Major League Soccer is giving itself a date and setting a goal - it wants to be considered among the world's premier soccer leagues by 2022.
MLS commissioner Don Garber believes it's obtainable, even if it's ambitious.
"I think the plan has been in place for some time, now we have given ourselves a very targeted goal and it's a bold one," Garber said in an interview with The Associated Press this week. "It's not going to be easy to achieve it but it's one we're very confident if we stay focused and things continue to align for us as they have the last couple of years."
Garber announced Wednesday an outline for what he believes it will take for MLS to be recognized among the planet's elite soccer leagues, one that calls for major capital investment in player development, including youth programs, training for coaches and infrastructure improvements at training facilities.
There also are plans for increasing franchise exposure in local markets and expanding fan bases through new technologies.
The plan will begin in earnest this season. The primary focus is on improving player development and raising the level of play for a league that's been maligned in the past for the quality of the product. The investment will be wide ranging, Garber said, from the youth level all the way to growing a partnership with the lower-division USL PRO as a developmental system for MLS.
Improving the on-field play won't be limited to players. There is a significant investment in education and training for coaches and referees.
"It's just a lot more focus on building the pyramid from the bottom, investing on those things that make our players better and improve our quality of play," Garber said. "And at the same time improve infrastructure and our training grounds and facilities and programs and our marketing so we can connect even more deeply than before with this new audience that really seem to be very passionate about major league soccer and soccer overall."
The timeline on the plans for growing MLS internationally was supposed to coincide with U.S. Soccer entering a successful bid for the 2022 World Cup. The tournament was ultimately awarded to Qatar, but Garber and MLS continued to keep that year as its target date. MLS believes it's the next step in the evolution of a product that a decade ago was on shaky footing before seeing massive growth and success for most of the past 10 years.
There was discussion about whether to temper such a rapid timeline once the World Cup bid didn't come to fruition. But moving forward with the original plan won out in the end, Garber said.
"We spent some time talking among ourselves and with our board and I think all of us really believe that there isn't a code cracker here that is going to make soccer the most popular sport in America or one that is more competitive with the other leagues. It's just a lot of hard work and a lot of good thinking and a lot of continued investment," Garber said. "And rather than wait for some seminal moment that may or may not arrive we just thought it was time for us to depend on ourselves, get very focused with a very committed and passionate ownership group to go out and try and compete with the world's best."
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A huge crowd gathered in St Peter's Square on Wednesday to bid goodbye to Pope Benedict the day before he becomes the first pontiff in some six centuries to step down.
The pope was to hold his last general audience, which usually takes place in an indoor auditorium but was moved outside into the sprawling square to accommodate more people.
"He did what he had to do in his conscience before God," said Sister Carmela, from a city north of Rome, who came to the capital with her fellow nuns and members of her parish.
Many in the crowd, which streamed into the square across the Tiber River and along nearby streets, held up banners thanking the pope and wishing him well. They came from all over Italy and abroad.
"This is a day in which we are called to trust in the Lord, a day of hope," said Sister Carmela. "There is no room for sadness here today. We have to pray, there are many problems in the Church but we have to trust in the Lord."
Some 50,000 people asked for the free tickets but the crowd was larger and many people had to stand at the back. No immediate crowd estimate was available.
"He was very humble to do this," said Carla Mantoni, 65, from a parish in Rome.
"I understand why he did this. It was clear from the start that he was more at home in a library. A very good man but he realized in his heart that this was the right thing to do for himself and the Church and now he will pray, he will pray for all of us," she said.
Despite the praise and sympathy for the pope from faithful in the square, many catholics were stunned by his decision and worry about the effect it will have on the future of a troubled Church.
The Vatican has said that Benedict, who will move to the papal summer residence south of Rome on Thursday night when the papacy becomes vacant, will assume the title of "pope emeritus" and be addressed as "your holiness".
SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN
He will lay aside the red "shoes of the fisherman" that have been part of his papal attire and wear brown loafers given to him by shoemakers during a trip to Leon, Mexico last year. He will wear a "simple white cassock", Lombardi said.
His lead seal and his ring of office, known as the "ring of the fisherman", will be destroyed according to Church rules, just as if he had died.
The Vatican said on Tuesday that the pope was sifting through documents to see which will remain in the Vatican and go into the archives of his papacy and which "are of a personal nature and he will take to his new residence".
Among the documents left for the next pope will be a confidential report by three cardinals into the "Vatileaks" affair last year when Benedict's former butler revealed private papers showing corruption and in-fighting inside the Vatican.
The new pope will inherit a Church marked by Vatileaks and by child abuse scandals involving priests in Europe and the United States, both of which may have weighed on Benedict's decision that he was too old and weak to continue.
On Thursday, he will greet cardinals in Rome, many of whom have come to take part in the conclave to elect his successor.
That afternoon at 5 p.m. (1600 GMT) he will fly by helicopter to the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo, a 15-minute journey south of Rome.
There he will make an appearance from the window of the papal villa to greet residents and well-wishers expected to gather in the small square.
That will be Pope Benedict's last public appearance.
At 8 p.m. the Swiss Guards who stand as sentries at the residence will march off in a sign that the papacy is vacant.
Benedict will move into a convent in the Vatican in April, after it has been restored.
On Friday, cardinals in Rome will begin meetings known as "general congregations" to prepare for the secret conclave that will elect a new pope.
This week Benedict changed Church rules so that cardinals could begin the conclave earlier than the 15 days after the papacy becomes vacant prescribed by the previous law.
The change means that the cardinals, in their pre-conclave meetings, can themselves decide when to start.
The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected by mid-March and installed before Palm Sunday on March 24 so he can preside at Holy Week services leading to Easter.
Cardinals have begun informal consultations by phone and email in the past two weeks since Benedict said he was quitting.
Nemo helps anemone partner breath by fanning with his finsPublic release date: 27-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nicola Stead nicola.stead@biologists.com 44-012-234-25525 The Company of Biologists
Setting up home in the stinging tentacles of a sea anemone might seem like a risky option, but anemonefish also known as clownfish and popularised in the movie Finding Nemo are perfectly content in their unlikely abode. Fending off peckish anemone predators in return for refuge, plucky clownfish have achieved a satisfactory arrangement with their deadly partners. Yet Joe Szczebak from Auburn University, USA, wondered whether there might be more to the unconventional collaboration than met the eye. According to Szczebak, coral reefs are awash with oxygen during the day, but levels can plummet overnight when photosynthesis has ceased. Adding that some damselfish waft oxygen-rich water over corals at night to supplement their oxygen supply, Szczebak wondered whether clownfish might have struck a similar deal with their anemone hosts. 'There had been almost no research done on the clownfishanemone mutualism at night', explains Szczebak. He and his Master's thesis advisor, Nanette Chadwick, publish their discovery that clownfish fan their anemone hosts to supplement the anemone's meagre nocturnal oxygen supply in The Journal of Experimental Biology at http://jeb.biologists.org.
Szczebak and Chadwick travelled to Fuad Al-Horani's physiology lab at the Marine Science Station in Aqaba, Jordan, and went SCUBA diving in the Red Sea to find the diminutive fish and their anemone partners. Then the team isolated each fish from its anemone and measured their individual oxygen consumption rates before reuniting the partners. They discovered that the fish and anemone consumed 1.4 times more oxygen when they were together than when they were apart. Something was happening when the fish and its anemone were together to increase their oxygen consumption, but Szczebak wasn't sure what.
Having successfully returned the fish to their Red Sea home before flying back to the United States, Szczebak repeated the experiments with Ray Henry's help in Chadwick's Auburn lab. However, this time he tried an additional test. Separating the clownfish from its anemone with plastic mesh so that the clownfish could still see its partner and they could smell each other Szczebak remeasured their oxygen consumption, but it was still lower than when they were in contact. 'There was something about the physical contact between them that was the source of the increase', says Szczebak.
Spending long nights filming the clownfish as they nestled in amongst their anemone's tentacles, Szczebak realised that the fish were much more active than had been thought previously. He frequently saw the fish fanning the anemone with their rapidly weaving fins and the fish often burrowed deep into their host, sometimes making a 180deg turn deep within the mass of tentacles to open up the collapsed anemone and apparently circulate water through it. However, when Szczebak measured the oxygen consumption of isolated anemones as he flowed water through them at speeds ranging from 0.5 to 8.0cm/s, their oxygen consumption never increased by as much as it did when paired with a clownfish, suggesting that the clownfish also contribute the partnership's increased oxygen consumption.
'I think that I have found foundational evidence that, like similar symbioses on coral reefs, anemonefish may actively modulate flow conditions surrounding their host to benefit them under low oxygen scenarios', says Szczebak. He adds that Chadwick's group is continuing to investigate whether the fish indulge in their nocturnal antics purely to supplement the anemone's oxygen supply or for an as-yet-undetermined reason with the additional benefit of improved circulation.
###
IF REPORTING ON THIS STORY, PLEASE MENTION THE JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AS THE SOURCE AND, IF REPORTING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A LINK TO: http://jeb.biologists.org/content/216/6/970.abstract
REFERENCE: Szczebak, J. T., Henry, R. P., Al-Horani, F. A. and Chadwick, N. E. (2013). Anemonefish oxygenate their anemone hosts at night. J. Exp. Biol. 216, 970-976.
This article is posted on this site to give advance access to other authorised media who may wish to report on this story. Full attribution is required, and if reporting online a link to jeb.biologists.com is also required. The story posted here is COPYRIGHTED. Therefore advance permission is required before any and every reproduction of each article in full. PLEASE CONTACT permissions@biologists.com
THIS ARTICLE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDNESDAY, 27 February 2013, 18:00 HRS EST (23:00 HRS GMT)
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Nemo helps anemone partner breath by fanning with his finsPublic release date: 27-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nicola Stead nicola.stead@biologists.com 44-012-234-25525 The Company of Biologists
Setting up home in the stinging tentacles of a sea anemone might seem like a risky option, but anemonefish also known as clownfish and popularised in the movie Finding Nemo are perfectly content in their unlikely abode. Fending off peckish anemone predators in return for refuge, plucky clownfish have achieved a satisfactory arrangement with their deadly partners. Yet Joe Szczebak from Auburn University, USA, wondered whether there might be more to the unconventional collaboration than met the eye. According to Szczebak, coral reefs are awash with oxygen during the day, but levels can plummet overnight when photosynthesis has ceased. Adding that some damselfish waft oxygen-rich water over corals at night to supplement their oxygen supply, Szczebak wondered whether clownfish might have struck a similar deal with their anemone hosts. 'There had been almost no research done on the clownfishanemone mutualism at night', explains Szczebak. He and his Master's thesis advisor, Nanette Chadwick, publish their discovery that clownfish fan their anemone hosts to supplement the anemone's meagre nocturnal oxygen supply in The Journal of Experimental Biology at http://jeb.biologists.org.
Szczebak and Chadwick travelled to Fuad Al-Horani's physiology lab at the Marine Science Station in Aqaba, Jordan, and went SCUBA diving in the Red Sea to find the diminutive fish and their anemone partners. Then the team isolated each fish from its anemone and measured their individual oxygen consumption rates before reuniting the partners. They discovered that the fish and anemone consumed 1.4 times more oxygen when they were together than when they were apart. Something was happening when the fish and its anemone were together to increase their oxygen consumption, but Szczebak wasn't sure what.
Having successfully returned the fish to their Red Sea home before flying back to the United States, Szczebak repeated the experiments with Ray Henry's help in Chadwick's Auburn lab. However, this time he tried an additional test. Separating the clownfish from its anemone with plastic mesh so that the clownfish could still see its partner and they could smell each other Szczebak remeasured their oxygen consumption, but it was still lower than when they were in contact. 'There was something about the physical contact between them that was the source of the increase', says Szczebak.
Spending long nights filming the clownfish as they nestled in amongst their anemone's tentacles, Szczebak realised that the fish were much more active than had been thought previously. He frequently saw the fish fanning the anemone with their rapidly weaving fins and the fish often burrowed deep into their host, sometimes making a 180deg turn deep within the mass of tentacles to open up the collapsed anemone and apparently circulate water through it. However, when Szczebak measured the oxygen consumption of isolated anemones as he flowed water through them at speeds ranging from 0.5 to 8.0cm/s, their oxygen consumption never increased by as much as it did when paired with a clownfish, suggesting that the clownfish also contribute the partnership's increased oxygen consumption.
'I think that I have found foundational evidence that, like similar symbioses on coral reefs, anemonefish may actively modulate flow conditions surrounding their host to benefit them under low oxygen scenarios', says Szczebak. He adds that Chadwick's group is continuing to investigate whether the fish indulge in their nocturnal antics purely to supplement the anemone's oxygen supply or for an as-yet-undetermined reason with the additional benefit of improved circulation.
###
IF REPORTING ON THIS STORY, PLEASE MENTION THE JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AS THE SOURCE AND, IF REPORTING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A LINK TO: http://jeb.biologists.org/content/216/6/970.abstract
REFERENCE: Szczebak, J. T., Henry, R. P., Al-Horani, F. A. and Chadwick, N. E. (2013). Anemonefish oxygenate their anemone hosts at night. J. Exp. Biol. 216, 970-976.
This article is posted on this site to give advance access to other authorised media who may wish to report on this story. Full attribution is required, and if reporting online a link to jeb.biologists.com is also required. The story posted here is COPYRIGHTED. Therefore advance permission is required before any and every reproduction of each article in full. PLEASE CONTACT permissions@biologists.com
THIS ARTICLE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDNESDAY, 27 February 2013, 18:00 HRS EST (23:00 HRS GMT)
[ | 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.
LONDON (AP) - More than a decade after online file swapping tipped the music industry into turmoil, record executives may finally be getting a sliver of good news.
Industry revenue is up. A measly 0.3 percent, but it's still up.
"We're on the path to recovery," said Frances Moore, whose International Federation of the Phonographic Industry put together the figures released in a report Tuesday. "There's a palpable buzz in the air."
In her forward to the IFPI report, Moore said the return to growth was a tribute to the transformation of the music industry, saying it had "adapted to the Internet world."
That change has been a long time coming. Online song sharing popularized by services such as Napster at the turn of the millennium seriously destabilized the industry, which reacted with a barrage of lawsuits and lobbying. But the war on piracy failed to stem the tide of free music, and by the time executives finally began making legal music available through download services such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes, the industry was in a free fall.
Since its 1999 peak, the global music industry's revenues have crashed more than 40 percent. Tuesday's figures, which show a rise in global revenue from $16.4 billion in 2011 to $16.5 billion in 2012, are the first hint of growth in more than a decade.
Mark Mulligan, of U.K.-based MIDiA consulting, warned that Tuesday's figures did not mean the industry had put its misery years behind it.
"We're probably near the bottom," he said, "but it's so marginal we could easily have another year or two where it could get worse."
The physical music market - everything from vinyl records to DVDs - continues to contract, losing another $500 million in revenue between 2011 and 2012, according to Tuesday's IFPI figures. The industry group has placed its bets on downloads, streaming, and subscription services to make up for lost ground, but there's still a long way to go.
Downloads and streaming audio now account for most of the music sold in the United States and Scandinavia, but physical music still accounts for the majority of industry revenue worldwide.
Illegal music downloads remain a problem worldwide, particularly in potentially huge markets such as Russia, India, and China. Moore urged governments to follow the example of the international enforcement action against Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, accused by American prosecutors of facilitating millions of illegal downloads. Dotcom, who is fighting an attempt to extradite him from New Zealand to the United States, denies the allegations.
The report hailed the action against Megaupload and sites like The Pirate Bay - which has been blocked by several European countries - but it estimated that 32 percent of all Internet users still regularly downloaded pirated music.
"What other industry has to cope with a third of its customers being able to get copies of its products from illegal services?" Moore said.
With growth uneven across various countries and piracy still a stubborn problem, it could take years for the industry to return to its previous health. If it ever does.
Mulligan said he believes some of the lost revenue may never be recovered, with many casual users who used to buy the odd CD turning to free services such as YouTube, television music channels, or Internet radio instead.
"This is a case of managed decline," he said, predicting "a sustainable but smaller market built around more engaged music fans."
___
Online:
The IFPI's report: http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/dmr2013.html
Raphael Satter can be reached on: http://raphae.li/twitter
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Internet didn?t kill TV! According to Mike Proulx, the Internet has become TV?s best friend. Proulx will be the opening keynote speaker at SES New York 2013. The leading event for experienced marketing and advertising professionals will take place March 25-28, 2013, at the New York Marriott Marquis.
Proulx is a Senior Vice President and the Director of Social Media at Hill Holliday, a renowned advertising agency based in Boston, where he leads a team with a focus on cross-channel integration, emerging and social media. He has spent the last 17 years working at various interactive, high-tech, and new media companies on the agency-side, client-side, and as an entrepreneur. He has spoken at dozens of events and has been widely featured in the press including The New York Times, Fast Company, TV Guide, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Mashable, BuzzFeed, and NPR.
Proulx conceived, produced, directed, and co-host the TVnext summit, which took place in early 2011 and 2012. He is the co-author of Social TV, a best-selling book from Wiley publishing that launched in February of 2012. He is also the host of the social TV web series, ?The Pulse on Lost Remote?. He holds a Master?s degree in Computer Information Systems from Bentley University and in 2012 was named the Ad Club?s Media All Star.
His opening keynote is titled, ?Social TV: How Marketers Can Reach and Engage Audiences by Connecting Television to the Web, Social Media, and Mobile.?
Search Engine Watch (SEW) asked Mike Proulx (MP) five questions about his upcoming keynote. Here are his answers:
SEW: How does the convergence of television with the web, social media, and mobile change our behaviors and shake up our long standing beliefs about TV?
MP: There are those who believe that television is a traditional medium with an impending death. The web, social media, and mobile have evolved TV into a multi-screen experience that transcends devices. Not only are we watching more television than ever before, we?re interacting with programming on the ?second screen? in ways that enrich storylines and bring us together to virtually co-view. The modern era of television is a new media that?s more social, more connected, and more portable?and because of this TV is more alive than it?s ever been.
SEW: How has social media created a new and powerful "backchannel" and why does this fuel the renaissance of live broadcasts?
MP: There are a ton of posts happening in social media about any given TV show as it airs. Since Twitter is open and public, it acts as television?s backchannel filled with real-time commentary and conversation ? And it?s not just about TV series but also TV commercials giving producers and marketers instant feedback about their content. Live television events are seeing some of the highest ratings in years and social media brings a level of community and connection to TV watching the likes of which the medium has never before experienced.
SEW: Can you give us some examples of how mobile devices allow us to watch and interact with television whenever and wherever we want?
MP: Tablets, smartphones, and laptops enable television?s portability but it?s apps like HBO Go, ABC Player, Xfinity Remote, and CNN that deliver ?TV? content via those devices. And in the 4G world of mobile, we can watch TV in places once inconceivable. My favorite spot? Laying out on the roof deck on a warm summer night with my iPad in hand streaming HBO?s The Newsroom.
SEW: Why would ?connected TVs? blend web and television content into a unified big screen experience that will bring us back into our living rooms?
MP: Apple TV, Roku, Boxee TV, Google TV, Samsung Smart TVs, etc. stream online video (that was once relegated to our computer screens) onto the ?big screen? of our living rooms. HD YouTube clips suddenly come to life in ways that are far more impactful and dynamic than tiny smartphone screens further blurring the lines of what?s ?TV.? While the notion of TV everywhere lets us watch TV at will regardless of our physical location, the increasingly seamless ability to channel streaming video through the TV set makes the living room that much more compelling.
SEW: With the television landscape changing, why should brands approach the medium once labeled ?traditional? as new media?
MP: TV has become mashed up with the Web, social media, and mobile. Television networks, providers, brands, and agencies must continue to unshackle themselves from dated business and advertising models and rediscover television as a new medium. This means planning television and digital together to tell stories across devices and engage viewers with TV experiences not just TV shows. The speed, scale, and degree of change that has and is happening create enormous opportunity for those brands who have the courage to innovate.
SES New York 2013 offers a variety of conference passes and on-site training. If you register by Thursday, March 7, 2013, you can save up to $600 on Platinum or All Access passes.
For more information, click on Rates and Registration Details. Group discounts for 4 or more pass holders from the same company are also available by contacting [email?protected] and are the best value for the lowest price possible.
I should disclose that SES New York is a client of my agency. But, trust me, TV is not dead yet.
Become an Expert Digital Marketer at SES New York March 25-28, 2013: With dozens of sessions on Search, Social, Local and Mobile, you'll leave SES with everything and everyone you need to know. Hurry, early bird rates expire February 21. Register today!
Feb. 26, 2013 ? An international team led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has documented a 78 percent decline in the number of nests of the critically endangered leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) at the turtle's last stronghold in the Pacific Ocean.
The study, published online Feb. 26 in the Ecological Society of America's scientific online journal Ecosphere, reveals leatherback nests at Jamursba Medi Beach in Papua Barat, Indonesia -- which accounts for 75 percent of the total leatherback nesting in the western Pacific -- have fallen from a peak of 14,455 in 1984 to a low of 1,532 in 2011. Less than 500 leatherbacks now nest at this site annually.
Thane Wibbels, Ph.D., a professor of reproductive biology at UAB and member of a research team that includes scientists from State University of Papua (UNIPA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia, says the largest marine turtle in the world could soon vanish.
"If the decline continues, within 20 years it will be difficult if not impossible for the leatherback to avoid extinction," said Wibbels, who has studied marine turtles since 1980. "That means the number of turtles would be so low that the species could not make a comeback.
"The leatherback is one of the most intriguing animals in nature, and we are watching it head towards extinction in front of our eyes," added Wibbels.
Leatherback turtles can grow to six feet long and weigh as much as 2,000 pounds. They are able to dive to depths of nearly 4,000 feet and can make trans-Pacific migrations from Indonesia to the U.S. Pacific coast and back again.
While it is hard to imagine that a turtle so large and so durable can be on the verge of extinction, Ricardo Tapilatu, the research team's lead scientist who is a Ph.D. student and Fulbright Scholar in the UAB Department of Biology, points to the leatherback's trans-Pacific migration, where they face the prevalent danger of being caught and killed in fisheries.
"They can migrate more than 7,000 miles and travel through the territory of at least 20 countries, so this is a complex international problem," Tapilatu said. "It is extremely difficult to comprehensively enforce fishing regulations throughout the Pacific."
The team, along with paper co-author Peter Dutton, Ph.D., discovered thousands of nests laid during the boreal winter just a few kilometers away from the known nesting sites, but their excitement was short-lived.
"We were optimistic for this population when year round nesting was discovered in Wermon Beach, but we now have found out that nesting on that beach appears to be declining at a similar rate as Jamursba Medi," said Dutton, head of the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center's Marine Turtle Genetics Program.
The study has used year-round surveys of leatherback turtle nesting areas since 2005, and it is the most extensive research on the species to date. The team identified four major problems facing leatherback turtles: nesting beach predators, such as pigs and dogs that were introduced to the island and eat the turtle eggs; rising sand temperatures that can kill the eggs or prevent the production of male hatchlings; the danger of being caught by fisheries during migrations; and harvesting of adults and eggs for food by islanders.
Tapilatu, a native of western Papua, Indonesia, has studied leatherback turtles and worked on their conservation since 2004. His efforts have been recognized by NOAA, and he will head the leatherback conservation program in Indonesia once he earns his doctorate from UAB and returns to Papua.
He has worked to educate locals and limit the harvesting of adults and eggs. His primary focus today is protecting the nesting females, eggs and hatchlings. A leatherback lays up to 10 nests each season, more than any other turtle species. Tapilatu is designing ways to optimize egg survival and hatchling production by limiting their exposure to predators and heat through an extensive beach management program.
"If we relocate the nests from the warmest portion of the beach to our egg hatcheries, and build shades for nests in other warm areas, then we will increase hatching success to 80 percent or more," said Tapilatu.
"The international effort has attempted to develop a science-based nesting beach management plan by evaluating and addressing the factors that affect hatching success such as high sand temperatures, erosion, feral pig predation and relocating nests to maximize hatchling output," said Manjula Tiwari, a researcher at NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif.
Wibbels, who is also the Ph.D. advisor for Tapilatu, says that optimizing hatchling production is a key component to leatherback survival, especially considering the limited number of hatchlings who survive to adulthood.
"Only one hatchling out of 1,000 makes it to adulthood, so taking out an adult makes a significant difference on the population," Wibbels said. "It is essentially the same as killing 1,000 hatchlings."
The research team believes that beach management will help to decrease the annual decline in the number of leatherback nests, but protection of the leatherbacks in waters throughout the Pacific is a prerequisite for their survival and recovery. Despite their prediction for leatherback extinction, the scientists are hopeful this species could begin rebounding over the next 20 years if effective management strategies are implemented.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Alabama at Birmingham. The original article was written by Kevin Storr.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Ricardo F. Tapilatu, Peter H. Dutton, Manjula Tiwari, Thane Wibbels, Hadi V. Ferdinandus, William G. Iwanggin, Barakhiel H. Nugroho. Long-term decline of the western Pacific leatherback,Dermochelys coriacea: a globally important sea turtle population. Ecosphere, 2013; 4 (2): art25 DOI: 10.1890/ES12-00348.1
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Feb. 26, 2013 ? Though it's most often associated with disorders like diabetes, Harvard researchers have shown how the signaling pathway of insulin and insulin-like peptides plays another critical role in the body -- helping to regulate learning and memory.
In addition to showing that the insulin-like peptides play a critical role in regulating the activity of neurons involved in learning and memory, a team of researchers led by Yun Zhang, Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, show that the interaction between the molecules can fine-tune how, or even if, learning takes place. Their work is described in a February 6 paper in Neuron.
"People think of insulin and diabetes, but many metabolic syndromes are associated with some types of cognitive defects and behavioral disorders, like depression or dementia," Zhang said. "That suggests that insulin and insulin-like peptides may play an important role in neural function, but it's been very difficult to nail down the underlying mechanism, because these peptides do not have to function through synapses that connect different neurons in the brain"
To get at that mechanism, Zhang and colleagues turned to an organism whose genome and nervous system are well described and highly accessible by genetics -- C. elegans.
Using genetic tools, researchers altered the small, transparent worms by removing their ability to create individual insulin-like compounds. These new "mutant" worms were then tested to see whether they would learn to avoid eating a particular type of bacteria that is known to infect the worms. Tests showed that while some worms did learn to steer clear of the bacteria, others didn't -- suggesting that removing a specific insulin-like compound halted the worms' ability to learn.
Researchers were surprised to find, however, that it wasn't just removing the molecules that could make the animals lose the ability to learn -- some peptide was found to inhibit learning.
"We hadn't predicted that we would find both positive and negative regulators from these peptides," Zhang said. "Why does the animal need this bidirectional regulation of learning? One possibility is that learning depends on context. There are certain things you want to learn -- for example, the worms in these experiments wanted to learn that they shouldn't eat this type of infectious bacteria. That's a positive regulation of the learning. But if they needed to eat, even if it is a bad food, to survive, they would need a way to suppress this type of learning."
Even more surprising for Zhang and her colleagues was evidence that the various insulin-like molecules could regulate each other.
"Many animals, including the humans, have multiple insulin-like molecules and it appears that these molecules can act like a network," she said. "Each of them may play a slightly different role in the nervous system, and they function together to coordinate the signaling related to learning and memory. By changing the way the molecules interact, the brain can fine tune learning in a host of different ways."
Going forward, Zhang said she hopes to characterize more of the insulin-like peptides as a way of better understanding how the various molecules interact, and how they act on the neural circuits for learning and memory.
Understanding how such pathways work could one day help in the development of treatment for a host of cognitive disorders, including dementia.
"The signaling pathways for insulin and insulin-like peptides are highly conserved in mammals, including the humans," Zhang said. "There is even some preliminary evidence that insulin treatment, in some cases, can improve cognitive function. That's one reason we believe that if we understand this mechanism, it will help us better understand how insulin pathways are working in the human brain."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Harvard University.
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Journal Reference:
Zhunan Chen, Michael Hendricks, Astrid Cornils, Wolfgang Maier, Joy Alcedo, Yun Zhang. Two Insulin-like Peptides Antagonistically Regulate Aversive Olfactory Learning in C.?elegans. Neuron, 2013; 77 (3): 572 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.11.025
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Who doesn't want a little aquatic drone to call their own? Azorean's Ziphius is a partially submerged device that can be controlled via iOS or Android smartphone or tablet. There's an on-board HD camera that offers up visuals to give the user a first-person view both above and below the water. Azorean plans to open the API on the vehicle and software to let developers create all manner of games and apps that'll harness augmented reality. Inside of the drone, you'll find a Raspberry Pi, an Ardunio-based plate and two differential motors. The company's promising intuitive handling and even a bit of autonomy with the Ziphius.
By why talk about it, when we can play you some videos of the little guy in action? You'll find those after the break.
Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!
It began as a seemingly awkward Jack Nicholson introduction of the very long list on nominees, but the Best Picture denouement?at a very long Oscars ceremony on Sunday turned into a surprise appearance by Michelle Obama, via satellite from the Governors' Ball in Washington, D.C.?where earlier she had sat next to Chris Christie?to introduce and announce the winner,?Argo.?
Last Modified: Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 11:45 p.m.
The College of Central Florida baseball team has been more than up to the challenge of playing tough competition this week.
The Patriots (12-8) improved to 2-1 this weekend against teams ranked among the top three in the state, as they downed No. 2 Gulf Coast State 11-5 on Saturday afternoon at Goodlett Field.
?We?re calling this our February State Tournament,? CF coach Marty Smith said. ?We want to win five, before we lose two (the format needed to win the state title).
?We?ve faced some very good competition and we are going to need this when we get to conference and have to play five tough games in a row.?
CF, which split a pair of games this weekend with No. 3 Miami Dade (that included a 14-5 loss Saturday), scored the go-ahead run in the fifth on a RBI single by Enderson Velsasquez, who added a three-run double that sparked a five-run sixth.
For the game, Velasquez was 3-for-3 with six RBIs and a run.
Travis Richardson (2-1) retired seven of the eight hitters he faced and earned the win.
Jason Lombardozzi was 4-for-4 with two doubles, four runs scored and one RBI for CF in the win over Gulf Coast.
Over the course of the doubleheader, Lombardozzi (6-for-8, four runs scored, two doubles, three RBIs), Ryan Smith (3-for-6, two runs scored), David Lugo (2-for-6, double, triple, RBI, run scored), Kevin Games (2-for-7, RBI, triple, two runs scored), Velasquez (3-for-6, six RBIs, run scored, double) and Mario Urdaneta (2-for-7, double, two runs scored, RBI) led the way for the Patriots.
CF, winner of seven of its last nine games, hosts Gulf Coast (13-5) today at noon.
CF Men?s Basketball 98, FSC-Jacksonville 79: At Jacksonville, the Patriots (27-3, 8-1), ranked 10th in the nation and third in the state, clinched the best single-season winning percentage in school history with their 18th win in the last 20 meetings dating back to 2007.
CF will now await the Suncoast Conference runner-up in the opening round of the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Men?s Basketball Tournament on March 7 in Marianna.
The Patriots led by seven at halftime and upped their edge to as many as 23 in the second half, as they won for the third time in as many tries this season against the Blue Wave (14-15, 4-5).
Eugene McCrory and Rodell Wigginton led CF with 16 points each, while Will Saunders added 15.
Rasham Suarez chipped in 14 points and Jeremiah Eason scored 13.
Giorgio Armani could claim some big wins at the Oscars on Sunday night: The designer dressed Jessica Chastain and Quvenzhane Wallis.
Chastain, in a glistening copper-tone strapless gown with mermaid hem, looked like an old-world glamorous movie star, especially with her oversized vintage Harry Winston diamond earrings and bright red lipstick. "I chose it because to me it was a throwback to old Hollywood," she said.
Meanwhile, she told E!: "It's a very 'Happy birthday, Mr. President' dress."
Naomi Watts was expected to wear a gunmetal beaded gown with a geometric cutout on the bodice, also by Armani. She and Chastain were both considered fashion "gets" for the Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
Quvenzhane, with a silver headband in her hair and carrying her puppy purse, wore an Armani Junior navy-blue dress with black, navy and silver jewels scattered on the skirt and a big bow on the back. She apparently has another Armani dress, a pink one, ready for the afterparty. "I liked it because it was sparkly and puffy."
Jennifer Lawrence was in a white strapless gown by Dior Haute Couture with sophisticated pulled-back hair, diamond-ball earrings and a delicate long necklace that hung down in the back.
Amy Adams wore a dove-gray Oscar de la Renta gown with a sweetheart neckline and tiers of frayed chiffon and tulle on the ballskirt, and Zoe Saldana wore a strapless gray gown with floral appliques. Reese Witherspoon's modern gown by Louis Vuitton was mostly electric blue with a strip of black at the bustline.
Kerry Washington wore a Miu Miu gown with a chunky beaded bodice and orange-red skirt with a delicate bow at the waist.
Other expected designer moments to unfold at the Dolby Theatre include Barbra Streisand in a black, bias-cut, asymmetrical Donna Karan gown that the designer dubbed "City Lights." Renee Zellweger was expected to wear a Carolina Herrera gown.
Headed to the Oscars herself, Nadja Swarovski, the head of corporate communications for the crystal company Swarovski that makes the beadwork for the majority of the red-carpet gowns, expected the collective fashion picture to be fairly minimalist looks in monochromatic colors.
Still, she said, there'll be sparkle. "It's more of a dot on the 'I' or cross on the 'T,' more than a whole of sparkle, but it makes a great palette for jewelry."
___
Associated Press Writer Beth Harris contributed to this report.
FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008, file photo, Republican presidential hopeful former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks with Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday in Manchester, N.H. Wallace said on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, that he has landed the first post-election interview with Romney and his wife, Ann. The interview will air on his show next week (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008, file photo, Republican presidential hopeful former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks with Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday in Manchester, N.H. Wallace said on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, that he has landed the first post-election interview with Romney and his wife, Ann. The interview will air on his show next week (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Fox's Chris Wallace has landed the first postelection interview with defeated Republican nominee Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann.
Wallace said on "Fox News Sunday" that the interview will air on his show next week. Additional portions will be on Fox News Channel the next day. Wallace says he'll ask Romney how he has dealt with the defeat, what he plans to do and his thoughts about President Barack Obama's second-term agenda.
Fox News spokeswoman Ashley Nerz says the interview will be taped this week in southern California, where Romney has spent much of his time since the election.
Romney has also said he will speak March 15 to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, an annual event that draws leading Republican voices.
Ain't no problem that can't be solved by an app. At least, that's what it seems like the folks at EI Technologies are out to prove. Their app "Xpression" aims to help treat depression by listening to a user's voice, cataloging his or her moods, and alerting a doctor of any dangerous dips. All automatically. More »
The body of a Canadian tourist was discovered in a water tank on top of a Los Angeles hotel on Tuesday. Local health officials have ordered people not to drink the hotel?s water (though tests indicate that the water did not contain harmful bacteria). Would drinking corpse water make you sick?
Not necessarily. If the body belonged to a generally healthy person, you might get sick from E. coli or another coliform bacteria from the deceased?s intestine. But that?s unlikely. Most bacteria don?t survive long outside of the living human body, so pathogens would probably die in the water before they could do you any harm. Bacteria also thrive only within a certain temperature range, so hot or cold weather could hamper their spread, too. (A representative of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health told NBC that a cold spell may have prevented the spread of bacteria in this particular case.) And since drinking water is treated with chlorine or other disinfectants for the express purpose of killing harmful fecal bacteria, dangerous germs have an even smaller chance of survival in a water tank than in, say, a lake.
However, coliform bacteria, which occur naturally in healthy people?s lower intestinal tract and feces, could conceivably diffuse through the water and survive long enough to make you sick. When ingested, coliform bacteria can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and other gastrointestinal symptoms, but they?re treatable with antibiotics.
If the body belonged to someone with an infectious disease, you might be in trouble. Hepatitis A, tuberculosis, cholera, and some bacteria that cause pneumonia can be spread through water, for instance. Some infectious bacteria, viruses, and parasites are chlorine-resistant, which makes them more dangerous in the water supply than coliform bacteria.
People who drink or bathe with water that?s been contaminated by a corpse are more likely to experience psychological effects than physical illness. Learning that you?ve inadvertently been in such indirect yet intimate contact with a dead body could be traumatic, and it may cause anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, both of which are treatable with psychotherapy or antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication.
Got a question about today?s news??Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Gregory J. Davis of University of Kentucky College of Medicine.
All Proceeds to Benefit HOPE2GETHER.ORG, a non-profit organization
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRURGENT
Oakwood Escrow, an escrow company in Rancho Bernardo, announced today that they will be presenting their first annual ?OAKWOOD4HOPE? Celebrity Golf Classic event this coming July 12th and 13th, 2013.
The event will be a 2 day event with a ?VIP Meet and Greet? event Friday, July12th from 7-10pm at the Powerhouse venue on the beach in Del Mar. The Saturday golf tournament will be held Saturday, July 13th at the Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club at 11:00 with a shot gun start.
The celebrity hosts for the golfing event will be Wes Chandler, an NFL Chargers Hall of Fame player, as well as Cindy Matalucci who is the host of the San Diego show, ?The Pulse?. There will be many celebrities coming from all over the country for this 2 day event.
This is a high-demand event that will be sold out. There are several corporate sponsorships available that will provide excellent exposure and branding.
All proceeds from the ?OAKWOOD4HOPE? Celebrity Golf Classic event are to benefit the HOPE Foundation which is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. Sherrie and Michael Rubin?s son, Aaron, overdosed on Oxycontin October 9th, 2005. He laid three and a half weeks in a coma, on life support. They began planning their son?s funeral when, against all medical odds, he began to open his eyes. Aaron survived, but the overdose has left him a quadriplegic and unable to speak.
In 2009 Sherrie began speaking at schools warning students and parents about prescription pills, drugs and the deadly ?REAL? consequences that can occur by misusing and abusing these drugs. On November 24th, 2010 Sherrie and her husband Michael founded, HOPE2GETHER, (HOPE) a 501 (c) (3) non-profit foundation.
About Oakwood Escrow: ?It?s not a new way it?s just called your way?
Oakwood Escrow is a new independent escrow company located in Rancho Bernardo. Oakwood strives to deliver first class service and a unique, customized escrow experience. Oakwood is licensed by the California Department of Corporations (DOC), and is under the most stringent consumer protections in the industry. Oakwood Escrow firmly believes in providing their clients with the highest level of service and integrity. The Oakwood team believes in ?giving back? to their community and is involved in local philanthropic and charity events. Oakwood Escrow is always looking for new ways to make a difference in their community and beyond.
DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Doug" (24), and I (22) have been in a long-distance relationship for a year, but we were friends for a couple of years before that. I had never had a serious relationship before and lacked experience. Doug has not only been in two other long-term relationships, but has had sex with more than 15 women. One of them is an amateur porn actress.I knew about this, but it didn't bother me until recently. Doug had a party, and while he was drunk he told one of his buddies -- in front of me -- that he should watch a certain porn film starring his ex-girlfriend. ...
We've talked about some of the best living room speakers you can get, but now we want to talk about an important part of your home entertainment setup that's often sadly overlooked: the receiver. The best ones offer tons of ports to connect your devices, crisp audio and video quality, easy setup, and extra features like Airplay, Pandora, and other internet-enabled services. Which ones do you think are the best of breed?
The best receivers don't just support tons of speakers. They pass through their audio and video signals clearly, offer you calibration tools to make sure every picture and sound coming out of your receiver is suited to your tastes (and crisp, clear, and true to the original at the same time), are packed with ports for your Blu-ray player, game consoles, HTPC, and other devices, and of course, they hit the sweet spot of features for your money. So which models do you think are the best? If we can't get a consensus on models, we'll settle for brand names, but let's see your votes in the discussions below.
Hive Five nominations take place in the discussions, where you post your favorite tool for the job. We get hundreds of nominations, so to make your nomination clear, please include it at the top of your post like so: VOTE: BEST A/V RECEIVER. Please don't include your vote in a reply to another person. Nominations emailed to us will not be counted. Instead, make your vote and reply separate discussions. After you've made your nomination, let us know what makes it stand out from the competition.
About the Hive Five: The Hive Five feature series asks readers to answer the most frequently asked question we get: "Which tool is the best?" Once a week we'll put out a call for contenders looking for the best solution to a certain problem, then YOU tell us your favorite tools to get the job done. Every weekend, we'll report back with the top five recommendations and give you a chance to vote on which is best. For an example, check out last week's five best system rescue discs.
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it?it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!
Feb. 20, 2013 ? In the weeks, months and years after a severe head injury, patients often experience epileptic seizures that are difficult to control. A new study in rats suggests that gently cooling the brain after injury may prevent these seizures.
"Traumatic head injury is the leading cause of acquired epilepsy in young adults, and in many cases the seizures can't be controlled with medication," says senior author Matthew Smyth, MD, associate professor of neurological surgery and of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "If we can confirm cooling's effectiveness in human trials, this approach may give us a safe and relatively simple way to prevent epilepsy in these patients."
The researchers reported their findings in Annals of Neurology.
Cooling the brain to protect it from injury is not a new concept. Cooling slows down the metabolic activity of nerve cells, and scientists think this may make it easier for brain cells to survive the stresses of an injury.
Doctors currently cool infants whose brains may have had inadequate access to blood or oxygen during birth. They also cool some heart attack patients to reduce peripheral brain damage when the heart stops beating.
Smyth has been exploring the possibility of using cooling to prevent seizures or reduce their severity.
"Warmer brain cells seem to be more electrically active, and that may increase the likelihood of abnormal electrical discharges that can coalesce to form a seizure," Smyth says. "Cooling should have the opposite effect."
Smyth and colleagues at the University of Washington and the University of Minnesota test potential therapies in a rat model of brain injury. These rats develop chronic seizures weeks after the injury.
Researchers devised a headset that cools the rat brain. They were originally testing its ability to stop seizures when they noticed that cooling seemed to be not only stopping but also preventing seizures.
Scientists redesigned the study to focus on prevention. Under the new protocols, they put headsets on some of the rats that cooled their brains by less than 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Another group of rats wore headsets that did nothing. Scientists who were unaware of which rats they were observing monitored them for seizures during treatment and after the headsets were removed.
Rats that wore the inactive headset had progressively longer and more severe seizures weeks after the injury, but rats whose brains had been cooled only experienced a few very brief seizures as long as four months after injury.
Brain injury also tends to reduce cell activity at the site of the trauma, but the cooling headsets restored the normal activity levels of these cells.
The study is the first to reduce injury-related seizures without drugs, according to Smyth, who is director of the Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery program at St. Louis Children's Hospital.
"Our results show that the brain changes that cause this type of epilepsy happen in the days and weeks after injury, not at the moment of injury or when the symptoms of epilepsy begin," says Smyth. "If clinical trials confirm that cooling has similar effects in humans, it could change the way we treat patients with head injuries, and for the first time reduce the chance of developing epilepsy after brain injury."
Smyth and his colleagues have been testing cooling devices in humans in the operating room, and are planning a multi-institutional trial of an implanted focal brain cooling device to evaluate the efficacy of cooling on established seizures.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis. The original article was written by Michael C. Purdy.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Raimondo D'Ambrosio, Clifford L. Eastman, Felix Darvas, Jason S. Fender, Derek R. Verley, Federico M. Farin, Hui-Wen Wilkerson, Nancy R. Temkin, John W. Miller, Jeffrey Ojemann, Steven M. Rothman, Matthew D. Smyth. Mild passive focal cooling prevents epileptic seizures after head injury in rats. Annals of Neurology, 2012; DOI: 10.1002/ana.23764
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Contact: Becky Lindeman journal.pediatrics@cchmc.org 513-636-7140 Elsevier Health Sciences
Cincinnati, OH, February 22, 2013 -- In January 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture passed a series of regulations designed to make school lunches more nutritious, which included requiring schools to increase whole grain offerings and making students select either a fruit or vegetable with their purchased lunch. However, children cannot be forced to eat these healthier lunches. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers determined that small, inexpensive changes to school cafeterias influenced the choice and consumption of healthier foods.
Andrew S. Hanks, PhD, and colleagues from the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs (B.E.N. Center) studied the effects of multiple small interventions, called the smarter lunchroom makeover, in the cafeterias of two junior-senior high schools (grades 7-12) in western New York. In the lunchroom, changes were implemented to improve the convenience and attractiveness of fruits and vegetables (e.g., fresh fruit next to the cash register in nice bowls or tiered stands) and make the selection of fruits and vegetables seem standard through verbal cues from cafeteria staff (e.g., "Would you like to try an apple?"). The smarter lunchroom makeover took no more than 3 hours in one afternoon and cost less than $50 to implement. These types of changes are applications of the behavioral science principle termed "libertarian paternalism," which promotes influencing choice through behavioral cues, while preserving choices.
To measure the impact of the smarter lunchroom makeover, researchers recorded what was left on trays after lunch, both before and after the intervention. After the smarter lunchroom makeover, students were 13% more likely to take fruits and 23% more likely to take vegetables. Actual fruit consumption increased by 18% and vegetable consumption increased by 25%; students were also more likely to eat the whole serving of fruit or vegetables (16% and 10%, respectively).
These low-cost, yet effective interventions could significantly influence healthier behaviors, potentially helping to offset childhood obesity trends. Dr. Hanks notes, "This not only preserves choice, but has the potential to lead children to develop lifelong habits of selecting and consuming healthier foods even when confronted with less healthy options." These simple changes could also be effective in the cafeterias of other organizations, including hospitals, companies, and retirement homes.
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Contact: Becky Lindeman journal.pediatrics@cchmc.org 513-636-7140 Elsevier Health Sciences
Cincinnati, OH, February 22, 2013 -- In January 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture passed a series of regulations designed to make school lunches more nutritious, which included requiring schools to increase whole grain offerings and making students select either a fruit or vegetable with their purchased lunch. However, children cannot be forced to eat these healthier lunches. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers determined that small, inexpensive changes to school cafeterias influenced the choice and consumption of healthier foods.
Andrew S. Hanks, PhD, and colleagues from the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs (B.E.N. Center) studied the effects of multiple small interventions, called the smarter lunchroom makeover, in the cafeterias of two junior-senior high schools (grades 7-12) in western New York. In the lunchroom, changes were implemented to improve the convenience and attractiveness of fruits and vegetables (e.g., fresh fruit next to the cash register in nice bowls or tiered stands) and make the selection of fruits and vegetables seem standard through verbal cues from cafeteria staff (e.g., "Would you like to try an apple?"). The smarter lunchroom makeover took no more than 3 hours in one afternoon and cost less than $50 to implement. These types of changes are applications of the behavioral science principle termed "libertarian paternalism," which promotes influencing choice through behavioral cues, while preserving choices.
To measure the impact of the smarter lunchroom makeover, researchers recorded what was left on trays after lunch, both before and after the intervention. After the smarter lunchroom makeover, students were 13% more likely to take fruits and 23% more likely to take vegetables. Actual fruit consumption increased by 18% and vegetable consumption increased by 25%; students were also more likely to eat the whole serving of fruit or vegetables (16% and 10%, respectively).
These low-cost, yet effective interventions could significantly influence healthier behaviors, potentially helping to offset childhood obesity trends. Dr. Hanks notes, "This not only preserves choice, but has the potential to lead children to develop lifelong habits of selecting and consuming healthier foods even when confronted with less healthy options." These simple changes could also be effective in the cafeterias of other organizations, including hospitals, companies, and retirement homes.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 27-Feb-2013
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The Internet didn?t kill TV! According to Mike Proulx, the Internet has become TV?s best friend. Proulx will be the opening keynote speaker at SES New York 2013. The leading event for experienced marketing and advertising professionals will take place March 25-28, 2013, at the New York Marriott Marquis.
Mmm ... water. Now that's refreshing! 
We've talked about some of the best living room speakers you can get, but now we want to talk about an important part of your home entertainment setup that's often sadly overlooked: the receiver. The best ones offer tons of ports to connect your devices, crisp audio and video quality, easy setup, and extra features like Airplay, Pandora, and other internet-enabled services. Which ones do you think are the best of breed?