Bug protects itself by turning its environment to gold

Mythical King Midas was ultimately doomed because everything he touched turned to gold. Now, the reverse has been found in bacteria that owe their survival to a natural Midas touch.

Delftia acidovorans lives in sticky biofilms that form on top of gold deposits, but exposure to dissolved gold ions can kill it. That's because although metallic gold is unreactive, the ions are toxic.

To protect itself, the bacterium has evolved a chemical that detoxifies gold ions by turning them into harmless gold nanoparticles. These accumulate safely outside the bacterial cells.

"This could have potential for gold extraction," says Nathan Magarvey of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who led the team that uncovered the bugs' protective trick. "You could use the bug, or the molecules they secrete."

He says the discovery could be used to dissolve gold out of water carrying it, or to design sensors that would identify gold-rich streams and rivers.

The protective chemical is a protein dubbed delftibactin A. The bugs secrete it into the surroundings when they sense gold ions, and it chemically changes the ions into particles of gold 25 to 50 nanometres across. The particles accumulate wherever the bugs grow, creating patches of gold.

Deep purple gold

But don't go scanning streams for golden shimmers: the nanoparticle patches do not reflect light in the same way as bigger chunks of the metal – giving them a deep purple colour.

When Magarvey deliberately snipped out the gene that makes delftibactin A, the bacteria died or struggled to survive exposure to gold chloride. Adding the protein to the petri dish rescued them.

The bacterium Magarvey investigated is one of two species that thrive on gold, both identified a decade or so ago by Frank Reith of the University of Adelaide in Australia. In 2009 Reith discovered that the other species, Cupriavidus metallidurans, survives using the slightly riskier strategy of changing gold ions into gold inside its cells.

"If delftibactin is selective for gold, it might be useful for gold recovery or as a biosensor," says Reith. "But how much dissolved gold is out there is difficult to say."

Journal reference: Nature Chemical Biology, DOI: 10.1038/NCHEMBIO.1179

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Scotland Yard stole dead children's identities: report

LONDON: London's Metropolitan Police stole the identities of some 80 dead children and issued false documents in their names for use by undercover officers, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Sunday.

The force authorised the practice over three decades for officers attempting to infiltrate protest groups, without informing the children's parents, the broadsheet said.

Its investigation described officers creating aliases based on the dead children's details and being issued with documents such as passports and driving licences in their names.

Some officers reportedly spent up to a decade pretending to be these people.

Scotland Yard said it did not currently authorise the practice and had launched an investigation into "past arrangements".

"We appreciate the concerns that have been raised," the force said.

"We can confirm that the practice referred to in the complaint is not something that would currently be authorised."

Keith Vaz, chairman of the British parliament's home affairs committee, described the practice as "gruesome".

"It will only cause enormous distress to families who will discover what has happened concerning the identities of their dead children," he told the Guardian. "This is absolutely shocking."

One unnamed officer, who adopted the fake identity of Pete Black while operating undercover in anti-racist groups, told the newspaper he felt he was stomping on the grave" of the four-year-old boy whose identity he used.

Another argued that the practice could be justified on the grounds that it was for the "greater good".

Both officers worked for a Scotland Yard unit called the Special Demonstration Squad, which was disbanded in 2008.

The Guardian said it had seen a document indicating that around 80 officers used dead children's identities between 1968 and 1994.

- AFP/jc

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Super Bowl does Wi-Fi on a massive scale

There should be no shortage of Wi-Fi at the Super Bowl. And the NFL want to make sure it stays that way.

The Wi-Fi network at the Superdome in New Orleans has been structured and reinforced to handle a stunning 30,000 simultaneous connections during the big game, starting shortly, between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens. Ars Technica reported that detail and lots more about the setup -- for instance, there 700 wireless access points inside the stadium, and 250 right outside for folks in the parking lots.

Clearly, the NFL understands that we're already deep in the
tablet and smartphone era when people expect easy, uninterrupted access to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and more.

But not unregulated access. Fans entering the Superdome are having their bags inspected for wireless gear that could undermine the robust functioning of the Wi-Fi network. There will be no "rogue access points," Dave Stewart, director of IT and production for Superdome management firm SMG, told Ars Technica:

Every device that enters the building has to go through a frequency scan and be authorized to enter. At the perimeter the devices are identified and tagged. If they present a potential for interference, they are remediated at that moment. Either the channel is changed or it is denied access. It's all stopped at the perimeter for this event.

One of the biggest worries is about devices such as wireless cameras tuned to the 2.4GHz frequency range.

The new Wi-Fi network was installed just this season, and though there were some trial runs during regular-seasons games, the Super Bowl marks the first time the network has been publicly advertised as available to all fans, according to Ars Technica. Verizon Wireless built the network, using Cisco gear.

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Pictures We Love: Best of January

Photograph by Dieu Nalio Chery, AP

The magnitude 7 earthquake that struck near Port au Prince, Haiti, in January 2010 so devastated the country that recovery efforts are still ongoing.

Professional dancer Georges Exantus, one of the many casualties of that day, was trapped in his flattened apartment for three days, according to news reports. After friends dug him out, doctors amputated his right leg below the knee. With the help of a prosthetic leg, Exantus is able to dance again. (Read about his comeback.)

Why We Love It

"This is an intimate photo, taken in the subject's most personal space as he lies asleep and vulnerable, perhaps unaware of the photographer. The dancer's prosthetic leg lies in the foreground as an unavoidable reminder of the hardships he faced in the 2010 earthquake. This image makes me want to hear more of Georges' story."—Ben Fitch, associate photo editor

"This image uses aesthetics and the beauty of suggestion to tell a story. We are not given all the details in the image, but it is enough to make us question and wonder."—Janna Dotschkal, associate photo editor

Published February 1, 2013

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Super Bowl XLVII Brings a First, a Last and a Triumph for NOLA

There's more than just a trophy on the line for Superbowl XLVII -- as two sibling head coaches are pitted against each other for the first time, while one of the NFL's greatest players turns in his final performance, and then there's the question on everyone's minds:

Will Beyonce lip sync during the half-time show?

20 Bizarre Items Inspired by the 2013 Superbow

More than 150,000 fans have flocked to New Orleans for the big game today between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens, while it's estimated at least 100 million more will watch from home.

The game will be played in the rebranded Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the same venue that nearly eight years ago housed refugees from Hurricane Katrina in squalid conditions, becoming a symbol of the storm's fury and the human suffering that followed in its aftermath.

Today, 75,000 ticketholders will pack the stadium, marking a moment of triumph for the city.

Superbowl Party Survival Facts

Sibling Rivalry

No matter the outcome of the game, one thing is already for certain: Coach Harbaugh is getting a Super Bowl ring.

For the first time in professional football history, a pair of brothers are leading opposing teams at the Super Bowl.

John Harbaugh, 50, head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, will face off against younger brother Jim Harbaugh, 49, skipper of the San Francisco 49ers.

PHOTOS: Baltimore Ravens Cheerleaders

PHOTOS: San Francisco 49ers Cheerleaders

The two, with just 15 months difference in their ages, grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., and both began their coaching careers working for their father Jack, a college coach at Western Kentucky and later at Western Michigan. The brothers are close and consider the matchup, dubbed by sportswriters as the "HarBowl" a bittersweet moment for the family, knowing one will lose.

"It's probably a little tougher emotionally," John Harbaugh said at a press conference last week. "It's a little tougher just from the sense of I don't think you think about it when you're coaching against somebody else; it's more about the scheme and the strategy. There's a little bit of a relationship element that's more strong than maybe coaching against someone else.

"I'll have a better answer for you after the game," he said. "I've never been through this before. This is all new."

PHOTOS: Greatest Sibling Rivalries

Ray Lewis' Final Game

The game is expected to be the last for Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, 37.

The former Superbowl MVP and a two-time defensive player of the year, has made headlines on and off the field during his 17-season career.

In 2000, a fight broke out after an Atlanta Super Bowl party, leaving two men dead. Lewis faced double murder charges, however in a plea agreement, the charges were dropped. Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to probation. The case against his two co-defendants fell apart and the murders remain unsolved.

Most recently, Lewis was reported to have used deer antler spray and pills, a substance banned by the NFL, to help heal a torn triceps. Lewis has denied taking any illegal substances.

Hype Surrounding Beyonce, Commercials

For non-football fans, today has been dubbed the Beyonce Bowl.

The megastar lip-synced on President Obama's second inauguration, she said in a press conference on Thursday, because she didn't feel fully prepared.

Will she sing live during the half-time show tonight?

Either way, fans don't seem to mind.

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Two worms, same brains – but one eats the other

IF TWO animals have identical brain cells, how different can they really be? Extremely. Two worm species have exactly the same set of neurons, but extensive rewiring allows them to lead completely different lives.

Ralf Sommer of the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany, and colleagues compared Caenorhabditis elegans, which eats bacteria, with Pristionchus pacificus, which hunts other worms. Both have a cluster of 20 neurons to control their foregut.

Sommer found that the clusters were identical. "These species are separated by 200 to 300 million years, but have the same cells," he says. P. pacificus, however, has denser connections than C. elegans, with neural signals passing through many more cells before reaching the muscles (Cell, doi.org/kbh). This suggests that P. pacificus is performing more complex motor functions, says Detlev Arendt of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany.

Arendt thinks predators were the first animals to evolve complex brains, to find and catch moving prey. He suggests their brains had flexible wiring, enabling them to swap from plant-eating to hunting.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Identical brains, but one eats the other"

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Tennis: Nadal shrugs off talk of return to number one

VINA DEL MAR, Chile: Rafael Nadal shrugged off talk of reclaiming the world number one spot on Saturday as the 11-time Grand Slam title winner prepared to return after a seven-month injury lay-off.

Nadal, now at five in the world after not having played since his shock second round defeat at Wimbledon in June, will be top seed at the Vina del Mar claycourt event next week.

But he is desperate to cool speculation over whether or not he will be able to return to the top of the rankings, a position currently occupied by Novak Djokovic.

"After seven months without playing, I am not even thinking of the world number one spot. I am just concentrating on doing my best," said the Spaniard.

Nadal was kept off the tour through a recurrence of his long-standing knee injury as well as illness.

Those setbacks meant he missed out on the Olympics, where he was the defending champion, the US Open, the 2012 Davis Cup final as well as last month's Australian Open.

"I am feeling good, but I need to have weeks of competition on the tour. I have to start slowly and with patience," said the seven-time French Open champion.

After playing in Chile, Nadal will head off to Brazil and Acapulco before testing his recovery to the full at the season's opening Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami.

"I don't worry now about running to be able to play the best I can. That can help me progress as far as possible," he said.

But the 26-year-old, whose ranking is at an eight-year low, warned: "I just want to be able to play at an acceptable level after such a long time."

Nadal, playing on a wild card, is top seed at the $410,000 tournament and will play doubles with Argentina's Juan Monaco on Tuesday.

In singles, he has a bye in the first round and will open his campaign at 2100GMT on Wednesday against either Argentina's Guido Pella, the world 97, or a qualifier.

- AFP/de

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For Valentine's Day, Cupid ditches arrows, opts for e-cards

Admit it. You've always wanted to love like John Travolta.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Romance isn't dead.

It's merely been reduced to the level of a friend request, a poke, and a privacy control.

Often in that order.

How else can one interpret the staggeringly predictable research -- performed on behalf of SOASTA, the oddly named company that performs cloud and mobile testing -- that suggests more than a third of American human beings will send an e-card for Valentine's Day?

It's true that some e-cards can be amusing, uplifting, even offering an instant surprise on an otherwise moribund day. But can they truly incite a loving feeling on America's most commercially amorous day of the year?

You will be stunned into loving only yourself for the rest of your days when I tell you that -- of the 2,474 American adults surveyed -- men seem a little keener on Valentine e-cards than women.

Indeed, this research offered that 47 percent of men between the ages of 35 and 44 indicated that the love of their life deserved merely a few clicks and a canned expression of love.

Next in enthusiasm were men aged 18-34, 41 percent of whom will let their fingers do the loving.

But let's not besmirch these men any more than they deserve. 41 percent of women aged 18-34 also claimed that e-cards were their chosen method to stroke their chosen one.

Clearly, convenience is at the heart of this e-card enthusiasm, just as it is at the heart of modern romance.

Respondents were radiant at the idea that e-cards are free. 35 percent beamed at the fact that they offer the possibility of animation. And a deeply serious 34 percent felt the need to point out they were environmentally friendly.

A surprisingly paltry 6 percent admitted that they loved e-cards because you could happily include NSFW content.

More Technically Incorrect

Because ours is an acquisitive society, those who send these free, convenient things to express their temporarily undying love actually expect something in return.

A kiss is expected by 8 percent. A fulsome 10 percent expect sex. They must be among those who believe you can get something for nothing.

There will be those who reach for their Latin and mutter: "Sic transit tragoedia mundi." (Oh, look it up, e-carders.)

But when a whole new personal version of oneself is being created and spun online, who can be surprised that other expressions of love might seem not merely passe but also downright unexpressive?

E-cards surely allow you a far greater breadth than paper cards or balloons to display precisely what you really feel about the most important person in your life.

Which, in the case of 3 percent of the respondents in this moving survey, is "the hot receptionist at work."

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Pictures We Love: Best of January

Photograph by Dieu Nalio Chery, AP

The magnitude 7 earthquake that struck near Port au Prince, Haiti, in January 2010 so devastated the country that recovery efforts are still ongoing.

Professional dancer Georges Exantus, one of the many casualties of that day, was trapped in his flattened apartment for three days, according to news reports. After friends dug him out, doctors amputated his right leg below the knee. With the help of a prosthetic leg, Exantus is able to dance again. (Read about his comeback.)

Why We Love It

"This is an intimate photo, taken in the subject's most personal space as he lies asleep and vulnerable, perhaps unaware of the photographer. The dancer's prosthetic leg lies in the foreground as an unavoidable reminder of the hardships he faced in the 2010 earthquake. This image makes me want to hear more of Georges' story."—Ben Fitch, associate photo editor

"This image uses aesthetics and the beauty of suggestion to tell a story. We are not given all the details in the image, but it is enough to make us question and wonder."—Janna Dotschkal, associate photo editor

Published February 1, 2013

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Body of Missing Mom Reportedly Found in Turkey

The body of an American woman who went missing while on a solo trip to Turkey has been pulled from a bay in Istanbul, and nine people have been held for questioning, according to local media.

Sarai Sierra, 33, was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was due to board a flight home to New York City.

The state-run Andolu Agency reported that residents found a woman's body today near the ruins of some ancient city walls in a low-income district, and police identified the body as Sierra.

Rep. Michael Grimm, R-NY, who with his staff had been assisting the Sierra family in the search, said he was "deeply saddened" to hear the news of her death.

"I urge Turkish officials to move quickly to identify whomever is responsible for her tragic death and ensure that any guilty parties are punished to the fullest extent of the law," he said in a statement.

Courtesy Sarai Sierra's family

Footage Shows Missing New York Mom in Turkish Mall Watch Video

NYC Woman Goes Missing While Traveling In Turkey Watch Video

New York Mother Goes Missing on Turkish Vacation Watch Video

The New York City mother, who has two young boys, traveled to Turkey alone on Jan. 7 after a friend had to cancel. Sierra, who is an avid photographer with a popular Instagram stream, planned to document her dream vacation with her camera.

"It was her first time outside of the United States, and every day while she was there she pretty much kept in contact with us, letting us know what she was up to, where she was going, whether it be through texting or whether it be through video chat, she was touching base with us," Steven Sierra told ABC News before he departed for Istanbul last Sunday to aid in the search.

Steven Sierra has been in the country, meeting with U.S. officials and local authorities, as they searched for his wife.

On Friday, Turkish authorities detained a man who had spoken with Sierra online before her disappearance. The identity of the man and the details of his arrest were not disclosed, The Associated Press reported.

The family said it is completely out of character for the happily married mother, who met her husband in church youth group, to disappear.

She took two side trips, to Amsterdam and Munich, before returning to Turkey, but kept in contact with her family the entire time, a family friend told ABC News.

Further investigation revealed she had left her passport, clothes, phone chargers and medical cards in her room at a hostel in Beyoglu, Turkey.

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