Robots Starting to Beat Chemists at Their Own Game?

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This line from 17th century alchemist Johann Joachim Becher is frequently used by synthetic chemists to express their dedication and delight in practical work. Although a lot has changed since Becher’s day, chemists still spend a lot of time weighing solids and measuring liquids to make molecules and discover new reactions. ‘Chemistry is still a highly experimentally demanding discipline – you need to work in the lab to get results,’ says Cristina Nevado, an organic chemist at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

However, robots are starting to beat chemists at their own game. An automated flow reactor optimises a reaction in only one day – a task that might take a human chemists weeks or even months. Smart systems like the drug discovery robot Eve combine lab skills and artificial intelligence to test and modify a given hypothesis.

‘Chemists are hungry for change,’ declares Martin Burke from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US. Having built a small molecule synthesiser, Burke is one of the scientists embracing automation and robotics – technology that might not only free chemists from some of the more tedious parts of their work, but completely change the way molecules are made. Eventually, Burke and others believe, advanced synthesis robots will entirely replace human lab workers.

Already, automation has played an important part in making small-scale synthesis more efficient. Descendants of Unimate, the first industrial robotic arm patented in 1961, now transfer vials and tubes into analytical machines or dispense amounts of liquid too small for human hands to handle. Over the last few decades, machines carrying out more sophisticated tasks like column chromatography have become affordable and widespread. (Read more from “Robots Starting to Beat Chemists at Their Own Game?” HERE)

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Teen in Shock: Attacked in Nightclub After Rejecting Groper

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A Swedish teenager was attacked at a nightclub after turning away a man who groped her, leaving her face badly bloodied as shown in horrifying snapshots that soon went viral.

Sophie Johansson, 19, was partying at Babel in Malmö on Saturday night when an unknown man on the dance floor pulled on her bag. She told Swedish outlet Aftonbladet that when she turned around, the man grabbed her butt and between her legs. She then says she hit him to get him to stop, but he punched her in the face.

Hoping to avoid a further escalation, Johansson and her friend decided to leave — but as she was on her way out, she says the man struck her over the head with a bottle.

Graphic photos of Johansson show her face and chest covered in blood from where the bottle struck the left side of her face. She was soon brought to a hospital, where she received several stitches.

Police have yet to identify the man, whom Johansson described to the paper as being around 25 years old, 5-foot-7, with a muscular build. She also said he had dark hair and wore a dark long-sleeve shirt. Law enforcement chose not to open an investigation since the man is unknown, but is asking for tips from anyone who saw what happened. (Read more from “Teen in Shock: Attack in Nightclub After Rejecting Groper” HERE)

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American Visitors to Cuba Now Reporting Mysterious Attacks

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Nineteen American citizens have reported symptoms similar to those suffered by U.S. diplomats who had been identified as victims of alleged attacks in Cuba.

“Since September 29, the Department of State has been contacted by 19 U.S. citizens who reported experiencing symptoms similar to those listed in the Travel Warning after visiting Cuba,” a spokesperson for the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs told the Miami Herald in an email . . .

In late September, the State Department issued a travel warning advising Americans not to travel to Cuba because they could become victims of mysterious attacks such as those suffered by 24 diplomats and their families while they were stationed in Havana. The U.S. also removed most of the staff at its embassy in the Cuban capital.

Among the symptoms described in the travel warning are: “ear complaints and hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues, and difficulty sleeping.”

In January, the State Department changed the wording and currently recommends “reconsidering” traveling to Cuba. However, officials stressed that the situation on the island had not changed, nor their message to American travelers. The list of possible symptoms remained unchanged in the new travel advisory. (Read more from “American Visitors to Cuba Now Reporting Mysterious Attacks” HERE)

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Homosexuals Lash out at Prayer, Call It the Ultimate ‘Conversion Therapy’

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A woman who testified of her departure from a “wild” life as a lesbian through prayer after joining a Bible study is being blasted by a writer for the London Guardian newspaper.

“Prayer,” concludes a dismissive Josiah Hesse in the Guardian, apparently has become a new form of the much-maligned “conversion therapy.”

The reaction was prompted by a video of Emily Thomes’ testimony released by Anchored North, an evangelical media company . . .

While packaged similar to pro-LGBT marketing campaigns, Thomes’ message is that a person can be freed from same-sex attractions through the power of Jesus Christ.

Hesse then seeks out the spokeswoman of a homosexual-rights campaign who “speaks out against the dangers of conversion therapy.” (Read more from “Homosexuals Lash out at Prayer, Call It the Ultimate ‘Conversion Therapy'” HERE)

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Hillary Admits She Mishandled Claims Against Aide

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Hillary Clinton acknowledged Tuesday evening that she mishandled the 2008 sexual-harassment claims against a male campaign staffer.

The former first lady said in a lengthy Facebook post that she understood why she was being asked in this “#MeToo” moment why she overruled her advisers and kept Burns Strider on the job despite ”his inappropriate workplace behavior.”

“The short answer is this: If I had it to do again, I wouldn’t,” Mrs. Clinton wrote in a post released just 15 minutes before President Trump’s State of the Union address.

Mrs. Clinton said she “didn’t think firing [Mr. Strider] was the best solution to the problem. He needed to be punished, change his behavior, and understand why his actions were wrong. The young woman needed to be able to thrive and feel safe. I thought both could happen without him losing his job.”

She then argued that she had “made, directly and indirectly, thousands of personnel decisions – everything from hiring to promoting to disciplining to firing. Most of these decisions worked out well.” (Read more from “Hillary Admits She Mishandled Claims Against Aide” HERE)

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THE FACE OF EVIL: Murkowski Votes to Keep America’s Baby Butcher Shops Open For Business

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The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a bill that would create a federal ban on abortions that take place after the 20th week of pregnancy, was defeated in the United States Senate Monday night. The Senate fell short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster and proceed to a simple majority vote on the bill.

Two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined with the Democrats to vote against breaking a filibuster. Three pro-life Democrats voted for the ban.

The 20-week point is approximately halfway through a woman’s pregnancy. Parents can know the baby’s sex. At 20 weeks, the baby is roughly the size of a banana, weighing about 10.2 ounces and measuring approximately 6.5 inches from crown to rump. At 21 weeks, the baby can be measured from “head to toe.”

At this point in the pregnancy, the baby can hear her mother’s heartbeat and voice. The baby’s hair is starting to grow. Her body, fully formed, is performing somersaults in the womb. The baby’s eyes are working, and she can perceive light. The baby has fingerprints, yawns, and sucks her thumb.

Also, at this stage of the pregnancy, the baby in the womb can feel pain. This means that during the abortion procedure, the baby can feel as her limbs are torn off with forceps and pulled from the mother’s womb.

As Townhall’s Guy Benson noted on Twitter, supporting a ban on abortions after 20 weeks is a mainstream position. Recent polling shows that even self-described “pro-choice” Americans support significant restrictions on abortion. Six in ten Americans support banning abortions after the 20-week point of pain.

\Abortion is cruel and inhumane. It is an evil thing. And today roughly half of the United States Senate, including two Republicans, voted to continue the practice even when a baby can feel pain.

‘Police State’ National ID Card in Major Bill

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Inserted in a sweeping House bill introduced earlier this month called Securing America’s Future Act of 2018 is the establishment of a new biometric National ID card for all Americans that has privacy activists sounding alarms.

Introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., H.R. 4760 encompasses issues such as education, Homeland Security and the military. Buried in the 400-page legislation is the new mandatory national identification system in which citizens would be required to carry a government-approved ID containing “biometric features.”

The bill states that anyone seeking employment in the country must have the card.

The purpose of the measure, part of the legislative solution to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, is to curb illegal immigration. It specifically addresses the shortcomings of the E-Verify system, which has failed to catch an estimated 54 percent of illegal immigrant workers.

Ron Paul, the former Republican lawmaker and presidential candidate known for his libertarian views, has launched a campaign against the national ID through his non-profit Campaign for Liberty, including an online petition. (Read more from “‘Police State’ National ID Card in Major Bill” HERE)

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ICE Struck a Deal to Track License Plates Across the U.S.

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By Russell Brandom. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has officially gained agency-wide access to a nationwide license plate recognition database, according to a contract finalized earlier this month. The system gives the agency access to billions of license plate records and new powers of real-time location tracking, raising significant concerns from civil libertarians.

The source of the data is not named in the contract, but an ICE representative said the data came from Vigilant Solutions, the leading network for license plate recognition data. “Like most other law enforcement agencies, ICE uses information obtained from license plate readers as one tool in support of its investigations,” spokesperson Dani Bennett said in a statement. “ICE is not seeking to build a license plate reader database, and will not collect nor contribute any data to a national public or private database through this contract.”

Reached by The Verge, Vigilant declined to confirm any contract with ICE. “As policy, Vigilant Solutions is not at liberty to share any contractual details,” the company said in a statement. “This is a standard agreement between our company, our partners, and our clients.”

While it collects few photos itself, Vigilant Solutions has amassed a database of more than 2 billion license plate photos by ingesting data from partners like vehicle repossession agencies and other private groups. Vigilant also partners with local law enforcement agencies, often collecting even more data from camera-equipped police cars. The result is a massive vehicle-tracking network generating as many as 100 million sightings per month, each tagged with a date, time, and GPS coordinates of the sighting. (Read more from “ICE Struck a Deal to Track License Plates Across the U.S.” HERE)

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Now ICE Can Track License Plates, and Fears Are Mounting

By The Miami Herald. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract to access a license plate recognition database is reinforcing undocumented migrants’ fears of being located and deported to their home countries . . .

That means ICE agents can track the movements of a license plate for the past five years, which could lead to home addresses and other places and people associated with the car owner.

The contract also allows ICE to access motor vehicle registration lists, which could provide its agents with real-time addresses and lead to an increase in deportations. (Read more from “Now ICE Can Track License Plates, and Fears Are Mounting” HERE)

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Democrats Defeat Pro-Life Senate Bill Banning Late-Term Abortions After 20 Weeks

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Senate Democrats today blocked a vote on a pro-life Senate bill to ban late-term abortions — a bill that would save as many as 18,000 unborn babies form abortions each and every year.

The Senate voted today on whether to stop the Democrats’ filibuster of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks — as neither Congress nor state legislatures can vote to ban all abortions under Roe v. Wade. The bill highlights how unborn babies feel intense pain when they are killed in abortions. Fifty-one senators (forty-eight Republicans and three Democrats) voted to take the bill up for debate, but 60 votes were required.

Unfortunately, because Republicans don’t have 60 votes in the chamber to overcome the filibuster, Democrats successfully stopped the bill. The vote came after the White House indicated President Donald Trump would sign the bill into law.

Leading pro-life advocates blasted Democrats for preventing passage of the late-term abortion ban.

“Americans should be outraged that pro-abortion Senate Democrats refuse to protect unborn babies who can feel pain. An overwhelming majority of Americans support this bill, including 56% of Democrats and 56% of those who identify as ‘pro-choice’,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. (Read more from “Democrats Defeat Pro-Life Senate Bill Banning Late-Term Abortions After 20 Weeks” HERE)

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FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Stepping Down

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FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has reportedly been forced to step down ahead of his planned retirement date.

McCabe, 49, is currently on leave and will officially retire in March, CBS News reported.

The deputy director had come under increased scrutiny following the release of text messages last month between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

In the texts, Strzok described Trump during the 2016 campaign as a “loathsome human” and an “idiot,” and found the prospect of him being president “terrifying.”

Page, Strzok’s mistress, texted him, “There is no way (Trump) gets elected.”

Strzok then replied, “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office … that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk.”

“It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”

“Andy” apparently referred to McCabe.

NBC News reported that McCabe has been with the bureau since 1996, serving under former Directors Robert Mueller and James Comey.

According to NBC, last week, White House spokesman Raj Shah fanned reports of pressure from the White House to fire McCabe, saying in a statement that Trump “believes politically motivated senior leaders” of the FBI “have tainted the agency’s reputation for unbiased pursuit of justice.”

A new director will be appointed to “clean up the misconduct at the highest levels of the FBI.”

Following the release of the original batch of the Strzok/Page texts last month, Trump tweeted that McCabe was trying to hold on until he could retire with full benefits.

In addition to being implicated in the texts as possessing an anti-Trump bias, Republicans have pointed to McCabe’s wife Jill being connected with Hillary Clinton through a nearly $500,000 campaign donation she received in 2015 from Clinton ally Democrat Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. (For more from the author of “FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Stepping Down” please click HERE)

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