CLA USA Helps Seniors with Seniors Estate Planning | Press ...

by: CrisRobertson has submitted 9 Articles/Press Releases
Total views: Please wait
Word Count: 714
Published on: February 20, 2012, 11:03 am IST

For seniors, estate planning is a subject that can raise a lot of uncomfortable feelings. CLA USA agents understand those feelings, but also understand how important planning can be for both the individual and the individual?s family. A well-planned estate can ensure that you have all the assets you need to live out your life comfortably, while protecting the assets you intend to pass on to the next generation. In short, there?s far more to senior estate planning than writing a will and setting up a retirement fund. CLA USA agents specialize in explaining and providing the many conservative financial planning tools and products that are available to help seniors put together a comprehensive estate plan. Agents with CLA USA will even work with your tax professionals and attorneys to ensure that every aspect of your financial plan serves your needs properly.

At CLA USA, seniors estate planning can encompass any of the following important aspects.

Income Generation
CLA USA focuses on conservative financial planning tools and investments to protect your wealth during market corrections and downturns. For seniors, asset protection is often more important than income generation, but there are income-generating investments that can fit into your future financial plans.

Asset Protection
The uncertain markets over the past several years have driven home the point that no investment is ever completely safe, but there are financial products and tools that are safer than others. A well-conceived seniors estate plan will include strategic asset allocation that protects your wealth from erosion and helps you preserve your assets for your own use and to pass the remainder to your heirs.

Seniors Estate Planning
Without a properly structured estate plan, your loved ones and heirs may not receive the assets and legacy that you intend for them to have. Planning your estate while you?re still alive can ensure that your belongings are distributed according to your wishes and reduce the stresses on your family and loved ones after your death. It?s important to work with senior estate planning professionals who stay current with the frequent changes in estate planning to ensure that you get the most up-to-date advice and information.

Retirement and Income Planning
Today?s seniors aren?t entering their golden years with the prospect of living another five or ten years after retirement. With the advances in medicine and the focus on health, many retirees will enjoy 25 years or more of retirement. That means that your retirement nest egg has to stretch twice as long as you expected. An experienced financial planner can help you position your assets and choose financial tools to provide lifetime income from your retirement nest egg.

Tax Planning
Taxes can take an unexpectedly large bit out of your estate and wear away at your retirement income. Tax planning is a vital part of both retirement planning and seniors estate planning. It can take the form of tax-deferred vehicles, special insurance trusts and other strategies to ensure that your heirs receive as much of your estate as possible.

Insurance Products
Life insurance, long term care insurance and other types of insurance can ensure that you are properly cared for throughout your life and that your family is properly cared for when you aren?t there to make the decisions for them. From choosing the proper beneficiaries for life insurance plans and retirement plans ? including surviving spouse benefits from your military and other pension plans ? to providing for your expenses in the event that you need long-term care in your older years, insurance has an important role in senior estate planning.

CLA USA is a financial services company headquartered in Frisco, Texas. For over 20 years, CLA services have focused on assisting seniors with estate planning and asset management for retirement. The company is highly regarded, and holds an A+ rating from the Dallas Texas Better Business Bureau, as well as comparable ratings in other cities where CLA USA does business. For more information about conservative financial planning and senior estate planning, contact a CLA USA agent to schedule a consultation to learn more.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the world?s MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web.

Learn more about CLA USA

Source: http://prarticles.net/cla-usa-helps-seniors-with-seniors-estate-planning

threadworm nick swisher pirates of silicon valley htc flyer tablet htc flyer tablet hank williams bruins

Protesters seize 3 blocks in Senegal capital

A police officer fires tear gas at close range directly into a group of anti-government protesters sheltering behind a kiosk, on a central boulevard in Dakar, Senegal, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012. Saturday marks the fourth straight day of protests ahead of next week's critical election which is pitting the country's 85-year-old president against a young opposition demanding his departure. The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned that there may be unrest if President Abdoulaye Wade is declared the winner of the vote. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A police officer fires tear gas at close range directly into a group of anti-government protesters sheltering behind a kiosk, on a central boulevard in Dakar, Senegal, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012. Saturday marks the fourth straight day of protests ahead of next week's critical election which is pitting the country's 85-year-old president against a young opposition demanding his departure. The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned that there may be unrest if President Abdoulaye Wade is declared the winner of the vote. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Anti-government protesters chant slogans after constructing a burning barricade along a central boulevard in Dakar, Senegal Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012. Saturday marks the fourth straight day of protests ahead of next week's critical election which is pitting the country's 85-year-old president against a young opposition demanding his departure. The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned that there may be unrest if President Abdoulaye Wade is declared the winner of the vote. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Anti-government protesters chant slogans after constructing a burning barricade along a central boulevard in Dakar, Senegal Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012. Saturday marks the fourth straight day of protests ahead of next week's critical election which is pitting the country's 85-year-old president against a young opposition demanding his departure. The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned that there may be unrest if President Abdoulaye Wade is declared the winner of the vote. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Anti-government protesters chant slogans as they are briefly permitted to occupy a central boulevard before police began firing tear gas in Dakar, Senegal Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012. Saturday marks the fourth straight day of protests ahead of next week's critical election which is pitting the country's 85-year-old president against a young opposition demanding his departure. The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned that there may be unrest if President Abdoulaye Wade is declared the winner of the vote. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) ? Protesters demanding the departure of Senegal's aging president on Sunday seized control of a three-block stretch in the heart of the capital, erecting barricades and lobbing rocks at police just days before a contentious presidential poll.

It marks the fifth day of violent protests ahead of the country's crucial vote. President Abdoulaye Wade, 85, is insisting on running again, despite the deepening unrest and calls from both France and the United States to hand power to the next generation.

Sunday's clashes marked a worrying development, because they took on a religious dimension in this normally tolerant Muslim nation. Hundreds had gathered outside a mosque as religious leaders met to discuss a Friday incident in which police used grenade launchers to throw tear gas down the wide boulevard, at one point hitting the wall of the mosque.

Footage of the incident shown on Senegalese TV indicated that the police had not shot inside the mosque, only outside where a crowd had gathered. But the cloud of gas enveloped worshippers praying both inside and outside the shrine, deeply offending Senegal's largest Muslim brotherhood which owns the mosque.

On Sunday morning as the crowd outside the mosque grew larger, a truck of riot police took a defensive position at one end of Lamine Gueye Boulevard, and the dozens of youths erupted in jeers. They then began grabbing cinderblocks from a nearby construction site, smashing them on the pavement in order to make smaller projectiles which they hurled at police. Security forces responded with waves of tear gas.

They sparred for over 1 hour and by then, the protesters succeeded in seizing control of a three-block stretch of Lamine Gueye, one of two main commercial avenues traversing downtown Dakar. They grabbed market tables and pieces of plywood that had been nailed across shop windows, using them as shields to protect themselves from the tear gas grenades.

They then lined them across the road's median, as police were momentarily pushed back, waiting for reinforcements.

Each time the youths charged the police, they screamed, "Allah Akbar" and "There is no God but Allah," religious phrases that are rarely heard in his this nation that is over 90 percent Muslim but which has long embraced a secular identity.

"I'm worried ? yes. What I'm seeing here could really degenerate into another kind of situation, a religious one," said Moustapha Faye, a young member of the Mouride Muslim brotherhood, the second largest in Senegal, as he stood behind the police line watching the confrontation. "We must absolutely avoid violence."

The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned that there may be worse unrest if Wade is declared the winner of next Sunday's vote. In power for 12 years, Wade oversaw a 2001 revision to the constitution which imposed a two-term maximum, a move that at the time was hailed as proof of Senegal's democratic maturity. He disappointed many when he argued that the new constitution was not retroactive and so should not apply to him.

Senegal has seen protests every few days since January, when the country's highest court ruled that Wade was eligible to run for a third term. Wade has been dismissive of the opposition, characterizing their protests as nothing more than a "light breeze which rustles the leaves of a tree, but never becomes a hurricane."

The country is considered key to the stability of West Africa. It's the only nation in the region and one of the only in Africa that has never experienced a military coup.

While most African countries began experimenting with democracy post-independence in the 1960s, Senegal's democratic traditions date to at least the mid-1800s, when citizens in this former French colony were given the right to elect a deputy to the French parliament. Among them was Lamine Gueye, whose name now graces the boulevard where the youths sparred with police and who served as a senator in France in the 1950s.

___

Associated Press Writers Sadibou Marone and Thomas Faye contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-02-19-AF-Senegal-Election/id-25d60e7efee54df2bbb97b9bf06df68c

thurston moore the island the island mcdonalds beating dreamcatcher georgia tech big east expansion

Rupert Murdoch: News Corp. Will Pay Legal Fees For Arrested Sun ...

Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

LONDON: Rupert Murdoch?has told News International staff that he plans to launch the Sun on Sunday?and that arrested staff will have their suspensions lifted.

In a high-stakes meeting at the company?s headquarters in Wapping, Murdoch told staff in an email that the new Sunday title would launch ?very soon? and that the situation with regards to the internal investigation caused him ?great pain.?

STORY: Rupert Murdoch Joins Twitter

Murdoch said staff who have been arrested would still be welcome at the newspaper, and that News Corp. would cover their legal fees.

?We are doing everything we can to assist those who were arrested -- all suspensions are hereby lifted until or whether charged and they are welcome to return to work. News Corporation will cover their legal expenses. Everyone is innocent?unless proven otherwise.?

Murdoch went on to try and allay staff anxieties over a situation that has left an unprecedented rift between staff and the parent company.

?My continuing respect makes this situation a source of great pain for me, as I know it is for each of you,? he wrote.

But he said News Corporation would continue to comply with the investigation fully.

?We will obey the law. Illegal activities simply cannot and will not be tolerated ? at any of our publications. Our Board of Directors, our management team and I take these issues very seriously.?

?Murdoch entered the headquarters of his East London newspaper group in a silver Range Rover with blacked-out windows to face one of the most difficult crises of his professional life.

Photographers and camera crews from around the world had been waiting since the early morning for the News Corp. boss to make his appearance ? he is expected to use the trip to talk to staffers at The Sun, many of whom are all but in revolt at the way their colleagues are now under police scrutiny.

So far 12 former and serving reporters have been arrested. Murdoch has found himself caught between his genuine loyalties for the print media ? and for his flagship paper The Sun in particular ? and the prospect of a damaging corruption investigation into News Corp.?s foreign practices as more allegations of wrongdoing emerge.

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/rupert-murdoch-news-corp-pay-fees-sun-on-sunday-292351

kourtney kardashian pregnant steven tyler billy cundiff chip kelly super bowl tickets superbowl alex smith

Practice paying off for Mickelson

Phil Mickelson observa su golpe de salida en el segundo hoyo durante la primera ronda del torneo de Los Angeles en el Club Campestre Riviera, en Los Angeles, el jueves 16 de febrero de 2012. (Foto AP/Chris Carlson)

Phil Mickelson observa su golpe de salida en el segundo hoyo durante la primera ronda del torneo de Los Angeles en el Club Campestre Riviera, en Los Angeles, el jueves 16 de febrero de 2012. (Foto AP/Chris Carlson)

Carl Pettersson, of Sweden, makes his approach shot on the 11th fairway during the first round of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

J.B. Holmes hits to the fourth fairway during the first round of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Phil Mickelson watches his tee shot on the ninth hole during the first round of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Sergio Garcia watches his tee shot on the second hole during the first round of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? This is the kind of golf Phil Mickelson envisioned playing at the start of the year.

Mickelson said he was having great practice sessions at home with little to show for it on the scorecard until it all came together last week at Pebble Beach. He shot a flawless 64 in the final round ? 11 shots better than playing partner Tiger Woods ? and rallied from six shots behind for a win that he thought might change his fortunes.

Four days later, from Pebble Beach to Riviera, he might be right.

Mickelson made a long birdie putt, hit driver off the fairway to become the only player to reach the 587-yard 11th hole into the wind, and finished by chipping in for birdie from behind the 18th green.

It gave him a 5-under 66 and a one-shot lead Thursday in the Northern Trust Open.

Thirty players had to return Friday morning to complete the first round, typical of a tournament that has a 144-man field despite limited daylight this time of the year off Sunset Boulevard.

"I felt very confident at the start of the year because I had played eight to 10 rounds exactly like Sunday's final round," Mickelson said. "I felt like I was so amped up and ready to start the season that I came out and played three terrible tournaments. And my confidence took a little bit of a hit.

"To come back and play the way I know I can play, it gets my confidence right back to where I was starting the season."

Not surprisingly, his position on the leaderboard is where it was Sunday at Pebble.

Mickelson had a one-shot lead over Hunter Mahan, who ran off four straight birdies late in his round, and J.B. Holmes, who is picking up more strength in his fourth tournament back from brain surgery last September.

Jonathan Byrd had a 68, notable because he played in the morning when the air was chilly and the eucalyptus trees were shaking with gusts that reached 20 mph, making Riviera so tough that only seven of the 72 players from the morning wave broke par.

Luke Donald, the No. 1 player in the world, also played in the morning and was pleased with a 70.

"It was freezing, blowing a gale and it was not easy," Donald said. "This course is tough with benign conditions, so with the added wind and the greens ? they're fast. They seemed a little bit faster than usual."

Mickelson, meanwhile, keeps right on rolling.

Dating to the back nine of his second round at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Mickelson has made birdie or eagle on one-third of the holes he has played. And his streak of consecutive holes without a bogey finally ended at 49 on the par-3 16th.

After an easy birdie on the par-5 opening hole ? it plays to a lower average than the par-5 18th, which also was into the wind ? Mickelson holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the long par-3 fourth hole, and then he really got going on the back nine.

After a tough pitch to 12 feet that led to birdie on the 10th, Mickelson had 297 yards to the hole on the 11th and decided to hit driver, a shot he had not tried in months.

It came off perfectly and climbed onto the front edge of the green, making Mickelson the only player to have an eagle putt on the 587-yard hole, which played right into the wind. The pin was all the way back, away from a large hump in the putting surface, which gave Mickelson the green light.

His eagle putt from 60 feet died next to the hole.

"I didn't think it was going to necessarily be reachable into that wind, but I was able to hit a low drive off the tee that scooted along the ground, and I felt like if I could hit one more of those with a driver I could get right up by the green," Mickelson said. "I felt like it was worth the risk to try to scoop one up."

The chip-in from behind the 18th was a bonus.

Mickelson made his lone bogey when his chip behind the 16th green ran 7 feet past the cup, and he missed the putt. On the 17th, his wedge rolled back to 7 feet for birdie, but the putt slid by on the left.

He faced another quick chip on the 18th, but it dropped in with perfect speed.

"It wasn't one I was really trying to make," he said. "It was quick, it was downhill, and I had to play about four or five feet of break, so it's not one that you're trying to get aggressive with. I was trying to get good speed and try to let it feed with the break, and I got fortunate, obviously, that it went in."

Holmes was the first player to reach 5 under, and that's where his fun began ? consecutive bogeys when he failed to get up-and-down from just short of the green; a tap-in birdie at the par-3 sixth, with the pin below the bunker in the middle of the green; an 18-foot birdie on the seventh, a three-putt double bogey on the eighth and the birdie at the end.

He has struggled with a slight loss of power since brain surgery in September, and he even topped a shot in Phoenix a few weeks ago. But it's all starting to come together.

"I feel like each week my swing has definitely gotten a little bit better and improved a little bit," Holmes said. "My swing speed has slowly come back a little bit being out here and playing this much."

This will be the last event for Mickelson until the Florida swing, the traditional start of the road to the Masters.

He can't wait.

"I'm excited about the upcoming event," he said of Riviera, "especially heading into our biggest event in April."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-02-17-Northern%20Trust%20Open/id-a01e7caea25d472ba1fcc8cd68d12a9e

john carter trans siberian orchestra trans siberian orchestra little big town little big town bennett bennett

DOL Issues New FMLA Forms ? Sort Of ? Business Management ...

Even after the start of 2012, the model FMLA certification and notification forms provided by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) still carried an expriation date of Dec. 31, 2011. In those first few weeks of the year, the DOL said employers could continue to use those outdated forms.

But now the DOL has released new updated forms that won?t expire for three more years. These new forms carry an expiration date of Feb. 28, 2015 in the upper right corner.? Employers can use these DOL forms directly in their organizations, or they can use the forms as models and create their own versions.

These ?updated? versions, however, did not include any substantive changes, only the expiration date. That was somewhat of a surprise because the DOL did not use this opportunity to fix a pair of key shortcomings on their FMLA forms. Those shortcomings (which will likely be addressed in newly updated FMLA forms released later in 2012) include:

1) Any references to the additional FMLA rights provided under the 2010 amendments for military family leave.

2) Any reference to the ?safe harbor? privacy language required under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). The law says that employers who request medical certifications from employees must instruct health care providers not to collect or provide any genetic information about the person.

For that reason, it?s wise to add language to your FMLA medical certification forms. The EEOC has suggested that employers add this language to any form that requests health-related information from their employees:

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) prohibits employers and other entities covered by GINA Title II from requesting or requiring genetic information of an individual or family member of the individual, except as specifically allowed by this law. To comply with this law, we are asking that you not provide any genetic information when responding to this request for medical information. ?Genetic information,? as defined by GINA, includes an individual?s family medical history, the results of an individual?s or family member?s genetic tests, the fact that an individual or an individual?s family member sought or received genetic services, and genetic information of a fetus carried by an individual or an individual?s family member or an embryo lawfully held by an individual or family member receiving assistive reproductive services.

If you provide this type of warning and follow the other GINA rules,, the EEOC says, ?any genetic information the entity acquires will be considered inadvertent.? Thus, this wording attached to your FMLA forms helps create a ?safe harbor? for employers.

DOL MODEL FMLA FORMS, updated with 2015 expiration date:

Source: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/30158/dol-issues-new-fmla-forms-sort-of

paw paw paw paw baltimore orioles rosh hashanah rosh hashanah amanda palmer listeria monocytogenes

Three Family Adventure Vacation Ideas | Articles Mesmerizing

Is it a daunting task to decide where to go for your next vacation? Are you tired of the same old destinations you usually visit when you have vacation time? There is only so much shopping, gambling and beach lying that a person can do, right? Has the thought crossed your mind to take an adventure travels vacation? These trips have been designed to get you into the great outdoors, to test your boundaries and get you moving. A lot of people save their money for years to be able to afford to go on all-encompassing adventure vacations. Luckily there are some that do not require a lifetime of saving. Here are some wonderful ideas for your next trip.

Mountain climbing is an excellent example of extreme adventure travels. The West Coast Mountain Guides regular take thrill-seeking travelers out on climbing excursions. You can choose from spots located all over the western Canadian provinces. Excursionists have a choice of rock climbing, ice climbing or even snow mountaineering. If you really want an adventure they will take you on a trek that will involve all three.

Before you decide to go out on one of these journeys, though, being in physical shape is of utmost importance. Mountain climbing excursions are not for the lazy or for those who are physically unfit!

Have you ever played with the idea of a deep-sea fishing trip? Most people don?t associate fishing with adventure travels. At any rate, fishing becomes a completely new adventure when you are out in the middle of a giant blue ocean. Not only are you usually wrestling a bigger fish, you?re also dealing with the elements of the ocean. Anything is possible, out on the ocean. The type of fish you dream of catching from the deep sea will help you select your point of interest. Of course, if you want, you can also pick your destination by climate and ?home base? scenery. One popular deep sea fishing point is Hawaii.

Do you absolutely love food? Do you get excited to learn about new foods and try cuisine from around the globe? Why not go no a culinary tour? Apparently, Italy is one of the trendiest destinations for lovers of food who want to experience cuisine in its ?native habitat.? Ireland, Spain and Greece also have fantastic ?culinary tours.? These kinds of tours not only allow you to sample the food after it?s prepared by ?native? chefs, but you also learn how to prepare a variety of dishes yourself. This is a great adventure travel for an up and coming chef or any food connoisseur.

Adventure travels are not required to be large-scale, posh and preposterous. Some of them involve daytime trips, while returning to a peaceful setting for the evening. The main goal of an adventure vacation is just to have fun and get your blood pumping. Thankfully, there is something for just about every adventurer to do?even if they only have a few days of vacation time in which to do it. Next time you start to make vacation arrangements, why not take the path of an adventurer? You can choose to relax at the spa next time.

Try to have as much confidence as possible after you finish learning an adequate amount about Maddi Jane. All of that can be explored at Maddi Jane. Now, if you are truly interested to take your knowledge base to a different level, then Justin Bieber News has to be seen.

Source: http://articlesmesmerizing.com/travel-leisure/three-family-adventure-vacation-ideas-2

go ask alice go ask alice john mccarthy john mccarthy lumpectomy robin williams blaine gabbert

Did Life's First Cells Evolve in Geothermal Pools?

News | Evolution

Based on some fundamental characteristics of cellular proteins, a team of scientists speculates that the last common ancestor of life on Earth got its start in the planet's natural hot tubs

By David Biello ?| February 15, 2012

HATCHERIES: A group of scientists proposes the pools formed form vented geothermal steam, pictured here, may have provided the perfect environment for life's early cells. Image: Courtesy of National Park Service

Earth started as a violent place, its surface churned by continuous volcanic eruptions and cloaked in an atmosphere that would have been poisonous to today's life-forms. Furthermore, the thin primeval atmosphere may have provided only scant protection from the young sun's harsh ultraviolet glare. Given these inhospitable conditions, scientists have long wondered: How did the first cells come to be nearly four billion years ago?

Conventional scientific wisdom holds that life arose in the sea. But a new study suggests that the first cells?or at least the ones that left descendants still extant?got their start in geothermal pools, like those seen at Yellowstone National Park and other geologic hot spots today. The argument rests on one indisputable observation?enzymes common to all archaea and bacteria are built from potassium, phosphorus or zinc, not sodium.

Some biologists suspect that the membranes of early life-forms were not yet the tight coverings that they are today, and would have instead let small molecules and ions flow in and out freely. If life arose in the salty sea, then the first cells and their living relatives might be expected to have enzymes built from abundant sodium?or at least tolerate more sodium internally. That modern archaea and bacteria instead possess internal fluid low in sodium, and enzymes built from other elements hints that they arose in an environment both rich in such elements as well as relatively sodium-free. "If the very first membranes were leaky for small molecules and ions, then the interior of the first cells should have been in equilibrium with their surroundings," explains biophysicist Armen Mulkidjanian of the University of Osnabr?ck in Germany, lead author of the paper presenting the hypothesis published online February 13 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "By reconstructing the inorganic chemistry of the cytoplasm, it might be possible to reconstruct the habitats where the first cells could dwell."

The team noted that most modern cells maintain a high ratio of potassium ions to sodium ions. "We looked all over the place for the conditions and processes that would lead to [potassium] enrichment," Mulkidjanian says. The only such places extant today are so-called "vapor-dominated" geothermal systems?locales where water, heated deep within Earth until it becomes steam, reaches the surface, cools and condenses back to elementally enriched liquid pools. Condensed geothermal steam in these pools can have ratios of potassium to sodium ions as high as 75 to 1, and are rich in the other elements of life that have been leached from rock by the hot water. Thus, Mulkidjanian and his colleagues argue that they may have been the "hatcheries" of the first cells.

The argument matches a perhaps prescient suggestion from Charles Darwin in an 1871 letter: "But if (and oh what a big if) we could conceive in some warm little pond with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity, etcetera present that a protein compound was chemically formed, ready to undergo still more complex changes." Nobel laureate and geneticist Jack Szostak of Harvard University has also argued that the first cells probably had leaky membranes and that early oceans were not a favorable environment for the origin of life.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=351fb637aebaff0049eef1df12e03427

ohio university ohio university keystone xl pipeline idaho potato bowl cagayan de oro cagayan de oro bowl schedule 2011