Sam Taylor-Johnson to direct '50 Shades' movie

LONDON (AP) ? British visual artist and filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson has been signed to direct the movie version of erotic best-seller "50 Shades of Grey," producers have announced.

Taylor-Johnson, whose only previous feature was the 2009 John Lennon biopic "Nowhere Boy," promised she would "honor the power" of the book, which has sold millions of copies and spawned countless imitators.

The announcement was made Wednesday by Universal Pictures and Focus Features. Producer Michael De Luca said Taylor-Johnson's "unique ability to gracefully showcase complex relationships dealing with love, emotion and sexual chemistry make her the ideal director" for the story of the S&M-tinged romance between a young student and an enigmatic billionaire.

"50 Shades" author E.L. James tweeted that she was "delighted and thrilled" by the choice.

The 46-year-old director, previously known as Sam Taylor-Wood, is one of Britain's best-known visual artists. Her works include a video portrait of David Beckham sleeping that hangs in London's National Portrait Gallery. She also made "Crying Men," a compilation of Hollywood actors in tears.

In 2012 she married "Kick-Ass" star Aaron Johnson, whom she met when he played the young Lennon in "Nowhere Boy." Both adopted the surname Taylor-Johnson.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sam-taylor-johnson-direct-50-shades-movie-095717486.html

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Brain can plan actions toward things the eye doesn't see

June 19, 2013 ? People can plan strategic movements to several different targets at the same time, even when they see far fewer targets than are actually present, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

A team of researchers at the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Western Ontario took advantage of a pictorial illusion -- known as the "connectedness illusion" -- that causes people to underestimate the number of targets they see.

When people act on these targets, however, they can rapidly plan accurate and strategic reaches that reflect the actual number of targets.

Using sophisticated statistical techniques to analyze participants' responses to multiple potential targets, the researchers found that participants' reaches to the targets were unaffected by the presence of the connecting lines.

Thus, the "connectedness illusion" seemed to influence the number of targets they perceived but did not impact their ability to plan actions related to the targets.

These findings indicate that the processes in the brain that plan visually guided actions are distinct from those that allow us to perceive the world.

"The design of the experiments allowed us to separate these two processes, even though they normally unfold at the same time," explained lead researcher Jennifer Milne, a PhD student at the University of Western Ontario.

"It's as though we have a semi-autonomous robot in our brain that plans and executes actions on our behalf with only the broadest of instructions from us!"

According to Mel Goodale, professor at the University of Western Ontario and senior author on the paper, these findings "not only reveal just how sophisticated the visuomotor systems in the brain are, but could also have important implications for the design and implementation of robotic systems and efficient human-machine interfaces."

This work was supported by operating grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to J. C. Culham (Grant No. 249877 RGPIN) and M. A. Goodale (Grant No. 6313 2007 RGPIN).

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/PZY3fKBTolM/130619164712.htm

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New details about H7N9 influenza infections that suddenly appeared in China

June 19, 2013 ? Researchers with the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute have revealed new information about the latest strain of type A influenza, known as H7N9, in a report in the journal PLOS Currents: Outbreaks.

Since June 7, 132 confirmed cases of human infection with H7N9 have been reported in China and 37 people have died, according to the World Health Organization. It is the first time human infection with the avian influenza H7N9 subtype has been detected, and researchers fear that this strain may have pandemic potential.

The possibility of an animal source of the infection is being investigated, as is the possibility of person-to-person transmission.

However, most people who contracted the disease reported having contact with live birds in a bird market prior to infection. Researchers at the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory found that younger women generally have the most contact with poultry, but it is older men who are experiencing the most infections.

The findings suggest that there is something unique about older men that makes them particularly susceptible to H7N9. Their greater risk of infection is not just because they tend to spend more time exposed to an avian source.

Researchers quickly compiled the data using a variety of available sources to discover risk factors, which could aid in containing the spread of H7N9.

"Normally we have to wait for epidemiologists to collect new data in the early days if an outbreak. We were able to combine data from existing sources in an innovative way to rapidly learn about H7N9 risk factors," said Caitlin Rivers of Plainfield, N.H., a graduate student majoring in genetics, bioinformatics, and computational biology and research assistant at the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory.

To contain the spread of this strain of influenza, some Chinese live bird markets have been closed. It may help, but still does not explain the high infection rate of older men. Further studies are required to understand what other factors may be involved in transmission to help contain H7N9's spread.

"In keeping with a commitment to open science, the raw data and calculations are available publicly. We invite others to use and expand upon this work," said Bryan Lewis, a public health policy analyst with the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.

This work has been partially supported by NIH MIDAS Grant 2U01GM070694-09 and NIH MIDAS Grant 3U01FM070694-09S1.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/Ey3CqK6WrJI/130619164847.htm

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Video: Don't Make These Bond Mistakes: Gundlach

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52253840/

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Negotiating the terms of America?s humiliation (Powerlineblog)

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It's scrap, not trash, and it's also one of America's top exports

International scrap dealers educate our reporter on the language of our leftovers.

By Peter Ford,?Staff Writer / June 19, 2013

One thing you learn quickly if you hang around scrap merchants is not to refer to the materials in which they trade as "trash" or "garbage" or "junk."

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Beijing Bureau Chief

Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.

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At a recent convention here of the Bureau of International Recycling (essentially the global forum for scrap dealers) I drew some very sharp looks and a reprimand or two before I got the message.

Of course, the traders are right. If scrap was indeed trash it would not be worth anything. And scrap is certainly worth something. In fact, according to a recent Bank of America-Merrill Lynch report, the global waste and recycling business is worth $1 trillion a year. And it could be worth double that by 2020.

"Where there's muck, there's brass," runs an old Yorkshire adage.

People in the know at the conference told me that a lot of the participants were millionaires at least. But they work in the shadows of the world economy, attracting little attention.

Did you know, for example, that trash ? I mean scrap ? was America's top export to China in 2011? (Though maybe not for long, because of new Chinese regulations.)

There is one synonym for "scrap" that its devotees more or less allow ? "waste." But, as I was reminded by Surendra Borad, an Indian businessman whose company, Gemini, handles more scrap plastic than any other firm, "waste is not waste until it is wasted."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/KDKM3rHWzRo/It-s-scrap-not-trash-and-it-s-also-one-of-America-s-top-exports

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Oil price near $95 ahead of US jobs report

BANGKOK (AP) ? Oil rose Friday ahead of the release of a key U.S. jobs report that traders will examine for clues to the health of the U.S. economy.

Benchmark oil for July delivery was up 36 cents to $95.12 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $1.02 to finish at $94.76 a barrel Thursday.

The U.S. Labor Department will release its employment report for May later in the day. A good result is expected, following a drop in jobless claims reported on Thursday.

Oil prices were also being supported by a weaker dollar and a bigger-than-expected drop in crude inventories reported by the U.S. Energy Department and the American Petroleum Institute for the week ending May 31, said Matt Basi at CMC Markets in a commentary.

Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, rose 55 cents to $104.16 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

? Wholesale gasoline rose 1.3 cents to $2.864 a gallon.

? Heating oil added 1.6 cents to $2.887 per gallon.

? Natural gas dropped 0.4 cent to $3.823 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-price-near-95-ahead-us-jobs-report-052444603.html

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