IMF seeks up to $500 billion in new funds (AP)

BRUSSELS ? The International Monetary Fund says it aims to raise up to $500 billion to give out new loans to help to mitigate a worsening financial crisis.

The Washington-based fund said Wednesday that its staff estimates that countries around the world will need about $1 trillion in loans over the coming years.

It says $200 billion that European countries have promised to the IMF are part of the $500 billion total it expects to raise.

The IMF has put up about one third of the financing of eurozone bailouts over the past two years, but worries that non-European countries will also need more assistance amid worsening economic conditions.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_imf_resources

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Bill Bush: A Revolution in Clay: This Artweek.LA (January 16, 2012)

2012-01-17-CTSCatalog.jpg
JOHN MASON, Blue Wall, 1959, Ceramic, 84 x 252 x 5 inches, Collection of the artist

Clay's Tectonic Shift: John Mason, Ken Price, and Peter Voulkos, 1956-1968 | This exhibition focuses on three of the most innovative and dynamic artists of the era, whose work forever changed the way ceramics would be regarded. Los Angeles was the site of a "revolution in clay" in which a small group of artists challenged studio pottery's traditional focus on utilitarian ware to create sculptural forms. The exhibition and catalog, Clay's Tectonic Shift, focus on--Mason, Price and Voulkos-- three artists who, in the late 1950s and 1960s, emerged as sculptors, creating new works in clay that claimed equal footing with art in other media. Although each of these sculptors has been featured in solo shows or larger group exhibitions, this project is the first to feature their work together through key pieces that mark their emerging sculptural styles from 1956 to 1968.

Dr. Mary MacNaughton, director of the Williamson Gallery, described the concept behind the exhibition and catalog: "Mason, Price, and Voulkos changed the conversation in ceramics from craft to art, creating fired-clay sculpture that was unprecedented in ambition and originality. The exhibition presents important works in this development. These three artists were the catalysts for a new ceramic scene and a definitive shift in the way ceramics were understood. From that point until the present day, clay has simply never been viewed in the same way again."

Clay's Tectonic Shift opens January 21 at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery of Scripps College

2012-01-17-fNB12_01.jpg

Magical Thinking | An ambitious new exhibition featuring the work of Los Angeles painter Karen Liebowitz, Philadelphia-based Nancy Blum and Los Angeles-based Vanessa Conte. These three artists see magical thinking as an acknowledgment and openness to causal connections without a correspondent need for scientific proof. They share in a belief in the interrelationship of those experiences that go beyond conventional observation. When the ineffable and ephemeral engage with the material and tangible, beauty is revealed to be not a supplement to our experience, but a substantive source of power in its own right.

Nancy Blum (work shown above) offers a series of very intricate new botanical drawings. These works present unabashed beauty at the same time that they subvert the traditional idea of the decorative. The complex and fantastical flowers appear to be the masters of their own universe, seeming to possess authority and freedom. Blum uses line and form in a subtly mathematical way, so the effect is hallucinatory, yet the nuanced patterns point to a sense that each move has an accompaniment or echo.

Magical Thinking runs through February 4 at Rosamund Felsen

2012-01-17-swg34.jpg

Izhar Patkin: The Dead are here | These dream like paintings, a room wrapped with 14' tall wall size paintings in ink on tulle curtains, tread the boundaries between illusion and reality. They are part of a collaboration, which began in 1999 between Israeli born Patkin and the late revered Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali. The Dead are here is the 13th chapter in Shahid's elegy, "From Another Desert." It tells the Arabic love story of Laila and Majnoon. "Majnoon" whose name means "possessed" or "mad" sacrificed everything for Love.

Patkin's ethereal veils challenge not only the physical conventions of painting, canvas, murals, installation and even video projection - but also the conventions of visual expression itself: abstraction, representation and manifestation. Patkin sees the three as fundamentally rooted in the illusive vocabulary of our religious doctrines: monotheistic, iconic and pagan. From the start of their cross-cultural collaborative journey, Patkin and Ali decided that the Jew and the Muslim would meet on the veil.

Izhar Patkin: The Dead are here runs through February 18 at Shoshana Wayne Gallery

2012-01-17-Theinvisibleinane48x72inacrylicandoiloncanvas2011.jpg

Robert Minervini: On the Nature of Things | The title, On the Nature of Things, references the repetition of the still life motif featured in many of the works in this exhibition, as well as a direct quotation from the ancient Roman poet Lucretius' poem by the same title, "De Rerum Natura". The book of poetry, now more than 2000 years old, is a call to radical ideas, such as that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life and that matter was made up of very small particles in eternal motion, colliding and swerving in new directions.

All of the titles of the paintings for this exhibition are direct quotations from the poem and the literary references are a part of the conceptual underpinning for these multi-faceted works, which, through the juxtaposition of these various references, place the viewer somewhere between the past, present and future. One of these is the Vanitas panting, a type of symbolic work of art meant for humanity to reflect upon the temporariness of life and morality. It is derived from the Latin origin "emptiness", which in turn relates to Lucreatius' interpretation of matter and the void. In a way, the works in On the Nature of things, function as contemporary Vanitas paintings, in which the contemplation of existence is made through a mixed symbolism of the intermingling of historical and contemporary objects.

Robert Minervini: On the Nature of Things through February 18 at Marine Contemporary

2012-01-17-DAtempBIG.jpg

Daniel Arsham: The Fall, The Ball, and The Wall | Arsham illustrates the artist's continued interest in manipulating architecture and in challenging expectations of accepted realities. From two-dimensional work to sculpture, installation, public art, and performance, this New York-based artist produces occasions to (re)consider architecture, the natural world, and the manner in which they interact.

Arsham presents three bodies of work, revealing his diverse artistic practice and the progressive manner in which he approaches his subject matter, chosen media, and the surrounding environment. His structural interventions that cause walls to appear in a state of flux, as if they are melting or dripping, reverse the notion of architectural rigidity and of a partition's standard presentation. With a new series of work on canvas, he depicts realistic building constructions, which include elements that spell out words, such as "oops." A large-scale, hanging mass of tinted spheres, from the set of Merce Cunningham's final performances, is a three-dimensional sculpture based from the pixels of a hyper-magnified photograph of a cloud formation.

Daniel Arsham: The Fall, The Ball, and The Wall opens January 20 at OHWOW

For the most comprehensive calendar of art events throughout Los Angeles go to Artweek.LA.

?

Follow Bill Bush on Twitter: www.twitter.com/artweekla

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-bush/a-revolution-in-clay-this_b_1210692.html

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First-of-kind seminar teaches teamwork to varied medical professionals

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Diana Torres-Bixby
diana.torres@edelman.com
212-819-4895
Edelman Public Relations

CUMC's Program in Narrative Medicine, with $1 million Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Grant, to enroll students from nursing, dental, medical and public health schools in collaborative program

New York, NY, January 18 - Advances in medical technology, changes in health care delivery and an aging, ailing population have all made the practice of medicine increasingly dependent on clinical collaboration. Yet most health care students rarely gain understanding or even exposure to the many other types of specialists, professionals, administrators, or statisticians they will deal with in the real world. Today, Columbia University Medical Center's (CUMC) Program in Narrative Medicine is introducing a more collaborative approach to education with a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary, interprofessional seminar on teamwork in medicine.

The semester-long seminar is supported by a $1 million, four year grant from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and includes four students each from the CUMC's College of Dental Medicine, College of Physicans & Surgeons, Mailman School of Public Health and the School of Nursing. Titled "The Cultures of Health, Illness and Health Care," the seminar will be co-taught by senior faculty from each of the four schools, using collaborative methods to equip the students with the skills to function effectively in multi-disciplinary health care teams.

Dr. Rita Charon, Executive Director of CUMC's Program in Narrative Medicine, will lead the seminar, which will use the social sciences, population studies, and the arts to develop in students a wide and deep comprehension of health, illness and care. Skills taught will include understanding and embracing the cultural diversity of patients and co-workers; communicating clearly to patients, families and other professionals; expressing opinions, knowledge and responsibilities clearly to patients, families and co-workers; and collaborating respectfully with other caregivers to ensure a common understanding.

"After this seminar, a nurse will have the confidence and skills to discuss a patient's fears about a risky treatment with the rest of the medical team. A dental student whose patient is on blood-thinning medication will understand the importance of coordinating care with the internal medicine physician, and be able to frame the conversation appropriately. A medical student will know to seek assistance from a nursing assistant about how best to communicate with a patient with little command of English," said Dr. Charon.

"The Cultures of Health, Illness and Health Care" is a follow-up to a 2010 Macy grant that funded a group of senior faculty members from CUMC's four schools - including associate deans, senior vice presidents, center directors, and full-time clinicians - to investigate the basic and applied sciences of health care team development in two-hour bimonthly seminar sessions. The result of these meetings is the development of a community of practice which fosters open dialogue and exploratory interdisciplinary work.

The seminar will also build on training already emphasized in The Program in Narrative Medicine, which helps doctors, nurses, social workers, therapists and others who work with ill patients and families improve the efficacy of care.

###

About CUMC's Program in Narrative Medicine

The Program in Narrative Medicine (PNM) was established in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University in 1996 to break down barriers in health care by providing practitioners with the clinical tools to listen, encourage patient stories, honor the meaning of their patients' and their own stories, and grant permission to share thoughts and concerns. Inaugurated and directed by Rita Charon, M.D., Ph.D. as an integrated program that transcends the divisions that separate Columbia's academic departments from one another, the PNM brings together health care professionals, patients, faculty and researchers in new and exciting ways. It unifies disciplines in a shared University goal improving health care using the power of the narrative. As a result, patients are treated more empathetically and have the opportunity to engage more fully with their own care; understanding and articulating it beyond a description of physical symptoms.

About the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation

Since 1930, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation has worked to improve health care in the United States. Founded by Kate Macy Ladd in memory of her father, prominent philanthropist Josiah Macy Jr., the Foundation supports projects that broaden and improve health professional education. It is now the only national foundation solely dedicated to this mission.

Contact
Diana Torres-Bixby
Edelman
Diana.Torres@Edelman.com
(212)819-4895


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Diana Torres-Bixby
diana.torres@edelman.com
212-819-4895
Edelman Public Relations

CUMC's Program in Narrative Medicine, with $1 million Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Grant, to enroll students from nursing, dental, medical and public health schools in collaborative program

New York, NY, January 18 - Advances in medical technology, changes in health care delivery and an aging, ailing population have all made the practice of medicine increasingly dependent on clinical collaboration. Yet most health care students rarely gain understanding or even exposure to the many other types of specialists, professionals, administrators, or statisticians they will deal with in the real world. Today, Columbia University Medical Center's (CUMC) Program in Narrative Medicine is introducing a more collaborative approach to education with a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary, interprofessional seminar on teamwork in medicine.

The semester-long seminar is supported by a $1 million, four year grant from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and includes four students each from the CUMC's College of Dental Medicine, College of Physicans & Surgeons, Mailman School of Public Health and the School of Nursing. Titled "The Cultures of Health, Illness and Health Care," the seminar will be co-taught by senior faculty from each of the four schools, using collaborative methods to equip the students with the skills to function effectively in multi-disciplinary health care teams.

Dr. Rita Charon, Executive Director of CUMC's Program in Narrative Medicine, will lead the seminar, which will use the social sciences, population studies, and the arts to develop in students a wide and deep comprehension of health, illness and care. Skills taught will include understanding and embracing the cultural diversity of patients and co-workers; communicating clearly to patients, families and other professionals; expressing opinions, knowledge and responsibilities clearly to patients, families and co-workers; and collaborating respectfully with other caregivers to ensure a common understanding.

"After this seminar, a nurse will have the confidence and skills to discuss a patient's fears about a risky treatment with the rest of the medical team. A dental student whose patient is on blood-thinning medication will understand the importance of coordinating care with the internal medicine physician, and be able to frame the conversation appropriately. A medical student will know to seek assistance from a nursing assistant about how best to communicate with a patient with little command of English," said Dr. Charon.

"The Cultures of Health, Illness and Health Care" is a follow-up to a 2010 Macy grant that funded a group of senior faculty members from CUMC's four schools - including associate deans, senior vice presidents, center directors, and full-time clinicians - to investigate the basic and applied sciences of health care team development in two-hour bimonthly seminar sessions. The result of these meetings is the development of a community of practice which fosters open dialogue and exploratory interdisciplinary work.

The seminar will also build on training already emphasized in The Program in Narrative Medicine, which helps doctors, nurses, social workers, therapists and others who work with ill patients and families improve the efficacy of care.

###

About CUMC's Program in Narrative Medicine

The Program in Narrative Medicine (PNM) was established in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University in 1996 to break down barriers in health care by providing practitioners with the clinical tools to listen, encourage patient stories, honor the meaning of their patients' and their own stories, and grant permission to share thoughts and concerns. Inaugurated and directed by Rita Charon, M.D., Ph.D. as an integrated program that transcends the divisions that separate Columbia's academic departments from one another, the PNM brings together health care professionals, patients, faculty and researchers in new and exciting ways. It unifies disciplines in a shared University goal improving health care using the power of the narrative. As a result, patients are treated more empathetically and have the opportunity to engage more fully with their own care; understanding and articulating it beyond a description of physical symptoms.

About the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation

Since 1930, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation has worked to improve health care in the United States. Founded by Kate Macy Ladd in memory of her father, prominent philanthropist Josiah Macy Jr., the Foundation supports projects that broaden and improve health professional education. It is now the only national foundation solely dedicated to this mission.

Contact
Diana Torres-Bixby
Edelman
Diana.Torres@Edelman.com
(212)819-4895


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/epr-fst011712.php

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Latest homeless victim feared he was being stalked

A relative holds a government military photo of Itzcoatl Ocampo, a former Marine who saw combat in Iraq, in Yorba Linda, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Ocampo has been named as a suspect in a series of killings of homeless men in Orange County, Calif. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

A relative holds a government military photo of Itzcoatl Ocampo, a former Marine who saw combat in Iraq, in Yorba Linda, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Ocampo has been named as a suspect in a series of killings of homeless men in Orange County, Calif. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

This photo provided by the Anaheim Police Dept. shows Itzcoatl Ocampo. Investigators are "extremely confident" that Ocampo a man in their custody is responsible for all four recent killings of homeless men in Orange County, Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Anaheim Police Dept.)

Refugio Ocampo, 49, father of Itzcoatl Ocampo, the man suspected of killing homeless men in Southern California, talks about his son in Fullerton, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Refugio is himself homeless and said that his son came back a changed man after serving with the Marines in Iraq, expressing disillusionment and becoming ever darker as he struggled to find his way as a civilian. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

A visitor takes an image of a photograph of John Berry at a spontaneous memorial to Berry on the spot where the homeless veteran was murdered last week behind a Carl's Jr. restaurant in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, a former Marine who lives in nearby Yorba Linda, was arrested after Berry's murder Friday, Jan. 13, and has been named as a suspect in a series of killings of homeless men in Orange County, Calif. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Map locates Santa Ana Calif., where a serial killer is targeting the homeless.

(AP) ? The latest homeless victim of a suspected serial killer filed a police report the day before he died, saying he feared he was being stalked.

It was one of nearly 600 leads and tips that officers received, but police didn't have a chance to follow up.

"It is unfortunate that we didn't get to him before the suspect did," Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said.

Itzcoatl Ocampo was arrested Friday night when witnesses chased him down after a man was stabbed to death outside a fast-food restaurant in Anaheim, about 26 miles southeast of Los Angeles, authorities said. He was caught with blood on his hands and face, authorities say.

The Iraq War veteran was charged Tuesday with four counts of murder and special allegations of multiple murders and lying in wait and use of a deadly weapon. Three victims were stabbed more than 40 times each with a single-edged blade at least 7-inches long.

Ocampo was due to appear in court on Wednesday, but his attorney said his arraignment would likely be postponed since he was not allowed inside the jail to speak with his client over the weekend and has met with him only briefly.

Defense attorney Randall Longwith declined to comment on the allegations. He said Ocampo is being held in a mental ward.

"I walked in, he was curled up in a blanket," Longwith said. "He looked like a wet puppy dog."

Ocampo selected the last victim, 64-year-old John Berry, after he was featured in a Los Angeles Times story about the killing spree, prosecutors said.

"He was a monster," Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said at a news conference. "He was a terrible threat, particularly to the homeless people in our community."

Ocampo would stalk each of his victims, then stab them repeatedly with a knife that could cut through bone, authorities said.

Authorities declined to say whether they had identified a motive. Rackauckas said he had no indication that Ocampo was mentally ill.

Ocampo's family said the 23-year-old was a troubled man after he returned from Iraq in 2008.

If convicted, Ocampo faces a minimum sentence of life in prison without parole. Authorities have not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

The killing spree began in December, prompting police and advocates to fan out across the county, which is known as the home to Disneyland and multimillion-dollar beachfront homes, to urge the homeless to sleep in groups or in one of two wintertime shelters.

Ocampo's arrest was the latest violent crime involving a veteran. This month, an Iraq War veteran fatally shot a ranger at Mount Rainier National Park and died later as he fled police across the mountain's snow-covered slopes.

Veterans Affairs officials say such high-profile violence can paint an inaccurate picture of returning veterans. The cases, however, raise the issue of veterans having a difficult time adjusting back into civilian life.

To help, the VA created a program to assist veterans in readjusting to their lives and avoid repeated brushes with the law. "We've seen over and over again that once they access those services, we can help them," VA spokesman Josh Taylor said.

A neighbor who is a Vietnam veteran and Ocampo's father both tried to push him to get treatment at a VA hospital, but he refused. His father, Refugio Ocampo, said, his son came back from his deployment a changed man.

He said his son expressed disillusionment and became ever darker as he struggled to find his way.

After Ocampo was discharged in 2010 and returned home, his parents separated. The same month, one of his friends, a corporal, was killed during combat in Afghanistan. His brother said Ocampo visited his friend's grave twice a week.

Like the men Ocampo is accused of preying on, his father is homeless. His father lost his job and ended up living under a bridge before finding shelter in the cab of a broken-down big-rig he is helping to repair.

Days before his arrest, Ocampo visited his father, warning him of the danger of being homeless. He showed him a picture of one of the slain men, his father said.

"He was very worried about me," his father said. "I told him, 'Don't worry. I'm a survivor. Nothing will happen to me.'"

As fear spread through the homeless community, police last week set up road blockades to seek help from members of the public in tracking down a suspect. Ocampo, who appeared to relish the media spotlight, passed through the checkpoints twice but did not draw attention to himself, Rackauckas said.

In addition to Berry, James Patrick McGillivray, 53, was killed near a shopping center in Placentia on Dec. 20. The body of Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was found near a riverbed trail in Anaheim on Dec. 28. The third victim, Paulus Smit, 57, was stabbed to death outside a library in Yorba Linda on Dec. 30.

___

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-18-Homeless%20Homicides/id-2937e8a588b54b16a69a31c91b753a0a

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Magazine says Depp, Paradis near split

Johnny Depp's 14-year romance with French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis has hit the rocks, People magazine claimed on Wednesday, and the couple are living largely separate lives.

In a cover story for this week's issue of People called "Love Gone Wrong", the celebrity magazine quoted several unnamed sources as saying the pair's relationship is nearing an end.

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" star, 48, and Paradis, 39, never married but have been together since 1998 and have two children. They divide their time between France and the United States.

People magazine noted that the pair have not appeared on the red carpet together for more than a year, missing both the Cannes film festival in May 2011 and the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills on Sunday, where Depp was a presenter.

"According to multiple sources ... (they) are all but officially finished," People said.

Depp's representatives did not return calls for comment on the People story, which hits newsstands on Friday.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46044831/ns/today-entertainment/

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The Arts of Japan

More than 1,300 objects compose this portion of the Fine Arts Gallery's collections, encompassing both fine and applied art. Highlights include two six-panel screen paintings: an early seventeenth-century work illustrating scenes from the Tale of Gengi, and an eighteenth-century work featuring vignettes of daily life in Kyoto, each a masterful example of Japanese painting executed in mineral colors and gold leaf; a wide range of fine ceramics from blue and white porcelain to works by artists associated with the rebirth of the Japanese folk art movement; and scrolls, paintings, and rare books.

The exhibition will also feature outstanding examples of graphic arts by such influential Ukiyo-e artists as Utagawa Kunisada I, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, along with artists associated with the twentieth-century shin hanga movement that revitalized traditional Ukiyo-e techniques with a modern sensibility.

This exhibition is presented in recognition of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Asian American Student Association at Vanderbilt University and will feature the research of Fine Arts Gallery interns and research associates Rebecca Bratt, Meredith Novack, Ashley Pakenham, and Christine Williams.

The Arts of Japan is organized by the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery and curated by Joseph S. Mella, director.

Gallery Hours
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 12-4 p.m.; Thursdays until 8:00 p.m.;
Weekends, 1-5 p.m.
The gallery is closed during academic breaks.

Limited metered parking is available in front of the building by the 21st Avenue entrance. Additional metered parking is available on 18th Avenue South, on the eastern edge of Peabody Campus.


Source: http://calendar.vanderbilt.edu/calendar/2012/01/18/the-arts-of-japan.157592

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Scientists set to drill into buried Antarctic lake

A team of four British engineers recently returned from a 10-day trip to a desolate, windswept plain in Antarctica, setting the stage for a project that could uncover previously unknown life that has been cut off from the world for millennia.

Scientists with the British Antarctic Survey are seeking to drill through the continent's thick covering of ice to a giant, hidden lake, cut off since before modern humans first evolved, which may house life forms invisible to human eyes. They could be unlike anything scientists have seen before.

"We expect to find microorganisms," said Martin Siegert, the principal investigator on the project, "because there's water and where there's water on planet Earth, there's life."

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The lake, Lake Ellsworth, is 7 miles (12 kilometers) long, a mile (3 kilometers) wide, and 500 feet (150 meters) deep. Buried beneath nearly 2 miles (3 kilometers) of ice, the lake has likely been cut off from any outside influence for several hundred thousand years, said Siegert, a glaciologist and professor at the University of Edinburgh.

Any microbes living in the lake may have evolved and adapted in strange ways, since they live in total darkness, and have likely been left to their own evolutionary devices for thousands of years. If they are anything like Antarctica's only native wildlife, they could be strange indeed.

Cold set-up
The window to work in Antarctica is short, limited to the comparatively balmy months of austral summer, from November to late January. This season, engineers brought more than 70 tons of equipment to the remote Lake Ellsworth site, about an hour's flight from the closest research station, so that all will be ready to begin drilling at the start of the next season, in November of this year.

When the first half of the team arrived, the site was completely empty, said Andy Tait, an engineer and the designer of the drill that will be used to reach the lake below.

"There was some fuel that had been buried a year before, but there was nothing to be seen on the surface at all," Tait told OurAmazingPlanet. "Within an hour and a half, the plane took off again, leaving us there in this pristine white, rather unforgiving landscape."

Tait and an assistant were joined three days later by two more engineers, who hauled the many tons of equipment overland by tractor-train on an arduous three-day trek from the closest research station. [Extreme Living: Scientists at the End of the Earth]

Within 12 hours of their arrival, the team built up large mounds of snow, to serve as natural lifts for the equipment containers during the winter. Blowing snow quickly buries anything not raised above the surface of the ice sheet.

For the remainder of the trip, the team spent their days winterizing equipment to survive the bitter months of endless darkness ahead, when temperatures plunge to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 50 degrees Celsius), and high winds rip across the vast ice sheet.

The team's prize tool is its hot-water drill, likely the largest ever built ? the hose on the drill is 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) long.

Water, water everywhere
Lake Ellsworth is one of 387 lakes scientists have discovered secreted beneath the Antarctic ice.

"My opinion is there are several hundred more we haven't discovered yet," Siegert said.

And although the British team is on track to be the first to sample one of these lakes with a hot-water drill, a Russian team has been drilling into Lake Vostok in Eastern Antarctica for several years. Lake Vostok, about the size of Lake Ontario, is the largest lake in Antarctica, and it's possible the Russian team may breach its surface by the end of January.

The team was poised to reach the lake before the close of the 2011 field season, but came up somewhere between 16 feet (5 meters) and 65 feet (20 meters) short, according to news reports.

In a Jan. 12 press release from Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the Vostok team said drilling began this season on Jan. 2, progressed by 5.7 feet (1.75 meters) a day, and was halted on Jan. 12. It's not clear if work is over for the season, or if the halt is temporary.

Siegert said that it's not particularly important who samples ancient Antarctic lake water first.

"It's not a race for penetrating a glacial lake," he said. "We're not adventurers. We're doing science. There are questions we're asking and trying to answer."

The British team will return to Lake Ellsworth in November 2012, and will drill down to the lake over the course of three days. Once the drill pierces the ice all the way through, "we'll get the samples back in 24 hours," Siegert said. "We'll get a pretty good understanding straight away whether there's life in the lake."

Reach Andrea Mustain at amustain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @AndreaMustain. Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet? and on Facebook.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46007859/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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'Words With Friends' saves man's life

Zynga

"Words with friends" as played on the iPhone

By Athima Chansanchai

UPDATE: Beth Legler called msnbc.com back, so we've included information from her interview.

The rise of social media has not only led to new friendships ? especially in gameplay?? but?in the case of two couples who met and played "Words With Friends," it helped prevent one woman from becoming a widow.

One couple, Dr. Larry Legler and his wife Beth, based in Missouri, met another couple, Simon and Georgie Fletcher from Australia, through the hugely popular Scrabble-ish word game more than a year ago. They were all in their 50s and enjoyed the release from long workdays the game gave them. Beth Legler, who I interviewed today (Jan. 14) after leaving a message yesterday, plays on her iPhone and iPad and has scored 120 points in one move. The friendship between the two women who found a common passion for words and strategy developed gradually, but once they engaged in chat, it took off to the point where the ladies emailed regularly and even Skyped (hard to do with a 16-hour time difference!).

During their conversations, Georgie Fletcher revealed to her friend how her husband Simon had collapsed, been sick and to the hospital in the past year, with all the bloodwork coming back normal. But in mid-November, three or four days had gone by and Beth Legler had not heard from Georgie Fletcher, which was unusual for them.

"For me, it was an intuition that I hadn?t heard from her," said Beth Legler. "That was when she wrote me back, and as an RN, I sprung into action and wrote back right away."

Simon Fletcher's symptoms had progressed to fatigue so bad it was hard for him to walk to the mailbox. For a man who used to walk his dogs for an hour, it was enough of a sign to the Leglers that something was seriously wrong with their friend.

After talking with her husband, a family practitioner who lives and works in a suburb of Kansas City, Mo.,?they suggested taking an aspirin, but two things tipped them over to strongly urge the Fletchers to immediately seek medical attention at a hospital. One was the?fact he had trouble walking to the mailbox, and the second was the burning at the back of his throat, which he thought was reflux.

Dr. Larry Legler believed it could actually be angina.

"Late in the evening, I sent the note off, I was beside myself, I didn?t know when she would see it, and I tossed and turned in bed," Beth Legler recalled. "They were out shopping. But Georgie checked her phone and they went to hospital."?

They followed his advice, and as they told the story to Kansas City's KCTV, it saved Simon Fletcher's life, as the doctors who treated him found a "99 percent blockage near his heart."

He told them, "I've gotta buy that man a beer, he saved my life ... I'd? really like to put my arms around him and give him a big squeeze."

And Beth Legler told us he recovered quickly after a surgery in which 2 stents were put in through the radial artery in his wrist.

For her, this experience has made a big impact on her.

"All of this technology can serve the good or the evil and where you choose to go with that is really a personal decision, " she said. "But it does say, one person can make a difference. That game means more to us than it could ever mean, a starting off point for a friendship that will last for all time for the four of us. The goal for us is to meet."

We've seen "Words With Friends" lead to marriage, as well as to Alec Baldwin's ejection from a flight, as it has amassed players (getting on Facebook certainly helped), but this might be the first instance of the game being instrumental in life-saving.

How many points is that worth?

Hear the couples tell their own story here:

More stories on how social media has made an impact:

Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.

Source: http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/13/10149951-words-with-friends-saves-mans-life

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'Artist,' 'Tinker Tailor' up for UK film awards (AP)

LONDON ? It's spry versus spy as frothy silent movie "The Artist" and moody thriller "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" lead the race for the British Academy Film Awards, Britain's equivalent of the Oscars.

"The Artist" received 12 nominations and "Tinker Tailor" 11, with each film up for best picture and director, and best actor nominations for leading men Jean Dujardin and Gary Oldman.

The other best-film nominees, announced at a ceremony Tuesday by actors Daniel Radcliffe and Holliday Grainger, were "The Descendants," "Drive" and "The Help."

In a diverse field not dominated by any single film, there are also multiple nominations for "Hugo," "My Week With Marilyn," "The Iron Lady" and "The Help."

The nominations are another feather in the cap of "The Artist," a black and white French film about a silent screen star's fall with the rise of talkies that has become an unlikely hit. On Sunday it won three Golden Globes, including best musical or comedy film.

Director Michael Hazanavicius said Tuesday he and his crew had been "a bit mad to make a black-and-white silent film in 2011."

"We certainly hoped to find an audience, but the support we have received from so many people in so many different countries was unexpected, overwhelming and quite wonderful," he said.

The shortlist gives a boost to "Tinker Tailor," an atmospheric adaptation of John le Carre's espionage classic that has received rave reviews but has so far been snubbed during the U.S. awards season.

"Tinker Tailor" producer Tim Bevan said the film was a "particularly British cultural phenomenon. It's great that it's being recognized at the BAFTAs but that it hasn't at the Golden Globes is not surprising."

"'The Artist' seems to be the film with the momentum, and rightly so," he said. "It's been an OK year but not a brilliant year for movies, and 'The Artist' defines what cinema should be. It's brave, different, it's got a great shot."

The best actor contest pits Oldman and Dujardin against Brad Pitt for "Moneyball," George Clooney for "The Descendants" and Michael Fassbender for "Shame."

The best actress category includes two performers playing real-life icons ? Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn" and Meryl Streep as former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."

Streep, who has been widely praised for her performance, said the nomination was "thrilling news ... Not just for me, but for the film of which I am very proud, and for the hundreds of people who worked on it! Thanks, from a (New) Jersey girl."

The other nominees are Berenice Bejo for "The Artist," Tilda Swinton for "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and Viola Davis for "The Help."

The prizes will be awarded at a ceremony at London's Royal Opera House on Feb. 12. They are considered an important indicator of prospects at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles two weeks later.

In recent years, the awards, known as BAFTAs, have helped small British films gain momentum for Hollywood success.

In 2010, Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" won seven BAFTAs, including best film; it went on to take eight Oscars. Last year "The King's Speech" won seven BAFTAs and four Oscars, including best picture.

"My Week With Marilyn," the story of the movie legend's time shooting an ill-starred comedy in England, received six BAFTA nominations, including a supporting-actor nod for Kenneth Branagh, who plays Laurence Olivier.

He is up against Christopher Plummer for "Beginners," Jim Broadbent for "The Iron Lady," Jonah Hill for "Moneyball" and Philip Seymour Hoffman for "The Ides of March."

The supporting actress category features Carey Mulligan for "Drive," Jessica Chastain for "The Help," Judi Dench for "My Week With Marilyn," Melissa McCarthy for "Bridesmaids" and Octavia Spencer for "The Help."

The multinational best-director contest pits Hazanavicius against Denmark's Nicholas Winding Refn, for the turbocharged "Drive," Sweden's Tomas Alfredson for "Tinker Tailor," Britain's Lynne Ramsay for "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and Martin Scorsese of the United States for "Hugo."

The best British film category contains "My Week With Marilyn," racing documentary "Senna," sex-addiction drama "Shame," family tragedy "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."

Steven Spielberg's equine adventure "War Horse" was overlooked in the major categories but gained five nominations, including cinematography, visual effects and music.

___

On the Net: http://www.bafta.org

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_en_mo/eu_britain_film_awards

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A Second Science Front: Evolution Champions Rise To Climate Science Defense

Science TalkScience Talk | More Science

Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, long the nation's leading defender of evolution education, discusses the NCSE's new initiative to help climate science education.

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Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, long the nation's leading defender of evolution education, discusses the NCSE's new initiative for climate science education. ??


Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=db5c2b6664f6cd8a8da4297dd31d74d0

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