Grooming helps insects keep their senses sharpened

Feb. 4, 2013 ? Like a self-absorbed teenager, insects spend a lot of time grooming. In a study that delves into the mechanisms behind this common function, North Carolina State University researchers show that insect grooming -- specifically, antennal cleaning -- removes both environmental pollutants and chemicals produced by the insects themselves.

The findings, published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that grooming helps insects maintain acute olfactory senses that are responsible for a host of functions, including finding food, sensing danger and even locating a suitable mate.

The findings could also explain why certain types of insecticides work more effectively than others.

Insects groom themselves incessantly, so NC State entomologist Coby Schal and post-doctoral researchers Katalin Boroczky and Ayako Wada-Katsumata wanted to explore the functions of this behavior.

They devised a simple set of experiments to figure out what sort of material insects were cleaning off their antennae, where this material was coming from, and the differences between how groomed and ungroomed antennae functioned. Schal likened the straightforwardness of some of the experiments to something you'd see in a well-equipped high-school science lab.

The researchers compared cleaned antennae of American cockroaches with antennae that were experimentally prevented from being cleaned. They found that grooming cleaned microscopic pores on the antennae that serve as conduits through which chemicals travel to reach sensory receptors for olfaction. Cockroaches clean their antennae by using forelegs to place the antennae in their mouths; they then methodically clean every segment of the antenna from base to tip.

The researchers found that both volatile and non-volatile chemicals accumulated on the ungroomed antennae of cockroaches, but most surprising was the accumulation of a great deal of cuticular hydrocarbons -- fatty, candlewax-like substances secreted by the roaches to protect them against water loss.

"It is intuitive that insects remove foreign substances from their antennae, but it's not necessarily intuitive that they groom to remove their 'own' substances," Schal says.

The researchers also tested groomed and ungroomed cockroach antennae to gauge how well roaches picked up the scent of a known sex pheromone compound, as well as other odorants. Clean antennae responded to these signals much more readily than ungroomed antennae.

The researchers then put carpenter ants, houseflies and German cockroaches to many of the same tests. Although they groom a bit differently than cockroaches -- flies and ants seem to rub their legs over their antennae to remove particulates, with ants then ingesting the material off their legs -- the tests showed that these insects also accumulated more cuticular hydrocarbons when antennae went ungroomed.

"The evidence is strong: Grooming is necessary to keep these foreign and native substances at a particular level," Schal says. "Leaving antennae dirty essentially blinds insects to their environment."

Schal adds that there could be pest-control implications to the findings. An insecticide mist or dust that settles on a cockroach's antennae, for instance, should be ingested by the roach rather quickly due to constant grooming. That method of insecticide delivery could be more effective than relying on residual insecticides to penetrate the thick cuticle, for instance.

Finally, Schal says the study can also be used as a caution to other researchers who use insects in experiments. Gluing shut an insect's mouth to prevent it from feeding, for example, also prevents the insect from grooming its antennae. Experimental results could be skewed as a result of this sensory deprivation, Schal suggests.

Dale Batchelor, a researcher in NC State's Analytical Instrumentation Facility, co-authored the paper, as did Marianna Zhukovskaya at the Russian Academy of Sciences. The research was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation and the Blanton J. Whitmire Endowment at NC State.

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Journal Reference:

1. Katalin B?r?czky, Ayako Wada-Katsumata, Dale Batchelor, Marianna Zhukovskaya, and Coby Schal. Insects groom their antennae to enhance olfactory acuity. PNAS, February 4, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1212466110

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/hzMPPQr4SqA/130204153603.htm

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Lensbaby Composer Pro

By Jim Fisher

If you're serious about the Lensbaby system, the Composer Pro ($300 direct with Double Glass Optic, $400 with Sweet 35 Optic) is the lens you'll want to get. Unlike the less-expensive Spark and Muse lenses, the Composer Pro gives you fine control over how much tilt you'll introduce to your images via a locking ball-and-socket mechanism, and focus is achieved via a standard focus ring rather than a pushing and pulling action. This makes it possible to take the time and set up a shot exactly as you want it, or to use the lens in a more free-flowing fashion as you would with the less refined Lensbaby lenses. Even with its price tag, the Composer Pro's flexibility, ease of use, and build quality earn it our Editors' Choice award for toy and special effects lenses.

The Composer Pro is available for cameras that use Canon EOS, Nikon F, Sony A, Pentax K, Four Thirds, Sony E, Samsung NX, and Micro Four Thirds lens mounts. It is available for purchase with either the Double Glass Optic or Sweet 35 Optic installed. The former has been the standard for Lensbabies for some time. It captures a 50mm field of view on a full-frame camera and has a maximum aperture of f/2. It can be stopped down using included magnetic discs and produces the classic Lensbaby look that is characterized by a sharp area of focus surrounded by blur. The smaller you set the aperture, the less pronounced the Lensbaby effect will be.

The Sweet 35 Optic is more refined. It produces a wider 35mm field of view on a full-frame camera and has a maximum aperture of f/2.5. You won't need to adjust the aperture using magnetic rings as it features a standard internal 12-blade diaphragm controlled by twisting the front of the lens. This gives you a bit of freedom in controlling the amount of blur you'll get in your photos, as you won't have to remove and drop in aperture discs using a magnetic wand in order to change its setting.

Using the Composer Pro is a different experience than shooting with the Spark or Muse, as it allows you to choose whether to take your time and set up shots on a tripod, or go with a more spontaneous approach and freely adjust the tilt and focus for handheld shooting. If you aren't generally a tripod shooter, you may feel more comfortable using the Muse; it lends itself well to spontaneous shooting and is half the cost. But if you can afford it, the Composer Pro will give you both the creative freedom of the Muse and the ability to take your time when fine tuning your shots. Because of this, it earns our Editors' Choice award for toy and special effects lenses.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/_yODqpFwfHo/0,2817,2414882,00.asp

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Small asteroid to whiz past Earth safely

Feb. 4, 2013 ? The small near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass very close to Earth on February 15, so close that it will pass inside the ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites. NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office can accurately predict the asteroid's path with the observations obtained, and it is therefore known that there is no chance that the asteroid might be on a collision course with Earth. Nevertheless, the flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.

Asteroid 2012 DA14 will be closest to Earth on Feb. 15, at about 11:24 a.m. PST (2:24 p.m. EST and 1924 UTC), when it will be at a distance of about 27,700 kilometers (17,200 miles) above Earth's surface. Although this is close enough for the asteroid to pass inside the ring of geosynchronous satellites, located about 35,800 kilometers (22,200 miles) above the equator, it will still be well above the vast majority of satellites, including the International Space Station. At its closest, the asteroid will be only about 1/13th of the distance to the moon. The asteroid will fly by our planet quite rapidly, at a speed of about 17,400 mph (7.8 kilometers per second) in a south-to-north direction with respect to Earth.

Even though 2012 DA14 is coming remarkably close, it will still only appear as a point of light in the biggest of optical telescopes, because of its small size. Based on its brightness, astronomers estimate that it is only about 45 meters (150 feet) across. It will brighten only to magnitude 7.5, too faint to be seen with the naked eye, but easily visible with a good set of binoculars or a small telescope. The best viewing location for the closest approach will be Indonesia, from which the asteroid will be seen to move at a rate of almost 1 degree per minute against the star background. Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia are also well situated to see the asteroid around its closest approach. But by the time Earth rotates enough for observers in the continental United States to have a chance to see the asteroid, it will have receded and faded to about the 11th magnitude. Radar astronomers plan to take images of the asteroid about eight hours after closest approach using the Goldstone antenna in California's Mojave Desert, which is part of NASA's Deep Space Network.

2012 DA14 has not been in the catalogues for very long -- it was discovered in February of 2012 by astronomers at the La Sagra Sky Survey program in southern Spain and reported to the Minor Planet Center, which designates minor bodies in our solar system. At the time of the discovery, the asteroid had just made a fairly distant passage by Earth, about seven times farther than the distance to the moon. Since 2012 DA14's orbital period around the sun has been about 368 days, which is very similar to Earth's, the asteroid made a series of annual close approaches. This year's is the closest approach, and is the closest the asteroid will come for at least three decades. But this encounter will shorten 2012 DA14's orbital period to about 317 days, changing its orbital class from Apollo to Aten, and its future close approaches will follow a different pattern.

This passage of 2012 DA14 by Earth is a record close approach for a known object of this size. A few other known asteroids have flown by Earth even closer, but those asteroids were smaller. On average, we expect an object of this size to get this close to Earth about once every 40 years. An actual Earth collision by an object of this size would be expected much less frequently, about once every 1,200 years, on average.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/xk2rab1oyG8/130204131341.htm

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Video: O'Neill: Are Things That Good in the Markets?

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50703086/

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Barclays finance director Lucas, top counsel to retire

LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays said its finance director Chris Lucas and its top legal expert are to retire, adding to change at the top of the British bank as it struggles to put a series of scandals behind it.

Lucas, aged 52, has been finance director for a tough six years that spanned the global financial crisis, but the past nine months have been particularly difficult.

He is one of four current and former employees being investigated by UK authorities regarding a capital injection by Qatar in 2008.

Group General Counsel Mark Harding will also retire, the bank said in a statement on Sunday.

Both will remain in their roles until their successors have been found and an appropriate handover completed.

The bank said headhunters had been appointed, but it expected the process to take "a considerable time" to complete.

It could take up to a year to fill Lucas's position, people familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Sunday. Sky News first reported Lucas would leave.

Sources said Lucas's departure was not linked to the investigations into Qatar. He is also the only one of Barclays' executive directors still in his post after the bank was fined $450 million in June for rigging the Libor global benchmark interest rate.

New Chief Executive Antony Jenkins is attempting to move on from the bank's troubles, which also include the mis-selling of financial products, but that is proving a challenge.

The Financial Times reported on Friday that UK authorities are looking into allegations that Barclays lent Qatar Holding money to invest as part of the rescue fundraising four years ago.

British rules forbid a public company from giving financial assistance in order to acquire its shares.

Jenkins said Lucas and Harding both told him late last year they were considering stepping down. "Their decision to retire was theirs alone," he said.

Lucas has had health problems and although that has not affected his ability to do his job, it influenced his decision to retire, one of the sources said.

"Now is the appropriate time ... to begin my retirement from my role on the board and executive committee, and to pass the mantle on to a successor," Lucas said in a statement.

Jenkins is due to unveil plans to streamline and revive Barclays on February 12 and he has also promised to improve culture and standards across the bank's 140,000 workforce.

The CEO said on Friday he will not take a bonus for 2012, saying he should "bear an appropriate degree of accountability" for the difficult year the bank endured.

"The execution of our change program will take place over the next 5-10 years, and both Chris and Mark feel that now is the right time for them, personally and professionally, to pass the baton on in their respective roles to executives who can commit to seeing that program to completion," Jenkins said.

Harding, 55, joined as general counsel in 2003, and has responsibility for legal issues throughout the bank, and as such handled Barclays' settlement with British and U.S. authorities last year for its manipulation of Libor rates.

Harding was previously general counsel of UBS's investment bank and a partner at law firm Clifford Chance.

Former Chief Executive Bob Diamond, Chairman Marcus Agius and Chief Operating Officer Jerry del Missier all left last year following the Libor scandal.

Lucas, who joined the Barclays board in April 2007 from PricewaterhouseCoopers, was paid almost 4 million pounds each year in 2011 and 2010, including long-term awards.

Jenkins and his chairman David Walker, are likely to be grilled on standards at the bank by British lawmakers when they appear before the UK banking inquiry on Tuesday.

(Editing by Erica Billingham and Marguerita Choy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/barclays-says-finance-director-lucas-retire-181744749--sector.html

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Reports: Ex-SEAL Kyle fatally shot on gun range

GLEN ROSE, Texas (AP) ? A Texas sheriff has told local newspapers that author and former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle has been fatally shot along with another man on a gun range.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Stephenville Empire-Tribune report that Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant says the 38-year-old Kyle and a second man were found dead Saturday afternoon at Rough Creek Lodge's shooting range west of Glen Rose.

The Star-Telegram reports that witnesses told sheriff's investigators a gunman opened fire on the men, then fled in a pickup truck belonging to one of the victims. Glen Rose is about an hour southwest of Fort Worth.

The newspapers say a 25-year-old man was later taken into custody in Lancaster, southeast of Dallas. The motive is unclear.

Kyle wrote the best-selling book, "American Sniper."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reports-ex-seal-kyle-fatally-shot-gun-range-065542830.html

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Turkey: US Embassy bomber had terror conviction

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? The suicide bomber who struck the U.S. Embassy in Ankara spent several years in prison on terrorism charges but was released on probation after being diagnosed with a hunger strike-related brain disorder, officials said Saturday.

The bomber, identified as 40-year-old leftist militant Ecevit Sanli, killed himself and a Turkish security guard on Friday, in what U.S. officials said was a terrorist attack. Sanli was armed with enough TNT to blow up a two-story building and also detonated a hand grenade, officials said.

Sanli had fled Turkey after he was released from jail in 2001, but managed to come back to the country "illegally," using a fake ID, Interior Muammer Guler said. It was not clear how long before the attack he returned to Turkey.

Sanli had been a member of the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, which has claimed responsibility for assassinations and bombings since the 1970s but has been relatively quiet in recent years. Compared to al-Qaida, it has not been seen as a strong terrorist threat.

Sanli's motives were still unclear. But some Turkish government officials have linked the attack to the arrest last month of dozens of suspected members of the group in a nationwide sweep.

Speculation has also abounded that the bombing was related to the perceived support of the U.S. for Turkey's harsh criticism of the regime in Syria, whose brutal civil war has forced tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to seek shelter in Turkey. But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denied that.

Officials said Sanli was arrested in 1997 for alleged involvement in attacks on Istanbul's police headquarters and a military guesthouse and jailed on charges of membership in the group.

While in prison awaiting trial, he took part in a major hunger strike that led to the deaths of dozens of inmates, according to a statement from the Ankara governor's office. The protesters opposed a maximum-security system in which prisoners were held in small cells instead of large wards.

Sanli was diagnosed with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome and released on probation in 2001, following the introduction of legislation that allowed hunger strikers with the disorder to get appropriate treatment. The syndrome is a malnutrition-related brain illness that affects vision, muscle coordination and memory and that can cause hallucinations.

Sanli fled Turkey after his release and was wanted by Turkish authorities. He was convicted in absentia in 2002.

The U.S. flag at the embassy flew at half-staff on Saturday and already tight security was increased. Police sealed off a street in front of the security checkpoint where the explosion knocked a door off its hinges and littered the road with debris. Police vehicles were parked in streets surrounding the building.

The Ankara governor's office, citing the findings of a bomb squad that inspected the site, said Sanli had used 6 kilograms of TNT for the suicide attack and also detonated a hand grenade. That amount of TNT can demolish "a two-story reinforced building," according to Nihat Ali Ozcan, a terrorism expert at the Ankara-based Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey.

Officials had earlier said that the bomber detonated a suicide vest at the checkpoint on the outer perimeter of the compound.

The guard who was killed was standing outside the checkpoint. The U.S. ambassador on Saturday attended his funeral in a town just outside of Ankara.

A Turkish TV journalist was seriously wounded and two other guards had lighter wounds.

DHKP-C's forerunner, Devrimci Sol, or Revolutionary Left, was formed in 1978 as a Marxist group openly opposed to the United States and NATO. It has attacked Turkish, U.S. and other foreign targets since then, including two U.S. military contractors and a U.S. Air Force officer.

The group, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and other European allies, changed its name to DHKP-C in 1994.

The attack came as NATO deployed six Patriot anti-missile systems to protect ally Turkey from a possible spillover from the civil war raging across the border in Syria. The United States, Netherlands and Germany are each providing two Patriot batteries.

Ozcan, the terrorism expert, said that the Syrian regime, which had backed terrorist groups in Turkey, including autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels, during the Cold War era and through the 1990s, had recently revived ties with these groups.

As Turkey began to support the Syrian opposition, Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime began to try "rebuilding its ties with these organizations," Ozcan said.

Radikal newspaper reported that the DHKP-C had recently been taking an interest in "regional issues," reviving its anti-American stance and taking on "a more pro-Assad position."

Former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Ross Wilson, speculated that the masterminds of the embassy bombing may have been partly motivated by U.S.-Turkish policy on Syria.

"A successful attack would embarrass the Turkish government and security forces, and it would have struck at the United States, which is widely ? if wrongly ? thought to have manipulated the Erdogan government into breaking with Bashar al-Assad and supporting efforts to remove him from power," Wilson, director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, wrote in an analysis.

"That might rekindle public support for the group. Alas for DHPK/C, this seems unlikely," he wrote.

Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey expert at St. Lawrence University in the United States, said the bombing showed that a "relatively isolated and obscure group" still has the capacity to cause havoc.

"They really fall outside of our comfortable narratives," Eissenstat wrote in an email to The Associated Press. "And they do seem to have been left in an ideological time warp. There is something distinctly cult-like about them."

The attack drew quick condemnation from Turkey, the U.S., Britain and other nations, and officials from both Turkey and the U.S. pledged to work together to fight terrorism.

It was the second deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic post in five months. On Sept. 11, 2012, terrorists attacked a U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The attackers in Libya were suspected to have ties to Islamist extremists, and one is in custody in Egypt.

U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey have been targeted previously by terrorists. In 2008, an attack blamed on al-Qaida-affiliated militants outside the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul left three assailants and three policemen dead.

______

Associated Press writers Ezgi Akin and Burhan Ozbilici and Christopher Torchia in Istanbul contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-us-embassy-bomber-had-terror-conviction-093932685.html

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