Tapping citizen-scientists for a novel gut check

WASHINGTON (AP) — The bacterial zoo inside your gut could look very different if you're a vegetarian or an Atkins dieter, a couch potato or an athlete, fat or thin.Now for a fee — $69 and up — and a stool sample, the curious can find out just what's living in their intestines and take part in one of the hottest new fields in science.Wait a minute: How many average Joes really want to pay for the privilege...

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Insiders Reveal 2012 Election Secrets

Pete Souza/White HouseThe 2012 election cycle came full circle last week when representatives from the Obama and Romney campaigns, as well as top advisers to many of the GOP primary candidates and several influential outside groups, gathered at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government for a 2012 debrief — finally answering some of the lingering questions about the race.On neutral ground in Cambridge,...

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Israel faces European backlash over settlement plan

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel faced concerted criticism from Europe on Monday over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to expand settlement building after the United Nations' de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood. Britain, France and Sweden summoned the Israeli ambassadors in their respective capitals to hear deep disapproval of the plan to erect 3,000 more homes in the...

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US manufacturing shrinks in November

WASHINGTON: US manufacturing activity contracted in November, with businesses blaming the slow global economy and uncertainty from the fiscal cliff battle in Washington, the ISM monthly survey showed on Monday.Businesses also cited the impact of superstorm Sandy, which shut down much of the Northeast economy for several days at the beginning of the month.The Institute for Supply Management's...

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Court denies bail to Zee journalists

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of two Zee News journalists arrested on an extortion complaint filed by Congress MP Naveen Jindal's company Jindal Power and Steel Ltd.Metropolitan Magistrate Rajinder Singh dismissed the bail plea of the duo, who were sent to 14 days' judicial custody November 30.Sudhir Chaudhary, head of Zee News, and Samir Ahluwalia, head of Zee Business,...

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Asperger's dropped from revised diagnosis manual

CHICAGO (AP) — The now familiar term "Asperger's disorder" is being dropped. And abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be given a scientific-sounding diagnosis called DMDD. But "dyslexia" and other learning disorders remain.The revisions come in the first major rewrite in nearly 20 years of the diagnostic guide used by the nation's psychiatrists. Changes were approved Saturday.Full details...

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Republicans Weigh 'Doomsday' Fiscal Cliff Plan

Dec 3, 2012 9:39am Alex Wong/Getty ImagesRepublicans are seriously considering a Doomsday Plan if fiscal cliff talks collapse entirely.  It’s quite simple:  House Republicans would allow a vote on extending the Bush middle class tax cuts (the bill passed in August by the Senate) and offer the President nothing more:  no extension of the debt ceiling,...

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Islamist protest shuts down Egypt's top court

CAIRO (Reuters) - Protests by Islamists allied to President Mohamed Mursi forced Egypt's highest court to adjourn its work indefinitely on Sunday, intensifying a conflict between some of the country's top judges and the head of state. The Supreme Constitutional Court said it would not convene until its judges could operate without "psychological and material pressure", saying protesters...

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Tan Swie Hian is the most expensive living artist in S'pore

SINGAPORE: Singapore artist Tan Swie Hian's oil and acrylic painting "When the Moon Is Orbed" has been sold for RMB 18,975,000 or S$3.7 million.This took place at the 2012 Poly Autumn Auction's Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art Evening Sale on Sunday. This puts Tan, a Cultural Medallion winner, as the first living Singaporean artist to hit above the million-dollar mark in an auction.Before...

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FDI in retail to safeguard international market mafias' interest: BJP

ANI Dec 1, 2012, 03.28PM ISTNEW DELHI: India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said retail reform is a step taken by the Congress led-federal government to safeguard the interests of the international market mafias at the cost of national interest. BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday that voting inside the parliament would decide as to who is in favour of national...

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