Two freshly assembled Grey Eagle unmanned aerial vehicles sit on the tarmac at Forward Operating Base Shan in Logar Province, Afghanistan in April, 2012.
By David Alexander, Reuters
WASHINGTON - With debate intensifying in the United States over the use of drone aircraft, the U.S. military said on Sunday that it had removed data about air strikes carried out by unmanned planes in Afghanistan from its monthly air power summaries.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Afghanistan war, said in a statement the data had been removed because it was "disproportionately focused" on the use of weapons by the remotely piloted aircraft as it was published only when strikes were carried out - which happened during only 3 percent of sorties. Most missions were for reconnaissance, it said.
The debate over the use of drones in Afghanistan and elsewhere was triggered in part by U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to nominate his chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan, an architect of the drone campaign, as the new director of the CIA.
The Air Force Times said air force chiefs had started posting the drone data last October in an attempt to provide more detail on the use of drones in Afghanistan.
The University of Missouri's journalism school is the oldest in the country and now among the first to experiment with the new -- and controversial ? drone technology. NBC's Thanh Truong reports.
The newspaper said the statistics were provided for November through January, but the February summary released on March 7 had a blank spot where the drone data had previously been listed.
"A variety of multi-role platforms provide ground commanders in Afghanistan with close air support capabilities, and it was determined that presenting the weapons release data as a whole better reflects the air power provided" in Afghanistan, Central Command said in its statement.
"Protecting civilians remains at the very core of AFCENT's (Air Force Central Command's) mission," it said. "The use of all AFCENT aerial weapons are tightly restricted, meticulously planned, carefully supervised and coordinated, and applied by only qualified and authorized personnel."
The statement said the decision to stop reporting the drone strikes was taken with the International Security Assistance Force - the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan.
Brennan was sworn into office on Friday following a protracted confirmation battle that saw Senator Rand Paul attempt to block a vote on the nomination with a technical maneuver called a filibuster, in which he tried to prevent a vote by talking continuously.
Paul held the Senate floor for more than 12 hours while talking mainly about drones, expressing concern that Obama's administration might use the aircraft to target U.S. citizens in the United States.
Related:
As drone furor ebbs, Senate confirms Brennan as CIA director
McCain, Graham assail Rand Paul on drone policy
Holder: No drone strikes in US, except in 'extraordinary circumstance'
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
All Critics (53) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (53) | Rotten (0)
What ultimately is so compelling about 56 Up is the universality of the experiences. We were all once children. And we all will die. And in between, there is everything else.
We feel good, refreshed and depressed in watching these people get older, also embarrassed in moments and cautioned about the passage of time.
Apted, himself now in his early 70s, says he hopes to continue the series further. Long may it live.
Watching "56 Up" gives you the wonderful feeling of seeing a sociological experiment blossom into something novelistically rich and humane.
Time has been neither kind nor cruel to the 13 men and women profiled in "56 UP." It has just been time, which is what this groundbreaking series is about.
We are all older now, and this series proves it in a most deeply moving way.
We might say that '56 Up' serves much the same function as 'Amour,' but it responds to the inevitability of decline with compassion, not dread.
What started as a crafty way of looking at the U.K.'s rigid class structure has grown into a portrait of melancholy middle age, with its heartbreaks and minor-key triumphs.
Those British kids are now 56
Watching the eighth film is intriguing but, in a way, disappointing. At this point in the game, it feels as if all the characters have determined their lots in life and are simply plodding through their interviews.
Quite simply one of the great documentary projects in the history of cinema, an engrossing sociological experiment on film; and though this mostly mellow installment isn't as revelatory as some earlier ones, it's still a remarkable document.
... feels like a retrospective and summation of the whole series, with ample quotation from the previous films, an approach that makes it interesting even for viewers who haven't seen the previous installments.
A completely unique and remarkable documentary project.
Apted skillfully weaves old footage with the new, and we become poignantly aware of another factor shaping their lives (and our own): biology, as the we watch the once-cute kids grow gray and heavy.
Perhaps the boldest and probably longest running sociological experiment on film.
I think the best thing about this movie (and the entire series) is that it forces the viewer to think about their own lives. It's kind of an awakening experience.
Once again, Apted assembles a captivating documentary that's profoundly educational, essential viewing to aid the understanding of the human experience.
"56 Up" is well worth seeing.
56 Up is still moving and philosophic, though not as exciting as earlier episodes, which had more drama.
The running time is over two hours, but the lives here are richly revealed and vastly rewarding.
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Green tea extract interferes with the formation of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's diseasePublic release date: 5-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Laura J. Williams laurajw@umich.edu 734-615-4862 University of Michigan
ANN ARBORResearchers at the University of Michigan have found a new potential benefit of a molecule in green tea: preventing the misfolding of specific proteins in the brain.
The aggregation of these proteins, called metal-associated amyloids, is associated with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.
A paper published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences explained how U-M Life Sciences Institute faculty member Mi Hee Lim and an interdisciplinary team of researchers used green tea extract to control the generation of metal-associated amyloid-? aggregates associated with Alzheimer's disease in the lab.
The specific molecule in green tea, ()-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, also known as EGCG, prevented aggregate formation and broke down existing aggregate structures in the proteins that contained metalsspecifically copper, iron and zinc.
"A lot of people are very excited about this molecule," said Lim, noting that the EGCG and other flavonoids in natural products have long been established as powerful antioxidants. "We used a multidisciplinary approach. This is the first example of structure-centric, multidisciplinary investigations by three principal investigators with three different areas of expertise."
The research team included chemists, biochemists and biophysicists.
While many researchers are investigating small molecules and metal-associated amyloids, most are looking from a limited perspective, said Lim, assistant professor of chemistry and research assistant professor at the Life Sciences Institute, where her lab is located and her research is conducted.
"But we believe you have to have a lot of approaches working together, because the brain is very complex," she said.
The PNAS paper was a starting point, Lim said, and her team's next step is to "tweak" the molecule and then test its ability to interfere with plaque formation in fruit flies.
"We want to modify them for the brain, specifically to interfere with the plaques associated with Alzheimer's," she said.
Lim plans to collaborate with Bing Ye, a neurobiologist in the LSI. Together, the researchers will test the new molecule's power to inhibit potential toxicity of aggregates containing proteins and metals in fruit flies.
###
Other authors of the paper, all from U-M, are: Sanghyun Lee and Jung-Suk Choi of the Life Sciences Institute; Alaina DeToma, Suk-Joon Hyung, Akiko Kochi and Brandon Ruotoloa of the Department of Chemistry; and Jeffrey Brender, Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy and Subramanian Vivekanandan of the Department of Chemistry and Biophysics.
The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, American Heart Association, and a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation
Study: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/02/19/1220326110.abstract
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Green tea extract interferes with the formation of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's diseasePublic release date: 5-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Laura J. Williams laurajw@umich.edu 734-615-4862 University of Michigan
ANN ARBORResearchers at the University of Michigan have found a new potential benefit of a molecule in green tea: preventing the misfolding of specific proteins in the brain.
The aggregation of these proteins, called metal-associated amyloids, is associated with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.
A paper published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences explained how U-M Life Sciences Institute faculty member Mi Hee Lim and an interdisciplinary team of researchers used green tea extract to control the generation of metal-associated amyloid-? aggregates associated with Alzheimer's disease in the lab.
The specific molecule in green tea, ()-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, also known as EGCG, prevented aggregate formation and broke down existing aggregate structures in the proteins that contained metalsspecifically copper, iron and zinc.
"A lot of people are very excited about this molecule," said Lim, noting that the EGCG and other flavonoids in natural products have long been established as powerful antioxidants. "We used a multidisciplinary approach. This is the first example of structure-centric, multidisciplinary investigations by three principal investigators with three different areas of expertise."
The research team included chemists, biochemists and biophysicists.
While many researchers are investigating small molecules and metal-associated amyloids, most are looking from a limited perspective, said Lim, assistant professor of chemistry and research assistant professor at the Life Sciences Institute, where her lab is located and her research is conducted.
"But we believe you have to have a lot of approaches working together, because the brain is very complex," she said.
The PNAS paper was a starting point, Lim said, and her team's next step is to "tweak" the molecule and then test its ability to interfere with plaque formation in fruit flies.
"We want to modify them for the brain, specifically to interfere with the plaques associated with Alzheimer's," she said.
Lim plans to collaborate with Bing Ye, a neurobiologist in the LSI. Together, the researchers will test the new molecule's power to inhibit potential toxicity of aggregates containing proteins and metals in fruit flies.
###
Other authors of the paper, all from U-M, are: Sanghyun Lee and Jung-Suk Choi of the Life Sciences Institute; Alaina DeToma, Suk-Joon Hyung, Akiko Kochi and Brandon Ruotoloa of the Department of Chemistry; and Jeffrey Brender, Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy and Subramanian Vivekanandan of the Department of Chemistry and Biophysics.
The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, American Heart Association, and a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation
Study: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/02/19/1220326110.abstract
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Tue Mar 5, 2013 2:37pm EST
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The first of two comets heading toward the sun this year made its closest approach to Earth on Tuesday and will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere beginning on Thursday.
Skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere have been able to see Comet Pan-STARRS for weeks at twilight, even without binoculars or a telescope. The comet came about 100 million miles (161 million km) from Earth on Tuesday.
"As Comet Pan-STARRS was setting on the southwestern horizon, its nucleus was visible to the naked eye," photographer Michael White from Manawatu, New Zealand, wrote to accompany a stunning image of the comet posted on the SpaceWeather.com website.
The comet, officially known as Comet C/2011 L4, was discovered in June 2011 by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, or Pan-STARRS, in Hawaii.
Comet Pan-STARRS is believed to be a first-time visitor to Earth after being gravitationally bumped out from the Oort Cloud, a repository of small icy bodies located beyond Pluto in the solar system's back yard.
Comets, which are comprised of minerals, rocks and ice, are believed to be remnants from the formation of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago.
As a comet approaches the sun, some of its ice vaporizes, creating an envelope of gas and dust, called a coma, around its body. The heating also generates two tails, each of which can be more than 1 million miles (1.6 million km) long.
One tail is comprised of dust and the other is made of molecules ionized by sunlight.
Comet Pan-STARRS currently is inside the orbit of Mercury and brightening as it heads toward the sun.
"Observers in the Southern Hemisphere say the comet can be seen with the naked eye even through city lights. Currently, it is about as bright as the stars of the Big Dipper. The comet could become even brighter when it moves into Northern Hemisphere skies in the second week of March," SpaceWeather.com reports.
Northern Hemisphere sky-watchers will get their chance to see the comet beginning on Thursday, though the best views may come later in the month.
"To see it, you will need an unobstructed, cloudless view of the western horizon. It is best to pick a dark spot, away from street lights," University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy wrote in a press release.
The comet should be visible in the direction of the setting sun just after the sun slips below the horizon. Twilight and moonlight may make viewing the comet difficult. The best opportunity to see it may be on March 13 when the comet appears just beneath a thin crescent moon, astronomers said.
By the end of the month, Comet Pan-STARRS will appear in the eastern skies just before sunrise, but it will be farther from the sun and Earth and fainter.
Comet Pan-STARRS may just be the warm-up act for another celestial visitor due to arrive in November. If it is not destroyed by the sun, Comet ISON has the potential to be as bright as a full moon, possibly even visible in daylight.
Comet ISON, which was discovered last year by two amateur astronomers in Russia, is expected to pass as close as 684,000 miles (1.1 million km) from the surface of the sun - about four times closer than Comet Pan-STARRS will pass during its closest approach to the sun on Sunday.
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Public release date: 5-Mar-2013
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