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Tuesday, April 30, 2013
What to Do (If Anything) About a Cluttered OS X Desktop
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/04/desktop-cluttered-help/
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Turtle genome analysis sheds light on turtle ancestry and shell evolution
Apr. 28, 2013 ? From which ancestors have turtles evolved? How did they get their shell? New data provided by the Joint International Turtle Genome Consortium, led by researchers from RIKEN in Japan, BGI in China, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK provides evidence that turtles are not primitive reptiles but belong to a sister group of birds and crocodiles. The work also sheds light on the evolution of the turtle's intriguing morphology and reveals that the turtle's shell evolved by recruiting genetic information encoding for the limbs.
Turtles are often described as evolutionary monsters, with a unique body plan and a shell that is considered to be one of the most intriguing structures in the animal kingdom.
"Turtles are interesting because they offer an exceptional case to understand the big evolutionary changes that occurred in vertebrate history," explains Dr. Naoki Irie, from the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, who led the study.
Using next-generation DNA sequencers, the researchers from 9 international institutions have decoded the genome of the green sea turtle and Chinese soft-shell turtle and studied the expression of genetic information in the developing turtle.
Their results published in Nature Genetics show that turtles are not primitive reptiles as previously thought, but are related to the group comprising birds and crocodilians, which also includes extinct dinosaurs. Based on genomic information, the researchers predict that turtles must have split from this group around 250 million years ago, during one of the largest extinction events ever to take place on this planet.
"We expect that this research will motivate further work to elucidate the possible causal connection between these events," says Dr. Irie.
The study also reveals that despite their unique anatomy, turtles follow the basic embryonic pattern during development. Rather than developing directly into a turtle-specific body shape with a shell, they first establish the vertebrates' basic body plan and then enter a turtle-specific development phase. During this late specialization phase, the group found traces of limb-related gene expression in the embryonic shell, which indicates that the turtle shell evolved by recruiting part of the genetic program used for the limbs.
"The work not only provides insight into how turtles evolved, but also gives hints as to how the vertebrate developmental programs can be changed to produce major evolutionary novelties." explains Dr. Irie.
Another unexpected finding of the study was that turtles possess a large number of olfactory receptors and must therefore have the ability to smell a wide variety of substances. The researchers identified more than 1000 olfactory receptors in the soft-shell turtle, which is one of the largest numbers ever to be found in a non-mammalian vertebrate.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by RIKEN, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Zhuo Wang, Juan Pascual-Anaya, Amonida Zadissa, Wenqi Li, Yoshihito Niimura, Zhiyong Huang, Chunyi Li, Simon White, Zhiqiang Xiong, Dongming Fang, Bo Wang, Yao Ming, Yan Chen, Yuan Zheng, Shigehiro Kuraku, Miguel Pignatelli, Javier Herrero, Kathryn Beal, Masafumi Nozawa, Qiye Li, Juan Wang, Hongyan Zhang, Lili Yu, Shuji Shigenobu, Junyi Wang, Jiannan Liu, Paul Flicek, Steve Searle, Jun Wang, Shigeru Kuratani, Ye Yin, Bronwen Aken, Guojie Zhang, Naoki Irie. The draft genomes of soft-shell turtle and green sea turtle yield insights into the development and evolution of the turtle-specific body plan. Nature Genetics, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/ng.2615
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/8zHOVHrvis0/130428144848.htm
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Monday, April 29, 2013
Obama: Cuts means US could lose years of research
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama says the U.S. could lose years of scientific research as a result of automatic spending cuts that have hit federal agencies.
He says instead of racing ahead to the next cutting edge, American scientists are wondering whether they'll be able to develop any new products at all.
He says the U.S. can't afford to stand still for two or three years.
With Obama's blessing, Congress has already acted to fix flight delays that emerged when air traffic controllers were furloughed due to the cuts. But Obama is still pushing a broader plan to replace all the cuts.
Obama spoke at the 150th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences. He says as long as he's president, the U.S. will continue to invest in science and innovation.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-cuts-means-us-could-lose-years-research-155723517.html
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Retirement expert: Medicare already means-tested
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 29-Apr-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Phil Ciciora
pciciora@illinois.edu
217-333-2177
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. The Obama administration's controversial proposal to "means-test" Medicare recipients is ostensibly aimed at generating more cash for the government from those who can afford it or squeezing more money out of upper-income seniors, depending upon one's point of view. But according to a University of Illinois expert on retirement benefits, the Medicare program is already means-tested.
Law professor Richard L. Kaplan says whenever the issue of cutting Medicare emerges, one of the first ideas to "fix" the program is to make its upper-income beneficiaries pay more.
"Indeed, the claim is often advanced that it is silly if not offensive to have low-income workers pay higher taxes so that wealthy beneficiaries can receive subsidized benefits from the Medicare program," said Kaplan, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor at Illinois. "But the underlying premise is that Medicare is not already means-tested, and that is simply not the case."
Medicare Part A is financed by a 2.9 percent payroll tax imposed on all wages, salaries and income from self-employment, so higher-earning people already pay more for their Part A benefits. Starting this year, individuals with annual earnings above $200,000 and married couples with annual earnings above $250,000 will owe an additional 0.9 percent in Medicare tax, according to Kaplan.
Those taxpayers also will owe a 3.8 percent Medicare tax on their investment income in excess of those same thresholds.
Medicare Part B and Part D employ a more direct form of means-testing namely, increased premiums based on taxable income during one's retirement years, Kaplan said.
"Eschewing the precise mechanics of the applicable provisions, any Medicare beneficiary whose income exceeds an annually determined threshold pays an increased amount for coverage under these components of Medicare," Kaplan said.
"Thus, once taxable income with certain adjustments reaches the specified threshold, the amount paid by enrollees in either Medicare Part B or Medicare Part D is increased according to a four-step rate schedule."
Moreover, the formula was made more severe when the health care reform legislation enacted in 2010 froze the applicable income thresholds for the next 10 years, Kaplan said.
"Those thresholds are not indexed for inflation and will therefore affect more people over time," he said. "Furthermore, the Obama administration has proposed adding additional brackets a total of nine brackets versus the four we have now so that charges rise faster as income goes up."
Kaplan said that unlike Social Security benefits, which bear a close relationship to one's pre-retirement earnings, there is no correlation between one's pre-retirement earnings and the benefits a person receives from Medicare Part A.
"The value of Medicare benefits received correlates with a person's health, not wealth, so a less-healthy retiree will receive more from Medicare than a healthier retiree," he said. "To the extent that wealthy retirees are healthier than their poorer counterparts, there is an inverse relationship between income prior to retirement and benefits received from the Medicare program."
According to Kaplan, some policymakers oppose the very concept of means-testing benefits, regardless of the specific formula employed, arguing that Medicare is a social insurance program and should provide equal benefits to all participants regardless of their individual resources.
"Means-testing benefits, in their view, risks converting Medicare into another welfare-oriented program, with the possible erosion of popular support and potential exposure to the sort of reductions that such programs often suffer in difficult economic times," Kaplan said. "Other policymakers oppose means-testing Medicare because they regard reducing promised benefits on the basis of income as a disguised tax, a penalty on 'success,' in their view."
Thus, the idea that Medicare benefits should be means-tested raises genuine philosophical issues and is not a policy "slam dunk."
"The bottom line is that the individual components of Medicare are means-tested currently," Kaplan said. "Some lawmakers, no doubt, might prefer that the degree to which Medicare is means-tested be increased, but the fact remains that Medicare is already means-tested."
Kaplan's paper, "Top Ten Myths of Medicare," was published in The Elder Law Journal.
###
Editor's notes: To contact Richard L. Kaplan, call 217-333-2499; email rkaplan@illinois.edu. The article, "Top Ten Myths of Medicare," is available online.
[ | 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.
Public release date: 29-Apr-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Phil Ciciora
pciciora@illinois.edu
217-333-2177
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. The Obama administration's controversial proposal to "means-test" Medicare recipients is ostensibly aimed at generating more cash for the government from those who can afford it or squeezing more money out of upper-income seniors, depending upon one's point of view. But according to a University of Illinois expert on retirement benefits, the Medicare program is already means-tested.
Law professor Richard L. Kaplan says whenever the issue of cutting Medicare emerges, one of the first ideas to "fix" the program is to make its upper-income beneficiaries pay more.
"Indeed, the claim is often advanced that it is silly if not offensive to have low-income workers pay higher taxes so that wealthy beneficiaries can receive subsidized benefits from the Medicare program," said Kaplan, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor at Illinois. "But the underlying premise is that Medicare is not already means-tested, and that is simply not the case."
Medicare Part A is financed by a 2.9 percent payroll tax imposed on all wages, salaries and income from self-employment, so higher-earning people already pay more for their Part A benefits. Starting this year, individuals with annual earnings above $200,000 and married couples with annual earnings above $250,000 will owe an additional 0.9 percent in Medicare tax, according to Kaplan.
Those taxpayers also will owe a 3.8 percent Medicare tax on their investment income in excess of those same thresholds.
Medicare Part B and Part D employ a more direct form of means-testing namely, increased premiums based on taxable income during one's retirement years, Kaplan said.
"Eschewing the precise mechanics of the applicable provisions, any Medicare beneficiary whose income exceeds an annually determined threshold pays an increased amount for coverage under these components of Medicare," Kaplan said.
"Thus, once taxable income with certain adjustments reaches the specified threshold, the amount paid by enrollees in either Medicare Part B or Medicare Part D is increased according to a four-step rate schedule."
Moreover, the formula was made more severe when the health care reform legislation enacted in 2010 froze the applicable income thresholds for the next 10 years, Kaplan said.
"Those thresholds are not indexed for inflation and will therefore affect more people over time," he said. "Furthermore, the Obama administration has proposed adding additional brackets a total of nine brackets versus the four we have now so that charges rise faster as income goes up."
Kaplan said that unlike Social Security benefits, which bear a close relationship to one's pre-retirement earnings, there is no correlation between one's pre-retirement earnings and the benefits a person receives from Medicare Part A.
"The value of Medicare benefits received correlates with a person's health, not wealth, so a less-healthy retiree will receive more from Medicare than a healthier retiree," he said. "To the extent that wealthy retirees are healthier than their poorer counterparts, there is an inverse relationship between income prior to retirement and benefits received from the Medicare program."
According to Kaplan, some policymakers oppose the very concept of means-testing benefits, regardless of the specific formula employed, arguing that Medicare is a social insurance program and should provide equal benefits to all participants regardless of their individual resources.
"Means-testing benefits, in their view, risks converting Medicare into another welfare-oriented program, with the possible erosion of popular support and potential exposure to the sort of reductions that such programs often suffer in difficult economic times," Kaplan said. "Other policymakers oppose means-testing Medicare because they regard reducing promised benefits on the basis of income as a disguised tax, a penalty on 'success,' in their view."
Thus, the idea that Medicare benefits should be means-tested raises genuine philosophical issues and is not a policy "slam dunk."
"The bottom line is that the individual components of Medicare are means-tested currently," Kaplan said. "Some lawmakers, no doubt, might prefer that the degree to which Medicare is means-tested be increased, but the fact remains that Medicare is already means-tested."
Kaplan's paper, "Top Ten Myths of Medicare," was published in The Elder Law Journal.
###
Editor's notes: To contact Richard L. Kaplan, call 217-333-2499; email rkaplan@illinois.edu. The article, "Top Ten Myths of Medicare," is available online.
[ | 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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uoia-rem042913.php
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Avalanche fire coach Joe Sacco
DENVER (AP) ? Colorado Avalanche coach Joe Sacco was fired on Sunday after the team missed the playoffs for the third straight season.
The Avs never got on track in the lockout-shortened season and finished last in the Western Conference.
Sacco was in his fourth season in charge of Colorado and wound up with a 130-134-30 mark. He had one year left on his contract.
"The organization believes a change of leadership behind the bench is needed going forward," general manager Greg Sherman said in a release. "Joe has worked for this franchise for eight seasons and he is a dedicated and hard-working coach. We appreciate all he has done and wish him the best in the future."
The Avs will soon begin their search for a replacement.
Sacco spent two seasons in charge of the organization's American Hockey League affiliate squad, the Lake Erie Monsters, before taking over the Avs in 2009 after the firing of Tony Granato.
A former NHL player, Sacco preached a fast-paced style and it served the youthful Avalanche well in his first season as the team earned a postseason spot. He was even a finalist for the NHL's coach of the year.
But Colorado couldn't duplicate that success.
Moments after a 3-1 loss to Minnesota on Saturday to close out the regular season, Sacco was asked about his future, saying, "We're certainly headed in the right direction."
His team was committed to his up-tempo philosophy. Matt Duchene recently said that Sacco's message was still getting across.
"We've all played the system he's put in place to the best of our ability. We've all worked at it," said Duchene, who finished tied with P.A. Parenteau for the team scoring lead with 43 points. "We're all still buying in and working."
Sacco will be back on the bench later this week when he leads the U.S. squad at the world championships. He will even take several Avalanche players with him, including Paul Stastny and Erik Johnson.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/avalanche-fire-coach-joe-sacco-174513532.html
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RolePlayGateway?
Water splashed out of the sink and onto the green formica countertops, forming a small puddle that oozed at the edge of the basin. Sol watched the streaming water from the faucet fill the cereal bowl he?d just put in the sink, turning the milk from white to a thin, translucent color. A few flakes of puffed rice bobbed on the surface, then spilled over into the drain.
?There?s my handsome son.? Sol turned and looked over his shoulder at his mother. She stood there beaming at him as if he?d hung the moon, her frame shriveled with age and her grey hair dyed pale apricot in the fashion so many of the ladies in her Bingo league sported. ?Where you off to today, huh??
Sol looked down at the white undershirt he was wearing, the worn-in jeans, and the socks on his feet. ?I?m not going anywhere,? he said, but his confusion made the statement sound more like a question than a statement of fact. ?Where are you going??
His mother was in her ?good? pearls, which were really just her best looking fake ones. Though he was sure she had real jewelry stashed away somewhere, it seemed only to come out at weddings, funerals, and Bar Mitzvahs. A brocade pair of Moroccan slippers were on her little feet and a small handbag was clutched under her arm.
?Off to see the girls!? She winked, teeth flashing in a smile. ?And Doris is bringing her granddaughter. Maybe you want to go??
There was a suggestive tone to her voice, and it didn?t take a genius to figure out what she was implying. At least once a month since he?d moved back in with her, his mother had been trying to set him up with all her friend?s daughters and granddaughters. She was forgetting though; he?d already met Doris?s granddaughter, and the girl- while charming- was a charming nineteen year old. At thirty-two, he?d felt like a pervert all through a long, awkward dinner in which his mother and Doris tried to set him up with the teenager. He?d smiled politely, nodded at all the right times, and made sure not to make contact with her when passing the peas.
Sol felt his neck go slightly warm, but said nothing for a moment. He carefully deposited his cereal bowl into the dishwasher, then turned and gave his mother a quick kiss on her brow. ?Thanks, ma,? he told her. ?But no.?
He hurried out of the kitchen before the inevitable interrogation began, passing through the formal living room his mother kept spotless and down the stairs to the basement. The air became slightly cooler as he descended. Two doors led off to separate rooms, the left leading to his temporary bedroom, the right leading to a storage space his father had once used as a workshop. It still held all of his tools, perfectly in place on his peg board as if he was going to come back for them. Sol shook his head to himself and went into his room.
The cellphone on his side table was glowing. He?d missed a call and had a voice message. He flopped onto his bed and reached blindly for the phone, then dialed his own number. The message began to play.
?Hey, Sol. It?s me, Juanita. Hey, I was wondering if... Actually, I think we better talk about this in person. Will you call me back??
Sol looked down at the phone that was cradled in his hand and sighed. Call her, one part of him was saying. Return her call. The other part of him was screaming at him to delete Juanita?s number from his phone book and write her off altogether. It was time to get over it, the voice in his head said. He scrolled through his phone book and pondered her name, face contorted into a deep frown. His hand hovered over the button to delete her- if not from his life and memory, at least from his phone.
?Argh,? he sighed, and closed his eyes. His finger descended onto the button and the phone beeped. He opened his eyes and saw that she?d been deleted. Sol felt stunned, and he swallowed hard against the knot in his throat. It refused to go down, sticking to the inside of his throat like one of those bitter horse-pills. His fingers clenched the material of the blanket he was sitting on.
That was when the panic set in. What had he done? He didn?t know Juanita?s number by heart! How was he going to get it back if he needed to call her? He didn?t know any of her friend?s numbers. He didn?t even know where she lived anymore.
?Shit,? he hissed, putting his head in his hands.
?Sweetheart!? His mother?s voice rang down from upstairs. ?I?m going out! Dinner?s in the fridge!?
He heard the door open, then close; heard her key in the lock. Minutes passed, then Sol crossed the room to his computer. He pulled up the search engine, hands poised over the keys.
Up came a link to a small electronics shop.
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway
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Sunday, April 28, 2013
NKorea charges US man in plot to overthrow regime
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? North Korea announced Saturday that an American detained for nearly six months is being tried in the Supreme Court on charges of plotting to overthrow the government, a crime that could draw the death penalty if he is convicted.
The case involving Kenneth Bae, who has been in North Korean custody since early November, further complicates already fraught relations between Pyongyang and Washington following weeks of heightened rhetoric and tensions.
The trial mirrors a similar situation in 2009, when the U.S. and North Korea were locked in a standoff over Pyongyang's decision to launch a long-range rocket and conduct an underground nuclear test. At the time, North Korea had custody of two American journalists, whose eventual release after being sentenced to 12 years of hard labor paved the way for diplomacy following months of tensions.
Bae was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, according to official state media. In North Korean dispatches, Bae, a Korean American, is called Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spelling of his Korean name.
The exact nature of his alleged crimes has not been revealed, but North Korea accuses Bae, described as a tour operator, of seeking to overthrow North Korea's leadership.
"In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Saturday. "His crimes were proved by evidence. He will soon be taken to the Supreme Court of the DPRK to face judgment."
DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. No timing for the verdict issued at the austere Supreme Court in Pyongyang was given.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. government is "aware of reports that a U.S. citizen will face trial in North Korea" and that officials from the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang had visited Bae on Friday. She said she had no other information to share.
Because Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations, the Swedish Embassy in North Korea represents the United States in legal proceedings.
Friends and colleagues described Bae as a devout Christian from Washington state but based in the Chinese border city of Dalian who traveled frequently to North Korea to feed the country's orphans.
At least three other Americans detained in recent years also have been devout Christians. While North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the regime.
Under North Korea's criminal code, crimes against the state can draw life imprisonment or the death sentence.
In 2009, American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to hard labor for trespassing and unspecified hostile acts after being arrested near the border with China and held for four months.
They were freed later that year to former President Bill Clinton, who flew to Pyongyang to negotiate their release in a visit that then-leader Kim Jong Il treated as a diplomatic coup.
Including Ling and Lee, Bae is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released.
"For North Korea, Bae is a bargaining chip in dealing with the U.S.," said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea. "The North will use him in a way that helps bring the U.S. to talks when the mood slowly turns toward dialogue."
As in 2009, Pyongyang is locked in a standoff with the Obama administration over North Korea's drive to build nuclear weapons.
Washington has led the campaign to punish Pyongyang for launching a long-range rocket in December and carrying out a nuclear test, its third, in February.
North Korea claims the need to build atomic weapons to defend itself against the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea and over the past two months has been holding joint military drills with South Korea that have included nuclear-capable stealth bombers and fighter jets.
Diplomats from China, South Korea, the U.S., Japan and Russia have been conferring in recent weeks to try to bring down the rhetoric and find a way to rein in Pyongyang before a miscalculation in the region sparks real warfare.
South Korean defense officials said earlier in the month that North Korea had moved a medium-range missile designed to strike U.S. territory to its east coast.
The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war because the three-year Korean conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.
___
Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee in Pyongyang; Sam Kim and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Tom Strong in Washington contributed to this report. Follow Lee, AP's Korea bureau chief, at www.twitter.com/newsjean and Sam Kim at www.twitter.com/SamKim_AP.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-charges-us-man-plot-overthrow-regime-185113441.html
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Saturday, April 27, 2013
US tourists swim for 14 hours after boat sinks
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) ? The fishing trip off the rugged north coast of St. Lucia was supposed to last all day, but about four hours into the journey, the boat's electric system crackled and popped.
Dan Suski, a 30-year-old business owner and information technology expert from San Francisco, had been wrestling a 200-pound marlin in rough seas with help from his sister, Kate Suski, a 39-year-old architect from Seattle. It was around noon April 21.
He was still trying to reel in the fish when water rushed into the cabin and flooded the engine room, prompting the captain to radio for help as he yelled out their coordinates.
It would be nearly 14 hours and a long, long swim before what was supposed to be a highlight of their sunny vacation would come to an end.
As the waves pounded the boat they had chartered from the local company "Reel Irie," more water flooded in. The captain threw life jackets to the Suskis.
"He said, 'Jump out! Jump out!'" Kate Suski recalled in a telephone interview Thursday with The Associated Press.
The Suskis obeyed and jumped into the water with the captain and first mate. Less than five minutes later, the boat sank.
The group was at least eight miles (13 kilometers) from shore, and waves more than twice their size tossed them.
"The captain was telling us to stay together, and that help was on its way and that we needed to wait," Kate Suski said.
The group waited for about an hour, but no one came.
"I was saying, 'Let's swim, let's swim. If they're coming, they will find us. We can't just stay here,'" she recalled.
As they began to swim, the Suskis lost sight of the captain and first mate amid the burgeoning swells. Soon after, they also lost sight of land amid the rain.
"We would just see swells and gray," Dan Suski said.
A plane and a helicopter appeared in the distance and hovered over the area, but no one spotted the siblings.
Several hours went by, and the sun began to set.
"There's this very real understanding that the situation is dire," Kate Suski said. "You come face-to-face with understanding your own mortality ... We both processed the possible ways we might die. Would we drown? Be eaten by a shark?"
"Hypothermia?" Dan Suski asked.
"Would our legs cramp up and make it impossible to swim?" the sister continued.
They swam for 12 to 14 hours, talking as they pushed and shivered their way through the ocean. Dan Suski tried to ignore images of the movie "Open Water" that kept popping into his head and its story of a scuba-diving couple left behind by their group and attacked by sharks. His sister said she also couldn't stop thinking about sharks.
"I thought I was going to vomit I was so scared," she said.
When they finally came within 30 feet (9 meters) of land, they realized they couldn't get out of the water.
"There were sheer cliffs coming into the ocean," she said. "We knew we would get crushed."
Dan Suski thought they should try to reach the rocks, which they could see in the moonlight, but his sister disagreed.
"We won't survive that," she told him.
They swam until they noticed a spit of sand nearby. When they got to land, they collapsed, barely able to walk. It was past midnight, and they didn't notice any homes in the area.
"Dan said the first priority was to stay warm," she recalled.
They hiked inland and lay side by side, pulling up grass and brush to cover themselves and stay warm. Kate Suski had only her bikini on, having shed her sundress to swim better. Dan Suski had gotten rid of his shorts, having recalled a saying when he was a kid that "the best-dressed corpses wear cotton."
They heard a stream nearby but decided to wait until daylight to determine whether the water was safe to drink.
As the sun came up, they began to hike through thick brush, picking up bitter mangoes along the way and stopping to eat green bananas.
"It was probably the best and worst banana I've ever had," Dan Suski recalled.
Some three hours later, they spotted a young farm worker walking with his white dog. He fed them crackers, gave them water and waited until police arrived, the Suskis said.
"We asked if he knew anything about the captain and mate," Kate Suski said. "He said he had seen the news the night before and they hadn't been found at that time. I think we felt a sense of tragedy that we weren't prepared for."
The Suskis were hospitalized and received IV fluids, with doctors concerned they couldn't draw blood from Kate Suski's arm because she was so dehydrated. They also learned that the captain and mate were rescued after spending nearly 23 hours in the water, noting that their relatives called and took care of them after the ordeal.
St. Lucia's tourism minister called it a miracle, and the island's maritime affairs unit is investigating exactly what caused the boat to sink. Marine Police Sgt. Finley Leonce said they have already interviewed the captain, and that police did not suspect foul play or any criminal activity in the sinking of the ship.
A man who answered the phone Thursday at the "Reel Irie" company declined to comment except to say that he's grateful everyone is safe. He said both the captain and first mate were standing next to him but that they weren't ready to talk about the incident.
The brother and sister said they don't blame anyone for the shipwreck.
"We are so grateful to be alive right now," Kate Suski said. "Nothing can sort of puncture that bubble."
Upon returning to their hotel in St. Lucia earlier this week, the Suskis were upgraded to a suite as they recover from cuts on their feet, severe tendonitis in their ankles from swimming and abrasions from the lifejackets.
"It's really been amazing," Dan Suski said. "It's a moving experience for me."
On Saturday, they plan to fly back to the U.S. to meet their father in Miami.
Once a night owl, Kate Suski no longer minds getting up early for flights, or for any other reason.
"Since this ordeal, I've been waking up at dawn every morning," she said. "I've never looked forward to the sunrise so much in my life."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-tourists-swim-14-hours-boat-sinks-011652250.html
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The Week That Was: Mad Money's Facelift
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Wabash Valley Correctional Facility Honors Crime Victims
The Indiana Department of Transporatation re-opened State Road 154 in Sullivan County Friday morning....
A local woman who ran the Boston Marathon is doing something to honor those injured and killed in the attack.? Majel Wells has organized a Memorial 1-mile Run/Walk for It is taking place at...
Relatives of the Valley couple accused of stealing nearly $100,000 in taxpayer money are speaking out. Jefferson Township Trustee Frank Mejean and his wife Antonnette, the township clerk, face...
An energy company is looking to drill in parts of the Valley. Thursday, Adler Energy, a Michigan based company, addressed the community of?Terre Town in Terre Haute. ...
The Beauty Bar is a new store that carries a line of California-based products called Beauty Society. Everything is sulfate and paraben free, vegan and environmentally friendly and made in the U.S....
Our Old National Bank and Junior Achievement MVP of the Week is Casey Moody. Casey is a sophomore at North Knox High School. He plays football, wrestles and is the captain of his school's of...
Playing cards made at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility are helping solve Indiana cold cases.The Indiana Department of Correction has partnered with Indiana State Police and the Police to...
Men in heels and women in work boots walked a mile around the Greene County Courthouse, and it was for an important cause.The second annual 'Walk a Mile in Their Shoes' was sponsored by the Greene...
Collaboration was key to identifying - and finding - the suspects in last week's Boston bombings, and a Vincennes University professor/retired FBI agent says law enforcement and everyday can learn...
It may seem that asteroids are approaching the earth with more regularity, but that's actually not the case. Advances in technology and scientific research have made them easier to spot, and...
Source: http://mywabashvalley.com/fulltext?nxd_id=306382
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Friday, April 26, 2013
Iron Man 3 now available in Google Play
Iron Man 3 flies his way to Android, grab it for free from Google Play
Gameloft has published Iron Man 3 to Google Play this morning, bringing the Marvel hero to life on your Android phone or tablet. Fly your way through this endless runner meets on-rails shooter, fighting against A.I.M. forces in Malibu Shores, New York city, and China. You can even fight some of your favorite bad guys from Iron Man comics, with boss battles against the likes of Crimson Dynamo, Ezekiel Stane, Living Laser and the mighty M.O.D.O.K. All while trying to manage Stark Industries and develop 18 new suits and keep your armor and super powers updated.
At 768MB it's a fairly big install, but the graphics and sound are pretty awesome. And of course, there are in-app purchases at every turn, but hopefully the game can be played without nickel-and-diming its way through your wallet. We'll be taking a good long look at this one, but in the meantime you can check out Simon's hands-on from GDC after the break. The game requires Android 2.3 or higher, and you can grab it from the Google Play link above.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/BPG278uOnm0/story01.htm
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Slow Insurance Approvals Strand Mental Health Patients in ER ...
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on April 25, 2013
A significant problem regarding health care access involves obtaining hospital admission for those experiencing a mental health crisis.
The backlog in obtaining insurance approval for admission to a hospital bed is problematic for the patient in crisis, other emergency room patients and physicians.
A research letter to be published in the May issue of the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine argues that pre-authorization process is akin to health care ?rationing by hassle factor.?
?An emergency department is just about the worst place for a psychiatric patient to wait for an inpatient bed, and yet that is exactly what the pre-authorization process forces on millions of these vulnerable people,? said senior author J. Wesley Boyd, M.D., Ph.D.
?The thousands upon thousands of hours emergency physicians spend obtaining prior authorization for admission to the hospital are hours we are not spending on direct patient care. Only Medicare does not require prior authorization for us to admit psychiatric patients to the hospital; maybe they are onto something.?
In the study, researchers recorded data on 53 patients ? most were in the emergency department because they were having suicidal thoughts.
Half of the authorization requests took under 20 minutes to be approved, but 10 percent of the patients? authorizations took an hour or more. Only one of the 53 patients? insurance carriers denied pre-authorization. There are approximately 2.5 million psychiatric admissions to hospitals every year in the U.S.
?Psychiatric care is really the poor stepchild in the world of insurance coverage,? said lead author Amy Funkenstein, M.D., of Brown University in Providence, R.I..
?Insurance carriers reimburse poorly and as a consequence, hospitals often have inadequate resources for patients who urgently need this care. The situation is so dire that ERs are now being designed and configured to house psychiatric patients awaiting placement as inpatients. These patients deserve better.?
Source: American College of Emergency Physicians
Man waiting in the Emergency Room photo by shutterstock.
APA Reference
Nauert PhD, R. (2013). Slow Insurance Approvals Strand Mental Health Patients in ER. Psych Central. Retrieved on April 26, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/25/slow-insurance-approvals-strand-mental-health-patients-in-er/54083.html
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Safe Harbor Is Safe for Secure Lifetime Income Default Investments ...
The new frontier in US defined contribution (DC) plans involves qualified default investment alternatives (QDIAs) with a secure lifetime income component. Will such vehicles retain their safe-harbor protections? Yes.
That?s not just our opinion on this topic; it?s outlined in the October 24, 2007 Final Rule issued by the US Department of Labor (DOL), ?Default Investment Alternatives Under Participant Directed Individual Account Plans.?
The regulation clearly states that a vehicle that otherwise meets the QDIA requirements will not fail to be a QDIA merely because it?s offered through a variable annuity or similar contract, or makes available such features as annuity purchase rights, death benefits or investment guarantees. Consequently, such a vehicle preserves plan sponsors? fiduciary safe-harbor protection.
Whether lifetime income comes through a QDIA that has a target-date fund structure or a more individualized, managed-account format, the safe-harbor protection remains.
In the preamble to the Final Rule, the DOL notes, ?it is the view of the Department that the availability of annuity purchase rights, death benefit guarantees, investment guarantees or other features common to variable annuity contracts will not themselves affect the status of a fund, product or portfolio as a qualified default investment alternative when the conditions of the regulation are satisfied.?
DOL Encourages Innovation for Better Retirement Outcomes
The DOL often provides guidance to help improve DC plans for better retirement outcomes for workers. We believe that was the case with the Department?s recently issued ?tips??for plan sponsors in selecting target-date funds. February?s tips encouraged plan sponsors to inquire whether a custom or nonproprietary target-date fund would be a better fit for their plan than an off-the-shelf strategy.
Like customization, lifetime income is an innovation that seeks better retirement outcomes?the reason plan sponsors incorporate it within a DC plan?s qualified default. Research, surveys and studies all beat the drum about the damaging effects of behavioral pitfalls that stymie most DC plan participants from achieving good retirement savings results.
It?s likely that Congress understood this when it passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006. So, the 2007 Final Rule?s preamble underscores a desire to provide guidance to the retirement industry that?s ?sufficiently flexible to accommodate future innovations and developments in retirement products.?
In all likelihood, the DOL will provide additional guidance that will encourage DC plans to add lifetime income options and the Department will continue to clarify its message as guaranteed lifetime income QDIAs gain momentum. But the intention is already clear: help Americans achieve better retirement outcomes?for as long as they live.
?Target date? in a fund?s name refers to the approximate year when a participant expects to retire and begin withdrawing from his or her account. Target-date funds gradually adjust their asset allocation, lowering risk as participants near retirement. Investments in target-date funds are not guaranteed against loss of principal at any time, and account values can be more or less than the original amount invested?including at the time of the fund?s target date. Also, investing in target-date funds does not guarantee sufficient income in retirement.
The views expressed herein do not constitute research, investment advice or trade recommendations and do not necessarily represent the views of all AllianceBernstein portfolio-management teams.
Daniel A. Notto is Senior Retirement Plan Counsel at AllianceBernstein.
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Virginia State student deaths renew debate over hazing abuse
The apparent drowning deaths of two Virginia State University freshmen are refocusing attention on the role of college and university officials in curbing a culture of hazing and abuse on campus.
Former FAMU percussionist Caleb Jackson (l.) looks toward his family in court last week in Orlando, Fla. Mr. Jackson pleaded 'no contest' in the 2011 fatal hazing of drum major Robert Champion. Eleven other former Florida A&M band members are still facing manslaughter and felony hazing charges. Now, another hazing case at a university ? this one in Virginia ? is drawing attention.
Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/AP
EnlargeThe apparent hazing death of two Virginia State University (VSU) students has renewed the debate over universities? responsibility to combat hazing abuse.
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In Virginia's Chesterfield County, police have charged four men, including two VSU students, with hazing after two students drowned in the Appomattox River on April 20 as part of an initiation rite for the social club Men of Honor, which is not a school-sanctioned group. One suspect is still at large.
Seven VSU students reportedly tried to use a ?human chain? to cross the rushing rapids of the rain-swollen Appomattox River around midnight Sunday. A witness told local NBC affiliate WAVY that the water level rose to their chests, and the current swept away freshmen Marvell Edmondson and Jauwan Holmes. The evening was reportedly the culmination of a week-long pledging and hazing process for the group. Police recovered Mr. Edmondson's body on Monday and are still looking for Mr. Holmes.
Historically black colleges and universities like VSU have struggled with a long tradition of hazing centered on physical abuse. But recent tragedies, including the November 2011 death of Robert Champion, a drum major in Florida A&M University?s celebrated marching band, have brought national attention to the issue, ratcheting up pressure for schools to take stronger action to discourage the practice.
?We?re going to see an increasing number of administrators losing jobs" over hazing issues, says Ricky Jones, professor of pan-African studies at the University of Louisville in Kentucky and author of the book ?Black Haze: Violence, Sacrifice, and Manhood in Black Greek-Letter Fraternities.? "When these people start to lose their jobs, there?s going to be greater professional and institutional attention paid to" the problem.
At FAMU, Mr. Champion was beaten as part of a hazing ritual and died soon after. His death was ruled a homicide. In the wake of his death, the band?s director retired, university President James Ammons resigned, and the marching band was suspended indefinitely.
In a statement released Monday, VSU officials say they ?are confident that no sanctioned VSU student organizations were involved in this tragic incident.? But university spokesman Thomas Reed says the school was aware of Men of Honor. It seems likely that this group was ?mimicking black Greek-letter fraternities? in its hazing practices, Professor Jones says.
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Thursday, April 25, 2013
Role of vital proteins in allergic reactions, other conditions
Apr. 25, 2013 ? Itchy eyes, scratchy throat, running nose--it's allergy season! What triggers these allergic reactions, and how do allergy medications work?
The outer surface of many of our cells, including those in the airways, has a protein called the H1 receptor. This protein attaches to histamine, an organic compound involved in immune responses. In some people, the binding triggers allergic reactions, such as hay fever or food and pet allergies. Antihistamine drugs work by preventing histamine from attaching to H1 receptors.
H1 receptors belong to a special family of proteins called G protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs. Scientists estimate that there are about 800 different types of GPCRs in the membranes of our cells. Some are sensing molecules that let us see, smell and taste; others give us a boost after a few sips of coffee, make us retreat during a conflict or help fight off infection. GPCRs also are associated with diseases ranging from asthma to schizophrenia, and they are the target of more than a third of marketed drugs, including heart medications and antidepressants.
Yet GPCRs' structures--key to understanding how they work and to designing more effective drugs--have remained relatively hidden from view. Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have given us a peek at some of them, and the improved methods these scientists have developed could reveal lots more structures in the near future.
Structural Clues
Labs around the world have tried for years to obtain detailed images of human GPCRs because the precise, three-dimensional arrangement of a protein's atoms provides important details about how a protein interacts with its natural partner molecules in the body or with drug molecules. But the structures of membrane proteins, including GPCRs, are as difficult to determine as they are valuable to understand.
One challenge is that GPCRs are exceedingly flimsy and fragile when not anchored within their native cell membranes. This makes it very hard to coax them to form crystals so that their structures can be determined through X-ray crystallography.
Right now, we know the structures of about 1 percent of all human GPCRs, and researchers are using two key approaches to generate and study more. Stanford University's Brian Kobilka, who shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on GPCRs, is among the scientists who are focusing on specific GPCRs to better understand how they function and interact with other molecules, including drugs.
Other scientists, such as Raymond Stevens at The Scripps Research Institute, are taking a complementary approach to get structures that represent each of the major branches of the GPCR family tree. Knowing more about one member could enable scientists to computationally model the others.
GPCR
In addition to the H1 histamine receptor, some of the key structures that the Stevens group and its collaborators, including Kobilka and other scientists around the world, have solved using the family tree approach include the:
? ?2 adrenergic receptor, or the molecular "fight or flight" switch.
? A2A adenosine receptor, sometimes called the "caffeine receptor."
? CXCR4 chemokine receptor, which has been linked to more than 20 types of cancer.
?D3 dopamine receptor, which plays a vital role in the central nervous system, affecting our movement, cognition and emotion.
? Kappa opioid receptor, a protein on the surface of brain cells that is centrally involved in pleasure as well as in pain, addiction, depression, psychosis and related conditions.
Technical Breakthroughs
What was the game-changing technical breakthrough that has made determining these structures possible?
"I'm always asked that question," says Stevens, "and the answer is that there wasn't just one breakthrough, there were about 15 separate developments by several different investigators around the world, each breakthrough critically needed in combination with one another, and they came together after a long time."
Some of these breakthroughs have improved researchers' ability to produce and purify GPCRs in quantities sufficient for crystallization. Other breakthroughs have been aimed at stabilizing GPCRs, making them more crystallizable and holding them in a specific structural conformation. Scientists continue to improve other methods, including the ability to model new GPCR structures from known ones.
These developments have had an enormous impact on furthering our understanding of GPCRs, and they should lead to new insights on biological processes and aid progress in drug discovery.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NIH, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/7jU6qt4OqNY/130425103157.htm
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Ubuntu 13.04 available Thursday, brings a streamlined footprint to the forefront
From an end user's perspective, it's always nice to see developers take a step back and focus on streamlining their code, rather than simply piling on new features. Apple used the strategy to great success with Snow Leopard, and now Canonical is set to follow suit with Raring Ringtail, also known as Ubuntu 13.04. The latest version of the popular Linux distro is set for general availability tomorrow, which follows a beta release and a controversial amount of secrecy. Raring Ringtail is characterized as "the fastest and most visually polished Ubuntu experience to date," with a particular emphasis on a smaller memory footprint and greater responsiveness. Much of the streamlining effort was in preparation for Ubuntu's future life in mobile, and to coincide with that effort, developers will find a preview SDK for app development and the ability to test apps within the MIR display server. The release is now a mere hours away, and yes, it'll be a good day.
[Image credit: WebUpd8]
Filed under: Software
Source: Ubuntu
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
PFT: Chiefs, Dolphins reportedly still talking Albert
Getty ImagesAs this year?s crop of incoming players, especially those taken in the first two rounds, celebrate their new circumstances, they need to keep one thing in mind.
Several months from now, there?s a chance they will think those circumstances stink.
Rams running back Isaiah Pead fell right into that category last season, despite being the 50th overall pick in the 2012 draft.? Presumed to be the heir apparent to Steven Jackson, Pead became largely forgotten last year, sliding behind seventh-rounder Daryl Richardson.
?Honestly, I would call it miserable,? Pead said of his rookie season, via the University of Cincinnati official website. ?Miserable life.? Miserable four-five months.?
When the season finally ended, Pead packed up and left.
?I took off and I didn?t come back until it was time to,? Pead said.? ?I just wanted to stay out of this area, I came back for a couple days to pack up then all the memories and walking back into my house by myself, had a couple days by myself, I just needed to get out of that area.?
Pead is partially responsible for his misery.? He didn?t deal well with being demoted behind a guy taken 202 spots later, showing up late for a pair of meetings.
?I was literally fed up with football,? Pead said.? ?Not a quitter, not quitting, I was just tired of football.? Tired of practice for the day and I would just lay there play video games and whatnot because it was so miserable, so stressful.?
With a fresh opportunity coming from the departure of Jackson, Pead is ready to turn the page.
?Whole new era, whole new attitude, whole new team, whole new Pead,? Pead said. ??I?m not going to sit and linger on something, but I am one to not forget about a situation.? I am moving on from last year, last year is last year, but I have not forgot about last year.? I wouldn?t call it revenge, but the chip that I put on my shoulder is just a little bigger.?
He needs to perform more than a little better to erase the head start that Richardson earned in 2012.? While Pead finished with 10 carries for 54 yards, Richardson had 98 carries for 475 yards.
Pead also needs to hope the Rams don?t use one of their high draft picks on a rookie who?ll get a chance to in 2013 that which Pead couldn?t in 2012.
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Baby sea turtles and flipper-driven robot reveal principles of moving on sand
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
For sea turtle hatchlings struggling to reach the ocean, success may depend on having flexible wrists that allow them to move without disturbing too much sand. A similar wrist also helps a robot known as "FlipperBot" move through a test bed, demonstrating how animals and bio-inspired robots can together provide new information on the principles governing locomotion on granular surfaces.
Both the baby turtles and FlipperBot run into trouble under the same conditions: traversing granular media disturbed by previous steps. Information from the robot research helped scientists understand why some of the hatchlings they studied experienced trouble, creating a unique feedback loop from animal to robot ? and back to animal.
The research could help robot designers better understand locomotion on complex surfaces and lead biologists to a clearer picture of how seat turtles and other animals like mudskippers use their flippers. The research could also help explain how animals evolved limbs ? including flippers ? for walking on land.
The research is scheduled to be published April 24 in the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) Program, the U.S. Army Research Office, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
"We are looking at different ways that robots can move about on sand," said Daniel Goldman, an associate professor in the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "We wanted to make a systematic study of what makes flippers useful or effective. We've learned that the flow of the materials plays a large role in the strategy that can be used by either animals or robots."
The research began in 2010 with a six-week study of hatchling loggerhead sea turtles emerging at night from nests on Jekyll Island, one of Georgia's coastal islands. The research was done in collaboration with the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.
Nicole Mazouchova, then a graduate student in the Georgia Tech School of Biology, studied the baby turtles using a trackway filled with beach sand and housed in a truck parked near the beach. She recorded kinematic and biomechanical data as the turtles moved in darkness toward an LED light that simulated the moon.
Mazouchova and Goldman studied data from the 25 hatchlings, and were surprised to learn that they managed to maintain their speed regardless of the surface on which they were running.
"On soft sand, the animals move their limbs in such a way that they don't create a yielding of the material on which they're walking," said Goldman. "That means the material doesn't flow around the limbs and they don't slip. The surprising thing to us was that the turtles had comparable performance when they were running on hard ground or soft sand."
The key to maintaining performance seemed to be the ability of the hatchlings to control their wrists, allowing them to change how they used their flippers under different sand conditions.
"On hard ground, their wrists locked in place, and they pivoted about a fixed arm," Goldman explained. "On soft sand, they put their flippers into the sand and the wrist would bend as they moved forward. We decided to investigate this using a robot model."
That led to development of FlipperBot, with assistance from Paul Umbanhowar, a research associate professor at Northwestern University. The robot measures about 19 centimeters in length, weighs about 970 grams, and has two flippers driven by servo-motors. Like the turtles, the robot has flexible wrists that allow variations in its movement. To move through a track bed filled with poppy seeds that simulate sand, the robot lifts its flippers up, drops them into the seeds, then moves the flippers backward to propel itself.
Mazouchova, now a Ph.D. student at Temple University, studied many variations of gait and wrist position and found that the free-moving mechanical wrist also provided an advantage to the robot.
"In the robot, the free wrist does provide some advantage," said Goldman. "For the most part, the wrist confers advantage for moving forward without slipping. The wrist flexibility minimizes material yielding, which disturbs less ground. The flexible wrist also allows both the robot and turtles to maintain a high angle of attack for their bodies, which reduces performance-impeding drag from belly friction."
The researchers also noted that the robot often failed when limbs encountered material that the same limbs had already disturbed. That led them to re-examine the data collected on the hatchling turtles, some of which had also experienced difficulty walking across the soft sand.
"When we saw the turtles moving poorly, they appeared to be suffering from the same failure mode that we saw in the robot," Goldman explained. "When they interacted with materials that had been previously disturbed, they tended to lose performance."
Mazouchova and Goldman then worked with Umbanhowar to model the robot's performance in an effort to predict how the turtle hatchlings should respond to different conditions. The predictions closely matched what was actually observed, closing the loop between robot and animal.
"The robot study allowed us to test how principles applied to the animals," Goldman said.
While the results may not directly improve robot designs, what the researchers learned should contribute to a better understanding of the principles governing movement using flippers. That would be useful to the designers of robots that must swim through water and walk on land.
"A multi-modal robot might need to use paddles for swimming in water, but it might also need to walk in an effective way on the beach," Goldman said. "This work can provide fundamental information on what makes flippers good or bad. This information could give robot designers clues to appendage designs and control techniques for robots moving in these environments."
The research could ultimately provide clues to how turtles evolved to walk on land with appendages designed for swimming.
"To understand the mechanics of how the first terrestrial animals moved, you have to understand how their flipper-like limbs interacted with complex, yielding substrates like mud flats," said Goldman. "We don't have solid results on the evolutionary questions yet, but this certainly points to a way that we could address these issues."
###
Nicole Mazouchova, Paul B. Umbanhowar and Daniel I. Goldman, "Flipper-driven terrestrial locomotion of a sea turtle-inspired robot, (Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 2013).
Georgia Institute of Technology: http://www.gatech.edu
Thanks to Georgia Institute of Technology for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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EV Grieve: Citi Bikes docking stations arrive at NYU
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