New vehicles, female riders and a new game mode round out a very nice update
Vector Unit has sent the big update for Riptide GP2 that players have been waiting for, bringing a new multi-player game mode, a new high-end hydro-jet, female riders and some touch interface changes. They've been teasing the new features on their Google+ page, and the sizable fan base (including yours truly) has been looking forward to the changes.
The new Scorpion looks pretty awesome, the long-time-coming female character avatar looks like you would expect any female player in an action game to look (for better or worse) and the interface changes — including a new method for manual acceleration — are welcome. But the big news is the new VR Challenge game mode, where you can challenge your friends on 14 different tracks to see who gets the best time.
I've long been a fan of the Riptide GP series, and this update looks like a real winner so far. Grab it from the Google Play link above.
We could debate all day about whether the original Surface Pro was supposed to be more of a tablet, or a laptop with a detachable keyboard. Either way, we think we can agree on this: The original wasn't perfect in either role, not with its short battery life, heavy build and kickstand that wasn't ...
Does this girl ever have a day where she looks less than perfect??
Beyoncé brought her beauty with her once again as she geared up for some bungee jumping at the Auckland Sky Tower in New Zealand.
But it looked like a wild ride as Queen Bey made her way down! In fact, if we had to guess, it looks like she's screaming ____________________ at the top of her lungs!
A woman gestures as residents gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. Police officials said the Friday night blast took place in the capital's eastern Mashtal neighborhood. Violence in Iraq has escalated sharply since April, 2013 following a deadly crackdown by security forces on a camp for Sunni protesters in the northern town of Hawija. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A woman gestures as residents gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. Police officials said the Friday night blast took place in the capital's eastern Mashtal neighborhood. Violence in Iraq has escalated sharply since April, 2013 following a deadly crackdown by security forces on a camp for Sunni protesters in the northern town of Hawija. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A woman inspects the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. Police officials said the Friday night blast took place in the capital's eastern Mashtal neighborhood. Violence in Iraq has escalated sharply since April, 2013 following a deadly crackdown by security forces on a camp for Sunni protesters in the northern town of Hawija. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber slammed his explosive-laden car Sunday night into a busy cafe in Iraq's capital, part of a day of violence across the country that killed 45 people, authorities said.
The bombing at the cafe in Baghdad's primarily Shiite Amil neighborhood happened as it was full of customers. The cafe and a nearby juice shop is a favorite hang out in the neighborhood for young people, who filled the area at the time of the explosions.
The blast killed 35 people and wounded 45, Iraqi officials said.
Violence has been on the rise in Iraq following a deadly crackdown by security forces on a Sunni protest camp in the northern town of Hawijah in April. At least 385 have died in attacks in Iraq so far this month, according to an Associated Press count.
In a village north of Baghdad, a car bomb targeted a police officer's house, killing his father, brother and five nephews, officials said. Six others were wounded in the blast, which happened when the officer was not at home.
Security forces meanwhile foiled an attack on the local council of the western town of Rawah by five would-be suicide bombers disguised in police uniforms, said Muthana Ismail, head of the local security committee.
Ismail said two attackers were shot while the rest blew up themselves up outside. Two police officers and an official were killed, while 20 people were wounded, he said.
Rawha is about 330 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attacks, though car bombings and gun assaults are favorite tactics of al-Qaida's local branch. It frequently targets Shiites, whom it considers heretics, and those seen as closely allied to the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures for all attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.
___
Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.
Brain scans show unusual activity in retired American football players
Public release date: 17-Oct-2013 [
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Contact: Sam Wong sam.wong@imperial.ac.uk 44-207-594-2198 Imperial College London
A new study has discovered profound abnormalities in brain activity in a group of retired American football players.
Although the former players in the study were not diagnosed with any neurological condition, brain imaging tests revealed unusual activity that correlated with how many times they had left the field with a head injury during their careers.
Previous research has found that former American football players experience higher rates of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The new findings, published in Scientific Reports, suggest that players also face a risk of subtle neurological deficits that don't show up on normal clinical tests.
The study involved 13 former National Football League (NFL) professionals who believed they were suffering from neurological problems affecting their everyday lives as a consequence of their careers.
The former players and 60 healthy volunteers were given a test that involved rearranging coloured balls in a series of tubes in as few steps as possible. Their brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they did the test.
The NFL group performed worse on the test than the healthy volunteers, but the difference was modest. More strikingly, the scans showed unusual patterns of brain activity in the frontal lobe. The difference between the two groups was so marked that a computer programme learned to distinguish NFL alumni and controls at close to 90 per cent accuracy based just on their frontal lobe activation patterns.
"The NFL alumni showed some of the most pronounced abnormalities in brain activity that I have ever seen, and I have processed a lot of patient data sets in the past," said Dr Adam Hampshire, lead author of the study, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London.
The frontal lobe is responsible for executive functions: higher-order brain activity that regulates other cognitive processes. The researchers think the differences seen in this study reflect deficits in executive function that might affect the person's ability to plan and organise their everyday lives.
"The critical fact is that the level of brain abnormality correlates strongly with the measure of head impacts of great enough severity to warrant being taken out of play. This means that it is highly likely that damage caused by blows to the head accumulate towards an executive impairment in later life."
Dr Hampshire and his colleagues at the University of Western Ontario, Canada suggest that fMRI could be used to reveal potential neurological problems in American football players that aren't picked up by standard clinical tests. Brain imaging results could be useful to retired players who are negotiating compensation for neurological problems that may be related to their careers. Players could also be scanned each season to detect problems early.
The findings also highlight the inadequacy of standard cognitive tests for detecting certain types of behavioural deficit.
"Researchers have put a lot of time into developing tests to pick up on executive dysfunction, but none of them work at all well. It's not unusual for an individual who has had a blow to the head to perform relatively well on a neuropsychological testing battery, and then go on to struggle in everyday life.
"The results tell us something very interesting about the human brain, which is that after damage, it can work harder and bring extra areas on line in order to cope with cognitive tasks. It is likely that in more complicated real world scenarios, this plasticity is insufficient and consequently, the executive impairment is no longer masked. In this respect, the results are also of relevance to other patients who suffer from multiple head injuries.
"Of course, this is a relatively preliminary study. We really need to test more players and to track players across seasons using brain imaging."
###
The participants were enrolled by David Hubbard MD at the Applied fMRI Institute in San Diego, California. The study was funded by the Hubbard Foundation and the Canada Excellence Research Chair Program.
For more information please contact:
Sam Wong
Research Media Officer
Imperial College London
Email: sam.wong@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)20 7594 2198
Out of hours duty press officer: +44(0)7803 886 248
Notes to editors
1. A. Hampshire et al. 'Hypoconnectivity and Hyperfrontality in Retired American Football Players' Scientific Reports, 17 October 2013. DOI: 10.1038/srep02972
2. About Imperial College London
Consistently rated amongst the world's best universities, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 14,000 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.
Since its foundation in 1907, Imperial's contributions to society have included the discovery of penicillin, the development of holography and the foundations of fibre optics. This commitment to the application of research for the benefit of all continues today, with current focuses including interdisciplinary collaborations to improve global health, tackle climate change, develop sustainable sources of energy and address security challenges.
In 2007, Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust formed the UK's first Academic Health Science Centre. This unique partnership aims to improve the quality of life of patients and populations by taking new discoveries and translating them into new therapies as quickly as possible.
Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk
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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.
Brain scans show unusual activity in retired American football players
Public release date: 17-Oct-2013 [
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Sam Wong sam.wong@imperial.ac.uk 44-207-594-2198 Imperial College London
A new study has discovered profound abnormalities in brain activity in a group of retired American football players.
Although the former players in the study were not diagnosed with any neurological condition, brain imaging tests revealed unusual activity that correlated with how many times they had left the field with a head injury during their careers.
Previous research has found that former American football players experience higher rates of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The new findings, published in Scientific Reports, suggest that players also face a risk of subtle neurological deficits that don't show up on normal clinical tests.
The study involved 13 former National Football League (NFL) professionals who believed they were suffering from neurological problems affecting their everyday lives as a consequence of their careers.
The former players and 60 healthy volunteers were given a test that involved rearranging coloured balls in a series of tubes in as few steps as possible. Their brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they did the test.
The NFL group performed worse on the test than the healthy volunteers, but the difference was modest. More strikingly, the scans showed unusual patterns of brain activity in the frontal lobe. The difference between the two groups was so marked that a computer programme learned to distinguish NFL alumni and controls at close to 90 per cent accuracy based just on their frontal lobe activation patterns.
"The NFL alumni showed some of the most pronounced abnormalities in brain activity that I have ever seen, and I have processed a lot of patient data sets in the past," said Dr Adam Hampshire, lead author of the study, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London.
The frontal lobe is responsible for executive functions: higher-order brain activity that regulates other cognitive processes. The researchers think the differences seen in this study reflect deficits in executive function that might affect the person's ability to plan and organise their everyday lives.
"The critical fact is that the level of brain abnormality correlates strongly with the measure of head impacts of great enough severity to warrant being taken out of play. This means that it is highly likely that damage caused by blows to the head accumulate towards an executive impairment in later life."
Dr Hampshire and his colleagues at the University of Western Ontario, Canada suggest that fMRI could be used to reveal potential neurological problems in American football players that aren't picked up by standard clinical tests. Brain imaging results could be useful to retired players who are negotiating compensation for neurological problems that may be related to their careers. Players could also be scanned each season to detect problems early.
The findings also highlight the inadequacy of standard cognitive tests for detecting certain types of behavioural deficit.
"Researchers have put a lot of time into developing tests to pick up on executive dysfunction, but none of them work at all well. It's not unusual for an individual who has had a blow to the head to perform relatively well on a neuropsychological testing battery, and then go on to struggle in everyday life.
"The results tell us something very interesting about the human brain, which is that after damage, it can work harder and bring extra areas on line in order to cope with cognitive tasks. It is likely that in more complicated real world scenarios, this plasticity is insufficient and consequently, the executive impairment is no longer masked. In this respect, the results are also of relevance to other patients who suffer from multiple head injuries.
"Of course, this is a relatively preliminary study. We really need to test more players and to track players across seasons using brain imaging."
###
The participants were enrolled by David Hubbard MD at the Applied fMRI Institute in San Diego, California. The study was funded by the Hubbard Foundation and the Canada Excellence Research Chair Program.
For more information please contact:
Sam Wong
Research Media Officer
Imperial College London
Email: sam.wong@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)20 7594 2198
Out of hours duty press officer: +44(0)7803 886 248
Notes to editors
1. A. Hampshire et al. 'Hypoconnectivity and Hyperfrontality in Retired American Football Players' Scientific Reports, 17 October 2013. DOI: 10.1038/srep02972
2. About Imperial College London
Consistently rated amongst the world's best universities, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 14,000 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.
Since its foundation in 1907, Imperial's contributions to society have included the discovery of penicillin, the development of holography and the foundations of fibre optics. This commitment to the application of research for the benefit of all continues today, with current focuses including interdisciplinary collaborations to improve global health, tackle climate change, develop sustainable sources of energy and address security challenges.
In 2007, Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust formed the UK's first Academic Health Science Centre. This unique partnership aims to improve the quality of life of patients and populations by taking new discoveries and translating them into new therapies as quickly as possible.
Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk
[
| E-mail
| Share
]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
We could debate all day about whether the original Surface Pro was supposed to be more of a tablet, or a laptop with a detachable keyboard. Either way, we think we can agree on this: The original wasn't perfect in either role, not with its short battery life, heavy build and kickstand that wasn't ...
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