From Rockies to Beaches, There's No Escape From Winter

A fragmented winter storm system was forecast to bring snow to both the Rocky Mountains and beaches in the Carolinas on Tuesday, forecasters said. While the deadly system was not as strong as Monday when it canceled 1,000 flights, closed hundreds of schools, and caused chaos on the roads meteorologists predicted a messy commute linked to snow, ice and rain in parts of Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.

A thin band of snow looked likely to dump up to one inch on the beaches of North Carolina, the Outer Banks, and possibly as far south as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, according to Kevin Roth, lead meteorologist at The Weather Channel. While Tuesday was not likely to continue Monday's uninterrupted 2,000-mile band of winter weather from California to the Carolinas, snow was still falling and likely to continue through the day in mountains of New Mexico, southern Colorado and northern Arizona. "Whether you want to go to the mountains or the beach today you could still see snow," Roth said.

Meanwhile, cold records across the Northeast and Midwest continued to tumble thanks to a bitter blast of Arctic cold still lingering from the weekend. Newark, New Jersey, hit a low of 2F on Tuesday, smashing the previous record set 79 years ago and making it the coldest February 24 since records began.

Other day records fell in Indianapolis, Indiana, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Maine.

Burlington, Vermont, got down as low as -19F at 4 a.m. ET, according to the National Weather Service, pipping the previous record of -18F set in 1914.

Another blast was already brewing north of the Canadian border, Roth added, and was by Thursday likely to plunge much of the eastern two-thirds of the nation into a fresh freeze.

First published February 24 2015, 2:23 AM

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From Rockies to Beaches, There's No Escape From Winter

Stony Brook Physics Professor Awarded Sloan Research Fellowship

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Newswise STONY BROOK, N.Y., Feb. 23, 2015 Lukasz Fidkowski, PhD, an assistant professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University, has been selected to receive a 2015 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He is one of 126 awardees from 61 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada chosen for this prestigious honor, which comes with a $50,000 two-year fellowship to further his research.

Fidkowski was selected for his research in theoretical condensed matter physics. In particular, he developed a classification of topological phases in one dimension, he carried out a calculation of the entanglement spectrum of topological insulators and superconductors, and he suggested the existence of the Majorana zero modes in one-dimensional quantum wires.

His discoveries extend and deepen our current understanding of the ordered states of matter and help uncover new properties of matter. Some of these properties may have useful applications, such as encoding quantum information, making it possible to use them as the building blocks of a quantum computer.

"As Provost, it makes me proud that Stony Brook University was able to attract such a remarkable junior faculty member such as Dr. Lukasz Fidkowski," said Dennis N. Assanis, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs for Stony Brook University. "His groundbreaking work in the field of theoretical condensed matter physics makes him well-deserving of the prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship, as well as a valuable addition to the distinguished faculty within our department of Physics and Astronomy."

Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships are given to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars and the next generation of scientific leaders. Since the programs inception, the Sloan Foundation has awarded nearly $120 million in support of more than 4,200 early-career researchers; 66 of whom have been from Stony Brook University.

Being selected for a Sloan Research Fellowship is an honor and a milestone in my career, said Dr. Fidkowski. This fellowship will help advance my research, and, in doing so, will advance the field of physics.

"Stony Brook is proud of the fundamental research by innovative faculty like Lukasz Fidkowski," says Sacha Kopp, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, "We are grateful for the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and hope his work will serve as an inspiration for others."

"Dr. Fidkowskis research field experienced a major expansion recently, said Laszlo Milhaly, Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy who nominated Dr. Fidkowski for the Sloan Research Fellowship. It was recognized, both theoretically and experimentally, that new phases of materials exist that cannot be classified within the well-established theory of symmetry-breaking phase transitions that works very well for a large range of phenomena, like the freezing of water to ice or the development of magnetic order. Examples for these new phases include fractional quantum Hall insulators and topological insulators and superconductors with symmetry-protected edge and surface states."

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Stony Brook Physics Professor Awarded Sloan Research Fellowship

Timetable your week in North Staffordshire

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ASTRONOMY fans can learn about stargazing at Parkhall Country Park this weekend.

The North Staffordshire Astronomical Society is presenting an evening of discovery on Saturday, where people can view the Moon, Jupiter and other wonders through various telescopes. There will also be a video and a display of pictures taken by members of the society.

The event is free and runs from 4.30pm to 9pm. People can meet on the main visitor centre car park off Hulme Road, Weston Coyney.

To book a place, call 01782 331889.

A COLLEGE vice-principal who has been short-listed for Further Education Leader of the Year will find out this week whether he has won the title.

Craig Hodgson, above, was nominated for the TES FE Awards in recognition of the work he has done at Newcastle College.

He is in charge of the colleges day-to-day finances. He also oversaw the development of its 60 million campus and has project managed other schemes to improve student facilities.

The awards event will be held at Londons Grosvenor Hotel on Friday.

AN exotic zoo will be visiting Tunstall library on Saturday to help entertain children.

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Timetable your week in North Staffordshire

Astronomical Science Group of Ireland | Research …

Latest: Ireland presses for membership of the European Southern Observatory

Welcome to the website of the Astronomical Science Group of Ireland (ASGI). The ASGI was founded in 1974 to encourage collaboration in astronomy and astrophysics between research groups from Ireland and Northern Ireland. Consisting of a number of affiliated universities and other organisations, the group is one of the oldest cross-border bodies on the island of Ireland.

The Irish astrophysics community is small but active, conducting research in areas such as stellar physics, solar system science, galactic physics, cosmology, high-energy astrophysics, extra-solar planets, and solar physics. Our researchers use scientific instruments onEuropean Space Agency (ESA)andNASAmissions, and at a variety of ground-based observatories. Primary objectives of the community are to join theEuropean Southern Observatory (ESO)and to build an advanced low-frequency radio telescope calledLOFARin Ireland.

Public outreach is a major part of astrophysics research, and there are many links here to events happening all over the island of Ireland as well as information on how to contact scientists about giving talks at events and in schools.

The website is currently recovering from a severe server crash an online form enabling you to be added to the ASGI membership/mailing list will be added in due course. For now, please send requests to Ray Butler.

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Astronomical Science Group of Ireland | Research ...

Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions

After 40+ years of research, one might think that debate about media violence effects would be over. An historical examination of the research reveals that debate concerning whether such exposure is a significant risk factor for aggressive and violent behavior should have been over years ago (Bushman & Anderson, 2001). Four types of media violence studies provide converging evidence of such effects: laboratory experiments, field experiments, cross-sectional correlation studies, and longitudinal studies (Anderson & Bushman, 2002a; Bushman & Huesmann, 2000). But the development of a new genre-electronic video games-reinvigorated the debate.

Two features of video games fuel renewed interest by researchers, public policy makers, and the general public. First, the active role required by video games is a double-edged sword. It helps educational video games be excellent teaching tools for motivational and learning process reasons. But, it also may make violent video games even more hazardous than violent television or cinema. Second, the arrival of a new generation of ultraviolent video games beginning in the early 1990s and continuing unabated to the present resulted in large numbers of children and youths actively participating in entertainment violence that went way beyond anything available to them on television or in movies. Recent video games reward players for killing innocent bystanders, police, and prostitutes, using a wide range of weapons including guns, knives, flame throwers, swords, baseball bats, cars, hands, and feet. Some include cut scenes (i.e., brief movie clips supposedly designed to move the story forward) of strippers. In some, the player assumes the role of hero, whereas in others the player is a criminal.

The new debate frequently generates more heat than light. Many criticisms are simply recycled myths from earlier media violence debates, myths that have been repeatedly debunked on theoretical and empirical grounds. Valid weaknesses have also been identified (and often corrected) by media violence researchers themselves. Although the violent video game literature is still relatively new and small, we have learned a lot about their effects and have successfully answered several key questions. So, what is myth and what do we know?

Myths and Facts

Myth 1. Violent video game research has yielded very mixed results. Facts: Some studies have yielded nonsignificant video game effects, just as some smoking studies failed to find a significant link to lung cancer. But when one combines all relevant empirical studies using meta-analytic techniques, five separate effects emerge with considerable consistency. Violent video games are significantly associated with: increased aggressive behavior, thoughts, and affect; increased physiological arousal; and decreased prosocial (helping) behavior. Average effect sizes for experimental studies (which help establish causality) and correlational studies (which allow examination of serious violent behavior) appear comparable (Anderson & Bushman, 2001).

Myth 2. The studies that find significant effects are the weakest methodologically. Facts: Methodologically stronger studies have yielded the largest effects (Anderson, in press). Thus, earlier effect size estimates -based on all video game studies- probably underestimate the actual effect sizes.

Myth 3. Laboratory experiments are irrelevant (trivial measures, demand characteristics, lack external validity). Facts: Arguments against laboratory experiments in behavioral sciences have been successfully debunked many times by numerous researchers over the years. Specific examinations of such issues in the aggression domain have consistently found evidence of high external validity. For example, variables known to influence real world aggression and violence have the same effects on laboratory measures of aggression (Anderson & Bushman, 1997).

Myth 4. Field experiments are irrelevant (aggression measures based either on direct imitation of video game behaviors (e.g., karate kicks) or are normal play behaviors. Facts: Some field experiments have used behaviors such as biting, pinching, hitting, pushing, and pulling hair, behaviors that were not modeled in the game. The fact that these aggressive behaviors occur in natural environments does not make them "normal" play behavior, but it does increase the face validity (and some would argue the external validity) of the measures.

Myth 5. Correlational studies are irrelevant. Facts: The overly simplistic mantra, "Correlation is not causation," is useful when teaching introductory students the risks in too-readily drawing causal conclusions from a simple empirical correlation between two measured variables. However, correlational studies are routinely used in modern science to test theories that are inherently causal. Whole scientific fields are based on correlational data (e.g., astronomy). Well conducted correlational studies provide opportunities for theory falsification. They allow examination of serious acts of aggression that would be unethical to study in experimental contexts. They allow for statistical controls of plausible alternative explanations.

Myth 6. There are no studies linking violent video game play to serious aggression. Facts: High levels of violent video game exposure have been linked to delinquency, fighting at school and during free play periods, and violent criminal behavior (e.g., self-reported assault, robbery).

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Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions

A.I. Might Kill Us Through Incompetence, Not Malevolence

Artificial intelligence has been looming large in the public conciousness recently, thanks to the likes of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking telling us how we're going to die at the hands of robots (the upcoming Terminator reboot probably doesn't help, either). But amidst the techpocalypse talk, there's been limited discussion of what constitutes A.I, and how it might look completely different to Skynet.

As Benjamin H. Bratton explains in the New York Times, our idea of artificial intelligence has been engineered from the beginning to be anthropomorphic: a truly 'intelligent' computer is one that reflects humanity back at us. The Turing test, the flawed but oft-quoted determination of artificial intelligence, really just requires a computer to pose as a human for a few minutes something that Bratton finds bizarre:

That we would wish to define the very existence of A.I. in relation to its ability to mimic how humans think that humans think will be looked back upon as a weird sort of speciesism. The legacy of that conceit helped to steer some older A.I. research down disappointingly fruitless paths, hoping to recreate human minds from available parts. It just doesn't work that way.

He goes on to point out that planes don't fly like birds, so why should computers be hamstrung by human impressionism?

When it comes to the matter of the dangers of A.I, Bratton is concerned, but not about a robot coup. Rather, "what we really fear, even more than a Big Machine that wants to kill us, is one that sees us as irrelevant."

In a technology landscape a little overrun with faux-humanoid digital assistants and a decades-old public perception of A.I, Bratton's essay is an insightful take on an incredibly important topic. And, it might make you stop and think next time you swear at Siri. [New York Times]

Image: Shutterstock/Olga Nikonova

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A.I. Might Kill Us Through Incompetence, Not Malevolence

Anti-Aging Experts Made a Million-Dollar Bet on Who Dies Last

Even 10 years ago, the idea of reversing aging and conquering human mortality was still fringe science, seen as snake-oil research by most scientists, large pharmaceutical companies, and the public. What a difference a decade makes. Anti-aging science is poised to become a major industry in the biotech world.

To prove its promise, the first million-dollar bet on who can live the longest (for company stocka signed deal likely made public later this week) was recently struck. It was made last month by two leading longevity advocates at the biggest annual healthcare investing event of the year, the JPMorgan Health Care Conference.

Dmitry Kaminskiy, senior partner of Hong Kong-based technology venture fund, Deep Knowledge Ventures, and Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, CEO of bioinformatics company Insilico Medicine Inc. which specializes in drug discovery and drug repurposing for aging and age-related diseases, signed a wager to indicate exactly how sure they are that science is turning the tide against the eternal problem of human aging.

The terms go like this:

- If one of the parties passes away before the other, $1 million dollars in Insilico Medicine stock will be passed to the surviving party

- The agreement will vest once both parties reach 100 years

- Parties agree not to accelerate each other's demise (i.e. try to kill each other)

"Longevity competitions may be a great way to combat both psychological and biological aging," Dr. Zhavoronkov emailed me. "I hope that we will start a trend." He sees longevity bets catching on around the world, and thinks if people will embrace competition to live longer, they may leave behind a global culture that largely accepts aging and human death as a given.

Kaminskiy agrees. "I would really like to make similar bets with Bill Gates, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg so they could live longer lives and create great products, but I don't think they will be worthy competitors on longevity," he wrote me in an email. "But I would like to challenge Sergey Brin and Larry Page to a similar competition due to their seemingly high interest in the sphere and Calico project."

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Anti-Aging Experts Made a Million-Dollar Bet on Who Dies Last

Tired? Anxious? Stressed? 'Nutrients could be a natural way to feel better

Martin Haines is a Palm Beach County divorce attorney. Haines, 68, has a younger wife and noticed he wasn't keeping up.

"I thought maybe I should step up my game a little bit," said Haines.

Click here to watch special report

Haines wasn't sleeping well, was stressed and was lacking energy so he went to see Dr. Harlan Bieley.

Bieley is an Anti-Aging & Functional Medicine specialist.

After extensive testing, Bieley put Haines on a vitamin regimen and within a few weeks of testing he felt much better.

"I know vitamin D was a vitamin that he recommended," said Haines. "I sleep very well, I sleep through the night and my energy level is excellent."

Haines is just one of the many cases, Bieley sees on a regular basis.

"We test, we treat, we retest. That is the safest way to do these things," said Bieley.

"This work is not just a pill for an ill," said Bieley. "You have to make lifestyle changes, you have to follow through with these nutrient."

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Tired? Anxious? Stressed? 'Nutrients could be a natural way to feel better

Scientists claim to have invented 'anti-aging' chocolate

It's being touted as "the worlds first Beauty Chocolate" and it will make its debut at a conference in the U.K. next month.

"(Esthechoc) is based on 70% Cocoa dark chocolate and represents a combination of two of the most powerful antioxidants with pleotropic anti-aging properties cocoa flavanols and marine carotenoid astaxanthin," claims Lycotec, a Cambridge-based company.

Those ingredients don't roll off the tongue easily but the firm wants us to believe in their new product.

"The superior efficacy of Estechoc over existing leading dark chocolate and food supplement products has been demonstrated in extensive clinical trials," it says.

According to techtimes.com, Dr. Ivan Petyaev, the inventor of the technology behind Esthechoc, said that clinical trials were conducted on over 3,000 participants between 50 and 60 years old.

He said his research showed that the biomarkers of the participant's skin were bought back to those of a 20 or 30-year-old person.

Not everyone is sharing Lycotec's excitement.

Naveed Sattar, a professor of Metabolic Medicine at Glasgow University, told the Telegraph that more clinical trials are needed to prove the companys strong claims.

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Scientists claim to have invented 'anti-aging' chocolate

Free Speech Movement – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a student protest which took place during the 196465 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley under the informal leadership of students Mario Savio,[1] Michael Rossman, Brian Turner, Bettina Aptheker, Steve Weissman, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg, and others. In protests unprecedented in scope, students insisted that the university administration lift the ban of on-campus political activities and acknowledge the students' right to free speech and academic freedom. The group's primary goals were to promote the ideas of the Cuban Revolution and weaken the Cold War consensus.[2]

In 1958, activist students organized SLATE, a campus political party, to promote the right of student groups to support off-campus issues. In the fall of 1964, student activists, some of whom had traveled with the Freedom Riders and worked to register African American voters in Mississippi in the Freedom Summer project, set up information tables on campus and were soliciting donations for civil rights causes. According to existing rules at the time, fundraising for political parties was limited exclusively to the Democratic and Republican school clubs. There was also a mandatory "loyalty oath" required of faculty, which had led to dismissals and ongoing controversy over academic freedom. On September 14, 1964, Dean Katherine Towle announced that existing University regulations prohibiting advocacy of political causes or candidates, outside political speakers, recruitment of members, and fundraising by student organizations at the intersection of Bancroft and Telegraph Avenues would be "strictly enforced." (This strip was until then thought to be city property, not campus property.)

On October 1, 1964, former graduate student Jack Weinberg was sitting at the CORE table. He refused to show his identification to the campus police and was arrested. There was a spontaneous movement of students to surround the police car in which he was to be transported. Weinberg did not leave the police car, nor did the car move for 32 hours. At one point, there may have been 3,000 students around the car. The car was used as a speaker's podium and a continuous public discussion was held which continued until the charges against Weinberg were dropped.

On December 2, between 1,500 and 4,000 students went in to Sproul Hall as a last resort in order to re-open negotiations with the administration on the subject of restrictions on political speech and action on campus. Among other grievances was the fact that four of their leaders were being singled out for punishment. The demonstration was orderly. Some students studied, some watched movies, some sang folk songs. Joan Baez was there to lead in the singing, and to lend moral support. "Freedom classes" were held by teaching assistants on one floor, and a special Channukah service took place in the main lobby. On the steps of Sproul Hall Mario Savio[1] gave a famous speech:

...But we're a bunch of raw materials that don't mean to be have any process upon us. Don't mean to be made into any product! Don't mean Don't mean to end up being bought by some clients of the University, be they the government, be they industry, be they organized labor, be they anyone! We're human beings! ...There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious makes you so sick at heart that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all. [3]

At midnight, Alameda County deputy district attorney Edwin Meese III telephoned Governor Edmund Brown, Sr, asking for authority to proceed with a mass arrest. Shortly after 2 a.m. on December 4, police cordoned off the building, and at 3:30 a.m. began arresting close to 800 students. Most of the arrestees were transported by bus to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, about 25 miles away. They were released on their own recognizance after a few hours behind bars. About a month later, the university brought charges against the students who organized the sit-in, resulting in an even larger student protest that all but shut down the university.

After much disturbance, the University officials slowly backed down. By January 3, 1965, the new acting chancellor, Martin Meyerson (who had replaced the resigned Edward Strong) established provisional rules for political activity on the Berkeley campus, designating the Sproul Hall steps an open discussion area during certain hours of the day and permitting tables. This applied to the entire student political spectrum, not just the liberal elements that drove the FSM.

Most outsiders, however, identified the Free Speech Movement as a movement of the Left. Students and others opposed to U.S. foreign policy did indeed increase their visibility on campus following the FSM's initial victory. In the spring of 1965, the FSM was followed by the Vietnam Day Committee, a major starting point for the anti-Vietnam war movement.

The Free Speech Movement had long-lasting effects at the Berkeley campus and was a pivotal moment for the civil liberties movement in the 1960s. It was seen as the beginning of the famous student activism that existed on the campus in the 1960s, and continues to a lesser degree today. There was a substantial voter backlash against the players involved in the Free Speech Movement. Ronald Reagan won an unexpected victory in the fall of 1966 and was elected Governor; the newly elected governor directed the UC Board of Regents to dismiss UC President Clark Kerr because of the perception that he had been too soft on the protesters. The FBI had kept a secret file on Kerr.

Reagan had gained political traction by campaigning on a platform to "clean up the mess in Berkeley". In the minds of those involved in the backlash, a wide variety of protests and a wide variety of concerned citizens and activists were lumped together. Furthermore, television news and documentary filmmaking had made it possible to photograph and broadcast moving images of protest activity. Much of this media is available today as part of the permanent collection of the Bancroft Library at Berkeley, including iconic photographs of the protest activity by student Ron Enfield (then chief photographer for the Berkeley campus newspaper, the Daily Cal). A reproduction of what may be considered the most recognizable and iconic photograph of the movement, a shot of suit-clad students carrying the Free Speech banner through the University's Sather Gate in Fall 1964, now stands at the entrance to the college's Free Speech Movement Cafe.

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Free Speech Movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South Africa: Post the State of the Nation Address

South Africans must stand together in multitudes to hold politicians accountable for disrespecting our democratic institutions before the whole world.

Our freedom was won through the collective efforts of millions of in our country. We need to stand together in our multitudes, even now, to safeguard our democracy, says Brand SA. (Oupa Nkosi, M&G)

COMMENT

Many of us would have eagerly awaited President Zumas State of the Nation Address last Thursday 12 February. We may have had different reasons although we would have wanted to hear the President pronounce on the progress made in South Africa and the way forward for the next year.

The evening may have concluded differently for many of us.

What the evening showed is that undoubtedly freedom of speech and expression is alive and robust and that our democracy is vibrant and well entrenched. It also shows that citizens are aware of their rights and are able to express them.

What should concern us though is that Parliament, which is one of the principle institutions mandated to safeguard our democracy, has in the expression of these rights, become a terrain of struggle that sees South Africans on both sides of the debate on our freedom of expression.

Political parties are elected by the people of our country to represent our interests in Parliament. We must ask whether this is being achieved as we deliberate on the work of Parliament.

I am confident that work that impacts positively on the lives of citizens of our country is being done at Parliament, but what should concern us is that we hear less of the work being done and more about the issues between the personalities doing the work. The expression of these issues between personalities is increasingly overshadowing the work of this principal institution of our democracy. Some of this is impacting negatively on the reputation of our country and our institutions.

Can we really serve the will of the people by bringing one of the principle institutions of our democracy into disrepute?

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South Africa: Post the State of the Nation Address