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books The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence—Ray Kurzwell. The father of voice-recognition software optimistically maps out the next 100 years of computer technology. Considering that computers are due to match humans in memory capacity and brain speed by 2020, Kurzwell"s science-fiction-type ideas suggest that through reverse engineering, machines will mirror humans. For example, people will be able to clone themselves by downloading their brains. Computers will also facilitate sight for the blind and instantaneous translation between two people speaking foreign languages. Viking, 1999, 388 p., hardcover, $25.95. Darwin"s Spectre: Evolutionary Biology in the Modern World—Michael R. Rose. Charles Darwin was clearly underappreciated during his lifetime. However, his evolutionary legacy permeates virtually every aspect of modern science. Rose, best know for his studies of life extension in fruit flies, documents Darwin"s ideas and shows how they thread through aspects of plant breeding and medical research. Evolution"s negative impact in the form of the eugenics movement is not a subject Rose shirks. In conclusion, he considers what Darwinism can tell us about human behavior ranging from religion to politics. Princeton U Pr, 1998, 233 p., hardcover, $27.95. Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Niño and the Fate of Civilizations—Brian Fagan. Satellites warned of a large mass of warm water swelling in the Pacific. Even with that notice and the benefit of swift emergency aid, we are still reeling from the 1997-98 El Niño. It"s hard to imagine how people coped without such survival support. Fagan, an archaeologist, links the demise or change of many civilizations to dramatic climatic events that altered the landscape and shook up people"s belief systems. New meteorological technologies allow depiction of El Niñoinduced floods and droughts in different parts of the world. On the basis of this knowledge, Fagan assesses how some ancient civilizations fared in the wake of an El Niño. Basic, 1999, 284 p., illus., hardcover, $25.00. Gardening with a Wild Heart: Restoring California"s Native Landscapes at Home—Judith Larner Lowry. In a down-home style, Lowry, a proprietor of a seed nursery, blends anecdote with precise information about cultivating and identifying plants native to California. Her subject spans native grasses, wildflower gardening, and plant- animal interactions. U CA Pr, 1999, 252 p., color plates, paperback, $17.95. Mapping the Mind—Rita Carter. This primer on behavioral neuroscience relies heavily on results from cutting-edge brain-imaging techniques. These images seem to reveal mechanisms that control aspects of personality and behavior. Addictions appear to stem from trouble within the brain"s reward system. Joy triggers a "glow" in one area of the brain. Such examples combine with contributions from leaders in the field. Steven Mithen and Steven Rose, among others, offer alternative viewpoints on some of the brain-function theories described. U CA Pr, 1998, 224 p., color illus., hardcover, $29.95. Online Kids: A Young Surfer"s Guide to Cyberspace—Preston Gralla. As you"d expect, this book tells kids where to get help with homework and check out batting averages online. But it also shows the way to sites where they can dissect a virtual frog, key into the CIA"s World Fact Book, and view live video clips from outer space. Completely updated and revised from its 1996 publication, the guide considers online safety for children and how to build one"s own web page. Wiley, 1999, 276 p., b&w illus., paperback, $14.95. The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature—Philip Ball. Form does not always follow function. Complex form does not have to be guided by some kind of intelligence. The author of these contrarian views is Ball, a former editor of Nature. He surmises that the patterns as they appear on zebras and in honeycombs are not coincidental. Their origins can be found within simple physical laws. For instance, a heated pan of oil produces a hexagonal image—a self- organized pattern produced through local interactions between component parts. Ball considers where such patterns come from and why symmetry is so often broken in similar ways in different systems. OUP, 1999, 287 p., color plates/b&w photos/ illus., hardcover, $37.50. Towing Icebergs, Falling Dominoes, and Other Adventures in Applied Mathematics—Robert B. Banks. A former professor of engineering ponders 24 human endeavors and presents a mathematical analysis of each. How much money would the United States need to liquidate the federal debt by 2050? What is the velocity of falling dominoes? Why do we get stuck in traffic? These are among the quandaries to which Banks applies mathematical models. The foundations of his answers range from elementary algebra to integral calculus. Princeton U Pr, 1998, 328 p., illus., hardcover, $29.95. letters Killer asteroid? Maybe Tuesday In "Chunk of Death-Dealing Asteroid Found" (SN: 11/21/98, p. 324), how do we switch from "This is really the first thing we can say is a piece of a meteorite from the K-T boundary" to "pretty good circumstantial argument that this was a piece of the meteorite that was the culprit . . ."? How do we know that the Kyte meteorite didn"t strike the Tuesday before or after the "death- dealing asteroid"? Or a year or more before or after? David Jones St. Paul, Minn. Heads up! "Self-motion perception heads for home" (SN: 11/21/98, p. 324) reports on some truly unsurprising Caltech research showing that the cognitive functions involved in keeping a constant sense of one"s position while moving past other objects require processing an interplay of data from one"s brain, from one"s body, and from the environment. The researchers also noted that empirical evidence remains sparse regarding these mechanisms. Instead of conducting artificial experiments in the lab, these researchers should have talked to some baseball outfielders, or better yet, tried outfielding themselves. There is no other way for an outfielder to note the direction of a hit ball, turn and race in its direction, and jump up and bounce off the back wall, catching the ball behind his head, without his brain processing internal information (the flight arc of the ball), feedback from his body (where he is on the field, what his angle of momentum is), and feedback from the environment (as he nears the wall). Peter B. Newman San Rafael, Calif. See SN: 6/15/96, p. 372, and SN: 5/13/95, p. 297, for scientific examples of Outfielding 101. —B. Bower Not so bad for fusion I read your article "Laser interplay stokes fusion uncertainty" (SN: 11/28/98, p. 326), and I disagree completely with the way the sentence "This is very bad for fusion" is used in the text. Experiments at LULI (Laboratoire pour l"Utilisation des Lasers Intenses) at École Polytechnique, France, have shown that the overlap of two or three laser beams produces an unexpected rise in stimulated Raman scattering associated with a decrease in stimulated Brillouin scattering. Those two instabilities are of concern to reach a good coupling efficiency and quality between the laser beams and the plasma. Our group is working in collaboration with researchers from LLNL and the University of Alberta to understand the physics of these couplings and to identify the potential problems in interaction physics in order to know how to fight them. Although there is still some work to be done, some solutions are already proposed for laser fusion. Christine Labaune Directeur de Recherche au CNRS Palaiseau, France Teasing Out a Tongue"s Taste Receptors Of the five senses, taste has remained in some ways the most mysterious. Scientists have found that people recognize five main tastes—sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami (the taste associated with mono-sodium glutamate, or MSG)—but they"ve had a devil of a time identifying the cell-surface proteins on the tongue that detect these tastes. Now, a research team has identified two new proteins that seem to fill the bill. "They may be key to unlocking taste. They have the hallmarks of taste receptors, but we have to actually show they function as such," says Nicholas J.P. Ryba of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in Bethesda, Md. His research group, in collaboration with one led by Charles S. Zuker of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of California, San Diego, describes the putative taste receptors in the Feb. 19 Cell. Identifying taste receptors is no easy task. Cells with taste receptors concentrate in small clusters known as taste buds, which are scattered like small islands on the tongue. "Taste tissue is really hard to work with....The tongue has many fewer receptor cells than the nose," notes Sue C. Kinnamon of Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Until now, the only known taste receptor was one discovered in 1996 that senses the meaty taste of umami. Researchers found this MSG receptor only because they assumed that it would resemble other cellular proteins known to bind to the amino acid glutamate. "If you"re looking for a sweet or bitter receptor, you really don"t know what strategy to use," says Kinnamon. Zuker"s and Ryba"s groups analyzed genetic activity in cells from the front of the tongue, where taste buds abound, and in cells from an area at the back of the tongue not involved in tasting. By sifting through the hundreds of extra genes active in the taste cells, they found one, named TR1, that encodes a cell-surface protein somewhat resembling receptors for glutamate and pheromones, the odorless molecules that many mammals sense with their noses (SN: 3/14/98, p. 164). Using the DNA sequence of TR1 to search genetic databases, the scientists then identified a similar gene, which they call TR2. Further studies showed that TR1 and TR2 are active only in taste cells and that their proteins cluster at taste pores, the cell-surface sites where molecules are thought to be actually tasted. Although a few cells made both proteins, each protein studded largely its own distinct areas of the tongue. Surprisingly, the two putative receptors covered a wide swath of the tongue, suggesting there"s a small number of different taste receptors overall. "One-third of all cells in taste buds contain either one or the other receptor," says Ryba. Ryba and his colleagues must still confirm that the proteins encoded by TR1 and TR2 mediate taste. They plan to create mice that lack the proteins and to study the animals" taste preferences. They"re also trying to slip the genes into laboratory-grown cells and determine what substances the receptors recognize. From the distribution of the two proteins on the tongue, Ryba speculates that TR1 may encode a sweet receptor and TR2 a bitter receptor. "I don"t think they can really come out and say what [the receptors"] functions are yet in terms of what substances bind to them," says Kinnamon. Once the tongue"s full roster of taste receptors is revealed, scientists might develop compounds that better fool the mouth into thinking something tastes sweet, says Alan R. Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. Such compounds could help people undergoing chemotherapy, who develop a constant bitter taste, or mask the harsh taste of coffee without sugar, for example.—J. Travis The protein encoded by the gene TR1 (green) clusters on taste-sensitive regions of this section of rat tongue. Red-yeast product is no drug, court says In a setback for the Food and Drug Administration, a federal district court ruled last week that the agency had unlawfully attempted to restrict an herbal supplement as a prescription drug. Pharmanex of Simi Valley, Calif., began marketing capsules of rice fermented with a red yeast in November 1996. Almost immediately, FDA ordered the company to stop selling the cholesterol-lowering product, sold as Cholestin, charging that it is a drug. Studies had shown that the fermented rice contains a natural compound that is chemically indistinguishable from lovastatin, the active ingredient in a cholesterol-lowering prescription drug (SN: 11/14/98, p. 311). Pharmanex fought the drug designation for its over-the-counter product, however, citing a 1994 law known as the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). When FDA countered by ordering the company to stop importing its bulk fermented rice from China, Pharmanex sued in what became the first legal test of DSHEA. Last June, pending a thorough study of the case, Judge Dale A. Kimball of the Federal District Court in Salt Lake City restrained FDA from imposing its ban on the Chinese rice. Kimball"s final decision now decrees that Cholestin indeed is a food as defined by DSHEA. The judge noted that Congress, in explaining a clause in the legislation, had acknowledged, "On occasion, a substance that is properly included as a dietary ingredient in a dietary supplement (food) product may also function as an active ingredient in a drug." That"s the case here, Kimball said. For now, FDA is "reviewing the court"s decision and evaluating what steps we might take," says Brad Stone, a spokes-man in Rockville, Md. —J. Raloff Cholestin capsules now being sold. Fickle climate thwarts future forecasts Researchers trying to predict the side effects of future climate change are finding themselves the modern-day heirs of Sisyphus, straining toward a goal that forever slips out of reach. A new projection of conditions in Europe for the year 2050 indicates that natural shifts in climate can greatly complicate the forecasting task and will make it nearly impossible in some cases to tell whether greenhouse warming is having any clear effect. "We can only interpret the significance of human-induced climate change if we understand the magnitude of the naturally induced changes. That"s what we"re doing," says Mike Hulme from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. In past assessments of this type, researchers have attempted to forecast agricultural production and other factors by comparing current conditions against simulations of the future. Such an approach assumes that Earth"s climate would otherwise remain constant. "I think there"s some major weaknesses in stuff that"s been published in the past," says Hulme. He led a team of British scientists that attempted to develop a more sophisticated approach. They started with a computer model that simulates the global effects of adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In one scenario, they assumed that carbon dioxide amounts would grow by 1 percent per year. In another, they assumed half that rate. A third run, with carbon dioxide constant, simulated natural climate variation alone. The outcomes from these different simulations then went into one model that predicts wheat yields and another that gauges the amount of water in rivers. The researchers assessed how the effects from greenhouse warming measure up against the natural variations that always occur. The modeling study, published in the Feb. 25 Nature, suggests that human-caused climate change will noticeably increase river runoff in northern Europe and decrease it in southern Europe by the year 2050. But in central and western Europe, the predicted changes will not exceed the range of natural fluctuations. Wheat yields in Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands will increase by significant amounts, but the results for other countries do not stand out above nature"s inconstancy. The forecasts for all countries go up markedly—by 9 to 39 percent—when the researchers factor in the fertilizing effect of additional carbon dioxide in the air. They did not include other potential complications, such as changes in pests, or the abilities of farmers to improve fertilizers and crops. Some researchers warn against placing faith in this specific forecast. Cynthia Rosenzweig of NASA"s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City says that most crop forecasts and similar studies use results from several global climate models to guard against peculiarities of any one model. What"s more, the impact of global warming will become more obvious after 2050, she says. Rosenzweig and others agree that scientists need to consider climate variability in a more sophisticated way than they have in the past—a lesson already being incorporated into the U.S. effort to assess the effects of natural and human-caused climate change. "One has to be looking at the impacts of climate change in the context of all the other things that are happening," says Michael MacCracken, director of the National Assessment Coordination Office in Washington, D.C. The new British study fits into a growing awareness that climate can undergo decades-long natural swings, with occasionally harmful consequences. "There"s an awful lot we should be doing to adapt to current climate variability, and if we properly adapt to that full range of natural variability, then we"ll actually be in a better position later on in the next century to withstand anything that human- induced climate change will throw at us," says Hulme. —R. Monastersky Tempered glass can bend before it breaks When struck, a car window doesn"t just crack, it shatters into tiny, rounded, harmless pieces. The glass undergoes this dramatic failure because it"s tempered with heat. Tempering makes glass very strong, but as soon as a crack starts, the glass breaks into smithereens. Now, David J. Green of Pennsylvania State University in State College, Rajan Tandon of the Caterpillar Technical Center in Peoria, Ill., and Vincenzo M. Sglavo of the University of Trento in Italy have developed a way to temper glass chemically so that it can withstand some cracking before ultimately shattering. "This is very useful," Green says. "It gives you a bit of warning before failing." What"s more, the strength of the new glass is much more predictable than that of ordinary tempered glass. The strength of conventionally treated glass can vary from one piece to the next by as much as 20 percent from the average. The strength of the new glass, however, deviates just 2 percent. This precision opens up new applications for ceramics, including glasses, says S. Jill Glass of Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. "Designers of different products have been reluctant to use ceramics because they can"t predict exactly when [the materials] will break," she says. Engineers often overdesign a product for safety, making the components needlessly thick and heavy. All tempered glass derives its high strength and its tendency to shatter explosively from the forces between its atoms. Those on the outer surface crowd together while those deeper in the glass remain free of stress. Defects cannot easily break through that outer layer, so only a very strong blow can initiate a crack. Release of the stress triggers the spectacular breakage. Green, Tandon, and Sglavo figured that changing this internal stress profile could alter the way the glass splits apart. They compressed the atoms about 25 micrometers below the surface, where they could act as a barrier to block the propagation of cracks starting at the surface. The researchers accomplished this by tempering pieces of sodium aluminosilicate glass with a two-step chemical process. First, they exchanged some of the sodium ions in the glass for potassium ions. The larger potassium ions stuff themselves into the spaces vacated by sodium, producing compressive stress in the glass. Then the researchers resubstituted sodium ions in the surface layer only, leaving a tempered layer just below the untempered skin. When the treated samples are bent, many tiny cracks appear in the skin, run down to the barrier, and stop. The cracks build up until the glass finally shatters into small fragments. This delayed shattering is very unusual in a brittle material, Green says. The team describes its findings in the Feb. 26 Science. Because the technique is relatively expensive, Green says, "it probably won"t take over the field, but it will have applications." Electronic components might be the first products made with these materials. Also, valves designed to burst open at a certain pressure could make use of these glasses, says Glass. Green is unsure whether the process could be used on car windows and windshields, since they are tempered with heat rather than chemicals. —C. Wu Glass tempered by a new process doesn"t shatter immediately under stress. Instead, many tiny cracks form on the surface, then stop at a given depth. Memory cell: Charge of the light, delayed It"s hard to store a pulse of light. The clumsy techniques available today include sending a light signal along a coiled kilometer of optical fiber. A compact optical memory chip would make telecommunications networks more efficient and optical computers more feasible, information technology experts say. German researchers report this week creating an optical-memory prototype that combines small size, speedy operation, and controllable release of signals. This sandwich of semiconductors stores light by transforming it into pairs of positive and negative charges and then stepping in like a referee at a fight to hold the opposite charges apart. The charges accumulate as light signals to be stored dislodge electrons from atoms in a thin intermediate semiconductor layer, known as a quantum well (SN: 4/20/96, p. 247). The layer"s properties enable it to confine charges. Each photon freeing an electron from the well"s crystal structure also creates an electron vacancy, known as a hole, which can behave as a mobile positive charge. Voltages applied to electrodes steer the electrons and holes into separate spots in the well and hold them for potentially useful periods of up to tens of microseconds. An earlier version used sound waves to separate the charges (SN: 5/24/97, p. 318). When the voltage is shut off, the electrons and holes combine, releasing a flash of light. Stefan Zimmermann of the University of Munich and his colleagues there and at the Munich Technical University in Garching describe their prototype device, which stores a single pixel of light, in the Feb. 26 Science. To improve the device"s characteristics, the researchers say they are changing the materials from which it is made so that it can work at room temperature instead of the frigid 100 kelvins necessary now. They also anticipate being able to shrink it dramatically. "We never thought it would work," says Jörg P. Kotthaus of the University of Munich. "We made it rather large to get a lot of signal out." Rather than its present 200 micrometers on a side, the circuitry to store one pixel could shrink to less than 2 mm on a side, he predicts. Storage times of many microseconds represent a valuable step, says Claude Weisbuch of the École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, France. However, he suspects that "it will be tricky to make it work at room temperature" because more energetic electrons and holes will tend to leak past the voltage barriers. —P. Weiss Disability law may cover gene flaws A recent Supreme Court ruling has fostered a fledgling legal strategy that could protect people from discrimination based on their genes. The ruling suggests that the power of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) might extend to people who are genetically predisposed to disease— before they fall ill. As researchers identify genes associated with diseases such as breast cancer, colon cancer, or Huntington"s disease, the danger arises that employers or insurance companies could discriminate against people who carry genetic defects. No federal law specifically protects people from genetic discrimination. "It"s about all of us, folks," said Francis S. Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Md. "We"re all at risk for something." Lawyers, scientists, genetic counselors, advocates for the disabled, and congressional staffers met Feb. 19 in Washington, D.C., to brainstorm about legal protections for people who carry identified genetic risk factors. The conference, sponsored by Collins" institute and the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer of the Public Health Service, focused on last year"s Supreme Court case Bragdon v. Abbott. In that ruling, an HIV-positive plaintiff was found to be protected under the ADA even though she had not developed any symptoms of AIDS. The woman sued her dentist after he refused to fill her cavity. The ADA defines as disabled, and therefore protected under the act, any person who is limited in a "major life activity." The plaintiff argued that she met this criterion because, after learning that she carried the AIDS virus, she decided not to have children. The court agreed, in a 5-4 decision. Bragdon v. Abbott demonstrated that the ADA can extend to people who may, sometime in the future, develop a disease. Because it rested on the plaintiff"s decision not to have children, however, a strict interpretation of that ruling would not protect people whose reproductive choices are unaffected by their genetic risk factors, said Paul Miller, commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C. "The broader question is whether the ADA protects against discrimination on the basis of diagnosed but asymptomatic genetic conditions—those that have the potential to limit major life activities," said Miller. The ADA should apply in such cases, he said. Whether it will is an open question. The commission would vigorously support a test case, Miller said, and might use a legal strategy that does not rely on major life activities. The ADA also protects people who are "regarded as" disabled, he pointed out. Arguably, someone denied a promotion because of a genetic risk factor would be regarded as disabled by the employer and therefore covered under the ADA. Ideally, identifying genetic risks for disease should help tailor health care to individuals, said genetic counselor Jill Stopfer of the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center in Philadelphia. For example, women with mutations in the genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 have a heightened risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer. Such women may choose to have frequent mammograms, take anticancer drugs such as tamoxifen, or undergo prophylactic removal of cancer-prone tissue, says Stopfer. Fear of discrimination, however, deters some women from being tested, said attorney Kathy Zeitz of the Nebraska Methodist Health System in Omaha. Her daughter, who has a family history of breast cancer, refuses to undergo genetic screening for fear that she may someday be denied health insurance. Future congressional action could render ADA-dependent legal strategies obsolete. Last year, lawmakers introduced seven bills that would protect people with genetic risk factors from discrimination in employment or insurance coverage or both. Although none passed, one (H.R. 306) has been reintroduced and several more are expected in the upcoming months. Legislation is urgently needed, as Collins summed up at the end of the conference, because no one is confident that adequate legal safeguards exist. —L. Helmuth Milky Way"s tug robs stellar cluster There are hundreds of tails in the Milky Way. This is just one of them. In this drawing, the globular cluster NGC 6712 is seen at two different times—before (A) and after (B) the swarm of stars passes through the plane of our massive, pinwheel-shaped galaxy. The cluster"s repeated passage may have stretched NGC 6712 like a comet"s tail. That scenario could explain a new observation: None of the several-hundred-thousand stars in NGC 6712 are less massive than the sun. That"s a surprise, because clusters usually contain many more lightweight stars than heavyweights. The tug of the Milky Way"s dense center has robbed NGC 6712 of its lightest members, says Francesco Paresce of the European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany. "NGC 6712 is the first real example of "evaporation" of stars, allowing us to watch the process unfold in front of our eyes," he notes. Other clusters don"t show the same pattern because they don"t come as close to the Milky Way"s center. NGC 6712 may have ventured within 1,000 light- years of the core just a few million years ago. The lightest stars are more easily detached because they tend to lie at the periphery of a cluster, says Lars Hernquist of Harvard University. Like the rest of the universe, as much as 99 percent of the Milky Way"s mass is thought to be made of invisible material, or dark matter. By studying the extent to which clusters, as well as tiny satellite galaxies, are distorted or torn apart by our galaxy"s gravity, astronomers hope to shed light on the distribution and the amount of dark matter in the Milky Way. Paresce and his collaborators made their observations with the first component of what will be a quartet of 8.2-meter telescopes, known as the Very Large Telescope, on Cerro Paranal in Chile. The team describes its findings in the March 1 Astronomy and Astrophysics. —R. Cowen A prostate cancer link to papilloma virus? Scientists in Germany have found a curious connection between prostate cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted pathogen. While HPV has been associated with cervical cancer in women and may even cause it, any connection between HPV and prostate cancer remains controversial and unproved. Some studies have detected HPV in prostate tumors, but other work—including a U.S. study published in 1998—has not. There are dozens of known HPV strains. Researchers report in the Feb. 15 Cancer Research that HPV-16, a strain linked to cervical cancer, turned up in considerable amounts in 10 of 47 samples of prostate-tumor tissue. In contrast, HPV-16 was present in such quantities in only 1 of 37 tissue samples from men without cancer. All of the samples in the study showed at least some HPV-16. The cancer patients averaged 67 years of age, the control group 70. The controls had benign prostate hypertrophy, a common enlargement of the prostate not linked to cancer. Previous studies of prostate cancer tissue have used a simpler measure of HPV that yields only a positive or negative reading. That method can result in some false-positive results, which contributed to the contradictory findings that have plagued this research for years, says study coauthor Jürgen Serth, a biochemist at the Medical School of Hannover. To gauge whether a tissue sample was positive for the virus, Serth and his colleagues used a threshold of 300 copies of the virus per 12,500 cells—finding that many more tumor samples exceeded this cut- off than did healthy-tissue samples. "This is potentially a very important discovery," says Jonathan W. Simons, a molecular oncologist at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore. "It"s the first evidence of how the microbial environment—a virus itself—could promote prostate cancer." Nonetheless, Simons cautions that the study doesn"t show HPV-16 to be a "smoking gun" that causes prostate cancer. Serth and his colleagues agree. For example, it"s not clear whether the virus inhabits cancerous cells themselves or simply is present in nearby cells. Roughly 60 percent of cells in prostate tumor tissue are not cancerous, Simons notes. Serth"s team is now trying to ascertain whether the HPV-16 DNA they detected is in cancerous cells or not. HPV shows up in more than 90 percent of cervical-cancer cells. It"s unusual that the researchers found some HPV-16 even in benign tissues, says Howard D. Strickler, who coauthored the 1998 study finding no HPV in prostate tumors. "Their study would have been strengthened had they demonstrated that they were able to detect HPV at high prevalence in the cancers that we know to be HPV-associated, and not in related normal tissues," says Strickler, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York City. "Absent that sort of data, it"s difficult to know about the sensitivity and specificity of this assay." —N. Seppa Obsessions, compulsions span decades Each day, a girl washes her hands for hours at a time to destroy the bacteria that, she tells herself, accumulate when she touches doorknobs. A man stops his car and retraces his path after any minor bump in the road, fearing that he has run over someone. People such as these often feel tormented by their obsessive thoughts and compulsive acts but cannot resist them. While the symptoms of what psychiatrists call obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) disrupt daily life with dramatic bluntness, the long-term outlook for sufferers of this condition remains poorly understood. A 40-year investigation now offers a rare glimpse at the natural course of the disorder in a group of individuals who, for the most part, received no formal treatment. A large majority of them exhibited substantial improvement, often within a decade of receiving an OCD diagnosis, hold Gunnar Skoog and Ingmar Skoog, psychiatrists at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Göteborg, Sweden. However, only 1 in 5 individuals achieved full recovery; 1 in 3 continued to grapple with symptoms that interfered with their daily activities, and about 1 in 4 retained milder signs of the disorder. A total of 144 people, all diagnosed with OCD at a psychiatric hospital between 1947 and 1953, participated in the study. Most were interviewed by Gunnar Skoog between 1954 and 1956 and again between 1989 and 1993; for 22, the second interview was with a close friend or family member and not the patient. The study, published in the February Archives of General Psychiatry, contains several intriguing findings. People who developed obsessive-compulsive disorder before age 20, particularly males, had the worst prospects for improvement. Also, intermittent symptom flare-ups were the most commonly reported OCD pattern at the first interviews; at the second interview, participants most frequently cited symptoms that had lasted for at least 5 years. Recovery within a few years of OCD"s onset often heralded lasting gains but did not insulate patients against an eventual return of symptoms. Of 41 volunteers who had nearly or fully recovered from the disorder at the first interview, 20 maintained their improvement 3 decades later, while 8 had relapses after going largely without symptoms for more than 20 years. Only 17 patients received a medication for OCD, clomipramine, that has become available in the past decade. Its use significantly helped 10 of them. "This study will serve as a benchmark in our efforts to understand and treat OCD," conclude psychiatrist Lawrence H. Price of Butler Hospital in Providence, R.I., and his coworkers in an editorial comment in the same journal. Despite limitations in their data and sample, the Skoogs" findings will aid efforts to evaluate the effects of new medications on the natural progression of OCD, Price"s group says. —B. Bower When Lizards Do Push-Ups Humans aren"t the only ones inclined to athletic displays in love and war By SUSAN MILIUS Lizards don"t sing. Instead, they do push-ups. Much as birds chirp their threats and come-ons and commentaries, sagebrush lizards in the western United States communicate through little flex fests. Both male and female lizards rise off their bellies and bob up and down, quick as a recruit slamming into the ground at the feet of a bellowing marine sergeant. During the past decade, Emilia P. Martins of the University of Oregon in Eugene has led a search to decode sagebrush lizard athletics. "They"re incredibly complex," she marvels. Depending on the details, a set of push-ups may indicate something like "Get your presumptuous rear off my rock this instant" or "Be mine, you gorgeous creature." The nuances of all this bobbing and flexing give scientists another world of communication to explore, with intriguing comparisons to bird songs and bee dances. The latest work from Martins and her colleagues shows regional differences in push-up styles, a bit like dialects in human speech. The lizards in California have a special athletic flamboyance that may help scientists observe how one species splits into two. All in all, it gets pretty deep for a push-up. The group of reptiles called Iguania, which includes sagebrush lizards, relies heavily on visual displays. Hundreds of small, tropical Anolis species, for example, do push-ups as well as fanning out skin flaps with eye-popping colors under their chins. Iguanas bob their heads in elaborate patterns. The observation of lizard push-ups turned into a science during the 1960s, when Charles Carpenter of the University of Oklahoma demonstrated that he could tell species apart by the patterns of their push-ups. Other researchers began decoding displays and musing about speciation in a variety of these animals. When Martins entered the field in the late 1980s, the few studies of the sagebrush lizard, or Sceloporus graciosus, had focused on head motions of captive males. She instead turned to southern California woodlands to watch both male and female lizards in the wild. Analyzing more than 1,500 displays, Martins concluded that three aspects combine to reveal the inner meaning of a push-up: the pattern of head bobs, the overall body posture, and the number of legs flexing and stretching. At one extreme, sagebrush lizard displays include simple strings of head bobs without any noticeable extension of the legs—what Martins" graduate student Ahrash N. Bissell describes as "a funky jerk." At the other extreme, the lizards perform complex patterns of single and double head bobs with four legs pumping, all the while holding some flashy body pose, such as a raised tail. Giving a quick lesson in how to speak basic push-up, Martins explains the fundamental conversation topics: wooing, warring, and arriving at a really great rock. If you"re a male and want to convey romantic intentions, do five to nine push-ups in a hurry and keep your scary blue belly patch from showing. Occasionally, you might add a bit more body language. Move as if doing push-ups and trying to walk at the same time—a distinctive courtship gesture known as the shudder bob. For territorial spats, face off with the intruder and give a long, vigorous performance, Martins advises. Now"s the time to raise your tail or suck in that gut and flash some blue. What Martin calls "broadcast displays," perhaps serving the function of a bird"s territorial call, don"t have to be strenuous. At a conspicuous spot in the territory, just dart to the top of a log or rock and bob up and down one to four times—no special effects required. Don"t worry about an audience; Martins often sees lizards broadcasting without any obvious watchers. There"s no need to mimic the other lizards exactly. Martins" statistical analysis found repeatable individual quirks, such as variation in the number and timing of head bobs. Such differences might simply reflect some physical state, like youthful zip or a nasty infection. Still, the analysis raises the possibility of personal signatures in push-up styles. "I could easily tell the lizards apart" by watching three or four displays, Martins says. Martins also noticed that the lizards avoided certain combinations of elements as if they were nonsensical or somehow bad language. For example, displays with a lot of leg action did not stop with a few head bobs but always involved a great number. Nor did lizards that arched their backs rely on head motion alone for the rest of the display. Instead, they flexed at least two, and usually four, legs. "There seems to be a grammatical rule requiring that the three components increase or decrease together," Martins says. Yes, she referred to grammar. She acknowledges that "conventional wisdom might deem it absurd to conclude that lizards have language." Yet the animals do seem to follow rules in their push-up display system. "It has a syntax," Martins says. To compare push-ups with other animal communication systems, Martins has drawn on standardized measures developed by information theorists. Push-ups don"t have as much organization as some other forms of animal communication, yet the lizards make a respectable showing. The measure of organization Martins calculated, called maximum entropy, depends on the number of possible words or signals in the system. Push-ups, with 6,864 possibilities for mixing and matching components, give an index of almost 13. The honeybee dance gives 25; the "chick-a-dee" call of the black-capped chickadee, 48; and written English, 1,908. That ranking fits the expectations of Jack P. Hailman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who made the chickadee calculations. "I think it highly unlikely that lizards could say as much as birds, even if they had as much to say—which they don"t," he remarks. However, from another perspective, the lizards get the top rating. Martins calculated a measure that information theorists call evenness of a communication code, which roughly relates to efficiency. Smaller evenness values suggest that only a few parts of the communication system do most of the work. In spoken English, "the," "you know," and "impeachment" get a lot more use than "autantitypy" and "I-hudeket." Looked at this way, the lizard language, at 0.48, outranks the chickadee call, at 0.14. Both leave written English back in the inefficient dust at 0.01. One dramatic finding from Martins" research came from studying a quality of communication systems called openness. She found an unexpected similarity between lizard push-ups and human speech. In an open system, there"s no limit to the new communication signals, like words or sentences, that may be created. Until 1985, researchers judged openness intuitively, and in the prevailing opinion, only human language achieved it. Then, while pondering chickadee data, Hailman had what he calls "a gee-whiz moment" and developed an objective test. It indicated that the chickadee call he studied counts as an open system. When Martins tried the same thing with lizard push-ups, she found an open system. In fact, the lizard results matched the chickadees". "I see no particular reason that this type of openness would be restricted to human language and chickadee calls," Hailman says. The latest work Martins and her colleagues have done on lizard displays reveals one of the less obvious differences between California and Oregon: Their lizards tend to do push-ups differently. Both styles differ from Utah lizards". "It"s like telling somebody from Louisiana from somebody from New York," Bissell says. For example, 21 percent of push-ups from the Californian lizards include exaggerated body attitude, such as performing a Halloween-cat back arch. Only 2 percent of the displays recorded from Oregon had an exaggerated posture. And as far as the researchers could tell, in Utah it"s just not done. Sandra L. Vehrencamp of the University of California, San Diego resists the temptation, without more research, to call these patterns dialects. Traditionally, dialects have sharp borders, she says. Just finding variation among distant populations does not reveal whether characteristics shift gradually or abruptly. Dialects are certainly known in animals besides humans, Vehrencamp explains. A coauthor with J.W. Bradbury of the 1998 book Principles of Animal Communication (Sinauer Associates), she studies bird songs and calls, which clearly have regional oddities. For example, Timothy F. Wright of the University of Maryland in College Park has documented dialects in the calls of Amazonian parrots. At the border between dialect zones, birds don"t use some intermediate form. Instead, Vehrencamp says, "the parrots are bilingual." But what if such regional dialects get so far apart that a female can"t figure out what a suitor is talking about? Martins asks. The female may quickly dismiss her admirer as Mr. Wrong. "It"s a fast way to create new species," Martins speculates. The communications-breakdown theory of species formation sounds plausible to Jonathan B. Losos of Washington University in St. Louis. Thanks to the magic of paint, he switched the color of throat flaps, called dewlaps, in members of two otherwise similar-looking Anolis species. The color change alone, which showed clearly in territorial displays, fooled the lizards into wasting a full-scale, aggressive display—normally reserved only for same-species encounters—on members of the other species. Having seen how a fairly simple color kink in a display foiled the animals" attempts to identify their own kind, Losos says he can believe that body-language snafus matter in speciation. However, a test of that notion didn"t turn out as predicted, says Thomas A. Jenssen of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va. He watched lizard flirtations in a part of Haiti where the ranges of two sister species of Anolis, websteri and caudalis, met. The courtship displays of the males looked plenty different to Jenssen, so he suspected that the style differences helped maintain the separation between species. Not so. "Websteri females didn"t care," he said. They were just as likely to mate with the wrong species as they were with their own kind. Another puzzle for the speciation theorists, he says, comes from lizard displays that don"t seem to vary much despite great variation in geography. The lizard Jenssen studies, Anolis carolinensis, shows astonishingly uniform display behavior across a wide range of geography in the southeastern United States. He even checked out a group of lizards whose ancestors were introduced into Hawaii in the 1950s. He expected that 40 or so generations later, the lizards would have a unique aloha style. Not so. What little variation Jenssen saw didn"t even amount to the difference between populations of this species in Georgia versus Florida. The behavior "is just rock solid," he says. "It"s an enigma. It goes against all the things I"ve been trained to expect." The evolution and effects of lizard display behavior might hold a lot more surprises for researchers. Understanding regional differences in communication could make a big difference in conservation, Martins points out. She"s recently studied Cyclura lizards on small Caribbean islands. Differences in head-bob displays from island to island for the same species often rival differences between species. Such variation could sabotage attempts to preserve a species, she warns. What if a zoo trying to breed rare lizards gets a male from some far-flung place whose eccentric displays don"t make sense to the female? Or what if a cross-cultural pair produce offspring but can"t pass on the right dialect to make it in the real world? Martins is just beginning to explore whether young lizards learn local variations or are born with them. The thought of a silent spring without bird songs has galvanized conservationists for decades. Would a motionless spring, without the rich variety of bobbing, arching displays of lizards, be just as melancholy? n A western U.S. sagebrush lizard, Sceloporus graciosus, communicates by varying its push-ups with head bobs and leg flexes. Making sure that other lizards know his territory, a male Anolis conspersus on Grand Cayman flares out a blue dewlap. An adult male Anolis sagrei on Grand Cayman asserts home ownership. A male Cyclura carinata in the Turks and Caicos Islands strikes a tough pose. Souping up Supercomputing Retooling the underpinnings of high-performance computing By JANET RALOFF Computers and the information industry that they"ve spawned drive more and more of the U.S. economy. During the past 5 years, production of computers, semiconductors, and communications equipment in the United States has quadrupled—a rate of growth more than 10 times that of the industrial sector in general. "Over the past 3 years, information technology alone has accounted for more than one-third of America"s economic growth," noted Vice President Al Gore in an address at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting last month in Anaheim, Calif. Most recent advances in this industry derive from investments in fundamental computer science made 30 or 40 years ago, according to a report prepared last August by the President"s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC). This panel of industry leaders and academic scientists noted that, over the intervening years, the federal government and the information industry have made steady investments in computer research. However, PITAC concludes that both sectors have "compromised" the return on those investments by their continuing shift toward applied research—efforts that focus on explicit, near-term goals. A host of other researchers chorused similar concerns at a series of workshops last year. Fundamental computer-science research has not been keeping pace with the growth of the industry, they argued, or with its ability to churn out ever-faster computer chips. Already, several U.S. national labora-tories have systems that can perform a trillion operations per second (SN: 12/12/98, p. 383). These systems are known as teraflops (for trillion floating point, or real number, operations). The next decade promises "petaflops" machines, which will crunch numbers 1,000 times faster than teraflops (SN: 4/15/95, p. 234). It"s clear that this hardware "has gotten well ahead of the software and of the ways that we organize information-storage capacity," says James Langer, the University of California, Santa Barbara physicist who chaired a national workshop on advanced scientific computing last July. The gap between hardware and the software that runs it has reached a point where "we don"t understand at a scientific level many of the things that we"re now building," observes George Strawn, acting director for computer and information science and engineering at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Arlington, Va. To better understand these machines and what it will take to build and effectively use even more powerful computers, Gore unveiled plans for a federal initiative. Called Information Technology for the 21st Century—or IT2—it would boost federal support for fundamental computer science. Of the roughly $1.8 billion in federal spending on computer research slated for the coming fiscal year, $366 million in new funding would support IT2, according to the President"s proposed budget (SN: 2/6/99, p. 87). The program has strong support in the powerful information-technology industry and the research community at large, according to presidential science adviser Neal Lane. At a AAAS press briefing immediately following Gore"s announcement of IT2, Lane noted that the initiative"s broad outline had been drafted to deal with specific problems that have been identified both by PITAC and researchers who depend on high-performance computing. They span the disciplines from particle physics to pharmacology. Indeed, IT2 has had broader input from the scientific community than any research initiative in history, according to NSF Director Rita Colwell. "That"s good," she adds, "because this is the most important initiative, in my view, that will be launched in the 21st century." Computers have traditionally tackled problems serially, as a sequence of related steps. However, Strawn notes, "you just can"t build a serial computer that"s big enough and fast enough to attack some of the huge supercomputing problems that we"re addressing now, such as good prediction of tornadoes or the simulation of combustion." Supercomputer designers have therefore been making a general transition to parallel computers. These lightning-quick systems divide a huge computing problem into small elements. Linked computers then work on them simultaneously, eventually integrating the results. "Today"s really big computers are being put together from assemblages of desktop-type systems," Strawn says. Their hundreds to thousands of networked computers don"t even have to share the same address. When the software uniting them works effectively, such a distributed supercomputer can span the globe (SN: 2/21/98, p. 127). "For the past 5 years," he says, "we"ve been experimenting with and developing such distributed, high-performance computing facilities." What those efforts have driven home is how hard it is to make them work as one, Strawn says. "Clearly, there are still plenty of fundamental understandings that elude us on how to do highly parallel programming." He notes that PITAC, recognizing this, said that "the first three issues it wanted us to focus on are software, software, and software." The demand for software far exceeds the nation"s ability to produce it, PITAC found. It attributed this "software gap" to a number of issues, including labor shortages, an accelerating demand for new programs, and the difficulty of producing new programs—which PITAC described as "among the most complex of human-engineered structures." When a software program is released, PITAC found, it tends to be fragile—meaning it doesn"t work well, or at all, under challenging conditions. Programs often emerge "riddled with errors," or bugs, and don"t operate reliably on all of the machines for which they were designed. Contributing to all of these problems is the tendency for the complexity of a software program to grow disproportionately to its size. "So if one software project is 10 times bigger than another, it may be 1,000 times more complicated," notes Strawn. Huge programs therefore "become increasingly harder to successfully implement." The solution, he and many others now conclude, is that the writing of software codes "has to be transformed into a science" from the idiosyncratic "artsy-craftsy activity" that characterizes most of it today. If that can be achieved, he says, "we should be able to create a real engineering discipline of software construction." Establishing such a science will be among the primary goals of IT2, Lane says. One dividend of that pursuit, he believes, will be the emergence of software modules—large, interchangeable, off-the-shelf chunks of computer code that can be selected and shuffled to reliably achieve novel applications. Automakers can today order standard nuts, bolts, mufflers, spark plugs, and pistons to build a new car. "We don"t have that in software," Lane says, "but we"re going to." At the same time, IT2 will be probing new means to test software, notes Jane Alexander, acting deputy director of the Defense Department"s Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Va. At issue, she says, is how quality-control engineers can debug programs that may contain many millions of lines of software code. Such debugging will prove vital if huge codes come to determine the safety of flying in a jumbo jet or the ability to reliably direct missiles away from civilian centers. The IT2 initiative will also spur research in other areas integral to harnessing supercomputers, such as the development of technologies to manage and visually represent data. Like software, these technologies lag far behind today"s sophisticated computer chips. The shortcomings already threaten to hobble Department of Energy programs. That department plays a lead role in modeling complex phenomena including climate, nuclear detonations, and chemical reactions unleashed by burning fuels. The mind-numbing complexity of these simulations has pushed DOE to the forefront of supercomputing—and up against the field"s data-management limits—notes Michael Knotek, program adviser for science and technology for DOE. Today"s supercomputers spit out files of gigantic size. The new teraflops machines will bump up data-storage needs even more. Computer scientists expect the machines to generate terabytes of data per hour, Knotek says—or enough daily to fill the equivalent of 1 million desktop- computer hard drives. The largest archival storage system in existence holds just 86 terabytes of data. "We"re going to need to hold tens or hundreds of petabytes," Knotek says. Without question, "this will require new technology." Storing all of these data will be pointless, however, if it isn"t cataloged so that it can be easily retrieved. New techniques and software will have to be developed for managing these data libraries and mining nuggets of useful information from them. Even this challenge pales, however, when compared with figuring out how to display such massive amounts of data in a way that humans can meaningfully comprehend. For instance, a high-density computer monitor can display 1 million pixels, or display elements, on its screen. Attempting to depict a terabyte of data would require assigning 1 million data points to each pixel—a fruitless exercise, Knotek explains. One virtual-reality display technology being developed to cope with large data sets goes by the name of CAVE, for Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (SN: 11/12/94, p. 319). It projects into a room a three-dimensional image of data from a computer simulation. A viewer wears special goggles to see the projection in 3-D and a headset to tell the system where the individual is relative to the depicted scene. These gadgets allow the viewer to walk within a CAVE to examine the data from many angles and probe different variables. While studying gases swirling in a combustion chamber and chimney, for instance, the viewer might alter the flame temperature or the position of baffles and then watch how this changes gas eddies or the generation of pollutants. Renderings of such scenes in today"s CAVEs look cartoonish, and the views are limited. The ultimate goal is a realistic rendition of some simulated environment—akin to scenes depicted by the Holodeck in Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. Ideally, such a system should simultaneously afford many linked viewers a full-sensory Holodeck experience, including the sounds, feel, and smell of a simulated environment. The new initiative will also tackle a host of other challenges, Lane says, such as the development of new computer hardware architectures, language-translation strategies (SN: 3/8/97, p. 150), and technologies that make computing easier. The last might include better programs to recognize voice commands or programs that better hide from the user"s view the complexity of a computer"s activities. At the touch of a button, for instance, programs might not only surf the Internet to find desired information but also assemble it into an easy-to-understand report. Langer advocates that developers of these new technologies should work hand-in-hand with the scientists who will use them. This should ensure "that we focus on the right science problems, the right engineering problems, and the right computer problems." In the absence of such cooperation, he argues, a lot of money could be spent "to make a toy—something that makes pretty pictures but doesn"t advance our science." Similarly, there is always the risk that quantitative changes in computing won"t bring along important advances—that "we might just use our new teraflops computers as big gigaflops machines"—observes Steven Koonin, a particle physicist and provost of the California Institute of Technology. "And until about 6 months ago, we were," he says. "Now, people are starting to understand the capabilities of these machines and to use them in qualitatively different ways." One example, he says, is that "we"re finally starting to get some real science from some simulations in the [nuclear-weapons stewardship] program that you could never have gotten with a gigaflops machine." Part of what it takes to make that leap in effectively harnessing a new generation of supercomputers is the assembling of cadres of specialists, much the way hospitals now bring together teams of experts to consult on thorny medical cases, Koonin says. The day of the general-purpose computer scientist is gone. No individual has the vision to take in and comprehend all the vistas these computers are now presenting, he argues. Such new collaborations will be necessary, Lane and Colwell agree, to deliver the type of novel research that PITAC called for—"groundbreaking, high-risk- high-return research . . . that will bear fruit over the next 40 years." Colwell concludes, "When people ask, Why invest in the IT2? I say it"s absolutely a must ...a national imperative." n Supercomputer-compiled 3-D view of weather over Colorado, created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration"s Local Analysis Prediction System. The image combines data from surface stations, aircraft, wind profilers, Doppler radar, and satellites. Horizontal surface and vertical back walls are color coded to denote temperature. Barbs show wind direction and speed. White areas are clouds. To effectively model regional climate changes, the Department of Energy says the resolution of such simulations must improve by a factor of 10. The San Diego Supercomputer Center hosts the world"s largest data-storage system. This peek inside one of its three tape libraries reveals the robot arm (center) used to retrieve 10-gigabyte cartridges of filed data. Supercomputer animation of a tornado, based on a new wind-vector visualization process. It allows researchers to probe aspects of the turbulence by injecting colored "dyes" that then flow with the local winds. With "telepresence" technology, depicted here, computers portray off-site, telecommunicating colleagues as avatars—virtual-reality figures with synchronized facial expressions, hand gestures, and audio responses. Today"s telepresence systems remain quite primitive and can host only a few avatars. Infrared image of the Milky Way"s Orion nebula recorded by the Subaru Telescope. Many stars clustered around the Trapezium, a group of four stars at the center, are embedded within the Orion molecular cloud and can be seen only at infrared wavelengths. Materials Science Red phosphors for "green" fluorescents A new material made by researchers at Utrecht University in the Netherlands offers a great two- for-one deal on light: After absorbing a single high-energy ultraviolet (UV) photon, it gives off two low-energy red photons. In combination with blue- and green-light-emitting compounds, this material could make practical more environmentally friendly fluorescent lamps. A standard fluorescent bulb contains mercury vapor, which gives off UV light when stimulated by an electric current. The UV light excites luminescent materials known as phosphors that coat the inside of the bulb. The phosphors then reemit the absorbed energy as red, green, and blue photons, which combine to create white light. One UV photon yields one visible photon. Researchers have tried to replace the toxic mercury with less-harmful xenon gas, with little success. Xenon emits higher-energy UV light than mercury and so, with currently available phosphors, wastes more energy. The one-for-one photon conversion doesn"t produce enough light to be economical. The new material, synthesized by Andries Meijerink and his colleagues, solves that problem by turning one photon into two. A gadolinium ion in the compound absorbs one UV photon, then transfers the energy sequentially to two europium ions. Each europium ion then gives off a photon of red light. The researchers report their findings in the Jan. 29 Science. The Utrecht team is now determining whether the material will remain stable under the constant bombardment of high-energy UV light. The researchers are also trying to create blue and green phosphors to complement the red one. —C.W. Polymers glow bright for 3-D displays A group of commercially made polymers could form the basis of inexpensive displays that show objects in three dimensions, according to a new study. Such displays are in demand for applications ranging from medical imaging to air-traffic control. Scientists have already devised three-dimensional displays that use a block of luminescent material that glows only when stimulated by two laser beams (SN: 10/26/96, p. 270). A set of lasers scanning the block can trace out a shape wherever they intersect, generating patterns like a three-dimensional Etch-A-Sketch. These prototypes, however, require expensive light- emitting glasses that are difficult to synthesize. In the current study, Michael Bass and his colleagues at the University of Central Florida in Orlando tested several dyed polymers made by CYRO Industries in Orange, Conn., to see whether they would work for such a display. These brightly colored acrylics are widely used in fluorescent advertising signs and glowing children"s toys, says Bass. He and his group found that the acrylics can indeed emit colored light when stimulated by a pair of infrared beams. "This shows it"s possible to make practical [three-dimensional] displays a reality and at a reasonable cost," says Bass. The Florida team reports its findings in the Jan. 18 Applied Physics Letters. —C.W. Enzyme churns out conducting polymers Polymers that conduct electricity can form the basis of lightweight, inexpensive batteries and electronic components. Their complicated synthesis using organic solvents limits their practicality, however. Now, researchers at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell and the U.S. Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command in Natick, Mass., have developed a simple way to synthesize a conducting polymer called polyaniline. The one-step, water-based method could be a cheap, environmentally benign way to make polyaniline on an industrial scale. The researchers use an enzyme to construct the polymer from its building blocks. They describe their method in the Jan. 13 Journal of the American Chemical Society. —C.W. Technology From Washington, D.C., at a research workshop sponsored by the Bioelectromagnetics Society Low-voltage gene transfer Biotechnologists often employ an electric current to punch a tiny hole into a cell through which they can then insert a foreign gene. The high voltages and currents typical of this procedure, called electroporation, can heat the treated cells, however—often damaging or killing all but 10 to 30 percent of them, notes Robert E. Schmukler of Pore Squared Bioengineering in Rockville, Md. By redesigning the environment in which electroporation occurs, he"s been able to drop the current to one-thousandth of what had previously been needed. This "kinder and gentler" approach boosts cell survival to at least 93 percent, he reports. The trick, he found, is to use a thin film of an electrically insulating material perforated with tiny holes around 2 micrometers in diameter. He bathes the film in a solution containing the foreign genes, then spreads the cells to be treated across the top. When he applies a weak vacuum to the underside of the film, suction draws a tiny fingerlike projection from each cell into a different hole. Then Schmukler switches on a roughly 10-volt potential between electrodes above and below the film. Because the film doesn"t conduct electricity, the current is drawn through the holes, each now filled with a piece of a cell. The electric field inside the film"s narrow holes rises almost 1,000- fold, easily reaching the magnitude necessary to open a pore at the tip of each cell"s projection. This breach allows some of the gene-laden solution to enter. Because the current remains low, around 25 milliamperes, little heating occurs. Schmukler has tested a prototype of his patented system with two different genes and two different types of mammalian cells. In a separate test-tube experiment designed to emulate gene therapy in an animal tissue, he has used this porous-film system to insert genes for a fluorescent enzyme into a living heart vessel. Proof that the technique worked was visible 3 days later, when the new genes caused the vessel"s cells to emit a green glow. —J.R. Microwave mammography Most women over the age of 40 are intimately acquainted with mammography, which uses X rays to hunt for breast tumors. This potentially life-saving procedure is uncomfortable under the best of circumstances—which is why William T. Joines thinks women may warm to a microwave alternative. The system that he"s developing at Duke University in Durham, N.C., aims to locate mammary tumors with at least the same resolution as today"s diagnostic devices. Yet because there"s no need to tightly compress the breast during imaging, the risk of pain or bruising would be eliminated. Women "should feel nothing," Joines says. His technology relies on the fact that microwaves respond somewhat differently when passing through healthy tissue and tumors. Compared with an equal volume of healthy breast tissue, a tumor not only dissipates about six times as much of the signal"s energy, but also slows the signal"s passage. As Joines envisions the new procedure, a women would lie face down on a table with a cutaway section containing a well of warm fluid. This liquid, which could be a mix of salt water and alcohol, mimics healthy tissue"s ability to transmit a microwave signal. Once a breast is immersed in the liquid, a small transmitter would send a beam of microwaves into the well. An array of detectors surrounding the container would then monitor the signal, triangulating any points where the beam slows or weakens—spots that might pinpoint cancers. In tests using materials that mimic the microwave-signal attenuation and velocity in normal tissue and tumors, the system detected modeled tumors just 2 millimeters in diameter. Joines hopes soon to begin validation tests using tissue from breast-surgery patients. —J.R.
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Summary: BATS, the second-largest U.S. equities market center, is actively seeking a hardworking, talented professional to lead a newly created internal audit department. BATS is internalizing a portion of its internal audit function from external accounting firms. Location:6/1/2015 Lenexa, KS Save This Job
Req No. 2015-1462 Job Locations US-CA-South San Francisco Category Accounting/Finance Type Temporary Full-Time More information about this job: The temporary senior finance analyst will assist Financial Planning & Analysis Team, providing valuable financial reporting/analyses6/1/2015 South San Francisco, CA Save This Job
Job ID 2015-2969 Job Location US-TX-Austin Category Finance Type Full-Time More information about this job About Bazaarvoice Bazaarvoice is a network that connects brands and retailers to the authentic voices of people where they shop. Each month, more than 500 million people5/29/2015 Austin, TX Save This Job
Job description ---NO AGENCIES PLEASE--- POSITION SUMMARY: The Associa Home Office is hiring for a new position on the Finance/Accounting team! The IT Auditor will provide audits for purposes of IT risk assessment. This is a position that requires a professional who is an5/26/2015 Dallas, TX Save This Job
San Francisco, United States The Revenue Operations team is looking for a highly qualified Cash Operations Accountant. In this position you will have broad exposure to various teams at Airbnb and will also work closely with external business partners. The ideal candidate for5/12/2015 San Francisco, CA Save This Job
As Scribd?s Staff Accountant, you?ll be the gatekeeper for all transactions entered into our accounting system. You?ll assist us in building analytical tools to track budgeted vs. actual results and standardize our accounting processes to facilitate timely and accurate financial5/12/2015 San Francisco, CA Save This Job
With solutions designed for law firms, property management / real estate and financial professionals, AppFolio's web-based software is used by thousands of happy customers. Primary responsibilities include developing and maintaining major forec6/3/2015 Santa Barbara, CA Save This Job
ID 2015-3035 Job Locations US-MD-Landover Category Compliance More information about this job: What We're Looking For: 2U is seeking an experienced senior staff-level audit associate (CIA and/or CPA strongly preferred) to assist with the formation of an internal audit function6/25/2015 Landover, MD Save This Job
Progenra is a biotech company focused on ubiquitin pathway drug discovery in multiple therapeutic areas. CFO is expected to help grow the company, execute financial planning and raising capital have direct impact on the team engaged in discovery and development of novel and6/9/2015 Malvern, VA Save This Job
Are you looking for an opportunity to accelerate your career and work with a team of friendly, creative people? Upland Software offers a collaborative work environment full of smart, positive, and passionate people who are respected for their unique talents and empowered to do6/8/2015 Austin, TX Save This Job
Location:Headquarters - Pleasanton DESCRIPTION Summary: We are a rapidly growing medical device manufacturing company looking for a GL Accountant to join our team. We foster an environment that blends are strengths: team players with an entrepreneurial mentality. The ideal6/8/2015 Pleasanton, CA Save This Job
Are you looking for an opportunity to accelerate your career and work with a team of friendly, creative people? Upland Software offers a collaborative work environment full of smart, positive, and passionate people who are respected for their unique talents and empowered to do6/3/2015 Austin, TX Save This Job

subset: commoncrawl


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Gracious Guest Rooms
Give a plain twin bed majesty and drama by topping it with this simple sheer canopy.
Cost: About $60
Time: An hour
Skill: Beginner
To fashion the canopy, you'll need approximately 7 yards of fabric. (For a different size bed, estimate the yardage needed by measuring the width of the bed and tripling the measurement. The fabric should be long enough to gracefully drape across the bed and to the floor on either side.) Hem the raw edges with a needle and thread; or use fabric tape or glue for a no-sew option. Attach two 2-foot-long wood dowels to the wall with L-brackets. Then hide the brackets with large tassels slung over the dowels. Drape the fabric over the dowels, letting it fall in front of the dowel ends to hide them. Or, finish off the dowels with round wood finials screwed into the ends.


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Aloft Chicago City Center
- 515 North Clark Street
- Chicago,
- Illinois
- 60654
- Estados Unidos
- Mapa
- Telefone: (1)(312) 661-1000
- Fale conosco
- Anúncios
- visite o nosso site
- 10:43 hrs
Quartos e tarifas
Rated 4.4 out of 5 by 256 reviewers.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Liddy Weekend Stay I love this hotel! Rooms were very clean. Staff was very friendly and accomodating. The location was by far the best! June 10, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by StarwoodStayer Consistently fantastic service I stay at this property on a fairly regular basis and have had consistently spectacular service from the front desk staff and the rest of the team. They seem to really value their customers and go out of their way to make sure each stay goes flawlessly. April 20, 2015
Rated 4 out of 5 by DeniseATX Exceeds Expectations This was my second time staying at the Aloft Chicago City Center and I think this is now my go to hotel in Chicago. Personally, I like the Aloft style, but what I really love about the Chicago location in particular is the restaurant Beatrix. It's nice to be able to run down and grab a coffee in the morning or order room service. I also love that the hotel is located near a plethora of restaurants. The rooms are fine, nothing fancy, but I'm not really looking for fancy when I travel for work. I'll definitely stay here again. April 9, 2015
Rated 1 out of 5 by SPGplatinumK12 Unsatisfactory Pros: Location Cons: Extremely thin wall (there were numerous times when I thought someone was trying to open my hotel door, noise from the hallway, from the other rooms across and next), Hair under the pillows upon check-in (one long and short, can you imagine? this was my first time happening this from SPG properties), Very limited bathroom amenities (Bliss products they use are not what I'm used to from W hotel - this one was runny lotion, shampoo and conditioner mixed dispenser attached on the wall, shower gel completely different from the original bliss product) Complete disappointment! I will not stay here again when I visit Chicago. April 3, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by nurse2008a Great Hotel. This is a great place to stay, ver friendly staff, clean rooms, awesome all around. I really appreciated that the valet person put our GPS in our glove box so it wouldn't be out in the open to temp someone to break into our vehicle. Cannot say enough good things about this hotel. Thanks again for the pleasant stay. March 30, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Chase17 Such a fun place to stay! Hotel and rooms were very clean. I absolutely loved all of the unique design elements and the guest services staff was very knowledgable and friendly. Tara checked us in and worked efficiently and answered any questions we had quickly and professionally. I work in guest services myself and was delighted with my stay at Aloft. The only critique I have is that valet was rather unresponsive, as we had to approach the front desk with out luggage to get an attendant while our car sat in the valet unloading area. Would definitely stay again! March 19, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by DanOttawa Super location This hotel is well located and walking distance to main attractions, restaurants, & client offices. Rooms are very comfortable, staff are prompt both at front desk and at the restaurant, lounge & bar. Highly recommend & will return on next CHI business trip. March 14, 2015
Rated 4 out of 5 by MitchyG Excellent Downtown Hotel Great location, rooms are more than adequate given proximity to downtown. Great staff. Parking via valet. March 12, 2015


text: Exactly how bad is Project Vapour for McGuinty? Add to ... The Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 12:09PM EDT Last updated Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 1:16PM EDT The Globe's Queen's Park correspondent Karen Howlett explains how the Project Vapour scandal came to light and what this means while the Ontario legislature is prorogued. Watch More Video: Speeding bus plunges off bridge in China Polls open in Greece euro zone referendum Low oil prices can't crush stampede spirit Hunt is on for WestJet bomb threat culprit 'I'm safer in Baghdad': Courtney Love caught in violent anti-Uber protest in Paris Greece suffering from 'brain drain' as thousands of doctors leave for Germany 'It's big business now.' Saskatchewan family sells farm after three generations on the land Say goodbye to popping bubble wrap? Shadow of debt crisis looms over Greek holiday isle Bomb threat made against Victoria-bound flight 'Yes' camp takes slim lead in Greek bailout referendum poll More Loblaw workers threaten to strike Trump is creating a 'nightmare scenario' for the GOP Freight train derails, catches fire in Tennessee Is the European Union divided over Greece? BP to pay $18.7-billion after 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill A glimpse at Canada's least-visited national park Black church fires investigated across southern U.S. Animal control officers say dogs too often left in hot cars Foreign tourists say 'Cuban ethos' may fade with American influx Comments AA More Related to this Story McGuinty office's 'Project Vapour' tried to manage power-plant fallout Ontario Liberals to decide details of leadership race this weekend


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Bill Zajac, senior manager in quality assurance at Golden Valley-based Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America, was promoted to director of operational excellence, organizational sourcing and business re-engineering in the administration division.
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Ind. K-9 bites boy during demonstration at school
The police dog bit the boy in the leg when the child started fidgeting during a mock drug search.
Join the discussion
PoliceOne top 5
- 1 2nd inmate in prison break shot, captured
- 2 Former LA cop involved in OIS shares lessons on deadly force
- 3 Video: Cops, medic, firefighters brawl at T-ball game
- 4 Colo. officer sings to young girl after fatal accident
- 5 NY Gov. Cuomo: Escaped prisoners planned on Mexico


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For those looking to navigate around the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon events, please look at the following schedules. These schedules provide the approximate times when traffic will be disrupted around our courses. Note that after the peak of runner traffic is through, public safety and volunteers will work to pulse traffic through intersections when it is safe to do so.
For the 5K route intersection disruption schedule click HERE.
For the Half Marathon route intersection disruption schedule click HERE.
For the Marathon route intersection disruption schedule click HERE
Do you have what it takes to inspire your fellow runners? Can you take the ups, downs, ins and outs of training and turn them into motivational learning experiences? Are you a social media guru who loves to share your funny anecdotes, current status and stunning photos? We're looking for five runners training for the half or full marathon to serve as ambassadors and be our Leaders of the Pack.
As a Leader of the Pack, you'll be a part of our social media team sharing your experience, insight and inspiring participants. In exchange you'll get the ultimate VIP experience on race weekend:
Race day uniform – you will be sponsored by Nicolet National Bank and have sponsor apparel to represent on race day.
Running shoes – find your perfect pair before race day compliments of Run Away Shoes.
Express Packet Pick-up – you're packet and t-shirt will be waiting for you at the marathon merchandise booth – no lines, no waiting. Our medical partner Prevea will also hook you up with some extra swag, including a duffle bag and water bottle!
$25 for marathon merchandise – you will receive a $25 gift certificate for Cellcom Green Bay Marathon apparel from our booth at the expo.
Preferred Start – be introduced at the start of the race and start from our preferred start corral.
Fast Pass to Massage Tent – a complimentary massage is yours and you'll have a fast pass to the front of the line.
VIP Tent – You and a guest will have access to our finish line VIP tent that includes a buffet, beer and bloody mary's compliments of Festival Foods and The Marq.
Training support – Western Racquet & Fitness will provide a membership, access to group fitness classes, and more through marathon weekend to help your training stay on track.
Tell us in 100 words or less why you should be a Leader of the Pack. Five winners will be chosen! Must be registered for the event upon entering and be prepared to share your experience via social media before and during event weekend. Enter between now and March 15. Winners will be notified by March 20.
We are excited to announce that we are going to a "wave start" for all 2015 Cellcom Green Bay Marathon events. A wave start consists of staggered starts of groups of participants instead of one mass start for all participants. There is a short "break" between the start of each wave. Participants are assigned to the appropriate wave based on the estimated pace that was entered when they registered. Participants are allowed to move "back" waves but are not allowed to move "up" waves. For example, if you are assigned to Wave C, you can start in any wave from C to F but you cannot start in waves A or B. This will allow people who want to run together the opportunity to do so as the faster runner can move back to the same wave as the slower runner. A wave start will not affect a participant's time. Since we use chip timing, a participant's time does not begin until the start line is crossed and ends when the finish line is crossed.
By going to a wave start, we can provide our participants a more enjoyable race experience. One of the bigger concerns participants have expressed to us is that the start line is very congested and hectic. We want participants to start their race with a positive experience and carry that throughout the day. A wave start allows for less congestion from start to finish. Participants will line up with others who will run a similar pace. This should help you settle into your pace right from the start rather than having to speed up and slow down as you dodge slower participants. It also will help reduce some of the stress on the first couple of water stations and port-a-potties. We also hope this will alleviate some of the congestion in the Lambeau Field tunnel (it certainly will not hurt it). However, runners at the most popular paces (roughly 2 hours for the half-marathon and 4 hours for the marathon) should still expect to experience some congestion due to the number of people at that pace.
The Cellcom Green Bay Marathon has signed on with local vendors for two prominent pieces of race day. Medalcraft Mint, based in Green Bay, will create the race day medals that all finishers receive. Run Away Shoes, with locations in Green Bay, Appleton and Oshkosh, will source the t-shirts for both participants and volunteers.
"The marathon is known for giving a boost to the local economy on event weekend with 13,000-plus runners and spectators coming to town, but the impact really extends beyond that through partnerships with local businesses," said Larry Lueck, interim race director for the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon. "We're excited to have Medalcraft and Runaway Shoes on board in a big way for the 2015 event."
Medalcraft Mint was founded in Wisconsin in 1948 and produces award medals and other commemoratives. They are known throughout the industry for their award-winning artists and craftsmen and unmatched quality. A recent claim-to-fame was the minting of the coin that was used for the Super Bowl coin toss. The company will produce medals for the 5K, marathon, half marathon and marathon relay.
"Completing a running event is a big accomplishment and deserves recognition," said Jerry Moran, president of Medalcraft Mint. "We're excited to be a part of the premier running event in our area and provide runners with a unique, high-quality medal to celebrate their success."
Run Away Shoes, a specialty running store in Northeast Wisconsin, will be the t-shirt vendor for the event. The Cellcom Green Bay Marathon orders over 17,000 shirts for participants and volunteers.
"We've been involved in the event for a number of years, as an exhibitor and as participants. We're excited for the opportunity to expand our relationship as a vendor," said Ross McDowell, owner of Run Away Shoes.
Register for the half or full marathon between January 28 – February 6 for your chance to win a Misfit Shine activity tracker from Cellcom.
The Misfit Shine is a fitness and sleep monitor that can be worn on your wrist with the included band or clipped just about anywhere else for ultimate versatility.
Misfit Shine syncs wirelessly with the Misfit App for IOS, Android and Window.
Click here to register by midnight on February 6 for your chance to win. Five winners will be chosen to receive a Misfit Shine.


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In a USA Today story [1] on a 2008 wish list for airport amenities, among the things mentioned were free [2] wi-fi, lockers and more power outlets.
Denver International Airport can finally check off free wi-fi [3], at least. At one point DIA [4] considered re-opening lockers for use, but that hasn't happened. Some airlines, including Southwest [5] at DIA [4], are offering their own power outlet stations, but it seems in many areas of the airport we could always use more of those.
What's on your wish list, for DIA or other airports?


text:
New Ecommerce for Wordpress Site
This project was successfully completed by DRwebmedia123 for $206 USD in 10 days.Get free quotes for a project like this
Completed by:
Skills Required
Project Budget$30 - $250 USD
Completed In10 days
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Project Description
We're needing a more robust eCommerce for our Wordpress website. At the moment we have five items to sell on our website. The eCommerce we're needing needs to display retail prices and have the ability for select visitors to login to view special wholesale pricing. We want to use PayPal as our payment method (link to PayPal).
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- Forbes
- The New York Times
- Time
- Wall Street Journal
- Times Online


text:
How to: Reduce food waste
Reducing food waste starts with going into the grocery store with a plan. Remember that if you fail to plan, you're planning to fail. That applies to your grocery shopping too. Shop smart Go into the supermarket with planned meals in mind, a grocery list, and a full belly — this reduces impulse buys.Read Article


text:
Use of this dataset should be acknowledged by referring to:
EUMETSAT Ocean and Sea Ice Satelitte Application Facility. Global sea ice concentration reprocessing dataset 1978-2015
(v1.2, 2015), [Online]. Norwegian and Danish Meteorological Institutes. Available from http://osisaf.met.no.
Contact person for OSI SAF Sea Ice products is Steinar Eastwood, met.no,
Updated July 7. 2015 - Webmaster
Steinar Eastwood


text:
The skateboarders can't order hot beverages or attend concerts at Edge64 anymore, but they still have their skate park.
Back to the Bible closed the coffee house and concert hall inside the entertainment complex at 64th Street and Cornhusker Highway about two months ago for financial reasons, according to Tammy Weisert, vice president of media/communications.
"Basically it's just like any other business … you want to operate in the black at some point, but we just weren't seeing it," she said.
The skate park is still open 4-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4-10 p.m. Fridays and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays.
The $1 million complex, with a 500-person capacity, opened in March 2006. It was under the nonprofit organization's umbrella, but it operated separately and for profit.
When it started, Edge64 featured touring Christian bands each month.
The coffeehouse sold sandwiches, pizza and baked goods, in addition to gourmet coffees and specialty drinks.
Edge64 discontinued its food service after a few months, and eventually began booking fewer and fewer concerts.
The last major event was in the spring.
Back to the Bible has no plans for the complex, Weisert said, adding it's still being used.
"It's just not open for public use," she said.
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Hinkley Lighting Landscape Alternate Hex Louver Lens
Special Offer:
12 Issues of Food & Wine
Included with purchase ($20 value).
Hinkley Lighting Landscape Alternate Hex Louver Lens
Additional Documents
Weights & Dimensions
|Lighting Type: Outdoor Lighting
|Product Type: Lenses & Filters
|Finish: Red
|Country of Manufacture: China
About the ManufacturerHinkley Lighting's mission is simple: to bring you cool classics that suit the way you live today. Sophisticated yet comfortable, classic yet hip, worldly yet very close to home and with the perfect balance of style and taste, form and function. Hinkley Lighting manufactures each of its lighting fixtures from superior materials, distinctive designs and unparalleled craftsmanship. Each collection is available in a wide range of sizes and designs from elegant and traditional to sleek and contemporary.
Hinkley Lighting Landscape Alternate Hex Louver Lens
Still have questions about this product? We're here to help
Customer Reviews
Tell Us What You Think!
Tell us what you think about this product. It will help us provide you with better products in the future and help your fellow shoppers make better purchases.Write the first review
OUR SKU # HD3853Landscape Alternate Hex Louver Lens is also sometimes listed under the following manufacturer numbers: 0016HL


text:
Original recipe yields 2 servings
Amount per serving ({{servings}} total)
Based on a 2,000 calorie diet
Ready In
The taste is okay but nothing to brag about so two stars for taste. The chicken had a purple and gray cast to it from the marinade but it ruined it too. I'm a pretty good cook but I just didn't...
This was pretty good. My chicken breasts were pretty thick so I poured the marinade over them and sprinkled the shallots and thyme on top and baked them in the oven. The chicken turned out moist...


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New Area - The River Styx
click on the image to view the topo16 years ago Ghislain Losier sent Nova Scotia's first V10 on the Bung boulder in the Land of Confusion. With nearly ...
Apr 4, 2015, 2:45 PM by Dale Kahneman
Wanna name something?
If you are looking to try your hand at development, the Spim area is an easy place to start. Turn key development - a super short approach and the landings have ...
Posted Mar 11, 2015, 4:50 PM by Dale Kahneman
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Talk:Gerber Legendary Blades
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|This article is of interest to the following WikiProjects:
re: suggested merge. I have no problem with a merge, but I don't know how important the Gerber Guardian is; if it's en par with the Mark II, then I'd suggest we (I) need to find some more info to
plagiarise write into the article.. The existing article for the guardian needs massively expanding if not merging. --22.214.171.124 17:22, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
This article needs expanding, sourcing, etc. I concur with the idea to merge the individual knife articles into this one. --Mike Searson 22:57, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
- should the frame lock feature be mentioned as well? seems innovative, not sure if its new
The lead section seems to contradict the history section on the founding date. Huw Powell (talk) 00:48, 15 January 2009 (UTC)
- C-Class Blades articles
- High-importance Blades articles
- C-Class WikiProject Business articles
- Unknown-importance WikiProject Business articles
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- Unknown-importance company articles
- WikiProject Companies articles
- C-Class Oregon articles
- Low-importance Oregon articles
- WikiProject Oregon pages


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Seeking the services of a family therapist is similar to finding the right pair of shoes: sometimes you have to try several pairs before you find the right fit. The most important thing is to feel comfortable with your therapist and sense she or he is a person you can grow to trust. It is useful to select a therapist who is comfortable and willing to discuss race openly and directly. One of the best ways to test this out is to bring up the topic of race and observe how comfortably the therapist responds.
The text of this brochure was written by Tracey A. Laszloffy, PhD.
Use the AAMFT Consumer Update "Multiracial Families" pamphlets to market your practice.
Find a Qualified Marriage and Family Therapist in your area.
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
112 South Alfred Street Alexandria, VA 22314-3061
Phone: (703) 838-9808 | Fax: (703) 838-9805
© 2002 - 2015 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
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