Human-powered copter breaks record with 50-sec flight

4 hrs.

Devin Coldewey

A team at the University of Maryland has blown away a long-standing (or long-hovering) record for human-powered flight. A Japanese team stayed aloft for 19 seconds in 1994, and no one has been able to do better until Thursday, when the Maryland team stayed aloft for 50 seconds. They fell just?short, however, of the 60 seconds required to qualify for a decades-old $250,000?prize.

Gamera II is the name of the helicopter the team constructed in order to claim the Sikorsky prize, created in 1980 in memory of the helicopter?pioneer Igor Sikorsky.?The contest requires that the craft reach 3 meters of altitude ? and that it stays there for a full minute.?

The newest version of the craft weighs only 71 pounds, 30 less than the previous one, which?stayed aloft for 11 seconds in 2011. Gamera II?harvests power from arm movements as well as pedals, transmitting more power to the four large rotors. These and other improvements allowed the team to break the 18-year-old record and post a time of 50 seconds in the air at 2 feet up. Watch the video of that flight below:

The team will continue to make attempts at the 60-second goal, though they would still need to go significantly higher to claim the prize money, even if they hit the minute mark. The solution is not as easy as simply pedaling harder. Gamera II takes advantage of an aerodynamic characteristic of low-altitude craft called ground effect, which reduces the energy needed to hover, and that advantage decreases the higher the craft goes.

The researchers from Maryland are not the only ones working on the problem: A private team called Atlas recently ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise some funding for their attempt on the Sikorsky prize. The requirements of the prize may be straightforward, but they are also extremely difficult, so chances are it will take some time and effort, not to mention money and materials, to make it happen.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

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Best iPhone and iPad apps for following the 2012 Wimbledon Championships

The Championships at Wimbledon kicked off today, which are sure to keep tennis fans locked-in until July 8. There are plenty of apps for iPhone and iPad to help avid watchers stay glued to the action, and we've got the best ones for you right here.

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Blast in northern Nigeria wounds nine

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Florida International Reptile Show

TAMPA - This weekend, the Florida International Reptile Show is happening at the Florida State Fairgrounds Charles M. Davis Center.

Reptile enthusiasts will offer up lots of animals, education, interaction, prizes, and giveaways.

A large mix of local and regional breeders will be on hand for anyone interested in taking home a new pet.? You will also be able to ask professionals for advice, and pick up supplies and feeder rodents and insects.

There will be presentations at the top of each hour, and interaction with live animals.

Hours - Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tickets are $12 for adults, $5 for children ages 5-12, and free for children 4 and under.

For more information, please visit http://www.repticon.com/tampa.html .

Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Magic formula Method regarding Unleashing the POWER of ...

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US unemployment aid applications little changed

In this Monday, June 18, 2012 photo Trey Fortes, right, speaks with Jason Monteiro, of Hudson, Mass., left, during a job fair in Boston. The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dipped last week but not by enough to indicate hiring will pick up. Weekly applications for unemployment aid declined by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 387,000, the Labor Department said. That?s down from an upwardly revised 389,000. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

In this Monday, June 18, 2012 photo Trey Fortes, right, speaks with Jason Monteiro, of Hudson, Mass., left, during a job fair in Boston. The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dipped last week but not by enough to indicate hiring will pick up. Weekly applications for unemployment aid declined by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 387,000, the Labor Department said. That?s down from an upwardly revised 389,000. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

In this Monday, June 18, 2012, photo, Annette Loritz, of Benediction University, foreground right, speaks with a attendee about job opportunities, and continuing education during a career fair in Oak Brook, Ill. The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dipped last week but not by enough to indicate hiring will pick up. Weekly applications for unemployment aid declined by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 387,000, the Labor Department said. That?s down from an upwardly revised 389,000. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dipped last week but not by enough to signal a better month of hiring in June.

Weekly applications for unemployment aid declined by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 387,000, the Labor Department said. That's down from an upwardly revised 389,000.

A more telling sign of the trend in unemployment benefit applications is the four-week average, which smooths week-to-week fluctuations. That rose for by 3,500 to 386,250, the highest level since December.

"After a fairly substantial period of constantly lower jobless claims, a new, more unwelcome trend higher has taken hold," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at BTIG LLC, in an email. "A meaningful pickup in monthly job additions looks unlikely."

Applications are a measure of the pace of layoffs. They have been edging up in recent weeks after falling steadily over the fall and winter. In the past six weeks, applications have increased nearly 5 percent. When applications fall below 375,000, it generally suggests hiring is strong enough to reduce the unemployment rate.

Hiring slowed sharply in April and May, raising concerns about the strength of the recovery. Employers have added an average of only 73,000 jobs per month in April and May. That's much lower than the average of 226,000 added in the first three months of this year.

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits fell slightly. A total of 5.8 million people received benefits in the week ended June 2, the latest data available. That's about 1,000 fewer than the previous week.

The Federal Reserve acknowledged the sluggish hiring on Wednesday when it said it will extend a program intended to drive down long-term U.S. interest rates. The goal of the program is to encourage more borrowing and spending, which boosts growth and could lead to more job creation.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed was prepared to take further steps, particularly if hiring doesn't pick up soon.

The Fed also sharply cut its forecast for growth this year. At best, it says the economy will grow no more than 2.4 percent for the year. And the Fed warned that growth could be as low as 1.9 percent ? matching the dismal first-quarter annual pace.

The unemployment rate won't fall much further from its current level of 8.2 percent, the Fed said. At best, it forecasts that it will drop to 8.0 percent.

Faster job creation is crucial in order to accelerate growth. More jobs mean more income for consumers, which may lead to higher spending. Consumer spending fuels about 70 percent of the economy.

But several recent economic reports have pointed to sluggish growth. Employers posted sharply fewer job openings in April compared to the previous month, the government said Tuesday.

With job growth weak, consumers have pulled back on spending. Retail sales have fallen for the past two months, although part of the weakness was due to a sharp decline in gas prices.

Businesses are also less confident about the economy's health. They are placing fewer orders at factories, which has slowed manufacturing output. A measure of companies' investment spending has dropped for two straight months.

Associated Press

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Off-Duty Executive Officer for the Minneapolis SWAT Team Beats a Man Into a Coma (Theagitator)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Nick and Vanessa Lachey Expecting a Boy

"It's a BOY. Nick and I are incredibly excited to share the news that we are expecting a baby boy," the Wipeout host announced on her website Wednesday. "We can't wait to meet him soon!!!"

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Video: Anthony Mackie talks role as Abe Lincoln?s sidekick

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You wanted to know: what is this virus that infects the phytoplankton? (Part One)

So far I?ve told you about the phytoplankton we?re studying ? the coccolithophores, how we figure out where they?re going to be, and how we collect them. But there?s a key element that?s missing in this description: the virus that infects them. And a lot of you wanted to know about it.

What kind of viruses are in the ocean? Are they the same as viruses on land? Todd from New York

Viruses are the most abundant biological thing in the ocean, but we know very little about them. For a long time, people thought phytoplankton were very long-lived. They died when they were eaten, or floated down too deep, but otherwise scientists couldn?t figure out what would make the little plants die. Turns out viruses kill lots of phytoplankton.

There are probably hundreds of thousands of marine viruses that we?ve never even seen before. Generally, marine viruses are different from the ones we find on land, simply because they infect different kinds of organisms ? marine ones. The science team onboard the Knorr does know something about the particular virus we?re looking for, though.

What virus are they investigating that is infecting Emiliania huxleyi? Are they going to isolate this and attempt a genome? Gaytana Balestrier from Willingboro

The virus in question is called a coccolithovirus (fitting, since it infects coccolithophores). It?s really big (as far as viruses go) ? about 160-180 nanometers in diameter. That?s about twice the size of the human flu virus. In fact, the coccolithovirus that these scientists are looking for has the largest genome of any marine virus. It has 472 genes that code for proteins. By comparison, the influenza virus only has 8 protein-coding genes.

Two different genomes from viruses that infect Ehux were sequenced in 2005. In total, nine different coccolithovirus genomes have been sequenced so far, each one infecting a different species of coccolithophore. The one that infects Ehux is called Emiliania huxleyi virus 86, or EhV-86 for short.

?

Two Ehux cells: on the left a healthy one, on the right a cell full of viruses.

How was the relationship between this phytoplankton and its virus first found? Brenda Wright from Salt Lake City

In 1999, a marine biologist named Willie Wilson observed the Ehux virus for the first time. In the years following, he and other biologists ? including some of the ones on this ship ? found this intriguing interaction between the coccolithophores and the virus. (To hear Willie explain the epic battle between phytoplankton and viruses on Radiolab, click here.)

Before we get to what?s cool about this virus in particular, we have to talk about what usually happens during viral infection. Viruses are pretty much bundles of DNA or RNA packaged inside some kind of protein shell. They can come in all shapes, sizes, and configurations.

Unlike the cells that make up plants and animals, viruses don?t replicate through cell division. They don?t have all the parts they need. Remember, they?re just a ball of genetic material. So instead, they hijack their host?s cells. A virus will attach onto a healthy cell, and inject a little packet of genetic material into the host. It then uses the cells machinery to replicate itself over and over again. Eventually, most viruses cause the cell to lyse, or burst.

To be continued. Come back tomorrow to find out how this particular virus infects Ehux.

?

During this trip, I?ll be answering your questions about the science, this boat, and life onboard. Want to know how we search for plankton, why we?re here, or what the food is like? Just ask me! And if you?re wondering how I got here, check out the groups that made this adventure possible: Mind Open Media and COSEE NOW.

Previously in this series:

All Aboard: how you can be a part of our research blog
You wanted to know: what are these phytoplankton?
You wanted to know: what am I bringing to sea?
Greetings from Ponta Delgada! We set sail tomorrow.
Steaming North: how the scientists are trying to find plankton
The superstar sensor: what is a CTD?
Status Update: Day 3 at the Cyclonic Eddy

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Developing countries to the rescue at G-20

LOS CABOS, Mexico (AP) ? The scene at the just-concluded Group of 20 summit held in this seaside resort would have been unthinkable a decade ago: Hundreds of dignitaries gathered in opulent Mexican hotels and convention halls to hammer out an economic bailout for Europe. Meanwhile, the leaders of Brazil and China kicked in tens of billions of dollars to the International Monetary Fund to rescue downtrodden Spain and Greece.

Although the gathering didn't produce a solution for the ailing euro zone, it did outline the globe's new balance of power. Developing countries projected optimism and wealth over the summit's two days, while European and U.S. leaders struggled just to stay solvent.

A lot has clearly changed since the 1990s, when Asian and Latin American economies were slogging through recessions while Washington-based power brokers ordered up the very kind of austerity-minded prescriptions now sparking street protests in Europe.

Even during recent economic crises in the U.S. and Europe, China has been posting annual growth rates topping 8 percent. Countries with booming Chinese trade, such as Argentina and Ethiopia, have similarly seen their economies thrive. China's economy surpassed Japan's over the past year to become the world's second biggest; Brazil's overtook the U.K.'s to take sixth place.

"It is a different picture and reflects the fact that (developing) economies are not only the largest and fastest growing economies but are among the biggest economies in the world," said Uri Dadush, director of the international economics program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Clearly, neither the Americans nor the Europeans are in any position to tell the biggest economies what to do."

Mexican President Felipe Calderon cut to the point while speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon as he noted developing world contributions to the IMF for a possible European bailout. Although the countries still have lower standards of living, their economies are growing and many have amassed large foreign reserves.

China had pledged $43 billion to the fund, while India, Mexico, Brazil and Russia each chipped in $10 billion. The United States, Calderon drily noted, was not giving a single penny, due to "serious restrictions of a legal and political nature." In other words, coughing up billions to save Europe was impossible for deadlocked U.S. politicians, especially in an election year and as the country struggled with its own budget deficits, economic analysts said.

University of Maryland economist Phillip Swagel, a former Treasury Department official in the George W. Bush administration, said developing countries' new economic power was already translating into growing political might.

In fact, the BRICS countries representing Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were the ones making demands on Europe during the summit, saying they should be given a bigger role in the governance of the IMF if they were going to send billions to the fund. Europeans have traditionally led the organization since its founding nearly seven decades ago.

"With their resources comes a greater say," Swagel said. "It's a big change. We were once telling Asian counties what to do."

The power shift was clear in the air-conditioned hallways and balmy outdoor lounges of the G-20 where dignitaries and reporters mingled.

News crews from Ethiopia and China filled press conferences, while Brazilian and Russian leaders drew the most attention. Humbled European heads of state stepped before TV cameras to thank China for helping out while promising that their countries would do better.

Heloisa Castro, a Washington-based reporter for the Brazilian network Record TV, said Brazilians were energized by their new prominence, after so many decades of suffering dreadful busts and booms. Still, she said, they had no right to preach solutions to Europe, a point President Dilma Rousseff made to an international gaggle of reporters Tuesday.

Preventing European and U.S. turmoil from dragging down Brazil was the order of the day, Castro said, as economic growth in some developing countries has slowed sharply this year.

"I think it's very curious that now, we who have been through all these IMF adjustment programs in the past with their draconian conditions, we now are seeing European countries go through the same thing," Castro said. "But if the economies in Europe and the U.S. go down, we all suffer. We can't only live with the BRICS countries."

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Recent Cases | Bark & Co Solicitors London News | Digg

R v Asil Nadir

Description: Bark & Co has been instructed by the former CEO of Polly Peck International (PPI) in an alleged multi-million pound fraud. The client faced 66 counts of Fraud & Theft, but failed to appear in the 1993 trial. Mr Nadir has returned to the UK to fight to clear his name. The trial is due to commence in January 2012. Significance: One of the first high profile SFO prosecutions.

R v Ravjani & Others

Bark & Co represented a client accused significant involvement in a complex contra-trading MTIC fraud. The alleged fraud was of a scale that prompted the Government to proffer the case as an explanation as to why the UK balance of payments were adrift for a particular year. Unfortunately, reporting restrictions prevent us from publishing the full outcome at this time. (Last updated: 03.12.2011)

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Description: This matter involves an insider trading investigation at a number of banks and hedge funds and other large financial institutions conducted by the FSA and SOCA which Reuters reports has ?sent shockwaves through the country?s financial industry?. Significance: This case involves significant press interest and involves the representation of a director at a very high profile financial institution.

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Biomedical beauties: Wellcome Image Awards winners

19:30 20 June 2012

The Wellcome Image Awards celebrate the way photography and micrography can show unexpected biomedical structures and patterns. The winning images will be on display at the Wellcome Collection in London from 21 June. Caroline Morley

Image 1 of 6

This was the overall winner. It shows the surface of the brain of a person with epilepsy. The image was taken before an intracranial electrode recording procedure, in which a flexible electrode grid was attached to the brain's surface. The patient was then taken to the telemetry ward, where their brain activity was recorded. The surgeon used the recordings to identify the specific areas of the brain to be removed in a subsequent operation. This patient made a full recovery and no longer suffers from seizures.

(Image: Robert Ludlow, UCL Institute of Neurology, London)

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