Giffords to Senate: 'Americans Are Counting on You'

Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, whose congressional career was ended by a bullet wound to her head, opened a Senate hearing on gun violence today by telling the panel, "Speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important."

She told the Senate to be "courageous" because "Americans are counting on you."

Giffords sat alongside her astronaut husband Mark Kelly as she delivered her emotional statement just over a minute long imploring Congress to act on gun policy.

"This is an important conversation for our children, for our communities, for Democrats, and Republicans," the former Arizona congresswoman said. "Speaking is difficult but I need to say something important: Violence is a big problem too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now. You must act. Be bold, be courageous, Americans are counting on you. Thank you," Giffords said before being helped out of the hearing room.

Giffords was shot by a gunman in her Arizona district two years ago, and was a last-minute addition to the hearing about the nation's gun laws as lawmakers grapple with how to curb gun violence in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary school tragedy that left 20 children and six adults dead late last year.

Today's hearing is a showdown on guns, featuring two powerful but conflicting forces in the gun control movement. Giffords' husband will also testify, as will Wayne LaPierre, the fiery executive vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association.

Kelly's opening remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, in the first congressional hearing on gun violence since the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. last month, emphasized that he and his wife are both gun owners but also dedicated to minimizing gun violence because of their personal tragedy.

Mark Kelly on Gun Control: 'This Time Must Be Different' Watch Video

Newtown Families Join March on Washington Demanding Gun Control Watch Video

Gun Theft Fuels Violence in America: Gun Owners Now Targets Watch Video

"We are simply two reasonable Americans who realize we have a problem with gun violence, and we need Congress to act," Kelly told members of the Senate. "Our rights are paramount but our responsibilities are serious and as a nation we are not taking responsibility for the gun rights our founding fathers conferred upon us."

Giffords and Kelly recently launched Americans for Responsible Solutions, an organization promoting the implementation of universal background checks and limits on high capacity magazines.

"Overwhelmingly, you told us that universal background checks and limiting access to high capacity magazines were top priorities, and I'll make sure to address each of those ideas in my opening remarks," Kelly wrote in an email to supporters Tuesday. Kelly asked the group's allies to sign a petition calling on Congress to pass legislation on both issues.

LaPierre, who states the NRA's opposition to universal background checks and urged legislators not to "blame" legal gun owners by enacting new gun control laws.

"Law-abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violence of deranged criminals. Nor do we believe the government should dictate what we can lawfully own and use to protect our families," LaPierre said."And when it comes to background checks, let's be honest – background checks will never be 'universal' – because criminals will never submit to them."

"Proposing more gun control laws -- while failing to enforce the thousands we already have -- it's not a serious solution to reducing crime," said LaPierre.

In the wake of the Newtown shooting, the NRA advocated placing armed security guards in every school in America, an initiative LaPierre will promote in Wednesday's hearing, arguing that "it's time to throw an immediate blanket of security around our children."

In an interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer earlier this month, Kelly and Giffords said they hope the Sandy Hook shooting, in which 20 children and seven adults died, will spur legislative action on gun policy.

Today's hearing is the first meeting ever for Kelly and LaPierre, according to an interview Kelly gave to CNN Tuesday. Kelly, who has shot at an NRA practice range with his wife, noted that he is a gun enthusiast but is not a member of the NRA.

"You would think with my background I would be a member of the NRA. I own a gun. I recently bought a hunting rifle a few months ago. I went through a background check. It took I think about 20 minutes. It's a small price to pay to make us safer. We're not going to stop every one of these mass shootings. We're not going to stop every murder with a handgun in our cities, but I think we'd go a long way to reducing the violence and preventing some," Kelly told CNN.

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Drug reduces enlarged prostate with few side effects

Relief from the constant call of nature is the aim of a new drug, tested in rats, which can shrink an enlarged prostate and is likely to have few side effects.

By the age of 60 an estimated 70 per cent of men have prostate enlargement. Treatment involves surgery or drugs that block testosterone, a hormone that drives unwanted growth. Side effects can include loss of libido and erectile dysfunction.

The new drug, RC-3940-II, developed by Andrew Schally of the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Florida and colleagues works by blocking gastrin-releasing peptide – another potent growth factor.

In rats, a six-week treatment shrank prostates by 18 per cent. It also shrank human prostate cells by 21 per cent. Importantly, fewer side effects are likely as testosterone pathways are avoided.

Journal reference: PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1222355110

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US Senate committee approves Kerry nomination

 

WASHINGTON: Senator John Kerry easily cleared the first hurdle of his confirmation as the next secretary of state Tuesday with a unanimous vote of approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Kerry, President Barack Obama's pick to replace Hillary Clinton as the nation's top diplomat, must still be confirmed by a vote of the full Senate later in the day, but that was expected to be a shoo in.

His colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Kerry chairs, gave him a unanimous vote of approval, with Republicans joining Democrats.

Kerry, who did not vote, said he was "humbled" and gratified.

"They've been wonderful, they've been really superb," he said of his colleagues on the committee, adding, "I'm very wistful about it, it's not easy" leaving.

- AFP/fa

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Nooly weather app claims to-the-minute forecast accuracy

Can weather forecasting do better than "30 percent chance of showers"? What if it could tell you the minute it will start raining?

"Nowcasting" app Nooly claims it can tell you when precipitation will start and end with an accuracy of five minutes. It can also tell you when storms will intensify.

Nooly coverage, currently limited to the U.S. and Canada, can focus on an area within 0.4 square miles of your location.

It delivers 240 million predictions every five minutes based on a custom-designed algorithm that crunches satellite and radar data from NASA and NOAA. After a year of beta testing with some 50,000 users, it's now available for free to iOS and
Android users.

"Being so hyperlocal brings with it wide range of challenges," Nooly CEO Yaron Reich said in a release. "We had to adjust our algorithm for different cities, like Seattle, which experiences shallow, constant rain, and New York, which often sees bursts of rain lasting a few minutes and impacting only a cluster of city blocks.

"San Francisco is also a tricky city, with a mostly calm climate, though the weather can change in very specific streets and neighborhoods. Hyperlocal is challenging, but obviously key."

This rather barebones app offers local forecasts in a variety of formats -- with Google maps, graphs, and tables with times in 5-minute, 15-minute, or hourly predictions for the weather, which includes temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed, and direction.

You can also search by location and add places to a favorites list. But there are no fancy graphics or video forecasts.

When I tried the app, Nooly gave me a fairly accurate picture of conditions outside, but snow flurries began more than 20 minutes before the estimated time.

Nonetheless, I was about to declare that better than The Weather Channel or AccuWeather until I noticed that Nooly got the local temperature in Montreal wrong, repeatedly listing it at minus 16 C (3 F) instead of the actual reading of minus 9 C (16 F), which I confirmed with a thermometer.

That's a big discrepancy -- a long-johns false alarm. Maybe the local version of the algorithm needs tuning.

Nooly's minimalist user interface on a Samsung Galaxy tab running Android also left a few things to be desired. I couldn't get it to display in landscape mode, menu buttons are small and hard to select, and the "home" button may not always give you the conditions at your default location. Performance was sluggish.

Still, with these kinks ironed out, Nooly could deliver on the promise of a to-the-minute forecasting service. Just don't make plans around it for now.

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Space Pictures This Week: Martian Gas, Cloud Trails

Image courtesy SDO/NASA

The sun is more than meets the eye, and researchers should know. They've equipped telescopes on Earth and in space with instruments that view the sun in at least ten different wavelengths of light, some of which are represented in this collage compiled by NASA and released January 22. (See more pictures of the sun.)

By viewing the different wavelengths of light given off by the sun, researchers can monitor its surface and atmosphere, picking up on activity that can create space weather.

If directed towards Earth, that weather can disrupt satellite communications and electronics—and result in spectacular auroras. (Read an article on solar storms in National Geographic magazine.)

The surface of the sun contains material at about 10,000°F (5,700°C), which gives off yellow-green light. Atoms at 11 million°F (6.3 million°C) gives off ultraviolet light, which scientists use to observe solar flares in the sun's corona. There are even instruments that image wavelengths of light highlighting the sun's magnetic field lines.

—Jane J. Lee

Published January 28, 2013

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Obama's Immigration Plan to Have More Direct Path

President Barack Obama is expected to lay out his principles for immigration reform in a speech in Las Vegas today that will include a potentially quicker path to citizenship than the bipartisan plan a group of senators unveiled earlier this week.

The president will offer some new details about the White House's immigration reform plan, which expands on a blueprint it released in 2011, a senior administration official told ABC News. But for now Obama will stop short of offering his own piece of legislation because of the progress made by the Senate "Gang of Eight."

See Also: Senate Wants Immigration Bill Passed in Months

The White House has sounded positive notes about the Senate group's plan thus far, but the specifics that Obama announces are expected to have some key differences that might cause concern for some Republican senators who have signed onto the senate deal.

Like the senators' plan, Obama's proposal calls for a pathway to citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. The senators' plan would grant "probationary legal status" immediately to eligible undocumented immigrants, but would not allow them to apply for permanent legal status, or a green card, until the border is deemed to be secure. Think of that as a trigger system.

On the other hand, Obama's framework would not contain a border security measure. Administration officials told media outlets that they believe a path to citizenship needs to be straightforward. They also believe a trigger system, like the one in the senate plan, could lead to a state of legal limbo for the undocumented immigrants who receive legal status, The Washington Post reported.

The border-security-first plan, however, is essential to Republican senators who signed onto the Senate "Gang of Eight" deal.

"I will not be supporting any law that does not ensure that the enforcement things happen," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the group, told conservative blogger Ed Morrissey on his web radio show.

See Also: 3 Flashpoints in the Senate Immigration Blueprint

Obama's plan is likely to include language that would allow same-sex bi-national couples to have the same rights as heterosexual couples, BuzzFeed and The Washington Post reported. Under current law, gays and lesbians who are married to U.S. citizens under state laws cannot obtain a green card. Obama's plan would allow them a path to citizenship, but the issue is not mentioned in the Senate "Gang of Eight" proposal.

As noted by the Post, that language may anger Christian groups who have signaled they would support comprehensive immigration reform.

But the White House remains optimistic about the progress that has been made so far. An official described the senators' announcement as a "breakthrough" to ABC News because it wasn't clear whether Republicans would sign on to any path to citizenship.

Some observers couched the Senate group's decision to come out with his plan a day before Obama as an attempt to outfox the White House politically. But administration officials told media outlets they remain generally pleased with the plan and believe that the president's speech could build momentum for a final bill.

ABC's Reena Ninan contributed reporting.

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First video reveals working tractor beam in action

Sandrine Ceurstemont, editor, New Scientist TV

A working tractor beam has now been caught on video, showing how light can pull objects - on a microscopic scale.

While it's well known that light can push objects as they follow the flow of photons, attracting them isn't as simple. By shining a laser through a lens and mirror set-up, Tomas Cizmar from the University of St Andrews in the UK and colleagues were able to reverse the effect, thanks to the interference pattern of reflected beams. Their technique works both in liquids and in a vacuum.

In this video, the first clip shows how the system can be used to separate objects of different sizes. When a tractor beam in the centre of a mixture of particles is turned on, large spheres move left towards the light, while smaller ones are pushed to the right. 

A second clip shows how the beam can pull a collection of particles. "When the right configuration of particles occurs the tractor beam makes it stable and the whole structure moves against the tractor beam," says Cizmar.

The technique has medical applications: by targeting and attracting certain types of cells, it could, for example, help sort components of blood samples. Another recent tractor beam system attracted NASA's attention as a way of collecting dust or atmosphere samples on space missions.

If you enjoyed this post, watch how light can create instant origami or see how to play a tiny game of Tetris with a laser.

Journal reference: Nature Photonics, DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2012.332

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Iran sends monkey into space

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday successfully sent a monkey into orbit, paving the way for a manned space flight, Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state television.

Arabic-language channel Al-Alam and other Iranian news agencies said the monkey returned alive after travelling in a capsule to an altitude of 120 kilometres (75 miles) for a sub-orbital flight.

"This success is the first step towards man conquering the space and it paves the way for other moves," General Vahidi said, but added that the process of putting a human into space would be a lengthy one.

"Today's successful launch follows previous successes we had in launching (space) probes with other living creatures (on board)," he added.

"The monkey which was sent in this launch landed safely and alive and this is a big step for our experts and scientists."

Iranian state television showed still pictures of the capsule and of a monkey being fitted with a vest and then placed in a device similar to a child's car-seat.

A previous attempt in 2011 by the Islamic republic to put a monkey into space failed. No official explanation was ever given.

A defence ministry statement quoted by Iranian media said earlier Iran had "successfully launched a capsule, codenamed Pishgam (Pioneer), containing a monkey and recovered the shipment on the ground intact".

Iran announced in mid-January its intention to launch a monkey into orbit as part of "preparations for sending a man into space," which is scheduled for 2020.

Iran's space programme deeply unsettles Western nations, which fear it could be used to develop ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads they suspect are being developed in secret.

The same technology used in space launch rockets can also be used in ballistic missiles.

The Security Council has imposed on Iran an almost total embargo on nuclear and space technologies since 2007.

Tehran has repeatedly denied that its nuclear and scientific programmes mask military ambitions.

Iran's previous satellite launches were met by condemnation from the West who accused Tehran of "provocation."

The Islamic republic has previously sent a rat, turtles and worms into space. It has also successfully launched three satellites -- Omid in February 2009, Rassad in June 2011 and Navid in February 2012.

In mid-May last year, Tehran announced plans to launch an experimental observation satellite Fajr (Dawn) within a week but it did not happen and Iran gave no explanation for the delay.

The Fajr satellite was presented by Iranian officials as "an observation and measurement" satellite weighing 50 kilos (110 pounds), built by Sa-Iran, a company affiliated to the defence ministry.

- AFP/ir

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Google: Here's how we handle government requests about you

Privacy is a constant concern for Internet users, and Google today detailed how it approaches government requests for user data.

That includes a new section the company today added to its Transparency Report that answers questions users may have, such as "In what situations wouldn't you tell me about a request for my information?" (The answer is: Google can't notify you if your account is closed or if the company is legally prohibited from doing so. "We sometimes fight to give users notice of a data request by seeking to lift gag orders or unseal search warrants.")

Google has a pretty fine line to walk when it comes to privacy. It collects a vast amount of data about individuals that can allow it to determine who a person is, where they're located, and what they like, among other items. That information helps Google deliver better results and services, but it also threatens anonymity online. And government agencies increasingly rely on Google for information about users.

As Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond wrote in a blog post today to mark Data Privacy Day:

"It's important for law enforcement agencies to pursue illegal activity and keep the public safe. We're a law-abiding company, and we don't want our services to be used in harmful ways. But it's just as important that laws protect you against overly broad requests for your personal information."

The blog post comes about a week after Google released its latest Transparency Report. That report revealed that the number of requests from U.S. authorities for information about users has been steadily growing. In the second half of 2012, Google received 8,438 U.S. requests for information, up 6 percent from the first half of 2012. Globally, Google received 21,389 requests, up 2 percent from the first half of the year.

Google today noted that along with the new section in its transparency report, it also will continue pushing for updating laws like the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act. In addition, it will continue its "long-standing strict process for handling these kinds of requests."

Here's a rundown of that process, according to Drummond:

• Google scrutinizes the request carefully to make sure it's legal and complies with Google's policies. To consider complying, a request typically must be made in writing, signed by an authorized official, and issued under an appropriate law.


• Google evaluates the scope of the request. If it's too broad, it may refuse to provide the information or seek to narrow the request. Drummond noted Google does this frequently.


• Google notifies users about legal demand when appropriate. Sometimes it can't, either because it's legally prohibited or because it doesn't have a user's verified contact information.


• Google requires that government agencies conducting criminal investigations use a search warrant to compel it to provide a user's search query information and private content stored in a Google account, like Gmail messages, documents, photos, and YouTube videos.

"We're proud of our approach, and we believe it's the right way to make sure governments can pursue legitimate investigations while we do our best to protect your privacy and security," Drummond said.

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Doomed Dolphin Speaks to New York's Vibrant Wildlife

By the time New Yorkers spied a dolphin swimming through the superfund sludge of the Gowanus Canal last Friday, it was too late. The marine mammal didn't even survive long enough for a rescue plan to come together. First sighted on Friday afternoon, the dolphin perished at 6:00 p.m.

The reason the marine mammal died, and why the dolphin swam up the polluted waterway in the first place, is as yet unknown. But the sad story of the wayward creature highlights the strange nature of New York City, the global epitome of urbanity. Hidden within Gotham are native carnivores, marine mammals, and even species that have scarcely been seen before.

Marine mammals are arguably the most high-profile of New York City's wild residents and visitors. The Gowanus Canal dolphin was only the latest to venture within city limits. Just a month ago, a 60-foot-long finback whale (Balaenoptera physalus) became stranded in the Rockaway Inlet of Queens. The emaciated animal died the day after it was discovered.

There seems to be no singular reason explaining why marine mammals such as the Gowanus dolphin and Queens' finback whale wander up the city's rivers or strand on beaches. Each case is unique. But not all the city's marine mammal visitors suffer terrible fates.

In 2006, a hefty manatee (Trichechus spp.) took a long jaunt from its Florida home up the East Coast, including a detour down New York's Hudson River. The sirenian survived the trip, continuing on to Cape Cod before reportedly turning back south to a destination unknown. Hopefully the manatee didn't encounter any great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) on the return journey, a marine predator we know patrols the waters off New York.

Of course, New York City's whales, seals, and occasional manatee can only skirt the city along its shores and canals. You likely won't see a seal caterpillaring its way along Broadway.

Yet the city's interior also hosts a strange accumulation of wildlife, including native animals that are carving out spaces for themselves in the concrete corridors and exotic species that we have introduced to city life.

Coyotes (Canis latrans) may be the cleverest of New York City's hidden wildlife. Thanks to camera traps, and the occasional police chase through Lower Manhattan, researchers are keeping track of the wily canids and studying how they are so successfully taking up residence in many of the nation's cities. "Most small, urban parks will likely hold a pair and their offspring at most—coyotes are very territorial," said Cornell University ecologist Paul Curtis.

The secretive carnivorans bring a welcome element to urban neighborhoods—an appetite for rodents—and are experts at cracking open new niches alongside people.

Black bears (Ursus americanus) may be next. The bears have proliferated in northern New Jersey in recent years, and in 2010, a black bear came within three miles of the George Washington Bridge, a major thoroughfare between New Jersey and Manhattan. The bear obviously would have eschewed rush hour traffic and the tolls, but the local population is so bountiful that it's not unreasonable to think some enterprising bear might eventually wander into the big city.

Strangely, you may actually be more likely to run into a crocodylian predator in New York City than a black bear. New Yorkers have a nagging habit of importing—and losing-alligator—like caimans and other reptiles within the city.

In 2010, an 18-inch long caiman took refuge under a parked Datsun in Astoria, Queens. No one knows how the reptile wound up on the street, but given the trend of owners buying cute crocodylians and later dumping them, someone may have abandoned the poor little caiman.

This would hardly be the first time. In 2006, another little caiman was found in the leaf litter behind Brooklyn's Spring Creek Towers, while "Damon the Caiman" swam around a Central Park lake in the summer of 2001. These caimans are only some of the most famous—according to a New York Times report, the Brooklyn-based Animal Care and Control deals with about ten caimans each year.

Many other unusual and exotic animals have romped through New York. Under some of their most notable animal celebrities, the city's Parks and Recreation department lists guinea pigs, boa snakes, and even a tiger that escaped from a circus in 2004 and ran down Jackie Robinson Parkway before his owners were able to get him back.

The Big Apple even contains species that have never been documented before. No, not the ballyhooed "Montauk Monster"—actually a rotted raccoon—but a distinct species of leopard frog. Described early this year, the cryptic amphibian was given away by its unique mating call.

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