If the day seems a little longer than usual on Saturday, June 30, 2012, that's because it will be. An extra second, or "leap" second, will be added at midnight to account for the fact that it is taking Earth longer and longer to complete one full turn--a day--or, technically, a solar day. "The solar day is gradually getting longer because Earth's rotation is slowing down ever so slightly," says Daniel MacMillan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Scientists know exactly how long it takes Earth to rotate because they have been making that measurement ...

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. is leading an international effort to develop and launch the High Resolution Coronal Imager, or Hi-C, on a sounding rocket from the White Sands Missile Range at White Sands, N.M. Hi-C is a next-generation suborbital space telescope designed to capture the highest-resolution images ever taken of the million-degree solar corona. Key partners include the University of Alabama at Huntsville, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, University of Central Lancashire in Lancashire, England, and the Lebedev Physical Institute ...

Boulder, Colorado, USA – Mountain belts on Earth are most commonly formed by collision of one or more tectonic plates. The process of collision, uplift, and subsequent erosion of long mountain belts often produces profound global effects, including changes in regional and global climates, as well as the formation of important economic resources, including oil and gas reservoirs and ore deposits. Understanding the formation of mountain belts is thus a very important element of earth science research. One common but poorly understood aspect of mountain belts are the many ...

Ewing's sarcoma is a bone cancer commonly diagnosed in about 250 U.S. teenagers per year. If early chemotherapy is effective, improvement can be durable. But for children and teens who respond poorly to a first attempt at chemotherapy or if the disease spreads, long-term survival can be less than 10 percent. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published this week in the journal Molecular Cancer Research shows an important difference that may explain why some respond and some don't: the existence of high levels of the protein EYA3. "First, levels of EYA3 could ...

DARIEN, IL – Severe sleep loss jolts the immune system into action, reflecting the same type of immediate response shown during exposure to stress, a new study reports. Researchers in the Netherlands and United Kingdom compared the white blood cell counts of 15 healthy young men under normal and severely sleep-deprived conditions. The greatest changes were seen in the white blood cells known as granulocytes, which showed a loss of day-night rhythmicity, along with increased numbers, particularly at night. "Future research will reveal the molecular mechanisms behind ...

PeopleSurance announces that it now offers life insurance and health insurance in the state of New York.  PeopleSurance now offers life insurance from New York Life, Principle Financial, ING, and many other providers to residents of the state of New York.  PeopleSurance provides resources, including insurance videos, buyers' guides, and news and updates on health care reform.  PeopleSurance President Brandon Beavers states, "We are pleased to be able to continuously offer an expanding line of coverage for our clients.  The recent addition of New York to our growing ...

International Business Ethics Awards, the IBEA, identifies businesses that excel at business ethics, social responsibility and community involvement. Most business awards are based upon revenue growth or are vanity based, the IBEA process differs significantly. The IBEA is the first business ethics award of its kind that is international in scope and rewards businesses of all types, sizes, revenue levels and from varying industry segments. What truly makes the IBEA unique is the fact that professionals and businesses are nominated anonymously by third parties. Nominators ...

Pennsylvania Court Rules Sheriff's Sale Must Stand Despite Later Offer A three-judge panel on the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled recently that a sheriff's sale of real estate could not be set aside after a latecomer offered more than double the purchase price. The case arose from the sheriff's sale of a home in Middlesex Township, Pennsylvania. The property, which had been foreclosed upon, had an outstanding mortgage of about $204,000 when it was put up for sheriff's sale in September 2010. The winning bid at the sale was $255,800. About a month after the sheriff's ...

In California, Motorcycle "Lane Splitting" Legal if Done Properly Two cars, side-by-side, are motoring along two lanes of a California highway. Though the cars are only feet away from each other, a motorcycle cuts in, traveling in between the two lanes. This is known as "lane splitting," which is legal in California when done in a safe and prudent manner. When motorcyclists ride too fast, though, it can quickly turn fatal; motorcyclists are about 39 times more likely to die in crashes than car occupants, according to the California Office of Traffic ...

Mild Brain Injury and Repeated Hits to the Head May Lead to Brain Damage Brain injury has been in the news a lot lately in Utah and elsewhere around the country. Recently, the results of a new study that looked at mild traumatic brain injuries resulting from sports injuries and accidents was released, and the death of former NFL football player, Junior Seau, has again brought up the issue of repetitive concussions and mental health. Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries According to a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, mild traumatic injuries resulting ...

The State of Lifetime Alimony in New Jersey Is Questioned Going through divorce is the closing of one chapter in life and the opening of another. But, some family law advocates say the alimony law in New Jersey frustrates the ability of divorced individuals to build a new life. Reform advocates say the alimony law in New Jersey needs to be updated because the law is too unwieldy when circumstances in the lives of the paying ex-spouse change, especially regarding permanent alimony. Those who would like to see an update to the law want judges to have less discretion ...

Proposed Law in Missouri Could Permit Adoption Without Father's Consent Under a bill currently being considered by Missouri lawmakers, babies born to unmarried parents in Missouri could be placed for adoption without their fathers' consent. If passed, the proposed law would make an unmarried father's consent to a child's adoption unnecessary if he does not provide sufficient financial support to the child's mother during pregnancy, delivery or after the child's birth, despite having reason to believe he is the biological father of the child. An exception would be ...

Fewer Americans Behind on Credit Card Debt, but Average Balance Is High The number of credit card holders who have not paid their bills in the last 90 days has decreased in 2012. For Q1, the total number of delinquent cardholders dropped to 0.73 percent, from 0.78 percent for the last quarter of 2011. In addition, The Wall Street Journal reported that consumers continued to pay throughout May, despite worries from some experts that delinquency would increase in part because of continued high unemployment. However, while delinquency has decreased, nearly half of cardholders ...

Texas Seeks to Curb Prescription Drug Abuse with New Law Nearly nine of every 100,000 Texans died from prescription drug overdoses last year, most caused by abuse of illegally obtained prescription medications. The Drug Policy Alliance reports a 150 percent increase in accidental overdoses over an eight-year period in Texas. Emergency room doctors report that of the drug abuse cases they see, more are due to prescription drugs than illegal street drugs and many people do not believe they are abusing drugs because they received them from their doctor. Trafficking ...

Testifying at One's Own Trial May Lead to Self-Incrimination Defense lawyers agree it can be a game-changer when a client, who has been charged with a crime, testifies at his or her own trial. Allen Stanford, on trial in Texas for an alleged Ponzi scheme involving $7-8 billion in certificates of deposits, plans to testify on his own behalf and many believe that is a bad idea The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives a person charged with a crime the right to refuse to answer questions or make statements that may be used to help convict that person of a crime ...

Pennsylvania Law May Put Family on the Hook for Long-Term Care Costs Caring for an elderly loved one comes with a lot of responsibilities and, at times, a lot of associated stress. One of the most important considerations an adult child may face regarding long-term care is cost, and if those responsible for caring for elderly loved ones do not create plans to handle the cost of long-term care, the situation can quickly become stressful. Many folks in Pennsylvania may not be aware of a law that may put them on the hook for the cost of long-term care for senior family ...

The Means to Live: Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and Debt Reaffirmation Even though going through Chapter 7 bankruptcy offers the prospect of financial relief, individuals who file may wish to reaffirm the debt on certain property to be discharged in order to retain it. For instance, it is common for filers to reaffirm the debt of a vehicle because many people depend on their cars to get to work. If a filer decides to reaffirm a debt, he or she should be sure of the ability to repay the loan in order to keep the property. In a personal bankruptcy case, the filer may decide ...

Illinois Eavesdropping Law Facing Developments in Court and Legislature Illinois differs from many other U.S. states in that it is a "two-party consent" state. Under this law, you cannot make an audio recording unless both you and the other parties that are involved in the recording agree that you can do so. Audio and video recording, especially of police officers, is a hot button topic in Illinois due to a police-eavesdropping case that was recently decided by a federal appeals court. State Felony to Record Police Under an Illinois law enacted in 1961, ...

CDM Media announced today that Corbus, LLC, a global solutions provider of Information Technology (IT), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Project Management (PMO) services, will join the following 2012 CDM Media summits: • CFO Summit, Aug. 19-21, 2012, in Scottsdale, Ariz. • CIO Retail Summit, Aug. 28-29, 2012, in Scottsdale, Ariz. The CFO Summit offers chief financial officers and finance executives the opportunity to discuss the challenges and issues facing their organizations. Delegates will make new business contacts and exchange best practices, confronting challenges ...

The results are in! The distinguished panel of judges has announced the prize winners at The 2nd Annual New York World Wine and Spirits Competition, as well as Best in Show. The judges made their selections from well over 400 entries. The Tasting Panel's Anthony Dias Blue, director of The San Francisco International Wine Competition and the San Francisco World Spirits and International Wine Competitions, led the panel. Best in Show and Gold Medal Spirits: • Blackwater Distilling Inc., Sloop Betty Vodka USA, Gold, Best Vodka in Show • Louis Royer , Louis Royer ...

Whether it is a phobia like a fear of flying, public speaking or spiders, or a diagnosis such as obsessive compulsive disorder, new research finds patients suffering from anxiety disorders showed the most improvement when treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in conjunction with a "transdiagnostic" approach - a model that allows therapists to apply one set of principles across anxiety disorders. The combination was more effective than CBT combined with other types of anxiety disorder treatments, like relaxation training according to Peter Norton, ...

In an effort to help fast-track the commercialization of early-stage Canadian companies and grow the tech ecosystem in Western Canada, Boast Capital recently announced a partnership with Plug and Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley to launch Plug and Play Accelerator Canada. The first initiative of this partnership is Startup Camp Canada, where technology startups are offered US$25,000 in funding plus access to world-class mentors and investors in both Silicon Valley and Calgary. As a soft launch for the program, which starts late fall in Calgary, Alberta, Boast Capital ...

Financing your business begins with understanding your business design. Are you providing a service or do you require materials and equipment? Are you paying employees or is it a one-man-show? Are you economically invested in your business? How much can you afford to spend in the event you don't make profits right away? Manufacturing products require materials, equipment, production fees, which increase overall costs. Service businesses are the product in themselves; the cost of the product offered is bundled within the business and therefore incurs fewer expenditures. ...

Join Boot Camp Digital (www.bootcampdigital.com), a social media training company, for their newest training program: Mobile Marketing 101, on July 10th, 2012 from 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM in Cincinnati, Ohio. Boot Camp Digital's popular educational social media training programs educate the Cincinnati marketing community on the latest updates in social media and Internet marketing. This session will cover an overview of one of fastest-growing aspects of marketing today: mobile marketing. Experts in the marketing industry are saying that mobile marketing is going to be ...

Filled with Antoine's trademark humor and her other children's books; this book has an educational theme delivered with in a fun, rhythmic format. "Staying Safe is a very timely and informative book for kids, with beautiful illustrations by Frankniell Concepcion together with the Antoine's interpretation of the scenes presented in the illustrations, Staying Safe is an all-around winner," said Bernard Logan of Yale School of Education. Staying Safe is available for sale at Amazon, ENVISION and wherever books are sold. Or meet the author at: juliaeantoine.com About ...