Today on New Scientist: 14 January 2013

Activist's death sparks open-access tribute on Twitter

Hundreds of researchers have been offering free access to their work in tribute to internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide on Friday

Exploding microchip could make arms dumps safer

Shrapnel and bullets can set off huge explosions if they hit weapons stores. But microchip-based detonators could help keep them safe

The hologenome: A new view of evolution

Far from being passive hangers-on, symbiotic microbes may shape the evolution of the plants and animals that play host to them

White House uses Death Star request to plug science

The White House has politely declined to build a version of the planet-destroying space station from Star Wars but took the opportunity to promote science

Wolves bite back in the human world

Grey wolves are an evolutionary success story, giving rise to the domestic dog 10,000 years ago and now rebounding from centuries of persecution

Mariko Mori: From stone circles to stardust

The artist's new exhibition tethers human history to the life of the entire cosmos

Why we called off hunt for ancient Antarctic life

Geoscientist Martin Siegert says that drilling through 3 kilometres of ice to reveal the secrets of an entombed lake was never going to be easy

Give video games a sporting chance

Traditional fans will turn their noses up at e-sports, but they risk missing some compelling action

Benefits of emissions cuts kick in only next century

Even rapid action now to curb emissions will bring only modest results this century, but the earlier we act, the greater the eventual rewards

Video games take off as a spectator sport

Professional gaming has been huge in Asia for years, and improved technology means it is now going global

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Sri Lanka seals impeachment with new judge

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's president completed the controversial impeachment of the chief justice by choosing a successor Monday, his spokesman said, as lawyers vowed to keep up a battle for judicial independence.

President Mahinda Rajapakse nominated a new chief justice who is expected to be confirmed by a parliamentary panel on Tuesday, his spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said.

Rajapakse selected the successor to Shirani Bandaranayake, the first woman chief justice, after she was removed by him Sunday following an impeachment declared illegal and unconstitutional by the highest courts in the country.

"The president sent his nominee to the parliamentary committee today," Samaranayake told AFP. He declined to name the new chief justice, but added: "I can say that it is most likely to be Mr. Mohan Peiris."

Peiris retired two years ago as the country's attorney general, but has since been the senior legal advisor to the cabinet of ministers in addition to being a key defender of Sri Lanka's record at UN human rights sessions.

The announcement came hours after the Lawyers' Collective, which includes most of Sri Lanka's 11,000 attorneys, said they would contest through the courts any appointment to replace Bandaranayake after her "purported impeachment."

"We will use all legal avenues to challenge this purported impeachment," Lawyers' Collective spokesman J. C. Weliamuna told reporters in Colombo.

Bandaranayake's lawyers said she had no immediate comment.

"The government wanted her out because she remained independent and did not do their bidding," Weliamuna said. "This is not a matter that affects only her and the legal fraternity but the democratic rights of all citizens."

Rajapakse's office in a statement insisted he had acted in line with the constitution.

"There may be imperfections with our constitution," the statement quoted Rajapakse as saying. "No country has a constitution that is perfect, but we have to follow it.

Rajapakse, who has consolidated his hold on power after crushing Tamil rebels in a major offensive in May 2009, brushed aside international calls for restraint and sacked Bandaranayake who would have had another 11 years in office.

The main opposition United National Party has rejected the sacking while the Commonwealth, the United States, Britain and Canada have expressed concern over the impeachment as a blow to the rule of law and good governance.

Lawmakers found Bandaranayake guilty of tampering with a case involving a company from which her sister bought an apartment, of failing to declare dormant bank accounts, and of staying in office while her husband faced a bribery charge.

- AFP/jc

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Branch makes its conversation threads available to all

Branch home page

(Credit:
Jennifer Van Grove/CNET)

Billed by Twitter's inventors as a new platform for high-quality public discourse, Branch today opened it doors to anyone who wants to fork off into conversations of more than 140 characters in length.

Branch is essentially a modern, user-friendly version of the Internet forum. People create "branches" to discuss topics or links and invite their friends to participate. Thread participants can also branch off into their own separate but related conversations.

The small, San Francisco-based startup is backed by Obvious, the incubator-investor hybrid machination of Twitter creators Evan Williams and Biz Stone. Obvious announced last March that it was lending its celebrity and product expertise to the conversation-focused company. Prior to today, Branch required an invite to participate.

With the public launch, Branch, which has done marginally well at attracting the attention of the technorati, is going after more mainstream appeal. The service has introduced a few regular people-friendly features including an easier way to start branches, a view of all recent activity, and highlights which help to immediately identify key passages. Also new is the option to add SoundCloud or Spotify selections to branches.

The team behind the product insists that they've made the branch creation process more akin to jotting down ideas or talking to friends in real life. The Branch prompt box nudges the user to talk about a topic or paste a link. Then, upon hitting the next button, he or she can add a few more bullet points to help focus the conversation. The changes could be instrumental in making folks less intimidated by the getting-started process.

Branch, which creates a playground between the blog and the tweet, has its attractive assets, but it has a ways to go before it becomes a place where anyone other than passionate bloggers (or blowhards) will want to hang around for a while. At least with the invite restriction lifted, there's less of a barrier to entry.

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Space Pictures: 7 Ways You Could Blast Off by 2023

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  Space Available

  Photograph courtesy Mark Greenberg, Virgin Galactic

  While humans may be running out of unexplored regions on Earth, space remains a deep and intriguing frontier, especially for tourists. NASA's push to get private "space taxis" flying to the International Space Station in five years is fueling interest in retail space travel. And private companies are rushing to launch the non-astronauts among us into space, albeit for a high price.

  One of the more immediately plausible new efforts is SpaceShipTwo, a jet-propelled spacecraft developed by London-based Virgin Group and an aeronautical design company called Scaled Composites. The companies are finishing orbital tests and aim to offer suborbital flights for several hours at around 60 miles (96 kilometers) above Earth's surface by the end of this year. The price? A hefty $200,000 per seat. Virgin Group's Virgin Galactic is already taking bookings.

  Published January 14, 2013

  
  











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  Fly Me to the Moon

  Illustration courtesy Golden Spike Company

  The former NASA scientists behind the Golden Spike Company aren't afraid to dream big. Last year they unveiled their ambitious vision for routine trips to the moon within the next decade. Their spacecraft, shown here in a concept drawing, would recycle existing rockets and technology, some of which have been decommissioned. The market: smaller governments, corporations, and wealthy individuals with galactic or scientific ambitions. The ticket for a lunar jaunt for two: $1.4 billion.

  Published January 14, 2013

  
  











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  Station Stop

  Photograph from NASA

  The private firm Space Adventures has been coordinating tourist visits to the International Space Station since 2006—Anousheh Ansary, shown here in flight, was one of the first space tourists, orbiting the Earth for eight days. The company offers suborbital and orbital flights, with plans for a lunar mission in the next decade. If you snag one of the three seats that may come open this year, it will cost you. A base price of $35 million can secure a roughly 12-day visit circling Earth at 17,500 miles (28,000 kilometers) per hour.

  Published January 14, 2013

  
  











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  Darting Into Orbit

  Illustration courtesy PlanetSpace

  Chicago-based PlanetSpace continues work on the Silver Dart, a hypersonic glider (shown in this conceptual image) capable of orbital flight. The program doesn't yet take reservations but plans to use the vehicle to shuttle both people and cargo into space.

  Published January 14, 2013

  
  











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  Martian Base Camp

  Illustration courtesy Bryan Versteeg, Mars One

  The nonprofit Mars One seeks to build a permanent human settlement on Mars (illustrated above) by 2023. This would be no tourist jaunt: The project's website promises prospective travelers that a central point to Mars One's mission objective is the emigration of the human astronauts. According to the website, "Mars becomes their new home, where they will live and work for what will likely be the remainder of their lives." Despite the one-way ticket, more than a thousand people volunteered when the project was announced last year. (Watch: Why psychology may be the key to sending humans to Mars.)

  Published January 14, 2013

  
  











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  Quick Getaway

  Photograph courtesy Armadillo Aerospace

  A leading developer of spacecraft, Armadillo Aerospace has begun taking reservations for short suborbital space flights just over 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth—and with a price tag of just over $100,000—within the next few years. While the company hasn't set specific dates for those flights, or said how long they would be, it partnered with Space Adventures to start selling seats. In this photo, Armadillo tests one of its spacecraft, which would use a propulsion system to take off and land vertically.

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  Cheap Seats

  Illustration courtesy XCOR Aerospace

  On a budget? If XCOR Aerospace Lynx gets off the ground, a 30-minute suborbital flight would cost just $95,000 per seat. Shown here in a conceptual image, the spacecraft being developed by this California company would be reusable and is slated to conduct up to four flights a day. While still in development, XCOR's technology might also be used someday for quicker travel here on Earth.

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  Photograph by Volkmar K. Wentzel, National Geographic

  Published January 14, 2013

  
  

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Great Energy Challenge Blog

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Obama to Congress: 'We Are Not a Deadbeat Nation'

President Obama says the U.S. economy is "poised for a good year" but that progress could be threatened by political brinksmanship over the nation's debt limit.

"While I'm willing to compromise and find common ground over how to reduce our deficits, America cannot afford another debate with this Congress about whether or not they should pay the bills they've already racked up," Obama said at a White House news conference.

"We are not a deadbeat nation," he said. "The consequences of us not paying our bills would be disastrous."

Lawmakers have until the end of February to raise the nation's $16.4 trillion debt limit and address the delayed $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts to defense and domestic spending.

Failure to raise the debt limit would set the stage for a U.S. default on its loan obligations or force immediate cuts to government spending that could threaten hundreds of thousands of federal employees and beneficiaries of government aid, including Social Security recipients and active-duty military personnel.

Republican congressional leaders have said they plan to use the debate on a debt-limit increase to extract spending cuts from the Obama administration. They note a legislative precedent, including most recently in 2011, of coupling the debt limit increase with deficit-reduction legislation.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Obama: Responsible Gun Owners Have Nothing to Worry About Watch Video

"The president and his allies need to get serious about spending, and the debt-limit debate is the perfect time for it," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in response to Obama's remarks.

"We are hoping for a new seriousness on the part of the president with regard to the single biggest issue confronting the country," he said. "And we look forward to working with him to do something about this huge, huge problem."

Obama says he will "not negotiate" on an increase to the debt limit, which covers spending obligations that have already been passed into law, insisting that the issue should be independent of a debate on new limits on future spending.

"The financial well-being of the American people is not leverage to be used," Obama said. "The full faith and credit of the United States of America is not a bargaining chip."

Obama Weighs Gun Control Steps

The White House said the news conference would be Obama's last of his first term, coming six days before the inauguration and at a critical juncture in the ongoing fight with Congress on federal deficits and debt.

It also comes as Vice President Joe Biden presents Obama with his task force's recommendations for curbing gun violence in the wake of the deadly Newtown, Conn., shooting.

Obama said he has received a list of "sensible, common-sense steps" that could be taken through executive action or legislation to reduce violence and plans to give the public a "fuller presentation" later this week.

As for the surge in gun sales across the country, including in Connecticut, the president said it was a trend driven by irrational fear about what he's going to do.

"Those who oppose any common-sense gun control or gun-safety measures have a pretty effective way of ginning up fear on the part of gun owners that, somehow, the federal government's about to take all your guns away," Obama said.

"And you know, there's probably an economic element to that. It obviously is good for business."

Obama said his administration has not infringed on gun rights and would continue to uphold the rights of responsible gun owners, "people who have a gun for protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship. They don't have anything to worry about."

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Benefits of emissions cuts kick in only next century

Are we the altruistic generation? Do we care what happens to our grandchildren, and to their children? Or are we with Groucho Marx when he said: "Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?"

A new study of climate change lays out in detail why this matters. According to its author, Nigel Arnell of the University of Reading, UK, the unpalatable truth is that even rapid action now to curb greenhouse gas emissions would have only a "negligible effect by 2030, and the benefits in 2050 would remain small". The big dividend – cooler temperatures, fewer floods and droughts and better crop yields, compared to carrying on as we are – would only become clear by about 2100.

Arnell and colleagues used climate models to look at how different policies to curb greenhouse gases would affect temperature, sea levels, crop yields and the incidence of droughts and floods. Two findings emerged. The first is that lags in the climate system mean the real benefits of cutting emissions will only show up late this century. This, says Arnell, underlines that there is a lot of global warming "in the pipeline" that cannot now be prevented.

But the study also shows that tackling climate change early brings big rewards. Arnell compared a policy of letting emissions peak in 2016 and then cutting them by 2 per cent a year with one that delays the peak till 2030 and then cuts by 5 per cent a year. He found that both restricted warming in 2100 to about 2 °C, but the climate disruption over the next century would be much less with the early start. Coastal flooding from sea-level rise in particular would be much reduced. This, he told New Scientist, contradicts a common view that drastic action to curb warming should wait for renewable energy to become cheaper.

"Arnell has shown just how crucial the emissions pathway we take today will be for our children and grandchildren," said Dave Reay, geoscientist at the University of Edinburgh, UK. Bill McGuire of University College London agrees: "It shows taking effective action now is far better than putting it off until later."

It's a shame, then, that even if all goes well with UN negotiations, no global deal to bring down emissions will come into force until at least 2020. Our great-great-grandchildren will be cursing our delay.

Journal reference: Nature Climate Change, DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1793

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Assad's removal from power 'impossible': Russia

MOSCOW: Russia said Sunday that removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power was not part of past international agreements on the crisis and was impossible to implement.

"This is a precondition that is not contained in the Geneva communique (agreed by world powers in June) and which is impossible to implement because it does not depend on anyone," news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.

Lavrov conceded that a defiant speech Assad delivered on January 6 calling for peace in Syria on his own terms probably did not go far enough and would not appease the armed opposition.

But he also urged Assad's enemies to come out with a counterproposal that could get serious peace talks started between the two sides for the first time.

"President Assad has forwarded initiatives aimed at inviting all in the opposition to dialogue. Yes, this initiative probably does not go far enough," said Lavrov.

"They will probably not look serious to some. But these are offers. And if I were in the opposition's place, I would present my counter-ideas about establishing dialogue."

Russia on Saturday reiterated its support for a transition plan that was agreed in Geneva on June 30 but never implemented because of the fighting.

The accord is now being heavily promoted by Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab League envoy for the 21-month crisis in Syria.

The Geneva deal calls for power to be handed to an interim government but offers no clear guidance about Assad's future role.

But Moscow is deeply worried that Brahimi is getting ready to back a firmer version of the Geneva pact that specifically precludes the possibility of Assad or his closest advisers serving on the transition team.

Russia argues that only the Syrian people themselves can oust Assad through either elections or some form of negotiated settlement.

It also accuses Washington of using its armed forces more freely to depose unfriendly regimes -- a practice that Russia says breaches international law.

Western powers and Arab states -- as well as the armed opposition -- counter that the Geneva plan promoted by Brahimi can only work if Assad steps down.

Russia's firm stance comes despite a series of recent assurances by President Vladimir Putin that Moscow was not interested in propping up Assad.

Putin even noted in his annual press conference last month that he understood Syrians' impatience for change after more than 40 years of rule by the Assad family.

But Lavrov -- enjoying unparalleled access to the regime -- argued that a broader international call on Assad to step down would have no effect on the Syrian leader and would only incite further unrest.

"If you make the Syrian president's ouster the main precondition, then -- and I have said this before -- the price for this approach is new fatalities," said Lavrov.

"And those who support such an approach must bear the responsibility for it."

- AFP/jc

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Apple is done, say teens

Love on the Surface.

(Credit:
Microsoft/YouTube Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

When you want to know what's cool, you ask a teenager.

You have to ask her nicely or she will scowl you into oblivion or patronize you into a painful purgatory.

So I'd like to prepare you for some of this difficulty.

Teens have decided that Apple is, like, so over. If you want to be a veritable cooleratus, you want to be seen with a Samsung Galaxy phone in your hand or a
Microsoft Surface laptoppy
tablet stuck under your arm.

This definitive information comes to me courtesy of research performed by Buzz Marketing, as well as three 14-year-olds who tried to rob me of my orange Puma sneakers.

When they saw I had an iPhone, they couldn't even be bothered to take the sneakers. (I exaggerate slightly about this last element.)

As Forbes reports it, one of the sources of this deep technical disturbance is the self-obsession of those older people known as parents.

They have allegedly tended to toss older Apple products at their children, while buying themselves the latest iPhones.

Inevitably, this has caused a touch of pouty resentment among their offspring, who are forced to explain to their friends that possession of a smaller screen is not in any way their own fault.

Buzz Marketing's Tina Wells told Forbes: "Teens are telling us Apple is done. Apple has done a great job of embracing Gen X and older (Millennials), but I don't think they are connecting with Millennial kids."

This will surely explain why Microsoft had large numbers of Glee-ful teens dancing away in the launch ad for the Surface.

It may not explain so well why the Surface hasn't yet sold in limitless numbers.

Still, it's Apple's greatest challenge to maintain cachet as its products appear in so many more hands of so many more vintages.

More Technically Incorrect

When your logo gets seen too often, it can become a symbol of the establishment, rather than the renegade that teens are often desperate to embrace.

Teens want to believe that they have the inside track and that everyone else is worth nothing more than a snort. Why, they'll even allegedly drug their parents' milkshakes in order to get online.

They have great faith in their ability to unearth the novel and decry the status quo. The
iPhone 5 was, for them, a little too staid.

As, it transpired this week, is Facebook.

But, as they learn only a little later, their feelings can't be trusted. Their greatest emotional stability lies in its fickleness.

Which, of course, ought to give hope to brands that haven't been in teens' minds for a long time.

I'm thinking of you, Nokia.

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.

"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."

The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.

"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.

Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video

Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.

"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."

Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.

Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."

Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.

Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.

She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.

"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.

"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."

Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.

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Video games take off as a spectator sport

Editorial: "Give video games a sporting chance"

EVERY sport has its idols and superstars. Now video gaming is getting them too. Professional gaming, or e-sports, exploded in popularity in the US and Europe last year.

The scene has been big in Asia - particularly South Korea - for about a decade, with top players such as Lim Yo-Hwan earning six-figure salaries and competing for rock-star glory in Starcraft tournaments that attract audiences in the hundreds of thousands.

The phenomenon is taking off in the West partly because of improved video-streaming technology and large financial rewards. Video games are becoming a spectator sport, with certain players and commentators drawing massive online audiences.

And where people go, money follows. The second world championship of League of Legends - a team-based game in which players defend respective corners of a fantasy-themed battle arena - was held in Los Angeles in October. The tournament had a prize pool of $5 million for the season, with $1 million going to winning team Taipei Assassins, the largest cash prize in the history of e-sports.

League of Legends has also set records for spectator numbers. More than 8 million people watched the championship finals either online or on TV - a figure that dwarfs audience numbers for broadcasts of many traditional sports fixtures.

But gamers don't need to compete at the international level to earn money. Video-streaming software like Twitch makes it easy for players to send live footage to a website, where the more popular ones can attract upwards of 10,000 viewers - enough for some to make a living by having adverts in their video streams. Gamers can go pro without leaving their homes.

Currently, e-sports productions are handled by gaming leagues - but that could soon change. Last November saw two moves that will make it even easier to reach a global online audience. First, Twitch announced it would be integrating with Electronic Arts's Origin service, a widely used gaming platform. This would let gamers stream their play at the click of a button, making it easy for people around the world to watch.

Also in November came the latest release from one of gaming's biggest franchises, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which has the ability to live-stream via YouTube built into the game itself. Another feature allows the broadcast of in-game commentary for multiplayer matches.

"I think we will reach a point, maybe within five years, where spectator features are a necessity for all big game releases," says Corin Cole of e-sports publishing company Heaven Media in Huntingdon, UK.

David Ting founded the California-based IGN Pro League (IPL), which hosts professional tournaments. He puts the popularity of e-sports down to the demand for new forms of online entertainment. "After 18 months, IPL's viewer numbers are already comparable to college sports in the US when there's a live event," he says. "The traffic is doubling every six months."

Ting sees motion detection, virtual reality and mobile gaming coming together to make physical exertion a more common aspect of video games, blurring the line between traditional sport and e-sports. "Angry Birds could be this century's bowling," says Ting.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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