Do you ever shudder when you hear certain sounds, such as rustling of some type of plastic bags or a fork scraping on the bottom of a porcelain plate? Or get a tingling in your teeth when somone scrapes their fingernails on a blackboard?

It may be a mild annoyance for most, but a serious problem for people with “misophonia,” from the Greek words meaning hatred of sound.

No matter how tolerant we are, most of us feel uncomfortable if a person sitting close to us in a quiet cinema starts noisily opening a bag of chips and loudly eating them. 

But for some people, who suffer from misophonia, certain repetitive noise can be hardly bearable.

“Mainly sounds made by people’s mouth or breathing. This is certain speech sounds, chewing, certain other sort of noisy wet noises from the mouth, noisy breathing as well. Other ones include things like repetitive noises, pen clicking, foot tapping, keyboards sometimes, packets rustling,” Will Sedley of New Castle University said.

Physical evidence?

Scientists at the Newcastle University wanted to see whether there is a physical evidence of this sensitivity.

Volunteers were asked to rate the level of unpleasantness of different sounds from neutral, such as rainfall or the sound of boiling water, to irritating, like noisy eating, loud breathing or a baby crying.

Their brain scans showed that misophonia has to do with the size of an area in our brains that regulates emotional responses.

“It was smaller and less developed in people with misophonia at a group level. Nothing you’d see on an individual brain screen basis, but suggesting that there may actually be brain structural alterations,” Sedley said.

But the discovery opened new questions.

“It’s difficult to know which is the chicken and which is the egg, whether this is the cause of misophonia or in part, or whether this is the consequence of having this condition or an unpleasant adversant condition like this and how it affects the brain in the long term,” he said.

Scientists say they also want to find out whether severe misophonia is treatable, but they say everybody should be aware that some people are genuinely sensitive to certain noises.
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From: MeNeedIt

Do you ever shudder when you hear certain sounds, such as rustling of some type of plastic bags or a fork scraping on the bottom of a porcelain plate? Or get a tingling in your teeth when somone scrapes their fingernails on a blackboard? A mild annoyance for most, but a serious problem for people with “misophonia,” from the Greek words meaning hatred of sound. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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From: MeNeedIt

The deputy commander of the U.S. Strategic Command is calling for the development of a code of conduct for space as dreams of altruistic exploration fade.

Vice Admiral Charles Richard believes establishing norms and practices of behavior in space would help nations better understand each other’s activities.

“We’re still sorting out what constitutes an attack in space,” Richard said at a conference titled “Space Security: Issues for the New U.S. Administration” held last week at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“What is the indisputable evidence required within the international community to assert violation of sovereign territory in space? What constitutes provocation in space from our point of view?” he asked.

No rules of engagement in space

Conducting exercises with U.S. partners and allies has revealed the difficulty of answering those questions because there are no rules of engagement for space, said Richard.

While acknowledging that “space is different,” said Richard, “Some of the questions we are answering have already been answered in the maritime domain and in the air domain so we have precedent to start from.”

For decades, the roadmap for the arena was the Outer Space Treaty of 1967  signed by Russia and the United States during the Cold War, which has now been signed by 105 nations and signed but not ratified by 24 more.

The agreement bans placing nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction in Earth orbit, on the moon or on any other celestial real estate. It further forbids, “the establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military maneuvers on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.”

Over 1,400 satellites orbiting Earth

There are loopholes in the treaty’s language. It did not prohibit the use of conventional weapons or ban military forces from space as long as they undertook non-aggressive activities, such as scientific research or launching satellites for spying and communications. (As of July 2016, there were 1,419 satellites orbiting Earth, about 350 of them for military use, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, which maintains a database.)

The wake-up call came in 2007 when China shot down an aging Fengyun-1C weather satellite while testing an anti-satellite (ASAT) device mounted on a ballistic missile. The test shattered the satellite into more than 2,000 pieces and, for many, solidified the notion of space as a theater of war.

In 2015, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission called for more study of China’s counterspace program in its annual report to  Congress. On March 22, an official from the U.S. Strategic Command told VOA that the U.S. military and China have had several dialogues on space security and hoped that the dialogue would continue.

Safe, stable and secure

Peter Hays, a professor of space policy at the U.S. Department of Defense and a professor of space policy at the George Washington University Institute of Space Policy, said at the March 22 conference that the U.S. should not be the first country to deploy weapons to space, but it should be prepared.

Richard said that while the U.S. would never want to extend war into space, the question today is “How do we deter our adversaries in space while keeping it safe, stable and secure? … Whether you’re guiding ships, jets, drones or missiles, space is the domain that enables all others.

“If we have an agreed-to set of norms and behaviors, now you start to minimize the chance of miscommunication,” he said, adding that minimizing the chances of misinterpretation also reduced the likelihood of “an inappropriate or disproportionate response.”

Libo Liu contributed to this report which originated in the VOA Mandarin Service.
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From: MeNeedIt

A tiny satellite launched by India that is circling the earth contains a laboratory that is only the size of a tissue box. The lab is helping scientists carry out experiments that range from finding ways to improve pharmaceuticals to perfecting the foam in coffee. VOA’s Deborah Block has the story.
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From: MeNeedIt

Amazon purchased the Middle East’s biggest online retailer Souq.com on Tuesday for an undisclosed amount, a day after a state-backed firm disclosed an $800 million counteroffer.

A joint statement described the purchase as expanding Amazon’s influence into the Mideast as the state-supported firm Emaar prepares to launch its own retail website in a country known more for its luxury malls than online shopping.

That could put Seattle-based Amazon in a head-to-head competition with a firm helmed by one of the sheikhdom’s favored business magnates.

“This is a milestone for the online shopping space in the region,” Souq.com co-founder and CEO Ronaldo Mouchawar said in a statement.

The announcement said the two companies expect the sale to close this year.

“Together, we’ll work hard to provide the best possible service for millions of customers in the Middle East,” Russ Grandinetti, a senior vice president at Amazon, said in a statement.

On Monday, Emaar Malls PJSC made public its bid for Souq.com in a filing on the Dubai Financial Market. The short filing, signed by Emaar Malls vice chairman Ahmad Thani al-Matrooshi, said the bid was made “in line with the strategy to align e-commerce with physical shopping.”

Rumors about Amazon’s interest in Souq.com have circulated for months. In November, Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar reportedly met Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at the state-backed firm’s cavernous Dubai Mall, home to a massive aquarium and in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building it built.

Dubai, the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates and the world’s busiest international airport, also has luxury malls that even include an indoor ski slope. Its summer heat of over 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) makes malls a major attraction for both shopping and leisure time in the city.

While Uber and other online services firms work in Dubai, online retail shopping has yet to truly take off like it has in Western countries.

       ___

       Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap . His work can be found at http://apne.ws/2galNpz .

       AP-WF-03-28-17 0927GMT

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Thirty-eight years ago today — March 28, 1979 — disaster struck at 4 a.m. at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant in central Pennsylvania after its cooling system failed.

It remains the worst nuclear accident in American history.

A simple plumbing failure prevented the main feedwater pumps from sending water to generators that remove heat from the plant’s core reactor.  

During those pre-dawn hours, the temperature of the reactor rose steadily even as staffers were unaware that a valve in the emergency cooling system had become stuck in place, allowing cool water to flow through the valve — not reaching the reactor. 

Instruments in the control room misled operators, who thought the cooling system was working normally.

As coolant flowed from the primary system through the valve, other instruments available to reactor operators provided inadequate information. There was no instrument that showed how much water covered the core. As a result, plant staff assumed that as long as the pressurizer water level was high, the core was properly covered with water. 

As alarms rang and warning lights flashed, the operators did not realize that the plant was experiencing a loss-of-coolant accident — or, rather, the beginnings of a nuclear meltdown.  And just after 6:00 am, data indicated the core reactor had overheated so much that radiation was detected inside the control room.

Half the core was later found to have melted. 

By the evening of March 28, the core appeared to be adequately cooled and the reactor appeared to be stable. 

But new concerns arose by the morning of March 30.

A significant release of radiation from the plant’s auxiliary building, performed by operators to relieve pressure on the primary system and avoid curtailing the flow of coolant to the core, sparked public concerns and consternation among politicians. 

​In an atmosphere of growing uncertainty and concern, then-Governor Dick Thornburgh, consulted with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) about evacuating the population near the plant.

Eventually, he and NRC Chairman Joseph Hendrie agreed that it would be prudent for those members of society most vulnerable to radiation to evacuate the area.

Thornburgh announced that he was advising pregnant women and pre-school-age children within a five-mile (8 km) radius of the plant to leave the area.

The national and international media had given the accident at Three Mile Island front page attention for days.  Then-President Jimmy Carter decided a frightened nation needed his presence. On April 1, Carter went to inspect the damaged plant.

In the months following the accident, questions were raised about possible adverse effects from radiation on human, animal and plant life around the nuclear power plant, although none could be directly correlated to the accident. 

Thousands of environmental samples of air, water, milk, vegetation, soil and foodstuffs were collected by various government agencies monitoring the area. 

In 1997, researchers from Environmental Health Perspectives, the journal of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Science concluded increases in lung cancer and leukemia near the Pennsylvania plant suggested a much greater release of radiation during the 1979 accident than had been believed.

The accident sparked sweeping safety regulations. The damaged reactor, on the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, was never restarted. No new commercial nuclear power plant was licensed by the federal government until 2012.

But an article written by Michael Grunwald published in Time magazine in 2009 summed up Three Mile Island this way:

“The TMI fiasco was a scary cultural moment…But there was nothing particularly tragic about it. It didn’t kill people. It didn’t kill nuclear power.”
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From: MeNeedIt

An Indiana board is poised to endorse a deal directing $7 million in tax breaks and grants for a deal brokered by President Donald Trump to keep hundreds of jobs at the Carrier Corp. factory in Indianapolis.

The incentive package is set for a vote by an Indiana Economic Development Board committee on Tuesday, nearly four months after Trump celebrated the deal at the furnace factory.

Carrier is pledging to keep nearly 1,100 jobs at the factory, including about 800 production jobs that the company had planned to outsource to Mexico. But about 550 jobs are still being lost. Carrier is also investing $16 million for automation at the factory.

Plant union president Chuck Jones says the deal means Indiana taxpayers are rewarding a very profitable corporation for cutting jobs.
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From: MeNeedIt

Political satire dates back to the ancient Greeks, 2,400 years ago when Aristophanes made fun of the Peloponnesian War. It’s a staple of late-night American television talk shows and the editorial pages of most newspapers. Successful political cartoonists are able to draw biting commentary with the stroke of a crayon. VOA’s Anush Avetisyan profiles an award-winning cartoonist.
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From: MeNeedIt

Lifting boxes by hand, day after day, in places like warehouses can cause muscle strain and other injuries. But now a new exoskeleton — a rigid external body frame that assists with limb movement can help prevent problems associated with repetitive tasks like handling boxes or materials at construction sites. VOA’s Deborah Block tells us more about it.
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From: MeNeedIt

Facebook Inc will add a feature to its Messenger app Monday to allow users to share their locations, the company said, ramping up competition with tools offered by Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google Maps.

The company has found that one of the most used phrases on Messenger as people talk to friends and family is “How far away are you?” or some variation, Stan Chudnovsky, head of product for Messenger, said in an interview.

“It happens to be what people are saying, what they’re interested in the most,” he said.

Sharing location information will be optional, he said, but it will also be live, so that once a user shares the information with a friend, the friend will be able to watch the user’s movement for up to 60 minutes.

Messenger was once part of the core Facebook smartphone app, but the company broke it out as a separate app in 2014 and has since invested in frequent changes to build a service distinct from the massive social network.

Google Maps said last week that it was adding a similar feature, an attempt to boost engagement on a product of increasing strategic importance to that company.

The close proximity of the announcements tells Facebook “that we’re working on the right things,” Chudnovsky said.

The Messages app on Apple’s iPhone has such a feature, too.

Facebook has been testing its change in Mexico, he said. It was ready as long ago as October, he added, but the company worked on it for five more months to minimize the impact on the battery life of phones.
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From: MeNeedIt

A Houston high school student has lost her battle with terminal cancer days after having a dream come true in a talk with Beyonce over a video chat.

Alief Independent School District spokeswoman Kimberly Smith says senior Ebony Banks died late Saturday night.

The teen’s Hastings High School classmates started an online campaign before her death to give her a chance to meet her favorite singer, Beyonce. Banks received a FaceTime call Wednesday from the star.

The school gave Banks her diploma during a graduation ceremony in the hospital last week.

Students gathered at a candlelight vigil Sunday to remember Banks. Video posted on social media shows students raising candles to Beyonce’s “Halo.”

 
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From: MeNeedIt

President Donald Trump says that empowering and promoting women in business are priorities in his administration.

In a round-table discussion, the president is telling a group of female business owners that his team will work on barriers women face. He says the administration is also trying to make childcare more affordable and accessible.

WATCH: Trump’s comments during roundtable discussion

The gathering comes on the first work day since the Republican-led plan to repeal and replace the nation’s health care law was pulled before a House vote, a major setback for the Trump administration.

The White House is trying to focus this week on another campaign priority: creating jobs and economic issues.
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From: MeNeedIt