Author: Kim Kalliber

Healthy twist makes steamed clams even better

Asian steamed clams with broccoli rabe. Photo: Matthew Mead / Associated Press
Asian steamed clams with broccoli rabe. Photo: Matthew Mead / Associated Press

By Sara Moulton, Associated Press

I’d love to claim that this wonderful recipe required hours of arduous research and testing (not to mention the expert application of all of my hard-won culinary skills) before I was able to settle on the exact proportions of its ideal ingredients.

But I’d be lying. In truth, I had almost nothing to do with it. The clams did it.

Certain ingredients — including clams, mussels, rack of lamb, skirt steak and dark chocolate — make meals delicious with very little effort on your part.

Really, you’d have to be an idiot to screw them up. Clams and mussels are especially generous, delivering a one-two punch of taste thrills: the succulent bivalves themselves and the deeply flavorful juices that stream out of them when they’re cooked.

My favorite way to mess with clams is to steam them, as in this recipe. You toss all the ingredients into a pot, pile on the clams, put on the lid, crank up the heat, and presto!

Ten minutes later the dish is done. The only problem is that the clam liquor at the bottom of the pot is so tasty that I’m forced to sop it up with slice after slice of bread.

That’s why I decided to bulk up this dish with broccoli rabe, a healthy and savory vegetable that absorbs some of the clam liquor as it cooks (though the clam liquor that remains still cries out for at least a slice or two of toasted country-style bread).

As a way of blunting the vegetable’s slightly bitter edge, your first step with broccoli rabe is to blanch it.

Cut off the tough ends of the stems, then boil it all in a large pot of salted water for two minutes. Next, drain it and transfer it to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and set the color.

Finally, chop it crosswise into pieces about 1/2-inch thick. It’s just much easier to eat that way. The garlic, chili sauce, ginger and sesame oil in the broth are complements strong enough to stand up to the robustness of the broccoli rabe.

After insisting above that there’s no way to screw up cooking with clams, I’ve got to emphasize one crucial step, a step to ensure that the little guys turn out tender.

You need to remove each clam from the pot as it opens up. The first ones will be good to go after four or five minutes. The last clam might stay clammed up until five or six minutes later, by which time the first clams — if you’d left them in — would be horribly tough.

That’s it. Quick, easy, nutritious, delicious and satisfying. Try it and see if you don’t end up happier than a clam.

Asian steamed clams or mussels with broccoli rabe

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon grated or finely chopped fresh ginger
½ cup finely chopped scallions (white and green parts)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Chinese chili sauce (or your favorite hot sauce)
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup low-sodium chicken broth
3 dozen littleneck clams or 2 pounds mussels, scrubbed well
½ teaspoon sesame oil
3 cups blanched and coarsely chopped broccoli rabe
8 thick slices country-style bread, toasted

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium high. Add the ginger, scallions and garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the chili sauce, white wine, chicken broth and clams. Cover tightly and cook until the clams start to open. As they open, transfer the clams to a bowl. It will take 7 to 10 minutes for all the clams to open. Discard any clams that do not open.

Keep the saucepan over medium heat. Return the clams and any liquid in the bowl to the pan. Add the broccoli rabe, then cook just until heated through. Add the sesame oil and stir well. Divide the clams and broccoli rabe, along with the cooking liquid, between 4 shallow soup bowls. Serve each bowl with a few slices of toasted bread and a soup spoon.

Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 450 calories; 100 calories from fat (22 percent of total calories); 12 g fat (0.5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 45 mg cholesterol; 52 g carbohydrate; 4 g fiber; 8 g sugar; 29 g protein; 500 mg sodium.

Birds’ activity hints at the arrival of spring

A sign that winter is not yet over, Varied Thrushes are still present on PAWS campus. In the spring, these birds head to their breeding territories in the fir forests of the mountains and foothills. Photo: Kevin Mack, PAWS
A sign that winter is not yet over, Varied Thrushes are still present on PAWS campus. In the spring, these birds head to their breeding territories in the fir forests of the mountains and foothills. Photo: Kevin Mack, PAWS

By Kevin Mack / PAWS

Although winter officially lasts a few more weeks, many wild animals on the PAWS campus are already feeling the approaching spring. Small birds are still foraging together in their winter feeding flocks, but there is palpable tension within the groups. Formerly content to feed side by side with one another, some of the male birds have begun to squabble when they feel a fellow flock member has come too close. They have also begun to tentatively sing their trilling territorial calls.

Click here to see more photos of the birds on the PAWS Campus.

Visit the wildlife section of the PAWS website if you would like to discover more about the organization’s work. Also check out the common problems page as we are about to enter the time of year when wildlife conflicts are most likely to occur.

Washington’s ex-governors get into it for TV

Former governors John Spellman (left) and Chris Gregoire sit down for a taping of "The Governors: A KCTS 9 Special" on Tuesday afternoon. 9. Photo: Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
Former governors John Spellman (left) and Chris Gregoire sit down for a taping of “The Governors: A KCTS 9 Special” on Tuesday afternoon. 9. Photo: Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald

By Jerry Cornfield, Herald Writer

SEATTLE — Four former Washington governors spent an hour in a television studio Tuesday dishing on the high, low and unforgettable moments each experienced as the state’s chief executive.

And then it got interesting when the two liberal Democrats and two moderate Republicans detoured into politics.

Democrats Chris Gregoire and Mike Lowry and Republicans Dan Evans and John Spellman all praised last week’s Supreme Court ruling toppling a voter-approved requirement for a two-thirds majority to raise taxes.

“Two-thirds doesn’t make any sense,” said Evans, the state’s only three-term governor who served from 1965-77. “You can’t let the minority run the government or the state.”

But Gregoire, who left office in January after two terms, said not to expect a flood of new taxes this year because lawmakers know how popular the supermajority rule is with voters.

“I would be shocked if legislators run wild right now,” she said.

Then Evans added a spirited exclamation: “No legislator likes to do it unless they have to do it. Doggone it; the people have the last say.”

The gubernatorial quartet gathered in the KCTS9 studio in Seattle to tape an hour-long special to air April 16. Enrique Cerna of KCTS and Joni Balter, assistant political editor of The Seattle Times, moderated the conversation.

While each of the four ex-governors served in a different decade, they shared a similar passion for public service when they ran for the office.

Of course, not every one had an equally easy time getting the job.

Spellman first ran in 1976 and lost to Democrat Dixie Lee Ray, the state’s first woman governor.

“We didn’t see her coming on and it was kind of a shock,” he said. “We didn’t know how to lay a glove on her.”

Four years later he ran again. He expected a rematch but she lost in the primary. Spellman went on to defeat Democrat Jim McDermott and is the last Republican to serve as governor.

Gregoire etched her place in state history with a nail-biting defeat of Republican Dino Rossi in 2004 following recounts and a court case.

When asked to describe her experience, she joked: “One word comes to mind, refresh.” She was referring to continually checking online for the updated tallies of votes during the final hand count.

Once in office, each dealt with budget shortfalls. Three — Spellman, Lowry and Gregoire — raised taxes to help fill the gap.

“It had to be done,” Spellman said, adding the money was needed for schools and social services. “It didn’t help me politically.”

Evans, meanwhile, tried twice without success to win voter approval of an income tax as part of a larger reform package.

“We got our heads handed to us” the first time, he said. “We tried it one more time and it was almost three-to-one. People will live with the taxes they know. When something new comes up, they get skeptical.”

Lowry, who served from 1993-97, sounded much like a candidate again when he called today’s opposition to taxes “self-defeating. I think we’ve kind of lost sight of the importance of a well-run government. We need to get more revenue into this state.”

The potential of initiatives to handcuff lawmakers and governors in budget-writing and policy-making united the foursome.

“I think initiatives are leading us to anarchy,” Spellman said, adding he’d like to see some areas of government immune to change through initiatives.

As for achievements, Lowry cited his expansion of the Basic Health Program providing subsidized health insurance to the poor while Spellman said it was establishing a relationship with China which is now the state’s leading trade partner. Evans said he’s most proud of creating the community college system and the Department of Ecology.

One of the more emotional moments came when they discussed their toughest decisions.

For Gregoire, it was endorsing marriage for same-sex couples. She said she struggled with it mightily and “the weight of the world was lifted” when she went public.

Her most difficult day was the one when four Lakewood police officers were gunned down.

Lowry said he regrets not commuting the death sentence for convicted Snohomish County triple murderer Charles Campbell in 1994. Lowry opposed the death penalty but said he could not override the actions of the courts which had rejected Campbell’s repeated appeals.

One of the last questions they faced is how they prepared for life after being governor.

For Gregoire, it meant re-learning how to drive after eight years of getting chauffeured everywhere. She said she’s gaining her confidence, though not so much with parallel parking.

“It’s an adjustment,” she said. “Parking the car is an adjustment.”

Evans, who also served as a state lawmaker and U.S. senator, welcomed not being in the spotlight.

One of the frustrations of being governor, he said, is everyone recognizes you and you can’t get away with your family.

“It ultimately fades away and anonymity returns,” he said.

Tribes sample elk DNA to track population

 

Wildlife biologists from Stillaguamish, Tulalip and Western Washington University sample DNA from elk scat.
Wildlife biologists from Stillaguamish, Tulalip and Western Washington University sample DNA from elk scat.

Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

 

Wildlife biologists from the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes are testing a new way to track the population of the Nooksack elk herd using the animals’ scat.

Tribal biologists have partnered with Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment to determine the most efficient way to collect DNA from elk scat. Genetic material can be found in the intestinal mucus coating the pellets. This winter, biologists sampled fresh scat using toothpicks and cotton swabs, submitting the samples to a genetics lab to determine which method is most effective at providing an animal’s unique genotype.

“This is a non-invasive method that does not require collaring animals or helicopter time to survey them,” said Stillaguamish biologist Jennifer Sevigny.

While the current method of using tracking collars and aerial surveys is expensive, it allows state and tribal wildlife managers to determine the bull-to-cow and cow-to-calf ratios needed to set harvest levels. To fit elk with tracking collars, the animals must be captured and tranquilized.

In the spring, the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes plan to coordinate a large population survey, sampling elk scat in the North Cascades Mountains, including forested landscapes that are hard to monitor during aerial surveys.

“Once individual elk are identified by their DNA, a population estimate can be obtained by re-sampling an area and comparing the number of originally identified individuals – the marked animals – to the newly identified animals – the unmarked animals,” said Tulalip wildlife manager Mike Sevigny.

During the past two decades, tribal and state co-managers completed numerous habitat restoration projects to improve forage for the Nooksack herd, which had declined to about 300 animals by 2003. According to 2012 aerial surveys, the herd has rebounded to as many as 1,400 elk.

Hendrix at 70: New album offers different look

Jimi Hendrix recorded everything. More than 40 years after his death, though, the tape is finally running out.

By Chris Talbott, AP Music Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jimi Hendrix recorded everything. More than 40 years after his death, though, the tape is finally running out.

“People, Hell & Angels,” out Tuesday, will be the last album of Hendrix’s unreleased studio material, according to Eddie Kramer, the engineer who recorded most of Hendrix’s music during his brief but spectacular career. That ends a four-decade run of posthumous releases by an artist whose legacy remains as vital and vibrant now as it was at the time of his death.

“Jimi utilized the studio as a rehearal space,” Kramer said. “That’s kind of an expensive way of doing things, but thank God he did.”

The 12 tracks on “People, Hell & Angels” were recorded in 1968-69 after the Jimi Hendrix Experience disbanded. There’s a changeable roster of backing musicians, including Buddy Miles and Billy Cox, who would briefly become Hendrix’s Band of Gypsies. Stephen Stills, recently of Buffalo Springfield, even popped up on bass on one track.

It was a difficult period for Hendrix as his business and creative endeavors became entangled, and he retreated to the studio to seek inspiration.

“Jimi used that time in the studio to experiment, to jam, to rehearse, and using this jam-rehearsal style of recording enabled him to try different musicians of different stripes and backgrounds, because they offered a musical challenge to him,” Kramer said. “He wanted to hear music expressed with different guys who could lend a different approach to it. And as part of this whole learning curve, what emerged was this band that played at Woodstock in `69, that little concert on the hill there.”

Many of the songs have been heard in different versions or forms before, but the music here is funkier than his best known work – at times sinuous, at times raucous. Horns pop up here and there. He’s a cosmic philosopher riding an earthbound backbeat on “Somewhere.” He’s a groovin’ bluesman enveloped in a bit of that purple haze on “Hear My Train a Comin’.” He challenges a saxophone to a fist fight on “Let Me Move You.” Then he channels James Brown on “Mojo Man” and ends the album as if shutting down an empty cinder-block club on a lonely stretch of dark highway with “Villanova Junction Blues.”

Hendrix died not long after making the last of these recordings. He’d already disbanded the players and was working with the Experience again in 1970 when he died of asphyxia in September 1970 at 27.

The last of the studio albums was timed for the year he would have turned 70. But in the 43 years that have passed since his death, he’s remained a fixture in American popular culture in much the same way Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash have endured. Still a radio staple, his image and music pops up often in commercials. There’s a biopic on the way with Andre Benjamin tackling the lead role. Even his out-there sense of fashion remains relevant.

Driving that image is the continued importance of his music, inspiring entranced young guitarists to attack his work in an endless loop of rediscovery over the decades. Tastes and sounds may change, but Hendrix always remains close at hand.

Maybe it’s because he was so far ahead of his time, we still haven’t caught up.

“He was a psychedelic warrior,” said Luther Dickinson, Grammy-nominated singer-guitar of the North Mississippi Allstars. “He was one of those forces that pushed evolution. He was kicking the doors down. He was forcing the future into our ears.”

For Dickinson and his brother Cody, it was Hendrix’s post-apocalyptic psych-rock epic “1983 … (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)” that blew their minds. But he means different things to different musicians. He played the chitlin circuit in the South before being discovered as a rocker in Europe and his music was also steeped in the blues, R&B and jazz.

“As a songwriter, he had the thing like Billy Gibbons (of ZZ Top) and a few current guys like Dan Auerbach or Jack White,” Dickinson said. “They have the ability to take a near-cliche blues guitar lick and turn it into a pop hook. Hendrix had that. That was one aspect. Also, he wrote some of the most beautiful guitar melodies. His ballads, there’s nothing to compare them to. Obviously he learned a lot from Curtis Mayfield and R&B music, but he took it so much farther.”

It’s that soulful side that first inspired Michael Kiwanuka, a young singer-songwriter who grew up in London thousands of miles away from Dickinson’s home in Hernando, Miss., yet was seized by Hendrix just as forcefully.

He first saw Hendrix in a documentary that was paired back to back with his performance at Woodstock. Kiwanuka was 12 and new to the guitar. He experienced a lot of sensations at once. First, there was the music. He wasn’t drawn to the rip-roaring psychedelia the Dickinsons favored, but the R&B-flavored classics like “Castles Made of Sand” and “The Wind Cries Mary.” The child of Ugandan immigrants also was amazed by Hendrix’s natural hairstyle, which closely resembled his own.

“I’d never seen an African-American, a guy of African descent, playing rock music,” Kiwanuka said. “I was listening to bands like Nirvana and stuff at the time. That’s what got me into rock music – the electric guitar. Every time I saw a modern black musician it was like R&B, so I’d never seen someone play electric guitar in a rock way that was African. That inspired me as well on top of the music. And you think, `Oh, I could do that.'”

“People, Hell & Angels” will likely continue that cycle of discovery. And though it may be the last of studio album, it won’t be the last we hear from Hendrix.

“This is the last studio album, but what’s coming up is the fact that we have tremendous amount of live recorded concerts in the vault,” Kramer said. “A lot of them were filmed, too, so be prepared in the next few years to see some fabulous live performances, one of which I’ve already mixed. We’re waiting for the release date – God knows when – but at some point in the future there’s a ton of great live material.”

Goodwill Designer Accessory Sale will put spring in your step

This vintage Burberry hat is one of the items for sale at the Goodwill Designer Accessory Sale. Photo: Lauren Robinson
This vintage Burberry hat is one of the items for sale at the Goodwill Designer Accessory Sale. Photo: Lauren Robinson

It’s time for the fourth annual U District Goodwill Designer Accessory Sale, March 8-9, 2013. High-end goods for bargain prices will be available for both men and women.

Source: Seattle Times

Goodwill’s Designer Accessory Sale

Nothing adds zing to spring like some dandy accessories. (Can’t go to the Easter Parade without a hat, right?) Goodwill can help — specifically, at the fourth annual University District Goodwill Designer Accessory Sale. Bargain-hunters can browse among real and faux designer shoes, handbags and more from the likes of Dooney & Bourke, Coach, Betsey Johnson, Marc Jacobs and Steve Madden. Men aren’t left out; staff will stock ties, hats, shoes and other man stuff.

The sale takes place 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday at the U District Goodwill, 4552 University Way N.E., Seattle (www.seattlegoodwill.org).

Net proceeds benefit Goodwill’s free job-training and education programs.

Everett Readies for Annual Home and Garden Show This Friday, Saturday, Sunday

The 11th annual Everett Home and Garden Show returns to Comcast Arena at Everett this weekend.

2013 Everett Home and Garden Show – 11th Year
Multiple Shows – Friday-Sunday, March 8, 9, 10
Hours: Friday: Noon to 8pm. Saturday: 10am to 7pm.
Sunday: 10am to 5pm (On Sunday a Day Light Savings Time Special) – Everyone to arrive between 10am and 11am will get in FREE.

Tickets available At Comcast Arena doors day of show.
Adults: $6.75. Seniors $6.25 $2 off Admission Coupons on our Website EverettHomeGardenShow.com
Free Parking in the Snohomish County Garage on Saturday and Sunday sponsored by BECU
Free parking in the Everpark Garage, 2815 Hoyt Ave on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Now in its 11th year the Everett Home & Garden Show has grown into the largest and only Home & Garden show in Snohomish County. It is “Your Home Improvement Source”, this year featuring the perfect opportunity to shop and compare the finest companies in the Snohomish and enjoy the numerous special features presented, plus everything you would need to make those lawn, garden and home transformations you’ve always wanted.

Guest Speakers •Bob Barca
• Northwest Master Gardener on growing berries in the Northwest, The Butterfly-Hummingbird Garden, water features and March garden activities.
•Steve Smith – The Whistling Gardener of Sunnyside Nursery
•Robert King – The “Deck King” with new deck products and demonstrations
•and more!
WSU Extension Service will have their Master Gardeners on hand to answer your questions.

Special interactive exhibits featuring: •Whispering Pines Landscape
•NW Quality Deck & Remodeling
•American Patio Covers
•WALP – Snohomish County Chapter of the Washington Association of Landscape Professional.
Wine Tasting sponsored by Dunn Lumber on Friday evening 5:30p to 6:30pm

Strong voter opposition to higher gas, car-tab taxes, poll finds

Most voters in the state oppose higher transportation taxes, according to a new Elway Poll. The news comes as the Legislature considers raising revenue for highways and transit.

By Andrew Garber, Seattle Times Olympia bureau

OLYMPIA — A new poll showing most voters oppose additional transportation taxes highlights the hurdles lawmakers face when it comes to finding more money for highways and transit.

A Stuart Elway poll of 412 registered voters found that 72 percent oppose a higher gas tax and
62 percent oppose an increase in the car tab. The poll has a margin of error of 5 percentage points, plus or minus.

Those two taxes would provide most of the revenue in a nearly $10 billion transportation plan proposed by House Democrats last month, with the state gas tax already among the highest in the nation, rising to 47.5 cents within five years.

“I think it’s a hard sale to the public,” said Elway, a Seattle pollster. Not only did his poll find strong opposition to new taxes, but also that voters “don’t think there’s that big of a problem.”

The Elway Poll showed
70 percent of the voters, surveyed between Feb. 28 and March 2, rated the state’s transportation system as “satisfactory” or better.

Senate Transportation Committee co-Chairman Curtis King, R-Yakima, said the poll reinforced his belief that there’s no need to push through a transportation package this session.

Republicans control the Senate, while Democrats control the House and governor’s office.

“It’s kind of what I’ve been saying all along,” King said. “I don’t think the public is ready to have new taxes put on them.”

House Transportation Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, said she wasn’t surprised by the poll, adding it won’t change her mission to do something this session.

“If we made all our decisions based on (polls) we wouldn’t get anything done,” she said.

The Legislature could decide to approve a tax package or send it to voters.

What does Clibborn take away from the survey?

“It tells us that it’s a heavy lift, and I never thought it would be anything but a heavy lift,” she said. Also, “it tells me that you have a lot of educating to do around what a revenue package would get you.”

She noted Elway’s poll did not ask voters about specific projects that would be funded by the increase in taxes. ”If you put projects in you’d get a different answer,” she said.

Elway, in his poll, pointed out he did not list projects and said “in theory, such a list would increase support by promising improvements in every part of the state.”

The House Democrats’ plan would plow billions of dollars into highway projects such as extensions of Highways 167 and 509, as well as Interstate 405 lanes, and ferry operations and terminals. It also would provide money to help build a new Columbia River bridge to Portland, widen Interstate 90 at Snoqualmie Pass and reduce Interstate 5 congestion around Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The current proposal would increase the state gas tax by 10 cents over five years. Washington currently has the nation’s ninth-highest gas tax.

In addition, it would create a car-tab tax equal to 0.7 percent of a vehicle’s value — $140 for a $20,000 car.

There’s also a $25 sales fee on bicycles worth $500 or more that would raise $1 million over 10 years, a nod to motorists who complain bicyclists don’t pay their fair share.

Republicans have talked about the need for reforms before being willing to discuss additional money for transportation. They see that as possibly a multiyear process.

“What’s important now is we have too many problems,” House GOP Leader Richard DeBolt said. “We have to fix our problems before we can fund anything else. We have to build confidence with the people that we are spending their money correctly.”

House Republicans are expected to come out with proposals later this week.

A coalition of business, labor and environmental groups is pushing the Legislature to advance some transportation package this session.

Jeff Johnson, president of the Washington State Labor Council, said it’s too early to get worried.

“You never want to see a negative poll. But this debate has just started,” he said. “So I’m not overly concerned about it yet.”

Energy nominee favors all-of the-above approach

President Barack Obama’s choice to lead the Energy Department advocates an all-of-the-above approach to energy and favors natural gas as a “bridge fuel” to help the country develop clean energy.

By Matthew Daly, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s choice to lead the Energy Department advocates an all-of-the-above approach to energy and favors natural gas as a “bridge fuel” to help the country develop clean energy.

Ernest Moniz, a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, leads the MIT Energy Initiative, a research group that gets funding from BP, Chevron and other oil industry heavyweights for academic work aimed at reducing greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. A former energy undersecretary, Moniz has advised Obama on numerous energy topics, including how to handle the country’s nuclear waste and the natural gas produced by the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing.

“Ernie knows that we can produce more energy and grow our economy while still taking care of our air, our water and our climate,” Obama said Monday as he introduced Moniz and two other candidates for top-level positions.

Gina McCarthy, an assistant EPA administrator, was chosen to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. A 25-year veteran of environmental policy and politics, McCarthy has worked for Republicans and Democrats, including Obama’s presidential rival, Mitt Romney, who tapped her to help draft state plans for curbing the pollution linked to global warming when he was governor of Massachusetts.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell was nominated to direct the White House Office of Management and Budget. Burwell held several posts during the Clinton administration, including deputy director of the OMB. She currently heads the Wal-Mart Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the retail giant, and previously served as president of the Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program.

Moniz, 68, whose specialty is nuclear physics, has drawn fire from some environmental groups for his views on natural gas, especially that produced from shale, a gas-rich rock formation thousands of feet underground. The gas is freed through a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which large volumes of water, plus sand and chemicals, are injected to break the rock apart. Advances in technology have unlocked billions of dollars of gas reserves, leading to a boom in production, jobs and profits, as well as concerns about pollution and public health.

At a forum last year at the University of Texas, Moniz said natural gas, which emits fewer greenhouse gases than oil or coal, is likely to be part of the nation’s energy solution for years to come.

As a nation, the U.S. “should take advantage of the time to innovate and bring down the cost of renewables” such as wind and solar, Moniz said. “The worst thing would be to get time and not use it.”

Those and other comments have made some environmental groups wary of Moniz, who also has supported development of nuclear power, along with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

“Ernest Moniz has a history of supporting dirty and dangerous energy sources like gas and nuclear power with polluting partners including BP, Shell, Chevron and Saudi Aramco,” said Courtney Abrams of the group Environment America. “Given this concerning track record, we hope Dr. Moniz will focus on clean, renewable ways to get our energy that don’t put our families and our environment in harm’s way.”

Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, said Moniz “has recognized that there are environmental issues – real issues, serious issues – with natural gas.”

When Moniz says issues with natural gas are manageable, “he quickly adds that just because they are manageable doesn’t mean they are managed,” Krupp said. “To me that’s actually a very full understanding that he brings to this role.”

As energy secretary, Moniz would not have direct oversight over fracking, which is primarily left to state and local governments. Even so, the Energy Department has a huge research budget, and current Energy Secretary Steven Chu has been criticized for focusing too much on renewables and not enough on natural gas, which has emerged in recent years as an energy powerhouse that has threatened the dominance of coal, the leading source of electricity in the U.S.

Like Chu, Moniz is an academic with a doctorate in physics. Unlike Chu, who led an Energy Department lab before becoming energy secretary, Moniz has extensive political experience, having served in the Clinton administration as undersecretary of energy and as a White House science adviser.

“The really good thing about Ernie is he’s been there, so he can hit the ground running,” said Carol Browner, a former Obama energy adviser who worked with Moniz when she headed the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton.

John Deutch, an MIT colleague and former CIA director, called Moniz a “brilliant choice” to lead the Energy Department.

“I think that President Obama has chosen the most qualified individual in the United States for the position of secretary of energy,” said Deutch, who led a review of shale-gas drilling for the Energy Department in Obama’s first term.

Deutch, who has known Moniz for 30 years, said his longtime colleague has the potential to be “one of the greatest energy secretaries the country has ever had.”

Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, a conservative advocacy group, set his sights a little lower.

If confirmed, Moniz will “inherit an agency with a tarnished record for picking losers and not winners in the energy market,” Pyle said. “It is our hope that Dr. Moniz will avoid opportunities to repeat the well-documented mistakes of his predecessor and refuse the temptation to let political pressure trump sound science and economics.”

 

Associated Press writer Dina Cappiello contributed to this report.

Tongue stimulation can reverse serious ailments

By Jason Bittel, Slate.com

The human tongue is an extraordinary bit of flesh. It’s alternately squishy and tense, at times delicate and others powerful. It helps us taste, talk and tie cherry stems, all the while avoiding two interlocking rows of sharpened enamel that know only how to gnash.

Now, it seems the tongue may even serve as a gateway to the human brain, providing us with the opportunity to treat serious afflictions from multiple sclerosis to combat-induced brain injuries.

The tongue is a natural candidate for electrical stimulation, thanks in part to a high density of sensory receptors and the concentration of electrolytes found in saliva.

This has allowed researchers at the Tactile Communication and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to develop a pattern of electrodes that can be placed on the tongue and attached to a control box.

All together, the system is called a Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator (PoNS).

Once hooked in, patients undergo 20-30 minutes of stimulation therapy, or CN-NiNM (cranial nerve non-invasive neuromodulation), matched to a regimen of physical, occupational and cognitive exercises specific to the ailment being treated. Each exercise corresponds with different patterns of tongue stimulation, which in turn coax the brain to form new neural pathways.

These pathways remain active even after the stimulation has been removed, meaning the therapy can have lasting effects.

After treatment with CN-NiNM, patients with multiple sclerosis have been shown to have a 50 percent improvement in postural balance, 55 percent improvement in walking ability, a 30 percent reduction in fatigue and 48 percent reduction in M.S. impact scores (a measure of physical and psychological impact of M.S. from the patient’s perspective).

Extraordinary numbers by any standard, but if you really want to understand the project’s impact, read about Kim Kozelichki ditching her hobbled limp for a healthy jog on the University of Nebraska’s Medical Center blog.

Best of all, researchers have reason to believe CN-NiNM can not only slow functional loss, but also restore previously lost functions. It’s this promise that has the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command interested.

In collaboration with the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and NeuroHabilitation Corporation, the Army hopes to harness this emerging technology to “restore lost physical and mental function” for both service members and civilians suffering from traumatic brain injury, stroke Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.

More information
www.unmc.edu/mmi/docs/TrainTheBrain.pdf