Saturday, February 22, 2014


News Clips For The Day



Parliament calls early election after leader leaves Kiev
CBS/AP February 22, 2014
Last Updated Feb 22, 2014 11:01 AM EST

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's parliament has voted to call early presidential elections for May 25.

Violence resumes in Kiev
Dozens dead in worst violence since protests began in Ukraine late last year
 
The decision comes just hours after embattled President Viktor Yanukovych said he wouldn't respect any decisions made by parliament.

"Everything that is happening today is, to a greater degree, vandalism and bandits and a coup d'etat," Yanukovych said in a televised statement, clearly shaken and making long pauses in his speech.

Under an agreement reached Friday between Yanukovych and leaders of the opposition protests that have brought Ukraine into crisis, early elections were to be held no later than December.

But the possibility that he could remain in office for the rest of the year angered protesters who want his immediate departure.

Before the vote, CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reported from Kiev that the ministry that controls the police force said it now serves the Ukrainian people and shares their desire for speedy change.

A top aide to Yanukovych said that the president has left Kiev and gone back to Kharkiv, a city in Ukraine's east which is the heart of his support base.
After a tumultuous week that left scores dead and Ukraine's political destiny in flux, fears mounted that the country could split in two.

In his statement before the call for early elections, Yanukovych said decisions made by parliament Friday and Saturday "are all illegal" and compared the situation to the rise of Nazis in the 1930s. He said he would not sign any of the measures passed by parliament, which include trimming his powers and releasing his jailed arch-rival, ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

The president said his car had been shot at, adding: "But I have no fear. I am overwhelmed by grief for our country. I feel responsibility."

The country's western regions, angered by corruption in Yanukovych's government, want to be closer to the European Union and have rejected Yanukovych's authority in many cities. Eastern Ukraine, which accounts for the bulk of the nation's economic output, favors closer ties with Russia and has largely supported the president. The three-month protest movement was prompted by the president's decision to abort an agreement with the EU in favor of a deal with Moscow.

Defense and military officials urged calm. In statements Saturday, both the Defense Ministry and the chief of the armed forces said they will not be drawn into any conflict and will side with the people. But they did not specify whether they still support the president or are siding with the opposition.

Protesters claimed full control of Kiev and took up positions around the president's office and a grandiose residential compound believed to be his, though he never acknowledged it.

"The people have risen up and achieved their goals. The authorities are crumbling. Victory is in sight," 31-year-old construction worker Sviatoslav Gordichenko said as he and thousands of other protesters surrounded the ostentatious residential compound in the Kiev suburbs.

In the eastern city of Kharkiv, governors, provincial officials and legislators gathered alongside top Russian lawmakers and approved a statement calling on regional authorities to take full responsibility for constitutional order.

Some called for the formation of volunteer militias to defend against protesters from western regions, even as they urged army units to maintain neutrality and protect ammunition depots.

The congress of provincial lawmakers and officials in Kharkiv issued a statement saying that the events in Kiev have led to the "paralysis of the central government and destabilization of the situation in the country."

Ukraine, a nation of 46 million, has long divided its loyalties and economy between Europe and longtime ruler Moscow, giving it huge strategic importance to Russia, Europe and the United States.


Kharkiv
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kharkiv (Ukrainian: Харків, pronounced [ˈxɑrkiw]),[5] or Kharkov (Russian: Ха́рьков, IPA: [ˈxarʲkəf]),[5] is the second-largest city of Ukraine. Located in the north-east of the country, it is the largest city of the Slobozhanshchyna historical region. By its territorial expansion on September 6, 2012 the city increased its area from about 310 to 350 square kilometres (120 to 140 sq mi).[6]

The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv was the first city in Ukraine to acknowledge Soviet power in December 1917 and later became the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Kharkiv remained the capital of the Ukrainian SSR until January 1934, when it was moved to Kiev.

Kharkiv is a major cultural, scientific, educational, transport and industrial centre of Ukraine, with 60 scientific institutes, 30 establishments of higher education, 6 museums, 7 theatres and 80 libraries. Its industry specialises primarily in machinery and electronics.

Archeological evidence discovered in the area of present-day Kharkiv indicates that a local population has existed in that area since the second millennium BC. Cultural artifacts date back to the Bronze Age, as well as those of later Scythian and Sarmatian settlers. There is also evidence that the Chernyakhov culture flourished in the area from the second to the sixth century.

According to the 1989 Soviet Union Census, the population of the city was 1,593,970. In 1991, the population decreased to 1,510,200, including 1,494,200 permanent city residents.[36] Kharkiv is the second-largest city in Ukraine after the capital, Kiev.[7]
The nationality structure of Kharkiv as of the 1989 census is: Ukrainians 50.38%, Russians 43.63%, Jews 3%, Belarusians 0.75%, and all others (more than 25 minorities) 2.24%.[36] According to the Soviet census of 1959 there were Ukrainians (48.4%), Russians (40.4%), Jews (8.7%) and other nationalities (2.5%).[37]



http://rt.com/news/thousands-gather-eastern-ukraine-252/

Ukraine's Southeast seeks to restore constitutional order, thousands gather in Kharkov
Published time: February 22, 2014 11:21
Edited time: February 22, 2014 15:42 gold

The public gathering of deputies from local councils of southeastern Ukraine have declared they are taking responsibility for constitutional order in the country, as thousands of people have assembled in the city of Kharkov.

The Kharkov public gathering has announced a number of measures local authorities should take in response to the developments in Kiev. They should take full responsibility for all decision in respective regions with no regard to authorities in Kiev until the constitutional order in Ukraine is restored, a resolution of the gathering says.

They authorities should take measures to protect arms depots and prevent their take-over and looting by radical opposition activists.

The deputies have criticized the decision adopted by the Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) in the last few days, saying they are raising doubts about its legitimacy.
The gathering says the legislative acts may have been passed involuntary and are neither legitimate nor lawful.

The resent decisions of the national parliament were taken in conditions “of terror, threats of violence and death,” the resolution says.

Meanwhile, citizens are encouraged to form local militias to protect public order. Local authorities are to fund and support those militias.

Over 10, 000 people have gathered at the city’s Sport Palace, where a total of 3,477 deputies have been holding a meeting.

The situation remains generally quiet with the crowd being partly in good spirits and partly subdued and concerned, Itar-Tass news agency reports from the Palace.

“3, 477 deputies from local councils in southeastern Ukraine have gathered. We have gathered here not to separate the country, but to save it,” the regional governor, Mikhail Dobkin, told the crowd.

The head of the Kharkov administration, Gennady Kernes, has called the public gathering “an attempt by qualified deputies from the east of the country to stabilize the situation.”

"My colleagues and I have been personally threatened. But today we have gathered to change the situation,” he said. “We will not give in; we will fight till the end.”
The statement has been echoed by Rada’s Party of Regions deputy, Vadim Kolesnichenko, who also said that politicians are being threatened and “their families are basically hostages [of the situation].”

Russia sent several officials in the capacity of observers to the gathering, including Aleksey Pushkov, the head of Russian parliamentary commission on foreign affairs, Mikhail Markelov, Pushkov’s counterpart in the Council of Federation, the upper chamber of the parliament, and several governors from regions in eastern Russia.

“The decisions taken here are positive and concrete. What is important is that everything voiced here was implemented in the interests of the Ukrainian people and the entire Ukraine. What Ukraine needs now is common sense and a survival instinct,” said Evgeny Savchenko, Governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, commenting on the Kharkov gathering.

Meanwhile, parliament (Verkhovna Rada) is holding a new emergency session on Saturday. While the whereabouts of Ukrainian President Yanukovich remain uncertain, opposition leaders passed the law on the return to the 2004 Constitution without the president's signature.

They have also elected Aleksandr Turchinov the new head speaker of the Supreme Rada. He will be taking over the cabinet’s work until the formation of a coalition government.

Among new appointees is Arsen Avakov, who was named the acting head of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine.

With 233 voting in favor, the Ukrainian Rada has ruled to free the former PM Yulia Timoshenko from prison.

A day after Yanukovich agreed to opposition demands and signed an EU brokered deal, his residence in Kiev was abandoned and left virtually unguarded. Some media reports speculate that the president has left for Kharkov in the east of the country.




This does look like the makings of a full scale civil war. I will continue to clip articles as the situation advances. I do hope the US doesn't get involved beyond the level of diplomacy.




Fraternity suspends Ole Miss chapter, boots three members – CBS
CBS/AP February 21, 2014

OXFORD, Miss. - A fraternity chapter at the University of Mississippi was indefinitely suspended Friday by its national organization and three of its freshman members were kicked out because of their suspected involvement in hanging a noose on a statue of James Meredith, the first black student to enroll in the then all-white college.

In a statement, Sigma Phi Epsilon said it suspended the Alpha Chapter at the university and the chapter voted to expel all three men and turn over their identities to investigators.

Police on Sunday found a noose tied around the neck of the statue, along with an old Georgia flag with a Confederate battle emblem in its design, which has since been updated to exclude the emblem.

When Meredith tried to enter Ole Miss in fall 1962, Mississippi's governor tried to stop him. That led to violence on the Oxford campus.

U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent 500 U.S. marshals to take control and days later, Meredith was allowed in the school. Though he faced harassment, he graduated with a degree in political science.

The FBI said Friday it planned to expand the vandalism investigation for potential violations of federal law, CBS affiliate WJTV in Jackson reported.

"It is embarrassing that these men had previously identified with our fraternity," said Brian C. Warren Jr., CEO of Sigma Phi Epsilon. "SigEp as a national fraternity has championed racial equality and issues on diversity since 1959 when it became the first national fraternity to invite members of all races, creeds and religions to join its membership."

Warren said the fraternity will conduct a review to ensure that members' values align with those espoused by the organization.  "We won't allow the actions of a few men to undermine the more than five decades of leadership this fraternity has demonstrated in the fight for racial equality and diversity on our college campuses," he said.
The university tried Friday to question three white students in connection with the vandalism but their attorneys would not allow that to happen without arrest warrants. The three have not been identified.

University spokesman Danny Blanton said Friday the school's findings have been turned over to the district attorney's office. Blanton said the university will also proceed with internal disciplinary action through a judicial panel that consists of both faculty and students.

The university is satisfied that the three students under investigation are responsible for the statue's desecration, Blanton said.

The Ole Miss Alumni Association is offering at $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. University Police Department Chief Calvin Sellers said the reward offer gave police some good leads in the case.

Blanton said it's not yet clear who might share in the reward.
District Attorney Ben Creekmore told WMC-TV in Memphis that criminal charges would be difficult.

Creekmore said investigators and prosecutors have looked into several misdemeanors, but he said criminal charges were unlikely by his office because the statue was not physically damaged, and the suspects did not appear to be trespassing.

He said federal investigators could opt to bring charges if they saw fit. Creekmore said if new information comes to light, his office could revisit the issue.
Blanton said it's up to state and federal authorities to press criminal charges, but "obviously, since we've seen who is responsible, we want to take swift and decisive action.

"What we want to do is to show this type action can't take place on this campus. We want to demonstrate that we will not tolerate this type behavior," he said.
Ole Miss will move forward "as soon as possible" with discipline through the university's student judicial process. That panel, which consists of both faculty and students, could choose sanctions including dismissal and barring the three from campus, Blanton said.

The fact that the students won't talk to administrators is disappointing, he added.
"We certainly wish they would be forthright and discuss this matter so that we can get to the bottom of it. We want to hear their side. We want to know not just what happened, but why they did it. We want to open a dialogue," he said.




It's good to see that Ole Miss and the fraternity are putting up a strong front against the three students. Hopefully if there are others within the fraternity who sympathize with their actions, they will be booted out, too. Peace and positive attitudes are what we need as interracial contact goes on day by day. We can be proud of that and operate with good will toward all.




Arizona bill would allow businesses to refuse service to gays – CBS
CBS/AP February 21, 2014

PHOENIX - Four years after igniting a national uproar over immigration, the Arizona Legislature has jumped into the battle over gay rights with a piece of legislation that had opponents on Friday predicting business boycotts against the state.

The legislation allows business owners with strongly held religious beliefs to refuse service to gays, and all eyes are on Republican Gov. Jan Brewer as she decides whether to sign the bill. A decision is likely next week.

The conservative governor is already feeling pressure from the business community to veto the bill passed late Thursday. A prominent Phoenix group believes it would be another black eye for the state that saw a national backlash over its 2010 immigration crackdown law, SB1070. Opponents also pointed out that the legislation would serve as a major distraction as Arizona prepares to host the Super Bowl next year.

But Brewer also will be heavily pressured to sign the bill by social conservatives who backed it as a religious-rights bill.

Brewer, who is deeply religious but also pro-business, is caught somewhere in the middle. She hasn't taken a public position on this bill.

Social conservatives and libertarian-minded members of the GOP believe the legislation protects the First Amendment rights of business owners who are expressing their religious beliefs.

The new legislation was passed over the objections of Democrats who said it was clearly designed to allow discrimination against gays. All but three Republicans in the Legislature voted in favor of the bill.

Greater Phoenix Economic Council President and CEO Barry Broome urged the governor to veto the bill and said four companies have already put their plans to open facilities in Arizona on hold until they see if the bill becomes law. The impact could mean the potential loss of "thousands of jobs," Broome said.

He told CBS affiliate KPHO the bill would send the wrong message to companies looking to come to Arizona.

"So much of the cultural transformation going on in America right now is toward acceptance and tolerance," said Broome. "I think it's going to be very difficult to attract any kind of talent or investment or events. It's going to destroy the goodwill between our state and the rest of the world."

Debbie Johnson, president of the Valley Hotel and Resort Association, told KPHO that if the governor signs the measure, it could jeopardize the prospects of Arizona getting another Super Bowl or any other major event.

"We're already hearing from dozens and dozens of people," said Johnson. "They are emailing us and convention bureaus and the office of tourism telling us they're not coming to Arizona, because we don't want to come to a state that is not welcoming."

Republicans defended the proposal during two days of debate in the House and Senate, saying the bill is only a "modest update" of the state's existing religious freedom law, which mirrors existing federal legislation. They frequently cited the case of a New Mexico photographer who was sued after refusing to take wedding pictures of a gay couple and said Arizona needs a law to protect people in the state from heavy-handed actions by courts.

"The world's on its ear," said Rep. John Allen, R-Scottsdale, who supported the bill. "It's alien to me that a business owner can't reflect his faith in his business."

The bill allows any business, church or person to cite the law as a defense in any action brought by the government or an individual claiming discrimination. It also allows the business or person to seek an injunction once they show their actions are based on a sincere religious belief and the claim places a burden on the exercise of their religion.

Arizona is one of several states with religious freedom laws on the books, and the proposal in question would expand the act in ways that supporters say do not amount to radical revisions.

The ultimate fate of the bill will be clear sometime next week. Brewer will have five days after her office receives the bill to act, and it likely won't reach her desk until Monday.

She did veto similar legislation last year, but that came during a bill-signing moratorium she put in place while she battled to get recalcitrant conservatives in the Legislature to pass a Medicaid expansion. Still, the veto might be a hint that she won't go along again. And she's knocked down other controversial bills, including a 2011 bill that would have required President Barack Obama and other presidential candidates to prove their U.S. citizenship before their names could appear on the state's ballot.

Rep. Demion Clinco, a Tucson Democrat who is openly gay, called the bill "toxic" and said it will validate attacks on gays and lesbians.

"It actually creates some sort of credibility to be able to tell someone 'I'm sorry, I can't serve you in my restaurant or my place of business or provide you services because you're different or because of your sexuality,'" Clinco said.

Josh Kredit, an attorney for the Center of Arizona Policy which helped draft the legislation, said it wouldn't add any new substantive legal rights for business owners.

"We are clarifying the protection we thought existed. We're not saying you have carte blanche to do whatever you want," Kredit said.

Religious groups were split. Kredit's group is evangelical Christian, and the Arizona Catholic Conference backs the bill. The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona opposes it.
About 250 protesters gathered outside the state capitol Friday, holding signs with messages such as "This is Ridiculous" and "What About Love Thy Neighbor?" Another protest was planned in Tucson, where a march to Brewer's southern Arizona office was planned.

Meanwhile, Republican Secretary of State Ken Bennett issued a statement calling the bill "an unnecessary measure to protect a God-given right already assured by the Constitution."

After hearing that the legislation was approved, Rocco DiGrazia, owner of Rocco's Little Chicago Pizzeria in Tucson, put up a sign on a window Thursday night that reads "We reserve the right to refuse service to Arizona legislators."
DiGrazia calls the bill's approval "appalling."

DiGrazia, who grew up Catholic but doesn't follow any religion now, said he cares more about dishing out pizza to customers - gay or straight. He isn't sure if he'll follow what's on his sign.




The “cultural transformation going on in America right now is toward acceptance and tolerance," Barry Broome said. Like a fairly large number of others, he stresses Arizona's ability to fit in with the rest of the society, and attract new business people or arts and sports events. I wonder how many other western states are becoming radically inclined in their state legislatures. I have heard things about Texas several times. I hope this bill is vetoed again, as the Governor did with last year's similar legislation. Even Florida is not this bad, though there is still a trend toward ultraconservative views here. I'll watch the news for followup on this bill.




Ice-covered Great Lakes seen from space – CBS
By Megan Gannon Livescience.com February 21, 2014

A deep freeze has settled in over the Great Lakes this winter and a new image released by NASA shows the astonishing extent of the ice cover as seen from space.

NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of the lakes on the early afternoon of Feb. 19, 2014. At the time, 80.3 percent of the five lakes were covered in ice, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Earlier this month, ice cover over the Great Lakes hit 88 percent for the first time since 1994. Typically at its peak, the average ice cover is just over 50 percent, and it only occasionally passes 80 percent, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. [Earth from Above: 101 Stunning Images from Orbit]

Cold temperatures that have persisted in the region are largely responsible for this year's thick layer of ice, but cryospheric scientist Nathan Kurtz, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, told the Earth Observatory that "secondary factors like clouds, snow and wind also play a role." And some lakes are more frozen than others. While the ice cover over Lake Erie, Lake Superior and Lake Huron is approaching 100 percent, Lake Ontario is only around 20 percent frozen and Lake Michigan is about 60 percent covered, according to the latest update from GLERL.

NASA researchers also put together a false-color image combining shortwave infrared, near infrared and red wavelengths to pick out ice from other elements that look white in visible-wavelength images like snow, water and clouds. In this image, ice appears pale blue, and the thicker it is the brighter it looks. Open water, meanwhile, is shown in navy, snow is blue-green and clouds appear either white or blue-green, according the Earth Observatory.

The ice could have environmental effects on the surrounding region.
"The biggest impact we'll see is shutting down the lake-effect snow," Guy Meadows, director of Michigan Technological University's Great Lakes Research Center, explained in a statement. This "lake-effect" snow usually gets dumped on the region when weather systems from the north and west pick up evaporating lake water. The ice cover is reducing evaporation, but that could be a good thing for the Great Lakes, which experienced record low water levels last year.

In another plus, the ice is thick enough over Lake Superior for visitors to reach the Apostle Islands' ice caves for the first time since 2009. And Meadows said the ice could also protect the spawning beds of whitefish and some other fish species from winter storms.





This is probably just a chance variation from the seasonal average of 50% ice covered water, and not an early sign of the “Snowball Earth” which is predicted to result from our current higher temperatures, which cause the melting of ice near the polar region. That melting is feared to cause the ocean water there to become less salty, and thus fail to sink to the bottom of the ocean and continue the “Conveyor Belt” flow of the Gulf Stream. If that were to happen, the Gulf Stream would stop warming North America and Northern Europe, and could cause conditions like an ice age, which could last a disastrously long time and be difficult or impossible to reverse. Right now, since the ice on the Great Lakes was at 80% in 1994, I think and hope that this is just one year's fluctuation and nothing else. Still, it is dramatic.




It's a girl! Royal baby born in New York City – CBS
CBS News February 21, 2014

NEW YORK - Sweden's Princess Madeleine and her husband, American banker Christopher O'Neill, have welcomed their first child, a daughter. The  baby girl was born Thursday night at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center. O'Neill was present for the delivery, the Swedish royal court said.

"The Office of the Marshal of the Realm is delighted to announce that H.R.H Princess Madeleine gave birth to a daughter on February 20, 2014, at 10.41 p.m. local time New York," Chancellor of the Realm Svante Lindquvist said in a statement.

Both the 31-year-old princess and her newborn daughter, whose name was not disclosed, are in good health, the court said.  

"Everything went well. The mother and child are doing well," royal court spokeswoman Annika Sönnerberg told Sweden's TT news agency.

On Facebook, the new parents posted a photo of the baby's tiny footprint on O'Neill's inner arm.

"I'm overwhelmed!" Madeleine wrote in the posting. The proud papa showed reporters the footprint at a news conference Friday.

 Fourth in line to the Swedish throne, Madeleine is the youngest child of King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia. She holds the titles of duchess of Halsingland and Gastrikland.


A 21-gun salute was fired in Stockholm, as well as other locations across Sweden, to mark the baby's birth.

"Today is a day of great happiness and thankfulness. We are filled with great joy. We now hope that Princess Madeleine and Christopher will be able to enjoy this unique time with their young daughter in peace and quiet," the king and queen said in a statement.

The baby is the second grandchild for the king and queen. Crown Princess Victoria and her husband, Prince Daniel, have a daughter, Princess Estelle, who turns 2 on Sunday.
O'Neill decided to keep his U.S. citizenship and declined to accept a Swedish title on his marriage. It wasn't immediately clear whether his new daughter would be given a title or be included in the royal succession.

The child would be barred from the succession if she is not raised in Sweden or if she is brought up as a Catholic, O'Neill's religion.

It's been a busy winter for royal births. In January, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II became a great-grandmother for the third time when her granddaughter Zara Phillips gave birth to Mia Grace Tindall.

Mia is the first child for Phillips, 32, and her rugby star  husband Mike Tindall -- and the perfect age to play with her second cousin Prince George, son of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton. 

Charlotte Casiraghi, the 27-year-old daughter of Monaco's Princess Caroline and granddaughter of the late movie icon Grace Kelley, and her 42-year-old boyfriend, French actor and comedian Gad Elmaleh, welcomed son Raphael in December.




I can't remember how old I was when Grace Kelley married into the royal family of Monaco, but I was young. I remember everybody being excited about it. There are several cases mentioned in this article of commoners marrying royals, which is interesting. I think they are more liberal than they used to be in general, and also possibly they are trying to include some “new blood” into their family lines. That's a good idea for medical reasons. It was interesting to me that two of those princess mothers were 30 years old. They didn't rush into marriage. That's good – maybe they have found their ideal mates and will live happily ever after!





Scientists create superhuman muscles using fishing line, sewing thread – CBS
By Ryan Jaslow CBS News February 20, 2014

Scientists say they have created muscle fibers that are 100 times more powerful than human muscles, using only ordinary fishing line and sewing thread.

They hope the muscles can help people who wear prosthetic limbs, robotic exoskeletons and other medical devices, in addition to some futuristic robotic innovations for everyday life.

"The application opportunities for these polymer muscles are vast," scientist Dr. Ray Baughman, the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in chemistry at the University of Texas at Dallas director of the NanoTech Institute, said in a statement.

Researchers twisted and coiled high-strength polymer fishing line and sewing thread to create the muscles. The project had input from an international team of scientists from universities in Australia, South Korea, Canada, Turkey and China.

The artificial muscles are powered by temperature changes, which scientists can manipulate electrically. The study’s authors add that environmental temperature changes may self-power them as well, furthering their potential uses.

Whereas natural muscle contracts 20 percent, the artificial muscles contract by about 50 percent in length.

In tests, the scientists twisted together the bundle of fishing lines that were about 10 times larger than a human hair. The muscle they produced was able to lift 16 pounds. But if scientists were to put 100 together -- similar to how natural muscles are configured -- the artificial versions would be able to lift almost a ton, said Baughman.

That means the muscles could be used for any application that requires superhuman strength, he added. Studies have looked at wearable exoskeletons for patients who are paralyzed from the waist down. These battery-powered devices allow paralyzed individuals to stand up and walk using crutches by having the user shift body weight, which triggers motors and hydraulic systems. But those devices are limited by size and weight and have limited dexterity and capabilities.

The same goes for today’s most advanced humanoid robots and bionic limbs, Baughman pointed out.

But the applications could be smaller in scale too. A polymer muscle smaller than a human hair could give humanoid robots more life-like facial expressions, or aid in robotic microsurgery procedures. They might also power miniature "laboratories on a chip," and devices that communicate the sense of touch from sensors on a remote robotic hand to a human hand.

Other possibilities include clothing that adjusts its fit when the temperature changes, or windows that open and close depending on what the weather is like.
The research was published Feb. 20 in Science.
 



Athletes using artificial limbs are already amazing to watch. Thirty years ago such people were often unable to work or take care of their own needs at home. This new muscle material is a profound advancement, and will give spectacular powers to those who use it. This is a brave new world indeed!