Why Russia is planning Iran war games

Russia has reportedly ordered the military to plan war games to deal with potential spillover from a US-Iran conflict.

As tensions ratchet up in the Persian Gulf, the Kremlin is signaling that it will use all its diplomatic influence to oppose war and, according to a leading Moscow newspaper, has ordered the military to prepare for any possible spillover from a conflict between Iran and the US into the sensitive post-Soviet Caucasus region.

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Russia will block any further sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council, a Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday, because it believes rising tensions could trigger a conflict that would destabilize the wider region. Last week Russian deputy prime minister and former ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin warned that any Western attack on Iran would constitute "a direct threat to [Russian] national security."

The independent Moscow daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported Monday that this year's annual military exercises in Russia's south, Kavkaz 2012, will be much larger than usual and organized around the premise of a war that begins with an attack on Iran but spreads to neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan, and draws Russia into a regional maelstrom. The newspaper said the war games, which are usually confined to Russian territory, might this year include maneuvers in the breakaway Georgian statelets of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and perhaps also in Russian-allied Armenia.

"We believe that sanctions relative to Iran have lost their usefulness," Gennady Gatilov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, told a Moscow press conference Tuesday.? "We will oppose any new resolution [on UN sanctions against Iran]....

"Russia would consider any use of force against the territory of Iran unacceptable. That would make the situation even more critical....? Unfortunately, many [Western] government leaders are not restraining themselves and are speaking openly about a military strike against Iran," Mr. Gatilov added.

A harsh sanctions regime, signed into law by President Obama two weeks ago, would target Iran's ability to earn cash through oil exports by penalizing Western companies who clear payments through Iran's central bank. The European Union could enact its own sanctions against Iranian oil exports as early as next week.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/YMSGrpicb68/Why-Russia-is-planning-Iran-war-games

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Miss America confronted family pain with pageant (AP)

LAS VEGAS ? The nation's newest Miss America is a 23-year-old Wisconsin brunette who had long conversations with her family mulling whether or not to make her father's jail time for mail fraud the heart of her campaign in the beauty pageant.

While her competitors pushed platforms including promoting the health benefits of milk and protecting the environment, Laura Kaeppeler (KEP'-ler) said she wants children of incarcerated adults to feel less alone, to have mentoring and as much of a relationship with their parents as possible.

"There are many of you out there ? and I was one of them ? but it doesn't have to define you," Kaeppeler told The Associated Press after winning the crown and $50,000 scholarship on Saturday night.

To win, she said beauty queens and politicians should remember they represent all Americans, sang an opera song and strutted in a white bikini and black evening gown.

Her looks, smarts and personal vocation impressed a panel of seven celebrity judges enough to give her the next year with the title.

"What happened with my father is not what my year is going to be focused on," she said. "It's going to be focused on looking forward and moving to the future because that's what my family has done and that's what I'll encourage others to do, as well."

Kaeppeler estimated that there are more than 2 million children with a parent in jail.

Kaeppeler's father, Jeff Kaeppeler, told the AP he served 18 months in federal prison for mail fraud, a sentence his daughter said started as she was graduating high school and entering college.

Jeff Kaeppeler said when his daughter approached the family about making the personal topic her chosen platform, they supported it even though they knew it would be discussed publicly.

"It taught us that God can turn anything into good if you let him," he said. "Laura is totally on board with that idea. She let that drive her and inspire her this past year to get ready for this.

"We've seen a miracle," he said while waiting backstage for a news conference in which his daughter called him her "best friend" and briefly took pictures with him onstage.

"I love you," he whispered to her as dozens of cameras snapped photos.

Miss Oklahoma Betty Thompson came in second, while Miss New York Kaitlyn Monte placed third.

Kaeppler introduced herself to pageant viewers by referencing her home state's Green Bay Packers, the NFL's defending Super Bowl champions.

"If you're watching, Aaron Rodgers, call me," she said, referring to the football team's superstar quarterback.

She was good enough during preliminary competitions to be chosen as one of 15 semifinalists who moved on to compete in the pageant's finale. Her bid lasted through swimsuit, evening wear, talent and interview competitions that saw cuts after each round.

She was asked minutes before being crowned whether Miss America should declare her politics.

"Miss America represents everyone, so I think the message to political candidates is that they represent everyone as well," she said. "And so in these economic times, we need to be looking forward to what America needs, and I think Miss America needs to represent all."

The pageant aired live to east coast viewers on ABC and tape delayed to the rest of the country. The event was the culmination of a week of preliminary competitions and months of preparations for the titleholders from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Kaeppeler, of Kenosha, Wis., some 40 miles south of Milwaukee, said her crowning moment was a blur.

"I was crying even before my name was called," Kaeppeler said. "It was just surreal to have this honor."

She replaces Teresa Scanlan of Nebraska, who won last year at age 17 and plans to use her scholarship to pay for law school.

As the new Miss America, Kaeppeler will spend the next year touring the country to speak to different groups and raising money for the Children's Miracle Network, the Miss America Organization's official charity.

She majored in music and vocal performance at a private Lutheran liberal arts college in Kenosha, and told pageant officials initially that she planned to obtain a master's degree in speech and language pathology and become a speech therapist.

But that changed once she became Miss Wisconsin.

She now says she intends to use the scholarship money to pursue a law degree and become a family attorney who specializes in helping children of incarcerated kids.

"I really feel like I've been called to work in this," she said. "Whether I became Miss America or not, this is something that I would pursue in my career no matter what."

___

Oskar Garcia can be reached at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_en_ot/us_miss_america

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Ford takes top honors in Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards

Polk Automotive Loyalty Award Winners

The Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards are based on actual model year purchase/lease activity and recognizes manufacturers for superior performance in owner retention ? a critical aspect of building and maintaining market share. Owners had such a positive overall experience that they came back to buy another vehicle of the same model, make, or manufacturer. The Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards are the only fact-based awards in the industry based on owner loyalty. Awards are based on actual consumer transactions, with over 4.5 million household records per year being analyzed to determine the winners and information obtained from state registration and lease transaction information.

All Winners of the Loyalty Awards

2011 Model Year Loyalty Award Winners

Award Category: Award Winners

Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer: Ford Motor Company*
Overall Loyalty to Make: Ford*
Most Improved Loyalty to Make: Jeep
Hispanic Market Loyalty to Make: Honda
Asian Market Loyalty to Make: Toyota*
African American Market Loyalty to Make: Ford*
Compact Car: Hyundai Elantra
Mid/Full-Size Car: Subaru Outback
Luxury Car: Lincoln MKZ
Sports Car: Dodge Challenger
Luxury Sports Car: Porsche 911
Minivan: Chrysler Town & Country*
Mid/Full-Size Pickup: Ford F-Series*
Compact SUV: Ford Escape
Mid/Full Size SUV: Lexus RX*
Luxury SUV: Land Rover Range Rover*

*Winner from previous model year award

Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/13/ford-takes-top-honors-in-polk-automotive-loyalty-awards/

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Globes: Comedy vies with drama this awards season (AP)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. ? The Golden Globes have equally good comedy and drama masks this year.

Alongside heavyweight dramas, the category for best musical or comedy at the Globes usually is more of a lark, with nominees rarely emerging with best-picture prospects for Hollywood's top prize, the Academy Awards.

Yet Sunday's musical or comedy contenders make up a strong bunch that could give their best-drama cousins at the Globes a run for their money come Oscar time.

Leading the Globes, to be carried live on NBC from 8-11 p.m. EST from the Beverly Hilton Hotel, is the silent film "The Artist," with six nominations. Among them are best musical or comedy, directing and writing honors for Michel Havanavicius, and acting slots for Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo.

Tied for second with five nominations each are the Deep South tale "The Help" and George Clooney's Hawaiian family story "The Descendants," both of them among best-drama contenders.

With the Oscars choosing up to 10 best-picture contenders when nominations come out Jan. 24, "The Artist" could have some other lighter fare as company there. Globe musical or comedy nominees "Midnight in Paris" and "Bridesmaids" have solid Oscar nomination prospects, along with the weighty dramas academy voters historically prefer.

Most years, the musical or comedy category is filled with nominees that have little or no chance at the Oscars, such as last year's Globe nominees "The Tourist" and "Burlesque." The last time a musical or comedy Globe winner earned the best-picture Oscar was nine years ago, when "Chicago" triumphed at both shows.

This time, the dual categories at the Globes could create an Oscar showdown between the dramatic and musical-comedy winners.

Along with "The Artist," Kristen Wiig's wedding romp "Bridesmaids" and Woody Allen's romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris," Globe nominees for best musical or comedy are Joseph Gordon-Levitt's cancer tale "50/50" and Michelle Williams' Marilyn Monroe story "My Week with Marilyn."

Besides "The Descendants" and "The Help," best-drama contenders are Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure "Hugo," Clooney's political thriller "The Ides of March," Brad Pitt's sports tale "Moneyball" and Steven Spielberg's World War I epic "War Horse."

Presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of 89 entertainment reporters for overseas outlets, the Globes used to have a strong record predicting the films that would go on to win best-picture at the Oscars. But lately, a best-picture win at the Globes has not translated into victory on Oscar night.

Over the last seven years, only one Globe best-picture winner ? 2008's "Slumdog Millionaire" ? has gone on to claim the top Oscar trophy. Before that stretch, the Globes had been on an eight-year streak in which one of its two best-picture recipients also won the main prize at the Academy Awards.

Last year, "The Social Network" won best-drama at the Globes and looked like the early Oscar favorite. But momentum later swung to eventual Oscar best-picture winner "The King's Speech." The year before, "Avatar" was named best drama at the Globes, while "The Hurt Locker" took best picture at the Oscars.

The Globes have a better track record predicting who will win Oscars for acting. A year ago, all four actors who won Oscars earned Globes first ? lead players Colin Firth for "The King's Speech" and Natalie Portman for "Black Swan" and "The Fighter" supporting stars Christian Bale and Melissa Leo.

This time, "The Help" leads the acting categories with three nominations, for Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain. Along with Clooney, Pitt and Williams, other nominees include Meryl Streep for the Margaret Thatcher story "The Iron Lady," Leonardo DiCaprio for the J. Edgar Hoover biography "J. Edgar," Christopher Plummer for the father-son tale "Beginners" and Glenn Close and Janet McTeer for the Irish drama "Albert Nobbs."

Ryan Gosling has two nominations, as dramatic actor for "The Ides of March" and actor in a musical or comedy for the romance "Crazy, Stupid, Love."

Morgan Freeman will receive the Globes' Cecil B. DeMille award for lifetime achievement.

Ricky Gervais, who ruffled feathers with sharp wisecracks aimed at celebrities as well as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, returns as host of the Globes for the third-straight time.

If the caustic comedian decides to again bite the hand that feeds him, a case working its way through federal court might provide some material: the HFPA is fighting for the right to dump longtime Globes broadcaster NBC if it can get a better deal with another network.

___

Online:

http://www.goldenglobes.org

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_en_ce/us_golden_globes

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For alumni, few answers from Penn State president

BC-US--Penn State Abuse-Alumni, 1st Ld-Writethru,1143Penn State alumni express concern for PaternoAP Photo PAAB101, PAAB102, PAAB103, PAAB104, PAAB105, PAAB106, PAAB107, PAAB108, PAAB109Eds: Adds details, quotes. With AP Photos.By MARYCLAIRE DALEAssociated Press

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (AP) ? Penn State University's president told alumni that the school's crisis can be blamed on one person: former football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. But many alumni are still grieving over the firing of longtime football coach Joe Paterno.

In a sometimes heated 90-minute exchange Thursday night at a hotel near Philadelphia, university president Rodney Erickson laid the blame for the school's crisis on Sandusky.

"It grieves me very much when I hear people say 'the Penn State scandal.' This is not Penn State. This is 'the Sandusky scandal,'" he said. "We're not going to let what one individual did destroy the reputation of this university."

The 650 people attending the second of three alumni sessions, however, didn't receive his remarks well.

"It's a shroud of secrecy still," said Joseph Weiss of the Class of 1988. "You said it's not a Penn State scandal, but it is, because perception is reality."

Erickson will be in New York on Friday for the final alumni town hall event aimed at repairing the school's image following the child molestation charges filed against Sandusky, a retired defensive coordinator. He may not have an easy time of it if his previous stops in Pittsburgh and suburban Philadelphia are any indication.

Most of the questions from alumni Thursday concerned Paterno, and the deep pain his firing has caused them. Several asked if Erickson plans to apologize to Paterno.

Erickson said it was not his place, since the board had fired Paterno. He frequently reminded the audience that he reports to the board, and can't tell them what to do.

The response elicited groans and heckling at times. But several alumni thanked Erickson for holding the sessions, when board members have not.

"They seem to be hiding under a rock someplace," said John Lagana, 74, of Chester Springs, Class of '62. "I'm a big Joe Pa fan, and I think he was treated unjustly."

Many alumni called for the board to resign, or worried about their diplomas being tarnished. Several said they were astonished that more wasn't done to manage the looming crisis during the grand jury investigation.

The 67-year-old Sandusky is charged with sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. He maintains his innocence and remains out on $250,000 bail while awaiting trial.

Two Penn State administrators are facing charges they lied to a grand jury investigating Sandusky and failed to properly report suspected child abuse. Gary Schultz, a former vice president, and Tim Curley, the athletic director, have denied the allegations and await trial.

Retired journalist Francine Cheeks, of Philadelphia, said she was surprised at the "unrelenting" focus on Paterno.

"Sue and Joe Paterno are not the primary victims in this whole scheme," said Cheeks, Class of 1965. "It's children whose lives have been affected, and maybe destroyed, allegedly."

Her college roommate, Marcia Hannah, of Wayne, fears the worst isn't over for Penn State. She said the school wasn't prepared for the media crush that followed the arrest of Sandusky and the school officials, and doubts they're preparing now for their trials.

"They're going to get buried again," she said. "This university is not taking care of itself."

Former Penn State and pro football star Franco Harris scheduled a competing event at the King of Prussia hotel after broad dissatisfaction with Erickson's first talk in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

But even some critics say Erickson shouldn't be getting all the blame for what many view as a floundering public relations effort.

A 2002 alumnus, Ryan Bagwell, who's seeking a trustee seat in voting that will start next week, said Erickson "takes his marching orders from the Board of Trustees," which has "sent him out on this three-day spree."

"We want to hear from the trustees," Bagwell said. "We want them to explain why they made the decisions they did."

Two cousins who attended Thursday night's alumni meeting said they aren't sure the current trustees are the right people to move the university forward.

John Cohrac, a Class of 1990 graduate from Pottstown, said he hoped to ask Erickson why there hasn't been the transparency he promised. He and Mike Cohrac, a Class of 1999 graduate from Phoenixville, said they would still support the school's football program but might withhold donations to the academic side until they get answers from the trustees about how they handled the sex abuse scandal.

Erickson has said openness and communication are his guiding principles and the school "will do better in the future."

The chairman and vice chairman of the Board of Trustees released a statement Thursday evening responding to questions raised at the Pittsburgh meeting, including about the firing of Paterno. Paterno, they said, was removed in November instead of being allowed to retire after the season because of "extraordinary circumstances."

"The details of his retirement are being worked out and will be made public when they are finalized," said the statement from Chairman Steve Garban and Vice Chairman John Surma. "Generally speaking, the University intends to honor the terms of his employment contract and is treating him financially as if he had retired at the end of the 2011 football season."

Representatives for the Paterno family said Thursday the trustees' statement came as a surprise.

Paterno's son Scott Paterno responded it was becoming apparent that the coach's firing Nov. 9, "with no notice or hearing, was not handled well."

The fired coach "strongly believed everyone involved is entitled to due process," his son said in a statement, adding that his parents still were "unwavering in their loyalty and dedication to Penn State."

Paterno has described the scandal as one of the great sorrows of his life and has said that in hindsight he wishes he had done more after allegations against Sandusky were raised.

While many alumni are unhappy about the way the school fired Paterno, some said there were no good options in the situation.

"I don't think there was any graceful way to handle that problem," said John Burness, a former senior vice president of public affairs for Cornell University, Duke University and the University of Illinois.

Harris, who played for Paterno from 1968 to 1971 before helping the Pittsburgh Steelers win four Super Bowls, castigated the Board of Trustees for showing "no courage" by firing Paterno. Harris stepped down as chairman of the Pittsburgh Promise, a scholarship foundation, after Mayor Luke Ravenstahl complained about the statements, but he was reinstated in December.

Burness also said that people who are seeking quick changes to the Penn State Board of Trustees forget there's a reason it's difficult to make such changes.

"It isn't a simple thing to do, and it shouldn't be a simple thing to do," he said, since a key goal is for trustees to have a high degree of independence.

___

Associated Press writers Kevin Begos in Pittsburgh and Genaro C. Armas in State College contributed to this report

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-13-Penn%20State%20Abuse-Alumni/id-0af054b7216a46748269b24fed179639

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PFT: Packers move on after 'punch in the heart'

Jeff FisherAP

As the football-watching world watches and waits for free-agent coach Jeff Fisher to pick between the Rams and the Dolphins, there?s a new development.

And it?s a strange one.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports, citing a source close to Fisher (i.e., Fisher), that Fisher isn?t playing the Dolphins against the Rams, and vice-versa, in order to get the best possible deal.? Taking it a step farther, Schefter reports that neither team has even made an offer to Fisher.

So Fisher is going to choose between the Rams and the Dolphins, tell one of them ?thanks? and ?no thanks? in rapid succession, and then ask the winner to make an offer?? If that?s the strategy, Fisher is either lying, or he?s no longer competent to handle his business affairs.

And I?m not sure which one is worse.

Obviously, it?s not true.? If Fisher is choosing between the Rams and the Dolphins and neither the Rams nor the Dolphins have made him a job offer, then what is Fisher choosing?? Bed sheets?

There?s nothing wrong with exerting leverage, especially when dealing with a billion-dollar organization that is trying to hire someone with highly specialized skills to work long, stressful hours for most if not all of the year.? Rarely if ever does one man hold so much power over members of the one percent?s one percent.

So why would Fisher deny it?? It appears to be a simple (and misguided) P.R. ploy, aimed at the least-common-denominator fans who?ll digest without scrutiny a flimsy, illogical report that Schefter happily passed along, also without scrutiny.? (That?s not a knock on Schefter.? Plenty of reporters routinely do the same thing in the name of getting a scoop and/or keeping a source happy.)

Our job is to call it like we see it.? And we see ? more accurately, smell ? something that goes by a variety of names, and that often is found lurking in the grass on a farm.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/12/packers-try-to-move-on-after-punch-in-the-heart/related/

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Project Dreamcatcher


The challenge was, in essence, semantic: teaching computers to decode complex product descriptions and isolate their essential attributes. For another client, Ghani, along with four Accenture colleagues and a Carnegie Mellon computer scientist, used a Web crawler to pull product names and descriptions from online clothes stores and built an algorithm that could assess products based on eight different attributes, including ?age group,? ?formality,? ?price point,? and ?degree of sportiness.? Once the products had been assigned values in each of those categories, they could be manipulated numerically?the same way that Ghani?s predictive models had tried to make sense of the grocery shopping list. By reducing it to its basic attributes?lightweight mesh nylon material, low profile sole, standard lacing system?a retailer could predict sales for shoes it had never sold before by comparing them to ones it had.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=bc336b4e8a3e85b8a03705f7602b065b

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FCC chairman implores Congress to speed up spectrum auctions, does it with a Galaxy Tab 8.9

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski renewed his pleas for more broadband spectrum yesterday, and he chose a rather peculiar platform upon which to do it. In an address here at CES yesterday, Genachowski called upon Congress to hurry up and open auctions for spectrum, and to allow his commission to reserve some space for itself. "It would be a very serious mistake to pass incentive legislation and prohibit the FCC from using some spectrum for unlicensed (uses)," Genachowski explained, adding that these unlicensed appropriations would help spur innovation. "We may see innovations there that lead to more efficient use. To me, it's a no-brainer." It's an argument that he's been making for a while now, but as All Things D noticed, Wednesday's address was unique for an entirely different reason. For the first time yesterday, he displayed his comments on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, rather than his standard iPad. His thoughts on the slate? "It was all good," Genachowski said. "It was a seamless experience." He then proceeded, however, to send an e-mail with his iPad.

FCC chairman implores Congress to speed up spectrum auctions, does it with a Galaxy Tab 8.9 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/12/fcc-genachowski-broadband-ipad-galaxy-tab/

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Worm seeks worm: Chemical cues drive aggregation in nematodes

ScienceDaily (Jan. 12, 2012) ? Scientists have long seen evidence of social behavior among many species of animals, both on the earth and in the sea. Dolphins frolic together, lions live in packs, and hornets construct nests that can house a large number of the insects. And, right under our feet, it appears that nematodes -- also known as roundworms -- are having their own little gatherings in the soil. Until recently, it was unknown how the worms communicate to one another when it's time to come together. Now, however, researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University have identified, for the first time, the chemical signals that promote aggregation.

"We now have an expanded view of a very fundamental type of communication, which is recognizing other members of the same species and getting together with them," says Jagan Srinivasan, a senior research fellow in biology at Caltech and lead author of the study detailing this process, which was published in the January issue of PLoS Biology.

The researchers looked at the lab-friendly Caenorhabditis elegans worm -- a relatively safe version of the phylum, whose parasitic cousins include hookworms, whipworms, and trichinas, which cause trichinosis -- to gather data.

According to Paul Sternberg, Thomas Hunt Morgan Professor of Biology at Caltech and a corresponding author on the paper, nearly 25 percent of the world's human population is infected with some type of parasitic nematode; animals and plants can fall prey to the nasty worms, too. Since nematode parasites live inside a host and attack it internally, knowing how the worms communicate via chemicals could be very important to the fields of biomedicine and agriculture.

"One of the ways to eradicate them would be to have some sort of a chemical that can attract them in order to kill them more efficiently," explains Srinivasan.

Sternberg and Srinivasan are not new to the idea of chemical signaling among C. elegans. In 2008, their research showed how the worms secrete chemicals as a sexual attractant. This time, they worked to find chemical cues that control the social behavior of aggregation. What they found is a complex "language," in which the worms combine different chemicals into compounds, building a molecular library of signals that regulate behavior. They did this by testing a previously identified family of chemicals in mutant worms -- made to not produce the chemicals on their own -- to measure the behavioral effects of the different chemical combinations.

"We're starting to get a hold on the chemical 'alphabet' that makes up these words, which have different meanings in different social contexts," says Srinivasan. "It's a modular code that tells us that within the physiology of the organism, there is a lot going on in terms of how the environment is interpreted and read out for social communication."

For example, one class of chemicals the researchers found encourages worm-to-worm company, while a different class of compounds being expressed at the same time keeps other worms away. This suggests that the worms release different amounts of each compound based on what each worm is trying to communicate. If the worm is starting a new colony, it probably just wants a certain number of worms around to find and share food -- too many and the colony may not thrive. However, if there is a big piece of fruit, the worm may call on a large group to help access the food source.

"The amazing thing here is that for one chemical, if it's modified even just a little bit, the meaning is changed," says Sternberg, who is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "That's what makes it more like a language. If I say a Chinese word, and my intonation is wrong, the word has a different meaning."

Next, the team will explore whether or not the same chemical compounds are made by other nematodes. They will also work to figure out how the worms' nervous system senses and sorts the different compounds.

"Understanding the worm's language is just a first step," says Srinivasan. "We hope that by learning more about how social recognition occurs in the worm nervous system, we can eventually provide insights into how the human brain encodes social information, too."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by California Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Katie Neith.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Jagan Srinivasan, Stephan H. von Reuss, Neelanjan Bose, Alon Zaslaver, Parag Mahanti, Margaret C. Ho, Oran G. O'Doherty, Arthur S. Edison, Paul W. Sternberg, Frank C. Schroeder. A Modular Library of Small Molecule Signals Regulates Social Behaviors in Caenorhabditis elegans. PLoS Biology, 2012; 10 (1): e1001237 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001237

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://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120112100625.htm

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The Cancer Full Moon of 8 January 2012: 'A Wedding' ? Julie ...

'Choosing the Wedding Gown' Goldsmith c1840 {{PD-Art}}

This is from the Full Moon report available in the newsletter?to see it all, please subscribe!

Cancer Full Moon at 11:29 PM Pacific time on January 8th at 18 Cancer 25

The only aspect is a quincunx to Pallas. Without other significant input, this Full Moon may bring its great, shining luminosity to bear on that single relationship, exaggerating what should be a call to adjustment until it feels like a full-blown emergency centered on our ability to exercise good judgment. The Sabian may help: ?A Priest Performing a Marriage Ceremony? We have few bigger points in life at which we must exercise good judgment than the one(s) at which we choose the life partner; the question then becomes (for I?m assuming that for the vast majority of us, this is not literal) to what am I marrying myself, that I should perhaps understand more about? The fact that the aspect of Moon/ Earth to Pallas is a quincunx alerts us to the need for adjustment or modification, so that when we see the Sabian we know that there is a union in the offing that needs, in some important way, to be altered (no church pun intended!)

Look to the House in the natal chart where the Full Moon falls for clues as to the life arenas where you are merging with something that definitely needs your attention; the promise is that you will find something that needs correction or modification?and that this will likely bring the ?wedding? successfully to fulfillment.

The rest of the report is available in the newsletter?I value what I do, and I hope you do, too?that?s why it?s only $5 per month, affordable and informative!

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Source: http://juliedemboski.com/2012/01/08/the-cancer-full-moon-of-8-january-2012-a-wedding/

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