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? ?I predict a sell out of this gaming technology book within hours of store openings,? said Tricia Valerie, when asked about Tepler Atwill?s recent new book

?This is the biggest story of my career,? said Wetzstein Bonello, a reporter for ?The Globe?, a state wide newspaper with the best circulation rates, ?I?m getting calls from gaming technology industry executives, investors, and general employees all asking about what is going on, and if they can provide information for the news agency. Of course, they want their names mentioned so that a little publicity is given to their particular gaming technology company, but it does save me from hunting these people down and taking interviews.? Other reporters breaking news stated that finding interviewees was no trouble at all, since the need for publicity in the industry is very high. Cobo Kostick Corp, which is based down town, also released plans to expand its building into the old Wiren Straight Mercantile Shop, which has been vacant for about a year now. Said CIO Ferranti Mancusi, ?The recent news in the gaming technology industry means big things for us, including the need to expand our physical building and operations. We?ll be able to hire an additional, and much needed, 100 new employees who will help push our efforts forward. This is going to be great!? Reaction from the market regarding the news in the gaming technology sector was positive overall. Stock from key companies, such as Brzezinski Miltner Corp., Steffanie Preisach and Partners, and Danna Yochum LLC all saw dramatic increases in share value. Each of these companies uses important gaming technology technology in its general operations, and the news of advancements has spurned more venture capitalists to invest and make some quick cash. ?This is a huge opportunity for everyone,? said Dabney Canute, a day trader at the Polo Bring INC firm, which also manages a series of hedge funds in the gaming technology sector. ?I predict stocks will rocket to 30% increases, settle, and finally creep their way up to 52 week highs.? Investors won?t be the only ones reaping a profit from these latest developments. The research and development company Letty Mazon INC, which did most of the work on creating this new technology, will get a huge payoff as it auctions its products off to gaming technology industry heavy weights. Patrina Welty, President of Letty Mazon INC, had this to say: ?To keep things fair for all parties, we?re going to begin a general auction for our new products within 30 days. Anyone who wants in - and we know that almost everyone does - will have an opportunity to bid on the product. First dibs go to the top 3 companies, who will enjoy a 90 period free of competition from other gaming technology entities. Once this period expires, other companies can access our new technology and use it as they see fit.? Reporters were scurying around to every gaming technology industry exec they could find to get the scoop on the lastest developments. Mailander Lundvall, who writes for economics publication ?The Stanford Bramblett Journal? was busy waiting for an exclusive talk with COO Rosenwinkel Eisbach of the Macpherson Gearin and Sons company. Macpherson Gearin, who has been the most outspoken and technology savvy gaming technology industry exec, plans a vast period of ramping up company operations, hiring, and investment. Other reporters also learned of plans to acquire another gaming technology related out-of-state company, alhtough this tip came from an anonymous source who did not wish to face charges of insider trading. In addition, there was speculation that increased trade in the gaming technology sector would create a larger market in the USA, and keep dollars within the country. Reporter Karin Cutrona was researching this angle, and believes that the recent news means more money for USA based gaming technology companies and their subsidiaries. Said Karin Cutrona, ?For the past five years, there has been a noticable trade imbalance between the USA and other nations working within the gaming technology market, particularly in operations and human capital. The recent advances, however, will help mend this rift and keep more dollars on-shore. I expect to see demand for labor increase in the long run, with additional long run profits for strong gaming technology USA companies that move forward.? Although the gaming technology news was received well by most, their was some concern at the local 359 labor union. Many organized labor groups become weary with new technological advances, since this tends to spell the end for human labor, especially in the gaming technology market. ?Our fingers are crossed that corporate execs will honor all current contracts and not fire anyone,? said Union leader Hutchin Stong, ?and if all contracts are solid, we?re willing to negotiate with management at an appropriate time in the future to make sure our interests are being satisfied.? The union has been apart of the gaming technology sector for some fifteen years, and commands strong loyalty and respect from its members. Cornelia Blome, a wire reporter, was pleased to announce the recent news in the gaming technology industry. ?I?m pleased to report that technological advances by Libutti Saraiva INC have created a much higher degree of efficieny in operations. This means big profits for most gaming technology related companies and their subsidiaries? Libutti Saraiva continued with a complete analysis, including some raw data that was mind blowing: ?Output of gaming technology related products will nearly double, overhead will decrease by 1/3, and employee salaries will increase by 15%.?

?Posted on: Monday, January 30, 2012 at 12:07 am
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Source: http://www.persmaitb.com/2012/01/30/when-the-news-about-gaming-technology-broke-yesterday-stocks-bumped-up-a-bit-said-soder-wolinski-cfo-of-gagnier-fitzgibbon-ltd.php

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(Reuters) ? 888 Holdings Plc said a unit of private equity-owned Caesars Entertainment Corp extended its UK software licensing agreement with the British online gaming company to the United States.

888 said the agreement would see its arm, Dragonfish, power a selection of private poker brands of Caesars, one of the largest casino operators in the United States and owner of the famed Caesars Palace, once online gaming is permitted under the new regulatory regime.

"Utilising 888's state of the art poker platform, the agreement will allow the launch of a real money offering immediately as either Federal or state based regulation is finalized and upon licensing by gaming authorities," 888 said in a statement on Tuesday.

As U.S. states scramble for tax revenue, the potential for legalizing online poker has led casino and gaming companies MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming to unveil a plan to partner with online poker company Bwin.party Digital Entertainment.

Last month, 888 had said it expected core profit for 2011 to be significantly above market expectations, aided by strength in its casino and poker businesses.

888 shares, which have risen 41 percent in the last three months, closed at 47 pence on Monday on the London Stock Exchange, valuing the company at about 165 million pounds.

(Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/videogames/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/wr_nm/us888

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Click here to read Teen Science Wiz Goes from Homeless to White House to New Home

Samantha Garvey and her family had been homeless for months before she became a finalist in Intel's Science Talent Search. Now, she's a White House honoree, has appeared on Ellen and Today, and has a roof over her head. This is how she got there: More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/NiHL0gzke9I/teen-science-wiz-goes-from-homeless-to-white-house-to-new-home

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FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks to reporters during a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. Yemen's President's office says Yemeni leader Saleh has arrived in London en route to the U.S. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011 file image made from video, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks on Yemen State Television. Yemen's President's office says Yemeni leader Saleh has arrived in London on route to the US. (AP Photo/Yemen State TV, File)

SANAA, Yemen (AP) ? Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh headed to the United States on Saturday for medical treatment, his spokesman said, the latest stage in an effort to distance him from his country's policies to help ease a transition from his rule.

Ahmed al-Soufi, the press officer for the presidency, told The Associated Press that Saleh had arrived in London and would leave later Saturday for New York for medical treatment in the United States for wounds suffered in a June assassination attempt in the Yemeni capital.

Saleh left Yemen for to neighboring Oman a week ago, planning to head to the United States, after weeks of talks with the U.S. over where he could go. Washington has been trying to get Saleh to leave his homeland, but it does not want him to settle permanently in the United States, fearing it would be seen as harboring a leader considered by his people to have blood on his hands.

In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed that Saleh's plane was scheduled to land Saturday at a British commercial airport "to refuel en route to the United States." Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy, she said Saleh and those accompanying him were not going to enter the United Kingdom.

Saleh was traveled on a chartered Emirates plane with a private doctor, translator, eight armed guards and several family members, an official in the Yemeni president's office said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the details.

In November, Saleh handed over his powers to his vice president and promised to step down completely after months of protests by millions across the country demanding an end to his nearly 33-year rule. A national unity government was formed between his ruling party and the opposition.

But opponents say he has continued to interfere in the work of a unity government through his allies and relatives in key posts ? particularly his son and nephew, who command the country's most elite and powerful military units. As a result, the past two months have seen persistent violence, power struggles and delays in reforms.

The U.S. and its allies have been pressured Saleh to leave in hopes of removing him from the scene will smoothen the transition.

Saleh agreed to step down in return for a sweeping immunity from prosecution on any crimes committed during his rule, a measure that has angered many in Yemen who want him tried for the deaths of protesters in his crackdown on the uprising against him. Protests have continued demanding his prosecution and the removal of his relatives and allies from authority.

It is also unclear how permanent Saleh's exile is. In a farewell speech before leaving to Oman, Saleh promised to return to Yemen before Feb. 21 presidential elections as the head of his party.

Some in Yemen suspect Saleh is still trying to slip out of the deal and find ways to stay in power, even if it's behind the scenes.

Even since the protests against his rule began a year ago, Saleh has proved a master in eluding pressure to keep his grip, though over the months his options steadily closed around him. He slipped out of signing the accord for the power handover three times over the months before finally agreeing to it.

He was badly burned in a June explosion in his compound in Sanaa. He received medical treatment in neighboring Saudi Arabia for three months. American officials had hoped he would remain there, but the Yemeni leader returned home and violence worsened anew.

His maneuvering and the turmoil on the ground left the United States struggling to find a stable transition in the country to ensure a continued fight against al-Qaida militants based in the country, who make up the most active branch of the terror network in the world. Saleh was a close ally of Washington in the fight, taking millions in counterterrorism aid.

During the past year of turmoil, al-Qaida-linked militants outright took control of several cities and towns in the south, including Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province.

On Friday, government forces battled with the militants near the town of Jaar, which they also control. At least five people were killed in the fighting, Yemeni security officials said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

___

AP correspondent Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-28-ML-Yemen/id-d7ec9868eb9746018ce2de96ef79fe84

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BEIJING ? Clouds of smoke from Lunar New Year fireworks sent air pollution in Beijing soaring under a new more sensitive measurement system, reports said Sunday.

Readings of fine particulate matter called PM2.5 reached 1.593 milligrams per cubic meter on the Jan. 22 eve of the holiday, about 100 times worse than the amount considered good for 24-hour exposure, the city's environmental bureau said.

The reading drew wide publicity in the local media on Sunday. The popular Beijing Youth Daily praised the city government for taking a more critical look at air pollution, while urging residents to consider the environmental effects of setting off fireworks.

Readings on Saturday averaged around 0.07 before spiking again during the nightly new year fireworks barrage, hitting a height of 0.124 at 10 p.m.

Concern has grown over air pollution from automobiles and other sources, prompting the city this month to begin announcing measurements of PM2.5 ? particles less than 2.5 micrometers in size. That's about 1/30th the width of an average human hair.

Because of their small size, the particles can lodge deeply in the lungs and are believed to pose the greatest risk to health.

Beijing is frequently cloaked in yellow haze, with buildings a couple of blocks away barely visible. The city had previously only released readings of the coarser PM10 standard that indicated that pollution was "light," leading to accusations it was hiding the true extent of the problem.

The U.S. Embassy has been independently monitoring PM2.5 from a device on its rooftop and releasing the results via Twitter. Some residents even tested the air in their neighborhoods and posted the results online.

Beijing is now releasing hourly readings of PM2.5 that are taken from a monitoring site about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west of central Tiananmen Square.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_as/as_china_air_quality

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CHICAGO -- Dana White has his mind made up. You're never going to know what UFC fighters truly make and that's just the way it has to be.

"So just because you don't know everything, you don't have to know anything, and to be honest with you? It's none of your [expletive] business how much these guys are making. They're making a lot of money. [...] How much money is none of your business. I'm not asking how much money you're making," said White (3:10 mark).

White believes that the salary information, so readily available in the other pro sports has ruined things for the athletes. He pointed to the recent $214 million megadeal inked by Detroit Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder.

"His whole life is going to change. He thought it was bad before with the (expletive) he had going on in his life? Everybody and their mother is coming after that 214," White said (2:10 mark). "Believe me when I tell you. Mark my words, Prince Fielder talk to me in five years and tell me what it was like when the news put out there that you were making $214 million dollars. I'm not going to do that to my guys."

The UFC often gets a bad rap for fighter pay because the only numbers revealed are those given to state commissions. The promotion beefs up the pay with behind-the-scenes discretionary and pay-per-view bonuses. White is often asked if all the complaints about pay would go away if Zuffa simply revealed all the details.

"Even when we sat down and had that first FOX meeting, the guys at FOX were like, holy [expletive]! They're like, 'Why don't you plaster this everywhere? This is the thing that will put you guys over the top. This is the thing that people love to see and talk about. Look at Mike Tyson.' And I said, 'Yeah, look at Mike Tyson,'" White said. "I've had these conversations with Mike. Mike said that when his money was reported, his [expletive] life was miserable. I'm not doing it."

Some believe the UFC's reluctance to be more transparent prompted the Federal Trade Commission to open an anti-trust violation investigation to look into Zuffa's practices.

"My understanding is that yes [the FTC has] opened a non-public investigation based on the acquisition we made of Strikeforce," said UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta.

CBSSports.com's Gregg Doyel said this is a sign of awful things to come for the UFC.

The FTC vs. the UFC? That's a heavyweight fight. That's Dana White's worst nightmare. The FTC looks for antitrust violations, picking apart monopolies as the unfair bullies they are -- and as far as I'm concerned, the UFC is guilty as charged.

The story set off White.

"There was guy yesterday, he wrote this story and you could tell this thing was like 'I want some attention. I want some attention. Maybe he'll get mad and say some [expletive].' [...] When we get stories written about us like that, I know it seems like I get crazy and come off too personal ... well, [expletive] yeah it's personal! What you're saying is untrue," said White (0:51 mark).

White said everything about the promotion is on the up and up.

"If the government wants to come in and look inside and take a peak and look around, they're more than welcome," White said. "Many of you have heard stories and all kinds of things ... mark my [expletive] words right here, right now, today ... we're not going anywhere. And everything we say is true."

As far as we know the FTC is still looking at Zuffa. White certainly came off sounding very confident nothing will come from the investigation.

White pointed out that there is no sport that has been more heavily scrutinized by governments all levels. The promotion has survived and thrived to become what White called the best sports story of the last 50 years.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/confident-dana-white-defends-policy-confidentiality-fighter-pay-175442433.html

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WASHINGTON ? Why do Mitt Romney and other wealthy investors pay lower taxes on the income they make from investments than they would if they earned their millions from wages? Because Congress, through the tax code, has long treated investment more favorably than labor, seeing it as an engine for economic growth that benefits everyone.

President Barack Obama and the Occupy Wall Street movement are challenging that value system, raising volatile election-year issues of equity, fairness ? and Romney's tax returns.

Romney, who released his 2010 and 2011 tax returns this week, has been forced to defend the fact that he paid a tax rate of about 15 percent on an annual income of $21 million. His tax rate is comparable to the one paid by most middle-income families. His income, however, is 420 times higher than the typical U.S. household.

The Republican presidential candidate's taxes were so low because the vast majority of his income came from investments. The U.S. has long had a progressive income tax, in which people who make more money pay taxes at a higher rate than those who make less. But for almost as long, the U.S. has taxed capital gains ? the profit from selling an investment ? at a lower rate than wages.

"There are two ways to look at: There is a moral argument and an economic growth argument, and they both point to lower taxes on capital gains," said William McBride, an economist at the conservative Tax Foundation.

McBride says it is unfair to tax income more than once, and capital gains are taxed multiple times. If you got the original investment from wages, that money was taxed. If the stock you own gains value because the company you invested in makes a profit, those profits are taxed through the corporate tax. And if that company issues dividends, those are taxed as well.

Lots of people are double taxed, says Chuck Marr, director of federal tax policy for the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Check out your last pay stub: There's income tax and payroll tax, so you're double taxed, too," Marr said.

And, he noted, when you buy something, you probably pay a sales tax.

Under current law, the top tax rate is 15 percent on qualified dividend and long-term capital gains ? the profits from selling assets that have been held for at least a year. The top income tax rate on wages is 35 percent, though that applies only to taxable income above $388,350.

Congress started taxing capital gains at a lower rate than wages following World War I. The concern then was that high taxes on capital gains actually reduced revenue because people would simply hold onto their investments and restrict the flow of capital, according to the Encyclopedia of Taxation and Tax Policy.

At the time, however, the top tax rate on wages was a whopping 73 percent. In 1922, Congress lowered the top capital gains rate to 12.5 percent, a rate that lasted until 1934.

For much of the next 70 years, the top tax rate on long-term capital gains hovered between 20 percent and 30 percent, going as high as 39.9 percent in the 1970s but never falling below 20 percent until 2003, when Congress passed a gradual reduction to the current rate.

The 2003 law also started taxing qualified dividends at the same rate as capital gains.

Liberals and some moderates argue that lower taxes on investments are a giveaway to the rich because they are the ones who get the most benefit. Last year, two-thirds of all capital gains went to people making more than $1 million, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, the official scorekeeper for Congress.

Only 5 percent of capital gains went to people making less than $100,000, and only 13 percent went to people making less than $200,000.

"I'm a liberal person and I believe strongly that the wealthy should pay more than the working poor," Marr said, regardless of whether the income is from investments or labor.

Obama has taken up this argument, though his budget proposals have called for only small tax increases on capital gains and dividends, to a top rate of 20 percent.

Instead, Obama has developed the "Buffet Rule," named after billionaire investor Warren Buffet, which says rich people shouldn't pay taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries. To impose this rule, Obama said at his State of The Union address Tuesday that people making more than $1 million should pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.

"Now, you can call this class warfare all you want," Obama said. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."

The proposal has little chance of passing a divided Congress this year, and the Obama administration has released few details on how the tax would work.

Conservatives argue that increasing investment taxes would make it harder to for businesses to raise capital, restricting job growth and hurting financial markets, reducing income for people who rely on pension funds and 401(k) accounts as well as billionaires and millionaires.

"In my view the rationale for taxing capital gains and dividends at a lower rate has nothing to do with what an individual pays versus another individual," said Jim McCrery, who was a senior Republican member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee when the 2003 tax cuts were enacted. "It has everything to do with the creation of jobs in this country."

McCrery now works for the Alliance for Savings and Investment, a coalition of companies and business groups that want to keep the current tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_taxing_investments

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked Google Inc on Thursday to provide answers about recent changes to the search engine's privacy policy.

In a letter to Google Chief Executive Larry Page, the lawmakers said the company's announcement "raises questions about whether consumers can opt-out of the new data sharing system either globally or on a product-by-product basis."

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/wr_nm/us_google_privacy

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CHICAGO ? Hull House, the Chicago social services organization founded more than 120 years ago by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams, closed Friday after running out of money.

The Jane Addams Hull House Association announced earlier this month plans to close in the spring, but the shutdown came unexpectedly. More than 300 people are losing their jobs. Many spent Friday packing belongings and saying goodbye.

Founded in 1889, Hull House was the best known of the 400 settlement houses in the United States in the early 1900s. The settlements were designed to provide services to immigrants and the poor while uplifting them through culture, education and recreation. At its peak, Hull House served more than 9,000 people a week, offering medical help, an art gallery, citizenship classes, a gardening club and a gym with sports programs.

In recent years, it has provided child care, domestic violence counseling, job training, housing assistance and other services for 60,000 people a year at nearly four dozen sites in the Chicago area.

The agency said the poor economy increased demand for services but made it difficult to raise enough money to cover the cost of providing them. Other service agencies are expected to step in to help provide services to Hull House clients.

Lizzie Harrington, 32, a project director for a Hull House program that helps low-income people find jobs said employees are emotional and angry about the closing. Harrington has a long history with the agency. She received help from Hull House when she was a teenager in foster care and wanted to live independently.

"It's unfortunate, and it's been emotional," Harrington said. "I have a special connection to this place. This was part of my childhood."

Agency officials have said the organization will file for bankruptcy protection in the first quarter of this year. The decision to close came after the agency's management and board of trustees worked for two years to reduce operating costs and improve services, officials said.

The Hull House agency isn't affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago's Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, which will remain open. The Hull House site on Chicago's West Side is a National Historic Landmark.

___

Online:

Jane Addams Hull House Association: http://www.hullhouse.org

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_us/us_hull_house_closes

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COMMENTARY | President Obama has, in the past, been very vocal about his support of teachers unions, especially in the wake of multi-state collective-bargaining battles throughout 2011. However, in President Obama's 2012 State of the Union address, he made some remarks that uncharacteristically went against core, traditional teachers union beliefs. So which side is he on? Is President Obama for or against teachers unions?

In his 2012 State of the Union address, according to WhiteHouse.gov, President Obama remarks:

"Give [schools] the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. And in return, grant schools flexibility: to teach with creativity and passion, to stop teaching to the test, and to replace teachers who just aren't helping kids learn."

According to his statements, President Obama cuts right to the heart of teachers unions and their core philosophies. In essence, he's endorsing the idea of rewarding good teachers and firing bad ones.

This goes against traditional union philosophies, in that he is proposing differentiation - or publicly calling out and pointing fingers at both good and bad teachers, with benefits or consequences for each group, employment (and salary) based on merit, and eliminating tenure as a means of continued employment or pay raises.

This being said, the pro-Obama National Education Association still supports the president, with its top headline on the NEA webpage reading "NEA President Praises President Obama's Vision for America."

According to HableDash, the NEA even raised its annual fees $10 for each of its 3.2 million members in 2011, in order to raise $32 million for its campaign endorsing the president. So if the NEA, the most powerful teachers union in the United States, is heavily-endorsing President Obama, it seems to suggest he is pro-union.

The 2012 State of the Union address, though, leaves open the possibility for debate. While his background may appear labor-supportive, Obama's carefully-crafted words in his address were meant to satisfy both those who were for and against unions. After stating firmly that teachers are important, he then backtracks and says teachers must be held accountable. In this short statement, he has made both sides of the aisle happy.

So is President Obama for or against unions? Or is he simply playing the politician, and artfully choosing the right words, with the right audiences, in order not to alienate any one group, and draw in as many votes for a re-election as possible? Is he playing both sides of the aisle?

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120126/us_ac/10884969_is_president_obama_for_or_against_teachers_unions

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Since its discovery 150 years ago, scientists have puzzled over whether the winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx represents the missing link in birds' evolution to powered flight. Much of the debate has focused on the iconic creature's wings and the mystery of whether ? and how well ? it could fly.

Some secrets have been revealed by an international team of researchers led by Brown University. Through a novel analytic approach, the researchers have determined that a well-preserved feather on the raven-sized dinosaur's wing was black. The color and parts of cells that would have supplied pigment are evidence the wing feathers were rigid and durable, traits that would have helped Archaeopteryx to fly.

The team also learned from its examination that Archaeopteryx's feather structure is identical to that of living birds, a discovery that shows modern wing feathers had evolved as early as 150 million years ago in the Jurassic period. The study, which appears in Nature Communications, was funded by the National Geographic Society and the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

"If Archaeopteryx was flapping or gliding, the presence of melanosomes [pigment-producing parts of a cell] would have given the feathers additional structural support," said Ryan Carney, an evolutionary biologist at Brown and the paper's lead author. "This would have been advantageous during this early evolutionary stage of dinosaur flight."

The Archaeopteryx feather was discovered in a limestone deposit in Germany in 1861, a few years after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Paleontologists have long been excited about the fossil and other Archaeopteryx specimens, thinking they place the dinosaur at the base of the bird evolutionary tree. The traits that make Archaeopteryx an evolutionary intermediate between dinosaurs and birds, scientists say, are the combination of reptilian features (teeth, clawed fingers, and a bony tail) and avian features (feathered wings and a wishbone).

The lack of knowledge of Archaeopteryx's feather structure and color bedeviled scientists. Carney, with researchers from Yale University, the University of Akron, and the Carl Zeiss laboratory in Germany, analyzed the feather and discovered that it is a covert, so named because these feathers cover the primary and secondary wing feathers birds use in flight. After two unsuccessful attempts to image the melanosomes, the group tried a more powerful type of scanning electron microscope at Zeiss, where the group located patches of hundreds of the structures still encased in the fossilized feather.

"The third time was the charm, and we finally found the keys to unlocking the feather's original color, hidden in the rock for the past 150 million years," said Carney, a graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, studying with Stephen Gatesy.

Melanosomes had long been known to be present in other fossil feathers, but had been misidentified as bacteria. In 2006, coauthor Jakob Vinther, then a graduate student at Yale, discovered melanin preserved in the ink sac of a fossilized squid. "This made me think that melanin could be fossilized in many other fossils such as feathers," said Vinther, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas?Austin. "I realized that I had opened a whole new chapter of what we can do to understand the nature of extinct feathered dinosaurs and birds."

The team measured the length and width of the sausage-shaped melanosomes, roughly 1 micron long and 250 nanometers wide. To determine the melanosome's color, Akron researchers Matthew Shawkey and Liliana D'Alba statistically compared Archaeopteryx's melanosomes with those found in 87 species of living birds, representing four feather classes: black, gray, brown, and a type found in penguins. "What we found was that the feather was predicted to be black with 95 percent certainty," Carney said.

Next, the team sought to better define the melanosomes' structure. For that, they examined the fossilized barbules ? tiny, rib-like appendages that overlap and interlock like zippers to give a feather rigidity and strength. The barbules and the alignment of melanosomes within them, Carney said, are identical to those found in modern birds.

What the pigment was used for is less clear. The black color of the Archaeopteryx wing feather may have served to regulate body temperature, act as camouflage or be employed for display. But it could have been for flight, too.

"We can't say it's proof that Archaeopteryx was a flier. But what we can say is that in modern bird feathers, these melanosomes provide additional strength and resistance to abrasion from flight, which is why wing feathers and their tips are the most likely areas to be pigmented," Carney said. "With Archaeopteryx, as with birds today, the melanosomes we found would have provided similar structural advantages, regardless of whether the pigmentation initially evolved for another purpose."

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Brown University: http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau

Thanks to Brown University for this article.

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LONDON (AP) ? Organizers of the 2012 London Olympics said Tuesday they would consider options for new mothers who want to bring their babies into venues, after some parents complained that they have to buy full price tickets for their infants.

The London Organizing Committee made the statement after complaints flooded the British parenting website Mumsnet, with pregnant women who bought tickets for themselves ? but not for their unborn children ? wondering what they could do with babies who were breast-feeding. They argued that a months-old child would not be taking up a seat of its own.

"Of course we understand that some new mums may want to take their babies to events they have tickets to, and we will look at what we can do when the remaining tickets go on sale in April," the committee said in a statement.

Organizers have said that every child ? including newborns carried in a parent's arms ? must have their own tickets, in part to keep track of the number of visitors so venue capacity is not exceeded. They said special programs exist to make some tickets more affordable to young people, but those discounts did not apply to all events.

London's ticket policy is similar to that of Vancouver, which hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. Organizers in the Canadian city used discretion at the gate, however, categorizing parents who brought an infant without a ticket as a child care issue. In other words, parents who appeared with children less than a year old ? babes in arms, so to speak ? were not turned away.

Many of the mothers who posted on Mumsnet said they're now in a quandary because they had bought Olympic tickets before they became pregnant, or will have newborns by the time of the games.

One of the mothers, Katherine Baker, told The Associated Press that she was frustrated by the lack of clarity in the official policy regarding infants. Baker, 35, said that she and her husband are keen to attend the swimming heats, to which they were allocated tickets before she became pregnant.

She said she now doesn't know what to do because she will have to breast feed the baby during the event. She said she would not mind paying for a third ticket to let their newborn in ? but it would be nearly impossible to obtain one for the family to all sit together.

"We'll have to apply for one more ticket and compete against thousands of people again," she said.

Another fuming woman wrote that while she and her husband were lucky enough to get tickets to an equestrian event in August, organizers had told her there are no children's tickets so she will have to pay 95 pounds ($147) for a three-month old in a sling.

The latest ticket gaffe is expected to boomerang unhappily on London organizers. Tickets issues of all kinds have dogged the London Olympics as demand for seats at events from July 27-Aug. 12 has far outstripped supply.

Edward Parkinson, United Kingdom director of the ticket resale site Viagogo, said he was somewhat surprised by the organizers' policy that even newborns need tickets.

He compared the Olympics to music festivals, where parents are given concessions for children. In some cases organizers allow children under a certain age to get in for free.

__

Associated Press writer Sylvia Hui contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-24-OLY-London-2012-Tickets/id-7e66b18602654592868c3e5a7d0ee550

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Switzerland's Didier Cuche speeds down the course on his way to set the fastest time during the second training session for Saturday's alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kitzbuehel, Austria, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

Switzerland's Didier Cuche speeds down the course on his way to set the fastest time during the second training session for Saturday's alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Kitzbuehel, Austria, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Shinichiro Tanaka)

KITZBUEHEL, Austria (AP) ? Swiss ski star Dider Cuche will retire after the season despite being in contention for a record-equaling fifth World Cup downhill title.

The unexpected announcement Thursday by the 37-year-old former butcher skier came at a news conference leading to Saturday's classic race on the Streif course, where he is a four-time winner.

"Kitzbuehel represents something for me and I decided to make my decision here," Cuche said. "It's not a decision that I took last night or today."

Cuche captured the downhill title four of the past five seasons. He won a race in Lake Louise, Alberta, in November.

"I'm in top form and I can still aspire to win races. It's in this condition that I wish to retire from the World Cup," he said.

"Today marks a very emotional moment for me," Cuche added while fighting tears. "An important milestone in my career and in my life. .. I am convinced this is the right moment to retire."

Cuche said the announcement was a relief.

"Now that I am freed from other thoughts, I can give them full throttle," he said about Friday's super-G and Saturday's downhill in Kitzbuehel. "I would like to leave my mark one way or another."

Cuche became the oldest men's world champion in 2009 when he won the super-G in Val d'Isere, France, at 34. He was a silver medalist in the super-G at the 1998 Nagano Games, but he never won an Olympic gold medal.

"Of course, that's a race I would have loved to win," Cuche said. "But being runner-up to someone like Hermann Maier made it bearable."

Cuche also is the oldest racer to win a men's World Cup race since his victory at the 2011 Kitzbuehel downhill at 36, beating Liechtenstein great Marco Buechel's record by 85 days.

Cuche is beloved in Switzerland, and on Saturday was elected the country's top personality of 2011. Hours earlier, he failed in his 13th ? and final ? attempt to win Switzerland's biggest sports event, the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen. He was runner-up three times, twice to Bode Miller (2007, 2008).

Swiss ski federation president Urs Lehmann called Cuche "a fantastic sportsman, a wonderful person, and a superb role model."

"He has done great things for Switzerland as a skiing nation," Lehmann said. "We hope Didier will remain part of the Swiss ski sport one way or the other. That would be great."

Cuche made his first appearance in the World Cup at a downhill in Bormio, Italy, on Dec. 29, 1993. He was 57th.

After his Nagano medal, when he was beaten by Maier, Cuche's career was interrupted by injuries, including a broken leg and ruptured knee ligaments.

Cuche came back even stronger to win his first crystal globe when he was 32 as downhill World Cup champion in the 2006-07 season. Now, with four downhill trophies, Cuche trails only another Austrian great, Franz Klammer, whose five season-long titles leads the list.

Cuche also won the giant slalom World Cup title in 2009 and the super-G title last season.

In the overall standings, Cuche finished in the top three six times. His best finish was second last season behind runaway winner Ivica Kostelic of Croatia. He has four career world championship medals, with back-to-back downhill silvers in 2009 and 2011 and a giant slalom bronze in 2007.

Buechel, who retired two years ago, understood Cuche's reasoning.

"He is a great athlete and a great person," Buechel said. "I know Didier would rather go on until he is 60, but someday you feel your time has come. You have to respect such a decision."

___

Willemsen reported from Kitzbuehel, Dunbar from Geneva.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-19-SKI-Cuche-Retirement/id-854e3200c1634b0fb3acea9d2fe0ce6d

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Snakes improve search-and-rescue robots

Public release date: 19-Jan-2012
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Contact: Jason Maderer
maderer@gatech.edu
404-385-2966
Georgia Institute of Technology

New robot is designed to use less energy

Designing an all-terrain robot for search-and-rescue missions is an arduous task for scientists. The machine must be flexible enough to move over uneven surfaces, yet not so big that it's restricted from tight spaces. It might also be required to climb slopes of varying inclines. Existing robots can do many of these things, but the majority require large amounts of energy and are prone to overheating. Georgia Tech researchers have designed a new machine by studying the locomotion of a certain type of flexible, efficient animal.

"By using their scales to control frictional properties, snakes are able to move large distances while exerting very little energy," said Hamid Marvi, a Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. candidate at Georgia Tech.

While studying and videotaping the movements of 20 different species at Zoo Atlanta, Marvi developed Scalybot 2, a robot that replicates rectilinear locomotion of snakes. He unveiled the robot this month at the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology (SICB) annual meeting in Charleston, S.C.

"During rectilinear locomotion, a snake doesn't have to bend its body laterally to move," explained Marvi. "Snakes lift their ventral scales and pull themselves forward by sending a muscular traveling wave from head to tail. Rectilinear locomotion is very efficient and is especially useful for crawling within crevices, an invaluable benefit for search-and-rescue robots."

Scalybot 2 can automatically change the angle of its scales when it encounters different terrains and slopes. This adjustment allows the robot to either fight or generate friction. The two-link robot is controlled by a remote-controlled joystick and can move forward and backward using four motors.

"Snakes are highly maligned creatures," said Joe Mendelson, curator of herpetology at Zoo Atlanta. "I really like that Hamid's research is showing the public that snakes can help people."

Marvi's advisor is David Hu, an assistant professor in the Schools of Mechanical Engineering and Biology. Hu and his research team are primarily focused on animal locomotion. They've studied how dogs and other animals shake water off their bodies and how mosquitos fly through rainstorms.

This isn't the first time Hu's lab has looked at snake locomotion. Last summer the team developed Scalybot 1, a two-link climbing robot that replicates concertina locomotion. The push-and-pull, accordion-style movement features alternating scale activity.

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This project is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award No. PHY-0848894). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NSF.

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