Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/316593
ByAliAkbarDareini The Associated Press TEHRAN, IRAN AnInternet video of six young Iranian men and women dancing to Pharrell Williams' "Happy" hasledtotheirarrests,show- ing how far Tehran will go to haltwhatitdeemstobedeca- dentWesternbehavior—de- spite the views of its moder- ate president. Criticism outside Iran was predictably swift Wednes- day, with calls for freedom for the jailed youths zipping around social media. Wil- liams tweeted: "It's beyond sad these kids were arrested for trying to spread happi- ness." AtweetpostedWednesday eveningonPresidentHassan Rouhani'saccountseemedto addressthecontroversy,even ifitstoppedshortofmention- ingthevideoorthearrestsdi- rectly. "#Happiness is our peo- ple's right," it said. "We shouldn't be too hard on be- haviors caused by joy." The widely followed ac- count appears to reflect Rou- hani's positions. Iranian me- dia in the past quoted Rou- hani as saying the account is authentic. At the same time, aseniorRouhaniadvisersaid last year that the president hadsuchanaccountonlydur- ingthepresidentialcampaign and that Rouhani's views are represented by his official website. Other social media posts suggestedatleastsomeofthe dancers had already been re- leased, although there was no independent confirmation from authorities. The case was another re- minder of the tensions that exist at the highest levels of Iranian power, with hard-lin- ers determined to maintain the status quo while mod- erates try to push through change — be it improved re- lations with the West or a loosening of morality clamp- downs at home. Hard-liners are increas- ingly challenging Rouhani as the country negotiates a nu- cleardealwithworldpowers. The president campaigned for greater cultural and so- cialfreedomsinhisbidtosuc- ceededMahmoudAhmadine- jad last year. As recently as Saturday, he articulated a moderate stance about the Internet, which remains tightly regu- lated by Iranian authorities. Sites such as YouTube and Facebook are blocked by cen- sors, though many young and Web-savvyIraniansuseproxy serversorotherworkarounds to bypass the controls. "We should see the cyber- worldasanopportunity,"said Rouhani, according to the of- ficial IRNA news agency. "Why are we so shaky? Why don't we trust our youth?" Hard-liners accuse Rou- hani of failing to stop the spread of what they deem "decadent" Western culture in Iran. Last week, hard-lin- ers marched over women not wearing hijabs and dressing provocatively. While Rouhani pursues a policy of social and cultural openness, hard-liners say the government should be tough to those who challenge interpretations of Islamic norms.TheyaccuseRouhani of showing leniency and too muchtolerancetowardthose who question Islamic sancti- ties or women who are not sufficiently veiled. The dancing Iranians would seem right at home in the West — or indeed in the music video that accom- panies Williams' song. Fans have posted similar videos fromaroundtheworld,show- ing people dancing down streets and smiling in cho- reographed crowds. But in Iran, some see the trendaspromotingthespread of Western culture, as laws in the Islamic Republic ban women from dancing in pub- lic or appearing outside with- outcoveringherhairwiththe hijab. The government also bans some websites. The video that got them in trouble shows hip twenty- somethings hamming it up for the camera in sunglasses and silly clothes on Tehran rooftops and alleyways. One of the bearded men goofily dips his female dancing part- ner. Noneofthethreewomenin the video wears a hijab. The video was posted on- line several weeks ago. It in- cludes the participants' first names in a credit roll with outtakes. They describe themselves as Williams fans, adding: "'Happy' was an ex- cuse to be happy. We enjoyed every second of making it." Tehran Police Chief Hos- sein Sajedinia confirmed the arrestsonstateTVlateTues- day in a report that blurred images from the video and then showed the six with their backs turned toward the camera. "They were identified and arrested within six hours," Sajedinia said. IntheTVbroadcast,those arrested said they had been deceived and that the video was not meant to be posted on the Internet. "They had told us that this video won't be released any- where and that it was for our own joy," one of the women said. IRAN 'Happy' arrests highlight tensions THEASSOCIATEDPRESS People dance to Pharrell Williams' hit song "Happy" on a roo op in Tehran, Iran, in this video screen grab from YouTube. By Priya Sridhar The Associated Press OAKBROOK,ILL. Protesters were arrested after cross- ing a barricade outside Mc- Donald's headquarters on Wednesday, as hundreds demonstrated to call atten- tion to the low pay earned by fast-food workers. The actions come ahead of the company's annual share- holders meeting Thursday, where it is also expected to be confronted on issues in- cluding its executive pay packages and marketing to children and minority com- munities. Early Wednesday, orga- nizers changed the location of their demonstration after learning that McDonald's closed the building where they had planned their ac- tions and told employees there to work from home. The corporate headquar- ters in Oak Brook, Illinois, has several buildings on a sprawling campus. Down the street from Hamburger University, doz- ens of police officers in riot gear warned protesters to disperse. Dozens of peo- ple dressed in McDonald's uniforms essentially vol- unteered to be arrested by crossing a barricade; orga- nizers said about 100 Mc- Donald's workers who trav- eled from around the coun- try planned to be arrested, along with another three dozen community leaders and supporters. Among those arrested was Mary Kay Henry, presi- dent of the Service Employ- ees International Union, which has more than 2 mil- lion members. The union has been pro- viding financial and organi- zational support to the fast- food protests, which began in late 2012 in New York City and have been spreading to other cities and countries. FAST FOOD Protesters arrested outside McDonald's Group wants living wages for employees By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press WASHINGTON Exotic sea creatures called comb jellies may reshape how scientists view early evolution — as their genes suggest nature created more than one way to make a nervous system. These beautiful but little- known translucent animals often are called "aliens of the sea," for good reason. Some- how, they rapidly regenerate lost body parts. Some even can regrow a very rudimen- tary brain. Now in an in-depth look at the genes of 10 comb jelly species, researchers report that these mysterious crea- tures evolved a unique ner- vous system in a completely different way than the rest of the animal kingdom. In other words, the ner- vous system evolved more than once, a finding pub- lished Wednesday by the journal Nature that chal- lenges long-standing theo- ries about animal develop- ment. "This paper proves, on a genomic basis, they're truly aliens," said University of Florida neurobiologist Leo- nid Moroz, whose team spent seven years unravel- ing the genetics behind comb jellies' neural programming. But the findings aren't just about evolutionary his- tory. Comb jellies build a nervous system essentially using their own biological language, Moroz explained. That points to new ways to investigate brain diseases such as Alzheimer's or Par- kinson's — maybe even, one day, the ability to engineer new neurons, Moroz said. They "open to us com- pletely unexpected win- dows," he said. Moroz is exploring some of those windows using a unique floating laboratory that allows sophisticated genomic sequencing at sea. In a test run off the coast of Florida this spring, The As- sociated Press documented how his team is studying which genes switch on and off as iridescent comb jellies regenerate from injury. All animals evolved from a single ancestor. Scientists want to determine which branches broke off first, and how the earliest ani- mals gradually changed to become more complex. The general theory: The oldest animals were the simplest, and once neural systems emerged, they evolved in a straightforward path from primitive nerve nets up to complex human brains. Moroz's team offered a dramatically different ex- planation. The researchers mapped the full genetic code of the Pacific sea gooseberry, the nickname for a comb jelly species known as Pleuro- brachia bachei. They also decoded gene activity of nine additional species of cteno- phores — the scientific name for comb jellies. (The "c" is silent.) First, they found comb jellies represent the oldest branch of the animal fam- ily tree — not the simpler sea sponges traditionally thought to hold that spot, the team reported. That bolsters a similar finding published last December by competing scientists from the National Institutes of Health, which had been greeted with some skepticism. And it's important in this context because sponges don't have neurons. So what happened? Par- allel evolution, Moroz pro- posed: While other branches of the animal family tree shared one path, the comb jellies essentially went down another street as they de- veloped circuits of neurons, nerve cells that control such functions as motion and be- havior. They simply don't have many of the genes that other animals use for neural development and function. The results were "really weird," Moroz said. "Ev- erybody from jellyfish to us have the same alphabet" when neurons communicate — but not the more ancient comb jellies. 'ALIENS OF THE SEA' Comb jellies provide insight into evolution LAURAN NEERGAARD — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS University of Florida neurobiologist Leonid Moroz pulls a net from the Gulf Stream off the coast of Florida, to examine invertebrate species headed for his unique floating laboratory. By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press WASHINGTON Surprising new research shows a small but diverse community of bacteria lives in the pla- centas of healthy pregnant women, overturning the be- lief that fetuses grow in a pretty sterile environment. These are mostly variet- ies of "good germs" that live in everybody. But Wednes- day's study also hints that the make-up of this micro- bial colony plays a role in premature birth. "It allows us to think about the biology of pregnancy in different ways than we have before, that pregnancy and early life aren't supposed to bethesetotallysterileevents," said lead researcher Dr. Kjer- sti Aagaard of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. We share our bodies with trillions of microbes — on the skin, in the gut, in the mouth. These communities are called our microbiome, and many bacteria play critical roles in keeping us healthy, especiallythoseintheintesti- naltract.Afewyearsago,the government's Human Micro- biome Project mapped what makes up these colonies and calculatedthathealthyadults cohabitate with more than 10,000 species. Healthy newborns pick up some from their mother during birth, different bugs depending on whether they were delivered vaginally or by C-section. What about before birth? There have been some signs that the process could begin in-utero. But, "we have traditionally believed in medicine that the uterus is a sterile part of the human body," said Dr. Lita Proctor of the National In- stitutes of Health, who over- saw the microbiome project. With the new research, "we realize that microbes may play a role even in fetus development," added Proc- tor, who wasn't involved in the work. "The results of this study now open up a whole new line of research on ma- ternal and pediatric health." Aagard's team earlier had studied the microbiome of the vagina, and learned that itscompositionchangeswhen a woman becomes pregnant. The puzzle: The most com- monvaginalmicrobesweren't the same as the earliest gut bacteria that scientists were finding in newborns. What else, Aagaard won- dered, could be "seeding" the infants' intestinal tract? With colleagues from Bay- lor and Texas Children's Hospital, Aagaard analyzed 320 donated placentas, us- ing technology that teases out bacterial DNA to evalu- ate the type and abundance of different microbes. The placenta isn't teeming with microbes — it harbors a low level, Aagaard stressed. Among them are kinds of E. coli that live in the intestines of most healthy people. HEALTH St ud y: B ac te ri a li ve e ve n in h ea lt hy p la ce nt as The Daily News will feature a special section of photos and write-ups on over 75 "Students of Distinction" from middle and high schools across the county. This project has been created in cooperation with the Tehama County Department of Education. Selections of students featured will be made by schools and Teachers. The supplement will be published as a special section of the newspaper and as a digital page-turn online edition on www.redbluffdailynews.com through May of 2015! To sponsor a student's photo and accomplishments is just $59 for 1 sponsorship and $55 each for multiples. Local businesses, professionals, educators, local citizens: All are welcome to support Tehama County's most accomplished students, and demonstrate support of local education in the process. Sponsor Deadline: Friday, May 23 Sponsors will be identified in a 3" tall by 1 column wide space at the bottom of each student salute. This special will appear in the full run of the Daily News on Thursday, May 29, 2014 Daily News advertising representatatives can help you decide what to say. Limited opportunity to support students from individual schools. For further information, contact your Daily News advertising representative or Nadine Souza at Honoring Outstanding Tehama County Students (530) 527-2151 advertise@ redbluffdailynews.com THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2014 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 3 B