FILE - This is a Monday March 9, 2009 file of a then newly discovered portrait of William Shakespeare, presented by the Shakespeare Birthplace trust, is seen in central London, New research depicts William Shakespeare as a grain hoarder, moneylender and tax dodger who became a wealthy businessman during a time of famine.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
FILE - This is a Monday March 9, 2009 file of a then newly discovered portrait of William Shakespeare, presented by the Shakespeare Birthplace trust, is seen in central London, New research depicts William Shakespeare as a grain hoarder, moneylender and tax dodger who became a wealthy businessman during a time of famine.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
LONDON (AP) ? Hoarder, moneylender, tax dodger ? it's not how we usually think of William Shakespeare.
But we should, according to a group of academics who say the Bard was a ruthless businessman who grew wealthy dealing in grain during a time of famine.
Researchers from Aberystwyth University in Wales argue that we can't fully understand Shakespeare unless we study his often-overlooked business savvy.
"Shakespeare the grain-hoarder has been redacted from history so that Shakespeare the creative genius could be born," the researchers say in a paper due to be delivered at the Hay literary festival in Wales in May.
Jayne Archer, a lecturer in medieval and Renaissance literature at Aberystwyth, said that oversight is the product of "a willful ignorance on behalf of critics and scholars who I think ? perhaps through snobbery ? cannot countenance the idea of a creative genius also being motivated by self-interest."
Archer and her colleagues Howard Thomas and Richard Marggraf Turley combed through historical archives to uncover details of the playwright's parallel life as a grain merchant and property owner in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon whose practices sometimes brought him into conflict with the law.
"Over a 15-year period he purchased and stored grain, malt and barley for resale at inflated prices to his neighbors and local tradesmen," they wrote, adding that Shakespeare "pursued those who could not (or would not) pay him in full for these staples and used the profits to further his own money-lending activities."
He was pursued by the authorities for tax evasion, and in 1598 was prosecuted for hoarding grain during a time of shortage.
The charge sheet against Shakespeare was not entirely unknown, though it may come as shock to some literature lovers. But the authors argue that modern readers and scholars are out of touch with the harsh realities the writer and his contemporaries faced.
He lived and wrote in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, during a period known as the "Little Ice Age," when unusual cold and heavy rain caused poor harvests and food shortages.
"I think now we have a rather rarefied idea of writers and artists as people who are disconnected from the everyday concerns of their contemporaries," Archer said. "But for most writers for most of history, hunger has been a major concern ? and it has been as creatively energizing as any other force."
She argues that knowledge of the era's food insecurity can cast new light on Shakespeare's plays, including "Coriolanus," which is set in an ancient Rome wracked by famine. The food protests in the play can be seen to echo the real-life 1607 uprising of peasants in the English Midlands, where Shakespeare lived.
Shakespeare scholar Jonathan Bate told the Sunday Times newspaper that Archer and her colleagues had done valuable work, saying their research had "given new force to an old argument about the contemporaneity of the protests over grain-hoarding in 'Coriolanus.'"
Archer said famine also informs "King Lear," in which an aging monarch's unjust distribution of his land among his three daughters sparks war.
"In the play there is a very subtle depiction of how dividing up land also involves impacts on the distribution of food," Archer said.
Archer said the idea of Shakespeare as a hardheaded businessman may not fit with romantic notions of the sensitive artist, but we shouldn't judge him too harshly. Hoarding grain was his way of ensuring that his family and neighbors would not go hungry if a harvest failed.
"Remembering Shakespeare as a man of hunger makes him much more human, much more understandable, much more complex," she said.
"He would not have thought of himself first and foremost as a writer. Possibly as an actor ? but first and foremost as a good father, a good husband and a good citizen to the people of Stratford."
She said the playwright's funeral monument in Stratford's Holy Trinity Church reflected this. The original monument erected after his death in 1616 showed Shakespeare holding a sack of grain. In the 18th century, it was replaced with a more "writerly" memorial depicting Shakespeare with a tasseled cushion and a quill pen.
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Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
Two-and-half months without a win and meant Saturday?s inept performance cost Martin O?Neill his job. Just over one year after the former Leicester City, Celtic, and Aston Villa man replaced Steve Bruce at the Stadium of Light, the Northern Irishman is out, the club having relieved him of his responsibilities on Saturday night.
The announcement was made via the club?s website:
The club has parted company with manager Martin O?Neill.
Sunderland AFC has announced that it has parted company with manager Martin O?Neill this evening.
The club would like to place on record its thanks to Martin and wishes him well for the future.
An announcement will be made in the coming days regarding a successor.
The Black Cats hadn?t won a game since their 3-2 victory at Wigan on Jan. 19. In the eight matches that?ve followed, Sunderland collected five goals and three points while falling to 16th in the Premier League.
With 31 points, O?Neill team was only one point above the drop. Their 33 goals scored ranked 16th in the league, while only two teams (Queens Park Rangers, Reading) had won fewer games.
For a club with Sunderland?s resources, it?s an indefensible position to be in, especially consider O?Neill was given the power to reshape the team as he wished. The result was one of the most pedestrian brands of soccer in the league ? a squad that played like a caricature of pre-Premier League-era soccer. Conservative, cynical, and consistently disappointing, O?Neill?s product gave his employers no recourse.
His project wasn?t designed with long-term goals. The short-term results weren?t improving. The team wasn?t subject to any particular bad luck, and the manager wasn?t lacking for resources. There was no reason to keep O?Neill after a reputation-redefining spell.
With their Premier League survival at stake, Sunderland had to make a move. Even if they can?t find somebody with O?Neill?s CV, change for change?s sake will still be justified.
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis celebrated a trimmed back Easter Vigil service Saturday after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he began to put his mark on the Catholic Church.
Francis processed into a darkened and silent St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the service, in which the faithful recall the period between Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday.
One of the most dramatic moments of the Easter Vigil service that usually follows ? when the pope would share the light of his candle with others until the entire basilica twinkled ? was shortened this year as were some of the Old Testament readings.
The Vatican has said these provisions were in keeping with Francis' aim to not have his Masses go on too long. The Easter Vigil service under Benedict XVI would typically run nearly three hours. The new pope has made clear he prefers his Masses short and to the point: he was even caught checking his watch during his March 19 installation ceremony. Saturday was no different: The vigil ended just shy of 2.5 hours.
A trimmed-back vigil ? and one that started earlier than usual ? was just one of the novelties of this Holy Week under an Argentine Jesuit pope who just two weeks ago stunned the world by emerging from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica after his election with a simple "Brothers and sisters, good evening."
He riled traditionalists but endeared himself to women and liberals by washing and kissing the feet of two young girls during a Holy Thursday Mass at a juvenile detention center in Rome, when the rite usually calls for only men to participate. A day later, Francis reached out with friendship to "Muslim brothers and sisters" during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.
In his homily Saturday, Francis kept his message simple and tied to the liturgical readings, recalling how Jesus' disciples found his tomb empty a day after his death and were surprised and confused.
"Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness, and that is where death is," he said. "Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life!"
He later baptized four men, part of the Easter Vigil ritual.
Just a few hours after the vigil ends, Francis on Sunday will celebrate Easter Mass and deliver his "Urbi et Orbi" speech, Latin for "To the city and the world." Usually the pope also issues Easter greetings in dozens of languages.
In his two weeks as pope, Francis' discomfort with speaking in any language other than Italian has become apparent. He has even shied away from speaking Spanish when the occasion would call for it, though the Vatican has said he has done so to avoid discriminating against other languages by favoring his native tongue.
Italian is the lingua franca of the Vatican and Francis has emphasized his role as bishop of Rome over that of pope of the universal church, making his use of Italian logical.
It's not clear how Francis will handle the multilingual greetings Sunday.
Typically, after the busy Easter week ceremonies, the pope would go to the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo for a few days of vacation. Francis can't do that since the previous pope, Benedict XVI, is currently living there in retirement.
The Vatican has said Francis would stay put in the Vatican.
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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Messier 77 is a galaxy in the constellation of Cetus, some 45 million light-years away from us. Also known as NGC 1068, it is one of the most famous and well-studied galaxies. It is a real star among galaxies, with more papers written about it than many other galaxies put together!
Despite its current fame and striking swirling appearance, the galaxy has been a victim of mistaken identity a couple of times; when it was initially discovered in 1780, the distinction between gas clouds and galaxies was not known, causing finder Pierre Mechain to miss its true nature and label it as a nebula. It was misclassified again when it was subsequently listed in the Messier Catalogue as a star cluster.
Now, however, it is firmly categorised as a barred spiral galaxy, with loosely wound arms and a relatively small central bulge. It is the closest and brightest example of a particular class of galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies -- galaxies that are full of hot, highly ionised gas that glows brightly, emitting intense radiation.
Strong radiation like this is known to come from the heart of Messier 77 -- caused by a very active black hole that is around 15 million times the mass of our Sun. Material is dragged towards this black hole and circles around it, heating up and glowing strongly. This region of a galaxy alone, although comparatively small, can be tens of thousands of times brighter than a typical galaxy.
Although no competition for the intense centre, Messier 77's spiral arms are also very bright regions. Dotted along each arm are knotty red clumps -- a signal that new stars are forming. These baby stars shine strongly, ionising nearby gas which then glows a deep red colour as seen in the image above. The dust lanes stretching across this image appear as a rusty, brown-red colour due to a phenomenon known as reddening; the dust absorbs more blue light than red light, enhancing its apparent redness.
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ESA/Hubble Information Centre: http://www.spacetelescope.org
Thanks to ESA/Hubble Information Centre for this article.
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MARC travel awards announced for EB 2013Public release date: 29-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gail Pinder gpinder@faseb.org 301-634-7021 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Bethesda, MD FASEB MARC (Maximizing Access to Research Careers) Program has announced the travel award recipients for the Experimental Biology 2013 (EB 2013) meeting in Boston, MA from April 20-24, 2013. These awards are meant to promote the entry of students, post doctorates and scientists from underrepresented groups into the mainstream of the basic science community and to encourage the participation of young scientists at EB 2013.
MARC TRAVEL AWARDS ANNOUNCED FOR EB 2013
Awards are given to poster/platform presenters and faculty mentors paired with the students/trainees they mentor. This year MARC conferred 133 awards totaling $246,050.
The FASEB MARC Program is funded by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health. A primary goal of the MARC Program is to increase the number and competitiveness of underrepresented minorities engaged in biomedical and behavioral research.
EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY 2013 TRAVEL AWARD RECIPIENTS April 20-24, 2013 Boston, MA
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology/FASEB POSTER/ORAL PRESENTERS
Byron Aguilar, Florida A & M University [ASBMB member]
Elinette Albino-Rodriguez, Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences [ASBMB member]
Andres Betancourt-Torres, University of California San Diego, School of Pharmacy [ASBMB member]
Tyler Burton, Eastern Kentucky University [ASBMB member]
Lindsay Celada , Tennessee State University [ASBMB member]
Joseph Chaney, Purdue University [ASBMB member]
Jerfiz Constanzo, University of Texas, Southwestern, Dallas [ASBMB member]
Christopher Davies, Purdue University [ASBMB member]
Tania Escobar, University of California San Diego [ASBMB member]
Marimar Hernandez, University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences [ASBMB member]
Jared Lindenberger, University of Toledo [ASBMB member]
Oliver Loson, California Institute of Technology [ASBMB member]
Deneshia McIntosh, Meharry Medical College [ASBMB member]
Karissa Neira, University of Rhode Island [ASBMB member]
Winder Perez, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School [ASBMB member]
Elizabeth Ransey, Carnegie Mellon University [ASBMB member]
Kristeena Ray, Marshall University [ASBMB member]
Amilcar Rivera, University of Puerto Rico [ASBMB member]
Treniqka Walters, Meharry Medical College [ASBMB member]
American Society for Investigative Pathology/FASEB
MINORITY TRAINEES
Angel Byrd, Brown University [ASIP member]
Clara Castillejo, Mercer University [ASIP member]
Evan Delgado, University of Pittsburgh [ASIP member]
Courtney Johnson, Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University [ASIP member]
Lantz Mackey, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill [ASIP member]
Megan Meyer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [ASIP member]
Shantell Phillips, Texas Southern University [ASIP member]
Cindy Thomas-Charles, Stony Brook University [ASIP member]
American Society for Nutrition/FASEB
POSTER/ORAL PRESENTERS
Whitney Ajie, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [ASN member]
Christine Akoh, Cornell University [ASN member]
Michelle Cardel, University of Colorado Denver [ASN member]
Ailton Coleman, University of Connecticut [ASN member]
Janet Diaz Matinez, Florida International University [ASN member]
Tixieanna Dissmore, Kansas State University [ASN member]
Erica Ebanks, University of California, Davis [ASN member]
Christopher Ford, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [ASN member]
Marie Kainoa Fialkowski, University of Hawaii at Manoa [ASN Member]
Christine Hutchison, Iowa State University [ASN Member]
Jennifer Jones, Iowa State University [ASN Member]
Monique LeMieux, Texas Tech University [ASN Member]
Shakira Nelson, Pennsylvania State University [ASN Member]
Sarah Owusu, Pennsylvania State University [ASN Member]
Giselle Pereira Pignotti, Arizona State University [ASN Member]
Nancy Rivera, University of California, Davis [ASN Member]
Elkhansa Sidahmed, University of Michigan [ASN Member]
Fred Tabung, University of South Carolina [ASN Member]
Breanne Wright, Purdue University [ASN Member]
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics/FASEB
POSTER/ORAL PRESENTERS
Ekue Adamah-Biassi, University of Buffalo, SUNY [ASPET member]
Garrett Ainslie, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [ASPET member]
Andrea Boyd Tressler, Case Western Reserve University [ASPET member]
Alex Brewer-III, Baylor College of Medicine [ASPET member]
Brittany Butler, University of Florida [ASPET member]
Lincoln Edwards, Loma Linda University [ASPET member]
Antentor Hinton, Baylor College of Medicine [ASPET member]
Erin Jackson, University of Florida [ASPET member]
Olubukola Kalejaiye, Howard University [ASPET member]
Armando Larraga, University of California, Irvine [ASPET member]
LeeCole Legette, Oregon State University [ASPET member]
Kellianne Richardson, Virginia Commonwealth University [ASPET member]
Katherine Serafine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio [ASPET member]
Edwin Squirewell, University of Iowa [ASPET member]
MaKendra Umstead, Emory University [ASPET member]
Camille Webster, Florida A & M University [ASPET member]
Shannan White, Howard University [ASPET member]
POSTER/ORAL PRESENTERS (FASEB MARC PROGRAM)
Sherry Adesina, Emory University
Mustafa Al-Rubaiee, Howard University
David Anguiano, Texas State University San Marcos [ASBMB member]
Adrian Chavez, Arizona State University [ASN member]
Gina Danielson, University of Minnesota
Kwame Doh, Howard University College of Medicine [APS member]
Sarah Deemer, Colorado State University [ACSM member]
Madeline Espineira, University of Arizona [APS member]
Allyson Fukuyama, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine [APS member]
Esther Haugabrooks, Iowa State University [ASN member]
Angela Hilmers, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health [ASN member]
L'Aurelle Johnson, University of Minnesota [ASPET member]
Marquita Johnson, Florida A & M University
Luis Martinez, University of Houston, [ASPET member]
Carlos Monroy, University of Iowa [ASPET member]
Yasmeen Nkrumah-Elie, Oregon State University [ASN member]
Ahmed Nuhar, Medgar Evers College
Christian Ojo, Medgar Evers College
Anita Okpobirl, University of Texas at Austin [ASPET member]
Rachael Opoku, Medgar Evers College
Oluwakemi Phillips, University of South Florida
Roberto Puente, Texas State University-San Marcos
Jenaye Robinson, Texas Southern University [ASPET member]
Maria Serrano, Baylor College of Dentistry [AAA member]
Temitope Shoneye, Medgar Evers College
Daniel Spearman, University of Florida
Michelle Vekasy, Texas State University-San Marcos
Eric Vargas, Pennsylvania State College of Medicine
Robin Walker, Howard University
Clintoria Williams, Emory University [APS member]
Patricka Williams, Medgar Evers College
Bryan Williams, Wake Forest School of Medicine [APS member]
FACULTY/MENTOR & STUDENTS/MENTEES (FASEB MARC PROGRAM)
Dr. Caroline Appleyard, Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences [APS member]
Inevy Seguinot-Tarafa, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Ponce Campus
Dr. Anser Azim, Chicago State University [APS member]
Angela Hill, Chicago State University
Dr. Jerry Collins, Alabama A & M University [APS & BMES member]
DeShawn White, Alabama A & M University [BMES member]
Dr. Margaret Carroll, Medgar Evers College [ASBMB]
Fiana Bess, Medgar Evers College
Patrick Akande, Medgar Evers College
Dr. Oswald D'Auvergne, Southern University
John Douglas, Southern University
Russell Ledet, Southern University
Dr. Nadeem Fazal, Chicago State University [APS member]
Julia Sears, Chicago State University
Yaritza Lopez, Chicago State University
Dr. Georges Haddad, Howard University [APS member]
Nsini Umoh, Howard University [APS member]
Miara Jeffress, Howard University [APS member]
Dr. Thomas Landefeld, California State University Dominguez Hills [ENDO]
Cassandra Morrow, California State University Dominguez Hills
Dr. Corina Maeder, Texas State University-San Marcos [ASBMB member]
Jamie Correa, Texas State University-San Marcos
Bianca Rodriguez, Texas State University-San Marcos
Dr. Mohammad Newaz, Chicago State University [APS member]
Katarzyma Marek, Chicago State University
Alicia Nesbary, Chicago State University
Dr. Sunny Ohia, Texas Southern University [ASPET member]
Remmington Belford, Texas Southern University
Stanley Azubike, Texas Southern University
Dr. Catherine Opere, Creighton University [ASPET member]
Mitongu Kabasele, Texas Southern University
Dr. Adebayo Oyekan, Texas Southern University [APS member]
Ngozi Agu, Texas Southern University
Oluchi Emelogu, Texas Southern University
Dr. Maria Tejada-Simon, University of Houston [APS member]
Stacy Nguy, University of Houston
Tri Le, University of Houston
Dr. Momoh Yakubu, Texas Southern University [ASPET member]
Marissa Johnson, Texas Southern University
###
FASEB is composed of 26 societies with more than 100,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. Our mission is to advance health and welfare by promoting progress and education in biological and biomedical sciences through service to our member societies and collaborative advocacy.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
MARC travel awards announced for EB 2013Public release date: 29-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gail Pinder gpinder@faseb.org 301-634-7021 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Bethesda, MD FASEB MARC (Maximizing Access to Research Careers) Program has announced the travel award recipients for the Experimental Biology 2013 (EB 2013) meeting in Boston, MA from April 20-24, 2013. These awards are meant to promote the entry of students, post doctorates and scientists from underrepresented groups into the mainstream of the basic science community and to encourage the participation of young scientists at EB 2013.
MARC TRAVEL AWARDS ANNOUNCED FOR EB 2013
Awards are given to poster/platform presenters and faculty mentors paired with the students/trainees they mentor. This year MARC conferred 133 awards totaling $246,050.
The FASEB MARC Program is funded by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health. A primary goal of the MARC Program is to increase the number and competitiveness of underrepresented minorities engaged in biomedical and behavioral research.
EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY 2013 TRAVEL AWARD RECIPIENTS April 20-24, 2013 Boston, MA
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology/FASEB POSTER/ORAL PRESENTERS
Byron Aguilar, Florida A & M University [ASBMB member]
Elinette Albino-Rodriguez, Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences [ASBMB member]
Andres Betancourt-Torres, University of California San Diego, School of Pharmacy [ASBMB member]
Tyler Burton, Eastern Kentucky University [ASBMB member]
Lindsay Celada , Tennessee State University [ASBMB member]
Joseph Chaney, Purdue University [ASBMB member]
Jerfiz Constanzo, University of Texas, Southwestern, Dallas [ASBMB member]
Christopher Davies, Purdue University [ASBMB member]
Tania Escobar, University of California San Diego [ASBMB member]
Marimar Hernandez, University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences [ASBMB member]
Jared Lindenberger, University of Toledo [ASBMB member]
Oliver Loson, California Institute of Technology [ASBMB member]
Deneshia McIntosh, Meharry Medical College [ASBMB member]
Karissa Neira, University of Rhode Island [ASBMB member]
Winder Perez, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School [ASBMB member]
Elizabeth Ransey, Carnegie Mellon University [ASBMB member]
Kristeena Ray, Marshall University [ASBMB member]
Amilcar Rivera, University of Puerto Rico [ASBMB member]
Treniqka Walters, Meharry Medical College [ASBMB member]
American Society for Investigative Pathology/FASEB
MINORITY TRAINEES
Angel Byrd, Brown University [ASIP member]
Clara Castillejo, Mercer University [ASIP member]
Evan Delgado, University of Pittsburgh [ASIP member]
Courtney Johnson, Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University [ASIP member]
Lantz Mackey, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill [ASIP member]
Megan Meyer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [ASIP member]
Shantell Phillips, Texas Southern University [ASIP member]
Cindy Thomas-Charles, Stony Brook University [ASIP member]
American Society for Nutrition/FASEB
POSTER/ORAL PRESENTERS
Whitney Ajie, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [ASN member]
Christine Akoh, Cornell University [ASN member]
Michelle Cardel, University of Colorado Denver [ASN member]
Ailton Coleman, University of Connecticut [ASN member]
Janet Diaz Matinez, Florida International University [ASN member]
Tixieanna Dissmore, Kansas State University [ASN member]
Erica Ebanks, University of California, Davis [ASN member]
Christopher Ford, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [ASN member]
Marie Kainoa Fialkowski, University of Hawaii at Manoa [ASN Member]
Christine Hutchison, Iowa State University [ASN Member]
Jennifer Jones, Iowa State University [ASN Member]
Monique LeMieux, Texas Tech University [ASN Member]
Shakira Nelson, Pennsylvania State University [ASN Member]
Sarah Owusu, Pennsylvania State University [ASN Member]
Giselle Pereira Pignotti, Arizona State University [ASN Member]
Nancy Rivera, University of California, Davis [ASN Member]
Elkhansa Sidahmed, University of Michigan [ASN Member]
Fred Tabung, University of South Carolina [ASN Member]
Breanne Wright, Purdue University [ASN Member]
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics/FASEB
POSTER/ORAL PRESENTERS
Ekue Adamah-Biassi, University of Buffalo, SUNY [ASPET member]
Garrett Ainslie, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [ASPET member]
Andrea Boyd Tressler, Case Western Reserve University [ASPET member]
Alex Brewer-III, Baylor College of Medicine [ASPET member]
Brittany Butler, University of Florida [ASPET member]
Lincoln Edwards, Loma Linda University [ASPET member]
Antentor Hinton, Baylor College of Medicine [ASPET member]
Erin Jackson, University of Florida [ASPET member]
Olubukola Kalejaiye, Howard University [ASPET member]
Armando Larraga, University of California, Irvine [ASPET member]
LeeCole Legette, Oregon State University [ASPET member]
Kellianne Richardson, Virginia Commonwealth University [ASPET member]
Katherine Serafine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio [ASPET member]
Edwin Squirewell, University of Iowa [ASPET member]
MaKendra Umstead, Emory University [ASPET member]
Camille Webster, Florida A & M University [ASPET member]
Shannan White, Howard University [ASPET member]
POSTER/ORAL PRESENTERS (FASEB MARC PROGRAM)
Sherry Adesina, Emory University
Mustafa Al-Rubaiee, Howard University
David Anguiano, Texas State University San Marcos [ASBMB member]
Adrian Chavez, Arizona State University [ASN member]
Gina Danielson, University of Minnesota
Kwame Doh, Howard University College of Medicine [APS member]
Sarah Deemer, Colorado State University [ACSM member]
Madeline Espineira, University of Arizona [APS member]
Allyson Fukuyama, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine [APS member]
Esther Haugabrooks, Iowa State University [ASN member]
Angela Hilmers, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health [ASN member]
L'Aurelle Johnson, University of Minnesota [ASPET member]
Marquita Johnson, Florida A & M University
Luis Martinez, University of Houston, [ASPET member]
Carlos Monroy, University of Iowa [ASPET member]
Yasmeen Nkrumah-Elie, Oregon State University [ASN member]
Ahmed Nuhar, Medgar Evers College
Christian Ojo, Medgar Evers College
Anita Okpobirl, University of Texas at Austin [ASPET member]
Rachael Opoku, Medgar Evers College
Oluwakemi Phillips, University of South Florida
Roberto Puente, Texas State University-San Marcos
Jenaye Robinson, Texas Southern University [ASPET member]
Maria Serrano, Baylor College of Dentistry [AAA member]
Temitope Shoneye, Medgar Evers College
Daniel Spearman, University of Florida
Michelle Vekasy, Texas State University-San Marcos
Eric Vargas, Pennsylvania State College of Medicine
Robin Walker, Howard University
Clintoria Williams, Emory University [APS member]
Patricka Williams, Medgar Evers College
Bryan Williams, Wake Forest School of Medicine [APS member]
FACULTY/MENTOR & STUDENTS/MENTEES (FASEB MARC PROGRAM)
Dr. Caroline Appleyard, Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences [APS member]
Inevy Seguinot-Tarafa, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Ponce Campus
Dr. Anser Azim, Chicago State University [APS member]
Angela Hill, Chicago State University
Dr. Jerry Collins, Alabama A & M University [APS & BMES member]
DeShawn White, Alabama A & M University [BMES member]
Dr. Margaret Carroll, Medgar Evers College [ASBMB]
Fiana Bess, Medgar Evers College
Patrick Akande, Medgar Evers College
Dr. Oswald D'Auvergne, Southern University
John Douglas, Southern University
Russell Ledet, Southern University
Dr. Nadeem Fazal, Chicago State University [APS member]
Julia Sears, Chicago State University
Yaritza Lopez, Chicago State University
Dr. Georges Haddad, Howard University [APS member]
Nsini Umoh, Howard University [APS member]
Miara Jeffress, Howard University [APS member]
Dr. Thomas Landefeld, California State University Dominguez Hills [ENDO]
Cassandra Morrow, California State University Dominguez Hills
Dr. Corina Maeder, Texas State University-San Marcos [ASBMB member]
Jamie Correa, Texas State University-San Marcos
Bianca Rodriguez, Texas State University-San Marcos
Dr. Mohammad Newaz, Chicago State University [APS member]
Katarzyma Marek, Chicago State University
Alicia Nesbary, Chicago State University
Dr. Sunny Ohia, Texas Southern University [ASPET member]
Remmington Belford, Texas Southern University
Stanley Azubike, Texas Southern University
Dr. Catherine Opere, Creighton University [ASPET member]
Mitongu Kabasele, Texas Southern University
Dr. Adebayo Oyekan, Texas Southern University [APS member]
Ngozi Agu, Texas Southern University
Oluchi Emelogu, Texas Southern University
Dr. Maria Tejada-Simon, University of Houston [APS member]
Stacy Nguy, University of Houston
Tri Le, University of Houston
Dr. Momoh Yakubu, Texas Southern University [ASPET member]
Marissa Johnson, Texas Southern University
###
FASEB is composed of 26 societies with more than 100,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. Our mission is to advance health and welfare by promoting progress and education in biological and biomedical sciences through service to our member societies and collaborative advocacy.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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An effective vaccine against HIV-1 remains elusive, but one promising strategy focuses on designer antibodies that have much broader potency than most normal, exquisitely specific antibodies. These broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) can handle the high mutation rate of HIV particles that makes normal, very specific antibodies useless within a short space of time. A study published by Cell Press on March 28th in the journalCell reveals surprising mutations in these antibodies that are crucial for strong protection against HIV-1. The findings could guide efforts to design better HIV-1 vaccines.
"This study demonstrates a fundamental aspect of antibodies' function and development that was not fully appreciated before," says study author Ron Diskin of the Weizmann Institute of Science. "We show that it will be important to pay more attention to previously ignored regions of antibodies to design effective vaccines."
Scientists have recently found that some HIV-1-infected individuals produce bNAbs naturally several years after infection. Animal studies have shown that these antibodies are very effective at protecting against and controlling HIV-1 infection, but what makes them so effective was unknown. Antibodies are Y-shaped molecules, and most variation is found at the two tips of the Y, called the complementarity determining regions, where antibodies make direct contact with the virus. On the other hand, relatively few mutations have been found in framework regions (the bottom half of the Y), which maintain the structural integrity of the antibody. Until now, the role of framework region mutations had been unclear.
The study, led by Michel Nussenzweig of Rockefeller University and Pamela Bjorkman of the California Institute of Technology, has revealed that HIV-1-fighting bNAbs accumulate mutations in framework regions, in contrast to most antibodies. Surprisingly, these mutations strengthened the antibodies' antiviral activity while conserving key structural features. The researchers suggest that several years are required for infected individuals to produce these potent antibodies because it takes time for the right combination of various mutations to accumulate.
"Our study shows that the immune system has a variety of ways to make effective antibodies and that mutations in antibody framework regions, which are usually not changed when antibodies mutate to increase their efficacy, are required for anti-HIV antibodies," Bjorkman says. "This has clear implications for efforts to raise effective antibodies for the next generation of HIV vaccines."
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Cell Press: http://www.cellpress.com
Thanks to Cell Press for this article.
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The whole syncing thing proving too much effort for your music listening habits? Fear not -- two new streaming speakers from Sony are embracing the world of near field communication to take some of the trouble out of playback. The speakers come in two flavors -- the CMT-BT60B does Bluetooth streaming and the similarly alphanumeric CMT-BT80WB will stream via Bluetooth, WiFi or AirPlay. Both speakers feature aux inputs and USB for charging (and playback, in the case of the BT80WB). As for, you know, making sound, both feature Magnetic Fluid Speakers and S-Master amplifiers. They'll be hitting parts of Europe in May and the UK in June.
Mar. 28, 2013 ? When Charles Babbage prototyped the first computing machine in the 19th century, he imagined using mechanical gears and latches to control information. ENIAC, the first modern computer developed in the 1940s, used vacuum tubes and electricity. Today, computers use transistors made from highly engineered semiconducting materials to carry out their logical operations.
And now a team of Stanford University bioengineers has taken computing beyond mechanics and electronics into the living realm of biology. In a paper to be published March 28 in Science, the team details a biological transistor made from genetic material -- DNA and RNA -- in place of gears or electrons. The team calls its biological transistor the "transcriptor."
"Transcriptors are the key component behind amplifying genetic logic -- akin to the transistor and electronics," said Jerome Bonnet, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in bioengineering and the paper's lead author.
The creation of the transcriptor allows engineers to compute inside living cells to record, for instance, when cells have been exposed to certain external stimuli or environmental factors, or even to turn on and off cell reproduction as needed.
"Biological computers can be used to study and reprogram living systems, monitor environments and improve cellular therapeutics," said Drew Endy, PhD, assistant professor of bioengineering and the paper's senior author.
The biological computer
In electronics, a transistor controls the flow of electrons along a circuit. Similarly, in biologics, a transcriptor controls the flow of a specific protein, RNA polymerase, as it travels along a strand of DNA.
"We have repurposed a group of natural proteins, called integrases, to realize digital control over the flow of RNA polymerase along DNA, which in turn allowed us to engineer amplifying genetic logic," said Endy.
Using transcriptors, the team has created what are known in electrical engineering as logic gates that can derive true-false answers to virtually any biochemical question that might be posed within a cell.
They refer to their transcriptor-based logic gates as "Boolean Integrase Logic," or "BIL gates" for short.
Transcriptor-based gates alone do not constitute a computer, but they are the third and final component of a biological computer that could operate within individual living cells.
Despite their outward differences, all modern computers, from ENIAC to Apple, share three basic functions: storing, transmitting and performing logical operations on information.
Last year, Endy and his team made news in delivering the other two core components of a fully functional genetic computer. The first was a type of rewritable digital data storage within DNA. They also developed a mechanism for transmitting genetic information from cell to cell, a sort of biological Internet.
It all adds up to creating a computer inside a living cell.
Boole's gold
Digital logic is often referred to as "Boolean logic," after George Boole, the mathematician who proposed the system in 1854. Today, Boolean logic typically takes the form of 1s and 0s within a computer. Answer true, gate open; answer false, gate closed. Open. Closed. On. Off. 1. 0. It's that basic. But it turns out that with just these simple tools and ways of thinking you can accomplish quite a lot.
"AND" and "OR" are just two of the most basic Boolean logic gates. An "AND" gate, for instance, is "true" when both of its inputs are true -- when "a" and "b" are true. An "OR" gate, on the other hand, is true when either or both of its inputs are true.
In a biological setting, the possibilities for logic are as limitless as in electronics, Bonnet explained. "You could test whether a given cell had been exposed to any number of external stimuli -- the presence of glucose and caffeine, for instance. BIL gates would allow you to make that determination and to store that information so you could easily identify those which had been exposed and which had not," he said.
By the same token, you could tell the cell to start or stop reproducing if certain factors were present. And, by coupling BIL gates with the team's biological Internet, it is possible to communicate genetic information from cell to cell to orchestrate the behavior of a group of cells.
"The potential applications are limited only by the imagination of the researcher," said co-author Monica Ortiz, a PhD candidate in bioengineering who demonstrated autonomous cell-to-cell communication of DNA encoding various BIL gates.
Building a transcriptor
To create transcriptors and logic gates, the team used carefully calibrated combinations of enzymes -- the integrases mentioned earlier -- that control the flow of RNA polymerase along strands of DNA. If this were electronics, DNA is the wire and RNA polymerase is the electron.
"The choice of enzymes is important," Bonnet said. "We have been careful to select enzymes that function in bacteria, fungi, plants and animals, so that bio-computers can be engineered within a variety of organisms."
On the technical side, the transcriptor achieves a key similarity between the biological transistor and its semiconducting cousin: signal amplification.
With transcriptors, a very small change in the expression of an integrase can create a very large change in the expression of any two other genes.
To understand the importance of amplification, consider that the transistor was first conceived as a way to replace expensive, inefficient and unreliable vacuum tubes in the amplification of telephone signals for transcontinental phone calls. Electrical signals traveling along wires get weaker the farther they travel, but if you put an amplifier every so often along the way, you can relay the signal across a great distance. The same would hold in biological systems as signals get transmitted among a group of cells.
"It is a concept similar to transistor radios," said Pakpoom Subsoontorn, a PhD candidate in bioengineering and co-author of the study who developed theoretical models to predict the behavior of BIL gates. "Relatively weak radio waves traveling through the air can get amplified into sound."
Public-domain biotechnology
To bring the age of the biological computer to a much speedier reality, Endy and his team have contributed all of BIL gates to the public domain so that others can immediately harness and improve upon the tools.
"Most of biotechnology has not yet been imagined, let alone made true. By freely sharing important basic tools everyone can work better together," Bonnet said.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center.
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Journal Reference:
Jerome Bonnet, Peter Yin, Monica E. Ortiz, Pakpoom Subsoontorn, and Drew Endy. Amplifying Genetic Logic Gates. Science, 28 March 2013 DOI: 10.1126/science.1232758
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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Important new research from UMass Medical School demonstrates how exosomes shuttle proteins from neurons to muscle cells where they take part in critical signaling mechanisms, an exciting discovery that means these tiny vehicles could one day be loaded with therapeutic agents, such as RNA interference (RNAi), and directly target disease-carrying cells. The study, published this month in the journalNeuron, is the first evidence that exosomes can transfer membrane proteins that play an important role in cell-to-cell signaling in the nervous system.
"There has been a long-held belief that certain cellular materials, such as integral membrane proteins, are unable to pass from one cell to another, essentially trapping them in the cell where they are made," said Vivian Budnik, PhD, professor of neurobiology and lead author of the study. "What we've shown in this study is that these cellular materials can actually move between different cell types by riding in the membrane of exosomes.
"What is so exciting about this discovery is that these exosomes can deliver materials from one cell, over a distance, to a very specific and different cell," said Dr. Budnik. "Once inside the recipient cell, the materials contained in the exosome can influence or perform processes in the new cell. This raises the enticing possibility that exosomes can be packed with gene therapies, such as RNAi, and delivered to diseased cells where they could have a therapeutic effect for people."
Discovered in the mid-80s, exosomes have only recently attracted the attention of scientists at large, according to Budnik. Exosomes are small vesicles containing cellular materials such as microRNA, messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and proteins, packaged inside larger, membrane-bound bodies called multivesicular bodies (MVBs) inside cells. When MVBs containing exosomes fuse with the cell plasma membrane, they release these exosome vesicles into the extracellular space. Once outside the cell, exosomes can then travel to other cells, where they are taken up. The recipient cells can then use the materials contained within exosomes, influencing cellular function and allowing the recipient cell to carry out certain processes that it might not be able to complete otherwise.
Budnik and colleagues made this startling discovery while investigating how the synapses at the end of neurons and nearby muscle cells communicate in the developing Drosophila fruit fly to form the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). The NMJ is essential for transmitting electrical signals between neurons and muscles, allowing the organism to move and control important physiological processes. Alterations of the NMJ can lead to devastating diseases, such as muscular dystrophy and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Understanding how the NMJ develops and is maintained is important for human health.
As organisms develop, the synapse and muscle cell need to grow in concert. If one or the other grows too quickly or not quickly enough, it could have dire consequences for the ability of the organism to move and survive. To coordinate development, signals are sent from the neuron to the muscle cell (anterograde signals) and from the muscle cell to the neuron (retrograde signals). However, the identity of these signals and how their release is coordinated is poorly understood.
Normally, the vesicle protein Synaptotagmin 4 (Syt4) is found in both the synapse and the muscle cells. Previous knockout experiments eliminating the Syt4 protein from Drosophila have resulted in stunted NMJs. Suspecting that Syt4 played an important role in retrograde signaling at the developing NMJ, Budnik and colleagues used knockdown experiments to decrease Syt4 protein levels in either the neurons or the muscle cells. Surprisingly, when RNAi was used to knockdown Syt4 in the neurons alone, Syt4 protein was eliminated in both neurons and muscles. The opposite was not the case. When Syt4 was knocked down in muscle cells only, there was no change in the levels of Syt4 in either muscles or neurons.
To confirm this, Budnik and colleagues inserted a Syt4 gene into the neurons of a Drosophila mutant completely lacking the normal protein. This restored Syt4 in both neurons and muscle cells. Further experiments suggested that the only source of Syt4 is the neuron. These observations were consistent with the model that Syt4 is actually transferred from neurons to muscle cells. As a transmembrane protein, however, Syt4 was thought to be unable to move from one cell to another through traditional avenues. How the Syt4 protein was moving from neuron to muscle cell was unclear.
Knowing that exosomes had been observed to carry transmembrane proteins in other systems and from their own work on the Drosophila NMJ, Budnik and colleagues began testing to see if exosomes could be the vehicle responsible for carrying Syt4 form neurons to muscles. "We had previously observed that it was possible to transfer transmembrane proteins across the NMJ through exosomes, a process also observed in the immune system," said Budnik. "We suspect this was how Syt4 was making its way from the neuron to the muscle."
When exosomes were purified from cultured cells containing Syt4, they found that exosomes indeed contained Syt4. In addition, when these purified exosomes were applied to cultured muscle cells from fly embryos, these cells were able to take up the purified Syt4 exosomes. Taken together, these findings indicate that Syt4 plays a critical role in the signaling process between synapse and muscle cell that allows for coordinated development of the NMJ. While Syt4 is required to release a retrograde signal from muscle to neuron, a component of this retrograde signal must be supplied from the neuron to the muscle. This establishes a positive feedback loop that ensures coordinated growth of the NMJ. Equally important is the finding that this feedback mechanism is enabled by the use of exosomes, which can shuttle transmembrane proteins across cells.
"While this discovery greatly enhances our understanding of how the neural muscular junction develops and works, it also has tremendous promise as a potential vector for targeted genetic therapies," said Budnik. "More work needs to be done, but this study significantly supports the possibility that exosomes could be loaded with therapeutic agents and delivered to specific cells in patients."
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University of Massachusetts Medical School: http://www.umassmed.edu
Thanks to University of Massachusetts Medical School for this article.
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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- A proposed overhaul of Alaska's oil tax structure would be a vast improvement over the existing system, but it doesn't go far enough, industry representatives told the House Resources Committee on Tuesday.
Dan Seckers, tax counsel for Exxon Mobil Corp., said SB21 would make Alaska more competitive ? a point that's been underscored by consultants to the Legislature and Gov. Sean Parnell's administration ? and it should lead to more investment. But he said he "would love" for Alaska to become even more attractive.
The committee is working on SB21, which is aimed at making Alaska more competitive for investment dollars and increasing oil production. The North Slope's major players ? BP PLC, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil ? were asked to testify Tuesday evening. The committee planned to hear from smaller producers and explorers Wednesday.
Committee co-chair Eric Feige has said he hopes to advance a bill sometime next week. The bill would then go to the House Finance Committee. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn April 14.
Alaska's existing oil tax structure, passed in 2007, features a 25 percent base tax rate and a progressive surcharge that's triggered when a company's production tax value hits $30 a barrel. The idea when it passed was that the state would help companies on the front end with things like tax credits and share profits on the back end when oil flowed and prices were high.
Companies have said the surcharge ? credited with helping fatten state coffers in recent years ? eats too deeply into their profits when prices are high, discouraging new investment. Alaska's revenue commissioner has said he's seen no evidence that tax credits to oil companies ? which could top $1 billion next year ? have led to increased production.
SB21, which narrowly passed the Senate last week, would eliminate the surcharge and revamp the suite of tax credits with a goal of focusing incentives on production. The latest version of the bill would raise the base tax rate to 35 percent, provide a $5 credit for each taxable barrel of oil produced and provide a 20 percent tax break, known as a gross revenue exclusion, for oil from new fields and new oil from legacy fields, long the mainstays of Alaska's oil industry.
Seckers and representatives of ConocoPhillips said the bill is an improvement over what is now in place. But they said the tax rate under SB21 is too high and they wanted greater clarity on what oil would qualify for the gross revenue exclusion. Seckers also questioned whether a $5-per-barrel allowance was enough to balance other provisions of the bill, like the base tax rate.
Bob Heinrich, vice president of finance for ConocoPhillips Alaska, said the proposal would represent a tax increase at lower oil prices. Given Alaska's high-cost environment, he said the bill doesn't go far enough toward improving Alaska's competitiveness.
The 94-year-old former South African president has been admitted with a recurrence of the lung infection he suffered in December. NBC's Rohit Kochroo reports.
By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News
Nelson Mandela suffered a recurrence of his lung infection and was taken to a hospital late Wednesday.
In a statement, the current South African President Jacob Zuma said, ?We appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our beloved Madiba [a nickname for Mandela] and his family and to keep them in their thoughts.?
?We have full confidence in the medical team and know that they will do everything possible to ensure recovery,? he added. ?The Presidency appeals once again for understanding and privacy in order to allow space to the doctors to do their work.?
Mandela, 94, was taken to a hospital just before midnight local time (6 p.m. ET).
The statement said that Mandela had the ?best possible expert in medical treatment and comfort.?
Mandela has a history of lung problems dating back to when he contracted tuberculosis as a political prisoner in the notorious Robben Island jail under the apartheid regime.?
The South African president?s office issued another statement later Thursday saying that Mandela was ?responding positively to the treatment.?
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View images of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who went from anti-apartheid activist to prisoner to South Africa's first black president.
?He remains under treatment and observation in hospital,? it added.
'Be strong' Jackson Mthembu, a spokesman for the African National Congress, said in a statement that the party once led by Mandela ?calls on all South Africans and the world to keep Nelson Mandela in their prayers.?
?We are confident that the treatment will be successful as he is in professional and competent hands,? he said.
?During these trying times we wish President Mandela well and for his family to be strong," he added.
Mandela spent nearly three weeks in a hospital in December for treatment of a lung infection and gallstone surgery.
This was the longest time he had been hospitalized since being released from captivity as a political prisoner in 1990.
He was also hospitalized earlier this month for what was described as a "scheduled medical checkup."
Mandela was president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first president of the country to be elected following the fall of the apartheid system.
NBC News' Matthew DeLuca and Rohit Kachroo, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related:
Secrecy over Mandela's health fuels concern for South Africa icon
'Who is my Mandela?' South Africans consider icon's place in a changing world
This story was originally published on Thu Mar 28, 2013 3:26 AM EDT
AMSTERDAM (AP) ? D.E. Master Blenders 1753, the Dutch coffee company that was spun off by Sara Lee Corp. last year, said Thursday it is in talks to be acquired by a group led by private German investment company Joh. A. Benckiser GmbH for around 7.6 billion euros ($9.7 billion).
Benckiser, which has already accumulated 15 percent in Master Blenders, also owns stakes in Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. and Caribou Coffee, among others.
Master Blenders said in a statement the potential buyers are looking at a price of 12.75 euros per share, which represents a 33 percent premium to Wednesday's closing price.
But a formal offer hasn't yet been made and Master Blenders underlined there is no guarantee one will be, describing the talks as being at an "early stage."
The company's shares soared 26 percent to 12.14 euros in Amsterdam trading Thursday.
The offer comes after what has been a poor start for Master Blenders as an independent company.
Shortly after being spun off from Sara Lee in June, Master Blenders restated earnings because of accounting irregularities at its Brazil operations. Since then it has reported worse than expected sales and in February it cut earnings estimates for 2013.
Chief Executive Michiel Herkemij departed in December, citing a difference of opinion with the board, leaving Chairman Jan Bennink to run the company.
Master Blenders may also face a lawsuit from investors who say they were misled in the company's initial public offering prospectus, though the company says its accounting problems only came to light after the listing.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? It's the land where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, where the space shuttle fleet rolled off the assembly line and where the first private manned rocketship climbed to space.
Capitalizing on Southern California's aerospace fortunes, two rival groups want to add another laurel: drone test range.
They face crowded competition. In search of an economic boost, more than half the country is looking toward the sky ? expected to be buzzing in the near future with pilotless aircraft.
Before that can become reality, the Federal Aviation Administration last month put out a call to test fly drones at half a dozen to-be-determined sites before they can share the same space as commercial jetliners, small aircraft and helicopters.
Fifty teams from 37 states answered, vying to win bragging rights as a hub for unmanned aerial vehicles.
The military has long flown drones overseas to support troops, spy on enemies and fire missiles. There's a recent clamor to fly them domestically to track the health of crops, fight wildfires in remote terrain, conduct search and rescue after a disaster and perform other chores considered too "dirty, dull or dangerous" for pilots. The expanding use for drones comes amid concerns of a "Big Brother" society.
The untapped civilian market ? estimated to be worth billions ? has created a face-off, with states perfecting their pitch ? ample restricted airspace, industry connections, academic partners ? not unlike what you might read in a tourism brochure.
"It's the chance to get in on the ground floor of what may be the next big business," said Peter Singer, a robotics expert at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. "The states competing hope it might make them the robotics equivalent of Detroit for automobiles in the 20th century or Silicon Valley for computers."
Winners will play key roles in helping the government seamlessly transition drones, which are controlled remotely by joystick, into the civilian airspace without crashing into other planes or injuring bystanders.
Supporters of a Southern California test site point to an existing drone presence. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., based in the San Diego suburbs, makes the Predator that has circled over Iraq and Afghanistan. Just outside of downtown Los Angeles, AeroVironment introduced the world's first hummingbird spy plane and is developing other tiny drones inspired by biology.
"From start to finish, you can do your UAV work here," said John Rose of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which co-sponsored a three-day drone conference this week in the Los Angeles area focused on civilian uses.
There are two competing California bids from airport agencies in Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles and Kern County in the Mojave Desert.
"If we are successful, it would be an economic stimulus for the region moving forward," said Bill Buratto of the Ventura County Economic Development Association, which is working with county airport officials on a plan to have drones fly from Point Mugu, the site of numerous Navy training exercises.
Their in-state competitor envisions test flights out of the high desert skies about 150 miles north of Los Angeles and touts its remoteness and access to military and civilian facilities currently doing drone research.
"You kind of want to be in the middle of nowhere. You don't want to risk being close to a populated area," said Eileen Shibley, who leads the effort for the Indian Wells Valley Airport District.
Other states have taken a different tact, putting on a united front or partnering with a neighboring state to pool resources.
Ohio ? the home state of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, Mercury astronaut John Glenn and the Wright brothers ? teamed with Indiana to increase both states' odds. Like California, there is budding drone activity in Ohio, most notably the Air Force's sensor research at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Joseph Zeis of the Dayton Development Coalition doesn't see this as a competition.
"When the test site selection is over, we're all collaborating on a single goal" to safely merge drones into the national airspace, said Zeis, who's spearheading the Ohio-Indiana venture.
The FAA is expected to choose the six drone test sites by year's end.
The specter of thousands of unmanned eyes swarming the sky in the coming years has unnerved privacy advocates, who fear ordinary Americans would be overzealously monitored by law enforcement, considered one of the top users of the technology in the future. As part of the selection process, test site hopefuls must publish a privacy policy and follow existing privacy laws.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International does not have a favorite. But the voice for the domestic drone industry acknowledged that states hosting test sites would benefit economically.
In a report published earlier this month, the group said states with an already solid aerospace industry are predicted to gain drone business. But other factors, including location of test sites, will also drive job creation.
That's why California needs to act fast, said state assemblyman Jeff Gorell, who has been pushing for a test site in his district.
"This is a great opportunity for California," he said. "We might be able to recapture some of the golden era of aerospace."
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Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia
Planning to travel takes a lot of work. So many things can go wrong, and go right when you are taking a trip. Sometimes it can even be a bit overwhelming to try to keep everything straight. Fortuantely, you have this article which will give you some advice as to how to travel without getting gray hairs.
Travelling by plane can be a way to greatly reduce traveling time, while increasing time that can be spent enjoying the trip. Also, you are free to entertain yourself while the pilots and other staff take care of everything. You can sit back and enjoy the flight, while traveling in comfort.
Go to the online visitors bureau of the city you are planning to visit during your trip. They will have lots of information on where to stay, eat, and what kind of entertainment options you will have, as well as special events that may be going on while you will be in town.
Be aware of the opportunity to get travel credit and continue to watch the price of your flight even after you make your reservation. Many major airlines will give you a credit for future travel if the price of your flight goes down after you have purchased your ticket. You could save money on a future vacation by being aware of the price fluctuations.
When checking into a hotel, always request that extra towels be delivered to your room. In case of fire, wet towels placed at the bottom of a door will serve as a barrier to smoke entering the room. Requesting extra towels will also ensure that you have a ready supply for your own personal use if needed.
If you are traveling overseas and looking for good local food, pay attention to where the locals eat. The presence of a group of cabs, for example, is easy to spot and shows you where the low-cost but good food can be found. The location is also guaranteed to be filled to the brim with local color.
When taking a flight, a lot of passengers enjoy having an aisle seat so that they can easily get up and walk around or go to the bathroom. Once you find your aisle seat and put away your carry-on bag, locate the nearest bathroom and go, if possible, before the plane departs from the gate. Sometimes, there is a long delay before the aircraft can take off and at this time, you won't be able to move about the aircraft.
Be sure to confirm your reservation at the establishment you will be lodging in. Hotels are well within their right to give your room to someone else if you do not confirm your reservation. A quick phone call can ensure that you don't find yourself without a place to stay, when you arrive.
When you visit one of America's National Parks, you should go to the Visitor's Center upon arriving. You will find the newest information concerning the park. Park rangers will share with you any safety hazards, weather concerns, wildlife notices or closures. Visiting the Visitor's Center will assure you have a more enjoyable visit.
If you want to go on a family trip, especially during the summer, don't wait until the last minute to purchase your airline tickets. If you do, you could find that your whole group may not be able to sit together or that there will be no seats left on a plane. Purchasing your airline tickets early, will also save you some money that you can use when you reach your destination.
Read several reliable travel forums. These forums have come a long way in recent years and can be quite informative about the potential destinations on your list. Take some time to read many of the posts on the site to find out what to expect when you get to your travel destination.
Jogging at a rest stop, while on a road trip, is a fast way to wake up, relieve stiffness from your limbs and prepare yourself for the next leg of your journey. Instead of simply walking around and maybe going to the bathroom, include a five minute jog at the rest stop. Simply getting out of the car may not sufficiently revive a weary driver, which may leave him or her still sleepy when on return. A quick run can also give children an opportunity to release some pent-up energy.
To find exciting things to do in a place you have never been to, stop at a local hotel. Most hotels have information racks full of brochures of area attractions. If you can not find something this way, ask if there is a visitor center in the area.
When travelling, make sure to stay safe and prepared by obtaining travel insurance. At the very least, you will want health insurance in the event that you are hospitalized or need to be evacuated back to your home country. It is also a good idea to have insurance related to any adventure activities that you may be participating in.
Before you rent a car, check with your auto insurance company to find out if you can save money on the rental by waiving the collision damage waiver. Usually your insurance company covers damage to rental cars, so it is not necessary to pay the rental car for this coverage as well, but check with your auto insurer to be sure.
It is normal for people to feel a little nervous when traveling to somewhere new. The best thing to do is take deep breaths and just try to relax. Whatever is going to happen will happen, no matter how much you worry or stress about it. Enjoy the journey, and have fun with it.
Travel can be a gray-hair inducing event if not undertaken with some precaution. It can also be quite a fun and rewarding experience. If you are patient and organized you can most certainly have the trip of a lifetime. This article has hopefully given some insight as to being organized and patient.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. and some of its allies are considering plans to increase anti-piracy operations along Africa's west coast, spurred on by concerns that money from the attacks is funding a Nigerian-based insurgent group that is linked to one of al-Qaida's most dangerous affiliates.
Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has escalated over the past year, and senior U.S. defense and counter-piracy officials say allied leaders are weighing whether beefed up enforcement efforts that worked against pirates off the Somalia coast might also be needed in the waters off Nigeria.
There has been growing coordination between Nigeria-based Boko Haram and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which was linked to the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last September that killed four Americans, including the ambassador. Military leaders say AQIM has become the wealthiest al-Qaida offshoot and an increasing terrorist threat to the region.
It has long been difficult to track whether there are terrorist ties to piracy in the waters off Africa. But officials are worried that even if Boko Haram insurgents aren't directly involved in the attacks off Nigeria and Cameroon, they may be reaping some of the profits and using the money for ongoing terrorist training or weapons.
No final decisions have been made on how counter-piracy operations could be increased in that region, and budget restrictions could hamper that effort, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about emerging discussions between senior U.S. military commanders and other international leaders.
But officials say the solution could include continued work and counter-piracy training with African nations. The U.S. participated last month in a maritime exercise with European and African partners in the Gulf of Guinea.
"Maritime partnerships and maritime security and safety are increasingly important in the Gulf of Guinea region to combat a variety of challenges including maritime crime, illicit trafficking and piracy," said Gen. Carter Ham, head of U.S. Africa Command.
In recent weeks, Ham and other U.S. military commanders have bluntly warned Congress that the terrorist threat from northern Africa has become far more worrisome.
"If the threat that is present in Africa is left unaddressed, it will over time grow to an increasingly dangerous and imminent threat to U.S. interests, and certainly could develop into a threat that threatens us in other places," Ham told Congress earlier this month. "We've already seen from some places in Africa, individuals that ? from Nigeria, for example ? attempt to enter our country with explosives."
A Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was sentenced to life in prison last year for trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner with a bomb sewn into his underwear on Christmas 2009. The bomb failed.
Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts and kidnappings. Last year, London-based Lloyd's Market Association ? an umbrella group of insurers ? listed oil-rich Nigeria, neighboring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia.
Pirates have been more willing to use violence in their robberies, at times targeting the crew for ransom. And experts suggest that many of the pirates come from Nigeria, where corrupt law enforcement allows criminality to thrive and there's a bustling black market for stolen crude oil.
Typically, foreign companies operating in Nigeria's Niger Delta pay cash ransoms to free their employees after negotiating down kidnappers' demands. Foreign hostages can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece.
Lately, however, the attacks, which had traditionally focused on the Nigerian coast, have spread, hitting ships carrying fuel from an Ivory Coast port. In January pirates made off with about $5 million in cargo from a fuel-laden tanker near the port of Abidjan, and two weeks later a French-owned fuel tanker was hijacked in the same area.
Just days after that, three sailors were kidnapped off a U.K.-flagged ship off the coast of Nigeria, and late in February six foreigners were taken off an energy company vessel in that same region.
The International Maritime Bureau has raised alarms about the Ivory Coast attacks, calling the first January incident a "potential game changer" in piracy in the region because was the farthest ever from Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea. And U.S. Navy Capt. Dave Rollo, who directed the recent naval exercise in the Gulf of Guinea that involved as many as 15 nations, said piracy in that area is not just a regional crime issue, it's "a global problem."
Meanwhile, over the past year, piracy off Somalia's coast has plummeted, as the U.S.-led enforcement effort beefed up patrols and encouraged increased security measures on ships transiting the region. After repeated urgings from military commanders and other officials, shipping companies increased the use of armed guards and took steps to better avoid and deter pirates.
According to data from the combined maritime force, nearly 50 ships were taken by pirates in 2010 in the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin and there were another close to 200 unsuccessful attempts. Last year, just seven ships were pirated there along with 36 failed attacks.
Even as defense officials warn about the growing threat, they acknowledge that increasing counter-piracy operations around the Gulf of Guinea presents a number of challenges.
In recent weeks, the U.S. Navy has had to postpone or cancel a number of ship deployments because of budget cuts, including a decision not to send the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman to the Persian Gulf. The U.S. has maintained two carrier groups in the Gulf for much of the past two years, as tensions with Iran have escalated.
U.S. Africa Command has no ships of its own, so any U.S. vessels needed for operations would have to come from other places, such as Europe or America.
And defense officials also note that it may be difficult to build as much international interest in the Gulf of Guinea attacks as those in the more heavily traveled shipping lanes on the northeastern side of the continent.
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Public release date: 29-Mar-2013
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