2012 review: The year in health science

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Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"











The first half of 2012 will be remembered for the saga over whether or not to publish controversial research involving versions of the H5N1 bird flu virus engineered to spread more easily in mammals. In the end openness won out, and both contentious studies did finally see the light of day.












This was also the year that saw the battle to eradicate polio reach its crucial endgame – just as another problem, in the form of totally drug resistant tuberculosis, reared its head.












Away from infectious disease, 2012 brought us a theory on the link between Tutankhamun, epilepsy and the first monotheistic religion, and an insight into the perils of premature ageing in Italy's ominously named Triangle of Death. Here are 10 more of the year's memorable stories.












Babies are born dirty, with a gutful of bacteria
Far from being sterile, babies come complete with an army of bacteria. The finding could have implications for gut disorders and our health in general












Forensic failure: 'Miscarriages of justice will occur'
Our survey of UK forensic scientists reveals that many are concerned that closure of the Forensic Science Service will lead to miscarriages of justice












Scandal of an underfunded and undertreated cancer
Lung cancer in those who have never smoked is on the rise – but they face the same stigma as their smoking counterparts












Ovarian stem cells discovered in humans
Stem cells capable of forming new eggs could promise limitless eggs for IVF treatments, and the rejuvenation of older eggs












Paralysis breakthrough: spinal cord damage repaired
An implant helping paralysed people stand unaided suggests the spinal cord is able to recover function years after severe damage












A real fMRI high: My ecstasy brain scan
Graham Lawton reports the highs, lows and psychedelic purple doors involved in taking MDMA while having his brain scanned












You may carry cells from siblings, aunts and uncles
Male cells found in the umbilical cord blood of baby girls with older brothers suggests fetal cells cross between mother and baby more than once thought












Can we deter athletes who self-harm to win?
The Paralympics may encourage a debate on a dangerous practice – and potential ways to prevent it












First non-hormonal male 'pill' prevents pregnancy
A non-hormonal drug that temporarily reverses male fertility appears to have few side effects in mice












Mining MRSA genetic code halts superbug outbreak
Whole genome sequencing of an MRSA outbreak has identified the person who unwittingly spread the bacteria around a hospital, stopping further infection

















































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Singapore ushers in 2013 with fireworks display at Marina Bay

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SINGAPORE: It was a celebration full of song, dance and a magnificent display of fireworks as Singapore ushered in 2013 at the Marina Bay countdown.

Spectators thronged the Marina Bay area to soak up the celebrations as the nation counted down to the New Year!

And with a slew of performances... there was something for everyone.

Whether it was grooving to the beats of regional acts like Korean Hip Hop group M.I.B.... or homegrown talents like Taufik Batisah and John Klass and his band The Professionals.

One of the highlights of the night was from award winning musical group Jersey Boys.

Grant Almirall, Cast of Jersey Boys, said: "It's an amazing opportunity to perform for Singapore. It's raining at the moment but it's a rain or shine event so we still will be performing anyway. Hopefully, the crowd will be cheered up and ready for us. So yeah, it's going to be awesome."

Right after that, spectators were treated to an eight-minute fireworks display at the stroke of midnight.

- CNA/de



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BMW cars to get LTE WiFi

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BMW LTE adapter

BMW's new LTE WiFi hotspot snaps into the cradle dock in the console, giving everyone in the car a fast Internet connection.



(Credit:
BMW)



Audi and Ford include WiFi hotspots in some of their models, but BMW maintains its high-performance reputation by offering an accessory for WiFi at LTE data speeds, the first time a
car has boasted this type of connectivity.


BMW's LTE adapter snaps into any BMW equipped with a phone cradle dock in the console. Passengers will be able to connect their personal electronics, such as phones and
tablets, to the WiFi hotspot and get data at LTE speeds. However, this adapter does not offer any data connection to a car's own dashboard infotainment electronics.


The adapter includes an 8 digit connection code, preventing other drivers from tailgating so as to leach off the hotspot while on the road. It also supports Near Field Communications (NFC), letting people merely hold their compatible devices next to the adapter to initiate the WiFi connection.


Drivers will need to plug a SIM card for an LTE data network into the adapter. In Europe, it is common for a phone company to offer multiple SIM cards for a single account, which might be more difficult to obtain in the U.S. The advantage of making the adapter SIM card-dependent is that it can be used in multiple markets.


The WiFi hardware is actually included in the adapter, not in the car. The adapter comes with a built-in battery, so that it can be used outside of the car for about an hour, according to BMW. An available kit will let owners plug the adapter into a USB port, keeping it powered up. That kit should also make it useful in BMW models without the cradle dock. Its default WiFi range is about three yards, suitable for a car's cabin, but it can be switched to a 10 yard range for more general use.


No pricing or availability has been announced for the U.S.


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Time's Up: Sides Closing In on 'Fiscal Cliff' Deal

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Congressional and White House negotiators are closing in on a deal to avert across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts that take effect at midnight, as the nation teeters on the edge of the so-called fiscal cliff.


An emerging tentative agreement would extend current tax rates for households making $450,000 or less; extend the estate tax at its current level of 35 percent for estates larger than $5 million; and prevent the Alternative Minimum Tax from hammering millions of middle-class workers, sources said.


The deal would also extend unemployment benefits set to expire Tuesday and avert a steep cut to Medicare payments for doctors.


Both sides also seem willing to delay by three months automatic spending cuts to defense and domestic programs, the sources said, setting the stage for continued fiscal debate in the next few months tied to the debt ceiling.


Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are leading the negotiations, sources said, holding several "good" conversations late into Sunday night and continuing a dialogue early this morning.


They are trying to broker an elusive compromise on taxes and spending that can win the support of bipartisan majorities in the Senate and House.


Even if a deal is reached between Biden and McConnell, members in both chambers would still need to review it and vote on it later today. Passage is far from guaranteed.










"This is one Democrat that doesn't agree with that at all," Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin said of the tentative deal. "No deal is better than a bad deal, and this looks like a very bad deal the way this is shaping up."


Failure of Congress to act on a tax measure by Tuesday morning would trigger income tax hikes on all Americans. The average family would pay an extra $3,446 in 2013 under the higher rates, according to the Tax Policy Center.


Regardless of the "cliff," virtually all workers are due to see less in their paychecks starting in January when the temporary 2 percent payroll tax cut will expire.


More than $1 trillion in automatic spending cuts to defense and domestic programs will also begin to take effect later this week unless Congress delays or replaces them.


"It is absolutely inexcusable that all of us find ourselves in this place at this time," Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Sunday night on the Senate floor.


"Something has gone terribly wrong when the biggest threat to our American economy is our American Congress," he said, echoing a frustration shared by many Americans.


Republican and Democratic Senate leaders wrangled all weekend over the outlines of a deal, but those talks eventually hit a brick wall on GOP insistence that Social Security savings be included in a deal.


"I want everyone to know I'm willing to get this done, but I need a dance partner," McConnell said Sunday, noting that he had directly reached out to Biden to break the impasse.


As part of any deficit reduction deal, the White House wants to raise income tax rates on people making more than $250,000 a year, a threshold on which President Obama campaigned for re-election.


Republicans, caving on outright opposition to any tax increases, want a higher income threshold for the tax hike of around $450,000, sources said. They also want to prevent the estate tax from rising above its current 35 percent rate on estates of $5.1 million or more.


"There is still significant distance between the two sides, but negotiations continue," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Sunday evening. "There is still time to reach an agreement, and we intend to continue negotiations."


Both sides say the cost of failure is high.


"If we are not able to reach an agreement, it will be dire," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "Probably at least another million jobs lost, an unemployment rate over 9 percent, and putting us back into recession."



Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 28 December 2012

Label:






Best videos of 2012: Rare view of Challenger tragedy

Watch a rare amateur video of the Challenger explosion, our most-viewed video of the year



Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms

Record snowfall and dozens of tornadoes snarled holiday travel as a powerful winter storm plowed across much of the US, while rainstorms battered the UK



2012 review: The year in life science

The year's biggest stories in life science, including James Cameron's descent into the Mariana trench and efforts to break into Antarctica's buried lakes



Superstorm lessons for adapting to climate change

As the post-Sandy rebuild gets under way, coastal cities around the world will be watching



Best videos of 2012: First MRI movie of childbirth

Watch a unique view of a baby's birth, at number 2 in our countdown of the year's top science videos



Fleadom or death: Reviving the glorious flea circus

The parasite-based sideshows were almost done for by the domestic vacuum cleaner - but they are bouncing back, finds Graham Lawton



Approval for gene-modified salmon spawns controversy

Apparently months late, US regulators have declared genetically engineered fish safe to farm and eat, but final approval could be some way off



Best videos of 2012: New aircraft flies inside out

Watch a novel flying machine use a unique mechanism to propel itself, at number 3 in our countdown of the top videos of the year



2012 review: The year in technology

The year's biggest stories in technology, including Kinect devices that may spot signs of autism and controlling a robot by the power of thought



Superdoodles: The science of scribbling

Far from being a distraction, doodling has an important purpose - and you can harness it



2013 Smart Guide: Wave goodbye to the mouse

The Leap, a 3D motion control device set to launch next year, will let you control your computer with touch-free hand and finger movements





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Switzerland freezes US$300m of Mubarak sons' assets: report

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GENEVA: Swiss authorities have frozen US$300 million sitting in Credit Suisse accounts in Geneva held by the sons of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, the newspaper Le Matin Dimanche reported on Sunday.

The funds are held in accounts belonging to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, sons of the ex-president who are currently being held in an Egyptian prison.

The brothers are accused of using their position as scions of Egypt's longtime ruler to help themselves to villas, luxury cars and stakes in the country's key companies.

According to the newspaper, the funds were deposited at the Credit Suisse in 2005, which was after Switzerland tightened rules governing transactions by politically exposed depositors.

A Credit Suisse spokesman refused comment, citing the bank's secrecy policy.

The paper said Egypt-linked funds have also been frozen at the Swiss office of French banking giant BNP Paribas.

Switzerland has opened a probe targeting 14 people close to the Mubarak regime who are suspected of embezzling public funds and wide scale corruption.

Earlier this month, Swiss authorities refused to provide their Egyptian counterparts with access to their findings so far, citing concerns for the "institutional situation" in Cairo.

- AFP/jc



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Foursquare to show users' full names, share more data

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Foursquare has begun notifying users of privacy policy updates that will begin making more user information and data public next month.


Beginning January 28, 2013, users' "full names" will be displayed across the check-in service and venue owners will have increased access to users' check-in data, the company announced in an e-mail sent to users late last night. It also published a document called "Privacy 101" to explain the new changes.


The service currently sometimes shows full names but often displays just users' first name and last initial -- except when looking up friends on the service.


"In the original versions of Foursquare, these distinctions made sense," Foursquare explained in its e-mail. "But we get emails every day saying that it's now confusing."


After the privacy policy changes take effect, all users' full names will be displayed everywhere across the service. However, users will still have control of the name displayed by altering their "full name" in their settings.




The policy changes will also give venue owners access to more recent data about user check-ins at the venue. Businesses on Foursquare currently have access to information about customers who checked in during the previous three hours; after January they will see more recent check-ins, although Foursquare didn't indicate how much more


"This is great for helping store owners identify their customers and give them more personal service or offers," Foursquare noted. "But a lot of businesses only have time to log in at the end of the day to look at it."


As with the "full name" setting, users can opt out of letting venue owners see their check-in information.


Foursquare's careful explanation of the new policies comes in the wake of an Instagram user revolt over new privacy policies that appeared to grant the Facebook-owned service perpetual rights to sell users' photographs without notifying or compensating the photographer. Instagram quickly backpedaled, with Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom apologizing for failing to clearly communicate the company's intentions.


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How to Banish That New Year's Eve Hangover

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For those of us who enjoy the occasional cocktail, the holiday season would be incomplete without certain treats of the liquid variety. Some look forward to the creamy charms of rum-laced eggnog; others anticipate cupfuls of high-octane punch or mugs of warm, spiced wine.

No matter what's in your glass, raising one as the year winds down is tradition. What could be more festive? The problem is, one drink leads to two, then the party gets going and a third is generously poured. Soon, the music fades and the morning arrives—and with it, the dreaded hangover. (Explore a human-body interactive.)

Whether it's a pounding headache, a queasy stomach, sweating, or just general misery, the damage has been done. So now it's time to remedy the situation. What's the quickest way to banish the pain? It depends who you ask.

Doctors typically recommend water for hydration and ibuprofen to reduce inflammation. Taking B vitamins is also good, according to anesthesiologist Jason Burke, because they help the body metabolize alcohol and produce energy.

Burke should know a thing or two about veisalgia, the medical term for hangover. At his Las Vegas clinic Hangover Heaven, Burke treats thousands of people suffering from the effects of drinking to excess with hydrating fluids and medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"No two hangovers are the same," he said, adding that the unfavorable condition costs society billions of dollars-mostly from lost productivity and people taking sick days from work.

Hot Peppers for Hangovers?

So what's the advice from the nonmedical community? Suggestions range from greasy breakfasts to vanilla milkshakes to spending time in a steamy sauna. A friend insists hot peppers are the only way to combat a hangover's wrath. Another swears by the palliative effects of a bloody mary. In fact, many people just have another drink, following the old "hair of the dog that bit you" strategy.

Whether such "cures" actually get rid of a hangover is debatable, but one thing's for sure: the sorry state is universal. The only people immune to hangovers are the ones who avoid alcohol altogether.

So for those who do indulge, even if it's just once in awhile, see our interactive featuring cures from around the world (also above). As New Year's Eve looms with its attendant excuse to imbibe, perhaps it would be wise to stock your refrigerator with one of these antidotes. Pickled herring, anyone?


Read More..

President Suggests Small 'Cliff' Deal Likely

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With less than two days remaining for Congress to reach a budget agreement that would avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff,” President Obama today suggested that a small deal remains the best hope to avoid the perilous package of spending cuts and tax increases.


In an interview aired this morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press” the president said if Republicans agreed to raising taxes on top income earners it should be enough to avoid the triggers that would execute the $607 billion measure. Economists agree that going over the cliff would likely put the country back in recession.


“If we have raised some revenue by the wealthy paying a little bit more, that would be sufficient to turn off what’s called the sequester, these automatic spending cuts, and that also would have a better outcome for our economy long-term,” he said.


Saying the “pressure is on Congress to produce,” the president did not specify what income level his party would deem acceptable as the cutoff for those who would see their tax rates remain at current levels. The president has called for expiration of the “Bush-era” tax cuts to affect household earnings over $250,000 since the campaign, but has reportedly floated a $400,000 figure in past negotiations. Speaker John Boehner once offered a $1 million cut-off in his failed “Plan B” proposal, which failed to garner enough support among the House Republicans.


“It’s been very hard for Speaker Boehner and Republican Leader McConnell  to accept the fact that taxes on the wealthiest Americans should go up a little bit as part of an overall deficit reduction package,” the president said.


Domestic programs would lose $55 billion in funding should sequestration pass, including $2 billion to Medicare and unemployment benefits. The Pentagon would take a $55 billion loss as well, or 9 percent of their budget.


Repeating remarks he made Friday after a meeting with congressional leaders, Obama said that should negotiations fail he has asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to introduce a stripped- down proposal to Congress for a straight up-or-down vote – if it isn’t blocked.


“If all else fails, if Republicans do in fact decide to block so that taxes on the middle class do in fact go up on January 1, then we’ll come back with a new Congress on January 4, and the first bill that will be introduced on the floor will be to cut taxes on middle-class families,” he said of the worst case scenario. “I don’t think the average person is going to say, ‘Gosh, you know, that’s a really partisan agenda.’”


The interview was taped Saturday while Reid and his GOP counterpart Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky scrambled to their offices for a solution behind closed doors. Press staking out Capitol Hill reported little public activity from the leaders or their surrogates. If negotiations are successful, the lawmakers could introduce a bill for vote this afternoon.


Republican leaders bit back at the president’s remarks. In a written statement Speaker Boehner said casting blame was “ironic, as a recurring theme of our negotiations was his unwillingness to agree to anything that would require him to stand up to his own party. ”


“In an effort to get the president to agree to cut spending – which is the problem – I put revenues on the table last year, and I put them on the table again last month,” he wrote. “Republicans made every effort to reach the ‘balanced’ deficit agreement that the president promised the American people, while the president has continued to insist on a package skewed dramatically in favor of higher taxes that would destroy jobs.”


Senator McConnell’s office issued this response to the NBC appearance:


“While the President was taping those discordant remarks yesterday, Sen. McConnell was in the office working to bring Republicans and Democrats together on a solution. Discussions continue today.”


Regardless of outcome, talk of a comprehensive budget deal is gone and any bill would likely set up a series of smaller partisan roadblocks in the weeks and months to come. For example, if any hypothetical legislation managed to dodge tax increases for the middle class it would still not address the looming debt ceiling, which Treasury can avoid using accounting tricks for approximately two months.


A small deal may also not address the estate tax, another central point of the brinkmanship. Currently standing at 35 percent, Republicans want to leave that rate as-is after exempting the first $5 million in estate value. Meanwhile Democrats have called for a 45 percent tax after a $3.5 million exemption. Should negotiations fail, it would climb to 55 percent after a $1 million exemption after the New Year.


ABC’s Sunlen Miller and the Associated Press contributed to this report, which has been updated.

Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 28 December 2012

Label:






Best videos of 2012: Rare view of Challenger tragedy

Watch a rare amateur video of the Challenger explosion, our most-viewed video of the year



Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms

Record snowfall and dozens of tornadoes snarled holiday travel as a powerful winter storm plowed across much of the US, while rainstorms battered the UK



2012 review: The year in life science

The year's biggest stories in life science, including James Cameron's descent into the Mariana trench and efforts to break into Antarctica's buried lakes



Superstorm lessons for adapting to climate change

As the post-Sandy rebuild gets under way, coastal cities around the world will be watching



Best videos of 2012: First MRI movie of childbirth

Watch a unique view of a baby's birth, at number 2 in our countdown of the year's top science videos



Fleadom or death: Reviving the glorious flea circus

The parasite-based sideshows were almost done for by the domestic vacuum cleaner - but they are bouncing back, finds Graham Lawton



Approval for gene-modified salmon spawns controversy

Apparently months late, US regulators have declared genetically engineered fish safe to farm and eat, but final approval could be some way off



Best videos of 2012: New aircraft flies inside out

Watch a novel flying machine use a unique mechanism to propel itself, at number 3 in our countdown of the top videos of the year



2012 review: The year in technology

The year's biggest stories in technology, including Kinect devices that may spot signs of autism and controlling a robot by the power of thought



Superdoodles: The science of scribbling

Far from being a distraction, doodling has an important purpose - and you can harness it



2013 Smart Guide: Wave goodbye to the mouse

The Leap, a 3D motion control device set to launch next year, will let you control your computer with touch-free hand and finger movements





Read More..

US Navy sailors sue Japan's TEPCO over radiation

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WASHINGTON: Eight US Navy sailors are suing Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) for hundreds of millions of dollars over allegations the Japanese firm lied to them about radiation dangers after a tsunami-triggered meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The sailors accuse TEPCO of deceiving their commanders about radiation levels as the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan took part in relief operations following the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, according to a complaint filed in US federal court in southern California.

The devastating tsunami swamped cooling systems at the Fukushima plant, sending reactors into meltdown and spewing radiation over a large area.

TEPCO and the Japanese government "kept representing that there was no danger of radiation contamination to the USS Reagan and/or its crew, that 'everything is under control, all is OK, you can trust us,'" the sailors' lawyers wrote.

Japanese officials insisted there was "'no immediate danger' or threat to human life, all the while lying through their teeth about the reactor meltdowns" at Fukushima, it said.

The lawsuit charges TEPCO with reckless, negligent behavior and demands it be held liable for exposing the crew members of the aircraft carrier to radiation, as well as for designing a plant that was unsafe.

The suit alleges as the consequences of the nuclear disaster were kept from the crew, it rushed into an area too close to the plant and "the plaintiffs must now endure a lifetime of radiation poisoning and suffering which could have and should have been avoided," it said.

One of the carrier's crew, Kim Gieseking, was pregnant at the time of the disaster and her one-year-old baby daughter is listed among the plaintiffs in the suit.

The sailors are each seeking $10 million in damages, $30 million in punitive damages and the creation of a $100 million fund to cover the costs of medical monitoring and treatments.

In Tokyo, TEPCO said this was the first lawsuit in a foreign court that addresses its handling of the disaster at Fukushima, Kyodo News reported.

"We would like to withhold any comments since we have not received the lawsuit documents," the agency quoted the company as saying Friday.

In October, TEPCO admitted it had played down known tsunami risks for fear of the political, financial and reputational cost.

TEPCO said last month the cost of the clean-up and compensation after Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster may double to $125 billion.

The company said decontamination of irradiated areas and compensating those whose jobs or home lives have been affected will cost much more than the five trillion yen ($58.1 billion) it estimated in April.

-AFP/ac



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'Twas a very mobile Christmas (week in review)

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Android and iOS devices were apparently popular gifts this Christmas -- more popular than ever before.


Device activations soared from their daily December average of 4 million to 17.4 million on Christmas Day, a 332 percent increase, according to analytics firm Flurry. That's more than double the 6.8 million devices activated on Christmas last year, the previous single-day record holder. And in a first, more
tablets were activated on Christmas this year than phones. Apple tablets dominated the category, but the
Kindle Fire HD 7-inch made its strongest showing ever.


iPhone and iPad app downloads jumped 87 percent on Christmas Day as compared with the average for the month, according to data from mobile analytics firm Distimo. Sales from all those downloads rose by 70 percent on December 25.
•  Tablets more popular than e-readers among e-book crowd

•  Windows Phone store doubles to 150K-plus apps

•  Google names best Android apps of 2012

•  Mobile: 10 predictions for 2013


More headlines

NSA targeting domestic computer systems in secret test


The National Security Agency's Perfect Citizen program hunts for vulnerabilities in "large-scale" utilities, including power grid and gas pipeline controllers, new documents from EPIC show.

•  Stuxnet attacks Iran again, reports say

Apple rumor watch: iOS timepiece on drawing board?


Never mind the Nano doing double duty. New scuttlebutt out of China suggests that Apple is teaming up with Intel to fashion a bona fide iOS-based watch.

•  Apple wins critical SIM connector patent

Netflix outage mars Christmas Eve


The company's video streaming service went down for an undetermined number of people across the Americas. The outage continued into Christmas morning for some customers.

•  Netflix to get 'social features' next year

Instagram loses millions of users


Photo-sharing service records a nearly 25 percent drop in the number of daily active users in the wake of a terms of service controversy.

•  Instagram hit with proposed class-action lawsuit

•  Randi Zuckerberg loses control on Facebook (and Twitter)

China tightens the screws on Internet users


The country will now require all citizens to use their real names when signing up for an Internet account and force Internet providers to delete posts deemed "illegal."

•  China to curtail trademark trolls

•  Apple ordered to pay Chinese writers in copyright dispute

HP confirms: Feds investigating the Autonomy acquisition


In its new annual report, Hewlett-Packard says the Department of Justice has opened an inquiry into the $11 billion 2011 deal, now allegedly marred by accounting impropriety.

•  Autonomy founder fires back at HP after news of DOJ inquiry


Also of note

•  Amazon again tops in e-tail customer satisfaction; Apple slips

•  Apple's Tim Cook sees his 2012 pay fall 99 percent

•  Wikipedia's most-viewed articles in 2012 were...

Read More..

Body Under British Parking Lot May Be King Richard III

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For centuries, William Shakespeare seemed to have the last word. His Richard III glowered and leered from the stage, a monster in human form and a character so repugnant "that dogs bark at me as I halt by them." In Shakespeare's famous play, the hunchbacked king claws his way to the throne and methodically murders most of his immediate family—his wife, older brother, and two young nephews—until he suffers defeat and death on the battlefield at the hands of a young Tudor hero, Henry VII.

(Related: "Shakespeare's Coined Words Now Common Currency.")

To shed new light on the long vilified king, a British scientific team has tracked down and excavated his reputed burial spot and exhumed skeletal remains that may well belong to the long-lost monarch. The team is conducting a CSI-style investigation of the body in hopes of conclusively identifying Richard III, a medieval king who ruled England for two brief years before perishing at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Results on the investigation are expected in January.

But the much maligned monarch is not the only historical heavyweight to be exhumed.  Since the 1980s, forensic experts have dug up the remains of many famous people—from Christopher Columbus (video) and Simón Bolívar to Jesse James, Marie Cure, Lee Harvey Oswald, Nicolae Ceausescu, and Bobby Fischer. Just last month, researchers in Ramallah (map) disinterred the body of Yasser Arafat, hoping to new glean clues to his death in 2004. Rumors long suggested that Israeli agents poisoned the Palestinian leader with a fatal dose of radioactive polonium-210.

(Read more about poisoning from National Geographic magazine's "Pick Your Poison—12 Toxic Tales.")

Indeed, forensic experts have disinterred the legendary dead for a wide range of reasons—including to move their remains to grander tombs befitting their growing fame, collect DNA samples for legal cases, and obtain data on the medical conditions that afflicted them. Such exhumations, says anatomist Frank Rühli at the Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, always raise delicate ethical issues. But in the case of early historical figures, scientists can learn much that is of value to society. "Research on ancient samples provides enormous potential for understanding [questions concerning our] cultural heritage and the evolution of disease," Rühli notes in an emailed response.

Franciscan Resting Place?

Archaeologists from the University of Leicester began actively searching for the burial place of Richard III this past August. According to historical accounts, Tudor troops carried Richard's battered corpse from the Bosworth battlefield and displayed it in the nearby town of Leicester before local Franciscan fathers buried the body in their friary choir. With clues from historic maps, the archaeological team located foundations of the now vanished friary beneath a modern parking lot, and during excavation, the team discovered the skeleton of an adult male interred under the choir floor—exactly where Richard III was reportedly buried.

The newly discovered skeleton has scoliosis, a curvature of the spine that may have resulted in a slightly lopsided appearance, and this may have inspired Shakespeare's exaggerated depiction of Richard as a Quasimodo-like figure. Moreover, the body bears clear signs of battle trauma, including a fractured skull and a barbed metal arrowhead embedded in the vertebrae. And even the burial place points strongly to Richard. English armies at the time simply left their dead on the field of battle, but someone carted this body off and interred it in a place of honor.

Taken together, these early clues, says Jo Appleby, the University of Leicester bioarchaeologist studying the remains, strongly suggest that the team has found the legendary king. Otherwise, she observes, "I think we'd have a hard time explaining how a skeleton with those characteristics got buried there."

But much work remains to clinch the case. Geneticists are now comparing DNA sequences from the skeleton to those obtained from a modern-day Londoner, Michael Ibsen, who is believed to be a descendant of Richard III's sister. In addition, forensic pathologists and medieval-weapons scholars are poring over signs of trauma on the skeleton to determine cause of death, while a radiocarbon-dating lab is helping to pin down the date. And at the University of Dundee in Scotland, craniofacial identification expert Caroline Wilkinson is now working on a reconstruction of the dead man's face for a possible match with historic portraits of Richard III.  All this, says Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist on the project, "will help us put flesh on the bones, so to speak."

Digging Up History

Elsewhere, teams digging up the historic dead have contented themselves with more modest goals. In Texas, for example, forensic experts opened the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald in October 1981 to identify beyond doubt the man who shot President John F. Kennedy. A British lawyer and author had claimed that a Soviet agent impersonated Oswald and assassinated the American president. To clarify the situation, the forensic experts compared dental x-rays taken during Oswald's stint in the United States Marine Corps to a record they made of the body's teeth. The two matched well, prompting the team to announce publicly that "the remains in the grave marked as Lee Harvey Oswald are indeed Lee Harvey Oswald."

More recently, in 2010, Iceland's supreme court ordered forensic experts to exhume the body of the late world chess champion Bobby Fischer from his grave in Iceland in order to obtain DNA samples to determine whether Fischer was the father of one of the claimants to his estate. (The tests ruled this out.) And that same year, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez ordered forensic experts to open the casket of Simón Bolívar, the renowned 19th century Venezuelan military leader who fought for the independence of Spanish America from colonial rule. Chavez believes that Bolívar died not from tuberculosis, as historians have long maintained, but of arsenic poisoning, and has launched an investigation into the cause of his death.

For some researchers, this recent spate of exhumations has raised a key question: Who should have a say in the decision to disinter or not? In the view of Guido Lombardi, a paleopathologist at Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, investigators should make every effort to consult descendants or family members before proceeding. "Although each case should be addressed individually," notes Lombardi by email. "I think the surviving relatives of a historical figure should approve any studies first."

But tracking down the descendants of someone who died many centuries ago is no easy matter. Back in Leicester, research on the remains found beneath the friary floor is proceeding. If all goes according to plan, the team hopes to announce the results sometime in January. And if the ancient remains prove to be those of Richard III, the city of Leicester could be in for a major royal event in 2013: The British government has signalled its intention to inter the long-maligned king in Leicester Cathedral.


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Did the Exodus of Moses Really Happen?

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In the Bible, he is called Moses. In the Koran, he is the prophet Musa.


Religious scholars have long questioned whether of the story of a prophet leading God's chosen people in a great exodus out of Egypt and the freedom it brought them afterwards was real, but the similarities between a pharaoh's ancient hymn and a psalm of David might hold the link to his existence.


Tune in to Part 2 of Christiane Amanpour's ABC News special, "Back to the Beginning," which explores the history of the Bible from Genesis to Jesus, on Friday, Dec. 28 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.


Christian scripture says Moses was content to grow old with his family in the vast deserted wilderness of Midian, and 40 years passed until the Bible says God spoke to him through the Burning Bush and told him to lead his people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. According to tradition, that miraculous bush can still be seen today enclosed within the ancient walls of St. Catherine's Monastery, located not far from Moses' hometown.


But there was another figure in the ancient world who gave up everything to answer the call from what he believed was the one and only true God.


Archaeologists discovered the remains of the ancient city of Amarna in the 1800s. Egyptologist Rawya Ismail, who has been studying the ruins for years, believes, as other archaeologists do, that Pharaoh Akhenaten built the city as a tribute to Aten, the sun.






Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images











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She said it was a bold and unusual step for the pharaoh to leave the luxurious trappings of palace life in Luxor for the inhospitable landscape of Amarna, but it might have been his only choice as the priests from the existing religious establishment gained power.


"The very powerful Amun-Ra priests that he couldn't stand against gained control of the whole country," Ismail said. "The idea was to find a place that had never been used by any other gods -- to be virgin is what he called it -- so he chose this place."


All over the walls inside the city's beautiful tombs are examples of Akhanaten's radical message of monotheism. There is the Hymn to the Aten, which translates, in part, to: "The earth comes into being by your hand, as you made it. When you dawn, they live. When you set, they die. You yourself are lifetime, one lives by you."


PHOTOS: Christiane Amanpour's Journey 'Back to the Beginning'


Some attribute the writing of the hymn to Akhanaten himself, but it bears a striking resemblance to a passage that can be found in the Hebrew Bible: Psalm 104.


"If you compare the hymns from A to Z, you'll find mirror images to it in many of the holy books," Ismail said. "And if you compare certain parts of it, you'll find it almost exactly -- a typical translation for some of the [psalms] of David."


Psalm 104, written a few hundred years later, references a Lord that ruled over Israel and a passage compares him to the sun.


"You hide your face, they are troubled," part of it reads. "You take away your breath, they die, And return to dust. You send forth your breath, they are created, And you renew the face of the earth."


Like the psalm, the Hymn to Aten extols the virtues of the one true God.


"A lot of people think that [the Hymn to Aten] was the source of the [psalms] of David," Ismail said. "Putting Egypt on the trade route, a lot of people traveled from Egypt and came back to Egypt, it wasn't like a country living in isolation."


Ismail believes it is possible that the message from the heretic pharaoh has some connection to the story of Moses and the Exodus, as outlined in the Hebrew Bible.




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Best videos of 2012: Spiderman skin stops a bullet

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Joanna Carver, reporter






This bullet-dodging hybrid skin comes in at number 4 in our best videos of 2012 countdown.


Imagine facing a speeding bullet without fear of it tearing through your flesh. By reinforcing human skin cells with spider silk, artist Jalila Essaïdi has designed a futuristic material that could make this scenario plausible.






Spider-silk weaves are actually four times stronger than Kevlar, which explains why a half-speed bullet can't penetrate the hybrid skin in the video. However, when it meets a full-speed bullet, traveling at 329 metres per second, it's unable to stop it.


To find out more about the many applications of super-sturdy spider silk, read our full-length feature "Stretching spider silk to its high-tech limits". For more about Essaïdi's project, check out our original post, "Bulletproof skin stops a speeding gunshot".




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Obama returns as fiscal cliff battle heats up

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WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama rushed back to Washington Thursday in a last-ditch effort to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," even as key figures in any deal -- House Republicans -- stayed home.

Cutting short his own Christmas vacation in Hawaii, Obama arrived at the White House shortly before noon (1700 GMT), ignoring questions about the looming financial crisis shouted by reporters as he strode inside.

He has returned to a sharply divided Washington, where the mood has soured on a possible plan to prevent hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes from hitting all Americans and deep automatic spending cuts from kicking in beginning January 1.

Lawmakers have stubbornly refused to compromise, and the Senate's Democratic leader blamed Republicans for the breakdown.

With less than five days before a year-end deadline, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said "it looks like" the US economy will hurtle over the fiscal cliff because House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell were stalling.

Reid said Boehner was running a "dictatorship" in the House by refusing to put to a vote a Senate-passed bill which would prevent taxes from rising on all households making less than $250,000 per year.

He also took Boehner to task for keeping his members on vacation instead of returning for a rare holiday week session.

"Without participation of Leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner, nothing can happen on the fiscal cliff -- and so far they are radio silent," a furious Reid said on the Senate floor.

"Take the escape hatch that we've left you" in the form of the Senate bill, Reid advised Boehner. "Put the economic fate of the nation ahead of your own fate as speaker of the House."

Congress has shown no signs of nearing any accord, and Boehner last week punted to the Democrat-led Senate, asking Obama and Reid to draft legislation that could pass both chambers.

With Boehner remaining in his state of Ohio on Thursday, his office shot back with a curt message.

"Senator Reid should talk less and legislate more," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.

"The House has already passed legislation to avoid the entire fiscal cliff. Senate Democrats have not."

Obama called Boehner, McConnell, Reid and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi late Wednesday to discuss the way forward, the White House said.

McConnell's office said the senator was "happy to review what the president has in mind, but to date, the Senate Democrat majority has not put forward a plan."

"When they do, members on both sides of the aisle will review the legislation and make decisions on how best to proceed," it added.

Last week, Obama urged Congress to end the deadlock.

The situation has spooked markets, left Americans wondering whether they will pay thousands more in taxes next year, and worried the Pentagon, which fears defense cuts could undermine the military.

Complicating efforts to avoid fiscal disaster, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned that his department will need to take "extraordinary measures" to keep the US government from defaulting on its liabilities.

Geithner said in a letter to Reid that the nation will reach its statutory $16.39 trillion debt limit on December 31.

His measures would create some $200 billion in headroom that under normal conditions could last until the end of February.

But with "significant" budgetary uncertainty in 2013, "it is not possible to predict the effective duration of these measures," Geithner said.

Experts say a failure to strike a compromise by New Year's Eve could plunge the world's biggest economy into recession.

With the cliff deadline fast approaching, Obama has pared back his hopes for a year-end, multi-trillion-dollar grand bargain that slashes the deficit over a 10-year period.

Instead, he said Congress should approve a stop-gap measure that protects middle-class taxpayers while laying groundwork for further deficit reduction next year.

Obama campaigned for re-election vowing to extend Bush-era tax breaks for households earning up to $250,000 a year, but even if all Democrats voted for such a plan, it would need support from two dozen House Republicans.

Most Republicans in Congress have signed a no-new-taxes pledge, however, and it was unclear just how many would violate that oath in order to strike a deal.

While the Senate resumed its work Thursday, the House was absent, with Boehner promising to give members 48 hours notice before recalling them.

Reid accused Boehner of wanting to go over the fiscal cliff and see all taxes rise, so that Republicans could then vote to reduce middle-class taxes to pre-2013 rates.

-AFP/ac



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Tablets more popular than e-readers among e-book crowd

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More people are reading e-books, and more of them are using
tablets as their primary device.


The percentage of Americans who now read e-books rose to 23 percent from 16 percent a year ago, says a report out today from Pew Internet. Over the same time, the percentage of those who read printed books dropped to 67 percent from 72 percent.


From the poll conducted in October and November, the percentage of people who own a tablet or dedicated e-reader jumped to 33 percent from just 18 percent a year ago.


But among the two types of devices, tablets are proving more dominant.


As of November, 25 percent of those polled said they own a tablet, while 19 percent own a dedicated reader. Last year, both devices were neck and neck with 10 percent ownership. And surveys taken in May 2011 and 2010 showed e-readers then more popular than tablets.


Libraries are also feeling the greater interest in e-books. The percentage of people who borrowed an electronic book from their library rose to 5 percent from 3 percent a year ago. And the share of those who are aware that their libraries offer e-books increased to 31 percent from 24 percent last year.



Who's reading all these e-books?


Among those polled, the ones most likely to read an e-book included people with college or graduate degrees, those with households incomes more than $75,000, and folks between 30 and 49 years old.


Men and women were about on par, while people living in urban areas came in higher than those in suburban or rural communities.


I've always tended to prefer printed books, in large part because of their feel and texture. And I enjoy just browsing through the variety of books on the shelves at my local library and choosing one at random.


But after buying the 7-inch Google Nexus tablet, I now read e-books more frequently. For me, the experience still isn't the same, but the convenience and accessbility to electronic books is definitely appealing.


Pew's data is based on a survey conducted from October 15 to November 10, 2012 among 2,252 Americans ages 16 and older.


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Space Pictures This Week: Green Lantern, Supersonic Star

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At Cliff's Edge, Reid Decries Boehner's 'Dictatorship'

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With only five days left before the federal government goes over the fiscal cliff, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shattered any pretense of cooperation with Republicans in a scathing speech that targeted House Republicans and particularly Speaker John Boehner.


Reid, D-Nev., spoke on the floor of the Senate as President Obama returned to Washington early from an Hawaiian vacation in what appears to be a dwindling hope for a deal on taxes and spending cuts before the Jan. 1 deadline that will trigger tax increases and sharp spending cuts.


Boehner, however, has not returned to Washington from a Christmas break and has not called the House back into session.


"We are here in Washington working while the members of the House of Representatives are out watching movies and watching their kids play soccer and basketball and doing all kinds of things. They should be here," Reid said. "I can't imagine their consciences."


House Republicans have balked at a White House deal to raise taxes on couples earning more than $250,000 and even rejected Boehner's proposal that would limit the tax increases to people earning more than $1 million.






Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images













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"It's obvious what's going on," Reid said while referring to Boehner. "He's waiting until Jan. 3 to get reelected to speaker because he has so many people over there that won't follow what he wants. John Boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than keeping the nation on a firm financial footing."


Reid said the House is "being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker" and suggested today that the Republicans should agree to accept the original Senate bill pass in July. Reid's comments, however, made it clear he did not expect that to happen.


"It looks like" the nation will go over the fiscal cliff in just five days, he declared.


"It's not too late for the speaker to take up the Senate-passed bill, but that time is even winding down," Reid said. "So I say to the speaker, take the escape hatch that we've left you. Put the economic fate of the nation ahead of your own fate as Speaker of the House."


Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel reacted to Reid's tirade in an email, writing, "Senator Reid should talk less and legislate more. The House has already passed legislation to avoid the entire fiscal cliff. Senate Democrats have not."


Boehner has said it is now up to the Senate to come up with a deal.


Obama, who landed in Washington late this morning, made a round of calls over the last 24 hours to Reid, Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.


McConnell "is happy to review what the president has in mind, but to date, the Senate Democrat majority has not put forward a plan," McConnell aide Don Stewart said in a statement. "When they do, members on both sides of the aisle will review the legislation and make decisions on how best to proceed."


Jason Peuquet, research director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said the conditions for a bipartisan agreement are there.


"Just by the numbers, they're incredibly close," Peuquet told ABC News. "And so it seems pretty crazy that they wouldn't be able to find an agreement."



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Three gods: The hardest logic puzzle ever

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Indian gang-rape victim to be flown to Singapore: reports

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NEW DELHI: An Indian student who was left fighting for her life after being gang-raped in New Delhi is to be flown for treatment to Singapore, medical sources and reports said on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old, whose attack sparked protests across India, has been moved from the Safdarjung hospital in central Delhi to Medanta hospital in Gurgaon, close to the city's international airport, a source at Safdarjung told AFP.

She would then be flown out for treatment abroad, the source added, without confirming her destination.

"The decision was taken this morning at cabinet," said the source. "Her mother and father are with her."

The NDTV news channel and Press Trust of India said that the woman was expected to be flown out overnight to Singapore on an air ambulance.

The government had earlier announced it was setting up a special commission of inquiry after the gang-rape on December 16 when the woman was allegedly tricked into boarding a bus by six men who then took it in turns to assault her.

The group also attacked her with an iron bar before throwing out of the vehicle, along with a male companion.

Six suspects have been arrested in connection with the attack and have been remanded in custody.

- AFP/ac



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ZTE officially unveils high-end Nubia Z5

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ZTE Nubia Z5

The ZTE Nubia Z5



(Credit:
ZTE)


Though it isn't slated for the U.S. anytime soon, ZTE's ultra high-end device, the Nubia Z5, finally launched today.


The handset comes in black or white, and has a 5-inch 1080p touchscreen with a 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution and 443ppi. The display itself is manufactured by Sharp.


Its aluminum uni-body design measures 5.43-inches tall, 2.71-inches wide, and it has a thin, 0.3-inch profile. And at 4.44 ounces, it's lightweight than most standard 5-inch smartphones.



The Nubia Z5 runs on
Android 4.1, and it's powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and 2,300mAh battery.


On the back there is a 13-megapixel camera with LED flash and it includes features like panoramic and continuous shooting. On the front is a 2-megapixel camera.


Other features include 2GB memory, 32GB of storage space, Dolby sound technology, and free backup to a private cloud service.


The device costs about $554.26 (3,456 yuan) and is ZTE's flagship phone for the season.


As previously mentioned, it doesn't look like there are plans for the Nubia Z5 to hit our shores, but if it's anything like the Grand S, another 5-inch, quad-core phone that ZTE will unveil at
CES 2013 for the U.S. market, I'll be pretty excited.


ZTE already said it wants to heavily invest in its U.S. presence, and if it releases reliable handsets like the Nubia Z5 here, it might get the recognition it's been trying so hard to attain.


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Space Pictures This Week: Green Lantern, Supersonic Star

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Weather Death Toll Up to 6 as Storm Churns North

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A killer Christmas storm is churning its way north leaving hundreds of thousands without power and snarling travel plans for people trying to get home after the holiday.


Six people have died, mostly in weather related car crashes, as the South was hammered by as many as 34 tornadoes and a lethal coating of sleet and snow that spread from the South into the Midwest.


Over 280,000 customers are without across the South today with 100,000 without power in Little Rock, Ark. alone.


The wild weather isn't over. Eighteen states from Tennessee to Maine are under winter storm warnings, blizzard warnings and advisories. Between one and two feet of snow is expected from Indianapolis to Cleveland to Syracuse, N.Y. and into Maine.


The number of flight cancellations nationwide is growing by the hour on one of the busiest travel days of the holiday season. But by noon more than 800 flights were canceled, according to FlightAware.com.


"Traveling will definitely be affected as people go home for the holidays," Bob Oravec, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service, told ABC News. "Anywhere from the Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley and the Northeast, there's definitely going to be travel issues as we have heavy snow and some very high winds."


Flights were disrupted in traffic hubs like Indianapolis International Airport because of heavy snowfall as well as Dallas/Fort Worth which was hit with five inches of snow on Christmas, a rarity for the city.


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Cancellations and delays are expected to ripple into the Northeast today where high winds, flooding and more than a foot of snow in some areas is expected.


Heavy winds could further complicate matters for travelers. According to Flightaware.com, fliers are experiencing delays up to an hour in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C.


Some airlines are issuing flexible travel policies for travelers holding airline tickets today and tomorrow. Delta Airlines is allowing travelers to change their flights through Jan. 2 with no penalty. United Airlines has enacted a similar policy, as has Southwest. Policies vary slightly from airline to airline, travelers should check their carrier's web site for specifics. JetBlue, which has a major presence in New York, has not yet issued a policy but warned travelers via its web site to be prepared for delays.


Wild Holiday Weather


Severe weather on Christmas day spawned 34 tornado reports from Texas to Alabama.


In Mobile, Ala., a wide funnel cloud was barreled across the city as lightning flashed inside like giant Christmas ornaments.


The punishing winds mangled Mobile's graceful ante-bellum homes, and today, dazed residents are picking through debris while rescue crews search for people trapped in the rubble.


Teresa Mason told ABC News that she and her boyfriend panicked when they saw the tornado heading toward them in Stone County, in southern Mississippi, but she says they were actually saved when a tree fell onto the truck.


"[We] got in the truck and made it out there to the road. And that's when the tornado was over us. And it started jerking us and spinning us, "she said."This tree got us in the truck and kept us from being sucked up into the tornado."


The last time a number of tornadoes hit the Gulf Coast area around Christmas Day was in 2009, when 22 tornadoes struck on Christmas Eve morning, National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro told ABC News.






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