The Life of Margaret Thatcher; Paul Theroux in Africa; "Fill the Void," a Film

On today?s show: we?ll look at Margaret Thatcher?s early life, her early political career, and her first years as Britain?s only female prime minister. Celebrated travel writer Paul Theroux describes returning to Africa after 50 years of traveling around the world. The star and director discuss Israeli film ?Fill the Void,? which follows a young Orthodox Hasidic woman who is preparing to marry when tragedy strikes. And we?ll take a look at how Apple is just one of many corporations trying to avoid paying corporate taxes by moving its money out of the United States.

Source: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2013/may/23/

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Migraine and depression together may be linked with brain size

May 22, 2013 ? Older people with a history of migraines and depression may have smaller brain tissue volumes than people with only one or neither of the conditions, according to a new study in the May 22, 2013, online issue of Neurology?, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"Studies show that people with migraine have double the risk of depression compared to people without migraine," said study author Larus S. Gudmundsson, PhD, with the National Institute on Aging and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, in Bethesda, Md. Gudmundsson is also a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "We wanted to find out whether having both conditions together possibly affected brain size."

For the study, 4,296 people with an average age of 51 were tested for migraine headache from 1967 to 1991; they were later assessed from 2002 to 2006 at an average age of 76 for a history of major depressive disorder (depression). Participants also underwent MRI, from which brain tissue volumes were estimated. A total of 37 participants had a history of both migraine and depression, while 2,753 had neither condition.

The study found that people with both migraine and depression had total brain tissue volumes an average of 19.2 milliliters smaller than those without either condition. There was no difference in the total brain volume when comparing people with only one of the conditions to people with neither condition.

"It is important to note that participants in this study were imaged using MRI once, so we cannot say that migraine and depression resulted in brain atrophy. In future studies, we need to examine at what age participants develop both migraine and depression and measure their brain volume changes over time in order to determine what comes first," said Gudmundsson.

Gudmundsson noted that some of the factors leading to a joint effect of migraine and depression on brain volume may include pain, brain inflammation, genetics and differences in a combination of social and economic factors. "Our study suggests that people with both migraine and depression may represent a unique group from those with only one of these conditions and may also require different strategies for long-term treatment."

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute on Aging, the Icelandic Heart Association and the Icelandic Parliament.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/NKKt3Q6xKKo/130522163919.htm

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Do serial monogamists have serious problems? - She Knows

I've hit a certain point where my Facebook newsfeed is filled with engagement announcements. It's depressing, so I turn to tabloids for relief. There I can take solace in everyone's favorite pre-destined eternal bachelor: George Clooney. He's not married and he's not young, so I've still got time. And as much as I would like to see him wed, let's be real ? it may never happen.

What's your favorite part of weddings? Is it the decor, the dress or the showcase of love? I don't hate the wedding couple (usually), but I love to hate on weddings (?woe is me,? ?my eggs will shrivel up,? etc.). So like most guys, I prefer the reception. Why? Time to mingle with the singles and binge on catered food.

Every year, there are at least a few weddings/receptions in my circle. Indian people are never scarce because we reproduce like rabbits (population=one billion and counting!). Since most of us are arranged before we even have the option to like anyone else, my mating pool is getting smaller, my patience thinner and my elastic waistbands bigger. But, when weddings roll around, I can drown my sorrows out with one comforting thing: Josh will always bring a new girlfriend. He changes girlfriends more than Kanye changes moods.

Josh is our community's pride and joy. He's taller than 5'3" (have you ever seen an Indian NBA player?), a distinguished lawyer, religious, gorgeous, well-groomed and a mama's boy. He knows his worth and on paper he's quite the catch ? although his relationship history is extensive. I distinctly remember his most serious one nearing the engagement point and it shattered seemingly out of nowhere. Every relationship thereafter was pretty serious, spanning a year or two, and always appeared so promising, yet it mysteriously ended.

Insert the explanation: The George Clooney complex.

What's with these guys?

The world looks on George the same way my community looked at Josh. What was lacking? He aged like a fine wine ? has accolades and respect ? but yet he can't settle down? Clooney has the unfortunate fate of life under a microscope ? and thanks to this, it's easy to spot he has commitment issues. But the average person isn't so lucky, so how do you know someone you're with has commitment problems?

"You don't want to end up another cover story in someone's tabloid of exploits. You want to be the woman at the conclusion of someone's biography."

The obvious perpetrator is the ?player.? Brief dalliances are their forte. It's typically easy to spot them (e.g. John ?I-swear-I'm-STD-free? Mayer), but relationship addicts are more difficult. They're emotional sociopaths (be scared!), never truly letting go and falling in love over and over again. They have several back-to-back relationships and you're a needle in the haystack of experiences.

These ?married-to-dating? types like the comfort, reliability and adventure of dating someone long-term. But the moment they start convincing themselves something is missing (around the ?it's getting serious? mark), you're likely doomed! Serial daters fall hard, relatively quick, are faithful partners but suddenly a trigger happens and it's like they can't remember any of the ?good times.? They're over the relationship, and over you ? until they can find a replacement. It's a hot and cold transition, and they go from being all in to being all out. They are intense and even affectionate daters, and the relationship may have all the potential in the world, but that's where they like it to stay ? as potential.

Disclaimer: Of course you may be the one that's different. But my advice? You can believe in ?the exception? but never believe you are the exception.

It's not you, it's them

So it's really not you, it's them. Long-term leeches tend to be afraid of something ? commitment. Yes, you heard me. They convince themselves they are ready to be in a relationship and are mature enough to get involved in one. They try to tackle their commitment phobia by placing themselves into commitment. They often have little to no time being ?single? in between relationships. They think that by being in relationships, it'll groom them for the final relationship.

It doesn't really occur that they may need time to be single to discover who they are or what they really want. They may expect to discover this along the way, but alongside a partner. If you suspect this is the case with you or someone you are dating, take a step back and allow yourself/them to grow. So often I've seen friends convince themselves they can save the relationship, but they never really stood a chance from the start.

I know, I portray relationship addicts as charming parasites that latch onto a host in hopes to survive (looks like Stephenie Meyer is onto something yet again). But the reason for the concern is because it's hard to notice early on. So keep an eye out for this behavior ? because you don't want to end up another cover story in someone's tabloid of exploits. You want to be the woman at the conclusion of someone's biography.

More dating advice

What to do when your ex upgrades
The time I mixed booze, Facebook and my love life
Will I be single forever?

Photo credit: FayesVision/WENN.com

Source: http://www.sheknows.com/love-and-sex/articles/989017/serial-monogamists-with-serious-problems

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4 Americans killed since 2009 in US drone strikes

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen since 2009. The disclosure to Congress comes on the eve of a major national security speech by President Barack Obama in which he plans to pledge more transparency to Congress in his counterterrorism policy.

It was already known that three Americans had been killed in U.S. drones strikes in counterterrorism operations overseas, but Attorney General Eric Holder disclosed details that had remained secret and also that a fourth American had been killed.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Holder said that the government targeted and killed U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki and that the U.S. "is aware" of the killing of three others who were not targets of counterterror operations.

Al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric, was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen. The other two known cases are Samir Khan, who was killed in the same drone strike as al-Awlaki and al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, a Denver native, who also was killed in Yemen.

The newly revealed case is that of Jude Kenan Mohammed, one of eight men indicted by federal authorities in 2009, accused of being part of a plot to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va. Before he could be arrested, Mohammad fled the country to join jihadi fighters in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where he was among those killed by a U.S. drone.

"Since entering office, the president has made clear his commitment to providing Congress and the American people with as much information as possible about our sensitive counterterrorism operations," Holder said in his letter to Leahy, D-Vt. "To this end, the president has directed me to disclose certain information that until now has been properly classified."

"The administration is determined to continue these extensive outreach efforts to communicate with the American people," Holder wrote.

Obama "believes that we need to be as transparent about a matter like this as we can, understanding that there are national security implications to this issue and to the broader issues involved in counterterrorism policy," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday.

"He thinks (this) is an absolutely valid and legitimate and important area of discussion and debate and conversation, and that it is his belief that there need to be structures in place that remain in place for successive administrations," Carney said. "So that in the carrying out of counterterrorism policy, procedures are followed that allow it to be conducted in a way that ensures that we're keeping with our traditions and our laws."

Obama's speech Thursday is expected to reaffirm his national security priorities ? from homegrown terrorists to killer drones to the enemy combatants imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay ? but make no new sweeping policy pronouncements. The White House has offered few specifics on what the president will say to address long-standing questions that have dogged his administration for years and, experts said, given foreign allies mixed signals about U.S. intentions in some of the world's most volatile areas.

Obama will try to refocus an increasingly disinterested and scandal-weary U.S. public on security issues. His message will also be carefully analyzed by an international audience that has had to adapt to what counterterror expert Peter Singer described as the administration's "disjointed" and often "shortsighted" security policies.

Obama is also expected to say the U.S. will make a renewed effort to transfer detainees out of the Navy-run detention center for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to other countries. Obama recently restated his desire to close Guantanamo, a pledge he made shortly after his inauguration in January 2009.

That effort, however, has been stymied because many countries don't want the detainees or are unwilling or unable to guarantee that once transferred detainees who may continue to be a threat will not be released.

There are currently about 166 prisoners at Guantanamo, and 86 have been approved for transfer as long as security restrictions are met.

In his letter, the attorney general said the decision to target Anwar al-Awlaki was subjected to extensive policy review at the highest levels of the government. Senior U.S. officials briefed the appropriate committees of Congress on the possibility of using lethal force against Anwar al-Awlaki.

The administration informed the relevant congressional oversight committees that it had approved the use of lethal forces against Anwar al-Awlaki in February 2010, well over a year before the operation, Holder said.

A move to gradually shift responsibility for the bulk of U.S. drone strikes from the CIA to the military has already begun. And, according to an administration official speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly, the move would largely divide the strikes on a geographical basis, with the CIA continuing to conduct operations in Pakistan, while the military takes on the operations in other parts of the world.

Officials suggest that the CIA strikes into Pakistan have been successful, and point to the agency's ability to gather intelligence there. So, there is less of an inclination to change that now.

In other countries, such as Yemen, Somalia or portions of North Africa, the Defense Department will handle the drone strikes as regular military operations.

In March, the Senate confirmed John Brennan to be CIA director after the Obama administration agreed to demands from Republicans and stated explicitly there are limits on the president's power to use drones against U.S. terror suspects on American soil.

Laura Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington legislative office, said the administration should "produce the legal rationale that allows him to unilaterally decide when drones can be used ... and we would like him to clarify why he feels he has the authority to use drones outside of the battlefield and how he's going to constrain that authority."

Frank Cilluffo, White House domestic security adviser to President George W. Bush, said Wednesday that the fact that the U.S. targeted al-Awlaki and killed three other U.S. citizens in drone strikes should have been part of the public discourse all along.

He said there had been a lingering narrative that Awlaki was an inspirational leader, while in reality he had a key role in multiple operations targeting Americans. "The fact that they are making this public provides justification for the actions they took," said Cilluffo, now director of a homeland security studies program at George Washington University.

___

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Julie Pace in Washington, and Michael Biesecker in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at https://twitter.com/larajakesAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/4-americans-killed-since-2009-us-drone-strikes-211810690.html

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PFT: NFL want to make Pro Bowl like game show

AP

Commissioner Roger Goodell says the NFL needs to move the draft from late April to May because of potential scheduling conflict at Radio City Music Hall, where the draft has been held every year since 2006.

According to Don Banks of SI.com, multiple team execs are opposed to the move.

?You?d be hard-pressed to find any football-side person in the league in favor of it,? an unnamed AFC G.M. told Banks.? ?Unless you consider having more time for draft preparation a benefit, more time for paralysis by analysis, there?s nothing to like. I?ve tried to think of one [positive], but I haven?t yet.?

One unnamed NFC executive doesn?t buy the excuse for the move.

?The league coming out and saying this is because of the Easter Bunny and the [Radio City Spring Spectacular] is almost embarrassing,? the unnamed executive told Banks.? ?This is the NFL.? You think we couldn?t get those dates or make something work if we really wanted to?? This is about moving the draft into May for [TV network] sweeps month.? I?d rather somebody be honest and come out and just admit that it?s about ratings and TV issues.? But I get it.? I suppose we all should be thankful in that everybody in the league benefits financially when the league has success from a TV perspective.?

The root of the consternation comes from the stubborn resistance to change demonstrated by coaches and football executives.

?We?re all creatures of habit in this league, and we like things the way they are,? the unnamed NFC club executive told Banks.? ?Anything new is not going to be popular.? We already have too much time to do draft analysis as is, and now maybe we?re going to have another three weeks of it?? Next week we actually start working on next year?s draft, but if the draft isn?t held until mid-May, that work doesn?t even begin until June.? And then it?s only late June or early July when things finally slow down.?

An unnamed NFL executive knows the fight is coming.

?The football ops people will raise hell,? the unnamed NFL exec said.? ?There are bunch of issues in play here, so don?t think that it?s done.? Coaches and front office executives aren?t going to like not having their hands on their new players for another two or three weeks.

?They?ll say, ?Hey, we need to get our hands on them and we need to coach them.? So this could wind up having an effect on some integrity of the game issues, and we need to listen to that. There?s a lot of ground to cover on this and there?s a long way to go.? This isn?t over at all.?

Still, it?s clear the NFL wants to nudge the draft into May.? Next year, it will happen; the only question is whether the draft starts on May 8 or May 15.? After the draft moves to May and the pro football world continues to spin, it?ll be easier for the league office to sell the teams on change moving forward.

Or, if need be, to force change upon them.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/21/nfl-considers-making-the-pro-bowl-more-like-a-game-show/related/

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Vatican financial body investigating possible money laundering

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican's new financial watchdog said on Wednesday it had detected six possible attempts to use the Holy See to launder money last year, citing this as proof of its commitment to transparency.

The head of the Vatican's Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), presenting its first annual report, also said it would soon have stronger supervisory powers over the Vatican's scandal-plagued bank, the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), dubbed the world's most secretive bank by Forbes magazine.

The Vatican is trying to meet international standards to combat the financing of terrorism, money laundering and tax evasion, but the European anti-money laundering committee, Moneyval, said in July that the IOR still had some way to go. The FIA is due to report back in December.

Rene Bruelhart, the Swiss lawyer and anti-laundering expert who heads the FIA, said that of the six suspected cases of money laundering handled by his office in 2012, two were considered serious enough to be passed on to the Vatican's prosecutor.

He gave no details of any of the cases but said it was possible that some of the other four could also be passed on for formal investigation.

The Vatican has been trying to shed its image as a murky financial center since 1982, when Roberto Calvi, known as "God's Banker", was found hanging from London's Blackfriars Bridge.

Calvi was head of Banco Ambrosiano, then Italy's largest private bank, which was part-owned by the Vatican and collapsed in a fraudulent bankruptcy.

The IOR primarily handles funds for Vatican departments, Roman Catholic charities and orders of priests and nuns around the world, but has been abused by third parties in the past.

Bruelhart, formerly the top anti-money laundering expert in the tiny tax haven of Liechtenstein, held up the annual report and the press conference, both the first of their kind, as a sign that the Vatican was getting its house in order.

Conceding that "not everything is great and perfect", he said the Vatican was committed to meeting Moneyval's requirements, notably closer supervision, or "prudential vigilance", over the IOR.

"Over the next weeks we will come up with a new law and that is going to be one of the key competences of the FIA," he said.

He also said the FIA would put into place new procedures to screen account holders at the IOR.

In 2010, Rome magistrates froze 23 million euros ($33 million) held by the IOR in an Italian bank. The Vatican said its bank was merely transferring its own funds between its own accounts in Italy and Germany. The funds were released in 2011 but the money laundering investigation continues.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-financial-body-investigating-possible-money-laundering-160727236.html

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Facebook's Sandberg, HP's Whitman claim top spots on Forbes list of powerful women

New England Venture Capital Association

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg rose to No. 6 on the Forbes list of most powerful women.

Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook Inc., took the No. 6 spot on the annual list of 100 most powerful women issued by Forbes magazine.

Sandberg, 43, was No. 10 on the list last year. The Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) executive made a splash this year with her book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead.

Five other Bay Area business executives made the top 100 list this year.

• Meg Whitman, CEO, Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), No. 15
• Safra Catz, CFO, Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), No. 23
• Susan Wojcicki, SVP, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), No. 30
• Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), No. 32
• Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and chair, Emerson Collective, No. 39

Two politicians topped this year's list ? Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff. U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama ranked No. 4 and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ranked No. 5.

And showing just how far absolute monarchs have fallen since 1649, Queen Elizabeth II of England ranked just No. 40.

Steven E.F. Brown is web editor at the San Francisco Business Times.

Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/bizj_national/~3/nEs9SLVvi-o/facebooks-sandberg-hps-whitman-rank.html

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China-US to hold leaders' summit

AAP

Chinese state media has welcomed news of the first summit between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama, saying it will help "reduce suspicions" in the relationship.

The talks, the first since Xi was installed as Chinese leader and Obama began his second term, will be held in California on June 7 and 8, with ties strained by allegations of cyber spying, tensions in the Pacific and trade disputes.

"It's vital for us to establish confidence that the two countries are partners instead of rivals," the Global Times newspaper said in an editorial on Wednesday following official announcements on Tuesday that Xi would visit the US.

"If both sides still attach importance to mutual trust then a strong positive signal is urgently needed to reduce suspicions," the paper added, under the headline "Xi, Obama meeting coming at right time".

The editorial did not go into detail on specific issues of conflict between the world's top two economies, but acknowledged that "as two big countries with their own interests, problems certainly exist between China and the US".

The China Daily newspaper called for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific to avoid tensions emanating from the US "pivot" to the region, a policy widely seen as an attempt to counter Beijing's growing power among its neighbours.

"The two should step up their cooperation in the Asia-Pacific so that the negative impact of the US strategic rebalancing to the region can be minimised and a much-speculated head on conflict between the two can be avoided," it said in an editorial.

It also said the world would be looking to Beijing and Washington to address major issues, citing the Syrian crisis and tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Source: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/5/22/asian-economy/china-us-hold-leaders-summit

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DFL leaders say budget deal is 'progress' for middle class (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/307315054?client_source=feed&format=rss

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iPhone / iPad App Price Drops: Septet HD, Batman, King Cashing 2, more

The iTunes App Store offers downloads of several apps for Apple iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad which have dropped in price, as listed below. At up to $5 off, most are at or near the lowest prices we've seen. The deals, all with applicable platforms noted:

• Batman Arkham City Lockdown for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad for 99 cents ($5 off): Adventure game
• Septet HD for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad for 99 cents (pictured, $3 off): Number matching game
• Reverse Music Player for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad for 99 cents ($1 off): Backwards music player
• Velocispider for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad for 99 cents ($2 off): Pixel art shooter game
• King Cashing 2 for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad for $1.99 ($1 off): Role-playing/slots game
• Sky Wars for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad for $1.99 ($2 off): Aerial combat game

Posted 43 min ago

Source: http://dealmac.com/iPhone-iPad-App-Price-Drops-Septet-HD-Batman-King-Cashing-2-more/714150.html?iref=rss-dealmac-todays-edition

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The more feathers a male sparrow carries to the nest, the more eggs the female will lay

The more feathers a male sparrow carries to the nest, the more eggs the female will lay

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

An international team lead by the University of Granada has found that female sparrows will invest more energy into laying eggs according to the male's ability to fill the nest with feathers which serve to insulate the chicks from the cold and keep them alive.

Scientists from the University of Granada, in collaboration with the South African University of the Witwatersrand and the Percy FitzPatrick Institute at the University of Cape Town, have discovered that the female house sparrow (Passer domesticus) invests more energy into laying eggs when the male brings more feathers to the nest.

"We conducted an experiment with two types of treatments and a control group. In total, we observed the behaviour of 50 pairs of sparrows," said Lola Garc?a L?pez de Hierro, the study's main researcher.

According to their results, carrying feathers could be a result of sexual selection by the females as they put more energy into reproduction if they have more feathers in the nest. "They provide excellent insulation and the females know that less chicks will die if the male brings more feathers," the expert stated.

The experiment was conducted in the natural environment of Dassen Island (South Africa) and this is the first time this behaviour has been documented in the house sparrow.

Taking away and adding feathers

The researchers took away and added feathers to the nests of the fifty pairs of sparrows during these birds' different mating seasons.

A first stage in the treatment consisted of spending an hour observing the behaviour of the pairs with chicks less than five days old in order to register diverse variables and watch their behaviour if a series of feathers were taken away or if these feathers were left in the nest. The experiment was then repeated with chicks over ten days old.

"We had film recordings of the nest where we gathered information on sparrow behaviour and, using a table of variables, we were able to conclude that the more feathers in the nest, the more eggs the sparrows laid," Garc?a-L?pez de Hierro pointed out.

They also observed that when the females noticed there were feathers missing they animatedly called the males and the male sparrows responded by bringing more feathers and dancing around the female on his return to the nest.

Monogamous birds

Ninety per cent of sparrows mate for life and keep the same partner from one year to the next; however, numerous factors influence the choice of mating partner. For example, the size of the black patch on the males' chest, commonly known as the bib, indicates their biological quality. "The bigger the patch, the higher the quality, an aspect that females can easily select for," the scientist explained.

Other factors that demonstrate the male's biological capacity are the redness of the head, in other words, "the more carotene they invest in the colour of their feathers, the more reproductive success they will have," and the ratio between the size of the beak and the size of the tarsus.

###

Lola Garc?a L?pez de Hierro, Marcos Mole?n y Peter G. Ryan. "Is Carrying Feathers a Sexually Seleted Trait in House Sparrows?" International Journal of Behavioural Biology, 119: 199-211, 2013.

FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology: http://www.fecyt.es/fecyt/home.do

Thanks to FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128163/The_more_feathers_a_male_sparrow_carries_to_the_nest__the_more_eggs_the_female_will_lay

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A 10-Year Contract Will Save Marriage - Huffington Post

I've established on my blog that marriage is dead. The model based on committing to a "soulmate" for the rest of one's life is but a blip in the history of marriage, and it's day has come -- as evidenced by the steady, high divorce rate and dwindling numbers of people in America who get married at all. An astonishing 40 percent of people polled by Pew say the institution of marriage is obsolete.

And yet. And yet we crave that connectedness, the comfort and protection that comes with marriage. There is a reason that marriage has been part of nearly every society in history. Marriage is good, and there is an innate human drive to formally connect with our romantic partners.

I have that need. I enthusiastically married the man I loved, and just like you, I signed on to the forever-and-ever. Forget the fact that I come from divorced parents, and so does he! We all know the divorce stats. But no, no, no! Our marriage would survive, I told myself. And then, when we divorced, I was genuinely shocked. Now I see I was genuinely naive.

Here I am, past that marriage and dating again. I've been in couple relationships in which I start having girl thoughts about the size of car we would buy to transport our collective kids to the beach, and how we would integrate his art with mine in our charming bungalow big enough for everyone's brood. I am not sure what my romantic future holds, but I know that the forever-and-ever model is a joke. When the thought of marriage creeps into my girl thoughts, suddenly the images of the minivan and bunkbeds go black.

I join the majority of people compelled to be married, but how could marriage possibly work for me? How can we embrace what is really going on in the world and make the institution of marriage work for everyone?

Marriage has evolved and changed throughout history. All evidence is blaring in our faces that now is a time for change.

The new model is a 10-year marriage contract.

It works like this: On the onset of the marriage the parties lay out the goals of the relationship. A prenup, but more. Decide the financial terms during the marriage, as well as how money will be dealt with should it end. Same with kids. But more than that, the contract establishes broad goals for the marriage itself: Is it for companionship? A passionate love? To bring children into the world? Build financial equity or a business?

Then, when the marriage nears year No. 9, the parties are forced to make a decision. Do they decide -- amicably -- that the marriage has run its course? If so, the contract has paved a path for a low-animosity split (thanks to the prenup), and the possibility for celebrating a partnership that was successful while it lasted.

Or, the couple decides to sign another 10-year contract, but with changes. Study after study find that a lack of communication is the No. 1 reason people divorce. A forced conversation about the future of a marriage can only be good for any relationship. Gone will be the days of the couch potato marriage, where everyone simply waits out the clock without actually working on the relationship.

Finally, for those who are certain their love will indeed endure for the rest of time, what could be more romantic than signing on for a lifetime of 10-year anniversaries? How delightful to look forward to decades scheduled with vow renewals?

A 10-year marriage contract embraces the human drive to formally couple. It offers the legal and emotional protection that marriage affords us, but also embraces the very realities of how we live our lives today. We no longer expect anything to last forever. Americans change careers an average of six times in their lifetime, and three out of five of us move away from our hometowns.

Most critically, many of us have long-term committed relationships before we meet our spouses, and then go on to find love after divorce. By definition, we are serial monogamists, yet the current marriage model is in direct conflict with reality. No wonder so many people are terrified of marrying - whether for the first time, or the fifth. The current marriage model asks you to front-load your investment in the relationship with an insane wedding and declarations of unwavering love, and then put on blinders to the very real possibilities of divorce for the rest of your life. Nothing makes you more vulnerable than living a lie.

The institution of marriage is in crisis.

Let's demand a new model and save marriage. I'll sign a 10-year marriage contract.

Will you?

This post originally appeared at WealthySingleMommy.com.

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Follow Emma Johnson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WealthSingleMom

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-johnson/a-10year-contract-will-sa_b_3200007.html

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Teen girls who exercise are less likely to be violent

May 6, 2013 ? Regular exercise is touted as an antidote for many ills, including stress, depression and obesity. Physical activity also may help decrease violent behavior among adolescent girls, according to new research to be presented Monday, May 6, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC.

Researchers from Columbia University analyzed results of a 2008 survey completed by 1,312 students at four inner-city high schools in New York to determine if there was an association between regular exercise and violence-related behaviors.

"Violence in neighborhoods spans the entire length of this country and disproportionately affects the poor and racial and ethnic minorities. It results in significant losses to victims, perpetrators, families and communities and costs our country billions of dollars," said lead author Noe D. Romo, MD, primary care research fellow in community health in the Department of Child and Adolescent Health at Columbia University, New York. "There is a need for innovative methods to identify potential interventions to address this issue and lessen the burden it is having on our society."

The survey included questions on how often students exercised, how many sit-ups they did and the time of their longest run in the past four weeks as well as whether they played on an organized sports team in the past year.

Students also were asked if they had carried a weapon in the past 30 days or if they were in a physical fight or in a gang in the past year.

Nearly three-quarters of the respondents were Latino, and 19 percent were black. Fifty-six percent were female.

Results showed that females who reported exercising regularly had decreased odds of being involved in violence-related behaviors:

• Females who exercised more than 10 days in the last month had decreased odds of being in a gang.
• Those who did more than 20 sit-ups in the past four weeks had decreased odds of carrying a weapon or being in a gang.
• Females reporting running more than 20 minutes the last time they ran had decreased odds of carrying a weapon.
• Those who participated in team sports in the past year had decreased odds of carrying a weapon, being in a fight or being in a gang.

In males, none of the measures of exercise was associated with a decrease in violence-related behaviors, which could be because a larger proportion of males than females did not answer all of the survey questions, Dr. Romo said.

"This study is only a start," concluded Dr. Romo, who also is at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. "It suggests a potential relationship between regular exercise and decreased involvement in violent behavior. Further studies are needed to confirm this association and to evaluate whether exercise interventions in inner-city neighborhoods can decrease youths' involvement in violence-related behavior."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Academy of Pediatrics, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/7i6g6ADzISk/130506095405.htm

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Clash resumes in contested Afghan, Pakistan border area: officials

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A new bout of fighting erupted on Monday in a border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the latest indication of a sharp deterioration in relations between the important U.S. allies.

Pakistan is seen as vital in bringing stability to Afghanistan as most Western forces prepare to withdraw by the end of next year.

The United States and other powers involved in Afghanistan have been trying to promote cooperation between the Asian neighbors, who have a history of mistrust.

Afghan officials said the clash on Monday erupted after Pakistani troops tried to repair a gate on the border, in the Afghan district of Goshta, where last week an Afghan border policeman was killed in an exchange of fire.

It is unclear if there were any casualties on Monday.

"This morning's clash began after the Pakistani side continued to repair the gate, which was damaged in the previous fighting," said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province.

Afghanistan says the gate at Pakistan's Gursal military post encroaches on its territory. The Nangarhar governor has spoken several times to Pakistani consular officials to tell them not to repair the gate, Abdulzai said.

Pakistani military spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have had testy relations since Pakistan was formed in 1947, at the end of British colonial rule over India. Afghanistan has never officially accepted the border between them.

Pakistan helped the Taliban take power in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Many Afghan leaders say Pakistan is still helping the militants, seeing them as a tool to counter the influence of its old rival, India, in Afghanistan.

Pakistan denies helping the Taliban and says it wants peace and stability in its western neighbor.

But in an indication of how bad ties have become, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, without naming Pakistan, last week called on the Taliban to fight Afghanistan's neighbor, where, he said, plots were made against Afghanistan.

Earlier last week, troops from the two sides exchanged fire for about five hours.

Karzai has ordered officials to take "immediate action" to remove the gate and other Pakistani military installations near the Durand Line, the 1893 British-mandated border.

Afghanistan maintains that activity by either side along the Durand Line must be approved by both countries.

(Reporting by Rafiq Sherzad; Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/clash-resumes-contested-afghan-pakistan-border-area-officials-052744876.html

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Benghazi outside of presidential race: Seeing where the facts lead us

>>> wow. look at that chopper shot. welcome back to " morning joe ." harold ford jr . is still with us.

>> beautiful, isn't it?

>> and joining us from washington, associate editor of the " washington post " and political analyst eugene robinson .

>> i'm glad he's here. gene, really quickly before we go to the other people. honeyboo-boo's parents reportedly getting married. what's your response in washington?

>> i think there's shock and dismay, but general rejoicing.

>> what does it say about us? what does it say about us that honey boo-boo's parents are coming together and getti inting married?

>> i think this is a seminal moment the evolution.

>> there's no doubt, we're coming together. people are getting married. bill bennett was right. the societal forces that were pulling us apart in the '60s are now bringing us together. and i do suspect that 100 years from now, people studying such things. i don't know what you call them, sociologists, i don't know, what will -- i don't know what they'll be called 100 years from now. they'll look back to this date, this moment.

>> think about that.

>> this is when we started -- when we started --

>> honey boo boo .

>> you haven't seen honey boo boo ?

>> all i know because i caught a little piece of it --

>> you can't just get a little.

>> can't just get a little.

>> can't just get a little. and we're not going to talk about it any more. and here's msnbc political analyst steve schmidt. you've seen honey boo boo before.

>> i've seen it one time. i couldn't take my eyes away. it's amazing. it drew me in and --

>> leigh gallagher's here. fortune 500 , who is number one?

>> number one is walmart with $469 billion in revenue.

>> yeah. that's great.

>> yeah.

>> we're going to be talking about that and we're going to see --

>> have you seen duck dynasty?

>> no, i have not.

>> you need to see "duck dynasty."

>> compelling tv.

>> we're going to start. can we please, to the news? i'm begging you.

>> we're going to talk about "obsessed" burning up the charts.

>> don't make fun of me. thank you.

>> chris christie , you talked to chris christie last hour. he's had surgery.

>> he's in "obsessed" and we talked about whether or not he should get that surgery. anyhow, it's an amazing story. that is big news.

>> that is huge, i'm excited about that. i need surgery to expand my brain, do they have that? what?

>> your brain is big enough.

>> i think somebody stapled it when i was young, i want to take the staples out and let it expand.

>> when joe says things like that, i just say roll tide.

>> let's get started on this amazing story, mika.

>> it starts in ohio, found alive after ten years, police say three women, amanda berry , gena dejesus and michelle knight appear to be in good health after a neighbor helped them escape from a home in cleveland. berry was extremely emotional when she spoke --

>> so these girls were kidnapped for ten years.

>> yes, in their teens and one was 20 years old, they were held captive in one house .

>> one was 14, one was 16, another was 20. i think one of the girls had a baby with the captor.

>> we don't know that. there was a young child taken from the house . we don't know any of that yet. obviously there's a lot more of this story. and most investigators and people who do this kind of work trying to find these people do not have an ending like this where they're found alive.

>> right. there was jaycee dugard a couple years ago.

>> exactly. this is incredible. and you can hear on amanda berry 's voice when she's trying to explain who she is, she's having a hard time getting it across. take a listen.

>> hello, police , help me, i'm amanda berry .

>> you need police , fire, or ambulance?

>> i need police .

>> what's going on there?

>> i've been kidnapped, and i've been missing for ten years and i'm here. i'm free now. hello?

>> yeah, talk to the police when they get there.

>> okay. are they on the road right now?

>> we're going to send them as soon as we get a car open.

>> no, i need them now before he gets back.

>> how old is he?

>> he's like 52.

>> all right. and --

>> i'm amanda berry , i've been on the news for the last ten years.

>> oh, my gosh.

>> imagine getting that call.

>> i know that 911 operators get tons of crazy calls and this one must have sounded crazy. but if you're amanda berry and they say, when we get a car open, we'll stop by. are you kidding me? i don't think so. she was like, no.

>> the headline. she's like, look at the news.

>> unbelievable.

>> everything she said was absolutely true.

>> who was behind this?

>> well, there's three brothers as far as police know at this point. all in their 50s, in police custody right now awaiting charges. two of the young women were in their teens as we mentioned when they went missing, the third was 20 years old. the neighbor who came to the rescue was as surprised as anyone to discover the missing girls in the home next door.

>> heard screaming, i'm eating my mcdonald's, i come outside, and i see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house . so i go on the porch -- i go on the porch and she says help me get out. i've been in here a long time. she comes out with a little girl and says call 911, my name is amanda berry . amanda told the police , i ain't the only one, there's some more girls up in that house .

>> it's unbelievable, it's unbelievable what courage she had.

>> yeah. sounds like she took a run for it and took a lot of chances and broke away and probably saved everybody else .

>> somebody else said --

>> that's her in the hospital to the right there.

>> somebody else said they barbecued with one of these brothers.

>> with one of the guys who lived in the house or kidnapped these girls allegedly would barbecue with the neighbor, drink, i think, mojitos and listen to music and had no idea the neighbors that there were at least three women and a child living in the house trapped in the house .

>> unbelievable.

>> there's so many unanswered questions. we'll be following every part of this and as soon as we bring in information, we'll bring it to you.

>>> turning now to other news. the ongoing investigation into the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi . according to excerpts released by house republicans, a u.s. diplomat who was in tripoli on the night of the attack, told investigators that u.s. special forces were prepared to fly to the consulate but were told to stand down by regional commanders. gregory hicks at the time the deputy chief mission said he called for military help for more special forces operatives in tripoli but was overruled. he told house republicans, quote, i believe if we had been able to scramble a fighter air or aircraft or two over benghazi as quickly as possible after the attack commenced, then there would not have been a mortar attack in the annex the next morning because i believe the libyans would've split. but the pentagon said they had to stay and defend the embassy in tripoli .

>> this is more information keeps coming out. this information is damning, reminds me when les aspen was asked for more support in somalia and refused to send that support. now we have a similar situation where you had the ambassador who was the first u.s. ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979 asking the state department . asking the obama administration for more support. needed more security. he warned repeatedly of problems on the ground. and then we find out that night that actually you have somebody ready to move with special forces and they get the order to stand down. more information comes out and it's more damning information. i don't think we've heard the end of this benghazi story.

>> we haven't. and it's now taking place outside of the context of a presidential campaign . this was debated at the height of that campaign. it was politicized, politicized by governor romney. but now as this information comes out as we look more deeply what happened over the months to come, this isn't looking great for the administration and for the initial stories.

>> i mean, the more we hear, the more muddied this becomes and the worse it looks for the administration. because you always say, we've got to let this play out, we'll let them investigate it. and when the details come out. the details are really starting to come out now again with this testimony, he's going to be testifying before the steven hicks, going to be testifying before the house committee . i suspect we'll learn even more in the coming days.

>> we will. and it may take more time, but we'll learn exactly what happened that evening. and i think people who dissembled, people who were less than clear in their initial answers are going to have explaining to do.

>> let's go to gene robinson . gene, you don't want to jump to conclusions . my good friend mike huckabee is saying that barack obama 's not going to serve out his second term because of this. maybe mike has some information i don't have. but even looking at it from a distance, removed from this, you can look at it and say, hey, a lot of this stuff doesn't seem to line up right and it appears the white house needs to get as much information out as possible as quickly, would you agree with that?

>> i would agree with that. i mean, don't forget that people were reassigned and relieved of their duties and gotten rid of because of the -- in the wake of benghazi because the administration's already acknowledged that people made mistakes, made bad mistakes in responding to what was going on. absolutely, let's investigate the whole thing, let's get the facts out. outside of the political context and see what happened. but, you know, i think let's get the testimony and we'll see. but clear, just from the result, you knew it was not handled as it should have been handled. we'll find out who knew what and who didn't do what on that day. outside the presidential election context, i think this is the best way to find out.

>> exactly. and we are -- we have a distance now from the presidential race and all the noise from that race and now you just look at the facts and we'll see where the facts lead us. right now, doesn't look really positive for the administration. gene, while we're in the middle east , i've got an idea for your friends at the washington post . you and richard cohen , you should get a cable in the middle of the newsroom, turn off the lights and shine one light down on the table and you guys should have an arm wrestling contest to settle the syria thing. every morning you write a column saying we need to stay out of syria , he writes a column saying we need to go into syria or else we are immoral pigs. i, of course, paraphrase. you guys couldn't be any further apart. why do you think it's so important to stay out of syria ?

>> well, because i don't see what -- i don't see what good we could do there. i don't see how going into syria will necessarily make that situation better. i see how it could make our situation a lot worse by essentially entangling us and bogging us down in yet another middle east war. one that i don't think we fully understand. that i don't think we have a side to back in. it is a true mess. and i think those who say we ought to do something, ought to say what it is we ought to do.

>> before we get to the pottery barn rule that you talk about in your piece, i want to bring in nbc news foreign correspondent --

>> i love pottery barn .

>> i know you do.

>> they make like new tables look old and stuff like that.

>> they do. i'm not sure that's the rule we're talking about.

>> makes me feel --

>> like distressed, yeah, i understand that. i'm distressed right now. if you could give us a sense of complexities involved as to make a decision to stay out or get in.

>> that's a very good question. there are so many complexities. if you start, first of all, with the ongoing conflict itself, the actual actors insights here are now connected to players outside of the country. in effect what you really have unfolding there is a proxy war . on one hand, you have the regime of president assad backed by the militia group hezbollah backed by the iranian government , also diplomatically given cover by the russians and chinese at the united nations . you have that dimension. on the other side, you have the rebels divided into two groups. on one hand, you have the -- you know, if you will the free syrian army and political organization backed by countries like saudi arabia , qatar, which are close to u.s. allies including turkey and to some extent the united states . and you have the ultra extremists who ideologically are very different than the other countries represent. it's a very complicated situation .

>> and gene, in your column, you talk about how complicated this war would be let's look back over our history with world war ii . with 70 years of hindsight. it's the good war, we won the war. yay. korea, quagmire, vietnam, quagmire, then the first gulf war , which we thought we won but found out really it was a draw. then the second iraq war , a quagmire. afghanistan , a quagmire. i'll tell you what, a lot of those wars looked a lot cleaner. no war is easy, but they looked easier than syria . are we going to add syria to that list of quagmires? how many americans have been killed in afghanistan this week? 14? still going on in a war that america's not paying any attention to. it's a disaster. are we going to really go to another war?

>> you know, and what is the danger in afghanistan now, right, by the way, the bigger danger is our allies in the afghan forces who keep attacking our soldiers while we pay the corrupt karzai government with satchels full of cia cash. but that aside, just looking at syria , just take one huge issue, for example, the chemical weapons . you know, so if we go in there, right now they're presumably under the control of assad , presumably secured in some way. we go in there and assad falls. what happens to the chemical weapons ? who gets them? do we secure them? i've seen an estimate it would take tens of thousands of u.s. troops , boots on the ground just to be sure to secure the chemical weapons . are we going to go there?

>> yeah, that's a great question.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b9eb407/l/0Lvideo0Bmsnbc0Bmsn0N0Cid0C5180A0A775/story01.htm

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North Korea missiles moved away from launch site: U.S. officials

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has taken two Musudan missiles off launch-ready status and moved them from their position on the country's east coast, U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, after weeks of concern that Pyongyang had been poised for a test-launch.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned North Korea last month that it would be a "huge mistake" to launch the medium-range missiles, but the prospects of a test had put Seoul, Washington and Toyko on edge.

One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cautioned that the missiles were still mobile and the fact that they had been moved was no guarantee they would not be set up elsewhere and fired at some point.

"It is premature to celebrate it as good news," said another U.S. official, Daniel Russel, the senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council.

However, a third U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States did not believe the missiles had gone to an alternate launch site and that they were now believed to be in a non-operational location.

The Musudan missiles have a range of roughly 3,000 to 3,500 kilometers (1,900 to 2,200 miles). A possible test launch, depending its trajectory, could have dramatically escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea's move coincided with preparations by President Barack Obama to meet South Korean President Park Guen-hye at the White House on Tuesday, where they will hold talks and have a working lunch followed by a joint news conference.

Pentagon spokesman George Little declined to comment on the status of the North Korean missiles.

"I wouldn't again comment on intelligence. But what we have seen recently is a 'provocation pause.' And we think that's obviously beneficial to efforts to ensure we have peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," Little told reporters.

The heightened tensions, including North Korean threats to attack U.S. bases in the Pacific, coincided with U.S.-South Korean military drills that Pyongyang had branded "a rehearsal for invasion." Those drills ended on April 30.

In a rare show of force during the drills, two nuclear-capable, bat-winged B-2 stealth bombers flew 37 1/2 hours from their U.S. base to drop dummy munitions on a South Korean range, and then returned home.

Asked what may have contributed to Pyonyang's latest move, Little noted various possibilities, including the fact that, North Korea's previous cycles of provocation had ended after a while.

He also noted that the Chinese government had made some helpful statements.

"We do think they (China) probably - again I can't speak for them - they probably heard very loudly from us and from others the need to ratchet it back and lower the temperature," Little said.

The White House's Russel told reporters it was too early to determine whether North Korea's apparent move away from a launch was an encouraging development.

"It's premature to make a judgment about whether the North Koreans' provocation cycle is going up, down or zigzagging," he said. "The decision to launch or not launch missiles, to conduct a provocation or to stand down or defer it, is a decision that rests with the North Koreans."

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-missiles-moved-away-launch-u-officials-214123048.html

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Krasinski: We knew 'The Office' was special

TV

Ree Hines TODAY contributor

1 hour ago

After nine seasons, the time has almost come for the cast of "The Office" to clock out. The last episode of the paper pushing sitcom airs in just two weeks, and according to star John Krasinski, it really is the end of something special.

In fact, during a Monday morning visit to TODAY, the actor who brings Jim Halpert to life, said that he and the rest of the cast realized just how important it was early on.

"The pilot episode was (the British version of 'The Office') word for word, which was a little weird," he recalled. "And then the first original episode we did was 'Diversity Day.' I remember we actually looked around the room as if we were at a Led Zepplin concert or something, and we were like, 'This is really, really special, and so something's going to happen here.'"

And so it did -- especially for Krasinski and co-star Jenna Fischer, who quickly became fan favorites.

"I don't think Jenna and I ever knew what was coming, as far as people not only watching the show, but actually being involved with our characters," Krasinski explained. "That people said, 'My relationship is just like your relationship,' or 'I want a relationship like that,' or 'Oh my God, my boyfriend proposed to me in a similar way!' -- it was just so amazing to be part of a family with our fans."

The family still has a couple of opportunities to get together. An all-new, one-hour episode of "The Office" airs this Thursday at 9 p.m. on NBC. The final episode of "The Office" airs May 16 at 8 p.m.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/john-krasinski-office-we-knew-show-was-special-6C9784010

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Wind, not water, formed mound on Mars, new analysis suggests

May 6, 2013 ? A roughly 3.5-mile high Martian mound that scientists suspect preserves evidence of a massive lake might actually have formed as a result of the Red Planet's famously dusty atmosphere, an analysis of the mound's features suggests. If correct, the research could dilute expectations that the mound holds evidence of a large body of water, which would have important implications for understanding Mars' past habitability.

Researchers based at Princeton University and the California Institute of Technology suggest that the mound, known as Mount Sharp, most likely emerged as strong winds carried dust and sand into the 96-mile-wide crater in which the mound sits. They report in the journal Geology that air likely rises out of the massive Gale Crater when the Martian surface warms during the day, then sweeps back down its steep walls at night. Though strong along the Gale Crater walls, these "slope winds" would have died down at the crater's center where the fine dust in the air settled and accumulated to eventually form Mount Sharp, which is close in size to Alaska's Mt. McKinley.

This dynamic counters the prevailing theory that Mount Sharp formed from layers of lakebed silt -- and could mean that the mound contains less evidence of a past, Earth-like Martian climate than most scientists currently expect. Evidence that Gale Crater once contained a lake in part determined the landing site for the NASA Mars rover Curiosity. The rover touched down near Mount Sharp in August with the purpose of uncovering evidence of a habitable environment, and in December Curiosity found traces of clay, water molecules and organic compounds. Determining the origin of these elements and how they relate to Mount Sharp will be a focus for Curiosity in the coming months.

But the mound itself was likely never under water, though a body of water could have existed in the moat around the base of Mount Sharp, said study co-author Kevin Lewis, a Princeton associate research scholar in geosciences and a participating scientist on the Curiosity rover mission, Mars Science Laboratory. The quest to determine whether Mars could have at one time supported life might be better directed elsewhere, he said.

"Our work doesn't preclude the existence of lakes in Gale Crater, but suggests that the bulk of the material in Mount Sharp was deposited largely by the wind," said Lewis, who worked with first author Edwin Kite, a planetary science postdoctoral scholar at Caltech; Michael Lamb, an assistant professor of geology at Caltech; and Claire Newman and Mark Richardson of California-based research company Ashima Research.

"Every day and night you have these strong winds that flow up and down the steep topographic slopes. It turns out that a mound like this would be a natural thing to form in a crater like Gale," Lewis said. "Contrary to our expectations, Mount Sharp could have essentially formed as a free-standing pile of sediment that never filled the crater."

Even if Mount Sharp were born of wind, it and similar mounds likely overflow with a valuable geological -- if not biological -- history of Mars that can help unravel the climate history of Mars and guide future missions, Lewis said.

"These sedimentary mounds could still record millions of years of Martian climate history," Lewis said. "This is how we learn about Earth's history, by finding the most complete sedimentary records we can and going through layer by layer. One way or another, we're going to get an incredible history book of all the events going on while that sediment was being deposited. I think Mount Sharp will still provide an incredible story to read. It just might not have been a lake."

Dawn Sumner, a geology professor at the University of California-Davis and a Mars Science Laboratory team member, said that the specificity of the researchers' model makes it a valuable attempt to explain Mount Sharp's origin. While the work alone is not yet enough to rethink the distribution of water on Mars, it does propose a unique wind dynamic for Gale Crater then models it in enough detail for the hypothesis to actually be tested as more samples are analyzed on Mars, Sumner said.

"To my knowledge, their model is novel both in terms of invoking katabatic [cool, downward-moving] winds to form Mount Sharp and in quantitatively modeling how the winds would do this," said Sumner, who is familiar with the work but had no role in it.

"The big contribution here is that they provide new ideas that are specific enough that we can start to test them," she said. "This paper provides a new model for Mount Sharp that makes specific predictions about the characteristics of the rocks within the mountain. Observations by Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp can test the model by looking for evidence of wind deposition of sediment."

The researchers used pairs of satellite images of Gale Crater taken in preparation for the rover landing by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite managed by Caltech for NASA. Software tools extracted the topographical details of Mount Sharp and the surrounding terrain. The researchers found that the various layers in the mound did not form more-or-less flat-lying stacks as sediments deposited from a lake would. Instead, the layers fanned outward from the mound's center in an unusual radial pattern, Lewis said.

Kite developed a computer model to test how wind circulation patterns would affect the deposition and erosion of wind-blown sediment within a crater like Gale. The researchers found that slope winds that constantly exited and reentered Gale Crater could limit the deposition of sediments near the crater rim, while building up a mound in the center of the crater, even if the ground were bare from the start, Lewis said.

The researchers' results provide evidence for recent questions about Mount Sharp's watery origins, Lewis said. Satellite observations had previously detected water-related mineral signatures within the lower portion of Mount Sharp. While this suggested that the lower portion might have been series of lakebeds, portions of the upper mound were more ambiguous, Lewis said. First of all, the upper layers of the mound are higher than the crater walls in several places. Also, Gale Crater sits on the edge of Mars' northern lowlands. If it had been filled with water to near the height of Mount Sharp then the entire northern hemisphere would have been flooded.

Soil analyses carried out by Curiosity -- the rover's primary mission is two years, but could be extended -- will help determine the nature of Mount Sharp and the Martian climate in general, Lewis said. Wind erosion relies on specific factors such as the size of individual soil grains, so such information gleaned from the Curiosity mission will help determine Martian characteristics such as wind speed. On Earth, sediments need some amount of moisture to become cemented into rock. It will be interesting to know, Lewis said, how the rock layers of Mount Sharp are held together and how water might be involved.

"If the mechanism we describe is correct, it would tell us a lot about Mars and how it operates because Mount Sharp is only one of a class of enigmatic sedimentary mounds observed on Mars," Lewis said.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/ipMHIwY0nO4/130506132407.htm

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