Extreme political attitudes may stem from an illusion of understandingPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
Having to explain how a political policy works leads people to express less extreme attitudes toward the policy, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The research suggests that people may hold extreme policy positions because they are under an illusion of understanding attempting to explain the nuts and bolts of how a policy works forces them to acknowledge that they don't know as much about the policy as they initially thought.
Psychological scientist Philip Fernbach of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder and his co-authors were interested in exploring some of the factors that could contribute to what they see as increasing political polarization in the United States.
"We wanted to know how it's possible that people can maintain such strong positions on issues that are so complex such as macroeconomics, health care, foreign relations and yet seem to be so ill-informed about those issues," says Fernbach.
Drawing on previous research on the illusion of understanding, Fernbach and colleagues speculated that one reason for the apparent paradox may be that voters think they understand how policies work better than they actually do.
In their first study, the researchers asked participants taking an online survey to rate how well they understood six political policies, including raising the retirement age for Social Security, instituting a national flat tax, and implementing merit-based pay for teachers. The participants were randomly assigned to explain two of the policies and then asked to re-rate how well they understood the policies.
As the researchers predicted, people reported lower understanding of all six policies after they had to explain them, and their positions on the policies were less extreme. In fact, the data showed that the more people's understanding decreased, the more uncertain they were about the position, and the less extreme their position was in the end.
The act of explaining also affected participants' behavior. People who initially held a strong position softened their position after having to explain it, making them less likely to donate bonus money to a related organization when they were given the opportunity to do so.
Importantly, the results affected people along the whole political spectrum, from self-identified Democrats to Republicans to Independents.
According to the researchers, these findings shed light on a psychological process that may help people to open the lines of communication in the context of a heated debate or negotiation.
"This research is important because political polarization is hard to combat," says Fernbach. "There are many psychological processes that act to create greater extremism and polarization, but this is a rare case where asking people to attempt to explain makes them back off their extreme positions."
###
In addition to Fernbach, co-authors include Todd Rogers of the Harvard Kennedy School; Craig R. Fox of the University of California, Los Angeles; and Steven A. Sloman of Brown University.
For more information about this study, please contact:
Philip M. Fernbach at philip.fernbach@gmail.com.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Political Extremism Is Supported by an Illusion of Understanding" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak.
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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.
Extreme political attitudes may stem from an illusion of understandingPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
Having to explain how a political policy works leads people to express less extreme attitudes toward the policy, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The research suggests that people may hold extreme policy positions because they are under an illusion of understanding attempting to explain the nuts and bolts of how a policy works forces them to acknowledge that they don't know as much about the policy as they initially thought.
Psychological scientist Philip Fernbach of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder and his co-authors were interested in exploring some of the factors that could contribute to what they see as increasing political polarization in the United States.
"We wanted to know how it's possible that people can maintain such strong positions on issues that are so complex such as macroeconomics, health care, foreign relations and yet seem to be so ill-informed about those issues," says Fernbach.
Drawing on previous research on the illusion of understanding, Fernbach and colleagues speculated that one reason for the apparent paradox may be that voters think they understand how policies work better than they actually do.
In their first study, the researchers asked participants taking an online survey to rate how well they understood six political policies, including raising the retirement age for Social Security, instituting a national flat tax, and implementing merit-based pay for teachers. The participants were randomly assigned to explain two of the policies and then asked to re-rate how well they understood the policies.
As the researchers predicted, people reported lower understanding of all six policies after they had to explain them, and their positions on the policies were less extreme. In fact, the data showed that the more people's understanding decreased, the more uncertain they were about the position, and the less extreme their position was in the end.
The act of explaining also affected participants' behavior. People who initially held a strong position softened their position after having to explain it, making them less likely to donate bonus money to a related organization when they were given the opportunity to do so.
Importantly, the results affected people along the whole political spectrum, from self-identified Democrats to Republicans to Independents.
According to the researchers, these findings shed light on a psychological process that may help people to open the lines of communication in the context of a heated debate or negotiation.
"This research is important because political polarization is hard to combat," says Fernbach. "There are many psychological processes that act to create greater extremism and polarization, but this is a rare case where asking people to attempt to explain makes them back off their extreme positions."
###
In addition to Fernbach, co-authors include Todd Rogers of the Harvard Kennedy School; Craig R. Fox of the University of California, Los Angeles; and Steven A. Sloman of Brown University.
For more information about this study, please contact:
Philip M. Fernbach at philip.fernbach@gmail.com.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Political Extremism Is Supported by an Illusion of Understanding" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Clint Eastwood may be 82 years old, but he dreams of making films for two more decades.
In a wide-ranging conversation Saturday about the art of film directing, Eastwood expressed admiration for the 104-year-old Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira.
"It would be great to be 105 and still making films," Eastwood said. Chuckling, he called such a hope "the ultimate optimism."
Eastwood last directed 2011's "J. Edgar," a biopic of the FBI head J. Edgar Hoover. After acting in last year's baseball drama "Trouble With the Curve," he has several films in development.
The "Million Dollar Baby" and "Unforgiven" director joined fellow filmmaker Darren Aronofsky for a staged talk at the Tribeca Film Festival following a screening of Richard Schickel's documentary "Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story." Eastwood regaled the Tribeca Performing Arts Center crowd with the accrued, pragmatic wisdom from his late career as an acclaimed filmmaker.
Some of the highlights:
? On preferring to begin a take with "Go when you're ready," rather than the traditional "Action!": "'Action' puts a bad connotation out there, like some firecracker that goes off to get everyone going."
? On his willingness to take suggestions for a scene from anyone: "You have to steal a lot. You have to have a criminal mentality to be a film director."
? On the role of the director in a film production: "A lot of people fell in love with the auteur theory, but you're merely a platoon captain."
? On studio executives who told him no one wants to see a women's fight film (the best picture-winning "Million Dollar Baby"): "Who the hell wants to see anything? You never know until you get into it."
? On struggling to get films green-lit: "In the early days it was more of a fight. Now, they go, 'Oh, well, if he's the old guy."
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba and Venezuela signed cooperation accords on Saturday for 51 projects as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on his first trip to the island since his election, pledged to maintain the close alliance forged by his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
Maduro said they would jointly spend $2 billion this year on "social development," but it was not clear if he was discussing the 51 projects, few details of which were disclosed, or other works.
His visit appeared aimed in part at allaying Cuban worries about post-Chavez relations with the oil-rich South American nation that is Cuba's biggest ally and benefactor.
Venezuelan oil and money help keep the communist-ruled island's troubled economy afloat and the governments have about 30 joint ventures, most of them in Venezuela.
"We have come to Havana, Cuba, to say to the people of Venezuela, the people of Cuba, all the people of Latin America ... are going to continue working together, we came to ratify a strategic, historic alliance that transcends time, that is more a brotherhood than an alliance," Maduro said at a signing ceremony in Havana's main convention center.
Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, told reporters he met with former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, 86, for five hours on Saturday, "remembering Comandante Chavez, remembering that those two built this relationship."
Maduro narrowly won an April 14 election to replace Chavez, who died on March 5 after a long battle with cancer.
He ran basically as a Chavez surrogate who would continue his socialist policies both at home and abroad, including a close relationship with Cuba and Castro, whom Chavez considered his political mentor.
But his election opponent, Henrique Capriles, scored political points by criticizing the alliance with Cuba, which combined with serious economic problems facing Venezuela, made Cubans worry they could lose their economic lifeline.
Cuba receives an estimated 110,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan oil in exchange for money and the services of some 44,000 Cubans, most of them medical personnel, in Venezuela.
In 2000, Cuba and Venezuela created an intergovernmental commission that holds annual meetings to develop joint projects in a wide range of areas, among them healthcare, education, culture and economics.
Cuban President Raul Castro, who spoke only briefly at the ceremony, said that along with the 51 projects, they had agreed on memorandum of understanding for the development and adoption of a "bilateral economic agenda" for the next five years.
(Reporting By Jeff Franks and Rosa Tania Valdes; Editing by Peter Cooney)
How many bundles of hair is needed for a full install with Virgin Human Hair Extensions? Some common Virgin Hair extension textures are Brazilian, Indian, Malaysian, Peruvian, and Russian hair. This article is a great guide for hair extension wearers. You will learn how much hair you will need for your hair to be full with body and volume.
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Dorie Byers, a registered nurse, master gardener and herb enthusiast, describes the properties and characteristics of dozens of herbs, essential oils, and other natural ingredients, and provides a wealth of recipes for every skin type. These alternatives to commercial preparations will save you money and put you in control of the healthy ingredients you apply to your body.
Feed Your Face: Over 80 Natural Skin Care Recipes for Homemade Facial Masks for All Skin Types. (Natural Beauty Recipes)"Natural Beauty Recipes: Over 80 Easy Natural Skin Care Recipes for Homemade Facial Masks for All Skin Types".
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The magnificent conclusion to Rick Atkinson?s acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about the Allied triumph in Europe during World War II
It is the twentieth century?s unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how the American-led coalition fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now he tells the most dramatic story of all?the titanic battle for Western Europe.
D-Day marked the commencement of the final campaign of the European war, and Atkinson?s riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Operation Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich?all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters. Atkinson tells the tale from the perspective of participants at every level, from presidents and generals to war-weary lieutenants and terrified teenage riflemen. When Germany at last surrenders, we understand anew both the devastating cost of this global conflagration and the enormous effort required to win the Allied victory.
With the stirring final volume of this monumental trilogy, Atkinson?s accomplishment is manifest. He has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Natural Beauty ProductsA natural treasure for every body.
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The promise of beauty is as close as the drugstore aisle?shampoo that gives your hair more body, lotions that smooth away wrinkles, makeup that makes your skin look flawless, and potions that take it all off again. But while conventional products say they'll make you more beautiful, they contain toxins and preservatives that are both bad for the environment and bad for your body?including synthetic fragrances, petrochemicals, and even formaldehyde. In the end, they damage your natural vitality and good looks.
Fortunately, fashion writer, nutritionist, and beauty maven Julie Gabriel helps you find the true path to natural, healthy, green beauty. She helps you decipher labels on every cosmetic product you pick up and avoid toxic and damaging chemicals with her detailed Toxic Ingredients List. You'll learn valuable tips on what your skin really needs to be healthy, glowing, and youthful.
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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? A woman from Washington state has been charged with stalking singer Clay Aiken at his home in North Carolina.
Barbara Jean Saylor, 57, of Kirkland, Wash., was charged with trespassing and misdemeanor stalking, the Chatham County Sheriff's Office said in a news release Thursday.
Deputies responded to a call from Aiken's home on April 3. They were told a woman had scaled a security fence and entered Aiken's property.
Authorities say she was ordered to leave when she was seen looking through the windows of the home. They say the woman left after being told that law enforcement was notified.
Saylor was released on $5,000 unsecured bond and is scheduled to appear April 24 in Chatham County District Court in Pittsboro. It wasn't clear if she had an attorney.
A spokeswoman for Aiken said the singer had no comment.
The 34-year-old Aiken came to fame in 2003 when he was the runner-up on the Fox TV show "American Idol." He's released several albums, including 2010's "Tried and True." He also played Sir Robin in the Broadway production of Monty Python's "Spamalot" in 2008.
Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman says he was misquoted when the Vancouver Sun reported that he said ?about half the league? takes the prescription drug Adderall. The reporter who quoted Sherman says otherwise.
Sun reporter Mike Beamish told PFT via email that he stands by what he wrote, and he provided us with a transcript of that portion of his conversation with Sherman:
Mike Beamish, Vancouver Sun: ?Let me ask you about the suspension you were handed, and you appealed it. Have you left that behind? Do people ask you about that? Do you have to explain it a lot??
Sherman: ?Not really. It was what it was. I think the league made a mistake. Obviously, they cleaned up their mistake by repealing . . . repealing? . . . taking it away. That?s what it was to me. Obviously, I didn?t do anything. But you have to go through the process to prove you didn?t do anything. Once the process played itself out, it ended up being true.?
Beamish: ?There are players who actually have to take Adderall, because people have ADD and ADHD.?
Sherman: ?There?s about half the league that takes it, and the league has to allow it.?
Beamish: ?It?s like you have a prescription, if you?re a diabetic.?
Sherman: ?Exactly.?
Beamish: ?So, are you on any medication that way??
Sherman: ?I?m not. But there are players that took it. We all got tested on the same day. There was kind of a little mix-up with that.?
Beamish: ?So, it?s not like you?re flying around all the time and you have to take it in the morning. Did it embarrass you? You seem like a guy who?s good with people. You?re very good with public relations. Even though you were absolved of it, it still kind of hangs with you. Does it bother you that way??
Sherman: ?Not at all. In the NFL, you always have people who don?t like you for any given reason. If you do anything well . . . If you?re the president, if you?re anybody of importance or with any kind of fame or notoriety, there are going to be a lot of people who don?t like what you do, who don?t support you. And you have to embrace it. You have to almost accept that there?s going to be naysayers for everything. If everybody says ?I love you? you?re probably not doing much.?
When Sherman said ?half the league? takes Adderall, he presumably wasn?t saying that he actually knows that 50 percent of the NFL has taken it. He was saying that Adderall use is commonplace, and no big deal. That?s a point he reiterated on NFL Network on Thursday morning. And a point on which he and the league office sharply disagree.
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The summary contains almost the entire FA. But there is this...
In the late Stone Age, humans were increasingly incorporating coarsely ground grain into their diets. The uptick in starches, the researchers suggest, could explain the increasing frequency of cavities in teeth from the time?a problem that's been with us ever since.
In other words, it was no longer the "Paleo diet" and a shift away from it is what brought about bad oral health.
You know those goofy tennis racket peripherals that allow for Wiimote insertion? Or, perhaps more sensibly, those Guitar Hero axes that wouldn't function without a Wiimote planted at the heart? Looks as if Nintendo's going to do us all one better. Based on a rambling new patent granted to the Big N this week, the company now holds the power to concoct a "remotely controlled mobile device control system." Distilled down, the verbiage describes a Wiimote-type controller being embedded within a "remote controlled toy," which would then be (unsurprisingly) used in conjunction with a game console. Essentially, this opens the door for Honda to develop a new variant of ASIMO that takes commands via an embedded Wii controller... or, for a Wii-infused robot to turn on its owner and commit unspeakable crimes against humanity. But hey, it'll probably be pretty cute.
Women ? and their families ? are disproportionately affected by the low US minimum wage.?Equal Pay Day serves as a stark reminder of that reality.?Raising the minimum wage would boost the economy, and it would help close the gender wage gap.
By Emily Martin, Arjun Sethi / April 9, 2013
Jennifer Diagostino, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Justice, CWA Local 1122 vice president, John Mudie, center, and president, Jim Wagner, right, participate in a rally in Buffalo, N.Y., Feb. 25, to call for a raise in the state's minimum wage. Op-ed contributors Emily Martin and Arjun Sethi say 'America's workers are shouldering more but receiving less.'
Derek Gee/The Buffalo News/AP
Enlarge
For more than three decades, Amie Crawford was a successful interior designer, transforming residential and commercial spaces in Washington, D.C. and North Carolina. Her team was even shortlisted to renovate the Pentagon.
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In 2011, she moved to Chicago to be close to her family. For months, she scoured job postings, attended job fairs, and sent out dozens of resumes. The recession, however, proved insurmountable. The 56-year-old had to settle for a restaurant job at $8.25 an hour, the minimum wage in Illinois. Fourteen months later, Ms. Crawford is barely getting by. She draws on her retirement savings daily and receives $150 in food stamps monthly.?
Crawford isn?t alone. Millions of Americans make the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, don't have any savings, and have to support a family, to boot. They toil tirelessly for a wage entirely divorced from living costs in today's economy.
America's workers are shouldering more but receiving less. A full-time minimum wage employee earns $14,500 a year, roughly $4,000 below the poverty line for a single mother with two children. If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1968, it would now be almost $10.60 an hour. If it had kept pace with increases in employee productivity, it would now be $22.00 an hour.
Countless workers are harmed by these low wages, women especially. Today, Equal Pay Day, serves as a stark reminder of that reality. April 9, 2013 marks how far into 2013 a woman must work to match what a man earned in 2012. Women represent nearly two-thirds of all minimum wage workers and are a large majority of workers in the 10 largest occupations typically paying less than $10 an hour: They constitute 88 percent of home health-care professionals, 88 percent of maids and housekeepers, and 94 percent of childcare workers. They also represent about two-thirds of tipped workers ? and the tipped minimum cash wage of $2.13 per hour hasn?t been raised for more than 20 years.
Raising the minimum wage wouldn?t just help these women make ends meet; it would also help close the gender wage gap. In 2011, women working full time, year round were paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. The wage gap was even larger for women of color: Black women working full time, year round made only 64 cents, and Hispanic women only 55 cents, for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.?
Of course, multiple factors contribute to the wage gap, including pay discrimination, family caregiving obligations that constrain women?s employment opportunities, and the undervaluing of work traditionally performed by women. But the bottom line is that women ? and their families ? are disproportionately affected by the low minimum wage.
LONDON (Reuters) - Robert Edwards, a British Nobel prize-winning scientist known as the father of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) for pioneering the development of "test tube babies", died on Wednesday aged 87 after a long illness, his university said.
Edwards, who won the Nobel prize for medicine in 2010, started work on fertilization in the 1950s, and the first so-called test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in 1978 as a result of his research.
Since then, millions of babies have been born around the world as a result of the techniques Edwards developed together with his late colleague, Patrick Steptoe.
Edwards began his work on fertilization in 1955 and by 1968 had been able to achieve fertilization of a human egg in a laboratory. He then started to collaborate with Steptoe.
Together they founded Bourn Hall, the world's first IVF clinic, in Cambridge, eastern England, in 1980.
Mike Macnamee, chief executive of the Bourn Hall IVF clinic that Edwards co-founded, said he was "one of our greatest scientists" whose inspirational work led to a breakthrough that has enhanced the lives of millions of people worldwide.
Peter Braude, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at King's College London, said few biologists had been able to have such a positive and practical impact on humankind.
"Bob's boundless energy, his innovative ideas, and his resilience despite the relentless criticism by naysayers, changed the lives of millions of ordinary people who now rejoice in the gift of their own child," he said.
"He leaves the world a much better place."
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
(Reuters) - The board of J.C. Penney Co Inc is facing scathing criticism from retail investors and corporate governance experts after ousting Chief Executive Ron Johnson and replacing him with his own embattled predecessor, Myron Ullman.
Hours after the switch was announced on Monday, there was at least one call for the entire board to resign, while others suggested shareholders might vote out current board members at the company's next annual meeting.
"It was the wrong thing for the board to do to get rid of Johnson here. With the board firing Johnson now, at this stage in the game, they should tender their own resignation as well," said Brian McGough, managing director and head of the retail group at Hedgeye Risk Management.
Though the board may not face serious legal challenges to the decision, shareholders may question whether its move to replace Johnson with Ullman, who Johnson himself replaced in late 2011, is good for them.
J.C. Penney shares lost half their value during Johnson's tenure after having shed 15 percent during Ullman's time as CEO from 2004 to 2011. The stock price plunged further Monday night on the news of Ullman's return, as analysts blamed him for creating the problems that Johnson was supposed to fix.
Whether Ullman is the right man for the job or not, some said ultimate responsibility for the company's future now lies with the remaining 10 members of the board of directors, four of whom joined in the last five years.
The board said in a statement it picked Ullman because he was well-positioned to move quickly and improve sales, but Ullman himself conceded in an interview that the change was so new he did not yet have a plan.
Governance experts said it was unlikely the board would face legal repercussions for the change.
"That's a classic board decision," said Charles Elson, a professor of finance at the University of Delaware. "It's called business judgment. It's up to them."
J.C. Penney Chairman Tom Engibous, in a statement, said the company felt fortunate to have Ullman's help. The board, through a company spokeswoman, declined further comment.
ABRUPT ABOUT-FACE
Board member Bill Ackman, the hedge fund manager whose Pershing Square is J.C. Penney's largest shareholder, might also take heat for his role in the CEO debacle.
Ackman handpicked Johnson to replace Ullman and in May 2012 said the company had been "chronically mismanaged" during his tenure. Ackman could not be reached for comment, but said last Friday that criticism of Johnson "is deserved."
David Tawil, whose hedge fund Maglan Capital had bet that J.C. Penney's stock would fall further, likened the change in management to an abrupt about-face.
"This is like Elon Musk announcing that Tesla (the maker of electric cars) is changing gears and will now focus on gas-powered vehicles," Tawil said.
Whether the board get to make the same mistakes again will be entirely up to shareholders, said Paul Hodgson, an independent corporate governance analyst in Camden, Maine.
"When you get a board that keeps making errors like that, then you start to lose faith not just in the CEO, but in the board as well," said Hodgson. "I think at the next annual meeting, the shareholders will be registering their dissatisfaction with the board."
(Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld and Phil Wahba in New York, Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston, Jessica Wohl in Chicago and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Writing by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Edward Tobin, Mary Milliken and Matt Driskill)
Contact: Lee J. Siegel lee.siegel@utah.edu 801-581-8993 University of Utah
New device reveals what snow looks like in midair
SALT LAKE CITY, April 10, 2013 University of Utah researchers developed a high-speed camera system that spent the past two winters photographing snowflakes in 3-D as they fell and they don't look much like those perfect-but-rare snowflakes often seen in photos.
"Until our device, there was no good instrument for automatically photographing the shapes and sizes of snowflakes in free-fall," says Tim Garrett, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences. "We are photographing these snowflakes completely untouched by any device, as they exist naturally in the air."
Snowflakes in traditional photographs "tend to be of a particular type that conveniently lies flat on a microscope slide, where a camera can get them perfectly in focus, and the photographer can take the time to get the light exactly right," he says.
"These perfectly symmetric, six-sided snowflakes, while beautiful, are exceedingly rare perhaps one-in-a-thousand at the most," says Garrett. "Snow is almost never a single, simple crystal. Rather, a snowflake might experience 'riming,' where perhaps millions of water droplets collide with a snowflake and freeze on its surface. This makes a little ice pellet known as 'graupel.' Or snowflakes collide with other snowflakes to make something fluffier, called an aggregate. And everything is possible in between."
NASA and the U.S. Army helped fund development of the camera, and the National Science Foundation funded the observations. Garrett says the goal is to improve computer simulations of falling snow and how it interacts with radar. That should help improve the use of radar for weather and snowpack forecasting, and reveal more about how snowy weather can degrade microwave (radar) communications.
"Our instrument is taking the first automated, high-resolution photographs of the complexity of snowflakes while measuring how fast they fall, and is collecting vast amounts of data that can be used to come up with more accurate and more representative characterizations of snow in clouds," Garrett says.
Triple Camera Catches Snowflakes in Air
With help from the University of Utah's Technology Commercialization Office, Garrett and Cale Fallgatter a 2008 master's graduate in mechanical engineering formed a spinoff company, Fallgatter Technologies, to make the new camera system, known as the MASC, for Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera, for which a patent is pending.
The device under development for three years includes three, industrial-grade, high-speed cameras: two 1.2-megapixel cameras and a 5-megapixel camera, plus two sets of two motion sensors to measure the speed of falling snowflakes. The 5-megapixel camera helps zoom in on single flakes, Fallgatter says.
The Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera has a ring-shaped housing measuring about 1 foot wide and roughly 4 inches tall. The three cameras are mounted on one side, each separated by 36 degrees and pointed toward the center.
"For forecasting the weather, fall speed is the thing that matters," Garrett says. "The weather models right now do OK at simulating clouds, but they are struggling to accurately reproduce precipitation: rain or snow, but particularly snow. The problem is that we do not have a very good sense for how the sizes and shapes of snow particles relate to how fast they fall. This is important because the lifetime of a storm, and where exactly it snows, depends greatly on how fast snow precipitates."
Fallgatter says the multi-angle camera takes only black-and-white images because that gets more information; color filters block some light from images. The snowflake camera also has an extremely fast exposure time of up to one-40,000th of a second so it can capture pictures of fast-moving snowflakes in free-fall without blurring them.
Why Care about Snowflakes?
"Snowflakes are beautiful and fascinating, and truly no two are alike," Garrett says. "This complexity almost makes them worth studying in their own right. But also, there are very serious practical reasons why we need to understand snow better."
Falling snow affects both microwave communications and weather-forecasting radar (which uses microwaves), yet "the big problem is there is a very poor sense of how microwave radiation interacts with complex snowflake shapes," Garrett says.
Weather models used in forecasting now invoke complicated formulas to simulate precipitation "how cloud droplets turn into snow, snow turns into graupel and all the complicated ways in which particles in a cloud can change in size, shape and fall speed as a storm progresses," Garrett says. "There has been a huge amount of research into improving these formulas, but their accuracy is limited by how well we are able to measure snow and how fast it falls."
He says errors in snowflake shape and size lead to errors in forecasting snowfall amounts and locations.
Garrett says today's weather forecasts still use snowflake research done meticulously by hand in the 1970s in the Pacific Northwest's Cascade Range. Snowflake fall speed was measured, and the flakes then were collected on plastic wrap, photographed, and melted to determine their mass.
"These early researchers got only a few hundred images over two years because they had to collect each snowflake individually by hand," Garrett says. "Our snowflake camera can automatically collect thousands of snowflake photographs in a single night."
Fallgatter and Garrett use two of the multi-angle cameras at Utah's Alta Ski Area, in the Wasatch Range above Salt Lake City. One is located at an elevation of 10,000 feet in Collins Gulch, and the other at 8,500 feet at Alta Base.
"We can look at how the snowflakes change as they fall down the mountainside if there is a change in the sizes and shapes of snowflakes as they fall," Garrett says. "This is one of the things weather models try to simulate."
The researchers use automatic, image-analysis software to characterize snowflakes by shape, complexity, size and estimated mass.
"The complexity is so vast as to almost defy an easy categorization of snowflakes," Garrett says. "Everything lies along a continuum of possible sizes, shapes and extent of riming."
Also at Alta Base, researcher Sandra Yuter of North Carolina State University operates a vertically pointing radar that measures the precipitation structure in the air column over Collins Gulch.
"The radar tells you how strong the storm is, where and when there are layers of rain and snow, and how tall the storm is," Garrett says. "To interpret what we're seeing with the cameras, it helps to know the structure within the storm and how it is changing with time."
"Ultimately, the primary diagnostic tool that weather forecasters use during a storm is radar, and they want to be able to relate what they see on radar to whether or not there is snow or graupel, and how much."
The Alta Ski Area helps the project by providing a cabin for the instruments, and a Snowflake Showcase through its website, where the public can see a live feed of Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera pictures. Daniel Howlett, an avalanche specialist with the Alta Ski Patrol, helps with camera installation, maintenance and data collection. Software for the snowflake camera was developed by Konstantin Shkurko, a University of Utah doctoral student in computer science.
###
A University of Utah online gallery of snowflake photographs may be viewed at:
http://www.inscc.utah.edu/~tgarrett/Snowflakes/Gallery/
Alta Ski Area's real-time showcase of University of Utah snowflake photos:
http://www.alta.com/pages/snowflakeshowcase.php
Fallgatter Technologies:
http://www.fall-tech.com
University of Utah Communications
201 Presidents Circle, Room 308
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-9017
801-581-6773 fax: 801-585-3350
http://www.unews.utah.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Contact: Lee J. Siegel lee.siegel@utah.edu 801-581-8993 University of Utah
New device reveals what snow looks like in midair
SALT LAKE CITY, April 10, 2013 University of Utah researchers developed a high-speed camera system that spent the past two winters photographing snowflakes in 3-D as they fell and they don't look much like those perfect-but-rare snowflakes often seen in photos.
"Until our device, there was no good instrument for automatically photographing the shapes and sizes of snowflakes in free-fall," says Tim Garrett, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences. "We are photographing these snowflakes completely untouched by any device, as they exist naturally in the air."
Snowflakes in traditional photographs "tend to be of a particular type that conveniently lies flat on a microscope slide, where a camera can get them perfectly in focus, and the photographer can take the time to get the light exactly right," he says.
"These perfectly symmetric, six-sided snowflakes, while beautiful, are exceedingly rare perhaps one-in-a-thousand at the most," says Garrett. "Snow is almost never a single, simple crystal. Rather, a snowflake might experience 'riming,' where perhaps millions of water droplets collide with a snowflake and freeze on its surface. This makes a little ice pellet known as 'graupel.' Or snowflakes collide with other snowflakes to make something fluffier, called an aggregate. And everything is possible in between."
NASA and the U.S. Army helped fund development of the camera, and the National Science Foundation funded the observations. Garrett says the goal is to improve computer simulations of falling snow and how it interacts with radar. That should help improve the use of radar for weather and snowpack forecasting, and reveal more about how snowy weather can degrade microwave (radar) communications.
"Our instrument is taking the first automated, high-resolution photographs of the complexity of snowflakes while measuring how fast they fall, and is collecting vast amounts of data that can be used to come up with more accurate and more representative characterizations of snow in clouds," Garrett says.
Triple Camera Catches Snowflakes in Air
With help from the University of Utah's Technology Commercialization Office, Garrett and Cale Fallgatter a 2008 master's graduate in mechanical engineering formed a spinoff company, Fallgatter Technologies, to make the new camera system, known as the MASC, for Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera, for which a patent is pending.
The device under development for three years includes three, industrial-grade, high-speed cameras: two 1.2-megapixel cameras and a 5-megapixel camera, plus two sets of two motion sensors to measure the speed of falling snowflakes. The 5-megapixel camera helps zoom in on single flakes, Fallgatter says.
The Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera has a ring-shaped housing measuring about 1 foot wide and roughly 4 inches tall. The three cameras are mounted on one side, each separated by 36 degrees and pointed toward the center.
"For forecasting the weather, fall speed is the thing that matters," Garrett says. "The weather models right now do OK at simulating clouds, but they are struggling to accurately reproduce precipitation: rain or snow, but particularly snow. The problem is that we do not have a very good sense for how the sizes and shapes of snow particles relate to how fast they fall. This is important because the lifetime of a storm, and where exactly it snows, depends greatly on how fast snow precipitates."
Fallgatter says the multi-angle camera takes only black-and-white images because that gets more information; color filters block some light from images. The snowflake camera also has an extremely fast exposure time of up to one-40,000th of a second so it can capture pictures of fast-moving snowflakes in free-fall without blurring them.
Why Care about Snowflakes?
"Snowflakes are beautiful and fascinating, and truly no two are alike," Garrett says. "This complexity almost makes them worth studying in their own right. But also, there are very serious practical reasons why we need to understand snow better."
Falling snow affects both microwave communications and weather-forecasting radar (which uses microwaves), yet "the big problem is there is a very poor sense of how microwave radiation interacts with complex snowflake shapes," Garrett says.
Weather models used in forecasting now invoke complicated formulas to simulate precipitation "how cloud droplets turn into snow, snow turns into graupel and all the complicated ways in which particles in a cloud can change in size, shape and fall speed as a storm progresses," Garrett says. "There has been a huge amount of research into improving these formulas, but their accuracy is limited by how well we are able to measure snow and how fast it falls."
He says errors in snowflake shape and size lead to errors in forecasting snowfall amounts and locations.
Garrett says today's weather forecasts still use snowflake research done meticulously by hand in the 1970s in the Pacific Northwest's Cascade Range. Snowflake fall speed was measured, and the flakes then were collected on plastic wrap, photographed, and melted to determine their mass.
"These early researchers got only a few hundred images over two years because they had to collect each snowflake individually by hand," Garrett says. "Our snowflake camera can automatically collect thousands of snowflake photographs in a single night."
Fallgatter and Garrett use two of the multi-angle cameras at Utah's Alta Ski Area, in the Wasatch Range above Salt Lake City. One is located at an elevation of 10,000 feet in Collins Gulch, and the other at 8,500 feet at Alta Base.
"We can look at how the snowflakes change as they fall down the mountainside if there is a change in the sizes and shapes of snowflakes as they fall," Garrett says. "This is one of the things weather models try to simulate."
The researchers use automatic, image-analysis software to characterize snowflakes by shape, complexity, size and estimated mass.
"The complexity is so vast as to almost defy an easy categorization of snowflakes," Garrett says. "Everything lies along a continuum of possible sizes, shapes and extent of riming."
Also at Alta Base, researcher Sandra Yuter of North Carolina State University operates a vertically pointing radar that measures the precipitation structure in the air column over Collins Gulch.
"The radar tells you how strong the storm is, where and when there are layers of rain and snow, and how tall the storm is," Garrett says. "To interpret what we're seeing with the cameras, it helps to know the structure within the storm and how it is changing with time."
"Ultimately, the primary diagnostic tool that weather forecasters use during a storm is radar, and they want to be able to relate what they see on radar to whether or not there is snow or graupel, and how much."
The Alta Ski Area helps the project by providing a cabin for the instruments, and a Snowflake Showcase through its website, where the public can see a live feed of Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera pictures. Daniel Howlett, an avalanche specialist with the Alta Ski Patrol, helps with camera installation, maintenance and data collection. Software for the snowflake camera was developed by Konstantin Shkurko, a University of Utah doctoral student in computer science.
###
A University of Utah online gallery of snowflake photographs may be viewed at:
http://www.inscc.utah.edu/~tgarrett/Snowflakes/Gallery/
Alta Ski Area's real-time showcase of University of Utah snowflake photos:
http://www.alta.com/pages/snowflakeshowcase.php
Fallgatter Technologies:
http://www.fall-tech.com
University of Utah Communications
201 Presidents Circle, Room 308
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-9017
801-581-6773 fax: 801-585-3350
http://www.unews.utah.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
BOAO, China (AP) ? With pressure growing on Beijing to get North Korea to step back from its war-like footing, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that no one country should be allowed to upset world peace and added China would work to reduce tensions over regional hotspots.
In a speech to a regional business forum with political leaders from Australia to Zambia present, Xi did not offer any concrete plans for how to deal with China's neighbor, North Korea, which has elevated regional tensions through war-like rhetoric and missile deployments in recent weeks. Nor did Xi offer concessions to other neighbors locked in fraught disputes with Beijing over outlying islands: Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.
It isn't clear whether Xi was taking a swipe at North Korea or at the United States, a frequent target of Chinese criticism, when he criticized unilateral acts that threaten stability.
"The international community should advocate the vision of comprehensive security and cooperative security, so as to turn the global village into a big stage for common development rather than an arena where gladiators fight each other. And no one should be allowed to throw the region, or even the whole world, into chaos for selfish gains," Xi said Sunday at the Boao Forum for Asia, a China-sponsored talk shop for the global elite.
Ambiguity aside, Xi's speech stands in contrast to more strident remarks he has made in recent months and marks an effort to strike an active, cooperative posture to calm regional tensions. This year's Boao meeting ? an annual event billed as Asia's version of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland ? is being watched for signs of whether Xi, installed in power five months ago, is ready to stake out new directions in a foreign policy that has been bullying toward some neighbors and passive on many international security issues.
The new Xi government is being especially challenged over North Korea. Pyongyang's ratcheting up of tensions in recent months ? from tests of a long-range missile and a nuclear device to threats of nuclear strikes ? have concerned South Korea and the United States, important economic partners for China which have looked to Beijing to rein in its longtime, if estranged communist ally.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia, whose economy has been booming due to Chinese demand, appealed to Beijing to use its leverage to get Pyongyang to climb down.
"All countries in the region share a deep interest in strategic stability. But the consequences of conflict are even more severe for us all. This is nowhere more clear than on the Korean Peninsula. There, any aggression is a threat to the interest of every country in the region. For this reason, I do welcome the growing cooperation of all regional governments to prevent conflict on the Korean Peninsula and to counter North Korean aggression," Gillard told the forum.
Outside of North Korea, expectations of any change in Chinese policy have been focused on Japan. Months of friction over East China Sea islands led to frosty political ties, tense cat-and-mouse games between their maritime forces and flagging trade between the world's second and third largest economies.
Xi didn't address any dispute by name but he promised a constructive approach to regional tensions.
"China will continue to properly handle differences and frictions with the relevant countries," Xi said in his speech. "On international and regional hotspot issues, China will continue to play a constructive role, adhere to peace and facilitating talks and make unremitting efforts to properly handle relevant issues through dialogue and negotiations."
Still, Xi did not present any compromise. He insisted that China would safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, language that makes it harder for Beijing to back away from territorial claims.
Xi also reminded countries that China represents a good business opportunity for neighbors and the world, saying over the next five years China's imports will reach $10 trillion while its companies plan to invest $500 billion overseas. "The more China develops, the more opportunities for development it brings the world and Asia," Xi said.
A South Korean soldier closes a military gate in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A South Korean soldier closes a military gate in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A North Korean military guard post is seen near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A South Korean Army soldier salutes as a military vehicle crosses the barricaded Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom, that has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. South Korea said its top military officer has put off a plan to visit Washington due to current tension with North Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
People watch a TV program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. South Korea?s top military officer has put off a plan to visit Washington because of escalating tension with North Korea that have also led more than a dozen South Korean companies to halt operations at a joint factory complex in the North, officials said Sunday. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
North Koreans, working at a field in North Korea's Kaepoong, are viewed from the unification observation post near the border village of Panmunjom, that has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. South Korea said its top military officer has put off a plan to visit Washington due to current tension with North Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul.
North Korea's warning last week followed weeks of war threats and other efforts to punish South Korea and the U.S. for ongoing joint military drills, and for their support of U.N. sanctions over Pyongyang's Feb. 12 nuclear test. Many nations are deciding what to do about the notice, which said their diplomats' safety in Pyongyang cannot be guaranteed beginning this Wednesday.
Tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang led South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff to announce Sunday that its chairman had put off a visit to Washington. The U.S. military said its top commander in South Korea had also canceled a trip to Washington. The South Korean defense minister said Thursday that North Korea had moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east coast, possibly to conduct a test launch.
His description suggests that the missile could be the Musudan missile, capable of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles).
Citing North Korea's suggestion that diplomats leave the country, South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security director said Pyongyang may be planning a missile launch or another provocation around Wednesday, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing.
During a meeting with other South Korean officials, the official, Kim Jang-Soo, also said the notice to diplomats and other recent North Korean actions are an attempt to stoke security concerns and to force South Korea and the U.S. to offer a dialogue. Washington and Seoul want North Korea to resume the six-party nuclear talks ? which also include China, Russia and Japan ? that it abandoned in 2009.
The roughly two dozen countries with embassies in North Korea had not yet announced whether they would evacuate their staffs.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague suggested that North Korea's comments about foreign diplomats are "consistent" with a regime that is using the prospect of an external threat to justify its militarization to its people.
"I haven't seen any immediate need to respond to that by moving our diplomats out of there," he told the BBC on Saturday. "We will keep this under close review with our allies, but we shouldn't respond and play to that rhetoric and that presentation of an external threat every time they come out with it."
Germany said its embassy in Pyongyang would stay open for at least the time being.
"The situation there is tense but calm," a German Foreign Office official, who declined to be named in line with department policy, said in an email. "The security and danger of the situation is constantly being evaluated. The different international embassies there are in close touch with each other."
Indonesia's foreign affairs ministry said it was considering a plan to evacuate its diplomats. A statement released by the ministry on Saturday said that its embassy in Pyongyang has been preparing a contingency plan to anticipate the worst-case scenario, and that the Indonesian foreign minister is communicating with the staff there to monitor the situation.
India also said it was monitoring events. "We have been informed about it," said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman for India's external affairs ministry. "We are in constant touch with our embassy and are monitoring the situation. We will carefully consider all aspects and decide well in time."
Seoul and Washington, which lack diplomatic relations with the North, are taking the threats seriously, though they say they have seen no signs that Pyongyang is preparing for a large-scale attack.
Kim Jang-soo said the North would face "severalfold damages" for any hostilities. Since 2010, when attacks Seoul blames on North Korea killed 50 people, South Korea has vowed to aggressively respond to any future attack.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jung Seung-jo had planned to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Martin Dempsey, in Washington on April 16 for regular talks. But tensions on the Korean Peninsula are so high that Jung cannot take a long trip away from South Korea, so the meeting will be rescheduled, a South Korean Joint Chiefs officer said Sunday. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office policy.
The top U.S. military commander in South Korea, Gen. James Thurman, will not make a planned trip to Washington this week to testify before Congress because of tensions with North Korea. In an email Sunday to The Associated Press, Army Col. Amy Hannah said Thurman would remain in Seoul as "a prudent measure." He was scheduled to testify on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The U.S. Defense Department has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test that had been planned for this week because of concerns the launch could be misinterpreted and exacerbate the Korean crisis, a senior defense official told The Associated Press.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to delay the test at an Air Force base in California until sometime next month, the official said Saturday. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the test delay and requested anonymity.
In recent weeks, the U.S. has followed provocations from North Korea with shows of force connected to the joint exercises with South Korea. It has sent nuclear capable B-2 and B-52 bombers and stealth F-22 fighters to participate in the drills.
In addition, the U.S. said last week that two of the Navy's missile-defense ships were moved closer to the Korean Peninsula, and a land-based missile-defense system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to strengthen its U.S.-based missile defenses.
The U.S. military also is considering deploying an intelligence drone at the Misawa Air Base in northern Japan to step up surveillance of North Korea, a Japanese Defense Ministry official said Sunday.
Three Global Hawk surveillance planes are deployed on Guam and one of them is being considered for deployment in Japan, the official said on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak about the issue.
North Korea successfully shot a satellite into space in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February. It has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, though many analysts say the North hasn't achieved the technology to manufacture a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could fit on a long-range missile capable of hitting the U.S.
North Korea also raised tensions Wednesday when it barred South Koreans and supply trucks from entering the Kaesong industrial complex, where South Korean companies have employed thousands of North Korean workers for the past decade.
North Korea is not forcing South Korean managers to leave the factory complex, and nearly 520 of them remained at Kaesong on Sunday. But the entry ban at the park, the last remaining inter-Korean rapprochement project, is posing a serious challenge to many of the more than 120 South Korean firms there because they are running out of raw materials and are short on replacement workers.
Nine more firms, including food and textile companies, have stopped operations at Kaesong, bringing to 13 the total number of companies that have done so, South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement Sunday.
North Korea briefly restricted the heavily fortified border crossing at Kaesong in 2009 ? also during South Korea-U.S. drills ? but manufacturers fear the current border shutdown could last longer.
___
AP writers Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Robert Burns in Bagram, Afghanistan, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Louise Watt in Beijing, Cassandra Vinograd in London, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 29-Apr-2013
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