPhones and Android devices that can be connected to a brand of videoconferencing equipment. For more information, visit http://www.simplesignal.com, visit the company?s blog http://www.simplesignal.com/blog or at facebook.com / simple signal and twitter.com / simple signal connect.

In general networks

Sky

Sky Network is a leading distributor of satellite services business-class communications over the Internet in North America. Broad Sky leverages its wide selection of vehicles for satellite broadband, Voice over IP (VoIP) and security technologies to enable public and private enterprises to reduce costs, increase security and enhance productivity. Companies of all sizes can easily and securely communicate between their headquarters, branch offices, stores, mobile workers and business partners anywhere. For more information about the company is available to be found under http://www.broadskynetworks.net.

About

Techlink

based in Asheville, North Carolina, is the new head Techlink services of private label wholesale professional services to carriers, service providers, system integrators, value added resellers and OEMs. TechLinks service portfolio includes 24?7 field and inside wiring and the installation of equipment and logistics services, such as device configuration, assembly, testing and shipping. Combined with an extensive network of facilities in North America and a personalized portal-based Web Techlink is able to provide its customers with an experience rapid installation quick and easy. For more information, see TechLinkSVC.net.

clear = ?all?

Source: http://www.calistogatech.com/unified-communications-service-provider-simple-signal-general-networks-joins-sky-techlink-services-to-expand-the-plant-and-mobile-features/

toure patti smith lottery winners lottery winners april fools day pranks ohio state vs kansas daniel von bargen

Obama campaign releases list of top fundraisers (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/288599305?client_source=feed&format=rss

Dorner Banana Joe marco rubio marco rubio state of the union fat tuesday ash wednesday

Swiss vote on bosses' pay could hit offshore firms

BERLIN (AP) ? Foreign executives who moved their company headquarters to Switzerland to get better tax deals for their firms may find themselves paying the price for it this weekend.

A plan to crack down on excessive corporate pay packages is predicted to pass at the ballot box Sunday.

If the "Rip-off Initiative" succeeds, shareholders will be given the right to hold a binding vote on a company's compensation of executives and directors. This includes both base salary and bonuses.

It would also ban "golden hellos" and "golden goodbyes" ? one-time bonuses that senior managers often receive when joining or leaving a company which can run into millions of dollars.

Finally, the proposal pushes greater corporate transparency, for example by requiring that all loans to executives be declared to shareholders.

Breaching the rules could lead to a fine of up to six annual salaries and up to three years in prison.

The measure targets all Swiss-based companies ? homegrown and offshore alike ? as long as their shares are publicly traded. International companies like oil rig owner Transocean Ltd.; fire and safety company Tyco International Ltd., and a bakery conglomerate Aryzta AG would be treated just like Swiss banks UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group, food and drinks giant Nestle SA or watchmaker Swatch Group.

In Europe, some other countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark already have similar legislation allowing shareholders at least a binding vote on executive compensation. In the U.S. and Britain, however, such "say-on-pay" votes are non-binding.

The proposal is the brainchild of independent lawmaker and businessman Thomas Minder. It has divided Swiss business groups, political parties and labor unions. But public opinion in Switzerland ? traditionally a haven for light-touch regulation and pro-business sentiment ? has been overwhelmingly in favor of the Rip-off Initiative.

A survey conducted mid-February by the respected polling group gfs.bern found 64 percent of voters in favor of the proposal, 27 percent against, 9 percent undecided, with anger at perceived corporate greed the driving force for voters backing the initiative.

As in the United States, public opinion toward executive pay is still shaped by the outrage at 'fat cat' bank bosses who received million-dollar bonuses during the 2008 financial crisis, when ordinary investors were seeing their dividends slashed and the value of their shares fall sharply.

The campaign for a "Yes" vote recently got an unexpected boost when it emerged that the outgoing board chairman of Swiss drug maker Novartis AG, Daniel Vasella, was due to receive 72 million Swiss francs ($77 million) over five years as part of a deal to prevent him from going to a rival firm.

When Vasella ? facing public outrage ? dropped the deal, attention shifted to Edward Breen, the American chairman of Tyco, for reportedly earning 30 million francs last year.

Opponents of the initiative warn that approving it would damage Switzerland's competitiveness in the global economy and endanger jobs.

So far, no companies have publicly declared they would leave Switzerland if the referendum passes, said Brigitta Moser-Harder, a shareholder activist and backer of the proposal.

But Tyco is keeping its options open. "We await the outcome of the vote in Switzerland on Sunday and we will assess the impact at that time," company spokesman Brett Ludwig said Friday.

The Swiss proposal comes on the heels of a European Union decision this week to cap bankers' bonuses at one year's base salary except in the case of overwhelming shareholder approval.

The idea that shareholders should have a strong say in their company's affairs chimes with Switzerland's tradition of direct democracy. Voters in the country who collect 100,000 signatures can force a binding referendum on any issue.

___

Frank Jordans can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/wirereporter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-02-Switzerland-Bosses'%20Pay/id-8c7a1a20220f423ea1b4970b942fc67a

branson missouri davy jones dead monkees last train to clarksville tim tebow taylor swift post grad arpaio

Bangladesh Rioting Over Court Decision Kills 42

DHAKA, Bangladesh ? Protesters clashed with police for a second day Friday as the death toll rose to at least 44 from violence triggered by a death sentence given to an Islamic party leader for crimes linked to Bangladesh's 1971 independence war, police said.

The latest fighting broke out in northern Gainbandha and Chapainawabganj districts, killing two people, police officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

At least 42 people were killed Thursday in rioting triggered by the death sentence given to Delwar Hossain Sayedee, a top leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamic party.

Jamaat, a key ally of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, campaigned against independence from Pakistan, but denies it was behind any atrocities.

In Dhaka, dozens of Jamaat supporters smashed several vehicles in central Malibagh district on Friday, witnesses said. Baton-wielding police dispersed the protesters.

Jamaat called for protests after Friday's Islamic prayers, and authorities responded by dispatching thousands of police and paramilitary troops in Dhaka.

Jamaat urged its supporters to converge on mosques to offer a special mass prayer for those killed during the violence Thursday. Private Ekattor TV reported that Jamaat supporters set up roadblocks in parts of the country, cutting off travel.

"We must stay alert. Jamaat and its allies are trying to plunge the nation into anarchy," Junior Law Minister Quamrul Islam said. "We will not allow them to destroy democracy."

Sayedee was sentenced to death for mass killings, rape and atrocities allegedly committed during the bloody nine-month independence war more than 40 years ago. A teacher at an Islamic seminary school at the time, he is the third defendant to be convicted of war crimes by a special tribunal set up in 2010.

His lawyer, Abdur Razzak, rejected the verdict as politically motivated. He said his client will appeal to the Supreme Court.

Passions have boiled over in recent weeks as tribunals have tried suspects on accusations they committed crimes during the independence war. Bangladesh says as many as 3 million people were killed and 200,000 women raped by Pakistani troops and local collaborators during the fighting.

Thousands of students turned a Dhaka intersection into a protest camp last month demanding the execution of one Jamaat leader given a life sentence after his conviction for mass killings.

Sayedee's supporters responded to his sentence by clashing with police, attacking government offices and uprooting railway tracks in parts of the country. Protesters also set fire to dozens of houses belonging to government supporters.

Police responded with bullets and tear gas.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party spokesman Mirza Fakhrul Islam accused security forces of deliberately killing the protesters. "It was another form of mass killings," he told reporters Friday. "We must stand up against such brutalities."

Jamaat has called for a nationwide general strike on Sunday and Monday to denounce the verdict.

At a news conference Friday, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, also called for a nationwide strike on Tuesday.

"This government has surpassed all records of suppressing the opposition. We must protest," she said.

Also on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/01/bangladesh-rioting-over-court-decision_n_2787087.html

conocophillips octomom dan savage new world trade center kellen moore ryan braun bryce harper

Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson Are Still a Thing

It's been a pretty long time since we got a status update about Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson's relationship. After presenting a unified front on the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2 red carpet, the royal couple of supernatural romance has barely been seen in public. While our inner skeptics took this as proof that Summit Entertainment had contractually told them to act as if they were hopelessly in love with each other for the last leg of The Twilight Saga's promotional run, a new report claims that the couple has actually used this private time to get their relationship back on track.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/kristen-stewart-robert-pattinsons-real-life-love-story/1-a-524580?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Akristen-stewart-robert-pattinsons-real-life-love-story-524580

how i met your mother Jordan Pruitt real housewives of new jersey Kanye West sex tape emmys emmys torrey smith

Karen Mok finds answers on 'Somewhere I Belong'

In this Jan. 31, 2013 photo, Hong Kong actress Karen Mok poses during an interview at a hotel in Hong Kong. Mok wrestles with what?s been a life-long question for her on the title of her first English album, ?Somewhere I Belong.? The Hong Kong pop diva has a half-Chinese, half-Welsh father and her mother is half-Chinese, one quarter-Iranian and a quarter-German. It?s easy to see why Mok cannot pinpoint one ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

In this Jan. 31, 2013 photo, Hong Kong actress Karen Mok poses during an interview at a hotel in Hong Kong. Mok wrestles with what?s been a life-long question for her on the title of her first English album, ?Somewhere I Belong.? The Hong Kong pop diva has a half-Chinese, half-Welsh father and her mother is half-Chinese, one quarter-Iranian and a quarter-German. It?s easy to see why Mok cannot pinpoint one ethnic identity. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

HONG KONG (AP) ? Karen Mok wrestles with what's been a life-long question for her on the title of her first English album, "Somewhere I Belong."

The Hong Kong pop diva has a half-Chinese, half-Welsh father and her mother is half-Chinese, one quarter-Iranian and a quarter-German. It's easy to see why Mok cannot pinpoint one ethnic identity.

So where exactly does she feel like she belongs? Mok explains it's not a geographic location, but rather her home is on stage, wherever she performs.

"It's about what I do, when I feel comfortable, that's when I'm doing what I love most, that's singing, that's when I'm performing on stage, and just singing my heart out, sharing my emotions," she said. "So that's where I belong."

After 16 successful Mandarin/Cantonese albums, Mok is venturing into English lyrics and a mix of music styles.

The album is her first attempt to cross from pop to jazz. She sings classic jazz tunes, as well as reinterpretations of Chinese and Western pop songs.

Insisting on a jazz album with an Asian sound, Mok made the album in China with Asian musicians and added a traditional Chinese instrument, the gu zeng string instrument, to the background of some tracks.

The 42-year-old songstress has been on the Asian entertainment scene for more than 20 years. She's starred in over 40 feature films and is the first Asian female artist to star in a Broadway show, when she was cast as Mimi in the 10th anniversary Asian tour of "Rent."

Mok is currently promoting "Somewhere I Belong" in Asia.

Later this year, she will appear in Keanu Reeves's directorial debut, "Man of Tai Chi."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-27-Hong%20Kong-Karen%20Mok/id-3e1634a22f684c25868089d841b67d7f

auld lang syne dick clark Happy new year fiscal cliff Pitbull Hannah Storm Psy

American, US Airways executives face gentle questioning in Congress

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Executives from American Airlines and US Airways Group Inc on Tuesday faced gentle questions from lawmakers about their planned merger, with some expressing concern about losing hubs in their districts.

US Airways Executive Vice President Stephen Johnson and American Airlines General Counsel Gary Kennedy defended the proposed $11 billion transaction by saying the companies had largely complementary networks, so little competition would be lost.

The Justice Department's Antitrust Division will review the deal to ensure it complies with antitrust law. Congress has no formal role in that process.

The executives faced few questions on what has been the primary concern about the merger - whether the deal would mean higher prices for the flying public.

Representative John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, though, said he was concerned a reduced number of airlines would leave them room to control the market.

And he asked if the deal was really needed to compete, as the companies said. "While American is still in bankruptcy, it is poised to successfully reorganize. Moreover, US Airways posted record profits. This suggests that both airlines are perfectly capable of surviving, even thriving, as stand-alone airlines," he said.

Representative Thomas Marino, a Pennsylvania Republican, asked Johnson and Kennedy if they planned to raise prices. US Airways' Johnson said they would not go up but that he did not know if they would go down.

Pressed on what would happen to prices in the first six months to a year after the deal closed, American's Kennedy said: "We don't know. The airline industry is a very competitive industry with very thin margins."

Several of the lawmakers used the hearing to either pitch a local area as an airline hub or defend their city's value as an existing hub.

US Airways has three hubs ? Charlotte, North Carolina, Philadelphia and Phoenix; American has five ? New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Miami.

Representative Steven Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, lamented the loss of Memphis as a hub after Delta merged with Northwest, noting a sharply pared flight schedule and job losses. Representative Keith Rothfus, a Republican from Pennsylvania, noted similar woes after US Airways cut Pittsburgh as a hub.

Representative Luis Garcia, a Florida Democrat, asked for reassurances that Miami would remain a hub, while Representative Blake Farenthold, a Texas Republican, noted the large number of hubs and asked: "What assurance can you give us that you're not going to shut one of those babies down?"

American's Kennedy replied, "We have a high level of confidence that the hubs that we have today will remain in place."

If approved, the deal would be the third major U.S. airline merger since 2008.

Kennedy said the transaction had been endorsed by labor unions and the boards of both companies and would give them badly needed financial stability.

Both executives cited the Delta deal to buy Northwest in 2008 and the United purchase of Continental in 2010, saying that consumers wanted to fly one airline to their destination, not several, and that this preference hampered smaller carriers.

The new company, to be called American Airlines, would become the largest U.S. air carrier, with 23 percent of available seats. That compares with Delta at 20 percent, United at 18 percent and Southwest at 18 percent, Johnson said in his written testimony.

Lawmakers from a Senate Judiciary subcommittee will hold a hearing on March 19. The witness list for that has not yet been released.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/american-us-airways-executives-face-gentle-questioning-congress-022418284--finance.html

Ryan Dempster Phelps NBC Olympics Live Olympic medal count Medal Count 2012 London 2012 Fencing olympics

Groupon's COO Hints At Layoffs Abroad - Business Insider

On Groupon's fourth-quarter earnings call, COO Kal Raman, who joined the daily-deals company last year to automate and improve operations, just dropped a big hint about layoffs.

Raman said that in Groupon's international markets, twice as many people "touch a deal" as in the United States. In other words, Groupon is far less efficient in those markets.

He also talked about how the company will get "sustainable operating leverage" over costs in the first half of 2013.

He didn't discuss headcount changes, but those are both pretty obvious clues about what Groupon has to do.

Groupon made a small number of layoffs last fall.

But it still has 10,000 employees?about 7,000 of which are stationed in international markets. Yet North America accounts for far more of its revenues?$375 million in the fourth quarter versus $263 million for international markets.

Groupon talks about bringing its North American "playbook" to international markets. That seems to require far fewer people per dollar of revenues.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/groupon-coo-international-layoffs-2013-2

ron burgundy millennial media nit championship transcendentalism bells palsy channel 5 news uc berkeley

The Engadget Interview: Qualcomm's Rob Chandhok on the Internet of things at MWC 2013

Few people understand the Internet of things better than Rob Chandhok -- president of Internet services at Qualcomm -- and we had the chance to sit down with him in Barcelona after our interview with Raj Talluri. We chatted about AllJoyn, a set of open source services which the company just revamped to incorporate a simple notification protocol -- an "SMS for things" -- small and durable enough to be useful for the life on an appliance, like a fridge or a washer. This provides a universal mechanism for notification and control, such as WiFi on-boarding, for example. He also mentioned AllJoyn audio, a streaming protocol that Qualcomm and DoubleTwist collaborated on. We then discussed various approaches and network topologies for building the Internet of things, such as IPv6-connected products with cloud-based logic vs. devices on local area networks that interact with the Internet via gateways (something that's prevalent in modern home automation). Check out the full interview video after the break.

Filed under: Misc, Networking

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/alKEXi6GWEs/

4th Of July 2012 Zach Parise Spain Vs Italy Euro 2012 Pepco erin andrews erin andrews tour de france

UNC sexual assault victim faces expulsion for talking

(UNC.edu/Flickr)

A University of North Carolina sexual assault victim has been charged with violating the school's honor code and creating a hostile environment for her attacker by speaking out about her ordeal.

Landen Gambill?a sophomore who last spring reported being raped by a student she says is still on the school's Chapel Hill campus?was notified of the charge last week in an email from the school's graduate attorney general. The email, published by Jezebel.com, reads in part:

You are being charged with the following Honor Code violation(s):

I.C.1.c. - Disruptive or intimidating behavior that willfully abuses, disparages, or otherwise interferes with another (other than on the basis of protected classifications identified and addressed in the University's Policy on Prohibited Harassment and Discrimination) so as to adversely affect their academic pursuits, opportunities for University employment, participation in University-sponsored extracurricular activities, or opportunities to benefit from other aspects of University Life.

The matter has been turned over to UNC's Honor Court. If found guilty, Gambill could be subject to a range of sanctions, including probation, suspension or even expulsion.

The charge came approximately a month after a group of current and former UNC students including Gambill and Melinda Manning?the school's former assistant dean of students?filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights alleging that school officials had pressured Manning into underreporting sex offense cases.

An avatar used by Gambill's supporters (Twitter)

"This type of gross injustice is unacceptable," Gambill wrote on her Facebook page. "It's important to me that we continue to advocate for the rights of survivors?not just because it affects me personally but because I desperately hope no one has to go [through] anything like this again."

Some of Gambill's supporters have also taken to Facebook and Twitter, changing their avatars to say "I Stand With Landen" and tweeting messages with the hashtag #standwithlanden.

Colby Bruno, managing attorney for the national Victim Rights Law Center, told InsideHigherEd.com the code violation is "outrageous.? For the university "to entertain this as a viable claim is a problem, because it's not,? Bruno said.

[Related: Fox News co-host apologizes for campus rape remark]

The university would not comment on Gambill's case, citing federal privacy laws. But at a board meeting last month, Leslie Strohm, UNC's vice chancellor and general counsel, told trustees "the allegations with respect to the underreporting of sexual assault are false, they are untrue, and they are just plain wrong."

In 2010, the Department of Justice estimated that 25 percent of college women "will be victims of rape or attempted rape before they graduate within a four-year college period," and that schools with more than 6,000 students "average one rape per day during the school year.?

According to New York University's "National Statistics about Sexual Violence on College Campuses," fewer than 5 percent of such cases are reported to law enforcement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/unc-sexual-assault-rape-victim-honor-code-142933849.html

2013 Oscar Nominations ABC Family social security social security paulina gretzky paulina gretzky david bowie

White House details budget fallout amid blame game

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House has detailed the potential fallout in each state from budget cuts set to take effect at week's end, while congressional Republicans and Democrats keep up the sniping over who's to blame.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said on "Fox News Sunday" that there was little hope to dodge the cuts "unless the Republicans are willing to compromise and do a balanced approach."

No so fast, Republicans interjected.

"I think the American people are tired of the blame game," Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Yet just a moment before, she was blaming President Barack Obama for putting the country on the brink of massive spending cuts that were initially designed to be so unacceptable that Congress would strike a grand bargain to avoid them.

The $85 billion budget mechanism could affect everything from commercial flights to classrooms to meat inspections. With Friday's deadline nearing, few in the nation's capital were optimistic that a realistic alternative could be found.

And, yes, those cuts will hurt.

They would slash from domestic and defense spending alike, leading to furloughs for hundreds of thousands of government workers and contractors.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the cuts would harm the readiness of U.S. fighting forces. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said travelers could see delayed flights. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said 70,000 fewer children from low-income families would have access to Head Start programs. And furloughed meat inspectors could leave plants idled.

White House officials pointed to Ohio ? home of House Speaker John Boehner ? as one state that would be hit hard: $25.1 million in education spending and another $22 million for students with disabilities. Some 2,500 children from low-income families would also be removed from Head Start programs.

Officials said their analysis showed Kentucky would lose $93,000 in federal funding for a domestic abuse program, meaning 400 fewer victims being served in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's home state. Georgia, meanwhile, would face a $286,000 budget cut to its children's health programs, meaning almost 4,200 fewer children would receive vaccinations against measles and whooping cough.

The White House compiled its state-by-state reports from federal agencies and its own budget office. The numbers reflect the impact of the cuts this year. Unless Congress acts by Friday, $85 billion in cuts are set to take effect from March to September.

As to whether states could move money around to cover shortfalls, the White House said that depends on state budget structures and the specific programs. The White House did not have a list of which states or programs might have flexibility.

Republican leaders were not impressed by the state-by-state reports.

"The White House needs to spend less time explaining to the press how bad the sequester will be and more time actually working to stop it," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner.

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: https://twitter.com/philip_elliott

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-25-US-Budget-Battle/id-9a7fa4d9807c403396f3f48847e2b151

ncaa final game reba mcentire acm awards the killing april fools global payments eli young band

Huge protest vote leaves Italy facing deadlock

ROME (Reuters) - A huge protest vote by Italians enraged by economic hardship and political corruption left the euro zone's third-largest economy facing a dangerous vacuum on Monday after an election in which no group won enough votes to form a government.

The result, in which anti-euro parties took more than 50 percent of the vote and a novice populist movement scored a stunning success, rocked global markets with fears of a new euro zone crisis.

Europe's common currency slumped against the dollar and yen and U.S. stocks suffered their biggest one-day drop since November.

With more than 99 percent of returns in from polling stations, results showed the center-left had taken a slim victory of around 130,000 votes in the lower house of parliament, enough to give it comfortable control thanks to a big winner's bonus.

But no party or likely coalition won enough seats to form a majority in the upper house, creating a deadlocked parliament - the opposite of the stable result that Italy desperately needs to tackle a deep recession, rising unemployment and a massive public debt.

The outcome fanned fears of a new European financial crisis, with prospects of a long period of paralysis and uncertainty in Italy.

"This is the worst possible outcome from the market's point of view ... It seems inevitable that there will be a new election," said Alessandro Tentori, Citigroup head of global rates.

The result was an extraordinary success for Genoese comic Beppe Grillo, leader of the populist 5-Star Movement, who toured the country in his first national election campaign hurling obscenity-laced insults against a discredited political class.

He was set to become the biggest single party in the lower house, riding a potent wave of anger against rampant waste and corruption by ageing political leaders.

His success fulfilled the predictions of some analysts that the most uncertain and closely watched election in years would herald a political revolution. "This is the end of a system, not a government," respected commentator Massimo Franco told Reuters before the vote.

Grillo polled more around a quarter of the vote in a meteoric rise from the 1.8 percent he garnered in his movement's first local political test in 2010.

The result was a humiliating slap in the face for colorless center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who threw away a 10-point opinion-poll lead less than two months ago against Silvio Berlusconi's center right.

He failed to turn up for a press conference after the result became clear. His deputy, Enrico Letta, as well as outgoing technocrat premier Mario Monti, said responsible forces must form a government and avoid another election. But the result raised a big question over whether that would be possible.

Billionaire media magnate Berlusconi, 76, who staged an extraordinary comeback from sex and corruption scandals since diving into the campaign in December, came in a close second in the Senate race, with an estimated 117 seats.

With almost all results in, the center-left was set to take 121 seats in the upper house, Grillo 54, and Monti languishing on only 22 after a campaign which never took off. The Senate majority is 158.

Berlusconi, a master politician and communicator, wooed voters with a blitz of television appearances and promises to refund Monti's hated housing tax despite accusations from opponents that this was an impossible vote buying trick.

Grillo has attacked all sides in the campaign and ruled out a formal alliance with any group although it was not immediately known how he would react to his stunning success or how his supporters would behave in parliament.

The next move to solve the crisis will be when head of state Giorgio Napolitano calls in political leaders to discuss how to form a government. But this is not expected until March 10 after the election result is formally confirmed and parliament convened.

Letta said the center-left, as biggest party in the lower house, had the right to be the first to try to form a government.

DANGER OF NEW ELECTION

Investors fear a return of the kind of debt crisis that took the euro zone close to disaster and brought the technocrat Monti to office, replacing Berlusconi, in 2011.

The results showed more than half of Italians had voted for the anti-euro platforms of Berlusconi and Grillo.

A center-left government either alone or ruling with Monti had been seen by investors as the best guarantee of measures to combat a deep recession and stagnant growth in Italy, which is pivotal to stability in the currency union.

But the failure of Monti to gain traction at the head of a centrist force, despite support from business leaders and foreign governments, and the weak showing by the center-left meant they do not have nearly enough Senators to do this.

The upper and lower houses have equal law-making power.

The benchmark spread between Italian 10-year bonds and their German equivalent widened from below 260 basis points to above 300 and the Italian share index lost all its previous gains after projections of the Senate result.

Monti helped save Italy from a debt crisis when Rome's borrowing costs were spiraling out of control in November 2011, but few Italians now see him as the savior of the country, which is reeling under its longest recession for 20 years.

Grillo's movement rode a wave of voter anger about both the pain of Monti's austerity program and a string of political and corporate scandals. It had particular appeal for a frustrated younger generation shut out of full-time jobs.

"I'm sick of the scandals and the stealing," said Paolo Gentile, a 49-year-old Rome lawyer who voted for 5-Star. "We need some young, new people in parliament, not the old parties that are totally discredited."

Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon, exploited anger against Monti's austerity program, accusing him of being a puppet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but in many areas Grillo was a bigger beneficiary of public discontent.

Italians wrung their hands at prospects of an inconclusive result that will mean more delays to essential reforms.

"It's a classic result. Typically Italian. It means the country is not united. It is an expression of a country that does not work. I knew this would happen," said 36-year-old Rome office worker Roberta Federica.

Another office worker, Elisabetta Carlotta, 46, shook her head in disbelief. "We can't go on like this," she said.

(Additional reporting by Stefano Bernabei, Steve Scherer, Gavin Jones, Naomi O'Leary and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome and Lisa Jucca, Silvia Aloisi in Milan; Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Peter Graff and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/huge-protest-vote-leaves-italy-facing-deadlock-005214049.html

st. patrick s day brandon lloyd brandon lloyd celtic thunder fabrice muamba collapse prometheus trailer patrice oneal

2 adults, 2 kids missing after abandoning sailboat

By Ronnie Cohen, Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO ? A sea search was under way late Sunday for two adults and two children missing after sending a distress call that their sailboat was in trouble south of San Francisco, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The 29-foot craft was about 65 miles off the coast of Pillar Point, at the northern end of Half Moon Bay, when a member of the crew radioed late Sunday afternoon that the vessel was taking on water and that its electronics were failing, the Coast Guard said.

About an hour later, the vessel operator reported that the four people aboard the boat, two of them children under the age of 8, were abandoning the craft, and the Coast Guard lost radio communications with them.

The Coast Guard said in a statement that the four people from the missing vessel, believed to be named the Charmblow, might have made it into a makeshift life raft, but that their fate was not known.

Coast Guard aircraft and sea vessels conducted several searches of the area without success, and additional Coast Guard resources were to join in the operation, the agency said in its statement.?

?

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/25/17083803-two-adults-two-children-missing-after-abandoning-sailboat-off-california-coast?lite

protect ip act jim caldwell internet blackout jessica capshaw seattle times seattle times walker recall

Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' Wins Writing Oscar

Controversial filmmaker thanks the 'Django' cast for bringing his characters to life.
By Josh Wigler

Quentin Tarantino at the 2013 Oscars
Photo: Christopher Polk/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702520/django-unchained-quentin-tarantino-oscar.jhtml

clippers lisa lampanelli lisa lampanelli bronx zoo memphis grizzlies celebrity apprentice grizzlies

Mars may still be habitable today, scientists say

NASA / ESA

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped this shot of Mars on Aug. 26, 2003, when the Red Planet was 34.7 million miles from Earth. The picture was taken just 11 hours before Mars made its closest approach to us in 60,000 years.

By Rod Pyle
Space.com

LOS ANGELES ? While Mars was likely a more hospitable place in its wetter, warmer past, the Red Planet may still be capable of supporting microbial life today, some scientists say.

Ongoing research in Mars-like places such as Antarctica and Chile's Atacama Desert shows that microbes can eke out a living in extremely cold and dry environments, several researchers stressed at "The Present-Day Habitability of Mars" conference held here at the University of California Los Angeles this month.

And not all parts of the Red Planet's surface may be arid currently ? at least not all the time. Evidence is building that liquid water might flow seasonally at some Martian sites, potentially providing a haven for life as we know it.

"We certainly can't rule out the possibility that it's habitable today," said Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, principal investigator for the HiRise camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. [The Search for Life on Mars: A Photo Timeline]

NASA / JPL-Caltech / Univ. of Arizona

This image combining orbital imagery with 3-D modeling shows flows that appear in spring and summer on a slope inside Mars' Newton crater.

Surface water on Mars?
McEwen discussed some intriguing observations by HiRise, which suggest that briny water may flow down steep Martian slopes during the local spring and summer.

Sixteen such sites have been identified to date, mostly on the slopes of the huge Valles Marineris canyon complex, McEwen said. The tracks seem to repeat seasonally as the syrupy fluids descend along weather-worn pathways.

While the brines may originate underground, Caltech's Edwin Kite noted, there is an increasing suspicion that a process known as deliquescence ? in which moisture present in the atmosphere is gathered by compounds on the ground, allowing it to become a liquid ? may be responsible.

Astrobiologists are keen to learn more about these brines, for not much is known about them at the moment.

"Briny water on Mars may or may not be habitable to microbes, either from Earth or from Mars," McEwen said.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS

NASA's Curiosity rover found evidence for an ancient, flowing stream on Mars at a few sites, including the rock outcrop pictured here, which the science team has named "Hottah" after Hottah Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories. This image mosaic was taken by Curiosity's 100-millimeter Mastcam telephoto lens.

Hardy microbes
Martian life may be able to survive even in places where water doesn't seep and flow, some scientists stressed.

For example, microbes here on Earth make a living in the Atacama and the dry valleys of Antarctica, both of which are extremely cold and arid, said Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

Antarctic sites also receive seasonally high ultraviolet radiation doses thanks to a hole in the ozone layer that tends to develop every August through November. This provides yet another parallel to Mars, whose thin atmosphere and lack of a protective magnetic field make the planet more radiation-bombarded than Earth.

In the Antarctic dry valleys, McKay said, organisms dwell within rocks, just deep enough to be shielded from the worst of the UV but close enough to the surface to receive the benefits of photosynthesis. Something similar might be happening on Mars today, if life ever evolved there.

McKay also discussed deliquescence, which in the Atacama allows salts to gather enough water to support the existence of life.

McKay offered some advice to NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, which landed in August to determine whether Mars could ever have supported microbial life: "Watch for salt along the road!"

A possible energy source
A number of presenters spent some time talking about perchlorate, a chlorine-containing chemical that NASA's Phoenix lander spotted near the Martian north pole in 2008.

McKay and other researchers think perchlorate may be the reason that NASA's twin Viking landers didn't detect any organic compounds ? the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it ? on the Red Planet back in the 1970s.

The Vikings vaporized Martian soil and looked for any organics boiling off. They found nothing but a few chlorine compounds that were attributed to contamination. But after Phoenix's perchlorate find, McKay and some other researchers performed an experiment.

They added perchlorate to some desert dirt from Chile known to contain organics. They heated the soil up and found the same chlorine compounds the Vikings did, suggesting that organics may have been present in the Vikings' samples but were broken down by the combination of heat and perchlorate.

While this backstory is interesting in its own right, perchlorate is also relevant to the possible habitability of present-day Mars.

"Perchlorate, it turns out, is a potent chemoautotrophic energy source," said Carol Stoker, also of NASA Ames, noting that the chemical could potentially sustain microbes in the dark Martian subsurface, where photosynthesis is not an option.

And some Earth microbes use perchlorate for food, so that could be happening on Mars as well, scientists have pointed out.

"The Present-Day Habitability of Mars" took place Feb. 4-5 and was co-hosted by the NASA Astrobiology institute and the UK Center for Astrobiology. Archived videos of conference presentations are available here.

Follow Space.com on Twitter?@Spacedotcom. We're also on?Facebook?and?Google+.

Copyright 2013 Space.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/25/17091020-mars-may-still-be-habitable-today-scientists-say?lite

Sam Champion Hulk Hogan sex tape orioles venezuela Sarah Jones chicago marathon barcelona vs real madrid

New England storm could pack less punch than feared

BOSTON (Reuters) - A weather system threatening New England with a third straight weekend of winter storms appeared to be weakening on Saturday night, promising less snowfall than expected.

Another storm was rolling out of the Rocky Mountains in the Western United States and could create blizzard conditions in Colorado over the weekend, according to a National Weather Service advisory.

Forecasters were also predicting blizzard conditions from Oklahoma through Missouri early next week when another snowstorm hits an area of the Northern United States from the Plains to the Great Lakes.

But by Saturday evening, the East Coast storm was moving more east and offshore than anticipated - potentially leaving areas like Boston with much less snowfall than originally expected, said Eleanor Vallier-Talbot of the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts.

"The further south you go, the less snow. Boston proper might not even see an inch of snow," she said. "The forecast models have been slowly but surely backing off this thing."

Much of the Midwest is already blanketed with snow, with more than a foot reported in Kansas on Thursday, forcing airports to cancel hundreds of flights and leaving motorists stranded on highways.

On Colorado's high plains, up to a foot of snow was possible overnight and throughout Sunday, with winds gusting up to 45 miles an hour, said Frank Cooper, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder.

A spokeswoman for the Denver International Airport said passengers could expect delays on Sunday as crews de-iced aircraft and cleared runways, and a Southwest Airlines spokeswoman, Olga Romero, said 46 flights in and out of Denver had been canceled until 11 a.m. on Sunday.

STATES OF EMERGENCY

The New England coast - from northern Connecticut to southern Maine - was expecting an extended mix of snow and rain, according to a National Weather Service advisory. Residents were taking it in stride.

"Look, it's winter, it's New England, it snows. Happens every time!" said Steve Scardino, a software sales executive and lifelong New Englander from Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

Farther north, near Portland, Maine, the heaviest snow was not expected until Sunday, with accumulations up to 8 inches farther inland.

The weather service said the storm may bring sleet and freezing rain to the Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states as well, with thunderstorms expected in the Southeast. It likely will dump rain from New York City to Philadelphia, it said. The storm barreled eastward after pummeling the Midwest during the week. In Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Sly James said about 60 buses were stuck on snowbound streets on Friday, and even tow trucks were immobilized.

After a storm last week dumped some 14 inches of snow on Wichita, Kansas, and 11 inches on Kansas City, residents from Texas to Nebraska were bracing for another one early next week, according to AccuWeather.com.

Forecasters predicted heavy snow developing on Sunday night and increasing to a rate of 2 inches an hour from northern Oklahoma through central Kansas.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback declared states of emergency because of possible power outages and generally hazardous travel.

Drought-stricken farmers in the Great Plains, one of the world's largest wheat-growing areas, welcomed the moisture, although experts said even more rain or snow would be needed to ensure healthy crops.

(Additional reporting by Kevin Murphy, Ian Simpson, Kevin Gray, Kewith Coffman, Steve Gorman and Chris Francescani; Editing by Peter Cooney and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/england-storm-could-pack-less-punch-feared-033242391.html

strikeforce tate vs rousey strawberry festival knicks the monkees ciaa love actually strikeforce