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American killed by Afghan embassy worker
KABUL, Afghanistan?? An Afghan employee of the U.S. government opened fire inside a CIA office in Kabul on Sunday evening, killing an American and injuring a second, U.S. and Afghan officials said, in the second major breach of embassy security in two weeks.
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The killing adds to a sense of insecurity already heightened by a 20 hour-siege of the embassy district in mid-September, and the assassination a week later of the government's peace envoy, former President Burhanuddin Rabbani.
The CIA compound is one of the most heavily guarded in Kabul, and has been off-limits for almost a decade, since shortly after the Taliban's fall from power in 2001.
It also lies at the heart of the capital's heavily-guarded military, political and diplomatic district, a virtual "green zone" that is almost impossible for ordinary Afghans to enter.
It was not clear if the U.S. citizens were victims of a rogue employee who had been won over to the insurgent cause, or just the escalation of an argument in a city were tensions are high and many people carry guns. There are precedents for both.
U.S. military officials did tell NBC News that so far there appears to be no connection between the shooter and the Haqqani or Taliban terror networks.
The "lone attacker" was killed, and the injured U.S. citizen was taken to a military hospital, U.S. embassy spokesman Gavin Sundwall said on Monday.
"There was a shooting incident at an annex of the U.S. embassy in Kabul last night involving an Afghan employee who was killed. The motivation for the attack is still under investigation at this time," Sundwall said.
Fear in Kabul: 'A city up for grabs'The shooting follows a string of attacks by Afghan security forces against their NATO-led mentors carried out either by "rogue" soldiers and police or by insurgents who have infiltrated security forces.
The Taliban could not immediately be reached for comment.
'Serious trust' issues
Waheed Mujhda of the Afghan Analytical and Advisory Center in Kabul, said the incident characterized the level of mistrust between the United States and its Afghan allies.
"It's not the first time this has happened and it won't be the last, he said.
"This is a big security concern for the Americans and it shows they can't fully trust their Afghan staff. But the Americans never want to accept that there are serious trust and cooperation issues and they have encountered that in their security operations with Afghan forces."
The shooting happened at the Ariana hotel, just a few blocks away from the Presidential Palace and the U.S. embassy, and used by the Central Intelligence Agency as a Kabul base.
Kabul Police Chief Ayub Salangi said there had been an exchange of fire at the hotel, which he described as an "office" for the CIA, but declined further comment on what happened in an area where access is restricted even for Afghan forces.
The shooting came the same month that insurgents took over an unfinished high-rise near the city's heavily guarded military, political and diplomatic heart and showered rockets down on the U.S. embassy and NATO headquarters.
That attack lasted 20 hours, and the U.S. has blamed it on the Haqqani network of militants, who were long based in Pakistan's lawless frontier regions although they now say they have moved back into Afghanistan.
Washington accused Pakistan's spy service of offering them support.
But senior Pakistani officials have lashed out against the allegations, accusing the U.S. of trying to make Pakistan a scapegoat for its troubled war in Afghanistan.
The U.S. has given Pakistan billions of dollars in military and economic aid, but the relationship has been riven by mistrust.
'Big loss'
Sunday's assault also follows closely on last week's assassination of former Afghan President Rabbani, who was leading a government effort to broker peace with the Taliban. He was killed when an insurgent who had claimed to be a peace emissary exploded a bomb hidden in his turban upon meeting Rabbani.
President Hamid Karzai called Rabbani's death a "big loss" and said greater security measures should be taken to protect top Afghan figures, including religious clerics and tribal leaders. Intelligence officials have said one person has been arrested in connection with the assassination and that authorities were close to uncovering the details of the killing.
On Monday, the National Directorate of Security said an Afghan suspect had revealed the attack on Rabbani was plotted outside the country.
Zeya, deputy head of the NDS, who like many Afghans goes by only one name, suggested the Quetta Shura, the Taliban's leadership council, may have played a role in Rabbani's killing and said the NDS would recommend to President Hamid Karzai that he push for the investigation to be taken beyond Afghanistan's borders.
NATO bases and embassies have ramped up security following a number of attacks over the past year by Afghan security forces against their counterparts. Since March 2009, the coalition has recorded at least 20 incidents where a member of the Afghan security forces or someone wearing a uniform used by them killed coalition forces. Thirty-six coalition troops have died. It is not known how many of the 282,000 members of the Afghan security forces were killed.
In December 2009, an al-Qaida double agent blew himself up at a CIA base in eastern Khost province, killing seven CIA employees. The attacker, a Jordanian man named Humam al-Balawi, had been brought into the base because he had claimed to be able to reach high-level al-Qaida leaders.
In the south, meanwhile, a NATO service member was killed in a bomb attack Monday, making a total of 38 international troopers killed so far this month.
The Associated Press, Reuters and NBC's Jim Miklaszewski contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44666657/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Thousands at pope's final Mass in Germany (AP)
FREIBURG, Germany ? Thousands of faithful, cheering and waving flags, have turned out for the final Mass of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to his native Germany.
Applause erupted as Benedict arrived Sunday morning at a vast field beside an airport in Freiburg.
The pope's four-day state visit comes as Germany's church has been losing tens of thousands of followers amid revelations that hundreds of children and young people were abused by clergy and church employees. There have also been scattered protests denouncing the Vatican views on homosexuality, contraception and other issues.
Benedict alluded to the dissent in Catholic ranks Saturday night when he said that through the years "damage to the church comes not from opponents, but from uncommitted Christians."
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Europe hastens to build up debt crisis defenses (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? European policymakers are quickening their preparations to cope with an escalation of the region's debt crisis as talk of a possible Greek default gained pace on Friday.
Finance chiefs from around the world have turned up the heat on Europe to do more to prevent Greece's debt woes from infecting other euro zone countries and the world economy.
Concern now appeared to be turning toward safeguarding the banking system more than rescuing Greece, as international lenders were increasingly losing patience with Athens consistently missing fiscal and reform targets.
British finance minister George Osborne said the euro zone needed to gain control of the situation by the time leaders of the Group of 20 economies meet in France in November.
"They have six weeks to resolve this crisis," he said on the sidelines of semiannual policy discussions in Washington.
World stock markets, which had plunged to a 14-month low on fears about the scale of the crisis, steadied after European Central Bank officials said they would use more firepower to help the banking system withstand financial strains.
Pressure is growing on European governments for a recapitalization of the region's banks to strengthen them in the event of a Greek default.
At the same time, European policy-makers seemed to be warming to the idea of giving more muscle to their bailout fund, which would be sorely tested if Athens defaulted.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was quoted by two newspapers as saying an orderly default with a 50 percent haircut for bondholders was one way to resolve the heavily indebted euro zone nation's cash crunch.
Greece is in tense talks with the International Monetary Fund and European authorities, known as the troika, to secure a new 8 billion-euro installment of its rescue package to avoid bankruptcy in October.
In return for aid, Athens pledged austerity measures, but negotiators have expressed frustration at what they say is Greece's slow reform pace. The nation's finance minister is due to meet the head of the IMF on Sunday.
"The troika officials said they were going over again measures they had agreed to months before. They said they had a sense of deja vu," a source close to the talks said on condition of anonymity.
October's loan payment, however, is still widely expected to be made. The next installment is due in December.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet urged authorities to take decisive action, saying risks to the financial system had "increased considerably."
Lawrence Summers, a former U.S. treasury secretary, gave a somber assessment of the dangers facing the world economy, including a U.S. recovery that has neared a standstill.
"This is the 20th annual meeting (of the IMF and World Bank) I've been privileged to attend. There has not been a prior meeting at which matters have had more gravity and at which I have been more concerned about the future of the global economy," Summers told a discussion panel.
PUZZLE PIECES
As European policymakers looked to piece together a bolder crisis-fighting strategy, investors took some relief as three officials said the ECB could revive its one-year liquidity lines to shore up banks.
"I think it might be advisable to think about reintroducing this approach," ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny said.
The IMF, which has been pressing aggressively for a recapitalization of Europe's banks, reckons the debt crisis has increased their risk exposure by 300 billion euros.
In a sign Europe was coming to terms with the idea of a recapitalization, France's top market regulator said 15 to 20 banks needed extra capital.
The growing talk of a Greek default met with stiff opposition from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She told a meeting of her political party members that default was not an option because it might trigger a domino effect with other struggling economies. "The damage would be impossible to predict," Merkel warned.
Politicians in northern Europe, especially in Germany, have opposed dedicating more money to fight a crisis that they see as caused by the profligacy of other euro zone members. Now, leaders will have to navigate the tricky politics.
"It's not a question of ability for the euro zone," Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney. "It is a question of political will."
ECB governing council member Klaas Knot told a Dutch daily a Greek default could no longer be ruled out, a warning echoed by the IMF's top official in Europe, Antonio Borges.
"If the Greeks do what they have to do there will be no default," Borges said. "But on the other hand if they hesitate, procrastinate, find it impossible ... then it is very hard to avoid."
G20 finance ministers and central bankers had pledged on Thursday to "take all necessary actions to preserve the stability of the banking system and financial markets as required," a statement that failed to placate investors.
The G20 communique said the 17-nation euro zone would implement actions to "maximize" the impact of the region's bailout fund by mid-October.
G20 participants did not say how the 440 billion-euro European Financial Stability Facility might be altered although French Finance Minister Francois Baroin used the word "leverage" in comments to reporters.
The United States has called on Europe to leverage up the EFSF to give it more firepower.
(Additional reporting by IMF reporting team in Washington, Sakari Suoninen in Frankfurt, Natsuko Waki and Ana Nicolai da Costa in London, Lefteris Papadimas and Ingrid Melander in Athens; Writing by William Schomberg, Glenn Somerville and Paul Taylor; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Neil Stempleman)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110924/bs_nm/us_eurozone
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Saturday, September 24, 2011
Scientists find H1N1 flu virus prevalent in animals in Africa
Friday, September 23, 2011
UCLA life scientists and their colleagues have discovered the first evidence of the H1N1 virus in animals in Africa. In one village in northern Cameroon, a staggering 89 percent of the pigs studied had been exposed to the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu.
"I was amazed that virtually every pig in this village was exposed," said Thomas B. Smith, director of UCLA's Center for Tropical Research and the senior author of the research. "Africa is ground zero for a new pandemic. Many people are in poor health there, and disease can spread very rapidly without authorities knowing about it."
H1N1 triggered a human pandemic in the spring of 2009, infecting people in more than 200 countries. In the U.S., it led to an estimated 60 million illnesses, 270,000 hospitalizations and 12,500 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The virus, known scientifically as Influenza A (H1N1), is made up of genetic elements of swine, avian and human influenza viruses. The pigs in Cameroon, the researchers say, were infected by humans.
"The pigs were running wild in that area," said lead author Kevin Njabo, a researcher in UCLA's department of ecology and evolutionary biology and associate director of the Center for Tropical Research. "I was shocked when we found out it was H1N1. Any virus in any part of the world can reach another continent within days by air travel. We need to understand where viruses originate and how they spread, so we can destroy a deadly virus before it spreads. We have to be prepared for a pandemic, but so many countries are not well-prepared ? not even the United States."
Njabo and his colleagues randomly collected nasal swabs and blood samples from domestic pigs that were part of 11 herds in villages and farms in Cameroon in 2009 and 2010. The results are published in the current issue of Veterinary Microbiology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal specializing in microbial animal diseases.
Nasal swabs can detect a current infection, and blood samples reveal past exposure to a virus. Because an active infection lasts only about five days, "we have to be lucky to get an active infection in the field, but evidence of the infection stays in the blood."
In the village in northern Cameroon, Njabo found two pigs with active H1N1 infections, and virtually every other pig had evidence of a past infection in its blood.
"The pigs got H1N1 from humans," Njabo said. "The fact that pigs in Africa are infected with the H1N1 flu virus illustrates the remarkable interconnectedness of the modern world with respect to diseases. The H1N1 virus that we found in livestock in Cameroon is virtually identical to a virus found in people in San Diego just a year earlier, providing an astonishing example of how quickly the flu can spread all over the globe.
"The discovery of H1N1 in African swine is also important because it shows how farming practices can trigger disease outbreaks and suggests opportunities for improving human and livestock health. Our studies indicate that H1N1 infections are more common in swine that wander freely in villages than in animals that are confined to farms."
The biologists used a diagnostic test called ELISA ? enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ? to test for potential viruses. ELISA revealed the pigs had the human strain of H1N1.
Viruses in pigs can mix into a much more virulent strain that can spread extremely fast, Smith and Njabo warned.
"We are studying the interface between viruses in humans, wild animals and domestic animals and how viruses move among them," Njabo said.
A pandemic as in 'Contagion' could occur
"This particular H1N1 strain is ubiquitous," said Smith, who is also a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a member of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. "When different strains of influenza are mixed in pigs, such as an avian strain with a human strain, you can get new hybrid strains that may affect humans much more severely and can potentially produce a pandemic that can allow human-to-human infection. This is how a pandemic can arise; we need to be very vigilant.
"It would be comforting to believe that the deaths of tens of millions of people, or more, as depicted in the movie 'Contagion' is merely science fiction, but something that resembles what is depicted there could happen under a certain set of circumstances."
In the 20th century, the world experienced three influenza pandemics that collectively killed more than 40 million people, Smith and Njabo noted.
In addition to studying pigs, Njabo and colleagues have also collected samples from hundreds of wild birds, ducks and chickens in Cameroon and Egypt. Their colleagues at other institutions are conducting similar studies in China, Bangladesh and elsewhere.
Smith and Njabo work with UCLA's Global Bio Lab, in collaboration with Hilary Godwin, a professor of environmental health sciences at the UCLA School of Public Health, to identify new diseases, speed up the development of new vaccines and try to prevent the next pandemic.
"The world is a global village; no area is truly isolated," said Njabo, who was born and raised in Cameroon. "There are so many unknowns about the transmission rates of viruses between humans and wild animals. We have to expand screening."
Since 2007, Njabo has gone to Cameroon two to three times a year to collect samples and is there currently. He informed the government's Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries, and Animal Industries of the findings to try to reduce the spread of the disease. Smith, Njabo and colleagues will hold a workshop in Cameroon next year to tell people how to raise pigs in a way that reduces the risk of disease.
###
University of California - Los Angeles: http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu
Thanks to University of California - Los Angeles for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/113672/Scientists_find_H_N__flu_virus_prevalent_in_animals_in_Africa_
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Friday, September 23, 2011
BMW Motorrad Wins Five Awards at ... - BMW Motorcycle Magazine
BMW Motorrad won five OttoCar trophies for their commercials, Internet marketing campaigns and corporate websites. Out of 271 entries received from countries all over the world, an international jury awarded 71 OttoCar trophies, with BMW Motorrad and its agencies Serviceplan/Plan.Net picking up prizes in five categories.
In the Interactive/Multimedia category, BMW Motorrad and Serviceplan won gold for its ?Try to catch me? internet advertising campaign. In the Product Presentation Films, the ?BMW G650GS? film made by Serviceplan won silver in the Motorcycles category. In the Commercials (TV and Cinema) Motorcycles category, BMW Motorrad?s ?Dream? film picked up a Silver award. In the Websites category for motorcycles, the BMW Motorrad Community site received a silver award, while the revamped international BMW Motorrad website also received a silver award in the Corporate Websites category.
From left to right: Alexander Kammel, Stefan Pr?l? (Serviceplan), Jerome Boettcher (BMW Motorrad). Photo by Andrea Ganshorn.
They were presented during the AutoVision awards ceremony at the 10th International Automotive Film and Multimedia Festival which was held during the 64th International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, Germany. AutoVision is the largest international festival for films, commercials, websites, and interactive productions in the automotive industry.
The festival?s OttoCar trophies are presented biennially to TV and cinema commercials, TV programs, mobile marketing (Apps, smartphones, pads and tablets), social media, virals, brand and corporate websites, interactive and multimedia productions, corporate video, informational films, and product presentation films. Categories include motorcycles, cars, SUVs, trucks, oil companies, suppliers, insurance and road safety.
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Thursday, September 22, 2011
Sony's Tablet S goes under the knife, reveals secrets lurking within
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Sony's Tablet S goes under the knife, reveals secrets lurking within originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Lost iPhone just one headache for Apple security
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Wanted: experienced security professional. Must have plan to thwart Chinese counterfeiters, protect secret blueprints from spies and keep workers from leaving super-secret unreleased smartphones behind in bars.
A day after a recent report surfaced that an Apple employee had lost a prototype for a new but unreleased iPhone at a Northern California watering hole, two job listings appeared on Apple's website for managers of "new product security."
Such workers would join a team at the $350 billion company that has included ex-FBI agents and other highly trained pros with backgrounds in intelligence and law enforcement.
While a private security force might not seem in keeping with its user-friendly image, Apple and other companies in its league need the best protection they can buy, corporate security experts say. And lost iPhones likely don't come near the top of the list of anxieties.
"Corporate espionage, that's big money. Billion-dollar money. The paranoia is justified," said Jim Stickley, co-founder of corporate security consulting firm TraceSecurity "Whatever they're trying to do, their competitors want to know. Everybody wants to know."
Apple declined to discuss its security operations in detail with The Associated Press, in keeping with the company's longstanding reputation for secrecy. Nor has the company confirmed the existence of the iPhone 5, the rumored latest model, much less a lost prototype.
But San Francisco police have said that four officers recently went to a home in the city's Bernal Heights neighborhood with two Apple employees, who met with the resident and searched the home for an iPhone prototype.
Apple watchers say the company is known for creating many test versions of its new devices before they're released to see how they work in the real world. The reportedly lost iPhone likely would have been far from the only one in circulation.
Losing just one such device is perhaps more of a marketing headache than a serious security breach, as was the case for Apple last year when the tech blog Gizmodo posted photos of what turned out to be the then-unreleased iPhone 4 lost by an employee at a San Francisco Bay area beer garden.
Once a new device has reached the point where employees are field-testing it, a competitor who obtained one wouldn't have enough time to analyze it and do anything to take advantage of that insider knowledge, Stickley said.
Even so, sheriff's deputies seized Gizmodo blogger Jason Chen's computers as part of an investigation into whether the blog's $5,000 payment to acquire the lost phone amounted to a crime. No charges were filed.
Such tactics might seem heavy-handed. But for Apple and other tech companies the issue amounts not just to a publicity problem but a fiduciary obligation to shareholders to secure the company's valuable assets, said longtime Apple analyst Tim Bajarin.
Companies also have an obligation to try to prevent such a loss from happening again, he said: "If they fail, it's the system that failed as much as the individual."
Despite the blogosphere frenzy surrounding the lost iPhone prototypes, experts say the security threats to tech companies are far more serious in China, where thousands of workers labor to manufacture Apple's products.
According to a 2008 diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks, Apple had only a modest security presence in China until March of that year, when the company hired a team from Pfizer that led a crusade against fake Viagra.
Under the leadership of Donald Shruhan, whose LinkedIn profile lists him as a Hong Kong-based senior regional director for Apple in security and investigations, the company began taking steps to reign in the country's trade in counterfeit iPhones, iPods and MacBooks.
"Early evidence suggests nearly 100 percent of Apple products in unauthorized mainland markets are knockoffs," according to the unclassified cable from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
The job of keeping such counterfeits off the shelves, to keep blueprints for new products from leaking and to otherwise secure vital trade secrets falls under the field of information assurance.
For information assurance professionals, securing computer networks is only part of the job. They also make sure companies remember to lock their actual doors.
"Social engineering" also remains a constant threat in the tech industry, said Gary Kessler, director of the information assurance program at Norwich University, a private military college in Vermont that has trained security personnel at Apple and other high-profile companies. From e-mail scams seeking sensitive personal information to Cold War-style cloak-and-dagger subterfuge, human weakness can be easier to exploit and harder to protect against than digital vulnerabilities.
"This stuff has been going on for decades, just in a different guise," Kessler said. "The Internet has just given us a new vector for attack."
And in the end, he said, even the best-trained security team in the world can only do so much to protect against someone in a bar who may have been drinking and may have been showing off the most sought-after secret product in the world.
Said Kessler: "I'm guessing that Apple probably did everything that anybody could do, and they probably did it right."
___
Follow Marcus Wohlsen on Twitter at http://twitter.com/marcuswohlsen
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It Is Extremely Important To Pick The Most Effective Domain Name ...
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The initial thing you have to know is that there are many different extensions with regard to domain names. For people who don?t know just what an extension is, it will be the part of the domain name that comes after the dot, for instance .com and .net. The most professional looking domain extension will be the .com, even so there?s also other reasons that you want to get a .com domain name. I am sure you understand that .com is what most folks automatically type in when they enter any domain name in their web browser. When you own weightloss.net and somebody wants to go to your website, they will most likely end up keying in weightloss.com and they will be going to another website that is not yours. This means that one of the most important things when choosing a domain name is making sure you get a .com.
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Tuesday, September 20, 2011
LocalHero for iPhone Connects You with Local Experts to Solve Your Problems [Video]
iOS: LocalHero is a new service that aims to connect users with subject matter experts in their communities to help answer questions, provide advice, and offer informed opinions. The service connects to your Facebook account to determine your skills and location, and uses it to connect you with friends and others on LocalHero looking for advice.
Once logged in, LocalHero helps you contribute to the community by using your skills and education to make you a subject matter expert in your field. Once your skills are fleshed out and the service has you connected with friends, you can look through active requests in your area, or submit a request for information of your own. You can attach an image or additional information to your request, select the skills you'd like the person answering to have, and share it with friends, or with everyone.
Admittedly, a service like LocalHero is only as good as how many people in your community are participating, and how many are willing to respond to requests for assistance. If you're willing to help, the app is free and available now in the iTunes App Store, and the developers say there's an Android version on the way.
LocalHero | via TheNextWeb
You can reach Alan Henry, the author of this post, at alan@lifehacker.com, or better yet, follow him on Twitter or Google+.
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Scientists discover rare theropod dinosaur wounded in action in southern Utah
ScienceDaily (Sep. 19, 2011) ? Raptor dinosaurs like the iconic Velociraptor from the movie franchise Jurassic Park are renowned for their "fear-factor." Their terrifying image has been popularized in part because members of this group possess a greatly enlarged talon on their foot -- analogous to a butcher's hook. Yet the function of the highly recurved claw on the foot of raptor dinosaurs has largely remained a mystery to paleontologists. This week a collaboration of scientists unveil a new species of raptor dinosaur discovered in southern Utah that sheds new light on this and several other long-standing questions in paleontology, including how dinosaurs evolved on the "lost continent" of Laramidia (western North America) during the Late Cretaceous -- a period known as the zenith of dinosaur diversity.
Their findings will be published in the journal PLoS ONE.
The new dinosaur -- dubbed Talos sampsoni -- is a member of a rare group of feathered, bird-like theropod dinosaurs whose evolution in North America has been a longstanding source of scientific debate, largely for lack of decent fossil material. Indeed, Talos represents the first definitive troodontid theropod to be named from the Late Cretaceous of North America in over 75 years. "Finding a decent specimen of this type of dinosaur in North America is like a lighting strike? it's a random event of thrilling proportions," said Lindsay Zanno, lead author of the study naming the new dinosaur. Zanno is an assistant professor of anatomy at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and a research associate at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. Other members of the research team include Mike Knell (a graduate student at Montana State University) who discovered the new specimen in 2008 in the Kaiparowits Formation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM), southern Utah; Bureau of Land Management (BLM) paleontologist Alan Titus, leader of a decade-long paleontology reconnaissance effort in the monument; David Varricchio, Associate Professor of Paleontology, Montana State University; and Patrick O'Connor, Associate Professor of Anatomy, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Funding for the research was provided in part by the National Science Foundation, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Bureau of Land Management. Zanno's research was supported by a John Caldwell-Meeker Fellowship and by a Bucksbaum Fellowship for young scientists. The bones of Talos sampsoni will be on exhibit for the first time in the Past Worlds Observatory at the new Utah Museum of Natural History, Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Nature of the Beast Troodontid theropods are a group of feathered dinosaurs closely related to birds. Members of this group are among the smallest non-avian dinosaurs known (as small as 100 grams) and are considered among the most intelligent. The group is known almost exclusively from Asia and prior to the discovery of Talos sampsoni, only two species were recognized in the Late Cretaceous of North America -- one of which, the infamous Troodon, was one of the first dinosaurs ever named from North America. As a result of their distinctive teeth and the possible presence of seeds preserved as gut contents in one species, several scientists have proposed an omnivorous or herbivorous diet for at least some troodontids. Other species possess relatively blade-like teeth indicative of a carnivorous diet. Zanno's own work on theropod diet suggests that extensive plant eating was confined to more primitive members of the group, with more advanced members of the clade like Troodon and Talos likely consuming at least some prey.
Several troodontid specimens have recently been discovered that not only support a close relationship with birds but also preserve remarkable evidence of bird-like behavior. These include extraordinary specimens such as eggs and embryos within nests that document transitional phases in the evolution of bird-like reproductive physiology and egg-laying behavior, as well as specimens preserved in distinctive avian-like sleeping postures with their heads rotated back and tucked under their "wings." Other troodontids provide evidence of "four-winged" locomotor capabilities, and perhaps most extraordinary, plumage coloration.
With an estimated body mass of 38 kilograms, the newly discovered Talos sampsoni is neither the smallest nor largest troodontid known. Its skeleton indicates that the new species was much smaller and more slender than its famous cousin Troodon, which is known from sediments of the same age in the northern part of Laramidia (Alberta, Canada and Montana, USA). "Talos was fleet-footed and lightly built," Zanno says. "This little guy was a scrapper."
Interestingly, the holotype specimen of Talos also tells us something about theropod behavior, particularly raptor behavior. This is because the second toe -- that is, the one with the enlarged talon -- of the left foot of the new specimen is deformed, indicating that the animal suffered a fracture or bite during its life.
This Little Talos Takes a Beating
When the team first began studying the Talos specimen, they noticed some unusual features on the second digit of the left foot, but initially assumed they were related to the fact that it belonged to a new species. "When we realized we had evidence of an injury, the excitement was palpable," Zanno commented. "An injured specimen has a story to tell." That's because evidence of injury relates to function. The manner in which an animal is hurt can tell you something about what it was doing during life. An injury to the foot of a raptor dinosaur, for example, provides new evidence about the potential function of that toe and claw. In order to learn about the injury to the animal's foot, the team scanned the individual bones using a high-resolution Computed Tomography (CT) scanner, similar to those used by physicians to examine bones and other organs inside the human body.
"Although we could see damage on the exterior of the bone, our microCT approach was essential for characterizing the extent of the injury, and importantly, for allowing us to better constrain how long it had been between the time of injury and the time that this particular animal died," noted Patrick O'Connor, associate professor of anatomy at Ohio University. After additional CT scanning of other parts of the foot, Zanno and her team realized that the injury was restricted to the toe with the enlarged claw, and the rest of the foot was not impacted. More detailed study suggested that the injured toe was either bitten or fractured and then suffered from a localized infection.
"People have speculated that the talon on the foot of raptor dinosaurs was used to capture prey, fight with other members of the same species, or defend the animal against attack. Our interpretation supports the idea that these animals regularly put this toe in harm's way," says Zanno.
Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the injured toe exhibits evidence of bone remodeling thought to have taken place over a period of many weeks to months, suggesting that Talos lived with a serious injury to the foot for quite a long time. "It is clear from the bone remodeling that this animal lived for quite some time after the initial injury and subsequent infection, and that whatever it typically did with the enlarged talon on the left foot, whether that be acquire prey or interact with other members of the species, it must have been capable of doing so fairly well with the one on the right foot," added O'Connor.
Trackways made by animals closely related to Talos suggest that they held the enlarged talon off the ground when walking. "Our data support the idea that the talon of raptor dinosaurs was not used for purposes as mundane as walking," Zanno commented. "It was an instrument meant for inflicting damage."
What's in a Name?
The name Talos pays homage to a mythological Greek figure of the same name, believed to have protected the island of Crete by throwing stones at invading ships. It is said that the Greek Talos, who was often depicted as a winged bronze figure, could run at lightening speed and circled the ancient island three times a day. The dinosaur Talos belongs to a group of theropods known to have feathery integument (and in some cases "wings"), lived on the small island continent of Laramidia or west North America during the Late Cretaceous, and was also a fast runner. The team chose the name Talos because of these similarities but also because the Greek Talos was said to have died from a wound to the ankle and it was clear that Talos had also suffered a serious wound to the foot. The species name "sampsoni" honors another famous figure -- Dr. Scott Sampson of the PBS series Dinosaur Train. Sampson, a research curator at the Utah Museum of Natural History and research faculty at the University of Utah, helped to spearhead a collaborative research effort known as the Kaiparowits Basin Project, a long-term research project that has been surveying and documenting the Late Cretaceous dinosaur fauna of the Kaiparowits Basin in southern Utah, with a focus on the Kaiparowits and Wahweap formations exposed in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM). Thus far this effort has resulted in the discovery of up to a dozen new dinosaurs from GSENM that are challenging previous ideas regarding Late Cretaceous dinosaur evolution and diversity within Laramidia and spurring new ideas regarding dinosaur biogeography in the region.
A Tale of Two Continents
Dinosaurs of the Late Cretaceous were living in a greenhouse world. A warm and equitable global climate that was devoid of polar ice caps and above average spreading at mid-oceanic ridges caused massive flooding of low-lying continental areas and created expansive epicontinental seaways. In North America, a shallow seaway running from the Gulf of Mexico through to the Arctic Ocean divided the continent into two landmasses, East America (Appalachia) and West America (Laramidia) for several million years during the Late Cretaceous. It was during this time that the dinosaurs achieved their greatest diversity, and scientists have been working overtime to understand why. Take for example the dinosaurs of Laramidia. The natural assumption is that being large bodied, those dinosaurs that lived on the small island continent would have roamed the whole area. However, recent fossil discoveries, particularly new dinosaurs from the Kaiparowits Formation, tell us that the true pattern is exactly the opposite. Thus far the dinosaurs from the Kaiparowits Formation in southern Utah are entirely unique, even from those dinosaurs living just a few hundred miles to the north in what is now Montana and Alberta. Monument Paleontologist Alan Titus observed, "When we began looking in the remote Kaiparowits badlands we expected to see at least a few familiar faces. As it turns out, they are all new to science." And while recent discoveries from the Kaiparowits have substantiated this pattern for large-bodied herbivores like duck-bill and horned dinosaurs (for example Utahceratops), the pattern among small-bodied theropods was not clear. "We already knew that some of dinosaurs inhabiting southern Utah during the Late Cretaceous were unique," Zanno said, "but Talos tells us that the singularity of this ecosystem was not just restricted to one or two species. Rather, the whole area was like a lost world in and of itself."
A Monumental Discovery
Talos sampsoni is the newest member of a growing list of new dinosaur species that have been discovered in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in southern Utah. Former President Clinton founded the monument in 1996, in part to protect the world class paleontological resources entombed within its 1.9 million acres of unexplored territory. GSENM is one of the largest recently designated national monuments managed by the BLM, and one of the last pristine dinosaur graveyards in the US. The area has turned out to be a treasure trove of new dinosaur species, with at least 15 collected in just the past decade. Titus admits, "We had very few large fossils to substantiate the claim of 'World Class' paleontology when I started in 2000. Now, I feel GSENM could easily qualify as a world heritage site on the basis of its dinosaurs alone, dozens of which have been found preserving soft tissue." He also adds, "BLM support has been critical to the long term viability of the region's paleontology research and is paying off in countless ways both to the public and scientists."
Zanno, along with colleague Scott Sampson, named the first dinosaur from the monument -- Hagryphus giganteus -- in 2005. Hagryphus (widely touted in the press as the "turkey" dinosaur) is also a theropod dinosaur, but one that belongs to a different subgroup known as oviraptorosaurs (or egg thief reptiles). Other GSENM dinosaurs include five new horned dinosaurs including the recently described and bizarrely ornate Kosmoceratops and Utahceratops, three new duck-bill dinosaurs including the "toothy" Gryposaurus monumentensis, two new tyrannosaurs, as well as undescribed ankylosaurs (armored dinosaurs), marine reptiles, giant crocodyliforms, turtles, plants, and a host of other organisms.
The discovery of a new troodontid from the monument is the latest in a long string of incredible fossil discoveries from the area. "I was surprised when I learned that I had found a new dinosaur," Knell said. "It is a rare discovery and I feel very lucky to be part of the exciting research happening here in the monument." Knell stumbled across the remains of Talos sampsoni while scouring the badlands of the Kaiparowits Formation for fossil turtles as part of his dissertation research.
Work continues every year in GSENM and new, significant fossil finds are made every field season. Considering there are hundreds of thousands of acres of outcrop that have yet to be surveyed, it is no exaggeration to claim the region will remain an exciting research frontier for decades to come.
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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Public Library of Science, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Journal Reference:
- Lindsay E. Zanno, David J. Varricchio, Patrick M. O'Connor, Alan L. Titus, Michael J. Knell. A New Troodontid Theropod, Talos sampsoni gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Western Interior Basin of North America. PLoS ONE, 2011; 6 (9): e24487 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024487
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/2011/09/110919171338.htm
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Monday, September 19, 2011
States struggle for financing to meet road needs (AP)
LAS VEGAS ? The Hoover Dam, one of the world's great engineering feats, is marred by roads with traffic so jammed along the Nevada-Arizona border that it tells a different story about the political will to maintain 21st century infrastructure.
The road leading to the dam cannot accommodate the torrent of tourists and spills them into the overwhelmed little town of Boulder City. Nevada lawmakers are trying to find a private company to build a $400 million bypass because the state can't afford it.
The phrase "you can't get there from here" is increasingly apt nearly everywhere one turns. America's roads, highways, bridges and transit systems are falling apart. Even those not in disrepair are often so crowded that a horse and buggy might seem faster. Cities and suburbs are outgrowing their infrastructure far faster than local governments can find the money to fix them.
While the problem is plain to all, the money and the political will to fix it isn't there.
Two congressionally mandated commissions and a slew of experts and committees have said the nation needs to double, even quadruple, what it spends each year to maintain and repair its aging transportation infrastructure and expand to accommodate population growth.
So there's the rub. No one likes traffic jams and potholes. No one wants people to die because an unsafe bridge has collapsed. But raising federal gas and diesel taxes or boosting tolls and fees isn't popular, either.
Pew Center polls in the last year show that 67 percent of those questioned said their state should not cut money for roads and public transit to balance its budget. But only 38 percent want federal spending increased and only 27 percent favor an increase in the gas tax that often pays for it.
At the same time, three-quarters say more spending on roads, bridges and other public works would help create jobs.
"The American public has turned selfish. They don't really want to invest in this stuff," said Robert Atkinson, a technology think tank executive who helped lead one of the federal transportation commissions. "It's akin to leaving your house to your kids when you die without fixing the roof because you wanted to spend the money instead on Florida vacations."
In Delaware, officials have delayed dozens of capital projects, but still expected a $21 million shortfall in the state's transportation trust fund this summer. The deficit is seen as growing to $1 billion by 2016.
In Texas, a committee recently declared the highway system inadequate and warned lawmakers that congestion would worsen without money for road improvements. Gov. Rick Perry's plan for a toll road across the state was abandoned in the face of uproar from ranchers whose land would be seized to build it.
In Pennsylvania, 5,906 bridges, or about 27 percent of the state's total, are graded structurally deficient, the highest rate in the nation, according to the Washington-based policy group Transportation for America.
The emergency closure this month of the 50-year-old Sherman Minton Bridge, one of three spans that connect southern Indiana and Louisville, Ky., has snarled the daily commute for tens of thousands of motorists. Officials found cracks in the steel span, raising safety concerns. The two states have struggled for years to find the money to build two more bridges.
Maryland business leaders persuaded the governor and lawmakers to spend more on road construction after a state commission found nearly $1 billion in transportation dollars had been diverted to the general fund budget.
In Georgia, lawmakers approved legislation to allow 12 regions around the state to ask voters next year whether to raise their sales tax by a penny per dollar to pay for an approved list of transportation projects. Officials in the 10-county Atlanta region recently endorsed a $6.14 billion draft list of transportation projects, from light rail to new highways, to ease congestion that's among the worst in the nation.
The consequences of inaction are severe.
Atkinson's commission forecast "unimaginable levels of congestion" in the coming decades. Safety will be reduced. Goods and services will cost more. The quality of life will be eroded, and the nation's economic competitiveness diminished, the commission predicted.
The Federal Highway Administration predicts 40 percent of the nation's major highways will be congested by 2035 without major fixes.
"Our highways are clogged with traffic. Our skies are the most congested in the world. This is inexcusable," President Barack Obama told Congress in a speech last week in which he demanded passage of a jobs bill.
"Building a world-class transportation system is part of what made us an economic superpower. And now we're going to sit back and watch China build newer airports and faster railroads? At a time when millions of unemployed construction workers could build them right here in America?"
Despite the sense of urgency, federal highway and transit programs that underwrite about 40 percent of transportation construction have been in a kind of legislative limbo for two years, limping along under a series of short-term extensions because Congress can't figure out how to pay for them.
Republicans want the programs to be funded almost entirely through existing transportation taxes, primarily the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax and 24.4 cents per gallon federal diesel tax. But revenue from the taxes is declining as people drive less and buy more fuel-efficient cars.
GOP Rep. John Mica of Florida, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has proposed a six-year, $230 billion plan that would slash annual transportation spending by about 30 percent.
Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, who heads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has developed a plan that would last only two years and cost $109 billion. But it would maintain current spending levels with some adjustment for inflation.
Federal inaction is "a big variable, right now," Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, said recently. "You wouldn't have thought so because it's been routinely extended in the past, but some of these guys in Congress really do believe that bridges are like trees and if you leave them alone long enough they grow taller and stronger with age, so it's hard to say."
At the state level, 21 states cut transportation money last year even with a $48.1 billion infusion of federal stimulus dollars for road projects, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. The proportion of spending on transportation at the state level has held steady at 9 percent since 1995.
"People need to understand all across America what's at stake," said Tony Dorsey of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Ed Garcia does.
The 24-year-old travels from Arizona to Nevada once a month to visit his girlfriend and often gets stuck in traffic near the Hoover Dam. The federal government last year opened a four-lane bypass that routed traffic from a bottleneck near the Hoover Dam to a new U.S. 93 bridge. But traffic remains severe west of the span, near where U.S. 93 connects with U.S. 95 in Boulder City.
"You sit in traffic for hours not moving," Garcia said. "There's this one road that goes through town, and everyone is on it."
State legislators aren't any more eager than members of Congress to raise their gas tax to fix roads. In Maryland, Delaware, Utah and Wyoming, lawmakers rejected gas tax increases to pay for new road work because, they said, residents couldn't afford higher taxes.
"If I got a pair of worn-out Levis, I don't go out and buy another pair just cause I need them," Republican state Sen. Chris Buttars of Utah said last spring as he argued against raising that state's gas tax by 5 cents per gallon. "I've got to have the money."
About two dozen states are making due with the same fuel tax they charged in 1996, according to the federal government. But in California, for example, inflation has eaten away half the value of that state's gas tax, which has remained at 18 cents per gallon since 1994.
In the absence of new revenue, states are borrowing their way to better roads, with bonds accounting for about one-third of state transportation money. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell recently won passage of a $4 billion transportation plan, more than half from bonds.
The spending needs are just to maintain roads from normal wear and tear and get ready for population growth.
Vermont has a whole new set of problems. One-third of the bridges in the state were rated structurally deficient or functionally obsolete by the FHA before Hurricane Irene inundated the state last month.
Weeks later, 18 state highway bridges remained closed and 200 miles of state roads were impassable, chewed away by brooks turned suddenly to torrents.
The biggest worry was getting critical links into mountain towns open before winter.
In the legislative session that ended in May, Vermont lawmakers approved $544 million in transportation spending. But no one thinks that will come close to accomplishing the items in the then-envisioned budget and restoring the state's roads after Irene.
___
Lowy reported from Washington. Associated Press Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta in Washington and AP writer David Gramm in Montpelier, Vt., contributed to this report.
___
Online:
Transportation for America: http://t4america.org
Federal Highway Administration: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov
National Conference of State Legislators: http://tinyurl.com/6xf4ln6
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials: http://www.transportation.org
Pew Center: http://tinyurl.com/4xuwz99
Hoover Dam: http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam
National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission http://financecommission.dot.gov
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Oklahoma State, Tulsa get started after midnight
Tulsa alumnus G.E. Beard sits alone in the rain in the stands of H.A. Chapman Stadium as heavy rain and lightning delayed the start of an NCAA college football game between Tulsa and Oklahoma State in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Dave Crenshaw)
Tulsa alumnus G.E. Beard sits alone in the rain in the stands of H.A. Chapman Stadium as heavy rain and lightning delayed the start of an NCAA college football game between Tulsa and Oklahoma State in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Dave Crenshaw)
Game referee Randy Smith and Ross Parmley, associate athletic director for Tulsa, talk near the north end zone of H.A. Chapman Stadium after a more than two hour rain delay of an NCAA college football game between Tulsa and Oklahoma State, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Dave Crenshaw)
Tulsa senior Curnelius Arnick, center, walks through a hallway lined with football fans during a rain delay of Tulsa's NCAA college football game against Oklahoma State, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011, in Tulsa, Okla. Fans were asked to leave the stadium when severe weather passed through the area. Arnick was walking to room with a television so he could check the weather radar. (AP Photo/Dave Crenshaw)
Following advice from the National Weather Service posted on the scoreboard, Tulsa and Oklahoma State fans move toward the exits in H.A. Chapman Stadium after being asked to seek shelter from severe weather shortly before the scheduled start of the their NCAA college football game in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Dave Crenshaw)
Tulsa and Oklahoma State fans move toward the exits in H.A. Chapman Stadium after being asked to seek shelter from severe weather shortly before the scheduled start of the their NCAA college football game in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Dave Crenshaw)
TULSA, Okla. (AP) ? By the time No. 8 Oklahoma State and Tulsa were about to get their game started after midnight Sunday, referee Randy Smith had a question for the teams' captains before the pregame coin flip.
"Are you guys ready to finally play some football?" Smith asked.
A thunderstorm that brought lightning and heavy rains to H.A. Chapman Stadium kept an already late-night game from starting until 12:16 a.m. Sunday. Thousands of fans who had been asked to clear the stadium as the storm approached returned to the stands to watch the game after a delay of just more than 3 hours.
Tulsa offensive tackle Stetson Burnett's long brown hair flipped around as he jumped up and down to try and rile up the fans when the players jogged back onto the field for pregame warm-ups a few minutes before midnight. Then the game got off to a false start when officials had to whistle the opening kickoff dead to reset the 25-second play clock.
The teams were prepared to play a little later than usual, with kickoff originally scheduled for 9:10 p.m. Tulsa's band already had played the national anthem and kickoff was only a few minutes away when fans were encouraged to seek shelter on the concourses, at the Reynolds Center basketball arena or in their vehicles because of the approaching storm.
Increasingly heavy rain moved over the stadium soon after, and only one man remained in his seat as the stadium got soaked.
Those who stuck around got rewarded with some early action. Shawn Jackson intercepted one of Brandon Weeden's passes on Oklahoma State's opening drive to set up Kevin Fitzpatrick's 25-yard field goal.
Justin Gilbert returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, and the Cowboys stretched the lead to 14-3 on Weeden's flea flicker pass to Hubert Anyiam.
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy had said earlier in the week that he thought the late start would have more of an impact on coaches than players, who are more accustomed to staying up late.
"By 10 o'clock, I'm asleep," Gundy said. "I would think the adjustment would be for the staff and obviously the fans. There will be a big adjustment for them."
Gundy had expected the team to arrive back in Stillwater around 3 a.m. Sunday, but the delay meant the game likely wouldn't end until that hour. The team didn't have a hotel in Tulsa, so a 70-mile drive back to Stillwater was ahead after the end of the game.
Gundy had said he couldn't remember playing or coaching in a game that got started after 9 p.m. ? much less after midnight ? in two and a half decades in college football.
"We all know that television and money is dictating when we kick games off. ... It doesn't matter what I think," Gundy said. "We're going to go down and kick it off whenever somebody else tells us to do it."
The teams don't share a weekend off this season, so the options to postpone the game were limited. And both teams face ranked opponents next Saturday. Oklahoma State opens Big 12 conference play at No. 9 Texas A&M while Tulsa is at No. 4 Boise State.
Now, they'll have a little less time to prepare.
"It spills over into an early Sunday morning for the coaches," Gundy said. "And then the players will sleep in, and they'll come in later. There is some effect. For a week or two, late nights could affect you."
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