Golden Globes Live Blog: Moore, 'Game Change' Win

The women of the night. Credit: Paul Drinkwater/NBC/AP Photo.

8:48 p.m. ET: Adele scoops up the Globe for best original song for the latest Bond theme, “Skyfall.” Her reaction: “Oh my God! … Honestly, I came for a night out, with my friend Ida, we’re new mums … I literally came for a night out.”

8:44 p.m. ET: “Life of Pi” wins for best original score … but J-Lo’s nude dress steals the spotlight. Just like her nipple almost did at last year’s Oscars.

8:41 p.m. ET: “Argo’s” real life inspiration, Tony Mendez, joined John Goodman to introduce a clip of the film, which is up for five Globes.

8:36 p.m. ET: Well that was awkward. Some sort of camera malfunction messed up Salma Hayek and Paul Rudd’s best TV drama intro. “Homeland” wins! Executive producer Alex Gansa: “Thanks to everyone who’s been watching ‘Homeland,’ and to those who haven’t, allow me to spoil it for you.”

8:33 p.m. ET: Best actor in a TV drama goes to … Damian Lewis for “Homeland.” Considering it’s a fan and critic favorite right now, not a huge surprise.

8:28 p.m. ET: Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Dr. Aida Takla-O’Reilly disses Jeffrey Katzenberg for never learning her name, asks Bradley Cooper to “call me maybe.” Amazing.

8:21 p.m. ET: And Julianne Moore wins for best actress in a miniseries or movie. “Oh my gosh, my children will be so relieved,” she says. She gives a shout out to Tina Fey and Katie Couric — “two people who made a difference in the 2008 election.”

Credit: Kevin WInter/Getty Images.

8:18 p.m. ET: “Game Change” scores best miniseries or movie. Somewhere, Sarah Palin is probably shaking her fist.

8:14 p.m. ET: We’ll use the commercial break to declare that Poehler and Fey had an absolutely amazing opening bit. Bravo.

8:12 p.m. ET: Second award of the night, best supporting actress in TV: Maggie Smith for “Downton Abbey.” According to Poehler and Fey’s drinking game, you should drink take off a piece of clothing now.

RELATED: Poehler and Fey Reveal Their Golden Globes Drinking Game

8:10 p.m. ET: And the award for best supporting actor in a movie goes to … Christoph Waltz for “Django Unchained.” Hint that he’ll win the Oscar for that part too?

8:07 p.m. ET: Fey almost reprised her Sarah Palin impression while into-ing Julianne Moore but appears to have lost it. Dang.

8:05 p.m. ET: Poehler: “Meryl Streep is not here tonight, she has the flu. And I hear she’s amazing in it.”

8:04 p.m. ET: Fey had a great one for Anne Hathaway and “Les Mis”: “I have not seen someone so totally alone and abandoned like that since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars.”

8:03 p.m. ET: Poehler on Kathryn Bigelow and the “Zero Dark Thirty” torture controversy: “When it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spend three years married to James Cameron.” WOW.

8:02 p.m. ET: Oh and they’re not going to be offensive like past host Ricky Gervais. Poehler: ”When you run afoul of the Hollywood Foreign Press, they make you host this show two more times.”

8:00 p.m. ET: Fey and Poehler did an outfit change before stepping up to the mic. Poehler threw the first jab of the night: “You can smell the pills from here. ”

7:44 p.m. ET: “Scandal” and “Django Unchained” star Kerry Washington never Googles herself. She feels like it’s bad for her health. Now you know. Also, she looks gorgeous in Miu Miu.

7:40 p.m. ET: @AngiesRightLeg has met its match: Halle Berry struck a leggy pose on the red carpet in an unfortunate one-shoulder gown.

Angie's Right Leg, meet Halle's. Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.

7:33 p.m. ET: It’s an “ER” reunion! George Clooney and Julianna Margulies just hugged on the red carpet.

7:28 p.m. ET: Best song nominee Adele revealed that she actually had to be convinced to write the theme for “Skyfall.” “It’s a big responsibility doing a Bond song,” she said. “I didn’t want to let everybody down by doing it.”

7:19 p.m. ET: Julianne Moore looks stunning in black and white Tom Ford. She’s up for best actress in a TV movie for “Game Change.”

7:18 p.m. ET: “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm on the best part of playing Don Draper: “Well it’s always fun to play drunk, because if you forget your lines you’re just like, ‘Uh, well, I’m in character.’”

PHOTOS: The 2013 Golden Globes Red Carpet

7:15 p.m. ET: Taylor Swift wore a mermaid-cut eggplant gown … and did not at all talk about what happened with her latest boyfriend, Harry Styles. Sigh.

Credit: Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.

7:14 p.m. ET: Hugh Jackman revealed the “horrible” way he shed weight quickly before filming “Les Mis”: “I lost about 35 pounds in 36 hours before the first scene. I didn’t drink any liquids whatsoever.”

7:07 p.m. ET: Another fashion miss: Jennifer Lawrence. It looks like she stole Madonna’s cone bra and cut off the straps.

Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.

7:02 p.m. ET: “Zero Dark Thirty” star Jessica Chastain diverged from the major trends of the night — nude, black and white, and red — in a powder blue Calvin Klein Collection gown. The plunging bodice looks a bit like a sack.

Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.

6:57 p.m. ET: E!’s mani-cam has become a source of contention. While some actresses happily showed off their nails on the tiny red carpet, Aziz Ansari refused to stick his hand in the diorama-like box.

FULL COVERAGE: The 2013 Awards Season

6:56 p.m. ET: Olivia Munn has a new perspective on newsrooms now that she’s on Aaron Sorkin’s “The Newsroom.” “I think [our show] makes other newsrooms seem pretty easygoing,” she said.

6:42 p.m. ET: Julia Louis-Dreyfus said she had a “little tiny piece of cake” to celebrate her birthday. “Look, this is a corset,” she said, pointing to her Vera Wang dress. “I can’t mess around.” Though she’s up for best actress in a TV comedy, she thinks she’ll lose. “I hope that Lena Dunham or Amy Poehler have their speech ready,” she said.

6:38 p.m. ET: Hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are encouraging their guests to get liquored up. “It’s a party and we want it to remain a party,” Fey said. Both have awesome outfits — a strapless black and white gown for Fey and a low cut tuxedo for Poehler.

6:31 p.m. ET: “Girls” star and Globes nominee Lena Dunham said her stylist gave her very specific instructions about adjusting her dress because “my breasts have a tendency to shove my dress to the right.” She looks lovely in chocolate brown, off-the-shoulder gown.

Lena Dunham. Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.

6:28 p.m. ET: Best actress in a TV comedy nominee Zooey Deschanel showed off her film strip nail art on the red carpet. Very Hollywood.

Zooey Deschanel. Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.

6:22 p.m. ET: Another stunning new mom: Megan Fox. She admitted that husband Brian Austin Green picks most of her dresses.

6:16 p.m. ET: The first surprise of Golden Globes: How utterly amazing Claire Danes looks. She gave birth a month ago and has a flat, practically concave stomach. She tried on her red Versace dress for the first time last night but admitted she’s “been in sweatpants for quite a while.” She added, “I hope I don’t leak.”

RELATED: Claire Danes Flaunts Post-Baby Body at the Golden Globes

Claire Danes dressed her insane post-baby body in Versace. Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.

6:14 p.m. ET: Amy Adams, up for best supporting actress for “The Master,” looks angelic in a Marchesa in a color she called ballet pink. “This is mommy at work,” she said to her daughter back at home.

Amy Adams in Marchesa. Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.

6:12 p.m. ET: Julianne Hough opted for a creepy crawly accessory — her earrings are made out of actual beetles.

6:02 p.m. ET: For Julia Louis-Dreyfus, this Globes is extra special — today is her 52nd birthday and she’s up for best actress in a TV comedy for “Veep.” “Today I’m either a year older & I’m gonna lose a Golden Globe OR at least I’m nominated & I’m not dead yet,” she wrote on her WhoSay page.

6:00 p.m. ET: It’s here, the night that Hollywood has been steeling its liver for: The Golden Globe Awards, which are almost always a raucous time because the Hollywood Foreign Press keeps the bar open throughout the ceremony. We’ll be chronicling all the jokes, insults, red carpet highlights — and of course, the winners — right here. Keep refreshing for the latest updates.

PHOTOS: 2013 Golden Globe Nominees

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Video games take off as a spectator sport

Editorial: "Give video games a sporting chance"

EVERY sport has its idols and superstars. Now video gaming is getting them too. Professional gaming, or e-sports, exploded in popularity in the US and Europe last year.

The scene has been big in Asia - particularly South Korea - for about a decade, with top players such as Lim Yo-Hwan earning six-figure salaries and competing for rock-star glory in Starcraft tournaments that attract audiences in the hundreds of thousands.

The phenomenon is taking off in the West partly because of improved video-streaming technology and large financial rewards. Video games are becoming a spectator sport, with certain players and commentators drawing massive online audiences.

And where people go, money follows. The second world championship of League of Legends - a team-based game in which players defend respective corners of a fantasy-themed battle arena - was held in Los Angeles in October. The tournament had a prize pool of $5 million for the season, with $1 million going to winning team Taipei Assassins, the largest cash prize in the history of e-sports.

League of Legends has also set records for spectator numbers. More than 8 million people watched the championship finals either online or on TV - a figure that dwarfs audience numbers for broadcasts of many traditional sports fixtures.

But gamers don't need to compete at the international level to earn money. Video-streaming software like Twitch makes it easy for players to send live footage to a website, where the more popular ones can attract upwards of 10,000 viewers - enough for some to make a living by having adverts in their video streams. Gamers can go pro without leaving their homes.

Currently, e-sports productions are handled by gaming leagues - but that could soon change. Last November saw two moves that will make it even easier to reach a global online audience. First, Twitch announced it would be integrating with Electronic Arts's Origin service, a widely used gaming platform. This would let gamers stream their play at the click of a button, making it easy for people around the world to watch.

Also in November came the latest release from one of gaming's biggest franchises, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which has the ability to live-stream via YouTube built into the game itself. Another feature allows the broadcast of in-game commentary for multiplayer matches.

"I think we will reach a point, maybe within five years, where spectator features are a necessity for all big game releases," says Corin Cole of e-sports publishing company Heaven Media in Huntingdon, UK.

David Ting founded the California-based IGN Pro League (IPL), which hosts professional tournaments. He puts the popularity of e-sports down to the demand for new forms of online entertainment. "After 18 months, IPL's viewer numbers are already comparable to college sports in the US when there's a live event," he says. "The traffic is doubling every six months."

Ting sees motion detection, virtual reality and mobile gaming coming together to make physical exertion a more common aspect of video games, blurring the line between traditional sport and e-sports. "Angry Birds could be this century's bowling," says Ting.

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Money talks at Obama's inauguration

WASHINGTON: As hundreds of thousands of Americans crowd the National Mall for President Barack Obama's second inauguration on January 21, the best seats will already be filled -- sold for a hefty price.

Obama limited individual donations to $50,000 for his first inaugural in 2009, and banned corporate donors as he sought to distance himself from special interests amid the historic swearing-in of the country's first black president.

His reticence over money did little to stop the flow of cash, however, and the new US leader racked up a record $53 million in private donations, much of it coming from the 1.8 million people who packed Washington for the event.

This second time around, such lofty intentions -- and Obama's pledge to have the most transparent US administration ever -- appear to have been shelved in advance, with companies invited to join in -- and fund -- the proceedings.

For the White House is throwing open the gates of largesse for supporters to contribute as much as $1 million for special access. The money could buy much more than a coveted seat near the president as he takes the oath of office.

"This is an avenue for special interests, especially wealthy corporations, to get their last chance to throw money at the feet of the president," Craig Holman, an expert on campaign finance reform, told AFP.

"The real intent is for the corporations to buy access and influence with the White House," added Holman, from consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.

In this year's invitations, copies of which were posted online by the Sunlight Foundation, an accountability group, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) formalized four different donation levels -- each with a name of one of the nation's founding fathers.

For $10,000 from individuals and $100,000 from business entities, "Madison" benefactors receive an invitation to a finance committee "road ahead" meeting, two tickets to a candlelight celebration on the eve of the inauguration, and a pair of tickets to the inaugural ball.

"Washington" contributors -- individuals who pay $250,000 and corporations that shell out $1 million -- gain "premium partner access" that also includes attendance at VIP receptions, seats for the inaugural parade, four ball tickets and passes to a concert with Stevie Wonder and Katy Perry.

Just who exactly will be buying in to such events, and how much will they be paying? Right now, it is a mystery.

In 2009, donors and their offerings were published on the Internet, but this year only the names are being disclosed in the short term. The amounts given will be published within 90 days of the inauguration.

A PIC spokesman said the lavish perks were offered to donors to get them to open their wallets one more time to help fund the inaugural festivities, after many of them contributed to the most expensive political race in US history.

The 2012 presidential campaign exceeded $2 billion, partly due to a Supreme Court case that lifted a cap on independent political spending by corporations.

Ironically, inauguration day will coincide with the second anniversary of the landmark Citizens United ruling, but funding fatigue may be setting in with the inaugural committee reportedly struggling to meet its $50 million target.

Private donations cover the party element of the inauguration, while taxpayers foot the bill for security.

According to a congressional report, more than 30,000 police were mobilized for the record inaugural crowd that jammed Washington's National Mall in 2009.

Authorities expect fewer people this year but security remains paramount -- dozens of streets will be closed to traffic and metal detectors will be used to scan the thousands ticketed guests.

The exact number of VIP donors is unknown, but a Department of Homeland Security report indicated that four years ago at least 750 were transported to the west front of the Capitol, where seats were reserved near the podium.

One donor perk that the Washington Post identified as a security breach in 2009 and will likely not be repeated this time around: some VIPs arranged to have their photo taken near the presidential limousine.

- AFP/ck

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Tech VIPs, family take to Web with sorrow, anger over Swartz

The suicide of 26-year-old computer programmer and Internet activist Aaron Swartz has inspired expressions of sorrow and anger from the tech community throughout the day today.

World Wide Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee wrote a poem in honor of Swartz, which he posted to a forum on the W3C's Web site (he also tweeted an abridged version):

---

Aaron is dead.

Wanderers in this crazy world,
we have lost a mentor, a wise elder.

Hackers for right, we are one down,
we have lost one of our own.

Nurtures, careers, listeners, feeders,
parents all,
we have lost a child.

Let us all weep.

---

Author and blogger Cory Doctorow posted a tribute on Boing Boing, saying, in part:

Aaron had an unbeatable combination of political insight, technical skill, and intelligence about people and issues. I think he could have revolutionized American (and worldwide) politics. His legacy may still yet do so.

Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig published an angry blog post that discussed the legal actions that were being taken against Swartz by the U.S. government in regard to Swartz's alleged theft of millions of documents from MIT and the Jstor database. The post, titled "Prosecutor as Bully," says that "the question this government needs to answer is why it was so necessary that Aaron Swartz be labeled a 'felon.'" It begins on a note of grief:

(Some will say this is not the time. I disagree. This is the time when every mixed emotion needs to find voice.)

Since his arrest in January, 2011, I have known more about the events that began this spiral than I have wanted to know. Aaron consulted me as a friend and lawyer. He shared with me what went down and why, and I worked with him to get help. When my obligations to Harvard created a conflict that made it impossible for me to continue as a lawyer, I continued as a friend. Not a good enough friend, no doubt, but nothing was going to draw that friendship into doubt.

The billions of snippets of sadness and bewilderment spinning across the Net confirm who this amazing boy was to all of us...

And this afternoon, Swartz's family, and his partner, Taren Stinebricker-Kaufmann, released their official statement about Swartz's passing, announcing a Web site they're setting up as a repository of stories and memories about him, and saying that the behavior of MIT and the U.S. District Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts played a role in Swartz's death:

Official Statement from the Family and Partner of Aaron Swartz:

Our beloved brother, son, friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday in his Brooklyn apartment. We are in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing.

Aaron's insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable--these gifts made the world, and our lives, far brighter. We're grateful for our time with him, to those who loved him and stood with him, and to all of those who continue his work for a better world.

Aaron's commitment to social justice was profound, and defined his life. He was instrumental to the defeat of an Internet censorship bill; he fought for a more democratic, open, and accountable political system; and he helped to create, build, and preserve a dizzying range of scholarly projects that extended the scope and accessibility of human knowledge. He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and technologist not to enrich himself but to make the Internet and the world a fairer, better place. His deeply humane writing touched minds and hearts across generations and continents. He earned the friendship of thousands and the respect and support of millions more.

Aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office and at MIT contributed to his death. The US Attorney's office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims. Meanwhile, unlike JSTOR, MIT refused to stand up for Aaron and its own community's most cherished principles.

Today, we grieve for the extraordinary and irreplaceable man that we have lost.

Aaron's funeral will be held on Tuesday, January 15 at Central Avenue Synagogue, 874 Central Avenue, Highland Park, Illinois 60035. Further details, including the specific time, will be posted at http://rememberaaronsw.com, along with announcements about memorial services to be held in other cities in coming weeks.

Remembrances of Aaron, as well as donations in his memory, can be submitted at http://rememberaaronsw.com

Among other things, Swartz co-authored the "RSS 1.0" specification of RSS, was arguably a co-founder of Reddit, and was the founder of the nonprofit group Demand Progress, which was active in the anti-SOPA battle. He was a crusader for what he saw as the freedom of information.

Police had arrested Swartz in July 2011 for allegedly stealing 4 million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jstor, an archive of scientific journals and academic papers. The authorities claimed he broke into a restricted-access computer wiring closet at MIT and accessed that network without authorization.

If convicted, Swartz faced a maximum of $4 million in fines and more than 50 years in prison after the government increased the number of felony counts against Swartz to 13 from 4.

News of Swartz's suicide came only days after Jstor announced this week that it would make "more than 4.5 million articles" publicly available for free.

As noted by AllThingsD, in 2011 Carmen Ortiz, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said in regard to the case, "Stealing is stealing, whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data, or dollars."

CNET has contacted Ortiz's office and MIT for comment, and we'll update this post when we hear back.

As many of today's outpourings noted, Swartz had struggled with bouts of depression.

CNET's Charles Cooper contributed to this report.

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse Cancelmo

A fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.

From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew and put them in irons.

The officers were allowed to keep their swords and wander the deck as long as they promised not to lead an uprising against the Alabama's crew, he added.

From there, the Alabama dropped off their captives in Jamaica, leaving them to make their own way back to the U.S.

Delgado wants to dig even further into the crew of the Hatteras. He'd like see if members of the public recognize any of the names on his list of crew members and can give him background on the men.

"That's why I do archaeology," he said.

(Read about other Civil War battlefields in National Geographic magazine.)

Published January 11, 2013

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.

"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."

The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.

"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.

Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video

Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.

"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."

Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.

Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."

Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.

Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.

She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.

"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.

"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."

Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.

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Today on New Scientist: 11 January 2013

Largest structure challenges Einstein's smooth cosmos

One-twentieth the diameter of the observable universe, a group of galaxies dents the cherished idea that the cosmos is uniform at large scales

Straitjacket drug halts herpes virus's escape stunt

Herpes infections recur as the virus is adept at evading our defences, but a new drug that suppresses enzymes exploited by the virus seems effective

Zoologger: Mouse eats scorpions and howls at the moon

Super-aggressive grasshopper mice are not put off by the deadly venom of the scorpions they feast on - in fact, nothing much seems to scare them

Sand tsunami pictured striking Australian coast

The spectacular wall of sand and dust appears to block out the sun like a giant wave

Astrophile: Zombie stars feed on Earth-like exoplanets

We can now learn what planets around other stars are made of - by looking at the atmospheres of white dwarfs that have swallowed up their worlds

Life will find a way, even in the midst of a hurricane

Not for the faint-hearted: to sample the microbiome of a hurricane, fly a jetliner through it

Physics not biology may be key to beating cancer

Billions of dollars spent on cancer research have yielded no great breakthrough yet. There are other ways to attack the problem, says physicist Paul Davies

Feedback: Return of nominative determinism

The last nominative determinism stories, salads of gizzards and his chestnuts, Australian graduates in outer space, and more

A comeback for virtual reality? Inside the Oculus Rift

The Oculus Rift promises an immersive gaming experience like no other. Niall Firth gets his head in the game and gives it a try

Is the US facing Flu-maggedon?

The US flu season has come early this winter, leaving many hospitals overwhelmed. But is the situation really any worse than usual?

Your body's insights into life and cosmos

The Universe Within by Neil Shubin tells stories from your body about our species, planet and universe. PLUS: a cautionary tale of inspirational scientists

Hands on with Leap Motion's gestural interface

The makers of the ultra-precise gestural interface talk big about killing off the mouse. But it looks like more than just bluster

Personal assistant for your emails streamlines your life

GmailValet aims to use crowdsourcing to give everyone a personal assistant to help deal with their emails - it could cost as little as $2 a day

DNA 'identichip' gives a detailed picture of a suspect

A new microchip-based DNA tester can identify multiple traits of an individual at a time, even where their DNA is scarce

Most fundamental clock ever could redefine kilogram

Physicists have created the first clock with a tick that depends on the hyper-regular frequency of matter itself

Nanomachine mimics nature's protein factory

An artificial ribosome that assembles proteins and peptides could make it much easier to manufacture antibiotics and exotic new materials

Muscle mimic pulls electricity from wet surface

A plastic film that repeatedly curls up and flips over when wet could power devices in remote areas or sensors embedded in sweaty clothing

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US study warns of extreme heat, more severe storms

WASHINGTON: A government report warned on Friday that the United States could face more frequent severe weather including heat waves and storms for decades to come as temperatures rise far beyond levels being planned for.

The draft Third National Climate Assessment, a scientific study legally mandated to advise US policymakers, made few bones that carbon emissions have been causing climate change -- a source of controversy among some lawmakers.

"Evidence for climate change abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans," the study said. "The sum total of this evidence tells an unambiguous story: The planet is warming."

The study, which was submitted for public and expert review and could be revised, said there was "strong evidence" that human activity had already roughly doubled the probability of extreme heat of the kind seen in Texas and Oklahoma in the summer of 2011.

The assessment expected temperatures to keep rising and offered different scenarios for the future -- including temperatures rising between 2.8 and 5.6 degrees Celsius (5 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit) after 2050 if emissions climb further.

Such a rise would be far beyond the level anticipated by world leaders in UN-backed climate change negotiations, which have committed to holding warming to no more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The report warned that climate change "threatens human health and well-being in many ways," including through more frequent storms, wildfires, diseases and worse air quality.

Rising sea levels have already damaged infrastructure and climate change could increasingly reduce the reliability of water supplies, particularly in the southern half of the United States and Great Plains, the report said.

While US agriculture will likely remain resilient in the next 25 years, yields of major crops could start declining by mid-century and warming oceans could threaten fish, the study said.

The draft assessment said that some additional climate change was "now unavoidable" but said that the United States still could decide how much to allow.

The draft assessment was released three days after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that 2012 was easily the warmest year on record in the continental United States and ranked second for extreme weather.

Environmental advocates hoped that the release of the draft report would bring fresh momentum to efforts to tackle climate change.

"Climate change is taking its toll on people and their economies, and will only become more intense without a strong and rapid response here in the United States and around the globe," Andrew Steer, president of the World Resources Institute, said in a statement.

President Barack Obama has hinted he will make a new effort on climate change in the wake of his November 6 re-election and massive storm Sandy, which killed at least 120 people in the US Northeast.

Efforts by Obama's Democratic Party to mandate cuts in carbon emissions failed in 2010 in the Senate. Lawmakers of the rival Republican Party said that legislation would be too costly and voiced doubt over climate science.

Since then, the Obama administration has ordered higher standards for power plants. US emissions dropped in 2011, largely due to increased use of natural gas instead of coal.

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, who released a report in November that warned of potentially catastrophic 4.0 degree Celsius warming if no action is taken, said that evidence is "overwhelming" on climate change.

Speaking on Friday at a luncheon honouring Korean Americans, Kim voiced fear that his three-year-old son would live "a world that looks completely different from the world we have today" when he nears his father's age in 2060.

"If you have a three-year-old child, or if you have a three-year-old grandchild, what you've got to understand is, if we don't act aggressively on climate change, the world they live in will be daily fights over access to water, daily fights over access to food," he said.

- AFP/al

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Nokia to go big with smartphone cameras in 2013

Expect Nokia to build on imaging algorithms in the 808 PureView and the Lumia 920 (pictured).

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

LAS VEGAS--Seated in a luxurious bus on the edge of the Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot, Nokia executive VP of sales and marketing Chris Weber talks around the company's plan to differentiate its phones in 2013.

It will surprise Nokia followers little to learn that this year, the Windows Phone-maker will be all about photos.

Two main categories define how good pictures will be: hardware choices, like using higher-end lenses that let in more light, and software algorithms that render clear, bright images with pop.

Nokia has talked up its PureView technology, first found in the Nokia 808 PureView that launched last February at Mobile World Congress, and the stabilizing springs within the Nokia Lumia 920 that reduce the blurring effects of shaking hands.

Although Weber mostly sticks to talking points about Nokia's cherry-on-top photo apps, like Photo Beamer and a panorama filter, the question everyone really wants to know is when Nokia will try to replicate the 808 PureView's crisp, lossless cropping features and insanely large 41-megapixel lens in a Windows Phone.

I'll start looking for a release in that direction later in the year, and expect more software additions to play a starring role for now. Weber especially mentions the Lumia 920's low-light experience and location awareness.

In addition pumping up its camera features, Nokia plans to globally introduce new handsets that "push the price point," in Weber's words. In both directions.

Look for Nokia to release inexpensive but well-designed phones for emerging markets, and premium handsets in wealthy regions. Those fancy camera lenses and larger memory stores don't come cheap.

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse Cancelmo

A fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.

From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew and put them in irons.

The officers were allowed to keep their swords and wander the deck as long as they promised not to lead an uprising against the Alabama's crew, he added.

From there, the Alabama dropped off their captives in Jamaica, leaving them to make their own way back to the U.S.

Delgado wants to dig even further into the crew of the Hatteras. He'd like see if members of the public recognize any of the names on his list of crew members and can give him background on the men.

"That's why I do archaeology," he said.

(Read about other Civil War battlefields in National Geographic magazine.)

Published January 11, 2013

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