ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A longtime scientist for a U.S. laboratory in New Mexico pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he lied about contacts he had with a state-run program in China that seeks to draw foreign-educated talent. Turab Lookman, who lives in Santa Fe and until recently worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory — tasked with securing the nation's nuclear stockpile, conducting research and reducing weapons threats — entered the plea to charges of making false statements during a federal detention hearing in Albuquerque. A judge decided that Lookman could be released while he awaits trial on a $50,000 secured bond, despite a federal prosecutor's argument that he posed a potential security threat if he tried to flee the country. "If he fled, it would quite frankly be a national security disaster," said George Kraehe, a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico. Authorities said Lookman came under scrutiny after he told a co-worker that he … [Read more...] about US scientist pleads not guilty to lying about China contact
Reverse brain drain
Scientists restore some brain cell functions in pigs four hours after death
Joel Achenbach, The Washington Post Published 10:19 am PDT, Wednesday, April 17, 2019 The brain is fragile, and if deprived of oxygen - for example from a massive heart attack, or through drowning - it will quickly and catastrophically degrade, leading to irreversible brain death. And that's it - the end. But that medical orthodoxy now must contend with a major report published Wednesday in the journal Nature that is simultaneously fascinating and disturbing: Researchers at Yale School of Medicine say they have restored some cellular function in pig brains from animals decapitated four hours earlier at a local slaughterhouse. Over the course of a six-hour treatment, the brains were infused with a cocktail of synthetic fluids designed to halt cellular degeneration and restore cellular functions, such as metabolic activity. It worked: The brains continued to consume oxygen and glucose. Many brain cells, including neurons, which send messages within the brain and to the … [Read more...] about Scientists restore some brain cell functions in pigs four hours after death
University of Michigan economists predict Michigan job-growth record
Breana Noble The Detroit News Published 9:30 AM EST Nov 16, 2018 Michigan soon could enter the longest period of job growth since the World War II era, according to economists from the University of Michigan. After racking up nine years of uninterrupted job growth in the third quarter of 2018, the annual state forecast released Friday is positive for the next two years, even as the labor force tightens and job growth slows. "In the '90s, we saw higher labor force participation, about a quarter-million larger," said Gabe Ehrlich, director of the university's Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics that produced the report. "There's some slack left in the market. We're starting to see that slack disappear and wage growth increase. That's been one of the missing pieces. This is not the best economy we've ever seen, but it's pretty good." The current job-winning streak matches the period ranging from the spring quarters of 1991 to 2000. Another year of uninterrupted job … [Read more...] about University of Michigan economists predict Michigan job-growth record
Holyrood backs People’s Vote on final terms of Brexit deal
0 Have your say The Scottish Parliament has backed holding a public vote on the final terms of the Brexit deal. Holyrood voted 66 to 28 in favour of a People’s Vote after it was put forward in a Liberal Democrat amendment to a government motion during a chamber debate on the Brexit threat to international scientific research in Scotland.READ MORE: Scotland can rise now and demand People’s Vote on Brexit - Kerry BuistThe SNP and Greens backed the Lib Dems in the face of Conservative opposition and 21 MSPs abstained.Liberal Democrat MSP Tavish Scott, who tabled the motion, highlighted many in Scotland’s higher education sector want a right to vote, including the 23 senior figures from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and St Andrews universities who signed an open letter warning of the consequences of Brexit and calling for a People’s Vote.He said: “There appears no obvious upside to dragging the UK and Scotland’s higher education sector out … [Read more...] about Holyrood backs People’s Vote on final terms of Brexit deal
Farming as if nature still mattered: a new book offers encouraging examples
They’ve also made the farm financially resilient with a wider effort to restore soil health, using carefully managed planting and grazing practices. In 1989, at the end of a four-year drought, grasshoppers wrecked soybean and small-grain crops all around them, but left the Jaus farm largely alone. Plant diversity had made their fields tougher forage than the neighbors’ one-crop plantings; also, it raised the sugar content of their grains, and therefore the alcohol potential, to a point of toxicity in the hoppers’ guts. Down in northwest Iowa, Jan Libbey and Tim Landgraf raise organic vegetables on 132 acres, some of it knobby terrain undesirable to your typical corn and soybean grower, who prefers the contours of a billiard table. They also raise chickens, which are pastured on clover planted as soil-enhancing cover; in return, the birds provide free fertilizer (and a second income stream from area consumers who choose them over the supermarket alternative). … [Read more...] about Farming as if nature still mattered: a new book offers encouraging examples