He's just taken the title of inaugural speaker here at Expand, now Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler is giving us even more face time in our first ever backstage interview. Since its launch in 2009, the crowdfunding powerhouse has become a household name, bringing us success stories like the Pebble smartwatch. Myriam Joire sat down with Yancey to talk about Pebble, OUYA and the future of Kickstarter. Check out the video after the break to watch our backstage interview in its entirety.
Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Fast food can have a lot of calories and one CEO isn't afraid to keep in that way.
Andy Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants which owns Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, told The Los Angeles Times that he isn't interested in making his menus healthier. Selling 20 times more bacon cheeseburgers with 740 calories than barbecue chicken sandwiches with 390 calories, Puzder plans to continue to provide the foods that his customers want most.
"It's not our personality and it won't become our personality," Puzder told The Los Angeles Times when asked about the healthy food craze. "All of our products are indulgent, decadent."
See the full story from The Los Angeles Times here
Despite the obesity problem plaguing the entire country, Puzder has remained firm that it is not the fast food industry's place to tell people what they can and cannot eat.
"We're not the food police," he said in an interview with the New Zealand Herald.
The CEO's stance runs contrary to the direction that a majority of the fast food industry seems to be taking. In July, McDonald's released its "Favorites Under 400 Calories" menu and more recently the fast food chain came out with a yolk-free version of its Egg McMuffin with 50 fewer calories than the original.
Burger King has also attempted to spruce up its menu with items it claims are more healthy like salads and smoothies.
Despite these efforts, customers should remain wary. A 2012 study found that while fast food menu items have grown to include items like yogurt parfaits and salads, the average number of calories in each item hasn't decreased significantly.
During my discussions with Lenovo's team about the research involved in reshaping the ThinkPad line, they clued me in on the beast you see above. That, friends, is cutely referred to as the ThinkPad Terminator edition within Lenovo's walls, and it's essentially a prototype T431s that's stripped of its retail garb. The lid's paint is torn back in order to expose the edges that enable wireless radio transmissions to be sent and received, while the bottom has been left in its rawest form. Think of this as the space shuttle before its paint job, or Mr. Schwarzenegger before his green room appearance.
The goal here was to showcase the underlying rigidity of the machine, without the retail coat of paint covering up the magic within. Obviously, Lenovo has no immediate plans to actually ship this thing, but I can assure you I'm begging the team to reconsider. Looking to join the cause? Go ahead and give 'em an idea of the premium you'd pay in comments if these were released in limited quantities. Or, just enjoy the gallery below.
Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Emergency crews were searching Friday for a man and woman who jumped into the icy waters of the Big Sioux River in South Dakota to try to save a six-year-old child, before being swept off by the raging current themselves.
The two adults jumped into the river near Sioux Falls around 6 p.m. local time on Thursday after the young boy fell in, according to local NBC affiliate KDLT.
The woman is related to the child but not his mother, the man is not a relative of the boy, KDLT reported.
?By the time I got there he was already in there and they had him by the arm,? Napoleon Ducheneaux, a friend of the man who dove in, told KDLT.
?They had the kid in his arm and he slipped and fell. And then not too long after that the kid popped up a little bit to the right and climbed up the rocks by himself," he added.
The two adults found themselves in trouble.
?I heard him and the woman talking. He said something like, ?You hold on to me, I?ll hold on to you.? And I kept telling them to come to my voice,? Ducheneaux told KDLT.
The two then slipped under the water, Ducheneaux said.
Sioux Falls Fire Rescue Chief Jim Sideras confirmed two people were missing.
"We have some issues with very thick ice that we are trying to address. We also have a high flow of water because of ice melting," he said.
"We have a lot of foam. We have on the scene crews who are trained in swift water rescue and ice rescue. We also have on site a dive team. Because of the thickness of the ice it's not possible for that team to go in. We are still doing search patterns," he added.
Sideras told KDLT that the boy was safe with family members. ?I was with him and he?s with family members and he?s doing fine,? Sideras said.
FILE - In this May 22, 2011 file photo, a man carries a young girl who was rescued after a tornado hit Joplin, Mo. In 2011 the United States saw one of the busiest tornado seasons in generations: Nearly 1,700 tornadoes that killed 553 people. With the planet heating up, many scientists seem fairly certain some weather elements like hurricanes and droughts will worsen. But as the traditional season nears, scientists are still trying to figure out if there be more or fewer tornadoes as global warming increases. (AP Photo/Mike Gullett, File)
FILE - In this May 22, 2011 file photo, a man carries a young girl who was rescued after a tornado hit Joplin, Mo. In 2011 the United States saw one of the busiest tornado seasons in generations: Nearly 1,700 tornadoes that killed 553 people. With the planet heating up, many scientists seem fairly certain some weather elements like hurricanes and droughts will worsen. But as the traditional season nears, scientists are still trying to figure out if there be more or fewer tornadoes as global warming increases. (AP Photo/Mike Gullett, File)
FILE - This May 24, 2011 file photo shows the path of a powerful tornado through Joplin, Mo. In 2011, the United States saw one of the busiest tornado seasons in generations: Nearly 1,700 tornadoes that killed 553 people. With the planet heating up, many scientists seem fairly certain some weather elements like hurricanes and droughts will worsen. But as the traditional season nears, scientists are still trying to figure out if there be more or fewer tornadoes as global warming increases. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
FILE - In this May 22, 2011 file photo, emergency personnel walk through a severely damaged neighborhood after a tornado hit Joplin, Mo. In 2011 the United States saw one of the busiest tornado seasons in generations: Nearly 1,700 tornadoes that killed 553 people. With the planet heating up, many scientists seem fairly certain some weather elements like hurricanes and droughts will worsen. But as the traditional season nears, scientists are still trying to figure out if there be more or fewer tornadoes as global warming increases. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - In this May 24, 2011 file photo, a half-mile-wide tornado moves towards Piedmont, Okla. In 2011 the United States saw one of the busiest tornado seasons in generations: Nearly 1,700 tornadoes that killed 553 people. With the planet heating up, many scientists seem fairly certain some weather elements like hurricanes and droughts will worsen. But as the traditional season nears, scientists are still trying to figure out if there be more or fewer tornadoes as global warming increases. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Paul Southerland, File)
FILE - This May 25, 2011 file photo shows damage following a tornado near Piedmont, Okla. In 2011 the United States saw one of the busiest tornado seasons in generations: Nearly 1,700 tornadoes that killed 553 people. With the planet heating up, many scientists seem fairly certain some weather elements like hurricanes and droughts will worsen. But as the traditional season nears, scientists are still trying to figure out if there be more or fewer tornadoes as global warming increases. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, David McDaniel, File)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ? With the planet heating up, many scientists seem fairly certain some weather elements like hurricanes and droughts will worsen. But tornadoes have them stumped.
These unpredictable, sometimes deadly storms plague the United States more than any other country. Here in tornado alley, Oklahoma City has been hit with at least 147 tornadoes since 1890.
But as the traditional tornado season nears, scientists have been pondering a simple question: Will there be more or fewer twisters as global warming increases?
There is no easy answer. Lately, tornado activity in America has been Jekyll-and-Hyde weird, and scientists are unsure if climate change has played a role in recent erratic patterns.
In 2011, the United States saw its second-deadliest tornado season in history: Nearly 1,700 tornadoes killed 553 people. The Joplin, Mo., twister was the single deadliest in American history, killing 158 people and causing $2.8 billion in damage.
The following year, 2012, started even earlier and even busier. Through April there were twice as many tornadoes as normal. Then the twisters suddenly disappeared. Tornado activity from May to August of that year was the lowest in 60 years of record-keeping, said Harold Brooks, a top researcher at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla.
Meanwhile, Canada saw an unusual number of tornadoes in 2012; Saskatchewan had three times the normal number.
That year, the jet stream moved north and "essentially shut down" tornadoes in the American Midwest said Greg Carbin, warning meteorologist at the federal storm center. A tremendous drought meant far fewer storms, which not only shut off the spigot on rain but on storm cells that spawned tornadoes.
For much of America, tornadoes are seasonal. Typically, there are more during spring, and the numbers dwindle in the worst heat of the summer. Last year "essentially was an extended period of summertime conditions over the U.S.," Carbin said. "The real question is: What is spring now? Is it February?"
"Summer may be happening earlier and may be muscling out what we consider a transition between summer and winter," he said.
The last two seasons aren't alone in illustrating extremes in tornado activity.
Tornado record-keepers tally things like the most and least tornadoes in a month. Records for that category have been set 24 times over the past 60 years. Ten of those records have been set in the past decade ? six for the fewest tornadoes and four for the most, Brooks said. Also, the three earliest starts of tornado season and the four latest have all occurred since 1997, he said.
What does that mean?
"We've had a dramatic increase in the variability of tornado occurrence," Brooks said.
The jet stream, a major player in tornado formation, has been in a state of flux, varying wildly in recent years, said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann.
"It's hard to predict future tornado seasons when we don't understand current tornado seasons," Brooks said between sessions at the National Tornado Summit here earlier this week. "We're not sure what's going to happen with the tornado numbers."
A new study in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society looks at all sorts of extreme weather, how it is changing because of global warming and how things are predicted to change in the future. The study says tornadoes and the severe thunderstorms that spawn them are the hardest to predict.
Public opinion polls show Americans blame global warming for bad tornado outbreaks, but climate scientists say that's not quite right.
One reason scientists can't figure out how global warming might affect tornadoes is that twisters are usually small weather events that aren't easily simulated in large computer models. And records of tornadoes may not have been accurate over the years as twisters twirled unnoticed around unpopulated areas.
So Brooks and others are looking at the ingredients that cause tornadoes. But even that isn't simple. They look at two main factors: moist energy in the atmosphere and wind shear. Wind shear is the difference between wind at high altitudes and wind near the surface. The more moist energy and greater the wind shear, the better the chances for tornadoes.
The atmosphere can hold more moisture as it warms, and it will likely be more unstable so that means more moist energy, several experts said. But wind shear is another matter. Brooks and Stanford University scientist Noah Diffenbaugh think there will be less of that.
That would suggest fewer tornadoes. But if there's more moist energy, that could lead to more tornadoes. One ingredient has to win out, and Brooks says it's hard to tell which one will. Diffenbaugh says recent computer simulations show the moist energy may overcome the reduced shear and produce at least more severe thunderstorms, if not tornadoes.
Given what's happening lately, Brooks believes there will be fewer days of tornadoes but more twisters on the days when they occur.
___
Online:
The National Weather Center: http://nwcnorman.org/
___
Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears
The future of much of our entertainment will undoubtedly be provided through online channels via the internet. Since this entertainment content is on demand, it makes sense that we would subscribe to it and then be notified when new content is available. We already have this system in place for podcasts, which is free content that is produced by enthusiastic producers eager to get their voices heard.
However, at the moment, it doesn?t conform to traditional forms of content, such as a movie, a television episode, or a music single. Given we are moving through a Wild West period for distributing content online, we may be able to look at the podcast platform as a window into the future for the way all distribution of content is managed.
The word ?podcasts? is an all-encompassing term that covers so many different types of content. In many ways, it?s a misleading term, and a hangover from the days of the iPod launch in the early 2000s. The term has stuck, and may never change. It all started with audio shows that were like radio shows, but prerecorded. Then came live streaming, and then came video shows and video streaming. The term ?podcast? was updated to include ?vodcast,? which is a video podcast.
There are so many podcasts now that one cannot even hope to keep up with them all. Just check out the iTunes store to see what I?m talking about. As a producer of a podcast called FiST Chat, my colleague Steve Kern and I have found a format in which we can indulge in our enthusiasm for the topics of film, science and technology, while simultaneously creating content that is simple to consume and distribute via the Internet.
The episodes we produce are structured versions of conversations we would have had on our own anyway. By putting those conversations into a format that is easy to watch, we have found that we can connect to an audience online that shares similar passions for these topics. And since that connection is dynamic, we can have conversations via our social media presences and even forge new collaborations for future content. After having produced over a hundred episodes of FiST Chat, we?re feeling well accustomed to the medium.
Although both Steve and I started in filmmaking, and that?s a field that we will continue to enjoy pursuing, podcasting has given us the opportunity to highlight our work in a way that we couldn?t have dreamed of even five years ago. It certainly would?ve been handy ten years ago when we were churning out more films! But alas, the technology didn?t exist back then for true, high quality streaming for the masses. Now that it does, we?re making good use of it.
I can only go by our own experience to say that podcasting is definitely going to become more prevalent in the consumption of online content in the future. It is the perfect way to subscribe to on-demand content. If it becomes structured, with perhaps the big distributors of movies and television getting on board and allowing subscriptions to their content in the same way podcasts work, we may just have the perfect format for the delivery of content online.
Mar. 15, 2013 ? Secondary school students who follow an in-class mindfulness programme report reduced indications of depression, anxiety and stress up to six months later. Moreover, these students were less likely to develop pronounced depression-like symptoms. The study, conducted by Professor Filip Raes (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven), is the first to examine mindfulness in a large sample of adolescents in a school-based setting.
Mindfulness is a form of meditation therapy focused on exercising 'attentiveness'. Depression is often rooted in a downward spiral of negative feelings and worries. Once a person learns to more quickly recognise these feelings and thoughts, he or she can intervene before depression sinks in.
While mindfulness has already been widely tested and applied in patients with depression, this is the first time the method has been studied in a large group of adolescents in a school-based setting, using a randomised controlled design. The study was carried out at five middle schools in Flanders, Belgium. About 400 students between the ages of 13 and 20 took part. The students were divided into a test group and a control group. The test group received mindfulness training, and the control group received no training. Before the study, both groups completed a questionnaire with questions indicative of depression, stress or anxiety symptoms. Both groups completed the questionnaire again directly after the training, and then a third time six months later.
Before the start of the training, both the test group (21%) and the control group (24%) had a similar percentage of students reporting evidence of depression. After the mindfulness training, that number was significantly lower in the test group: 15% versus 27% in the control group. This difference persisted six months after the training: 16% of the test group versus 31% of the control group reported evidence of depression. The results suggest that mindfulness can lead to a decrease in symptoms associated with depression and, moreover, that it protects against the later development of depression-like symptoms.
The study was carried out in cooperation with the Belgian not-for-profit Mindfulness and with support from the Go for Happiness Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by KU Leuven, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Filip Raes, James W. Griffith, Katleen Gucht, J. Mark G. Williams. School-Based Prevention and Reduction of Depression in Adolescents: a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mindfulness Group Program. Mindfulness, 2013; DOI: 10.1007/s12671-013-0202-1
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
LONDON (AP) ? Young men who have served in the British military are about three times more likely than civilians to have committed a violent offense, researchers reported Friday in a study that explores the roots of such behavior.
The research found that merely being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan made no difference in rates of violent crime later on. Instead, a key predictor was violent behavior before enlisting. Combat duty also raised the risk, as did witnessing traumatic events during deployment or misusing alcohol afterward. Still, the vast majority ? 94 percent ? of British military staff who return home after serving in a combat zone don't commit any crimes, researchers told reporters at a briefing.
The study found little difference in the lifetime rates of violent offenses between military personnel and civilian populations at age 46 ? 11 percent versus almost 9 percent. Among younger men, however, being in the military seemed to make a difference: Nearly 21 percent of the military group under age 30 had a conviction for a violent offense in their lifetime compared to fewer than 7 percent of similarly aged men in the general population, according to British crime statistics.
"The problem is that some of the qualities you want in a soldier are the same ones that get people arrested for violent behavior," said Walter Busuttil, director of medical services for Combat Stress, a British veterans' charity that was not part of the study. Busuttil said many of those recruited into the army are from disadvantaged backgrounds where violence is more common.
The research was published online Friday in the journal Lancet. Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London looked at data from more than 13,800 U.K. military personnel and veterans and compared that to records of violent crimes ranging from verbal threats to assaults and homicides. Some people were followed for up to seven years. Nearly 1,500 women were included, though they were mostly in noncombat roles.
Deirdre MacManus, the study's lead author, said combat experience seemed to matter when they compared violent crime rates among military personnel. "Being deployed in itself wasn't a risk factor for violent offenses but being exposed to multiple traumas, like seeing someone get shot, increased the risk by 70 to 80 percent," she said, compared to someone who hadn't witnessed such a harrowing ordeal.
Researchers said other studies have made similar findings.
Britain currently has some 5,000 soldiers in the NATO-led mission fighting in Afghanistan and it is the second-largest foreign contingent after the U.S. It withdrew its soldiers from Iraq in 2009 after six years. The U.K. Ministry of Defense has been under pressure to develop more mental health programs for veterans after reports of returning servicemen committing crimes, like the 2012 case of an ex-soldier in Leeds jailed for shooting his landlady after fighting in Afghanistan. He had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder but had not been monitored or treated.
In the U.S., there have been numerous cases of veterans committing violent crimes, including a Marine charged with killing six people in California last year. Soldiers from a single Army unit in Colorado killed 11 people over a few years after their return home. An Army report in 2009 placed part of the blame on the psychological trauma of fierce combat in Iraq. And this week, a U.S. Senate panel heard women in the military describe sexual assaults by fellow soldiers.
American researchers said it is possible the same links the British study found between fighting in a war and violent crime exist in the U.S. but that there isn't enough data yet.
"For some soldiers, it's hard to stop being a warrior," said Brett Litz, a psychology professor at Boston University who studies veterans' issues. "What happens during a war may be a prescription for a small percentage of men to get into trouble," he said. "They may find it very difficult to switch out of a wartime mindset."
But given the differences between Britain and the U.S., Litz said it was impossible to predict what effects would be seen in the United States. "Maybe the economy is better here, maybe the (department of defense) does a better job with transition, maybe (the) culture is different especially with respect to alcohol," Litz said.
"There will be a lot of returning soldiers who have to be reintegrated and unfortunately there is no quick fix," he said.
Energy from the interior of the Earth supports life in a global ecosystemPublic release date: 14-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mark A. Lever mark.lever@biology.au.dk 45-21-72-84-73 Aarhus University
The core drill slides through a drill pipe, extending from the drill ship at the sea surface, through a water depth of 2.5 km and hundreds of metres of sediment, into the oceanic crust off the west coast of North America. Microbiologist Mark Lever is on board the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's research vessel JOIDES Resolution to examine rock samples from the depths. The results of the studies he and his colleagues carried out are published today in the journal Science.
"We're providing the first direct evidence of life in the deeply buried oceanic crust. Our findings suggest that this spatially vast ecosystem is largely supported by chemosynthesis," says Dr Lever, at the time a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, and now a scientist at the Center for Geomicrobiology at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Energy from reduced iron
We have learned that sunlight is a prerequisite for life on Earth. Photosynthetic organisms use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into organic material that makes up the foundation of Earth's food chains. Life in the porous rock material in the oceanic crust is fundamentally different. Energy and therefore life's driving force derives from geochemical processes.
"There are small veins in the basaltic oceanic crust and water runs through them. The water probably reacts with reduced iron compounds, such as olivine, in the basalt and releases hydrogen. Microorganisms use the hydrogen as a source of energy to convert carbon dioxide into organic material," explains Dr Lever. "So far, evidence for life deep within oceanic crust was based on chemical and textural signatures in rocks, but direct proof was lacking", adds Dr Olivier Rouxel of the French IFREMER institute.
Our biosphere is extended
The oceanic crust covers 60 per cent of the Earth's surface. Taking the volume into consideration, this makes it the largest ecosystem on Earth. Since the 1970s, researchers have found local ecosystems, such as hot springs, which are sustained by chemical energy.
"The hot springs are mainly found along the edges of the continental plates, where the newly formed oceanic crust meets seawater. However, the bulk of oceanic crust is deeply buried under layers of mud and hundreds to thousands of kilometres away from the geologically active areas on the edges of continental plates. Until now, we've had no proof that there is life down there," says Dr Lever.
Even though this enormous ecosystem is probably mainly based on hydrogen, several different forms of life are found here. The hydrogen-oxidising microorganisms create organic material that forms the basis for other microorganisms in the basalt. Some organisms get their energy by producing methane or by reducing sulphate, while others get energy by breaking down organic carbon by means of fermentation.
Basalt is their home
Mark Lever is a specialist in sulphur-reducing and methane-producing organisms, and these were the organisms he also chose to examine among the samples taken from the oceanic crust. These organisms are able to use hydrogen as a source of energy, and are typically not found in seawater. Dr Lever had to make sure that no microorganisms had been introduced as contaminants during the drilling process, or transported from bottom seawater entering the basaltic veins.
"We collected rock samples 55 kilometres from the nearest outcrop where seawater is entering the basalt. Here the water in the basaltic veins has a chemical composition that differs fundamentally from seawater, for instance, it is devoid of oxygen produced by photosynthesis. The microorganisms we found are native to basalt," explains Dr Lever.
Active life or dead relics?
Dr Lever's basalt is 3.5 million years old, but laboratory cultures show that the DNA belonging to these organisms is not fossil. "It all began when I extracted DNA from the rock samples we had brought up. To my great surprise, I identified genes that are found in methane-producing microorganisms. We subsequently analysed the chemical signatures in the rock material, and our work with carbon isotopes provided clear evidence that the organic material did not derive from dead plankton introduced by seawater, but was formed within the oceanic crust. In addition, sulphur isotopes showed us that microbial cycling of sulphur had taken place in the same rocks. These could all have been fossil signatures of life, but we cultured microorganisms from basalt rocks in the laboratory and were able to measure microbial methane production," explains Dr Lever. Dr Jeff Alt of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor adds that "Our work proves that microbes play an important role in basalt chemistry, and thereby influence ocean chemistry".
Chemosynthetic life plays a role
Mark Lever and his colleagues developed new sampling methods to avoid sampling microbial contaminants from seawater, which is often a major problem in explorations of the oceanic crust. The researchers work in an area of the world that is extremely hard to reach. As Dr Andreas Teske of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill expresses "this study would not have been possible without the close collaboration of microbiologists, geochemists and geologists from the US, Denmark, France, Germany, the UK and Japan each team member going to the limits of what was technically possible. Such strong proof for life in the deep ocean crust has eluded scientists for a long time".
Exploring the oceanic crust is still a young science. However, the prospects are great.
"Life in the deeply buried oceanic crust is supported by energy-sources that are fundamentally different from the ones that support life in both the mud layers in the sea bed and the oceanic water column. It is possible that life based on chemosynthesis is found on other planets, where the chemical environment permits. Our continued studies will hopefully reveal whether this is the case, and also what role life in the oceanic crust plays in the overall carbon cycle on our own planet," says Dr Lever.
###
Read more
'Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt' by Mark A. Lever, Olivier Rouxel, Jeffrey C. Alt, Nobumichi Shimizu, Shuhei Ono, Rosalind M. Coggon, Wayne C. Shanks, III, Laura Lapham, Marcus Elvert, Xavier Prieto-Mollar, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Fumio Inagaki, and Andreas Teske in Science, 15 March 2013.
For more information, please contact
Mark A. Lever
Danish National Research Foundation's Center for Geomicrobiology
Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University
45-8715-4341/2172-8473
Andreas P. Teske
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
919-843-2463 teske@email.unc.edu
Olivier Rouxel
IFREMER
French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea
Centre de Brest
33-2290-08541 orouxel@ifremer.fr
Jeffrey C. Alt
The University of Michigan, Earth and Environmental Sciences
734-764-8380 jalt@umich.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Energy from the interior of the Earth supports life in a global ecosystemPublic release date: 14-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mark A. Lever mark.lever@biology.au.dk 45-21-72-84-73 Aarhus University
The core drill slides through a drill pipe, extending from the drill ship at the sea surface, through a water depth of 2.5 km and hundreds of metres of sediment, into the oceanic crust off the west coast of North America. Microbiologist Mark Lever is on board the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's research vessel JOIDES Resolution to examine rock samples from the depths. The results of the studies he and his colleagues carried out are published today in the journal Science.
"We're providing the first direct evidence of life in the deeply buried oceanic crust. Our findings suggest that this spatially vast ecosystem is largely supported by chemosynthesis," says Dr Lever, at the time a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, and now a scientist at the Center for Geomicrobiology at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Energy from reduced iron
We have learned that sunlight is a prerequisite for life on Earth. Photosynthetic organisms use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into organic material that makes up the foundation of Earth's food chains. Life in the porous rock material in the oceanic crust is fundamentally different. Energy and therefore life's driving force derives from geochemical processes.
"There are small veins in the basaltic oceanic crust and water runs through them. The water probably reacts with reduced iron compounds, such as olivine, in the basalt and releases hydrogen. Microorganisms use the hydrogen as a source of energy to convert carbon dioxide into organic material," explains Dr Lever. "So far, evidence for life deep within oceanic crust was based on chemical and textural signatures in rocks, but direct proof was lacking", adds Dr Olivier Rouxel of the French IFREMER institute.
Our biosphere is extended
The oceanic crust covers 60 per cent of the Earth's surface. Taking the volume into consideration, this makes it the largest ecosystem on Earth. Since the 1970s, researchers have found local ecosystems, such as hot springs, which are sustained by chemical energy.
"The hot springs are mainly found along the edges of the continental plates, where the newly formed oceanic crust meets seawater. However, the bulk of oceanic crust is deeply buried under layers of mud and hundreds to thousands of kilometres away from the geologically active areas on the edges of continental plates. Until now, we've had no proof that there is life down there," says Dr Lever.
Even though this enormous ecosystem is probably mainly based on hydrogen, several different forms of life are found here. The hydrogen-oxidising microorganisms create organic material that forms the basis for other microorganisms in the basalt. Some organisms get their energy by producing methane or by reducing sulphate, while others get energy by breaking down organic carbon by means of fermentation.
Basalt is their home
Mark Lever is a specialist in sulphur-reducing and methane-producing organisms, and these were the organisms he also chose to examine among the samples taken from the oceanic crust. These organisms are able to use hydrogen as a source of energy, and are typically not found in seawater. Dr Lever had to make sure that no microorganisms had been introduced as contaminants during the drilling process, or transported from bottom seawater entering the basaltic veins.
"We collected rock samples 55 kilometres from the nearest outcrop where seawater is entering the basalt. Here the water in the basaltic veins has a chemical composition that differs fundamentally from seawater, for instance, it is devoid of oxygen produced by photosynthesis. The microorganisms we found are native to basalt," explains Dr Lever.
Active life or dead relics?
Dr Lever's basalt is 3.5 million years old, but laboratory cultures show that the DNA belonging to these organisms is not fossil. "It all began when I extracted DNA from the rock samples we had brought up. To my great surprise, I identified genes that are found in methane-producing microorganisms. We subsequently analysed the chemical signatures in the rock material, and our work with carbon isotopes provided clear evidence that the organic material did not derive from dead plankton introduced by seawater, but was formed within the oceanic crust. In addition, sulphur isotopes showed us that microbial cycling of sulphur had taken place in the same rocks. These could all have been fossil signatures of life, but we cultured microorganisms from basalt rocks in the laboratory and were able to measure microbial methane production," explains Dr Lever. Dr Jeff Alt of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor adds that "Our work proves that microbes play an important role in basalt chemistry, and thereby influence ocean chemistry".
Chemosynthetic life plays a role
Mark Lever and his colleagues developed new sampling methods to avoid sampling microbial contaminants from seawater, which is often a major problem in explorations of the oceanic crust. The researchers work in an area of the world that is extremely hard to reach. As Dr Andreas Teske of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill expresses "this study would not have been possible without the close collaboration of microbiologists, geochemists and geologists from the US, Denmark, France, Germany, the UK and Japan each team member going to the limits of what was technically possible. Such strong proof for life in the deep ocean crust has eluded scientists for a long time".
Exploring the oceanic crust is still a young science. However, the prospects are great.
"Life in the deeply buried oceanic crust is supported by energy-sources that are fundamentally different from the ones that support life in both the mud layers in the sea bed and the oceanic water column. It is possible that life based on chemosynthesis is found on other planets, where the chemical environment permits. Our continued studies will hopefully reveal whether this is the case, and also what role life in the oceanic crust plays in the overall carbon cycle on our own planet," says Dr Lever.
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'Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt' by Mark A. Lever, Olivier Rouxel, Jeffrey C. Alt, Nobumichi Shimizu, Shuhei Ono, Rosalind M. Coggon, Wayne C. Shanks, III, Laura Lapham, Marcus Elvert, Xavier Prieto-Mollar, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Fumio Inagaki, and Andreas Teske in Science, 15 March 2013.
For more information, please contact
Mark A. Lever
Danish National Research Foundation's Center for Geomicrobiology
Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University
45-8715-4341/2172-8473
Andreas P. Teske
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
919-843-2463 teske@email.unc.edu
Olivier Rouxel
IFREMER
French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea
Centre de Brest
33-2290-08541 orouxel@ifremer.fr
Jeffrey C. Alt
The University of Michigan, Earth and Environmental Sciences
734-764-8380 jalt@umich.edu
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DeveloperAuction, a platform where engineers can put themselves out to dozens or hundreds of potential employers, raised $2.7 million from NEA, Sierra Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Google Ventures, Jeff Clavier’s SoftTech VC, and John Suliman’s Step Partners. Part of the idea behind this round is to tap the portfolio companies of each of these venture firms. DeveloperAuction is trying reverse the way that in-house recruiters attract top-flight engineers. Developers that are actively interested in leaving their current companies can apply to be part of a batch of 150 or so candidates. They put themselves and their resumes out there for venture-backed companies like Dropbox and Quora to bid on with salary and equity offers over a two-week period. If they’re interested, the engineers can follow up for interviews and go through the normal hiring process. So far, that’s resulted $225 million in job offers for developers on the site. The company used to run auctions about every six to eight weeks, but eventually we could see them stepping up to do auctions in different regions or for different skill levels (like for fresh college grads or engineering managers). If the engineer follows through and ends up taking a job with the company, the employer pays DeveloperAuction 15 percent of their base salary. That fee ends up being a little bit less than what a standard recruiting agency might charge at 20 to 25 percent. DeveloperAuction also splits their bounty with the candidate, sending them 20 percent of the 15 percent commission on their first day of the job (plus some balloons and Dom Perignon). The platform also controls who sees which candidates to prevent the awkward situation where a current employer sees one of their engineers. Matt Mickiewicz, one of the company’s co-founders, says that they’re seeing 80 to 90 percent of the employers coming back. He says the platform is also helping talent in other parts of the country compete on the same level as Silicon Valley developers. “A big missed opportunity for startups is that they only want to hire from within 50 miles,” he said. “If they would just pay for a Southwest plane ticket, they might end up getting a much better price and not facing nearly as much competition.” He also says that engineers rarely choose the top-paying bidder and instead go for companies that are a better cultural fit for them. The team behind DeveloperAuction
Vice President Joe Biden?s press office has apologized to a student reporter who was asked by a volunteer staffer to delete photos taken at a vice presidential event near Washington.
The apology was in response to a formal complaint lodged by Lucy Dalglish, dean of the University of Maryland?s journalism school, where the reporter is a student.
The student, a reporter at Capital News Service, a news organization run by the university, took photos of Biden at a domestic violence event in Rockville, Maryland, while outside of the designated press area.
A volunteer staffer not accustomed to dealing with media asked the reporter, Jeremy Barr, to delete the photos. According to a Capital News Service account, the staffer asked to watch as the reporter erased the photos from his smartphone.
Dalglish wrote in a letter to the vice president?s press office that the incident was ?pure intimidation.?
Biden press secretary Kendra Barkoff confirmed that the office had apologized.
?This was an unfortunate mistake by a staffer who does not regularly interact with the press. Once we learned about it I immediately apologized to the dean of the College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, the reporter involved and to the newspaper. It will never happen again,? she said.
The Capitol News Service reported that Adrianne Flynn, a professor and editor in its Washington bureau, called the incident a ?clear violation of the First Amendment.?
?This is uncalled for and completely wrong,? Flynn said. (Reuters)
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Andy Forssell will take over the position of CEO at online video company Hulu later this month, following the long-expected departure of the company's current chief executive Jason Kilar. The succession plan was announced today in an internal memo from Kilar to Hulu staffers that was subsequently made public on Hulu's official blog.
In this image taken from video provided by CTV, Monsignor Guido Marini, master of liturgical ceremonies, closes the double doors to the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City Tuesday, March 12, 2013, at the start of the conclave of cardinals to elect the next pope. Marini closed the doors after shouting "Extra omnes," Latin for "all out," telling everyone but those taking part in the conclave to leave the frescoed hall. He then locked it. (AP Photo/CTV)
In this image taken from video provided by CTV, Monsignor Guido Marini, master of liturgical ceremonies, closes the double doors to the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City Tuesday, March 12, 2013, at the start of the conclave of cardinals to elect the next pope. Marini closed the doors after shouting "Extra omnes," Latin for "all out," telling everyone but those taking part in the conclave to leave the frescoed hall. He then locked it. (AP Photo/CTV)
Black smoke billows from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, meaning Roman Catholic cardinals have not elected a pope in their second or third rounds of balloting, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Cardinals voted twice Wednesday in Michelangelo's famed frescoed chapel after a first vote Tuesday in a conclave to elect a successor to Benedict XVI, who stunned the Catholic world last month by becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Mountain Butorac waits in St. Peter's Square during the second day of voting by cardinals to elect a new pope at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Their first ballot on Tuesday yielded no winner and a great plume of black smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel chimney. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
VATICAN CITY (AP) ? The papal conclave is steeped in mystery ? and the church likes it that way. Elaborate ritual and veils of secrecy, after all, are fundamental to the papal mystique, seen as the glue that binds worshipers in faith.
But in this conclave, the church appears to be making some concessions to the instant clarity expected in the Internet era: Just look at the thick plumes of black smoke that poured from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday and Wednesday to tell the world that the votes had not yielded a winner.
It was a big contrast to conclaves past in which confusion has reigned over the smoke color, with pilgrims in St. Peter's Square screaming: "It's white! ... no, no ... it's black!!"
The smoke ritual itself dates back more than a century. And, regardless of questions of color, the Vatican has no intention of changing the tradition now ? saying the uncertainty is part of the beauty of the process.
"A little suspense is good for all of us," said Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi. "Don't expect Swiss-watch precision."
Mystery is a big idea in the Catholic faith. Its deepest meaning is that parts of faith are unknowable through reason and intellect alone. Wafting incense, Gregorian chants, ringing bells and other grand rituals of the liturgy are seen as outward manifestations of this concept.
In the conclave, it's the mystery of the Holy Spirit and not a political agenda that is supposed to guide the cardinals in their selection. (In reality, however, everybody knows that politics plays an important role.)
Conclaves weren't always this secret.
They were once public events witnessed by hundreds of ordinary people who would watch the voting a bit like one might a sporting event. And politics was much more overtly a factor than it is today: Until the 20th century, some European royalty could veto the choice of the cardinals.
Now super-secrecy prevails, with cellphones, computers and anything connecting the cardinal-electors to the outside world banned.
"Thank God there's still all the good old-fashioned things, like burning the ballots and the chimney going up," said Greg Burke, an ex-Fox News correspondent who is now a communications adviser to the Vatican. "What's older than a smoke signal? It's great that that's there and it's not one of these electronic vote things that a red or green light goes off."
"Why is a conclave so exciting?" he added. "Because we don't know what's going on there and we're not going to know until the smoke comes out."
In 2005, for the conclave that made Benedict pope, the Vatican tried something different with the smoke because of complaints dating to the previous conclave in 1978. A second stove was installed that produced smoke from a chemical compound whipped up by the Vatican's own technicians. The smoke from the ballots burned in the first stove and the colored smoke from the second stove were funneled up through one pipe that leads to the chimney and the outside world.
But that solution hardly made the distinction between black and white smoke any clearer.
The Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, said chemicals have now permanently replaced the wet straw traditionally used to create the black smoke. The clarity and abundance of black smoke this time around shows that the Vatican has indeed improved its technology.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit expert on the Vatican, complained in the days before this conclave that, while he likes the smoke signals, the uncertainty over their color takes tradition too far.
"This is not mystery," he said. "This is incompetence."
Maybe the ancient Catholic church is finally learning from its mistakes.
Mar. 13, 2013 ? An iron imbalance caused by prion proteins collecting in the brain is a likely cause of cell death in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have found.
The breakthrough follows discoveries that certain proteins found in the brains of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients also regulate iron. The results suggest that neurotoxicity by the form of iron, called redox-active iron, may be a trait of neurodegenerative conditions in all three diseases, the researchers say.
Further, the role of the normal prion protein known as PrPc in iron metabolism may provide a target for strategies to maintain iron balance and reduce iron-induced neurotoxicity in patients suffering from CJD, a rare degenerative disease for which no cure yet exists.
The researchers report that lack of PrPC hampers iron uptake and storage and more findings are now in the online edition of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
"There are many skeptics who think iron is a bystander or end-product of neuronal death and has no role to play in neurodegenerative conditions," said Neena Singh, a professor of pathology and neurology at Case Western Reserve and the paper's senior author. "We're not saying that iron imbalance is the only cause, but failure to maintain stable levels of iron in the brain appears to contribute significantly to neuronal death."
Prions are misfolded forms of PrPC that are infectious and disease-causing agents of CJD. PrPc is the normal form present in all tissues including the brain. PrPc acts as a ferrireductase, that is, it helps to convert oxidized iron to a form that can be taken up and utilized by the cells, the scientists show.
In their investigation, mouse models that lacked PrPC were iron-deficient. By supplementing their diets with excess inorganic iron, normal levels of iron in the body were restored. When the supplements stopped, the mice returned to being iron-deficient.
Examination of iron metabolism pathways showed that the lack of PrPC impaired iron uptake and storage, and alternate mechanisms of iron uptake failed to compensate for the deficiency.
Cells have a tight regulatory system for iron uptake, storage and release. PrPC is an essential element in this process, and its aggregation in CJD possibly results in an environment of iron imbalance that is damaging to neuronal cells, Singh explained
It is likely that as CJD progresses and PrPC forms insoluble aggregates, loss of ferrireductase function combined with sequestration of iron in prion aggregates leads to insufficiency of iron in diseased brains, creating a potentially toxic environment, as reported earlier by this group and featured in Nature Journal club.
Recently, members of the Singh research team also helped to identify a highly accurate test to confirm the presence of CJD in living sufferers. They found that iron imbalance in the brain is reflected as a specific change in the levels of iron-management proteins other than PrPc in the cerebrospinal fluid. The fluid can be tapped to diagnose the disease with 88.9 percent accuracy, the researchers reported in the journal Antioxidants & Redox Signaling online last month.
Singh' s team is now investigating how prion protein functions to convert oxidized iron to a usable form. They are also evaluating the role of prion protein in brain iron metabolism, and whether the iron imbalance observed in cases of CJD, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease is reflected in the cerebrospinal fluid. A specific change in the fluid could provide a disease-specific diagnostic test for these disorders.
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It?s common knowledge for most gamers that Mario has been in countless games over the years, in which he has taken on a bevy of different roles and occupations. From race-car driver to boxing referee, Mario has done it all. Curiously enough, just about the only job Mario hasn?t performed in a video game is that of a plumber, but that?s completely beside the point. Wrecking Crew, the latest 3DS Virtual Console release, has Mario donning his hardhat for a bit of construction, or, more accurately, destruction.
Originally released as a launch title for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Wrecking Crew is an early entry is what is now known as the puzzle platform genre. Each stage takes place in a vertically scrolling arena filled with breakable walls and ladders. Your goal is to destroy all of the breakable objects with your giant hammer while avoiding enemy characters and frantic fireballs. What sets this one apart as a puzzle game rather than a straight platformer is your inability to jump. Because of this, you?ll have to pay close attention to the stage and figure out the safest path for Mario to travel, without blocking yourself off from reaching a particular platform by accidentally destroying a ladder that you may need to climb.
While the concept may be simple, this is definitely not a puzzle game for the faint of heart. Early levels tend to be fun and light-hearted, but it quickly takes a nasty turn with a difficulty curve that isn?t to be scoffed at. Luckily, you can choose which stage you would like to start at from the menu screen, so losing all of your lives on a particularly difficult level does not necessarily mean starting the whole game over. There are 100 different stages to complete, with bonus stages staggered between, so being able to choose your starting level is almost necessary for anyone hoping to experience them all.
With simple gameplay comes a simple control scheme. The 3DS D-Pad or Circle Pad is used to move Mario around, while pressing either A or B will cause him to swing a crushing blow with his hammer. As mentioned before, you don?t even have the ability to jump, so the controls remain simple, and they?re responsive. There is also a two-player mode in which a second player takes on the role of Luigi, but the gameplay involves trading the 3DS off to player 2 once the first player?s turn is over rather than sharing a screen, much like Super Mario Bros. Also like the aforementioned 3DS VC game featuring the pair of plumbers is the necessity to hold L and R while pressing Y to switch to the second player?s controls. This requirement to swap controllers is a strange inclusion, but necessary for anyone craving multiplayer action.
One of the more fascinating things about this game is that it features an additional play mode titled ?Design,? which is essentially an archaic level editor. While level editors are becoming more common in modern games, with an emphasis on community sharing, there aren?t too many games from the NES era that allowed you to customize your own stages. Design mode allows you to create a short campaign of four customized stages that you can then save and play whenever you?d like. Creating stages is easy as it only involves moving around the stage area in a grid pattern and pressing either A or B to cycle through and place objects, but it gets the job done. While this definitely isn?t the main selling point, it is a good way to spend some extra time on the title once you?ve exhausted the campaign.
As with many early NES games, Wrecking Crew doesn't have the most impressive artwork to look at, but the pixel sprites and environments get the job done. The soundtrack is satisfyingly 8-bit, and many players will be surprised at how familiar the music may be, with certain elements making appearances in the Super Smash Bros. series. Like the graphics, the soundtrack is not the most remarkable in gaming history, but iconic nonetheless.
Wrecking Crew is a solid puzzle platforming game that manages to be just as entertaining on the 3DS today as it was on the NES nearly 30 years ago. While the multiplayer and design modes may be simplistic and slightly flawed, they still add a bit of variety and replayability to an otherwise straightforward game. With its iconic music and lasting appeal in terms of gameplay, fans of the genre won?t want to miss out on this piece of gaming history.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African media and e-commerce firm Naspers Holdings will merge two of its Russian internet sites with rival Avito.ru in a deal worth at least $570 million, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Cape Town-based Naspers, which has transformed itself into a $29 billion internet powerhouse by buying business in fast-growing markets, plans to merge its Slando.ru and OLX.ru classified sites with Avito, the FT said in its online edition.
The deal, which would create the world's third-largest classified website, would also include Naspers investing $50 million in cash into Avito, giving it an 18.6 percent stake, the paper said.
After the deal Avito is likely to hold a 25 percent share of the Russian classified market in terms of traffic, the paper said.
No one was immediately available for comment at Naspers.
Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson, right, drives against the New York Knicks' Tyson Chandler (6) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 11, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson, right, drives against the New York Knicks' Tyson Chandler (6) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 11, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
New York Knicks' Raymond Felton (2) drives against Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 11, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
New York Knicks' J.R. Smith lays up a shot against Golden State Warriors' Andrew Bogut during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 11, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
New York Knicks' Tyson Chandler (6) lays up a shot over Golden State Warriors' Harrison Barnes (40) and Andrew Bogut, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 11, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony shoots over Golden State Warriors' Harrison Barnes during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 11, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) ? By the time Mark Jackson walked off the floor and into the Golden State Warriors' locker room late Monday night, the coach already had a text message from his mother, Marie, who watched her son's win against the Knicks on national television from the family's New York home.
"Way to get them back," she wrote.
From the Bay Area to the Big Apple, Jackson's new team sure sent a message.
Stephen Curry scored 26 points, David Lee had 21 and the Warriors routed the Knicks 92-63 on Monday night for their most lopsided win of the season.
It was the best defensive performance for the franchise since the Philadelphia Warriors beat the Milwaukee Hawks 69-63 on Dec. 28, 1953.
"That's a heck of a defensive night," Jackson said. "It takes a combination of great defense and, at times, bad offense. I wish we could take all the credit."
Almost two weeks after his 54-point masterpiece at Madison Square Garden, Curry shared the spotlight with his co-captain in front of a sellout crowd announced at 19,596. He was 4 for 7 from 3-point range, while Lee finished with 10 rebounds and eight assists after helping the Warriors go ahead by 27 points in the third quarter.
"It didn't matter how we won. We just needed a win," Curry said after Golden State snapped a two-game skid. "This was an important win for us. I'm glad we got the win, especially with the way it ended last time in New York."
Carmelo Anthony had 14 points and 10 rebounds after missing New York's previous three games because of a nagging right knee, and J.R. Smith scored nine points before he was ejected in the third quarter for a flagrant foul. Anthony was 4 for 15 from the floor as the Knicks shot 27 percent in the opener of a five-game West Coast trip.
It was the lowest scoring output for the Knicks this season. It also was the lowest shooting percentage of the season for any NBA team, according to the Warriors.
"This is definitely not the way you want to start a road trip," said Knicks center Tyson Chandler, who had four points and eight rebounds.
New York withstood Curry's career high in points in that memorable 109-105 win over the Warriors on Feb. 27. Curry received some help for the rematch ? from a familiar Knicks face.
Lee served a one-game suspension during that game in New York for his role in a scrum against Indiana and also missed Saturday's loss against Milwaukee because of a bruised right knee. He wore a white wrap around the knee against his former team but showed no major limitations.
Curry made his first three 3-pointers and had 11 points in the first 6:14 of the game. He helped the Warriors take a 23-14 lead that incensed Knicks coach Mike Woodson.
"Our pace was way out in left field somewhere," Woodson said.
After scoring only four points in the first quarter of his 54-point performance, Curry appeared on his way to another big night. New York briefly began trapping Curry off pick-and-rolls, and everybody from Anthony to Chandler chased the diminutive guard all over the perimeter.
Curry still confused the Knicks more often than not, getting them to switch or go underneath screens for no apparent reason. He missed his last two shots in the quarter before coming on strong again in the second, hitting a pull-up 3 over Raymond Felton and finding Klay Thompson for another 3 during a 23-7 run that put the Warriors ahead 49-32.
Curry, Thompson (23 points) and Lee outscored New York by themselves. And Curry and Thompson had almost as many made field goals (nine apiece) as the Knicks had as a team (20).
"We just needed a win, period," Lee said. "Not because we'd lost two in a row, just because at this point, every game becomes really important."
New York struggled in large part because its leading scorer did, too.
Anthony opened the game 2 of 10 from the floor and showed little of his usual burst or bruising style. He also took several contested or difficult jumpers, especially once the Warriors took control.
Anthony said his knee is not causing pain, just "irritation."
"I didn't really know how it was going to respond," he said. "It was just nagging, just agitating at this point. The stiffness is still back there so it's just a matter of time and seeing what happens over time."
With Curry commanding so much of the attention, Lee led the way in the third quarter. He had a putback layup and a fast-break dunk during a 17-3 spurt that put the game away.
Smith, who started the second half, capped Golden State's run with a flagrant-2 foul for coming down hard with two hands on Harrison Barnes' layup attempt, swiping the rookie's head. Barnes made 1 of 2 free throws, and Thompson hit another jumper that gave Golden State a 67-40 lead.
Smith protested the video review by lead official Joe Crawford, then jogged off the court as Warriors fans peppered him with jeers. A few minutes later, Woodson pulled Anthony out, though he returned for a few minutes midway through the fourth with New York down 20.
NOTES: Golden State's most lopsided win of the season was a 115-93 victory at Atlanta on Dec. 15. ... The Knicks announced that Amare Stoudemire had surgery on his right knee. He's expected to miss six weeks. ... Knicks reserve F Rasheed Wallace traveled with the team and will do his rehabilitation on the road. Wallace walked around the arena on crutches. Woodson said Wallace is still trying to return in the playoffs.
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DeveloperAuction, a platform where engineers can put themselves out to dozens or hundreds of potential employers, raised $2.7 million from NEA, Sierra Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Google Ventures, Jeff Clavier’s SoftTech VC, and John Suliman’s Step Partners. Part of the idea behind this round is to tap the portfolio companies of each of these venture firms. DeveloperAuction is trying reverse the way that in-house recruiters attract top-flight engineers. Developers that are actively interested in leaving their current companies can apply to be part of a batch of 150 or so candidates. They put themselves and their resumes out there for venture-backed companies like Dropbox and Quora to bid on with salary and equity offers over a two-week period. If they’re interested, the engineers can follow up for interviews and go through the normal hiring process. So far, that’s resulted $225 million in job offers for developers on the site. The company used to run auctions about every six to eight weeks, but eventually we could see them stepping up to do auctions in different regions or for different skill levels (like for fresh college grads or engineering managers). If the engineer follows through and ends up taking a job with the company, the employer pays DeveloperAuction 15 percent of their base salary. That fee ends up being a little bit less than what a standard recruiting agency might charge at 20 to 25 percent. DeveloperAuction also splits their bounty with the candidate, sending them 20 percent of the 15 percent commission on their first day of the job (plus some balloons and Dom Perignon). The platform also controls who sees which candidates to prevent the awkward situation where a current employer sees one of their engineers. Matt Mickiewicz, one of the company’s co-founders, says that they’re seeing 80 to 90 percent of the employers coming back. He says the platform is also helping talent in other parts of the country compete on the same level as Silicon Valley developers. “A big missed opportunity for startups is that they only want to hire from within 50 miles,” he said. “If they would just pay for a Southwest plane ticket, they might end up getting a much better price and not facing nearly as much competition.” He also says that engineers rarely choose the top-paying bidder and instead go for companies that are a better cultural fit for them. The team behind DeveloperAuction
Vice President Joe Biden?s press office has apologized to a student reporter who was asked by a volunteer staffer to delete photos taken at a vice presidential event near Washington.
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