Low Vitamin D Linked to Mental Decline
September 15th, 2015Via: CBS:
Mental function may decline faster in older adults with low levels of vitamin D, a new study suggests.
Among more than 380 people the researchers followed for an average of five years, those with dementia had the lowest levels of vitamin D.
“It is unclear what vitamin D might be doing,” said study author Joshua Miller, chair of the department of nutritional sciences at Rutgers University School of Environmental and Biological Sciences in New Brunswick, N.J.
“There is good evidence that vitamin D gets into all cells of the body, including the brain,” Miller said, so it’s possible that vitamin D protects the brain from developing the plaques and tangles that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Unfortunately, “there’s a good chance that most people over 75 in the United States are vitamin D-deficient,” he noted.
Nine of the World’s Biggest Banks Form Blockchain Partnership
September 15th, 2015Via: Reuters:
Nine of the world’s biggest banks, including Goldman Sachs and Barclays, have joined forces with New York-based financial tech firm R3 to create a framework for using blockchain technology in the markets, the firm said on Tuesday.
It is the first time banks have come together to work on a shared way in which the technology that underpins bitcoin — a controversial, Web-based “cryptocurrency” — can be used in finance.
Over the past year, interest in blockchain technology has grown rapidly. It has already attracted significant investment from many major banks, which reckon it could save them money by making their operations faster, more efficient and more transparent.
Kids Who Get More Sunlight Less Likely to Need Glasses
September 15th, 2015Via: CBS:
Playing outside has a number of well-established health benefits for kids, including increasing their physical activity and decreasing their risk of obesity. But perhaps a lesser-known benefit is that it can help protect their eyesight.
Now a new study, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, further supports that notion.
Researchers in China found that spending an extra 40 minutes a day outdoors for three years resulted in a reduction in the rate of myopia, or nearsightedness, in children. Myopia is a condition in which close-up objects can be seen clearly, but distant ones can’t. It’s estimated to affect about half of kids in the U.S.
“Myopia has reached epidemic levels in China and many countries in East Asia,” lead study author Dr. Mingguang He of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, told CBS News. “However, there is no effective intervention to prevent the development of myopia in children.” He said the study used a randomized trial to provide convincing evidence that this “simple intervention” could reduce the onset of myopia among children.
U.S. Training Helped Mold Top Islamic State Military Commander
September 15th, 2015Via: McClatchy:
Ethnic Chechens are thought to be one of the largest groups of foreign fighters in the Islamic State.
Now 30, Batirashvili is a key figure, reportedly a member of the group’s governing council, is said to be the Islamic State’s supreme military leader in northern Syria and Aleppo, and is perhaps the group’s most fearsome ground commander. His current status is an irony for a man once considered a Georgian soldier with a bright future.
“We trained him well, and we had lots of help from America,” said a former Georgian defense official who asked to not be identified because of the sensitivity of Batirashvili’s role in the Islamic State. “In fact, the only reason he didn’t go to Iraq to fight alongside America was that we needed his skills here in Georgia.”
“Google Self-Driving Car Patent Reveals How You’ll Let AI Take the Wheel”
September 15th, 2015Via: The Verge:
A new patent from Google published today has some fascinating insight into how the company thinks that production of self-driving cars of the future might take control from the drivers they’re shuttling around — and how they could give it back, too.
The description of “Google Chauffeur,” spotted by Stanford’s Reilly Brennan, is a pretty straightforward concept. An arm on the steering column (not much different from a windshield wiper arm) could be pulled to engage a car’s self-driving mode; at that point, the system would do a check to see whether it’s ready and able to actually take control from the driver. If it isn’t — the car can’t get a GPS lock, for instance — the driver might see a “Not Available” light on the dash. Otherwise, you’d see a “Ready” light, at which point you can start taking your appendages off the wheel and pedals.
HP Will Cut as Many as 30,000 More Jobs After Split
September 15th, 2015Via: ReCode:
Hewlett-Packard will shed as many as 30,000 more jobs as it splits into two companies, the company said at a meeting with analysts in San Jose, Calif.
Tim Stonsifer, the incoming CFO of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, the company devoted to corporate computing that will emerge from the split on Nov. 1, announced the reductions as part of his presentation on guidance. The restructuring will include a $2.7 billion charge.
Russian Gas Stations Ordered To Install Electric Chargers by November 1, 2016 [???]
September 15th, 2015This is absolutely bizarre.
Via: Gas2:
Let’s get a little perspective on the electric car market in Russia at the moment. First, there are no government incentives that encourage a person to buy an electric or plug-in car. Second, there are fewer than 500 such cars in the entire country.
…
If previously the number of electric cars was growing very slowly in Russia, this year the market has shown a decline. In the first half of the year, fewer than 50 electric cars were sold in the entire country. That’s down 25% compared to the same period last year.
Federal Court Invalidates 11-Year-Old FBI Gag Order on National Security Letter Recipient Nicholas Merrill
September 15th, 2015Via Calyx Institute:
A federal district court has ordered the FBI to lift an eleven-year- old gag order imposed on Nicholas Merrill forbidding him from speaking about a National Security Letter (“NSL”) that the FBI served on him in 2004. The ruling marks the first time that an NSL gag order has been lifted in full since the PATRIOT Act vastly expanded the scope of the FBI’s NSL authority in 2001. Mr. Merrill, the executive director of the Calyx Institute, is represented by law students and supervising attorneys of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, a program of Yale Law School’s Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression and Information Society Project.
For more than a decade, the government has refused to allow Mr. Merrill and other NSL recipients to tell the public just how broadly the FBI has interpreted its authority to surveil individuals’ digital lives in secret using NSLs. Tens of thousands of NSLs are issued by FBI officers every year without a warrant or judicial oversight of any kind.
The letters demand disclosure of user information and are almost always accompanied by complete gag orders. Today’s decision will finally allow Mr. Merrill to speak about all aspects of the NSL and, specifically, to inform the public about the categories of personal information that the FBI believes it can obtain using an NSL.
AUSTRIAN ARMY DEPLOYED TO SECURE BORDER
September 14th, 2015Via: France24:
Austria announced on Monday it would dispatch the armed forces to guard its eastern frontier, following Germany’s lead in reimposing Europe’s internal border controls after thousands of migrants streamed across its frontier from Hungary on foot.
Austrian officials said they were left with no choice after Germany’s decision on Sunday, which effectively suspends Europe’s two-decade old Schengen regime allowing border-free travel across the continent.
“If Germany carries out border controls, Austria must put strengthened border controls in place,” Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner told a joint news conference with Chancellor Werner Faymann. “We are doing that now.”
He and Faymann said the army would be deployed in a supporting role.
China: Head Transplant Team Selected for 2017 Operation
September 14th, 2015Body from executed prisoner?
Via: Independent:
The likely date and location for the first-ever human head transplant have been set, after the controversial Italian doctor that will lead the surgery said that he has selected his team of surgeons.
Radical Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero has drawn fascination and criticism after he announced plans to cut off a man’s head and put it onto another body. Many had expected that the planned operation would probably never happen – but a team has now been appointed to lead the operation.
…
Since Ren refused to say where the donated body might be found, some have worried that the donated body might be taken from an executed prisoner.
In China – where the huge population and a low number of donations have led to a high demand for organs – an industry of forced donations and a black market for the sale of organs have flourished.
Canavero has said that China is keen to be involved in the procedure as a way of demonstrating its keenness for scientific research to the world, likening the race to complete the transplant to the space race.
