Mercedes, Bosch to Co-develop Self-driving Taxis
Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler and supplier Robert Bosch are teaming up to develop self-driving cars in an alliance aimed at accelerating the production of “robo-taxis.”
The pact between the world’s largest maker of premium cars and the world’s largest automotive supplier forms a powerful counterweight to new auto industry players like ride-hailing firms Uber and Didi, which are also working on self-driving cars.
Technology companies and carmakers are striving to adjust to a shifting landscape in the auto industry as consumers increasingly use smartphones to locate, hail and rent vehicles, rather than buying cars.
The alliance not only ends Daimler’s efforts to develop an autonomous car largely on its own, but moves the auto industry’s ambitions beyond simply developing prototype vehicles toward industrial-scale production of self-driving cars.
The two German companies announced the deal Tuesday. Terms weren’t disclosed.
Software, algorithms
Bosch — founded in 1886, the same year that Mercedes founder Carl Benz patented the motorcar — will develop software and algorithms needed for autonomous driving together with the carmaker.
Bosch said Mercedes would be able to use the jointly developed system for two years before it could be offered to competitors.
The deal will help the automotive supplier make up ground in a competitive autonomous driving system sector where rivals Continental, Delphi, ZF and others have also made heavy investments.
For Daimler and its Mercedes division, teaming up with Bosch helps them throw more engineering resources at autonomous cars, allowing them to speed up the process of creating a production-ready system for autonomous cars by several years.
The autonomous system will now be ready by the beginning of next decade, Daimler said, without disclosing when it had first envisaged the commercial launch of automated taxis.
“The prime objective of the project is to achieve the production-ready development of a driving system which will allow cars to drive fully autonomously in the city,” Daimler said in a statement Tuesday.
The company will continue to build and sell vehicles that can be manually operated by individual drivers.
The market for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles is expected to grow from about $3 billion in 2015 to $96 billion in 2025 and $290 billion in 2035, Goldman Sachs said last year.
Daimler is focusing its efforts on the app-based car-sharing and ride-hailing sector dominated by China’s Didi and U.S.-based Uber and Lyft.
Global growth
Like autonomous cars, this market is a big global growth area and is expected to expand by 28 percent a year to 2030, according to consultancy McKinsey.
“Within a specified area of town, customers will be able to order an automated shared car via their smartphone. The vehicle will then make its way autonomously to the user,” Daimler said. “The idea behind it is that the vehicle should come to the driver rather than the other way round.”
The cutthroat competition to launch self-driven cars has forced carmakers to shift strategy from an evolutionary toward a revolutionary approach.
Instead of evolving driver assistance systems to achieve full autonomy, carmakers are now experimenting with radical car designs combined with software-driven development — which has led to alliances with technology companies.
Mercedes-Benz’s archrival BMW teamed up with Israeli autonomous vehicle tech company Mobileye and chip maker Intel last year to develop new technology that could put autonomous cars on the road by 2021.
Intel has since agreed to buy Mobileye for $15.3 billion, a deal that followed Qualcomm’s $47 billion move to acquire Dutch automotive chip supplier NXP.
Before deciding to partner with Bosch, Mercedes-Benz had two engineering teams, totaling about 500 people, working on autonomous vehicles. One took an evolutionary approach, upgrading the capabilities of conventional vehicles, while the other team took a more radical approach to the car’s design.
Bosch and Mercedes did not disclose how many additional engineers they would assign to the teams in Stuttgart and Silicon Valley.
“Cars which do not rely on any driver input have a different architecture and sensor setup, with more radar and cameras,” Christoph von Hugo, a senior Mercedes-Benz safety manager, told Reuters at a recent event to present safety systems.
Different levels of autonomy
The current Mercedes E-Class can cruise without driver input on highways, maintaining the distance to the car in front and staying in lane using a system that has “level 2” autonomy.
Full autonomy — known as an “eyes off, brains off” or “level 5” system — does away with even the need for a steering wheel.
“We don’t want to wait until level 3 has arrived before we start with level 4/5. That will be too late,” von Hugo said, adding the prospect of new revenue streams from maintaining fleets of robo-taxis was a big motivating factor for doubling the carmaker’s R&D efforts.
Autonomous vehicles came closer to road-going reality after Google unveiled a prototype car that it had developed with the help of Bosch in 2012. Mercedes-Benz responded by developing an S-class limousine that drove 103 kilometers (64 miles) between the German towns of Mannheim and Pforzheim a year later.
Real commercial applications for autonomous cars will start to take off between 2020 and 2025, Ola Kaellenius, Daimler board member and head of group research and Mercedes-Benz car development, told Reuters last month.
“If you take the robo-taxi, you start perhaps in a city or several cities or areas of cities, and then you grow from there,” he said. “The key is to get to something that you can commercialize, scale up.”
Bosch is already one of the world’s largest suppliers of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and recently announced an alliance with U.S. tech firm Nvidia to develop a self-driving computer for production cars. Mercedes-Benz and auto supplier ZF also have separate alliances with Nvidia.
The Bosch-Daimler alliance will rely on high-definition mapping systems provided by HERE, the digital mapping firm owned by BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Intel.
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Study: 1-in-10 Zika-infected US Moms Have Babies With Birth Defects
About one in 10 pregnant women with confirmed Zika infections had a fetus or baby with birth defects, offering the clearest picture yet of the risk of Zika infection during pregnancy, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the first to analyze a group of U.S. women with clear, confirmed test results of Zika infection during pregnancy.
Once considered a mild disease, a large outbreak of the virus that began in Brazil in 2015 and quickly spread through the Americas revealed that the mosquito-borne virus can cause severe brain damage and microcephaly, or small head size, when women are exposed during pregnancy.
‘Continues to be a threat’
“Zika continues to be a threat to pregnant women across the U.S.,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the CDC, said in a statement. “With warm weather and a new mosquito season approaching, prevention is crucial to protect the health of mothers and babies.”
Babies affected by Zika can develop congenital Zika syndrome, which includes brain abnormalities, vision problems, hearing loss, and problems moving limbs.
The study comes from the CDC’s Zika pregnancy registry, which includes data from the continental United States and all U.S. territories except Puerto Rico.
The researchers analyzed data on nearly 1,000 completed pregnancies in 2016 among women who had some evidence of Zika infection. Most were infected through travel to a region where the virus was actively spreading.
Of the 1,000, 51 or about 5 percent had babies or a fetus with one or more Zika-related birth defect. Because of limitations of testing, only tests done within the first few weeks of Zika can test specifically for the Zika virus.
Women analyzed
The team also analyzed 250 women with definitive test results for Zika.
Among these, about one in 10 had a fetus or baby with birth defects. The risk was even higher among women infected in the first trimester of pregnancy, where 15 percent of pregnancies resulted in a fetus or baby with birth defects.
The study also showed that three out of four babies exposed to Zika had not received brain imaging after birth to diagnose birth defects.
“We know that some babies have underlying brain defects that are otherwise not evident at birth. Because we do not have brain imaging reports for most of the infants, our current data might significantly underestimate the impact of Zika,” CDC’s Peggy Honein told a news briefing.
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New US Spelling Bee Rules Seek to Prevent Ties
Scripps National Spelling Bee winners aced “gesellschaft” and “feldenkrais” to be named co-champions of last year’s competition, but it was the word “tie” that gave organizers a headache.
On Tuesday, the contest revealed new rules aimed at preventing ties after the annual competition ended in a dead heat three years in a row, with joint winners both getting $40,000 cash prizes in 2016.
Organizers said they would prefer to see a clear-cut champion, rather than a shared title.
The 290 young spelling whizzes from across the United States and six foreign countries in this year’s bee will face a new written tiebreaker when they square off May 30-June 1 in a Washington suburb, organizers said.
The written test introduces a fresh hurdle for participants spelling ever-tougher words in the bee, a national institution since 1925.
“During our history, students have expanded their spelling abilities and increased their vocabulary to push our program to be even more challenging,” Paige Kimble, the bee’s executive director, said in a statement.
Tiebreaking test
Ahead of this year’s title round, the finalists will be tested on 12 words, which they will write, and 12 multiple-choice vocabulary questions.
If it is mathematically impossible for one champion to emerge through 25 rounds, bee officials will declare the speller with the highest tiebreaker score the winner. If there is a tie on the test, judges will declare co-champions.
This year’s bee will draw contestants ages 5 to 15 culled from more than 11 million in the spelling program. The winner or winners will receive the cash prize of $40,000.
Last year, Nihar Janga, a fifth-grader from Austin, Texas, and Jairam Hathwar, a seventh-grader from Painted Post, New York, were named co-champions after battling 25 rounds head to head.
To gain the title, Nihar spelled “gesellschaft,” a type of social relationship, and Jairam aced “feldenkrais,” a method of education.
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Trump Administration Cuts Off US Funds for UN Agency Over Abortion
The Trump administration said Monday it was cutting off U.S. funding to the United Nations agency for reproductive health, accusing the agency of supporting population control programs in China that include coercive abortion.
By halting assistance to the U.N. Population Fund, the Trump administration is following through on promises to let socially conservative policies that President Donald Trump embraced in his campaign determine the way the U.S. government operates and conducts itself in the world. Though focused on forced abortion — a concept opposed by liberals and conservatives alike — the move to invoke the “Kemp-Kasten amendment” was sure to be perceived as a gesture to anti-abortion advocates and other conservative interests.
The U.N. fund will lose $32.5 million in funding from the 2017 budget, the State Department said, with funds shifted to similar programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the U.N. fund would also lose out on tens of millions of additional dollars it has typically received from the U.S. in “non-core” funds.
Under a three-decade-old law, the U.S. is barred from funding organizations that aid or participate in forced abortion of involuntary sterilization. It’s up to each administration to determine which organizations meet that condition. The U.N. Population Fund has typically been cut off during Republican administrations and had its funding resumed when Democrats control the White House.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was notified of the move by the State Department in a letter received Monday. The letter followed a formal designation by Tom Shannon, the State Department’s undersecretary of political affairs, that said the fund “supports, or participates in the management of, a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.”
In a lengthy memorandum obtained by The Associated Press, the State Department said the U.N. fund partners with China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission, responsible for overseeing China’s “two-child policy” — a loosened version of the notorious “one-child policy” in place from 1979 to 2015. It said the U.N. collaborates with the Chinese agency on family planning. Still, the memo acknowledged there was no evidence of U.N. support for forced abortions or sterilization in China.
The U.N. Population Fund, known as UNFPA, said it regretted the U.S. move and argued it was “erroneous” to suggest it was complicit in China’s policies.
“UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination,” the agency said in a statement.
The designation was the latest move by the Trump administration to prioritize traditionally conservative issues in the federal budget. The Trump administration has vowed to cut all dollars for climate change programming, and also restored the so-called global gag rule, which prohibits funding to non-governmental groups that support even voluntary abortions.
The Trump administration has also signaled that it no longer sees a need for the U.S. to so generously fund U.N. and other international organizations. The White House has proposed cutting roughly one-third from the State Department’s budget, with much of it expected to come from foreign aid and global organization dollars, although Congress is expected to restore at least some of that funding
The U.N. agency’s mission involves promoting universal access to family planning and reproductive health, with a goal of reducing maternal deaths and practices like female genital mutilation. The cut-off funds will be “reprogrammed” to USAID’s Global Health Programs account to focus on similar issues, said a State Department official, who wasn’t authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity.
The Kemp-Kasten amendment, enacted in 1985, led to some of the U.N. agency’s funding being initially cut off, then restored by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993, USAID said in a report. Republican George W. Bush’s administration reversed the decision in 2002, but President Barack Obama — a Democrat — gave the funding back after taking office.
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Experts Urge Huge Expansion of Online Therapy For Mental Illness
A “massive and growing” mental health burden across the world can only be tackled successfully with a major expansion of online psychiatric resources such as virtual clinics and web-based psychotherapies, specialists said on Tuesday.
With resources tight and the global mental health system only serving around 10 percent of patients even now, specialists speaking at the European Congress on Psychiatry (ECP) said the web is the only option for significant extra treatment capacity.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said last week mental disorders – in particular depression – are now the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide.
Rates of depression have risen by more than 18 percent since 2005, the WHO says, and a lack of support for mental health combined with a common fear of stigma means many do not get the treatment they need.
Michael Krausz, a professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and a leading specialist at the World Psychiatric Association, said “E-mental health” should be a major part of the answer.
“Through a proactive approach we can create an additional virtual system of care which could build capacity, improve the quality of care and make mental health care more effective,” he told the ECP.
Web-based psychological treatments such as online cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) have proven effective in several conditions including depression and anxiety. Krausz said there is also potential for online CBT to be modified for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“Online assessments, web-based psychotherapies,… and online research strategies will significantly change the field,” he told the congress.
Technologies like virtual reality and artificial intelligence can also be used in certain therapies for anxiety, and various online games and apps are being developed to support treatment of depression in children.
In another example, scientists at King’s College London have developed an avatar-based system to help treat people with schizophrenia who hear distressing voices.
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Pros and Cons of Clean Coal
Since the 1990’s the U.S. has steadily abandoned coal and instead turned to natural gas and renewables to run America. But coal is back, thanks to President Trump’s recent repeal of restrictions on the coal industry. Most scientists agree that coal is one of the main sources of air pollution and consequently, climate change. Others say the answer is so-called ‘clean coal.’
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Brady’s Jersey Stolen Again, This Time in Fun at Fenway Park
Tom Brady’s Super Bowl jersey was stolen again – this time by Rob Gronkowski in full view of 37,000 screaming Red Sox fans.
The New England Patriots quarterback was showing off the recently re-acquired uniform top during the pregame ceremony on opening day at Fenway Park on Monday when Gronkowski ripped it out of his hands. Brady chased him around the infield and playfully tackled him in right field.
The Patriots said it was the same jersey that had been stolen out of their locker room in Houston after the Super Bowl victory over the Atlanta Falcons in February.
“That was awesome seeing those guys out there,” said Boston outfielder Andrew Benintendi, whose three-run homer propelled the Red Sox to a 5-3 victory over the Pirates in a rematch of the first World Series, in 1903. “I grew up watching them and still do. It was cool to see them all out there.”
Brady got the jersey back at owner Robert Kraft’s home in suburban Brookline earlier Monday . “It took an international trip,” Kraft said in the video that was tweeted out on the team’s account.
The Patriots brought all five of their Vince Lombardi trophies out for the first pitch ceremony, coming out from behind a giant American flag draped over the Green Monster. Joining Brady, Gronk and Kraft were James White, who scored the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl in overtime, and fellow running back Dion Lewis.
The other players wore their blue uniform tops, but Brady walked out in the white one from the Super Bowl before he pulled it off and began waving it around.
Gronkowski jumped behind him and snatched it away.
“It was fun. They were kind of making fun of the whole jersey-taking thing,” said Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who started the winning burst with a fifth-inning triple. “It was good seeing some champions out there. And they definitely know a lot about winning.”
Brady threw out the first pitch to Red Sox star Dustin Pedroia – like the Patriots quarterback, the longest tenured player on his team – before the two embraced. Even the Pirates enjoyed the pregame shenanigans.
“It was pretty hard not to,” said Pittsburgh starter Gerrit Cole. “Tom Brady is on the field, and he’s tackling Gronk. It’s a pretty special environment. I’ll probably forget everything after the fourth inning.”
The Patriots tweeted a video earlier on Monday showing Kraft presenting his star with two No. 12 Super Bowl jerseys that had been missing. (Another had disappeared after the 2015 Super Bowl.)
Kraft thanked the authorities who found the jerseys while searching the property of Mexican media executive Martin Mauricio Ortega. He has not been charged.
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Redemption: Tar Heels Take Title over Gonzaga in Ugly Game
It’s OK, Carolina, you can open your eyes.
An unwatchable game turned into a beautiful night for the Tar Heels, who turned a free-throw contest into a championship they’ve been waiting an entire year to celebrate.
Justin Jackson delivered the go-ahead 3-point play with 1:40 left Monday and North Carolina pulled away for a 71-65 win over Gonzaga that washed away a year’s worth of heartache.
It was, in North Carolina’s words, a redemption tour — filled with extra time on the practice court and the weight room, all fueled by a devastating loss in last year’s title game on Kris Jenkins’ 3-point dagger at the buzzer for Villanova.
Winners struggle from field
“I wanted to see this confetti fall on us and we’re the winners,” said Carolina’s Joel Berry II, who led the Heels with 22 points. “We came out here and we competed. It came down to the last second, but we’re national champs now.”
Berry, along with most of Roy Williams’ players, returned for another run. To say everything went right for them at this Final Four would not be the truth.
The Tar Heels (33-7) followed a terrible shooting night in the semifinal with an equally ice-cold performance in the final — going 4 for 27 from 3-point land and 26 for 73 overall.
Gonzaga, helped by 8 straight points from Nigel Williams-Goss, took a 2-point lead with 1:52 left, but the next possession was the game-changer.
Jackson took a zinger of a pass under the basket from Theo Pinson and converted the shot, then the ensuing free throw to take the lead for good. Moments later, Williams-Goss twisted his right ankle and could not elevate for a jumper that would’ve given the Bulldogs the lead.
Tar Heels finish strong
Isaiah Hicks made a basket to push the lead to 3, then Kennedy Meeks, in foul trouble all night, blocked Williams-Goss’ shot and Jackson got a slam on the other end to put some icing on title No. 6 for the Tar Heels. Williams got his third title, putting him one ahead of his mentor, Dean Smith, and now behind only John Wooden, Adolph Rupp and Mike Krzyzewski.
“I think of Coach Smith, there’s no question,” Williams said. “I don’t think I should be mentioned in the same sentence with him. But we got three because I’ve got these guys with me and that’s all I care about right now — my guys.”
Berry recovered from ankle injuries to lead the Tar Heels, but needed 19 shots for his 22 points. Jackson had 16 on a 6-for-19 night and, overall, the Tar Heels actually shot a percentage point worse than they did in Saturday night’s win over Oregon.
Referees are busy
Thank goodness for free throws. They went 15 for 26 from the line and, in many corners, this game will be remembered for these three men: Michael Stephens, Verne Harris and Mike Eades, the referees who called 27 fouls in the second half, completely busted up the flow of the game and sent Meeks, Gonzaga’s 7-footers Przemek Karnowski and Zach Collins and a host of others to the bench in foul trouble.
The most bizarre sequence: With 8:02 left, Berry got called for a foul for (maybe) making contact with Karnowski and stripping the ball from the big man’s hands. But as Karnowski was flailing after the ball, he grabbed Berry around the neck and, after a long delay, got called for a flagrant foul of his own.
That resulted in four straight free throws, a 52-all tie and booing from every corner of the massive Phoenix University Stadium.
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NHL Ices Olympics, Says No to 2018 Games in South Korea
The NHL announced Monday that it will not participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, refusing for the first time in 20 years to halt its season for three weeks so its stars can chase gold for their home countries.
From Alex Ovechkin and Jonathan Toews to Connor McDavid and Henrik Lundqvist, the world’s best players called playing in the Olympics important. The league decided otherwise.
Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly informed the NHL Players’ Association that the matter was “officially closed” after weeks of speculation.
The NHLPA said in a statement that players are “extraordinarily disappointed and adamantly disagree with the NHL’s shortsighted decision.”
The NHL had allowed its players to participate in the past five Olympics dating to 1998, giving the Winter Games pro-level star power akin to the NBA players who participate in the Summer Olympics.
NHL wanted concessions
The league said no meaningful dialogue had emerged in talks with the NHLPA, International Olympic Committee and International Ice Hockey Federation.
Even after the IIHF had agreed to pay for players’ travel and insurance costs when the IOC refused, the NHL had been looking for more concessions that were believed to include marketing opportunities tied to the Games. The league wanted the matter resolved before the playoffs begin April 12.
“The league’s efforts to blame others for its decision is as unfortunate as the decision itself,” the NHLPA said.
“NHL players are patriotic and they do not take this lightly. A decent respect for the opinions of the players matters. This is the NHL’s decision, and its alone.”
Babcock ‘disappointed’
Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock, who led Canada to consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2010 and 2014, told The Associated Press in a text message he was “disappointed.”
Players immediately blasted the decision. Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, in Sochi under Babcock, called it “very disappointing” and said it was short-changing younger players who hadn’t got to experience it before.
“Disappointing news, (the NHL) won’t be part of the Olympics 2018. A huge opportunity to market the game at the biggest stage is wasted,” tweeted Lundqvist, the New York Rangers goaltender who won the 2006 Olympic gold medal with Sweden.
“But most of all, disappointing for all the players that can’t be part of the most special adventure in sports.”
Attempting to grow sport internationally?
Former NHL forward Brandon Prust, who’s now playing in Germany, tweeted: “Way to ruin the sport of hockey even more Gary (hash)Olympics.”
“Good to see the NHL and Gary Bettman always looking out for the good of the game,” prominent agent Allan Walsh tweeted. “So much for that grand partnership with the players.”
The NHL and NHLPA teamed up on the return of the World Cup of Hockey last fall and had made strides on growing the sport internationally, including games in China and Sweden later this year.
The NHL has not ruled out participating in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, though the IIHF and IOC had indicated that could be conditional on the NHL going to South Korea. For now, the league is making its 2017-18 schedule without a break for the Olympics.
“We have previously made clear that, while the overwhelming majority of our clubs are adamantly opposed to disrupting the 2017-18 NHL season for purposes of accommodating Olympic participation by some NHL players, we were open to hearing from any of the other parties who might have an interest in the issue,” the NHL said.
“Instead, the IOC has now expressed the position that the NHL’s participation in Beijing in 2022 is conditioned on our participation in South Korea in 2018. And the NHLPA has now publicly confirmed that it has no interest or intention of engaging in any discussion that might make Olympic participation more attractive to the clubs.”
The IOC and IIHF did not immediately respond to the NHL’s decision.
Time difference a concern
The league has cited the 13-hour difference from Pyeongchang to the Eastern time zone as one of its concerns. There was a 13-hour difference to Nagano in 1998, six to Turin in 2006 and nine to Sochi in 2014. Team owners have long complained that stopping the NHL season every four years wasn’t worth it and they have been wary of injuries to star players.
Still, many players expressed a strong desire to go, and Ovechkin has said he plans to go regardless of NHL participation.
“I think the players know it’s very important for us to represent our countries,” the Washington Capitals star said last month. “Everybody wants to go there.”
Will players be allowed to play?
The NHL has not decided whether to allow teams to make decisions on a case-by-case basis about players participating in the 2018 Olympics.
“If Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby and Nick Backstrom tell us, ‘We want to go play for our country,’ how am I going to say no?” Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said in February. “I might get fined, I might get punished in some way, but I feel I’m in partnership with Nick and Braden and Alex.”
It was not immediately clear how the United States, Canada and other countries will fill Olympic rosters, though national federations have already begun planning for this possibility. Hockey Canada said Monday that the NHL’s statement was not what it was hoping for but will not change Olympic preparation.
“We knew it was a very real possibility for many months and certainly respect the decision of the NHL,” USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean said.
“The good news is that because of our grassroots efforts over the course of many years, our player pool is as deep as it has ever been and we fully expect to field a team that will play for a medal.”
Olympic hockey offers ‘unique style of play’
NBC Sports, which televises both the Olympics and the NHL in the U.S., said it was “confident that hockey fans and Olympic viewers will tune in to watch the unique style of play that occurs at the Olympic Winter Games when athletes are competing for their country.”
Months ago, the league offered the NHLPA a deal allowing Olympic participation in exchange for a three-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement.
Players turned that down . Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk, who represented the United States in Sochi, said he didn’t think players should give up anything to go in 2018.
“We’re not going to give up something ridiculous,” Faulk said recently. “I’m sure they would take anything that’s ridiculous for the Olympics. It’s kind of like making a bad trade, and they would do it and we’re not going to do it.”
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Trump Signs Bill Blocking Online Privacy Regulation
After his press secretary blasted it as an example of rampant government overreach, President Donald Trump signed a bill into law Monday that could eventually allow internet providers to sell information about their customers’ browsing habits.
The bill scraps a Federal Communications Commission online privacy regulation issued in October to give consumers more control over how companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon share that information. Critics have argued that the rule would stifle innovation and pick winners and losers among internet companies.
The regulation was scheduled to take effect later this year, but Congress used its authority under the obscure Congressional Review Act to wipe it from the books.
With a Republican president in the White House, the GOP-controlled Congress has turned to the 20-year-old law to scrap numerous regulations that Republicans say are costly, burdensome or excessive, many of which were finalized in the closing months of Democrat Barack Obama’s presidency.
Internet companies like Google don’t have to ask their users for permission before tracking what sites they visit, a discrepancy that Republicans and industry group have blasted as both unfair to companies and confusing to consumers.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said last week that the president’s support for the bill was part of a larger effort “to fight Washington red tape that stifles American innovation, job creation and economic growth.”
“The president pledged to reverse this type of federal overreach in which bureaucrats in Washington take the interest of one group of companies over the interest of others,” picking the winners and losers, he said.
Supporters of the privacy measure argued that the company that sells an internet connection can see even more about consumers, such as every website they visit and whom they exchange emails with, information that would be particularly useful for advertisers and marketers.
Undoing the regulation leaves people’s online information in a murky area. Experts say federal law still requires broadband providers to protect customer information — but it doesn’t spell out how or what companies must do, which is what the online privacy rule aimed to do.
The absence of clear privacy rules means companies that supply internet service, and who can monitor how consumers use it, can continue to mine that information for use in their own advertising businesses. Consumer advocates also worry that the companies will be a rich target for hackers.
Ajit Pai, the agency chairman appointed by Trump, has said he wanted to roll back the broadband privacy rules. Pai and other Republicans want a different federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to police privacy for both broadband companies like AT&T and internet companies like Google.
Broadband providers don’t fall under the trade commission’s jurisdiction, and advocates say that agency historically has been weaker than the communications commission.
Trump signed three other bills Monday, including one that eliminates a rule that prohibited the use of tactics like baiting and shooting bears from the air on the National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska.
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Are Selfies Art?
Exhibit at London’s Saatchi Gallery is showcasing the worldwide phenomenon.
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Graphene-oxide Membranes Could Make Seawater Into Freshwater
A new method could turn seawater into drinking water for millions around the world without access to clean water.
Researchers at the University of Manchester in England say they’ve successfully used graphene-oxide membranes to filter common salts from seawater, turning it into drinking water more affordably than current desalination techniques.
Graphene-oxide membranes have already been shown to be effective at filtering small nanoparticles, organic molecules and large salts, but they had not yet been effective in filtering out common salts.
“This is the first clear-cut experiment in this regime,” said professor Rahul Nair, at the University of Manchester. “We also demonstrate that there are realistic possibilities to scale up the described approach and mass produce graphene-based membranes with required sieve sizes.
“Realization of scalable membranes with uniform pore size down to atomic scale is a significant step forward and will open new possibilities for improving the efficiency of desalination technology,” he said.
The United Nations says that by 2025, 14 percent of the world’s population will suffer water scarcity.
Previous attempts to use the membranes saw smaller salts passing through, researchers said, but the Manchester group discovered that the size of the pores on the membrane could be “precisely controlled” allowing it to block smaller salts.
Specifically, the researchers said the graphene-oxide membranes have tiny capillaries that stop the flow of salts, while allowing fresh water to pass through.
“The developed membranes are not only useful for desalination, but the atomic scale tunability of the pore size also opens new opportunity to fabricate membranes with on-demand filtration capable of filtering out ions according to their sizes,” said co-lead author Jijo Abraham.
The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
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Native American Hand Talkers Fight to Keep Sign Language Alive
In early September 1930, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana hosted a historic Indian Sign Language Grand Council, gathering leaders of a dozen North American Nations and language groups.
The three-day council held was organized by Hugh L. Scott, a 77-year-old U.S. Army General who had spent a good portion of his career in the American West, where he observed and learned what users called Hand Talk, and what is today more broadly known as Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL). With $5,000 in federal funding, Scott filmed the proceedings and hoped to produce a film dictionary of more than 1,300 signs. He died before he could finish the project.
Scott’s films disappeared into the National Archives. Recently rediscovered, they are an important resource for those looking to revitalize PISL.
Among them is Ron Garritson, who identifies himself as being of Choctaw and European heritage. He was raised in Billings, Montana, near the Crow Nation.
“I learned how to speak Crow to a degree, and I was really interested in the sign language,” he said. “I saw it being used by the Elders, and I thought it was a beautiful form of communication. And so I started asking questions.”
Garritson studied Scott’s films, along with works by other ethnographers and now has a vocabulary of about 1,700 signs. He conducts workshops and classes across Montana, in an effort to preserve and spread sign language and native history.
Lingua franca
Prior to contact with Europeans, North American Native peoples were not a unified culture, but hundreds of different cultures and tribes, each with its own political organization, belief system and language. When speakers of one language met those of another, whether in trade, councils or conflict, they communicated in the lingua franca of Hand Talk.
Scholars dispute exactly when, in their 30,000-year history in North America, tribes developed sign language. It was observed among Florida tribes by 16th Century Spanish colonizers.
“Coronado, as he documented in his journals in 1540, was in Texas and met the Comanche,” said Garritson. “He documented that the Comanches made themselves so well-understood with the use of sign talk that there was almost no need for an interpreter. It was that easy to use and easy to understand.”
While each tribe had its own dialect, tribes were able to communicate easily. Though universal in North America, Hand Talk was more prominent among the nomadic Plains Nations.
“There were fewer linguistic groups east of the Mississippi River,” said Garritson. “They were mostly woodland tribes, living in permanent villages and were familiar with each other’s languages. They still used sign language to an extent, but not like it was used out here.”
Hand Talk was also the first language of deaf Natives.
Erasing a culture
By the late 1800s, tens of thousands of Native Americans still used Hand Talk. That changed when the federal government instituted a policy designed to “civilize” tribal people.
Children were removed from their families and sent to government-run boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their own languages or practice their own spiritual beliefs. Native Deaf children were sent to deaf residential schools, where they were taught to use American Sign Language (ASL).
Research has shown that Hand Talk is still being used by a small number of deaf and hearing descendants of the Plains Indian cultures.
“Hand Talk is endangered and dying quickly,” said Melanie McKay-Cody, who identifies herself as Cherokee Deaf and is an expert in anthropological linguistics.
McKay-Cody is the first deaf researcher to specialize in North American Hand Talk and today works with tribes to help them preserve their signed languages. She is pushing for PISL to be incorporated into mainstream education of the deaf.
“Easier than hollering”
Lanny Real Bird, who is Crow, Arikara and Hidatsa, grew up in a household where PISL was used.
“My grandmother had hearing loss,” he said. “I’d see my father signing with her in the Plains Indian Sign Language. I picked up basic sign language, enough to say, ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ ‘I’m hungry.”
As a boy, he played with a young relative who was deaf, who helped expand his signing vocabulary.
Real Bird, a former instructor at Montana’s Little Big Horn College, has worked for 20 years helping tribes preserve their languages, both spoken and signed, and has developed a 400 to 600-sign PISL course, which he teaches at community schools and workshops across the Plains states.
“Right now we’re probably at the basic communications phase,” he said. “So in order to expand, we have to go to another level, from listening to understanding to rudimentary communicating to fluency and literacy.”
Real Bird said it took nearly a decade to convince school systems to incorporate PISL into general language instruction.
“Later this month, students of the of the Crow Reservation’s Wyola Elementary School will be showcased at the annual Montana Indian Education Conference,” he said.
There, they will demonstrate their Crow language skills, both spoken and signed.
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Some Android Apps Work Together to Mine Personal Information
Those handy Android apps on your smartphone are apparently mining your personal information, according to a new study.
The study, done by researchers at Virginia Tech, is the first to study how apps “talk to one another and trade information,” according to a news release.
Researchers say there are two kinds of threats: malware and “apps that simply allow for collusion and privilege escalation.” They add that in the latter group, they can not measure whether the developer intentionally created security breaches.
They describe a leaking scenario, saying, for example, that a flashlight app could work with a receiver app to reveal information like contacts or location.
The team of researchers looked at more than 100,000 apps from Google Play as well as about 10,000 malware apps over three years.
“Researchers were aware that apps may talk to one another in some way, shape, or form,” said assistant professor Gang Wang. “What this study shows undeniably with real-world evidence over and over again is that app behavior, whether it is intentional or not, can pose a security breach depending on the kinds of apps you have on your phone.”
The researchers say the most leaky apps were the “least utilitarian” such as ringtones and emojis.
Researchers said that among the apps tested, they found “thousands of pairs of apps that could potentially leak sensitive phone or personal information and allow unauthorized apps to gain access to privileged data.”
“App security is a little like the Wild West right now with few regulations,” said Wang. “We hope this paper will be a source for the industry to consider re-examining their software development practices and incorporate safeguards on the front end. While we can’t quantify what the intention is for app developers in the non-malware cases we can at least raise awareness of this security problem with mobile apps for consumers who previously may not have thought much about what they were downloading onto their phones.”
The results of the study, which was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as part of its Automated Program Analysis for Cybersecurity initiative, were presented Monday in Dubai at the Association for Computing Machinery Asia Computer and Communications Security Conference.
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Energetic Backstreet Boys Bring Nostalgia to ACM Awards
While Justin Timberlake had a show-stopping moment alongside Chris Stapleton at the 2015 Country Music Association Awards, it was the Backstreet Boys who shined brightly at the 2017 Academy of Country Music Awards.
The boy band had the night’s liveliest moment Sunday in Las Vegas: the fivesome brought the party vibe to life while singing their classic “Everybody (Backstreet Back)” along with duo Florida Georgia Line.
Carrie Underwood and Nicole Kidman were just a few of the audience members at the T-Mobile Arena who felt the nostalgia, sang along and danced excitedly.
The performance hit a new height when Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard of FGL joined the Backstreet Boys during their memorable dance routine, earning louder cheers from the crowd.
Before that moment, FGL sang their duet with the boy band, “God, Your Mama and Me.” It was the duo’s third performance at three-hour show, which aired live on CBS.
Though they won two awards, FGL lost the top prize – entertainer of the year – to Jason Aldean, who also won the honor last year.
“Man, one of the Eagles just gave me an award,” he said, looking to Joe Walsh. “I am so thankful. You guys don’t know how much I love getting up and doing what I do every day.”
FGL, Aldean and Walsh were part of the six separate performances that kicked off the high-energy ACM Awards.
Walsh and co-hosts Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley performed “Johnny B. Goode” in tribute to Chuck Berry, who died last month.
“For the man that influenced every form of music, including country,” Bryan said.
Keith Urban, who had success with his genre-bending, Grammy-nominated album “Ripcord,” was the top nominee with seven, though he walked away empty-handed.
But he shined onstage when he sang the soulful “Blue Ain’t Your Color” with a throwback, black-and-white vibe, while the back of the stage was smoky and bright blue. As he switched to the upbeat, disco-flavored “The Fighter” – where he was joined by Underwood – the camera focused on his actress-wife, who sang and danced along.
Miranda Lambert also had a top-notch performance: She earned a standing ovation after she sang the slow, acoustic-sounding “Tin Man” as the crowd watched along seriously while she hit all the right notes and strummed her guitar.
She won album of the year for her double disc, “The Weight of These Wings,” and female vocalist of the year, besting Reba McEntire’s record for most wins in the category.
“I am really so thrilled that I can still lead the charge for women in this business, on any level of this business, singer-songwriters, anybody behind-the-scenes, managers, whatever it is,” Lambert said backstage, winning her eighth consecutive female vocalist trophy. “I am just so thrilled that I can keep pushing forward and making way for other women to do the same thing.”
Thomas Rhett was a multiple winner too. Before he took home song of the year for “Die a Happy Man,” the presenters earned laughs from the audience for mocking the infamous mishap at the recent Academy Awards.
“This is odd. David?” asked “Entertainment Tonight” host Nancy O’Dell, who had the winner’s card in her hand.
“Emma Stone, `La La Land,’” magician David Copperfield announced.
Rhett also won male vocalist of the year, beating out Urban, Aldean, Bentley and Chris Stapleton. In his seat, he shook his head after his name was announced.
“I don’t have a whole lot of words except for: Everyone in this category are my idols,” said Rhett, who was teary-eyed and paused throughout his speech. “This is the most amazing award that I’ve ever received in my whole existence.”
Rhett also sang his new collaboration with Maren Morris, who won new female vocalist of the year.
Sam Hunt performed his No. 1 hit, “Body Like a Back Road,” and he went into the audience to sit next to his fiancé to sing the song. Other performers included Rascal Flatts, Little Big Town, Kelsea Ballerini as well as Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, who sang a new duet.
The music video for “Forever Country,” the medley celebrating the Country Music Association Awards’ 50th anniversary featuring Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and others, won video of the year. Brothers Osborne were double winners, while Jon Pardi and songwriter Lori McKenna also picked up trophies.
Little Big Town won vocal group of the year, beating out Lady Antebellum.
“I just wanna be in Lady Antebellum’s band,” Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman yelled.
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Chicago Blues Musician Lonnie Brooks Dies at 83
Chicago blues musician Lonnie Brooks, whose relationship with his adopted hometown was cemented by his hit recording of Robert Johnson’s Sweet Home Chicago, has died at age 83.
A prolific musician known for his intense guitar solos and raspy but strong voice, Brooks died Saturday night, his son Ronnie Baker Brooks said Sunday.
Brooks came to the blues by a circuitous route.
Born Lee Baker Jr. in Louisiana, he was focused on playing the guitar when he was noticed and invited to Chicago by soul singer Sam Cooke more than 50 years ago. He stayed and changed his name to Lonnie Brooks.
He recorded a number of albums for Chicago-based Alligator Records’ Living Chicago Blues series, including classics such as Bayou Lightning, Hot Shot, and Lone Star Shootout. He appeared in Dan Aykroyd’s film Blues Brothers 2000.
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune in 1992, Brooks said the blues did not come naturally to him at first.
“Then one night, I saw Magic Sam [Maghett] in a little blues club on the South Side. He went on stage right after he’d gotten into a big fight with his girlfriend, and it was like he was taking it out on his guitar. I seen how it came from the heart, so I went home to the basement, and got into that mood that Magic Sam had been in, and the blues came to me,” Brooks said.
He toured for many years with his sons Wayne and Ronnie, who are both guitar players.
“He was a great family man and a great musician and did a hell of a job with both,” Ronnie Baker Brooks said.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called him a blues legend “with a towering talent and soulful style that won him legions of fans across the country and around the world.”
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Babies Cry More in UK, Canada and Italy, Less in Germany, Study Finds
Babies cry more in Britain, Canada, Italy and Netherlands than in other countries, while newborns in Denmark, Germany and Japan cry and fuss the least, researchers said on Monday.
In research looking at how much babies around the world cry in their first three months, psychologists from Britain have created the first universal charts for normal amounts of crying during that period.
“Babies are already very different in how much they cry in the first weeks of life,” said Dieter Wolker, who led the study at Warwick University.
“We may learn more from looking at cultures where there is less crying — [including] whether this may be due to parenting or other factors relating to pregnancy experiences or genetics.”
The highest levels of colic — defined as crying more than three hours a day for at least three days a week — were found in babies in Britain, Canada and Italy, while the lowest colic rates were found in Denmark and Germany.
On average, the study found, babies cry for around two hours a day in the first two weeks. They then cry a little more in the following few weeks until they peak at around two hours 15 minutes a day at six weeks. This then reduces to an average of one hour 10 minutes by the time they are 12 weeks old.
But there are wide variations, with some babies crying as little as 30 minutes a day, and others more than five hours.
The research, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, was a meta-analysis of studies covering some 8,700 babies in countries including Germany, Denmark, Japan, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and Britain.
Wolker said the new crying chart would help health workers reassure parents whether their baby is crying within a normal range in the first three months, or may need extra support.
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Gene Editing Creates Plants Resistant to Pathogens
Cereals such as wheat and barley are important food plants, grown almost everywhere in the world. But they are susceptible to diseases and one of the most damaging is a fungal pathogen that causes the dreaded “wheat head blight” or “wheat scab.” Using modern gene editing technique scientists have discovered a new and effective way to fight the disease.
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Tech Leaders, Others Launch $14M ‘News Integrity’ Nonprofit
Facebook and Mozilla are among the companies and organizations launching a $14 million fund to promote news literacy and increase trust in journalism.
The nonprofit, called the News Integrity Initiative, will be based at the City University of New York. It will run as an independent project of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
Others contributing to the fund include Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and the Ford Foundation.
Recent polls show the public’s trust in the news industry at a low.
False news and misinformation, often masquerading as trustworthy news and spreading on social media, has gained a lot of attention since the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Companies like Facebook are trying to address the issue.
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Recreating an Ancient Tuscan Town in 3-D Cyberspace
A German software company has used drones and laser imaging to take people back in time to the ancient Italian city of Volterra. The goal of the project is to save historically significant places in cyberspace as time continues to slowly wear them down.
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Females Face Off – Ice Fight at All Levels of Hockey
The best women’s hockey players in the U.S. can now make a living playing the sport they love thanks to a landmark agreement with USA Hockey reached after a threat to boycott the world championship. The deal will likely help their counterparts north of the border make more money in their next Olympic agreement with Hockey Canada.
Even those who will benefit, though, acknowledge the off-ice fight isn’t over.
At every level of female hockey, from pre-teen girls to college to post-graduate players, there are obstacles.
“Women’s hockey has come a long way with the amount of teams that are popping up and support and visibility,” said Meghan Duggan, captain of the Americans’ team playing in the world championship. “I think it has a long way to go, and I’m excited to push it ahead. I’m certainly proud to be someone standing up for women’s hockey and really trying to get it to move forward. I look forward to see how far women’s hockey is going go.”
In a border town about 300 miles north of suburban Detroit, a new USA Hockey rule appears to be having unintended consequences for girls trying to find their stride.
The Soo Lady Lakers, an organization based in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, participated in the state’s Tier II 14-and-under tournament with just 11 girls that were mostly from Canada and 12 years old or younger. Beginning next season a USA Hockey rule states, no player 12 years or younger is eligible to play on a team intending or declared to compete in district or national championships.
Malory McCormick, who coached the Lakers at this year’s tournament, said the girls on her team that are not old enough to play 14U hockey next year have limited options. They can drive 2-plus hours, each way, to join a 12U team in Kalkaska, Michigan; play with 12U boys in their area; participate in house hockey with girls just learning how to skate; or quit playing the sport.
“It’s heartbreaking to tell the girls I don’t know what our team will look like next year,” McCormick said.
Kristen Wright, USA Hockey’s manager of girls’ player development, said the new rule was put in place for safety and development reasons because girls usually hit a growth spurt at about 13.
“The rule hasn’t gone into effect yet and we want to see what’s going to happen,” Wright said in a telephone interview Saturday night. “We think more good than bad will come up this, but we’ll review this over time and we’ll see how it changes the landscape of the game.”
Given the chance to comment on this story with a conversation or email, Michigan Amateur Hockey Association President George Atkinson repeatedly declined on Sunday.
In the same week that USA Hockey gave in to demands from its top-caliber women, females in the sport had a setback when the University of North Dakota eliminated its women’s hockey team. Eight players from the program represented three countries in the 2014 Olympics, including Monique Lamoureux-Morando, who plays defense for the U.S.
Lamoureux-Morando, who was a volunteer assistant coach for the program last season, said players on the team found out about the decision on Twitter.
“To have that happen and then the way in which they found out that their team was cut is just in my opinion very unacceptable,” Lamoureux-Morando said.
At the next level of women’s hockey, a professional league in Canada and another in the U.S. are trying to make it independently. At least some women who play for both leagues wish the five-team Canadian Women’s Hockey League would merge with the four-team National Women’s Hockey League to become one. That might help the sport gain support from the NHL, which could potentially financially back the best women in the game as the NBA does with the WNBA. The CWHL pays players with performance and playoff bonuses and hasn’t delivered on a promise to give them a salary. The NWHL paid players $15,000 and $26,000 last year in its inaugural season and then a month into the second season, the league announced it over-estimated its financial projections and slashed salaries in half.
For the first time, though, there’s hope for girls aspiring to play hockey as a career when they become women.
The best hockey players in the U.S. can make about $70,000 a year thanks to the recent agreement and in Olympic years, including next year, they can earn up to $129,000 with contributions from the U.S. Olympic Committee. And like the men who play for USA Hockey, the women will fly in business class and sleep in nicer hotels.
That development provided a lot of girls across North American with an emotional boost, including 12-year-old Crosby Wildfong, who looks up the players bold enough to threaten sitting out of the world championship.
“All of them are my idols,” said Wildfong, who is driven from Flint, Michigan, to suburban Detroit about an hour each way to practice with a top-tier HoneyBaked team. “I agree with them. They play the same sport as the boys, and the boys are getting paid so much more than they are. I don’t think it’s fair.”
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Using Technology, China Continues Its ‘Toilet Revolution’
Fed up with the theft of toilet paper from public bathrooms, tourist authorities in China’s capital have begun using facial recognition technology to limit how much paper a person can take.
The unusual move – part of a “toilet revolution” – is another step in China’s vast upgrading of public facilities.
Bathrooms at tourist sites, notorious for their primitive conditions and nasty odors, are a special focus of the campaign, a response to a vast expansion in domestic travel and demands for better-quality facilities from a more affluent public.
“Today in China, people are highly enthusiastic about tourism, and we have entered a new era of public tourism,” said Zhan Dongmei, a researcher with the China Tourism Academy. “The expectation of the public for the toilet is becoming higher.”
At Beijing’s 600-year-old Temple of Heaven, administrators recognized the need to stock the public bathrooms with toilet paper, a requirement for obtaining a top rating from the National Tourism Authority. But they needed a means of preventing patrons from stripping them bare for personal use – hence the introduction of new technology that dispenses just one 60-centimeter (2-foot) section of paper every nine minutes following a face scan.
“People take away the paper mostly because they are worried they can’t find any when they want to use it the next time. But if we can provide it in every toilet, most people will not do it anymore,” Zhan said.
Launched two years ago, the revolution calls for at least 34,000 new public bathrooms to be constructed in Beijing and 23,000 renovated by the end of this year. Authorities are also encouraging the installation of Western-style sit-down commodes rather than the more common squat toilets. Around 25 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) has already been spent on the program, according to the National Tourism Administration.
The ultimate target, Zhan said, “is to have a sufficient amount of toilets which are clean and odorless and free to use.”
At Happy Valley, the largest amusement park in Beijing, around 4 million annual visitors rely on 18 bathrooms, each of which is assigned one or two cleaners who must make their rounds every 10 minutes on busy days.
“People come here to have fun, but if the toilets are disgusting, how can they have a good time here?” said Vice General Manager Li Xiangyang. “It is the least we should do to offer a clean and tidy environment for tourists to enjoy both the tour of the park and the experience of using our toilets.”
Going a step further, the financial hub of Shanghai even opened its first gender-neutral public toilet in November in order to boost convenience and efficiency.
“Women are stuck waiting in longer lines for stalls than men, and it is fair for men and women to wait in line together,” Shanghai resident Zhu Jingyi said after using the facility.
Zhan said the toilet revolution is about 90 percent complete, but warned that it has yet to be won.
“We can’t accept the situation that a lot of investments have been made to build toilets and they turn out to be unsanitary and poorly managed,” he said.
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Hollywood Icon Doris Day Turns 93, Oops – 95
To Doris Day’s many admirers, the pert and fresh-faced charmer who starred in “Pillow Talk” and “Move Over Darling” is ageless.
But Day turns 95 on Monday – which is a birthday surprise to even the star herself, who has long pegged her age to a 1924 birthdate that would make her 93. Media outlets have variously reported her as between 93 and 95.
A copy of Day’s birth certificate, obtained by The Associated Press from Ohio’s Office of Vital Statistics, settles the issue: Doris Mary Kappelhoff, her pre-fame name, was born on April 3, 1922, making her 95. Her parents were Alma and William Kappelhoff of Cincinnati.
“I’ve always said that age is just a number and I have never paid much attention to birthdays, but it’s great to finally know how old I really am!” Day said in a statement Sunday.
She’s in excellent company with other vibrant Hollywood standouts lucky enough to reach that milestone year, including Betty White, a close friend, and Carl Reiner.
“There has long been speculation and rumors about Doris’ age and we get this question a lot, looks like we finally have the answer,” said Day’s spokesman, Charley Cullen Walters. “The story I have heard the most is that at one point Doris was up for a role when quite young and her age may have been miswritten on the audition form. We don’t know if that’s correct, but if so it could’ve simply stuck for all these years.”
He said Day and White had long joked about White being two years older.
“Now we know that they are actually just a couple months apart, and turns out it’s an even bigger exciting landmark than we thought,” Walters said. White was born in January 1922.
On previous birthdays, Day has said she doesn’t care about her age but rather using the occasion to highlight her favorite cause: animals.
A longtime supporter of animal welfare, Day founded the nonprofit Doris Day Animal Foundation in 1978 to provide grants to projects that rescue, care for and protect animals. Among the wide-ranging recipients: a group that helps seniors and others with pet care needs; one that provides trained service dogs for veterans and others; Iowa Parrot Rescue, and Misfit Acres, a Minnesota horse sanctuary.
Day, who lives in Carmel, California, has effectively parlayed her fame for her mission. This year, she’s seeking to bring younger people on board with a social media campaign that asks people to post a photo or video of their pet with the hashtag @DorisBirthdayWish and the tag @ddaf_org for her foundation. The best of the submissions will be combined into a digital birthday card for her.
Famous friends and admirers are among those saluting Day online. Country music star Reba McEntire tweeted that she was donating to the foundation and invited her Twitter followers to do the same.
Day, who started out as a big band singer, made her film debut in 1948 with “Romance On the High Seas” before starring in a string of smash-hit 1950s and `60s rom-coms. She remained a pop star as well, with hits including “Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera)” and “Secret Love.”
“Pillow Talk” earned her an Academy Award nomination, and she won critical acclaim for dramatic turns in “Midnight Lace” and “Love Me or Leave Me.” But Oscar gold, including the lifetime achievement award that her career justifies, hasn’t come to her.
Yet Day, who once dismissed her “goody two shoes” image as “so boring,” isn’t necessarily predictable: Walters said she has been offered the honorary award several times and politely declined. She always concludes, he said, in a “classic Doris tone – ‘Never say never!’”
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‘Sci-Fi’ Cancer Therapy Fights Brain Tumors, Study Finds
It sounds like science fiction, but a cap-like device that makes electric fields to fight cancer improved survival for the first time in more than a decade for people with deadly brain tumors, final results of a large study suggest.
Many doctors are skeptical of the therapy, called tumor treating fields, and it’s not a cure. It’s also ultra-expensive – $21,000 a month.
But in the study, more than twice as many patients were alive five years after getting it, plus the usual chemotherapy, than those given just the chemo – 13 percent versus 5 percent.
“It’s out of the box” in terms of how cancer is usually treated, and many doctors don’t understand it or think it can help, said Dr. Roger Stupp, a brain tumor expert at Northwestern University in Chicago.
He led the company-sponsored study while previously at University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland, and gave results Sunday at an American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Washington.
“You cannot argue with them – they’re great results,” and unlikely to be due to a placebo effect, said one independent expert, Dr. Antonio Chiocca, neurosurgery chief at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Dr. George Demetri of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and a board member of the association hosting the conference, agreed but called the benefit modest, because most patients still die within five years. “It is such a horrible disease” that any progress is important, he added.
About the treatment
The device, called Optune, is made by Novocure, based in Jersey, an island near England. It’s sold in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland and Japan for adults with an aggressive cancer called glioblastoma multiforme, and is used with chemo after surgery and radiation to try to keep these tumors from recurring, as most do.
Patients cover their shaved scalp with strips of electrodes connected by wires to a small generator kept in a bag. They can wear a hat, go about their usual lives, and are supposed to use the device at least 18 hours a day. It’s not an electric current or radiation, and they feel only mild heat.
It supposedly works by creating low intensity, alternating electric fields that disrupt cell division – confusing the way chromosomes line up – which makes the cells die. Because cancer cells divide often, and normal cells in the adult brain do not, this in theory mostly harms the disease and not the patient.
What studies show
In a 2011 study, the device didn’t improve survival but caused fewer symptoms than chemo did for people whose tumors had worsened or recurred after standard treatments. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it for that situation.
A second study, in newly diagnosed patients, was stopped in 2014 after about half of the 695 participants had been tracked for at least 18 months, because those using the device were living several months longer on average than the rest.
The FDA expanded approval but some doctors were leery because the device wasn’t compared with a sham treatment – everyone knew who was getting what. Study leaders say a sham was impractical, because patients feel heat when they get the real thing, and many would refuse to shave their heads every few days and use an inconvenient device for years if the treatment might be fake.
Some doctors said they would withhold judgment until there were long-term results on the whole group.
The new results
Now they’re in: Median survival was 21 months for those given Optune plus chemo versus 16 months for those on chemo alone. Survival rates were 43 percent versus 31 percent at two years; 26 percent versus 16 percent at three years, and 13 percent versus 5 percent at five years.
Side effects were minimal but included blood-count problems, weakness, fatigue and skin irritation from the electrodes.
“The device is now impossible to ignore … it absolutely is an advance,” said Dr. Andrew Lassman, brain tumor chief at the Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He consults for Novocure, as do some doctors running the study.
The latest National Comprehensive Cancer Center guidelines include Optune as an appropriate treatment for brain tumors. It’s also is being tested for pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancers; electrodes are worn on the belly or chest for those.
The price
A big issue is cost – roughly $700 a day. Most U.S. insurers cover it but Medicare does not and “we are paying,” said Novocure’s chief executive, Bill Doyle. “We’ve never refused a patient regardless of insurance status.”
The price reflects “an extremely sophisticated medical device, made in very low quantities,” with disposable parts changed several times a week and a support person for each patient, he said. Plus 17 years of lab, animal and human testing.
That cost? “The round number is half a billion dollars,” Doyle said.
One patient’s experience
Joyce Endresen’s insurance covers all but about $1,000 a year for her device. “It’s a great plan, and that’s why I still work,” said Endresen, 52, employed by a direct mail company in suburban Chicago.
She has scans every two months to check for cancer and “they’ve all been good,” she said. “We celebrated two years of no tumor in December and went to South Africa.”
Doctors say many patients won’t try the device because of the trouble involved or because they don’t want a visible reminder of their cancer. Not Endresen.
“I wear it and wear it proudly,” she said. “It’s an incredible machine and I’m fine not having hair.”
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