Avril Lavigne kicked off her wedding celebrations by hosting a party in Cannes, France.
The 'Here's To Never Growing Up' singer threw a pre-wedding bash with her fiance Chad Kroeger on Saturday (29.06.13) but the couple are "technically not married yet" and will officially tie the knot on Monday (01.07.13).
A source told UsMagazine.com that the couple planned an "intimate" three-day celebration with the help of celebrity wedding planner Mindy Weiss, who has posted several photos on Instagram from the region, including a romantic sunset.
The insider added: "It is extremely intimate, just close friends and family."
The Canadian singer sparked rumours she and the Nickleback frontman exchanged vows on Saturday after Mike Heller, CEO of Talent Resources, who works with Avril, tweeted that he was at her wedding.
He wrote: "I'm in south of France about to see my little Rok star #avril get married I am so happy to be part of this special celebration. (Sic)"
He later added: "No pictures will be sent since this is #avril wedding but I will tell you everyone is so excited."
A second source explained that Mike was referring to the three-day long bash rather than suggesting Avril was already married.
The 28-year-old singer previously revealed she was planning a lavish wedding, saying: "I just want to make sure I really enjoy this amazing time and I want all the guests who come to have this once in a lifetime experience. I want everyone to say, 'Wow!' and for it to be special for everyone, not just us."
The 'Girlfriend' singer, who was previously married to Sum 41 star Deryck Whibley, fell for Chad, 38, last summer when he was helping her record her fifth studio album.
She recently said: "I feel most beautiful when I'm around Chad."
According to Kim Kardashian's trainer, the new mom is "super motivated" to get her pre-baby body back.
Tracy Anderson tells Us Weekly that Kardashian, who gave birth to daughter North West on June 15, is taking some time to be in mommy-mode before hitting the gym hard to regain her famous figure.
Although losing weight isn't a priority for Kardashian at the moment, Anderson says she's devising a workout plan so that they can get going within the next couple of weeks.
"It's a tough time, and a lot of women feel like it's a huge mountain to climb to get back, but Kim, surprisingly, has had the totally opposite reaction to other moms," Anderson tells Us. "She's like, 'We're going to be so good. It's fun, I feel great!' She just loves the whole process. From our talks during her pregnancy, I thought she was going to be really concerned [about her weight] once the baby was out, but she's just not," Anderson adds. "She's in baby heaven. She's excited to get started, but she's really calm about it all."
Reports have been flying that Kardashian wants to shed 30 pounds in 30 days, but Anderson's comments make us believe otherwise. The fitness guru, who trains Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez as well, is going to wait at least five weeks before getting Kardashian to work on strengthening her "abdominal muscles." She'll start the 32-year-old off with four-day-a-week workouts before moving toward five or six days.
"Kim is super motivated. She's all in," Anderson admits. "Pregnancy is actually an opportunity for women to look better than ever. And [Kim] will."
Ad hoc is our media and miscellaneous podcast where we get a bunch of tech geeks together, put them in front of mics, hit record, and then chat with them about movies, TV shows, video games, comics and books, and other popular, nerdy things. In this episode, Guy English, Georgia, Dave Wiskus, and Rene Ritchie pretty much do to Man of Steel what the Man of Steel did to Metropolis in Chris Nolan, David Goyer, and Zack Snyder's reboot of the Superman franchise.
Five Egyptians were killed this week, making it unlikely Sunday's anti-Morsi protests will be calm.
By Louisa Loveluck,?Contributor / June 28, 2013
Supporters of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi hold a rally in Cairo, Friday, June 28. Supporters and opponents of President Morsi clashed across Egypt today ending week on alarming note.
Manu Brabo/AP
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Supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi clashed across Egypt today?as they steel themselves for mass demonstrations that are being hyped as one of the largest challenges yet to the Islamist president?s rule. The violence of the past few days make it more likely that Sunday, when the crowds are expected to be even larger, will take a dark turn.?
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Egypt?s leading religious authority called for calm as rival demonstrations on opposite sides of Cairo drew?hundreds of thousands and bloody clashes in Alexandria, Daqahliya, Gharbiya, Sharqiya brought the official death toll after a week of simmering tensions to five.
"Vigilance is required to ensure we do not slide into civil war," Al Azhar University declared in a statement which was broadly supportive of Egypt?s Islamist president's offer of dialogue earlier this week.?
The sentiments echo those of the country?s military, who said earlier this week that they were ready to prevent the country from going down the "dark tunnel" of internal conflict. ?Army tanks were deployed across Egyptian cities on Wednesday to secure state institutions as the protests burgeoned.
Experts say today?s violence suggests that bloody clashes are inevitable during mass demonstrations called for June 30, the one-year anniversary of Morsi's rule. But those who are planning to go out on the streets this weekend say this is not the case, and argue instead that Mr. Morsi?s removal would represent a peaceful resolution to a crisis of deepening political polarization.
In Alexandria today, one man was killed in clashes near the Muslim Brotherhood's local offices. According to the state MENA news agency, 60 more were injured. Unconfirmed reports from social media suggest that a number of other Islamist political offices were attacked this week in the country?s Delta governorates, north of Cairo.
Addressing a crowd of tens of thousands who had turned out to support President Morsi in Cairo?s Nasr District, Muslim cleric Sawfat Hegazy railed at the opposition for "using deadly force against Islamists and Brotherhood members.?
"The president must use an iron fist to reply to such attacks,? he said.
Protesters said they were vehemently opposed to the Tamarod ("Rebel") movement, the petition campaign which has led calls for Sunday?s anti-Morsi demonstration, and claims to have collected over 15 million signatures in favor of Morsi?s resignation.
The petitions hold no legal force, but they reveal widespread discontent at his government almost a year after the president took power and the signatories hope that alone will be enough to prompt Morsi to step down.?
?They told us they had 15 million signatures,? says Yasser Abdelazim, a member of Morsi?s Freedom and Justice Party. ?If this is the case, they can participate in elections, change the parliament, change the president.? An elected president should only be removed via the ballot box, he said.
But just 8.5 miles away in Cairo?s Tahrir Square, protesters who rallied ahead of protests planned for June 30 insisted that their demonstrations will go ahead as planned and that Morsi?s removal was the only way forward for the country. Although only a couple thousand gathered there during the day, crowds swelled as the evening drew in.
With anticipation mounting, opposition figures say that they expect an impressive turnout two days from now. ?I expect to see millions of Egyptians come out on the streets,? says Khaled Dawoud, a spokesman for the National Salvation Front, Egypt's coalition of secularist opposition parties.
?[Morsi] is refusing to acknowledge the number of problems that have come from his policies and the religious rhetoric of his group, and this makes me and our supporters more personally committed to go out on the streets on June 30th. We will be peaceful; we will wait it out.?
But experts warn that the clashes witnessed this week are creating a dynamic that makes?violence increasingly likely.
?Expectation of violence itself can increase the likelihood of it happening,? says Elijah Zarwan, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. ?People from both sides are coming to the streets expecting that the other side is going to be violent, and that raises the emotional pitch.?
?The president?s supporters and opponent have moved beyond polarization, they?re now occupying separate realities.?
ISLAMABAD - A Christian girl who was accused of burning Islam's holy book in a case that focused international attention on Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws was forced to move to Canada over security concerns, her lawyer said Saturday.
The girl left Pakistan with her parents, three sisters and a brother on March 14, attorney Tahir Naveed Chaudhry said.
A Muslim cleric who lobbied for her release, Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, said she had been facing threats and was moving constantly.
"I am sad that this innocent girl had to leave Pakistan. She had been acquitted by the court, and despite that it was not possible for her to live freely," he said.
Canada's immigration service said privacy concerns prevented them from saying whether she was in the country.
The girl was arrested in August in Islamabad after a Muslim cleric accused her of burning the Qur?an.
The cleric was later accused of fabricating evidence, and the girl was acquitted.
The case received attention in part because of her young age and questions about her mental abilities. An official medical report at the time put her age at 14 although some of her supporters said she was as young as 11. The medical report also said her mental state did not correspond with her age.
The Associated Press is withholding the girl's name because it does not generally identify underage suspects.
Even though the case against her was thrown out, people accused of blasphemy in Pakistan are often subject to vigilante justice. Mobs have been known to attack and kill people accused of blasphemy, and two prominent politicians who have discussed changes to the blasphemy laws have been killed.
Oh hi! I'm Ashley (or Ash, or Platypus), I'm happily taken by my Link, and I'm interested in things? things such as '60s sci-fi shows, British media, handsome menfolk, space, and art. Someday I'm going to work for Disney/Pixar if my plans to become an Avenger fall through. I'm a conservative and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I think life is pretty dang spiffy. And while I'm not a real doctor, I am an actual platypus.
TORONTO (AP) ? Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion plunged nearly 30 percent Friday after the company posted a loss and warned of future losses despite releasing its make-or-break new smartphones this year.
RIM also announced that it will stop developing new versions of its slow-selling tablet computer called the Playbook.
Analysts were looking for insight into how phones running RIM's new Blackberry 10 operating system are selling. It wasn't good.
RIM said it sold 6.8 million phones overall versus 7.8 million last year. That includes older models. In wasn't until well into a conference call with analysts that RIM announced that 2.7 million of the devices sold in the quarter were Blackberry 10 models.
RIM's Blackberry 10 operating system is critical to the company's comeback. New phones running the BlackBerry 10 software began selling around the world this year. The BlackBerry Z10, a touchscreen model and the Q10, which sports a keyboard, have received positive reviews, but there was a delay in getting them to market in the U.S.
The first quarter, however, included a substantial period of sales of the Z10 phone in the U.S. It didn't include sales numbers for the Q10 in the U.S. The Q10 just went on sale in the U.S. earlier this month.
Sales results and RIM's projections, however, signal that the new BlackBerry 10 phones are not selling well. The company said it anticipates it will generate an operating loss in the second quarter, too.
Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity, said it's clear the new operating system has not turned the company around.
"With Z10, Q10, and Q5 all shipping in the August quarter and BlackBerry still guiding to a loss we believe that is strong evidence BB10 has not turned around BlackBerry in an extremely competitive smartphone market," Walkley said.
Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said on a conference call with analysts that the "transition takes time" and noted things are better compared to last year when "we were told the company was finished."
Shares of Research in Motion Ltd. dropped $4.02, or 28 percent, to close at $10.46 Friday.
The BlackBerry, introduced in 1999, was once the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. But it lost its cachet not long after Apple released the first iPhone in 2007. Apple's device reset expectations for what a smartphone can do. RIM promised to catch up while developing new a software system called BlackBerry 10, which uses technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. But the company took more than two years to unveil new phones that were redesigned for the multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers now demand. During that time, RIM cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth of more than $70 billion vanish.
The Canadian company said it lost $84 million, or 16 cents a share, in the three months ended June 1 on revenue of $3.1 billion. It lost $518 million, or 99 cents per share, on revenue of $2.8 billion a year ago.
Analysts expected RIM to earn 5 cents a share on revenue of $3.37 billion.
The number of BlackBerry users in the world also fell by four million to 72 million. RIM also said it anticipates it will generate an operating loss in the second quarter. Heins noted the highly competitive smartphone market makes it difficult to estimate revenue and levels of profitability.
Heins also announced on the call that he has halted further development of RIM's failed tablet offering, the Playbook. The Playbook has not sold well.
"Our teams have spent a great deal of time and energy looking at solutions that could move the BlackBerry 10 experience to Playbook, but unfortunately I am not satisfied with the level of performance and user experience and I made the difficult decision to stop these efforts and focus on our core hardware portfolio," Heins said.
Heins said they'll continue to support the PlayBook on the existing software platforms and configurations. Asked if RIM will continue to make the Playbook, a RIM spokeswoman said the company is evaluating its hardware strategy.
Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, said said it's tough for RIM because it's hard to make money on handsets now.
"There are a lot of people that haven't been able to make it happen. For all the talk about Apple and Samsung, there are companies like Nokia and HTC," Gillis said.
Gillis said things look bleaker for the company and it's going to continue to be a struggle.
Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek said the high end global smartphone market is saturated and brutally competitive.
"Everybody is coming to this reality. You talk to HTC, Samsung and even Apple, the high end is saturated. That's a fact," Misek said. "Anybody in the high end who wants a smartphone in the world has one, so you have to knock somebody away from another platform. That is a brutal, brutal market."
RIM has unveiled a lower-cost BlackBerry aimed at consumers in emerging markets, but hasn't said if the device will be available in North America.
Misek was expecting the company to sell 4 million BlackBerry 10 phones. He said the sale of 2.7 million new BlackBerry 10 phones was the most disappointing news Friday.
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) ? A new pipeline to bring gas to Europe from the Caspian Sea will go through Greece and then under the sea to Italy, it was confirmed Friday, a defeat for a rival project to bring gas through Bulgaria and into Austria.
BP, the main developer of the huge Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea, said Friday that the project was awarded to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, or TAP. The other option, the Nabucco West, would have run across Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.
The Greek prime minister hailed the decision as the most significant boost for his country's economy in the past decade.
TAP is led by Norway's Statoil, Axpo of Switzerland and the German firm E.ON. Its pipeline will run nearly 800 kilometers (500 miles) across Turkey, northern Greece and into southern Albania before traveling under the sea to Italy.
BP holds 25.5 percent of the Shah Deniz project, while Statoil holds another 25.5 percent. Azerbaijan's state oil and gas company, Socar, holds 10 percent, as do Russia's Lukoil, Iran's Nico and France's Total. The remaining 9 percent is held by Trao.
Regional BP president Gordon Birell said at an official ceremony in Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, that the consortium spent two years determining the best route for the pipeline. The gas from Shah Deniz is to go into production in 2018, with the first supplies to be transported to Europe in 2019. Birell said 10 billion cubic meters of gas will be exported annually.
The choice of TAP was expected after Austrian power utility OMV said Wednesday that the Nabucco venture it was backing had not been selected.
Socar's president, Rovnaq Abdullayev, said at Friday's ceremony that Azerbaijan and the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, are still discussing other possible routes for an additional pipeline to carry Azerbaijan's considerable gas supplies to Europe. The Shah Deniz reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters.
The EU and the United States both enthusiastically support building connections to Azerbaijan's gas as a way to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas.
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called Friday's deal "a milestone in strengthening the energy security of our union." He said Europe's links to the Caspian Sea gas fields should be strengthened.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said the decision was a vote of confidence in his financially troubled country. Greece has been struggling through more than three years of a deep financial crisis, and has been desperate for foreign investment to inject cash into the economy and generate jobs at a time when unemployment is above 27 percent.
The TAP represents an investment of more than 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) in Greece alone, Samaras said in a statement.
"The creation of such an important project puts Greece steadily on the map of pipelines and of the energy supply of the whole of Europe," the prime minister said. "This constitutes a significant 'vote of confidence' in Greece and our country's prospects in Europe. After the TAP announcement, the 'disaster scenarios' for Greece and its exit from the euro definitively stop."
The project will generate 2,000 direct jobs and 10,000 more in companies that will be supporting the project, he said.
Samaras noted that the pipeline will also generate tax revenue and pave the way for a cheaper supply of energy as well as turning Greece into "an energy hub, in other words a source of attraction for new investments and new businesses."
___
AP writer Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report.
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JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? A granddaughter of Nelson Mandela says the former South African president remains in critical condition.
The granddaughter, Ndileka Mandela, made the comment Thursday when she and other family members stepped outside the Pretoria hospital treating 94-year-old Mandela to collect flowers and messages of support that were left outside the building.
Ndileka Mandela also describes her grandfather's condition as stable, indicating it had not changed since the government said on Sunday that Mandela's health had deteriorated to a critical state.
The granddaughter says it has been a difficult situation for the family, especially because they are coping with Mandela's illness in the public eye.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee has lashed out at Western governments, calling them hypocritical for spying on the internet while reproaching other oppressive nations for doing the same; adding that the revelations may change the way people use computers.
The British computer scientist, who invented the Web in 1989, accused the West of "insidious" online spying after whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked details of the US National Security Agency?s (NSA) dragnet telephone and internet surveillance programs, implicating US and UK in a wave of international criticism.
"In the Middle East, people have been given access to the internet, but they have been snooped on and then they have been jailed," Berners-Lee told The Times newspaper in an interview.
"It can be easy for people in the West to say 'Oh, those nasty governments should not be allowed access to spy.' But it's clear that developed nations are seriously spying on the internet," he added.
Berners-Lee believes that the new revelations about Western government spying could change the way people, especially teenagers, use the internet and their computers.
"Teenagers who are unsure about their sexuality, who need to contact others, or people being abused trying to find helplines... There are things that happen on the net that are very intimate, which people are going to be loath to do if they feel there is somebody looking over their shoulder."
Another concern that Berners-Lee raises is around the safety of the already collected information.
The web?s inventor spoke out before accepting a US$1.5 million joint engineering prize awarded by Queen Elizabeth to five men, who are considered to be the fathers of the internet, including Robert Kahn, Vint Cerf, Louis Pouzin and Marc Andreessen.
Berners-Lee argues that internet freedom must be safeguarded against companies or governments trying to take over control.
"When you make something universal ? it can be used for good things or nasty things ? we just have to make sure it's not undercut by any large companies or governments trying to use it and get total control," he said at the award ceremony.
One of the award recipients, Google Vice-President Vint Cerf, suggested companies should come up with ways to go around the surveillance, such as developing encrypted web communication.
Snowden blew the whistle on an NSA program called PRISM that collects correspondence and video conversations of foreigners using internet services like Google, Skype, Yahoo and Facebook.
He also provided documents showing the intelligence agency collects data on phone calls handled by the major US telephone companies.
On top of that the whistleblower exposed British spy agency GCHQ?s access to the global network of communications, storing calls, Facebook posts and internet histories, and revealed that it shares this data with the NSA.
Snowden was charged with espionage by US federal prosecutors on Friday and currently remains in an airport limbo in Russia?s transit zone after he flew to Moscow?s Sheremetyevo Airport from Hong Kong.
Snowden?s stopover in the transit zone could be prolonged indefinitely, as his passport, which was annulled by the US on Saturday, leaves him without the necessary documentation with which to travel, a source reportedly connected with Snowden told Interfax.
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela said on Thursday it had found the crashed plane of Italian fashion executive Vittorio Missoni that went missing after taking off from the Los Roques archipelago in the Caribbean six months ago.
The small, twin-engine aircraft carrying Missoni, 58, his wife Maurizia Castiglioni, another couple, a Venezuelan crew member, and the pilot disappeared after taking on January 4.
"The plane that crashed on January 4 has appeared," Interior Minister spokesman Jorge Galindo said, confirming later to Reuters that it was Missoni's plane.
Galindo gave no more details of the location or condition of the plane.
Earlier this year, Italy's agency for flight security, ANSV, said its investigation had found that the airline that owned the plane was not fully licensed to operate and that the pilot's license had expired more than a month before the flight.
Missoni was the oldest child of the founders of the fashion house famous for its exuberantly colored knits, featuring bold stripes and zigzags. He was co-owner with siblings Luca and Angela, who handle the technical and design sides of the firm.
(Reporting by Mario Naranjo and Carlos Rawlins; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Vicki Allen)
WOODS HOLE, Mass. A new study helps explain how parts of the brain maintain their delicate balance of zinc, an element required in minute but crucial doses, particularly during embryonic development.
The study, led at the MBL by Dr. Mark Messerli in collaboration with scientists from the University of California, Davis, shows that neural cells require zinc uptake through a membrane transporter referred to as ZIP12.. If that route is closed, neuronal sprouting and growth are significantly impaired and is fatal for a developing embryo. Their discovery was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This particular transporter is an essential doorway for many neurons in the central nervous system," explains Messerli. "You knock out this one gene, this one particular pathway for the uptake of zinc into these cells, and you essentially prevent neuronal outgrowth. That's lethal to the embryo."
Previously, scientists thought that zinc could use more than one pathway to enter the cell during early brain development. Some other elements, like calcium, enjoy such luxury of multiple options.
Knocking out ZIP12, affected several critical processes in the brain, the scientists found. For example, frog embryos were unable to develop their neural systems properly. Additionally, neurons had trouble reaching out to connect to other neurons; their extensions were both shorter and fewer in number than normal.
"We were surprised that ZIP12 was required at such an early and critical stage of development," said Winyoo Chowanadisai, a researcher in nutrition at the University of California at Davis and visiting scientist in the Cellular Dynamics Program at the MBL. Dr. Chowanadisai was the first on the team to realize that ZIP12 is expressed in such abundance in the brain."This study also reinforces the importance of periconceptional and prenatal nutrition and counseling to promote health during the earliest stages of life."
ZIP12 is part of a larger family of transporters involved in the movement of metal ions from outside the cell. Other reports showed that simultaneously blocking 3 other transporters in the family including ZIP1, 2, and 3 had no major effects on embryonic development.
Zinc is needed for healthy neural development, helping the brain to learn and remember new information. However, too much zinc can also be problematic.
The research team is investigating the implications of their results on processes like embryonic brain development and wound healing.
"[The result] was not expected," said Messerli, a physiologist in the MBL's Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Enginering and Cellular Dynamics Program. ""We found that zinc uptake through ZIP12 is a regulatory point for neuronal growth, required for development and possibly required for learning and memory throughout life. We want to elucidate the downstream targets that zinc is affecting. That's the next exploration."
###
Written by Aviva Hope Rutkin
Photo Caption
ZIP12 RNA marked with blue dye in a frog brain.
Citation
Chowanadisai W, Graham DM, Keen CL, Rucker RB and Messerli MA (2013) Neurulation and neurite extension require the zinc transporter ZIP12 (slc39a12). PNAS 110: 9903-9908.
The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery and improving the human condition through research and education in biology, biomedicine, and environmental science. Founded in 1888 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the MBL is an independent, nonprofit corporation.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
MBL researchers find zinc's crucial pathway to the brainPublic release date: 26-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
WOODS HOLE, Mass. A new study helps explain how parts of the brain maintain their delicate balance of zinc, an element required in minute but crucial doses, particularly during embryonic development.
The study, led at the MBL by Dr. Mark Messerli in collaboration with scientists from the University of California, Davis, shows that neural cells require zinc uptake through a membrane transporter referred to as ZIP12.. If that route is closed, neuronal sprouting and growth are significantly impaired and is fatal for a developing embryo. Their discovery was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This particular transporter is an essential doorway for many neurons in the central nervous system," explains Messerli. "You knock out this one gene, this one particular pathway for the uptake of zinc into these cells, and you essentially prevent neuronal outgrowth. That's lethal to the embryo."
Previously, scientists thought that zinc could use more than one pathway to enter the cell during early brain development. Some other elements, like calcium, enjoy such luxury of multiple options.
Knocking out ZIP12, affected several critical processes in the brain, the scientists found. For example, frog embryos were unable to develop their neural systems properly. Additionally, neurons had trouble reaching out to connect to other neurons; their extensions were both shorter and fewer in number than normal.
"We were surprised that ZIP12 was required at such an early and critical stage of development," said Winyoo Chowanadisai, a researcher in nutrition at the University of California at Davis and visiting scientist in the Cellular Dynamics Program at the MBL. Dr. Chowanadisai was the first on the team to realize that ZIP12 is expressed in such abundance in the brain."This study also reinforces the importance of periconceptional and prenatal nutrition and counseling to promote health during the earliest stages of life."
ZIP12 is part of a larger family of transporters involved in the movement of metal ions from outside the cell. Other reports showed that simultaneously blocking 3 other transporters in the family including ZIP1, 2, and 3 had no major effects on embryonic development.
Zinc is needed for healthy neural development, helping the brain to learn and remember new information. However, too much zinc can also be problematic.
The research team is investigating the implications of their results on processes like embryonic brain development and wound healing.
"[The result] was not expected," said Messerli, a physiologist in the MBL's Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Enginering and Cellular Dynamics Program. ""We found that zinc uptake through ZIP12 is a regulatory point for neuronal growth, required for development and possibly required for learning and memory throughout life. We want to elucidate the downstream targets that zinc is affecting. That's the next exploration."
###
Written by Aviva Hope Rutkin
Photo Caption
ZIP12 RNA marked with blue dye in a frog brain.
Citation
Chowanadisai W, Graham DM, Keen CL, Rucker RB and Messerli MA (2013) Neurulation and neurite extension require the zinc transporter ZIP12 (slc39a12). PNAS 110: 9903-9908.
The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery and improving the human condition through research and education in biology, biomedicine, and environmental science. Founded in 1888 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the MBL is an independent, nonprofit corporation.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In this photo taken on Monday June 17, 2013 and released on Thursday June 20, 2013 by the Royal Opera House, Susan Bullock as Queen Elizabeth I takes center stage during the Royal Opera House Covent Garden production of Gloriana in London. Gloriana is back in a new production by Richard Jones that the company's director, Kasper Holten, notes commemorates a triple anniversary: 60 years since the coronation and the opera's premiere and 100 years since the composer's birth. (AP Photo/Clive Barda, Royal Opera House)
In this photo taken on Monday June 17, 2013 and released on Thursday June 20, 2013 by the Royal Opera House, Susan Bullock as Queen Elizabeth I takes center stage during the Royal Opera House Covent Garden production of Gloriana in London. Gloriana is back in a new production by Richard Jones that the company's director, Kasper Holten, notes commemorates a triple anniversary: 60 years since the coronation and the opera's premiere and 100 years since the composer's birth. (AP Photo/Clive Barda, Royal Opera House)
Director of Opera, The Royal Opera House, Kasper Holten, speaks during an interview with Associated Press in London, Tuesday, June 25, 2013. Gloriana is back in a new production by Richard Jones that the company's director, Kasper Holten, notes commemorates a triple anniversary: 60 years since the coronation and the opera's premiere and 100 years since the composer's birth. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Director of Opera, The Royal Opera House, Kasper Holten, speaks during an interview with Associated Press in London, Tuesday, June 25, 2013. Gloriana is back in a new production by Richard Jones that the company's director, Kasper Holten, notes commemorates a triple anniversary: 60 years since the coronation and the opera's premiere and 100 years since the composer's birth. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
LONDON (AP) ? The Earl of Harewood may have been exaggerating when he described the premiere of "Gloriana" as "one of the great disasters of operatic history."
Still, the Benjamin Britten opera, commissioned to help mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, was hardly a rousing success back in 1953.
Instead of the joyous celebration many expected, Britten and librettist William Plomer produced a somber work about the first Queen Elizabeth and her relationship with the Earl of Essex. Though the opera has festive elements, it ends on a downbeat note, with the monarch portrayed as an aging, disillusioned woman contemplating death.
The first night audience at Covent Garden ? which included many members of the royal family ? greeted it with bewilderment, some wags dubbed it "Boriana," and the piece soon disappeared from the Royal Opera's repertory.
Until now.
This month, "Gloriana" is back in a new production by Richard Jones that the company's director, Kasper Holten, notes commemorates a "triple anniversary": 60 years since the coronation and the opera's premiere and 100 years since the composer's birth.
"There was feeling that it deserved another chance, to be looked at again," said Holten, who holds the same job Lord Harewood did in 1953. "To see whether the piece isn't really better than its reputation."
That it is. "Gloriana" contains some of Britten's finest music, though it possibly falls short of being a masterpiece to rank with his "Peter Grimes" or "Billy Budd."
"There are fantastic moments," Holten said in an interview. "The courtly dances, the lute song. I think the problem is that there are other parts that dramatically fail to pick up the same pace. That makes for an uneven evening."
What may have seemed an inappropriately dark portrayal of monarchy 60 years ago also feels different with the passage of time ? a perspective heightened by Jones's production. He frames the work as a pageant being staged for the young queen by a local community group of amateurs. This mixture of Tudor pomp with nostalgia for a Britain that was still recovering from World War II makes for a poignant combination.
"On opening night I had a strong feeling that from the first moment, people got it," Holten said. "This piece is a part of their history and it says something about them."
Critical reaction has been mixed. Many applauded Jones's staging while finding fault with the piece itself. Writing in the Financial Times, Richard Fairman said it was "brave of the Royal Opera to bring the work back to the theatre where it had its troubled birth," but he added that "drama and music are stretched painfully thin. Perhaps that first-night audience was not so wrong-headed after all."
More positive was Michael Church in The Independent, who noted that in 1953 "people just weren't ready for a work which chimes so neatly with our post-modern consciousness. . Covent Garden," he said, "has now shown that 'Gloriana' is, if not a great work, certainly one of the most intriguing in the canon."
Part of what's intriguing is the way Britten and Plomer depict the title character. Basing his libretto on Lytton Strachey's psychological history, "Elizabeth and Essex," Plomer presents a queen who, as Holten says, "is quite a flawed character, struggling with the dilemma between personal and public roles."
The idea of the queen as outsider in her own court, beloved by her people but lonely nonetheless, struck a chord with Britten, who was drawn to portrayals of outcasts in many of his other works as well.
In the opera's final scene, after Elizabeth has condemned Essex to death for treason, she is left alone on stage. Britten daringly subverts expectations here: Instead of giving her a final aria with a soaring vocal line, he has her abandon singing altogether for stretches of spoken declamation.
"It's almost as if the musical language falls apart at the end, as if she loses her language," Holten said. "There's no more singing in her, she's been worn out. I think that's a beautiful effect."
"Gloriana," starring soprano Susan Bullock in the title role and tenor Toby Spence as Essex, runs through July 6.
WiFi issues on the new 802.11ac capable MacBook Air are reportedly being investigated by Apple as they try to "capture" affected devices. The 802.11ac WiFi is one of the headline features on the refreshed Air line, and some reports have suggested that a software issue with Mountain Lion could be at fault. However, according to 9to5Mac, Apple is at least aware of the issue and taking steps to find out what is going on:
According to a source at Apple, the company is working to independently identify what exactly is causing the new WiFi-related problems. According to this person, AppleCare and Apple Store Genius Bar employees have been instructed to ?capture? affected MacBook Air units. These units will then be sent back to Apple for further testing so a solution could hopefully be achieved.
Additionally, alternate sources have backed this up by claiming they have been issued a replacement MacBook Air by their local Apple store, with a complimentary USB-to-ethernet adaptor so they don't have to use WiFi. It's by no means an admission that the new Air is flawed, but is reassuring that Apple is taking measures to find out what's going on. Any of you guys had similar issues addressed by Apple? We'd love to hear from you!
Philips announced the HTL9100 soundbar as part of its Fidelio lineup at this year's CES, and now it's available for $1,077 (£699) at retail. Like Voltron, the soundbar comes with detachable parts, particularly two wireless speakers that you can place behind or beside you for true surround sound. These battery-powered satellite components can run for 10 hours straight, after which they need to be reconnected with the main hub to be recharged. The 5.1 system plays media from devices connected via Bluetooth or HDMI and also features a separate wireless subwoofer. Compared to more affordable competition like Vizio's soundbar and the Sonos Playbar its higher cost is a hurdle, but the quirky wireless surround feature may make it worth trying out.
As of Monday, NSA leaker Edward Snowden was still on the lam. He has managed to evade U.S. officials, who are reportedly furious with China for letting him escape to Moscow after the FBI thought they had him bottled up in Hong Kong. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
By Matthew DeLuca and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News
Edward Snowden is still inside the transit zone of Moscow?s Sheremetyevo?Airport, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday ? the first official word on the fugitive's whereabouts in more than two days.
Putin said Russia has nothing to do with Snowden's plans, and appeared to pour cold water on demands from Washington to hand him over to U.S. prosecutors.
"As regards handing him in - we can hand over foreign nationals only to a country with which we have an agreement about handing over criminals," Putin told reporters at a press conference in Finland. "We do not have such an agreement with the United States."
Confirmation of Snowden's location added to speculation that Snowden is seeking permission to fly to Cuba then onward to another country ? most likely Ecuador, to which he has already applied for political asylum.
Meanwhile, he remains beyond the reach of American efforts to extradite him - placing a strain on U.S. relations with Russia, Ecuador, and China, where irate officials have denied they assisted his escape from Hong Kong on Sunday.
No one had bought a ticket under Snowden?s name for a daily Aeroflot airlines flight from Moscow to Havana on Tuesday, airline employees told NBC News before the plane took off. The next flight to the island nation 90 miles from the U.S.? is scheduled to leave on Thursday.
The 30-year-old former employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton was expected to be aboard a flight from Russia to Cuba on Monday amid speculation that he would stop there en route to Ecuador. The plane eventually left the airport full of journalists, but with no sign of Snowden.
Secretary of State Kerry earlier called on authorities in Russia to ?do the right thing? and prevent Snowden from leaving Moscow.
?I?m not going to get in to the details of what I think is going on, but we hope that the Russians will do the right thing,? Kerry told NBC News in New Delhi, India, on Monday. ?We think it is very important in terms of our relationship. We think it is very important in terms of rule of law. There are important standards.?
Asked whether he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Barack Obama said on Monday that the U.S. government is ?following all appropriate legal channels and working with all countries to ensure the rule of law is being followed.?
A former CIA and FBI official told the TODAY show on Tuesday that Russian officials have likely already spoken with Snowden, much as U.S. intelligence officials would if they found themselves in a similar situation.
?The likelihood that there?s either been no conversation with him or they haven?t downloaded stuff from his electronic gear is about zero,? former CIA director of counterterrorism Philip Mudd said.
Authorities in China have also pushed back against claims from Washington that they let Snowden slip through their fingers after the U.S. requested his extradition.
?The U.S. has no reason to call into question the Hong Kong government?s handling of affairs according to law,? China foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chungying said at a briefing, according to Reuters. ?The United States? criticism of China?s central government is baseless. China absolutely cannot accept it.?
Sources familiar with the case have told NBC News that Snowden?s passport has been revoked ? a move that would be standard procedure, a State Department spokeswoman said.
?As is routine and consistent with U.S. regulations, persons with felony arrest warrants are subject to have their passports revoked. Such a revocations does not affect citizenship status,? State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
?Persons wanted on felony charges, such as Mr. Snowden, should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel, other than is necessary to return him to the United States. Because of the Privacy Act, we cannot comment on Mr. Snowden?s passport specifically,? the spokeswoman said.
The government in Hong Kong said in its statement that extradition documents presented by the U.S. did not satisfy the requirements set by the law in Hong Kong, and that Snowden left the country ?through a lawful and normal channel.?
In an interview with Hong Kong newspaper the South China Morning Post, Snowden said that he had taken his job with defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton so that he collect information on secret data-gathering programs conducted by the NSA. NBC News could not independently verify the report.
?My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA had hacked,? Snowden reportedly said in his interview with the paper. ?That is why I accepted that position about three months ago.?
Snowden, who was fired from his job at the defense contractor, told the Post he collected documents showing U.S. hacking into computer systems in mainland China, and that he did not want to release all the documents he had gathered at once.
?I did not release them earlier because I don?t want to simply dump huge amounts of documents without regard to their content,? Snowden told the Post. ?I have to screen everything before releasing it to journalists.?
Ecuador, which has provided refuge to Assange at its embassy in London, said on Monday that it was reviewing a request for asylum from Snowden. Foreign minister Ricardo Patino told reporters on Monday that Ecuador had been in ?respectful? contact with Russia over the issue.
NBC News? Jim Maceda and Ed Flanagan contributed to this report.
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This story was originally published on Tue Jun 25, 2013 11:45 AM EDT
Calling Facebook a copycat isn't particularly creative; not only did Myspace, Friendster and Makeout Party have the whole social network thing down first, but Questions, Places, Poke, Messenger, Stickers and so on were all ideas stolen?inspired by other startups. And there are so many more -- countless. But while Zuckerberg is indeed the greatest artist, in the case of Instagram video, he didn't steal.
Cooking is more than just following a recipe. The key is to know the right ways to prep, to use your ingredients, to clean up and how to prevent things from going wrong. Click through to check out some of our best cooking tips, and share your own in the comments!
Katie is a freelance writer focused on pets, food and women?s issues. A Chicago native and longtime resident of the Pacific Northwest, Katie now lives in Oakland, California.
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Public release date: 26-Jun-2013
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Calling Facebook a copycat isn't particularly creative; not only did Myspace, Friendster and Makeout Party have the whole social network thing down first, but Questions, Places, Poke, Messenger, Stickers and so on were all ideas 
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