TEHRAN (Reuters) -Iranian diplomats expelled from Britain after radical youths stormed the British embassy in Tehran arrived home on Saturday to supporters bearing flowers and chanting "Death to England."
"Spy embassy closed for good," read one of the many placards carried by the crowd of some 100 men and women, most of whom appeared to be members of the hardline Basij militia, congregated at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport.
Britain evacuated all diplomatic staff and closed its embassy in Tehran after it was stormed and ransacked on Tuesday. France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands withdrew their ambassadors from Tehran in protest.
With swift condemnation from around the world, the embassy storming risks further isolating Iran which is already under several rounds of sanctions over the nuclear program that many countries fear is aimed at developing atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has yet to comment on the incident, an indication, some analysts say, that it was organized by rival hardliners within the faction-riven establishment.
Iran's Foreign Ministry has expressed regret over the embassy invasion, which it said was a spontaneous overflowing of anger during a student protest. Britain says there must have been at least tacit approval by the ruling establishment.
Speaking to reporters at the airport, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast warned Britain's European Union partners not to allow the diplomatic row to worsen their own ties with the Islamic Republic.
"The British government is trying to extend to other European countries the problem between the two of us, but of course we have told European countries not to subject their ties with us with the kind of problems that existed between Iran and Britain," he was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
(Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Rosalind Russell)
Often criticized for promoting the ideal woman as blonde, unhealthily proportioned and materialistic, two special edition dolls will now personify ... party-loving celebrities with weird hairstyles and rampant sex appeal, who are also really rich and famous!
Yes, Mattel is planning to launch dolls for Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry.
The dolls are said to include striking similarities to the real pop princesses like the famous tattoo on Nicki Minaj's left arm, not to mention her trademark pink hair.
It does make sense in that Minaj has garnered a following of fans who refer to themselves as "Barbies" in honor of her fondness for crazy wigs and the color pink.
Both Minaj and Perry are known for breaking the mold when it comes to fashion, and while Barbie would probably not be caught dead in their getups, we'll allow it.
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Entomologist Mark Moffett found this carrot-eating giant weta in a tree on New Zealand's Little Barrier Island. The cricketlike critter weighs 2.5 ounces (71 grams) and has a length of 7 inches (17.8 centimeters).
Alan Boyle writes
Is this the world's biggest bug? As with all superlatives, it depends on your definition.?But?the sight of a New Zealand giant weta chomping down on a carrot surely has to give you the creeps, even if it's rivaled by other giant creepy crawlies.
This particular species of the cricketlike creature ??known as a giant weta or wetapunga to the Maori, and as Deinacrida heteracantha to scientists ??is found only in protected areas such as?New Zealand's Little Barrier Island. That's where Mark ("Doctor Bugs") Moffett, an entomologist and explorer at the Smithsonian Institution,?found?the specimen?after two?nights of searching.
"The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found," Britain's Daily Mail quoted Moffett as saying. "She weighs the equivalent to three mice. ... She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away. She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species, and we didn't want to risk indigestion."
The carrot-crunching cricket went viral today, and now questions are starting to emerge about the "biggest bug" label. The information accompanying the picture lists the insect's weight at 2.5 ounces (71 grams) and its length at 7 inches (17.8 centimeters, supposedly for wingspan, but keep reading).
The New Zealand-based news site Stuff.co.nz checked that with Landcare Research entomologist Thomas Buckley. "From the picture, it's a female,?but it just looks like an average-sized one of that species," Buckley said.
Even the biggest giant weta has its rivals in the insect world. By some accounts,?goliath beetles can reach a weight of 100 grams (3.5 ounces)?during their larval stage?and achieve a wingspan of?nearly 10 inches (25 centimeters). The White Witch moth, meanwhile,?has a wingspan of up to 12 inches (31 centimeters), which is wider than?the wings of a sparrow.
But if you confine yourself strictly to adult insects, and define "big" in terms of weight, Moffett appears to have a good case. He told me in an email that the?giant weta?he found counts as the "largest one weighed, as far as I have seen recorded anywhere."
Now, if your definition of a "bug"?takes in more than insects ? say, the giant crustaceans known as isopods, which are super-sized versions of rolypoly bugs ? then you're talking about bugs of truly horrific proportions. Do you have tales of monster bugs to share? Add them as comments below.
Update for 9:30 p.m. ET: Some of the reports about this giant weta make it sound as if the darn thing might bite somebody's finger off, but that's bogus. This?CafeTerra posting describes the?bug as a vegetarian and "the gentle giant of the insect world."?They survive only in protected environments because they've been driven to near-extinction by rats and other invasive predators on New Zealand's main islands. The Kiwi Conservation Club says the bug is a "docile creature and does not kick or bite." Some reports have referred to the giant weta as having a 7-inch?wingspan, but Moffett told me that the insect is "wingless, or virtually so."?It's so heavy that it can't jump. It's so big that it can't easily hide from predators. And yes, it's edible.
Update for 11:30 p.m. ET: Moffett shed more light on the "biggest bug" question in a follow-up email: "I did not measure anything but the weight (one should correctly call it the 'world's heaviest adult insect'), but a rough estimate from the picture suggests an outstretched leg might be 7 inches. The weta is essentially wingless: no wings to see at all, let alone a seven-inch wing. [As to size:] I've seen a walking stick nearly 19 inches long in Sarawak, Malaysia, but it weighs next to nothing!"
More weird tales of the insect world:
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New insights come from tracing cells that scar lungsPublic release date: 1-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mary Jane Gore mary.gore@duke.edu 919-660-1309 Duke University Medical Center
DURHAM, N.C. -- Tracking individual cells within the lung as they move around and multiply has given Duke University researchers new insights into the causes of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) a disease which can only be treated now by lung transplantation.
IPF fills the delicate gas exchange region of the lung with scar tissue, progressively restricting breathing. The Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered that some commonly held ideas about the origins of the scar-forming (fibrotic) cells are oversimplified, if not wrong.
We are the first to show that pericytes, a population of cells previously described to play a role in the development of fibrosis in other organs, are present in fibrotic lung tissue, said Christina Barkauskas, M.D., a pulmonary fellow in the Duke Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine.
The team found that pericytes move from blood vessels into fibrotic regions, and were in the damaged lungs of both humans and mice. In mice, they also showed that the epithelial cells, which make up the lacy sacs called alveoli, could divide and repair the damage in the gas-exchange location, but these cells were not the source of scarring.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis affects about 100,000 people in the U.S. each year and leads to death within three years of diagnosis.
The study was published the week of Nov. 28 in PNAS Plus online edition.
We dont know yet whether the pericytes make the scar matrix itself or just release signals that stimulate the scarring process, but either way, they are a potential target for new therapies, said Brigid Hogan, Ph.D., senior author and chair of the Duke Department of Cell Biology.
The researchers used genetic lineage tracing to study the origin of cells that gathered in fibrotic areas. They gave several different cell types an indelible fluorescent tag and then followed the cells over time.
The cells kept the tag even if they multiplied, migrated within the lung, or differentiated into another cell type.
Paul Noble, M.D., co-author and chief of the Pulmonary Division at Duke, said that identifying the source of the lethal expansion of the scarring (fibroblast) cells is a critical missing link in understanding disease progression.
Previous studies had suggested that the epithelial cells in the alveoli are a source of fibroblast accumulation after lung injury, he said.
This study used the newest tracing approaches to conclusively demonstrate, however, that the alveolar epithelium isnt a significant source for fibroblast accumulation following lung injury in mice, Noble said. The studies suggest that there may be several sources for the scar-forming cell accumulation in fibrosis, including pericytes, which hadnt been implicated in lung fibrosis until now.
Noble said that the study data provide new insights into the sources of scar-forming cells and would help to target the correct cell population that causes disease progression.
Now the researchers are focusing on what these cells may make that could promote a healing process. One idea is that perhaps in IPF these epithelial cells have lost the ability to repair damage to the lung, so that scarring continues inexorably and cannot be restrained perhaps we could find a way to assist the repair process, Hogan said. Promoting the healing process might be another therapeutic approach.
###
Other authors include Jason R. Rock and Yan Xue of the Duke Department of Cell Biology; Michael J. Cronce and Jiurong Liang of the Duke Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine; and Jeffrey R. Harris of the Duke Division of Cellular Therapy. Jason Rock is now with the University of California -- San Francisco.
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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.
New insights come from tracing cells that scar lungsPublic release date: 1-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mary Jane Gore mary.gore@duke.edu 919-660-1309 Duke University Medical Center
DURHAM, N.C. -- Tracking individual cells within the lung as they move around and multiply has given Duke University researchers new insights into the causes of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) a disease which can only be treated now by lung transplantation.
IPF fills the delicate gas exchange region of the lung with scar tissue, progressively restricting breathing. The Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered that some commonly held ideas about the origins of the scar-forming (fibrotic) cells are oversimplified, if not wrong.
We are the first to show that pericytes, a population of cells previously described to play a role in the development of fibrosis in other organs, are present in fibrotic lung tissue, said Christina Barkauskas, M.D., a pulmonary fellow in the Duke Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine.
The team found that pericytes move from blood vessels into fibrotic regions, and were in the damaged lungs of both humans and mice. In mice, they also showed that the epithelial cells, which make up the lacy sacs called alveoli, could divide and repair the damage in the gas-exchange location, but these cells were not the source of scarring.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis affects about 100,000 people in the U.S. each year and leads to death within three years of diagnosis.
The study was published the week of Nov. 28 in PNAS Plus online edition.
We dont know yet whether the pericytes make the scar matrix itself or just release signals that stimulate the scarring process, but either way, they are a potential target for new therapies, said Brigid Hogan, Ph.D., senior author and chair of the Duke Department of Cell Biology.
The researchers used genetic lineage tracing to study the origin of cells that gathered in fibrotic areas. They gave several different cell types an indelible fluorescent tag and then followed the cells over time.
The cells kept the tag even if they multiplied, migrated within the lung, or differentiated into another cell type.
Paul Noble, M.D., co-author and chief of the Pulmonary Division at Duke, said that identifying the source of the lethal expansion of the scarring (fibroblast) cells is a critical missing link in understanding disease progression.
Previous studies had suggested that the epithelial cells in the alveoli are a source of fibroblast accumulation after lung injury, he said.
This study used the newest tracing approaches to conclusively demonstrate, however, that the alveolar epithelium isnt a significant source for fibroblast accumulation following lung injury in mice, Noble said. The studies suggest that there may be several sources for the scar-forming cell accumulation in fibrosis, including pericytes, which hadnt been implicated in lung fibrosis until now.
Noble said that the study data provide new insights into the sources of scar-forming cells and would help to target the correct cell population that causes disease progression.
Now the researchers are focusing on what these cells may make that could promote a healing process. One idea is that perhaps in IPF these epithelial cells have lost the ability to repair damage to the lung, so that scarring continues inexorably and cannot be restrained perhaps we could find a way to assist the repair process, Hogan said. Promoting the healing process might be another therapeutic approach.
###
Other authors include Jason R. Rock and Yan Xue of the Duke Department of Cell Biology; Michael J. Cronce and Jiurong Liang of the Duke Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine; and Jeffrey R. Harris of the Duke Division of Cellular Therapy. Jason Rock is now with the University of California -- San Francisco.
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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.
Job seekers asked to throw their privacy out the window
For all the good it can do, social networking also has its share of downsides. Putting personal information of any kind on the internet raises plenty of privacy concerns on its own, and handing over your username and password can be like giving away the keys to your very identity. But if you're in the process of seeking new employment, that may be exactly what you'll have to do.
The image below is a snapshot of an application from North Carolina for a clerical position at a police department. One of the required pieces of information is a disclosure of any social networking accounts, along with the username and password to access them.
Does this job application cross the line?
You don't have to be a security expert to realize that asking for such information is out of the ordinary. Depending on how much detail and private information you choose to post on Facebook, Google+, or MySpace, relinquishing your password would allow your would-be employer to investigate every area of your life. Aside from status updates that may be secured for only friends to view, logging in to your account provides access to private messages, chat logs, and any number of other potentially damaging tidbits.
We've known for a while that companies often scour social networks when considering a new employee, so keeping party photos and scandalous posts out of the public eye is well advised. And while this particular application appears ? for now, at least ? to be an isolated case of an employer overreaching their bounds, it highlights a growing problem with social network privacy.
Sites like Facebook have become a one-stop-shop to learn anything and everything about a person. For anyone ? especially a company or potential employer ? to casually request access to that information is as bold as asking for a copy of person's house keys. Would you agree to a full search of your home and worldly possessions in order to land a job? If the answer is no, then you should be just as hesitant to let someone rummage around inside your online identity.
Part of the problem with New Year's Resolutions is that you go from not doing them at all on December 31st to taking them seriously on January 1st. If your resolutions are big behavioral changes, changing your habits without thinking them through can be a recipe for failure. Give those resolutions a 30-day trial run in December where you try, let yourself stumble, and figure out the best way to change your lifestyle so you can succeed when the new year starts.
Christopher S Penn explains that trying to do something like hit the gym three days a week or give up smoking on January 1st when you've been slacking all year or smoking regularly up to and through New Year's Eve is never a great way to get started, especially when the changes you want to make will require other lifestyle changes as well. He proposes taking December to, for example, figure out how your "join a gym and actually go" resolution will impact your schedule and finances, and then give it a shot so you have time to make changes and "debug" your new behavior before the beginning of the year.
If December 1st is too soon for you, there's no reason you can't use January as your 30-day trial run. The important thing is to give yourself a little room to get organized and plan out your resolution before you go after it full-steam. Doing so will increase your chances of success, and make that fresh start at the beginning of the new year a little easier to handle.
Are you thinking about your new year's resolutions yet? Do you have any plans for the new year already, or do you usually wait until late December to even think about it? Let's hear it in the comments below.
Photo by John Kwan\Shutterstock.
New Year's Resolutions 30 Day Trial | Christopher S. Penn's Awaken Your Superhero
You can reach Alan Henry, the author of this post, at alan@lifehacker.com, or better yet, follow him on Twitter or Google+.
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Public release date: 1-Dec-2011
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Part of the problem with New Year's Resolutions is that you go from not doing them at all on December 31st to taking them seriously on January 1st. If your resolutions are big behavioral changes, changing your habits without thinking them through can be a recipe for failure. Give those resolutions a 30-day trial run in December where you try, let yourself stumble, and figure out the best way to change your lifestyle so you can succeed when the new year starts.