|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 16:36:52 GMT 4
Post by galaxygirl on Mar 9, 2009 16:36:52 GMT 4
Nod . . . you are right. This kind of behavior needs to stop and these dudes need to know they've crossed over the line. I'm really glad that you have taken STRONG action, that Dan and the Team are on top of it, and that Towhorn has an inside track in the US that could help. Interesting that this appears on International Women's Day . . . tells me that there is something synchronistic happening here. Stay STRONG, Sista GG
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 19:35:05 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 9, 2009 19:35:05 GMT 4
Novel electric signals in plantsEurekAlert Public Release: 9-Mar-2009www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/mpif-nes030909.phpElectrodes are inserted through stomata (small pores in the leaf surface regulating evaporation and gas exchange; dark green) into the inner leaf tissue. This way, electrical processes can be measured. Credit: Drawing: Justus Liebig University, H. FelleUsing ion-selective micro-electrodes electrical signals in plants moving from leaf to leaf could be measured. The speed of the signals spreading as voltage changes over cell membranes ranged from 5 to 10 cm per minute. The scientists discovered this new kind of electrical signal transmission system by applying a novel method: Filamentary electrodes were inserted through open stomata directly into the inner leaf tissue and then placed onto the cell walls (see picture). Stomata are microscopically small openings in the leaf surface which plants facilitate regulating evaporation and gas exchange. The scientists found out that the new electrical signal they called "system potential" was induced and even modulated by wounding. If a plant leaf is wounded, the signal strength can be different and can be measured over long distances in unwounded leaves, depending on the kind and concentration of added cations (e.g. calcium, potassium, or magnesium). It is not the transport of ions across cell membranes that causes the observed changes in voltage transmitted from leaf to shoot and then to the next leaf, but the activation of so-called proton pumps. "This is the reason why the "system potential" we measured cannot at all be compared to the classic action potential as present in nerves of animals and also in plants", says Hubert Felle from Gießen University. Action potentials follow all-or-none characteristics: they are activated if a certain stimulus threshold is reached and then spread constantly. The "system potential", however, can carry different information at the same time: The strength of the inducing stimulus (wound signal) can influence the amplitude of the systemic signal as well as the effect of different ions. "We may be on the trail of an important signal transmission system that is induced by insect herbivory. Within minutes the whole plant is alerted and the plant's defense against its enemy is activated", says Axel Mithöfer from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena. The novel "system potential" was detected in five different plant species, among them agricultural crops like tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), maize (Zea mays), barley (Hordeum vulgare), and field bean (Vicia faba). Original Publication: M. R. Zimmermann, H. Maischak, A. Mithöfer, W. Boland, H. H. Felle: System potentials, a novel electrical long-distance apoplastic signal in plants, induced by wounding. Plant Physiology 149, 1593-1600 (2009).
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 19:55:19 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 9, 2009 19:55:19 GMT 4
Hebrew University scientist develop technique for eliminating reblockage of arteriesEurekAlert Public Release: 9-Mar-2009www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/thuo-hu030909.phpJerusalem – An easily implementable technique to avoid reblockage of arteries that have been cleared through angioplasty and stent insertion has been developed by researchers led by Prof. Boris Rubinsky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Angioplasty is the "gold-standard" treatment for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), which is the result of abrupt interruption in blood supply to part of the beating heart, usually due to plaque-rupture in an atherosclerotic (hardened) coronary artery. In angioplasty, a cardiologist dilates the blocked artery by inserting a balloon that is inflated at the point of blockage. This is usually followed by coronary stent implantation to protect the artery and prevent restenosis (reocclusion or reblockage). However, the procedure damages the arterial wall, and therefore restonosis of the dilated artery remains a major clinical problem in cardiology, as well as in other fields of clinical medicine. Since heart disease remains the leading cause of mortality in the western world, the technique developed by Prof. Rubinsky's research teams offer a highly valuable tool for dealing with cardiology patients. Prof. Rubinsky is the director of the Center for Bioengineering in the Service of Humanity and Society at the Rachel and Selim Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a professor in the graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. The technique employs the biophysical phenomenon of irreversible electroporation (IRE). IRE destroys cells within seconds, using very short electric field pulses. It causes no damage to structures other than the cells themselves. Compared with other technologies for local destruction of cells and tissue, IRE is simple and does not require special training of the medical team. In IRE, electrical fields are applied across targeted cells, penetrating the cell membranes, This process leads to cell death, since the electrical fields cause permanent damage to the membranes and the consequent loss of cell stability. The electrical fields damage only the cell membranes, with no collateral damage to other structures in the treated area. While the phenomenon of irreversible electroporation was known for decades, a team led by Prof. Rubinsky developed a new mode of application that affects only selected molecules in tissue, and as a consequence it has become only recently rigorously considered in medicine for various applications of tissue removal. In an article published March 9 in the journal PLoS ONE, Prof. Rubinsky's team demonstrated that IRE can efficiently, safely and quickly destroy the cells responsible for the restenosis phenomenon in rats. In the study, IRE successfully destroyed almost all of those cells in less than 23 seconds, with no damage to any other structures. Clinical trials on humans for restenosis treatment are planned in the near future. IRE has been recently used for the first time on human subjects in Melbourne, Australia, for the treatment of prostate, liver and lung tumors. Clinical trials for follow-up through IRE of angioplasty treatments are planned for the near future. Prof. Jay Lavee, head of the heart transplant unit at the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, is cooperating with Prof. Rubinsky in development of the IRE technique for heart patients. Here is the PLoS ONE article:Non Thermal Irreversible Electroporation: Novel Technology for Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Ablationwww.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004757
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 20:29:24 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 9, 2009 20:29:24 GMT 4
Substantial undercooling brings about microstructural change for ternary eutectic alloyEurekAlert Public Release: 9-Mar-2009www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/sicp-sub030909.phpThe Department of Applied Physics, Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) in Xi'an, China-Research, has shown that the substantial undercooling of liquid state brings about novel microstructural transition for Al-Cu-Si ternary eutectic alloy. The study is reported in Issue 54 (January, 2009) of Chinese Science Bulletin because of its significant research value. Al¡VCu¡VSi alloy is widely applied in industry mainly as a light construction material. It is also a promising material for applications such as engine block and cylinder heads. It is important for designers to have an intimate knowledge of how Al¡VCu-Si alloy solidifies because its mechanical performance is usually controlled by solidification mechanism and microstructural characteristics. However, so far there has been little research on its rapid solidification mechanism under the extremely nonequilibrium condition. In this work, Al80.4Cu13.6Si6 eutectic alloy was undercooled up to 147 K (0.18TE). Generally speaking, under the conventional solidification condition, a liquid aluminium alloy can be hardly undercooled because of oxidation. Dr. Ruan and Prof. Wei made it realized by choosing dehydrated B2O3 agent as a denucleating agent and providing a high-vacuum environment and special melting processing. In addition, the experimental parameters, such as cooling rate, superheating, and holding time, were controlled in order to get a wider undercooling range for comparison. The undercooling level of alloy melt has a strong effect on its crystallization kinetics, structure morphology, and final physical and chemical properties. This study presents the microstructural characteristics of highly undercooled Al80.4Cu13.6Si6 ternary eutectic alloys. So far, most investigations on eutectic growth focus on binary alloy systems. The rapid solidification of undercooled ternary alloys involves the competitive nucleation and coupled growth of three eutectic phases from one liquid phase, which makes it more complicated than the case of binary alloys. The authors showed that the phase selection of Al80.4Cu13.6Si6 ternary eutectic alloy is influenced by undercooling, which makes the competitive nucleation and cooperative growth among ƒÑ(Al), (Si) and ƒá(CuAl2) phases become more drastic. Once undercooling exceeds 73 K, the primary phase will transform from (Al) dendrite to faceted (Si) block. "This paper emphasizes the phase selection and microstructure formation of substantially undercooled ternary eutectic alloys. The result is of academic and practical significance." said one journal reviewer. A series of papers about rapid solidification of ternary eutectic alloys written by Dr. Ruan and Prof. Wei have been published in Chin. Sci. Bull., Sci. Chin. G, etc. "It enriched and expanded the research results on nonequilibrium solidification. It offered us new references to develop solidification and nonequilibrium phase transition theory," said another reviewer. The authors are affiliated at Laboratory of Space Materials Science and Technology (LMSS) of NPU. This laboratory is conducting research mainly in three respects: materials processing under the space simulation condition, thermophysical properties of undercooled liquid alloys, and computational material science.
Funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50121101 and 50395105) and the Doctorate Foundation of Northwestern Polytechnical University (Grant No. CX200419) supported this research.
Reference: Ruan Y, Wei B. Rapid solidification of undercooled Al-Cu-Si eutectic alloys. Chin Sci Bull. 2009; 54(1): 53-58 www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s11434-008-0540-x
Ruan Y and Wei B. Dendritic and eutectic growth in Sb60Ag20Cu20 ternary alloy, Sci Chin G. 2007, 50(5): 563-571 www.scichina.com:8083/sciGe/EN/article/showVolumnArticle.do?nian=2007&juan=50
Ruan Y, Cao C D and Wei B. Rapid growth of ternary eutectic under high undercooling conditions, Sci Chin G. 2004, 47(6): 717-728 www.scichina.com:8083/sciGe/EN/article/showVolumnArticle.do?nian=2004&juan=47
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 20:38:04 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 9, 2009 20:38:04 GMT 4
Ecstasy could help patients with post-traumatic stress disorderNew research published in Journal of Psychopharmacology Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC EurekAlert Public Release: 9-Mar-2009www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/spu-ech030609.phpEcstasy may help suffers of post-traumatic stress learn to deal with their memories more effectively by encouraging a feeling of safety, according to an article in the Journal of Psychopharmacology published today by SAGE. Studies have shown that a type of psychological treatment called exposure therapy – where the patient repeatedly recalls the traumatic experience or is repeatedly exposed to situations that are safe but still trigger their traumatic feelings – can be effective in relieving stress responses in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxious conditions. The therapy works by helping the patient to re-learn the appropriate response to the trigger situation, a process known as extinction learning. But this approach can take some time, and 40% of patients continue to experience post-traumatic stress even after their treatment. To improve outcomes, scientists have been investigating the use of drug therapies to enhance the effect of exposure therapy, making the result of exposure to the fear trigger easier, faster, and more effective. MDMA (the pharmaceutical version of Ecstasy) is one such drug. "A goal during exposure therapy for PTSD is to recall distressing experiences while at the same time remaining grounded in the present. Emotional avoidance is the most common obstacle in exposure therapy for PTSD, and high within-session emotional engagement predicts better outcome," explain authors Pål-Ørjan Johansen and Teri Krebs, who are based at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and supported by the Research Council of Norway. Psychiatrists that have administered MDMA to anxiety patients have noted that it promotes emotional engagement; strengthens the bond between the patient and doctor, known as the therapeutic alliance; decreases emotional avoidance; and improves tolerance for recall and processing of painful memories. According to Johansen and Krebs, "MDMA [ecstasy] has a combination of pharmacological effects that…could provide a balance of activating emotions while feeling safe and in control." They suggest three possible biological reasons why ecstasy could help individuals with PSTD. First, ecstasy is known to increase the release of the hormone oxytocin, which is involved in trust, empathy, and social closeness. Because people with PTSD often report feeling emotionally disconnected and unable to benefit from the supportive presence of family and friends or therapists – a situation that is likely to contribute to the development and maintenance of the disorder – use of ecstasy might also help ameliorate these symptoms, suggest the authors. "By increasing oxytocin levels, MDMA may strengthen engagement in the therapeutic alliance and facilitate beneficial exposure to interpersonal closeness and mutual trust," they write. The second biological explanation for ecstasy's useful effect is that it acts in two brain regions to inhibit the automatic fear response (mediated by the amygadala) and increase emotional control (mediated by the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) and therefore permits bearable revisiting of traumatic memories. Thirdly, ecstasy increases the release of two other hormones, noradrenaline and cortisol, which are known to be essential to trigger emotional learning, including the process that leads to fear extinction, on which therapy for PTSD relies. But, caution the authors, while these compounds enhance extinction learning they may also temporarily increase anxiety in people with PTSD because the hormones are naturally released as part of the body's response to stress.Ecstasy combined with psychotherapy is a treatment already being tested in clinical trials to help patients with PTSD. All of these trials have a similar design in which ecstasy or placebo is administered to patients a few times during their therapy sessions as part of a short term course of psychological treatment. According to the Johansen and Krebs, recent preliminary results from two of these randomized controlled trials shows that the therapy might have promise. "Reduction of avoidance behavior linked to emotions is a common treatment target for all anxiety disorders. MDMA [ecstasy] has a combination of pharmacological effects that, in a therapeutic setting, could provide a balance of activating emotions while feeling safe and in control, as has been described in case reports of MDMA augmented psychotherapy….Future clinical trials could combine MDMA with evidence-based treatment programs for disorders of emotional regulation, such as prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD," conclude the authors. How could MDMA (ecstasy) help anxiety disorders? A neurobiological rationale by PØ Johansen and TS Krebs is published today (Monday 9th March 2009) in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. To receive an embargoed copy of the article contact mithu.mukherjee@sagepub.co.uk, t:+44(0)207 3242223. The paper will be free to access online for a limited period from jop.sagepub.com/
The Journal of Psychopharmacology is a fully peer-reviewed, international journal that publishes original research and review articles on preclinical and clinical aspects of psychopharmacology. The journal provides an essential forum for researchers and practising clinicians on the effects of drugs on animal and human behavior, and the mechanisms underlying these effects. The Journal of Psychopharmacology is published by SAGE, in Association with British Association for Psychopharmacology
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.comWhat are you thinking? I have so many thoughts zapping through my brain about this "article" - I can't even begin to post them here.
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 22:03:52 GMT 4
Post by ninathedog on Mar 9, 2009 22:03:52 GMT 4
Your news is very disturbing, Nodstar* and I feel so sorry for that sad group of people. I agree with Fr33... that it does make all men look bad -- you even only asked for help from the women here, "proving" that this has made you feel that men are untrustworthy as a whole! But many of your male friends here will feel equally disturbed and concerned when they hear of this, even if, due to basic biological differences, they might not entirely understand how you feel. I'm really sorry to hear this news and alarmed as well ............ I found the following report to be interesting and I'm including the second story about a dolphin named Kelly as a followup to the final paragraph in the first story, aside from the fact that it's also really interesting. These observations go beyond what we call instinct and personally I think that humans don't give other species enough credit for being conscious beings: Zoo chimp 'planned' stone attacksnews.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7928996.stmA male chimpanzee in a Swedish zoo planned hundreds of stone-throwing attacks on zoo visitors, according to researchers.Keepers at Furuvik Zoo found that the chimp collected and stored stones that he would later use as missiles. Further, the chimp learned to recognise how and when parts of his concrete enclosure could be pulled apart to fashion further projectiles. The findings are reported in the journal Current Biology.There has been scant evidence in previous research that animals can plan for future events. Crucial to the current study is the fact that Santino, a chimpanzee at the zoo in the city north of Stockholm, collected the stones in a calm state, prior to the zoo opening in the morning. The launching of the stones occurred hours later — during dominance displays to zoo visitors — with Santino in an "agitated" state. This suggests that Santino was anticipating a future mental state — an ability that has been difficult to definitively prove in animals, according to Mathias Osvath, a cognitive scientist from Lund University in Sweden and author of the new research. "We've done experimental studies, and the chimps in my mind show very clearly that they do plan for future needs, but it has been argued that perhaps this was an experimental artefact," Dr Osvath told BBC News. "Now we have this spontaneous behaviour, which is always in some sense better evidence." Cracking showDr Osvath embarked on the study after zoo staff discovered caches of stones in the section of the enclosure facing the public viewing area. Since the initial discovery in 1997, hundreds of the caches have been removed to protect visitors, to whom the caching and the aggressive displays seem strictly related; in the off season, Santino neither hoards the projectiles nor hurls them. Most interestingly, Santino seems to have learned how to spot weak parts of the concrete "boulders" in the centre of the enclosure. When water seeps into cracks in the concrete and freezes, portions become detached that make a hollow sound when tapped. Santino was observed gently knocking on the "boulders", hitting harder to detach bits that were loosened and adding those to his stashes of ammunition. There are a number of examples of complex behaviour in apes that suggest forms of consciousness. Planning behaviour like that of the current work is connected to so-called autonoetic consciousness, where information due to memory can be distinguished from that from the senses. "I'm personally convinced that at least chimps do plan for future needs, that they do have this autonoetic consciousness," Dr Osvath said. "I hope that other zoos or those in the wild will look more closely at what is happening," he added. "I bet there must be a lot of these kinds of behaviours out there, and I wouldn't be surprised if we find them in dolphins or other species." ............................... Deep thinkerswww.guardian.co.uk/science/2003/jul/03/research.scienceThe more we study dolphins, the brighter they turn out to be. By Anuschka de RohanAt the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, Kelly the dolphin has built up quite a reputation. All the dolphins at the institute are trained to hold onto any litter that falls into their pools until they see a trainer, when they can trade the litter for fish. In this way, the dolphins help to keep their pools clean. Kelly has taken this task one step further. When people drop paper into the water she hides it under a rock at the bottom of the pool. The next time a trainer passes, she goes down to the rock and tears off a piece of paper to give to the trainer. After a fish reward, she goes back down, tears off another piece of paper, gets another fish, and so on. This behaviour is interesting because it shows that Kelly has a sense of the future and delays gratification. She has realised that a big piece of paper gets the same reward as a small piece and so delivers only small pieces to keep the extra food coming. She has, in effect, trained the humans. Her cunning has not stopped there. One day, when a gull flew into her pool, she grabbed it, waited for the trainers and then gave it to them. It was a large bird and so the trainers gave her lots of fish. This seemed to give Kelly a new idea. The next time she was fed, instead of eating the last fish, she took it to the bottom of the pool and hid it under the rock where she had been hiding the paper. When no trainers were present, she brought the fish to the surface and used it to lure the gulls, which she would catch to get even more fish. After mastering this lucrative strategy, she taught her calf, who taught other calves, and so gull-baiting has become a hot game among the dolphins. story continues -- www.guardian.co.uk/science/2003/jul/03/research.science
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 22:13:34 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 9, 2009 22:13:34 GMT 4
Toward Synthetic Life: Scientists Create Ribosomes -- Cell Protein MachineryScienceDaily Mar. 9, 2009www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090309104434.htmHarvard researchers have managed to extract natural ribosomes from E. coli bacteria, break them down into their constituent parts, remove the key ribosomal RNA and then synthesize the ribosomal RNA anew from molecules. (Credit: Kris Snibbe/Harvard News Office)Harvard scientists have cleared a key hurdle in the creation of synthetic life, assembling a cell’s critical protein-making machinery in an advance with both practical, industrial applications and that advances the basic understanding of life’s workings. George Church, a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School and member of Harvard’s Origins of Life Initiative, reported the creation of billions of synthetic ribosomes that readily create a long, complex protein called firefly luciferase. Church, speaking at a Harvard Alumni Association and Origins of Life Initiative event at the Science Center on Saturday afternoon (March 7), described the advance for the first time publicly as part of an afternoon symposium called “The Future of Life.” “We have not made artificial life, and that is not our primary goal, but this is a huge milestone in that direction,” Church said in comments on the work before the event. Ribosomes are bodies inside of each cell that take the instructions from DNA and use them to create the proteins encoded by specific genes. Proteins are critical to forming the body’s structure, including muscles, bones and tendons, and are also critical in its daily functioning, through enzymes, for example, which control metabolism. “The reason it is a step toward artificial life is that the key component of all living systems is the ribosome, which does protein synthesis. It is the most conserved and one of the most complicated biological machines,” Church said. Using the bacteria E. coli, Church and Research Fellow Michael Jewett extracted the bacteria’s natural ribosomes, broke them down into their constituent parts, removed the key ribosomal RNA and then synthesized the ribosomal RNA anew from molecules. Though the advance may create excitement among researchers interested in life’s basic functioning, Church said that the work’s industrial applications were its driving force. Industry today manufactures proteins on a large scale using natural ribosomes, which evolved over millions of years for natural, not industrial, reasons. Church said that being able to create a ribosome means also being able to tweak it so it better fits industrial needs. One possible use would be to create mirror-image proteins that would be less susceptible to breakdown by enzymes, making them longer-lived.“You really are in control. It’s like the hood is off and you can tinker directly,” Church said. The advance breaks a 40-year period with little progress in artificial ribosome creation, Church said. The last significant work in this area was done in 1968, when researchers assembled an artificial ribosome, but in an unusual chemical environment rather than an environment in which protein synthesis normally occurs, as Church and Jewett did. Church and Jewett expected creating the artificial ribosome and getting it to produce proteins would be the toughest steps in making an artificial cell. They were amazed, Church said, when the task was accomplished in just a year. The ultimate goal is to create an artificial genome of 151 genes that they believe are the minimum to create a functioning, self-replicating cell.“It could be that the hardest steps are still ahead of us,” Church said. Joining Church at Saturday’s event were human genome pioneer and visiting scholar Craig Venter; Jack Szostak, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital; George Whitesides, Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology; and Andrew Knoll, Fisher Professor of Natural History and professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Harvard Provost Steven E. Hyman introduced the event. It was moderated by professor of astronomy and Origins of Life Director Dimitar Sasselov. Szostak presented his recent research into the creation and propagation of synthetic cells, showing that membranes form from simple fat molecules spontaneously under certain conditions. In addition to the membranes, he reviewed research into possible ways that basic genetic information may have originally been stored and conveyed in simple RNA-like molecules. His work, he said, is exploring the properties of these RNA-like molecules, seeking variations that make them better early candidates to store and replicate genetic information than either DNA or RNA, which perform those functions in modern cells, but require complex molecular machinery to do so. In his presentation, Venter described the search for genes around the world, saying that microbes have been found on earth that can withstand radiation levels far beyond that which would be lethal to humans, that can live in corrosive liquids that would eat away a human finger dipped in it, and in a wide array of other environments. The growing library of genes from creatures of all kinds – totaling 50,000 gene families – has created a database from which industry can pick and choose genes for particular applications. Using genetic engineering, synthetic genomes can be created to do such useful things as create clean-burning synthetic fuels, he said. “I think we’re limited primarily by our own imagination,” Venter said. Adapted from materials provided by Harvard University. Original article written by Alvin Powell.
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 22:19:20 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 9, 2009 22:19:20 GMT 4
Why Dreams Are So Difficult To Remember: Precise Communication Discovered Across Brain Areas During SleepScienceDaily Mar. 9, 2009www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090225132249.htmBy listening in on the chatter between neurons in various parts of the brain, researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have taken steps toward fully understanding just how memories are formed, transferred, and ultimately stored in the brain--and how that process varies throughout the various stages of sleep. Their findings may someday even help scientists understand why dreams are so difficult to remember. Scientists have long known that memories are formed in the brain's hippocampus, but are stored elsewhere--most likely in the neocortex, the outer layer of the brain. Transferring memories from one part of the brain to the other requires changing the strength of the connections between neurons and is thought to depend on the precise timing of the firing of brain cells. "We know that if neuron A in the hippocampus fires consistently right before neuron B in the neocortex, and if there is a connection from A to B, then that connection will be strengthened," explains Casimir Wierzynski, a Caltech graduate student in computation and neural systems, and first author on the Neuron paper. "And so we wanted to understand the timing relationships between neurons in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, which is the front portion of the neocortex." The research team--led by Athanassios Siapas, a Bren Scholar in the Caltech Division of Biology and an associate professor of computation and neural systems--used high-tech recording and computational techniques to listen in on the firing of neurons in the brains of rats. These techniques helped them pinpoint a number of neuron pairs that had precisely the kind of synchronous relationship they were looking for--one in which a hippocampal neuron's firing was followed within milliseconds by the firing of a neuron in the prefrontal cortex. "This is exactly the kind of relationship that would be needed for the hippocampus to effect changes in the neocortex--such as the consolidation, or laying down, of memories," adds Wierzynski. Once these spike-timing relationships between the hippocampal and prefrontal cortex neurons had been established, the team used their high-tech eavesdropping techniques to hear what goes on in the brains of sleeping rats--since sleep, as Siapas points out, has long been thought to be the optimal time for the memory consolidation. As it turns out, those thoughts were right--but only part of the time. The team did indeed hear "bursts" of neuronal chatter during sleep--but only during a phase of sleep known as slow-wave sleep (SWS), the deep, dreamless periods of sleep. "It turns out that during slow-wave sleep there are these episodes where a lot of the cells in the hippocampus will all fire very close to the same time," says Wierzynski. In response, some cells in the prefrontal cortex will fire in near unison as well, just milliseconds later. "What's interesting is that the bulk of the precise spike timing happens during these bursts, and not outside of these bursts," he adds. On the other hand, during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, the previously chatty neuron pairs seemed to talk right past each other, firing at the same rates as before but no longer in concert. "It was surprising," says Wierzynski, "to find that the timing relationship almost completely went away during REM sleep." Since REM sleep is the phase during which dreaming occurs, the scientists speculate that this absence of memory-consolidating chatter may eventually help to explain why dreams can be so difficult to remember. As intriguing as that idea may be, the researchers caution that these findings only raise possibilities, providing avenues for further research in the field. "Now that we've shown this link," says Siapas, "we have a framework we can use to study these questions further. This is just a step toward our goal of some day fully understanding the relationship between memory and sleep." Other coauthors on the paper included Evgueniy Lubenov, a postdoctoral scholar in biology at Caltech, and Caltech graduate student Ming Gu. This work was supported by a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, the Caltech Information Science and Technology Center for Biological Circuits Design, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the Bren Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Whitehall Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. Journal reference: ...State-dependent spike timing relationships between hippocampal and prefrontal circuits during sleep. Neuron, February 26, 2009
Adapted from materials provided by California Institute of Technology.
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 22:24:42 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 9, 2009 22:24:42 GMT 4
Evolution, Ecosystems May Buffer Some Species Against Climate ChangeScienceDaily Mar. 8, 2009www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090305141620.htmAlthough ecologists expect many species will be harmed by climate change, some species could be buffered by their potential to evolve or by changes in their surrounding ecosystems. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Arizona are using a common agricultural insect pest to understand how ecological and evolutionary factors drive population shifts in the face of a changing environment. A study appearing March 6 in the journal Science shows that both ecological interactions within a food web and the potential for rapid evolutionary adaptation play critical roles in determining how populations of the legume-loving pea aphid fare during increasing bouts of hot weather, one aspect of predicted climate change. One of the most important lessons of the work is that predictions of the consequences of environmental change on populations must take into account both ecological and evolutionary complexities, says Jason Harmon, a UW-Madison postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the new study. "If you're interested in environmental change and how species are going to respond to it, you can't just look at a single species in isolation as it is right now. You have to think about those other species around it, and you have to think about the species' potential to change along with the environment," he says. Bouts of high temperature decrease pea aphid reproduction, but inherited bacteria living symbiotically within the aphids bestow them with a possible evolutionary defense. "Because we can experimentally manipulate aphid bacteria, we have an excellent model system to explore evolutionary adaptation," says University of Arizona professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Nancy Moran, a co-author of the study. The researchers showed that the degree of heat tolerance conferred by the symbiotic bacteria influenced whether the aphids thrived or succumbed to experimental heat stress in the field. The result shows that the potential for rapid evolution can have a large impact on how populations respond to environmental change, they say. The detriment of the additional hot days also depended on which of two different predatory ladybeetle species was present, showing that the structures of local food webs may mitigate environmental changes. "Right now, a lot of work is focused on just individual species," says UW-Madison zoology professor Anthony Ives. "To understand what happens to any one particular species, you need to broaden your scope and consider other species." While predicting the response of species to climate change is complicated, Ives says, the new study may help de-mystify complex processes by identifying specific factors that are relevant. He hopes that this new work will help other scientists take a broad ecological and evolutionary view while studying the effects of environmental change. "We're identifying things that people should look for because they could be important, as opposed to saying it's just too complicated," he says. "It's difficult, but not impossible." Adapted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 22:47:24 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 9, 2009 22:47:24 GMT 4
Scientists Reconstruct An Ancient Greek Musical Instrument, The EpigonionScienceDaily Mar. 9, 2009www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090305080734.htmEpigonion's closest relative, a psaltery. This musical instrument is the epigonion's direct decendant and was played in the same way, plucked or hammered. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain Image)The ASTRA project, standing for Ancient instruments Sound/Timbre Reconstruction Application, has revived an instrument that hasn’t been played or heard in centuries. Using the Enabling Grids for E-sciencE infrastructure for computing power, a team based in Salerno and Catania, Italy, has reconstructed the “epigonion,” a harp-like, stringed instrument used in ancient Greece. With data from numerous sources, including pictures on urns, fragments from excavations and written descriptions, the team has been able to model what the instrument would have looked and sounded like. Their model has become sophisticated enough to be used by musicians of the Conservatories of Music of Salerno and Parma in concerts. The idea and mathematical concepts behind this work is several decades old, the first attempts being made in 1971. Now with grid technology these researchers have the required computing power to recreate an ancient instrument that would previously have been too expensive and too difficult to manufacture by hand. Using grid computing also means that the data used and discovered during the research is easily available to other researchers, such as archaeologists and historians. “The combination of the EGEE grid computing infrastructures and the high speed GÉANT2 and EUMEDCONNECT networks provided not only the immense computing power needed by ASTRA, it also allowed researchers, historians, physicists, engineers, archaeologists to bring their knowledge and their experiences together,” added Domenico Vicinanza, Technical co-ordinator of ASTRA project and DANTE Network Engineer. “The benefits of the collaborative approach used in this project are far reaching. ASTRA and EGEE not only make it possible to recreate instruments not existing anymore, they also allow any model and its associated data to be accessed by the whole scientific and education community worldwide.” The ASTRA project will be demonstrating the epigonion at this week’s EGEE User Forum, 2-6 March 2009, Catania, Italy. People will be able to listen to the reconstructed instrument and play it using a MIDI keyboard. The demonstration will also allow visitors to run real reconstruction on the grid. A professional musician will play ancient scores on the epigonion. Adapted from materials provided by Enabling Grids for E-sciencE (EGEE), via AlphaGalileo.Additional information available here:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EpigonionIt includes a digital audio sound rendering of the Epigonion.
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 23:07:43 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 9, 2009 23:07:43 GMT 4
Fermilab Scientists Discover Rare Single Top QuarkUniverse Today Written by Nancy Atkinson March 9th, 2009www.universetoday.com/2009/03/09/fermilab-scientists-discover-rare-single-top-quark/This proton-antiproton collision, recorded by the DZero collaboration, is among the single top quark candidate events. The top quark decayed and produced a bottom quark jet (b jet), a muon and a neutrino. Credit: DZero collaboration.Scientists at Fermilab have observed particle collisions that produce single top quarks, a 1 in 20 billion find. This discovery confirms important parameters of particle physics, including the total number of quarks. Previously, top quarks had only been observed when produced by the strong nuclear force. That interaction leads to the production of pairs of top quarks. The production of single top quarks involves the weak nuclear force and is harder to identify experimentally. This observation occurred almost 14 years to the day of the top quark discovery in 1995. Fermilab’s Tevatron, located near Chicago, Illinois is currently the world’s most powerful operating particle accelerator, and the discovery was made by scientists working on together on collaborations. Scientists say finding single top quarks has significance for the ongoing search for the Higgs particle. "Observation of the single top quark production is an important milestone for the Tevatron program," said Dr. Dennis Kovar, Associate Director of the Office of Science for High Energy Physics at the U.S. Department of Energy. "Furthermore, the highly sensitive and successful analysis is an important step in the search for the Higgs." Searching for single-top production makes finding a needle in a haystack look easy. Only one in every 20 billion proton-antiproton collisions produces a single top quark. Even worse, the signal of these rare occurrences is easily mimicked by other “background” processes that occur at much higher rates. Discovering the single top quark production presents challenges similar to the Higgs boson search in the need to extract an extremely small signal from a very large background. Advanced analysis techniques pioneered for the single top discovery are now in use for the Higgs boson search. In addition, the single top and the Higgs signals have backgrounds in common, and the single top is itself a background for the Higgs particle. To make the single-top discovery, physicists of the CDF and DZero collaborations spent years combing independently through the results of proton-antiproton collisions recorded by their experiments, respectively. CDF is an international experiment of 635 physicists from 63 institutions in 15 countries. DZero is an international experiment conducted by 600 physicists from 90 institutions in 18 countries. Each team identified several thousand collision events that looked the way experimenters expect single top events to appear. Sophisticated statistical analysis and detailed background modeling showed that a few hundred collision events produced the real thing. On March 4, the two teams submitted their independent results to Physical Review Letters. The two collaborations earlier had reported preliminary results on the search for the single top. Since then, experimenters have more than doubled the amount of data analyzed and sharpened selection and analysis techniques, making the discovery possible. For each experiment, the probability that background events have faked the signal is now only one in nearly four million, allowing both collaborations to claim a bona fide discovery that paves the way to more discoveries. “I am thrilled that CDF and DZero achieved this goal,” said Fermilab Director Pier Oddone. “The two collaborations have been searching for this rare process for the last fifteen years, starting before the discovery of the top quark in 1995. Investigating these subatomic processes in more detail may open a window onto physics phenomena beyond the Standard Model.” Source: Fermilab
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 9, 2009 23:32:41 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 9, 2009 23:32:41 GMT 4
Jupiter's Great Red Spot Is Shrinking By Robert Roy Britt Editorial Director posted: 09 March 2009 09:48 am ETwww.space.com/scienceastronomy/090309-mm-jupiter-great-red-spot.htmlOn Earth, hurricanes form and dissipate in a matter of days. On Jupiter, storms can rage for years or even centuries. The Great Red Spot, a colossal storm twice the diameter of our planet, has lasted at least 300 years. But now that mother of all storms is shrinking just as other spots emerge [1] to challenge its status. Observations of cloud cover over the past decade or so have suggested the huge, oval tempest was getting smaller as Jupiter's climate changes [2]. But such observations are tricky because it's hard to find the edges of the storm compared with nearby clouds on the visible surface of a gas planet that is entirely shrouded in colorful clouds. Nearby storms can nip off parts of the giant storm, and in turn the Great Red Spot [3] can consume nearby clouds. However, wind velocity data collected from 1996 to 2006 has allowed scientists to size up the storm more accurately by analyzing wind speeds and directions. "The velocity data show that the Red Spot has been shrinking along its major diameter by about 15 percent over that period," said Xylar Asay-Davis, who conducted the study along with Phil Marcus, Mike Wong and Imke de Pader at the University of California at Berkeley. Not dyingThe finding agrees with other studies of cloud cover, Asay-Davis said, and it puts the conclusion on more solid footing. "Velocity is a more robust measurement because the clouds associated with the Red Spot are also strongly influenced by numerous other phenomena in the surrounding atmosphere," he said. It's not clear yet why the storm is shrinking, but after 300 years of hanging in there, the spot is in no danger of disappearing anytime soon, Asay-Davis said. It continues to kick up winds that routinely exceed 300 mph. "We find that the Red Spot has been shrinking but not slowing down," Asay-Davis told SPACE.com. There is a balance of energy flowing in and out of the storm, either as it mixes with the surrounding atmosphere, consumes smaller storms, or when energy is radiated into space, he explained. "We don't fully understand all the sources of energy, or the ways the Red Spot loses energy, but these can become slightly imbalanced for a period of time, and this is likely to be what is causing the Red Spot to shrink -- less energy is being fed in and more is slowly dissipating away," he said. Asay-Davis and colleagues have used images from the Cassini spacecraft from the year 2000 to construct the highest resolution "velocity map" to date, showing wind speed over the whole planet between -70 and 70 degrees latitude. Gusts on Jupiter typically reach 250 mph. The research was presented in November at a meeting of the American Physical Society fluid dynamics division. Climate changeThe ongoing research aims to grasp Jupiter's overall, complex and changing climate. The giant planet underwent a major upheaval from 2005 to 2007 when "a bunch of unusual weather patterns and color changes occurred all over the planet," Asay-Davis said. The changes spawned the Little Red Spot [4] in 2006, a plucky storm whose size and speed could eventually rival its big brother, other scientists say. "In terms of maximum wind speed, the Little Red Spot as measured in 2007 and the Great Red Spot when last measured in 2000 are just about the same," Andrew Cheng, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University said last May. The Great Red Spot may not go away, but its status could be challenged. "The Great Red Spot may not always be the largest and strongest storm on Jupiter," said Glenn Orton, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. What's going onBack in 2004, Marcus, a mechanical engineer at Berkeley, predicted that in 2006 or so [5], climate changes in Jupiter's southern hemisphere would destabilize jet streams and spawn new storms. "We think that upheavals might be related to the way that vortices move heat around the planet -- when there are many vortices, they are very efficient at moving heat all the way from the equator to the poles," Asay-Davis explained. "But when there are fewer, they are likely to be much less efficient." Back in 1998 to 2000, three large storms, all white ovals, merged. That might have had a big impact on the entire planet's climate. "The south pole may be getting colder, while the equator gets a bit warmer," Asay-Davis said. "The recent upheaval may have been Jupiter's way of adjusting or compensating for this climate change. Eventually, we may see new vortices form that will mix up the heat again. We hope that we can continue to produce wind field maps of Jupiter so as to keep monitoring the climate in the years and decades to come." [1] See other spots emerge:www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080526-mm-jupiter-red-spots.html[2] See Jupiter's climate changes:www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060504_red_jr.html[3] See Great Red Spot:www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/jupiter-ez.html[4] See Little Red Spot:www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080526-mm-jupiter-red-spots.html[5] See predicted that in 2006 or so:www.space.com/scienceastronomy/jupiter_spots_040421.html
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 10, 2009 1:43:48 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 10, 2009 1:43:48 GMT 4
Health overhaul tests Obama's political skills President invokes campaign strategies, past lessons to revamp systemMSNBC updated 4:32 p.m. ET, Mon., March. 9, 2009www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29595015/WASHINGTON - Embarking on arguably his most complex political fight yet, President Barack Obama is using skills honed during his presidential campaign and lessons learned from past failures to try to overhaul the health care system. It's a feat none before him has achieved. As such, it would pay monumental dividends for a popular new president looking for history-making accomplishments ahead of his likely 2012 re-election campaign. "Nothing is harder in politics than doing something now that costs money in order to gain benefits 20 years from now," Obama acknowledged last week. That's exactly what he's trying as he seeks to ensure health care for everyone in a country with the world's costliest system and an estimated 48 million uninsured people. In office since Jan. 20, Obama has laid down an ambitious marker of one year to accomplish what the last Democratic president spectacularly failed to do in two. Bill Clinton made a series of tactical mistakes and was outmaneuvered by the opposition. "We soon learned that nothing was off limits in this war and that the other side was far better armed with the tools of political battle: money, media and organization," Hillary Rodham Clinton, who led the health care fight for her husband, said in her 2003 memoir. Obama is determined not to let that happen again. He and his advisers, including several who served in Clinton's White House, have studied what went wrong during 1993-1994, and are mindful to avoid the same miscalculations and missteps. In concert with the White House, the Democratic National Committee and Obama's campaign apparatus — Organizing for America, with its 13 million-strong e-mail list and 2 million "super volunteers" — will be intimately involved in promoting the plan as well as pressuring opponents. A paid TV ad campaign is all but certain. Other advocates of revamping health care also have created a network of diverse coalitions. They are made up of strange bedfellows, such as labor unions and industry representatives, consumers and businesses. Others, like America's Agenda: Health Care for All, are composed of insurers and drug makers, including some that fought Clinton's plan. Those, too, now generally support an overhaul.All are stockpiling cash and waiting to see how they will need to use it. Budgets and strategies are being closely held. Financing changeThis time the mountain of money is expected to come from well-funded Obama backers trying to create a climate for success; some already are airing ads to drum up support for major changes in general. The big question is whether coalitions will splinter once the specifics are hammered out. Winners and losers are certain. Already, two labor unions — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union — have cut ties to Healthcare Reform Dialogue, a broad coalition that includes representatives from the insurance, pharmaceutical and medical industries. And, last week, in a sign of what's to come, a group called Conservatives for Patients Rights began what it said would be a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to promote "free-market" reform rather than a "Big Government takeover." A costly and complex proposition, revamping health care probably will be a much tougher task than anything Obama has faced so far as president. It's an issue that touches everyone in the United States. There are thickets of competing interests among patients, doctors, drug makers, insurers, labor, businesses and others.Any plan must get through a Democratic-controlled Congress, where most lawmakers are up for re-election next year. Also, there's an ideological fault line between Democrats and Republicans, and liberals and conservatives over the level of government involvement in health care. Given all that, Democrats and Republicans contend Obama must use all tools available to ensure success. "President Obama needs to invest everything he learned in winning the presidential campaign to get affordable health care for everybody. That's what it's going to take to trump the opposition," said Judy Feder, a senior health care official under Bill Clinton who now is at the Center for American Progress. "It's extremely important for him to use his political skills," agreed Bill Gradison, a former GOP congressman from Ohio who headed the insurance association when it launched the anti-Clinton commercials. Still, Gradison added: "Bill Clinton had those same skills in a lot of ways. Both are excellent communicators and had strong organizational and political support behind them. And both had control of Congress." But Clinton, who won a three-way race in 1992 with only 43 percent of the popular vote, didn't have the mandate from voters that Obama now has after winning 52 percent last fall. Clinton also didn't come into office inheriting a crisis that presents opportunity for change the way Obama has with the recession. Nevertheless, Obama administration officials acknowledge that the push for an overhaul — what Obama calls the linchpin to the country's future financial health — will be complicated and contentious, even though the environment is now more amenable to it. The public overwhelmingly supports revamping the system, while businesses, insurers and drug makers that balked at Clinton in the 1990s are working with Obama.Learning from ClintonFor now at least, Obama is approaching health care much differently than did Clinton. He cut out Congress and interest groups, wrote his own legislation and threatened to veto any measure that didn't contain what he wanted. Obama has chosen to be flexible. He's outlining broad principles and leaving the heavy lifting to Congress. He also is calling both allies and skeptics to the table to solicit ideas and advice. He's created a Web site, www.healthreform.gov, to keep people in the loop. Obama also is indicating he's willing to compromise. Obama has secured $19 billion in the economic stimulus package to convert medical records to electronic formats and proposed a budget that projects spending $634 billion over 10 years toward universal health care. He devoted a significant chunk of his first address to Congress on the matter, and is dispatching surrogates to hold regional forums on the issue. At some point, he almost certainly will travel across the country to take the proposal directly to the people, using his rhetorical skills and charisma to keep people on the side of change — and pressure lawmakers to get it done. This is the bottom line: health care reform is needed and we should NOT have to deal with in-fighting among power-mongers, the politico "Hill of Beans" machine (who currently benefit, at taxpayers expense, from the most comprehensive medical plan offered anywhere in the world), drug Pharms and our "Big Business" hospitals and health insurance industries.
If those rallying against federal overhaul would have put their money where their mouths are and facilitated this process YEARS AGO, the current administration wouldn't have to deal with another "inherited" major problem.
Furthermore, if the "Hill of Beans" weren't so attached at the hip to the pill-pushing, questionable vaccination producing "Pharmo" lobbyists, as well as the health insurance "non-medically trained decision makers for policy coverage in denial" groups, maybe something sensible would have been done by now "in the private sector".
You have to re-orient yourselves back to the "P" plan ... as in "P" for People - not "P" for profit.
Now, please, sit down and get to work. No more posturing - it's not acceptable.
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 10, 2009 3:16:49 GMT 4
Post by nodstar on Mar 10, 2009 3:16:49 GMT 4
Hi Everyone .. While mulling over the events of the day last night before dropping off to sleep I made a mental note to post about the very issue Nina posted about .. and was glad to see the posts quoted above .. I would like to say .. Most of my good friends are male, and by NO MEANS does the behavior of SOME reflect on those who are GOOD MEN .. I sent a message out to the women here because GENERALLY speaking it's the protestations of women, who brought about the right to vote, the ongoing battle for equal pay and conditions and the right to be treated equally when it comes to all forms of violence including WRITTEN forms of threat .. GALAXYGIRL said it well .. They CROSSED THE LINE AND IT WONT BE TOLERATED So to all the wonderful males who are part of this forum and EDO I appreciate you ALL .. My Love to all of you Nod
|
|
|
NEWS
Mar 10, 2009 3:43:54 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 10, 2009 3:43:54 GMT 4
Verizon Offers Not-So Clear Opt-out Feature For Personal Data Sharing PlanNewsNow March 09, 2009 | 6:19:57 PMblog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/03/verizon-to-shar.htmlThis past weekend, a report from David Weinberger, the Harvard Law School fellow and sometimes Wired contributor, warned against a potentially shady customer service move from Verizon Wireless. Apparently, the company was sending its customers long-winded, vague letters allowing them to 'opt out' of a personal data sharing agreement within forty five days. The plan was quickly seen as an aggressive Verizon move to share customer's personal information including 'services purchased (including specific calls you make and receive), billing info, technical info and location info,' with 'affiliates, agents and parent companies.'To many, this was Verizon's quick move to make money off of selling people's personal data to outside companies. But in a statement over the weekend, the company noted that this data sharing was 'designed for intra-carrier communication only,' between Verizon and Vodafone (the owners of Verizon Wireless), and wouldn't be shared with outside partners, like Microsoft.
That makes the issue a bit more clear and less Big Brother-y but it is no less inflammatory. The main problem is that Verizon failed to offer customers an easy-to-find, clear avenue to either accept or deny that request. And for people who don't receive paper mail, this proved to be even harder: It turns out many people logged into their Verizon account online to find a direct link to the agreement, but had to go through several different channels to find the correct one. When the link was finally found, labeled 'Customer Proprietary Network Information Notice,' it was 'not available' and therefore useless. Verizon followed up with Weinberger and told him to follow this protocol: Go to go the My Profile tab in the My Verizon account, then click on Phone Controls, and that's where the correct link is located where the customer can opt-out (or not). We recommend people follow Dr. Weinberger's lead and opt out of this agreement, unless you want to receive the vague-sounding 'bundles that provide home and wireless services' that Verizon mentions in its blog. Perhaps next time, companies like Verizon will be a bit more clear about their intent (and the specific steps involved) before sending out a company-wide opt-out clause. Sources: ReadWriteWeb.com, Verizon, GigaOm.com
|
|