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Public release date: 30-Jan-2013
Share ] Contact: Matt Hodson
mjhodson@umn.edu
612-625-0552
University of Minnesota
Like many fungi and one-celled organisms, Candida albicans, a normally harmless microbe that can turn deadly, has long been thought to reproduce without sexual mating. But a new study by Professor Judith Berman and colleagues at the University of Minnesota and Tel Aviv University shows that C. albicans is capable of sexual reproduction.
The finding, published online by Nature January 30, represents an important breakthrough in understanding how this pathogen has been shaped by evolution, which could suggest strategies for preventing and treating the often serious infections that it causes.
The most common fungus that infects humans, C. albicans is part of the large community of microorganisms that live for the most part harmlessly within the human gut. But unlike many of its neighbors, this one-celled yeast can also cause disease, ranging from thrush (an oral infection) and vaginal yeast infections to systemic blood infections that cause organ failure and death and usually occur in people with immune defects related to HIV/AIDS, organ transplantation or chemotherapy. C. albicans is responsible for 400,000 deaths annually.
Most single-celled organisms reproduce by dividing, but others reproduce asexually, parasexually or via sexual mating. Scientists have long believed that C. albicans reproduce without mating.
Organisms that produce asexually or parasexually are diploid, which means they have two sets of chromosomes and thus can reproduce without a mate. Organisms that reproduce sexually are haploid, which means they have one set of chromosomes and need a mate to provide a second set. C. albicans was believed to be diploid, but this study shows that the yeast is sometimes haploid, and that these haploids are capable of sexual reproduction.
Sexual reproduction fuels the evolution of higher organisms because it combines DNA from two parents to create one organism. The haploid isolates discovered in Professor Berman's lab arise only rarely within a population, and have been detected following propagation in the lab or in a mammalian host. These haploids can mate with other haploids to generate diploid strains with new combinations of DNA, which may provide the diversity required for fungus to evolve.
The haploid C. albicans isolates also pave the way for genetic studies of the pathogen, such as the construction of "libraries" of recessive mutant strains. In addition, the ability to perform genetic crosses between haploids will help produce modified diploid strains that should help scientists better understand interactions between the fungus and its host and how it transforms from a harmless microbe into a deadly pathogen.
###
Berman holds appointments and has laboratories at the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences and Tel Aviv University.
The work was done in collaboration with researchers at Bowdoin College (Maine), Brown University (Rhode Island), A*STAR (Singapore) and at the Taipei Medical University (Taiwan) and was funded, in part, by the National Institutes of Health.
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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.
Public release date: 30-Jan-2013 Share ] Contact: Matt Hodson
mjhodson@umn.edu
612-625-0552
University of Minnesota
Like many fungi and one-celled organisms, Candida albicans, a normally harmless microbe that can turn deadly, has long been thought to reproduce without sexual mating. But a new study by Professor Judith Berman and colleagues at the University of Minnesota and Tel Aviv University shows that C. albicans is capable of sexual reproduction.
The finding, published online by Nature January 30, represents an important breakthrough in understanding how this pathogen has been shaped by evolution, which could suggest strategies for preventing and treating the often serious infections that it causes.
The most common fungus that infects humans, C. albicans is part of the large community of microorganisms that live for the most part harmlessly within the human gut. But unlike many of its neighbors, this one-celled yeast can also cause disease, ranging from thrush (an oral infection) and vaginal yeast infections to systemic blood infections that cause organ failure and death and usually occur in people with immune defects related to HIV/AIDS, organ transplantation or chemotherapy. C. albicans is responsible for 400,000 deaths annually.
Most single-celled organisms reproduce by dividing, but others reproduce asexually, parasexually or via sexual mating. Scientists have long believed that C. albicans reproduce without mating.
Organisms that produce asexually or parasexually are diploid, which means they have two sets of chromosomes and thus can reproduce without a mate. Organisms that reproduce sexually are haploid, which means they have one set of chromosomes and need a mate to provide a second set. C. albicans was believed to be diploid, but this study shows that the yeast is sometimes haploid, and that these haploids are capable of sexual reproduction.
Sexual reproduction fuels the evolution of higher organisms because it combines DNA from two parents to create one organism. The haploid isolates discovered in Professor Berman's lab arise only rarely within a population, and have been detected following propagation in the lab or in a mammalian host. These haploids can mate with other haploids to generate diploid strains with new combinations of DNA, which may provide the diversity required for fungus to evolve.
The haploid C. albicans isolates also pave the way for genetic studies of the pathogen, such as the construction of "libraries" of recessive mutant strains. In addition, the ability to perform genetic crosses between haploids will help produce modified diploid strains that should help scientists better understand interactions between the fungus and its host and how it transforms from a harmless microbe into a deadly pathogen.
###
Berman holds appointments and has laboratories at the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences and Tel Aviv University.
The work was done in collaboration with researchers at Bowdoin College (Maine), Brown University (Rhode Island), A*STAR (Singapore) and at the Taipei Medical University (Taiwan) and was funded, in part, by the National Institutes of Health.
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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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/uom-dos013013.php
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Boston Scientific plans to cut as many as 1,000 additional jobs this year as the medical device maker expands a push to reduce operating expenses.
The company's shares jumped in morning trading Tuesday, as it also reported a fourth-quarter profit and earnings outlook that topped Wall Street expectations.
The 900 to 1,000 cuts will include layoffs as well as the elimination of unfilled positions. They come on top of a restructuring plan, started in 2011, that included 1,200 to 1,400 job cuts. The Natick, Mass., employs roughly 24,000 people worldwide, so total cuts could amount to 10 percent of the company's jobs. Boston Scientific hasn't decided where the additional cuts will be made, said spokesman Steven Campanini.
The company said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter net income shrank 44 percent to $60 million, or 4 cents per share, as it absorbed charges for restructuring and litigation. Not counting these charges, earnings were 18 cents per share. Revenue slipped 1 percent to $1.82 billion.
Analysts forecast, on average, earnings of 11 cents per share on $1.76 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
Boston Scientific expects to reduce annual operating expenses, before taxes, by about $340 million to $375 million by the end of this year. That includes expected savings of $100 million to $115 million from the additional restructuring measures announced Tuesday.
For the year, Boston Scientific expects adjusted earnings of 64 to 70 cents per share on revenue of $7.05 billion to $7.35 billion. Wall Street predicted profit of 43 cents per share on revenue of $7.11 billion.
In the current quarter, Boston Scientific expects adjusted profit of 14 to 17 cents per share on revenue of $1.74 billion to $1.82 billion. Analysts expected profit of 10 cents per share on revenue of $1.79 billion.
The company's shares climbed nearly 6 percent, or 41 cents, to $7.27 in Tuesday morning trading. The stock peaked earlier in the morning at a 52-week high of $7.43.
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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's advertising business grew at its fastest clip since before the company's May initial public offering, helping the company's revenue expand 40 percent to $1.585 billion.
Shares of Facebook were down 2.5 percent to $30.45 in after hours trading on Wednesday.
Facebook said its mobile business accounted for 23 percent of total ad revenue, compared to 14 percent in the third quarter.
But some investors may have been expecting more.
"Mobile revenue was expected to be a little higher," said Aaron Kessler, an analyst with Raymond James, who said he was looking for mobile revenue to be 25 percent of total ad revenue.
"Overall solid quarter but maybe high expectations going into the quarter," said Kessler.
Facebook shares, which lost more than half their value following its May initial public offering, have regained ground in recent months as concerns about its mobile ad business and insider selling have eased. Shares have surged roughly 60 percent since mid-November.
Facebook, the world's largest online social networking service, said net income in the fourth quarter was $64 million, or 3 cents a share, compared to $302 million, or 14 cents a share in the year-ago period.
Excluding certain items, Facebook said it earned 17 cents a share.
Facebook has ramped up its online advertising services in recent months, putting a greater emphasis on mobile ads and introducing capabilities that let marketers target Facebook users based on their Web browsing history.
Advertising revenue in the fourth quarter grew 41 percent to $1.33 billion, with mobile ads representing 23 percent of Facebook's ad revenue.
Facebook's overall fourth-quarter revenue was $1.585 billion, versus $1.131 billion in the year-ago period.
(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-grows-revenue-40-percent-fourth-quarter-211444844--sector.html
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Apple this morning announced new versions of the fourth-generation iPad, bringing the maximum storage level to 128 gigabytes. Same 9.7-inch retina display, same internals. Just more GBs. The upgraded storage applies to the Wifi-only and Wifi/cellular versions of the iPad and doubles the previous max. 9 to 5 Mac first reported the impending change earlier this week.
The beefier iPads will be available Feb. 5, in either black or white (or both if that's how you roll), for $799 for the Wifi model, and a whopping $929 for the cellular version.
Source: Apple PR
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/xHYLjPAUmSw/story01.htm
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Whitney Houston?s mother has revealed to Oprah Winfrey that had her daughter been gay, she would ?absolutely? have had a problem with it.
The singer died in February 2012 at the age of 48 from a drugs overdose.
Cissy Houston, 79, was promoting her new book, Remembering Whitney, on Oprah?s Next Chapter show.
The book touches upon Whitney?s rumoured lesbian relationship with her best friend, Robyn Crawford, when the pair were younger.
During the interview, Oprah read the section of the book where Cissy Houston says: ?I knew I didn?t want Robyn near my daughter and I told Nippy [the family?s pet name for Whitney] that.
?There wasn?t much I could do though. Nippy liked Robyn. She was passed the age where I could forbid her from seeing someone. Kids have a mind of their own when they get older. They want to experiment with all kinds of things. And I don?t know if it was more than that.?
Questioned by Oprah, Cissy Houston admitted she ?didn?t really like? Crawford, saying she spoke ?disrespectful?.
But she added: ?She was alright. She turned out to be okay, I guess, because that was her friend.?
However, when Oprah asked if she would have been ?bothered? if her daughter was a lesbian she replied: ?Absolutely.?
?It would have bothered you?? Oprah asked.
?Mmmm hmmmm,? Cissy confirmed.
?You wouldn?t have liked that??
?Not at all.?
Rumours of gay relationships were denied by Houston, when she was alive.
She was married to Bobby Brown from 1992 to 2007.
In February last year, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell stated that the singer ?was happiest and at her peak in the 1980s, when she was with her female partner. They were so loved up and joyful together.?
Mr Tatchell met the star in?1991.
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By Karen Axelton
Are you looking for help marketing your business online? Internet services and online marketing solutions provider Web.com is offering local help for small businesses seeking to create or improve their Internet presence.? Web.com will hold 25 Small Business Forums across the United States this year, focusing on the challenges and opportunities that small businesses face when moving from more traditional media to having an online presence.
The free forums, held in conjunction with SCORE, will give small businesses the benefit of Web.com?s 15 years of experience in helping small businesses with their online presence, including websites, online marketing, search engine optimization including local search, ecommerce,, social media and mobile options.
Web.com?s Small Business Forum will focus on the primary topics that make up a successful Internet presence:? the elements of a great website, how to determine if your website is ?working? for you, increasing traffic to your website and your business, and de-mystifying how to efficiently market on Google, Facebook and Twitter.
The first forum will take place in conjunction with the Chitimacha Louisiana Open on March 21st, 2013.
For the full ?list of Web.com Small Business Forum sites and dates, go to www.businessforum.web.com.
?
Source: http://www.smallbizdaily.com/10737/building-a-small-business-website-just-got-easier/
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Earlier today Facebook ecommerce platform Payvment announced it was shutting down and transitioning its 200,000 merchants to competitor Ecwid, but we've just discovered that's because Intuit is acquiring Payvment's team, technology, and patents. Several Payvment employees have already changed their LinkedIn profiles to show Intuit as their new home.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2wAy1GR6Gao/
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Amy Poehler arrives at the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday Jan. 27, 2013. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Amy Poehler arrives at the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday Jan. 27, 2013. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Amy Poehler is working on a book that appears to be a little bit of everything.
The star of "Parks and Recreation" and former "Saturday Night Live" performer has an agreement with It Books for an "illustrated, non-linear diary" with stories both true and invented.
Jokes, candor and life lessons are promised. It Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Monday that the book is currently untitled and scheduled for 2014.
It's the first book for Poehler, who recently hosted the Golden Globes ceremony with Tina Fey, her good friend and author of the million-selling "Bossypants."
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The eyes of the world were on ?The City of Angels? as the world?s top manufacturers and members of the international and national automotive press, and approximately one million auto enthusiasts came together in the country?s largest performance car market. In addition to the dazzling and desirable sheet metal, autowriters and visitors were able to check out new and innovative automotive technology, as well as aftermarket offerings for all types of vehicles. There was also a collection of classic and historical models. My automotive career started at Four Wheeler magazine and, as a result, I have developed a partiality for light trucks?a category that includes SUVs and pickups, and I have a love of performance--and a passion for racing both trucks and SUVs. I?ve been privileged to race in the two top 4WD races on the planet-the Dakar and the Baja 1000- motoring in a cadre of models that have ranged from small (the Kia Sportage) to tall (the Ford Raptor) to a granddaddy of them all (the Hummer H1). I not only love off-road racing, but also know that it?s used as a ?test bed? for vehicles and new automotive equipment. You could say the same about auto shows to some degree, as there is opportunity to garner fanfare for new models and vehicle technologies, as well as to test the waters for new designs, new color pallets and far-out ideas that we might even see at a dealership and use onboard our personal vehicles sometime soon.
Top Honors: Mercedes-Benz Ener-G-Force?This concept knocked my socks off! Inspired by the uber-capable Mercedes G-Class SUV, the concept is beastly-looking but uses a ?hydro tech converter? (just say fuel cell technology!) that can travel some 500 miles converting water to hydrogen and has a 360-degree top that police might use to patrol the streets-some say it might be a replacement for the G-Wagen, used by the military and extreme off-roaders.
I also liked the real-time Mercedes GL63 AMG with the gallop power of 550 horses and a top speed of 174 mph-who said SUVs were boring! The 3-row, 7-seater could appeal to millionaire mommies like, say, Posh Spice!! BMW X1 K2 BMW boasts that this ?Powder Ride? concept is an automotive driving machine with a design hat that morphs a car and motorcycle, airplane and train and still contains the aesthetics of sustainability-Wow-zah! There?s an aluminum roof-rack top for skis and cargo boxes. Love the Valencia Orange paint job, with Ferric Gray trim accents; dark-tinted windows; cool wheels; LED spotlights; wood and black leather inside, with orange stitching. BMW also updated its 2013 X1 compact crossover, now coming to showrooms and ski slopes near you!
The Bavarians also bring a ski-themed, special edition model called the Powder Ride edition bundles K2 skis. But, of course! 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 10th Anniversary Special Edition?The unforgiving ? Ruby? turns 10 years old and carries enough beefy, backcountry cred to make it over the legendary Rubicon Trail in northern California with nary a scratch! Two wheelbases, Sunrider or optional hardtop, red leather seats with anniversary embroidery. As a back-roader and 4WD enthusiast, I love the set-up on this model. Blow out the candles, Jeep! Honorable Mention: Nissan Hi-Cross Concept-This sculpted hybrid concept seats seven runs on both electric and gas-not a new concept but, the word on the streets is this Japanese automaker plans to bring it stateside. We need all the fuel savings we can get! Toyota RAV4- The importance is this model is its history; what began in 1996 created a new culture, and secured some awards for the young and active seeking efficiency and the ability to carry a bit of gear. A new theme-Let?s Go Places-gets a new Adventure?s APP that is dialed for the 150 places it is sold around the globe. All new for this year, it sheds the third row and V-6 engine.
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Life insurance is not easy to shop for. There are so many providers and so many options that it is all too easy to get lost. A little research can equip you to find your way. This article will present a few handy tips to keep you on the right track to good life insurance deals.
When it comes to Life Insurance, purchase it when you are young. Typically, a younger person is in good general health, so you will be able to lock in a great rate for the length of the policy. As a person gets older, they start to present more of a risk to an insurance company, and not only will the premium be more but, you may be denied coverage entirely.
If you would like more than one life insurance policy, whether you don't qualify for a policy of a high amount or because you would like extra coverage, you may want to think about the purchase of a group life insurance policy. This could be a great deal cheaper than purchasing several different policies, and can suit your needs just as well if not better.
Purchase life insurance so your family will not have to pay for your funeral costs. You may have all of your retirement needs provided for, but if there is not much left once you die, someone in your family will need to pay for funeral services and related costs. A simple, inexpensive life insurance policy can guarantee that funds will be available to take care of your funeral and not put undue financial stress on any family members.
If your life insurance needs change, consider getting a rider instead of purchasing an additional policy. A rider adds on to what you already have and typically does not cost as much money as getting another policy. This may not be true, however, if you are in very good health, so make sure to do your research.
Most life insurance policies are long term contracts. This means that once you sign the contract, you have a responsibility to make payments toward your policy. Therefore, when you are obtaining life insurance, make sure you have a firm understanding of your needs, what you are receiving and that you will be able to afford your payments. If there is anything you do not understand, do not contract yourself to the policy. Ask questions first.
Do your research. There are many different companies that sell life insurance as well as many different rating systems for each company. Take a look at the pros and cons of each as well as shop around for quotes. This will ensure that you are making the right choice with such a large decision.
When considering life insurance, be sure to look outside what your employer provides. While this may be easier and you may assume they are providing what is best for you, it is not always the case. Make sure that they rates and coverage are competitive or better than other offers that you could go with.
Make sure to get quotes on different levels of policies. Many insurance companies offer breaks at different levels of coverage that could wind up saving you money. Just because you've decided that 175,000 is all the coverage you need, doesn't mean you shouldn't get quoted on other levels just in case.
There is almost always a better deal out there when it comes to life insurance. It may not be easy to find or take advantage of. Learning is the key to zeroing in on the best deals. Hopefully you are a little better informed after reading this article, and your life insurance hunt will be a little more successful.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened top security and foreign affairs officials and ordered them to take "substantial and high-profile important state measures," state media said Sunday, fueling speculation that he plans to push forward with a threat to explode a nuclear device in defiance of the United Nations.
The meeting of top officials led by Kim underscores Pyongyang's defiant stance in protest of U.N. Security Council punishment for a December rocket launch. The dispatch in the official Korean Central News Agency did not say when the meeting took place.
Last week, the Security Council condemned North Korea's Dec. 12 launch of a long-range rocket as a violation of a ban against nuclear and missile activity. The council, including North Korea ally China, punished Pyongyang with more sanctions and ordered the regime to refrain from a nuclear test ? or face "significant action."
North Korea responded by rejecting the resolution and maintaining its right to launch a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful civilian space program.
It warned that it would keep developing rockets and testing nuclear devices to counter what it sees as U.S. hostility. A rare statement was issued Thursday by the powerful National Defense Commission, the top governing body led by Kim.
North Korea Threatens More Nuclear Tests, Warns U.S. Watch Video North Korea Targets U.S. With Nuclear Test Talk Watch VideoKim's order for firm action and the recent series of strong statements indicate he intends to conduct a nuclear test in the near future to show "he is a young yet powerful leader both domestically and internationally," said Chin Hee-gwan, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Inje University.
North Korea cites a U.S. military threat in the region as a key reason behind its drive to build nuclear weapons. The countries fought on opposite sides of the Korean War, which ended after three years in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The U.S.-led U.N. Command mans the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, and Washington stations more than 28,000 troops in South Korea to protect its ally.
North Korea is estimated to have enough weaponized plutonium for four to eight bombs, according to American nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the country's nuclear complex northwest of Pyongyang in November 2010.
However, it is not known whether North Korean scientists have found a way to build nuclear warheads small enough to mount on a long-range missile.
Experts say regular tests are needed to perfect the technique, and another atomic test could take the country closer to its goal of building a warhead that can be mounted on a missile designed to strike the United States. North Korea has carried out two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009.
South Korean defense officials say North Korea is technically ready to conduct a nuclear test in a matter of days.
Satellite photos taken Wednesday show that over the past month, roads have been kept clear of snow and that North Koreans may have been sealing the tunnel into a mountainside where a nuclear device would be detonated.
Analysis of the images of the Punggye-ri site was provided Friday to The Associated Press by 38 North, the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Kim could order a nuclear test ahead of the Feb. 16th birthday of his late father and former leader Kim Jong Il to "create a festive mood," Chin predicted. Kim Jong Il died at age 69 in December 2011.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/north-korean-leader-vows-strong-action-18325875
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Source: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Multimedia/2013/January/andrews-q-and-a-newborn-coverage.aspx
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The furor over student debt in this country takes aim at a noble cause -- quality education at a good price -- but obscures an even nobler cause, which is getting?more?students to take on?more?debt to obtain?more?skills in a modern economy that doesn't pay living wages to uneducated workers. Seen in this light, the single most important issue in higher education isn't cost, it's really something more like?advertising. If we want students from disadvantaged areas to attend good colleges and obtain modern skills, we should be thinking about ways to entice them, not scare them with blaring headlines: "SIX FIGURES IN DEBT AND UNEMPLOYED AT 22."
There's a quieter, more lower-case crisis that is potentially even more dangerous for the economy: Smart, low-income students who never consider applying to our best colleges -- even though the education would both cost less and lead to higher-paying jobs.
FINDING THE TOP-PERFORMING LOW-INCOME STUDENTS
Some of the poorest high schoolers in the country are also among our top-performers. These "low-income, high-achieving" students come from the poorest 25 percent of families, but their grades and SAT scores place them in the top 10 -- or even top 5 percent -- of all students. Getting these students in our best colleges should be a national ambition. It would increase social mobility, raise national productivity, increase taxable income, shrink our deficit, cut income-support payments ... you get the point.
But the point is, we're failing. In fact, the majority of these smart poor students don't apply to?anyselective college or university, according to a new?paper?by Caroline M. Hoxby and Christopher Avery -- even though the most selective schools would actually cost them less, after counting financial aid. Poor students with practically the same grades as their richer classmates are 75 percent less likely to apply to selective colleges.
Kids with richer, better-educated parents tend to have higher grades and test scores, as you might expect. But it might surprise you to learn that about 40 percent of the top-performing students come from the poorer half of the country.
Although a "critical mass" of the country's brightest students tend to live in country's densest and richest in urban areas -- New England, New York, southern Florida, coastal California -- the poor students who don't apply to selective schools are more likely to be scattered across the country. They aren't surrounded by a network of teachers and college counselors who know what advice to give a top-flight student. They're not part of a legacy and tradition of high-performing students reaching for the best colleges. Instead, they tend to "come from districts too small to support selective public high schools, are not in a critical mass of fellow high achievers, and are unlikely to encounter a teacher or schoolmate from an older cohort who attended a selective college."
THE QUIET CRISIS
If the antidote is more information and more encouragement for poor smart students, how do we reach them with more information and encouragement? This is trickier problem than it initially seems. There are four ways that most colleges reach out to students: (1) College board mailing lists; (2) College counselors; (3) College access programs; (4) High school visits. But some of the most common solutions aren't feasible for many low-income top-performers. It's not feasible to have admissions staff visit every high school in the country that might have a handful of smart, poor students (the researchers estimate you'd have to quintuple the number of trips). It's also not likely that poor families in rural America will be game to send their children on fact-finding missions to the Ivy League corridor.
So the researchers propose more ambitious ideas. First, they suggest turning alum networks into a proxy army of admissions officers. (A separate study showed that selective universities have at least one alum in the vast majority of U.S. counties.) Rather than advertise through brochures, which don't target low-income teens, the researchers wonder whether there might be opportunities in social media and digital advertising to directly appeal to talented students who could attend a top private institution but are more likely to apply to community college.
Colleges are good at looking for exceptional students from poor families where the college is "instead of looking for low-income students where the students are," Hoxby and Avery conclude. And the national media is good at telling scary stories about student debt from the very scariest 1 percent of the student loan population. If both institutions looked harder for our education system's quieter crisis -- the promising students who don't go to school or apply to non-selective colleges -- it would make the entire country richer.
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Debt collectors have time and again proven to be ruthless in tracking down delinquent borrowers, so perhaps it was only a matter of time before social media became their go-to hunting grounds.?
In a report on the government's attempt to tighten laws on collection practices, attorney?Billy Howard?tells Bloomberg's Carl Dougherty about his client's run-in with social media loan sharks:
"Howard said he?s seen more aggressive use of social media by debt collectors, including rude postings on a person?s ?wall,? the part of a Facebook account that a person?s friends can see. Some collectors masquerade as friendly personalities to catch an alleged debtor?s attention.
?You get a friend request from some chick in a bikini,? said Howard, a lawyer with Morgan & Morgan P.A. in Tampa, Florida. ?You say yes, and then somebody says ??by the way, I?m a debt collector.?"?
As of January, most debt collectors have been officially herded under the regulatory umbrella of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In tangent with the FTC, the consumer agency is working on implementing?new regulations?that would prevent debt collectors from unnecessarily harassing consumers in default.
The rules call for collectors to streamline consumer complaint practices, keep borrowers informed of any legal actions from start to finish, and tone down aggressive language. It might also restrict them from contacting borrowers on social media sites like Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, Yelp, and LinkedIn.?
We've already seen the CFPB's power in play with the recent $112.5 million civil judgment against American Express for shady lending practices.?
But chances are that the debt industry won't take kindly to the new Sheriff in town. The CFPB estimates as many as?30 million consumers are being pursued by collectors today, accounting for more than $12 billion in revenue for per year.
It's a lucrative business, and since many forms of debt ?? including medical bills and student loans ?? can be sold off multiple times to different collectors, persistent collectors can easily chase borrowers?well into their retirement years.
"In just a few months I'm going to turn 62 years old," said a former Psychology student in a?debt story?posted on?studentdebtcrisis.org. "I've been attempting to pay back my [$44,000 in private] student loan debt for 22 years."?
Word to the wise: If you're being hounded by debt collectors the old fashioned way (by phone) or otherwise, the best way to report aggressive tactics is to either alert the FTC or submit a complaint to the CFPB. And don't forget you?have rights, too.?
SEE ALSO: This former student was nearly ruined by student loan debt >
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/debt-collectors-pose-as-facebook-friends-student-debt-cfpb-2013-1
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This week's good reads includes a young woman's perspective on India's 'purdah' culture, the morality of babies, on whether a life's purpose brings happiness, and an unusual petition to the White House for building a Death Star.
Female staff members of a luxury hotel exhibit their skills after a 10-day self-defense course initiated by the hotel management and Delhi Police women?s wing in New Delhi, India, Jan. 17, 2013. A brutal rape of a 23-year-old student last month has sparked a national debate about the treatment of women and the inability of Indian law enforcement to protect them.
Altaf Qadri/AP
Enlarge?My first sense as a young girl of sexual menace came from my Indian grandfather. Let me be clear: He never even remotely sexually threatened or molested me. But he made sure I knew that the world in which I, a girl, was growing up was innately perilous to women.?
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So starts an illuminating first-person recollection of an American learning the rules of purdah ? or concealment of women from men ? on visits to relatives back in India. Her grandfather upbraided her for uppity talk and anything but simple dress, to teach her that the more invisible she was, the more safe she would be.
Mira Kamdar, writing on the Asia Society website, connects these lessons to the recent gang rape of a young woman on a bus in Delhi: ?It is clear ... that a purdah mentality still dogs Indian society. A woman who can be seen is seen as a woman available for violation.? But, at the same time, ?[r]apid modernization and urbanization in India have made women, especially young women, visible as never before.?
Parents, it turns out that your bundles of joy could also be described as budding altruists. Writing for the Smithsonian magazine, Abigail Tucker writes on a heartwarming new area of research that?s finding babies showing preferences for ?good guys? over ?bad guys? and a proclivity to help and care for others.
?These findings may seem counterintuitive to anyone who has seen toddlers pull hair in a playground tunnel or pistol-whip one another with a plastic triceratops,? notes Ms. Tucker.
But a series of cleverly designed experiments at Yale and Harvard universities are seeing an orientation toward the good long before parents would seem to have had much chance to shape behavior.
The eureka moment for one researcher came while passing a ball back and forth with a toddler. The ball got away from the scientist, and rather than get it, he faked an inability to reach it. Seeing his struggle, the toddler got up to retrieve it for him. Other experiments involved puppet shows in which one color puppet is shown helping or hindering another. Eye-tracking tests found infants as young as 3 months old preferring the helper.?
Whether we are born with it, or taught it, altruism looks to be key to our well-being as adults.
Emily Esfahani Smith, writing for The Atlantic, highlights a new psychological study that suggests ?a meaningful life and happy life overlap in certain ways, but are ultimately very different.? Researchers interviewing 400 Americans found meaning in life to be tied up with being a ?giver,? while happiness was more linked with being a ?taker.? Meaning is also found in contemplating the future and the past, while happiness is fixated on the present ? and is consequently more fleeting.
From the nation?s foundational documents to the self-help aisles of bookstores, Americans are famously in pursuit of happiness. But that?s something of a mug?s game: ?Research has shown that having purpose and meaning in life increases overall well-being and life satisfaction, improves mental and physical health, enhances resiliency, enhances self-esteem, and decreases the chances of depression. On top of that, the single-minded pursuit of happiness is ironically leaving people less happy, according to recent research,? Ms. Smith writes.
The magazine goes on to cite data that roughly 40 percent of Americans have not found a ?satisfying life purpose.?
A group of Internet pranksters raised the 25,000-plus signatures needed to get a response from the White House on their petition to have the US build a Death Star. The White House, to no one?s surprise, replied that the country would not be building the moon-shaped space station from the ?Star Wars? films that could blast planets into space dust. But the wording of the response, glorious it was.
?Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars? ? $850,000,000,000,000,000, according to one study ? ?on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?? wrote Paul Shawcross, chief of the Science and Space Budget at the White House Office of Management and Budget, and arguably the best communicator to emerge from the intersection of space science, accounting, and the federal government.
This smooth-talking Jedi then went on to highlight the gee-whiz stuff the government and the private sector are doing in space.
?[W]e?ve got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we?re building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.?
In other news, the White House has just upped the signature threshold for a response to 100,000.
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Public release date: 24-Jan-2013 Share ] Contact: Kate Enos
kenos@gymr.com
202-745-5071
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
SAN DIEGO The American Academy of Neurology and the American Brain Foundation recently awarded the 2013 Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick's, Alzheimer's and Related Diseases to Eric M. Reiman, MD, executive director of Banner Alzheimer's Institute and chief executive officer of Banner Research.
The Potamkin Prize honors researchers for their work in helping to advance the understanding of Pick's disease, Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. The $100,000 prize is an internationally recognized tribute for advancing dementia research. Reiman will receive the award during the Academy's 65th Annual Meeting, March 16-23, 2013, in San Diego.
The Potamkin Prize is being awarded to Reiman for his efforts to characterize some of the earliest brain changes associated with the predisposition to Alzheimer's disease, accelerate the evaluation of promising prevention therapies and help establish the Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to help launch a new era in Alzheimer's prevention research and seek treatments to end this devastating disease without losing another generation," Reiman said. "It has been a privilege to work with my research colleagues, collaborators and other outstanding individuals in the pursuit of our shared goals."
The Potamkin Prize is made possible by the philanthropic contributions of the Potamkin family of Colorado, Philadelphia and Miami. The goal of the prize is to help attract the best medical minds and most dedicated scientists in the world to the field of dementia research. The Potamkin family has been the Academy's single largest individual donor since 1988, providing more than $2.5 million to fund the Potamkin Prize.
###
Learn more about Pick's, Alzheimer's disease and related diseases at www.aan.com/patients.
Media Contacts: Rachel Seroka, rseroka@aan.com, (612) 928-6129 or Angela Babb, APR, ababb@aan.com, (612) 928-6102
The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 25,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.
The American Brain Foundation, the foundation of the American Academy of Neurology, supports vital research and education to discover causes, improved treatments, and cures for brain and other nervous system diseases. Learn more at http://www.CureBrainDisease.org.
[ | 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.
Public release date: 24-Jan-2013 Share ] Contact: Kate Enos
kenos@gymr.com
202-745-5071
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
SAN DIEGO The American Academy of Neurology and the American Brain Foundation recently awarded the 2013 Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick's, Alzheimer's and Related Diseases to Eric M. Reiman, MD, executive director of Banner Alzheimer's Institute and chief executive officer of Banner Research.
The Potamkin Prize honors researchers for their work in helping to advance the understanding of Pick's disease, Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. The $100,000 prize is an internationally recognized tribute for advancing dementia research. Reiman will receive the award during the Academy's 65th Annual Meeting, March 16-23, 2013, in San Diego.
The Potamkin Prize is being awarded to Reiman for his efforts to characterize some of the earliest brain changes associated with the predisposition to Alzheimer's disease, accelerate the evaluation of promising prevention therapies and help establish the Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to help launch a new era in Alzheimer's prevention research and seek treatments to end this devastating disease without losing another generation," Reiman said. "It has been a privilege to work with my research colleagues, collaborators and other outstanding individuals in the pursuit of our shared goals."
The Potamkin Prize is made possible by the philanthropic contributions of the Potamkin family of Colorado, Philadelphia and Miami. The goal of the prize is to help attract the best medical minds and most dedicated scientists in the world to the field of dementia research. The Potamkin family has been the Academy's single largest individual donor since 1988, providing more than $2.5 million to fund the Potamkin Prize.
###
Learn more about Pick's, Alzheimer's disease and related diseases at www.aan.com/patients.
Media Contacts: Rachel Seroka, rseroka@aan.com, (612) 928-6129 or Angela Babb, APR, ababb@aan.com, (612) 928-6102
The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 25,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.
The American Brain Foundation, the foundation of the American Academy of Neurology, supports vital research and education to discover causes, improved treatments, and cures for brain and other nervous system diseases. Learn more at http://www.CureBrainDisease.org.
[ | 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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/sfhe-ero012413.php
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Each year since 1966, UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute has conducted a massive survey of incoming freshmen at four-year colleges, asking questions about their motivations, their plans and their political views. Typically, big shifts are only apparent over long time periods. But sometimes economic and political currents can lead new college students to give responses noticeably different from what their predecessors said.
This year's survey, released Thursday, is based on the responses of 192,912 first-time, full-time students at 283 four-year colleges. The responses are statistically weighted to reflect the broader population of such students ? approximately 1.5 million at 1,613 institutions nationally.
Here are some key findings:
?Two-thirds of incoming freshmen (67 percent) said their choice of which college to attend was significantly affected by current economic conditions, up from 62 percent two years ago, when UCLA first asked the question. More are also deciding to live with family or relatives (17 percent, up from 15 percent last year) and fewer in dorms (76 percent, down from 79 percent a year ago).
?About 84 percent expect to graduate from college in four years. In fact, only about half are likely to do so.
?New college students are increasingly career-focused when it comes to what they want out of higher education. Among reasons for attending, getting a better job was the most common response and hit an all-time high of 88 percent, 20 points higher than in the mid-1970s. Other top reasons most students reported include making more money and gaining an appreciation of ideas.
?More than 30 percent of incoming college students reported frequently feeling overwhelmed when they were high school seniors. But there were wide gender gaps: 41 percent of female students said they'd felt overwhelmed, compared to 18 percent of male students.
?Politically, compared to 2008 when President Barack Obama was elected the first time, fewer freshmen now identify as liberal (30 percent, down from 34 percent). More students call themselves middle of the road (47 percent, up from 43 percent) and the number calling themselves conservative is about the same (23 percent).
?Movement has been sharper, though in varying political directions, on specific social issues. Support for same-sex marriage rose to 75 percent, up 4 points from just a year ago and up 24 points from 1997. Among freshmen calling themselves conservative, 47 percent support same-sex marriage, up from 43 percent a year ago. The number who believe abortion should be legal has also increased, from 58 percent in 2008 to 61 percent this year, while 65 percent believe the wealthy should pay higher taxes (up from 60 percent in 2008).
?However, the percentage who said they believe "a national health care plan is needed to cover everybody's medical costs" fell from 70 percent in 2008 to 63 percent this year.
___
Online: http://www.heri.ucla.edu/monographs/TheAmericanFreshman2012.pdf
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/college-survey-finance-worries-politics-shift-050339587.html
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James Hansen has been publicly speaking about climate change since 1988. The NASA climatologist testified to Congress that year and he's been testifying ever since to crowds large and small, most recently to a small gathering of religious leaders outside the White House last week. The grandfatherly scientist has the long face of a man used to seeing bad news in the numbers and speaks with the thick, even cadence of the northern Midwest, where he grew up, a trait that also helps ensure that his sometimes convoluted science gets across.
This cautious man has also been arrested multiple times.
His acts of civil disobedience started in 2009, and he was first arrested in 2011 for protesting the development of Canada's tar sands and, especially, the Keystone XL pipeline proposal that would serve to open the spigot for such oil even wider. "To avoid passing tipping points, such as initiation of the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, we need to limit the climate forcing severely. It's still possible to do that, if we phase down carbon emissions rapidly, but that means moving expeditiously to clean energies of the future," he explains. "Moving to tar sands, one of the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive fuels on the planet, is a step in exactly the opposite direction, indicating either that governments don't understand the situation or that they just don't give a damn."
He adds: "People who care should draw the line."
Hansen is not alone in caring. In addition to a groundswell of opposition to the 2,700-kilometer-long Keystone pipeline, 17 of his fellow climate scientists joined him in signing a letter urging Pres. Barack Obama to reject the project last week. Simply put, building the pipeline?and enabling more tar sands production?runs "counter to both national and planetary interests," the researchers wrote. "The year of review that you asked for on the project made it clear exactly how pressing the climate issue really is." Obama seemed to agree in his second inaugural address this week, noting "we will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations."
At the same time, the U.S. imports nearly nine million barrels of oil per day and burns nearly a billion metric tons of coal annually. China's coal burning is even larger and continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Partially as a result, global emissions of greenhouse gases continue to grow by leaps and bounds too?and China is one alternative customer eager for the oil from Canada's tar sands. Neither developed nor developing nations will break the fossil-fuel addiction overnight, and there are still more than a billion people who would benefit from more fossil-fuel burning to help lift them out of energy poverty. The question lurking behind the fight in North America over Keystone, the tar sands and climate change generally is: How much of the planet's remaining fossil fuels can we burn?
The trillion-tonne question
To begin to estimate how much fossil fuels can be burned, one has to begin with a guess about how sensitive the global climate really is to additional carbon dioxide. If you think the climate is vulnerable to even small changes in concentrations of greenhouse gases?as Hansen and others do?then we have already gone too far. Global concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached 394 parts per million, up from 280 ppm before the Industrial Revolution and the highest levels seen in at least 800,000 years. Hansen's math suggests 350 ppm would be a safer level, given that with less than a degree Celsius of warming from present greenhouse gas concentrations, the world is already losing ice at an alarming rate, among other faster-than-expected climate changes.
International governments have determined that 450 ppm is a number more to their liking, which, it is argued, will keep the globe's average temperatures from warming more than 2 degrees C. Regardless, the world is presently on track to achieve concentrations well above that number. Scientists since chemist Svante Arrhenius of Sweden in 1896 have noted that reaching concentrations of roughly 560 ppm would likely result in a world with average temperatures roughly 3 degrees C warmer?and subsequent estimates continue to bear his laborious, hand-written calculations out. Of course, rolling back greenhouse gas concentrations to Hansen's preferred 350 ppm?or any other number for that matter?is a profoundly unnatural idea. Stasis is not often found in the natural world.
Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may not be the best metric for combating climate change anyway. "What matters is our total emission rate," notes climate modeler Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, another signee of the anti-Keystone letter. "From the perspective of the climate system, a CO2 molecule is a CO2 molecule and it doesn't matter if it came from coal versus natural gas."
Physicist Myles Allen of the University of Oxford in England and colleagues estimated that the world could afford to put one trillion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere by 2050 to have any chance of restraining global warming below 2 degrees C. To date, fossil fuel burning, deforestation and other actions have put nearly 570 billion metric tons of carbon in the atmosphere?and Allen estimates the trillionth metric ton of carbon will be emitted around the summer of 2041 at present rates. "Tons of carbon is fundamental," adds Hansen, who has argued that burning all available fossil fuels would result in global warming of more than 10 degrees C. "It does not matter much how fast you burn it."
Alberta's oil sands represent a significant tonnage of carbon. With today's technology there are roughly 170 billion barrels of oil to be recovered in the tar sands, and an additional 1.63 trillion barrels worth underground if every last bit of bitumen could be separated from sand. "The amount of CO2 locked up in Alberta tar sands is enormous," notes mechanical engineer John Abraham of the University of Saint Thomas in Minnesota, another signer of the Keystone protest letter from scientists. "If we burn all the tar sand oil, the temperature rise, just from burning that tar sand, will be half of what we've already seen"?an estimated additional nearly 0.4 degree C from Alberta alone.
As it stands, the oil sands industry has greenhouse gas emissions greater than New Zealand and Kenya?combined. If all the bitumen in those sands could be burned, another 240 billion metric tons of carbon would be added to the atmosphere and, even if just the oil sands recoverable with today's technology get burned, 22 billion metric tons of carbon would reach the sky. And reserves usually expand over time as technology develops, otherwise the world would have run out of recoverable oil long ago.
The greenhouse gas emissions of mining and upgrading tar sands is roughly 79 kilograms per barrel of oil presently, whereas melting out the bitumen in place requires burning a lot of natural gas?boosting emissions to more than 116 kilograms per barrel, according to oil industry consultants IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. All told, producing and processing tar sands oil results in roughly 14 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than the average oil used in the U.S. And greenhouse gas emissions per barrel have stopped improving and started increasing slightly, thanks to increasing development of greenhouse gas?intensive melting-in-place projects. "Emissions have doubled since 1990 and will double again by 2020," says Jennifer Grant, director of oil sands research at environmental group Pembina Institute in Canada.
Just one mine expansion, Shell's Jackpine mine, currently under consideration for the Albian mega-mine site, would increase greenhouse gas emissions by 1.18 million metric tons per year. "If Keystone is approved then we're locking in a several more decades of dependence on fossil fuels," says climate modeler Daniel Harvey of the University of Toronto. "That means higher CO2 emissions, higher concentrations [in the atmosphere] and greater warming that our children and grandchildren have to deal with."
And then there's all the carbon that has to come out of the bitumen to turn it into a usable crude oil.
Hidden carbon
In the U.S. State Department's review of the potential environmental impacts of the Keystone project, consultants EnSys Energy suggested that building the pipeline would not have "any significant impact" on greenhouse gas emissions, largely because Canada's tar sands would likely be developed anyway. But the Keystone pipeline represents the ability to carry away an additional 830,000 barrels per day?and the Albertan tar sands are already bumping up against constraints in the ability to move their product. That has led some to begin shipping the oil by train, truck and barge?further increasing the greenhouse gas emissions?and there is a proposal to build a new rail line, capable of carrying five million barrels of oil per year from Fort McMurray to Alaska's Valdez oil terminal.
Then there's the carbon hidden in the bitumen itself. Either near oil sands mines in the mini-refineries known as upgraders or farther south after the bitumen has reached Midwestern or Gulf Coast refineries, its long, tarry hydrocarbon chains are cracked into the shorter, lighter hydrocarbons used as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The residue of this process is a nearly pure black carbon known as petroleum (pet) coke that, if it builds up, has to be blasted loose, as if mining for coal in industrial equipment. The coke is, in fact, a kind of coal and is often burned in the dirtiest fossil fuel's stead. Canadian tar sands upgraders produce roughly 10 million metric tons of the stuff annually, whereas U.S. refineries pump out more than 61 million metric tons per year.
Pet coke is possibly the dirtiest fossil fuel available, emitting at least 30 percent more CO2 per ton than an equivalent amount of the lowest quality mined coals. According to multiple reports from independent analysts, the production (and eventual burning) of such petroleum coke is not included in industry estimates of tar sands greenhouse gas emissions because it is a co-product. Even without it, the Congressional Research Service estimates that tar sands oil results in at least 14 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than do more conventional crude oils.
Although tar sands may be among the least climate-friendly oil produced at present?edging out alternatives such as fracking for oil trapped in shale deposits in North Dakota and flaring the gas?the industry has made attempts to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, unlike other oil-producing regions. For example, there are alternatives to cracking bitumen and making pet coke, albeit more expensive ones, such as adding hydrogen to the cracked bitumen, a process that leaves little carbon behind, employed by Shell, among others.
More recently, Shell has begun adding carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) technology to capture the emissions from a few of its own upgraders, a project known as Quest. The program, when completed in 2015, will aim to capture and store one million metric tons of CO2 per year, or a little more than a third of the CO2 emissions of Shell's operation at that site. And tar sands producers do face a price on carbon?$15 per metric ton by Alberta provincial regulation?for any emissions above a goal of reducing by 12 percent the total amount of greenhouse gas emitted per total number of barrels produced.
The funds collected?some $312 million to date?are then used to invest in clean technology, but more than 75 percent of the projects are focused on reducing emissions from oil sands, unconventional oils and other fossil fuels. And to drive more companies to implement CCS in the oil sands would require a carbon price of $100 per metric ton or more. "We don't have a price on carbon in the province that is compelling companies to pursue CCS," Pembina's Grant argues.
In fact, Alberta's carbon price may be little more than political cover. "It gives us some ammunition when people attack us for our carbon footprint, if nothing else," former Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert told Scientific American in September 2011. Adds Beverly Yee, assistant deputy minister at Alberta's Environment and Sustainable Resource Development agency, more recently, "Greenhouse gases? We don't see that as a regional issue." From the individual driver in the U.S. to oil sands workers and on up to the highest echelons of government in North America, everyone dodges responsibility.
Price of carbon
A true price on carbon, one that incorporates all the damages that could be inflicted by catastrophic climate change, is exactly what Hansen believes is needed to ensure that more fossil fuels, like the tar sands, stay buried. In his preferred scheme, a price on carbon that slowly ratcheted up would be collected either where the fossil fuel comes out of the ground or enters a given country, such as at a port. But instead of that tax filling government coffers, the collected revenue should be rebated in full to all legal residents in equal amounts?an approach he calls fee and dividend. "Not one penny to reducing the national debt or off-setting some other tax," the government scientist argues. "Those are euphemisms for giving the money to government, allowing them to spend more."
Such a carbon tax would make fossil fuels more expensive than alternatives, whether renewable resources such as wind and sun or low-carbon nuclear power. As a result, these latter technologies might begin to displace things like coal-burning power plants or halt major investments in oil infrastructure like the Keystone XL pipeline.
As it stands, producing 1.8 million barrels per day of tar sands oil resulted in the emissions of some 47.1 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent in 2011, up nearly 2 percent from the year before and still growing, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. In the same year coal-fired power plants in the U.S. emitted more than two billion metric tons of CO2-equivalent. "If you think that using other petroleum sources is much better [than tar sands], then you're delusional," says chemical engineer Murray Gray, scientific director of the Center for Oil Sands Innovation at the University of Alberta.
In other words, tar sands are just a part of the fossil-fuel addiction?but still an important part. Projects either approved or under construction would expand tar sands production to over five million barrels per day by 2030. "Any expansion of an energy system that relies on the atmosphere to be its waste dump is bad news, whereas expansion of safe, affordable and environmentally acceptable energy technologies is good news," Carnegie's Caldeira says.
There's a lot of bad news these days then, from fracking shale for gas and oil in the U.S. to new coal mines in China. Oxford's Allen calculates that the world needs to begin reducing emissions by roughly 2.5 percent per year, starting now, in order to hit the trillion metric ton target by 2050. Instead emissions hit a new record this past year, increasing 3 percent to 34.7 billion metric tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.
Stopping even more bad news is why Hansen expects to be arrested again, whether at a protest against mountaintop removal mining for coal in West Virginia or a sit-in outside the White House to convince the Obama administration to say no to Keystone XL and any expansion of the tar sands industry. The Obama administration has already approved the southern half of the pipeline proposal?and if the northern link is approved, a decision expected after March of this year, environmental group Oil Change International estimates that tar sands refined on the Gulf Coast would produce 16.6 million metric tons of CO2 annually, along with enough petroleum coke to fuel five coal-fired power plants for a year. All told, the increased tar sands production as a result of opening Keystone would be equal to opening six new coal-fired power plants, according to Pembina Institute calculations.
Even as increased oil production in the U.S. diminishes the demand for tar sands-derived fuel domestically, if Keystone reaches the Gulf Coast, that oil will still be refined and exported. At the same time, Obama pledged to respond to climate change and argued for U.S. leadership in the transition to "sustainable energy sources" during his second inaugural address; approving Keystone might lead in the opposite direction.
For the tar sands "the climate forcing per unit energy is higher than most fossil fuels," argues Hansen, who believes he is fighting for the global climate his five grandchildren will endure?or enjoy. After all, none of his grandchildren have lived through a month with colder than average daily temperatures. There has not been one in the U.S. since February 1985, before even Hansen started testifying on global warming. As he says: "Going after tar sands?incredibly dirty, destroying the local environment for a very carbon-intensive fuel?is the sign of a terribly crazed addict."
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a1fbf74c5d1526de04a7a68a650afdec
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