2014 news: 02/05/14

Wednesday 5 February 2014

This food makes world squirm

In the Philippines, balut is served by everyone from street-side hawkers to upscale restaurants. Ready to see what's inside? If you're the queasy sort, don't click any further.

The egg is boiled or incubated -- more than 18 days for duck eggs and between 13 and 14 days for chicken eggs. Opening it requires making a precise crack on the narrow top of the egg with a spoon and removing only a portion of the shell.

Before removing the contents of the egg, balut connoisseurs recommend drinking the warm soup within. It can be quickly slurped through the small opening you've made in the top.

The semi-formed bird fetus (pictured) slides right out of the shell. You can eat it by taking a "shot" of the contents, dipping your head back to let the bird slide into your mouth. Some prefer to dip it in a dash of salt or vinegar before eating.

The only thing left is the yolk. It can be scooped out with a spoon, but many Filipinos prefer to use their fingers. It's easily detached from the shell, veins and all. Some prefer to reverse these steps -- cracking the wider end of the shell to eat the yoke first -- saving the little duckling for last.

Balut, an 18-day-old fertilized duck egg, is a popular snack in the Philippines

Acceptance of balut depends on exposure at a young age

First time eaters are advised to not dwell on the textures

(CNN) -- Despite being an object of culinary fascination around the world, balut is no beauty queen.

The 18-day-old fertilized duck egg -- a snack widely eaten in the Philippines -- has revolted even the most daring foodies with its carnal textures, earning it lofty rankings on many a "most disgusting/strange/terrifying food" list.

While food journalists commonly label balut as the Philippines' "much loved delicacy," in reality Filipinos are decidedly split over their nation's oft-sung snack.

MORE: The Philippines best beaches and islands

The science experiment you eat

Acceptance of balut often depends on exposure at a young age, much like Vegemite in Australia.

In an apparent attempt to preserve the delicacy's popularity among the country's rapidly modernizing and discriminating palates, some schools in the Philippines introduce balut to young students during science classes.

Students use balut to study the anatomy of birds, then eat the compressed bird beak, veins and developing wings within.

"Our teacher made us eat the egg so it wouldn't go to waste," says Manila resident Anna Vecin of her ordeal.

"And if we didn't eat it, we'd get a low score on that day's lesson. Of course, I had no choice but to eat it."

The experience can leave some with a lifelong aversion to the so-called national delicacy.

Even balut's tamer cousin, penoy -- an unfertilized duck egg billed as a less carnal option, given that it lacks the semi-developed chick within -- can be hard to stomach.

MORE: 11 coolest towns in the Philippines

The yolk is easily detached from the shell, veins and all.

Taste over appearance

For others, balut's combination of savory soup, fresh meaty bird and warm yolk is a revelation.

"My dad had a duck farm once upon a time in Binangonan, Rizal, so at some point growing up, we had a lot of them at home," recalls Cheryl Tiu, a Manila-based writer.

"My mom's parents always enjoyed eating it, thus it got passed on to her and her siblings, and then down to us. My favorite part is the soup. And then I dip the yolk in rock salt.

"Today though, I'm not sure if I can eat the whole chick anymore, unlike when I was much younger."

The dish is particularly popular among Filipino families with ethnic Chinese backgrounds.

Balut is also widely enjoyed across numerous provinces in China, especially in the south.

Like many Chinese dishes, balut comes with a list of putative health benefits.

Among these, it's claimed balut can boost male fertility and libido.

Balut in New York

Can't make it to Manila?

Though balut is hard to find outside the Philippines, New York Filipino restaurant Maharlika offers the delicacy for $5 a pop.

The restaurant hosts an annual balut eating contest, held every August.

Last year's winner knocked back 27 balut in five minutes.

Think you can do better?

The gallery above offers a few pointers on how to eat balut.

MORE: 50 foods that define the Philippines

9 ways Sochi surprises

Distilling chacha -- sounds like a dance but you drink it. The Georgian brandy is popular in Sochi.

Sochi has gay bars -- despite Putin

Cossacks are on street patrol

You might find chacha in your vodka glass -- a bit like grappa

Cigarette-loving Russians have to butt out for the Games

(CNN) -- As one of the warmest cities in Russia -- a country with no shortage of snowy terrain -- Sochi seems an unusual place to host the Winter Olympics.

But that's not all that's notable about it.

It's also the latest hot spot for dacha-seeking oligarchs -- and President Putin.

Plus it has gay bars (despite President Putin).

And Cossacks.

Not necessarily in the gay bars, though.

Stalin -- the wax version -- in his Sochi dacha.

1. Anyone who's anyone (or who can afford it) has a dacha there

The infamous Russian who put the "Russian Riviera" city on the map wasn't quiet the hair-shirted leader you might expect.

Communist dictator Joseph Stalin popularized Sochi after building a summer dacha -- Russian vacation home -- here in the 1930s.

In the years since, the destination has become a summering spot for a succession of Russian politicos -- all the way up to President Putin, who has two dachas in Sochi.

MORE: How safe is Sochi? Travelers weigh their options

Sochi dachas have also become increasingly in demand from the ultra-rich so-called oligarchs who divided up much of the Russian economy among themselves with the downfall of the Soviet Union.

The popularity of the resort among the wealthy and powerful has led to criticisms that it's become unaffordable to the ordinary Russians who flocked to the city after its establishment as a vacation spot in the 1950s.

You can tour the dacha that launched the locale, complete with a wax version of the "Man of Steel," avuncular pipe in hand.

Stalin's Dacha, Kurortny Prospekt 120, Khostinsky District; +7 (862) 267 05 02; tours - $10 -- by appointment

2. The Sochi Olympics aren't actually happening in Sochi

The Sochi Olympics aren't taking place in Sochi proper, which technically consists of one 32-square-kilometer district called Tsentralny.

Instead, athletes are competing in Adler, an area within Greater Sochi just north of Georgia's breakaway territory, Abkhazia.

A coastal cluster of venues south of Sochi proper house the Central Olympic Stadium and rink sports including ice hockey, curling and figure skating.

Outdoor events such as skiing and bobsleighing are being hosted within the Krasnaya Polyana resort area, about 50 kilometers away in the Western Caucasus Mountains.

$Got a light? Russians\' fondness for smoking helped to reignite the Sochi torch.$

Got a light? Russians' fondness for smoking helped to reignite the Sochi torch.

3. Restaurants and bars will be smoke-free

In Russia, you're never far from a cigarette lighter.

Back in October, that was a lucky strike for the Olympics when a man whipped one from his pocket and quickly replenished the Olympic flame, which had blown out in the wind.

But the Sochi Olympics have committed to a smoke-free event, making it the 12th Games to do so.

This will be a trial in a country still in love with smoking -- nearly 60% of adult males and 40% of the total adult population admitted to smoking regularly in 2012, according to the World Health Organization.

READ: St. Petersburg -- 12 best sights in the city of the czars

The sale of cigarettes and smoking itself have been banned inside any Sochi Olympic venue, with the exception of specially marked smoke zones.

Smoking is also forbidden at bars and restaurants within the Olympic Park -- a step ahead of the nation.

Russia barred smoking in public spaces including airports and train stations last June, and will expand the ban to include cafés, bars and restaurants in June 2014.

It will also impose a minimum price (so long $2 packs), all in an effort to quell smoking-related deaths in Russia, which totaled 400,000 in 2012.

No gay people in Sochi? This protestor would presumably disagree.

4. Sochi has gay bars

There are no gay people in Sochi, according to mayor Anatoly Pakhomov.

Curiously enough, however, there are gay bars -- at least one that's out of the closet, that is.

Sochi's Cabaret Mayak, catering to both gay and straight clients, features a midnight show by transvestite cabaret singers.

Despite homosexuality being a federal crime in Russia until 1993, Sochi was a gay hub during Soviet times for its relaxed beachfront vibe and distance from major metropolises within the Iron Curtain.

In July, President Putin signed into law a ban on "gay propaganda," criminalizing the spread of information on "nontraditional sexual relations" among minors.

He's since lowered his sword, saying gay people will be welcome at the 2014 Olympic Games but adding in a January 17 comment to a group of Olympic volunteers: "Please leave the children at peace."

Cabaret Mayak , Sokolova ul. 1, Khostinsky District; +7 (988) 238 30 40; open daily, year round; 21+

Some of the first space monkeys were trained at Sochi. Lucky them.

5. Sochi trained Russia's first space monkeys

It's a symbol of the 1960s Cold War space race etched into our collective imagination: a monkey, in full astronaut attire, manning a spacecraft.

Leading the way in Russia's monkey-manned space technology?

Sochi, of course.

MORE: Europe's 12 most impressive metro stations

Russia's first space monkeys, Abrek and Bion, were trained at a Sochi "apery" for their seven-day mission in December of 1983.

The Monkey Nursery Center (Vesyoloe 1, Adler District; + 7 (862) 241 62 39; call for tours -- $7) is open to visitors curious to tour the training and testing facility, or just hang with 2,700 apes.

"Which may to the bobsled final, Mr Cossack?"

6. Cossacks patrol the streets

Their tall lamb's wool hats, emblazoned coats and flamboyant dance style have earned Cossacks a place in the world's vision of Russia, with help from Russian literary icons Leo Tolstoy and Alexander Pushkin.

Now, the once feared horsemen who secured the frontier for Russian tsars have joined forces with police patrolling Sochi.

Russia and the Cossacks have a patchy history.

After centuries as allies of Russia, the east Slavic people suffered harshly under the communists for their opposition to the Red Army.

But since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cossacks have gradually returned to popular favor in Russia.

Echoing the mid-19th-century Caucasian War when Cossacks served as border guards, current governor Aleksandr Tkachev of Sochi's Krasnodar region hired a thousand fur-clad Cossacks to help to secure the Olympic Games.

Cossacks make up only a small fraction of the approximately 40,000 security forces at the Olympics.

7. It might not be vodka in that shot glass

Russia's toasting rules are complicated.

What, or whom, to toast changes with each clink, but one constant remains: vodka.

In Sochi, however, vodka is often swapped for its fruitier Caucasian counterpart, chacha, a Georgian pomace brandy, often distilled like moonshine (so if you aim to taste, you're advised to look for safer, bottled varieties).

READ: The new London, Paris and Rome

Similar to Italian grappa, chacha takes on the flavor of the grape skins and walnut shells often infused with the liquor.

Georgian lore claims chacha has healing qualities, easing earaches and indigestion.

Just like vodka.

Georgian food -- like these traditional sweets -- might be on offer après-ski.

8. The cuisine may be Armenian and Georgian

Sochi, which underwent multi-ethnic colonization in the 19th century, may technically be all-Russian now, but its food remains diverse.

With Armenians accounting for 20% of the city's population, and close proximity to Georgia, Sochi offers an impressive sampling of cuisine beyond the dill and sour cream of traditional Russian fare.

You'll find authentic Armenian at kitschy Amshensky Dvor (Krasnoflotskaya ul. 15, Adler District; +7 (862) 295 51 21; open daily, year round) part of the largest private museum of Caucasian artifacts and history. Chefs make wood-fired lavash bread and clay-pot stews.

A Georgian favorite is Ne Goryuy (Riversky per. 6-а Sochi Khostinsky District; +7 (918) 406 41 04; open daily, rear round), known for its chakhokhbili -- chicken in garlic sauce -- and its quiet location off the seashore.

$First the bare-chested fishing, now the \$

First the bare-chested fishing, now the "Sochi leopard" pose.

9. Sochi overlaps with a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Olympics visitors can enter the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that partially overlaps with Sochi National Park in the Western Caucasus.

The Yew and Boxwood grove -- the biosphere spot most easily accessible from Sochi -- features 1,000-year-old trees and plant relics from prehistoric times.

One of the largest protected areas in Europe, the preserve has around 30 endemic mammals including the Caucasian bison and the Persian leopard, currently being reintroduced to the region and also a mascot for the Sochi Olympics.

Yew and Box Grove, Khosta District; +7 (862) 262 16 42; open daily, year round

MORE: 20 most annoying things people do on planes

Most cancer doesn't have to happen

Aging and population growth are behind a reported cancer increase

Cancer risk factors have spread into low- and middle-income nations

There are steps you can take to reduce your cancer risk

Editor's note: CNN conditions expert Dr. Otis Brawley is the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, a world-renowned cancer expert and a practicing oncologist. He is also the author of the book "How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America."

(CNN) -- The World Health Organization is sounding the alarm: cancer is rapidly becoming a global pandemic.

In its World Cancer report, the U.N. agency notes the disease causes one in eight deaths worldwide. It's estimated 14 million were diagnosed with cancer in 2012 and 22 million will be diagnosed by 2032.

The most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide are cancers of the lung, breast and colon. The most common causes of cancer deaths worldwide are lung, liver and stomach cancer. In certain areas of Africa and Asia, cervical cancer is the leading cause of death in women.

What's behind the increase? Aging and growth of the world population, as well as the spread of cancer risk factors into low- and middle-income nations.

WHO: Imminent global cancer 'disaster'

WHO urges cancer prevention, govt. role

Cervical cancer prevention

Could that caramel color cause cancer?

Those include use of tobacco, obesity, lack of physical activity and poor diet. The report refers to those as "an industrialized lifestyle;" they cause about half the cancer deaths in the United States and Western Europe.

At the same time, cancer death rates have declined by about 20% over the past 20 years in the United States and Western Europe. This is largely because of prevention activities, especially a decrease in smoking.

Tobacco use in low- and middle-income countries is causing cancer death rates to increase. Other cancer-causing habits common in the West, such as nutritionally poor and high-calorie diets that promote obesity, are increasing in low- and middle-income countries as well.

These countries also have inadequate medical and public health infrastructures. In economically developing countries, cancers are often diagnosed at a late stage when eliminating the disease is no longer possible.

People often suffer because palliative care is inadequate. Narcotics are not available for palliative care in more than two dozen countries and are difficult to get in many others.

China, world's leading tobacco user, moves to ban indoor public smoking

The report emphasizes that governmental and nongovernmental international organizations need to be serious about cancer prevention activities in low- and middle-income countries. The report also illustrates that prevention efforts need to be re-emphasized in developed countries such as the United States.

But cancer doesn't have to be inevitable. There is plenty you can do to lower your risk.

Don't use tobacco products

If you smoke, stop. It is never too late to quit. There are health benefits within 24 hours of the last cigarette.

Stay trim without being underweight

Avoid excess weight gain at all ages. For those who are overweight or obese, losing even a small amount of weight has health benefits and is a good place to start.

Limit intake of high-calorie foods and drinks as keys to help maintain a healthy weight. Keep a healthy diet, with an emphasis on plant foods.

Choose foods and drinks in amounts that help you get to and maintain a healthy weight. Limit how much processed meat and red meat you eat. Eat at least 2.5 cups of vegetables and fruits each day. Choose whole grains instead of refined grain products.

If you drink alcohol, limit your intake -- no more than one drink a day for women or two for men.

Anti-smoking efforts have saved 8 million lives

Get regular physical activity

Adults: Get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity each week (or a combination of these), preferably spread throughout the week.

Children and teens: Get at least one hour of moderate or vigorous intensity activity each day, with vigorous activity on at least three days each week.

Limit sedentary behavior such as sitting, lying down, watching TV and other forms of screen-based entertainment. Doing some physical activity above usual activities, no matter what one's level of activity, can have many health benefits.

Get vaccinated

Several of the leading causes of cancer are caused by infections that can be controlled through vaccination. The hepatitis B vaccine is now a standard vaccine for children in the United States and Europe; adults who have not been vaccinated should consider it.

The human papillomavirus vaccine is commonly given to girls and prevents infection with the virus that causes most cervical cancers. There is increasing evidence it might prevent some head and neck cancers, and some experts recommend boys be vaccinated as well.

Avoid unnecessary sun exposure

Wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants and wide-brimmed hats when possible. Use sunblock when sun exposure is absolutely necessary. This will reduce your risk of melanoma and other skin cancers.

Those with the opportunity, living in areas where it's available, should participate in screening for certain cancers. Screening for cervical, breast and colon cancer can save lives.

Surgeon general links colon cancer, diabetes to smoking

Girls told to get 'sexual cleansing'

Girls are sent to a camp where they learn about having sex

Advocates say the practice is abusive and fueling child marriages, early pregnancies

Girls are pressured to go to camps by villagers and peers

Advocates say change to cultural practice is slow

Chiradzulu district, Malawi (CNN) -- When Grace learned she'd be going to a camp with her friends, she was thrilled. Every girl around her age in her southern Malawi village would attend the rite of passage, known as an initiation camp. They counted down to what seemed like summer camp.

"We were happy, because we didn't know what was there," she said.

When she got there, the messages she heard stunned her.

"You should sleep with a man and get rid of child 'dust.' If you don't do it, your body will get diseased."

A demonstration involved one girl lying down, with one of the older women on top.

"You should be dancing and have a man on top of you, making him happy," she was told.

At age 10, Grace was being taught how to have sex.

"Fueling child marriage"

Like the other girls in the village, Grace had been sent to camp with her family's blessings. Neither trafficked nor forced to work in the sex trade, she was attending a time-honored ritual passed through generations.

Malawian lawyer fights for girls

White: 'Widow cleansing' must change

Fighting child marriage in Malawi

"Everyone makes sure their child goes to initiation ceremony because you will not be accepted in the community," said Jean Mweba, an education program specialist for reproductive health and adolescent health at the United Nations Population Fund. "It's an issue of being accepted in the community."

Boys and girls attend separate camps, serving as a forum where adults pass on their community-held attitudes and beliefs about sexuality and adulthood.

Not all initiation ceremonies in Malawi encourage girls to have sex, as programs and local cultures vary throughout the diverse country, which is home to several ethnic groups and languages.

Pockets exist throughout the country, especially in the south, that teach sexually explicit content to their youth. Initiations that encourage premarital sex are practiced among various ethnic groups, including the Yao and Lomwe, which are based in the south, according to Malawi Human Rights Commission, which is charged with investigating rights violations.

The commission also reported that girls as young as six have been sent to initiation camps, where they're taught how to have sex. It condemned the sexual curriculum for young girls, saying it impinges "on a number of rights of the girl child such as the right to education, the right to health, and the right to personal liberty and dignity."

Human rights groups and researchers have also found instances when a man, nicknamed a hyena or fisi, has sexual intercourse with newly initiated girls as part of the rite of passage. Men enter the girls' room, one woman told a focus group which was held for teens and adults by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers to examine perspectives on initiation rites.

"They say they want to see whether the girls have really grown up by having sex with them," she was quoted as saying, in the study published in the journal AIDS CARE in 2012.

$Joyce Mkandawire, an advocate with Girls Empowerment Network Malawi, fights the practice of \$

Joyce Mkandawire, an advocate with Girls Empowerment Network Malawi, fights the practice of "sexual cleansing."

"Not only that, the hyena doesn't wear protection, which is why I know girls who contracted HIV because of hyenas," said Joyce Mkandawire, the communications advisor at Girls Empowerment Network Malawi, a young women's rights organization.

In Malawi, over 10% of the population between the ages of 15 and 49 have HIV/AIDS, according to national data.

"There's no benefit to the sex education," said Mkandawire. "This is harmful to the girls. This is one of the factors fueling child marriage in Malawi. Why teach girls this when they're nine or 10 years old?"

Toll on girls

Malawi ranks 10th for the highest rate of child marriages in the world, with half of its children married before the age of 18, according to the World Health Organization. The country also suffers one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates, according to UNICEF. And 35% of all pregnancies in Malawi come from teenage mothers.

The younger the girls, the more they are at risk for pregnancy-related problems such as fistulas -- a condition that results in leaking urine and feces -- bleeding and other complications.

But none of this was mentioned at the camp, Grace said.

For the most part, discussions about what happens at initiation camps are scarce.

"You don't talk to anyone -- even your mother," said Naomi Nkhonjera, a project officer with the group, Girls Empowerment Network Malawi. "You can't talk about the secrets."

The girl who said no

Grace, a diminutive girl in pink jelly sandals, is one of the few girls willing to talk about her experience at initiation camp. Now 15, she spoke with a group of journalists visiting Malawi with the United Nations Foundation.

Her initiation camp took place not far from her home. They stayed there for a week, Grace said. The women leading the camp taught her about respecting her elders and doing household chores, but also how to have sex.

The women demonstrated sexual positions. Then, they encouraged girls to do "sexual cleansing," also called kusasa fumbi, which meant they should get rid of their inexperience with sex by practicing. They told her if she didn't, she'd get a skin disease.

There was no discussion about the risks of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases or how to protect herself, Grace said.

"I was not happy," she said. "From the time I came out from camp, they were saying I should go for sexual cleansing."

When her friends urged her to practice, Grace stayed home. She didn't want to participate.

Girls often say in private that they hated the sexually explicit lessons, said Harriet Chanza, a national professional officer for family health and population at the World Health Organization.

"They have no choice," she said. "They are forced by their parents and guardians to go through those things. If anyone refuses, they would definitely be looked at as an outcast. There is a lot of peer pressure."

Despite the peer pressure, Grace resisted and did not go through the so-called "sexual cleansing." She learned the risks associated with unprotected sex from Girls Empowerment Network, a local girls' group that works to prevent childhood marriages and pregnancies.

"You can get pregnant, you can get HIV, so it's not good for us," she said.

Grace has little interest in practicing what she learned at initiation, or marriage, for now.

"When I finish my education, I'll get married," she said.

Incremental changes

Echoing many girls' advocates, initiation camps aren't inherently problematic, said Henry Chimbali, spokesman for Malawi's Ministry of Health.

"We are aware that not all cultural practices require stopping but some need modification to accommodate modern and important health practices," he said.

He said the ministry has issued a cultural practices manual to eliminate "harmful cultural practices," collaborated with local leaders as well as established outreach programs to keep children in school as well as have access to health services.

In recent years, there have been improvements in indicators of early pregnancies, hospital delivery, reduced incidences of sexually transmitted infections, Chimbali said. "We cannot be sure to say that this is a direct contribution of the efforts on confronting harmful cultural practices, but we can confidently say that there is indeed a significant contribution towards this progress."

In Malawi, traditional authorities and chiefs hold power in local government and are the perceived custodians of local culture.

Girls rights advocates have tried to persuade such local tribal leaders to change the way initiation camps incorporates sexual content. In Chiradzulu, the district where Grace resides, girls advocates convinced officials to review and remove the sexual content of initiation camps.

Grace now goes to initiation camps to talk to other girls about the risks involved in early sexual activity.

It's progress, Mkandawire says. "But this is just one community we have reached."

Madison Park was on a U.N. Foundation trip when she interviewed Grace in Malawi.

Artificial hand lets amputee feel objects

Dennis Aabo Sorensen wears an artificial hand enabled for sensory feedback.

Researchers added sensors to an artificial hand

They implanted electrodes into the patient's arm

The electrodes deliver weak electrical signals to the nervous system

The next step is to make the technology wireless, smaller

(CNN) -- Ten years ago on New Year's Eve, Dennis Aabo Sorensen was launching fireworks when a defective rocket blew up. He was rushed to the hospital, and his left hand was amputated.

Thanks to an international research project, Sorensen, 36, a native of Denmark, was able to feel sensation by using an experimental bionic hand last year. The device uses special sensors that communicate with electrodes inserted in Sorensen's nerves.

This is the first time that an amputee has been able to feel real-time sensations through an artificial hand using this method, researchers said.

"I could tell if it was a hard object or a soft one," Sorensen said. "It was really amazing to suddenly have the ability to distinguish the different objects from each other."

Dennis Aabo Sorensen found it harder to use the artificial hand via visual cues than sensory information.

The project is called Lifehand 2, and the clinical trial took place in Rome in February 2013. Paolo Maria Rossini at Gemelli Hospital supervised the experiment. Results were published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

When you grasp an object with your natural hand, your nerve endings detect sensory information that is relayed back to the brain. That is the same principle of this experiment, said Silvestro Micera, senior author of the study and director of the Translational Neural Engineering Laboratory at Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

"Maybe we were able to restore in some way something close to the natural sensation, which makes the job of the brain to understand what is happening easier," Micera said.

Mind control? Brain controls brain in new demonstration

How they did it

This bionic leg can read minds

Boy born without hands gets bionic arms

Scientists added sensors that detect information about touch to an artificial hand. Measurements of tension in the tendons of this bionic hand allowed the sensors to produce an electrical signal.

But that signal could not be understood by the nervous system because it is too coarse. Using computer algorithms, researchers turned the electrical signal into an impulse that sensory nerves could interpret.

To be able to take that signal and experience it as feeling, Sorensen underwent surgery to have electrodes implanted into nerves in the upper part of his left arm. The electrodes, developed at Freiburg University in Germany, were very thin and precise, so that they could deliver weak electrical signals to the nervous system.

Researchers asked Sorensen to squeeze objects in three different ways: First, with his natural right hand, then with the prosthesis only looking at the object, and then using the prosthesis without looking.

When relying on visual cues alone, Sorensen could not gradually change how hard he squeezed an object -- he could only apply no force or maximum force.

But when focusing on tactile sensory information, Sorensen's grasping was more natural and continuous. This shows how effective the approach is, and how similar it is to natural hand movements, Micera said.

Sorensen could also sense how strongly he grasped the objects, in addition to the shape and composition of the different objects he handled, even while wearing a blindfold and earplugs.

"He was squeezing the object, controlling the prosthesis, more or less according to sensory information he was getting," Micera said. "It is the first time that somebody is able to do it, relying on only sensory information provided by the prosthesis, by this neural stimulation."

A show of hands to explore disability

From Sorensen's perspective, using the beefed-up bionic hand wasn't identical to his natural hand, but he did experience similar sensations.

"It was quite natural, and amazing to have the communication between my left hand again, and my brain," Sorensen said.

Next steps

The technology cannot yet be taken outside of the laboratory setting. Sorensen's bionic hand was connected by wires to computing equipment the whole time. He can't use it at home.

But Micera and colleagues are hoping to do a longer-term study in the future where the technology is entirely wireless, with "everything in the prosthesis or the person."

Instead of using a computer with an encoding algorithm, they would like to use a small chip. They are aiming to try this in a couple of years, Micera said.

Sorensen used to be a house painter, but with the loss of his left hand he changed careers and became a real estate developer.

As research continues on the artificial hand, Sorensen said he would be "more than happy" to participate again.

If he could take the sensory-enhanced bionic hand out of the laboratory, he would probably want to go cycling.

He can ride a bike now, but "I don't have the same feeling," he said.

Bionic arm gives hope for amputees

Follow Elizabeth Landau on Twitter at @lizlandau

Obamacare is not 'job-killing'

The CBO updated its budget and economic outlook; many in the media got it wrong

Aaron Carroll: The claim that CBO projects millions of jobs lost because of Obamacare is false

He says CBO says there will be a reduction in supply of labor; this is actually a good thing

Carroll: Because Obamacare would provide benefits, people can choose to stop working

Editor's note: Aaron E. Carroll is a professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the director of its Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research. He has supported a single-payer health system during the reform debate. He blogs about health policy at The Incidental Economist and tweets at @aaronecarroll.

(CNN) -- On Tuesday, the CBO released its update to the budget and economic outlook. Many in the media got it wrong. This isn't the first time that's happened.

In early 2011, after winning a decisive victory in the House of Representatives, the newly Republican Congress brought H.R.2 -- a legislation that would repeal Obamacare -- up for a vote. It was called "Repealing the Job-Killing Health-Care Law Act." It was named under the notion that the Affordable Care Act would result in the loss of millions of jobs. The claim was based on a CBO report on the Budget and Economic Outlook published in summer 2010.

But the words "job killing" never appeared in the report. What was said (on page 48 for those interested), was that the ACA would reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by about one-half of 1%, mostly "by reducing the amount of labor that workers choose to supply." The fact that there would be a reduction in the supply of labor was because the ACA would provide benefits to people.

Giving some people Medicaid and others subsidies to help them pay for insurance would leave some people more flush with resources. They might choose to work fewer hours, or not at all. A number of people just under age 65 might have liked to retire before the ACA, but they knew they couldn't get insurance without a job. Since the ACA now would guarantee them more affordable options, they might choose to retire earlier. Also, a number of would-be entrepreneurs might have liked to have struck out on their own, but feared they wouldn't be able to get insurance for the same reason. The ACA would protect them. They might leave their jobs to start businesses.

All these projections are considered by most people to be good things. But they all result in people voluntarily leaving the work force. They constitute a reduction in labor, caused by the ACA. And that's what the CBO was talking about.

But opponents of the ACA spun this into something bad. And so the "job-killing" meme was born.

Flash forward to February 4, 2014. The CBO updated its Budget and Economic Outlook for 2014 through 2024. Once again, the CBO reported that there would be a reduction in the labor force because workers will choose to work less because of the benefits they receive. In fact, the CBO thinks that these choices will result in a reduction in the labor force of about 2 million fewer full time positions in 2017. This time the key passage is on page 117-8:

"The estimated reduction stems almost entirely from a net decline in the amount of labor that workers will choose to supply, rather than from a net drop in businesses' demand for labor, so it will appear almost entirely as a reduction in labor force participation and in hours worked relative to what would have occurred otherwise rather than as an increase in unemployment (that is, more workers seeking but not finding jobs) or underemployment (such as part-time workers who would prefer to work more hours per week)."

Again, for many people this is a good thing. The ACA is letting some people who would rather stay at home -- perhaps to raise their children -- do so because benefits are improving. It's letting people who want to retire early do so because they don't have to wait for Medicare. These things are consequences the people who wrote the law intended, and the CBO reports them as such.

I understand why opponents of the ACA have long tried to twist these facts to support a position that declares the ACA is hurting the economy and increasing unemployment. But I'm baffled as to why the media failed to see that the key piece of evidence, the CBO report, didn't uphold their claims.

There's a big difference between a reduction in the supply of labor and a reduction in the demand for labor. It's time we all learned the difference.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Aaron Carroll.

Source: Bieber wouldn't put pot away

Law enforcement source give details of Bieber's flight from Canada

Pot smoke was so strong in jet's cabin the flight crew put on oxygen masks, source says

Pilot claims Bieber and his father were verbally abusive to the flight crew, source says

Bieber rep Matt Hiltzik declines comment to CNN

New York (CNN) -- Justin Bieber and his father allegedly refused a pilot's warning to stop smoking pot during a flight from Canada to New Jersey on Friday, according to a law enforcement source.

A law enforcement official gave details to CNN about what the flight crew on the chartered jet told federal officials after they ferried Bieber and his entourage from Canada to New Jersey's Teterboro Airport on Friday. The official asked not to be identified.

Marijuana smoke was so strong in the jet's cabin that the flight crew put on oxygen masks because they were concerned they might inhale so much it would cause them to test positive for drug use, said the source.

The pilots repeatedly asked the pop star, his father, Jeremy Bieber, and other passengers to put away marijuana during the flight, according to the source. The pilot said the singer and his father were verbally abusive to the flight crew. This prompted the pilot to have the flight attendant stay close to the cockpit to avoid contact with Bieber as much as possible, the source said.

The death of Philip Seymour Hoffman and his problems with substance abuse are a reminder that such struggles are not unusual in the movie business. Here are some other stars who have struggled with similar issues ...

"Desperate Housewives" actor Shawn Pyfrom wrote about his own struggle with drugs following Hoffman's death. The young actor says in an online letter that he "wasted the time of valuable people, who worked so hard to pull my career to a higher place, by allowing my addictions to tug me out of their grip."

Justin Bieber was booked into a Miami jail after failing a sobriety test early Thursday, January 23. According to Miami Beach Police Chief Raymond Martinez, during his arrest, Bieber "made some statements that he had consumed some alcohol, and that he had been smoking marijuana and consumed some prescription medication," before getting behind the wheel of a yellow Lamborghini.

Actor and former reality show star Dean McDermott says he has entered rehab. The announcement came after an Us Weekly story in December 2012 alleged that McDermott had cheated on Tori Spelling, his wife of seven years. CNN has not independently confirmed the report.

Country singer Trace Adkins suffered "a setback in his battle with alcoholism" and has entered a rehab facility for help, his representative told CNN on January 16.

In a December interview with "Access Hollywood," Demi Lovato went into detail about her dependence on drugs and alcohol. There was a time when Lovato "couldn't go 30 minutes to an hour without cocaine, and I would bring it on airplanes," she said. "I would smuggle it, basically, and just wait until everyone in first class would go to sleep, and I would do it right there." According to Lovato, her rock bottom came at 19, when she filled a soda bottle with vodka to drink at 9 a.m. "I had a moment where I was like, 'Oh, my God ... that is alcoholic behavior," she said.

Lady Gaga revealed on the Elvis Duran radio show in November 2013 that she's been quietly dealing with an addiction to marijuana. "I had to stop (smoking pot)," the Mother Monster said. "I was addicted to it. ... Although I think it's the best drug to choose from when you're playing around and experimenting, I just want young kids to know that you actually can become addicted to it, and it's ultimately ... a form of self-medication. I was smoking 15 to 20 marijuana cigarettes a day with no tobacco."

Elizabeth Vargas admitted having a problem with alcohol and entered a treatment program.

Jada Pinkett-Smith reflected on her Facebook page in September 2013 that addictions plagued her in her younger years. "I had many addictions, of several kinds, to deal with my life issues," she said.

Zac Efron quietly completed a rehab program in 2013 without the media being any wiser. When he reappeared on the red carpet for the movie "Parkland" at the Toronto International Film Festival, sources close to the actor told E! News and People magazine that he was feeling healthy and better than ever.

Country star Tim McGraw said in an interview in 2013 that he replaced drinking whiskey with working out to clean his life up.

"Glee" star Cory Monteith was found dead at a hotel in Vancouver on July 13, 2013. Officials gave the cause as "mixed drug toxicity, involving intravenous heroin use combined with the ingestion of alcohol." Monteith had been public about his struggle with addiction and checked into a rehab facility in late March. He told Parade magazine that he started using drugs at 13 and had entered rehab by 19.

Matthew Perry has struggled with an addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol and landed on the cover of People magazine to discuss his road to sobriety. While he was on "Friends," he said, "it would seem like I had it all. It was actually a very lonely time for me, because I was suffering from alcoholism."

"Sex and the City" actress Kristin Davis told Health magazine in 2008 that unlike her cocktail-loving character Charlotte York, she is a recovering alcoholic. The 48-year-old admitted that she was drinking so much, she didn't think she'd live past 30.

Ben Affleck surprised friends when he checked into rehab for alcohol abuse in 2001, People magazine reported.

Jamie Lee Curtis has reportedly said she was once so addicted to prescription pain medicine that she stole some from a relative to help feed the addiction.

Jodie Sweetin, who played innocent Stephanie Tanner on "Full House," documented her drug problems in her memoir "unSweetined." A low point, she said, was using cocaine, meth and ecstasy while on tour to discuss her sobriety.

There have been questions as to whether Bob Dylan was telling the truth when he reportedly told a journalist in 1966 that he had kicked a $25-a-day heroin habit, but, according to Rolling Stone, he had a period during his 1966 tour where he used "huge amounts" of amphetamines.

In 2012, Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie told Oprah that her drug use proceeded from ecstasy to crystal meth. She became so paranoid she thought the FBI and SWAT teams were following her before she sought treatment.

She was known for her wholesome role as Laura Ingalls on the television series "Little House on the Prairie," but at her worst Melissa Gilbert was covering up feelings of sadness by drinking up to more than two bottles of wine a night, the actress told More magazine.

"Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe told GQ magazine that he had his last drink in 2010. "There were a few years there when I was just so enamored with the idea of living some sort of famous person's lifestyle that really isn't suited to me."

A year before People magazine reported that the actress checked into a substance abuse facility in 2008, Eva Mendes told reporters she "wasn't comfortable at all" and needed a cocktail to film a sex scene in 2007's "We Own the Night."

Kristen Johnston talked about her addiction to drugs and alcohol in her 2012 memoir "Guts" and admitted she was depressed during her time on "3rd Rock From the Sun." "And you're not supposed to be," she said. "You can't tell anybody, 'I'm so bummed you gave me an Emmy.' You can't be sad when you're being celebrated. So it was a big conflict and there's no shrink that can understand it."

Samuel L. Jackson was reportedly able to portray crack addict Gator in "Jungle Fever" so authentically because of his own struggles with drugs and alcohol. He landed the breakout role two weeks after leaving rehab.

Actress Kelly Preston, right, has said she gave up drugs and alcohol to be a better mother to her kids and better wife to John Travolta. "I don't drink anymore. I don't smoke anymore. I don't do drugs anymore. All of those come with an 'anymore.' I used to do everything and a lot of everything," she said.

Jane Lynch wrote about her addictions to alcohol and cough syrup in her memoir "Happy Accidents." She told Access Hollywood in 2013 that she has been sober for 21 years.

Sir Elton John told USA Today that he swore off drugs and alcohol in 1990. He said, "If I ever find myself in a situation where there are drugs, I can smell the cocaine. I can feel it in the back of my throat, that horrible feeling of taking the first hit of cocaine. And I leave."

For those who may not remember because she has so completely turned herself around, Drew Barrymore entered rehab at the tender age of 13. Most fans were unaware that the then beloved child star partied so hard. She chronicled her early struggles in her memoir "Little Girl Lost."

It was years after Meredith Baxter portrayed one of America's favorite moms, Elyse Keaton on "Family Ties," that she revealed that she is a recovering alcoholic.

Backstreet Boys member A.J. McLean last checked into rehab in 2011. He had previously been treated for depression, anxiety and excessive alcohol consumption.

Country star and "American Idol" judge Keith Urban told Oprah in 2010 that his wife Nicole Kidman and several close friends staged an intervention to help him overcome his addiction to cocaine and alcohol.

In 2004, a then 19-year-old Kelly Osbourne reportedly entered rehab for an addiction to painkillers. "The amount of pills that was found in her bag was astounding," her father, Ozzy, said.

Celebrity substance abuse confessions

Justin Bieber had a rough 2013, and 2014 doesn't appear to be shaping up much better. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers searched an airplane -- thought to be the one pictured -- carrying Bieber and others on January 31, at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Officers said they detected an odor of what seemed like marijuana after the plane landed, law enforcement sources told CNN. It's just the latest development in a series of troubles for the pop star.

Bieber turned himself in at a Toronto police station on January 29, facing an assault charge stemming from an encounter with a limousine driver in December.

On January 23, Bieber was arrested on suspicion of DUI and drag racing, according to police in Miami Beach, Florida. Bieber is seen here with model Chantel Jeffries the night before his arrest.

On January 14, authorities swarmed Bieber's mansion in Calabasas, California, in connection with an investigation into a report of an egg-throwing incident at a neighbor's house. A friend of the singer's was arrested on a felony drug charge, and Bieber's phone was seized as part of the investigation.

Right before 2014 kicked off, Bieber threatened to retire after a spate of bad publicity, including being accused of everything from speeding to spitting. The news made Beliebers very sad.

While on tour in early November, Bieber yet again made headlines, this time with some sex-related scandal. The New York Post's Page Six alleged that Bieber had been spotted exiting a brothel while in Brazil. Then, a YouTube video sparked gossip that he'd done something less than innocent with the young woman featured in the clip. Bieber's camp has had no response on the chatter.

Was he saving his energy for his fans, or just courting more controversy? In October, the day after a concert in Beijing, Bieber was snapped letting his bodyguards carry him up the stairs at the Great Wall of China.

A leaked video in July seemed to show Bieber relieving himself in a janitor's mop bucket and then spraying a photo of Bill Clinton with what appeared to be a cleaner fluid while saying, "F*** Bill Clinton." Bieber later apologized to the former president, but personalities like Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali had a field day.

In June, another chapter was added to Bieber's history book of driving drama. The singer was reportedly involved in a Los Angeles accident involving a pedestrian.

As Bieber accepted the Milestone Award at the Billboard Music Awards in May, "very loud boos" competed with "very loud cheers," the magazine reported.

Earlier in May, a fan rushed Bieber on stage and attempted to grab him during a concert in the United Arab Emirates. Also that month, a safe in a stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, was raided after a Bieber performance.

In April, Bieber visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam -- and was promptly criticized for saying that he hoped the teen, who died in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945, would have been a "Belieber." Visitors to the Anne Frank Facebook page had plenty to say. "Glad he went, but, the last sentence is VERY self serving. he missed the lessons of Anne totally," wrote one observer.

Bieber lost his pet monkey, Mally, when the capuchin was taken by custom officials in Germany at the end of March. Mally is shown here in the quarantine station at the Munich-Riem animal shelter in Munich.

Unfortunately for Bieber, his 19th birthday in March was kind of a downer. After being snubbed by the Grammys, Bieber headed for London to celebrate his big day. But it ended up being what he tweeted was his "worst birthday." Not only was he ragged on by actress Olivia Wilde for going shirtless in the city, he also had a bit of beef with a "weak a** club."

Bieber ticked off his fans in March after he showed up a reported two hours late to a concert at London's O2 Arena. He disputed that in a tweet, however, saying he was only 40 minutes behind schedule.

Bieber later wound up sick in a London hospital. Being a lusted-after star, it's not surprising that he tried to show how "well" he felt by posting a shirtless photo of himself online.

Bieber and photographers, we've learned by now, don't mix. As he exited the hospital at the end of his turbulent week, the singer got into a shouting match with a paparazzo in London, telling the photographer that he'd "f*** him up."

After he was ragged on by Wilde for going topless in London, Bieber strolled through a Polish airport terminal sans shirt on March 25.

At the end of January 2013, a Twitpic appearing to show the singer touching a female fan's chest went viral. Both the "Belieber" and Bieber's rep denied he was touching her breast.

In January 2013, Bieber was photographed holding what TMZ identified as marijuana. He poked fun of the incident when he hosted "Saturday Night Live" in February. "I also heard he got busted for smoking weed and he's really sorry about it and that people make mistakes and that he's never going to do it again," Bieber said while playing a character during a skit with Vanessa Bayer.

On New Year's Day in 2013, a photographer was killed crossing the street after taking pictures of Bieber's Ferrari. Bieber, who wasn't present at the scene, said in a statement: "While I was not present nor directly involved with this tragic accident, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim."

Justin Bieber's troubled timeline

$Justin Bieber\'s troubled timeline$ Justin Bieber's troubled timeline

Justin Bieber is rarely spotted without a crew of a few friends, which sometimes also includes his longtime manager, Scooter Braun (pictured left). Along with R&B singer Usher, right, Braun has served as something of a mentor and guide to Bieber as he's grown up in the spotlight.

Bieber and his mother, Pattie Mallette, are widely known to have a close relationship, with Biebs never being shy about bringing mom to awards shows. Here, she joins him on stage as he accepts the 2012 American Music Award for Artist of the Year.

Bieber also takes time out of his schedule to bond with his dad, Jeremy Bieber, with whom he was seen in Miami before his January 23 arrest. Jeremy Bieber (pictured) was present that Thursday when his 19-year-old son was temporarily locked up at Miami's Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Singer Khalil is a regular on Justin Bieber's Instagram account, but he's getting even more publicity now that he's been arrested along with the pop star on suspicion of DUI. Khalil, 19, released a single called "Stars" in June 2013.

Even as he's become astronomically famous, Bieber hasn't lost touch with his Canadian childhood friends. Ryan Butler (pictured right in 2011) is a familiar face to Beliebers both on and off the red carpet, and he considers Bieber a brother. On Twitter, you'll often catch him offering Bieber supportive tweets like this one.

While Lil Za is known to dabble in rapping with an aspiration to act, he's best known as the guy who tends to crash at Bieber's Calabasas pad and drive his cars. That's how Lil Za ended up getting arrested on January 15 -- he was a house guest when police raided Bieber's home as part of a felony vandalism investigation, and cops said they found Xanax and Ecstasy near the 20-year-old's bed.

Ryan Good was the guy who was labeled as Bieber's "swagger coach" in 2009 and 2010, although he was also acting as a road manager. By 2011, Good gave up his position as a "swagger coach," but he and Bieber are still close.

Bieber has been known to refer to blockbuster actor Will Smith as "Uncle Will," and the star's manager, Scooter Braun, explained in a 2013 interview with The Hollywood Reporter that Smith serves as another mentor for Bieber. Braun said Smith and Bieber have instituted a weekly call to help the teen star work through any issues.

Given Bieber's closeness with Will Smith, it makes sense that he's also good friends with Will's son, Jaden. Occasionally misinformation has spread about what the 15-year-old gets into when he hangs out with his older pal; Jaden had to squash a rumor after Bieber's 19th birthday in 2013 that he'd gone clubbing with the star.

With their shared love of cars, graffiti and body art, is it any wonder that Chris Brown and Justin Bieber have bonded? After Brown went to rehab for anger management issues, Bieber showed his support by tagging "Free Breezy" on a wall in Bogota, Colombia.

Rapper Lil Twist is another member of Bieber's crew who has a weakness for luxury cars. The Young Money artist, who can also be found at times hanging out at Bieber's place or cruising in one of his cars, was arrested on suspicion of DUI in 2012. He was driving Bieber's chrome 2012 Fisker Karma.

Drake, seen here with Bieber in 2011, is another star who's taken the young singer under his wing. According to Braun, Drake is one of the first people to rip into Bieber after spotting a tawdry headline about him in the news. "He'll text me, like, 'What the hell is going with this? I'm pissed. I'm calling him right now. I'm about to go in on him,' " Braun told THR in 2013.

Selena Gomez is Bieber's ex-girlfriend, but she has a habit of popping up unexpectedly every now and then, making us think it's possible they might still be in contact. Bieber shared this cuddly photo on Instagram soon after the New Year.

Justin Bieber's inner circle

$Justin Bieber\'s inner circle$ Justin Bieber's inner circle

Bieber and his entourage of 10 were granted re-entry into the United States after a search of the chartered plane by federal officials, who said they detected an odor of marijuana after it landed at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport, a law enforcement official told CNN.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said they detected the odor, which prompted the search using drug-sniffing dogs, the source said.

How Brown, Lohan could help Bieber

Bieber, a Canadian citizen living in the United States on a work visa, was detained by border agents for several hours of questioning. The interview is routinely conducted to ensure people entering the country are in compliance with U.S. law, another law enforcement source said.

A Customs and Border Protection spokesman declined comment, citing privacy requirements involving the questioning of people applying to enter the United States.

Bieber rep Matt Hiltzik declined comment to CNN.

Bieber, 19, was arrested last week in Toronto, accused of assaulting his limousine driver in December.

He also faces charges of drunken driving, resisting arrest and driving on an expired license after being stopped by police in Miami Beach, Florida, last month.

The Los Angeles County district attorney is considering whether to charge Bieber with felony vandalism in the egging of his neighbor's house on January 9, 2014.

CNN's Steve Kastenbaum and Jane Caffrey contributed to this report.