Attacks on journalists threaten media freedom in Afghanistan

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) When Afghan journalist Hussain Sirat's car disappeared in late December, he assumed it was simply theft, until a man called to say that he had the vehicle, and a gun with which he planned to kill him.

In the weeks since then, Sirat, an editor at Afghanistan's biggest daily newspaper 8AM who also works for Deutsche Welle, has been attacked in the street and received death threats in text messages that accuse him of being an "infidel" which he assumes is related to his work for the German broadcaster.

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Attacks on journalists threaten media freedom in Afghanistan

Watch Dogs Negative Eugenics Trophy/Achievement Guide (Watch Dogs Bad Blood DLC) – Video

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Watch Dogs Negative Eugenics Trophy/Achievement Guide (Watch Dogs Bad Blood DLC)
Kill 4 enemies at once by blowing up the RC Car. You unlock the RC Car after the 3rd main mission in T-Bone #39;s story. You also need to be Militia Level 15 to unlock the detonate option for the...

By: zeeree Gaming

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Watch Dogs Negative Eugenics Trophy/Achievement Guide (Watch Dogs Bad Blood DLC) - Video

Russia's combat robot fails to impress Putin

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Vladimir Putin looked less than thrilled when watching a slow-moving military robot riding a four-wheeler. Hey, not all cyborg bikers look like the Terminator.

This Russian robot looks like more Daft Punk than combat ready. Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET

Russia's president Vladimir Putin -- nicknamed Superputin -- pilots jets, drives race cars, rides horses, tranquilizes polar bears, fishes shirtless in freezing Siberian rivers and is a martial arts master in Judo.

So when you present him with the ultimate military robot, it better be impressive. Sadly, when a research institute outside of Moscow showed off its latest cyborg combat technology in action, Putin seemed almost bored.

In this video footage from Russia Today, Putin watches with seeming disappointment as the combat robot that looks like a member of Daft Punk inches its way on an ATV bike around a snowy racetrack during a demo.

There's even a burning vehicle in the background to give it that extra danger-zone ambiance.

However, when the helmet looks like a giant smile and the robot is just sitting there in an almost calm Knievel kind of way, it's hard not to blame Putin for his lack of enthusiasm.

This can't be good news for Russia, which has reportedly been determined to build a variety of combat robots, including small, unmanned tanks equipped with machine guns.

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Russia's combat robot fails to impress Putin

UFC Parent Company Pursuing Deal with Cris "Cyborg" Justino

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Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

The UFC is going all-out in its pursuit of high-profile MMA free agents, it seems, asESPN's Brett Okamotois reporting thatZuffa LLC, the UFC's parent company, is pursuing a deal with former Strikeforce featherweight champion Cris "Cyborg" Justino. The news comes a day after the UFC surprisingly pulled former Pride FC heavyweight and K-1 kickboxer Mirko Cro Cop out of the clutches of its chief rival, Bellator MMA.

UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta said the following to Okamoto, "We certainly have an interest in Cyborg fighting for us...We feel that down the road there is a possibility of a big fight between her and Ronda, but there are still a lot of things that need to happen."

That said, Fertitta was not especially specific, or even optimistic, regarding Justino joining the UFC at any point in the foreseeable future. Naturally, the big hang-up in all this is her inability to cut down to 135-pounds, "she needs to prove she can get down to 135 pounds before we would take the risk of making that fight happen. Obviously, if she came over and didn't make the weight, it would be a disaster."

Justino is currently signed to the all-women's promotion Invicta FC, with just one bout remaining on her three-fight deal. While she has long been considered one of the greatest female mixed martial artist in the world (and possibly the greatest), a 2012 failed drug test, which was flagged for theanabolic steroid stanozolol, has made her a controversial figure. UFC President Dana White and UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey have also both frequently barbed Justino for this.

Which of course begs the question...why is the UFC pursuing a fighter they don't like who fights in a weight class they don't have?

Worth noting is that relations between the Cyborg camp and the UFC have softened, in spite of White's less-than-mature statements regarding Justino. Not only that, but the UFC and Bellator have been in a race to scoop up every prominent free agent in MMA, with the UFC scooping up Mirko Cro Cop, signing the completely untrained pro wrestler CM Punk, and making a strong play for seemingly retired women's MMA star Gina Carano. Bellator has scooped up the likes of YouTube sensation Kimbo Slice, and recently debuted former Strikeforce champion Marloes Coenen and fearsome striker Melvin Manhoef.

Because of that, it isn't a strong leap to assume that the UFC is looking to simply keep Cyborg away from Bellator...which of course would suggest that, for the first time in a long time, the MMA leader feels threatened by a competing promotion.

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UFC Parent Company Pursuing Deal with Cris "Cyborg" Justino

We Were Promised Space Lasers: The State of the Union's Biggest Fibs

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This Tuesday, Jan. 20, President Barack Obama will honor an American tradition as old as George Washington: the State of the Union. The constitutionally ordained address to each new session of Congress has been a presidential ritual since 1790. Its a chance to check in on the present and make some pledges for our future.

Its that future bit that got us thinking: If all that talk had come true, even the crazy, far-out pledgesespecially the crazy, far-out pledgeswhat would our world look like today? Not political promises and posturing for lower taxes or immigration reform, but lifestyle manna such as supersonic jets and paralysis-curing implants.

So we read through 35 years of State of the Union addresses, from Obama back to Ronald Reagan, and found an interesting mix of science and science fiction with varying likelihoods of the prognostications ever becoming reality. Obama may have missed his goal of having 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015 (by 725,000 cars), but its bound to happen one day. Meanwhile, Reagans nuclear shield (popularly known as the Star Wars program) is a remnant of a time tormented by the Cold War. As for Clintons child-safe smart guns well, whos to tell?

Together, these visions offer a uniquely American version of Utopia. One wed be perfectly happy driving our Wi-Fi-enabled, 3D-printed, hydrogen-fueled car aroundbut maybe only for a day or two.

The Pledge: In 2013, Obama referred to a once-shuttered warehouse in the Rust Belt that became a state-of-the-art lab where new workers are mastering 3D printing and proposed replicating its success around the country.

The Reality? As Obama said, it has already happened in Youngstown, Ohio, thanks to his Manufacturing Innovation Institutes. But the likelihood of reviving former industrial towns with 3D printing hubs seems counterintuitive to the very idea of 3D printing, not to mention the fact that 3D printing is still pricier than the old-fashioned assembly line for most manufacturers.

The Pledge:In 2013, Obama also heralded the work of scientists who are developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs and urged Congress to keep making those investments.

The Reality? Things are looking good. Scientists have made great advances in regenerating organs using stem cells (doctors grew trachea way back in 2008). And ever since Obama removed some barriers for using stem cells in research, scientists have been steaming ahead.

The Pledge: In 2000, President Bill Clinton asked gun companies to invest in smart guns to keep weapons out of the hands of children, as well as other steps to keep guns out of the wrong hands.

The Reality? Despite the 15 years that have passed since Clintons call to action, its still a dreamone pretty much destined to fail, thanks both to the National Rifle Association and to lack of consumer interest. (We do have fingerprint-enabled gun casesand GPS locators that track when a gun is drawn and shot. Baby steps.)

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We Were Promised Space Lasers: The State of the Union's Biggest Fibs

Astronomy: Laser focus

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Laurie Hatch

Claire Max stands next to the 3-metre telescope at California's Lick Observatory.

On clear, moonless evenings, most of the biggest optical telescopes around the world begin the night's observations by firing a golden laser beam at the sky.

Claire Max does not like to take credit for this astronomical light show, even though the lasers' widespread use is a tribute to her three-decade campaign to perfect and promote them an effort that was recognized on 16 January when the American Astronomical Society awarded her its 2015 instrumentation prize. For Max, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, self-aggrandizement would be unbusinesslike. And she is all business; even her way of speaking is careful, like someone who feels obliged to stand behind every word she says. Her passion is reserved for the technology itself. I still get gripped by it, she says, showing off photograph after photograph of telescopes, lasers and thin beams of light shining upwards as straight as a ruler.

The lasers, Max explains, are a crucial element of the telescopes' adaptive optics, which correct for turbulence in the atmosphere. Without adaptive optics, stars and galaxies viewed at high magnification will dance, distort and blur like stones seen at the bottom of a stream. With adaptive optics, they will remain steady and sharp, allowing telescopes on the ground to routinely equal or exceed the clarity obtained by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. This capability has allowed current-generation telescopes to carry out high-resolution studies of objects ranging from moons in the outer Solar System to stars at the centre of the Milky Way. And now it is enabling the construction of telescopes measuring 2040 metres across, as much as four times the diameter and 16 times the light-gathering power of any now in existence.

Max has been involved in this development from its early days: from the first demonstration of laser-assisted adaptive optics to building the prototype and then establishing a centre that spread the technology to telescopes around the world.

Yet Max's greatest triumph has also become her greatest challenge. Last October, at an age when other astronomers might be looking forward to retirement, the 68-year-old Max agreed to serve as interim director of the University of California Observatories (UCO) the organization responsible for all the astronomical hardware owned by one of the biggest state university systems in the United States. And in that role, 'interim' or not, Max finds herself navigating the professional and cultural chaos in astronomy being triggered by the cost of these next-generation behemoths.

There are three of these telescopes in various stages of planning and construction, each with a price tag in the order of US$1 billion. That cost, says Max, poses a quandary for their owners and funders among them the UCO, a key partner in the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) that started construction last year atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. How do they pay for all their older, smaller telescopes? Should the owners give in to financial pressure and close the facilities even though the telescopes are still essential workhorses for individual researchers and training grounds for young astronomers? Or should they fight to find creative ways to keep all the doors open?

Max's instinct is to fight using her unique combination of warmth, empathy and determination. So far, she is winning. After three decades of persuasion and consensus-building in pursuit of adaptive optics, says Andrea Ghez, an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles, Max has developed a sure instinct for making connections among engineers, academics, funding officers, university administrators and all the others who have a say in telescope decisions.

These are powerful players, says Ghez gorillas at the table who'd like you for lunch. And to deal with them, she says, you need someone like Max: a gorilla with finesse.

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Astronomy: Laser focus

Love space? Learn more at Museum of Natural Sciences Astronomy Days

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By Tony Rice

Raleigh, N.C. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences hosts the annual Astronomy Days this weekend Saturday, Jan. 24, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m and Sunday, Jan. 25, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. The event is free and features exhibits, talks and activities for all ages. This years theme is Pluto and the outer solar system.

Featured speakers includeNASA astronaut Andrew Feustel, whowill share his experiences during over 40 hours of spacewalks including repair and upgrades of the Hubble Space Telescope. John Spencer, from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., will speak on thePluto-bound New Horizons Mission. Dr. Harold Connolly, of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, will outline the OSIRIS-Rex mission to return samples from an asteroid.

The NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., will be there with activities describing an asteroid retrieval mission, Mars and the recently test launched Orion crew capsule and the space launch system that will bring astronauts to Mars.

Area astronomy clubs, universities and others focused on astronomy and space exploration will have tables describing their work.The Raleigh Astronomy Club will host workshops on getting started in astronomy with a separate workshop focused on families.

If youd like to try your hand at putting together your own space program, workshops on the Kerbal Space Program (KSP) spaceflight simulator will get you started at home. KSP is popular not only with gamers but is a hit with the professionals who launch rockets for a living at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), SpaceXand the European Space Agency.

New this year: An educator resource center just for teachers (formal and informal such as scout troop leaders) to help provide a hands-on experience for students. NASA volunteers will share STEM resources and provide demonstrations on the JPLs Eyes of the Solar System and a classroom experiment provided bythe Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Centeron clean rooms used to prepare spacecraft.

Additional talks will be going on throughout the day on topics like commercial space, black holes, cometsand missions to Jupiter and Saturn. Ill be giving talks throughout the weekend on how what the Air Forces weather forecasters are looking for leading up to a launch as well as a behind the scenes look at driving the Mars rovers. Come by and say hi.

Visit http://www.astronomydays.org for a complete schedule of events and follow @astronomydays on Twitter for updates throughout the event.

Tony Rice is a volunteer in the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador program and software engineer at Cisco Systems. You can follow him on twitter @rtphokie.

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Love space? Learn more at Museum of Natural Sciences Astronomy Days

RIVERSIDE: Watch as 3 moons of Jupiter eclipse themselves

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RIVERSIDE: Watch as 3 moons of Jupiter eclipse themselves

Three moons of Jupiter will cast their shadows onto the gaseous planet and eclipse themselves on Friday, Jan. 23, 2015. The Physics and Astronomy Department at UC Riverside will have a free public telescope observation of the event.

AP FILE PHOTO

The Physics and Astronomy Department at UC Riverside will have a free public telescope observation of a rare astronomical event from 8:30 to 10 p.m. Friday.

Three moons of Jupiter will cast their shadows onto the gaseous planet and eclipse themselves. This is the last time we will be able to see the phenomenon from Earth until the year 2032.

The department will set up special telescopes to on the lawn in front of Pierce Hall and the Science Laboratories 1 building at the university.

Information will be available in English, Spanish and Farsi.

Information: mariodlw@ucr.edu, 951-827-5415 or facebook.com/astroucr

Contact the writer: community@pe.com

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RIVERSIDE: Watch as 3 moons of Jupiter eclipse themselves

Become an alien hunter with free online course from Harvard

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Haven't been finding enough alien life lately? Maybe Harvard can help with a new course that combines astronomy and biology to examine how we look for life on other planets.

"20 years ago, the only planets we knew of were in our own solar system," says course instructor Dimitar Sasselov. Times have changed, and this course will tell you how. Video screenshot by Michael Franco/CNET

Questions about whether there's life beyond our own universe has filled millions of pages of speculative fiction, taken up years of time on movie and TV screens, and consumed billions of hours of kids' and astrophysicists' daydreams. Now, a new free online course offered by Harvard can arm you with facts you need to learn more about "alien life, how we search for it, and what this teaches us about our place in the universe."

The course is called "Super-Earths And Life" and it's being offered on the edX platform, a website created by Harvard and MIT that provides free online courses from the world's top universities.

It will be taught by Dimitar Sasselov, a professor of astronomy at Harvard. "He is the director of the Origins of Life Initiative, a new interdisciplinary institute that joins biologists, chemists, planetary scientists and astronomers in searching for the starting points of life on Earth (and possibly elsewhere)," says his bio on the course sign-up page. "He is also a co-investigator on NASA's Kepler mission, searching for exoplanets the size of Earth."

The course will combine the latest findings in evolutionary biology with with advances that have helped us discover more and more planets outside our own solar system. It starts on February 10, lasts for six weeks and requires a commitment of about five hours per week.

Although the course is completely free, you have the option to donate to keep edX going (as little as $5 is acceptable) and you can choose to receive a "verified certificate" for your completed coursework for a minimum of $50, something that might help if you are planning to use the class in your career as Scully's new partner. Also, according to the research statement attached to the course, Harvard will use student participation to help improve its educational offerings. In addition to this course, edX offers over 250 other classes in everything from ethics to medicine -- all free.

So what do you think? Are you going to sign up? Watch this video about the course, then let me know in the comments.

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Become an alien hunter with free online course from Harvard