Source: http://www.ielts-exam.net/preparing/Sample_reading_text/222/
Vocabulary:
communication facilities
eleven storey building
hull was divided
Text:
From the comfort of our modern lives we tend to look back at the turn of the twentieth century as a dangerous time for sea travellers. With limited communication facilities, and shipping technology still in its infancy in the early nineteen hundreds, we consider ocean travel to have been a risky business. But to the people of the time it was one of the safest forms of transport. At the time of the Titanic’s maiden voyage in 1912, there had only been four lives lost in the previous forty years on passenger ships on the North Atlantic crossing. And the Titanic was confidently proclaimed to be unsinkable. She represented the pinnacle of technological advance at the time. Her builders, crew and passengers had no doubt that she was the finest ship ever built. But still she did sink on April 14, 1912, taking 1,517 of her passengers and crew with her.
B The RMS Titanic left Southampton for New York on April 10, 1912. On board were some of the richest and most famous people of the time who had paid large sums of money to sail on the first voyage of the most luxurious ship in the world. Imagine her placed on her end: she was larger at 269 metres than many of the tallest buildings of the day. And with nine decks, she was as high as an eleven storey building (=andares). The Titanic carried 329 first class, 285 second class and 710 third class passengers with 899 crew members, under the care of the very experienced Captain Edward J. Smith. She also carried enough food to feed a small town, including 40,000 fresh eggs, 36,000 apples, 111,000 lbs of fresh meat and 2,200 lbs of coffee for the five day journey.
C RMS Titanic was believed to be unsinkable because the hull(=casco) was divided into sixteen watertight compartments. Even if two of these compartments flooded, the ship could still float. The ship’s owners could not imagine that, in the case of an accident, the Titanic would not be able to float until she was rescued. It was largely as a result of this confidence in the ship and in the safety of ocean travel that the disaster could claim such a great loss of life.
D In the ten hours prior to the Titanic’s fatal collision with an iceberg at 11.40pm, six warnings of icebergs in her path were received by the Titanic's wireless operators. Only one of these messages was formally posted on the bridge; the others were in various locations across the ship. If the combined information in these messages of iceberg positions had been plotted, the ice field which lay across the Titanic’s path would have been apparent. Instead, the lack of formal procedures for dealing with information from a relatively new piece of technology, the wireless, meant that the danger was not known until too late. This was not the fault of the Titanic crew. Procedures for dealing with warnings received through the wireless had not been formalised across the shipping industry at the time. The fact that the wireless operators were not even Titanic crew, but rather contracted workers from a wireless company, made their role in the ship’s operation quite unclear.
E Captain Smith’s seemingly casual attitude in increasing the speed on this day to a dangerous 22 knots or 41 kilometres per hour, can then be partly explained by his ignorance of what lay ahead. But this only partly accounts for his actions, since the spring weather in Greenland was known to cause huge chunks of ice to break off from the glaciers. Captain Smith knew that these icebergs would float southward and had already acknowledged this danger by taking a more southerly route than at other times of the year. So why was the Titanic travelling at high speed when he knew, if not of the specific risk, at least of the general risk of icebergs in her path? As with the lack of coordination of the wireless messages, it was simply standard operating procedure at the time. Captain Smith was following the practices accepted on the North Atlantic, practices which had coincided with forty years of safe travel. He believed, wrongly as we now know, that the ship could turn or stop in time if an iceberg was sighted by the lookouts.
F There were around two and a half hours between the time the Titanic rammed into the iceberg and its final submersion. In this time 705 people were loaded into the twenty lifeboats. There were 473 empty seats available on lifeboats while over 1,500 people drowned. These figures raise two important issues. Firstly, why there were not enough lifeboats to seat every passenger and crew member on board. And secondly, why the lifeboats were not full.
G The Titanic had sixteen lifeboats and four collapsible boats which could carry just over half the number of people on board her maiden voyage and only a third of the Titanic’s total capacity. Regulations for the number of lifeboats required were based on outdated British Board of Trade regulations written in 1894 for ships a quarter of the Titanic’s size, and had never been revised. Under these requirements, the Titanic was only obliged to carry enough lifeboats to seat 962 people. At design meetings in 1910, the shipyard’s managing director, Alexander Carlisle, had proposed that forty eight lifeboats be installed on the Titanic, but the idea had been quickly rejected as too expensive. Discussion then turned to the ship’s décor, and as Carlisle later described the incident … ’we spent two hours discussing carpet for the first class cabins and fifteen minutes discussing lifeboats’.
H The belief that the Titanic was unsinkable was so strong that passengers and crew alike clung to the belief even as she was actually sinking. This attitude was not helped by Captain Smith, who had not acquainted his senior officers with the full situation. For the first hour after the collision, the majority of people aboard the Titanic, including senior crew, were not aware that she would sink, that there were insufficient lifeboats or that the nearest ship responding to the Titanic’s distress calls would arrive two hours after she was on the bottom of the ocean. As a result, the officers in charge of loading the boats received a very halfhearted response to their early calls for women and children to board the lifeboats. People felt that they would be safer, and certainly warmer, aboard the Titanic than perched in a little boat in the North Atlantic Ocean. Not realising the magnitude of the impending disaster themselves, the officers allowed several boats to be lowered only half full.
I Procedures again were at fault, as an additional reason for the officers’ reluctance to lower the lifeboats at full capacity was that they feared the lifeboats would buckle under the weight of 65 people. They had not been informed that the lifeboats had been fully tested prior to departure. Such procedures as assigning passengers and crew to lifeboats and lifeboat loading drills were simply not part of the standard operation of ships nor were they included in crew training at this time.
J As the Titanic sank, another ship, believed to have been the Californian, was seen motionless less than twenty miles away. The ship failed to respond to the Titanic’s eight distress rockets. Although the officers of the Californian tried to signal the Titanic with their flashing Morse lamp, they did not wake up their radio operator to listen for a distress call. At this time, communication at sea through wireless was new and the benefits not well appreciated, so the wireless on ships was often not operated around the clock. In the case of the Californian, the wireless operator slept unaware while 1,500 Titanic passengers and crew drowned only a few miles away.
K After the Titanic sank, investigations were held in both Washington and London. In the end, both inquiries decided that no one could be blamed for the sinking. However, they did address the fundamental safety issues which had contributed to the enormous loss of life. As a result, international agreements were drawn up to improve safety procedures at sea. The new regulations covered 24 hour wireless operation, crew training, proper lifeboat drills, lifeboat capacity for all on board and the creation of an international ice patrol.
quarta-feira, 26 de outubro de 2016
segunda-feira, 24 de outubro de 2016
6 pontos principais sobre as eleições americanas
Source: http://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-37691468
Em 6 pontos: Tudo o você precisa saber sobre as eleições americanas
In 6 points: Everything you need to know about the American elections
Em janeiro de 2017 os Estados Unidos terão um novo líder, que será escolhido em 8 de novembro após uma longa e custosa campanha. E as últimas semanas antes da votação prometem ser agitadas, com os dois candidatos viajando o país para convencer eleitores.
Quando escolhem um presidente, os americanos não definem apenas o chefe de Estado, mas também o líder do governo e o comandante do maior exército no planeta. Ou seja: a responsabilidade é grande.
In Janurary of 2017 the United States will have a new leader, who will be chosen on 8th of November after a long and expensive campaign. And the last weeks before the election promise to be agitaded, with two candidates travelling the country to persuade voters.
When they chose one president, the American people do not define just the head of state, but also the leader of government and comandant of biggest army of planet. In other words, the responsibility is big.
Mas afinal, como funcionam as eleições presidenciais americanas? Em seis pontos, entenda o processo:
1. Quem pode ser presidente?
Tecnicamente, para se candidatar à Presidência dos Estados Unidos basta ser um cidadão "nascido" no país, ter ao menos 35 anos de idade e ser residente por 14 anos. Parece simples, certo?
Na realidade, porém, quase todos os presidentes escolhidos desde 1933 foram também governadores, senadores ou generais de cinco estrelas.
But after all, how the American presidential elections work? In six points, understand the process:
1. Who can be president?
Technically, to the candidate to Presidency of the United States you just need to be a born citizen in the country, have at least 35 years and be resident for 14 years. It seems simple, right?
Actually, although, almost all chosen president since 1933 were governors as well, senators or general people of five starts.
A eleição deste ano chegou a ter, em determinado momento, dez governadores ou ex-governadores e dez senadores ou ex-senadores na briga, mas a maioria deixou a corrida.
Os partidos Republicano e Democrata escolhem um representante cada para a eleição presidencial.
The election of this years reached to have, in a certain moment, ten governors or ex-governors and ten senators or ex-senators in the fight, but the most left the run.
The Republican parties and democratic chose one representant each one for the presidential election.
2. Como Hillary Clinton e Donald Trump se tornaram os candidatos?
Uma série de eleições são realizadas em cada Estado americano, a partir de fevereiro, para determinar o candidato presidencial de cada partido.
O vencedor de cada eleição coleta um número de "delegados" - membros do partido com poder de votar naquele candidato nas convenções dos partidos em julho, quando os escolhidos são confirmados.
How Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump became the candidates?
One series of elections are realised in each American state, from February, to determine the presidential candidate of each party.
The winner of each election collects one number of delegates - members of party with power to vote in that candidate in the conventions of parties in July when the chosen people are confirmed.
Quanto mais Estados um candidato conquistar, mais delegados votarão nele na convenção.
A democrata Hillary Clinton e o republicano Donald Trump foram os vencedores em 2016. Consequentemente, foram nomeados por seus partidos nas convenções de julho.
Na ocasião, os vice-presidentes também foram anunciados - o senador Tim Kaine da Virginia para Hillary Clinton e o governador Mike Pence de Indiana, para Donald Trump.
3. Quais foram (até agora) as controvérsias da campanha?
Uma série de controvérsias foram motivadas por Donald Trump desde o lançamento de sua campanha, época em que o candidato, por exemplo, descreveu os imigrantes mexicanos como "estupradores e criminosos".
How much more states one candidate conquer, more delegates will vote in him in the convention.
The democratic Hillary Clinton and the Republican Donald were the winners in 2016. Consequently, were named by their parties in the conventions of July.
In the occasion, the vice-presidents were announced as well - the senator Tim Kaine for Hillary and the governor Mike of Indiana, for Donald Trump
3. What were until now the controversies of the campaign?
One series of controveries were motivated by Donald since the launching of his campaign, in those days in which the candidate, for example, described the Mexican imigrants as rappers and criminals.
A candidatura do empresário de Nova York foi marcada por diversos tumultos. Ele travou discussões com um juiz, uma Miss Universo, uma âncora da Fox News e a família muçulmana de um soldado morto. Teve ainda que se defender da não publicação de seu imposto de renda e de especulações de que não pagou impostos por 18 anos, além de questões em torno de sua instituição de caridade.
A última bomba estourou no dia 7 de outubro com a publicação de um vídeo de 2005. Nele, Trump é ouvido se referindo às mulheres em termos sexualmente ofensivos durante uma filmagem.
The candidature of entrepreneur of New York was marked by diverse turmoils. He sparked arguments with one judge, one Miss Universe, and one anchor of Fox News and muçul family of one died soldier. He had to defend of not having published his income tax and of speculations that he didn't pay taxes for 18 years, beyond questions around him of his institution of charity.
The last bomb exploed on 7th October with the publish of one video in 2005. In it, Trump is heard referring to women with aggressive sexual terms during one footage.
O furor que se seguiu obrigou o candidato a se desculpar e tentar convencer os eleitores de que as palavras do vídeo "não refletem quem eu sou". Não foi suficiente para impedir a deserção de dezenas de republicanos, gerando uma guerra civil dentro do partido.
Agora, outras seis mulheres acusam Donald Trump de abuso sexual, e ele se defendeu vigorosamente, acusando-as de serem mentirosas e não atraentes o suficiente para chamar sua atenção.
Hillary Clinton também teve seus momentos de tensão. O estrago causado pelo uso de seu e-mail pessoal para tratar de questões de Estado foi significante. Além disso, questões foram levantadas em relação às doações estrangeiras para a Fundação Clinton.
The fury that was sparked forced the candidate to apologise himself and try to persuade the voters that the words of footage don't reflect what he is now. It was not enough to avoid the desertion of tens of Republican, generating one civial was inside the party.
Now, other six women charge Donald of sexual abuse, and he defended charging them of being liars and not attractive enough to call his atention.
Hillary clinton had her tension moments. The spoil caused by the use of her personal email to treat the questions of State were significant. In addition, questions were raised regarding the foreign donations to the Fundation Clinton.
Em 6 pontos: Tudo o você precisa saber sobre as eleições americanas
In 6 points: Everything you need to know about the American elections
Em janeiro de 2017 os Estados Unidos terão um novo líder, que será escolhido em 8 de novembro após uma longa e custosa campanha. E as últimas semanas antes da votação prometem ser agitadas, com os dois candidatos viajando o país para convencer eleitores.
Quando escolhem um presidente, os americanos não definem apenas o chefe de Estado, mas também o líder do governo e o comandante do maior exército no planeta. Ou seja: a responsabilidade é grande.
In Janurary of 2017 the United States will have a new leader, who will be chosen on 8th of November after a long and expensive campaign. And the last weeks before the election promise to be agitaded, with two candidates travelling the country to persuade voters.
When they chose one president, the American people do not define just the head of state, but also the leader of government and comandant of biggest army of planet. In other words, the responsibility is big.
Mas afinal, como funcionam as eleições presidenciais americanas? Em seis pontos, entenda o processo:
1. Quem pode ser presidente?
Tecnicamente, para se candidatar à Presidência dos Estados Unidos basta ser um cidadão "nascido" no país, ter ao menos 35 anos de idade e ser residente por 14 anos. Parece simples, certo?
Na realidade, porém, quase todos os presidentes escolhidos desde 1933 foram também governadores, senadores ou generais de cinco estrelas.
But after all, how the American presidential elections work? In six points, understand the process:
1. Who can be president?
Technically, to the candidate to Presidency of the United States you just need to be a born citizen in the country, have at least 35 years and be resident for 14 years. It seems simple, right?
Actually, although, almost all chosen president since 1933 were governors as well, senators or general people of five starts.
A eleição deste ano chegou a ter, em determinado momento, dez governadores ou ex-governadores e dez senadores ou ex-senadores na briga, mas a maioria deixou a corrida.
Os partidos Republicano e Democrata escolhem um representante cada para a eleição presidencial.
The election of this years reached to have, in a certain moment, ten governors or ex-governors and ten senators or ex-senators in the fight, but the most left the run.
The Republican parties and democratic chose one representant each one for the presidential election.
2. Como Hillary Clinton e Donald Trump se tornaram os candidatos?
Uma série de eleições são realizadas em cada Estado americano, a partir de fevereiro, para determinar o candidato presidencial de cada partido.
O vencedor de cada eleição coleta um número de "delegados" - membros do partido com poder de votar naquele candidato nas convenções dos partidos em julho, quando os escolhidos são confirmados.
How Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump became the candidates?
One series of elections are realised in each American state, from February, to determine the presidential candidate of each party.
The winner of each election collects one number of delegates - members of party with power to vote in that candidate in the conventions of parties in July when the chosen people are confirmed.
Quanto mais Estados um candidato conquistar, mais delegados votarão nele na convenção.
A democrata Hillary Clinton e o republicano Donald Trump foram os vencedores em 2016. Consequentemente, foram nomeados por seus partidos nas convenções de julho.
Na ocasião, os vice-presidentes também foram anunciados - o senador Tim Kaine da Virginia para Hillary Clinton e o governador Mike Pence de Indiana, para Donald Trump.
3. Quais foram (até agora) as controvérsias da campanha?
Uma série de controvérsias foram motivadas por Donald Trump desde o lançamento de sua campanha, época em que o candidato, por exemplo, descreveu os imigrantes mexicanos como "estupradores e criminosos".
How much more states one candidate conquer, more delegates will vote in him in the convention.
The democratic Hillary Clinton and the Republican Donald were the winners in 2016. Consequently, were named by their parties in the conventions of July.
In the occasion, the vice-presidents were announced as well - the senator Tim Kaine for Hillary and the governor Mike of Indiana, for Donald Trump
3. What were until now the controversies of the campaign?
One series of controveries were motivated by Donald since the launching of his campaign, in those days in which the candidate, for example, described the Mexican imigrants as rappers and criminals.
A candidatura do empresário de Nova York foi marcada por diversos tumultos. Ele travou discussões com um juiz, uma Miss Universo, uma âncora da Fox News e a família muçulmana de um soldado morto. Teve ainda que se defender da não publicação de seu imposto de renda e de especulações de que não pagou impostos por 18 anos, além de questões em torno de sua instituição de caridade.
A última bomba estourou no dia 7 de outubro com a publicação de um vídeo de 2005. Nele, Trump é ouvido se referindo às mulheres em termos sexualmente ofensivos durante uma filmagem.
The candidature of entrepreneur of New York was marked by diverse turmoils. He sparked arguments with one judge, one Miss Universe, and one anchor of Fox News and muçul family of one died soldier. He had to defend of not having published his income tax and of speculations that he didn't pay taxes for 18 years, beyond questions around him of his institution of charity.
The last bomb exploed on 7th October with the publish of one video in 2005. In it, Trump is heard referring to women with aggressive sexual terms during one footage.
O furor que se seguiu obrigou o candidato a se desculpar e tentar convencer os eleitores de que as palavras do vídeo "não refletem quem eu sou". Não foi suficiente para impedir a deserção de dezenas de republicanos, gerando uma guerra civil dentro do partido.
Agora, outras seis mulheres acusam Donald Trump de abuso sexual, e ele se defendeu vigorosamente, acusando-as de serem mentirosas e não atraentes o suficiente para chamar sua atenção.
Hillary Clinton também teve seus momentos de tensão. O estrago causado pelo uso de seu e-mail pessoal para tratar de questões de Estado foi significante. Além disso, questões foram levantadas em relação às doações estrangeiras para a Fundação Clinton.
The fury that was sparked forced the candidate to apologise himself and try to persuade the voters that the words of footage don't reflect what he is now. It was not enough to avoid the desertion of tens of Republican, generating one civial was inside the party.
Now, other six women charge Donald of sexual abuse, and he defended charging them of being liars and not attractive enough to call his atention.
Hillary clinton had her tension moments. The spoil caused by the use of her personal email to treat the questions of State were significant. In addition, questions were raised regarding the foreign donations to the Fundation Clinton.
Investors shaved off the investments in Samsung
Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fatal-mistake-that-doomed-samsungs-galaxy-note-1477248978
Vocabulary:
salvage the company’s
investors have shaved off roughly $20 billion
moving swiftly
lavish event
it would shift production
Text: The X-ray and CT scans showed a pronounced bulge.
After reports of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones catching fire spread in early September, Samsung Electronics Co. executives debated how to respond. Some were skeptical the incidents amounted to much, according to people familiar with the meetings, but others thought the company needed to act decisively.
A laboratory report said scans of some faulty devices showed a protrusion in Note 7 batteries supplied by Samsung SDI Co., a company affiliate, while phones with batteries from another supplier didn’t.
It wasn’t a definitive answer, and there was no explanation for the bulges. But with consumers complaining and telecom operators demanding answers, newly appointed mobile chief D.J. Koh felt the company knew enough to recall 2.5 million phones. His suggestion was backed by Samsung’s third-generation heir apparent, Lee Jae-yong, who has advocated for more openness at one of the world’s most opaque conglomerates.
That decision in early September—to push a sweeping recall based on what turned out to be incomplete evidence—is now coming back to haunt the company.
Two weeks after Samsung began handing out millions of new phones, with batteries from the other supplier, the company was forced to all but acknowledge that its initial diagnosis was incorrect, following a spate of new incidents, some involving supposedly safe replacement devices. With regulators raising fresh questions, Messrs. Lee and Koh decided to take the drastic step of killing the phone outright.
The Galaxy Note series helped make Samsung a smartphone leader, and the Note 7, its most advanced phone ever, had all the makings of a hit. For a moment, it looked like the Galaxy Note could win over users of Apple Inc.’s iPhone and cement Samsung as one of the world’s most dominant technology companies.
Instead, as a result of the flammable phones and the botched recall Samsung’s leaders are now struggling to salvage the company’s credibility. At risk is the expected February launch of its next flagship smartphone, likely to be called the Galaxy S8.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which oversees product recalls in Samsung’s biggest smartphone market, is expected to investigate whether Samsung notified the agency soon enough of dangers posed by the device. Samsung’s decision to launch its own recall, bypassing the CPSC’s formal process for a time, may have prevented regulators from figuring out more about the root cause, some U.S. lawmakers suspect.
Samsung still doesn’t have a conclusive answer for what’s causing some Note 7s to catch fire.
A Samsung spokeswoman said the company worked quickly with regulators and took immediate action when problems arose with the phone. “We recognized that we did not correctly identify the issue the first time and remain committed to finding the root cause,” she said. “Our top priority remains the safety of our customers and retrieving 100% of the Galaxy Note 7 devices in the market.”
Outside experts have pointed to a range of possible culprits, from the software that manages how the battery interacts with other smartphone components to the design of the entire circuit.
Engineers are also looking into the possibility that the battery case may have been too small to house a battery of that capacity, according to one Samsung mobile executive.
Big product recalls are never easy. Consumers, however, are often willing to forgive mistakes if they believe the company is looking out for them and moving swiftly(=rapidamente) to address problems.
“What Samsung should have done, very early on, was to share even its preliminary findings or thoughts” with U.S. regulators rather than pushing its own recall, said Stuart Statler, a former CPSC commissioner and independent product safety consultant in Mooresville, N.C.
Samsung executives have delayed the development of the Galaxy S8 device by two weeks as engineers work to get to the bottom of the Note 7’s overheating problem, according to a member of the Galaxy S8 development team.
Meanwhile, investors have shaved off (=reduced to an amout) roughly $20 billion in Samsung’s market value. The company has said the recall would cost it $5 billion or more, including lost sales.
Introduced in 2011, the Galaxy Note series has served as a point of pride for the South Korean company, which was long derided for following—and sued for allegedly copying—the iPhone.
The bigger-screen phone was in tune with consumer tastes. When iPhones were shrinking in size, the Galaxy Note anticipated the shift to bigger handsets, which earned it the nickname “phablet,” a mashup of phone and tablet.
By the time Samsung released its third iteration in September 2013, the Galaxy Note was a certified hit, selling 10 million units in two months. The next year, Apple released its first Galaxy Note-sized iPhone.
As word reached Samsung executives that only incremental changes were likely for Apple’s iPhone 7 this year, Mr. Koh and other top executives grew confident about their prospects for a head-to-head fall release of the next version. The company decided to skip the number 6 and jump straight to 7, a name change that would invite direct comparisons with Apple’s model.
Samsung’s engineers packed new features, including an iris scanner, water resistance, an improved stylus and about 16% more battery life than its previous Note device. Presales for the Note 7 started strong after Mr. Koh introduced the device at a lavish (=elegante) event at a theater in Midtown Manhattan on Aug. 2. Analysts boosted their projections for Samsung’s earnings, while investors pushed the stock to record highs.
As user reports of overheating began to trickle in days later, company executives were at first unruffled. Some suspected that many of the alleged incidents had been faked, and argued that even a small number of genuine cases shouldn’t overshadow the fact that millions of smartphones were working fine, according to people familiar with their thinking.
Gathering at Mr. Koh’s office at R5, the 27-story office tower overlooking Samsung’s sprawling Digital City campus south of Seoul, he and other mobile executives, including his predecessor, J.K. Shin, and longtime Samsung top lieutenant G.S. Choi, examined the X-ray and CT scan reports of the phone, which appeared to show heat damage to the internal structure of the battery, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Messrs. Lee and Koh believed they had all the evidence they needed to conclude the problem lay with Samsung SDI’s batteries, these people said. They argued it was more important for Samsung to do “the right thing” and act, in the words of one of the people familiar with the matter, rather than wait for more information. Doing so would have left customers in the dark longer and potentially allowed the crisis to get worse.
On Sept. 2, Mr. Koh entered a news conference room in downtown Seoul to address reporters. Without providing names, he said the company had identified a problem with one of its suppliers and it would shift(=transferir) production to another supplier it believed hadn’t caused the problems.
People familiar with the matter say that the supplier Samsung planned to rely on was Amperex Technology Ltd., a unit of Japanese electronic parts maker TDK Corp.
In Washington, Mr. Koh’s announcement came as a surprise to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Typically, companies work jointly with the CPSC to study a problem and plan a recall together.
Samsung didn’t notify the CPSC of the problems until later that day, according to people familiar with the matter—about two weeks after the first reported Note 7 incident.
CPSC regulations require companies to report potential product hazards within 24 hours, though the commission allows companies that are “truly uncertain” about an issue to spend a “reasonable time” investigating the situation.
Samsung also took the little-noticed decision to pursue what’s known as fast-track resolution with the CPSC. The program allows a company to shorten the agency’s sometimes-lengthy investigation of a product problem, while avoiding a formal finding by the CPSC of a defect—a maneuver that can insulate manufacturers from product-liability litigation.
The CPSC warns that some companies might not want a fast-track resolution in situations where “complex technical issues…require more time to resolve.”
At first, Samsung’s recall solution seemed to work. Consumers were turning in their phones and asking for new Note 7 phones in about 90% of the cases, Samsung said. The company’s executives basked in praise, particularly from the South Korean press that Samsung executives read obsessively, who credited Samsung with acting swiftly.
The CPSC, though, appeared unhappy with some of the company’s maneuvers. A week after Mr. Koh’s recall announcement, on Sept. 9, the agency took the unusual step of warning consumers not to use the phones while it did more research, and said it would work to determine whether Samsung’s plan to issue replacement phones was “an acceptable remedy.”
A few days later, Samsung and the CPSC finally agreed to a formal joint recall.
Meanwhile, complaints about overheating replacement phones, and of isolated cases of battery failures, began emerging. A Samsung spokesman said initially there was no safety concern.
In China, where the company used only Amperex-supplied batteries in its Note 7s, the company dismissed reported smartphone fires as fabrications, arguing it was impossible for those batteries to have caused problems.
As it became clear the reported problems were multiplying, employees describe a kind of gallows humor setting in. One mobile division executive described the Galaxy Note 7 as a “radioactive” topic, with staffers afraid of even discussing it in the company canteen.
A local television news crew camped outside the offices at 6 a.m. to film a report about how many lights were on at the company, to illustrate the depth of the company’s crisis.
Then came the evacuation of a Southwest Airlines Co. flight in early October because of a smoking Samsung smartphone.
Top executives from major telecoms operators, including Verizon Communications Inc.’s Lowell McAdam, urged Mr. Lee to quickly kill the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, according to people familiar with the matter. The executives told Mr. Lee the smartphone was becoming increasingly unsalable.
On Oct. 11, Mr. Lee called Mr. Koh and ordered him to discontinue the smartphone. Later that day, Mr. Koh wrote a letter to the company’s mobile division, a copy of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, calling the crisis “one of the toughest challenges we have ever faced.”
While the decision to abort the Note 7 has halted the damage for now, analysts have raised questions about the future of the Galaxy Note series, arguing that the brand has become too tarnished by the crisis and that the company should retire it altogether.
At least two U.S. senators, Bill Nelson of Florida and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, have asked for more details about Samsung communication with the CPSC and its handling of the phone crisis. Mr. Blumenthal noted in a letter to Samsung released publicly that so far in the current fiasco, Samsung has reported 96 incidents of batteries overheating in the U.S., including 13 burns and 47 cases of property damage.
Last week, at the urging of CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye, the agency approved a proposal for a wide-ranging inquiry into lithium ion and related batteries in coming months.
“There are few things in life I’m reasonably confident of predicting; one of those is….we’re going to have yet another issue of lithium ion batteries catching fire” from a range of devices, said CPSC commissioner Robert Adler. “This is just a massive problem.”
—Eun-Young Jeong in Seoul, Ryan Knutson in New York and Takashi Mochizuki in Tokyo contributed to this article.
Write to Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@wsj.com and John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com
Vocabulary:
salvage the company’s
investors have shaved off roughly $20 billion
moving swiftly
lavish event
it would shift production
Text: The X-ray and CT scans showed a pronounced bulge.
After reports of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones catching fire spread in early September, Samsung Electronics Co. executives debated how to respond. Some were skeptical the incidents amounted to much, according to people familiar with the meetings, but others thought the company needed to act decisively.
A laboratory report said scans of some faulty devices showed a protrusion in Note 7 batteries supplied by Samsung SDI Co., a company affiliate, while phones with batteries from another supplier didn’t.
It wasn’t a definitive answer, and there was no explanation for the bulges. But with consumers complaining and telecom operators demanding answers, newly appointed mobile chief D.J. Koh felt the company knew enough to recall 2.5 million phones. His suggestion was backed by Samsung’s third-generation heir apparent, Lee Jae-yong, who has advocated for more openness at one of the world’s most opaque conglomerates.
That decision in early September—to push a sweeping recall based on what turned out to be incomplete evidence—is now coming back to haunt the company.
Two weeks after Samsung began handing out millions of new phones, with batteries from the other supplier, the company was forced to all but acknowledge that its initial diagnosis was incorrect, following a spate of new incidents, some involving supposedly safe replacement devices. With regulators raising fresh questions, Messrs. Lee and Koh decided to take the drastic step of killing the phone outright.
The Galaxy Note series helped make Samsung a smartphone leader, and the Note 7, its most advanced phone ever, had all the makings of a hit. For a moment, it looked like the Galaxy Note could win over users of Apple Inc.’s iPhone and cement Samsung as one of the world’s most dominant technology companies.
Instead, as a result of the flammable phones and the botched recall Samsung’s leaders are now struggling to salvage the company’s credibility. At risk is the expected February launch of its next flagship smartphone, likely to be called the Galaxy S8.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which oversees product recalls in Samsung’s biggest smartphone market, is expected to investigate whether Samsung notified the agency soon enough of dangers posed by the device. Samsung’s decision to launch its own recall, bypassing the CPSC’s formal process for a time, may have prevented regulators from figuring out more about the root cause, some U.S. lawmakers suspect.
Samsung still doesn’t have a conclusive answer for what’s causing some Note 7s to catch fire.
A Samsung spokeswoman said the company worked quickly with regulators and took immediate action when problems arose with the phone. “We recognized that we did not correctly identify the issue the first time and remain committed to finding the root cause,” she said. “Our top priority remains the safety of our customers and retrieving 100% of the Galaxy Note 7 devices in the market.”
Outside experts have pointed to a range of possible culprits, from the software that manages how the battery interacts with other smartphone components to the design of the entire circuit.
Engineers are also looking into the possibility that the battery case may have been too small to house a battery of that capacity, according to one Samsung mobile executive.
Big product recalls are never easy. Consumers, however, are often willing to forgive mistakes if they believe the company is looking out for them and moving swiftly(=rapidamente) to address problems.
“What Samsung should have done, very early on, was to share even its preliminary findings or thoughts” with U.S. regulators rather than pushing its own recall, said Stuart Statler, a former CPSC commissioner and independent product safety consultant in Mooresville, N.C.
Samsung executives have delayed the development of the Galaxy S8 device by two weeks as engineers work to get to the bottom of the Note 7’s overheating problem, according to a member of the Galaxy S8 development team.
Meanwhile, investors have shaved off (=reduced to an amout) roughly $20 billion in Samsung’s market value. The company has said the recall would cost it $5 billion or more, including lost sales.
Introduced in 2011, the Galaxy Note series has served as a point of pride for the South Korean company, which was long derided for following—and sued for allegedly copying—the iPhone.
The bigger-screen phone was in tune with consumer tastes. When iPhones were shrinking in size, the Galaxy Note anticipated the shift to bigger handsets, which earned it the nickname “phablet,” a mashup of phone and tablet.
By the time Samsung released its third iteration in September 2013, the Galaxy Note was a certified hit, selling 10 million units in two months. The next year, Apple released its first Galaxy Note-sized iPhone.
As word reached Samsung executives that only incremental changes were likely for Apple’s iPhone 7 this year, Mr. Koh and other top executives grew confident about their prospects for a head-to-head fall release of the next version. The company decided to skip the number 6 and jump straight to 7, a name change that would invite direct comparisons with Apple’s model.
Samsung’s engineers packed new features, including an iris scanner, water resistance, an improved stylus and about 16% more battery life than its previous Note device. Presales for the Note 7 started strong after Mr. Koh introduced the device at a lavish (=elegante) event at a theater in Midtown Manhattan on Aug. 2. Analysts boosted their projections for Samsung’s earnings, while investors pushed the stock to record highs.
As user reports of overheating began to trickle in days later, company executives were at first unruffled. Some suspected that many of the alleged incidents had been faked, and argued that even a small number of genuine cases shouldn’t overshadow the fact that millions of smartphones were working fine, according to people familiar with their thinking.
Gathering at Mr. Koh’s office at R5, the 27-story office tower overlooking Samsung’s sprawling Digital City campus south of Seoul, he and other mobile executives, including his predecessor, J.K. Shin, and longtime Samsung top lieutenant G.S. Choi, examined the X-ray and CT scan reports of the phone, which appeared to show heat damage to the internal structure of the battery, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Messrs. Lee and Koh believed they had all the evidence they needed to conclude the problem lay with Samsung SDI’s batteries, these people said. They argued it was more important for Samsung to do “the right thing” and act, in the words of one of the people familiar with the matter, rather than wait for more information. Doing so would have left customers in the dark longer and potentially allowed the crisis to get worse.
On Sept. 2, Mr. Koh entered a news conference room in downtown Seoul to address reporters. Without providing names, he said the company had identified a problem with one of its suppliers and it would shift(=transferir) production to another supplier it believed hadn’t caused the problems.
People familiar with the matter say that the supplier Samsung planned to rely on was Amperex Technology Ltd., a unit of Japanese electronic parts maker TDK Corp.
In Washington, Mr. Koh’s announcement came as a surprise to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Typically, companies work jointly with the CPSC to study a problem and plan a recall together.
Samsung didn’t notify the CPSC of the problems until later that day, according to people familiar with the matter—about two weeks after the first reported Note 7 incident.
CPSC regulations require companies to report potential product hazards within 24 hours, though the commission allows companies that are “truly uncertain” about an issue to spend a “reasonable time” investigating the situation.
Samsung also took the little-noticed decision to pursue what’s known as fast-track resolution with the CPSC. The program allows a company to shorten the agency’s sometimes-lengthy investigation of a product problem, while avoiding a formal finding by the CPSC of a defect—a maneuver that can insulate manufacturers from product-liability litigation.
The CPSC warns that some companies might not want a fast-track resolution in situations where “complex technical issues…require more time to resolve.”
At first, Samsung’s recall solution seemed to work. Consumers were turning in their phones and asking for new Note 7 phones in about 90% of the cases, Samsung said. The company’s executives basked in praise, particularly from the South Korean press that Samsung executives read obsessively, who credited Samsung with acting swiftly.
The CPSC, though, appeared unhappy with some of the company’s maneuvers. A week after Mr. Koh’s recall announcement, on Sept. 9, the agency took the unusual step of warning consumers not to use the phones while it did more research, and said it would work to determine whether Samsung’s plan to issue replacement phones was “an acceptable remedy.”
A few days later, Samsung and the CPSC finally agreed to a formal joint recall.
Meanwhile, complaints about overheating replacement phones, and of isolated cases of battery failures, began emerging. A Samsung spokesman said initially there was no safety concern.
In China, where the company used only Amperex-supplied batteries in its Note 7s, the company dismissed reported smartphone fires as fabrications, arguing it was impossible for those batteries to have caused problems.
As it became clear the reported problems were multiplying, employees describe a kind of gallows humor setting in. One mobile division executive described the Galaxy Note 7 as a “radioactive” topic, with staffers afraid of even discussing it in the company canteen.
A local television news crew camped outside the offices at 6 a.m. to film a report about how many lights were on at the company, to illustrate the depth of the company’s crisis.
Then came the evacuation of a Southwest Airlines Co. flight in early October because of a smoking Samsung smartphone.
Top executives from major telecoms operators, including Verizon Communications Inc.’s Lowell McAdam, urged Mr. Lee to quickly kill the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, according to people familiar with the matter. The executives told Mr. Lee the smartphone was becoming increasingly unsalable.
On Oct. 11, Mr. Lee called Mr. Koh and ordered him to discontinue the smartphone. Later that day, Mr. Koh wrote a letter to the company’s mobile division, a copy of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, calling the crisis “one of the toughest challenges we have ever faced.”
While the decision to abort the Note 7 has halted the damage for now, analysts have raised questions about the future of the Galaxy Note series, arguing that the brand has become too tarnished by the crisis and that the company should retire it altogether.
At least two U.S. senators, Bill Nelson of Florida and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, have asked for more details about Samsung communication with the CPSC and its handling of the phone crisis. Mr. Blumenthal noted in a letter to Samsung released publicly that so far in the current fiasco, Samsung has reported 96 incidents of batteries overheating in the U.S., including 13 burns and 47 cases of property damage.
Last week, at the urging of CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye, the agency approved a proposal for a wide-ranging inquiry into lithium ion and related batteries in coming months.
“There are few things in life I’m reasonably confident of predicting; one of those is….we’re going to have yet another issue of lithium ion batteries catching fire” from a range of devices, said CPSC commissioner Robert Adler. “This is just a massive problem.”
—Eun-Young Jeong in Seoul, Ryan Knutson in New York and Takashi Mochizuki in Tokyo contributed to this article.
Write to Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@wsj.com and John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com
quinta-feira, 20 de outubro de 2016
Cunha preso e ja elvis
Source: Futebol, chinelada e isolamento: os dias discretos de Cunha antes da prisão
Text:
Na última vez em que apareceu em público desde a cassação de seu mandato de deputado federal, Eduardo Cunha foi alvo de chineladas de uma senhora que tentou agredi-lo no aeroporto Santos Dumont, no Rio de Janeiro, aos gritos de "safado" e "bandido".
O episódio, registrado em vídeo na semana passada, viralizou nas redes sociais - e não foi um caso isolado.
Last time that appeared in public since the nullification of his mandate of federal deputy, Cunha was target of a lady's hits who tried to injure him in the aeroport of Santos, in Rio de Janior, by shouting him as "dishonest" and "thief".
The episode, registered in a footage last week, viralyzed in the social networkings - and it was not an isolated case.
Outras cenas de Cunha recebendo xingamentos - e elogios, incluindo selfies - em saguões em São Paulo e Brasília circularam por timelines afora no último mês. "Não vão me constranger", respondeu, atribuindo os ataques a "petistas".
Desde a interrupção da vida pública, entretanto, o ex-deputado preso nesta quarta-feira pela Polícia Federal preferia falar de futebol.
Other Cunha's scenes receiving and praises, including selfies - in lobbies in Sao Paulo and Braizlia circulated by timelines outside last month. They will not embarass me, he answered, atributing it to the petist attacks.
Since the interruption of public life, however, the ex-deputy was arrested on this Thursday by Federal Police would prefere talk about soccer.
"E o Mengao, (sic) ontem jogou fora uma chance de ouro. Agora depende dos tropeços do Palmeiras", escreveu, frustrado, em uma longa série de tuítes sobre o empate sem gols entre seu time e o São Paulo, em 1º de outubro.
Futebol é uma das paixões de Cunha - ao lado de religião e política. No mesmo dia, ele pediu votos a seu candidato a vereador no Rio de Janeiro, o também peemedebista Chiquinho Brazão, conhecido por investigações que ligam sua família a milícias fluminenses.
Talvez tenha sido esta sua última vitória política: Brazão foi eleito com quase 24 mil votos para seu quarto mandato na Câmara Municipal.
And what about Flamengo, yesterday threw off one gold chance. Now it depends on the Palmeiras' mistakes, he wrote, frustrated, in a long series of twitts about the draw without goals between his team and Sao Paulo, on first of October.
Soccer is one of the Cunha's passions - near to the religion and politics. At the same day, he asked votes to his candidate to councillor in Rio de Janeiro, the peemedbist too, known by ivnestigations that connect his family to fluminense militias.
Perhaps it had been his last political victory: Brazao was elected with almost 24 thousand votes to his fourth mandate in the Municipal Camara.
Isolamento
Habituado à bajulação de políticos, o ex-todo poderoso da Câmara dos Deputados teve que se acostumar com o isolamento desde que perdeu o foro privilegiado em ações penais, com a cassação do mandato em 12 de setembro.
Após uma comemoração que reuniu ministros e governadores, no ano passado, ele festejou seu aniversário de 58 anos no último dia 29 de forma discreta, apenas com a família.
Há pouco mais de um mês, o Congresso decidiu pela cassação de seu mandato e a suspensão de seus direitos políticos por um placar arrebatador: 450 votos a favor, 10 contra e 9 abstenções.
Isolament
Habituated to politician's flattery, the ex-all powerful of Camara of Deputies who have to be accustomed to the isoletion since he had lost the privileged foro in penal actions, with the cassation of mandate in 12th of September.
After one celebration that gathered ministers and governos, last year, he celebrated his anniversary of 58 years on the last day 29th of discret form, just with the family.
From more than one month, the Congress decided by the cassation of his mandate and the suspentino of his political rights for a ravishing score: 450 votes in favor, 10 against and 9 abstentions.
Text:
Na última vez em que apareceu em público desde a cassação de seu mandato de deputado federal, Eduardo Cunha foi alvo de chineladas de uma senhora que tentou agredi-lo no aeroporto Santos Dumont, no Rio de Janeiro, aos gritos de "safado" e "bandido".
O episódio, registrado em vídeo na semana passada, viralizou nas redes sociais - e não foi um caso isolado.
Last time that appeared in public since the nullification of his mandate of federal deputy, Cunha was target of a lady's hits who tried to injure him in the aeroport of Santos, in Rio de Janior, by shouting him as "dishonest" and "thief".
The episode, registered in a footage last week, viralyzed in the social networkings - and it was not an isolated case.
Outras cenas de Cunha recebendo xingamentos - e elogios, incluindo selfies - em saguões em São Paulo e Brasília circularam por timelines afora no último mês. "Não vão me constranger", respondeu, atribuindo os ataques a "petistas".
Desde a interrupção da vida pública, entretanto, o ex-deputado preso nesta quarta-feira pela Polícia Federal preferia falar de futebol.
Other Cunha's scenes receiving and praises, including selfies - in lobbies in Sao Paulo and Braizlia circulated by timelines outside last month. They will not embarass me, he answered, atributing it to the petist attacks.
Since the interruption of public life, however, the ex-deputy was arrested on this Thursday by Federal Police would prefere talk about soccer.
"E o Mengao, (sic) ontem jogou fora uma chance de ouro. Agora depende dos tropeços do Palmeiras", escreveu, frustrado, em uma longa série de tuítes sobre o empate sem gols entre seu time e o São Paulo, em 1º de outubro.
Futebol é uma das paixões de Cunha - ao lado de religião e política. No mesmo dia, ele pediu votos a seu candidato a vereador no Rio de Janeiro, o também peemedebista Chiquinho Brazão, conhecido por investigações que ligam sua família a milícias fluminenses.
Talvez tenha sido esta sua última vitória política: Brazão foi eleito com quase 24 mil votos para seu quarto mandato na Câmara Municipal.
And what about Flamengo, yesterday threw off one gold chance. Now it depends on the Palmeiras' mistakes, he wrote, frustrated, in a long series of twitts about the draw without goals between his team and Sao Paulo, on first of October.
Soccer is one of the Cunha's passions - near to the religion and politics. At the same day, he asked votes to his candidate to councillor in Rio de Janeiro, the peemedbist too, known by ivnestigations that connect his family to fluminense militias.
Perhaps it had been his last political victory: Brazao was elected with almost 24 thousand votes to his fourth mandate in the Municipal Camara.
Isolamento
Habituado à bajulação de políticos, o ex-todo poderoso da Câmara dos Deputados teve que se acostumar com o isolamento desde que perdeu o foro privilegiado em ações penais, com a cassação do mandato em 12 de setembro.
Após uma comemoração que reuniu ministros e governadores, no ano passado, ele festejou seu aniversário de 58 anos no último dia 29 de forma discreta, apenas com a família.
Há pouco mais de um mês, o Congresso decidiu pela cassação de seu mandato e a suspensão de seus direitos políticos por um placar arrebatador: 450 votos a favor, 10 contra e 9 abstenções.
Isolament
Habituated to politician's flattery, the ex-all powerful of Camara of Deputies who have to be accustomed to the isoletion since he had lost the privileged foro in penal actions, with the cassation of mandate in 12th of September.
After one celebration that gathered ministers and governos, last year, he celebrated his anniversary of 58 years on the last day 29th of discret form, just with the family.
From more than one month, the Congress decided by the cassation of his mandate and the suspentino of his political rights for a ravishing score: 450 votes in favor, 10 against and 9 abstentions.
Trump se negou a aceitar a possível derrota
Source: Unable to control himself, Trump confirms everyone’s worst fears
Vocabulary:
she pressed Trump sharply
loses is “rigged” against him
Trump drew from his own arsenal of
strongly endorsed Roe
Oddly for a campaign
overwhelmed
Text: It was a two-track debate. At times, it was the setting for a detailed argument over serious issues in which Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump offered voters a relatively straightforward clash of progressive and conservative perspectives.
But this is 2016, and eventually the third and final debate on Wednesday reached the fundamental issue of the campaign: whether Trump is fit to be president. Despite her substantial lead in the polls, Clinton did not hang back, as many predicted she would. Instead, she pressed Trump sharply(=acentuado) on the entire catalog of his shortcomings, accusing him of being a “puppet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin and denouncing his treatment of women, his mocking a disabled reporter and his habit of saying that any contest he loses is “rigged”(=armado) against him.
And she clearly signaled one of the closing themes of her campaign when she declared that Trump had shown “a pattern of divisiveness, of a very dark and . . . the dangerous vision for our country.” The election, she said, was about “what kind of country are we going to be.”
Trump drew(=tirou) from his own arsenal of favored attacks on Clinton, from the work of the Clinton Foundation to her use of a private email server and her role in the Obama administration’s foreign policy. “She been proven to be a liar,” Trump said.
Had the exchanges come down to an ideological fight and simple tit-for-tat, fire and counterfire, it might have constituted a kind of victory for Trump, given his polling deficit and his gaffes and lies in his earlier debate performances. But as the debate wore on, Trump once again left behind moments that will only reinforce the doubts many voters already have about him.
Repeatedly, he refused to disown Putin, and he once again praised him relative to both Clinton and President Obama. “She doesn’t like Putin because Putin has outsmarted her at every step of the way,” he said.
He did himself no good when he accused the nine women who have said he groped and accosted him of being liars, motivated by a desire for fame.
And again and again, when Clinton repeated things that Trump had actually said, he simply denied saying them, providing fact-checkers with another rich Trumpian trove.
From the start, Chris Wallace, the moderator in Las Vegas, tried to press Clinton and Trump on a series of specific issues — what sort of justices they would nominate, how they viewed the Constitution, where they stood on abortion rights and gun control. In each case, they stressed themes congenial to their core constituencies.
Clinton strongly(=to make a public statement of your approval or support for something or someone) endorsed Roe v. Wade, sharply attacked the Citizens United decision that undercut campaign finance restrictions and stressed that she wanted justices who would stand with ordinary citizens against the wealthy and the powerful.
Trump began with his commitment to the Second Amendment and gun rights and kept coming back to the issue. Although Wallace pressed him repeatedly, Trump refused to say if he wanted Roe overturned, though he predicted that because his Supreme Court appointees would be “pro-life,” Roe would fall. Although Trump no doubt pleased opponents of abortion, Clinton showed passion in the exchange, while Trump seemed to be answering by rote.
Oddly(=estranhamente) for a campaign in which immigration is a central issue, the third debate was the first in which voters were exposed to an extended look at their sharply different approaches.
But since nothing in this campaign is ever destined to look like the Oxford Union or any other stately discussion of public problems, the first track was overwhelmed by the second. Trump’s obvious purpose was to shake voters away from Clinton. And if Clinton was trying to drive up turnout — her fervor on abortion rights and gun control no doubt helped her with women and liberals — Trump may have been attempting to drive it down, figuring that in a smaller electorate, his committed voters would give him a better chance of prevailing.
Yet Trump suffered from what he always suffers from an inability to control his anger or stop himself from interrupting, which only reinforced undecided voters’ worst perceptions of him.
The most important moment of the evening was Trump’s refusal to say that if he lost, he would accept the outcome: “I will look at it at the time,” he said. “I will keep you in suspense.”
Never has a candidate for president challenged the legitimacy of the entire electoral enterprise in which he was engaged. Clinton’s core claim is that Trump is a dangerous man who lacks respect for American institutions and American democracy. On this central issue, Trump chose to prove Clinton right.
Vocabulary:
she pressed Trump sharply
loses is “rigged” against him
Trump drew from his own arsenal of
strongly endorsed Roe
Oddly for a campaign
overwhelmed
Text: It was a two-track debate. At times, it was the setting for a detailed argument over serious issues in which Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump offered voters a relatively straightforward clash of progressive and conservative perspectives.
But this is 2016, and eventually the third and final debate on Wednesday reached the fundamental issue of the campaign: whether Trump is fit to be president. Despite her substantial lead in the polls, Clinton did not hang back, as many predicted she would. Instead, she pressed Trump sharply(=acentuado) on the entire catalog of his shortcomings, accusing him of being a “puppet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin and denouncing his treatment of women, his mocking a disabled reporter and his habit of saying that any contest he loses is “rigged”(=armado) against him.
And she clearly signaled one of the closing themes of her campaign when she declared that Trump had shown “a pattern of divisiveness, of a very dark and . . . the dangerous vision for our country.” The election, she said, was about “what kind of country are we going to be.”
Trump drew(=tirou) from his own arsenal of favored attacks on Clinton, from the work of the Clinton Foundation to her use of a private email server and her role in the Obama administration’s foreign policy. “She been proven to be a liar,” Trump said.
Had the exchanges come down to an ideological fight and simple tit-for-tat, fire and counterfire, it might have constituted a kind of victory for Trump, given his polling deficit and his gaffes and lies in his earlier debate performances. But as the debate wore on, Trump once again left behind moments that will only reinforce the doubts many voters already have about him.
Repeatedly, he refused to disown Putin, and he once again praised him relative to both Clinton and President Obama. “She doesn’t like Putin because Putin has outsmarted her at every step of the way,” he said.
He did himself no good when he accused the nine women who have said he groped and accosted him of being liars, motivated by a desire for fame.
And again and again, when Clinton repeated things that Trump had actually said, he simply denied saying them, providing fact-checkers with another rich Trumpian trove.
From the start, Chris Wallace, the moderator in Las Vegas, tried to press Clinton and Trump on a series of specific issues — what sort of justices they would nominate, how they viewed the Constitution, where they stood on abortion rights and gun control. In each case, they stressed themes congenial to their core constituencies.
Clinton strongly(=to make a public statement of your approval or support for something or someone) endorsed Roe v. Wade, sharply attacked the Citizens United decision that undercut campaign finance restrictions and stressed that she wanted justices who would stand with ordinary citizens against the wealthy and the powerful.
Trump began with his commitment to the Second Amendment and gun rights and kept coming back to the issue. Although Wallace pressed him repeatedly, Trump refused to say if he wanted Roe overturned, though he predicted that because his Supreme Court appointees would be “pro-life,” Roe would fall. Although Trump no doubt pleased opponents of abortion, Clinton showed passion in the exchange, while Trump seemed to be answering by rote.
Oddly(=estranhamente) for a campaign in which immigration is a central issue, the third debate was the first in which voters were exposed to an extended look at their sharply different approaches.
But since nothing in this campaign is ever destined to look like the Oxford Union or any other stately discussion of public problems, the first track was overwhelmed by the second. Trump’s obvious purpose was to shake voters away from Clinton. And if Clinton was trying to drive up turnout — her fervor on abortion rights and gun control no doubt helped her with women and liberals — Trump may have been attempting to drive it down, figuring that in a smaller electorate, his committed voters would give him a better chance of prevailing.
Yet Trump suffered from what he always suffers from an inability to control his anger or stop himself from interrupting, which only reinforced undecided voters’ worst perceptions of him.
The most important moment of the evening was Trump’s refusal to say that if he lost, he would accept the outcome: “I will look at it at the time,” he said. “I will keep you in suspense.”
Never has a candidate for president challenged the legitimacy of the entire electoral enterprise in which he was engaged. Clinton’s core claim is that Trump is a dangerous man who lacks respect for American institutions and American democracy. On this central issue, Trump chose to prove Clinton right.
quarta-feira, 19 de outubro de 2016
Australiana que live sem gastar dinheiro
Source: http://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-37685335
Text: Menos estresse, mais liberdade: a australiana que vive há um ano sem dinheiro
Mais tempo livre para trabalhar no que se gosta, ajudar os outros, plantar os próprios alimentos, caminhar mais, ter uma vida mais simples e saudável e reduzir o impacto ambiental do dia a dia.
Tudo isso caberia facilmente em uma lista de desejos de fim de ano ou de objetivos de vida. Mas, para a australiana Jo Nemeth, essa é a realidade há cerca de um ano e meio, quando decidiu viver sem dinheiro. Nada mesmo, nem um centavo.
Less stress, more liberty: the Australian who lives more than one year without money
More free time to work in what she enjoys, to help others, plant the own foods, walk more, and to have one simpler and healthier life and to reduce the environmental impact of the daily basis. Everything of this would easily fit in a list of desires of end year or of objectives of life. However, to the Australian JO, this is the reality for about one year and a half, when she decided to live without money. It is really nothing, nor one cent.
Ela trabalhava com desenvolvimento comunitário, mas sentia que não estava "fazendo a diferença". Em 2014, após ler um livro sobre um casal que percorreu a costa oeste da Austrália de bicicleta e outro sobre o irlandês Mark Boyle, que viveu três anos sem dinheiro, começou a se planejar.
Em março de 2015, começou o novo estilo de vida: sem dinheiro e com menos impacto ambiental.
"Eu tinha um bom trabalho, mas não achava que estava contribuindo de forma positiva, pelo contrário: precisava dirigir o tempo todo, não tinha tempo de cultivar meus alimentos e, acima disso tudo, eu me sentia estressada e infeliz o tempo todo, tendo que trabalhar para pagar contas. E minha vida tinha um impacto muito grande no meio ambiente", disse ela à BBC Brasil.
She used to work with a community development, but she was feeling she was not doing the difference. In 2014, after she had read a book about one couple that traveled the west coast of Australia by bicycle and another about the Ireland Mark, who lived three years without money, started planning. In march of 2015, started a new lifestyle: without money and with less environmental impact. I had a good job, but I was not thinking that I was contributing in a positive way, on the contrary: I was needing drive all the time, I didn't have time to cultivate my foods and, after all, I was feeling stressful and unhappy all the time, having to work to pay the bills. And my life had one serious impact in the environment, she said to BBC Brazil
Nos primeiros 12 meses, ela viveu numa casinha que construiu com material doado no terreno de amigos, e há dois meses está morando com familiares e amigos até a nova casa - uma espécie de trailer que está reformando e que ficará na fazenda de um amigo - ficar pronta.
"Um dos maiores problemas que enfrento é uma voz interna que diz que 'deveria estar vivendo uma vida normal'. Eu me surpreendi com o quanto é difícil se afastar de um modo antigo de pensar, já que tudo tem um valor monetário", conta.
"Mas já não me sinto tão pressionada como antes, quando estava trabalhando em uma empresa e tinha um chefe. Eu faço o que quero e a gente demora a se acostumar com isso. Eu tenho mais tempo livre, mas ando bastante ocupada também".
In the first 12 months, she lived in a humble house that she constructed with donated material in the field of friends, and from two months she was living with family members and friends until the new house - one species of trailers that is reforming and that will be hosted in a friends' farm - be ready.
One of the most serious problems that I face is an intern voice that says "I would have been living a normal life'. I was surprised with how much is hard to move away in a elder way of thinking, as now everything has a monetary value, she tells.
But I don't feel so pressed like before, when I was working in a compny and had one boss. I do what I want and we take a long time to be accustomed to that. I have more free time, but I've been very busy ultimately.
Cotidiano e necessidades básicas
Jo passa a maior parte do tempo cultivando o próprio alimento - produção que ela ainda consegue trocar por roupa, refeições fora de casa e outros produtos e serviços.
Além disso, ela também passou a ajudar os outros, trabalhando em atividades distintas como lavar roupas, cuidar de crianças, ajudar em pequenos negócios e até ensinar a construir fogões rústicos de tijolos, como o que usa no dia a dia.
Jo Nemeth também precisou se virar para lidar com outras necessidades básicas como roupas e produtos de higiene, além de água quente.
Routine and basic necessities
Jo spends the largest part of time cultivating her own food - production that she is still able to change by cloth, meals outside of the house and other products and services.
Beyond this, she passed to help others, working in distinct activities such as washing clothes, take care of children, help in small business and until teach to construct rustic stoves of bricks, as what she uses on a daily basis.
Jo had to turn to deal with other basic necessities such as clothes and products of hygiene products, beyond hot water.
Para se vestir, ainda usa as roupas que tinha antes de viver sem dinheiro, e ganha muitas coisas de quem não quer mais, como amigos e familiares. Quando precisa, também troca roupas usadas por alimentos orgânicos que ela produz.
Com os produtos de higiene, como xampu, pasta de dente e sabonete, ela pede a conhecidos que guardem itens de hotéis e viagens e também que separem restos de produtos para ela.
Usa panos usados como lenços e também como absorvente íntimo. Para lidar com a necessidade de papel higiênico, uma amiga dona de uma lanchonete guarda guardanapos quase não utilizados, ou com pequenas gotas de café, para que ela possa usar.
To wearherself, she still uses the clothes that she had before living without money, and she earns a lot of things that she does not want anymore, such as friends and family members. Whe she needs, she change used clothes as well by organic foods that she produces.
With hygiene products, ans shampoo, toothpaste, and soap, she asks known people that they keep itens of hotels and trips and to separate rests of products to her.
She used cloths such as sheets and as intimin absorvent. To deal with the necessity of a hygiene paper, one friend owner of a cafeteria keeps napkins almost not used, or with small coffee drops, to her be able to use.
Text: Menos estresse, mais liberdade: a australiana que vive há um ano sem dinheiro
Mais tempo livre para trabalhar no que se gosta, ajudar os outros, plantar os próprios alimentos, caminhar mais, ter uma vida mais simples e saudável e reduzir o impacto ambiental do dia a dia.
Tudo isso caberia facilmente em uma lista de desejos de fim de ano ou de objetivos de vida. Mas, para a australiana Jo Nemeth, essa é a realidade há cerca de um ano e meio, quando decidiu viver sem dinheiro. Nada mesmo, nem um centavo.
Less stress, more liberty: the Australian who lives more than one year without money
More free time to work in what she enjoys, to help others, plant the own foods, walk more, and to have one simpler and healthier life and to reduce the environmental impact of the daily basis. Everything of this would easily fit in a list of desires of end year or of objectives of life. However, to the Australian JO, this is the reality for about one year and a half, when she decided to live without money. It is really nothing, nor one cent.
Ela trabalhava com desenvolvimento comunitário, mas sentia que não estava "fazendo a diferença". Em 2014, após ler um livro sobre um casal que percorreu a costa oeste da Austrália de bicicleta e outro sobre o irlandês Mark Boyle, que viveu três anos sem dinheiro, começou a se planejar.
Em março de 2015, começou o novo estilo de vida: sem dinheiro e com menos impacto ambiental.
"Eu tinha um bom trabalho, mas não achava que estava contribuindo de forma positiva, pelo contrário: precisava dirigir o tempo todo, não tinha tempo de cultivar meus alimentos e, acima disso tudo, eu me sentia estressada e infeliz o tempo todo, tendo que trabalhar para pagar contas. E minha vida tinha um impacto muito grande no meio ambiente", disse ela à BBC Brasil.
She used to work with a community development, but she was feeling she was not doing the difference. In 2014, after she had read a book about one couple that traveled the west coast of Australia by bicycle and another about the Ireland Mark, who lived three years without money, started planning. In march of 2015, started a new lifestyle: without money and with less environmental impact. I had a good job, but I was not thinking that I was contributing in a positive way, on the contrary: I was needing drive all the time, I didn't have time to cultivate my foods and, after all, I was feeling stressful and unhappy all the time, having to work to pay the bills. And my life had one serious impact in the environment, she said to BBC Brazil
Nos primeiros 12 meses, ela viveu numa casinha que construiu com material doado no terreno de amigos, e há dois meses está morando com familiares e amigos até a nova casa - uma espécie de trailer que está reformando e que ficará na fazenda de um amigo - ficar pronta.
"Um dos maiores problemas que enfrento é uma voz interna que diz que 'deveria estar vivendo uma vida normal'. Eu me surpreendi com o quanto é difícil se afastar de um modo antigo de pensar, já que tudo tem um valor monetário", conta.
"Mas já não me sinto tão pressionada como antes, quando estava trabalhando em uma empresa e tinha um chefe. Eu faço o que quero e a gente demora a se acostumar com isso. Eu tenho mais tempo livre, mas ando bastante ocupada também".
In the first 12 months, she lived in a humble house that she constructed with donated material in the field of friends, and from two months she was living with family members and friends until the new house - one species of trailers that is reforming and that will be hosted in a friends' farm - be ready.
One of the most serious problems that I face is an intern voice that says "I would have been living a normal life'. I was surprised with how much is hard to move away in a elder way of thinking, as now everything has a monetary value, she tells.
But I don't feel so pressed like before, when I was working in a compny and had one boss. I do what I want and we take a long time to be accustomed to that. I have more free time, but I've been very busy ultimately.
Cotidiano e necessidades básicas
Jo passa a maior parte do tempo cultivando o próprio alimento - produção que ela ainda consegue trocar por roupa, refeições fora de casa e outros produtos e serviços.
Além disso, ela também passou a ajudar os outros, trabalhando em atividades distintas como lavar roupas, cuidar de crianças, ajudar em pequenos negócios e até ensinar a construir fogões rústicos de tijolos, como o que usa no dia a dia.
Jo Nemeth também precisou se virar para lidar com outras necessidades básicas como roupas e produtos de higiene, além de água quente.
Routine and basic necessities
Jo spends the largest part of time cultivating her own food - production that she is still able to change by cloth, meals outside of the house and other products and services.
Beyond this, she passed to help others, working in distinct activities such as washing clothes, take care of children, help in small business and until teach to construct rustic stoves of bricks, as what she uses on a daily basis.
Jo had to turn to deal with other basic necessities such as clothes and products of hygiene products, beyond hot water.
Para se vestir, ainda usa as roupas que tinha antes de viver sem dinheiro, e ganha muitas coisas de quem não quer mais, como amigos e familiares. Quando precisa, também troca roupas usadas por alimentos orgânicos que ela produz.
Com os produtos de higiene, como xampu, pasta de dente e sabonete, ela pede a conhecidos que guardem itens de hotéis e viagens e também que separem restos de produtos para ela.
Usa panos usados como lenços e também como absorvente íntimo. Para lidar com a necessidade de papel higiênico, uma amiga dona de uma lanchonete guarda guardanapos quase não utilizados, ou com pequenas gotas de café, para que ela possa usar.
To wearherself, she still uses the clothes that she had before living without money, and she earns a lot of things that she does not want anymore, such as friends and family members. Whe she needs, she change used clothes as well by organic foods that she produces.
With hygiene products, ans shampoo, toothpaste, and soap, she asks known people that they keep itens of hotels and trips and to separate rests of products to her.
She used cloths such as sheets and as intimin absorvent. To deal with the necessity of a hygiene paper, one friend owner of a cafeteria keeps napkins almost not used, or with small coffee drops, to her be able to use.
Proximo debate será sobre meio ambiente
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/clinton-and-trump-should-address-climate-in-final-debate/
Vocabulary:
remains stalled in the courts
come up with a breakthrough
Text: Clinton and Trump Should Address Climate in Final Debate
Energy Secretary Moniz says candidates should state their positions on climate solutions
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said he wants tonight’s presidential debate moderator to ask about climate change.
But, he said, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump should be asked more than whether they believe in the science behind man-made warming.
“I think it should be very simple: Basically, state a position on climate solutions,” Moniz offered as a sample debate question last night during a lecture at American University in Washington, D.C.
Climate change was largely absent from the past two presidential debates, as well as the one debate between the major parties’ vice presidential nominees, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D) and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R). The omission has frustrated environmental activists and some energy analysts.
Moniz added that debates that begin without stipulating that climate change is occurring and that humans are the dominant cause are nonstarters.
“One of the statements I made in my confirmation hearing ... was that ‘I didn’t come to D.C. to debate what’s not debatable.’ Let’s debate the real stuff, like how are we going to respond [to climate change], how much, how fast, where, etc. I think that’s where the question should go,” he said.
The Obama administration is wrestling with these questions while the president’a signature domestic climate policy, the Clean Power Plan, remains stalled (=If an engine stalls, or if you stall it, it stops working suddenly and without you intending it to happen) in the courts.
Moniz touted (=to advertise, talk about, or praise something or someone repeatedly, especially as a way of encouraging people to like, accept, or buy something) significant progress in the international arena, with the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change last year and an amendment to the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances cemented over the weekend in Kigali, Rwanda (ClimateWire, Oct. 17). Moniz said the amendment to cut emissions of heat-trapping hydrofluorocarbons would avert up to half a degree Celsius of warming.
Moniz also highlighted Mission Innovation and the Breakthrough Energy Coalition as major accomplishments for the administration. Mission Innovation is an agreement among 20 countries to double their investment in clean energy research and development by 2020. The Breakthrough Energy Coalition is a parallel consortium of private investors pledging to advance clean energy technologies into the real world.
However, a cash injection doesn’t guarantee that the world will come up (=aparecer) with a breakthrough energy miracle to meet the world’s demands for power without harming the planet, Moniz said. “One more question we should ask is, do we have in the United States the capacity to effectively absorb that increased funding?” he said.
He argued that the success of programs like the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, which invests in early-stage energy projects, shows that the United States is ready to put more research dollars to good use.
“We’ve got a lot of capacity left to take advantage of innovation,” he said.
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who introduced Moniz at the lecture, reiterated his suggestion from a column in April that called on the next president to persuade Moniz to keep his job in order to maintain momentum in clean energy and fighting climate change.
Moniz did not answer a direct question about whether he would continue in the next administration.
Reprinted from ClimateWire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. E&E provides daily coverage of essential energy and environmental news at www.eenews.net. Click here for the original story.
Vocabulary:
remains stalled in the courts
come up with a breakthrough
Text: Clinton and Trump Should Address Climate in Final Debate
Energy Secretary Moniz says candidates should state their positions on climate solutions
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said he wants tonight’s presidential debate moderator to ask about climate change.
But, he said, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump should be asked more than whether they believe in the science behind man-made warming.
“I think it should be very simple: Basically, state a position on climate solutions,” Moniz offered as a sample debate question last night during a lecture at American University in Washington, D.C.
Climate change was largely absent from the past two presidential debates, as well as the one debate between the major parties’ vice presidential nominees, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D) and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R). The omission has frustrated environmental activists and some energy analysts.
Moniz added that debates that begin without stipulating that climate change is occurring and that humans are the dominant cause are nonstarters.
“One of the statements I made in my confirmation hearing ... was that ‘I didn’t come to D.C. to debate what’s not debatable.’ Let’s debate the real stuff, like how are we going to respond [to climate change], how much, how fast, where, etc. I think that’s where the question should go,” he said.
The Obama administration is wrestling with these questions while the president’a signature domestic climate policy, the Clean Power Plan, remains stalled (=If an engine stalls, or if you stall it, it stops working suddenly and without you intending it to happen) in the courts.
Moniz touted (=to advertise, talk about, or praise something or someone repeatedly, especially as a way of encouraging people to like, accept, or buy something) significant progress in the international arena, with the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change last year and an amendment to the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances cemented over the weekend in Kigali, Rwanda (ClimateWire, Oct. 17). Moniz said the amendment to cut emissions of heat-trapping hydrofluorocarbons would avert up to half a degree Celsius of warming.
Moniz also highlighted Mission Innovation and the Breakthrough Energy Coalition as major accomplishments for the administration. Mission Innovation is an agreement among 20 countries to double their investment in clean energy research and development by 2020. The Breakthrough Energy Coalition is a parallel consortium of private investors pledging to advance clean energy technologies into the real world.
However, a cash injection doesn’t guarantee that the world will come up (=aparecer) with a breakthrough energy miracle to meet the world’s demands for power without harming the planet, Moniz said. “One more question we should ask is, do we have in the United States the capacity to effectively absorb that increased funding?” he said.
He argued that the success of programs like the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, which invests in early-stage energy projects, shows that the United States is ready to put more research dollars to good use.
“We’ve got a lot of capacity left to take advantage of innovation,” he said.
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who introduced Moniz at the lecture, reiterated his suggestion from a column in April that called on the next president to persuade Moniz to keep his job in order to maintain momentum in clean energy and fighting climate change.
Moniz did not answer a direct question about whether he would continue in the next administration.
Reprinted from ClimateWire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. E&E provides daily coverage of essential energy and environmental news at www.eenews.net. Click here for the original story.
terça-feira, 18 de outubro de 2016
Valorização do real
Source: http://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-37663154
Text: Até quando o real vai seguir valorizado?
Until when the real will be valorized?
Contrariando a lógica de uma economia em recessão, o real tem se mantido como uma das moedas que mais se fortaleceram nos últimos seis meses.
Entre os países do G20, grupo das economias mais industrializadas do mundo, a moeda brasileira foi a que teve melhor desempenho. A questão é se esta trajetória vai continuar e o quanto ela pode beneficiar a recuperação do país.
Contrary to the logic of the economy in recession, the real have been kept as one of the coins which more strengthened in th elast six months.
Among countries of G20, group of most industrialized economies of world, the Brazilian coin was te one who had the best performance. The question is if this trajectory will keep and how much it can benefit the recovery of the country.
Levantamento realizado pela BBC Brasil mostra que a valorização do real frente ao dólar superou 9% desde que a Câmara dos Deputados aceitou o parecer do impeachment da presidente Dilma Rousseff, em abril passado.
O percentual é quase o dobro do registrado pelo iene, do Japão, e o rublo, da Rússia, as outras moedas do grupo que apresentaram ganhos significativos no mesmo período.
"Acho que se você comparar o real agora com o que ele era no ano passado, sim, ele está valorizado" avalia Fiona Mackie, analista para América Latina e Caribe da consultoria britânica Economist Intelligence Unit.
Conducted survey by Brazil bbc shows the appreciation of real above the dollar exceeded 9% since the Camara of deputies accepted the statement of impeachment of president Dilma Roussef, in the last April.
The percentage is almost the double of what was registered by Irene, of Japan, and Rublo, from Russia, and other coins of the group which presented significant gains in the same period. I guess if you compare the current real with what it was in the last year, yes, it is valued, assess Fiona Mackie, the analyst for Latin American and Caribean of British consultant Economist Intelligence Unit.
"Mas se olharmos para uma perspectiva de longo prazo, e compararmos o real com os últimos anos, ele não está supervalorizado. Apesar do movimento recente, ele ainda está abaixo do que era anos atrás."
Além disso, a elevação da taxa de juros nos Estados Unidos - que poderia levar a uma transferência de capital dos países emergentes para a economia americana, enfraquecendo as moedas dos primeiros - não ocorreu no ritmo aguardado por investidores, o que trouxe fôlego para o real.
Os riscos para a moeda brasileira no curto prazo, porém, seguem iminentes, comenta Paulo Figueiredo, diretor da consultoria de investimentos FN Capital.
"But if we look for one perspective of long term, and compare the real with the last years, it is not supervalued. Despite the recent movement, it is still under what it was years ago.
Beyond this, the elevation of the interest rate of United Stats - what could lead to a transfer of capital of emergent countries to the American economy, weakening the coins of the first ones - did not occurred in the pace expected by investors, what brought breath for the real.
The risks for the Brazilian coin in the short term, although, are imminent, comments Paulo, director of the consultant of investments FN Capital.
"Listaria três ameaças mais sérias que podem afetar a trajetória do real. Em primeiro, a elevação da taxa básica de juros dos EUA. Temos visto que qualquer declaração do Federal Reserve (a autoridade monetária americana) tem causado grandes oscilações no câmbio."
Ele segue: "As vulnerabilidades da China ainda podem causar impacto. Uma desaceleração forte não passaria sem trazer estragos. Por fim, a situação bancária da Europa também é um fator. Vimos os problemas do Deutsche Bank nas últimas semanas, mas outras instituições também podem ser afetadas. Neste caso, os investidores podem buscar menor volatilidade, com ativos mais seguros", diz.
It would list three threats more serious that can affect the real trajectory of real. At first place, the elevation of the basic interest rate of USA. We have seen that any declaration of Federal Reserve (the authority of American monetary) have caused big oscillations in the exchange.
He follows: The vulnerabilities of China can still cause impact. One strong disaleceration would not pass without doing spoils. In the end, the bank situation of Europe is another factor as well. We saw problems of Deutche Bank last weeks, but other institutions can be affected too. In this case, the investor can search for less volatility, with assets more secure", he says.
Mackie ainda ressalta que "outro problema é que precisamos ver uma política fiscal com mais credibilidade".
"É isso que os mercados exigem do Brasil desde que o país entrou nessa crise econômica", diz, "em parte por causa do crescimento rápido do endividamento público e o déficit fiscal, que levantaram dúvidas sobre a capacidade do país de financiar sua dívida e mantê-la sustentável."
Mackie still remarks that "another problem is that we need to see a fiscal politics with more credibility".
"This is what markets require from Brazil since the country entered in this economic crisis", he says, "in part because to the rapid growth of public debt and fiscal debit, what lead to doubts about the capacity of country to finance its debt and keep it sustainable".
A analista da consultoria britânica afirma, entretanto, que "o que temos visto agora é que finalmente a política fiscal será ajustada, ou que pelo menos existe mais consenso neste sentido".
"Provavelmente serão realizadas reformas estruturais amplas, como a da Previdência, para trazer mais sustentabilidade fiscal, o que vai permitir o corte da taxa básica de juros."
Até onde?
The analyst of British consultant contends, however, that "what we have seen until now is that finally the fiscal politics will be adjusted, or that at least exist more consense in this sense", "Probably they will be realized big structural reforms, such as the presidency, to bring more fiscal sustainability, what will allow the cut of basic interest rates".
Until where?
O real segue ganhando terreno inclusive ante uma das moedas mais estáveis do mundo, a libra esterlina. A moeda do Reino Unido acumula a maior desvalorização em relação ao dólar em 2016: perdeu 18%, graças às incertezas políticas criadas com o referendo que decidiu pela saída dos britânicos da União Europeia.
No auge da crise política brasileira, uma libra chegou a ser negociada acima de R$ 6,00. Hoje, é vendida perto dos R$ 3,90. Paulo Figueiredo, entretanto, ressalta que esse patamar deve mudar até o final de 2017.
The real keeps earning field inclusively one of the coins most established of world, the pound sterling. The coin of United Kingdown accumulates the most devaluation related to the dollar in 2016: lost 18%, thanks to the political doubts created with the referendum what decided by the exit of British of European Union.
At the top of Brazilian crisis, one pound reached to be negotiated over 6,00. Today, it is sold near to 3,90. Paulo Figueired, however, points out that this landing should change untiil the end of 2017.
"Muito mais por conta da estabilização da libra, que por uma depreciação do real. Acho que algo entre R$ 4,80 e R$ 5,00 é o mais adequado", diz.
Porém, o foco dos especialistas é a relação com o dinheiro dos grandes parceiros comerciais do Brasil, entre eles Argentina, China e Estados Unidos. "Nesse contexto", diz Fiona Mackie, "sim, o real vai seguir se valorizando, mas deve continuar competitivo no longo prazo."
Much more because of the establishment of the pound, that by one depreciation of real. I guess that something between 4,90 and 5 is more appropriate, he says.
Although, with specialists' focus is the relation with the money of big commercial partners of Brazil, among them Argentine, China and United States. In this context, says Fiona, yes the real will keep increasing, but it should be competitive in the long term.
Paulo Figueiredo vislumbra inclusive a possibilidade de a moeda americana cair abaixo dos três reais em 2017. Por um lado, esse movimento ajudaria a conter a inflação, mas por outro, encareceria os produtos brasileiros, tendo consequências negativas para a balança comercial.
Fiona Mackie diz que após a valorização do ano que vem, deve haver uma "desvalorização moderada" do real no médio prazo.
Paulo sees the possibility of the American coin go down three reais in 2017. On one hand, this movement would help to count the inflation, but on the other hand, would face the Brazilian products, having the negative consequence for the commercial balance.
Fiona Mackie says after the valuation the next year, will have one moderate devaluation of real in the medium term.
Text: Até quando o real vai seguir valorizado?
Until when the real will be valorized?
Contrariando a lógica de uma economia em recessão, o real tem se mantido como uma das moedas que mais se fortaleceram nos últimos seis meses.
Entre os países do G20, grupo das economias mais industrializadas do mundo, a moeda brasileira foi a que teve melhor desempenho. A questão é se esta trajetória vai continuar e o quanto ela pode beneficiar a recuperação do país.
Contrary to the logic of the economy in recession, the real have been kept as one of the coins which more strengthened in th elast six months.
Among countries of G20, group of most industrialized economies of world, the Brazilian coin was te one who had the best performance. The question is if this trajectory will keep and how much it can benefit the recovery of the country.
Levantamento realizado pela BBC Brasil mostra que a valorização do real frente ao dólar superou 9% desde que a Câmara dos Deputados aceitou o parecer do impeachment da presidente Dilma Rousseff, em abril passado.
O percentual é quase o dobro do registrado pelo iene, do Japão, e o rublo, da Rússia, as outras moedas do grupo que apresentaram ganhos significativos no mesmo período.
"Acho que se você comparar o real agora com o que ele era no ano passado, sim, ele está valorizado" avalia Fiona Mackie, analista para América Latina e Caribe da consultoria britânica Economist Intelligence Unit.
Conducted survey by Brazil bbc shows the appreciation of real above the dollar exceeded 9% since the Camara of deputies accepted the statement of impeachment of president Dilma Roussef, in the last April.
The percentage is almost the double of what was registered by Irene, of Japan, and Rublo, from Russia, and other coins of the group which presented significant gains in the same period. I guess if you compare the current real with what it was in the last year, yes, it is valued, assess Fiona Mackie, the analyst for Latin American and Caribean of British consultant Economist Intelligence Unit.
"Mas se olharmos para uma perspectiva de longo prazo, e compararmos o real com os últimos anos, ele não está supervalorizado. Apesar do movimento recente, ele ainda está abaixo do que era anos atrás."
Além disso, a elevação da taxa de juros nos Estados Unidos - que poderia levar a uma transferência de capital dos países emergentes para a economia americana, enfraquecendo as moedas dos primeiros - não ocorreu no ritmo aguardado por investidores, o que trouxe fôlego para o real.
Os riscos para a moeda brasileira no curto prazo, porém, seguem iminentes, comenta Paulo Figueiredo, diretor da consultoria de investimentos FN Capital.
"But if we look for one perspective of long term, and compare the real with the last years, it is not supervalued. Despite the recent movement, it is still under what it was years ago.
Beyond this, the elevation of the interest rate of United Stats - what could lead to a transfer of capital of emergent countries to the American economy, weakening the coins of the first ones - did not occurred in the pace expected by investors, what brought breath for the real.
The risks for the Brazilian coin in the short term, although, are imminent, comments Paulo, director of the consultant of investments FN Capital.
"Listaria três ameaças mais sérias que podem afetar a trajetória do real. Em primeiro, a elevação da taxa básica de juros dos EUA. Temos visto que qualquer declaração do Federal Reserve (a autoridade monetária americana) tem causado grandes oscilações no câmbio."
Ele segue: "As vulnerabilidades da China ainda podem causar impacto. Uma desaceleração forte não passaria sem trazer estragos. Por fim, a situação bancária da Europa também é um fator. Vimos os problemas do Deutsche Bank nas últimas semanas, mas outras instituições também podem ser afetadas. Neste caso, os investidores podem buscar menor volatilidade, com ativos mais seguros", diz.
It would list three threats more serious that can affect the real trajectory of real. At first place, the elevation of the basic interest rate of USA. We have seen that any declaration of Federal Reserve (the authority of American monetary) have caused big oscillations in the exchange.
He follows: The vulnerabilities of China can still cause impact. One strong disaleceration would not pass without doing spoils. In the end, the bank situation of Europe is another factor as well. We saw problems of Deutche Bank last weeks, but other institutions can be affected too. In this case, the investor can search for less volatility, with assets more secure", he says.
Mackie ainda ressalta que "outro problema é que precisamos ver uma política fiscal com mais credibilidade".
"É isso que os mercados exigem do Brasil desde que o país entrou nessa crise econômica", diz, "em parte por causa do crescimento rápido do endividamento público e o déficit fiscal, que levantaram dúvidas sobre a capacidade do país de financiar sua dívida e mantê-la sustentável."
Mackie still remarks that "another problem is that we need to see a fiscal politics with more credibility".
"This is what markets require from Brazil since the country entered in this economic crisis", he says, "in part because to the rapid growth of public debt and fiscal debit, what lead to doubts about the capacity of country to finance its debt and keep it sustainable".
A analista da consultoria britânica afirma, entretanto, que "o que temos visto agora é que finalmente a política fiscal será ajustada, ou que pelo menos existe mais consenso neste sentido".
"Provavelmente serão realizadas reformas estruturais amplas, como a da Previdência, para trazer mais sustentabilidade fiscal, o que vai permitir o corte da taxa básica de juros."
Até onde?
The analyst of British consultant contends, however, that "what we have seen until now is that finally the fiscal politics will be adjusted, or that at least exist more consense in this sense", "Probably they will be realized big structural reforms, such as the presidency, to bring more fiscal sustainability, what will allow the cut of basic interest rates".
Until where?
O real segue ganhando terreno inclusive ante uma das moedas mais estáveis do mundo, a libra esterlina. A moeda do Reino Unido acumula a maior desvalorização em relação ao dólar em 2016: perdeu 18%, graças às incertezas políticas criadas com o referendo que decidiu pela saída dos britânicos da União Europeia.
No auge da crise política brasileira, uma libra chegou a ser negociada acima de R$ 6,00. Hoje, é vendida perto dos R$ 3,90. Paulo Figueiredo, entretanto, ressalta que esse patamar deve mudar até o final de 2017.
The real keeps earning field inclusively one of the coins most established of world, the pound sterling. The coin of United Kingdown accumulates the most devaluation related to the dollar in 2016: lost 18%, thanks to the political doubts created with the referendum what decided by the exit of British of European Union.
At the top of Brazilian crisis, one pound reached to be negotiated over 6,00. Today, it is sold near to 3,90. Paulo Figueired, however, points out that this landing should change untiil the end of 2017.
"Muito mais por conta da estabilização da libra, que por uma depreciação do real. Acho que algo entre R$ 4,80 e R$ 5,00 é o mais adequado", diz.
Porém, o foco dos especialistas é a relação com o dinheiro dos grandes parceiros comerciais do Brasil, entre eles Argentina, China e Estados Unidos. "Nesse contexto", diz Fiona Mackie, "sim, o real vai seguir se valorizando, mas deve continuar competitivo no longo prazo."
Much more because of the establishment of the pound, that by one depreciation of real. I guess that something between 4,90 and 5 is more appropriate, he says.
Although, with specialists' focus is the relation with the money of big commercial partners of Brazil, among them Argentine, China and United States. In this context, says Fiona, yes the real will keep increasing, but it should be competitive in the long term.
Paulo Figueiredo vislumbra inclusive a possibilidade de a moeda americana cair abaixo dos três reais em 2017. Por um lado, esse movimento ajudaria a conter a inflação, mas por outro, encareceria os produtos brasileiros, tendo consequências negativas para a balança comercial.
Fiona Mackie diz que após a valorização do ano que vem, deve haver uma "desvalorização moderada" do real no médio prazo.
Paulo sees the possibility of the American coin go down three reais in 2017. On one hand, this movement would help to count the inflation, but on the other hand, would face the Brazilian products, having the negative consequence for the commercial balance.
Fiona Mackie says after the valuation the next year, will have one moderate devaluation of real in the medium term.
Obama promete ida a Marte até 2030
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/blue-planet-red-planet-politics-obama-s-giant-leap-for-legacy/
Text:
for any full-throttle interest
in the realm beyond Earth.
stepping out globally
Blue Planet/Red Planet Politics: Obama's Giant Leap for Legacy
In the waning days of his administration, the president has been paying unusual attention to space, recently highlighting his accomplishments and further goals for exploration of the solar system
Space has been back on the radar lately for the White House—an uncharacteristic situation in an administration that has not been known for any full-throttle(=if a person or a machine is at full throttle, they are doing something as well and with as much energy as they can) interest in the realm beyond Earth.
In an October 11 CNN opinion piece, Pres. Barack Obama underscored his belief that the U.S. will take the giant leap to Mars. “We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America’s story in space,” Obama wrote, “sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time.”
The plan was not new—Obama first announced his intention to explore the Red Planet in 2010, and NASA has been pursuing the necessary technology ever since. But the opinion piece suggests the president is thinking about his legacy in space—particularly at a time when private companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX are pursuing Mars exploration plans of their own.
The CNN editorial popped up the same day as a White House space update, “Making Human Settlement of Space a Reality,” came out from John Holdren, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, along with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. It announced two new NASA initiatives that build on the president’s vision to enable humans to sustainably live and work in space. One has several select companies developing habitation systems able to sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration, deep-space missions such as a trip to Mars. The other new plan would begin to allow companies to add their own modules and other capabilities to the International Space Station.
Then there was Obama’s guest editing of Wired magazine’s November issue, in which he said his favorite movie last year was The Martian. He added that he is “predisposed” to admire any movie where Americans dare the odds and motivate the world. “But what really grabbed me about the film is that it shows how humans—through our ingenuity, our commitment to fact and reason, and ultimately our faith in each other—can science the heck out of just about any problem,” Obama wrote in an introduction to the issue.
And on October 13 Obama signed an executive order—“Coordinating Efforts to Prepare the Nation for Space Weather Events”—to make sure power grids, satellites and other vital national interests are equipped to withstand (=resistir) an influx of charged particles sent our way by periodic flare-ups on the sun.
All of this was prelude to Obama’s own voyage that same day to Carnegie Mellon University for The White House Frontiers Conference. Among the science and technology themes on the agenda were interplanetary space exploration and the thriving U.S. space industry. Up for discussion: How will American investments in science and technology help us settle “the final frontier”—space?
Forget-Me-Not
The president’s reiterated(=repetiu) interest in Earth’s planetary neighbor is marvelous rocket rumble to the ears of Chris Carberry, CEO of Explore Mars, a humans-on-Mars advocacy group. He sees Obama’s initiative as a way to assure the public that Red Planet exploration is firmly in NASA’s sights—there is a caveat, however. “The next administration and Congress will need to make a lot of important decisions,” Carberry says, “with regards to mission architecture options, precursor missions and budget in the next couple of years,” if landing humans on Mars is to become reality anytime soon.
Obama and Mars are not strangers. In 2010 he called on NASA to head for the Red Planet, have astronauts orbit that world by the mid-2030s and return them safely to Earth. “And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it,” he said in a 2010 speech at the Kennedy Space Center. So why the announcement now? “It is a reminder that six years ago he set NASA on the journey to Mars…and that they are still going. He hasn’t changed his mind,” says John Logsdon, professor emeritus of political science and international affairs(=assuntos) at George Washington University. “As his administration draws to a close, it is his summing up of what he believes his record has been.”
Yet whether Mars will truly be part of the president’s space legacy remains to be seen, says Marcia Smith, founder and editor of SpacePolicyOnline.com. “I think Obama’s civil space legacy will be his embrace of commercial partnerships, not humans to Mars,” she says. Ultimately Obama’s legacy depends in large part on what the next administration does, Smith says. If it continues the Mars exploration program he set up, Obama will likely receive kudos, whether or not it is deserved, she says. NASA’s big and yet-to-fly booster, the Space Launch System and the Orion piloted spacecraft—key elements of NASA’s journey to Mars—exist today because of Congress, not the president. “But he did extend the International Space Station to 2024,” she says, “providing more years to study human reaction to spaceflight.” On the other hand, if the next president cancels the drive for Mars—the way Obama canceled “The Vision for Space Exploration,” which targeted further human exploration of the moon, as blueprinted in 2004 by Pres. George W. Bush—“it will be just another footnote in history.”
Uncertainties
Although the overall Obama space scorecard is checkered, the area of commercial partnerships is where his administration shines, Smith says. During the past eight years NASA has pursued unprecedented private partnerships that should have commercial companies flying NASA astronauts to and from the space station in the near future. The ultimate fate of this program and the broad range of other public-private partnerships initiated under the administration is still unfolding, but it is clear that “a new paradigm” has emerged during Obama’s years in the Oval Office. Whether it is sustained by the next president “will be interesting to watch,” she concludes.
Space policy expert Logsdon senses “uncertainties” surrounding the next administration’s handling of the nation’s space agenda. “Whether to put the moon back in is the biggest one,” says Logsdon, pointing to the Bush administration’s canceled plans. Such a goal is something that European Space Agency Director General Johann-Dietrich Wörner has been campaigning for what has been tagged as an international “moon village.” “My biggest disappointment with Obama,” Logsdon continues, “is lack of international leadership, not reaching out as the U.S. president to the international community and saying ‘let’s do this together”—stepping out globally beyond low Earth orbit.
Another transition issue, according to Logsdon, is whether the next U.S. chief executive makes explicit an invitation to other countries to join America in planning exploration in general, and whether China is included in that goal. Doing so could make the difference in ultimately reaching the Red Planet or not. In the past 40 years the U.S. space program has received less than 1 percent of the federal spending budget, Logsdon says. “And I see nothing that will change that on the horizon.”
Bottom line to all this boosterism: If NASA truly wants to make it to Mars, it will probably need to enlist international technology, expertise and funding.
Text:
for any full-throttle interest
in the realm beyond Earth.
to withstand an influx
reiterated interest in Earth’
international affairsstepping out globally
Blue Planet/Red Planet Politics: Obama's Giant Leap for Legacy
In the waning days of his administration, the president has been paying unusual attention to space, recently highlighting his accomplishments and further goals for exploration of the solar system
Space has been back on the radar lately for the White House—an uncharacteristic situation in an administration that has not been known for any full-throttle(=if a person or a machine is at full throttle, they are doing something as well and with as much energy as they can) interest in the realm beyond Earth.
In an October 11 CNN opinion piece, Pres. Barack Obama underscored his belief that the U.S. will take the giant leap to Mars. “We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America’s story in space,” Obama wrote, “sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time.”
The plan was not new—Obama first announced his intention to explore the Red Planet in 2010, and NASA has been pursuing the necessary technology ever since. But the opinion piece suggests the president is thinking about his legacy in space—particularly at a time when private companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX are pursuing Mars exploration plans of their own.
The CNN editorial popped up the same day as a White House space update, “Making Human Settlement of Space a Reality,” came out from John Holdren, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, along with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. It announced two new NASA initiatives that build on the president’s vision to enable humans to sustainably live and work in space. One has several select companies developing habitation systems able to sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration, deep-space missions such as a trip to Mars. The other new plan would begin to allow companies to add their own modules and other capabilities to the International Space Station.
Then there was Obama’s guest editing of Wired magazine’s November issue, in which he said his favorite movie last year was The Martian. He added that he is “predisposed” to admire any movie where Americans dare the odds and motivate the world. “But what really grabbed me about the film is that it shows how humans—through our ingenuity, our commitment to fact and reason, and ultimately our faith in each other—can science the heck out of just about any problem,” Obama wrote in an introduction to the issue.
And on October 13 Obama signed an executive order—“Coordinating Efforts to Prepare the Nation for Space Weather Events”—to make sure power grids, satellites and other vital national interests are equipped to withstand (=resistir) an influx of charged particles sent our way by periodic flare-ups on the sun.
All of this was prelude to Obama’s own voyage that same day to Carnegie Mellon University for The White House Frontiers Conference. Among the science and technology themes on the agenda were interplanetary space exploration and the thriving U.S. space industry. Up for discussion: How will American investments in science and technology help us settle “the final frontier”—space?
Forget-Me-Not
The president’s reiterated(=repetiu) interest in Earth’s planetary neighbor is marvelous rocket rumble to the ears of Chris Carberry, CEO of Explore Mars, a humans-on-Mars advocacy group. He sees Obama’s initiative as a way to assure the public that Red Planet exploration is firmly in NASA’s sights—there is a caveat, however. “The next administration and Congress will need to make a lot of important decisions,” Carberry says, “with regards to mission architecture options, precursor missions and budget in the next couple of years,” if landing humans on Mars is to become reality anytime soon.
Obama and Mars are not strangers. In 2010 he called on NASA to head for the Red Planet, have astronauts orbit that world by the mid-2030s and return them safely to Earth. “And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it,” he said in a 2010 speech at the Kennedy Space Center. So why the announcement now? “It is a reminder that six years ago he set NASA on the journey to Mars…and that they are still going. He hasn’t changed his mind,” says John Logsdon, professor emeritus of political science and international affairs(=assuntos) at George Washington University. “As his administration draws to a close, it is his summing up of what he believes his record has been.”
Yet whether Mars will truly be part of the president’s space legacy remains to be seen, says Marcia Smith, founder and editor of SpacePolicyOnline.com. “I think Obama’s civil space legacy will be his embrace of commercial partnerships, not humans to Mars,” she says. Ultimately Obama’s legacy depends in large part on what the next administration does, Smith says. If it continues the Mars exploration program he set up, Obama will likely receive kudos, whether or not it is deserved, she says. NASA’s big and yet-to-fly booster, the Space Launch System and the Orion piloted spacecraft—key elements of NASA’s journey to Mars—exist today because of Congress, not the president. “But he did extend the International Space Station to 2024,” she says, “providing more years to study human reaction to spaceflight.” On the other hand, if the next president cancels the drive for Mars—the way Obama canceled “The Vision for Space Exploration,” which targeted further human exploration of the moon, as blueprinted in 2004 by Pres. George W. Bush—“it will be just another footnote in history.”
Uncertainties
Although the overall Obama space scorecard is checkered, the area of commercial partnerships is where his administration shines, Smith says. During the past eight years NASA has pursued unprecedented private partnerships that should have commercial companies flying NASA astronauts to and from the space station in the near future. The ultimate fate of this program and the broad range of other public-private partnerships initiated under the administration is still unfolding, but it is clear that “a new paradigm” has emerged during Obama’s years in the Oval Office. Whether it is sustained by the next president “will be interesting to watch,” she concludes.
Space policy expert Logsdon senses “uncertainties” surrounding the next administration’s handling of the nation’s space agenda. “Whether to put the moon back in is the biggest one,” says Logsdon, pointing to the Bush administration’s canceled plans. Such a goal is something that European Space Agency Director General Johann-Dietrich Wörner has been campaigning for what has been tagged as an international “moon village.” “My biggest disappointment with Obama,” Logsdon continues, “is lack of international leadership, not reaching out as the U.S. president to the international community and saying ‘let’s do this together”—stepping out globally beyond low Earth orbit.
Another transition issue, according to Logsdon, is whether the next U.S. chief executive makes explicit an invitation to other countries to join America in planning exploration in general, and whether China is included in that goal. Doing so could make the difference in ultimately reaching the Red Planet or not. In the past 40 years the U.S. space program has received less than 1 percent of the federal spending budget, Logsdon says. “And I see nothing that will change that on the horizon.”
Bottom line to all this boosterism: If NASA truly wants to make it to Mars, it will probably need to enlist international technology, expertise and funding.
domingo, 16 de outubro de 2016
Alzheimer new experiments
Source: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/talking-back/a-new-tack-to-stave-off-alzheimer-s-years-before-the-first-symptom/
Vocabulary:
the moment at which something unpleasant begins:
goes awry
intended to address other manifestations
cellular mechanisms
accelerates many
mice genetically engineered
Text: A New Tack to Stave Off Alzheimer's Years before the First Symptom
Researchers try to prevent onset(=the moment at which something unpleasant begins) of the disease by correcting a brain cell process that goes awry
The new mantra for researchers fighting Alzheimer’s disease is “go early,” before memory loss or other pathology appears. The rationale for this approach holds that by the time dementia sets in the disease may already be destroying brain cells, placing severe limits on treatment options.
Some large clinical trials are now testing drugs intended to clear up the brain’s cellular detritus—the aggregations of amyloid and tau proteins that may ultimately destroy brain cells. So far this approach has had decidedly mixed results.
Some researchers are choosing a different direction. They have begun to ask what happens in the brain before the plaques and tangles of amyloid and tau appear—and to look at interventions that might work at this incipient disease stage.
The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation has focused in recent years on funding new agents that do not target amyloid but are intended to address (=abordar) other manifestations of the disease, such as inflammation and the energy metabolism of neurons.
At a foundation meeting last month in Jersey City, N.J., neuroscientist Grace Stutzmann of the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science presented her work on restoring a basic cellular process—called calcium signaling—that goes off track in
Alzheimer’s. Scientific American asked her recently about her work.
[An edited transcript of the conversation follows.]
Scientific American: Can you explain in a simple manner for our readers what calcium signaling is in the brain and what can go wrong in Alzheimer's?
While many people are aware of calcium as a component of strong bones, calcium is also a very important feature of cellular function. Calcium ions within brain cells play fundamental roles in activating genes to make proteins in energy metabolism, in signaling inside cells and even in cell death. Perhaps most relevant to Alzheimer’s disease though is its central role in neuronal transmission and communication between synapses (junctions between neurons). These are the cellular mechanisms by which memories are formed and maintained. In Alzheimer’s disease, too much calcium is being released within the neuron, and this initiates or accelerates many of the pathological processes seen in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), especially the events that lead to memory loss.
Is stopping the process of aberrant calcium signaling a good place to intervene? Is that because of the particular stage at which calcium becomes a problem in the course of the disease?
The dysregulated calcium signaling is thought to occur early in the disease process, which suggests it is part of the “cause” rather than a later-stage “effect.” Mechanistically, this supports targeting calcium abnormalities as a good therapeutic strategy. Importantly, we feel that our laboratory has identified the particular channel underlying the excess calcium release (the ryanodine receptor), which provides a specific target when trying to prevent the calcium dysregulation.
Can you explain specifically what you’ve done?
We first confirmed the role of the specific calcium channel in AD by examining its effects in several experimental models of AD, and we also confirmed abnormalities in human brains from AD patients. We then moved back to the models (including mice genetically engineered to exhibit AD pathology) and tested existing drugs known to inhibit the calcium channel, which generated incredibly encouraging results. Not only did one of these drugs reverse the excess amounts of calcium but it also altered many of the other aspects of AD, such as the accumulation of amyloid and tau, loss of synapses, and impaired synaptic plasticity. These findings set the stage for the development of our own compounds that are designed for better targeting of the receptors and gaining better access to the brain. We soon partnered with a medicinal chemistry group to help design and synthesize a series of new compounds to test in these models systems of AD.
How will you test people without symptoms to know whether they're at risk?
Ah, there is the rub. Numerous groups, ours included, are looking for biomarkers to indicate amount of risk or likelihood of developing AD. And there is also brain imaging of plaques (and more recently tau pathology) that many are using as an indicator of AD risk. But since there is little correlation between plaques and cognitive function, many of us are questioning this as a diagnostic or biomarker tool. So for now it's very hard to accurately assess risk in most people. Realistically, we are hoping to catch early-stage symptoms including the behavioral and memory disruptions, and then prevent further cognitive impairment.
Tell us about the company you've started and the drug you're developing.
Once we realized we had a valid and novel strategy to treat AD, a library of new compounds and powerful biological screening assays to test our compounds, we got to work trying to identify which of these compounds could prove to be effective in treating AD. To our great joy, the first generation of compounds produced several successful “hits,” which restored intracellular calcium signaling to its normal state in the AD models, and also reduced several of the related pathological features of AD.
Soon after, we partnered with SmartHealth, a North Chicago-based health care activator (an incubator for biotech startups), to create NeuroLucent to accelerate the process of developing, testing and optimizing our new compounds to hopefully move them into the clinic. Glenn Gottfried, an adviser with SmartHealth, is serving as president. I also brought in a medicinal chemist, Dr. John Buolamwini, and a molecular biologist, Dr. Robert Marr, both colleagues with me at Rosalind Franklin University. We’re still a new startup, but we are in the process of raising funds and establishing partnerships to scale up and advance the complex process of moving a compound from the lab to the FDA.
Haven't there been previous attempts to try to correct calcium signaling? How is yours different?
That is correct. This is not the first calcium-channel strategy attempted for the treatment of AD. However, the previous approaches were targeting entirely different types of calcium channels, found on the outer membrane of the cell, that do not seem to be linked to AD pathology in any clear way. For example, there is a class of calcium channels on the surface of the cells that is activated by excitatory activity that opens the cell channel. Drugs that inhibit these calcium channels have been very effective for several conditions, such as high blood pressure, but did not improve cognition or reduce the symptoms of AD. We have also been studying these channels in our experimental models of AD, and they have always functioned normally. Since this series of calcium channels doesn’t seem to be defective or causative in AD, I can understand why these previous attempts weren’t successful in the clinic.
A major difference in our approach is that the calcium channel we are targeting is found inside the cell, and controls calcium signaling from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a cell component with a very high calcium concentration. In AD, the channel on the ER membrane releases too much calcium from its internal stores, and this triggers a host of pathological cascades. We are attempting to normalize the calcium signaling through ER channels and target this one specific source. This is mechanistically much different than the previous attempts. Plus, we know in experimental AD models and in human AD patients that this calcium source is functioning abnormally. Several research labs have demonstrated this across many different models. If it were only our lab obtaining these findings, I wouldn’t feel comfortable trusting our results in isolation.
Is it important to consider your approach given the poor track record with other Alzheimer's drugs?
I do feel very strongly about this, and it doesn’t have to be “my” approach per se—but anymechanistically valid approach that is distinct from the series of recent failed clinical trials. The majority of the compounds that disappointed were targeting a particular protein aggregate, beta-amyloid plaques. And, while the presence of plaques is integral to the diagnosis of AD, it is unclear what their role is in the disease process and how the accumulation of beta-amyloid actually links to memory loss. Actually, several of these drugs worked very well in that they were able to reduce the beta amyloid in the brain; however, they were not able to show any improvement in cognitive function.
In parallel, we know there is little relationship between the amount of amyloid in one’s brain and your memory function. In fact, those “super-agers”—your 95-year-old great-great-aunt who finishes the crossword puzzle in 20 minutes, is president of the bridge club and has a better golf handicap than you—may have just as many amyloid plaques in her brain as AD patients. In the big picture, I think we need to take a few giant steps backwards and work on understanding the early mechanisms of AD as it relates to memory loss. That will then enable us to build therapeutic strategies based on these data. We feel enormous potential exists in addressing an early and central signaling pathway that affects amyloid production, tau pathology, neuroinflammation and memory loss, among other AD features, but there may be other targets besides calcium dysregulation that would be effective. I think the research community needs to increase our efforts in finding the common denominator driving the multifaceted disease processes in AD. Our lab is continuing to explore what is causing AD and now is using human neurons to validate our approach. But as a field, we research scientists need to better understand what it is we are fighting in order to formulate the best approach.
Vocabulary:
the moment at which something unpleasant begins:
goes awry
intended to address other manifestations
cellular mechanisms
accelerates many
mice genetically engineered
Text: A New Tack to Stave Off Alzheimer's Years before the First Symptom
Researchers try to prevent onset(=the moment at which something unpleasant begins) of the disease by correcting a brain cell process that goes awry
The new mantra for researchers fighting Alzheimer’s disease is “go early,” before memory loss or other pathology appears. The rationale for this approach holds that by the time dementia sets in the disease may already be destroying brain cells, placing severe limits on treatment options.
Some large clinical trials are now testing drugs intended to clear up the brain’s cellular detritus—the aggregations of amyloid and tau proteins that may ultimately destroy brain cells. So far this approach has had decidedly mixed results.
Some researchers are choosing a different direction. They have begun to ask what happens in the brain before the plaques and tangles of amyloid and tau appear—and to look at interventions that might work at this incipient disease stage.
The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation has focused in recent years on funding new agents that do not target amyloid but are intended to address (=abordar) other manifestations of the disease, such as inflammation and the energy metabolism of neurons.
At a foundation meeting last month in Jersey City, N.J., neuroscientist Grace Stutzmann of the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science presented her work on restoring a basic cellular process—called calcium signaling—that goes off track in
Alzheimer’s. Scientific American asked her recently about her work.
[An edited transcript of the conversation follows.]
Scientific American: Can you explain in a simple manner for our readers what calcium signaling is in the brain and what can go wrong in Alzheimer's?
While many people are aware of calcium as a component of strong bones, calcium is also a very important feature of cellular function. Calcium ions within brain cells play fundamental roles in activating genes to make proteins in energy metabolism, in signaling inside cells and even in cell death. Perhaps most relevant to Alzheimer’s disease though is its central role in neuronal transmission and communication between synapses (junctions between neurons). These are the cellular mechanisms by which memories are formed and maintained. In Alzheimer’s disease, too much calcium is being released within the neuron, and this initiates or accelerates many of the pathological processes seen in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), especially the events that lead to memory loss.
Is stopping the process of aberrant calcium signaling a good place to intervene? Is that because of the particular stage at which calcium becomes a problem in the course of the disease?
The dysregulated calcium signaling is thought to occur early in the disease process, which suggests it is part of the “cause” rather than a later-stage “effect.” Mechanistically, this supports targeting calcium abnormalities as a good therapeutic strategy. Importantly, we feel that our laboratory has identified the particular channel underlying the excess calcium release (the ryanodine receptor), which provides a specific target when trying to prevent the calcium dysregulation.
Can you explain specifically what you’ve done?
We first confirmed the role of the specific calcium channel in AD by examining its effects in several experimental models of AD, and we also confirmed abnormalities in human brains from AD patients. We then moved back to the models (including mice genetically engineered to exhibit AD pathology) and tested existing drugs known to inhibit the calcium channel, which generated incredibly encouraging results. Not only did one of these drugs reverse the excess amounts of calcium but it also altered many of the other aspects of AD, such as the accumulation of amyloid and tau, loss of synapses, and impaired synaptic plasticity. These findings set the stage for the development of our own compounds that are designed for better targeting of the receptors and gaining better access to the brain. We soon partnered with a medicinal chemistry group to help design and synthesize a series of new compounds to test in these models systems of AD.
How will you test people without symptoms to know whether they're at risk?
Ah, there is the rub. Numerous groups, ours included, are looking for biomarkers to indicate amount of risk or likelihood of developing AD. And there is also brain imaging of plaques (and more recently tau pathology) that many are using as an indicator of AD risk. But since there is little correlation between plaques and cognitive function, many of us are questioning this as a diagnostic or biomarker tool. So for now it's very hard to accurately assess risk in most people. Realistically, we are hoping to catch early-stage symptoms including the behavioral and memory disruptions, and then prevent further cognitive impairment.
Tell us about the company you've started and the drug you're developing.
Once we realized we had a valid and novel strategy to treat AD, a library of new compounds and powerful biological screening assays to test our compounds, we got to work trying to identify which of these compounds could prove to be effective in treating AD. To our great joy, the first generation of compounds produced several successful “hits,” which restored intracellular calcium signaling to its normal state in the AD models, and also reduced several of the related pathological features of AD.
Soon after, we partnered with SmartHealth, a North Chicago-based health care activator (an incubator for biotech startups), to create NeuroLucent to accelerate the process of developing, testing and optimizing our new compounds to hopefully move them into the clinic. Glenn Gottfried, an adviser with SmartHealth, is serving as president. I also brought in a medicinal chemist, Dr. John Buolamwini, and a molecular biologist, Dr. Robert Marr, both colleagues with me at Rosalind Franklin University. We’re still a new startup, but we are in the process of raising funds and establishing partnerships to scale up and advance the complex process of moving a compound from the lab to the FDA.
Haven't there been previous attempts to try to correct calcium signaling? How is yours different?
That is correct. This is not the first calcium-channel strategy attempted for the treatment of AD. However, the previous approaches were targeting entirely different types of calcium channels, found on the outer membrane of the cell, that do not seem to be linked to AD pathology in any clear way. For example, there is a class of calcium channels on the surface of the cells that is activated by excitatory activity that opens the cell channel. Drugs that inhibit these calcium channels have been very effective for several conditions, such as high blood pressure, but did not improve cognition or reduce the symptoms of AD. We have also been studying these channels in our experimental models of AD, and they have always functioned normally. Since this series of calcium channels doesn’t seem to be defective or causative in AD, I can understand why these previous attempts weren’t successful in the clinic.
A major difference in our approach is that the calcium channel we are targeting is found inside the cell, and controls calcium signaling from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a cell component with a very high calcium concentration. In AD, the channel on the ER membrane releases too much calcium from its internal stores, and this triggers a host of pathological cascades. We are attempting to normalize the calcium signaling through ER channels and target this one specific source. This is mechanistically much different than the previous attempts. Plus, we know in experimental AD models and in human AD patients that this calcium source is functioning abnormally. Several research labs have demonstrated this across many different models. If it were only our lab obtaining these findings, I wouldn’t feel comfortable trusting our results in isolation.
Is it important to consider your approach given the poor track record with other Alzheimer's drugs?
I do feel very strongly about this, and it doesn’t have to be “my” approach per se—but anymechanistically valid approach that is distinct from the series of recent failed clinical trials. The majority of the compounds that disappointed were targeting a particular protein aggregate, beta-amyloid plaques. And, while the presence of plaques is integral to the diagnosis of AD, it is unclear what their role is in the disease process and how the accumulation of beta-amyloid actually links to memory loss. Actually, several of these drugs worked very well in that they were able to reduce the beta amyloid in the brain; however, they were not able to show any improvement in cognitive function.
In parallel, we know there is little relationship between the amount of amyloid in one’s brain and your memory function. In fact, those “super-agers”—your 95-year-old great-great-aunt who finishes the crossword puzzle in 20 minutes, is president of the bridge club and has a better golf handicap than you—may have just as many amyloid plaques in her brain as AD patients. In the big picture, I think we need to take a few giant steps backwards and work on understanding the early mechanisms of AD as it relates to memory loss. That will then enable us to build therapeutic strategies based on these data. We feel enormous potential exists in addressing an early and central signaling pathway that affects amyloid production, tau pathology, neuroinflammation and memory loss, among other AD features, but there may be other targets besides calcium dysregulation that would be effective. I think the research community needs to increase our efforts in finding the common denominator driving the multifaceted disease processes in AD. Our lab is continuing to explore what is causing AD and now is using human neurons to validate our approach. But as a field, we research scientists need to better understand what it is we are fighting in order to formulate the best approach.
sexta-feira, 14 de outubro de 2016
Preso duas vezes
Source: http://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-37651455
Text:
'Como passei 21 dias na prisão por causa de um documento roubado'
How I passed 21 days in the prison due to a stolen document.
Uma carteira de identidade furtada e mais de 15 anos de problemas com a Justiça.
Mestre de obras há cerca de 20 anos, casado e com duas filhas, Gabriel Afonso de Araújo, 38 anos, passou 21 dias preso neste ano por roubos que diz não ter cometido.
O suspeito autor dos crimes é um homem que usa, com algumas alterações, um documento de identidade de Araújo furtado em 1999. Entre as acusações, há pelo menos três assaltos a banco.
One wallet of stolen identity and more than 15 years of problems with the Justice.
Master in works 20 years ago, married with two daughters, Gabriel, 38 years old, passed 21 days arrested these years by robberies that he said did not commit.
The suspected author of crimes in one man who uses, with some alteration, one document of identity of Araujo stolen in 1999. Among the charges, there are at least three bank robberies.
A aparente negligência de Araújo diante do extravio cobrou seu preço: o mestre de obras foi preso em 14 de setembro, por ordem da 9ª Vara Criminal de Belo Horizonte (MG), a mais de 900 km de sua casa.
Após conseguir provar que não era o criminoso procurado, deixou a Casa de Prisão Provisória de Aparecida de Goiânia (GO) no último 4 de outubro, descalço e com a mesma roupa que entrara.
Morador de Trindade, na região metropolitana de Goiânia, ele diz ter feito promessa para esquecer o período na cadeia. "Nunca imaginei na minha vida ficar preso, porque eu nunca fiz maldade para ninguém."
The seemed Araujo's negligence in front of the theft charged his price: the master of works was arrested in 14th September, by the 9th order of Criminal vara of Belo Horizone, in 900 km from his house.
After being able to prove that he was not searched criminal, left the House of Provisory house of Aparecida last October 4th, barefoot and with the same cloth we have entered.
Trinade dweller, in the metropolitan region of Goina, he said have done promise to forget the period in the jail. "I have never imagined in my whole life be in jail because I have never done cruel to no one".
Antes de cumprir a promessa, relatou à BBC Brasil como foi a experiência na prisão - e o pesadelo ainda em curso, pois ainda precisa provar definitivamente sua inocência em pelo menos cinco processos. Confira o relato:
"Mexo com construção desde que me entendo por gente. Tenho 38 anos, comecei a trabalhar com 17 anos e há 20 anos sou mestre de obras.
Fui roubado numa obra, em abril de 1999. A gente trocava de roupa no almoxarifado e deixava tudo dependurado. Três funcionários deixaram as carteiras no bolso e foram roubados. Tinha habilitação e identidade [na carteira]. Nem fiz a ocorrência.
Before complying the promise, related to BBC Brazil how was the experience in the prison - and the ongoing nightmare, because he still needs to prove definitely his innocence in at least five processes. Check the relate:
I work with building since I know myself as a person. I am 38 years old, started working with 17 years and more than 20 years I am master of works.
I was stolen in one work, in April of 1999. We used to change clothes in the warehouse and used to leave everything hung.Three employees left the wallets in their pocket and were stolen. I had habilitation and identity (wallet). I did not do the currency.
Em 2009, estava indo para o Alphaville (condomínio em Goiânia), umas 8h. Um guarda me abordou e pediu a habilitação da moto.
Os guardas só apareceram de novo após uns 40 minutos. De repente apareceram cinco viaturas para me prender, atravessando canteiros, coisa de cinema.
Começaram a me agredir. Chorei e disse: 'moço, nunca fiz nada'. E eles dando tapas, me empurrando numa tela de parque. Passantes batiam continência para os soldados: 'Parabéns, prendeu mais um bandido'.
Levaram-me ao 8º DP (Distrito Policial), perto do (estádio) Serra Dourada. Quando puxaram os processos, saiu a foto do cara (que usa o documento dele). Começaram a maneirar comigo.
In 2009, I was going to Alphavile (Goiana condomine), in about 8h. One guard approached me and asked the motor habilitation.
The guards just came back after 40 minutes. Suddenly appeared five cars to arrest me, crossing sites, things of cinema.
They started hitting me. I cried and said: "man, I never did nothing". They started giving hits, and pulling me in a screen of park. Walker beat continence to the soldiers: Congratulations, arrested one more bandit.
They brought me to 8th DP, near to the Serra Dourada. When took processes, appeared the picture of man (who uses his document). They started to go easily with me.
Jogaram-me na viatura, fui ao IML (Instituto Médico Legal) fazer exame de corpo de delito, fiz exame de digitais. Às 16h30 me liberaram: pelas digitais perceberam que eu não era o cara.
Segunda prisão
No mês passado fui ao Alphaville buscar um projeto para fazer orçamento. Voltando, fui parado às 9h30 numa barreira policial. Puxaram minha ficha no computador: estava lá o mandado de prisão.
Colocaram-me no carro e me algemaram. De dentro do carro liguei para minha mulher buscar a moto que havia ficado na barreira. Quando ela chegou, eu tinha acabado de entrar na viatura para ser preso. Imaginei que seria igual da outra vez, porque nunca fiz maldade para ninguém.
They put me in the car, I was to IML do the body exam, I did digital exams. At 16:30 they released me, by the digital they realized I was not the man.
Second prison
In the past month I went to Alphaville search for a project to do budget. Going back, I was stopped at 9:30 in a policial barrier. They took my record on the computer: there was the prison warrant. They put me in the car and handcuffed me. Insine of car I called my woman search the moto which had been in the barrier. When she arrived, I'd just entered in the car to be arrested. I imagined it would be like the other time, because I have never done evil to anyone.
(...)
Text:
'Como passei 21 dias na prisão por causa de um documento roubado'
How I passed 21 days in the prison due to a stolen document.
Uma carteira de identidade furtada e mais de 15 anos de problemas com a Justiça.
Mestre de obras há cerca de 20 anos, casado e com duas filhas, Gabriel Afonso de Araújo, 38 anos, passou 21 dias preso neste ano por roubos que diz não ter cometido.
O suspeito autor dos crimes é um homem que usa, com algumas alterações, um documento de identidade de Araújo furtado em 1999. Entre as acusações, há pelo menos três assaltos a banco.
One wallet of stolen identity and more than 15 years of problems with the Justice.
Master in works 20 years ago, married with two daughters, Gabriel, 38 years old, passed 21 days arrested these years by robberies that he said did not commit.
The suspected author of crimes in one man who uses, with some alteration, one document of identity of Araujo stolen in 1999. Among the charges, there are at least three bank robberies.
A aparente negligência de Araújo diante do extravio cobrou seu preço: o mestre de obras foi preso em 14 de setembro, por ordem da 9ª Vara Criminal de Belo Horizonte (MG), a mais de 900 km de sua casa.
Após conseguir provar que não era o criminoso procurado, deixou a Casa de Prisão Provisória de Aparecida de Goiânia (GO) no último 4 de outubro, descalço e com a mesma roupa que entrara.
Morador de Trindade, na região metropolitana de Goiânia, ele diz ter feito promessa para esquecer o período na cadeia. "Nunca imaginei na minha vida ficar preso, porque eu nunca fiz maldade para ninguém."
The seemed Araujo's negligence in front of the theft charged his price: the master of works was arrested in 14th September, by the 9th order of Criminal vara of Belo Horizone, in 900 km from his house.
After being able to prove that he was not searched criminal, left the House of Provisory house of Aparecida last October 4th, barefoot and with the same cloth we have entered.
Trinade dweller, in the metropolitan region of Goina, he said have done promise to forget the period in the jail. "I have never imagined in my whole life be in jail because I have never done cruel to no one".
Antes de cumprir a promessa, relatou à BBC Brasil como foi a experiência na prisão - e o pesadelo ainda em curso, pois ainda precisa provar definitivamente sua inocência em pelo menos cinco processos. Confira o relato:
"Mexo com construção desde que me entendo por gente. Tenho 38 anos, comecei a trabalhar com 17 anos e há 20 anos sou mestre de obras.
Fui roubado numa obra, em abril de 1999. A gente trocava de roupa no almoxarifado e deixava tudo dependurado. Três funcionários deixaram as carteiras no bolso e foram roubados. Tinha habilitação e identidade [na carteira]. Nem fiz a ocorrência.
Before complying the promise, related to BBC Brazil how was the experience in the prison - and the ongoing nightmare, because he still needs to prove definitely his innocence in at least five processes. Check the relate:
I work with building since I know myself as a person. I am 38 years old, started working with 17 years and more than 20 years I am master of works.
I was stolen in one work, in April of 1999. We used to change clothes in the warehouse and used to leave everything hung.Three employees left the wallets in their pocket and were stolen. I had habilitation and identity (wallet). I did not do the currency.
Em 2009, estava indo para o Alphaville (condomínio em Goiânia), umas 8h. Um guarda me abordou e pediu a habilitação da moto.
Os guardas só apareceram de novo após uns 40 minutos. De repente apareceram cinco viaturas para me prender, atravessando canteiros, coisa de cinema.
Começaram a me agredir. Chorei e disse: 'moço, nunca fiz nada'. E eles dando tapas, me empurrando numa tela de parque. Passantes batiam continência para os soldados: 'Parabéns, prendeu mais um bandido'.
Levaram-me ao 8º DP (Distrito Policial), perto do (estádio) Serra Dourada. Quando puxaram os processos, saiu a foto do cara (que usa o documento dele). Começaram a maneirar comigo.
In 2009, I was going to Alphavile (Goiana condomine), in about 8h. One guard approached me and asked the motor habilitation.
The guards just came back after 40 minutes. Suddenly appeared five cars to arrest me, crossing sites, things of cinema.
They started hitting me. I cried and said: "man, I never did nothing". They started giving hits, and pulling me in a screen of park. Walker beat continence to the soldiers: Congratulations, arrested one more bandit.
They brought me to 8th DP, near to the Serra Dourada. When took processes, appeared the picture of man (who uses his document). They started to go easily with me.
Jogaram-me na viatura, fui ao IML (Instituto Médico Legal) fazer exame de corpo de delito, fiz exame de digitais. Às 16h30 me liberaram: pelas digitais perceberam que eu não era o cara.
Segunda prisão
No mês passado fui ao Alphaville buscar um projeto para fazer orçamento. Voltando, fui parado às 9h30 numa barreira policial. Puxaram minha ficha no computador: estava lá o mandado de prisão.
Colocaram-me no carro e me algemaram. De dentro do carro liguei para minha mulher buscar a moto que havia ficado na barreira. Quando ela chegou, eu tinha acabado de entrar na viatura para ser preso. Imaginei que seria igual da outra vez, porque nunca fiz maldade para ninguém.
They put me in the car, I was to IML do the body exam, I did digital exams. At 16:30 they released me, by the digital they realized I was not the man.
Second prison
In the past month I went to Alphaville search for a project to do budget. Going back, I was stopped at 9:30 in a policial barrier. They took my record on the computer: there was the prison warrant. They put me in the car and handcuffed me. Insine of car I called my woman search the moto which had been in the barrier. When she arrived, I'd just entered in the car to be arrested. I imagined it would be like the other time, because I have never done evil to anyone.
(...)
Robbie williams e a doença
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-lewy-body-dementia-gripped-robin-williams1/
Vocabulary:
besieged by paranoia
ambushed by
their spouses
he sought
bewildering
rapid shifts
Text:
How Lewy Body Dementia Gripped Robin Williams
Hit by a vicious case, the actor said he wanted to “reboot” his brain
In the months before his death, Robin Williams was besieged by paranoia and so confused he couldn’t remember his lines while filming a movie, as his brain was ambushed (=emboscada) by what doctors later identified as an unusually severe case of Lewy body dementia.
“Robin was losing his mind and he was aware of it. Can you imagine the pain he felt as he experienced himself disintegrating?” the actor’s widow, Susan Schneider Williams, wrote in a wrenching editorial published this week in the journal Neurology.
The title of her piece: “The terrorist inside my husband’s brain.”
Susan Williams addressed the editorial to neurologists, writing that she hoped husband’s story would “help you understand your patients along with their spouses (=cônjuges) and caregivers a little more.”
Susan Williams has previously blamed Lewy body dementia for her husband’s death by suicide in 2014. About 1.3 million Americans have the disease, which is caused by protein deposits in the brain. Williams was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a few months before he died; the telltale signs of Lewy body dementia in his brain were not discovered until an autopsy.
The editorial chronicles Williams’s desperation as he sought(=procurou) to understand a bewildering array of symptoms that started with insomnia, constipation, and an impaired sense of smell and soon spiraled into extreme anxiety, tremors, and difficulty reasoning.
“My husband was trapped in the twisted architecture of his neurons and no matter what I did I could not pull him out,” Susan Williams wrote.
For nearly a year, in a painful odyssey that will be familiar to many patients, Williams tried to find out what was wrong with himself — and fix it. He underwent tests and scans, tried new medications, did physical therapy, worked out with a trainer, and sought out alternative treatments like self-hypnosis and yoga.
“He kept saying, ‘I just want to reboot my brain,’” his widow recounted.
Nothing worked.
Susan Williams traced the first signs of trouble to a celebration of their wedding anniversary, about 10 months before her husband died, when “gut discomfort” made him fearful and anxious. That set off months of escalating problems.
Williams struggled particularly while filming “Night at the Museum 3” in the spring of 2014. He had a panic attack and had trouble remembering “even one line” in his role as Teddy Roosevelt. By contrast, Susan Williams wrote, he had remembered hundreds of lines without error while performing on Broadway three years before.
Susan Williams movingly described her husband’s rapid shifts(=mudanças) in and out of clarity.
“I experienced my brilliant husband being lucid with clear reasoning 1 minute and then, 5 minutes later, blank, lost in confusion,” she wrote.
She added: “I was powerless in helping him see his own brilliance.”
After her husband’s death, Susan Williams wrote that she had many long conversations with doctors to retrace and understand what had happened to him. All four doctors who had reviewed his records, she said, “indicated his was one of the worst pathologies they had seen.”
Though she and her husband both craved a diagnosis during those bewildering months before his death, Susan Williams said in retrospect she is “not convinced that the knowledge would have done much more than prolong Robin’s agony” and turn him into “one of the most famous test subjects of new medicines and ongoing clinical trials.”
Williams has joined the board of the American Brain Foundation, a nonprofit that funds research on neurological illnesses.
“Hopefully from this sharing of our experience,” she wrote, addressing neurologists, “you will be inspired to turn Robin’s suffering into something meaningful through your work and wisdom.”
She added: “Do not give up.”
Vocabulary:
besieged by paranoia
ambushed by
their spouses
he sought
bewildering
rapid shifts
Text:
How Lewy Body Dementia Gripped Robin Williams
Hit by a vicious case, the actor said he wanted to “reboot” his brain
In the months before his death, Robin Williams was besieged by paranoia and so confused he couldn’t remember his lines while filming a movie, as his brain was ambushed (=emboscada) by what doctors later identified as an unusually severe case of Lewy body dementia.
“Robin was losing his mind and he was aware of it. Can you imagine the pain he felt as he experienced himself disintegrating?” the actor’s widow, Susan Schneider Williams, wrote in a wrenching editorial published this week in the journal Neurology.
The title of her piece: “The terrorist inside my husband’s brain.”
Susan Williams addressed the editorial to neurologists, writing that she hoped husband’s story would “help you understand your patients along with their spouses (=cônjuges) and caregivers a little more.”
Susan Williams has previously blamed Lewy body dementia for her husband’s death by suicide in 2014. About 1.3 million Americans have the disease, which is caused by protein deposits in the brain. Williams was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a few months before he died; the telltale signs of Lewy body dementia in his brain were not discovered until an autopsy.
The editorial chronicles Williams’s desperation as he sought(=procurou) to understand a bewildering array of symptoms that started with insomnia, constipation, and an impaired sense of smell and soon spiraled into extreme anxiety, tremors, and difficulty reasoning.
“My husband was trapped in the twisted architecture of his neurons and no matter what I did I could not pull him out,” Susan Williams wrote.
For nearly a year, in a painful odyssey that will be familiar to many patients, Williams tried to find out what was wrong with himself — and fix it. He underwent tests and scans, tried new medications, did physical therapy, worked out with a trainer, and sought out alternative treatments like self-hypnosis and yoga.
“He kept saying, ‘I just want to reboot my brain,’” his widow recounted.
Nothing worked.
Susan Williams traced the first signs of trouble to a celebration of their wedding anniversary, about 10 months before her husband died, when “gut discomfort” made him fearful and anxious. That set off months of escalating problems.
Williams struggled particularly while filming “Night at the Museum 3” in the spring of 2014. He had a panic attack and had trouble remembering “even one line” in his role as Teddy Roosevelt. By contrast, Susan Williams wrote, he had remembered hundreds of lines without error while performing on Broadway three years before.
Susan Williams movingly described her husband’s rapid shifts(=mudanças) in and out of clarity.
“I experienced my brilliant husband being lucid with clear reasoning 1 minute and then, 5 minutes later, blank, lost in confusion,” she wrote.
She added: “I was powerless in helping him see his own brilliance.”
After her husband’s death, Susan Williams wrote that she had many long conversations with doctors to retrace and understand what had happened to him. All four doctors who had reviewed his records, she said, “indicated his was one of the worst pathologies they had seen.”
Though she and her husband both craved a diagnosis during those bewildering months before his death, Susan Williams said in retrospect she is “not convinced that the knowledge would have done much more than prolong Robin’s agony” and turn him into “one of the most famous test subjects of new medicines and ongoing clinical trials.”
Williams has joined the board of the American Brain Foundation, a nonprofit that funds research on neurological illnesses.
“Hopefully from this sharing of our experience,” she wrote, addressing neurologists, “you will be inspired to turn Robin’s suffering into something meaningful through your work and wisdom.”
She added: “Do not give up.”
quinta-feira, 13 de outubro de 2016
Trump acusado por inumeras pessoas de abuso sexual
Source: http://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-37641585
Vocabulary:
Text:
'Parecia um polvo, as mãos dele estavam por todos os lados': NYT publica relatos de supostos assédios de Trump
It was seeming one octopus, his hands were in every place: NYT publish relates of supposing Trump's harassments.
A imprensa americana publicou declarações de mulheres que garantem ter sido assediadas sexualmente pelo candidato republicano à presidência dos Estados Unidos, Donald Trump. Duas delas declararam ao jornal The New York Times que foram tocadas e beijadas por Trump.
A equipe de Donald Trump negou as acusações e ameaça processar o jornal.
The American press published some women's statements that guarantee being sexually harassed by the Republican candidate to the presidency of the Untied States, Donald Trump. Two of them declared to the journal The New York Time that were touched and kissed by Trump
The Donald Trump's team rejected the charges and threat to process the journal.
Uma repórter da revista People também alega ter sido beijada à força por Trump, enquanto outra mulher diz que o candidato republicano teria passado a mão nela.
A equipe de Trump divulgou uma carta na qual classifica a reportagem do NYT como "difamatória", escrita com o "interesse político de derrotar a candidatura Trump". O jornal garante que o artigo é genuíno.
One reporter of magazine People affirms being kissed by force by Trump, while other woman says the Republican candidate would have touched her by hand.
The Trump's team published a letter in which classifies the report of NYT as slanderous, written with the political interest to defeat the Trump's candidature. The journal guarantees the articles is genuine
O magnata tem sido alvo de uma série de denúncias sobre comportamento sexual inadequado. Os novos relatos vêm à tona uma semana após a divulgação de um vídeo de 2005 que mostra o candidato fazendo comentários obscenos sobre mulheres e sugerindo agressões sexuais.
Após a repercussão negativa, Trump pediu desculpas. Mesmo assim, alguns políticos republicanos importantes, inclusive o presidente da Câmara dos Deputados, Paul Ryan, se distanciaram de Trump.
The mogu have been being target of a series of complaint about the inappropriate sexual behavior. The new reports come up one week after the disclosure of a video of 2005 which shows the candidate making obscene comments about women and suggesting sexual aggressions,
After the negative repercussion, Trump asked apologies. Even with this fact, some important republican politicians, including the president of Deputy Cama, Paul Ryan, got distance away from Trump.
Jessica Leeds, de 74 anos, contou ao NYT um episódio que aconteceu há cerca de trinta anos, segundo ela. Leeds diz que viajou ao lado de Trump na primeira classe de um voo em direção a Nova York quando ele teria levantado o braço do assento e começado a tocá-la. "Era como um polvo, as mãos deles estavam por todas as partes. Foi um abuso", disse Jessica, que na época tinha 38 anos.
Jessica, 74-years-old, told to NYT one episode which came about thirty years ago, according to her. Leeds says she traveled next to Trump in the first class in a flight in direction to New York when he would have raised his arm of assent and started touching her. He was like a octopus, his hands were in all hands. It was an abuse. Said Jessica, in those days she was 38 years.
O NYT traz ainda o depoimento de Rachel Crooks, que afirma que sofreu assédio de Trump quando tinha 22 anos e trabalhava como recepcionista em uma empresa que tinha escritório no edifício Trump Tower, em Manhattan.
Ela disse que encontrou Donald Trump fora do elevador e que ele a beijou na boca. "Foi muito inconveniente. Fiquei muito chateada por ele achar que eu era tão insignificante que poderia fazer aquilo comigo". Nem Rachel nem Jessica fizeram queixa às autoridades, mas dividiram a história com parentes e amigos.
The NYT still brings the Rachel Crook's depoiment, which affirms she had been sexually harassed by Trump when she was 22 years and used to work as a receptionist in a company that had one office in the edfficie Trump Tower, in Mahattan.
She said that she found Donal outside the elevator and he kissed her in the mouth. It was very inconvenient. I was very upset to think that I was so meaningless and he could do that with me. Neither Racher nor Jessica made complaint to authorities but divided the history with parents and friends.
(..)
Vocabulary:
- acusações
- difamatória
- magnata
- denuncia
- chateado
- inapropriado
- ela viajou
- recepcionista
Text:
'Parecia um polvo, as mãos dele estavam por todos os lados': NYT publica relatos de supostos assédios de Trump
It was seeming one octopus, his hands were in every place: NYT publish relates of supposing Trump's harassments.
A imprensa americana publicou declarações de mulheres que garantem ter sido assediadas sexualmente pelo candidato republicano à presidência dos Estados Unidos, Donald Trump. Duas delas declararam ao jornal The New York Times que foram tocadas e beijadas por Trump.
A equipe de Donald Trump negou as acusações e ameaça processar o jornal.
The American press published some women's statements that guarantee being sexually harassed by the Republican candidate to the presidency of the Untied States, Donald Trump. Two of them declared to the journal The New York Time that were touched and kissed by Trump
The Donald Trump's team rejected the charges and threat to process the journal.
Uma repórter da revista People também alega ter sido beijada à força por Trump, enquanto outra mulher diz que o candidato republicano teria passado a mão nela.
A equipe de Trump divulgou uma carta na qual classifica a reportagem do NYT como "difamatória", escrita com o "interesse político de derrotar a candidatura Trump". O jornal garante que o artigo é genuíno.
One reporter of magazine People affirms being kissed by force by Trump, while other woman says the Republican candidate would have touched her by hand.
The Trump's team published a letter in which classifies the report of NYT as slanderous, written with the political interest to defeat the Trump's candidature. The journal guarantees the articles is genuine
O magnata tem sido alvo de uma série de denúncias sobre comportamento sexual inadequado. Os novos relatos vêm à tona uma semana após a divulgação de um vídeo de 2005 que mostra o candidato fazendo comentários obscenos sobre mulheres e sugerindo agressões sexuais.
Após a repercussão negativa, Trump pediu desculpas. Mesmo assim, alguns políticos republicanos importantes, inclusive o presidente da Câmara dos Deputados, Paul Ryan, se distanciaram de Trump.
The mogu have been being target of a series of complaint about the inappropriate sexual behavior. The new reports come up one week after the disclosure of a video of 2005 which shows the candidate making obscene comments about women and suggesting sexual aggressions,
After the negative repercussion, Trump asked apologies. Even with this fact, some important republican politicians, including the president of Deputy Cama, Paul Ryan, got distance away from Trump.
Jessica Leeds, de 74 anos, contou ao NYT um episódio que aconteceu há cerca de trinta anos, segundo ela. Leeds diz que viajou ao lado de Trump na primeira classe de um voo em direção a Nova York quando ele teria levantado o braço do assento e começado a tocá-la. "Era como um polvo, as mãos deles estavam por todas as partes. Foi um abuso", disse Jessica, que na época tinha 38 anos.
Jessica, 74-years-old, told to NYT one episode which came about thirty years ago, according to her. Leeds says she traveled next to Trump in the first class in a flight in direction to New York when he would have raised his arm of assent and started touching her. He was like a octopus, his hands were in all hands. It was an abuse. Said Jessica, in those days she was 38 years.
O NYT traz ainda o depoimento de Rachel Crooks, que afirma que sofreu assédio de Trump quando tinha 22 anos e trabalhava como recepcionista em uma empresa que tinha escritório no edifício Trump Tower, em Manhattan.
Ela disse que encontrou Donald Trump fora do elevador e que ele a beijou na boca. "Foi muito inconveniente. Fiquei muito chateada por ele achar que eu era tão insignificante que poderia fazer aquilo comigo". Nem Rachel nem Jessica fizeram queixa às autoridades, mas dividiram a história com parentes e amigos.
The NYT still brings the Rachel Crook's depoiment, which affirms she had been sexually harassed by Trump when she was 22 years and used to work as a receptionist in a company that had one office in the edfficie Trump Tower, in Mahattan.
She said that she found Donal outside the elevator and he kissed her in the mouth. It was very inconvenient. I was very upset to think that I was so meaningless and he could do that with me. Neither Racher nor Jessica made complaint to authorities but divided the history with parents and friends.
(..)
Materia preta no universo
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-techniques-could-target-more-exotic-dark-matter/
Vocabulary:
Text:
New Techniques Could Target More Exotic Dark Matter
After decades of experiments have failed to find evidence for physicists’ favored dark matter candidate particles, scientists plan searches for alternatives
Where is the dark matter? Scientists who have hunted for decades for the stuff that comprises(=compreende) most of the cosmos’ mass are starting to worry that they are looking in the wrong places. After the latest null results came out this summer from the most sensitive search yet for the particles thought to make up dark matter, a limited theoretical range of masses and other characteristics remains viable for the particles. Now physicists have proposed two new methods to trawl this slim remaining territory, which has been out of reach to experiments so far.
Most of the universe’s mass is dark matter, around 80% of it. Although we cannot see or touch it, scientists know its gravity distorts images of distant objects and holds galaxies together. Since the 1980s, experiments buried deep in mountains and mines have waited patiently to see if a dark matter particle will pass through. Europe’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) slams other particles together hoping to create some dark matter in the process. But so far, the elusive substance has failed to turn up at either the LHC or the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment in South Dakota.
Researchers are now facing growing hints that existing experiments may be targeting the wrong kinds of particles, and finding dark matter will require new techniques.
Dark matter searches to date have mostly searched for “weakly interacting massive particles” (WIMPs), theoretical particles that would weigh between 1 giga-electron volt (GeV) and 1 tera-electron volt (TeV), or between one and 1,000 times the mass of a proton. Many physicists have long viewed them as the most promising dark matter candidates, because theory implies that WIMPs should contribute about as much mass to the universe as the amount of dark matter astronomers have measured, but the particles have so far failed to appear. These experiments tend to search for rare instances of WIMPs impacting atoms in some detecting material; in the case of LUX, the material is liquid xenon, but others have used solid germanium or other substances.
“The WIMP paradigm is under siege” after so many failures to find them have limited the number of places they could still be hiding, says Kathryn Zurek of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. Zurek led two recent studies proposing new ways of searching for dark matter in the form of particles that would be lighter than WIMPs, such as so-called asymmetric dark matter. Such particles might interact with the normal particles we know of via some yet-undiscovered dark force. “The idea is that you can have this hidden sector where dark matter is really light … and can have individual particle interactions with [regular] particles,” Zurek says. “It’s not a paradigm people had been really thinking about until less than a decade ago.”
In place of traditional dark matter detector materials, Zurek’s team’s first method uses superconducting aluminum, a substance whose electrons are free to move without any resistance. Within the superconductor electrons bind themselves with partner electrons in so-called “Cooper pairs.” Energy from an incoming dark matter particle could break up one of these pairs and send vibrations through the superconductor, which hypersensitive heat detectors called transition edge sensors (TESs) would read out. The researchers published this method last January in Physical Review Letters.
The second method, published last month in Physical Review Letters, uses superfluid helium, a zero-viscosity liquid of ultra-cold helium atoms that can move around each other without any resistance. An incoming dark matter particle could interact with a helium nucleus, causing a chain reaction that sends a set of phonons, quantum sound waves, to TESs. Both methods require a much slighter knock from dark matter into the detecting material to generate a signal than existing experiments, and can therefore spot particles as light as 1 keV, a millionth the mass of a proton. Traditional experiments are sensitive only to particles as light as 10 MeV, ten thousand times heavier than a keV.
The current generation of dark matter experiments are getting upgrades; LUX is becoming the LUX-ZEPLIN (ZonEd Proportional scintillation in LIquid Noble gases) or LZ experiment, XENON100 in Italy is becoming XENON1T and the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) in Minnesota will move to a new Canadian site. But even the improved versions can only probe down to around 10 MeV at best. If they cannot find anything, scientists will likely look to proposals like Zurek’s to probe even lighter masses of potential particles. Yet such experiments will require research and development into what superconducting aluminum or superfluid helium detectors will actually look like, and where they should build such a detector. “These experiments will be technically challenging but not very expensive,” Zurek says.
“[This research] is the direction the field is moving partly because we haven't found the standard WIMPs,” says Dan Bauer, a scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois and the SuperCDMS spokesperson. Although scientists are still holding out hope that higher mass WIMPs will appear, “we realized that we’ve always been looking under particular lampposts. There's a lot of territory available for lighter mass dark matter particles.”
And as experimentalists build detectors that can spot lighter particles, theoretical physicists are likely to come up with more ideas for types of dark matter candidate particles that could be found there. “Theorists are very creative,” says Bob Jacobsen, a University of California, Berkeley, physicist who works on LUX and LZ. “If there's a [mass] region that hasn't been explored, the theorists will say can they do something that's mathematically consistent. If they publish it, it's our job to rule it out.”
Superconductor and superfluid detector proof-of-concepts will ultimately require physicists to divide their time between current searches and research and development, says Chris Tully, a Princeton University physicist. “You have to build these technologies in parallel with running experiments” he says. He hopes to begin seeing mockups in five to 10 years’ time, depending on funding (though Zurek herself thought it would be closer to 10 years). Whereas the experiment Tully works on, the Princeton Tritium Observatory for Light, Early-Universe, Massive-Neutrino Yield (PTOLEMY) , and SuperCDMS have TESs already developed, scientists must further(=promover) test future detectors to ensure they can pick out dark matter particles from contaminating radiation that causes a similar signal in the detector. Current experiments are located deep underground or in mountains to shield against cosmic rays, high-energy particles from space that produce signals that can obscure dark matter.
Superfluid or superconductor experiments would instead need shielding from stray electromagnetic waves, such as those from cell phones, Zurek says. Bauer says that SuperCDMS’ Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Laboratory is building such shielding now. Ultimately, “It's amazing how little we know,” says Jacobsen. “We're looking for the first clue in the crime scene. If you don't have the first clue, you don't know where to look.”
Vocabulary:
- physicists
- that comprises most of the cosmos
- results came out
- must further test future
Text:
New Techniques Could Target More Exotic Dark Matter
After decades of experiments have failed to find evidence for physicists’ favored dark matter candidate particles, scientists plan searches for alternatives
Where is the dark matter? Scientists who have hunted for decades for the stuff that comprises(=compreende) most of the cosmos’ mass are starting to worry that they are looking in the wrong places. After the latest null results came out this summer from the most sensitive search yet for the particles thought to make up dark matter, a limited theoretical range of masses and other characteristics remains viable for the particles. Now physicists have proposed two new methods to trawl this slim remaining territory, which has been out of reach to experiments so far.
Most of the universe’s mass is dark matter, around 80% of it. Although we cannot see or touch it, scientists know its gravity distorts images of distant objects and holds galaxies together. Since the 1980s, experiments buried deep in mountains and mines have waited patiently to see if a dark matter particle will pass through. Europe’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) slams other particles together hoping to create some dark matter in the process. But so far, the elusive substance has failed to turn up at either the LHC or the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment in South Dakota.
Researchers are now facing growing hints that existing experiments may be targeting the wrong kinds of particles, and finding dark matter will require new techniques.
Dark matter searches to date have mostly searched for “weakly interacting massive particles” (WIMPs), theoretical particles that would weigh between 1 giga-electron volt (GeV) and 1 tera-electron volt (TeV), or between one and 1,000 times the mass of a proton. Many physicists have long viewed them as the most promising dark matter candidates, because theory implies that WIMPs should contribute about as much mass to the universe as the amount of dark matter astronomers have measured, but the particles have so far failed to appear. These experiments tend to search for rare instances of WIMPs impacting atoms in some detecting material; in the case of LUX, the material is liquid xenon, but others have used solid germanium or other substances.
“The WIMP paradigm is under siege” after so many failures to find them have limited the number of places they could still be hiding, says Kathryn Zurek of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. Zurek led two recent studies proposing new ways of searching for dark matter in the form of particles that would be lighter than WIMPs, such as so-called asymmetric dark matter. Such particles might interact with the normal particles we know of via some yet-undiscovered dark force. “The idea is that you can have this hidden sector where dark matter is really light … and can have individual particle interactions with [regular] particles,” Zurek says. “It’s not a paradigm people had been really thinking about until less than a decade ago.”
In place of traditional dark matter detector materials, Zurek’s team’s first method uses superconducting aluminum, a substance whose electrons are free to move without any resistance. Within the superconductor electrons bind themselves with partner electrons in so-called “Cooper pairs.” Energy from an incoming dark matter particle could break up one of these pairs and send vibrations through the superconductor, which hypersensitive heat detectors called transition edge sensors (TESs) would read out. The researchers published this method last January in Physical Review Letters.
The second method, published last month in Physical Review Letters, uses superfluid helium, a zero-viscosity liquid of ultra-cold helium atoms that can move around each other without any resistance. An incoming dark matter particle could interact with a helium nucleus, causing a chain reaction that sends a set of phonons, quantum sound waves, to TESs. Both methods require a much slighter knock from dark matter into the detecting material to generate a signal than existing experiments, and can therefore spot particles as light as 1 keV, a millionth the mass of a proton. Traditional experiments are sensitive only to particles as light as 10 MeV, ten thousand times heavier than a keV.
The current generation of dark matter experiments are getting upgrades; LUX is becoming the LUX-ZEPLIN (ZonEd Proportional scintillation in LIquid Noble gases) or LZ experiment, XENON100 in Italy is becoming XENON1T and the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) in Minnesota will move to a new Canadian site. But even the improved versions can only probe down to around 10 MeV at best. If they cannot find anything, scientists will likely look to proposals like Zurek’s to probe even lighter masses of potential particles. Yet such experiments will require research and development into what superconducting aluminum or superfluid helium detectors will actually look like, and where they should build such a detector. “These experiments will be technically challenging but not very expensive,” Zurek says.
“[This research] is the direction the field is moving partly because we haven't found the standard WIMPs,” says Dan Bauer, a scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois and the SuperCDMS spokesperson. Although scientists are still holding out hope that higher mass WIMPs will appear, “we realized that we’ve always been looking under particular lampposts. There's a lot of territory available for lighter mass dark matter particles.”
And as experimentalists build detectors that can spot lighter particles, theoretical physicists are likely to come up with more ideas for types of dark matter candidate particles that could be found there. “Theorists are very creative,” says Bob Jacobsen, a University of California, Berkeley, physicist who works on LUX and LZ. “If there's a [mass] region that hasn't been explored, the theorists will say can they do something that's mathematically consistent. If they publish it, it's our job to rule it out.”
Superconductor and superfluid detector proof-of-concepts will ultimately require physicists to divide their time between current searches and research and development, says Chris Tully, a Princeton University physicist. “You have to build these technologies in parallel with running experiments” he says. He hopes to begin seeing mockups in five to 10 years’ time, depending on funding (though Zurek herself thought it would be closer to 10 years). Whereas the experiment Tully works on, the Princeton Tritium Observatory for Light, Early-Universe, Massive-Neutrino Yield (PTOLEMY) , and SuperCDMS have TESs already developed, scientists must further(=promover) test future detectors to ensure they can pick out dark matter particles from contaminating radiation that causes a similar signal in the detector. Current experiments are located deep underground or in mountains to shield against cosmic rays, high-energy particles from space that produce signals that can obscure dark matter.
Superfluid or superconductor experiments would instead need shielding from stray electromagnetic waves, such as those from cell phones, Zurek says. Bauer says that SuperCDMS’ Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Laboratory is building such shielding now. Ultimately, “It's amazing how little we know,” says Jacobsen. “We're looking for the first clue in the crime scene. If you don't have the first clue, you don't know where to look.”
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