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Dr. Latisha Smith, an expert in decompression sicknesses afflicting deep sea divers, has cleared criminal background checks throughout her medical career. Yet someone searching the Web for the Washington state physician might well come across an Internet ad suggesting she may have an arrest record.
"Latisha Smith, arrested?" reads one such advertisement.
Another says: "Latisha Smith Truth... Check Latisha Smith's Arrests."
Instantcheckmate.com, which labels itself the "Internet's leading authority on background checks," placed both ads. A statistical analysis of the company's advertising has found it has disproportionately used ad copy including the word "arrested" for black-identifying names, even when a person has no arrest record.
Latanya Sweeney is a Harvard University professor of government with a doctorate in computer science. After learning that her own name had popped up in an "arrested?" ad when a colleague was searching for one of her academic publications, she ran more than 120,000 searches for names primarily given to either black or white children, testing ads delivered for 2,400 real names 50 times each. (The author of this story is a Harvard University fellow collaborating with Sweeney on a book about the business of personal data.)
Ebony Jefferson, for example, often turns up an instantcheckmate.com ad reading: "Ebony Jefferson, arrested?" but an ad triggered by a search for Emily Jefferson would read: "We found Emily Jefferson." Searches for randomly chosen black-identifying names such as Deshawn Williams, Latisha Smith or Latanya Smith often produced the "arrested?" headline or ad text with the word "arrest," whereas other less ethnic-sounding first names matched with the same surnames typically did not.
"As an African-American, I'm used to profiling like that," said Smith. "I think it's horrendous that they get away with it."
Instantcheckmate.com declined to comment. The company's founder and managing partner, Kristian Kibak, did not respond to repeated emails and phone calls over a period of several months, and other employees referred calls to management. Company officials also declined to comment when visited twice at their call center in Las Vegas. Former employees said they had signed nondisclosure agreements that barred them from speaking openly about Instant Checkmate.
Instantcheckmate.com is one of many data brokers that use and sell data for a variety of purposes. The field is attracting growing attention, both from government and consumers concerned about possible abuse. Rapid advances in technology have opened up all sorts of opportunities for commercialization of data.
Anyone can set up shop and sell arrest records as long as they stay clear of U.S. legal limitations such as using the information to determine creditworthiness, insurance or job suitability.
Companies that compete with instantcheckmate.com include intelius.com and mylife.com. An examination of Internet advertising starting last March as well as Sweeney's study did not find any rival companies advertising background searches on individual names along racial lines.
Who can be trusted?? In its own marketing, Instantcheckmate.com sums up its mission like this: "Parents will no longer need to wonder about whether their neighbors, friends, home day care providers, a former spouse's new love interest or preschool providers can be trusted to care for their children responsibly."
According to preliminary findings of Sweeney's research, searches of names assigned primarily to black babies, such as Tyrone, Darnell, Ebony and Latisha, generated "arrest" in the instantcheckmate.com ad copy between 75 percent and 96 percent of the time. Names assigned at birth primarily to whites, such as Geoffrey, Brett, Kristen and Anne, led to more neutral copy, with the word "arrest" appearing between zero and 9 percent of the time.
A few names fell outside of these patterns: Brad, a name predominantly given to white babies, produced an ad with the word "arrest" 62 percent to 65 percent of the time. Sweeney found that ads appear regardless of whether the name has an arrest record attached to it.
Blacks make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for 28 percent of the arrests listed on the FBI's most recent annual crime statistics.
Internet advertising based on millions of name pairs has only existed in recent years, so targeting ads along racial lines raises new legal questions. Experts say the Federal Trade Commission, which this year assessed an $800,000 penalty against personal data site Spokeo.com for different reasons (related to the use of data for job-vetting purposes), would be the institution best placed to review Instant Checkmate's practices.
The FTC enforces regulations against unfair or deceptive business practices. A deceptive claim that would be more likely to get people to purchase a product than they would otherwise would be a typical reason the FTC might act against a company, said one FTC official who did not want to be identified. For example, authorities could take action against a firm that makes misleading claims suggesting a product such as records exist when they do not.
"It's disturbing," Julie Brill, an FTC commissioner, said of Instant Checkmate's advertising. "I don't know if it's illegal ... It's something that we'd need to study to see if any enforcement action is needed."
Instant Checkmate's Kibak, who is in his late 20s, works out of a San Diego office near the Pacific Ocean. The son of a California biology professor, he did not respond to repeated phone calls and emails seeking comment about his business.
"We would consider the answers to most of your questions trade secrets and therefore would not be comfortable disclosing that information," Joey Rocco, Kibak's partner according to the firm's Nevada state registration, said in an email.
Instant Checkmate LLC maintains its official corporate headquarters at an address in an industrial zone across the highway from the Las Vegas strip. At the back of a long parking lot, the company shares a warehouse building with an auto repair shop. At one end, a large roll-up garage-style door opens to the company's call center. Workers face a gray cinder-block wall, their backs to the entrance. Staff declined to answer questions.
Data firms proliferate? Sweeney's analysis found that some instantcheckmate.com ads hint at arrest records when the firm's database has no record of any arrest for that name, as is the case with her own name. In other cases, such as that of Latisha Smith, the company does have arrest records for some people by that name, although not for the doctor of hypobaric medicine in Washington state.
Laura Beatty, an Internet Marketing Inc expert in helping companies achieve prominent placement in Web searches, said instantcheckmate.com appeared to choose its ads based on combinations of thousands of different first and last names and then segment them based on the first names.
"There does look like there is some definite profiling going on here," she said. "In the searches that I looked at, it seemed like the more Midwestern- and WASP-sounding the name was, the less likely it was to have either any advertisement at all or to have something that was more geared around the arrest or criminal background."
Internet firms selling criminal records and personal data to the public have proliferated in recent years, as low-cost computing enables even modest operations to maintain large databases on millions of Americans. Such sites sell access to users for a one-time fee???$29.95 in the case of instantcheckmate.com???or via monthly subscription plans.
Instant Checkmate, first registered in Nevada in 2010, said in a recent press release posted online that the firm had attracted more than 570,000 customers since its start and counted more than 200,000 subscribers.
According to alexa.com, an Amazon.Com Inc site analyzing website traffic, instantcheckmate.com has ranged roughly between the 500th and 600th most visited U.S. site in recent weeks, making it an increasingly major player in this area.
The company is able to target its ads on an individual name basis through a program called Google AdWords. Instantcheckmate.com and others companies like it use Google AdWords to bid to place small text advertisements alongside search results on major websites triggered by the names in their data base. Such ads typically cost a company far less than a dollar, sometimes just a few pennies, each time they're clicked.
Google says it does not control what names appear in AdWords. "Advertisers select all of their keywords, and ads are triggered when someone searches for that name. We don't have any role in the advertiser's selection of unique proper names," said a Google spokesman.
Some in Congress have raised concerns about developments in the use of personal data. In October, Sen. John Rockefeller IV, a Democrat from West Virginia and chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, opened a probe into leading data brokers. "Collecting, storing and selling information about Americans raises all types of questions that require careful scrutiny," he said.
(Adam Tanner is a Reuters correspondent currently on a 2012-13 fellowship at Harvard University?s Department of Government.)
(Editing by Claudia Parsons and Prudence Crowther)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at:?http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp?
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CAIRO (AP) ? Prominent Egyptian democracy advocate Mohammed ElBaradei warned Saturday of increasing turmoil that could potentially lead to the military stepping in unless the Islamist president rescinds his new, near absolute powers, as the country's long fragmented opposition sought to unite and rally new protests.
Egypt's liberal and secular forces ? long divided, weakened and uncertain amid the rise of Islamist parties to power ? are seeking to rally themselves in response to the decrees issued this week by President Mohammed Morsi. The president granted himself sweeping powers to "protect the revolution" and made himself immune to judicial oversight.
The judiciary, which was the main target of Morsi's edicts, pushed back Saturday. The country's highest body of judges, the Supreme Judical Council, called his decrees an "unprecedented assault." Courts in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria announced a work suspension until the decrees are lifted.
Outside the high court building in Cairo, several hundred demonstrators rallied against Morsi, chanting, "Leave! Leave!" echoing the slogan used against former leader Hosni Mubarak in last year's uprising that ousted him. Police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of young men who were shooting flares outside the court.
The edicts issued Wednesday have galvanized anger brewing against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, from which he hails, ever since he took office in June as Egypt's first freely elected president. Critics accuse the Brotherhood ? which has dominated elections the past year ? and other Islamists of monopolizing power and doing little to bring real reform or address Egypt's mounting economic and security woes.
Oppositon groups have called for new nationwide rallies Tuesday ? and the Muslim Brotherhood has called for rallies supporting Morsi the same day, setting the stage for new violence.
Morsi supporters counter that the edicts were necessary to prevent the courts, which already dissolved the elected lower house of parliament, from further holding up moves to stability by disbanding the assembly writing the new constitution, as judges were considering doing. Like parliament was, the assembly is dominated by Islamists. Morsi accuses Mubarak loyalists in the judiciary of seeking to thwart the revolution's goals and barred the judiciary from disbanding the constitutional assembly or parliament's upper house.
In an interview with a handful of journalists, including The Associated Press, Nobel Peace laureate ElBaradei raised alarm over the impact of Morsi's rulings, saying he had become "a new pharaoh."
"There is a good deal of anger, chaos, confusion. Violence is spreading to many places and state authority is starting to erode slowly," he said. "We hope that we can manage to do a smooth transition without plunging the country into a cycle of violence. But I don't see this happening without Mr. Morsi rescinding all of this."
Speaking of Egypt's powerful military, ElBaradei said, "I am sure they are as worried as everyone else. You cannot exclude that the army will intervene to restore law and order" if the situation gets out of hand.
But anti-Morsi factions are chronically divided, with revolutionary youth activists, new liberal political parties that have struggled to build a public base and figures from the Mubarak era, all of whom distrust each other. The judiciary is also an uncomfortable cause for some to back, since it includes many Mubarak appointees who even Morsi opponents criticize as too tied to the old regime.
Opponents say the edicts gave Morsi near dictatorial powers, neutering the judiciary when he already holds both executive and legislative powers. One of his most controversial edicts gave him the right to take any steps to stop "threats to the revolution," vague wording that activists say harkens back to Mubarak-era emergency laws.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in nationwide protests on Friday, sparking clashes between anti-and pro-Morsi crowds in several cities that left more than 200 people wounded.
On Saturday, new clashed broke out in the southern city of Assiut. Morsi opponents and members of the Muslim Brotherhood swung sticks and threw stones at each other outside the offices of the Brotherhood's political party, leaving at least seven injured.
ElBaradei and a six other prominent liberal leaders have announced the formation of a National Salvation Front aimed at rallying all non-Islamist groups together to force Morsi to rescind his edicts.
The National Salvation Front leadership includes several who ran against Morsi in this year's presidential race ? Hamdeen Sabahi, who finished a close third, former foreign minister Amr Moussa and moderate Islamist Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh. ElBaradei says the group is also pushing for the creation of a new constitutional assembly and a unity government.
ElBaradei said it would be a long process to persuade Morsi that he "cannot get away with murder."
"There is no middle ground, no dialogue before he rescinds this declaration. There is no room for dialogue until then."
The grouping seems to represent a newly assertive political foray by ElBaradei, the former chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. ElBaradei returned to Egypt in the year before Mubarak's fall, speaking out against his rule, and was influential with many of the youth groups that launched the anti-Mubarak revolution.
But since Mubarak's fall, he has been criticized by some as too Westernized, elite and Hamlet-ish, reluctant to fully assert himself as an opposition leader.
The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice political party, once headed by Morsi, said Saturday in a statement that the president's decision protects the revolution against former regime figures who have tried to erode elected institutions and were threatening to dissolve the constitutional assembly.
The Brotherhood warned in another statement that there were forces trying to overthrow the elected president in order to return to power. It said Morsi has a mandate to lead, having defeated one of Mubarak's former prime ministers this summer in a closely contested election.
Morsi's edicts also removed Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, the prosecutor general first appointed by Mubarak, who many Egyptians accused of not prosecuting former regime figures strongly enough.
Speaking to a gathering of judges cheering support for him at the high court building in Cairo, Mahmoud warned of a "vicious campaign" against state institutions. He also said judicial authorities are looking into the legality of the decision to remove him ? setting up a Catch-22 of legitimacy, since under Morsi's decree, the courts cannot overturn any of his decisions.
"I thank you for your support of judicial independence," he told the judges.
"Morsi will have to reverse his decision to avoid the anger of the people," said Ahmed Badrawy, a labor ministry employee protesting at the courthouse. "We do not want to have an Iranian system here," he added, referring to fears that hardcore Islamists may try to turn Egypt into a theocracy.
Several hundred protesters remained in Cairo's Tahrir Square Saturday, where a number of tents have been erected in a sit-in following nearly a week of clashes with riot police.
____
Brian Rohan contributed to this report from Cairo.
Impaired blood vessel function found in cystic fibrosis patientsPublic release date: 26-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Toni Baker tbaker@georgiahealth.edu 706-721-4421 Georgia Health Sciences University
AUGUSTA, Ga. The first evidence of blood vessel dysfunction has been found in a small cohort of generally healthy young people with cystic fibrosis, researchers report.
"Even though the lung function in these kids is fine at this point, there is evidence of vascular dysfunction and exercise intolerance," said Dr. Ryan A. Harris, clinical exercise physiologist at the Medical College of Georgia and Institute of Public and Preventive Health at Georgia Health Sciences University. "We think this blood vessel dysfunction could be contributing to their exercise intolerance, which is an independent predictor of mortality in these kids irrespective of their lung function."
The findings raise questions about whether dysfunctional arteries affect patients' ability to exercise, which is already recommended to help combat the disease's hallmark lung complications, and whether exercise can also improve blood vessel function and potentially help forestall cardiovascular disease.
Although their blood pressures tend to be normal and there is no established risk, cystic fibrosis patients have only recently lived long enough to acquire even an accelerated version of cardiovascular disease, said Dr. Katie T. McKie, Director of the Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Center at the GHS Children's Medical Center. The median predicted age of survival is the mid-30s and nearly half the patients in the United States are over age 18, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Fifteen years ago, survival rates for the genetic disease were about half that, McKie said.
The blood vessel or endothelial dysfunction Harris and McKie found in these patients is essentially the reduced ability of blood vessels to respond to important cues, such as dilating when exercise or stress increase the body's demand for blood and oxygen. The dysfunction may be linked to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress which, in turn, impair the body's ability to use nitric oxide, a major blood vessel dilator, said Harris, corresponding author of the study in CHEST Journal.
Despite major advances in treatment and survival, cystic fibrosis patients tend to live with a chronic, low-grade inflammation resulting from a chronic state of infection. The genetic mutation that disrupts the body's balance of salt and fluid thickens lung mucus, which traps inhaled bacteria and viruses that are normally cleared.
"They are in a low-grade stage of inflammation all the time," Harris said. Patient participants in the study, for example, had a higher rate of inflammation than healthy controls and the higher their concentrations of inflammatory drivers such as C-reactive protein, the lower their pulmonary function.
When the 15 patients, age 8-18, peddled a stationary bike as long and hard as they could, it was leg fatigue rather than lung limitations, which stopped them. "It's not their lungs that are limiting their exercise capacity," Harris said. "But what about non-pulmonary factors that we had no idea existed in these kids?"
"At this stage, their lungs are as healthy as those of their healthy counterparts," McKie added.
They found that even though the patients could take in oxygen well they were not as good as their 15 healthy counterparts at using it. At rest, oxygen saturation in the patients' blood was lower. During peak exercise, the amount of oxygen they consumed was 14 percent lower while expelled air had higher oxygen levels, indicating that their muscles were not as efficient at using it.
Another telltale sign was the fact that their blood vessels simply didn't dilate as well. The researchers put a cuff on the lower arm to increase blood flow through the brachial artery, a major vessel in the bicep. How much the artery dilates in response to the increased flow when the cuff is released depends on how much nitric oxide is available and it was significantly less in patients versus controls.
Future studies are needed to determine exactly why cystic fibrosis patients appear to have less nitric oxide available and whether improving lung function and exercise capacity can improve the vascular health of patients of all ages.
MCG researchers already are doing a small pilot study giving over-the-counter antioxidants to combat oxidative stress, enhance nitric oxide availability and improve blood-vessel dilation. "If we can help improve vascular function, we can hopefully improve their ability to deliver oxygen and increase their exercise capacity," Harris said.
Maintaining good lung function typically requires multiple medications and several hours of daily therapy to break up the mucus, said McKie, a study co-author. She also encourages patients to live full, active lives. "We tell them they are going to live a full life, get married, be president, play baseball, whatever they want to do, it just takes a little extra work." Patient study participants included a swimmer, basketball, baseball and softball players. Guidelines for routine exercise testing of cystic fibrosis should be published early next year.
About 30,000 Americans have cystic fibrosis and 10 million more are carriers of the defective gene, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Endothelial dysfunction has been found in older individuals with chronic medical problems such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and obesity.
###
Harris' research is supported in part by the American Heart Association. For more information, visit: http://www.georgiahealth.edu/institutes/gpi/livep.html.
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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.
Impaired blood vessel function found in cystic fibrosis patientsPublic release date: 26-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Toni Baker tbaker@georgiahealth.edu 706-721-4421 Georgia Health Sciences University
AUGUSTA, Ga. The first evidence of blood vessel dysfunction has been found in a small cohort of generally healthy young people with cystic fibrosis, researchers report.
"Even though the lung function in these kids is fine at this point, there is evidence of vascular dysfunction and exercise intolerance," said Dr. Ryan A. Harris, clinical exercise physiologist at the Medical College of Georgia and Institute of Public and Preventive Health at Georgia Health Sciences University. "We think this blood vessel dysfunction could be contributing to their exercise intolerance, which is an independent predictor of mortality in these kids irrespective of their lung function."
The findings raise questions about whether dysfunctional arteries affect patients' ability to exercise, which is already recommended to help combat the disease's hallmark lung complications, and whether exercise can also improve blood vessel function and potentially help forestall cardiovascular disease.
Although their blood pressures tend to be normal and there is no established risk, cystic fibrosis patients have only recently lived long enough to acquire even an accelerated version of cardiovascular disease, said Dr. Katie T. McKie, Director of the Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Center at the GHS Children's Medical Center. The median predicted age of survival is the mid-30s and nearly half the patients in the United States are over age 18, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Fifteen years ago, survival rates for the genetic disease were about half that, McKie said.
The blood vessel or endothelial dysfunction Harris and McKie found in these patients is essentially the reduced ability of blood vessels to respond to important cues, such as dilating when exercise or stress increase the body's demand for blood and oxygen. The dysfunction may be linked to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress which, in turn, impair the body's ability to use nitric oxide, a major blood vessel dilator, said Harris, corresponding author of the study in CHEST Journal.
Despite major advances in treatment and survival, cystic fibrosis patients tend to live with a chronic, low-grade inflammation resulting from a chronic state of infection. The genetic mutation that disrupts the body's balance of salt and fluid thickens lung mucus, which traps inhaled bacteria and viruses that are normally cleared.
"They are in a low-grade stage of inflammation all the time," Harris said. Patient participants in the study, for example, had a higher rate of inflammation than healthy controls and the higher their concentrations of inflammatory drivers such as C-reactive protein, the lower their pulmonary function.
When the 15 patients, age 8-18, peddled a stationary bike as long and hard as they could, it was leg fatigue rather than lung limitations, which stopped them. "It's not their lungs that are limiting their exercise capacity," Harris said. "But what about non-pulmonary factors that we had no idea existed in these kids?"
"At this stage, their lungs are as healthy as those of their healthy counterparts," McKie added.
They found that even though the patients could take in oxygen well they were not as good as their 15 healthy counterparts at using it. At rest, oxygen saturation in the patients' blood was lower. During peak exercise, the amount of oxygen they consumed was 14 percent lower while expelled air had higher oxygen levels, indicating that their muscles were not as efficient at using it.
Another telltale sign was the fact that their blood vessels simply didn't dilate as well. The researchers put a cuff on the lower arm to increase blood flow through the brachial artery, a major vessel in the bicep. How much the artery dilates in response to the increased flow when the cuff is released depends on how much nitric oxide is available and it was significantly less in patients versus controls.
Future studies are needed to determine exactly why cystic fibrosis patients appear to have less nitric oxide available and whether improving lung function and exercise capacity can improve the vascular health of patients of all ages.
MCG researchers already are doing a small pilot study giving over-the-counter antioxidants to combat oxidative stress, enhance nitric oxide availability and improve blood-vessel dilation. "If we can help improve vascular function, we can hopefully improve their ability to deliver oxygen and increase their exercise capacity," Harris said.
Maintaining good lung function typically requires multiple medications and several hours of daily therapy to break up the mucus, said McKie, a study co-author. She also encourages patients to live full, active lives. "We tell them they are going to live a full life, get married, be president, play baseball, whatever they want to do, it just takes a little extra work." Patient study participants included a swimmer, basketball, baseball and softball players. Guidelines for routine exercise testing of cystic fibrosis should be published early next year.
About 30,000 Americans have cystic fibrosis and 10 million more are carriers of the defective gene, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Endothelial dysfunction has been found in older individuals with chronic medical problems such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and obesity.
###
Harris' research is supported in part by the American Heart Association. For more information, visit: http://www.georgiahealth.edu/institutes/gpi/livep.html.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Bombing suspect tries to withdraw plea A federal judge has delayed the sentencing of the fourth suspect in the plot this spring to blow up a bridge over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.?
U.S. District Judge David Dowd put off the sentencing of 36-year-old Anthony Hayne this morning. Hayne had filed a last-minute motion last night asking to withdraw his guilty plea unless he got a sentence considerably shorter than those Dowd gave three other defendants yesterday.?
Hayne?s lawyer notes that he was the first to cooperate with prosecutors, and got drawn into the bombing plot late, and says he deserves a sentence of about four years in prison.
Yesterday, Dowd sentenced the alleged ring-leader, 27-year-old Douglas Wright of Indianapolis to 11 1/2 years in prison. The other two got sentences of 8 and nearly 10 years.
Prosecutors wanted more, saying the only reason the group did not succeed in blowing up the bridge is because a paid FBI informant provided them with dummy explosives.
A fifth suspect is undergoing a psychiatric exam and has not yet entered a plea.
Counterfeit perfume seized on Ohio Turnpike Three Michigan men are facing felony charges after Ohio Highway Patrol troopers seized nearly 1,500 counterfeit perfume and cologne bottles on the Ohio Turnpike near Elyria.
?The troopers had pulled over a cargo van Monday night for speeding and a drug-sniffing dog discovered the perfume, worth an estimated $75,000.
Fair Finance's long-slog in bankruptcy A bankruptcy judge says the thousands of people who lost more than $200 million in the Akron-based Fair Finance Co. collapse should get at least half of the money that the bankruptcy lawyers and trustee recover in the case. But that money will be slow-coming and likely amount to just pennies on the dollar
According to the Beacon Journal, the professionals charged with recovering the money have taken in nearly $6 million so far. After the professionals are paid, some $700,000 to $800,000 of that will likely be left.
The bankruptcy trustee, Brian Bash, said in court that he continues to pursue other assets.
Next week, the former head of Fair Finance, Tim Durham, and two co-defendants are to be sentenced on fraud and other charges.
Kent's coach up for honors Kent State?s Darrell Hazell is in the running for football Coach of the Year honors. Hazell has led Kent to a school-record 10 wins and its first Mid-American Conference East Division title. Kent will play in the MAC championship game in Detroit next week and then in its first bowl game since 1972.
President Obama sends Hillary Clinton to Mideast, as US seeks to contain conflict between Israel and Hamas, hoping the visit?'will emphasize the United States' interest in a peaceful outcome that protects and enhances Israel's security and regional stability; that can lead to improved conditions for the civilian residents of Gaza.
By Julie Pace,?Associated Press / November 20, 2012
US President Barack Obama, second from left, speaks as he meets with Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda during the East Asia Summit at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Nov. 20. On the left is US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Obama is sending Clinton to Mideast on Tuesday amid conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
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President Barack Obama dispatched Secretary of State?Hillary?Rodham Clinton?to the Middle East on Tuesday as the U.S. urgently seeks to contain the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.
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Clinton?hastily departed for the region from Cambodia, where she had joined Obama for summit meetings with Asian leaders. The White House said she would make three stops, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Palestinian officials in Ramallah, in the West Bank, and Egyptian leaders in Cairo.?Clinton?was expected to arrive in Israel on Tuesday night and return to Washington late Wednesday or very early Thursday after making all three stops.
Clinton's?trip marks the Obama administration's most forceful engagement in the weeklong conflict that has killed more than 100 Palestinians and three Israelis, with hundreds more wounded. While the U.S. has backed Israel's right to defend itself against rocket fire from Gaza, the Obama administration has warned its ally against pursuing a ground assault that would further escalate the violence and could dramatically increase casualties on both sides.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said?Clinton?"will emphasize the United States' interest in a peaceful outcome that protects and enhances Israel's security and regional stability; that can lead to improved conditions for the civilian residents of Gaza; and that can reopen the path to fulfill the aspirations of Palestinians and Israelis for two states living in peace and security."
Still, Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the U.S. believes "Israel will make its own decisions about the military operations and decisions that it undertakes."
"At the same time, we believe that Israel, like the United States, like other countries, would prefer to see their interests met diplomatically and peacefully," Rhodes said. "It's in nobody's interest to see an escalation of the military conflict."
Obama and?Clinton?have consulted about the widening crisis throughout their three-day tour of Southeast Asia, their final joint trip before?Clinton?leaves her post as the top U.S. diplomat. They spoke again about the situation Tuesday morning, aides said, and made the decision for her to travel to the region.
Still, it was unclear what impact?Clinton's?presence would have on the spiraling violence or whether she was heading to the Mideast with any specific overtures from the U.S.
Rhodes said "there are a number of ideas that are in play," but offered no further details. And he insisted the ramped up U.S. involvement was "a matter of what's in everybody's best interests," not a matter of "leverage."
Obama and?Clinton?each have held multiple telephone calls with their counterparts in Israel and Egypt, which is at the center of negotiations to quell the violence. Because the U.S. considers Hamas a terrorist organization and prohibits contact between its members and American officials, it is relying on Egypt, as well as Turkey and Qatar, to deliver its message to the Hamas leadership in Gaza.
Israel and Hamas say they are open to diplomatic mediation efforts being led by Egypt, but they are far apart in their demands.
Hamas wants Israel to halt all attacks on Gaza and lift tight restrictions on trade and movement in and out of the territory that have been in place since Hamas seized Gaza by force in 2007. Israel demands an end to rocket fire from Gaza and a halt to weapons smuggling into Gaza through tunnels under the border with Egypt.
The widening conflict has threatened to overshadow Obama's three-country tour of Southeast Asia, his first overseas trip after winning re-election. The president, after a marathon day that took him from Thailand to Myanmar to Cambodia, worked the phones with Mideast leaders into the early hours of Tuesday morning, aides said.
The White House said Obama would stay in contact with the key players in the conflict while?Clinton?was on the ground. The president is scheduled to depart Cambodia later Tuesday, arriving back in Washington before dawn Wednesday.
Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
ScienceDaily: Most Popular Newshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/news/most_popular/ Most popular science, health, technology and environment news stories, featured on ScienceDaily's home page.en-usMon, 19 Nov 2012 21:16:01 ESTMon, 19 Nov 2012 21:16:01 EST60ScienceDaily: Most Popular Newshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gifhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/news/most_popular/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily.Hubble traps galactic fireflieshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119174215.htm A remote sensing instrument that will peer into the ultraviolet to offer clues to how Mars might have lost its atmosphere has arrived at Lockheed Martin for integration into NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:42:42 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119174215.htmAh, that new car smell: NASA technology protects spacecraft from outgassed molecular contaminantshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119173754.htm Outgassing -- the physical process that creates that oh-so-alluring new car smell -- isn't healthy for humans and, as it turns out, not particularly wholesome for sensitive satellite instruments, either. But a team of NASA engineers has created a new way to protect those instruments from its ill effects.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:37:37 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119173754.htmWhat goes down must come back up: Effects of 2010-11 La Ni?a on global sea levelhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119172938.htm In 2010-11, global sea level fell nearly a quarter inch. But, when it comes to long-term sea level, what comes down must eventually come back up.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:29:29 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119172938.htmSmoking in pregnancy tied to lower reading scoreshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163703.htm Researchers have found that children born to mothers who smoked more than one pack per day during pregnancy struggled on tests designed to measure how accurately a child reads aloud and comprehends what they read.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:37:37 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163703.htmPotential cause of Parkinson's disease identifiedhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163659.htm Scientists have pinpointed a key factor controlling damage to brain cells in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease. The discovery could lead to new targets for Parkinson's that may be useful in preventing the actual condition.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:36:36 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163659.htmNew tumor tracking technique may improve outcomes for lung cancer patientshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163506.htm Researchers have shown that a real-time tracking technique can better predict and track tumor motion and deliver higher levels of radiation to lung cancer patients and others with moving tumor targets, and also successfully be implemented into existing clinical equipment.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:35:35 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163506.htmStorm surge barriers for Manhattan could worsen effects on nearby areas: Other options proposedhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163504.htm The flooding in New York and New Jersey caused by Superstorm Sandy prompted calls from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other officials to consider building storm surge barriers to protect Lower Manhattan from future catastrophes. But, such a strategy could make things even worse for outlying areas that were hit hard by the hurricane, such as Staten Island, the New Jersey Shore and Long Island's South Shore, a City College of New York landscape architecture professor warns.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:35:35 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163504.htmMars formed from similar building blocks to that of Earth, reveals study of Martian meteoriteshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163500.htm A team of scientists studied the hydrogen in water from the Martian interior and found that Mars formed from similar building blocks to that of Earth, but that there were differences in the later evolution of the two planets. This implies that terrestrial planets, including Earth, have similar water sources.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:35:35 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163500.htmElectronic visits offer accurate diagnoses, may lead to overprescribing of antibioticshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163337.htm One of the first studies to compare patients who see their doctors in person to those who receive care through the Internet, known as an e-visit, underscores both the promise and the pitfalls of this technology. Researchers found that patients who used e-visits for sinusitis and urinary tract infections (UTIs) were no more likely to need follow-up care than those who saw doctors in person.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:33:33 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163337.htmHigh Vitamin D levels in pregnancy may protect mother more than baby against multiple sclerosishttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163331.htm Pregnant women who have higher levels of vitamin D in their blood may have a lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis than women with lower levels, while their babies may not see the same protective effect, according to a new study.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:33:33 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163331.htmMultiple sclerosis ?immune exchange? between brain and blood is uncoveredhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163301.htm DNA sequences obtained from a handful of patients with multiple sclerosis have revealed the existence of an ?immune exchange? that allows the disease-causing cells to move in and out of the brain.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:33:33 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163301.htmFailed explosions explain most peculiar supernovaehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163251.htm Supercomputer simulations have revealed that a type of oddly dim, exploding star is probably a class of duds?one that could nonetheless throw new light on the mysterious nature of dark energy.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:32:32 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163251.htmAstronomers pin down origins of 'mile markers' for expansion and acceleration of universehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163248.htm A study using a unique new instrument on the world's largest optical telescope has revealed the likely origins of especially bright supernovae that astronomers use as easy-to-spot "mile markers" to measure the expansion and acceleration of the universe.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:32:32 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163248.htmLava dots: Hollow, soft-shelled quantum dots createdhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151322.htm Serendipity proved to be a key ingredient for newly created nanoparticles. The new "lava dot" particles were discovered accidentally when researchers stumbled upon a way to use molten droplets of metal salt to make hollow, coated versions of a nanotech staple called quantum dots.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:13:13 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151322.htmNew energy technologies promise brighter futurehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151320.htm Creative new technologies could change our sources of energy, change our use of energy, and change our lives.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:13:13 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151320.htmAfter 121 years, identification of 'grave robber' fossil solves a paleontological enigmahttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151318.htm Researchers have resolved the evolutionary relationships of Necrolestes patagonensis, a paleontological riddle for more than 100 years. Researchers have correctly placed the strange 16-million-year-old Necrolestes in the mammal evolutionary tree, unexpectedly moving forward the endpoint for the fossil's evolutionary lineage by 45 million years and showing that this family of mammals survived the extinction event that marked the end of the Age of Dinosaurs.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:13:13 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151318.htmHappy youngsters more likely to grow into wealthy adults, study findshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151316.htm The first in-depth investigation of whether youthful happiness leads to greater wealth in later life reveals that, even allowing for other influences, happy adolescents are likely to earn more money as adults.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:13:13 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151316.htm'Different kind of stem cell' possesses attributes favoring regenerative medicinehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151314.htm New and powerful cells first created in the laboratory a year ago constitute a new stem-like state of adult epithelial cells with attributes that may make regenerative medicine truly possible. Researchers report that these new stem-like cells do not express the same genes as embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) do. That explains why they don't produce tumors when they grow in the laboratory, as the other stem cells do, and why they are stable, producing the kind of cells researchers want them to.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:13:13 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151314.htmEvidence of a 'mid-life crisis' in great apeshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151311.htm Chimpanzees and orangutans can experience a mid-life crisis just like humans, a study suggests.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:13:13 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151311.htmBody may be able to 'coach' transplanted stem cells to differentiate appropriatelyhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151308.htm Pluripotent stem cells are nature's double-edged sword. Because they can develop into a dizzying variety of cell types and tissues, they are a potentially invaluable therapeutic resource. However, that same developmental flexibility can lead to dangerous tumors called teratomas if the stem cells begin to differentiate out of control in the body.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:13:13 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151308.htmHow yeast protein breaks up amyloid fibrils and disordered protein clumpshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151220.htm Hsp104, an enzyme from yeast, breaks up both amyloid fibrils and disordered clumps. For stable amyloid-type structures, Hsp104 needs all six of its subunits, which together make a hexamer, to pull the clumps apart. By contrast, for amorphous, non-amyloid clumps, Hsp104 required only one of its six subunits.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:12:12 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151220.htmExperimental drug improves memory in mice with multiple sclerosishttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151218.htm Researchers report the successful use of a form of MRI to identify what appears to be a key biochemical marker for cognitive impairment in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). In follow-up experiments on mice with a rodent form of MS, researchers were able to use an experimental compound to manipulate that same marker and dramatically improve learning and memory.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:12:12 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151218.htmHold the ice: Chemists reveal behavior of antifreeze moleculeshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151216.htm Chemists have discovered a family of anti-freeze molecules that prevent ice formation when water temperatures drop below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Their findings may lead to new methods for improving food storage and industrial products.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:12:12 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119151216.htmSuper-efficient solar-energy technology: ?Solar steam? so effective it can make steam from icy cold waterhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140627.htm Scientists have unveiled a revolutionary new technology that uses nanoparticles to convert solar energy directly into steam. The new "solar steam" method is so effective it can even produce steam from icy cold water. The technology's inventors said they expect it will first be used in sanitation and water-purification applications in the developing world.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:06:06 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140627.htmEmbattled childhoods may be the real trauma for soldiers with PTSDhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140625.htm New research on posttraumatic stress disorder in soldiers challenges popular assumptions about the origins and trajectory of PTSD, providing evidence that traumatic experiences in childhood - not combat - may predict which soldiers develop the disorder.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:06:06 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140625.htmAstrophysicists identify a 'super-Jupiter' around massive starhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140621.htm Astrophysicists have discovered a 'super-Jupiter' around the massive star Kappa Andromedae. It represents the first new imaged exoplanet system in almost four years, has a mass about 13 times that of Jupiter and an orbit somewhat larger than Neptune's. The star around which the planet orbits has a mass 2.5 times that of the Sun, making it the highest mass star to ever host a directly observed planet.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:06:06 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140621.htmHuman brain, Internet, and cosmology: Similar laws at work?http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140545.htm The structure of the universe and the laws that govern its growth may be more similar than previously thought to the structure and growth of the human brain and other complex networks, such as the Internet or a social network of trust relationships between people, according to a new article.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:05:05 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140545.htmGreenland's viking settlers gorged on sealshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119132311.htm Greenland's viking settlers, the Norse, disappeared suddenly and mysteriously from Greenland about 500 years ago. Natural disasters, climate change and the inability to adapt have all been proposed as theories to explain their disappearance. But now a Danish-Canadian research team has demonstrated the Norse society did not die out due to an inability to adapt to the Greenlandic diet: an isotopic analysis of their bones shows they ate plenty of seals.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:23:23 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119132311.htmClues to cause of hydrogen embrittlement in metals: Findings could guide design of new embrittlement-resistant materialshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119132309.htm Hydrogen can easily dissolve and migrate within metals to make these otherwise ductile materials brittle and more prone to failures. Now, researchers have shown that the physics of hydrogen embrittlement may be rooted in how hydrogen modifies material behaviors at the nanoscale. Scientists have now presented a model that can accurately predict the occurrence of hydrogen embrittlement.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:23:23 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119132309.htmNeed to filter water? Fight infection? Just open package, mix polymershttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119132305.htm Researchers have developed what they call a one-size-fits-all polymer system that can be fabricated and then specialized to perform healing functions ranging from fighting infection to wound healing.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:23:23 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119132305.htmNew species literally spend decades on the shelfhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119132226.htm Many of the world's most unfamiliar species are just sitting around on museum shelves collecting dust. That's according to a new report showing that it takes more than 20 years on average before a species, newly collected, will be described.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:22:22 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119132226.htmGenetic factor holds key to blood vessel healthhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119114300.htm Researchers have identified a genetic factor that prevents blockages from forming in blood vessels, a discovery that could lead to new therapies for cardiovascular diseases. Researchers found that a shortage of the genetic factor KLF4, which regulates endothelial cells lining the interior of blood vessels, makes the lining more prone to the buildup of plaque and fat deposits. Further, the deficiency made the blood vessel more susceptible to clot formation.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 11:43:43 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119114300.htm3-D light switch for the brain: Device may help treat Parkinson's, epilepsy; aid understanding of consciousnesshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119114249.htm A new tool for neuroscientists delivers a thousand pinpricks of light to individual neurons in the brain. The new 3-D "light switch", created by biologists and engineers, could one day be used as a neural prosthesis that could treat conditions such as Parkinson's and epilepsy by using gene therapy to turn individual brain cells on and off with light.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 11:42:42 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119114249.htmInvisibility cloaking to shield floating objects from waveshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119104529.htm A new approach to invisibility cloaking may one day be used at sea to shield floating objects ? such as oil rigs and ships ? from rough waves. Unlike most other cloaking techniques that rely on transformation optics, this one is based on the influence of the ocean floor?s topography on the various ?layers? of ocean water. At the American Physical Society?s (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting, being held November 18-20, 2012, in San Diego, Calif., Reza Alam, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, will describe how the variation of density in ocean water can be used to cloak floating objects against incident surface waves.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:45:45 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119104529.htmSound bullets in waterhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119104527.htm Sound waves are commonly used in applications ranging from ultrasound imaging to hyperthermia therapy, in which high temperatures are induced, for example, in tumors to destroy them. In 2010, researchers developed a nonlinear acoustic lens that can focus high-amplitude pressure pulses into compact ?sound bullets.? In that initial work, the scientists demonstrated how sound bullets form in solids. Now, they have done themselves one better, creating a device that can form and control those bullets in water.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:45:45 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119104527.htmOwls' ability to fly in acoustic stealth provides clues to mitigating conventional aircraft noisehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119104525.htm Owls have the uncanny ability to fly silently, relying on specialized plumage to reduce noise so they can hunt in acoustic stealth. Researchers are studying the owl?s wing structure to better understand how it mitigates noise so they can apply that information to the design of conventional aircraft.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:45:45 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119104525.htmMosquitos fail at flight in heavy fog, though heavy rain doesn't faze themhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119104522.htm Mosquitos have the remarkable ability to fly in clear skies as well as in rain, shrugging off impacts from raindrops more than 50 times their body mass. But just like modern aircraft, mosquitos also are grounded when the fog thickens.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:45:45 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119104522.htmBaBar experiment confirms time asymmetry: Time's quantum arrow has a preferred direction, new analysis showshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119094627.htm Digging through nearly 10 years of data from billions of BaBar particle collisions, researchers found that certain particle types change into one another much more often in one way than they do in the other, a violation of time reversal symmetry and confirmation that some subatomic processes have a preferred direction of time.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:46:46 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119094627.htmMore female board directors add up to improved sustainability performancehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119094625.htm As a corporate responsibility consultant, one expert publicly criticized Apple's recent appointment of another man to an already all-male executive team. New research goes one step further, indicating that the number of women on a corporate board correlates with a firm's sustainability performance.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:46:46 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119094625.htmCertain jobs linked to increased breast cancer riskhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119094512.htm Is there a link between the risk of breast cancer and the working environment? A new study provides further evidence on this previously neglected research topic, confirming that certain occupations do pose a higher risk of breast cancer than others, particularly those that expose the worker to potential carcinogens and endocrine disrupters.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:45:45 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119094512.htmBreast cancer cells' reaction to cancer drugs can be predicted, study suggestshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119094510.htm Can breast cancer cells? reaction to cancer drugs be predicted? The answer is yes. Researchers have developed a solution for predicting responses of breast cancer cells to a set of cancer drugs. The prediction is based on the genomic profiles of the cancer cells. Harnessing genomic profiles of cells in choosing the best treatment is considered the holy grail of personalized medicine.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:45:45 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119094510.htmScientists pioneer method to predict environmental collapsehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119093853.htm Scientists are pioneering a technique to predict when an ecosystem is likely to collapse, which may also have potential for foretelling crises in agriculture, fisheries or even social systems. The researchers have applied a mathematical model to a real world situation, the environmental collapse of a lake in China, to help prove a theory which suggests an ecosystem 'flickers,' or fluctuates dramatically between healthy and unhealthy states, shortly before its eventual collapse.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:38:38 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119093853.htmA more peaceful world awaits, statistical analysis suggestshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119093846.htm Statistical analyses show that the world will be more peaceful in the future. In about 40 years only half as many countries will be in conflict. The decrease will be greatest in the Middle East, a statistical model suggests.Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:38:38 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119093846.htmPain medication addiction reaching epidemic levelhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119093654.htm Addiction to pain medication is creating new challenges for physicians. Would you believe -- hydrocodone was the most prescribed drug in America in 2011?Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:36:36 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119093654.htmOptogenetics illuminates pathways of motivation through brainhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141528.htm Bioengineers have isolated the neurons that carry split-second decisions to act from the higher brain to the brain stem. In doing so, they have provided insight into the causes of severe brain disorders such as depression.Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:15:15 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141528.htmSkin cells reveal DNA's genetic mosaichttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141524.htm The prevailing wisdom has been that every cell in the body contains identical DNA. However, a new study of stem cells derived from the skin has found that genetic variations are widespread in the body's tissues, a finding with profound implications for genetic screening.Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:15:15 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141524.htmLeap forward in brain-controlled computer cursors: New algorithm greatly improves speed and accuracyhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141520.htm Researchers have designed the fastest, most accurate algorithm yet for brain-implantable prosthetic systems that can help disabled people maneuver computer cursors with their thoughts. The algorithm's speed, accuracy and natural movement approach those of a real arm, and the system avoids the long-term performance degradations of earlier technologies.Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:15:15 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141520.htmBreakthrough nanoparticle halts multiple sclerosis in mice, offers hope for other immune-related diseaseshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141516.htm In a breakthrough for nanotechnology and multiple sclerosis (MS), a biodegradable nanoparticle delivers an antigen that tricks the immune system and halts MS in mice. The approach, the first that doesn't suppress the immune system, is being tested in a clinical trial for MS patients, but with white blood cells delivering the antigen. The nanoparticle is an easier, cheaper option and can be used in other immune-related diseases including Type 1 diabetes, food and airway allergies.Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:15:15 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141516.htmLikely basis of birth defect causing premature skull closure in infants identifiedhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141432.htm Geneticists, pediatricians, surgeons and epidemiologists have identified two areas of the human genome associated with the most common form of non-syndromic craniosynostosis premature closure of the bony plates of the skull.Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:14:14 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141432.htmCall to modernize antiquated climate negotiationshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141430.htm The?structure and processes of United Nations climate negotiations are "antiquated", unfair and obstruct attempts to reach agreements, according to new research.Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:14:14 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141430.htmNew bulimia treatment developedhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141408.htm An eating disorders research team has developed a successful bulimia nervosa therapy that can provide patients an alternative for treating this debilitating disorder.Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:14:14 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141408.htmVirtual reality could spot real-world cognitive impairmentshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141406.htm A virtual reality test might do a better job than pencil-and-paper tests of predicting whether a cognitive impairment will have real-world consequences. The test uses a computer-game-like virtual world and asks volunteers to navigate their ways through tasks such as delivering packages or running errands around town.Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:14:14 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141406.htmTechnique produces bandgap to advance graphene electronicshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141403.htm By fabricating graphene structures atop nanometer-scale ?steps? etched into silicon carbide, researchers have for the first time created a substantial electronic bandgap in the material suitable for room-temperature electronics.Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:14:14 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121118141403.htmDNA packaging discovery reveals principles by which CRC mutations may cause cancerhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184658.htm A new discovery concerning a fundamental understanding about how DNA works will produce a "180-degree change in focus" for researchers who study how gene packaging regulates gene activity, including genes that cause cancer and other diseases.Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:46:46 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184658.htmAnxiety linked to chest pain in childrenhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184654.htm Psychological factors can have as much -- or more -- impact on pediatric chest pain as physical ones, a new study found recently. Psychologists discovered pediatric patients diagnosed with non-cardiac chest pain have higher levels of anxiety and depression than patients diagnosed with innocent heart murmurs -- the noise of normal turbulent blood flow in a structurally normal heart.Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:46:46 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184654.htmDaycare linked to being overweighthttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184620.htm Young children who attend daycare on a regular basis are 50% more likely to be overweight compared to those who stayed at home with their parents, according to a new studySat, 17 Nov 2012 18:46:46 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184620.htmWandering minds associated with aging cells: Attentional state linked to length of telomereshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184551.htm Scientific studies have suggested that a wandering mind indicates unhappiness, whereas a mind that is present in the moment indicates well-being.?Now, a preliminary study suggests a possible link between mind wandering and aging, by looking at a biological measure of longevity.Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:45:45 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184551.htmNew model reveals how huddling penguins share heat fairlyhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184545.htm Penguins that face the bitter cold and icy winds of Antarctica often huddle together in large groups for warmth during storms. Mathematicians have created a model that shows how the penguins share heat fairly in the huddle.Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:45:45 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184545.htmBrazilian mediums shed light on brain activity during a trance statehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184543.htm Researchers analyzed the cerebral blood flow (CBF) of Brazilian mediums during the practice of psychography, described as a form of writing whereby a deceased person or spirit is believed to write through the medium?s hand. The new research revealed intriguing findings of decreased brain activity during mediumistic dissociative state which generated complex written contentSat, 17 Nov 2012 18:45:45 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121117184543.htmBasketball teams offer insights into building strategic networkshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121116161103.htm What started out as a project to teach undergraduate students about network analysis, turned into an in-depth study of whether it was possible to analyze a National Basketball Association basketball team's strategic interactions as a network.Researchers discovered it is possible to quantify both a team's cohesion and communication structure.Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:11:11 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121116161103.htm
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican on Tuesday presented "The Infancy Narratives," the last part in Pope Benedict's trilogy on the life of Jesus. The book will go on sale around the world on Wednesday with an initial print run of a million copies.
Here are some excerpts selected by the publishers for early release.
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On Mary's role in world history:
Yet most important of all is the fact that the genealogy ends with a woman: Mary, who truly marks a new beginning and relativizes the entire genealogy. Throughout the generations, we find the formula: "Abraham was the father of Isaac . . ."
But at the end, there is something quite different. In Jesus' case there is no reference to fatherhood, instead we read: "Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ" (Mt 1:16).
In the account of Jesus' birth that follows immediately afterward, Matthew tells us that Joseph was not Jesus' father and that he wanted to dismiss Mary on account of her supposed adultery. But this is what is said to him: "That which is conceived in Mary is of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 1:20). So the final sentence turns the whole genealogy around. Mary is a new beginning. Her child does not originate from any man, but is a new creation, conceived through the Holy Spirit.
The genealogy is still important: Joseph is the legal father of Jesus. Through him, Jesus belongs by law, "legally," to the house of David. And yet he comes from elsewhere, "from above"-from God himself. The mystery of his provenance, his dual origin, confronts us quite concretely: his origin can be named and yet it is a mystery. Only God is truly his "father."
The human genealogy has a certain significance in terms of world history. And yet in the end it is Mary, the lowly virgin from Nazareth, in whom a new beginning takes place, in whom human existence starts afresh.
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On the historical and theological framework of the nativity story in Luke's Gospel:
"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled" (Lk 2:1). With these words, Luke introduces his account of the birth of Jesus and explains how it came to take place in Bethlehem. A population census, for purposes of determining and collecting taxes, was what prompted Joseph to set off from Nazareth for Bethlehem, together with Mary, his betrothed, who was expecting a child.
The birth of Jesus in the city of David is placed within the overarching framework of world history, even though Caesar was quite unaware of the difficult journey that these ordinary people were making on his account. And so it is that the child Jesus is born, seemingly by chance, in the place of the promise. The context in world history is important for Luke.
For the first time, "all the world," the ecume?ne? in its entirety, is to be enrolled. For the first time there is a government and an empire that spans the globe. For the first time, there is a great expanse of peace in which everyone's property can be registered and placed at the service of the wider community. Only now, when there is a commonality of law and property on a large scale, and when a universal language has made it possible for a cultural community to trade in ideas and goods, only now can a message of universal salvation, a universal Saviour, enter the world: it is indeed the "fullness of time."
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On the joy of Christmas:
The angel of the Lord appears to the shepherds and the glory of the Lord shines around them. "They were filled with fear" (Lk 2:9). But the angel takes away their fear and announces to them "a great joy, which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:10f. ).
They are told that, as a sign, they will find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ?Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased'" (Lk 2:12-14).
According to the evangelist, the angels "said" this. But Christianity has always understood that the speech of angels is actually song, in which all the glory of the great joy that they proclaim becomes tangibly present. And so, from that moment, the angels' song of praise has never gone silent. It continues down the centuries in constantly new forms and it resounds ever anew at the celebration of Jesus' birth. It is only natural that simple believers would then hear the shepherds singing too, and to this day they join in their caroling on the Holy Night, proclaiming in song the great joy that, from then until the end of time, is bestowed on all people.
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On astrology and religion in the Magi story
Gregory Nazianzen says that at the very moment when the Magi adored Jesus, astrology came to an end, as the stars from then on traced the orbit determined by Christ (cf. Poem. Dogm. V 55-64: PG 37, 428-429).
In the ancient world, the heavenly bodies were regarded as divine powers, determining men's fate. The planets bear the names of deities. According to the concept prevailing at the time, they somehow ruled over the world, and man had to try to appease these powers. Biblical monotheism soon brought about a clear demythologization: with marvelous sobriety, the creation account describes the sun and the moon-the great divinities of the pagan world-as lights that God placed in the sky alongside the entire firmament of stars (cf. Gen 1:16f. ).
On entering the Gentile world, the Christian faith had to grapple once again with the question of the astral divinities. Hence in the letters he wrote from prison to the Ephesians and the Colossians, Paul emphasizes that the risen Christ has conquered all the powers and forces in the heavens, and that he reigns over the entire universe.
The story of the wise men's star makes a similar point: it is not the star that determines the child's destiny, it is the child that directs the star. If we wish, we may speak here of a kind of anthropological revolution: human nature assumed by God-as revealed in God's only-begotten Son-is greater than all the powers of the material world, greater than the entire universe.
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Public release date: 26-Nov-2012
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