Kobo Aura HD Review: A Beautiful Reader Screen Trapped in an Ugly Body

Everyone loves a pretty screen. The Kobo Aura HD is aiming to lead that charge in the ereader space. Armed with a best-in-class screen and an unusually powerful processor under the hood, the Aura HD tries its best to be a real luxury reader. It doesn't quite make it.

What Is It?

A front-lit ebook reader with a big, high-resolution screen.

Who's It For?

Readers who really, really want a pretty screen and more power than usual under the hood.

Design

The Kobo Aura HD's body is smooth plastic, unlike the Kindle Paperwhite's black soft-touch coating. It has two buttons at the top, one to wake the device, the other to toggle the front-light. The Aura HD is stark and simple from the front, but its back is contorted into a strange, asymmetric design intended to invoke crumpled paper or something like it. This back is awkward to look at and to hold. It's got a very distinctive look, but it sacrifices any semblance of comfort. And since the Aura HD is using infrared touch tech instead of the capacitive found in the Kindle Paperwhite, it?s got more bulk than you?d expect in a brand new ereader.

Using It

The Aura HD has that 6.8-inch 1080?1440, 265 DPI screen, and it really is world class. With the backlight off, it feels like you could be looking at ink on paper, and to the extent you might scrutinize the edges of the letters in the words in your ebook, that's nice. But it?s not a massive step ahead of the fidelity of the Kindle Paperwhite or Kobo Glo, really. The extra screen space doesn?t really add enough real estate to make much of a difference?especially not at the cost of a larger body.

Physically, the Aura is just slightly too wide to be comfortable for one-handed use. Palming it requires a bit of straining, and if you opt to hold it by the corner, its weight will get the better of you. This is compounded by the odd angles on the side of the Aura HD, which make holding it by the very edge slipperier than it ought to be.

The Aura also has a 1 GHz processor, but you'd be hard-pressed to really notice; the infrared screen effectively throttles max speed, so it?s hard to differentiate. There's cloud-syncing built in if you read books across devices (in a Kobo app on a phone, for instance) and the reader's achievement system is cute, if superfluous.

Kobo's software has been problematic in the past, and it still has its annoying quirks. Brightness, font-size, and other options are all controlled by finicky draggable bars when they'd be better suited software buttons, since it?s still using IR touch tech.

The Best Part

The screen. It?s wonderful. Large and beautiful and bright. Oh, it?s very bright. While it might not be a humongous improvement over other high quality E Ink screens out there, it?s a wonderful thing to look at.

Tragic Flaw

Everything but the screen. Compared to its contemporaries, the Aura HD is large, heavy, and awkward. For every second you find yourself thinking "this screen is nice!" there will be five where you think "I wish I wasn't holding this!"

This Is Weird...

The back of the Aura is just bizarrely designed. If you set the Aura HD on its back on a flat surface and poke the corner, it wobbles slightly. It?s ugly and uncomfortable to hold and it makes you wonder if the back's shape was decided at random.

Test Notes

• At its max, the Aura's backlight is stronger than the Paperwhite's, and more even around the edges. The downside is that it tends to bleed through the text at higher levels, and the contrast suffers.
• Kobo rates the Aura HD's batter as lasting 2 months?backlight on or off?with 30 minutes of reading a day. Over about half a week of heavier use (45-60 minutes, backlight on, brightness at 50 percent) we took it down to about 70 percent.
• The Kobo store has about 2.5 million books, newspapers, and magazines, coming out just slightly on top of Amazon?s 2 million Kindle store results. You?ll have no trouble finding best-sellers at either store, though Amazon?s prices are occasionally a few dollars cheaper than Kobo?s offerings. And Kobo has no lending system in place, unlike both Amazon and Barnes and Noble, so expect to pay for everything you want to read.

Should You Buy It?

No. The Kobo Aura HD has a really nice screen, sure, but everything around that screen just drags it down. From the ergonomically bizarre design to its weight and size, the actual meat of the Aura HD is just not up to snuff. And besides that, pushing an E Ink screen's resolution this high is sort of a questionable pursuit here. You don?t need that extra resolution to read, and it?s reached a point of diminishing returns. That screen?s not nice enough to cancel out other basic problems with the design.

Props to Kobo for being the best at something, but the compromises born of that tunnel vision aspiration are just too high. At $169 the Kobo Aura HD is too expensive for something that does the wrong things right and the right things wrong.

Kobo Aura HD

? Display: 6.8 inches, 265 dpi, 1440 x 1080 resolution

? Dimensions: 6.91 x 5.05 x 0.46 in (175.7 x 128.3 x 11.7 mm)

? Weight: 8.5 oz (240g)

? Storage: 4 GB, microSD expansion slot

? Connectivity: Wi-Fi only

? Color: "Espresso, Ivory, or Onyx"

? Supported File Types: EPUB, PDF, and MOBI, CBR, CBZ

? Price:$169

Source: http://gizmodo.com/kobo-aura-hd-review-a-beautiful-reader-screen-trapped-5995330

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NBA vet Jason Collins is first openly gay player in U.S. sports

* NBA Commissioner praises Collins for breaking barrier

* Free agent Collins says hopes to find a new team (Adds NBA response, background)

By Julian Linden

April 29 (Reuters) - Jason Collins, a veteran center in the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced that he is gay, becoming the first active player from any U.S. professional sports league to publicly reveal his homosexuality.

Collins, a free agent who played with the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics during the NBA's 2012-13 regular season, made the announcement in an interview with Sports Illustrated that was published on Monday.

"I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation," he said.

"I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, 'I'm different.' If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand."

In the ultra-scrutinized world of U.S. professional sports, there had never been an openly gay player in any of America's major professional sports leagues, although some had revealed their sexual orientation after retiring.

In a country with openly gay politicians, entertainers and even soldiers, professional sports had become a final frontier and questions were being asked why sports, which helped play a key role in changing public opinion on racial discrimination, was out of step with the rest of American society.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose daughter Chelsea was a classmate of Collins at Stanford University, applauded Collins for coming out.

"Jason's announcement today is an important moment for professional sports and in the history of the LGBT community," Clinton said in a statement.

"It is also the straightforward statement of a good man who wants no more than what so many of us seek: to be able to be who we are; to do our work; to build families and to contribute to our communities. For so many members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community, these simple goals remain elusive.

"I hope that everyone, particularly Jason's colleagues in the NBA, the media and his many fans extend to him their support and the respect he has earned."

NBA Commissioner David Stern also issued praised Collins for breaking the barrier.

"Jason has been a widely respected player and teammate throughout his career and we are proud he has assumed the leadership mantle on this very important issue," Stern said in a statement.

Collins, 34, has played for six NBA teams since entering the league in 2001 and twice appeared in the playoffs. He said he wants to continue playing and hopes to find a new team.

It had seemed like only matter of time until an active player said he was gay after the issue had become one of the hottest topics in North America, no more so than in the National Football League (NFL), the most macho of America's pro sports.

In the days leading up to this year's Super Bowl in New Orleans, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver told reporters he would not welcome a homosexual teammate into the locker room.

He later retracted his comments but reports have since emerged of NFL teams asking college players about their sexuality at a scouting combine in February.

This prompted the New York State attorney general to send a letter to the NFL, urging the league to take action and adopt a formal policy of sexual discrimination.

Culliver's comments are not typical of the attitude of all professional sportsmen. Indeed, there are several high-profile NFL players, most notably Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo, who have advocated for gay rights.

Both believe it was only a matter of time before a professional player came out publicly. (Reporting by Julian Linden in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nba-collins-comes-first-openly-gay-player-u-154748772.html

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COLLEGE SOCCER: Radomski picked for Breakers Academy squad

Boston Breakers College Academy, led by Head Coach Mitch Doherty and Assistant Coach Andrew Coppola, begin their inaugural women?s soccer season in late May and feature some of the top college talent from the region.

Silver Lake Class of 2012 graduate Paige Radomski, a freshman at Boston College, has been invited to be a part of the team. This year?s team also features Boston College forward Stephanie McCaffrey, Boston College midfielder Patrice Vettori, and Boston University midfielders Kylie Strom and Megan McGoldrick.

?I am very excited to have an opportunity to work with such a talented group of athletes. The aim of the program is to continue the development of these players throughout the summer and to provide a professional, structured, and challenging environment for them to work in,? Doherty said. ?The league itself will offer a high standard of competition, and our role is to make sure the players are all prepared and ready for the season ahead with an emphasis on development. The Boston Breakers organization and full-time staff have made a fantastic commitment to enable this program and everyone involved is looking forward to the inaugural season.?

Boston Breakers College Academy opens its season on Wednesday, May 29 vs. the New England Mutiny at 7:30 p.m. at Dilboy Stadium in Somerville.

?The College Academy program is a natural fit for our organization. We are always looking for young talent, and if we can create a program where top college players can be in front of our coaching staff, it is beneficial to us,? Boston Breakers General Manager Lee Billiard said. ?The program will also allow college players to practice and compete in a high-level environment during their summer break. The team is an extension of our brand, and the roster has a lot of quality to it from a lot of top collegiate programs. It will be exciting to watch the next generation of soccer stars perform in a Breakers jersey.?

This year?s team features more than two dozen players, including Radomski and two other Boston College players, forward Stephanie McCaffrey and midfielder Patrice Vettori, as well as Boston University midfielders Kylie Strom and Megan McGoldrick.

?I am thrilled to be a part of the new Breakers College Academy team,? McCaffrey said. ?I am lucky to have such a competitive option so close to home and to have the chance to play in the WPSL. It?s going to be a great summer, and I couldn?t be more excited to start the season.?

Boston Breakers College Academy will play a 10-game season, and all home games will be at Dilboy Stadium. The remaining schedule is as follows: Monday, June 3 at Aztecs (7 p.m. at Endicott College), Saturday, June 8 at Seacoast Phantoms (time and location to be determined), Wednesday, June 12 vs. Seacoast Mariners (7:30 p.m. at Dilboy), Saturday, June 15 at Seacoast Mariners (time and location to be determined), Wednesday, June 19 vs. CFC Passion (7:30 p.m. at Dilboy), Saturday, June 22 at New England Mutiny (7:05 p.m. at East Longmeadhow High School), Saturday, June 29 at CFC Passion (time and location to be determined), Monday, July 1 vs. NE Aztec (7 p.m. at Dilboy), and Saturday, July 6 vs. Seacoast Phantoms (3 p.m. at Dilboy).

Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/kingston/topstories/x1641166217/COLLEGE-SOCCER-Radomski-picked-for-Breakers-Academy-squad?rssfeed=true

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Police: 5 to 15 people killed in Texas explosion

A fire still burns in a apartment complex destroyed near a fertilizer plant that exploded earlier in West, Texas, in this photo made early Thursday morning, April 18, 2013. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

A fire still burns in a apartment complex destroyed near a fertilizer plant that exploded earlier in West, Texas, in this photo made early Thursday morning, April 18, 2013. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

In this Instagram photo provided by Andy Bartee, a plume of smoke rises from a fertilizer plant fire in West, Texas on Wednesday, April 17, 2013. An explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco Wednesday night injured dozens of people and sent flames shooting high into the night sky, leaving the factory a smoldering ruin and causing major damage to surrounding buildings. (AP Photo/Andy Bartee) MANDATORY CREDIT: ANDY BARTEE

A person looks on as emergency workers fight a house fire after a nearby fertilizer plant exploded Wednesday, April 17, 2013, in West, Texas. (AP Photo/Waco Tribune Herald, Rod Aydelotte)

An elderly person is assisted at a staging area at a local school stadium following an explosion at a fertilizer plant Wednesday, April 17, 2013, in West, Texas. An explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco caused numerous injuries and sent flames shooting high into the night sky on Wednesday. (AP Photo/ Waco Tribune Herald, Rod Aydelotte)

This video image provided by WFAA-TV shows injured people being treated on the flood-lit the high school football field turned into a staging area after the blast in West Texas Wednesday April 17, 2013. (AP Photo/WFAA-TV)

WEST, Texas (AP) ? Police in Texas say between five and 15 people were killed in a fertilizer plant explosion that also injured more than 160 others.

Waco police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said early Thursday morning that the death toll is only an estimate as search and rescue operations remain under way in downtown West.

An explosion Wednesday night shook the ground with the strength of a small earthquake in the community of 2,800 people located about 20 miles north of Waco.

Swanton says there is no indication the blast was anything other than an industrial accident.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-18-Plant%20Explosion-Texas/id-a6ece99cf873459ca54c697f33ff0f7a

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South Africa: Mandela discharged from the hospital

JOHANNESBURG -- Former President Nelson Mandela was discharged from a hospital on Saturday after an improvement in his health following treatment for pneumonia, the South African presidency said.

The statement from the office of President Jacob Zuma said there had been "a sustained and gradual improvement" in the condition of 94-year-old Mandela, who was admitted to a hospital on the night of March 27.

"The former President will now receive home-based high care," the statement said. Mandela had received similar treatment at his home in Johannesburg after a hospital stay in December.

During Mandela's hospitalization, doctors drained fluid from his lung area, making it easier for him to breathe.

It was his third trip to a hospital since December, when he was treated during a three-week stay for a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones. Earlier in March, the anti-apartheid leader was hospitalized overnight for what authorities said was a successful scheduled medical test.

Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after elections were held, bringing an end to the system of white racist rule known as apartheid. After his release from prison in 1990, Mandela was widely credited with averting even greater bloodshed by helping the country in the transition to democratic rule.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been particularly vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment for fighting white racist rule in his country.

The elderly are especially vulnerable to pneumonia, which can be fatal. Its symptoms include fever, chills, a cough, chest pain and shortness of breath. Many germs cause pneumonia.

South African officials have said doctors were acting with extreme caution because of Mandela's advanced age.

In Saturday's statement, Zuma thanked the medical team and hospital staff that looked after Mandela and expressed gratitude for South Africans and people around the world who had shown support for Mandela.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/06/3326745/south-africa-mandela-discharged.html

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Do cells in the blood, heart and lungs smell the food we eat?

Apr. 7, 2013 ? In a discovery suggesting that odors may have a far more important role in life than previously believed, scientists have found that heart, blood, lung and other cells in the body have the same receptors for sensing odors that exist in the nose. It opens the door to questions about whether the heart, for instance, "smells" that fresh-brewed cup of coffee or cinnamon bun, according to the research leader, who spoke in New Orleans on April 7 at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

Peter Schieberle, Ph.D., an international authority on food chemistry and technology, explained that scientists thought that the nose had a monopoly on olfactory receptors. Located on special cells in the mucus-covered olfactory epithelium in the back of the nose, olfactory receptors are docking ports for the airborne chemical compounds responsible for the smell of food and other substances. Those molecules connect with the receptors, triggering a chain of biochemical events that register in the brain as specific odors. But discovery of olfactory receptors on other, non-olfactory cells came as a surprise.

"Our team recently discovered that blood cells -- not only cells in the nose -- have odorant receptors," said Schieberle. "In the nose, these so-called receptors sense substances called odorants and translate them into an aroma that we interpret as pleasing or not pleasing in the brain. But surprisingly, there is growing evidence that also the heart, the lungs and many other non-olfactory organs have these receptors. And once a food is eaten, its components move from the stomach into the bloodstream. But does this mean that, for instance, the heart 'smells' the steak you just ate? We don't know the answer to that question."

His team recently found that primary blood cells isolated from human blood samples are attracted to the odorant molecules responsible for producing a certain aroma. Schieberle described one experiment in which scientists put an attractant odorant compound on one side of a partitioned multi-well chamber, and blood cells on the other side. The blood cells moved toward the odor.

"Once odor components are inside the body, however, it is unclear whether they are functioning in the same way as they do in the nose," he stated. "But we would like to find out."

Schieberle's group and colleagues at the Technical University of Munich work in a field termed "sensomics," which focuses on understanding exactly how the mouth and the nose sense key aroma, taste and texture compounds in foods, especially comfort foods like chocolate and roasted coffee.

For example, baked beans and beans in foods like chili provide a "full," rich mouth-feel. Adding the component of beans responsible for this texture to another food could give it the same sensation in the mouth, he explained. Natural components also can interact with substances in foods to create new sensations.

The researchers use sensomics to better understand why foods taste, feel and smell appetizing or unappetizing. They use laboratory instruments to pick apart the chemical components. They then put those components together in different combinations and give these versions to human taste-testers who evaluate the foods. In this way, they discovered that although coffee contains 1,000 potential odor components, only 25 actually interact with an odor receptor in the nose and are smelled.

"Receptors help us sense flavors and aromas in the mouth and nose," said Schieberle. "These receptors are called G-protein-coupled receptors, and they were the topic of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2012. They translate these sensations into a perception in the brain telling us about the qualities of a food." Odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system also were the topic of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Of the total of around 1,000 receptors in the human body, about 800 of these are G-protein-coupled receptors, he said. Half of these G-protein-coupled receptors sense and translate aromas. But only 27 taste receptors exist. And although much research in the food industry has gone into identifying food components, little effort has focused on the tying those components to flavor perceptions until now, he said.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/qiZOTT2T7F0/130407183542.htm

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Two-step ovarian cancer immunotherapy made from patients' own tumor benefits three quarters of trial patients

Apr. 6, 2013 ? As many as three quarters of advanced ovarian cancer patients appeared to respond to a new two-step immunotherapy approach -- including one patient who achieved complete remission -- according research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 (Presentation #LB-335).

The immunotherapy has two steps -- a personalized dendritic cell vaccination and adoptive T-cell therapy. The team reports that in the study of 31 patients, vaccination therapy alone showed about a 61 percent clinical benefit, and the combination of both therapies showed about a 75 percent benefit.

The findings offer new hope for the large number of ovarian cancer patients who relapse following treatment. The first step of the immunotherapy approach is to preserve the patient's tumor cells alive, using sterile techniques at the time of surgery so they can be used to manufacture a personalized vaccine that teaches the patient's own immune system to attack the tumor. Then, the Penn Medicine team isolates immune cells called dendritic cells from patients' blood through a process called apheresis, which is similar to the process used for blood donation. Researchers then prepare each patient's personalized vaccine by exposing her dendritic cells to the tumor tissue that was collected during surgery.

Because ovarian cancer symptoms can be stealth and easily mistaken for other issues -- constipation, weight gain, bloating, or more frequent urination -- more than 60 percent of patients are diagnosed only after the disease has spread to their lymph nodes or other distant sites in the body, when treatment is much less likely to produce a cure compared to when the disease is detected early. As the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the United States, it takes the lives of more than 14,000 women each year.

"Given these grim outcomes, there is definitely a vast unmet need for the development of novel, alternate therapies," said lead author Lana Kandalaft, PharmD, PhD, MTR, a research assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and director of clinical development and operations in Penn Medicine's Ovarian Cancer Research Center. "This is the first time such a combination immunotherapy approach has been used for patients with ovarian cancer, and we believe the results are leading us toward a completely new way to treat this disease."

Both treatments are given in conjunction with bevacizumab, a drug that controls the blood vessel growth that feeds tumors. Combining bevacizumab with immunotherapy makes a powerful duo, Kandalaft says. The vaccine trial is still open to accrual to test new combinatorial strategies.

The other Penn authors are Janos Tanyi, Cheryl Chiang, Daniel Powell, and George Coukos. This study was funded by a National Cancer Institute Ovarian Specialized Program of Research Excellence grant, the National Institutes of Health and the Ovarian Cancer Immunotherapy Initiative.

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Real-estate boom fuels sales of small home appliances | Retail ...

The post-recession real estate boom helped to fuel a thriving retail market for small home appliances, which kept going in 2012 despite a more tepid market.

Sales of kitchen appliances such as blenders, ?healthy? deep-fry systems and single-serve coffee makers have jumped 30% to $598.3-million in the four-year period ending December 2012, according to market research from NPD Group Canada.

It comes as cost-conscious Canadians prepare more food at home, but also seek to fill their new and renovated spaces with a host of kitchen products with new systems and features, according to Armin Begic, account manager at the home division of the Toronto market research firm.

If you are renovating your kitchen, you are going to replace your small appliances

?If people are not building and buying brand new homes, they are renovating,? Mr. Begic said. ?There are many homes under construction right now, and if you are renovating your kitchen, you are going to replace your small appliances.?

Product innovation has also had a significant effect on pushing sales in the kitchen category, a point driven home the most by the sweeping popularity of single-serve coffee systems such as Keurig and Tassimo in Canada in recent years.

Sales of those products grew to $122-million in 2012 from $22-million in 2009. At the same time, sales of traditional drip coffee makers slid to $52-million in 2012 from $59-million in 2009.

Sales of deep fryers, bolstered by new ?air? fry systems, which use hot air to cook the food, have grown to $34.3-million from $22.6-million in 2009.

?The three big factors here are innovation, convenience and health,? said Mr. Begic.

In the case of the new frying systems, he said, ?you may not associate deep fryers with health, but the [air] fryers do not immerse the food in oil to cook it. The technology takes a little bit of oil and swirls the oils around the food so there is far less oil used overall,? to make dishes such as fish and chips.

In the same period, sales of consumer electronics, excluding smartphones and tablets, were down 17%, and Mr. Begic noted, with similar models priced 20% lower than they were a few years ago.
NPD?s director of consumer electronics Mark Haar said that was due in part to factors such as differing buying cycles for products and deflation.

?You had these major changes in innovation seven or eight years ago, and phenomenal growth drives the traditional price down,? Mr. Haar said, as the debut models of digital televisions soon faced mass duplication and stiff competition. ?There is a saturation issue, to some degree.?

?The other thing is consumer confidence levels have not really [recovered] to what they were in 2008. With [bigger ticket purchases] like TVs, you hold off a bit. There is still a bit of a shaky economy, but people are a bit light in their wallets.?

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/03/real-estate-boom-fuels-sales-of-small-home-appliances/

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An ancient biosonar sheds new light on the evolution of echolocation in toothed whales

Apr. 4, 2013 ? Some 30 million years ago, Ganges river dolphins diverged from other toothed whales, making them one of the oldest species of aquatic mammals that use echolocation, or biosonar, to navigate and find food. This also makes them ideal subjects for scientists working to understand the evolution of echolocation among toothed whales.

New research, led by Frants Havmand Jensen, a Danish Council for Independent Research / Natural Sciences postdoctoral fellow at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, shows that freshwater dolphins produce echolocation signals at very low sound intensities compared to marine dolphins, and that Ganges river dolphins echolocate at surprisingly low sound frequencies. The study, "Clicking in shallow rivers," was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

"Ganges River dolphins are one of the most ancient evolutionary branches of toothed whales," says Jensen. "We believe our findings help explain the differences in echolocation between freshwater and marine dolphins. Our findings imply that the sound intensity and frequency of Ganges river dolphin may have been closer to the 'starting point' from which marine dolphins gradually evolved their high-frequent, powerful biosonar."

The scientists believe these differences evolved due to differences in freshwater and marine environments and the location and distribution of prey in those environments.

A complex, underwater environment

To sustain themselves, river dolphins must find their food, often small fish or crustaceans, in highly turbid water where visibility seldom exceeds a few inches. Like their marine relatives, they manage this using echolocation: They continuously emit sound pulses into the environment and listen for the faint echoes reflected off obstacles while paying special attention to the small details in the echoes that might signify a possible meal.

The environment that freshwater dolphins operate in poses very different challenges to a biosonar than the vast expanses of the sea where most dolphins later evolved. "Dolphins that range through the open ocean often feed on patchily distributed prey, such as schools of fish," Jensen says. "They have had a large advantage from evolving an intense biosonar that would help them detect prey over long distances, but we have little idea of how the complex river habitats of freshwater dolphins shape their biosonar signals."

Shy study animals with a surprisingly deep voice

To answer that question, the researchers recorded the echolocation signals of two species of toothed whales inhabiting the same mangrove forest in the southern part of Bangladesh: The Ganges river dolphin, an exclusively riverine species that is actually not part of the dolphin family but rather the Platanistidae family, and the Irrawaddy, a freshwater toothed whale from the dolphin family that lives in both coastal and riverine habitats.

Surprisingly, the echolocation signals turned out to be much less intense than those employed by marine dolphins of similar size and it seemed that the freshwater dolphins were looking for prey at much shorter distances. From this, the researchers surmise that both the dolphin species and the river dolphin were echolocating at short range due to the complex and circuitous river system that they were foraging in.

While both Irawaddy and Ganges river dolphin produced lower intensity biosonar, the Ganges river dolphin had an unexpectedly low frequency biosonar, nearly half as high as expected if this species had been a marine dolphin.

"It is very surprising to see these animals produce such low-frequent biosonar sounds. We are talking about a small toothed whale the size of a porpoise producing sounds that would be more typical for a killer whale or a large pilot whale," says Professor Peter Teglberg Madsen from Aarhus University in Denmark, an expert on toothed whale biosonar and co-author of the study.

A new perspective on the evolution of biosonar

The study suggests that echolocation in toothed whales initially evolved as a short, broadband and low-frequent click. As dolphins and other toothed whales evolved in the open ocean, the need to detect schools of fish or other prey items quickly favored a long-distance biosonar system. As animals gradually evolved to produce and to hear higher sound frequencies, the biosonar beam became more focused and the toothed whales were able to detect prey further away.

However, the Ganges river dolphin separated from other toothed whales early throughout this evolutionary process, adapting to a life in shallow, winding river systems where a high-frequency, long-distance sonar system may have been less important than other factors such as high maneuverability or the flexible neck that helps these animals capture prey at close range or hiding within mangrove roots or similar obstructions.

Improved tools for counting animals

Freshwater dolphins are among the most endangered animal species. Only around a thousand Ganges river dolphins are thought to remain, and they inhabit some of the most polluted and overfished river systems on Earth. The results of this study will help provide local collaborators with a new tool in their struggle to conserve these highly threatened freshwater cetaceans. Using acoustic monitoring devices to identify the local species may help researchers estimate how many animals remain, and to identify what areas are most important to them.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Frants H. Jensen, Alice Rocco, Rubaiyat M. Mansur, Brian D. Smith, Vincent M. Janik, Peter T. Madsen. Clicking in Shallow Rivers: Short-Range Echolocation of Irrawaddy and Ganges River Dolphins in a Shallow, Acoustically Complex Habitat. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (4): e59284 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059284

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/most_popular/~3/CEzBgIwt_lA/130404152625.htm

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Hillary Clinton's second memoir expected in 2014

NEW YORK (AP) ? Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has a book deal.

She is working on a memoir and policy book about her years as secretary of state, Simon & Schuster told The Associated Press. The book has yet to be titled and is tentatively scheduled for June 2014. Financial terms were not disclosed. Clinton reportedly received $8 million for the 2003 memoir, "Living History," also published by Simon & Schuster.

"Hillary Clinton's extraordinary public service has given her a unique perspective on recent history and the challenges we face," Jonathan Karp, president and publisher of the Simon & Schuster Publishing Group and the book's editor, said in a statement Thursday. "This will be the ultimate book for people who are interested in world affairs and America's place in the world today."

By launching her book tour in June 2014, Clinton will travel the country as Democrats work to recapture the House in the fall midterm elections. Her itinerary will be closely scrutinized for any signs she may run for president in 2016 ? any book tour events in early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina would receive broad attention.

As with "Living History," Clinton was represented by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who has handled deals for President Barack Obama and Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton. Karp previously served as editor for another Barnett client, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and his memoir "True Compass."

Hillary Clinton, 65, stepped down as secretary of state earlier this year after serving throughout Obama's first term. Polls indicate she would be a leading contender for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, but she has yet to announce a decision about a bid. Clinton was defeated by Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008.

Her book will likely be anticipated on several levels ? as a possible signal of a presidential run; as the latest chronicle of one of the most eventful public lives of the past quarter-century; as the continuation of a tradition of secretary of state memoirs that includes Dean Acheson's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Present at the Creation" and works by Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright and Clinton's immediate predecessor, Condoleezza Rice.

According to Simon & Schuster, Clinton will write about everything from the killing of Osama bin Laden and the Arab Spring to China and climate change. She "will share her views as to what it takes for the United States to secure and sustain prosperity and global leadership. Throughout, Secretary Clinton will offer vivid personal anecdotes and memories of her collaboration with President Obama and his national security team, as well as her engagement with leaders around the world."

Clinton, who already has started writing the book, was often praised as a hard-working and effective secretary of state. But it's unclear whether she will cover one of the bleakest events of the past four years ? the attack last fall against the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead and led to widespread criticism of security procedures and allegations by Republicans of an election-year cover-up of an act of terrorism.

Simon & Schuster's announcement mentions the 2011 overthrow of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but not the Benghazi attack. The publisher did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the attack.

The announcement also says nothing about Clinton's 2008 presidential run, an intense and sometimes bitter campaign that led to widespread reports of animosity between Clinton and Obama.

A person familiar with the book said that Clinton does not plan to write about the 2008 campaign or any possible future runs. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the book and requested anonymity to discuss it.

Clinton is a well-established author. Her "Living History" was a million-seller that was highly publicized, if only for her thoughts on her husband's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Her other books, all from Simon & Schuster and all released while she was the first lady, include her best-seller about raising children, "It Takes a Village"; "Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids' Letters to the First Pets"; and "An Invitation to the White House: At Home With History."

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Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-hillary-clinton-book-expected-2014-120225734.html

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Loss of tumor suppressor SPOP releases cancer potential of SRC-3

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Mutations in a protein called SPOP (speckle-type POZ protein) disarm it, allowing another protein called steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3) to encourage the proliferation and spread of prostate cancer cells, said researchers led by those at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Normally SPOP acts as a tumor suppressor gene by marking SRC-3 for destruction, said Dr. Nicholas Mitsiades, assistant professor of medicine ? hematology/oncology and molecular and cellular biology, and corresponding author of the report. SRC-3 is an oncogene or cancer-promoting gene that fosters the growth of cancer cells and their spread or metastasis.

"The protein SPOP is normally there to decrease the levels of SRC-3," said Mitsiades, who is also a member of the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at BCM. About a year ago, several groups reported that mutations in SPOP were the most common single point mutation or change in a single nucleotide or base pair (A,T,C,G) that is part of the "alphabet" of DNA or the genetic material of prostate cancer tumors.

What Mitsiades and his group found was that mutated SPOP is no longer an effective suppressor of the cancerous effects of SRC-3. He and his colleagues found the mutation in both the primary or original prostate cancer and in the metastatic tumors that it spawned.

In laboratory studies they showed that when cells produce high levels of normal SPOP, SRC-3 is potently degraded and no longer available to encourage prostate cancer growth.

Mitsiades said that it remains to be examined whether the SPOP mutations affect the prognosis for patients with prostate cancer and their response to treatment.

"To make things more difficult, there is not just one SPOP mutation," he said. "There are many different mutations. Our study and some other data as yet unpublished shows that while all mutations act similarly as far as the mechanism of action, all are not equally potent in their effect. That means additional research needs to be done to examine whether different mutations carry a different prognoses," he said.

"An important question for us is how can you treat prostate cancer with an SPOP mutation," he said.

The mutation results in a loss of function because the mutated gene cannot carry out its task of reducing SRC-3 levels.

"Right now we are not good at replacing something with drugs," he said. "We are much better at inhibiting functions. If we could inhibit SRC-3, then we might overcome the cancer-promoting effects of the mutations in SPOP."

Dr. Bert O'Malley, chair of molecular and cellular biology at BCM and a co-author of the report, is working on inhibitors of SRC-3.

Those inhibitors are important because SRC-3 plays a role in many cancers, including breast cancers, said Mitsiades. It could prove an important target for treatment of many cancers ? along with breast and prostate tumors.

"Its regulation is quite complex," he said. "It can be degraded and SPOP is only one mechanism by which that occurs."

###

Baylor College of Medicine: http://www.bcm.edu/news/mediacenter

Thanks to Baylor College of Medicine for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127544/Loss_of_tumor_suppressor_SPOP_releases_cancer_potential_of_SRC__

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'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Trailer Will Light Up MTV Movie Awards

Blast the horns, the victors of the 74th annual Hunger Games will be taking the 2013 MTV Movie Awards by storm. That's because the very first trailer for "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" will debut at the award show on April 14 at 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT. As you can see in [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/04/03/hunger-games-catching-fire-trailer/

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Google forks WebKit with Blink, a new web engine for Chromium and Chrome

You could call WebKit the glue that binds the modern web: the rendering engine powers Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome, and many mobile browsers past and present. Things are about to unstick a little. Google believes that Chromium's multi-process approach has added too much complexity for both the browser and WebKit itself, so it's creating a separate, simpler fork named Blink. Although the new engine will be much the same as WebKit at the start, it's expected to differ over time as Google strips out unnecessary code and tweaks the underlying platform. We'd also expect it to spread, as the company has confirmed to us that both Chrome and Chrome OS will be using Blink in the future. We're safely distant from the Bad Old Days of wildly incompatible web engines, but the shift may prove a mixed blessing -- it could lead to more advancements on the web, but it also gives developers that much more code to support.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

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Source: Chromium Blog

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/crB0MezloNQ/

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