Q&A: The science behind personal genetics testing

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) ? A growing number of universities are offering classes on personal genetics to educate students about a medical field that is becoming increasingly important as the price of genetic testing drops. Here's a look at the basics:

Q: What is genetic testing and genotyping?

A: A genetic test analyzes DNA to look for a specific gene to test for the presence of a condition, such as Huntington's disease. Genotyping goes far beyond that, analyzing several or even thousands of variants across an individual's full set of genes, known as the genome.

Q: How can you get such testing done?

A: Medical providers use the testing routinely. It helps them diagnose patients who have symptoms of a disease, screen newborn infants for disease risks, tell parents whether their unborn child will have a genetic condition, and determine the amount and type of medicine best suited for a patient.

But what is becoming more available and common is testing done by private companies marketing services directly to consumers, such as 23AndMe and AncestryDNA. These tests typically analyze thousands of different variants but do not look at the entire genome. The tests can cost $99 to more than $1,000, depending on the extent of testing done. 23AndMe and AncestryDNA require individuals to submit saliva samples, and initial results can be available within six weeks.

Q: What can the results show?

A: The results can show whether individuals are at increased risk for a range of diseases; whether they are a carrier for hundreds of genetic conditions; whether they are predisposed to have certain physical traits; where one's ancestors come from; how they may respond to certain drugs.

Q: What are some practical ways this can help?

A: The information can help diagnose potential health problems sooner. Individuals may be able to take steps to avoid behavior that may trigger health problems for which they know they're at risk. Couples who learn they are carriers for the same disease may conceive with egg or sperm donors to avoid passing it to children. Individuals may be able to identify and meet relatives they did not know.

Q: What are potential downsides?

A: Scientists caution that the tests can be misleading because many genetic discoveries have yet to be made, which means some results may falsely reassure or needlessly alarm people. But the tests can also deliver shocking information ? individuals can learn they are likely to develop diseases that have no cure, have siblings they never knew about, or that the man who raised them is not their father. There are also numerous ethical and privacy considerations. One's relatives do not need to give consent for the tests, even though they may learn distressing information. Companies ask for consent to use their customers' DNA in research, and there's always the risk of a privacy breach.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/q-science-behind-personal-genetics-testing-083647543.html

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Green Blog: A Pep Talk on Energy Innovation

In what might prove to be his last public appearance as energy secretary, Steven Chu delivered a pep talk of sorts on Wednesday to hundreds of entrepreneurs, researchers and others at the ARPA-E conference on energy innovation in suburban Maryland.

Toward the outset, Dr. Chu, a key creator of ARPA-E, which stands for the Advanced Research Projects Agency ? Energy, ticked off a list of historical predictions about new technology that turned out to be wrong.

Among them was one by the head of the British post office in 1878, two years after Alexander Graham Bell received a patent on the telephone. ?The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not,? the postal official reportedly said. ?We have plenty of messenger boys.??

Dr. Chu declared that entrepreneurs, engineers, bankers and others would have to push hard for new technologies, even if the goals seem highly ambitious. For now, he noted, many in those ranks have opted not to devote a lot of money to technology that could limit emissions of climate-changing gases.

?That is a false choice,?? Dr. Chu said. The goal should rather be to strive for for innovation, like an electric car that is cost-competitive with a gasoline model, or a better way to make electricity, he said.

He quoted the old aphorism that the Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, but because something better was available.

Earlier Wednesday morning, the audience heard from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, who said said he was tempted to talk about his research into ?near isothermal compressed air energy storage.?? He then paused, and the audience waited with apparent interest.

?I thought that was funny, guys,?? Mr. Bloomberg said.

The audience, many of whose members are normally eager to hear about all such research, chuckled and then listened to the mayor?s presentation on New York City?s efforts to prepare for climate change, a growing population, aging infrastructure and other challenges.

Dr. Chu, a Nobel physics laureate who is headed to Stanford University to resume academic research, said he hoped that it would turn out that he hired the right people in his tenure as energy secretary. He said he had tried to involve himself in hiring down to the level of program manager, ?seven or eight levels down,?? in the hope of achieving optimal results.
.
He exhorted the audience in particular to find energy solutions to climate change. The alternative, Dr. Chu said, is that future generations will live in a wrecked climate and wonder: ?What were our parents thinking? Didn?t they care about us??

That brought a sustained standing ovation.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/a-pep-talk-on-energy-innovation/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Groceries gets a new look, new smarts, new features, and more

Groceries by Sophiestication Software has hit version 3.0. The popular shopping list making app has also been given a complete redesign that not only provides for a fresh, new, oh-so 2013 look, but support for 4-inch iPhone and iPod touch screen sizes as well.

Additional new features include smart data detectors that recognize the units of measurement, making composition even faster and better, and a new share sheet to make messaging, emailing, etc. easier than ever.

If you already use Groceries, go get the update. If you haven't tried Groceries yet, and you like what you see, go grab it now:

• $0.99 - Download now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/PqPqrw5YAqc/story01.htm

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Tori Spelling Gets Crafty with Her Kids at Make Meaning

The crafty mom, husband Dean McDermott and their three kids (Liam, Stella and Hattie) attend the opening of Make Meaning's Thousand Oaks, Calif. location on Feb. 18.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/3YLK5hPSfPg/

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Jose Canseco to Play Tomorrow in Harlingen Texas in the Texas Winter League

February 21, 2013 - North American League (NAL) Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings
The Texas Winter League is pleased to announce the playing appearance of former American League slugger Jose Canseco this weekend, Feb. 22-24.

Canseco, 48, was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1986 and the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1988. During his 17-year career he twice led the American League in home runs, was a six-time All Star, and won four Silver Slugger Awards.

Canseco is expected to play in all six games this weekend and even pitch in one TWL game. Though he was an outfielder in the major leagues, Canseco has pitched in 15 professional baseball games, most recently 11 for the Yuma Scorpions in 2011.

The Texas Winter League, a showcase league for future professional baseball talent playing at Harlingen Field in Harlingen, Texas, will be concluding their regular season this weekend before beginning a two-day postseason on Feb. 26. The TWL features four team doubleheaders every day except Monday starting at 11 a.m.

Tickets for the games are $5 with groups of six or more receiving a one dollar discount. They can be purchased at the gate or by calling 956-423-9464.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Source: http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4549424

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Pittsfield fire union pushes for chief from civil service list

Wednesday February 20, 2013

PITTSFIELD -- City firefighters plan to push Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi toward choosing a fire chief from the state civil service list -- something that hasn?t occurred for nearly a decade.

Pittsfield Firefighter?s Local 2647 is mounting legal action that could require Bianchi to pick a chief from among the top three candidates who passed the civil service exam almost a year ago, according to the union president, Tim Bartini. The test was administered shortly after Bianchi took office Jan. 2, 2012.

"We are in the process of filing arbitration to get the mayor to hire one of the three," Bartini said Tuesday night before the Pittsfield Charter Review Study Committee.

"We?ve also filed a complaint with civil service," he added.

Bianchi, who wasn?t at the meeting, told The Eagle he will respond to the firefighter?s complaint and is aware the union wants a state arbiter to help settle the matter.

Whether Pittsfield?s fire and police chiefs should remain a civil service job is one of the last major topics for the committee to tackle before possibly wrapping its work in two months. The 11-member ad-hoc panel hopes to make proposed changes to the charter in April and pass them along to the City Council, mayor and state Legislature for review in time for submission to voters in November.

The council last fall charged the committee to do a thorough review of the charter, Pittsfield?s

governing document, which has been virtually unchanged for nearly 80 years.

The committee plans to discuss if the chiefs should be appointed through civil service and other charter issues at its next meeting at 5 p.m. March 7 in City Hall. Union officials were invited to weigh in at the gathering on whether the police chief should also be a civil service position.

Pittsfield?s current fire chief, Robert Czerwinski, is the third mayoral appointment to serve as an acting chief in the last 10 years -- two of them by former Mayor James M. Ruberto -- in order to bypass Civil Service.

Ruberto, Bianchi?s predecessor, also appointed Michael Winn as the current acting police chief, over the objections of the city?s police officers union.

The firefighters union feels a fire chief chosen through civil service keeps it from being a political appointment.

"One hundred percent of our guys in the department want the chief to stay civil service," Bartini said.

"I think civil service is very limiting and archaic," Bianchi responded in a phone interview with an Eagle reporter. "Taking a test is one element to picking a chief."

The committee Tuesday night did take several consensus votes on potential key changes to the city charter.

The panel initially supports extending the terms of the mayor and City Clerk from two years to four years, and eliminating the need for special acts of the state Legislature to consolidate city departments and grant "compensation" to six of the seven School Committee members. The mayoral is the seventh member by virtue of his position.

The committee didn?t specify how the committee members -- the only elected city officials who are unpaid -- would be compensated.

In addition, a committee consensus vote backed an overhaul of the budget process. The proposed changes include establishing a five-year plan for capital projects, to be updated annually, and a joint meeting of the City Council and school board prior to the mayor?s unveiling of the next fiscal year?s proposed budget. Pittsfield?s chief executive has traditionally presented the council with his budget book the week before Memorial Day in May. The council has until July 1, the start of the fiscal year, to adopt a new budget.

During the joint meeting, the mayor would review the city?s financial status and projections for local and state revenue to help pay for the new spending plan, according to Stephen McGoldrick, the city?s charter review consultant.

"This puts the onus on the mayor where it should be ... to provide more information to both at the same time," said McGoldrick.

To reach Dick Lindsay:
rlindsay@berkshireeagle.com,
or (413) 496-6233.

Source: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_22625341/pittsfield-fire-union-pushes-chief-from-civil-service?source=rss_viewed

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Daybook: February 20 (TIME)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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Observatory: Study Shows That Moles Smell in Stereo

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Previous research indicated that rats can smell in stereo, and there are suggestions that sharks and ants can, too.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/science/study-shows-that-moles-smell-in-stereo.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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8 arrested in slaying of Russian councilman

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russian investigators have now arrested eight people in the case of a city councilman found dead in a cement barrel, allegedly after he owed $80 million in a business deal gone awry.

The Investigative Committee said Tuesday it arrested one man suspected in the murder-kidnapping of Mikhail Pakhomov and another accused of a related theft. The 37-year-old councilman in Lipetsk, 350 kilometers (215 miles) south of Moscow, disappeared last week after three men forced him into a car. His body was found Monday.

Evgeny Kharitonov, a former deputy minister in Moscow's provincial government, is charged with organizing the kidnapping over what police called an $80 million debt. A warrant has been issued for his business partner.

Pakhomov had a construction business before becoming a politician.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/8-arrested-slaying-russian-councilman-134657484.html

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Maingear fits 3-way GTX Titan graphics into (un-priced) gaming PC

If you're a high-end gaming PC manufacturer, why not just time your desktop launches for when the latest pixel-blasting GPUs come out? That's exactly how Maingear rolls, so it's just announced three new machines based on NVIDIA's freshly launched GeForce GTX Titan. The new flagship graphics card borrows its name (and some of its tech) from the Kepler-based Titan supercomputer and packs 2,688 CUDA cores and 7.1 billion transistors, along with 6GB of GDDR5 RAM and a 384-bit interface. That lends it 4,500 Gigaflops of horsepower, displacing the company's GTX 690 model at the top while letting modders overclock and overvolt the cards with "higher limits than ever," according to NVIDIA.

Maingear will ship three units armed with the Titan: the SHIFT, which will be available in dual or three-way GTX Titan configurations, the F131 with one or two cards and the single-card only Potenza. All feature a 90 degree rotated motherboard design to vent hot air out the top for better cooling, along with with AMD or Intel processors up to the Core i7-3960X six-core model, SATA 6G, USB 3.0 and up to 64GB of RAM. You'll also get 4K max resolution on four simultaneous displays, thanks to two dual-link DVI, HDMI and Display Port 1.2 connectors. There's no word yet on pricing, but for a three-way SLI SHIFT PC? Think big.

Filed under: Desktops

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Su5M3wjwA1I/

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Nudes check out nudes at Austrian museum

RETRANSMISSION OF XRZ102 In this Monday, Feb. 18, 2013 photo, Naked Museum visitors look at pictures of the show "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" during a special opening to friends of nudism at the Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria. The show "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" opened its doors from 19 October 2012 to March 4,2013, looking at how artists have dealt with the theme of male nudity over the centuries. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

RETRANSMISSION OF XRZ102 In this Monday, Feb. 18, 2013 photo, Naked Museum visitors look at pictures of the show "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" during a special opening to friends of nudism at the Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria. The show "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" opened its doors from 19 October 2012 to March 4,2013, looking at how artists have dealt with the theme of male nudity over the centuries. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

VIENNA (AP) ? These museum goers didn't just leave their coats at the coat check. They handed over their shirts, trousers and underwear.

Everything, in fact, except their shoes and socks. After all, the stone floor can get chilly when you're touring an art exhibit in the nude, which was what more than 60 art lovers did in a special after-hours showing at Vienna's prestigious Leopold museum.

For many, the tour of "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" ? an exhibit of 300 paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures focused on the bare male ? was a goose-bump-raising instance of life imitating art.

"I can't say I'm sweating," said office worker Herbert Korvas as he stood waiting in the atrium with other young men, wearing only socks, sneakers and a smile. Despite the cold, he said he was drawn to the idea of naked museum viewing "because it was something different."

But after a while it really wasn't. With no other viewers around, nude quickly became the new normal as the visitors quickly gathered around a ? dressed ? exhibition guide and moved slowly from one art work to the next, listening intently to their history.

And they weren't the first visitors to get naked either, despite the hoopla around the event that drew dozens of reporters and camera teams from Austria and elsewhere.

A man had already stripped at the exhibition of pictures and sculptures in November, calmly sauntering through the exhibition and dressing again only after a security guard asked him to do so. That act made news ? and sparked demand for Monday's all-nude showing, said museum spokesman Klaus Pokorny.

"We got requests from all over the world from people who were inspired by the exhibition ... who asked us 'can we visit the exhibition naked?'" he said.

On Monday, interest was definitely skewed along gender lines. Irina Wolf smiled as she looked around at the mostly male crowd lining up for tickets.

"I'm at a big advantage here," she said. "Only men around."

While Wolf said she is not someone who regularly strips in public places, the 40-something computer engineer and occasional theater critic, said "I want to see how I relate to such a group."

For others, Monday's event fulfilled a long-cherished wish ? even though they had a hard time explaining why.

Florian Kahlenberg from Munich said he found it "interesting to stroll through a museum naked, adding. "I've always wanted to do that."

Few visitors, naked or dressed, have complained about the show, despite some explicit material showing sexual acts. Described as among the most successful ever staged by the Leopold, it has drawn well over 100,000 people.

That fits with Vienna's relaxed attitude. Its turn-of-the-century decadence allowed Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt to flourish, and the Leopold itself has a world-class collection of those and other artists known for their explicit depiction of the flesh.

But the Austrian capital's acceptance of nudity goes beyond museum exhibits. Thousands of men, women and children skinny dip daily in the Danube along stretches reserved for them during the summer, while racy lingerie ads dot huge billboards across the city all year round and a mass-circulation daily regularly prints photos of half-naked women.

Still, there are limits to Viennese tolerance. The Leopold was forced into cover-up mode last year after complaints over promotional posters plastered city-wide that showed three young and athletic men of different races wearing nothing but blue, white and red socks and soccer boots.

Swaths of red tape were subsequently placed over their sensitive parts.

____

Associated Press video journalist Philipp Jenne contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-19-Austria-Naked%20Show/id-cb0e0b3f21a646518779579d7b0bf818

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First Nations protest Canada energy policy photo

A committee of MEPs has taken the first crucial step to repair the EU?s broken emissions trading scheme (ETS) by withholding 900 million carbon credits from auction until a later date. Unfortunately, lawmakers put off drafting the necessary legislation, and the next step for the plan is up for debate in the coming week.

Source: http://tcktcktck.org/2013/02/first-nations-protest-canada-energy-policy-photo/48673?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=first-nations-protest-canada-energy-policy-photo

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Accreditation Crisis Updates for California Community Colleges

Founded in 1873 in Marshall, Texas by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Wiley College is an historically black, primarily liberal arts, residential, co-educational, baccalaureate degree-granting institution affiliated with The United Methodist Church...

Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/02/18/accreditation-crisis-updates-california-community-colleges

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Intel Israel more than doubles exports, mulls new investment

Intel?s Israeli subsidiary more than doubled its exports in 2012 to $4.6 billion and is seeking to bring manufacturing of the company?s next generation of chips to Israel.

Intel?s exports, which rose 109 percent from $2.2 billion in 2011, were boosted by the start of production of chips using 22 nanometer technology at its Kiryat Gat plant in southern Israel, which is now operating at full capacity.

Intel, the world?s No. 1 chipmaker, will build chips over the next two to three years with features measuring just 14 nm in Ireland and the United States but the company is already thinking about where it will produce 10 nm chips. The narrower the features, the more transistors can fit on a single chip, improving performance.

Intel Israel executives said they would like to see 10 nm production in Israel.

?The average life of a technology is two to six years so we need to be busy to get the next technology, 10 nanometer,? Maxine Fassberg, general manager of Intel Israel, told a news conference on Sunday. ?We need to get a decision far enough in advance to be able to upgrade the plant. So for 10 nanometer, decisions will need to be made this year.?

Fassberg said upgrading the existing Fab 28 plant in Israel would require a lower investment than building a new plant but would still involve several billion dollars.

Intel Israel has in the past received government grants to help with the costs of its investments and Fassberg told Reuters the company was ?constantly in talks with the government?.

Intel has invested $10.5 billion in Israel in the past decade, including $1.1 billion in 2012, and has received $1.3 billion in government grants.

The company accounted for 20 percent of Israel?s high-tech exports last year and 10 percent of its industrial exports, excluding diamonds.

?If Intel had not increased its exports, Israel?s high-tech exports would have shrunk by 10 percent,? Intel Israel President Mooly Eden said.

Most of Intel Israel?s exports - $3.5 billion - came from its chip manufacturing activities.

Intel is Israel?s largest private employer, with 8,542 workers, up 10 percent from 2011. The company has two plants - in Jerusalem and Kiryat Gat - as well as four research and development centers.

Eden said Intel was also committed to investing in start-ups, having invested in 64 Israeli companies since 1996. In July its global investment arm Intel Capital said it would expand its operations in Israel.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cxotoday/~3/t9_mOTqH1vw/

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Video: More snow for storm-weary Northeast

>> morning with winter weather . parts of the country just that youing out. they are getting hit with snow, even more da getting a test of old man winter. dylan dreyer with the latest.

>>> we are not talking about the cold around here but the cold in florida. we have warnings. the crops are in danger last night. we are starting off the day, specially northern florida with temperatures in the 20s and 30s. you head north and we saw some snow in the carolinas. about 1-3 inches of snow yesterday. that snow is now on its way into the northeast but you can see that the snowman on the flag and everything. the snow will and is over in the carolinas. it's just time to clean things up. in boston, we're looking at an additional 4-6 inches of snow on top of the historic storm we had last week. up in maine, we could see the potential for blizzardlike conditions into the eastern coast of maine where we have blizzard warnings posted on top of two feet of snow in that area. it looks like that region could pick up another foot of snow with boston picking up about 3-6 inches out of

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50839603/

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Determined to get back to NCAA finals, No. 3 Alabama men's golf opens spring schedule

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- Shortly after Alabama came one stroke short of winning its first national championship in program history, Cory Whitsett went home to Houston.

With a busy summer schedule, the Alabama junior didn't have a chance to return to campus until the start of fall semester. More than two months separated Texas senior Dylan Frittelli's championship-winning birdie putt and the start of classes, but Whitsett was bombarded with "attaboy's" and words of encouragement as if it just occurred yesterday.

"Some of my friends told me they were following online and the live stream was going up on HD televisions," Whitsett said. "It was a big deal. It was great."

It soon sunk in.

This Alabama men's golf team wasn't alone at Los Angeles' historic Riviera Country Club, and it won't be throughout its quest to return to the NCAA Championships.

"It certainly helped me get over it a little bit," junior Bobby Wyatt said. "Certainly gave me the determination to get back there and win a national championship."

No. 3 Alabama begins that quest today when it opens its spring schedule at the Puerto Rico Classic, a three-day, 15-team tournament that includes six other ranked teams.

"Technically we're still fairly young," 11th-year Alabama coach Jay Seawell said. "In golf wisdom and golf years and experience, we're pretty experienced. I'm excited."

The core of Alabama's lineup features three of the nation's best golfers: Whitsett, Wyatt and sophomore Justin Thomas.

Thomas is coming off one of the best individual seasons in Alabama golf history, as he received the Haskins and Nicklaus Awards, which are presented annually to the national player of the year. He was also named the national freshman of the year and SEC Golfer of the Year after a season that included four tournament medals and nine top-10 finishes.

"What happened last year was great and a lot of fun, but it literally has nothing to do with what's going on this semester," Thomas said. "I learned a lot from it."

Seawell called Wyatt, Thomas and Whitsett his "three horses." From there, it's a bit uncertain, as Alabama looks for one or two golfers to fill the void left by Hunter Hamrick.

For this particular tournament, Seawell has redshirt freshman Tom Lovelady and senior Scott Strohmeyer filling out the rest of his lineup. Senior Lee Knox and junior Trey Mullinax are also options to play in those final two spots.

Seawell all but ruled out the possibility of freshmen Dru Love, Robby Prater and William Sellers participating this season.

"They're going to have to continue to learn to work every single day to be ready at any given time," Seawell said. "They're doing a great job. More than likely, they're going to have a hard time getting in this spring."

Alabama placed in the top 10 in all four tournaments it entered during the fall. The Crimson Tide won the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate (Vestavia Hills) in October and placed third at two others. Thomas won the Jerry Pate individual title and finished second at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational (Windermere, Fla.).

Thomas and the rest of Alabama's golfers certainly appear ready to compete after months to think about just how close they came to winning it all.

"I'm just really looking forward to getting the season started," Thomas said. "Seems like forever since we played a college event."

Source: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2013/02/determined_to_get_back_to_ncaa.html

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'Bionic proteins': Nano-machines recreate protein activities

Feb. 15, 2013 ? Physicists of the University of Vienna together with researchers from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna developed nano-machines which recreate principal activities of proteins. They present the first versatile and modular example of a fully artificial protein-mimetic model system, thanks to the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC), a high performance computing infrastructure. These "bionic proteins" could play an important role in innovating pharmaceutical research.

Proteins are the fundamental building blocks of all living organism we currently know. Because of the large number and complexity of bio-molecular processes they are capable of, proteins are often referred to as "molecular machines." Take for instance the proteins in your muscles: At each contraction stimulated by the brain, an uncountable number of proteins change their structures to create the collective motion of the contraction. This extraordinary process is performed by molecules which have a size of only about a nanometer, a billionth of a meter.

Muscle contraction is just one of the numerous activities of proteins: There are proteins that transport cargo in the cells, proteins that construct other proteins, there are even cages in which proteins that "mis-behave" can be trapped for correction, and the list goes on and on. "Imitating these astonishing bio-mechanical properties of proteins and transferring them to a fully artificial system is our long term objective," says Ivan Coluzza from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Vienna, who works on this project together with colleagues of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.

Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC)

In a recent paper in Physical Review Letters, the team presented the first example of a fully artificial bio-mimetic model system capable of spontaneously self-knotting into a target structure. Using computer simulations, they reverse engineered proteins by focusing on the key elements that give them the ability to execute the program written in the genetic code. The computationally very intensive simulations have been made possible by access to the powerful Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC), a high performance computing infrastructure operated jointly by the University of Vienna, the Vienna University of Technology and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.

Artificial proteins in the laboratory

The team now works on realizing such artificial proteins in the laboratory using specially functionalized nanoparticles. The particles will then be connected into chains following the sequence determined by the computer simulations, such that the artificial proteins fold into the desired shapes. Such knotted nanostructures could be used as new stable drug delivery vehicles and as enzyme-like, but more stable, catalysts.

This project was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) within the SFB "Vienna Computational Materials Laboratory" (ViCoM).

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Vienna.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Ivan Coluzza, Peter D. J. van Oostrum, Barbara Capone, Erik Reimhult, Christoph Dellago. Sequence Controlled Self-Knotting Colloidal Patchy Polymers. Physical Review Letters, 2013; 110 (7) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.075501

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/irK00fWGxvo/130217084908.htm

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Runoff called in Cyprus' presidential election

A woman, right, leaves a polling booth as a mother with her child votes in an other booth in the Presidential election in southern port city of Limassol, Cyprus, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. Cypriots are voting Sunday for a new president who must tackle a financial crisis that has forced the country to seek international rescue money to stay solvent. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

A woman, right, leaves a polling booth as a mother with her child votes in an other booth in the Presidential election in southern port city of Limassol, Cyprus, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. Cypriots are voting Sunday for a new president who must tackle a financial crisis that has forced the country to seek international rescue money to stay solvent. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Right-wing opposition leader and presidential candidate Nicos Anastasiades votes in the Presidential election in southern port city of Limassol, Cyprus, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. Cypriots are voting for a new president amid a financial crisis in which the country needs a rescue package from international creditors to stave off bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Right-wing opposition leader and presidential candidate Nicos Anastasiades speaks to the media after voting in the Presidential election in southern port city of Limassol, Cyprus, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. Cypriots vote for a new president to guide them through a severe economic crisis that has the country joining other troubled European nations in seeking international rescue money to pull it back from the brink of bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Left-wing presidential candidate Stavros Malas laves a polling booth after voting in the Presidential election in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. Cypriots are voting for a new president amid a financial crisis in which the country needs a rescue package from international creditors to stave off bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Philippos Christou)

Presidential candidate Giorgos Lillikas and his son Orfeas vote in the Presidential election in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. Cypriots are voting for a new president amid a financial crisis in which the country needs a rescue package from international creditors to stave off bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Philippos Christou)

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Cyprus heads into a runoff presidential election next weekend, with voters called on to select who will lead the country through a severe financial crisis after no candidate won an outright majority in Sunday's vote.

Nicos Anastasiades, a right-winger who presented himself as the most capable to negotiate a bailout with Cyprus' European partners and who went into the election a strong favorite, won the first round with just over 45 percent of the vote. But he fell short of the 50 percent plus one vote needed for an outright victory.

In the Feb. 24 runoff, he will face Stavros Malas, a left-winger who has advocated being more assertive in negotiations for bailout loans to limit the severity of austerity measures they require.

Final results Sunday night showed Anastasiades winning 45.46 percent, well ahead of Malas' 26.91. Independent Giorgos Lallikas was a close third with 24.93 percent, and was eliminated from the running.

The change in leadership, after unpopular President Dimitris Christofias said he would not seek re-election, comes at a crucial juncture for Cyprus. The other 16 countries that use the euro are expected to decide next month on a financial lifeline for the tiny country of less than a million people.

Many had criticized Christofias and his communist-rooted AKEL party for a shrinking economy and 15 percent jobless rate, as well as having mishandled events that led to a deadly explosion of seized Iranian munitions that wrecked the island's main power station.

"What we can deduce from this strong election result it that the overwhelming majority of people have expressed their demand today to rid the country of a government run by the AKEL leadership," Anastasiades told supporters.

Malas said, "Together, we can counter the crisis without having society endure tough policies." Malas' support from AKEL is seen as his main liability.

Lillikas avoided saying which candidate he would support.

Cyprus is fast running out of cash to pay its bills, and the new president faces the difficult task of overcoming skepticism from some bailout-weary euro-area countries to secure help.

Cyprus got into trouble after its banks, whose assets are bigger than the country's entire economy, took huge losses when Greece restructured its debt. The country has already reached a preliminary bailout agreement with its eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund, and has enacted a raft of spending cuts and tax increases.

But Cyprus' help request is meeting resistance from some quarters, especially Germany, which says the country's banks serves as money laundering hubs for Russian oligarchs, or that is too small to matter since it contributes about 0.15 percent to the euro area economy.

Cypriot officials strongly reject the money laundering label and say allowing Cyprus to fall could set back the euro area's fragile recovery.

The size of the bailout, estimated to be up to ?17 billion ($22.65 billion), is tiny compared to the hundreds of billions given as rescue loans to other troubled European countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal. But it is equivalent to Cyprus' entire economic output, putting into question whether the country would ever be able to pay it back.

"Cyprus needs an adjustment program, a comprehensive one," Joerg Asmussen, a member of the European Central Bank's executive board, told Germany's ARD television Sunday.

It will have to focus on shrinking the banking sector in an orderly way and "financial help will be needed for that, but in order that there can be such a program Cyprus must make efforts in advance ? this is not a one-way street," Asmussen said in the interview, which was broadcast before Sunday's election results became clear.

Cyprus will need to improve the transparency of its financial sector and taxation system, Asmussen said.

Asked about the election, Asmussen said the ECB needs "an interlocutor with whom we can negotiate on an adjustment program."

"In order to secure debt sustainability, we will, for example, need far-reaching privatization ? the current president had rejected that. Now we will see whether we can negotiate such a program sensibly by the end of March."

Malas rejects selling state-owned companies.

Anastasiades said he would resist outright privatizations, opting instead for selling a minority stake to a strategic investor.

Both candidates have said they would utilize the prospect of the natural gas riches from newfound offshore deposits to jumpstart the economy, but such potential revenue is still years away.

The financial crisis has overtaken the country's ethnic division as the primary campaign issue in some 40 years. Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974, when Turkish invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The latest round of reunification talks between Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu resulted in deadlock.

Turnout in Sunday's vote stood at 83.14 percent of the 545,491 eligible voters.

____

Geir Moulson in Berlin and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-17-Cyprus-Presidential%20Election/id-8c9e7bde16bd47bf8b3ed8fb1753256a

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Shifting sands: Force is the key to granular state-shifting

Feb. 15, 2013 ? Ever wonder why sand can both run through an hourglass like a liquid and be solid enough to support buildings? It's because granular materials -- like sand or dirt -- can change their behavior, or state. Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that the forces individual grains exert on one another are what most affect that transition.

Physicists have explored the changing behavior of granular materials by comparing it to what happens in thermodynamic systems. In a thermodynamic system, you can change the state of a material -- like water -- from a liquid to a gas by adding energy (heat) to the system. One of the most fundamental and important observations about temperature, however, is that it has the ability to equilibrate: a hot cup of tea eventually cools to match the temperature of the room.

Physicists thought they could use thermodynamics' underlying ideas to explain the changes in granular materials, but didn't know whether granular materials had properties which might equilibrate in a similar way. In other words, instead of temperature being the change agent in a granular system, it might be a property related to the amount of free space, or the forces on the particles. But no one had really tested which of the two might exhibit this property of equilibration.

NC State physicist Karen Daniels and former graduate student James Puckett devised a way to do just that. Puckett used two different types of plastic "granules" with different properties that floated atop a layer of air on a small table. Puckett and Daniels wanted to see what would bring the two types of particles into equilibrium with one another. In order to make their measurements, they used a plastic material that indicated a change in force by a change in brightness.

First, they measured compactivity, which describes the number of ways particles can arrange themselves inside a given space, or volume, by reducing the physical space around the granules, but the two types of particles failed to achieve equilibrium. When they measured the ways that the forces between the particles could rearrange, they saw the equilibrium they were looking for.

Their findings appear in Physical Review Letters.

"Physicists often have ideas that are theoretically elegant, such as the idea that there might be new temperature-like variables to be discovered, and then it's exciting to go into the lab and see how well these ideas work in practice," says Daniels. "In this case, we found it is possible to take the temperature of a granular system and find out more about what makes it change its state. The 'thermometer' for this temperature is actually the particles themselves."

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Journal Reference:

1. James G. Puckett, Karen E. Daniels. Equilibrating Temperaturelike Variables in Jammed Granular Subsystems. Physical Review Letters, 2013; 110 (5) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.058001

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/9HR-JF9_Kek/130217085037.htm

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RI records: Relatives worried about Catholic widow

FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2004 file photo, Pope John Paul II gives his blessing to father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ, during a special audience at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI took over the Legion in 2010 after a Vatican investigation determined that Maciel had sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children by two women. Following a decision Thursday Feb. 14, 2013, by the Rhode Island Supreme Court, documents are set to be unsealed related to a lawsuit contesting the will of Gabrielle Mee, who left $60 million to the Legion. (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2004 file photo, Pope John Paul II gives his blessing to father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ, during a special audience at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI took over the Legion in 2010 after a Vatican investigation determined that Maciel had sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children by two women. Following a decision Thursday Feb. 14, 2013, by the Rhode Island Supreme Court, documents are set to be unsealed related to a lawsuit contesting the will of Gabrielle Mee, who left $60 million to the Legion. (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri, File)

Attorney Bernard Jackvony poses at his office in Providence, R.I., Friday Feb. 15, 2013. Documents released Friday shed light on the inner workings of a secretive and now-disgraced Roman Catholic order called the Legion of Christ, including new details on how the organization took control of Gabrielle Mee finances and persuaded her to bequeath it $60 million. Jackvony represents Mee's niece. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

Snow covers the grounds of the Mater Ecclesiae College in Greenville, R.I., Friday Feb. 15, 2013. The facility previously was home to Gabrielle Mee, who bequeath $60 million to the Legion of Christ, a secretive and now-disgraced Roman Catholic order. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) ? The disgraced Roman Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ bent its own rules for a wealthy elderly woman while it also isolated her from some relatives, according to newly released court documents, and a lawyer says the moves show the order was intent on becoming the beneficiary of her $60 million fortune.

The Legion counters that widow Gabrielle Mee was independent, strong-willed and happy and was never coerced into anything. The fact she led a less-restrictive life than others in its community shows she freely gave them her money, the Legion argues. Mee died in 2008 at age 96.

The Legion, founded by the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, was taken over by the Vatican in 2010 after a church investigation determined that Maciel had sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children. The Vatican knew of Maciel's abuse for decades yet held him up as a model for the faithful because of the order's perceived orthodoxy and ability to attract money and vocations.

Part of a lawsuit filed in Rhode Island by Mee's niece, the documents include thousands of pages of testimony from high-ranking leaders at the Legion, its members, and Mee's relatives and friends. They were sealed until Friday, after The Associated Press and other news organizations successfully argued that it was in the public interest to release them.

Mee's niece, Mary Lou Dauray, sued the Legion after her aunt died. She said Mee was defrauded by an order whose leaders orchestrated an effort to hide its founder's misdeeds from her aunt.

A Superior Court judge ruled in September that Dauray did not have standing to sue. But Judge Michael Silverstein took pains in his order to detail the process by which the Legion wooed Mee, bending the rules to let her become a "consecrated" member of its lay movement, giving her privileged access to Maciel and inviting her on special trips to Rome and Mexico.

Among the documents released Friday was a deposition from one of Mee's friends, Joanne McKosker, who testified how the two had bonded in the 1980s through their deep Catholic faith. She said she would visit after Mee moved into a Legion center in Smithfield, R.I. Around 2001, she asked Mee for a $5,000 donation for an anti-abortion charity. After Mee gave it to her, McKosker was prevented from visiting or calling Mee again.

"Months that went on, my trying to see her," she said. "I was getting, I was angry because I, I wanted to be still friends with her, you know, and I wanted, I felt she wanted, too."

The Legion says Mee had her own private phone line in her apartment and it never screened her calls.

Mee's grandniece, Jeanne Dauray, testified that a visit to her aunt left her feeling "something was amiss" in the restrictions that Mee lived under compared with other relatives who were members of other religious orders. For example, someone else always had to be in the room during the visit. Mee was also forbidden by a panel of Legion members from going to visit her sister, Fifi, in California, before Fifi died.

After they made the decision, "Gabrielle was visibly upset," Jeanne Dauray said. "She grabbed my hand very tightly and grabbed on to my arm and she said, 'Oh, I'm so disappointed. I understand that they, you know, they have to make their decision, but I'm so disappointed, I really wanted to see Fifi.'"

The order tried cutting her off from other potential beneficiaries of her money, Mary Lou Dauray's lawyer, Bernard Jackvony, has said.

"When you have a goose that lays golden eggs, you clip its wings and don't let it leave the farm," he wrote in one filing.

However, other family members, including nephew Stephen Kelley, reported that Mee seemed happy when they saw her, and that they could visit with her in private.

In fact, Mee led a far less restrictive life than the vast majority of the women at the facility, according to Heather Sellors, a former member of the community.

The Legion points out Mee lived in her own apartment, had newspaper subscriptions, cable television and her own Mercedes-Benz she could take out on outings. She often took the other members out to lunch or for ice cream and would shop at the mall or grocery store, Sellors said. The Legion argues in court documents that the fact that she paid her own way showed she had control over her own finances.

That would violate many of the rules that other consecrated women were forced to live under. Former consecrated women have said they lived regimented, isolated lives where nearly every minute of their day was occupied with chores and prayers, where they were forbidden from forming close friendships and were told how to eat, speak and interact. They said they were told that a violation of the most minor norm was a violation of God's will.

Jackvony said in an interview Saturday that the order's decision to bend the rules for Mee was designed to "gain her favor and keep her under their wing."

"The rules did not apply to her, and when you look at it the reason why is clear: because she had the capability of providing enormous amounts of money on a regular basis," he said.

Among the other documents that were released Friday were some that showed the group's former second-in-command testified he discovered that Maciel, the order's founder, had fathered a daughter in 2006, but never confronted Maciel about his double life and didn't share the news with the group's broader membership.

___

Winfield reported from Rome.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-16-Legion%20of%20Christ/id-673df9f69afa42c1a15de02a68117368

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Craftaholics Anonymous? | Craft Room - Kelsey at Poofy Cheeks ...

Happy Friday! Kelsey is here to show off her gorgeous craft room! enjoy! -Linda

Hey I?m Kelsey! I am originally fro a teeny-tiny town in the Midwest ? Rochelle, IL. I now live in Central Florida with my husband and our three sweet kids! I write at Poofy Cheeks to escape my daily duties and interact with a community of others who share the same goals and awesome crafy niftiness that I have. I also have a shop full of hair accessories and crafting supplies.

My craft room is what would traditionally be a dining room, but we are not traditional. My family is perfectly content eating in the breakfast nook area, and I rarely have enough company to need a bigger table. With that being said, you can see everything in my craft room from the living room, so I had to skip the girly colors and make sure everything had a spot and stays organized.

Now I?m going to let you in on a secret? this is what the room liked like the week we got the keys.

Here is what it looks like from the same angle now.

Since I use this area to craft, blog, and fill shop orders it has many purposes. I use my mason jar storage for the hair ties I sell in my shop, and on top of the shelves are decoration items mixed with other supplies.

On the desk I have a bin with more labeled storage.

I have a framed magnet board below the shelves with more magnetic storage tins. I put my current roll of washi tape, scrapbook flowers, and small jewelry findings in them.

I keep all of my utensils in a lazy-susan type holder that my mother-in-law gave me from Papered Chef.

Under my desk is a trunk I purchased when I moved into my first apartment at 18. It was one of my favorite pieces in that ugly, plain, boring apartment so I distinctly remember that it was from Target during their Global Bazaar. The top part holds my craft punches and the drawers hold all sorts of shop supplies, shipping supplies, and computer supplies.

On the opposite wall I have this desk which is full of storage solutions. I have my sewing scraps and thread hanging from a plant hanger in an old fruit basket thingy. My ready-to-ship items are on the pegboard along with a zebra print organizer which olds all of the orders that are ready to go to the post office. The desk drawers hold printer paper and business cards.

Thanks for visiting my craft room!!

Thanks for sharing your craft room with us, Kelsey! Its awesome!!?

You can find all the craft room tours featured on Craftaholics Anonymous? here!

If you have a craft space you?d like to show off, shoot an email to Skye: info{at}craftaholicsanonymous{dot}net

Thanks for stopping by today! Don?t forget to sign up for Craftaholics Anonymous? RSS feed so you don?t miss a craft!

happy crafting,

Linda

Don?t forget to enter the $50 Hobby Lobby Gift Card Giveaway!

?

Source: http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/craft-room-tour-kelsey-at-poofy-cheeks-boutique

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Theophilus London ? ?Snow Angel? feat Trouble Andrew

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iFixit tears down Microsoft's Surface Pro, rates it 1 out of 10 for repairability

You know the drill (or is that screwdriver?) by now. New gadget lands at the iFixit labs, and the good folk there give it a teardown. Microsoft's Surface Pro is this week's lucky slab of silicon to hit the bench. The good news is that a removable battery and SSD will make swapping those out a charm. That's pretty much it for the good news though. The less good news is the sheer number of screws you're going to have to contend with (over 90 by iFixit's count). The bad news is that screen is a real fiddle to remove, and there are globs of adhesive to navigate (holding that battery and screen in place for example). The worst part? By our tool-weilding friend's reckoning, you'll be lucky not to sever a major cable artery just by opening the thing. There's not much by way of hardware surprises, bar the mAh rating of the battery (5,676). All this earns the Surface Pro a repairability rating of just one out ten (ten being the best). Better treat yours with the love and care it deserves then.

[Thanks, Chris]

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft

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Source: iFixit

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/tMdVHViFw3M/

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NCAA Should re-consider Penn State penalties

Posted on February 13th, 2013 in News and Commentary

SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE Editorial: ???Mr. Freeh?s report to the Penn State Board of Trustees about the Jerry Sandusky scandal widely was greeted as the definitive, unquestionable word. The board didn?t contest it. National news media ? particularly the talking heads of the electronic sports media ? treated it as gospel. The NCAA accepted it and imposed draconian sanctions against the Penn State football program, while violating its own bylaws by not conducting an investigation of its own.

Now an exhaustive four-part report commissioned by the Paterno family raises valid questions about the Freeh report. Mr. Freeh called the rebuttal ?self-serving,? which it might well be, but any objective reading of it also would find it to be thorough, factual, professional and enlightening?

If the NCAA truly is interested in fairness, it seriously will consider the rebuttal?s findings relative to the Freeh report and conclude that it, like Mr. Paterno and Mr. Freeh, is not infallible. It should conclude that its own bylaws precluded its intervention, that the courts of Pennsylvania are perfectly capable of rendering justice relative to Mr. Sandusky?s victims, and that it unfairly punished people who had nothing to do with the multiple tragedies unleashed by Mr. Sandusky?? (more)

Source: http://newslanc.com/2013/02/13/ncaa-should-re-consider-penn-state-penalties/

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Hugh Bonneville presides on 'Downton Abbey' finale

This publicity image released by PBS shows Hugh Bonneville in a scene from the popular series "Downton Abbey." Bonneville portrays the patriarchal Lord Grantham in the series, "Downton Abbey." The season three finale airs Sunday, Feb., 17 on PBS. (AP Photo/PBS, Josh Barratt)

This publicity image released by PBS shows Hugh Bonneville in a scene from the popular series "Downton Abbey." Bonneville portrays the patriarchal Lord Grantham in the series, "Downton Abbey." The season three finale airs Sunday, Feb., 17 on PBS. (AP Photo/PBS, Josh Barratt)

FILE - This Dec. 12, 2012 file photo shows British actor Hugh Bonneville in New York. Bonneville portrays the patriarchal Lord Grantham in the series, "Downton Abbey." The season three finale airs Sunday, Feb., 17 on PBS. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP)

FILE - This Dec. 12, 2012 file photo shows British actor Hugh Bonneville in New York. Bonneville portrays the patriarchal Lord Grantham in the series, "Downton Abbey." The season three finale airs Sunday, Feb., 17 on PBS. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The third season of "Downton Abbey" ends this Sunday with a bang.

Exactly what that bang is, we're not going to say, in deference to the maybe half-dozen "Downton" fans who still don't know the shocking truth.

The larger point remains that after Sunday's "Masterpiece Classic" (airing at 9 p.m. Eastern on PBS), viewers must suffer "Downton" withdrawal until next season.

But until then, we'll have our memories.

And what a season this has been! The beloved valet Mr. Bates was sprung from jail and a trumped-up murder charge to begin married life with his bride, the plucky lady's maid Anna. Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, has gotten Downton Abbey back on its feet financially with an able assist from his son-in-law and presumptive heir, Matthew Crawley. Matthew wed his true love, Lady Mary Crawley. But another of Robert's daughters, Lady Sybil, died tragically during childbirth.

Through it all, Robert's mother Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham (played by the sublimely scene-stealing, Emmy- and Golden-Globe-winning Maggie Smith) delivered a barrage of withering, hilarious rejoinders to virtually every narrative twist.

"I remember my very first scene with her in Season One," says Hugh Bonneville, who plays Robert, lord of the manor. "She's complaining about the new electric lights, and suddenly she put her fan up to her face to shield herself from 'the glare,' and spent the entire scene like that. It was so funny, and I was just, 'All right! There's no point in my even being here. She's just marched off with the scene!'"

Now, as then, "Downton" is a plush, penetrating peek into the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their household servants in an English castle of a century ago. With a cast that also includes Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Dan Stevens, Jim Carter and Brendan Coyle, the series this season has drawn an average 11 million viewers each week while spurring another surge of "Downton"-mania, even from first lady Michelle Obama, who pulled strings to get episodes of the new season before it premiered.

"Downton" has even been parsed for its political underpinnings. Last month, Fox News host (and native Brit) Stuart Varney declared that "Downton" celebrates rich people, who "in America today are reviled. They're dismissed as fat cats who don't pay their fair share." Yet on "Downton" the rich people are "generous," ''nice," ''classy" and "they've got style," he said, "which poses a threat to the left, doesn't it?"

It is rare when public television is accused of threatening left-wing orthodoxy, especially on "Fox & Friends" (whose co-hosts Gretchen Carlson and Brian Kilmeade voiced surprise at learning the show isn't called "Downtown Abbey"). But "Downton" has a way of engaging people, both the 99 percent and the 1 percent alike.

And, yes, as the wealthy, patriarchal Lord Grantham, Bonneville does indeed exude classiness and, at crucial moments, generosity.

But that's not the whole picture. Robert Crawley is also confounded by the modern world of post-World War I as it upsets the social hierarchy. Meanwhile, despite his indulgence of underbutler Thomas Barrow's shame (it seems Thomas is gay!), Robert isn't always the most tolerant of men.

"I don't want thumbscrews or the rack, but there always seems to be something of Johnny Foreigner about the Catholics," he sniffs to one of his kind during an exchange about religion.

"I don't think I'd have a huge amount in common with Robert if I met him at a dinner party," Bonneville says. "But I like the guy. I like the fact that while he does bluster and he's pompous sometimes, and he makes mistakes, there's a decency and a love for his family underneath it all."

Impeccably clad in a three-piece gray suit and pink tie for this recent interview, the 49-year-old Bonneville, even firmly planted in a 21st-century Manhattan hotel, looks to the manor born. Nonetheless, he brands himself a member of the British middle class ? the son of a surgeon and a nurse who once imagined becoming a lawyer ? and his roles have strayed some distance from the lofty likes of Robert Crawley. For instance, Bonneville has been affable and bumbling in "Notting Hill" and "Mansfield Park," and downright villainous in "The Commander."

And coinciding with his "Downton" duties, he also played the addled Head of Deliverance for the Olympics commission in "Twenty Twelve," a riotous BBC miniseries that spoofed preparations for the London Olympics.

"There are people who think I've been doing nothing for 25 years, and then suddenly I get this role on 'Downton Abbey,'" Bonneville says with a laugh. "But I've had a really lovely time for 25 years! I've played everything from Shakespeare to sitcoms to period dramas to modern serial killers. I consider myself a character actor, and I do love playing different instruments in the orchestra when I get the chance."

Of course, Bonneville realizes that "Downton" is a good bet for the lead citation in his obituary. He has finally acknowledged it: This show is a cultural phenomenon, not just a fleeting fad. And he has many theories why.

First, the savory writing by series creator Julian Fellowes. Besides, the cast is splendid. The production values are luxurious. And the premise remains rich with possibility.

"This is one of the few settings, alongside a hospital and a police station, where you can legitimately find a real cross-section of society under one roof," notes Bonneville. "But underneath it all, this series is about romance rather than sex, it's about tension rather than violence, and it's about family ? both the literal family and the staff as family. It explores the minutiae of those social structures, the nuances of the system as to whether someone's in or out."

Not that he would want to be part of it. He doesn't sentimentalize that long-ago era any more than "Downton" does. And yet ...

"These days," says Bonneville, "we have relationships that are forged, consummated and brought to an end within 24 hours. Back then, the pace of life was slower, and I think we like to breathe out and enjoy that world ? albeit for only an hour or so, on a Sunday night."

Just one more Sunday night, for now.

___

Online:

http://www.pbs.org/downton

___

Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-14-US-TV-Downton-Abbey-Bonneville/id-02693421fc2d46cbbc170419b298beb8

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