Not super thrilled with the prospect of using iCloud for your web storage needs? Google Drive presents an ever-improving alternative to Apple's in-house solution, and today's iOS app update brings a couple of new features into the fold. The app now supports multiple accounts, so you can access your ...In this Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013 photo, residents living near the slopes of Mayon volcano are evacuated to public schools by police in anticipation of the powerful typhoon Haiyan that threatened Albay province and several provinces in central Philippines. The typhoon, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, slammed into the Philippines early Friday, with one weather expert warning of catastrophic damage. (AP Photo/Nelson Salting)
In this Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013 photo, residents living near the slopes of Mayon volcano are evacuated to public schools by police in anticipation of the powerful typhoon Haiyan that threatened Albay province and several provinces in central Philippines. The typhoon, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, slammed into the Philippines early Friday, with one weather expert warning of catastrophic damage. (AP Photo/Nelson Salting)
In this Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013 photo, residents living near the slopes of Mayon volcano are evacuated to public schools by police in anticipation of the powerful typhoon Haiyan that threatened Albay province and several provinces in central Philippines. The typhoon, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, slammed into the Philippines early Friday, with one weather expert warning of catastrophic damage. (AP Photo/Nelson Salting)
In this Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013 photo, residents living near the slopes of Mayon volcano are evacuated to public schools by police in anticipation of the powerful typhoon Haiyan that threatened Albay province and several provinces in central Philippines. The typhoon, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, slammed into the Philippines early Friday, with one weather expert warning of catastrophic damage.(AP Photo/Nelson Salting)
This Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013 satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Typhoon Haiyan over the Philippines, at 22:30 UTC (5:30 p.m. EST). Haiyan, the world's strongest typhoon of the year, slammed into the Philippines early Friday. It had been poised to be the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded at landfall, a weather expert said. (AP Photo/NOAA)
This early Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013 satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows the eye, right, of Typhoon Haiyan, off the coast of the Philippines, at approximately 05:25 UTC (12:25 a.m. EST). Haiyan, the world's strongest typhoon of the year slammed into the Philippines early Friday. It had been poised to be the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded at landfall, a weather expert said. (AP Photo/NOAA)
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — One of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded slammed into the Philippines Friday, cutting communications and blocking roads in the center of the country amid worries of serious damage and casualties.
Telephone lines appeared down as it was difficult to get through to the landfall site 650 kilometers (405 miles) southeast of Manila where Typhoon Haiyan slammed into a rural area of the country.
Weather officials said that Haiyan had sustained winds at 235 kilometers (147 miles) per hour, with gusts of 275 kph (170 mph) when it made landfall at Eastern Samar province's Guiuan township.
The local weather bureau makes estimates based on longer periods of time than others, such as the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center, which said shortly before the typhoon made landfall that its maximum sustained winds were 314 kilometers per hour (195 mph), with gusts up to 379 kilometers per hour (235 mph).
"195-mile-per-hour winds, there aren't too many buildings constructed that can withstand that kind of wind," said Jeff Masters, a former hurricane meteorologist who is meteorology director at the private firm Weather Underground.
Masters said the storm had been poised to be the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded at landfall. He warned of "catastrophic damage."
Haiyan's wind strength at landfall had been expected to beat out Hurricane Camille, which was 305 kph (190 mph) at landfall in the United States in 1969, Masters said.
Already authorities reported having trouble reaching colleagues in the landfall area, with forecaster Mario Palafox of the national weather bureau saying contact had been lost with staff in the landfall area.
More than 125,000 people had been evacuated from towns and villages in the typhoon's path, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said. Among them were thousands of residents of Bohol who had been camped in tents and other makeshift shelters after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake devastated many towns on the island province.
Masters said the Philippines might get a small break because the storm is so fast moving that flooding from heavy rains — usually the cause of most deaths from typhoons in the Philippines — may not be as bad.
After hitting Guiuan on the southern tip of Samar island, the typhoon pummeled nearby Leyte island.
"I think this is the strongest so far since the 1960s," Southern Leyte Gov. Roger Mercado said on ABS-CBN television. "This is really a wallop. All roads are impassable due to fallen trees."
A reporter for the network in the Tacloban city was drenched in the pounding rain and said he was wearing a helmet as protection against flying debris. Visibility was so poor that only his silhouette could be seen through the thick curtain of water.
Television images showed a street under knee-deep floodwater carrying debris that had been blown down by the fierce winds. Tin roofing sheets ripped from buildings were flying above the street.
Weather forecaster Gener Quitlong said the typhoon was not losing much of its strength because there is no large land mass to slow it down since the region is comprised of islands with no tall mountains.
Officials in Cebu province have shut down electric service to the northern part of the province to avoid electrocutions in case power pylons are toppled, said assistant regional civil defense chief Flor Gaviola.
President Benigno Aquino III assured the public of war-like preparations, with three C-130 air force cargo planes and 32 military helicopters and planes on standby, along with 20 navy ships.
The typhoon — the 24th serious storm to hit the Philippines this year — is forecast to barrel through the Philippines' central region Friday and Saturday before blowing toward the South China Sea over the weekend, heading toward Vietnam.
__
Associated Press writers Oliver Teves and Teresa Cerojano in the Philippines and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-11-07-Philippines-Typhoon/id-80341dded1754313b71c71533954e5eeOut for a quick trim in Beverly Hills, CA today (November 7), "Mad Men" momma January Jones took her son Xander to get a haircut.
The 35-year-old dressed casually, wearing shades, and sporting a white button down and blue jeans. Little Xander rode along on his mommy's hip, wearing a gray cap, blue polo and jeans.
In related news, AMC announced that "Mad Men's" seventh and final season will be 14 episodes long and be split into two hlaves, with the first seven episodes of the extended season airing in Spring 2014 and the second seven episodes airing in Spring 2015.
Fans of the show can now purchase the series' sixth season on DVD, which just hit stores this week. Enjoy!
Around a decade after the last installment was released, "Star Wars: Episode VII" will hit theaters on December 18, 2015.
Fears that the sci-fi flick would be pushed to 2016 were calmed when the announcement was made on Thursday (November 7).
In a statement, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn shared, "We’re very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII, where it will not only anchor the popular holiday filmgoing season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture."
After finding success in the other huge sci-fi franchise, Star Trek, J. J. Abrams has been tapped to bring new life to the Star Wars series.
How much did the 16-day government shutdown cost the country? The White House’s Office of Management and Budget is glad you asked.
In a new report released Thursday, OMB detailed the economic pain and loss resulting from the partial closure of federal facilities precipitated by House Republicans looking to roll back Obamacare.
The White House had already warned that 120,000 fewer private sector jobs were created in October and 0.2-0.6 percentage points were shaved from Gross Domestic Product growth in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Here are some of the shutdown’s less obvious effects, as researched and compiled by OMG:
- Drill, baby, drill? Not so much. About 200 permits to drill on federal lands languished unapproved.
- Booze, lose? The Treasury Department couldn’t issue export certificates for beer, wine and liquor, so two million liters due for export were stranded at ports. (Yep, they reckoned this one in liters. It’s about 528,344 gallons.)
- Get crabby? The shutdown delayed the start of the Alaska crabbing season three to four days at a cost to fisherman of thousands of dollars of lost revenue per day.
- Park it where? National parks were closed, resulting in the loss of about $500 million in lost visitor spending nationwide (affecting not just parks, but the communities near them that depend on tourism revenue).
- Government efficiency hawks will be thrilled to learn that federal employees were furloughed for a combined 6.6 million days. Not to worry: They received back pay for days they didn’t work, to the tune of about $2 billion.
- The shutdown delayed about $4 billion in tax refunds, and prevented hundreds of patients from taking part in clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health – frequently the last shot chronically or even terminally ill Americans have at treatment.
- Four out of the five Nobel Prize-winning researchers currently working for the federal government? Furloughed.
- Government scientists will have to push back by six months the testing of a new approach for curbing the spread of Asian carp into the Great Lakes.
- “Work was also delayed on other invasive species projects, including research on the spread of dangerous Africanized honeybees in the Southwest, invasive grass species involved in intensifying wildfires, and white-nose bat syndrome impacting bats in national parks.”
Kids in Head Start, veterans looking to get their benefits applications processed, rural families waiting for their home loan applications to get through … many others were affected, as detailed in the report.
During promotions for "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," Jennifer Lawrence stopped by the Yahoo Headquarters in Sunnydale, CA on Wednesday (November 6).
The 23-year-old chatted with Tumblr execs and dished about a number of topics, including her childhood crush.
"My teen crush [was] Justin Timberlake," J Law stated. "Early 90s Justin Timberlake though. Like, 'N Sync Justin Timberlake."
"I remember buying the 'N Sync CD. Remember how CDs had like the pullout picture things? And I was like getting so overwhelmed with like hormones I almost threw up!" she joked.
Although she enjoyed a few laughs, Jennifer also spoke seriously about the negativity surrounding body image issues in Hollywood.
While discussing society's obsession with pointing out flawed figures, Miss Lawrence slammed the E! series "Fashion Police" for constantly criticizing celebrities.
"There are shows like 'Fashion Police' that are just showing these generations of young people to judge people based on all the wrong values and that it's okay to point at people and them ugly or fat," she explained.
Lawrence continued, "They call it 'fun' and they say 'welcome to the real world' - and that should be the real world. It's going to continue being the real world if we keep it that way. We have to stop treating each other like that and stop calling each other fat."
"There are unrealistic expectations for women. It's disappointing that the media keeps it alive and fuels that fire. It's something that really bothers me - because I love to eat," she added.
In regards to how she feels about people who cast judgement on others," Jennifer said, "Screw those people."
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 7-Nov-2013
ShareContact: David Ehrhardt
ehrhardt@stanford.edu
650-325-1521 x261
Carnegie Institution
Stanford, CAInside every plant cell, a cytoskeleton provides an interior scaffolding to direct construction of the cell's walls, and thus the growth of the organism as a whole. Environmental and hormonal signals that modulate cell growth cause reorganization of this scaffolding. New research led by Carnegie's David Ehrhardt provides surprising evidence as to how this reorganization process works, with important evidence as to how the direction of a light source influences a plant's growth pattern. It is published by Science Express.
The cytoskeleton undergirding each cell includes an array of tubule-shaped protein fibers called microtubules. By directing cell growth and development, this scaffold is crucial for supporting important plant functions such as photosynthesis, nutrient gathering, and reproduction.
The cytoskeleton does not appear to be remodeled by moving these microtubules around in the cell. Rather, it is altered by changes to the way these fiber arrays are assembled or disassembled. Ehrhardt's team--including lead author Jelmer Lindeboom, Masayoshi Nakamura, Ryan Gutierrez and Viktor Kirik, all from Carnegie--used advanced tools to watch the reorganization process of these microtubule arrays under different conditions.
These imaging data, combined with the results of genetic experiments, revealed a mechanism by which plants orient microtubule arrays. A protein called katanin drives this mechanism, which it achieves by redirecting microtubule growth in response to blue light. It does so by severing the microtubules where they intersect with each other, creating new ends that can regrow and themselves be severed, resulting in a rapid amplification of new microtubules lying in another, more desired, direction.
"Our genetic data, together with previous studies that tie microtubule organization to cell growth, indicate that this restructuring is required for the plant to bend toward a light source as it grows, a phenomenon called phototropism," Ehrhardt explained. "Our findings also have broader implications for the construction of cytoskeletons in other types of cells, including human cells, because katanin is conserved between animals and plants."
"This is exceptional work, which draws upon decades of pioneering discoveries made by Carnegie's Winslow Briggs on blue light perception. For the first time Ehrhhardt's group demonstrates how blue light drives changes in cytoskeleton organization, which underlies the architecture and mechanical properties of the cell walls. These properties are critical for the light-induced bending" says Wolf B. Frommer, Director of the department. He terms the study: "fantastic work, a milestone in the history of blue light research."
###
Other co-authors on the paper are Anneke Hibbel and Anne Mie Emons, of Wageningen University in The Netherlands, and Bela Mulder and Kostya Shundyak of the FOM Institute AMOLF.
This work was supported by NSF award 1158372, the Carnegie Institution for Science, the research program of the "Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie," which is financially supported by the "Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoekm," the EU-NEST programme CASPIC award 28974, the TOYOBO BIOFOUNDATION, and the Human Frontier Science Program.
The Carnegie Institution for Science is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 7-Nov-2013
ShareContact: David Ehrhardt
ehrhardt@stanford.edu
650-325-1521 x261
Carnegie Institution
Stanford, CAInside every plant cell, a cytoskeleton provides an interior scaffolding to direct construction of the cell's walls, and thus the growth of the organism as a whole. Environmental and hormonal signals that modulate cell growth cause reorganization of this scaffolding. New research led by Carnegie's David Ehrhardt provides surprising evidence as to how this reorganization process works, with important evidence as to how the direction of a light source influences a plant's growth pattern. It is published by Science Express.
The cytoskeleton undergirding each cell includes an array of tubule-shaped protein fibers called microtubules. By directing cell growth and development, this scaffold is crucial for supporting important plant functions such as photosynthesis, nutrient gathering, and reproduction.
The cytoskeleton does not appear to be remodeled by moving these microtubules around in the cell. Rather, it is altered by changes to the way these fiber arrays are assembled or disassembled. Ehrhardt's team--including lead author Jelmer Lindeboom, Masayoshi Nakamura, Ryan Gutierrez and Viktor Kirik, all from Carnegie--used advanced tools to watch the reorganization process of these microtubule arrays under different conditions.
These imaging data, combined with the results of genetic experiments, revealed a mechanism by which plants orient microtubule arrays. A protein called katanin drives this mechanism, which it achieves by redirecting microtubule growth in response to blue light. It does so by severing the microtubules where they intersect with each other, creating new ends that can regrow and themselves be severed, resulting in a rapid amplification of new microtubules lying in another, more desired, direction.
"Our genetic data, together with previous studies that tie microtubule organization to cell growth, indicate that this restructuring is required for the plant to bend toward a light source as it grows, a phenomenon called phototropism," Ehrhardt explained. "Our findings also have broader implications for the construction of cytoskeletons in other types of cells, including human cells, because katanin is conserved between animals and plants."
"This is exceptional work, which draws upon decades of pioneering discoveries made by Carnegie's Winslow Briggs on blue light perception. For the first time Ehrhhardt's group demonstrates how blue light drives changes in cytoskeleton organization, which underlies the architecture and mechanical properties of the cell walls. These properties are critical for the light-induced bending" says Wolf B. Frommer, Director of the department. He terms the study: "fantastic work, a milestone in the history of blue light research."
###
Other co-authors on the paper are Anneke Hibbel and Anne Mie Emons, of Wageningen University in The Netherlands, and Bela Mulder and Kostya Shundyak of the FOM Institute AMOLF.
This work was supported by NSF award 1158372, the Carnegie Institution for Science, the research program of the "Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie," which is financially supported by the "Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoekm," the EU-NEST programme CASPIC award 28974, the TOYOBO BIOFOUNDATION, and the Human Frontier Science Program.
The Carnegie Institution for Science is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Charts show percentages of students performing at or above proficiency in math and reading; 2c x 5 inches; 96.3 mm x 127 mm;
Charts show percentages of students performing at or above proficiency in math and reading; 2c x 5 inches; 96.3 mm x 127 mm;
Education Secretary Arne Duncan, left, stands with Washington Mayor Vincent Gray, as he speaks to reporters during a visit to Malcolm X Elementary School in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013. Duncan announced that today's fourth and eighth graders are doing better than their predecessors in math and reading. Today’s fourth and eighth graders are doing better than their predecessors in math and reading, but despite record high scores it’s too soon to start celebrating. The vast majority of students still are not demonstrating solid academic achievement in either subject, according to the Nation’s Report Card, released Thursday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Education Secretary Arne Duncan arrives for a visit to Malcolm X Elementary School in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013. Duncan announced that today's fourth and eighth graders are doing better than their predecessors in math and reading. Today’s fourth and eighth graders are doing better than their predecessors in math and reading, but despite record high scores it’s too soon to start celebrating. The vast majority of students still are not demonstrating solid academic achievement in either subject, according to the Nation’s Report Card, released Thursday (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sometimes the best isn't good enough: Most American fourth and eighth graders still lack basic skills in math and science despite record high scores on a national exam.
Yes, today's students are doing better than those who came before them. But the improvements have come at a snail's pace.
The 2013 Nation's Report Card released Thursday finds that the vast majority of the students still are not demonstrating solid academic performance in either math or reading. Stubborn gaps persist between the performances of white children and their Hispanic and African-American counterparts, who scored much lower.
Overall, just 42 percent of fourth graders and 35 percent of eighth graders scored at or above the proficient level in math. In reading, 35 percent of fourth graders and 36 percent of eighth graders hit that mark.
Still, as state and federal policies evolve in the post-No Child Left Behind era, the nation's school kids are doing better today on the test than they did in the early 1990s, when such tracking started, with more improvement in math than in reading. Students of all races have shown improvement over the years.
The results come from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, which is given every two years to a sample of fourth and eighth graders.
This year's results, compared to results in 2011, show average incremental gains of about one or two points on a 500-point scale in math and reading in both grades, although the one-point gain in fourth grade reading was not considered statistically significant.
"Every two years, the gains tend to be small, but over the long run, they stack up," said Jack Buckley, commissioner of the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics.
Buckley said he was "heartened" by some of the results, "but there are also some areas where I'd hoped to see improvement where we didn't."
Today, President W. Bush's landmark education law No Child Left Behind, which sought to close achievement gaps among racial groups and have every student doing math and reading at grade level by 2014, has essentially been dismantled.
After Congress failed to update the law before it was due for renewal in 2007, President Barack Obama allowed states to get waivers from it if they showed they have their own plans to prepare students. Most states took him up on the offer.
Meanwhile, a majority of states are rolling out Common Core State Standards with the goal of better preparing the nation's students for college or a job. The states-led standards establish benchmarks for reading and math and replace goals that varied widely from state.
Academic scholars have long debated what effects the law and other state-led reforms have had on test scores.
This year, Tennessee and the District of Columbia, which have both launched high-profile efforts to strengthen education by improving teacher evaluations and by other measures, showed across-the-board growth on the test compared to 2011, likely stoking more debate. Only the Defense Department schools also saw gains in both grade levels and subjects.
In Hawaii, which has also seen a concentrated effort to improve teaching quality, scores also increased with the exception of fourth grade reading. In Iowa and Washington state, scores increased except in 8th grade math.
Specifically pointing to Tennessee, Hawaii and D.C., Education Secretary Arne Duncan said on a conference call with reporters that many of the changes seen in these states were "very, very difficult and courageous" and appear to have had an impact.
Chris Minnich, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, said the biggest problem revealed in the results is the large gap that exists between the performances of students of different races.
There was a 26-point gap, for example, between how white and African American 4th graders performed on the math section. In eighth grade reading, white students outperformed Hispanic students by 21 points.
"We still have a situation where you have kids that are left behind. They aren't given the same instruction. They aren't given the same expectations as other kids," Minnich said. He said it's time for "doubling down and making sure the gaps get smaller."
Duncan said too many African-American and Hispanic children start kindergarten a year or two behind and that early childhood programs are key to leveling the playing field. Duncan and Obama have lobbied for congressional passage of a preschool-for-all program.
This test specifically looked at the performance of American children, but the results from other recent assessments and studies have shown American children and adults scoring below peers in many other countries.
The exam was given this year to about 377,000 fourth graders and 342,000 eighth graders in public and private schools. However, state-specific numbers are only from public schools.
In math, students were asked to answer questions about topics such as geometry, algebra and measurement. In reading, students were told to read passages and recall details or interpret them.
Among the other results:
—More boys than girls scored at or above the proficient level for both grades in math. In reading, more girls than boys scored at or above that mark.
—Twenty-five out of the 52 states or jurisdictions measured had a higher average score in 2013 than in 2011 in at least one subject and grade.
—Five states had a lower score than two years ago in at least one subject and grade: Massachusetts, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.
—Hispanic students were the only racial or ethnic group that saw improvements in math scores in both fourth and eighth grades; Asian/Pacific Islanders students had the highest percentage of students performing at or above the proficient level in both math and reading.
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Online: http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_2013
___
Kimberly Hefling can be followed at http://twitter.com/khefling
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-11-07-US-Nation's-Report-Card/id-416d705ad78d4cd2bbdbab529dd5c1b2
In the latest edition of After Hours, the 'The Dark World' star savages MTV News' Josh Horowitz with a pillow.
By Kase Wickman, reporting by Joshua Horowitz
Another Sunday, another amazing reported piece on the rather amazing history of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges. You’ll have to read the whole thing, because summary won’t do it justice. But here are a few highlights:
Keeping up with her busy movie schedule, Kate Bosworth is scheduled to star in Mike Flanagan's horror flick, "Somnia," alongside "Deep Blue Sea's" Thomas Jane.
Sierra/Affinity announced the news today (November 7) at the American Film Market, and the film's producer, Trevor Macy stated that, "'Somnia' is a natural follow up to 'Oculus' for Mike. We are thrilled that Kate and Thomas have joined us for Somnia, and look forward to Sierra presenting both titles at the AFM."
Co-producer Sam Englebardt also said, “Mike Flanagan blew us away with 'Oculus' and we’re thrilled to be working with him and Trevor on 'Somnia'. It’s a huge added bonus that Sierra came on to sell the film for us.”
According to the synopsis, "Somnia" is "A horror/thriller centered on an orphan whose dreams and nightmares manifest physically as he sleeps."
Today, just over 100 years after the advent of trans fats, the FDA has announced that it's taking the first steps toward banning them outright, removing them from the "Generally Recognized As Safe" list and out of the American food supply. It's about time.
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Jennifer Aniston quietly revealed a new, considerably shorter hairstyle on Monday, Nov. 4, but people everywhere are buzzing about her dramatic makeover! Aniston's hair colorist, Michael Canale, told reporters more about her transformation.
PHOTOS: Jen Aniston's hair history
The 44-year-old star's new style -- a messier version of the bob parted to the side and stopping at her jaw line -- was actually the result of a bad Brazillian blowout, Aniston revealed to Elle in an interview. "My hair did not react really well to it," Justin Theroux's fiancee said of the straightening treatment. She also told Vogue, "I'm always one of those girls who does a big old chop just to get it really healthy, to repair all the [damage from] hair coloring and stuff like that."
PHOTOS: All of Jen's Us Weekly covers!
Therefore the challenges for Aniston's longtime colorist Canale (who, like stylist Chris McMillan, has been handling the Friends star's hair since her iconic "Rachel" days) were infusing Aniston's already chemically-damaged locks with a color that would revive it back to a healthy and glossy state, and finding an appropriate hue to complement her new cut.
PHOTOS: Friends stars: Then and now
Canale explains: "First, I had to remove the warm colors from the top section of her hair, and I really made a point to emphasize extra blonde around her face and along the sides, about a quarter inch in from the hairline so it blended fluently with the rest of her hair." Then the expert opted for a "baby blonde color as opposed to the sandy blonde color that she came in with" for two reasons: "To maintain felinity and accentuate her natural beauty," he says in the release.
Finally, the celebrity color guru added "paper-thin highlights all-over," which creates "a gorgeous, natural-looking sheen." Canale explains, "It also ensures you aren’t over-bleaching hair that’s already parched." And voila! Hot hair for one of the most high profile stars in the world. (See more photos of her new cut and color at x17online.)
PHOTOS: Jen's bikini body through the years
The results seem to be working well for Aniston, who explained to Vogue, "I did it! I feel great. I feel lighter. It's simple, it's really simple, that's for sure."
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 7-Nov-2013
ShareContact: Peter West
pwest@nsf.gov
703-292-7530
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF), in cooperation with interagency and international partners, recently made the first round of awards under a program that supports multi- and interdisciplinary science important to understanding the predictability, resiliency and sustainability of the natural and living environment, built environment, natural resource development and governance of the Arctic.
Six projects have been funded as part of the Arctic Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (ArcSEES) program. The projects are located at 12 institutions, and include collaborative investigators from the United States, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. ArcSEES grants support academic, management, indigenous and industry scientists.
"Twenty years ago, the Arctic Council emphasized the need to engage science for sustainability in the high north," said Erica Key, ArcSEES program manager in the Division of Polar Programs in NSF's Geosciences Directorate. "In that time, the Arctic environment and population has changed considerably. ArcSEES is a timely approach to understanding and mitigating the impacts of environmental change on Arctic people."
NSF's Division of Polar Programs; Geosciences Directorate and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) contributed funding to the first round of awards, as did the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), an organization within the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
"The participation of CNRS through this new partnership with NSF and other U.S. institutions saw the selection of a project that includes French teams, and I am happy with this result," said Jean-Francois Stephan, director of the National Institute of Earth Sciences and Astronomy at CNRS.
CNRS coordinates the new French Arctic Initiative in which international cooperation occupies a privileged place, he added.
BOEM, in partnership with NSF, will fund two studies in the Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf:
One will measure and assess the long-term cumulative impacts of increases in the oil-and-gas-industry infrastructure in the Prudhoe Bay area of Alaska, with the goal of reducing the impacts of future development in the region.
The other study will examine the vulnerability and resilience of the walrus population off Alaska's North Slope. This will enhance the Bureau's understanding of the complex interplay between climate change; walrus population dynamics and structure; health, habits, feeding ecologies; foraging locations and harvesting by Native-Alaskan subsistence hunters.
"BOEM welcomes the opportunity to partner with NSF and other world-class scientific organizations looking at Arctic sustainability," said Tommy P. Beaudreau, BOEM director.
The premise of ArcSEES is that fundamental research is needed to understand the integrated Arctic system in this era of rapid change, how sustainability is defined the context of rapid change, whether necessary data and statistical techniques are available to make the desired assessment and to understand the stability and predictability of the Arctic system state.
The program recognizes that there are gaps in the scientific understanding of the rapidly changing environmental, social, economic, built and managed systems in the Arctic as well as their complex interactions and, as result, deficiencies in the science that guides policymaking.
The suite of projects supported by the first round of grants reflects the diversity of research necessary to inform sustainability science and co-develop relevant policy, mitigation and adaptation strategies with Arctic residents.
Submissions to NSF's ArcSEES solicitation program drew the interest of more than 250 scientific collaborators from 10 countries as well as management entities from local and multi-national levels.
Established by Congress through the Arctic Research and Policy Act, the U.S. Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) consists of more than 15 agencies, departments and offices across the Federal government. NSF's director chairs IARPC.
The following grants were made in the first round of ArcSEES funding:
Collaborative Research: Water, Energy, and Food Security in the North: Synergies, tradeoffs, and building community capacity for sustainable futures (Sustainable Futures North)
Principal Investigators: Philip Loring, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Henry Huntington, Huntington Consulting, Eagle River, Alaska; Lawrence Hamilton, University of New Hampshire; Shari Gearheard, University of Colorado at Boulder
The Sustainable Futures North project addresses the question of whether synergies can be found among the related goals of food security, water security, energy security and resource development in the North American Arctic. Historically, development in one or more of these areas has presented trade-offs in others.
The North Slope Arctic Scenarios Project (NASP): Envisioning desirable futures and strategizing pathways for sustainable healthy communities
Principal Investigator: Amy Lovecraft, University of Alaska Fairbanks
This proposal for the North Slope Arctic Scenarios Project (NASP) involves multiple organizations and stakeholders in collaboration to explore options for sustainable development in the North. NASP employs proven and advanced approaches to engage North Slope communities in developing and analyzing scenarios visions for the future and plausible pathways--for effective strategic planning and implementation of policy.
WALRUS--Walrus Adaptability and Long-term Responses; Using multi-proxy data to project Sustainability
Principal Investigator: Nicole Misarti, University of Alaska Fairbanks
The Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) is one of many species affected by recent environmental change in the Arctic. This project aims to integrate several disciplines including archaeology, ethnology, biology and ecology using diverse sources of data including DNA, stable isotope, steroid and trace element analysis as well as to ascertain long-term trends of walrus feeding ecology, foraging location and stock genetics over the last two millennia. This time-frame includes large climatic anomalies such as the Medieval Warm and the Little Ice Age, thereby presenting scientists with the possibility of understanding how walruses adapt during times of stress and change. The project is jointly funded by NSF and the Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Collaborative Research: Sustainabiity of critical areas for eiders and subsistence hunters in an industrializing nearshore zone
Principal Investigators: Tuula Hollmen, Alaska SeaLife Center; Henry Huntington, Huntington Consulting, Eagle River, Alaska; James Lovvorn, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale; Neesha Stellrecht, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Throughout the Arctic, indigenous people are faced with difficult choices between the cash benefits of industrialization versus potential degradation of subsistence hunting. Subsistence hunting often provides a large fraction of foods and may be more reliable in the long term than a cash economy based on nonrenewable resources. Subsistence hunting for certain species may also have cultural significance that far exceeds their dietary contribution. Researchers will model habitat requirements and map viable prey densities for formerly hunted, but now threatened species, such as Spectacled Eider and a commonly hunted species, King Eider, in the Chukchi near-shore zone and determine long-term variability in the eiders' access to those areas through the ice. They will refine the maps with traditional ecological knowledge on conditions and areas where hunting for King Eider typically occurs. They will also estimate probabilities that different eider feeding areas that are accessible through the ice and conducive to hunting would be eliminated during migration by oil spills from pipelines built along four alternative routes. They will use the information as part of structured decision-making workshops to be held in the native community. These workshops will help create a local vision for sustainability, in terms of potential risks of different pipeline routes to subsistence and cultural values of eiders, relative to cash benefits of local construction projects.
Collaborative Research: Holistic Integration for Arctic Coastal-Marine Sustainability (HIACMS)
Principal Investigators: Lawson Brigham, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Paul Arthur Berkman, University of California-Santa Barbara
This three-year research project will develop and demonstrate an international, interdisciplinatry and inclusive process to enhance the practice of governance for sustainability in Arctic coastal-marine systems, balancing: (a) national interests and common interests, (b) environmental protection, social equity and economic prosperity and (c) the needs of present and future generations. The researchers believe that the sustainability process developed and demonstrated in this project focusing on the Arctic Ocean will have implications everywhere on Earth where resources, human activities and their impacts extend across or beyond the boundaries of sovereign states. The project is jointly funded by NSF and France's National Centre for Scientific Research.
Cumulative effects of Arctic oil development--planning and designing for sustainability
Principal Investigator: Donald Walker, University of Alaska Fairbanks
This project devises a sustainable approach to assess cumulative effects of oil exploration though combining detailed ground studies, local community input, industry involvement and an international perspective. It will use a three-pronged initiative:
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 7-Nov-2013
ShareContact: Peter West
pwest@nsf.gov
703-292-7530
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF), in cooperation with interagency and international partners, recently made the first round of awards under a program that supports multi- and interdisciplinary science important to understanding the predictability, resiliency and sustainability of the natural and living environment, built environment, natural resource development and governance of the Arctic.
Six projects have been funded as part of the Arctic Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (ArcSEES) program. The projects are located at 12 institutions, and include collaborative investigators from the United States, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. ArcSEES grants support academic, management, indigenous and industry scientists.
"Twenty years ago, the Arctic Council emphasized the need to engage science for sustainability in the high north," said Erica Key, ArcSEES program manager in the Division of Polar Programs in NSF's Geosciences Directorate. "In that time, the Arctic environment and population has changed considerably. ArcSEES is a timely approach to understanding and mitigating the impacts of environmental change on Arctic people."
NSF's Division of Polar Programs; Geosciences Directorate and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) contributed funding to the first round of awards, as did the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), an organization within the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
"The participation of CNRS through this new partnership with NSF and other U.S. institutions saw the selection of a project that includes French teams, and I am happy with this result," said Jean-Francois Stephan, director of the National Institute of Earth Sciences and Astronomy at CNRS.
CNRS coordinates the new French Arctic Initiative in which international cooperation occupies a privileged place, he added.
BOEM, in partnership with NSF, will fund two studies in the Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf:
One will measure and assess the long-term cumulative impacts of increases in the oil-and-gas-industry infrastructure in the Prudhoe Bay area of Alaska, with the goal of reducing the impacts of future development in the region.
The other study will examine the vulnerability and resilience of the walrus population off Alaska's North Slope. This will enhance the Bureau's understanding of the complex interplay between climate change; walrus population dynamics and structure; health, habits, feeding ecologies; foraging locations and harvesting by Native-Alaskan subsistence hunters.
"BOEM welcomes the opportunity to partner with NSF and other world-class scientific organizations looking at Arctic sustainability," said Tommy P. Beaudreau, BOEM director.
The premise of ArcSEES is that fundamental research is needed to understand the integrated Arctic system in this era of rapid change, how sustainability is defined the context of rapid change, whether necessary data and statistical techniques are available to make the desired assessment and to understand the stability and predictability of the Arctic system state.
The program recognizes that there are gaps in the scientific understanding of the rapidly changing environmental, social, economic, built and managed systems in the Arctic as well as their complex interactions and, as result, deficiencies in the science that guides policymaking.
The suite of projects supported by the first round of grants reflects the diversity of research necessary to inform sustainability science and co-develop relevant policy, mitigation and adaptation strategies with Arctic residents.
Submissions to NSF's ArcSEES solicitation program drew the interest of more than 250 scientific collaborators from 10 countries as well as management entities from local and multi-national levels.
Established by Congress through the Arctic Research and Policy Act, the U.S. Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) consists of more than 15 agencies, departments and offices across the Federal government. NSF's director chairs IARPC.
The following grants were made in the first round of ArcSEES funding:
Collaborative Research: Water, Energy, and Food Security in the North: Synergies, tradeoffs, and building community capacity for sustainable futures (Sustainable Futures North)
Principal Investigators: Philip Loring, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Henry Huntington, Huntington Consulting, Eagle River, Alaska; Lawrence Hamilton, University of New Hampshire; Shari Gearheard, University of Colorado at Boulder
The Sustainable Futures North project addresses the question of whether synergies can be found among the related goals of food security, water security, energy security and resource development in the North American Arctic. Historically, development in one or more of these areas has presented trade-offs in others.
The North Slope Arctic Scenarios Project (NASP): Envisioning desirable futures and strategizing pathways for sustainable healthy communities
Principal Investigator: Amy Lovecraft, University of Alaska Fairbanks
This proposal for the North Slope Arctic Scenarios Project (NASP) involves multiple organizations and stakeholders in collaboration to explore options for sustainable development in the North. NASP employs proven and advanced approaches to engage North Slope communities in developing and analyzing scenarios visions for the future and plausible pathways--for effective strategic planning and implementation of policy.
WALRUS--Walrus Adaptability and Long-term Responses; Using multi-proxy data to project Sustainability
Principal Investigator: Nicole Misarti, University of Alaska Fairbanks
The Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) is one of many species affected by recent environmental change in the Arctic. This project aims to integrate several disciplines including archaeology, ethnology, biology and ecology using diverse sources of data including DNA, stable isotope, steroid and trace element analysis as well as to ascertain long-term trends of walrus feeding ecology, foraging location and stock genetics over the last two millennia. This time-frame includes large climatic anomalies such as the Medieval Warm and the Little Ice Age, thereby presenting scientists with the possibility of understanding how walruses adapt during times of stress and change. The project is jointly funded by NSF and the Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Collaborative Research: Sustainabiity of critical areas for eiders and subsistence hunters in an industrializing nearshore zone
Principal Investigators: Tuula Hollmen, Alaska SeaLife Center; Henry Huntington, Huntington Consulting, Eagle River, Alaska; James Lovvorn, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale; Neesha Stellrecht, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Throughout the Arctic, indigenous people are faced with difficult choices between the cash benefits of industrialization versus potential degradation of subsistence hunting. Subsistence hunting often provides a large fraction of foods and may be more reliable in the long term than a cash economy based on nonrenewable resources. Subsistence hunting for certain species may also have cultural significance that far exceeds their dietary contribution. Researchers will model habitat requirements and map viable prey densities for formerly hunted, but now threatened species, such as Spectacled Eider and a commonly hunted species, King Eider, in the Chukchi near-shore zone and determine long-term variability in the eiders' access to those areas through the ice. They will refine the maps with traditional ecological knowledge on conditions and areas where hunting for King Eider typically occurs. They will also estimate probabilities that different eider feeding areas that are accessible through the ice and conducive to hunting would be eliminated during migration by oil spills from pipelines built along four alternative routes. They will use the information as part of structured decision-making workshops to be held in the native community. These workshops will help create a local vision for sustainability, in terms of potential risks of different pipeline routes to subsistence and cultural values of eiders, relative to cash benefits of local construction projects.
Collaborative Research: Holistic Integration for Arctic Coastal-Marine Sustainability (HIACMS)
Principal Investigators: Lawson Brigham, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Paul Arthur Berkman, University of California-Santa Barbara
This three-year research project will develop and demonstrate an international, interdisciplinatry and inclusive process to enhance the practice of governance for sustainability in Arctic coastal-marine systems, balancing: (a) national interests and common interests, (b) environmental protection, social equity and economic prosperity and (c) the needs of present and future generations. The researchers believe that the sustainability process developed and demonstrated in this project focusing on the Arctic Ocean will have implications everywhere on Earth where resources, human activities and their impacts extend across or beyond the boundaries of sovereign states. The project is jointly funded by NSF and France's National Centre for Scientific Research.
Cumulative effects of Arctic oil development--planning and designing for sustainability
Principal Investigator: Donald Walker, University of Alaska Fairbanks
This project devises a sustainable approach to assess cumulative effects of oil exploration though combining detailed ground studies, local community input, industry involvement and an international perspective. It will use a three-pronged initiative:
###
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Do you want to know why Vitor Belfort is fighting in Brazil on Saturday and not, say, in Las Vegas?
Some may guess that it's because Belfort can evade state athletic commissions in the U.S. that may look askance at his request to use testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). That, though, is hardly the case.
Belfort will face Dan Henderson on Saturday in a five-round light heavyweight bout in Goiania, Brazil, that will serve as the main event of UFC Fight Night 32 and will be broadcast in the U.S. on Fox Sports 1.
Belfort is headlining the show in Goiania at the request of Globo, the UFC's broadcast partner in Brazil and the South American nation's largest television network.
UFC president Dana White said viewership and ratings expectations for Saturday's card in Brazil are astronomical. He said Globo expects a 70-75 share and an average viewership of between 12 and 14 million people. That's staggeringly high for an MMA card, and is roughly comparable to the average viewership of an NFL regular season game in the U.S. in 2011 and 2012, particularly when accounting for the disparity in market size.
In 2012, NFL regular season games averaged 19.3 million viewers in the U.S. and had 31 of the top 32 TV shows in the fall. In the 2011 regular season, it averaged 16.6 million viewers a game.
That is why there will be 13 UFC cards in Brazil in 2014 and why Belfort's frequent appearances in his home nation have nothing to do with him trying to hide from TRT testers.
Sure to bring tears to your eyes, the trailer for “Winter’s Tale” hit the web on Thursday (November 7).
Colin Farrell and Jessica Brown star in the flick as unlikely lovers, battling to stay together through a number of obstacles.
Based on the imaginative novel by Mark Helprin, the flick also stars Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt and Russell Crowe.
It is slated to hit theaters on Valentine’s Day 2014. Check out the trailer below!
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 7-Nov-2013
ShareContact: Lisa M.P. Munoz
spsp.publicaffairs@gmail.com
703-951-3195
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
November 7, 2013 - From Cal Ripkin, Jr., to MLK to Robert Downey, Jr., finding men named after their fathers is easy. Children named after men in the family with so-called patronyms are common around the world. But what about matronymns names for a mother or grandmother? New research shows that matronymns are rare and that family naming trends follow a regional pattern in the United States: People in states with a relatively high emphasis on honor are more likely to use patronyms, especially in the face of a terrorist threat.
"Studying naming trends can be a subtle means of peering into a society's beliefs and values without ever having to ask people to report directly about their beliefs and values," says Ryan Brown of the University of Oklahoma. Brown is not an expert in baby names but rather studies cultural values and trends. He became interested in the connection between names and cultural values when his collaborator, Mauricio Carvallo, was researching names for his new baby girl. They started to wonder whether values associated with honor and reputation affected whether people named their children after men or women in the family.
Social scientists define "cultures of honor" as places where the defense of reputation plays an unusually important role in social life. "For men in a typical honor culture, the kind of reputation that is highly prized is a reputation for toughness and bravery," Ryan says. "For women in a typical honor culture, the most valued reputation is a reputation for loyalty and sexual purity." Two decades of research has shown that people in the Southern and Western regions of the United States tend to embrace honor cultures more than in the North.
To see how those values translate into children's names, Ryan and colleagues designed several studies to look at naming trends. The studies included surveying people about their beliefs and their likelihood of naming their children after men or women in the family and included a novel, indirect method to look at actual U.S. baby name trends. In all the studies, published today in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, they found that people who endorse honor ideology were most likely to use patronyms.
In the study of U.S. name trends, the researchers used Social Security Administration data to identify the 10 most popular boy and girl names in each state in 1960, 1984, and 2008. The idea was to look at 24-year cycles to see how frequently the same names popped up one and two generations later and then to compare it to regional trends of honor beliefs, controlling for a variety of other regional differences and demographics.
"Each state was given a patronym score and a matronym score by tallying how many of the 10 most popular names in one generation showed up again among the most popular names given to the next generation, or in the generation after that," Ryan says. "Higher scores show that baby names were being recycled from one generation to the next, and these scores showed a regional pattern to them similar to the patterns we see with other behaviors connected to honor ideology around the United States."
States in the South and West tended to have higher patronym scores than did states in the North. And those same states ranked higher in indicators of honor ideology such as execution rates, Army recruitment levels, and suicide rates among White men and women. They also found that after 9/11, the use of patronyms increased in culture-of-honor states. And similarly, people who were asked to think about a fictitious terrorist attack were more likely to say they'd use patronyms if they also strongly endorsed honor ideology.
"The same pattern was not observed, however, when it came to matronyms, which is exactly what we expected," Ryan says. "Matronyms, unlike patronyms, are not any more popular in the South and West compared to the North, and they do not predict any statewide variables to a significant degree."
Indeed, matronyms are very rare in Western culture. "Everyone probably knows a guy who is a 'junior,' given the exact same name as his father, and many know someone who is 'such-and-such the third,' having the same name as both his father and his grandfather," Ryan says. "But when was the last time you met a woman who had the same name as her mother, much less the same first and middle names as her mother, like Sally Anne Jones, Jr.?" Some famous female juniors include former First Lady Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Jr., Carolina Herrara, Jr. (daughter of the clothing designer), and Rory (aka Lorelai) from the TV show Gilmore Girls.
In the new analysis, Elizabeth was the only female name that showed up frequently across generations as a possible matronym. "Perhaps one of the reasons for this name's greater intergenerational use is that there are so many nicknames based on the name Elizabeth: Liz, Lizzy, Beth, Eliza, Lisa, Betty, etc.," Ryan says. "So, a girl named Elizabeth could be given her mother's name and most people might not even realize it."
Ryan says that this naming trend is one of the most pronounced gender differences we still see in society. "Women who once could only strive to work as nurses, teachers, or librarians can now aspire to be astronauts, brain surgeons, or senators," he says. "But don't expect anyone to give a girl her mother's name."
"The greater use of patronyms in these cultures reflects and transmits the value of masculinity and the male name," Ryan says. "A person's name, after all, is what people call that person, but it also represents that person's reputation how he or she is known in a community and all of the respect, status, or infamy that goes along with that reputation."
Ryan hopes that the current work shows how cultural values and events shape important personal decisions, such as naming children. "Our baby naming practices can shed light on what we care about, in a subtle way, and they might also serve as a mechanism for transmitting our cultural values from one generation to the next."
###
The study, "Naming Patterns Reveal Cultural Values: Patronyms, Matronyms, and the US Culture of Honor," Ryan P. Brown, Mauricio Carvallo, Mikiko Imura, was published online on November 7, 2013, and is forthcoming in print in February 2014 in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP).
Most common patronyms*:
Michael
James
William
Robert
Christopher
*From the Social Security Administration database developed for Brown et al., study
SPSP promotes scientific research that explores how people think, behave, feel, and interact. The Society is the largest organization of social and personality psychologists in the world. Follow us on Twitter: @SPSPnews
Science stories are bigger in Texas... Get your next big story at the SPSP annual meeting in Austin, TX, Feb. 13-15, 2014! Press registration is now open. http://www.spspmeeting.org
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 7-Nov-2013
ShareContact: Lisa M.P. Munoz
spsp.publicaffairs@gmail.com
703-951-3195
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
November 7, 2013 - From Cal Ripkin, Jr., to MLK to Robert Downey, Jr., finding men named after their fathers is easy. Children named after men in the family with so-called patronyms are common around the world. But what about matronymns names for a mother or grandmother? New research shows that matronymns are rare and that family naming trends follow a regional pattern in the United States: People in states with a relatively high emphasis on honor are more likely to use patronyms, especially in the face of a terrorist threat.
"Studying naming trends can be a subtle means of peering into a society's beliefs and values without ever having to ask people to report directly about their beliefs and values," says Ryan Brown of the University of Oklahoma. Brown is not an expert in baby names but rather studies cultural values and trends. He became interested in the connection between names and cultural values when his collaborator, Mauricio Carvallo, was researching names for his new baby girl. They started to wonder whether values associated with honor and reputation affected whether people named their children after men or women in the family.
Social scientists define "cultures of honor" as places where the defense of reputation plays an unusually important role in social life. "For men in a typical honor culture, the kind of reputation that is highly prized is a reputation for toughness and bravery," Ryan says. "For women in a typical honor culture, the most valued reputation is a reputation for loyalty and sexual purity." Two decades of research has shown that people in the Southern and Western regions of the United States tend to embrace honor cultures more than in the North.
To see how those values translate into children's names, Ryan and colleagues designed several studies to look at naming trends. The studies included surveying people about their beliefs and their likelihood of naming their children after men or women in the family and included a novel, indirect method to look at actual U.S. baby name trends. In all the studies, published today in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, they found that people who endorse honor ideology were most likely to use patronyms.
In the study of U.S. name trends, the researchers used Social Security Administration data to identify the 10 most popular boy and girl names in each state in 1960, 1984, and 2008. The idea was to look at 24-year cycles to see how frequently the same names popped up one and two generations later and then to compare it to regional trends of honor beliefs, controlling for a variety of other regional differences and demographics.
"Each state was given a patronym score and a matronym score by tallying how many of the 10 most popular names in one generation showed up again among the most popular names given to the next generation, or in the generation after that," Ryan says. "Higher scores show that baby names were being recycled from one generation to the next, and these scores showed a regional pattern to them similar to the patterns we see with other behaviors connected to honor ideology around the United States."
States in the South and West tended to have higher patronym scores than did states in the North. And those same states ranked higher in indicators of honor ideology such as execution rates, Army recruitment levels, and suicide rates among White men and women. They also found that after 9/11, the use of patronyms increased in culture-of-honor states. And similarly, people who were asked to think about a fictitious terrorist attack were more likely to say they'd use patronyms if they also strongly endorsed honor ideology.
"The same pattern was not observed, however, when it came to matronyms, which is exactly what we expected," Ryan says. "Matronyms, unlike patronyms, are not any more popular in the South and West compared to the North, and they do not predict any statewide variables to a significant degree."
Indeed, matronyms are very rare in Western culture. "Everyone probably knows a guy who is a 'junior,' given the exact same name as his father, and many know someone who is 'such-and-such the third,' having the same name as both his father and his grandfather," Ryan says. "But when was the last time you met a woman who had the same name as her mother, much less the same first and middle names as her mother, like Sally Anne Jones, Jr.?" Some famous female juniors include former First Lady Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Jr., Carolina Herrara, Jr. (daughter of the clothing designer), and Rory (aka Lorelai) from the TV show Gilmore Girls.
In the new analysis, Elizabeth was the only female name that showed up frequently across generations as a possible matronym. "Perhaps one of the reasons for this name's greater intergenerational use is that there are so many nicknames based on the name Elizabeth: Liz, Lizzy, Beth, Eliza, Lisa, Betty, etc.," Ryan says. "So, a girl named Elizabeth could be given her mother's name and most people might not even realize it."
Ryan says that this naming trend is one of the most pronounced gender differences we still see in society. "Women who once could only strive to work as nurses, teachers, or librarians can now aspire to be astronauts, brain surgeons, or senators," he says. "But don't expect anyone to give a girl her mother's name."
"The greater use of patronyms in these cultures reflects and transmits the value of masculinity and the male name," Ryan says. "A person's name, after all, is what people call that person, but it also represents that person's reputation how he or she is known in a community and all of the respect, status, or infamy that goes along with that reputation."
Ryan hopes that the current work shows how cultural values and events shape important personal decisions, such as naming children. "Our baby naming practices can shed light on what we care about, in a subtle way, and they might also serve as a mechanism for transmitting our cultural values from one generation to the next."
###
The study, "Naming Patterns Reveal Cultural Values: Patronyms, Matronyms, and the US Culture of Honor," Ryan P. Brown, Mauricio Carvallo, Mikiko Imura, was published online on November 7, 2013, and is forthcoming in print in February 2014 in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP).
Most common patronyms*:
Michael
James
William
Robert
Christopher
*From the Social Security Administration database developed for Brown et al., study
SPSP promotes scientific research that explores how people think, behave, feel, and interact. The Society is the largest organization of social and personality psychologists in the world. Follow us on Twitter: @SPSPnews
Science stories are bigger in Texas... Get your next big story at the SPSP annual meeting in Austin, TX, Feb. 13-15, 2014! Press registration is now open. http://www.spspmeeting.org
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
