Injured coral have less 'sex'

No one thinks damaging coral is sexy, but researchers from the University at Buffalo just made it official. Turns out, coral sex is dampened after injury from storms and human activity.

Their study shows that while coral adapts to injury events by initially growing back rapidly, reproduction rates are suppressed up to four years after initial injury. This is particularly alarming since size, rather than age, dictates coral's health and maturity, explained study leader Howard Lasker.

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Many coral have asexual and sexual reproduction, the latter usually a wild sex party of sorts, where corals release sperm and eggs into the water at a precise time. Those sex gametes hook up with each other, from different individuals, to produce free-floating larvae called planulae.

Lasker and his team studied coral colonies in the Bahamas that were being harvested for use in skin care products. They found that even years after harvest spermaries (coral sperm colonies) and polyps, where coral stores eggs, were underproducing.

"On the science side of it, this really raises the question, 'Well, what's going on?'" Lasker told LiveScience. "This is a healthy-looking colony, those wounds [from harvesting] are long, long healed, so what's different about it? And that's something we're still puzzling over."

Christopher Page, Lasker's co-author and now a staff biologist at Mote Marine Laboratory, believes that in the face of a changing environment coral's ability to reallocate resources after injury events shows promising adaptability.

[ Colorful Creations: Incredible Photos of Coral ]

"Coral are more adaptable than we may have thought in the beginning, but that doesn't mean they'll persist despite changes," Page told LiveScience.

When energy is given to one resource ? in this case, quick regrowth after injury ? it's taken from another, Page explains. This leaves more persistent effects than were previously suspected ? in this case, long-term, slowed reproduction.

The findings have implications for future coral health. While researchers had previously thought coral rebounded heartily after injury events, such as those incurred from hurricanes and other storms as well as human activity such as boating, this study reveals that populations cannot rebuild as quickly as hoped. But the most effective way to protect coral continues to be the cessation of injury events altogether.

"When there's damage, that damage has a longer-term effect than we may have initially envisioned, but the more significant factor is that initial damage," said Lasker. Coral is a particularly sensitive creature, affected by a host of climate change-related events from increased water temperature to more frequent and severe storms. And now, research reveals that it is difficult to predict how these marine animals will react to injury, since changing variables will determine their health and growth.

To conserve and protect coral, explained Page, we must both avoid their continued injury, and examine our restoration approaches to consider long-term effects of damage as well as the significant adaptability of these organisms. If a multifaceted and focused approach to management is taken, coral, threatened worldwide, may just be able to revamp its sex life.

Many corals are hermaphroditic broadcast spawners, meaning they release packets of sperm and eggs into the water.

Warming waters signal the coral that it's time to start producing sex cells, then a precise combination of daylight and moonlight trigger the sudden, simultaneous release of eggs and sperm.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50297763/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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New Laws Address Gays, Children, Immigration ? CBS Atlanta

(ATLANTA) ? Measures on gay rights and child safety are among the top state laws taking effect at the start of 2013, along with attempts to prevent identity theft and perennial efforts to restrict abortion and illegal immigration.

In many states, new laws take effect on Jan. 1, while in others they do so 90 days after a governor?s signature.

Voter-approved laws allowing same-sex couples to marry take effect in Maryland in January and in Maine on Saturday. California also approved a law exempting clergy members opposed to gay marriage from performing same-sex marriage ceremonies.

In California, a first-of-its-kind law bans a form of psychotherapy aimed at making gay teenagers straight but is on hold during a court challenge. The law would ban what is known as reparative or conversion therapy for minors; such therapies are widely discredited by medical professionals.

A number of laws seek to protect children from bullying and abuse. Pennsylvania school employees in contact with children, who already must report suspected abuse, must now be trained to recognize the warning signs, their legal obligations and what are considered appropriate relationships with children.

That law was being debated and voted on in June as a jury was finding former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky guilty of 45 counts for sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years.

California coaches and administrators in K-12 schools, as well as higher education employees who have regular contact with children, will be required to report suspected child sexual abuse. Oregon will require school employees to report acts of bullying, harassment and online bullying. Oregon schools must also adopt a policy on teen dating violence.

In Florida, the Safe Harbor Act includes provisions that require police to turn over to the Department of Children and Families any children who are alleged to be sexually exploited or dependent for assessment and possible shelter.

States continue to wrestle with illegal immigration. Pennsylvania will include a requirement that contractors on public works projects make sure through the federal E-Verify system that their employees are legal U.S. residents, while a Montana ballot measure taking effect denies illegal immigrants of state services.

Supporters say the Montana law will prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining services and prevent them from taking jobs at a time of high unemployment. Opponents argued there is no proof illegal immigrants are using state services in Montana.

Also in Montana, voters overwhelmingly passed a measure requiring parental notification for minors? abortions, while in Georgia a new law will prohibit doctors from performing an abortion 20 weeks after an egg is fertilized unless a pregnancy is determined to be medically futile, meaning it would result in the birth of a child unlikely to survive because of a serious defect.Georgia became the seventh state in the country to approve the so-called fetal pain act.

?Today, we are reaffirming Georgia?s commitment to preserving the sanctity of all human life,? Gov. Nathan Deal said in a statement released shortly after he signed the bill in May.

The measure passed over the objection of many female lawmakers, including Sen. Valencia Seay, who said the bill?s passage and signing was ?unconscionable, but not surprising? and typical of the male-dominated General Assembly.

New Hampshire enacts a ban on a type of late-term abortion procedure sometimes called ?partial birth abortion? after lawmakers overrode the veto of Gov. John Lynch, who said the measure was unnecessary because federal law already prohibits such procedures. Supporters of the ban say they don?t trust the government to prosecute the law.

In Maryland, parents will be able to freeze their child?s credit at any time if the child becomes a victim of identity theft. ?This just freezes the information to ensure that it?s not used for ill purposes,? said Delegate Craig Zucker, a Democrat who sponsored the bill in the Maryland House of Delegates.

In Delaware, state officials must request an annual credit report for every child in foster care.

Among other new laws:

? Alabama begins cracking down on the state?s 900,000 uninsured drivers with a new system that allows instant checks by police, license plate offices and the state Revenue Department.

? A pair of laws in Georgia and Pennsylvania address the shortfalls faced by some states from the cost of unemployment benefits by raising employers? contributions to unemployment compensation trust funds.

? In New Mexico, drivers registering their car or truck will be able to donate $1 or $5 to a state fund that supports programs and services to veterans, such as assistance in finding a job or treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. In Utah, U.S. military personnel will be exempted from having to pay a full year?s property taxes after their return from 200 days of active duty in any calendar year.

? In Florida, it will no longer be illegal to flash your headlights to warn oncoming drivers that police are lurking on the roadside ahead. The legislation was introduced after drivers were ticketed for warning other motorists that officers may be trying to catch speeders on the highway.

? A California law bans the use of dogs when hunting bobcats or bears, while Wisconsin?s expansion of its hunting seasons to a month in autumn and another in April was a scaled-back version of a proposal that would have allowed hunting across a seven-month period from mid-October to late May. Residents reacted to the longer proposal with thousands of angry letters and emails.

Most people who opposed the measure said they would stop bringing their families to state parks if there were a chance of being struck by a stray bullet or of a pet straying into an animal trap. Supporters countered that hunting has long been a Wisconsin tradition and that hunters were well-versed in practicing safe techniques.

(? Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Source: http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2012/12/27/new-laws-address-gays-children-immigration/

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China tightening controls on Internet after embarrassing postings ...

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BEIJING, China ? China?s new communist leaders are increasing already tight controls on Internet use and electronic publishing following a spate of embarrassing online reports about official abuses.

The measures suggest China?s new leader, Xi Jinping, and others who took power in November share their predecessors? anxiety about the Internet?s potential to spread opposition to one-party rule and their insistence on controlling information despite promises of more economic reforms.

?They are still very paranoid about the potentially destabilizing effect of the Internet,? said Willy Lam, a politics specialist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. ?They are on the point of losing a monopoly on information, but they still are very eager to control the dissemination of views.?

This week, China?s legislature took up a measure to require Internet users to register their real names, a move that would curtail the Web?s status as a freewheeling forum to complain, often anonymously, about corruption and official abuses. The legislature scheduled a news conference Friday to discuss the measure, suggesting it was expected to be approved.

That comes amid reports Beijing might be disrupting use of software that allows Web surfers to see sites abroad that are blocked by its extensive Internet filters. At the same time, regulators have proposed rules that would bar foreign companies from distributing books, news, music and other material online in China.

Beijing promotes Internet use for business and education but bans material deemed subversive or obscene and blocks access to foreign websites run by human rights and Tibet activists and some news outlets. Controls were tightened after social media played a role in protests that brought down governments in Egypt and Tunisia.

In a reminder of the Web?s role as a political forum, a group of 70 prominent Chinese scholars and lawyers circulated an online petition this week appealing for free speech, independent courts and for the ruling party to encourage private enterprise.

Xi and others on the party?s ruling seven-member Standing Committee have tried to promote an image of themselves as men of the people who care about China?s poor majority. They have promised to press ahead with market-oriented reforms and to support entrepreneurs but have given no sign of support for political reform.

Communist leaders who see the Internet as a source of economic growth and better-paid jobs were slow to enforce the same level of control they impose on movies, books and other media, apparently for fear of hurting fledgling entertainment, shopping and other online businesses.

Until recently, Web surfers could post comments online or on microblog services without leaving their names.

That gave ordinary Chinese a unique opportunity to express themselves to a public audience in a society where newspapers, television and other media are state-controlled. The most popular microblog services say they have more than 300 million users and some users have millions of followers reading their comments.

The Internet also has given the public an unusual opportunity to publicize accusations of official misconduct.

A local party official in China?s southwest was fired in November after scenes from a videotape of him having sex with a young woman spread quickly on the Internet. Screenshots were uploaded by a former journalist in Beijing, Zhu Ruifeng, to his Hong Kong website, an online clearing house for corruption allegations.

Some industry analysts suggest allowing Web surfers in a controlled setting to vent helps communist leaders stay abreast of public sentiment in their fast-changing society. Still, microblog services and online bulletin boards are required to employ censors to enforce content restrictions. Researchers say they delete millions of postings a day.

The government says the latest Internet regulation before the National People?s Congress is aimed at protecting Web surfers? personal information and cracking down on abuses such as junk email. It would require users to report their real names to Internet service and telecom providers.

The main ruling party newspaper, People?s Daily, has called in recent weeks for tighter Internet controls, saying rumours spread online have harmed the public. In one case, it said stories about a chemical plant explosion resulted in the deaths of four people in a car accident as they fled the area.

Proposed rules released this month by the General Administration of Press and Publications would bar Chinese-foreign joint ventures from publishing books, music, movies and other material online in China. Publishers would be required to locate their servers in China and have a Chinese citizen as their local legal representative.

That is in line with rules that already bar most foreign access to China?s media market, but the decision to group the restrictions together and publicize them might indicate official attitudes are hardening.

That comes after the party was rattled by foreign news reports about official wealth and misconduct.

In June, Bloomberg News reported that Xi?s extended family has amassed assets totalling $376 million, though it said none was traced to Xi. The government has blocked access to Bloomberg?s website since then.

In October, The New York Times reported that Premier Wen Jiabao?s relatives had amassed $2.7 billion since he rose to national office in 2002. Access to the Times? Chinese-language site has been blocked since then.

Previous efforts to tighten controls have struggled with technical challenges in a country with more than 500 million Internet users.

Microblog operators such as Sina Corp. and Tencent Ltd. were ordered in late 2011 to confirm users? names but have yet to finish the daunting task.

Web surfers can circumvent government filters by using virtual private networks ? software that encrypts Web traffic and is used by companies to transfer financial data and other sensitive information. But VPN users say disruptions that began in 2011 are increasing, suggesting Chinese regulators are trying to block encrypted traffic.

Curbs on access to foreign sites have prompted complaints by companies and Chinese scientists and other researchers.

In July, the American Chamber of Commerce in China said 74 per cent of companies that responded to a survey said unstable Internet access ?impedes their ability to do business.?

Chinese leaders ?realize there are detrimental impacts on business, especially foreign business, but they have counted the cost and think it is still worthwhile,? said Lam. ?There is no compromise about the political imperative of controlling the Internet.?

Source: http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/12/27/china-tightening-controls-on-internet-after-embarrassing-postings-about-official-abuse/

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Four planets in 'habitable zones' spotted within spitting distance of Earth

Astronomers say they used a new statistical technique to find four possible super-Earths orbiting in the habitable zone of two stars within 22 light-years of Earth, Gliese 667C and tau Ceti.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / December 19, 2012

This diagram shows an artist's rendering comparing our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first 'habitable zone' planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. The 'habitable zone' is a region where under the right conditions, liquid water can form stable pools on the surface.

NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

Enlarge

Astronomers say they have uncovered evidence for what could be four super-Earth planets orbiting within the habitable zones of two stars within 22 light-years of Earth.

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Three of those candidate planets are among a tightly packed clutch of five that orbit Gliese 667C, part of a triple-star system 22 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. The other possible planet is one of five orbiting tau Ceti, a sun-like star 12 light-years away in the constellation Cetus.

Taken together, the detections not only add to accumulating evidence that planets look to be more common than stars ? and that planets in habitable zones could be more common than previously thought, some of researchers reporting the finds say.

The finds also illustrate the power of improved statistical tools to boldly uncover candidate planets where no planet had been found before.

The evidence for these candidate planets requires independent confirmation, the researchers caution.?Still, the tools represent "a real breakthrough," says Steven Vogt, an astronomer at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a member of the team reporting the results for tau Ceti. The approach the team took leaves only about one chance in 3 million that the detections could herald something other than a planet.

Since the mid-1990s, astronomers have bagged more than 850 extra-solar planets. The ultimate goal is to find rocky planets with Earth-like masses orbiting within their stars' habitable zones ? a region where under the right conditions, liquid water can form stable pools on the surface. Liquid water is considered an essential ingredient for organic life.

Different groups of astronomers had aimed three telescopes for various lengths of time at tau Ceti and found nothing. Led by Mikko Tuomi at the University of Hertfordshire in Britain, the team reporting this latest analysis applied relatively new statistical tools to the combined data from these telescopes.

The result: "Five planets came out: boom, boom, boom, boom, boom ... as clear as a bell," Dr. Vogt says.

Tau Ceti has about 78 percent of our own sun's mass, but its composition is quite similar, Dr. Tuomi's team reports. Its candidate planets range from 2 to 6.6 times Earth's mass.

The innermost object orbits the star once every 14 days, while the outermost takes 642 days to make its circuit. The fourth planet from the star, with a 168-day orbit, travels well within a zone where liquid water could remain stable on the planet's surface, the team estimates. However, the results don't speak directly to what the planets are made of.?

A similar story has played out for Philip Gregory, an astronomer at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Previous researchers had found two planets orbiting Gliese 667C, a red dwarf with 31 percent of the sun's mass. Using a broadly similar statistical approach, he reports detecting the initial two, plus three more planets. Three of the five fall within the star's habitable zone, he estimates.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/bMFbBrXA1o4/Four-planets-in-habitable-zones-spotted-within-spitting-distance-of-Earth

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Internet Hosting Checklist | The Floor Geek

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Web Hosting Reviews Provide Useful Feedback From Customers can present you with most information for What Is Sql Web Hosting.Be sure to check out the written article for more details!

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Source: http://www.thefloorgeek.com/2012/12/internet-hosting-checklist/

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Body found at home of gunman who ambushed N.Y. firefighters

Police say they recovered a rambling typewritten note from 62-year-old William Spengler, who lured New York firefighters into a deadly ambush. NBC's Ron Mott reports.

By Andrew Mach and Jason White, NBC News

Police investigating the ambush Monday in upstate New York in which two firefighters were killed said Tuesday that they had found what appeared to be human remains at the gunman's home. Authorities said they believed the remains were those of the gunman's 67-year-old sister, who lived with him.

William Spengler, 62, opened fire on the volunteer firefighters as they responded to a blaze in Webster just before 6 a.m. ET Monday in a small cluster of homes near Lake Ontario, police said. The firefighters ? Michael Chiapperini, 43, a lieutenant with the Webster police, and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19 ? were shot dead, and Spengler killed himself as seven houses burned around him.

Earlier, police said Spengler had left a three-page typewritten note saying he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people."

At a second briefing Tuesday, Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said police believed the probable human remains were those of Cheryl Spengler, 67, who had been missing since the ambush.

Officials provide the latest details on the ambush that killed two firefighters while responding to a blaze in Webster, N.Y.

Pickering said two other firefighters shot during the ambush, Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, were recovering at a hospital in Rochester. A spokeswoman at Strong Memorial Hospital said the two were in guarded condition and were alert and oriented, but she didn't expect them to be released for a few more days.

An off-duty police officer also was hit by gunfire as he drove past the scene Monday morning. No information on his condition was immediately available Tuesday.

Pickering said Spengler armed himself with three weapons and set his house afire to lure first responders into a death trap.

Spengler's note didn't appear to offer a motive, Pickering said, but "he was equipped to go to war and kill innocent people."

"I'm not sure we'll never really know what was going through his mind," the chief said.

Despite being shot, one of the injured firefighters was able to flee from the scene under his own power. But the others remained pinned down on the narrow strip of land near Lake Ontario until a SWAT team arrived.

As police closed in, Spengler took his own life with a gunshot wound to the head, Pickering said.

Monroe County Sheriff's Office

William Spengler, 62, in an undated booking photo.

Spengler had lived in the house with his sister and mother, Arline, who died in October at 91. Arline Spengler's obituary asked that memorial donations be made to the West Webster Fireman's Association.

A former neighbor told The Associated Press that Spengler "loved his mama to death" and that he "couldn't stand" his sister. The neighbor said he thought Spengler "went crazy" after his mother died.

Spengler was convicted of manslaughter in 1981 after the death of his grandmother, Rose Spengler, 92, and was paroled in 1998. He remained under parole supervision until 2006, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported. Before Monday's shooting, Webster police hadn't had any run-ins with Spengler since he was paroled, they said.

Although Spengler couldn't legally own firearms as a convicted felon, police said he was armed with a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver, a 12-gauge pump shotgun and a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle.

At least 33 people were displaced by the fire, which engulfed at least seven homes and a motor vehicle.

"These firemen are part of our family. You go into a fire with these guys. To see them go down with something like this is totally unexpected. We are in shock," Billy Gross, fire commissioner for West Webster, told the Democrat and Chronicle.

Dozens of area residents were evacuated, with police searching them as they left, the newspaper reported.

"Miserable thing to happen this time of year," Mark Johns, a state assemblyman who represents the area, told local NBC station WHEC. Johns said he knew some of the firefighters who were shot.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a statement offering his "deepest condolences."

"All of our thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of those who were killed in this senseless act of violence," Cuomo said. "New York's first responders are true heroes as they time and again selflessly rush toward danger in order to keep our families and communities safe."

Tom Winter, Ranjani Chakraborty and Rosanna Arlia of NBC News contributed to this report.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/25/16125861-human-remains-found-at-home-of-gunman-who-ambushed-firefighters?lite

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Whither the birthplace of Jesus?

Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem @ UNESCO

For centuries, Christians have been making the pilgrimage to Bethlehem to pay their respects to Jesus ? except they may have been making a wrong turn.

According to NPR and the London Times, the son of Mary wasn't born in the little town of Bethlehem in Palestine's West Bank area. Instead, archaeologists think it's the little village called Bethlehem of the Galilee, about 100 miles north.

As if shifting a well-traveled holy route wouldn't be awkward enough, the United Nations just designated Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in November ? the first for Palestine. This year, AFP reported that an estimated 15,000 are visiting Bethlehem. People even pay homage online: Searches on Yahoo! have rise for "bethlehem" (+109%), "o little town of bethelem lyrics" (+50%), and "bethlehem israel" (off the charts) in the past day.

The hypothesis isn't a new one among scholars, and the Israeli Antiques Authority (IAA) has been talking about evidence unearthed in an excavation that may point to where the real manger lies. "It makes much more sense that Mary rode on a donkey, while she was at the end of the pregnancy, from Nazareth to Bethlehem of Galilee which is only 7 kilometers rather then the other Bethlehem which is 150 kilometers," IAA senior archaeologist Aviram Oshri explained to NPR, adding that West Bank's Bethlehem (also called Judea) didn't even have residents back in the first century.

Religious scholars have noted how the Bible refers to Jesus as "Jesus of Nazareth." In 2008, the National Geographic points to a passage (John: 7:41-43) noting how his origins from Galilee counted against him.

Oshri wrote about how the evidence changed his mind for Archaeology magazine in 2005:

I had never before questioned the assumption that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea. But in the early 1990s, as an archaeologist working for the IAA, I was contracted to perform some salvage excavations around building and infrastructure projects in a small rural community in the Galilee. When I started work, some of the people who lived around the site told me how Jesus was really born there, not in the south. Intrigued, I researched the archaeological evidence for Bethlehem in Judea at the time of Jesus and found nothing. This was very surprising, as Herodian remains should be the first thing one should find. What was even more surprising is what archaeologists had already uncovered and what I was to discover over the next 11 years of excavation at the small rural site--Bethlehem of Galilee.

The IAA stopped the excavations in 2006, citing a lack of funding; right now nobody's investing in any more digs at the Bethlehem of the Galilee. Oshri doesn't think any new evidence would change anything anyhow. "I don?t think it will make a difference to people,? Oshri told the London Times. ?Christianity is leaning on the Old Testament, and in the Old Testament the Messiah should come from the house of David and Bethlehem near Jerusalem."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/whither-birthplace-jesus-o-little-town-bethlehem-vs-184009556.html

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