Paramount, the studio behind the new 'Transformers,' clarifies the strange events in Hong Kong.
By Kevin P. Sullivan
Radiation is serious—especially in Japan. With the country still dealing with a nuclear disaster, people need to protect themselves.
Source: http://kotaku.com/japan-gets-anti-radiation-swimwear-and-underwear-1446952616/@jcondliffeComposer Hans Zimmer and his colleagues on Rush -- Peter Asher and Lorne Balfe -- will discuss the music in the Ron Howard-directed hit film at the Billboard & Hollywood Reporter Film and TV Music Conference.
"Case Study: The Music of Rush" will explore Zimmer’s composing methods and recording techniques on the film about Formula 1 race car drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt. ASCAP is sponsoring the Oct. 29 panel at the W Hotel in Hollywood
Rush is the latest film score from Zimmer, whose music has graced more than 100 movies that have grossed more than $22 billion at the worldwide box office. Honored with the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, he has also received an Academy Award, two Golden Globes and four Grammy Awards.
Among his films are The Lion King, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Gore Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean series; Christopher Nolan’s three Batman films, Howard’s The Da Vinci Code and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave.
PHOTOS: 'Rush': Exclusive Photos of Ron Howard, Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl
Joining Zimmer will be Asher, the film’s music consultant and producer, and Balfe, a composer. Besides Rush, Asher produced the music for Zimmer’s scores to Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Sherlock Holmes 2, Madagascar 3 and Man of Steel.
Asher, one half of the pop duo Peter & Gordon, became head of A&R for Apple Records in 1968 and in 1971, founded Peter Asher Management, representing James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Randy Newman and others.
A producer as well, in 1977 and 1989 Asher received the Grammy for Producer of the Year and most recently produced Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s album Love Has Come For You. He also just completed a project for Elton John with current artists singing songs from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album.
VIDEO: Hans Zimmer Conducts 12 Drummers for the 'Man of Steel' Soundtrack
Balfe, a composer from Inverness, Scotland, most recently scored Shane Salerno’s feature documentary Salinger. Known for his work on video games, his credits include Assassin’s Creed III and Beyond: Two Souls.
This year's Film and TV Music Conference's programming highlights include: Singer-songwriter and composer Randy Newman, who will deliver a keynote Q&A conducted by his son, Amos Newman, the head of music for visual media at William Morris Endeavor; T Bone Burnett, who will be honored with the Maestro Award for his seminal work in film and television music, most recently as executive music producer of the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis; a keynote Q&A by music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, whose credits include Scandal, Carrie Diaries and the upcoming film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; director David O. Russell and music supervisor Sue Jacobs, who will discuss their work on the highly anticipated film American Hustle and last year’s award-winning Silver Linings Playbook; and the expansion of one-on-one meetings and single-topic roundtables with industry experts.
Please visit www.FilmandTVMusicConference.com for more information.
LONDON – The BBC is planning to name a controller of its VOD service, the BBC iPlayer, to effectively establish it as a fifth network of the U.K. public broadcaster, director of television Danny Cohen said here Tuesday evening.
His comments came during a Royal Television Society event following a big vision speech last week, in which new BBC director general Tony Hall outlined his strategy and priorities.
Cohen, who previously ran flagship network BBC One and now oversees all TV output of the broadcaster except for news, on Tuesday discussed the implications of Hall's plans.
In his first major speech since taking charge of the BBC in April, Hall had pledged to enhance the iPlayer on-demand and catch-up service, which is available online and on TV platforms, and simplify management structures, among other things. Hall was appointed last fall, less than two weeks after George Entwistle abruptly resigned as director general after only 54 days amid the fallout from the growing Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.
Cohen said he would create a controller post for the iPlayer for an executive who will "sit alongside" the heads of the BBC's four TV channels. He added that he expects to know more about the role by January, with the BBC planning to "begin to see the iPlayer as our fifth channel."
Asked about Hall's plans to offer original content and channels on the iPlayer, Cohen said "we'll do a combination of permanent online channels and pop-up online channels." Pop-up channels would be tied to big events, such as the Wimbledon tennis tournament and the Glastonbury music festival, he explained. BBC's Radio 1 channel and arts could get a permanent channel on the iPlayer.
Original content on the iPlayer will come in the form of short-form content, mostly for younger audiences, among other things, Cohen said.
Hall said the need for original content on the iPlayer became apparent during a recent trip he made to Silicon Valley. Executives from such tech giants as Facebook and Google told him that the BBC had the best video player in the world. But to retain that position in the coming years was key, Cohen explained. "Part of the answer is partly how we curate it," he said.
The BBC's head of television was also questioned where the broadcaster would cut costs to reach a target of $160 million (£100 million) in annual savings mentioned by Hall. Cohen said the broadcast department and BBC News would be key targets for cuts, but added that he had no details to share yet.
Will broadband delivery of content supersede broadcast delivery in Britain any time soon? Cohen said he expects a hybrid model in the coming years, but "I think it will eventually." But he argued that would only happen in 10 years, maybe even more.
Asked about the state of U.K. TV dramas amid the popularity of Danish shows, such as The Bridge and Borgen, and U.S. hits, such as Breaking Bad, he said Britain has Sherlock, Call the Midwife, Downton Abbey and other hits.
Americans also often tell him that they find British drama great. Cohen argued that the debate about the health of drama in various countries seemed to be a case of the grass always seeming greener on the other side.
Asked about the ratings struggle of The Voice UK on BBC One on Saturdays, Cohen said the first two seasons both saw audience drops during the live stage of the singing competition. Still, the ratings have made it the BBC's biggest entertainment show launch since Strictly Come Dancing. Plus, the show attracts young audiences.
"It's bloody, bloody good for us," Cohen concluded. I have no particular concerns about The Voice."
Asked about commercial rival ITV, which has such hits as Downton Abbey, Broadchurch and The X Factor, Cohen said: "I think it's in fantastic shape." But he said that BBC One is also doing really well.
With both networks getting up to 10 million viewers for big shows despite a much smaller population in the U.K. than the U.S., the two broadcasters compare well to U.S. networks, he said. And he said the strength of both makes both more competitive. "It is definitely good for the BBC to have a strong ITV," Cohen argued.
The BBC TV boss was also quizzed about Tuesday morning's news that hit baking competition The Great British Bake Off would next season move from BBC Two to the flagship BBC One network. When shows get a certain audience size, they can get even more viewers on BBC One, Cohen explained. The same phenomenon happens when an Andy Murray tennis match moves from BBC Two to BBC One, he said.
"They tend in general to be bigger" in terms of audience reach when moving to BBC One, Cohen said. "Channels do still matter. I don't know why that is still the case. It is just a click of a button."
So, will Bake Off top its current 7 million or so viewers once it airs on BBC One? "I think it has a very good chance of doing that," Cohen said, citing the success of past moves to the flagship channel of such shows as The Apprentice and MasterChef.
Was BBC Two controller Janice Hadlow sad or mad about the show's move? "No channel controller likes it when that happens," Cohen said. "That's part of being a team player."
But he vowed not to dilute the show's voice and feel by moving it to the broader-based channel. "Our plan is not to change Bake Off at all," Cohen said.
E-mail: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
This, unfortunately, really happened. A Southern California woman, unsatisfied with the preparation of her fast food hamburger, decided that the best and most reasonable solution would be to call the police. Thanks Obama.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-weirdest-thing-on-the-internet-tonight-hamburger-9-1443952701After six weeks of dating, the actress and the dancer have called it quits! See more celeb pairs who are back to going solo.
Source: http://www.ivillage.com/gone-splitsville-celebrity-breakups/1-b-16462?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Agone-splitsville-celebrity-breakups-16462South Park was unable to meet its deadline for the first time in its 240+ episode history because of a power outage. That's 17 straight seasons of somehow making things work on a short deadline until now. What a bummer!
Comedy Central said:
“On Tuesday night, South Park Studios lost power. From animation to rendering to editing and sound, all of their computers were down for hours, and they were unable to finish episode 1704 Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers in time for air tonight.”
If you've seen the most excellent documentary The Making of South Park: 6 Days to Air, you'd know that Trey Parker and Matt Stone rush and crawl and sprint and spazz and lull and miraculously/frantically/insanely inch to the finish line just in time to air each episode. It's a ridiculous amount of work to make you laugh on time. And when a power outage creeps on to South Park, it'd obviously screw everything up. Not unlike losing Internet at work or your computer crashing before a term paper is due. This is what it looks like when it happens to South Park:
Yeah, that's about right. If you haven't seen the documentary, you should watch it instead of watching tonight's rerun. Or maybe watch one of the ten best South Park episodes. [Deadline]
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Pentagon officials will examine the cost of building and operating the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet at a major review of the $392 billion program next week that will also provide updates on lingering technical issues.
Kyra Hawn, spokeswoman for the Pentagon's F-35 program office, said a high-level Defense Acquisition Board meeting was expected to proceed on Monday despite the partial government shutdown. The meeting has already been postponed several times.
She said officials would get an update on how the program was meeting its cost and schedule targets, as well as progress on technical challenges including the millions of line of complex software code being written for the new fighter planes.
One key topic at the meeting will be the long-term cost of operating and "sustaining" the new fighter plane, an issue of great concern for the U.S. military and the eight partner countries that are funding its development: Britain, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Turkey, the Netherlands and Italy.
The Pentagon's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE)office is expected to present an updated projection of the cost of operating and maintaining the U.S. military's future fleet of 2,443 F-35s over 55 years.
CAPE has maintained its forecast for that cost at around $1.1 trillion for some time, but Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall has said he expects the estimate to come down.
The F-35 program office has already lowered its estimate by 20 percent to $857 billion.
"Sustainment cost will be a large topic of discussion," said Hawn, noting that it was critical to lower the longer-term costs of operating the new warplanes so it was affordable for the U.S. military and international buyers.
She said the program would also be hosting the first of a regular set of twice-yearly summits on operating and maintenance costs in November, an initiative that grew out of a September meeting of the F-35's Joint Executive Steering Board (JESB).
Details were still being worked out, but the meeting is aimed at generating ideas for driving down the cost of operating and maintaining a global fleet of thousands of F-35s, Hawn said.
For instance, in September, Britain and Norway announced they would work together more closely to lower costs by pooling resources for technical maintenance once the new fighter jets start arriving in Europe in the second half of the decade.
The meeting is expected to include representatives from Lockheed and other key suppliers on the program, Northrop Grumman Corp, BAE Systems Plc and Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, as well the U.S. military and the eight partner countries.
Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan, the Pentagon's F-35 program chief, has said he hopes to inject more competition into the overall effort of operating and maintaining the planes once the program completes development around 2018.
Lockheed oversees sustainment of the F-35 under the current development contract, but the Pentagon is exploring other options, including dealing directly with component suppliers that work on maintenance, instead of having Lockheed coordinate that work, according to one source familiar with the program.
Monday's Pentagon meeting is also expected to touch on last week's news that extended durability testing of the F-35 B-model had resulted in minor cracks in the bulkhead of the plane, which is being built for the Marine Corps.
Hawn said investigators were still trying to determine the root cause of the cracks.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Supercell
Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen (left)
Supercell, a Helsinki-based gaming startup, has raised a $1.5 billion round of investment from SoftBank and GungHo.It sold a 51% stake in exchange for the investment, TechCrunch confims.
That comes six months after its previous round of financing, which valued Supercell at a reported $770 million.
Then, the tablet-first gaming company was making about $2.4 million per day. None of it was from merchandise, which is how companies like Rovio and Mind Candy make a lot of money. Supercell generated $180 million in the first quarter of this year alone from two hit games, Hay Day, which targets women, and Clash of Clans, which appeals to men.
Here's a blog post from Supercell's founder, Ilkka Paananen:
I have some very exciting news to share with you today. We have received a strategic investment of $1.5 billion from SoftBank and GungHo. This new partnership will accelerate Supercell towards our goal of being the first truly global games company, and gives us enough time to get there.
Let me try to explain why.
The combination of tablets, mobile and the free-to-play business model has created a new market for games, one that will be accessible to billions of consumers, more people than ever before in the history of games. This truly is a new era of gaming and has opened up exciting opportunities for new kinds of companies.
At Supercell, one of our greatest aspirations is to become the first truly global games company, one that has a strong foothold in both the West and the East, including Japan, Korea and China. We want to build a company that people all over the globe will look back in 30 years and talk about all the great games that we developed and the impact they had on people’s lives. The same way I personally feel about Nintendo, for example.
This is a lofty goal and getting there takes persistence, passion, and luck – but just as importantly, it takes time, and requires a lot of patience. Even if we have had a pretty good start on our journey, it is still very early days. Creating history takes time.
The strategic investment from SoftBank helps us to accelerate towards our goal in two different ways:
1) SoftBank provides us with a massive selection of strategic resources that will help us deliver our games to hundreds of millions of new consumers all over the globe.
2) SoftBank is all about the long term. In fact, I have never met anyone who thinks as long term as its founder, Masayoshi Son, does. When we first met, he told me he has a 300-year vision, and I thought he was joking until the following day when he ran me through what it actually looks like and it is indeed very real and extremely inspirational. When you meet someone like Masa you realize what it takes to build a global business that will last forever. It further strengthened my belief that, we are just getting started. As a company, we are 3 years old so we’re only 1% done if we plan for the next 300 years.
In his own words, here’s what Masa wanted to tell our players, employees and friends about Supercell and our new partnership:
“In our quest to become the #1 mobile Internet company, we scour the globe in search of interesting opportunities and right now some of the most exciting companies and innovations are coming out of Finland. Supercell is one of those rare and special companies. While your success is impressive, it is your amazing culture and deep passion that truly inspired me. After getting to know Ilkka and some of the team, it became clear to me that you, like us at Softbank, are on a similar long and aspirational journey to shape the future of entertainment for the next hundred years. And, I'm excited to see an independent Supercell continue to rise with great people and great games, delivering happiness to so many people around the world."
This new partnership also takes our collaboration with our good friends at GungHo to the next level. We are super excited to have them participate in this investment by putting in 20% of the total amount. We’ve had a great collaboration between Puzzle & Dragons and Clash of Clans. They’re an amazing bunch of people, and they have a terrific culture. Through them we’ve come to learn that the Japanese and Finnish cultures are pretty similar on many levels. Not only when it comes to taking your shoes off before you enter someone’s home, but also and more importantly, when it comes to partying, if you know what I mean.
It may sound like a detail, but I should also mention that the company that will end up owning 51% of Supercell is incorporated in Finland. This is both exciting and important for me personally. Although our aspirations are global, our roots and future are very much in Finland. Our operations remain in Finland, our management team remains in Finland and in San Francisco, and we continue to pay taxes in Finland. I think more and more people in this country are realizing that there is life after Nokia!
Naturally, this transaction is great for us from an economic perspective. As many of you know, a big part of Supercell’s culture is the idea of “we are all in this together”. In line with this thinking, everyone at the company will participate in the upside and receive a portion of the proceeds from the investment. None of us work here just for of money, but when the company succeeds, everyone should get their fair share of it and this transaction is no exception.
Although we now have a major new investor in Softbank, it is extremely important to understand that we are still in full control of our future and will continue to operate independently. In fact, and this may sound surprising to some, I feel that with this deal, we're now more independent and in control of our future than we ever have been.
Lastly, I want to thank our players, all the Supercellians, and everyone else whose support has been so valuable in getting us this far. We’ve had an amazing journey together, and it will only get more exciting in the years to come.
Thank you for reading this far. I know this was a lengthy post, but since this is such an important milestone for the company, I wanted to take the time to fully explain our thinking behind it and exactly what it means to all of you.
Now, let’s go make history together! Kippis! Kampai!
In the latest 'After Hours,' the 'Kill Your Darlings' star and his co-star Dane DeHaan need your help.
By Kevin P. Sullivan
NEW YORK -- Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim is collaborating with John Tiffany, the Tony Award-winning director of Once, on a radical rethink of his 1970 show Company, about a commitment-phobic 35-year-old New Yorker.
The central twist in the reconceived version -- which is currently being workshopped and will be performed for a private audience on Friday -- is that the central character of marriage-shy Bobby is an out gay man. A number of key characters will undergo a gender switch, including Joanne, the jaded boozer originally played by Elaine Stritch, who gets one of the musical's best-known songs, "The Ladies Who Lunch."
Bobby is being played in the workshop reading by British actor Daniel Evans, a Tony nominee for the 2008 revival of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park With George. Also in the cast are Bobby Steggert, currently in the Broadway cast of Big Fish, and Michael Urie, the Ugly Betty star appearing in the hit Off Broadway play Buyer & Cellar.
PHOTOS: Broadway Musicals That Have Sung Their Way to the Big Screen
The role originally known as Joanne will be played by Alan Cumming, who worked with Tiffany on a one-man Macbeth presented last season on Broadway.
Musical pundits have often theorized over the years that Bobby's reluctance to settle down with any of his string of girlfriends suggests the character is a closeted gay man. However, Sondheim and the late George Furth, who wrote the book for the show, have disputed that interpretation. But the composer was sufficiently intrigued by Tiffany's proposal to work with him on this new variation.
“It’s still a musical about commitment, but marriage is seen as something very different in 2013 than it was in 1970,” Sondheim told The New York Times. “We don’t deal with gay marriage as such, but this version lets us explore the issues of commitment in a fresh way.”
Sondheim has been making tweaks to the lyrics and dialogue on the project, which Roundabout Theatre Company is shepherding through development. Whether or not it moves forward to a full production will depend on the creative team and producers' assessment of Friday's presentation.
PHOTOS: Tony Awards 2013 Red Carpet Arrivals
"We have a long and rewarding relationship with Stephen Sondheim," said Roundabout artistic director Todd Haimes in a statement. "A reading of Company gives us an opportunity to revisit the musical we produced in 1995 and to work with John Tiffany, an artist we have wanted to work with for a long time. The reading provides a safe environment for our artists to explore bold choices."
In addition to Once and Macbeth, Tiffany's work as director includes the global hit Black Watch; the current Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie, which opened Sept. 26 to rave reviews; and a stage adaptation of the Swedish vampire film and novel, Let the Right One In, which opens Nov. 29 at London's Royal Court.
Originally produced and directed on Broadway in 1970 by Harold Prince, Company broke new ground for a musical in its skeptical dissection of love and relationships. It was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and won six, including best musical, running for almost two years.
The show's most recent Broadway revival was in 2006, starring Raul Esparza as Bobby. That production was filmed for broadcast on PBS. A 2011 New York Philharmonic concert staging headlined by Neil Patrick Harris was also filmed for theatrical release.
Sondheim and James Lapine's musical Into the Woods is currently being filmed in London by Rob Marshall for Disney, with a starry ensemble that includes Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Christine Baranski and Tracey Ullman.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo is regaining its appeal among investors a lot faster than with the online advertisers who generate most of its revenue.
The company's third-quarter numbers released Tuesday are the latest to underscore the challenges facing CEO Marissa Mayer even as Yahoo's stock continues to soar under her leadership. The shares have more than doubled since Yahoo lured Mayer away from rival Google Inc. 15 months ago, largely because investors prize Yahoo's 24 percent stake in Chinese Internet star Alibaba Group Holding.
Alibaba is already making far more money than Yahoo while growing at a rapid pace that bodes well for the future.
Yahoo Inc., meanwhile, is still struggling to revive its revenue growth even though advertisers are spending more on online ads. Most of that money, though, is flowing to search leader Google and social networking leader Facebook Inc.
Mayer, 38, has been pleading patience, saying it may take another year or two before Yahoo's sales are growing at the same rate as the overall market. In the first half of this year, Internet ad spending climbed 18 percent from the same period in 2012.
Yahoo's revenue slipped in the three months ending in September as the company saw declines in two advertising categories. It sold fewer display ads and fetched lower prices, and although the text ads next to the search results on Yahoo's website drew more clicks, the amount of money marketers paid for those commercial pitches declined.
The Sunnyvale, Calif. company earned $297 million, or 28 cents per share, in the three months ending in September. That's a 91 percent drop from nearly $3.2 billion, or $2.64 per share, at the same time last year.
It wasn't an apples-to-apples comparison because last year's profit was lifted by a $2.8 billion windfall from Yahoo's sale of part of its stake in Alibaba Group.
If not for certain items unrelated to its ongoing business, Yahoo said it would have earned 34 cents per share. That figure was a penny above the average estimate among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue fell 5 percent from last year to $1.1 billion.
After subtracting ad commissions, Yahoo's revenue stood at $1.08 million to match analyst projections.
Yahoo's stock dipped 26 cents to $33.12 in extended trading after the results came out.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-10-15-US-Earns-Yahoo/id-d3fb80edb0af4aadaa979a069b201bdc![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
ShareContact: Katie Pratt
katie.pratt@uky.edu
859-257-8774
University of Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 14, 2013) Entomologists in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment have developed a new control method for mosquitoes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently granted a permit to begin field trials.
The biological control method targets the Asian tiger mosquito; it is the first of its kind in the nation.
"The mosquito has been labeled as one of the most important invasive species in the world," said Stephen Dobson, professor in the UK Department of Entomology. "The traditional ways that we control mosquitoes don't work against this mosquito."
A native of Southeast Asia, the Asian tiger mosquito now exists throughout the United States, with particularly heavy populations in the Southeast. Kentucky has had the mosquito since the 1990s, and it is currently in every county in the state. In a separate, unrelated study conducted by fellow UK entomologist Grayson Brown, Asian tiger mosquitoes were responsible for 90 to 95 percent of the bites on test subjects in Lexington during the 2013 summer.
Asian tiger mosquitoes are an important vector of canine heartworm and transmit the virus Chikungunya, which produces similar symptoms as dengue fever. While there has not been a Chikungunya epidemic in the United States, introductions have caused epidemics in Europe, India and elsewhere. Scientists are concerned about it invading the United States, similar to the West Nile virus invasion in 1999.
Dobson developed the technology to move the bacterium Wolbachia between mosquito species. Wolbachia is a naturally occurring bacterium found in the majority of insects.
The new biological control method is based on releasing Wolbachia-infected males in a targeted area. Unlike their female counterparts, male mosquitoes do not bite or transmit disease. The males mate with females and render the females sterile.
Dobson began testing the biological control's effectiveness in small laboratory cages and progressed to greenhouses, releasing more infected male mosquitoes each time.
"In laboratory and greenhouse conditions, we can eliminate a population in just over eight weeks," Dobson said.
The technology is being field tested through a collaboration between UK and MosquitoMate, a small, start-up company in Lexington. MosquitoMate is led by Jimmy Mains, a former student in Dobson's laboratory whose doctoral research focused on Wolbachia's ability to control Asian tiger mosquitoes in laboratory and greenhouse settings.
"It's exciting to participate as this technology progresses from an idea developed at the University of Kentucky, through laboratory trials and now to a real-world application," Mains said.
Mosquito populations peaked before the researchers received the EPA permit this summer. Therefore their initial work this past summer in Lexington was limited to small-scale trials, examining male mating and flight distance in the field. This information will help guide early work next year, when researchers hope to see significant impacts on Asian tiger mosquito populations in Lexington.
While the biological control method may help cut down on the number of insecticide applications, it won't completely replace insecticides.
"Insecticides can still be used for a quick knock down once a mosquito population is already high, but the biological Wolbachia approach started early in the season can serve to keep the population low, prevent a population explosion or even eliminate a population," Dobson said.
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
ShareContact: Katie Pratt
katie.pratt@uky.edu
859-257-8774
University of Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 14, 2013) Entomologists in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment have developed a new control method for mosquitoes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently granted a permit to begin field trials.
The biological control method targets the Asian tiger mosquito; it is the first of its kind in the nation.
"The mosquito has been labeled as one of the most important invasive species in the world," said Stephen Dobson, professor in the UK Department of Entomology. "The traditional ways that we control mosquitoes don't work against this mosquito."
A native of Southeast Asia, the Asian tiger mosquito now exists throughout the United States, with particularly heavy populations in the Southeast. Kentucky has had the mosquito since the 1990s, and it is currently in every county in the state. In a separate, unrelated study conducted by fellow UK entomologist Grayson Brown, Asian tiger mosquitoes were responsible for 90 to 95 percent of the bites on test subjects in Lexington during the 2013 summer.
Asian tiger mosquitoes are an important vector of canine heartworm and transmit the virus Chikungunya, which produces similar symptoms as dengue fever. While there has not been a Chikungunya epidemic in the United States, introductions have caused epidemics in Europe, India and elsewhere. Scientists are concerned about it invading the United States, similar to the West Nile virus invasion in 1999.
Dobson developed the technology to move the bacterium Wolbachia between mosquito species. Wolbachia is a naturally occurring bacterium found in the majority of insects.
The new biological control method is based on releasing Wolbachia-infected males in a targeted area. Unlike their female counterparts, male mosquitoes do not bite or transmit disease. The males mate with females and render the females sterile.
Dobson began testing the biological control's effectiveness in small laboratory cages and progressed to greenhouses, releasing more infected male mosquitoes each time.
"In laboratory and greenhouse conditions, we can eliminate a population in just over eight weeks," Dobson said.
The technology is being field tested through a collaboration between UK and MosquitoMate, a small, start-up company in Lexington. MosquitoMate is led by Jimmy Mains, a former student in Dobson's laboratory whose doctoral research focused on Wolbachia's ability to control Asian tiger mosquitoes in laboratory and greenhouse settings.
"It's exciting to participate as this technology progresses from an idea developed at the University of Kentucky, through laboratory trials and now to a real-world application," Mains said.
Mosquito populations peaked before the researchers received the EPA permit this summer. Therefore their initial work this past summer in Lexington was limited to small-scale trials, examining male mating and flight distance in the field. This information will help guide early work next year, when researchers hope to see significant impacts on Asian tiger mosquito populations in Lexington.
While the biological control method may help cut down on the number of insecticide applications, it won't completely replace insecticides.
"Insecticides can still be used for a quick knock down once a mosquito population is already high, but the biological Wolbachia approach started early in the season can serve to keep the population low, prevent a population explosion or even eliminate a population," Dobson said.
###
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The calendar says October, but retailers and economists are already analyzing the holiday shopping season. With budget battles gripping Washington and an economy that's still recovering, there are mixed feelings about how far shoppers will open their wallets.
Cycling is great, but transporting much more than your person from here to there means becoming a bit of a human pack mule. Buca Boot hopes to make the schlep a whole lot easier.
     |
Daz Dillinger
Grand Theft Auto V Stole My Beats
Now RECALL the Game!!
Exclusive
In the letter to Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games, Daz and his attorney say "C-Walk" and "Nothin' But the Cavi Hit" are used in the record-setting game, even though Daz turned down the company's "offensively low offer of $4,271.00 for both songs."
Now, the ex-member of the legendary Dogg Pound is demanding they make him a better offer or -- and this is a biggie -- recall and destroy ALL unsold copies of the game.
Keep in mind ... more than 15 million copies of GTA V have already sold -- and there are probably just as many, if not more, sitting on store shelves right now.
Not to mention the riot such a recall would cause in the gaming community.
Daz tells TMZ this case is about "respecting an artist's work. Rockstar didn't do that here and I can't let them get away with it."
Daz and his attorneys at Kushner Carlson are giving the GTA V makers 14 days to comply with their demands ... or strike a deal.
Tick tock ...
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'At the LSE, an institution which was notorious for anti-establishment, free-thinking radicalism, Abishek Phadnis and Chris Moos from the atheist society were summarily ejected from their own freshers’ fair.' Photograph: James Barr for the Guardian
In Tariq Ali's autobiography, Street Fighting Years, the veteran radical recalls his culture shock at arriving as a student at Oxford in 1963. His prior education had been under the military dictatorship of Pakistan, where he would not dare to share atheistic thoughts, even in whispers to his closest friends.
"When I first saw a pimpled youth, wearing a tattered crimson corduroy jacket standing on a chair in front of a stand at the freshers' fair and shouting at the top of his voice, 'Down With God,' I was both excited and moved. In fact I was a trifle incredulous, which must have explained the fact that I just stood there and stared. Finally, a bit embarrassed, the man in the corduroy jacket stepped down and recruited me to the Oxford University humanist group. I was to discover, much to my surprise, that debates here were much more stimulating than those conducted within the careerist confines of the Labour club."
Fifty years later, almost to the day, student atheist groups have been recruiting once again. At the LSE – an institution that in Ali's day was notorious for anti-establishment, free-thinking radicalism – Abishek Phadnis and Chris Moos from the atheist society were summarily ejected from their own freshers' fair by student union staff and security. Their offence was wearing T-shirts featuring cartoons from the hugely popular online comic series Jesus and Mo. They were told that wearing the shirts was creating an "offensive environment". The students then received a hand-delivered letter from the LSE secretary, asking them to refrain from wearing the T-shirts and warning that the school "reserves the right to consider taking further action if warranted".
Meanwhile in Reading, this year the atheist, humanist and secularist society has been expelled from the student union altogether. The decision follows a similar row at the 2012 freshers' fair, when the society decorated their stall with a pineapple, to which they had attached a post-it note bearing the name Mohammed. As the group explained at the time, in services to both historical accuracy and comedy: "After a few minutes, we were told by another member of RUSU staff that 'either the pineapple goes, or you do', whereupon they seized the pineapple and tried to leave. However, the pineapple was swiftly returned, and shortly was displayed again, with the name Mohammed changed to that of Jesus."
A student union, like any institution, is duty bound to protect all its members from hatred, discrimination, intimidation or threats of violence. In neither of these instances is this relevant. Jesus and Mo is anti-religious satire at its best, invariably humane, intelligent and often very funny. The cartoons are miles removed from the grotesque, demeaning caricatures of some of the notorious Jyllands-Posten cartoons of 2005. Meanwhile, calling a pineapple Mohammed (or, for that matter, Jesus) has the approximate intellectual depth of saying "knickers" to the vicar. However when such a gesture is made in solidarity with untold hundreds of people currently imprisoned or facing corporal or even capital punishment for crimes of blasphemy around the world, it is surely considerably more offensive to restrict and punish such expression than it is to utter it in the first place.
Freshers' fairs at all universities present the first taste of a new life for hundreds of thousands of young people every year. Most leave the confines of the family home and the intellectual limitations of schools. Thousands more arrive from overseas, including many from countries where freedom of religious expression is severely curtailed. Some students arrive with sincere and devout religious conviction, and no one should question their right to retain and exercise their beliefs. But how many others arrive, like the young Tariq Ali, relishing hitherto unimagined freedom of thought and belief? How many would be similarly inspired in their thinking, their political and personal development, to know that British universities are places where religious beliefs can not only be freely exercised, but freely challenged, even mocked?
Grumbling old farts like me often bemoan the diminishing radicalism of students. Often it is unfair – we place expectations on young people from which the rest of us seem exempt. But 50 years after Ali had his moment of revelation, a mere five years after we finally got around to abolishing the blasphemy law in England and Wales, I find it sad and disturbing that students themselves, and the administrators of their institutions, appear to be voluntarily forbidding anti-religious expression.
We face challenges in 2013 that did not exist 50 years ago. Religious hatred, particularly Islamophobia, is a real and corrosive influence in political and media discourse and it needs to be challenged and resisted. However when such efforts extend to echoing and mirroring the most heavy-handed restraints on freedom of thought and expression, effectively imposing a theocratic, fundamentalist rulebook on believers and non-believers alike, it is a victory not for progressive liberalism but for dogmatic oppression.
