OSLO, Norway ? Two men accused of plotting to attack a Danish newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad were found guilty Monday of terror charges in Norway, the first convictions under the country's anti-terror laws.
The Oslo district court sentenced alleged ringleader Mikael Davud to seven years in prison and co-defendant Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak to three and a half years.
Judge Oddmund Svarteberg said the court found that Davud "planned the attack together with al-Qaida."
A third defendant, David Jakobsen, was cleared of terror charges but convicted of helping the others acquire explosives. Jakobsen, who assisted police in the investigation, was sentenced to four months.
Investigators say the plot was linked to the same al-Qaida planners behind thwarted attacks against the New York subway system and a British shopping mall in 2009.
The case was Norway's most high-profile terror investigation until last July, when a right-wing extremist killed 77 people in a bomb and shooting massacre.
The three men, who were arrested in July 2010, made some admissions but pleaded innocent to terror conspiracy charges and rejected any links to al-Qaida.
During the trial Davud denied he was taking orders from al-Qaida, saying he was planning a solo raid against the Chinese Embassy in Oslo. He said he wanted revenge for Beijing's oppression of Uighurs, a Muslim minority in western China.
Davud, a Norwegian citizen, also said his co-defendants helped him acquire bomb-making ingredients but didn't know he was planning an attack.
Prosecutors said the Norwegian cell first wanted to attack Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, whose 12 cartoons of Muhammad sparked furious protests in Muslim countries in 2006, and then changed plans to seek to murder one of the cartoonists instead.
Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd, said the paper and the cartoonist were indeed the targets, but described the plans as "just talk."
Prosecutors had to prove the defendants worked together in a conspiracy, because a single individual plotting an attack is not covered under Norway's anti-terror laws.
During the trial, prosecutors presented testimony obtained in the U.S. in April from three American al-Qaida recruits turned government witnesses.
Jakobsen, an Uzbek national who changed his name after moving to Norway, provided some of the chemicals for the bomb, but claims he did not know they were meant for explosives. Jakobsen contacted police and served as an informant, but still faced charges for his involvement before that.
The men had been under surveillance for more than a year when authorities moved to arrest them in July 2010. Norwegian investigators, who worked with their U.S. counterparts, said the defendants were building a bomb in a basement laboratory in Oslo.
Kick off your week with Monday’s afternoon reads: Katherine Heigl is no fan of Dance Moms ? iVillage.com Parents are more lax about booster seats when carpooling ? USA Today Brad Pitt admits to giving the kids soda for breakfast ? CBSNews.com Books vs. electronic devises: where will your child learn to read? ? SheKnows.com [...]
When Florida chose to move up the date of its 2012 primary election from March 6 to Jan. 31, it was considered controversial and drew a storm of condemnation from Republican Party grandees. Now the media has christened the Sunshine State the tiebreaker in the red-hot Republican presidential contest, based on its bellwether, swing-state status and sheer size.
It was only in the last Republican GOP nomination race that Florida took on such importance for Republican candidates despite the state's prominence in the general election. Prior to that, Florida stuck to its early spring position in the primary schedule, and by early March the ability of even a state of Florida's importance to influence the nomination was limited. With its primary set for January, however, Florida might have even more weight in the Republican nomination race than it does in the subsequent national election.
2008 -- John McCain
Much like Mitt Romney today, in 2008 John McCain was a "front-runner" who had to fight hard for every win. He had done well enough in New Hampshire and South Carolina, but lost in Iowa, Wyoming, Michigan and Nevada. McCain needed a clear win in Florida badly, and he got it, beating Mitt Romney by 36 percent to 31 percent.
In 2008, the Florida Primary was scheduled for Jan. 29, a date very similar to this year's event. By winning in Florida, McCain gained important momentum that he carried into Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, where he won nine of the most important of 21 primary contests, bagging a majority of the delegates at stake and cementing his lead for the nomination.
2000 -- George W. Bush
Florida was positioned too late in 2000 to have much of an impact on the contest between George W. Bush and John McCain for the GOP nomination. Scheduled for March 14 (much as 2012's contest was originally scheduled for March 6), McCain had already withdrawn after being routed on Super Tuesday.
1996 -- Bob Dole
In 1996, Florida was part of the March 12 Super Tuesday slate of primaries. Although Bob Dole, the party's anointed leader, engaged in a fierce fight in January and February with publisher Steve Forbes and pundit Pat Buchanan, by Super Tuesday Dole's lead was firm. He had swept 15 of 16 primaries and caucuses, so it is hard to see how a late loss in Florida would have disrupted his momentum.
1988 -- George H.W. Bush
In the 1988 run to decide who would succeed Ronald Reagan as the party's standard bearer, Florida was once again part of a Super Tuesday slate of 17 elections. Just as in 2000 and 1996, the nomination was bitterly contested in January and February, with both Bush the Elder and Dole winning their fair share, and evangelist Pat Robertson shaving off Hawaii and Alaska. Bush clinched his nomination by winning a staggering 16 of 17, including Florida. Once again, lost in the midst of such a Super Tuesday avalanche, it is hard to see how losing Florida would have changed anything.
Firemen hose down a commercial carrier truck on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., after it was involved in a multi-vehicle wreck which killed at least 9 people in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)
Firemen hose down a commercial carrier truck on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., after it was involved in a multi-vehicle wreck which killed at least 9 people in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)
Firemen spray foam on a truck that was part of a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)
Wrecked vehicles sit along the road at the scene of a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)
Firemen watch as cleanup crews work on vehicles that were involved in a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)
A small passenger vehicle sits lodged beneath a semitrailer after a multi-vehicle accident that killed at least nine people, on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup on the highway, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) ? A long line of cars and trucks collided one after another early Sunday on a dark Florida highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were instantly blinded. At least 10 people were killed.
When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile, police said.
Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup south of Gainesville on Interstate 75, which had been closed for a time before the accidents because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.
Steven R. Camps of Gainesville said he and some friends were driving home several hours before dawn when they were drawn into the pileup.
"You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," he said. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."
Photographs of the scene taken hours later revealed an aftermath that resembled a Hollywood disaster movie. Twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage.
Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.
Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.
Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and warned Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area just south of Gainesville.
A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes.
"You couldn't see anything. People were pulling off the road," he said.
Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to them when another vehicle hit the man's car.
The man's vehicle was crushed under a semi-truck stopped in front of them. Camps said his car was hit twice, but he and another friend were able to jump out. They took cover in the grass on the shoulder of the road.
All around them, cars and trucks were on fire, and they could hear explosions as the vehicles burned.
"It was happening on both sides of the road, so there was nowhere to go. It blew my mind," he said, explaining that the scene "looked like someone was picking up cars and throwing them."
Authorities had not released the names of victims Sunday evening, but said one passenger car had four fatalities and a "tour bus-like" vehicle also was involved in the pileup.
At least 18 people were taken to a hospital.
All six lanes of the interstate ? which runs virtually the entire length of Florida ? were closed most of Sunday afternoon as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames.
The northbound lanes of I-75 were reopened around 5:30 p.m. EST, but the southbound lanes remained closed.
"Our standard operating procedure is to get the road open as quickly as possible but let's not forget we have 10 people who are not with us today," said Lt. Patrick Riordan, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman. "So we are going to take our time assessing the situation."
It was not clear when the highway would fully reopen because part of the road melted, police said.
At some point before the pileup, police briefly closed the highway because of the fog and smoke. The road was reopened when visibility improved.
Riordan said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.
Traffic was being diverted much of Sunday onto U.S. 301 and State Road 27, Riordan said.
A spokeswoman for the Florida Forest Service, Ludie Bond, said the fire began Saturday, and investigators were trying to determine whether the blaze had been intentionally set. She said there were no controlled burns in the area and no lightning.
Bond also said the fire had burned 62 acres and was contained but still burning Sunday. A similar fire nearby has been burning since mid-November because the dried vegetation is so thick and deep. No homes are threatened.
Four years ago, heavy fog and smoke were blamed for another serious crash.
In January 2008, four people were killed and 38 injured in a series of similar crashes on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, about 125 miles south of Sunday's crash. More than 70 vehicles were involved in those crashes, including one pileup that involved 40 vehicles.
___
Associated Press Writer Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.
CAIRO (AP) ? A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment.
The genetics-environment question is key to understanding cancer.
AUC professor Salima Ikram, a member of the team that studied the mummy in Portugal for two years, said Sunday the mummy was of a man who died in his forties.
She said this was the second oldest known case of prostate cancer.
"Living conditions in ancient times were very different; there were no pollutants or modified foods, which leads us to believe that the disease is not necessarily only linked to industrial factors," she said.
A statement from AUC says the oldest known case came from a 2,700 year-old skeleton of a king in Russia.
DUBLIN ? An Irish Republican Army veteran long accused of laundering counterfeit U.S. $100 bills on behalf of North Korea could face trial in Ireland, a Dublin judge announced Friday.
High Court Justice John Edwards said he has forwarded an evidence file to state prosecutors against Sean Garland, 76, who denies smuggling more than $250,000 worth of fake American banknotes from the North Korean embassy in Moscow in 1998.
Edwards issued his follow-up statement one month after he rejected a 6-year-old U.S. extradition warrant for Garland. The judge explained that the alleged conspiracy was concocted in part on Irish soil, therefore Garland must stand trial in Ireland, not the United States.
The judge also ordered Garland's house deeds and euro75,000 ($98,000) in bail money returned to him pending any Irish decision to charge him.
In May 2005, a U.S. federal grand jury in Washington indicted Garland for allegedly dealing in North Korean "superdollars" ? so called because of their exceptional high quality ? and the U.S. Justice Department issued an international arrest warrant.
American officials said Garland received two loads of fake $100 bills during two 1998 trips to Moscow, when Russian interior ministry police said they tailed him traveling in North Korean diplomatic-plated cars to the North Korean embassy. Garland admitted traveling to Moscow but has denied everything else.
Officials in the Republic of Ireland took no immediate action following the American arrest demand. Instead, Garland was arrested during a rare 2005 foray into neighboring Northern Ireland, where British authorities traditionally are much more open to permitting a U.S. extradition.
However, Garland in October 2005 persuaded a Belfast judge to grant him bail to visit his home near Dublin. Weeks later, his lawyers told that court he wouldn't return.
In 2009, Garland was arrested in Dublin on the basis of the same U.S. warrant. His extradition trial was delayed to mid-2011.
Garland today remains national treasurer of the Workers Party, a fringe Marxist player in Irish politics linked to an Irish Republican Army faction called the Official IRA.
Garland was seriously wounded during a botched IRA attack on a Northern Ireland border police station in 1957. Two colleagues were killed, and he was interned without trial in the Irish Republic for two years.
When the outlawed IRA split into rival Official and Provisional factions in 1969 at the start of the modern Northern Ireland conflict, Garland served as an Official IRA commander.
He steered the Official IRA to a 1972 cease-fire. That faction then fought bloody feuds with both the Provisionals and a breakaway Official faction called the Irish National Liberation Army. The INLA shot and seriously wounded Garland in Dublin in 1975.
As Workers Party leader in 1986, Garland wrote a letter to the Communist Party of the then-Soviet Union seeking $1 million in hopes of inspiring Marxist revolution in Ireland.
The U.S. indictment and subsequent Justice Department affidavits accuse Garland of visiting the North Korean embassy in Moscow several times; of delivering superdollars to a British money-laundering contact at a Moscow hotel room in 1998; and of using other criminal contacts in Birmingham, England, and Dublin to sell the notes to Irish and English underworld contacts at less than half their face value.
How else would would you decide the flavor of the month?
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MILAN/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Some of the world's biggest economies want to move quickly on a cash injection for the International Monetary Fund to help rescue the euro zone, but hardliners may still scupper an early deal to boost the fund's war chest, G20 sources said on Friday.
Officials from the Group of 20 leading economies are engaged in what one called a 'chicken and egg' game as they work toward a possible deal on boosting the IMF's firepower at a meeting of the bloc's finance ministers and central bank governors in Mexico City in one month's time.
Emerging market powers Brazil and China are among the countries keen to pursue the two-track plan pushed by the current G20 president Mexico to work on additional IMF funding simultaneously with extra steps from Europe, one G20 official told Reuters, rather than insisting on European action upfront.
"There was a much more cooperative sentiment between G20 countries than in recent meetings," said the official, referring last week's discussions between G20 deputies in Mexico City.
"Some emerging countries are more open to consider contributions to increase IMF resources in parallel with euro zone efforts, so they are open to make commitments to increase IMF resources in the next few weeks," the source added.
Mexican central bank governor Agustin Carstens said a consensus was building on boosting IMF resources to help European countries and others that need aid.
But the February 25-26 meeting deadline may prove ambitious, given the United States' insistence that Europe boost its own crisis shield further before any pledges to the IMF - which estimates it needs $600 billion more to limit the fallout.
"Our view is that the only way Europe is going to be successful in holding this together is for them to bring a stronger firewall," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"If Europe is able and willing to do that, we believe the IMF is ready to play a constructive role."
Canada is also taking a tough public stance, although a G20 official from another country said Ottawa was becoming more conciliatory, along with Japan.
"Canada and Japan are more flexible than in the past," the second official said. "It could be a bit more difficult with the USA, although they too have softened their position, but it's still early in the game."
STANDOFF FEARS
Europe, for its part, supports the two-track approach, but officials are concerned that Germany's reluctance so far to back increased funding for the euro zone's own rescue fund may fuel a standoff at the G20.
Germany has insisted that the safety net should not exceed 500 billion euros, but officials close to the G20 talks estimate that a further 230 billion to 250 billion euros is needed.
"It is important that we should not let this be locked between the Americans and the Germans, or the IMF and the Germans, so that nobody would get any pretext or excuse to not do their part," one senior euro zone official said.
A G20 official from a large emerging market economy said Europe accepted the need to put in more resources but "won't say it for fear of" Germany.
"They will get to that point because they know not one cent of this IMF money will be made available unless they come up with their side ... the majority view is that we move in parallel we have things ready, but we don't have to deploy it until the Europeans have gotten their act together."
European Union leaders will discuss increasing the bloc's permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), on March 1-2, just days after the February meeting in Mexico, with the timing creating extra difficulty for policymakers.
"If the parallel approach wins inside the G20, a deal on increasing IMF resources could be clinched by the G20 meeting in February," the initial G20 source said. "Otherwise, the G20 will work on reaching a deal by next April in Washington, after an increase of ESM firepower is signed in March among euro zone countries."
G20 finance ministers are due to meet in Washington on April 19-20 ahead of a leaders summit in Mexico's Los Cabos on June 18-19.
Countries keen on the parallel approach are Brazil, Australia, Japan, Indonesia, China, Indonesia and South Korea, the source said.
A senior Brazilian government official confirmed Brazil was keen to push the two aims simultaneously, but said a commitment to a bigger ESM would definitely smooth the way.
"If the Europeans increase (funding to) the ESM then they increase the chances of additional resources to the IMF in support," he said.
The extra funding may come in the form of bilateral loans between individual countries and the IMF or an increase in countries' quotas, which could also give emerging economies more say in how the fund is managed.
(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in Washington, Alonso Soto in Brasilia, Paul Carrel in Davos and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels; Writing by Krista Hughes; Editing by Andrea Evans, Gary Crosse)
Apple's iPad reigns supreme from whatever angle you choose to look at the tablet market (profits, apps, quality, market share, mindshare, you name it), but research firm Strategy Analytics this morning said Android did manage to capture a record 39 percent tablet OS market share in the fourth quarter of 2011. Apple maintains the lead with 58 percent market share in Q4 2011 (down from 68 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010). Peter King, a research director at Strategy Analytics, says global tablet shipments (the research firm explains that these refer to 'sell-in' and not over-the-counter sales) reached an all-time high of 26.8 million units in Q4 2011, surging 150 percent from 10.7 million in Q4 2010.
Rod Pampling and Greg Chalmers feasted on some Australia Day vibes to sit inside the top 10 after the first round at the US PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines.
With the Australian flag prominent on their golf bags and in a climate reminiscent of an Aussie summer's day, the pair produced impressive mistake-free rounds.
Pampling fired an eight-under-par 64 to be tied fourth, one better than reigning Australian Open and PGA Champion Chalmers who signed for a seven-under 65, enough to be tied eighth.
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Americans Spencer Levin and Kyle Stanley lead the field after producing blistering 10-under rounds of 62, one clear of Bill Haas (63) who is third at nine-under-par.
The top 12 players, and 23 of the top 26, played on the easier north course in the opening round, with Marc Turnesa (66, tied 13th) claiming round honours on the more difficult south course.
The field plays on both courses over the opening two days before reverting to the 2008 US Open south course for the weekend.
Pampling rammed home eight birdies in his round to ensure it was the first time in nine attempts he had broken 70 in his opening round at the event.
"It's great to start so well, especially on Australia Day," Pampling said.
"The last few years have been a struggle mentally but to play like this, I'm extremely happy.
"I'm looking forward to heading to the south and hopefully keeping the run going."
Despite not having a full card last season, Pampling battled back onto the tour thanks to good performances in his limited sponsor-exemption starts.
He credits the return to form to renewed mental focus - something he should be well versed in given his wife is a psychologist.
"I had to get back to my focus techniques and breathing control," he said.
"You can start thinking about different things and now, when that happens, I just imagine a stop sign and start again.
"It's basically distracting your mind. My wife has always said to me most men think they can do more than one thing at a time, but we can't."
Chalmers went low courtesy of five birdies and a 50-foot bomb for eagle on the par-five 18th.
Robert Allenby and Gavin Coles were the next best-placed Australians in a tie for 26th after posting four-under 68s on the north course, while Nick O'Hern (69) was the pick of the Aussies on the south.
New Zealander Danny Lee found himself tied for 17th after a five-under-par 67 on the north course.
WASHINGTON -- As two aid workers freed by a Navy SEAL team flew out of Somalia to be reunited with family, details emerged about the rescue operation that the Pentagon says left nine captors dead.
Vice President Joe Biden told NBC's "TODAY" show that the U.S. decided to stage the rescue because of concerns that the health of American Jessica Buchanan "was beginning to decline."
"We wanted to act," Biden said.
Buchanan,?32,?and Dane Poul Thisted, 60,?were kidnapped on Oct. 25, and then held for ransom. They both work for the nonprofit Danish Demining Group and had just finished training Somalis on how to clear mines when they were captured.
HACKENSACK, N.J. ? A teenager charged with attempted murder in the firebombings of two New Jersey synagogues pleaded not guilty Wednesday, as authorities announced they would conduct a sweep of synagogues within a 10-mile radius of his home to look for arson materials.
The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office characterized the search as precautionary and didn't say it was prompted by a specific threat or by new information the suspect had provided.
Authorities have contended 19-year-old Anthony Graziano searched on the Internet for synagogues near his home in Lodi and carried out his attacks using a bicycle as transportation.
Graziano appeared briefly in state Superior Court in an orange prison jumpsuit Wednesday with his hands and feet shackled. He didn't speak during the five-minute proceeding and stood expressionless as public defender Robert Kalisch entered the not-guilty plea.
Graziano is being held on $5 million bail, a sum Kalisch, said he would seek to have lowered. A bail hearing could occur next week.
"We'll be seeking a considerable bail reduction," Kalisch said. "That bail is a lot of money. It's higher than for most murders in this county."
Kalisch said he likely would file for a change of venue, but it wasn't clear where a potential trial could be moved.
"I don't know where the venue would be because of all the publicity this case has gotten," he said outside the courthouse.
Bergen County prosecutor John Molinelli said his office would oppose a change in venue. Judges don't often grant such requests; a notable exception was the 2004 manslaughter trial of former basketball star Jayson Williams, which was moved from Hunterdon County to Somerset County because of excessive pretrial publicity.
Graziano is charged with nine counts of attempted murder as well as bias intimidation, arson and aggravated arson. Since the attempted murder involved more than five people ? a rabbi, his wife and children and his parents were living above a synagogue in Rutherford that was attacked on Jan. 11 ? the maximum sentence is upgraded to life in prison with no parole for 30 years, the same as a murder charge.
While authorities characterized Graziano as harboring a hatred of Jews, they don't know what may have spurred him to violence. Molinelli said Wednesday that investigators hadn't found any indication that Graziano belonged to any extremist groups but had evidence that he shared his views with other people, though he didn't specify in what forum. He characterized Graziano as intelligent and aware of what was happening to him.
Authorities traced the materials in some of the bombs to a Wal-Mart store and captured surveillance images of a man buying the materials, later identified by tipsters as Graziano, who apparently had spoken to others about the attacks.
"A lot of people knew that he had done it," Molinelli said.
Water sees right through graphenePublic release date: 23-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Ruth david@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University
Rice University, Rensselaer study reveals graphene enhances many materials, but leaves them wettable
Graphene is largely transparent to the eye and, as it turns out, largely transparent to water.
A new study by scientists at Rice University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has determined that gold, copper and silicon get just as wet when clad by a single continuous layer of graphene as they would without.
The research, reported this week in the online edition of Nature Materials, is significant for scientists learning to fine-tune surface coatings for a variety of applications.
"The extreme thinness of graphene makes it a totally non-invasive coating," said Pulickel Ajayan, Rice's Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry. "A drop of water sitting on a surface 'sees through' the graphene layers and conforms to the wetting forces dictated by the surface beneath. It's quite an interesting phenomenon unseen in any other coatings and once again proves that graphene is really unique in many different ways." Ajayan is co-principal investigator of the study with Nikhil Koratkar, a professor of mechanical, aerospace and nuclear engineering at RPI.
A typical surface of graphite, the form of carbon most commonly known as pencil lead, should be hydrophobic, Ajayan said. But in the present study, the researchers found to their surprise that a single-atom-thick layer of the carbon lattice presents a negligible barrier between water and a hydrophilic water-loving surface. Piling on more layers reduces wetting; at about six layers, graphene essentially becomes graphite.
An interesting aspect of the study, Ajayan said, may be the ability to change such surface properties as conductivity while retaining wetting characteristics. Because pure graphene is highly conductive, the discovery could lead to a new class of conductive, yet impermeable, surface coatings, he said.
The caveat is that wetting transparency was observed only on surfaces (most metals and silicon) where interaction with water is dominated by weak van der Waals forces, and not for materials like glass, where wettability is dominated by strong chemical bonding, the team reported.
But such applications as condensation heat transfer -- integral to heating, cooling, dehumidifying, water harvesting and many industrial processes -- may benefit greatly from the discovery, according to the paper. Copper is commonly used for its high thermal conductivity, but it corrodes easily. The team coated a copper sample with a single layer of graphene and found the subnanometer barrier protected the copper from oxidation with no impact on its interaction with water; in fact, it enhanced the copper's thermal effectiveness by 30 to 40 percent.
"The finding is interesting from a fundamental point of view as well as for practical uses," Ajayan said. "Graphene could be one of a kind as a coating, allowing the intrinsic physical nature of surfaces, such as wetting and optical properties, to be retained while altering other specific functionalities like conductivity."
###
The paper's co-authors are Rice graduate student Hemtej Gullapalli, RPI graduate students Javad Rafiee, Xi Mi, Abhay Thomas and Fazel Yavari, and Yunfeng Shi, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at RPI.
The Advanced Energy Consortium, National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research graphene MURI program funded the research.
Read the abstract at http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nmat3228.html
Download high-resolution images at media.rice.edu/images/media/NewsRels/0123_wet.jpg
CAPTION:
Drops of water on a piece of silicon and on silicon covered by a layer of graphene show a minimal change in the contact angle between the water and the base material. Researchers at Rice University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute determined that when applied to most metals and silicon, a single layer of graphene is transparent to water. (Credit: Rahul Rao/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is known for its "unconventional wisdom." With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is less than 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 4 for "best value" among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/Rice.pdf.
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Water sees right through graphenePublic release date: 23-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Ruth david@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University
Rice University, Rensselaer study reveals graphene enhances many materials, but leaves them wettable
Graphene is largely transparent to the eye and, as it turns out, largely transparent to water.
A new study by scientists at Rice University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has determined that gold, copper and silicon get just as wet when clad by a single continuous layer of graphene as they would without.
The research, reported this week in the online edition of Nature Materials, is significant for scientists learning to fine-tune surface coatings for a variety of applications.
"The extreme thinness of graphene makes it a totally non-invasive coating," said Pulickel Ajayan, Rice's Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry. "A drop of water sitting on a surface 'sees through' the graphene layers and conforms to the wetting forces dictated by the surface beneath. It's quite an interesting phenomenon unseen in any other coatings and once again proves that graphene is really unique in many different ways." Ajayan is co-principal investigator of the study with Nikhil Koratkar, a professor of mechanical, aerospace and nuclear engineering at RPI.
A typical surface of graphite, the form of carbon most commonly known as pencil lead, should be hydrophobic, Ajayan said. But in the present study, the researchers found to their surprise that a single-atom-thick layer of the carbon lattice presents a negligible barrier between water and a hydrophilic water-loving surface. Piling on more layers reduces wetting; at about six layers, graphene essentially becomes graphite.
An interesting aspect of the study, Ajayan said, may be the ability to change such surface properties as conductivity while retaining wetting characteristics. Because pure graphene is highly conductive, the discovery could lead to a new class of conductive, yet impermeable, surface coatings, he said.
The caveat is that wetting transparency was observed only on surfaces (most metals and silicon) where interaction with water is dominated by weak van der Waals forces, and not for materials like glass, where wettability is dominated by strong chemical bonding, the team reported.
But such applications as condensation heat transfer -- integral to heating, cooling, dehumidifying, water harvesting and many industrial processes -- may benefit greatly from the discovery, according to the paper. Copper is commonly used for its high thermal conductivity, but it corrodes easily. The team coated a copper sample with a single layer of graphene and found the subnanometer barrier protected the copper from oxidation with no impact on its interaction with water; in fact, it enhanced the copper's thermal effectiveness by 30 to 40 percent.
"The finding is interesting from a fundamental point of view as well as for practical uses," Ajayan said. "Graphene could be one of a kind as a coating, allowing the intrinsic physical nature of surfaces, such as wetting and optical properties, to be retained while altering other specific functionalities like conductivity."
###
The paper's co-authors are Rice graduate student Hemtej Gullapalli, RPI graduate students Javad Rafiee, Xi Mi, Abhay Thomas and Fazel Yavari, and Yunfeng Shi, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at RPI.
The Advanced Energy Consortium, National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research graphene MURI program funded the research.
Read the abstract at http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nmat3228.html
Download high-resolution images at media.rice.edu/images/media/NewsRels/0123_wet.jpg
CAPTION:
Drops of water on a piece of silicon and on silicon covered by a layer of graphene show a minimal change in the contact angle between the water and the base material. Researchers at Rice University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute determined that when applied to most metals and silicon, a single layer of graphene is transparent to water. (Credit: Rahul Rao/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is known for its "unconventional wisdom." With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is less than 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 4 for "best value" among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/Rice.pdf.
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FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama commands center stage in a political year so far dominated by Republican infighting, preparing to deliver a State of the Union address that will go right to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years in office. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose steps to make college more affordable and offer new remedies for the still worrisome housing crisis. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama commands center stage in a political year so far dominated by Republican infighting, preparing to deliver a State of the Union address that will go right to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years in office. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose steps to make college more affordable and offer new remedies for the still worrisome housing crisis. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Eager to command center stage in a year dominated by Republican infighting, President Barack Obama is polishing a State of the Union address that will go to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years. He will speak Tuesday to a nation worried about daily struggles and unhappy with his handling of the economy.
Obama's 9 p.m. EST address before a politically divided Congress will be built around ideas meant to appeal to a squeezed middle class. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose ways to make college more affordable, offer new steps to tackle a debilitating housing crisis and try to help U.S. manufacturers expand hiring.
Designed as a way for a president to update the nation and recommend ideas to Congress, the State of the Union address has become more than that, especially during that one window when the address falls during the re-election year of an incumbent. It is televised theater ? and Obama's biggest, best chance so far to offer a vision for a second term.
He will frame the campaign to come as a fight for fairness for those who are struggling to keep a job, a home or college savings and losing faith in how the county works.
The speech will be principally about the economy, featuring the themes of manufacturing, clean energy, education and American values.
No matter whom Obama faces in November, the election is likely to be driven by the economy, and determined by which candidate wins voters' trust on how to fix it. More people than not disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy.
The overarching political goal is to give voters a contrast between his vision of a government that tries to level the playing field and those office-seekers who, in his view, would leave people on their own. Without naming them, Obama has in his sights those after his job, including Republicans Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
The presidential campaign sets an unmistakable context for the speech, right down to the nation's income gap between haves and have-nots. Obama will speak on a few hours after Romney, a former governor and businessman whose wealth is the hundreds of millions of dollars, will release tax records for 2010 and 2011.
The lines of argument between Obama and his rivals are already stark, with America's economic insecurity and the role of government at the center.
The president has offered signals about his speech, telling campaign supporters he wants an economy "that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few." Gingrich, on the other hand, calls Obama "the most effective food stamp president in history." Romney says Obama "wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society."
Obama's tone will be highly scrutinized given that his address falls smack in the middle of a fierce and frenzied Republican presidential nomination process. He will make bipartisan overtures to lawmakers but will leave little doubt he will act without opponents when it's necessary and possible, an approach his aides say has let him stay on offense.
The public is more concerned about domestic troubles over foreign policy than at other any time in the past 15 years, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Some 81 percent want Obama to focus his speech on domestic affairs, not foreign ones; just five years ago, the view was evenly split.
On the day before Obama's speech, his campaign released a short Web ad showing monthly job losses during the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama administration, with positive job growth for nearly two Obama years. Republicans assail him as failing to achieve a lot more.
House Speaker John Boehner, responding to reports of Obama's speech themes, said it was a rehash of unhelpful policies. "It's pathetic," he said.
Obama will offer economic proposals for this year, despite long odds against getting the help he would need from Republicans.
Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that Obama is not conceding the next 10 months to "campaigning alone" when people need economic help. On the goals of helping people get a fair shot, Carney said: "There's ample room within those boundaries for bipartisan cooperation and for getting this done."
For three days following his speech, Obama will promote his ideas in five states key to his re-election bid: Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan. He speaks on Friday about college affordability at the University of Michigan.
Meanwhile, the Republican race is suddenly a race again, given Gingrich's resounding win in the South Carolina primary over the weekend. Romney, who appeared the strong front-runner coming into that primary, is now focusing on Gingrich more than Obama as the GOP contest unfolds in Florida.
Vice President Joe Biden, in an interview with radio host Ryan Seacrest, said Monday there is no ideological difference between any of the Republicans seeking to challenge Obama. He said the campaign will offer the clearest choice in which direction to take the country since the era of the Great Depression.
Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama's overall job approval but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.
HICKMAN, Ky. ? A 30-year-old man charged with using a shotgun to kill the mayor of a small Kentucky town remains in jail without bond after his initial court appearance.
The court in Fulton County on Tuesday entered an automatic not guilty plea for Thomas Joseph "Tommy" Lattus on a charge of murder. He's accused of the Monday morning shooting of 68-year-old Hickman Mayor Charles Murphy.
Police Chief Tony Grogan says Lattus walked into a police station early Monday and said he'd shot Murphy, who had dated his adoptive mother.
Grogan said Lattus broke into the side door of Murphy's house and killed him.
Lattus is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 31. He was assigned a defense lawyer Tuesday. A message left seeking comment from the lawyer wasn't immediately returned.
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Fausto Carmona?s stay in a Dominican jail was a short one, as the Indians right-hander was freed today on $13,000 bond after being arrested yesterday for allegedly falsifying his identity. Carmona, whose real name is reportedly Roberto Hernandez Heredia, apologized to the Indians and their fans upon his release and according to the Associated Press?
Devastating fungus has already stripped shrubbery in Europe and New Zealand
Web edition : Friday, January 20th, 2012
Shrubs may be trembling by doorsteps across North America as an aggressive fungus disease of boxwood invades the continent.
Boxwood blight, caused by a Cylindrocladium fungus, was unknown to science before 2000 but has now spread through Europe and New Zealand. In October, U.S. authorities confirmed that the blight had jumped continents, with infections confirmed in North Carolina and Connecticut. By mid-January, with growers and pathologists on alert, the fungus had turned up in at least five more states ? Virginia, Maryland, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Oregon ? and British Columbia.
The blight starts with spots on leaves and black streaks on twigs. Within a few weeks, a plump shrub can turn into a clump of bare sticks.
?I?ve never poured diesel fuel on a boxwood, but if I did, that?s what it would look like,? says Lynn R. Batdorf, curator of the as-yet-uninfected boxwood collection at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C.
Younger plants die. Older plants do survive and regrow their leaves for at least several cycles of attack by the fungus, but ?it ruins completely your topiary or your hedge,? says plant pathologist B?atrice Henricot of the Royal Horticultural Society?s Garden Wisley in England.
Once the fungus, referred to as either C. pseudonaviculatum or C. buxicola, strikes a garden, pathologists recommend drastic measures to fight long-lasting fungal residue. In North Carolina, one grower burned 15,000 infected boxwood plants and 15,000 uninfected ones, burying the ashes and going out of business, says plant pathologist Kelly Ivors, based at North Carolina State University?s Mills River lab.
Just where this blight fungus originated is a puzzle. Since boxwood plants haven?t evolved much resistance to the fungus, it may come from an unfamiliar enemy outside the plants? native range, speculates plant pathologist Sharon M. Douglas of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven.
The fungus is particularly difficult to trace because all samples found so far belong to just two lineages of clones, adds her experiment station colleague Robert E. Marra. It?s hard match any particular outbreak with the region it came from because fungi in so many places are virtually identical.
Efforts to learn more about the fungus by coaxing it to reproduce sexually have failed. Like many fungi, it has two sets of mating-related genes, and needs to find a partner that differs sufficiently across both sets. ?It may be that this fungus is so successful it doesn?t need sex,? says Pedro Crous, director of the Fungal Biodiversity Centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Despite the fungus? success, fans may still find reasons to keep growing boxwood: low appeal to nibbling deer, a possible life span of more than 300 years, the cinnamon smell of its flowers, the leaf pungency that Oliver Wendell Holmes called ?the fragrance of eternity.? (Batdorf does acknowledge that ?other people with a different preference might compare it to cat urine.?)
For unshakeable enthusiasts, he points out that even after years of the blight, boxwood still grows in European gardens.
Young Money rapper softens the blow of sophomore album's delay by premiering her 'Stupid H--' video. By Nadeska Alexis
Nicki Minaj Photo: Getty Images
Back in November, Nicki Minaj announced that her sophomore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, would debut February 14, giving fans a little something extra to look forward to on Valentine's Day. Now, there's been a change of plans. Just a couple of hours after premiering the video for her latest single, "Stupid Hoe," on Friday (January 20) Minaj announced that the album would be delayed until April.
"New Album Date: April 3rd. Pink Friday: ROMAN RELOADED," she wrote to her throngs of followers on Twitter. "But have no fear. Tons of surprises before then ;). Love Always, HB."
Fans weren't thrilled to hear about the delay, but the new video for "Stupid Hoe" was enough to tide them over momentarily. In the colorful clip, directed by Hype Williams, Nicki is in full Barbie mode with bright makeup, her signature pink wig and prosthetic body parts, and she even gets a little ferocious, morphing into a caged tiger. With the sexy, bubblegum effect of the video, it's almost easy to forget that the track throws a few harsh words at her female critics, most notably Lil' Kim.
When "Stupid Hoe" originally premiered in December, the song held the first clue that Minaj might perform at Super Bowl XLVI ("2012 I'm at the Super Bowl," she raps), and the video confirms that suspicion. In the midst of the outrageous colors and special effects, the video cuts to a sign that reads "2012 Super Bowl," which means the Young Money rapper will likely perform alongside headliner Madonna.
After premiering the video, Minaj proceeded to retweet the overwhelmingly positive responses from her Barbz, who will likely be thrilled when she releases the album's second video for "Roman in Moscow." In December Minaj told MTV News that the visuals would set the stage for Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
" 'Roman in Moscow' is like a teaser to Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded," Minaj said. "When I say it's a teaser, it's like a trailer to the movie, it's like setting the stage, and I just wanted to touch the surface. It's the wackest thing on Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded."
Did Nicki's new video tide you over until the release of Roman Reloaded? Let us know in the comments!
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Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
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