Pictures: Fungi Get Into the Holiday Spirit

Photograph courtesy Stephanie Mounaud, J. Craig Venter Institute

Mounaud combined different fungi to create a Santa hat and spell out a holiday message.

Different fungal grow at different rates, so Mounaud's artwork rarely lasts for long. There's only a short window of time when they actually look like what they're suppose to.

"You do have to keep that in perspective when you're making these creations," she said.

For example, the A. flavus fungi that she used to write this message from Santa grows very quickly. "The next day, after looking at this plate, it didn't say 'Ho Ho Ho.' It said 'blah blah blah,'" Mounaud said.

The message also eventually turned green, which was the color she was initially after. "It was a really nice green, which is what I was hoping for. But yellow will do," she said.

The hat was particularly challenging. The fungus used to create it "was troubling because at different temperatures it grows differently. The pigment in this one forms at room temperature but this type of growth needed higher temperatures," Mounaud said.

Not all fungus will grow nicely together. For example, in the hat, "N. fischeri [the brim and ball] did not want to play nice with the P. marneffei [red part of hat] ... so they remained slightly separated."

Published December 21, 2012

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'Cliff' Deniers Put Faith in No Deal

Not everyone thinks the "fiscal cliff" is so bad.

If the Dec. 31 deadline passes, income taxes will go up and across-the-board spending cuts will hit government programs. But while most of the political world frets as if a major disaster is looming, others have treated it more like the Y2K bug: a fiscal canard ginning up a lot of unnecessary panic.

The cliff is a "fantasy," former House speaker Newt Gingrich told a sold-out crowd at the Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley, Calif., a week before Election Day.

"It is an excuse to panic," Gingrich said. "It is a device to get all of us running down the road so we accept whatever Obama wants, because otherwise we will have failed the fiscal cliff, and how can you be a patriot if you don't do what the fiscal cliff requires?"

Fiscal Cliff 'Plan B' Is Dead: Now What?

The former speaker wanted Republicans to stop negotiating with President Obama, for fear of giving too much away. "Back out of all of this negotiating with Obama," Gingrich publicly advised House Republicans. "The president is overwhelmingly dominant in the news media" but, at the opposite end of the political spectrum, liberals have said the same thing for a similar reason.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Fiscal Cliff: Boehner Doesn't Have Votes for Plan B Watch Video

'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations: Boehner's Plan B Watch Video

While the "cliff" would mean higher taxes on the middle class, it would also mean higher taxes on the wealthy, a chief demand for liberals. Automatic budget cuts would hit defense programs, which liberals have wanted to cut anyway, but not the Medicare and Social Security entitlements that Democrats and progressives want so badly to protect.

Boehner Pulls 'Plan B' Amid GOP Disarray

Van Jones, the environmental activist and resigned White House green jobs "czar," sought to quiet the "fiscal cliff" alarms Election Night on CNN. "The problem with the label 'the cliff' is that it creates a mindset that there is nothing worse that this set of cuts, and there are things that are worse," Jones said.

"We cannot be in a situation where we get bullied or stampeded into putting in a deal that's even worse than what the fiscal cliff is about."

Jones later wrote on his blog that the "fiscal cliff" is actually a "fiscal bluff": "The so-called fiscal cliff is actually a fiscal bluff --- a made-up crisis to make us think our government is out of money and time. Congress continues to drag its feet over raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, despite the top 1% earning 23% of the nation's income, and insists on calling for cuts to vital programs instead of reining in massive subsidies ($100 billion in 2011 alone) to major corporations that already make billions in profits.

"America isn't broke --- it's being robbed.
Gingrich and Jones started the conversation, but as the deadline creeps closer, others are finishing it."

To some, the "fiscal cliff" offers a clearer upside.

"Democratic and progressive leverage goes immensely up if we get past the beginning of the year," Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee told ABC News. "Once they have to proactively lower taxes on the rich, it makes it harder and harder to move that number up and makes it easier and easier to force votes or demand votes on policies that clearly benefit the middle class."

Green says liberals will get what they want immediately, if the Dec. 31 deadline passes without a deal.

"We really want to get past the first of the year so that we have that leverage in the bag," Green told ABC. "It will also show that the fiscal cliff was a mess. If we get into 2013, the really good stuff happens right away, and the really big cuts are a 10-year phasing."

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Venture Scouts, Girl Guides conferred prestigious awards

SINGAPORE: Eighteen Venture Scouts and seven Girl Guides in Singapore have been conferred the highest honour in the movement.

President Tony Tan Keng Yam presented the President's Scout Award and the President's Guide Award for 2012 at the Istana on Friday.

The awards are the highest honour given to Singapore's most all-rounded Venture Scouts and Girl Guides.

The awards come as recognition of the recipients' excellent performance, dedication to the movement, and service to the community.

- CNA/ck

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Human beings are actually 'sick animals': Iranian-Canadian philosopher

Ramin Jahanbegloo, 56, is a renowned Iranian-Canadian philosopher and political activist with a doctorate in philosophy from Sorbonne University, France. A professor of political science and a research fellow in the Centre for Ethics at University of Toronto, he has been dealing with ideas of non-violence and political philosophy. Currently in India to speak on the Global Gandhian movement, Jahanbegloo talks to The Times of India about how he has been actively involved with Gandhian ideologies and practices and why he wishes to create a global movement on the same.

Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born in Tehran and lived in France for nearly 20 years where my contact with India started. I was always interested and attracted to India. It wasn't as a tourist or in any romantic way. My parents always had contacts with Indian diplomats in Iran and also when we were in France. I came to India in 1989, when I had already started working on Gandhi. I lived in Delhi for two years. I've written nine books in India; six are conversations with eminent Indians.

What really drew you towards Gandhi?
A: I started with Gandhi because most of the famous philosophers -- Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche -- that I had studied and worked on when I was doing my PhD at Sorbonne University, admitted to violence and war as a crucial principle in history which did not appeal to me. When I started my PhD I was very keen on getting involved with the philosophy of nonviolence, which brought me to study Gandhi and look into the western intellectual foundations of Gandhi like Ruskin, Tolstoy etc. For me, non-violence has two aspects which are the philosophical and the activist aspect.

What directed you towards philosophy?
A: I decided to study philosophy because of the main question that is asked by humanity which is why there is 'being' rather than 'non-being'? I will add another question to it now because of the work on violence I have done: Why do we have violence rather than non-violence? I think the main foundation of philosophical being brought me to a second ethical question: why are human beings so violent? Who are the authors and thinkers who have confronted this violence politically, socially and philosophically? After Jesus Christ, Buddha and St Francis, the name of Gandhi comes first in the 21st century as a propagator of non-violence.

Do you believe that violence can be eliminated form society completely?
No and yes. Well you see, we have to distinguish between aggression and violence in a society. That is why we think that animals and humans can both be violent because it is inherent in our nature. However, human violence is learned socially and politically, more than being an instinct.

The violence that we use is not comparable with the aggressive instinct of animals. Animals do not construct concentration camps, they not organise mass killings. And they do not go into a school and kill innocent children. Their fear is conditioned. Human beings are actually 'sick animals'. The solution to eliminate violence from society is, hence, historical, social and political rather than psychological. For example, the rapes that happen in Delhi are because of poverty, under education, bad social situation of people. The solution lies in going to the roots and attacking them, fighting the social and political evils and importantly through education rather than hanging these people. As Gandhi as well as Martin Luther King said, you have to fight the murder not the murderer. By killing the murderer, nothing can change.

Tell us something about 'Global Gandhian Movement,' the topic that you often speak on.

Gandhi has influenced not just India but the world. The Gandhian mode of thinking has a much deeper impact than people may believe. People like Mandela, Martin Luther King, Aung Sang Suu Kyi and Dalai Lama have been directly influenced by Gandhi. But students in Egypt, Serbia, Tunisia, have been indirectly influenced by him. A global Gandhian movement is prevalent in society. Most importantly, the Gandhian method of politics is the extension of ethical ideas. People are not fighting just for change of power. They are fighting for something more than power. I will be highlighting how youth are fighting to change the social ills of society and struggling with all the ethical wrong doings.

What is this 'power' that people are fighting for?
We must distinguish between political power and empowerment of society. I mean it is the empowerment of civil society rather than state related power that the Gandhian movement consists of. For Gandhi, active citizenship and enlargement of pluralism was much more important than state oriented politics. Gandhi was also a listener. He listened to Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Parsis and then inculcated it and acted accordingly. Others did not have the capacity of listening, and did not succeed as well as Gandhi because they inculcated their ideologies before really listening to the masses. They do not leave behind the same legacy, for example, Jinnah. So fighting for sovereignty and empowerment of civil society is more important than political power.

Does ancient Indian philosophy interest you?
Of course! I've been very inspired by Buddhism. I've read a lot about Vivekananda, and many other spiritual thinkers. I'm very interested in Tagore. I wrote a book on Tagore! He is my second favourite person after Gandhi. Tagore for me is very close to the Persian culture. I always say, either I was an Indian in my previous life or I will be an Indian in my next life! Persian culture has always been inter-twined in the Indian context. Hence I have always been very close to India. I've read a lot of Sarojini Naidu as a poet. I've even read B.R Amedkar and I've done critiques by him on Gandhi. I like the intercultural, diversity of India. In fact the very idea of non-violence is diversity. It is essentially solidarity of difference.

Do you have a favourite book or author?
One would definitely be Gandhi's autobiography. A book by Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation. Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' is a book I love and always keep going back. Finally, Magic mountain by Thomas Mann. I'm actually choosing a few books from each civilization and combining it to give me a wholesome experience for my life.

You were imprisoned by the Iranian government for nearly four months. How did it affect your life?
I went to prison because I'm a non-violent activist, and I believe in non-violent changes in Iran. But I believe the Iranian government imprisoned me because I had become too popular in Iran and the regime did not like me very much. Solitary confinement isn't the best thing, and it affected me a lot. I think I became even more devoted to nonviolent thinking. I think it was because I read Gandhi's autobiography over and over again while in prison because it was the only book that I was allowed to keep. When I came out of prison, I decided that I want to fight against the spirit of revenge. I think to fight against the evil is to fight the evil itself. The question that was always on my mind like I have seen with Nazis, or Stalinism or colonialism: Why do some humans suppress or disrespect other humans to feel that they are somehow superior? I needed to understand why this evil was prevalent and I had to understand the very reason for it.

Apart from being a philosopher and a teacher, do you have any other hobbies that you engage in?
I have a lot of hobbies. I love classical movies. I am a film critic. I will probably write book in the next few years on Satyajit Ray. I went to Kolkata and met his son, as I was very inspired by his works. I love his cinema. But I'm truly a fan of classical cinema, the 1930's-40's. My favourite actors are Spencer Tracy and James Cagney. I watch 1-2 classical movies every day. I sleep only 4-5 hours, so I make it a point to watch movies at night. I enjoy classical music too.

Apart from Gandhi, who do you draw inspiration from?
One living person who has inspired me and been very close to is Dalai Lama. He is the living expression of Gandhi. I make it a point to visit him every time that I am in India. For me, he is a symbol of peace and tolerance and Ahimsa.

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Hollies Get Prickly for a Reason

With shiny evergreen leaves and bright red berries, holly trees are a naturally festive decoration seen throughout the Christmas season.

They're famously sharp. But not all holly leaves are prickly, even on the same tree. And scientists now think they know how the plants are able to make sharper leaves, seemingly at will. (Watch a video about how Christmas trees are made.)

A new study published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society suggests leaf variations on a single tree are the combined result of animals browsing on them and the trees' swift molecular response to that sort of environmental pressure.

Carlos Herrera of the National Research Council of Spain led the study in southeastern Spain. He and his team investigated the European holly tree, Ilex aquifolium. Hollies, like other plants, can make different types of leaves at the same time. This is called heterophylly. Out of the 40 holly trees they studied, 39 trees displayed different kinds of leaves, both prickly and smooth.

Five holly leaves from the same tree.

Photographs by Emmanuel Lattes, Alamy

Some trees looked like they had been browsed upon by wild goats and deer. On those trees, the lower 8 feet (2.5 meters) had more prickly leaves, while higher up the leaves tended to be smooth. Scientists wanted to figure out how the holly trees could make the change in leaf shape so quickly.

All of the leaves on a tree are genetic twins and share exactly the same DNA sequence. By looking in the DNA for traces of a chemical process called methylation, which modifies DNA but doesn't alter the organism's genetic sequence, the team could determine whether leaf variation was a response to environmental or genetic changes. They found a relationship between recent browsing by animals, the growth of prickly leaves, and methylation.

"In holly, what we found is that the DNA of prickly leaves was significantly less methylated than prickless leaves, and from this we inferred that methylation changes are ultimately responsible for leaf shape changes," Herrera said. "The novelty of our study is that we show that these well-known changes in leaf type are associated with differences in DNA methylation patterns, that is, epigenetic changes that do not depend on variation in the sequence of DNA."

"Heterophylly is an obvious feature of a well-known species, and this has been ascribed to browsing. However, until now, no one has been able to come up with a mechanism for how this occurs," said Mike Fay, chief editor of the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society and head of genetics at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. "With this new study, we are now one major step forward towards understanding how."

Epigenetic changes take place independently of variation in the genetic DNA sequence. (Read more about epigenetics in National Geographic magazine's "A Thing or Two About Twins.")

"This has clear and important implications for plant conservation," Herrera said. In natural populations that have their genetic variation depleted by habitat loss, the ability to respond quickly, without waiting for slower DNA changes, could help organisms survive accelerated environmental change. The plants' adaptability, he says, is an "optimistic note" amidst so many conservation concerns. (Related: "Wild Holly, Mistletoe, Spread With Warmer Winters.")

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NRA to Speak on Stopping Newtown Repeat

For the past week, leadership at the National Rifle Association has largely stayed away from the media, but this morning the group may weigh in on how to keep a deadly shooting massacre like last week's at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school from happening again.

The NRA will hold a news conference in Washington, D.C., just before 11 a.m.

Its leadership has held off on interviews this week after refusing to appear on Sunday morning public affairs shows this past weekend.

The group came under pressure after Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 children and six adults before shooting himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown last Friday.

"Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting," the group said in a press release Tuesday. "The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."

NRA News anchor Ginny Simone said Thursday that in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, membership surged "with an average of 8,000 new members a day."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the NRA is partially to blame for the tragedy.

"We're not trying to take away your right to advance the interests of gun owners, hunters, people who want to protect themselves," Bloomberg told "Nightline" anchor Cynthia McFadden in an interview Thursday. "But that's not an absolute right to encourage behavior which causes things like Connecticut. In fact, Connecticut is because of some of their actions."

Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP Photo

President Obama Launches Gun-Violence Task Force Watch Video

President Obama on Gun Control: Ready to Act? Watch Video

Joe Biden to Lead Task Force to Prevent Gun Violence Watch Video

The guns used in the attack were legally purchased and owned by the shooter's mother, Nancy Lanza, who Adam Lanza shot to death before his assault on the school.

In the aftermath of the shooting, many, including Bloomberg, have called for stricter regulations on the type of weapons used in this and other instances of mass gun violence this year.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has said she intends to introduce a bill banning assault weapons on the first day of next year's Congress -- a step the president said he supports.

President Obama announced Wednesday that Vice President Joe Biden will head a task force of leaders from across the country that will evaluate the best solutions to reduce gun violence in the United States.

Obama said he will "use all the powers of this office to help advance efforts aimed at preventing more tragedies like this."

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, of which Mayor Bloomberg is co-chair, released a letter to President Obama signed by more than 750 mayors calling on him to produce a plan to "make it harder for dangerous people to possess guns."

The letter asked for mandatory background checks for gun buyers, a ban on high-capacity rifles and ammunition magazines, and a designation of gun trafficking as a federal crime.

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos looked at whether strict gun control laws like those that have worked for the United Kingdom and Japan could work for the U.S. on "Good Morning America" Thursday.

Others have argued that, rather than banning guns, the government should be arming teachers and administrators in schools so that they can defend students in the event of another school shooting.

While Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a measure that would have let guns into schools on Tuesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell praised the idea.

Speaking on the NRA's daily news program Tuesday, Dave Koppel of the Independence Institute said the teachers at Sandy Hook should have had weapons.

"We'd certainly be talking about fewer innocent people and children dead," Koppel said.

While a national debate over the necessary solutions to prevent a tragedy of this nature from ever happening again wages on, Connecticut residents will have to wait "several months" before the final Connecticut State Police report on the Newtown shootings is complete.

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In the Loop’s presidential election contest winners

(Marlon Correa)
The presidential popular vote counting is just about over — although Cook Political Report guru David Wasserman, who has President Obama at 50.97 percent of the vote now, says there are still some yet to be counted.

But if we’re going to get t-shirts out to the winners of the In The Loop election contest (popular vote) in time for Christmas, we’ve got to stop the count now (kind of like the Supreme Court did in 2000).

So here are the winners — ties broken by time of entry.

1. Emil Marcus, a teacher from Matawan, N.J., who was .03 percent off, predicted on Sept. 11 that Obama would win 51 percent of the vote.

2. Matthew Thomas, a restaurateur from Fredericksburg, Va. predicted 51 percent the next afternoon.

3. Martha Steinbock, a retiree from Silver Spring, was the third person to enter with the same percentage.

4. Stuart Davis, a retired teacher from Arlington — and winner of the electoral vote portion of the contest — wins again with his entry of 51 percent.

Three people predicted a lower vote than Obama got, but only by .07 per cent:

5.William Bennett, not the former secretary of education but a Washington lawyer, predicted Obama would get 50.9 percent of the popular vote.

6. Frank W. Krogh, a lawyer from Arlington, entered the same calculation.

7. Walter Smith, of the District of Columbia, the executive director of a nonprofit advocacy organization. also was in that winning category.

8. Henry Resnikoff of Essex, Conn. was next, predicting Obama would garner 51.06 percent of the vote, so he was just .09 percent off.

A number of Loop Fans predicted Obama would win 51.1 percent of the vote — .14 percent too high.The first in with those guesses were:

9. Michael G. Pilot, a retired economist from Arlington; and,

10. Joe Foley of Potomac, who runs a lobbying and public affairs firm.

In addition to an official In the Loop t-shirt, the winners can also note that their predictions were closer than the formidable statistician and blogger Nate Silver’s 50.80 prediction.

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Singapore shares end 0.5% higher

SINGAPORE -- Singapore share prices ended 0.5% higher on Thursday, shrugging off negative cues from Wall Street.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index (STI) rose 16.95 points to end at 3,175.52, supported by the announcement of fresh easing measures by the Bank of Japan.

While the market opened lower amid fresh concerns over whether a US fiscal cliff deal will emerge before year-end, support came from the BOJ's moves to increase the size of its asset purchase programme and its plans to review its inflation target.

In the broader market, 2.03 billion shares changed hands, with gainers and losers nearly evenly matched. There were 198 gainers and 196 losers.

Among the gainers, Olam rose 1.3% to S$1.56. In two straight days of buying in the open market, Singapore's Temasek Holdings has raised its stake in the commodities trader to 18% from 16%.

- CNA/ir

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CWG case: Order on framing of charges against Kalmadi tomorrow

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court will pronounce tomorrow its order on framing of charges against former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC) Chairman Suresh Kalmadi and 10 others in a games-related graft case.

Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh had on November 21 slated for tomorrow the pronouncement of order on charges in the case also involving former CWG OC Secretary General Lalit Bhanot as an accused in the case.

Besides Kalmadi and Bhanot, nine others have been charge-sheeted by the CBI for allegedly "illegally" awarding a contract to install Timing, Scoring and Results system for the 2010 CWG to Swiss Timing at an inflated rates causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the public exchequer.

They have been charge-sheeted under various provisions of the IPC, including those of criminal conspiracy under section 120(B), cheating (section 420), forgery (section 468 & 471) of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI had alleged Kalmadi and others had rejected Spanish firm MSL's much lower bid of Rs 62 crore and awarded the contract to Swiss Timing Omega, causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the exchequer.

The other nine accused in the case are OC's Director General V K Verma, Director General (Procurement) Surjit Lal, Joint Director General (Sports) A S V Prasad and Treasurer M Jayachandran. They are no more associated with the sporting body.

Promoters of two construction companies - P D Arya and A K Madan of Faridabad-based Gem International and A K Reddy of Hyderabad-based AKR Constructions are also accused in the case.

Besides the two firms, Swiss Timing Omega, the Swiss firm which was awarded the contract allegedly at exorbitant rates, is also an accused in the case.

During the arguments on charges, CBI counsel V K Sharma had argued that Kalmadi and others had decided to award the contract for installing the TSR system for the CWG to Swiss Timing even before the firm had bid for it.

Sharma had also said that for TSR installation, two bids had been received - one from Swiss Timing and other from MSL Spain, and the same were opened on November 4, 2009 but Kalmadi and Verma had announced in a meeting on October 12, 2009 itself that the contract would be given to Swiss Timing.

He had also said Kalmadi had made up his mind in advance to award the contract to the Swiss firm.

Kalmadi's counsel, however, had argued that the facts given in the CBI's charge sheet were contrary to the documents which the agency had filed in the court.

Kalmadi had told the court that he was only doing the work assigned to him as the OC chairman and nothing wrong was done by him in the entire process.

The counsel appearing for other accused had also opposed the allegations levelled against them by the CBI.

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Detecting Rabid Bats Before They Bite

A picture is worth a thousand words—or in the case of bats, a rabies diagnosis. A new study reveals that rabid bats have cooler faces compared to uninfected colony-mates. And researchers are hopeful that thermal scans of bat faces could improve rabies surveillance in wild colonies, preventing outbreaks that introduce infections into other animals—including humans.

Bats are a major reservoir for the rabies virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Previous research shows that bats can transmit their strains to other animals, potentially putting people at risk. (Popular Videos: Bats share the screen with creepy co-stars.)

Rabies, typically transmitted in saliva, targets the brain and is almost always fatal in animals and people if left untreated. No current tests detect rabies in live animals—only brain tissue analysis is accurate.

Searching for a way to detect the virus in bats before the animals died, rabies specialist James Ellison and his colleagues at the CDC turned to a captive colony of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Previous studies had found temperature increases in the noses of rabid raccoons, so the team expected to see similar results with bats.

Researchers established normal temperature ranges for E. fuscus—the bat species most commonly sent for rabies testing—then injected 24 individuals with the virus. The 21-day study monitored facial temperatures with infrared cameras, and 13 of the 21 bats that developed rabies showed temperature drops of more than 4ºC.

"I was surprised to find the bats' faces were cooler because rabies causes inflammation—and that creates heat," said Ellison. "No one has done this before with bats," he added, and so researchers aren't sure what's causing the temperature changes they've discovered in the mammals. (Related: "Bats Have Superfast Muscles—A Mammal First.")

Although thermal scans didn't catch every instance of rabies in the colony, this method may be a way to detect the virus in bats before symptoms appear. The team plans to fine-tune their measurements of facial temperatures, and then Ellison hopes to try surveillance in the field.

This study was published online November 9 in Zoonoses and Public Health.

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