Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Greener Olympics Mean Cleaner Air

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Bejing often suffers choking air. But there's now one more thing proven to dissipate it: an Olympics.

The 2008 summer games impelled those in charge of the Chinese capital to clear the air. Not only did they banish smog and smoke, they also inadvertently cut greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 96,000 metric tons during the games. That's according to a new analysis published in Geophysical Research Letters on July 20th. [Helen M. Worden et al., Satellite-based estimates of reduced CO and CO2 emissions due to traffic restrictions during the 2008 Beijing Olympics]

The key was banning half of all the private cars in the city from driving on any particular day during the event. The finding suggests that individual choices like whether to drive or take public transit to work have major cumulative effects.

London's so-called congestion charge for driving in town likewise cuts traffic and pollution. This year, London is bidding to have the most environmentally friendly Olympics ever.

That includes building new stadiums atop former industrial sites and urging fans to choose public transit, walking or cycling. But the British may not match the Chinese achievement, or even attempt to make the London games carbon neutral. The Olympics that finally achieves zero carbon would really merit a gold, for green.

?David Biello

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]

Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/greener-olympics-mean-cleaner-air-131608805.html

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Bomb scare closes US Embassy in Norway

Police block off the area around the castle in Oslo, Norway after U.S. Embassy security staff found a suspicious object beneath a nearby automobile outside the American Embassy Tuesday July 31, 2012. Norwegian police said the embassy and the surrounding area, including the royal palace, were cleared of people in the heart of Norway?s capital, and that a bomb squad with sniffer dogs was dispatched there. (AP Photo/Fredrik Varfjell/NTB scanpix) NORWAY OUT

Police block off the area around the castle in Oslo, Norway after U.S. Embassy security staff found a suspicious object beneath a nearby automobile outside the American Embassy Tuesday July 31, 2012. Norwegian police said the embassy and the surrounding area, including the royal palace, were cleared of people in the heart of Norway?s capital, and that a bomb squad with sniffer dogs was dispatched there. (AP Photo/Fredrik Varfjell/NTB scanpix) NORWAY OUT

Police blocked off the area around the castle in Oslo, Norway after U.S. Embassy security staff found a suspicious object beneath a nearby automobile outside the American Embassy Tuesday July 31, 2012. Norwegian police said the embassy and the surrounding area, including the royal palace, were cleared of people in the heart of Norway?s capital, and that a bomb squad with sniffer dogs was dispatched there. (AP Photo/Fredrik Varfjell/NTB scanpix) NORWAY OUT

Police blocked off the area around the castle in Oslo, Norway after U.S. Embassy security staff found a suspicious object beneath a nearby automobile outside the American Embassy Tuesday July 31, 2012. Norwegian police said the embassy and the surrounding area, including the royal palace, were cleared of people in the heart of Norway?s capital, and that a bomb squad with sniffer dogs was dispatched there. (AP Photo/Fredrik Varfjell/NTB scanpix) NORWAY OUT

(AP) ? The U.S. Embassy and an area of central Oslo were evacuated on Tuesday when a fake explosive device was mistakenly left beneath a vehicle trying to enter the compound, police said.

The discovery of the device by security guards also led to the evacuation of the royal palace, the halting of subway traffic in the area, and the cancellation of an international children's soccer game at nearby Voldslokka Stadium so police could use the field for helicopters.

The bomb scare and police search closed the entire area for several hours.

"The Oslo police bomb squad has removed the object and can confirm that it was a dummy bomb," police said in a statement. "The car has been used for an internal drill at the embassy, and the find can be connected to this."

Norway's monarch was not at the palace at the time, but people visiting it were evacuated during the security check.

The U.S. Embassy did not immediately comment about how the mistake had been made.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-07-31-Norway--Bomb%20Scare/id-aee7c65f61d945688f5710db60405223

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Brains are different in people with highly superior autobiographical memory

ScienceDaily (July 30, 2012) ? UC Irvine scientists have discovered intriguing differences in the brains and mental processes of an extraordinary group of people who can effortlessly recall every moment of their lives since about age 10.

The phenomenon of highly superior autobiographical memory -- first documented in 2006 by UCI neurobiologist James McGaugh and colleagues in a woman identified as "AJ" -- has been profiled on CBS's "60 Minutes" and in hundreds of other media outlets. But a new paper in the peer-reviewed journal Neurobiology of Learning & Memory's July issue offers the first scientific findings about nearly a dozen people with this uncanny ability.

All had variations in nine structures of their brains compared to those of control subjects, including more robust white matter linking the middle and front parts. Most of the differences were in areas known to be linked to autobiographical memory, "so we're getting a descriptive, coherent story of what's going on," said lead author Aurora LePort, a doctoral candidate at UCI's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory.

Surprisingly, the people with stellar autobiographical memory did not score higher on routine laboratory memory tests or when asked to use rote memory aids. Yet when it came to public or private events that occurred after age 10?, "they were remarkably better at recalling the details of their lives," said McGaugh, senior author on the new work.

"These are not memory experts across the board. They're 180 degrees different from the usual memory champions who can memorize pi to a large degree or other long strings of numbers," LePort noted. "It makes the project that much more interesting; it really shows we are homing in on a specific form of memory."

She said interviewing the subjects was "baffling. You give them a date, and their response is immediate. The day of the week just comes out of their minds; they don't even think about it. They can do this for so many dates, and they're 99 percent accurate. It never gets old."

The study also found statistically significant evidence of obsessive-compulsive tendencies among the group, but the authors do not yet know if or how this aids recollection. Many of the individuals have large, minutely catalogued collections of some sort, such as magazines, videos, shoes, stamps or postcards.

UCI researchers and staff have assessed more than 500 people who thought they might possess highly superior autobiographical memory and have confirmed 33 to date, including the 11 in the paper. Another 37 are strong candidates who will be further tested.

"The next step is that we want to understand the mechanisms behind the memory," LePort said. "Is it just the brain and the way its different structures are communicating? Maybe it's genetic; maybe it's molecular."

McGaugh added: "We're Sherlock Holmeses here. We're searching for clues in a very new area of research."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Irvine, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Aurora K.R. LePort, Aaron T. Mattfeld, Heather Dickinson-Anson, James H. Fallon, Craig E.L. Stark, Frithjof Kruggel, Larry Cahill, James L. McGaugh. Behavioral and neuroanatomical investigation of Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2012; 98 (1): 78 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2012.05.002

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/ptlo5vdET3E/120730170341.htm

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Romney, in Israel, Hints at Harder Line Toward Iran

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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Sunday, July 29, 2012
Mitt Romney adopted the language of Israel?s leaders, who say Tehran must not even obtain the capability to build a nuclear weapon, a harder position than the United States has taken. ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/us/politics/romney-in-israel-hints-at-harder-line-toward-iran.html

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Monday, July 30, 2012

LVII Residential Building In Mexico City

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