BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova led his first team practice on Friday since returning from a 10-week medical stay in New York to treat a throat tumor.
Barcelona assistant coach Jordi Roura said that Vilanova would direct the session but that he would not accompany the team to Saturday's Spanish league match at Celta Vigo. Roura says that the club hopes Vilanova can travel with the team to Paris for Tuesday's first-leg Champions League quarterfinal against Paris Saint-Germain.
In Vilanova's absence, the team suffered a pair of painful defeats to archrival Real Madrid, but also pulled off a historic 4-0 win to come back against AC Milan in the Champions League. Roura insisted throughout that he was carrying out Vilanova's orders.
Barcelona leads the Spanish league by 13 points with 10 games to go.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Must-win matches? Maybe
PST: It may be a little early for "must-win" matches. But four MLS clubs could really use wins this weekend, starting with the Red Bulls (3:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN).
Beckham relishing chance to play against Barcelona
??PARIS (AP) - David Beckham says he feels fit enough to start the biggest game in Paris Saint-Germain's recent history when the club takes on Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) ? The dance instructor who used her Zumba fitness studio as a front for prostitution could face up to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty Friday in a case that captivated a quiet seaside town known for its beaches and picturesque homes.
The agreement that followed two days of plea negotiations spares Alexis Wright from the prospect of a high-profile trial featuring sex videos, exhibitionism and pornography. She's scheduled to be sentenced May 31.
Wright quietly answered "guilty" 20 times when the judge read the counts, which include engaging in prostitution, promotion of prostitution, conspiracy, tax evasion and theft by deception.
"We're very satisfied with it. It's an appropriate outcome, given the gravity of her actions," Assistant Attorney General Darcy Mitchell said after the brief court hearing.
The 30-year-old Wright was accused of conspiring with insurance agent Mark Strong Sr. to run a prostitution business in which she kept detailed records indicating she made $150,000 over an 18-month period. She was also accused of using a hidden camera to record sex acts without her clients' knowledge.
She was originally charged with 106 counts. All the counts in the agreement were misdemeanors, including three counts relating to welfare and tax fraud that were reduced from felonies.
Strong, 57, of Thomaston, was convicted this month of 13 counts related to promotion of prostitution and sentenced to 20 days in jail. He was originally charged with 59 counts.
The scandal became a sensation following reports that Wright had at least 150 clients, leading to a guessing game of who might be named publicly in the coastal town of Kennebunk. Attorneys who have seen the client list say it included some prominent names. Those who have been charged so far include a former mayor, a high school hockey coach, a minister, a lawyer and a firefighter.
Working together, Strong and Wright represented an unusual pairing.
Wright had attended college classes and ran dance classes for the local parks and recreation program before opening her studio in Kennebunk. But she was also engaging in paid-sex acts in the studio, in her apartment and in her office, law enforcement officials said.
Overseeing the operation and watching the sex acts live on his office computer 100 miles up the coast was Strong, a married father of two who ran a successful insurance agency in Thomaston.
It came as no surprise that Wright would seek a plea agreement because evidence presented in Strong's trial was so overwhelming. A video played for jurors showed Wright engaging in sex acts with a man who then inquired about her rate before leaving $250 cash on her massage table.
After the man left, the video showed Wright pocketing the money.
There was plenty of electronic evidence because the two kept in touch via text and email and because Wright videotaped the clients and Strong watched live via Skype. Videos showed them speaking openly of ledgers, payments and scheduling.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will seek restitution of $57,250 from Wright after she's released from jail.
Defense lawyer Sarah Churchill said Wright is married and employable, and she expects Wright will be able to enter into a payment plan. Churchill left the courtroom without talking to reporters.
Residents of Kennebunk were frustrated by the media coverage of the scandal.
Names of purported clients trickled out as they were charged, leading to speculation about who else might be on the list. But residents soon grew weary of the media's attention, especially after it became clear that only a few of clients were locals.
So far, 66 people have been charged as clients, York County Deputy District Attorney Justin McGettigan said. The state will continue to pursue charges against additional people identified on Wright's ledger if the evidence is strong enough to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt, she said.
Things have largely returned to normal in Kennebunk. And on Friday night, a free dance was being held at Wright's old Pura Vida Studio, where Zumba continues under new management and a new name, Danceworks.
Jeremiah Ouellette, manager of New Morning Natural Foods Market, across the street from the fitness studio, said residents have put the prostitution episode behind them.
"I think people have really lost interest," Ouellette said Friday evening. "People really don't care anymore."
___
Follow David Sharp at http://twitter.com/David_Sharp_AP
We all know the iPhone is at last reaching T-Mobile -- but what you might not know is that it won't just be a one-for-one port of the existing hardware. Carrier CEO John Legere just stated that the T-Mobile iPhone 5 will support HSPA+ on AWS bands (1,700MHz and 2,100MHz) in addition to ready-made LTE support. If you wander outside of an LTE coverage area, you'll still have up to 42Mbps data on Magenta's network. There's more: it'll also support the same HD Voice calling that went nationwide in January.
Talk about ants in their pants. After giving regulators the runaround and repeatedly dodging the question of why they charge Australians so much more than Americans for the same products, senior executives from Apple, Microsoft and Adobe have finally been forced to sit down in front from a parliamentary committee. They weren't always especially helpful, mind you, but they did at least offer some justification as to why, on average, their products cost 50 percent more in that country. Read on for a quick rundown of who said what.
ST. PAUL ? Minnesota senators approved 39-28 a health insurance marketplace along party lines Monday, leaving only Gov. Mark Dayton?s signature as the final step.
Dayton is expected to sign the measure that would give Minnesotans a mostly Web-based place to buy health insurance, as required by federal law. If Minnesota does not establish its marketplace, also known as an exchange, the federal government will.
Republicans opposed the marketplace in the Senate, as well as when the House approved it 72-61 early Friday.
Bill author Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, said business representatives such as the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce refused to come up with their own ideas about how to set up an exchange.
?At some point, you have to ask if they want a Minnesota exchange,? Lourey said. ?I have yet to see that marketplace that they would support.?
Republicans and chamber leaders disagreed. Chamber representatives said they spent thousands of hours developing hundreds of suggestions they offered legislators organizing the marketplace bill. The ideas mostly were rejected by Democrats who control the Legislature.
The final marketplace bill is a merger of what passed the House and Senate. One of the major changes was in how to fund the estimated $60 million annual marketplace cost.
Senators had approved taking money from state funds, while the House wanted to withhold up to 3.5 percent of premiums of policies sold in the marketplace. The compromise was for the first two years taking 1.5 percent of premiums, and allowing the marketplace board to borrow from the state any more funding it needs.
The health care marketplace bill is at http://tinyurl.com/mnhealthexchange.
Relationships are perhaps harder than people realize to build and keep going. The easy part is the beginning, when we?re just getting to know one another and everything is new.
Harder is a few years into it, and realizing that while the newness has worn off, we may not have all the skills necessary to keep the relationship good and growing.
That?s why I?m pleased to welcome two great relationship experts, Linda Bloom, LCSW and Charlie Bloom, MSW, and their blog, Building Relationship Skills. They?ve written two enlightening books on the subject, and teach workshops across the country about the skills needed to build great and enduring relationships.
As they say,
While everyone would like good relationships, the process of actually creating them is often more challenging than we expect it to be. Few of us have had good models or adequate education in regard to this subject.
Linda and Charlie offer the support and guidance needed to develop relationship skills along with the practices necessary to sustain and integrate them into our lives on a long-term basis.
Please give them a warm Psych Central welcome over at their new blog, Building Relationship Skills today!
Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.
Like this author? Catch up on other posts by John M. Grohol, PsyD (or subscribe to their feed).
Comments
This is an announcement only, so there are no comments.
????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 12 Mar 2013 ????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
APA Reference Grohol, J. (2013). Introducing the Blog, Building Relationship Skills. Psych Central. Retrieved on March 13, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/03/12/introducing-the-blog-building-relationship-skills/
AAA??Mar. 13, 2013?10:44 PM ET NY police: We're keeping eye on gunman's building By MICHAEL HILL and JOHN KEKIS??By MICHAEL HILL and JOHN KEKIS
Law enforcement officers run for cover along Main Street in Herkimer, N.Y., when shots were fired while they were searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Authorities were looking for 64-year-old Kurt Meyers, said Herkimer Police Chief Joseph Malone. Officials say guns and ammunition were found inside his Mohawk apartment after emergency crews were sent to a fire there Wednesday morning. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Law enforcement officers run for cover along Main Street in Herkimer, N.Y., when shots were fired while they were searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Authorities were looking for 64-year-old Kurt Meyers, said Herkimer Police Chief Joseph Malone. Officials say guns and ammunition were found inside his Mohawk apartment after emergency crews were sent to a fire there Wednesday morning. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
This undated photo provided by the New York State Police shows Kurt R. Meyers, the man being sought in connection with the shooting of six people in two incidents in upstate New York, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Authorities said guns and ammunition were found inside Meyers' Mohawk, N.Y., apartment after emergency crews were sent to put out a fire there Wednesday morning. Soon after, two people were fatally shot and two others wounded at John's Barber Shop, around the corner from the apartment, police said. The second shooting happened about a mile away in Herkimer, where two people were killed at Gaffey's Fast Lube and Car Wash. (AP Photo/New York State Police)
Law enforcement officers take cover along Main Street when shots were fired while searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Herkimer, N.Y. Authorities were looking for 64-year-old Kurt Meyers, said Herkimer Police Chief Joseph Malone. Officials say guns and ammunition were found inside his Mohawk apartment after emergency crews were sent to a fire there Wednesday morning. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Law enforcement officers block off Main Street in Herkimer, N.Y., while searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Authorities were looking for 64-year-old Kurt Meyers, said Herkimer Police Chief Joseph Malone. Officials say guns and ammunition were found inside his Mohawk apartment after emergency crews were sent to a fire there Wednesday morning. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Law enforcement officers take cover along Main Street when shots were fired while they were searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Herkimer, N.Y. Authorities were looking for 64-year-old Kurt Meyers, said Herkimer Police Chief Joseph Malone. Officials say guns and ammunition were found inside his Mohawk apartment after emergency crews were sent to a fire there Wednesday morning. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
HERKIMER, N.Y. (AP) ? New York state police say they'll keep monitoring all night an abandoned building where a man suspected of killing four people and wounding two others is holed up.
Trooper Jack Keller says they are working off the assumption 64-year-old Kurt Myers is still alive.
Police have cordoned off a block in the upstate village of Herkimer since midday Wednesday.
Police believe Myers set fire to his apartment in neighboring Mohawk and then killed two men and wounded two others at a barbershop. They say he then went to a car care shop in Herkimer and killed two more men.
A brief gunfight between Myers and police Wednesday afternoon marked the last spasm of violence and led to the standoff.
?Abenomics? is the buzzword in Japan these days ? it refers to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe?s aggressive reflationary fiscal and monetary policies that triggered the yen?s 10 percent decline against the dollar and 17 percent rally in Tokyo stocks this year.
So it?s no wonder that the Japanese mutual fund market, the second largest in Asia-Pacific, enjoyed the largest monthly inflows in almost six years last month, raking in as much as $11 billion.
With all that new money coming in, will you be late to the game if you haven?t gone in already?
French fund manager Carmignac Gestion does not think so.
Carmignac, whose fund already has a 10 percent allocation to Japanese stocks, says investors? general loss of interest in Japan since the 1990s has resulted in very low valuations. It estimates Japan?s price-to-book ratio is less than 0.7 times.
So it would seem that the equity market?s 20 percent rise over three months has not exhausted investment opportunities in Japan, provided that currency risk is fully hedged.
Morgan Stanley, however, has this health warning:
PM Abe has started with all policy guns blazing. For 2014, in order to keep growth going and end deflation, he will need to reload. Micro reform policies are his only new bullets. Market stability depends on him firing more, larger calibre ones.
Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson attends a mass at St. Peter's basilica on Tuesday in Vatican City.
By Stephanie Gosk, Correspondent, NBC News
CAPE COAST, Ghana ? On Sundays in the Ghanaian city of Cape Coast, the pews in Roman Catholic churches do something most Americans would find surprising.?They fill up.?
Unlike the typical 45-minute Mass in the United States, these services are two and a half hours long, but that?s what churchgoers come for.?Those who show up late will find a few plastic chairs arranged outside.?Better luck next week.?
The West Coast of Africa is one of the only places in the world where Catholicism is growing. Since 2005, the number of Catholics on the African continent has grown by more than 20% and it is expected to continue at that pace for the next decade.
There are also plenty of priests. In fact, seminaries here are producing so many priests, they often move to Europe to fill a growing shortage.
So it?s no surprise, really, that the cardinal from Ghana, Cardinal Peter Turkson, was discussed as a likely candidate for pope in the early days after Pope Benedict announced he was stepping down.?It now seems he is a long shot, but there are still plenty of people pulling for him here.
After Mass last Sunday in Cape Coast, the city about 100 miles from Ghana's capital Accra where Turkson served as archbishop, one parishioner summed up his chances this way: "We never thought a half black man would be president of the U.S. But it happened and he is doing okay.?So [Turkson] could be the pope."
?
Alberto Pizzoli/ AFP-Getty Images
A mock electoral placard showing Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, which reads, "during the conclave, vote Turkson," seen in front of the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome on March 1.
From village to archdiocese? The 64-year-old was born in the small mining village of Nsuta Wassa, in Western Ghana, the fourth of ten children.?His father scraped by as a carpenter in a local mine while his mother sold vegetables on the street, sometimes helped by her young son Peter.?School was held at the Catholic Church near the foot of the manganese mine. In the afternoons, the future cardinal played soccer and fished with his friends.
Those early years helped shape Turkson, making him as much a social advocate as a leader of the church. Like many African bishops, he has focused on economic equality, environmental issues and peace.?Turkson believes the church plays a vital role in stepping up where governments fail.
In the Cape Coast archdiocese, which Turkson ran for nearly two decades, the Catholic Church provides 60-70% of all health and education services.?The cardinal helped open Mercy Hospital, a facility that focuses on women?s healthcare.
Patrick Yamoa, the doctor who runs the hospital, says?the number of patients served has skyrocketed since its opening two years ago, from 80 people a week to 300 a day. Yamoa said that as a teenager he wanted to become a priest ? until he met Cardinal Turkson who convinced the young science whiz to pursue medicine.?Ghana was in desperate need of good doctors.?
Just two weeks ago, before heading to Rome for the conclave, Turkson dropped in to check up on the clinic's finances and discovered the hospital needs a new ambulance. Yamoa suspects that with Turkson?s help they will get it by the end of the month.
He's also not surprised the cardinal stopped by even during this very busy time. "That is an attribute that endears him to many people," said Yamoa.
In 2009, Pope Benedict promoted Turkson to President of the Pontifical Council of Peace and Justice.?The council focuses on war and good business practices, including the causes of the recent global financial meltdown.
This experience, combined with his pedigree (Turkson speaks eight languages), and the skills he learned as head of a diocese, have led many to consider him a well-rounded candidate for the top job.
But Archbishop Matthias Kobena Nketsiah, the current head of the Cape Coast archdiocese, said he doesn?t believe the Catholic Church is ready for its first black pope. "One problem would be acceptability. That people would accept a black pope?Not everybody. No."
Related:?
?From Rome to Africa: Meet 20 men who could be pope
Conclave smoke signals a bit of a gray area
Full coverage of the papal abdication from NBC News
ALMA rewrites history of Universe's stellar baby boomPublic release date: 13-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Chris Chipello christopher.chipello@mcgill.ca 514-398-4201 McGill University
Record-breaking haul of distant galaxies includes most distant detection of water published to date
Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) show that the most vigorous bursts of star birth in the cosmos took place much earlier than previously thought. The results are published in a set of papers to appear in the journal Nature and in the Astrophysical Journal. The research is the most recent example of the discoveries coming from the new international ALMA observatory, which celebrates its inauguration today.
The most intense bursts of star birth are thought to have occurred in the early Universe, in massive, bright galaxies. These starburst galaxies convert vast reservoirs of cosmic gas and dust into new stars at a furious pace many hundreds of times faster than in stately spiral galaxies like our own galaxy, the Milky Way. By looking far into space, at galaxies so distant that their light has taken many billions of years to reach us, astronomers can observe this busy period in the Universe's youth.
"The more distant the galaxy, the further back in time one is looking, so by measuring their distances we can piece together a timeline of how vigorously the Universe was making new stars at different stages of its 13.7 billion year history," said Joaquin Vieira (California Institute of Technology, USA), who led the team and is lead author of the paper in the journal Nature.
The international team of researchers first discovered these distant and enigmatic starburst galaxies with the US National Science Foundation's 10-metre South Pole Telescope (SPT), a facility built partly by McGill astrophysicists. The researchers, including McGill doctoral candidate Yashar Hezaveh, then used ALMA to zoom in on the galaxies to explore the stellar baby boom in the young Universe. They were surprised to find that many of these distant dusty star-forming galaxies are even further away than expected. This means that, on average, their bursts of star birth took place 12 billion years ago, when the Universe was just under 2 billion years old a full billion years earlier than previously thought.
Two of these galaxies are the most distant of their kind ever seen so distant that their light began its journey when the Universe was only one billion years old. What's more, in one of these record-breakers, water is among the molecules detected, marking the most distant observations of water in the cosmos published to date.
The team used the unrivalled sensitivity of ALMA, a global collaboration that includes a significant Canadian contribution, to capture light from 26 of these galaxies at wavelengths of around three millimetres. Light at characteristic wavelengths is produced by gas molecules in these galaxies, and the wavelengths are stretched by the expansion of the Universe over the billions of years that it takes the light to reach us. By measuring the stretched wavelengths, astronomers can calculate how long the light's journey has taken, and place each galaxy at the right point in cosmic history.
"ALMA's sensitivity and wide wavelength range mean we could make our measurements in just a few minutes per galaxy -- about one hundred times faster than before," said Axel Weiss (Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie in Bonn, Germany), who led the work to measure the distances to the galaxies. "Previously, a measurement like this would have been a laborious process of combining data from both visible-light and radio telescopes."
In the majority of cases, the ALMA observations alone could pinpoint the distances, but for a few galaxies the team combined the ALMA data with measurements from other telescopes, including the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX), the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Submillimeter Array (SMA).
The astronomers were using only a partial array of 16 of ALMA's full complement of 66 giant antennas, as the observatory was still under construction at an altitude of 5,000 metres on the remote Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes. When complete, ALMA will be even more sensitive, and will be able to detect even fainter galaxies. For now, the astronomers targeted the brighter ones. They took advantage of a helping hand from nature, too, using gravitational lensing -- an effect predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity, where light from a distant galaxy is distorted by the gravitational influence of a nearer foreground galaxy, which acts like a lens and makes the distant source appear brighter.
To understand precisely how much this gravitational lensing brightened the view of the galaxies, the team made sharper images of them using more ALMA observations at wavelengths of around 0.9 millimetres.
"These beautiful pictures from ALMA show the background galaxies warped into multiple arcs of light known as Einstein rings, which encircle the foreground galaxies," said McGill's Yashar Hezaveh, who led the study of the gravitational lensing. "We are using the massive amount of dark matter surrounding galaxies half-way across the Universe as a cosmic telescope to make even more distant galaxies appear bigger and brighter."
Analysis of the distortion reveals that some of the distant star-forming galaxies are as bright as 40 trillion (40 million million) Suns, and that gravitational lensing has magnified this by up to 22 times.
"Only a few gravitationally lensed galaxies have been found before at these submillimetre wavelengths, but now SPT and ALMA have uncovered dozens of them." said Carlos De Breuck of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), a member of the team. "This kind of science was previously done mostly at visible-light wavelengths with the Hubble Space Telescope, but our results show that ALMA is a very powerful new player in the field."
"This is an great example of astronomers from around the world collaborating to make an amazing discovery with a state-of-the-art facility," said team member Daniel Marrone (University of Arizona, USA). "This is just the beginning for ALMA and for the study of these starburst galaxies. Our next step is to study these objects in greater detail and figure out exactly how and why they are forming stars at such prodigious rates."
###
In addition to Hezaveh, the other McGill authors on the Nature paper are Prof. Gil Holder, Prof. Matt Dobs, and graduate student Tijmen de Haan all members of the Astrophysics and Cosmology Group in the Department of Physics. Holder and Dobbs are also fellows in the Cosmology and Gravity research program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR).
The work at McGill is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Research Chairs program, CIFAR and the Fonds de recherche du Qubec - Nature et technologies.
More information
The research is described in the paper "Dusty starburst galaxies in the early Universe as revealed by gravitational lensing", by J. Vieira et al., in the journal Nature. The work to measure the distances to the galaxies is described in the paper "ALMA redshifts of millimeter-selected galaxies from the SPT survey: The redshift distribution of dusty star-forming galaxies", by A. Weiss et al., in the Astrophysical Journal. The study of the gravitational lensing is described in the paper "ALMA observations of strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies", by Y. Hezaveh et al., also in the Astrophysical Journal.
About ALMA
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan. ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.
About the South Pole Telescope
The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10-meter telescope located at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station within 1 km of the geographic south pole. The SPT is designed to conduct low-noise, high-resolution surveys of the sky at millimeter (mm) and submillimeter (submm) wavelengths, with the particular design goal of making ultra-sensitive measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The first major survey with the SPT was completed in October, 2011 and covers 2500 square degrees of the southern sky in three mm-wave observing bands. This is the deepest large mm-wave dataset in existence and has already led to many groundbreaking science results, including the first galaxy clusters detected through their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect signature, the most sensitive measurement yet of the small-scale CMB power spectrum, and the discovery of a population of ultra-bright, high-redshift, star-forming galaxies. SPT is funded primarily by the Division of Polar Programs in NSF's Geosciences Directorate. Partial support also is provided by the NSF-funded Physics Frontier Center of the KICP, the Kavli Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The SPT collaboration is led by the University of Chicago and includes research groups at Argonne National Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Cardiff University, Case Western Reserve University, Harvard University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, McGill University, University of Arizona, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Davis, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Michigan, as well as individual scientists at several other institutions, including the European Southern Observatory and the Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie in Bonn, Germany.
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ALMA rewrites history of Universe's stellar baby boomPublic release date: 13-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Chris Chipello christopher.chipello@mcgill.ca 514-398-4201 McGill University
Record-breaking haul of distant galaxies includes most distant detection of water published to date
Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) show that the most vigorous bursts of star birth in the cosmos took place much earlier than previously thought. The results are published in a set of papers to appear in the journal Nature and in the Astrophysical Journal. The research is the most recent example of the discoveries coming from the new international ALMA observatory, which celebrates its inauguration today.
The most intense bursts of star birth are thought to have occurred in the early Universe, in massive, bright galaxies. These starburst galaxies convert vast reservoirs of cosmic gas and dust into new stars at a furious pace many hundreds of times faster than in stately spiral galaxies like our own galaxy, the Milky Way. By looking far into space, at galaxies so distant that their light has taken many billions of years to reach us, astronomers can observe this busy period in the Universe's youth.
"The more distant the galaxy, the further back in time one is looking, so by measuring their distances we can piece together a timeline of how vigorously the Universe was making new stars at different stages of its 13.7 billion year history," said Joaquin Vieira (California Institute of Technology, USA), who led the team and is lead author of the paper in the journal Nature.
The international team of researchers first discovered these distant and enigmatic starburst galaxies with the US National Science Foundation's 10-metre South Pole Telescope (SPT), a facility built partly by McGill astrophysicists. The researchers, including McGill doctoral candidate Yashar Hezaveh, then used ALMA to zoom in on the galaxies to explore the stellar baby boom in the young Universe. They were surprised to find that many of these distant dusty star-forming galaxies are even further away than expected. This means that, on average, their bursts of star birth took place 12 billion years ago, when the Universe was just under 2 billion years old a full billion years earlier than previously thought.
Two of these galaxies are the most distant of their kind ever seen so distant that their light began its journey when the Universe was only one billion years old. What's more, in one of these record-breakers, water is among the molecules detected, marking the most distant observations of water in the cosmos published to date.
The team used the unrivalled sensitivity of ALMA, a global collaboration that includes a significant Canadian contribution, to capture light from 26 of these galaxies at wavelengths of around three millimetres. Light at characteristic wavelengths is produced by gas molecules in these galaxies, and the wavelengths are stretched by the expansion of the Universe over the billions of years that it takes the light to reach us. By measuring the stretched wavelengths, astronomers can calculate how long the light's journey has taken, and place each galaxy at the right point in cosmic history.
"ALMA's sensitivity and wide wavelength range mean we could make our measurements in just a few minutes per galaxy -- about one hundred times faster than before," said Axel Weiss (Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie in Bonn, Germany), who led the work to measure the distances to the galaxies. "Previously, a measurement like this would have been a laborious process of combining data from both visible-light and radio telescopes."
In the majority of cases, the ALMA observations alone could pinpoint the distances, but for a few galaxies the team combined the ALMA data with measurements from other telescopes, including the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX), the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Submillimeter Array (SMA).
The astronomers were using only a partial array of 16 of ALMA's full complement of 66 giant antennas, as the observatory was still under construction at an altitude of 5,000 metres on the remote Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes. When complete, ALMA will be even more sensitive, and will be able to detect even fainter galaxies. For now, the astronomers targeted the brighter ones. They took advantage of a helping hand from nature, too, using gravitational lensing -- an effect predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity, where light from a distant galaxy is distorted by the gravitational influence of a nearer foreground galaxy, which acts like a lens and makes the distant source appear brighter.
To understand precisely how much this gravitational lensing brightened the view of the galaxies, the team made sharper images of them using more ALMA observations at wavelengths of around 0.9 millimetres.
"These beautiful pictures from ALMA show the background galaxies warped into multiple arcs of light known as Einstein rings, which encircle the foreground galaxies," said McGill's Yashar Hezaveh, who led the study of the gravitational lensing. "We are using the massive amount of dark matter surrounding galaxies half-way across the Universe as a cosmic telescope to make even more distant galaxies appear bigger and brighter."
Analysis of the distortion reveals that some of the distant star-forming galaxies are as bright as 40 trillion (40 million million) Suns, and that gravitational lensing has magnified this by up to 22 times.
"Only a few gravitationally lensed galaxies have been found before at these submillimetre wavelengths, but now SPT and ALMA have uncovered dozens of them." said Carlos De Breuck of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), a member of the team. "This kind of science was previously done mostly at visible-light wavelengths with the Hubble Space Telescope, but our results show that ALMA is a very powerful new player in the field."
"This is an great example of astronomers from around the world collaborating to make an amazing discovery with a state-of-the-art facility," said team member Daniel Marrone (University of Arizona, USA). "This is just the beginning for ALMA and for the study of these starburst galaxies. Our next step is to study these objects in greater detail and figure out exactly how and why they are forming stars at such prodigious rates."
###
In addition to Hezaveh, the other McGill authors on the Nature paper are Prof. Gil Holder, Prof. Matt Dobs, and graduate student Tijmen de Haan all members of the Astrophysics and Cosmology Group in the Department of Physics. Holder and Dobbs are also fellows in the Cosmology and Gravity research program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR).
The work at McGill is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Research Chairs program, CIFAR and the Fonds de recherche du Qubec - Nature et technologies.
More information
The research is described in the paper "Dusty starburst galaxies in the early Universe as revealed by gravitational lensing", by J. Vieira et al., in the journal Nature. The work to measure the distances to the galaxies is described in the paper "ALMA redshifts of millimeter-selected galaxies from the SPT survey: The redshift distribution of dusty star-forming galaxies", by A. Weiss et al., in the Astrophysical Journal. The study of the gravitational lensing is described in the paper "ALMA observations of strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies", by Y. Hezaveh et al., also in the Astrophysical Journal.
About ALMA
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan. ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.
About the South Pole Telescope
The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10-meter telescope located at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station within 1 km of the geographic south pole. The SPT is designed to conduct low-noise, high-resolution surveys of the sky at millimeter (mm) and submillimeter (submm) wavelengths, with the particular design goal of making ultra-sensitive measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The first major survey with the SPT was completed in October, 2011 and covers 2500 square degrees of the southern sky in three mm-wave observing bands. This is the deepest large mm-wave dataset in existence and has already led to many groundbreaking science results, including the first galaxy clusters detected through their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect signature, the most sensitive measurement yet of the small-scale CMB power spectrum, and the discovery of a population of ultra-bright, high-redshift, star-forming galaxies. SPT is funded primarily by the Division of Polar Programs in NSF's Geosciences Directorate. Partial support also is provided by the NSF-funded Physics Frontier Center of the KICP, the Kavli Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The SPT collaboration is led by the University of Chicago and includes research groups at Argonne National Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Cardiff University, Case Western Reserve University, Harvard University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, McGill University, University of Arizona, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Davis, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Michigan, as well as individual scientists at several other institutions, including the European Southern Observatory and the Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie in Bonn, Germany.
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Most people would not go out of their way to make a 7-foot-long alligator a more efficient swimmer. But a team of researchers in Arizona are doing just that, having attached a prosthetic tail to the back of an alligator in order to help the creature live a more normal life.
?The fact he doesn?t try to bite [the tail] is a good sign,? Russ Johnson, president of the Phoenix Herpetological Society, told the Arizona Republic. ?Learning how to use it is going to take a lot of training.?
Johnson said ?Mr. Stubbs,? 11 years old, lost his tail to the jaws of another alligator about eight years ago. He was found in the back of a truck, along with about 30 other illegally held alligators, near Scottsdale, Ariz.
Without a tail, Mr. Stubbs has gone through most of his life struggling to swim. The physical limitation has prevented him from being released back into the wild,along with the other rescued alligators.
Over the years, Johnson and others have taught Mr. Stubbs to swim using his front legs, but they hoped for a more effective solution.
Now, he's treading water with a 3-foot prosthetic tail attached to the stub where his real tail once was. The tail was funded by about $6,000 in donations.
?I looked and saw there was enough there that we could probably do something that wouldn?t involve surgery,? Marc Jacofsky, executive vice president of research and development at the the Center for Orthopedic Research and Education (CORE), told the Republic. ?I also liked the idea because it would improve his life.?
Interestingly, the inspiration for Mr. Stubbs? new tail came from a similar project designed to help a creature with a very different reputation in the documentary ?Dolphin Tale.?
But the prosthetic has reportedly come with its share of complications. For example, the team had to attach a bright orange water wing in order to help Mr. Stubbs stay afloat while he adjusts to the new tail. And the tail itself was taking on water, at one point causing Mr. Stubbs to sink to the bottom of the swimming pool where researchers were monitoring his progress.
Still, Johnson said Mr. Stubbs should eventually fully adapt to his new tail, giving him a much-improved quality of life over his expected 70 year lifespan.
?He is going to have a long and happy life here,? Johnson told the Republic. ?Right now I want to get him to the point where he doesn?t need that floaty anymore. That way the other gators will stop making fun of him.?
ScienceDaily: Child Development Newshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/news/mind_brain/child_development/ Read the latest research in child development including how newborns learn to think, how sleep patterns emerge, problems with toddlers and more.en-usWed, 13 Mar 2013 04:18:59 EDTWed, 13 Mar 2013 04:18:59 EDT60ScienceDaily: Child Development Newshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gifhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/news/mind_brain/child_development/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily.Autistic children may be at greater risk of suicide ideation and attemptshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130312152049.htm Children with an autism spectrum disorder may be at greater risk for contemplating suicide or attempting suicide than children without autism, according to researchers.Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:20:20 EDThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130312152049.htm'I don't want to pick!' Preschoolers know when they aren't surehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130312152002.htm Children as young as 3 years old know when they are not sure about a decision, and can use that uncertainty to guide decision making, according to new research.Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:20:20 EDThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130312152002.htmChildren who avoid scary situations likelier to have anxietyhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130311201019.htm Children who avoid situations they find scary are likely to have anxiety a study of more than 800 children ages 7 to 18 found.Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:10:10 EDThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130311201019.htmMom's sensitivity helps language development in children with hearing losshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130308103414.htm Psychologists demonstrate the impact sensitive parenting has on language growth for children who receive cochlear implants.Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:34:34 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130308103414.htmUsing human brain cells to make mice smarterhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307123947.htm What happens when human brain cells that surround and support neurons are implanted into the brains of newborn mice? Researchers recently found that such mice had enhanced learning and memory when compared with normal mice that hadn't received the transplanted human cells. The findings indicate that these supportive cells, called glia, play an important role in human cognition.Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:39:39 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307123947.htmWhen food is scarce, a smaller brain will dohttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307123944.htm A new study explains how young brains are protected when nutrition is poor. The findings reveal a coping strategy for producing a fully functional, if smaller, brain. The discovery, which was made in larval flies, shows the brain as an incredibly adaptable organ and may have implications for understanding the developing human brain as well, the researchers say.Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:39:39 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307123944.htmExercise shields children from stress, research indicateshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307091552.htm Exercise may play a key role in helping children cope with stressful situations, according to a recent study.Thu, 07 Mar 2013 09:15:15 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307091552.htmFlip of a single molecular switch makes an old mouse brain younghttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130306134226.htm The flip of a single molecular switch helps create the mature neuronal connections that allow the brain to bridge the gap between adolescent impressionability and adult stability. Now researchers have reversed the process, recreating a youthful brain that facilitated both learning and healing in the adult mouse.Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:42:42 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130306134226.htmSolving the 'Cocktail Party Problem': How we can focus on one speaker in noisy crowdshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130306134218.htm In the din of a crowded room, paying attention to just one speaker's voice can be challenging. Research demonstrates how the brain homes in on one speaker to solve this "Cocktail Party Problem." Researchers discovered that brain waves are shaped so the brain can selectively track the sound patterns from the speaker of interest while excluding competing sounds from other speakers. The findings could have important implications for helping individuals with a range of deficits.Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:42:42 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130306134218.htmFamily intervention improves mood symptoms in children and adolescents at risk for bipolar disorderhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130306084154.htm Psychologists have found that children and adolescents with major depression or subthreshold forms of bipolar disorder - and who had at least one first-degree relative with bipolar disorder - responded better to a 12-session family-focused treatment than to a briefer educational treatment.Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:41:41 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130306084154.htmHelp in reading foreign languageshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130306083935.htm Recent research into how we learn is set to help people in their efforts to read a second or foreign language (SFL) more effectively. This will be good news for those struggling to develop linguistic skills in preparation for a move abroad, or to help in understanding foreign language forms, reports, contracts and instructions.Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:39:39 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130306083935.htmPotential target to better treat, cure anxiety disordershttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305174627.htm Researchers have, for the first time, identified a specific group of cells in the brainstem whose activation during rapid eye movement sleep is critical for the regulation of emotional memory processing.Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:46:46 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305174627.htmMental picture of others can be seen using fMRI, finds new studyhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305091000.htm It is possible to tell who a person is thinking about by analyzing images of his or her brain. Our mental models of people produce unique patterns of brain activation, which can be detected using advanced imaging techniques according to a new study.Tue, 05 Mar 2013 09:10:10 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305091000.htmChildren of divorced parents more likely to switch, pull away from religionshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305090956.htm Adults whose parents were divorced are more likely to switch religions or disassociate themselves from institutional religions altogether -- but growing up in a single-parent family does not have any effect on private religious life, including praying, according to a new study.Tue, 05 Mar 2013 09:09:09 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305090956.htmStress hormone foreshadows postpartum depression in new mothershttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130304161623.htm Women who receive strong social support from their families during pregnancy appear to be protected from sharp increases in a particular stress hormone, making them less likely to develop postpartum depression, according to a new study.Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:16:16 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130304161623.htmMom's placenta reflects her exposure to stress and impacts offsprings' brainshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130304151811.htm The mammalian placenta is more than just a filter through which nutrition and oxygen are passed from a mother to her unborn child. According to a new study, if a mother is exposed to stress during pregnancy, her placenta translates that experience to her fetus by altering levels of a protein that affects the developing brains of male and female offspring differently.Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:18:18 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130304151811.htmIs baby still breathing? Is mom's obsession normal?http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130304151807.htm A new mother may constantly worry and check to see if her baby is breathing. Or she may obsess about germs. A new study found postpartum moms have a much higher rate of obsessive-compulsive symptoms than the general population. This is the first large-scale study of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in new moms. The symptoms could result from hormonal changes or be adaptive, but may indicate a psychological disorder if they interfere with a mother's functioning.Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:18:18 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130304151807.htmSpeech emerges in children on the autism spectrum with severe language delay at greater rate than previously thoughthttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130304104912.htm Study could reveals key predictors of speech gains. New findings reveal that 70 percent of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who have a history of severe language delay, achieved phrase or fluent speech by age eight.Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:49:49 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130304104912.htmADHD takes a toll well into adulthoodhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130304104758.htm The first large, population-based study to follow children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder into adulthood shows that ADHD often doesn?t go away and that children with ADHD are more likely to have other psychiatric disorders as adults. They also appear more likely to commit suicide and to be incarcerated as adults.Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:47:47 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130304104758.htmInfection during pregnancy and stress in puberty play key role in development of schizophreniahttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130301122512.htm The interplay between an infection during pregnancy and stress in puberty plays a key role in the development of schizophrenia, as behaviorists demonstrate in a mouse model. However, there is no need to panic.Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:25:25 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130301122512.htmBritish children more exposed to alcohol promotion than adults, experts warnhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228194651.htm Children in Britain are more exposed to alcohol promotion than adults and need much stronger protection, warn experts.Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:46:46 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228194651.htmAction video games boost reading skills, study of children with dyslexia suggestshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228124132.htm Much to the chagrin of parents who think their kids should spend less time playing video games and more time studying, time spent playing action video games can actually make dyslexic children read better, new research suggests. In fact, 12 hours of video game play did more for reading skills than is normally achieved with a year of spontaneous reading development or demanding traditional reading treatments.Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:41:41 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228124132.htmCloser personal relationships could help teens overcome learning disabilitieshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228113449.htm A new study from Israel says that children with learning disabilities develop less secure attachments with mothers and teachers, and that closer and more secure relationships with parents and adults may help them overcome these disabilities.Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:34:34 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228113449.htmEating junk food while pregnant may make your child a junk food addicthttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228103443.htm A healthy diet during pregnancy is critical to the future health of your children. New research suggests that pregnant mothers who consume junk food cause developmental changes of the opioid signaling pathway in the brains of their unborn children. Consequently, these children are less sensitive to opioids released upon consumption of foods high in fat and sugar, and need to eat more to achieve a "feel good" response.Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:34:34 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228103443.htmChildren with autism show increased positive social behaviors when animals are presenthttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227183504.htm The presence of an animal can significantly increase positive social behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders, according to new research.Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:35:35 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227183504.htmHomeric epics were written in 762 BCE, give or take, new study suggestshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227183320.htm One of literature's oldest mysteries is a step closer to being solved. A new study dates Homer's The Iliad to 762 BCE and adds a quantitative means of testing ideas about history by analyzing the evolution of language.Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:33:33 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227183320.htmPraising children for their personal qualities may backfirehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227183316.htm Praising children, especially those with low self-esteem, for their personal qualities rather than their efforts may make them feel more ashamed when they fail, according to new research.Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:33:33 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227183316.htmFirst grade math skills set foundation for later math abilityhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227151302.htm Children who failed to acquire a basic math skill in first grade scored far behind their peers by seventh grade on a test of the mathematical abilities needed to function in adult life, according to researchers.Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:13:13 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227151302.htmResearch explores factors that impact adolescent mental healthhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227151258.htm Research indicates that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, well before adulthood. Three new studies investigate the cognitive, genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to mental health disorders in adolescence.Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:12:12 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227151258.htmAuthors: Develop digital games to improve brain function and well-beinghttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227134338.htm Neuroscientists should help to develop compelling digital games that boost brain function and improve well-being, say two professors specializing in the field.Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:43:43 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227134338.htmStudy connects early childhood with pain, depression in adulthoodhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227121910.htm New research examines how childhood socioeconomic disadvantages and maternal depression increase the risk of major depression and chronic pain when they become adults.Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:19:19 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227121910.htmNew studies link gene to selfish behavior in kids, find other children natural givershttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227102940.htm Most parents would agree that raising a generous child is an admirable goal -- but how, exactly, is that accomplished? New results shed light on how generosity and related behaviors -- such as kindness, caring and empathy -- develop, or don't develop, in children from 2 years old through adolescence.Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:29:29 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227102940.htm'Network' analysis of brain may explain features of autismhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227102022.htm A look at how the brain processes information finds distinct pattern in autistic children. Using EEGs to track the brain's electrical cross-talk, researchers found structural difference in brain connections. Compared with neurotypical children, those with autism have multiple redundant connections between neighboring brain areas at expense of long-distance links. The study, using "network analysis" like with airlines or electrical grids, may help in understanding some classic autistic behaviors.Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:20:20 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227102022.htmIncreased risk of sleep disorder narcolepsy in children who received swine flu vaccinehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130226194006.htm A study finds an increased risk of narcolepsy in children and adolescents who received the A/H1N1 2009 influenza vaccine (Pandemrix) during the pandemic in England.Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:40:40 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130226194006.htmSleep reinforces learning: Children?s brains transform subconsciously learned material into active knowledgehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130226081155.htm During sleep, our brains store what we have learned during the day a process even more effective in children than in adults, new research shows.Tue, 26 Feb 2013 08:11:11 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130226081155.htmHigher levels of several toxic metals found in children with autismhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225162231.htm Researchers have found significantly higher levels of toxic metals in children with autism, compared to typical children. They hypothesize that reducing early exposure to toxic metals may help lessen symptoms of autism, though they say this hypotheses needs further examination.Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:22:22 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225162231.htmDoing good is good for you: Volunteer adolescents enjoy healthier heartshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225162229.htm Giving back through volunteering is good for your heart, even at a young age, according to researchers.Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:22:22 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225162229.htmGiving a voice to kids with Down syndromehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225122039.htm A new case study shows children with Down syndrome can benefit from conventional stuttering treatment.Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:20:20 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225122039.htmUltrasound reveals autism risk at birth, study findshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225112510.htm Low-birth-weight babies with a particular brain abnormality are at greater risk for autism, according to a new study that could provide doctors a signpost for early detection of the still poorly understood disorder.Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:25:25 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225112510.htmParents talking about their own drug use to children could be detrimentalhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130222083127.htm Parents know that one day they will have to talk to their children about drug use. The hardest part is to decide whether or not talking about ones own drug use will be useful in communicating an antidrug message. Recent research found that children whose parents did not disclose drug use, but delivered a strong antidrug message, were more likely to exhibit antidrug attitudes.Fri, 22 Feb 2013 08:31:31 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130222083127.htmScientists make older adults less forgetful in memory testshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130221143946.htm Scientists have found compelling evidence that older adults can eliminate forgetfulness and perform as well as younger adults on memory tests. The cognitive boost comes from a surprising source -- a distraction learning strategy.Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:39:39 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130221143946.htmHow human language could have evolved from birdsong: Researchers propose new theory on deep roots of human speechhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130221141608.htm The sounds uttered by birds offer in several respects the nearest analogy to language," Charles Darwin wrote in "The Descent of Man" (1871), while contemplating how humans learned to speak. Language, he speculated, might have had its origins in singing, which "might have given rise to words expressive of various complex emotions." 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For high jumpers the study shows that dynamic imagery improves the number of successful attempts and the technical performance of jumps The technique of mental rehearsal is used to consolidate performance in many disciplines including music and sport. Motor imagery and physical practice use overlapping neural networks in the brain and the two together can improve performance as well as promoting recovery from injury.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:15:15 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219201523.htmBiological marker of dyslexia discovered: Ability to consistently encode sound undergirds the reading processhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219172159.htm Researchers believe they have discovered a biological marker of dyslexia, a disorder affecting up to one out of 10 children that makes learning to read difficult. The researchers found a systematic relationship between reading ability and the consistency with which the brain encodes sounds. The good news: Response consistency can be improved with auditory training.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:21:21 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219172159.htmLanguage protein differs in males, femaleshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219172153.htm Male rat pups have more of a specific brain protein associated with language development than females, according to a new study. The study also found sex differences in the brain protein in a small group of children. The findings may shed light on sex differences in communication in animals and language acquisition in people.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:21:21 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219172153.htmInfants in poverty show different physiological vulnerabilities to the care-giving environmenthttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219141016.htm Some infants raised in poverty exhibit physical traits that make them more vulnerable to poor care-giving, according to new research. The combination of physiological vulnerability and poor care-giving may lead these children to show increased problem behaviors later in childhood.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:10:10 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219141016.htmMusic therapy improves behavior in children with autism, study suggestshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219140100.htm Weekly music therapy sessions can have a positive effect on behavior in children with autism, reports a new article. In a study of 41 children, improvements were seen particularly in inattentive behaviors over a ten month period.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:01:01 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219140100.htmReduced risk of preterm birth for pregnant women vaccinated during pandemic fluhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219121351.htm Pregnant women who received the H1N1 influenza vaccine during the 2009 pandemic were less likely to have premature babies, and their babies weighed more on average.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:13:13 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219121351.htmSports, shared activities are 'game changers' for dad/daughter relationshipshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219121212.htm The most frequent turning point in father-daughter relationships is shared activity -- especially sports -- ahead of such pivotal events as when a daughter marries or leaves home, according to a new study.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:12:12 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219121212.htmIs there a link between childhood obesity and ADHD, learning disabilities?http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219121021.htm A new study has established a possible link between high-fat diets and such childhood brain-based conditions as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and memory-dependent learning disabilities.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:10:10 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219121021.htmChildren with auditory processing disorder may now have more treatment optionshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219120936.htm Researchers are helping children with auditory processing disorder receive better treatment. They have developed a program that uses evidence-based practices and incorporates speech-language pathologists into therapy.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:09:09 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219120936.htm'Simplified' brain lets the iCub robot learn languagehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219102649.htm The iCub humanoid robot will now be able to understand what is being said to it and even anticipate the end of a sentence.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:26:26 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219102649.htmIt may be educational, but what is that TV show really teaching your preschooler?http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219102118.htm Most parents carefully select what television programs and movies their children can watch. But a psychologist says educational shows could come with an added lesson that influences a child?s behavior. Children exposed to educational programs were more aggressive in their interactions than those who weren't exposed.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:21:21 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219102118.htmFear, anger or pain: Why do babies cry?http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219090649.htm Researchers have studied adults' accuracy in the recognition of the emotion causing babies to cry. Eye movement and the dynamic of the cry play a key role in recognition. It is not easy to know why a newborn cries, especially amongst first-time parents. Although the main reasons are hunger, pain, anger and fear, adults cannot easily recognize which emotion is the cause of the tears.Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:06:06 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219090649.htmShedding new light on infant brain developmenthttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130218164126.htm A new study finds that the infant brain does not control its blood flow the same way as the adult brain, that the control of brain blood flow develops with age. These findings could change the way researchers study brain development in infants and children.Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:41:41 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130218164126.htmExcessive TV in childhood linked to long-term antisocial behavior, New Zealand study showshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130218092711.htm Children and adolescents who watch a lot of television are more likely to manifest antisocial and criminal behavior when they become adults, according to a new study.Mon, 18 Feb 2013 09:27:27 ESThttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130218092711.htm
Relationships are perhaps harder than people realize to build and keep going. The easy part is the beginning, when we?re just getting to know one another and everything is new.
Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.
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Public release date: 13-Mar-2013
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