8A

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

LW

TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2013

NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT FIVE-DAY FORECAST

TODAY TONIGHT
Mostly sunny and turning milder. Highs in the low to mid-40s. Winds southwest at 5 to 10 mph. 24 hr prec: 0.0 inches. Partly cloudy and rather cold. Lows in the low to mid-20s. Winds light and westerly.

WEDNESDAY
HIGH: 45 LOW : 29 PREC: 0.0

THURSDAY
HIGH: 43 LOW : 31 PREC: 0.0

FRIDAY
HIGH: 45 LOW : 34 PREC: 0.35

SATURDAY
HIGH: 50 LOW : 37 PREC: 0.0

Albany
38/23

Northeast Weather Summary

High pressure moving off the mid-Atlantic coastline will bring mostly sunny skies and milder temperatures to the southern two-thirds of the region as highs reach through the 30s and 40s. Northern areas will have partly sunny skies with highs in the 20s and lower 30s, as a weak cold front slowly slips southward through southeastern Canada. Skies will be partly cloudy through the entire region during the overnight hours.

Pittsfield
39/21

Worcester
40/24

Boston
45/31
WEATHER CENTER

Great Barrington
40/22

Springfield
41/22

Provincetown
46/32

On The Record
Data recorded at Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks.

Sun And Moon

Daylight today: 9 hours and 20 minutes.
Sunrise Sunset 7:19 a.m. 4:39 p.m.
New First Qtr.

Salisbury
41/22

Temperatures
Yesterday High/Low Normal for date Records for date A year ago Range since Jan 1. 38/28 34/18 62 in 1907 / 1 in 1912 61/25 43/0 0.00 0.01 0.71 0.01 0.71 16.0 12.1 2304 2514 2027

Moonrise Moonset
Full

3:49 a.m. 1:40 p.m.

Last Qtr.

Hartford
42/24 41/23

Storrs
43/26

Torrington
43/24

Providence
45/29

Hyannis
47/32

Waterbury
JAN 11 JAN 18 JAN 26 FEB 3

Newport Groton
44/30 45/32

Precipitation in inches
Yesterday precip. to 4 p.m. Total for month to date: Normal for January to date: Total this year: Normal for the same period: Snowfall since July 1: Normal snowfall since July 1:

Danbury
Today in Weather History In 1953, a severe ice storm in the northeastern U.S. produced up to four inches of ice in Pennsylvania and two to three inches in southeastern New York.

New Haven
42/31

Marthas Vineyard Nantucket

47/36 47/37

42/25

Bridgeport New York City

46/38 43/31 Tides
New Haven City Dock Saybrook Jetty New London State Pier

High

Jan 8

Low

High

Jan 9

Low

7:31am/8:09pm 6:57am/7:21pm 5:46am/6:10pm

1:13am/2:01pm 12:22am/1:17pm am/12:32pm

8:30am/8:06pm 7:50am/8:14pm 6:39am/7:03pm

2:13am/2:59pm 1:20am/2:12pm 12:35am/1:27pm

Degree Days
Heating degree days since July 1: Normal for the same period Total same period last year

L.I. Sound: Winds southwest at 10 to 15 knots, waves around 2 feet, visibility 10 miles or more, water temperature is 39. Northeast Cities Atlantic City 53 33 Buffalo 39 33 Burlington Vt. 33 26 Concord, N.H. 41 17 Philadelphia 49 33 Pittsburgh 42 29 Portland Me. 39 26 Portsmouth 41 25 Syracuse 40 29 National Cities Albuquerque 49 22 Anchorage 25 10 Atlanta 51 45 Charlotte 55 39 Chicago 42 33 Cleveland 41 34 Dallas 52 49 Denver 53 30 Honolulu 80 70 Houston 65 63 Indianapolis 42 31 Kansas City 53 32 Las Vegas 63 42 Los Angeles 70 50 Miami 82 72 Minneapolis 34 24 Nashville 54 42 Norfolk 55 39 Orlando 80 63 Phoenix 66 41 Portland, OR 52 42 San Diego 64 45 San Francisco 56 46 San Juan, P.R. 85 70 Seattle 49 44 Washington 51 35 International Cities Baghdad 62 45 Beijing 31 12 Jerusalem 48 36 Lisbon 53 37 London 50 41 Mexico City 70 50 Moscow 19 7 Paris 43 37 Rome 55 39 Singapore 90 77 World Extremes High: 117 at Telfer, Australia. Low: -63 at Ojmjakon, Russia. s s ps s r s s sh r s s s sh c c c sn c c ps

Heating or cooling degree days are a measure of heating or cooling requirements. Degree days are calculated as the difference between the mean daily outdoor temperature and 65 degrees F. Normal is based on a 30-year average.

Across the Nation

Below 10 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100+

Comfort Factors
: 22 degrees. Wind Chill at 7 a.m.: Pollution Standard Index will be 55 today.
SCALE: 0-50, Good; 50-100, Moderate; 100-200, Unhealthful; 200-300, Very unhealthful; 300-500, Hazardous INDEX YESTERDAY was 49 with pollutants predominantly fine particles.

s s s s s s s s s s ps ps s s s sh s s t s s s s ps c

H H

Extended Forecast Discussion

Partly sunny skies are expected for Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures mainly in the 40s for highs and the 20s for lows. A weak system will cause a few scattered showers Thursday night and Friday then some sunshine will return to the area on Saturday. Highs should remain in the 40s during the end of the week and the coming weekend.

KEY: s: sunny; ps: partly sunny; c: cloudy;s sh: showers; r: rain, t: thunderstorms; f: flurries

CURE: Testing on mice to come

Continued from Page One I switched to my Ph.D. and really focused on breast cancer at that point, she said. After earning her doctorate, Balunas lived in Panama for three years as part of International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups, a program funded by the National Institutes of Health. Balunas and other students, having gone diving to collect blue-green algae from a coral reef off the countrys Pacific coast, discovered santacruzamate A in 2007, which they tested against malaria and some cancer cells. The initial results were kind of not exciting, Balunas said. It kind of sat for quite a while. Some time later, she attended a seminar where someone diagrammed suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, or SAHA, which is used to treat lymphoma. I said, Oh, ours looks kind of like that, Balunas said. Balunas and her team tested their compound again about two years ago, this time to determine whether it was the type of enzyme inhibitor that works against softer tumors such as lymphoma and leukemia. They found santacruzamate was about 1,000 times more effective than the drug currently on the market and was less likely to attack noncancerous cells, possibly decreasing side effects. The team is less than six months away from testing santacruzamate on mice to determine its safety and effectiveness, said Balunas, who hopes to develop variations that would treat cancers other than lymphoma. It doesnt affect as many people, so if we can get into the solid tumor arena with some of these compounds, then we would have much more effect, Balunas said. Santacruzamate is not the only thing Balunas is working on. She started collecting samples from glaciers in Alaska last year, in search of bacteria that could turn off proteins that help cancer grow. She is

ASSOCIATED PRESS

This artist rendering by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows the different types of planets in our Milky Way galaxy detected by NASAs Kepler spacecraft.

Billions and billions of alien planets out there

BY ALICIA CHANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS

also collecting sea squirts and testing their bacteria in search of cancer-fighting properties. Balunas was the third of five post-doctoral researchers to date in the ICBGs Panama program, said William Gerwick, a professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, both divisions of the University of California at San Diego. In addition to research, Balunas helped develop the Panama program, trained students and applied for grants, said Gerwick, who runs the program. I think that Marcy has had a fantastic success with santacruzamate, Gerwick said. It has a lot of hallmarks of something that could go the distance and become a drug ... Im incredibly proud of her and her accomplishments. Balunas has one more thing to be happy about after scraping up the courage last year to take a medical test. To her relief, she does not have the breast cancer mutation gene.

LOS ANGELES Our Milky Way is home to at least 17 billion planets that are similar in size to Earth, a new estimate suggests. Thats more than two Earth-size planets for every person on the globe. Just how many are located in the sweet spot where water could exist is simply too early to call, said Francois Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who presented his work at an astronomy meeting Monday. Its the first reliable tally of the number of worlds outside the solar system that are the size of Earth, but the hunt for our twin is far from over. Despite the explosion of exoplanet discoveries in recent years, one find remains elusive: A planet thats not only the right size but also in the so-

called Goldilocks zone where its not too hot or too cold for water to be in liquid form on the surface. The sheer number of Earthsize planets gives astronomers a starting point to narrow down which ones are in the habitable zone. Fressin and his team came up with their figure by conducting a fresh analysis of data collected by NASAs Kepler spacecraft, which was launched in 2009 to track down other Earths. They estimated at least one in six stars in the galaxy hosts a planet the size of ours, translating to at least 17 billion Earth-size worlds. Using a different method, a team from the University of California, Berkeley and University of Hawaii separately came up with a similar estimate. They calculated 17 percent of distant stars have planets that are the same size

as Earth or slightly larger. The findings were presented at the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif. Meanwhile, the Kepler spacecraft continues to spot planets as they pass between Earth and the star they orbit. It found 461 new candidate planets, bringing the total to 2,740 potential planets, said mission scientist Christopher Burke at the SETI Institute. Most of the new Kepler finds were driven by discoveries of Earth-size planets and superEarths. Four of those are thought to reside in the Goldilocks zone, but more observations are needed. Fressin said its clear that rocky planets abound outside the solar system. If you look up on a starry night, each star youre looking at almost each one of them has a planetary system, Fressin said.

RULES: Experts say contract a good thing MOMS RULES FOR THE PHONE
Continued from Page One band were about to plop into their sons world. She was looking for a way to be present in his phone use without being a creeper, his word for stalky, spying parents. She wasnt surprised that her list, which Greg agreed to, resonates with other parents. It also resonates with psychologist David Greenfield, a technology addiction specialist in West Hartford, Conn. We have ritualized the gift of the smartphone, he said, yet many parents dont have the know-how, stomach, time or interest in actively guiding kids when they first jump into digital life. For some parents, he said, its only when things go horribly wrong that attention is paid. He knows of parents who have gone so far as to jam all Internet and cellphone signals at home when they couldnt get their kids to power down. Greenfield recommends contracts like Hofmanns, if parents follow through.
Janell Burley Hofmann gave her 13-year-old son Gregory his first iPhone, but it came with these 18 strings attached (edited for length): 1. It is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it. I am loaning it to you. Arent I the greatest? 2. I will always know the password. 3. If it rings, answer it. It is a phone. Say hello, use your manners. Dont ever ignore a call if the screen reads Mom or Dad. Not ever. 4. Hand the phone to one of your parents promptly at 7:30 p.m. every school night, and at 9 p.m. every weekend night. It will be shut off ... and turned on again at 7:30 a.m. If you would not make a call to someones landline, wherein their parents may answer first, then do not call or text. Listen to those instincts and respect other families like we would like to be respected. 5. It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. Its a life skill. 6. ... You are responsible for the replacement costs or repairs. 7. Dont use this technology to lie, fool, or deceive another human being. Dont involve yourself in conversations that are hurtful to others ... 8 & 9. Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you wouldnt say in person. 10. No porn. 11. Turn it off, silence it, put it

Spokesman: Ex-President George H.W. Bush recovering

BY MICHAEL GRACZYK
ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON President George H.W. Bushs recovery from a bronchitis-related cough and subsequent complications is continuing and theres still no timetable for his release from a Houston hospital, a Bush family spokesman said Monday. Bush, 88, the nations oldest living ex-president, has been in Methodist Hospital since Nov. 23. President Bushs recovery

is continuing, spokesman Jim McGrath said in a brief statement, the first word about Bushs condition since Dec. 30. In recent days he has taken great pride watching big football wins by Texas A&M and the Houston Texans. The Texans, whose games Bush frequently has attended, beat the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday in the opening round of the NFL playoffs. Texas A&M University, home to Bushs presidential library and museum about 100 miles northwest of Houston, topped

Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl on Friday. While no immediate timeline has been set for the Presidents discharge, the Bushes wish to thank everyone for their many kind messages, McGrath said. Bush already had been in the hospital about a month for treatment of the persistent cough when his office disclosed he had been placed in intensive care after physicians had difficulty controlling a fever that developed once the cough was mostly resolved.

TODAYS POLL
VOTE ONLINE AT REP-AM.COM

Do you limit how much time your child can spend on a cell phone?
FIND RESULTS OF YESTERDAYS QUESTION ON PAGE 2A.

away in public. Especially in a restaurant, at the movies, or while speaking with another human being. You are not a rude person; do not allow the iPhone to change that. 12. Dont send or receive pictures of your private parts, or anyone elses private parts. Dont laugh. Someday you will be tempted to do this despite your high intelligence. It is risky and could ruin your ... life. It is always a bad idea. 13. Dont take a zillion pictures and videos. There is no need to document everything. Live your experiences. They will be stored in your memory for eternity. 14. Leave your phone home sometimes and feel safe and secure in that decision. ... Learn to live without it. Be bigger and more powerful than FOMO fear of missing out. 15. Download music that is new or classic or different than the millions of your peers that listen to the same exact stuff. Your generation has access to music like never before in history. Take advantage of that gift. Expand your horizons. 16. Play a game with words or puzzles or brain teasers every now and then. 17. Keep your eyes up. See the world happening around you. ... 18. You will mess up. I will take away your phone. We will sit down and talk about it. We will start over again. You & I, we are always learning. I am on your team. We are in this together.