NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) ? HBO's fantasy drama "Game of Thrones" will return Sunday, April 1, the network announced Friday.
The network also announced that the movie "Game Change," about John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, will debut Saturday, March 10. It stars Ed Harris as McCain and Julianne Moore as Palin, with Woody Harrelson as campaign strategist Steve Schmidt.
The new series "Girls," from "Tiny Furniture" star and creator Lena Durham, will debut Sunday, April 15. "Veep," which stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a beleaguered vice president, debuts Sunday, April 22.
HBO also announced that "The Weight of the Nation," a four-part documentary about the nation's obesity epidemic, will debut Monday, May 14 and Tuesday, May 15, with two parts airing each night.
Eyebrows have been raised, in Denver and beyond, regarding the ability of the Patriots to hire former Broncos coach Josh McDaniels as an offensive assistant.? The Pats, coincidentally or otherwise, announced the move within 30 minutes or so after the Broncos beat the Steelers, setting up a prime-time Saturday night game between Denver and New England.
The move obviously complies with current NFL rules; otherwise, the NFL never would have allowed it.? The broader question is whether NFL rules should allow it.
McDaniels wasn?t fired by the Rams, where he served for one season as offensive coordinator.? Instead, the Rams opted to release McDaniels from his contract, knowing he could ? and likely would ? return to the Patriots, where he worked through the 2008 season.? If the Rams had decided not to release McDaniels from his contract until, say, after the postseason ended, McDaniels couldn?t have joined the Patriots.
And here?s where it gets even more interesting.? Rams owner Stan Kroenke, via family members, also owns the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche.? Thus, if Broncos fans aren?t happy with the fact that the man who drafted Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas is running the Pats? scout-team offense this week as Bill Belichick tries to avoid having the tables turned on that 18-point win by the Patriots less than a month ago, Broncos fans can show their displeasure via the local basketball and hockey teams.
Regardless, the Rams shouldn?t have had the option to make McDaniels available.? NFL spokesman Greg Aiello explains via email that rosters become frozen once a team?s season ends, and the rosters remain frozen until the day after the Super Bowl.
So why shouldn?t the same rules apply to coaches?
That?s what seems to viscerally disturb many NFL fans.? McDaniels wasn?t fired during the Rams? season ? he worked with the Rams through the end of the season, and he has now landed with a team that is still playing.
The solution is simple.? The NFL should prohibit the hiring by a team that is still alive in the postseason of any coach who was under contract with another team when that team?s season ended.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 11, 2012) ? LSU's Chris Austin recently discovered two new species of frogs in New Guinea, one of which is now the world's tiniest known vertebrate, averaging only 7.7 millimeters in size -- less than one-third of an inch. It ousts Paedocypris progenetica, an Indonesian fish averaging more than 8 millimeters, from the record. Austin, leading a team of scientists from the United States including LSU graduate student Eric Rittmeyer, made the discovery during a three-month long expedition to the island of New Guinea, the world's largest and tallest tropical island.
"It was particularly difficult to locate Paedophryne amauensis due to its diminutive size and the males' high pitched insect-like mating call," said Austin. "But it's a great find. New Guinea is a hotspot of biodiversity, and everything new we discover there adds another layer to our overall understanding of how biodiversity is generated and maintained."
Austin, curator of herpetology at LSU's Museum of Natural Science and associate professor of biological sciences, is no stranger to discovering new species, having described numerous species previously unknown to science, including frogs, lizards and parasites.
The research, which will be published in PLoS One, on Jan. 11, includes a second species of diminutive frog newly named Paedophryne swiftorum that is only slightly larger than Paedophryne amanuensis, averaging only about 8.5 millimeters in body size.
Austin's work, supported by the National Science Foundation, highlights an interesting trend among the discovery of extremely small vertebrates.
"The size limit of vertebrates, or creatures with backbones, is of considerable interest to biologists because little is understood about the functional constraints that come with extreme body size, whether large or small," said Austin.
With more than 60,000 vertebrates currently known to man, the largest being the blue whale with an average size of more than 25 meters (75 feet) and the smallest previously being the small Indonesian fish averaging around 8 millimeters, there was originally some thought that extreme size in vertebrates might be associated with aquatic species, as perhaps the buoyancy offers support and facilitates the development of extremism. However, both new species of frogs Austin described are terrestrial, suggesting that living in water is not necessary for small body size.
"The ecosystems these extremely small frogs occupy are very similar, primarily inhabiting leaf litter on the floor of tropical rainforest environments," said Austin. "We now believe that these creatures aren't just biological oddities, but instead represent a previously undocumented ecological guild -- they occupy a habitat niche that no other vertebrate does."
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Journal Reference:
Eric N. Rittmeyer, Allen Allison, Michael C. Gr?ndler, Derrick K. Thompson, Christopher C. Austin. Ecological Guild Evolution and the Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (1): e29797 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029797
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Send in the supplies: RoboCopters in Marines' futurePublic release date: 10-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Peter Vietti onrcsc@onr.navy.mil 703-588-2167 Office of Naval Research
New app will allow Marines to summon a robotic helicopter
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Marines running low on ammo may one day use an app on their digital handhelds to summon a robotic helicopter to deliver supplies within minutes, enabled by technologies from a new Office of Naval Research (ONR) program.
The Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility System (AACUS) is a five-year, $98 million effort to develop sensors and control technologies for robotic vertical take-off and landing aircraft.
"AACUS is a leap-ahead technology that allows the Navy and the Marine Corps to move beyond having a highly trained operator fly an unmanned aircraft," said Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of naval research. "The program will let us leverage advanced autonomy, but still maintain the central and critical role of the human operator as the supervisor."
Marines based at outposts or in the field will be able to request the autonomous cargo helicopters for rapid resupply of combat essentials.
"We want to turn any helicopter into a logistics machine," said Dr. Mary "Missy" Cummings, program officer for AACUS, ONR's newest innovative naval prototype. "In the near term, we want to succeed in fully-autonomous landings in austere locations, so Marines can get whatever they need on demand.
"In the long term, this could be a real life saver and revolutionize first response," she added. While rapid resupply is the immediate focus for AACUS, long-term applications could include critical medical missions such as casualty evacuation.
Program officials are seeking researchers who will develop threat- and obstacle-detection and avoidance systems, as well as autonomous landing capabilities that can operate across different types of aircraft. They expect teams from industry and academia to join forces to compete for the contracts.
Proposals are due Feb. 22. Officials plan to award up to two contracts in April.
The effort follows the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory's successful program to develop an unmanned system capable of hauling cargo semi-autonomously to landing zones at bases. The prototype, called K-MAX, flew its first combat mission in Afghanistan in mid-December, resupplying Marines with cargo carried in a sling-load.
AACUS, on the other hand, is aimed at internal load-carrying capacity. It will be a major leap ahead in autonomy, said Cummings. While K-MAX requires a trained operator within line-of-sight to fly, any operator will be able to call for AACUS from any location.
"It's going to be designed to work with people who have no flight experience," she said. "An operator will pick up his iPad or Android and make an emergency supply request. He'll request that the helicopter come to him and land as close to him as possible."
The helicopter not only will take off by itself, but will plan its own flight path and navigate its way through the airspace, requiring little to no input from an operator other than to verify its proposed landing site. The concept will require improvement in data processing.
"How you take the data from sensors and integrate them to make these decisionsthat's one of the big leaps," said Cummings. "It's like putting a frontal lobe on the helicopter."
###
About the Office of Naval Research
The Department of the Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) provides the science and technology necessary to maintain the Navy and Marine Corps' technological advantage. Through its affiliates, ONR is a leader in science and technology with engagement in 50 states, 70 countries, 1,035 institutions of higher learning and 914 industry partners. ONR employs approximately 1,400 people, comprising uniformed, civilian and contract personnel, with additional employees at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C.
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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.
Send in the supplies: RoboCopters in Marines' futurePublic release date: 10-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Peter Vietti onrcsc@onr.navy.mil 703-588-2167 Office of Naval Research
New app will allow Marines to summon a robotic helicopter
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Marines running low on ammo may one day use an app on their digital handhelds to summon a robotic helicopter to deliver supplies within minutes, enabled by technologies from a new Office of Naval Research (ONR) program.
The Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility System (AACUS) is a five-year, $98 million effort to develop sensors and control technologies for robotic vertical take-off and landing aircraft.
"AACUS is a leap-ahead technology that allows the Navy and the Marine Corps to move beyond having a highly trained operator fly an unmanned aircraft," said Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of naval research. "The program will let us leverage advanced autonomy, but still maintain the central and critical role of the human operator as the supervisor."
Marines based at outposts or in the field will be able to request the autonomous cargo helicopters for rapid resupply of combat essentials.
"We want to turn any helicopter into a logistics machine," said Dr. Mary "Missy" Cummings, program officer for AACUS, ONR's newest innovative naval prototype. "In the near term, we want to succeed in fully-autonomous landings in austere locations, so Marines can get whatever they need on demand.
"In the long term, this could be a real life saver and revolutionize first response," she added. While rapid resupply is the immediate focus for AACUS, long-term applications could include critical medical missions such as casualty evacuation.
Program officials are seeking researchers who will develop threat- and obstacle-detection and avoidance systems, as well as autonomous landing capabilities that can operate across different types of aircraft. They expect teams from industry and academia to join forces to compete for the contracts.
Proposals are due Feb. 22. Officials plan to award up to two contracts in April.
The effort follows the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory's successful program to develop an unmanned system capable of hauling cargo semi-autonomously to landing zones at bases. The prototype, called K-MAX, flew its first combat mission in Afghanistan in mid-December, resupplying Marines with cargo carried in a sling-load.
AACUS, on the other hand, is aimed at internal load-carrying capacity. It will be a major leap ahead in autonomy, said Cummings. While K-MAX requires a trained operator within line-of-sight to fly, any operator will be able to call for AACUS from any location.
"It's going to be designed to work with people who have no flight experience," she said. "An operator will pick up his iPad or Android and make an emergency supply request. He'll request that the helicopter come to him and land as close to him as possible."
The helicopter not only will take off by itself, but will plan its own flight path and navigate its way through the airspace, requiring little to no input from an operator other than to verify its proposed landing site. The concept will require improvement in data processing.
"How you take the data from sensors and integrate them to make these decisionsthat's one of the big leaps," said Cummings. "It's like putting a frontal lobe on the helicopter."
###
About the Office of Naval Research
The Department of the Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) provides the science and technology necessary to maintain the Navy and Marine Corps' technological advantage. Through its affiliates, ONR is a leader in science and technology with engagement in 50 states, 70 countries, 1,035 institutions of higher learning and 914 industry partners. ONR employs approximately 1,400 people, comprising uniformed, civilian and contract personnel, with additional employees at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
In the market for an e-reader and a subscription to the digital edition of The New York Times? Then Barnes & Noble has a new promotion you might want to consider. From now through March 9th, it'll give you a Nook Simple Touch for free or a Nook Color for $99 if you also sign up for a one-year New York Times subscription at a rate of $19.99/month. That's a savings of $100 in both cases, and the subscription also includes access to the New York Times website in addition to the Nook version. Alternatively, you can get $50 off the Nook Tablet (bringing it down to $199) with a subscription to People, which will run you $9.99/month. Complete details are at the link below.
Sticky underground leaves help a Brazilian plant to capture and digest worms, a hitherto unknown way for carnivorous plants to catch victims, scientists find.
The rare plant Philcoxia minensis is found in the tropical savannahs of Brazil, areas rich in biodiversity and highly in need of conservation. Although some of the plant's millimeter-wide leaves grow above ground as expected, strangely, most of its tiny, sticky leaves lie beneath the surface of the shallow white sands on which it grows.
"We usually think about leaves only as photosynthetic organs, so at first sight, it looks awkward that a plant would place its leaves underground where there is less sunlight," said researcher Rafael Silva Oliveira, a plant ecologist at the State University of Campinas in Brazil. "Why would evolution favor the persistence of this apparently unfavorable trait?"
Researchers suspected the mysterious subterranean leaves of Philcoxia minensis and its relatives were used to capture animals. They share a number of traits with known carnivorous plants ? for instance, Venus flytraps possess leaves covered in glands with protruding stalks that help the plant detect prey. Like P. minensis, Venus flytraps also live in nutrient-poor soils, which is apparently why they seek out prey in the first place.
To see if Philcoxia minensis is carnivorous, the scientists tested whether it could digest and absorb nutrients from the many nematodes, also called roundworms, which end up trapped on its sticky underground leaves. They fed the plant nematodes loaded with the isotope nitrogen-15, atoms of which have one more neutron than regular nitrogen-14. Essentially, the scientists placed these Caenorhabditis elegans worms on top of underground leaves of plants kept in a lab setting.
Chemical analysis of the leaves that had been covered in nematodes revealed significant amounts of nitrogen-15, suggesting the plant broke down and absorbed the worms. The leaves also possessed digestive enzyme activity similar to that seen in known carnivorous plants, suggesting that the roundworms did not decompose naturally; the researchers speculate the leaves trapped the worms and then secreted enzymes that digested the worms.
This newfound strategy suggests "carnivory may have evolved independently more times in plants than previously thought," Oliveira told LiveScience.
"I personally think these findings also broaden up our perception about plants," Oliveira added. "They might look boring for some people because they don't move or actively hunt for their food, but instead, they have evolved a number of fascinating solutions to solve common problems, such as the lack of readily available nutrients or water. Most of the time, these fascinating processes of nutrient acquisition are cryptic and operate hidden from our view."
The scientists detailed their findings online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2012) ? NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity will spend the next several months at a site informally named "Greeley Haven." The name is a tribute to planetary geologist Ronald Greeley (1939-2011), who was a member of the science team for the Mars rovers and many other interplanetary missions.
The site is an outcrop that provides a sun-facing slope to aid in maintaining adequate solar power during the rover's fifth Martian winter. It also provides targets of scientific interest for the rover's robotic arm to examine.
Closer to the equator than its twin rover, Spirit, Opportunity did not need to stay on a sun-facing slope during previous winters. Now, however, Opportunity's solar panels carry a thicker coating of dust than in the previous winters. Unless an unlikely wind cleans the panels in coming weeks, the team will use a strategy employed for three winters with Spirit: staying on a sun-facing slope. For several months of shortened daylight before and after the southern Mars winter solstice on March 30, 2012, the sun will pass relatively low in the northern sky from the rover's perspective, and Opportunity will work on the north-facing slope.
Plans for research at Greeley Haven include a radio-science investigation of the interior of Mars, which began this week; inspections of mineral compositions and textures on the outcrop; and recording a full-circle, color panorama: the Greeley Panorama. Greeley taught generations of planetary scientists at Arizona State University, Tempe, until his death two months ago.
The radio-science investigation studies tiny wobbles in the rotation of Mars to gain insight about the planet's core. It requires many weeks of radio-tracking the motion of a point on the surface of Mars to measure changes in the spin axis of the planet.
The winter worksite sits on the "Cape York" segment of the rim of Endeavour Crater. Opportunity reached the edge of this 14-mile-wide (22-kilometer-wide) crater five months ago after three years of driving from smaller Victoria Crater, which it studied for two years.
Opportunity and Spirit completed their three-month prime missions in April 2004 and continued for years of bonus, extended missions. Both rovers have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life. Spirit ended communications in March 2010 as its energy declined after losing the use of two of its six wheels, which prevented it from being able to gain a sun-facing tilt for its fourth Martian winter.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. More information about Opportunity is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov .
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Public release date: 10-Jan-2012
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