Watch This Phallic UAV Get All Grabby With Its Scary Six-Foot Arm

When it comes to handy features for UAVs, your mind probably doesn't jump to towering, phallic protuberances and grabby arms for gingerly setting things down before darting away. Well DARPA's does, which is why they funded and demonstrated this monstrosity. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/BrpCNr6Nn3A/watch-this-phallic-uav-get-all-grabby-with-its-scary-six+foot-arm

ashley olsen new apple tv sun flare love hewitt new ipad solar flare joseph kony 2012

Secrets of gentle touch revealed

Dec. 9, 2012 ? Stroke the soft body of a newborn fruit fly larva ever-so-gently with a freshly plucked eyelash, and it will respond to the tickle by altering its movement -- an observation that has helped scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) uncover the molecular basis of gentle touch, one of the most fundamental but least well understood of our senses.

Our ability to sense gentle touch is known to develop early and to remain ever-present in our lives, from the first loving caresses our mothers lavish on us as newborns to the fading tingle we feel as our lives slip away. But until now, scientists have not known exactly how humans and other organisms perceive such sensations.

In an article published online this week in the journal Nature, the UCSF team has identified the exact subset of nerve cells responsible for communicating gentle touch to the brains of Drosophila larvae -- called class III neurons. They also uncovered a particular protein called NOMPC, which is found abundantly at the spiky ends of the nerves and appears to be critical for sensing gentle touch in flies.

Without this key molecule, the team discovered, flies are insensitive to any amount of eyelash stroking, and if NOMPC is inserted into neurons that cannot sense gentle touch, those neurons gain the ability to do so.

"NOMPC is sufficient to confer sensitivity to gentle touch," said Yuh Nung Jan, PhD, a professor of physiology, biochemistry and biophysics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at UCSF. Jan led the study with his wife Lily Jan, PhD, who is also a UCSF professor and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

The work sheds light on a poorly understood yet fundamental sense through which humans experience the world and derive pleasure and comfort.

Jan added that while the new work reveals much, many unanswered questions remain, including the exact mechanism through which NOMPC detects mechanical force and the identity of the analogous human molecules that confer gentle touch sensitivity in people.

The discovery is a good example of basic brain research paving the way toward answering such questions. UCSF is a world leader in the neurosciences, carrying out research that spans the spectrum from fundamental questions of how the brain works to the clinical development of new drugs and precision tools to address brain diseases; educating the next generation of neuroscientists, neurologists and neurosurgeons; and offering excellent patient care for neurological diseases.

Why is Touch Still Such a Mystery?

Though it is fundamental to our experience of the world, our sense of gentle touch has been the least well understood of our senses scientifically, because, unlike with vision or taste, scientists have not known the identity of the molecules that mediate it.

Scientists generally feel that, like those other senses, the sense of touch is governed by peripheral nerve fibers stretching from the spine to nerve endings all over the body. Special molecules in these nerve endings detect the mechanical movement of the skin surrounding them when it is touched, and they respond by opening and allowing ions to rush in. The nerve cell registers this response, and if the signal is strong enough, it will fire, signaling the gentle touch to the brain.

What has been missing from the picture, however, are the details of this process. The new finding is a milestone in that it defines the exact nerves and uncovers the identity of the NOMPC channel, one of the major molecular players involved -- at least in flies.

Jan and his colleagues made this discovery through an unusual route. They were looking at the basic physiology of the developing fruit fly, examining how class III neurons develop in larvae. They noticed that when these cells developed in the insects, their nerve endings would always become branches into spiky "dendrites."

Wanting to know what these neurons are responsible for, they examined them closely and found the protein NOMPC was abundant at the spiky ends. They then examined a fly genetically engineered to have a non-functioning form of NOMPC and showed that it was insensitive to gentle touch. They also showed that they could induce touch sensitivity in neurons that do not normally respond to gentle touch by inserting copies of the NOMPC protein into them.

This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health via grant #R37NS040929 and #5R01MH084234; by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and through two Long-Term Fellowships from the Human Frontier Science Program.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), via Newswise.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Zhiqiang Yan, Wei Zhang, Ye He, David Gorczyca, Yang Xiang, Li E. Cheng, Shan Meltzer, Lily Yeh Jan, Yuh Nung Jan. Drosophila NOMPC is a mechanotransduction channel subunit for gentle-touch sensation. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11685

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/BgR00DwXToY/121209152517.htm

andy pettitte tyler clementi kevin kolb sarah shahi george clooney rutgers dharun ravi

U.S. and Russia still back Syria settlement: UN envoy

BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. and Russian officials have given their commitment to a political solution for the deepening Syrian conflict, a United Nations envoy said on Sunday, but Moscow dismissed speculation it was preparing for President Bashar al-Assad's exit.

With rebels now fighting on the doorsteps of Damascus, Assad's forces kept up their now daily artillery strikes and air raids on eastern suburbs as well as some rebel-held districts on the capital's outskirts.

U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met the U.S. and Russian deputy foreign ministers in Geneva for the second session of tripartite talks in less than a week, apparently in response to rising violence that now threatens to engulf Damascus.

"All three parties reaffirmed their common assessment that the situation in Syria was bad and getting worse," a statement from Brahimi said. "They stressed that a political process to end the crisis in Syria was necessary and still possible."

Notwithstanding his comments, commitment to a political process could be at risk. Western officials were among those who helped rebels to create a unified chain of command at the weekend, and Washington is expected to recognize the opposition as the sole representative of the Syrian people next week.

Russia, Syria's main arms supplier, insisted its position on Assad had not softened and it was not negotiating on the future of the president, whose family has ruled Syria for 42 years.

"We are not holding any talks on the fate of Assad," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency in Moscow. "All attempts to present the situation rather differently are shady."

Several countries are believed to be supplying both sides in the conflict, with Iran bankrolling Assad's war efforts while its regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Qatar arm the rebels.

Brahimi said the talks aimed to find a solution based on last June's Geneva Declaration, which called for a transitional government. This proposal originally foundered over different interpretations of that transition; Washington said Assad could not play a role but Russia insisted that his fate should not be decided outside Syria.

Syria's 20-month-old uprising, which began as peaceful protests but has descended into civil war, has become increasingly bloody with over 40,000 people killed.

RADICALS ON THE RISE

The rebels have gained momentum in recent weeks, capturing a series of military sites across the country often with the help of radical Islamists. However, some activists believe the opposition is still far from toppling Assad, whose army has largely held together and who has many heavy weapons.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported army shelling and clashes across the country on Sunday, with 60 counted dead before evening. Death tolls have averaged at around 100 per day in recent weeks.

In the north, the radical Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra, linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq, led other rebels in seizing on Sunday a regimental command center in Aleppo province, which borders Turkey.

The British-based Observatory, which has a network of activists across the country, said the centre's commander fled along with 140 soldiers. Five troops soldiers were captured.

Western powers have become increasingly alarmed by the role of groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, which Washington is considering putting on its terrorist list.

Radical groups have gained increasing popularity and influence despite their small numbers. The seasoned fighters they attract from Syria and abroad have increased the effectiveness of their attacks.

Some rebels and residents feel the militants are more disciplined than other rebels, drawing fewer charges of looting and kidnapping.

ROAD TO DAMASCUS?

Damascus has become a focal point of battles over the past week, as rebels effectively shut the international airport by clashing with Assad's forces near there. Foreign flights have been suspended and residents say the airport road is closed.

Rebels who have called their campaign "Operation Opening the Road to Damascus", uploaded video on Sunday that showed heavy gunbattles and explosions rocking several rural towns around the capital. The video also showed rebels firing a fully functioning tank which they had captured from the army.

But there is no clear winner yet in a battle where neither side seems to have advanced. The Syrian army has claimed many successes around the capital, airing footage on state television of soldiers raiding parts of the rebel stronghold of Deraya.

"Our noble forces in Deraya have destroyed some of the terrorist dens used by al Qaeda terrorists to store weapons and other criminal tools," said a report on Syria TV, which usually refers to rebels as terrorists. "Many terrorists were killed."

Still, rebel gains have helped drive a surge of diplomatic efforts among Gulf Arab states and the West to support the opposition and its newly-formed umbrella group, the Syrian National Coalition.

The move may be encouraging defections. Nine judges defected in a YouTube video published on Sunday. Such videos, however, are difficult to verify as the Syrian government has restricted media access in the country.

(additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Nastassia Astrasheuskaya in Moscow,; editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-elect-military-commander-084501468.html

powerball winner steelers jessica simpson Zig Ziglar lunar eclipse alabama football florida lotto

10 TOP Google Photos for December 3

Speak your mind!

You can leave a comment at the Google+ post that is connected to this set of top photos: https://plus.google.com/+JarekKlimek/posts/BhHBA8oZmek

What is Plus Extract?

It's your DAILY dose of TOP Google Plus photographs, which were chosen by an algorithm that combines automatic steps and manual curation. This means that the DAILY TOPs are NOT based solely on popularity, and users with a small number of followers have a chance to be featured in the TOP. We use Google+ API for the automatic steps; Jarek Klimek is responsible for curation and communication with the authors.

We strongly respect the authors and their rights. +Jarek Klimek contacts every photographer featured in all DAILY TOPs and if any author decides that he/she doesn't want to be featured in the TOP, we respect this absolutely.

Source: http://www.photoextract.com/plus-extract/2012/12/3

free agents nfl 2012 milwaukee bucks bear grylls us news law school rankings gael glen rice jr bars

British Cycling puts out open tender for Tour of Britain 2014 onwards ...

British Cycling puts out open tender for Tour of Britain 2014 onwards

British Cycling has announced to put out open tenders for the Tour of Britain from 2014 onwards as announced by Brian Cookson, the President of British Cycling.

The overall victory by Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France including his 16 gold medal run at the 2012 London Olympics really boosted Great Britain?s image in cycling world and the authorities have decided to take a fresh look at how the Tour of Britain can be made more effective.

?It?s important that we take a fresh look at how the Tour of Britain can deliver continued growth and profile for the sport,? Cookson noted.

"We look forward to further developing an event that reflects the current status of our sport in this country."

The race has been organised by the sport event and marketing company SweetSpot Group since its inception in 2004 but Brian believes that it is the right time to analyse all the available options in order to secure the race?s future for years to come.

?Most crucially, we want to assure our current and future members and all cycling fans that we will have their interests at heart throughout this process and we look forward to further developing an event that reflects the current status of our sport in this country,? Cookson concluded.

However, SweetSpot was disappointed on hearing the British Cycling?s decision and stated that it will try to continue organising the event beyond 2014.

The Sports firm took the initiative to start the race in 2004 after an absence of five years and stated that its actions and hard work can be judged by the increasing popularity of the event.

Bradley Wiggins? performance throughout the season has done wonders for the British cycling as he becomes the first ever British cyclist to claim an overall victory at the Tour de France 2012 riding with the strong Team Sky line-up.

Christopher Froome claimed the second position with Vincenzo Nibali securing the third overall position after the final general classifications.

The nine-day race is scheduled from September 15th to 22 2013and the final route of the race will be revealed by the organisers later as of the final updates.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/British-Cycling-puts-out-open-tender-for-Tour-of-Britain-2014-onwards-a206959

south by southwest i want to know what love is courtney mercury retrograde bath salts heart shaped box lucid

President Serzh Sargsyan sent a letter of condolences on the untimely demise of the RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Karine Kazinian

?

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan sent a letter of condolences to the Kazinian family on the untimely demise of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia Karine Kazinian. The President of Armenia expressed his sympathy to the family and friends of Karine Kazinian.
?

Source: http://www.president.am/en/condolence/item/2012/12/06/President-Serzh-Sargsyan-condolence-Karine-Ghazinyan/

orrin hatch marlon byrd charles colson humber raffi torres michael mcdonald jon jones vs rashad evans

Gazans rally with exiled Hamas chief

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) ? The leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas vowed to continue fighting Israel Saturday, as hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Gazans turned out to celebrate the organization's 25th anniversary.

Khaled Mashaal's visit to the Palestinian territory ? a first in his lifetime of exile ? underscores Hamas' rising clout and regional acceptance since its eight-day conflict with Israel last month.

At the main stage in Gaza City, a roaring crowd greeted Mashaal and Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who emerged from a door built into a large model of a rocket fired at Israeli cities during the recent fighting.

Hamas' green dominated the gathering, where some children wore military uniforms and others carried guns. Masked gunmen holding automatic rifles flanked the podium where Mashaal gave a fiery speech.

"We are not giving up any inch of Palestine. It will remain Islamic and Arab for us and nobody else. Jihad and armed resistance is the only way," Mashaal said, referring to holy war. "We cannot recognize Israel's legitimacy."

Mashaal said he would continue to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails ? referring to a swap last year where an abducted Israeli soldier was exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The 56-year-old Mashaal, who left the West Bank as a child and now leads Hamas from the Gulf state of Qatar, entered Gaza on Friday via Egypt.

Hamas has received a boost from the political ascension of its parent movement, the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, in the wake of last year's Arab Spring revolts ? especially in Egypt.

It has also upped its profile as master of the Gaza Strip, leading it through the bloodiest round of fighting with Israel in four years and coming to a cease-fire arrangement in talks brokered by Egypt.

Hamas claimed victory in the conflict after holding its own despite airstrikes and maintaining an almost constant barrage of rocket attacks on Israeli cities.

The Nov. 21 cease-fire stipulated Israel would stop targeting militants. That, along with unprecedented support from Egypt, allowed Mashaal to make the visit without fear of Israeli assassination, which he has narrowly escaped in the past.

Israel, the U.S. and European Union list Hamas as a terrorist organization. Israel is now holding indirect talks with the group as a result of the cease-fire arrangement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gazans-rally-exiled-hamas-chief-155417673.html

jaws first night ball drop dick clark new years eve brock lesnar vs alistair overeem times square new years eve liquor store

Without Melo, Knicks top Heat 112-92

New York Knicks' J.R. Smith (8) battles Miami Heat's Udonis Haslem (40) for control of the loose ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec, 6, 2012, in Miami. ( AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

New York Knicks' J.R. Smith (8) battles Miami Heat's Udonis Haslem (40) for control of the loose ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec, 6, 2012, in Miami. ( AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

New York Knicks' Tyson Chandler, right, prepares to shoot over Miami Heat's Chris Bosh (1) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec, 6, 2012, in Miami. ( AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

Miami Heat's Udonis Haslem dunks against the New York Knicks in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec, 6, 2012, in Miami. ( AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

Miami Heat's LeBron James (6) shoots over New York Knicks' J.R. Smith (8) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec, 6, 2012, in Miami. ( AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

(AP) ? Another Knicks-Heat game, another 20-point Knicks win.

And if that isn't surprising enough, this one happened with Carmelo Anthony on the sideline.

Raymond Felton scored a season-high 27 points, and the Knicks connected on 18 3-pointers to more than offset the absence of Anthony while dominating Miami for the second time this season, beating the Heat 112-92 on Thursday night.

"It was fun. It was fun the whole game," Felton said. "Everybody contributed tonight. Everybody did something amazing. We played a great game minus our superstar."

Steve Novak scored 18 points, J.R. Smith added 13 and Tyson Chandler scored 13 for the Knicks, who won their fifth straight and moved 1? games clear of Miami for the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks made eight 3-pointers in the third quarter alone, the most by any NBA team in any quarter so far this season.

Anthony sat out, one night after needing five stitches to close a cut on the middle finger of his left hand.

"You've got a key guy that goes down and the other guys get an opportunity to play and step up and make plays," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "I thought it was a total team effort from everybody across the board. I thought our defense was solid and then we kind of broke it open at the end."

LeBron James nearly picked up his second straight triple-double ? 31 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists ? in Miami's second straight loss, the first of those coming on the road against lowly Washington on Tuesday. Dwyane Wade scored 13 points, Chris Bosh had 12 and Udonis Haslem added 10 for the Heat, who fell to 8-1 at home.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra devoted most of his postgame remarks to the theme that Miami has to "own" its shortcomings right now, and how they would be addressed starting in practice on Friday.

"We'll stay connected," Spoelstra said. "We're going to own this. We're not going to brush this off. And we're going to fix it."

James ? who said the Knicks "smashed" the Heat ? didn't wait that long. The league's reigning MVP worked out immediately after the game, sweating at his locker more than an hour after the final buzzer.

"I've got to be better. I've got to be better," James said. "It's that simple. So I'm here, and I'm the last one to leave."

Rasheed Wallace scored 12 and Jason Kidd added 11 points for the Knicks, who finished 18 for 44 from 3-point range.

It was tied at 53 at the half, and the third quarter changed everything for the Knicks. Kidd made a 3-pointer, Felton followed with consecutive 3s and New York was up by nine with 9:42 left in the period and the Heat seemed stunned.

New York was only getting started.

In all, it was an eight-3-pointers-in-eight-minutes barrage that decided this one, with five different players getting in on the act for the Knicks. Smith hit the last of them with 3:25 left in the third, and a pair of free throws by Chandler moments later gave New York ? again, without its best player ? an 18-point lead on the road against the reigning NBA champions.

Now losers of two straight, and having been beaten badly twice by the Knicks, the Heat know the outside "noise" ? their word for the buzz that always seems to surround Miami ? will start ramping up again.

"It's a little earlier than expected, but we knew there were going to be different challenges this year," Bosh said. "Controversy, adversity, whatever 'ersity' you want to use. We're smart. We're not joking ourselves. We're here."

There was one run late in the third, a 13-3 burst by Miami that got the Heat within eight in the final seconds of the quarter. It was the last ? and really, the only ? gasp for Miami, as the Knicks just kept firing away in the fourth.

"We understood it was a 10-point game and we had to make our move," Novak said. "We've got a few stops and hit a bunch of shots. That was really the key for us ? hitting those shots and being aggressive."

Felton finished 10 for 20 from the floor, adding seven assists and four rebounds. He was 6 for 10 from beyond the arc, Novak was 4 for 9, while Smith and Kidd were each 3 for 8 from long range.

Miami had two field goals in the first seven minutes of the final quarter, and when New York decided to put it away, it was with 3-pointers, of course. Novak made one for a 100-84 lead, another to stretch the margin to 19 and then Chandler got all alone for a dunk to push the lead to 109-88 and send most of the building's occupants to the exits.

Smith hit a 3-pointer with 3:04 left to play, gestured toward the Heat bench, and the benches were cleared for subs moments later.

"We'll be fine. We'll be fine," James said. "But we can't act like what happened tonight or in Washington or some of the games that we even won that we probably shouldn't have won, we can't act like, 'OK, we made those things happen.' We haven't played like we're capable of playing."

NOTES: Haslem started and made his first five shots, his first 10-point first half since March 2010. ... Anthony warmed up before the game, but seemed to have trouble catching passes. ... It was Miami's first home loss since Game 5 of last season's Eastern Conference finals. ... Miami had 14 turnovers, twice as many as the Knicks.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-07-Knicks-Heat/id-97cf0f461da74ae19b72a42d6c83f068

dallas fort worth dfw 1930 census nike new nfl uniforms nfl uniforms andrew bailey the village

IDC: Apple slipped to sixth in China smartphone share in Q3, Samsung and locals sat on top

IDC Apple slipped to sixth in China smartphone share in Q3, Samsung and locals sat on top

The Chinese smartphone market is a tough nut to crack given its sensitivity to prices and a slew of strong domestic brands. IDC estimates suggest Apple may have learned this the hard way during the third quarter of this year: it slipped from fourth place in local market share during the second quarter to sixth. Samsung kept out in front, but everyone else who knocked Apple down a couple of pegs was from the neighborhood, starting with second-place Lenovo followed by Coolpad, ZTE and Huawei. Price and wider availability no doubt played a part in shifting further towards a (mostly) Android-based field, although the period may have also exacerbated the pre-update lull in sales that Apple often faces -- while those in some countries were picking up an iPhone 5 in September, China won't have its turn until December 14th. Fourth quarter results won't completely reverse the state of affairs, but they could easily be worth watching.

Filed under: , , , ,

Comments

Source: Reuters

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/0YtUB6kXuFw/

naacp glen campbell jerusalem artichoke bud shootout aretha franklin stevie wonder new orleans weather

TSA screener accused of stealing passengers' iPads

By NBCNewYork.com

NEW YORK -- A Transportation Security Administration screener was arrested on charges he swiped iPads and other electronic devices from passengers' luggage at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, authorities said.

Port Authority spokesman Steven Coleman said Wednesday that 32-year-old Sean Henry, of Brooklyn, was nabbed in a sting operation using decoy bags in cooperation with the TSA.

Coleman said Henry was arrested after leaving work carrying in his backpack two planted iPads and other electronic devices. Coleman said stolen items were also found in Henry's home.

Read more news on NBCNewYork.com

The 10-year veteran of the federal agency was arrested on charges of grand larceny and official misconduct.

Information on his lawyer was not immediately available.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/06/15722725-tsa-screener-accused-of-stealing-ipads-from-passengers-bags-at-jfk-airport?lite

whale shark duke university platypus platypus overboard east of eden weather radio