SAN FRANCISCO ? Dr. Richard Olney, an internationally renowned researcher who dedicated his life to finding a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease, has died after his own eight-year battle with the disease. He was 64.
The University of California, San Francisco announced Monday that Olney died Friday at his Marin County home.
He had spent nearly his entire 25-year research career at UCSF, the last 18 investigating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS.
Olney launched the UCSF ALS Center in 1993 to pursue treatments for the disease, which causes patients to gradually lose control of their muscles. It now serves 375 patients.
Olney resigned from the center in 2004 to attend to his own health. He enrolled as the first human subject in a test he helped design of a drug used to combat cancer and the other for AIDS that showed promise in slowing ALS' progress. He adhered to the experiment's rigid guidelines and didn't seek to determine if he was receiving the drugs or medically useless placebos until the end of the test.
"It was typical of Rick to put the value of the medical research before himself and not take the drugs outside the boundaries of the trial," said Dr. Catherine Lomen-Hoerth, an Olney protege who took over leadership of the center. "He knew it was highly unlikely that a treatment would be found during his lifetime, but nothing was going to stop him from doing whatever he could to advance the research."
Olney was in the group that received the actual drugs.
"It may have helped," Lomen-Hoerth said. "It's hard to know. Early-stage clinical trials like this involve low doses that are designed to test drug safety, as opposed to efficacy."
Some 30,000 Americans have ALS, a small number when compared to other brain diseases.
About 10,000 new cases are diagnosed every year. And while about 10 percent of the cases have genetic roots, it's not known how the other 90 percent occur. It's not contagious and much of current research is focused on genetic and environmental factors of disease that still mystifies experts today as much as it did when New York Yankee slugger Lou Gehrig died of it in 1941.
Olney graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor's degree in 1968. He received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1973.
He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Paula; two children and a grandson. A private memorial is planned. The family asked for donations to be made Olney's name to the UCSF ALS Center.
It's been rumored for sometime, but Steve Jones has just confirmed on Twitter that he won't be returning as host for season two of The X Factor.
X Factor Winner Reveals $5 Million Plan
"I wont be hosting next seasons XFactor which is a shame but I cant complain as I've had a great time," he wrote. "Good luck to everyone on the show."
Will Nicole Scherzinger follow suit?
We'll always have fond memories of you, Steve! Particularly how much you appreciated those "sexy dancing people" and how much we appreciated your sexy stripping!
Contact: Adi Himpson adi.himpson@oerc.ox.ac.uk 44-186-561-0620 Harvard University
New standards allow disparate data sets to integrate
Led by researchers at University of Oxford (UK) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) at Harvard University, (USA), more than 50 collaborators at over 30 scientific organizations around the globe have agreed on a common standard that will make possible the consistent description of enormous and radically different databases
compiled in fields ranging from genetics to stem cell science, to environmental studies.
The new standard provides a way for scientists in widely disparate fields to co-ordinate each other's findings by allowing behind-the-scenes combination of the mountains of
data produced by modern, technology driven science.
"We are now working together to provide the means to manage enormous quantities of otherwise incompatible data, ranging from the biomedical to the environmental," says
Susanna-Assunta Sansone, Ph.D, Team Leader of the project at the University of Oxford's Oxford e-Research Centre.
This standard-compliant data sharing effort and the establishment of its on-line presence, the ISA Commons www.isacommons.org, is described in a Commentary published today in the journal Nature Genetics. The commentary is signed by all the collaborators.
"An example of how this works at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute is that we can now find a relationship between experiments involving normal blood stem cells in fish and cancers in children", says Winston Hide, director of HSCI's new Center for Stem Cell
Bioinformatics, and an associate Professor of Bioinformatics at the Harvard School of Public Health.
ISA Commons is also being used at Harvard Medical School (HMS) by the
HMS LINCS (Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures)
project, led by Professors Peter Sorger and Timothy Mitchison.
It was necessary to establish common data standards, say the commentary's authors, because of the tsunami of data and technologies washing over the sciences. "There are hundreds of new technologies coming along but also many ways to describe the
information produced" said Sansone, noting that "we can take a jigsaw puzzle of different sciences and now fit the many pieces together to form a complete picture".
"One of the things that I find most empowering about this effort is that now small research groups can begin to store laboratory data using this framework, complying with community standards, without their own dedicated bioinformatics support. It is a bit like Facebook allowing everyone to create their own website pages - suddenly you don't need to be an expert in computing to get your data out to the rest of the world", says Dr. Jules Griffin, of the University of Cambridge.
"What we like about it is its unifying nature across different bioscience fields and institutions", says Dr. Christoph Steinbeck, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, The
European Bioinformatics Institute.
And "it also has the potential to work for large centers too", says Scott Edmunds, editor of the journal published by open-access publisher BioMedCentral and BGI Shenzhen
(previously known as the Beijing Genomics Institute) the world's largest genomics institute, "We are working with this framework to help harmonizing and presenting may
large-data types as possible in a common standardized and usable form, publishing it in the associated GigaScience journal."
###
The work was funded, by among others, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
The Oxford e-Research Centre works across the
University of Oxford, and at national and international level, to accelerate research
through development of innovative computational and information technologies in multidisciplinary collaborations.
The Harvard Stem Cell Institute is a collaboration of more than 100 Harvard and Harvard-affiliated scientists dedicated to using the power of stem cell biology to advance basic understanding of human development in order to develop treatments and cures for a host of degenerative conditions and diseases.
B. D. Colen, Harvard Stem Cell Institute
bd_colen@harvard.edu - 617-495-7821/617-413-1224
Adi Himpson, Oxford e-Research Centre, University of Oxford
adi.himpson@oerc.ox.ac.uk - +44 1865 610620
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Adi Himpson adi.himpson@oerc.ox.ac.uk 44-186-561-0620 Harvard University
New standards allow disparate data sets to integrate
Led by researchers at University of Oxford (UK) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) at Harvard University, (USA), more than 50 collaborators at over 30 scientific organizations around the globe have agreed on a common standard that will make possible the consistent description of enormous and radically different databases
compiled in fields ranging from genetics to stem cell science, to environmental studies.
The new standard provides a way for scientists in widely disparate fields to co-ordinate each other's findings by allowing behind-the-scenes combination of the mountains of
data produced by modern, technology driven science.
"We are now working together to provide the means to manage enormous quantities of otherwise incompatible data, ranging from the biomedical to the environmental," says
Susanna-Assunta Sansone, Ph.D, Team Leader of the project at the University of Oxford's Oxford e-Research Centre.
This standard-compliant data sharing effort and the establishment of its on-line presence, the ISA Commons www.isacommons.org, is described in a Commentary published today in the journal Nature Genetics. The commentary is signed by all the collaborators.
"An example of how this works at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute is that we can now find a relationship between experiments involving normal blood stem cells in fish and cancers in children", says Winston Hide, director of HSCI's new Center for Stem Cell
Bioinformatics, and an associate Professor of Bioinformatics at the Harvard School of Public Health.
ISA Commons is also being used at Harvard Medical School (HMS) by the
HMS LINCS (Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures)
project, led by Professors Peter Sorger and Timothy Mitchison.
It was necessary to establish common data standards, say the commentary's authors, because of the tsunami of data and technologies washing over the sciences. "There are hundreds of new technologies coming along but also many ways to describe the
information produced" said Sansone, noting that "we can take a jigsaw puzzle of different sciences and now fit the many pieces together to form a complete picture".
"One of the things that I find most empowering about this effort is that now small research groups can begin to store laboratory data using this framework, complying with community standards, without their own dedicated bioinformatics support. It is a bit like Facebook allowing everyone to create their own website pages - suddenly you don't need to be an expert in computing to get your data out to the rest of the world", says Dr. Jules Griffin, of the University of Cambridge.
"What we like about it is its unifying nature across different bioscience fields and institutions", says Dr. Christoph Steinbeck, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, The
European Bioinformatics Institute.
And "it also has the potential to work for large centers too", says Scott Edmunds, editor of the journal published by open-access publisher BioMedCentral and BGI Shenzhen
(previously known as the Beijing Genomics Institute) the world's largest genomics institute, "We are working with this framework to help harmonizing and presenting may
large-data types as possible in a common standardized and usable form, publishing it in the associated GigaScience journal."
###
The work was funded, by among others, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
The Oxford e-Research Centre works across the
University of Oxford, and at national and international level, to accelerate research
through development of innovative computational and information technologies in multidisciplinary collaborations.
The Harvard Stem Cell Institute is a collaboration of more than 100 Harvard and Harvard-affiliated scientists dedicated to using the power of stem cell biology to advance basic understanding of human development in order to develop treatments and cures for a host of degenerative conditions and diseases.
B. D. Colen, Harvard Stem Cell Institute
bd_colen@harvard.edu - 617-495-7821/617-413-1224
Adi Himpson, Oxford e-Research Centre, University of Oxford
adi.himpson@oerc.ox.ac.uk - +44 1865 610620
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
HIALEAH, Fla. ? If Mitt Romney wins Tuesday's primary, a sliver of the GOP electorate in Florida may be one of the big reasons. Cuban-Americans are deeply committed voters who can have an impact in competitive races, and Romney has strong support among the influential Cuban-American establishment.
Older exiles also tend to vote heavily through absentee ballots, where the former Massachusetts governor all but certainly has an edge. And the candidate's emphasis on fixing the economy is resonating with backers like Jesus Ovidez, who cares more about jobs than he does U.S. policy toward Cuba.
"When we are in a better position here, then we can worry about over there. But first you have to put your own house in order," said Ovidez, who spent months in a forced labor camp before fleeing the island in the late 1960s.
Ovidez has been a co-owner of Chico's Restaurant in the heavily Cuban-American community of Hialeah north of Miami for more than 30 years. He gestured around to the mostly empty chairs during one recent lunch hour and talked about how Romney's emphasis on the economy was one of the main reasons he already has cast his vote for the former businessman.
"There's no money. People don't go out to eat any more," said Ovidez. Maybe, he said, Romney can help change that. Plus, Ovidez argued, Romney is the only Republican who can beat President Barack Obama, saying: "He's an individual who is a millionaire, and with money you win elections."
During the past week, a series of polls have shown Romney pulling ahead of chief challenger Newt Gingrich in the run up to Tuesday's primary.
Overall, roughly 11.1 percent of registered Republicans in Florida are Hispanic. And of all Hispanic voters in the state, 32.1 percent are Cuban, 28.4 percent are Puerto Rican and 25 percent come mostly from Central and South America., according to the Pew Hispanic Center, which cites the Florida Division of Elections.
Ana Carbonell, a longtime political operative now working for Romney, estimates that 14 percent of the GOP primary vote comes from Miami-Dade County and, of that, 75 percent is Cuban-American.
Generally, Cuban-American voters have the highest turnout rates. In 2008, they helped John McCain win the primary over Romney, who lost heavily in Miami-Dade County, where this voting group is most concentrated.
Cuban-American voters are particularly reliable in the primary in part because so many of the older exiles vote early through absentee ballots, and Romney's campaign ? with the significant help from local Cuban-American political leaders ? has led all other campaigns in encouraging Floridians to vote before Tuesday. He or his allies have been on the TV airwaves since December targeting early voters. And in recent days, they have flooded Spanish-radio and TV with ads attacking Gingrich.
Romney's strength among the old-guard Cuban-Americans was evident last week when he received a standing ovation before he even spoke to more than 400 exile political and civic leaders. They packed the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, where thousands fleeing Fidel Castro's revolution first received health care and were processed by immigration officers in the 1960s. Romney was flanked by prominent Cuban-American politicians, including former Sen. Mel Martinez and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress.
While Romney highlighted his business background and spoke on the economy, he also tapped into the pride many Cuban-Americans still feel toward the island nation and their angst over its leaders.
"If I'm fortunate enough to become the next president, it is my expectation that Fidel Castro will finally be taken off this planet," Romney told the crowd to wild applause. Castro, 85, has been ill since 2006, when he handed over power to his brother, Raul. "We have to be prepared, in the next president's first or second term, it is time to strike for freedom in Cuba."
Arguably the state's most popular Cuban-American politician, Sen. Marco Rubio, has withheld an endorsement during the primary but came to Romney's defense in the past week, criticizing Gingrich over an ad that labeled Romney anti-immigrant.
Gingrich, for his part, has called for a U.S.-supported "Cuban spring" uprising against the long-standing communist regime.
If elected, he told a crowd of Hispanic business and civic leaders Friday, he would bring to bear "the moral force of an American president who is serious about intending to free the people of Cuba, and willingness to intimidate those who are the oppressors and say to them, `You will be held accountable.'"
Gingrich has talked of covert action to overthrow the government of Raul Castro, though he insisted such efforts would not include violence.
And he signed a pledge to roll back the ability of Cubans to visit and send money to relatives on the island to the strict limits Bush imposed in 2004. Such promises play well in the older exile community, many of whose homes were confiscated during the Cuban revolution and are far less likely than newer Cuban immigrants to have close family there.
Gingrich also aired a Spanish-language radio ad in South Florida, reminding voters of Romney's 2007 presidential campaign gaffe, in which he proudly declared in Little Havana, "Patria or muerte, venceremos!" (Fatherland or death, we shall overcome) ? not realizing the line was a slogan of Fidel Castro.
All that has helped sway retired insurance agent and Cuban exile Bernardo Diaz.
Last week, he declared his vote for Romney.
"I don't want Obama, and he's the only one who can win," Diaz said, as he puffed on a cigarette outside the famed Versailles Restaurant in Miami's Little Havana.
Days later, he had changed his mind, saying: "I'm leaning toward Gingrich. Gingrich seems more energetic, stronger on Cuba."
BAGHDAD ? A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol in southeastern Baghdad killed one person on Sunday, officials said. The attack came two days after a blast in the same area claimed the lives of 33 people.
The bomb in Baghdad's predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Zafaraniyah wounded nine others, police said. A police vehicle and a civilian car were damaged by the explosion, they added.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualties.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
On Friday, a suicide car bomber struck a Shiite funeral procession in Zafaraniyah. Many Iraqis suspect al-Qaida militants of engineering a recent series of attacks on Shiites to provoke a counterattack by Shiite militias, and rekindle widespread sectarian conflict now that U.S. troops have left Iraq.
Al-Qaida and other Sunni extremist groups are also thought to be exploiting sectarian tensions in the wake of a political crisis which erupted last month, after authorities in the Shiite-dominated government issued an arrest warrant against the Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on terrorism charges.
In protest, the Sunni-backed bloc has been boycotting parliament and Cabinet sessions.
BERLIN (Reuters) ? The 62nd Berlin film festival opens on Thursday February 9. and ends on February 19., with the awards ceremony taking place on February 18.
Following are the 22 films in the main competition line-up, along with the production countries, the name of the director and the names of major stars. Five are not in the running for awards. Another film will be announced on January 31.
- Aujourdhui (France/Senegal) by Alain Gomis.
- Coming Home (France) by Fr?d?ric Videau.
- Barbara (Germany) by Christian Petzold.
- Bel Ami (Britain) by Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod and starring Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Christina Ricci.*
- Captive (France/Philippines/Germany/Britain) by Brillante Mendoza.
- Caesar Must Die (Italy) by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.
- Just The Wind (Hungary/Germany/ France) by Bence Fliegauf.
- Childish Games (Spain) by Antonio Chavarr?as.
- A Royal Affair (Denmark/Czech Republic/Germany/Sweden) by Nikolaj Arcel.
- Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close (USA) by Stephen Daldry and starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock.*
- Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate (Hong Kong, China) by Hark Tsui.*
- Mercy (Germany/Norway) by Matthias Glasner.
- Jayne Mansfield's Car (Russian Federation/USA) by Billy Bob Thornton and starring Billy Bob Thornton, Robert Duvall, John Hurt, and Kevin Bacon.
- Postcards From The Zoo (Indonesia/Germany/Hong Kong, China) by Edwin.
- Sister (Switzerland/France) by Ursula Meier.
- Farewell My Queen (France/Spain) by Beno?t Jacquot, starring Diane Kruger.
- Meteora (Germany/Greece) by Spiros Stathoulopoulos.
- Rebelle (Canada) by Kim Nguyen.
- Shadow Dancer (Britain/Ireland) by James Marsh and starring Clive Owen.*
- The Flowers Of War (People's Republic of China) by Zhang Yimou and starring Christian Bale.*
- Tabu (Portugal/Germany/Brazil/France) by Miguel Gomes.
- Home For The Weekend (Germany) by Hans-Christian Schmid.
NOTE: * denotes films not competing for prizes.
(Reporting by Alice Baghdjian, editing by Paul Casciato)
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FRANKLIN, Ind. ? A private central Indiana liberal arts college says it has received a $4.2 million bequest from the estate of a longtime trustee.
Franklin College says the donation came from the estate of Fort Wayne native and longtime Indianapolis resident Effie Joan Behrens. She died in December 2010 after having been a Franklin College trustee since 1991.
The college says 75 percent of her bequest has gone to an endowment for student scholarships and the college's relationship with the American Baptist Church. The Franklin College Board of Trustees directed the remaining money to a capital campaign.
The board's also named the new college softball facility Behrens Field. The college says Behrens had played softball in her youth.
During cocktail hour at a Manhattan art gallery in May 2008, German-born Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter politely introduced himself to socialite Roxane West as someone he was not.
"I was standing there looking at a painting and he came over ... a gentleman," West remembered. He introduced himself as Clark Rockefeller, a member of the storied New York family, charming West as he had done many other women, mostly wealthy but sometimes not.
For despite his smooth demeanor, prosecutors say, Gerhartsreiter was a serial con artist and a rough customer.
This week, Gerhartsreiter and his defense lawyers have attended a preliminary hearing in Alhambra Superior Court, where he was ordered Wednesday to stand trial in the 1985 murder of John Sohus. The victim?s remains were unearthed in 1994 at a San Marino, Calif., property owned by Sohus' mother, where Gerhartsreiter once lived in a guest house.
Only on msnbc.com
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Whirlwind weeks for formerly homeless student
Banks may not like new mortgage task force
Jerry Brown aims for California comeback
Sorry I'm late, boss, my cat had the hiccups
"Dateline NBC" details the new developments in the decades-old case in a one-hour special report Friday at 10 p.m. ET. NBC News' Mike Tabibi retraces Gerhartsreiter?s shape-shifting cross-country journey and the new evidence that has surfaced after so many years.
"He's always maintained his innocence," said attorney Jeffrey Denner. "At the end of the day he believes he will be vindicated."
When he first arrived in San Marino in the 1980s, Gerhartsreiter identified himself as ?Christopher Chichester, the 13th baronet of Chichester.? Meredith Brucker, who became a regular acquaintance of Chichester's, told NBC News that he tempered his alleged aristocracy with a quick likeability.
"I just called him Chichester," Brucker said. "He even laughed about it being pretentious, so he was self-deprecating."
By day, he claimed to take filmmaking classes at the University of Southern California, even starring in his own student horror film. By night, he enchanted wealthy widows at San Marino's Church of Our Savior social events.
"My father introduced us,? said Carol Campbell, who was then a college student, describing a date with Chichester. "I assumed it was lunch, but instead we went on a series of errands, like to the post office. It didn't add up.?
His story further unraveled when he asked Cori Woods out on a date to the movies. Woods was 12 years old at the time.
"My mom said a very definitive 'no,' and then after that, it got a little weird," Woods said. "He started asking other inappropriate girls out ... not age-appropriate."
Chichester was living at the time in the guest house of Ruth Sohus, the divorced mother of an only son, John.
John and his wife, Linda, suddenly packed up one day in 1985 and left to pursue secretive government jobs in Paris, leaving Ruth alone with Chichester.
Chichester, who, it turned out, had been the point of contact for the overseas jobs, continually reassured Ruth that John and Linda were alive and doing fine. Detectives later speculated that he also assumed the role of surrogate son to Ruth Sohus while John had been away.
But in spring 1985, John and Linda Sohus were reported missing, and a few months later Christopher Chichester left San Marino, heading East. He discarded his business card emblazoned with the Chichester heraldic arms and put on "the Rockefeller Suit," as reporter Mark Seal characterized it in his book "The Man in the Rockefeller Suit."
Clark Rockefeller was every bit as charming as Christopher Chichester, and just as quirky.
Socialite Roxane West showed NBC News several coy and strange text messages she received from him:
?I did want to tell you that I find you superbly ... never mind,? read one. ?Perhaps go to Central Park and kiss for an hour or so??
?In a submarine. Crowded. Strange ? thought of you just a minute ago.?
"The texts were so wild and so farfetched," said West. "You would giggle and go, 'Where does he come up with this stuff?'"
Rockefeller settled on Boston's Beacon Hill, where he lived as husband to Harvard MBA Sandra Boss and as a loving father to their daughter.
The con artist appeared genuinely happy, said neighbor Amy Patt. "I saw Clark as a doting father,? she said. ?He would carry her on his shoulder. He would gloat about how smart she was."
But when Boss divorced Rockefeller in 2008, taking their daughter with her, Clark Rockefeller kidnapped the girl. He was quickly caught, and his trail of lies tracked back to California.
While he was convicted of his daughter?s kidnapping in 2008, Gerhartsreiter maintains he is innocent of killing John Sohus.
As for his years posing as Chichester and Rockefeller, Gerhartstreiter gave a simple reply to the FBI in trancsripts obtained by The Boston Globe:
"If you're born short, you want to be bigger."
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Romney revising disclosures for overseas accounts
No, President Obama isn't actually proposing to cut defense spending
Buy a hamburger and get rewarded with Facebook Credits to spend on a virtual cow. That's the mouth-watering promise of startup Plink, which is launching a virtual currency loyalty rewards system for restaurants. You register a credit card with Plink, and then when you make purchases at Taco Bell, 7-Eleven, Dunkin Donuts, or one of Plink's other clients you'll get Facebook Credits automatically deposited into your account.?As demand for Facebook Credits to spend on social games and media increases, expect more virtual currency incentive companies like Plink to pop up.
U.S. military forces launched a dramatic raid in Somalia that freed an American and a Dane held hostage. NBC?s Jim Miklaszewski reports.
>>rescue was carried out a short time before
president obama
delivered the
state of the union address
.
>>the president appeared to have referenced the raid before the speech when he said "good job" to
leon panetta
.
>>this morning he released a statement thanking
special operations forces
for their, quote, extraordinary courage and capability. we want to go to
jim miklaszewski
at the pentagon for more on this. good morning.
>> reporter: good morning, ann. score another one for
u.s. special operations forces
who rescued these two hostages. remarkably, this mission was, indeed, still unfolding even during the president's
state of the union speech
. and it was, in fact, the president who dropped a hint that something was going down.
president obama
himself tipped off the world to the rescue when he openly thanked
leon panetta
before his speech.
>>good job tonight.
>> reporter: the president got word that
jessica buchanan
and paul fisted were rescued in the raid in somalia. two teams of
u.s. navy
s.e.a.l.s in helicopters landed near the compound where the two hostages were held. as the s.e.a.l.s approached they came under intense fires. nine kidnappers were killed. no americans were wounded. the s.e.a.l.s grabbed the hostages, loaded them into choppers and flew them to an undisclosed location outside somalia. buchanan and fisted were working for the
danish council
providing relief for so mali refugees when they were kidnapped in october. in a
white house
photo released minutes ago
president obama
is seen on the telephone immediately after that
state of the union speech
last night telling
jessica buchanan
's father that his daughter had been rescued. neither one of the hostages was hurt during the raid. they are getting
medical examinations
in that region before heading home bringing the three-month-old
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama began a campaign-style swing through political battleground states on Wednesday, pitching his State of the Union initiatives on taxes and jobs as he made his case for a second term.
Fresh from his election-year speech to Congress, Obama amplified his proposals for rewarding companies that keep jobs at home and eliminating tax breaks for those that outsource overseas. He also pressed his argument for higher taxes on the rich.
Obama used his last State of the Union speech before the November election to cast himself as a champion of the middle class, but with polls showing most Americans unhappy with his economic leadership he faces a tough re-election challenge.
Embarking on a three-day, five-state tour starting in Iowa, Obama defended his record and sought to turn up the heat on Republicans in Congress he has accused of obstructing his economic recovery efforts.
"There are people in Washington who seem to have collective amnesia. They seem to have forgotten how we got into this mess," Obama told workers at a conveyor belt factory in Iowa. "They want to go back to the very same policies ... that have stacked the deck against middle-class Americans for years."
Republicans have accused Obama of promoting the "politics of envy" and pursuing policies that kill jobs and hinder growth.
While the biggest proposals in Obama's speech are considered unlikely to gain traction in a deeply divided Congress, the White House believes he can tap into voters' resentment over Wall Street excesses and Washington's dysfunction.
He used his Iowa visit primarily to build on his State of the Union assault on tax breaks he says reward U.S. firms for shipping jobs overseas. He has also called for a minimum international tax on the overseas profits of American firms.
As he spoke, the White House rolled out more details, including new tax breaks for U.S. manufacturers and closing loopholes for companies' income overseas.
"We've got to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas," Obama said.
He planned to keep the focus on jobs at a stop in Arizona on Wednesday. A Nevada visit is likely to highlight proposed remedies for the housing crisis. He will also go to Colorado and Michigan. All are states crucial to his re-election chances.
ON THE BIG STAGE
In his Tuesday night address that afforded him one of his biggest political stages of the year, Obama set as a central campaign theme a populist call for greater economic fairness.
He mentioned taxes 34 times and jobs 32 times during his hourlong speech, emphasizing the two issues at the heart of this year's presidential campaign.
But Obama seemed to put no blame on himself for a fragile economic recovery and high unemployment that could trip up his re-election bid.
A highlight of Obama's speech was his call to set a 30 percent minimum tax on millionaires, known as the "Buffet rule" because it is favored by billionaire Warren Buffett.
Obama's message could resonate in the 2012 campaign following the release of tax records by Mitt Romney, a potential Republican rival and one of the wealthiest men ever to run for the White House. He pays a lower effective tax rate than many top wage-earners.
Democrats have hammered Republicans in Congress for supporting tax breaks that favor the wealthy. Republicans staunchly oppose tax hikes, even on the richest Americans, arguing they would hurt the economic recovery.
"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said in the Republican response to Obama.
In a critique of Obama's speech, Romney, campaigning in Florida for Tuesday's party primary, accused the Democratic president of being "detached from reality" in his appeals to voters who have suffered economic hardship under his tenure.
Obama's challenge is clear. The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.5 percent in December. No president in the modern era has won re-election with the rate that high.
As a result, Obama cast a wide net in his State of the Union speech.
Taking aim at China - an election-year target of Republicans and Democrats alike over its currency and trade practices - Obama proposed creation of a new trade enforcement unit.
Obama said he would ask his attorney general to establish a special financial crimes unit to prosecute those parties charged with breaking the law, and whose fraud contributed to the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
He also said he would send to Congress a proposal to allow more Americans to take out new and cheaper mortgages as long as they are current on their payments, savings that would amount to $3,000 per household each year. The depressed housing market continues to drag on the economy.
(Additional reporting by Alister Bull and Steve Holland, writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? European Union governments agreed on Monday to an immediate ban on all new contracts to import, buy or transport Iranian crude oil, a move to put pressure on Tehran's disputed nuclear program by shutting off its main source of foreign income.
However, to protect Europe's economy as it battles to overcome a debt crisis, the governments agreed to phase in the embargo, giving countries with existing contracts with Iran until July 1, 2012 to end those deals.
At a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, EU governments also agreed to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank and to ban all trade in diamonds, gold and other precious metals with the bank and other public bodies.
Western powers hope the far stricter sanctions net, which brings the EU more closely into line with U.S. policy, will force Iran to scale back or halt its nuclear work, which Europe and the United States believe is aimed at developing weapons. Iran says it is enriching uranium solely for peaceful purposes.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she wanted financial sanctions to persuade Tehran to return to negotiations with the West , which she represents in talks with Iran.
"I want the pressure of these sanctions to result in negotiations," she told reporters before the ministers met.
"I want to see Iran come back to the table and either pick up all the ideas that we left on the table ... last year ... or to come forward with its own ideas," she said.
Tehran says its nuclear program is necessary to meet its rising energy needs, but the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency said last year it had evidence that suggested Iran had worked on designing a nuclear weapon.
In a statement, EU ministers said a recent move by Iran to start enriching uranium at its underground Fordow nuclear plant was a "flagrant violation" of U.N. resolutions.
"(It) further aggravates concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program," the ministers said.
EU sanctions follow fresh financial measures signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve mainly targeting the oil sector, which accounts for some 90 percent of Iranian exports to the EU. The European Union, a bloc of more than half a billion people, is Iran's largest oil customer after China.
MEASURED STEPS
Economic considerations weighed heavily on EU preparations for the embargo in recent weeks, because of the heavy dependence of some EU states on Iranian crude. As a result, concessions pushed for by states such Greece will likely blunt the impact of EU sanctions for now, experts said.
Greece, which is at the heart of the debt crisis and relies on international aid to stay afloat, sources about a quarter of its oil imports from Iran because of favorable financing terms, and must now seek alternative sources.
It had pushed strongly for a grace period on existing deals and had originally argued it needed a year to prepare.
To reassure the Greek government, its EU peers agreed to return to the issue of oil sanctions before May to assess whether the measures are effective and whether EU states are succeeding in finding sufficient alternative resources.
The review could potentially affect the date when the full ban takes effect, diplomats said.
"The financial situation of Greece at the moment is not the brightest one, and rightly they are asking us to help them find a solution," a senior EU official told reporters on Friday.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other oil-rich Gulf states are expected to raise their output of crude oil to offset the loss of access to Iranian exports and prevent market instability.
With a significant part of EU purchases of Iranian oil covered by long-term contracts, the grace period will be an important factor in the effectiveness of the EU measures.
Emanuele Ottolenghi of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington said the oil embargo was possibly the last card Western governments could play to avoid military confrontation with Iran.
But, he said, Europe's gradual approach and the possibility of waivers in U.S. measures weakened their impact.
"Regrettably, Europe's delay and America's loopholes mean Iran gets a reprieve at a time when, with Iran's nuclear program accelerating, it would have been preferable to see an embargo implemented sooner," he said.
European ministers also agreed to outlaw the export of key equipment and technology for the oil sector to Iran, and new investment in Iranian petrochemical firms.
Measures against the central bank will go into effect with the provision that allowed trade can continue, allowing for limited impact on the Iranian population.
The unprecedented effort to take Iran's 2.6 million barrels of oil per day of exports off international markets has kept global prices high, pushed down Iran's rial currency and caused a surge in the cost of basic goods for Iranians.
(Additional reporting by Adrian Croft in London and Sebastian Moffett in Brussels; Editing by Luke Baker and Rex Merrifield)
If you've been looking for light-hearted animal-oriented online entertainment, your search could possibly have a new destination in the form of Petsami, an online entertainment network for pets.
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While Petsami's mission is to entertain, it also hopes to provide compelling content that will educate viewers and even empower them to make a difference in improving the lives of animals everywhere.
For those interested, visit Petsami's website or their YouTube channel to view their original programming.
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Baylor center Brittney Griner (42) drives around Kansas State's Chantay Caron (11) during the second half of an NCAA women's college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Waco, Texas. Griner had a game-high 22 points as Baylor won 76-41. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Baylor center Brittney Griner (42) drives around Kansas State's Chantay Caron (11) during the second half of an NCAA women's college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Waco, Texas. Griner had a game-high 22 points as Baylor won 76-41. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
BYU's Brandon Davies (0) drives against Pepperdines' Taylor Darby, right, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Moraga, Calif. BYU won 77-64. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Baylor remains the unanimous No. 1 choice in The Associated Press women's college basketball poll. BYU, though, joins the Top 25 for the first time in five seasons.
The Lady Bears received all the first-place votes Monday for the eighth straight week after beating Texas Tech and Kansas State. Baylor visits Oklahoma before hosting Kansas.
Notre Dame, Connecticut, Stanford and Duke followed the Lady Bears. The Irish host No. 7 Tennessee on Monday night. Kentucky was sixth. Maryland, Ohio State and Miami round out the first 10.
BYU entered the poll tied at No. 23. The Lady Cougars, who were last ranked on Nov. 27, 2006, visit Seattle and Santa Clara this week. Gonzaga returned at 22, giving the West Coast Conference two teams in the Top 25 for the first time ever.
Kansas State and Vanderbilt dropped out of the poll.
One thing that really bothers me is the number of people claiming that the Affordable Care Act will bring ?universal health care? to the United States. Ryan Lizza?s makes this claim in his defense of President Obama at the end of his long story in the New Yorker, but he simply the most recent example of this far too common inaccurate statement. From Ryan Lizza:
Obama didn?t remake Washington. But his first two years stand as one of the most successful legislative periods in modern history. Among other achievements, he has saved the economy from depression, passed universal health care, and reformed Wall Street. Along the way, Obama may have changed his mind about his 2008 critique of Hillary Clinton. ?Working the system, not changing it? and being ?consumed with beating? Republicans ?rather than unifying the country and building consensus to get things done? do not seem like such bad strategies for success after all.
Let?s leave aside the issue that health insurance doesn?t necessarily mean health care. Care can still be too unaffordable or unavailable even when one has something called health insurance.
The ACA will not result in universal health insurance in America. According to the CBO and CMS even after being fully implemented there will be 23 million people in the country without insurance. In 2019 if the law is implemented 93.1 percent of the people in country are projected to be insured. That is significantly higher that the 83 percent that would be insured without the ACA but 93.1 percent is by no definition universal.? To achieve universal health insurance that would require another expansion of coverage almost as large as the one that is expected to be produced by the ACA.
It is very possible to achieve effectively universal health insurance, but this law isn?t projected to do that. The adoption of different health care policies, such as single payer, could push the percent dramatically closer to 100 percent.
You can call the ACA many things, health insurance reform, a large coverage expansion, even ?near universal? health insurance; but it is simply not universal health care. That is factually inaccurate and more important hides the fact that as a country will still significantly policy issues regarding coverage and access in the future.
RENO, Nev. ? An "extremely remorseful" elderly man admitted Friday that he accidentally started a brush fire that destroyed 29 homes near Reno when he improperly discarded fireplace ashes at his home south of town, authorities said.
"He came forward on his own accord," Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said about the man. The resulting blaze, fueled by 82 mph wind gusts, burned nearly 3,200 acres and forced the evacuation of up to 10,000 people Thursday.
"He has given statements to our investigators as well as law enforcement officers. He is extremely remorseful," the chief said.
Investigators already had tracked the origin of the fire to a location in East Lake on the north end of the Washoe Valley, where the man lives about 20 miles south of downtown Reno.
Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley said a formal case file will be forwarded to the district attorney next week for consideration of charges.
"The DA will have to give this case a lot of deliberation," Haley said.
"The fact he came forward and admitted it plays a role. But so does the massive damage and loss of life," he said. "It's a balancing act."
In addition to the potential for facing jail time on arson charges, the man could also be ordered to pay the cost of fighting the fire, which already totals $690,000.
Washoe County Manager Katy Simon said she expects the final bill to run into the millions of dollars.
Gov. Sandoval toured the fire damaged area Friday, describing it as "horrendous, devastating."
"There is nothing left in some of those places except for the chimneys and fireplaces," he said.
The blaze started shortly after noon Thursday and, fueled by the wind, mushroomed to more than 6 square miles before firefighters stopped its surge toward Reno.
The strong, erratic winds caused major challenges for crews evacuating residents, Sierra Front spokesman Mark Regan said. "In a matter of seconds, the wind would shift," he said.
Haley confirmed that the body of June Hargis, 93, was found in the fire's aftermath, but her cause of death has not been established, so it's not known if it was fire related.
Jeannie Watts, the woman's 70-year-old daughter, told KRNV-TV that Hargis' grandson telephoned her to tell her to evacuate but she didn't get out in time.
A break in the weather and calmer winds allowed firefighters to get the upper hand on the blaze Friday.
Hernandez estimated it to be 65 percent contained Friday night. He said 300 firefighters would remain on the scene through the night checking for hot spots along with another 125 support people, including law enforcement officers and the Nevada National Guard.
About 2,000 people remained subject to evacuation, and about 100 households still were without power.
State transportation officials said they expected to reopen all of U.S. Highway 395 between Reno and Carson City by Saturday morning.
The next challenge may be the forecast for rain and snow in the mountains on Saturday, which could cause flooding in burned areas, he said.
Marred in Reno's driest winter in more than 120 years, residents had welcomed the forecast that a storm was due to blow across the Sierra Nevada this week.
Instead, thousands found themselves fleeing their homes Thursday afternoon.
Connie Cryer went to the fire response command post Friday with her 12-year-old granddaughter, Maddie Miramon, to find out if her house had survived the flames.
"We had to know so we could get some sleep," Cryer said, adding her house was spared but a neighbor's wasn't. She had seen wildfires before, but nothing on this scale.
"There was fire in front of me, fire beside me, fire behind me. It was everywhere," she said. "I don't know how more didn't burn up. It was terrible, all the wind and the smoke."
Fire officials said Thursday's fire was "almost a carbon copy" of a blaze that destroyed 30 homes in Reno during similar summer-like conditions in mid-November.
State Forester Pete Anderson said he has not seen such hazardous fire conditions in winter in his 43 years in Nevada. Reno had no precipitation in December. The last time that happened was 1883.
An inch of snow Monday ended the longest recorded dry spell in Reno history, a 56-day stretch that prompted Anderson to issue an unusual warning about wildfire threats.
"We're usually pretty much done with the fire season by the first of November, but this year it's been nonstop," Anderson said.
Kit Bailey, U.S. Forest Service fire chief at nearby Lake Tahoe, said conditions are so dry that even a forecast calling for rain and snow might not take the Reno-Tahoe area out of fire danger.
"The scary thing is a few days of drying after this storm cycle and we could be back into fire season again," he said.
___
Associated Press writers Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas and Sandra Chereb in Carson City, Nev., contributed to this report.
PHOENIX ? Defense attorneys for two white supremacist brothers accused of bombing a black city official in Scottsdale showed jurors racy photos Friday of a government informant chosen in hopes her good looks would get the men to talk.
Identical twin brothers Dennis and Daniel Mahon, both 61, have pleaded not guilty in the 2004 bombing, which injured Scottsdale's diversity director and a secretary.
Defense attorneys spent much of Friday trying to criticize the conduct of the government informant, a civilian who works at a motorcycle shop and is identified in court records as Rebecca Williams.
Among the photos Daniel Mahon's attorney showed jurors was one that showed the pretty brunette from behind, wearing Confederate flag bikini bottoms, a black leather vest, ripped fishnet stockings and thigh-high black boots. Another showed her in a white bikini with a grenade hanging between her breasts as she posed in front of a pickup truck and a swastika.
Williams mailed the photos to Dennis Mahon to allay his fears that she was working with the government, investigators said.
A third photo shown to the jurors was taken by Dennis Mahon himself at a hotel in Tempe. It shows Williams sitting on a towel, wearing a Confederate flag bikini and smiling ? a photo the defense said was as an example of the kind of clothes Williams wore around the brothers.
Defense attorney Barbara Hull has told jurors that all the Mahons are guilty of is participating in "a conspiracy of lust," and that they only made some admissions to Williams to impress her.
She also has called Williams a "trailer park Mata Hari," comparing her to a Dutch exotic dancer who was convicted of working as a spy for Germany during World War I.
Prosecutors have defended the informant's behavior, saying she often flirted with the brothers but never had sex with them or crossed any other lines.
On Friday, Hull continued to question Tristan Moreland, the lead investigator in the Mahon case for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
She asked him why Williams sent the Mahons the racy photos and letters in which she referred to the Scottsdale bombing.
Moreland said that the letters ? also known as "ticklers" ? are designed to get suspects to start talking about a certain subject.
"What about the Christmas card with a half-naked picture of the informant?" Hull asked Moreland. "What was that supposed to tickle?"
Hull continued to reiterate to jurors that Williams was compensated for her meetings and conversations with the Mahons ? about $45,000 over a five-year period ? and she was promised $100,000 should the brothers be convicted.
Hull also questioned Moreland's investigative techniques, saying that the box and batteries used in the bombing were uncommon brands used by the city of Scottsdale ? an argument she made to back up her assertion in opening statements that a city employee most likely committed the bombing.
Prosecutor John Boyle has told jurors that the brothers belonged to the White Aryan Resistance, a group that encourages members to act as "lone wolves" and commit violence against non-whites and the government to get their message across.
Boyle played a recording of a message left at the diversity office by Dennis Mahon five months before the bombing, criticizing Scottsdale for holding a Hispanic heritage event and using a racial epithet for Hispanics.
"The white Aryan resistance is growing in Scottsdale," Dennis Mahon said angrily. "There's a few white people who are standing up."
Boyle also has played recordings of the brothers using racial slurs for black people and pointing out the bombing site to Williams while they were in Scottsdale under a ruse that she had to pay a speeding ticket.
___
Follow Amanda Lee Myers on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AmandaLeeAP
PHOENIX ? An Arizona senator gets in a fight with his girlfriend on a Phoenix freeway and avoids arrest. An Arkansas legislator leads officers on a high-speed chase through two counties and doesn't get taken into custody. A Georgia lawmaker claims he couldn't be prosecuted on a DUI charge.
In each case, a little-known privilege called legislative immunity that prevents the arrests of legislators while they are in session came into play.
The issue is getting a closer look in Arizona this year after a lawmaker introduced a resolution seeking to amend the state Constitution to delete wording barring the arrest of legislators during, and 15 days before, legislative sessions. Like those in many other states, Arizona's legislative immunity protects legislators from arrest except for "treason, felony or breach of the peace."
Then-Sen. Scott Bundgaard became a part of the debate after he was involved in a domestic violence incident on a Phoenix freeway last year. He and his girlfriend at the time pulled off to the side of the road after an argument while returning home from a Dancing with the Stars-type competition. The ensuring fight left both with cuts and bruises.
Police showed up and put Bundgaard in handcuffs. Officers testified that he identified himself as a legislator, cited the constitutional provision and demanded that they remove handcuffs, even though Bundgaard denies invoking legislative immunity.
Bundgaard was allowed to go home that night without being arrested, but his girlfriend spent the night in jail. Bundgaard was later prosecuted and ended up pleading no-contest to a misdemeanor charge, and the Peoria Republican eventually was ousted as Senate majority leader and quit the Legislature.
The girlfriend was not prosecuted after she was deemed the victim in Bundgaard's criminal case. Bundgaard would have been arrested on possible domestic violence charges and suspicion of DUI on the night of the incident if not for the immunity law, the sergeant and an officer testified.
State Sen. Steve Gallardo introduced the legislation to change the Constitution because he believes it's an unfair and outdated protection afforded lawmakers.
"The question is should legislators have a get-out-of-jail free card. That's exactly what it is. And I really think voters would come out and say no ? they should not have this card," said Gallardo, a Phoenix Democrat. "We should be living by the laws that we pass."
The National Conference of State Legislatures says most states have similar legislative immunity provisions in their constitutions. Members of Congress technically have the protection as well, but it has been so narrowly interpreted by the courts that U.S. lawmakers gain no real benefit from it.
Experts say legislative immunity, along with related protections for legislative speech and debate, has its roots in the 16th and 17th centuries, when English monarchs frequently feuded with lawmakers.
"In essence this is a form of separation of powers, since it is the executive that has the power to arrest and prosecute," said Toni McClory, author of a textbook on the Arizona Constitution.
It's not known how many times legislative immunity is invoked, but the provision occasionally makes headlines.
Legislative immunity was in the news in Arizona two years ago when a newspaper reported that Gov. Jan Brewer was briefly detained ? and handcuffed ? by state police after a freeway accident in 1988 when she was a legislator.
Officers thought Brewer was under the influence of alcohol, but they decided that legislative immunity prohibited an arrest. Brewer denied being under the influence the night of the accident.
She didn't invoke the privilege but an officer determined she was a senator by noticing an identification placard on the floor of her car, a police report said.
An Arkansas sheriff's deputy last year mistakenly thought legislative immunity meant he couldn't arrest a speeding legislator who led officers on a high-speed chase through two counties. The lawmaker was let go with a scolding but later charged and convicted of fleeing, careless driving and improper passing. He's appealing.
There was talk in 2005 of amending the Georgia Constitution to repeal legislative immunity after a lawmaker tried unsuccessfully to use it in a DUI case, but the provision remains law in the Peach State.
The related protection for legislative speech figured in a 1997 court ruling that a Kansas legislator couldn't be prosecuted on a blackmail charge stemming from a threat to another lawmaker. The conduct involved was "possibly criminal and clearly unethical," but was protected as legislative speech, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled.
Given changes in society since Arizona and other states adopted their immunity provisions a century or two ago, it could be time to consider changes, said George Anagnost, an Arizona judge who writes on constitution topics.
But with the contentiousness in politics today, the immunity may not have outlived its usefulness, Anagnost said. "It makes sense to have these safeguards."
Some Arizona legislators agree.
Sen. Ron Gould, a Bundgaard critic who chaired his ethics proceeding, said he can envision the possibility of a rogue law enforcement officer harassing a legislator to stop him from traveling to the Capitol to vote on legislation on a controversial topic such as public employee benefits.
Better to keep legislative immunity on the books but hold lawmakers accountable through ethics proceedings if they abuse it, the Lake Havasu City Republican said.
Gallardo's resolution has been assigned to a Senate committee whose chairman is noncommittal about giving it a hearing.
"Any time you have a kneejerk reaction to one instance you run the risk of making a mistake, and I think that's what is happening here. It's a kneejerk reaction to the Bundgaard situation," said Sen. Rick Murphy, R-Peoria.
Gallardo said he's certain voters would approve his proposal if it reaches the November ballot. And chances for that are good with current scrutiny of legislative ethics because of Bundgaard's case and disclosures of Fiesta Bowl freebie trips and game tickets given legislators, he said.
"When you start looking overall at the role of the legislator(s) and what they're allowed and they're not allowed, all of that is going to be looked at this year, and I think immunity should be at the top of the list," he said.
___
AP reporters Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark., John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., and Kristen Wyatt in Denver contributed.
Slip or grip?: What makes icy roads so slippery? Find out more about friction with this slick activity at home.Image: George Retseck
Key concepts
Physics
Friction
Mass
Gravity
Introduction
Have you ever driven up a mountain, seen a sign reading "Hazard! Icy Roads Ahead," and wondered why ice makes roads dangerous to drive on? The answer has to do with friction?specifically, the lack of it.
Specifically, in the case of driving a car down the road, the friction that allows the car to move occurs between the tires and the road. This friction normally allows the car to "grip" the road?keeping the tires in contact with the relatively rough road surface, and the driver of the car in control. However, when the road is icy, the friction between the two surfaces decreases, allowing the car to slip?rather than grip. You can replicate these situations much more safely at home using some common objects?regardless of the weather.
Background
Friction is the resistance to motion when two objects rub together. An example of low friction is when you sled down an icy hill. It's easy because both the sled and the ice on the hill are smooth and the surfaces of the sled's runners and the ice slide past one another with little resistance. On the other hand, sledding down a rough, concrete driveway is almost impossible due to the rough surface of the driveway, which provides resistance on the sled's runners. This is an example of high friction.
As you can imagine, friction happens when the rough parts of two objects catch one another as they rub together. The resistance that occurs depends on a value called the coefficient of friction. This is a measure of how much two objects interact with one another when rubbing together, and this depends on the materials that make up the two objects. The friction that takes place also depends on the mass of the moving object in the pull of gravity. All of these factors play a role in determining how much friction there is between two rubbing objects.
Materials
??? ?Two "two-by-four" or similar size wood planks, about one half meter long works best
??? ?Small plastic tub with lid
??? ?Sand or another dense material to fill the tub
??? ?Water
??? ?Freezer
??? ?Books
??? ?Ruler
??? ?Protractor
??? ?A carpeted area or a rug that can get damp (or a protective covering, such as a large plastic trash bag)
Preparation
??? ?Make sure that the pieces of wood have surfaces that are similar in roughness and are about the same length and width.
??? ?Take one piece of wood and soak it in water?this can be done by weighing the wood down in a bathtub filled with a few inches of water for at least 30 minutes.
??? ?Place the soaked piece of wood in the freezer overnight.
??? ?Fill the plastic tub with sand or another dense material and secure the lid.
??? ?Use caution (you may want to wear gloves) when handling the wood?especially if it is rough?to avoid getting splinters.
Procedure
??? ?On the carpeted area or a rug, build a ramp using several books and the dry piece of wood. Make sure the same part of the wood leans on the books for all of the trials.
??? ?Place the filled tub on the top of the ramp, with the edge of the tub lined up with the top end of the wood. Release the tub. If the tub slips down the ramp, remove the tub and lower the ramp height by removing a book. If the tub does not slip, remove the tub and raise the ramp height by adding a book. How high is the stack of books when the tub slips? What is the height of the shortest stack needed for the tub to slip?
??? ?Using the protractor, measure the angle where the ramp meets the carpet when the ramp is set up using the shortest stack of books needed for the tub to slip. What is the angle?
??? ?When you are done testing the dry piece of wood, retrieve the icy piece of wood from the freezer. (Because the icy piece of wood will thaw out over time, have everything in place and ready for testing it before you remove it.) How does the icy wood feel compared with the dry wood?
??? ?Using the icy piece of wood, test it on your ramp with the tub just as you did using the dry piece of wood. What is the height of shortest stack of books needed for the tub to slip on the icy piece of wood? Again, use the protractor to measure the angle of the ramp. What is the angle?
??? ?You can try testing each ramp with different book stack heights multiple times. Are your results consistent, or is there some variation?
??? ?Overall, which ramp?the one made with the icy or the dry wood?allowed the tub to slip at a smaller ramp angle?
??? ?Tip: If the icy wood thaws while you are testing it or seems dry, put it horizontally in the freezer and pour a little water all over the top of it. Leave it in the freezer for at least an hour. Test it again using the top side as the surface of your ramp.
??? ?Extra: How easily would the tub slip on a ramp made of other materials? Make a similar ramp using a plank covered with sandpaper, oil or aluminum foil. Alternatively, cover the bottom of the tub in these materials. How easily does the tub slip using the different materials?
??? ?Extra: If you know the ramp's height and length, you do not need a protractor to figure out its angle. All you need is to do some math: The equation used to solve the angle of the ramp is sin(theta) = opposite/hypotenuse. In the formula, "sin" stands for sine, "theta" is the angle, "opposite" is the ramp height and "hypotenuse" is the ramp length. Find out more about how to do this calculation at "Finding an Angle in a Right Angled Triangle" from Math is Fun Advanced. Does the calculated angle match the one you measured with your protractor?
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Public release date: 29-Jan-2012
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