Science & Technology News

Federal health officials on Friday disclosed a new safety breach at a high-security U.S. government laboratory involving dangerous avian flu, a lapse that came to light as they investigated the potential exposure of researchers to live anthrax bacteria. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said an internal probe found multiple failures by individual scientists and a lack of agency-wide safety policies led to the potential exposure of more than 80 lab workers to live anthrax at its Atlanta campus last month. Investigators also discovered a previously unreported incident: Workers at a separate high-security CDC influenza lab sent samples containing a dangerous strain of bird flu to counterparts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in March. Mishandling avian flu could have far graver consequences than anthrax does, though no one has been found to have been infected in either case.

By Humeyra Pamuk and Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Tayyip Erdogan outlined his vision for a “pioneering new Turkey” on Friday, pledging to re-write the constitution, forge a more prominent role on the world stage and deepen democracy if he becomes the country’s first popularly-elected president. Launching his campaign for an August election he is almost certain to win, the man who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade cast his bid for the presidency as part of a historic path of change, breaking the shackles of a status quo he said had held Turkey back for decades. “The old Turkey is in the past now. The gates of the old Turkey are closed.

By Fiona Ortiz CORNELLA DE LLOBREGAT Spain (Reuters) – Francesca Munoz, the principal at Sant Miquel primary school near Barcelona, is fighting a linguistic crusade that has fuelled a remarkable recovery of the local Catalan tongue – and of the region’s secessionist movement. For 30 years, public schools in Spain’s Catalonia region have taught most subjects in Catalan, not the national Castilian Spanish language. There are now some 10 million Catalan speakers in or near the region bordering France and the Mediterranean, putting the language in a league with Swedish and Greek after it was repressed under the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Such is the strength of the Catalan renaissance that it is prompting a backlash among some parents concerned their children are getting short-changed on Spanish, the world’s second-most spoken language by native speakers after Mandarin.

By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Funds to help farmers adapt to climate change, ultra-modern solar power plants and schemes to promote women’s safety in cities are among pledges the new government made in its first budget on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which swept to power in May, said in its 2014/15 budget that it would establish a National Adaptation Fund to help millions of farmers adapt to changing weather patterns resulting from global warming. “Climate change is a reality which all of us have to face together. Agriculture as an activity is most prone to the vagaries of climate change,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told parliament.

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) – (In paragraph 2, corrects extent of FDA e-cigarette research) One team of researchers assessing the risks of electronic cigarettes is counting the puffs taken by volunteer “vapers.” Another will comb Facebook for posts on how people are tinkering with e-cigarettes to make the devices deliver extra nicotine. “They want data and they want it yesterday,” said Dr Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin of Yale University, who is leading four projects. To be sure, studies of e-cigarettes not funded by the FDA are also under way, and the agency can factor those results into any action it takes. The e-cigarette industry, which Wells Fargo Securities estimates will make $2 billion in global sales this year, says the FDA must wait for the results of the research before it issues any regulations, or manufacturers risk being driven out of business by unproven fears about their products.

By Brian Winter SAO PAULO (Reuters) – For many Brazilians, Tuesday’s humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany accomplished the unthinkable – a disaster even worse than the last time the country hosted the World Cup, in 1950. Back then, it was a 2-1 loss to tiny Uruguay in the final, a massive upset that still brings tears to the eyes of older Brazilians. Brazil’s team was torn to shreds. Anger and disappointment were so intense that it threatened to darken the national mood for some time to come, with possible consequences for President Dilma Rousseff as she seeks a second term in October.

By Brian Winter SAO PAULO (Reuters) – For many Brazilians, Tuesday’s humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany accomplished the unthinkable – a disaster even worse than the last time the country hosted the World Cup, in 1950. Brazil’s team was torn to shreds. Anger and disappointment was so intense that it threatened to darken the national mood for some time to come, with possible consequences for President Dilma Rousseff as she seeks a second term in October. It’s one thing to lose a game where you suffered and fought hard, and it’s another to be completely humiliated,” said Fernando Hazzan, 28, in Sao Paulo.

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It’s not easy playing an ape, even a highly intelligent one, but if Andy Serkis succeeds in captivating moviegoers, he will be thanking the obscure world of “motion capture,” a digital technology that accurately translates performance into animation. For “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” opening in U.S. theatres this weekend, director Matt Reeves says he pushed the boundaries of motion capture to achieve “photo-reality” in rendering the apes, particularly in their facial expressions. In doing so, “Dawn” could usher in a new age for actors, allowing them to dream of delivering award-worthy dramatic performances using a technology generally utilized in sci-fi blockbusters. “One of the hardest things to do is to create characters which are emotionally engaging and truthful,” said Serkis, a British actor who has become a seminal figure for motion capture by bringing to life creatures such as Gollum in “Lord of the Rings” and King Kong.

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) – One team of researchers assessing the risks of electronic cigarettes is counting the puffs taken by volunteer “vapers.” Another will comb Facebook for posts on how people are tinkering with e-cigarettes to make the devices deliver extra nicotine. “They want data and they want it yesterday,” said Dr Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin of Yale University, who is leading four projects. “Yesterday,” however, is years away. To be sure, studies of e-cigarettes not funded by the FDA are also under way, and the agency can factor those results into any action it takes. The e-cigarette industry, which Wells Fargo Securities estimates will make $2 billion in global sales this year, says the FDA must wait for the results of the research before it issues any regulations, or manufacturers risk being driven out of business by unproven fears about their products.

World Cup 2014: Germany win the match, Algeria the city