NSA Whistleblower Reveals How To Beat a Polygraph Test

Russell Tice, the National Security Agency whistleblower who blew the lid open on warrantless wiretapping conducted by the federal government on U.S. citizens post-9/11, says that he took between 12 and 15 polygraph tests during his nearly 20-year-long government career.

The tests mellowed over time, Tice says, and they may have also gotten easier to beat.

Tice, who is no longer at the NSA, says he, along with those still in contact with at the agency, marvel at how easy it is to beat the lie detector.

The federal government currently administers polygraphs to government employees in a number of agencies, including the NSA and CIA. The polygraphs work by measuring and recording a person's physiological responses—changes in a person's pulse, breathing and blood pressure—to lying versus telling the truth.

Tice, who is now working on a Ph.D. in global security studies, says the NSA "routinely uses polygraphs to terrorize the rank and file of NSA employees" and to "gather very personal information on them that they can use to blackmail them into participating in illegal and unethical conduct."

The whistleblower's view is supported by AntiPolygraph.org, a nonprofit that seeks to abolish polygraphs from the workplace. George Maschke, a U.S. army reserve captain who was rejected from the FBI for failing a polygraph and now runs AntiPolygraph.org, tells Whispers he believes the NSA's polygraph is intended to be a "psychological tool of coercion." 

"Polygraphs are detrimental to individuals and to national security," says Maschke, "because federal agencies are relying on technology that is unreliable... that is junk science." A number of studies from the scientific community have also said polygraphs rely on pseudoscience.

AntiPolygraph.org has a number of tips on how to manipulate physiological responses to beat the test. Tice shared some of his own tips on Monday with Whispers.

First, Tice says, a person can trick the tester on "probable-lie" questions. During a polygraph's pre-test interview, the tester usually asks a person to answer questions they are likely to lie about. These include questions like: 'Have you ever stolen money?,' 'Have you ever lied to your parents?,' or 'Have you ever cheated on a test?'. Most people have done these at least once, but lie about it. So the tester uses a person's response to a likely lie as a way to establish how a person physically reacts while lying.

Tice says to trick the tester, a person should lie in response to these questions like most other people would, but also bite their tongue hard while doing so, which will set off other physiological reactions in the body. The tester's "needles will fly everywhere," says Tice, "and he will think, 'This guy is a nervous nelly. He has a strong physical reaction when he's lying.'"

"And you're skewing the test," he says.

Tice says it's also easy to beat a polygraph while telling a real lie by daydreaming to calm the nerves.

"Think of a warm summer night... or drinking a beer, whatever calms you. You're throwing them off," he says. "The needle might nip a little [because you're lying], but not off the charts." And since the person has already convinced the tester that they have off-the-charts physiological reactions while lying, Tice says, a small reaction likely won't tip the tester off.

The tests have also simply gotten easier, with the questions being less likely to shock an individual. "They use to say things like 'I bet you have sex with dogs,' just to initiate a reaction to see how that needle jumps if you've been insulted," Tice says. "[But they] have mellowed down a lot... Polygraphs are easy to beat."

Update, 3:20 p.m.:

NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines says that the polygraph "is one of the vetting tools" used by the NSA and other federal agencies "to assess an individual's eligibility for access, and continued eligibility access, to highly sensitive intelligence information."

"In making these eligibility determinations, NSA complies with the personnel security investigative standards and procedures as outlined in various Intelligence Community directives and policy guidance memoranda."

Source: US News

7 Year Old Boy Creates Crystal Grid and explains how it works

India's Gargantuan Biometric Database Raises Big Questions

The government of India has amassed a database of 200 million Indian residents' digital fingerprints, iris scans, facial photographs, names, addresses and birthdates. Yet this vast collection of private information is only a drop in the bucket compared to the volume of data it ultimately intends to gather. The Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), the agency that administers Aadhaar -- India's Unique Identity (UID) program -- has a goal of capturing and storing this personal and biometric information for each and every one of India's 1.2 billion residents. Everyone who enrolls is issued a 12-digit unique ID number and an ID card linked to the data.

Once it’s complete, the Aadhaar system will require so much data storage capacity that it is projected to be 10 times the size of Facebook. And while it's optional to enroll, the program is envisioned as the basis for new mobile apps that would facilitate everything from banking transactions to the purchase of goods and services, which could make it hard for individuals to opt out without getting left behind.

India’s is the largest biometric ID scheme in the world, and the masssive undertaking raises serious questions about widespread data sharing, a lack of legal protections for users’ data, and concerns about whether adequate technical safeguards are in place to keep individuals’ information safe and secure.

Recently, EFF attended a talk by Srikanth Nadhamuni, a technologist and one of the program’s chief architects, at UC Berkeley’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies. While he characterized Aadhaar as a cutting-edge tool for fighting corruption and assisting the rural poor, EFF has concerns about the privacy implications of this sweeping effort.

Is Biometric Collection Necessary to Achieve the Program's Goals?

Nadhamuni framed Aadhaar as a program that could alleviate the plight of India’s rural poor, a large subset of the population that lacks reliable access to government services. “The city governments … were still being run by leather-bound books and pen,” he explained. “Not using technology to improve service delivery was something that we wanted to change. … The thought that I had was, if we could embed a unique number for each baby that was born, and that number got used in all the different applications, then that service delivery could improve. Once you have enrolled yourself, then you can go and buy your rations, or banking transactions, and so on, using authentication.”

Nadhamuni said UID would serve to eliminate fraud in circumstances where it is now impossible to verify individuals' identities. He described the tedious and costly weekly journey of a laborer to cash a paycheck to illustrate how UID could be used to make peoples' lives more convenient. He described a system in which UID numbers would spur the development of mobile phone apps, which would allow vendors to scan fingerprints on a handheld device to use UID authentication for all kinds of purposes and transactions.

When evaluating biometric systems, it's important to determine whether the collection and processing of personal information fit with the program's stated objectives. The goal of assisting the rural poor is well-intentioned, but the means Nadhamuni is proposing to achieve this end should be carefully examined. It's also worth asking why, if the stated objective is to aid the rural poor, the UIDAI intends to extend Aadhaar's reach to each and every one of India's 1.2 billion residents. EFF remains concerned about the problems inherent in centralized biometric ID databases, systems that have been met with resistance elsewhere and, in the case of Britain, even dismantled in the face of public outcry stemming from privacy concerns.

The creation of such a system raises concerns about the security of users' highly sensitive personal information. Nadhamuni said very little about whether there is a contingency plan in the case of a data breach, like the one that transmitted Israel's entire population database onto the Internet in a freely available format. What happens if people start to spoof fingerprint scanners, which German hackers have already proven is a relatively easy feat? What if identity thieves take it a step farther, by spoofing iris scanners (which Javier Galbally showed was possible at the Black Hat Security Conference this past summer)? Unlike a PIN code, a fingerprint or an iris is impossible to cancel and re-issue.

A Centralized Unique ID System is Risky

Nadhamuni seemed to accept without question that implementing a universal ID card would benefit India. “There is no standard identity document in India,” he said. He justified the collection of biometric data by saying that insurmountable overlap between existing governmental databases makes it impossible to create a unique database by merging all existing data sets.

Yet the assumption that there is an inherent need for a governmental framework that would aggregate all individuals’ personal information in one place should not go unchallenged. There are fundamental flaws in a system with a centralized database at its core, which grants a disproportionate amount of control to a single governmental entity that collects and stores the information. Regardless of the security precautions Nadhamuni assured would be in place, the creation of such a database inevitably creates a honeypot of sensitive information that becomes a natural target for would-be criminals.

India has no data privacy protection law to speak of, and the fact that this program is moving ahead in the absence of such a safeguard is problematic, particularly given the widespread data-sharing that is contemplated under this endeavor. Similar proposals have run into legal trouble. In March 2012, the Conseil Constitutionnel, the highest authority on the French Constitution, declared the provisions of a law permitting judicial and police use of a centralized national ID database to be unconstitutional.

In other countries, we've seen how biometric data can ultimately be used for purposes other than stated intentions. In Argentina, for instance, a new centralized, nationwide biometric ID will allow law enforcement to “cross-reference” information with biometric and other data initially collected for the purpose of operating a general national ID registry. This reverses the traditional practice of limiting police fingerprint databases to those suspected or convicted of criminal offences.

Once it is built, an enormous system based on the personal information of 1.2 billion people can begin to serve all manner of previously unimagined purposes. What's more, Nadhamuni suggested biometric identification with Aadhaar could become a convenient part of everyday life: the UIDAI lets private parties accept the IDs and verify their content online, for outsourced financial transactions or authenticating users for third-party applications. For example, people could have their fingerprints scanned on a shopkeeper's mobile device as a way of paying for items at a shop. It's astonishing to think that the enormous flows of data that would result from these applications – and the associated potential for monitoring Indians' physical whereabouts and day-to-day lives – would come with few legal safeguards.

Beware of Function Creep

A telling moment in Nadhamhuni’s lecture came when an audience member asked whether Aadhaar would be used for national security purposes. “I don't know about the linkage between UID and security,” Nadhamuni responded. “I was head of technology, and the specification that I was given was to build a system for social inclusion and the poor. So if there's a linkage, I don't know of it, and so I can't comment on what that linkage is.”

It's disappointing that he didn't say more, particularly given this New York Times op-ed by Indian journalist Aman Sethi suggesting that national security was at the root of a government initiative to collect biometric ID that predates Aadhaar and is now moving ahead in sync with the UID program. Function creep – when a program is introduced for one purpose and ultimately used for another – is a serious consideration when assessing biometric ID systems. What will happen when data collected by the UIDAI is used in conjunction with a governmental surveillance program or national security initiative? So far, this question remains unanswered, but there are good reasons to be concerned.

This colossal, IT-driven effort is moving forward without adequate transparency or public dialogue, and it’s no wonder that activists have pushed back against the idea in India. Internet policy researcher Sunil Abraham, of the Bangalore-based Center for Internet and Society, has voiced concerns over Aadhaar’s identification system and proposed alternatives that would be far less privacy-invasive.

"Privacy protections should be inversely proportional to power," Abraham wrote in a Business Standard op-ed. "The transparency demanded of politicians, bureaucrats and large corporations cannot be made mandatory for ordinary citizens. Surveillance must be directed at big-ticket corruption, at the top of the pyramid and not retail fraud at the bottom. Even for retail fraud, the power asymmetry will result in corruption innovating to circumvent technical safeguards. Government officials should be required by law to digitally sign the movement of resources each step of the way till it reaches a citizen. Open data initiatives should make such records available for public scrutiny. With support from civil society and the media, citizens will themselves address retail fraud. To solve corruption, the state should become more transparent to the citizen and not vice versa."

A biometric data collection program of this scale, particularly in the absence of an existing data protection law, presents serious risks to individuals’ privacy. Rather than improving people’s lives, Aadhaar could place their highly sensitive personal information at risk.

Source: EFF

SpeechPro: Russian biometric software capable of storing, identifying millions of voice samples

How SpeechPro’s VoiceGrid works (Image credit: SpeechPro)

The use of biometrics and government-run centralized biometric databases is on rise and it seems like every day brings a new identification method including pedo-biometrics (using feet to identify targets), remote biometrics (using surveillance cameras), soft biometrics (which can be deployed on drone platforms), iris scans (which people are being illegally pressured into submitting to), high-speed facial recognition software (the use of which is being expanded to police departments across the United States by the FBI) and even so-called behavioral recognition software.

According to the FBI’s Biometric Center of Excellence, voice recognition is a “popular choice for remote authentication due to the availability of devices for collecting speech samples (e.g., telephone network and computer microphones) and its ease of integration, speaker recognition is different from some other biometric methods in that speech samples are captured dynamically or over a period of time, such as a few seconds.”

We’ve also seen strange implementations of voice recognition technology as evidenced by the deployment of voice recognition avatars at border crossings and even voice recognition technology in police cars.

Now the Russian Speech Technology Center, which, according to Slate, operates as SpeechPro in the United States, has created a program called VoiceGrid Nation capable of storing and identifying massive numbers of voice samples for governments around the world.

The software, at least according to the company behind it, is incredibly fast. It can deal with a database containing millions of voice samples of regular people, criminals, persons of interest or people on a watch list.

Computerworld reports that VoiceGrid uses three methods for voice matching along with an algorithm that automatically compares “voice models against voice recording obtained from different sources such as cell phones, land lines, covert recordings and recorded investigative interviews.”

When combined, VoiceGrid is capable of 90% accuracy within just 15 seconds.

According to Homeland Security News Wire, “Officials at VoiceGrid say that to get a sample, it only takes three seconds of a speech pattern to use for analysis. In five seconds it can search through and match 10,000 voice samples, executes up to 100 simultaneous searches, and stores up to 2,000,000 samples.”

According to SpeechPro, the accuracy is at least 90 percent and has already been deployed to Mexico and, according to SpeechPro’s president Alexey Khitrov, they are also working with multiple U.S. state and federal agencies.

“He declined to reveal any names because of nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements,” writes Ryan Gallagher for Slate. “But Khitrov did divulge that various versions of the company’s biometric technology are used in more than 70 countries and that the Americas, Europe, and Asia are its key markets.”

SpeechPro doesn’t just design voice recognition software for law enforcement and governments. They also have created technology for call centers which can verify the identity of customers automatically.

According to Agentura, a Russian secret services watchdog, the Speech Technology Center’s products have been sold off to several questionable governments including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Uzbekistan.

Gallagher points out that this is hardly comforting given the incredible power this technology could give to an authoritarian regime.

“It has the technical capacity, for example, to store a voice-print of every single citizen in a country the size of Bahrain—with a population of 1.3 million—which would allow state security agencies to very effectively monitor and identify phone calls made by targeted political dissidents (or anyone else for that matter),” Gallagher rightly states.

Khitrov attempted to brush away these legitimate and major concerns by saying, “We just make sure that we work with trusted law enforcement agencies and try to make sure that they use it properly.”

Khitrov laughably claims that SpeechPro’s technology is solely used for “very noble causes,” although he was only able to cite a single example in Mexico where it was used to identify and find kidnappers who made ransom calls soon before they were going to murder someone.

To prove just how absurd Khitrov’s claim is, when Gallagher pressed for more examples of how VoiceGrid is being used in Mexico, Khitrov was forced to admit, “We don’t know the specifics because that’s their information.”

In other words, they actually have no clue about how it is being used, they just have a few nice anecdotes which make it seem like it’s only being used for noble ends.

Source: End the Lie

OxyContin: How America Got Hooked On Legal Heroin

Monsanto’s Tricky Plan to Defeat GMO Labeling?

Who is behind the recent study of organic food and why?

Okay—let’s not miss the point about the Stanford “study” on organic food, the one released in early September that concludes that the scientific literature “lacks strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods.”

Every reaction I’ve seen in the press grants that maybe organic food isn’t more nutritious, but it’s healthier in many other ways, like much lower amounts of toxic agricultural chemicals, and so on. But there are many studies that show that organic food is indeed more nutritious. To really understand those studies, you have to know who paid for them. If Monsanto or Cargill is paying a researcher at a land-grant university to look into the nutritional value of foods, there’s a temptation there to work the data in favor of the company paying the bills, especially if they like your work and order more studies.

So who’s paying for the Stanford study? The Stanford doctor who was the principal author, Crystal Smith-Spangler, M.D., writes that there was no funding for the study, which appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine (vol. 157, no. 5 [4 September 2012]: 348–366)—this despite the listing of 11 coauthors including physicians and health specialists along with Dr. Smith-Spangler. Since no funding is listed, we can’t know whether Dr. Smith-Spangler and cohorts did the rather exhaustive study out of the goodness of their hearts or if someone took them to lunch, so to speak. But even that isn’t the point.

The real question is, why do you think this Stanford study came out now? The title of the study raises a red flag as it asks, “Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier than Conventional Alternatives?” Its conclusion states, “The published literature lacks strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods. Consumption of organic foods may reduce exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.” So it casts doubt on the value of organic food, even as it admits organic food has fewer toxic residues and pathogenic microbes. Yet I’m aware of several strong studies supporting the nutritional superiority of organic food,* and I looked through all 298 studies cited in the Stanford overview of the scientific literature, but they were nowhere to be found. But even that’s not the point.

Remember: This November, Californians will be asked to vote on Proposition 37, which will require foods containing genetically modified ingredients to be so labeled. Remember too that organic food is not allowed by law to contain any genetically modified ingredients.

Now think about Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, Syngenta, and other corporations turning out genetically modified farm seed. Why do you think they’re doing that? They say it’s to improve agriculture, to feed the world, to solve farming’s problems—but there’s another reason they seldom mention. When they make a genetically modified (GMO) seed, they patent it. And those who hold the patents reap the financial rewards.

Source: Organic Gardening

Scientists Move to Create Genetically Modified Camels for Pharmaceutical GM Milk

As if genetically altered salmon, genetically modified babies, and GMO crops aren’t science fiction enough for you—soon drug makers will be using genetically modified camels in their pharmaceuticals. Yes, you read that right—camels. According to the Science and Development Network, the camels will be used to make genetically modified milk, which will then be processed into cheaper drugs.
Genetically Modified Camels for Pharmaceutical GM Milk – What?

The drugs from these laboratory-created camels will include insulin and clotting factors for hemophilia. They will be used, at least initially, in the arid regions of the Middle East and North Africa, from which the camels originally came. Apparently, that’s why camels are being used instead of cattle, because of their adjustment to the extreme climates.

Cows would be better producers of transgenic protein as they produce more milk, said Serge Muyldermans of the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology at Vrje University Brussel in Belgium. But as camels can be kept in arid areas and are used to living under harsh conditions, they might be better suited to the Middle East.

Evidently, other scientists prefer genetically modified cows as well. In another recent creation unleashed by scientists, human genes have successfully been inserted into genetically modified cows that now allow them to produce ‘human’ milk — milk that has the very same properties as human breast milk. What is the world coming to?

But the researchers prefer genetically modified camels since the animals are highly resistant to local disease and easier to maintain in the area. They are more efficient in converting food into body mass when compared with cattle as well.

So, how are the camels being modified? Initial reports aren't clear. The scientists do say, however, that the camel cells will be modified with “foreign DNA” and then implanted into full-grown camels as embryos. The group plans on transplanting the embryos into the surrogate mothers later this year, though they aren't sure when the first GM babies will be born.

The calving rate for cloned embryos is only 5%. This means that for every 100 cloned embryos implanted, only five are carried to term and delivered. “The rate gets even smaller when transgenic cells are used,” said Nisar Wani, head of the Reproductive Biology Laboratory at Dubai’s Camel Reproduction Center.

The gestation period for a camel is about 13 to 14 months. So in the “best” case scenario, the first genetically modified camels won’t be born until early 2014. Then the world would have to wait for their milk production and the medications to be developed, pushing the actual GM camel-derived pharmaceuticals back another year or so. Even still, the thought of these sort of “advances” in the works is frightening.

At what point does science cross an ethical line? Haven’t we established that genetically modifying foods are dangerous? How could genetically modifying animals and then turning those animals into drugs be any better?

Source: Activist Post

Dept. of Homeland Security Forced to Release List of Keywords Used to Monitor Social Networking Sites

Seven companies caught spying on people in their bedrooms using webcams in laptops over WiFi

Incredibly Effective Protection from Fukushima Nuclear Radiation

A special study conducted by Dr. Atsuo Yanagisawa, M.D., Ph.D., from the Japanese College of Intravenous Therapy (JCIT) took a group of men working on the Fukushima site and administered 25,000 mg (milligrams) or 25 grams of vitamin C as a pretreatment prior to half of the men entering the area. What you’re about to learn is that this measure of protection may be one of the best when dealing with nuclear radiation effects.

A Solution to Fukushima’s Nuclear Radiation Effects

After their hazardous work, thorough medical evaluations determined they were clear of DNA damage and precancerous indicators that would have otherwise occurred from the radiation. The untreated workers showed DNA damage and precancerous indicators, but they received a similar post treatment protocol for a couple of months and recovered completely.

The Japanese College’s work and findings were supressed because TEPCO, the firm that owns the Fukushima plant, the Japanese government, and Japanese media all have ignored them and their science based advice.

Their report was published in the States by a major orthomolecular (nutritional medicine) information center, Orhomolecular.org. The report covers the JCIT study with links to JCIT’s videos. Very few media outlets know of this report.

Mega-dose vitamin C administered by IV (intravenously) gets more vitamin C into the bloodstream directly than orally administered C. Unfortunately it is difficult to find someone who will do IV C in the USA, thanks to our Medical Mafia. If you can find someone near you, it can be a bit pricey per treatment.

But there is another solution that anyone can access with less cost, and it can be taken orally. Liposomal encapsulated C surpasses even IV C’s ability to penetrate your cells, where it is ultimately needed. So it takes considerably less liposomal encapsulated vitamin C to equal thousands of milligrams of IV C.
The Alan Smith Story

The poster guy for liposomal encapsulated vitamin C is New Zealand farmer, Alan Smith. After the hospital threatened to take him off life support while he was in a coma with double pneumonia and leukemia complications from a bout with the flu, Alan’s family pushed for mega-dose vitamin C administered intravenously.

The vitamin C was administered for a couple of days, but doctors refused to continue even after Alan showed signs of improving. After the family got an attorney involved, the hospital resumed with much lower doses, going from 50 grams daily to two grams daily.

After this happened, Alan’s family found out about a new vitamin C product called Lypo-Spheric. It is an orally consumed gel in packets that can be ordered online. The family brought packets into Alan’s hospital room after he could begin eating again. After six days of only six grams of the vitamin C, Alan walked out of the hospital.

Alan Smith’s story was presented in New Zealand TV’s version of "60 Minutes." In the last few minutes of that presentation, you’ll see a still of Alan with those packets in his hospital room. Oh yeah, a year later Alan had no trace of leukemia.
How Liposomal C Works and How You Can Make Your Own

So how did six grams of oral C daily do the job of 50 grams daily of IV C? Dr. Tom Levy, a prominent orthomolecular physician with years of experience administering vitamin C intravenously was shocked to discover Lypo-Spheric was obtaining the same clinical results as mega-dose IV C. Dr. Levy came to realize that the combination of vitamin C and essential phospholipids radically improved cellular bioavailability.

Tiny particles of vitamin C coated with phospholipids create molecules of vitamin C coated with a substance similar to the cell walls. Thus those coated vitamin C molecules can slip into the cells easily. Encapsulation also avoids diarrhea thresholds of normal oral C.

You can even make your own liposomal encapsulated vitamin C. The homemade version is estimated to get around 60% of its vitamin C content into your body’s cells rather than 90%, but it’s more economical.

There are two similar methods for making your own liposomal C: One here and the other here.

I have no financial connections with Lypo-Spheric.

Source> Activist Post

Tesla Motors Launches Revolutionary Supercharger Enabling Convenient Long Distance Driving

HAWTHORNE, CA--(Marketwire - Sep 24, 2012) - Tesla Motors ( NASDAQ : TSLA ) today unveiled its highly anticipated Supercharger network. Constructed in secret, Tesla revealed the locations of the first six Supercharger stations, which will allow the Model S to travel long distances with ultra fast charging throughout California, parts of Nevada and Arizona. 

The technology at the heart of the Supercharger was developed internally and leverages the economies of scale of existing charging technology already used by the Model S, enabling Tesla to create the Supercharger device at minimal cost. The electricity used by the Supercharger comes from a solar carport system provided by SolarCity, which results in almost zero marginal energy cost after installation. Combining these two factors, Tesla is able to provide Model S owners¹ free long distance travel indefinitely.

Each solar power system is designed to generate more energy from the sun over the course of a year than is consumed by Tesla vehicles using the Supercharger. This results in a slight net positive transfer of sunlight generated power back to the electricity grid. In addition to lowering the cost of electricity, this addresses a commonly held misunderstanding that charging an electric car simply pushes carbon emissions to the power plant. The Supercharger system will always generate more power from sunlight than Model S customers use for driving. By adding even a small solar system at their home, electric car owners can extend this same principle to local city driving too.

The six California locations unveiled today are just the beginning. By next year, we plan to install Superchargers in high traffic corridors across the continental United States, enabling fast, purely electric travel from Vancouver to San Diego, Miami to Montreal and Los Angeles to New York. Tesla will also begin installing Superchargers in Europe and Asia in the second half of 2013.

The Supercharger is substantially more powerful than any charging technology to date, providing almost 100 kilowatts of power to the Model S, with the potential to go as high as 120 kilowatts in the future. This can replenish three hours of driving at 60 mph in about half an hour, which is the convenience inflection point for travelers at a highway rest stop. Most people who begin a road trip at 9:00 a.m. would normally stop by noon to have lunch, refresh and pick up a coffee or soda for the road, all of which takes about 30 minutes.

"Tesla's Supercharger network is a game changer for electric vehicles, providing long distance travel that has a level of convenience equivalent to gasoline cars for all practical purposes. However, by making electric long distance travel at no cost, an impossibility for gasoline cars, Tesla is demonstrating just how fundamentally better electric transport can be," said Elon Musk, Tesla Motors co-founder and CEO. "We are giving Model S the ability to drive almost anywhere for free on pure sunlight."

About Model S
With the most energy-dense battery pack in the industry and best-in-class aerodynamics, Model S has the longest range of any production electric car in the world. Model S comes with three battery options to fit the unique needs of different drivers. The 85 kWh Model S has received a U.S. fuel economy rating of 89MPGe and an EPA rated range of 265 miles.

Model S is the first premium sedan designed from the ground up to take full advantage of electric vehicle architecture. A revolutionary powertrain sits under the floorboard of Model S, creating an ultra-low center of gravity. Paired with an aluminum body engineered for superior handling, Tesla has created a vehicle that raises the bar for performance and efficiency while meeting the highest standards for safety.

Without an internal combustion engine or transmission tunnel, the interior of Model S has more cargo space than any other sedan in its class and includes a second trunk under the hood. Model S seats five adults and two children in optional rear-facing child seats. Model S Performance models accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in under 4.4 seconds. The interior features a 17" in-dash touchscreen with internet capabilities, allowing for streaming radio, web browsing and navigation.

Customers can reserve a Model S at one of Tesla's retail stores or online.

About Tesla
Tesla's goal is to accelerate the world's transition to electric mobility. Palo Alto, California-based Tesla designs and manufactures EVs and EV power train components for partners such as Toyota and Daimler. Tesla has delivered more than 2,350 Roadsters to customers worldwide. Model S, the first premium sedan to be built from the ground up as an electric vehicle, began deliveries in June 2012.

Interested in keeping up with Tesla Motors?
For more information on Tesla Motors and its products, please visit: teslamotors.com
For more information for Tesla Motors investors, please visit: ir.teslamotors.com
For the latest information from Tesla Motors, including press releases and the Tesla blog, please visit: teslamotors.com/press

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release including statements regarding future Supercharger locations and capabilities are "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. Various important factors could cause actual results to differ materially, including the risks identified in our SEC filings. Tesla disclaims any obligation to update this information.

¹ Supercharging hardware is standard on Model S vehicles equipped with an 85 kWh battery and optional on Model S vehicles equipped with a 60 kWh battery.

Russia suspends import and use of American GM corn after study revealed cancer risk

• The European Food Safety Authority orders review in to the research, conducted at a French university
• Russia's decision could be followed by other nations
• Experts at the University of Caen conducted an experiment running for the full lives of rats - two years
• The findings found raised levels of breast cancer, liver and kidney damage
• The same trials also found minuscule amounts of a commonly used weedkiller, Roundup
  
• Both the GM corn and Roundup are the creation of US biotech company Monsanto

By Sean Poulter

Russia has suspended the import and use of an American GM corn following a study suggesting a link to breast cancer and organ damage.

Separately, the European Food Safety Authority(EFSA), has ordered its own review in to the research, which was conducted at a French university.

The decision by Russia could be followed by other nations in what would be a severe blow to the take-up of the controversial technology.

Cancer risk? A farmer shows two corncobs of genetically engineered corn by U.S. company Monsanto, right, and two normal corncobs from Germany, left

Historically, biotech companies have proved the safety of GM crops based on trials involving feeding rats for a period of 90 days.

However, experts at the University of Caen conducted an experiment running for the full lives of rats - two years.

The findings, which were peer reviewed by independent experts before being published in a respected scientific journal, found raised levels of breast cancer, liver and kidney damage.

 

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The same trials also found evidence that consumption of minuscule amounts of a commonly used weedkiller, Roundup, was associated with a raised risk of cancer.

Both the GM corn, which carries the name NK603, and Roundup are the creation of US biotech company Monsanto.

The decision by the Russians to suspend authorisation for the American GM corn threatens to trigger a transatlantic commercial and diplomatic row.

Contentious: A combine harvests corn in a field near Coy, Arkansas. The decision by the Russians to suspend authorisation for the American GM corn threatens to trigger a transatlantic commercial and diplomatic row

Russia’s consumer rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said today that it has suspended the import and use of the Monsanto GM corn.

Rospotrebnadzor said the country’s Institute of Nutrition has been asked to assess the validity of the study.

It has also contacted the European Commission’s Directorate General for Health & Consumers to ask for the EU’s position on the corn’s safety.

Consumer scepticism in the UK and Europe means GM corn is not on supermarket shelves here, however it is fed to farm animals, including hens, pigs and dairy cows.

Last week Monsanto said it did not think the French study would affect its license to export the NK603 to Europe but would wait to hear from EFSA.

The company said: ‘Based on our initial review, we do not believe the study presents information that would justify any change in EFSA’s views on the safety of genetically modified corn products or alter their approval status for genetically modified imports.’

The biotech industry and university researchers involved in GM research have mounted a major PR campaign over the last year to win over sceptical consumers.

In the past week, pro-GM scientists have been lining up to undermine the French experiments and criticise the way they were conducted.

However, a number of independent academics have praised the French team’s work, describing it as the most thorough and extensive feeding trials involving GM to date.

Mustafa Djamgoz, the Professor of Cancer Biology, at Imperial College, London, said the findings relating to eating GM corn were a ‘surprise’.

Prof Djamgoz, who describes himself as a neutral on GM, said: ‘The results are significant. The experiments are, more or less, the best of their kind to date.’

However, he said that it is now important to ensure they are repeated with more animals by independent laboratories to confirm the outcome.

‘We are not scaremongering here. More research, including a repetition of this particular study are warranted,’ he said.

The professor said it will take two to three years to get a definitive answer.

Facebook flooded with complaints after messages 'bug'

Facebook has denied claims that a software bug caused private messages dating from 2009 to be displayed on profiles overnight, insisting that the messages were left in public originally, but that members have since become more privacy-conscious.

Some Facebook users said that messages they had sent privately on the social network between 2007 and 2009 were being republished into their public timelines on the site Photo: REX FEATURES

The social network was deluged with complaints from members who claimed their old private messages have been re-published publicly on the social network.

Facebook admitted old messages were reappearing on profiles but quickly denied that there had been a privacy breach, as the messages were old public messages.

It appeared that members were shown old public "wall" postings that they wrongly believed were private messages. Observers said the outcry showed how the way people use Facebook has changed, as they have become more aware of their privacy online.

Facebook’s director of engineering, Andrew Bosworth, aimed to calm the panic.

"In case there was any concern, these are just wall posts and not personal messages… people just forget how we used to use the wall!," he said.

Some users had claimed that messages they had sent privately on the social network between 2007 and 2009 were being republished into their public timelines on the site. Though it was not clear how many people were affected, there were complaints from users in Britain, America and in Europe.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and chief executive, was hit by the bug. His profile showed a message to a friend that said "2009 is going to be a huge year".

A Facebook spokesman said: "A small number of users raised concerns after what they mistakenly believed to be private messages appeared on their Timeline.

"Our engineers investigated these reports and found that the messages were older wall posts that had always been visible on the users’ profile pages. Facebook is satisfied that there has been no breach of user privacy."

Some were unconvinced by the denial, however. Colleen Taylor, a writer for an American technology website, said that she had confirmed with friends that messages appearing in their timelines were originally sent as private messages.

Last week, Facebook added a new feature that shows members of the site their search history and lets them delete searches they do not want Facebook to retain. The feature is part of Facebook's Activity Log, which lets members of the social network see what information Facebook holds on them.

Facebook said: 'It's important to remember that no one else can see your Activity Log, including your search activity."

One Facebook user in London said last night messages from 2006 to 2008 which had been sent to her by other users had appeared on her wall and messages she had sent as private were showing up on her friend’s wall.

She said: “This is worrying. I’m trying to figure out how to fix it. It’s scary. They are private messages and my friends and I used to dicuss private things on facebook.”

One user wrote on Facebook: “It happened to me and I’m in London. Having checked a few other people, I’m now wishing I hadn’t!”

Another added: “This Facebook Message thing is a huge mess. Confirmed for me. Found some private messages fully exposed on my timeline.”

Facebook has recently added a new feature that shows members of the site their search history and lets them delete searches they do not want Facebook to retain. The feature is part of Facebook’s Activity Log, which lets members of the social network see what information Facebook holds on them.

The greater emphasis on search has been interpreted as a bid by Facebook to take on the might of Google. Zuckerberg said: “Facebook is pretty uniquely positioned to answer the questions people have.”

Facebook agreed to turn off the feature in Europe. The feature has long been controversial and was turned on by default last year, meaning that users who did not want to be identified would have to opt out.

Earlier this year, Facebook angered some of its members when it forced them to adopt a new Timeline page, changing the layout of all the photos and messages they had ever posted to the social network. When the feature was first launched, in September last year, it was a voluntary feature but Facebook began making it compulsory in January.

Source: The Telegraph

Graham Hancock : Politicians should take Ayahuasca 10 times before taking office

Hydrogen fuel cell for phone charging set for 2013

Hydrogen Generating Sheet. Credit: Rohm

(Phys.org)—A three-way collaboration between Japan-based Rohm, Aquafairy, and Kyoto University has resulted in the development of a smartphone-charging fuel cell—a compact, high output, portable hydrogen powered fuel cell that can generate electricity by producing hydrogen. This is achieved through a chemical reaction between calcium hydride sheets and water. The fuel cell can generate five watt hours of electricity, to charge an average smartphone within two hours. The fuel cell will be promoted for a variety of uses, from charging a smartphone to serving as a 200-watt portable generator delivering backup power.

Rohm said the new hydrogen fuel cells use a solid that creates hydrogen by adding water, generating power through "hydro-synthesis." No harmful byproducts such as carbon dioxide or VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) are involved. The fuel cells can be disposed of as general waste.

If the sheets are laminated and sealed, they last for twenty years, claimed a spokesman. Lithium ion batteries lose their charging ability in four to five years. Aquafairy had been developing a small fuel cell some years ago when they then started to exchange information with Rohm. Also, Rohm and Aquafairy have launched a joint project for a compact, lightweight 400-watt fuel cell system with Kinkei System.

Credit: Diginfonews

The fuel cell announced this month is promoted as advanced in its use of calcium hydride in place of magnesium hydride. Calcium hydride has high reactivity with water at a wide range of temperatures. Stable reactions are possible just by taking measures to suppress reactions. A resin is added to calcium hydride. ROHM and Aquafairy succeeded in solidifying calcium hydride in a sheet configuration, generating approximately 4.5 litres of hydrogen from a sheet less than 3cc in volume (measuring 38 x 38 x 2mm), providing a power output of 5Whr, said Rohm.

All in all, collaborative efforts of Rohm, Aquafairy and Kyoto University have resulted in plans for (1) the cover type and card case type of fuel cell, which have a generation capacity of 5Wh for smartphones, (2) a portable power generator with an output power of 200Wh and (3) a 400Wh fuel cell for seismometers, developed in collaboration with Kinkei System.

Enlarge

Hydrogen fuel cell. Credit: Rohm

In describing the special nature of fuel cells, Aquafairy has said that a fuel cell doesn't store electricity, but generates it like a power-generating plant. It can continue to supply electric power as long as hydrogen and oxygen fuel are supplied.

"Fuel cells can be made smaller, lighter, and more efficient than conventional storage and rechargeable cells, and thus are expected to drive expansion into new markets and applications, said a Rohm release.

Rohm, Aquafairy, and Kyoto University will continue to work on their development. They plan to evaluate the reliability of the fuel cell, make improvements and commercialize it in 2013.

The fuel cell will be shown at CEATEC in Japan early next month and at Electronica in Munich, Germany, in November.

Foxconn Riot Much Worse Than First Thought: 10 Reported Dead

More than 2,000 Foxconn workers were involved in the riot.

Earlier today, we reported on the Foxconn riot that broke out at the company’s Taiyuan, China, plant on Sunday evening. More than 2,000 employees were involved, and it took more than 5,000 police several hours officers to bring the disturbance under control.

Although many were injured, it was first thought that there were no deaths. Unfortunately the riot was much worse than initially reported, and ten workers have now been pronounced dead, according to reports.

According to CPCW — via Chinese blog MIC Gadget — the disturbance resulted in ten deaths, and the plant has now been closed for at least three days while investigations take place. However, Foxconn has denied that were any fatalities.

“We can confirm that there have been no employee deaths related to the incident which took place at an employee dormitory in Taiyuan last night. Reports to the contrary are inaccurate,” the company said in a statement.

This particular plant employees more than 79,000 people, and it specializes in the assembly of manufactured components and stamping metal. It is currently producing the new aluminum rear panels that feature on Apple’s iPhone 5, and at least one production line was damaged during the riot.

This is the same plant where workers rioted back in March, and MIC Gadget claims it’s notorious for its strict overtime requirements, which are forced upon its workers. But one of the biggest complaints is that security personnel are abusive to staff, which is said to be the cause of Sunday night’s brawl.

Our sources indicated that one of the security guards hit a Foxconn worker and this made even more of the workers angry and they started to beat up the security guard and others who tried to stop the fighting. Eventually as the Foxconn hired security was overwhelmed rather quickly, they called for backup. They have said it is a dispute between “workers” that started between 10-11pm on September 23rd. However it rapidly escalated from there.

Gang members from Shandong and Henan also became involved in the fight when news spread, and it took 5,000 police officers until 3 a.m. to bring it under control.

In an effort to keep the fight under wraps, employee cellphones were confiscated and erased, and around 100 people were arrested. In addition to this, Chinese authorities moved quickly to have photographs and videos of the incident removed from microblogging site Sina Weibo.

As workers fled the scene, many were trampled, and around 40 individuals are now in the local hospital with injuries, though MIC Gadget suspects the actual number may be greater than that.

Apple also has four of its own employees located at this plant, which are working to improve efficiency and quality control. It’s unclear where these workers were at the time the riot started.

With the plant now closed for three days, and at least one production line damaged, it could be that Apple’s iPhone 5 shipping delays get worse before they get better.

Full 60 minute video on Fukushima

Microsoft faces fine over browser commitment: EU

US software giant Microsoft faces yet more heavy fines after it promised to offer clients a choice of web browser but has failed to do so, the EU's competition commissioner said.

US software giant Microsoft faces yet more heavy fines after it promised to offer clients a choice of web browser but then failed to do so, the EU's competition commissioner said Monday.

Microsoft apologised in July for a "technical error" as the EU launched a probe into why 28 million users of the Windows 7 operating system were unable to choose between the company's default Internet Explorer and other browsers.

The company had committed in 2009 to provide Windows users in Europe a "choice screen" enabling them to pick an alternative web browser until 2014.

The screen, however, was missing from an update to Windows 7 posted in February 2011 and when it failed to appear, the Commission ran out of patience and launched the formal probe in July.

Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said that as result, Microsoft would be fined.

"The fault is there, it has been there for more than a year and it is clear that we need to react," he said.

"It is not only the distortion of competition during this period which concerns us; it is very serious, from my point of view, that the remedies imposed on Microsoft have not been applied," he said.

"It is easier to make progress in our investigation if a company which has broken competition rules recognises the fact," Almunia added.

A company that is found by the Commission to have breached legally-binding commitments can face fines of up to 10 percent of total annual turnover.

A Microsoft spokesman said the company had responded in July by agreeing to "extend the time period to show the browser choice screen by the time that we failed to show it".

The company has "already sent the browser choice screen to every user who hadn't seen it; all new users will see (it)," the spokesman added.

The EU fined Microsoft 899 million euros ($1.2 billion) in 2008 for failing to comply with an order to share product information with rivals so that their software can work with Windows.

GMO, Global Alert

Renewed boycott announced against GMO pushing mega-corporations

In a little over a month, Californians will head to the polls to decide whether or not they want the freedom to know the true contents of the foods they buy at the grocery store. And during this final push to raise awareness about the importance of mandatory labeling of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), the Alliance for Natural Health - USA (ANH-USA) has announced a renewed boycott against the mega-corporations that are working behind the scenes to stop you from knowing whether or not your food contains bio-engineered ingredients.

Proposition 37, a Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food Initiative, plainly states that raw or processed foods offered for sale to consumers must be properly labeled if they contain GMOs, and that no food products labeled "natural" can legally contain GMOs. Passage of this important ballot measure is the key to sparking GMO labeling laws nationwide, as it has the potential to drastically change for the better the way major food companies formulate their products. (http://www.carighttoknow.org/)

Several major chemical and food corporations; however, have been actively injecting tens of millions of dollars behind the scenes to stop Prop. 37 from becoming law. And many of these corporations own smaller companies and brands that are marketed as organic or "natural" in health food stores all across the country. It is important in these final days before the November 6 election to stop buying these brands, and support only healthy and organic brands that are not tied to major corporations fighting GMO labeling efforts.

Here is a list of the top corporations fighting GMO labeling efforts, as well as their subsidiary companies and brands. Many of these companies' products and their respective brands are available in health food stores, and you should avoid supporting them because of their pro-GMO position:

• Pepsi -- SoBe, Tazo, IZZE Sparkling Juice, Naked Juice, Naked Juice Coconut Water, Mother's Cereals, Nut Harvest Nuts, Sabra Hummus, Stacy's Pita and Bagel Chips, Aquafina

• Nestle -- Gerber Organics, Juicy Juice, Perrier, Poland Spring, S. Pellegrino, PowerBar, Tribe Mediterranean Foods

• Coca-Cola -- DASANI, FUZE Healthy Infusions, glaceau smartwater, glaceau vitaminwater, Honest Tea, Odwalla, Simply juices

• ConAgra -- Alexia Foods, Lightlife

• Kellogg's Company -- Kashi, Bear Naked, Wholesome & Hearty (Gardenburger), Morningstar Farms / Natural Touch

• General Mills - Cascadian Farm Organic, Muir Glen, Good Earth, Larabar, Liberte Greek yogurt, Nature Valley

• Kraft - Halls cough drops

• Dean Foods / Land O Lakes - Silk, Horizon Organic

A more thorough list of the top companies fighting GMO labeling can be accessed here:
http://www.anh-usa.org/our-gmo-boycott-is-expanding/

ANH-USA has also created its own list of companies and brands that are tied to mega-corporations fighting against Prop. 37 and other GMO labeling initiatives:
http://www.anh-usa.org/boycott-companies-fighting-prop-37/

"Why is this GMO labeling fight so important? Once GMOs are labeled in California, it will bring a cascade effect in other states as well, since most national companies won't create two labeling schemes, one for California and one for the rest of the country," says ANH-USA. "Moreover, once products containing GMOs are labeled, people will stop buying them -- and this economic pressure will be enough to force GMOs off the market."

On the flip side, here is a list of companies that actively support Prop. 37 and GMO labeling efforts elsewhere (http://www.anh-usa.org/boycott-companies-fighting-prop-37/). These are the companies that deserve our unabashed support for their commitment to honesty and transparency in food labeling:

Source: Natural News

Non-Disease Virus Kills Breast Cancer Cells In Lab

A virus that infects humans without causing disease kills breast cancer cells in the laboratory. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) College of Medicine in the US, tested an unaltered form of adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) on three different human breast cancer types representing different stages of cancer and found it targeted all of them. They hope by uncovering the pathways the virus uses to trigger cancer cell death, their work will lead to new targets for anti-cancer drugs. A paper on this work appeared recently in the journal Molecular Cancer.

In earlier studies, the team also showed that AAV2 promotes cell death in cervical cancer cells infected with human papillomavirus (HPV).

Cells have different ways of dying. When a healthy cell gets damaged, or starts behaving in an abnormal way, this normally triggers production of proteins that cause apoptosis or cell suicide: part of this process also involves switching off proteins that trigger cell division. The problem with cancer cells is that apoptosis fails, and the proteins that regulate cell division and proliferation stay switched on, so abnormal cells continue to multiply and create new abnormal cells and that is how tumors develop.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the world and the main cause of cancer-related death in women.

First author Dr Samina Alam, research associate in microbiology and immunology at Penn State, told the press in a statement released on Thursday that breast cancer is also "complex to treat".

Senior investigator Dr Craig Meyers, professor of microbiology and immunology at Penn State, explained why:

"Because it has multiple stages, you can't treat all the women the same. Currently, treatment of breast cancer is dependent on multiple factors such as hormone-dependency, invasiveness and metastases, drug resistance and potential toxicities."

However, he went on to say that in their study, they showed that "AAV2, as a single entity, targets all different grades of breast cancer".

He and his team believe that AAV2 is switching back on the apoptosis pathways that were switched off in the cancer cells.

For their study they used lab tissue cultures of cancer cells and found AAV2 killed 100% of them within seven days, with most of the cell death proteins activated on day five.

In another experiment, working with cancer cells from an aggressive form of breast cancer, they found the virus took three weeks to kill the cells.

Alam said they can see the virus is killing the cells, but exactly how it is doing it remains somewhat of a mystery.

"If we can determine which viral genes are being used, we may be able to introduce those genes into a therapeutic. If we can determine which pathways the virus is triggering, we can then screen new drugs that target those pathways. Or we may simply be able to use the virus itself," said Alam.

They still need to do more to find out exactly how AAV2 kills the cancer cells and for instance establish which of its proteins trigger the cell death pathways.

Although AAV2 does not affect healthy cells, if it were used directly as a treatment, the human immune system would probably target it and expel it from the body. That is why the researchers think a better approach would be to find which pathways it uses and then develop drugs that use them.

Meyers has a hunch that it involves the cellular myc gene. This gene is usually linked to cell proliferation, but sometimes myc protein is known to be involved in apoptosis as well.

In their paper, he and his co-authors explain how they found increased expression of this gene close to the time of death in the breast cancer cells.

The researchers at Penn State have also found that AAV2 can kill cells derived from prostate cancer, methoselioma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma.

They have also studied the effect of AAV2 on the most aggressive form of breast cancer in a mouse model; preliminary tests suggest it destroys such tumors in mice, and they will be reporting those findings soon, they said in a statement.

German Study Says Condoms Contain Cancer-causing Chemical

A German scientific research institute has warned that most condoms on the market contain a cancer-causing chemical and has urged that their manufacture be subjected to stringent quality control.

Sobering news for rubber contraceptive users.

The Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Institute in Stuttgart said on Friday it had found the carcinogen N-Nitrosamine in 29 of 32 types of condoms it tested in simulated conditions.

The condoms, which were kept in a solution with artificial sweat, exuded huge amounts of cancer-causing N-Nitrosamine from its rubber coating. Researchers measured amounts of N-Nitrosamine, that were way above the prescribed limits for other rubber products such as baby pacifiers.

"N-Nitrosamine is one of the most carcinogenic substances," the study's authors said. "There is a pressing need for manufacturers to tackle this problem."

The study said that the carcinogen is thought to be present in a substance used to improve condom elasticity. When the rubber material comes in contact with human bodily fluids, it can release traces of N-Nitrosamine.

No immediate health risk

But since there are no prescribed limits of N-Nitrosamine for condoms, the study hasn't caused panic among manufacturers or mass-recalling of the products from counters.

Local government officials said condom users should not stop using rubber contraceptives based on the results of the study because N-Nitrosamine does not present an immediate health risk.

The Baden-Würtemmberg Social Ministry said it didn't think "it posed a risk." Authorities are also withholding the name of the affected manufacturers for fear of litigation.

Manufacturers should use alternative substances

But Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment said that daily condom use exposed users to N-Nitrosamine levels up to three times higher than levels naturally present in food.

Werner Altkofer, head of the Stuttgart-based Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Institute said that though the production of rubber usually uses chemicals that can exude N-Nitrosamine, condom manufacturers could bypass it by using more expensive alternative substances available on the market that didn't form the carcinogen.

"We believe that it's up to the manufacturers to use other production processes so that no N-Nitrosamine is formed in condoms," Altkofer said.

He added that the latter was technically possible going by the fact that products of some manufacturers didn't show traces of the carcinogen during the testing.

Beate Uhse taking no chances

Germany's biggest erotica compnay Beate Uhse however, has decided to play it safe.

Shortly after the results of the study were introduced on Friday, the group banned chocolate-flavored condoms from its range. That was because the study had show that condoms laced with a chocolate flavoring had overwhelming high levels of N-Nitrosamine.

Experts discuss the shocking findings of the peer-reviewed GMO cancer trial

The recent study undeniably linking genetically modified foods (GMOs) to cancer should shock the health world, especially in the United States where the overwhelming majority of grocery store food is derived from GMO-based crops.

The new peer-reviewed study to be published in the upcoming Food & Chemical Toxicology Journal in New York proves that GMO corn and world's best-selling weedkiller, Roundup, causes increased tumors, multiple organ damage and led to premature death in rats.

“This research shows an extraordinary number of tumors developing earlier and more aggressively - particularly in female animals. I am shocked by the extreme negative health impacts,” said Dr. Michael Antoniou, molecular biologist at King’s College London School of Medicine.

Here are the experts discussing the significance of the findings of this unprecedented study:



This study comes at a time when aware consumers in California are trying to force chemical and genetic engineering companies like Monsanto to label any food that contains genetic modification. These recent findings that GMOs are clearly a health threat will likely give this campaign a boost of credibility in the face of millions of lobbying dollars being spent to oppose Prop 37.

Quantum Computing Makes Huge Breakthrough

Cameras know you by your walk

EVERYONE knows how easy it is to recognise a friend or family member from their walk - even from a distance.

But despite more than three decades of research, using gait analysis as a biometric has never taken off. Until now, perhaps. Recent advances in the accuracy of automated gait recognition suggest the technology could soon form the basis for a new generation of security systems.

Gait analysis has attracted attention because of the shortcomings of other biometric security techniques. Iris scans and face recognition require reasonably high-quality images, for example. They also generally require a cooperative subject, as do fingerprints. By contrast, a person's gait can be recognised from low-quality CCTV footage.

In one leading technique, known as the gait energy image, computer vision techniques use video images of a person to create a blurred silhouette that is characteristic of their gait. A human operator links this gait "signature" to a person's identity, allowing the system to automatically spot that person when they are next caught on film.

This technique uses just a blank silhouette, but Martin Hofmann and colleagues at the Technical University of Munich in Germany have developed a version that also extracts information from the person's image, such as the shadows on their clothing, which leads to a more detailed signature. Hofmann also used Microsoft's gaming sensor Kinect to measure depth, allowing him to better separate the target from the background. The result is a system that is better at tackling tasks that cause problems for the standard version of the technique, such as recognising a person carrying a briefcase. In tests using videos of several hundred people the system achieved a recognition rate of almost 80 per cent, outperforming 13 other gait analysis methods, including the one using gait energy images.

Another problem that has troubled researchers is finding a way to identify a person captured at different camera angles, and Daigo Muramatsu and colleagues at Osaka University in Japan are now working on a solution. They filmed 20 people on a treadmill using 24 cameras ranged around them and used this data to write software that can model the appearance of a person's gait when viewed from different angles. In preliminary tests, the system led to lower identification error rates at almost all angles, results Muramatsu describes as "promising".

Muramatsu and Hofmann will present their work this week at the BTAS biometrics conference in Washington DC.

These and other developments suggest that automated gait analysis might be ready for commercial use in the near future. Muramatsu says his group is already working with forensic scientists in Japan and has also developed gait analysis software that can be used by non-experts.

At the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, UK, researchers have developed a demonstration system that can track people as they move through the laboratory building by their gait alone.

Hofmann cautions against thinking gait recognition will ever rival fingerprints for accuracy. Accuracy rates can plummet if a person walks more rapidly than normal, for example. But that does not mean it won't prove useful. "Gait has potential for commercial applications," he says. "Imagine a bank robber who has covered his fingers and face, but can be identified by the way he walks out of the bank."

Source: New Scientist

Nestle Embeds GPS Trackers In Candy Bars To Hunt Down Eaters

Select Kit-Kat bars in the UK will contain GPS devices, which Nestlé will use to find the buyers and give them a cash prize.

Customers buying Kit-Kat bars in the United Kingdom could be unwrapping a 21st-century version of Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket--a GPS unit the candy-maker will use to find them, apprehend them and give them a prize. Nestlé claims to be the first to market its chocolatey wares with a GPS-based promotion.

The somewhat sinister-sounding “We Will Find You” campaign will place a GPS-enabled bar inside four versions of Kit-Kats. Inside the wrapper, it would look exactly like a regular Kit-Kat, according to the York Press newspaper, in the town where Nestlé is based. When the would-be snacker pulls a tab to open the wrapper, the GPS device will turn on, which will notify the company. Then a “prize team” will locate this person within 24 hours and hand him or her a check for £10,000 (about $16,000).

Nestlé said they devised the campaign to appeal to men, who presumably like GPS technology. It is backing the marketing blitz with TV ads and a smartphone campaign, wherein users are supposed to scan QR codes on Kit-Kat ads or use NFC-equipped phones to enter an online competition.

While Nestlé may be the first to do this with candy, they’re not the first to use GPS to track their customers. As Network World points out, multinational soap-and-ice-cream supplier Unilever added a GPS device to a box of laundry soap it sells in Brazil, and stalked 50 shoppers to their front doors to give them prizes.

Soda, fast food and candy wrappers always have some kind of contest running, but those usually rely on the consumer to notice the special winning code or wrapper and go get the prize. Tracking people down is definitely a different concept.

Source: Popsci

Germany urges public to stop using Internet Explorer

The German government urged the public on Tuesday to temporarily stop using Microsoft Corp’s Internet Explorer following discovery of a yet-to-be repaired bug in the Web browser that the software maker said makes PCs vulnerable hacker attacks.

It issued the warning as a researcher said he found evidence that suggests the hackers who exploited the flaw were seeking to attack defense contractors.

Microsoft said on Monday that attackers can exploit the bug in its Internet Explorer, used on hundreds of millions of computers, to infect the PC of somebody who visits a malicious website and then take control of the victim’s computer.

The German government’s Federal Office for Information Security, or BSI, said it was aware of targeted attacks and that all that was needed was to lure Web surfers to a website where hackers had planted malicious software that exploited the bug.

“A fast spreading of the code has to be feared,” the German government said in its statement.

BSI advised all users of Internet Explorer to use an alternative browser until the manufacturer has released a security update.

Officials with Microsoft did not respond to a request to comment on the move by the German government, although the company downplayed the impact of the flaw in a written statement.

“There have been an extremely limited number of attacks,” said company spokeswoman Yunsun Wee. “The vast majority of Internet Explorer users have not been impacted.”

The company said it planned to release software to protect PCs from attack within the next few days. Customers must manually install the code by visiting Microsoft’s website and clicking on a link.

Microsoft did not say how long it will take to release a full update to Internet Explorer, which will automatically be loaded onto the machines of most customers. Several security researchers have said they expect the update within a week.

‘NITRO’ LINK

The vulnerability in Internet Explorer was identified on Friday after the PC of a security researcher from Luxembourg was infected while analyzing a computer server that was used last year to launch a cyber industrial espionage campaign on at least 48 chemical and defense companies.

The victims of the so-called “Nitro” attacks included Fortune 100 corporations that develop compounds and advanced materials, according to security software maker Symantec Corp, which disclosed them in October 2011.

Network security firm AlienVault said on Tuesday it has discovered three other servers that host malicious that exploit the newly found Internet Explorer vulnerability.

Jaime Blasco, manager of AlienVault Labs, said he found evidence suggesting they targeted defense contractors. As an example, he said he found a related virus on a site that provides news on India’s defense sector.

“It seems that these guys are behind big targets,” he said.

Internet Explorer was the world’s second-most widely used browser last month, with about 33 percent market share, according to StatCounter. It was close behind Chrome, which had 34 percent of the market.

Source: Secrets of the fed

French doctors: Half of all prescribed medicines are ‘useless or dangerous

Half of all medicines being prescribed by doctors in France are either useless or potentially dangerous for patients, according to two eminent medical specialists. They blame the powerful pharmaceutical companies for keeping these drugs on sale at huge expense to the health system and the taxpayer.

Professor Philippe Even, director of the prestigious Necker Institute, and Bernard Debré, a doctor and member of parliament, say removing what they describe as superfluous and hazardous drugs from the list of those paid for by the French health service would save up to €10bn (£8bn) a year. It would also prevent up to 20,000 deaths linked to the medication and reduce hospital admissions by up to 100,000, they claim.

In their 900-page book The Guide to the 4,000 Useful, Useless or Dangerous Medicines, Even and Debré examined the effectiveness, risks and cost of pharmaceutical drugs available in France. Among those that they alleged were “completely useless” were statins, widely taken to lower cholesterol. The blacklist of 58 drugs the doctors claimed are dangerous included anti-inflammatories and drugs prescribed for cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, osteoporosis, contraception, muscular cramps and nicotine addiction.

The Professional Federation of Medical Industrialists denounced the doctors’ views as full of “confusions and approximations”. “This book is helping to alarm those who are sick needlessly and risks leading them to stop treatments,” it saidin a statement.

Christian Lajoux, the federation’s president said: “It is dangerous and irresponsible … hundreds of their examples are neither precise nor properly documented. We must not forget that the state exercises strict controls on drugs. France has specialist agencies responsible for the health of patients and of controlling what information is given to them.”

Professor Even told the Guardian most of the drugs criticised in the book are produced by French laboratories. He accused the pharmaceutical industry of pushing medicines at doctors who then push them on to patients. “The pharmaceutical industry is the most lucrative, the most cynical and the least ethical of all the industries,” he said. “It is like an octopus with tentacles that has infiltrated all the decision making bodies, world health organisations, governments, parliaments, high administrations in health and hospitals and the medical profession.

“It has done this with the connivance, and occasionally the corruption of the medical profession. I am not just talking about medicines but the whole of medicine. It is the pharmaceutical industry that now outlines the entire medical landscape in our country.”

The French consume medication worth around €36bn every year, around €532 for each citizen who has an average 47 boxes of medicine in cupboards every year. The state covers 77% of the cost, amounting to 12% of GDP; in the UK spending on medicines is 9.6% of GDP. “Yet in the UK people have the same life expectancy of around 80 years and are no less healthy,” said Even.

The authors were commissioned by former President Nicolas Sarkozy to write a report over the Mediator affair, a drug developed for diabetes patients but prescribed as a slimming aid, that has been linked to the deaths of hundreds of patients who developed heart problems.

However, Even accused the industry of having a get-rich-quick attitude to making medicines and said it was interested in chasing only easy profits. “They haven’t discovered very much new for the last 30 years, but have multiplied production, using tricks and lies.

“Sadly, none of them is interested in making drugs for rare conditions or, say, for an infectious disease in countries with no money, because it’s not a big market. Nor are they interested in developing drugs for conditions like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease because it too difficult and there’s not money to be made quickly.

“It has become interested only in the immediate, in short term gains. On Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry is third after petrol and banking, and each year it increases by 20%. It’s more profitable than mining for diamonds.”

Asked to explain French people’s apparent dependence on medication, Even said: “For the last 40 years patients have been told that medicines are necessary for them, so they ask for them. Today we have doctors who want to give people medicines and sick people asking for medicines. There’s nothing objective or realistic about this.”

He added: “There is nothing revolutionary in this book. This has all been known for some time.”