Deadly, or Just Misused? Feds Sue Nap Nanny

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is taking action against the makers of a portable baby recliner called the Nap Nanny after five infant deaths linked to the product.

The commission filed a complaint Wednesday to force the manufacturer, Baby Matters LLC, to pull its product off store shelves and offer full refunds to their customers. In addition to the five deaths, the commission says there have been 70 complaints about children falling out of the Nap Nanny.

The commission says normally it can work things out with manufacturers to voluntarily recall a dangerous product, but for five months the makers of Nap Nanny have defiantly refused to pull its product or offer refunds.

"We believe it is a hazardous product and we are concerned about the safety of the children that are in there," Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesman Alex Flip told ABC News.

Baby Matters LLC describes the Nap Nanny as an infant recliner designed to increase the baby's comfort.

"We had to take action because of the number of incidences, and that is why we have filed this complaint against the company. They would not agree to a voluntary recall," Flip said.

The Nap Nanny was invented by a Philadelphia sportscaster and mother Leslie Gudel. She came up with the idea after learning her daughter would only fall asleep in the car seat.

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In a statement posted on Nap Nanny's website, Gudel said she is heartbroken for the families who have lost a child, but says the victims' parents misused her product by either not strapping the baby in or placing the device on a table or in a crib.

Some of the cases involved recliners that were placed in a crib, which the company has urged parents not to do.

"We do not believe the complaint has merit and stand behind the safety of our product when used as instructed," Gudel wrote in the statement. "The Nap Nanny should be placed on the floor with the harness secured."

Gudel says that the ongoing battle with the CPSC has cost her company so much money that it was forced to close last month.

"Another small business is gone. Twenty-two Americans are out of work between Nap Nanny and our supplier. This doesn't take into account the financial impact our closure has had on our other U.S. suppliers," Gudel wrote.

The first infant death was reported in 2010, which caused Nap Nanny to recall the product that same year and raise the sides of the recliner. The manufacturer also posted warnings and made an instructional video for parents.

According to the complaint, in April 2010, a six-month old died when she suffocated while using the Generation Two Nap Nanny. The infant was not secured in the harness and the medical examiner ruled the cause of death was positional asphyxia.

In July 2010, a four-month old died when she suffocated between a Generation Two Nap Nanny and the bumper in her crib. This time, the infant was secured in the harness but it failed to adequately restrain her in the recliner.

Still, the maker of the Nap Nanny stands by their product and says they have gone to "great lengths to make the safest product possible."

"No infant using the Nap Nanny properly has ever suffered an injury requiring medical attention," Gudel said in the statement.

Some 5,000 Nap Nanny Generation One and 50,000 Generation Two models were sold between 2009 and early 2012. About 100,000 Chill models have been sold since January 2011, reports The Associated Press.

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The butterfly effect – in giant balloons

Kat Austen, CultureLab editor

On Space Time Foam (Image: courtesy of Fondazione HangarBicocca; photography by Alessandro Coco)

See more in our gallery: "The universal art of networking"

"I HAVE always been fascinated by the butterfly effect," says Tomás Saraceno. "A butterfly's movement here will make a storm somewhere else."

An artist and architect trained in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saraceno sees the world as a vast interconnected network, a notion that pervades his work. His 2010 installation, 14 Billion, for example, is a collection of beautifully interlinked hand-knotted strands, designed so that disruption to any one thread affects the whole piece. It was the fruit of a collaboration with scientists he met during a residency at NASA's Ames Research Center in California.

In an earlier work, Saraceno took inspiration from the three- dimensional structure of webs spun by spiders such as the black widow. He teamed up with researchers to develop models of such webs, then used these models to create 14 Billion, which represents galaxy formation at the start of the universe.

Saraceno's latest work, On Space Time Foam (pictured), now on display at HangarBicocca in Milan, Italy, uses malleable surfaces to explore interconnections between individuals. Constructed of huge transparent balloons that overlap on different levels in the cavernous former factory, the piece allows the audience to experience the invisible links that bind us together by collectively walking, lying or scrambling on the sculpture. "It is a big ecosystem... it makes people aware of their coexistence," he says.

Saraceno not only takes inspiration from science, but also inspires his collaborators to ask new questions. After his NASA residency, he and colleagues submitted a joint proposal to do experiments with spiders on the International Space Station. The proposal was ultimately unsuccessful, but there are likely to be new science-inspired projects on the horizon: Saraceno has just finished a residency at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

On Space Time Foam by Tomás Saraceno, HangarBicocca, Milan, Italy, until 3 February 2013

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Singapore calls for emissions reductions to achieve climate change deal

DOHA: Singapore has called on countries to show their commitment by pledging emissions reductions in order to achieve a global deal on climate change.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said the new agreement must be applicable to all.

"Climate change is a global challenge that requires a global solution. All parties have to play their part by making a contribution," he said.

Mr Teo was delivering Singapore's national statement at the High-Level Segment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday.

"In this regard, developed countries have to show leadership in emissions reductions. Developing countries, too, can and must make a contribution to the process," he said.

Mr Teo said for the new agreement to be applicable to all, it has to be acceptable to all. It has to take into account the unique national circumstances and constraints of parties.

He said this will allow each party to decide how best it can contribute, based on the context and constraints of each country, and provide a greater impetus for universal participation.

"The global agreement is only a means to an end. Ultimately, we need to encourage and incentivize all parties to adopt the right policies early to make the transition to a low emissions development pathway. It is therefore important to provide support to build capacity in developing countries," he said.

Mr Teo said Singapore is committed to play its part in the global fight against climate change.

He said Singapore has made an unconditional pledge to reduce its emissions by 7-11 per cent below business as usual (BAU) by 2020. It has also committed to a 16 per cent below BAU pledge, if there is a legally binding global agreement.

Mr Teo added: "Our vision for Singapore is a climate-resilient global city that is well-positioned for green growth. While climate change poses a challenge, it also offers tremendous opportunities for new economic growth. The global demand for low-carbon solutions will catalyse demand for new skills and technology.

"Singapore has placed priority on developing areas such as clean energy and energy efficiency, green buildings, public transport, smart grids, carbon management, as well as waste and water management.

"As Singapore is a city state with limited access to renewable energy, energy efficiency is core to our efforts to reduce emissions in all sectors. To support this, a new Energy Conservation Act will come into effect in April 2013."

Mr Teo said the global challenge of climate change requires a global response, with the participation of all countries and contributions by all.

"The multilateral rules-based system under the UNFCCC is fundamental to solving the global climate challenge. We need to protect and strengthen the UNFCCC and take it one step further towards a truly global agreement, so that it remains an important platform for global action against climate change," he said.

- CNA/de

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What's up with the Meze 88 Classics headphones?

Meze 88 Classics headphones.

(Credit:
Meze)

Lucky me -- I get to play with lots of headphones, but I sometimes wonder if they're all made in the same factory, and their mostly plastic construction, similar features, and designs feel interchangeable. So when CNET's David Carnoy put the Meze 88 Classics in my hands I was intrigued. The beautifully finished, hand-carved ebony wood ear cups gave a high-end sheen to the design, and a quick audition proved the 88 Classics' beauty was more than skin deep.

Build quality is a step up from what you get with Beats by Dr. Dre 'phones, and I liked that the 88 Classics don't make creaky or squeaky plastic noises when I put it on my head. The headband "wings" keep the metal headband off my head, so comfort was above par. These closed-back headphones' large, flat ear pads block a decent amount of external noise, and the 50mm drivers are bigger than what you get with most competing models. A user-replaceable cable plugs into the left ear cup with a standard 3.5mm jack. Meze sells the Classic 88 direct on its Web site for $299. My review samples' gloss finish was snazzy, but if you crave a more sedate look, satin-finished 88s are available.
The sound was crisp and exceptionally clear; bass oomph and definition are definitely up there with the very best headphones in the 88 Classics' price range.

They sell for the same price as the new V-Moda M-100s, so I spent a half hour swapping between the two headphones while listening to Apple Lossless tunes on my
iPod Classic. The 88s were more transparent and you-are-there present; the M-100s more laid back and mellow. The headphones' bass followed the same course, the 88s' bass was potent, unusually nimble and defined, the M-100's low-end was looser and more fleshed out. One downside: I didn't like that the 88s soundstage was less spacious than the M-100s'. The 88s are more neutral and transparent, which makes them more of an audiophile choice, but I'm sure some buyers will prefer the M-100s' richer sound balance. Which is better? That's a matter of taste -- I'd buy the Meze 88 Classics.

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Scientific Results From Challenger Deep

Jane J. Lee

The spotlight is shining once again on the deepest ecosystems in the ocean—Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench (map) and the New Britain Trench near Papua New Guinea. At a presentation today at the American Geophysical Union's conference in San Francisco, attendees got a glimpse into these mysterious ecosystems nearly 7 miles (11 kilometers) down, the former visited by filmmaker James Cameron during a historic dive earlier this year.

Microbiologist Douglas Bartlett with the University of California, San Diego described crustaceans called amphipods—oceanic cousins to pill bugs—that were collected from the New Britain Trench and grow to enormous sizes five miles (eight kilometers) down. Normally less than an inch (one to two centimeters) long in other deep-sea areas, the amphipods collected on the expedition measured 7 inches (17 centimeters). (Related: "Deep-Sea, Shrimp-like Creatures Survive by Eating Wood.")

Bartlett also noted that sea cucumbers, some of which may be new species, dominated many of the areas the team sampled in the New Britain Trench. The expedition visited this area before the dive to Challenger Deep.

Marine geologist Patricia Fryer with the University of Hawaii described some of the deepest seeps yet discovered. These seeps, where water heated by chemical reactions in the rocks percolates up through the seafloor and into the ocean, could offer hints of how life originated on Earth.

And astrobiologist Kevin Hand with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, spoke about how life in these stygian ecosystems, powered by chemical reactions, could parallel the evolution of life on other planets.

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Fiscal Cliff: Can Savings Be Found Without Sacrifice?

How does one come up with $4 trillion in revenue and spending cuts?

That's the question members of Congress, the Obama administration and fiscal experts around the country are grappling with as "fiscal cliff" talks continue to stall.

The fiscal cliff is a combination of the soon-to-expire Bush tax cuts coupled with a series of deep budgetary cuts to defense and domestic programs- the ultimate goal of which is to help stabilize the deficit going forward. While there is no exact amount of savings and revenue that would stabilize the country's debt- the number varies somewhat depending on who you ask- the generally agreed upon range is around $4 trillion.

Republicans and Democrats are drawing lines in the ideological sand. Democrats want to let the Bush tax cuts expire for the highest income earners, effectively raising tax rates on the top 2 percent of earners, which Republicans oppose. Republicans want to look at entitlement reforms- Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, which Democrats oppose. The seemingly staunch stands beg the question--is there any way to reach a deal that would start to generate close to $4 trillion that does not involve raising taxes or reforming entitlement programs?

It's fiscally possible, but it's inconvenient and unlikely.

There are a series of trims that the government could make to the budget that would save a few billion here and there. Ideas that have been suggested include doubling the airline fee for a non-stop flight from $2.50 to $5, reforming our immigration detention programs, and prison reform.

But those ideas don't generate a great deal of savings in and of themselves. The airline fee increasing for example, it's estimated that raising the non-stop flight fee to $5 would only generate an additional $1 billion a year--$10 billion over the course of 10 years.

Prison reform is another avenue of savings. A study from the Vera Institute of Justice released in January, 2012 showed that in the fiscal year of 2010 the total cost for taxpayers of the nation's federal prisons was $39 billion--which was a little more than $5 billion more than the states' combined corrections budgets that year. The cost of an inmate per taxpayer on average was $31,286.

Reforming the system could trim that cost, but it's a complicated endeavor that lacks a single, or even simple handful of solutions, and at the end of the day wouldn't generate the hundreds of billions of dollars in savings needed to begin approaching the trillions in savings and revenue the government is looking for.

Those big savings, experts point out, are found in entitlements and taxes.

"The high-end Bush tax cuts generate a trillion dollars over 10 years. That's a quarter of the task of stabilizing the debt...That's achievable," said Chuck Marre, director of Federal Tax Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "If they just pass the tax cuts for 98 percent of the people only, by default that (revenue) happens and that's significant. Then you need to figure out where does the rest of the money come from?"

And a significant area where that money comes from, experts suggest, is entitlement spending.

"I'm sure there are some small programs that could be eliminated or curtailed but it would be a drop in the ocean of spending represented by entitlements," said Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, are categorized as mandatory spending in the government's fiscal budget. In the 2010 fiscal year 55 percent of the budget went to mandatory spending. Within that 55 percent, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid made up a total of 71 percent combined, according to figures from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

It's these avenues that will likely be the quickest and least complicated means of generating the savings necessary to stabilize the debt. Of course, the irony is, these avenues are also the most politically sacred, making a simple and painless fix to the problem effectively impossible.

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Battling nature in your backyard

Phil McKenna, contributor

(Image: Shattil & Rozinski/Naturepl.com)

Your yard is the new frontier as wildlife returns to the suburbs. In Nature Wars, Jim Sterba calls for a shift from conservation to culling to win back territory

BEARS are at the bird feeder and gangs of turkeys terrorise the suburbs. In Nature Wars, author Jim Sterba takes readers on a fascinating journey to the front lines of the human versus wildlife conflicts erupting in backyards across the US.

What makes Nature Wars a must read, however, is that it brings to light one of the greatest environmental success stories ever told. We are bombarded with dire environmental reports - the disappearing Amazon or dwindling tiger populations - creating what Sterba calls a "mental narrative of loss". Yet from the vantage of a cottage on the edge of New York City, he finds the opposite problem. On a wooded lot that was once a family farm, he encounters a menagerie of turkeys, Canada geese and herds of deer so thick he can hardly step outside. If anything, Sterba argues, we are suffering from too much of a good thing.

A reporter for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, Sterba digs into dramatic yet largely overlooked changes in the landscape of the US over the last several hundred years.

Prior to the arrival of European settlers, Sterba tells us, the largest tree-covered landscape in what is now the US was the Great Eastern Forest, an area stretching from Maine to Alabama that made up an estimated 75 per cent of the nation's tree cover.

Settlers cleared the woods for farming and fuel until the prospect of running out of trees threatened national stability. Marginal land once cleared for farming was abandoned, oil and coal were discovered as replacements for firewood, and a slow, almost imperceptible regeneration of woodlands began. Today, trees cover two-thirds of the original Great Eastern Forest.

Mirroring the decline and regrowth of the nation's forests was a mass extermination and subsequent rebound of wildlife. By 1890 white-tailed deer were reduced to an estimated 350,000 individuals, just 1 per cent of the population thought to exist before the arrival of Europeans. Today, thanks to forest regeneration and intensive conservation efforts, deer in the US number around 30 million. Turkey and black bear populations have followed a similar arc.

Burgeoning wildlife populations are an extraordinary environmental success but the spread of suburbanites across the landscape means animals now have to contend with new denizens. By 2000 the majority of people in the US lived not in cities or on farms but in the vast area in between.

So how does the convergence of so many wild creatures and humans play out? Sterba offers as an example the community of Princeton Township in New Jersey, home to Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. The woods surrounding both institutions were so overrun with deer that vehicle collisions and Lyme disease posed serious risks to human health.

When the township employed a team of sharpshooters to cull the deer population, candlelight vigils ensued. The local animal control officer started wearing a bulletproof vest after his cat was crushed to death and his dog was poisoned. Deer guts were splattered on the mayor's car, but the cull continued.

The idea of wildlife overabundance may be difficult to accept. But accept it we must, says Sterba. Environmentalists must shift from a mindset of preservation to one of wise use. This includes selective logging, culling and even embracing a long-standing taboo - fur clothing. After a century of conservation, wise use will be a tough sell, but Nature Wars makes me want to pick up a gun and learn how to hunt.

Book information
Nature Wars: The incredible story of how wildlife comebacks turned backyards into battlegrounds by Jim Sterba
Crown
£17.99/$26

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Foo Mee Har leaves Standard Chartered senior banker post

SINGAPORE: Member of Parliament for West Coast GRC Foo Mee Har has resigned as Standard Chartered Bank's Global Head for Priority Banking and International Banking to pursue other interests.

In a Facebook posting on Tuesday, Ms Foo added that she was pleased to take on a non-executive role in the Bank and to continue contributing in such a capacity in Asia.

She added: "I am excited about this new direction in my life. Amongst other things, I am looking forward to spending time on a number of initiatives in the pipeline for the Ayer Rajah constituency." - TODAY

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HP printer can act as Wi-Fi hotspot

HP Hotspot LaserJet Pro M1218nfs MFP

(Credit:
Hewlett-Packard)

Hewlett-Packard has launched a new printer that can serve as a hotspot, though it's available only in India for now.

The HP Hotspot LaserJet Pro M1218nfs MFP lets up to eight people hop on to wirelessly connect their mobile devices to the Internet.

As a multifunction printer, the device comes with the usual print, copy, and scan features. It also offers several options for printing wirelessly, including Apple AirPrint, HP ePrint, and HP wireless direct. HP's Smart Install tries to ease the burden of installation by letting you set up the printer with the need to install any software.

The printer is geared specifically for the SOHO (small office, home office) crowd, meaning businesses with anywhere from one to nine employees.

"The HP Hotspot is a new All-in-One+1 printer that completely redefines the role a multifunction printer can play in a SOHO or small business environment," Nitin Hiranandani, Director-Printing HP India, said in a statement. "We are confident that users will deeply appreciate the ability to print, scan, copy, fax, and access Internet wirelessly, all through a single device that is incredibly easy to set up and use."

Selling in India starting today, the printer costs 18,306 rupees ($334).

HP didn't say when the printer might be available in other countries. CNET contacted the company for details and will update the story if we get any information.

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Mars Rover Detects Simple Organic Compounds

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has detected several simple carbon-based organic compounds on Mars, but it remains unclear whether they were formed via Earthly contamination or whether they contain only elements indigenous to the planet.

Speaking at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, Curiosity mission leaders also said that the compound perchlorate—identified previously in polar Mars—appeared to also be present in Gale Crater, the site of Curiosity's exploration.

The possible discovery of organics—or carbon-based compounds bonded to hydrogen, also called hydrocarbons—could have major implications for the mission's search for more complex organic material.

It would not necessarily mean that life exists now or ever existed on Mars, but it makes the possibility of Martian life—especially long ago when the planet was wetter and warmer—somewhat greater, since available carbon is considered to be so important to all known biology.

(See "Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Proof of Flowing Water—A First.")

The announcements came after several weeks of frenzied speculation about a "major discovery" by Curiosity on Mars. But project scientist John Grotzinger said that it remains too early to know whether Martian organics have been definitely discovered or if they're byproducts of contamination brought from Earth.

"When this data first came in, and then was confirmed in a second sample, we did have a hooting and hollering moment," he said.

"The enthusiasm we had was perhaps misunderstood. We're doing science at the pace of science, but news travels at a different speed."

Organics Detected Before on Mars

The organic compounds discovered—different combinations of carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine—are the same or similar to chlorinated organics detected in the mid-1970s by the Viking landers.

(Related: "Life on Mars Found by NASA's Viking Mission?")

At the time, the substances were written off as contamination brought from Earth, but now scientists know more about how the compounds could be formed on Mars. The big question remains whether the carbon found in the compounds is of Martian or Earthly origin.

Paul Mahaffy, the principal investigator of the instrument that may have found the simple organics—the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)—said that while the findings were not "definitive," they were significant and would require a great deal of further study.

Mahaffy also said the discovery came as a surprise, since the soil sample involved was hardly a prime target in the organics search. In fact, the soil was scooped primarily to clean out the rover's mobile laboratory and soil-delivery systems.

Called Rocknest, the site is a collection of rocks with rippled sand around them—an environment not considered particularly promising for discovery. The Curiosity team has always thought it had a much better chance of finding the organics in clays and sulfate minerals known to be present at the base of Mount Sharp, located in the Gale Crater, where the rover will head early next year.

(See the Mars rover Curiosity's first color pictures.)

The rover has been at Rocknest for a month and has scooped sand and soil five times. It was the first site where virtually all the instruments on Curiosity were used, Grotzinger said, and all of them proved to be working well.

They also worked well in unison—with one instrument giving the surprising signal that the minerals in the soil were not all crystalline, which led to the intensive examination of the non-crystalline portion to see if it contained any organics.

Rover Team "Very Confident"

The simple organics detected by SAM were in the chloromethane family, which contains compounds that are sometimes used to clean electronic equipment. Because it was plausible that Viking could have brought the compounds to Mars as contamination, that conclusion was broadly accepted.

But in 2010, Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center and Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez of the National Autonomous University of Mexico published an influential paper describing how dichloromethane can be a byproduct of the heating of other organic material in the presence of the compound perchlorate.

They conducted the experiment because NASA's Phoenix mission had discovered large amounts of perchlorate in the northern polar soil of Mars, and it seems plausible that it would exist elsewhere on the planet.

"In terms of the SAM results, there are two important conclusions," said McKay, a scientist on the SAM team.

"The first is confirming the perchlorate story—that it's most likely there and seems to react at high temperatures with organic material to form the dichloromethane and other simple organics."

"The second is that we'll have to either find organics without perchlorates nearby, or find a way to get around that perchlorate wall that keeps us from identifying organics," he said.

Another SAM researcher, Danny Glavin of Goddard, said his team is "very confident" about the reported detection of the hydrocarbons, and that they were produced in the rover's ovens. He said it is clear that the chlorine in the compounds is from Mars, but less clear about the carbon.

"We will figure out what's going on here," he said. "We have the instruments and we have the people. And whatever the final conclusions, we will have learned important things about Mars that we can use in the months ahead."

Author of the National Geographic e-book Mars Landing 2012, Marc Kaufman has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including the past 12 as a science and space writer, foreign correspondent, and editor for the Washington Post. He is also author of First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth, published in 2011, and has spoken extensively to crowds across the United States and abroad about astrobiology. He lives outside Washington, D.C., with his wife, Lynn Litterine.

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