Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, the three Cleveland women who escaped in May after about a decade of captivity, released a thank-you video to show their appreciation to all the people who have offered their support.
By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News
Ohio lawmakers are set to consider a bill that would provide Ariel Castro's three kidnapping victims at least $25,000 for each year they were held captive, plus other benefits.
The legislation would cover anyone held in "involuntary servitude" for at least eight years, but was tailored with Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus in mind. It was expected to go to a committee vote on Wednesday.
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A daring escape and a dramatic 911 call led to the rescue of three women who allegedly had been held captive for years inside a home in Cleveland, Ohio.
If it becomes law, the women would get between $225,000 and $275,000 each, free tuition and living expenses at a state college, and Medicaid coverage for life to compensate them for the time they spent locked away in Castro's Cleveland home before they were rescued in May.
Castro admitted repeatedly raping and beating the women — who were snatched off the street — and he was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison.
Last month, he was found hanging by a bed sheet in his cell.
Newly released incident reports from prison guards — who allegedly skipped rounds and falsified log books — did not answer the question of whether Castro committed suicide or accidentally died because of auto-erotic asphyxiation, as suggested by prison officials.
Corrections officer Caleb Ackley wrote that while he was making rounds about 9:20 p.m., he saw Castro hanging from a cell window, called Officer Ryan Murphy for backup and helped him lift Castro's body.
Castro's "knees were slightly bent and his shorts were around his ankles," Ackley wrote.
He and Murphy ripped the sheet from the window and performed CPR until medics arrived, the reports said. Castro was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly before 11 p.m.
Ready to walk down the aisle . . . once she puts some clothes on! Kat Graham looked smoking hot while hitting the beach in Santa Monica, Calif. with fiance Cottrell Guidry on Monday, Oct. 14. The 24-year-old Vampire Diaries actress showed off her slim body in a strapless neon pink and black bikini.
Graham went for a stroll along the shore while holding her adorable tiny dog Izzy. Actor Guidry walked alongside his bride-to-be, and went shirtless in just a pair of rolled-up jeans.
After confirming reports she was engaged in June, Graham opened up to Us Weekly about wedding planning at the Teen Choice Awards in August. "It's been hard because I've been on the road," she explained. "Between shooting Vampire Diaries, I've been touring for my new single that just came out, 'Power.' So I've been doing all the different radio shows, so it's been hard to sit down and plan. I've been literally all over the place."
Kat Graham kisses fiance Cottrell Guidry while heading to the beach in Santa Monica, Calif. on Oct. 14. Credit: PacificCoastNews.com
Graham did tell Us, however, that she had already started a new diet to get in shape. "I don't know if it's for the wedding, but I've gone on this whole organic kick," she shared. "I did a whole thing of blood tests and I have completely changed my diet. I eat a lot of steamed veggies, lean meats. I'm staying away from sugar. It's extremely hard, especially when you don't have a cheat day. My nutritionist has cut me off of bread. It's very hard and it makes you crazy!"
The hard work paid off and Graham said she was feeling good. "I don't really weigh myself, but I'm definitely more lean and I have more oxygen," she explained. "I don't need to take as big of breaths."
The CW star also told Us that she's not a bridezilla and isn't worried about picking out her wedding dress. "I know the shape I want, so that's easy," she said. "I can do that in a day!"
A photo composed of nearly 900 images taken by the rover Curiosity shows a section of Gale Crater near the equator of Mars. The rovers are continuing to work through the U.S. government shutdown.
NASA/AP
A photo composed of nearly 900 images taken by the rover Curiosity shows a section of Gale Crater near the equator of Mars. The rovers are continuing to work through the U.S. government shutdown.
NASA/AP
The budget negotiations in Washington are not front-page news on Mars. There, millions of miles away, NASA's rovers continue to operate, taking photographs and collecting data as they prepare for the coming Martian winter.
NPR's Joe Palca has this report for our Newscast unit:
"NASA's newest rover, called Curiosity, is on the move. It's headed to the base of Mount Sharp, a mountain that towers three-and-a-half miles above the floor of Gale Crater where the rover landed. Scientists hope the foothills of the mountain will reveal some of the ancient geologic history of Mars.
"The other rover, called Opportunity, is studying something similar at the rim of Endeavor crater. In January, the rover that was designed to last 90 days will mark its 10th year on Mars.
"Some of Opportunity's instruments have stopped working, but it's still taking pictures and still roves across the surface, albeit quite a bit slower than its newer partner on the other side of the planet."
The two rovers are taking in data and getting into strategic locations before winter arrives on Mars in a few months.
The scarcity of sunlight shouldn't pose a challenge for Curiosity, whose systems are powered by heat generated by the radioactive decay of plutonium. NASA hopes that the older Opportunity, which powers itself with solar panels, will be aided by its position on a north-facing slope.
As the Planetary Society website notes, this will be Opportunity's sixth winter:
"Harsh beyond belief, winters on Mars are life threatening, even for robots. Opportunity must endure constant, sometimes radical fluctuations in daily temperatures, not to mention survive temperatures as low as 100 degrees below freezing, all of which is really tough on her metal parts. Of course, the veteran rover has proved its resilience many times over while exploring this sub-freezing planet."
Sydney (AFP) - Australia, New Zealand, the United States, France and the EU on Wednesday stepped up pressure on Russia for a swift agreement to create vast Antarctic marine sanctuaries.
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), comprising 24 nations plus the European Union, meet in Australia next week with Russia seen as key to protecting large swathes of the wilderness area.
At a special summit of CCAMLR in Germany in July, Moscow blocked a plan to create the ocean sanctuaries off Antarctica for a second time, and foreign ministers from the main proponents issued a rallying call on Wednesday.
"Australia, the European Union, France, New Zealand and the United States jointly call for the establishment this year of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean, in the Ross Sea Region and in East Antarctica," they said in a joint statement, without naming Russia.
"The establishment of such MPAs follows through on the vision expressed by all nations at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 and the Rio+20 conference in 2012."
CCAMLR is a 31-year-old treaty tasked with overseeing conservation and sustainable exploitation of the Southern, Ocean but at the meeting in Bremerhaven Russia questioned its legal right to declare such a haven, according to organisations at the talks.
Russia has argued that planned restrictions on fishing are too onerous although most other nations support the proposals.
One of the proposed sanctuaries, floated by the United States and New Zealand, covers 1.6 million square kilometres (640,000 square miles) of the Ross Sea, the deep bay on Antarctica's Pacific side.
The other, backed by Australia, France and the EU, would protect 1.9 million square kilometres of coastal seas off East Antarctica, on the frozen continent's Indian Ocean side.
Protecting the areas -- which biologists say are rich in unique species -- would more than double the area of the world's oceans declared sanctuaries.
The waters around Antarctica are home to some 16,000 known species, including whales, seals, albatrosses and penguins, as well as unique species of fish.
In their statement, the foreign ministers said the Ross Sea and East Antarctica regions were widely recognised for their remarkable ecological and scientific importance.
"The MPA proposals now before the Commission are based on sound and best available science, will provide a unique laboratory for continuation of marine research, and will have profound and lasting benefits for ocean conservation, including sustainable use of its resources," they said.
Creating matter that never existed before: American Chemical Society Prized Science video
Public release date: 15-Oct-2013 [
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Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society
Imagine creating something completely new something improbable and provocative that has never existed on Earth before. This kind of unconventional science that defies long-standing assumptions in chemistry is the topic of the latest episode of a popular video series from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. The videos are available at http://www.acs.org/PrizedScience and on DVD.
Titled Prized Science: Chemical Detectives: Preparing New Matter in the Universe, the third episode of the 2013 series features the research of Gregory H. Robinson, Ph.D., winner of the 2013 F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry. He is a professor at the University of Georgia and has served on the editorial boards of Organometallics and Chemical & Engineering News, and currently serves on the editorial board of Inorganic Chemistry. The Cotton Award, supported by the F. Albert Cotton Endowment Fund, recognizes Robinson's success harnessing finicky, unstable elements. In the video, Robinson explains that certain elements are normally only detectable at high temperatures. His team figured out how to work with these key substances at room temperature, and they have been finding ways to make elements bond in ways previously thought impossible.
Next in the 2013 series is an episode of Prized Science featuring Shirley Corriher, winner of the ACS 2013 James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public.
Other upcoming episodes feature:
Isiah Warner, Ph.D.: ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry
Esther Takeuchi, Ph.D.: E. V. Murphee Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
Other episodes feature Tim Swager, Ph.D., winner of the 2013 ACS Award for Creative Invention; and Peter J. Stang, Ph.D., winner of the 2013 ACS Priestley Medal.
###
ACS encourages educators, schools, museums, science centers, news organizations and others to embed links to Prized Science on their websites. The videos discuss scientific research in non-technical language for general audiences. New episodes in the series, which focuses on ACS' 2013 national award recipients, will be issued periodically.
The 2013 edition of Prized Science features renowned scientists telling the story of their own research and its impact and potential impact on everyday life. Colorful graphics and images visually explain the award recipient's research.
The ACS administers more than 60 national awards to honor accomplishments in chemistry and service to chemistry. The nomination process involves submission of forms, with winners selected by a committee consisting of ACS members who typically are technical experts in the nominee's specific field of research.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Creating matter that never existed before: American Chemical Society Prized Science video
Public release date: 15-Oct-2013 [
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society
Imagine creating something completely new something improbable and provocative that has never existed on Earth before. This kind of unconventional science that defies long-standing assumptions in chemistry is the topic of the latest episode of a popular video series from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. The videos are available at http://www.acs.org/PrizedScience and on DVD.
Titled Prized Science: Chemical Detectives: Preparing New Matter in the Universe, the third episode of the 2013 series features the research of Gregory H. Robinson, Ph.D., winner of the 2013 F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry. He is a professor at the University of Georgia and has served on the editorial boards of Organometallics and Chemical & Engineering News, and currently serves on the editorial board of Inorganic Chemistry. The Cotton Award, supported by the F. Albert Cotton Endowment Fund, recognizes Robinson's success harnessing finicky, unstable elements. In the video, Robinson explains that certain elements are normally only detectable at high temperatures. His team figured out how to work with these key substances at room temperature, and they have been finding ways to make elements bond in ways previously thought impossible.
Next in the 2013 series is an episode of Prized Science featuring Shirley Corriher, winner of the ACS 2013 James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public.
Other upcoming episodes feature:
Isiah Warner, Ph.D.: ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry
Esther Takeuchi, Ph.D.: E. V. Murphee Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
Other episodes feature Tim Swager, Ph.D., winner of the 2013 ACS Award for Creative Invention; and Peter J. Stang, Ph.D., winner of the 2013 ACS Priestley Medal.
###
ACS encourages educators, schools, museums, science centers, news organizations and others to embed links to Prized Science on their websites. The videos discuss scientific research in non-technical language for general audiences. New episodes in the series, which focuses on ACS' 2013 national award recipients, will be issued periodically.
The 2013 edition of Prized Science features renowned scientists telling the story of their own research and its impact and potential impact on everyday life. Colorful graphics and images visually explain the award recipient's research.
The ACS administers more than 60 national awards to honor accomplishments in chemistry and service to chemistry. The nomination process involves submission of forms, with winners selected by a committee consisting of ACS members who typically are technical experts in the nominee's specific field of research.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
Follow us: Twitter Facebook
[
| E-mail
| Share
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
When Mad Catz made pre-orders for its M.O.J.O. Android gaming console live, it did so with a curious bit about support for PC streaming. But any mention was quickly removed from the site and, when contacted for comment, the company remained silent. Now, however, Mad Catz has confirmed to Engadget that, yes, the M.O.J.O. will allow users to stream PC games to their TVs and the ability will be enabled via a software update "available shortly after launch." We've also received final specs for the micro-console which you can find after the break, although it all falls in line with what's been reported previously, so don't expect any new revelations. Does the addition of PC streaming -- a feature included in NVIDIA's Shield and planned for Valve's planned Steam Machines -- make the $250 M.O.J.O. a more attractive holiday purchase? Feel free to sound off in the comments below.
Mad Catz M.O.J.O
• Nvidia Tegra 4 T40S 1.8GHz processor
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB Internal Storage
• 1 x USB 2.0 port
• 1 x USB 3.0 port
• 1 x HDMI out (Supports 720p and 1080p resolutions)
• 1 x power input
• 1 x 100 Mbit Ethernet socket
• 1 x 3.5mm headphone socket
• Micro SD flash slot supporting SDXC format SD cards (at least 128GB support)
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n support
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Android 4.2.2 operating system
• 5V 3A AC adapter with 1.5m lead and multi-region attachments
• C.T.R.L.R
• 1.5m HDMI to HDMI lead included
• Fully GMS-certified
Dimensions: 130mm x 114mm x 50mm
C.T.R.L.R
Mobile Gamepad Specifications
• Full standard gamepad configuration:
Next Generation Mobile Gamepad included
• Bluetooth Smart technology linked with micro USB dongle
• Phone clip – allows easy mounting of your Bluetooth Smart-compatible Android device to
the C.T.R.L.R
o Four face buttons (A, B, X, Y)
o Two shoulder buttons (L1, R1)
o Two analog triggers (L2, R2)
o Two stick buttons (LSB, RSB)
o Start and Back buttons
o Home button
o Two analog sticks
o Ultra low latency of 7ms
o Low power consumption resulting in more than 50 hours of battery life from two x
A dazzling northern lights show lit up the Norwegian night sky this week and a veteran space photographer captured the celestial display in a stunning new video.
Astrophotographer Chad Blakley and his wife Linnea traveled to the northern fishing village of Reine in Lofoten, Norway on Tuesday (Oct. 8) to see the northern lights. There, they captured a video of a brilliant example of the aurora borealis above stark outlines of mountains in the distance.
"We saw auroras from the moment the sun set and the show lasted well into the night," Blakley wrote in an email to SPACE.com. "We were lucky enough to see spirals, curtains and arcs — some of my favorite types of aurora displays!"
The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are created when charged particles flung by the sun into space crash into Earth's atmosphere near the poles. Auroras over the South Pole are known as the southern lights, or aurora australis. The particles are driven toward the poles by the planet's magnetic field.
Solar storms shoot out groups of these particles, which can cause geomagnetic storms on Earth, possibly producing stunning light displays.
In August, Blakley released another incredible video showing the aurora borealis above Abisko National Park in Sweden. The video was made using thousands of hours of Northern Lights footage taken between 2012 and 2013 to mimic what the northern lights look like in real time.
"The film uses a new time-lapse technique that allows me to show you the auroras in a way that I never thought possible — virtual real time," Blakley told SPACE.com in August.
Although the sun has been somewhat quiet in recent months, the star unleashed its strongest solar flare in two months on Oct. 8. The moderate M-class flare caused a minor geomagnetic storm as speeding particles passed Earth.
The flare wasn't aimed directly at the planet and the storm has subsided, but forecasters with the Space Weather Prediction Center, a division of the National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration think that another wave of geomagnetic activity might not be far behind.
You can watch the full HD version of the new video at Blakley's Vimeo site.
Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramerand Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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