Liberty head west badly in need of a win – Amsterdam News

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The New York Liberty are currently on a West Coast road trip and focused on breaking a three-game losing streak. June 29, the Liberty were defeated by the Washington Mystics 67-54, and then July 2 lost 81-72 to the Atlanta Dream.

The Liberty continue to put out solid defensive efforts, but falter offensively. After the Washington game, coach Bill Laimbeer noted there were sloppy passes, a few calls for traveling and an overall struggle to score. Ive got to do a better job of getting players more movement and getting players in positions where they can take advantage of their skills, he said.

Guard Sugar Rodgers missed the Washington game because of a back injury suffered in the June 23 game. She was back in the rotation in Atlanta, contributing 11 points. Tina Charles and Kia Vaughn were also in double figures, but there was too much of a deficit to overcome in the second half.

We dug a hole for ourselves with turning the ball over and letting them get to the free throw line, said Vaughn. Overall, our effort was much better in the third quarter heading into the fourth quarter. We didnt pull it out this time.

The effort that we put into the second half, we have to start playing that way [all game], said Charles. We know each others strengths. Try to maximize that and get that out of one another and well be fine.

The team flew to Seattle after the Atlanta game and celebrated July 4 there before focusing on preparations for the Seattle Storm tonight. The road trip continues with the Phoenix Mercury Sunday. New York has already defeated Phoenix twice this season, so expect Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner to come on strong on their home court.

We just have to buckle down, Vaughn said. We have to have some urgency. Were all professionals. We have a system and we need to run it well.

Off the court, the Liberty were recognized for their community outreach efforts, winning the WNBA Cares Community Assist Award. Charles headlined an event in Atlanta the day before the Dream game in which her Hopeys Heart Foundation partnered with SafeKids Worldwide and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta to host a sports safety clinic for Atlanta youth.

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Liberty head west badly in need of a win - Amsterdam News

Liberty Hall kicks Off East Texas Movies Month with Hands on a Hardbody – Tyler Morning Telegraph

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On Thursday, July 6, Liberty Hall will be showing the award-winning documentary, Hands on a Hardbody. The film will be part of Liberty Halls East Texas Movies month, featuring four films, each with a tie to East Texas.

Shot entirely in the city of Longview, Texas, this documentary captures the 1995 contest in which 24 participants stood with their hands firmly planted on a pickup truck in an attempt to be the last person standing and winner of a brand new vehicle. The film was directed by S. R. Bindler, who directed the 2008 comedy, Surfer Dude, starring Matthew McConaughey, one of the Hardbody producers.

The film was awarded Best Documentary by the Boston Society of Film Critics at the 1997 AFI Film Festival. In 2012, it was adapted into a Tony -ominated musical, featuring music by Trey Anastasio of the band Phish. There were also plans to adapt the film into a scripted feature by director Robert Altman, who passed away before the project could begin production.

Tickets are available at http://www.libertytyler.com . The prices for this film are $5 online and $7 at the door. For more information about upcoming events, sponsoring an event or renting The City of Tylers Liberty Hall, go to http://www.LibertyTyler.com , or call Interim Manager John Baggett at 903-595-7274.

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Liberty Hall kicks Off East Texas Movies Month with Hands on a Hardbody - Tyler Morning Telegraph

As Seas Rise, Tropical Pacific Islands Face a Perfect Storm – Yale Environment 360

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Interview

Although they have done little to contribute to global warming, Pacific islanders may face some of the most dire consequences of rising seas and worsening storms. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, geologist Chip Fletcher describes the threats confronting Hawaii and other tropical islands, and discusses potential adaptation strategies.

By RichardSchiffman July6,2017

Among the places expected to be most hard-hit by sea level rise in the coming century or two are the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean, ranging from sparsely developed archipelagos in Micronesia to heavily populated coastal areas on the Hawaiian Islands, such as Honolulu.

Tracking the past, present, and future impacts of sea level rise on the Pacific region is University of Hawaii geologist Chip Fletcher. In an interview withYale Environment 360, Fletcher discusses how rising seas are already causing flooding and other disruptions on various Pacific islands, how saltwater intrusion will pose a major threat to freshwater supplies, and how countless coastal residents may inevitably have to be relocated from disappearing shorelines.

Fletcher notes that while the tropical Pacific is on the front line of climate changes destruction, it has done little to cause it. The majorindustrialnations responsible for global warming have a debt to the Pacific islands to assistwith theadaptation that is necessary to survive this challenge, says Fletcher.

Yale Environment 360:Given current and projected rates of sea level rise, what can we anticipate in the coming decades?

Chip Fletcher:What used to be considered an absolute worst-case scenario of probably about one meter of global sea level rise by the end of the century has now been characterized in a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as an intermediate scenario. For the first time, the possibility of a two-meter rise in sea level by the end of the century is being taken seriously. There is even one model result published recently showing that we may see a near-three-meter rise by the end of the century.

e360:Which Pacific islands will be most severely impacted by sea level rise?

Fletcher:Well every island, actually, because in the Pacific, islandpopulations tend to cluster around the coastal zone and around ports. Most populations are highly dependent on shipping and goods made in faraway places. As sea level continues to rise, we are going to see coastal erosion. Port facilities will experience new currents and extreme water levels, making navigation challenging. Extreme high tides, which are already occurring, will lead to flooding inunexpectedways, such aswater coming up through storm drains onto streets and waves flowing across beaches into buildings and roads. Coastal wetlands, where important staples such as taro aregrown,are experiencing saltwater intrusion. Saltwater is contaminatingshallowaquifers and threatening freshwateravailability.

e360: As a geologist, you have studied the history of the Pacific during recent millennia. How long has sea level been rising?

Fletcher: We cored the coastal plain in Western Samoa on the island of Upoluand found that at the same time that Polynesians were undergoing their journeys of exploration and discovery, 1,000 to 3,000 years ago, sea level was falling and exposing coastal plains that then became habitable, where previously the sea was up against clay banks or cliffs.

After the last ice age about 20,000 years ago, sea level initially rose due to the melting of the glaciers. That peaked around 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. In the Pacific region, sea levelstarted to fall until a few centuriesago. And now global warming is causing sea levels to rise again.

e360:The impact of sea level rise on islands and coastal areas in the Pacific has been exacerbated by changes in the climate. Could you talk about one critical factor the periodic El Nio phenomenon?

Fletcher:El Nio occurs when the trade winds are substituted by winds that blow from the west to the east. As we move into a warmer future, climate models are projecting that the Pacificwillexperience morefrequentstrong ElNio events.El Nio years bring with them enormous changes for all Pacific islands changes inrainfall, inwinds, in drought, in waves and erosion processes, in water temperature.

Globally, data show ashift to increased rain intensity.Withmore extreme precipitation, there is the possibility thatless water will soak into the ground to recharge aquifers and more of it willremain on the surface as runoff. This can depletefreshwater reserves and increaseflooding. In some areas this trend is compounded by extended periods of drought. And El Nio puts an exclamation point on all of this. The typical variability of storminess and drought rises in magnitude when you superimpose an El Nio on top of it.

e360:There have indeed been some punishing droughts recently in the Pacific.

Fletcher:Yes, for instance in Yap and Palau, during the 2015-16 El Nio, the drought was so severe that they were down to two-hour water days one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening when people could take water. All the reservoirs were nearly at zero, the rivers were drying up, they were in desperate shape for freshwater.

e360: Another threat to critical island fresh water supplies comes directly from sea level rise itself, isnt that right?

Fletcher: In the atoll communities, which rely on a thin aquifer of fresh water, you get saltwater intrusion into that aquifer both by wave overwash and saltwater bubbling up from below. In fact, in 2007 and 2008 there was a state of emergency in the Federated States of Micronesia where a king tide [an unusually high tide] and a high wave event superimposed on it caused something like 80 communities to lose their food and freshwater because of saltwater intrusions.

e360:Saltwater intrusion can be a threat in some cases before actual flooding of the islands?

Fletcher:Thats correct. People worry that these islands will drown with sea level rise, but their freshwater capacity will be challenged and is already being challenged much sooner than the islands would be drowned.Freshwater is the fundamental element that allows life on an island. It is already being affected in many places. It is possible in atoll communities that rely on thin freshwater aquifers if it breaks out onto the land surface, that water flows out into the ocean and you lose it. The freshwater lens becomes thinner and thinner.

The water table in all our coastal locations goes up and down with the tides. That means the water table is connected to the ocean. So as the ocean rises, the water table rises. This has a couple of effects. If you have a thin freshwater aquifer, it will break out through the land surface and create a new wetland. At first it will only occur at the highest tides of the year, then monthly, and eventually during every high tide. This trend of flooding will beworsened when it rains.

Imagine the consequences when this occursin downtown Honolulu and in Waikiki [as sea levels continue to rise].

We have one location [on Oahu] in particular that is over a mile from the coastline, an industrial area called Mapunapuna. And sea water flows up through the storm drain system, as well as comes under a small bridge out of a stream, and weve seen high tides over the past couple of months where theres a foot or two of standing water in the streets. This nuisance flooding is an example of what were going to be experiencing more and more as sea level continues to rise.

e360:When you look to the future in Honolulu, what are the big concerns?

Fletcher:Erosion of the beaches the tourists come here to go to the beaches. Storm drains flooding with saltwater up onto roads. Ground becoming saturated with groundwater and turning into wetlands. And then greatly increased vulnerability to tsunamis and hurricanes, because there is a non-linear aspect to storm surges and tsunami flooding. That is, if you raise sea level one foot, its more than just the equivalent of a one-foot-higher tsunami. If you raise sea level on the very flat topography of the coastal plain that stretches back landward of you, what a small tsunami might have caused with one foot of sea level rise could be ten times greater in terms of damage not just doubling.

e360: Are there any mitigation strategies being considered now in Hawaii to minimize the impact on Honolulu?

Fletcher: Yes, there is a committee that was formed by legislative mandate three years ago to study how we are going to adapt to climate change. And the first topic they took up was sea level rise, and theres a report thatll be coming out at the end of this year that discusses options. They will also report on the billions of dollars [in projected damages] and the numbers of people and the miles of roadway that are vulnerable to various aspects of sea level rise.

e360:What are some of those adaptation strategies?

Fletcher:So sea level rise is going to cause, and is already causing, accelerated beach erosion. How are we going to respond to that? Maybe in a few locations where the cost-benefit analysis permits it, we will spend millions of dollars on finding sand and putting it on the beach doing beach nourishment. And thats been done already and will continue to be done on Waikiki. Thats being contemplated and will occur in the next year or two for a tourism place on Maui called Kaanapali. Its lined with hotels, and looks a lot like Waikiki. The cost-benefit ratio suggests that spending millions of dollars putting new sand on the beach is certainly worth it.

But many beaches are not lined with hotels, and its problematic as to whether placing sand on those beaches will be a good long-term solution or if that sand will immediately erode away. Also where is the money supposed to come from? And so [we need] to simultaneously develop an exit strategy for coastal homes if erosion starts to threaten those homes and they put sea walls up in front of them the beaches can just disappear. That will no doubt happen on many beaches, but what about beaches that we dont want to disappear? Like Sunset Beach on the north shore of Oahu a famous beach. Were not just going to sea-wall that thing to death we need to figure out an exit strategy for the homes, for the homeowners. So do we buy them out, or do we trade state-owned land with them away from the shoreline. All sorts of economic tools might be considered.

e360:Could you briefly give an idea of how many homes in the Hawaiian islands will be threatened in the future by sea level rise. How many homes are that close to the ocean?

Fletcher:Thousands, thousands. Our modeling has looked at just a certain stretch of Sunset Beach and we see that at under one foot of sea level rise, over a hundred homes are threatened. Today there are 18 homes threatened, and with one foot of sea level rise it jumps up to over 100 homes. And one foot of sea level rise could happen within a few decades. And so if even half of those homes are allowed to put up sea walls, were going to see the end of Sunset beach.

e360:So thousands of homes on the Hawaiian islands are threatened in the next few decades?

Fletcher:I would say before the middle part of the century well see thousands of homes threatened with erosion and were going to be faced with a choice: Do we build sea walls, which will end up killing the beaches and hurt the monk seals and the turtles and all the stuff that goes along with beaches, or do we develop an exit strategy for these homeowners somehow?

e360: Coral reefs are another key factor in the geology of many Pacific islands.

Fletcher: This is point number one related to the Pacific Ocean and climate change that our reefs are taking a hammering much faster than we thought would occur. An important paper came out a year or two ago that said that by 2050, 98 percent of the reefs in the world will be sustaining annual bleaching. Thats extinction, basically. The only reefs that wont go extinct are reefs that can migrate to cooler waters, toward the poles.

The Great Barrier Reef appears to be on its last legs. It got hammered in 1998 and again in 2010, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Reefs cannot sustain year after year bleaching. The Great Barrier Reef has moved beyond our ability to help. It is collapsing before our very eyes. The reefs throughout Micronesia, in the coral triangle, in Indonesia, even in Hawaii which sits in slightly cooler water these reefs have sustained, year after year, serious coral bleaching and they are highly endangered.

e360: Reading about these threats, one might be under the impression that the smaller islands in the Pacific are doomed.

Fletcher: The Micronesians and Polynesians are place-based cultures. The bones of their ancestors are buried in these places. The land isconsidereda family member. This means moving is not arealisticoption for many. Moving would mean leaving behind ones culture, ones family, and the very basis of ones identity. However, rising sea levels, and changes in freshwater resources pose existential threats.

Pacific island communities did not bring this upon ourselves. Our contributions to greenhouse gas emissions arenegligible, yet we are among the earliest communities toexperiencethe worst consequences. The majorindustrialnations responsible for global warming have a debt to the Pacific islands to assistwith theadaptation that is necessary to survive this challenge. There is no time to spare. There are many steps that can be taken to bolsterfoodresources, improve rainwater catchment, increase the elevation of the land, and envision new community designs that are resilient to storms, drought, and flooding.

Richard Schiffman reports on the environment and health for a variety of publications that include The New York Times, Scientific American, the Atlantic and Yale Environment 360. His latest book published in February is a collection of nature-inspired poems entitled "What the Dust Doesn't Know." More about Richard Schiffman

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As Seas Rise, Tropical Pacific Islands Face a Perfect Storm - Yale Environment 360

Tropical Depression 4 may strengthen before approaching Leeward Islands – AccuWeather.com

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Tropical Depression Four, which formed over the south-central Atlantic Wednesday evening, may become Tropical Storm Don prior to swinging north of the Leeward Islands.

The tropical system will take a west-northwestward path over tropical waters through this weekend. The system is being guided by a clockwise flow associated with a large area of high pressure over the central Atlantic to the north.

This animation shows Tropical Depression Four over the south-central Atlantic Ocean on Thursday midday, July 6, 2017. (NOAA/Satellite)

Fluctuation in strength of the system is likely. The system may slip below tropical depression status and could also become a tropical storm over the next several days.

Into Friday, there is a chance the system becomes a tropical storm.

"Beyond Friday, some weakening of the system is likely," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rossio.

"The system will move into a zone of dry air and strong southwesterly winds at mid-levels of the atmosphere."

The core of thunderstorms associated with torrential rain and strong winds will steer north of the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend. However, it is possible for squalls to push westward across the islands well south of the center.

The system could still become strong enough to raise seas and surf around the islands. As a result, bathers and boaters should exercise caution.

In the long term, the strength of the system is questionable.

If the system survives the zone of dry air and disruptive winds as a tropical depression or storm, it could be drawn northward between Bermuda and the United States Atlantic coast next week.

In this farther north scenario, "the environment northeast of the Bahamas may allow strengthening," Rossio said.

RELATED: AccuWeather Hurricane Center How do hurricanes get their names? How to ensure the safety of family pets during a hurricane

Should the system remain weak, a more westward path is likely during next week.

If the system becomes shredded by the dry air and strong winds north of the Leeward Island, a poorly organized feature may drift westward across the Bahamas, Cuba and the Florida Peninsula with spotty showers and thunderstorms next week.

All interests from the northern Islands of the Caribbean to the Bahamas, Bermuda and the southeastern U.S. should monitor the progress of Tropical Depression Four.

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Tropical Depression 4 may strengthen before approaching Leeward Islands - AccuWeather.com

Investigators say photo shows Amelia Earhart on Marshall Islands – Las Vegas Review-Journal

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A newly unearthed photo shows Amelia Earhart survived her final flight, investigators say.

What happened to Amelia Earhart?

That question has captivated the public ever since her plane vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 as she attempted to become the first female pilot to fly around the world.

Now, investigators believe they have discovered the smoking gun that would support a decades-old theory that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were captured by the Japanese: a newly unearthed photograph from the National Archives that purportedly shows Earhart and Noonan and their plane on an atoll in the Marshall Islands.

I was originally skeptical until we could get the photograph authenticated, Shawn Henry, a former FBI assistant executive director who is now helping privately investigate the Earhart disappearance, told The Washington Post. The fact that it came out of the National Archives as opposed to somebodys basement or garage somewhere that to me gave it a lot more credibility.

The photograph was rediscovered a few years ago in a mislabeled file at the National Archives by a former U.S. Treasury agent named Les Kinney, who began looking into Earharts disappearance after he retired, according to previews for a new History channel documentary, Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence, that airs July 9.

The 8-by-10-inch black-and-white photograph went ignored in a stack of 20 or 30 other pictures until Kinney took a closer look a few months later, Henry said.

In the photo, a figure with Earharts haircut and approximate body type sits on the dock, facing away from the camera, Henry points out. Toward the left of the dock is a man they believe is Noonan. On the far right of the photo is a barge with an airplane on it, supposedly Earharts.

Henry, who was asked to join the investigation about a year ago, said two photo experts analyzed the picture to ensure it had not been manipulated. It had not been, they found. The experts also compared the facial features and body proportions of the two figures in the photograph with known pictures of Earhart and Noonan.

For the man on the left, the hairline is the most distinctive characteristic, Ken Gibson, a facial recognition expert who studied the image, told the Today show. Its a very sharp receding hairline. The nose is very prominent . Its my feeling that this is very convincing evidence that this is probably Noonan.

The figure seated on the dock is wearing pants, much like Earhart often did, Henry noted.

Im looking at her sitting on the dock and thinking, This is her, he said.

Though they cant be sure of when the photo was taken, there is no record of Earhart being in the Marshall Islands, he added.

Henry said he traveled to the Marshall Islands and interviewed the son of a man whose father repeatedly told others he had witnessed Earharts plane land at Mili Atoll in 1937. He also spoke with the last living person who claimed to have seen the pair after their emergency landing.

But again, for me, those things are all somewhat suspect until you have that photograph, which corroborates that she was there, Henry said. To me, thats just proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Gary Tarpinian, executive producer of the History documentary, told the Today show that they believe the Koshu, the Japanese merchant ship in the photo, took Earhart to Saipan, where she died in Japanese custody.

What happened to her then?

The team thinks the photo might have been taken by someone spying on the Japanese, he added. Other questions, like when and how Earhart died, remain a mystery.

What happened to her then? Was there a coverup or not? Did the U.S. government know? What did the Japanese government know? Henry said. I think this actually opens up a whole new line of questioning.

Over the past 80 years, three prevailing theories about Earharts disappearance have emerged.

Some speculate that Earharts Lockheed Model 10 Electra crashed and sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, killing her and Noonan.

Last year, a Pennsylvania-based group called International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) repositioned the spotlight on an alternate theory: With their fuel rapidly depleting, Earhart and Noonan used celestial navigation to land on a remote coral atoll named Gardner Island, about 400 miles south of Howland Island, their original destination. It was there, TIGHAR says, that the two tried to send out frantic radio calls for help but eventually died as castaways.

Just last month, the group launched an ambitious expedition to try to prove its theory, sending researchers and a pack of forensically trained border collies to Gardner Island, now called Nikumaroro. The mission: For the dogs to sniff out human bones that, through DNA matching, would confirm Earhart and Noonan landed and then perished on that island.

Henry said he isnt bothered by other explanations for of Earharts disappearance.

Ive listened to some competing theories, he said. When you look at the totality of what we put together and then hold that photograph I think that photograph is as close to a smoking gun as youre going to have in a cold case thats 80 years old.

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Investigators say photo shows Amelia Earhart on Marshall Islands - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Israel issues severe travel warning to Philippine islands – The Times of Israel

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The Counter-Terrorism Bureau on Thursday issued a travel warning to Israelis against visiting the southern Philippine area of the Mindanao and Sulu islands due to an immediate threat of terrorism.

Following a situation assessment by the Counter-Terrorism Bureau, a decision made to further raise the severity of the travel warning to the island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago group of islands, the Prime Ministers Office said in a statement.

It said the travel warning was at Level 1, the highest on a scale of 4 and indicating a concrete threat.

There is a real and tangible risk to Israelis staying in the area, the statement said and noted the warning was issued due to increased activities by terrorists, and in particular global jihad groups.

In light of the severity of the threat, the recommendation of the CTB to Israelis is to avoid visiting the area of the travel warning, and those who are there to leave immediately.

The CTB also advised Israelis in other areas of the Philippines to stay alert to the possible spillover of terror incidents and to follow the instructions of local security authorities.

In May Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law across the southern region of Mindanao to crush what he said was a rising threat from the Islamic State group there.

He made the move shortly after militants went on a rampage through the southern city of Marawi, which is about 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of Manila.

Security forces are still battling the militants in Marawi, and the clashes there have left at least 171 people dead.

Duterte has said he may need to declare martial law across the rest of the country if the terrorism threat spreads.

The violence has left at least 459 people dead, including 336 militants, 84 soldiers and policemen, and 39 civilians. At least eight foreign fighters are believed to be among the dead in the fierce fighting, which has forced more than 300,000 residents of Marawi and nearby towns to flee to safety and turned much of the lakeside city into ghost towns.

After more than a month of offensives, troops have regained 15 of 19 villages besieged by the militants, with fewer than 100 gunmen holding an unspecified number of hostages still putting up a fight, military officials said.

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Israel issues severe travel warning to Philippine islands - The Times of Israel

Philippines earthquake: Magnitude 6.9 seismic tremor hits the Pacific islands chain, reports USGS – The Independent

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French President Emmanuel Macron with his wife Brigitte Trogneux cast their ballot at their polling station in the first round of the French legislatives elections in Le Touquet, northern France

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A Thai worker paints on a large statue of the Goddess of Mercy, known as Guan Yin at a Chinese temple in Ratchaburi province, Thailand. Guan Yin is one of the most popular and well known Chinese Goddess in Asia and in the world. Guan Yin is the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion in Mahayana Buddhism and also worshiped by Taoist

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A Thai worker paints on a large statue of the Goddess of Mercy, known as Guan Yin at a Chinese temple in Ratchaburi province, Thailand. Guan Yin is one of the most popular and well known Chinese Goddess in Asia and in the world. Guan Yin is the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion in Mahayana Buddhism and also worshiped by Taoists

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Volunteers spread mozzarella cheese toppings on the Guinness World Record attempt for the Longest Pizza in Fontana, California, USA. The pizza was planned to be 7000 feet (2.13 km) to break the previous record of 6082 feet (1.8 km) set in Naples, Italy in 2016

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Jamaica's Olympic champion Usain Bolt gestures after winning his final 100 metres sprint at the 2nd Racers Grand Prix at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica

REUTERS/Gilbert Bellamy

Usain Bolt of Jamaica salutes the crowd after winning 100m 'Salute to a Legend' race during the Racers Grand Prix at the national stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Bolt partied with his devoted fans in an emotional farewell at the National Stadium on June 10 as he ran his final race on Jamaican soil. Bolt is retiring in August following the London World Championships

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Usain Bolt of Jamaica salutes the crowd after winning 100m 'Salute to a Legend' race during the Racers Grand Prix at the national stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Bolt partied with his devoted fans in an emotional farewell at the National Stadium on June 10 as he ran his final race on Jamaican soil. Bolt is retiring in August following the London World Championships

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Police officers investigate at the Amsterdam Centraal station in Amsterdam, Netherlands. A car ploughed into pedestrians and injured at least five people outside the station. The background of the incident was not immediately known, though police state they have 'no indication whatsoever' the incident was an attack

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Police officers investigate at the Amsterdam Centraal station in Amsterdam, Netherlands. A car ploughed into pedestrians and injured at least five people outside the station. The background of the incident was not immediately known, though police state they have 'no indication whatsoever' the incident was an attack

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Protesters stand off before police during a demonstration against corruption, repression and unemployment in Al Hoseima, Morocco. The neglected Rif region has been rocked by social unrest since the death in October of a fishmonger. Mouhcine Fikri, 31, was crushed in a rubbish truck as he protested against the seizure of swordfish caught out of season and his death has sparked fury and triggered nationwide protests

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A man looks on at a migrant and refugee makeshift camp set up under the highway near Porte de la Chapelle, northern Paris

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Philippines earthquake: Magnitude 6.9 seismic tremor hits the Pacific islands chain, reports USGS - The Independent

Does this small island’s smart lighting point way ahead for New York, London, Beijing? – ZDNet

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The island of Texel has replaced some streetlights with glowing roadway markings to help eliminate unnecessary light.

As concerns mount over global commitments to reducing carbon emissions through the Paris Climate Agreement, some experts see small island communities as the new leaders in the transition to sustainable energy.

On the eastern edge of the North Sea, Texel, the largest of the Dutch Frisian Islands, recently rolled out an island-wide smart public lighting system, making it one of the largest IoT-connected public lighting infrastructures in Europe.

Texel's smart lighting system is designed to reduce the island's energy consumption by 66 percent, a major milestone in becoming completely energy neutral by 2020.

More islands have been investing in IoT programs, taking a cue from the smart cities trend. At the end of March, 36 European island representatives signed a pledge, as part of the EU's Smart Islands Initiative, to invest in digital technology that will fuel Europe's energy transition. The signatories represented 15 European countries, among which was the Netherlands.

These smart islands are exploiting advances in sensors, automation and internet connectivity to drastically reduce their dependence on mainland energy producers.

With about 13,500 inhabitants and a surface area of 170 square kilometers (105 square miles), Texel is the largest of the Frisian Islands, or Wadden Islands, which belong to the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.

Texel has been reducing its reliance on fossil fuels in recent years and its new smart lighting grid is completely energy neutral, powered by solar panels and only activated when sensors detect people or vehicles near street lamps.

The Amsterdam-based smart lighting company Tvilight provided Texel with thousands of wireless controllers that enable the island's street lamps to accurately detect human motion.

"Texel demonstrates what other islands across the globe can achieve with intelligent street lighting," said Chintin Shah, chief executive officer of Tvilight, in a statement.

Along with new hardware, Texel rolled out third-party asset-management software that interfaces with Tvilight's API.

Applying smart islands' successes to mainland communities is technically feasible, albeit on a small scale. The size of an island power grid is comparable to that of a microgrid in a mainland city, where a specific building or campus cannot risk losing power.

"There are lessons that can be learned from islands that are very much applicable to mainland communities, whether those are cities, hospitals, schools or military bases," says Jesse Gerstin, director of programs and policy at the Clinton Climate Initiative, which help island nations move to low-carbon economies through its Islands Energy Program.

Some cities have been moving towards citywide smart lighting systems, but total city coverage is still a rarity.

The startup investment is high, requiring optimizing a city's infrastructure to support rapid data traffic through the internet, installing new hardware and deploying high-level software.

But unlike islands, cities often rely on a relatively large energy grid, reducing the economic incentive to cut energy consumption.

Since 2012, Cisco, Philips and Schneider Electric have worked with the city of Barcelona to introduce a smart public lighting project that aims to upgrade 1,100 city lampposts with LED bulbs that dim in response to reduced nearby movement.

Barcelona's public lighting system now communicates with a control center via the city-wide fiber-optic network, which runs along 500 kilometers (310 miles) throughout the city.

Barcelona estimates that its smart lighting system will help the city save 30 percent of its annual energy consumption.

Aside from saving energy, Texel has a more whimsical incentive to dim its lights at night.

"The old streetlights made watching the night sky difficult because of the giant cloud of orange light hanging over the island. Now, we can see the stars and the Milky Way," says Stephan Kikkert, project leader of Texel's smart lighting project.

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Does this small island's smart lighting point way ahead for New York, London, Beijing? - ZDNet

WALTER E. WILLIAMS: Colleges are islands of intolerance – The Northwest Florida Daily News

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Walter E. Williams | Syndicated Columnist

Is there no limit to the level of disgusting behavior on college campuses that parents, taxpayers, donors and legislators will accept? Colleges have become islands of intolerance, and as with fish, the rot begins at the head. Let's examine some recent episodes representative of a general trend and ask ourselves why we should tolerate it plus pay for it.

Students at Evergreen State College harassed biology professor Bret Weinstein because he refused to leave campus, challenging the school's decision to ask white people to leave campus for a day of diversity programming. The profanity-laced threats against the faculty and president can be seen on a YouTube video titled "Student takeover of Evergreen State College" (http://tinyurl.com/yah2eo3p).

What about administrators permitting students to conduct racially segregated graduation ceremonies, which many colleges have done, including Ivy League ones such as Columbia and Harvard universities? Permitting racially segregated graduation ceremonies makes a mockery of the idols of diversity, multiculturalism and inclusion, which so many college administrators worship. Or is tribalism part and parcel of diversity?

Trinity College sociology professor Johnny Eric Williams recently called white people "inhuman assholes." In the wake of the Alexandria, Virginia, shooting at a congressional baseball practice, Williams tweeted, "It is past time for the racially oppressed to do what people who believe themselves to be 'white' will not do, put (an) end to the vectors of their destructive mythology of whiteness and their white supremacy system. #LetThemF---ingDie"

June Chu, dean of Pierson College at Yale University, recently resigned after having been placed on leave because of offensive Yelp reviews she had posted. One of her reviews described customers at a local restaurant as "white trash" and "low class folk"; another review praised a movie theater for its lack of "sketchy crowds." In another review of a movie theater, she complained about the "barely educated morons trying to manage snack orders for the obese."

Harvey Mansfield, a distinguished Harvard University professor who has taught at the school for 55 years, is not hopeful about the future of American universities. In a College Fix interview, Mansfield said, "No, I'm not very optimistic about the future of higher education, at least in the form it is now with universities under the control of politically correct faculties and administrators" (http://tinyurl.com/y7qadxlz). Once America's pride, universities, he says, are no longer a marketplace of ideas or bastions of free speech. Universities have become "bubbles of decadent liberalism" that teach students to look for offense when first examining an idea.

Who is to blame for the decline of American universities? Mansfield argues that it is a combination of administrators, students and faculties. He puts most of the blame on faculty members, some of whom are cowed by deans and presidents who don't want their professors to make trouble. I agree with Mansfield's assessment in part. Many university faculty members are hostile to free speech and open questioning of ideas. A large portion of today's faculty and administrators were once the hippies of the 1960s, and many have contempt for the U.S. Constitution and the values of personal liberty. The primary blame for the incivility and downright stupidity we see on university campuses lies with the universities' trustees. Every board of trustees has fiduciary responsibility for the governance of a university, shaping its broad policies. Unfortunately, most trustees are wealthy businessmen who are busy and aren't interested in spending time on university matters. They become trustee!

s for the prestige it brings, and as such, they are little more than yes men for the university president and provost. If trustees want better knowledge about university goings-on, they should hire a campus ombudsman who is independent of the administration and accountable only to the board of trustees.

The university malaise reflects a larger societal problem. Mansfield says culture used to mean refinement. Today, he says, it "just means the way a society happens to think, and there's no value judgment in it any longer." For many of today's Americans, one cultural value is just as good as another.

Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.

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WALTER E. WILLIAMS: Colleges are islands of intolerance - The Northwest Florida Daily News

New genetic syndrome identified; may offer some answers for puzzled parents – Medical Xpress

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July 6, 2017 Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Researchers have identified a rare genetic syndrome characterized by intellectual disability, seizures, an abnormal gait and distinctive facial features. The scientists pinpointed variants in the WDR26 gene as causes for this distinctive, yet unnamed condition. Their early research provides initial information for counseling patients and families coping with uncertainties for children with the rare, poorly recognized condition.

"Our study identifies 15 individuals now known to have this recognizable syndrome, but we expect that as this information reaches the medical community, more patients will be recognized," said study leader Matthew A. Deardorff, MD, PhD, a pediatric geneticist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). "Our studies are very much in the early stage, but as we continue to gain more clinical and scientific knowledge about this condition, we will be able to better explain to parents what to expect."

Deardorff, first author Cara M. Skraban, MD, also of CHOP, and co-authors from medical centers in six countries published their research today in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

"Prior to our identification of individuals with changes in this gene, it was not even listed in some of the most commonly used databases," said Deardorff. "The notable efforts by our colleagues here in the Division of Genomic Diagnostics at CHOP, and at key labs in the Netherlands and Maryland, helped us to make this discovery possible."

The scientists reported on 15 individuals, ranging from two years old to 34 years old. All the patients had developmental delays (ranging from mild to severe), seizures, and similar facial features (such as wide mouths, prominent upper lip and gums, full cheeks and a broad nasal tip). Many had subtle abnormalities in their gait. All 15 had de novo (new) mutationsthose arising in a single egg or sperm that developed into the affected patient, but did not occur in the patient's parents.

The group at CHOP, along with global collaborators, is working energetically to understand the syndrome's functional details and underlying mechanisms. Although the specifics are still under investigation, the authors suggest that haploinsufficiency (reduced expression) of the WDR26 gene alters multiple signaling pathways and cell functions to produce features of the syndrome.

"There is no good laboratory assay yet for the effects of these mutations, but clinicians may notice facial differences or other signs, and would typically order exome sequencing, which would diagnose this syndrome," said Deardorff. "If testing confirms this diagnosis, we advise parents that seizures may occur, which are usually treatable with standard medicines. It may be possible that early intervention with special education can help address a child's intellectual disability, although we do not yet have enough clinical data to develop full guidelines for medical management."

Deardorff added that CHOP has started a patient registry to compile clinical data on this rare condition, and that this data collection may offer a resource for families interested in contacting each other to share information and support. He added, "This discovery is just the first step in understanding why changes in WDR26 cause intellectual disability and seizures. With further investigation, our goal is to better understand the biology and identify specific treatments for these children."

Explore further: New genetic syndrome tied to defects in protein transport

More information: Cara M. Skraban et al, "WDR26 Haploinsufficiency Causes a Recognizable Syndrome of Intellectual Disability, Seizures, Abnormal Gait, and Distinctive Facial Features," American Journal of Human Genetics, published July 6, 2017 doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.06.002

An international team of researchers has discovered the mutation responsible for a rare, newly identified genetic disorder that causes craniofacial abnormalities and developmental delays. The mutation disrupts normal protein ...

Pediatric researchers, using high-speed DNA sequencing tools, have identified a new syndrome that causes intellectual disability (ID). Drawing on knowledge of the causative gene mutation, the scientists' cell studies suggest ...

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New genetic syndrome identified; may offer some answers for puzzled parents - Medical Xpress

Using Big Data to Hack Autism – Scientific American

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Its been 10 years sinceMichael Wiglerhad a breakthrough revelation in autism geneticsone that arguably launched the field as we know it.

In April 2007, Wigler and his then colleague,Jonathan Sebat, reported that de novo mutationsthose that arise spontaneously instead of being inheritedoccur more often in people with autism than in typical people. The mutations they noted were in the form of copy number variants (CNVs), deletions or duplications of long stretches of DNA. CNVs crop up frequently in cancer, an earlier focus of Wiglers work. But his find that they are also involved in autism came as a surprise to those in the field. Genetics was striking out with other efforts based on transmission and inheritance, Wigler says. In that vacuum, the new idea was quickly embraced.

The discovery fast led to further advances. Focusing primarily onde novomutations, three teams of scientists, including one led by Wigler, began hunting for genes that contribute to autism. Their approach was efficient: Rather than looking at the entire genome, they scoured the 2 percent that encodes proteins, called theexome. And they looked specifically at simplex families, which have a single child with autism and unaffected parents and siblings. The premise was that comparing the exomes of the family members might exposede novomutations in the child with autism. The approachyielded a bumper crop: Based on data from more than 600 families, the teams together predicted that there are hundreds of autism genes. They identified six as leading candidates. Some of the genes identified at the time CHD8,DYRK1A,SCN2A quickly became hot areas of research.

In 2014, the number of strong candidates jumped higher. In two massive studies analyzing the sequences of more than 20,000 people, researchers linked 50 genes to autism with high confidence. Wiglers team looked at simplex families and found rarede novomutations in 27 genes. In the second study, researchers screened for both inherited andde novomutations and implicated 33 genes. The two studies identified 10 genes in common.

Two years ago, the tally of autism gene candidates shot up again. Deploying statistical wizardry to combine the data onde novoand inherited mutations, along with CNV data from theAutism Genome Project, researchers pinpointed 65 genes and six CNVsas being key to autism. They also identified 28 genes that they could say with near certainty are autism genes.

For so long, weve been saying if we could just find these genes, wed be able to really make some headway, saysStephan Sanders, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, who co-led the study. Suddenly, youve got this list of 65-plus genes, which we know have a causative role in autism, and as a foundation for going forward, its amazing.

These advances establish beyond doubt that autism is firmly rooted in biology. More and more, we are erasing this idea of autism being a stigmatizing psychiatric disorder, and I think this is true for the whole of psychiatry, Sanders says. These are genetic disorders; this is a consequence of biology, which can be understood, and where traction can be made.

This is just the start, however. As scientists enter the next chapter of autism genetics, they are figuring out how to build on what they have learned, using better sequencing tools and statistics, bigger datasets and more robust models. For example, they are looking for common variantswhich are found in more than 1 percent of the population but may contribute to autism when inherited en masse. And they are also starting to look beyond the exome to the remaining 98 percent of the genome they have largely neglected thus far.

Most of the genetic advances fall into a category of large-effect-sizede novovariants, which is only one piece of the puzzle, saysDaniel Geschwind, professor of human genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Its an important piece, but one that still cannot explain why autism clusters in families, for instance, or why close relatives of people with autism often share some of the conditions traits.

So how much of autisms genetic architecture have scientists uncovered? Current estimates suggest that rare mutations, whetherde novoor inherited, contribute to the condition somewhere between 10 and 30 percent of the time. Before the recent spate of discoveries, the proportion of individuals whose autism had a known genetic cause was only 2 to 3 percentmuch of that from rare related genetic syndromes, such asfragile X syndromeand tuberous sclerosis complex, which stem from mutations in a single known gene. These syndromes often involve some core features of autism, along with their own set of characteristic traits, and intellectual disability.

Two generations ago, at least 75 percent of the time autism was comorbid with severe intellectual disability and other neurodevelopmental abnormalities, saysMark Daly, associate professor of medicine at Harvard University. It was also a much rarer diagnosis.

The large increase in diagnoses in recent decades overwhelmingly reflects cases at the mild end of the spectrum, Daly says, creating a new challenge. The genetics of autism has us wrestling with the fact that rare mutations, and especially these spontaneously arising ones, are the strongest risk factors, he says. But at the same time, theres a majority of cases now that dont have any of those high-impact risk factors.

Instead, much of the risk in these instances likely comes from common variants, which have small effects on their own, but can add up to increase overall risk. Researchers have tried to identify those relevant to autism using genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which compare the genomes of people with and without a condition to find differences in single-letter swaps of DNA called single nucleotide polymorphisms.

Because common variants have small effects individually, they are difficult to find, but multiple studies suggest that theyplay a major rolein autism risk. In a 2014 study, for instance, researchers used statistical tools to estimate the heritability of autism from the amount of common variation shared by unrelated people with autism. They applied the method to data from more than 3,000 people in Swedens national health registry. Their calculations indicated thatcommon variants account for 49 percentof the risk for autism in the general population; rare variants, equal partsde novoand inherited, explain 6 percent. Some scientists dispute these figures, but its clear that common variants, rare inherited variants and spontaneous mutations all play a part in autism.

Wigler says he is skeptical of using GWAS studies for autism precisely because they focus on common variants. Most of the disorders that will cause pain and suffering and require expensive treatments, if theyre genetic, are caused by rare variants that are not going to stay around in the population, he says.

Common variants may turn out to be more relevant at the milder end of the spectrum than in those who are severely affected. The people who havede novomutations, en masse, tend to have lower intelligence quotients and more cognitive problems, Sanders says.

Researchers are grappling with how to fit these pieces together: Finding and diagnosing rare variants linked to severe outcomes is important, but so is unraveling how the core traits of autism relate to other psychiatric conditions and manifest in the general population. Both goals are important, and they shouldnt be seen as at odds with each other, Daly says. In fact, a study published in May reported thatrare and common variants can combineto increase an individuals risk.

The landscape of autism genetics becomes even more complex when considering the sheer number of genes that could be involvedsome researchers estimate up to a thousandand the fact that many high-confidence autism genes are also associated with other conditions, ranging from intellectual disability andepilepsyto schizophrenia and congenital heart disease.

This many-to-one and one-to-many relationship is not surprising, Sanders says. But it does mean there are probably no unique autism genes per se. But I could flip that round and say weve not found anything which is a pure intellectual disability or schizophrenia gene [either]; on a fundamental level, these disorders seem to be related, he says. If I was to say, Can we find something which contributes more to autism than other disorders? then I think the answers yes. The genes that seem particularly tied to autism could offer important clues about the conditions biology.

The genes identified so far have hinted at a handful of underlying mechanisms that contribute to autism. Most of them seem to be involved in three broad categories of tasks: maintaining the function ofsynapses, or the connections between neurons; controlling the expression of genes; and modifying chromatin, structures of DNA wound around protein spools called histones. Chromatin determines which stretches of DNA can be read and so influences gene expression.

The idea of a brain condition originating with atypical neuronal connections made logical sense from the start. There had been a lot of interest in the synapse, Sanders says. But the candidates that control gene expression only emerged in the genetic studies. Two genes that consistently top the high-confidence listsCHD8 and SCN2Awere both somewhat of a surprise. CHD8 encodes a chromatin regulator that controls the expression of thousands of other genes. SCN2A codes for a sodium channel and had primarily been associated with infantile seizures.

Using gene expression maps, such as theBrainSpan Atlas, researchers have traced when and where autism genes are active in the brain. They have found that many of the genes, CHD8 and SCN2A included, are expressed in parts of the cortex during mid- to late fetal developmentwhich happens to be the peak period when neurons are forming. We dont really understand it yet, but theyre more likely than not to disrupt fetal brain development in mid-gestation, Geschwind says. That timing suggests they interfere with processes that are critical to setting up the cortex, including which types of cells form and where in the brain they migrate. If the cortex isnt set up right, he says, you create ongoing problems with how neurons communicate, among other important functions. Within the next few years, he says, researchers will have a refined understanding of the neurons and circuits affected.

Work in animal and cell models reveals similar problems with the genesis, structure and fate of new neurons and the connections between them. In some cell and animal models of syndromic forms of autism, scientists have managed to at least partially correct some of these problems with drugs. The unrealized promise of these findings is that some traits of autism may ultimately prove reversible, even in adults.

The idea that theres something plastic here, not set in stone at birth, is very important, saysMatthew State, chair of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and lead investigator on many of the big autism genetics studies.

In the meantime, genetic discoveries have delivered some immediate benefits for people with the condition. If you go into a clinic today, theres about a 10 percent chance of you getting a genetic diagnosis, and I would expect to find evidence which was suggestive in about another 5 to 10 percent, Sanders says. We cant then turn round and say, Heres your cure, but what we can do, at least, is put people in touch with other people with that same mutation. Becoming part of such a group gives people a better idea about what the future holds for them and provides them with support and understanding.

Advocacy groups can lobby researchers and funding bodies, contribute to research on their condition and help find participants for clinical trialswhich, by grouping people according to their underlying genetics, would then have a greater chance of success. It becomes very empowering, saysJoseph Buxbaum, director of the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment in New York.

Genetic diagnoses can also help families make decisions about family planning and treatment options. For example, deletion of a region on chromosome 17, called 17q12, is associated with autism and schizophrenia, but treating someone who has this CNV with certain mood stabilizers or antipsychotics could be dangerous: It is also associated with renal failure and adult-onset diabetes, which the drugs would exacerbate. Whats more, certain mutations increase therisk for some types of cancer. Knowing those mutations can be very helpful in those cases, not just in treating autism, but in treating the patient more broadly, Geschwind says.

Debates abound on how best to move the field forward, but one thing most researchers agree on is the need to identify more mutations linked to autism. Theres great benefit now in just doing more exome sequencing, Sanders says. Theres more genes to be found: Those will hopefully help patients; theyll also give us more of an understanding of what autism is.

Much of the variation that predisposes someone to autism, however, may lie in noncoding regions. If half of the variants are outside of the coding region, we need to know how to interpret them, Wigler says. For that reason alone, we have to study that region. Plus, were going to learn an enormous amount of biology in the process.

Noncoding regions make up the dark genome, which is about 98 percent of the whole. Because of the cost and effort involved in sequencing the whole genome, most autism researchers have stayed focused on exomes, until recently. Several teams are now sequencing whole genomes of people with autism, with the aim of identifying risk variants in these noncoding regions. Whole-genome sequencing inevitably will overtake exome sequencing, Sanders says. Its just a question economically of whether its moment is now, or in two years, or five years. Right now, thats a hard question to answer.

In March, researchers in Canada reported results from the largest set of whole genomes of people with autism to date. They sequenced the whole genomes of more than 5,000 individuals, about half of whom have autism. Among the61 variants the researchers identified, 18 had not beenfirmly linked to autismbefore. The team found that many of the CNVs in people with autism rest in noncoding regions.

Some teams are applying other resources, such as gene co-expression maps and protein-protein interaction networks, to understanding the underlying biology of the condition. These networks are only likely to become more powerful as researchers uncover more risk genes for autism. The question is how to integrate all that genetic data with other -omics data, and network-type approaches are probably going to be critical there, Geschwind says.

Most autism research arising from gene discovery is focused on repercussions at the molecular and cellular levels, but theres an important gap from there to whole circuits and behavior. Ultimately, the value of genetics is very likely to play out through an improved understanding of circuit-level function and anatomy, State says.

Stem cells and emerging technologies such as brain organoidsso called mini-brains in a dishcould afford researchers a prime opportunity to study the effects of genetic variation in human neurons. Faced with the limitations of mouse models in studying a condition characterized by behavioral problems, some teams are alsoturning to monkeys, which enable them to study more complex social interactions. Something we should be doing for the future is taking the precise mutations we find in humans and making those in primates, Wigler says.

These days, Wigler is on to another big idea: risk modifiers. Rare variants strongly associated with autism also occur in people without autismespecially women. Researchers know that mutations can contribute to autism by amplifying or attenuating the effects of other genes, so its feasible that two mutations could cancel each other out. But few teams have looked into these combinations as yet. People talk about autism as being an additive disorder, Wigler says, but nobodys really looking at additivity.

This idea brings him to a possible experiment: Take two mutations that individually have damaging effects, and introduce them both into mouse or monkey. Having the combination would be predicted to be worse than having either mutation alone. But what if the net result is correction? Wigler asks. Then we know modifiers exist. Theres not much of that kind of scientific exploration happening now.

A finding of that nature would herald a whole new wave of advances. It might also help to explain why the mutations identified so far vary in their effector what geneticists call penetranceonly sometimes resulting in autism. And it might help researchers develop therapies. If we ever saw a self-correcting defect in two mutations in autism, Wigler says, I would stand up and cheer.

This story wasoriginally publishedonSpectrum.

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Using Big Data to Hack Autism - Scientific American

Decoding Brain Evolution – Harvard Medical School (registration)

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How did our distinctive brains evolve? What genetic changes, coupled with natural selection, gave us language? What allowed modern humans to form complex societies, pursue science, create art?

While we have some understanding of the genes that differentiate us from other primates, that knowledge cannot fully explain human brain evolution. But with a $10 million grant to some of Bostons most highly evolved minds in genetics, genomics, neuroscience and human evolution, some answers may emerge in the coming years.

The Seattle-based Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group has announced the creation of an Allen Discovery Center for Human Brain Evolution at Boston Childrens Hospital and Harvard Medical School. It will be led by Christopher A. Walsh, the Bullard Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at HMS and chief of the Division of Genetics and Genomics at Boston Childrens. Michael Greenberg, the Nathan Marsh Pusey Professor of Neurobiology and head of the Department of Neurobiology at HMS, and David Reich, professor of genetics at HMS, will co-lead the center.

Unraveling the mysteries of the human brain will propel our understanding of brain development, brain evolution and human behavior, said George Q. Daley, dean of HMS. It also will help us understand what makes us unique as a species.

The research conducted by these three remarkable scientists spans the gamut from molecule to organism to system and underscores the cross-pollination among basic, translational and clinical discovery as well as across neurobiology, genetics, evolutionary biology and neurology, Daley said.

The centers agenda is a bold one: to catalogue the key genes required for human brain evolution, to analyze their roles in human behavior and cognition and to study their functions to discover evolutionary mechanisms.

To understand when and how our modern brains evolved, we need to take a multi-pronged approach that will reflect how evolution works in nature and identify how experience and environment affect the genes that gave rise to modern human behavior, Walsh said.

The launch of this center is a wonderful opportunity for three laboratories that have been working independently to come together and study the genetic, molecular and evolutionary forces that have given rise to the spectacular capacities of the human brain, said Greenberg.

The funding will allow us to use ancient DNA analysis to track changes in the frequency of genetic mutations over time, which will in turn illuminate our understanding of the nature of human adaptation, added Reich.

An evolving understanding

We already know some basics of human brain evolution. First came the enlargement of the primate brain, culminating perhaps 2 million years ago with the emergence of our genus, Homo, and the use of crude stone tools and fire. Next came a tripling of brain size during the 500,000 years before Homo sapiens arose. Finally, just over 50,000 years ago, there was a great leap forward in human behavior, with archaeological evidence of more efficient manufacturing of stone tools and a rich aesthetic and spiritual life.

What transpired genetically? Prior research has taken a piecemeal approach to occasional genes that have different structures in humans versus non-humans. For example, Walshs lab has identified several genes that regulate cerebral cortical size and patterning, some of them through the study of brain abnormalities. The lab recently found a gene involved in brain foldingthanks to a brain malformation called polymicrogyriathat may have enhanced our language ability.

But such findings only scratch the surface of the cognitive, behavioral and cultural strides humans have made over the past 50,000 years. Thats a blink of the eye in evolutionary terms. What enabled us to invent money, develop agriculture, build factories, write symphonies, tell jokes?

Rosetta Stone(s) to decode brain evolution

The researchers think not one but multiple mechanisms of evolution helped form the modern human brain. Such mechanisms include:

Accordingly, the centers research methods will include, in varying combinations:

No genetic stone unturned

All these approaches will be supported by powerful computational data analysisreaching across genomes, across populations, across hundreds of thousands of years.

The project leaders summed it up: This group will provide the most rigorous possible examination of how, when and where the unique features of the amazing human brain came about.

The $10 million grant will be distributed over four years, with the potential for $30 million over eight years.

Adapted from a post on Vector, the Boston Childrens clinical and research innovation blog.

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Decoding Brain Evolution - Harvard Medical School (registration)

Republicans try to shift health-care blame back to Democrats – Washington Post

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To state the obvious: Partisan video clips are not designed to make the other party look good. Theres an art to these things. You compile the worst moments by the other team, or by an opponent, and try to make them go viral.

But a strange, flailing campaign by the Republican National Committee to demand a Democratic fix for the Affordable Care Act goes unusually far in misrepresenting what the opposition party is doing or saying.The RNCs push began on Wednesday with a series of tweets at Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, demanding they put up plans of their own. Clinton responded, predictably, by linking to the ACA plan she ran on in 2016, which included fully funding insurance subsidies and letting younger people buy into Medicare.

Unbowed, the RNC released a compilation of Democrats being asked by talking headswhy they would not work with Republicans to fix the ACA. Most analysis of the videohas been that its simply bizarre. As Republicans know, the opposition party does not need to run on its own detailed health plan to win elections.

But the video makes it look like Democrats are not just evasive, but stumped when askedwhat theyd be willing to change to fix the ACA. Thats not whats been happening. Here are the three main clips, with the answers that were sliced out of the video printed in bold. With Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):

NBC News: Would it be smart for Democrats to offer their own alternatives, their own fixes for Obamacare now, and try to bring Republicans on board?

SANDERS: Well, thats exactly thats a very good point. And that is some of the ideas that we have been talking about. For example, I, personally, speaking only for myself, think that for a start, while we move to pass a Medicare-for-all single-payer program; short term, we should lower the age of Medicare down from 65 to 55. Secondly, I think we need a public option. That means in every state in the country, if you dont like what the private insurance companies are offering, then you have a public option with decent benefits. Thirdly, weve got to deal with the cost of prescription drugs in this country.

With Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) less substance, possibly because the question was about President Trumps complaint that Democrats were not working with Republicans:

CNN: Do you share part of the burden for a failure to improve Obamacare?

WARNER: Im viewed as one of the most bipartisan guys in the United States Senate. Every bill I work on, Ive got a Republican partner. There has been no outreach by the Republicans to the Democrats. They decided theyre using this sort of strange process called reconciliation that allows them to pass a bill with 51 votes, not the normal 60. Unfortunately, the bill thats come out of that has been pretty godawful.

With Rep. Jackie Speier(D-Calif.):

CNN: Why arent you working to fix this, rather than just saying no? What do you say to them?

SPEIER: What I would say to them is: Theyre absolutely right. There are a lot of amendments we have to make to Obamacare, just like there were a lot of amendments that were made to Medicare after it became law in this country. We have to fix the cost elements in the Affordable Care Act. We have to have more cost containment. I am with them in wanting to do that.

Left out of the video is that most Democrats want to respond to the immediate threat to the ACA, as cited by panicky insurers, by fully funding the taxpayer subsidies that make plans on state exchanges more affordable. And lets be fair:left out of seven years of Democratic attacks on the GOP was that Republicans did have health-care bills of their own, theoretically ready to go as soon as the ACA was repealed. (The last six months have revealed that they were less ready than advertised.)

But sometimes, these attempts by one party to shape a narrative are so dishonest than you wonder what the point was. Here, it seems that Republicans are trying to bait Democrats into endorsing a single-payer health care bill as Sanders plans to do when the AHCA/BCRA debate is over. For weeks, the White House has argued that the coming health-care choice is not between the ACA and its repeal, but between the Republican bill and a pricey single-payer plan.

There are two problems with that. One: Obviously, Democrats who get behind a single-payer bill will have answered the whats your plan question. And two, to the great delight of Democrats, the Republicans health-care bills are far less popular than the concept of single-payer Medicare for all.

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Republicans try to shift health-care blame back to Democrats - Washington Post

Senate health care plan: Recess isn’t helping McConnell’s hunt for 50 votes – CNN International

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Senate Republicans are back in their home states for a weeklong break, and already, some of them have gotten an earful on the controversial GOP legislation to dismantle Obamacare. The message from their home-state constituents: Don't you dare vote for that bill.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins told reporters at a July 4 parade in Eastport that many Maine residents that she has spoken with while in her home state support her decision to oppose the legislation.

"There is a small group of people on the left who, right now, are very angry," Cruz told CNN affiliate KVEO. "We can engage in cordial and civil debate -- that's how democracy works and that's how it's meant to work."

McConnell was keenly aware of the political pressure that his colleagues would face on the health care bill when they went home. It was one of the key reasons he had worked furiously to try to have a vote before members left town.

But a flurry of meetings and closed-door negotiations still left the majority leader far short of the minimum 50 "yes" votes he needs to get the bill through the upper chamber. And within hours of his announcement to postpone the vote last week, three more members came out as "no" votes, bringing up the tally of Republicans publicly against the legislation to nine.

With 52 Republicans in the Senate, that's not a small number of senators McConnell has to move from the "no" column to the "yes" column. But the public opposition this week could make it that much more difficult for senators who are already against the bill -- and others who are on the fence -- to get to a "yes."

Over the July 4 recess, Senate leadership is continuing to engage rank-and-file members on potential changes to the health care bill, according to a GOP leadership aide. Leadership has also been in discussions with the Congressional Budget Office, so that the agency can swiftly release a new score of the revised Senate bill.

Those in the conservative wing of the conference -- Sens. Cruz, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin -- say the Senate legislation doesn't go far enough in rolling back Obamacare regulations.

Meanwhile, one of the most serious hang-ups for several Republicans including Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Rob Portman of Ohio is the proposed cuts to Medicaid. The Senate bill proposes tying the growth rate for Medicaid funding to standard inflation instead of the more generous medical inflation. These senators are requesting that the funding stick with medical inflation.

Capito and Portman also have deep reservations about whether their states would retain enough opioid addiction treatment funding, and have requested $45 billion be included in the Senate bill.

But not every Republican senator is hearing from constituents opposed to the Senate health care bill.

At a July 4 parade in Ely, Nevada, a man called out to Heller, an opponent of the bill and one of the most vulnerable senators up for reelection next year, to "vote yes on that health bill" as the senator rode by on a horse.

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‘Shame On Ted’: Health Care Protests Greet Ted Cruz In Texas – NPR

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Sen. Ted Cruz at an event for the Federalist Society in November 2016. Cliff Owen/AP hide caption

Sen. Ted Cruz at an event for the Federalist Society in November 2016.

At an event Wednesday night, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was met by about 150 protesters who oppose the Senate's efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. On a hot evening, they stood outside a hotel in McKinney, a north Dallas suburb, shouting "shame on Ted" and "save Medicaid."

The by-invitation, town hall-style event was held one day after the senator's appearance in McAllen was disrupted by protesters concerned about health care as well as immigration.

Cruz is holding several town halls across Texas during the current congressional recess; he will also be in San Antonio and Austin this week.

The audience Wednesday night was mostly veterans who are friendly to the senator. The event was sponsored by the conservative group Concerned Veterans For America.

Protesters gather outside Sen. Ted Cruz's veterans event Wednesday evening in McKinney, Texas. Wade Goodwyn/NPR hide caption

Protesters gather outside Sen. Ted Cruz's veterans event Wednesday evening in McKinney, Texas.

There were just four to five questions from the audience and all were screened in advance. The Texas senator spent much of the event advocating for more health care choices for veterans beyond the VA hospital system. He also reiterated his opposition to the Affordable Care Act but acknowledged that getting the votes in the Senate to repeal it remains a challenge. He was also one of a small group of Republicans to oppose the Senate health care bill, arguing that it didn't go far enough to roll back Obamacare, as the ACA is also known.

Cruz said it is critical for Congress to focus on lowering premiums and to "honor our promise to repeal Obamacare it isn't working and people are hurting across the state and across the country."

One protester held a sign reading "Say NO to Trumpcare," in opposition to the Senate's effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Wade Goodwyn/NPR hide caption

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana also faced a confrontational town hall last week. An attendee in Baton Rouge reportedly interrupted his remarks to ask him to "vote against that hideous bill." He said he hasn't decided how he will vote on the Senate's health care bill because he wants to "judge the final product." Republican Rep. Susan Collins, who also opposed the Senate bill, told reporters in Eastport, Maine, that she's been hearing from constituents who are "deeply concerned" about the Senate bill.

At least seven more Republican members of Congress and more than 20 Democrats have town halls planned around the country this week, several of which will focus on health care.

Town halls became popular and contentious venues for voicing concern over health care in the summer of 2009 when President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act was being debated in Congress. Many of those gatherings turned into shouting matches and, in some cases, physical fights.

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With healthcare reform stalled, Trump and Pruitt want to repeal and replace clean water standards – Los Angeles Times

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Another bid by President Trump to repeal and replace a major Obama administration achievement recently got a boost when the Environmental Protection Agency, now led by anti-environmentalist Scott Pruitt, moved to repeal a 2015 clean water rule. Thats a shame.

The Waters of the United States rule was meant to protect the drinking water supply for more than 100 million Americans by clarifying which waterways are covered by the landmark Clean Water Act of 1972, which limits the chemicals and other pollutants that can be discharged into navigable U.S. waters. The interpretation of previous rules was muddied by a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and the 2015 rule brought a good measure of clarity.

When Trump in February signaled his intention to scrap the rule, which is widely known as WOTUS, he complained that it covers puddles and ditches and gets in the way of farmers trying to feed a hungry nation and builders trying to keep the economy on track.

Thats pure Trump remolding the facts to suit his purposes. The clean water rule might indeed apply to a small pond, but only if it connects with larger waterways and therefore allows any pollutants dumped in it to spread through tributaries to the nations drinking water supply. As for ill-defined puddles, the rule expressly excludes them. It does apply to irrigation ditches that function as tributaries of downstream waters, but thats merely a reiteration of preexisting rules. It expressly excludes ditches that fill up only after it rains.

Pruitt appears to be quite at home with the presidents contempt for fact and science. A strong proponent of Trumps ill-considered decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, Pruitt on Friday announced an initiative to critique climate science by recruiting people to debate each side of an issue on which the vast majority of the scientific community long ago reached consensus.

That hostility might explain why both of them dislike the Waters of the United States rule so much. It relies on science to determine whether bodies of water are interconnected and thus protected under federal law, although it acknowledges that science cannot always provide a bright line boundary to determine where water begins or ends. Trump and Pruitt apparently would make that determination based on the convenience of polluters.

The WOTUS rule has never been fully implemented. It has been blocked in court because of lawsuits by more than a dozen states, including Oklahoma where the suit against the Environmental Protection Agency was filed by then-state attorney general and now-EPA administrator Pruitt.

Repealing the rule is one thing although that wont necessarily be simple or come without legal challenges. But then what? A new rule-making process can be long and cumbersome, and there will no doubt be lawsuits to keep water sources pure, and lawsuits to allow them to be sullied. The administration will likely continue to reject science (and clean water) in the name of decreasing regulations on polluters. Lawyers, at least, will be happy. As long as they dont drink the water.

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With healthcare reform stalled, Trump and Pruitt want to repeal and replace clean water standards - Los Angeles Times

The World Doesn’t Mooch Off US Health-Care Research – Bloomberg

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The economics of health care is a devilishly complicated subject. Between the complexity of the market, the degree of regulation and the unusual nature of the things being sold, the topic is so vast that any single economist is practically incapable of grasping the whole picture. Thats why Im skeptical of arguments that rely strongly on economic theory. Unlike the market for oranges or blue jeans, health care defies simple theoretical analysis. Debates between advocates of government-centered and free-market systems tend, out of necessity, to focus on only a few points and leave much of the picture unaddressed.

To me, a much more compelling argument is simply to look around the world at the various health-care systems that have been tried. One system stands out from all the others in the developed world -- that of the U.S. Most countries have some form of universal health care. The U.S., however, up until the advent of Obamacare, allowed most people to buy or not buy insurance as they chose or were able. The results seem clear -- Americans pay way too much for their health care. In dollar terms, the U.S. spends more than anyone except Switzerland and Norway:

Health-care spending per capita in 2014

Source: World Bank

But since these countries have higher incomes, as a percent of its economy the U.S. spends a uniquely large amount:

Health-care spending as a percent of GDP in 2014

Source: World Bank

This would be fine if the U.S. got more bang for its buck. But most health outcomes in the U.S. are about the same or worse than in those other rich countries. The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation, has done an excellent job of documenting this disconnect between what the U.S. spends and what it gets in terms of results. Though the U.S. does better at combating cancer, it has lower life expectancy overall, and suffers far more from chronic conditions. A stark example is the rate of death from childbirth, which has risen in the U.S. even as it has fallen steadily in other countries.

Some might believe that the U.S. needs to spend more to achieve the same outcomes, because Americans are more irresponsible with their health in the first place. But whether Americans are more likely to lead unhealthy lifestyles, theres plenty of evidence that much of the money the country spends on health care isnt going to any useful purpose. Analysis of health spending shows that Americans just pay higher prices for most health-care goods and services -- the same MRI or hospital toothbrush will cost an American much more than it will cost a British, Canadian or Japanese person. For example, in 2012, an appendectomy would cost the average American patient $13,851, but only cost the average Australian $5,467 and the average British person $3,408. That implies that much of the excess money Americans spend on health is just wasted.

This is striking evidence. At some point, endless discussions of economic theory need to yield to blunt fact -- government health-care systems just seem to do better than the U.S. system.

That is understandably a bitter pill for many free-market types to swallow. Faced with the superior performance of universal health-care systems, some supporters of a less regulated system have argued that the U.S. is somehow subsidizing the rest of the world. The most common of these arguments claims that high U.S. prices go to pay for innovation that the rest of the world copies for free.

This was the theory advanced by Craig Garthwaite, a health-care economist at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Business, in a recent interview with Vox:

The rest of the world drafts off of the innovation generated by the profits of the United States. If Im running the health care system in another country, and if I have the United States here to generate huge profits to provide incentives to develop new drugs, I can choose to provide lower prices that take innovation less into account. I mean, the world of the Western European systems might be a little bit different if they had to think more carefully about that point.

Garthwaites interviewer, Sean Illing, takes him at his word, but we shouldnt. Innovation-mooching cant possibly explain the cost differences between other rich countries and the U.S.

The numbers just dont add up. Total U.S. biomedical research spending was only about $158 billion in 2015. Suppose, just for the sake of argument, that Canada, Germany, the U.K. and all the other countries where health care is dramatically cheaper than in the U.S. copied every last bit of U.S. R&D for free and didnt do any of their own research. Even in that extreme case, they would only be saving $158 billion, which is a much smaller amount than what the rest of the developed world currently spends on health overall. So mooching off of the U.S. cant explain the big gap between them and the U.S.

Also, as economist David Eil points out, about half of U.S. biomedical research is funded by the government. Excess costs in the private U.S. health care and health insurance industries arent going to pay for those government-funded innovations.

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Eil provides several other reasons not to buy the innovation-copying story. There seems to be little reason why higher innovation costs should be reflected in the price of hospital toothbrushes. Whats more, lots of expensive research doesnt even succeed -- research efforts fail all the time. So the true amount of money that other rich countries are mooching off of the U.S. health care system is going to be a lot smaller than $158 billion.

In other words, dont believe the argument that the cost difference between the U.S. and other countries is the inevitable price of a more innovative health-care system. Americans really are being greatly overcharged for their care. For whatever reason, health seems to be one industry where government does things more cheaply than the private sector.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Noah Smith at nsmith150@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Greiff at jgreiff@bloomberg.net

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The World Doesn't Mooch Off US Health-Care Research - Bloomberg

Senate health care plan ‘not viable’ for New Hampshire, says Gov. Sununu – PBS NewsHour

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JUDY WOODRUFF: But, first, lets turn to the Senate Republican bill to overhaul parts of Obamacare.

The Senate may be in recess this week, but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is working behind the scenes to craft a bill that will appeal to enough Republican votes to pass.

One of the key stumbling blocks, the provision to cut Medicaid spending by more than $770 billion over 10 years. That has sparked serious concern among many governors, among other reasons, over what it could mean for opioid abuse treatment and related health needs.

The Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act provided new coverage to many. Reportedly, Senator McConnell has been considering a $45 billion fund to deal with opioid abuse.

New Hampshire is one state that is dealing with a crisis. It has the second highest rate of opioid deaths relative to its population.

I spoke with the states Republican governor, Christopher Sununu, a short time ago, and started by asking him why he doesnt support the current Republican Senate proposal.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU, R-N.H.: Well, I think its important to start off by understanding that Obamacare has failed, it is not sustainable, it is not affordable. Specifically here in New Hampshire, the health care exchange is really on the brink.

Were looking at upwards of 40 percent cost increases to individuals. Thats just not affordable to anyone. So, I do applaud the Senate and the Houses efforts and the Trump administrations efforts to really take Obamacare as a reform that has to happen.

That being said, what theyre really doing here is, theyre kind of conflating two issues. Theyre looking at Medicaid, traditional Medicaid entitlement reform, which absolutely has to be a viable discussion in Congress, and Obamacare reform. And theyre really putting the two together. Thats the end result there.

The cost implications, if you will, are really drastic to the state of New Hampshire. Youre looking at over $1.5 billion at best over the next 10 years. Thats not just a challenge for us in the state. Its not practical. Its just not practical at all.

We have no sales tax, we have no income tax. We dont have the taxes to raise, nor would we ever want to, like other states do. So we have to find a better solution there.

So I commend them for taking up the challenge. But right now, as it sits, the Senate plan is not a viable solution for this state.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Governor, specifically with regard to the opioid use crisis in your state of New Hampshire, what would this bill, this proposal mean for that?

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU: Well, we have been on kind of ground zero, if you will, for the opioid crisis.

We have one of the fastest growing economies, one of the best qualities of life. Because we are a small state, that allows us to be very innovative in our approach. And so we have been able to sustain great success in the state, in spite of the opioid crisis.

But part of that, when you look whether its Medicaid expansion or other programs that have allowed individuals to get care, recovery services, medical care that they otherwise may not have would have been able to receive, that has been a big boon for our state and its been a big boost to those individuals and allowed those doors to be opened to them in ways that otherwise it wouldnt have.

So, when you look at both the cost implications, how Medicaid expansion right now as its proposed to being winnowed down, if you will, over the next few years, again, those costs are real severe and theyre again something that just is not practical for the state of New Hampshire.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What would it mean to the program that you have in place now in New Hampshire?

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU: Well, when you look at folks that are coming through recovery or treatment or folks that are looking to fight that addiction, you have remember addiction with opioids is not something that you get through in a couple of years.

Its a lifelong struggle. Its a lifelong kind of battle, if you will, that folks have to have the programs in place not just for six months or a year, but for the long-term. And we have to have those recovery programs. We have to have those treatment options in place.

With opioid addiction comes some very severe medical conditions as well, whether liver or heart issues that come with that. Right now, were able to treat those. Were able to be preventative with a lot of those, as opposed to just allowing the old way of doing things where everyone would just pile into the emergency room.

So, going back, taking instead of one or two steps back, but three or four steps back, all the way to the point where were cutting services that, pre-Obamacare, were in place, right, were looking for a system that, for New Hampshire at least, is worse than there were even pre-Obamacare.

So my message to the Senate is very clear. Look at Obamacare reform as is. Look at that program, what we can do to reform it. Understand that the opioid crisis is affecting a lot of states, not just New Hampshire. Understand what those implications might be.

Its not just in the funding, but its in the flexibilities that states have to have.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU: You have to have a flexible system.

And being able to do that will allow us as governors to implement the programs that much easier.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, its been reported, as I think you know, that the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is looking at possibly adding something like $45 billion to deal with opioid abuse around the country over a period of years.

Would that make a difference?

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU: When you look at $45 billion to deal with the opioid crisis, absolutely thats going to make a difference. Theres no doubt about it.

If its money going in to kind of hopefully get votes in the Senate bill, thats a different issue. Im not going to sign onto that. But there is no doubt that more resources would help this crisis. It allows recovery centers to have more longer-term programs, open up treatment options.

We can break down some of the permitting process to get more of those beds open for individuals, peer-to-peer recovery services. We have been able to be very, very innovative here in New Hampshire, really on the cutting edge. And thats how we have been able to sustain such a growing economy, such a high quality of life, in spite of the crisis.

We dont want to start throwing a wrench in those gears right now and slow down the incredible process we have been able to make in New Hampshire.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I ask you about that money because specifically other governors, I know John Kasich of Ohio and others who have an opioid crisis in their own states, have said thats just not enough money to make a difference over a long number of years.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU: Well, as I said earlier, you know, this is something that is not going to get solved in the next couple of years. It is going to be a lifetime issue for a lot of these folks.

We have to have lifetime-style programs in place to kind of ease them not just off of the opioids theyre in, making sure they have peer-to-peer support recovery programs, making sure they can enter the work force and hopefully get on better private insurance plans, as opposed to just relying on expanded Medicaid or the health care exchange.

So, when youre able to create systems that work efficiently Im an engineer by trade. Im all about creating an efficient system. When youre able to do that and implement that, there is a lot of savings you can have on the back end.

I do believe dollars can help. Theres no doubt about that. But when you look at the total implication of this Senate bill, $1.5 billion at best over the next 10 years, I dont mean to sound glib, but $45 billion here and there really isnt making the dent and really making the long-term effects that we have to be addressing as part of a long-term Medicaid reform.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor, one other thing, the argument that the Republicans in Congress have made on Medicaid and that is and the presidents budget director, Mick Mulvaney, has said Medicaid is unsustainable on the path that its on now, its grown way too expensive, it cannot continue like this, cuts have to come, there has to be a change in the trajectory.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU: Well, look, I would absolutely agree with that.

Look, Washington is dealing the Senate and the House and the president are dealing with nearly $20 trillion in debt. That is real money owed to someone, and a lot of it oversees.

So, our spending over the last eight years has gone completely out of control. And so they do have the challenge ahead of them of reeling that spending back in, creating more efficient systems.

Reeling it in is one thing. Going above and beyond from even where we were eight years ago is another story. And thats where we kind of draw the line and say, look, lets deal with Obamacare here, lets deal with Medicaid entitlement reform in another discussion, another discussion that frankly has to probably be a longer discussion, have to really get the input from the states, nothing that should be rushed.

So if we can deal with those two issues separately, I think we can have just much better outcomes and a much more viable solution for all the states.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, thank you very much for talking with us.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU: Thank you, Judy.

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Senate health care plan 'not viable' for New Hampshire, says Gov. Sununu - PBS NewsHour

What’s Next for Bernie Sanders: Fighting Republican Health Care Plan in Red State Rallies – Newsweek

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Senator Bernie Sanders energized many voters across the country during his failed bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, and now hes hitting the road again to speak with Americansbut with a different end goal in mind. The independent senator from Vermont is set this weekend to hold rallies in traditionally Republican-voting states to speak out against the GOPs health care plan, which isaimed at gutting the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

Sanders has titled the rallies Care Not Cuts, pointing to the Congressional Budget Office estimate that tens of millions of American would lose coverage under the plan formulated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues. The Sanders events are scheduled to take place in Kentucky and West Virginia on Sunday.

McConnells legislation, which would throw 22 million Americans off of health insurance, would be a disaster for the country and an even worse disaster for the people of Kentucky,Sanders said in a statement. Under the Affordable Care Act, Kentucky has made significant progress in lowering the number of its uninsured people. Further, the expansion of Medicaid there has been of significant help in the fight against the opioid epidemic which has ravaged Kentucky.

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Sanders recently held similar rallies inPennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio aspart of the Dont Take Our Health Care tour sponsored by the progressive group MoveOn.org. Sanders has been highly critical of the GOPs health care efforts in both the House and the Senate. Shortly after the Senate bill was introduced,he tweeted that itwas themost harmful piece of legislation Ive seen in my lifetime.

If you cut Medicaid by over $800 billion, there is no questionbut that thousands of Americans will die,Sanders said on CNN to expand on his initial statement. This is barbaric. Frankly, this is what oligarchy is all about.

McConnell had planned to take a vote on the legislation before the Senate adjourned forits Fourth of July recess, but he delayed it after realizing the GOP didnt have the 50 votes necessary for the bill to pass. Republican lawmakers have been subject to protests during their break, and reports suggest the GOPs path to passing the bill could be tenuous.

The legislation is incredibly unpopular among Americans, with one poll finding just 12 percent of the country approved of the plan.

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6.8m genetic medicine plan for targeted treatment – BBC News

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BBC News
6.8m genetic medicine plan for targeted treatment
BBC News
Patients in Wales will benefit from stronger services and more expertise in genetic medicine, under a new strategy. The 6.8m plan has been designed to ensure Wales is able to offer treatment plans revolutionised by better understanding of human DNA.
Tories ask for government assurances over genetic medicine pledgeBarry and District News
Government strategy strives for tailor-made healthcarePenarth Times

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6.8m genetic medicine plan for targeted treatment - BBC News