NASA to Launch Huge Mars Rover Saturday (SPACE.com)

NASA plans to launch its newest Mars rover tomorrow (Nov. 26), a beast of a robot that officials say is the most complex and capable planetary explorer ever built.

Technicians rolled the car-size Curiosity rover and its Atlas 5 rocket to their pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Friday morning (Nov. 25) to prepare for liftoff, which is slated for today at 10:02 a.m. EST (1502 GMT).

Chances are good that Curiosity ? the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission to assess past and present Martian habitability ? will get off the ground on time, officials say. Current forecasts predict just a 30 percent chance that bad weather will postpone the launch, and the mission team is working no issues with the rover or its rocket.

"The Mars Science Lab and the rover Curiosity [are] locked and loaded, ready for final countdown on Saturday's launch to Mars," said Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator at NASA's science mission directorate. [Photos: Last Look at Curiosity Rover]

A rover on steroids

At 1 ton, Curiosity weighs about five times more than each of its immediate Mars rover predecessors, the golf-cart-size twins Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on the Red Planet in January 2004 to look for evidence of past water activity.

Both Spirit and Opportunity carried five science instruments. Curiosity boasts 10, including a rock-vaporizing laser and gear designed to identify organic molecules ? the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it.

Curiosity also sports a drill at the end of its 7-foot (2.1-meter) robotic arm that will allow it to collect samples from the interior of Martian rocks, a first for a Red Planet robot.

"This rover, Curiosity rover, is really a rover on steroids," Hartman said.

Investigating Gale Crater

After liftoff, Curiosity will embark upon an 8 1/2-month cruise to Mars. In August 2012, it will land at a 100-mile-wide (160-kilometer) crater called Gale and begin assessing whether Mars is, or ever was, capable of supporting microbial life.

A 3-mile-high (5-km) mound of layered sediment rises from Gale's center. These layers preserve a record of Martian environmental change spanning about one billion years, and Curiosity is designed to read them like a book.

The rover will pay special attention to layers near the mound's base, where Mars-orbiting spacecraft have identified clays and sulfates ? minerals that form in the presence of liquid water.

The rocks shift farther up the mountain, capturing Mars' transition from a relatively warm, wet planet to the frigid, dry and dusty world we see today. Curiosity's observations could help shed light on this dramatic transformation, researchers said.

The MSL team is quick to stress that Curiosity is not hunting for signs of life; if any microbes are squirming about in Mars' red dirt, the rover probably won't be able to spot them. But Curiosity's mission is a necessary precursor to future efforts to hunt down potential Red Planet life, researchers said.

"A habitable environment needs to be described," said MSL project scientist John Grotzinger of Caltech. "You just simply have to know where to look."

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20111125/sc_space/nasatolaunchhugemarsroversaturday

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New Zealand's PM seeks outright election majority (AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ? Early results from New Zealand's general election Saturday showed that Prime Minister John Key's National Party was teetering on the edge of having enough votes to govern alone.

With polls closed and about one-third of the votes counted, the National Party was winning 50 percent of the overall vote ? which would give it a thin majority of 62 seats out of a total 121. Anything short of a majority, however, and Key would need to find political partners to form a stable government.

If the early results hold, Key's National Party would be the first party to secure a majority on its own since the country abolished a winner-takes-all voting system and replaced it in 1996 with a proportional one that generally results in a more fractured parliament.

And if the party finishes with more than half the total vote, it will be the first time that has been achieved by any party in 60 years.

In other early results, the Labour party was getting 26 percent of the vote and the Green party 11 percent.

It appeared the New Zealand First party would return to parliament after making a late charge in the campaign. The party had 6.8 percent of the vote in early results, above the minimum 5 percent threshold needed.

The election has been driven by Key's personal popularity. After three years in power, polls have shown the former currency trader is far more popular than the Labour party leader, Phil Goff. Key has earned the nickname "Teflon John" for the way that nothing politically damaging seems to stick to him.

"He's a clever strategist and a good manager," said Jennifer Lees-Marshment, a political studies lecturer at the University of Auckland.

She said Key has been adept at knowing when to forge ahead with policies and when to pull back. His common touch was reassuring to people when a deadly earthquake struck Christchurch last February, she said, and enabled him to share in their excitement in October when the country's national All Blacks team won the Rugby World Cup.

Key's campaign has focused primarily on the economy. He's promising to bring the country back into surplus and begin paying down the national debt within three years. Part of his plan to achieve that is to sell minority stakes in four government-owned energy companies and in Air New Zealand.

That's where the center-left Labour party found its biggest point of difference. During the campaign, Goff promised not to sell anything and to raise money by other means, including by introducing a capital gains tax and by raising the age at which people get government pensions by two years, to 67.

On the campaign trail, however, those issues got crowded out by a mini-scandal known as the teapot tape saga. While meeting at a tea shop with a political ally, Key reportedly made rude and embarrassing political comments that were captured on a recording device left by a cameraman.

Key complained to police on the grounds that it's illegal to record a private conversation, and the tape never went public.

Lees-Marshment said she thinks voters grew tired of the attention given to the story and may have begun feeling more sympathetic toward Key.

"It became a story about the story," she said. "The voters got put off by it."

The saga certainly didn't seem to do much to boost the campaign of Goff, who was effectively shut out of any coverage for a few days. Labour's lackluster result has pundits speculating Goff will be replaced as leader of the party within days of the election.

But the saga did seem to boost the fortunes of Winston Peters, who leads the small New Zealand First party. Peters grabbed the headlines with pointed criticism of Key over the affair and his poll numbers shot up.

Early results also indicated the Green party would get about 13 seats, a result leaders would be happy with.

Voters were also deciding on whether to keep their electoral system, in which parties get a proportion of parliamentary seats based on the proportion of the votes they receive. Some wanted to return to a winner-takes-all format, although polls indicated most favored sticking with their current system.

In early results, about 54 percent of voters were favoring keeping the proportional system.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oceania/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_re_as/as_new_zealand_election

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Murder trial date set for Van der Sloot (AP)

LIMA, Peru ? A Peruvian judge has set Jan. 6 as the trial date for Joran van der Sloot in the killing of a Peruvian woman five years to the day after U.S. student Natalee Holloway disappeared.

The 24-year-old Van der Sloot remains the prime suspect in Holloway's 2005 disappearance on the Caribbean island of Aruba.

Peruvian prosecutors are seeking 30 years in prison for the Dutchman on first-degree murder charges in the killing of Stephany Flores.

Van der Sloot met the 21-year-old Lima student in a casino and took him to his hotel room.

He confessed to the killing but says he became enraged upon finding Flores reading about the Holloway case on his laptop. Flores' family and prosecutors contend he planned the killing in order to rob the young woman.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_peru_van_der_sloot

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Hack an Old LCD Monitor into a Polarized Privacy Monitor [Video]

If you have an old LCD display you can remove the polarized and anti-glare films from the inside of the monitor's glass surface and reassemble it; this will make the screen look bright white to the naked eye. To see the actual display you just need to use a bit of paint thinner to remove the anti-glare film from the polarization film and cut that to match the frames of an old pair of glasses. This produces a monitor that can only be seen when you're wearing the polarization filter glasses.

Instructables user dimovi provides step-by-step instructions and photos that describe how to remove the polarization filter from the display and cut that filter to make lenses for disposable 3D glasses or old sunglasses. I'm curious to see if regular polarized sunglasses would also be able to view the hacked display.

Privacy monitor made from an old LCD Monitor | Instructables via Hack-a-Day

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/iSspp2M0tIk/hack-an-old-lcd-monitor-into-a-polarized-privacy-monitor

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Researchers put smartphones on a power diet, drastically improve battery life

Nokia's Asha handsets already use browser compression to reduce data costs and power consumption for customers in the developing world, but the company's Finnish neighbours over at Aalto University have taken a totally different approach. By using a network proxy to squash traffic into bursts rather than a constant bit rate, and by forcing a smartphone's modem into idle mode between each burst, the researchers claim they can cut 3G power consumption by 74 percent. Now, we're fortunate enough to be surrounded by power outlets over here, but even we could use some of that.

Researchers put smartphones on a power diet, drastically improve battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  PhysOrg, IEEE Xplore  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/25/researchers-put-smartphones-on-a-power-diet-drastically-improve/

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Egypt releases three U.S. students: source (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? The Egyptian authorities on Thursday released three U.S. students held in Cairo on suspicion of taking part in violence during a protest against the country's ruling military council, a security source said.

The three, students at the American University in Cairo, were paraded Tuesday on Egyptian television. It cited an Interior Ministry official saying they had been detained after throwing petrol bombs at police protecting the Interior Ministry building. The university had previously named them as Gregory Porter, Luke Gates and Derrik Sweeney.

(Writing by Tom Perry)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/us_nm/us_egypt_protest_students

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Italy pays sharply higher rates in auctions (AP)

MILAN ? Italy had to pay sharply higher borrowing rates to entice investors to part with their cash during a couple of auctions Friday, in an acute sign that Europe's crippling debt crisis is laying siege to the eurozone's third-largest economy.

The auction results are another sign that the country's new technocratic government, faces a big battle to convince that it has a strategy to get a grip on the country's massive debts.

The country had to pay an average yield of 7.814 percent to raise euro2 billion in two-year bills. That rate was sharply higher on the 4.628 percent it had to pay in the previous auction and represented a new high since the creation of the euro in 1999.

And even raising euro8 billion for six months proved exorbitantly expensive. The yield for this auction spiked to 6.504 percent, nearly double the 3.535 percent rate in the last equivalent auction.

Following the grim news on the auction front, the country's borrowing rates in the markets sky-rocketed, with the ten-year yield spiking 0.34 percentage point to 7.30 percent ? above the 7 percent threshold that is widely-considered unsustainable in the long-run and eventually proved the point at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to seek financial bailouts.

The renewed rise is likely to renew tensions over Italy's debts, which stand at euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion), or a huge 120 percent of economic output. Europe's current anti-crisis measures are too not big enough to deal with Italy's debt mountain.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_financial_crisis

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Cisco, Telia to activate 'world's fastest internet connection' at 120Gbps, sounds pretty Swede

If the Swedes can dry a load of laundry on a 40Gbps internet connection, just imagine what they could do with 120Gbps. Melt polar caps? Solve the debt crisis? Dry three loads of laundry? The possibilities may be limitless, but we'll all find out soon enough, because Cisco and Telia are aiming to break the 120Gbps barrier by the end of this weekend. It's all part of this week's DreamHack, a Swedish digital festival that the Guinness Book recognizes as the "world's largest LAN party." This year, the two companies will attempt to set up a 300 kilometer-long connection from Jönköping to Stockholm, designed to serve (in theory, anyway) up to 750,000 people at blazing speeds -- of course, only 20,000 or so will be at DreamHack. The project has been in the works since last summer, with Telia constructing the fiber network, and Cisco handling hardware duties with a pair of power-packed CRS-3 routers (scalable to a total capacity of up to 322Tbps!). The companies say that the connection, if successful, would set a record for network "capacity utilization," allowing all 750K users to stream music simultaneously and to download an entire movie in just .047 seconds. It'll take us a lot longer to pick up our jaws from the ground.

Cisco, Telia to activate 'world's fastest internet connection' at 120Gbps, sounds pretty Swede originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Dreamhack  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/24/cisco-telia-to-create-worlds-fastest-internet-connection-at-12/

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Coffee Could Decrease Endometrial Cancer Risk, Study Shows

By Amanda Gardner

That morning cup (or cups) of coffee may do more than just kick-start your day. Women who habitually drink several cups of coffee per day over the course of years or decades may be less likely than their peers to develop cancer in the lining of their uterus, a new study suggests.

Researchers at Harvard University analyzed data on 67,470 women between the ages of 34 and 59 who were followed for about 26 years. Compared to women who drank little or no coffee, those who averaged four or more cups per day had a 25 percent lower risk of developing endometrial cancer, and those who drank two or three cups per day had a 7 percent lower risk.

More from Health.com:
Big Perks: Coffee?s Health Benefits
12 Surprising Sources Of Caffeine
The Truth About The Health Benefits Of Tea

Although the study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, doesn't prove that drinking coffee was directly responsible for reducing cancer risk, the researchers say a cause-and-effect relationship is plausible. Coffee drinking has been shown in previous studies to lower levels of insulin and estrogen, and chronically high levels of both hormones have been linked to endometrial cancer, the study notes.

The researchers urge coffee drinkers to hold the cream and sugar, however. Whatever benefits coffee may have on insulin levels would almost certainly be negated by the added calories and fat, which could contribute to insulin resistance and weight gain, they say.

Edward Giovannucci, MD, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston, led the study. The findings, which were published today in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, add to a growing body of evidence that indicates coffee may offer more benefits than harm when it comes to health -- and not just cancer health.

In recent years, studies have linked coffee consumption to a lower risk of liver cancer and lethal prostate cancer, as well as a lower risk of depression, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease (mainly in men), and cirrhosis of the liver. Research in mice even suggests that coffee may help protect against the brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease.

It's not entirely clear how drinking coffee might improve health, but caffeine seems to be only part of the picture, since studies on decaffeinated coffee have turned up apparent health benefits as well. (In the new study, decaffeinated coffee appeared to lower the risk of endometrial cancer, but the researchers had too little data on decaf-only drinkers to reach any reliable conclusions.)

Compounds with antioxidant properties -- such as chlorogenic acid -- likely play a role as well. "There are estimated to be over a couple thousand different components in coffee, many of which are antioxidants," says Donald Hensrud, M.D., chair of preventive medicine at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn.

Coffee contains even more antioxidants than green tea, says Hensrud, who was not involved in the new research. Giovannucci and his colleagues looked at tea drinkers in their study as well, but they found no relationship between tea consumption and endometrial-cancer risk.

The study has several key shortcomings that mean the findings should be interpreted with caution. The researchers relied on biennial diet questionnaires to assess coffee and tea intake, for instance, and although they controlled for a wide range of health factors and behaviors, they can't rule out the possibility that heavy coffee drinkers are socially or culturally different from their peers in ways that could affect cancer risk.

Leo B. Twiggs, M.D., a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, says a "whole host of reasons" other than coffee consumption could potentially explain the study findings.

Women concerned about cancer risk shouldn't necessarily increase their coffee intake, in other words. "It's OK to drink coffee as long as you don't drink lots of it," Twiggs says.

Although drinking a lot of caffeinated coffee doesn't appear to have any serious health consequences (such as raising the risk of high blood pressure, or hypertension), Hensrud says, it can carry some potential side effects, including insomnia, worsened heartburn, heart palpitations, anxiety, and irritability.

The "take-home message" of the new study should not be to "go out and drink more than four cups a day," says Steven R. Goldstein, M.D., a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York University Langone Medical Center, in New York City.

The most effective way for women to detect -- if not prevent -- endometrial cancer is to look out for irregular menstrual bleeding and consult a doctor if they notice anything unusual, Goldstein says.

Coffee (Or At Least, The Caffeine!) Can Help You Proofread Better

1?of?9

The caffeine in coffee could actually help you to spot grammar errors, according to a new study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Researchers found that caffeine helped students to correct errors in subject-verb agreement and verb tense, MSNBC reported. However, the caffeine still didn't seem to make a difference at identifying misspelled words -- sorry.

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Coffee (Or At Least, The Caffeine!) Can Help You Proofread Better

The caffeine in coffee could actually help you to spot grammar errors, according to a new study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Researchers found that caffeine helped students to correct errors in subject-verb agreement and verb tense, MSNBC reported. However, the caffeine still didn't seem to make a difference at identifying misspelled words -- sorry. '; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/23/coffee-endometrial-cancer-risk_n_1110195.html

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Mexico acknowledges 2nd Mayan reference to 2012 (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? Mexico's archaeology institute downplays theories that the ancient Mayas predicted some sort of apocalypse in 2012, but now acknowledges that a second reference to the date exists on a carved fragment from a ruin site in the country's south.

Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History has long said rumors of a world-ending or world-changing event in late December 2012 are a Westernized misinterpretation of Mayan calendars.

The institute repeated Thursday that "western messianic thought has twisted the Mayan cosmovision."

Most experts cite only one surviving reference to the date in Mayan script, a stone tablet from the Tortuguero site. But the institute's statement said there is in fact another from the nearby Comalcalco ruin site.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111124/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_apocalypse2012

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Earlier deals, longer hours woo US shoppers

Black?Friday shoppers rush into Best Buy in North Dartmouth, Mass., early Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Thousands of shoppers lined up at Macy's, Best Buy and other stores nationwide to buy everything from toys to tablets on Black Friday despite the economic downturn and some planned protests of the shopping holiday. (AP Photo/The Standard-Times, Peter Pereira)

Black?Friday shoppers rush into Best Buy in North Dartmouth, Mass., early Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Thousands of shoppers lined up at Macy's, Best Buy and other stores nationwide to buy everything from toys to tablets on Black Friday despite the economic downturn and some planned protests of the shopping holiday. (AP Photo/The Standard-Times, Peter Pereira)

The line stretched throughout the shopping center as people lined up at Toys R Us in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, for the 9 p.m. opening of the store. Black Friday sales began in earnest as stores opened their doors at midnight. (AP Photo/Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Rachel Denny Clow)

Shelby Buquet and Phi Nguyen, friends from Houma, push their items towards the cash register at the Best Buy electronics store during Holiday Black Friday shopping on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011 at midnight in Houma, La. Black Friday sales began in earnest as stores opened their doors at midnight. (AP Photo, Michael Conti/The Houma Courier) NO SALES MAGS OUT

Crowds of Black Friday shoppers attempt to push their way through security staff moments after the doors opened outside of Best Buy at the Mall of Americain Bloomingtyon, Minn., Friday Nov. 25, 2011. Several retailers at the Mall, including Best Buy, opened their doors to bargain hunters at midnight Friday. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

Balloons at an Oakland, Calif., Walmart advertise sale prices to shoppers on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. Walmart opened their doors before midnight to encourage early shopping.(AP Photo/Noah Berger)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The American holiday shopping season began in earnest Friday as stores opened at midnight ? a few hours earlier than they normally do on the most anticipated shopping day of the year. A few retailers even had lines of waiting shoppers when they opened on the Thanksgiving harvest holiday on Thursday.

The openings were mostly peaceful, but Los Angeles authorities say 20 people at a Walmart store suffered minor injuries when a woman used pepper spray to gain a "competitive" shopping advantage shortly after the store opened on Thursday evening. In North Carolina police were looking for two suspects after gunfire erupted early Friday at a mall. And police said two women were injured and a man was charged after a fight broke out at a Walmart in New York state.

Protests were planned Friday in places like Chicago and Washington, D.C. to get people to reconsider shopping at national chains on what is known as Black Friday. Such protests haven't stopped the crowds ? more than 9,000 people were outside the flagship Macy's store in New York City at its midnight opening.

Retailers hope the earlier openings will make Black Friday shopping more convenient for Americans who are more likely to be worried about high unemployment and other challenges they face in the weak economy. Black Friday is important to merchants because it kicks off the holiday shopping season, a time when they can make 25 to 40 percent of their annual revenue. It's expected that shoppers will spend nearly $500 billion during the holiday shopping season, or about 3 percent more than they did last year.

"It's a good move to try to get shoppers to spend sooner, before they run out of money," says Burt Flickinger, III, president of retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group.

About 34 percent of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday, up from 31 percent last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, and 16 percent had planned to shop on Thanksgiving Day itself. For the weekend, 152 million people are expected to shop, up from 138 million last year.

To get people to shop, merchants pulled out of their bag of tricks. Only a few opened last year at midnight, but several more stores followed this year. Some are offering to match the prices of competitors. Others are offering layaway plans that allow shoppers to pay as they go.

But the deals are what's driving many early shoppers into stores.

The Gap is offering discounts of 60 percent, 40 percent and 20 percent discounts off many items. Old Navy has pea coats for $29 and jeans for $15. Toys R Us is selling a Transformers Ultimate Optimus Prime action figure for $30 off at $47.99 and a Power Wheels Barbie vehicle for $120 off for $199.99. And Best Buy has a $499 42-inch LCD HDTV for $199.

Millie Ayala, 28-year-old receptionist, began standing in line at a Toys R Us in New York at 5:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving, armed with the retailer's circular and a plan for how she and her sister would scour the store for deals. On her list? An interactive dog named Cookie and some baby dolls for her two young daughters.

"Finances have been tough," she says. "Things are a lot more expensive, but with Black Friday deals things are more affordable."

After showing up at Best Buy in New York on Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m., Emmanuel Merced, 27, and his brother were the first in line before it opened. On their list was a Sharp 42-inch TV for $199, a PlayStation 3 console with games for $199.99 and wireless headphones for $30. Merced said he likes camping out for Black Friday and he figures he saved 50 percent.

"I like the experience of it," said Merced, who plans to spend $3,000 to $4,000 on gifts this season.

It remains to be seen whether that enthusiasm will linger throughout the holiday shopping season. But analysts seem to agree that if retailers want shoppers to keep coming back, they'll have to keep discounting.

"The consumer is continuing to spend and shop and look for the bargains," says said John D. Morris, BMO Capital Markets analyst. "If it's the right product at the right price, she's shopping and buying."

_____

Anne D'Innocenzio in New York and Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Florida, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-25-Black%20Friday/id-505beac9dcf04057a494fb1f6c170987

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On the Trail of the Orchid Child

Image: BARBARA KOSOFF

Scientific papers tend to be loaded with statistics and jargon, so it is always a delightful surprise to stumble on a nugget of poetry in an otherwise technical report. So it was with a 2005 paper in the journal Development and Psychopathology, drily entitled ?Biological Sensitivity to Context,? which looked at kids? susceptibility to their family environment. The authors of the research paper, human development specialists Bruce J. Ellis of the University of Arizona and W. Thomas Boyce of the University of California, Berkeley, borrowed a Swedish idiom to name a startling new concept in genetics and child development: orkidebarn.

Orkidebarn means ?orchid child,? and it stands in contrast to maskrosbarn, or ?dandelion child.? As Ellis and Boyce explained in their paper, dandelion children seem to have the capacity to survive?even thrive?in whatever circumstances they encounter. They are psychologically resilient. Orchid children, in contrast, are highly sensitive to their environment, especially to the quality of parenting they receive. If neglected, orchid children promptly wither?but if they are nurtured, they not only survive but flourish. In the authors? poetic language, an orchid child becomes ?a flower of unusual delicacy and beauty.?

Sensitive Souls
Inside the small world of scientists who study genetics and child development, the notion of the orchid child was stunning. The idea of resilient children was hardly new, nor was the related idea that some kids are especially vulnerable to the stresses of their world. What was novel was the idea that some of the vulnerable, highly reactive children?the orchid children?had the capacity for both withering and thriving. They appeared to be extremely sensitive to home and family life, for better or worse. Is it possible, scientists wondered, that genes underlie this double-edged childhood sensitivity?

Ellis and Boyce?s paper launched a search both for those genes and for the risk pathways that might lead to bad outcomes such as delinquency, substance abuse and mental illness. Most of the work initially focused on the genes that behavioral geneticists call the ?usual suspects??and it paid off. Studies soon showed that genes linked to particular enzymes or brain chemical receptors, if combined with family stress or maltreatment, can lead to a slew of behavioral problems or mood disorders. These links have now been verified again and again, and scientists are searching for additional genes that might play a role in this exquisite childhood sensitivity.

But where to look? If one is looking for genes that might be linked to unhappy lives, the genetics of heavy drinking is a place to start. That was the reasoning of behavioral geneticist Danielle M. Dick of Virginia Commonwealth University, who, with 13 other scientists from around the world, has been exploring a gene called CHRM2. CHRM2 has already been implicated in alcohol dependence, which is in the same group of disruptive behaviors as childhood conduct disorders and antisocial behavior. What?s more, the gene codes for a chemical receptor involved in many brain functions, such as learning and memory, so the gene might also be involved in behavioral disorders. Dick and her colleagues recently decided to test the idea.

The team of researchers took DNA samples from a group of more than 400 boys and girls who have been part of a larger child development study since before kindergarten and analyzed variations in their CHRM2 gene. These kids did not have behavioral problems at the start; they were a representative sample from communities in three U.S. cities. The youngsters have been studied every year since kindergarten, and they were around age 17 at the time of this new study. The scientists collected information on the teenagers? misbehavior?delinquency, aggression, drug abuse, and so on?from both the mothers and the kids themselves. They also asked the teens how much their parents knew about their lives?such as their whereabouts, who they hung out with, what they did with their time, and how they spent their money. They wanted to get a general idea of how closely these kids were monitored by their parents in their daily comings and goings as a way of measuring parental nurturing, indifference or neglect.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f03999f8ee4bb53712b79a3b8c8bb234

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Nargis is upset for not being able to dub for ?Rockstar?

Nargis Fakhri who forayed into Bollywood with ?Rockstar? is thrilled with the response her character is receiving. But the model turned actress has one regret that she couldn?t dub for her role. She stated, “I remember spending 10 hours in the office, from Monday to Sunday, dubbing for my own scenes. I did 5-10 scenes, [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newslatest/~3/rRaObHw4pKY/7143.html

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Dan Miller?s family would like your help for son?s surgery

UFC middleweight Dan Miller's son Danny was born with a kidney disease that requires the child to get daily kidney dialysis. He can have a normal life with a kidney transplant, but insurance won't pay for the entire surgery. This is where the MMA family has stepped in, and they could use your help.

AMA Fight Club in Whippany, NJ, will host a fundraising seminar on Dec. 3. Jim Miller, Danny's uncle, will lead the day. He'll be helped out by UFC fighters Dan, Charlie Brenneman and Andy Main. Their coach, Mike Constantino, will also lend a hand. The cost of the seminar ranges from $100-$175, with all proceeds going to the Daniel James Miller Foundation.

If you can't make it to Whippany, which is about 45 minutes outside of New York City, for the seminar, you can still make a donation. If you can, spare a few dollars to help the baby who Uncle Jim called "the toughest Miller."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Dan-Miller-s-family-would-like-your-help-for-son?urn=mma-wp9882

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NASA launching `dream machine' to explore Mars (AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. ? As big as a car and as well-equipped as a laboratory, NASA's newest Mars rover blows away its predecessors in size and skill.

Nicknamed Curiosity and scheduled for launch on Saturday, the rover has a 7-foot arm tipped with a jackhammer and a laser to break through the Martian red rock. What really makes it stand out: It can analyze rocks and soil with unprecedented accuracy.

"This is a Mars scientist's dream machine," said NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Ashwin Vasavada, the deputy project scientist.

Once on the red planet, Curiosity will be on the lookout for organic, carbon-containing compounds. While the rover can't actually detect the presence of living organisms, scientists hope to learn from the $2.5 billion, nuclear-powered mission whether Mars has ? or ever had ? what it takes to nurture microbial life.

Curiosity will be "the largest and most complex piece of equipment ever placed on the surface of another planet," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars exploration program.

Ten feet long, 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall at its mast, Curiosity is about twice the size of previous rovers Spirit and Opportunity, weighs 1 ton and is loaded with 10 science instruments. Its formal name: Mars Science Laboratory, or MSL.

In a spacecraft first, Curiosity will be lowered to Mars' surface via a jet pack and a tether system similar to the sky cranes used by helicopters to insert heavy equipment in inaccessible spots on Earth. No bouncing air bags like those used for the Mars Pathfinder lander and rover in 1997 and for Spirit and Opportunity in 2004 ? Curiosity is too heavy for that.

It is the kind of precision landing that officials said will benefit future human explorers on Mars.

The rover is scheduled to arrive at the mineral-rich Gale Crater next August, 8 1/2 months after embarking on the 354-million-mile voyage aboard an Atlas V rocket.

It's a treacherous journey to Mars, and the road is littered with failures. In all, more than three dozen missions have aimed over the decades at the most Earth-like planet known, and fewer than half have succeeded. Of this flotilla, only one lander is still working on the dry, barren, cold surface ? Opportunity ? and only three craft still are observing the planet from orbit.

In fact, Russia's latest Mars probe remains stuck in orbit around Earth two weeks after its botched launch. NASA has had better luck at Mars, although it has lost a few spacecraft there.

"Mars is difficult, and so many things have to go right for a mission to work," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars exploration program.

Curiosity is the capstone of what NASA calls the year of the solar system. A spacecraft is en route to Jupiter after lifting off last August from Cape Canaveral, and twin lunar probes launched in September will arrive at the moon New Year's weekend.

A huge crowd ? 13,500 invited guests ? is expected for Curiosity's Thanksgiving weekend send-off.

There will be more anxiety than usual over the launch. Curiosity holds 10.6 pounds of plutonium, more than enough to power the rover on the Martian surface for two years. A nuclear generator won out over solar energy because it allows for a bigger workload and more flexibility. The plutonium is encased in several protective layers in case of a launch accident.

Once safely down on Mars, the rover will survey the landscape with high-definition and laser cameras mounted like eyes atop its mast. The laser will aim at soil and rocks as far as 23 feet away to gauge their chemical composition.

The rover also has a weather station for updates on Martian temperature, humidity and wind, as well as a radiation detector that will be especially useful for planning human expeditions.

Despite all its fancy upgrades, Curiosity will go no faster than the one-tenth-mile-per-hour logged by past Martian rovers. But it is expected to venture more than 12 miles during its two-year mission. If it's still working after that, it will keep on trucking, possibly all the way up the crater's 3-mile peak.

This mountain is composed of geologic layers similar to what one might find in the Grand Canyon, said project scientist John Grotzinger, a geologist at the California Institute of Technology.

"Our rover is going to be like John Wesley Powell going down the Grand Canyon," Grotzinger said, referring to the 19th-century explorer who led an expedition down the Colorado River.

The next logical step in Mars exploration, said Cornell University's Steve Squyres, who led the science team for Spirit and Opportunity, would be a robotic mission to deliver Mars samples to Earth for analysis. NASA hopes to pull that off later this decade, but the project is on Congress' chopping block.

Squyres warned that without such missions, U.S. leadership in science won't just be challenged ? "it's going to go away."

___

Online:

NASA: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_sc/us_sci_mars_rover

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Egypt's latest uprising has a more violent feel

A protester overwhelmed by tear gas, center, is aided by two men on a motorcycle during clashes with Egyptian riot police, not pictured, near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. Egypt's ruling military moved up the date for transferring power to a civilian government to July next year and consulted Tuesday with political parties on forming a new Cabinet. But the major concessions were immediately rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square threatening a "second revolution." (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

A protester overwhelmed by tear gas, center, is aided by two men on a motorcycle during clashes with Egyptian riot police, not pictured, near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. Egypt's ruling military moved up the date for transferring power to a civilian government to July next year and consulted Tuesday with political parties on forming a new Cabinet. But the major concessions were immediately rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square threatening a "second revolution." (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

An Egyptian riot police officer, center, throws a stone towards protestors near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. Egypt's military leader promised a faster transition to civilian rule, saying Tuesday that presidential elections will be held by the end of June 2012. But the major concession was immediately rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square who responded with chants of "leave, leave" now. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Protesters chant slogans during clashes near Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. Egypt's ruling military moved up the date for transferring power to a civilian government to July next year and consulted Tuesday with political parties on forming a new Cabinet. But the major concessions were immediately rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square threatening a "second revolution." (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

A protester looks on as he wears a mask during clashes with the Egyptian riot police near Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. Egypt's ruling military moved up the date for transferring power to a civilian government to July next year and consulted Tuesday with political parties on forming a new Cabinet. But the major concessions were immediately rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square threatening a "second revolution." (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Protesters run for cover from tear gas during clashes with the Egyptian riot police near Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. Egypt's civilian Cabinet has offered to resign after three days of violent clashes in many cities between demonstrators and security forces, but the action failed to satisfy protesters deeply frustrated with the new military rulers. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

CAIRO (AP) ? Not everyone was pleased Tuesday when crowds in Tahrir Square revived chants of "Peaceful! Peaceful!" that were heard nine months ago during the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

A group of young men, their eyes and noses red from tear gas fired at rock-throwing protesters nearby, shook their heads.

"Enough 'peaceful' already!" one said.

The latest demonstrations against the military leaders who replaced Mubarak are more explosive and violent than those in January and February ? something that pro-democracy activists had warned might happen as the ruling generals stumbled in carrying out sweeping reforms.

Protesters hurl rocks and firebombs. Security forces fire tear gas, rubber bullets and bird shot. The number of wounded piles up at an average of 80 per hour. Angry cries of "thuggery" and "dirty government" echo among the buildings. The death toll has risen steadily.

The violence Monday and Tuesday centered around the headquarters of the Interior Ministry, which runs the police, in the side streets a few blocks from Tahrir Square.

In the earlier demonstrations, protesters rarely approached the headquarters. But in a sign of the greater aggression in the past four days, they have marched repeatedly on the building and were met by a heavy response. Police and military around the ministry fired tear gas and moved in, beating and dragging away some of the activists.

The protests have reignited as feelings arose among many Egyptians that their revolution has been undermined by the military. Trials of former regime members have stalled, the economy has deteriorated, streets are less secure, activists have been hauled before military tribunals, and the generals have been reluctant in giving an exact date for transferring power to a civilian government and parliament.

There are also complaints that little has been done to reform the security forces, which rights groups say still torture detainees. The lack of trials for those behind the deaths of about 850 people in last winter's uprising also has led protesters to target the Interior Ministry.

Many say the violence against protesters brought them back to the square.

"We can't accept the same humiliating, inhuman treatment by the police. Enough," said Saad Abdel-Hamid, who showed up after work Tuesday, still in a sport coat. "Egyptians want a real, democratic country, but we realize this won't come easy. People are still making sacrifices every day."

It's clear that some of the protesters and the black-clad police ? a hated symbol of the Mubarak era ? are acting as if they have scores to settle from January and February.

While a feeling of uncertainty loomed over the first uprising because many Egyptians at the time thought the ouster of Mubarak to be a nearly impossible task, the Tahrir protesters this time around are determined not to leave until Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi steps down along with the rest of the generals on the ruling council.

Before the death toll started rising, protesters spoke only of their demand that power be transferred from the military council to an elected president no later than April 2012. After the deaths, they called for an immediate transfer, although there is no consensus on who should receive it.

Some want a civilian council to be chosen from Tahrir. Democracy advocate Mohamed ElBaradei and Islamist moderate Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotuh are among the names floated as members of such a council.

Politicians who try to take a stage or hold a loudspeaker are shouted down. On social network sites, activists call for setting fire to podiums and not allowing anyone to "hijack the revolution."

Also unwelcome is Egypt's most organized and influential group ? the Muslim Brotherhood ? and its political arm. Protesters heckled and threw water bottles at the party's spokesman, Mohammed el-Beltagi, when he visited the square Monday.

The Brotherhood refused to join the protests, saying that the parliamentary election due to start Nov. 28 is the way to transfer power. The group is set to win more seats in parliament than any other political party.

The new dynamics in Tahrir Square began to take shape after four days of confrontations, and the determination of the protesters suggests they won't be leaving soon ? unless security forces try to clear the area.

Teams of volunteers provide medical aid, food and blankets, and motorcycles rush the wounded to field clinics. Youths in gas masks and goggles take shifts. Some have slings, while others make firebombs from soft drink bottles filled with gasoline.

A half-naked young man took his position over a charred car with an Egyptian flag in one hand as he flashed a V-for-victory sign with the other. He signaled when protesters should stand fast and when they should flee the tear gas.

A few yards (meters) of no man's land covered with rocks and ashes separated the two sides, with protesters chanting, "Say it! Don't be afraid! The marshal must leave!"

Tires are set ablaze so demonstrators can hide behind the thick, black smoke.

Unlike the January and February uprising, the square is not family-friendly. The crowd is mostly poor and middle class Egyptians with a grudge against military rule. Others are those wounded by police in the earlier protests and relatives of those who were killed, demanding that those responsible face justice.

Two other groups are present: violent, die-hard fans of two of Egypt's top soccer clubs, el-Ahly and Zamalek; and ultraconservative Salafists who defied clerics' orders to stay away from the protests.

> __

Associated Press writer Ben Hubbard contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-22-ML-Egypt-New-Dynamics/id-1c7da616999e45b0a8a0eeb79d42eaae

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Tribune pays former CEO Randy Michaels $675,000 settlement (Reuters)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) ? Sometimes it pays to be a frat boy.

Tribune Co. has agreed to award its former CEO, Randy Michaels, he of the alleged sexual misconduct and drunken driving, a settlement of $675,000 following his resignation in 2010.

Michaels, whose legal name is Benjamin Homel, will also receive up to $50,000 for his legal fees, according to documents filed Tuesday in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware -- the site of the company's greater bankruptcy suit.

Michaels resigned from Tribune in October 2010 shortly after a New York Times article exposed a "frat boy" culture of excessive drinking and lewd behavior.

However, Michaels later claimed that he was eligible for a pro-rated bonus through the Management Incentive Plan. The MIP says that one must be employed to collect the bonus, except in cases of death, disability, retirement and termination without cause.

Michaels said he quit because he assumed he would be fired.

Tribune, rather than engage in a lengthy settlement fight, decided to settle.

"Tribune believes that it has defenses to Michaels' claim," the company's filing states. "Nevertheless, to avoid the risks, cost and burdens of litigation, Tribune and Michaels negotiated and have agreed on the terms of a resolution of Michaels' disputed post-petition claims."

Tribune declined to comment further when reached by TheWrap.

In the filing, the company points out that it actually will pay Michaels less than he would have gotten if he won the case -- $900,000.

Still, this is bound to strike many as inexplicable given some of the things Michaels stands accused of.

Michaels oversaw a rocky time at the Tribune. Staff cuts were severe, his broadcast friends came in to supervise -- much to the chagrin of long-time print journalists -- and a morally questionable culture allegedly permeated many publications.

The settlement still requires approval from a federal bankruptcy judge.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/media_nm/us_tribune

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A corny turn for biofuels from switchgrass

Monday, November 21, 2011

Many experts believe that advanced biofuels made from cellulosic biomass are the most promising alternative to petroleum-based liquid fuels for a renewable, clean, green, domestic source of transportation energy. Nature, however, does not make it easy. Unlike the starch sugars in grains, the complex polysaccharides in the cellulose of plant cell walls are locked within a tough woody material called lignin. For advanced biofuels to be economically competitive, scientists must find inexpensive ways to release these polysaccharides from their bindings and reduce them to fermentable sugars that can be synthesized into fuels.

An important step towards achieving this goal has been taken by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a DOE Bioenergy Research Center led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

A team of JBEI researchers, working with researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), has demonstrated that introducing a maize (corn) gene into switchgrass, a highly touted potential feedstock for advanced biofuels, more than doubles (250 percent) the amount of starch in the plant's cell walls and makes it much easier to extract polysaccharides and convert them into fermentable sugars. The gene, a variant of the maize gene known as Corngrass1 (Cg1), holds the switchgrass in the juvenile phase of development, preventing it from advancing to the adult phase.

"We show that Cg1 switchgrass biomass is easier for enzymes to break down and also releases more glucose during saccharification," says Blake Simmons, a chemical engineer who heads JBEI's Deconstruction Division and was one of the principal investigators for this research. "Cg1 switchgrass contains decreased amounts of lignin and increased levels of glucose and other sugars compared with wild switchgrass, which enhances the plant's potential as a feedstock for advanced biofuels."

The results of this research are described in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) titled "Overexpression of the maize Corngrass1 microRNA prevents flowering, improves digestibility, and increases starch content of switchgrass."

Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant organic material on earth. Studies have consistently shown that biofuels derived from lignocellulosic biomass could be produced in the United States in a sustainable fashion and could replace today's gasoline, diesel and jet fuels on a gallon-for-gallon basis. Unlike ethanol made from grains, such fuels could be used in today's engines and infrastructures and would be carbon-neutral, meaning the use of these fuels would not exacerbate global climate change. Among potential crop feedstocks for advanced biofuels, switchgrass offers a number of advantages. As a perennial grass that is both salt- and drought-tolerant, switchgrass can flourish on marginal cropland, does not compete with food crops, and requires little fertilization. A key to its use in biofuels is making it more digestible to fermentation microbes.

"The original Cg1 was isolated in maize about 80 years ago. We cloned the gene in 2007 and engineered it into other plants, including switchgrass, so that these plants would replicate what was found in maize," says George Chuck, lead author of the PNAS paper and a plant molecular geneticist who holds joint appointments at the Plant Gene Expression Center with ARS and the University of California (UC) Berkeley. "The natural function of Cg1 is to hold pants in the juvenile phase of development for a short time to induce more branching. Our Cg1 variant is special because it is always turned on, which means the plants always think they are juveniles."

Chuck and his colleague Sarah Hake, another co-author of the PNAS paper and director of the Plant Gene Expression Center, proposed that since juvenile biomass is less lignified, it should be easier to break down into fermentable sugars. Also, since juvenile plants don't make seed, more starch should be available for making biofuels. To test this hypothesis, they collaborated with Simmons and his colleagues at JBEI to determine the impact of introducing the Cg1 gene into switchgrass.

In addition to reducing the lignin and boosting the amount of starch in the switchgrass, the introduction and overexpression of the maize Cg1 gene also prevented the switchgrass from flowering even after more than two years of growth, an unexpected but advantageous result.

"The lack of flowering limits the risk of the genetically modified switchgrass from spreading genes into the wild population," says Chuck.

The results of this research offer a promising new approach for the improvement of dedicated bioenergy crops, but there are questions to be answered. For example, the Cg1 switchgrass biomass still required a pre-treatment to efficiently liberate fermentable sugars.

"The alteration of the switchgrass does allow us to use less energy in our pre-treatments to achieve high sugar yields as compared to the energy required to convert the wild type plants," Simmons says. "The results of this research set the stage for an expanded suite of pretreatment and saccharification approaches at JBEI and elsewhere that will be used to generate hydrolysates for characterization and fuel production."

Another question to be answered pertains to the mechanism by which Cg1 is able to keep switchgrass and other plants in the juvenile phase.

"We know that Cg1 is controlling an entire family of transcription factor genes," Chuck says, "but we have no idea how these genes function in the context of plant aging. It will probably take a few years to figure this out."

###

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: http://www.lbl.gov

Thanks to DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115344/A_corny_turn_for_biofuels_from_switchgrass

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Congress may try blocking cuts if debt panel fails

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2011 file photo Supercommittee co-chairs Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, left, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., center, listen as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction hears testimony about the history of the national debt by the Congressional Budget Office director on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011. At right is Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. Failure by Congress? debt-cutting supercommittee to recommend $1.2 trillion in savings by Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, is supposed to automatically trigger spending cuts in the same amount to accomplish that job. But the same legislators who concocted that budgetary booby trap just four months ago could end up spending the 2012 election year and beyond battling over defusing it. (AP Photo/File/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2011 file photo Supercommittee co-chairs Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, left, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., center, listen as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction hears testimony about the history of the national debt by the Congressional Budget Office director on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011. At right is Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. Failure by Congress? debt-cutting supercommittee to recommend $1.2 trillion in savings by Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, is supposed to automatically trigger spending cuts in the same amount to accomplish that job. But the same legislators who concocted that budgetary booby trap just four months ago could end up spending the 2012 election year and beyond battling over defusing it. (AP Photo/File/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2011, file photo Co-Chairs of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, left, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrap up the committee's first organizational meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Failure by Congress? debt-cutting supercommittee to recommend $1.2 trillion in savings by Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, is supposed to automatically trigger spending cuts in the same amount to accomplish that job. But the same legislators who concocted that budgetary booby trap just four months ago could end up spending the 2012 election year and beyond battling over defusing it. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2011 photo, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, leaves reporters behind as he turns into a restricted corridor in the Capitol for closed-door talks with fellow Republican members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction in Washington. Failure by Congress? debt-cutting supercommittee to recommend $1.2 trillion in savings by Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, is supposed to automatically trigger spending cuts in the same amount to accomplish that job. But the same legislators who concocted that budgetary booby trap just four months ago could end up spending the 2012 election year and beyond battling over defusing it. (AP Photo/File/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2011 file photo Supercommittee co-chairs Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, left, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., right, confer as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction meets to hear testimony about the national debt from the Congressional Budget Office director on Capitol Hill in Washington. Failure by Congress? debt-cutting supercommittee to recommend $1.2 trillion in savings by Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, is supposed to automatically trigger spending cuts in the same amount to accomplish that job. But the same legislators who concocted that budgetary booby trap just four months ago could end up spending the 2012 election year and beyond battling over defusing it. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2011 file photo, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, runs out of answers for reporters after a closed-door meeting with Democratic members of the Supercommittee, in Washington. Failure by Congress? debt-cutting supercommittee to recommend $1.2 trillion in savings by Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, is supposed to automatically trigger spending cuts in the same amount to accomplish that job. But the same legislators who concocted that budgetary booby trap just four months ago could end up spending the 2012 election year and beyond battling over defusing it. (AP Photo/File/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Failure by Congress' debt-cutting supercommittee to recommend $1.2 trillion in savings by Wednesday is supposed to automatically trigger spending cuts in the same amount to accomplish that job.

But the same legislators who concocted that budgetary booby trap just four months ago could end up spending the 2012 election year and beyond battling over defusing it.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., say they are writing legislation to prevent what they say would be devastating cuts to the military. House Republicans are exploring a similar move. Democrats maintain they won't let domestic programs be the sole source of savings.

In the face of those efforts, President Barack Obama has told the debt panel's co-chairmen that he "will not accept any measure that attempts to turn off the automatic cut trigger," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters last week. The leaders of both parties in the House and Senate have expressed similar sentiments ? seemingly making any attempt to restore the money futile.

"Yes, I would feel bound by it," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said recently of the automatic cuts. "It was part of the agreement."

But that doesn't mean rank-and-file lawmakers won't try to block the cuts, or that viewpoints might not change if the right deal is offered ? especially in the hothouse atmosphere of next year's presidential and congressional campaign or its aftermath.

With nearly $500 billion in defense spending and an equal amount of domestic dollars at stake, plenty of lawmakers are ready to try blocking all or parts of those automatic cuts, if only to win favor from backers of programs whose funds are on the chopping block.

"I have no doubt that there will be efforts to turn it off," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "Never underestimate the willingness of politicians to try to avoid making some of the hard choices."

It's unclear how successful such an effort would be. Not only would an Obama veto be tough to overcome, but pressure from the financial markets on politicians to rein in the government's huge budget shortfalls could keep lawmakers from easing the automatic reductions.

The automatic cuts, enacted in this summer's debt-limit deal between Obama and congressional Republicans, were designed to be so distasteful that they would add pressure on the supercommittee to craft a compromise.

"I would have hoped it would have been a deterrent to those who have taken an oath to Grover Norquist that defense of our country" is less important than tax cuts, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday, in a dig at Republicans who signed a pledge from the conservative activist to not raise taxes.

But with prospects dimming for a bipartisan accord by the supercommittee on a deficit-reduction package by this week's deadline, it appears increasingly likely that members of Congress will have to live with the automatic cuts ? or "sequestration" ? that they built into the law. Little progress was made over the weekend as Democrats and Republicans traded barbs over which party was responsible for gridlock on the 12-member supercommittee.

And while lawmakers of all stripes agree that automatic, across-the-board cuts are no way to run the federal government, the threat hasn't outweighed the differences between the six Democrats and six Republicans on the deficit panel. Democrats are demanding significant tax increases in exchange for savings from expensive benefit programs, while Republicans are refusing to accept such revenue boosts.

The debt-limit agreement requires automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion if the supercommittee produces nothing or if Congress fails to approve a package of that size by Christmas.

If the debt panel produces less than $1.2 trillion in savings, automatic cuts are activated to make up the difference. So $800 billion in savings from the supercommittee would trigger $400 billion in automatic cuts.

By law, 18 percent of the automatic savings are assumed to come from interest costs the government would save from reducing the debt. If the supercommittee fails completely, out of the $1.2 trillion in automatic savings, $216 billion would be assumed interest savings.

That would leave $984 billion in automatic spending cuts. They are supposed to start in 2013 and be spread evenly over the next nine years, divided equally between defense and domestic programs. That works out to around $55 billion annually each from defense and domestic programs.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that for the Pentagon, that would mean a 10 percent cut in its $550 billion budget in 2013 ? a huge hit.

"Unless we act today, the dismantling of the greatest armed forces in history could begin tomorrow," Rep. Howard P. McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote supercommittee leaders on Friday in a letter warning them of the consequences of the automatic defense reductions.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he wants to stick with the automatic cuts but would like to reshape them so they rely less heavily on defense.

Several lawmakers talked of the possibility of easing the impact of the automatic cuts on defense in interviews on Sunday news programs.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, co-chairman of the supercommittee, said he hopes the current projected split of half defense, half domestic, for the automatic spending cuts will be changed in the event no deal emerges from his panel.

"But I am committed to insuring that the American people get that deficit reduction that they were promised," he said on Fox News Sunday. "But under the law, Congress will have 13 months to do that I n a smarter, more prudent fashion."

"Maybe sequestration is our only way we will get any kind of cuts," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" he believes the Pentagon cuts would be devastating. "But we do have the opportunity, even if the committee fails, to work around the sequester so that we still have $1.2 trillion in savings over 10 years, but it's not done in the very Draconian way that Secretary Panetta is referring to."

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said, "If they're going to try to protect defense, there'll be pushback."

On the domestic side, the law exempts Social Security, Medicaid and many veterans' benefits and low-income programs. It also limits Medicare to a 2 percent reduction.

Still, that leaves education, agriculture and the environment programs exposed to cuts of around 8 percent in 2013, CBO says. For many Democrats, those are cuts worth fighting against, especially if Republicans try protecting defense programs.

The temptation to block the automatic cuts could grow even larger right after the 2012 elections, depending on the results.

The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush are scheduled to expire in January 2013. Extending them is a top GOP priority, while Democrats want to let them expire for the highest-earning Americans.

If either party wins White House and congressional control, its members could be ready to reshape both the automatic spending cuts and the tax cuts to their liking.

___

Associated Press writer Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-21-US-Debt-Supercommittee-Automatic-Cuts/id-d69d6163bd124a68b304a8f5b6e5f388

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