Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors ScottyUrb, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir and jlms qkw, guest editors maggiejean and annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.
Tonight's OND is guest-hosted by me, rfall--it's not quite the usual Science Saturday edition, but annetteboardman has helped by submitting some archaeology stories.
International News
In Europe, Where Art Is Life, Ax Falls on Public Financing
By LARRY ROHTER
European governments are cutting their support for culture, and American arts lovers are starting to feel the results.
In Italy, the world-famous opera house La Scala faces a $9 million shortfall because of reductions in subsidies. In the Netherlands, government financing for arts programs has been cut by 25 percent. Portugal has abolished its Ministry of Culture.
Europe’s economic problems, and the austerity programs meant to address them, are forcing arts institutions there to curtail programs, tours and grants. As a result, some ensembles are scaling down their productions and trying to raise money from private donors, some in the United States, potentially putting them in competition with American arts organizations.
|
Russian TV Broadcast Besmirching Protesters Draws a Furious Reaction
By ELLEN BARRY and MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
MOSCOW — “Anatomy of a Protest,” a pseudodocumentary broadcast this month on Russia’s NTV television station, had the familiar earmarks of a hatchet job against opponents of the Kremlin — a darkly insinuating voice-over, accusations of shocking treachery and blurry surveillance film acquired from law enforcement services.
The only unusual thing about “Anatomy of a Protest” was the furious reaction it provoked.
For the next few days, when NTV reporters went out to cover public events, hecklers gathered around them chanting “shame.” Some commentators vowed never to work with the channel again. Then activists began targeting NTV’s advertisers, like the American consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble, in an echo of the boycott campaign against Rush Limbaugh.
As opposition leaders recover from the demise of mass antigovernment protests, some are looking to television as the next political battleground.
|
For Lawyer in Afghan Killings, the Latest in a Series of Challenging Defenses
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
SEATTLE — The Vietnam War was raging, and John Henry Browne believed it was unjust. When his draft number came up, he refused to go.
A litigious lifetime would pass before he would become the lawyer for the soldier accused of one of the worst American war crimes in decades, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who was charged on Friday with 17 counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Afghan civilians, including nine children. But even 40 years ago, long before Mr. Browne was known as one of the Pacific Northwest’s most prominent and controversial defense lawyers, he was inclined to make a distinctive case.
“I did all the research and learned that you would not qualify if you were over 6 feet 6 inches tall,” Mr. Browne recalled.
He was tall, but was he tall enough? He consulted with pacifist Quakers. He received notes from two doctors. He did stretching exercises. Then he faced the recruiter.
“They made me take my shoes off, push my arches down to the ground and do all sorts of things,” Mr. Browne said. “I was still well over 6-6.”
|
Mexican priest abuse scandals cast shadow on pope's visit
By Mica Rosenberg
(Reuters) - Pope Benedict's first full day in Mexico was clouded by fresh allegations the Vatican hid evidence of sex abuse by one of the country's most prominent Roman Catholic leaders for decades.
The authors of a new book say a trove of once-secret Vatican documents prove Church officials ignored complaints of drug use and molestation of seminarians by the late Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Catholic order the Legionaries of Christ.
Adding to the criticism of the Church, victims of abuse by priests in Mexico came forward to seek an audience with Benedict, but said their calls have not been answered. Church officials acknowledged in 2009, a year after Maciel's death at the age of 87, that the charismatic Mexican cleric had led a double life, secretly fathering children and lavishly spending the generous donations of his followers.
Now more than 200 leaked documents from confidential Church archives reveal a mass of new testimony against Maciel, says the book, "La voluntad de no saber" (The will not to know).
|
Syrians in U.S. to get "temporary protected" status
Reuters
(Reuters) - The U.S. government said on Friday it would allow Syrians to remain in the United States temporarily because it was too dangerous for them to go home.
"Conditions in Syria have worsened to the point where Syrian nationals already in the United States would face serious threats to their personal safety if they were to return," Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said in a statement.
The Department of Homeland Security will publish guidelines next week on eligibility requirements and registration for the temporary program, which gives beneficiaries the right to work and prevents deportation regardless of visa status.
Senator Dick Durbin, one of a group of Democratic lawmakers who wrote to President Barack Obama this month seeking the waivers, said the U.S. decision would prevent Syrians from being forced to return "to one of the most violent places on earth."
|
French gunman’s ‘proud’ brother questioned
By Reuters
PARIS — The brother of the gunman who killed seven people last week was taken to Paris on Saturday for further questioning, and a police source disclosed that the man had said he was “proud” of his brother’s killing spree.
Abdelkader Merah, older brother of Mohammed Merah, 23, who was fatally shot by police after a standoff Thursday, also admitted helping his brother steal the motor scooter he used in all seven killings, although he denied knowing of his deadly intent. Abdelkader Merah and his wife, who also was transferred to Paris, were arrested early Wednesday as negotiators sought their help in trying to persuade Merah to turn himself in.
Merah’s mother, arrested at the same time, was released Friday evening. Her attorney said she told him “she saw nothing coming” and felt guilty about what had happened.
|
National News
Dick Cheney undergoes heart transplant surgery
By the CNN Wire Staff
Washington (CNN) -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney was recovering Saturday evening after undergoing heart transplant surgery, his office said.
Cheney, 71, had surgery at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia.
He had been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months, a statement from his office said.
"Although the former vice president and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for this lifesaving gift," it said.
Cheney has a history of heart trouble, suffering at least five heart attacks since 1978. His first occurred when he was 37.
|
Sandusky labeled 'likely pedophile' in 1998 report
Psychologist warned university police, but they weren't able to prove abuse of boy
By Michael Isikoff
More than a decade before former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with more than 50 counts of child sex abuse, a psychologist warned university police that his actions fit that of a “likely pedophile’s pattern.”
The finding by State College, Pa., psychologist Dr. Alycia A. Chambers, the therapist for one of Sandusky’s alleged victims, was contained in the internal Penn State files of a 1998 police investigation of the former coach for showering and bear hugging her client and another young boy in the school’s athletic locker room.
NBC News has obtained the complete file on the investigation – the police report and assessments by two psychologists who interviewed the boys -- which provides new details about Sandusky’s behavior. It also could raise fresh questions about how school and local authorities handled his case.
“There was very little doubt in my mind (Sandusky) … was a male predator, someone that was in the process of grooming a young man for abuse ,” said Chambers, speaking publicly for the first time, with the permission of her client’s family, in an interview with NBC News. “I thought…my report was strong enough to suggest that this was somebody who should be watched.”
|
Fire in West Virginia Home That Was Overdue for Inspection Called Worst in 40 Years
By ALYSSA NEWCOMB
The Charleston, W.Va., home where eight people were klilled in a fast-moving fire was supposed to be inspected last month, but the fire department official was turned away because ther was no adult home, city officials said today.
"If we had gotten in to inspect we might have saved a lot of lives," Charleston Mayor Danny Jones said. "One of the messages we got out of this tragedy we need to have inspectors."
Two adults and six children under the age of eight died in the fire, officials said, and one child remains on life support. The home had only one working smoke detector, and it was not in a location where it would have helped, city officials said.
The victims -- a man and two children, his girlfriend's two children, and his girfriends's sister and her two children -- appear to have been sleeping when they died, officials said.
|
What makes NC different in gay marriage debate?
By Tom Breen
RALEIGH, N.C.—From Texas to Virginia, the South has spoken with almost one voice on same-sex marriage, amending state constitutions to ban the practice in hopes of blocking court decisions that would allow gays and lesbians to marry.
It's "almost" one voice because there's a discordant note in the Southern choir.
North Carolina, which likes to distinguish itself as a "vale of humility" surrounded by more bombastic neighbors, is the last state in the region without such an amendment. That fact is repeated constantly in the debate over a May 8 referendum when voters will have a chance to change the situation. But while it's bandied about by both sides, it's less clear what the distinction means.
Is it simply because the North Carolina Democrats who controlled the Legislature until 2010 had no interest in putting the amendment up for a vote? Or does it reflect the history and outlook of a state where leaders shepherded desegregation into law during the 1960s with little of the violence that broke out elsewhere?
|
Amended suit alleges new abuses at Kansas school
By Roxana Hegeman
WICHITA, Kan.—A California boy attends only four days at a Kansas military boarding school where he is tormented by staff and students after breaking both his legs in separate incidents. A Tennessee student's stomach is forcibly branded as a rite of initiation. A Florida cadet breaks his hand fending off a student with a history of sexual abuse who tries to grope him, and school officials refuse to investigate or inform his parents of the attack.
These claims are the latest additions to a growing list of former cadets who allege in a federal lawsuit they were abused at St. John's Military School in Salina, Kan. An amended complaint filed Friday in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., now includes six sets of named parents who have filed on behalf of cadets, plus one ex-cadet who is now an adult. The plaintiffs come from California, Florida, Tennessee, Colorado, Texas and Illinois.
The Episcopal boarding school, which charges families nearly $30,000 per year for students enrolled in grades 6-12, draws students from across the nation.
|
How many pot patients Calif. has is anyone's guess
By LISA LEFF
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California has seven times as many residents as Colorado, but nearly nine times fewer medical marijuana users, at least on paper.
And as far as record-keepers know, the most populous state, home to the nation's first and most liberal medical marijuana laws, also has a smaller number of pot patients than Arizona, Hawaii, Michigan, Montana and Oregon.
If those statistics look off-kilter, they should. The reality is that no one knows how many people are legally using marijuana in California because the state - with hundreds of pot stores and clinics that issue medical marijuana recommendations - does not require residents to register as patients. Of the 16 states that allow the medicinal use of cannabis, it is one of only three without such a requirement.
Now, with California's medical marijuana industry laboring under a renewed federal crackdown that has forced many storefront dispensaries to close, a state lawmaker has recently introduced legislation that, if passed, would give authorities a much clearer count of the drug's bona fide consumer base.
|
Science News
Students Explore History With Discovery Of Million-Year-Old Artifact
By Katherine Mozzone
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Anthropology students are showing off a million-year-old discovery after ancient artifacts from Kenya turn up in an MSU basement.
The hand axes were made by early human ancestors and are examples of some of the oldest tool types.
They used to belong to famous paleoanthropologist Louis S.B. Leakey who, according to adjunct professor of anthropology Nancy Mahoney, "changed the way we understand human origins."
Leakey sent the artifacts to Montana back in the fifties for special stone dating.
Two anthropology students researched how the stone tools came to the department's teaching collection as part of an independent research course.
|
Ancient Hawaiians Caught More By Fishing Less
By DOUGLAS M. MAIN
The findings could be instructive for agencies that enforce fishing limits in overfished waters around the globe.
Native Hawaiians caught about 50 percent more fish than modern fleets catch today in both Hawaii and the Florida Keys, the two largest reef ecosystems in the United States, said a co-author of the study, Loren McClenachan, a fisheries researcher at Colby College in Waterville, Me.
Hawaiians harvested about 15 metric tons of fish per square kilometer of reef annually from the years 1400 to 1800, the study found. That’s five times the median harvest in island nations worldwide today.
Dr. McClenachan and her co-author, John Kittinger, a researcher at the Center for Ocean Solutions in Monterey, Calif., drew on a variety of historical records and a method called catch reconstruction to estimate historical harvests in the Hawaiian Islands and the Florida Keys.
|
Historic First Nations artifact returned to B.C.
By Paul Rudan
It’s a treasure last touched by one of her ancestors more than 200 years ago.
The small, hand-carved ceremonial club was a gift to English Captain James Cook when he sailed into Nootka Sound in 1778.
On Tuesday, the valuable historic relic came home to British Columbia when it was donated to the UBC Museum of Anthropology by Canadian philanthropist Michael Audain.
On hand for the announcement was Margarita James, a member of the Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nation and president of the Land of Maquinna Cultural Society, who was honoured to hold the club.
“It’s quite a spectacular piece,” she said Wednesday after arriving back home in Gold River. “What a wonderful person to honour our history and to put the money into it!”
|
Scholars ‘concerned’ with TV show’s digs for artifacts
Ric Savage is facing opponents like Susan Gillespie, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Florida. That’s because Savage, known as Heavy Metal in his pro wrestling days, is on different turf now. Or, to be more precise, he is digging into different turf as the star of a new show that has its premiere on the cable channel Spike on Wednesday night: “American Digger.”
By: Bill Carter
Ric Savage is accustomed to wrestling, but for most of his career it was against guys named the Junkyard Dog and Skull Von Krush.
Now he’s facing opponents like Susan Gillespie, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Florida who is on the board of the American Anthropological Association.
That’s because Savage, known as Heavy Metal in his pro wrestling days, is on different turf now. Or, to be more precise, he is digging into different turf as the star of a new show that has its premiere on the cable channel Spike on Wednesday night: “American Digger.”
The series, which Spike hopes will be a hit along the lines of its tattoo competition “Ink Master,” features Savage and his team traveling the country, digging up people’s lawns in search of historical artifacts.
That sounds a bit like the work of archaeologists and anthropologists, and both groups are, in the words of the letter they have sent to Spike, “deeply concerned” by the show.
|
Odd News
With a Poison Tongue, Putting a Smile on a Nation’s Aging Faces
By MARTIN FACKLER
AT 61 years old, Yoshihiro Kariya displays the energy and flamboyance of someone half his age, delivering rapid-fire jokes as he paces the stage in a red tailcoat, his hair pulled back in a ponytail. Mr. Kariya’s hourlong stand-up routine is a relentless barrage of humorous, often off-color barbs aimed at his audience, mostly women in their 60s and 70s.
“Forty years ago, when you were first married, your husband swept you up in his arms and carried you into the bedroom,” he said during a recent show.
“When was the last time that happened? 1962?” he continued, pointing at individual audience members. “For you, 1960? 1956? And over there, 1910?
“Now it is you who takes him by the hand into the bedroom. And what for? To change his adult diapers!”
|