Jaguar cubs born at Milwaukee zoo bring new genes

This Dec. 16, 2012 photo shows two baby jaguar cubs born at the Milwaukee County Zoo in November. Jaguars are an endangered species. Stacy Johnson, coordinator of the jaguar species survival plan for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, said heir birth was a big deal because their father was born in the wild and brings new genes to zoos. (AP Photo/Milwaukee County Zoo)

This Dec. 16, 2012 photo shows two baby jaguar cubs born at the Milwaukee County Zoo in November. Jaguars are an endangered species. Stacy Johnson, coordinator of the jaguar species survival plan for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, said heir birth was a big deal because their father was born in the wild and brings new genes to zoos. (AP Photo/Milwaukee County Zoo)

This Dec. 16, 2012 photo shows two baby jaguar cubs born at the Milwaukee County Zoo in November. Jaguars are an endangered species. Stacy Johnson, coordinator of the jaguar species survival plan for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, said heir birth is a big deal because their father was born in the wild and brings new genes to zoos. (AP Photo/Milwaukee County Zoo)

MILWAUKEE (AP) ? Two jaguar cubs are providing more than just cooing fans for Milwaukee's zoo. The spotted brothers are introducing new genes to the endangered species' captive population because unlike most zoo babies, their father was born in the wild.

The blue-eyed cubs, born Nov. 13, don't officially have names just yet, but keepers at the Milwaukee County Zoo are calling them "Gaps" and "Dots," due to the markings on their heads.

Stacey Johnson, coordinator of the jaguar species survival plan for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, said it is rare for zoos' reproductive programs to have access to animals born in the wild.

"They are bringing in a new inflow of genes that will help sustain the population over next 100 years," Johnson said.

He also noted that the cubs ? the first born at the zoo since 1975 ? are also beneficial because female jaguars currently outnumber males in zoos in North America.

The cubs, currently about the size of house cats, are still too small to navigate their multi-level exhibit, so they aren't yet on display. But fans can catch glimpses of the curious cubs and their mother on the zoo's live webcam.

Zoo officials plan to put the cubs on display by early February.

Their father, Pat, was captured in Central America after being deemed a problem jaguar for attacking cattle, so he was a bit of a celebrity at the Belize Zoo before coming to Milwaukee in 2008. The estimated 15-year-old animal also has a book named after him, "Pat the Great Cat: A Jaguars Journey," which was written by children in Milwaukee and Belize as part of a literacy program.

The cubs were the first for their mother, Stella.

The cubs will remain at the zoo for about a year before being moved to other zoos whose jaguars need genetic diversity, zoo spokeswoman Jennifer Diliberti said. Jaguars are found in the wild in the southern U.S., Mexico, Central America and South America.

The webcam has received about 16,000 hits since it went live Dec. 18. The average time spent on the webcam is about 25 minutes ? compared to 2 minutes on their home page, Diliberti said.

"People are really following their story, which is wonderful," she said.

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Milwaukee County Zoo live webcam: http://www.milwaukeezoo.org/explore/webcams/jaguarcubs.php

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Watch the AP video here: http://bit.ly/Zl7Jp3

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-08-Young%20Jaguars/id-3df1a2821ece4a24b24bee03f3230489

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'Snake goddess' a mystery ? and homeless

SEATTLE?? A mysterious "snake goddess" painted on terracotta and discovered in Athens may actually be Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest.

Once linked to the worship of the dead, the goddess is flanked by two snakes on a slab of terracotta about the size of a piece of notebook paper. She has her hands up above her head, which has given her the nickname "the touchdown goddess" thanks to the resemblance of the pose to a referee's signal. The goddess is painted in red, yellow and blue-green on a tile, with only her head molded outward in three dimensions. This unusual piece of art was found amid a jumble of gravel and other terracotta fragments in 1932 in what was once the Athenian agora, or public square.

The catch, however, is that the snake goddess isn't originally from the agora. The gravel and figurine fragments were fill material, brought in from an unknown second location to build a path or road in the seventh century B.C.

"Not only is our snake goddess unidentified, but she's homeless," said study researcher Michael Laughy of Washington and Lee University in Virginia. "She got mixed up in that road gravel, presumably obtained near the site of her original shrine."

Forgotten offering
Along with the snake goddess plaque, the road fill contains small terracotta figurines, or votives, of humans, chariots, shields, loom weights, portions of spindles and pottery disks, most of which individually could fit in the palm of a hand. The terracotta figurines were used during this time period as offerings at the sanctuaries of gods and goddesses, Laughy told LiveScience after presenting his findings here at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America. [ See Images of the Mystery Figurines & Snake Goddess ]

Normally, he said, the votive offerings were considered somewhat sacred, and once cleared from sanctuaries would be buried and left undisturbed in a pit. Thus, although it's typical to see artifacts out of place in Athens, which has been built over for thousands of years, it's strange to see votives used as road fill, Laughy said.

Tracing the source of this fill is a difficult task. Previously, archaeologists have assumed the figurines originated from the worship of the dead, linking the items found in Athens to ones found at a Bronze Age tomb outside the city. But the items at that tomb don't match all those found in the Athens agora, Laughy said.

Displaced goddess
More Likely, according to Laughy's analysis, the snake-flanked woman is both a representation of and an offering to a goddess. Votive deposits from the shrines of goddesses include pottery disks, terracotta horses, plaques and shields, as well as female figurines. These votives match the finds uncovered in Athens.

In particular, shrines devoted to Demeter and Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, show the closest matches to the types of figurines found, Laughy said.

Demeter is a strong candidate, as there was a shrine built in her name in the seventh century mere minutes-long walk from the Athens agora, he said. It's the only sanctuary where ancient Greeks are known to have left loom weights and spindle whorls, which are disks that weigh down spindles used for spinning thread and which are found in the Athens fill debris. What's more, Laughy said, the spot was graded in the seventh century, which could have produced a debris pile that was then carted away to make paths in the agora.

Finally, the goddess' serpentine companions also point to Demeter, who was particularly associated with snake iconography, Laughy said.

"Snakes and Demeter are happy together in imagery in the seventh century," he said.

Laughy warned that the evidence linking the snake goddess and Demeter is circumstantial. However, he said, the evidence is strong that the woman is not a figure associated with death, but a goddess. If she were Demeter, the snake goddess plaque would be one of the oldest images ever found of that particular deity.

1. Science news from NBCNews.com

   1. Ancient sea monster found in Nevada

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: A fossil skeleton found in central Nevada's desert years ago has been identified as belonging to a 30-foot-long sea monster that ruled beneath the waves 244 million years ago.

   2. Roman kids showed off status with shoes
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   4. 17th-century 'Aristotle' sex manual to be auctioned

Either way, the snake goddess is "striking," Laughy said. It's one of the earliest multicolor paintings found in Athens

"It's an amazing piece of work," he said.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas or LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50397918/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Sony Unveils Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Xperia Smartphone

Sony Mobile Communications announced the newest model in its Xperia line, the waterproof and dustproof Xperia Z. The 4G LTE device has a 13-MP camera and a five-inch full HD 1080p Reality display powered by Sony's Bravia Engine 2. It is built around a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, and runs Android Jelly Bean 4.1.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/27518b54/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C770A320Bhtml/story01.htm

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13 SEO Predictions for 2013 - Triangle Direct Media

With 2013 already well underway, it?s time to make some bold (and some not-so-bold) predictions for the year in search!

1)????? A new competitor emerges.
With Google at about 70% of the search market, big G is the dominant monster.? But that won?t always be the case, and with so many smart minds in a free market, it?s more likely that Google?s share drop closer to 50% than bump up to 90%, right?? I?m not saying google won?t be the leader in 2013, but some search engine is going to emerge to cause rumblings in Mountain View.? Remember, Yahoo and Altavista used to be powerful presences too, so the mighty have fallen before.? In 2013, a new real competitor will emerge that will take the market by storm, like Google did in the early 2000?s.? Will it be DuckDuckGo?? Will it be Facebook?? Will it be some company we?ve never heard of before?? We?ll have to wait and see.

2)????? Bing will stop screaming that it?s better than Google.
You have to admit, it?s starting to get pretty annoying.? Every quarter there seems to be a new campaign from Bing begging people to try it ? or telling people about how Google is giving them less than stellar results.? The bottom line is that search engine users don?t really care about all the noise as long as they get the results they?re looking for.? In 2013, Bing will come to this realization.? It will stop shouting about how much better or more ethical they are than Google ? and start focusing on actually becoming better than Google.

3)????? Yahoo will get its own algorithm again.
Yahoo hasn?t had its own search algorithm since August 2010 when Bing started powering Yahoo results.? 28 months and counting without an algorithm is pretty pathetic for a once powerful search engine.? With the stock price going down the tubes, in 2012 Yahoo decided to steal Marissa Mayer away from Google. ?A real viable search engine can?t be too far behind right?? Which leads to my next prediction?

4)????? Marissa Mayer will become a household name.
The new CEO of Yahoo will bring it back to relevance (but not quite prominence) and will be appropriately applauded for it.? You?ll see her on many business and tech magazine covers.

5)????? More Google updates are on the way.
Not exactly a wild prediction here.? 2012 was a crazy year with Google updates.? Pandas, Penguins, Exact Match, and Page Layout were the bigger names, but there were hundreds of shifts and tweaks overall.?? There were winners and losers with each update, but overall, site owners who didn?t adhere to best practices for Architecture, Backlinks, and Content were hit pretty hard.? Don?t exhale yet because there?s more on the way.? My guess is the next one is called the Porcupine (starts with ?P? and it?s black and white, just like Panda and Penguin).? Is your house in order and ready for the Porcupine update?

6)????? Google takes a step back, becomes a search engine again.
Google grew rapidly because it was easy to use and provided great results.? Now, we?re a long long way away from the 10 blue links with results that you could count on to be relevant.? What?s changed that?? Some have accused Google of having a brand bias.? Some have accused Google of trying to crowd out the real results with pay-per-click and shopping results.? If and when users start to get annoyed with this, they?ll move on to other search engines.? And Google will have to refocus and get back to what they do best ? being a search engine.

7)????? Google finally figures out local.
You were warned before.? With the shift from Google Places to Google Plus Local, it was easy to predict that there would be bugs and you might get a little frustrated.? I never imagined it would be this maddening.? From taking forever to approve images to multiple (non-existent) locations to ?We do not support this location?, Google local needs to get it together.? I could go on for hours, but Mike Blumenthal has already ranted like no one else can about the subject.? Read what he said.? I concur.

8)????? You (and your mom) will know what Google Authorship is.
You?ve been wondering why some faces show up with some websites and some don?t.? Like why does Carson Thorn?s picture show up in the screenshot below when searching for ?carson thorn cpa??

Well, that?s Google Authorship, and it basically connects his Google Plus account with the website, identifying him as the author.? You?ll start to see that more and more in 2013.

9)????? Link farms will start to fade away.
The very essence of ?web-trash?, link farms have become ineffective at best and hurtful at worst.? Link farm site owners will stop getting the money they need to maintain the site, so sites will start to come down.

10)?? Comment spam will start to fade away.
Please please please let this prediction come true!? You know you can?t stand seeing all of the non-sensical comments on your blog, no matter what comment spam blocker you?re using.? Just like the prediction above, comment spam links are considered web-trash.? If they?re not nearly as effective, they?ll stop happening.? Unfortunately I feel less confident about this prediction than others on this list because comments technically come from fresh content sources, which are the kinds of links you want.? So maybe instead of comment spam fading away, we?ll see more sophisticated (and genuine) comments.

11)?? You?ll still get solicited by less-than-reputable SEO companies ? but much less.
As a site owner, you probably get at least 3-5 emails a week from SEO companies who promise the world but have no idea what they?re talking about ? and the email isn?t personalized to your business in any way.? I especially love the emails that mention MSN as one of the major search engines (they probably should have updated that email template to say Bing back in 2009).? Anyway, just like the two predictions above with link farming and comment spam fading, that means less companies will be selling those links, which means less ineffective SEO companies, and less email clutter!

12)?? Link building (the right way) will be more valuable than ever.
Links are a major part of Google?s algorithm and always will be.? To rank, you need those votes to your site from other sources on the web.? When some types of links are causing problems rather than improving rankings (see predictions 9 & 10), those links that do help (ie fresh unique content links) will become more and more valuable.

13)?? SEO tools to audit your SEO firm will become commonplace.
With many SEO companies (even legit ones) practicing what I like to call ?SEO Voodoo? (you know, where they don?t tell you what they?re doing, you just hope it works), site owners will start to audit what their SEO firms are doing.? Whether that?s checking rankings or checking on-page issues, marketing managers and site owners will need to see exactly what the SEO firm is doing.

So those are my predictions for 2013.? What do you think will happen?

Source: http://blog.triangledirectmedia.com/13-seo-predictions-for-2013.html

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Life Out Here: Cocooning

One of the people who spot "trends" made a declaration quite a few years ago now that as a society we would do more "cocooning" (a term they coined) in the future as women were working outside of the home and we were going to want to spend more time home around the fire with the family. I think its safe to say that prediction has come true!

I love the winter for just that reason. I love being home with the fireplace aglow and dinner in the crock pot. Nothing is better than hot chocolate in front of the television on a cold day, or curled up on the couch with a good book. We retreat into our cozy homes for a time of reflection and renewing, good for our bodies and our minds. That period of a few short months between Christmas and Easter when the temperature drops and the winter descends is a time I look forward to, with less stress and more home time and plenty more reasons not to leave the house.

I love entertaining and having family and friends around, and I love cocooning in my home. Winter is the perfect time for combining those things and that's what I'm going to do.

Source: http://iloveeasthampton.blogspot.com/2013/01/cocooning.html

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Cognitive deficits from concussions still present after two months

Jan. 7, 2013 ? The ability to focus and switch tasks readily amid distractions was compromised for up to two months following brain concussions suffered by high school athletes, according to a study at the University of Oregon.

Research team members, in an interview, said the discovery suggests that some athletes may need longer recovery periods than current practices dictate to lower the risk of subsequent concussions. Conventional wisdom, said lead author David Howell, a graduate student in the UO Department of Human Physiology, has typical recovery at seven to 10 days.

"The differences we detected may be a matter of milliseconds between a concussed person and a control subject, but as far as brain time goes that difference for a linebacker returning to competition too soon could mean the difference between another injury or successfully preparing to safely tackle an oncoming running back," Howell said.

The findings are based on cognitive exercises used five times over the two months with a pair of sensitive computer-based measuring tools -- the attentional network test and the task-switching test. The study focused on the effects of concussions to the frontal region of the brain, which is responsible for working, or short-term, memory and executive function, said Li-Shan Chou, professor of human physiology and director of the UO Motion Analysis Laboratory.

The study was published online ahead of print by Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

"If a person goes back to the playing field without a full recovery, that person is put into great danger of being re-injured," Chou said. "In any given season, if you suffer a concussion, the chances of your suffering a second one is three to six times higher and suffering a third is eight times higher. There are accumulations in this kind of injury. It doesn't go away easily."

A big unknown, the researchers said, is just how serious such injuries are for adolescents, whose brains are still developing. It could be the brain can recover more easily, or such injuries could continue to produce deficits that last a lifetime. "We just don't know," Chou said, adding that most previous studies have involved college-aged athletes and older adults.

Each year, there are 300,000 to 500,000 mild traumatic brain injury incidents, or concussions, with 100,000 tied to football, Chou said. He also cited a 2011 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that called such injuries a silent epidemic, with sports-related concussions in youths rising by 60 percent in the last decade. Another source of concussions, he added, is improvised explosive devices used in warfare.

Through an arrangement with Eugene-area schools, 20 high school athletes who had suffered a concussion -- primarily football players but also others from soccer, volleyball and wrestling -- were assessed within 72 hours of injury and then again one week, two weeks, a month and two months later. Each of the subjects, whose diagnosis was made by a certified athletic trainer and/or physician, was matched with a healthy control subject of the same sex, body size, age and sport.

"After two months following the concussions, these individuals were still significantly impaired in their executive function, compared to age-matched, activity-matched and gender-matched control populations," said co-author Louis Osternig, professor emeritus of human physiology and a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Osternig, also a certified athletic trainer, noted that self-reports by the subjects about how they were feeling sometimes were at odds with test results, which continued to show subtle deficits in cognitive functioning. The researchers also noted anecdotal reports from concussed athletes and their parents of declines in academic performance during the two-month period.

Additional data linking the deficits found in cognitive testing to the subjects' gait -- their task-shifting abilities while walking -- currently are being analyzed in the ongoing project, which is funded by the Department of Defense Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (W81XWH-11-1-0717), National Athletic Trainers Association, Veterans Administration and a translational research award from a joint UO-PeaceHealth Oregon Region collaboration program.

"By using tools from cognitive psychology, neuroscience and human physiology, this interdisciplinary team of scientists is improving our understanding of how brain trauma affects reaction time, and they are helping to create better outcomes for athletes, soldiers and others who are affected by concussions," said Kimberly Andrews Espy, vice president for research and innovation and dean of the graduate school. "UO researchers are working to improve the health and well-being of people in our local communities and throughout the world."

"The brain is the controller of our body movement," Chou said. "If you have a brain injury, are there any differences that we can pick up in the way a subject moves the body? In this lab, we are using motion analysis as a way to detect any deficiencies or abnormalities of body movement."

Chou said that his lab's goal, for now, is to disseminate the findings to the public and to talk to parents, athletic trainers and, perhaps, coaches directly to say: "These are the facts. We may not be able to draw any line on what clinically should or shouldn't be done. However, these are our observations based on our scientific testing."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Oregon.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Howell, David; Osternig, Louis; van Donkelaar, Paul; Mayr, Ulrich; Chou, Li-Shan. Effects of Concussion on Attention and Executive Function in Adolescents. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 27 December 2012 DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3182814595

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/HkrQRjESRDs/130107121049.htm

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A French nuclear exit?

Jan. 7, 2013 ? France has been held up, worldwide, as the forerunner in using nuclear fission to produce electricity. However, a third of the nation's nuclear reactors will need replacing in the next decade, and public opinion has shifted toward reducing reliance on nuclear power. In a special issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by SAGE four articles explore whether France has the means or desire to unplug from nuclear power.

Nuclear arms experts Patrice Bouveret, Bruno Barrillot, and Dominique Lalanne argue that phasing out Frances' civilian nuclear program would entail costs both to military funding streams, and to the nation's identity. In their provocative article, "Nuclear chromosomes: The national security implications of a French phase-out," they explain that weapons channels are distinct from the power industry. However, as civilian and military nuclear programs have been intertwined for decades, cutting financing for civilian nuclear research projects would increase the cost of maintaining the nuclear arsenal. The extent to which the military and civilian budgets are shared and expenses transferred between them is impossible to quantify -- a deliberate move by defense staff to maintain secrecy.

"From its beginnings after World War II, the French nuclear effort has occupied an exalted position in the country's national identity. In fact, one could reasonably argue that it would take a reimagining of that identity, and a reconsideration of France's nuclear deterrent, before a French exit from civilian nuclear power could become a serious possibility," Bouveret argues.

France's nuclear program has been closely linked to the idea of a strong and economically independent France since its introduction following World War II. State-controlled ?lectricit? de France SA (EDF) provides three-quarters of the country's electricity via nuclear power plants; another majority-state-owned firm, Areva SA, is a supplier of nuclear reactors and other nuclear technologies, such as nuclear submarines, worldwide. As a result, France has invested heavily in nuclear infrastructure, and has not yet followed its neighbor Germany in moving to reduce reliance on nuclear power in the wake of the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

But Paris-based energy expert Mycle Schneider highlights serious financial difficulties on the horizon for both EDF and Areva as the French nuclear fleet ages: 22 of the country's 58 reactors will reach their 40-year lifetimes inside a decade. Extending the lives of these reactors or scaling down the nuclear sector to focus on alternative energy and energy-efficiency programs would seem viable options.

Yet the politics of such a choice are complex, as Schneider writes in a separate article. France's new president, Fran?ois Hollande, is the first in French history to advocate reducing reliance on nuclear power, and to instigate an extended multi-stakeholder debate on this subject. The legalities are not simple either: According to Paris-based environmental lawyer Alexandre Faro, laws, regulations, or amendments would have to be carefully drawn to avoid large damage claims from the nuclear operator, EDF.

John Mecklin, deputy editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, concludes in his introduction that "Economics, politics, and legalities notwithstanding, before France can exit the nuclear power industry, it may have to change its idea of itself."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by SAGE Publications, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. P. Bouveret, B. Barrillot, D. Lalanne. Nuclear chromosomes: The national security implications of a French nuclear exit. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2013; 69 (1): 11 DOI: 10.1177/0096340212470817

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/RFpwEJbVeZo/130107130932.htm

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