Tap into Your Inner Einstein

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  Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...

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?Imagine a world in which every work of genius was stripped away, a world without great literature, art, philosophy, science or even technology. We would be living in a very barren world, huddling in some cave, shivering in the cold.?

So began a recent exchange with psychologist Dean Keith Simonton on the merits of studying genius. Few of us can be the best, I argued, playing devil's advocate, so why bother with the topic? Simonton countered that we can be proactive about encouraging genius, so that someday our present lives will look just as barren. In this special issue devoted to the topic of genius, we explore the cognitive components that make great works possible and ways to help brilliance bloom.

The first question most people ask about genius is how to define it. Singer-songwriter Beck offered this explanation: ?Must have hair going everywhere.? The iconic Albert Einstein hair, captured on our cover, implies irreverence and a touch of eccentricity. As Simonton writes in ?The Science of Genius,? starting on page 34, openness to peripheral ideas is common among highly innovative people. Their hobbies end up enriching their thought processes. Although it may sound like science fiction, in ?Switching on Creativity,? neuroscientist Allan W. Snyder and his colleagues describe an experimental brain stimulation technique they are developing for inducing such openness and creative insight. Turn to page 58.

Families can foster creativity, too, once they see its early signs. Artistic sensibilities and even passion can emerge as early as age two. See page 42 for more on how talent unfolds in ?Predicting Artistic Brilliance,? by psychologists Jennifer E. Drake and Ellen Winner. Exposing youngsters to a wide range of experiences increases the chances that a child will get inspired and start developing a new skill, as psychologist Rena F. Subotnik et al. write in ?Nurturing the Young Genius,? on page 50.

No crazy hair? No problem. Let our experts help you tap into your inner Einstein. Great minds really do think alike?and that is excellent news for the rest of us.

This article was originally published with the title Real Genius.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=fa72f89ce0af578c8ba3e89591024993

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Docks, water sports planned for downtown Beaufort

BEAUFORT , S.C. (AP) ? Beaufort City Council has approved the concept of expanding the marina by the city's popular waterfront park. The plan includes more dock space and adding a water sports area with a place to store paddleboats.

The council approved the concept Tuesday evening.

Mayor Billy Keyserling says plans will be drawn up as soon as the city receives a $35,000 state grant next year. The city already has $27,000 from the Department of Natural Resources.

About $250,000 for the project will come from public money. The water sports center would be developed by a private business.

The plan includes adding a 250-foot dock, the water sports center and money for a marketing plan to advertise the new development.

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?2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://www.thecoastalsource.com/news/local/story/Docks-water-sports-planned-for-downtown-Beaufort/C5X8OOY40UWrkhNlM49oIw.cspx?rss=1669

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Could Romney Overturn Roe v. Wade?

If former Gov. Mitt Romney wins this year's presidential election, there is a realistic chance that Roe v. Wade ? the Supreme Court decision that protected a woman's right to have an abortion ? could be overturned under his administration, experts say.

With the justices sitting on the court now, it's very unlikely an abortion case would garner the five votes needed to reverse the ruling, said Harvard Law School assistant professor I. Glenn Cohen, co-director of the school's Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. But Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a left-leaning judge who is 79, could retire during the next administration, allowing the president to nominate a more conservative-minded judge. Another justice could retire as well.

If that happens, it's "possible to likely" that the court would have enough votes to overturn the 1973 ruling, Cohen said.

For the Roe v. Wade decision to be overturned, a case dealing with abortion rights would have to reach the Supreme Court, and there are cases in the lower courts that could easily make their way to the nation's top court, Cohen said.

Even if a case does not directly address the legality of abortion ? but instead, for example, centers on whether a pregnant woman should be required to view an ultrasound image of the fetus before an abortion ? the court could use the case as an opportunity to rule on Roe v. Wade as a whole, Cohen said.

If Roe v. Wade were overturned, laws regarding abortion would be decided by each state. Some states, including Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Dakota already have already passed laws that would make abortion illegal immediately in the event Roe v. Wade were overturned. Other states, including California, Hawaii and Maine, have laws protecting abortion rights if the ruling is reversed. Other states would have to pass new laws to address abortion rights, Cohen said.

It's not clear whether it would be constitutional for Mississippi, for example, to try to prohibit its residents from having a legal abortion in California, though such cross-state medical procedures would be difficult to control, Cohen said. Even if women could legally go to another state for an abortion, such travel is not always feasible, Cohen said. "It's not a great solution for women," he said.

Without replacing a judge, the court could still "chip away" at Roe vs. Wade, Cohen said. Currently, abortions in most states are legal until the fetus is viable ? meaning it could theoretically live outside the mother ? a stage reached around 23 weeks into pregnancy. However, about a dozen states have passed legislation that ?aims to make abortion illegal after 20 weeks on the basis that a fetus could feel pain at this point ? a disputed claim.

Because Roe vs. Wade does not address the pain of the fetus, such cases present a new "interest" that the court did not previously consider, Cohen said. As such, the cases present an opportunity for members of the court to narrow the time period of a legal abortion by about three weeks, Cohen said.

However, the Supreme Court decides which cases to take ? about 80 cases are heard each year ? and it's not certain the Court would pick an abortion case during in the next administration.

Pass it on: It's possible Roe vs. Wade could be overturned if a new Supreme Court judge is appointed who takes a stance against abortion rights.

Follow Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner, or MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2012 MyHealthNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/could-romney-overturn-roe-v-wade-191602158.html

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8 Steps to a More Effective Online Newsroom | Business 2 Community

Research from the most recent TEKGROUP International online newsroom survey, conducted in mid-2012 showed that journalists expect your organization to have an up-to-date, multimedia showcase of your news content. Not just a list of press releases, but an interactive and social media enabled communications center for your brand. Below are 8 steps to help create a more effective digital public relations presence.

1. Mobile; ensure that your online newsroom is available in a mobile format (iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Droid) to ensure maximum reach for people that use those devices.
2. RSS; offer a set of RSS feeds for your various news content. Examples might be ?All News RSS feed?,?Sales and Financials RSS feed?, ?Product XYZ RSS feed?.
3. Crisis Communications; create a ?dark? site for crisis communications efforts to help streamline the process of managing those situations.
4. Blog; offer a blog from within your online newsroom highlighting some feature of your organization. R&D, sales and marketing, or perhaps a product development expert.
5. Social; create a social media landing page that has one-stop access to all of your various social media outlets. Examples include Cigna and Toyota.
6. Facebook; if appropriate, integrate your Facebook business page within your online newsroom. This will allow visitors to your website the ability to share content with your network.
7. YouTube; create and maintain a YouTube account to integrate with your online newsroom. This will allow you to share videos from YouTube in your online newsroom.
8. Twitter; establish a news Twitter account for your organization. This will allow you to publish directly from your online newsroom to a dedicate news Twitter following

With an online newsroom you can maximize the opportunities that you get for news coverage and shareability and can save time and money by automating certain tasks. Let your online newsroom work while you don?t.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/8-steps-to-a-more-effective-online-newsroom-0313450

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Encouraging China PMI halts slide in Asian shares

TOKYO (Reuters) - Data suggesting a gathering economic recovery in China helped trim declines in Asian shares on Wednesday, though investors stayed risk averse due to weak corporate earnings results worldwide and enduring worries over economic slowdown.

The China HSBC Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to a three-month high of 49.1 in October, also registering the most robust order books since April, signaling a strengthening recovery.

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> eased 0.1 percent, slightly trimming an earlier 0.3 percent drop. Hong Kong shares <.hsi> also narrowed losses to a 0.1 percent from a decline of 0.3 percent, while Shanghai shares <.ssec> steadied from a 0.2 percent fall.

Japan's Nikkei average <.n225> were down 0.4 percent, recovering from an earlier drop of more than 1 percent. <.t/>

"Recent data have suggested that Chinese growth may have bottomed out last month, helping to improve market sentiment as U.S. economic figures have also been hinting at a brightening recovery trend recently," said Kyoya Okazawa head of global equities at BNP Paribas in Tokyo.

But corporate earnings were a bigger focus for South Korean shares <.ks11>, which fell 0.7 percent, as lacklustre results in local and international markets weighed on investor sentiment.

SK Hynix Inc , the world's No.2 computer memory chipmaker, reported a third-quarter operating loss before the market opened, but its shares gained as the loss was smaller than expected.

Australian shares were down 0.6 percent at a one-week low as a stronger inflation data scaled back expectations for a further interest rate cut, countering the bullish impact from positive data from China, Australia's single largest export market.

The dollar was steady against the yen at 79.82 yen, having hit its highest since early July of 80.02 on Tuesday.

The Australian dollar rose to a high of $1.0317 after the Chinese data, having earlier risen from around $1.027 following data showing Australian consumer prices increased a surprisingly large 1.4 percent last quarter, lowering expectations for interest rate cuts.

The Aussie rose 0.5 percent against the yen to 82.33 yen, helping the euro to steady against the yen at 103.70 yen. The euro touched a 5/1-2 month high against the yen of 104.45 on Tuesday.

Markets may remain cautious, but their response "is more geared towards consolidating risky assets near lower levels that justify bearing the risk, rather than the pre-announcing more difficulties to come", Barclays Capital said in a research note.

On Tuesday, a leading European share index, te FTSEurofirst 300 index <.fteu3>, slid to its lowest level in more than one-and-a-half months on Tuesday, while U.S. stocks fell, with the Dow industrials suffering the biggest drop since June 21 after DuPont and United Technologies showed profit growth slowing, adding to a string of disappointments from companies falling short of Wall Street's expectations.

U.S.-listed shares of foreign companies slid across the board on Tuesday, also on fresh worries over the euro zone's debt crisis as Spanish bond yields rose after Moody's Investors Service downgraded five of Spain's regions.

Spot gold recovered to rise 0.3 percent to $1,712.79 an ounce after falling 1.2 percent to a six-week low of $1,703.50 on Tuesday as other assets fell.

U.S. crude rose 0.6 percent to $87.18 after settling at a three-month low of $86.67 on Tuesday. Brent crude futures were up 0.5 percent at $108.83.

The euro steadied at $1.2988 from Tuesday's low of $1.2952, but well below last week's high of $1.3140. The euro's low this month was around $1.2804.

Investors continue to wait both for Spain to ask for aid to help manage its huge public debts with external funds, and for Greece to agree to conditions attached by its global lenders in exchange for a further bailout.

Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung paper reported in its Wednesday edition, without citing sources, that euro zone states will grant Greece an extra two years to bring its budget deficit to within agreed targets.

The euro could be pressured if initial readings of euro zone purchasing managers' index and a German Ifo business sentiment survey due later on Wednesday signal further deterioration.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has told close friends he probably will not stand for a third term at the central bank even if President Barack Obama wins the November 6 election, the New York Times reported.

Under Bernanke, the Fed has taken aggressive easing policies to help underpin the tepid U.S. recovery. The Fed is unlikely to take fresh steps when it ends a two-day meeting on Wednesday, opting to assess the impact of last month's aggressive quantitative easing measures.

Sober investor sentiment hit Asian credit markets, pushing the spread on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index 4 basis points wider.

(Additional reporting by Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/encouraging-china-pmi-halts-slide-asian-shares-034643509--finance.html

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Fed likely to send wait-and-see signal at meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Six weeks ago, the Federal Reserve unveiled its latest plan to invigorate the U.S. economy. This week, the Fed will likely send a simple message:

Give that plan time to work.

No major announcements are expected when the Fed's latest two-day policy meeting ends Wednesday. Instead, officials will likely affirm their plan to buy mortgage bonds as long as necessary to make home buying more affordable, keep short-term interest rates at record lows through mid-2015 and take other stimulative steps if hiring doesn't pick up.

Those policies are intended to support an economy that's shown flashes of strength but isn't growing fast enough to create many jobs or to increase Americans' income. The economy grew at a meager 1.3 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter.

Economists think it grew slightly faster in the July-September quarter. Yet many employers remain wary of hiring, in part because of tax increases and spending cuts set to kick in next year and in part because of a slowing global economy.

The $40 billion-a-month in bond purchases the Fed launched last month are designed to lower interest rates and cause stock and home prices to rise, creating a "wealth effect." When consumers feel wealthier, they're typically more willing to spend, thereby boosting the economy.

The Fed made clear it would likely hold rates low even after the economic recovery has strengthened. That was a signal that it will keep intervening until the economy grows fast enough to reduce unemployment sharply.

Now, the Fed likely wants to wait to assess the effects of its policies before deciding whether to take further action.

There's another reason to stand down for now: A debate is raging inside the Fed over whether its actions are doing much, if any, good. The Fed's moves last month were approved 11-1, with Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, dissenting. Since then, some other regional Fed presidents have expressed their discomfort.

The critics note that interest rates have already been at or near all-time lows. They worry that the Fed's injection of steadily more money into the financial system will eventually ignite inflation or create dangerous bubbles in the prices of stocks or other assets.

Since the 2008 financial crisis erupted, the Fed has bought more than $2 trillion in Treasurys and mortgage bonds to try to drive down long-term borrowing rates and accelerate the economy. Its portfolio of investments stands at $2.85 trillion ? more than three times its size before the crisis.

Since the Fed unveiled its latest plans last month, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has touched 3.36 percent ? the lowest since mortgage buyer Freddie Mac began keeping records in 1971. Cheap loans have helped lift home sales, prices and construction ? key pillars of the housing market's gradual but steady comeback.

Super-low rates have shrunk many bond yields close to zero and led some investors to shift money into stocks, whose prices have surged. Higher stock prices may help explain some of the recent gains in consumer confidence and retail spending.

One part of the Fed's drive to keep long-term borrowing rates down has been a program it began a year ago to sell short-term securities and use the proceeds to buy $45 billion in longer-term securities each month. This program is called "Operation Twist."

When Operation Twist is combined with the mortgage bond purchases the Fed launched in September, the central bank is buying $85 billion in long-term bonds each month.

Operation Twist is to expire at year's end, when the Fed will run out of short-term securities to sell.

Many analysts think the Fed may announce at its next policy meeting in mid-December that it will replace Twist with some other bond purchase program. Fed officials could decide to start buying enough new Treasurys to keep their total long-term-bond purchases at around $85 billion each month.

If the Fed decided instead to do nothing further, it might unsettle investors, said David Jones, chief economist at DMJ Advisors. A signal to financial markets that the Fed was reducing its bond purchases could send long-term rates up and stock prices down.

For now, investors seem pleased that the Fed is on a bond-buying spree.

The central bank is right to signal its commitment to support the economy until the job market strengthens, said Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Gordon College in Massachusetts.

Economic growth remains subpar despite the stronger housing market, a decline in the unemployment rate to 7.8 percent and retail sales in August and September that were the best back-to-back monthly gains in two years, according to Commerce Department data.

"We still have a weak economy, but it would have been flirting much closer to a recession if the Fed had not been as aggressive as it has been," Bethune said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-likely-send-wait-see-signal-meeting-070211185--finance.html

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Microsoft expands subsidized Xbox 360 offer to 250GB model, from $99

Microsoft has thrown an additional two Xbox 360 models into its subsidized subscription deal. Accompanying the original 4GB console at $99, a 250GB option will also be priced at $99, accompanied by two years of Xbox LIVE Gold at $15 per month. Throw in a Kinect, and this rises to $149, initially. The company hasn't revealed whether the new models will be accompanied by additional retailers alongside Best Buy and Gamestop, but there is a holding page that promises to offer a "full list of participating retailers" soon.

Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft

Microsoft expands subsidized Xbox 360 offer to 250GB model, from $99 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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