VIENNA (AP) ? Six world powers are urging Iran to heed demands aimed at easing fears that it might want nuclear arms.
The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany say it is "essential and urgent" that Iran reach an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that will allow the IAEA to investigate suspicions Iran worked on such weapons.
The six say IAEA access to Parchin is particularly important. The agency has tried vainly over 18 months to visit the suspected site of weapons-related experiments.
They also said they are "deeply concerned" about Iran's enriched uranium program and a reactor that will produce plutonium when finished, in an address Wednesday to the IAEA's 35-nation board. Both can be used to make nuclear weapons.
Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho: WrestleMania 19Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels embrace: WWE.com Exclusive, May 27, 2013Bret Hart returns to WWE: WWE App Exclusive, May 27, 2013Shawn Michaels questions if John Cena is ready for his match with Curtis Axel: Raw, May 27, 2013Shawn Michaels vs. Big Boss Man: Wrestling Challenge, November 14, 1992 (Full-Length Match)Rockers vs. Demolition: Madison Square Garden, October 24, 1988 (Full-Length Match)WWE RANK'D: WWE's can't-miss WWE Championship Matches of all time
Every Wednesday, WWE Classics and Greatest Matches team up with your favorite Superstars to bring you the Five-Star Match of the Week, presented by Wrangler. We ask a Superstar in the WWE locker room to select one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time, and WWE.com brings you that full-length match, uncut.
The Miz?knows a thing or two about locking up at WrestleMania. At the 27th edition of the event, the former reality television star stunningly retained the WWE Championship against John Cena. And while Miz?s pick for a Five-Star Match of the Week didn?t close out WrestleMania XIX, it certainly left a significant impression on the future champion.
?One of my favorite matches of all time was Chris Jericho?vs. Shawn Michaels?at WrestleMania in Seattle at Safeco Field,? Miz said.
The match was HBK?s first bout on The Grandest Stage of Them All since losing the WWE Championship to ?Stone Cold? Steve Austin?at WrestleMania XIV. While a back injury kept The Showstopper from competing for years, Chris Jericho rose to prominence as one of WWE most accomplished and talented performers.?
Watch the full Austin vs. Michaels match from WrestleMania XIV
?The reason why it?s my favorite is because I enjoyed the build up toward it with the story that Chris Jericho always wanted to be Shawn Michaels,? Miz recalled. ?He dressed like Shawn Michaels, did moves like Shawn Michaels and he felt that he was better and he could beat Shawn Michaels.?
In the video clips promoting the matchup, photos of a young Y2J wearing fringed tights were paired beside a Rockers-era Michaels. Vintage footage was shown of Shawn performing a picture perfect hiptoss and other feats of athleticism, followed by Jericho performing nearly identical maneuvers.
?Not only had he become a big star like his hero,? Miz explained, ?but he also felt like he was better than his hero.??
When the time for talk was over, the two veterans laid it all out on the canvas under the bright WrestleMania lights.
See why they call HBK "Mr. WrestleMania"?|?Watch Chris Jericho's career highlights
?They put on this spectacular match that was high-flying, hard-hitting, and just everything you want in a Five-Star Match,? Miz said.
The event featured one of the most stacked lineups of all time, including iconic competitors like Austin, The Rock, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Triple H and Hulk Hogan. But most agree it was Michaels and Jericho who stole The Show of Shows. As the clash reached a zenith, each man?s arsenal had taken a significant toll on the other and HBK was finally able to reverse a suplex attempt into a roll-up for the pinfall.
?The greatest thing, in my opinion, was the ending,? Miz said. ?Shawn Michaels pins Chris Jericho, and then Jericho has this emotional moment where he?s almost crying. And you feel it. You feel the inner kid coming out of Chris Jericho. And they both go for that hug and you?re seeing this wonderful moment, and then the mean Chris Jericho comes out.??
Watch The Miz win the Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania 29
The Miz, always one to make an impression, made the point that it was what came next that defined this classic contest.
?He gives Shawn Michaels a low blow, shoves his face and walks out triumphantly,? The Awesome One recalled. ?He didn?t win, but the thing you remember from that night was Chris Jericho making you feel that emotion.?
More WWE Classics?|?Watch more full-length classic matches
June 4, 2013 ? New research provides critical insights into how normal breast precursor cells may be genetically vulnerable to develop into cancer. The research is published June 4th in the inaugural issue of Stem Cell Reports, an open-access journal from the International Society of Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) published by Cell Press. Scientists discovered that a particular class of normal breast precursor cells have extremely short chromosome ends (known as telomeres). As a result, these cells would be expected to be prone to acquiring mutations that lead to cancer if they managed to stay alive. These findings suggest new indicators for identifying women at higher risk for breast cancer and provide insights into potential new strategies to detect, treat, and prevent the disease.
Dr. David Gilley's laboratory at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis and Dr. Connie Eaves' laboratory at the BC Cancer Agency's Terry Fox Laboratory in Vancouver, Canada, collaborated to determine how telomeres are regulated in different types of normal breast cells. Their studies revealed that a subset of normal breast precursor cells, called luminal progenitors, have dangerously short telomeres and display a correspondingly high level DNA damage response localized at their chromosome ends. This shows how a normal process of tissue development produces a cell type that is predisposed to acquire cancer-causing mutations.
"This is the first report of a particular normal human precursor cell type that shows such telomere malfunction," says Dr. Eaves. "The luminal progenitors we have found to possess this feature are thus now being brought into the spotlight as a likely stage where breast cancer may 'take off.'" Recent studies have implicated luminal progenitor cells in the development of breast cancers with a mutated BRCA1 gene.
The research highlights the importance of investigating different cell types in normal human tissues to understand the cellular origin of cancer and the factors that may contribute to its development. "An immediate use of our study will be to look into other human epithelial tissues to see if this finding is unique to the breast or a more general phenomenon," says Dr. Gilley.
This advance in breast cancer research reflects the mission of Stem Cell Reports to provide an open-access forum that communicates basic discoveries in stem cell research as well as translational and clinical studies. "Stem Cell Reports publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed research presenting conceptual or practical advances across the breadth of stem cell research and its applications to medicine," Christine Mummery, editor-in-chief of Stem Cell Reports says.
"The ISSCR is delighted to introduce Stem Cell Reports, an open-access forum edited by leaders in the field. Stem Cell Reports is an important complement to the ISSCR's Annual Meeting series and Regional Forums in promoting the exchange of advances and new ideas in stem cell research," says Nancy Witty, CEO of ISSCR.
"Partnering with the ISSCR in launching their first society journal, Stem Cell Reports, represents an exciting opportunity to serve the scientific community in providing high-quality stem cell research in an Open Access format. Stem Cell Reports is the second fully Open Access journal published by Cell Press and illustrates our commitment to developing new partnerships with societies across a broad range of publishing initiatives" says Emilie Marcus, CEO of Cell Press and Editor-in-Chief of Cell.
MILAN (AP) ? Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi's defense denied Monday that there were any erotic escapades at dinners at his villa near Milan and accused the court of bias against the media mogul.
Nicolo Ghedini said during closing arguments that Berlusconi neither paid for sex with an under-age teen, nor exerted pressure on police officials in an effort to cover it up, as charged. The sensational trial is in its final stage, with a verdict is expected later this month.
Both Berlusconi and the woman, Karima el-Mahroug, who is now 20 and was 17 at the time of the alleged encounters, deny ever having had sex.
Ghedini said most prosecution witnesses who described scenes of sexual excess during the parties were not there between February 2010 and May 2010 when el-Mahroug, better known as Ruby, attended dinners at the villa. Defense witnesses described "normal" dinners during which participants chatted about soccer and denied any sexual encounters with the then-premier.
"We have 25 witnesses give more or less similar accounts of the evenings," Ghedini said, adding that prosecutors could not argue that their witnesses were correct while those of the defense who denied having sex with the premier were not reliable.
Ghedini also said the judges hearing the case "culturally similar" to prosecutors, whom he has accused of waging a politically motivated campaign against Berlusconi with the goal of removing him from politics.
"I had the impression during the course of this trial of having caused some annoyance to the judges," Ghedini said.
Berlusconi's defense has sought to move the sex trial and a tax fraud case to Brescia, another northern Italian city, arguing that Milan magistrates are biased against Berlusconi, who has faced numerous prosecutors for his business deals. Italy's high court denied the request.
An appeals court last month upheld a tax fraud conviction against Berlusconi as well as the four-year sentence and five-year ban on public office.
Neither Berlusconi nor el-Mahroug have testified at the prostitution trial, but Ghedini asked the court to enter as evidence testimony that she gave in a separate trial of three former Berlusconi aides accused of procuring prostitutes for the now infamous "bunga banga" parties at Berlusconi's villa.
In sworn testimony, el-Mahroug denied sex with Berlusconi or of witnessing sexually charged scenes. She did say she received envelopes with several thousand euros (dollars) as gifts every time she attended a party plus an additional 30,000 euros ($39,000) to open a beauty salon.
Ghedini said Berlusconi was "convinced" that el-Mahroug was related to former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Berlusconi would never have discussed the young woman at a lunch with Mubarak in May 2010 if he had known she "was a minor, a Moroccan who lived in Sicily in a state of poverty and whose father was a street vendor," Ghedini said.
Prosecutors allege Berlusconi later said she was related to Mubarak only to get her released from police custody after she was accused of stealing from a roommate. Ghedini said Berlusconi telephoned an official only for information and not to seek special treatment.
Prosecutors are seeking a six-year sentence and lifetime ban from public office, a sentence Ghedini called "stratospheric and extraordinary."
Even though Sal Khan is now running a platform that serves 6 million students and people a month, he’s still churning out a couple videos a week. What’s been most recently on deck? World War I. To make a video, Khan says he’ll front-load several books worth of reading on everything from the Armistice Day to the sinking of the Lusitania. Then he’ll start to make videos once he feels he has a decent grasp on the subject material. “If I’m hanging out waiting for the dentist, I’ll just start reading something about World War I,” he said in a recent interview. From the original tutoring calls he’d arrange to help out relatives, to the initial YouTube channel he started, Khan Academy has grown to reach 75 million users to date, with 230 million lessons delivered and 1 billion problems answered in 30,000 classrooms throughout the world. Naturally, there’s been quite a bit of hype (with both its good and bad consequences). Khan Academy has the reach but it’s still proving out the data to show that its lessons measurably affect learning outcomes beyond the handful of pilots the non-profit has tried. “Teachers are rightfully skeptical, I think. They’re overworked. They have a million things to do,” Khan said. “It’s an incredibly tiring job and you’re throwing a new thing at them, even if they intellectually recognize the benefit of it.” Two of the top things on Khan’s priority list for the next fall are internationalization and diagnostics. The Khan Academy has pioneered ways of measuring progress, to help ensure that students don’t develop a “Swiss Cheese”-like base of knowledge with different weak areas. But he acknowledged the site isn’t as good at telling students where they should begin. What if they’re competent at certain things like logarithms but terribly behind in trigonometry? “One of the biggest complaints we get is that people don’t know where to start. By this August, we should have good diagnostics where people can figure out where they stand,” he said. He’s personally interested in Carol Dweck’s theories around fostering a growth-centered mentality in children and students. Her research is the basis for a series of media stories and discussions around how much you should praise children and whether you should attribute their success to persistence or innate capabilities. She’s found that children who internalize not innate talent, but rather diligence, tend to do better
GENEVA (AP) ? Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is in Switzerland to sign a free trade pact with the Alpine nation ? the first comprehensive agreement the country has reached with a major western economy.
Li met with Swiss officials Friday in Bern, where he is due to ink the deal after three years of talks.
In an op-ed published by Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung Thursday, Li said the agreement showed China is committed to free trade.
The two nations' trade volume last year topped $26 billion.
Switzerland is the first European stop on Li's inaugural trip abroad since taking office in March. He travels to Germany on Saturday for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Concerns have grown recently about a possible trade war between China and the EU over solar energy products.
KABUL (Reuters) - Several large explosions rocked a busy area in the center of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday with Reuters witnesses describing shooting in the area.
There were at least four blasts interspersed by heavy shooting, a Reuters witness said.
The first blast was a suicide car bomb and occurred at about 4 p.m. (1130 GMT) near an intersection in the district of Borj-e Sharahah, said Hashmatullah Stanikzai, a spokesman for the Kabul police chief.
A Reuters witness described seeing two wounded policemen, though there was no official word on casualties.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, speaking to Reuters by telephone, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Gunfire began after the first bomb, with a second blast coming about 30 minutes later.
It was not clear what the attackers' target was, but the intersection is close to U.N. accommodation and the headquarters of the Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF).
The APPF is an Afghan government-run security force.
(Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman and Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by Robert Birsel)
A teenager from?Saratoga, California took home one of the top prizes at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair?late last week after showing off her invention, which can fully charge a cell phone in 30 seconds or less.?Eesha Khare was given the?Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award and a $50,000 prize for being runner-up in the competition, which was won by a 19-year-old who unveiled a new spin on?self-driving car technology.?Khare?s battery technology requires a new component to be installed inside the phone battery itself, and Intel notes that it also has potential applications for car batteries.
On a warm early spring, while I was outside playing, Mother called me back to the front porch where she told me that Father had passed away. She told me that there would be a number of people going in and out of the house and she would like me to stay out of the way until she called me in. As was (and is) my wont, I had no reaction except obedience. I walked up the sidewalk into the next block where I met a slightly smaller boy who, upon seeing me, picked up a rock and threw it with great accuracy right into my forehead. I fell to the ground and lay there weeping long after the bleeding stopped. I had no emotional ties to this fearsome man who was my father, but I suppose I knew that his departure would make new and terrible changes to my life.
And those changes were certainly unwelcome. There was a funeral in this little town where we had taken residence, followed by another in the town where my parents had lived for years. There were many strangers to meet and sort as to their relationship, a solemn visit with the one brother who had been able to obtain a "compassionate" leave from the military for the occasion, and much confusion as to where life would take us next.
Mother decided to stay in the house until "things were settled" and then to take the remaining family back to the town where she had friends and relatives. At the funeral, friends and relatives had given her small donations which she carefully hoarded for moving expenses, and she rented two adjoining rooms upstairs to a newlywed couple who were diligent about paying their $10 a month rent so that, by the time the renter had to report to service, she said that she had enough to move. The oldest brother who remained at home had a birthday and he announced that he was enlisting in the Air Force but would wait until he had helped her move.
Life was again uprooted and my mother and two youngest brothers would undergo another settling-in with nothing but faith and optimism. The following year the next oldest brother enlisted and left, being followed the next year by the next younger brother, leaving only the youngest brother, who joined the Navy at only 17. Mother was left alone with only an adolescent daughter to care for and only minimal means of support.
We continued, the two of us, living in the house with the five-star flag in the window and endured the rigors of living, not only in extreme poverty but with the added challenges of the war-time restrictions of food and ordinary daily needs. We were getting a reduced allotment from more than one brother in order to lessen the burden on each of them. I still wore second-hand and hand-me-down clothing, as did she. I vividly recall the time she decided that we could afford a rare visit to the cheapest movie house in town. The tickets cost 11 cents each and it was a rare and treasured event.
As we were leaving the movie, she paused in the midst of the pushing crowd, with everybody staring at her for the reason for the delay. There she stood with her under-drawers crumpled up around her ankles. I was feeling humiliated when she kicked them the rest of the way off, put them in her purse, and announced, "Darn that old Hitler! You can't even get good elastic any more." We continued proudly out the door to the sound of applause. ?
My brothers, as young men do, met lovely young women and got married. In turn, each asked Mother to forgo her allotment from him, to which Mother gladly agreed. Each time, we had to move to smaller and less expensive living quarters. Only one time did either of us have a serious illness and it was a trial. She became ill and the doctor told her that she had an obscure disease which he did not know how to treat. Being poor, hospital treatment was out of the question. She took to her bed and remained there for several weeks with no care other than what I could provide under the direction of the doctor who would stop in to check on her and to give me instructions
I gave up the upstairs bedroom and slept in the living room so I could hear her at night and, eventually, staying home from school to care for her. She became delirious from the fever and required constant attention.
Finally, thinking Mother was dying, one of the brothers got a leave and came home to see her "one last time." It was not the help I needed. He took me to task because the house was not adequately maintained and provided even more tasks, as I was also charged with cooking for him and his small family. His emergency leave ran out and they departed, so I continued caring for Mother until the morning she woke up lucid and demanding breakfast!
As time went on, older members of the family would turn to Mother for help. Because they were working on farms where a house was given as part of the wages, when they lost their jobs, they would have to live elsewhere. While with us, they would take any temporary employment they could find, but it was never enough. But Mother would pinch every dollar even harder and managed to keep children and grandchildren fed. First my sister and then a brother brought their child to us for them to attend school because, living in the country -- before there were school buses -- the walk was too far for a six-year-old to navigate alone.
The last of these events was when we were living in a one-bedroom house and another brother decided it was necessary to "come home." Unfortunately, he brought his wife and four kids! Mother slept on the couch so that they and their youngest could have the bedroom. The rest of us slept on pallets of folded bedding on the floor.
My brother was still recuperating from the diphtheria that had cost him his job and it was a long time before he could find work that he could do. After a while, it seemed as though we were living with them! Mother finally informed them that the rent on the house was $15 per month and she had found us a one-bedroom apartment above a store downtown. We moved out and left them there. It was nice to have a bed again.
As more brothers married and cut off the allotments to Mother, money became more scarce than ever. Mother got a part-time job, altering clothes for a women's store. She made a dime for measuring and sewing a hem, maybe 25 cents for alterations, etc., certainly not enough to live on but still welcome in her budget. I also got a job, washing dishes on weekend evenings in a tiny cafe downstairs from our apartment. I was allowed to keep the quarter I was paid each week for mad money!
I shall never forget my 15th birthday. Birthdays had never been celebrated in our home, just sort of a July family reunion near Father's birthday when we were on the farm. Mother would kill and dress a couple of young chickens to fry, and mix up milk and eggs for a freezer full of home-made ice cream. I recall it as the epitome of our familial happiness. This birthday, however, was an awesome surprise. Mother took me downtown to buy me a pair of shoes, not to the usual second-hand store but to J.C. Penney's! To my delight, she allowed me to choose a pair of white ghillie-tie shoes with the toes out! Then she said that we needed to go to the dress shop where she worked. I floated down the street in my beautiful shoes and into the door of the shop. There, she presented me with a new two-piece blue dress in the height of fashion! This was the first "store-bought-just-for-me" dress I had ever owned in my entire life!
Only over these many years have I really appreciated that gift as I came to understand the horrendous sacrifices and scrimping she had undergone to provide it to me. How many hems she had to stitch, how many seams she had to take in or let out and what she had done without in order to save that much money! It took many years of experience in scrimping and saving for something special for me to really appreciate her heroic efforts.
A 66-year-old Tunisian man has died from the new coronavirus following a visit to Saudi Arabia and two of his adult children were infected with it, the Tunisian Health Ministry reported.
His sons were treated and have since recovered but the rest of the family remains under medical observation, the ministry said in a statement Monday. The World Health Organization confirmed the cases of the children, but said one of them was a daughter who was with her father for part of the trip to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. There was no immediate way to reconcile the differing reports.
The cases are the first for Tunisia and indicate that the virus is slowly trickling out of Saudi Arabia, where more than 30 coronavirus cases have been reported. There have been at least 20 deaths worldwide out of 40 cases.
"These Tunisia cases haven't changed our risk assessment, but they do show the virus is still infecting people," said Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for WHO in Geneva.
The Tunisian fatality, a diabetic, had been complaining of breathing problems since his return from the trip and died in a hospital in the coastal Tunisian city of Monastir. Many previous coronavirus patients have had underlying medical problems, which WHO said might have made them more susceptible to getting infected. There is no specific treatment for the disease, but the agency has issued guidelines for how doctors might treat patients, like providing oxygen therapy and avoiding strong steroids.
The new virus has been compared to SARS, an unusual pneumonia that surfaced in China then erupted into a deadly international outbreak in early 2003. Ultimately, more than 8,000 SARS cases were reported in about 30 countries and over 770 people died from it.
The new coronavirus is most closely related to a bat virus and is part of a family of viruses that cause the common cold and SARS. Experts suspect it may be jumping directly from animals like camels or goats into people, but there isn't enough proof to narrow down a species yet. The virus can cause acute respiratory disease, kidney failure and heart problems.
"We still do not have a good idea of how people are getting infected and that is a major concern," said Hartl.
Last week, WHO said it was worried about "cases that are not part of larger clusters and who do not have a history of animal contact." WHO said those cases suggest the virus may already be spreading in the community.
The Saudi Arabian cities of Mecca and Medina will receive millions of pilgrims from around the world during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which falls in July and August this year.
???
AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng contributed to this report from London.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court won't order new legislative elections in Mississippi over complaints about the timing of the state's redistricting.
The Mississippi NAACP had challenged the state's 2011 state elections because the Legislature did not immediately use the 2010 census to draw new district lines in 2011. The state House and Senate instead argued for several weeks before ending their 2011 session without adopting new maps.
The NAACP had asked for that election to be set aside and special elections to be held under a court-ordered plan. It said that using the old maps violated the one-person, one-vote principle by diluting African-American voting strength.
Courts affirmed a ruling that allowed state lawmakers to run in their old districts that year.
The justices, without comment, upheld the lower court rulings.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House says White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler was first informed about an audit of the IRS' inappropriate targeting of conservative groups on April 24 and that she notified senior staff, including Denis McDonough, the chief of staff to President Barack Obama. White House press secretary Jay Carney says Ruemmler "appropriately" decided not to tell Obama at the time because the audit was ongoing.
The audit by a Treasury Department inspector general found that IRS employees singled out groups with names like "tea party" and "patriots" for special scrutiny that delayed their applications for tax exempt status.
Carney said no one in the White House intervened in the inspector general's audit. He says Obama did not learn of the probe until there were news reports about it.
Carney noted that the practice by the IRS workers ended in May 2012.
Contact: Phillip F. Schewe pschewe@umd.edu 301-405-0989 Joint Quantum Institute
JQI lab sets a new record for creating heralded photons
HERALDING
Entanglement, by general consensus of physicists, is the weirdest part of quantum science. To say that two particles, A and B, are entangled means that they are actually two parts of an inseparable quantum thing. An important consequence of this inherent kinship is that measuring a property of A (say, the particle's polarization) is necessarily to know the corresponding property of B, even if you're not there with a detector to observe B and even if (as explained below) the existence of that property had no prior fixed value until the moment particle A was detected.
To create such entanglement it is generally necessary to generate particles two at a time and to generate them so that they are born with this connected property. The most basic step in measuring such a system is to measure and detect both particles and to do so efficiently. So it had better be the case that if one detector registers a particle, the other detector should collect and register the other particle. Because we know that if we see one particle, the other must exist, we say that the detection of one particle "heralds" the existence of the other, just as medieval heralds, with their banners and bugles, signified the arrival of a king. Although in this case, because with these particles born in twos, one photon is no more regal than the other, so we can equally well say that one photon heralds the other and vice versa. But as in the case of a king, in real life even though the herald announces the king he may be waylaid and never appear.
An experiment conducted at the Joint Quantum Institute (*) establishes a new record for heralding efficiency for a pair of entangled photons (particles of light). The JQI work is published in the May 15 issue of the journal Optics Letters (**). What happens is this: about 84% of the time the researchers observe photon A they also observe photon B just where it should be, and vice versa.
The JQI detection scheme will be useful for a number of reasons: it should help experiments to tighten remaining loopholes over the fundamental sway of quantum reality; it shows that sources of single heralded photons can achieve a certain level of reliability; and that might be a critical ingredient in producing a source of random numbers in a way that guarantees that any nefarious attempts to "load the dice" are impossible.
INDETERMINACY
The JQI experiment demonstrates a photon source which could allow one to get to the heart of counter-intuitive nature of quantum reality by looking at indeterminacy. In common experience a coin facing up has a definite value: it is a head or a tail. Even if you don't look at the coin you trust that it must be a head or tail. In quantum experience the situation is more unsettling: material properties of things do not exist until they are measured. Until you "look" (measure the particular property) at the coin, as it were, it has no fixed face up.
What this indeterminacy means is that until it is observed an object has no definite value for that property. So the property in question, whether it is position, velocity, charge, polarization, or some other attribute, cannot even be said to exist. Instead the object is said to be in a superposition of states and its physical attributes can potentially take on a variety of values. When describing the existence of this particle, we can do no more than specify a set of probabilities that the object's properties have certain values. At the moment measurement occurs the object undergoes a "collapse of probability." The probability estimates in play just before measurement become superfluous. The property being measured---the polarization of a photon, say---has assumed a definite value, horizontal or vertical in this case.
EINSTEIN'S RESERVATIONS
Describing reality in terms of indeterminacy and probability bothered Albert Einstein. Surely, he said, a particle's property exists before it is measured and a theory more complete than quantum mechanics would include the existence of those properties before they were measured. Those properties before measurement must be contained in some variables hidden from the standard quantum mechanical representation. The search for those "hidden variables" pertaining to the existence of things occupied a lot of Einstein's time in the latter part of his life, and has been a topic of concern with physicists ever since.
In the 1960s John Bell proposed a number of experiments designed to test the validity of things like entanglement and indeterminacy. So far all such tests have supported the validity of quantum indeterminacy and have discouraged the idea of any hidden variables. But for some skeptics, loopholes remain, and they argue that the reality of entanglement has not yet been adequately demonstrated. One reason for this is the difficulty in measuring properties of two or more (supposedly entangled) objects with sufficient efficiency. The relatively poor measurement efficiency, resulting in the failure to detect one or the other of the pair of entangled photons, allowed skeptics to assert that the measured sample of pairs did not constitute a good enough representation of the overall set of objects to be able to say something definitive about entanglement.
JQI EXPERIMENT
The experiment effort in Alan Migdall's JQI lab specifically targets the efficiency of the heralding process. To start, the researchers send a beam of ultraviolet photons into a special crystal where, at a rate of about one per billion, a UV photon is turned into a pair of entangled photons. This process is called spontaneous parametric down-conversion (PDC). The laws of physics dictate that the momentum and energy of the incoming photon (from the pump beam) should be split between the daughter photons (one is called the "signal" and the other the "idler"). In this picture omega is the frequency of the respective photon and is proportional to its energy.
The daughters might, for instance, be a green photon plus a near-infrared photon, or two red photons, or any other combination of colors so long as the sum of the energies of the photons adds up the energy of the pump photon.
Each of the two photons makes its way through a lens and into a fiber so narrow that only a single mode can propagate. That is, if we think of the light not as a particle (photon) but as a bundle of electric and magnetic fields, the lateral profile of the ray will have a simple Gaussian shape. This kind of fiber, aligned to exacting standards, ensures that photons of a very specific energy and direction will be channeled into a photodetector where its presence and time of arrival can be determined.
PHOTON OR VACUUM?
"In effect the observation of photon A brings photon B into existence," says Alan Migdall, "at least if these are true entangled photons." This entanglement between the existence of a photon and no photon (or vacuum) is not what is usually considered to be entanglement but it is nonetheless.
The aim of this JQI experiment is not itself to test the Bell criteria for entanglement (as it turns out the polarizations of photons A and B are known be forehand), but rather to optimize the process of heralding---the ability to say that if A is here then B is there. For some theories a heralding efficiency must at least 82% if entanglement loopholes are to be closed.
NEW HERALDING RECORD
The JQI physicists have now exceeded this yardstick. They typically observe about 50,000 signal photons (photon A) per second in their detector. And when this happens about 84% of the time a photon is seen in detector B. And simultaneously, when the roles of the two detectors are reversed a comparable percentage is registered. This is the highest symmetric heralding efficiency for a single-mode fiber yet seen in any experiment.
Migdall says that because of the random nature of observing a photon with an appropriately prepared polarization state, the measurement of a heralded photon can be turned into a number that is truly random and guaranteed to be free of tampering. Such random numbers can, in turn, be used in various schemes to encrypt messages that can never be cracked.
###
(*)The Joint Quantum Institute is operated jointly by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD and the University of Maryland in College Park.
(**) "Demonstrating highly symmetric single-mode, single-photon heralding efficiency in spontaneous parametric downconversion," Marcelo Da Cunha Pereira, Francisco E Becerra, Boris L Glebov, Jingyun Fan,
Sae Woo Nam, and Alan Migdall, Optics Letters, May 15, 2013.
Alan Migdall, Migdall@nist.gov, 301-975-2331
By Phillip F. Schewe
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Phillip F. Schewe pschewe@umd.edu 301-405-0989 Joint Quantum Institute
JQI lab sets a new record for creating heralded photons
HERALDING
Entanglement, by general consensus of physicists, is the weirdest part of quantum science. To say that two particles, A and B, are entangled means that they are actually two parts of an inseparable quantum thing. An important consequence of this inherent kinship is that measuring a property of A (say, the particle's polarization) is necessarily to know the corresponding property of B, even if you're not there with a detector to observe B and even if (as explained below) the existence of that property had no prior fixed value until the moment particle A was detected.
To create such entanglement it is generally necessary to generate particles two at a time and to generate them so that they are born with this connected property. The most basic step in measuring such a system is to measure and detect both particles and to do so efficiently. So it had better be the case that if one detector registers a particle, the other detector should collect and register the other particle. Because we know that if we see one particle, the other must exist, we say that the detection of one particle "heralds" the existence of the other, just as medieval heralds, with their banners and bugles, signified the arrival of a king. Although in this case, because with these particles born in twos, one photon is no more regal than the other, so we can equally well say that one photon heralds the other and vice versa. But as in the case of a king, in real life even though the herald announces the king he may be waylaid and never appear.
An experiment conducted at the Joint Quantum Institute (*) establishes a new record for heralding efficiency for a pair of entangled photons (particles of light). The JQI work is published in the May 15 issue of the journal Optics Letters (**). What happens is this: about 84% of the time the researchers observe photon A they also observe photon B just where it should be, and vice versa.
The JQI detection scheme will be useful for a number of reasons: it should help experiments to tighten remaining loopholes over the fundamental sway of quantum reality; it shows that sources of single heralded photons can achieve a certain level of reliability; and that might be a critical ingredient in producing a source of random numbers in a way that guarantees that any nefarious attempts to "load the dice" are impossible.
INDETERMINACY
The JQI experiment demonstrates a photon source which could allow one to get to the heart of counter-intuitive nature of quantum reality by looking at indeterminacy. In common experience a coin facing up has a definite value: it is a head or a tail. Even if you don't look at the coin you trust that it must be a head or tail. In quantum experience the situation is more unsettling: material properties of things do not exist until they are measured. Until you "look" (measure the particular property) at the coin, as it were, it has no fixed face up.
What this indeterminacy means is that until it is observed an object has no definite value for that property. So the property in question, whether it is position, velocity, charge, polarization, or some other attribute, cannot even be said to exist. Instead the object is said to be in a superposition of states and its physical attributes can potentially take on a variety of values. When describing the existence of this particle, we can do no more than specify a set of probabilities that the object's properties have certain values. At the moment measurement occurs the object undergoes a "collapse of probability." The probability estimates in play just before measurement become superfluous. The property being measured---the polarization of a photon, say---has assumed a definite value, horizontal or vertical in this case.
EINSTEIN'S RESERVATIONS
Describing reality in terms of indeterminacy and probability bothered Albert Einstein. Surely, he said, a particle's property exists before it is measured and a theory more complete than quantum mechanics would include the existence of those properties before they were measured. Those properties before measurement must be contained in some variables hidden from the standard quantum mechanical representation. The search for those "hidden variables" pertaining to the existence of things occupied a lot of Einstein's time in the latter part of his life, and has been a topic of concern with physicists ever since.
In the 1960s John Bell proposed a number of experiments designed to test the validity of things like entanglement and indeterminacy. So far all such tests have supported the validity of quantum indeterminacy and have discouraged the idea of any hidden variables. But for some skeptics, loopholes remain, and they argue that the reality of entanglement has not yet been adequately demonstrated. One reason for this is the difficulty in measuring properties of two or more (supposedly entangled) objects with sufficient efficiency. The relatively poor measurement efficiency, resulting in the failure to detect one or the other of the pair of entangled photons, allowed skeptics to assert that the measured sample of pairs did not constitute a good enough representation of the overall set of objects to be able to say something definitive about entanglement.
JQI EXPERIMENT
The experiment effort in Alan Migdall's JQI lab specifically targets the efficiency of the heralding process. To start, the researchers send a beam of ultraviolet photons into a special crystal where, at a rate of about one per billion, a UV photon is turned into a pair of entangled photons. This process is called spontaneous parametric down-conversion (PDC). The laws of physics dictate that the momentum and energy of the incoming photon (from the pump beam) should be split between the daughter photons (one is called the "signal" and the other the "idler"). In this picture omega is the frequency of the respective photon and is proportional to its energy.
The daughters might, for instance, be a green photon plus a near-infrared photon, or two red photons, or any other combination of colors so long as the sum of the energies of the photons adds up the energy of the pump photon.
Each of the two photons makes its way through a lens and into a fiber so narrow that only a single mode can propagate. That is, if we think of the light not as a particle (photon) but as a bundle of electric and magnetic fields, the lateral profile of the ray will have a simple Gaussian shape. This kind of fiber, aligned to exacting standards, ensures that photons of a very specific energy and direction will be channeled into a photodetector where its presence and time of arrival can be determined.
PHOTON OR VACUUM?
"In effect the observation of photon A brings photon B into existence," says Alan Migdall, "at least if these are true entangled photons." This entanglement between the existence of a photon and no photon (or vacuum) is not what is usually considered to be entanglement but it is nonetheless.
The aim of this JQI experiment is not itself to test the Bell criteria for entanglement (as it turns out the polarizations of photons A and B are known be forehand), but rather to optimize the process of heralding---the ability to say that if A is here then B is there. For some theories a heralding efficiency must at least 82% if entanglement loopholes are to be closed.
NEW HERALDING RECORD
The JQI physicists have now exceeded this yardstick. They typically observe about 50,000 signal photons (photon A) per second in their detector. And when this happens about 84% of the time a photon is seen in detector B. And simultaneously, when the roles of the two detectors are reversed a comparable percentage is registered. This is the highest symmetric heralding efficiency for a single-mode fiber yet seen in any experiment.
Migdall says that because of the random nature of observing a photon with an appropriately prepared polarization state, the measurement of a heralded photon can be turned into a number that is truly random and guaranteed to be free of tampering. Such random numbers can, in turn, be used in various schemes to encrypt messages that can never be cracked.
###
(*)The Joint Quantum Institute is operated jointly by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD and the University of Maryland in College Park.
(**) "Demonstrating highly symmetric single-mode, single-photon heralding efficiency in spontaneous parametric downconversion," Marcelo Da Cunha Pereira, Francisco E Becerra, Boris L Glebov, Jingyun Fan,
Sae Woo Nam, and Alan Migdall, Optics Letters, May 15, 2013.
Alan Migdall, Migdall@nist.gov, 301-975-2331
By Phillip F. Schewe
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Virginia Republicans on Saturday formally nominated Ken Cuccinelli for governor in the nation's marquee 2013 political race, and the conservative attorney general wasted no time reminding voters of the scandals facing President Barack Obama.
"I am not a true conservative because I have not been investigated by the IRS," joked Cuccinelli, referring to the controversy that has engulfed the federal tax collection agency over its targeting of conservative Tea Party groups.
Cuccinelli has strong support from Tea Party activists, who are incensed by the Internal Revenue Service's actions, which Obama has called "outrageous" and vowed to investigate.
Northern Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, is home to thousands of government workers who helped swing the state to Obama in the November election.
But Republicans hope the troubles of the president - which also include the handling of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and the Justice Department secretly obtaining the phone records of some Associated Press reporters - will rub off on Cuccinelli's opponent, Terry McAuliffe, a former Democratic Party chairman and fundraiser.
Cuccinelli took a swipe at McAuliffe on Saturday for his long political service in the nation's capital, saying his opponent knew Washington, but "I know Virginia."
Virginia has twice voted for Obama but has a Republican governor. In addition to the Washington suburbs, which tend to vote Democratic, Virginia has large rural areas that are more conservative and Republican, making it a swing state.
This is a quiet year for U.S. voters and Virginia's election in November is the only competitive governor's race. In New Jersey, polls show Republican Governor Chris Christie holds a comfortable lead over his Democratic opponent, state Senator Barbara Buono.
Cuccinelli faces his own political headwind from a growing political scandal involving Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.
Both the attorney general and the governor have acknowledged taking gifts from Jonnie Williams Sr., the chief executive of Star-Scientific, a Richmond area company that makes dietary supplements. The gifts included $15,000 in catering expenses for the wedding of the governor's daughter.
The FBI is looking into whether the governor's office helped advance Williams' business interests in return for the gifts.
Cuccinelli has reported $18,000 in gifts from Williams, including a $1,500 catered Thanksgiving dinner and stays at the same lake vacation home that McDonnell and his family visited. But Cuccinelli said he reported the gifts, as required by law.
Cuccinelli also has held stock in Star Scientific valued at one time at about $20,000. He has since sold the stock at a loss.
In his acceptance speech on Saturday, Cuccinelli did not mention the scandal. Instead, he stressed the familiar Republican themes of tax cuts, jobs, small government and opposition to abortion.
Views of Obama could play a significant role in the outcome of the race, said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
"All eyes will be on Virginia to read and misread the impact of President Obama's popularity or lack of popularity," he said.
The race between Cuccinelli and McAuliffe is shaping up to be close and costly.
Already more than $11 million has poured in to the candidates, and this could easily be the most expensive gubernatorial election in Virginia history.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday gave McAuliffe a 43 percent to 38 percent lead over Cuccinelli in a survey of 1,286 registered voters.
In contrast, a Washington Post poll published on May 4 gave Cuccinelli a lead among registered voters of 46 percent to 41 percent.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea fired three short-range guided missiles into its eastern waters on Saturday, a South Korean official said. It routinely tests such missiles, but the latest launches came during a period of tentative diplomacy aimed at easing tensions.
The North fired two missiles Saturday morning and another in the afternoon, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said by phone. He said the North's intent was unclear. His ministry said it is watching North Korea carefully in case it conducts a provocation against South Korea.
In March, North Korea launched what appeared to be two KN-02 missiles off its east coast. Experts believe the country is trying to improve the range and accuracy of its arsenal.
North Korea recently withdrew two mid-range "Musudan" missiles believed to be capable of reaching Guam after moving them to its east coast earlier this year, U.S. officials said. The North is banned from testing ballistic missiles under U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Earlier this year, North Korea threatened nuclear strikes on Seoul and Washington because of annual U.S.-South Korean military drills and U.N. sanctions imposed over its third nuclear test in February. The drills ended late last month. This past month, the U.S. and South Korea ended another round of naval drills involving a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier off the east coast. North Korea calls such drills preparation to invade the North.
Analysts say the recent North Korean threats were partly an attempt to push Washington to agree to disarmament-for-aid talks.
This past week, Glyn Davies, the top U.S. envoy on North Korea, ended trips to South Korea, China and Japan. On Friday, an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned from North Korea but didn't immediately give details of his talks with officials there.
On Monday, North Korean state media showed that the country's hard-line defense minister had been replaced by a little-known army general. Outside analysts said it was part of leader Kim Jong Un's efforts to tighten his grip on the powerful military after his father Kim Jong Il died in December 2011.
The United States and Japan are participants in six-nation nuclear disarmament talks along with the Koreas, Russia and China. North Korea walked out of the talks in 2009 after the United Nations condemned it for a long-range rocket launch.
North Korea possesses an array of missiles. U.S. and South Korean officials do not believe the North's claim that it has developed nuclear warheads small enough to place on a missile. Last week in Washington, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and President Barack Obama warned North Korea against further nuclear provocations.
Tension between the two Koreas remains high after both sides pulled out their workers from a jointly run factory complex earlier this year. The countries remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce instead of a peace treaty.
Prevention's The Healthy Cook: The Ultimate Illustrated Kitchen Guide to Great Low-Fat Food book download
David Joachim and Matthew Hoffman
Be the envy of your friends thanks to eHow's entertaining secrets sure to make that next affair a success. While we're working, check out some other great. Books About Sprouting | Sprout Recipes | How to Grow Sprouts. A literal encyclopedia of recipes (culled from the magazine), this revision to Cook's Illustrated 's popular The Best Recipe is almost double in size and includes. Learn how to make sure the food you are eating is good and will lead you to health and energy. Because life should be delicious. Food is. Given the range of diversity in soil type, climate and occupations, these cuisines vary. Food & Drink - How To Information | eHow Food & Drink: Don't let that next party be a flop. The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition: Cook's Illustrated Magazine. "These books are a great guide to carry around and have with you whenever you're not sure what to choose." --Oprah Winfrey on Oprah "You can make pretty easy. We are working behind the scenes to improve the Food.com experience and will be back shortly. These Sprouting books, CDs, and DVD's should be a part of any kitchen. Indian cuisine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Indian food encompasses a wide variety of regional cuisines native to India. Also offers a library of recipes and cook's tips. LS2 PAC . Amazon.com: Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide. Read the latest food news, discover recipes, cooking videos, entertaining tips, and dinner ideas on Shine Food. Cookware, Bakeware, Cutlery, Recipes and Recipe ideas - Cooking.com Find kitchen appliances, cookware, cutlery, cook's tools, bakeware and tableware. Food.com - Thousands Of Free Recipes From Home Chefs With Recipe. We'll Be Right Back. Recipes - How To Information | eHow Recipes: Wondering what???s for breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Need a side dish or appetizer to serve with your favorite recipe? Find healthy recipes, cooking tips and. Food on Shine - Yahoo! Shine - Women's Lifestyle | Healthy Living
The Teamsters: Perception and Reality (Appendix 1, Background Materials) read 3D Studio MAX R3 f/x and design: Filled with Professional Level Effects From Experts in Film and Video e-book
New York Knicks guard Raymond Felton, left, fouls Indiana Pacers guard George Hill during the second half of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series, in Indianapolis on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
New York Knicks guard Raymond Felton, left, fouls Indiana Pacers guard George Hill during the second half of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series, in Indianapolis on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Point guard George Hill will be a game-time decision as the Pacers try to close out the Knicks.
After Indiana's shootaround Saturday morning, coach Frank Vogel did not say whether Hill had passed his concussion tests. Hill must do so before returning to action. Vogel says he is preparing to be without Hill for Game 6 on Saturday night.
Hill missed Game 5 after complaining of headaches. Trainers later diagnosed him with a concussion, holding him out of a game the Pacers lost 85-75. They still lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals 3-2 and play at home Saturday. The Pacers are 5-0 in home playoff games this season, winning each by at least 11 points.
The Pacers started D.J. Augustin in Hill's spot Thursday night.
Our legal system has many checks and balances in place to protect citizens and to ensure that any one group can?t change the rules for their own benefit.
But the insurance industry and big business don?t like to play by the rules. And they?re behind yet another bad bill pending in the N.C. General Assembly that would strip away the rights of injured workers and every working person in North Carolina.
Senate Bill 174, which today passed the N.C. Senate, threatens the medical and disability benefits of injured workers. The N.C. Industrial Commission, our state?s workers? comp court, has certain rules and procedures in place to protect workers if the insurance company decides to arbitrarily stop paying on a workers? compensation claim and stop covering medical treatment.
Senate Bill 174 would take away those protections.
If the insurance company stops paying benefits and covering medical treatment, an injured worker would be forced to wait months or years ? suffering physically and financially ? for a formal hearing at the Industrial Commission before their benefits and medical treatment could be reinstated.
The current law has a fast-track provision that allows injured workers to quickly appeal the insurance company?s decision to terminate benefits.
But Senate Bill 174 would take away this fast-track provision. For injured workers, that would mean no benefits and no medical care for months, and perhaps even years, until a judge decides that workers? comp benefits should be reinstated.
And guess who has to pay the legal bill for these appeals hearings after workers? comp benefits are terminated? Not the insurance company, but the injured worker.
Injured people can?t return to work if they don?t have access to appropriate medical treatment. And without workers? comp benefits, how will these hurting people pay for food, clothing, shelter and other necessities for their families while they?re out of work.
This is a clear example of justice delayed, justice denied that former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger so eloquently warned us about.
Giving the insurance company this kind of power over the health and financial wellbeing of injured and disabled workers is unfair, and it?s unjust.
We have to stop Senate Bill 174 from becoming law, just as we did with Senate Bill 10.?
The N.C. House of Representatives will soon vote on this proposed legislation, Senate Bill 174. They could vote as early as next week.
Call your N.C. Representatives today and demand they vote NO on Senate Bill 174.
Find out who represents you in the N.C. General Assembly?here.?
We also encourage you to contact members of the N.C. House Committee on Regulatory Reform and the N.C. House Judiciary Committee and tell them you opposed Senate Bill 174 because it is unfair and unjust.
Find contact information for members of the N.C. House Committee on Regulatory Reform here.?
You can also sign a petition against Senate Bill 174 here.
Find contact information for members of the N.C. House Judiciary Committee here.?
Senate Bill 174 is just the latest effort to dismantle the N.C. workers? comp court by the insurance industry and big business. You may remember my earlier blog posts about Gov. Pat McCrory?s play to fire the state?s workers? comp judges.?
Activist voters rallied and called and emailed their elected officials in Raleigh and helped defeat that bill. But a new version of the legislation was just introduced in the N.C. House, House Bill 1011. It seeks to do the same thing that Senate Bill 10 would have done. We need to stop this bad bill, too.?
Sign this petition?to let N.C. legislators know that you?re against any changes to the workers? comp court.??When you?re talking with or emailing your state senators and reps, make sure they know ?you expect them to vote against BOTH Senate Bill 174 and House Bill 1011.?
We need to end these attacks on the N.C. workers? comp system and injured workers.
Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho: WrestleMania 19Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels embrace: WWE.com Exclusive, May 27, 2013Bret Hart returns to WWE: WWE App Exclusive, May 27, 2013Shawn Michaels questions if John Cena is ready for his match with Curtis Axel: Raw, May 27, 2013Shawn Michaels vs. Big Boss Man: Wrestling Challenge, November 14, 1992 (Full-Length Match)Rockers vs. Demolition: Madison Square Garden, October 24, 1988 (Full-Length Match)WWE RANK'D: WWE's can't-miss WWE Championship Matches of all time 
Even though Sal Khan is now running a platform that serves 6 million students and people a month, he’s still churning out a couple videos a week. What’s been most recently on deck? World War I. To make a video, Khan says he’ll front-load several books worth of reading on everything from the Armistice Day to the sinking of the Lusitania. Then he’ll start to make videos once he feels he has a decent grasp on the subject material. “If I’m hanging out waiting for the dentist, I’ll just start reading something about World War I,” he said in a recent interview. From the original tutoring calls he’d arrange to help out relatives, to the initial YouTube channel he started, Khan Academy has grown to reach 75 million users to date, with 230 million lessons delivered and 1 billion problems answered in 30,000 classrooms throughout the world. Naturally, there’s been quite a bit of hype (with both its good and bad consequences). Khan Academy has the reach but it’s still proving out the data to show that its lessons measurably affect learning outcomes beyond the handful of pilots the non-profit has tried. “Teachers are rightfully skeptical, I think. They’re overworked. They have a million things to do,” Khan said. “It’s an incredibly tiring job and you’re throwing a new thing at them, even if they intellectually recognize the benefit of it.” Two of the top things on Khan’s priority list for the next fall are internationalization and diagnostics. The Khan Academy has pioneered ways of measuring progress, to help ensure that students don’t develop a “Swiss Cheese”-like base of knowledge with different weak areas. But he acknowledged the site isn’t as good at telling students where they should begin. What if they’re competent at certain things like logarithms but terribly behind in trigonometry? “One of the biggest complaints we get is that people don’t know where to start. By this August, we should have good diagnostics where people can figure out where they stand,” he said. He’s personally interested in Carol Dweck’s theories around fostering a growth-centered mentality in children and students. Her research is the basis for a series of media stories and discussions around how much you should praise children and whether you should attribute their success to persistence or innate capabilities. She’s found that children who internalize not innate talent, but rather diligence, tend to do better
?1 ?| ?2![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sxrCh2kmtm6TVTGvsQOi-kH0cb-rjTU4Mvi_q56VW0El9sDqAH_aHok4Pq0o0eUlsNNWgCzTctIoIhCFm8ErAgHGn2VhpXbtMcT3kNupo=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 20-May-2013
Share ] 
