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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Djokovic wins Australian Open in longest final (AP)
MELBOURNE, Australia ? Novak Djokovic wore down Rafael Nadal in the longest Grand Slam singles final ever, winning 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 after 5 hours, 53 minutes to claim his third Australian Open title.
Djokovic wrapped it up at 1:37 a.m. local time on Monday, becoming the fifth man since the Open Era began in 1968 to win three straight Grand Slam finals.
Minutes earlier, at 4-4 in an electrifying fifth set, an exhausted Djokovic collapsed with his arms and legs spread wide after losing a 31-shot rally ? the longest of the match. He seemed barely able to pick himself and his racket up, but he somehow lifted himself for one last effort, beating Nadal for the seventh time in a final since March.
The 24-year-old Djokovic tore off his shirt in celebration. He went to his support camp and repeatedly thumped the side of the arena in front of them in delight and relief.
As the players waited for the trophy presentation, Nadal leaned on the net, while Djokovic sat on his haunches. Eventually, a nearby official brought them chairs and water.
"We made history tonight and unfortunately there couldn't be two winners," said Djokovic, the winner of five Grand Slam titles and four of the last five majors.
Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Rod Laver are the only players to win three consecutive Grand Slam finals since 1968.
Nadal became the first man in the Open Era to lose three straight major finals. He was beaten in four sets by Djokovic at last year's Wimbledon and U.S. Open.
"I think we played a great tennis match. I enjoyed being part of this event and this match," Nadal said. "I am not happy to lose the final, yes, but that's one of the losses that I am more happy (about) in my career."
Having reduced Roger Federer to tears when he won the title over five sets in 2009, Nadal managed to maintain his composure during the on-court speeches ? and even managed a joke.
"Good morning, everybody," Nadal said, earning laughs and loud applause from the crowd. "Congratulations to Novak and his team. They deserve it. They are doing something fantastic, so congratulations."
The previous longest major singles final was Mats Wilander's win over Ivan Lendl at the U.S. Open in 1988, which lasted 4 hours, 54 minutes.
The longest Australian Open final also involved Wilander in 1988, when the Swede beat Pat Cash. Sunday's match was also the longest in the tournament's history.
A tense, error-strewn opening set offered no indication of the high drama to follow. In hot, humid conditions, Nadal, trying to step up to the baseline to take the initiative, took it after 80 minutes ? two minutes short of the entire women's final the previous day.
Nadal had only lost one match of his previous 134 in Grand Slams after winning the first set, but he found his serve coming under increasing pressure as the match wore on.
As if to demonstrate the pervading tension of the occasion, Djokovic double-faulted at break point down while serving for the second set at 5-3 before Nadal returned the favor by double-faulting in the next game to give the Serb the second set.
By the time Djokovic took a 3-1 lead in the third set, Nadal's shoulders were visibly slumping and he was talking to himself more often, unable to stop his opponent peppering the baseline with his returns to take control of the points.
At 5-2, his uncle and coach Toni Nadal moved to the front row of the players' box to try to get some positive messages to his nephew. It didn't work. Nadal lost his serve again ? at love.
But in the fourth set, Nadal dug in, drawing on his renowned fighting spirit, and the match really came alive when he recovered from 0-40 down in the eighth game with two spectacular winners, two unreturnable serves and an ace.
The crowd erupted into a chant of "Rafa, Rafa, Rafa, Rafa." Then came a rain shower and a brief delay for the roof to close, providing a much-needed breather for the finalists.
Nadal regained his momentum in the tiebreaker, reeling off four straight points from 5-3 down and taking the match into a decider when Djokovic's forehand dropped wide.
The tennis, almost unbelievably, improved in the fifth set as the match ticked past five hours.
Nadal went up a break at 4-2 and Djokovic seemed to finally be feeling the effects of his nearly five-hour semifinal against Andy Murray on Friday.
But the No. 1-ranked Djokovic responded immediately, finding another brutal return on break point in the next game to force the error from Nadal.
Past midnight and with a working day looming, Rod Laver Arena remained almost full as the final neared its conclusion.
Nadal saved a break point at 4-4 and another at 5-5. Djokovic then came through again. On a second break point, he forced Nadal to net a backhand, giving him a chance to serve out the match.
Still, Nadal wasn't quite done. Djokovic had to save a break point with a cros-court backhand, looking to the sky and crossing himself as he limped back to the baseline, before finally claiming victory with his 57th winner of the match.
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Monday, January 30, 2012
UFC on Fox 2 opener: Camozzi takes out Jacoby
CHICAGO --Chris Camozzi is one tough guy.
The veteran fighter dislocated a finger in the second and fought through it by only throwing jabs and hooks. In the final round, he dropped Justin Jacoby with great outside leg kick. Camozzi pounced to go for the kill and worked a guillotine choke. Jacoby backed up to the cage where he tapped just seconds later at the 1:08 mark of the third.
Camozzi (16-5, 4-2 UFC) came out guns-a-blazing throwing big shot landing his best at the end of the first. With less than 10 seconds left, he dropped Jacoby right a big right. Jacoby scrambled well to survive.
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-fox-2-opener-camozzi-takes-jacoby-215638663.html
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NEC will cut 10,000 jobs after forecasting $1.3 billion annual loss, mostly in mobile phone biz
NEC will cut 10,000 jobs after forecasting $1.3 billion annual loss, mostly in mobile phone biz originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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NEC, Bloomberg Businessweek | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/29/nec-will-cut-10-000-jobs-after-forecasting-1-3-billion-annual-l/
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Hacker group Anonymous targets Mexican websites (Reuters)
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? The activist hacker group Anonymous attacked three Mexican government websites on Friday in protest at a proposed bill that seeks to toughen local laws about online file-sharing.
The affected sites belong to the Interior Ministry, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The homepage of the Interior Ministry remained offline by mid-afternoon.
"We demand the Mexican government not continue with this law because they will take away our freedom of speech and file sharing," Anonymous said in a video posted on Youtube ahead of Friday's action.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Romney responds to Gingrich immigration shot (AP)
Notable moments from the GOP presidential debate Thursday night in Jacksonville, Fla.
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IMMIGRATION FIGHT
Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney had their sharpest exchange when Gingrich said Romney was the most anti-immigrant candidate in the GOP field. Romney responded indignantly, reminding Gingrich that Romney's father, George, was born in Mexico.
"The idea that I'm anti-immigrant is repulsive," Romney fired at Gingrich. "Don't use a term like that. You can say we disagree on certain policies, but to say that enforcing the U.S. law to protect our borders, to welcome people here legally, to expand legal immigration, as I have proved, that that's somehow anti anti-immigrant is simply the kind of over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized American politics too long."
Romney also asked Gingrich for an apology for an ad Gingrich recently pulled from airwaves that attacked Romney on immigration policy. Gingrich didn't offer one.
___
MOON SHOTS
Gingrich's proposal for a permanent American colony on the moon was mocked by Romney, who said Gingrich is developing a pattern of pandering to local voters.
"If I had a business executive come to me and say I want to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, `You're fired,'" said Romney, a former businessman.
He then noted Gingrich's calls for a new interstate highway in South Carolina, a new VA hospital in northern New Hampshire, and widening the port of Jacksonville to accommodate the larger ships that will soon be able to transit the Panama Canal. Romney said promises like that were what had caused a massive budget deficit in the first place.
Gingrich defended himself saying he'd find plenty of things to cut and shouldn't be mocked for setting priorities.
"You don't just have to be cheap everywhere. You can actually have priorities to get things done," he said.
___
MEDICAL RECORDS
The oldest candidate in the race, 76-year-old Rep. Ron Paul, said he'd be happy to share his medical records with the public if he were the nominee. Then he one-upped his fellow candidates by challenging them to a 25-mile bike ride.
He had no takers.
All of the candidates said they'd release their medical records for scrutiny. Paul, who would be the oldest president ever elected, said his records are short, about a page long.
Gingrich vouched for his competitor's fitness. "I'm confident that Dr. Paul is quite ready to serve if he's elected. Watching him campaign, he's in great shape," he said with a laugh.
___
FIRST LADY CHATTER
Asked what their wives would bring to the position of first lady, the candidates were happy to gush about their better halves.
Paul, married for 54 years, says he's got an anniversary coming up next week. He also plugged his wife's work as an author ? of "The Ron Paul Cookbook."
Romney praised his wife for battling multiple sclerosis and breast cancer.
"She is a real champion and a fighter," he said.
Gingrich said he's met each of the candidates' wives and said they'd all be "terrific first ladies." He says his wife, Callista, would bring a tremendous artistic focus and would be a strong advocate for music and music education.
Rick Santorum says his wife is "my hero" because she gave up a successful career to help raise their seven children.
___
MOM IN THE HOUSE
Santorum got a big applause line when he introduced his mom, 93-year-old Catherine Santorum. During the debate's introductions Santorum said he was glad to have his mother at the debate. And, it turns out, she can help turn out the vote for her son ? she is a north Florida resident. When she stood up to be recognized, the debate hall gave her loud applause.
___
NO LOVE FOR TSA
Even before the debate started a rowdy, Paul-supporting crowd at the University of North Florida debate site shouted jeers toward the Transportation Security Administration. The anti-TSA chants came days after Paul's son, GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, was stopped by security at the Nashville airport when a scanner set off an alarm and Paul declined to allow a security officer to pat him down.
Police escorted Paul away, but allowed him to board a later flight.
Ron Paul has already used his son's experience to promote his "Plan to Restore America," which would cut $1 trillion of federal spending in a year and eliminate the TSA. He has said the incident reflects that the "police state in this country is growing out of control."
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Sun Unleashes Strongest Flare Yet of 2012 (SPACE.com)
This story was updated at 4:13 p.m. EST.
A massive solar flare ? the strongest one so far this year ? erupted today (Jan. 27) from the same active region of the sun that triggered a raging solar tempest earlier this week.
The solar flare was rated an X1.7-class eruption, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). X-class flares are the most powerful type of solar storm, with M-class storms falling within the mid-range, and C-class flares being the weakest.
Several spacecraft, including NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and the Solar Heliospheric Observatory, observed the solar eruption, which occurred at 1:37 p.m. EST (1837 GMT). The flare unleashed a wave of charged particles, called a coronal mass ejection, but space weather experts said it was not aimed at Earth.
The flare exploded from sunspot 1402, a region on the sun that has been particularly active lately. Earlier this week, a separate blast from the same region sent a cloud of charged particles toward Earth and sparked the strongest radiation storm since 2003.
"It's a great week for Space Weather!" wrote Dean Pesnell, SDO Project Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in a blog update.
This time, however, the flare was not fired off while the sunspot region was facing Earth, according to Spaceweather.com. Still, an ensuing radiation storm is possible and will continue to be monitored.
"Region 1402 is Alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" explained officials from NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center on Facebook. "Another huge X-ray event is in progress."
When a powerful X-class flare is aimed directly at Earth it can sometimes cause disruptions to satellites in space and power grids and communications infrastructure on the ground. Strong flares and coronal mass ejections can also pose potential hazards to astronauts on the International Space Station.
In response, NOAA has issued radio blackouts and a radiation storm warning while the sun storm is in progress.
"This warning is in effect for the next 24 hours," agency officials said in a statement.
Presently, the radiation levels appear to be climbing, but the effects of this solar storm are not expected to be worse than earlier this week, said Doug Biesecker, a physicist at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center.
"The radiation storm will almost certainly be weaker," Biesecker told SPACE.com. "The coronal mass ejection seems to be headed well away from Earth, which is good because this one seems like a bigger beast than the last one, but that's still preliminary."
Solar storms can also amp up auroras (also known as the northern and southern lights), which can create stunning light shows for skywatchers at high latitudes.
The sun's activity ebbs and flows in an 11-year cycle. Currently, the sun is in the midst of Solar Cycle 24, and activity is expected to ramp up toward the solar maximum in 2013.
Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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USDA sets guidelines for healthier school meals (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? School meals for millions of children will be healthier under obesity-fighting U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards unveiled on Wednesday that double the amount of fruits and vegetables in cafeteria lunches - but won't pull French fries from the menu.
In the first major changes to school meals in more than 15 years, the new USDA guidelines will affect nearly 32 million children who eat at school. They will cost about $3.2 billion to implement over the next five years.
"Improving the quality of the school meals is a critical step to building a healthy future for our kids," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
The new meal requirements are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by first lady Michelle Obama. President Barack Obama approved the measure in late 2010.
The guidelines double the amounts of fruits and vegetables in school lunches and boost offerings of whole grain-rich foods. The new standards set maximums for calories and cut sodium and trans fat, a contributor to high cholesterol levels.
Schools may offer only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties and must assure that children are getting proper portion sizes, the USDA said.
The new standards will be largely phased in over a three-year period, starting in the 2012-13 school year.
About 17 percent of U.S. children and teenagers are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one-third of U.S. adults are obese.
FRIES WITH THAT?
Lawmakers altered the guidelines in November. They barred the USDA from limiting French fries and ensured that pizza counted as a vegetable because of its tomato paste.
Trade associations representing frozen pizza sellers like ConAgra Foods Inc and Schwan Food Co as well as French fry sellers McCain Foods Ltd and J.R. Simplot Co were instrumental in blocking changes to rules affecting those items.
Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director for the non-profit Center For Science in the Public Interest, said that the new standards were a big improvement despite food industry lobbying and the congressional revamp.
"The new school meal standards are one of the most important advances in nutrition in decades," she said in a statement.
The Environmental Working Group said the changes could pack a financial punch since they may help reduce medical bills related to diabetes and other obesity-related chronic diseases.
"A healthier population will save billions of dollars in future health care costs," said Dawn Undurraga, EWG's staff nutritionist.
As an example of a new meal, the USDA said an elementary school lunch could be whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce and a whole wheat roll, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi, low-fat milk, low-fat ranch dip and soft margarine.
That lunch would replace a meal of a hot dog on a bun with ketchup, canned pears, raw celery and carrots with ranch dressing, and low-fat chocolate milk.
As part of the new standards, schools will receive another 6 cents a meal. The USDA also will increase the number of inspections of school menus.
Food and beverages sold in vending machines and other school sites "will also contribute to a healthy diet," the USDA statement said.
The USDA gives school districts funds for meals through its National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Add an Electric Chainsaw To Your AK-47 To Battle Non-Existant Zombies [Video]
Video: Under the electron microscope - a 3-D image of an individual protein
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
When Gang Ren whirls the controls of his cryo-electron microscope, he compares it to fine-tuning the gearshift and brakes of a racing bicycle. But this machine at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is a bit more complex. It costs nearly $1.5 million, operates at the frigid temperature of liquid nitrogen, and it is allowing scientists to see what no one has seen before.
At the Molecular Foundry, Berkeley Lab's acclaimed nanotechnology research center, Ren has pushed his Zeiss Libra 120 Cryo-Tem microscope to resolutions never envisioned by its German manufacturers, producing detailed snapshots of individual molecules. Today, he and his colleague Lei Zhang are reporting the first 3-D images of an individual protein ever obtained with enough clarity to determine its structure.
Scientists routinely create models of proteins using X-ray diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance, and conventional cryo-electron microscope (cryoEM) imaging. But these models require computer "averaging" of data from analysis of thousands, or even millions of like molecules, because it is so difficult to resolve the features of a single particle. Ren and Zhang have done just that, generating detailed models using electron microscopic images of a single protein.
He calls his technique "individual-particle electron tomography," or IPET. The work is described in the January 24 issue of PLoS One, the open-source scientific journal, in an article entitled "IPET and FETR: Experimental Approach for Studying Molecular Structure Dynamics by Cryo-Electron Tomography of a Single-Molecule Structure."
The 3-D images reported in the paper include those of a single IgG antibody and apolipoprotein A-1 (ApoA-1), a protein involved in human metabolism. Ren's goal is to produce individual 3-D images of medically significant proteins, such as HDL? the heart-protective "good cholesterol" whose structure has eluded the efforts of legions of scientists armed with far more powerful protein modeling tools. "We are well on our way," says Ren.
Ren has the credentials of one who knows what he can do. He was recruited to work at Berkeley Lab in August 2010 from the University of California at San Francisco, where he had used a cryo-electron microscope and more conventional averaging techniques to discern the 3-D structure of LDL ? the "bad cholesterol" thought to be a major risk factor for heart disease.
His images of single proteins are a bit fuzzy, even after they are cleaned up by complex computer filtering, but very informative to the trained observer. These individual particles are extraordinarily tiny, requiring Ren to zero in on a spot of less than 20 nanometers. He has reported protein images as small as 70 kDa. That's kilodaltons, a Lilliputian scale (expressed in units of mass) set aside for taking the measure of atoms, molecules, and snippets of DNA. It's a more useful way to size soft objects like proteins that can be clumped, stringy, or floppy.
Unlike the sculptural images of protein models, a suite of these photographs can convey a sense of these particles in all their nanoscale floppiness. Within the complex structure of these proteins lies the secrets of their function, and perhaps keys to drugs that block the bad ones and promote the good ones. With some additional computer filtering, a high-contrast model of protein can be generated from the images and animated to show its moving parts in 3-D.
"This allows you to see the personality of each protein,'' says Ren. "It is a proof of concept for something that people thought was impossible."
A computer animation demonstrates the flexible dynamics ? the moving parts ? of human IgG antibody. 3-D images of two individual antibody particles (gray) were generated using EM tomography with IPET. The demonstration shows how the same molecular chains (red, orange, and green noodle-like models) of antibody particle #1 can fit precisely into particle #2, which was found under the microscope in an entirely different pose.
How did Ren coax so much versatility out of his Libra 120? "It's not a very high-end model,'' he concedes. Much has to do with the accessories he bolts on to the machine, and with his own artistry and patience. He's equipped the microscope with a $300,000 CCD camera, some powerful image-processing software, special contrasting agents, and a device called an "energy filter" that sifts through the digitized camera data and culls weak signals. Thoroughly familiar with his customized machine, he also employs an element of elbow grease, working long hours to draw out the powerful images from a torrent of digital noise.
The multiple angles used to create the 3-D portrait help resolve the faint molecular image. "All images are noisy," Ren explains. "In physics, the noise is inconsistent among the images, but the signal ? the object or protein ? is consistent. By using this approach, we find the consistent portion (the signal) can be enhanced, while the inconsistent portion (the noise) will be reduced substantially."
Electron microscopes focus streams of electrons rather than light to see incredibly tiny things. The short wavelength of an electron beam enables much higher resolution and magnification than visible light. Powerful electron microscopes have been used for decades to probe materials at atomic-scale; and right next door to the Molecular Foundry is Berkeley Lab's National Center for Electron Microscopy, which houses the most powerful microscopes in the world. The TEAM 0.5 microscope can distinguish objects as small as the radius of a hydrogen atom. But these heavyweight microscopes pull off this atomic-scale resolution with pulses of energy that would obliterate most soft biological proteins. The high power electron microscopes are used primarily for probing atomic structure of strong, solid materials, such as graphene ? a lattice of carbon only one atom thick.
Ren's lab specializes in cryoEM, which examines objects frozen at -180 ?C (-292 ?F). A bath of liquid nitrogen flash-freezes samples so quickly that no ice crystals form. "It is amorphous, like glass,'' Ren says. The protein samples are frozen on a disk the size of baby's fingernail, filled with tiny wells 2 microns across. The disk is inserted into the microscope on a rotating support that can tilt the sample up to 140? inside a vacuum ? sufficient camera angles to produce a 3-D perspective. "The challenge is to isolate it from the air, and to turn it without vibrations, even the vibrations from the bubbling of liquid nitrogen,'' says Ren.
The extremely low temperature fixes the samples and prevents them from drying out in the vacuum needed for the electron scan. It creates conditions favorable for imaging at much lower doses of electrons ? low enough to keep a single soft protein intact while more than 100 images are taken over a one-to-two hour period.
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DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: http://www.lbl.gov
Thanks to DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 67 time(s).
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
HBT: Red Sox's dumping of Scutaro is puzzling
I?m among the people confused by Boston?s move to dump Marco Scutaro and his $6 million salary on the Rockies for a marginal minor leaguer in Clayton Mortensen, in part because Scutaro was hardly overpaid and in part because the Red Sox?s in-house options to replace him at shortstop are so underwhelming.
It still doesn?t make much sense to me, but Alex Speier of WEEI.com offers a few details that explain the situation somewhat.
For instance, Speier notes that because of the wording of Scutaro?s contract the Red Sox would have taken a sizable luxury tax hit if they?d simply declined his 2012 option, so instead they exercised the option and then dumped him on the Rockies (who have no such luxury tax concerns).
There?s been plenty of speculation that the Red Sox shed Scutaro?s salary in order to make a run at Roy Oswalt and in the meantime they sliced nearly $8 million in money as it?s counted against the luxury tax. Speier reports that the Rockies were the only team willing to take on Scutaro?s entire salary.
As for why they?d trade Scutaro without having a good shortstop replacement waiting in the wings?particularly after parting with Jed Lowrie earlier this offseason?Speier points to the fact that he?s 36 years old, somewhat injury prone, and perhaps declining defensively. And for now at least the Red Sox feel more comfortable than you might expect with a time share between Mike Aviles and Nick Punto.
Whether or not all that adds up to the Scutaro salary dump being a smart move by the Red Sox is another issue?I?d still vote no, certainly?but at least it makes a little more sense than it did at the time.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Greenpois0n Absinthe for Windows now available
We finally got an untethered jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 yesterday via Greenpois0n Absinthe. Until now the tool was only released for Mac users. It has now been updated with support for Windows users.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/OLqn8-J1oLk/story01.htm
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HelloGiggles ? Hello Giggles Pets of the Week!
Confession time, Gigglers: I really love when animals do human things. I even started a Tumblr called ?Animals Doing Human Things?. No, that?s not meant to be self promotion ? it?s just me trying to prove to you how much I love when animals act like people (especially classy business people).
Which is why my favorite female dog CEO pet of the week has to be Aubie. That dog looks better in those?pearls?than I do in mine! But this week?s whole gallery is pretty much full of the cutest pets I?ve ever seen.
Want to try and make next week?s gallery even cuter with the inclusion of your pet? E-mail us your pictures and be sure to include your pet?s name. Until next week, fellow animal lovers!
Morgan is an NYU student who wishes she could graduate and be a grown-up producer and/or blogger already. She also loves all things Disney and hot pink, which she realizes may contradict her desire to be an adult. You can follow her on Twitter @Morgan_L_Nelson or Tumblr at mln2118.tumblr.com.See more posts from Morgan
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Monday, January 23, 2012
'Extinct' monkey rediscovered in Borneo by new expedition
Friday, January 20, 2012
An international team of scientists has found one of the rarest and least known primates in Borneo, Miller's Grizzled Langur, a species which was believed to be extinct or on the verge of extinction. The team's findings, published in the American Journal of Primatology, confirms the continued existence of this endangered monkey and reveals that it lives in an area where it was previously not known to exist.
Miller's Grizzled Langur (Presbytis hosei canicrus) is part of the small primate genus Presbytis, found across Borneo, Sumatra, Java and the Thai-Malay Peninsula. In Borneo, P.h. canicrus is only found in a small corner of the county's north east and its habitat has suffered from fires, human encroachment and conversion of land for agriculture and mining.
The team's expedition took to them to Wehea Forest in East Kalimantan, Borneo, a large 38,000 ha area of mostly undisturbed rainforest. Wehea contains at least nine known species of non-human primate, including the Bornean orangutan and gibbon.
"Discovery of P.h canicrus was a surprise since Wehea Forest lies outside of this monkey's known range. Future research will focus on estimating the population density for P.h. canicrus in Wehea and the surrounding forest," said Brent Loken, from Simon Fraser University Canada. "Concern that the species may have gone extinct was first raised in 2004, and a search for the monkey during another expedition in 2008 supported the assertion that the situation was dire."
By conducting observations at mineral licks where animals congregate and setting up camera traps in several locations, the expedition confirmed that P. h canicrus continues to survive in areas west of its previously recorded geographic range. The resulting photos provide the first solid evidence demonstrating that its geographic range extends further than previously thought.
"It was a challenge to confirm our finding as there are so few pictures of this monkey available for study," said Loken. "The only description of Miller's Grizzled Langur came from museum specimens. Our photographs from Wehea are some of the only pictures that we have of this monkey."
"East Kalimantan can be a challenging place to conduct research, given the remoteness of many remaining forested areas, so it isn't surprising that so little is known about this primate," said Dr. Stephanie Spehar, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. "We are very grateful to our local partners. This discovery represents the hard work, dedication, and collaboration of Western and Indonesian scientists, students, NGOs, as well as local communities and government."
"While our finding confirms the monkey still exists in East Kalimantan, there is a good chance that it remains one of the world's most endangered primates," concluded Loken. "I believe it is a race against time to protect many species in Borneo. It is difficult to adopt conservation strategies to protect species when we don't even know the extent of where they live. We need more scientists in the field working on understudied species such as Miller's Grizzled Langur, clouded leopards and sun bears."
###
Wiley-Blackwell: http://www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell
Thanks to Wiley-Blackwell for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 82 time(s).
Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116909/_Extinct__monkey_rediscovered_in_Borneo_by_new_expedition
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
China reports second bird flu death in a month
BEIJING?? China on Sunday reported its second bird flu fatality in a month following deaths last week in Vietnam and Cambodia.
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'Miracle' baby born from single frozen sperm
The patient died Sunday in Guizhou province in the southwest after being hospitalized on Jan. 6, the health ministry said in a brief statement. It said the flu was highly pathogenic but gave no indication whether it was confirmed to be the H5N1 strain.
Mainland officials told Hong Kong authorities the patient was a 39-year-old man who reported having no contact with poultry, government-run Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK said. It gave no other details of his identity.
The health ministry statement said 71 people who had contact with the patient showed no unusual symptoms.
China suffered its first bird flu fatality in 18 months when a bus driver in Shenzhen, a city that borders Hong Kong, died Dec. 31.
Last week, Vietnam reported its first bird flu fatality in nearly two years ? an 18-year-old man who worked on a duck farm.
In Cambodia, a 2-year-old boy died last week after reportedly having contact with sick poultry in his village, according to the World Health Organization.
Indonesia also has reported one bird flu death this year.
WHO says that as of Friday, there have been 343 human deaths from 582 confirmed bird flu cases worldwide since 2003. Some 27 of those deaths were in China and 60 in Vietnam.
Mutant bird flu research halted on bioterror fears
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46091755/ns/health-cold_and_flu/
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Should couples share passwords?
Live Poll
Should couples share passwords?
173871
ABSOLUTELY. Those that have nothing to hide, hide nothing.
58%
173872
NO. We're still individuals entitled to privacy and we trust each other.
42%
VoteTotal Votes: 125
By Athima Chansanchai
Just how much do you trust your spouse or partner? Enough to share passwords? For some, passwords are the final frontier of privacy not only in financial matters, but in social media and email correspondence. But for others, there are no secrets when you're in a relationship?? even risking the potential payback should a break-up sever the happy union.
The New York Times tells us about an "intimate custom" writer Matt Ritchel says is happening between teens in love: "sharing their passwords to email,?Facebook?and other accounts." The desire to be one even extends, the article claims, to couples creating identical passwords and letting each other read private emails and texts.?
For some, it takes a court order to share so much.
But for others, it's imperative to know each other's passwords as part of an open, healthy and fully functioning relationship. Sometimes this comes after a loss of trust, as when one partner has cheated on the other. On the Surviving Infidelity website, where more than 34,000 members have exchanged stories of betrayal and support one another in the forums, there is a saying that becomes a mantra for many of them: "Those who have nothing to hide, hide nothing." To that end, nothing is private anymore in order to facilitate healing for the offended party.?
In this philosophy, those who have been unfaithful should share (or make open and available) not only passwords to their email accounts and Facebook, but also the contents of their text messages, phone logs, work and travel itineraries "without qualms."
Many in those forums mention how finding secret Facebook and email correspondences led to the big reveal of infidelity in their marriages and relationships, and we've seen surveys that attribute at least some fault in Facebook, though an informal poll we took at the end of year showed that nearly half of the 876 votes attributed the demise of their marriages with other factors. But 34 percent did blame Facebook.
Some of the teens in the New York Times article who opened themselves up were dealt a nasty lesson in human nature when their not-so-better halves decided to use the passwords in retaliation for perceived wrongs. The Times listed some examples:
The stories of fallout include a spurned boyfriend in junior high who tries to humiliate his ex-girlfriend by spreading her e-mail secrets; tensions between significant others over scouring each other?s private messages for clues of disloyalty or infidelity; or grabbing a cellphone from a former best friend, unlocking it with a password and sending threatening texts to someone else.
Take our poll and let us know if couples should share passwords.
More stories:
Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.
Source: http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10199414-should-couples-share-passwords
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
JB Smoove, comic and torturer (Reuters)
New York (TheWrap.com) ? JB Smoove, whose standup special "That's How I Dooz It" debuts this weekend on Comedy Central, says comedians are like torturers.
"We always have bad intentions for our audience," says the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star. "We want you to laugh, but we also want you to piss in your pants, we want you to shit on yourself, we want you to have a good-bad experience. You paid 10 dollars for that drink but we want you to spit it out. We want you to spill it on the table. We want you to leave with soiled pants and hurt cheeks. We want to hurt you with laughter.
"It's like I'm a torturer in medieval times," he adds. "I want to torture you until I get out of you what I want to get out of you."
Even Larry David isn't safe in his scenes with Smoove. The 47-year-old, born Jerry Brooks, has played Larry's houseguest and consigliere, Leon Black, for the last three seasons of "Curb."
"If you ever notice, sometimes Larry smirks a little bit?" he says. "That's because I'm trying to kill him. I'm trying to verbally kill you."
Improvisation is the key to Smoove's comedy, not just on "Curb," but also in standup sets he tries to personalize for every audience. "Curb" famously gives actors only an outline of each episode, so they have to fill in the dialogue themselves. But even an outline can be too much preparation for Smoove, who thrives on not knowing what he'll do next.
That means coming up with lines like "That's how I dooz it, Larry" -- which inspired the title of his special -- off the top of his head.
Smoove, who also appears in the movie "We Bought a Zoo" and the upcoming NBC sitcom "Bent," talked to TheWrap about improvising with David, audiences, and just two guys standing on a corner.
TheWrap: Larry David was asked last week what makes him laugh, and he said, "JB Smoove... He got the part just by looking at me." Is that true? And who makes you laugh?
Smoove: "That's very true. Because when I walked into the room to audition ... I gave him exactly who I thought Leon was. I gave him the look I thought a guy like that would give him. A guy that's jumping in feet first to a different world. I'm a brother who's staying with an older Jewish guy. I just gave him this funny look and we both started smiling a little bit. I think we felt something. ... Larry told me after our first day it felt like we'd been working together for years. Sometimes you get that. You get lucky sometimes.
"What makes me laugh? Larry makes me laugh. I was a big fan of the show before I was on it. ... I used to laugh my ass off at Larry David's TV show."
The Wrap: Do you find that the things that make you laugh in your everyday life are the same things that make your audiences laugh?
Smoove: "I do. I think what I do in my acting world and what I do in my standup world is bring up a brand that I want to bring across. Once you figure out your brand and what you do, it's kind of easy at that. You end up getting your audience.
"Which is what happened with Larry ... I just gave Larry a look. Which is funny to me. I'm big on facial expressions and I'm big on mannerisms, which I find to be hilarious. I'll drive down the street and I'll practice improv. I will sit there at a red light and see two guys talking to each other, and I will just start playing both characters. I can't hear them, but I can see their mouths moving, so I'll just put words in their mouths. I'll see two white guys and I'll give them both brother voices, like, "Hey man, what's goin' on with you, playboy?" It's just a way to keep you on your toes."
TheWrap: How do you come up with the great Leon lines, like "I bring the ruckus to the ladies" and "That's how I dooz it"?
Smoove: "Everything you hear me say on the show, unless Larry needs some specifics as far the direction of the episode, everything you hear as far as Leonisms are straight off my head. Those are me just channeling Leon.
"When I get to the set and I put my Leon outfit on, I become Leon. Everything you hear from "get in that ass," "I dooz it," "I bring the ruckus" -- those are all things that I feel are things Leon would say. When I'm in Leon mode I'm in full Leon mode.
"All these are powerful statements that motivate. A guy like Leon has very little. But he has a lot of pride. He can inspire you. ... When he tells you something, you get it, but you don't get it. You get him in a way because you understand where he's coming from. He's trying to help you in the only way he knows how to help you. A Leonism that fits the situation.
"I don't like to telegraph anything with Leon. I like to come into the set kind of fresh. I don't want my outline emailed to me the night before. Because I'll start thinking about it too much. It's a high I get from just jumping into something without knowing what I'm going to do yet. I get the best, most spontaneous reaction I can give you Larry because I'm trying to make myself laugh also. I don't like to come onstage so prepared that I'm unprepared."
TheWrap: Where does your drive come from? You started in comedy clubs - is there a sense of, 'You're not going to beat me'? Or is it just that that's who you are?
Smoove: "That's just who I am. But I also feel like, you're not going to beat me at anything. It's not that you can't beat me -- it's just that what I do is so unique that I do what I do well. I tell people all the time: Do you. Do you (know yourself) so well that no one else can do you like you do you.
"I've had jokes stolen a thousand times. But if you can do it better than me, you can have it. I've had jokes stolen from me in the club when I'm next on stage. And my brain will start to turn and the gears will start turning and I'll go onstage and create a whole new bit.
"You will never see the exact same show. Because I work off what I hear from the audience, I work off the energy from the audience, instead of working off my memory and my jokes.
"It's kind of like a race car driver. They never run the same race twice. You have to change lanes. You have to cut somebody off once in a while. You don't want to. But you have to cut somebody's ass off. 'Cause you either drive through their ass or go around them. And sometimes you have to drive through people.
"That's How I Dooz It" premieres Saturday at 10/9c on Comedy Central.
(Editing by Chris Michaud)
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Viral video spoofs the, er, stuff New Yorkers say (AP)
NEW YORK ? Hip young New Yorkers hate waiting for the subway. They wouldn't be caught dead near tourist sites and couldn't care less if a celebrity walked by. They're snobby about what they read, even snobbier about what they eat, stick to their own borough, and call the most minuscule bedrooms "huge."
And there's something else: Some don't take kindly to being reduced to a cultural stereotype.
That's what Eliot and Ilana Glazer, brother-sister bloggers, comics and native New Yorkers, have discovered since their video, "Stuff New Yorkers Say" (no, the word isn't really "Stuff") has gone viral in the last couple days. Turns out, one of the things New Yorkers like to say is: "We don't say THAT!"
But there's been lots of positive feedback, too, and all the attention has stunned the Glazers, who posted the video on Wednesday night, hoping for some buzz but not expecting well over a million YouTube views (about 1.3 million as of late Friday).
"It's really bonkers," Eliot Glazer, 28, said in a telephone interview.
The video, inspired by a current Internet meme on what all sorts of groups of people say, is simple enough. In it, the Glazers and friends converse the way young New Yorkers would (or wouldn't, depending on whom you ask.) There are a few distinct themes.
Impatience: "Where is the train? Where is the TRAIN?" (There have been comments posted that while people in New York think this, they don't actually stand on the platform saying it.)
Exclusivity: "Nobody knows about this place."
Culinary exclusivity: "All I had today was a bagel." Or "Ah, Momofuku!" a reference to the group of restaurants headed by hip young chef David Chang.
Culinary snobbery: "Ah, Magnolia!" a reference to the cupcakes made famous by "Sex and the City" ? followed by a sour face, because the cupcakes aren't very hip.
Celebrity fatigue: "Sarah Jessica Parker! Oh, who cares."
Disdain for tourists: "Who goes to the Statue of Liberty?" "Who goes to the Empire State Building?" "Move! Move!" (walking down the street behind slowpokes.) "I hate tourists!"
That last theme, Glazer explains, is not to be taken literally. "New Yorkers are actually very kind to tourists," he says.
Another thing people are taking too literally, according to Glazer: The derisive comments about boroughs other than Manhattan, as in "I don't go to Queens," and "I don't do Brooklyn."
In fact, Glazer was born in Queens, grew up on Long Island, and now lives in Brooklyn, as does his sister ? a writer and comic whose Web series, "Broad City," is in development for the FX network.
Especially funny, Glazer says, is unwarranted speculation online that the Glazers aren't even from New York. But he says he doesn't read comments on YouTube: "It's just a pool of negativity."
"This is satire," he says. "We intended it to be a satire of what it means to be young and semi-spoiled in New York."
The video was shot and edited in about two weeks. "I was worried we were past the expiration date of the meme," Glazer says. He and his sister posted it to their Facebook accounts, and "within two hours it was insane ? the comments, the sharing," he says. "It was mind-blowing how quickly it took off."
What's clear from the video is that its creators love the city, despite its hardships.
Love-hate relationship with New York:
"I love it here.
"I hate it here.
"I love it here."
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Friday, January 20, 2012
timothypost: Can Facebook do what nobody else has been able to do... and build the Semantic Web? Find out today: http://t.co/KaMyAmzB
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The Glee Project to Return for Second Season (omg!)
The Glee Project will return for a second season, Oxygen announced Tuesday.
The reality competition series features 14 contenders trying to score a guest role on the Fox series Glee. Season 1 co-winners Damian McGinty and Samuel Larsen were each awarded a seven-episode arc, and runners-up Lindsay Pearce and Alex Newell also were given guest appearances.
VIDEO: Glee's Dot-Marie Jones calls her Coach Beiste role an overwhelming dream come true
"The Glee Project is a special show that has tapped into a desire in our culture to watch people go for and achieve their dreams," Oxygen President Jason Klarman said.
The show averaged some 1.19 million viewers last summer and gained attention for its social/multiplatform success.
Executive producer Ryan Murphy will return to join casting director Robert Ulrich, choreographer and Glee co-producer Zach Woodlee and vocal coach Nikki Anders as judges. It's slated to premiere sometime in the summer.
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
Major oil refinery to close in US Virgin Islands (AP)
ST. CROIX, U.S. Virgin Islands ? The giant Hovensa oil refinery that has dominated the economy and part of the landscape of the island of St. Croix for decades will cease operations next month, the operator said Wednesday.
Industry analysts said the closure is unlikely to have a major effect on the global oil market, but Gov. John de Jongh described the announcement as "a complete body blow" for the U.S. territory. He said Hovensa generated a minimum of $60 million a year in revenue for the government, which already faces a budget crisis.
"Given what we're going through right now, this is the last bit of news that I wanted to hear," he said in a teleconference with reporters.
The refinery, the largest private employer in the U.S. Virgin Islands and once one of the largest refiners in the Western Hemisphere, will be converted to an oil storage terminal, said Brian K. Lever, president and chief operating officer of Hovensa LLC.
Losses at Hovensa, a joint venture of U.S.-based Hess Corp. and Venezuela's state-owned oil company, have totaled $1.3 billion over the past three years and were projected to continue due to reduced demand caused by the global economic slowdown and increased refining capacity in emerging markets, Lever said in a statement.
"We deeply regret the closure of the Hovensa refinery and the impact on our dedicated people," Lever said. "We explored all available options to avoid this outcome, but severe financial losses left us with no other choice."
Hess announced in New York that it will take a $525 million after-tax charge against its fourth-quarter 2011 earnings due to the shutdown.
The refinery employs about 1,200 people in St. Croix and has approximately 950 contractors, according to Hovensa spokesman David Roznowski. About 100 people, including contractors, will work at the oil storage terminal, the company said.
The refinery, founded in the 1960s, has been producing about 350,000 barrels per day during the rough economic climate.
The company's website says it is still one of the 10 largest oil refineries in the world, but the closure is not expected to have a major effect on the oil industry because it had not been operating at full capacity, said Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer & Co.
Hess benefits because it had been hemorrhaging money through the refinery, he said.
The closure reflects a three-year trend across the U.S. of refineries closing because of the global financial crisis, a drop in gasoline consumption and a shift in growth elsewhere, Gheit said.
"They cannot compete with the modern refineries being built in India, China and the Middle East," he said.
Despite the closure, the U.S. remains Venezuela's largest customer, and Venezuela is still among the top four suppliers of crude oil to the U.S., he said.
Hovensa spokesman Alex Moorehead said the refinery equipment will shut down by mid-February, but that the company will continue to provide fuel oil to the island's Water and Power Authority through end of June.
The announcement seemed to take officials by surprise on an island already struggling with the layoffs of hundreds of state workers to offset a budget deficit.
"This is a blow in the gut," Senator Terrence Nelson told The Associated Press. "We have to organize an economic plan, and it might involve assistance from the federal government."
Nelson accused Hovensa of violating a long-term agreement with the government to continue refinery operations on the island. Nelson said it is unclear what Hovensa will need to do to compensate the government for breaching the agreement.
"It's devastating," Senator Samuel Sanes said. "It was something I suspected was going to happen, but of course it took me by surprise. On a personal level it affects many people in my family. I have many in my family working for Hovensa."
De Jongh said he called an emergency meeting to talk about ways to offset the economic damage.
He warned that local fuel prices will likely rise while the government looks for other suppliers and said officials are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ease sulfur content restrictions so they can quickly contract a new supplier.
De Jongh said he will also ask Hovensa officials if they are interested in selling the facility.
"I cannot afford to have an asset of that size sitting there," he said.
In January, Hovensa entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department in which the company agreed to invest $700 million on pollution controls after a series of chemical releases affected people living downwind from the refinery. Hovensa also agreed to pay a $5.4 million penalty for violating the Clean Air Act.
It is unclear how the agreement will be affected by the closure. EPA spokeswoman Mary Mears said the agency would soon issue a statement, while Moorehead said Hovensa representatives were meeting with EPA and U.S. Department of Justice officials on Wednesday to talk about the issue.
___
Associated Press writer Danica Coto contributed to this report from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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Battle for control of Asia's seas goes underwater
FILE - In this April 23, 2009 file photo, a Chinese Navy nuclear-powered submarine sails during an international fleet review in the waters off Qingdao, China, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of People's Liberation Army Navy. Nearly every Asian country with a coastline is fortifying its submarine fleet amid territorial disputes stirred up by an increasingly assertive China and the promise of bountiful natural resources in the Pacific. (AP Photo/Guang Niu, Pool, File)
FILE - In this April 23, 2009 file photo, a Chinese Navy nuclear-powered submarine sails during an international fleet review in the waters off Qingdao, China, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of People's Liberation Army Navy. Nearly every Asian country with a coastline is fortifying its submarine fleet amid territorial disputes stirred up by an increasingly assertive China and the promise of bountiful natural resources in the Pacific. (AP Photo/Guang Niu, Pool, File)
In this Nov. 10, 2011 photo, Cmdr. Andrew Peterson stands by his USS Oklahoma City during the super high-tech submarine's port call in Yokohama near Tokyo. It's getting a bit more crowded under the sea in Asia, where Peterson commands one of the world's mightiest weapons: a $2 billion nuclear submarine with unrivaled stealth and missiles that can devastate targets hundreds of miles (kilometers) away. (AP Photo/Eric Talmadge)
In this Nov. 10, 2011 photo, Cmdr. Andrew Peterson stands by his USS Oklahoma City during the super high-tech submarine's port call in Yokohama near Tokyo. It's getting a bit more crowded under the sea in Asia, where Peterson commands one of the world's mightiest weapons: a $2 billion nuclear submarine with unrivaled stealth and missiles that can devastate targets hundreds of miles (kilometers) away. (AP Photo/Eric Talmadge)
FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2011 file photo, Indian navy personnel salute from the deck of Indian naval submarine during the President's Fleet Review (PFR) in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai, India. Nearly every Asian country with a coastline is fortifying its submarine fleet amid territorial disputes stirred up by an increasingly assertive China and the promise of bountiful natural resources in the Pacific. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) ? It's getting a bit more crowded under the sea in Asia, where Andrew Peterson commands one of the world's mightiest weapons: a $2 billion nuclear submarine with unrivaled stealth and missiles that can devastate targets hundreds of miles (kilometers) away.
Super high-tech submarines like Cmdr. Peterson's USS Oklahoma City have long been the envy of navies all over the globe ? and a key component of U.S. military strategy.
"We really have no peer," Peterson told The Associated Press during a recent port call in Japan.
But America's submarine dominance in the Pacific is facing its biggest challenge since the Cold War. Nearly every Asian country with a coastline is fortifying its submarine fleet amid territorial disputes stirred up by an increasingly assertive China and the promise of bountiful natural resources.
Submarines are difficult to find and hard to destroy. Even fairly crude submarine forces can attack surface ships or other targets with a great deal of stealth, making them perfect for countries with limited resources. The threat of such an attack is a powerful deterrent in Asia, where coastal defenses are vital.
"This is shaping up as an intense arms race," said Lyle Goldstein, an associate professor at the China Maritime Studies Institute of the U.S. Naval War College. "This arms race is not simply China versus the rest ? though that explains much of it ? because there are other rivalries here as well."
China is pouring money into enlarging and modernizing its fleet, and India is planning to get a nuclear-powered attack submarine ? the INS Chakra ? on a 10-year lease from Russia as early as this month.
Australia is debating its most-expensive defense project ever ? a submarine upgrade that could cost more than 36 billion dollars.
Japan is adding another eight to its 16-boat fleet. South Korea is selling them to Indonesia. Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan and even Bangladesh either now have or are planning to acquire subs.
North Korea, which has a large fleet of mini-subs, allegedly put them to deadly use in 2010 ? killing 46 South Korean sailors in the worst clash since their war ended in 1953.
The trend has a momentum of its own ? once one country gets submarines, its neighbors are under pressure to follow suit, lest they give up a strategic advantage. But the rush to build up submarine forces also underscores a growing awareness of the region's potential riches.
Roughly half of the goods transported between continents by ship go through the South China Sea, accounting for $1.2 trillion in U.S. trade annually. The area has vast, largely untapped natural resources ? including oil reserves of seven billion barrels and an estimated 900 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
"The geostrategic significance of the South China Sea is difficult to overstate," said a report this month by the Center for a New American Security, a private think tank based in Washington DC. "To the extent that the world economy has a geographical center, it is in the South China Sea."
With the decline of Russia, the U.S. remains the top nation with a significant capability to operate submarines in the open seas ? a crucial advantage if Washington wants to maintain its role in keeping key sea lanes and chokepoints like the Malacca Strait, which connects the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific, free for commercial trade.
The U.S. Navy's blue water superiority is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Peterson, the Oklahoma City skipper, said the Navy's workhorse Los Angeles-class subs remain a cut above the rest. "The beauty is that they are still the state of the art."
But, closer to shore, China is challenging the status quo.
"China has put a major emphasis on submarines, with the result that the PLA Navy submarine force is now, along with the Chinese missile forces, one of the sharpest arrows in China's quiver of military capabilities," Goldstein said.
China now has more than 60 subs in its navy, including nine that are nuclear-powered, according to the Pentagon's annual overview last year.
Its mainstay boats are diesel-powered Song-class vessels, but it also is developing more advanced nuclear-powered attack and ballistic submarines, including the Jin class that would carry missiles with a range of 4,600 miles (7,400 kilometers). Nuclear-powered subs can operate longer submerged than their diesel counterparts.
China has a long way to go to match the U.S. Navy ? the advanced Jin subs, for example, would have to be well into the Japan Sea for the continental United States to be within their range ? and Goldstein said that Beijing's threat has been overblown.
To keep its edge, however, the United States now has more submarines in the Pacific than in the Atlantic. With the military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan wrapping up, the Obama administration has also announced a "pivot to the Pacific" strategy that will likely further boost U.S. naval resources in the region.
Even so, China is just one player in an increasingly complicated game.
"Everybody's buying subs, but not for the same reasons," said Owen Cote, associate director of MIT's Security Studies Program.
The Pacific is dotted by scores of disputed islands, and who controls what part of the seas is a potentially explosive question. Japan has rival claims with China, South Korea and Russia. A half dozen countries claim rights to the remote Spratly Islands.
"Vietnam and the other states abutting the South China Sea want to have the option to contest a Chinese decision to resolve the various boundary issues that divide them by force," Cote said. "The Chinese have an interest in using submarines in preventing U.S. surface ships from intervening on behalf of one of these neighbors in such a conflict."
As regional navies get stronger, so does the potential for armed clashes.
"It poses the prospect of changing the balance of power across the Asia-Pacific ? in fact it already has," said Hugh White, Australian National University's professor of strategic and defense studies. "This is a very maritime part of the world. Anyone with a submarine has a clear capability of disrupting commercial shipping."
White said the development of submarine forces by multiple Asian nations is already inhibiting the ability of China and the United States to project their naval power, and posing new issues for smaller navies caught in the middle.
"There are questions about whether the U.S. will continue to assume its security role," he said. "This is a big debate in Australia right now. Do we aim to be able to act independently of the U.S.? To what extent do we want to be able to operate against a major player like China, or more locally against Indonesia?"
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