WASHINGTON

Obama proposes spending $100 million to study brain

President Obama on Tuesday proposed an effort to map the brain’s activity in unprecedented detail, as a step toward finding better ways to treat such conditions as Alzheimer’s, autism, stroke and traumatic brain injuries.

He asked Congress to spend $100 million next year to start a project that will explore details of the brain, which contains 100 billion cells and trillions of connections.

That’s a relatively small investment for the federal government — less than a fifth of what NASA spends every year just to study the sun — but it’s too early to determine how Congress will react.

Obama said the so-called BRAIN Initiative could create jobs, and told scientists gathered in the White House’s East Room that the research has the potential to improve the lives of billions of people worldwide.

“As humans we can identify galaxies light-years away,” Obama said. “We can study particles smaller than an atom, but we still haven’t unlocked the mystery of the 3 pounds of matter that sits between our ears.”

RIO DE JANEIRO

U.S. woman gang raped aboard public transit van

A night on the town turned into a six-hour nightmare after an American woman was gang raped and beaten aboard a public transit van while her handcuffed French boyfriend looked on helplessly.

The police response to the attack was swift: The three alleged perpetrators, aged 20 to 22, have all been taken into custody, and investigators are combing databases to determine whether the men might have been behind any other crimes.

Police said the two foreigners hailed the public transit van, often used as a speedier alternative to buses, shortly after midnight Saturday to Lapa, a popular downtown nightlife spot. A few minutes into their journey, the attackers forced the other passengers off then took turns raping the woman and beating the man, whom they handcuffed and sometimes struck with a metal crowbar.

Both of the victims are in their 20s.

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa

Samoa Air pricing tickets based on passenger weight

A tiny Samoa airline is giving a new reason to drop extra weight before your next trip: Tickets sold by the kilogram, not the seat.

Samoa Air planned on Wednesday to start its first international flights with a pricing model that charges based on how much passengers and their bags weigh.

There are no base fares — each 2.2 pounds costs 93 cents to $1.06, depending on the flight.

That means the average American adult man weighing 195 pounds with a 35 pound bag would pay $97 to go one-way from Apia, Samoa, to Pago Pago, American Samoa.

 

 

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