Because volatile short-term movements in productivity growth obscure the underlying trend, shifts in this trend may go unrecognized for years—a lag that can lead to policy mistakes and hence economic instability. This study develops a model for tracking productivity that brings in additional variables to help reveal the trend. The model’s success is evident in its ability to detect changes in trend productivity within a year or two of their occurrence. Currently, the model indicates that the underlying trend remains strong despite recent weak productivity data.

Läs mer: Tracking Productivity in Real Time - Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Inte nog med att Viagra ger fler hjärnceller (som jag bloggat om), nu verkar den aktiva substansen i Viagra också kunna hjälpa kroppen att bekämpa cancer. Och det är försök på möss än så länge.

In a report published in the Nov. 27 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the Hopkins team says boosted levels of the chemical messenger nitric oxide appear to dampen the effects of a specialized cell that diverts the immune system away from tumors, allowing swarms of cancer-attacking T-cells to migrate to tumor sites in the rodents. Lab-grown cancer cells treated with sildenafil showed similar results, as did tissue samples taken from 14 head and neck cancer and multiple myeloma patients.

Läs mer: Viagra helps fight cancer | Science Blog

Ett vapen som skickar ut elektromagnetiska vågor i millimeterområdet vad gäller våglängd, har godkänts för att användas av USA:s väpnade styrkor. Tanken är att lösa upp folksamlingar genom ge smärta i huden på de som strålen träffar

The development of a truly safe and highly effective nonlethal crowd-control system could raise enormous ethical questions about the state's use of coercive force

Läs mer: Wired News: Say Hello to the Goodbye Weapon

Traces of radiation have been found at the British Embassy in Moscow as the Scotland Yard investigation into Alexander Litvinenko's death continues.

Läs mer: Litvinenko witness to meet UK detectives | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

# Presents views from both cognitive psychology and neuroscience from the leading scientists in the neurocognition of memory # Presents multi-level analyses of memory binding (including behavioural phenomena, their underlying neural structures, and computational modelling) to give a comprehensive account of this phenomemon # Includes contributions from leaders in the field of memory research to provide a state-of-the-art integrated account of binding

Läs mer: OUP: UK General Catalogue

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.

Läs mer: Somalia official issues beheading threat

Delad glädje är dubbel glädje, men delad sorg är inte halv sorg, så kan man uttyda en undersökning som tyder på att relationen håller man om man erkänner och uppmuntrar partners framgångar, och inte som man skulle kunna tro, främst stöder vid motgångar.

But in their analysis of response styles, the researchers found that it was the partners’ reactions to their loved ones’ victories, small and large, that most strongly predicted the strength of the relationships.

Läs mer: For Couples, Reaction to Good News Matters More Than Reaction to Bad - New York Times

Brussels will continue to treat Mediterranean and eastern European states the same way in terms of political status (zero recognition of anybody's EU accession hopes) and opportunities for deeper trade integration (the EU is keen to create free trade zones with all ENP states).

Läs mer: EUobserver.com

scientists from the University of Bristol believe that they found evidence of altered taste in people who have abnormal levels of serotonin and noradrenaline. Since these neurotransmitters are also thought to be involved in depression, scientists envision a taste test that might in the future diagnose bipolar disorder.

Läs mer: Taste test to Dx Depression? - Medgadget - www.medgadget.com

considering that childhood mental disorders can be triggered or made worse by inadequate social and emotional care, some worry that these drugs are being used to pacify children without addressing what might be the root cause of the problem in the family.

Läs mer: Mind Hacks: Too Much Too Young?

Guo's nanomotor is derived from the biological motor of bacteriophage phi29, a virus that infects bacteria. The virus uses the motor to package DNA and move it into the capsid, a shell made of proteins, as part of the viral reproduction process.

Läs mer: Bright Future for phi29 Nanomotor? - Medgadget - www.medgadget.com

For decades in Turkey, the competing forces of the religious and secular, Christian and Muslim, east and west, were muted, as authorities scrubbed the country of differences while they built a modern state. But Turkey has become more democratic in recent years and those forces have burst into full view, creating a sort of modern-day identity crisis.

Läs mer: Turkey facing identity crisis - Europe - International Herald Tribune

Lebanon and international human rights groups have accused Israel of war crimes related to the 34 days of fighting in July and August, saying that Israel fired into populated areas and that civilians accounted for the vast majority of the more than 1,000 Lebanese killed. Israel says it tried to avoid civilians, but Hezbollah fire from civilian areas, itself a war crime, made those areas legitimate targets. In a new report, an Israeli research group says that Hezbollah stored weapons in mosques, battled Israeli forces from inside empty schools, had its fighters fly white flags while transporting missiles and launched rockets from sites near United Nations monitoring posts.

Läs mer: Israel offers evidence of Hezbollah abuses during war - Africa & Middle East - International Herald Tribune

A Russian spy lies in a hospital bed, fighting for his life as his body steadily disintegrates from the effects of a radioactive poison; the spy, an outspoken critic of the Russian regime, has recently defected to the West; someone in Moscow has decided that he must die, and the assassins have done their work with ferocious efficiency. The name of the spy is Nikolai Khokhlov, and the year is 1957.

Läs mer: The spy poisoned by the KGB - but who lived to tell the tale - Britain - Times Online

En flashbackare som kan ryska återger teorier från gazeta.ru:

Gazeta.ru menar att pensionerade veteraner ur FSB ligger bakom mordet.
...
 Mördarna anlände till London tillsammans med CSKA:s supportrar inför matchen mot Arsenal. Poloniumspår ska ha hittats på det flygplanet. Man understryker att dessa officerare inte kontrolleras av regimen utan agerar självständigt. Gazeta.ru hävdar att uppgifterna bygger på brittisk press. Teorin är väl inte sämre än någon annan som framförts men här finns ju inget konkret att gå på överhuvudtaget.

Läs mer: Flashback Forum - Visa ett inlägg - Alexander Litvinenko?

Commercially, Web sites and companies sell many products based on polonium 210, with labels warning of health dangers. By some estimates, a lethal dose might cost as little as $22.50, plus tax.

Läs mer: Polonium - Alexander V. Litvinenko - Vladimir V. Putin - New York Times

Enligt brittiska The Guardian så kostade denmängd Polonium Litvinenko fått i sig uppskattningsvis 20 miljoner brittiska pund att få fram.

The Guardian has been told that the amount of polonium-210 found in the Russian's body could have killed him 100 times over, and would have cost as much as £20m to acquire.

Läs mer: Litvinenko affair: now the man who warned him poisoned too | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

The Lifeboat Foundation är en stiftelse som försöker planera för mänsklighetens överlevnad utifrån katastrofscenarier.

The Lifeboat Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping humanity survive existential risks and possible misuse of increasingly powerful technologies, including genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and robotics/AI, as we move towards a technological singularity. Lifeboat Foundation is pursuing a variety of options, including helping to accelerate the development of technologies to defend humanity, including new methods to combat viruses (such as RNA interference and new vaccine methods), effective nanotechnological defensive strategies, and even self-sustaining space colonies in case the other defensive strategies fail.

Läs mer: Lifeboat Foundation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stiftelsens hemsida: Lifeboat Foundation

Specifika projekt:

• AsteroidShield
• BioShield
• NanoShield
• Security Preserver
• Space Habitats

Gallup har intervjuat 9000 muslimer i Bangladesh, Egypten, Indonesien, Iran, Jordanien, Libanon, Marocko, Turkiet, och Saudiarabien.
Intervjuerna har skett i hemmet. Enligt artikeln What Makes a Muslim Radical? i Foreign Policy Review så är skillnaderna i religiositet mellan det de kallar radikaler (dvs islamister) och vanliga muslimer, liten. Båda grupperna beundrar också väst för tekniska framsteg och yttrandefrihet, enligt artikeln. Radikaler har högre utbildning och är överrepresenterade bland de som tjänar bra.

Båda grupperna (radikaler och vanliga) menar att det väst främst bör göra är att respektera islam. Det tycker jag är en väldigt konstigt ställd fråga, eftersom det innebär olika saker för grupperna!  Skillnaden ligger istället menar artikelförfattarna i att de radikala menar att det viktigaste är att väst inte försöker påtvinga muslimska länder sina värderingar, medan vanliga menar att väst bör bidra med ekonomisk utveckling och jobb.

Det är svårt att uttyda så mycket ur artikeln tycker jag. Möjligtvis kan man tänka sig att islamister ser sig som ledare, och annammat islamism i brist på annat, som ett slags bålverk mot att bli överkörda i en maktkamp. I sådant fall kan man se islamism som en följd av dålig nyrekrytering och rörlighet i de styrande skikten i muslimska länder.

Respondents who said 9/11 was unjustified (1 or 2 on a 5-point scale, where 1 is totally unjustified and 5 is completely justified) are classified as moderates. Respondents who said 9/11 was justified (4 or 5 on the same scale) are classified as radicals. The data for this poll were obtained during 2005-06 from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Approximately 1,000 in-home interviews were conducted in each country. The sampling mix of urban and rural areas is the statistical equivalent of surveying each nation’s adult population, with a statistical sampling error rate of +/- 3 percent.

Läs mer: Foreign Policy: What Makes a Muslim Radical?

Ekaterina Genieva, who helped organise a conference at National University of Ireland where Gaidar had been due to speak, said he had looked pale when he appeared. Gaidar left the room after about 10 minutes. "I rushed after him and found him lying on the floor, unconscious. He was vomiting blood and also bleeding from the nose for about 35 minutes," the paper quoted her as saying.

Läs mer: Spy death: mystery illness hits ex-PM - World - smh.com.au

Originalartikeln:

Anatoly Chubais, his former associate and the head of Russia’s electricity monopoly, said he suspected Mr Gaidar may have been poisoned. However, he strongly ruled out that either Russia’s security services or the Kremlin could have had any involvement. There is no indication of radiation being the cause of his illness.

Läs mer: FT.com / World / Europe - Mystery illness hits former Russian PM