ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) ? A Florida highway near Gainesville reopened on Monday, more than 30 hours after a horrific pileup that left ten people dead, according to the state Highway Patrol.
The pre-dawn crash on I-75 on Sunday involved a dozen cars and seven trucks that piled up as fog and smoke blanketed the roadway and dramatically limited visibility, Florida Highway Patrol said.
The pileup left ten people dead and at least 18 injured. Some of the vehicles involved caught fire in a blaze that melted the asphalt, while other cars were crumpled or jammed under tractor trailers, it said.
The Interstate reopened at about at 11 a.m. Monday, it said.
Prior to the crash, authorities closed portions of the roadway due to limited visibility, but subsequently reopened it, according to Robert Gordon, a Highway Patrol spokesman.
Authorities were investigating a marsh fire in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park on Saturday that contributed to the smoky conditions on the highway. They are seeking to determine if it was an accidental blaze or started intentionally, said Ludie Bond of the Florida Forest Service.
At least 10 of the injured victims remained hospitalized on Monday. Six of them had been admitted to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville in critical condition.
(Reporting by Barbara Liston, Editing By Ellen Wulfhorst and Paul Thomasch)
Oxygen molecule survives to enormously high pressuresPublic release date: 30-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Jian Sun jian.sun@theochem.rub.de 49-234-322-2121 Ruhr-University Bochum
Physical Review Letters: Oxygen as insulator, semiconductor, and metal
Using computer simulations, a RUB researcher has shown that the oxygen molecule (O2) is stable up to pressures of 1.9 terapascal, which is about nineteen million times higher than atmosphere pressure. Above that, it polymerizes, i.e. builds larger molecules or structures. "This is very surprising" says Dr. Jian Sun from the Department of Theoretical Chemistry. "Other simple molecules like nitrogen or hydrogen do not survive such high pressures." In cooperation with colleagues from University College London, the University of Cambridge, and the National Research Council of Canada, the researcher also reports that the behaviour of oxygen with increasing pressure is very complicated. It's electrical conductivity first increases, then decreases, and finally increases again. The results are published in Physical Review Letters.
Weaker bonds, greater stability
The oxygen atoms in the O2 molecule are held together by a double covalent bond. Nitrogen (N2), on the other hand, possesses a triple bond. "You would think that the weaker double bond is easier to break than the triple bond and that oxygen would therefore polymerize at lower pressures than nitrogen" says Sun. "We found the opposite, which is astonishing at first sight."
Coming together when pressure increases
However, in the condensed phase when pressure increases, the molecules become closer to each other. The research team suggests that, under these conditions, the electron lone pairs on different molecules repel one another strongly, thus hindering the molecules from approaching each other. Since oxygen has more lone pairs than nitrogen, the repulsive force between these molecules is stronger, which makes polymerization more difficult. However, the number of lone pairs cannot be the only determinant of the polymerization pressure. "We believe that it is a combination of the number of lone pairs and the strength of the bonds between the atoms", says Sun.
The many structures of oxygen
At high pressures, gaseous molecules such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or nitrogen polymerize into chains, layers, or framework structures. At the same time they usually change from insulators to metals, i.e. they become more conductive with increasing pressure. The research team, however, showed that things are more complicated with oxygen. Under standard conditions, the molecule has insulating properties. If the pressure increases, oxygen metallises and becomes a superconductor. With further pressure increase, its structure changes into a polymer and it becomes semi-conducting. If the pressure rises even more, oxygen once more assumes metallic properties, meaning that the conductivity goes up again. The metallic polymer structure finally changes into a metallic layered structure.
Inside planets
"The polymerization of small molecules under high pressure has attracted much attention because it helps to understand the fundamental physics and chemistry of geological and planetary processes" explains Sun. "For instance, the pressure at the centre of Jupiter is estimated to be about seven terapascal. It was also found that polymerized molecules, like N2 and CO2, have intriguing properties, such as high energy densities and super-hardness." Dr. Jian Sun joined the RUB-research group of Prof. Dr. Dominik Marx as a Humboldt Research Fellow in 2008 to work on vibrational spectroscopy of aqueous solutions. In parallel to this joint work in "Solvation Science" he developed independent research interests into high pressure chemical physics as an Early Career Researcher.
###
Bibliographic record
J. Sun, M. Martinez-Canales, D.D. Klug, C.J. Pickard, R.J. Needs (2012): Persistence and eventual demise of oxygen molecules at terapascal pressures, Physical Review Letters, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.045503
Figure online
A figure related to this press release can be found online:
http://aktuell.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pm2012/pm00035.html.en
Further information
Dr. Jian Sun, Department of Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Ruhr-Universitt, 44780 Bochum, Tel.: 49-234-32-22121, jian.sun@theochem.rub.de
Click for more
Department of Theoretical Chemistry
http://www.theochem.rub.de/home.en.html
Editorial journalist
Dr. Julia Weiler
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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.
Oxygen molecule survives to enormously high pressuresPublic release date: 30-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Jian Sun jian.sun@theochem.rub.de 49-234-322-2121 Ruhr-University Bochum
Physical Review Letters: Oxygen as insulator, semiconductor, and metal
Using computer simulations, a RUB researcher has shown that the oxygen molecule (O2) is stable up to pressures of 1.9 terapascal, which is about nineteen million times higher than atmosphere pressure. Above that, it polymerizes, i.e. builds larger molecules or structures. "This is very surprising" says Dr. Jian Sun from the Department of Theoretical Chemistry. "Other simple molecules like nitrogen or hydrogen do not survive such high pressures." In cooperation with colleagues from University College London, the University of Cambridge, and the National Research Council of Canada, the researcher also reports that the behaviour of oxygen with increasing pressure is very complicated. It's electrical conductivity first increases, then decreases, and finally increases again. The results are published in Physical Review Letters.
Weaker bonds, greater stability
The oxygen atoms in the O2 molecule are held together by a double covalent bond. Nitrogen (N2), on the other hand, possesses a triple bond. "You would think that the weaker double bond is easier to break than the triple bond and that oxygen would therefore polymerize at lower pressures than nitrogen" says Sun. "We found the opposite, which is astonishing at first sight."
Coming together when pressure increases
However, in the condensed phase when pressure increases, the molecules become closer to each other. The research team suggests that, under these conditions, the electron lone pairs on different molecules repel one another strongly, thus hindering the molecules from approaching each other. Since oxygen has more lone pairs than nitrogen, the repulsive force between these molecules is stronger, which makes polymerization more difficult. However, the number of lone pairs cannot be the only determinant of the polymerization pressure. "We believe that it is a combination of the number of lone pairs and the strength of the bonds between the atoms", says Sun.
The many structures of oxygen
At high pressures, gaseous molecules such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or nitrogen polymerize into chains, layers, or framework structures. At the same time they usually change from insulators to metals, i.e. they become more conductive with increasing pressure. The research team, however, showed that things are more complicated with oxygen. Under standard conditions, the molecule has insulating properties. If the pressure increases, oxygen metallises and becomes a superconductor. With further pressure increase, its structure changes into a polymer and it becomes semi-conducting. If the pressure rises even more, oxygen once more assumes metallic properties, meaning that the conductivity goes up again. The metallic polymer structure finally changes into a metallic layered structure.
Inside planets
"The polymerization of small molecules under high pressure has attracted much attention because it helps to understand the fundamental physics and chemistry of geological and planetary processes" explains Sun. "For instance, the pressure at the centre of Jupiter is estimated to be about seven terapascal. It was also found that polymerized molecules, like N2 and CO2, have intriguing properties, such as high energy densities and super-hardness." Dr. Jian Sun joined the RUB-research group of Prof. Dr. Dominik Marx as a Humboldt Research Fellow in 2008 to work on vibrational spectroscopy of aqueous solutions. In parallel to this joint work in "Solvation Science" he developed independent research interests into high pressure chemical physics as an Early Career Researcher.
###
Bibliographic record
J. Sun, M. Martinez-Canales, D.D. Klug, C.J. Pickard, R.J. Needs (2012): Persistence and eventual demise of oxygen molecules at terapascal pressures, Physical Review Letters, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.045503
Figure online
A figure related to this press release can be found online:
http://aktuell.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pm2012/pm00035.html.en
Further information
Dr. Jian Sun, Department of Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Ruhr-Universitt, 44780 Bochum, Tel.: 49-234-32-22121, jian.sun@theochem.rub.de
Click for more
Department of Theoretical Chemistry
http://www.theochem.rub.de/home.en.html
Editorial journalist
Dr. Julia Weiler
[ | 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.
DAWEI, Myanmar (Reuters) ? Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on Sunday for changes to the military-drafted constitution in her first political trip since ending a boycott of the country's political system last year and announcing plans to run for parliament.
Thousands of people lined the roads shouting "Long live mother Suu" as her motorcade moved through the rural coastal region of Dawei about 615 km (380 miles) south of her home city,
Yangon, the main business centre.
The trip, only her fourth outside Yangon since her release from years of house arrest in November 2010, demonstrates the increasingly central role of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as the Southeast Asian state emerges from half a century of isolation.
"There are certain laws which are obstacles to the freedom of the people and we will strive to abolish these laws within the framework of the parliament," Suu Kyi said to cheers from supporters after meeting officials of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in Dawei.
The NLD, though well known in the country, has had limited real political experience. It won by a landslide a 1990 election, a year after Suu Kyi began a lengthy period of incarceration, but the then regime ignored the result and detained many party members and supporters.
The NLD boycotted the next election, held in 2010 and won by a military-backed party after opposition complaints of rigging.
Her address on Sunday offered the most extensive detail yet of the policies she would bring to parliament.
In particular, she said she wanted to revise a 2008 army-drafted constitution that gives the military wide-ranging powers, including the ability to appoint key cabinet members, take control of the country in a state of emergency and occupy a quarter of the seats in parliament.
"We need to amend certain parts of the constitution," she said, adding the international community was poised to help Myanmar "once we are on an irreversible road to democracy."
She also said fighting between government soldiers and ethnic minority rebels had to be resolved. There has been heavy fighting recently in Kachin state but rebellions have simmered in many other regions since independence from Britain in 1948.
"Diversity is not something to be afraid of, it can be enjoyed," Suu Kyi said.
Although she has not started to campaign formally for the April 1 by-elections, the speech outside her office to supporters waving party flags and wearing T-shirts showing her face felt like a campaign stop.
"She's becoming more and more explicitly political and talking about the importance of policies," said a diplomat in the crowd. "I think it is the best speech I have heard from her."
"GREAT TRANSFORMATION"
Suu Kyi and her allies are contesting 48 seats in various legislatures including the 440-seat lower house in by-elections that could give political credibility to Myanmar and help advance the end of Western sanctions.
Business executives, mostly from Asia, have swarmed into Yangon in recent weeks to hunt for investment opportunities in the country of an estimated 60 million people, one of the last frontier markets in Asia.
Myanmar is also at the centre of a struggle for strategic influence as the United States sees a chance to expand its ties there and balance China's fast-growing economic and political sway in the region.
The visit to Dawei gives rural voters a rare glimpse of 66-year-old Suu Kyi, a symbol of defiance whose past trips outside Yangon were met with suspicion and violence by the former junta, which handed power to a nominally civilian parliament in March.
But many of the same generals who dominated the junta now lead a government on a dramatic reform drive, freeing hundreds of political prisoners, loosening media controls, calling for peace with ethnic insurgents and openly engaging with Suu Kyi and other opposition figures.
As a result, this trip was very different to one last July to Bagan, north of Yangon, where she was trailed by undercover police and kept a low profile, fearful of a repeat of an attack on her motorcade in 2003 in which 70 supporters were killed.
Suu Kyi told the World Economic Forum in Davos last week that Myanmar had not yet reached its "great transformation," but the elections in April could bring that point closer.
Many believe the turning point for Suu Kyi came on August 19, when she and President Thein Sein met in the capital, Naypyitaw. The president has since repeatedly urged parliament to pursue reforms, while Suu Kyi has voiced support for his government.
Many Burmese speculate that a senior government role, possibly even a cabinet post, awaits Suu Kyi, the daughter of assassinated independence hero General Aung San.
But to get there, much work lies ahead.
Her party has limited resources. Its headquarters are cramped and crumbling. Its senior ranks are filled with ageing activists. And there are questions over how much influence it can wield in a year-old parliament stacked with military appointees and former generals.
Her supporters, however, say her presence would bring a powerful pro-democracy voice to a chamber where many members remain reluctant to speak their mind.
"She will be able to do more inside the parliament than if she remained on the outside. There are some crucial things to do urgently concerning ethnic issues and political changes," said Ko Htin Kyaw, a dissident who was arrested in 2007 and freed in an amnesty this month.
(Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Energized by two recent debates and powered by a campaign war chest that?s allowed him to blanket the state with ads attacking Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney has surged in late polling.
In the final days and hours before the Republican primary in South Carolina, Newt Gingrich surged ahead in the polls, leaving Mitt Romney scrambling to make the best of an increasingly losing situation. Romney got shellacked in that race, losing to Gingrich by nearly 13 points.
Skip to next paragraph
Going into Florida, the next big contest and one that?s worth more convention delegates than all three of the previous races combined, the reverse has happened.
Energized by his more aggressive performance in two Florida debates, and powered by a campaign war chest that?s allowed him to blanket the state?s media markets with attack ads, Romney has surged in late polling.
A survey by the Tampa Bay Times, the Miami Herald, and two Florida TV stations has Romney ahead, 42 percent to 31 percent. Public Policy Polling finds ?strong movement away from Newt Gingrich and toward Mitt Romney.? PPP?s latest poll (out Saturday) gives Romney an eight-point edge (40-32).?An NBC/Marist poll released Sunday gives Romney a 15-point lead (42-27).
?It's clear that the negative attacks on Gingrich have been the major difference maker over the last week,? reports PPP. ?His net favorability has declined 13 points in just five days. Romney has pretty much stayed in place.?
Gingrich got what could be important backing over the weekend from two tea party superstars ? Sarah Palin and Herman Cain. Palin in particular has been trying to counter the sharp anti-Gingrich assertions of such establishment Republicans as former Sen. Bob Dole, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Sen. John McCain, who (referencing Romney?s great wealth) calls Gingrich a ?desperate candidate who attacks someone who succeeds in the free-enterprise system.?
RECOMMENDED:?Herman Cain and Sarah Palin: Do they still have political clout?
Although she hasn?t officially endorsed Gingrich (as Cain has), Palin is firing back?on Fox News and social media.?
?We have witnessed something very disturbing this week,? Palin writes in a Facebook message headlined ?Cannibals in GOP Establishment Employ Tactics of the Left.? ?The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent.?
That opponent, she goes on, is Newt Gingrich ? the man who ?brought the Reagan Revolution into the 1990s.?
Money is a major factor in the Florida race for Republican primary votes, and it?s clear that Romney has the advantage. Huffington Post political reporter Paul Blumenthal lays out the scene:
?The biggest spender in Florida ? the most expensive state in the Republican primary to date ? has been the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future. Run by a trio of former Romney advisers, the group has spent $10.7 million in the state. The vast majority of that ? $9.9 million ? has gone into a barrage of ads, on television and radio, and direct mail attacking Gingrich. That's more than double what pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future is spending in Florida.?
On the Sunday TV talk shows, Gingrich called that ?carpet bombing,? and he accused Romney of flat out lying, both in this past week?s two debates in Florida and in his campaign ads.
?I don?t know how you debate a person when he stands there and blatantly just doesn?t tell the truth,? Gingrich said on Fox News Sunday. "He just tries to tear down whoever he's running against, and it has an effect.?
?We're in a very tough campaign down here,? Gingrich said. That?s a point on which all can agree.
Election 101: Ten questions about Newt Gingrich as a presidential candidate
All of new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins' fresh ideas will apparently still be revealed to the company's board in a couple of weeks, but he's already dropped some gems in interviews with the Wall Street Journal and Reuters (update: and Bloomberg). First item on the agenda? Getting current users upgraded to the latest and greatest BlackBerry hardware. Citing internal statistics that indicate 80- to 90- percent of the company's customer base aren't running BlackBerry 7 hardware yet, it will work closely with US carriers to promote upgrades until the new BB10 devices hit later this year. There's no word on what the carrier deals include, but he hinted at device or preloaded app bundles. He also promised an LTE version of the PlayBook would arrive this spring, with LTE connected handsets also planned for the BlackBerry 10 lineup. Is that enough to turn around RIM's fortunes in the US, where he acknowledged the company is "a turnaround candidate"? We'll find out, but as obvious as the need to placate the already BBM-addicted may be, execution of the plan is everything.
LONDON (Reuters) ? British police arrested four current and former staff of Rupert Murdoch's best-selling Sun tabloid plus a policeman on Saturday as part of an investigation into suspected payments by journalists to officers, police and the newspaper's publisher said.
Police also searched the paper's London offices at publisher News International, News Corp's British arm, in a corruption probe linked to a continuing investigation into phone hacking at its now closed News of the World weekly tabloid.
News Corp's Management and Standards Committee, set up in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, said Saturday's operation was the result of information it had passed to police.
"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated," the committee said in a statement confirming the arrests of four "current and former employees" of the Sun.
The committee is conducting a lawyer-led internal review of News International's remaining titles, which also include The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers, as part of a drive to mend the reputational damage done by the phone hacking scandal.
The committee's investigation into The Sun was "well advanced," News International chief executive Tom Mockridge said in an email sent to staff.
"News International is confronting past mistakes and is making fundamental changes about how we operate which are essential for our business.
"Despite this very difficult news, we are determined that News International will emerge a stronger and more trusted organization," he added.
News International was providing legal support for the four arrested "colleagues," Mockridge said.
The arrests included The Sun's crime editor Mike Sullivan, its head of news Chris Pharo, and former deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.
Also arrested was the paper's former managing editor Graham Dudman, now a columnist and media writer, the source said.
Police said a 48-year-old man from north London and two other men from Essex, east of London, aged 48 and 56, were arrested at their homes. The fourth man, aged 42, was arrested after reporting to an east London police station.
A Sun reporter, who asked not to be named, said: "Everyone is a bit shocked, there is disbelief really. But there is a big difference between phone hacking and payments to the police."
A 29-year-old policeman serving with the Met Police's Territorial Policing Command, was arrested at the central London police station where he worked.
All five were being questioned on suspicion of corruption.
OPERATION ELVEDEN
Police searched the arrested men's homes as well as The Sun's offices in Wapping, east London.
Thirteen people have now been arrested over allegations that journalists paid police in return for information.
Their detentions are part of Operation Elveden - one of three criminal investigations into news-gathering practices.
Last week, News International settled a string of legal claims after it admitted that people working for the tabloid had hacked in to the private phones of celebrities and others to find stories.
The phone hacking scandal drew attention to the level of political influence held by editors and executives at News International, and other newspapers in Britain.
It embarrassed British politicians for their close ties with newspaper executives and also the police, who repeatedly failed to investigate allegations of illegal phone hacking.
(Additional reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Ben Harding)
THURSDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers who identified a new genetic signature associated with bile duct cancer say their discovery could lead to targeted treatment for the deadly cancer.
The team at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center screened samples from 287 patients with gastrointestinal tumors and found that growth-enhancing mutations in two genes (IDH1 and IDH2) may account for nearly one-fourth of bile duct tumors that develop in the liver.
Mutations in IDH1 were found in 13 percent of all bile duct tumors and in 23 percent of those within the liver itself. Mutations in IDH2 were less common.
It may be possible to develop drugs that target this mutation in order to control tumor growth, they said.
The findings were published online in The Oncologist.
Bile duct cancer occurs in a duct that carries bile from the liver to the small intestine.
"Patients with bile duct cancer have a generally poor prognosis. Most of them are diagnosed with advanced or metastatic disease, so surgical resection [removal] is not feasible," study co-senior author Dr. Andrew Zhu, director of Liver Cancer Research at the MGH Cancer Center, said in a hospital news release.
"Identifying this new and relatively common mutation in intrahepatic [within the liver] bile duct cancer may have significant implications for the diagnosis, prognosis and therapy of patients whose tumors harbor this mutation," Zhu added.
Currently, there are no drugs that target IDH mutations, but extensive efforts are underway to develop such drugs, the researchers say.
Each year in the United States, 12,000 people are diagnosed with cancers of the gallbladder and bile duct, but only 10 percent of those cancers are discovered early enough for successful surgical treatment. Average survival, even with chemotherapy, is less than a year.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about bile duct cancer.
?Make thousands stuffing envelopes!? Unique work at home business opportunity!?
It?s statements like these which often lead to bogus business opportunities that have spurred the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into taking action to protect people who think they?re buying a legitimate business. Called the Business Opportunity Rule, this new requirement states that any individual who sells a business opportunity to another is required to disclose more information than in the past.
A business opportunity is simply a comprehensive business investment that lets the buyer start a business immediately. It?s ?out of the box,? so to speak. It?s different from a franchise.? A franchise is a business opportunity, but not all?business opportunities?are franchises, says Joel Libava, author of Become a Franchise Owner.
?Sometimes, people confuse a franchise business opportunity with a business opportunity, or bizopp. The major differences include upfront costs, (which are almost always significantly lower with a bizopp) support, and? the rules. In a business opportunity, there aren?t that many rules to follow as an owner. Business opportunities are generally looser in nature; you buy the opportunity, learn how to run the business, and then you?re pretty much free to market it and run it as you wish.?
What?s Required if You SELL Business Opportunities to Others
Anyone selling a business opportunity or bizopp must now provide information on a one-page disclosure document (PDF file)?at least seven days before the buyer pays money or signs a document. The seller must state the following:
Whether legal action has ever been taken against the seller
Whether there is a cancellation or refund policy for the business transaction
Any earnings claims that the buyer will earn a specific amount of money through the bizopp
References for the seller
Because of the rising number of business opportunity scams over the past few years, the FTC wanted to step up the measures taken to ensure the safety of buyers.
If you?re selling a business opportunity, understand that this new rule is meant to help you and the buyer perform a smooth transaction. Here are some tips to minimize the stress on your end:
Never make unsubstantiated claims. Be prepared to back up any income potential your business opportunity can provide.
Offer a refund or cancellation policy. It?s good business. Outline what the stipulations are for the buyer to be able to cancel.
Stay in contact with your buyers so you can use them for references down the road. Even if you don?t promise support in your contract, it?s good customer service to be available should your buyer have questions.
What You Need to Know if You Are BUYING a Business Opportunity
If you are buying or considering buying a business opportunity, then know that the Business Opportunity Rule is to designed to help protect you from potentially bogus deals. Armed with the information the seller is required to give you, you should be able to get a better sense of whether a deal is legitimate. If it?s not, you now have ammunition for legal proceedings.
Pay attention to the earnings claims. In the past, companies have claimed that you could retire off of what you make stuffing envelopes, or make thousands of dollars off a work from home opp. These claims must now be substantiated in writing, and the buyer must list how much other buyers have made, and where they were located (since results may vary depending on many factors).
?The revised Business Opportunity Rule is long overdue,? says Libava, ?The most positive change has to do with research. Business opportunity buyers will now have access to a list provided by the business opportunity seller of at least 10 people who have bought their business opportunity. And, if fewer than 10 people have bought the business opportunity, every person that?s bought it must be listed.?
Libava says that buyers should know that they will have to sign a document stating that the buyer can share their personal contact information with future buyers.
Here are more tips to ensure you find a trustworthy business opportunity from the Business Opportunity blog:
Ensure that the seller has filled out the disclosure document thoroughly, and has provided supporting documents.
Contact the references the seller lists and ask questions about their experiences with the business opportunity.
Look for bizopps that illustrate how you?ll make the money, rather than drawing you in with promises of ?big financial rewards.
You can read the complete Business Opportunity Rule document on the FTC website. The Rule will go into effect March 1, 2012.
Viruses con bacteria into working for themPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Denise Brehm brehm@mit.edu 617-253-8069 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Co-evolution of guest and host lets a virus control its host's machinery
MIT researchers have discovered that certain photosynthetic ocean bacteria need to beware of viruses bearing gifts: These viruses are really con artists carrying genetic material taken from their previous bacterial hosts that tricks the new host into using its own machinery to activate the genes, a process never before documented in any virus-bacteria relationship.
The con occurs when a grifter virus injects its DNA into a bacterium living in a phosphorus-starved region of the ocean. Such bacteria, stressed by the lack of phosphorus (which they use as a nutrient), have their phosphorus-gathering machinery in high gear. The virus senses the host's stress and offers what seems like a helping hand: bacterial genes nearly identical to the host's own that enable the host to gather more phosphorus. The host uses those genes, but the additional phosphorus goes primarily toward supporting the virus' replication of its own DNA.
Once that process is complete (about 10 hours after infection), the virus explodes its host, releasing progeny viruses back into the ocean where they can invade other bacteria and repeat this process. The additional phosphorus-gathering genes provided by the virus keep its reproduction cycle on schedule.
In essence, the virus (or phage) is co-opting a very sophisticated component of the host's regulatory machinery to enhance its own reproduction something never before documented in a virus-bacteria relationship.
"This is the first demonstration of a virus of any kind even those heavily studied in biomedical research exploiting this kind of regulatory machinery in a host cell, and it has evolved in response to the extreme selection pressures of phosphorus limitation in many parts of the global oceans," says Sallie (Penny) W. Chisholm, a professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) and biology at MIT, who is principal investigator of the research and co-author of a paper published in the Jan. 24 issue of Current Biology. "The phage have evolved the capability to sense the degree of phosphorus stress in the host they're infecting and have captured, over evolutionary time, some components of the bacteria's machinery to overcome the limitation."
Chisholm and co-author Qinglu Zeng, a CEE postdoc, performed this research using the bacterium Prochlorococcus and its close relative, Synechococcus, which together produce about a sixth of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. Prochlorococcus is about one micron in diameter and can reach densities of up to 100 million per liter of seawater; Synechococcus is only slightly larger and a bit less abundant. The viruses that attack both bacteria, called cyanophages, are even more populous.
The bacterial mechanism in play is called a two-component regulatory system, which refers to the microbe's ability to sense and respond to external environmental conditions. This system prompts the bacteria to produce extra proteins that bind to phosphorus and bring it into the cell. The gene carried by the virus encodes this same protein.
"Both the phage and bacterial host have the genes that produce the phosphorus-binding proteins, and we found they can both be up-regulated by the host's two-component regulatory system," says Zeng. "The positive side of infection for bacteria is that they will obtain more phosphorus binders from the phage and maybe more phosphorus, although the bacteria are dying and the phage is actually using the phosphorus for its own ends."
In 2010, Chisholm and Maureen Coleman, now an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, demonstrated that the populations of Prochlorococcus living in the Atlantic Ocean had adapted to the phosphorus limitations of that environment by developing more genes specifically related to the scavenging of phosphorus. This proved to be the sole difference between those populations and their counterparts living in the Pacific Ocean, which is richer in phosphorus, indicating that the variation is the result of evolutionary adaptation to the environment.
The new research indicates that the phage that infect these bacteria have evolved right along with their hosts.
"These viruses the most abundant class of viruses that infect Prochlorococcus have acquired genes for a metabolic pathway from their host cells," says Professor David Shub a biologist at the State University of New York at Albany. "These sorts of genes are usually tightly regulated in bacteria, that is they are turned into RNA and protein only when needed by the cell. However, genes of these kinds in viruses tend to be used in a strictly programmed manner, unresponsive to changes in the environment. Now Zeng and Chisholm have shown that these particular viral genes are regulated by the amount of phosphate in their environment, and also that they use the regulatory proteins already present in their host cells at the time of infection. The significance of this paper is the revelation of a very close evolutionary interrelationship between this particular bacterium and the viruses that seek to destroy it."
"We've come to think of this whole system as another bit of evidence for the incredible intimacy of the relationship of phage and host," says Chisholm, whose next steps are to explore the functions of all of the genes these marine phage have acquired from host cells to learn more about the selective pressures that are unique to the phage-host interactions in the open oceans. "Most of what we understand about phage and bacteria has come from model microorganisms used in biomedical research," says Chisholm. "The environment of the human body is dramatically different from that of the open oceans, and these oceanic phage have much to teach us about fundamental biological processes."
###
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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.
Viruses con bacteria into working for themPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Denise Brehm brehm@mit.edu 617-253-8069 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Co-evolution of guest and host lets a virus control its host's machinery
MIT researchers have discovered that certain photosynthetic ocean bacteria need to beware of viruses bearing gifts: These viruses are really con artists carrying genetic material taken from their previous bacterial hosts that tricks the new host into using its own machinery to activate the genes, a process never before documented in any virus-bacteria relationship.
The con occurs when a grifter virus injects its DNA into a bacterium living in a phosphorus-starved region of the ocean. Such bacteria, stressed by the lack of phosphorus (which they use as a nutrient), have their phosphorus-gathering machinery in high gear. The virus senses the host's stress and offers what seems like a helping hand: bacterial genes nearly identical to the host's own that enable the host to gather more phosphorus. The host uses those genes, but the additional phosphorus goes primarily toward supporting the virus' replication of its own DNA.
Once that process is complete (about 10 hours after infection), the virus explodes its host, releasing progeny viruses back into the ocean where they can invade other bacteria and repeat this process. The additional phosphorus-gathering genes provided by the virus keep its reproduction cycle on schedule.
In essence, the virus (or phage) is co-opting a very sophisticated component of the host's regulatory machinery to enhance its own reproduction something never before documented in a virus-bacteria relationship.
"This is the first demonstration of a virus of any kind even those heavily studied in biomedical research exploiting this kind of regulatory machinery in a host cell, and it has evolved in response to the extreme selection pressures of phosphorus limitation in many parts of the global oceans," says Sallie (Penny) W. Chisholm, a professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) and biology at MIT, who is principal investigator of the research and co-author of a paper published in the Jan. 24 issue of Current Biology. "The phage have evolved the capability to sense the degree of phosphorus stress in the host they're infecting and have captured, over evolutionary time, some components of the bacteria's machinery to overcome the limitation."
Chisholm and co-author Qinglu Zeng, a CEE postdoc, performed this research using the bacterium Prochlorococcus and its close relative, Synechococcus, which together produce about a sixth of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. Prochlorococcus is about one micron in diameter and can reach densities of up to 100 million per liter of seawater; Synechococcus is only slightly larger and a bit less abundant. The viruses that attack both bacteria, called cyanophages, are even more populous.
The bacterial mechanism in play is called a two-component regulatory system, which refers to the microbe's ability to sense and respond to external environmental conditions. This system prompts the bacteria to produce extra proteins that bind to phosphorus and bring it into the cell. The gene carried by the virus encodes this same protein.
"Both the phage and bacterial host have the genes that produce the phosphorus-binding proteins, and we found they can both be up-regulated by the host's two-component regulatory system," says Zeng. "The positive side of infection for bacteria is that they will obtain more phosphorus binders from the phage and maybe more phosphorus, although the bacteria are dying and the phage is actually using the phosphorus for its own ends."
In 2010, Chisholm and Maureen Coleman, now an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, demonstrated that the populations of Prochlorococcus living in the Atlantic Ocean had adapted to the phosphorus limitations of that environment by developing more genes specifically related to the scavenging of phosphorus. This proved to be the sole difference between those populations and their counterparts living in the Pacific Ocean, which is richer in phosphorus, indicating that the variation is the result of evolutionary adaptation to the environment.
The new research indicates that the phage that infect these bacteria have evolved right along with their hosts.
"These viruses the most abundant class of viruses that infect Prochlorococcus have acquired genes for a metabolic pathway from their host cells," says Professor David Shub a biologist at the State University of New York at Albany. "These sorts of genes are usually tightly regulated in bacteria, that is they are turned into RNA and protein only when needed by the cell. However, genes of these kinds in viruses tend to be used in a strictly programmed manner, unresponsive to changes in the environment. Now Zeng and Chisholm have shown that these particular viral genes are regulated by the amount of phosphate in their environment, and also that they use the regulatory proteins already present in their host cells at the time of infection. The significance of this paper is the revelation of a very close evolutionary interrelationship between this particular bacterium and the viruses that seek to destroy it."
"We've come to think of this whole system as another bit of evidence for the incredible intimacy of the relationship of phage and host," says Chisholm, whose next steps are to explore the functions of all of the genes these marine phage have acquired from host cells to learn more about the selective pressures that are unique to the phage-host interactions in the open oceans. "Most of what we understand about phage and bacteria has come from model microorganisms used in biomedical research," says Chisholm. "The environment of the human body is dramatically different from that of the open oceans, and these oceanic phage have much to teach us about fundamental biological processes."
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Underwhelmed by the ZTE tablet spotted yesterday? Perhaps the promise of a Honeycomb-decked seven-incher from Sprint will win your tablet hungry dollars. Advertising materials leaked over at Android Police, revealing that the previously unseen slab will arrive next month both on contract ($100) and off ($349). The 1.2GHz dual-core Optik wields a 5 megapixel camera on the back, paired with a front-facing 2 megapixel shooter, while there's a respectable chunk of storage (16GB), expandable by microSD. Although there may be more eye-opening propositions when it comes Android tabs, those on the hunt for one that won't claim a heavy chunk of your paycheck and still pack some respectable technical specs may have found an interesting new contender.
NEW YORK ? Sears continues its ascent as the improbable top performer for the year on the Standard & Poor's 500 index, defying a string of bad news, macabre earnings reports and rumors that lenders would cut off financing for suppliers.
Shares of Sears Holdings Corp. have jumped an astounding 61 percent this year, another 6 percent Monday, lighting up financial blogs with investors unable to figure out what has gotten into the stock, driving it ever closer to a 52-week high.
Credit Suisse on Monday said it had the answer: Short sellers who can't get out of the way fast enough.
The report comes on the heels of a rumor that Chairman Eddie Lampert would buy the company and take it private.
And the stock keeps rising, up $3.20 to $45.20 Monday, perhaps even turning on its head news that had previously jolted the value of the iconic retailer. There were reports Thursday that CIT Group Inc. may begin approve financing for Sears' suppliers ? just days after several published reports claimed that CIT had begun cutting them off.
That was two days after shares surged on filing reports showing that Lampert had snapped up $159 million in stock, which suggested to some that he was taking the company private. He owns about 59 percent of the company's shares.
Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter is calling it a short squeeze. In other words, investors who may have shorted the stock, hoping to make a killing when shares fell even further, are now being forced to buy more stock in order to protect themselves from what, at the moment, seems to be a mistaken bet against Sears.
As for the future of the company, Credit Suisse did not mesh words.
"There are four days you do not want to own this stock and those are the four quarterly earnings days," Balter wrote. "Other than those, this stock seems to live off of stories, with the latest being that a leveraged buyout is ahead."
That, Balter said, is unlikely, "given the poor positioning of both Sears and Kmart."
In November, Sears posted a worse-than expected third-quarter report, citing poor electronics sales and lackluster clothing sales at Kmart. Last month, after a disastrous holiday shopping season, Sears said it would close at least 100 stores to raise cash ? raising the specter that the end may be approaching for the 125-year-old retailer.
Balter is sticking by his "Underperform" rating. He has a $20 price target for the stock.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? For 15 years, New York-based Dutch photographer Jacqueline Hassink has been making her mark with global art projects, covering subjects as diverse as Haute Couture fitting rooms in Paris, the gardens of Kyoto and the boardrooms of Europe's leading corporations.
Magnum photographer Martin Parr declared Hassink's "The Table of Power" (1996), in which she photographed the boardrooms of 40 multinational companies, one of the most important photo books of the 20th century. Her new sequel "The Table of Power 2," revisits companies from the 2009 Fortune Global 500 list, documenting the impact of the economic downturn.
Hassink recently spoke to Reuters about "The Table of Power 2" and another book "View, Kyoto." Publisher Hatje Cantz released "The Table of Power 2" in Europe and Asia on January 17. D.A.P. will publish the book in the U.S. in March 2012..
Q: You made "The Table of Power" sixteen years ago. What drew you to this topic and why did you revisit the subject?
A: "I took part in a photography workshop in Oslo in 1993 and I was asked to pick a Norwegian book and choose one word to work with. I chose "table" in Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt." I projected this taxonomy as a map onto the city of Oslo, then looked for other tables in Norwegian society. That led to the idea of creating a map of Europe, by photographing its most potent meeting places: the meeting tables of the boards of directors of Europe's largest corporations. I wanted to reveal the centers of economic power, the meeting tables where top executives were seated, making decisions upon which millions of people depend. In 2008 with the onset of the worst recession since the 1930s, I decided to look once again at Europe's economic landscape."
Q: What do tables reflect in business and society?
A: "Tables symbolize the core of our society. They are a fascinating symbol of how we organize our private and public lives. Within families, tables show a hierarchy. The father heads the table and the mother sits closest to the kitchen. In corporations, boardroom tables represent a similar power play. CEOs usually sit at an oval or rectangular table at the head, or in the middle of the longest stretch. Ideally they face the entrance, which is the most secure place in the room."
Q: How does the value of these companies compare with 16 years ago?
A: "The top 40 in Europe in the first project had total revenues of $1,194,368.2 million. The top 40 from Europe in the second project had total revenues of $5,252,710.9 million.
Q: What else has changed in boardrooms since the last visit?
A: "The technology and the lack of ashtrays. Boardrooms can be highly complex these days with a lot of built-in technology. A striking new feature is the presence of BlackBerry trays."
Q: Which companies are still on the original list?
A: "BASF, BP, Daimler, EDF, ENI, Fiat, Nestl?, PSA Peugeot Citro?n, Royal Dutch Shell, Siemens, Total and Volkswagen. I only visited three companies twice -- ENI, Siemens, and Volkswagen -- where the same spokesperson accompanied me.
Q: Your project represents the first time in Europe that boardrooms have been photographed and made public. Do you consider this a journalistic endeavor?
A: "I consider it an artistic endeavor, simply because it is an artistic project and not a journalistic project."
Q: Why did you decide to include in "The Table of Power 2" the banks and financial institutions?
A: "Since major banks and financial service companies have played an enormous role in the economy's downward spiral, and thus our immediate social coexistence, they too were included in 'The Table of Power 2,' alongside industrial, multinational corporations. I simply observed the economic landscape of Europe in the year 2009, and I could not do the project without adding the banks nor not include Russian corporations in the project."
Q: Your work covers spiritual and material ideas, and you recently filmed the monks and their gardens in Kyoto. Why?
A: "My work develops over time. I travel extensively and ideas develop usually while traveling. Something catches my eye, which I observe in several continents. That is usually how a new body of work starts. I am interested in the relationship between private and public space in Zen Buddhist temples and gardens. I have been working with these monks since 2004 on a photography project called "View, Kyoto" and over time I have learned a lot from them. ... I talked with them about the meaning of space and their relationship to nature. As a person I have become more balanced. They taught me how to live life in a Buddhist way.
Q: What was your most challenging project?
A: "The hardest project was by far 'Arab Domains' (2005-06). Over two years I visited 18 Arab countries, portraying 36 top female executives. For almost every country I needed to get a visa and I traveled for weeks through the Middle East and North Africa."
Q: What are you working on?
A: "I just finished 'View, Kyoto' (2004-11) and I am making another film in Kyoto in 2012. In 2013, my book "View, Kyoto" will be published. I am planning to continue working on fashion world projects, like "Haute Couture Fitting Rooms, Paris" (2003-10) and a new project in China."
(Reporting by Liza Foreman; Editing By Bob Tourtellotte)
Last week, I had something not entirely unlike a a battle speech in the Golden Nuggets, prior to the game against the New Orleans Saints. There won't be anything like that today ... no theatrics, nothing. We're a team of destiny, and none of you need to get pumped up for this game. More than that, our San Francisco 49ers beat the New York Giants once before - this is business as usual, nothing more. I'm just going to get to your gameday links, and then get to sleep, with hopes of waking up just before kickoff. Here's the links, and as always, GO NINERS!
A quick look at the weather report for Sunday's NFC Championship Game (Examiner.com)
New York Defense Not As Intimidating As Some Say (SB Nation Bay Area)
49ers v. Giants, matchup to watch (SacBee.com)
The nation wants a Giants/Pats Super Bowl ... or do they? (BayAreaSportsGuy,com)
Giants finally arrive in S.F. after flight delay (CSNBayArea.com)
Easy to see why Smith is succeeding (ESPN.com)
Character-laden coach builds new 49ers identity (SFGate.com)
49ers fans are most overrated in the NFL (N.Y. Daily News) (PressDemocrat.com)
Ex-Giants WR Tyree sees red (and gold) at Empire State Building (NFL.com)
49ers-Giants: Matchups to watch (CSNBayArea.com)
Giants vs. 49ers: matchups (Yahoo.com)
Niners, Giants about to add to rich postseason rivalry (PressDemocrat.com)
Andrew Iupati making his mark (Scout.com)
Spencer's kindness strikes chord with lifelong 49ers fan (CSNBayArea.com)
Underdog fight (49ers.com)
Being a Sheep
Be sure to follow @NinersNation on Twitter as well as on Facebook. You can follow SB Nation Bay Area on Twitter @sbnbayarea and also on Facebook. My personal Twitter is @ninnyjams.
If you're new here, you can register for a free account to participate in the discussion and create your own fanposts here at Niners Nation and across our entire network of 300+ sports blogs.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Here's the big question, of course: Would "American Idol" judge Steven Tyler have gotten through to the next round?
Judging by the audience reaction that could be heard during his performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" before Sunday's AFC Championship game -- were those really boos for the Aerosmith legend? -- maybe not.
Tyler's rendition was off-key in places, screechy in most others and he messed up a lyric -- it's "the bombs bursting in air," not "as bomb bursting in air." Though he does get rock star fashion points for the festive scarf he was sporting to support his team, the AFC champion New England Patriots.
You can check out video of the performance at the link below and decide: would you give Tyler a golden ticket to Hollywood based on his national anthem performance?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The United States said on Friday it was appealing a World Trade Organization ruling against U.S. dolphin-safe labeling measures for tuna in a longrunning spat with Mexico closely watched by environmentalists.
"Our dolphin-safe labeling measures for tuna products provide information for American consumers as they make food purchasing decisions for their families," said Andrea Mead, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative.
"Our decision to appeal the WTO ruling in this case demonstrates the commitment of the United States to our dolphin-safe labeling measures," Mead said in a statement.
Under the United States' dolphin-safe labeling provisions, producers of tuna products - whether foreign or domestic - have the option of labeling tuna products that meet the standards of the U.S. provisions as dolphin safe, USTR said.
One such condition, challenged by Mexico, is that the label cannot be used if dolphins are purposefully chased and encircled in order to catch tuna. Some Mexican fishing vessels use this method when fishing for tuna.
The United States has argued the matter should be addressed through dispute settlement proceedings of the North American Free Trade Agreement, rather than the WTO.
However, Mexico has preferred to go through the Geneva-based world trade body.
If the United States loses the appeal, it could require to amend its dolphin-safe labeling laws or face possible Mexican trade sanctions.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer, Editing by Doina Chiacu)
(Image: Ray Bertram, Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona)
Despite its huge 8.4-metre diameter, this mirror being cast inside the University of Arizona's giant red furnace is only the second of seven such reflectors being made for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT).
The mirror was cast this week in the underground mirror-making lab that sits beneath the university's football stadium. To form the challenging off-centre shape of the reflector, 21 tonnes of borosilicate glass is heated to 1170 ?C and the furnace spins it into a parabolic honeycomb pattern. The cells of glass in the pattern are hollow, allowing the mirror to be lighter and more easy cooled to night-time temperatures, avoiding heat distortion.
With a total optical area of 24.5 metres, the GMT promises images 10 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope, but don't hold your breath: the telescope is scheduled to be finished in "about 10 years", and the first mirror has taken seven years to polish to perfection. Thanks to this practice, the mirror makers estimate that it will only take a couple of years to polish off this one.
This undated photo provided by Wal-Mart, shows Sam's Club President and CEO Rosalind Brewer. Brewer was named Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 as President CEO of Sam's Club _ the first woman and the first African-American to hold a CEO position at one of the company's business units. She will report to CEO Mike Duke. The moves are effective Feb. 1, 2012.(AP Photo/Wal-Mart Strores Inc.)
This undated photo provided by Wal-Mart, shows Sam's Club President and CEO Rosalind Brewer. Brewer was named Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 as President CEO of Sam's Club _ the first woman and the first African-American to hold a CEO position at one of the company's business units. She will report to CEO Mike Duke. The moves are effective Feb. 1, 2012.(AP Photo/Wal-Mart Strores Inc.)
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) ? Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, said Friday that it has named Rosalind Brewer as CEO of Sam's Club ? the first woman and the first African-American to hold a CEO position at one of the company's business units.
Brewer, 49, is replacing Brian Cornell, 52, who is leaving the company so he can return to the Northeast for family reasons. He had served in the role since 2009.
Brewer, who will also be president of Sam's Club, was previously president of the retailer's U.S. East business unit. She will report to CEO Mike Duke. The moves are effective Feb. 1.
Wal-Mart has in recent years has been battered by a combination of the slow-growing economy and its own decisions that caused U.S. customers to flee to competitors. But it has refocused on offering the lowest prices and shoppers' favorite goods and that strategy has been paying off. In its third fiscal quarter ended Oct. 28, its net income fell 2.9 percent but it reversed a slump in U.S. namesake business.
Its Sam's Club warehouse club business ? which accounts for about 12 percent of Wal-Mart's annual sales ? has outperformed its namesake stores. Revenue in stores open at least one year rose 5.7 percent at Sam's Club and 1.3 percent at Walmart U.S. stores in its third quarter. The measure is a key gauge of a retailer's financial health.
In its most recent fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2011, Wal-Mart Stores operated 609 Sam's Clubs in 48 states and Puerto Rico with 47 million members.
Prior to joining Wal-Mart, Brewer held a number of executive positions at Kimberly-Clark Corp.
Wal-Mart also said Friday that it is promoting Gisel Ruiz, 41, to executive vice president and chief operating officer for its U.S. operations. Ruiz has been an executive vice president working on human relations and store innovation issues.
Wal-Mart is also promoting Rollin Ford, 49, to chief administrative officer. Ford was chief information officer. He will be replaced as CIO by Karenann Terrell, 50.
Wal-Mart shares rose 40 cents to $61.01 in afternoon trading Friday.
King cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) - the world's longest venomous snake (Image: Mark Laita)
Talk about taking risks in the name of art. In the course of his work photographing snakes, Mark Laita was recently bitten by a black mamba - one of the 10 most venomous land snakes in the world. Bites have been known to kill a human in under 30 minutes, but luckily for Laita it was a "dry" bite, where venom is not injected. In 2006 a bite killed an adult elephant. Laita says he didn't realise he'd even taken a photo of the mamba hanging off his leg until the next day. "It all happened so fast," he says.
A lucky escape (Image: Mark Laita)
Laita says he finds snakes so evocative and sensual that photographing them - in zoos, serpentariums, anti-venom labs and private collections - is worth the occasional close call. Like a snake charmer, he has come to understand snake behaviour, shooting about 50 images of each animal to achieve the best results.
If the photos help publicise the plight of reptiles, so much the better. In a review of snake populations around the world, Chris Reading at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK, and colleagues found that 11 of 17 populations of snakes studied plummeted between 1998 and 2002. In five populations the numbers were stable.
"The jury is still out regarding why populations of some snake species appear to be declining whilst others appear to be relatively stable," says Reading. However, habitat loss is probably to blame for the declining populations, with both climate change and direct destruction by humans likely causes. "Habitat loss will almost inevitably also have an effect on the prey species of many snakes and so this may be one of the main pathways resulting in some of the observed snake declines," he says.
For more of Mark Laita's snake images, see this week's magazine.
NEW YORK ? Morgan Stanley posted a fourth-quarter loss of $275 million Thursday, its first since early 2009, dragged down by the cost of a settlement over soured mortgage securities.
But the loss was far smaller than investors were expecting, and the company's stock was up 5 percent in the early afternoon. Morgan Stanley's loss was equivalent to 15 cents per share, versus the 43 cents analysts were predicting, according to FactSet.
The loss stemmed from Morgan Stanley's settlement last month with insurance company MBIA, an agreement that slashed earnings by 59 cents per share. MBIA had accused Morgan Stanley of being misleading about the quality of commercial mortgage-backed securities for which it bought insurance.
Morgan Stanley and other banks accused the insurer of restructuring itself to avoid paying the banks' claims. While the settlement took a deep hit on quarterly results, Morgan Stanley portrayed it as one of its final steps in cleaning up problems dating from the financial crisis.
"For the first time in two years, our to-do list is not our problem list," CEO James Gorman said in a call with analysts.
Glenn Schorr, an analyst at Nomura Equity Research, said that Morgan Stanley's earnings were better than expected, excluding the MBIA-related loss, and its stock trading fell less than at other banks. Overall, Schorr said, Morgan Stanley is "making progress cleaning up legacy issues" but "is still a work in progress."
Like its peers, Morgan Stanley has been trimming expenses and cutting jobs as the economy continues to struggle. It shed about 700 employees last year, or about 1 percent of its workforce, bringing its total down to about 61,900 at year's end, and more jobs cuts are on the way.
The bank says it is examining expenses rigorously, cutting back on travel and looking at all costs, from Bloomberg terminals to consultants. It's also considering restructuring plans that could include outsourcing some technology functions or consolidating legal units.
Even so, the average compensation Morgan Stanley paid for the year was $265,000, up from about $255,000 the year before. The bank said this was related to its transition to defer bigger portions of some workers' bonuses.
The bank has also capped the amount that workers can get in their bonus immediately: Anything over $125,000 will be deferred.
Morgan Stanley's main rival, Goldman Sachs, made even deeper cuts, slashing its work force 7 percent and its compensation 21 percent. That pushed Goldman's stock up 7 percent on Wednesday, even though it also announced a 30 percent drop in quarterly revenue.
Morgan Stanley is also figuring out how to redefine itself as new government regulations crimp former sources of revenue, including certain complicated investment vehicles. New rules will also require banks to hold more capital.
Revenue fell 26 percent from a year ago to $5.7 billion. The institutional securities unit, which helps clients with investment banking services like packaging securities and raising capital, reported a 42 percent decline in revenue.
Though investment banking is always volatile, the risks are more pronounced at Morgan Stanley. Unlike some of its rivals, like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley doesn't have a large consumer deposit base to rely on when its investment bank stumbles. Some customers, the bank said, held off on deal-making over the year because of turbulence in financial markets brought on by Europe's debt crisis.
Porat said on the conference call that uncertainty about Europe was a "big cloud" over earnings growth. However, Gorman added that he didn't buy into the "hysteria" around concerns over European countries' debt obligations.
"Europe is more likely than not to resolve itself," Gorman said, though he added it would require "a couple of years, not a couple of weeks."
Gorman, who became CEO two years ago, has been slimming down the bank, selling off units like a mortgage servicing division and an asset management business. He's been emphasizing divisions like wealth management, which provide smaller returns than some investment banking operations used to but also carry a lot less risk because they're based on fees rather than markets.
Despite those efforts, Morgan Stanley's wealth management unit struggled in the quarter. Revenue fell 3 percent and profit fell 20 percent for the unit, which offers financial planning for wealthy individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. Asset management, which manages investment portfolios, also reported lower revenue and profits, thanks in part to souring investments in real estate.
Morgan Stanley's stock jumped 5 percent in the early afternoon to $18.27.
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Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
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Last week, I had something not entirely unlike a a battle speech in the Golden Nuggets, prior to the game against the New Orleans Saints. There won't be anything like that today ... no theatrics, nothing. We're a team of destiny, and none of you need to get pumped up for this game. More than that, our San Francisco 49ers beat the New York Giants once before - this is business as usual, nothing more. I'm just going to get to your gameday links, and then get to sleep, with hopes of waking up just before kickoff. Here's the links, and as always, GO NINERS!
(Image: Ray Bertram, Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona)
King cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) - the world's longest venomous snake (Image: Mark Laita)
A lucky escape (Image: Mark Laita)