Dog Detectives: A Nose for Conservation

Wicket, a WDC dog trained to track more than 20 different scents, works with Zambian wildlife authorities to find wire snares set by poachers. Photo by WDC

Seamus tracks an invasive plant called dyer's woad. After a decade of unsuccessful efforts to decrease the plant's population,  dogs helped to reduce it by almost 60 per cent in just four years. Photo by WDC

As part of a pilot program for locating wild Asian elephant dung in Myanmar, Wicket traversed otherwise impassable roads on elephant back — a first for her and the elephants. Photo by S.Hedges/WCS

If you’ve spent any time in the company of canines, you’ve probably observed their uncanny ability to sniff out the teeniest morsel of food on the kitchen floor, or locate the lone crumb lurking in the sliver of space beneath a couch. In many homes, dogs render an indispensable service every evening by searching out and “vacuuming” the fallen bits of dinner. Of course, dogs’ noses are being put to use for much greater good, such as detecting bombs, finding missing persons, and sniffing out drugs or other illicit objects. And now biologists have found yet another use for those cold, wet, miraculous noses: preserving biodiversity.

Around the world canines are being enlisted to track rare wildlife, sleuth out invasive species, and detect otherwise imperceptible changes that could harm wilderness areas and watersheds. But are these canines really providing significant support to conservation efforts, or is it just another excuse to bring your dog to work?
According to biologist Pete Coppolillo, putting dogs to work for conservation is not only effective but also an increasingly established methodology used by scientists and wilderness management authorities. As the executive director of a Montana-based nonprofit called Working Dogs for Conservation (WDC), Coppolillo and his colleagues have trained and dispatched dogs across 18 states and 11 countries. These wonder dogs have helped eradicate invasive weeds threatening to edge out native plants in Montana’s grasslands, identify beetle-infested trees in Minnesota forests, and detect and remove illegal wire snares set by poachers in Zambia. In the name of preserving biodiversity, these bold canines have sallied forth in ATVs, helicopters, and even on the backs of elephants to traverse the muddy roads of Myanmar during monsoon season.

So what makes a good conservation dog? “Frankly, it’s the crazy ones…”

But one of the most useful roles that dogs play in support of conservation is sniffing out scat (AKA animal poop). “Thanks to advances in technology and reduction of lab costs, analyses of scat can reveal not just what the animals are eating…but if they have elevated levels of hormones, and even genetic information,” said Coppolillo. Yielding important clues about life cycles, health, family groupings, and habitat range, these scatological portraits help us to better understand and protect wildlife. Scat analysis can also point to larger environmental problems, added Coppolillo, such as the presence of heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and other toxins that can pervade both land and aquatic ecosystems. Historically, the main methods for studying wildlife have required scientists to capture animals and outfit them with GPS collars for tracking or extract blood and tissue samples, invasive techniques that can pose threats to animals and researchers alike. Biologists and wildlife authorities have also gone to great expense to search for animals using small aircraft, with hope of determining things like population density and territorial range.


In 2013, the Bureau of Land Management successfully utilized WDC’s scat-tracking dogs to identify habitat for grizzly bears in Montana’s Centennial Mountains, enabling officials to act quickly to protect the area from development and save money that would have been spent on more expensive and less effective methods like captures, camera traps, and hair snares. “Without the dogs’ help the bears would have most likely gone undetected and development would have gone forward,” said Coppolillo.

A black lab mix named Tucker heads into Pacific Northwest waters, guiding researchers to data-rich orca poop. Photo courtesy of Center for Whale Research

Another canine conservation group based at the University of Washington even takes dogs out to sea. Perched on the boat’s bow, dogs have successfully led scientists to orca poop afloat in the salty waters in and around Puget Sound. Less dangerous and intrusive than having to sidle up to a killer whale (orca) to conduct a biopsy, the dogs enabled researchers to collect and analyze hundreds of fecal samples over a period of several years and determine that diminishing Chinook salmon populations — the orcas’ favorite food — presents the greatest threat to these much loved marine mammals. According to Dr. Sam Wasser, who heads up the study and pioneered the dog-scat detection method in 1997, the findings made it clear that “if we really want to buy time for these killer whales, we need to figure out how to keep fish numbers up.”
While finding a single turd in a vast ocean or acres of wilderness is no small feat, time and again these intensely focused dogs have proven their ability to efficiently lead scientists to these treasure troves of information.
So what makes a good conservation dog? “Frankly, it’s the crazy ones,” Coppolillo said with a laugh. “The high-energy ones who will look at you with the Frisbee and say ‘come on, let’s go’ again and again.”
Selected from shelters around the country, the dogs undergo a temperament screening process — a series of tests that WDC is trying to put into app form so that shelter volunteers can watch tutorials about how to conduct screenings and then upload videos of the dogs’ tests for evaluation. Only about one dog out of 1,500 makes the cut.
The current pack, which includes a range of “working” breeds like labs, border collies, and German shepherds, have been trained using a distinct set of techniques that evolved from disciplines developed for dogs used in narcotic, forensic, and search-and-rescue operations. Most of the dogs under Coppolillo’s watch are currently based in Montana, with an outpost in California’s San Joaquin Valley, but permanent dog teams will be established in Zambia later this year to help stop the trafficking of ivory and bushmeat.
And while not every dog has the right stuff to become a conservation detective, most have the ability to track something as seemingly odorless as metal wire. So instead of training our pups to sit or roll over, perhaps their skills could be put to better use by teaching them to find that perpetually lost set of keys.

source:::science.kqed.org

Continue Reading...

These Mad Scientists Want to Replace Solar Panels With Potted Plants

Designer Fabienne Felder wants to reupholster jumbo jets with moss. In her vision, passengers will sit on verdant tufts while the bryophytes purify the air and use electrons captured during photosynthesis to power the Direct TV panels on the seat backs. Many would think Felder was crazy, but biochemist Dr. Paolo Bombelli and plant scientist Ross Dennis from the University of Cambridge were impressed with her brio and offered her the opportunity to collaborate with their lab.

The scientists are researching the potential of photo microbial fuel cells, or photo-MFCs, which are essentially potted plants that act like miniature power plants and transform sunlight into electricity that can power iPads. They aren’t as efficient as traditional photovoltaic solar cells, but are more eco-friendly to manufacture.

Bombelli and Dennis have worked with designers previously and created a concept design called the Moss Table—a surface covered in photo-MFCs that could supposedly power a lamp. In reality, all the prototype cells could power was a small LCD display, but it illustrated the potential. While they appreciated Felder’s gonzo vision, the scientists proposed a project that would be possible this year instead of a decade in the future and decided to build a humble FM radio.

The result is a sound system comprised of ten photo-MFCs housed in a frame meant to evoke the feel of a biochemistry lab. It looks like a science experiment, but Felder’s biophilic boombox can generate enough power to play a short song. The array and a hidden capacitor can only power the radio for a few minutes at a time, and listening to an entire baseball game would require hundreds of plants, but she’s still bullish on the potential of truly green energy. “Give the researchers a few more years and it will all change,” says Felder. “But despite these little steps forward, the breakthrough we’ve had with the radio is not to be underestimated.”

“I like the idea of getting closer to nature again–to use it in ingenious ways, without exploiting it.”

The University of Cambridge holds a patent on this technology and they’re finalizing an educational kit that will surely replace potato clocks in 3rd grade classrooms around the country. Beyond that, stabilizing the technology and expanding its efficiency is the next order of business. Finding the perfect moss and growing them directly onto conductive surfaces could lead to efficiency gains, but more experiments are required. There are over 20,000 species of moss growing in Britain alone and aside from their ability to produce electricity they also insulate, muffle noises, filter the air, and have anti-fungal/bacterial properties.

“On a small scale I think we could soon-ish convert people’s normal houseplants into little power-generators for charging phones,” says Felder. “On a large scale, especially outdoors, the right mix of plants will be crucial and that will need more research, both in terms of plants and irrigation systems, maintenance, etc.”

The team’s well aware that it may take years before the technology is viable in the market. Even at maturity it might only make sense in developing countries. Despite the challenges, Felder is excited by the fact that current setups only convert approximately 0.1% of the electrons the mosses are exposed to. Even with that meager efficiency, if a quarter of London’s residents used moss to charge their mobile phones for 2 hours every other day, it would save 42.5 million kilowatt hours, nearly $12 million dollars per year, and keep approximately 40 tons of carbon dioxide from the environment.

“I like the idea of getting closer to nature again and to use it in ingenious ways, without exploiting it,” says Felder. “I am a designer by trade, but a scientist at heart.”

Posted By::

 

source:wired .com

Continue Reading...

First test to predict Alzheimer's years in advance

The world's first blood test to predict Alzheimer's disease before symptoms occur has been developed. The test identifies 10 chemicals in the blood associated with the disease two to three years before symptoms start, but it might be able to predict Alzheimer's decades earlier.

Globally, 35 million people are living with Alzheimer's. It is characterised by a toxic build up of amyloid and tau proteins in the brain, which destroys the neurons. Several blood tests can diagnose the disease, but until now, none has had the sensitivity to predict its onset.

Howard Federoff at Georgetown University in Washington DC and his colleagues studied 525 people aged 70 and over for five years. The group showed no signs of mental impairment at the start of the study. Each year, the team performed a detailed cognitive examination and took blood samples from all the participants. During this time, 28 people developed Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment, thought to be the earliest noticeable sign of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.

An analysis of the participants' blood highlighted 10 metabolites that were depleted in those with mild cognitive impairment who went on to get Alzheimer's compared with those who didn't. In subsequent trials, the team showed these chemicals could predict who would go on to get Alzheimer's within the next three years with up to 96 per cent accuracy.

Decades of warning?

The 10 metabolites play a key role in supporting cell membranes, maintaining neurons or sustaining energy processes. "We think the decrease in these chemicals reflects the breakdown of neural populations in the brain," says team member Mark Mapstone at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

Once verified in a larger group, the test should provide a cheap and quick way of predicting Alzheimer's. Mapstone says that it may even be able to predict the disease much earlier, because the brain changes associated with Alzheimer's begin many years before symptoms occur. "These metabolic changes might occur 10 or 20 years earlier – that would give us a real head start on predicting the disease," he says.

The team is hoping to investigate this by looking back at other dementia studies in which blood has been taken over decades and seeing whether the chemical changes can be detected that early, says Federoff.

The group also analysed the full genome sequence of all of the participants in the study. That work has yet to be published, but Federoff says the changes in genes over the five years of the study are even more powerful than the metabolites at predicting who will develop dementia. "The gene changes are linked to the metabolite changes, so we're hoping to put all this together to provide a more complete description of the underlying pathology of the disease," he says. "What's most exciting is that we know the function of all the affected genes so if we can intercept these changes, they might make good candidates for new drugs."

Knowledge is power

But with no treatments available, would anyone want to take these tests?

Mapstone says yes. "In my experience, the majority of people are very interested to know whether they will get Alzheimer's. They believe that knowledge is power – particularly when it comes to your own health. We may not have any therapy yet but there are things we can do – we can get our financial and legal affairs in order, plan for future care, and inform family members."

If the test could predict the disease 20 years before symptoms appear, the implications are huge, he says. "Imagine what you would do in your early 40s to slow the onset of the disease. You could eat the right foods, avoid head trauma or do more exercise."

"In the short term, I think some people would want to know and some wouldn't," says Tracy Young-Pearse, a neurologist at Harvard Medical School. However, if treatments are developed that are only effective before neurons have started dying in large numbers, then it will be an easy decision to choose to take the blood test, she says.

Meanwhile, the new test will be valuable for drug discovery efforts, she says. Years of failed drugs trials have shown that you have to catch the disease early to have any influence.

Three studies starting this year hope to do just that. One will test anti-amyloid drugs on healthy people with a rare mutation that gives them early onset Alzheimer's by age 45 (see "Testing a drug for the memory curse").

The second will take advantage of a chemical developed last year that can be injected into the body and which accumulates in tau tangles. It will allow researchers to track the progression of tau in the living brain.

A third trial will investigate whether anti-amyloid drugs can prevent Alzheimer's in older people who don't yet have memory problems but do have amyloid building up in their brain.

"If an even earlier pre-clinical population could be identified with this blood test, it could be game changing," says Young-Pearse.

POSTED BY:::

Continue Reading...

Elephants recognise human voices

Elephants are able to differentiate between ethnicities and genders, and can tell an adult from a child - all from the sound of a human voice.

This is according to a study in which researchers played voice recordings to wild African elephants.
The animals showed more fear when they heard the voices of adult Masai men.
Livestock-herding Masai people do come into conflict with elephants, and this suggests that animals have adapted to specifically listen for and avoid them.
The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Nature's giants

• African elephants are the largest living land animals
• Until recently there was one species of elephant in Africa - but they are now classified as either forest or bush (or savannah) elephants
• Forest elephants, as the name suggests, are found in equatorial forests and have straighter trunks and rounded ears
• Bush elephants are more widespread, mostly south of the Sahara in a range of habitats including savannah, swamps and deserts

Prof Karen McComb and Dr Graeme Shannon from the University of Sussex, who led the study, explained that in previous research they had used similar playback experiments to reveal that elephants could tell - from the sound of a lion's roar - whether the animal was a female or a more dangerous male.

Other studies have shown that elephants respond with fear to the scent and even to the red colour of the Masai clothing.
"I've experienced that," explained Prof McComb.
"If you give a Masai man a lift in your car, you can see the elephants behave in a different way around you.
"They're much more wary of the car and you see a lot of smelling and listening."
Prof McComb wanted to find out if the animals used their very acute sense of hearing to identify a potential threat from humans.
The scientists recorded Masai men, women and children saying, in their own language, "look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming".
They also recorded Kamba men saying this phrase.
While cattle-herding Maasai people often encounter free-ranging elephants, which can result in violent conflict, the Kamba people's more agricultural lifestyle does not generally bring them into aggressive contact with the animals.
When the team played recordings of these different voices through a camouflaged loudspeaker, they found that elephant family groups reacted more fearfully in response to the voice of a Masai man, than to a Kamba man's voice - retreating and bunching together defensively.
And the adult male Masai voices triggered far more of these defensive reactions than the voices of women or boys.
Hidden sounds An additional and unexpected finding was that when the researchers changed the pitch and frequency of the voices - making a male Masai voice sound more female - the elephants would still react in the same way as they did to the original recording.

The matriarch in a family of elephants acts as an anchor - keeping her group together in the face of danger

"That suggests they're using completely different cues [to us] in order to attribute gender," said Prof McComb.
Frans van der Waal from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University, a researcher and the author of several books on animal behaviour, wrote in an accompanying article in PNAS that this finding suggested we had "much to learn about how elephants make decisions".
In this brief clip, Professor Richard Byrne describes how elephants respond to human pointing

He added in an interview with BBC News: "Making these kinds of fine distinctions in human voice patterns is quite remarkable."
Prof McComb said the research showed that elephants were "trying to adapt" to human threat
s.
"Humans are undoubtedly the most dangerous and versatile predators the elephants are face
d with these days," she said.
Prof de Waal added: "The more we understand about how elephants navigate their physical and social worlds, and how their behaviour continues to adapt to ever-changing threats, the better able we will be to effectively work to protect them in the wild."
Source: BBC Nature

Continue Reading...

New ozone-depleting gases found in atmosphere

PARIS: Worried scientists said Sunday they had found four new ozone-destroying gases in the atmosphere, most likely put there by humans in the last 50-odd years despite a ban on these dangerous compounds.

It is the first time since the 1990s that new substances damaging to Earth's stratospheric shield have been found, and others may be out there, they said.

"Our research has shown four gases that were not around in the atmosphere at all until the 1960s, which suggests they are man-made," the team from Europe and Australia wrote in the journal Nature Geoscience.

They analysed unpolluted air samples collected in Tasmania between 1978 and 2012, and from deep, compacted snow in Greenland.

"The identification of these four new gases is very worrying as they will contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer," added a statement from the team.

"We don't know where the new gases are being emitted from, and this should be investigated."

Three of the gases are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) -- a group which includes chemicals traditionally found in air-conditioning, refrigerators and aerosol spray cans but banned under the Montreal Protocol.

The fourth is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC), part of a closely-related group of compounds which replaced CFCs but are being phased out.

More than 74,000 tonnes of the four newly-identified gases had accumulated in the atmosphere by 2012, said the team.

This is very small compared with peak emissions of CFCs in the 1980s of more than a million tonnes per year.

- Riddle of the source -

"However, the reported emissions are clearly contrary to the intentions behind the Montreal Protocol, and raise questions about the sources of these gases," the team wrote.

Two of the gases, one CFC and the HCFC, are still accumulating.

Previously, seven types of CFC and six of HCFC were known to contribute to ozone destruction.

CFCs, the main cause of the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, are man-made organic compounds made of carbon, chlorine and fluorine.

They were phased out from 1989, followed by a total ban in 2010.

HCFCs, CFC-like compounds which also include one or more hydrogen atoms, are less ozone-damaging but contribute to climate change by trapping more of the Sun's heat in the atmosphere.

The ozone layer comprises triple-atom oxygen molecules that are spread thinly in the stratosphere.

It plays a vital role in protecting life by filtering out ultraviolet rays that can damage vegetation and cause skin cancer.

In high latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, where the ozone layer is damaged or subject to seasonal fluctuations, people are advised to cover exposed skin and wear sunglasses.

Possible sources for the new gases include chemicals used for insecticide production and solvents for cleaning electronic components, said the researchers.

Concentration differences between the samples suggested the dominant source was in the industrialised Northern Hemisphere, they added.

Study co-author Johannes Laube from the University of East Anglia's School of Environmental Sciences said the ozone layer stopped thinning from the late 1990s and there were signs of it starting to recover.

"As many ODSs [ozone-depleting substances], and especially CFCs, take a long time to break down once released into the atmosphere, it will be many decades until it will fully recover," he told AFP.

"Provided we do not have further unpleasant surprises."

Martyn Chipperfield, a professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of Leeds in northern England, said the low concentrations of the four gases "do not present concern at the moment."

But, he added, "the fact that these gases are in the atmosphere and some are increasing needs investigation."

source:DAWN news

Continue Reading...

Tribo-electric,' the buzzword of the future?

PARIS: Out at sea, gentle waves provide power for thousands of homes. In cities, dancefloor moves generate electricity for nightclubs. In the countryside, hikers use leg power to recharge their phones.

It is an alluring goal of clean, reliable power free from geo-political risks -- and scientists in the United States said Tuesday it lies within reach, thanks to a smart way to harvest energy called tribo-electricity.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology said they had built a simple prototype device that converts stop-start movement into power.

Waves, walking and dancing -- even rainfall, computer keys or urban traffic -- could one day be harnessed to drive sensors, mobile gadgets or even electricity plants, they contend.

Zhong Lin Wang, a professor of materials science and engineering, described the invention a "breakthrough."

"Our technology can be used for large-scale energy harvesting, so that the energy we have wasted for centuries will be useful," he told AFP by email.

"Tribo-electric" is a modern term with ancient roots -- from the Greek word for "rub."

Its electricity is created from friction between two substances causing a charge of electrons to be transferred from one to the other.

It commonly happens, for instance, when plastic-soled shoes are in contact with a nylon carpet, causing the snap of static discharge when one's hand touches a metal doorknob.

Because tribo-electric is so unpredictable, it has been generally shunned as a power source.

The preferred method has been magnetic induction -- a turbine driven by nuclear- or fossil-powered steam or water.

But, in a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, Wang's team said they had overcome key hurdles to converting a haphazardly-generated electrical charge into current.

Their prototype comprises a disc about 10 centimetres (four inches) across, designed to show the potential from a small, portable generator moved by ambient energy.

Inside are two circular sheets of material, one an electron "donor" and the other an electron "receiver," brought together through rotary movement.

If the sheets are separated, one then holds an electrical charge isolated by the gap between them.

Sandwiched between the two discs is a third disc with electrodes, which bridges the gap and helps a small current to flow.

At a top speed of 3,000 revolutions per minute, the device generated 1.5 watts.

This gave it an energy efficiency of 24 percent, three times greater than piezoelectric, the previously best source of mechanical electricity harvesting -- and as efficient as magnetic-induction turbines.

It can run on a gentle wind or tap water, or "random jerky motions," including human movement, to provide the rotation, Wang said.

"As long as there is mechanical action, there is power that can be generated."

The prototype used copper for the rotator and gold for the electrodes in lab tests, but these could easily be substituted for low-cost synthetics, he said.

The team is working on ways to scale up tribo-electric energy for harvesting power from the ocean. (AFP)

 

 

 

 

Continue Reading...

Cookbook returned to library after 21-plus years

LAWRENCE: More than two decades after a cookbook was checked out of a Kansas library, it's just now been returned.

6NewsLawrence reports a copy of "The Versatile Grain and the Elegant Bean: A Celebration of the World's Most Healthful Foods" was placed in a Lawrence Public Library return box one night this week. The book had been checked out on Sept. 24, 1992.

Library official Kristin Soper speculates the borrower misplaced the volume and came across it just recently. The maximum late fee in 1992 was $3; it's now $4.50.

"The Versatile Grain and the Elegant Bean" contains more than 300 recipes from around the world. Reviewers noted in 1992 that its publication coincided with growing U.S. interest in healthy cooking.

Continue Reading...

Potent new painkiller stokes alarm in US

WASHINGTON: A potent new painkiller hit the US market this week, despite warnings from top experts that the drug may deliver a deadly setback in America's battle with opioid addiction.

Zohydro ER can contain 10 times the amount of hydrocodone as the most popular prescription painkiller, Vicodin, and is easily crushable so it could be snorted, bearing none of the recent safeguards added to pills like OxyContin (oxycodone).

In a nation where some 15,000 people die annually from prescription painkiller use, the drug's approval has raised alarm among doctors, lawmakers and relatives of those lost to overdose.

Two senators have launched an investigation into practices by the US Food and Drug Administration, amid allegations that pharmaceutical companies eager for a chunk of the $9 billion painkiller market may have paid to influence regulators' decisions.

"It's almost unheard of," said Andrew Kolodny, president of the group Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing.

"For FDA to approve a drug that is going to make a serious problem worse, it is pretty shocking."

Zohydro was approved in October 2013, even though a panel of FDA-convened experts voted against 11-2. The FDA is not obligated to follow the advice of its advisory committees, but it typically does.

An FDA spokesman told AFP the decision was made "after careful consideration," and "the product's benefits outweigh its risks when used as intended."

Zohydro contains pure hydrocodone in a range of doses, including time-release options that are much stronger than competitor products.

It does not contain acetaminophen, which can cause liver damage and death in high doses and is included in most other prescription opioids.

The drugmaker, California-based Zogenix, said in a statement that the "acetaminophen-free formulation of extended release hydrocodone is an important therapeutic option for certain chronic pain patients."

Continue Reading...

Finally, Marvel's ready for you to hear its comics (scoop)

Marvel upgrades its subscription app with a long-promised smart soundtrack and DVD-style video commentary, after spending a year laying the foundation for a more multimedia-friendly comics reading experience.

• 
  

Starting with the popular story Captain AmericaL The Winter Soldier, Marvel is adding "adaptive audio" to some of its digital comics.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

It's a fallacy of the superhero genre that a new costume accompanies every power boost the hero earns. That's also the case with a major upgrade to Marvel Unlimited, the preferred (and only) subscription-based comics reading app for fans of Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Captain America.
Scheduled to be announced on Sunday afternoon's Marvel panel at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas, and currently live in Apple's iTunes Store, the new version of Marvel Unlimited looks a lot like the old version of Marvel Unlimited. Don't let that fool you, though, as the changes could present a way forward for smarter integration between traditional comics and multimedia features.

A year in the making, the new version of the app comes with three important changes: transitions from one panel to the next are faster and smoother, there's now adaptive audio, and Marvel AR's DVD-style extras are now included in its digital comics for the first time.
While the added features might turn off more traditionalist comics readers, Kristin Vincent, Marvel's vice president of digital products, said that the goal was to make digital comics feel more digital without losing their essential nature.
"We knew we had something conceptually," she said of last year's adaptive audio announcement by Marvel at SXSW, "but we weren't sure how it was going to work with comics. We wanted to figure out how we could tell stories in new ways."
Arune Singh, executive director of TV Communications at Marvel, described the change as one that could alter how the company makes its comics available electronically.
"The way we used to paste comics together on the page in production, so far we have been pasting comics on our iPad," he said. "Now, we have adaptive audio."
The features can also be disabled in the Options panel. Because Marvel Unlimited is a subscription-based app, the features have been added at no extra cost. To entice new readers, Marvel has dropped the cost of subscribing for the first month to $0.99, if you sign up by March 14 with the promo code SXSW99. Normally and thereafter, Marvel Unlimited costs $9.99 per month, or $69.99 per year.

The DVD-extras added commentary of Marvel AR videos now comes to Marvel's digital comics.

The overhaul to the comics reader has swapped out HTML5 for native iOS code, so page turning and panel transitions are smoother. The update to the Android app is "so, so close," Vincent said. Both were done as work-for-hire by Chaotic Moon, Marvel's long-standing partner on Marvel Unlimited.
The big new feature, though, is that Marvel is finally making available to its readers what it calls "adaptive audio." It's similar to a background soundtrack or movie score, but it detects when you move from one panel to the next and plays themed music appropriate to each panel. It can also gauge how quickly the reader is changing panels and will adapt the score to suit the pace of the reader, says Marvel.
The music plays from when the comic loads, starting with the book's cover, and then adding in adaptive elements such as the pinging sonar of a submarine when viewing a panel of a submarine and mines.
The adaptive audio, which is only available on Captain America: The Winter Soldier storyline at first, probably owing to the extra time required to create the score for each comic. Vincent said that other comics will be added, but added that Marvel wants to hear from its fans on what they think of the debut.

More traditional fans can disable the new features through the options panel.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

"I think we have the best fans in the world, and the most vocal fans in the world. We're always watching the metrics," she said. "We look for what people are sharing in the social space. We're very in tune with our fans, or at least try to be, and move where they move."
Marvel's previous partners on the adaptive audio, CORD and Momentum, are no longer working on the project. In their place, Marvel has signed on Melbourne, Australia-based Firelight Technologies' FMOD, which also is used in video games such as Crysis, Bioshock and Guitar Hero, and contracted with Emmy-nominated composer David Ari Leon's SoundMind Music. SoundMind is no stranger to Marvel, having also worked on Marvel cartoons and motion comics.
Marvel AR, or augmented reality, videos have been available previously only to people who bought the printed comic. You would then have to hold your phone or tablet over an AR-enabled panel to activate the video, and it would show you a behind-the-scenes look at the comic, often interviews with writers or artists, or the process of developing the page.
Marvel has begun integrating that AR content into Marvel Unlimited with 20 videos related to the first issue of author Jonathan Hickman's Avengers series from 2012. The company plans to move its current 1,400 videos to Marvel Unlimited, Vincent said, as well as adding new videos.

Continue Reading...