2012 review: The year in health science

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"

The first half of 2012 will be remembered for the saga over whether or not to publish controversial research involving versions of the H5N1 bird flu virus engineered to spread more easily in mammals. In the end openness won out, and both contentious studies did finally see the light of day.

This was also the year that saw the battle to eradicate polio reach its crucial endgame – just as another problem, in the form of totally drug resistant tuberculosis, reared its head.

Away from infectious disease, 2012 brought us a theory on the link between Tutankhamun, epilepsy and the first monotheistic religion, and an insight into the perils of premature ageing in Italy's ominously named Triangle of Death. Here are 10 more of the year's memorable stories.

Babies are born dirty, with a gutful of bacteria
Far from being sterile, babies come complete with an army of bacteria. The finding could have implications for gut disorders and our health in general

Forensic failure: 'Miscarriages of justice will occur'
Our survey of UK forensic scientists reveals that many are concerned that closure of the Forensic Science Service will lead to miscarriages of justice

Scandal of an underfunded and undertreated cancer
Lung cancer in those who have never smoked is on the rise – but they face the same stigma as their smoking counterparts

Ovarian stem cells discovered in humans
Stem cells capable of forming new eggs could promise limitless eggs for IVF treatments, and the rejuvenation of older eggs

Paralysis breakthrough: spinal cord damage repaired
An implant helping paralysed people stand unaided suggests the spinal cord is able to recover function years after severe damage

A real fMRI high: My ecstasy brain scan
Graham Lawton reports the highs, lows and psychedelic purple doors involved in taking MDMA while having his brain scanned

You may carry cells from siblings, aunts and uncles
Male cells found in the umbilical cord blood of baby girls with older brothers suggests fetal cells cross between mother and baby more than once thought

Can we deter athletes who self-harm to win?
The Paralympics may encourage a debate on a dangerous practice – and potential ways to prevent it

First non-hormonal male 'pill' prevents pregnancy
A non-hormonal drug that temporarily reverses male fertility appears to have few side effects in mice

Mining MRSA genetic code halts superbug outbreak
Whole genome sequencing of an MRSA outbreak has identified the person who unwittingly spread the bacteria around a hospital, stopping further infection

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Clinton has blood clot close to her brain, say doctors

NEW YORK: Top US diplomat Hillary Clinton is suffering from a blood clot in a vein in her head but should make a full recovery, doctors said on Monday as she spent New Year's Eve in hospital.

A routine scan on Sunday had revealed "that a right transverse sinus venous thrombosis had formed," doctors Lisa Bardack, of Mount Kisco Medical Group, and Gigi El-Bayoumi, of George Washington University, said in a statement.

They described it as "a clot in the vein that is situated in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear. It did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage."

Clinton was admitted to the New York Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday following the discovery and is being treated with blood thinners to dissolve the clot. She will be released "once the medication dose has been established."

"In all other aspects of her recovery, the secretary is making excellent progress and we are confident she will make a full recovery. She is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family, and her staff," they added.

Her top aide, Philippe Reines, said on Sunday the popular US secretary of state would stay in the hospital for some 48 hours after being admitted so she could be monitored while on the anti-coagulant drugs.

The globe-trotting diplomat has not been seen in public after succumbing to a stomach virus on returning from a trip to Europe on December 7.

It's a rare absence for the most popular member of President Barack Obama's cabinet, who has been a highly-visible and loyal supporter of his foreign policy agenda, travelling almost a million miles during four years in office.

But Clinton, 65, has made it clear she intends to step down in the coming weeks, once Senator John Kerry, tapped by President Barack Obama to replace her, is confirmed by the Senate.

Clinton fell ill with the bad stomach bug virus on her return from her trip to Prague, Brussels, Dublin and Belfast, which caused her to become dehydrated. She fainted and suffered a concussion.

According to one media report on the website Buzzfeed, she was being treated amid tight security on the hospital's 9th floor, known as the VIP wing, where her husband, former president Bill Clinton, had bypass surgery in 2004.

The couple's daughter, Chelsea, was seen leaving the hospital visibly upset on Monday, The New York Daily News said.

It is not the first health scare for Clinton. In 1998, the then first lady had a blood clot in her leg which she told the New York Daily News was "scary because you have to treat it immediately - you don't want to take the risk that it will break loose and travel to your brain, or your heart or your lungs."

Though once seen as a deeply divisive figure, she now has approval ratings above 60 percent. And many believe she will run again for the White House in 2016, despite being narrowly defeated by Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008.

A Gallup poll released Monday showed Clinton again topping an annual list of the woman most admired by Americans, winning support from 21 percent of those surveyed. It is the 17th time she has topped the list, a landmark for Gallup.

Clinton's lengthy absence from public life had sparked claims from some of her fiercest critics that she was faking illness to avoid testifying before lawmakers investigating a deadly attack on a US mission in Libya.

The September 11 assault on the US mission in eastern Benghazi, in which the US ambassador and three other American officials were killed, sparked a political firestorm in the United States. A subsequent State Department inquiry found that security at the mission was "grossly inadequate."

- AFP/de

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Amazon apologizes for Netflix's Christmas Eve streaming outage

Amazon has posted an apology for a disruption in its cloud services that hobbled Netflix's streaming services on Christmas Eve and said it is taking steps to prevent future disruptions.

Although Amazon's explanation of the outage didn't identify Netflix by name, the streaming service blamed Amazon Web Services last week for an outage that affected "many but not all devices" across the Americas.

"We want to apologize," Seattle-based Amazon said in its statement. "We know how critical our services are to our customers' businesses, and we know this disruption came at an inopportune time for some of our customers."

Amazon Web Services runs more than 835,000 requests per second for hundreds of thousands of customers in 190 countries, including 300 government agencies and 1,500 educational institutions. Amazon says it is "committed" to a 99.95 percent uptime, but frequent disruptions in service could undermine customer confidence in the platform, which offers remote Web-based computing services.

The disruption began shortly after noon Pacific time on December 24 when data was accidentally deleted by a developer during maintenance on the East Coast Elastic Load Balancing system, which is designed to distribute traffic volume among servers. The normal service was restored by 10:30 a.m. PT on December 25, but at the height of the disruption, 6.8 percent of ELBs were impacted, the company said.

As a result of the disruption, Amazon said it has adopted procedures that requires developers to obtain specific Change Management approval from Amazon Web Services for each time they access the Elastic Load Balancing system.

"We will do everything we can to learn from this event and use it to drive further improvements in the ELB service," the company said.

Netflix responded to Amazon's apology by saying it was proud of its streaming service's record of staying up even when other AWS-hosted services were down but added that it's working to improve its own line of defense.

"Netflix is designed to handle failure of all or part of a single availability zone in a region as we run across three zones and operate with no loss of functionality on two," the company said in a blog post this afternoon. "We are working on ways of extending our resiliency to handle partial or complete regional outages."

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Space Pictures This Week: Ice “Broccoli,” Solar Storm

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  Happy Trails

  Photograph by Alex Cherney, TWAN

  Amateur astronomer Alex Cherney captured these star trails as they blazed above Lake Tyrrell, a salt lake in Victoria, Australia in October 2011 and posted to The World At Night website December 25, 2012.

  (See pictures of another Australian salt lake, Lake Eyre.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  Tokyo From Space

  
  Image courtesy DLR

  The sprawling Japanese capital Tokyo looks like a funky computer chip in this image taken by Germany's Earth-observing satellite TerraSAR-X and released December 20.

  Launched in 2007, the satellite's radar sensors map Earth from 319 miles (514 kilometers) up in a near-polar orbit.

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  Extreme View

  
  Image courtesy SDO/NASA

  NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory snapped this extreme ultraviolet view of an active region on the sun as it rotated into view from December 16 to December 18. Ultraviolet light makes it easier to trace the whorls and loops created by superheated gas, or plasma, and the sun's magnetic field lines.

  Active solar regions such as this create space weather that, when aimed at Earth, can disrupt satellite communications and electronics. (See more pictures of solar activity and space weather.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  Saturn’s Dark Side

  
  Image courtesy SSI/Caltech/NASA

  This image of the unlit side of Saturn's S rings, released December 24, was taken with visible light by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

  The shadow of Saturn's innermost major moon, Mimas, is visible as a black oval south of the rings' shadow. For those with completely dust-free computer monitors, Janus, another Saturnian moon, is visible as a tiny white speck above the planet's north pole. (Learn about Saturn's major moons.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  A River Runs Through It

  
  Image courtesy ESA/JAXA

  The European Space Agency released this picture—taken by Japan's satellite ALOS—of Italy's longest river on December 14.

  The Po river and its surrounding fields divide Italy into its northern and southern regions. The Japanese used ALOS, which they lost contact with in late April 2011, to generate precise land maps, monitor disasters, and conduct resource surveys. (Read an excerpt from National Geographic magazine about the Po river.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  Glacial "Broccoli"

  
  Image from DigitalGlobe/Getty Images

  The Moshniy glacier, located on the Russian archipelago Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean, calves chunks of ice and debris into a pattern reminiscent of broccoli in an image released December 20.

  Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during the Cold War, and was also the site of the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated. The energy released by the 50-megaton "Tsar" bomb was ten times that of all the explosions set off during World War II.

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  Image courtesy Caltech/SSI/NASA

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  

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Hillary Clinton's Blood Clot Located in Her Head

Michal Sula/MAFRA/isifa/Getty Images

The blood clot that put Secretary of  State Hillary Clinton in the hospital was found in her head between her brain and skull behind the right ear, her doctors said today.

“It did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage,” her doctors,  Drs. Lisa Bardack and Gigi El-Bayoumi, said in a joint statement. “To help dissolve this clot, her medical team began treating the secretary with blood thinners.”

The doctors  said Clinton will be released “once the medication dose has been established.”

Clinton, 65, was admitted to New York Presbyterian hospital on Sunday for treatment of a blood clot stemming  from a concussion she sustained a few weeks ago, a Clinton aide said.

“In the course of a routine follow-up MRI on Sunday, the scan revealed that a right transverse sinus venous thrombosis had formed. This is a clot in the vein that is situated in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear,” the doctors said.

“In all other aspects of her recovery, the secretary is making excellent progress and we are confident she will make a full recovery. She is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family, and her staff,” the statement said.

Clinton was supposed to be back at work at the State Department this week, but now the date of her return in unknown.

Details of Clinton’s blood clot had not been immediately released after her hospitalization.

Members of Congress wished Clinton a speedy recovery today, while pressing their call for her to testify before Congress about the U.S. consulate attack in Benghazi.

“We just want to say how much Secretary Clinton is in our prayers this morning and hope she recovers rapidly from this health problem,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.,   said at a press conference today. Lieberman is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

“Secretary Clinton has made clear that she will testify. And I think that’s a good idea,” said Lieberman.

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, R.-Fla., tweeted get well wishes to Clinton Sunday night,  but also mentioned Benghazi. “Wishing Secretary Clinton a full + speedy recovery!,” Ros-Lehtinen wrote. “She’s looking forward 2 testify on #Benghazi and is bummed she can’t travel now like b4.”

The committee released a new report last week which concludes that the security system was “flashing red” in Benghazi shortly before Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an attack by terrorists on Sept. 11. The report cited a “rising crescendo of evidence” from the U.S. intelligence community that Benghazi had become “dangerous and unstable, and that a significant attack against American personnel there was becoming more and more likely.”

Lieberman called the administration’s reaction to the flashing red indicators as “woefully inadequate.”

Sen.  Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she thinks other must be held accountable at the State Department, in addition to those who have already resigned following the release of the State Department’s internal investigation. The Accountability Review Board issues a scathing report which faulted some senior management at the State Department for the breakdown of security and resulted in the four officials stepping down.

“My hope is, and my expectation is, that once Secretary Clinton is well enough, that she will carefully review our report and see if there are other officials that need to be held accountable,” Collins said. “It is difficult for us to make that judgment, but I believe that it is likely that there are others that do need to be held accountable.”

The congressional report found that the environment in Benghazi was dangerous and that local security was inadequate for protection. The report also found that the departments of Defense and State had not jointly assessed the availability and the accessibility of U.S. assets to support the mission facility in Benghazi in the event of an attack, such as the one that occurred.

“We should have closed this facility in Benghazi until we were prepared to provide the security necessary to give minimal protection, adequate protection to American personnel,” Lieberman said.

The report concludes that it is clear that terrorists were responsible for the attack on the consulate and that the administration response bouncing between the State Department, the Pentagon and the intelligence community added to some “confusion” over the attack.

Many conservatives have been skeptical of  Clinton’s illness, with former U.N. ambassador John Bolton telling Fox News  Clinton had come down with a “diplomatic illness” to avoid testifying on Dec. 2o, a charge the State Department vigorously denied.

“These people do not know what they are talking about,” spokesperson Victoria Nuland responded.

Dr. Howard Markel, a practicing doctor and medical historian at the University of Michigan, tells ABC News that history shows the best response to rumors is transparency.  The State Department did not disclose that Clinton had a concussion until several days after it occurred and currently waited a day to disclose what part of her body her blood clot is in, leaving the media and others to make assumptions about the seriousness of her condition.

“In the absence of information, this kind of speculation often takes up the vacuum,” says Markel, who points out that Clinton is receiving excellent medical care and that her condition sounds treatable.

State Department officials say they have been transparent about the secretary’s health, keeping the press and the public aware of all major developments within a reasonable amount of time, but they also maintain that Clinton is entitled to some degree of medical privacy, a claim Markel says held up historically but does not today.

“If you’re a private person, you are entitled to your privacy as a patient. When you’re a public figure and you’re working on behalf of the American people, you give up many aspects of your privacy,” he said.

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E. Timor bids farewell to peacekeepers after 13 years

DILI: The UN ends its peacekeeping mission in East Timor Monday after 13 years of boots on the ground in Asia's youngest nation following a bloody transition to independence.

The mission, which saw the presence of some 1,500 UN troops and police, will take down its flag and send home the last of its peacekeepers, including five Portuguese officers, while a "liquidation team" of 79 will remain to tie up loose ends.

The mission began withdrawing troops in earnest in October when national police resumed responsibility for security, following the peaceful election of a new president and parliament.

"The Timorese people and its leaders have shown courage and unswerving resolve to overcome great challenges," United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) chief Finn Reske-Nielsen said in a statement.

"Although there remains much work ahead, this is an historic moment in recognising the progress already made."

Reske-Nielsen said the withdrawal did not mark an end to the partnership between the UN and the country, officially called Timor-Leste, as "challenges still remain".

"As peacekeepers depart, we look forward to a new phase in this relationship focusing on social and economic development."

Observers say there is little indication that there will be renewed violence in the short term, but public institutions, including the police force and judiciary, remain weak.

There are also concerns that rampant poverty, high unemployment rates among the youth and a fast-growing population could lead to future unrest.

Government critics have highlighted the economy's heavy reliance on significant but depleting offshore oil and gas reserves that they say benefit urban Timorese more than the regional poor.

The UN played a key role in the birth of East Timor, organising the 1999 vote that ended Indonesia's 24-year occupation, in which around 183,000 people -- then a quarter of the population -- died from fighting, starvation or disease.

It oversaw East Timor until 2002, when an independent government took over.

UN peacekeepers streamed in again in 2006, when a mass desertion among the armed forces prompted fighting between military factions and police, and street violence left at least 37 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.

The only major violence since was a failed assassination attempt on then-President Jose Ramos-Horta in 2008.

- AFP/jc

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TwitPic snared by Google's malware detector

Google tags TwitPic as malware host.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Steven Musil/CNET)

Google's Web site malware checker identified TwitPic as a security threat today, a classification that has the popular photo site baffled.

Instead of the usual archiving and sharing tools they are used to, users attempting to visit TwitPic today are being greeted by a message informing them that the site has been blocked because "visiting it now is very likely to infect your computer with malware."

TwitPic denied on Twitter that it was a malware threat and said it was trying to contact Google to resolve the issue:

The Web giant's Safe Browsing API is designed to protect its users from malware and other attacks. Google said in June that it finds about 9,500 new malicious Web sites each day, either innocent ones that have been compromised by hackers or sites built specifically to distribute malware or for phishing. It also said it sends several million warnings every day to users of Chrome,
Firefox, and
Safari about malware and phishing on sites the users are about to visit.

CNET has contacted Google for comment on the action and will update this report when we learn more.

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How to Banish That New Year's Eve Hangover

For those of us who enjoy the occasional cocktail, the holiday season would be incomplete without certain treats of the liquid variety. Some look forward to the creamy charms of rum-laced eggnog; others anticipate cupfuls of high-octane punch or mugs of warm, spiced wine.

No matter what's in your glass, raising one as the year winds down is tradition. What could be more festive? The problem is, one drink leads to two, then the party gets going and a third is generously poured. Soon, the music fades and the morning arrives—and with it, the dreaded hangover. (Explore a human-body interactive.)

Whether it's a pounding headache, a queasy stomach, sweating, or just general misery, the damage has been done. So now it's time to remedy the situation. What's the quickest way to banish the pain? It depends who you ask.

Doctors typically recommend water for hydration and ibuprofen to reduce inflammation. Taking B vitamins is also good, according to anesthesiologist Jason Burke, because they help the body metabolize alcohol and produce energy.

Burke should know a thing or two about veisalgia, the medical term for hangover. At his Las Vegas clinic Hangover Heaven, Burke treats thousands of people suffering from the effects of drinking to excess with hydrating fluids and medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"No two hangovers are the same," he said, adding that the unfavorable condition costs society billions of dollars-mostly from lost productivity and people taking sick days from work.

Hot Peppers for Hangovers?

So what's the advice from the nonmedical community? Suggestions range from greasy breakfasts to vanilla milkshakes to spending time in a steamy sauna. A friend insists hot peppers are the only way to combat a hangover's wrath. Another swears by the palliative effects of a bloody mary. In fact, many people just have another drink, following the old "hair of the dog that bit you" strategy.

Whether such "cures" actually get rid of a hangover is debatable, but one thing's for sure: the sorry state is universal. The only people immune to hangovers are the ones who avoid alcohol altogether.

So for those who do indulge, even if it's just once in awhile, see our interactive featuring cures from around the world (also above). As New Year's Eve looms with its attendant excuse to imbibe, perhaps it would be wise to stock your refrigerator with one of these antidotes. Pickled herring, anyone?

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Cliffhanger: 'Major Setback' For Budget Talks

With less than two days remaining for Congress to reach a budget agreement that would avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," a senior White House official tells ABC News that President Obama is still "modestly optimistic" that a deal can be struck to prevent middle class taxes from increasing on New Year's Day.

Vice President Biden has now re-emerged as a key player, back in Washington and playing "a direct role" in trying to make a deal with Senate Republicans. Biden has been tapped because of his long-standing relationship with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

A Democratic source says that McConnell seems to be genuinely interested in getting an agreement. The news dovetails with reports that the GOP has backed off a key Social Security measure that had stalled negotiations.

According to sources, the row was sparked when the GOP offered a proposal that included a new method of calculating entitlement benefits with inflation. Called the "chained consumer price index," or Chained CPI, the strategy has been criticized by some Democrats because it would lower cost of living increases for Social Security recipients.

"We thought it was mutually understood that it was off the table for a scaled-back deal," a Democratic aide said. "It's basically a poison pill."

President Obama has floated chained CPI in the past as part of a grand bargain, despite opposition from the AARP and within his own party.

Also in the Republican plan brought today: An extension of the current estate tax and no increase in the debt ceiling. Higher income earners would see their taxes increase, but at levels "well above $250,000," the sources said.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Sens. Charles Schumer and Jon Kyl on 'This Week' Watch Video

Fiscal Cliff Negotiations: Could Economy Slip Back into Recession? Watch Video

That "major setback" in the talks was evident on the floor of the Senate this afternoon.

"I'm concerned about the lack of urgency here, I think we all know we are running out of time," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, "I want everyone to know I am willing to get this done, but I need a dance partner."

McConnell said he submitted the Republican's latest offer to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., at 7:10 pm last night and was willing to work through the night. Reid promised to get back to him at 10 this morning, but has yet to do so.

Why have the Democrats not come up with a counteroffer? Reid admitted it himself moments later.

"At this stage we're not able to make a counteroffer," Reid said noting that he's had numerous conversations with Obama, but the two parties are still far apart on some big issues, "I don't have a counteroffer to make. Perhaps as the day wears on I will be able to."

McConnell said he believes there is no major issue that is the sticking point but rather, "the sticking point appears to be a willingness, an interest, or frankly the courage to close the deal."

Reid said the fiscal cliff negotiations are getting "real close" to falling apart completely.

"At some point in the negotiating process, it appears that there are things that stop us from moving forward," he said. "I hope we're not there but we're getting real close and that's why I still hold out hope that we can get something done. But I'm not overly optimistic but I am cautiously optimistic that we can get something done."

Reid said there are serious difference between the two sides, starting with Social Security. He said Democrats are not willing to cut Social Security benefits as part of a smaller, short-term agreement, as was proposed in the latest Republican proposal.

"We're not going to have any Social Security cuts. At this stage it just doesn't seem appropriate," he said. "We're open to discussion about entitlement reforms, but we're going to have to take a different direction. The present status will not work."

Reid said that even 36 hours before the country could go over the cliff, he remains "hopeful" but "realistic," about the prospects of reaching an agreement.

"The other side is intentionally demanding concessions they know we are not willing to make," he said.

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Today on New Scientist: 28 December 2012

Best videos of 2012: Rare view of Challenger tragedy

Watch a rare amateur video of the Challenger explosion, our most-viewed video of the year

Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms

Record snowfall and dozens of tornadoes snarled holiday travel as a powerful winter storm plowed across much of the US, while rainstorms battered the UK

2012 review: The year in life science

The year's biggest stories in life science, including James Cameron's descent into the Mariana trench and efforts to break into Antarctica's buried lakes

Superstorm lessons for adapting to climate change

As the post-Sandy rebuild gets under way, coastal cities around the world will be watching

Best videos of 2012: First MRI movie of childbirth

Watch a unique view of a baby's birth, at number 2 in our countdown of the year's top science videos

Fleadom or death: Reviving the glorious flea circus

The parasite-based sideshows were almost done for by the domestic vacuum cleaner - but they are bouncing back, finds Graham Lawton

Approval for gene-modified salmon spawns controversy

Apparently months late, US regulators have declared genetically engineered fish safe to farm and eat, but final approval could be some way off

Best videos of 2012: New aircraft flies inside out

Watch a novel flying machine use a unique mechanism to propel itself, at number 3 in our countdown of the top videos of the year

2012 review: The year in technology

The year's biggest stories in technology, including Kinect devices that may spot signs of autism and controlling a robot by the power of thought

Superdoodles: The science of scribbling

Far from being a distraction, doodling has an important purpose - and you can harness it

2013 Smart Guide: Wave goodbye to the mouse

The Leap, a 3D motion control device set to launch next year, will let you control your computer with touch-free hand and finger movements

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'Cliff' pessimism delivers US stocks another loss

NEW YORK: US stocks sank for a fifth straight day Friday, showing more doubts that politicians will be able to agree a deal to fix the fiscal cliff with only days before the year-end deadline.

Shares were cautiously lower for most of the day after President Barack Obama returned from his vacation early to try to broker a deal with Democrat and Republican congressional leaders in the White House.

But without any positive signs late in the day and the weekend looming, traders gave up and sold off at a stronger pace in the last half hour.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished off 158.20 points (1.21 percent) at 12,938.11.

The broad-market S&P 500 lost 15.67 (1.10 percent) to 1,402.43, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite shed 25.60 points (0.86 percent) to 2,960.31.

"In the end, fiscal-cliff concerns dominated. No deal meant more worry, and we sold off," said Ryan Detrick of Schaeffer's Investment Research.

All 30 Dow blue chips were in the red, led by Hewlett-Packard (-2.6 percent), which was pushed lower after the SEC said it was looking into its subsidiary Autonomy.

In November, HP accused Autonomy of fraudulent accounting that was uncovered only after its $10 billion purchase of the British software firm in 2011.

Also on the Dow, Exxon lost 2.0 percent and Chevron 1.9 percent.

A rare gainer for the day was embattled bookseller Barnes & Noble, which although reporting that its Nook e-reader had disappointing Christmas sales, got a 4.3 percent boost on the announcement that British publisher Pearson would take a five percent stake in its Nook unit for $89.5 million.

Herbalife, under attack for weeks from short-selling hedge funds, bounced back with a 3.9 percent gain.

Facebook, which opened more than 2.5 percent lower on a report by audience tracker AppData.com that some 3.5 million people had stopped using its photo-sharing app Instagram daily over the past week, regained ground to finish with a loss of just 0.5 percent.

Facebook acquired Instagram earlier this year. The original price was pegged at $1 billion but the final value was less because of a decline in the social network's share price.

Bond prices rose. The 10-year US Treasury yield slipped to 1.71 from 1.72 percent late Thursday, while the 30-year edged lower to 2.88 percent from 2.89 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

-AFP/ac

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Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer
Mac-related questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions about managing custom services in OS X, RAM prices for MacBook systems falling dramatically over the past year, and resetting a forgotten administrator password without admin access and without an OS X installer or recovery disc. I welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Managing custom services in OS X
MacFixIt reader Francis asks:

I have followed the guidance in this [article on making an OS X service for sending documents], and it works as described, however it is not quite what I am trying to achieve.

Is there a way to undo an Automator service that I have created?

Answer:
To remove any unwanted services that you have created, in the Finder hold the Option key and choose "Library" from the Go menu. Then go to the Services folder in here and locate and remove the custom service you created, which should appear as an Automator workflow if created in this program.

Question: RAM prices for MacBook systems falling
MacFixIt reader calebj22 asks:

I read your article from Oct 2011 about upgrading RAM in a Macbook Pro to 16 gigs. I have a 2.2 Ghz Intel Cor i7 that I bought in early 2012. My question is this. In your article you suggested the price would be $600 ish. On cricial and on Other World, the price in now under $100. Does this seem right? Have prices come down this much?

Answer:
The price of RAM is always fluctuating and generally falling. When I wrote that article, the RAM prices were quite high, but since then prices have significantly fallen. Now you can purchase a 16GB RAM upgrade for around $80 on average.

Question: resetting an administrator password with limited resources
MacFixIt reader Dean asks:

I am new to Macs. I just purchased a 2nd hand
Macbook pro with 10.8.1 running. The previous owner reset the user name and password but has forgotten them. I am locked out of some functions. I tried the Command-R and also option but see that it has no Recovery Partition. I am on dial-up but have a USB flash drive with 10.8.2 complete with installation files. How do I install this onto the HD without using internet or another Mac computer.

Answer:
First be sure you have a backup of your system.

Hopefully all the previous owner did was forget her password, but you can log in and force her password to be reset. To do this, reboot the system into Single User mode by holding Command-S at startup. You will be dropped to a text-based command line interface, where you should perform the following steps:

1. Run the following command to make the hard drive writable for editing:

   mount -uw /



2. Get a list of the current "short" usernames for accounts on the system:

   ls /Users



3. Identify the account in the list that is the previous "admin" account.


4. With the admin account short name identified, reset its password with the following command:

   passwd SHORTNAME

Enter the new password to use when prompted, and you should be good to go. Now type "reboot" and then supply the same short username and new password you just configured, and you should be able to log in to the admin account. At this point, go to the System Preferences and at least promote your user account to have administrative privileges, but also consider out of a courtesy to remove her old account (after you have admin privileges and have logged back in to your account).

A final word of advice is to avoid using an OS installation from a previous owner, and instead use a freshly formatted one for yourself. Granted in your situation you do not have the resources to do this effectively, but I recommend it ASAP when you do get the chance.

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Body Under British Parking Lot May Be King Richard III

For centuries, William Shakespeare seemed to have the last word. His Richard III glowered and leered from the stage, a monster in human form and a character so repugnant "that dogs bark at me as I halt by them." In Shakespeare's famous play, the hunchbacked king claws his way to the throne and methodically murders most of his immediate family—his wife, older brother, and two young nephews—until he suffers defeat and death on the battlefield at the hands of a young Tudor hero, Henry VII.

(Related: "Shakespeare's Coined Words Now Common Currency.")

To shed new light on the long vilified king, a British scientific team has tracked down and excavated his reputed burial spot and exhumed skeletal remains that may well belong to the long-lost monarch. The team is conducting a CSI-style investigation of the body in hopes of conclusively identifying Richard III, a medieval king who ruled England for two brief years before perishing at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Results on the investigation are expected in January.

But the much maligned monarch is not the only historical heavyweight to be exhumed.  Since the 1980s, forensic experts have dug up the remains of many famous people—from Christopher Columbus (video) and Simón Bolívar to Jesse James, Marie Curie, Lee Harvey Oswald, Nicolae Ceausescu, and Bobby Fischer. Just last month, researchers in Ramallah (map) disinterred the body of Yasser Arafat, hoping to new glean clues to his death in 2004. Rumors long suggested that Israeli agents poisoned the Palestinian leader with a fatal dose of radioactive polonium-210.

(Read more about poisoning from National Geographic magazine's "Pick Your Poison—12 Toxic Tales.")

Indeed, forensic experts have disinterred the legendary dead for a wide range of reasons—including to move their remains to grander tombs befitting their growing fame, collect DNA samples for legal cases, and obtain data on the medical conditions that afflicted them. Such exhumations, says anatomist Frank Rühli at the Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, always raise delicate ethical issues. But in the case of early historical figures, scientists can learn much that is of value to society. "Research on ancient samples provides enormous potential for understanding [questions concerning our] cultural heritage and the evolution of disease," Rühli notes in an emailed response.

Franciscan Resting Place?

Archaeologists from the University of Leicester began actively searching for the burial place of Richard III this past August. According to historical accounts, Tudor troops carried Richard's battered corpse from the Bosworth battlefield and displayed it in the nearby town of Leicester before local Franciscan fathers buried the body in their friary choir. With clues from historic maps, the archaeological team located foundations of the now vanished friary beneath a modern parking lot, and during excavation, the team discovered the skeleton of an adult male interred under the choir floor—exactly where Richard III was reportedly buried.

The newly discovered skeleton has scoliosis, a curvature of the spine that may have resulted in a slightly lopsided appearance, and this may have inspired Shakespeare's exaggerated depiction of Richard as a Quasimodo-like figure. Moreover, the body bears clear signs of battle trauma, including a fractured skull and a barbed metal arrowhead embedded in the vertebrae. And even the burial place points strongly to Richard. English armies at the time simply left their dead on the field of battle, but someone carted this body off and interred it in a place of honor.

Taken together, these early clues, says Jo Appleby, the University of Leicester bioarchaeologist studying the remains, strongly suggest that the team has found the legendary king. Otherwise, she observes, "I think we'd have a hard time explaining how a skeleton with those characteristics got buried there."

But much work remains to clinch the case. Geneticists are now comparing DNA sequences from the skeleton to those obtained from a modern-day Londoner, Michael Ibsen, who is believed to be a descendant of Richard III's sister. In addition, forensic pathologists and medieval-weapons scholars are poring over signs of trauma on the skeleton to determine cause of death, while a radiocarbon-dating lab is helping to pin down the date. And at the University of Dundee in Scotland, craniofacial identification expert Caroline Wilkinson is now working on a reconstruction of the dead man's face for a possible match with historic portraits of Richard III.  All this, says Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist on the project, "will help us put flesh on the bones, so to speak."

Digging Up History

Elsewhere, teams digging up the historic dead have contented themselves with more modest goals. In Texas, for example, forensic experts opened the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald in October 1981 to identify beyond doubt the man who shot President John F. Kennedy. A British lawyer and author had claimed that a Soviet agent impersonated Oswald and assassinated the American president. To clarify the situation, the forensic experts compared dental x-rays taken during Oswald's stint in the United States Marine Corps to a record they made of the body's teeth. The two matched well, prompting the team to announce publicly that "the remains in the grave marked as Lee Harvey Oswald are indeed Lee Harvey Oswald."

More recently, in 2010, Iceland's supreme court ordered forensic experts to exhume the body of the late world chess champion Bobby Fischer from his grave in Iceland in order to obtain DNA samples to determine whether Fischer was the father of one of the claimants to his estate. (The tests ruled this out.) And that same year, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez ordered forensic experts to open the casket of Simón Bolívar, the renowned 19th century Venezuelan military leader who fought for the independence of Spanish America from colonial rule. Chavez believes that Bolívar died not from tuberculosis, as historians have long maintained, but of arsenic poisoning, and has launched an investigation into the cause of his death.

For some researchers, this recent spate of exhumations has raised a key question: Who should have a say in the decision to disinter or not? In the view of Guido Lombardi, a paleopathologist at Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, investigators should make every effort to consult descendants or family members before proceeding. "Although each case should be addressed individually," notes Lombardi by email. "I think the surviving relatives of a historical figure should approve any studies first."

But tracking down the descendants of someone who died many centuries ago is no easy matter. Back in Leicester, research on the remains found beneath the friary floor is proceeding. If all goes according to plan, the team hopes to announce the results sometime in January. And if the ancient remains prove to be those of Richard III, the city of Leicester could be in for a major royal event in 2013: The British government has signalled its intention to inter the long-maligned king in Leicester Cathedral.

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Woman Tied to Gun in NY Firefighter Ambush

Authorities have charged a woman for allegedly providing a convicted killer with the Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle he used when he ambushed four volunteer firefighters and an off-duty cop at a fire scene in upstate New York on Christmas Eve, federal prosecutors said.

Dawn Nguyen, 24, was arrested today after allegedly making an illegal purchase of the weapon used by William Spengler, 62, who set a house and car on fire in Webster, N.Y., the morning of Dec. 24, then shot dead two firemen and himself.

Nguyen is facing federal and state charges for acting as a "straw purchaser," buying the Bushmaster assault weapon as well as a shotgun with the intention of giving it to someone who cannot legally purchase it himself, said U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul.

Authorities accuse Nguyen of lying about being the sole owner of the weapons when making the purchase, a violation of federal law.

As an ex-convict, Spengler could not have legally owned or purchased the weapons himself.

NY Firemen's Killer Left Chilling Note Behind Watch Video

Rochester Fire, Shooting: Death Toll Rises to 3 Watch Video

"Dawn Nguyen told the seller of these weapons that she was to be true owner and buyer of these guns," said Hochul. "It is absolutely against federal law to provide any materially false information" on a firearms application.

As Hochul announced the charges, Nguyen was in a nearby court. It was unknown whether she entered a plea, and her lawyer could not be immediately contacted.

In addition to the rifle and shotgun, Spengler was found with a pistol, which authorities believe he used to kill himself by shooting himself in the head.

After apparently setting the fires, Spengler began shooting at emergency responders, officials have said. The attack left two firefighters and the gunman dead, and two other firefighters hospitalized.

Police officer John Ritter recieved shrapnel injuries at the scene but was discharged quickly from the hospital.

In a typewritten note found at the scene, Spengler revealed that he obtained the weapons from Nguyen, who for a time lived next door to him in Webster, Hochul said.

In that same note, Spengler pledged to see "how much of the neighborhood I can burn down." He said he wanted to "do what I like doing best, killing people."

Police said Spengler set a "trap" in order to ambush the first responders.

Firefighters Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka were gunned down. Two other firefighters, Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino, remained in guarded condition at a Rochester, N.Y. hospital.

Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 27 December 2012

Best videos of 2012: Spiderman skin stops a bullet

Watch reinforced skin stop a speeding bullet, at number 4 in our countdown of the top videos of the year

Gastrophysics: Some said 'more', others said 'meh'

Network theorists model everything from internet traffic to disease spread. But can they tease out titillating new taste combos? New Scientist gets cooking

Best videos of 2012: Sea lice reduce pig to bones

Watch a microscopic mob devour a pig carcass underwater, as we reach number 5 in our best videos of the year.

2012 review: The year in space

A Mars rover's daredevil landing, a private space-flight boom, and a man leaping from the stratosphere were among the top space news events this year

Photo puzzle: Can you make the connection?

Correctly match up 16 pairs of science-inspired images and enter a draw to win a state-of-the-art Olympus E-PL5 digital camera

Shiver me timbers: The coolest warship ever made

Unsinkable and bulletproof, battleships made from icebergs were the great hope of the second world war, says Stephen Battersby

2013 Smart Guide: Next-generation video games

The upcoming round of consoles promises to deliver a far more immersive video-gaming experience, with super-high-definition and multi-screen action

Dangerous liaisons: Animals' tangled love lives

The surprising mate choices of certain animals are forcing us to reconsider our views of evolutionary theory

Three gods: The hardest logic puzzle ever

Tackle this logisticians' parlour game and you may be a bit closer to understanding the nature of truth itself, says Richard Webb

2012 review: The year in environment

From the devastation wrought by superstorm Sandy to vanishing Arctic sea ice, we round up the biggest environment stories of the year

Feast for the senses: Cook up a master dish

Trick your dinner guests into thinking you're a master chef by manipulating all their senses

2013 Smart Guide: Hot computing for a cool billion

Six mega-projects, from a supercomputer brain simulation to a real-life SimCity on a global scale, are vying for two prizes, each worth $1 billion

New Scientist 2012 holiday quiz

Anatomical incongruities, why men are like fruit flies, a boson by any other name, and much more in our end-of-year quiz

2013 Smart Guide: Supercomet to outshine the moon

A gas cloud crashing into the black hole at the centre of the galaxy and a naked-eye comet promise celestial fireworks in 2013

Dangerous liaisons: Fatal animal attractions

Humans aren't the only animals that can run into trouble when choosing a mate, discovers David Robson

2012 review: Zoologger's 12 beasts of Christmas

Zoologger is our weekly column highlighting extraordinary animals - and occasionally other organisms - from around the world. Here are this year's 12 best

Prehistoric cinema: A silver screen on the cave wall

With cartoon frescoes, shadow theatre and a rudimentary form of animation, our ancestors knew how to bring their stories to life, says Catherine Brahic

Review of 2012: The year's biggest news at a glance

Halt to bird flu experiments, Greece's economic crisis, the Stuxnet computer worm, Curiosity arrives on Mars, and more

How does a traffic cop ticket a driverless car?

Rapid progress means self-driving cars are in the fast lane to consumer reality. Is the law up to speed too, asks legal expert Bryant Walker Smith

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US stocks down as "fiscal cliff" deadline nears

NEW YORK: US stocks dipped Thursday in the absence of a deal to avert a "fiscal cliff" crisis as an end-of-year deadline crept closer.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the session down 18.28 points (0.14 percent) at 13,096.31.

The broad-market S&P 500 slipped 1.73 points (0.12 percent) at 1,418.10 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite shed 4.25 points (0.14 percent) at 2,985.91.

Washington has until the end of the month to reach a compromise on how to avert a crisis that could lead to steep tax hikes and stringent budget cuts. But with the clock ticking, a deal has yet to take shape.

Experts say a fall over the so-called "fiscal cliff" could take the world's biggest economy back into recession.

Still, markets appeared to be bolstered by word that the House of Representatives would reconvene on Sunday, raising hopes of an 11th-hour compromise.

President Barack Obama cut short his family Christmas break in Hawaii and returned to the capital, and the Senate was also in session Thursday.

"News that the House will reconvene for a session Sunday night propelled stocks to end well off the lows of the day, erasing an earlier double-digit loss on the Dow that came courtesy of discouraging remarks from Senator Harry Reid and a fall in Consumer Confidence," said analysts with Charles Schwab & Co.

Traders were also digesting a sharp drop in consumer confidence in December, traditionally a key driver of the US economy.

In its monthly survey, the Conference Board said the index now stands at 65.1, compared to the downwardly revised 71.5 in November.

Stocks in focus included US auto giant Ford, which said Thursday it would invest $773 million to expand factories across its home state of Michigan, generating 2,350 new jobs, part of a plan to add 12,000 jobs by 2015. It fell 0.23 percent.

Microsoft edged 0.4 percent higher after announcing it would open six new stores in the United States in 2013.

US-listed shares of Toyota Motor Corporation climbed 2.4 percent. The Japanese automaker said Wednesday that it had agreed to pay about $1.1 billion to settle a class action lawsuit launched by US vehicle owners affected by a series of mass recalls.

Marvell Technology Group dropped 3.5 percent after a jury on Wednesday hit it with a billion-dollar verdict, ruling that the US chip maker "willfully" infringed on patents held by Carnegie Mellon University.

Bond prices rose. The 10-year US Treasury yield fell to 1.72 percent from 1.76 percent late Wednesday, while the 30-year slipped to 2.9 percent from 2.93 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

-AFP/ac

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BlueStacks for Mac quietly moves to beta

(Credit:
BlueStacks)

Related stories

• BlueStacks ports Android apps to Mac


• BlueStacks goes Metro with Windows 8


• Latest BlueStacks ARMs your PC

After launching to public alpha back in June of this year, BlueStacks for Mac today advances to beta. This means that
Mac users are one step closer to accessing a chunk of Google Play's
Android-apps catalog on their Apple-made desktops and laptops.

Earlier this year, BlueStacks made headlines when it won the Best of CES software award for bringing its powers to
Windows 8. The program successfully showcased a swathe of Android apps on Microsoft's newest OS and was even announced to come preinstalled on select Windows 8 machines.

BlueStacks Beta for Mac is available now for free download.

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How to Live to a Ripe Old Age

Cento di questi giorni. May you have a hundred birthdays, the Italians say, and some of them do.

So do other people in various spots around the world—in Blue Zones, so named by National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner for the blue ink that outlines these special areas on maps developed over more than a decade. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)

In his second edition of his book The Blue Zones, Buettner writes about a newly identified Blue Zone: the Greek island of Ikaria (map). National Geographic magazine Editor at Large Cathy Newman interviewed him about the art of living long and well. (Watch Buettner talk about how to live to a hundred.)

Q. You've written about Blue Zones in Sardinia, Italy; Loma Linda, California; Nicoa, Costa Rica and Okinawa, Japan. How did you find your way to Ikaria?

A. Michel Poulain, a demographer on the project, and I are always on the lookout for new Blue Zones. This one popped up in 2008. We got a lead from a Greek foundation looking for biological markers in aging people. The census data showed clusters of villages there with a striking proportion of people 85 or older. (Also see blog: "Secrets of the Happiest Places on Earth.")

In the course of your quest you've been introduced to remarkable individuals like 100-year-old Marge Jetton of Loma Linda, California, who starts the day with a mile-long [0.6-kilometer] walk, 6 to 8 miles [10 to 13 kilometers] on a stationary bike, and weight lifting. Who is the most memorable Blue Zoner you've met?

Without question it's Stamatis Moraitis, who lives in Ikaria. I believe he's 102. He's famous for partying. He makes 400 liters [100 gallons] of wine from his vineyards each year, which he drinks with his friends. His house is the social hot spot of the island. (See "Longevity Genes Found; Predict Chances of Reaching 100.")

He's also the Ikarian who emigrated to the United States, was diagnosed with lung cancer in his 60s, given less then a year to live, and who returned to Ikaria to die. Instead, he recovered.

Yes, he never went through chemotherapy or treatment. He just moved back to Ikaria.

Did anyone figure out how he survived?

Nope. He told me he returned to the U.S. ten years after he left to see if the American doctors could explain it. I asked him what happened. "My doctors were all dead," he said.

One of the common factors that seem to link all Blue Zone people you've spoken with is a life of hard work—and sometimes hardship. Your thoughts?

I think we live in a culture that relentlessly pursues comfort. Ease is related to disease. We shouldn't always be fleeing hardship. Hardship also brings people together. We should welcome it.

Sounds like another version of the fable of the grasshopper and the ant?

You rarely get satisfaction sitting in an easy chair. If you work in a garden on the other hand, and it yields beautiful tomatoes, that's a good feeling.

Can you talk about diet? Not all of us have access to goat milk, for example, which you say is typically part of an Ikarian breakfast.

There is nothing exotic about their diet, which is a version of a Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes vegetables, beans, fruit, olive oil, and moderate amounts of alcohol. (Read more about Buettner's work in Ikaria in National Geographic Adventure.)

All things in moderation?

Not all things. Socializing is something we should not do in moderation. The happiest Americans socialize six hours a day.

The people you hang out with help you hang on to life?

Yes, you have to pay attention to your friends. Health habits are contagious. Hanging out with unhappy people who drink and smoke is hazardous to your health.

So how has what you've learned influenced your own lifestyle?

One of the big things I've learned is that there's an advantage to regular low-intensity activity. My previous life was setting records on my bike. [Buettner holds three world records in distance cycling.] Now I use my bike to commute. I only eat meat once a week, and I always keep nuts in my office: Those who eat nuts live two to three more years than those who don't.

You also write about having a purpose in life.

Purpose is huge. I know exactly what my values are and what I love to do. That's worth additional years right there. I say no to a lot of stuff that would be easy money but deviates from my meaning of life.

The Japanese you met in Okinawa have a word for that?

Yes. Ikigai: "The reason for which I wake in the morning."

Do you have a non-longevity-enhancing guilty pleasure?

Tequila is my weakness.

And how long would you like to live?

I'd like to live to be 200.

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Utah Teachers Flock to Gun Training

The perception of schools as sanctuaries from violence has been "blown up" by recent events and some believe it's time for educators to literally take the situation into their own hands and carry guns.

"We've had this unwritten code, even among criminals, that schools are off limits. Those are our kids. You don't mess with that," Utah Shooting Sports Council (USSC) Chairman Clark Aposhian told ABCNews.com today.

"That perception has been blown away now," he said. "It's been shattered and if there's one thing that parents across the country are united on, it's that they are committed to and serious about protecting their kids."

Aposhian spoke shortly before opening a weapons training class for teachers and school employees that drew more than 200 Utah educators organized by the USSC, a leading gun lobby group that believes that teachers should be able to fight back when faced with an armed intruder.

"One firearm in the hands of one teacher could have made the difference at Sandy Hook or Columbine, but they weren't allowed to carry in those schools," Aposhian said.

The USSC is waiving its normal $50 training fee today for teachers who wish to attend. Aposhian said the 200 person course was filled to capacity and said he plans on holding another session for people he may have to turn away today.

INFOGRAPHIC: Gun in America: By The Numbers

"We trust these teachers to be with our kids for 8 to 10 hours a day every day," Aposhian said. "I don't think it's a far reach to think that we could think that they would act responsibly and with decorum in protecting their own lives and the lives of the kids under their care."

Gun Owners Give Back: LA Residents Return Guns After Newtown Tragedy Watch Video

The idea of armed teachers has been part of a fiery debate on gun control following the rampage at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and six adults dead on Dec. 14.

Utah is one of only a handful of states, including Oregon, Hawaii and New Hampshire, that allow people to carry licensed concealed weapons into public schools. It is not known how many Utah teachers carry guns in public schools because the records are not public.

But Aposhian said that he tells detractors that Utah has not had any school shootings or accidental shootings in the approximately 12 years the law has been in effect.

In Ohio, the Buckeye Firearms Association is launching a pilot armed teacher training program in which 24 teachers will be selected to attend a three-day training class.

Arizona's Attorney General Tom Horne has proposed a state law amendment that would allow one educator in each school to carry a gun.

During today's six-hour training session, the educators will be taught about gun safety, loading and unloading, manipulating the firearm, how to clear malfunctions, use of force laws and state and federal firearm laws.

The training sessions normally draw about 15 to 20 people, Aposhian said, but many of the teachers who have signed up for today have expressed strong feelings about attending the class.

"I think it runs the gamut from passive desire to get a permit because they thought about it here and there to a fervor given the recent events," Aposhian said. "Perhaps they've had an epiphany of sorts and realized that that sanctuary they work in, or at least the perceived sanctuary, isn't all that safe."

The Utah State Board of Education Chair Debra Roberts released the following statement today on the matter:

"The Utah State Board of Education expresses sympathy to all involved in the recent school shooting in Connecticut. In the face of this terrible tragedy, as schools move forward in taking measures to ensure the safety of students and school personnel, we urge caution and thoughtful consideration."

The statement noted that its schools have emergency plans to handle such situations.

Carol Lear, the board's director of school law and legislation, was more blunt about Aposhian's gun training, telling the Associated Press, "It's a terrible idea...It's a horrible, no-good, rotten idea."

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Three gods: The hardest logic puzzle ever

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US stocks dip in absence of 'fiscal cliff' deal

NEW YORK: US stocks fell Wednesday amid uncertainty about whether a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" could be reached by an end-of-year deadline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 24.49 points (0.19 percent) to finish the session at 13,114.59.

The broad-market S&P 500 lost 6.83 points (0.48 percent) at 1,419.83, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite shed 22.44 points (0.74 percent) at 2,990.16.

"Investors in the US returned to business in the midst of the omnipresent tick-tick-ticking of the fiscal cliff clock," said analysts with Charles Schwab & Co.

The White House and Congress have until the end of the month to reach a compromise on how to avert a year-end crisis that could lead to stiff tax hikes and drastic budget cuts.

Experts say a dive over the so-called "fiscal cliff" could drive the world's biggest economy back into recession.

Obama was to head back to the capital late Wednesday from a shortened family Christmas break in Hawaii, and lawmakers are also expected back in Washington on Thursday.

Stocks in focus during the midweek session included those of online video giant Netflix, which gained 0.47 percent in the wake of an outage of its online film streaming service on Christmas Eve. On Wednesday, Netflix blamed Amazon for the incident, which rents out computing power in datacenters in the Internet "cloud." Amazon dropped 3.86 percent.

US commodities and derivatives market InterContinentalExchange (ICE) and its transatlantic peer NYSE Euronext were down 0.03 percent and up 0.09 percent respectively, after at least one shareholder complaint was filed to contest their planned fusion, announced last week.

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion meanwhile soared 11.5 percent, recovering after a plunge on Friday on investor fears that its new smartphone platform will thin the ranks paying for its service.

Tech heavyweight Apple meanwhile lost 1.4 percent.

Bond prices rose. The 10-year US Treasury yield fell to 1.76 percent from 1.77 percent late Monday, while the 30-year dipped to 2.93 percent from 2.94 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely. Markets were closed Tuesday in observance of Christmas Day.

-AFP/ac

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Convenient iTunes 11 Keyboard Shortcuts

Beyond the basic arrow key navigation and space bar to start and stop song playback, there are a few other keyboard shortcuts in
iTunes 11 that can be used to help you navigate its features.

Since the release of iTunes 11, a few convenient keyboard shortcuts have been revealed that offer quick ways to manage playback, navigate the windows, or otherwise deal with some of iTunes' common functions. As with most programs, various shortcuts can be found in the application's menus. However, along with these there are some hidden options that may prove convenient.

Clear play queue
When playing songs in iTunes, we often use the space bar to play and pause a song; however, this does not fully stop playback of the songs in queue. Instead, it functions as a pause command -- when you press the space bar again, the song resumes where it left off. If you would like to stop the playback of the current song in the play queue you can "cancel" it by using the common "Command-period" keyboard shortcut for cancel operations in OS X. A variation on this is to press the space bar followed by the right-arrow key to select the next song without playing it.

Select sections in iTunes
iTunes organizes content into Music, Movies, TV Shows, Books, Apps, and other categories based on what you have purchased from the iTunes store or what you have added to your library. You can select these areas of iTunes by holding the Command key and then typing a corresponding number key:

• Command-1 = Music


• Command-2 = Movies


• Command-3 = TV shows


• Command-4 = Podcasts


• Command-5 = iTunes U


• Command-6 = Books


• Command-7 = Apps

Adding songs to Up-Next
One of the changes in iTunes 11 is the "Up Next" feature. If you hold the Option key down, a plus button will appear next to the song under your mouse cursor. If clicked, this will put the song in the Up-Next queue. In addition you can simply press Option-Enter to add a selected song to the queue. This is convenient if you are searching and browsing your library with the arrow keys.

Unfortunately this feature does not work with multiple file selections. If you select more than one song and press the Option key, they will all show a plus button; however, if you then press Option-Enter or click the plus button, only the first selection or that which you click will be added to the Up Next queue. This may be a bug in the program or an upcoming feature, but currently is not an implementation in iTunes 11.

Enable keyboard control for "All controls"
By default, Apple offers keyboard support only for interactive controls such as text boxes and buttons. However, you can enable keyboard commands for all controls by pressing Control-F7 or selecting the "All Controls" radio button in the Keyboard system preferences. This allows you to tab through various toolbar and window elements and activate them with the space bar. In iTunes, this enables you to tab through the play and fast-forward buttons, the volume control, the Up Next menu, and the sidebar and its menus, among other window elements.

Custom shortcuts
While these built-in options are useful in iTunes, you can also assign custom shortcuts to various menu items in iTunes for frequently used controls that do not have a default shortcut. This can be done for any application using the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tab in the OS X Keyboard system preferences.

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Space Pictures This Week: Green Lantern, Supersonic Star

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  Green Lantern

  Image courtesy Caltech/SSI/NASA

  Another glorious, backlit view of the planet Saturn and its rings has been captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, as seen in a picture released December 18.

  On October 17, during its 174th orbit around the gas giant, Cassini was deliberately positioned within Saturn's shadow, "a perfect location from which to look in the direction of the sun and take a backlit view of the rings and the dark side of the planet," according to NASA.

  (Related: "Ten Best Pictures From NASA's Cassini Probe—Saturn, More.")

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











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  Starry Night

  Photograph by Wally Pacholka, TWAN

  The Milky Way glitters over Yosemite, California, in a picture taken December 14 and submitted to the astronomy-education project The World at Night (TWAN).

  Our galaxy is far larger, brighter, and more massive than most other galaxies. From end to end, the Milky Way's starry disk, observable with the naked eye and through optical telescopes, spans 120,000 light-years.

  (See Milky Way pictures inNational Geographic magazine.)

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











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  Celestial Ornament

  Image courtesy G. Bacon, STScI/ESA/NASA

  The Hubble Space Telescope has spied a nearby planetary nebula that resembles a holiday ornament wrapped in a ribbon, as seen in a picture released December 18.

  Planetary nebulae such as NGC 5189 represent the final brief stage in the life of a medium-size star like our sun.

  (See more nebula pictures.)

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











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  It's a Bird, It's a Plane

  Photograph by Shamil Zhumatov, Reuters

  A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carries U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield to the International Space Station on December 19.

  While floating some 240 miles (390 kilometers) above Earth's surface, the space station has hosted a rotating international crew since November 2000.

  (See our space-exploration timeline.)

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











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  Martian Hazard

  Image courtesy Caltech/NASA

  Still not home for the holidays, NASA's Mars rover Opportunity keeps plugging away on the red planet's surface.

  Here, the rover's hazard camera scans a target called Onaping at the base of Copper Cliff in the Endeavor crater. At least Opportunity calls home.

  (See "Mars Rover Detects Simple Organic Compounds.")

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











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  Jewel Box

  Photograph by Rolf Olsen, Your Shot

  A star cluster named Jewel Box sparkles in a picture submitted to the Your Shot photo community on December 18.

  Visible as a faint smudge with the naked eye under dark skies, the Jewel Box is located 6,440 light-years away towards the constellation Crux, or the Southern Cross. The bright orange star in the centre of the cluster is known as Kappa Crucis.

  (See another picture of Jewel Box.)

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











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  Supersonic Star

  Image courtesy Caltech/NASA

  The giant star Zeta Ophiuchi is having a "shocking" effect on surrounding dust clouds in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, released on December 18.

  Stellar winds flowing out from this fast-moving star are making ripples in the dust, creating a bow shock seen as glowing gossamer threads only visible in infrared.

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  











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  Image courtesy Jesse Allen, EO-1/USGS/NASA

  Published December 26, 2012

  
  

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