Facebook has started sending out warning emails to users whose personal information has been compromised by the security bug uncovered yesterday. The bug exposed some six million Facebook users' email addresses and telephone numbers to other site users because Facebook had "inadvertently stored [it] in association with people?s contact information as part of their account on Facebook".
MacRumors has laid its hands on a couple of images purporting to show the inside and rear shell of the next iPhone.
The images seem to show the same logic board that appeared in a leak earlier this week. While the main chip isn't conventionally branded with an Apple A-series prefix, the date stamp suggests that the silicon was manufactured on the 43rd week of 2012. Rather older than expected, that suggests that this could be a very early prototype. Or, perhaps, fake. Difficult to tell.
Elsewhere, the rear shell looks broadly similar to the current iPhone 5, though it does sport a a vertical pill-shaped window for the LED flash. That suggests a dual LED flash, rather than the single one found on current iPhones. While there's no telling if this is the real deal or otherwise, subtle incremental changes are perhaps more believable than grand sweeping redesigns. Regardless, expect to see much more where this came from over the coming months. [Mac Rumors]
Study of insect bacteria reveals genetic secrets of symbiosisPublic release date: 20-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John McCutcheon john.mccutcheon@umontana.edu 406-243-6071 The University of Montana
Mealybugs only eat plant sap, but sap doesn't contain all the essential amino acids the insects need to survive. Luckily, the bugs have a symbiotic relationship with two species of bacteria one living inside the other in a situation unique to known biology to manufacture the nutrients sap doesn't provide.
The net result: The bacteria get a comfy mealybug home, and the bugs get the nutrition they need to live.
University of Montana microbiologist John McCutcheon describes such mutually beneficial relationships used to solve life's little problems as "almost hilariously complicated. But animal-bacterial relationships are extremely common in nature, and it's my goal in life to help people understand that it's normal."
McCutcheon and his research partners recently delved deeper into the genes involved in the "tripartite nested mealybug symbiosis," and their work was published in the June 20 issue of Cell, a prestigious scientific journal. The researchers discovered the already complex three-way symbiosis actually depends on genes from six different organisms three more than the number of species that currently exist in the symbiosis.
Tremblaya princeps is the larger of the two bacteria species living within special organs inside mealybugs. Tremblaya houses the smaller bacterial species, Moranella endobia, within its cytoplasm. But what makes Tremblaya truly odd is the size of its genome, or genetic code. With only 120 genes, its genome is the smallest known and smaller than many scientists consider necessary for life. By comparison, common E. coli bacteria have about 4,200 genes and humans have about 21,000.
"We wanted to discover how this genome got so small," McCutcheon said. "We suspected Tremblaya's genome may have gotten smaller by transferring genes to the host animal, which is called horizontal transfer."
The researchers looked for genes in the mealybug genome that resemble bacteria genes. However, after extensive analysis they only found one weak possibility for horizontal transfer from Tremblaya.
"Our hypothesis that Tremblaya was transferring genes to the host was dead wrong," said McCutcheon. They did, however, find 22 other bacterial genes mixed in with the mealybug code genes that seem to support activities missing in Tremblaya, Moranella and the mealybug.
How can this be?
"The genes are probably from historical bacterial infections," McCutcheon said. "These bacteria are no longer present in the mealybugs we work with, but their horizontally transferred genes are, and these genes allow the symbiosis to work."
The research team also examined a strain of Tremblaya that doesn't have Moranella living inside it. This variety employs about 50 more genes than the one containing Moranella, which strongly suggests Moranella plays a key role in allowing the insect-dwelling Tremblaya to operate with such a tiny genome.
McCutcheon said Tremblaya, with its shrinking genome, in many ways resembles organelles called mitochondria tiny structures found within all plant and animal cells that scientists believe started out as symbiotic bacteria in the early history of life. The mealybug/bacteria relationship he studies may illustrate one pathway bacteria take in becoming essential and highly integrated components of other cells.
"So this research really touches on some fundamental questions of the origin of life," he said. "It's exciting to see if we can get some insight into the origin of organelles."
McCutcheon said this study involved an international cast of 12 collaborators. Filip Husnik, the study's lead author, is a Czech doctoral student from the University of South Bohemia who worked in McCutcheon's UM lab. Other team members were from Japan, England, California, Utah and Florida.
The study was funded by a $529,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
"Our work illustrates how an animal's interactions with bacteria can drive hidden organismal complexity," McCutcheon said. "A tree is more than a tree, and an animal is more than an animal. They are really mosaics of plants and animals and bacteria all working together."
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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.
Study of insect bacteria reveals genetic secrets of symbiosisPublic release date: 20-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John McCutcheon john.mccutcheon@umontana.edu 406-243-6071 The University of Montana
Mealybugs only eat plant sap, but sap doesn't contain all the essential amino acids the insects need to survive. Luckily, the bugs have a symbiotic relationship with two species of bacteria one living inside the other in a situation unique to known biology to manufacture the nutrients sap doesn't provide.
The net result: The bacteria get a comfy mealybug home, and the bugs get the nutrition they need to live.
University of Montana microbiologist John McCutcheon describes such mutually beneficial relationships used to solve life's little problems as "almost hilariously complicated. But animal-bacterial relationships are extremely common in nature, and it's my goal in life to help people understand that it's normal."
McCutcheon and his research partners recently delved deeper into the genes involved in the "tripartite nested mealybug symbiosis," and their work was published in the June 20 issue of Cell, a prestigious scientific journal. The researchers discovered the already complex three-way symbiosis actually depends on genes from six different organisms three more than the number of species that currently exist in the symbiosis.
Tremblaya princeps is the larger of the two bacteria species living within special organs inside mealybugs. Tremblaya houses the smaller bacterial species, Moranella endobia, within its cytoplasm. But what makes Tremblaya truly odd is the size of its genome, or genetic code. With only 120 genes, its genome is the smallest known and smaller than many scientists consider necessary for life. By comparison, common E. coli bacteria have about 4,200 genes and humans have about 21,000.
"We wanted to discover how this genome got so small," McCutcheon said. "We suspected Tremblaya's genome may have gotten smaller by transferring genes to the host animal, which is called horizontal transfer."
The researchers looked for genes in the mealybug genome that resemble bacteria genes. However, after extensive analysis they only found one weak possibility for horizontal transfer from Tremblaya.
"Our hypothesis that Tremblaya was transferring genes to the host was dead wrong," said McCutcheon. They did, however, find 22 other bacterial genes mixed in with the mealybug code genes that seem to support activities missing in Tremblaya, Moranella and the mealybug.
How can this be?
"The genes are probably from historical bacterial infections," McCutcheon said. "These bacteria are no longer present in the mealybugs we work with, but their horizontally transferred genes are, and these genes allow the symbiosis to work."
The research team also examined a strain of Tremblaya that doesn't have Moranella living inside it. This variety employs about 50 more genes than the one containing Moranella, which strongly suggests Moranella plays a key role in allowing the insect-dwelling Tremblaya to operate with such a tiny genome.
McCutcheon said Tremblaya, with its shrinking genome, in many ways resembles organelles called mitochondria tiny structures found within all plant and animal cells that scientists believe started out as symbiotic bacteria in the early history of life. The mealybug/bacteria relationship he studies may illustrate one pathway bacteria take in becoming essential and highly integrated components of other cells.
"So this research really touches on some fundamental questions of the origin of life," he said. "It's exciting to see if we can get some insight into the origin of organelles."
McCutcheon said this study involved an international cast of 12 collaborators. Filip Husnik, the study's lead author, is a Czech doctoral student from the University of South Bohemia who worked in McCutcheon's UM lab. Other team members were from Japan, England, California, Utah and Florida.
The study was funded by a $529,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
"Our work illustrates how an animal's interactions with bacteria can drive hidden organismal complexity," McCutcheon said. "A tree is more than a tree, and an animal is more than an animal. They are really mosaics of plants and animals and bacteria all working together."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain star was due to meet the university's football team, but his plans were curtailed by the drama
Several people have been injured in Shanghai after fans flocked to see David Beckham on his visit to China, causing a stampede.
Beckham was due to meet members of the Shanghai Tongji University football team, with a mass of fans gathering at the stadium to catch a glimpse of the star.
But the crowd chaos was such that Beckham never got the opportunity to meet the team, and he latter addressed the stampede and injuries on his Facebook page.
"I had an incredible response from everyone at Shanghai Tongji University today," read the post. "Sorry I couldn't get out on the pitch to see the teams but it was impossible to get through the massive crowds.
"I heard there were a few injuries, I hope the fans are ok and I wish them a speedy recovery."
Former Rep. Anthony Weiner says he condemned a voter who used a slur against Christine Quinn. (Mario Tama/Getty??
NEW YORK?Armed with a laser pointer and several PowerPoint slides, former Rep. Anthony Weiner sought to distinguish himself on Thursday as the only Democratic mayoral hopeful willing to embrace what he called the "big" and "bold" ideas with a speech calling for a dramatic transformation of the way New Yorkers receive their health care.
But all it took was an apparent throw-away comment on a street corner several weeks ago to overshadow Weiner's latest attempt to turn the page from being the candidate who was forced out of Congress in a sexting scandal.
Instead of talking about health care, Weiner was forced to respond to questions about a published report that suggested he failed to strongly condemn a voter who used a homophobic slur to describe his mayoral rival Christine Quinn.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Weiner, at a recent campaign stop, spoke to an elderly voter who described Quinn, who is gay, as a ?dyke.?
Weiner, according to the paper, did not initially offer a reaction, asking the woman to sign a petition that would help him qualify for the city?s mayoral ballot. But the Post reported Weiner quickly shifted gears when he noticed the ?incredulous reaction of a reporter.?
?You really shouldn?t talk that way about people,? Weiner told the woman, according to the Post.
?Oh, I?m sorry,? the woman replied.
?It?s OK,? Weiner reportedly said. ?It?s not your fault.?
The story forced Weiner into damage-control mode, telling reporters that the conversation with the woman occurred when he was standing in a "scrum of people." He insisted again and again he had condemned her comment and didn't recall any further discussion with the woman.
?When I heard the woman make that remark, I immediately admonished her not to say anything further,? Weiner told reporters, who surrounded him with tape recorders and cameras. ?I don?t have any memory of saying anything beyond that to the woman.?
He added, ?Let me make very clear that any utterance of any type of slur against any community I won?t tolerate.?
Weiner repeatedly said he has a ?long record? of supporting gay rights, even though he represented a ?fairly conservative district? in Congress and risked alienating his constituents.
?I feel very strongly about these issues and I did admonish the woman, and if there was something else that was said that was in any way interpreted as anything else, that was wrong. I admonished the woman, and I believe she shouldn?t have said what she said,? Weiner declared. ?There should be no slurs like this of any kind? in the campaign, he added.
While the Quinn campaign had no response, two gay state lawmakers released a statement criticizing Weiner?s initial response to the voter.
?We are appalled by the account in the Washington Post of Anthony Weiner?s unacceptable response to a prospective voter?s homophobic, misogynistic slur in reference to Christine Quinn,? Assemblywoman Deborah Glick and Sen. Brad Hoylman, both of whom have endorsed Quinn, said in a statement. ?Weiner?s response to this blatant display of homophobia is completely inappropriate and extremely alarming.?
The episode overshadowed the health care speech Weiner delivered before a Manhattan policy group on Thursday in which he repeated his call for the creation of a ?single payer? health care system modeled after Medicare and managed and publicly financed by the city. He said his proposal, similar to a plan he pushed while in Congress, would save money by ?streamlining? the administration of the city?s health care and ultimately reducing overall coverage costs for all New Yorkers.
?New York is the ideal laboratory for a single-payer health care system,? Weiner said, pointing to the diversity of the population.
But Weiner offered only vague points about the mechanics of how he would begin to implement such a plan?especially in a political environment where President Barack Obama?s health care plan, which does not go nearly as far, is considered controversial.
He told Yahoo News he did not believe he would have to sign a law implementing the health care changes, but he walked away before offering other details, like whether he would require approval from the City Council or merely seek an executive order.
One element of Weiner?s plan that could generate some opposition from powerful labor unions representing city employees is a plan to ask municipal workers to pay more for their insurance. Under his proposal, current and retired city workers would pay 10 percent of their health care premiums, while smokers would pay 25 percent.
?Everybody has to have some skin in the game" for it to work, Weiner said.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's blossoming protest movement is a coming-of-age for what had been one of Latin America's most politically disengaged youth populations, but does not appear to constitute a major threat to governability or established political parties.
The protests, which gathered steam last week and saw some 200,000 Brazilians demonstrate in a dozen cities on Monday, are unlikely to go away anytime soon. Their broad rallying cry, which includes opposition to corruption and recent bus fare increases, has appealed to virtually any Brazilian with a grievance - and there are plenty of problems to go around.
Yet, at least for now, the movement appears to be far more "Occupy Wall Street" than "Arab Spring" in terms of its motives, demographics and likely outcome.
That is, the protests are a noisy sign of discontent among a swath of the population that is on average richer and better educated than average Brazilians. A survey of demonstrators in Sao Paulo on Monday by polling firm Datafolha indicated they were three times more likely to have a university degree than the rest of the population.
The protests have spread quickly, and generated perhaps outsized buzz, in a country that has one of the world's highest usage rates of social media - 81 percent of respondents told Datafolha they heard about Monday's protest via Facebook.
Their novelty has also been important, as Brazil does not have the recent tradition of political protest seen in Argentina, Venezuela or even Chile. The use of teargas and rubber bullets by police inexperienced in crowd control has added to the shock value and pushed even more sympathizers into the streets.
As such, the protests have become a nationwide phenomenon and could lead President Dilma Rousseff and other politicians to make limited concessions on relatively small issues, such as bus fares, and bigger ones, such as the quality of public spending.
They may continue to grow in numbers and disrupt daily life in Brazilian cities - perhaps for months to come. The protests also add to the sensation that Brazil, after a decade in which seemingly everything went right, has become bogged down in rising inflation, crime and social unrest.
But the movement is just as notable for what it is not.
Unlike the unrest that swept the Arab world earlier this decade and Turkey more recently, the protesters are not targeted at a specific leader - or even the federal government.
Just a quarter of demonstrators told Datafolha they were protesting against politicians - behind bus fares (56 percent), corruption (40 percent) and police repression (31 percent).
Brazil is a vibrant democracy with a variety of parties, most of them left of center. The country's current leaders - many of whom cut their teeth protesting a military government in the 1970s and 1980s - appear eager to compromise with the protesters and, eventually, try to co-opt them.
Rousseff, herself a former guerrilla, made a carefully crafted statement this week praising the protesters for their "greatness." One senior official in Sao Paulo told Reuters on Wednesday: "We have to learn from this. We'd be stupid not to listen to what these people are saying."
IT'S NOT EUROPE
But the numbers have not been as large as they may seem to outsiders, considering Brazil's huge size.
To use one comparison, Monday's total nationwide turnout, the biggest so far, amounted to about 0.1 percent of Brazil's population of nearly 200 million people. Tuesday's follow-up protest in Sao Paulo rallied about 50,000 people in a metropolitan area of some 20 million.
The movement is also not a sign of massive, European- or Arab-style discontent with the economy. Unlike countries where protests or alternative social movements grew big enough to deeply shake the established order, Brazil does not have a problem with unemployment among youths or the population at large.
In fact, Brazil's problem is the opposite: Near-full employment and rising wages are driving inflation of about 6.5 percent a year, which is the root cause behind the bus fare increases that originally triggered protesters' ire.
If Brazil's recent economic boom is responsible for creating the bottlenecks that have enraged so many of the demonstrators, it will also likely limit their movement's appeal.
A nationwide poll released on Wednesday showed Rousseff's popularity, while down sharply from March, remained very high by global standards. Fifty-five percent of respondents rated her government as "good/great," while 32 percent rated it as "average." Just 13 percent said it was "bad/terrible."
Recent polls have shown similar results.
Financial stability and innovative social programs helped pull some 35 million Brazilians, or about 17 percent of the population, out of poverty during the past decade. Brazil was one of the only countries in the world that matched high economic growth with falling inequality during that period.
Perhaps for that reason, the rising lower-middle class has so far shown few signs of participating in the protests - even if its members support some of the motives, particularly the cry for better public transport.
There are several wild cards that could transform the movement into something more threatening to the status quo.
One of them is violence. Although the marches have been mostly peaceful, clashes between police and protesters have injured more than 100 people, and isolated looting broke out in Sao Paulo on Tuesday. A confrontation that resulted in deaths would likely bring many more Brazilians out onto the streets in support.
The other is the economy. Brazil's currency has slid sharply in recent weeks, and its stock market is down 20 percent this year, reflecting rising pessimism among investors. That could, in turn, result in greater unemployment - in which case, the popular unrest would likely build.
(Reporting by Brian Winter; Editing by Todd Benson and Peter Cooney)
Facebook has started sending out warning emails to users whose personal information has been compromised by the security bug uncovered yesterday. The bug exposed some six million Facebook users' email addresses and telephone numbers to other site users because Facebook had "inadvertently stored [it] in association with people?s contact information as part of their account on Facebook".
MacRumors has laid its hands
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Public release date: 20-Jun-2013
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