If you're a Comcast subscriber who wants to stream live TV from somewhere other than your couch, we have good news for you: The Xfinity TV Go app is available to download right now from both Google Play and iTunes. As long as you have a steady WiFi connection, and an Android device running Froyo or higher or an iOS gizmo with iOS 6 or better, you should be good to go. While this is cool and all, we were kind of hoping this update to the Xfinity TV Player app would've brought Chromecast support along with it.
Genetic rarity rules in wild guppy population, study finds
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
1-Nov-2013
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Contact: Nicole Brooks nbrooks@fsu.edu 850-645-1294 Florida State University
Female guppies in Trinidad seek rare males as mates
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. When it comes to choosing a mate, female guppies don't care about who is fairest. All that matters is who is rarest.
Florida State University Professor Kimberly A. Hughes in the Department of Biological Science has a new study just published in the journal Nature that is the first to demonstrate a female preference for rare males using an experiment in a wild population, rather than a laboratory setting.
This study of genetic differences in male guppies is relevant to understanding variation in humans as well as in other organisms, Hughes said.
Hughes and her longtime collaborators studied guppies in Trinidad and found that male guppies with rare color patterns mated more and lived longer than the common males. The males' color variations are genetic and not due to diet or temperature. And the males' actual appearance didn't matter to the females, who are tan in color and do the choosing of mates.
"No matter which color pattern we made rare in any group, they mated more and had more offspring," Hughes said.
So, a male guppy common in one grouping, i.e., placed in a stream with many fish that look like him, is a dud to the females also in the stream. But, take that common male and place him in a different stream with only one or two others similar to him, and he's suddenly rare and a desirable mate.
In an earlier study, Hughes showed that male guppies with rare color patterns had a survival advantage compared to those with common patterns in natural populations. During a three-week study, also in Trinidad, 70 percent of common males survived, while 85 percent of rare males survived.
This new study, "Mating advantage for rare males in wild guppy populations," reports the results of paternity analyses of the offspring produced by the females in that earlier field experiment.
Hughes approached this new, rare-male-as-mating-champ theory with the goal of ruling it out. She thought it was unlikely.
But, "We got a big, significant result," she said.
Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are an ideal species for this study, Hughes said, because the males' color variations are so visible and because there is so much variation. Other fish show color variation but not as widely as the guppy.
"These guys are sort of the champions of variation," she said.
And it's not that the rare males are simply trying harder to land a female. All male guppies do elaborate mating rituals, fanning out their fins and pursuing a mate.
The next question to answer, Hughes said, is why. Why do female guppies go for the rarest male in a particular population? It's possible that in choosing a mate who appears unknown to her, a female guppy is trying to avoid procreating with a relative, which can lead to genetic disorders in offspring.
The guppy question speaks to a longstanding puzzle within evolutionary biology: Why are individuals within species so genetically diverse?
Understanding why species are genetically diverse is key to understanding human variation in disease susceptibility, for maintaining healthy crop and livestock populations and for preserving endangered species, Hughes said.
###
Hughes' collaborators in this study are Anne E. Houde of the Lake Forest College Department of Biology in Lake Forest, Ill., and Anna C. Price and F. Helen Rodd of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
CONTACT: Nicole Brooks, FSU University Communications
(850) 645-1294; nbrooks@fsu.edu
or
Kimberly Hughes, FSU Department of Biological Science
(850) 645-8553; kahughes@bio.fsu.edu
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Genetic rarity rules in wild guppy population, study finds
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
1-Nov-2013
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Contact: Nicole Brooks nbrooks@fsu.edu 850-645-1294 Florida State University
Female guppies in Trinidad seek rare males as mates
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. When it comes to choosing a mate, female guppies don't care about who is fairest. All that matters is who is rarest.
Florida State University Professor Kimberly A. Hughes in the Department of Biological Science has a new study just published in the journal Nature that is the first to demonstrate a female preference for rare males using an experiment in a wild population, rather than a laboratory setting.
This study of genetic differences in male guppies is relevant to understanding variation in humans as well as in other organisms, Hughes said.
Hughes and her longtime collaborators studied guppies in Trinidad and found that male guppies with rare color patterns mated more and lived longer than the common males. The males' color variations are genetic and not due to diet or temperature. And the males' actual appearance didn't matter to the females, who are tan in color and do the choosing of mates.
"No matter which color pattern we made rare in any group, they mated more and had more offspring," Hughes said.
So, a male guppy common in one grouping, i.e., placed in a stream with many fish that look like him, is a dud to the females also in the stream. But, take that common male and place him in a different stream with only one or two others similar to him, and he's suddenly rare and a desirable mate.
In an earlier study, Hughes showed that male guppies with rare color patterns had a survival advantage compared to those with common patterns in natural populations. During a three-week study, also in Trinidad, 70 percent of common males survived, while 85 percent of rare males survived.
This new study, "Mating advantage for rare males in wild guppy populations," reports the results of paternity analyses of the offspring produced by the females in that earlier field experiment.
Hughes approached this new, rare-male-as-mating-champ theory with the goal of ruling it out. She thought it was unlikely.
But, "We got a big, significant result," she said.
Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are an ideal species for this study, Hughes said, because the males' color variations are so visible and because there is so much variation. Other fish show color variation but not as widely as the guppy.
"These guys are sort of the champions of variation," she said.
And it's not that the rare males are simply trying harder to land a female. All male guppies do elaborate mating rituals, fanning out their fins and pursuing a mate.
The next question to answer, Hughes said, is why. Why do female guppies go for the rarest male in a particular population? It's possible that in choosing a mate who appears unknown to her, a female guppy is trying to avoid procreating with a relative, which can lead to genetic disorders in offspring.
The guppy question speaks to a longstanding puzzle within evolutionary biology: Why are individuals within species so genetically diverse?
Understanding why species are genetically diverse is key to understanding human variation in disease susceptibility, for maintaining healthy crop and livestock populations and for preserving endangered species, Hughes said.
###
Hughes' collaborators in this study are Anne E. Houde of the Lake Forest College Department of Biology in Lake Forest, Ill., and Anna C. Price and F. Helen Rodd of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
CONTACT: Nicole Brooks, FSU University Communications
(850) 645-1294; nbrooks@fsu.edu
or
Kimberly Hughes, FSU Department of Biological Science
(850) 645-8553; kahughes@bio.fsu.edu
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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.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate approved President Barack Obama's pick for a top post at the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday, but the chamber approached showdowns over other nominees that were starting to revive the partisan rancor a similar fight ignited last summer.
In the key roll call, senators voted 62-37 to end Republican delaying tactics against Richard Griffin, whom Obama nominated to be NLRB general counsel. Senators then confirmed the appointment on a near-party line 55-44 tally.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., planned votes in coming days aimed at halting what he said were GOP roadblocks against six other nominations. The most controversial were Obama's picks of Patricia Millett to join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which was developing into a key flashpoint, and Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Republicans said Reid and Obama were trying to tilt the partisan balance of the D.C. appeals court's judges, now 4-4, toward Democrats with Millett's nomination. That court, which gets involved in many cases involving federal regulations, is considered by many to be the second most powerful federal court, behind only the Supreme Court.
"The majority leader and his allies are attempting to pack the court with judges who will rubber stamp their big government agenda," said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate's No. 2 GOP leader.
Besides Millett, Obama has also nominated attorney and law professor Cornelia "Nina" Pillard and U.S. District Judge Robert Wilkins to fill the D.C. appeals court's three vacancies.
Cornyn said unless Millett was approved, Democrats were threatening anew to use the so-called nuclear option, or unilaterally changing Senate rules to make the minority party — currently Republicans — less powerful. He said Democrats want Republicans "simply to snap to attention and salute smartly. Well, it's not going to happen."
Cornyn said the D.C. appeals court is underworked and said he would support moving some of its positions to other, busier federal court districts.
Asked by reporters if he would consider changing Senate rules if Millett was blocked, Reid said, "I'm not going to be talking about hypotheticals."
But New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the No. 3 Senate Democratic leader, wouldn't rule it out in a brief interview, saying, "Have to see, have to see."
Millett, an attorney in private practice, has argued 32 cases in front of the Supreme Court and previously served as an assistant U.S. solicitor general under Presidents Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a Republican.
After months of Democratic accusations that Republicans were stalling Obama's efforts to fill key vacancies, the two parties reached a deal in July in which some GOP senators agreed to free several key nominees for votes. In exchange, Democrats agreed to drop a threatened effort to weaken the minority party's legislative powers.
As part of that deal, Obama removed Griffin as an NLRB board member, but he was to be given the general counsel slot, according to participants in that bargaining. The general counsel, who holds a four-year term, investigates and prosecutes cases before the board.
Republicans said this week that they were opposing Griffin, a Democrat and longtime labor lawyer, because the NLRB has become too pro-union. The agency's general counsel investigates and prosecutes cases before the board.
Watt seemed a longshot to win approval. Obama wants him to head the housing agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the huge government-controlled companies that own or guarantee about half of U.S. mortgages. They say the longtime congressional veteran lacks the technical expertise to head the agency and won't be politically impartial, charges Democrats deny.
The Senate planned votes on other nominations this week, some of which have seen GOP opposition fade. All were expected to succeed. They were:
—Alan Estevez for a top Pentagon procurement job.
—Katherine Archuleta to lead the Office of Personnel Management, which helps oversee federal workers.
—Thomas Wheeler to join the Federal Communications Commission.
—Jacob Lew, the treasury secretary, to represent the U.S. at several international financial organizations.
___
Associated Press writer Henry Jackson contributed to this report.
Kendall and Kylie Jenner have had enough. Earlier this week, TMZ reported that Kendall, almost 18, and Kylie, 16, used fake IDs to enter a 21-and-over Wax Rabbit event at Vignette Lounge in West Hollywood on Oct. 15. The teenage Keeping Up With the Kardashians stars, however, took to Twitter on Wednesday, Oct. 23 to blast new reports that they were partying underage.
"I am so done with everyone making my little sister and I out to be something that we are not. Shut up with these stupid rumors and stories," Kendall tweeted. "No one has fake ID's and no one's partying. We know that's what all you slimy media people want to see but that is not going to happen. We're smarter than that, we have goals and personally I think it's sad that some people sit at their desk making things up . . . about girls that are trying to have a career just like everybody else. Get over it. No story here."
Kylie expressed similar sentiments on her own Twitter account that same day. "Bout to be straight up because I'm sick & tired of the rumors this past week," she tweeted. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but Kendall & I will not grow up to be let downs. I know that's what some people would unfortunately like to see . . . but I'm not going to sit around and let grown adults create untrue stories about me underage drinking & partying every night with a fake I.D."
"And F.Y.I. regarding the 'club nights,' I was with my father & family supporting my brother and sister-in-law," Kylie added. "We can stop with all the stories now."
But Kendall didn't seem to hold a grudge for too long. Immediately following her Twitter rant she wrote, "On another note, I got a new Great Dane puppy and she's awesome." Indeed, the young model stepped out with her adorable new puppy in L.A. on Oct. 23. Kendall celebrates her 18th birthday on Nov. 3, and older brother Rob Kardashian gave her the dog as an early birthday present.
Contact: Stefan Seifert stefan.seifert@izm.fraunhofer.de 49-304-640-3685 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
From a cocktail dress for the next summer party, to favorite perfumes, or computer accessories. There is almost nothing that you cannot buy on the internet today as well. Many customers value the opportunity of going on a shopping tour from the comfort of their sofa, instead of having to fight their way through the city. Therefore it is not surprising that brand name manufacturers are increasingly offering their goods for sale on the web, not to mention the large online mail-order companies. The companies are increasingly working together with regional specialist retailers. Both sides profit from the cooperation. The manufacturer saves the costs and effort of building up additional logistics infrastructure, since the local retailer delivers the goods that were ordered online or has them available for pick up, and deals with returns of products. The retailer in turn receives access to the online market and can thereby broaden its customer base.
The linkage between retail and online business places high demands on inventory management, however. What is crucial is keeping an overview of how many products of what kind are actually locally available from the web shop. Otherwise, duplicate sales may easily occur for instance, when a customer in the web shop orders a piece of clothing just as another customer in the store is trying on the same piece and would like to purchase it. To avoid situations like this, the retailer would, however, need to grant the web shop access to its inventory system, which only a very small number are prepared to allow. Above and beyond that, these data are only updated once a day as a rule.
Software takes over synchronizing the data
Researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM are working together with logistics provider gaxsys GmbH on a simple and effective alternative. "We furnish the products with an active radio module", explains Stefan Seifert, Developer at Fraunhofer IZM. "This way, you can track how many products are in stock locally and also available any time."
The RF clip consists of a housing with a RF module, a microcontroller, a battery and a miniaturized vibration sensor. This clip is attached directly to the product at the retailer. Only a unique identification number (ID) is stored on the clip. That can be an item number or an arbitrary number, which the software associates with the item data for instance, model, color and size for a piece of clothing. If the clip is activated at the retailer, the RF module sends its ID at regular intervals to a central receiver in the store. The software compares the inventory and sends the data on to the web shop. This way, the dealer receives a constantly updated overview of the available inventory.
The neat thing: as soon as the piece of clothing in the store is moved for instance, because a customer takes it from a rack to try it on the miniaturized vibration sensor detects this and sends a corresponding report to the RF receiver. "In this case, the customer in the store has priority and the product is locked out on the web shop for a period of time," explains Seifert. Duplicate sales are thereby excluded. After the item is sold, the battery in the RF clip is charged and the RF clip can then be assigned and attached to a new item. Thanks to optimized energy management, the RF clip already achieves operating durations of up to nine months at present. This is usually sufficient for the period from receipt of goods to the sale of a product, so recharging is not necessary.
The newly developed RF clip of the researchers in Berlin is expected to be employed by gaxsys Gmbh in the context of a total system design that supports retailers in all relevant steps of process, such as creating, operating and maintaining a web shop, payment processing, documentation, right through to logistics. At the moment the focus of the project partners is the clothing sector. Before long, 20 RF modules will be tested for their operational suitability at a clothing retailer. Seifert sees a lot of potential for using this application with other products in the future, predominantly in the higher-priced market segments. Luxury goods such as expensive watches and jewelry would be possible, for example.
###
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Getting a grip on inventory management using RF
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
24-Oct-2013
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Contact: Stefan Seifert stefan.seifert@izm.fraunhofer.de 49-304-640-3685 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
From a cocktail dress for the next summer party, to favorite perfumes, or computer accessories. There is almost nothing that you cannot buy on the internet today as well. Many customers value the opportunity of going on a shopping tour from the comfort of their sofa, instead of having to fight their way through the city. Therefore it is not surprising that brand name manufacturers are increasingly offering their goods for sale on the web, not to mention the large online mail-order companies. The companies are increasingly working together with regional specialist retailers. Both sides profit from the cooperation. The manufacturer saves the costs and effort of building up additional logistics infrastructure, since the local retailer delivers the goods that were ordered online or has them available for pick up, and deals with returns of products. The retailer in turn receives access to the online market and can thereby broaden its customer base.
The linkage between retail and online business places high demands on inventory management, however. What is crucial is keeping an overview of how many products of what kind are actually locally available from the web shop. Otherwise, duplicate sales may easily occur for instance, when a customer in the web shop orders a piece of clothing just as another customer in the store is trying on the same piece and would like to purchase it. To avoid situations like this, the retailer would, however, need to grant the web shop access to its inventory system, which only a very small number are prepared to allow. Above and beyond that, these data are only updated once a day as a rule.
Software takes over synchronizing the data
Researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM are working together with logistics provider gaxsys GmbH on a simple and effective alternative. "We furnish the products with an active radio module", explains Stefan Seifert, Developer at Fraunhofer IZM. "This way, you can track how many products are in stock locally and also available any time."
The RF clip consists of a housing with a RF module, a microcontroller, a battery and a miniaturized vibration sensor. This clip is attached directly to the product at the retailer. Only a unique identification number (ID) is stored on the clip. That can be an item number or an arbitrary number, which the software associates with the item data for instance, model, color and size for a piece of clothing. If the clip is activated at the retailer, the RF module sends its ID at regular intervals to a central receiver in the store. The software compares the inventory and sends the data on to the web shop. This way, the dealer receives a constantly updated overview of the available inventory.
The neat thing: as soon as the piece of clothing in the store is moved for instance, because a customer takes it from a rack to try it on the miniaturized vibration sensor detects this and sends a corresponding report to the RF receiver. "In this case, the customer in the store has priority and the product is locked out on the web shop for a period of time," explains Seifert. Duplicate sales are thereby excluded. After the item is sold, the battery in the RF clip is charged and the RF clip can then be assigned and attached to a new item. Thanks to optimized energy management, the RF clip already achieves operating durations of up to nine months at present. This is usually sufficient for the period from receipt of goods to the sale of a product, so recharging is not necessary.
The newly developed RF clip of the researchers in Berlin is expected to be employed by gaxsys Gmbh in the context of a total system design that supports retailers in all relevant steps of process, such as creating, operating and maintaining a web shop, payment processing, documentation, right through to logistics. At the moment the focus of the project partners is the clothing sector. Before long, 20 RF modules will be tested for their operational suitability at a clothing retailer. Seifert sees a lot of potential for using this application with other products in the future, predominantly in the higher-priced market segments. Luxury goods such as expensive watches and jewelry would be possible, for example.
###
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I live in L.A., a land of 20-lane interchanges, parking lots the size of football stadiums, and mind-bending, soul-crushing, life-altering traffic. Every day, I meet people who don't even know we have a public transit system and see places in my neighborhood without any sidewalks. This is because, a half-century ago, my city decided to redesign itself for cars, not humans.
Ask A VC: Greylock’s Simon Rothman On Disruptive Marketplaces, Greymarket And More
In this week’s Ask A VC, we were joined by Greylock’s newest partner, Simon Rothman, to talk about future disruptive marketplaces and more.
Rothman, who is spearheading Greylock’s new $100 million commitment to investing in marketplaces, led U.S. operations and founded eBay Motors, which he built into a $14 billion a year global business. He talked about mobile marketplaces, what the next opportunities in creating marketplaces are and more.
Rothman also shed more details on the firm’s first marketplace conference, Greymarket, on Friday, November 15th. The event, which is invite-only, will be open to companies and entrepreneurs outside the Greylock portfolio. Speakers include Reid Hoffman, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, eBay CEO John Donahoe, Lyft co-founder Logan Green and more.
One lucky reader could score an invite to the conference. Greylock wants you to send them a one-minute video explaining your best hack or trick for creating demand for, or how you helped to grow, your marketplace to marketplace@greylock.com. The winning entry will spend time with Rothman to develop a presentation to be included on the agenda for the conference (the deadline is Tuesday, October 29).
Facebook announced a pair of changes to the privacy settings for teen users on Wednesday. On the plus side, teens' post will now be shared with a smaller group of people by default. On the potentially problematic side, they'll also be able to share things with the public for the first time.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Yale University hopes to solve a case of whodungit by identifying the stinker who has been soiling students' laundry by sticking human feces inside clothes dryers.
The culprit has been dubbed the "poopetrator" and is being blamed for at least four incidents in the past month in the laundry room at Saybrook College.
"We have asked our students not to leave their laundry unattended, the affected machines have been thoroughly disinfected and we are actively seeking information about who the perpetrator might be," Saybrook Master Paul Hudak told the Yale Daily News. "That's about all we can do."
Hudak said Yale police are investigating. Officials at the Ivy League school also are considering changes to laundry room access.
Yale police declined to comment in the investigation.
Lucy Fleming was one of the first victims. She opened a dryer in the Saybrook College laundry room on Sept. 7 and found her clothes soiled by human feces. Someone also urinated on them. She tried to rewash them, but they were ruined.
"I simultaneously wanted to throw up, cry and punch someone," Fleming told the Daily News.
The suspect apparently struck again on Friday by hanging up a clothesline with soiled clothes in a courtyard of Berkeley College. A person claiming to be the culprit alerted students and the Daily News about it.
"Some people think the whole thing is funny; some think it is scary; and everyone thinks it is gross," Yale sophomore David Steiner told the New Haven Register.
Steiner received two emails on Friday that apparently were from the culprit, the Register reported. The name on the emails was "Copro Philiac." Coprophilia is an abnormal interest in fecal matter.
Scientists have discovered the first new form of botulinum toxin in over 40 years, but they're taking the unusual step of keeping key details about it secret.
That's because botulinum toxin is one of the most poisonous substances known. It causes botulism, and the newly identified form of it can't be neutralized by any available treatment.
The researchers published two reports describing their work online in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. The information in those reports is deliberately incomplete, to prevent anyone from using it as the recipe for a potent new bioweapon.
"This is not the usual process for publishing manuscripts. We thought in this case an exception was appropriate," says David Hooper, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital who serves as one of the editors of the journal.
Normally, the journal would require that the scientists disclose the genetic sequences needed to make the toxin. In this case, however, the researchers didn't want to do that because of the security risk.
The journal's editors ultimately agreed that they could go ahead and publish but withhold the information until new treatments were developed. "There was enough scientific importance that we did not want to delay the publication," says Hooper.
Their decision comes as biologists have been grappling with how to handle potentially dangerous information.
Last year, for example, scientists and security experts had a huge argument over whether to publish the details of mutant forms of bird flu that could potentially cause a pandemic in humans.
Biology has long had a tradition of openness, to allow people to confirm research findings and build upon others' discoveries. But some worry that new technologies have made it easier for basic science to be exploited by people with evil intentions.
And any expert in botulinum toxin knows that its history as a possible bioweapon goes back decades. The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo even tried to release it in downtown Tokyo in the 1990s, but these attacks failed.
One scholarly article on the toxin noted that a single gram could potentially kill more than a million people, if it was evenly dispersed through the air and inhaled — although that would be difficult to do.
Botulinum toxin is normally made by bacteria, and it can cause a serious and life-threatening paralytic illness. In the U.S., botulism most commonly occurs in young infants, whose still-developing guts don't have the normal microbes that can inhibit the growth of the bacteria.
The new form of the toxin was discovered by Jason Barash and Stephen Arnon at the California Department of Public Health. They use fecal samples from babies to diagnose botulism and characterize the type of toxin that's producing the disease.
But in the newly reported case, they found a completely unexpected toxin—one that cannot be neutralized by any of the currently available anti-botulinum antiserums.
Barash and Arnon couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
"This toxin has unusual risks and consequences for human health," says David Relman, a microbiologist at Stanford University who was asked by the journal editors to weigh in on the decision to publish the incomplete manuscript. He says if this new type were deliberately misused, we would have no defense.
Relman agreed with the decision to withhold information. "I want to applaud the authors for acting in a way that I think was responsible and prudent," he tells Shots.
An editorial accompanying the report notes that the scientists consulted with numerous officials from government agencies such as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It would seem that this process, or this consultation, was entirely an internal, within-the-government kind of consultation," says Relman.
He serves on a government advisory board called the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, which is supposed to provide guidance on how to handle biological information that could be misused.
But that committee, which played an important role in the recent debate whether to publish controversial research on bird flu, apparently wasn't consulted this time around. "None of us had heard of this work until I was sent it," says Relman.
Updated Oct. 11 at 11:56 a.m.
Asked if people who needed to know the information to develop counter-measures were going to be able to access it, Mass General's Hooper says, "That was our understanding, yes."
But some say that not sharing scientific work in the usual way, because of fears it could fall into the wrong hands, carries its own risks.
Ronald Atlas, a biologist and bioweapons expert at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, says he agrees with the decision in this case. "But I have real concerns about how often we would do this and what it does to the overall implication of advancement in the life sciences," he tells NPR.
He says that advancement depends on biologists being able to replicate each other's work and use that research to take the next step forward — something that's not possible if scientists and journals withhold critical details.
He notes that if this sets a precedent and biologists start withholding information that they deem too risky, that could slow down the community's ability to do things like search for new treatments. "That's the last thing you want when you're facing a public health threat," he notes.
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