Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287850078?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
alexadriano70: Writing and Speaking: Article Marketing
Article marketing is arguably one of the best ways of building links to your site. Now I'm almost sure I don't need to explain the importance of link building to you, or do I? Having links to your site is like humans having air to breathe. Yes, it's that important. Every SEO strategy you employ is basically for the sole purpose of getting links to your site, to increase your ranking in the search engines, to get more traffic, to generate more sales, to have a profitable online business, so you can achieve your goals.
Article marketing is basically using articles to expose your website. You can do this by submitting articles to various directories such as EzineArticles, GoArticles, ArticlesBase etc. Once your article has been approved and published, you'll receive a link to your site. You not only get a link from the directory but if other website owners find your article useful they can publish it on their site. If they leave your resource box intact, which is the ethical thing for them to do; you get another link to your site from the website that published your article. So the better your articles the better chance you stand of getting more links.
Article marketing requires you to be patient and consistent. You can't use this method for only a few weeks and expect to get to the top of the search engine page just like that. Decide how many directories you're submitting to, you want to choose only from the top ten. Then be consistent with your submissions. This can be a challenge if you don't consider yourself a good writer or if you don't have the money to outsource this function. But if you submit even one article per week, be consistent.
When done properly and with time, article marketing can get you great results by building strong links. These are natural links that the search engines love. Links from article directories are permanent and they are considered to be links from authoritative sites, at least the tops anyway. While website owners can remove your link from their websites, the only person that can remove your link from the directories is you. So your link from the directory will remain for as long as your article remains there.
Link building is imperative to your online success and though it's a slow process, article marketing is still one of the best ways to build quality links. Like I said before, be patient and consistent. You can reap the rewards of your labor for years to come.
Source: http://writing-asadeszw.blogspot.com/2013/02/article-marketing.html
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Source: http://alexadriano70.blogspot.com/2013/02/writing-and-speaking-article-marketing.html
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Someone Is Selling Google Glass On eBay - Business Insider
Google Glass, the search giant's Internet-connected headset which lets you take photos and videos and access information, is hard to get.
If you want one, you either have to be a developer who's creating special apps for the devices, or you have to enter a contest Google is holding for creative types who describe what they plan to do with Glass and tag the post on Google or Twitter with "#ifihadglass."
Maybe there's a third way: Spend thousands of dollars on eBay.
A eBay seller claims to have a pair, and is?auctioning off a Google Glass headset on the site right now.
Bids are up to?$6,300. So far there have been 26 bids. The auction ends Thursday afternoon.
The auction seems fake.?Google has said it won't be contacting winners of its contest until mid-to-late March.
Plus, the only images the seller has are of their set of Google Glass are official publicity stills from Google.
Still, the seller claims he's been selected as an "early adapter" [sic] and estimates delivery on or before March 5.
We've asked Google and eBay what's up with this listing.
Update:?After our inquiry, eBay cancelled the auction for violating the site's policies.
Here's a screenshot:
eBay
Google Glass eBay listing screenshot
?
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-glass-ebay-2013-2
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Deal of the Day: 44% off Marware MicroShell for iPhone 5
Today Only: Purchase the Marware MicroShell for iPhone 5 and save $10.99!
The Marware MicroShell iPhone 5 case makes you the center of attention with its eye-catching colors and design. Measuring less than 1mm thin, the MicroShell protects your iPhone 5 from scuffs and scratches while providing full access to all the ports, buttons and cameras. Comes in black, clear, pink, and blue.
List Price: $24.99???? Today Only: $14.00
Never miss a deal. Sign up for Daily Deal alerts!
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/1FXd3DRT8T8/story01.htm
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Android 101: Adding your own custom sounds to Android events
The first thing most people do when getting a new phone is change the ringtone. Depending on which Android device you own, your options for different alarms, notifications, and ringtones will vary. Perhaps you aren’t happy with the sounds that came preinstalled on your phone, or you’ve been using the stock sounds and are ready for a change. You’ve got some ringtones on your computer, and want to use them on your phone. How do you get the files from your computer, to your phone? Do you have to put them in any specific place for them to be selectable in the Android menu, and will they be listed in the same place as the sounds that came with your phone? Does it matter what kind of sound files you use? You can find the answers to these questions, and more, after the break.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/N0iBBigPgUg/story01.htm
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FDA approves Bayer drug for rare gastrointestinal tract cancer
It began as a seemingly awkward Jack Nicholson introduction of the very long list on nominees, but the Best Picture denouement?at a very long Oscars ceremony on Sunday turned into a surprise appearance by Michelle Obama, via satellite from the Governors' Ball in Washington, D.C.?where earlier she had sat next to Chris Christie?to introduce and announce the winner,?Argo.?
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Kerry urges Syrian opposition to attend Rome talks
BERLIN (AP) ? Skeptical Syrian opposition leaders agreed Monday to attend an international conference in Rome after first threatening to boycott the session that was to be the centerpiece of Secretary of State John Kerry's his first overseas mission in his new job.
Opposition leaders had protested what they see as inaction by other nations in the face of violence from Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
Kerry not only made a public plea at a joint news conference Monday with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, he also called Moaz Khatib, leader of the Syrian Opposition Council, "to encourage him to come to Rome," a senior U.S. official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter, described the conversation as "good" but declined to offer more detail.
Spokesman Walid al-Bunni said the council had decided to send a delegation to Rome after all.
Al-Bunni told Al-Arabiya TV the decision was made based on guarantees al-Khatib heard from western diplomats that the conference would be different and that the opposition would receive real commitments this time. "We will go and we will see if the promises are different this time," he said.
After speaking with Khatib, Kerry flew to Berlin from London, the first stop of his first trip as secretary of state ? a hectic nine-country dash through Europe and the Middle East.
Kerry had also dispatched his top Syrian envoy to Cairo in hopes of convincing opposition leaders that their participation is critical to addressing questions from potential donors and securing additional aid from the United States and Europe.
"We are determined that the Syrian opposition is not going to be dangling in the wind, wondering where the support is, if it is coming," Kerry told reporters in London after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron and Hague. "We are not going to let the Syrian opposition not have its ability to have its voice properly heard in this process."
For his part, Hague said the violence in Syria, especially recent scud missile attacks on the city of Aleppo, was unacceptable and that the west's current position could not be sustained while an "appalling injustice" is being done to Syrian citizens.
"In the face of such murder and threat of instability, our policy cannot stay static as the weeks go by," Hague told reporters, standing beside Kerry. "We must significantly increase support for the Syrian opposition. We are preparing to do just that."
Kerry agreed.
"We are not coming to Rome simply to talk, we are coming to Rome to talk about next steps," Kerry said, adding that he was sympathetic to opposition complaints that they were not getting the support they need to defend themselves against the Assad regime or oust him from power.
"I am very sensitive to that frustration," recalling that as a U.S. senator he was one of several who pushed the administration to consider military aid to the Syrian opposition.
"But I am the new secretary of state ... and the president of the United States has sent me here and sent me to this series of meetings and in Rome because he is concerned about the course of events.
"This moment is ripe for us to be considering what more we can do," he said, adding that if the opposition wants results, "join us" in Rome.
Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Monday the Assad regime was ready to hold talks with opposition leaders, the first time that a high-ranking Syrian official has stated publicly that the government would meet with the opposition. Al-Moallem made his comments after meeting in Moscow with Russian officials.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Moallem's remarks appeared positive but expressed caution about the seriousness of the offer.
"I don't know their motivations, other than to say they continue to rain down horrific attacks on their own people," Ventrell told reporters. "So that speaks pretty loudly and clearly."
If the Assad regime is serious, he said, it should inform the U.N. peace envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi of its readiness for talks. Ventrell said the Assad regime hasn't yet done that.
Obama administration officials have debated whether the U.S. should arm the rebels, with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey having said they urged such a course of action. The White House has been unwilling to do so for fears the weapons could end up in the wrong hands. Currently, the U.S. provides only non-lethal support and humanitarian aid.
The United Nations says at least 70,000 people have been killed in Syria's 2-year civil war, which began as an uprising against Assad's regime.
Kerry said the Syrian people "deserve better" than the violence currently gripping their country as he stood alongside Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague.
___
Associated Press writers Cassandra Vinograd in London and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-urges-syrian-opposition-attend-rome-talks-144755191--politics.html
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Dell ships its WiGig-based Wireless Dock, gives your Latitude a home base for $249 (video)
Dell has been teasing plans for a true wireless dock that would let Latitude 6430u Ultrabook owners get all the expansion they need without proprietary technologies -- or the usual cable spaghetti. It's at last here in the (rather plainly titled) Dell Wireless Dock. The station relies on a bandwidth-rich WiGig connection to give the Latitude supplementary audio, DisplayPort, HDMI, Ethernet and three USB 3.0 ports without skipping a beat. Few would call the Wireless Dock cheap at $249, but it could be a time-saver for any worker who just wants to grab their laptop and go at the end of a long day. Eager buyers should see the dock at the source link very shortly.
Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals, Dell
Source: Dell
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/nKXrl6TCzcU/
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Will Oscar host Seth MacFarlane be asked back? Probably not.
Seth MacFarlane's Oscar hosting gig, full of low-brow and sexist jokes, received mixed reviews. The Academy struggles to reach a younger audience and remain a family-friendly show.
Oscar host Seth MacFarlane speaks on stage at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Calif, on Sunday. After a performance full of sexist and racist jokes, viewers wonder if he will be asked to host again.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
EnlargeAs Oscar host Seth MacFarlane is surely learning Monday, helming the annual awards ceremony dwarfs all other challenges. Rescue hostages from under the nose of armed revolutionaries? Piece of cake! Free American slaves amidst a young nation?s bloody civil war? In my sleep!
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But host a three-hour industry telecast to the satisfaction of a global audience of a billion and counting? The faint-hearted need not apply.
Mr. MacFarlane, the creator of Fox?s ?Family Guy,? has been criticized for making sexist, racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic jokes (does this miss any groups?) as well as general bad taste and lousy clock control (the show ran until midnight EST, a half hour over schedule).
But pop culture audiences seem to be as divided as political ones. According to Fizziology, a social media research firm, 13 percent of Facebook and Twitter users discussing the show ranked MacFarlane as ?the best host ever.? And early Nielsen ratings show the broadcast up nearly 20 percent over the 2012 show with some 37 million US viewers.
But there is one question that all Oscar viewers are asking: Will he be back?
Not if the Academy is a tad more careful next time, suggests Thelma Adams, Yahoo! Movies contributing editor. The ?central conundrum? is having a show that remains true to its film industry audience.
?Watch an episode of ?Family Guy? and you?ll know it?s not a good match for Hollywood honchos sitting in stiff chairs in tuxes and tiaras,? she says. The first thing to acknowledge is that the audience inside the Dolby Theater, where the show is held in Hollywood, ?is a tough and tense crowd.?
There are several groups on whom MacFarlane?s humor was wasted.
Gwendolyn Foster, a film professor at University of Nebraska at Lincoln, says her female students were ?appalled? at what they consider MacFarlane?s outdated and sexist routines.
?Everyone agrees it was like watching an old sexist 'Dating Game' episode,? she says via e-mail. ?Seth McFarlane was as smarmy as the host of the 'Dating Game,' which is perfect because the Dating Game, if memory serves me, was on during the Vietnam War, when many Americans preferred to bury their heads in the sand and pretend the war was not happening, or pretend the war was a good thing.?
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued its own rebuke of MacFarlane?s bit in the guise of his animated Teddy Bear persona, the main character in his 2012 film, ?Ted.??A computer-animated Ted, presenting with actor Mark Wahlberg, made the joke that Jews controlled Hollywood, and that being Jewish was required to work in the industry. "I was born Theodore Shapiro and I would like to donate to Israel and continue to work in Hollywood forever," he said.
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Scientists develop a whole new way of harvesting energy from the sun
Monday, February 25, 2013
A new method of harvesting the Sun's energy is emerging, thanks to scientists at UC Santa Barbara's Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Materials. Though still in its infancy, the research promises to convert sunlight into energy using a process based on metals that are more robust than many of the semiconductors used in conventional methods. The researchers' findings are published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
"It is the first radically new and potentially workable alternative to semiconductor-based solar conversion devices to be developed in the past 70 years or so," said Martin Moskovits, professor of chemistry at UCSB.
In conventional photoprocesses, a technology developed and used over the last century, sunlight hits the surface of semiconductor material, one side of which is electron-rich, while the other side is not. The photon, or light particle, excites the electrons, causing them to leave their postions, and create positively-charged "holes." The result is a current of charged particles that can be captured and delivered for various uses, including powering lightbulbs, charging batteries, or facilitating chemical reactions.
"For example, the electrons might cause hydrogen ions in water to be converted into hydrogen, a fuel, while the holes produce oxygen," said Moskovits.
In the technology developed by Moskovits and his team, it is not semiconductor materials that provide the electrons and venue for the conversion of solar energy, but nanostructured metals ? a "forest" of gold nanorods, to be specific.
For this experiment, gold nanorods were capped with a layer of crystalline titanium dioxide decorated with platinum nanoparticles, and set in water. A cobalt-based oxidation catalyst was deposited on the lower portion of the array.
"When nanostructures, such as nanorods, of certain metals are exposed to visible light, the conduction electrons of the metal can be caused to oscillate collectively, absorbing a great deal of the light," said Moskovits. "This excitation is called a surface plasmon."
As the "hot" electrons in these plasmonic waves are excited by light particles, some travel up the nanorod, through a filter layer of crystalline titanium dioxide, and are captured by platinum particles. This causes the reaction that splits hydrogen ions from the bond that forms water. Meanwhile, the holes left behind by the excited electrons head toward the cobalt-based catalyst on the lower part of the rod to form oxygen.
According to the study, hydrogen production was clearly observable after about two hours. Additionally, the nanorods were not subject to the photocorrosion that often causes traditional semiconductor material to fail in minutes.
"The device operated with no hint of failure for many weeks," Moskovits said.
The plasmonic method of splitting water is currently less efficient and more costly than conventional photoprocesses, but if the last century of photovoltaic technology has shown anything, it is that continued research will improve on the cost and efficiency of this new method ? and likely in far less time than it took for the semiconductor-based technology, said Moskovits.
"Despite the recentness of the discovery, we have already attained 'respectable' efficiencies. More importantly, we can imagine achievable strategies for improving the efficiencies radically," he said.
Research in this study was also performed by postdoctoral researchers Syed Mubeen and Joun Lee; grad student Nirala Singh; materials engineer Stephan Kraemer; and chemistry professor Galen Stucky.
###
University of California - Santa Barbara: http://www.ucsb.edu
Thanks to University of California - Santa Barbara for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Stocks open higher; Barnes & Noble, Hertz jump
NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street Monday following the first weekly decline in the S&P 500 this year.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75 points, or 0.5 percent, to 14,076, as of 10:02 a.m. EST. The Dow is within 90 points of the record high of 14,164 it reached in October 2007.
The Standard & Poor's 500 gained nine to 1,525 and the Nasdaq composite advanced 22 to 3,184.
Barnes & Noble rose $1, or 8 percent, to $14.64 after founder and chairman Leonard Riggio told the bookseller he is going to try to buy the company's retail business. Hertz advanced $1.36 to $20.07, despite posting a fourth-quarter loss, after the rental car company said that pricing improved, volume rose and it cut costs.
Stocks gained even with the threat of across-the-board automatic government spending cuts less than a week away. Some $85 billion in cuts will occur over the next seven months starting March 1, with more in following years if lawmakers can't come to an agreement on how to reduce spending in a more measured and targeted manner.
The Standard & Poor's 500 had its first weekly decline of the year last week. Investors sent stocks plunging after minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting revealed disagreement over how long to keep buying bonds in an effort to boost the economy.
Many analysts say the Fed's bond-buying program and the resulting low interest rates have been a big driver behind this year's stock rally, which lifted indexes to their highest levels since 2007.
Japanese stocks surged on reports that the prime minister's pick for central bank governor will be a strong advocate of loose monetary policy aimed at reviving the moribund economy. The Nikkei 225 gained 2.4 percent to end at 11,662.52
European stocks also advanced.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, rose three basis points to 1.96 percent.
Among other stocks making big moves:
? Drugmaker Affymax plunged $13.90, or 85 percent, to $2.54 after the company recalled its anemia drug following severe allergic reactions and the deaths of some kidney dialysis patients.
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
Dozens of stars spend Saturday at Oscar rehearsals
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Some dressed down in jeans and hoodies. Others looked camera-ready in suits or chic dresses and spiky stilettos.
But all of the stars who rehearsed Saturday for the 85th Academy Awards seemed excited about being a part of the big show.
They paraded through the Dolby Theatre in 15-minute increments: Meryl Streep. Ben Affleck. Reese Witherspoon. Richard Gere. Jennifer Aniston. John Travolta. Nicole Kidman. Jack Nicholson. And dozens more.
Each practiced their lines in front of an audience of show workers and awarded prop Oscars to rehearsal actors. They also scanned the theater from the stage, searching for their show-night seats.
"Oh, wow. That's a very dramatic picture of me," best-actress nominee Jessica Chastain said after spotting her seat-saving placard. "I'm looking at everyone's headshots. It's kind of incredible."
Affleck confessed his excitement from the stage as he looked out at all the famous faces expected Sunday.
"This is like the most memorable aspect of the Oscars," the "Argo" director said. "You see all these place cards (at rehearsal), then you come back and they're all here!"
Affleck also chatted backstage with the college students who won a contest to serve as trophy carriers during the ceremony.
"I love that," he said. "It's super cool."
Travolta also took time with the students.
"I was there when that idea was born and I said it was the best idea they could possibly come up with," he told the aspiring filmmakers backstage. "And here you are!"
Travolta plans to bring his 13-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu, to the ceremony.
Kidman made rehearsals a family affair. Husband Keith Urban and their eldest daughter, Sunday, watched from the audience as Kidman ran through her lines.
She looked impeccable in a wine-colored dress and tall, metallic shoes, but other stars were decidedly more casual. Kristen Stewart arrived in jeans, sneakers and a backward ballcap. (She also limped on an injured right foot.) Renee Zellweger also opted for comfort in jeans and running shoes.
The cast of "Chicago," including Gere, Zellweger, Queen Latifah and Catherine Zeta-Jones, injected their rehearsal with silliness. Latifah purposely over-enunciated her lines, and when a pair of rehearsal actors claimed an Oscar onstage and gave an acceptance speech, Zeta-Jones started to play them off with an imaginary violin.
"Get outta here!" Gere said with a smile.
Octavia Spencer, who won the supporting actress Oscar last year for her performance in "The Help," also had a little fun.
"I'm going to do a soft-shoe," she said, shuffling off stage.
Streep and Jane Fonda were each wowed by the set design. Fonda snapped a photo of it with her iPhone, and Streep marveled at how far the walk to the microphone was.
"All the way to here?!" she asked. "Oh my God."
Halle Berry literally stumbled during her first rehearsal, her pointy heel catching on part of the stage. She insisted on trying again.
"Woo hoo," she said. "Made it."
___
AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy .
___
Online:
www.oscars.org
Jane Fonda even took a picture of the stage with her iPhone.
The Academy Awards will be presented Sunday and broadcast live on ABC.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dozens-stars-spend-saturday-oscar-rehearsals-122038692.html
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94% Barbara
All Critics (53) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (3)
Hoss is fantastic. Barbara is ice cold at the start, understandably so. Yet Hoss makes her sympathetic.
[Leaves] you drained and horrified.
Sometimes, the sun shines and the wind blows fresh and the very elements that make for intense hardship also open a window on intense joy.
Hoss is mesmerizing as a woman who holds it all together to the point of losing herself.
It's one terrific film, as smart, thoughtful and emotionally involving as just about anything that's out there.
It's a quiet film built of careful details.
This well acted political melodrama, set during the Cold War, is Germany's entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
Hoss' outstanding performance is a deep well of subtle yet unmistakable motives and reactions.
A crafty filmmaker, Petzold gives us information in increments. During the first half of his movie, which he co-wrote, we are all but left to our own devices; yet it is fascinating, and appropriate.
Worth seeing ... both for Petzold's singular aesthetic and for Hoss, who as usual is a riveting presence.
A well-observed, compelling, and evocative character piece, haunted by the ghosts of Germany's recent past.
Feels like total immersion into the sights, stresses, and the subtle solidarity among middle-class professionals living in the workers' paradise that Petzold's parents fled.
[R]esides somewhere in an unsatisfying borderland between drama and thriller, never quite catching fire as either...
A superbly crafted low-boil drama that gets its hooks into you the old-fashioned way, through character, and highlights the difficulties and cost of living by principles.
Subtly intriguing and ambiguous, it's filled with suspicion and subterfuge.
Despite the limited scope of its predictable narrative, "Barbara" remains a compelling character study thanks to Nina Hoss's enigmatic performance in the title role.
Christian Petzold's latest thriller threatens to cross over the line from minimalism to nihilism.
Both insightful and poignant, but not mawkish...an intriguing character study set against the backdrop of a dark time in history.
The plotting, the planning and the deepening relationships don't make for kinetic action, but they are the foundation for a smart, engrossing film.
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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/barbara_2012/
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Fragments of continents hidden under lava in Indian Ocean: New micro-continent detected under Reunion and Mauritius
Feb. 22, 2013 ? The islands Reunion and Mauritius, both well-known tourist destinations, are hiding a micro-continent, which has now been discovered. The continent fragment known as Mauritia detached about 60 million years ago while Madagascar and India drifted apart, and had been hidden under huge masses of lava.
Such micro-continents in the oceans seem to occur more frequently than previously thought, says a study in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience.
The break-up of continents is often associated with mantle plumes: These giant bubbles of hot rock rise from the deep mantle and soften the tectonic plates from below, until the plates break apart at the hotspots. This is how Eastern Gondwana broke apart about 170 million years ago. At first, one part was separated, which in turn fragmented into Madagascar, India, Australia and Antarctica, which then migrated to their present position.
Plumes currently situated underneath the islands Marion and Reunion appear to have played a role in the emergence of the Indian Ocean. If the zone of the rupture lies at the edge of a land mass (in this case Madagascar / India), fragments of this land mass may be separated off. The Seychelles are a well-known example of such a continental fragment.
A group of geoscientists from Norway, South Africa, Britain and Germany have now published a study that suggests, based on the study of lava sand grains from the beach of Mauritius, the existence of further fragments. The sand grains contain semi-precious zircons aged between 660 and 1970 million years, which is explained by the fact that the zircons were carried by the lava as it pushed through subjacent continental crust of this age.
This dating method was supplemented by a recalculation of plate tectonics, which explains exactly how and where the fragments ended up in the Indian Ocean. Dr. Bernhard Steinberger of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and Dr. Pavel Doubrovine of Oslo University calculated the hotspot trail: "On the one hand, it shows the position of the plates relative to the two hotspots at the time of the rupture, which points towards a causal relation," says Steinberger. "On the other hand, we were able to show that the continent fragments continued to wander almost exactly over the Reunion plume, which explains how they were covered by volcanic rock." So what was previously interpreted only as the trail of the Reunion hotspot, are continental fragments which were previously not recognized as such because they were covered by the volcanic rocks of the Reunion plume. It therefore appears that such micro-continents in the ocean occur more frequently than previously thought.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Trond H. Torsvik, Hans Amundsen, Ebbe H. Hartz, Fernando Corfu, Nick Kusznir, Carmen Gaina, Pavel V. Doubrovine, Bernhard Steinberger, Lewis D. Ashwal, Bj?rn Jamtveit. A Precambrian microcontinent in the Indian Ocean. Nature Geoscience, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1736
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/OaIWm9jLxY4/130224142725.htm
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
London levy set to fall short of Crossrail target
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Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff joins us from the NFL Combine in Indianapolis! Li...
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Martian Pink Samsung GALAXY Note II hits Korea You might remember that back in...
Martian Pink Samsung GALAXY Note II hits Korea
You might remember that back in September, Samsung released a ?Martian Pink? version of the Samsung Galaxy S III in Korea. That color must have been a huge success in the country, because Samsung is ?
Source: http://www.facebook.com/GeekyGadgets/posts/10151323177810967
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Friday, February 22, 2013
Car bomb kills over 50 near Damascus ruling party office
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A car bomb killed more than 50 people and wounded 200 in central Damascus on Thursday when it blew up on a busy highway close to ruling Baath Party offices and the Russian Embassy, state media and activists said.
Syrian television showed charred and bloodied bodies strewn across the street after the blast, which it described as a suicide bombing by "terrorists" battling President Bashar al-Assad. It said 53 people were killed.
Central Damascus has been relatively insulated from almost two years of unrest and civil war in which around 70,000 people have been killed across the country, but the bloodshed has shattered suburbs around the capital.
Rebels who control districts to the south and east of Damascus have attacked Assad's power base for nearly a month and struck with devastating bombs over the last year.
The al Qaeda-linked rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra, which claimed responsibility for several of those bombs, says it carried out 17 attacks around Damascus in the first half of February, including at least seven bombings.
Activists said most of the victims of Thursday's attack in the city's Mazraa district were civilians, including children, possibly from a school behind the Baath building.
Opposition activists reported further explosions elsewhere in the city after the explosion which struck shortly before 11 a.m. (0900 GMT).
One resident in the heart of the capital heard three or four projectiles whistling through the sky, followed by explosions. At least one of them landed in a public garden in the Abu Rummaneh district, she said, but no one was hurt.
EMBASSY DAMAGED
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence via a network of sources inside Syria, said the Mazraa car bomb was detonated at a checkpoint close to the Baath Party building, located about 200 meters (660 feet) from the Russian embassy.
It said 56 people were killed, of which at least 15 were from Syria's security forces and the rest civilians. Eight other people were killed by a car bomb in the Barzeh district of northeast Damascus, one of several explosions which followed the Mazraa attack.
Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted a diplomat as saying the Mazraa blast blew out windows at the Russian Embassy, but no employees were wounded. "The building has really been damaged ... The windows are shattered," the diplomat said.
The vehicle was carrying between 1 and 1.5 metric tons (1.65 tons) of explosives, Damascus Governor Bishr Sabban told Reuters.
A correspondent for Syrian television said he saw seven body bags with corpses at the scene. He counted 17 burnt-out cars and another 40 that were destroyed or badly damaged by the force of the blast, which ripped a crater 1.5 meters deep into the road.
Syrian TV said security forces had detained a would-be suicide bomber with five bombs in his car, one of them weighing 300 kg (440 pounds).
In the southern city of Deraa, where the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011, warplanes bombed the city's old district for the first time in nearly two years of conflict, killing 18 people, activists said.
A rebel officer in the Tawheed al-Janoub brigade which led a rebel offensive this week in Deraa said there were at least five air strikes on the city on Thursday.
"The (rebel) attacks on several major checkpoints in the Hay al-Saad neighborhood and its declaration as a liberated area have prompted this response," said Abdullah Masalmah, an activist from the city, via Skype.
Fighting has intensified in southern Syria in recent weeks, leading to a sharp increase in refugee flows to neighboring Jordan, according to officials. A Jordanian military source said 4,288 refugees arrived in the last 24 hours alone.
Nayef Hawatmeh, head of the Damascus-based Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was lightly wounded by an explosion in a mosque next to his office, a DFLP official said.
Talal Abu Tharifa told Reuters in Gaza that glass fragments had caused a slight wound to Hawatmeh's hand.
(Additional reporting by Marwan Makdesi in Damascus, Laila Bassam and Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Alissa de Carbonnel in Moscow; Editing by Andrew Roche)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/explosion-central-damascus-casualties-reported-092416397.html
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Sony shows PlayStation 4 capabilities, but no box
Mark Cerny, lead system architect for the Sony Playstation 4 speaks during an event to announce the new video game console, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Mark Cerny, lead system architect for the Sony Playstation 4 speaks during an event to announce the new video game console, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Andrew House speaks at an event to announce the Sony Playstation 4 Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Mark Cerny, lead system architect for the Sony Playstation 4 speaks during an event to announce the new video game console Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
David Perry, CEO of Gaikai, speaks during a news conference to announce the Sony Playstation 4 Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Yoshinori Ono, of Capcom, speaks during a news conference to announce the Sony Playstation 4 Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Sony showed off what the PlayStation 4 can do, but not what it will look like.
The Japanese electronics giant talked about its upcoming game console for the first time and said it will go on sale this holiday season.
But Sony didn't reveal the device itself. Presenters played games that were projected on screens in a converted opera house, but the PlayStations themselves were hidden backstage throughout Wednesday evening's two-hour event.
"I don't know that the box is going to be something that's going to have a dramatic impact on people's feelings about the game. It will be a color and a size fairly comparable to previous consoles," said Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, the U.S.-based arm of the PlayStation business.
"There's a big story to tell here, and it's going to take between now and the holiday season to get all the details out there," Tretton said in an interview.
Tretton said the price of the PS4 hasn't been decided yet, but hinted that it wouldn't be as high as the PlayStation 3 was initially. The PS3 debuted in 2006 with two models for $500 and $600. It now sells for about $300.
The PS4 will be jostling for attention this holiday season with Microsoft's successor to the Xbox. Details on that device are expected in June. Xbox 360 came out a year before PS3 and has been more popular, largely because of its robust online service, Xbox Live, which allows people to play games with others online. Having an event this early allows Sony to grab the spotlight for a few months, though the lack of an actual device was noted by many people on Twitter and elsewhere.
Sony did reveal that the insides of the PS4 will essentially be a "supercharged PC," much like an Xbox. That's a big departure from the old and idiosyncratic PlayStation design and should make it easier for developers to create games. Sony Corp. is using processing chips made by Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
"One of the big challenges we faced in the past was that we created great technology that we handed over to the development community, and they had to go through a learning curve before they could harness it. And when they did, we saw some phenomenal games," Tretton said. "We wanted to lower that barrier of entry and really give them the ability to create tremendous gaming experiences from Day One."
The adoption of PC chips also means that the new console won't be able to play games created for any of the three previous PlayStations, even though the PS4 will have a Blu-ray disc drive, just like the PS3. Instead, Sony said gamers will have to stream older games to the PS4 through the Internet.
Other new features revolve around social networking and remote access. With one button, you can broadcast video of your game play so friends can "look over your shoulder virtually," said David Perry, co-founder of the Sony-owned Internet game company Gaikai. With remote play, you can run a game on the PS4 to stream over the Internet to Sony's mobile gaming device, the PlayStation Vita, which debuted last year.
The goal is to make the PS4 so good at figuring out what games and other content you want that it can download it without being asked, so that it's available when you realize you do want it, Sony said.
"Our long-term vision is to reduce download times of digital titles to zero," said Mark Cerny, Sony's lead system architect on the PS4.
The PS4 is arriving amid declines in video game hardware, software and accessory sales. Research firm NPD Group said game sales fell 22 percent to $13.3 billion in 2012. With the launch of the PS4, Sony is looking to attract people who may have shifted their attention to games on Facebook, tablet computers and mobile phones.
Forrester analyst James McQuivey said Sony is missing the point by building what amounts to an upgraded PS3.
"Sony believes the future will be like the past and has built the game console to prove it," he said. "Tablets and smartphones now engage more people in more minutes of gaming than consoles will ever achieve."
Sony showed an updated controller that adds a touchpad and a "share" button. The controller also features a light bar, which means a new PlayStation camera can more easily track the device for motion control.
Dennis Fong, CEO of the gaming-centric social networking site Raptr, thinks Sony's focus on sharing with the PS4 will be good for both gamers and business.
"The ability to capture an image, video or instantly broadcast what's on players' screen to their friends is transformational for the new generation of consoles," said Fong. "Providing them with community tools to create videos and live broadcasts is a cool feature for gamers, and also great for business. User-generated content keeps players engaged with the game even while they aren't playing it and also attracts new users from the buzz generated around this content."
The bulk of Wednesday's event was devoted to demos of games for the PS4, including a realistic team racing simulator, "Drive Club," super-powered action sequel "Infamous: Second Son," artsy puzzler "The Witness" and several first-person shooter games, including "Killzone: Shadow Fall." Beyond games, the PS4 will let people create animation in 3-D using a Move motion controller ? all in real time.
Last fall, Nintendo launched the next generation of gaming consoles with the Wii U, which comes with a tablet-like controller called the GamePad. The controller allows two people playing the same game to have different experiences depending on whether they use the GamePad or a traditional Wii remote, which itself was revolutionary when it came out because of its motion-control features.
Judging by Wednesday's event, Sony seeks to improve but not revolutionize game play. The games were updates to existing ones, with improved graphics.
"At the end of the day, this is a device by gamers for gamers," Tretton said. "The games that people go out and spend billions of dollars on are your traditional shooters."
The original Wii has sold more units since its launch than both its rivals, but it has lost momentum in recent years as the novelty of its motion controller faded. Nintendo said it sold 3.1 million Wii Us by the end of 2012. It was a disappointing start for the first of a new generation of gaming systems.
In some ways, notably its ability to display high-definition games, the Wii U was just catching up to the PS3 and the Xbox 360, the preferred consoles to play popular games such as "Call of Duty."
All three console makers are trying to position their devices as entertainment hubs that can deliver movies, music and social networking as they try to stay relevant in the age of smartphones and tablets. The PlayStation online network will have access to Sony's video and music services, as well as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, with paid subscriptions to those services. People will also be able to access Facebook.
___
Lang contributed from Los Angeles.
___
Follow AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/petersvensson and AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
New Android apps worth downloading: NARR8, The Weather Channel update, AWESOME Land
Today?s apps worth downloading starts with NARR8, a comic book app packed with standard digital and motion comics that use audio and animation to make the experience more dynamic. We also have an update to The Weather Channel app, and AWESOME Land, a platformer that invokes classics such as Super Mario Bros.
What?s it about? Comic reader app NARR8 focuses on motion comics in an attempt to bridge the gap between TV shows and comic books.
What?s cool? In addition to NARR8?s emphasis of motion comics, the app includes a number of episodic stories that are released for free, featuring voice and often interactivity. You can read summaries of each episode before you load one, and share what you?re checking out through social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.
Who?s it for? If you?re a fan of comics but prefer a more interactive take, try NARR8.
What?s it like? For more comic-reading goodness, try Dark Horse Comics and Comixology?s Comics app.
What?s it about? The Weather Channel provides users with tons of information about weather forecasts from all over the country.
What?s cool? You can get forecasts as soon as hourly or as late as 10 days into the future with the app, and with The Weather Channel?s latest update, you?ll be notified when the weather is changing, along with other improvements. The app draws on the knowledge of more than 200 meteorologists, providing forecast data, past radar images, popular weather videos and localized weather maps.
Who?s it for? Anyone who goes outside should download The Weather Channel app. So...everyone.
What?s it like? Both WeatherBug and AccuWeather are solid forecasting alternatives if you need them.
What?s it about? If Super Mario were a biker on a bad acid trip, the result might be AWESOME Land, a platformer that invokes Nintendo?s classic game while riffing on the formula.
What?s cool? AWESOME Land features main character Manley, whose motorcycle was stolen by evil aliens, and who must venture through 25 different levels to get it back. With solid touch controls and big boss battles, AWESOME Land manages to feel fresh while invoking some of the best-known classics in video games.
Who?s it for? Fans of platformers, as well as retro titles, should get a kick out of AWESOME Land.
What?s it like? League of Evil is among the best platforming titles on any mobile platform, and Rayman Jungle Run performs extremely well.
Download the Appolicious Android app
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Winter storm pummels central US with snow and ice
Near white out conditions, thunder snow and strong winds swept into the Midwest, bringing transportation to a halt in several states. And in the South, a wintry mix of rain, snow and sleet created dangerous icy conditions. The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel reports.
By Erin McClam and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News
Lumbering coast to coast, a winter storm hammered the Great Plains on Thursday, and more than a dozen more states were forecast to be hit in coming days.
Accidents were reported across the region, with one death: an Oklahoma teenager who was killed when his pickup truck skidded across a slushy road.
By evening, more than 14 inches of snow had fallen on the ground in Wichita, Kan., the second largest on record and the most the city had seen in 50 years.
The Weather Channel said snow totals would be formidable: Up to a foot of snow for Omaha, Neb., 3 to 6 inches of snow and sleet for St. Louis, 8 to 12 inches of snow for Kansas City, Mo., and 3 to 6 inches of snow for Chicago.
Kansas and Missouri declared states of emergency as plows struggled to keep up with a system dumping as much as 3 inches of snow per hour, and a swath of the country from Ohio to Arkansas prepared for a coating of dangerous ice.
Full coverage from weather.com
?I do want to urge everybody in the state: If you don?t have to travel, don?t,? Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said. ?Get out a board game, play with the kids, drink a cup of coffee.?
United, Southwest Airlines, AirTran Airways, American Airlines and American Eagle said they had canceled hundreds of flights for Thursday and Friday, and Kansas City International Airport was closed altogether. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has already cancelled more 200 flights scheduled for Friday.
Snow will arrive in the Chicago metro area on Friday before traveling to the East Coast where it will develop into rain and sleet across the region and snow in the Boston area. The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore reports from Lincoln, Neb.
Raymore, Mo., reported more than 10 inches of snow. Topeka, Kan., had 9.2 inches, the most in a day since January 1993. Alva, Okla., had more than a foot on the ground.
Advisories for snow, ice, wind or rain were posted as far south as the Texas Panhandle, as far north as Minnesota and Wisconsin and as far east as the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
Authorities closed a 90-mile stretch of Interstate 70, which forms a belt across Kansas and Missouri.
The speed of the snowfall is ?going to be overwhelming even the best snow-clearing capabilities that they have,? meteorologist Tom Niziol said on The Weather Channel. ?If you don?t have anywhere to go, don?t. Please don?t.?
PhotoBlog: Winter whiteout slams central U.S.
How bad will the snow be in your neck of the woods? With the latest winter storm front barreling its way across the US, a traffic camera on I-70 in Kansas City, Mo., shows serious snow accumulation in a time-lapse video.
Along the Kansas-Nebraska state line, up to a foot and a half of snow was expected.
The University of Kansas closed for the day, as did schools in Wichita and Oklahoma City.
The storm is vast: Earlier this week, it closed roads and stranded cars in California and dusted cactus tops in Southwest. At a delayed tournament in Arizona, pro golfers threw snowballs at each other and retreated to the clubhouse for hot chocolate.
The same weather system could dump snow on New England for the third weekend in a row, and a stretch of Georgia and the Florida Panhandle could be doused by 7 inches of rain.
The storm was blamed for at least one death. An 18-year-old was killed Wednesday when his pickup skidded out of control in the slush on an Oklahoma state highway, crossed into oncoming traffic and was hit by a truck.
In Arkansas, a school bus taking kids home in the afternoon slid off a steep, snowy country road and crashed, leaving the driver and three students with minor injuries, Pope County Sheriff Aaron Duval told The Associated Press.
The storm was expected to pummel the Plains with heavy snow and ice for the rest of Thursday and move toward Chicago and Minneapolis on Friday.
A wintry mix of snow and ice was likely to come in the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains, including parts of Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina, by Friday morning, The Weather Channel reported.
A massive winter storm is expected to move east from Kansas, where it is dumping 1 to 2 inches of snow per hour, threatening 20 states with snow and ice. TODAY's Al Roker reports.
This story was originally published on Thu Feb 21, 2013 7:34 AM EST
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Detective calls Pistorius a flight risk
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ? A detective has testified that Oscar Pistorius is a flight risk and shouldn't be granted bail.
Hilton Botha also said in the star athlete's bail hearing Wednesday that Pistorius illegally possessed .38-caliber ammunition in a safe in his bedroom. Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder for the Valentine's Day shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp with a 9 mm pistol. The policeman testified that Pistorius did not have a license for a .38-caliber weapon and consequently possession of that ammunition was illegal.
Pistorius argued in a court affidavit Tuesday that the shooting was accidental and he thought the model was an intruder in his home.
The detective says all Pistorius would say after the shooting was "he thought it was a burglar."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/detective-court-pistorius-flight-risk-084956467--oly.html
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'Friends' Again! Courteney Cox & Matthew Perry Reunite
Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry reunite for another onscreen romance! Check out other cute and candid moments from the stars
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Biologists lead international team to track Arctic response to climate change
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 21-Feb-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Amy Pelsinsky
apelsinsky@umces.edu
410-330-1389
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
SOLOMONS, MD (February 21, 2013)--Biologists Jackie Grebmeier and Lee Cooper from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory have been visiting the chilly area north of Alaska near the Bering Strait for more than 20 years, but it's only in the last few years that they have seen things really start to change. And fast. Last summer was the highest ice retreat in the Arctic record, and eight of the last ten years have seen the lowest ice on record.
"We're seeing the highest sea ice retreat in the whole Arctic," said Jackie Grebmeier, research professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory and chair of the International Pacific Arctic Group. "It's the most productive part of the Arctic, and it's in the U.S.' backyard."
At the end of February, they travel to Seattle gather an international team of scientists to establish a Distributed Biological Observatory in the North American Arctic. Funded by a five-year award from the National Science Foundation, researchers from Japan, Korea, China, Canada, Russia, and the United States will systematically track the biological response to sea ice retreat and the resulting environmental changes in the Bering and Chukchi Seas to the west and north of Alaska.
"It has been projected that there won't be ice in the summer in the Arctic Ocean by 2050," said research professor Lee Cooper. "But the ice is disappearing faster than all of the models."
Through observing stations in five "hot" spots, scientists will monitor everything from the temperature and salinity of the water and the amount of zooplankton (fish food) swimming around in the waters to clams clinging to the shores and how many birds, walruses, and polar bears continue to call the area home. The goal is to observe and document how the Arctic creatures are responding to climate change and track those ecosystem changes under further loss of sea ice.
In Arctic food webs, even small changes can have large cascading effects on higher organisms. Intense studies of these areas will help scientists to better understand how climate change affects Arctic biology, and how these changes in turn affect the Earth system. No ice in the summer means thinner ice that melts faster in the winter. It's multi-year ice that keeps the Arctic cold, and helps control weather around the world.
"When you change sea ice, you change climate and weather patterns that affect us throughout the U.S.," said Grebmeier, who represents the United States on the International Arctic Science Committee.
A decline in sea ice has other implications, as well. Fishing might move north. Ships from China might take a shortcut through the Bering Strait to reach destinations in Europe instead of the long trip across the Indian Ocean and through the Suez Canal. Oil companies could more easily access oil reserves for more of the year. People who live in the Arctic are also interested in these changes, as increased use of the waterways can lead to contamination of fisheries, pollution, and shifts in their economy.
"When you go up there you really see changes," said Grebmeier. "We're like the frogs in the pot here. But up there, just in the past 20 or 30 years, the changes have been quite obvious."
###
For more on the Distributed Biological Observatory, visit http://arctic.cbl.umces.edu/
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 21-Feb-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Amy Pelsinsky
apelsinsky@umces.edu
410-330-1389
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
SOLOMONS, MD (February 21, 2013)--Biologists Jackie Grebmeier and Lee Cooper from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory have been visiting the chilly area north of Alaska near the Bering Strait for more than 20 years, but it's only in the last few years that they have seen things really start to change. And fast. Last summer was the highest ice retreat in the Arctic record, and eight of the last ten years have seen the lowest ice on record.
"We're seeing the highest sea ice retreat in the whole Arctic," said Jackie Grebmeier, research professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory and chair of the International Pacific Arctic Group. "It's the most productive part of the Arctic, and it's in the U.S.' backyard."
At the end of February, they travel to Seattle gather an international team of scientists to establish a Distributed Biological Observatory in the North American Arctic. Funded by a five-year award from the National Science Foundation, researchers from Japan, Korea, China, Canada, Russia, and the United States will systematically track the biological response to sea ice retreat and the resulting environmental changes in the Bering and Chukchi Seas to the west and north of Alaska.
"It has been projected that there won't be ice in the summer in the Arctic Ocean by 2050," said research professor Lee Cooper. "But the ice is disappearing faster than all of the models."
Through observing stations in five "hot" spots, scientists will monitor everything from the temperature and salinity of the water and the amount of zooplankton (fish food) swimming around in the waters to clams clinging to the shores and how many birds, walruses, and polar bears continue to call the area home. The goal is to observe and document how the Arctic creatures are responding to climate change and track those ecosystem changes under further loss of sea ice.
In Arctic food webs, even small changes can have large cascading effects on higher organisms. Intense studies of these areas will help scientists to better understand how climate change affects Arctic biology, and how these changes in turn affect the Earth system. No ice in the summer means thinner ice that melts faster in the winter. It's multi-year ice that keeps the Arctic cold, and helps control weather around the world.
"When you change sea ice, you change climate and weather patterns that affect us throughout the U.S.," said Grebmeier, who represents the United States on the International Arctic Science Committee.
A decline in sea ice has other implications, as well. Fishing might move north. Ships from China might take a shortcut through the Bering Strait to reach destinations in Europe instead of the long trip across the Indian Ocean and through the Suez Canal. Oil companies could more easily access oil reserves for more of the year. People who live in the Arctic are also interested in these changes, as increased use of the waterways can lead to contamination of fisheries, pollution, and shifts in their economy.
"When you go up there you really see changes," said Grebmeier. "We're like the frogs in the pot here. But up there, just in the past 20 or 30 years, the changes have been quite obvious."
###
For more on the Distributed Biological Observatory, visit http://arctic.cbl.umces.edu/
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/uomc-bli022013.php
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