Rensselaer Professor Ryan Gilbert receives NSF CAREER award

Public release date: 31-Jan-2012
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Contact: Michael Mullaney
mullam@rpi.edu
518-276-6161
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Young faculty researcher at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to develop new biomaterials for treating spinal cord injuries

Troy, N.Y. Ryan Gilbert, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has won a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Gilbert will use the projected five-year, $500,000 award to develop new biomaterials for the treatment of spinal cord injuries. The CAREER Award is given to faculty members at the beginning of their academic careers and is one of NSF's most competitive awards, placing emphasis on high-quality research and novel education initiatives.

"We congratulate Dr. Gilbert for being selected to receive an NSF CAREER Award to support his leading-edge biomaterials research," said David Rosowsky, dean of the School of Engineering at Rensselaer. "The CAREER Award is one of the highest honors a young faculty member can receive, and Ryan is certainly deserving of this national recognition."

With his CAREER project, titled "Study of Astrocyte Migration and Reactivity Using Novel Biomaterial Platforms," Gilbert seeks to innovate a solution to the known problem of astrocyte reactivity. Individuals who suffer spinal cord injuries often lose body function below the injury site, which can lead to lifelong paralysis. Currently, there are no federally approved biological or drug-based treatments to restore this lost functionality, Gilbert said.

Gilbert's goal is to develop new biomaterials to reduce or eliminate the reactivity of astrocytes, glial cells found in the scar tissues of the spinal cord that are known to inhibit nerve regeneration. Additionally, Gilbert and his research team will develop polymer spheres that can travel through glial cells and scar tissue in order to deliver therapies to coax axons into the injury site. By delivering these therapies directly to the injury site and weakening the inhibitory nature of astrocytes, these new materials could aid the regeneration of nerve axons, he said. This research holds the promise of informing a new framework for developing novel strategies and treatments for spinal cord injury.

This research will be conducted in the world-class Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at Rensselaer.

Along with educating undergraduates and graduate students in the areas of spinal cord injury research, advanced microscopy, and biomaterial fabrication, Gilbert's research program supports educational outreach initiatives to engage elementary, junior high school, and high school students about these important topics.

Gilbert joined the Rensselaer faculty in 2010, after serving as an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan Technological University (MTU). In 2008, he was inducted into MTU's Academy of Teaching Excellence. At Rensselaer, Gilbert currently advises four graduate students and five undergraduate students.

Gilbert received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his doctoral degree in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

###

For additional information on Gilbert's research at Rensselaer, visit:

Faculty Home Page http://www.rjgilbertlab.com/

Contact
Michael Mullaney
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY
518-276-6161
mullam@rpi.edu

Visit the Rensselaer research and discovery blog: http://approach.rpi.edu

Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RPInews

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 31-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Mullaney
mullam@rpi.edu
518-276-6161
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Young faculty researcher at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to develop new biomaterials for treating spinal cord injuries

Troy, N.Y. Ryan Gilbert, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has won a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Gilbert will use the projected five-year, $500,000 award to develop new biomaterials for the treatment of spinal cord injuries. The CAREER Award is given to faculty members at the beginning of their academic careers and is one of NSF's most competitive awards, placing emphasis on high-quality research and novel education initiatives.

"We congratulate Dr. Gilbert for being selected to receive an NSF CAREER Award to support his leading-edge biomaterials research," said David Rosowsky, dean of the School of Engineering at Rensselaer. "The CAREER Award is one of the highest honors a young faculty member can receive, and Ryan is certainly deserving of this national recognition."

With his CAREER project, titled "Study of Astrocyte Migration and Reactivity Using Novel Biomaterial Platforms," Gilbert seeks to innovate a solution to the known problem of astrocyte reactivity. Individuals who suffer spinal cord injuries often lose body function below the injury site, which can lead to lifelong paralysis. Currently, there are no federally approved biological or drug-based treatments to restore this lost functionality, Gilbert said.

Gilbert's goal is to develop new biomaterials to reduce or eliminate the reactivity of astrocytes, glial cells found in the scar tissues of the spinal cord that are known to inhibit nerve regeneration. Additionally, Gilbert and his research team will develop polymer spheres that can travel through glial cells and scar tissue in order to deliver therapies to coax axons into the injury site. By delivering these therapies directly to the injury site and weakening the inhibitory nature of astrocytes, these new materials could aid the regeneration of nerve axons, he said. This research holds the promise of informing a new framework for developing novel strategies and treatments for spinal cord injury.

This research will be conducted in the world-class Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at Rensselaer.

Along with educating undergraduates and graduate students in the areas of spinal cord injury research, advanced microscopy, and biomaterial fabrication, Gilbert's research program supports educational outreach initiatives to engage elementary, junior high school, and high school students about these important topics.

Gilbert joined the Rensselaer faculty in 2010, after serving as an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan Technological University (MTU). In 2008, he was inducted into MTU's Academy of Teaching Excellence. At Rensselaer, Gilbert currently advises four graduate students and five undergraduate students.

Gilbert received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his doctoral degree in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

###

For additional information on Gilbert's research at Rensselaer, visit:

Faculty Home Page http://www.rjgilbertlab.com/

Contact
Michael Mullaney
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY
518-276-6161
mullam@rpi.edu

Visit the Rensselaer research and discovery blog: http://approach.rpi.edu

Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RPInews

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/rpi-rpr013112.php

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IAEA visit: It's showtime for Iran's nuclear denials (The Christian Science Monitor)

Istanbul, Turkey ? With top United Nations nuclear inspectors on a three-day trip to Iran, Tehran is sending mixed messages of cooperation and defiance.

The high-profile visit from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) presents Iran with the first formal opportunity to rebut specific allegations of past weapons-related work since they were made public in an agency report in November.

The Islamic Republic has for years dismissed the documents those allegations are based upon as forgeries created by hostile intelligence agencies, aimed at besmirching a peaceful energy program. But now that talk of a US-Israeli war against Iran has gained momentum, in concert with an array of crippling sanctions, Iran says it will address those allegations.

IN PICTURES: Iran's military might

"We are very optimistic about the outcome of the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran.... Their questions will be answered during this visit," Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said yesterday.

"We have nothing to hide and Iran has no clandestine [nuclear] activities," he said. "Of course I do not mean that a miracle will happen overnight, but you know a long journey starts with the first step."

Officials sought to reinforce that positive message today, by stating that the IAEA mission was there at Tehran's invitation, and was ???in fact a proof of Iran???s good intention,??

The stakes are high for the inspectors' visit. The next IAEA report is due within weeks, and in the past month the US and European Union have both imposed unprecedented sanctions on Iran that target its central bank and the lifeblood of its economy, its oil exports, in a bid to curb Iran's nuclear work.

Protesters turn out for IAEA arrival at Tehran airportThe head of the IAEA team in Iran says their aim is to "resolve all the outstanding issues with Iran." Those include weapons-related studies ? their "systematic" nature apparently halted in late 2003, according to the IAEA ? which range from high-explosives testing to reengineering the warhead of a Shahab-3 missile to fit a specific, possibly nuclear, payload.

"In particular we hope that Iran will engage with us on our concerns regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program," the IAEA deputy director for safeguards, Herman Nackaerts, said before leaving Vienna on Sunday.

A group of Iranians ? of a type often associated with pro-regime basiji ideologues, a few covering their faces and carrying placards in English which read "Nuclear energy is our right" ? turned out at the Imam Khomeini airport for the IAEA team's arrival Sunday.

They held portraits of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, the latest of at least four nuclear scientists assassinated in Iran over two years. Senior figures in the regime accuse Israel's Mossad of the killings, and the IAEA of divulging information about its nuclear specialists that resulted in their deaths.

Ali Larijani, the speaker of parliament, on Sunday told the IAEA to conduct its work in a "logical ... technical" manner.

"This visit is a test for the IAEA. The route for further cooperation will be open if the team carries out its duties professionally," said Mr. Larijani. "Otherwise, if the IAEA turns into a tool [to pressure Iran], then Iran will have no choice but to consider a new framework in its ties with the agency."

Formal nuclear talks between Iran and world powers broke down a year ago in Istanbul. Both sides now say they want them to resume them, but no date or even agenda has been established.

What is known about Iran nuclear programThe November IAEA report was billed as a "game changer" before it was published. Based on more than 1,000 pages of data acquired from the United States in 2005, the nuclear watchdog agency said it had "serious concerns" about Iran's work ? especially some modeling and other critical design work it says may have continued at least until 2009.

But former IAEA inspectors have questioned the veracity of the documents, saying that some once dismissed as unreliable appear to have been recycled to step up accusations against Iran.

The IAEA report confirmed ? as has every quarterly IAEA safeguards report on Iran for nearly a decade ? that the agency detected no diversion of nuclear material for military purposes, and that Iran's known nuclear facilities and uranium enrichment remain under strict IAEA watch.

Separately, two US National Intelligence Estimates on Iran, the latest in February 2011, have concluded that Iran halted weapons-related work in late 2003, and has so far neither resumed such work, nor made a decision to do so.

"Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told CBS earlier this month.

Speaking again to CBS yesterday, however, Mr. Panetta said the US was watching Iran closely, suggesting that Iran could develop a nuclear weapon in a year if it chose to do so ? though it might be another two or three years before Iran had a missile or other delivery vehicle for such a bomb. "If ... we get intelligence that they are proceeding with developing a nuclear weapon, then we will take whatever steps are necessary to stop them," he told 60 Minutes.

The IAEA chief Yukiya Amano has said that in 2012, Iran is "the most important" issue on his agenda.

"I am fully committed to working constructively with Iran and I trust that Iran will approach our forthcoming discussions in an equally constructive spirit," Mr. Amano told the IAEA board in Vienna on Jan. 19.

Higher-enriched uranium to be used in 'coming months'Despite the increasing pressure, it has been largely business as usual for Iran, which is planning to unveil new military equipment in ceremonies leading up to the 33-year anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on Feb. 11.

And although UN Security Council resolutions require Iran to halt all enrichment activity until it resolves IAEA concerns, Salehi on Monday said that Iran in "coming months" would turn its growing stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium into fuel for its small medical reactor in Tehran ? a difficult step that would mark significant technical know-how.

Though still far from the 90 percent required for any weapon, the material is higher than the 3.5 percent low-enriched uranium which makes up the bulk of Iran?s efforts.

Today, Iran's English-language PressTV made little mention of the IAEA team in Iran, instead topping its news with video footage of heavy-handed police arrests of hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters in Oakland, CA.

Those protesters "burned the American flag," PressTV reported. It began another news item about Mr. Panetta's statement yesterday, that all options were on the table regarding Iran's nuclear program, with the words: "The US has once again threatened Iran...."

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20120130/wl_csm/458160

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93% Pina

All Critics (69) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (62) | Rotten (5) | DVD (1)

This meditation on movement and space, transportation and transcendence is not to be missed.

What the filmmaker has created is an inspired simulacrum - a jewel-box that contains more of Bausch's kinetic soul than film has any right to.

Crane and steadycam allow Wenders to get so close to the action that in the minimalist Caf? M?ller, one's illusion of being on stage is uncanny.

"Pina"is the best possible tribute to Bausch, and to adventurous image-making.

I watched the film in a sort of reverie.

Whether you're familiar with Pina Bausch's work or not, the new film "Pina" is a knockout.

This seems like a ripping good idea. In practice, "Pina" turns out to have a few problems.

Suggests thrilling new possibilities for the marriage of movies and dance.

Even for someone who would rather count sheep than attend a ballet, these scenes are nothing short of astonishing, beautifully presenting dance's ability to depict words.

You won't hear the names Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Paul Taylor or Bob Fosse breathed herein.

An exhilarating experience, both in its celebration of Bausch's groundbreaking work and in the thrilling way that Wenders captures it on camera.

It's not an overview of Bausch's career or a statement on her art, but a celebration of her work and the dancers who bring it to life.

This is a stunning film, a glorious homage to modern dance and one of its premier authors and the best justification of 3D technology to date.

With a breakout use of 3D for artistic rather than solely commercial blockbuster purposes, German director Wim Wenders gives extraordinary life to the work of choreographer Pina Bausch.

More Critic Reviews

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pina_3d/

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Arsenal advances in FA Cup

/

updated 8:27 p.m. ET Jan. 29, 2012

LONDON - Arsenal kept its bid to end a seven-year trophy drought on track Sunday, scoring three times in eight second-half minutes to beat Aston Villa 3-2 and reach the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Villa led 2-0 at halftime on goals by Richard Dunne and Darren Bent, prompting near silence from Arsenal fans still waiting for a trophy to follow the 2005 FA Cup.

The home side got back in the game with Robin van Persie's 54th-minute penalty, tied it on Theo Walcott's lucky rebound and took the lead in the 61st on a second spot kick from Van Persie.

Middlesbrough and Sunderland will replay on Feb. 7 for the right to face Arsenal after drawing their fourth-round match 1-1.

Having avoided a fourth straight defeat, the Gunners are now just three games away from a Wembley final.

"We tried to keep focused and calm," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "It is an opportunity but you could see today how hard the games are."

Arsenal great Thierry Henry missed a late chance after coming on in the 89th for the third appearance of his loan from the New York Red Bulls of MLS, but home fans could still cheer the result.

Robbie Keane, on-loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, provided the cross that led to Dunne's 33rd-minute opener.

Second-tier Middlesbrough led against its local rival when Barry Robson capitalized on some weak defending to smash a 16th-minute volley across goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and in at the far post.

Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill introduced striker Fraizer Campbell at halftime for his first appearance since August 2010, and the former Manchester United trainee stroked in a low shot 14 minutes later following a mistake by Robson.

Campbell had not played for the first team for 500 days because of knee injuries.

Crawley Town, the lowest-ranked side left in this season's FA Cup, was handed a meeting with Premier League club Stoke in Sunday's fifth-round draw.

Liverpool will meet Brighton, Chelsea will host Birmingham, Norwich will host Leicester, Everton will play Blackpool or Sheffield Wednesday, and Bolton will go to the winner of the replay between Millwall and Southampton. Tottenham is at Stevenage.

___

LISBON, Portugal (AP) ? American defender Oguchi Onyewu scored on headers in the 18th and 27th minutes, giving Sporting Lisbon a 2-0 win over Beira Mar in the Portuguese league.

Onyewu received a yellow card in the first minute, then got goals off a corner kick and a free kick from the right flank, both from around the top of the 6-yard box.

He has five goals this season, including four in the league.

___

ROME (AP) ? Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored one goal and set up another as AC Milan beat Cagliari 3-0 to move back within one point of first-place Juventus in the Italian league.

Ibrahimovic scored his league-leading 15th goal with a free kick in the 32nd minute, then controlled a ball with his chest to set up Antonio Nocerino's goal in the 39th. Milan captain Massimo Ambrosini scored with his first goal of the season in the 75th.

Inter Milan's league winning streak ended at seven, one short of the club record, with a 1-0 loss at Lecce. Guillermo Giacomazzi scored off a pass from Massimo Oddo in the 40th minute, Inter had two goals called back for offside. Lazio jumped ahead of the Nerazzurri into fourth place.

It was Lecce's first home win of the season and only its fourth overall.

Lazio won 3-0 at Chievo Verona with a first-half goal from Hernanes and two in the final minutes from Miroslav Klose.

Elsewhere, Roma drew 1-1 at home with Bologna to stay sixth. Roma's 21-year-old midfielder Miralem Pjanic equalized with a free kick in the 62nd minute after Bologna captain Marco Di Vaio had scored six minutes earlier.

Also, Genoa beat Napoli 3-2 with two goals from Rodrigo Palacio and one from newly signed Alberto Gilardino to get some revenge for a 6-1 loss to Napoli last month that cost Alberto Malesani his job.

___

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? David Zurutuza lasted only five minutes, but it was long enough to score a double in Real Sociedad's 5-1 rout of visiting Sporting Gijon in the Spanish league.

The 25-year-old midfielder volleyed Antoine Griezmann's cross into the left corner for Sociedad's second-minute opener, and a minute later he scored with another shot from the right side of the area after Carlos Vela had played him clear.

But Zurutuza's dream start took an ugly turn in the fifth minute when he and Sporting defender Gregory Arnolin collided face-to-face while disputing a loose ball.

Granada coach Abel Resino got off to a winning start as his team moved out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win at Real Betis, while Getafe dealt Levante its second home loss of the season with a 2-1 win.

Malaga beat Sevilla 2-1 in an Andalusian derby 2-1 to break a six-game winless run, while third-place Valencia was held to a 2-2 draw at Racing Santander. Atletico Madrid visits Osasuna on Monday.

On Saturday, Real Madrid opened a seven-point lead with a 3-1 win over last-place Zaragoza as Barcelona tied 0-0 at Villarreal.

___

BERLIN (AP) ? Marco Reus led Borussia Moenchengladbach to a 3-0 win at Stuttgart on Sunday to keep his team within a point of the Bundesliga's top three.

Reus sent in a dangerous free kick for Mike Hanke to score with a glancing header in the 31st minute, and then scored himself in the 81st. Igor de Camargo added another three minutes later.

Moenchengladbach remains a point behind league leader Bayern Munich, defending champion Borussia Dortmund and Schalke, who all have 40 points.

Moenchengladbach's first win over Stuttgart since 2005 sent the home team to its fourth league loss in a row.

Earlier Sunday, Mainz scored three goals in the first 17 minutes to beat Freiburg 3-1.

___

PARIS (AP) ? Marseille won its seventh straight game, defeating Rennes 2-1 in the French league as Benoit Cheyrou scored the go-ahead goal from the edge of the penalty area in the 77th minute.

Rennes midfielder Tongo Hamed Doumbia opened the scoring with a 30-yard shot in the 15th, but fifth-place Marseille equalized with an own goal from defender Onyekachi Apam just before halftime.

Ajaccio moved out of the French league's relegation zone by defeating Valenciennes 2-1, its fourth straight victory.

The visitors were down to 10 men in the 73rd when midfielder Paul Lasne was sent off for a second yellow card, but substitute Christian Kinkela scored the winner in stoppage time by curling a shot into the top corner.

Also Sunday, Bordeaux goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso fouled Yannick Sagbo but saved the subsequent penalty to salvage a 0-0 draw against Evian.

___

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) ? Celtic reached the final of Scotland's League Cup for the 29th time with a 3-1 win over Falkirk.

The teams were tied 1-1 until the 56th minute after 17-year-old Falkirk midfielder Jay Fulton equalized Celtic captain Scott Brown's penalty.

Striker Anthony Stokes put Celtic back in front with a 25-yard free kick and tapped Gary Hooper's pass in the 86th to settle the match.

Celtic will meet Kilmarnock in the final at Hampden Park on March 18. Celtic's 14 tournament wins is second only to Rangers' 27.

___

AMSTERDAM (AP) ? Luuk de Jong scored three goals as FC Twente beat FC Groningen 4-1 and moved into second place in the Dutch league.

De Jong headed Twente into the lead in the 14th, converted another cross from Ola John in the 23rd and completed his hat trick in the 58th with another header ? again set up by John.

De Jong then provided the cross headed in by midfielder Leroy Fer in the 66th.

Twente has 39 points, two behind new leader PSV Eindhoven, which beat Vitesse Arnhem 3-1 Friday. AZ Alkmaar lost 2-0 at Roda JC to drop to third.

John Guidetti also got a hat trick to guide Feyenoord to a 4-2 win over Ajax.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Arsenal advances in FA Cup

Roundup: Arsenal kept its bid to end a seven-year trophy drought on track Sunday, scoring three times in eight second-half minutes to beat Aston Villa 3-2 and reach the fifth round of the FA Cup.

2 for Wambach, Morgan; US women beat Canada 4-0

??With a flick of the head, Abby Wambach sent Alex Morgan on a 30-yard run that gave the United States an early lead, the first of three goals resulting from impeccable teamwork between the veteran and the up-and-comer.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46182135/ns/sports-soccer/

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The Cain-Gingrich Endorsement (Little green footballs)

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'Dead' deep sea vents are anything but dead

Volcanic seafloor vents that roar with the scalding heat of Earth's interior don't stay hot forever. Eventually, over hundreds or thousands of years, they flicker out and turn cold.

Yet new research reveals that the action on these oases of life on the seafloor doesn't stop when the heat goes off. Life goes on in the frigid dark, but on a teeny scale.

It turns out that large populations of bacteria live on expired vents, and these microbes are very different from those that thrive when the vents are piping hot, according to a study published this week in the journal mBio.

Scientists found evidence that up to 2,000 different sorts of microbes were living in a small section of a long-expired vent near the East Pacific Rise, a vast seam on the seafloor in the southern Pacific Ocean where two tectonic plates are being wrenched apart. For comparison, up to 8,000 varieties of microbes have been found living on active, hot vents, and up to 10,000 in deep seawater.

Although finding the microbes themselves didn't come as a huge shock ? scientists have found bacteria living in other types of cool seafloor rocks ? the revelation of who exactly moved in once the vents went cold was surprising, according to the study authors.

"Seeing the shift in the microbial population ? seeing who actually came and left was fairly illuminating for me," said study co-author and geomicrobiologist Katrina Edwards, a professor at the University of Southern California.

Who's there?
The samples from the East Pacific Rise vents revealed a world of bizarre biological harmony. Microorganisms that employ utterly different physiological mechanisms to survive were living almost side by side.

In other samples of seafloor rock, the microbe communities typically change gradually, shifting in a way that brings to mind a road trip across an entire country, "whereas here, it's like there are different neighborhoods, and they can change pretty drastically," said Jason Sylvan, a USC post-doctoral researcher and lead author on the paper.

Gated communities of anaerobic organisms (which don't need oxygen to survive) were parked next to gated communities of aerobic organisms, which do require oxygen.

"Finding things that are anaerobic and aerobic right next to each other was surprising," Sylvan told OurAmazingPlanet.

A living arrangement akin to a golden retriever and a trout living across the hall?

"It's probably more drastic than that, but that's the right idea," Sylvan said.

Big effects
Overall, Edwards said, the research highlights how little we know about the sheer abundance of life on the seafloor, which has implications for understanding large-scale planetary processes.

Both scientists emphasized that the deep ocean increasingly appears to play a huge role in the way carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, is processed by the planet's interlocking systems of atmosphere, land and ocean.

"There are all these organisms down there making biomass, and that's not accounted for in our carbon cycle at all," Edwards told OurAmazingPlanet. "The ocean floor is quite vast so there is an opportunity for these organisms to have an effect."

The research comes on the heels of splashy news from deep sea vents around the world.

Scientists recently announced the discovery of ghostly white yeti crabs swarming newfound vents near Antarctica, and bizarre shrimp with eye-like features on their backs that thrive on the deepest vents ever discovered on Earth.

Sylvan said the cold, expired vents deserve attention, too.

"When we think of hydrothermal vents we think of things that are really exciting, like hot, black smoker vents or big animals," he said, "but there are also exciting things happening that aren't necessarily visible to the naked eye."

Reach Andrea Mustain at amustain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @AndreaMustain. Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet and on Facebook.

? 2012 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46165250/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Researchers shed light on magnetic mystery of graphite

Friday, January 27, 2012

The physical property of magnetism has historically been associated with metals such as iron, nickel and cobalt; however, graphite ? an organic mineral made up of stacks of individual carbon sheets ? has baffled researchers in recent years by showing weak signs of magnetism.

The hunt for an explanation has not been without controversy, with several research groups proposing different theories. The most recent suggestion, published today, 27 January, in the journal EPL (Europhysics Letters), has been put forward by a research group from the University of Manchester that includes Nobel prize-winning scientist Professor Sir Andre Geim.

The research group, led by Dr Irina Grigorieva, found that magnetism in many commercially available graphite crystals is down to micron-sized clusters of predominantly iron that would usually be difficult to find unless the right instruments were used in a particular way.

Finding the way to make graphite magnetic could be the first step to utilising it as a bio-compatible magnet for use in medicine and biology as effective biosensors.

To arrive at their conclusions, the researchers firstly cut up a piece of commercially-available graphite into four sections and measured the magnetisation of each piece. Surprisingly, they found significant variations in the magnetism of each sample. It was reasonable for them to conclude that the magnetic response had to be caused by external factors, such as small impurities of another material.

To check this hypothesis, the researchers peered deep into the structure of the samples using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) ? a very powerful microscope that images samples by scanning it with a beam of electrons ? and found that there were unusually heavy particles positioned deep under the surface.

The majority of these particles were confirmed to be iron and titanium, using a technique known as X-ray microanalysis. As oxygen was also present, the particles were likely to be either magnetite or titanomagnetite, both of which are magnetic.

The researchers were also able to deduce how many magnetic particles would be needed, and how far apart they would need to be spaced in order to create the originally observed magnetism. The observations from their experiments agreed with their estimations, meaning the visualised magnetic particles could account for the whole magnetic signal in the sample.

Dr Grigorieva, said: "The excitement around the findings of ferromagnetism in graphite, i.e. pure carbon, is due to the fact that magnetism is not normally found in organic matter. If we can learn to create and control magnetism in carbon-based materials, especially graphene, this will be an important development for sensors and spintronics."

###

The paper can be downloaded from http://iopscience.iop.org/0295-5075/97/4/47001

Institute of Physics: http://www.iop.org

Thanks to Institute of Physics for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117149/Researchers_shed_light_on_magnetic_mystery_of_graphite

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NM immigrant driver's license debate intensifies (AP)

SANTA FE, N.M. ? Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and her allies face a tough first test in the Legislature over their proposal to stop New Mexico from granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

The House Labor and Human Resources Committee is to consider the governor's proposal Thursday and it's expected to encounter strong opposition at the first hearing on the issue during this year's legislative session.

The panel's five Democrats, who account for a majority of the votes, opposed a similar bill last year that passed the House but failed later in the Senate.

The legislation will prohibit the state from granting licenses to illegal immigrants. However, it continues to allow licenses for foreign nationals in the country legally, such as students with visa.

New Mexico and Washington are the only states that allow illegal immigrants to obtain the same driver's license as a U.S. citizen. Utah grants immigrants a driving permit that can't be used for identification, unlike a driver's license that helps people open bank accounts and make financial transactions or board a commercial airliner.

Martinez contends that New Mexico's license system is subject to widespread fraud. The state has brought charges against several fraud rings, in which brokers were paid to supplement fraudulent documents for foreign nationals from Poland, China, Mexico and other countries.

A review of license data by The Associated Press found that dozens of addresses ? including some for businesses such as a smoke shop ? have been used over and over again by immigrants to get a driver's license. The pattern suggests people are abusing the state's licensing system.

"The governor stands with New Mexicans in saying that this is a dangerous law that threatens public safety in New Mexico, and just as more than a dozen other states have done, it needs to be repealed," Scott Darnell, a spokesman for the governor, said before the hearing.

"Only two states in the country offer a driver's license to illegal immigrants, and this has generated an industry of fraud, trafficking, and organized crime in New Mexico, as people from all throughout the world have come to our state for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining our government-issued ID and leaving the state ? to places, and for purposes, that are unknown."

Supporters of the current policy contend the state doesn't need to repeal its law to deal with potential fraud and they say a driver's license is vital to the immigrant community living and working in New Mexico, some of whom have been here for years and have U.S.-born children.

"It's disingenuous to suggest that fraud will go away if New Mexico repeals the current driver's license law. Fraud exists in many of the states that don't provide driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants," Marcela Diaz, executive director of an immigrant rights group, Somos un Pueblo Unido, said in a recent interview.

Diaz contends fraud is limited to a small portion of immigrant licenses. Democrats in the Senate took a similar position after the AP's report on Wednesday.

"This issue has drawn national attention and it has made one thing very clear: The current law must be strengthened to include provisions that clearly address the flaws. Repealing the law and forcing a fraction of the driving population to go without proper licensing, registration or insurance puts New Mexican families at risk," the Senate Democratic caucus said in a written statement.

The AP identified 170 addresses in New Mexico at which 10 or more licenses have been issued to different foreign nationals from 2003 through August 2011. Those account for 2,662 licenses ? representing nearly 3 percent of the total issued to foreign nationals during that period. The AP limited its analysis to addresses with a high number of licenses to try to get an indication of the extent of possible fraud. Large families or frequent tenant turnover at rental property are among the legitimate reasons why there are addresses with fewer than 10 licenses over a period of time.

Democrats who oppose the governor's proposal are pushing alternatives. The Senate approved a Democratic-backed measure last year that would have increased penalties on license fraud, required fingerprinting of immigrants seeking a license and canceled current licenses of foreign nationals that weren't renewed within two years ? allowing the state to verify whether a foreign national remained a New Mexico resident.

New Mexico changed its law in 2003 to grant driver's licenses to anyone without a Social Security number, which are unavailable to people living illegally in the country. More than 90,000 licenses have been issued to immigrants, and state officials speculate that most of those have gone to illegal immigrants. However, it's impossible to know for certain because license applicants aren't asked about their immigration status.

___

Follow Barry Massey on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmasseyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_go_co/us_immigrant_licenses

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Exclusive: 'Phantom Menace' 3D Preview From 'Star Wars' Insider

As the "Star Wars" saga joins the 3D revolution with the coming theatrical release of "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" on?February 10th, our good friends at Star Wars Insider magazine are marking the occasion with a special celebratory issue. And we're marking that occasion with our very own preview of that upcoming [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/01/27/star-wars-phantom-menace-3d-preview/

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France arrests breast implant boss amid scare

PARIS?? The former head of a French company at the center of a breast implant scandal affecting tens of thousands of women worldwide has been arrested in southeast France.

Jean-Claude Mas, who founded and ran the now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese, was detained Thursday as part of a judicial investigation in the southeastern city of Marseille into manslaughter and involuntary injuries, an official close to the investigation said.

So far no specific defendant has been named. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, because the case is in the hands of judicial investigators.

Investigating judge Annaick Le Goff opened the probe after a woman filed a lawsuit in the wake of the 2010 death from cancer of her daughter who had received a suspect implant.

As many as 3,000 other complaints by other alleged victims have been taken into account.

The implants have been removed from the marketplace in several countries in and beyond Europe amid fears they could rupture and leak silicone into the body.

"This is a comfort for the victims," said Laurent Gaudon, whose clients accuse PIP and surgeons who used its implants of fraud.

"It's the feeling that justice is advancing and they have not been forgotten. It's the assurance that the guilty are at last going to be held accountable," Gaudon added.

Philippe Courtois, who represents a group of 1,300 people with PIP implants, said it was vital Mas was not allowed to flee justice.

"A degree of provisionary detention is desirable," he said.

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Mas, who sold some 300,000 implants around the world, has acknowledged that he had used unapproved silicone but dismissed fears that it constituted a health risk.

Video: A divide on faulty breast implants (on this page)

Mas is also on Interpol's most-wanted list, but the international police agency said its "red notice" was issued in June at the request of Costa Rica, where he faces a drunken driving charge.

Mas, 72, was detained shortly before dawn during a search of a residence in the Mediterranean coastal town of Six Fours Les Plages, a police official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

A secretary at the office of Mas' defense lawyer Yves Haddad said the lawyer ? who was with Mas during police questioning ? was not immediately available for comment.

Silicone more rupture-prone
Authorities worldwide have been scrambling to strike a proper public response to the scandal ? notably concerning who will pay to remove the implants ? made with cheap, industrial-grade silicone instead of medical-grade gel ? or if the implants need to invariably come out.

European governments have taken different positions: German, Czech and French authorities say the implants should be removed, while Britain says there is not enough evidence of health risks to suggest they should be taken out in all cases.

On Wednesday, health authorities in Brazil said the government will fine private health plans that refuse to pay for the removal and replacement of faulty breast implants sold by PIP and a Dutch company.

A lawyer for Mas said in a statement earlier this month that his client, who ran PIP until it was closed in March 2010, would not speak publicly on the case.

The scandal has put pressure on French health authorities for allegedly not doing enough to vet the quality of a product used by untold thousands of women both in France and abroad.

France's Health Safety Agency has said the suspect implants ? just one type of implants made by PIP ? appear to be more rupture-prone than other types. Investigators say PIP sought to save money by using industrial silicone, whose potential health risks are not yet clear.

PIP's website said the company had exported to more than 60 countries and was one of the world's leading implant makers. The silicone-gel implants in question are not sold in the United States.

According to estimates by national authorities, over 42,000 women in Britain received the implants, more than 30,000 in France, 9,000 in Australia and 4,000 in Italy. Nearly 25,000 of the implants were sold in Brazil.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46144725/ns/world_news-europe/

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Here's what Fed's 'new transparency' looks like

By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer

?

They're not exactly PowerPoints, but the Federal Reserve Wednesday adopted a new "fuller disclosure" policy that comes with visual aids.

The first chart represents the number of members of the central bank?s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee?who expect to see, in a given calendar year, short-term interest rates begin moving higher from the current range of 0 to 0.25 percent. The most likely year, according to the panel, is 2014. But like most Fed decisions, the committee is not unanimous.

The lower chart shows where each panel member thinks the benchmark, short-term federal funds rate should be at the end of each of the next several years, and in the longer run.?Each dot represents one person?s projection.? (Responses are rounded to the nearest quarter point.)

The Fed has also begun publishing more detailed and explicit information on its projections for economic growth, inflation and unemployment.?

In the charts above show that central bankers generally expect growth to rise from the current 2 percent rate to about 4 percent by the end of 2014, while the unemployment rate drops from the current 8.5 percent to about 7 percent.

The Fed has been debating for some time the idea of publishing its internal inflation and unemployment forecasts. The central bankers have been following an unofficial inflation target of about 2 percent of the last few years. It has now become more explicit about that target, a victory for Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke who has been pushing for it.

Part of the problem with publishing both?inflation and unemployment targets is that, while they are both part of the Fed?s ?dual mandate,? managing the two objectives often call for conflicting policies. Controlling inflation often calls for tighter monetary policy, for example, which typically slows growth and raises the level of unemployment.

Click here for the full Fed projections (pdf)

Related:

Federal Reserve sees no rate hikes before?late 2014

Fed adds more punch to low-rate pledge

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10235753-heres-what-the-feds-new-transparency-looks-like

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Study Fails to Confirm Existence of Arsenic-Based Life

News | More Science

A new analysis by open-science advocates present a 'clear refutation' of a controversial finding that appears to undermine assumptions about how essential phosphorus is for life

By Erika Check Hayden and Nature magazine ?| January 23, 2012

A scanning electron micrograph of GFAJ-1, the bacterium at the centre of the controversy. Image: Science/AAAS

A strange bacterium found in California?s Mono Lake cannot replace the phosphorus in its DNA with arsenic, according to researchers who have been trying to reproduce the results of a controversial report published in Science in 2010.

A group of scientists, led by microbiologist Rosie Redfield at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, have posted data on Redfield's blog that, she says, present a ?clear refutation? of key findings from the paper.

?Their most striking claim was that arsenic had been incorporated into the backbone of DNA, and what we can say is that there is no arsenic in the DNA at all,? says Redfield.

But the authors of the Science paper are not retreating from their conclusions. ?We are thrilled that our results are stimulating more experiments from the community as well as ourselves,? first author Felisa Wolfe-Simon, now at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, wrote in an e-mail to Nature. ?We do not fully understand the key details of the website experiments and conditions. So we hope to see this work published in a peer-reviewed journal, as this is how science best proceeds.?

Open criticism
In the Science paper, Wolfe-Simon and her co-workers reported that they had found a bacterium called GFAJ-1 that can use the element arsenic in place of phosphorus in molecules essential to life (see Arsenic-eating microbe may redefine chemistry of life). This was surprising because phosphorus is thought to be essential for life, whereas arsenic is usually toxic.

But after Redfield and others raised numerous concerns (see Microbe gets toxic response), many of which were published as technical comments in Science, Redfield put the results to the test, documenting her progress on her blog to advance the cause of open science.

Redfield grew GFAJ-1 bacteria in arsenic and a very small amount of phosphorus, as had Wolfe-Simon and her colleagues. She then purified the DNA from the cells and sent it to Marshall Louis Reaves, a graduate student at Princeton University in New Jersey. Reaves used a caesium chloride gradient to separate the cells' DNA into fractions of varying densities, then used a mass spectrometer to identify the elements present in each fraction of DNA. He found no arsenic in any of the DNA.

But Redfield?s methods might leave defenders of the arsenic life hypothesis some wiggle room. For instance, Redfield was unable to grow any cells without adding a small amount of phosphorus. Because it is not clear how much phosphorus was used to grow the bacteria in the original paper, its authors could argue that Redfield's cells were not sufficiently phosphorus-starved to be forced to use arsenic in its place.

Wolfe-Simon also says she would not expect to find arsenic in DNA analysed on a caesium chloride gradient, because the arsenic-containing DNA might be so fragile that it would break apart and appear only in very faint bands separate from the bulk of the cell's DNA.

However, Redfield says that Reaves analysed all of the DNA purified on the gradient, so he would have detected any arsenic. Redfield also analysed the size of DNA from cells that had been stored for two months in her lab refrigerator. The DNA fragments from cells that had been grown with and without arsenic were similar sizes, indicating that DNA from arsenic-grown cells is not unstable.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4fd491f412dbdc98e4400c78e641f0c6

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Ice Cream Sandwich gets ready for its closeup, would like to thank Kinect for big screen break (video)

Using Microsoft hardware to augment Android? Surely, you can't be serious? Well, confounding as this may be, it is indeed true... and don't call us Shirley. All fanboy-ism and Airplane! references aside, this Kinect hack (yes, another one) manages to move Ice Cream Sandwich out of its 4.65-inch confines and onto the big screen wall. The inventive and involved mod, borne from hacker Recursive Penguin's desire to demo in-development apps at business meetings, allows for gestures made on a projected interface to be deciphered by MS' famous add-on, resulting in real-time responses. While this particular pico-friendly bit looks simple (not to mention fun to use), it's actually a bit daunting: AOSP ROMs, TUIO protocol and multi-touch software, anyone? While there are, undoubtedly, some of you that could pull off such techie gee whizzery, we'll just sit and wait for Google to implement this in version 5.0. Check out the brief video after the break.

Continue reading Ice Cream Sandwich gets ready for its closeup, would like to thank Kinect for big screen break (video)

Ice Cream Sandwich gets ready for its closeup, would like to thank Kinect for big screen break (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4mb7qWmmtxY/

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Heated charges, counter-charges in Florida debate

Republican presidential candidates former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gesture during a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gesture during a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, stand on stage before a Republican Presidential debate Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures during a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gestures during a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, gestures during a Republican Presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich clashed repeatedly in heated, personal terms Monday night in a crackling campaign debate, the former Massachusetts governor tagging his rival as a Washington "influence peddler," only to be accused in turn of spreading falsehoods over many years in politics.

"You've been walking around the state saying things that are untrue," Gingrich told his rival in a two-hour debate marked by occasional interruptions and finger-pointing.

The event marked the first encounter among the four remaining GOP contenders ? former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul shared the stage ? since Gingrich won the South Carolina primary in an upset last weekend.

His double-digit victory reset the race to pick a rival to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama this fall, and the next contest is the Jan. 31 Florida primary.

With a week of campaigning ahead, Romney is expected to release his income tax return for 2010 as well as an estimate for 2011 on Tuesday. He said it will show he paid all the taxes he was obligated to pay, adding, "I don't think the voters want a president who pays more than he owes."

Following his defeat in South Carolina, Romney can ill afford to lose in Florida, and he was the aggressor from the opening moments Monday night. He said Gingrich had "resigned in disgrace" from Congress after four years as speaker and then had spent the next 15 years "working as an influence peddler."

In particular, he referred to the contract Gingrich's consulting firm had with Freddie Mac, a government-backed mortgage giant that he said "did a lot of bad for a lot of people and you were working there."

Romney also said Gingrich had lobbied lawmakers to approve legislation creating a new prescription drug benefit under Medicare.

"I have never, ever gone and done any lobbying," Gingrich retorted emphatically, adding that his firm had hired an expert to explain to employees "the bright line between what you can do as a citizen and what you do as a lobbyist."

Romney counterpunched, referring to the $300,000 that Gingrich's consulting firm received in 2006 from Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage giant.

And when Gingrich sought to turn the tables by inquiring about the private equity firm that Romney founded, the former Massachusetts governor replied: "We didn't do any work with the government. ...I wasn't a lobbyist."

As for the Medicare prescription drug benefit, Gingrich expressed pride in having supported it. "It has saved lives. It's run on a free enterprise model," he said in a state that is home to millions of seniors.

Whatever the stated subject, the debate's subtext was character ? and electability, the quality that Republican voters say consistently matters most to them in the race.

Gingrich said voters don't want a president who will "manage the decay," but change the country. "That requires sending somebody who's prepared to be controversial when necessary."

Romney pointed to his career in business, his turn as head of the Salt Lake City Olympics and a term as governor of Massachusetts.

Obama took his lumps, as customary in a Republican debate.

Romney said the president lacks a vision for NASA, and said, "There are people on the Space Coast that are suffering and Florida itself is suffering as a result."

He proposed that "a collection" of academics and private investors consult with the president on a new mission for the space agency and have the program funded jointly by the government and private industry.

Gingrich called that answer "building a bigger bureaucracy" and instead proposed handing out prizes to people who come up with ways to "make the Space Coast literally hum with activity." Going back to the moon permanently, putting a man on mars and building space stations should be priorities, he said.

When the debate turned to immigration, one moderator noted that Romney and Santorum have said they would veto the "Dream Act," which would create conditions under which illegal immigrant minors might achieve U.S. citizenship, and asked if Gingrich agreed.

"No, I would work to get a signable version," he said. "I think any young person brought here by their parents when they were young should have the same opportunity to join the American military and earn citizenship."

Romney said that was the same as his position.

Moments later, he was asked to reconcile two other statements he has made about immigration, that while he doesn't want to deport millions of illegal immigrants, he wants them to return to their home countries and apply for citizenship. "The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they can do better by going home," he said.

At times, the other two contenders on stage were reduced to supporting roles.

Asked if he could envision a path to the nomination for himself, Santorum said the race has so far been defined by its unpredictability.

He jumped at the chance to criticize both Romney and Gingrich for having supported the big federal bailouts of Wall Street in 2008.

He also said both men had abandoned conservative principles by supporting elements of "cap and trade" legislation to curb pollution emissions from industrial sites. "When push came to shove, they were pushed," he said.

Paul sidestepped when moderator Brian Williams of NBC asked if he would run as a third-party candidate in the fall if he doesn't win the nomination. "I have no intention," he said, but he didn't rule it out.

Paul has said he will largely bypass Florida to concentrate on states that are holding caucuses.

Hit at the outset with Romney' charge that he had resigned Congress in disgrace and went on to a career peddling his own influence, Gingrich said two men who had run against the former governor in the 2008 campaign, John McCain and Mike Huckabee, had said he couldn't tell the truth.

The polls post-South Carolina show Gingrich and Romney leading in the Florida primary. That and the former speaker's weekend victory explained why the two were squabbling even before the debate began, and why they tangled almost instantly once it had begun.

Romney began airing a harshly critical new campaign ad and said the former House speaker had engaged in "potentially wrongful activity" with the consulting work he did after leaving Congress in the late 1990s.

Gingrich retorted that Romney was a candidate who was campaigning on openness yet "has released none of his business records."

He followed up two hours before the debate by arranging the release of a contract his former consulting firm had with the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. for a retainer of $25,000 per month in 2006, or a total for the year of $300,000. The agreement called for "consulting and related services."

Despite Romney's attempts to call Gingrich a lobbyist, the contract makes no mention of lobbying.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-23-Republicans-Debate/id-2e9fb0db7d914d64af11c1a95a00b103

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Gingrich storms to SC victory, scrambling GOP race (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stormed to an upset victory in the South Carolina primary Saturday night, dealing a sharp setback to former front-runner Mitt Romney and abruptly scrambling the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

In victory, Gingrich praised his Republican rivals and attacked President Barack Obama and "elites in New York and Washington."

Obama is "the most effective food stamp president in history," he said. "I would like to be the best paycheck president in American history." Those declarations and his attack on the "elite news media" reprised two of his more memorable lines from a pair of debates that helped fuel his victory.

Exit polls showed he led among voters who said their top priority was picking a candidate who could beat Obama ? a group that had preferred Romney in earlier contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Romney, the national front-runner until now, was unbowed. He vowed to contest for every vote "in every state," an acknowledgement that the race would likely be a long one. He also unleashed a double-barreled attack on Obama and Gingrich.

Referring to Gingrich's criticism of his business experience, Romney said, "When my opponents attack success and free enterprise, they're not only attacking me, they're attacking every person who dreams of a better future. He's attacking you," he told supporters, the closest he came to mentioning the primary winner's name.

Returns from 95 percent of the state's precincts showed Gingrich with 41 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Romney. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was winning 17 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul 13 percent.

As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years. Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination.

Nearly 600,000 voters turned out, according to an AP estimate. That eclipses the previous record turnout for the primary in 2000, when George W. Bush defeated John McCain

Based on the vote total, Gingrich won at least 15 of the 25 Republican National Convention delegates at stake and none of the other contenders was yet assured of any.

But political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to Obama still in its early stages.

Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in Florida with a significant television ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date.

Gingrich readily conceded that he trails in money, and even before appearing for his victory speech he tweeted supporters thanking them and appealing for a flood of donations for the Jan 31 primary. "Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida. Join our Moneybomb and donate now," said his tweet.

Aides to the former Massachusetts governor had once dared hope that Florida would seal his nomination ? if South Carolina didn't first ? but that strategy appeared to vanish along with the once-formidable lead he held in pre-primary polls.

Romney swept into South Carolina 11 days ago as the favorite after being pronounced the winner of the lead-off Iowa caucuses, then cruising to victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.

But in the sometimes-surreal week that followed, he was stripped of his Iowa triumph ? GOP officials there now say Santorum narrowly won ? while former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman dropped out and endorsed Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry quit and backed Gingrich.

Romney responded awkwardly to questions about releasing his income tax returns, and about his investments in the Cayman Islands. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, benefited from two well-received debate performances while grappling with allegations by an ex-wife that he had once asked her for an open marriage so he could keep his mistress.

By primary eve, Romney was speculating openly about a lengthy battle for the nomination rather than the quick knockout that had seemed within his grasp only days earlier.

Exit polling showed Gingrich, the former House speaker, leading by a wide margin among the state's heavy population of conservatives, tea party supporters and born-again Christians.

In a state with 9.9 percent unemployment, about 80 percent of all voters said they were very worried about the direction of the economy. Gingrich's edge over Romney among that group tracked the overall totals closely, the former speaker winning 42 percent and the runner-up 28.

The exit poll was conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research as voters left polls at 35 randomly selected sites. The survey involved interviews with 2,381 voters and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Santorum vowed to continue, although his weak third place finish could well portend financial difficulty for a campaign that has never been flush with cash. It's a wide-open race. Join the fight" he urged supporters at a rally in Charleston.

Paul had his worst finish of the year, and isn't expected to make a strong effort in Florida. Even so, he said to supporters, "Keep fighting." He has said he intends to focus his efforts on caucus contests in Nevada on Feb. 4 and Missouri several days later.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, pinned his South Carolina hopes on a heavy turnout in parts of the state with large concentrations of social conservatives, the voters who carried him to his surprisingly strong showing in Iowa.

Paul had a modest campaign presence here after finishing third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire. His call to withdraw U.S. troops from around the world was a tough sell in a state dotted with military installations and home to many veterans.

Romney's stumbles began even before his New Hampshire primary victory, when he told one audience that he had worried earlier in his career about the possibility of being laid off.

He gave a somewhat rambling, noncommittal response in a debate in Myrtle Beach last Monday when asked if he would release his tax returns before the primary. The following day, he told reporters that because most of his earnings come from investments, he paid about 15 percent of his income in taxes, roughly half the rate paid by millions of middle-class wage-earners. A day later, aides confirmed that some of his millions are invested in the Cayman Islands, although they said he did not use the offshore accounts as a tax haven.

Asked again at a debate in North Charleston on Thursday about releasing his taxes, his answer was anything but succinct and the audience appeared to boo.

Gingrich benefited from a shift in strategy that recalled his approach when he briefly soared to the top of the polls in Iowa. At mid-week he began airing a television commercial that dropped all references to Romney and his other rivals, and contended that he was the only Republican who could defeat Obama.

It featured several seconds from the first debate in which the audience cheered as he accused Obama of having put more Americans on food stamps than any other president.

Nor did Gingrich flinch when ex-wife Marianne said in an interview on ABC that he had been unfaithful for years before their divorce in 1999, and asked him for an open marriage.

Asked about the accusation in the opening moments of the second debate of the week, he unleashed an attack on ABC and debate host CNN and accused the "liberal news media" of trying to help Obama by attacking Republicans. His ex-wife's account, he said, was untrue.

___

Associated Press writers Shannon McCaffrey, Kasie Hunt and Beth Fouhy contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_go_ot/us_gop_campaign

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